A review of all things Pro Wrestling. WWE Raw, Smackdown, NXT, TNA Impact, PWG, WCW, ECW, CZW, IWP, NWA, ROH and much more.
Features, reviews. Greatest matches and promos, worst matches and characters. Predictions and opinions.
Can you smell what the Sock is cooking?
I should be playing L.A. Noire right about now, but it's not out here till Thursday at the earliest...that means it's RAW time.
LETS DO THIS
- Watching on Youtube, don't look at the comments, don't look at the comments... - Looked at the comments...Goldberg, talented? These people are fucking morons. - Cena - Alex Riley with the interruption before he even opens his mouth...nice - Miz :/ Miz v Cena is a really dull feud - 'Boo this fool' sign in the audience...I agree with that guy - Cena trying to do 'funny'...it's the worst part of his gimmick by far. He's really good at 'intense', he should just stick to that - Kofi v Punk :) Nice - Could have been better, Punk got dominated but won with a Go To Sleep - Just realised that's the first time I've seen Punk win in ages - Cole v Lawler contract signing coming up :/ - DIVAS FUCK YES KONG'S GONNA FUCK YOU ALL UP - L.A. Noire advert...rubbing it in >:( - MITB is it's own PPV now?? - Not the greatest match tbh...it's gotta be Kong time soon - HERE SHE FUCKING COMES KONGS GONNA BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH YOUR SISTERS HEAD - Kong (sorry, Kharma) is one of the highlights of WWE right now - Mysterio...hope Crackhead Truth shows up - Mysterio called out Truth, and Truth actually didn't come out? Don't know that I've ever seen anyone ignore a callout before - Del Rio v Mysterio - Was going OK, but Truth interrupted - AN INTERRUPTION WITH NO BEARING ON THE MATCH WHAT WAS THE FUCKING POINT - Truth with a mic again...he's on meth - Contract signing time...Someone's going through that table - KISS THEM YOU PEASANT - Nobody went through the table :( - Show & Kane v Nexus...they're feuding two very similar factions in two different shows, it's weird - "Another Zack Ryder Sign" sign - Am I the only one who's more excited about the Christian v Orton match than the actual main event for the PPV? - Zack Ryder chilling with Cena again :) - Cena v Swagger :) - Actually more boring than I was expecting
Kinda boring RAW, especially going into a PPV. I actually prefer Smackdown tbh. Maybe I'll check out some TNA so I start appreciating it again...
Not too sure about tonight's RAW, it's a 'Rock's Birthday Special'...doesn't sound too interesting, but there's a decent chance Kong will kill another Diva so I'm watching anyway.
LETS DO THIS
- I'm already sick of hearing about Osama, he's only been dead two days...I don't want to hear about this shit on a wrestling show..FUCK OFF - National Anthem? You are fucking kidding me - Right, fast forwarded 5 minutes of shit I don't care about LETS START THE FUCKING SHOW - Miz v Cena rematch...as if Miz has the remotest of fucking chances - HERE COMES ROCKY - Now Rock's going on about this shit...FFS, if I wanted to watch people going on and on about shit I don't care about I'd watch TNA - God damn this is a boring promo from The Rock...I thought it'd be a lame-ass special episode, but I didn't realise it'd be this bad - Rock just battered Cole...I thought it was the end of a terrible segment, but he's STILL FUCKING TALKING - Oh my god, some bald cunt is singing a terrible, terrible pop song...I WANT TO SEE SOME FUCKING WRESTLING WHAT IS THIS SHIT - Right, after a bit of fast forwarding it's Morrison v Truth...normally I'd be happy to see this match, but I'm still pissed off about the screwjob at the PPV...tempted to give up on RAW and just wait for Smackdown...but Kong'll probably be here at some point - Looks like the match is getting called off because of a pre-match beating by Truth :/ - Divas...KONG TIME MOTHERFUCKERS - Lol, one move into the match and Kong shows up...YOU ARE BOTH GOING TO DIE - Cena v Miz...fast forwarding because I don't give a shit - Cena retained what a fucking surprise - JESUS CHRIST THEY ARE GOING ON ABOUT FUCKING OSAMA AGAIN - Swagger & McIntryre v Rey Mysterio and Kofi
The stream's died so I can't watch the rest for now, given how bad the rest of it was I don't think I'll bother tbh.
Draft time. I don't think I've ever actually seen a draft before, so this should be interesting.
I actually saw a spoiler online by accident, so I know Cena and Orton are heading to Smackdown, but I stopped reading so I don't know the rest...not sure why they're sending two of their biggest stars to the 'b' show, but there we go.
LETS DO THIS
-Starting with a Battle Royale, my least favourite type of match... - Daniel Bryan to win (yeah right) - He was 5th from last to go to be fair - Smackdown wins the first pick - Cena...but I knew that already - Cole v JR is the main event? I hope it's not the actual main event - Here comes Truth - 'Y'all gon stop with that What' 'WHAT' - 'Y'all pissin me the hell off' Awesome promo, dude - 'You know what?' 'WHAT' - They keep letting him say 'pissed' but beeping the 'off'...makes no sense - This promo is fucking weird...mainly because nobody is listening and just going 'WHAT' the whole time - SARANARA ARIBADERCHY - I wish Morrison had ambushed him 5 or 6 minutes earlier...that was terrible - More Kong...can't wait - Or Kharma as she now seems to be known - Divas - Cole interrupting the match on the mic...awesome - Weird fucking brawl...the little brunette battering the big blonde, crying the whole time - Rey's heading to RAW - Lol, Zack Ryder... - Rey's music is awesome. But, crap at the same time. - Cody :D - Cody's promos are awesome - Kofi Kingston v Sheamus...interesting - Woo Woo Woo sign in the audience...wonder if it'll get confiscated - Kofi won...didn't see that coming - Orton...so we're up to the point I already saw, the rest should be a proper surprise - Cole v JR...Cole's probably going to win, but I'm sure it'll be a mess - Best troll heel ever - Cole just stomped on JR's hat...it's on now - Looks like JR busted Cole's lip...didn't think they were allowed to bleed on WWE any more - Flogging JR with his own belt...fucking hell - Started as comedy, but it turned fucking nasty at the end - The main event is gonna be a 'country whipping' match...what the fuck does that even mean - Orton v Dolph...poor Dolph - Actually...what the fuck kind of name is Dolph? Never occurred to me before, but what the fuck even is that - Orton still with that Angle Slam - Another pick for Smackdown - Punk interrupting the draft pick - Punk v Orton is gonna be a last man standing match :) No hail-mary RKOs, how can Orton possibly win? - Orton's got stubble...I predict a heel turn once he gets to Smackdown - Mark Henry and Sin Cara heading to Smackdown - Wade Barrett v Rey Mysterio - Rey wins, short match - Big Show heading to RAW...but he's tag champ with Kane... - Alberto Del Rio going to RAW also...more reason to believe Christian's gonna get that belt :D - Teddy Long...I really don't like him on the mic - Punk, Del Rio and Miz v Christian, Mark Henry and Cena...the entrances alone are gonna take about 10 mins - Awesome Tornado DDT by Christian - Mark Henry heel turns and takes out Cena - And Christian - Lol, Cena's been drafted back to RAW
Pretty cool RAW, it was basically all wrestling, (almost) no bullshit. The Cena thing was a waste of time, though.
I don't really see the draft picks as a big deal, if you watch both shows it doesn't really change anything significant...and half the time you get guys from one show appearing on the other anyway.
Ok, so this is a couple of weeks old now, but I just found out The Rock is back. That makes WWE worth watching, imo. Also, TNA has gone back to being shit, so I'm going to go back to not watching it.
