Killing Kharma

After a solid pay per view last night, the WWE was unable to make the most out of any positive momentum. In a double disaster, they not only completely ruined their Diva division, they apparently took The Miz out of the world title picture too.

At this point, with TNA still attempting to find balance on their show and the WWE creative being as consistent as the New York Mets, upstart companies that focus on fantastic wrestling such as Dragon Gate USA and Ring of Honor have the ability to pick up tons of fans that are simply sick of the horrible writing, repeat match-ups and lack of interesting storylines.

While many will argue that the Diva division isn’t a primary concern for the company, the bad writing that was showcased tonight is prevalent throughout the entire show and for the creative team to strike out on what should have been a home run, is inexcusable. A pin dropped during WWE RAW last night when Kharma was buried in what was easily one of the most bizarre moments in the show’s history. You have to wonder what the WWE creative team was thinking, making Kharma, a monster, cry in the middle of the ring, when the fans wanted her to destroy every single diva in the company.

Talk about out of touch, lazy and oblivious.

It wasn’t all bad though. In the first segment, R-Truth cut the best promo of his career on this week’s episode of RAW, ripping his grill into both the returning Bret “The Hitman” Hart and WWE champion John Cena. It’s taken a bit of time for R-Truth to come into his own as a heel, but if he keeps this up, he’ll at least be ready for a run with the United States title, especially considering how out of touch Kofi Kingston has been since coming to Raw.

However, the best moment of the show was the Macho Man Randy Savage tribute. Classy, [regardless of the fact that aside from last year’s DVD release, he’s nowhere to be seen on their on-demand programming and for some reason, not in the WWE Hall of Fame] it didn’t make up for the Kharma incident or lack of real wrestling on the show though.

In other developments, The Miz took out his frustrations from Over the Limit on Alex Riley and crazily, Riley responded physically. Even more ironic, the crowd went bonkers. Could Riley get a face turn now? Even after the loss last night, The Miz is still one of the best heels in the company and Riley could get some fan support by working with him in even a short-term program.

This may not be in the best interest of The Miz though.

Matches:

Big Show and Kane vs. David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty w/CM Punk and Mason Ryan for the WWE Tag Team titles: The tag champs were on the offensive early on, but the hungry McGillicutty and Otunga were solid, using quick tags and ground moves to turn the momentum. However, it took interference from Ryan and Punk to slow down Big Show enough for McGillicutty and Otunga to hit a gross-looking double-DDT to win the Tag titles.

Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne:
This match lasted less than three minutes with Swagger dominating throughout. This could be the beginning of a good mid-card feud.

Nikki and Brie Bella, Maryse and Melina vs. Beth Phoenix, Eve Torrez, Gail Kim and Kelly Kelly: As soon as this match got underway, Kharma came to the ring and cried. What could have been a defining moment in her career, where she could have completely decimated the entire roster, she was made a fool of instead. The comments on twitter by miffed fans only confirmed it.

The WWE dropped the ball here.

Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston for the United States Heavyweight Title: a quick match that was highlighted by Kingston’s flipping reverse STO for the win. This division is flaccid right now and Kingston needs to wrestle at every show against all comers in order to bring it back. He’s an immense talent, but needs more charisma and some microphone time. This was definitely a step in the right direction for him.

John Cena and Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk and R-Truth, w/Bret “Hitman” Hart serving as guest referee: Hart got involved and put the sharpshooter on Punk and induced a win after a Mysterio leg drop. It’s unclear what the point of this match was since the RAW GM said R-Truth wasn’t ready for a title shot. Punk’s feud with Cena has been over for months as well. So why did any of these guys get in the ring and why was Hart the referee?

Only WWE creative knows the answer to that question.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13820 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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