The Guest Hosts on Raw have been hit or miss and last night's Guest Host was one to remember. The Hoff - David Hasselhoff - hosted Raw emanating from the good old United Kingdom. Here, the WWE Universe never lets up and truly show their distaste towards the WWE if they do not like something - The Hoff was over in England. Right off the bat The Hoff makes some huge announcements regarding Raw and Extreme Rules. First, a Baywatch Triple Threat tag team match for Raw. Second, Randy Orton challenges Jack Swagger for the World Heavyweight Championship (whoa!) at Extreme Rules. Finally, Randy Orton battles Batista in the main event. The huge news that comes out of this segment is the fact that Randy Orton will be facing Jack Swagger. This rises some questions and makes everyone want to tune into Smackdown - why don't Edge and Chris Jericho, or the entire Smackdown brand for that matter, have a chance to earn the #1 Contendership again? One answer would be to have Edge and Chris Jericho battle for that coveted title shot at the pay-per-view itself in order to increase buys. Or will Chris Jericho and Edge find their way into the Extreme Rules title match? We shall see this Friday.
After a huge shocking announcement the WWE gives us a shocking title change. The Divas Champion Maryse is dethroned by Diva Search winner, Eve Torres. Eve, entering her third year with the company, gets her first taste of WWE championship after catching the new Blonde Bombshell with a roll-up after blocking the French Kiss DDT. Maryse's charisma is what gave her the Divas Championship. Her lackluster performance in the ring since her return was what caused her the championship to one of the up and coming Divas. This reign may only be for a week or two with the Draft looming the potential of a Smackdown Diva coming over to capture the title is very high.
One of the greatest tag teams in the PG era, Showmiz have had one helluva year. The Big Show has been 1/2 of the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions for a total of 7 months. While The Miz can proclaim that he is the first ever U.S & Unified Tag Team Champion in the history of the WWE. Both men will go their separate ways come draft time, methinks, so it's interesting to see who the WWE decides to give the Tag Titles to next. Miz gets mic time with the legendary Bret Hart. This pairing is great for The Miz because the purpose of the story is to get The Hart Dynasty a tag title shot; however, it is also giving The Miz face time with a WWE Hall of Famer. And according to the British WWE Universe they are responding to The Miz in a great way - which leads me to believe The Miz may be winning his first World Title as a face... that's neither here nor there. Moving on. The Miz defeats David Hart Smith, with Big Show's help, and because of this Bret Hart will have to proclaim Showmiz as the greatest tag team in WWE history.
David Otunga continues to get a leg up on the competition on NXT by again being featured on WWE's flagship show, Raw. Otunga gets face time with Batista - who orders Otunga to get coffee - and we also are informed that Otunga will battle the WWE Champion John Cena. The WWE have high hopes for this man because of his tie in with Jennifer Hudson and the entertainment world. A match with the top star in the company definitely helps elevate superstars - ask The Miz. The Miz has more experience in wrestling than Otunga, however.
The WWE Universe are next entertained by what many people watch the World Wrestling Entertainment for, an actual wrestling match. No gimmick, no hatred, no backstory just a simple one-on-one match for the crowd's, and television audience's, enjoyment. Evan Bourne goes over Carlito via the Airbourne Shooting Star Press. England gets a treat from the WWE in the form of an aerial maneuver - something everyone can take home with them in picture form. Also, we see Carlito's role of jobber continue. Carlito is in need of a change. Interesting night for Carlito though - that to come later.
John Cena defeats David Otunga in another wrestling match via submission. David Otunga is taken to school by John Cena - who knew John Cena knew how to wrestle? Interesting to see him hardly ever employ his mat wrestling ability in any other match he is involved in. Cena takes care of Otunga to regain his heat from last week - as if he really lost much for crying out loud. Nonetheless, it also gives him an extra advantage over his feud with Batista seeing as how he did just defeat Batista's coffee-boy. Batista gets his heat back for the night by cutting a promo on John Cena about how he will take care of him on his time and not on the WWE Universe's time. This feud continues to heat up and it gets better each and every week. Their match at Extreme Rules will not be their last meeting.
