Raw 11-15

The Old School Raw might have been just what this WWE blogger needed to boost his spirits. The shows the past weeks have been sub par. Okay, in actuality they sucked. I'm trying to be nice but it's hard. Even Smackdown didn't do much for me. I'm not going to mention TNA and their lame ass new title. Before Raw, I have to get to a great email I received the other day from a loyal reader.

J Call,
I've been reading your blogs for a while. I'm disappointed you've never taken an email. You talk about several wrestlers past and present. The WWE roster is full of potential. Who do you see as an underutilized wrestler in WWE?

Mark Robinson, Portland, Oregon

My apologizes for not taking email before. I love your question because yo u could name several guys or Divas. I keep coming back to Teddy for the answer. Ted Dibiase Jr. could be a U.S. champion already. His body of work isn't huge. He was part of a great stable for 2 years. Dibiase, along with fellow Legacy brethren Rhodes, has only held tag gold. Daniel Bryan has nobody as a threat to his title. I'm sick of the Goldust thing. Teddy has the skills and tools. He should have had Million Dollar Challenges when he brought in that belt. He and Morrison never matured. Crowds don't feel he is relevant. The fans are right. I wouldn't have changed his music either. The way I see Teddy is getting in the U.S. picture once the Goldust deal finishes. He's going to be in the MITB match at Mania. In another year, things will be different for the Fortunate son. Thanks for you the email.

If you would like to email a question to me, send it to jcall@bigbadsportsdaddy.com. I am still conducting my WWE DVD contest. If you send me a picture with a sign that says, "Sheamus the Irish Ghost" and I can tell you took the sign to a WWE event. I will send you a WWE DVD. I'm not lying. This contest is in conjunction with BBSD.

I must say I'd love to see Raw start using that video package and music every week. They could keep the platform out front as well. I loved when they did live interviews in front of the crowd. It keeps them involved instead of staring at a large screen. Sometimes simplistic is better than trying to out do other and creating fancy backgrounds. I could tell after the 1st segment, I was going to love Raw. The feeling brought me back to my childhood.

I was very happy to see Ziggler on Monday night again. I hoped he was facing Bryan. Henry's sexual chocolate role was a sweet touch. I forgot all about that. They had a quality match. Nothing special but forged Ziggler in the right direction. My problem is Ziggler's finisher. Henry kicked out of the Zig Zag which makes me believe the sleeper is going to finish Ziggler's matches. The Zig Zag is much better. He can hit that for a surprise finish. The sleeper is to predictable.

The Dynasty finally broke up for good. The finish works much better now that Kidd is going to be the heel. David will make a better face. After the match, I couldn't help but wonder what the Nexus would do with the tag titles. They need a new contender. Luckily Raw later in the night solved the issue.

We haven't seen Harvey Whipelman or the Brawler in years. I don't need to see them again either. Big Zeke is on a tear but I think he's got to be a heel before he strikes it big. He has the look and he made a good heel on ECW. The change will come soon.

The GM is certainly not old school. The match made with Barrett and Truth was interesting. Barrett hasn't done enough to win over fans as a true main event star. At least Nexus was banned from ringside so it was a classic one on one contest. Barrett needs to win without interference week after week. Before Raw hit the airwaves, I worried this show wouldn't help continue stories. By this time of Raw, they had which eliminated my fears.

Miz weaseling out of his match with Cena wasn't what I had in mind. The match with Riley wasn't anything more than a typical match with Cena. Riley didn't show much offense. The finish was good. Orton and Cena furthered the story and the announcement of Piper's Pit to boot. I've said for weeks that I'm tired of Cena. Well I am. Survivor Series couldn't come soon enough for the send off.

The WWE needs to learn to stop giving the Shiek a live mic. He always rants on Hogan. Shocking, the tag titles have a future opponent. I've mentioned before Santino and Kozlov would make a good tag team match for Nexus. The Morrison save leads to a match at Survivor Series with Sheamus. Thank you! The setup with Brisco and Arn was really well done. Good to see Brisco and Arn needs to be on TV more.

Kofi's return was nice but he hasn't had much interaction with Nexus over on Friday night. He isn't doing anything on Smackdown. He feuded with Ziggler for the IC title for a long time and now has nothing to do. I'd like to see them start a Kofi Rhodes story. I think those 2 would mesh well. George "The Animal" Steel? Hilarious. I can't recall the last time I saw that guy. Kofi hit a beautiful Trouble in Paradise. Opponents need to take lessons from Otunga on that move. Sometimes it looks horrible.

Truth and Barrett put on a decent match. I thought it should have went 2 segments. They had it set up for 2 and instead of a commercial Raw stayed with it. Barrett still didn't show much offensive skills. That's why the match needed to be longer. He still hasn't proved enough to me that he can headline pay per views. WWE had to give Barrett time and failed.

Tito Santana looked great. Tito never got the credit he deserved as an in ring performer. I know some people don't like Del Rio. I'm in the opposite field. Del Rio does a good job and actually gets a crowd reaction. He gets serious heat. His mannerisms are a bit much at times. Even so, Del Rio is here to stay and I'm all for that. Got to love the Sarge except for his wrestling. I didn't need to see that. He could have called someone down to face Del Rio. I guess it got Alberto over. MVP isn't finished with Ziggler yet so the save didn't make much sense. MVP deserves one more shot for the IC title before moving on. Hell, Ziggler hasn't had many opponents since winning it from Kofi. Perhaps, they could make a triple threat and give the IC title meaning.

Mae Young didn't know what PG meant either. Bitches and sluts, sweetness. You see the world didn't collapse when she said that. WWE take notice. We like hearing that. It even got a big pop. I'll bet you if your grandma said slut or bitch you would laugh your ass off. The whole segment didn't help Natalya and LayCool. I'm sure Smackdown will do that.

My heart warmed up to see JR. Bryan and Swagger, with time, could put on a wrestling clinic. They did a nice job with the time given. To bad the entire match was ruined by douche bag Cole. He ruins everything and that's his character. Cole could be wiped off the face off the Earth and only his mom would miss him. Good Ole Jim Ross could have told him Raw got their highest ratings ever when he and King called the action alone. What should have been something cool was a cluster of 3 guys talking over each other. Vintage Cole. Bryan and Swagger is a match I would watch again. I swear I wrote about Dibiase way before Raw started. You know my feelings on the attack. Dibiase and Bryan, where do I sign up?

No main event but a Piper's Pit was sweet. You can give Piper a mic and he brings it every time. He can always deliver a great promo. The face to face with Cena was fantastic. It provided a different view for the heel turn on Sunday. The ending was a great prelude. I'm ready for the finish and see what Cena does. He got the final word on Raw. I honestly have no clue what is going to happen. I've always though Cena would turn on everyone. I don't know now. Orton should have been out longer in the segment. I've written it dozens of times, the WWE title takes a back seat to no one. The whole Cena thing took away from the title and made Cena the story. Yes, Cena is important but the title is what every body wants. Piper tried to make the title feel important. To little to late.

Raw felt special. This type of show was just what I needed. We saw some new things tonight. Dibiase and Bryan is a huge lift for the show. I can't wait for that to develop. The tag champs actually have a title defense ahead of them. We might see both on Sunday. Some of the backstage skits all the Rhodes and the Morrison segments worked and others, Atlas, didn't. Altogether, I felt Raw brought something to the table. I shall return later in the week with my Survivor Series picks. If you need more wrestling opinions, check out the podcast of Showstoppers on BBSD.

J Call