Note: Tonight, I will be doing live play-by-play reviewing of WWE Armageddon at TheWrestlingVoice.com. Whenever I do live coverage, it normally turns out to have a good showing as well as be entertaining in the least as I'm more in depth and interactive with it than any other site today. Plus, I'm ten minutes on average faster than every other person doing it. If you're going to get coverage of it, why not get the fastest and most in-depth? Anyway, just remember that for tonight and for more information, just click here. Thanks and enjoy the review!
"The Power" comes back on and we get a recap of the Bischoff trial. Thankfully, they used the recap with the cheesy law music and typewriter. God, it's just the little things that make me laugh like introducing Foley as the prosecutor with him eating a moon pie. Anyway, after the recap, we get no Raw video sadly and instead go right into the music of Vince McMahon as Vinnie Mac comes out on the stage with a mike in tow. He says "as promised," but his mike doesn't seem to work. They do a little throw back and forth with the mike. "You throw me that mike like a man." God damn, someone's a little presumptuous. Anyway, McMahon says that as promised, he fired Bischoff and it's not a switch-and-bait thing, he's staying fired and he thanks Bischoff for the contributions and wishes him a merry Christmas. How sweet; Vince does have a heart! Vince goes on to talk about the new general manager and mentions some names like Stephanie (heavy boos) and Shane (good pop). He says it could be anyone and has had someone knocking on his door all day by the name of Theo Epstein (surprisingly, I knew who that was). McMahon then says it could be Ted Turner wanting to get back into the ‘rassling business. Let the phone call from the 80s go, McMahon. Talk about holding a grudge. He then says it could be one of the fans, which got a huge, gullible pop. He then says that he was just ribbing and couldn't be one of them. Oh, insider terminology! Mark-out time! McMahon then says he will be interviewing people tonight but there will be an interim general manager who is described with a long list of compliments including his virility, and it's Vince naturally. Vince then says he's going to pick up where Eric left off and by the end of tonight, we will know all the participants in the Elimination Chamber because we will have elimination chamber qualifying matches tonight. Vince then introduces the first match to which he says there will be no censorship during one of the man's entrances. Thank God, no Angle bleeps! Wow, I can't believe we only got an eight minute McMahon promo. Is he sick?
Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
Kurt Angle Vs. Ric Flair
This was not as good as you would think considering the quality of both men involved, but I still enjoyed the match a little. Angle is pissing me off more and more lately though with his horrible offense. The guy has the ability to do all sorts of moves as we could see in 2000 and 2001, but does he? No. The guy basically works over the whole back and neck area, even grounding his opponents with leg locks to work over the area more. What does he finish with though? A goddamn ankle lock. Look at Flair in this match for instance. In the limited amount of time he had to mount an offense, what did he do? Chop-blocks, atomic drop variations; all working over the legs and knees. Why? Maybe because his freaking finisher is the Figure Four Leglock. Emphasis on the word "leglock" please. Angle is normally very good and when he busts out the Ankle Lock out of sheer desperation, it's amazing, but when the guy hits a backdrop and a suplex and then goes right for the ankle, I swear I want to shoot myself. Seeing the guy's work in 2000, 2001, and most of 2002, it's utterly pathetic and I pray Angle will realize the folly of his ways soon. Then again, the prime of his career just may be well and gone. Anyway, the match was kept short and interrupted by a break (commercial break times one equals ankle lock after two back moves; great psychology), but other than that, there wasn't much. They had some nice opening exchanges and I liked how Angle was grounding Flair with the leglock, I just hated how I knew he was going to try and finish on the ankle. Flair's comeback was short but very sweet with the leg working culminating into the figure four. Anyone else find it odd that Flair is back without a promo or anything to explain his road rage or the Last Man Standing match at Survivor Series? This is one of these instances where it was such a beat-down, you need a promo or rationalization about the storyline or else you're just confirming all the criticism you get. Anyway, in the end, Angle brought a chair in the ring and Flair grabbed it from him. As the ref went to get the chair, Angle got the gold medal in his hand and nailed Flair with them in a quick shot. With a quick placing of them in his tights, he covered Flair and got the win.