LETS DO THIS
0:11 - The WWE intro still reminds me of botchamania 0:33 - HHH is back again...I am so jealous of that guy, he can come and go as he pleases and get whatever belt he wants basically on command...if my boss' daughter wasn't 8, I'd consider getting that kind of sweet deal myself 2:10 - Triple H is blatantly going to end Taker's streak... 10:57 - I really don't understand why Trip and Seamus are brawling...He just cut a 10 minute promo on Taker, now he's fighting a totally different guy? Might make more sense if I watched every week to be fair... 16:49 - Sweet, Evan Bourne :) I remember him being awesome 23:35 - Lawler v Cole, feud of the year 28:41 - Austin's back next week...Austin and Rock together again, fucking awesome 29:48 - Cole is much better as a fucking mental commentator than he ever was as a straight-up commentator 32:40 - Just watching Orton's promo...I'm not sure when it happened, but WWE is actually way better at promos than TNA now, and that includes the ones with no Bischoff 44:19 - Miz as champ...I feel like I ought to be pissed off about it, but I don't really give a fuck 51:50 - Cena commenting on Miz's mic skills? He's terrible. The Rock fucking owned him two weeks ago, and is gonna do the same tonight... 54:47 - Cena talking is actually the worst part of the show so far 60:29 - Divas battle royale...fast forwarding 64:44 - Does Cena actually think he's rapping, and not just reciting bad poetry? 69:19 - Fucking cracking up, Rock is awesome 75:28 - The Rock is fucking amazing...nobody wrestling today is even close to him on the mic, fucking hell 79:16 - Danielson :D 80:01 - Being owned by Miz :( 81:20 - No idea what that was all about 87:40 - Miz taking a picture of Cena was actually pretty funny 95:20 - Not the greatest main event...
Pretty good show actually...although The Rock was clearly the best bit.
Fuck it, that was so good I'm gonna watch this week's back-to-back...Bring on Austin :D
1:44 - Wow, I like Taker's new music 9:26 - Cena's going to respond to The Rock...I hope he steps his game up, his last response was just embarrassing 17:13 - Punk v Orton should be pretty decent 20:06 - Christian made it to RAW? Cool :) 26:18 - Del Rio's cross arm breaker is awesome 32:20 - Divas, fast forwarding...I heard Kong was coming to WWE, will not be fast forwarding that... 36:44 - Cole standing on the announce table and interrupting the match is hilarious 37:22 - Ok, fast forwarding again 38:39 - Cole v King...best feud since King v Kaufman 38:57 - Oh for fucks sake Jersey fucking Shore again...stop putting this shit in wrestling, seriously 43:03 - JBL is back...I heard a story that one time, he got in an argument with Joey Styles, and Styles knocked him the fuck out with a single punch...I don't know if it's true, but I choose to believe it is 48:22 - FUCK YEAH AUSTIN 55:50 - TNA doesn't even come close to this 56:42 - Looks like it's time for Cena's response...he really needs to step his game up, he's like the main guy in WWE and Rock's making him look like a complete amateur 56:58 - Nope, more Cole 58:42 - Danielson :D Hope he makes it to the ring this week 59:16 - Sheamus...I hope Danielson ruins him 60:36 - Why is he so pale? Did he get a full-body tattoo with white ink or something? 61:36 - Damn was that for real? Looked like Sheamus might have actually fucked his ankle. I wanted Danielson to win, but not like that :( 63:00 - Just put his career on the line next week, I'm gonna say his ankle's fine 63:32 - CM Punk :D 63:45 - Punk v R Truth...this could be pretty good, unless Orton goes mental or something 67:40 - Pretty short match :( 71:33 - Ugh, Vicky Guererro 72:32 - She's lost all that weight, and actually looks worse 72:49 - I really want Austin to come out here and stunner her fucking head off...or maybe just her voicebox 73:11 - Ziggler's coming to RAW :) 74:11 - John Morrison :) 77:18 - That was way too easy... 79:19 - Trish Stratus is back too? Awesome 81:07 - Josh Matthews isn't too bad as a commentator...compared to the other people they've had since JR left. 83:47 - OK, Cena time... 84:14 - I can't wait to see this promo, because I want to see how a guy responds to what happened last week...this is what wrestling is supposed to be...this is what TNA is missing. I watch TNA because I hope it's not shite for the sake of the good wrestlers there. I don't give a fuck about the storylines or the promos, I just want to see the guys I like get decent matches. 86:44 - 2 weeks ago, Cena was a bad rapper. This week, he's a bad stand-up comedian. WHEN IS HE GOING TO DO A PROMO AS A FUCKING WRESTLER FOR FUCKS SAKE 88:15 - He's gonna rap again? For fucks sake, you looked like a fucking clown the first time, doing that shit again is even worse 90:57 - Ok, the T-shirt is pretty funny 96:06 - Fucking hell, even The Miz is better than Cena on the mic...I finally realise why so many people hate him. They always say he's a shit wrestler, but he's decent - it's his mic work that's shite.
2 RAWs back to back and I can't wait till the next one...I can't think of a situation where I'd voluntarily watch 2 iMPACTs without a 'sanity break' in-between.
It's really refreshing to look forward to a wrestling show because you care about an angle and want to see what happens next. Instead of dreading watching it in case it's completely shit, as it so often is (I'm looking at you, TNA).
Mania's shaping up pretty well this year, Punk v Orton should be good, and HHH v Taker should be awesome. Not too fussed about Cena v Miz, though. Looking forward to Austin killing Michael Cole. Anyway, should be better than last year's...
There was a lot to take in this week with Survivor Series and the fallout from that, so let’s take a quick look over this last week:
WWE Survivor Series: The best way to look at this is to revisit my predictions:
- “- Team Del Rio vs. Team Mysterio - Rey Mysterio, The Big Show, Kofi Kingston, M.V.P & Chris Masters vs. Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntyre, "Dashing" Cody Rhodes & Tyler Reks. Don’t watch Smackdown, so don’t care... flip a coin... Del rio to win.”
So, the babyfaces won. Oh well. To be honest, this wasn’t a bad match. Drew McIntyre is possibly the most boring thing in WWE at the moment, but most of the others put on a decent match. I’m not sure what the WWE have against MVP, he got the biggest crowd pop of this match when he entered and yet he was quickly eliminated. Match rating: ***
“- John Morrison vs. Sheamus This match is stupid. Sheamus has been going after Santino for weeks, so he’s having a match with Morrison... who gives a fuck. Potential to be a half-decent match though. Morrison to win.” This was a really solid match, but I’ll admit that when I was watching it I was hoping that Triple H would do a run-in. There were some pretty innovative moves by Morrison in this one, but the ending felt a bit flat. Morrison won this one, so 1-1 on the predictions. Match rating: ***½
“- 2 on 1 Handicap Match for WWE Unified Diva's Championship Team Laycool (Michelle McCool & Layla) vs. Beth Phoenix Don’t care about Divas... The first one to win.” I was wrong, but don’t care. I went to get a drink during this one. 1-2.
“- WWE United States Championship Match Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase (w/Maryse) This could be pretty good, but can see bullshit with Maryse. I’d like to see Danielson keep the strap. Danielson to win.” Danielson won and the match was great. I’ve decided that a dream match would be Danielson versus Angle, but I know that’s never going to happen. Just imagine how good that match could be? I think this match has put DiBiase up in my estimation: the guy can work. 2-2 on the predictions. Match rating: ****
“- WWE Intercontinental Championship Match Dolph Ziggler vs. Kaval This could be the best match of the night, Kaval (Low-ki/Senshi) has been floundering a bit of late, so would like to see him win and have some matches with Danielson. Low-ki to win” It’s a shame that Low-ki is getting buried in the WWE. He didn’t get the title, and probably never will now . Though the match took a little to get going, it was truly excellent. There was one spot where Ziggler got kicked in the face pretty hard and his nose started bleeding. This was definitely the best match of the night. 3-2 Match rating ****½
“- WWE Tag Team Championship Match Nexus (Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater) vs. Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov
Really? Is this the best they could come up with? TNA gives you Guns/Beer Money/Gen Me... WWE charges you to see Santino and the generic Russian guy versus the ones without personality who stand in a line with Wade Barrett wearing the same T-shirts. WWE tag team division is a complete joke, it really is.“ A joke with a bad punchline... this match was piss-poor and the Nexi retained. No prediction for this because I cared so little about this match. Match rating: *
“- World Heavyweight Championship Match - Kane (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Edge Who cares, will probably be less painful to watch the Kane/Taker... hope Edge wins. Edge to win.” This match was bullshit, Edge won, but then the decision was reversed. I didn’t realise they had Dusty Rhodes on the booking at WWE. The match itself was also awful. I’ve always thought that if you have the strap on a wrestling show, you should be able to put on a good match. How many good matches has Kane actually been in? No really, think about this. How many? Maybe his first few with Undertaker, maybe one or two decent ones when he was a dentist. This match was Kane by numbers, and shouldn’t have been on a PPV, let alone high card. Please fire Kane, he’s just rubbish. 2-4. Match rating: *
“WWE Championship - Orton (c) vs. Barrett w/Cena as ref. I’m hoping for a Cena heel turn and Barrett to take home the strap. I can’t stand Orton, the guy is as wooden as, erm, some wood and looks like one of the muppets (Beaker?). I can see a lot of bullshit going down in this match, maybe even a good few swerves, but I hope not. Barrett to win. (then Miz will cash in his Money in the Bank case)”
I got this one all wrong, Cena shoved Barrett at the end to allow Orton to get the win. The match was decent enough, it just wasn’t that great. I’ll admit that the ending took me by surprise (as it evidently did with Matt Striker who called that Cena was free, only to be quickly corrected by Lawler). As for the Miz, I was wrong... for 24 hours, at least... Match rating: ***
So my predictions were way off on this. As a pay-per-view, this was a mixed bag. There were some stand-out matches, and some stinkers. The finale to the Cena/Nexus angle will be the biggest swerve in history (cue Cena in a match for a WWE contract as a masked wrestler at Royal Rumble.)
