U1ZwpWP6

1
2SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
3TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2007
4Various Links
5Here is my first piece for CBS Sports. I'm very happy working with them thus far. I'll have one or two pieces for them in the next week, on the Strikeforce show at the Playboy Mansion that should be a lot of fun.
6
7You can check out free audio from Fight Network with myself and Mauro Ranallo here. We talked about last night's edition of Raw earlier today, which just to make perfectly clear, I thought was absolutely terrible.
8
9Also, if you're a member (and I recommend it - it's good value), there's a talk with me and Bryan Alvarez available at F4W where we discuss the SI/CBS transition as well as UFC 76.
10
11Also, since I got a number of e-mails about this given the late report, everything's fine with me and my family. I drove up to the Bay Area for my grandmother's 90th birthday and she doesn't have internet access. She's still going strong even at her older age.
12POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 10:32 PM 0 COMMENTS
13Raw Report
14Date: 09/24/07 from Milwaukee, WI.
15
16The Big News: Hornswoggle and Vince McMahon are on good terms, which spells trouble for a number of heels on the roster.
17
18Conclusive Finishes: 3 of 5.
19
20Show Analysis:
21
22Coach came to the ring to start the show. He said Randy Orton was suspended indefinitely for what he did last week. Vince McMahon joined Coach, and said that everyone should respect him and Coach for their authority. He said that he would embarrass HHH, and announced HHH vs. Carlito and Vince in a cage. Vince guaranteed victory.
23
24Vince then said he owed Hornswoggle an apology. Hornswoggle came out. Vince said he didn’t mean the negative things he said last week. He just wanted to test Hornswoggle to see if he was about love rather than money. Vince wanted to know if Hornswoggle loves him. Hornswoggle said he loves Vince. Vince said he loves Hornswoggle. They hugged. Vince brought out Melina, who said she thinks Hornswoggle is cute. She called him Horny, and Horny jumped on top of her and they rolled around.
25
26John Cena came out and tried to attack Coach. Vince announced that the main event of the show would be a championship surrender ceremony. Coach would get to decide if Cena kept the world title. Any segment where your world title rests on the whim of a heel GM is a strong one. I hope Dana builds UFC 77 around whether he will strip Rampage of his title and give it back to Chuck.
27
28Hardcore Holly defeated Cody Rhodes. This was a fine start to a fine feud to help get Cody over. Holly said Cody should be in a boy band, and he’ll have to earn his respect. Holly beat him up with punches and chops. Cody came back with a side Russian leg sweep and drop kick, but missed a springboard crossbody. Holly pinned him clean with the Alabama slam. I would normally say you should protect a rising star, but certainly you can make an exception for a star the level of Sparky Plugg. Particularly given his track record for grooming rising young talent.
29
30Randy Orton in a recorded segment said that John Cena is a phony. He said Cena got disqualified on purpose, to get out of defending his title. Orton said he enjoyed beating up Cena’s father, and that he’s going to take the title. Ron Simmons beat Santino via count out. Santino worked over Simmons. Simmons started to make a comeback, but Santino walked off. Great finish.
31
32Melina and Jillian had a conversation backstage in front of the camera. Melina let in Jillian on a secret. She made an agreement with Coach that if she dated Hornswoggle, she would get a women’s title shot. Melina is disgusted by Hornswoggle. They did a comedy vignette with Highlanders and Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch. Highlanders lifted up their kilts. I haven’t laughed that hard since Epic Movie.
33
34Vince McMahon and Carlito beat Triple H in a cage match. Carlito would fight HHH while Vince would try to escape. HHH would then fight off Carlito and catch Vince. HHH went for the pedigree on Vince but Carlito gave him the back stabber. HHH quickly recovered and stopped Vince from escaped. HHH and Vince ended up fighting at the top of the cage. Carlito distracted HHH and Vince escaped. They emphasized that this was HHH’s first loss since he returned.
35
36That sent a real message. You’ve got all these idiots on the internet complaining that HHH doesn’t put anyone over, and that he buries everyone around him. Well, shows what they know. HHH showed he’s a team player by putting someone over. And not just anyone – he put over a guy that has real potential as a main event wrestler and that really needed the help. Way to do the right thing, Hunter.
37
38But let’s not get carried away. This is still Triple H. So after Vince escaped, HHH turned around and went after that terrified jobber Carlito. He rammed him into the cage repeatedly, bloodied him up, and laid him out with a pedigree on a chair. It’s a good thing they did this, because they would be risking HHH’s tremendous drawing power if someone got the best of him for longer than a minute and a half.
39
40Brian Kendrick and Paul London beat Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch via DQ. Kendrick hit sliced bread number two, but the Highlanders ran in and attacked Cade and Murdoch. Another great finish. Highlanders are heels now, and feel getting destroyed by Snitsky in seconds qualifies them for a tag title shot. Which, come to think of it, does. The tag team division’s really heating up. Maybe they can fight HHH six on one next week.
41
42Melina backstage was in the shower. Horny was also there, but she didn’t realize it. When she figured it out, she screamed and ran off in her towel. Horny chased her around and pulled off her towel. Vince was leaving when HHH approached him. HHH challenged him to a one on one match on Raw next week. Vince agreed.
43
44Shelton Benjamin and Beth Phoenix beat Jeff Hardy and Candice Michelle. Jeff came off the second rope, but got caught with a Shelton power bomb. Jeff eventually made the hot tag to Candice. Candice used a drop kick, huracanrana and running elbow. However, Beth caught her with the fisherman buster for the clean pin. The best part of this was that they announced Candice as being from Milwaukee before she jobbed out. That way, the next time they return to Milwaukee, Beth will be a much bigger star for defeating the home town hero in her hometown.
45
46The finale of the show was the Coach/Cena segment. Coach backstage said Orton’s indefinite suspension was actually just for one day, and he wish had done that to Cena’s father. Cena came out, and Coach antagonized him. Coach wanted Cena to beg to keep his title, but Cena wouldn’t do it. Lillian then announced that Mr. McMahon said that Cena wouldn’t be stripped of the title, and he would be wrestling Coach in a tables match. Cena put Coach in the STFU and gave him the FU through the table. Hornswoggle McMahon came out to close the show and smiled at Cena.
47
48Final Thoughts:
49
50A fine show. Great booking. Great comedy. Great wrestling. Best of all was the way they created new stars to help fill out the roster. Bravo, WWE.
51POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 6:22 PM 8 COMMENTS
52WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2007
53Leaving SI.com
54I quit SI.com today. I feel they misrepresented to me how much they were going to be doing on MMA, and I was ashamed to be a part of what was really paltry and lacking coverage of the sport on their part. I actually have a lot of major issues with them, but I'll leave it at that. Glad to be gone, and I'm starting with CBS Sportsline next week.
55POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:35 AM 6 COMMENTS
56MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007
57Raw Report
58Date: 09/17/07 from Nashville, TN.
59
60The Big News: Randy Orton got his revenge on John Cena’s father.
61
62Conclusive Finishes: 4 of 6.Show Analysis:
63
64The show began with a particularly good opening package on Randy Orton vs. John Cena. John Cena then came out. He said that he felt great, and was proud of his father. He added that Orton is stupid to want a rematch with him, and that everything he did last night will be legal in a last man standing match. This was a good promo, but it would have been better if he just made those points explicitly rather than a cute series of sarcastic thank yous. Coach then came out, and made Randy Orton vs. John Cena Sr. for Raw. He said that Cena’s father agreed to the match so that Cena wouldn’t be stripped of the title. This was a strong opening.
65
66Jeff Hardy defeated Shelton Benjamin to retain the Intercontinental Title. Shelton hit a northern lights suplex early, and Jeff came back with a pescado. Shelton went after Jeff’s head for most of the match. Jeff hit the whisper in the wind and the swanton to score the pin. This was a good match. Vince McMahon was angry in his limousine, while Hornswaggle was acting crazy. Vince told Coach to take care of Hornswaggle.
67
68John Cena tried to talk his father out of the match. Elsewhere, Santino wanted to impress Maria. Jillian suggested a country duet, but nothing came of that. Vince and Coach chatted backstage, while Irish music played in the background. They went to Vince’s office, which was decorated with all sorts of Irish paraphernalia. Vince and Coach tried to catch Hornswaggle, but Hornswaggle escaped.
69
70Hacksaw Jim Duggan beat Daivari in a capture the flag match. Duggan represented the United States and Daivari represented Iran. This was a pretty random match, but it was fine. They just climbed back and forth until eventually Duggan got the American flag. They did more diva search stuff this week. It will be interesting to see the reaction to these women at the end. When they did live segments, I hated them, but I did pay attention. Now that they have cut away packages, I treat them instinctively like commercials. Seriously, I couldn’t tell you a single thing about any of these women, so I wonder if fans will know who any of the women are by the end of the search.
71
72Cody Rhodes wanted to face Randy Orton rather than Cena’s father. Coach declined that offer. Cena threatened bad things if Coach didn’t call off the match, but Coach wasn’t concerned. Coach announced Cena vs. a mystery opponent. He said that if Cena won, the match between Orton and his father wouldn’t take place.
73
74Vince McMahon came to the ring. He said that he decided to welcome Hornswaggle into the family. Hornswaggle came out and pranced around. Vince then turned on Hornswaggle and said that he would be putting Hornswaggle up for adoption so he wouldn’t get any of the inheritance. Vince should have just consulted a wills attorney.
75
76Anyway, Vince had a new mother and father for Hornswaggle. He attacked his new parents and they ran off. Vince said that Hornswaggle is a disgrace to him and ordered him out of his ring and his life. Hornswaggle was sad and left. That brought out HHH, who made fun of Vince with a long series of jokes. Overall the monologue was pretty funny.
77
78HHH defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch in a handicap match. HHH cleared the ring of the rednecks, but Carlito came out and distracted HHH to even the odds. Cade and Murdoch worked him over briefly. HHH came back, beat them both up, and pinned Cade with a spine buster. Carlito came in for 3 on 1, but Brian Kendrick and Paul London made the save. HHH then beat them up like a pair of geeks and laid them out.
79
80This nonsense is so odd to me. HHH is by all accounts a smart guy. He has to know that he can get over just fine without burying people. I mean, I remember years ago him talking about how Ultimate Warrior buried him unnecessarily at WrestleMania XII when a little bit less of a one sided match would have been better for all parties involved.
81
82And HHH is aware of his legacy too, and presumably doesn’t want to be remembered as a guy that married into the family and got to the top by burying everyone around him. Then there’s an issue of the morale of the roster, which can’t be pleased with segments like these that makes them look like total jokes for no good reason.
83
84In short, this type of segment benefits nobody. HHH gets over no better than he would if he decisively beat Lance Cade in a one on one match. And he looks like a selfish creep both to observers of the business as well as to his fellow workers. In short, if he thinks this type of crap is good for his career he’s woefully mistaken. As for the tag titles, they might as well just dissolve them. After a segment like this, they do more harm in devaluing the meaning of championships than anything else.
85
86Candice Michelle and Mickie James beat Jillian Hall and Melina. Mickie hit a huracanrana and clothesline on Melina. Candice scored clotheslines, a drop kick, a northern lights suplex and the unprettier on Melina for the pin. After the match, Beth Phoenix shoved Candice. The announcers were putting over how big Beth is, but she didn’t look all that much larger than Candice. Coach told Vince he thought Vince scarred Hornswaggle for life. Vince was pleased and got into his limo, but Hornswaggle was in the trunk. Hornswaggle proceeded to open the trunk from the inside while the car was driving away so he could waive to Coach.
87
88John Cena beat Santino via disqualification. Cena was amused by Santino as Coach’s pick for this match. The match ended quickly when Randy Orton ran in. Orton handcuffed Cena to the bottom rope. Coach said that Cena needed to win his match via pinfall or submission, so the match with Orton against Cena’s father would be on. I disliked this development because it went so far into the heel GM just blatantly making up the rules as he goes along that it undermined basic logic. I mean, why didn’t he just announce at the beginning of the show that last night Cena had to win via pinfall or submission to retain his title and that thus Orton is now champion? It’s the exact same non-logic, and presumably would be more desirable to Coach.
89
90Randy Orton beat John Cena Sr. via disqualification. Orton was working over Cena’s dad, when Cody Rhodes came out to make the save. Orton threw him into the steps. Orton then gave Cena’s dad the RKO. Cena ripped off the bottom turnbuckle and came into the ring too late. This was a strong final segment, and Jim Ross in particular did a really good job selling this angle. It didn’t help that as they were going off the air, the crowd decided to loudly chant “you can’t wrestle” at Cena.
91
92Final Thoughts:
93
94This show was good. It advanced the Cena-Orton storyline well, and had some entertaining stuff underneath as well.
95POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:44 PM 6 COMMENTS
96MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2007
97Raw Report
98Date: 09/10/07 from Green Bay, WI.
99
100The Big News: Vince’s son is Hornswaggle.
101
102Conclusive Finishes: 3 of 5.
103
104Show Analysis:
105
106The show started with Vince McMahon. He said he’s glad his son isn’t from Green Bay, and ripped up a copy of WWE Magazine with Mr. Kennedy on the cover. He said he wanted to know who his son is. Great Khali came out, and said things are looking up can only mean him. He said he would be honored to be called the Great McMahon. JBL came out and said things are looking up refers to money. He said he could be JBM. Jeff Hardy came out and said things are looking up might mean his high flying. However, Jeff didn’t want to be Vince’s son. The attorney came on the screen. Vince said he hates all attorneys, including his own. The attorney said the son would be revealed later, but that Jeff isn’t the son. Jeff celebrated, so Vince made Jeff vs. Great Khali.
107
108Paul London beat Lance Cade. They acknowledged the tag title switches this week. Cade worked over London with a back drop and clothesline. Trevor Murdoch got on the apron presumably to interfere, but as the referee went to stop him, Paul Kendrick ran in and hit sliced bread #2 on Cade for the pin.
109
110Coach told Vince that he barred John Cena from the building. Coach then introduced the number 2 online vote getter for Vince’s son, Stevie Richards. Vince laughed uproariously. He wanted to know who the top vote getter was, and Coach said HHH. Elsewhere, Carlito said that he isn’t worried about HHH, because he is full of surprises. He said he would get to pick HHH’s opponent, and it would be someone who has beaten HHH multiple times. Carlito added that by the end of the night Carlito would prove to be HHH’s daddy.
111
112Triple H defeated the “Natural Monster” Shelton Benjamin. HHH threw Benjamin into the post twice and went after his shoulder. Carlito distracted HHH, allowing Benjamin a spinning heel kick and DDT. HHH came back quickly with a clothesline, spinebuster, pedigree and pin. Carlito came in with a chair, but HHH got that from him. Finally, Coach bailed out Carlito by announcing that Carlito vs. HHH would be no DQ, but only for Carlito. This segment made Carlito look totally impotent, but it’s not like he was strong going in.
113
114Randy Orton came out and referenced kicking John Cena’s father. He said he got in Cena’s head, and now Cena will make a mistake for him to capitalize on. Cena came through the crowd to attack Orton. Security held them apart. Cena told Vince that he will have revenge upon Orton for what Orton did to his father. It was a really nice little promo by Cena.
115
116Mickie James beat Jillian Hall with a spin kick. Candice did commentary. Beth Phoenix jumped both competitors after the match. Candice came in to make the save, but received a fisherman buster for her efforts. The diva search is back. The announcers plugged it with more enthusiasm than Unforgiven.
117
118Sandman beat Santino Marella via disqualification. Santino bashed The Condemned before the match. Santino grabbed Sandman’s cane and hit it with him early. He then tried to break the cane over his knee but failed and was in comedic pain. Backstage, Maria told Ron Simmons that she was thinking of breaking up with Santino. Santino at that point jumped Simmons, said damn, and left with Maria.
119
120Great Khali squashed Jeff Hardy. He brushed off Hardy’s offense and hit a big boot. He squeezed Hardy’s head for a while and pinned him. Batista came out after the match and cleared Khali out of the ring.
121
122The show closed with Vince McMahon and the WWE “active” roster. The attorney decided to eliminate candidates for bastard son through a procession of clues. It was very hokey. The son isn’t extreme, so the ECW roster left. The son has a fondness of gold, so the guys who haven’t been champion left. The son’s skin and hair are fair, so the non-white and dark haired guys left. The son is an individual champion, so Cade and Murdoch left. This left Sandman, HHH, and JBL. The son loves to play the game was the final clue. This left HHH and Vince. The attorney then clarified that the games include horseshoe, hopscotch and marbles, and that it was Hornswaggle. He came out and celebrated. HHH laughed at a disgusted Vince to close the show.
123
124Final Thoughts:
125
126From the perspective of selling a PPV Sunday, this show was a real failure. The Vince’s son storyline completely overwhelmed the hype for that show. WWE is in a tough spot with a really thin roster right now, but 40 minutes of Vince isn’t the answer. As for Hornswaggle as the son, it’s probably for the best. The whole angle was really silly, but at least now they can forget about it and treat it like a joke. Using a bigger star would likely have made them look silly. Now that they have paid off the angle, hopefully the focus can shift back to the main eventers again next week.
127POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 8:48 PM 3 COMMENTS
128MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 03, 2007
129Raw Report
130Date: 09/03/07 from Columbus, OH.
131
132The Big News: Raw was all about temporarily writing off the many performers who exposed WWE’s wellness policy as a joke.
133
134Conclusive Finishes: 3 of 5.
135
136Show Analysis:
137
138Jeff Hardy won the Intercontinental Title from Umaga. Umaga worked over Hardy, including a superkick to the floor and a Samoan drop. Umaga missed a head butt off the second rope, and Hardy came back with the whisper in the wind. Umaga hit a twisting uranage, but Hardy crotched him on the top rope and got a sudden pin. That was a weird end to the match.
139
140Carlito approached Vince McMahon backstage. Carlito has a crappy new haircut. It looks like someone did it as a rib while he was sleeping. Vince suggested Carlito and Umaga vs. HHH. Carlito liked this idea. Santino revealed that he requested a rematch between Maria and Beth Phoenix. Maria was concerned, but Santino said he would be there to make sure everything went fine. Stephanie and Linda McMahon confronted Melina backstage, and Linda slapped her.
141
142Santino came to the ring with Maria. He vowed to embarrass Ron Simmons when he is healthy. He is a great heel. Sandman came out. Santino made some disparaging remarks about Sandman and his stick. Sandman proceeded to beat Santino to the back with cane shots. That left Maria alone, and she was destroyed by Beth in their match. Beth no sold Maria’s attempts at offense and won with a fisherman buster. Beth said she would be receiving a title shot at Unforgiven. She cut a pretty good promo and gave Maria another fisherman buster. Candice came out but seemed afraid.
143
144William Regal said he gave Randy Orton the night off, and welcome him via satellite. Orton said the blood was on Cena’s hands, because his father wouldn’t have been attacked if Cena just accepted the rematch. Regal announced Cena vs. Orton for Unforgiven. Cena came out really upset. He attacked Regal and laid him out with the STFU. Cena was really good here.
145
146Paul London and Brian Kendrick beat the World’s Greatest Tag Team to become number one contenders for the tag titles. Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch did commentary, and were excited about the competition. The heels worked over London, who then got the tag to Kendrick. He exploded with all sorts of kicks and scored the pin with sliced bread #2 on Charlie Haas. Cade and Murdoch congratulated Kendrick and London after the match.
147
148Backstage, Vince announced that Coach would be GM again. Cody Rhodes and Mickie James beat Jillian Hall and Daivari. Prior to the match, Jillian Hall disparaged Lillian Garcia. Jillian and Daivari then did some singing together. Rhodes pinned Daivari with a DDT.
149
150HHH vs. Carlito and Umaga was brief, as the heels were disqualified for double teaming HHH. They beat on HHH for a while, but he made a comeback with chair shots. At first Umaga no sold them, so HHH brought in the sledgehammer. He hit Umaga in the head with the sledgehammer multiple times and left him laying and bloody. This was a very effective segment to put over HHH.
151
152Vince McMahon came out, and said that his family is just looking for a handout. Linda joined him, and said she doesn’t need money. She said given his infidelity she could take him for everything he’s got. Vince sucked up to Stephanie and had a video entitled “a father’s love” to show her. Instead, it was footage of their match together. Vince was furious, and HHH appeared to reveal he switched the tapes. He said hi to Stephanie, which seemed a tease of their relationship.
153
154Stephanie said Vince needs help and should just step down from his position. Shane joined the party, and said that there are two Vince McMahons. Shane said Vince needs to change. Vince said that he can. That brought out Mr. Kennedy, who said he is the son, and that Vince doesn’t need to change. Finally, a lawyer came out and said the son isn’t Kennedy. The son will be revealed next week. He brought a message from the mother, “things are looking up.” That seems to be a tease of a tall guy like Great Khali, but who knows where they are going. I can’t really think of anyone that would work well as a pay off for this angle. I just hate the McMahon family soap in general. It’s total ego stroking, and takes away from the wrestlers and their storylines.
155
156Final Thoughts:
157
158This show was average. Next Monday could be a really bad show, with a thin roster and a heavy emphasis on the McMahon stuff.
159POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 8:28 PM 11 COMMENTS
160ABOUT ME
161TODD MARTIN
162UNITED STATES
163VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
164
165LINKS
166Obama/Biden 2008
167Figure 4 Weekly
168CBS Sports
169MMA Payout
170Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
171Washington Post
172MMA Weekly
173Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
174Avoid Cancer Now
175Cross Country Express
176Wrestling Nerds
177Number One Contender
178Tan Dynasty
179The Vortex
180MMA Ranks
181Gerweck.net
182Ron Motta's Blog
183Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
184The Great Scottland
185Here and There
186Everything and Anything
187Fight Opinion
188Monkey Shines
189adamannapolis
190Talib Kweli's Blog
191SI.com
192PREVIOUS POSTS
193My Favorite Movies of 2015
194Book Tier List
195My Favorite Movies of 2014
196Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
197Favorite Movies of 2013
198Favorite Films of 2012
199WWE Raw Report
200WWE Raw Report
201WWE Raw Report
202WWE Raw Report
203ARCHIVES
204November 2005
205December 2005
206January 2006
207February 2006
208March 2006
209April 2006
210May 2006
211June 2006
212July 2006
213August 2006
214September 2006
215October 2006
216November 2006
217December 2006
218January 2007
219February 2007
220March 2007
221April 2007
222May 2007
223June 2007
224July 2007
225August 2007
226September 2007
227October 2007
228November 2007
229December 2007
230January 2008
231February 2008
232March 2008
233April 2008
234May 2008
235June 2008
236July 2008
237August 2008
238September 2008
239October 2008
240November 2008
241December 2008
242January 2009
243February 2009
244March 2009
245April 2009
246May 2009
247June 2009
248July 2009
249August 2009
250September 2009
251October 2009
252November 2009
253December 2009
254January 2010
255February 2010
256March 2010
257April 2010
258May 2010
259June 2010
260July 2010
261August 2010
262September 2010
263October 2010
264November 2010
265December 2010
266January 2011
267February 2011
268March 2011
269April 2011
270May 2011
271June 2011
272July 2011
273August 2011
274September 2011
275October 2011
276November 2011
277December 2011
278January 2012
279February 2012
280March 2012
281April 2012
282May 2012
283June 2012
284July 2012
285January 2013
286March 2014
287April 2014
288February 2015
289October 2015
290February 2016
291Powered by Blogger
292
293 
294
295
296~
297
298
299SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
300TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2010
301WWE Raw Report
302Date: 02/22/10 from Indianapolis, IN.
303
304The Big News: Three of the top four WrestleMania matches were officially announced on Raw.
305
306Show Analysis:
307
308Raw began with the return of new world champion Chris Jericho following his extended departure from Raw. He said basically nothing but just repeatedly gloated about winning the Elimination Chamber match, which was very amusing. Eventually Edge speared him from behind and announced he would take on Jericho for the title at WrestleMania. This was a good angle and it led immediately into another good angle.
309
310John Cena came out next. He said that Vince McMahon screwed him by forcing him to wrestle again in a singles match after the Elimination Chamber. I don’t see how that’s any more unfair than Sheamus being forced to defend his singles title in a six person match in a Chamber and come in as the first man to boot. In fact, I’d argue Sheamus was screwed significantly worse than Cena.
311
312Cena said he wanted his rematch on Raw, which brought out Vince McMahon to tell him he wouldn’t be getting it. It’s not a big deal, but they should table this routine for a little bit. It’s a good concept in theory because you tease a match and then pull it back for later, but they’ve done it so many times it almost feels like the face is disingenuous in temporarily teasing the fans with a match everyone knows won’t be delivered.
313
314Vince McMahon said that he made a deal with Batista where Batista would attack Bret Hart and Batista would then get a title shot. Vince said Batista won’t defend the title until WrestleMania, and that both Sheamus and Cena are in line for title rematches. Thus, he announced Cena vs. Batista for later on Raw. If Cena won he would get the shot and if Batista won Sheamus would get the shot. Cena looked scurred of the prospect of wrestling Batista.
315
316Maryse beat Gail Kim in the long awaited finals of the women’s title tournament. It’s only the women’s title, but they really shouldn’t have advertised a PPV title match only to yank it during the show and provide it on free TV the next day instead. On the plus side, they gave them a little more time than the average women’s match, which you ought to for a title tournament final. The match itself was okay by WWE women’s match standards.
317
318Gail hit a clothesline and punches early but Maryse grabbed the ropes when Gail went for eat defeat. Maryse went for her implant DDT but Gail reversed into a cradle for two. Gail went for a springboard crossbody but missed. Gail went for a victory roll but Maryse threw her off into the ropes and hit the implant DDT for the pin.
319
320There was a weird moment during the match when Gail was bleeding from her mouth and Lawler brought attention to her mouth but didn’t say she was bleeding. So WWE may actually have a bizarre policy where they won’t even acknowledge someone is bleeding even if it is an accident. I can’t recall if they explicitly mentioned bleeding when it happened on Sunday or the other week on ECW.
321
322Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes met backstage. Rhodes said that he knew DiBiase would betray Orton but that he was still on Orton’s side. Orton said that if anyone was at fault it was himself for teaching Rhodes and DiBiase too well. Orton said he hasn’t been the leader he should be and said that he asked for a six man tag to show Legacy is still on the same page.
323
324Orton left and DiBiase came in (pretty much immediately to the point of implausibility) to ask how the conversation went. Rhodes said almost too well. DiBiase then asked Rhodes if they were sticking to the plan. Rhodes said yes, so the audience was basically clued in that Rhodes and DiBiase were planning to stab Orton in the back.
325
326Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston and Yoshi Tatsu beat Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. They announced Tatsu signed with Raw as a free agent. I’m still wondering where Abraham Washington ends up. Tatsu had some success with kicks early but Legacy took over on Bourne. Rhodes hit the Alabama slam and DiBiase used a head over heels clothesline.
327
328Bourne eventually got the tag to Kingston. Kingston hit a springboard clothesline on DiBiase but Orton cut him off when he went for the boom drop. Orton began working over Kingston as DiBiase and Rhodes whispered to each other. Rhodes tagged in but Orton then hit Rhodes with a DDT. DiBiase got in Orton’s face outside the ring and Orton gave him an RKO on the floor. In the ring Kingston tagged Tatsu. Tatsu hit a kick on Rhodes and tagged in Bourne for the shooting star and the pin.
329
330I assume this is the official breakup for Orton and Rhodes/DiBiase. I have mixed feelings on it. It’s good that they were conscious about not making Orton look like a fool. It’s been obvious that Rhodes and DiBiase can’t be trusted and if Orton got suckered by them there is the risk that it would make him look like a chump. With that said, Rhodes and DiBiase need all the help they can get in this feud and opening the breakup with Orton outsmarting and laying out both of them was the sort of young talent burial at a critical juncture that has led to such a stale main event picture.
331
332Shawn Michaels came out for a promo. He said that his explanation for what he did at the Elimination Chamber isn’t complicated. He did what he had to. Michaels said he knew that wouldn’t be popular but that he can live with that. He added that he knows his action spur a reaction from Undertaker. In fact, he was counting on it.
333
334Undertaker joined Michaels. He had weird yellow marks on his face, maybe from the accident yesterday, and looked positively ancient. He said that Michaels had his attention. Michaels told Undertaker that he wrestled a nearly perfect match last year, but he can’t live with that. Michaels said Undertaker ignored him so he had to get Taker’s attention.
335
336In the middle of this serious and crucial promo for one of the biggest matches of the year, the crowd decided to start chanting “what” at Michaels. “What” seriously may be the most irritating fan development in wrestling history. Shut the fuck up, you obnoxious, narcissistic, ADD-suffering dimwits.
337
338Michaels told the Undertaker to wrestle him at WrestleMania and get his revenge. Undertaker responded that he would on one condition, that Michaels put up his career. Michaels said that if he can’t beat Undertaker he has no career. This was an excellent angle with Michaels as usual doing a great job.
339
340As for the career vs. title stipulation, I have mixed feelings. I think it’s a nice hook to build interest in the match. But ultimately WWE is boxing itself into a corner. Either Undertaker’s streak ends for no good reason or more likely they do yet another stipulation match knowing full well that they’re going to renege on the stipulation. It’s even worse here because people are going to remember and care more when they go back on their word. I don’t see why they couldn’t achieve the exact same goal by having Michaels simply imply he’ll leave forever if he loses.
341
342Christian beat Carlito in the first money in the bank qualifier. Now that they are doing money in the bank again, Miz is such an obvious pick to win this year. He fits the gimmick perfectly in just about every way. They also introduced a couple of the NXT rookies here. Heath Slater cut an obnoxious promo and Michael Tarver cut a very good little one.
343
344They announced Christian has signed with Raw. I’m surprised they didn’t do a storyline bidding war between Raw and Smackdown for one or two of the top ECW guys to make their debuts on a new show seem important. That’s the whole reason I like “free agency” better than “drafts.” You can make it feel like the wrestlers have agency and goals they’re moving towards. Instead, this just felt like another draft with the guys randomly distributed by the promotion. It’s not a big deal though, and moving over the ECW guys should bolster the depth on Raw and Smackdown.
345
346Christian missed a crossbody off the top early in the match. Carlito hit a knee lift but Christian countered with an inverted DDT. Christian climbed the ropes but Carlito caught him and hit the roll of the dice for two. Christian went for the kill switch. Carlito reversed into a springboard elbow attempt but that was countered into another kill switch attempt. Carlito reversed again but Christian sent him into the post and finally hit the kill switch for the pin. This was a very fun little match.
347
348Jewel and bull rider Ty Murray did two segments on the show. Earlier Jewel and Jillian Hall got into a singing confrontation and Jewel slapped Jillian. Here, they did a dreadful segment which involved riding a mechanical bull. The WWE women came out and rode it. It wasn’t much of a competition because it went slow and nobody was close to being thrown off.
349
350Miz and Big Show came out to point out what a waste of time this was which led to Murray challenging Show to ride the bull. He of course failed and they played it for comedy but it was one of those segments where nobody is laughing except the guffawing announcers. Three hours later Murray and Jewel made a match with Miz and Show against MVP and Mark Henry.
351
352Miz Show beat Mark Henry and MVP. They showed Bryan Danielson watching backstage, and again the commentary focused on Danielson. They talked about how the internet is angry that Miz is Danielson’s coach given how long Danielson has been wrestling for and how Miz claims Danielson has no personality. It’s at least to me a very intriguing angle and I’m quite curious how the whole thing will turn out. Hopefully they don’t bury Danielson to spite the internet.
353
354Show hit a spear on MVP and followed with chops and a leg drop. Henry got the tag in. He used head butts on Show and a corner avalanche. Miz came off the ropes but was caught with the world’s strongest slam. As Henry turned around Show nailed him with the knockout punch for the pin.
355
356They announced the next entrant into the WWE Hall of Fame is Wendi Richter. It’s a joke pick, but whatever, it’s only the WWE Hall of Fame. She’s probably marginally more deserving than Koko B. Ware given her six month peak was fairly notable. They also announced Cheech and Chong as guest hosts next week as well as Orton vs. DiBiase.
357
358They replayed the Bret Hart angle from last week. Vince said that he was considering facing Bret at Mania, but that now he just wanted to say he had nothing to do with Bret’s accident. Vince invited Bret back next week on Raw to say farewell. After a commercial break they already announced that Bret had accepted. This setup seems to suggest they are going to do the story that Bret faked the car accident. I guess we’ll see how it comes across.
359
360John Cena beat Batista via DQ. Batista kept ducking out between the ropes and then he kicked Cena low for the DQ. He then beat the hell out of Cena. He kicked Cena in the head, threw him into the post, smashed him into the barricade and rammed him into the post on the outside. He then gave him four very hard and spaced out chair shots to the back. This was a great demonstration that a chair shot to the back can be just as effective and dramatic as a shot to the head. I’m very glad that WWE changed their policy on that. This was a very strong angle to close a strong show. I’m really digging heel Batista.
361
362Final Thoughts:
363
364Last week’s bad Raw proved to be a blip rather than a trend. This week’s Raw was an excellent show full of interesting and fun angles from top to bottom. I’m greatly enjoying the WrestleMania build this year and now that they have the major angles announced we’re heading into the home stretch.
365POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 1:01 AM 14 COMMENTS
366MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2010
367WWE Raw Report
368Date: 02/15/10 from Des Moines, IA.
369
370The Big News: Well, so much for the streak of excellent Raws. Hell, so much for the streak of non-dreadful Raws, too.
371
372Show Analysis:
373
374Sheamus beat Randy Orton via DQ. There were RKO chants early. Sheamus hit a power slam but missed the big boot. Orton went for the RKO but Sheamus escaped. Orton gained control with the Garvin stomp but was distracted when Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes came to ringside. Sheamus took over with punches, kicks and knees. Orton responded with punches, kicks and stomps. Orton went for the RKO and Sheamus kind of escaped.
375
376On the outside, DiBiase tried to attack Sheamus behind the referee’s back. Sheamus fought him off immediately so Rhodes attacked Sheamus from behind. The referee saw that and disqualified Orton. Afterwards, Orton gave Rhodes the RKO. Sheamus then dove in with a big boot on DiBiase and Orton gave Sheamus the RKO. This match was quite boring with a redundant crap finish.
377
378Bret Hart came to the ring. He said it was no shock that Vince McMahon wasn’t there, because Bret would be waiting for him. Bret said the words were echoing in his head that he deserved to be screwed. Bret said he thought Vince deserves to have the crap beaten out of him. Bret added that he would have loved to take out Vince at WrestleMania but it wasn’t meant to be. He thanked the wrestlers, fans, and John Cena. He said goodbye and left. He said goodbye to the wrestlers backstage, shook hands with Cena, and went to leave. I didn’t understand Bret’s motivation here at all, but that’s a minor quibble compared to what would come.
379
380Next up was the big angle. Off camera a woman backed her car into Bret’s limousine as Bret was getting in. When they panned to Bret, his leg was hanging out of the car. They showed another camera angle later that made it seem Bret’s leg should have been severed or at the very least crushed, but there wasn’t even any blood. Bret was put on a stretcher and left in an ambulance. They played this up as a huge deal throughout the rest of the show. It looked completely fake.
381
382I won’t go so far as to say this was a complete disaster or that they ruined the Bret/Vince angle in one week, but this was such an idiotic, ill-conceived directional turn. Has there ever been a vehicular assault angle in pro wrestling that has worked? It always looks like bullshit. Nobody ever buys it. It just makes the whole angle look fake. And of all the angles to not interject this idiocy into, it was Bret and Vince because the whole reason the angle was working was the realism of it all. People buy that Bret is angry at Vince for Montreal and the years of tumult that followed. Nobody buys that Bret is angry at Vince because Vince paid some woman to try to cripple him with an automobile on Raw.
383
384This is exactly the sort of scenario we all feared WWE would do with Bret and Vince: substitute the real life issue between the two for some contrived, WWE scripted bullshit. After weeks of quality build I had completely let down my guard and assumed WWE was going to follow through this angle well, and then they pull this shit.
385
386Mark Henry and MVP beat Miz and Big Show. MVP hit a yakuza kick on Miz and Henry hit the world’s strongest slam but Show broke up the pin. Big Show tagged in and hit a DDT but missed a Vader bomb. MVP then got the tag. He hit a face buster and yakuza kick on Show but ran into a kick from Show. Miz tagged in and covered, but MVP reversed into a pinfall of his own for the win. This match felt really rushed, as they had to make time for the 45 minute segment that would follow.
387
388Next up was the Jerry Springer Show on Raw. Because, you know, WWE doesn’t want to be viewed as low brow, white trash entertainment. The announcers put Springer over huge and billed him as a television legend, which is sort of like Mel Gibson seeking to salvage his reputation by doing a buddy comedy with Michael Richards. The theme of the show was WWE’s most intimate relationships revealed.
389
390Springer brought out Kelly Kelly, whose acting throughout this segment was Tiffany level atrocious. She said she was pregnant but wasn’t sure of the father because she has been in a lot of relationships. Santino came out and said he was the father. Kelly said that when Santino was sleeping she needed someone to finish the job. Michael Cole then got up and said, “That was our little secret, you loose lipped hussy!” Jerry Lawler then said Kelly was talking about him. Springer of course responded that Kelly was too old for Lawler.
391
392The Bella Twins were out next. Nikki said that Brie was a man and they got into a fight as Santino tried to get people to chant “Jerry.” Springer wanted to know who was in the room with Kelly. Chris Masters came out, which brought out an angry Eve Torres. She got into a fight with Kelly over Kelly taking her man. The wrestlers again tried to get people to chant “Jerry.”
393
394Masters said Torres wasn’t getting the job done. So Torres said she was also cheating with Great Khali. Khali came out and made out with Torres. Springer then said he had the results of the paternity test, and of course it was Hornswoggle. Springer left. Lawler then told Springer this was all a charade. No, really? Ranjin Singh said the Great Khali felt like the audience that this was a waste of time. No, really? Mae Young then came out and made out with Springer as the wrestlers yet again tried to get the crowd to chant “Jerry.” There were more wrestlers chanting “Jerry” than people in the crowd doing so.
395
396This seriously may have been the low point in the history of Raw. Just the most moronic, interminable, negative stereotype-affirming nonsense. “Entertainment” by idiots and for idiots. And no, I don’t consider “it’s supposed to be awful” to be a particularly compelling defense for awful television programming.
397
398Ted DiBiase beat Kofi Kingston in a brief match. Since DiBiase was going over, Kingston got the whole match. He hit a dropkick, clothesline off the top and boom drop. He set up for trouble in paradise but ran into the corner and DiBiase hit Dream Street for the pin.
399
400They announced Antonio Inoki for the WWE Hall of Fame. This was kind of surreal in that they were acknowledging all this history that they have basically pretended never happened for decades. They talked about the formation of New Japan, the match with Muhammad Ali and the shows in North Korea. Props to WWE for bringing this history to the fans’ attention. They also announced Jewel and bull rider Ty Murray as the guest hosts next week. NASCAR, Jerry Springer, bull riding, it just gets better and better.
401
402John Cena was in the ring and had an argument with Batista on the video screen. Cena was sarcastic and smarmy discussing how Batista attacked him from behind. Batista laughed and said Cena keeps running his mouth when Batista isn’t there. Batista said he will be on Raw next week and Cena can run his mouth then. He finally wished Cena luck on Sunday. Maybe it’s just me, but I find Batista’s character so much more likeable than Cena’s.
403
404HHH beat John Cena via DQ. Cena hit a fisherman buster and threw HHH over the top, but accidentally dove into the barricade. HHH got heat during a commercial break but Cena quickly came back with shoulder blocks and the five knuckle. He went for the FU but HHH got out and hit a clothesline. HHH went for a superplex but Cena blocked and hit a top rope rocker dropper. Cena went for the STF but HHH reversed into a half crab. HHH hit a high knee, face buster and spine buster. He went for the pedigree but Sheamus ran in with a big boot for the DQ. He gave Cena the big boot too and hit a razor’s edge on HHH.
405
406I just don’t buy that in 2010 crap finishes help build PPV matches. They’ve been done way too frequently for way too long and they just make matches feel pointless. I’d much rather they book TV matches where guys go over and then match up the guys who go over at the PPV to settle who the best is. Instead, they have a bunch of matches with crap finishes and then the same guys wrestle on the PPV. The hook for watching the PPV seems to be that this time we may actually give you a real finish.
407
408WWE is essentially like a really stupid con man running a shell game. He offers you a free try, only he rigs it so you lose. Then he tries to get you to play again, only this time for $45, and says this time he’s going to play fair. This is not a very profitable con job. There are better strategies to be had, both in terms of engendering goodwill with your audience and in profiting more on PPV.
409
410Final Thoughts:
411
412This was so much worse than other recent editions of Raw. It had bad matches, bad finishes, bad angles and a dreadful Jerry Springer skit. It wasn’t just a letdown, but rather a gigantic step in the wrong direction.
413
414If you want to hear a much more positive take on WWE’s WrestleMania direction, you can check out a podcast I did with Alex Reimer here at www.thesportsstuff.com. It was recorded prior to this edition of Raw and is as a result much more upbeat. Also, I forgot to mention this last week, but I was on the Fight Show podcast with Mauro Ranallo talking wrestling and MMA on February 3, so you can check that out too through iTunes via hardcoresportsradio.com/podcast.
415POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 10:16 PM 16 COMMENTS
416MONDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2010
417WWE Raw Report
418Date: 02/08/10 from Lafayette, LA.
419
420The Big News: Raw made it two excellent shows in a row. They’re not quite on a Washington Capitals level roll, but they’re doing well for themselves.
421
422Show Analysis:
423
424The show started with a fantastic package on the Bret Hart-Vince McMahon angle from last week. They then showed a NASCAR vehicle spinning in circles in the parking lot. The car came out into the arena and we were supposed to believe it was Carl Edwards, but instead it was Hornswoggle who came out of the car. Edwards then came to the ring separately.
425
426Edwards mentioned the Saints’ Super Bowl win for a cheap pop. The crowd was very happy. He then plugged that he will be driving 500 miles in a circle next weekend, so be sure to mark down that one on your calendar. He said that John Cena is his friend, which brought out Sheamus. Sheamus demanded the last entry slot in the Elimination Chamber. Well, he is the champion. It’s unfair enough he’s thrown into a six way title defense. The last slot is the least thing they could do.
427
428Christian then came out. He got a very nice pop. The announcers said it has been a long time since we’ve seen Christian on Raw. Does 8 weeks really qualify? Christian said that NASCAR is blowing up in Canada and that it almost makes Canadians feel okay about losing out on a WNBA franchise. Woah, hold up. Now that’s just uncalled for. The WNBA is a legitimate sport with real athletes and deserves respect. Contrary to what Ben Miller or other chauvinists may say.
429
430They brought up that ECW would be folding and that WWE NXT would be taking its place. Sheamus thought this would mean Christian’s unemployment, so he evidently isn’t very bright. Now if he’d said that about Trent Barreta and Caylen Croft, he might be onto something. Christian said instead that the ECW guys would be free agents. Oh my god. The Instant Classic’s coming back to TNA. Hogan’s done it again! Christian challenged Sheamus to a match and Edwards made it immediately.
431
432Sheamus beat Christian. Sheamus hit a fall away slam and clotheslined Christian to the floor. Christian came back with a springboard crossbody to the floor, missile dropkick, neck breaker and tornado DDT. Sheamus turned the tide with a big boot and abruptly hit the razor’s edge for the pin.
433
434This was WWE making perfectly clear where ECW stands in its hierarchy. And I’m not complaining at all. Really, with the ECW title disappearing shortly and the success of the undisputed tag team titles, I say WWE should just go ahead and create one unified heavyweight champion. That should be built up so it means something, but why not shoot for a SummerSlam unification?
435
436Backstage, Shawn Michaels suggested to Triple H that they could be a part of WrestleMania together. HHH responded that he is planning to take the singles title in the Chamber. Elsewhere, Cody Rhodes told Ted DiBiase that he thought he could have beaten Mark Henry to qualify for the Chamber. DiBiase told him to stop whining. Rhodes then asked whether DiBiase would have beaten John Cena. DiBiase said he is better than Rhodes and Cena. Randy Orton came in. He announced DiBiase vs. Cena and Rhodes vs. Orton.
437
438Big Show and Miz beat DX and the Straight Edge Society to win the unified tag titles. Prior to the match, CM Punk said that when people celebrate Mardi Gras or Super Bowl victories they turn to drugs and alcohol because they are weak and don’t know any better. Punk said he would show why straight edge means he’s better than us. You know, upon further reflection, I’m not sure he means me. So until he specifies, I’m going to assume he means he’s showing why straight edge means he’s better than you. No offense.
439
440Punk then did a mini-angle with Jared the Subway Guy. Hey, at least he wasn’t guest host. Punk tried to recruit him to be the spokesperson for straight edge. Jared said no so the Straight Edge society was getting ready to submarine him when DX made the save and the tag match began.
441
442Three men were in at the same time, so the heels teamed up to beat down HHH. HHH got the tag to Michaels. Michaels went for his nip up spot but then quickly got up after remembering what happened last week. That was a nice little touch. Michaels hit an elbow off the top and sweet chin music on Punk to eliminate the Straight Edge Society.
443
444Big Show immediately went to town on Michaels for a while. Michaels hit sweet chin music on Show and tagged HHH. HHH hit a high knee, face buster and spine buster on Miz. Michaels then tagged himself in. HHH was confused and as he spoke with Michaels about this Miz threw Michaels into HHH and rolled up Michaels for the pin. This was a good match.
445
446Backstage, Big Show and Miz celebrated their title win. Show said that with Chris Jericho he never beat DX and with Miz he did it the first time. Show said that Miz treats him as an equal and a friend. Show was so proud in saying this like he had emotional scars from his treatment by Jericho and it came across absolutely hilarious. Miz said that together they will run WWE. Miz referred to them as Miz Show but Show said he preferred Show Miz.
447
448Backstage, Shawn Michaels desperately asked Teddy Long to trade for him so he could be put in the Smackdown Elimination Chamber. He came across pathetic, begging and pleading. Long said the Elimination Chamber was set. Michaels started yelling and grabbing Long. HHH then came in and tried to stop Michaels.
449
450Michaels said his career is over and gave Long sweet chin music. Carlito was in the background for this entire angle laughing and Michaels’ kick sent both Long and Carlito falling to the floor. I assume Carlito was there to break Long’s fall on the floor. If that wasn’t the idea, this was dumb because Carlito took away from the seriousness of the angle. It worked well either way, though.
451
452Gail Kim beat Jillian Hall. This match went no time at all. Hall got in a few moves and then Kim hit her finisher “eat defeat” for the pin. After the match, Maryse again said she wanted to have a good match with Gail Kim. She then said a whole lot of stuff of French while smiling. No good disingenuous French Canadians! She laughed and offered Kim a handshake. They announced Ted DiBiase for this year’s Hall of Fame.
453
454Cody Rhodes beat Randy Orton. Orton slapped Rhodes and Rhodes gave Orton a dropkick. Orton hit some punches and Rhodes used a side Russian leg sweep. Rhodes missed a crossbody off the ropes and Orton was setting up for the RKO when Sheamus ran out for a distraction and Rhodes hit the roll of the dice for the pin. The announcers were selling that Rhodes might be in cahoots with Sheamus but Rhodes protected Orton with a chair. There was no heat for any of this.