Winner: Kurt Angle
Star Wrestler: Ric Flair
Kurt Angle is pissing me off more and more by the week and not because he sucks, because he really doesn't, but rather because he's messing up his matches with very minute things that really shouldn't even be a factor with someone at the level of a Kurt Angle. His workrate has drastically dropped this year and it shows with his program with John Cena. If this was 2001, John Cena would be having the best matches of his career. As it stands, he's not. Put Flair against Cena and I guarantee you that Cena will be raving about those matches for the rest of his career. Flair is such a great worker and one of those that you really can't tell except by the physical look that he is so old. With Piper and Orton senior, you can easily tell by watching them move in the ring that they are past it and old, but not with Flair. Does it really matter though? The guy still delivers better promos, matches, feuds, and even expressions better than half the roster. The guy still has it, but who knows how much longer he's going to subject himself to the toll of the road.
After the match, Angle grabs a mike and asks, "You suck, huh?" He then says that he's going to take that for granted, just like they have to take for granted that he comes out every week and listen to that. Well, he is proud to say that he did not volunteer to go over next week to Afghanistan. Why would he fly thirty hours and risk his life for the troops of this country that doesn't respect him? He says he's not that stupid and he doesn't suck. He won a gold medal with a broken neck, and he asks what the troops have done. He then says if they catch Osama, maybe he'd go over there and sign some autographs. Holy shit, I can not believe they are doing. What is this, the third or fourth tasteless angle from WWE this month? Too damn many to count, guys. Angle goes on to say that their perception of a hero is whacked as their heroes are a basketball and hockey player. He then goes to Daivari who is in front of a statue of Larry Bird and some hockey player. Like I've said before, basketball used to be the sport I knew everything about and Larry Bird was the guy I idolized. In fact, I'm staring at a plaque of him now. Hockey I don't know so much about hence my ignorance. Well, let's see how this one goes. Daivari asks if Bird and the hockey player are ready, and he says he'll show them who's ready. Angle then tells Daivari to do to them what the crowd does to him: desecrate them! Daivari than hocks a big loogie in the back of his throat and spits right on Larry Bird. Doesn't piss me off because I thought he was going to do worse like take some paint or what-not to the statue. Daivari then says he can do miles better and pulls out a spray can. That's what I was thinking, but with these real figures, I doubt they will do it. Sure enough, John Cena pops out in front of Daivari and pulls the can away from him. Cena then delivers a hard slap to Daivari's face making him fly backwards cursing in Farsi. Holy shit that was an amazing slap. The look that accompanied it was just as cool too. Hmm, methinks Cena can play the pissed off/vicious gimmick better than Kurt.
Cena tells Angle enough and says that it's bush league to send out the Iron Sheik wannabe to spray paint Larry Bird. Angle's better than that. You got that right, Cena. Cena then jokes saying actually, he's not. Cena then gets serious and says that Angle saying he is too good to go over to Afghanistan to visit the people who are dying for him makes Angle a heartless bastard. Cena goes on to talk about how they can't be home for the holidays so Angle can, but it's too good for Angle. Why? Because the people think he sucks? Well, Cena admits that half the people think he sucks! Wow, can't believe he acknowledged that. Actually, I can, and I'm a little happy. It's better than pretending it's not going on and at least it might be a sign that WWE is going to do something about it finally. Cena then goes ape shit putting over America and how people can do what they want. He says he doesn't care how many medals Angle won, because that's a privilege that earns respect, but it's time to face facts. Without the troops Angle is too good for, there is no America. Without America, there are no American heroes. If he can't get that, then he can't see him and with that he sprays the camera lens black as we go to a break. Weird segment I thought. I'm kind of pissed WWE is using the troops to get heat for Angle, but Cena in the segment picked it up. Then again, Cena basically used that as fodder to get back over. Finally, the segment ended on a rather weird and anti-climatic note. Ah, WWE. I can never take a definitive stance on you. At least I know that slap was stiffer than most of the other "stiff" matches you claim to have.
