RAW Workrate Report 4/12/04
What Worked
TKG: Tazz calls the Gory Special an "innovative move"
TKG: If anyone is going to be doing the RAW long promo at beginning , it may as well be Foley. Foley was repeating some lines from last week and blew the Mel Gibson line. Foley in the past hasn't been someone who would run material into the ground that way. Also thought the bringing back of Cactus Jack felt kind of thrown on. But still a weak Foley mic segment big step up from peak Helmsley soliloquies. Speaking of which the doing Helmsleys promo pretaped segment was cool as it got all his points across, went only a minute which is shortest I've ever seen him speak. It wasn't good or anything, but still more effective than his normal stuff. They should pretape all his mic work.
PAS: They should pre-tape all of his matches too. For a guy who can't do promos Benoit has the best promo by far.
TKG: Christians outfit ruled.
PAS: Out of all the returns on this show I think I most excited about the Avatar comeback. Tajiri v. Ninja was really fun, I especially dug the Karate face off thing that Stan Lane and Tracy Smothers used to do. We spent the entire match speculating on the Ninja, I guessed Al Snow, but was hoping for Pat Tanaka or Chris Champion.
TKG: Zbysco was first guess. Hoping for Kwang. Still fine use of Snow. Now bring back Leif Cassidy already.
PAS: The Foley video package was pretty neat, I had no idea the WWE bought all of the IWA footage. I bet the RAW exposure was one of the highlights of Shoji Nakamaki's career. I wonder if he will get a run in RO&D now.
TKG: Ross' new outfit. Ross gets a promotion and he buys himself a trendy black shirt with matching black tie. It really looked like Ross got a makeover from the "fab five". He was also showing off all the vocabulary they taught him. Couldn't tell if his skin was exfoliating better.
PAS: Eight man tag was really fun stuff. Although it didn't really set up the PPV matches like you would expect, I wanted to see Flair v. Beniot on PPV, Flair v. Foley, and Benjamin v. Orton, none of which are actually on the PPV. I really dug the big finishing sequence, including the nasty Beniot headbutt to break up the pin. I have no idea why Micheals is getting the pin on Orton though.
TKG: Less enamored with this match then Phil. The whole opening section with Flair was fun. Amused to see him do slow spit take and face bump off a weak sub Levi Ruffin Jr. slap. Really dug the Benoit headbutt on Flair in the corner. Match went to commercial with all of evolution layed out. Came back from commercial with Helmsley controlling on Benoit. Which was annoying. Michaels ,whos a guy who worked a good chunk of his career in a fake Rock N Roll express tag team, is really stinky as guy on apron taking a hot tag. I'm not saying he should be slapping the turnbuckle or trying to start a hand clap ( and lord knows he shouldn't be rhythmically stomping his feet since thats half of his offense), but at least reach to make the save, stretch a little. Liked the part of the finish section where Flair ate the superkick to save Orton. Liked other parts of finish section. Match itself was more fun than good, and did nothing to heat up the PPV. Part of me thinks it wasn't as good as the Billy Gunn/Bob Holly tag match on Velocity where the two worked as the worlds most homoerotic Freedom Dogs. Damn do I not want to see what Gunn would do to Hoshino in the doghouse.
What Didn't Work
TKF: Edge is working a Bob Orton Jr. gimmick as a face?
PAS: I was really enjoying the Christopher and Sexy Assasin #7 v. Lawler and Mabel feud from Memphis, I hope he doesn't throw that away just to regress back to hip-hop jobber.
TKG: Wow was that the loosest of no contact WWE wrestling. I mean I kind of can sympathize with Christopher on first mach back being cautious but then Kane throws delicate boot and gently punches the air. That stunk. Kane is no Shock, he might be slightly better then Awe though.
TKG: The backstage segment explaining why La Resistance are now from Quebec? this really felt like one of those stupid Russo segments where guys would explain why they changed gimmick. Just change the gimmick, no need to give me a backstory as to why the pedophile with a talking horse is now working as a cowboy with priapism.
TKG: So they have a backstage meeting with all the the talent where they watch Helmsley vs. Benjamin and talk about how everyone should try to work like Helmsley. End result is Sylvan Grenier working a match where he does nothing but shitty knee strikes and works way too long. I mean damn that match really felt like a rib on HHH.
PAS: Hey Shane Helms took off his T-Shirt, has Danny Davis been IM'ing his ex-tag partner?
TKG: It's Chicago, and for "boy hurt by girl who's hiding his hurt under macho tough guy delusions of grandeur", he wasn't going to make anyone forget the Shadows of Knight. F.D.D.B.B.T.H. is no "G.L.O.R.I.A.". The Shadowlasses "M.E.L.V.I.N." also smokes C.L.B, for what its worth.
PAS: I got briefly excited when Jericho took a shot at DDP. DDP and Kim v. Jericho would be a better PPV match.
TKG: Bah, hoping for DDP/DWB TNA tag team and the Kim swapping angle.