RAW Preview/Recap/Discussion 04/14/08
Apr 16, 2008 6:11:10 GMT -5
Post by Batman on Apr 16, 2008 6:11:10 GMT -5
Except that I'm not a fan of Jericho seemingly being shoehorned into a very simple story that was working amazingly well. But I'll reserve judgment for now. Suffice it to say I am NOT someone who is just happy that Jericho was added because he's Jericho and if he was as great as we like to say I prefer he be working his own program and re-establishing the once prestigious title he has.
I completely understand where you're coming from on that, but I totally disagree. I mean if I had been told or read that Jericho interrupted HBK's promo on Raw, and Regal made him special guest referee, I would probably think it was a terrible idea. I think it's one of those things that sounds bad on paper, but works in execution.
The "not who you expected" thing with Flair's music was brilliant, and I liked how Jericho had mean things to accuse HBK of that Batista hadn't even thought of.
And this is coming from someone who everybody here knows is not any kind of a big mark for Jericho.
I think there are three ways that this is a plus and not a minus:
1) HBK basically came out and said "everybody seems to think this is so compelling, so they sent me out here to talk about it some more, but honestly I've run out of compelling things to say about it." To which Jericho says "Here I come to save the day!" I think they had run out of things for HBK and Batista to say to each other, so adding Jericho to the mix gives them someone new to talk to, which can help them stretch it out and make a good thing last, without becoming too much of a good thing.
2) Everybody but creepy agrees (and what does he know?) this thing HBK and Batista have going is the most compelling thing in wrestling right now, so why not try to spread a good thing around? I can see the potential danger of diluting something that should be simple, but so far it seems to be enriching it.
3) I know I don't want this to end at Backlash, but what do you do next? A rematch? Why? With Jericho in the mix you can follow up by having HBK and/or Batista say we want a match with no potentially-biased special ref, and/or each of them might have singles matches with Jericho, and/or a triple threat match next time.
I like how Jericho isn't being presented as being on Batista's side. His take is "HBK is right that Batista is being a child, and Batista is right that HBK has proven that he's just as much a selfish prick as ever." I think the next step should be for Jericho to show up on SD! and say nasty things to piss Batista off and--for narrative parallel--probably eat a Batista Bomb.