455
456This Legacy breakup angle isn’t working. The problem is that WWE in the name of unpredictability hasn’t invested the fans in anything. It’s the same problem to a lesser extent with the title matches for WrestleMania. Do we want Orton to turn face on Rhodes and DiBiase? Do we want Rhodes and DiBiase to turn face on Orton? Do we want them all to turn on each other?
457
458It’s completely unclear and without the audience being conditioned to want something, it doesn’t care what happens. This angle ought to be so simple. One guy is being manipulated and cheated by the other two. It builds up for week after week until finally he fights back and the crowd goes crazy. But I guess that’s just too much like pro wrasslin’. Shades of grey. Unpredictability. Etc.
459
460Backstage, Carl Edwards promised something special for next week that fans would never forget. What was this monumental announcement? Singles matches with Sheamus vs. Orton, DiBiase vs. Kingston and HHH vs. Cena. Edwards acted like he had just announced Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan vs. Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle and Undertaker. The announcers then marked out like this was an unbelievable development. I was very confused.
461
462John Cena was supposed to wrestle Ted DiBiase, but he just attacked him and applied the STF on the floor. DiBiase tapped but there was no match. An angry Cena called out Batista, but Batista didn’t show up. Cena said he thinks Vince McMahon was behind what Batista did last week so he called Vince out. Vince came out with security. Cena told Vince to come in the ring himself or he’d beat up all the security and then would be much angrier.
463
464Vince McMahon admitted paying Batista to screw Bret Hart again. However, he said he had nothing to do with Batista attacking Cena. Cena wanted to know why and Vince suggested maybe it was because Cena eliminated Batista at the Rumble or maybe Batista just doesn’t like Cena.
465
466Cena said that Vince is just about money. Cena said that he does it instead because he loves it. Cena then kept talking about doing it for money versus doing it for love. I like that Cena wasn’t smiling and joking, but this material was so corny. Cena managed to pull it off with his delivery anyway. Cena asked Vince if he would take the match. Vince said yes.
467
468After another video package on what Vince did last week, Bret attacked Vince with punches. Vince ran off. He then said that he changed his mind and that there wouldn’t be a match because Bret deserved to be screwed. Bret then went after the WWE video equipment ala Montreal. He didn’t write WCW in the air, though. I’m not sure the audience understood the significance of this, but I thought it worked well and this was another strong close to the show.
469
470Final Thoughts:
471
472The Bret Hart-Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels-Undertaker build continues to be very good and there was some good wrestling and good supplementary angles on this show as well.
473POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:03 PM 10 COMMENTS
474TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 02, 2010
475Academy Gets It Right
476When the Oscars announced they would be expanding to 10 films, there was skepticism from a lot of people (including myself) that they would end up honoring second tier "prestige" films rather than the best popular films of the year (think last year including Revolutionary Road rather than Wall-E). Well, those fears turned out to be unfounded. The Oscars I think did a great job picking the field for Best Picture even in what I don't think was a particularly strong year for movies. They got the prestige films you would expect like Up in the Air, Precious and A Serious Man, but they also nailed my favorite films of the year from outside that group (Inglourious Basterds, Up and District 9). I think it's a field that will generate a lot more interest in the Oscars this year and I'll be interested to see what comes out on top.
477POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 3:16 PM 2 COMMENTS
478MONDAY, FEBRUARY 01, 2010
479A Short Novel on Raw
480Date: 02/01/10 from Nashville, TN.
481
482The Big News: WrestleMania is approaching and WWE delivered one of its strongest and most memorable Raw efforts in a while.
483
484Show Analysis:
485
486The show started with a graphic for Jack Brisco. Edge then came out. He noted that he is not only back but in the WrestleMania main event. He said he was expected to be out longer but he watched the Slammy Awards and heard Chris Jericho thank him for getting injured so Jericho could team with Big Show. At that moment, Edge said the room went silent, not just because Dennis Miller bombed with another brutal joke but because Edge made a vow he wouldn’t miss Mania for a third time with an injury.
487
488Edge said that he’s the ultimate opportunist and the Rumble was his opportunity to make it back to a Mania main event. Edge said that Jericho has a Slammy and his mug shot on TMZ while Edge has his ticket to Mania. I like little jabs like the TMZ one because it makes the feud feel more real. Edge asked rhetorically whether it would be smarter to go after the champion who is 17-0 or the champion who has never competed at Mania. He said he would do the smart thing and wait until after the Elimination Chamber to make a decision.
489
490This was a good promo by Edge. I’m glad he’s back as I think he’s one of the best performers they have and he feels fresher than most of the main event mix. Interestingly, his promo was kind of heelish in that the opportunism stuff made him come across kind of like a coward. I’m not sure if the idea is to gradually shift his character or what.
491
492Sheamus came out to join Edge in the ring. He said that a lot has changed since Edge left. He conceded that he hasn’t wrestled at Mania but added that he did something Edge couldn’t do at Mania, beat John Cena. Edge said he has made a career of beating Cena for the title. Sheamus said he will walk out of the Elimination Chamber as champion. He then told Edge to leave before he put him back on the shelf. Edge didn’t leave so Sheamus attacked him. Edge fought off Sheamus with punches of his own.
493
494I absolutely hate the idea of putting up a title in an Elimination Chamber in February. The Elimination Chamber ought to be the way the other brand creates a challenger for WrestleMania, like they have done previously. That way both major Mania title shots are treated as huge deals that you have to go through a lot to earn. It builds up both the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber as really important and ties the Chamber PPV to the Rumble PPV. Here, the Elimination Chamber undermines the significance of the Rumble, because five different guys are getting a title shot and the chance to headline Mania just one month after the supposedly all important Rumble.
495
496John Cena beat Cody Rhodes to qualify for the Elimination Chamber. Rhodes gained the advantage very early but Cena hit the Cena slam and five knuckle. He went for the FU but Rhodes fought out and hit a clothesline and moonsault. Cena responded with the FU out of nowhere for the pin. Backstage, William Shatner told Vince McMahon he couldn’t wait for Bret Hart to embarrass him.
497
498Triple H beat Jack Swagger to qualify for the Elimination Chamber. Swagger hit a DDT, leg drops, and applied an abdominal stretch. He went for a Vader bomb but HHH got up his knees. HHH went for the pedigree but Swagger reversed and hit the Vader bomb for two. HHH then quickly hit the pedigree for the pin.
499
500They did a skit with William Shatner doing spoken word versions of Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Rey Mysterio and Triple H’s themes. This didn’t really do it for me comically but I thought it was a clever idea that just didn’t click for whatever reason.
501
502Backstage, Triple H met with Shawn Michaels. HHH was joking around with Michaels and trying to cheer him up but Michaels was just too depressed. HHH told Michaels to get into the Chamber and take the title.
503
504Randy Orton beat Shawn Michaels. Michaels hit a swinging neck breaker but missed sweet chin music. Orton retaliated with a back breaker and dropkick. Michaels then came back with a top rope elbow but his sweet chin music attempt was countered into an RKO attempt. Michaels avoided that and hit an atomic drop and flying forearm. Michaels went for his usual nip up but Orton quickly rolled him up for the pin. I loved that finish given Michaels has been telegraphing that nip up spot for over a decade now.
505
506After the match, Michaels was really down. His facials were phenomenal. He sold extreme frustration but at the same time was able to avoid coming across like he was throwing an unsympathetic hissy fit. That’s a tricky balance and Michaels pulled it off so perfectly. This really was great.
507
508Backstage, Ted DiBiase told Randy Orton he was sorry about what happened at the Rumble. A seething Orton just left and DiBiase stood there looking rather angry in his own right. This segment made it pretty clear that these men now no longer trust or like each other and that the breakup is coming, probably at Elimination Chamber.
509
510The Legacy breakup is going to be tricky. It has been booked of late so fans sympathize more with Orton, but I don’t see how they can elevate Rhodes or DiBiase out of the feud if Orton goes face. His face turn will be the central focus and they’ll put him strong over the other two. It will be so hard to book it in a way that Rhodes and DiBiase come out stronger than they went in. I know Orton is going to be a hot face sooner rather than later, but I really think they should find a way to go with the seeming original idea of a heel Rhodes and Orton against a face DiBiase. It’s just so much more conducive to creating a new star. Turn Orton later on.
511
512Ted DiBiase beat Mark Henry in an Elimination Chamber qualifier. Henry clotheslined DiBiase to the floor but DiBiase took over there. DiBiase sent Henry’s arm into the post and the steps. Henry gained control with a clothesline and head butt but DiBiase went after the arm when Henry tried the world’s strongest slam. Henry avoided dream street but missed a corner avalanche and DiBiase hit a DDT with the arm for the pin.
513
514WWE ran a video package on Jack Brisco. I thought it was well intentioned but really poor in giving credit to how successful his career was. It portrayed him primarily as a tag team star and spent more time on the Brisco Brothers Body Shop than his NWA World Title runs. There wasn’t a single mention of Dory Funk, Jr. It felt more like they were honoring the brother of a long time front office employee than one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
515
516Backstage, Maryse said she was looking forward to wrestling Gail Kim. Didn’t WWE just announce they were going to wrestle on this show? Maryse said she was embarrassed watching Mickie James and Michelle McCool on Smackdown and said they shouldn’t be acting that way. She said they are grown women and should act that way. Gail reluctantly said okay. Maryse then said something (I assume something bad) in French to Gail.
517
518Miz and Big Show were backstage when they were confronted by the Straight Edge Society. CM Punk said they were there to get a title shot with DX. Miz and Show said they wanted the title shot. William Shatner came in and made a triple threat title match for next week on Raw. He then froze in a smiling position and kept saying “freeze the frame” to the wrestlers. They all looked at him like he was a complete idiot. This was amusing.
519
520HHH backstage told Michaels that he was spiraling down. He told Shawn that this wasn’t the end of the world and that there are plenty of other guys to wrestle at Mania. “Not for me,” Shawn replied. They announced Carl Edwards from NASCAR will be the guest host next week. Yay, more NASCAR hosts! What, was Larry the Cable Guy unavailable? Oh shit, pretend I never said that.
521
522Kofi Kingston beat Big Show via DQ to qualify for the Chamber. Kingston crotched Show and dropkicked him to the floor. Show came back with a spear. Miz was taunting Kingston at ringside but MVP came out and chased Miz to the back. Kingston kind of hit a top rope dropkick and used the boom drop but Show powered out of a pin attempt.
523
524Show went for a choke slam but Kingston accidentally thumbed him in the eye. Show went for the KO punch but couldn’t see and hit the referee. Another referee came out and called for a DQ. This was such a crappy finish that you could hear boos even with the face winning.
525
526I hate crap finishes in general. I think you can pretty much always book in a way to avoid them. For example here just book Kingston to beat someone else clean to qualify. It would give him more momentum going into the match and you wouldn’t have this sour tasting crap finish teaching you that you can’t trust a match to end with a halfway decent ending.
527
528But even in the spectrum of crap finishes, this was particularly bad. It made no damn sense. Kingston uses an illegal tactic accidentally and as a direct result Show accidentally hits the referee. How is Show responsible for this turn of events if someone must be blamed? It was Kingston’s damn fault if we must apply a strict liability standard that’s contrary to how matches are usually done.
529
530And why must someone be blamed if there was no malicious intent? I’ve seen 8,000 accidental ref bumps over the years with no DQ called. DQs are sometimes called when the referee thinks the wrestler did it intentionally, but here there’s no way the second referee could possibly have thought this was intentional. Thus the DQ felt absurd.
531
532This is just elementary human logic and ethics. A six year old would understand why this was unjust to the heel and yet this referee is booked to be so monumentally idiotic. You don’t see guys in the NFL getting 15 yard misconducts for accidentally running into the official. You should at least be able to avoid crap finishes that don’t even make sense within the context of what you do every single week. Ugh.
533
534The final segment of the show started with Jerry Lawler introducing William Shatner. Shatner “accidentally” fell on Lawler for comedy. Shatner then introduced Bret Hart. I don’t know what it was, but facially he looked more like the younger Bret Hart I remember. He then cut an awesome promo.
535
536Bret said that he came back for the right reasons and to make peace. He noted that was naive. Bret said this time he wasn’t there for peace but to talk to Bret face to face. Vince McMahon then came out. He said that he regrets nothing he ever said or did to Bret. Bret said that was the first honest thing Vince has ever said. He called Vince the world’s greatest liar. He noted some of the lies Vince told including saying that he was like a father to Bret.
537
538Bret said Vince couldn’t lace his father’s jock. Bret talked about when he was in a wheelchair following his stroke. Bret said he got out of the wheelchair and vowed he would never feel pathetic again. Then he came to WWE to make amends and got kicked in the guts and felt pathetic. Bret talked about working so hard for Vince and how Vince never appreciated it. He said that if he was chewing gum like Vince said, this gum had enough flavor left to kick Vince’s ass.
539
540This promo by Bret Hart was exactly what was needed. It was passionate, well scripted and well delivered. It was thoroughly believable and touched on so many real issues between Bret and Vince. It was pretty much the ideal promo you would want Bret to cut on Vince. Bret really delivered here.
541
542Vince responded by saying Bret is pathetic. He has no personality, and without personalities like Mr. Perfect, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret would have been a footnote. He added that Bret has no charisma and no command of the English language. He said that Bret was dressed like a hobo and deserved to be screwed. He then said that he wouldn’t induct Stu Hart into the Hall of Fame because Stu doesn’t deserve it.
543
544The scripting of Vince’s promo was fantastic. I loved the knocks of Bret and the final jab at Stu was a great way to spur Bret into physical action. With that said, I didn’t care for Vince’s delivery at all. He seemed way too pleased with himself as a performer and delivered it in a hammy and goofy manner that undermined the material in my mind. He came across like a character rather than the real Vince from Montreal. People wanted to see Stone Cold kick the ass of the character Mr. McMahon. But people want to see Bret kick the ass of the real Vince McMahon and Vince making ridiculous faces undermined the reality Bret had interjected into his promo.
545
546Bret pulled Vince’s coat over his head and attacked Vince with punches. He went for the sharpshooter but Batista came in and took Bret down with punches. He held Bret and Vince spit in Bret’s face. I wish it weren’t true, but there’s no getting around the fact that the physicality between Bret and Vince and Batista looked awful. But WWE now has basically everything they need for a huge Bret vs. Vince confrontation at Mania. They’ve got the great Bret promo and the image of Vince spitting in Bret’s face is a tremendous visual they can air a million times between now and then. Overall this segment was a big success.
547
548Final Thoughts:
549
550The main section of this report is particularly heavy with analysis of this show, but I wanted to close with one final point on what was generally a very strong build for WrestleMania.
551
552There was a lot of good stuff on Raw, but I think the best stuff was Michaels’ performance in building a match with Undertaker. I criticize Raw a lot, because I think frequently it’s a very poorly written show. But this Michaels-Taker feud is being masterfully put together.
553
554Thinking about a Michaels-Taker rematch, the logical thing to do to build the match would be to push Michaels really strong. Michaels wins a whole bunch of matches and is booked really strong so you think he just might be able to beat Taker. What WWE has done is pretty much the opposite. I never would have thought to do it that way, but it is working so much better than if they had just pushed Michaels strong.
555
556By booking Michaels to fail repeatedly and sink into a state of depression and despair, it makes him such a sympathetic character. You see just how much he wants to beat Undertaker. He isn’t just saying it but showing it through his actions. It seems to mean more to him than Taker’s streak has ever meant to Taker. And the effect of that emotion is that by the time Mania comes, so many people are going to want to see Michaels accomplish this goal.
557
558Watching this show, I found it hard to imagine Michaels failing at his goal to defeat Undertaker. It felt like Michaels would just leave forever and never show his face again if he couldn’t do it. That emotion has injected so much energy in this match and I think the Michaels vs. Taker Mania rematch is shaping up to be the best built WWE program since Batista vs. HHH.
559POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:16 PM 10 COMMENTS
560ABOUT ME
561TODD MARTIN
562UNITED STATES
563VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
564
565LINKS
566Obama/Biden 2008
567Figure 4 Weekly
568CBS Sports
569MMA Payout
570Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
571Washington Post
572MMA Weekly
573Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
574Avoid Cancer Now
575Cross Country Express
576Wrestling Nerds
577Number One Contender
578Tan Dynasty
579The Vortex
580MMA Ranks
581Gerweck.net
582Ron Motta's Blog
583Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
584The Great Scottland
585Here and There
586Everything and Anything
587Fight Opinion
588Monkey Shines
589adamannapolis
590Talib Kweli's Blog
591SI.com
592PREVIOUS POSTS
593My Favorite Movies of 2015
594Book Tier List
595My Favorite Movies of 2014
596Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
597Favorite Movies of 2013
598Favorite Films of 2012
599WWE Raw Report
600WWE Raw Report
601WWE Raw Report
602WWE Raw Report
603ARCHIVES
604November 2005
605December 2005
606January 2006
607February 2006
608March 2006
609April 2006
610May 2006
611June 2006
612July 2006
613August 2006
614September 2006
615October 2006
616November 2006
617December 2006
618January 2007
619February 2007
620March 2007
621April 2007
622May 2007
623June 2007
624July 2007
625August 2007
626September 2007
627October 2007
628November 2007
629December 2007
630January 2008
631February 2008
632March 2008
633April 2008
634May 2008
635June 2008
636July 2008
637August 2008
638September 2008
639October 2008
640November 2008
641December 2008
642January 2009
643February 2009
644March 2009
645April 2009
646May 2009
647June 2009
648July 2009
649August 2009
650September 2009
651October 2009
652November 2009
653December 2009
654January 2010
655February 2010
656March 2010
657April 2010
658May 2010
659June 2010
660July 2010
661August 2010
662September 2010
663October 2010
664November 2010
665December 2010
666January 2011
667February 2011
668March 2011
669April 2011
670May 2011
671June 2011
672July 2011
673August 2011
674September 2011
675October 2011
676November 2011
677December 2011
678January 2012
679February 2012
680March 2012
681April 2012
682May 2012
683June 2012
684July 2012
685January 2013
686March 2014
687April 2014
688February 2015
689October 2015
690February 2016
691Powered by Blogger
692
693 ~~~~
694
695
696SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
697MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2009
698WWE Raw Report
699Date: 08/24/09 from Las Vegas, NV.
700
701The Big News: Vince McMahon celebrated his 64th birthday by pinning Randy Orton.
702
703Show Analysis:
704
705The show started with Legacy backstage. They acknowledged that Brett DiBiase was the one who interfered at SummerSlam. Randy Orton said Brett was there as a fan and they didn’t know he was going to do that. Orton said that was intolerable and wouldn’t be excused. He promised Brett wouldn’t interfere again. Brett apologized for getting caught up in the moment. Cody Rhodes said Orton would have won anyway. I enjoyed this segment. I like when villains are booked so you think they acted in bad faith but can’t be certain, since that’s how it usually is in real life when someone does something wrong.
706
707Vince McMahon then came out in front of the crowd. He said that the referee’s decision at SummerSlam was final that there would be an Orton-Cena rematch in three weeks at Breaking Point. He said that the main events will be submission matches, so they evidently have decided not to do submissions only for all matches. That’s a smart move. Vince said Orton-Cena must end with someone saying “I quit” and if anyone interferes for Orton he will be stripped of the title. Wait, doesn’t that negate the I Quit stipulation?
708
709DX joined Vince. HHH said he doesn’t like good guy Vince. They said it was Vince’s birthday and that he turned 84. They then said 74, and finally Vince screamed that he’s 64. DX made fun of him for that. They then aired a tribute video, which started serious and turned into a comedy. They then brought out a big fake cake. Can you guess who ended up being in it?
710
711The birthday celebrations continued with DX bringing out showgirls, Cirque du Soleil and a fake Elvis. They all sang “Happy Birthday.” Big Dick Johnson then came out of the cake and danced for Vince. Vince threw him out of the ring. DX was setting up to drop something from the ceiling on Vince when Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase attacked DX. DX fought them off. HHH said that Floyd Mayweather wasn’t there yet so he made Legacy vs. DX and Vince McMahon. Vince then said it would be no-DQ. Wait, so if the guest host isn’t there the wrestlers have free reign over their matches?
712
713This opening segment went 23 minutes or so. It had its good moments and bad moments. I thought overall it was fine but it did drag at times. The one huge negative on this was the announcers’ incessant, really irritating fake laughter. The fake laughter is always annoying but it reached a level of grating here that I don’t think it ever has before. It’s hard to even explain how obnoxious it was if you weren’t watching, since I can’t think of an apt comparison point in any form of entertainment I’ve ever watched.
714
715Miz beat Santino in a quick match. Santino did a bunch of wacky stuff. He did the splits, hit a zany chop and then missed a flying head butt. Miz gave him the skull crushing finale for the pin.
716
717Rosa Mendes, Alicia Fox and Beth Phoenix beat Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly and Mickie James. This was advertised as a “Mayweather Melee” which meant the women had boxing themed outfits. The heels worked over Kelly for a few seconds. She tagged Mickie. Mickie came in with punches, a neck breaker and a Charlie Thesz press on Alicia. Alicia, however, sent her into the post and hit a sloppy scissors kick for the pin. They like to rotate the women regardless of talent, but I really hope this isn’t the beginning of a push for Alicia.
718
719In a bizarre segment, DX was backstage and did a promo with loud inexplicable noise in the background. All it needed was flickering lights and it would have been Thunder. DX shouted over the background noise. Jillian Hall then did Marilyn Monroe for Vince. He ordered her out.
720
721Big Show and Chris Jericho came out. Show said he wouldn’t leave until Floyd Mayweather came out. Yes, they booked him as a face again, completely having forgotten what happened the last time. Mayweather came out with his entourage to boos. Mayweather said he would beat up Show again but he has a pay-per-view bout that’s more important.
722
723Jericho said Mayweather is a great self-promoter but not that good of a boxer. He said he thinks Juan Manuel Marquez will knock him out. MVP came out and put over Mayweather as his friend. He made fun of Show and Jericho and asked Mayweather to make MVP and a partner vs. Show and Jericho with MVP and partner getting a title shot at Breaking Point if they won. Why wouldn’t you just ask for the title shot straight up? What, is Mayweather going to say no to that? Mayweather agreed.
724
725MVP and Mark Henry beat Big Show and Chris Jericho. Floyd Mayweather watched from ringside. The heels worked over MVP forever. Henry came in with clotheslines on Jericho. Jericho went for the code breaker which was reversed into a world’s strongest slam attempt which was reversed into a DDT. MVP tagged back in and hit balling, but Jericho gave him an enzuigiri. Henry knocked Show off the apron, Mayweather gave MVP the brass knuckles, and MVP nailed Jericho with them for the pin.
726
727Hornswoggle beat Chavo Guerrero via DQ in a boxing match. Would anyone mind if I just stopped recapping these segments? I’m sure the commercials are significantly more entertaining. Chavo had to wear oversized gloves. “Entertainment at its greatest,” proclaimed Michael Cole. “Fuck off, Michael Cole,” proclaimed me. Chavo eventually took off his gloves and body slammed Hornswoggle for the DQ. Evan Bourne made the save and gave Chavo the shooting star press.
728
729Vince warmed up backstage with Floyd Mayweather. Carlito came in and told Mayweather he wanted a rematch with Kofi Kingston. HHH alluded getting busy with Vince’s daughter so Vince knocked out Carlito for comedy.
730
731DX and Vince McMahon beat Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Legacy worked over HHH, who eventually tagged Michaels. Michaels came in with punches, an inverted atomic drop, a body slam and a top rope elbow on DiBiase. Rhodes then cut off Michaels and they worked over Michaels for a while. Michaels eventually tagged HHH, who came in with a high knee, face buster, spine buster and pedigree on Rhodes. HHH tagged Vince who covered, but Orton broke up the pin.
732
733Orton went for the punt on Vince, but Michaels cut him off. Rhodes and DiBiase then vanished and Orton started leaving. John Cena came out to attack Orton. They went back to the ring where Michaels gave Orton sweet chin music and Cena gave him the FU. Vince then pinned Orton, despite the fact Orton clearly wasn’t the legal man.
734
735I was fine with Vince pinning Cody Rhodes after HHH did all the damage. But I don’t know about Vince pinning your top heel and champion Randy Orton. It’s not like it’s a huge deal given the circumstances, but it’s still not something I’d even consider doing. And if it’s no big deal for Orton to be pinned like this, why not have a young star team with DX and get the pin? You know, someone who can make you money?
736
737Final Thoughts:
738
739Raw was a bad show. Imagine!
740POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:21 PM 17 COMMENTS
741MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2009
742WWE Raw Report
743Date: 08/17/09 from St. Louis, MO.
744
745The Big News: Raw was much better this week. Hallelujah.
746
747Show Analysis:
748
749Freddie Prinze Jr. came out to start the show. He put over being a lifelong WWE fan, referencing action figures, Coliseum Home Video and ice cream bars. That made him more likeable. He announced title matches on Raw and the return of DX. Santino came out dressed like the man with the hook from I Know What You Did Last Summer. He said he wanted to be in a movie and made references to She’s All That and 24.
750
751This wasn’t really funny and the movies are decade old genre films, but it was light hearted and fine in my book. Randy Orton came out and refused to team with John Cena or even compete at all. Prinze said he wouldn’t be bullied and that the match was on. Orton gave him a back breaker and the fans chanted RKO.
752
753Kofi Kingston beat Carlito to retain the United States Title. Rosa Mendes was in Carlito’s corner. All her mannerisms seemed geared towards getting attention towards her and away from Carlito, which is not what a valet or manager ought to be doing. Carlito worked over Kofi. Kofi came back with chops, a dropkick and a high double leg drop. Kofi hit a crossbody off the top but Carlito rolled through for two. Kofi missed trouble in paradise and Carlito hit the roll of the dice for two. Carlito went for the back stabber but Kofi avoided it and hit trouble in paradise for the pin. This was a good match.
754
755Miz came out and said that he is a new man with a new attitude and new look. He announced that he would embark on a remarkable turnaround, culminating in his taking the United States Title from Kofi Kingston. If that’s what constitutes a remarkable turnaround for you, you’re in really bad shape. It’s like announcing you have a goal to make a movie that doesn’t go straight to DVD.
756
757Miz beat Evan Bourne. Miz hit a clothesline and used a bow and arrow submission. Bourne came back with a dropkick, standing moonsault and flying knee. He went for the shooting star press but Miz got up. Bourne got on his shoulders but Miz finished him with the “skull crushing finale.” This was a good short match. Bourne is always fun to watch even when losing quickly.
758
759DX returned to Raw. Backstage they made fun of Jillian Hall and Carlito. They went to the ring and soaked up the reaction from the crowd. As they were starting to speak, Legacy came out and jumped them. They beat up and laid out DX and hit HHH repeatedly with Michaels’ boot. This was exactly what they needed to do to give Legacy some credibility heading into SummerSlam.
760
761Mickie James beat Gail Kim to retain the women’s title. Things started out well. They went for a series of rollups. Each went for a clothesline at the same time. Gail hit a huracanrana and missile dropkick off the top. Each woman went for her finisher but the other escaped. Then everything fell apart.
762
763Mickie went for the implant DDT. It was apparently supposed to be blocked but wasn’t. So Gail took the bump in slow motion and then just got right back up. Mickie then went for a spinning kick that missed horribly but Gail sold it anyway. Mickie then used a simple forearm to knock her down. Mickie stood in the ring for a while looking perturbed then just decided to cover and the referee counted three. Mickie looked so unbelievably disgusted after this match to the point I felt really bad for her.
764
765John Cena backstage cut another of his obnoxious, cutesy, comedy promos directed at Randy Orton. They should show this to wrestling school students as the antithesis of a money promo for a pay-per-view event. Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be the guest host on Raw next week.
766
767MVP beat Jack Swagger via DQ. Swagger used some wrestling early and smacked around MVP. It then broke down into a brawl. The finish was that new WWE favorite: Swagger was disqualified for punching in the corner about a minute in. Why even do a match if this is what was planned? The time would have been better invested just giving another match 2 minutes.
768
769Hornswoggle beat Chavo Guerrero in a falls count anywhere match. WILL THIS FEUD NOT END?! Chavo pursued Hornswoggle under the ring. Something happened there but it was unclear what because it was under the ring. Chavo chased Hornswoggle to the back, where he was eventually knocked out by a paint can over the door trap, ala Home Alone. Hornswoggle pinned him. Chavo accused Mark Henry of setting the trap, but then Macauley Culkin appeared. Yes, Raw is now at the point where Macauley Culkin is doing cameos in angles.
770
771John Cena and Randy Orton beat Big Show and Chris Jericho. Freddie Prinze Jr. announced this would be a lumberjack match and selected a bunch of face lumberjacks. Show and Cena worked over Cena and then worked over Orton. Orton made the tag. Cena came in with shoulder blocks and the Cena slam on Jericho. He went for the five knuckle but Show grabbed him by the throat. Cena knocked Show off the apron and hit the FU on Jericho for the pin. Orton gave Cena the RKO after the match.
772
773Final Thoughts:
774
775As stated at the beginning, this show was a substantial improvement over the past two weeks of Raw. There was some good wrestling and the booking was better than usual. I thought Freddie Prinze Jr. did a good job overall, although it’s disconcerting that the guest host concept has degenerated into a simple ego directive for WWE to feel more accepted in the entertainment world. SummerSlam has incredibly little momentum, but hopefully it will do okay just based on the name and the history. After SummerSlam, Raw would greatly benefit from a fresh face in the top program.
776POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:19 PM 13 COMMENTS
777MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2009
778WWE Raw Report
779Date: 08/10/09 from Calgary, Alberta, CANADA.
780
781The Big News: WWE hates Canada. I mean, “Obsessive stalker” hates. Still seething with inexplicable pent up anger for over a decade hates. If you’re Canadian, Vince McMahon will cook your pet rabbit and then instruct Michael Cole to laugh maniacally about it. WWE wants to eat your Canadian children, praise be to Allah. If you buy a ticket to a WWE live event in Canada, you WILL be insulted. You WILL be ridiculed. Your heroes WILL mock you and laugh at you and talk shit about you. And you WILL sit there and take it and like it. Because you’re a worthless, idiotic Canadian, and you deserve it.
782
783Show Analysis:
784
785Randy Orton was in the ring to start the show, and Jerry Lawler immediately opened by noting they were in “Bizarre-o-land.” The bizarre thing about the Canadian crowd ended up being that they liked Canadians and didn’t like WWE taking shots at them for two hours just for paying their money to attend a WWE show. Man, that is bizarre.
786
787Orton said that he heard rumors he is worried about John Cena and bullied Jeremy Piven to get Piven to do his dirty work. Orton said that isn’t true and that he bullied Piven just because he could. He added that he will beat Cena. Cena came out and wasn’t cute this week. Instead he was furious. I’m not really sure why. He began melodramatically screaming at Orton and challenged him. They got face to face.
788
789Chris Jericho and Big Show then came out. Show said Orton and Cena know nothing about intimidation. The crowd chanted Y2J. Jericho said that Raw was in his country where he grew up and trained. Cena pointed out that he left Canada and migrated to the US. Jericho told him not to change the subject. Jericho and Show said that Sgt. Slaughter made Cena vs. Jericho and Show vs. Orton.
790
791Gail Kim won a four way women’s match over Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox and Beth Phoenix to earn a title shot. They did a bunch of rollups. Gail hit a dropkick off the top on Alicia. Beth put Gail and Kelly in a double over-the-shoulder backbreaker. Alicia broke that up so Beth shoved her down. Kelly hit a handspring elbow on Beth. Gail used her new finisher, “eat defeat,” on Alicia for the pin. This was very good by WWE women’s match standards.
792
793Sgt. Slaughter came out in front of the crowd. He put over Canada and said he wanted to salute the Canadian flag. A Canadian flag appeared on the screen, then eventually an X went through it. Slaughter then cut an anti-Canada promo. He said if it wasn’t for the US, Canadians would be speaking Russian and French. Huh? I’m not sure if that means that Canada would be subject to a joint French/Russian invasion or whether the Russians would insist English-speaking Canadians switch to Russian but not Quebec. In any event, Slaughter demanded the fans stand for the US pledge of allegiance.
794
795Jack Swagger beat Evan Bourne. Bourne used a pescado with his knees. He went for a flying head scissors which was countered into a power bomb attempt but then countered back into a Bourne pinning attempt. Swagger then hit the gut wrench power bomb for another clean pin. This was a good short match.
796
797Afterwards, MVP came out and called Swagger a loudmouth idiot with a lisp. He challenged Swagger on the spot. Swagger said next week, so MVP shoved him. Maybe it’s just me, but I identify more with the guy who’s minding his own business after winning a match fairly than the rested guy who comes out, insults him for something he can’t help, challenges him to wrestle again after just competing and then shoves him when he says he will do so in a week on fair terms.
798
799We then got the first of an absolutely bizarre series of DX segments. HHH was at a cafeteria in Texas looking for Shawn Michaels. Michaels’ big return after a half year was played for total comedy. HHH thought he found Michaels but it was a homosexual instead who came onto HHH. A kid was screaming and ringing a bell, and Michaels then came in and reacted to the child. I’m not sure what he was going for. He might have been angry or crazy or joking. It was just weird. They cut back to the announcers, who fake guffawed.
800
801WWE’s second anti-Canada segment saw Slaughter come out again. He said he had someone who would sing O Canada. He announced Celine Dion. I think they expected the fans to cheer, but shockingly the Canadian fans aren’t obsessed with nationalism and booed Dion. Slaughter then brought out Jillian Hall instead. She sang God Bless America.
802
803Next up was Eugene vs. the masked “Calgary Kid” in a contract on a pole match. Eugene was not in good shape. “Calgary Kid” just got the contract in no time at all. He unmasked and it was the Miz. Has Vince Russo jumped to WWE? I mean, this is WCW at its worst level stuff. A guy is put in a stipulation match with no build and for no reason where he will have to leave the show if he loses. Then he just returns the next week. Why exactly should I care about any stipulation WWE ever does now?
804
805Big Show beat Randy Orton via count out. Show hit a head butt and stepped on Orton’s throat. Orton hit an implant DDT. Show came back with the choke slam but Orton got his foot on the ropes. Show missed the KO punch and Orton just left. Why book your champion like this two weeks before SummerSlam? And if you have to, why do it against Big Show? Haven’t we established now after ten years that Big Show doesn’t mean anything?
806
807We got another Michaels and HHH segment. It involved Michaels sarcastically defending his new job as a chef, I guess. He said he was a chef, not a cook. He said his co-workers liked and respected him, so some kid came in and berated him. I was having flashbacks to the Cactus Jack amnesia angle in WCW. Shawn Michaels was just making fun of the whole thing. Michaels said he is good as a chef, and a fire started on cue.
808
809MVP beat Chris Masters. Masters used some stomps. MVP hit balling. Masters went for the Masterlock, but MVP got out and hit the playmaker for the pin. Swagger after the match distracted MVP and Masters put MVP in the Masterlock.
810
811We went back to the DX vignette again. HHH was trying to talk Michaels into returning. HHH wanted him at SummerSlam. Michaels said he thought that it was SummerFest. That’s a good thing to bring attention to. Michaels’ boss then came in and yelled at “Hickenbottom.” Great, insider references only a small percentage of the audience understands. The manager yelled at Michaels, so he gave him the superkick. Michaels said he would return. Some old lady yelled suck it. Then Michaels went and superkicked the little girl who was yelling at him off screen.
812
813Given Michaels’ sarcastic reactions and the fact none of this made any sense, I think the story here was that HHH and Michaels already decided that they would team up at SummerSlam. They then decided to film these vignettes and hired actors to work with them for TV comedy. Seriously, that’s the idea that makes the most sense to me. Do I even need to point out that this isn’t the best way to build up Michaels’ big WWE return?
814
815They had a WWE.com poll asking who Sgt. Slaughter beat to win the WWE title with 3 options, and still only half the audience got the answer. They then had Jerry Lawler say that he thought it was Randy Savage. I think the idea is that you’re supposed to think Lawler is an idiot. Somehow I don’t see NFL executives yelling at John Madden to say that he thought the Giants beat the Oakland Raiders at the 1991 Super Bowl.
816
817WWE’s third or fourth (depending on what you think about the Calgary Kid thing) anti-Canada segment involved Slaughter coming out. He introduced the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be. Bret Hart’s music played. For some reason, some people actually seemed to buy this. Hacksaw Jim Duggan came out instead waving a US flag. Why do they have so much contempt for their own audience?
818
819Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase beat Mark Henry and Hornswoggle. Rhodes and DiBiase were replacements for Chavo Guerrero, who claimed an injury. Henry used a double suplex on them and hit the world’s strongest slam on DiBiase. He tagged in Hornswoggle, but Hornswoggle missed the frog splash. Rhodes took out Henry and DiBiase hit dream street on Hornswoggle for the pin. So, to summarize, they build up Rhodes and DiBiase’s big match against DX by having DX treat the whole thing as a joke and then having Rhodes and DiBiase beat a midget.
820
821The next anti-Canada segment was a Chris Jericho interview. He talked about training in Stu Hart’s dungeon and put over Calgary as a great wrestling city. He dedicated his win over Cena to Calgary. Show came in and for some reason Jericho “not knowing he was still on the air” immediately launched into an anti-Calgary promo. He buried the city. They announced Freddie Prinze Jr. as next week’s guest host.
822
823John Cena vs. Chris Jericho was more notable for the commentary than anything else. Cena got a mixture of cheers and boos which was funny since he got mostly cheers when he came out the first time before all the nationalist bullshit. The announcers talked about how the crowd was booing Cena just because he’s American, when they cheered him the first time and cheered every other American babyface who wasn’t giving them the finger.
824
825The announcers then moved on to laughing about how Jericho buried Calgary. They went on and on burying the crowd to the point I could hardly concentrate on the match. The ending was weird. Jericho applied the Walls. Cena reversed into the STF. Orton came in and the referee called for the DQ even though he didn’t attack. Jericho then tapped out. So, Jericho was put in a hold and submitted, but he was protected because the submission didn’t count because another guy came in the ring and didn’t do anything.
826
827Afterwards, Cena broke the hold and went face to face with Orton. Jericho then hit the code breaker on Cena. Orton threw Jericho out of the ring, so Show came in and gave Orton the choke slam. Slaughter made a tag match for next week with Jericho and Show vs. Orton and Cena. Cena and Orton knocked Show out of the ring together. Cena then lifted up Jericho for the FU and Orton gave Jericho the RKO off Cena’s shoulders.
828
829Final Thoughts:
830
831I can’t even do justice to how shitty this program was with a rant. This was easily one of the worst episodes of Raw in history. WWE clearly was booking to make sure the Calgary crowd didn’t enjoy the show, but one wonders if they weren’t also booking to make sure the home audience didn’t enjoy the show as well. If so, mission accomplished. Your show failed as entertainment. Your show failed in building for the pay-per-view. You exhibited palpable and irrational hatred for your own audience. In short, your whole style is chump.
832
833I’ll be in San Jose this weekend for Strikeforce, so check out the coverage at CBSSports.com. I spoke with Cris Cyborg earlier today so a piece on her fight with Gina Carano will also be up there soon.
834POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:32 PM 19 COMMENTS
835MONDAY, AUGUST 03, 2009
836WWE Raw Report
837Date: 08/03/09 from Uncasville, CT.
838
839The Big News: Miz has been banned from Summerfest, SummerSlam, the Staples Center and Raw forever.
840
841Show Analysis:
842
843Raw started off with quite the bang. Unfortunately, nobody was shot. Jeremy Piven came out with the most obnoxious human being I think I’ve ever seen named Dr. Ken. To say he had X-Pac heat would be charitable. Miz then came out and said he wanted another match with John Cena. He just hasn’t learned his lesson. John Cena came out to try to match Dr. Ken on the obnoxiousness scale. Cena said he beat the Miz in 2 minutes last week and he can fit that in, but that everyone knows Miz is no good.
844
845Piven made Miz vs. Cena, but made it a lumberjack match. He then said that if Miz lost, he would be banned from “Summerfest.” That sure makes you look good when you bring in a celebrity to guest host your show and put him over huge and he quickly exposes that he has never watched your product and doesn’t know the name of your second biggest annual show. He added that Miz would be banned from Staples Center and from Raw. This first segment was so unbelievably awful on every conceivable level.
846
847Jack Swagger beat Evan Bourne. Swagger worked Bourne over most of the match. Bourne went for a standing moonsault but landed on Swagger’s knees. Bourne reversed the gut wrench power bomb attempt into a pinning attempt. Swagger then hit the old Oklahoma Stampede (a move I’ve always liked) and a gut wrench power bomb for the three count. I’m glad they tried to redeem Swagger after last week. Bourne has upside but they’ve treated him as a joke most weeks since coming to Raw and Swagger hasn’t been branded that way yet. Swagger attacked Bourne after the match but MVP made the save.
848
849Jeremy Piven was backstage with the obnoxious guy. He was being obnoxious. Big Show approached them and wanted to destroy Shaquille O’Neal. They had a poll about who would win a proposed match between the two. I can’t believe they showed the results, with their audience picking Shaq 83 percent to 17 percent. That shows you how seriously the audience perceives Show as a monster. I also don’t understand why they are teasing this match they aren’t going to deliver and that’s significantly more interesting than anything they’re actually promoting for SummerSlam. The obnoxious guy started taunting Show, further getting Show over as a non-threat. Finally, Piven made Show vs. Kofi Kingston for the United States title.
850
851Beth Phoenix and Jillian Hall beat Mickie James and Gail Kim. The heels worked over Mickie. She tagged in Gail. Gail hit a dropkick off the top rope on Jillian. Jillian missed a handspring elbow but got the tag to Beth. Beth nailed Gail from behind and hit the glam slam for the pin.
852
853Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase beat HHH. HHH dominated early. Legacy gained control with a double team high/low and worked HHH over. Rhodes missed a moonsault and HHH started taking both out. He gave Rhodes a high knee, face buster and spine buster. He went for the pedigree but DiBiase came in and gave him Dream Street. Rhodes covered but HHH kicked out. Rhodes then hit the roll of the dice for the pin. It’s certainly better that Legacy didn’t lose the handicap match here, but winning handicap matches is not how you get over young talent as serious threats.
854
855HHH took the microphone afterwards and treated this loss as a joke and made it clear he didn’t care much about losing. He went “oww” sarcastically and jokingly suggested maybe Rhodes and DiBiase are actually that good. He then said it was time to bring back a group. He said he would make one phone call and if you’re not down with that he has two words for you.
856
857Chavo Guerrero thought that Jeremy Piven was Joe Rogan or Jon Favreau. Piven said he would give Chavo another match against the Horngobbler, and that this time it would just be them.
858
859Carlito beat Primo. Primo hit some clotheslines and a monkey flip. However, he then charged Carlito and collided with the post. Carlito went for the back stabber but Primo avoided that and rolled him up for two. Carlito went for the back stabber again and hit it this time for the pin.
860
861Mark Henry beat Chavo Guerrero. Chavo thought he was going to wrestle Hornswoggle but instead Henry came out in a leprechaun hat. He hit the world’s strongest slam for the pin. He danced with Hornswoggle afterwards and Hornswoggle gave Chavo the frog splash. Backstage, Jeremy Piven wanted Randy Orton to be the guest ring announcer for Cena’s match. An angry Orton threatened to kill him.
862
863Kofi Kingston beat Big Show via DQ. Show dominated the match. He hit a corner splash but Kofi got his feet on the ropes. The highlight was Chris Jericho doing commentary started to call Charles Robinson by his name but then had to correct himself midway through and just call him “the referee.” You’ve got to love WWE’s idiotic neuroses. Kofi hit trouble in paradise and a top rope double leg drop but Show powered out. Show hit a spear and then they did one of those increasingly prevalent horrendous WWE finishes. Show just kept punching Kofi and was disqualified.
864
865HHH called up Shawn Michaels backstage to ask him if he would come back. Michaels revealed he wasn’t even watching Raw. HHH asked him “are you ready?” and Michaels hung up on him. They announced Sgt. Slaughter will be the guest host next week on Raw.
866
867John Cena beat Miz in a lumberjack match. Bet you thought the Miz must leave Raw stipulation and lumberjack gimmick meant that Miz would finally get a fluke win thanks to copious amounts of interference. Nope. Well, I mean there was constant interference. But Cena was never in serious trouble and pinned Miz clean again anyway.
868
869Jeremy Piven and the obnoxious guy came out before the match and turned. They said they were fans of Orton and let him handpick the lumberjacks. The obnoxious guy was actually less obnoxious as a heel. Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Masters, Jack Swagger and Carlito were the lumberjacks.
870
871Miz fell out of the ring early but the lumberjacks looked after him. Cena went out and Masters applied the Masterlock. Cena made his comeback anyway. He hit shoulder blocks and then decided to go for the five knuckle shuffle. Can you detect a slight problem with his plan? Well, of course when the idiot babyface went to bounce off the ropes Orton pulled them down and threw the moron into the steps. All the heels beat him up on the outside, and the obnoxious guy gave Miz a cane to hit Cena with. But when Cena came back in he caught Miz in the FU for the pin anyway.
872
873After the match, Jeremy Piven jumped off the top rope onto Cena. Cena caught him. The obnoxious guy hit Cena with the cane. Cena no sold that and put down Piven. He grabbed the obnoxious guy and eventually threw him out onto the other heels at ringside.
874
875Final Thoughts:
876
877This show was pretty much dreadful from beginning to end, a wretched all around television show. There were a lot of problems, but to me the biggest was that so few of the characters on the show are likeable. The heels are heels, and so many of the faces are obnoxious, arrogant, impotent or foolish.
878
879On the plus side, UFC 101 is this weekend. I’ll be in Philadelphia for the show, and you can catch my play-by-play and thoughts on the show at CBSSports.com. Here’s a piece on the Anderson Silva-Forrest Griffin fight:
880
881http://www.cbssports.com/mma/story/12007284
882
883I’ll be on Fight Network Radio tomorrow at 3PM Eastern/12PM Pacific talking Raw and UFC 101. It should be a fun time and you can listen live here:
884
885http://hardcoresportsradio.com/
886POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:43 PM 25 COMMENTS
887ABOUT ME
888TODD MARTIN
889UNITED STATES
890VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
891
892LINKS
893Obama/Biden 2008
894Figure 4 Weekly
895CBS Sports
896MMA Payout
897Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
898Washington Post
899MMA Weekly
900Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
901Avoid Cancer Now
902Cross Country Express
903Wrestling Nerds
904Number One Contender
905Tan Dynasty
906The Vortex
907MMA Ranks
908Gerweck.net
909Ron Motta's Blog
910Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
911The Great Scottland
912Here and There
913Everything and Anything
914Fight Opinion
915Monkey Shines
916adamannapolis
917Talib Kweli's Blog
918SI.com
919PREVIOUS POSTS
920My Favorite Movies of 2015
921Book Tier List
922My Favorite Movies of 2014
923Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
924Favorite Movies of 2013
925Favorite Films of 2012
926WWE Raw Report
927WWE Raw Report
928WWE Raw Report
929WWE Raw Report
930ARCHIVES
931November 2005
932December 2005
933January 2006
934February 2006
935March 2006
936April 2006
937May 2006
938June 2006
939July 2006
940August 2006
941September 2006
942October 2006
943November 2006
944December 2006
945January 2007
946February 2007
947March 2007
948April 2007
949May 2007
950June 2007
951July 2007
952August 2007
953September 2007
954October 2007
955November 2007
956December 2007
957January 2008
958February 2008
959March 2008
960April 2008
961May 2008
962June 2008
963July 2008
964August 2008
965September 2008
966October 2008
967November 2008
968December 2008
969January 2009
970February 2009
971March 2009
972April 2009
973May 2009
974June 2009
975July 2009
976August 2009
977September 2009
978October 2009
979November 2009
980December 2009
981January 2010
982February 2010
983March 2010
984April 2010
985May 2010
986June 2010
987July 2010
988August 2010
989September 2010
990October 2010
991November 2010
992December 2010
993January 2011
994February 2011
995March 2011
996April 2011
997May 2011
998June 2011
999July 2011
1000August 2011
1001September 2011
1002October 2011
1003November 2011
1004December 2011
1005January 2012
1006February 2012
1007March 2012
1008April 2012
1009May 2012
1010June 2012
1011July 2012
1012January 2013
1013March 2014
1014April 2014
1015February 2015
1016October 2015
1017February 2016
1018Powered by Blogger
1019
1020 
1021
1022~~~
1023
1024
1025SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
1026MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2010
1027WWE Raw Report
1028Date: 06/28/10 from Philadelphia, PA.
