Raw Review 2/23/09

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Slingshot Suplex Raw Review for the week of February 23, 2009. I'd like to say that I havent looked forward to Raw every week this much for a long time now. It could be that its Wrestlemania time, or that I'm just lovin the storylines that WWE has been presenting the last 6 months. Lets see what this week brings us shall we!

Recap of what happened with Orton and Shane last week opens the show. Once again I'd like to toot my own horn for calling what would happen in this angle long before anyone else did :). I cant tell u how excited I am over how this whole angle has developed. It has simply been a work of art, and moving towards Triple H and Orton at Mania it has been a masterful job how they have now made that feud fresh again.

Vickie opens up in the ring again for the 3rd straight show, last monday, this friday and again this week. Apparently she is now also the interim GM on raw as well. She annoys me greatly but i guess that is her job to make me hate her. Wether u can stand seeing her on TV or not nobody can deny the heat she gets. She is interuppted by John Cena to a huge (as always) reaction. Cena congratulates Vickie on being named GM of raw and lets her know all she cares about is that Edge is champion. Sais he wants to cash in his rematch tonight. Cue Edges music, who comes out with Big Show behind him. Cena tells Edge there is no reason for him to not defend the belt tonight but Edge sais he dont answer to him. Tells Cena that he wants to be this generations Bruno, or Hogan, or Austin, but he wont let it happen. Cena sais hes talkin tough because hes got a big 400 plb beast behind him, and of course he brought the Big Show too, that was hilarious I dont care lol. Big Show takes the mic now and tells Cena to show Vickie respect. Vickie tells Cena that Edge is family and Big show is a friend and Cena will face either friend or family tonight. Cena sais he will either slay a giant or walk out champ. Decent opening segment with some funny moments.

Orton and legacy arrive.

CM Punk vs Miz vs Morrison: Money In The Bank Qualifying Match:

This suprises me some because I actually thought Punk and Morrison would be in the MITB match. We are about to get our first qualifier. I wonder if they will go with the original 6 man MITB or last years 8(wich was actually 7 after Jeff got suspended). As i say that Cole sais it will be 8 again so thats cool. It is one of the best matches that they have ever come up with, and has been one of the best highlights of every Mania it has been involved in. Miz and Morrison start out working together, no suprise there. I would like to see Miz and Morrison face The Colons at Mania to unify the tag belts but I'm not sure they can stretch that feud out that long. We come back with Morrison and Punk in the ring and Miz down and out on the floor. Nice spot in the corner with Punk hitting his running knee turning around and getting hit with Miz's corner clothesline move. Morrison to the floor now and Miz and Punk in the ring. Miz finally tries to roll up Morrison and now they start going at it. Miz tries to superplex Morrison but Punk catches him into Go To Sleep position, swings around and Morrison's legs knock Miz out of the ring. Punk hits Morrison with the GTS and wins a spot in the MITB match. Great triple threat match with the right guy going over.

Next they re-air the sit down interview with Triple H that was on Smackdown. Short, sweet, and emotional. Great job by Triple H.

Todd Grisham is outside Legacy's lockerroom. Orton and Dibiase come out and defend Orton's action. Say Orton will come out and address his actions from last week later, and that if Triple H comes out, they will be ready.

Beth, Santino, and Rosa interact with Dolph Ziggler in the back. Santino is hilarious lol. 6 person mixed tag match is next. Normally i would start to dry heave over mixed tag action but Santino is involved so that makes me at least mildly interested.

Melina & Cryme Tyme vs Beth, Santino, & Dolph Ziggler:

First off, Melina is hot as hell but I just dont think she is very good in the ring which basically describes 90 percent of the divas. Hopefully she drops the belt to Beth soon. I read that WWE is indeed reaching out to Trish to work at Mania so hopefully we'll see the Beth vs Trish match that should be very good. I actually think that Dolph Ziggler (despite the horrible name) has great potential if he is ever actually used. He has great energy in the ring and his selling is wonderful. Santino is hilarious squaring off with Shad before hes squashed and pinned. He cracks me up lol. Ok filler match nothing all that noteworthy.