WWE Raw: The fallout for Survivor Series and another decent Raw. There was another match with Danielson and BiBiase which was very good. There was also a long goodbye segment with John Cena which was probably one of the best babyface promos I think I’ve seen (he even called for the “Let’s go Cena/Cena sucks” chant.) Of course, this angle has no choice but to fail. Unless Cena is genuinely fired, or at minimum takes some time off, this could seriously damage Cena’s position. The promo ended with Cena walking out of the door... for good... It was also good to see CM Punk on the announce team. At points he sounded very “broadcast journalist” offering quite a lot of generic play-by-play commentary. It was only when he started to allow his personality to come out that he became interesting. I hope that the WWE encourage Punk to be more of himself. The main event of the evening saw a return match between Orton and Barrett, again it was a decent match which was won by Orton due to a run-in by... John Cena... the guy who had said goodbye and walked out of the WWE made his triumphant return on the same fucking night. Now I hope that this is a one-off, that this was Cena’s last bit of revenge against Barrett and only returns say when Barrett actually has the title. With Orton and Barrett both exhausted from their match, the Miz came in and cashed in his MiTB case and in now the WWE champion. Thank God the title has been stripped from Orton (even though it will blatantly go back to him at TLC.)
Next week is King of the Ring. I’m not sure why they still do this, but it means a 3 hour Raw, so who’s complaining. I hope they don’t have Kofi Kingston to win (King Kingston, eugh). I think a good heel character should win this, hopefully Sheamus or Del Rio, but we shall see. If I’ve learnt one thing from watch Raw recently it is that the storyline which would make most sense and make for better future programming isn’t the way they’ll go, so who knows?
TNA Impact: TNA does not care about its international fans. The management are so focused on US ratings that they ignore the fact TNA Reaction isn’t aired in many places. This is why the main event, and the main angle of the show didn’t appear on Impact. So you watch the show on Bravo on a Saturday night. Most of the programme sucks, the matches are bad and the main event (a Survivor Series style elimination match, FFS) cuts off near the end and that’s it. UK viewers are say wondering “what the fuck was that? Where the fuck was the Dixie Carter stuff they’d be going on about all episode?” So I end up downloading it from an illegal torrent site so I can watch the fucking ending. I’ve said it before: why should I waste my time watching a show on TV that doesn’t even have the ending when I can download it for free and watch it all? It makes no real difference to me, but to the TV station, who is losing viewers week-after-week because they are choosing to just download it rather than watch it on TV, this just seems stupid. Advertising revenues go down with ratings, and I’m sure I’m not the only person getting sick of this. This just stinks of desperation on TNA’s part and is very short-sighted. I watched some of Reaction and realised that it wasn’t worth my bandwidth. The elimination ended with a run-in by the NWO (Jeff Hardy) and Dixie Carter had an injunction for Hogan. Yeah! An injunction, wooo! FFS, are you serious? I can’t wait for the courtroom drama that will play out over the next few months. Who cares about wrestling when we can have courtroom drama? Maybe they could bring Judge Judy, maybe Hogan will be hit with a summons rather than a steel chair... oh dear.
On another note, just watched the Best of Tyler Black DVD by ROH, some awesome stuff on there.
This week, Raw went old school, and it was pretty good. They had all the old graphics, music, format and colours of Raw from when it first started. It was just like a normal edition of Raw in terms of building up for Survivor Series and keeping with the usual storylines. There were a couple of matches where old wrestlers were squashed by the younger guys (Brooklyn Brawler and Sgt. Slaughter). They also had a few ‘legends’ come out without wrestlers, or do little skits. One skit which I though was genius was with Dusty Rhodes, IRS, the Million Dollar Man, Goldust and Cody Rhodes... you need to see it. A skit with the Iron Sheik was also brilliant. He seemed like he didn’t even know he was there and was shouting off... not quite so genius, but was still entertaining. Rowdy Roddy Piper did his Piper’s Pit with Cena and Orton, and even though Piper’s looking pretty old these days, he’s still got it on the mic. Highlight of the night was the Swagger versus Danielson match with Jim Ross on the commentary. I’m obviously showing my age because having JR on the commentary just sounded right. I thought that Michael Cole was brilliant during this as well, pouting like a teenager. Michael Cole as a heel, play-by-play guy works really well, and this segment was probably one of the most entertaining things Cole has ever done.