Sheamus is the next man to take center stage and continue his feud against The Game Triple H. To Sheamus' advantage since his debut the WWE has been confident enough to let Sheamus get over by cutting promo's. A champion can only really get over if he has the mouthpiece to back up what he does in a ring. Sheamus has proven that but what he lacks is a clean victory over a top WWE star. Wrestlemania was the chance to let the young talent go over but Triple H came out on top. This match will continue to let Sheamus have another feud with another top talent to get him more over. My guess would be that Sheamus will be headed to the blue brand and finally win against a Phenom. Kofi Kingston makes his way out to the ring and challenge Sheamus in Hunter's absence - sources claim that he is heeling a neck injury*, yikes! Instead of jobbing out Kingston tonight we get a solid wrestling match between the two superstars; and, even a Kofi Kingston victory, by disqualification of course. Sheamus takes out Kofi after the match further proving that Kofi Kingston's shooting star is slowly fading.
Carlito and Vladimir Kozlov have a short segment in the back complaining about not getting enough air time and the fault of that being the WWE Guest Hosts. Carlito shows his frustration stating that he wants to be traded to Smackdown. This brings up something, well to me, big in that a WWE Superstar is verbally wanting to trade shows. What brings more attention to this is Carlito's recent use as of late and the fact that Carlito has been known to lack in commitment in wanting to improve his status within the WWE. This can either lead to Carlito being traded to Smackdown and try to once again establish himself as a contender for the Intercontinental Championship or it can lead to the continuation of using Carlito as a veteran star that new guys can use to get themselves over - like Evan Bourne earlier in the night.
Our Guest Host, The Hoff, hosts the Baywatch Triple Threat match. The WWE Superstars associated with this segment give way to the fact that their only reason to be on Raw is to share the spotlight of the Guest Host - which is both to their advantage and not because they do get TV time but they do not get a story that can draw fans to them and make them give a damn. Among them are Gail Kim and Santino Marella, two WWE Superstars that deserve to have a continuous chance to actually wrestle and tell a story. Both wrestlers I'm sure are satisfied with the role they are given - TV time with celebrities. Kelly Kelly, The Bella Twins, Jillian Hall, Eve Mendes, and Hornswoggle will have to just accept the fact that they are given this time only to highlight the Guest Host's appearance on the WWE's flagship show.
The Main Event of Raw featured the two #1 contenders for the respective World titles square off. It's great to witness a match that has been done over and over with the roles reversed this time around. Randy Orton plays the role of face while Batista plays the self-absorbed role of heel this time around. We're given an excellent match between two of WWE's top stars all in hype for the Extreme Rules pay-per-view. The match ends in a no-contest, in true WWE fashion. Though, I give props to the WWE because Jack Swagger has lost heat twice in a row by loosing to Randy Orton and tonight he regained his 'swagger' by hitting a weakened Orton with the Gut Wrench Powerbomb. Ending Raw with the World Heavyweight Champion standing tall would have been a good way for Swagger to regain all his lost heat - but John Cena was not one to be outdone as he too came out and not only laid out the Blue Brand's champion; but, he made The Animal tap out to the STF. Things continue to intensify between the two and their Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules will crank their feud up to eleven!
Overall the show was solid in that it featured wrestling matches sans the throw away triple threat bout. Even the one-on-one encounter between Evan Bourne and Carlito entertained the audience. The London crowd are always vocal and really let the WWE know what works and what doesn't. As a matter of fact, all non-US audiences are like that. Maybe we're spoiled? Anyway, a great show to continue the build to Extreme Rules and the close approaching WWE Draft on April 26 - the night after Extreme Rules!
Overall Show: A-
I kNow This, Because I'm A Smark
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