WWE hit Denver, Colorado for Monday Night Raw this week, and it was all about the return of one of the biggest stars in WCW history, Bill Goldberg. He was announced as such -- to the point of hyperbole -- but this went about as well as they could have hoped for, considering.
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DAU-BER! DAU-BER! DAU-BER!
He got me.
Count me among the many who weren't exactly excited about the prospect of a 49-year-old Bill Goldberg making his way back to WWE for literally any match in the main event of literally any PPV. As it turns out, he's back to battle Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series and, it took all of one promo to get me on board.
Tentatively. Kind of.
His return was, at the very least, a nice moment. The fans in Denver were receptive in a way that seemed to surprise even him. He was given the floor to say whatever he wanted and once he started talking it didn't seem like he was going to stop.
You'll remember using his mouth to say words was never his strong suit. But just went it looked like he was going off the rails and his storytelling was pushing me away, he brought it around strong and finished with a bang.
"Not only does that mean that you're next but most importantly it means, Brock Lesnar, you're last!"
That's one hell of a closing line.
He gets credit for the rest of it too, though, looking back. He also did well getting across his story, making him the clear babyface in this program. He's not just an old man coming back for a payday, he's an old superhero coming back to do something great for all the children in need of a superhero like him. Most importantly, though, and what makes him connect the most, is that he's a father coming back to do something special for his son.
How do you root against that?
This was done really well.
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All the best to all the rest
Actually, the rest of this show was mostly underwhelming. Let's quick hit it:
- I'm not sure why Lita has become the go to when WWE wants to get across how important something in the women's division is but the pre-taped interviews with Charlotte and Sasha Banks fell flat. It's time to forget about the "we're making history together and that's pretty cool" angle and move into the "I'm going to decorate the Cell in her blood" trash talk to really get across how much this matters. It's not that this is happening, it's what is going to happen once it does. Focus there, please.
- Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens are breaking up soon and the ache of the pending heartbreak is almost unbearable. Jericho almost called him a stupid idiot! What's next, adding him to THE LIST?!? :(
- There is literally nothing in the world that can make me care about New Day vs. Cesaro & Sheamus at this point, least of all a Facebook Live stream during a match. It's not that it's bad, it's just not really all that interesting.
- Bo Dallas scares me.
- What the hell happened in that Dana Brooke-Bayley match?
- Braun Strowman is tired of Mick Foley's crap but hey wait a minute why is Sami Zayn out here oh dear he's going to die isn't he oh Braun just pushed him and left. Okay.
- We've reached the point in the Rusev-Roman Reigns feud where creative literally has no idea what the hell to do to get to the next match, so we get silly nonsense like family scrapbooks. There's a certain charm to segments like this with the right players, and Rusev almost made it work, but it ran long and was always leading to Roman Reigns coming out in response. It just doesn't work. Do better with this.
- Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows should have stayed in New Japan with this booking.
- The cruiserweight division is barely what the Divas division was. Are we over it yet?
Check out some random grades for this show here.
Your turn.