Around the Ring: Jericho ignites Raw to Save Us
The Umaga vs. Jeff Hardy match was a PPV quality match that WWE should be delivering when they're expecting us to drop serious coin on stuff. I don't care what anyone says, I like Umaga. He's tough, he can move for a big guy and I like his esoteric character. Match him with a high flyer like Hardy who can take a beating and still soar and you have a good match. I'm glad WWE gave this match the time it needed and saved the unexpected run in from Snitsky until the match had time to breathe. With HHH making the rescue, we may see Snitsky get his first real legit feud (and no, JR, he's not undefeated).
HBK's promo saved Orton's monotonous backstage diatribe. What made it even better was when Mr. Kennedy came out and as he went to reach for the ascending microphone, HBK hit him and knocked him out of the ring. I like that this feud will turn out to be another experienced vs. newbie storyline but I just didn't buy Kennedy's “why did you do it, Shawn?” whine. This feud is going to be fun.
Although I didn't like Carlito jobbing again, I find this whole Finley saving Hornswaggle angle interesting. He saved the little guy from Khali at the Survivor Series and I think he'll continue to do so until Vince McMahon punishes him with a match against Khali at the December PPV.
The highlight of the show for me, of course, was the return of Y2J, Chris Jericho. After being “fired” two years ago, he came back to...umm...recite the same catch phrases?? Well at least he's back with a rock and roll image! Wait...no, he scrapped that, too...wearing some weird shirt. Nonetheless, he's back and you know that he'll put on a show week after week in and out of the ring. Give him a year and he'll be back to being that snooty, arrogant heel that's even more amusing to watch. If Orton can sell in the ring and cut better promos, this one should be one of the top feuds of the year.
I just question why Jericho didn't come back all pissed off about why and how he was fired and why he didn't have more angst. Well, perhaps he's just playing his real life role: being happy to be back and having a love for wrestling again.
Oh yeah, Edge returned during Hell in the Cell, like I predicted. He's bitter, but as of the time of writing this, the Smackdown tapings haven't happened, so I can't write about where the story is going. I'll comment on that one next week.