Rolling RAW 03/01/05 thread [spoilers]

Man, what an impressive win for Batista ... and the crowd popped for the finish.

The WWE continues to do everything right with Batista that they blew with Orton.

Speaking of stuff that blows ... the Arab-American debate is coming up later. Oh fuck.

In retrospect, Orton's win at Survivor Series had the feel of a blowoff match ... we know he can beat HHH, no need to see that match now. Not to mention that Orton is blah as a face.

Yet another great HHH-Batista backstage segment ... the new interview girl is still useless ... Snitsky is still a tool ... Bisch-Edge: what's this? Continuity in the storylines? Plotlines that make sense, and are based on things that happened in the ring? Man, they're not fighting over shampoo anymore!

Wow, RAW now airs LIVE on Sky Sports in the UK.

OK, that debate wasn't as bad as I was expecting (I was expecting something comparable to the Chris Nowinski vs Scott Steiner one).

They rely on the "USA!! USA!!!" and "America: Love It or Leave It" cheap heat tactics (not to mention the tried-and-true "beat the shit out of JR" heat-generating tactics). Plus, they had Hassan come out wearing a headdress, and Davari do nothing but babble in "Arabic" (which is actually Farsi) and lose his temper -- you might as well rename them Iron Sheik and General Adnan.

There were some nice little things, though. Hassan did comment on the headdress -- saying he was proud of his culture, unlike other Arab-Americans who don't wear them -- but when he decided to fight instead of argue, he ripped it off and whipped it aside, which said to me "I don't really care about the headdress, I just wore it out here to rile you up". Also, Lawler's rebuttal was well-put.

Coach appears to have turned face as a result of the Hassan beatdown. Nice message to the fans -- the black American (the evil conniving asshole) is with us because he's an AMERICAN, but the Arab American (the other evil conniving asshole) is against us because he's the EVIL FOREIGNER.

Kane's back and it looks like he's dropped some more weight. He looks good.

Lawler vs Hassan at the PPV. Can't wait.
Apparently Xtian and Tomko are after the Tag Titles. Welcome to the first Insta-feud of 2005 (match at the PPV to be announced before the main event).

I wasn't so big on Christy during the diva search (although I paid little attention to the Diva Search, partly because I was out of town at the time and missed a bunch of RAWs), but now I definitely want to fuck her. I'm ambivalent about seeing her on a wrestling show, however.

Coach went heel again during the last two segments, for those keeping track.

JR's BACK? WTF?? Way to sell those injuries. Wouldn't want to Hassan to look like a threat or anything.

Decent main event, not much heat, but the Nassau Coliseum crowds are consistently some of the worst in the US. And now that Orton has won, there's REALLY no need for them to fight at Mania, so much for that.

I honestly don't know what will happen on Sunday. There have been rumours about Orton and Cena switching brands, with one or the other winning the Rumble. At one point, Orton winning the Rumble and winning the title from HHH at Mania was a lock, but not anymore. If the Cena-Orton thing is true, then Orton can't have the title when it happens, so let's say that Orton doesn't win at the PPV.

They've got nowhere to go with Jericho as champ right now, so eliminate him. It's too soon to put the belt on Batista, plus, a Batista-HHH feud doesn't need a belt. Face Batista retaining the belt against heel HHH at Mania? That doesn't work.

Putting it on Edge is the smartest thing in my book. Edge gets elevated, the matches between Edge and the other main eventers are relatively fresh (leading to an Edge-HBK match at Mania), while HHH and Batista can keep up with their simmering feud, with both entering the Rumble and competing for the Mania title shot.

I'm still waiting for Hassan to respond to the "USA" chants with "where do you think I'm from, you idiots".

I'd love to see Edge win, but if he does, that's an instant feud with Randy Orton since Orton beat him clean a few weeks ago (score is now 1-1 in "big" matches). Both Chrises have absolutely no chance.

I know Triple H's character is all about "the World title is my life" and I don't hate him as much as most people, but must all his feuds be either for the World title or as a result of being cost the championship (see Eugene)? I'd go for a revenge feud as a result of Ric Flair getting splattered (preferrably by a group as opposed to a single monster heel); it'd at least expose one more motivation to his character.