The Katz Files – Arnie Katz
My Weekly RAW (4/16) Notebook
The Kingfish Arnie Katz delves unto topics inspired by the 4/14 episode of RAW.
The Batista-Shawn Michaels Feud
The original concept, that Batista would hate JBK for winning the match against Ric Flair at WrestleMania, wasn’t a world-beater. Ric practically forced Michaels to take the match and, in the ring, fans saw the Showstoppa hesitate before administering the coup de grace. It’s hard to hate a guy (HBK) who says, “I’m sorry, I love you,” before he Superkicks someone into the Hall of Fame.
Once you accept the idea, carefully fostered over the last two weeks, that Batista blames Michaels, everything since has been pure gold. Shawn and Batista have done great promos and now Chris Jericho has injected himself into the situation. His mic work during the opening scene on the 4/14 show.
Great mic work has helped reposition the point of contention to be a general dislike of Michaels and his methods rather than fixating only on the retirement. I hope it means that neither man will be permanently turned heel as a result of this storyline.
And it’s going to be a good-to-excellent match at Backlash, too. This is one program that will not end with someone in the McMahon family fighting someone from outside wrestling.
The Return of the King
The week’s biggest announcement on RAW was that next week’s three-hour show will include a complete “King of the Ring: tournament. It filled me with both joy and fear.
Joy, because it suggests that next week’s show will have a whole bunch of excellent matches between high-visibility wrestlers. Fear, because I don’t think I can take a year or so more of “All hail King Fill-in-the-Blank! All Hail King Fill-in-the-Blank!”
I got thoroughly sick of the whole “King Booker” plot before he left. I believe that he got pretty bored with the whole schmear, too, and it may have been a minor contributing factor to his decision to leave WWE for TNA.
The winner of the “King of the Ring” tournament should get something, but let’s hope it won’t be a year of throne, crown and scepter.
The Tag Team Situation
Though the tag team division has languished since the beginning of the year (at least), WWE appears to be trying to rebuild it by featuring strong matches with top teams on RAW The number one contenders match, won by Carlito and Santino Marella over Paul London and Brian Kendrick is an important step in restoring the status of the division.
London and Kendrick would be a better team to push, despite their small size, but at least WWE is no longer simply omitting tag team action.
Still, the best course would be to get better tag teams rather than just push duos like Miz and Morrison or Holly and Rhodes. I don’t think the re=hired Cryme Time is the answer, either, at least as long they do that worn-out routine right out of the 1980’s.
Deuce and Domino and London and Kendrick are both worth more attention than they get. Carlito could be half of a good team, but the other half can’t be a comedy character like Santino. Jamie Noble wouldn’t be a bad choice; it’s not like they have him doing anything important at the moment.
That’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with another installment of the Internet’s fastest-rising daily wrestling column.
– Arnie Katz
Crossfire4@cox.net
(4/16/08)
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