1029
1030The Big News: The NXT group, Nexus, was without its leader but went after a group of wrestling greats.
1031
1032Show Analysis:
1033
1034The show started for the second straight week with Sheamus teasing a face turn and then laughing about it. This time he said he was disgusted by the attack on Vince McMahon and had a statement, but then he just said the champ is here and smiled. He said he would have defeated John Cena last week even without Nexus’ interference. He added that Cena is no longer the number one contender because he used his rematch clause and he’s done with Cena.
1035
1036John Cena came to the ring and asked Sheamus for help. He said that Nexus will be after Sheamus next and suggested they band together to call out Nexus. Michael Cole then got an e-mail from the mystery GM. They have this goofy podium with a computer on it. It feels so contrived and hopefully they dump this gimmick quickly. The GM promised a ruling on Nexus next week and said that this week if the Nexus guys make contact with the WWE wrestlers they will be terminated and if the WWE wrestlers initiate contact with them the WWE wrestlers will be suspended.
1037
1038John Cena responded by telling some stupid jokes and suggested a title rematch between himself and Sheamus. The GM quickly sent another e-mail. The GM made Sheamus vs. Mark Henry. Cena obnoxiously had a sarcastic fit about the internet. Cena’s reactions to all this made the whole thing a giant joke. Cena then told more idiotic jokes. The GM had a cage lowered and announced Money in the Bank will have Cena vs. Sheamus for the title in a cage.
1039
1040The Hart Dynasty was going to have a match but the Usos attacked them before the match could get started. Tamina hit a top rope splash on Natalya. Backstage, R. Truth said that firing Nexus would be too easy. He suggested they be kept around so they can be taken care of. He called himself the zoo keeper. Does that mean he cleans up after the elephants?
1041
1042Vladimir Kozlov beat Santino Marella. The stipulation was that if Santino won, Kozlov would become his partner. They did some comedy spots. Kozlov hit head butts and a belly to belly for two. He then hit a choke slam for the pin. William Regal came out and congratulated Kozlov. He then attacked Santino but Kozlov made the save. Kozlov helped Santino up and carried him to the back. This angle is weird but amusing.
1043
1044Great Khali was interviewed backstage. He said something. Ranjin Singh translated that Khali said he is a big stupid giant, his manager is tired of protecting him, and if the Nexus group came after him he would run. I have my doubts about the veracity of that translation. Apparently Khali and Ranjin are doing a bizarro Anderson Silva and Ed Soares gimmick.
1045
1046Rob Zombie was guest host and they did nothing with him. He announced the Raw Money in the Bank participants as Randy Orton, Miz, R. Truth, Chris Jericho, Evan Bourne, Ted DiBiase, John Morrison and Edge. He expressed dislike for Edge so Edge immediately appeared on the screen. They bickered about whether Edge dumped Rob Zombie’s entrance song or Rob Zombie dumped him.
1047
1048Zombie left and that was it. Edge had a video ready about his MITB success for his impromptu reaction to Zombie not liking him. Edge said he will show how twisted he can be. The GM then announced the 8 MITB guys in an 8 man tag main event. They kept referring to this as a “mega match” over and over and over again.
1049
1050Sheamus beat Mark Henry. Sheamus worked over Henry with kicks. Henry retaliated with a clothesline, head butt and splash. Henry covered but Sheamus got his foot on the bottom rope. They went to the outside and Henry pressed Sheamus back into the ring but was caught with the bicycle kick for the pin.
1051
1052Nexus was backstage minus Wade Barrett, who apparently has visa problems. Nexus is now starting to resemble NWA if Eazy, Cube and Dre all left. They’ve pushed the angle so strong they of course should keep it going, but these six guys in a main event angle are among the ten worst on the entire Raw roster. Skip Sheffield attacked a production assistant.
1053
1054Next up was a very well executed angle. It started with Jerry Lawler plugging the Ricky Steamboat DVD. Steamboat came to the ring and was joined by Arn Anderson, Mike Rotunda, Michael Hayes and Dean Malenko. I guess they just wanted to use the guys they had but that’s a strange group to honor Steamboat’s career. They basically acknowledged that none of them really had anything to do with him except Arn. They put over Steamboat and told jokes. Anderson said he has never seen or been in the ring with anyone better than Steamboat. That was a very cool little tribute for Steamboat.
1055
1056The NXT guys then came out. They circled the ring and had a really well laid out fight. Basically, the legends tried to keep Nexus from getting in the ring so Nexus picked them off one-by-one until there weren’t enough left to defend. The legends fought off Nexus for a while. They then got Arn, pulled him out of the ring, and beat him up. They caught Malenko next and took him out. They then went after Rotunda and assaulted him outside the ring. That left only Lawler, Hayes and Steamboat. Nexus finally came into the ring and took out Steamboat’s final backup. That led to them destroying Steamboat six on one. I really liked this segment from beginning to end.
1057
1058Maryse and Alicia Fox beat Eve Torres and Gail Kim. The heels worked over Eve. She tagged Gail. Gail hit a dropkick on Alicia but was distracted by Maryse and Alicia hit the ax kick for the pin.
1059
1060R. Truth, Evan Bourne, John Morrison and Randy Orton beat Edge, Miz, Ted DiBiase and Chris Jericho. Bourne had a little success early but the heels took over on him. He eventually got the tag to Morrison, who hit a springboard kick on Miz and a corkscrew pescado on Miz and DiBiase. The heels gained the advantage on Morrison for a while but Edge missed a spear and Morrison gave him an enzuigiri.
1061
1062Morrison tagged Bourne, who came in with kicks on Jericho. Bourne missed the shooting star but landed on his feet. DiBiase and Orton tagged in and Orton immediately hit the RKO on DiBiase and pinned him. The nature of the finish made DiBiase look bad. Afterwards there was a big brawl. Miz went to climb the ladder to get the worthless briefcase but was pushed off. Orton then climbed and got it. Why would you climb a ladder for a briefcase that means nothing when there are seven guys around who might push you off? Oh well. The match itself was good.
1063
1064Final Thoughts:
1065
1066This show was pretty good, carried by a great segment with Nexus and the legends and a good main event.
1067POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 10:02 PM 7 COMMENTS
1068MONDAY, JUNE 21, 2010
1069WWE Raw Report
1070Date: 06/21/10 from Bridgeport, CT.
1071
1072The Big News: Vince McMahon revealed himself to apparently have been behind the NXT invasion, but then the NXT guys turned on him.
1073
1074Show Analysis:
1075
1076Vince McMahon came out to start the show. He said that there was chaos last night and there was only one person to blame, Bret Hart. Vince said that Bret made bad decisions firing Wade Barrett and not showing up or providing additional protection at the PPV. Thus, he fired Bret as GM. Vince announced a new anonymous general manager who will send e-mail decisions to Michael Cole at ringside and Cole will read them. Cole received the first GM decision and it said that the seven members of the NXT group were hired.
1077
1078Sheamus came out and said that this isn’t how he wanted o win the title. He added that he couldn’t accept the title under these circumstances and held the belt up for Vince to take. That was cheered but Sheamus then laughed and took the title back. He celebrated his win and thanked the NXT guys. He proclaimed that he didn’t need the help. Sheamus was very good here.
1079
1080John Cena was next out. He was smiling and literally telling jokes, because who cares if he lost the WWE title? This was so stupid. Cena wanted his title rematch later on Raw. To my shock, the GM made the match with Vince McMahon as referee. Of course, with the finish they provided they might as well have just done the usual overt bait and switch.
1081
1082Chris Jericho beat Evan Bourne in a great little match. Jericho vowed before the match to retire if he lost. Jericho worked Bourne over while Bourne kept going for rollups. Jericho went for the Walls but Bourne escaped and hit a tornado DDT for two. Bourne hit the double knees to the face but Jericho rolled through and applied the Walls. Bourne struggled for the ropes and finally got them. Bourne hit a kick to the face and went for the shooting star press but Jericho got his knees up. That looked awesome. Jericho then really quickly hit the code breaker for the pin. Jericho shoved Bourne down after the match.
1083
1084Backstage, Vince McMahon was on the phone with the GM. Vince liked what the GM did but said that he doesn’t want to be surprised himself. Elsewhere, Ted DiBiase apologized to Virgil for last week. However, he added that Virgil’s services are no longer needed because he got an upgrade. Maryse came in. Virgil asked what DiBiase would do for protection. DiBiase said he would go to the drug store. That was a great line. Virgil got in DiBiase’s face but then left. I’m very glad they’re finally pairing Maryse with a singles act. I would have paired her with someone who has more upside but she’ll help DiBiase and they can always switch her to someone else later.
1085
1086The Hart Dynasty was angry backstage about Bret being fired and what the NXT guys did. Of course they had to script Tyson Kidd to say that the last time Bret left WWE an argument could be made that both sides were wrong. Natalya dedicated her match to Bret, and of course didn’t even win.
1087
1088Natalya wrestled Timina to a no contest. Timina used punches and kicks. Natalya hit a body slam. Simina went for a Samoan drop but had it reversed at which point the NXT guys came out. Wade Barrett said he was there to apologize but Kidd immediately took out a couple guys with a somersault plancha. The NXT guys laid out the Hart Dynasty. I like the idea of the NXT guys coming out whenever. It adds an air of unpredictability and excitement.
1089
1090The NXT guys all took turns on the microphone continuing where the last left off, which felt so contrived. David Otunga apologized. He said that they did what they did because they love WWE and that now they’ve got contracts things can go back to normal. Heath Slater was interrupted by Daniel Bryan chants. He said they have no problem with WWE wrestlers and it is nothing personal.
1091
1092Justin Gabriel apologized to Bret Hart and the Hart Dynasty. Darren Young apologized to John Cena. Skip Sheffield insincerely apologized to the fans and tried to get them to do his NXT catchphrase. Michael Tarver said that anyone would have done what they did.
1093
1094That led to Wade Barrett. Barrett said he had a contract and title shot but he aligned himself with the other guys out of loyalty because they decided to stick together from the beginning and make sure they all got contracts. So was the first season of NXT all a big dream then? He said they have a bond that will never be broken. Barrett said they could make Sheamus a target just as easily as Cena so he better watch it. This was a boring segment. Obviously it was all a ruse, but I don’t understand what exactly they were trying to accomplish in storyline here.
1095
1096John Morrison beat Zack Ryder. Ted DiBiase was supposed to wrestle Morrison but he came out with Maryse and said he had better things to do but had a replacement. Ryder hit a drop kick and knee drop. Morrison responded with a jaw breaker, power bomb and starship pain for the pin. Backstage, John Cena didn’t accept the NXT apology and said that actions bring about reactions. Vince told Cena he would ensure the best man won.
1097
1098Great Khali and Eve Torres beat Primo Colon and Alicia Fox. Primo didn’t want in with Khali so he immediately tagged Alicia. Eve had the advantage on Alicia and first and then Alicia took over for a little while. Eve hit an enzuigiri and moonsault but Primo came in and grabbed her. She slapped him and tagged Khali. Alicia left and Khali gave Primo the tree slam for the pin.
1099
1100Randy Orton came to the ring to say that he will punt the NXT guys and if Barrett gets the title Orton will take it from him. Miz interrupted and said the voices in his head are sick of Orton in the main event. Miz said he will hold the US title and WWE title at the same time. Miz started to do his catchphrase but then attacked Orton. Orton gave him a powerslam but Miz slipped out when he went for the RKO. Edge then came in and speared Orton. Edge said now the real fun begins. I like the idea of a Miz-Orton feud, although obviously the goal should be to elevate Miz to the next level.
1101
1102John Cena and Sheamus was the second no contest of the evening. Vince was the referee at ringside as opposed to in the ring. Sheamus hit a body slam and elbow drop. He worked over Cena with punches. Cena went for the FU but was countered with a powerslam. Cena used the Cena slam and five knuckle. He applied the STF but Sheamus got to the ropes. Sheamus sent Cena into the steps twice and hit his kick at which point the NXT guys ran out. Sheamus left.
1103
1104Vince McMahon got in the ring with the NXT guys and took responsibility for all of their actions. He said that next week the GM will reveal something. He was all pleased but the NXT guys circled him and laid him out. Barrett and Gabriel hit their finishes. The crowd chanted Daniel Bryan and NXT.
1105
1106Final Thoughts:
1107
1108I liked most of this show. It was entertaining and I enjoyed most of the undercard programs they were setting up. But the main direction of this show is such a confusing mess.
1109
1110Let’s go through the storyline “progression.” Four weeks ago, Bret Hart was named GM. The NXT guys were feuding with each other. Three weeks ago, Vince McMahon came on Raw to point out he hired Bret as GM and implied he had some sort of plan for Bret.
1111
1112Two weeks ago, the NXT guys joined together to attack WWE personnel. Last week, Wade Barrett explained they were angry about their treatment by WWE management and wanted WWE contracts and better treatment. Bret refused and fired Barrett, so they attacked Bret in a car and demanded his response on Sunday.
1113
1114Sunday Bret doesn’t show up and the NXT guys attack again. Monday Vince fires Bret for firing Barrett and letting the NXT guys mess with the show again. The NXT guys are hired by Vince’s anonymous new GM. Vince later announces he was behind the NXT actions and then the NXT guys turn on him.
1115
1116Maybe WWE has some really good explanation for all these events. But if they do, it’s well over my head. This all makes no sense to me.
1117
1118If the NXT guys were conspiring together from the beginning, why were they arguing, bickering and ridiculing each other every week on the show?
1119
1120Why would the NXT guys attack Raw to get WWE contracts if Vince McMahon was behind them in the first place and could have just given them contracts from the beginning?
1121
1122Why would Vince McMahon order the NXT guys to attack his own announcers and security? Does he hate Justin Roberts?
1123
1124Why did Vince McMahon make Bret Hart the general manager and give him control for a few weeks rather than just having his guys just attack him in the first place?
1125
1126Why would Vince fire Bret Hart for letting the NXT guys run wild if that’s what he wanted in the first place?
1127
1128If Vince was the NXT benefactor and all they wanted was WWE contracts, why would they attack Vince and jeopardize those contracts?
1129
1130It doesn’t come across like WWE is telling a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. It comes across like they’re just making everything up as they go, devising a “surprising” scenario each week and then trying to connect it as best as they can to what happened before. That’s not how you effectively book a wrestling show. That’s not how you effectively write television. That’s not how you effectively tell any sort of story. It’s crappy writing predicated on the audience being too stupid to notice or too accustomed to no logic in wrestling to care.
1131
1132People seem to really want this NXT thing to work because it’s different and they want to like the current product. But I’m sorry, shoddy writing is shoddy writing, and drastically lowering our standards for wrestling as compared to any other form of entertainment isn’t the answer.
1133
1134I’m so beaten down by this stuff.
1135POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:08 PM 10 COMMENTS
1136MONDAY, JUNE 14, 2010
1137WWE Raw Report
1138Date: 06/14/10 from Charlotte, NC.
1139
1140The Big News: WWE followed up on the big NXT angle from last week.
1141
1142Show Analysis:
1143
1144Wade Barrett was in the ring to start the show. He got a very good negative reaction. He said that Bret Hart demanded he come to the ring and apologize. He invited the other NXT guys to the ring and all except Bryan Danielson came out. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler left through the crowd, which was a nice touch.
1145
1146Barrett asked each man if he wanted to apologize and they all refused. They each had these terrible little monologues they delivered before refusing that sounded completely scripted and phony. They really shouldn’t give these guys WWE scripts if they want them to sound like outsiders. Well, except for maybe Barrett, because he did a tremendous job here.
1147
1148Barrett said that they were treated like animals and when you start to treat people like animals they act like animals. He complained about the dressing room they were given, the NXT challenges, and WWE management changing the rules on them. That brought out Bret Hart.
1149
1150Bret Hart said that eight on one doesn’t make you tough and called the NXT guys cowards. Barrett responded by bringing up Daniel Bryan. He said that Bryan had remorse for what he did and that we will never see him again as a result. I guess they had to address Bryan whether it was a shoot or work. Basically disassociating him from the NXT guys would seem to suggest shoot but Barrett could always say he was lying later or they could bring Bryan back as a face. I guess we will see.
1151
1152Bret Hart announced that John Cena will be at Fatal Four Way in spite of what happened. Barrett replied that this isn’t about Cena but about WWE management. He said that the NXT guys don’t have a problem with the WWE locker room. Barrett said that he has a WWE contract and title match but the other guys have their own demands. David Otunga said they want WWE contracts, their own dressing rooms and first class travel. Bret refused, fired Barrett, and told them all to leave. They left.
1153
1154Miz won back the US title in a fatal four way over R. Truth, John Morrison and Zach Ryder. This was very spot oriented but it was fun. Ryder completely missed a pescado on two guys for comedy. Morrison hit a cool looking sunset flip power bomb on Miz from the ring to the floor. They did a tower of doom spot in the corner. For the finish, Truth hit a jaw breaker on Morrison. Ryder broke that up and hit the rough rider on Truth but Morrison broke that up. Morrison then hit the starship pain on Truth. Miz threw Morrison out of the ring and covered Truth to win.
1155
1156Backstage, Randy Orton predicted a title victory on Sunday. He added that if you wonder about his health you can see how he does later in the show against Sheamus. Orton said that part of him respects what the NXT group did but that part of him thinks they’re a bunch of punks. He said that they deserved to either be fired or have their brains beaten in so Wade Barrett got off lucky.
1157
1158Elsewhere, Ted DiBiase offered Mark Feuerstein a car if he made him co-guest host. Feuerstein indignantly replied no as if this was some gigantic affront to his integrity. Big Show was behind Ted DiBiase so Feuerstein started acting like an idiot standing up to DiBiase. They ended up making a tag match between Show and Feuerstein against Virgil and DiBiase. Feuerstein seemed like he’s probably a nice guy at heart but felt that on a wrestling show you have to act like an obnoxious clown.
1159
1160Evan Bourne beat Chris Jericho via DQ. They played up that Jericho was in a bad mood over his loss last week and how Bourne was in a bad position with this match. Bourne landed some kicks. Jericho took over until Bourne came back with more kicks. Bourne went for a sunset flip that was countered into a Walls attempt. Bourne avoided that and cradled Jericho for two. Jericho then abruptly hit the code breaker but Bourne kicked out of the pin. Jericho stomped Bourne repeatedly and threatened to hit the ref, for which he was disqualified. This was a horrendous finish but I suppose at least Bourne didn’t lose. Bourne fought Jericho off after the match and hit the shooting star press.
1161
1162John Cena came to the ring to cut a terrible, terrible promo with this unbelievably cheesy and melodramatic delivery and lines that amazingly got more and more ridiculous over time. He said that Bret gave him the night off but that he wanted to handle the situation. He labeled the NXT guys radicals. He said that their plan was almost brilliant except their genius was blinded by their ignorance. Who says that? He said that the NXT guys made enemies of the WWE Universe. Oh no. He then said that they destroyed the WWE ring, which is considered sacred ground. Sacred ground. Cena demanded the NXT guys come out and they came out of the crowd.
1163
1164The best analogy I can come up with for John Cena on the microphone is that he has gone from Star Wars Episode V to Star Wars Episode I. That’s probably being a little kind to how he was both before, but I really thought he was a terrific promo for a great many years. Now he’s a serious liability on the microphone because it’s absolutely impossible to believe anything he says. He comes across as this phony, cheesy actor delivering terrible lines that only serve to underscore the whole thing is fake.
1165
1166When the NXT guys came to the ring, John Cena was joined by Jerry Lawler, Santino Marella, William Regal, Evan Bourne and R. Truth. A brawl broke out with the WWE guys all getting the best of the NXT guys. Santino of all people was laying waste to people. Edge came out and speared Wade Barrett. Sheamus and Randy Orton joined the action. And the NXT guys fled for their lives, chased into the night by Santino Marella and Mark Henry.
1167
1168I don’t believe as a general rule that after a really hot angle like the one last week that faces should be getting their heat back a week later. I think you need to build to the eventual comeback if you want people to pay to see it. And with this angle in particular, the heels really need all the help they can get. Having them get beat up by Santino and Jerry Lawler even when the odds were even doesn’t help teach the fans to take these guys seriously. This wasn’t the end of the world but it was a step backwards in making this angle significant.
1169
1170Sheamus backstage said that he wasn’t going to let the NXT rookies ruin his title shot at Fatal Four Way. He declared that if anyone is going to take care of Cena it will be him.
1171
1172Eve Torres and Gail Kim beat Maryse and Alicia Fox. These four will wrestle in a fatal four way for the title at the PPV. The heels worked over Eve, but Alicia accidentally ran into Maryse. Eve then hit a neck breaker on Alicia for the pin. Poor Gail didn’t even get the hot tag.
1173
1174Big Show and Mark Feuerstein beat Ted DiBiase and Virgil. Show beat up DiBiase for a little while. DiBiase tagged in Virgil and Show beat up Virgil for a little while too. I felt bad for poor old Virgil. Show gave him a body slam, chop and choke slam. He then tagged Feuerstein. Feuerstein did the worm and an elbow drop for the pin. DiBiase shoved a dollar bill in Virgil’s mouth afterwards but then took it back. That’s evidently the end of Virgil. He lasted longer than I would have figured. I like smiling, happy Big Show.
1175
1176Santino beat William Regal in a weird match with Vladimir Kozlov as referee. Regal as dominating but Santino rolled him up and Kozlov counted three. Kozlov counted kind of fast but I’m not sure if it was intended as a fast count. Regal was angry at Kozlov after the match.
1177
1178John Cena and Randy Orton fought Edge and Sheamus to a no contest. Bret Hart had all the Raw wrestlers come on the stage for this match in case the NXT guys came out. Cena was selling basically nothing from last week. The faces worked over Sheamus. The heels then gained control on Cena.
1179
1180Edge missed a spear and Orton got the tag. Orton hit a power slam and draping DDT on Sheamus. He set up for the RKO but Edge interfered and got the RKO himself. Sheamus then cut off Orton with an ax handle. The heels took over on Orton, with Sheamus hitting a back breaker. Cena eventually got the hot tag. Cena hit some shoulder blocks, at which point the lights went out and the match abruptly ended.
1181
1182The NXT guys showed up backstage, destroying the backstage area. They then put Bret Hart in a limousine and supposedly ran him into a bunch of cars. They told Bret that on Sunday they want an answer in regards to their status.
1183
1184This finale was another blow to this NXT angle. Vehicular attack angles in wrestling always suck, without exception. Why? Because they look fake. And what did this angle have going for it? That it felt more real than most angles. Doing a big fake-looking angle undermines the drama of the conflict. It’s like a movie with really obvious CGI. It takes you out of the story and destroys your suspension of disbelief. The lights’ going out also suggests someone in power is behind the whole thing, presumably Vince McMahon, which would quickly make this any other angle.
1185
1186Oh, and this is some of the worst PPV build they have done in ages. They don’t have a single match on Sunday with any interest and this show in particular undermined one’s interest in Cena vs. Orton vs. Sheamus vs. Edge. So all in all, not a good finish.
1187
1188Final Thoughts:
1189
1190Well, the follow-up to last week could have been worse.
1191POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:19 PM 11 COMMENTS
1192MONDAY, JUNE 07, 2010
1193WWE Raw Report
1194Date: 06/07/10 from Miami, FL.
1195
1196The Big News: WWE executed possibly the biggest, most visually arresting hotshot angle in the history of Monday Night Raw….
1197
1198….
1199
1200….
1201
1202And they saved it for the NXT geeks.
1203
1204Show Analysis:
1205
1206Bret Hart and Teddy Long came out to start the show. They put over the idea that viewers would be in control. Randy Orton joined them with his arm in a sling. He said he wanted Edge. Edge came out and agreed. Long suggested something to Bret and Bret announced they would compete in either a debate, sit up contest, or match with one of Edge’s arms tied behind his back. They then asked the fans in the arena, who of course cheered for the match. This was not a promising start to a supposed viewer’s choice show, with only one choice anyone would vote for being provided.
1207
1208Big Show beat Chris Jericho in a body slam challenge. The other choices fans could vote on were a submission match or over the top challenge. Jericho did a good job selling being upset at the stipulation. Jericho slapped Show so Show slapped him a few times. Jericho tried a body slam but of course got nowhere. Jericho went after Show’s arm for a little bit. He went for a crossbody but was caught with a body slam for the win. Show then made Jericho tap to a camel clutch and threw him over the top rope.
1209
1210Hart Dynasty beat Great Khali and Hornswoggle. The other choices for Hart Dynasty’s opponents were the Usos or the Dudebusters. That was not a good sign at all where WWE builds up a match and the fans go for the joke pick instead. Khali worked over Tyson Kidd. Hornswoggle missed a frog splash off the top and Kidd pinned him. The Usos attacked the Harts after the match but the Dynasty fought them off this time.
1211
1212Jerry Lawler’s crown went missing, which set up a lame show-long story. Lawler hired the A-Team to find the crown. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson said that he thought he knew who had it. The A-Team guys were playing their roles from the movie. This was surreal.
1213
1214Vladimir Kozlov beat Santino Marella in a dance off. The other choices were an arm wrestling match or a wrestling match, so they obviously wanted the dance off. Santino and Kozlov did a bunch of wacky stuff. The crowd seemed to enjoy this but it didn’t really do it for me. The highlight was Santino doing what appeared to be a variation of the Carlton dance. The crowd preferred Kozlov to Santino.
1215
1216Maryse won a 12 woman battle royal over the Bellas, Rosa Mendes, Jillian Hall, Gail Kim, Alicia Fox, Kelly Kelly, Layla, Michelle McCool, Tiffany and Eve Torres. The other options for the women were a 6 on 6 tag match or a champion vs. champion match. It came down to Eve, Lay Cool, Jillian and Maryse. Eve threw out Lay Cool together. Jillian and Maryse got rid of Eve. Jillian wanted to celebrate together with Maryse but Maryse threw her out instead.
1217
1218Kane beat Sheamus via count out. The other choices for Sheamus’ opponent were Mark Henry or Evan Bourne but they led you towards Kane by booking a confrontation between Kane and Sheamus prior to the match. Kane accused Sheamus of attacking his brother but Sheamus said he would acknowledge if he did. Sheamus hit a powerslam and worked over Kane. Kane finally got a choke slam and Sheamus just rolled out of the ring and took the count out.
1219
1220Wade Barrett did a promo backstage. He said his winning NXT was never in question and it’s just the start of things for him. He vowed to accomplish something that has never been accomplished in WWE. Elsewhere, the A-Team confronted Ted DiBiase and Virgil. They wanted the crown and Rampage was ready to fight Virgil. IRS had the crown and said Lawler didn’t pay back taxes on it. Gas went off or something, knocking out the A-Team.
1221
1222Miz and Zack Ryder beat R. Truth and John Morrison. The other choices for Miz’s partner were William Regal and Dolph Ziggler while the other choices for Truth’s partner were MVP or Christian. The heels worked over Truth, who got the tag to Morrison. A brawl broke out. Morrison collided with the post and Miz hit the skull crushing finale for the pin. That finish would occur again later in the show. Backstage, Kane accused Bret Hart of taking out his brother.
1223
1224Randy Orton beat Edge via DQ. Edge had his hand tied behind his back. Orton used stomps and went for the RKO but Edge escaped. Edge got his hand free and attacked Orton repeatedly until he was disqualified. Edge went for a spear but was caught with a kick. Edge then hit Orton with a chair twice including once to the injured shoulder. It seems stupid to be doing this physicality with Orton injured.
1225
1226Backstage, Evan Bourne thanked John Cena for choosing him as a tag partner last week. John Cena then cut a promo saying he was happy that his fate was in the hands of the fans. Elsewhere, one of the A-Team guys did comedy with Gene Okerlund.
1227
1228Matt Hardy beat Drew McIntyre. This was an amusing deal, as the choice for McIntyre’s opponent was Goldust, Yoshi Tatsu or a “mystery opponent” who was Matt Hardy in silhouette holding up the V1 sign. Drew hit a boot but ran into the post and was hit with the twist of fate for the pin.
1229
1230Rampage woke up backstage from the gas and was told that IRS, Ted DiBiase and Virgil were taking him to the ring. DiBiase in the ring announced his plan to turn over Rampage to Roddy Piper. You know, because Piper feuded with Mr. T 25 years ago and Rampage is playing the character that Mr. T was famous for back then. Piper was going to attack Rampage when the other A-Team guy, Gene Okerlund and Dusty Rhodes made the save. Rampage gave DiBiase a spine buster and Virgil a choke slam. There was very little crowd reaction to any of this. The guest host next week is someone named Mark Feuerstein.
1231
1232John Cena and CM Punk fought to a no contest. The other choices for Cena’s opponent were Rey Mysterio and Jack Swagger. Punk was a big surprise winning because they had pushed Rey as the choice and the angle at the end seemed better laid out for a face vs. face match. Cena went for the mask. Punk came back with kicks. Cena used punches and a bulldog but was cut off by Luke Gallows interference. Punk worked over Cena and Cena came back with a Cena slam and five knuckle shuffle attempt.
1233
1234At that point, Wade Barrett came out and all hell broke loose. The NXT guys came in from the crowd, all wearing “N” armbands. They jumped the Straight Edge Society and laid them out. They then surrounded John Cena and jumped him. Barrett was leading the other guys. With Cena down, the NXT guys went to town. They attacked Matt Striker and Jerry Lawler. Michael Cole turned tail and ran.
1235
1236The NXT guys attacked the ring announcer and the time keeper. Daniel Bryan choked out Justin Roberts. They tore out the ropes, pulled up the ring and removed the mats from the floor. They beat down John Cena forever, with all the guys taking turns hitting him with moves. They laid waste to the entire ringside area. John Cena was carried out on a stretcher.
1237
1238Final Thoughts:
1239
1240Most of this show was bad. It had bad finishes, bad wrestling, bad comedy and a bad atmosphere. They said WWE Universe about 18,000 times and kept promising viewer power while delivering the same old formula show, which felt completely patronizing. Quinton Jackson, who is a dynamic personality in MMA, was completely uninteresting doing WWE’s goofy scripted comedy. All this added up to a deadly boring show.
1241
1242Then came the amazing final segment. That was one hell of an incredible angle. They pulled out all the stops to deliver something really memorable and that would get over the actors involved practically instantaneously. It was so different and so much more serious than anything they have done in ages, the sort of outsider angle that would have meant gigantic business if executed at a different time with different players.
1243
1244Which makes it all the more baffling that they used this huge angle for guys who they have booked as complete geeks for weeks and weeks. There’s just no excuse if you were going to do this to not better present and protect these guys in the preceding weeks. And there’s the additional problem that most of these guys have no talent.
1245
1246The good news is that most of the Raw audience doesn’t watch NXT, so they may not perceive them as badly. And you can hide their varying degrees of ineptitude by letting Daniel Bryan and Justin Gabriel do the wrestling and Wade Barrett do the talking. Still, this is the sort of segment that really leaves you wondering about the wrestling competence of the people booking WWE television. I’ve seen a lot of home run angles over the years, and it’s hard to recall ever seeing an angle this good where the focal players were so lacking in talent and prior presentation.
1247
1248My latest MMA piece on Chuck Liddell and aging fighters is available at:
1249
1250http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=5258647
1251POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:26 PM 13 COMMENTS
1252ABOUT ME
1253TODD MARTIN
1254UNITED STATES
1255VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
1256
1257LINKS
1258Obama/Biden 2008
1259Figure 4 Weekly
1260CBS Sports
1261MMA Payout
1262Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
1263Washington Post
1264MMA Weekly
1265Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
1266Avoid Cancer Now
1267Cross Country Express
1268Wrestling Nerds
1269Number One Contender
1270Tan Dynasty
1271The Vortex
1272MMA Ranks
1273Gerweck.net
1274Ron Motta's Blog
1275Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
1276The Great Scottland
1277Here and There
1278Everything and Anything
1279Fight Opinion
1280Monkey Shines
1281adamannapolis
1282Talib Kweli's Blog
1283SI.com
1284PREVIOUS POSTS
1285My Favorite Movies of 2015
1286Book Tier List
1287My Favorite Movies of 2014
1288Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
1289Favorite Movies of 2013
1290Favorite Films of 2012
1291WWE Raw Report
1292WWE Raw Report
1293WWE Raw Report
1294WWE Raw Report
1295ARCHIVES
1296November 2005
1297December 2005
1298January 2006
1299February 2006
1300March 2006
1301April 2006
1302May 2006
1303June 2006
1304July 2006
1305August 2006
1306September 2006
1307October 2006
1308November 2006
1309December 2006
1310January 2007
1311February 2007
1312March 2007
1313April 2007
1314May 2007
1315June 2007
1316July 2007
1317August 2007
1318September 2007
1319October 2007
1320November 2007
1321December 2007
1322January 2008
1323February 2008
1324March 2008
1325April 2008
1326May 2008
1327June 2008
1328July 2008
1329August 2008
1330September 2008
1331October 2008
1332November 2008
1333December 2008
1334January 2009
1335February 2009
1336March 2009
1337April 2009
1338May 2009
1339June 2009
1340July 2009
1341August 2009
1342September 2009
1343October 2009
1344November 2009
1345December 2009
1346January 2010
1347February 2010
1348March 2010
1349April 2010
1350May 2010
1351June 2010
1352July 2010
1353August 2010
1354September 2010
1355October 2010
1356November 2010
1357December 2010
1358January 2011
1359February 2011
1360March 2011
1361April 2011
1362May 2011
1363June 2011
1364July 2011
1365August 2011
1366September 2011
1367October 2011
1368November 2011
1369December 2011
1370January 2012
1371February 2012
1372March 2012
1373April 2012
1374May 2012
1375June 2012
1376July 2012
1377January 2013
1378March 2014
1379April 2014
1380February 2015
1381October 2015
1382February 2016
1383Powered by Blogger
1384
1385 
1386
1387~~
1388
1389
1390SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
1391MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2010
1392WWE Raw Report
1393Date: 06/28/10 from Philadelphia, PA.
1394
1395The Big News: The NXT group, Nexus, was without its leader but went after a group of wrestling greats.
1396
1397Show Analysis:
1398
1399The show started for the second straight week with Sheamus teasing a face turn and then laughing about it. This time he said he was disgusted by the attack on Vince McMahon and had a statement, but then he just said the champ is here and smiled. He said he would have defeated John Cena last week even without Nexus’ interference. He added that Cena is no longer the number one contender because he used his rematch clause and he’s done with Cena.
1400
1401John Cena came to the ring and asked Sheamus for help. He said that Nexus will be after Sheamus next and suggested they band together to call out Nexus. Michael Cole then got an e-mail from the mystery GM. They have this goofy podium with a computer on it. It feels so contrived and hopefully they dump this gimmick quickly. The GM promised a ruling on Nexus next week and said that this week if the Nexus guys make contact with the WWE wrestlers they will be terminated and if the WWE wrestlers initiate contact with them the WWE wrestlers will be suspended.
1402
1403John Cena responded by telling some stupid jokes and suggested a title rematch between himself and Sheamus. The GM quickly sent another e-mail. The GM made Sheamus vs. Mark Henry. Cena obnoxiously had a sarcastic fit about the internet. Cena’s reactions to all this made the whole thing a giant joke. Cena then told more idiotic jokes. The GM had a cage lowered and announced Money in the Bank will have Cena vs. Sheamus for the title in a cage.
1404
1405The Hart Dynasty was going to have a match but the Usos attacked them before the match could get started. Tamina hit a top rope splash on Natalya. Backstage, R. Truth said that firing Nexus would be too easy. He suggested they be kept around so they can be taken care of. He called himself the zoo keeper. Does that mean he cleans up after the elephants?
1406
1407Vladimir Kozlov beat Santino Marella. The stipulation was that if Santino won, Kozlov would become his partner. They did some comedy spots. Kozlov hit head butts and a belly to belly for two. He then hit a choke slam for the pin. William Regal came out and congratulated Kozlov. He then attacked Santino but Kozlov made the save. Kozlov helped Santino up and carried him to the back. This angle is weird but amusing.
1408
1409Great Khali was interviewed backstage. He said something. Ranjin Singh translated that Khali said he is a big stupid giant, his manager is tired of protecting him, and if the Nexus group came after him he would run. I have my doubts about the veracity of that translation. Apparently Khali and Ranjin are doing a bizarro Anderson Silva and Ed Soares gimmick.
1410
1411Rob Zombie was guest host and they did nothing with him. He announced the Raw Money in the Bank participants as Randy Orton, Miz, R. Truth, Chris Jericho, Evan Bourne, Ted DiBiase, John Morrison and Edge. He expressed dislike for Edge so Edge immediately appeared on the screen. They bickered about whether Edge dumped Rob Zombie’s entrance song or Rob Zombie dumped him.
1412
1413Zombie left and that was it. Edge had a video ready about his MITB success for his impromptu reaction to Zombie not liking him. Edge said he will show how twisted he can be. The GM then announced the 8 MITB guys in an 8 man tag main event. They kept referring to this as a “mega match” over and over and over again.
1414
1415Sheamus beat Mark Henry. Sheamus worked over Henry with kicks. Henry retaliated with a clothesline, head butt and splash. Henry covered but Sheamus got his foot on the bottom rope. They went to the outside and Henry pressed Sheamus back into the ring but was caught with the bicycle kick for the pin.
1416
1417Nexus was backstage minus Wade Barrett, who apparently has visa problems. Nexus is now starting to resemble NWA if Eazy, Cube and Dre all left. They’ve pushed the angle so strong they of course should keep it going, but these six guys in a main event angle are among the ten worst on the entire Raw roster. Skip Sheffield attacked a production assistant.
1418
1419Next up was a very well executed angle. It started with Jerry Lawler plugging the Ricky Steamboat DVD. Steamboat came to the ring and was joined by Arn Anderson, Mike Rotunda, Michael Hayes and Dean Malenko. I guess they just wanted to use the guys they had but that’s a strange group to honor Steamboat’s career. They basically acknowledged that none of them really had anything to do with him except Arn. They put over Steamboat and told jokes. Anderson said he has never seen or been in the ring with anyone better than Steamboat. That was a very cool little tribute for Steamboat.
1420
1421The NXT guys then came out. They circled the ring and had a really well laid out fight. Basically, the legends tried to keep Nexus from getting in the ring so Nexus picked them off one-by-one until there weren’t enough left to defend. The legends fought off Nexus for a while. They then got Arn, pulled him out of the ring, and beat him up. They caught Malenko next and took him out. They then went after Rotunda and assaulted him outside the ring. That left only Lawler, Hayes and Steamboat. Nexus finally came into the ring and took out Steamboat’s final backup. That led to them destroying Steamboat six on one. I really liked this segment from beginning to end.
1422
1423Maryse and Alicia Fox beat Eve Torres and Gail Kim. The heels worked over Eve. She tagged Gail. Gail hit a dropkick on Alicia but was distracted by Maryse and Alicia hit the ax kick for the pin.
1424
1425R. Truth, Evan Bourne, John Morrison and Randy Orton beat Edge, Miz, Ted DiBiase and Chris Jericho. Bourne had a little success early but the heels took over on him. He eventually got the tag to Morrison, who hit a springboard kick on Miz and a corkscrew pescado on Miz and DiBiase. The heels gained the advantage on Morrison for a while but Edge missed a spear and Morrison gave him an enzuigiri.
1426
1427Morrison tagged Bourne, who came in with kicks on Jericho. Bourne missed the shooting star but landed on his feet. DiBiase and Orton tagged in and Orton immediately hit the RKO on DiBiase and pinned him. The nature of the finish made DiBiase look bad. Afterwards there was a big brawl. Miz went to climb the ladder to get the worthless briefcase but was pushed off. Orton then climbed and got it. Why would you climb a ladder for a briefcase that means nothing when there are seven guys around who might push you off? Oh well. The match itself was good.
1428
1429Final Thoughts:
1430
1431This show was pretty good, carried by a great segment with Nexus and the legends and a good main event.
1432POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 10:02 PM 7 COMMENTS
1433MONDAY, JUNE 21, 2010
1434WWE Raw Report
1435Date: 06/21/10 from Bridgeport, CT.
1436
1437The Big News: Vince McMahon revealed himself to apparently have been behind the NXT invasion, but then the NXT guys turned on him.
1438
1439Show Analysis:
1440
1441Vince McMahon came out to start the show. He said that there was chaos last night and there was only one person to blame, Bret Hart. Vince said that Bret made bad decisions firing Wade Barrett and not showing up or providing additional protection at the PPV. Thus, he fired Bret as GM. Vince announced a new anonymous general manager who will send e-mail decisions to Michael Cole at ringside and Cole will read them. Cole received the first GM decision and it said that the seven members of the NXT group were hired.
1442
1443Sheamus came out and said that this isn’t how he wanted o win the title. He added that he couldn’t accept the title under these circumstances and held the belt up for Vince to take. That was cheered but Sheamus then laughed and took the title back. He celebrated his win and thanked the NXT guys. He proclaimed that he didn’t need the help. Sheamus was very good here.
1444
1445John Cena was next out. He was smiling and literally telling jokes, because who cares if he lost the WWE title? This was so stupid. Cena wanted his title rematch later on Raw. To my shock, the GM made the match with Vince McMahon as referee. Of course, with the finish they provided they might as well have just done the usual overt bait and switch.
1446
1447Chris Jericho beat Evan Bourne in a great little match. Jericho vowed before the match to retire if he lost. Jericho worked Bourne over while Bourne kept going for rollups. Jericho went for the Walls but Bourne escaped and hit a tornado DDT for two. Bourne hit the double knees to the face but Jericho rolled through and applied the Walls. Bourne struggled for the ropes and finally got them. Bourne hit a kick to the face and went for the shooting star press but Jericho got his knees up. That looked awesome. Jericho then really quickly hit the code breaker for the pin. Jericho shoved Bourne down after the match.
1448
1449Backstage, Vince McMahon was on the phone with the GM. Vince liked what the GM did but said that he doesn’t want to be surprised himself. Elsewhere, Ted DiBiase apologized to Virgil for last week. However, he added that Virgil’s services are no longer needed because he got an upgrade. Maryse came in. Virgil asked what DiBiase would do for protection. DiBiase said he would go to the drug store. That was a great line. Virgil got in DiBiase’s face but then left. I’m very glad they’re finally pairing Maryse with a singles act. I would have paired her with someone who has more upside but she’ll help DiBiase and they can always switch her to someone else later.
1450
1451The Hart Dynasty was angry backstage about Bret being fired and what the NXT guys did. Of course they had to script Tyson Kidd to say that the last time Bret left WWE an argument could be made that both sides were wrong. Natalya dedicated her match to Bret, and of course didn’t even win.
1452
1453Natalya wrestled Timina to a no contest. Timina used punches and kicks. Natalya hit a body slam. Simina went for a Samoan drop but had it reversed at which point the NXT guys came out. Wade Barrett said he was there to apologize but Kidd immediately took out a couple guys with a somersault plancha. The NXT guys laid out the Hart Dynasty. I like the idea of the NXT guys coming out whenever. It adds an air of unpredictability and excitement.
1454
1455The NXT guys all took turns on the microphone continuing where the last left off, which felt so contrived. David Otunga apologized. He said that they did what they did because they love WWE and that now they’ve got contracts things can go back to normal. Heath Slater was interrupted by Daniel Bryan chants. He said they have no problem with WWE wrestlers and it is nothing personal.
1456
1457Justin Gabriel apologized to Bret Hart and the Hart Dynasty. Darren Young apologized to John Cena. Skip Sheffield insincerely apologized to the fans and tried to get them to do his NXT catchphrase. Michael Tarver said that anyone would have done what they did.
1458
1459That led to Wade Barrett. Barrett said he had a contract and title shot but he aligned himself with the other guys out of loyalty because they decided to stick together from the beginning and make sure they all got contracts. So was the first season of NXT all a big dream then? He said they have a bond that will never be broken. Barrett said they could make Sheamus a target just as easily as Cena so he better watch it. This was a boring segment. Obviously it was all a ruse, but I don’t understand what exactly they were trying to accomplish in storyline here.
1460
1461John Morrison beat Zack Ryder. Ted DiBiase was supposed to wrestle Morrison but he came out with Maryse and said he had better things to do but had a replacement. Ryder hit a drop kick and knee drop. Morrison responded with a jaw breaker, power bomb and starship pain for the pin. Backstage, John Cena didn’t accept the NXT apology and said that actions bring about reactions. Vince told Cena he would ensure the best man won.
1462
1463Great Khali and Eve Torres beat Primo Colon and Alicia Fox. Primo didn’t want in with Khali so he immediately tagged Alicia. Eve had the advantage on Alicia and first and then Alicia took over for a little while. Eve hit an enzuigiri and moonsault but Primo came in and grabbed her. She slapped him and tagged Khali. Alicia left and Khali gave Primo the tree slam for the pin.
1464
1465Randy Orton came to the ring to say that he will punt the NXT guys and if Barrett gets the title Orton will take it from him. Miz interrupted and said the voices in his head are sick of Orton in the main event. Miz said he will hold the US title and WWE title at the same time. Miz started to do his catchphrase but then attacked Orton. Orton gave him a powerslam but Miz slipped out when he went for the RKO. Edge then came in and speared Orton. Edge said now the real fun begins. I like the idea of a Miz-Orton feud, although obviously the goal should be to elevate Miz to the next level.
1466
1467John Cena and Sheamus was the second no contest of the evening. Vince was the referee at ringside as opposed to in the ring. Sheamus hit a body slam and elbow drop. He worked over Cena with punches. Cena went for the FU but was countered with a powerslam. Cena used the Cena slam and five knuckle. He applied the STF but Sheamus got to the ropes. Sheamus sent Cena into the steps twice and hit his kick at which point the NXT guys ran out. Sheamus left.