TNA Impact
I find you have to rate the quality of Impacts on a curve these days. In terms of the last few months, this wasn’t a bad Impact. They were focused on less storylines which gave room for more time for wrestling... but not much more... The show opened with a slick video package with Jeff Hardy talking about how he’s the “anti-Christ of professional wrestling” and looking and sounding more and more like Raven (he’s even put on a couple of pounds). This was a classic case of style over substance and can only be described as absolute gash. There was a promo by Ric Flair against Matt Morgan, this was pretty entertaining and actually led to a match later in the night... which as you can imagine wasn’t brilliant, but was pretty solid... before a run-in by Fourtune... throughout the promo Flair repeatedly referred to himself as God – not a God, but God. I hate to use logic here, but if we take the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity, whereby the Father (God), the Son (Christ) and the Holy Spirit (spooky ghost), are all properties of the same entity (i.e. God), then Ric Flair and Jeff Hardy should be theologically opposed... perhaps... but then I suppose Flair could be an incarnation of Yahweh, the vengeful God of the Old Testament... Flair should clarify what he means when he uses the word God in this context... erm... so with the run-in, we had a bit of argie-bargie, a bit of an altercation between the members of Fourtune and Douglas Williams... So Doug Williams is now out of Fourtune. This is excellent, it means now Fourtune’s name actually makes fucking sense, I also hope that a match comes of this at the next PPV between AJ and Williams, and hopefully they will give them 15-20 minutes... and a cage... and a ladder... After the Flair promo we had a mixed tag match between The Guns with Velvet Sky and Jay Lethal, and Gen Me with Robbie E and Cookie... why they are having a manager wrestle after a few weeks of being introduced in beyond me... Becky Bayliss is hot, but she’s not a good worker by any stretch of the imagination... this match had some decent moments, but on the whole was a bit of clusterfuck. Robbie E got the win, which made no sense. Next up was a segment with Jarrett and JB. You can tell that in recent months TNA have been trying to put over a “reality” feel to their programming, with lots of candid snatches of dialogue and shoots by the wrestlers. In this segment, Jarrett was haranguing JB to read out an elaborate introduction for him, and ended up bitch-slapping him. The scene was uncomfortable and awkward, and so worked very well – much better than a lot of the Bischoff/Hogan segments they’ve been doing recently. Next up was Jeff Jarrett’s MMA exhibition. With Jarrett bringing out six students from his “dojo” and taking them one at a time to show them submissions. I actually found this segment pretty entertaining, even though as I’m writing this, it sounds like a sack of cack... the segment was interrupted by Samoa Joe (Not “SAMOAN JOE”, Hogan). A match between Joe and two of the anonymous ‘students’ lasted for about 20 seconds with Joe getting them both to tap out in quick succession. Jarrett ran away, and we will no doubt see a submission match at the next PPV. I’m pretty hazy on the ordering here, but the next match (I think) was Jeff Hardy versus Raven. If Raven lost, he would be fired. With the EC2 angle being wound down, it’s no surprise that Raven lost. As much as I used to like Raven, today he looks out of shape and a bit of a drug-wreck. The match itself wasn’t bad, and had hardy win with a Twist of Fate followed by a Swanton for the pin. There was a really dull promo between Rhino and Tommy Dreamer, which I can’t really remember aside from the fact that it nearly made me fall asleep. This also goes for 3D’s promo – as great as they are on the mic, this whole angle is rubbish. Bubba flips between face and heel every few weeks and its starting to wear a bit thin. As I say, my order is all out of whack, but I’m pretty sure the next match was Mickie James versus Angelina for the number our contender’s slot. As Love didn’t get her rematch after she lost the title to Tara, I’m pretty sure she’s the de facto number one contender... but this is TNA and logic and consistency aren’t exactly top priorities. The match was pretty decent, Love looked really good in this match. James won and so she’ll be, erm, taking on Tara again at the next PPV... hmmm... We then had a backstage bit with Angelina crying, who should show up but Winter? You know Winter; the one who’s been doing the Ultimate Warrior trick of appearing in a mirror? The one that only Angelina can see... and the cameraman... and the viewers... it seems that Winter is some kind of Eastern-bloc goth/witch lesbian stalker. I really cannot wait to see how long it takes for TNA to drop this one... Next we had a match between Shannon Moore and Abyss. I can’t stand Shannon Moore, the guy is a spot monkey and I just hate his image/character/philosophy/wrestling style. This match was pretty dumb and ended with Pope become the Undertaker and magically appearing in a casket. I’m really confused by the casket, who’s casket is it? I thought it was Abyss’, but it seems that Taz thinks it is the Pope’s... I’m confused. And the end the show we had the aforementioned Flair/Morgan match. On the whole, this wasn’t a bad Impact. There were lots of short snappy backstage segments which is much preferred to the long-drawn-out conversations between Hogan and Bischoff. I still think that the TNA belt looks awful... truly awful...
WWE Breaking the Code: Behind the Walls of Chris Jericho DVD
Just a quick final note, Chris Jericho’s DVD is pretty awesome. The documentary segment is great, and has a lot of his best promos. The only negative thing about this is the fact that they spend far too much time plugging Fozzie. If you don’t know Fozzie, imagine the most generic rock you can... bingo! That’s what Fozzie is. Of course, the best thing about the DVD is the two discs of matches. And because WWE owns the tapes to WCW/ECW/Smokey Mountain, etc, we get a good variety of matches.
“Cowboy” Chris Jericho vs. Lance T. Storm Calgary, Alberta October 2, 1990 Alternate Commentary By: Chris Jericho & Matt Striker
The Thrill Seekers vs. The Infernos Smoky Mountain Wrestling March 12, 1994
International Junior Heavyweight Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. Ultimo Dragon Japan July 7, 1995 Alternate Commentary By: Chris Jericho & Matt Striker
Chris Jericho vs. Cactus Jack Hardcore TV March 12, 1996
WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Guerrero Fall Brawl September 14, 1997
Mask vs. WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera SuperBrawl VIII February 22, 1998
WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko Nitro July 27, 1998
The Millennium Countdown Clock Expires RAW August 9, 1999
Intercontinental Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle No Way Out February 27, 2000
WWE Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. Triple H RAW April 17, 2000
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. The Rock No Mercy October 21, 2001
Undisputed Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin Vengeance December 9, 2001 Disk 3
No Disqualification Match for the WWE Undisputed Championship Chris Jericho vs. Hulk Hogan SmackDown May 2, 2002
Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels WrestleMania XIX March 30, 2003 Alternate Commentary By: Chris Jericho & Matt Striker
WWE Championship You’re Fired Match Chris Jericho vs. John Cena RAW August 22, 2005
Save_US.Y2J RAW November 19, 2007
Intercontinental Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy RAW March 10, 2008
Ladder Match for the World Heavyweight Championship Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels No Mercy October 5, 2008
No Holds Barred Match for the Intercontinental Championship Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio Extreme Rules June 7, 2009
Non-Title Match Chris Jericho vs. Undertaker SmackDown! November 13, 2009
World Heavyweight Championship Match Chris Jericho vs. Edge WrestleMania XXVI March 28, 2010
My favourite matches on here are versus Juventud Guerrera and Shawn Michaels. Most of the matches are 4 star + and is well-worth checking out.
As the blog seems to have gone a bit by the wayside recently, I’ve decided to summarise the weeks highlights in my own wrestling experience.
TNA Turning Point.
I thought that this was a very strong PPV which seemed to dip in quality near the end. I really enjoyed the Guns/Dudleys match. The Lethal Robbie match was pretty dull, there was some good spots, but Robbie E’s style is very WWE. Tara versus Mickie James was pretty decent for a Knockouts match, and really showed how much better the style of women’s wrestling is in TNA compared to WWE. The RVD/Dreamer match was an absolute car-wreck and should have been stopped after Dreamer’s wrist was clearly dislocated. Dreamer has this old-school mentality that the show must go on, and ended up doing some crazy shit (like a jumping piledriver and getting crotched with a ladder) with his hand half hanging off. It was nasty to watch. The Fourtune/EV2 had some pretty good moments, but wasn’t a great match, Raven looked an absolute mess and did nothing for the whole match. Sabu ended up getting pinned and then fired as a result. Flair gave a classic Flair promo to Sabu about him hating the Sheik, really funny. The Abyss/Pope match was pointless and dull. The Hardy/Morgan match showed that Morgan is mid-card at best and really can’t perform at the top level. That should have been Joe or Angle in the ring, not Morgan. As expected the Immortals swept the board at this one, and I’m pretty sure that all of their matches had at least some NWO-style shenanigans.
The Shore.
Though I’m still not convinced by Robbie E’s in-ring ability, The Shore’s gimmick is pretty strong. In a week when TNA had a guest appearance from someone from one of the hottest (albeit shittest) shows in America, WWE had Peewee Herman (wonder if he had a wank in the audience of this one?). As a gimmick, the casting is great, both Becky Bayliss and Robbie E are convincing as annoying Jersey Shore types, and the mini-feud between Cookie and J-Wow from the Jersey Shore show only served to cement that. Though they are annoying, at least TNA are trying to be relevant to a modern audience.
Impact
If you can get past the first half hour of Bischoff et al talking themselves up, this wasn’t a bad Impact. A lot of the matches were screw-job matches or handicap matches which favoured Fourtune (Joe versus Gunner and Murphy had a run-in by Jeff Jarrett.) Stevie Richard versus AJ was surprisingly good, the others matches weren’t bad, they just stunk of NWO. Putting Jeff Hardy over as a heel is clearly not working, but at least he came out wearing a suit this week (that’s how you know he’s a bad guy).
WWE Raw
I only watch Raw now, I can’t be bothered with Smackdown, and I certainly can’t be bothered with NXT or Superstars. I was in the audience for the last Raw (filmed in Manchester) and my experience of it is a little mixed. It was fun to be there, bu when there were commercials breaks, the matches would literally stop as the wrestlers stood and waited for the programme to air again. WWE aren’t making anywhere near as much money as they used to and Linda McMahon didn’t win her election, so shouldn’t WWE take stock and sort their shit out? The PG thing clearly isn’t meeting the financial projections and come next Wrestlemania, what is going to be WWE’s draw for the event? Taker is hurting and is in and out of surgery every few months, Shaun Michaels has retired... what are we going to have? Wade Barrett versus Cena?
UFC 121 – Lesnar versus Velasques
I’ve never been arsed about MMA, but I ended up watching the last UFC this week with a mate. One the whole, the fights were pretty dull, but the main event with Lesnar was stunning. Both the fighters were relentless and Lesnar got beat by TKO. I’m still not convinced by UFC, but I really did enjoy that last match.