Commercial break times two equals WWE again exploiting something just to get someone over because they can't do it anyway. God forbid you turn Cena heel because that's what the people want.
Coming back, Ric Flair is backstage looking like a sad grandpa as Edge and Lita stroll up. Edge goes on to mock Flair asking since he lost another match, is he going to go on the turnpike and beat someone else up? Lita agrees and says it's the only kind of fight he can win nowadays anyway. Flair gets up to confront Edge, but Edge asks him what his lawyers would think if he got into another fight, this time with a woman. Edge then mockingly "woos" at Flair as he walks off with his slut in tow. Is this bury Ric Flair week or what?
In the locker room, we see Shawn Michaels getting ready as Shelton Benjamin walks in with his book. He says last week he asked for an attitude, and he gave it, but Michaels left his partner hanging. Michaels said he didn't. He said he has the band tuned, but Shelton stuck himself into a situation where he wasn't needed. Shelton then says that Shawn asked for an attitude and that's what he got. Shawn was too busy being the Showstopper instead of a team player which is why he didn't help Shelton as he was pinned 1-2-3. He then says he guess old habits die hard and calls him selfish saying the only attitude HBK is interested in is the HBK attitude. Shelton then says he's not like that and he's going to go out there and give Carlito a piece of his attitude and get into the Chamber. He then hopes Shawn makes it into the Chamber too and slams the book into Shawn's chest as he storms out. Hmm, I wonder if they are building for a Shawn Michaels versus Shelton Benjamin match at Wrestlemania. Probably not, but I can dream.
The announcers then hype up three of the elimination chamber qualifying matches in Shawn Michaels versus Big Show, Triple H versus Kane, and Carlito versus Shelton Benjamin which should be next. Here's hoping both Shelton and Carlito stay on their current hot streak.
Commercial break times three equals a pray for a HBK-Benjamin match at Wrestlemania. How hard could it be? Come on, please?
As we come back, we see a recap of Cena in Italy promoting his rap album. Pretty much like all the rest of the recaps since I looked for something shiny to be distracted by like always. Oh, tin foil!
Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
Shelton Benjamin Vs. Carlito
I actually really enjoyed this match and I mean really enjoyed it. It was easily the best match these two have had and had a great story of Shelton's sense to prove himself over his past mis-fortunes against Carlito. Carlito worked over Shelton's back in the match pretty well with a bunch of moves and Shelton was probably selling the best I've seen him do since last year. Carlito was doing all sorts of classic heel mannerism as well like ducking out of the ring as well as latching onto the ref for protection like when Shelton got a sunset flip. Even Shelton's comeback was right on cue and probably one of the best face comebacks I've ever seen him do. The only problem with the match was just one move that looked horribly awkward. I think it was supposed to be a Downward Spiral from Carlito to Shelton, but Carlito didn't latch it on all the way so Shelton took it like a DDT. It looked really weird to me, but really not enough to bog the match down. I find it funny that the match really got no attention from the crowd at all. I'm talking zilch, zero, none! It was actually kind of pathetic seeing that it was miles better than the first match which had pops galore. In the end, Shelton Benjamin tried to show a new attitude after hitting the T-Bone. Instead of pinning Carlito, he went to get the apple and spit it in the face of Carlito, but as he bent over, Carlito rolled him up and got the quick win in a good match.
Winner: Carlito
Star Wrestler: Both
I know I normally only do this when it's a great match and I'm not calling this a great match, but both men were right on the ball tonight. They delivered a good under-card match to get Carlito over for the WWE Title picture as well as get over Shelton's current losing streak because of his attitude. Everything they did bar that one awkward move was on cue and even though the crowd basically shat on the match, I'd still call it one of the better Raw matches I've seen in a while. Great effort by both men and they definitely are keeping their hot streak going.