1468
1469Vince McMahon got in the ring with the NXT guys and took responsibility for all of their actions. He said that next week the GM will reveal something. He was all pleased but the NXT guys circled him and laid him out. Barrett and Gabriel hit their finishes. The crowd chanted Daniel Bryan and NXT.
1470
1471Final Thoughts:
1472
1473I liked most of this show. It was entertaining and I enjoyed most of the undercard programs they were setting up. But the main direction of this show is such a confusing mess.
1474
1475Let’s go through the storyline “progression.” Four weeks ago, Bret Hart was named GM. The NXT guys were feuding with each other. Three weeks ago, Vince McMahon came on Raw to point out he hired Bret as GM and implied he had some sort of plan for Bret.
1476
1477Two weeks ago, the NXT guys joined together to attack WWE personnel. Last week, Wade Barrett explained they were angry about their treatment by WWE management and wanted WWE contracts and better treatment. Bret refused and fired Barrett, so they attacked Bret in a car and demanded his response on Sunday.
1478
1479Sunday Bret doesn’t show up and the NXT guys attack again. Monday Vince fires Bret for firing Barrett and letting the NXT guys mess with the show again. The NXT guys are hired by Vince’s anonymous new GM. Vince later announces he was behind the NXT actions and then the NXT guys turn on him.
1480
1481Maybe WWE has some really good explanation for all these events. But if they do, it’s well over my head. This all makes no sense to me.
1482
1483If the NXT guys were conspiring together from the beginning, why were they arguing, bickering and ridiculing each other every week on the show?
1484
1485Why would the NXT guys attack Raw to get WWE contracts if Vince McMahon was behind them in the first place and could have just given them contracts from the beginning?
1486
1487Why would Vince McMahon order the NXT guys to attack his own announcers and security? Does he hate Justin Roberts?
1488
1489Why did Vince McMahon make Bret Hart the general manager and give him control for a few weeks rather than just having his guys just attack him in the first place?
1490
1491Why would Vince fire Bret Hart for letting the NXT guys run wild if that’s what he wanted in the first place?
1492
1493If Vince was the NXT benefactor and all they wanted was WWE contracts, why would they attack Vince and jeopardize those contracts?
1494
1495It doesn’t come across like WWE is telling a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. It comes across like they’re just making everything up as they go, devising a “surprising” scenario each week and then trying to connect it as best as they can to what happened before. That’s not how you effectively book a wrestling show. That’s not how you effectively write television. That’s not how you effectively tell any sort of story. It’s crappy writing predicated on the audience being too stupid to notice or too accustomed to no logic in wrestling to care.
1496
1497People seem to really want this NXT thing to work because it’s different and they want to like the current product. But I’m sorry, shoddy writing is shoddy writing, and drastically lowering our standards for wrestling as compared to any other form of entertainment isn’t the answer.
1498
1499I’m so beaten down by this stuff.
1500POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:08 PM 10 COMMENTS
1501MONDAY, JUNE 14, 2010
1502WWE Raw Report
1503Date: 06/14/10 from Charlotte, NC.
1504
1505The Big News: WWE followed up on the big NXT angle from last week.
1506
1507Show Analysis:
1508
1509Wade Barrett was in the ring to start the show. He got a very good negative reaction. He said that Bret Hart demanded he come to the ring and apologize. He invited the other NXT guys to the ring and all except Bryan Danielson came out. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler left through the crowd, which was a nice touch.
1510
1511Barrett asked each man if he wanted to apologize and they all refused. They each had these terrible little monologues they delivered before refusing that sounded completely scripted and phony. They really shouldn’t give these guys WWE scripts if they want them to sound like outsiders. Well, except for maybe Barrett, because he did a tremendous job here.
1512
1513Barrett said that they were treated like animals and when you start to treat people like animals they act like animals. He complained about the dressing room they were given, the NXT challenges, and WWE management changing the rules on them. That brought out Bret Hart.
1514
1515Bret Hart said that eight on one doesn’t make you tough and called the NXT guys cowards. Barrett responded by bringing up Daniel Bryan. He said that Bryan had remorse for what he did and that we will never see him again as a result. I guess they had to address Bryan whether it was a shoot or work. Basically disassociating him from the NXT guys would seem to suggest shoot but Barrett could always say he was lying later or they could bring Bryan back as a face. I guess we will see.
1516
1517Bret Hart announced that John Cena will be at Fatal Four Way in spite of what happened. Barrett replied that this isn’t about Cena but about WWE management. He said that the NXT guys don’t have a problem with the WWE locker room. Barrett said that he has a WWE contract and title match but the other guys have their own demands. David Otunga said they want WWE contracts, their own dressing rooms and first class travel. Bret refused, fired Barrett, and told them all to leave. They left.
1518
1519Miz won back the US title in a fatal four way over R. Truth, John Morrison and Zach Ryder. This was very spot oriented but it was fun. Ryder completely missed a pescado on two guys for comedy. Morrison hit a cool looking sunset flip power bomb on Miz from the ring to the floor. They did a tower of doom spot in the corner. For the finish, Truth hit a jaw breaker on Morrison. Ryder broke that up and hit the rough rider on Truth but Morrison broke that up. Morrison then hit the starship pain on Truth. Miz threw Morrison out of the ring and covered Truth to win.
1520
1521Backstage, Randy Orton predicted a title victory on Sunday. He added that if you wonder about his health you can see how he does later in the show against Sheamus. Orton said that part of him respects what the NXT group did but that part of him thinks they’re a bunch of punks. He said that they deserved to either be fired or have their brains beaten in so Wade Barrett got off lucky.
1522
1523Elsewhere, Ted DiBiase offered Mark Feuerstein a car if he made him co-guest host. Feuerstein indignantly replied no as if this was some gigantic affront to his integrity. Big Show was behind Ted DiBiase so Feuerstein started acting like an idiot standing up to DiBiase. They ended up making a tag match between Show and Feuerstein against Virgil and DiBiase. Feuerstein seemed like he’s probably a nice guy at heart but felt that on a wrestling show you have to act like an obnoxious clown.
1524
1525Evan Bourne beat Chris Jericho via DQ. They played up that Jericho was in a bad mood over his loss last week and how Bourne was in a bad position with this match. Bourne landed some kicks. Jericho took over until Bourne came back with more kicks. Bourne went for a sunset flip that was countered into a Walls attempt. Bourne avoided that and cradled Jericho for two. Jericho then abruptly hit the code breaker but Bourne kicked out of the pin. Jericho stomped Bourne repeatedly and threatened to hit the ref, for which he was disqualified. This was a horrendous finish but I suppose at least Bourne didn’t lose. Bourne fought Jericho off after the match and hit the shooting star press.
1526
1527John Cena came to the ring to cut a terrible, terrible promo with this unbelievably cheesy and melodramatic delivery and lines that amazingly got more and more ridiculous over time. He said that Bret gave him the night off but that he wanted to handle the situation. He labeled the NXT guys radicals. He said that their plan was almost brilliant except their genius was blinded by their ignorance. Who says that? He said that the NXT guys made enemies of the WWE Universe. Oh no. He then said that they destroyed the WWE ring, which is considered sacred ground. Sacred ground. Cena demanded the NXT guys come out and they came out of the crowd.
1528
1529The best analogy I can come up with for John Cena on the microphone is that he has gone from Star Wars Episode V to Star Wars Episode I. That’s probably being a little kind to how he was both before, but I really thought he was a terrific promo for a great many years. Now he’s a serious liability on the microphone because it’s absolutely impossible to believe anything he says. He comes across as this phony, cheesy actor delivering terrible lines that only serve to underscore the whole thing is fake.
1530
1531When the NXT guys came to the ring, John Cena was joined by Jerry Lawler, Santino Marella, William Regal, Evan Bourne and R. Truth. A brawl broke out with the WWE guys all getting the best of the NXT guys. Santino of all people was laying waste to people. Edge came out and speared Wade Barrett. Sheamus and Randy Orton joined the action. And the NXT guys fled for their lives, chased into the night by Santino Marella and Mark Henry.
1532
1533I don’t believe as a general rule that after a really hot angle like the one last week that faces should be getting their heat back a week later. I think you need to build to the eventual comeback if you want people to pay to see it. And with this angle in particular, the heels really need all the help they can get. Having them get beat up by Santino and Jerry Lawler even when the odds were even doesn’t help teach the fans to take these guys seriously. This wasn’t the end of the world but it was a step backwards in making this angle significant.
1534
1535Sheamus backstage said that he wasn’t going to let the NXT rookies ruin his title shot at Fatal Four Way. He declared that if anyone is going to take care of Cena it will be him.
1536
1537Eve Torres and Gail Kim beat Maryse and Alicia Fox. These four will wrestle in a fatal four way for the title at the PPV. The heels worked over Eve, but Alicia accidentally ran into Maryse. Eve then hit a neck breaker on Alicia for the pin. Poor Gail didn’t even get the hot tag.
1538
1539Big Show and Mark Feuerstein beat Ted DiBiase and Virgil. Show beat up DiBiase for a little while. DiBiase tagged in Virgil and Show beat up Virgil for a little while too. I felt bad for poor old Virgil. Show gave him a body slam, chop and choke slam. He then tagged Feuerstein. Feuerstein did the worm and an elbow drop for the pin. DiBiase shoved a dollar bill in Virgil’s mouth afterwards but then took it back. That’s evidently the end of Virgil. He lasted longer than I would have figured. I like smiling, happy Big Show.
1540
1541Santino beat William Regal in a weird match with Vladimir Kozlov as referee. Regal as dominating but Santino rolled him up and Kozlov counted three. Kozlov counted kind of fast but I’m not sure if it was intended as a fast count. Regal was angry at Kozlov after the match.
1542
1543John Cena and Randy Orton fought Edge and Sheamus to a no contest. Bret Hart had all the Raw wrestlers come on the stage for this match in case the NXT guys came out. Cena was selling basically nothing from last week. The faces worked over Sheamus. The heels then gained control on Cena.
1544
1545Edge missed a spear and Orton got the tag. Orton hit a power slam and draping DDT on Sheamus. He set up for the RKO but Edge interfered and got the RKO himself. Sheamus then cut off Orton with an ax handle. The heels took over on Orton, with Sheamus hitting a back breaker. Cena eventually got the hot tag. Cena hit some shoulder blocks, at which point the lights went out and the match abruptly ended.
1546
1547The NXT guys showed up backstage, destroying the backstage area. They then put Bret Hart in a limousine and supposedly ran him into a bunch of cars. They told Bret that on Sunday they want an answer in regards to their status.
1548
1549This finale was another blow to this NXT angle. Vehicular attack angles in wrestling always suck, without exception. Why? Because they look fake. And what did this angle have going for it? That it felt more real than most angles. Doing a big fake-looking angle undermines the drama of the conflict. It’s like a movie with really obvious CGI. It takes you out of the story and destroys your suspension of disbelief. The lights’ going out also suggests someone in power is behind the whole thing, presumably Vince McMahon, which would quickly make this any other angle.
1550
1551Oh, and this is some of the worst PPV build they have done in ages. They don’t have a single match on Sunday with any interest and this show in particular undermined one’s interest in Cena vs. Orton vs. Sheamus vs. Edge. So all in all, not a good finish.
1552
1553Final Thoughts:
1554
1555Well, the follow-up to last week could have been worse.
1556POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:19 PM 11 COMMENTS
1557MONDAY, JUNE 07, 2010
1558WWE Raw Report
1559Date: 06/07/10 from Miami, FL.
1560
1561The Big News: WWE executed possibly the biggest, most visually arresting hotshot angle in the history of Monday Night Raw….
1562
1563….
1564
1565….
1566
1567And they saved it for the NXT geeks.
1568
1569Show Analysis:
1570
1571Bret Hart and Teddy Long came out to start the show. They put over the idea that viewers would be in control. Randy Orton joined them with his arm in a sling. He said he wanted Edge. Edge came out and agreed. Long suggested something to Bret and Bret announced they would compete in either a debate, sit up contest, or match with one of Edge’s arms tied behind his back. They then asked the fans in the arena, who of course cheered for the match. This was not a promising start to a supposed viewer’s choice show, with only one choice anyone would vote for being provided.
1572
1573Big Show beat Chris Jericho in a body slam challenge. The other choices fans could vote on were a submission match or over the top challenge. Jericho did a good job selling being upset at the stipulation. Jericho slapped Show so Show slapped him a few times. Jericho tried a body slam but of course got nowhere. Jericho went after Show’s arm for a little bit. He went for a crossbody but was caught with a body slam for the win. Show then made Jericho tap to a camel clutch and threw him over the top rope.
1574
1575Hart Dynasty beat Great Khali and Hornswoggle. The other choices for Hart Dynasty’s opponents were the Usos or the Dudebusters. That was not a good sign at all where WWE builds up a match and the fans go for the joke pick instead. Khali worked over Tyson Kidd. Hornswoggle missed a frog splash off the top and Kidd pinned him. The Usos attacked the Harts after the match but the Dynasty fought them off this time.
1576
1577Jerry Lawler’s crown went missing, which set up a lame show-long story. Lawler hired the A-Team to find the crown. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson said that he thought he knew who had it. The A-Team guys were playing their roles from the movie. This was surreal.
1578
1579Vladimir Kozlov beat Santino Marella in a dance off. The other choices were an arm wrestling match or a wrestling match, so they obviously wanted the dance off. Santino and Kozlov did a bunch of wacky stuff. The crowd seemed to enjoy this but it didn’t really do it for me. The highlight was Santino doing what appeared to be a variation of the Carlton dance. The crowd preferred Kozlov to Santino.
1580
1581Maryse won a 12 woman battle royal over the Bellas, Rosa Mendes, Jillian Hall, Gail Kim, Alicia Fox, Kelly Kelly, Layla, Michelle McCool, Tiffany and Eve Torres. The other options for the women were a 6 on 6 tag match or a champion vs. champion match. It came down to Eve, Lay Cool, Jillian and Maryse. Eve threw out Lay Cool together. Jillian and Maryse got rid of Eve. Jillian wanted to celebrate together with Maryse but Maryse threw her out instead.
1582
1583Kane beat Sheamus via count out. The other choices for Sheamus’ opponent were Mark Henry or Evan Bourne but they led you towards Kane by booking a confrontation between Kane and Sheamus prior to the match. Kane accused Sheamus of attacking his brother but Sheamus said he would acknowledge if he did. Sheamus hit a powerslam and worked over Kane. Kane finally got a choke slam and Sheamus just rolled out of the ring and took the count out.
1584
1585Wade Barrett did a promo backstage. He said his winning NXT was never in question and it’s just the start of things for him. He vowed to accomplish something that has never been accomplished in WWE. Elsewhere, the A-Team confronted Ted DiBiase and Virgil. They wanted the crown and Rampage was ready to fight Virgil. IRS had the crown and said Lawler didn’t pay back taxes on it. Gas went off or something, knocking out the A-Team.
1586
1587Miz and Zack Ryder beat R. Truth and John Morrison. The other choices for Miz’s partner were William Regal and Dolph Ziggler while the other choices for Truth’s partner were MVP or Christian. The heels worked over Truth, who got the tag to Morrison. A brawl broke out. Morrison collided with the post and Miz hit the skull crushing finale for the pin. That finish would occur again later in the show. Backstage, Kane accused Bret Hart of taking out his brother.
1588
1589Randy Orton beat Edge via DQ. Edge had his hand tied behind his back. Orton used stomps and went for the RKO but Edge escaped. Edge got his hand free and attacked Orton repeatedly until he was disqualified. Edge went for a spear but was caught with a kick. Edge then hit Orton with a chair twice including once to the injured shoulder. It seems stupid to be doing this physicality with Orton injured.
1590
1591Backstage, Evan Bourne thanked John Cena for choosing him as a tag partner last week. John Cena then cut a promo saying he was happy that his fate was in the hands of the fans. Elsewhere, one of the A-Team guys did comedy with Gene Okerlund.
1592
1593Matt Hardy beat Drew McIntyre. This was an amusing deal, as the choice for McIntyre’s opponent was Goldust, Yoshi Tatsu or a “mystery opponent” who was Matt Hardy in silhouette holding up the V1 sign. Drew hit a boot but ran into the post and was hit with the twist of fate for the pin.
1594
1595Rampage woke up backstage from the gas and was told that IRS, Ted DiBiase and Virgil were taking him to the ring. DiBiase in the ring announced his plan to turn over Rampage to Roddy Piper. You know, because Piper feuded with Mr. T 25 years ago and Rampage is playing the character that Mr. T was famous for back then. Piper was going to attack Rampage when the other A-Team guy, Gene Okerlund and Dusty Rhodes made the save. Rampage gave DiBiase a spine buster and Virgil a choke slam. There was very little crowd reaction to any of this. The guest host next week is someone named Mark Feuerstein.
1596
1597John Cena and CM Punk fought to a no contest. The other choices for Cena’s opponent were Rey Mysterio and Jack Swagger. Punk was a big surprise winning because they had pushed Rey as the choice and the angle at the end seemed better laid out for a face vs. face match. Cena went for the mask. Punk came back with kicks. Cena used punches and a bulldog but was cut off by Luke Gallows interference. Punk worked over Cena and Cena came back with a Cena slam and five knuckle shuffle attempt.
1598
1599At that point, Wade Barrett came out and all hell broke loose. The NXT guys came in from the crowd, all wearing “N” armbands. They jumped the Straight Edge Society and laid them out. They then surrounded John Cena and jumped him. Barrett was leading the other guys. With Cena down, the NXT guys went to town. They attacked Matt Striker and Jerry Lawler. Michael Cole turned tail and ran.
1600
1601The NXT guys attacked the ring announcer and the time keeper. Daniel Bryan choked out Justin Roberts. They tore out the ropes, pulled up the ring and removed the mats from the floor. They beat down John Cena forever, with all the guys taking turns hitting him with moves. They laid waste to the entire ringside area. John Cena was carried out on a stretcher.
1602
1603Final Thoughts:
1604
1605Most of this show was bad. It had bad finishes, bad wrestling, bad comedy and a bad atmosphere. They said WWE Universe about 18,000 times and kept promising viewer power while delivering the same old formula show, which felt completely patronizing. Quinton Jackson, who is a dynamic personality in MMA, was completely uninteresting doing WWE’s goofy scripted comedy. All this added up to a deadly boring show.
1606
1607Then came the amazing final segment. That was one hell of an incredible angle. They pulled out all the stops to deliver something really memorable and that would get over the actors involved practically instantaneously. It was so different and so much more serious than anything they have done in ages, the sort of outsider angle that would have meant gigantic business if executed at a different time with different players.
1608
1609Which makes it all the more baffling that they used this huge angle for guys who they have booked as complete geeks for weeks and weeks. There’s just no excuse if you were going to do this to not better present and protect these guys in the preceding weeks. And there’s the additional problem that most of these guys have no talent.
1610
1611The good news is that most of the Raw audience doesn’t watch NXT, so they may not perceive them as badly. And you can hide their varying degrees of ineptitude by letting Daniel Bryan and Justin Gabriel do the wrestling and Wade Barrett do the talking. Still, this is the sort of segment that really leaves you wondering about the wrestling competence of the people booking WWE television. I’ve seen a lot of home run angles over the years, and it’s hard to recall ever seeing an angle this good where the focal players were so lacking in talent and prior presentation.
1612
1613My latest MMA piece on Chuck Liddell and aging fighters is available at:
1614
1615http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=5258647
1616POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:26 PM 13 COMMENTS
1617ABOUT ME
1618TODD MARTIN
1619UNITED STATES
1620VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
1621
1622LINKS
1623Obama/Biden 2008
1624Figure 4 Weekly
1625CBS Sports
1626MMA Payout
1627Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
1628Washington Post
1629MMA Weekly
1630Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
1631Avoid Cancer Now
1632Cross Country Express
1633Wrestling Nerds
1634Number One Contender
1635Tan Dynasty
1636The Vortex
1637MMA Ranks
1638Gerweck.net
1639Ron Motta's Blog
1640Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
1641The Great Scottland
1642Here and There
1643Everything and Anything
1644Fight Opinion
1645Monkey Shines
1646adamannapolis
1647Talib Kweli's Blog
1648SI.com
1649PREVIOUS POSTS
1650My Favorite Movies of 2015
1651Book Tier List
1652My Favorite Movies of 2014
1653Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
1654Favorite Movies of 2013
1655Favorite Films of 2012
1656WWE Raw Report
1657WWE Raw Report
1658WWE Raw Report
1659WWE Raw Report
1660ARCHIVES
1661November 2005
1662December 2005
1663January 2006
1664February 2006
1665March 2006
1666April 2006
1667May 2006
1668June 2006
1669July 2006
1670August 2006
1671September 2006
1672October 2006
1673November 2006
1674December 2006
1675January 2007
1676February 2007
1677March 2007
1678April 2007
1679May 2007
1680June 2007
1681July 2007
1682August 2007
1683September 2007
1684October 2007
1685November 2007
1686December 2007
1687January 2008
1688February 2008
1689March 2008
1690April 2008
1691May 2008
1692June 2008
1693July 2008
1694August 2008
1695September 2008
1696October 2008
1697November 2008
1698December 2008
1699January 2009
1700February 2009
1701March 2009
1702April 2009
1703May 2009
1704June 2009
1705July 2009
1706August 2009
1707September 2009
1708October 2009
1709November 2009
1710December 2009
1711January 2010
1712February 2010
1713March 2010
1714April 2010
1715May 2010
1716June 2010
1717July 2010
1718August 2010
1719September 2010
1720October 2010
1721November 2010
1722December 2010
1723January 2011
1724February 2011
1725March 2011
1726April 2011
1727May 2011
1728June 2011
1729July 2011
1730August 2011
1731September 2011
1732October 2011
1733November 2011
1734December 2011
1735January 2012
1736February 2012
1737March 2012
1738April 2012
1739May 2012
1740June 2012
1741July 2012
1742January 2013
1743March 2014
1744April 2014
1745February 2015
1746October 2015
1747February 2016
1748Powered by Blogger
1749
1750 
1751
1752~~~
1753
1754
1755SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
1756MONDAY, MAY 31, 2010
1757WWE Raw Report
1758Date: 05/31/10 from Austin, TX.
1759
1760The Big News: For one week anyway, WWE seemed serious about getting over some new stars. Here’s to a sustained effort.
1761
1762Show Analysis:
1763
1764The show started abruptly with Edge attacking Evan Bourne in the ring. The announcers explained that Bourne had challenged Edge to a match for his Fatal Four Way shot at the title before the show started. I liked this start as a little change of pace from the Raw norm. Bourne hit double knees to Edge and a high knee. However, he missed the shooting star press and Edge hit a spear.
1765
1766Edge said that this would happen to his opponents at the PPV. He talked about the other competitors and vowed to be a 10 time champion. He didn’t really have anything of note to say. Randy Orton then came out. Edge pointed out Orton isn’t 100 percent, but Orton gave him the RKO anyway.
1767
1768Ashton Kutcher backstage was getting into an online dispute with Zack Ryder. He announced he put a hit on Ryder. Miz then came in and Kutcher put him in a match with Daniel Bryan. Bryan got a better reaction than he has received on Raw previously. Kutcher said that Bryan would make Miz tap. Kutcher was good here and throughout the show.
1769
1770R. Truth beat Chris Jericho. Truth hit a pescado on Jericho. Jericho used a suplex and bulldog but missed the lionsault. He went for the Walls but Truth got out. They did a messed up, dangerous looking spot where Jericho got dropped on his head. Jericho then went for the Walls again but Truth reversed into a small package for the pin.
1771
1772Clearly they are trying to run with Truth. I’ve liked Truth for much of his career and I think he is a fine candidate to try to elevate, but if they are going to give him a renewed push he desperately needs a new entrance song. A hip hop character is supposed to be cool, and only children are going to find a guy who raps the same damn thing every single week for years on end to be cool.
1773
1774Bret Hart met with the Hart Dynasty backstage. Bret said he knew the Usos and signed them to Raw. He didn’t know they would attack the Hart Dynasty, but told the Dynasty that he wasn’t there to protect them. Bret asked them what they were going to do about the Usos.
1775
1776Santino and Eve Torres beat William Regal and Maryse. Vladimir Kozlov was with William Regal and prior to the match Santino again tried to get Kozlov to join his side. Regal worked over Santino with forearms. A brawl with all four broke out and in the process Kozlov came in and gave Regal a choke slam. Santino covered for the pin. This was a weird segment.
1777
1778Bret Hart did a promo in the ring next. He said that he and Teddy Long got together to do something special next week, bring all the Raw and Smackdown guys together. Why not just announce that the show will be special because Edge will appear while you’re at it, Bret? He announced that next week’s Raw will be three hours. That got no pop.
1779
1780Bret added that he wanted suggestions from fans and wrestlers about next week. Ted DiBiase immediately came out and wanted to be in control. He offered to pay Bret but Bret basically declined. Ashton Kutcher then appeared on the screen and suggested “viewer’s choice,” where fans pick the matches and stipulations. Bret liked this.
1781
1782Vince McMahon then immediately came out. He planted the question as to why exactly he made Bret GM. He then said that the fans are like children and you’ve got to do what’s best for them. He added that he hoped Bret’s story as GM has a happy ending. The basic idea was Vince is up to something but we don’t know what. Vince was overacting terribly yet again.
1783
1784Two notes on this segment. First, I hope they have ideas for making this “viewer’s choice” idea feel like the fans actually have a say in what’s going on. WWE is so controlling of everything and I suspect the gimmick of giving fans control will make it even more apparent than usual how little WWE listens to its fans.
1785
1786Second, this is a frequent problem but this segment felt so unbelievably contrived. Bret announces he is soliciting ideas for next week and Ted DiBiase is just waiting right behind the curtain with his idea already in his head. Then Ashton Kutcher is on the screen and has a plan of his own already devised. Bret thinks this ambiguously devised plan over for a few seconds and agrees, at which point Vince McMahon is backstage right behind the curtain ready to immediately comment on this idea that developed in the previous minute. It all felt particularly fake and thus less effective.
1787
1788When one character is supposedly reacting to another, there needs to be some period of recognition and thought prior to response. This is just basic logic. Tell the story over a two or three week period, or at the very least break it up so Bret says he’s looking for ideas early in the show, DiBiase and Kutcher approach him backstage in the middle, and Vince comes out to respond towards the end.
1789
1790Edge injured Randy Orton’s shoulder backstage with a door. Randy Orton was previously announced as John Cena’s partner in the main event of this show, but this was done to write him out so Cena would have to find a new partner.
1791
1792Daniel Bryan beat Miz. Bryan hit some punches and went for an armbar. Miz was in the ropes. Miz hit a clothesline to the back of the head and Michael Cole began just tearing into Bryan. I enjoyed this but I suspect it’s weird for the majority of Raw viewers who don’t watch NXT when the longtime face announcer is going over-the-top heel on a random guy they don’t know.
1793
1794Bryan applied his omoplata/crossface submission. Bryan reversed into a rollup but Bryan reversed that into a rollup of his own for the pin. It’s certainly good that Bryan won here, but they should have built this up more and given it more time. On the positive side, the crowd seemed much more into Bryan than we’ve seen before.
1795
1796The Usos and Tamina came out to cut a terribly scripted promo. Tamina got in two “WWE Universe” references, because regurgitating company buzzwords is exactly how heels should be talking. They acknowledged that the Usos are Rikishi’s sons and Tamina is Jimmy Snuka’s daughter. Honestly, I wouldn’t do that any more. It’s a good idea if there are a few wrestlers like that, but it seems like every other new wrestler (and half the FCW roster) is second generation, and it raises the question why exactly nobody is breaking into wrestling who didn’t grow up in wrestling. The Usos vowed to dominate.
1797
1798The Hart Dynasty ran in to attack the Usos. They went for the Hart attack but Tamina tripped Tyson Kidd and gave Natalya a clothesline. The Usos used a double crescent kick and double team into a Samoan drop. They then hit the three top rope splashes.
1799
1800Zack Ryder came to the ring and wanted to know who Ashton Kutcher called to take out Ryder. Jerry Lawler came into the ring from behind with a chair, but Kutcher said it wasn’t Lawler so Lawler just left. No explanation was given as to why Lawler did that other than to set up a pointless swerve. Great Khali came out but that was just a swerve too and he left. Goldust was next and he left. Kutcher said Ryder would never see it coming, so of course Alicia Fox attacked Ryder with a horrendous looking kick. This was an awful, completely illogical swervefest.
1801
1802Backstage Edge suggested to Sheamus that they be smart and take out Cena together. Sheamus said that if Edge tried to take advantage of him it would be Edge’s last mistake. They announced three of the stars of the A-Team as the guest hosts for next week (everyone but Liam Neeson).
1803
1804John Cena and Evan Bourne beat Edge and Sheamus. Cena did a great job prior to the match introducing Bourne as his partner and putting Bourne over. The heels worked over Bourne. Bourne came back with kicks but couldn’t get the tag and Sheamus gave him an ax handle to the head. Bourne came back again later with an enzuigiri to Edge and tagged Cena.
1805
1806Cena came in with a Cena slam and five knuckle shuffle on Sheamus. He went for the FU but Sheamus escaped and hit a power slam. Sheamus went for the big boot but was caught with a Bourne kick. Cena hit the FU and tagged Bourne. Bourne hit the shooting star press for the pin.
1807
1808This was a very good match and it was booked absolutely perfectly to make Bourne look strong. They linked him with a top guy, let him do his stuff, and allowed him to score the pin. You can’t ask for anything more and the crowd reacted very well to it.
1809
1810Final Thoughts:
1811
1812With WWE’s roster precariously shallow, there is an obvious and immediate need to get over new stars. If nothing else, tonight’s edition of Raw demonstrated that WWE is aware of that reality. There were attempts throughout the show to promote and elevate newer talent (Evan Bourne, R. Truth, Daniel Bryan, the Usos) and that’s a very good thing. I didn’t care for the execution of some of these segments, but WWE was trying to do the right things and that gets a thumbs up from me. The main event was the best and most effective segment of the show, and that’s always a good thing as well.
1813POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:25 PM 5 COMMENTS
1814MONDAY, MAY 24, 2010
1815WWE Raw Report
1816Date: 05/24/10 from Toledo, OH.
1817
1818The Big News: With Batista’s departure, WWE’s talent roster is the thinnest it has been since WCW folded.
1819
1820Show Analysis:
1821
1822The show started with Batista. He was helped out by two referees, with his arm in a sling and wearing a ridiculous pair of glasses. The whole thing seemed to be played for comedy, and it was very funny. Batista sat down in a wheelchair in the ring and demanded a spotlight.
1823
1824Batista acknowledged quitting, but said he did it because his life was threatened. He said he would sue WWE and John Cena and would then sue the fans for supporting what happened to him. I’m going to weigh in with my expert legal opinion on this one and proclaim Batista’s lawsuit against the fans unlikely to win. Batista said he could have done what Cena did but he believes in honor. He said that he is out for weeks, months, maybe years. But he vowed to be back and get his rematch.
1825
1826He was interrupted by the new GM of Raw, Bret Hart. Bret announced a “new pay-per-view concept” (sounds like we hear that every month) Fatal Four Way. Bret said that John Cena’s three opponents for that would be determined on Raw. Bret said Batista would have a chance to get back in. Wait a second. Wasn’t the whole stipulation of the match last night that it would be Batista and Cena’s last match for the title? I guess multiple person matches don’t count.
1827
1828Anyway, Batista pointed out he is hurt and in a wheelchair. Bret said that Batista’s opponent is hurt too, Randy Orton. Batista he reiterated that he can’t compete. Bret said he could take the match or forfeit. Batista threatened to quit the company. So Bret said that winner and qualifier was Orton. What a great way to make the fatal four way PPV feel important, have the first guy (and a face at that) thrown in without even qualifying.
1829
1830Batista screamed at the fans that the company will fall apart without him and then he quit WWE. As Batista was leaving, the ring announcer said, “Let’s hear it for Batista.” That was another hilarious touch. This whole segment was very amusing to me, but I’m not sure it’s the way you should be handling the conclusion to a world title program and the departure of a big time player. I’m going to miss Batista.
1831
1832Sheamus beat Mark Henry to qualify for the fatal four way title match. Henry hit a body slam and threw Sheamus over the top. Sheamus retaliated with a chop block, stomps and shoulder blocks. Henry took over with clotheslines and a splash but his shoulder gave out when he went for a press slam. Sheamus then hit the bicycle kick for the win.
1833
1834They did a comedy vignette backstage with Jon Lovitz and Maryse. Lovitz won her over by speaking French and pointing out he’s rich but then rejected her. Elsewhere, Edge wanted to wrestle the injured John Cena for his shot into the fatal four way. Chris Jericho also wanted in the fatal four way. So Bret Hart made Edge vs. Jericho vs. Cena. If Edge or Jericho won, they would be in the match. If Cena won, Bret would find someone else. Jericho threatened Bret, so they appear to be building something between the two.
1835
1836Maryse and Alicia Fox beat Gail Kim and Eve Torres. The heels worked on Gail briefly, with Maryse hitting a back breaker. Eve tagged in and hit a neck breaker and standing moonsault on Maryse. Alicia then kicked Eve in the head and Maryse used an implant DDT for the pin.
1837
1838R. Truth beat Miz to win the United States title. They announced that Bret Hart had abdicated the title and that this singles match was made to determine a new champion. Miz worked over Truth. Truth came back with a dropkick off the second rope and a downward spiral. Truth went for a crossbody off the top but Miz rolled through for two. Truth then hit the lie detector for the win. This was a good match, but there is no excuse for putting up the vacated title in a singles match between two midcarders without at the very least a mini-tournament. This whole presentation did a number on the value of the US title and did Truth no favors either.
1839
1840John Cena cut a promo backstage saying he felt good when Batista quit because it meant closure but then Sheamus came out and kicked him in the face. He said that the challengers never stop coming for the title but he will stand and fight. He kept saying “Cenanation” over and over again. That’s just what we need: more pointless corporate buzzwords nobody uses shamelessly crammed down our throats like we’re mindless, easily manipulated parakeets.
1841
1842Next up Jon Lovitz hosted a “superstar search,” looking for WWE stars’ hidden talents. I feel like we’ve seen this vignette under a different name a bunch of times now and it’s always awful. This segment was particularly hideous, and it’s all on the horrendous material because Lovitz himself did as well as could be expected.
1843
1844Great Khali and Ranjin Singh came out singing in suits. Lovitz didn’t like it. He then got rid of Jillian Hall before she started. Finally he brought a plant into the ring to show his talent, which was pulling out his fake eye. Ted DiBiase then came out and wanted to buy the eye. Santino made the save and threatened to use a secret pressure point he learned from Lovitz. It worked on Virgil but DiBiase laid him out with Dream Street. Lovitz proclaimed DiBiase the winner. God I hated this segment. I mean, I really really hated this segment.
1845
1846Hart Dynasty beat William Regal and Vladimir Kozlov. The heels very briefly worked on Tyson Kidd. Kidd got the tag to David Hart Smith and they hit the Hart attack on Regal shortly thereafter for the pin. After the match the Usos and Sarona Snuka (unidentified by the announcers) attacked the Hart Dynasty and Natalya. All three hit simultaneous top rope splashes. I hope they can talk or work because they don’t have a major league look at all.
1847
1848The NXT guys were interviewed backstage. Everyone but Heath Slater wanted Heath Slater gone. I agree with everyone but Heath Slater. They then spotlighted Daniel Bryan attacking Michael Cole, with Bryan calling Cole a poor man’s Jim Ross. I always thought of Cole as a poor man’s Tony Schiavone myself. Cole vowed to call out Bryan tomorrow on NXT and demand an apology or he’ll sue Bryan. They announced Ashton Kutcher as guest host next week.
1849
1850Edge beat Chris Jericho and John Cena to earn the final spot in the fatal four way. Jericho worked over Cena in the ring for a while as Edge was on the outside. Cena made his comeback with shoulder blocks, the Cena slam and the five knuckle. When he went for the FU of course Edge came in. He speared Jericho accidentally. Cena applied the STF on Edge but Jericho came in and put the Walls on Cena. He then put the Walls on Edge. Cena broke that up.
1851
1852Cena went for the FU on Jericho but Edge broke that up with a slow motion spear. Jericho hit the code breaker on Cena but Edge then speared and covered Jericho for the win. Sheamus and Randy Orton came out after the match and they all looked at each other. This was a good match but these guys seemed a little off based on their usual standard.
1853
1854Final Thoughts:
1855
1856This show gets a mild thumbs down from me. There wasn’t much that was terrible beyond the superstar search segment, but I felt most segments weren’t particularly effective in what they were trying to accomplish. WWE is also heavily feeling the consequences these days of their continual burials of rising talent. With many of their established stars getting older and needing more time off, they just don’t have credible young stars to put in their place. As a result, Raw is dreadfully thin these days and there are no easy answers for how to fix that problem.
1857
1858I’ll be in Las Vegas for UFC 114 this weekend, blogging on the event for the Los Angeles Times. You can check that out Saturday at latimes.com. Also, if you’re a subscriber I encourage you to check out the audio shows I’ve been doing weekly with Bryan Alvarez. I’m very pleased with how those are going and think you’ll enjoy them as well.
1859POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:17 PM 5 COMMENTS
1860TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2010
1861WWE Raw Report
1862Date: 05/17/10 from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1863
1864The Big News: Bret Hart won the United States Title.
1865
1866Show Analysis:
1867
1868Bret Hart came out to start the show. He got a huge reaction, which made me happy. He said that he heard about Miz’s challenge and initially told WWE he would accept. But then he thought about it more and realized he doesn’t want to be one of those wrestlers who hold on too long. Thus, he concluded that he wouldn’t wrestle anymore and hoped he wasn’t disappointing anyone.
1869
1870Chris Jericho interrupted Bret and got another big reaction. Jericho wanted to know why Bret ever came back to WWE. He said that Bret is tarnishing his status and is already one of those wrestlers holding on too long. Jericho labeled Bret the ultimate hypocrite who came back to WWE because he is an ego-driven phony. Jericho said Bret deserved to be screwed.
1871
1872Bret responded by talking about Jericho hanging around the Hart basement trying to learn to wrestle. Bret said Jericho is the phony walking around now like he’s a big shot. Jericho said that he’s better than Bret ever was, and the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. Jericho said he’s the only person who matters now and that Bret’s fans are sickened to see what he has become.
1873
1874Jericho continued by saying that nobody wants to see Bret any more. The crowd responded by chanting “we want Bret.” Jericho said that now Bret is just a guy afraid to take on Miz in a fight. He concluded that Bret doesn’t mean anything, the Hart name doesn’t mean anything, and Stu would be ashamed of Bret.
1875
1876Bret told Jericho that he accepted the match. Jericho claimed Bret would try to get himself disqualified and asked for a no-DQ match. Bret said he wouldn’t want it any other way. He said he would take the US title and the Hart Dynasty would take the tag titles.
1877
1878I absolutely loved this opening. It may have been the best segment with Bret Hart since he returned to WWE, because the crowd loved him so much and Jericho was much better in my opinion verbally dueling with Bret than Vince McMahon was. This was a really inspired segment in making Jericho look like a jerk and Bret look like a hero.
1879
1880During the show they aired three spoofs of commercials. Spoofing a commercial makes you come across as bottom of the barrel lame, uncreative and low rent. It’s a commercial. It’s not high art. If you want to do a spoof, by all means spoof a movie or a song or a current event. And f you want to do a fake commercial, you should at least be able to make up your own 30 second premise rather than ripping off a three year old joke from freaking Visa. Congratulations, you’re miraculously even lamer than Date Movie.
1881
1882Anyway, one of these was comedy based around the idea of Great Khali crammed in a tight rental car. The second was about R. Truth slapping Ted DiBiase. The third was comedy about a woman going on a blind date with Goldust. They also did a vignette later with Santino Marella. In spite of my criticism of the idea of them spoofing commercials, the vignettes themselves were mostly fine.
1883
1884Edge beat Christian. The story was that Edge and Randy Orton got to pick the other’s opponent for Raw, so Christian came out. Smackdown wrestlers were all over the show and they didn’t really even try to explain it. It’s beating a dead horse at this point, but it really is ridiculous they can’t work out a basic, logical and consistent premise for how the different brands work and when they can mix. Particularly when your announcers were freaking out like maniacs when Kelly Kelly got drafted to Smackdown three weeks ago.
1885
1886Edge got a big face pop, and the crowd didn’t seem to know how to react when Christian came out to wrestle him. They seemed ready to cheer Edge a ton but weren’t about to boo Christian. Christian chased Edge around but was caught with punches. Christian hit a baseball slide and springboard crossbody but then crashed into the barricade charging at Edge. They teased a count out all the way to nine.
1887
1888Edge worked over Christian for a while. Christian came back with a tornado DDT for two. He followed with a second rope dropkick for another near fall. Christian set up for the kill switch but Edge escaped twice. Christian missed a splash off the top and Edge hit an implant DDT for two. They did a series of rollup attempts. Edge went for the spear but Christian avoided it. Christian went for the kill switch but Edge countered by throwing Christian into the post and hitting a spear for the pin.
1889
1890This was a very good match. Edge and Christian as you would expect worked really well together and they gave them plenty of time for the match to build. After this, Randy Orton appeared on the screen. He said that he didn’t know why Christian was out there, because that wasn’t Edge’s opponent for the night.
1891
1892Undertaker beat Edge via count out. Undertaker made his entrance to a big response. Edge didn’t bother competing. He stood on the apron and took the count out. Then Christian threw Edge back in the ring and Undertaker gave Edge a choke slam. Obviously, they delivered absolutely nothing with this match, but I was totally cool with it. The fans got a bonus Undertaker entrance and appearance, Edge already provided a good match, and you didn’t advertise anything in advance that you didn’t deliver.
1893
1894Backstage, Maryse was getting her makeup done. First, she badmouthed Trish Stratus. Then she made a point to note she’s French Canadian as opposed to Canadian. Then she started mocking Eve Torres. Eve came up from behind and attacked her.
1895
1896They did a backstage vignette with Buzz Aldrin. Buzz had all this merchandise all over his office and was plugging his iphone application. It came across kind of sad to see this man who was involved in such a seminal event in human history shamelessly hawking this tacky crap on Raw. Oh well. Vickie Guerrero came in and wanted the office. Buzz pointed out that she resigned last week and said that WWE will name her replacement as GM on Raw next week. The Bellas escorted Vickie out.
1897
1898Mark Henry was coming to the ring for a match presumably with Batista when Batista attacked him from behind. Batista hit him with a 2 x 4, rammed him into the post twice, and threw him into the steps. Henry did a good job selling this, which isn’t always an easy task for such a big man.
1899
1900Ted DiBiase beat Yoshi Tatsu. DiBiase was escorted to the ring by Wrestling Superstar Virgil. Virgil didn’t look very happy and unfortunately wasn’t dressed in one of his old suits. There were chants for Virgil. Tatsu used some hip tosses. DiBiase took over with some punches and kicks. Tatsu came back with kicks but missed a head kick and was caught with Dream Street for the pin. This was fine but a little disappointing. DiBiase said that the original version isn’t ashamed to be the new Virgil. DiBiase said Virgil will be in his corner on Sunday against R. Truth. Presumably Virgil will turn on DiBiase.
1901
1902Bret Hart beat the Miz to win the United States title. Miz said prior to the match that not only would he beat Bret but he would publicly humiliate him and spit on the Hart heritage. He vowed to make Bret tap to the sharpshooter. Miz said he didn’t trust Bret so he paid off a couple guys to neutralize the Hart Dynasty. Vladimir Kozlov and William Regal came out. Man, you get what you pay for. Miz should have anted up for better goons.
1903
1904The Hart Dynasty came out of the crowd and brawled with Regal and Kozlov to the back. Chris Jericho then came into the ring to join Miz. Natalya joined Bret. She slapped Jericho. Jericho recovered and went after Bret, but David Hart Smith made the save and attacked Jericho. Miz knocked Smith out of the ring, leaving just Miz and Bret. Miz went for the sharpshooter but Tyson Kidd hit a springboard dropkick to break it up.
1905
1906Hart Dynasty proceeded to hit the Hart Attack on Miz. Bret applied the sharpshooter and Miz tapped out. This was a fun segment designed to make the fans happy and I love it when they have feel good moments with legends like this from time to time. One interesting note during this match was that Michael Cole kept heeling on Bret, so his NXT persona appears to be drifting to Raw.
1907
1908Maryse, Layla El and Michelle McCool beat Eve Torres and the Bella Twins. Michelle and Layla now both have women’s title belts. Eve hit a Samoan drop and neck breaker on Layla. Brie tagged in but was caught with a Michelle kick to the face. She got the tag to Nikki, who hit dropkicks and a monkey flip on Michelle. Nikki missed a crossbody off the ropes. Maryse tagged herself in, hit the implant DDT on Nikki, and scored the pin. After the match Maryse and Eve did a bad looking pull apart. This was a sloppy match.
1909
1910Backstage, John Cena cut a cheesy, overacted promo. He said he would take out Sheamus to make sure Sheamus isn’t an obstacle at Over the Limit. He added that the I quit stipulation is because he wants no dispute over who is the best between Cena and Batista. If Batista can make him say I quit, he doesn’t deserve another shot at becoming champ. He loudly vowed not to quit and the crowd booed. I have trouble explaining what happened with John Cena. I really thought he was a fantastic promo for years and years but now I think he has become atrocious. Often his material isn’t very good but here his delivery was awful.
1911
1912Randy Orton beat Jack Swagger via DQ. Orton used the Garvin stomp. He missed a knee drop and Swagger took over with mat wrestling. Swagger hit a belly to belly, sent Orton into the announce table twice, hit two Vader bombs, and rammed Orton into the apron. Orton countered another Vader bomb attempt with a kick. Orton hit clotheslines, a powerslam, and a DDT off the ropes. Orton set up for the RKO but Edge ran in for the DQ. Orton gave Swagger the RKO but Edge gave Orton the spear. This was a good match.
1913
1914Next up was a weird train wreck segment. Buzz Aldrin came to the ring to talk about space flight. He got “what” chants. His deliver was really goofy. Zack Ryder and Alicia Fox interrupted him. That was a quick courtship. Ryder ran down Canada. They showed the epic youtube clip of Buzz punching out a moon landing conspiracy theorist. He was supposed to introduce Evan Bourne and Gail Kim but they evidently lost confidence in him and just played Bourne’s music as Buzz was talking. Buzz still delivered what he was supposed to.
1915
1916Evan Bourne and Gail Kim beat Zack Ryder and Alicia Fox. Alicia hit a Northern lights suplex on Gail for two. Gail hit a neck breaker. Bourne used a spinning head scissors and high knee on Ryder. Bourne went for the shooting star but Alicia pushed Ryder out of the ring so Bourne hit a crossbody to the floor on Ryder. Gail then hit eat defeat on Alicia for the win. Buzz did the moonwalk after. They announced Jon Lovitz as guest host for Raw next week, which could be good.
1917
1918John Cena beat Sheamus via DQ. Cena sent Sheamus into the steps and posted Sheamus. Sheamus hit a back breaker, knee to the head, and worked Cena over. Cena came back with the five knuckle shuffle and was booed. He went for the FU but Sheamus grabbed the ropes. Cena threw Sheamus to the floor. Batista then came in and hit three spine busters and the Batista bomb for the DQ. Batista then put Cena in the rings of Saturn and screamed at Cena to quit. Cena wouldn’t do so as the show ended.
