I've been dreading writing this article. Not because I hated the show or anything like that, but because it took place 20 minutes from my house and I wasn't there! No regrets, as I was working at a job I love, but there is something special about going to Raw live, and I had to miss it.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Pee Wee Herman was the guest star! I'm not that old, but I do remember watching Pee Wee's big adventure with my father and was always a fan of the off kilter comic. Thus, I was apt to enjoy this guest star, unlike most.
While Pee Wee ran wild, was he HOT? NOT? Who fell victim to saying the magic word? Let's find out who was HOT and who was NOT from Long Island goes Pee Wee Raw:
(Writer's note - it was FREEZING last night so no one was truly hot. My opinion is that early November should NOT be that cold. Anyway, here are the lists:)
1. Pee Wee Herman - Say what you want about celebrities having nothing to do with wrestling and taking away from the show, but I found his segment with The Miz hilarious. I seriously could not stop laughing. Call me crazy, but I tune into wrestling to be entertained and that was certainly entertaining. Hate me if you want, but I enjoyed that part of the show. To me, wrestling doesn't always have to be serious. Funny works too and the man is funny!
2. R-Truth - The man is a terrible actor and has a terrible new theme song, but he has become an integral part of the main storyline on Raw. His friendship to Cena is giving us clues as to Cena's intentions, or at least his interpretations of them. I feel like this is somehow going to be a major factor, but I haven't figured out how yet. I do find it weird that Truth has flat out told Cena to quit and has been just as blunt with him as Barrett has. We'll see how it plays out but Truth is definitely involved in the biggest story of his career. Now if only he could drop that terrible new song...........
3. LITA!!! - I know this is the second non Raw talent on the HOT list, but I couldn't help it! I was a total Lita mark back in the day as it was the coolest thing to see what "crazy Leets" might do next. Nowadays, she'd totally be shown up by Eve Torres, but back when she was doing a moonsault, it was EXTREME! Apparently, Lita is a Pee Wee Herman fan and that's the reason she showed up, but either way, it was just great to see her on TV again. Do I think this will lead to a return (the stock question to ask when anyone has a one time appearance)? No, but as they always say in the wrestling business "never say never"...........
1. Rey Mysterio - He's not a Raw superstar, but he was supposed to appear to fight Miz this week. For those of you with an extremely short term memory, Miz called out Mysterio last week and he was supposed to answer the challenge. Apparently an inner ear infection kept the master of the 619 away from the Awesome One, and that's a shame. A Mysterio/Miz match would have been infinitely better than the Miz/Big Show match that we got and I think the show suffered as a result. This could have been the best match of the night and we missed out. I hope this leads to something bigger down the road, because Rey Rey might just be the guy to really put Miz over as a main eventer. I'm no Rey mark, but he was definitely missed on this night.
2. Vince McMahon - Kudos to story continuity in regards to having Vince still in a coma, but this segment was just in poor taste. Yes, it was pretty funny, but I thought it was a cheap "stick it to the man" attempt that wasn't great in that regard. I talked about this in my article yesterday and I stand by it. I understand the importance of the election to the McMahon family and I understand the issues they have been facing, but with Pee Wee Herman already on the show, no more comedy was needed. The only good thing about this segment is that we won't see one like it again for at least 4 years....
3. Vladimir Koslov - Remember when this man was main eventing Pay Per Views just two years ago? Neither does anyone else. It did happen though, and Koslov was a threat to men like Triple H, Edge, and Jeff Hardy. Now, he is about as threatening as a rain cloud in the desert. In a continuation from last week's story, Koslov fought in place of his buddy Santino Marella, but unlike the feisty Italian, the Sambo expert was pinned in minutes by Sheamus. A bit ironic perhaps, as Sheamus got a similar push to Koslov, with the difference obviously being that Sheamus stuck as a main eventer. Koslov did not, and now he is mere fodder to the Celtic Warrior. As Jerry Seinfeld would say "that's a shame".
While this wasn't the show of the year, it was definitely entertaining. The surprise appearances, the comedy, and overall entertainment facto was high, but the effectiveness of individual segments was not. The trend of having every segment or match have meaning is seemingly over as some just didn't serve much of a purpose. I'd like to see the show revert back to that, as I was enjoying keeping up with multiple stories for once. Still, the main story is The Nexus/Cena/Orton stuff, which is leading up to a huge Survivor Series match. I'm starting to fear that this match could actually be built up for a huge result/swerve, only for disappointment to follow. Time will tell if this is the case, but here's hoping for some solid TV leading up to it.