We then see McMahon backstage walking to his office and Trevor Murdoch, southern drawl and all, interrupts him and says he hears they are looking for a general manager and he thinks he's their "hucklebuck." Oh, he's also got a cup for his tobaccy too! He says think about it: Trevor Murdoch, Raw General Manager! He says he's got all sorts of "idears" for Raw and McMahon calls his tobacco a disgusting habit, but will give it consideration. As he walks off, he calls Murdoch an idiot. Why playa hate on the redneck? It's just not right! McMahon then walks into his office to sultry music and Candice Michelle in a provocative position. He asks her why she came and she asks about the general manager position for Raw. Vince asks here what kind of qualifications she has. She answers that she has the best (moan) assets (moan) to be (moan) the best (moan) general manager (moan!). With the final moan, she rips off her top and climaxes in probably more ways than one. She then says she can do this and does one of those slow spinning dances which kind of reminded me of one of those Stuart jokes from Mad TV. "Look what I can do!" With Vince looking happy, Angle and Daivari bust in saying they need to talk and the party is over as we go to a break. Ah, can't McMahon get any?
Commercial break times four equals a really good match between Carlito and Shelton. God, this is just pumping me up more and more for the hopes of a Michaels-Shelton feud/series. I've always said Shelton reminds me a bit of HBK and in time, he could be (emphasis on "could be") the new showstopper, so why not do it?
The WWE Rewind as we come back is the fatal four-way tag match last week which was basically just a squash to put Big Show and Kane over that much more. A fun squash I thought though.
Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
Big Show Vs. Shawn Michaels
This was really a let-down match that started off really bland. They just did a run around match for the first half where Michaels would fight and Big Show would push him off. That's not the kind of match I'd expect from HBK in 2005 as well as Big Show seeing as he's been surprisingly good as of late. As the match progressed, it got better with Big Show manhandling Michaels, but it still was not as good as I was hoping for. I loved Michaels trying to make the comeback though. He hit the flying elbow to Big Show, which didn't push him down, and did his nip-up. He then got this look like, "Crap, what do I do now?" and went for the clothesline. When he couldn't knock Show down again, he gave the same look only amplified by about ten. He then did it again to which Big Show countered out of. Good spot I thought with a nice parody on the typical HBK comeback we see in every match. After that comeback spot, Big Show went for the Chokeslam onto Michaels, but Michaels countered it into a DDT which was actually pretty cool looking. Thankfully, we got to see the culmination of the Michaels comeback as he hit the elbow drop to Big Show's sternum. Michaels then started to tune up the band and delivered some music to Big Show's chin as he was getting up. Of course, this didn't knock down Show, so Michaels went for another one, which resulted in another fun spot. Big Show swatted away Michaels' foot and then grabbed Michaels by the throat for another Chokeslam. The finish then came as Triple H ran down with a chair and knocked Michaels out, causing Show to get disqualified and screwing him over. The look of Big Show after the match was just remarkable. Pissed off giants are all sorts of fun and if you don't think so, I suggest you go watch some old Andre matches.
Winner: Shawn Michaels
Star Wrestler: Shawn Michaels
Like I said, it really wasn't as good as I thought and I suspect it might be because of Big Show. He was kind of lethargic in the match and was content to just do the fly swatting gimmick instead of charging after Michaels some more. To his defense, I loved him just swatting the Superkick which put over his power so much, but doing it repeatedly in other spots just looked lazy. Shawn was really the one selling the match to me with his good offense like the DDT and Superkick as well as his facials like when he realized he couldn't do his comeback. I'd like to see a PPV-caliber match between these two before Michaels hangs up his boots, but I really doubt we would see it and after this match, I wonder how good it would be.