WCW Nitro – October/November 1996
It’s amazing how quick I can get through an episode of Nitro when I fast forward past the crap. I only watch the Cruiserweight matches and have been intrigued by the NWO stuff. I’ve read all about the NWO stuff before, but thought I needed to watch it for myself, and I have to say that the way it has built up was very well-executed, and I’m sure that, for a while at least, the angle was believable. I’m at the point now where Bischoff has just joined the NWO, and a main event has been signed for Hogan versus Piper. WCW’s main events were shit. Hogan/Macho Man/Lex Luger/The Giant... but the undercard was excellent and I don’t think it has been equalled. The Cruiserweight division had a real international feel to it, and some of the matches were fantastic. Dean Malenko/Ultimo Dragon/Psychosis/Rey Mysterio/Jushin Liger/Chris Jericho/Juventud Guerrera/Eddie Guerrero are just some of the regulars and there is nothing like it today.
Hey guys Chris Wilson here...Back again for RAW 7-26. Now I'm going to say when I heard about the TV-PG thing I said I was going to stop watching the WWE. Well a friend of mine turned me on to the Nexus thing and I started watching again. The WWE has addressed a few things that made it unwatchable for me. Number one I felt that they weren't pushing the young guys. Number two same old people in the main event scene. Number 3 a stable of more than three people(Nexus 7)....just to name a few... I've been into RAW for the last few weeks lets see if that continues......
RAW opens up with a video package showing the actions of the Nexus over the last few weeks. And capping off by showing John Cena forming his dream team. I liked the effects of this video it was in Black and Gold through the Nexus beatdowns. Until Cena walks away and says he has help. The screen turns full color as each member of what Micheal Cole calls the "WWE 7"(so i will just refer to them as that), come out one by one followed by Bret Hart to top it off. The Nexus runs into the stands and the video package ends.. I liked the video package the black and gold effect was cool. They are pushing this Nexus thing to the infinity..... 5 out of 5
So we begin the actual show with John Cena coming out to the ring. He talks about the previous attacks carried out by the Nexus, he names off superstars, Mr. McMahon, Bret Hart, ring announcers, camera men....all the like. He talks about how the RAW superstars stood together and that their biggest goal is making sure the Nexus doesn't gain anymore power, because with power comes influence. Cena continues on about how HIS team will come together to stop the Nexus. (One minor note that the fans in San Antonio didn't seem too fond of Cena during this promo) Jericho comes out and ripped Cena and tried to claim leadership of the RAW team that will compete at SummerSlam against The Nexus. After some back-and-forth bickering, Jericho threatened Cena, to which he replied "take your best shot." The general manager ends up scheduling a tag team match between Jericho and Cena against two wrestlers of his choosing the GM also let Cena/Jericho know that their match against Nexus at SummerSlam would be an elimination match ........Overall decent promo by Cena(not!!!), It actually became entertaining when Jericho came out. I'm feeling another Cena/Jericho feud, I'm going to give this segment a 4 out of 5
So our first match is between Jey Uso(w/Jimmy Uso and Tamina) vs. Randy Orton(#1 Contender for WWE Title). So Sheamus's music hits and he walks down to the announce table and joins Micheal Cole and Jerry Lawler. Weird booking in the ring but a good idea to have Sheamus watching from the annnounce table. Not a very interesting match, but Orton wins via pin fall after hitting an RKO. Not that good of a match in the ring but Sheamus being at ringside added a bit of intrigue..So the booking of this match will get a 3 out of 5.....
Now for the post match segment, Orton turns his attention to Sheamus and gets hit from behind by Jimmy Uso. Orton fights back and Sheamus enters the ring and tries to hit Orton with the Brogue Kick, Orton ducks and Sheamus hits Jimmy Uso with the Brogue Kick and Orton hits Sheamus with an RKO and leaves the ring. The Miz's music hits and he runs to the ring with a referee. He appears to be cashing in the MITB....that is until Randy Orton hits HIM with the RKO(lol) Bell never rang so no match happened. Really good post match segment I actually enjoyed this more than the match, I found it funny that The Miz tried to cash in and got an RKO in return. I give this post-match segment a 5 out of 5
Edge is now back stage talking to Ted DiBiase & Maryse about the SummerSlam match against Nexus. Edge believes that DiBiase should be in the match, and not The Great Khali because he’s big and awkward. DiBiase agrees and says that maybe him winning his match against John Morrison will make Cena believe that he is better than The Great Khali and Morrison. Edge says he may have to force things and take out Khali himself. Ranjin Singh hears this as Edge walks away, and goes to warn Khali. Uh-oh more problems within the "WWE 7"....interesting... This backstage segment gets a 3 out of 5
We come back from commercial Back in the ring, Sheamus & The Miz are arguing nose to nose. An Email comes from the anonymous GM, He makes them the tag team to face Cena & Jericho in the main event. The plot thickens..... two tag-teams who don't want to be partners...not to mention a team of champions...Another match making segment pretty average....so I give it a 3 out of 5...
Next up(note I do not review non-current show video packages) Edge is backstage again on the phone and The Great Khali comes in the room. He's not happy about hearing what Edge said about him, Khali challenges him to a match RIGHT NOW, and Edges denies what he said but makes it that if Khali loses he's out of the "WWE 7". Funny segment especially when the Great Khali comes in (Maryse was right no one can understand what he's saying) I give this backstage segment a 3 out of 5
After the commercial our next match is Edge vs The Great Khali(w/Ranjin Singh) this is good booking. Edge sells moves well and the Great Khali has never been too convincing in the ring to me. In the middle of the match Nexus comes out and Edge heads for the hills(lolz) leaving Khali by himself, The Nexus surrounds Khali. But they let him leave the ring. Match ends in a no contest...The booking of this match gets a 4 out 5, and only because Nexus came out and I thought they were going to attack Khali boy were we all wrong.
Elimination Match Nexus vs. Team Raw(Yoshi Tatsu, Jerry Lawler, DH Smith, Tyson Kidd, Goldust, Mark Henry and Evan Bourne )In an 7 on 7 Elimination Match. Believe it or not intially I was exicited about this match, mainly because I had never seen all of the members of Nexus in an actual match.(except for Wade Barrett) When I saw who they were going up against I was going to say "bad booking" for the first time in this blog. Then when I saw the dominating fashion of the victory and the UNITY shown by the Nexus I changed my mind... and even more with the problems the "WWE 7" have been having so far....GOOD BOOKING!!! A total spot fest in the clean sweep by the Nexus....I give this match a 4 out of 5.
Post match, Nexus destroys Bourne capped off by the Justin Gabriel 450 Splash. Barrett then takes a mic(as usual) and he says that Cena's team are showing cracks because of their massive egos.Sheffield adds that Cena’s team is working as individuals, while are working for the betterment of the group.Tarver adds that he hopes that at SummerSlam it turns out just like tonight, but Cena’s the last one remaining so that they can destroy him. I liked this segment because Wade Barrett wasn't the only one who spoke for once.....Uhhh Sheffield should stay away from the mic...Tarver I was pretty impressed with... This post match promo gets a 5 out of 5.
