Powell Editorials WWE Raw Hitlist: Vince McMahon buys Raw back from Donald Trump, John Cena and The Miz, Trump gives refunds to the live crowd, Big Show vs. John Cena, Santina says goodbye, commercial-free show, Sean Waltman reviews Raw By Jason Powell Jun 23, 2009 - 01:20 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing Dot Net Members are listening to a "simulcast" audio recap of the show in which I was joined by Sean "X-Pac" Waltman and PWTorch.com's Wade Keller for a 95-minute review of the show. This audio show will not be available outside the Dot Net Members' site or the Torch VIP site. You can gain instant access to this audio show and all Dot Net Audio by becoming a member for only $5 per month by visiting the Dot Net Members' Signup Page. WWE Raw Hits Donald Trump: I'm sure it had a lot to do with the announcement that The Donald would be refunding the live crowd's money, but he received a strong reaction from the fans in Green Bay. I'm not a fan of Trump, yet even I must admit that the live crowd was into the idea of him buying Raw from Vince McMahon. That said, I didn't care for the overall angle, so see the second section for more details. Triple H vs. Randy Orton: A strong brawl. Sure, it needed blood to really put it over the top, but that's just not going to happen on the PG show on a regular basis. The finish of the match was logical in that they couldn't have a winner and still expect people to pay money to see them wrestle again on Sunday. I still feel like they gave too much away in this segment, and while the best of three falls stipulation was a logical progression after giving the match away on television, I just don't have a strong desire to see them work together again six days later. I'm giving the match a hit, but I still don't like the idea of giving this match away on television and then expecting viewers to pay for it again six days later. By the way, Hunter hasn't been back long, yet it already feels like he never took a break. John Cena and The Miz: I'm so happy they're going with this match on pay-per-view. They've taken their time building this up and now they're making fans pay to see Cena finally get his hands on The Miz. It would have been nice if Miz had scored a fluke pin or two on Cena leading up to the match, but their mic work has been solid and I get the sense that Cena fans are looking forward to seeing their hero silence the pest. Santina blowoff angle: A fun skit once Santino Marella walked into the picture right after Santina made her exit. His line about his sister having a nice run was cute, and I'm happy to see them send the Santina character out to the pasture. I'm sure she'll pop up again somewhere down the road, but this appeared to be the end of the character being a regular. Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Great Khali vs. Edge, Dolph Ziggler, and Chris Jericho: A fun match that the live crowd enjoyed. I got a big kick out of Khali teasing that the top rope move. Jericho even apologized to his Twitter readers today when he wrote, "Sorry for preventing the Great Khali dive tonight," Jericho wrote. "He would've done it too if it wasn't for my meddling." Funny. I also enjoyed the post-match friction between Hardy and C.M. Punk. That said, I wish they would have dedicated more time to promoting that match and the Jericho vs. Mysterio match for Sunday. Commercial-free gimmick: An interesting concept, and they obviously made some money by having the announcers pimp the KFC buckets. That said, if there are buckets of chicken sitting in front of the announcers for two hours and no one takes a bite, what does that say about the chicken? WWE Raw Misses Vince McMahon pays double for Raw: The storyline didn't make any sense. Trump bought the WWE Raw show, yet he could still cost Vince a fortune by giving away free shows and refunding the fans' money? Wouldn't that do more damage to Trump than Vince? Sure, it could affect WWE stock, but this was still Trump's show from a storyline standpoint. I thought they would stretch this out for a month or two by having Trump name a new general manager. The GM could have acted like he was taking direction from Trump via telephone. I wonder whether concerns regarding the WWE stock made them rush through the storyline or if this was designed as a short-term angle all along. Donald Trump gives the fans a refund: What was the point of this? There are several WWE wrestlers who are pissed about their pay and now the company makes the decision to give away the money they made at the box office. I'm guessing the money is coming out of Vince's pocket (just like the million dollar giveaway) since it would be hard to explain this one to the shareholders. Or maybe Vince just learned from Bob Carter's early years an owner that losing money in wrestling can be a great tax write-off. Big Show vs. John Cena: Yawn. These two just don't have good chemistry, as Sean Waltman noted during the show last night. As much as I wanted to see Show win one of their recent pay-per-view matches, I had no desire to see him win last night because I was hoping this would be the blowoff match. They're not working against one another at the pay-per-view, but you just know that Cena has to avenge the loss, which means we'll be suffering through another match between these two. Make it stop! Cody Rhodes vs. Primo: An uneventful match that the crowd didn't give a damn about. And why would they? WWE has done nothing to hype the two teams. Primo and Carlito just clown around and lose nine times out of ten when they're working non-title or singles matches, and Rhodes and Ted DiBiase are portrayed as one dimensional minions for Randy Orton. We also spoke about the state of tag team wrestling with Waltman in last night's audio and he had some interesting comments on the matter. Dot Net is now on Twitter. Sign up for regular updates at Prowrestlingnet (the dot is not included in the name). Get brief news with quick links to major stories by visiting Twitter.com/prowrestlingnet. HELP SUPPORT DOT NET! BECOME A MEMBER AT OUR CHARTER RATE OF JUST $5 A MONTH - GET THE FIRST LOOK AT EXCLUSIVE INSIDER DOT NET NEWS, TONS OF EXCLUSIVE AUDIO SHOWS, MESSAGE BOARD ACCESS, START YOUR OWN BLOG, AD-FREE MAIN LISTING: SIGN ME UP (or MORE INFO) GOT AN IPHONE OR IPOD TOUCH? THEN BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD OUR NEW FREE iPhone APP: (click here!) (or SEARCH "pro wrestling" in iTunes App Store) FOR MORE BREAKING WWE & TNA NEWS AND COMMENTARY, VISIT OUR AFFILIATE PWTORCH.COM (click here!) FOR MORE MMA & UFC NEWS AND COMMENTARY, VISIT OUR AFFILIATE MMATORCH.COM (click here!) CLICK TO RETURN TO DOT NET MAIN LISTING OR SELECT A LINK BELOW FROM THIS CATEGORY Powell Editorials Latest Twelve Articles Powell's TNA Impact Hitlist: Dixie Carter's speech to the talent crew, hype for Hulk Hogan, the build for A.J. Styles vs. Daniels vs. Samoa Joe, Team 3D vs. Matt Morgan and Hernandez, Tara vs. Hamada WWE Raw Hitlist: Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne host Raw, Chris Jericho vs. John Cena vs. Big Show, Sheamus destroys Jamie Noble, The Miz vs. Evan Bourne, vintage Michael Cole Powell's TNA Impact Hitlist: Hulk Hogan footage, Desmond Wolfe vs. Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe has a brain, Eric Young renames the toy belt, Matt Morgan vs. Rhino, World Elite get new warmup gear, Team 3D vs. Motor City Machine Guns WWE Raw Hitlist: John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels announced for Survivor Series, Kofi Kingston shines, John Cena makes Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes look like losers, Hornswoggle can't read WWE Bragging Rights Hitlist: John Cena vs. Randy Orton in an Iron Man match, Undertaker vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Batista vs. C.M. Punk four-way, Raw vs. Smackdown tag match, The Miz vs. John Morrison Powell's TNA Bound For Glory Hitlist: A.J. Styles vs. Sting for the TNA Title, Kurt Angle vs. Matt Morgan, Ultimate X match, Mick Foley vs. Abyss, Bobby Lashley vs. Samoa Joe, ODB vs. Tara vs. Awesome Kong