We then go backstage to Angle freaking out saying he needs to make a statement tonight. Vince asks what kind of statement and Angle says he wants Cena in the ring tonight so he can beat him in front of his hometown. Vince then gives Angle a statement: back off! He goes on a tirade asking who Angle thinks he is and saying he's not Bischoff. He's not going to give Angle his match, but will put Cena in a singles match against Daivari in the first ever "You Can't See Me" match which he says is the kind of innovation he is looking for in the new general manager. So stuff that's been done many times before, even at Wrestlemania, is still innovative today? Cool! I want to see a battle royal for a couple thousand this year then. McMahon then dismisses them but first tells him that he can insult the troops and Larry Bird, but better never interrupt him again. McMahon was actually kind of good in this segment with the screaming at Daivari. When he holds it in check (instead of screaming all over the place), it's definitely a great thing to have in a segment for comedic effect. McMahon then tries to do some more comedy which doesn't work sadly as he plays with Candice's wand as we go to another break.
Commercial break times five equals elation that Daivari has a match tonight followed by disappointment that it's against Cena.
Coming back, we see the highlight video of the past two years with the troops over the holidays. This is really the first year WWE has used it to put over a storyline. Even though I shouldn't be, I'm visibly shocked they would do that. Anyway, we then see a commercial hyping up Donny Deutsch covering the Afghanistan tour and we go to another match.
Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
Viscera Vs. Chris Masters
Something inside me just doesn't think Viscera could get into the Elimination Chamber. Call it a hunch, but I think Masters will win this one. Anyway, do I even need to speak on this match? It had about one good spot with Masters trying to lift Viscera into a powerslam, but Viscera's girth, so to speak, overpowered Masters juice strength and Viscera came crashing down onto Masters in a cross body. Fun little spot but that was about it. They teased the Masterlock in this and every time Masters went for it, you could see Viscera's bitch tits poking out of his pajamas. Just the sheer fact that Viscera wears pajamas should tell you all you have to know about this match. In the end, Masters sent Viscera into the second turnbuckle and then locked the Masterlock onto the kneeling Viscera for the win. What do you know, I was right!
Winner: Chris Masters
Star Wrestler: Viscera
I'll give Viscera this clearly because I just feel dirty giving it to some guy who has no idea being in the main event so soon. Also, Viscera gave me a nice, hearty laugh with his bitch tits, so I'll give him his due somewhat.
We then get the SmackDown! Rebound which is the recap of the recent horror show crap involving Undertaker and Randy Orton. Such a good match will come out of this, but at what price honestly? The announcers then hype up the final qualifying match between Kane and Triple H as well as Daivari and Cena in the "You Can't See Me" match.
Commercial break times six equals Chris Masters in the Elimination Chamber. Oh, someone stop me. I can hardly contain my excitement.
As we come back, they show us something happened on WWE Unlimited. Well, if you're just going to show it to us, why have it at all? Anyway, Trish is outside of Mickie James' locker room talking to herself about how to let down Mickie. I guess she's tired of the annoying antics of her number one fan. Mickie then hops out of the dressing room and hugs the reluctant Trish and they both have something to say. Finally Mickie gets a chance to talk, after we learn she has a number one contendership match next, and she says that the last few months of hanging with Trish has been amazing. Mickie goes on to tell one of those heart pulling stories about her grandpappy and her always watching wrestling and going to Wrestlemania X-Seven where Trish stood up to Vince. She makes a joke that she was totally sleeping with him, but she's cool with it. Shortly after that, Mickie's grandpappy passed away but he is looking down on them and smiling because she's hanging out with Trish! She then goes onto say that at New Year's Revolution; she could be in the ring with Trish. How awesome would that be? Trish begrudgingly agrees as Mickie finally calms down and gives Trish an opening to talk finally. Trish chickens out and simply says good luck as she gives Mickie a high five and doesn't look too happy.
