The Raw is War Workrate Report
A weekly look at what did and didn't work on Raw is War by Oliver Postlethwaite
Monday, March 2nd, 1998
What Worked
Holy Crap! Owen Hart dragged something resembling a good match out of
Mark Henry! This guy is good. I liked how Henry kicked out of the
sharpshooter twice and then, god this makes so much sense, Owen worked
over the legs! That's all I ask for in a wrestling match, just a little
bit of a point. So that makes two weeks in a row now that Hart (Owen,
the wrestling one) has made it ok for wrestling fans to watch Raw. Yeah,
the finish sucked hard.
The Tyson/DX thing kicked ass. How couldn't it? The wrestlers had
great timing, Vince was on, Tyson hardly fucked up at all, and the crowd
went fucking nuts. I'm not feeling so good about the actual angle
because it doesn't make any sense but since my expectations for the
match are low anyway it doesn't matter much. I love the old "Vince gets
screwed and is pissed off" facial expression. Hey, Vince was a king on Off
the Record last week! There was something not very comfortable about
watching Helmsley and Michaels pay so much attention to Mike Tyson's crotch.
What Didn't Work
DX opened the show but I honestly can't remember much about the interview.
My notes say that Austin, Kane and Paul Bearer got involved so it must have
been good.
The handheld footage of last weeks parking lot attack was pretty good but
then the Outlaws wrestled Skull and 8-Ball and that pretty much sucked.
Cactus and Funk didn't make things any better. These two have gotten real
old ever since they killed the great dumpster angle.
Thank god they brought back the wicked Tom Brandi/Marc Mero feud! Hey,
Brandi wouldn't be awful as a Full Blooded Italian in ECW. The heat is
great for this feud which makes it easier to watch but it's not something
I want to watch either. It's pretty lame having Sable chase everyone
away.
TAKA & Co. vs. the NWA was too short to get really bad but it didn't do
anything either. You could catch a glimpse of TAKA hitting a nice plancha
on Windham, who sold the spot well. Other than that there's nothing to
get excited about here.
Aw heck, Steve Blackman lost his pre-match talent show routine. Man,
that was half his charm. Um, this match sucked, the one with Kama, who
will probably end up billed as KAMA and start a feud with TAKA, which is
par for the course with the WWF's handling of the light heavyweight
division. Besides which, there's gonna be a Blackman/Shamrock match
somewhere down the line. It could be ok but neither guy is ready for
anything memorable at this point.
It would be to easy to go back and watch the Jeff Jarrett "shoot" and
rewrite all the bad things he had to say about his Double J gimmick,
but who has the time. I actually think Double J is an improvement on
the aztec look, and at least his ring entrance will be entertaining.
Col. Rob Parker's turn as Tennessee Lee was ok, Parker's got mic skill
that would be really fun to hear if he ditched the gimmicky stuff
he's been doing for so many years now. Flash Funk may be underpushed
and all but that ponytail has got to go!
You know, if I was in grade 5 and an avid Dungeons and Dragons player I'd
probably blow my load for the whole Undertaker, lord of darkness, you're
going to hell scene but I'm not so I won't. Did I fall asleep and wake up
in the middle of Hellraiser?
Ollie