In our next backstage segment, The Miz is sitting around stewing over what happened earlier. Sheamus busts into the locker room and says that Miz is dreaming if he thinks that he can win the WWE Title, Sheamus tells him to name the time and place, and he’ll leave The Miz black & blue.The Miz says “How about tonight, immediately after we face Cena/Jericho… I cash it in, hit the Skull Crushing Finale, and become WWE Champion…” Sheamus replies, “You keep pushing me, I’m going to make you regret it!” Knocks the MITB case out of Miz’s hands. Another entertaining backstage segment despite my fears The Miz is a great Mr Money In The Bank..At least he's trying right?? 4 out of 5
Our next match is Alicia Fox vs Brie Bella (w/Nikki Bella) lol I won't say bad booking because it seems the WWE is still trying to legitimize Alicia Fox, hell the match was so short I went to go get a drink and I missed Jillian Hall stop the Bella's from making a switch. In fact when I came back Alicia was already hitting the Scissors Kick(Darn Divas matches).... 2 minute match = 2 out of 5
Post match, Jillian goes to celebrate Alicia’s win with a song, and gets hit with a Scissors Kick for her trouble. LOL that post match segment was just as long as the match but funnier....a 3 out of 5
We return from commercial and R-Truth is out rapping his theme, and he heads to the announce table. Our next match is John Morrison vs. Ted DiBiase(w/Maryse) Mid match, Morrison sets up for Star Ship Pain when Maryse jumps on apron as distraction. DiBiase rolls up Morrison with his feet on the ropes, but R-Truth pushes his feet off. DiBiase argues with Truth, and avoids getting hit from behind by catching John Morrison with a drop toe hold. Morrison’s momentum has him collide head-to-head with Truth. DiBiase gets the win. Nicely booked match I thought Morrison's feud with DiBiase would be forgotten after him joining the "WWE 7" but I guess I wrong...The booking of this match gets a 4 out of 5.
Our next Post-Match segment features Morrison and R-Truth arguing about what happened.John Cena is shown backstage looking disappointed that his team’s falling apart....I have to say these post-match segments are getting good. As well I'm impressed that the Nexus/WWE 7 angle are tying into these matches.... 4 out of 5
The next backstage segment features Josh Matthews and Randy Orton. Josh Matthews is with Randy Orton and asks about how he RKO’d the Miz earlier, and if that means he’d rather face Sheamus for the WWE Title. Orton says that he RKO’d both men tonight, which means that he doesn’t care who he faces at SummerSlam....Pretty late to ask Orton about his actions, but when you think about it Sheamus and the Miz are in action next....3 out 5 Pretty average backstage segment...
OKAY the main event The Miz(WWE US Champion) and Sheamus(WWE Champion) vs. John Cena and Chris Jericho. I have got to say I like the names in this match and the two angles involved. You've got The Miz who is Mr. Money In The Bank, who seems to be living up to his word of being Sheamus's "Celebrity Stalker". Then you have John Cena and Chris Jericho, two members of the obviously disfuctional "WWE 7" to me you have two feuds booked in one match, with the people feuding with each other on the same team....GREAT BOOKING Anonymous GM.... As the match started Cena and Jericho didn't seem to be very cohesive as the match went on they began to start working as a team....You could even hear Cena cheering on Jericho when Sheamus had him in a submission hold. Alas The Miz pinned Cena(yea thats right The Miz pinned Cena) after Jericho turned on Cena and hit him with the CodeBreaker(lol). I liked the booking off this match alot...didn't expect Jericho to turn on Cena(well maybe I did). I give the booking of this match a 4 out of 5.
In our last post-match segment.... Jericho puts Cena in the Walls of Jericho but Cena reverses it into the STFU. The Great Khali comes out to stop Cena, and Edge spears him. The rest of the "WWE 7"(excluding Bret Hart) all come out to the ring to argue. Khali gets pissed and chops John Morrison & Edge in the head(so many lolz in this show) A good way to the show they were playing on the trouble within the WWE 7 so it was good that the Nexus didn't intervene.... 4 out of 5....I think we have trouble in paradise guys....
Well another good RAW I'm really impressed with this Nexus storyline...We may be on the heels of something big...But in the past I don't get my hopes up on the WWE culminating their storylines....time will tell...see you guys for my booking review for TNA Impact and hopefully just hopefully I can catch SmackDown and cover all three major shows.
Greetings wrestling world, Chris Wilson here once again, in my first post I reviewed the booking for July 19th's RAW. I'm a big fan of BIG storylines in wrestling, and we owe that to the bookers. As an aspiring writer I have always wanted to become a booker for a promotion. I know, I know, alot of you guys are saying "wait a minute buddy we know what booking is". I'm well aware of this but alot of wrestling fans don't pay attention to the booking, It's kind of like the matches, the segments, and the gimmicks are just there sometimes. I for one pay attention to the booking as much as I do the lights, the pyro, the entrance themes, and most of all the wrestling. So let's explore what booking really is shall we??
Booking, in professional wrestling, is the process of laying out in advance the general storyline of the match, to include what the eventual outcome will be. Booking may be very detailed and include a more-or-less precise length for the match and what moves, techniques, and holds will be employed by which wrestler or wrestlers and at what point in the match each will happen.
Meaning the booker not only lays out the storyline for the matches, but also determines which wrestlers(via a certain wrestlers storyline) will face who. An example of this is Kevin Sullivan specifically stating that he hand picked Bill DeMott as Goldberg's first opponent. And further went on to say he chose DeMott because he was a veteran and would get him over the right way.
Contrary to popular belief, bookers do not "script" these matches like plays. In fact bookers leave a considerable amount of room for improvisation, mostly in the case of very talented veteran performers who can prove creativity. At other times there may be situations where the wrestlers may not be able to follow the intentions of the booker. An example of this occured at SuperBrawl VIII when Rick Martel landed badly during his rematch with Booker T, hitting his leg on one of the steel cables that WCW used as ring ropes. He tore an inside ligament of his right knee, fractured his leg and suffered cartilage damage. Martel was originally supposed to retain the Television Title in the match, which was designed to be a gauntlet match in which he would beat Booker and then Perry Saturn, but ended up suffering the knee injury. Martel and Booker worked out a finish in the ring through which Martel suffered a worse injury after a botched Harlem Sidekick.
Talented bookers are key to any successful promotion. It is this element, even above athletic performance, that generally determines the success or failure of a promotion. Even so, the booker must have wrestlers of sufficient skill to work with to make the matches appear to be at least somewhat plausible. Vince Russo for example was heavily to blame for WCW going under, because of his ridiculous storylines and Shock TV style booking.
Bookers often perform in the event in some way. The most notable example is World Wrestling Entertainment's Howard Finkel, who helped book shows, announced matches, and even wrote magazine reviews of shows. On the other hand, the before mentioned Vince Russo is viewed by many to have inserted himself too heavily. Kevin Nash was also a booker but was an active wrestler, another wrestler Triple H has also done this during his career.
The power of a group or individual to set matches and storyline is said to have booking power. A promotion's creative team has booking power by definition, but official bookers are not the only people said to have booking power. A group of wrestlers can be said to have booking power as well, a more popular example of this is The Clique(Shawn Micheals, Kevin Nash, Triple H, and Scott Hall), someone who is friends with the booker, or whose contract gives them creative control over their character (e.g., Hulk Hogan), may be said to have booking power. Backstage politics may play a large role in who gets to control the direction of matches and storylines.
Another method is called "on the fly booking" which means that a show will be booked on the night that it is to be put on.
On the fly booking was often used by WCW during the Monday Night Wars. This was done because WCW had a large undercard talent roster which would have been time-consuming to write dedicated storylines for. This time period also saw the rise of the Internet wrestling community and the management at WCW perceived a need to keep the details of upcoming storylines from leaking out. This method of booking's drawbacks became visible quickly when WCW storylines would often seem disjointed and not carry over into next week's show. In light of WCW losing the Monday Night Wars, on the fly booking is rarely practiced except in cases where a wrestler does not show up at a scheduled event or at some independent wrestling shows where the talent is not part of a permanent roster.
In closing there are multiple types of methods and influences for booking, and it is a major part of wrestling and all ways will be. You may not know who the bookers are all the time but they make world of whatever wrestling show you watch or wrestling promotion you follow go round. See you guys on Friday for my review of TNA's booking for Impact this week.
Hey everyone Chris Wilson here, but for now you can just call me TiTan. I just got back into watching the WWE just recently and there's no better way to start off my week than with RAW. Now remember guys i'm not rating the matches i'm rating the booking and the segments/promos involved in the show.
I'm rating from 1 to 5, 1 being boring , 2 being lackluster, 3 being average, 4 entertaining, and 5 being must watch.
Let's start off with Randy Orton vs. Edge vs. Chris Jericho, Coming out of the MITB PPV this a good match to start off with. These three are obviously top contenders for the WWE Title(mainly because Cena is tied up with the Nexus angle). Good to determine a new #1 contender at the beggining of the show while playing into Edge and Jericho's feud, while giving the crowd endless reasons to mark for Orton early in the show. I was surprised to see this first being that the Nexus angle seems to be dominating RAW right now. But all in all good way to start the show. So I give the booking of Randy Orton vs. Edge vs. Chris Jericho a 4 out of 5.