The music of Dean Douglas 2005 hits and Matt Striker comes out for a classroom lesson on the stage of Raw where a desk and blackboard is set up. Say what you want, but Matt Srtiker rocks in my book. He says for those of you who are educationally impaired (or stupid) and they don't know who he is or they just can't read, his name is Matt Striker and he is our teacher. Yay, teacher is here! Striker then goes on to introduce today's lesson (which he spells for you Cena fans out there): family values! Striker asks what happened to the country and where all the values went. He then goes on to give an example which is working mothers. He asks some guy in the audience if he knows what that means, but says of course not, because the only work his mother does is on her back. Is that really work though? All she has to do is lay there, the guy's doing the work. Whoops, sorry; wrong time for that topic. Anyway, Striker goes on to say that the more kids she puts out, the more money Uncle Sam will dish out. He says they weren't born out of love, but out of greed and necessity and he's tired of having to pay for mother's who can't get their legs closed. He then asks where the fathers are and says they are out with other women, or here in Massachusetts, marrying other men. Striker goes on to say the same sex unions are ruining this country, but he shouldn't blame them. It's not their fault they're out there "smoking the pot" and getting all tattooed up. They don't know any better because they are un-educated. That's where Striker comes in. He then asks if you're missing family values, to look for new role models. He says to look to a man like him and he will be your father figure because he's your teacher! Hot damn, this guy can cut a promo. I wish he could give Randy Orton some lessons.
McMahon is then with a ref trying out the mask Cena will have to wear tonight saying it's hot as hell, but will do. He then goes on to address the returning Chris Nowinski who says that a Harvard general manager is pure genius. God, I miss Chris Nowinski. They should pair him with Matt Striker as a manager to get Striker over more and let me see some more Nowinski. I've missed him so much; god damn post concussion syndrome. Someone then knocks on the door and McMahon invites them in as Nowinski talks about wanting the best, and McMahon says speaking of the best, it's the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes! Yay, Dus-day Rwodes! McMahon then excuses Nowinski and teases giving the job to Dusty. They start to jab at each other as we go back to the announcers hyping up the main event matches coming up next. Aw, we don't get to see more Dusty or Nowinski? What's wrong with you, WWE?
Commercial break times seven equals Matt Striker, Chris Nowinski, & Dusty Rhodes all in one TV stretch. Is this my lucky day?
Number One Contendership For WWE Women's Championship
Mickie James Vs. Victoria
God, when Mickie James debuted with WWE, I was getting so pumped for her matches with Victoria and Trish Stratus. Well, so far Mickie has had two matches counting this one with Victoria and both have just sucked. Women's wrestling is just cursed, in my opinion. Even Victoria sucked in this match when she's normally the glue that keeps the women's division together. I'm really not looking forward to the match at New Year's Revolution. They basically did the same spots as always with one or two extra and a finish which sounds good on paper but just looked sloppy as Mickie hit Victoria with a standing tornado DDT to get the win and a match at New Year's Revolution. Total dud here, but I guess I should be getting used to describing that for matches in America's women wrestling.
Winner: Mickie James
Star Wrestler: Mickie James
Victoria was just god awful in this match and probably the worst I've seen her all year or probably since she debuted in 2002. Mickie James wasn't much better, but at least her brawling has improved a bit here with some nice shots and frenzied attacks. It's still not enough to make me anything else but disappointed.
Mickie then celebrates in the ring as Trish sounds visibly stunned and reluctant for the upcoming match. We then see Triple H coming out to the ring and it looks like the final qualifying match is next.
Commercial break times eight equals a definite answer that women's wrestling in America is cursed. Yes, there are tons of great matches with women in them, but on a whole, the potential is wasted by all ladies and not just in WWE, people. Look at TNA's and ROH's women's division if you don't believe me.
Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
Triple H Vs. Kane
This was a horribly bland match and almost as bland as the eight man tag from Turning Point yesterday. They just did all their trademarks here and there with the only thing out of the norm being Triple H hitting a DDT randomly. Before I forget, commercial break times nine equals a big disappointment. Like the blunt comment? Well to continue, this was just bad. Ref bumps, barrier fighting, steel steps bump, big boot, Spinebuster, rising knee (that looked sloppy as hell), et cetera. Anything Triple H and Kane do on a regular basis, they did it again here in a horribly predictable and bland fashion. They didn't even look like they wanted to be out there. To finish off this bland one that just dragged on and on and on like a TNA PPV, Triple H got a sledgehammer after a ref bump (and random DDT), but Big Show came out. The two had a stare off while Kane recovered and the two set Triple H for the double Chokeslam giving Kane the win and entry into the chamber. What a freakin' match. It feels like 2003 all over again.
Winner: Kane
Star Wrestler: Kane
Kane has always and will always be hit and miss, but Triple H used to be one of the top workers in the world. What's his excuse?
As the tag champs stand tall, we go backstage to John Cena, who makes a quick pit stop to look at the new Diva's book, on his way to the ring for the main event.
Commercial break times ten equals a stunning revelation. The past two matches with Triple H in them have been pretty bad on his part. Is this a sign of things to come?
You Can't See Me Match
Daivari Vs. John Cena
This was short, as it should have been, and thus there wasn't really much to like or dislike. They did the tease of Daivari running around Cena and making noises so Cena would charge and duck out of the way. This led to a good crowd interaction spot with Cena pointing in random areas and the crowd saying "yes" or "no" so Cena could find Daivari. Eventually, Cena got to Daivari and held onto his tights before beating him with some sloppy punches. He then got the chance to lock in the STF, which he is calling the STFU now, and got the quick win in a quick match for marks world-wide.
Winner: John Cena
Star Wrestler: John Cena
Criticize him all you want, but Cena was better tonight with the crowd than he has been in the past few months. It's most likely because it's his hometown but that doesn't really hide the fact that the guy gave the crowd a happy main event and interacted well with them.
After the match, Angle bum rushes Cena who's still blindfolded, but as Angle mouths off to the crowd, Cena recovers and gains his sight back to clear Angle out of the ring. He then gets the dazed Daivari up for a quick FU to stand tall in the middle of the ring as this Raw goes off the air.
Raw this week was again weird like last week. I loved how they followed up last week's entertainment based show with an action based show as we got seven matches tonight, but to be honest, only two of them didn't suck. It's a good effort on WWE's part, but the delivery was not so well. WWE just needs to get into a pattern that works and stick to it. Maybe four to five matches a week and two or three segments running seven-ten minutes. Obviously we can't trust them to do a show without the entertainment and obviously we can't trust them to do one without the matches, so WWE really just needs to find a nice compromise and stick to it. The other part about this Raw that was weird is that I can safely say that it depressed me more about the first PPV of 2006 rather than hyped me up. There is no doubt that this Chamber match will be better than Summerslam 2003, but by looking over the people in the match, how much better will it be? Then we have the women's match which I am not looking forward to one bit. The only thing I'm looking forward to hasn't been announced yet which is Big Show versus Triple H, however, with the main event, how much time will this match really get? Back on point though, this was definitely not one of the better episodes of Raw, but a better effort to give us more matches and less entertainment. I'd like to say at least they're trying, but when their definition of trying includes a Chris Masters and Viscera match, I find it hard to compliment them.
With that note, I think it's about time to end this review. I've got the normal WWE and TNA shows to follow this week as well as an episode of NWA-VA Action Zone. Also, tonight, do not forget to check out my live play-by-play reviewing of WWE Armageddon at TheWrestlingVoice.com. I'm really not lying when I say that everyone always seems to enjoy it and we get a huge turnout for it. Plus, believe me when I say that we are the fastest and most in-depth site on the net for live coverage, so if you're going to read results anyway, why not have some fun and get the best coverage? For more information on the live coverage tonight, simply click here. Well, that's going to do it for this long-winded review. 'Till next time, this is "Squared Circle Reviews" signing off and hoping you enjoy what you watch.
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