1919
1920I was fine with the finish to Orton/Swagger because you don’t really want to beat either guy going into the PPV, but they really shouldn’t have used the same lame run-in DQ finish twice in the same show.
1921
1922Final Thoughts:
1923
1924I thought this was an enjoyable show. The Bret Hart/Chris Jericho/Miz stuff worked very well and there was some good wrestling throughout. The great crowd in Toronto was also a huge help as it made it a hot show. Some of the finishes were pretty darn weak, but overall the show delivered.
1925POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 12:30 AM 10 COMMENTS
1926MONDAY, MAY 10, 2010
1927WWE Raw Report
1928Date: 05/10/10 from Pittsburgh, PA.
1929
1930The Big News: Edge and Vickie Guerrero inexplicably reconciled, while Miz will wrestle Bret Hart for the United States title next week.
1931
1932Show Analysis:
1933
1934Randy Orton came out to start the show. He said that he didn’t agree to team with Edge last week because Edge really just wanted to keep him under control. And here I thought you didn’t agree to team with him because he cost you a title match for no discernable reason the week before.
1935
1936Meat Loaf then came out. Yes, Meat Loaf. Great. He was acting like an idiot. Jerry Lawler explained that all the celebrities want to be on Raw. Yeah, I’d want to be on Raw too if they decided their TV show was best utilized as a vehicle to promote whatever product I felt like hawking. Speaking of which, Meat Loaf proceeded to shamelessly hawk his new album. He started singing different songs while Orton and I looked at him with murderous intentions. After about 18 hours, Orton finally laid him out with a terrible looking RKO.
1937
1938Edge came out and said he doesn’t like the celebrities either. He said he called the WWE headquarters and argued the guest hosts need to go. Wait, is he turning face again? WWE HQ agreed that the guest hosts would no longer have authority on Raw. Well, that’s not good enough. “That’s not good enough,” Edge said. Yay Edge! So he announced that WWE agreed to a new permanent Raw GM. But wait, what about dumping the guest hosts? Keep your eyes on the prize, Edge!
1939
1940Edge introduced the new GM of Raw, Vickie Guerrero. Edge and Vickie were cool and both happy about this. Let’s pause for a second. So, Edge doesn’t like celebrities and complained about this to WWE. Their solution was to give the celebrities’ authority to Vickie Guerrero.
1941
1942What relationship do Vickie and Edge have? Why, they were married until less than a year ago when Edge divorced her and proceeded to cut one of the meanest wrestling promos I’ve ever heard on her. Edge demanded a divorce, called her a she-beast, said that he had to go to the bathroom to dry heave after kissing her, and concluded that the only saving grace was that they never consummated the marriage. He left her screaming and crying hysterically.
1943
1944So, less than a year later, Edge is told that this woman is going to be the person with control over him rather than the celebrities. And he’s fine with this. And moreover, she’s no longer even mad at him. This is such ungodly horrendous writing. Why should we as an audience invest in your storylines if you’re so remarkably inattentive to recent main event angles?
1945
1946Vickie came out to mega heat. Vickie chastised Randy Orton for attacking celebrities and announced Edge and a partner against Randy Orton in a handicap match later in the show. This was an absolutely terrible start to the show.
1947
1948Chris Jericho beat David Hart Smith. As a result of the match, Chris Jericho and Miz earned a title shot against Hart Dynasty at Over the Limit. Smith hit a belly to belly suplex and power slam. He applied the sharpshooter but Jericho got to the ropes. Jericho then thumbed him in the eye and hit the code breaker for the pin. This was way too short but was good while it lasted. Edge was shown backstage talking to Batista.
1949
1950R. Truth and Flavor Flav came out together with Flavor Flav saying “what’s up” and “yeah boy.” Chuck D continues to roll over in his grave. Flavor Flav plugged his crap. R. Truth was supposed to wrestle William Regal in a singles match, but they didn’t even go 30 seconds before Primo and Carlito Colon attacked Truth. The announcers explained that Primo and Carlito reunited on Superstars, which was news to me. Ted DiBiase gave Primo and Carlito envelopes for their 30 second, run-of-the-mill attack.
1951
1952They showed Maryse in the ring training with someone in a gi. They referenced Eve’s jiu jitsu, but Maryse was just doing horrible judo throws and failing at judo trips. The instructor said she sucks so she kicked him and left. This was counterproductive. Randy Orton backstage wanted Vickie Guerrero at ringside for his match. They then announced a commercial free Raw next week with Buzz Aldrin as guest host.
1953
1954Evan Bourne beat Zack Ryder in another too short match. Gail Kim and Alicia Fox were at ringside. Alicia hated Ryder last week but this week for no apparent reason she liked him and was rooting for him. Bourne went to the top and Alicia tried to stop him but Gail stopped her. Bourne then hit the shooting star press for the pin. Again, if you’re going to devote a segment each week to one undercard wrestler, why not build it around that guy winning each week rather than having him lose to a different random guy you have no plans for each week? Aren’t you trying to create stars?
1955
1956Immediately after this match my Raw feed oddly went out. I’m not sure the deal. It came back as Sheamus was walking down to the ring. Apparently in the interim John Cena cut a promo where he announced his match with Batista would be an I quit match and their last match for the title. He then insulted Sheamus for attacking him last week.
1957
1958As Sheamus came down, Batista also came out. Batista and Sheamus both got their shots in on Cena. Batista sent Cena into the post and Sheamus gave him the big boot. Batista went for the Batista bomb but Mark Henry made the save.
1959
1960Edge and Vickie met backstage. Edge explained that he divorced her and horribly ridiculed her to get her sympathy. Vickie seemed fine with this explanation and they decided that they should be friends. Edge asked Vickie to come to ringside for the main event. Vickie said no until Edge guaranteed nothing would happen to her.
1961
1962Tyson Kidd beat Miz. And they didn’t even give them 45 seconds. What can you even say? Kidd just rolled him up for the pin and that was that. This was the most irritating of the show’s ridiculously short matches. As a result of this, a Hart got a title shot against Miz next week on Raw. Miz said that he got to decide who would receive the title shot and picked Bret Hart.
1963
1964Skip Sheffield, Michael Tarver, Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, Darren Young, Heath Slater, David Otunga and Justin Gabriel beat John Morrison, Yoshi Tatsu, Santino Marella and Goldust. This is supposed to get people to watch NXT? An eight on four match? The one highlight here was the slow motion entrance of Goldust, Morrison, Tatsu and Marella doing their various gestures. It was pretty damn funny.
1965
1966Gabriel and Otunga worked over Tatsu. Slater and Morrison tagged in. Morrison hit clotheslines and punches. He went for starship pain but Slater got his knees up. Bryan and Santino tagged in, and Bryan rolled up Santino for the win. The NXT rookies put Bryan on their shoulders like he was the conquering hero and whooped it up after winning 8 on 4 by pinning Santino. They find new and unique ways of burying Bryan each week.
1967
1968They did one of their backstage guest host comedy segments. Kozlov wanted a restraining order from Santino. Santino thought they’d make a good tag team. Regal tried to get Kozlov to come along, but Flavor Flav, Santino and Kozlov all wanted Regal to rap. Regal rapped. It was kind of amusing.
1969
1970Batista was supposed to wrestle Mark Henry but the match didn’t start. Batista attacked Henry with repeated chair shots to the shoulder. Batista then applied the old Rings of Saturn and Henry tapped out even though there was no match. Henry then passed out. I realized when Batista applied the rings, “Oh yeah, Batista never uses submissions.” That’s kind of a drag on the I quit stipulation.
1971
1972Randy Orton beat Edge and Ted DiBiase. Edge came out with Vickie. The heels worked over Orton. Orton came back with a power slam on DiBiase and sent Edge into the announce table. He gave DiBiase a back breaker but DiBiase avoided the RKO. R. Truth then came out for WWE’s favorite shortcut finish: the old distraction. DiBiase starred at Truth and Orton caught him with the RKO. After the match Orton went after Vickie and she resigned out of fear. Orton then gave Edge the RKO. So Vickie won’t be GM after all.
1973
1974Final Thoughts:
1975
1976I hated this show, which rushed through amazingly brief matches to fit in a stream of illogical, stupid and counterproductive angles. The angles consistently made me less interested in the programs and characters they were supposed to build and the Edge/Vickie stuff was a particularly egregious affront to anyone who pays the slightest attention to WWE storylines.
1977POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:28 PM 12 COMMENTS
1978MONDAY, MAY 03, 2010
1979WWE Raw Report
1980Date: 05/03/10 from Jacksonville, FL.
1981
1982The Big News: Chris Jericho and Miz have formed an alliance.
1983
1984Show Analysis:
1985
1986Batista came out to start the show. He said that he’s only the number one contender when he should be champion. He pointed out what bullshit the duct tape finish to the last man standing match was. He called it the most embarrassing moment of John Cena’s life and something that Hornswoggle would do. He then vowed to win a beat the clock challenge to pick the stipulation for his match with John Cena at Over the Limit.
1987
1988Sheamus joined Batista in the ring. He said that Batista lost at Extreme Rules while he won. He challenged Batista to a match with Batista’s title shot on the line. Batista responded that Sheamus had his shot and blew it. Sheamus told Batista that this wasn’t over, and that Sheamus would be champion again sooner than Batista thinks. This was a very good opening segment. It was much more intriguing than the average WWE argument over a title shot. I also like the idea of Sheamus being the one to put Batista out of action. It would mean more than having Cena do it.
1989
1990Batista beat Daniel Bryan in 5:06 in a beat the clock challenge. Miz was supposed to be the opponent for Batista. He said he would like to wrestle Batista but that he was injured from Big Show’s punch. He had a doctor’s note, which was a piece of paper with “doctor’s note” written in big handwriting. That was good comedy. Miz then introduced Bryan as the opponent. Michael Cole of course buried Bryan, but Bryan grabbed the microphone and vowed to make Batista tap out.
1991
1992Batista went for the Batista bomb quickly but Bryan reversed into a pin attempt. Bryan applied an ankle lock but Batista got out. Bryan tried a sleeper but Batista threw him off. Batista used some hard Irish whips. Bryan countered with a guillotine but Batista threw him off again. Batista rammed Bryan into the ring apron and hit a head over heels clothesline but Bryan kicked out. Bryan retaliated with punches and kicks but was caught with a boot from Batista. Bryan landed a high kick and applied a modified shoulderlock/crossface. Batista got to the ropes.
1993
1994Bryan started stomping Batista, but Batista kicked out his leg. Batista then hit the Batista bomb for the pin. Batista gave Bryan another two Batista bombs after the match for good measure. This was a good match and certainly better for Bryan than a lot of his other losses. However, there comes a point when a wrestler has lost so much that they simply cannot be helped by a “good showing” in yet another loss. And it’s never good for a face to promise to do something and then fail.
1995
1996Guest host Wayne Brady approached Eve, who was doing a photo shoot backstage. Brady said that he loves Raw and loves wrestling. Ixnay on the estlingwray, Ayneway. Sorry, that last one was kind of pointless. Jillian Hall came in and did some bad singing before Brady got rid of her. While this was going on Maryse took Eve’s title and hit Eve with it.
1997
1998Edge backstage wanted to show footage of his live sex gimmick with Lita or his TLC matches. The production guy said no, this was just too edgy. Apparently he didn’t actually watch the segments in question. Edge said that he’s rated R, not PG. I hate to break it to you, Edge, but you’re barely PG-13 at your worst. But I guess that’s someone else’s gimmick anyway. Edge said that this was live TV so he would do whatever he wants and bring about controversy. A doubtful claim.
1999
2000John Morrison beat Ted DiBiase. Prior to the match, DiBiase talked about offering R. Truth a better life and made fun of Truth’s song. He said that he will hire an assistant and that assistant will take out Truth. Morrison clotheslined DiBiase to the outside and hit a springboard 450 plancha which drew a “that was awesome” chant from the crowd. DiBiase then just let himself be counted out.
2001
2002Morrison said this wouldn’t be the start for him on Raw. He challenged DiBiase to come back to finish the match and said that if DiBiase won he would be DiBiase’s Virgil. DiBiase returned and worked Morrison over. DiBiase went for Dream Street but Morrison got out. DiBiase hit a power slam and head over heels clothesline for two.
2003
2004DiBiase grabbed the cobra clutch again but Morrison ran up the ropes and cradled DiBiase for the pin (the Steve Austin/Bret Hart finish from Survivor Series 1996). DiBiase jumped Morrison after the match but Truth made the save. This was a good match and I liked the addition of the stipulation to add drama to the segment.
2005
2006John Cena beat Wade Barrett to win the beat the clock challenge. Chris Jericho was scheduled to be Cena’s opponent. Jericho said he wouldn’t pull himself away in the same way Miz did. Rather, he explained, he has beaten Cena so many times that doing it again would be a waste of his time. He said he had a handpicked opponent for Cena in Barrett.
2007
2008Cena went for the FU quickly but Jericho got on the apron. Cena knocked Jericho off and threw Barrett on Jericho, but as Cena pursued Jericho provided a distraction that allowed Barrett to take over. Barrett used really basic offense, mostly punches and kicks. He hit one back breaker.
2009
2010As this was going on Jericho did a great job putting over Barrett and berating the announcers at ringsider. He was so entertaining. Cena then all of a sudden caught the STF and Barrett tapped with 30 seconds left. This wasn’t a good match. Cena was going to announce the stipulation for his match with Batista when Sheamus came out and laid Cena out. So we’ll have to wait to find out.
2011
2012Maryse beat Nikki Bella in a short match. Nikki threw Maryse into the turnbuckle a few times. She went to the top but Maryse threw her off and hit a DDT for the pin. Afterwards, Maryse showed photos on the screen of her mocking an unconscious Eve at the photo shoot backstage. That was amusing. Eve went after Maryse but was held back by a referee.
2013
2014Mark Henry beat Zack Ryder. Ryder said that the big news of the draft is that he is still on Raw. He proclaimed himself single and ready to mingle (since Rosa Mendes was drafted to Smackdown). I wonder what percentage of the audience even knows who Ryder is, who Mendes is, that they were together or that Mendes was drafted to Smackdown.
2015
2016Alicia Fox and Gail Kim were invited to ringside to watch Ryder’s match. Henry came out as the opponent. Henry hit a body slam. Ryder used a dropkick off the second rope but was caught with a clothesline and the world’s strongest slam for the pin. Gail and Alicia were unimpressed with Ryder and left with Henry.
2017
2018To me, the goal of a wrestling show should be to try to get people over. These humiliation segments, however, are always focused on mocking one guy rather than getting the other over. The whole focus and take home point here was that Ryder is a loser rather than Henry is a winner, and to me that’s a counterproductive mentality.
2019
2020Chris Jericho and Miz backstage shared their aggravation over the Big Show. They took turns making fun of him. Miz lamented that they couldn’t get revenge on him because he’s on Smackdown. That’s never stopped Jericho (or 800 other wrestlers before). Anyway, Jericho had a plan and went off to discuss it with Miz. So apparently they are going to go after the tag titles as a way to go to Smackdown and get revenge on Big Show. I like that angle.
2021
2022They did some “comedy” backstage with Wayne Brady, Santino, Vladimir Kozlov, William Regal and Goldust. Santino tried to talk Kozlov out of teaming with Regal because Regal turned on Kozlov before.
2023
2024Hart Dynasty beat William Regal and Vladimir Kozlov. Jericho and Miz did commentary, and Jericho in particular was great again. The heels worked over Tyson Kidd. Kidd got the tag to Smith. Regal tried to cut off Smith but was caught in the sharpshooter for the submission. Miz ran in afterwards and was caught by Smith, but Jericho then came in and gave Smith the code breaker.
2025
2026Edge’s Cutting Edge was the final segment. Edge labeled himself the most controversial wrestler in the history of WWE. What exactly is controversial about him? That he broke up Matt Hardy and Lita and did a segment once that teased but didn’t deliver nudity? Edge then explained why he attacked Randy Orton. It didn’t make any sense to me.
2027
2028Edge said that he was working towards the Smackdown title and was angry that he was drafted to Raw. Thus, he attacked Orton as an act of defiance so he would become talked about. That reminds me of the time I was angry at my cable company so I gave a dirty look to the guy at the Laundromat. Wayne Brady then came out. I don’t really understand the why on that either. He apparently wanted to play around and cut a joking promo. Brady seemed congenial enough and Edge was nice to him, but Randy Orton came out and gave Brady an RKO for some reason.
2029
2030Edge told Orton he had to make a statement, and referred to their tag team. He said that they could team again and dominate. So why didn’t you spear Sheamus or Batista or Cena? Edge then said he wasn’t planning to spear Orton but now he is glad he did. Edge said he did everything he was supposed to coming back from injury but wasn’t fully supported, while Orton doesn’t care about anyone but gets the fans’ support. Umm, you were more over as a face than Orton, buddy.
2031
2032Orton went for the RKO but Edge hit a big boot. Edge went for a spear but was caught with the RKO. The fans chanted “RKO” and “Randy” and the show ended. I didn’t care for this closing segment. I didn’t understand the motivations of anyone involved.
2033
2034Final Thoughts:
2035
2036I liked this show. Again there was a focus on wrestling and results. The angles were for the most part quite good. I’d like Raw every week to be this sort of show.
2037POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:43 PM 5 COMMENTS
2038ABOUT ME
2039TODD MARTIN
2040UNITED STATES
2041VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
2042
2043LINKS
2044Obama/Biden 2008
2045Figure 4 Weekly
2046CBS Sports
2047MMA Payout
2048Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
2049Washington Post
2050MMA Weekly
2051Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
2052Avoid Cancer Now
2053Cross Country Express
2054Wrestling Nerds
2055Number One Contender
2056Tan Dynasty
2057The Vortex
2058MMA Ranks
2059Gerweck.net
2060Ron Motta's Blog
2061Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
2062The Great Scottland
2063Here and There
2064Everything and Anything
2065Fight Opinion
2066Monkey Shines
2067adamannapolis
2068Talib Kweli's Blog
2069SI.com
2070PREVIOUS POSTS
2071My Favorite Movies of 2015
2072Book Tier List
2073My Favorite Movies of 2014
2074Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
2075Favorite Movies of 2013
2076Favorite Films of 2012
2077WWE Raw Report
2078WWE Raw Report
2079WWE Raw Report
2080WWE Raw Report
2081ARCHIVES
2082November 2005
2083December 2005
2084January 2006
2085February 2006
2086March 2006
2087April 2006
2088May 2006
2089June 2006
2090July 2006
2091August 2006
2092September 2006
2093October 2006
2094November 2006
2095December 2006
2096January 2007
2097February 2007
2098March 2007
2099April 2007
2100May 2007
2101June 2007
2102July 2007
2103August 2007
2104September 2007
2105October 2007
2106November 2007
2107December 2007
2108January 2008
2109February 2008
2110March 2008
2111April 2008
2112May 2008
2113June 2008
2114July 2008
2115August 2008
2116September 2008
2117October 2008
2118November 2008
2119December 2008
2120January 2009
2121February 2009
2122March 2009
2123April 2009
2124May 2009
2125June 2009
2126July 2009
2127August 2009
2128September 2009
2129October 2009
2130November 2009
2131December 2009
2132January 2010
2133February 2010
2134March 2010
2135April 2010
2136May 2010
2137June 2010
2138July 2010
2139August 2010
2140September 2010
2141October 2010
2142November 2010
2143December 2010
2144January 2011
2145February 2011
2146March 2011
2147April 2011
2148May 2011
2149June 2011
2150July 2011
2151August 2011
2152September 2011
2153October 2011
2154November 2011
2155December 2011
2156January 2012
2157February 2012
2158March 2012
2159April 2012
2160May 2012
2161June 2012
2162July 2012
2163January 2013
2164March 2014
2165April 2014
2166February 2015
2167October 2015
2168February 2016
2169Powered by Blogger
2170
2171 
2172
2173~~~~~
2174
2175
2176SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
2177MONDAY, JULY 25, 2011
2178WWE Raw Report
2179Date: 07/25/11 from Hampton, VA.
2180
2181The Big News: The WWE title changed hands twice, Jim Ross returned and CM Punk showed up at the end of an eventful edition of Raw.
2182
2183Show Analysis:
2184
2185Rey Mysterio beat Miz to win the WWE title. Miz worked over Mysterio for much of the match. He hit a DDT and slingshot sit down power bomb. Miz’s offense looked really good here. Mysterio then made a simple comeback with a huracanrana, 619 and top rope splash to take the title. After the match, Miz jumped Mysterio. Alberto Del Rio ran down to cash in Money in the Bank but Mysterio caught him with a pescado and Del Rio took off without having officially cashed in.
2186
2187Backstage, a bunch of jobbers congratulated Rey Mysterio on his win. John Cena came up and shook Rey’s hand. Rey gave a little speech and the wrestlers poured champagne on him. This was a nice little touch that made the title feel more important.
2188
2189Dolph Ziggler beat Evan Bourne. They have remixed Ziggler’s entrance theme. Ziggler took over on Bourne. Bourne came back with dropkicks and went for the shooting star press but Ziggler moved out of the way. Bourne landed on his feet but Ziggler caught him in a sleeper and the referee stopped the bout. After the match, Ziggler said on the microphone, “Follow that.” I assume that’s a new part of his shtick.
2190
2191Eve Torres and Kelly Kelly beat Melina and Maryse. They usually rotate wins for the women but it has reached the point where if you see Melina in the match you know who’s losing. They did comedy backstage before the match to plug a sponsor. Eve shook her ass provocatively before hitting a standing moonsault on Maryse. Melina distracted Eve and Maryse gave Eve a kick to the back of the head and a stinkface. Obviously, the women have been getting a little more leeway for sexuality recently. Kelly got the hot tag and hit a Thesz press, neck breaker, bulldog and famouser on Melina for the win.
2192
2193HHH came out to the ring. He put over Vince McMahon. He then announced there would be a second title match on Raw: Mysterio vs. John Cena. That got some “Cena sucks” chants. HHH said he had re-signed somebody. It was of course teasing CM Punk but instead Jim Ross returned.
2194
2195Michael Cole got on the announce table and ran down Ross. Cole refused to work with Ross. HHH said he had thought about firing Cole but it would cost more to let him go than to keep him. HHH noted that if Cole left it would be a breach and Cole would lose his future earnings. He told Cole to take the rest of the night off and decide by Friday. Cole said he wouldn’t quit. HHH then told Cole to get ready for his match. HHH said he picked gear for Cole and Cole would be wrestling next.
2196
2197R. Truth came out to speak with HHH. He was seen speaking with HHH backstage previously. Truth accused HHH of being part of the conspiracy and wanted HHH to make things better. HHH made fun of Truth for talking to voices. They did a bunch of comedy. HHH said he re-signed another person who wanted a piece of the truth. John Morrison came out and attacked Truth. Morrison gave Truth the starship pain.
2198
2199Zack Ryder beat Michael Cole. Cole came out to HHH’s music and was wearing HHH ring gear. He did the HHH entrance for comedy. When Ryder came out as the surprise opponent he didn’t appear to get much of a reaction but moments later there were pretty loud “let’s go Ryder” chants. Ryder hit the rough rider quickly for the win.
2200
2201Alberto Del Rio beat Kofi Kingston. Kingston hit a springboard crossbody and boom drop but missed trouble in paradise. Del Rio attacked the arm and shortly thereafter caught Kingston in the armbar for the tap. Backstage, Miz ranted and raved basically about the state of his career. He said HHH’s appointment was a big mistake.
2202
2203John Cena beat Rey Mysterio to win the WWE title. Mysterio hit some leg kicks early. We got dueling Cena chants. Cena came back with a clothesline on the floor and powerslam. Cena went for his shoulderblocks but Mysterio countered with a dropkick. Cena hit the Cena slam and five knuckle but Mysterio escaped the FU attempt. Mysterio hit a top rope senton for two. Mysterio put Cena in the STF. Cena countered into an FU attempt but his knee gave out.
2204
2205Mysterio hit the 619 but Cena got his knees up when Mysterio went for the top rope splash. Mysterio went for a huracanrana but Cena threw him off. Cena hit a top rope leg drop to Mysterio’s front. Mysterio tried to set up the 619 but Cena turned around and hit the FU for the win.
2206
2207After the match, Cena helped Mysterio up. “Cult of Personality” played for a while and finally CM Punk showed up on the stage with the WWE title. He came down to the ring smiling. Cena held up his title. Punk responded by holding up his title and the show ended.
2208
2209Final Thoughts:
2210
2211I really liked most of this show. Jim Ross coming back, if it’s a permanent move, is a long overdue decision. There was plenty of good wrestling and intrigue. They even gave Zack Ryder a good opportunity to make an impression. I’m not so sold on Punk coming back so quickly, however. It just feels rushed. There isn’t enough time to get over the legitimacy of the two versions of the WWE title and you need more of a buffer zone to set up a big title match after so many recent title switches. With that said, the basic direction remains strong and there is plenty left for them to do along these lines.
2212POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:41 PM 8 COMMENTS
2213MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011
2214WWE Raw Report
2215Date: 07/18/11 from Green Bay, WI.
2216
2217The Big News: Big dominos continue to fall in WWE, with HHH announcing that Vince McMahon has been relieved of his duties and HHH appointed the new head of WWE’s day-to-day operations.
2218
2219Show Analysis:
2220
2221Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis came out to start the show. All the wrestlers were watching backstage on a monitor. There were loud CM Punk chants. Vince said he will never say that name again. He called Punk the biggest ingrate in WWE history, who turned his back on the fans and the locker room. He labeled Punk an egotistical, selfish turd. Vince said no one man is bigger than the WWE.
2222
2223Vince announced that there would be a tournament on Raw to crown a new WWE champion. He went through the brackets, which did not include John Cena. Vince said Cena let him down. He warned Cena that there would be severe consequences. Vince said this would be a night people would always remember. The announcers said Cena on Twitter claimed to have already been fired.
2224
2225Miz beat Alex Riley in a first round tournament match. Miz was selling an injured leg and Riley went after it immediately. He worked over the leg for much of the match. Riley hit clotheslines and a spine buster and went for his implant DDT. Miz reversed that and went for the skull crushing finale but Riley got out of it. Miz dove off the ropes and was caught in the Texas cloverleaf. Miz escaped and hit the skull crushing finale for the win. This was a strangely booked match with the face going right after a heel’s injured leg only to be caught with the heel’s finisher for a relatively clean pin.
2226
2227R. Truth beat Jack Swagger in a first round tournament match. Prior to the match, they aired a video package for the soon-to-return John Morrison. Swagger got the best of the action early. He hit Irish whips, a Vader bomb and chop block. He went for the ankle lock but Truth reversed that into a cradle for the win.
2228
2229Kofi Kingston beat Alberto Del Rio in a first round tournament match. Del Rio before the match said he hopes John Cena is fired and Del Rio will be the new leader of the company. Ricardo Rodriguez finally made his return and put over Del Rio on the ramp. Kingston hit a tope but Del Rio gave him an enzuigiri as he came back into the ring. Del Rio used a tilt-a-whirl back breaker and went for the armbar. That led to a sloppy pair of rollups with Kingston getting Del Rio down for the three. Del Rio’s shoulder wasn’t down the entire time and the announcers pointed it out but I’m not sure if that was intended or just an accident. Backstage after the match, Kingston said he just took his first step towards becoming the new WWE champion.
2230
2231Rey Mysterio beat Dolph Ziggler. Mysterio hit a senton off the top. Ziggler responded with a neck breaker. Mysterio missed the 619 and Ziggler hit an inverted powerslam. Mysterio then finished Ziggler with the 619 and a top rope splash.
2232
2233Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, Gail Kim, AJ, Natalya and Kaitlyn beat Melina, Alicia Fox, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Maryse, Rosa Mendes and Tamina. They had 14 wrestlers in the match, but again only 2 were ever in. Beth gave Rosa a slingshot suplex. A big brawl broke out. Beth then hit the glam slam on Rosa for the win. The match went 45 seconds or so.
2234
2235Miz beat Kofi Kingston in the first tournament semifinal. Kingston, like Riley, went right after Miz’s bad leg. He set up for trouble in paradise but Miz crawled out of the ring. Kingston went after him but Miz snapped Kingston’s neck on the ropes. Miz dropped Kingston on the top turnbuckle and hit the skull crushing finale for the win. Miz was bleeding pretty badly from the mouth at the end. Backstage, Truth said the conspiracy wouldn’t keep him from beating Rey. He said the title would get got. They also aired a video package on Andy Leavine growing up poor.
2236
2237Rey Mysterio beat R. Truth in the second tournament semifinal. Truth hit a head over heels clothesline and worked over Mysterio. Mysterio used an arm drag to throw Truth out of the ring and hit a tope to the outside. Truth worked over Mysterio for a while and hit another big clothesline when Mysterio went for the 619. Truth hit a cool looking suplex into a stunner. Mysterio then closed the show with a 619 and top rope splash for the finish.
2238
2239Vince McMahon came out and said they were running low on time and would postpone the WWE title tournament final until next week. Mysterio seemed angry but left. I liked this, both in the sense they can hopefully build ratings a little bit for that match but also because it sort of acknowledges time constraints and I would like WWE to do little touches of that here and there to create a more realistic feel.
2240
2241Vince McMahon said that he can create a new John Cena. The crowd loudly chanted for Punk. Vince thanked Cena for his contributions to WWE. He said he does what’s right for business. The crowd again loudly chanted for Punk. Cena came out and said he didn’t want to go through what Shawn Michaels did. No matter what Michaels did, he had to carry the burden of screwing Bret. Cena said he didn’t want to be the guy who screwed Punk and wouldn’t be Vince’s patsy. Cena said Vince can go ahead and find a new opponent for Rock at WrestleMania. He added that he feels he belongs in WWE but if Vince lets him go he will walk on someone else’s TV show and keep doing this, “brother.” That was an obvious Impact Wrestling reference.
2242
2243Vince was about to announce his decision and apparently fire Cena when HHH came out in a suit. Vince introduced HHH as his son-in-law. HHH said there was a board of directors meeting earlier in the day. He asked Vince to come talk about it in the back. Vince wanted to do it in the ring so HHH told him the board was concerned about Vince’s questionable decisions and gave him a vote of no confidence. Vince added that the family agrees. HHH said he has been appointed to take over day-to-day operations of WWE. HHH said Vince wouldn’t fire Cena.
2244
2245HHH finally announced that it’s just business, but that Vince has been relieved of his duties. Vince did a great job selling this and began crying immediately. The crowd began singing goodbye. HHH said he didn’t want to do this but was just trying to do what’s right for business. “I love you, pop,” HHH concluded and dropped the microphone. The crowd applauded a teary-eyed Vince and chanted “thank you” at the close of the show.
2246
2247Final Thoughts:
2248
2249This was another entertaining and interesting show. It continues to feel like WWE is headed in a very positive direction and it would seem there are plenty of twists and turns ahead. A reprise of the Shawn Michaels/Razor Ramon Intercontinental title program with CM Punk seems likely, as does HHH taking the role of a heavy down the line. Both should work well. John Cena in the top face role doesn’t fit very well into the rest of what’s going on, but they’ve done their best the past few weeks to make him more likeable to the people not already on his side.
2250
2251One final point of interest is where they are going with the WWE title. You would figure they are putting the title on a heel to set up an eventual conflict with Punk, but Miz was booked on this show more like a face. WWE is clicking right now, so I’ve got confidence everything will come together well.
2252POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:04 PM 3 COMMENTS
2253MONDAY, JULY 11, 2011
2254WWE Raw Report
2255Date: 07/11/11 from Boston, MA.
2256
2257The Big News: WWE completed its best build for a pay-per-view match since Batista vs. HHH. It remains to be seen how many orders WWE can generate for a B pay-per-view with a three week build but it’s hard to do much better of a job than this. Hopefully fans encourage WWE to continue in this direction by ordering the show.
2258
2259Show Analysis:
2260
2261CM Punk came out to start the show with his new mustache and a megaphone. He sat down in the middle of the ring and asked if he has people’s attention now. He said that he got in trouble because he has the balls to say things nobody else has the balls to say. That got a big face pop. Punk said the company is filled with a parade of shameless ass kissers. He noted he is now reinstated and brought back up in the form of the megaphone in case they try to cut his microphone off. The crowd began loudly chanting “CM Punk.”
2262
2263Punk said that he had been given a microphone because Vince McMahon wants to sign him to a lucrative long term contract. Punk said it is funny Vince is bending over backwards for him now because all he ever wanted was the power of the microphone. Punk called himself the hottest property in the industry. He claimed to have made WWE socially relevant in the real world. Punk said WWE only gets mentions in the real world because CM Punk is speaking his mind or because somebody died. He brought up the interest there has been in him from the media.
2264
2265Punk observed that now he has one foot out the door and finally Vince wants to give him everything he wants. Punk said that if Vince treated him this way five years ago he wouldn’t have five years of loaded up ammunition. He suggested he have the first ever live contract negotiation in the ring with Vince. Punk said that maybe he would sign, maybe he wouldn’t, and maybe Vince would join the CM Punk kiss my ass club.
2266
2267That brought out John Cena, who was serious and not joking around. Punk thanked Cena for reinstating him into a job he didn’t want. Punk said he will beat Cena for the title and change how it looks because it has been far too ugly for far too long. The fans cheered that one. Punk pointed out that if Cena loses, he isn’t really going to be fired. He noted the last time Cena was fired it lasted no time at all and told Cena not to worry about that.
2268
2269Cena responded that Punk likes to run his mouth. Cena noted that Punk has to go through Cena to leave the company with the title and Cena said he is no pushover. Cena said a lot of people thought they were the best, referencing a number of people no longer with the company including Kurt Angle, and then they faced Cena and were left disappointed. Cena said he doesn’t care what Punk says because he is coming to Chicago to whip Punk’s ass. The GM then said that Vince was on the way to negotiate with Punk and that Cena would be wrestling in a special match next.
2270
2271This was a tremendous start to the show. Punk was great again and Cena was really good in his own right. He didn’t do the goofy comedy and instead delivered an intense promo that made him look strong and made the title match seem important. As an added bonus, they continued the kind of edgy feel with nods to facts WWE usually wouldn’t bring up and more colorful language than usual.
2272
2273John Cena beat Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga. Michael Cole was telling the story that this match was made to appease Punk and get him to re-sign. Cole was freaking out selling what it would mean if someone left with the title and made references to the WCW war and Bruno Sammartino. Nexus worked over Cena. Cena came back with a fisherman buster on Otunga and shoulder blocks, the Cena slam and five knuckle on McGillicutty. Cena went for the FU but Otunga stopped him. Cena regained control with a famouser off the top and STF on McGillicutty but Otunga broke that up. Finally, Cena hit the FU on McGillicutty, threw Otunga out of the ring, and pinned McGillicutty.
2274
2275They’ve done this so many times that it’s hard to be bothered any more, but I just don’t understand the mentality of having a singles wrestler beat the tag champions in a handicap match. If you’re so dead set on a handicap match, which to me always do more harm than good unless it involves jobbers, at least have it be two wrestlers who aren’t the tag champions.
2276
2277Backstage, Vickie Guerrero, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre were making fun of Vince McMahon. They went on for quite a while before Vince finally of course came in and revealed he overheard what they were saying. Vince made McIntyre and Ziggler vs. Big Show in a handicap match.
2278
2279Kelly Kelly beat Melina. Kelly hit a handspring elbow, stinkface, neck breaker and famouser for the win. Things don’t look good for Melina these days. The Bellas did commentary and after the match they made fun of Kelly for not eating. A fight broke out and Eve Torres tried to make the save. However, the Bellas got the best of things this week.
2280
2281Miz did a promo from the top of a ladder. He said he knows what it takes to be champ and he will show it at the PPV. He started to do his catchphrase when he was interrupted by Jack Swagger. Swagger noted he has also cashed in MITB and won the title and said he will do it again. Miz asked if someone cashes in MITB and nobody remembers, did it really happen? Evan Bourne was next out and said he was tired of hearing what the other guys have done. Bourne said he will steal the show and win the match.
2282
2283Kofi Kingston made his entrance and noted this was all talk. Kingston said if he wins the match it will be because of what he does and not because of what he says. He brought out how Edge’s career was ended by matches like this. R. Truth continued the procession. He said two weeks ago he beat John Cena and did some comedy about being afraid of spiders rather than heights. It’s a real shame what they have done to Truth because he was a hot heel and they’ve turned him into a complete joke.
2284
2285Alex Riley ran out and didn’t say anything but just went after Miz. Finally, Alberto Del Rio came out and said he shouldn’t be in MITB because he took out Rey Mysterio and is the number one contender. Del Rio vowed to teach all of them a lesson. The GM announced a six man tag. I’m not really a fan of these contrived feeling segments but the participants did well.
2286
2287Alex Riley, Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne beat R. Truth, Miz and Jack Swagger. The heels worked over Bourne. Kingston got the tag and hit dropkicks, clotheslines, the boom drop and a frog crossbody off the top. The heels took back over on Kingston and worked him over for a bit. Kingston hit a double DDT on Swagger and Truth, then tagged Riley. Riley hit a spear and spine buster on Swagger. Swagger went for the Vader bomb but Riley got up his feet and hit the implant DDT for the win.
2288
2289After the match, Miz gave Riley the skull crushing finale. Everyone took turns hitting moves on other guys. Bourne was going for the shooting star press when Del Rio ran in and pushed Bourne off the top. Del Rio then laid everyone out with a ladder and gloated in the ring. This was a good match and a good post-match as well.
2290
2291Big Show fought to a double count out with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in a handicap match. This wasn’t a match so much as an angle. Show just destroyed McIntyre for a while as Ziggler hid from the action. Show beat up McIntyre on the ramp and they were both counted out. Show continued to destroy McIntyre and went for a choke slam off the stage when Mark Henry ran in and knocked Show off the stage into protected cushioning. Henry running in out of nowhere looked cool but the bump looked basically fake because of all the protection.
2292
2293Vince McMahon came out for the final segment of the show. He said he is not joining the CM Punk kiss my ass club. Vince said contracts shouldn’t be negotiated in public, which seems like a good rule of thumb. Vince had a contract ready for Punk and said it included his own collector’s cup. Punk came out and immediately got in a “Whatamaneuver!” to mock Vince. Punk said he thought Vince would come out in a Cena t-shirt but now he saw Vince has no faith in Cena.
2294
2295Vince replied that he just couldn’t live with himself if Punk left with the title. Vince referred to Punk as Phil. Punk said his lawyers drew up a different contract with new perks. Punk said he would get to push Vince and Vince will like it. Punk wanted his own jet and his face on everything like the Titantron, turnbuckles, cups, shoes and socks. Punk said he wanted Vince to bring back the ice cream bars. That got a big positive reaction and “ice cream bars” chants. Punk said he wants WWE Films to produce CM Punk: the Movie. He said they can call it Chaperone 2, only entertaining, funny and successful.
2296
2297Punk said Dwayne, or Rock for those who don’t watch crappy Disney movies, can still wrestle Cena at WrestleMania but Punk will be in the main event. Finally, he wanted Vince to apologize to Punk and the people. Punk said Vince does the anti-bullying campaign but Vince is one of the biggest bullies he’s met in his life and Vince will apologize. This got loud “CM Punk” chants. Punk said he has had his friends fired from the company. Vince said they deserved it. Punk replied that Vince wants to punish people for liking wrestling like Colt Cabana and Luke Gallows.
2298
2299Punk said he is the voice of the voiceless and Vince will apologize and like it. The crowd started chanting “we want wrestling.” Vince yelled that he doesn’t give a damn what the people want. Punk said that is the problem, that Vince doesn’t give a damn. Punk added that his problem is he cares too much. Punk said he’s a bad guy and doesn’t wear the white hat but he is in touch with what the people want. He demanded an apology. Vince apologized and then apologized again more loudly. Punk celebrated.
2300
2301Vince went to sign the contract, with audible chants of “Colt Cabana” and “we want wrestling.” However, John Cena came out to interrupt. Cena noted that the people love Punk but Punk is going to walk out on them. Cena said that if Vince wants to give into a terrorist, he won’t tell Vince what to do. Cena said Punk and Vince are like spoiled brats and did some terrible obnoxious comedy. Cena said he dislikes Vince but still shows up for work. He called Punk a hypocrite and brought up Rock saying he was home and never leaving again. Cena said Punk just wants to take the title and walk out.
2302
2303Cena started to say Punk has lost sight when Punk interrupted. Punk observed that Cena still looks at him like a kid who can’t hang with him. He brought up being dressed up like a gangster as part of Cena’s entourage at WrestleMania in Chicago. Punk said he vowed then that in a few years he wouldn’t be watching Cena but beating him. Punk then said, “This is the part where I talk them into the building.”
2304
2305Punk said Cena is like the Red Sox or Patriots or Bruins or Celtics, the Boston sports teams who still view themselves as underdogs when in fact they’re winning titles and dominating. Punk pointed out Cena’s father and wife in the front row. Punk said Cena is what he hates: he’s a 10 time champion and no longer the underdog but rather the dynasty. Punk said Cena has become the Yankees. Cena punched Punk in response. This angle is written for Bill Simmons.
2306
2307Punk walked up the aisle referring to Cena as Steinbrenner or Jeter and said that he is the real underdog. Punk said the reason he wants to leave is because he is tired of this, tired of Cena, just tired. Punk said Sunday say goodbye to the WWE title, say goodbye to Cena and say goodbye to CM Punk. He tore up the contract and said he will go be the best in the world somewhere else. This segment went way past the usual time and was fantastic.
2308
2309Final Thoughts:
2310
2311Punk vs. Cena is the sort of feud that makes me love wrestling. You’ve got two very distinct characters with completely different goals fighting for stakes that feel significant and real. I hope WWE has some great ideas going forward, because this is their chance to get hot again.
2312POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:18 PM 3 COMMENTS
2313MONDAY, JULY 04, 2011
2314WWE Raw Report
2315Date: 07/04/11 from Las Vegas, NV.
2316
2317The Big News: John Cena convinced Vince McMahon to go through with a Cena vs. CM Punk main event at Money in the Bank.
2318
2319Show Analysis:
2320
2321John Cena came out to start the show. He said that Punk had been suspended indefinitely and lost his title shot. Cena said the decision sucked and that Punk was suspended for speaking his mind. Cena pointed out it’s a PG show and that while he didn’t agree with what Punk said, it didn’t cross any lines. He brought up Daniel Bryan being fired for being too violent and signs being taken away from fans. He said that first amendment rights were being taken away. So apparently Cena has no idea what the first amendment means. Cena said he called Vince McMahon and that McMahon would be on the show later.
2322
2323I liked this promo. It was delivered seriously like Cena cares about this and is standing up for what’s right while Cena also did a bunch of things to accentuate Punk’s points. He brought up the Bryan thing, the PG direction and just generally came across as kind of disingenuous. In short, the promo gave you good reasons to either get behind or stand against Cena.
2324
2325Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres beat the Bella twins. The Bellas worked over Eve briefly. Kelly tagged in and used a Thesz press, whirlybird, stinkface, bulldog and famouser for the win. Backstage, R. Truth backstage did a lame comedy promo. They’re turning him into a joke and it’s such a waste given how well he was connecting. Alberto Del Rio ran into Truth and did his usual promo about destiny.
2326
2327Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga defeated Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov. Nexus beat up Kozlov for a bit. Kozlov got the tag to Santino. Santino used a couple hip tosses and a diving head butt. He set up for the cobra but decided to use it on Otunga on the apron. McGillicutty then gave Santino the cutter for the win. Zack Ryder appeared on the stage afterwards to say woo woo woo you know it.
2328
2329An intense Miz backstage said Alex Riley’s run of success will come to an end. Jack Swagger confronted Sgt. Slaughter and Evan Bourne elsewhere. He made fun of Slaughter’s age and challenged Slaughter to a fight. Slaughter accepted.
2330
2331Jack Swagger beat Sgt. Slaughter. Slaughter hit some chops, an elbow and applied the cobra clutch. However, Swagger got out of the hold quickly. He then hit a clothesline and Vader bomb on Slaughter for the pin. After the match, Swagger put the ankle lock on Slaughter. Evan Bourne made the save and Slaughter said the pledge of allegiance.
2332
2333Alberto Del Rio beat Rey Mysterio and R. Truth to become number one contender. Mysterio hit a crossbody off the top onto Truth on Del Rio’s shoulders. Del Rio accidentally ran into the post and Mysterio gave Truth the 619 and a top rope splash. Mysterio had Truth covered but Del Rio ran in and grabbed Mysterio’s arm for the armbar submission. The finish was cool, if a little too similar to the triple threat number one contender match finish from a couple weeks ago.
2334
2335Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler came to the ring. Vickie said that it was Ziggler’s birthday and sang happy birthday to him. Ziggler said there will never be another Dolph Ziggler. Kofi Kingston interrupted and said Ziggler can’t beat him without Vickie. Ziggler said he left Kingston in the dust and told Kingston to leave. Kingston shoved Ziggler and Ziggler accidentally sent Vickie’s behind into the birthday cake. Then, as she was surveying the damage, the wrestlers brawled back into Vickie and he front fell into the cake.
2336
2337Alex Riley beat Miz. Miz dominated the match forever until Riley hit a spear and spine buster. Miz took back over with a clothesline and went for his back breaker/neck breaker combination. He hit the back breaker but then Riley reversed the neck breaker into a backslide for the win. After the match, Miz attacked Riley. He sent Riley into the barricade and steps and hit a big running kick to the head. Miz was freaking out, alternating between fury and dejection about losing again to Riley.
2338
2339Vince McMahon closed the show. He said that Punk’s suspension wasn’t about Vince’s ego but about doing the right things for the people. He added that Punk’s contract is almost up and Punk wants limo service, first class flights, magazines, DVDs and more. Vince said Punk isn’t worthy of magazines and DVDs. The fans booed that. Vince called CM Punk a Punk and went to leave.
2340
2341That brought out John Cena. He claimed Vince is about freedom of expression and this goes against that. He said that Vince is a fighter but maybe he has gone soft and if he isn’t willing to fight he should hang it up, “old man.” Vince responded that his real reason for suspending Punk was he didn’t want to risk that Punk would beat Cena. He noted he has been through this before and if Punk wins, he will walk into another wrestling organization with the title. Vince said he won’t be embarrassed.
2342
2343Cena said he won’t guarantee that he will beat Punk but the match should happen. He said Cena/Punk would be the biggest match of the year but now it won’t happen. Vince told Cena not to be like Hulk Hogan and others by pissing him off. Vince noted it’s not Cena’s company but Vince’s. Cena said if that’s how Vince runs his company, Cena doesn’t want to be a part of it.
2344
2345Cena said he recognizes he is replaceable but he puts his heart into the company. He concluded that Punk earned his right to fight for the title and if Vince kicks Punk to the curb he has made the title meaningless. He handed the title back to Vince and left. Vince followed Cena up the ramp and told Cena that Punk is reinstated and Cena has his match. Vince then added that if Punk leaves Chicago with the title, Vince will fire Cena.