When we return from commercial, Edge is in the ring demanding that Jericho come back out to the ring. The two jaw at each other for a minute, and i'm thinking they are going to go at it at SummerSlam.....Then Jericho mentions Nexus and then it got interesting, Jericho? Leader of the Nexus??? Enter the Nexus and with the snap of a finger my interest returns. Wade Barrett speaks and of course they quickly jump on Edge, lolz at Jericho cheering them on. Wade Barrett speaks again berating Jericho for claiming their own and they quickly jump on him as well. Nice way of tying the Nexus angle into the Jericho/Edge feud, And an even better way of separating Barrett from his pro. Its a breath of fresh air from the "usual" random Nexus attacks. I say i'll give that segment a 4 out of 5 and later on I'll tell you why.
When we return once again The Nexus are heading into their locker room and Barrett is approached by Josh Matthews. Matthews questions if any individual in Nexus can beat Mark Henry, Barrett quickly says Henry is quaking in his boots and that he will write a new chapter in WWE history. As Barrett tries to enter the locker room again he is approached by Sheamus and Sheamus offers a proposal, Barrett offers for him to step into his office, Sheamus quickly decides to wait outside. I have to say didn't like the placement of this segment I thought a match should have been in this spot so I give the Nexus/Sheamus/Matthews segment a 3 out of 5
When we come back again we are joined by John Cena on the Titantron.....hey WWE where are the matches at? anyway Cena ends his interview through titantron by saying if you can' beat em.... and we are off to another commercial. I understand pushing the Nexus angle but a Titantron interview.....2 out of 5
Finally another match.. Eve Torres vs Maryse with the winner becoming #1 contender to the Divas Title....Although the match was short, booking these two is an awesome idea and it had some intrigue going into it if you pay attention to the Divas. So I give the booking of this match a 4 out of 5
Post match Ted DiBiase storms into the ring and yells at the referee for not noticing Maryse's foot on the ropes. John Morrison runs out in street clothes(good to see him) and delivers imo a nearly botched StarShip Pain. Good way to remind us of this mid-card feud by giving Morrison camera time after a very short Diva match. But I give that segment a 3 out of 5
Next up is our current WWE Champion Sheamus coming out and bragging of his dominance over John Cena. Again another Nexus mention comes about when he mentions that him and Wade Barrett agreed to stay out of his way. Miz interrupts and the entertainment value of this promo/segment goes up as The Miz is Mr Money In The Bank, all the while Sheamus says The Miz is nothing and he is the WWE Champion and promptly leaves the ring. As he is leaving the GM sends an email saying Sheamus will be in action. Good segment, intrigue added by Mr. Money in the Bank making an appearance making us think he would cash in...... 4 out of 5
Sheamus is immediately put into action against Evan Bourne. It's always good to see Evan Bourne's high flying antics in action so I wasn't complaining. Obviously a filler match was saved by good booking as the WWE Champion kicked Bourne in the ribs out of the refs view and the hits him with the Brouge Kick to finish the match. 4 out of 5.
A nicely booked match was followed by an even more entertaining post-match segment. The Miz is sarcastically clapping for Sheamus as he gets into the ring. The Miz whacks Sheamus with the MITB breifcase while he wasn't looking. As he was waiting for Sheamus to get up(and i'm thinking he's gonna cash in) R-Truth returns and chases The Miz off. Only a 5 out of 5 because of The Miz's possible cash in and the return of a superstar that I thought would be out longer??
The Miz is now back stage flipping out over R-Truth costing him a shot at cashing in his MITB oppurtunity. 3 out of 5
Next Sheamus is walking backstage with ice on his head and he runs into "The Viper" Randy Orton. Orton tells him that its too bad what happened and that Sheamus is a target now, and that he won't hit with an arrow but with an R.....K......O......... 4 out of 5
Next is Santino and Koslov vs William Regal and Zack Ryder, I can see that the WWE is trying to put over the tag team of Santino and Koslove right now. Although they could be battling any other team, I like the fact that Zack Ryder was booked in this match because you don't see him too much on RAW these days. The booking of this match gets a 3 out of 5.
Next is Wade Barrett vs Mark Henry now this is not main event material so excellent booking to put it at the point of the show where there could be room for a final segment heavily involving the Nexus angle. Henry gets distracted by Nexus who is standing on the stage before the entrance ramp(good play on Henry being distracted because of a possible attack) and Barrett(barely) hits The Wasteland and pins Henry for the victory....I like the placement of this match being that it wouldn't have been possible for Cena's summit with Nexus to occur before it..... 4 out of 5
Barrett continues to attack Henry as the rest of Nexus makes their way to the ring. Barrett calls out Cena. Tarver gets on the mic and say they have made one truce already and Nexus gives their word that they will listen to what Cena has to say. Cena comes out and thanks them for meeting with him and offers a truce as Sheamus did earlier. Barrett answers no and proposes something bigger....and that is that Cena joins Nexus. Cena declines and Barrett tells him he can either leave a coward or get into the ring and take the most vicious beating he can imagine. Cena leaves the ring and states that he has help now as Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, The Great Khali, and Chris Jericho make their way out and Cena say's there's one more to go and it's BRET HART and they all make their way to the ring as Nexus bails out. Nexus gets high up into the stands as Cena and his team yell at Nexus from the ring. Excellent segment to end a nicely booked show as no matter what most of the faces and Edge and Jericho were through out the show heavily pusing the Nexus angle....hell I thought Cena would join Nexus....5 out of 5
See you guys in a few days for my review of the booking and segments for TNA Impact......
This week's Raw was a lot more entertaining than it has been of late, but the in-ring stuff, on the whole, still falls into the bracket of what I've been calling 'wrestling-lite'.
Raw opened with ol' snake eyes Randy Orton calling Edge out for a mic wrestle... But wait, that's not Edge's music, that's a Meatloaf song. So Meatloaf came out out to plug his new album, which no one under the age of 45 is likely to buy (it has a song written by Bon Jovi on it, hell yeah!). It's weird, when Meatloaf's not singing, the guy can be pretty entertaining. He was in the ring dancing round Orton trying to get Orton to have one of his songs as his theme song. Orton just stood there. Meatloaf then started singing in Orton's face. Orton just stood there. Meatloaf continues to piss Orton off. Orton's so wooden he makes Mokujin from Tekken seem like a viable alternative for spooning at bed time. The wooden man starts to move; it's a bit like that uncanny moment in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy realises that the scarecrow is alive. Orton then goes for his trademark RKO. With Orton's relationship with guest hosts, RKOing them at every opportunity, you can't help but think that Orton is a poor man's Stone Cold and the RKO is a cheap facsimile of the Stunner.
With Meatloaf out cold, Edge makes his appearence with Vicky Guerrero in tow, standing there like some greedy girl who's eaten the last block of butter. It seems that Edge has convinced WWE management to bring her in as General Manager. It's not great, but it's better than the guest host bullshit. There's a bit of a microphone exchange. Vicky puts Orton in a handicap match, which is quite appropriate as he looks a bit simple.
Next we have a pretty mediocre match between Mini-Bulldog and Jericho for a chance for Jiz to have a title shot at Over the Limit. He wins, the match is pretty uneventful.
Now for the guest host, who enters with R Truth: the one and only Flava Flav (who's on plugging some reality show or something). For those not familiar with Flava Flav, he was basically the talentless one from Public Enemy who would wear the big clock and stupid hats and whose ability on the mic went as far as him saying 'yeah, boiiiieee'. He didn't disappoint. Flava Flav entered looking like he'd just stepped off of the set for the Don't Believe the Hype' video shoot. Stupid hat, big clock and 'yeah, boiiiieee'. Like the Bez of hip-hop, Flava Flav had exhausted all of his gimmicks. With the match between Regal and Truth it was only a matter of time before something heel happened. And boom! Not one, but two Virgils come in the ring end the match in the form of Carlito and Primo. Dibiase comes out onto the ramp and pays them for their Virgilious services.
