The Katz Files – Arnie Katz
My Weekly RAW (6/1) Notebook
The Kingfish Arnie Katz highlights the major developments and discusses what they mean.
A Note from the Kingfish
Trying new things is part of the fun of doing a column like that. As an experiment, I am overhauling the format of the Notebooks to highlight the key points instead of embedding them in a recap.
There are lots of recaps, so no one who wants one will go without,. On the other hand, there’s very little intelligent analysis; that’s the aspect I’ll stress in the Notebook series.
Batista versus Orton
The RAW books have pulled off a pretty neat trick. They have extracted the McMahon family, including Triple H, from the feud with Randy Orton and replaced them with the brand’s current lead babyface, Dave Batista. With Triple H on the sidelines and none of the other McMahons qualified to work a main event against The Animal, the switch to Batista was a card-saving masterstroke.
Randy Orton did a great job of hyping the impending cage match with Batista at Extreme Rules on the 6/1 RAW. The gimmick of having someone speak from inside the cage isn’t new by a long shot, but Orton brought fresh energy to it,. This is an excellent example of recycled content that got over with a forceful presentation.
What’s Happening with Big Show?
Is a babyface turn in the cards for Big Show? Anyone watching RAW on 6/1 might think that the writers were setting up the possibility. That’s a pretty gutsy move, actually, considering that WWE’s Giant has a Submission Match against John Cena scheduled for Extreme Rules.
The storyline has maintained Show’s killer intensity toward Cena, but he has increasingly expressed doubts about Vickie Guerrero’s policies and is not exactly buddy-buddy with Chavo Guerrero, either. The allegations of an extra-marital affair between Vickie and Show have been pushed way back into the closet as he argues with her about fairness.
After Show has his confrontation with Cena at the pay per view, he might well come out of that event with some kind of grudge against Vickie Guerrero and his associates.
The Hardy-Regal Team
Leaving aside the fact that this duo makes a particularly lackluster tag team, Matt and William seem especially ill-suited to such presentation. Matt’s cat gimmick need the focus of singles matches and extended feuds to get it over with the fans.
Honestly, I don’t know what gimmick William Regal has, because they haven’t pushed him for a while. The reason, most likely, is because those other efforts didn’t work too well. Regal is fairly skilled in the ring, but his slow pace guarantees an upper ceiling on any match. He can deliver a good match, but I’m not sure he has a great one in him unless WWE gives him a lot more story support than they have for some years.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back tomorrow with a fresh installment of the Internet’s fastest-rising pro wrestling column. I hope you’ll join me then and, please, bring your friends.
— Arnie Katz
Executive Editor
[email protected]
(6/4/09)