Stone Cold Steve Austin WWE Raw is all business
No stunners in sight during the two hour March 15, 2010 episode of Raw with WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin at the helm. Austin was the guest host and in a refreshing but interesting episode of Raw, it was all business leading up to Wrestlemania 26, which is under two weeks away.
Austin teased a stunner early in the show after hitting the ring to drink some beers and lead the crowd in a few "Hell Yeah" and "WHAT?!" chants. John Cena hit the ring for the opening bout and as he went back and forth against the ropes, Austin snuck up behind him teasing the stunner. Cena smirked as did Austin and the two gave each other their respects. It's been speculated for some time about an Austin vs. Cena match of some sort going down, but that doesn't appear in the works at this point.
During that first "Wrestlemania Rewind" match of the night it was Cena vs. Big Show. They met last year in the Triple Threat match with Edge as well, and also at a previous Mania for the US title. During their latest match, the Animal Batista came down to interfere and distract. It didn't really look like much on TV and the commentators seemed to be reeling to cover up for a bad spot. They explained it as the ref was distracted by Batista on the apron, so Big Show raked Cena in the eyes. Hmmm..Afterwords, Batista simply got in the layed out Cena's face, but didn't do any further damage.
In another intriguing moment, Shawn Michaels met with Austin backstage, as did Chris Jericho. Austin boldly told Michaels he doesn't think he'll beat Undertaker at Mania, then told Chris Jericho to get the hell out of his office. It was the only backstage interaction of the show beyond an interview or two from Josh Matthews. Some good promos and buildups to the Wrestlemania matches though, including a unique tag team match set up for next week with Triple H and Orton as partners against Sheamus and Legacy. Didn't expect that union in years.
Austin's main role of the night, beyond setting up a new Wrestlemania match (Orton v. Dibiase v. Rhodes Triple Threat) was to officiate the Bret Hart-Vince McMahon contract signing. Before any signatures were done, he added that Stu Hart will in fact go into the Hall of Fame this year. Austin had some colorful moments during the contract mediation, when he told his former boss to sit his ass down, but there were no stunners. This would have been the moment for it, but a stunner to just about any of the wrestlers on this show 2 weeks ahead of Mania, wouldn't serve much purpose except letting Austin be Stone Cold for ol' times sake.
The "shocker" if you call it that was when Bret Hart revealed to Mr. McMahon that he was never injured. He explained it as a set up that he and John Cena cooked up, to basically bait Vince into a Wrestlemania match. After dropping the bomb on Vince, he proceeded to beat him around with the leg cast for good measure. These two get it on in a No Holds Barred match at Wrestlemania 26.
Speaking of Mania, there's eight matches on the card right now, with a ninth likely to be added in the form of Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk from Smackdown this week. Punk issued the challenge on last Friday's show. Of note, Kofi Kingston isn't in the card anywhere, which is sort of intriguing after he was part of the Elimination Chamber and multiple other PPV's. Maybe a dark battle royal match is in the works with all the other guys with nothing else to do at the PPV... (Chavo, Kofi, Mark Henry, Ryder, Goldust etc).
All in all it was a good Stone Cold Steve Austin edition of WWE Raw last night, albeit predictable in portions. Did anyone expect any of the Wrestlemania Rewind matches to be clean? Why would any of the competitors win without some outside interference. Why would Shawn Michaels defeat Jericho, the current World Champ? Maybe WWE underestimates the fans' intelligence a bit too much at times.
You'll notice with Austin in charge, there were no silly skits or in-ring talk show segments like the past guest-hosted Raw shows. No sign of Santino Marella or The Bella Twins, no Superstar Secrets talk show bits or bull-riding diva contests (not that we mind). Instead it was all business with The Rattlesnake and the leading up to Wrestlemania 26.
Don't count out those silly skits next week though when Pete Rose is in charge, in fact expect them.
Austin teased a stunner early in the show after hitting the ring to drink some beers and lead the crowd in a few "Hell Yeah" and "WHAT?!" chants. John Cena hit the ring for the opening bout and as he went back and forth against the ropes, Austin snuck up behind him teasing the stunner. Cena smirked as did Austin and the two gave each other their respects. It's been speculated for some time about an Austin vs. Cena match of some sort going down, but that doesn't appear in the works at this point.
During that first "Wrestlemania Rewind" match of the night it was Cena vs. Big Show. They met last year in the Triple Threat match with Edge as well, and also at a previous Mania for the US title. During their latest match, the Animal Batista came down to interfere and distract. It didn't really look like much on TV and the commentators seemed to be reeling to cover up for a bad spot. They explained it as the ref was distracted by Batista on the apron, so Big Show raked Cena in the eyes. Hmmm..Afterwords, Batista simply got in the layed out Cena's face, but didn't do any further damage.
In another intriguing moment, Shawn Michaels met with Austin backstage, as did Chris Jericho. Austin boldly told Michaels he doesn't think he'll beat Undertaker at Mania, then told Chris Jericho to get the hell out of his office. It was the only backstage interaction of the show beyond an interview or two from Josh Matthews. Some good promos and buildups to the Wrestlemania matches though, including a unique tag team match set up for next week with Triple H and Orton as partners against Sheamus and Legacy. Didn't expect that union in years.
Austin's main role of the night, beyond setting up a new Wrestlemania match (Orton v. Dibiase v. Rhodes Triple Threat) was to officiate the Bret Hart-Vince McMahon contract signing. Before any signatures were done, he added that Stu Hart will in fact go into the Hall of Fame this year. Austin had some colorful moments during the contract mediation, when he told his former boss to sit his ass down, but there were no stunners. This would have been the moment for it, but a stunner to just about any of the wrestlers on this show 2 weeks ahead of Mania, wouldn't serve much purpose except letting Austin be Stone Cold for ol' times sake.
The "shocker" if you call it that was when Bret Hart revealed to Mr. McMahon that he was never injured. He explained it as a set up that he and John Cena cooked up, to basically bait Vince into a Wrestlemania match. After dropping the bomb on Vince, he proceeded to beat him around with the leg cast for good measure. These two get it on in a No Holds Barred match at Wrestlemania 26.
Speaking of Mania, there's eight matches on the card right now, with a ninth likely to be added in the form of Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk from Smackdown this week. Punk issued the challenge on last Friday's show. Of note, Kofi Kingston isn't in the card anywhere, which is sort of intriguing after he was part of the Elimination Chamber and multiple other PPV's. Maybe a dark battle royal match is in the works with all the other guys with nothing else to do at the PPV... (Chavo, Kofi, Mark Henry, Ryder, Goldust etc).
All in all it was a good Stone Cold Steve Austin edition of WWE Raw last night, albeit predictable in portions. Did anyone expect any of the Wrestlemania Rewind matches to be clean? Why would any of the competitors win without some outside interference. Why would Shawn Michaels defeat Jericho, the current World Champ? Maybe WWE underestimates the fans' intelligence a bit too much at times.
You'll notice with Austin in charge, there were no silly skits or in-ring talk show segments like the past guest-hosted Raw shows. No sign of Santino Marella or The Bella Twins, no Superstar Secrets talk show bits or bull-riding diva contests (not that we mind). Instead it was all business with The Rattlesnake and the leading up to Wrestlemania 26.
Don't count out those silly skits next week though when Pete Rose is in charge, in fact expect them.
Labels: Batista, Big Show, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Commentary, John Cena, Santino Marella, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vince McMahon, Wrestlemania 26
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