The Winner of the Match is...?
With Raw being held only about a 45 minute drive from home last night, I debated all day whether I should go. In the end I figured, “Well, there’s nothing that I’ll catch in person that I won’t be able to catch on my TV.”
As it turned out I was wrong. There was a small part of the show that TV viewers did not get to see - the finish of the main event.
The decision to end what was up until that a point a strong main event match between Triple H and Randy Orton by having William Regal order the production team to cut off the show before the finish has infuriated a lot of fans. Some are going as far as to call it the worst end to a Raw in history. I’m not nearly as down on it, and think WWE writers got out of the angle exactly what they wanted.
WWE has built up enough credibility over the years with decisive finishes to its television main events that it can every so often get creative as it did last night. Gone are the days of time limit draws or WCW Nitro-inspired “shmoz” finishes with 10 nWo guys battling in the ring. Even countouts and disqualifications are relatively rare these days.
WWE writers’ plans went exactly as designed: Put on an pay per view caliber, half-hour world title match on TV, gets fans really into it, then pull the rug out from under them to put some heat on William Regal. Mission accomplished. Just yesterday, I wondered in this blog whether fans would buy into Regal as a main event level heel. Last night was a heck of a first step in that direction.
I’m sure some would argue that the angle served not to get fans riled up at Regal, but at WWE for not delivering a satisfying finish to a great main event. I don’t really buy that.
For what it’s worth, TV viewers ultimately did not miss the finish, because there was no finish. After the show faded to black, Regal went to the ring and, just as he did in the production truck, ordered the ref to stop the match because the fans in the building did not deserve to see the finish.
There are very rare times where I pull out the “Get a grip fans. It’s scripted” card, but this is one of them. It’s not as if there was an actual finish to the match that WWE deprived us of. What we got WAS the finish. And sometimes there is a greater purpose to be served than delivering a three count. This was not a “cop out” devised because WWE did not want either wrestler to do a clean job. If that was the case, they could have just as easily come up with a DQ or count out finish.
I don’t buy that the finish will lead to any kind of backlash from fans who may be leery of investing their time and emotion into a TV main event in the future. Now obviously, WWE cannot go to the well too often with a finish like last night’s. But the fact is, I don’t think they’ve ever pulled a stunt like that, and we have no reason to think it will happen again.
For better or worse, sometimes matches are no more than a backdrop for a bigger picture angle. That was the case last night. Let’s be thankful that we got some good wrestling out of it along the way.
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Comments (16)
I THAINK ITS GREAT, King Regal will now have way more heat on him than he ever has from a wwe crowd, also with the Regal Kennday fued the man from Green Bay wil be way over, and it leaves the door open for a HHH King Regal fued that has been kind of hinted at recently
HHH/Regal makes infinite amounts of sense. It makes so much sense, in fact, that I fear WWE will deprive us of it because it is *exactly* what we want from a HHH title reign (or at least what I want).
I've never understood why Regal wasn't pushed. He's a close friend of both HHH and Vince, and has been booked into oblivion so many times, he now resides there (just listen to Lillian's introduction when he comes out).
I know people are instantly assuming that Kennedy's interruption of Regal's coronation is a surefire sign that the two will feud, but I think I would rather see a trade-off of dance partners here, if you will: Regal/Kennedy and Orton/HHH will obviously cross paths, possibly for a tag match of some kind. Out of that, give Kennedy and Orton something to fight about while HHH and Regal work the awesome program I know they're capable of.
And the capper, in my dreams? Regal is the recipient of a cashed-in briefcase as a payback for his KOTR win over none other than CM Punk.
Yes sir, that would make for a really good 2008 in wrestling.
People who say they were ripped off really don't have a clue. It's absolutely right in saying what we got was the finish. It wasn't WCW saying 'we are out of time', depriving us of a finish and forcing us to tune in next week to see the result in a cheap ratings ploy. This was no worse than a count-out, or a DQ, and was infact 100 times better, because it makes people sit up and take notice, because it was unique, and because it makes Regal look like a paranoid maniac rather than the generic authority figure who would just go to the ring to cause a screwy finish.
Seriously, if JBL or someone had come down to the ring and caused a DQ, it wouldn't have made anywhere near as much impact, and people would have been still moaning that the WWE is too stale these days. They get something new and moan, ridiculous. There was no-way Orton was getting pinned twice in 24 hours, and HHH wasn't dropping, so instead of a screwy finish we get something excellent. If you are annoyed, then that's what the WWE was going for, although it should be directed towards Regal as people should suspend their disbelief. The objective wasn't to give fans a screwy finish, it was to develop Regal's character, and what they did was so much more effective in doing that than if he just went out there and called it off.
I thought Raw was great last night from beginning to end. An opening segment that the crowd was hot for. A divas match where there were simply too many gorgeous women on screen not to be interested, JBL kicking off something with Cena, a great highlight reel that adds yet more intrigue to what is an excellent feud between Batista and HBK, a great segment with Murdoch that will make people care about that team, and a good main event with an excellent ending.