2346
2347Final Thoughts:
2348
2349The second taped show on double shows tend to be less newsworthy, and this show was mostly centered on carrying through what happened last week. I’m still very optimistic about the potential for this angle and intrigued with the finish they have planned for the pay-per-view.
2350POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 10:45 PM 1 COMMENTS
2351ABOUT ME
2352TODD MARTIN
2353UNITED STATES
2354VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
2355
2356LINKS
2357Obama/Biden 2008
2358Figure 4 Weekly
2359CBS Sports
2360MMA Payout
2361Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
2362Washington Post
2363MMA Weekly
2364Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
2365Avoid Cancer Now
2366Cross Country Express
2367Wrestling Nerds
2368Number One Contender
2369Tan Dynasty
2370The Vortex
2371MMA Ranks
2372Gerweck.net
2373Ron Motta's Blog
2374Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
2375The Great Scottland
2376Here and There
2377Everything and Anything
2378Fight Opinion
2379Monkey Shines
2380adamannapolis
2381Talib Kweli's Blog
2382SI.com
2383PREVIOUS POSTS
2384My Favorite Movies of 2015
2385Book Tier List
2386My Favorite Movies of 2014
2387Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
2388Favorite Movies of 2013
2389Favorite Films of 2012
2390WWE Raw Report
2391WWE Raw Report
2392WWE Raw Report
2393WWE Raw Report
2394ARCHIVES
2395November 2005
2396December 2005
2397January 2006
2398February 2006
2399March 2006
2400April 2006
2401May 2006
2402June 2006
2403July 2006
2404August 2006
2405September 2006
2406October 2006
2407November 2006
2408December 2006
2409January 2007
2410February 2007
2411March 2007
2412April 2007
2413May 2007
2414June 2007
2415July 2007
2416August 2007
2417September 2007
2418October 2007
2419November 2007
2420December 2007
2421January 2008
2422February 2008
2423March 2008
2424April 2008
2425May 2008
2426June 2008
2427July 2008
2428August 2008
2429September 2008
2430October 2008
2431November 2008
2432December 2008
2433January 2009
2434February 2009
2435March 2009
2436April 2009
2437May 2009
2438June 2009
2439July 2009
2440August 2009
2441September 2009
2442October 2009
2443November 2009
2444December 2009
2445January 2010
2446February 2010
2447March 2010
2448April 2010
2449May 2010
2450June 2010
2451July 2010
2452August 2010
2453September 2010
2454October 2010
2455November 2010
2456December 2010
2457January 2011
2458February 2011
2459March 2011
2460April 2011
2461May 2011
2462June 2011
2463July 2011
2464August 2011
2465September 2011
2466October 2011
2467November 2011
2468December 2011
2469January 2012
2470February 2012
2471March 2012
2472April 2012
2473May 2012
2474June 2012
2475July 2012
2476January 2013
2477March 2014
2478April 2014
2479February 2015
2480October 2015
2481February 2016
2482Powered by Blogger
2483
2484 
2485
2486~~
2487
2488
2489SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
2490MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012
2491WWE Raw Report
2492
2493Date: 06/25/12 from Ft. Wayne, IN.
2494
2495The Big News: John Cena made a historic announcement on Raw.
2496
2497Show Analysis:
2498
2499Backstage, AJ told Daniel Bryan she knows he has feelings for her but they need to drift apart, told Kane she loses inhibitions around him but he’s a monster rather than a man and told Punk she thinks of him as her soul mate but doesn’t think he thinks what she thinks he’s thinking so it’s best they all go separate ways. The camera panned around to reveal she was talking into a mirror.
2500
2501Vickie Guerrero came out and said she expects to be made the permanent GM on the 1000th episode of Raw. She announced the opening match.
2502
2503Daniel Bryan beat Kane and CM Punk in an elimination match. They wrestled for a while until of course A.J. had to come out to create a finish. She distracted Kane, Punk avoided a choke slam, and Punk gave Kane the GTS for a pin. Bryan then kicked Punk in the head for the pin. I hate this feud. The title is even more meaningless than it has been recently. None of the wrestlers have any agency and are just pawns for a completely unbelievable non-wrestling character out of Melrose Place once Melrose Place went to total shit. The result of their match is determined every week by whatever A.J. wants to do.
2504
2505Backstage, Alberto Del Rio presented Vickie Guerrero with flowers. He wanted to be the number one contender for the world title. Dolph Ziggler came in and said he should be the number one contender. Exactly how many matches does Ziggler have to lose to fall out of contention for the world title? Guerrero announced Ziggler vs. Del Rio in a contract on a pole match for a title shot on Smackdown. Ziggler threw the vase that held Del Rio’s flowers against the wall.
2506
2507Big Show beat Brodus Clay. Clay hit his head butt early and knocked down Show. But Show took over by attacking Clay’s leg. Clay avoided the KO punch but when he went for a body slam, Show fell on him to score the pin. As Show was being helped to the back during a commercial break, Show hit him with the KO punch. They announced that next week Brock Lesnar will answer HHH’s challenge for SummerSlam.
2508
2509A.J. wanted to chat with Kane backstage. Kane basically said he’s crazy but even he finds A.J. mentally unstable and was breaking things off. This seemed like a write off of Kane from the angle don’t for comedy. A.J. acted upset but then broke into laughter, which came across as poorly executed soap.
2510
2511Santino Marella beat Jack Swagger. Swagger worked over Santino briefly. Santino hit a hip toss and head butt but Swagger grabbed him when he went for the cobra. Santino reversed with a DDT and hit the cobra for the pin.
2512
2513John Cena came out to a pretty strong negative reaction, although of course he had plenty of cheers too. He did this lame, irritating Star Wars comedy routine. He said he had a historic announcement but Chris Jericho interrupted. Jericho received loud Y2J chants despite having been a pretty unredeemable heel for months. A lot of people just don’t want him as a heel. Jericho told Cena to just make his announcement and go away.
2514
2515Cena said his historic announcement is that he’s entering the Money in the Bank ladder match. Cena said he would win the whole fudging thing. Jericho asked if Cena is nine years old. Cena responded that most of their viewers are that age. It’s telling they’re going on that completely false premise. Jericho said he would enter too and win. Vickie said they couldn’t just enter themselves into the match, but then said they were in along with Kane and Big Show. Vickie also announced Jericho vs. Cena for later in the show.
2516
2517Sid beat Heath Slater. Slater said he rules the world, which was the cue for Sid’s music to hit. Sid hit a spine buster. Slater briefly worked Sid over. Sid then hit the power bomb for the win. Sid wasn’t moving around very well but it was fun to see him. These segments are enjoyable. They announced Charlie Sheen will plug WWE and his new TV show on social media during Raw’s 1000th episode.
2518
2519Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio’s contract on a pole match didn’t have a finish. I know, right? They were fighting for the contract and Ziggler pulled it off. But they ruled that if you don’t have control of the contract after pulling it off, that doesn’t count as a win. So they fought over the contract on the floor. And then Sheamus just came out and said they shouldn’t bother to finish the match but instead they’d just have a triple threat title match on Smackdown. This was so dumb.
2520
2521They announced Bryan vs. Punk for the title at MITB. A.J. apologized to Punk for what happened earlier on Raw. She said she would dedicate her match to him. Punk said after that they would have a serious discussion. A.J. didn’t take the hint and said she was open to taking things to the next level.
2522
2523A.J. won a women’s battle royal. Vickie Guerrero came out and entered herself last. She stripped down to a bathing suit and looked good for a 44-year-old woman while the other women acted like they were disgusted and Jerry Lawler told jokes at her expense. All the women then basically dove out of the ring as quickly as humanly possible.
2524
2525A.J., Layla and Vickie were left. A.J. threw Layla onto the apron. Layla didn’t go out but Beth tried to pull her off the apron and that allowed A.J. to knock Layla off. Vickie then threw A.J. through the ropes from behind but A.J. didn’t go out. Vickie celebrated but A.J. got back in and attacked her. Vickie fled out of the ring and A.J. won. A.J. did the yes chant as a tease she’ll make Bryan the winner at MITB rather than making Punk the winner.
2526
2527John Cena beat Chris Jericho via DQ. There were dueling chants. Jericho worked over Cena. Cena hit a Cena slam but Jericho countered the five knuckle. Cena avoided the walls but Cena avoided the FU. Cena hit the Cena slam again and the five knuckle this time. Then Big Show came out for the finish. Jericho used the distraction to apply the walls. Despite Cena being caught in the hold, Show came into the ring and hit a leg drop on Cena for the DQ. It was a fittingly awful finish on a night of awful finishes. An angry Jericho left and Show choked Cena for a while to close the show.
2528
2529Final Thoughts:
2530
2531Thumbs down.
2532POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 8:38 PM 4 COMMENTS
2533MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012
2534WWE Raw Report
2535
2536Date: 06/18/12 from Long Island, NY.
2537
2538The Big News: John Laurinaitis got an unfriendly sendoff.
2539
2540Show Analysis:
2541
2542The show started with Mick Foley. Foley said that while the board of directors is trying to find the next permanent GMs for Raw and Smackdown, the board will be reaching out to former GMs on an interim basis. Couldn’t we just go a few weeks with wrestlers being the focus rather than authority figures? Foley said that he will host Raw and Smackdown this week and announced Kane and Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk and Sheamus. He added that John Laurinaitis would have an opportunity to give a farewell address.
2543
2544John Laurinaitis came out in a neck brace, arm sling and crutch. He said that he would give his farewell address. He claimed that before he was fired, he made a main event for Raw of John Cena vs. Big Show, David Otunga and John Laurinaitis in a handicap match.
2545
2546CM Punk and Sheamus beat Daniel Bryan and Kane. The heels had control over Punk early, but Punk tagged Sheamus. Sheamus hit a shoulder block, knee, powerslam and back breaker on Kane. Kane regained control by throwing Sheamus over the top rope. Bryan and Kane worked over Sheamus until Bryan missed a dropkick into the corner and Punk got the tag.
2547
2548Punk and Bryan had a great fast sequence that culminated in Punk hitting a powerslam. He followed with a high knee and bulldog but when he went to the top Bryan caught him with a superplex. Then A.J. came out skipping around the ring in a Kane mask. Kane decided just to give up on the match and stand on the ramp because of this. Punk hit the GTS and Sheamus hit the Brogue kick on Bryan for the pin. This was a good match with another idiotic finish.
2549
2550Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger argued backstage. Vickie Guerrero said she spoke to Foley and they would settle their issue in the ring. Guerrero smiled when they left like she is up to something. David Otunga and John Laurinaitis were laughing elsewhere backstage. Big Show came in and was not amused. Laurinaitis said Show would knock out Cena and Laurinaitis would make the cover. Laurinaitis added the people don’t deserve him and he would leave a lasting impression. Show retorted that he didn’t find anything funny.
2551
2552Dolph Ziggler beat Jack Swagger. The crowd chanted “let’s go Ziggler.” Swagger worked over Ziggler and applied the ankle lock. Ziggler reversed the ankle lock and sent Swagger into the post. Ziggler then hit the zig zag for the win. Guerrero kissed Ziggler after the match.
2553
2554Paul Heyman came out to a nice reaction and ECW chants. Heyman said Brock Lesnar won’t drop his lawsuit and won’t fight HHH at SummerSlam. He started to leave when HHH came out. HHH labeled Heyman an habitual liar and said Lesnar will fight him at SummerSlam. He offered to make Lesnar the focus of the promotion for the event. Heyman said Lesnar has no ego but HHH mocked this. HHH suggested Lesnar is scared. Heyman told HHH to stop playing a fighter and go back to his ivory tower. Heyman mocked HHH and said he knows how to push HHH’s buttons.
2555
2556Heyman encouraged HHH to hit him, saying that Heyman and Lesnar would own WWE. Heyman added he would have nothing for HHH but does have something for Stephanie. HHH grabbed Heyman but then let him go. Heyman said he sees everything HHH is going to do a mile away. HHH hit Heyman and asked if Heyman saw that coming. Heyman was really good here but it still has the basic limitation that arguing about contracts and lawsuits is a boring and ineffective way of building a big match.
2557
2558Alberto Del Rio beat Santino Marella. Del Rio controlled the brief match. Santino made his comeback but Del Rio avoided the cobra and hit a dropkick and applied the armbar for the tap. Ricardo Rodriguez attacked Santino’s arm after Del Rio left.
2559
2560Layla introduced Wendy Richter and Cyndi Lauper. The crowd wasn’t into this and chanted “we want Ryder.” They were interrupted by Heath Slater. Slater labeled this a trainwreck. Lauper asked who he was. Slater started singing terribly. Roddy Piper came out. He was nice to the women and told Slater to leave. Slater pointed out Piper didn’t like Lauper back in the day. Piper referenced hitting Lou Albano with a gold record. He said he was sorry and presented Lauper a gold record on behalf of Albano. He said Lauper is gold to WWE for everything she has done and hugged her. Slater belittled them and started singing again. Piper poked him in the eye and Lauper hit him with the record. Slater was busted open.
2561
2562This was designed to be bad, but I enjoyed the segment. It was nice to see Lauper in a WWE ring again and Piper seemed to have genuine affection for her. The big negative (besides the crowd not being that into it) was Vince McMahon clearly instructing Michael Cole to spend the entire time burying the segment, which severely undermined what they were doing. It sure would be nice if Vince treated the people who built his company with respect rather than ridiculing them as old and out of date whenever they appear. Particularly given he’s older and much more out of touch than most of the people he buries as old and out of touch.
2563
2564Primo and Epico Colon beat Titus O’Neil and Darren Young via count out. Primo hit the backstabber on Young but O’Neil pulled Young out of the ring. The Colons hit a double baseball slide but A.W. pulled his troops back and they were counted out. This was a terrible finish. It would be so much more effective if one of these teams scored an impressive clean win over a third team to build up their feud.
2565
2566They announced Chris Jericho will be on Raw next week. John Laurinaitis before the main event said in being fired he isn’t the loser but rather the losers are the fans who no longer have people power. Big Show then said he isn’t beholden to anyone including Laurinaitis. Show said he has proven he can beat Cena and now he is on to bigger and better things. He told Otunga and Laurinaitis they were on their own.
2567
2568John Cena beat David Otunga and John Laurinaitis. As Cena was beating up Otunga early, Otunga went for the tag but Laurinaitis wouldn’t do it. Otunga eventually gained control and worked over Cena. The crowd chanted “we want Ryder,” quite the statement about their interest in WWE’s main event program. With Otunga in control, Laurinaitis tagged in. He took off the neck brace and arm sling and started stomping Cena. Laurinaitis pinned Cena but Cena kicked out with ease. Laurinaitis then went to tag Otunga back in, but Otunga this time refused and left. Cena hit the five knuckle shuffle and three FUs for the win.
2569
2570Final Thoughts:
2571
2572When I say Raw is good by current Raw standards, everyone seems to think it’s some sort of backhanded compliment, like a good Raw these days is still a bad wrestling show in general. And to those people I say, well, I liked this show by current Raw standards.
2573POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 8:23 PM 4 COMMENTS
2574MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2012
2575WWE Raw Report
2576
2577Date: 06/11/12 from Hartford, CT.
2578
2579The Big News: TNA has been really good lately.
2580
2581Show Analysis:
2582
2583John Laurinaitis came out to start the show, but as he introduced himself he was interrupted by Vince McMahon. Laurinaitis offered a handshake but Vince wouldn’t shake, saying he didn’t know where that hand had been. Vince asked Laurinaitis for one reason not to fire him. Laurinaitis responded people power and sucked up to Vince. Vince brought up the Brock Lesnar contract and Laurinaitis signing the wrong one legged wrestler. That got no reaction from the crowd but I thought it was an amusing line.
2584
2585Vince buried Big Show and his new contract, saying Show hasn’t performed well since 1999 and is a terrible investment. That was quite the line about your PPV headlining monster heel. Laurinaitis responded that Vince is just biased because Vince’s head was once shoved up Show’s ass. Laurinaitis said the wrestlers look at him like a friend. Sheamus came out and called Laurinaitis the worst WWE GM ever and asked Vince to fire him. Laurinaitis was angry and said he would find an opponent for Sheamus. Vince told Laurinaitis to impress him or Laurinaitis will be fired. For good measure, Vince pushed Laurinaitis’ cart off the stage.
2586
2587Sheamus beat Tensai. Tensai worked over Sheamus, including a knee to the head and Vader bomb for two. Sheamus made his comeback with punches against the ropes but was caught with a tree slam as he was coming off the top rope. Tensai followed with head butts but Sheamus hit the brogue kick out of the blue for the pin. Tensai looked as good as he has since coming back here.
2588
2589Backstage, Vince told Laurinaitis that was strike one. Vince wanted to know Sheamus’ opponent for the title Sunday since Alberto Del Rio is out. Vickie Guerrero came in and suggested that Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler as former world champions should be considered. Teddy Long noted Great Khali and Christian are also former champions and those four should be in a fatal four way for the title shot. What a scary statement about what they’ve done to titles that four guys so low on the card all have held the title. Vince liked this idea so Laurinaitis took credit and offered a fist bump to Vince. Vince said Laurinaitis has small hands and left.
2590
2591Back in the ring, Tensai was yelling at his second Sakamoto. Tensai attacked Sakamoto and threw him into the post and barricade. Then backstage R. Truth did goofy comedy about his invisible friend and said Cena will beat Show Sunday. Show knocked Truth out.
2592
2593Beth Phoenix and Ricardo Rodriguez beat Layla and Santino Marella. Ricardo tagged himself in and wanted to go after Layla but then ran away when Santino came in. Beth came back in and fought with Layla. Ricardo tried to interfere but was sent out by Layla. Santino went for the cobra on Ricardo on the outside but Ricardo ran away into the ring post. Beth then pinned Layla in the ring with the glam slam. Afterwards, Santino pulled off Ricardo’s dress shirt to reveal a Justin Bieber t-shirt and Ricardo freaked out. WWE comedy.
2594
2595David Otunga told Vince McMahon that John Laurinaitis is doing a good job but that Otunga would be a good replacement. Vince said he dislikes lawyers. Kofi Kingston came in and wanted a match with Big Show. Laurinaitis made it a cage match.
2596
2597Daniel Bryan came out and said he’s nothing like CM Punk and Kane. He said they have a weakness for A.J. Bryan said he made Punk tap so Punk got with his ex-girlfriend to try to make him jealous. Meanwhile, Kane thinks he is getting to second base when a girl looks him in the eye and doesn’t vomit. Bryan said A.J. is still in love with him. The crowd chanted yes. He said that once you go Bryan, there’s no point in tryin’. Bryan said he isn’t interested in A.J. but just taking the title Sunday.
2598
2599Punk came out. He said A.J.’s actually pretty cool but sort of crazy and he digs crazy chicks. He’s going to look like the biggest fool on the face of the Earth if she turns on him. Punk said Sunday he will either beat the delusional out of his mind freak or he’ll beat Kane. Bryan said Punk has changed, and that now he is a pandering sellout. Punk retorted, “So says the ‘superstar’ in the yes t-shirt.
2600
2601Punk brought up his promo a year ago. He said people tell him that was one of the best moments in Raw history but he doesn’t like them because they weren’t behind him when he started in WWE. Great call there, Punk. The people who liked the references to ROH and Colt Cabana weren’t the ones who were with you from the start. It’s the people who like your WWE Universe references that were. Punk claimed he hasn’t changed at all since that promo and that he hasn’t kissed ass or compromised himself. Then he called Bryan goat face. It’s amusing to see Punk simultaneously distance himself from the things that got him hot while also claiming he hasn’t changed.
2602
2603Kane came out. He brought up some of his goofy angles for comedy. He said his pipe bombs are actually pipe bombs and he will take the title at the PPV. A.J. was last out. She said when she looked into Kane’s eyes, she saw he has heart. She said she hasn’t gotten over Bryan. Finally, she said Punk is pretty much the coolest guy she’s ever known. A.J. said Sunday the best man will win. Laurinaitis booked a Bryan and Kane vs. Punk and A.J. match.
2604
2605Dolph Ziggler beat Christian, Great Khali and Jack Swagger to earn a title shot on Sunday. Christian gave Khali the frog splash and they all covered Khali for the first elimination. Swagger put the ankle lock on Christian but Christian escaped and posted Swagger. Christian gave Swagger the kill switch but Ziggler covered Swagger for the second elimination. Ziggler went after Christian’s bad ankle. Christian hit a spear but Ziggler kicked out. Christian went for the kill switch but Ziggler avoided it and hit a famouser for two. Christian used an inverted DDT for pin. Christian went to the top but he was distracted by Vickie and came off the top onto his injured ankle. Ziggler hit the zig zag for the win. Sheamus came out and held up his title in Ziggler’s face.
2606
2607This match and particularly the ending were very good. The crowd even got behind Ziggler some. This sequence of events with Ziggler is WWE in 2012 in a nutshell. They know this guy’s the most talented guy they have not at the top of the card, yet they job him out week after week because they don’t have the patience to build guys for bigger things. Then they lose a few of the handful of guys they actually protect and they have to throw Ziggler into a title match because there’s nobody on the card who’s actually good and protected. This guy was 2-12 in his last 14 Raw matches headed into this week and he’s a PPV title challenger. If you know this guy’s the best talent you have not in a current top angle, why on Earth do you job him out week after week?
2608
2609A kind of crazed Natalya backstage talked about how special it was to have the whole Hart family together at WrestleMania when Vince wrestled Bret Hart. She wanted Vince to bring them back. He basically blew her off. This seemed booked just to indulge Vince’s belief that the Harts are crazy. Brodus Clay’s dancers wanted Clay back on Raw. Vince said no and they were disappointed. Vince then said somebody call my mama, the lights miraculously came on backstage and he danced with them. Zack Ryder was shocked and Vince said woo woo woo you know it. More WWE comedy.
2610
2611Ryback beat Willard Fillmore and Rutherford P.S. Hayes. Even more WWE comedy. The Goldberg chants were louder than usual. Ryback won with the double Samoan drop.
2612
2613Vince and Hornswoggle backstage laughed at the stupid segment from Friday mocking Jim Ross. Vince then contorted his face to mock Ross’ Bell’s palsy and did an Oklahoma impression. Remember when WWE would talk about how utterly classless WCW was for doing that? It’s just great for babyfaces to do comedy mocking people for crippling disabilities in general.
2614
2615John Cena came in. Vince brought up Rock beating Cena at Mania. Cena sarcastically said, “Oh, now we’re using WrestleMania wins and losses to measure success,” as if he wasn’t talking a few months ago about how he couldn’t go on if he didn’t beat Rock because it was so important. Cena brought up Vince losing to Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Shane McMahon and others at Mania. Cena said Vince needs to handle his business with Laurinaitis. Otunga came in and Vince said nobody likes a sycophant who would kiss another man’s ass. He then turned around to William Regal sitting on the couch and said no offense.
2616
2617Big Show beat Kofi Kingston in a cage match. Show destroyed him for a while. Kingston hit trouble in paradise but Show kicked out with ease. Kingston tried to run out through the door but Show caught him and gave him the KO punch. Show then very slowly walked out of the cage. This was effective in making Show look like a monster.
2618
2619Sin Cara beat Curt Hawkins with a corkscrew plancha, handspring elbow and la mistica for the pin.
2620
2621Backstage, Vince wished Daniel Bryan luck. Bryan said he thought Vince wouldn’t like someone like him. Vince said you can’t judge a book by its cover as nobody would see Bryan as a WWE superstar walking down the street. Bryan said he has proven Vince wrong. He then claimed that he’s like Vince in that they’re both self-made success stories. That’s a funny way of describing a wrestling promoter who was the son of one of the most successful wrestling promoters of all time. But whatever. WWE TV is mostly about the writing team indulging Vince these days anyway. Vince responded that he never finished anything in 18 seconds.
2622
2623Vader beat Heath Slater. They announced Laurinaitis brought back a former Raw main eventer in honor of Raw’s 1,000th episode. This was fun and the crowd was really enjoying seeing Vader. We got “let’s go Vader and “you still got it” chants. Vader was more over than most of the current roster. Vader hit clotheslines and punches. Slater went for a body slam but Vader landed on him for two. Vader then hit the Vader bomb for the pin.
2624
2625Backstage, CM Punk told A.J. not to worry because they would just have a handicap match. He said that unlike Kane and Bryan, they can trust each other. That was quite the line for a top face to deliver towards a completely untrustworthy crazy person. A.J. kissed Punk on the cheek.
2626
2627CM Punk and A.J. beat Kane and Daniel Bryan. The heels worked over Punk. Punk at one point went for the tag but realized it was just A.J. there. Punk was knocked back and collided with A.J., so A.J. had to come in. A.J. smiled at Kane, skipped around him, then leaped into his arms and made out with him. Kane tagged Bryan back in and left. A.J. tagged back in Punk and Punk pretty much immediately hit a top rope elbow on Bryan for the pin.
2628
2629Vince McMahon came out for the final segment with a lot of security. Vince said he has a soft spot for Connecticut as it is where he lived and where Stephanie was born. He said it was poetic that with a birth there would be a professional death and brought out Laurinaitis. Laurinaitis said he didn’t appreciate what Vince did to his scooter, but that Vince didn’t need security because Laurinaitis wouldn’t think of attacking Vince. Vince said the security wasn’t for Vince but to escort Laurinaitis away.
2630
2631Laurinaitis pleaded with Vince, saying Raw and Smackdown have become destination TV. Destination for what? Laurinaitis said he is needed for three hour Raws. Vince teased he was going to fire Laurinaitis when Big Show came out. Show said Laurinaitis isn’t at fault for Show’s contract. Show said he did everything Vince asked over the years and couldn’t be a giant because giants are scary. That would make sense if he weren’t a giant monster for half of that time period. Show said now he is just going to be that giant. Thus, Vince needs to not worry about Laurinaitis but about the well-being of his golden goose Cena.
2632
2633John Cena came out smirking. It’s a PPV Sunday, which means it’s time for Cena to tell some jokes. He joked about chicken nuggets. He said Show blames everyone for his problems except the guy who is responsible, Laurinaitis. Cena said Show has his contract, management behind him and the match he wants. Thus, if Show doesn’t win he will be a disappointment and sell out. Vince said that he will be at ringside Sunday and if Show loses, Vince will fire Laurinaitis.
2634
2635Show grabbed Cena by the throat. Security tried to break them up but was thrown off and a brawl broke out. In the midst of this, Show accidentally knocked out Vince with a punch that looked to have missed by a wide margin. Everyone in the ring acted shocked and they gave the dreaded X signal for Vince. They’ve done one of these angles with Vince every time he has come back over the last five years and then he comes back in six months as if nothing happened. Why do they expect people to care?
2636
2637Final Thoughts:
2638
2639This was a thoroughly grating show, filled with incessant dumb comedy and goofiness segment after segment. Vader was probably the highlight. No Way Out looks unappealing.
2640POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:44 PM 5 COMMENTS
2641MONDAY, JUNE 04, 2012
2642WWE Raw Report
2643
2644Date: 06/04/12 from Greenville, SC.
2645
2646The Big News: John Cena hasn’t been listening very carefully to WWE’s PSAs.
2647
2648Show Analysis:
2649
2650The show started with Michael Cole in the ring introducing John Cena. Cole blamed the injuries caused by Big Show on Cena. Cena was incredulous about this. Cole said Cena being a comedian was more important than supporting his friend Big Show. Cena told a My Little Pony joke in response. Cena said maybe he didn’t defend Show on Raw but he was going to get rid of John Laurinaitis on the PPV and then Show would be re-hired. Cole noted that Cena didn’t know he would beat Laurinaitis for sure and labeled Cena arrogant. He added that Show did what he needed to feed his family and took the sure thing signing with Laurinaitis.
2651
2652Cena responded by making fun of Show’s weight. Cena then said Show took the easy way out. Cole suggested Cena is jealous of Show for being tougher than Cena. Cole labeled Cena overrated and said he hopes Show will put all the viewers out of their misery having to watch Cena every week. John Laurinaitis then came out and said Cena would get to pick his opponent for the show, other than Laurinaitis or Show. Cena, having been thoroughly tooled by Cole verbally, decided he’d beat up the announcer. What a bully.
2653
2654Michael Cole pleaded with John Laurinaitis backstage not to wrestle John Cena. Laurinaitis said everyone’s job is being evaluated and he has to give people what they want. Cole said people don’t want to see Cena beat him up. Laurinaitis said they do and left.
2655
2656Sheamus beat Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler worked over Sheamus for most of the match. Sheamus came back with white noise and the Brogue kick for the pin. This was a good match but it’s so frustrating that after jobbing Ziggler out for months in a tag team, they finally did the breakup and had a natural point to try to give Ziggler a fresh start. Instead, he just lost again to emphasize fans shouldn’t expect anything out of him. Alberto Del Rio attacked Sheamus after the match.
2657
2658David Otunga told John Laurinaitis backstage that Vince McMahon is coming to Raw next week to give Laurinaitis a job performance evaluation. Didn’t McMahon have those powers stripped by HHH last year?
2659
2660Sin Cara beat Hunico with a kick to the face, springboard huracanrana, handspring elbow and La Mistica into the pin. This was very crisp and well worked. Cole claimed Cara is the most popular star in the history of Mexico twice, which is quite the fib.
2661
2662Ryback beat Stan Stansy and Arthur Rosenberg. Those have to be the most ridiculous names ever. The jobbers told a poem together before the match. Ryback won with a double Samoan drop.
2663
2664Kane beat CM Punk. Punk hit a tope, a double ax handle off the top rope to the floor and a top rope crossbody. Kane took over by throwing Punk over the top rope and hitting a side slam. Kane went to the top but Punk knocked him off. Punk hit a running knee, bulldog and springboard clothesline. Punk went for GTS but Kane escaped and hit a kick to the head for two. Kane went for the choke slam but Punk countered with a neck breaker for two. Punk hit an elbow off the top for two.
2665
2666At this point, Kane and Punk got into a brawl on the floor. As Punk was getting back into the ring, Bryan kicked him twice. Kane brought Punk into the ring and went for a choke slam. Punk countered with a kick to the head. A.J. then ran out to argue with the referee about Bryan’s interference. Bryan came over to argue with A.J. Punk hit a tope and attacked Bryan but as he went back into the ring he was caught with a choke slam for the pin. This was a good match with a shitty, overbooked finish.
2667
2668After the match, Kane knocked down Bryan. He approached A.J. and A.J. smiled at him seductively. Kane backed off and left. A.J. acted confused. Backstage, A.J. said she likes when men look at her while playing with Josh Mathews’ tie. She asked if he likes aggressive women.
2669
2670Kofi Kingston and R. Truth beat Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks. The heels worked over Truth. Truth got the tag to Kingston. Kingston hit clotheslines, the boom drop, a springboard crossbody and trouble in paradise for the pin on Hawkins. This was another good match and I’d love to see a lot more matches like this where one midcard wrestler or team proves to be better than a lower card wrestler or team. It makes the winners feel more important and you’re not sacrificing anything important.
2671
2672John Cena beat Tensai. Laurinaitis announced that Cole vs. Cena would be no DQ if Cena beat Tensai. Cole was in his very worst over-the-top obnoxious mode in this match. It was just unbearable. Tensai dominated the match until missing a senton. Cena then hit shoulderblocks, the Cena slam, the five knuckle and the FU for the pin.
2673
2674John Cena then beat Michael Cole. Cole ran away but Cena caught him and brought him back. Cole pleaded with Cena but then started threatening and poking Cena. Cena slapped Cole and took off Cole’s pants. He slapped Cole hard and had Cole apologize to Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross. He had Cole put over Ross’ BBQ sauce and then poured BBQ sauce all over Cole in his underwear. He then sprayed Cole with a fire extinguisher. He set up for the FU but Tensai ran out and hit the choke slam. Cole covered but Cena kicked out and luckily for Cena Tensai decided to simply leave. Cole went after Cena with the fire extinguisher but was caught in the FU for the pin.
2675
2676Final Thoughts:
2677
2678By 2012 WWE standards, this show was pretty good.
2679POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 8:22 PM 4 COMMENTS
2680ABOUT ME
2681TODD MARTIN
2682UNITED STATES
2683VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
2684
2685LINKS
2686Obama/Biden 2008
2687Figure 4 Weekly
2688CBS Sports
2689MMA Payout
2690Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
2691Washington Post
2692MMA Weekly
2693Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
2694Avoid Cancer Now
2695Cross Country Express
2696Wrestling Nerds
2697Number One Contender
2698Tan Dynasty
2699The Vortex
2700MMA Ranks
2701Gerweck.net
2702Ron Motta's Blog
2703Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
2704The Great Scottland
2705Here and There
2706Everything and Anything
2707Fight Opinion
2708Monkey Shines
2709adamannapolis
2710Talib Kweli's Blog
2711SI.com
2712PREVIOUS POSTS
2713My Favorite Movies of 2015
2714Book Tier List
2715My Favorite Movies of 2014
2716Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
2717Favorite Movies of 2013
2718Favorite Films of 2012
2719WWE Raw Report
2720WWE Raw Report
2721WWE Raw Report
2722WWE Raw Report
2723ARCHIVES
2724November 2005
2725December 2005
2726January 2006
2727February 2006
2728March 2006
2729April 2006
2730May 2006
2731June 2006
2732July 2006
2733August 2006
2734September 2006
2735October 2006
2736November 2006
2737December 2006
2738January 2007
2739February 2007
2740March 2007
2741April 2007
2742May 2007
2743June 2007
2744July 2007
2745August 2007
2746September 2007
2747October 2007
2748November 2007
2749December 2007
2750January 2008
2751February 2008
2752March 2008
2753April 2008
2754May 2008
2755June 2008
2756July 2008
2757August 2008
2758September 2008
2759October 2008
2760November 2008
2761December 2008
2762January 2009
2763February 2009
2764March 2009
2765April 2009
2766May 2009
2767June 2009
2768July 2009
2769August 2009
2770September 2009
2771October 2009
2772November 2009
2773December 2009
2774January 2010
2775February 2010
2776March 2010
2777April 2010
2778May 2010
2779June 2010
2780July 2010
2781August 2010
2782September 2010
2783October 2010
2784November 2010
2785December 2010
2786January 2011
2787February 2011
2788March 2011
2789April 2011
2790May 2011
2791June 2011
2792July 2011
2793August 2011
2794September 2011
2795October 2011
2796November 2011
2797December 2011
2798January 2012
2799February 2012
2800March 2012
2801April 2012
2802May 2012
2803June 2012
2804July 2012
2805January 2013
2806March 2014
2807April 2014
2808February 2015
2809October 2015
2810February 2016
2811Powered by Blogger
2812
2813 ~~~~~
2814
2815
2816SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
2817MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2011
2818WWE Raw Report
2819Date: 10/24/11 from Atlanta, GA.
2820
2821The Big News: Pay-per-view is dead. For WWE, anyway.
2822
2823Show Analysis:
2824
2825Rock was on the screen to start the show. He had a graying beard. He said that he and John Cena represent different eras. He acknowledged Cena’s offer to team up but then rejected it with a hell no. He said that he doesn’t want to slap hands with Cena and would rather slap Cena’s face. Rock then said he thought about it more and that the world hates R. Truth and Miz and wants to see them get their asses kicked. So Rock agreed to take the match and said he would show Cena what Cena will be receiving at WrestleMania.
2826
2827This segment didn’t work very well. The gray hair is a negative for a kick ass figure. The constant cuts to the audience watching Rock on the screen again accentuated the fact he wasn’t there and the crowd didn’t react that well. It’s a well-established angle that usually works where two faces who don’t like each other put aside their differences to team up against menacing heels, but the problem is they haven’t done enough to put real heat on Miz and Truth. The crowd would much rather see Rock kick Cena’s ass than those of Miz and Truth, which makes Rock less likeable to those who support him for agreeing to the match.
2828
2829Mark Henry beat CM Punk via DQ. The stipulation was that if Punk won he would get a title match, so Alberto Del Rio ordered Ricardo Rodriguez to attack Henry for the DQ. He hit Henry with his shoe until the ref called for the DQ. Punk went after Del Rio and Rodriguez. Del Rio ran away so Punk grabbed Rodriguez and threw him to Henry for the world’s strongest slam.
2830
2831Kermit and Miss Piggy appeared on the stage for the first of a great many Muppets segments. They were interrupted by Vickie Guerrero and Jack Swagger. Swagger threatened to make frog legs and a ham sandwich out of them. Kermit said he didn’t want trouble with Swagger or his mother. Vickie got mad and this led to an argument with Miss Piggy. Santino came out and said they couldn’t be picking on the Muppets because Swagger would be wrestling Santino and Dolph Ziggler would be wrestling Zack Ryder. Kermit and Piggy said “Woo Woo Woo, You Know It.” Kelly Kelly then kissed Kermit on her way to the ring and Miss Piggy freaked out.
2832
2833Eve Torres won a costume battle royal. Costumes used to be an excuse to get the women in risqué costumes but now they wear more clothes than usual. Rosa Mendes, Aksana, AJ, Tamina and Kaitlyn went out quickly. Kelly Kelly and Eve eliminated the Bella twins.
2834
2835That left the heel Natalya against the three faces Alicia Fox, Kelly and Eve. The faces of course triple teamed Natalya. Natalya fought them off one on three and eliminated Kelly and then Alicia on her own. That gave Eve the opportunity to throw Natalya out from behind to win. Hey, I’m just relaying what they did. Afterwards, Beth and Natalya were going to attack Eve but Kelly and Alicia made the save.
2836
2837Backstage, Bunsen prepared a potion for Beaker to give to Santino. Beaker ran off with the potion but ran into Christian. Christian poured the potion onto the ground. Sheamus stuck up for Beaker and they acted like they were family members because they have similar hair.
2838
2839Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett beat Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston. The heels worked over Kingston, who tagged Bourne. Barrett went for wasteland but Bourne countered with a DDT. Bourne went to the top but Rhodes distracted him and Barrett gave him wasteland for the pin. After the match, Christian came out to help the heels attack the tag champs but Sheamus made the save. They showed Statler and Waldorf watching and bantering in a luxury box.
2840
2841John Laurinaitis was texting backstage when CM Punk came in. Punk complained about Ricardo Rodriguez. Punk wanted to know what he had to do to get a title match. How about you win a match, buddy? Punk went on and on like he has to jump through hoops to get a title shot. Laurinaitis said Punk could get a title match if Del Rio agreed. They announced Brodus Clay for next week.
2842
2843Big Show beat Alberto Del Rio in a slow and boring match. Del Rio beat on Show forever. Finally Del Rio went for an enzuigiri and Show just caught him with a punch for the clean win. After the match, CM Punk came out and put Alberto Del Rio in the anaconda vise until Del Rio agreed to the title match. Somebody introduce these guys to the concept of duress.
2844
2845This was a novel build for a pay-per-view title match. I’m used to the antiquated, tired formula where a challenger wins a bunch of matches to earn a title match. But WWE is true avant-garde sports entertainment, where the challenger loses a bunch of matches and then gets a title shot because he attacks the champion after the champion loses cleanly to someone else.
2846
2847Gonzo and Fozzie were chatting backstage. Gonzo said it would be easy to become WWE champion. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger showed up, with Swagger pulling out Gonzo’s arms and wrapping them around while wacky music played in the background.
2848
2849Santino beat Jack Swagger. Animal (non-Road Warrior version) rang the bell. Swagger worked over Santino and did pushups on him. Santino made his comeback with a head butt but was caught in the ankle lock. Santino escaped. Beaker gave Santino the potion from earlier. Santino spit it in Swagger’s face and rolled Swagger up for the win.
2850
2851Zack Ryder beat Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler worked over Ryder. Ryder hit his running kick but Ziggler kicked out. Ziggler used a jaw breaker but was caught with a knee charging Ryder. The referee seemed to count three but then realized Ziggler’s foot was on the bottom rope and called for the match to continue. Vickie tripped Ryder and Ziggler went for the zig zag but Ryder shrugged him off and hit the rough rider for the win. This was a nice finishing sequence.
2852
2853They announced HHH would be out due to injury for at least five weeks. They also announced Kevin Nash re-signed and will be on Raw next week. Why he needed to be re-signed when he had a no-cut contract to begin with remains a mystery to me. Michael Cole then announced Jim Ross wouldn’t be there. Good thing they advertised that and Cole spent much of this show running down Ross. Cole made fun of Ross and just generally acted like a complete jackass. He teased Ross might show up next week.
2854
2855Statler and Waldorf were turned off by this nonsense. Elsewhere, Miss Piggy came on to John Morrison. He tried to set up Piggy with Hornswoggle. He kissed her so she hit him. He was excited. Kermit came in and got bagged by Cody Rhodes.
2856
2857John Cena beat Miz. Miz beat up Cena a bit. Cena hit a big clothesline and top rope rocker dropper for near falls. Miz and Cena were brawling on the outside when R. Truth attacked Cena in a Scream mask. The announcers acted like it was a fan, as if anyone on Earth watching thought it was anybody but Truth. They went back in the ring and Cena just immediately put Miz in the STF anyway for the submission. Truth attacked in the mask afterwards but Cena laid him out too. Good thing Cena has Rock coming back to help him against these treacherous heels.
2858
2859Final Thoughts:
2860
2861What do you even say at this point?
2862POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:07 PM 3 COMMENTS
2863MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011
2864WWE Raw Report
2865Date: 10/24/11 from Austin, TX.
2866
2867The Big News: John Cena wanted to wrestle Miz and Truth. John Laurinaitis made Cena and Zack Ryder versus Miz and Truth. But Miz and Truth beat up Ryder and then beat up Cena two on one. So Laurinaitis announced that because of that, Cena would get to choose his partner against Miz and Truth for Survivor Series. And you’ll never guess who Cena chose after all those developments.
2868
2869Show Analysis:
2870
2871HHH came out to start the show. He said he was always taught that in the wrestling business you can either make friends or make money, but he has been lucky to make money and still have his share of friends. He cited Shawn Michaels, Sean Waltman and Kevin Nash. However, when HHH reached a position of power he realized some people were just there because of that power. HHH said he thought Nash would be there for life but Nash changed. Nash tried to break his neck, but instead he broke his heart. Some of the crowd mocked the cheesiness of that line.
2872
2873HHH called Nash out to the ring for an ass whipping. John Laurinaitis showed up instead and said that to his knowledge, Nash wasn’t there. HHH told Laurinaitis to shut up and not enter the ring. HHH said Laurinaitis reports to him and told Laurinaitis to go find Nash. So what exactly does Laurinaitis have power over? HHH said that if Laurinaitis couldn’t find Nash, HHH would embarrass the company by finding Nash on his own and ending up in jail. He told Laurinaitis to sign Nash to a big contract to come back. Wasn’t the story that Nash had a no cut contract so that he would be paid and under contract whether he worked or not?
2874
2875As HHH was leaving, Kevin Nash attacked him from behind with a sledgehammer. HHH sold it huge and collapsed backstage. He was being carried into an ambulance on a stretcher when Nash pulled him off the stretcher and hit him with the sledgehammer again in the head.
2876
2877Randy Orton and Sheamus beat Cody Rhodes and Christian. He heels worked over Sheamus, who got the tag to Orton. Orton hit a powerslam, neck breaker and draping DDT on Christian. Orton went for the RKO on Christian but Rhodes attacked him from behind. Orton went for the RKO on Rhodes but Rhodes escaped. Christian hit an elbow off the second rope and the heels took back over for a brief period.
2878
2879Orton got the tag back to Sheamus, who hit a knee lift and back breaker on Rhodes. Christian hit a spear behind the referee’s back on Sheamus and Rhodes covered, but Orton broke up the pin. Orton gave Christian the RKO. Rhodes went for a springboard kick and Sheamus attempted to counter with a botched Brogue kick. Sheamus then hit the razor’s edge for the win. This was a fun match.
2880
2881John Laurinaitis was on the phone backstage with Stephanie McMahon. He said that HHH was fine and that he wasn’t responsible for what happened. He spoke with David Otunga briefly about how he didn’t want there to be a perception of unsafe working conditions. John Cena then came in and told some jokes after losing the title match last night via interference. But he told them with an angry tone, and that’s the important thing. Cena wanted R. Truth and Miz. Laurinaitis offered Miz and Truth vs. Cena and a partner of Laurinaitis’ choice. Cena responded with a Dynamic Dudes joke.
2882
2883Dolph Ziggler beat Santino Marella. Jack Swagger distracted Santino and Ziggler hit the zig zag for the win. Swagger put Santino in the ankle lock after the match but Mason Ryan ran in for the save. That’s easiest spot to get a big reaction but the crowd didn’t care at all. Backstage, Zack Ryder celebrated upon learning he would be Cena’s partner in the main event.
2884
2885Alberto Del Rio came out and said that he proved once and for all that he is better than John Cena. Del Rio said he would be moving on to new challengers but that nobody is better than him so he will be champion for a long time. CM Punk came out and said he has beaten Del Rio multiple times and didn’t get a one-on-one rematch with Del Rio after losing the title.
2886
2887Del Rio responded by correctly pointing out Punk didn’t even win the night before, when he was pinned at Vengeance. Del Rio said losers don’t deserve title shots and Punk should go win a match. Punk responded by threatening to put Del Rio to sleep. John Laurinaitis came out and said he was in charge this segment. Punk suggested Punk vs. Del Rio for the title at Survivor Series. See, I would have thought the whole “pinned in your last match” would be a pretty good counterpoint.
2888
2889Punk wanted to know the catch. Laurinaitis bumbled over his words and wanted Punk to tell him that he respects Laurinaitis. Punk said things aren’t better with Laurinaitis in charge and told another Dynamic Dudes joke. Punk said “I respect you funk man” as a combination Brian Pillman/Curb Your Enthusiasm reference. Laurinaitis gave Punk another chance.
2890
2891Punk said he respects Laurinaitis’ deer in headlights look, how he doesn’t know how to hold a microphone, how he used to wrestle with a mullet, how he got to the top of the WWE structure with brownnosing and not talent, and now no one in the business has done so much with so little. Laurinaitis responded that Punk isn’t suitable for a title shot and that he would take another week to think it over. Punk then attacked Del Rio. He went for the GTS but Ricardo Rodriguez made the save and got the GTS himself. Laurinaitis was just terrible in this segment.
2892
2893Alicia Fox beat Natalya. They did some mat wrestling early, which was actually pretty good. Alicia then used a kind of sloppy rollup for the win, which still looked much better than most of the finishes on this show. Beth and Natalya jumped Alicia after the match but Alicia escaped.
2894
2895Wade Barrett beat John Morrison. Barrett worked over Morrison. He went for wasteland but Morrison escaped. Morrison went for starship pain but Barrett rolled out and Morrison landed on his feet. Morrison went for a springboard kick that was supposed to be caught into wasteland but that was botched so Barrett picked him up and gave him another wasteland for the win.
2896
2897Michael Cole stood on the announce table to complain about what Jim Ross had supposedly been saying on Twitter. It’s worth pointing out at this point that the entire theme of this show was Twitter. They talked about it over and over again during every match like some sort of bizarre obsession. It was so irritating.
2898
2899Anyway, Cole had some photoshopped pictures supposedly sent out by Ross on Twitter. It was basically just a chance to make fun of Ross’ weight. Cole challenged Ross to a Michael Cole Challenge next week. Cole said that if Ross wins, Cole will quit and Ross can have his seat back. The Michael Cole victory celebration is going to be unbearable.