Shawn Michaels vs JBL: Winner faces Taker at Mania:

Now i'm not sure if the winner of this match will actually end up facing Taker at mania or not because of Vickie throwing in Kozlov's name in the equation on Smackdown. All I can say that I'd give it about a 99.9 percent chance that it will be Shawn vs Taker at WrestleMania. Apparently Cole sais that the winner of this match will face Kozlov on Raw next week and the winner of that match will actually face Taker at mania. Ok then, they have time to drag this out another week so thats cool. I'm not a JBL fan but he has been much improved over the last 4 or 5 months, probably due to his weight loss. He wrestles a very slow paced, old school style that i really enjoy. Solid work by both men. End comes when JBL goes for clothesline from hell but Shawn catches him coming in with Sweet Chin Music for the win. Looks like Shawn will face Kozlov next week with the winner going on to face Undertaker at Wrestlemania. That should be interesting to see how Kozlov hangs in the ring with, in my opinion, the best "in ring" performer of all time. Kozlov comes out and staresdown Shawn. He leaves Shawn laying, making him look strong leading into next week.

Jamie Noble vs Mike Knox:

Jamie Noble is in the ring next. Sais he knows that he only lasted 15 seconds last week but he knows if he can last longer this week that hes going to Mania. They actually have a clock running in the corner. Knox hits his finisher for the win in 29 seconds. Well i guess he lasted longer but i'm not really sure where any of this is going. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Next up the WWE announces that Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. For anyone who has not seen Steamboat wrestle i strongly urge you to look some of his work up. He is easily on of the top 5 in ring workers of all time. His match with Randy Savage at Mania 3 stole the show and is still regarded as one of the best ever. His matches with Ric Flair were simply beautiful to watch. If I ever made a top 5 list of my favorite matches of all time, Steamboat would be in at least 2 of them. Fitting induction to say the least and he joins what is shaping up to be the best induction class yet.

Steamboat is out next to address the fans. Everyone should bow down to this great legend, I cant stress enough just how good he was. Just a master of his craft. Jericho is out to interrupt him as expected. Jericho thanks the academy for not voting for Mickey Rourke to win the best actor award last night. This would've been a match I would have loved to seen in Steamboat's prime. Jericho cuts his usual top notch promo running down Steamboat like he did Piper and Flair. Steamboat said he remembers when Jericho told him that he admired him. Steamboat tells Jericho that he is in fact the hypocrite. Sais that while Jericho flip flopped through his career between hating and loving the fans that he never changed his whole career. Just an awesome promo by Steamboat. I'm loving this whole angle. Tells Jericho that he is something that Jericho might never be, and thats a Hall of Famer. Jericho hits him with the mic and runs him into the set. This angle has been awesome. Jericho has been gold and so have the legends in return. Awesome, awesome angle and I cant wait week to week to see where its heading leading into Wrestlemania.

John Cena comes out, Vickie tells him he will not get his rematch tonight, Cena tells her he is gonna follow her wherever she goes until he gets his title match.

John Cena vs Chavo Guerrero:

As Vickie promised Cena will face a member of her family, and its Chavo Guerrero. Cena makes short work of Chavo hitting him with the attitude adjustment, then gets him to tap out in the STF. Short and Sweet, Cena will be on smackdown.

Legacy comes out of the dressing room and makes sure the coast is clear for Orton to follow. Orton has a sledgehammer.

"I hear voices in my head, they council me, they understand, they talk to me"..love that theme song lol. Legacy makes they're way to the ring, Orton and sledgehammer in the lead. Orton basically recaps what hes done so far to the McMahon family. Tells the people that they have no idea what he goes through. Sais he hopes that Triple H's children was watching last week so they can learn from their mothers mistakes. Triple H is shown on the titantron sledgehammer in hand. He appears in the arena and stands on the stage, slowly makes his way towards the ring. Stops on the apron while Orton tells him to stop because someone will get hurt bad. Tells him that both of em should lose their sledgehammers and settle this like men. They drop their sledgehammers and Triple H enters the ring. Triple H pulls out another sledgehammer from behind him and swings but misses, he chases Legacy out, the doors are locked but they escape into a dressing room. They barricade the door but Triple H busts through. Orton and Dibiase are trapped. He nails Dibiase but Orton ducks and the sledgehammer goes through the mirror. Orton and Legacy run down the hall and into their limo. Triple H smashes out the window and then throws the sledgehammer at it as it speeds away. Awesome segment to end the show.

Great Raw this week. While nothing monumental happened, they did a great job of continuing all the storylines heading to mania. CM Punk also became the first man to qualify for the MITB match at Mania. Shawn moves on to face Kozlov next week for the right to face Taker, and an awesome segment to end the show with Triple H and Legacy.