There was also the Burchill match, and if they are building Regal as a heel they could do worse than to start a stable with Burchil, Katie, Regal, and perhaps DH Smith. Regal could be the dominant heel champ who is also the boss, which would be fantastic - it wouldn't be a joke reign like Vince would have because Regal as proven his competence as he is KOTR. Burchill could be his protector, and use Katie flirting with Regal to get his oppurtunities, and they could all help Regal keep the title. Regal could also book difficult matches for his threats while keeping as safe as possible behind his charges. Kennedy could get over as a face by being the main opposition.
Kennedy's comeback was also fantastic. It shows just how much potential he has that the crowd is with him even though he hasn't been around for a month, he hadn't even actually 'turned' face and had been a JTTS for pretty much the last 8 months.
Raw was just awesome. The two Raws following Flair's send off were poor and predictable, but they really picked up tongiht.
I actually quite enjoyed the finish, and thought it was a creative way to end the show! There are so many ways they can go with this from here.
It gets a bit stale everyshow seeing one guy smirking, and the other either unconcious or with the camera zoomed in and his staring vengefully
I think it would have been much cooler if there actually were a finish in the arena. Waiting around to see just what happened would be more satisfying then seeing that Regal just ended the match. Of course it might have been hard to sign Orton up for a rematch after that, but I think the impact of shutting off the feed would have been much better.
This finish made me instantly go to WWE.com after it faded to black ... Same thing with the whole "Vince is blown up" ending last summer.
Not because I thought it was "real" but because I wanted to see what would happen next ... I thought, "Does WWE have the audacity to actually black out viewers from a title change?" ... With HHH winning the night before, we were in for another 24-hour title reign ala Kane from 1998? ... I had to go find out.
When Vince blew up, I had to go to the web and find out where they were going from here (btw, I think Coachman was going to be the one who did that, just my opinion ... If you watch it again on youtube, you'll notice Vince is going one way, and Coach stops him and says, "Sir, your limo is this way.")
vince getting blow up
i would love to know what the pay off on that was
I noticed Kevin Dunn made Kerwin take the bump. Wuss.. :)
At first, I was really intrigued by the fade out "finish" to the match, but I thought there was actually going to be a pinfall or submission finish happen. They could have advertised on the website that the finish of the match would be shown during ECW - not telling when just to make people watch the whole thing. Some people might then have actually enjoyed ECW and maybe even stick around a few weeks down the road and actually raise the ECW rating a few points. But then again, why would they possibly do anything to help promote the younger talent that should be featured on Tuesday nights. I suppose it just makes too much sense.
I am an admitted hater because I had an interview for a writing gig with them six months ago and they didn't take me.
This was brilliant. Regal in two nights has turned into a legitimate bad guy. Kennedy after one night is a legitimate face.
The match was a great match and I was hoping for a clean win by Orton, but I think this was just as good.
My suggestion when I had the interview was have heels win cleanly more.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants to see Regal utilized more as a wrestler. He is such an awesome heel and is capable of putting on stellar matches. I think it was a win-win ending. The possibilities are endless from here.
And the fans have been dying to cheer Kennedy for over a year now. His face turn is way overdue! I just hope if he feuds with Regal, that he doesn't get buried to push Regal to the main event. They have to be creative and find a way to transition Regal into a feud with HHH for the title while still building Kennedy. Mr. K has the potential to be the biggest face in the company. Mark my word.
I would love to see him dethrone Cena.
Stupid ending. The WWE writing team is probably the worst it has ever been right now.
I'm a Regal fan, and a Regal title run would undoubtedly be the most interesting thing WWE has done in years. But to say, "come on people, it's a scripted show" gets right to the heart of the problem with WWE programming for the past several years. It's the fact that WWE keeps slapping the viewers in the face with the fact that it IS a scripted show. The whole world of wrestling works on "suspension of disbelief," as Mick Foley termed it in his book. When the WWE does TV-show crap like this, it kills that suspension and treats the fans like idiots.
From a business standpoint, this week has been awesome for WWE.
If you look around the internet wrestling community, all the talk this week has been about William Regal and Mike Adamle.
No one's talking about Backlash. No one is talking about Triple H winning the title again. No one is talking about Matt Hardy finally winning an important singles title.
Wait until you see what they pull on Smackdown.
I think that RAW the other night was the best for a few weeks, we had a really weak king of the ring night and a weak RAW the previous week.
I'm really interested in the whole Regal-king-GM angle, the spot with kennedy on RAW was excellent.
The fact that the HHH-Orton match was so strong just made it better when Regal pulled the plug. You're right, the writers got exactly what they wanted, fans screaming at their TV in anger.
I saw the smackdown spoilers and it looks like a great show this week too, I don't usually watch smackdown, but since they added Mick Foley on colour I had been contemplating it, but i'll definitley be watching this week. Plus my Mrs loves Matt Hardy and now he seems to be getting a push she won't want to miss it.
In regards to Adamle last night and WWE.com's "story" on it last night, when did Vince Russo start writing for the WWE again? Worked shoots always work out. Always.
And, @ Jack Windham, I've read the Smackdown results and I honestly don't see anything too shocking. Just another "face tries to get revenge over seemingly insurmountable odds" angle. Replace Taker with The Rock and Vickie/Edge with HHH/Nipple H and you it's the early 2000s all over again. I wonder if Chavo is going to assume the Kurt Angle role.