2900
2901John Cena beat Miz and R. Truth via disqualification. Miz and Truth attacked Zack Ryder backstage before the match and took him out. They worked over Cena for a while. Cena made his own comeback but when he went for the FU on Miz, Truth almost hit him with a water bottle for a DQ. That was a great finish. They beat up Cena some more after the match and brought chairs into the ring.
2902
2903Laurinaitis interrupted, telling Miz and Truth to stop. He told them to leave and announced Miz and Truth vs. Cena and a partner of Cena’s choice at Survivor Series. Cena thought it over and then decided on the Rock. You know, this entire show wouldn’t have felt quite so completely fake if they hadn’t publicly announced that themselves over a month ago.
2904
2905Final Thoughts:
2906
2907#Rawstillsucks
2908POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 8:49 PM 4 COMMENTS
2909MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2011
2910WWE Raw Report
2911Date: 10/17/11 from Mexico City, Mexico.
2912
2913The Big News: Jim Ross returned to Raw, albeit in a non-commentating capacity.
2914
2915Show Analysis:
2916
2917The show started with John Laurinaitis. Laurinaitis is a bad speaker and many in the audience not understanding what he said didn’t help matters. He said that the show would mark the return of Rey Mysterio, and then paused and said he meant to San Diego to see his doctor. That didn’t get much heat because of the language issue and the crowd just started loudly chanting rather than listening to Laurinaitis.
2918
2919Laurinaitis said it was a mistake to let go of Jim Ross and brought Ross out. Ross returned to the announce table but Laurinaitis instead directed him into the ring. Laurinaitis hugged Ross and said he owed Ross an apology. He then said Ross wasn’t back to commentate but rather to team with John Cena in a tag team match against Alberto Del Rio and Michael Cole. Cole returned to super obnoxious mode frequently throughout the show. I just don’t get how anyone couldn’t have figured out how counterproductive that is by now.
2920
2921Mark Henry, Christian and Cody Rhodes defeated Randy Orton, Sheamus and John Morrison. Orton went after Rhodes a lot early and ended up chasing him to the back. That left just a tag match. The two remaining heels worked over Morrison. Morrison finally was about to get the tag when Christian pulled Sheamus off the apron. Sheamus and Christian brawled into the crowd, leaving only Henry and Morrison. Of course, Henry gave Morrison the world’s strongest slam moments later for the pin. Hopefully they keep pushing Henry strong. It helps make the title feel more important.
2922
2923John Laurinaitis was on the phone backstage when the Bellas came in to remind Laurinaitis that they exist. They kissed him and left. Then Alberto Del Rio came in and was annoyed with the main event tag match. Laurinaitis said the winner of the match would get to pick the stipulation for the Del Rio-Cena match Sunday. I totally didn’t realize Vengeance was Sunday. I don’t foresee monster business.
2924
2925Eve Torres beat Natalya with a moonsault. Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix were in the corners.
2926
2927CM Punk beat Miz. Miz before the match said he and Truth did what Punk couldn’t, removing HHH from Raw. Truth and HHH were in the corners initially. Miz worked over Punk. Jerry Lawler quoted a Taylor Swift song and Michael Cole responded that she is in Lawler’s age bracket. Well, her fans, anyway. Truth hit Punk with a bottle of water on the outside and HHH went after Truth. At that point Laurinaitis came out and said there was an immigration problem with HHH. HHH was escorted from ringside.
2928
2929Punk made his comeback with a neck breaker, high knee and top rope elbow. Punk went for the GTS but Miz got out. Truth was up on the apron so Punk threw Miz into Truth and rolled up Miz for the pin. Miz and Truth jumped Punk after the match. They teased leaving but then came back and beat him up some more.
2930
2931Zack Ryder beat Jack Swagger. Swagger, Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler all cut promos in the ring prior to the match. They basically just ran down Mexico. Ziggler told a joke about how Affliction shirts will never go back in style and Titus O’Neill will never get over. Swagger started to sing the Star Spangled Banner when Ryder interrupted. Ryder was not over at all, unfortunately. He won quickly with double knees and the Rough Rider. Afterwards, Swagger and Ziggler looked for the double team but Mason Ryan made the save.
2932
2933Dolph Ziggler beat Mason Ryan via DQ. Vickie slapped Ryan and Ryan proceeded to go crazy on Ziggler. He was disqualified for beating up Ziggler too much in the corner.
2934
2935Backstage, Jim Ross told John Cena he doesn’t need to be wrestling and didn’t want to screw things up for Cena. Cena said Ross is a Hall of Famer and the greatest voice WWE ever had, and that he has the right partner. Cena told Ross to stand in the corner and let Cena do his thing. Ross said he would like to get his hands on Cole and Cena said he’d do him that favor. Cena felt much more genuine and likeable in this segment without a bunch of added showmanship.
2936
2937John Cena and Jim Ross beat Alberto Del Rio and Michael Cole. John Cena interestingly got what seemed to be a really positive reaction coming out, much more so than in the US of late. However, the crowd over time turned on him, chanted Mexico and by the end he was heavily booed. I almost wonder if this whole scenario was booked to try to get Jim Ross booed.
2938
2939Cole wanted Ross at the start. Ross slapped hard so Cole tagged Del Rio. Ross tagged in Cena. Del Rio worked over Cena for a while and then missed a senton off the ropes. Cena made his comebacks with shoulderblocks, the Cena slam and the five knuckle. Del Rio in desperation tagged Cole. Cena gave him the FU and was thinking STF but instead he tagged Ross back in. Ross applied the ankle lock and Cole tapped. Cena gave Del Rio the FU on the floor. He counted Del Rio out for a count of 10 and announced they would have a last man standing match.
2940
2941Final Thoughts:
2942
2943This Raw was much better than last week’s show. I know, some standard. It’s hard to even judge if this was good or bad in general terms because last week lowered the bar so low. I will say it was weird to build a show in Mexico so heavily around promos in English and the English broadcast team.
2944POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 8:27 PM 4 COMMENTS
2945MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2011
2946WWE Raw Report
2947Date: 10/10/11 from Oklahoma City, OK.
2948
2949The Big News: The John Laurinaitis Era has begun.
2950
2951Show Analysis:
2952
2953They cut backstage to start the show and nobody was around. HHH walked out of his office and came to the ring. He said he was bewildered to see everyone walk out. He added that the people who walked out walked out not only on HHH but on the people. HHH made fun of the boycotters who wouldn’t perform unless HHH stepped down. HHH asked the fans whether he should give in, and everyone said no. HHH said he won’t be blackmailed or coerced to quit. He said that he would wrestle a broomstick for the next two hours and it would probably give him a better match than most of the guys in the parking lot. Ha! Get it? Because everybody on the roster sucks!
2954
2955John Cena showed up and said that everyone wanted to know where he stood. Cena noted that the people in the parking lot were all lobbying him while HHH hadn’t been in touch. Cena said HHH is his boss and that he would stay. Cena said his loyalty lies with the people and shook hands with HHH.
2956
2957Sheamus was next out. He said that he once tried to take out HHH to make a name for himself. HHH could have filed a lawsuit but instead he came back and gave Sheamus the biggest ass whipping of his life. I like how everyone is scripted to put over how badly HHH kicks their asses. Sheamus said he wouldn’t join those losers sitting out there in the parking lot.
2958
2959CM Punk then came out. He said that he started the whole thing, but that he never broke his word because his contract was expiring. Punk added that he was making a point to the whole company and not one man. He said that WWE is about settling conflict in the ring, and that he dealt with HHH and Cena personally. Punk concluded that he was the last guy they would expect to have in the foxhole with them, but there he was. He asked what they would do now.
2960
2961HHH made Sheamus vs. Cena with HHH as referee and Punk doing commentary and ringing the bell. HHH and Punk bantered comically and HHH gave him his jacket to wear. Cena, Sheamus and Punk came off as such pandering, corporate suck-ups here. Not that I’m saying that’s a bad thing. I’ve always had affection for pandering, corporate babyfaces.
2962
2963Sheamus and John Cena fought to a no contest. CM Punk did drop in an amusing Rob Naylor reference before Vince McMahon came out to interrupt the match with a video labeling him WWE chairman. Vince said he wanted to have a word with HHH, and so Sheamus and Cena just walked off and left. Vince said he likes what HHH is doing but the board of directors is concerned things will get out of control and shows will have to be cancelled. Thus, the board of directors told HHH that his services are no longer needed. They are looking for a new full time GM but for now John Laurinaitis is interim GM.
2964
2965After the break, the roster was shown coming back into the building, shaking hands with Laurinaitis. So, all the faces walked out on the show and the fans in order to install John Laurinaitis as general manager. Good for them. They probably got a better deal than what the NBPA will end up with, and are only slightly less sympathetic than Latrell Sprewell in his final negotiations with the Wolves back in ‘04. John Morrison told Laurinaitis he sucks so Laurinaitis ordered him to the ring for a match. Christian suggested Laurinaitis should be permanent GM and Laurinaitis told him he would be wrestling Morrison. Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole returned.
2966
2967Christian beat John Morrison. Both wrestled in their street clothes. Morrison was quickly distracted by Swagger and Ziggler and Christian hit a spear for the win. After the match, those three and Cody Rhodes attacked and beat up Morrison some more.
2968
2969Backstage, John Laurinaitis told HHH that he didn’t want the job, but that he was appointed. Laurinaitis said he is willing to make sacrifices for the company because he loves WWE. HHH asked him if he ever tried to pick up his teeth with a bunch of broken fingers.
2970
2971Randy Orton beat Mark Henry via DQ. Henry before the match said it took him 15 years to win the title and he’s the most dominant champion of all time. Henry said he will take on anybody provided they are the number one contender and Big Show wasn’t. Henry said that at Vengeance, vengeance will be his. Orton then interrupted and said that vengeance would be Orton’s.
2972
2973Henry was in control early. Orton came back with a draping DDT and was setting up for the RKO when Rhodes came out. Orton knocked him out of the ring. Henry tried to use the distraction to hit the world’s strongest slam but Orton escaped and hit the RKO. Orton had Henry pinned but Rhodes then interfered for the DQ. This was a great way of setting up Henry vs. Orton for the title at Vengeance. Wait, what? Henry’s wrestling Big Show for the title at Vengeance? Oh.
2974
2975After the match, Henry gave Orton two world’s strongest slams. Rhodes then gave Orton a roll of the dice and put a bag over Orton’s head. You know, I wasn’t sold on the idea of putting a bag over someone’s head as a main event angle, but after seeing it in practice, I think it’s got real money drawing potential. Rhodes then asked Orton if he would like a receipt with his paper bag and laughed maniacally. Money.
2976
2977Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres beat Rosa Mendes and Tamina. Kelly did some spots with Rosa and Tamina. Then Eve came in and pinned Tamina with a kick to the face and a moonsault. This would have been a great match if only every spot didn’t look terrible.
2978
2979John Laurinaitis came to the ring and announced John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio for the title at Vengeance. I think the crowd microphones weren’t working, because the crowd didn’t seem to react at all for that one. They probably broke down some time around halfway through the show, because it was almost like they were dead for absolutely everything in the second hour.
2980
2981Laurinaitis then brought Jim Ross into the ring. He pointed out that Ross walked out on HHH after HHH gave him his job, not to mention walked out on the fans and walked out on his hometown crowd in Oklahoma. Geez, Ross really is a jerk and a fool. Laurinaitis concluded that makes Ross an ingrate and fired Ross. Serves him right. Ross just no sold this completely and walked to the back as if the show were over and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Michael Cole celebrated by going crazy. The good times are back again on commentary.
2982
2983Mason Ryan, Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne beat Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and David Otunga. The heels worked over Kingston. Ryan tagged in and hit clotheslines and a big boot on Ziggler. Otunga broke up the pin. A brawl broke out and Ryan hit the twisting uranage for the pin. So Ryan is apparently the new contender for Ziggler’s title. That sounds like a good idea.
2984
2985Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk fought to a no contest. In the middle of their match, Laurinaitis came out and announced Punk and Del Rio would be wrestling in a tag match against the reinstated Miz and R. Truth.
2986
2987CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio beat Miz and R. Truth via DQ. Punk and Del Rio worked as a team for a bit until Del Rio sold his leg and walked off. The heels double teamed Punk. Punk hit a high knee, bulldog and top rope elbow on Miz. He went for the GTS but Truth broke it up and then Truth and Miz just attacked Punk for a big until they were disqualified. They sure fooled me. I figured after all that they’d just have someone win. It was a fitting end to a night of great finishes.
2988
2989HHH hit the ring after the match and beat up Truth and Miz. HHH and Punk cleared the ring together. Backstage, Laurinaitis told David Otunga that he would have the board make Miz and Truth vs. HHH and Punk at Vengeance. About time HHH and Punk became buddies. It was such a natural partnership.
2990
2991Final Thoughts:
2992
2993What a great show. I may have more faith in Vince Russo right now than the WWE writing team, but it’s close, so good for them.
2994POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:01 PM 6 COMMENTS
2995MONDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2011
2996WWE Raw Report
2997Date: 10/03/11 from Lafayette, LA.
2998
2999The Big News: Nobody has any confidence in HHH.
3000
3001Show Analysis:
3002
3003Randy Orton beat Drew McIntyre. McIntyre hit a kick to the face, snap suplex, choke and neck breaker. Orton then made a quick comeback with the draping DDT and RKO for the pin. Orton gave McIntyre an additional RKO after the match. Mark Henry then came out and held up his title. Orton attacked Henry and they had a pull apart brawl. Orton threw Henry over the barricade. That feud apparently will continue.
3004
3005Mark Henry beat John Morrison. Henry hit a clothesline and went for the world’s strongest slam but Morrison escaped and hit a series of kicks. Morrison successfully landed starship pain but Henry kicked out. Henry caught Morrison with a kick to the head and the world’s strongest slam for the pin. Henry then gave Morrison an additional world’s strongest slam after the match.
3006
3007Henry took the microphone after the match and said that he heard Big Show is looking for him but he isn’t hard to find. Henry vowed that Show’s return to WWE will be the shortest in WWE history. Henry was just great screaming with fury. Unfortunately, the crowd was chanting “what” at him, not a good sign for a serious heel booked like such a monster.
3008
3009Backstage, John Laurinaitis met with David Otunga and some other heels. Laurinaitis wanted to know if Otunga had anything to do with Miz and R. Truth filing a lawsuit. Otunga was evasive.
3010
3011Christian, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, David Otunga, Vickie Guerrero and Alberto Del Rio came to the ring. Del Rio said he got rid of John Cena and CM Punk but couldn’t celebrate because two guys who were supposed to be fired attacked him. He blamed HHH and said only HHH had the power to raise and lower the cell. Christian said that since HHH took over, Raw has been an unsafe place to work. Rhodes said they are all victims of HHH’s ego. Ziggler said HHH needs to be supervised. Swagger said his friends and family are concerned for him whenever he wrestles.
3012
3013Vickie Guerrero took the microphone and got nuclear heat. It really was striking given she hasn’t been involved in a big heat angle in quite a while. She said as a woman she feels especially vulnerable. Otunga then said they can keep working and risk their livelihood or band together to take legal action. That brought out HHH, who said men used to fight, not whine and cry and file lawsuits. HHH told them to shut up and fight later in the show.
3014
3015Beth Phoenix and Natalya beat Eve Torres and Kelly Kelly. Kelly just freaked out from the beginning, screeching and attacking Beth. She rammed Beth repeatedly into the announce table until she was disqualified and then just kept attacking Beth. Kelly was annoying and unlikeable acting like this, but it’s not like she brings anything to the table other than looks no matter what role she’s playing.
3016
3017John Laurinaitis backstage told HHH that Laurinaitis is not responsible for what happened at Hell in a Cell. He wanted an apology from HHH for knocking him down accidentally last night. He then said that HHH should ask talent for a vote of confidence later in the show. HHH told everyone to come to the ring for that, including Laurinaitis.
3018
3019The returning Santino Marella beat Jinder Mahal. Santino spoke gibberish in response to Mahal’s Indian prior to the match for comedy. Mahal missed a knee and Santino hit the cobra for the win in a matter of seconds.
3020
3021They aired the angle with Miz and Truth from Hell in a Cell pretty much in its entirety. They then had a youtube video with Miz and Truth apologizing for the incident while complaining about HHH and explaining their wrongful termination and assault lawsuit.
3022
3023John Cena, CM Punk, Sheamus, Mason Ryan, Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne beat Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes, Christian and David Otunga. They gave them over 25 minutes and this was a good match. The heels worked over Kingston for a while and then worked over Bourne for a while. Cena got the tag and hit shoulder blocks and the Cena slam on Del Rio. Cena went for the FU but Del Rio countered and the heels took over on Cena.
3024
3025Cena eventually got the tag to Sheamus. Sheamus hit a powerslam and knee lift on Ziggler. Sheamus went to the top but Christian grabbed him and Del Rio pushed him off the top. Ziggler gave Sheamus the famouser but Sheamus kicked out. Christian hit a spear on Sheamus, which set up the spot where everyone takes turns hitting moves on other guys. Bourne hit a double knee off the top on Christian. Rhodes hit the roll of the dice on Christian. Punk hit the GTS on Del Rio. Cena gave Otunga the FU. Ziggler hit the zig zag on Cena, but Sheamus then gave Ziggler the Brogue kick for the win.
3026
3027The Raw wrestlers, Smackdown wrestlers, referees and Jerry Lawler circled the ring for the final segment. Lawler being there was a cruel development after having to endure Booker T the previous two hours. A few of the top faces weren’t out there, including John Cena, CM Punk and Randy Orton.
3028
3029HHH said the COO role was a job he was given, not something he sought. He said that he’s not upset at Miz and Truth for what they did but rather for being unable to deal with their punishment. HHH said he likes watching wrestlers fight and the people like watching wrestlers fight. He concluded that he works for the fans and asked the wrestlers what they thought.
3030
3031Wade Barrett said that it is an unsafe working environment and that HHH is incapable of controlling talent. Barrett said HHH likes chaos and is out of control. HHH responded by mocking Barrett for failing in his attempts to create chaos. Referee Mike Chioda said he has never seen so much referee abuse and for the first time in over a decade he is afraid to come to work.
3032
3033Beth Phoenix said that on behalf of the women, they are afraid something might happen. HHH basically pointed out nothing has and Beth said that it could. Jerry Lawler then came in the ring. He said he agreed with some things said and disagreed with others. Lawler said he thinks the show is spiraling out of control. Lawler said someone behind the scenes is trying to sabotage HHH’s job and won’t stop until HHH is gone. Thus, Lawler concluded it is ultimately HHH’s fault that things are so dangerous for the performers.
3034
3035Christian called for a vote. He voted no confidence with some other heels. Chioda and the referees said no confidence. Beth and the women said no confidence. Lawler said no confidence and walked out. The wrestlers then started walking about. Michael Cole walked out. The final faces walked out. Booker T and the ring announcer walked out. The cameramen put down their cameras and walked out. Finally, Jim Ross got up and walked out. Laurinaitis walked out onto the stage shaking his head with just HHH standing at ringside.
3036
3037Final Thoughts:
3038
3039On the positive side, I like the renewed focus on providing mostly clean finishes. I think that will be a very helpful development if it continues over time. This show also had good wrestling content.
3040
3041On the downside, this HHH angle is just terrible. Who cares if HHH retains his COO job or not? It’s not like things are any different with him in charge. It’s not like he’s had the role for any real period of time. It’s not like he seems to care much about having the job. It’s not like he’s going to leave the show if they remove him from the job. And yet we have to listen to the announcers go on and on and on about it all two hours.
3042
3043What’s even more annoying is it all feels so fake and contrived. HHH has only been in his role a few months and things are the same as they always are. They were doing tons of angles at a breakneck pace before HHH was in charge. A few angles with Miz and Truth don’t feel like anything out of the ordinary. Yet now the story is things are out of control and so everyone talks about that even though it doesn’t remotely feel that way. It’s just the directive, like everyone must say “WWE Universe” over and over again even though nobody in the real world would be caught dead using that asinine expression.
3044
3045It’s fine if the heels say that things are out of control. They are after all heels, out to get rid of HHH the babyface. But when all the face wrestlers, announcers and cameramen seem to agree, it just feels ridiculous. It’s not that it inspires anger at the faces for doing that, although they certainly don’t come off well. It’s simply unbelievable that those characters are acting that way.
3046
3047We’ve seen cars blowing up, vehicular attacks, gang beatdowns, big injury angles to top stars and a cavalcade of hotshot angles and now the cameramen are walking off the job because they’re terrified of a Miz run-in? The wrestlers are unanimous in turning on HHH as an authority figure because of a Miz run-in? It’s just bad storytelling. They haven’t made the stakes feel important or the actions feel believable, and by acting like it’s this huge deal it will be even harder next month when they try to hotshot another big angle.
3048POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:48 PM 5 COMMENTS
3049ABOUT ME
3050TODD MARTIN
3051UNITED STATES
3052VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
3053
3054LINKS
3055Obama/Biden 2008
3056Figure 4 Weekly
3057CBS Sports
3058MMA Payout
3059Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
3060Washington Post
3061MMA Weekly
3062Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
3063Avoid Cancer Now
3064Cross Country Express
3065Wrestling Nerds
3066Number One Contender
3067Tan Dynasty
3068The Vortex
3069MMA Ranks
3070Gerweck.net
3071Ron Motta's Blog
3072Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
3073The Great Scottland
3074Here and There
3075Everything and Anything
3076Fight Opinion
3077Monkey Shines
3078adamannapolis
3079Talib Kweli's Blog
3080SI.com
3081PREVIOUS POSTS
3082My Favorite Movies of 2015
3083Book Tier List
3084My Favorite Movies of 2014
3085Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
3086Favorite Movies of 2013
3087Favorite Films of 2012
3088WWE Raw Report
3089WWE Raw Report
3090WWE Raw Report
3091WWE Raw Report
3092ARCHIVES
3093November 2005
3094December 2005
3095January 2006
3096February 2006
3097March 2006
3098April 2006
3099May 2006
3100June 2006
3101July 2006
3102August 2006
3103September 2006
3104October 2006
3105November 2006
3106December 2006
3107January 2007
3108February 2007
3109March 2007
3110April 2007
3111May 2007
3112June 2007
3113July 2007
3114August 2007
3115September 2007
3116October 2007
3117November 2007
3118December 2007
3119January 2008
3120February 2008
3121March 2008
3122April 2008
3123May 2008
3124June 2008
3125July 2008
3126August 2008
3127September 2008
3128October 2008
3129November 2008
3130December 2008
3131January 2009
3132February 2009
3133March 2009
3134April 2009
3135May 2009
3136June 2009
3137July 2009
3138August 2009
3139September 2009
3140October 2009
3141November 2009
3142December 2009
3143January 2010
3144February 2010
3145March 2010
3146April 2010
3147May 2010
3148June 2010
3149July 2010
3150August 2010
3151September 2010
3152October 2010
3153November 2010
3154December 2010
3155January 2011
3156February 2011
3157March 2011
3158April 2011
3159May 2011
3160June 2011
3161July 2011
3162August 2011
3163September 2011
3164October 2011
3165November 2011
3166December 2011
3167January 2012
3168February 2012
3169March 2012
3170April 2012
3171May 2012
3172June 2012
3173July 2012
3174January 2013
3175March 2014
3176April 2014
3177February 2015
3178October 2015
3179February 2016
3180Powered by Blogger
3181
3182 
3183
3184
3185~
3186
3187
3188SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
3189MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2010
3190WWE Raw Report
3191Date: 08/30/10 from Boston, MA.
3192
3193The Big News: CM Punk was involved in a segment for the ages.
3194
3195Show Analysis:
3196
3197The show started with a comically absurd, self-glorifying video package about the 900th episode of Raw. Did you know that Raw has more episodes than any other television show that qualifies under WWE standards for such a comparison? This continued throughout the show and made WWE come across so desperate for respect. They just kept going on and on trying to act like they are a bigger deal than television shows with 100 times their cultural appeal.
3198
3199Bret Hart then came out. There was no acknowledgement of the anonymous GM seemingly exiling him a couple weeks ago. Bret continued the Raw self-promotion and noted that the Undertaker and himself are the only wrestlers still around from the beginning of the show.
3200
3201That brought out Kane. Kane said that the Undertaker is no long around because he is no longer a phenom. Welcome to the night of the technicalities, ladies and gentlemen. There was a really loud Undertaker chant. Kane said that Undertaker is like Bret: weak, feeble and washed-up. Kane added that the last time he was really the Undertaker was at WrestleMania against Shawn Michaels. Kane said that Undertaker took out an icon in Michaels so he would take out an icon in Bret.
3202
3203Kane grabbed Bret by the throat. Hart Dynasty went for the save but Kane fought them off. The lights went out and Undertaker appeared in the ring. Kane teased fighting Undertaker but left. I liked the interplay here with Bret Hart and Kane.
3204
3205The anonymous GM popped up and announced a match between Bret Hart and Undertaker for later in the show. Okay, now I know that the GM said a few weeks ago he never wanted to see Bret wrestle again. That was completely ignored. And I don’t know why you even bother announcing a match like Bret vs. Taker anyway. Everyone knows you’re not going to deliver and of course you don’t. You get all the downside of a shameless bait and switch with none of the upside.
3206
3207Miz & Alex Riley beat Kofi Kingston & Joe Hennig and Daniel Bryan & Kaval in a triple threat tag match. Oh yes, I knew there was trouble coming when I saw Bryan and Kaval teamed together. But getting mad at WWE for repeatedly jobbing out talented wrestlers just because they had success on the independent scene at this point is kind of like getting mad at Mel Gibson for going on drunken, bigoted tirades. It’s just who they are.
3208
3209Three wrestlers were in the ring at the same time during this match, which was a little unwieldy. Kaval applied a dragon sleeper on Hennig but Riley broke it up. Kaval followed with a double foot stomp off the top but Miz came in and hit the skull crushing finale on Kaval for the pin. After the match, Miz laid out Bryan with the briefcase.
3210
3211Melina and Eve Torres beat Lay Cool. This started a long series of crappy, hurried finishes. At the beginning of the match, Melina just threw Layla into Michelle McCool and pinned Layla. Michelle afterwards said that the match they just had, like Melina, was forgettable. Well, that is true, but I don’t know about pointing it out. Lay Cool challenged Melina to a title unification match at Night of Champions. Melina accepted if it was a lumberjack match. Lay Cool agreed. I hope they go ahead and merge the titles.
3212
3213NXT backstage was angry about being labeled weak. Wade Barrett said they would beat five great wrestlers on Raw and he would take the title at the PPV to prove Nexus’ strength. He vowed to do something on Raw that would have people talking forever. Elsewhere, Chris Jericho said that being the best isn’t just his catchphrase but that he seems to be the only person to believe it these days. Thus, Jericho vowed to leave WWE forever if he doesn’t win the title at the PPV. Josh Mathews pointed out we’ve been through this 8,000 times with Jericho.
3214
3215John Morrison and R. Truth battled to a double DQ with Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes. They fought for like 30 seconds before everyone was disqualified for fighting. I don’t know why they even bothered doing this segment given it accomplished nothing and every match on the show was ridiculously rushed already.
3216
3217Bret Hart and Undertaker didn’t wrestle. They were out there for the match when Wade Barrett came in and went after Undertaker. Undertaker beat him up and dumped him out of the ring. The lights went out. Kane appeared in the ring and fought with Undertaker. The lack of reaction to this was a really bad sign. Undertaker grabbed Kane by the throat and the lights went out again.
3218
3219Kane was gone when the lights came back on and Nexus surrounded the ring. Undertaker beat them all up one on five until the lights went out again. When they came on this time Barrett had Undertaker over his head and gave him the wasteland (the forward fireman carry slam). Justin Gabriel then gave Undertaker the 450 splash. This segment was hokey and counterproductive in the seeming goal of getting over Nexus.
3220
3221Jack Swagger beat Evan Bourne. This match was just a backdrop for Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio came out just as the match started. He did his elaborate entrance and by the time he got to ringside, Swagger submitted Bourne with the ankle lock. Del Rio bragged about taking out Rey Mysterio. He said he was disappointed the Raw audience didn’t see that, so they’re now acknowledging that Raw viewers don’t watch Smackdown. Del Rio said that he would recreate the scene. He applied the armbar on Bourne and was going to use a chair on the arm when Mark Henry made the save.
3222
3223Next up was an amazing, amazing segment. They played an old clip of the Rock. CM Punk and the Straight Edge Society came out. Punk said that he’s better than the Rock and the announcers had a hearty laugh at this notion. Punk took a shot at the Tooth Fairy and asked if fans miss the Rock. Well, duh. You see, the theme of this segment was “great things about Raw that are gone now.” Seriously.
3224
3225So Punk next brought up how Raw used to be edgy. He brought up DX’s catchphrase, DX invading Nitro and the Steve Austin beer bath of Vince McMahon. He mixed in some newer stuff that didn’t get over nearly as well like HHH destroying Randy Orton’s “home” and John Cena throwing Edge into water. Punk criticized Raw’s poor family values.
3226
3227This was the segue into a rant against Steve Austin. Punk ran down Austin’s character, when all of a sudden Steve Austin’s music played. The crowd went nuts of course. But Austin did not come out. Punk then laughed and pointed out that Steve Austin is gone and wasn’t there on Raw.
3228
3229So, having pointed out Rock is gone, Steve Austin is gone and the show is no longer edgy, what else from the past was there left to bring up? You guessed it! They aired a video clip of Brock Lesnar superplexing Big Show on Smackdown, the ring breaking, and the crowd going crazy. Punk said he didn’t know who the other guy in the ring with Show was. He then made fun of Show for being fat.
3230
3231Having teased Rock, Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar, we finally got the big run-in. Big Show came out. He started bringing up his own worst segments to make fun of himself. He then did an impression. Who was this impression of? Take three guesses, brother. Yes, Big Show did a Hulk Hogan impression on Raw. If fans had started chanting TNA, it would have worked on two levels.
3232
3233Punk responded, “That was boring. You’re not entertaining. And nobody likes you.” I broke out in laughter. That line was seriously the best comedy on Raw in ages. Anyway, Show was saddened by this and a fight broke out. Straight Edge Society left. Punk was great throughout this segment, by the way.
3234
3235So, to recap this segment. They pointed out Rock was great but left WWE to go do movies. They pointed out the show used to be edgy but now it’s PG. They brought up how Steve Austin was great and now is gone. They aired a great clip of UFC’s biggest star. And then they had one of their guys do an impression of a guy who works for TNA. Wow. I mean, this was entertaining as hell. But just, wow.
3236
3237Sheamus came out for the main event and complained about his treatment on Raw. Edge joined him. Edge said he has had many bad things happen to him as well but that he has given it back three times as much. Edge ran down his accomplishments and vowed to win the title from Sheamus.
3238
3239Nexus beat John Cena, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Edge and Chris Jericho. This was an elimination match so you knew there would be some terrible finishes. Jericho just walked away and was counted out. Edge then knocked down the referee and was disqualified. Nexus worked over Sheamus and Heath Slater pinned him clean with a leaping neck breaker. Of course, Slater was then immediately pinned with an FU by Cena.
3240
3241Nexus worked over Cena. Cena made his own comeback and tapped out David Otunga with the STF. However, Justin Gabriel then hit the 450 on Cena for the pin. Immediately Orton came in and gave Gabriel the RKO for the pin. Tarver missed a superman punch on Orton and was pinned with the RKO. Barrett then came in with an RKO on Orton for the pin.
3242
3243I liked that they finally put over Nexus strong here. If they want them to be major players, they need to get some wins. With that said, the pins had very little resonance because of the booking. Rather than letting the big wins over Cena and Sheamus sink in, the guys who beat them were immediately pinned themselves. It had the effect of pretty much instantaneously negating what had just happened. But on the plus side, Barrett did get the big win over a major player at the end and was standing tall to close the show. So this segment gets an overall thumbs up from me.
3244
3245Final Thoughts:
3246
3247This show flew by and was very interesting viewing. It was also terribly booked and counterproductive in a variety of ways.
3248POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:29 PM 8 COMMENTS
3249TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2010
3250WWE Raw Report
3251Date: 08/23/10 from Los Angeles, CA.
3252
3253The Big News: Sheamus will have to defend his title against five challengers at the next pay-per-view
3254
3255Show Analysis:
3256
3257Sheamus came out to start the show. He said that American children are spoiled brats. That gave him the opportunity to go outside the ring berating individual kids and calling them “fella.” Sheamus asserted that Randy Orton is a spoiled child too. He couldn’t win the title at SummerSlam and then attacked Sheamus afterwards and the next night. He told the anonymous GM to punish Orton for this and never give him another shot at the title.
3258
3259That was the cue for an e-mail from the GM. This gimmick, by the way, has to go. It was totally cheesy from the start and becomes more grating and silly by the week. Anyway, the GM had a throne brought out on the stage. Sheamus would get to watch all the evening’s matches on that throne. At the end of the evening, Sheamus would get to decide his next title challenger.
3260
3261Edge beat R. Truth. Truth hit a spinning head scissors and clothesline over the top early but missed a pescado. Edge took over with punches, kicks, a bow and arrow and the Edgecution. He missed a spear, but Truth then missed an ax kick and Edge hit the spear for the pin. After the match, Edge told Sheamus that he hasn’t beaten anyone until he has beaten Edge.
3262
3263Chris Jericho beat Great Khali. Jericho worked over the leg. He went for the Walls and the code breaker but Khali escaped each. Khali hit a body slam but missed a kick and Jericho applied the Walls. Khali tapped out. It was surprising to see them have Khali tap out, but I certainly have no problem with it. Khali looked pretty darn bad here despite having Jericho to work with. After the match Jericho put himself over as a better contender than Edge. Khali came over and gave Jericho a chop.
3264
3265Backstage, John Cena criticized Miz for jerking around the team leading into SummerSlam and for attacking Daniel Bryan. Cena said that Miz has a big mouth and an attitude problem but that Cena will give him an attitude adjustment.
3266
3267Melina beat Jillian Hall. This was a pretty terrible match. The problem is Melina wants to get in all these spots devoted to showing off her flexibility when most of them don’t help build the match or actually take you out of it. Jillian missed a leg drop off the second rope and Melina hit the last call for the pin. After the match, Lay Cool said that they will be on Raw next week to make Melina an offer she can’t refuse. I’m all for merging the titles. There was never a need for two women’s titles.
3268
3269Miz backstage said that John Cena shouldn’t talk about egos. Miz said that Sheamus was taken out at SummerSlam but that he didn’t cash in MITB because he was focused on helping Team WWE. Then Cena went and embarrassed him. Well, when you put it like that, John Cena really is a big old jerk. It was nice of them to go back and explain that. Miz promised consequences for Cena.
3270
3271Nexus came out. The anonymous GM said that the ban on Nexus competing for titles has been lifted. Wade Barrett told Sheamus that their truce is over. And Nexus left. I thought there would be a much more dramatic conclusion to the storyline about no Nexus title shots. Clearly, they didn’t know where they were going with that or changed their minds.
3272
3273Miz beat John Cena via DQ in a good match. Miz went after Cena with punches, kicks and an Irish whip. Cena retaliated with a side slam and vertical suplex. He set up for the top rope rocker dropper but Miz crotched him. Miz snapped Cena’s neck into the ropes and clotheslined him into the corner. Cena came back with shoulder blocks, the Cena slam and the five knuckle. However, Miz escaped the FU attempt and hit a back breaker/neck breaker combination for two.
3274
3275Miz went for the skull crushing finale but Cena got out and caught Miz in the STF. Miz struggled to get to the ropes. One nice thing about the fact that wrestlers now submit relatively quickly to submission holds when caught in the center of the ring is that it becomes all the more dramatic and impressive when someone fights to the ropes.
3276
3277Cena went for the FU again but Miz escaped to outside of the ring. At that point Daniel Bryan attacked Miz on the floor and threw him back into the ring. Cena hit the FU but the referee called for the DQ. Cena seemed fine with this and Bryan came in and applied the omoplata/crossface on Miz. Miz tapped.
3278
3279Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov beat the Usos in a surprisingly good little match. The Usos worked over Santino. Kozlov tagged in and went crazy with a head butt, power slam and choke slam for the pin. It wasn’t an ambitious match by any means but worked very well considering the wrestlers involved. After the match Tamina protected Santino and shot a kiss (like a blow dart) at Santino.
3280
3281Randy Orton beat Ted DiBiase and John Morrison in a three way match. They did the WWE thing where one guy is almost always on the outside while the other two fight in the ring. Orton eventually took over on both opponents with power slams. He went for the draping DDT on DiBiase. Morrison tried to break it up with a springboard kick but missed. He looked like a total fool there.
3282
3283Orton hit that DDT and went for the RKO but DiBiase escaped. DiBiase went for dream street on Orton but Orton countered and threw him out of the ring. Morrison came back in with a springboard but was caught with an RKO for the pin. Either they are planning to turn Morrison heel, they are planning to move him to Smackdown, or they have pretty much given up on him for the time being.
3284
3285Sheamus beat Zack Ryder. Sheamus announced that he wouldn’t wait until Night of Champions to defend his title. He said he would defend on Raw and give someone new an opportunity, Zack Ryder. Ryder said that he appreciated the opportunity but that Sheamus just made a big mistake. Woo Woo Woo. You know it. Michael Cole said he deserves a title shot more than Ryder. And Sheamus just hit a bicycle kick and pinned Ryder immediately.
3286
3287After the match, Sheamus said he now no longer had to defend his title for another 30 days and that he would take Night of Champions off. That brought out Wade Barrett, who said his NXT title opportunity has been reinstated and he will take it at Night of Champions. Over the next couple seconds the GM thought about this and wrote out a lengthy e-mail response. He said that Night of Champions will have a six pack title match with Sheamus vs. Barrett vs. Edge vs. Jericho vs. Cena vs. Orton.
3288
3289All the other challengers came to the ring and everyone targeted Wade Barrett. They beat up Barrett and Sheamus threw him from the ring. Then Jericho hit the code breaker on Sheamus. Edge hit the spear on Jericho. Cena hit the FU on Edge. And Orton hit the RKO on Cena. The finish looked ridiculous and contrived with each guy standing around waiting for the next guy to do to him what he had just done to the last guy.
3290
3291Final Thoughts:
3292
3293This was a straight-forward, rather uneventful taped Raw. It was fine.
3294POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 12:13 AM 8 COMMENTS
3295MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2010
3296WWE Raw Report
3297Date: 08/16/10 from Los Angeles, CA.
3298
3299The Big News: Nexus “bounced back” from SummerSlam with a series of “wins” over Raw wrestlers.
3300
3301Show Analysis:
3302
3303Nexus came out at the start of the show. Wade Barrett said that Nexus may have lost at SummerSlam but they eliminated six WWE guys and are still here. He said that they are still united and ready to dominate. He promised severe consequences for Raw: suffering, destruction and chaos. That does sound pretty bad.
3304
3305John Cena made an appearance in smarmy, obnoxious, jokey mode. He started out with Jersey Shore and Expendables jokes. He pointed out that Barrett tapped out and said Daniel Bryan eliminated half of Nexus by himself. Cena said that SummerSlam proved Nexus is human and can be beat. So apparently he didn’t watch the first season of NXT.
3306
3307Cena then told a bunch of jokes. He referred to David Otunga as a male escort and Michael Tarver as a stripper. He had a Wendy’s joke about Heath Slater, complete with a “humorous” video graphic. He called Darren Young Buckwheat and suggested Gabriel is a homosexual. Finally he made fun of Sheffield’s intelligence. Nexus all just stood there and took it as Cena ridiculed them for seemingly half the program.
3308
3309When Cena concluded, Nexus started arguing among themselves. The anonymous GM then popped up and announced matches with each member of Nexus against Team WWE. The GM threatened punishment for outside interference by Nexus members. Barrett said this would be redemption and the weak links on Nexus would be weeded out. He said that if anyone from Nexus lost they would be exiled from the group. Otunga then told Barrett that if he lost someone else would take over. The GM said Nexus could choose the matches except Barrett had to face Jericho.
3310
3311This was a terrible start to the show. Nexus came across insecure, whiny and weak while Cena offered up a 10 minute embodiment of why WWE is seen as so incredibly uncool.
3312
3313Wade Barrett beat Chris Jericho. Barrett hit a kick to the head and applied a bow and arrow. Jericho came back with a dropkick off the second rope, bulldog and applied the Walls. Barrett got to the ropes. Barrett hit a big boot but Jericho responded with an enzuigiri. Finally, Jericho’s code breaker attempt was reversed into the forward fireman carry drop for the pin. I thought Barrett should have been put over stronger here, but this was Anderson Silva-Forrest Griffin compared to basically all of the other Nexus “wins.”
3314
3315The anonymous GM announced that the unified tag team titles have been renamed the WWE tag titles. They switched the four title belts for two new title belts. Bret Hart presented them to Hart Dynasty. I think it’s a good idea. The extra belts were cool for a period but it’s time to just make it clear there’s one championship. The new belts are bronze colored. I don’t really like the look but it’s no big deal.
3316
3317Michael Tarver beat Daniel Bryan. Michael Cole spent this entire match on a crazed tirade against Bryan. That shtick was amusing as hell on NXT, but NXT was a throwaway show. Raw is the big show and the play-by-play guy acting like a maniac in reference to one particular face comes across distracting, bizarre and counterproductive. They need to severely tone it down.
3318
3319The crowd chanted for Daniel Bryan. Bryan hit a series of kicks including a dropkick off the top. The finish was one of those idiotic, nonsensical distraction finishes. Miz and Alex Riley ran down to ringside. Bryan, learning nothing from the most common finish in WWE, turned his back on his opponent to stare at Riley and Miz for a while. Tarver of course recovered and rolled up Bryan for the pin. Afterwards, Bryan hit a tope on Miz but Riley and Tarver helped Miz take over on Bryan. Miz speared him into the barricade and gave him the skull crushing finale on the briefcase.
3320
3321Backstage, Miz was livid about people saying Bryan should have been his pro and NXT and Bryan replacing him on the SummerSlam team. He proclaimed Riley the next breakout star. Miz was really good here. Riley said that Bryan never appreciated Miz. Riley said he will be the next winner of NXT and owes it all to Miz. Elsewhere, Darren Young said that he wanted John Cena. Otunga said he respected that.
3322
3323Justin Gabriel beat Randy Orton via count out. Gabriel had elected to wrestle Bret Hart, but the anonymous GM said Bret Hart wouldn’t compete because he never liked Bret. He then brought in Orton as the replacement. That makes no sense if as assumed the GM ends up being affiliated with Nexus.
3324
3325Orton basically treated Gabriel as a joke in this match. He smirked at Gabriel as Gabriel tried to get in a little offense. Gabriel threw a couple kicks but Orton caught one. He then took over with clotheslines, a powerslam and the draping DDT. At that point Sheamus came out. He fought with Orton into the crowd.
3326
3327For some reason, rather than disqualifying Gabriel, the referee just counted Orton out. So let’s see. The finish didn’t make sense. It was shitty and inconclusive. And the winner gained absolutely nothing. Great. Afterwards, just to emphasize that Gabriel is a non-entity, Orton laid him out with an RKO. He then hit Sheamus a bunch of times with a chair.
3328
3329David Otunga and Skip Sheffield beat John Morrison and R. Truth. Nexus worked over Truth. Truth got the tag and hit a clothesline on Otunga. However, Sheffield tagged himself in. Sheffield knocked Truth off the apron and hit a hard clothesline on Morrison for the pin. This is how you put someone over.
3330
3331Maryse, Jillian Hall and Alicia Fox beat Melina, Eve Torres and Gail Kim. The heels worked over Melina. She tagged Eve. Eve hit dropkicks, a body slam and a somersault senton on Hall. Eve went for a moonsault but Hall pulled her off the ropes and covered for the pin. I was shocked by this result. Not that there was anything wrong with it; I just take it as a given that when Hall is in at the end of a match she is going to lose.
3332
3333Edge and Heath Slater met backstage. Edge said he wasn’t surprised to get the victory at SummerSlam. Slater said that he has patterned himself after Edge and suggested Edge take the night off. Edge responded that he wouldn’t want to forfeit a match to the likes of Slate. Slater hit him from behind and left.
3334
3335Heath Slater beat Edge via count out. Slater sent Edge into the barricade and beat him up. Edge came back with clotheslines, a flying forearm and a big boot. He went for the spear on the outside but Slater ducked into the ring and Edge was counted out. The night of ridiculously bad finishes continued. Edge hit a spear on Slater afterwards. Backstage, they did a comedy bit where Great Khali apparently gave up on his ugly girlfriend in favor of the Bella twins.
3336
3337John Cena beat Darren Young. Young worked over Cena with elbows and leg drops. He threw Cena into the steps and kicked the steps into Cena. Cena came back with shoulder blocks, the Cena slam and the five knuckle. He went for the FU. Young escaped that but Cena countered back into the STF for the tap. As Cena left the Nexus guys surrounded Young. Cena did a good job selling pity for Young. Nexus then laid him out.
3338
3339Final Thoughts:
3340
3341The basic idea of what they were trying to do on Raw was good. You put over the Nexus guys and build them back up after their SummerSlam loss. But the execution of that idea was just awful. It was one terrible finish after another, after a SummerSlam event also riddled with horrible finishes.
3342
3343Is it so hard to book a real winner and a real loser and have matches actually mean something? And if you think so lowly of these Nexus guys that you are completely unwilling to give them strong wins over stars, why are they in a main event program in the first place?
3344
3345A lot of people really disliked the finish to the main event last night. I was okay with it, even if I thought Barrett should have beaten Cena. But the follow-up on this show was really bad. It was like a textbook example of how to book guys win matches without the wins meaning a damn thing.
3346
3347On the plus side, I’m all for cutting the deadweight from Nexus and replacing them with the strongest guys from the second season of NXT.
3348
3349Latest piece:
3350
3351http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=5467102
3352POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:54 PM 8 COMMENTS
3353MONDAY, AUGUST 09, 2010
3354WWE Raw Report
3355Date: 08/09/10 from Sacramento, CA.
3356
3357The Big News: Team Raw reunited, minus Great Khali, heading into their SummerSlam showdown with Nexus.
3358
3359Show Analysis:
3360
3361Bret Hart came out to start the show. He said that he has been training like a lunatic for SummerSlam. I’m not sure about that one. Bret said that he vouched for Edge and Chris Jericho to John Cena and asked them to come out. Jericho came out first and wanted Bret to put over how great he is. Bret said that Jericho and Edge are hurting themselves by making themselves pariahs with nowhere to go.
3362
3363Jericho teased being won over by Bret but then said he wouldn’t rejoin the team. Jericho claimed that Bret is a phony and just concerned about getting hurt by Jericho or Edge. Edge then came out to talk to Jericho. He talked about how much they both idolized Bret when they were younger. Edge said he was in, but of course it was swerve number two and he tried to kick Bret when they shook hands.
