Live from San Diego

Ric Flair opened the program with an interview with Tazz. The decision to not even introduce him to the crowd when Shawn Michaels had seemingly constructed the perfect lead-in last evening was baffling and typified the ineptness of how this retirement storyline has been booked. Flair called being the first active wrestler selected for the Hall “perhaps the biggest honor of my life.” That’s somewhat of a suspicious designation considering Hogan, Piper, Slaughter, Rhodes and others have wrestled after their inductions. That was the whole promo before Elijah Burke interrupted. To paraphrase Shakespeare’s Richard III: “My kingdom for a Flair interview!” Burke actually referenced that Vince McMahon had chosen him to lead the new breed of ECW stars which has been a dormant storyline for eight months. That led to Shelton Benjamin interrupting. Shelton said Flair had been the gold standard in wrestling for years but that he is now the new gold standard. Flair got in a brief retort before the heels began a double teaming on Flair; CM Punk made the save. This segment failed as Flair again came across as just another guy on the roster in just another opening segment leading to an arbitrary tag match.

An ad for Raw teased another Floyd Mayweather appearance without expressly saying so. The show is taped in Phoenix, so it’s not all that far of a trip for Mayweather.

Coming back from break, Estrada booked the main event tag match.

Kofi Kingston v. Jason Riggs

Kingston connected with a couple of arm drags early on. They actually, inexplicably then had Kingston sell a rest hold from the jobber for about one minute. Kingston made his comeback with a flying forearm, Russian leg sweep and his double legdrop. He won with the Jamaican buzzsaw soon thereafter. It’s time to move Kingston up the ladder at this point and see if he sinks or swims. After the match, Kofi did a quick interview dropping his trouble in paradise catchphrase and leaving.

Kingston squash, Pin, 2:33.

They replayed the Hornswaggle-JBL-Finlay angle from last evening, which I thought was very well done. I could have done without the overbearing music, but otherwise the video piece was well put together. They need to do this every time that they book a serious injury angle (which admittedly should not be too often) to fully get it over. Afterward, Joey Styles mentioned that doctors suspect Hornswaggle may be suffering from cerebral bleeding.

Colin Delaney v. The Miz

Colin came out to Dreamer’s very generic intro music which takes away one small thing that made him unique. Miz hit a waist lock takedown and a charging clothesline to start. Miz then leaped from the ring to the floor spiking Colin on the middle rope on the way down. Back in, Colin actually landed a couple of punches which prompted Morrison to trip him from the outside. That distraction actually led to a roll up near fall for Delaney. But the moment would not last as Miz hit him with a clothesline and the reality check to finish. After the bell, the heels hit their finishers on both Dreamer and Delaney.

Miz d. Delaney, Pin, 2:30, ½*.

For some reason, they replayed the Maria-Santino angle from last night. What a sad moment that was in that they flushed Beth’s months’ long unbeaten streak down the toilet for no reason. They pitched it to Kelly Kelly backstage who was excited for Maria and indicated her desire to someday pose for Playboy.

Stevie Richards v. James Curtis

That makes three squash matches in a row. Curtis took the advantage early with a clothesline, well sold by Richards. That led to another jobber rest hold. The match is going all of two or three minutes, why would you ever use a rest hold?! Stevie made his comeback with a run of back kicks and a neckbreaker. He then finished with the Stevie T.

Richards squash, Pin, 2:00.

The Raw Rebound featured the Big Show-Floyd Mayweather feud.

Ric Flair & CM Punk v. Shelton Benjamin & Elijah Burke

Fifty-four minutes into the broadcast and here comes the first competitive match. The announcers made only a casual mention that Flair’s career was not on the line here, because I suppose Ric Flair’s career is really only a trivial matter. I am gradually growing to greatly dislike this show. Punk hip locked and slammed Burke to set up a tag to Flair and his chops. Burke then did his own tribute to Flair by prematurely going up top and getting slammed down to the mat. Flair himself actually went up top and managed to successfully come down on both heels as the contest went into a commercial break. Back from break, Benjamin hit a back body drop on Flair. Flair was selling a knee injury as he ducked a charge and made the hot tag to Punk. Yes, the hot tag came after forty-five seconds or so of the televised part of the heat segment. The heels went right back to getting the heat as Punk was quickly caught. Burke hit his outer limits elbow and elbows to the ring. Shelton tagged back in and picked up a near fall. He then looked to power bomb Punk but instead awkwardly dumped him on the ropes. Back in, Punk hit an impressive-looking standing enzuigiri leading to another hot tag. Why they did not do one prolonged heat segment instead of two short ones is beyond me. Flair was on a roll with Burke until Benjamin hit from behind. Punk and Benjamin fought on the outside as Burke set up for the Elijah Express. But Flair moved out of the corner and won clean in the middle with the figure-four leglock. The crowd still went crazy for the finish.

Flair (x) & Punk d. Benjamin & Burke (o), Submission, 10:16, *¾.

Final Analysis:

* Joey Styles and Tazz are doing a heck of a job in trying to get over Kofi Kingston as something special, seemingly putting over everything he does as some remarkable feat of athleticism. I’m not buying it and I suspect much of the audience is not either. The fact that he can jump marginally higher than most and does a legdrop with two legs does not make him anything special. They emphasize his offense as exemplary, yet the reputation does not hold up to any examination. If WWE wants to do this gimmick properly, they would try it with a legit super worker who actually does have great, unique offense. Of course, that plan runs contrary to the conformity and rigidness of WWE’s current hiring and developmental policy.

* Let’s compare the results of Heat, taped last night before Raw, to this evening’s ECW show. Heat featured Bob Holly v. Charlie Haas, Mickie James v. Melina, Lance Cade v. Brian Kendrick and Carlito v. Cody Rhodes. The ECW results are obviously listed above. Though the main event on this show was stronger than anything on Heat, ECW also featured nothing else but squashes whereas Heat at least had all competitive matches. The fact that the lineup for a show that airs in a primetime slot on a fairly strong cable channel has a lineup arguably inferior to a throwaway internet show (it is televised in a few countries overseas) is striking. I’m not sure that there is much I can add as that fact speaks for itself.

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