By: Todd Martin

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Blog: toddwmartin.blogspot.com

Date: 07/13/09 from Orlando, FL.

The Big News: Seth Green was guest host and wrestled a match on Raw, and it worked out a whole lot better than I would have imagined.

Show Analysis:

HHH came out to start the show and introduce the guest host, Seth Green (he’s a C-list actor). That was a smart move clearly made to ensure Green would get a positive reaction. Green came out and appeared to be 3’4” and 54 pounds. He announced a six person diva swimsuit match. HHH and Green plugged his show and told jokes about Randy Orton. An angry Orton came out, and Green announced Orton and Legacy vs. HHH, John Cena and Green. Using someone like Green as a “celebrity” to me sounded like a bad idea, but this came off fine. The audience was kind to him and he was okay.

Maryse, Rosa Mendes and Alicia Fox beat Gail Kim, Mickie James and Kelly Kelly. They were wearing swimsuits which were as skimpy as WWE has shown in ages. It didn’t come off as sleazy, either. I enjoyed it. Gail hit a huracanrana and Kelly hit a handspring elbow on Rosa. The heels worked over Kelly. Kelly tagged in Mickie, who hit a Thesz press off the top. Maryse, however, threw her into the post and hit an implant DDT for the pin. As an aside, Mickie had a more normal physique than the other ultra-skinny women, and I thought she looked better for it.

Backstage, Seth Green met with Chris Jericho. Jericho reprimanded him, so Green suggested he leave. Jericho said that he had something to say and told Green to stay out of his business. Later, Green asked Big Show for advice. Show told Green to watch his match with Evan Bourne to see how people Green’s size fare in WWE and offered help for one million dollars (the old Austin Powers Dr. Evil joke).

Miz beat Primo Colon. Primo called out Carlito, but Miz came out instead. Primo hit a side Russian leg sweep, back elbow, dropkick and springboard crossbody. However, Carlito then came out and got on apron to distract Primo. Miz hit a full nelson forward leg sweep for the pin. Carlito attacked Primo after the match and spit apple on him.

I hated this segment. Primo and Carlito are legitimate brothers and they broke up last week. They should be doing something to acknowledge that and make this feel different than any old generic feud, but here they are doing the most formulaic of heel interference scenarios. This is phony, lazy booking with a complete lack of vision.

Jack Swagger beat MVP. Swagger used wrestling early and MVP retaliated with punches. I could just hear Jesse Ventura in the back of my head going on a rant about technical wrestling and rule breaking. Swagger worked over MVP. MVP came back with balling but Swagger snapped his arm over the ropes and hit the gutwrench power bomb for the pin. This was not a good match.

Chris Jericho came out to acknowledge Edge’s injury. He said that he should have known better than to take a tag team partner as frail and easily injured as Edge. He said that Edge was the weak link in the team and that Jericho shouldn’t be punished for Edge’s imperfections. He then said that he had a clause in the Night of Champions contract that if Edge was injured he could choose a new partner. They should have just stuck Tom Zenk in a mask and claimed he was Edge.

Mark Henry came out. He teased that he would be Jericho’s partner, but then said he was there to be Jericho’s opponent. Jericho’s facials in reacting to this were great. They delayed for a while, Henry beat up Jericho a bit, and then Jericho just left for a count out. They appear to be doing a gimmick where heels just walk out on matches with Henry. Henry has an awesome new gimmick where he raises his hands and all the fans stand and then puts his hands down and all the fans sit. It took off amazingly well here and given a few weeks it will be huge and a great visual. Props to whoever had that idea.

Hornswoggle beat Chavo Guerrero. Guerrero had one hand tied behind his back. Hornswoggle used the stink face and a small package for the pin. I would have preferred commercials. Backstage, Randy Orton praised Ted DiBiase for slapping his father. Cody Rhodes said that Dusty Rhodes may be a future guest host on WWE Raw.

Big Show beat Evan Bourne in a squash. Show threw Bourne around for a while. Bourne hit one dropkick off the top and then Show speared him and applied the camel clutch for the submission. Kofi Kingston made the save afterwards. This was your typical WWE “bury the talented smaller guy for no good reason” booking. ZZ Top was announced as the guest hosts for next week.

HHH, John Cena and Seth Green battled to a double DQ with Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Green was all scared coming out. I guess it’s better than taking the match as a joke, but it begged the question why exactly he made the match to begin with. They did a spot where Green tagged in and ran away to set up HHH and Cena getting in shots on Legacy. The heels worked over Cena, who got the tag to HHH.

HHH came in with a face buster and spine buster for Orton. Orton caught HHH with the RKO, but Green made the save which was the big spot. Orton kicked Green and went to punt him but Cena made the save. Then all of a sudden Rhodes brought a chair into the ring and HHH a sledgehammer and that was that. The match worked much better than I would have expected, although the finish was horrendous.

Final Thoughts:

I thought this show was pretty good. It had all of the trappings of WWE’s current mentality towards pro wrestling that I’m not a huge advocate of, but I thought the segments for the most part succeeded in what they were trying to do. The crowd seemed into the show throughout and Seth Green did well with what he was given.

I want to make mention of a documentary I had a chance to see on “Gentleman” Chris Adams. It looks at his life and death and has interviews with a lot of people from the World Class era in Texas. I think it’s an enjoyable watch for people interested in that period:

http://www.eyesoda.com/film/374

Also, I’ll be on Fight Network Radio tomorrow at around 4:10PM Eastern/1:10PM Pacific with John Pollock. We’ll be talking Raw as well as UFC 100 and whatever else is going on. I think this one could be a lot of fun. You can listen at:

http://hardcoresportsradio.com/