RAW Retort – Triple H loses control

Starting RAW with HBK is guaranteed to make the fans happy. HBK was a bit repetitive tonight, but he set up well for Orton, and worked really well against him. I thought it was smart to try to turn Orton’s hometown fans against him, but the dirty tactics didn’t work well, and the fans didn’t turn on him the way the writers had planned. The thing that hurt Orton the most with the fans was his attack on HBK. HBK did well to fight back, not bad for a man who hasn’t worked the ring in how long?

Miz fights back

I don’t understand how Miz so easily got the upper hand on Orton after being beaten down so badly in the past, but that’s WWE booking for you. I have to admit it was nice seeing the unstoppable Orton being slowed down by the likes of Miz, and it might be because they’re realizing they don’t have enough strong faces in the company for Orton to work against right now, so maybe they shouldn’t be making people like Miz look so weak, even though it was Miz’s hometown beat-down. And speaking of hometown beat-downs, so much for Orton getting one! I guess he’s too high on the roster to rate one of his own.

On the other hand, I love how they’re booking Miz with The Wyatt Family. Putting Bray on the stage, suddenly appearing there in his rocker, and not doing anything but talking pushes their slowly growing storyline forward, while also keeping Bray off his feet and letting his possible injury heal. Brilliant booking by the hands of WWE creative. I can’t wait to see where this storyline is going to lead, and I hope they lead us there slowly, because theses slower storylines seem to be working out so much better for the WWE right now.

Dancing for cobras

I love Fandango working against Santino. They’re both very funny guys who know how to work the crowd, but I don’t think they were booked to their strengths in this match. Both of them felt a bit tentative and watered down this week. Hopefully that’s only because Tons of Funk was also in a match and brought a bit of their own silliness to the ring. Honestly, I wish they’d stick to one strong comedic segment each week, rather than two wishy-washy ones.

Taunting the GM

I really don’t understand Maddox. One week he’s absolutely horrible on mic, can barely remember his own name, the next week he comes off as strong and self assured. I used to think it was because Maddox couldn’t handle himself on mic, and that was the reason early on, but these days I have to blame it on the booking. I think, like with Steph and Trip, creative needs to decide who they are, and stick to it. You cannot have strong characters if they’re changing whether they’re heel or face depending on creative’s moods.

Petitioning for Big Show

I was shocked when I heard that the WWE was going to be using Xavier Woods in the WWE storyline. I’ve been a huge fan of his since he was Consequences Creed in TNA. I thought he should have been brought up quite a long time ago as he has solid ring skills, and I know he’s been touring with the house shows as I saw him live a couple years ago locally. Having him putting a petition out for Big Show to return seems strange to be, but hopefully they have a plan to make it work better than what I’m seeing from it right now.