3364
3365Bret caught the kick and went for the sharpshooter but Jericho poked Bret in the eye. Natalya then ran to ringside and Nexus was shown on the screen beating up the Hart Dynasty backstage. Wade Barrett said Bret couldn’t use the Hart Dynasty as replacements any more. These “injury” angles “eliminating” people from SummerSlam felt completely fake and unconvincing given we see worse beatings pretty much every segment of every wrestling show and no one is ever out a full week.
3366
3367With that said, I really liked this opening segment. Bret, Jericho and Edge all played their roles very well even if I could have done without two obviously phony swerves in the same segment. Bret seemed very comfortable on the microphone trying to pull the team back together and Jericho and Edge both play the role of slimy heel well.
3368
3369Backstage, Bret Hart was angry about what happened to Hart Dynasty. He grabbed a chair and was going to go for revenge but John Cena stopped him. Cena told Bret to stay there while he tried to keep the team together.
3370
3371Miz beat Evan Bourne. Miz hit a kick to the head of Bourne and worked him over. Bourne came back with a beautiful springboard backwards into a huracanrana. However, Miz took back over with a head over heels clothesline and the skull crushing finale for the pin. This was treated as pretty much a total squash complete with the announcers acting shocked during Bourne’s 20 seconds of offense. After the match, Miz said that when he cashes in his MITB contract he will be champion. The crowd is really taking to Miz with the MITB gimmick. He’s really clicking right now.
3372
3373Melina beat Alicia Fox. Melina hit punches and forearms. Alicia used a clothesline on the floor and a slow motion tilt-a-whirl back breaker. She followed with an over the top back breaker but Melina countered that into the last call for the pin. This was very sloppy. Backstage, Great Khali was without Ranjin Singh. He said that he is with Team WWE and challenged Wade Barrett to a match.
3374
3375Backstage, Edge griped about Bret Hart to Chris Jericho. Jericho was concerned that they might have screwed themselves. Edge said that they have survived it all in WWE and will survive Nexus. Jericho suggested that if they took out Bret and Cena there would be no match at SummerSlam and they would be fine. What? John Morrison and R. Truth met elsewhere and talked about how they needed to find a replacement. Mark Henry said he would be the replacement and his upcoming match would be the audition.
3376
3377Mark Henry was coming to the ring for a match with Ted DiBiase when he was jumped by Nexus. They threw Henry into the ring steps and that was apparently the end of Mark Henry. It will be really funny if Henry and Hart Dynasty are back on Raw next Monday. They probably will be, too.
3378
3379Sheamus came to the ring and said that last week he was scared about what he would do to Randy Orton. They aired video of Sheamus beating people up. Orton joined Sheamus and said Sheamus had a chance to prove he should be taken seriously last week but blew it. Sheamus said he will beat Orton at SummerSlam and send him back to the end of the lin. Orton replied that he will win the title at SummerSlam and dare Sheamus to redeem himself for last week.
3380
3381At that moment Bryan Alvarez’s cell phone went off and the anonymous GM said that if anyone interferes in the SummerSlam title match they will be suspended indefinitely. The GM further added that if Orton loses there will be no rematch. Finally, the GM encouraged Sheamus to show he isn’t scared of Orton. Sheamus teased attacking but pulled back. Orton attacked with a back breaker and set up for the punt but didn’t use it. Instead he just stared at Sheamus. This was a good segment.
3382
3383Alex Riley, Husky Harris and Joe Hennig beat Percy Watson, Kaval and Lucky Cannon. The heel team worked over Watson. Watson hit an enzuigiri and tagged Kaval. Kaval came in with a bunch of awesome kicks on Riley and applied a dragon sleeper in the ropes. A brawl broke out. Kaval hit a double foot stomp on Riley but Harris tagged himself in. Harris hit a clothesline from behind and senton for the pin on Kaval.
3384
3385It’s so irritating to see WWE bury really talented guys for the grave offense of having success in the wrestling business before coming to WWE. Afterwards Sheamus laid out half the NXT guys and the other half ran away. So they brought them in just to bury them. Sheamus hit the razor’s edge on Kaval. He said this was a message for the GM, people and Randy Orton.
3386
3387John Morrison and R. Truth beat William Regal and Zack Ryder. The heels worked over Truth briefly. He got the tag to Morrison. He hit some kicks and then did this crazy move that was like a full flip downward spiral into a uranage. I’m not sure what exactly it was but it looked awesome. He followed with starship pain for the pin.
3388
3389The Bella twins won a “summertime spectacular” triple threat match over Jillian Hall & Maryse and Eve Torres & Gail Kim. Santino and Vladimir Kozlov were the referees and the women wore these 1950s conservative bathing suits. Okay, maybe not that bad but it really defeated the purpose of having them in swimwear. The match was chaos. Nikki hit a crossbody off the top on Jillian for the pin. Afterwards, Samina Snuka of all people came on to Santino.
3390
3391Nexus jumped Great Khali backstage and went after his knee. This at least looked more convincing than the other “eliminations” with the wolves going after the giant’s leg. Nexus came to the ring and Barrett said his match with Khali was cancelled. Thank God. Skip Sheffield said that Raw is their show and Bret Hart will join Ricky Steamboat and Vince McMahon as victims of Nexus. David Otunga added that if anyone was thinking of joining Team WWE, they should think about what Nexus did to Hart Dynasty, Henry and Khali.
3392
3393Miz came up to Bret Hart and John Cena backstage. He said that they need help and wanted to hear them ask him to save them. Bret and Cena both asked if he was in or out. Miz said that times sure have changed in the past year with Cena now asking Miz for help. Miz said he would let them know Sunday. Miz was tremendous here.
3394
3395Edge and Chris Jericho vs. Bret Hart and John Cena with Nexus as lumberjacks didn’t have a finish. Edge and Jericho worked over Cena. They sent Cena outside and he was jumped by Nexus multiple times. Jericho then fell to the outside and was ready to be attacked but Nexus left him alone. Jericho did a great job selling this. Cena went for the FU on Jericho but it was reversed into the Walls.
3396
3397Jericho accidentally ran into Barrett and as a result Nexus ended up jumping Jericho. Edge joined the fight against Nexus. Edge and Jericho then started to leave. Nexus went to attack Cena and Bret. Morrison and Truth came out to join them. Then after a period of reflection, Jericho and Edge finally hit the ring to join Team WWE. The crowd at this point was going nuts. The two teams squared off and a big fight broke out. At this point the building came unglued and it was an awesome scene. Nexus fled into the crowd as Team WWE held the ring.
3398
3399Final Thoughts:
3400
3401I thought this was a very strong go home show for SummerSlam. In particular, I thought the final segment was the best final Raw segment before a PPV in years. It was just electric and made you really excited for the PPV match.
3402POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:01 PM 16 COMMENTS
3403MONDAY, AUGUST 02, 2010
3404WWE Raw Report
3405Date: 08/02/10 from San Antonio, TX.
3406
3407The Big News: Team Raw continues to fight amongst itself heading into its SummerSlam showdown with Nexus.
3408
3409Show Analysis:
3410
3411Edge came out to start the show. He said that he needs to go with his gut and just do what he feels like doing. He noted that his team is falling apart. He said that he doesn’t respect John Cena, trust Chris Jericho, have any faith in Great Khali or barely even know R. Truth or John Morrison. He added that Nexus needs to be destroyed his way and challenged Wade Barrett to a match.
3412
3413R. Truth came out and said that it wouldn’t end with Barrett. Truth said that they are fighting for their survival and for the WWE Universe. What a cheesy bullshit line. Edge vowed to cut the head off the snake of Nexus and threatened Truth as well. The anonymous GM then made Edge vs. Barrett.
3414
3415Edge and Wade Barrett fought to a no contest. They battled back and forth with punches and kicks. Barrett hit a high kick and threw Edge into the apron. Edge countered the forward fireman carry slam into a DDT. Edge went for the spear but Barrett rolled out of the ring. Nexus then just ran in and Edge ran away into the crowd. This was a bad match with an awful finish.
3416
3417Backstage, Edge wanted to know where John Cena was when Nexus ran in. Cena replied that he was trying to show they needed to work together. Edge quit the team. Chris Jericho then came in and said Cena needed to leave the team and proposed a loser leaves the team match. Cena didn’t like it but agreed.
3418
3419Elsewhere, John Morrison proposed to Great Khali that the team work together like the Magnificent Seven. Khali alluded to the seven dwarfs. Michael Tarver and David Otunga came in to speak with Khali. Tarver said they didn’t attack Khali because they don’t attack people they respect. Otunga said the rumor is the Raw team is looking to replace Khali. Tarver suggested Khali join Nexus.
3420
3421Alicia Fox, Tamina and Jillian Hall beat Gail Kim, Natalya and Eve Torres. The heels very briefly worked on Gail. Natalya got the hot tag and hit a clothesline, vertical suplex (inexplicably labeled a Northern lights by Michael Cole), body slam and cradle butterfly suplex on Alicia. A brawl broke out. Gail hit a crossbody off the top onto Tamina but Jillian threw Gail into the post hard. Natalya went for the sharpshooter on Alicia but Tamina cut that off. Alicia then hit the ax kick on Natalya for the pin. This was very high on the WWE women’s match scale.
3422
3423After the match, Alicia Fox proclaimed herself the greatest women’s champion ever and said that she has beaten all the women on the roster. That brought out the returning Melina. Alicia went to leave but Jillian threw her backing the ring and Melina laid Alicia out.
3424
3425Sheamus beat Goldust. They acknowledged the feud these two had in ECW prior to the match, but this was just a squash. Sheamus hit a knee to the head, back breaker, bicycle kick and razor’s edge for the pin. After the match, Sheamus said that he got to the top all by himself. He said that he ended HHH’s career and he will end Randy Orton’s too.
3426
3427John Cena beat Chris Jericho. Cena missed a crossbody and Jericho took over. Jericho threw Cena into the steps, snapped Cena’s neck into the ropes and applied a headlock. Cena came back with a shoulder block and Cena slam. He went for the five knuckle but ran into a code breaker. Cena rolled to the floor. Jericho had to carry Cena back into the ring and by the time he finally did Cena kicked out of the pin attempt.
3428
3429Jericho went for the walls but Cena escaped. Cena went for the FU but Jericho escaped. Jericho hit a springboard dropkick and reverse elbow off the top for two. Jericho followed with the lionsault but Cena countered a superplex and hit a top rope rocker dropper. Jericho went for the Walls but Cena reversed into the STF and Jericho tapped immediately before the hold was even applied.
3430
3431Jericho and Cena pretty much always have good matches and this was no exception. Afterwards, Cena suggested Jericho stay on the team and put Jericho over. Jericho left without answering.
3432
3433Backstage, Edge and Jericho shared their frustrations with the rest of the Raw team. They hugged and made up. The GM then made Edge and Jericho vs. Cena and Bret Hart with Nexus as lumberjacks for next week. Elsewhere, Orton pointed out he took out HHH just like Sheamus. He invited Sheamus to watch Orton’s match with Miz. He said the good news is Miz won’t be in any shape to cash in MITB but the bad news is in two weeks it will be Sheamus’ turn.
3434
3435Great Khali beat Ted DiBiase. Khali hit chops, elbows and clotheslines. Wade Barrett and Skip Sheffield came to ringside. That distracted DiBiase and Khali hit an overhand chop and applied the vice grip for the win.
3436
3437Randy Orton beat Miz. Prior to the match, Miz said that Orton made a big mistake attacking him last week. He vowed to make Orton pay on Raw and said that Orton’s best case scenario at SummerSlam is to defeat Sheamus but then lose the title to Miz.
3438
3439Orton used some stomps on Miz. Miz hit a knee lift. Orton clotheslined Miz over the top and Sheamus came out on the stage. Orton hit a back breaker and powerslam but Miz countered the draping DDT by throwing Orton over the top. Miz hit a back breaker/neck breaker combination but Orton hit the RKO out of the blue for the pin. Sheamus charged to the ring after the match but Orton was ready and Sheamus pulled up. This match was okay.
3440
3441Final Thoughts:
3442
3443When WWE decides to be more serious with Raw and give matches more time, it usually leads to a very good show. This show didn’t deliver as well as usual, largely because the longer matches underperformed. Still, it was a pretty good show, albeit a little dull at times.
3444
3445With the Raw guys gravely talking about the danger Nexus presents to everything, they really need to better define what exactly Nexus is trying to do. Right now they keep using this grandiose language to describe the feud and it comes across as cheesy without having the meat and potatoes out on the table. We need to know what specifically is different about Nexus than any other gang of heels.
3446POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 8:54 PM 6 COMMENTS
3447ABOUT ME
3448TODD MARTIN
3449UNITED STATES
3450VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
3451
3452LINKS
3453Obama/Biden 2008
3454Figure 4 Weekly
3455CBS Sports
3456MMA Payout
3457Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
3458Washington Post
3459MMA Weekly
3460Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
3461Avoid Cancer Now
3462Cross Country Express
3463Wrestling Nerds
3464Number One Contender
3465Tan Dynasty
3466The Vortex
3467MMA Ranks
3468Gerweck.net
3469Ron Motta's Blog
3470Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
3471The Great Scottland
3472Here and There
3473Everything and Anything
3474Fight Opinion
3475Monkey Shines
3476adamannapolis
3477Talib Kweli's Blog
3478SI.com
3479PREVIOUS POSTS
3480My Favorite Movies of 2015
3481Book Tier List
3482My Favorite Movies of 2014
3483Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
3484Favorite Movies of 2013
3485Favorite Films of 2012
3486WWE Raw Report
3487WWE Raw Report
3488WWE Raw Report
3489WWE Raw Report
3490ARCHIVES
3491November 2005
3492December 2005
3493January 2006
3494February 2006
3495March 2006
3496April 2006
3497May 2006
3498June 2006
3499July 2006
3500August 2006
3501September 2006
3502October 2006
3503November 2006
3504December 2006
3505January 2007
3506February 2007
3507March 2007
3508April 2007
3509May 2007
3510June 2007
3511July 2007
3512August 2007
3513September 2007
3514October 2007
3515November 2007
3516December 2007
3517January 2008
3518February 2008
3519March 2008
3520April 2008
3521May 2008
3522June 2008
3523July 2008
3524August 2008
3525September 2008
3526October 2008
3527November 2008
3528December 2008
3529January 2009
3530February 2009
3531March 2009
3532April 2009
3533May 2009
3534June 2009
3535July 2009
3536August 2009
3537September 2009
3538October 2009
3539November 2009
3540December 2009
3541January 2010
3542February 2010
3543March 2010
3544April 2010
3545May 2010
3546June 2010
3547July 2010
3548August 2010
3549September 2010
3550October 2010
3551November 2010
3552December 2010
3553January 2011
3554February 2011
3555March 2011
3556April 2011
3557May 2011
3558June 2011
3559July 2011
3560August 2011
3561September 2011
3562October 2011
3563November 2011
3564December 2011
3565January 2012
3566February 2012
3567March 2012
3568April 2012
3569May 2012
3570June 2012
3571July 2012
3572January 2013
3573March 2014
3574April 2014
3575February 2015
3576October 2015
3577February 2016
3578Powered by Blogger
3579
3580 
3581
3582~~
3583
3584
3585SMASHMOUTH DRIVING
3586MONDAY, JULY 26, 2010
3587WWE Raw Report
3588Date: 07/26/10 from San Antonio, TX.
3589
3590The Big News: Nexus is united while the Raw team is in shambles headed towards SummerSlam.
3591
3592Show Analysis:
3593
3594John Cena came out to start the show and was mostly serious this week. He said that the Raw wrestlers have finally had enough of Nexus. He declared that they will end Nexus at SummerSlam and show that Nexus isn’t invincible. He then launched into a stupid comedy routine about superheroes that completely took the steam out of what had been an effective promo.
3595
3596Chris Jericho interrupted and surprisingly received rather loud Y2J chants. He took issue with Cena referencing “his team.” Jericho said he didn’t join Cena’s team but rather is in it to get back at Wade Barrett. Jericho said it was his team. Cena said that was fine because he just wants to beat Nexus. Jericho started yelling at Cena so Cena slapped him.
3597
3598Jericho told Cena that there is another threat to the company beyond Nexus. Jericho said Cena himself always walks all over the show. He said that after they get rid of Nexus he will get rid of Cena. The anonymous GM then announced the match at SummerSlam will be an elimination match. I think that’s a more interesting match but it has also becomes trickier to effectively book.
3599
3600The GM also announced Nexus in an elimination match on Raw and a tag team match with Jericho and Cena wrestling against a mystery team. The e-mail closed with the DX catchphrase. This gimmick of throwing in random taglines of former stars is completely ineffective in building interest in the identity of the GM. On the whole, I thought this was a strong opening segment.
3601
3602Randy Orton beat Jay Uso with a powerslam, draping DDT and RKO. Sheamus watched from ringside. After the match Jimmy jumped Orton but Orton fought him off and gave Sheamus the RKO. Miz then ran in and went to cash in MITB but of course was interrupted, this time by an Orton RKO. I really liked the cash in attempt last week but doing the same thing two weeks in a row felt contrived. I was just waiting for Miz to be interrupted, which is not the mark of good storytelling. It didn’t make Miz look like much of a threat either, which should theoretically be the goal.
3603
3604Backstage, Edge told Ted DiBiase that he would rather have DiBiase on the team than Great Khali. He ran down Khali as clumsy and stupid and said he might try to take Khali out of the match. Ranjin Singh overheard this and after the break Khali confronted Edge. He challenged Edge to a match. Edge accepted but said that if he won Khali was off the team. Back in the ring, Sheamus and Miz were arguing when the GM said they would be wrestling Cena and Jericho in the main event.
3605
3606Great Khali and Edge’s match didn’t really happen. As they were getting started, Nexus came out. Edge ran off into the crowd. Nexus circled Khali but decided against attacking and Khali left.
3607
3608Nexus beat Mark Henry, Hart Dynasty, Goldust, Yoshi Tatsu, Jerry Lawler and Evan Bourne. Tatsu hit some kicks on Tarver but Tarver used this weird powerslam deal for the pin. Lawler came in with punches, a drop kick and a second rope fist drop on Gabriel for two. During a commercial break Slater eliminated Lawler. Smith went for a powerslam on Slater but Slater escaped and hit a leaping side Russian leg sweep deal for the pin.
3609
3610Goldust came in with a lariat and inverted atomic drop on Slater. However, he was tripped coming off the ropes and Otunga hit a spine buster for the pin. Henry was next in with a gorilla press on Otunga. He threw around Slater and hit a high kick on Young. He followed with body slams on Sheffield and a corner avalanche on Gabriel. Sheffield then hit a clothesline on Henry for the pin.
3611
3612Tyson Kidd was next in with a springboard attempt but was caught by a Sheffield clothesline. Sheffield tagged Young and Young hit a weird full nelson into downward spiral type deal. That left Bourne, and Barrett tagged in. Bourne hit a high knee but was quickly overwhelmed and given the forward fireman carry slam for the pin.
3613
3614After the match, Gabriel gave Bourne the 450 splash. Barrett then said that Nexus is united behind a common purpose while Cena’s team isn’t united because of individual egos and agendas. Sheffield said Nexus will sacrifice for the good of the group and are unbreakable. Tarver said they will eliminate until only one opponent is left and he hopes it is Cena so they can rip him apart.
3615
3616Okay, so the pseudo-push of Bourne is completely over as he was utterly buried for like the fifth week in a row. Putting that aside, I really liked the booking of this segment. They gave each face some spots but the heels all went over clean. This pretty much exactly what you want to be doing heading into the big PPV showdown with the Cena team.
3617
3618Backstage, Sheamus told Miz that Miz will never be able to defeat Sheamus. Miz threatened to turn on Sheamus later in the show and then cash in the briefcase on him. Elsewhere, Randy Orton said he doesn’t care who has the title going into SummerSlam because he’ll leave the event with the title.
3619
3620Alicia Fox beat Brie Bella with an ax kick. Jillian Hall was at ringside to counteract the other Bella but wanted to sing after the match so Alicia laid her out too.
3621
3622Ted DiBiase beat John Morrison. R. Truth did commentary. DiBiase worked over Morrison. Morrison came back with kicks but as he set up for starship pain Maryse got up on the apron. The idiot Morrison decided not to execute the move and instead turned his back on DiBiase to walk towards Maryse. God I hate that spot and they do it multiple times every week. DiBiase rolled up Morrison and put his feet on the ropes but Truth pushed them off. DiBiase shoved Truth and there ended up being an accidental collision between Truth and Morrison. DiBiase covered for the pin. Afterwards, Morrison and Truth argued.
3623
3624Miz and Sheamus beat John Cena and Chris Jericho. Miz and Sheamus worked over Jericho for a while. Jericho got the tag to Cena. Cena came in with shoulder blocks, a Cena slam and the five knuckle on Sheamus. Jericho then hit the code breaker on Cena. Why he wrestled a long match and got beat up only to attack a guy he’s going to be teaming with in a few weeks I’m not really sure. In any event, Miz covered for the pin.
3625
3626After the match, Jericho went for the Walls on Cena but Cena reversed into the STF. Great Khali had Cena break the hold. Edge then gave Khali a spear. All the team members started pushing and shoving. Khali hit a chop on Morrison.
3627
3628I like the story of Nexus being united while the Raw team can’t keep it together. With that said, it would have been better if they told the story more slowly and subtly. It felt like practically instantaneously everyone on the team hated everyone else for little good reason to the point it felt kind of contrived.
3629
3630Final Thoughts:
3631
3632I thought this was another very solid show. It was serious and focused on building up the PPV. The best periods for Raw this year have been the shows heading into WrestleMania and SummerSlam because the desire to build up a big PPV makes the television itself more tightly booked and interesting.
3633POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 9:58 PM 6 COMMENTS
3634MONDAY, JULY 19, 2010
3635WWE Raw Report
3636Date: 07/19/10 from Tulsa, OK.
3637
3638The Big News: Raw set up its top two matches for SummerSlam.
3639
3640Show Analysis:
3641
3642Randy Orton won a three way match over Chris Jericho and Edge to earn a title shot against Sheamus at SummerSlam in a strong opener. Edge and Jericho double teamed Orton to start but then turned on each other. Orton hit both with a double DDT. Orton took over on Edge but Edge avoided an RKO attempt and Jericho gave Orton the code breaker. Jericho covered but Edge broke up the pin.
3643
3644Edge and Jericho brawled to the outside. Back inside, Orton hit a clothesline and powerslam on Jericho. He followed with clotheslines and a back breaker on Edge. Orton went for the draping DDT on Jericho but had it reversed into the Walls. Edge broke that up with an implant DDT on Jericho. Edge went for a spear on Jericho but had that reversed into the Walls. Edge made it to the ropes.
3645
3646Edge clotheslined Jericho out of the ring and went for the spear on Orton but Jericho cut Edge off with another clothesline. They did a series of rollups. Jericho countered an RKO attempt by Orton but then missed the lionsault. Orton finally hit the RKO on Jericho. He then caught Edge with another RKO and covered Edge for the pin.
3647
3648The result was very predictable but this match was still exciting because of the great work of the participants. They also told a really good story with Orton continually getting thwarted in his attempts at the RKO throughout the match only to finally get it at the end for the win.
3649
3650After the match, Edge told Jericho that they have been going at each other for 11 years and it has to end. Jericho said it would because Wade Barrett and Nexus would do his bidding and take out Edge if he asked. Edge said Nexus would join him instead and pointed out Jericho was taking credit for their success.
3651
3652Nexus came out. Barrett first put over both as worthy allies. Nexus then jumped and beat up Edge. Jericho put Edge in the Walls. Nexus then turned on Jericho and beat him up as well. This was kind of a weird segment because it seemed like they were blowing off Jericho and Edge but I guess they felt they needed to do something to explain Edge and Jericho joining John Cena later in the show. I liked the segment because it positioned Nexus very strongly compared to perennial main eventers Jericho and Edge.
3653
3654Backstage, Barrett said that he will prove Nexus can get it done individually as well as collectively. Sheamus then came to Barrett and said he had a proposal for him. Elsewhere, John Cena said he brought his problems upon himself because he thought out of pride he could stop Nexus on his own when he couldn’t. Cena said he had something to say to Barrett and Nexus in the ring and concluded, “If you can’t beat them” before leaving. Cena doing the phony trepidation gimmick is at this point right up there with Brett Favre feigning retirement on the ridiculously obvious disingenuousness scale.
3655
3656Eve Torres beat Maryse in a bizarre match. Maryse was showing off her new jewelry before the match. Basically nothing happened in the match. Less than a minute in after a random kick Eve pinned Maryse. Maryse, the heel, got her foot on the ropes before three but the referee didn’t see it and counted the pin. Ted DiBiase argued with the referee afterwards until John Morrison came in, attacked DiBiase, and hit starship pain.
3657
3658Sheamus came to the ring and pointed out he has defeated John Cena in tables, 4 way and cage matches. He said that he is dominant over Cena. He announced that he has made a truce with Nexus and with Nexus out of the way Randy Orton doesn’t stand a chance. Sheamus vowed to be the longest reigning WWE champion of all time. Yeah, and Batista is going to be the next UFC heavyweight champion. Miz came out to interrupt Sheamus. He said he controls the fate of the title because he won Money in the Bank. He said that he will be watching and waiting for his chance to strike. He labeled himself Sheamus’ celebrity stalker. The anonymous GM then made Sheamus vs. Evan Bourne.
3659
3660Sheamus beat Evan Bourne in a good match. Sheamus worked over Bourne while Miz watched from ringside. Bourne came back with a series of kicks and a crossbody off the top to the floor. Sheamus then hit the bicycle kick for the win. After the match, Miz attacked Sheamus repeatedly with the briefcase. This got cheers and Miz was kind of greeted as a face in Oklahoma. He gave Sheamus the skull crushing finale on the briefcase and went to cash in MITB.
3661
3662As Miz was waiting for Sheamus to get up and the match to begin, R. Truth ran in. Miz decided against cashing in, beat up Truth and left. I liked pretty much everything about this segment. You had a good match. They put over Miz as a threat and important character, while getting over the MITB cash-in as a big future event. The only negative was the way they treated Evan Bourne.
3663
3664Backstage, Miz said that Truth cost him the WWE title but that there will be more opportunities. He again got cheers. I hope they move through Miz vs. Truth quickly because Miz should be well above Truth’s level from here on. Orton then told Sheamus backstage that having the title has made him a target. He vowed to take out whoever has the title.
3665
3666Santino and Vladimir Kozlov beat William Regal and Zach Ryder. This was even better than your average WWE comedy segment because they kept it simple and just let Santino be amusing. Regal and Ryder beat up Santino. Kozlov tagged in and hit a big boot, powerslam and power bomb. Kozlov tagged back Santino, who hit a diving head butt for the pin. Santino then of course celebrated wildly.
3667
3668Wade Barrett beat Mark Henry. Henry hit a head butt, clotheslines and a power slam. He went for a second rope splash but Nexus came out for the idiotic distraction finish and Barrett hit a really sloppy version of his finisher (the forward fireman carry drop) for the pin. I was shocked they didn’t book Barrett stronger here. There’s really no defense for it.
3669
3670To close the show, Nexus met with John Cena in the ring. Michael Tarver gave his word that they would hear Cena out. He said that if Cena keeps resisting they will make the rest of his short career difficult. Tarver wanted an apology from Cena. Cena came to the ring again teasing serious concern. He asked for a truce with Nexus. Barrett said no and wanted Cena to join Nexus instead. Cena said he couldn’t do that.
3671
3672Barrett said that Cena had the choice to leave the ring with his tail tucked between his legs like a coward or stand and get destroyed. Cena left, but then announced that his peace offering was actually just a test and that he will take out Nexus. He introduced his team for SummerSlam: Edge, John Morrison, R. Truth, Great Khali, Chris Jericho and Bret Hart. That’s quite the group. I guess the question is who turns and costs them the match. The Cena group hit the ring and Nexus ran away.
3673
3674Final Thoughts:
3675
3676I thought this was the best edition of Raw in a while. It was a serious show directed towards building up characters and SummerSlam matches. Not everything was perfect but the more shows like this one the better.
3677POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:05 PM 4 COMMENTS
3678MONDAY, JULY 12, 2010
3679WWE Raw Report
3680Date: 07/12/10 from Lexington, KY.
3681
3682The Big News: John Cena couldn’t overcome the odds against Nexus.
3683
3684Show Analysis:
3685
3686John Cena started the show. He was still grinning, amused and telling jokes even after flipping out last week and being faced with a 6-on-1 match (since Darren Young was out selling injuries) this week. To his credit, he underplayed the comedy to a degree even though the writers seem to have no conception of how to book a serious wrestling feud.
3687
3688Cena said Sheamus will eventually realize that when it comes to Nexus all the WWE guys are in it together. He then added that he will take the title from Sheamus. That doesn’t sound like all in it together, Mr. Cena. Cena tried to get over that no one can interfere in a cage match, which is kind of undermined by recent historical fact. Cena vowed to take out Nexus six on one.
3689
3690Nexus showed up on the stage. Wade Barrett said Cena has brought his troubles upon himself and that there is a bigger picture for Nexus. The anonymous GM then sent an e-mail saying that if any WWE wrestler got involved in Cena vs. Nexus they would be suspended for 90 days but that if Nexus didn’t tag in and out they would be suspended 90 days. Cena said he would take a few Nexus guys down with him.
3691
3692Alicia Fox beat Gail Kim. Eve Torres did commentary. Gail used some arm drags. Alicia hit a high knee. Gail went for eat defeat but Alicia avoided that and hit a sloppy ax kick for the win. The anonymous GM then announced Alicia vs. Eve for the title at Money in the Bank.
3693
3694The Usos and Tamina beat Hart Dynasty and Natalya. Tyson Kidd hit a somersault senton off the apron onto the Usos. The Usos worked over Kidd. Smith tagged in but was cut off pretty quickly with a superkick and top rope splash for the pin. It’s ultimately not a big deal but I do wish they had a few more tag teams the title challengers could beat on their way to a title shot. It’s hard to make Hart Dynasty vs. Usos seem important when they have done variations of that match so many times already.
3695
3696Backstage, Wade Barrett and Chris Jericho shook hands and were cordial together. Jericho was asked about this but declined comment. Barrett and Nexus then approached Yoshi Tatsu. Tatsu said that Cena is his friend so they beat him up a little.
3697
3698Ted DiBiase and Maryse came to the ring. They look like bigger stars all dressed up. DiBiase said he wanted to introduce the best power couple in the WWE, but he was talking about himself and the MITB briefcase rather than Maryse. Maryse seemed annoyed but DiBiase told her to imagine what he will give her when he wins the match.
3699
3700John Morrison came out and took a shot at Maryse saying the French don’t bathe. Maryse then cut a promo in French on him. He then did the old comedy deal where he fake translates what she says. That is always such an easy comedy opportunity but Morrison was given the worst material ever and it died a horrible death. DiBiase attacked Morrison. Morrison got the best of the fight but Maryse pulled DiBiase out before Morrison could hit starship pain.
3701
3702They did a parody of the Brady Bunch opening song introducing an 8 man tag match later in the show featuring Santino and William Regal. Florence Henderson then spoke with Santino backstage. A laugh track was added in. Regal tried to get the laugh track but didn’t and was annoyed. Henderson ended up slapping Regal for making a Partridge family reference. I thought all of this was amusing and enjoyable.
3703
3704Edge beat Randy Orton. Orton hit the Garvin stomp and followed with punches, clotheslines and power slams. Orton’s draping DDT attempt was reversed into an Edge implant DDT. Edge went for the spear but Orton kicked him. Orton went for the RKO but Edge escaped. Edge missed another spear and Orton rolled him up for two. Orton hit a back breaker, but Chris Jericho came out. Orton did the old “turn your back on your opponent” move and Edge rolled him up for the pin.
3705
3706This match started off without a lot of heat but it really picked up towards the end and got pretty hot before the terrible finish. I’ve said it before but they really need to retire the cheap distraction finish. It accomplishes nothing positive, it’s ridiculously overused, it’s a crutch for more thoughtful and effective storytelling, it looks fake as hell, and it makes the loser look like a significantly bigger fool than if he just got pinned clean.
3707
3708After the match, Chris Jericho gave Edge the code breaker. Orton then gave Jericho the RKO. Evan Bourne ran in and went for a shooting star press on Orton but was caught on the way down with an RKO. I wouldn’t have figured they could make that look good on live TV but all credit to Bourne and Orton because they totally did. It was a great looking spot. Backstage, the Nexus guys jumped John Morrison.
3709
3710Miz came out and said that R. Truth got off easy because what happened was little compared to what Miz will do to his other opponents at Money in the Bank. The anonymous GM announced Miz vs. the new MITB participant Mark Henry. The GM added “just when you think you have the answers I change the questions,” which is a tease of Roddy Piper.
3711
3712The Miz-Henry “match” was bizarre. Henry hit a press slam but accidentally ran into the GM podium. Miz then emptied a plastic garbage container on Henry and hit him with this plastic container. And the match just ended like that with Miz acting like the shot with the plastic object was some big heat angle.
3713
3714Santino, Great Khali, Vladimir Kozlov and Goldust beat William Regal, Zack Ryder, Primo Colon and Doink the Clown. Florence Henderson announced the match and Regal kept threatening to attack her from behind which was hilarious. Regal hit knees on Santino but was distracted by Henderson parading around in his coat. Santino used the cobra on Regal for two. Khali then hit the Khali chop on Doink for the pin. Santino wanted a kiss after the match from Henderson but she kissed Khali instead.
3715
3716Edge backstage thanked Jericho for take wakeup call about the nature of Money in the Bank. He noted he has been in more of those matches than anyone. Edge said he knows to be ruthless and loves destroying the lives of others. He again said that the fun truly begins on Sunday. This was a good promo.
3717
3718Elsewhere, Sheamus confronted Evan Bourne. The Nexus guys came in and Sheamus left them to beat up Bourne. Sheamus then started to rub it in when the Nexus guys came back. They teased attacking Sheamus and Sheamus ran away like he was Bobby Heenan or something. He asked where John Cena’s locker room was and ran for the hills.
3719
3720I’ve never believed in booking tough heels to act like cowards but WWE has done it all the time in recent years. A Jericho or Edge works well as a cowardly heel. But Sheamus or Orton acting cowardly as a heel just undermines what makes them an effective heel in the first place.
3721
3722Nexus beat John Cena. Cena beat up Michael Tarver with punches and then did the same to Justin Gabriel. Heath Slater attacked Cena from behind and Skip Sheffield took over. Slater hit some belly to back suplexes. Otunga used a suplex and Irish whip. Barrett hit a yakuza kick.
3723
3724Cena came back with shoulder blocks, the Cena slam, five knuckle shuffle and FU on Barrett. However, Sheffield tagged himself in and hit a big clothesline. Otunga followed with a spine buster and Gabriel hit the 450 for the pin on Cena. This match was a reminder of the lack of talent among the Nexus group as pretty much every move in this match was really, really simplistic.
3725
3726After the match, Cena grabbed a chair and tried to fight off the Nexus guys. The heels circled the ring and were about to go after Cena anyway when Sheamus ran in with a chair of his own to make the show ending save. This seems like one of those swerves that’s such an obvious swerve you wonder why they even bother doing a swerve in the first place. I guess we’ll see though.
3727
3728Final Thoughts:
3729
3730Raw has settled into a little bit of a groove, or at least a consistent pattern, in recent weeks. It’s not great, but it’s better.
3731POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 10:43 PM 7 COMMENTS
3732TUESDAY, JULY 06, 2010
37331 Hour Special on LeBron's Narcissism Thursday
3734http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5359255
3735
3736I'm surprised LeBron didn't ask for a three hour special.
3737POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 7:06 PM 4 COMMENTS
3738MONDAY, JULY 05, 2010
3739WWE Raw Report
3740Date: 07/05/10 from Nashville, TN.
3741
3742The Big News: The Raw locker room is no longer united against Nexus.
3743
3744Show Analysis:
3745
3746The show started with Wade Barrett and the other Nexus guys in the ring. Thank God Barrett is back. Barrett said they can’t reveal why they attacked Vince McMahon but that it needed to happen and it’s part of a much bigger picture. Vince thought he had control of the thing but had no clue as to their agenda. I like the idea of a larger scheme yet to be revealed, so hopefully they have something solid planned. Skip Sheffield said that what they did to Ricky Steamboat was just for fun. He added that now people are more interested in Steamboat’s DVD so he should be thanking them.
3747
3748The Raw GM then sent his first e-mail of the evening. They added a goofy, stupid touch where the lights in the building flash at the exact moment the e-mail arrives in this laptop connected to nothing. The e-mailing premise is goofy and unbelievable enough without additional signs the whole thing is a contrivance.
3749
3750The mystery GM said that Nexus’ punishment is that none of them can compete for a WWE title until further notice and that the no touch rule has been lifted. Given that weak punishment, it would certainly seem that the GM is in cahoots with Nexus, will lift the WWE title opportunity ban at the right moment and then reveal him or herself after Barrett takes the title.
3751
3752John Cena appeared at the moment of the GM announcement and said that Nexus hasn’t yet been in a fair fight. He apparently gathered Randy Orton, R. Truth, Evan Bourne, John Morrison and Hart Dynasty in the 15 seconds following the announcement that the no touch ban was lifted and they came to the ring for a fight. Even more amazingly, in the five seconds following Cena’s announcement of his plan, seven heels conspired to react to it. Sheamus, Edge, Chris Jericho, Ted DiBiase, Miz and Usos attacked the faces literally as they were coming to the ring and Nexus left. The timing of all this made no sense.
3753
3754Cena wanted to know why the heels stopped the face attack on Nexus. Sheamus responded that if Nexus wants to take out Cena the heels are cool with that. Orton said Nexus is a serious threat to everyone and challenged the heels to a 7 on 7 match. 8 seconds elapsed, during which time the GM apparently considered the situation and wrote and sent a very lengthy e-mail. I guess that kind of works if Michael Cole is the GM but it doesn’t otherwise.
3755
3756The GM said that the MITB participants would be in separate action against each other in a series of matches. The GM added that John Cena and Wade Barrett would have to shake hands and call a truce. Cena suggested instead that he attack Barrett, and the GM then immediately shot back another prolonged e-mail telling Cena to do the right thing and that’s the bottom line because the GM said so.
3757
3758I like the idea of teasing the identity of this mystery GM, but geez, shouldn’t the first serious tease be someone plausible as opposed to an obvious red herring? Throwing out the red herring first just makes people less likely to take future clues seriously. Anyway, this was quite the opening segment. I like the direction they seem to be pointing the angle but the execution itself felt really contrived and fake.
3759
3760Ted DiBiase beat John Morrison. Morrison sure has lost a lot of steam recently. Maryse did commentary. They told the story that people think she’s a gold digger but she claims to have quickly fallen in love with DiBiase. She took a phone call during commentary. DiBiase worked over Morrison. Morrison came back with punches and clotheslines. Maryse walked onto the apron in Morrison’s jacket, distracting Morrison and allowing DiBiase to gouge his eye and hit Dream Street for the pin.
3761
3762Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov beat William Regal. Prior to the match, Kozlov threatened to hurt Santino if they lost. Regal then vowed revenge on Kozlov and said he got himself a monster in Khali. Kozlov hit head butts on Regal. Santino tagged in but Regal destroyed him with knees and an exploder. Kozlov tagged back in and hit the choke slam on Regal for the in. Khali was never in the match and gave Regal a chop after the match. Santino and Khali danced.
3763
3764Jerry Lawler did a tremendous job seriously introducing footage of the Steamboat angle from last week. He made it seem like a big deal and a real situation. Arn Anderson backstage was going to talk about it but was interrupted by Sheamus. Sheamus called Arn a pathetic old man. Arn said he was never blind and stupid and talked about the Nexus hostile takeover. Sheamus said that Nexus is smarter than the Horsemen because they know not to screw with him. Arn said that Sheamus is fine now but in a month there may be no one left to ally with. Sheamus said he doesn’t need anyone because he’s the champion. This was a good segment.
3765
3766Miz was going to wrestle R. Truth. Miz did another rap but then attacked Truth with a microphone as Truth was laughing. Miz posted Truth and went after his arm and shoulder. Miz ran down Truth and vowed to hurt others as Truth was helped to the back. They were putting over Miz more seriously here and it felt like they were trying to bury Truth too the way he just hobbled to the back as Miz was running him down. They later announced Truth is out of the Money in the Bank match.
3767
3768Edge did his Cutting Edge segment. He mockingly showed sympathy for Truth, saying that Truth only knew one song but he did it well. Edge noted that he’s smart and won’t make enemies when Nexus could be his allies. He introduced Evan Bourne but Chris Jericho came out instead. Jericho’s eyes were really bloodshot.
3769
3770Jericho said he wouldn’t take a backseat to Bourne. He accused Edge of pandering to Nexus but added that he was Wade Barrett’s pro and sculpted Barrett. Edge and Jericho bickered back and forth and ended up fighting. Evan Bourne came out to fight but ducked out as Jericho and Edge started to try to double team him. The mystery GM then e-mailed, “If you want some action, give me a hell yeah.” The GM booked Edge and Jericho vs. Bourne and Orton.
3771
3772Randy Orton and Evan Bourne beat Chris Jericho and Edge in a good match they gave a lot of time to. The faces had the advantage for a while, with Edge and Jericho having trouble getting along. The heels took over on Bourne. As Orton got the hot tag, Jericho hesitated taking the tag from Edge. Orton gave Jericho a power slam and draping DDT but was cut off by an Edge distraction and Jericho enzuigiri.
3773
3774The heels then took over on Orton. As Bourne finally got the hot tag, Edge hesitated on the tag from Jericho. Jericho started running down Edge but then ran into a Bourne kick. Edge proceeded to spear Jericho and Bourne hit the shooting star press on Jericho for the pin.
3775
3776After the match, Orton gave Bourne an RKO. This spot leading into a multi-person match can work with the right characters. But here it only served to ruin the match result and bury Bourne. It didn’t help Orton or the PPV one iota either. This was really bad booking.
3777
3778Randy Orton spoke backstage with David Otunga, Michael Tarver and Heath Slater. They apologized for involving themselves in Orton’s title match at the last PPV and said they wouldn’t interfere in Orton’s MITB match. They said they couldn’t say the same for the main event, so we’ve basically got guaranteed interference in the cage match. The basic idea is if Orton is friendly with Nexus he can win MITB and cash it in on the beaten down winner of the main event. Orton didn’t tip his hand on how he felt but told them to leave. This was a cool little way of adding intrigue.
3779
3780The Usos backstage were happy about getting a title shot against the Hart Dynasty at MITB. They said they will take the titles. Alicia Fox then came in and wanted to know why she hadn’t been interviewed since winning the women’s title. She said she would show what she’s got against Eve Torres. That led to a very brief match where Alicia beat Eve. Alicia fake sold her ankle for a while and then when Eve came in Alicia kneed her and hit a bicycle kick for the pin. Eve looked like a fool here.
3781
3782Wade Barrett came out for the final segment of the show. He told John Cena that everything Nexus does has a purpose and it’s unfortunate Cena got caught up. Barrett encouraged Cena to come out and shake hands like men, because Cena isn’t in their future plans.
3783
3784John Cena joined Barrett and did his phony serious expression. He wanted to know if he had Barrett’s word. Barrett said yes and extended his hand but Cena pulled back. Cena then transitioned to his goofy comedy shtick, babbling about nothing. Finally, he put on his serious face. He’s like a play actor rather than a realistic character caught up in an actual conflict.
3785
3786Cena finally delivered the serious promo he should have given from the beginning. Cena said the future is him taking out Barrett and each and every one of the Nexus guys. He delivered this really well. Barrett said if Cena didn’t shake hands there would be serious consequences. Cena took his hand but then went for the FU.
3787
3788Nexus ran out to attack Cena. Evan Bourne came in but got jumped as well. John Morrison was next and he got cut off too. Then Mark Henry came and brought in the cavalry. A ton of wrestlers hit the ring and the GM then interjected. The GM called for peace and said there would be consequences if everyone didn’t stop fighting. Cena proceeded to apply the STF on Darren Young.
3789
3790The GM responded by making Nexus vs. Cena 7 on 1 next week. A livid Cena threw Young hard into the post, threw the steps at Young, and threw him over the announce table. I will be so happy if they make Cena’s character more serious and cut down on the comedy, but I’m not holding my breath.
3791
3792Final Thoughts:
3793
3794This show was okay. There was plenty of good and plenty of bad mixed together up and down the show. One thing I like is it seems they have a plan of where they are going now, and that’s the first time I’ve had that sense since they started the NXT angle.
3795POSTED BY TODD MARTIN AT 11:22 PM 8 COMMENTS
3796ABOUT ME
3797TODD MARTIN
3798UNITED STATES
3799VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
3800
3801LINKS
3802Obama/Biden 2008
3803Figure 4 Weekly
3804CBS Sports
3805MMA Payout
3806Los Angeles Times Boxing/MMA
3807Washington Post
3808MMA Weekly
3809Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
3810Avoid Cancer Now
3811Cross Country Express
3812Wrestling Nerds
3813Number One Contender
3814Tan Dynasty
3815The Vortex
3816MMA Ranks
3817Gerweck.net
3818Ron Motta's Blog
3819Ahmed Johnson Fan Club
3820The Great Scottland
3821Here and There
3822Everything and Anything
3823Fight Opinion
3824Monkey Shines
3825adamannapolis
3826Talib Kweli's Blog
3827SI.com
3828PREVIOUS POSTS
3829My Favorite Movies of 2015
3830Book Tier List
3831My Favorite Movies of 2014
3832Memories of Seeing the Ultimate Warrior Live for t...
3833Favorite Movies of 2013
3834Favorite Films of 2012
3835WWE Raw Report
3836WWE Raw Report
3837WWE Raw Report
3838WWE Raw Report
3839ARCHIVES
3840November 2005
3841December 2005
3842January 2006
3843February 2006
3844March 2006
3845April 2006
3846May 2006
3847June 2006
3848July 2006
3849August 2006
3850September 2006
3851October 2006
3852November 2006
3853December 2006
3854January 2007
3855February 2007
3856March 2007
3857April 2007
3858May 2007
3859June 2007
3860July 2007
3861August 2007
3862September 2007
3863October 2007
3864November 2007
3865December 2007
3866January 2008
3867February 2008
3868March 2008
3869April 2008
3870May 2008
3871June 2008
3872July 2008
3873August 2008
3874September 2008
3875October 2008
3876November 2008
3877December 2008
3878January 2009
3879February 2009
3880March 2009
3881April 2009
3882May 2009
3883June 2009
3884July 2009
3885August 2009
3886September 2009
3887October 2009
3888November 2009
3889December 2009
3890January 2010
3891February 2010
3892March 2010
3893April 2010
3894May 2010
3895June 2010
3896July 2010
3897August 2010
3898September 2010
3899October 2010
3900November 2010
3901December 2010
3902January 2011
3903February 2011
3904March 2011
3905April 2011
3906May 2011
3907June 2011
3908July 2011
3909August 2011
3910September 2011
3911October 2011
3912November 2011
3913December 2011
3914January 2012
3915February 2012
3916March 2012
3917April 2012
3918May 2012
3919June 2012
3920July 2012
3921January 2013
3922March 2014
3923April 2014
3924February 2015
3925October 2015
3926February 2016
3927Powered by Blogger