The Raw is War Workrate Report

A weekly look at what did and didn't work on Raw is War by Oliver Postlethwaite

Monday, January 26th, 1998

What Worked
The DX lockerroom interview was not bad. It'd be even better to see 'em WRESTLING though.

The New Age Outlaws vs. Cactus Jack and Terry Funk was not a good wrestling match but given everything else on the show, and hey, I'm a mark for Jack and Funk, and Terry hit a pretty good moonsault, and there were a bunch of chairshots, and all that.

Pantera vs. Brian Christopher was pretty good, very nice through the ropes tope suicida by Pantera. Kinda shaky in spots. The WWF would be better off scrapping the light heavyweight division since it's such a joke compared to the cruiserweight matches on Nitro and especially Thunder. AND let TAKA jump to WCW where he could be having career making matches against Eddie Guerrero.

Owen Hart vs. Dustin Rhodes was, compared to the rest of the show, the best all around match in that the execution was competent, Owen worked hard, and there was something of a story. HHH sucks big phat kielbasa for not laying down like a man, though.


What Didn't Work
Ken Shamrock vs. the NOD, part 536, Mark Henry. Sorry, don't give a rats ass about this one AT ALL. Oh boy, Shamrock's gonna be saddled with Ahmed Johnson and the DOA. Hey WWF, it's enough with the gangs already.

A replay of the Kane & Undertaker angle, as if the fast forward button didn't get ENOUGH abuse from Raw with all the Mike Tyson crap.

Hey, why no mention at all ('less I missed it) about the Road Warrior's own NWA heritage? Hey, Hawk hits the worst top rope clothesline EVER! Come on, couldn't they have at least used a more flattering camera angle? The NWA angle isn't working, but Barry Windham is slightly interesting for the first time in about five years.

Goldust vs. Vader was 100X better at Clash #29.

The Quebecers vs. Headbangers was ok, some nice team work, but the finish was bad, and Jacques Rougeau has had too much Vanier surf and turf.

Don King can deliver pretty good goofy shoot interviews but the stuff he's doing for the WWF is the absolute WORST!

Steve Austin did his schtick but coming after his monster performance the week before, and it basically being the same interview he's been doing since his injury, it didn't work.

Raw is getting so hard to talk about, it's practically the same show every week, with the only suspense being whether it's Jose or Jesus who gets to be the Boriqua to job. And a taped Raw is even worse. And I'm sure you're just as tired reading the same review every week. AND I have to review the shitty parts of Thunder this week. DAMN it all!




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