Next there was Divas promo spot. Now, I think that the Divas thing is a joke. Just a bit of wank fodder for teenage boys. WWE don't make any effort to take women's wrestling seriously, so I don't take the Divas seriously. Sorry ladies. In a promo spot, Maryse is showing that she does have some genuine athletic ability by showing her training with a martial arts coach. Just check out the bitch slap she gives this guy, it must have smarted like crazy.
With a pointless match with Jack Rider out of the way, we move onto Tyson Kid versus the Miz, if the Miz lost he would have to defend his American Championship title against a member of the Hart Family of his choosing. The match was over in a few seconds with Tyson Kid getting a quick pin. Tyson Kid has the most stupid hair in the WW; I imagine that this is how Tin Tin would do his hair if he got a job as a rent boy. So Miz chose to defend his title against Bret Hart, presumably so Bret can leave the WWE with some dignity this time.
Next up was a match with the NXT 'rookies' facing a team of John Morrison, Goldust and a couple of jobbers whose names escape me. The match was pretty poor except for the fact the Brian Danielson got the pin meaning his first WWE victory was on Raw. It's about time he started getting some heat, he should be on Raw already, not on some bullshit let-down of a reality show.
We then cut to one of the most entertaining promos of the night, featuring none other than, Cannock's finest, William Regal. As a mic wrestler, Regal's still got it, it's just a shame that WWE see fit to put him in the role of jobber on Raw, teaming him up with the token Russian heel guy, Boris whatever. In the promo Regal essentially lets Flava Flav know what time it is (geddit? Flava Flav wears a clock, geddit?), by letting him know that he is a talentless fuck who rides on the coatails of the infinitely more talented Chuck D. Okay, maybe he didn't quite go that far, but it's still funny... and topical!
Next we see Mark Henry getting choked out by Batista in a match that didn't happen. I was glad to see Mark Henry being done over in such a way. Yeah, he might be the world's strongest man, but he can't wrestle for shit and he looks like a fat bastard.
Then we have the spaz match with Randolf, Edge and Dibiase. Again, the match is pretty dull and Orton wins. By the end of the match he attacks Vicky G with the RKO after she pleads and offers her resignation. What a bastard.
Thank fuck that screeching bint has been let go.
In summary: another episode of wrestling lite with some pretty funny promos. Still, it's better than Smackdown.
I'll admit it, I'm niave. I thought for some strange reason that the draft would shake up Raw and make into a great product. Instead, it was predictable and boring.
The night opened with number one contender Batista coming out to talk to the crowd about being number one contender (again), he talked some more, and some more. Sheamus came out and they talked... and talked some more.
It was announced that Batista would fight the Miz and Cena would fight Jericho in a time limit match. The one who pinned their opponent in the fastest time got to pick the stipulation of the championship match at the next PPV.
After what seemed like an eternity, the Miz came out to have his match with Batista, but instead of the Miz he decided to put in "rookie" Brian Danielson. Then Batista talked about more. Batista's boring enough as it is, without having to put up with 15 minutes of him talking shit (no kidding, and this is without adverts). I think Danielson is a great wrestler and although he jobbed for Batista he put on a decent match which was ruined to some extent by bad announcing, talking about him as he'd only been wrestling a few months. Batista then did a whole bunch of Batista Bombs on Danielson for some reason. 25 minutes in, 5 minutes of match time.
There was a backstage slot with Edge talking about how the WWE won't show any of his old promos or matches because he's Rated R and Raw is rated PG. He returned later in the night with the Cutting Edge which he promised would be controversial and rated R... it was neither.
Next we had a match between John Morrison and Ted Diabose coming in off the back of Diabose offering R Truth a job as the new Virgil. The match was a predictable set-up for Morrison as a face. The match ended within about a minute with Dibiose being counted out. Morrison took the mic and invited Dibiose back to the ring explaining that he didn't want his Raw debut to end like that and said that if he lost he would be the new Virgil. I think Dibiase should have walked back to the locker room at this point, making Morrison look like a prick. But as Morrison is blatently being pushed as the next Shawn Michaels, Dibiase gets back in the ring. The match was fantastic, easily on the level of a Kurt Angle main event; a match full of drama with both athletes pushing their bodies to the limit. The match ended with Morrison tapping out to a Million Dollar Dream and Morrison conceded defeat and agreed to become the new Virgil... oh wait, that didn't happen. Morrison predictably won in a mediocre 4 minute match. 40 minutes in, total 10 minutes of match time.
Next up we have Cena versus Jericho. Jericho wouldn't do the same thing as the Miz and bring his rookie Wade Bennett out for the match instead would he? Oh, he would... for fuck's sake. Again, after some dull mic work, Wade jobs for Cena with a tap-out in 4 minutes. 50 minutes in, total 14 minutes of match time. The Sheamus comes in a hits Cena; God this guys really starting to piss me off fella.
Then there was a match between Jack Rider and Mark Henry, does anyone really care about this one. Bad match with two awful wrestlers. 3 minutes wasted. 1 hours 3 minutes in, 17 minutes of match time.
Cut to a promo with the Miz and Jericho becoming a tag team and sitting on a tag match between the Hart Dynasty and that Russian jobber and William Regal. In an upset... there was no upset, Hart Dynasty won in under 4 minutes. With the Miz and Jericho on the announce table for the this, I was suprised at the end of the match when they confirmed their intention to form a tag team, and the beat on the Hart Dynasty. 1 hour 13 minutes in, 21 minutes of match time.
I figured that with the Miz and Jericho teaming up they should pick a name which is a combination of both of their names. I think Jiz is the only name that works.
So the finale of the night, the rated R, controversial talk show with Edge. It was a tame cheap pop mic spot with the guest host (can't remember his name, don't care) and then a bit with Randy Orton. Edge suggested reforming Rated RKO. Orton just stood there. Edge started calling Orton naughty names (but not that naughty). Orton just stood there, Edge went for a spear and Orton did an RKO. Randy Orton? Randy Boreton, more like. This was another dull 15 minute segment which didn't really go anywhere.
WWE Raw: 21 minutes of match time. This is wrestling?
In the mid-90s, WCW Nitro went head to head with Raw to creative one of the electrifying eras in mainstream wrestling history. With Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan coming to TNA, they thought that the business hadn't changed, they thought that they could take a large indy wrestling company and go head to head with Raw. On March 8th, TNA moved to Mondays. With poor ratings and the roster shuffling more than a terrorist in an airport, the revised Monday night wars went down with WWE barely breaking a sweat. It was like a well-liked kid in school, being told by some popular ex-students (who no one really gives a shit about anymore) that he could be the most popular. Instead of letting people warm to him slowly, he goes up to the most popular kid in school and taps him on the shoulder. The popular kid ignores him. The kid starts shouting and ranting at the most popular kid. The people who like him are confused, and people who didn't know him didn't get what people saw in him in the first place and everyone starts to ignore him.
I've said it before that TNA should think about making TNA a great company and strive to be the best it can as a unique product and not to try and compete with a rival when a lot of fans enjoy both products. By putting TNA on Mondays, Hogan et al shot themselves in the foot and have now got to run back to Thursdays with their tails between their legs. The fact is that America is obsessed with ratings, and it these ratings which directly affect advertising revenues and the willingness of a network to show them. So Raw is on the same time as TNA, fans will just download it, probably from a torrent site and not have to watch any adverts.
Anyway, announced on TNAwrestling.com is the news that on May 13th, TNA will be moving back to Thursday night. A decision which was made by Spike and is purely about ratings and revenue. Here's how it was spun on the site:
“Our fans made it clear that they preferred the Thursday night time period. By moving to Thursdays,” this is a win/win opportunity for both TNA and the fans. We are looking forward to delivering what the fans are asking for!" - Hmmm, I suppose it's not a good move for a company to admit that they did something stupid.
I've realised that a few recent posts make Socko sound like a negative nancy. So, I've decided to share some of my favourite promos of all time with you.
This is a good one, I'm not going to review or spoil it, it's just worth a watch:
On the heels of Extreme Rules we have the annual WWE Draft, where everything hets shaken up and the WWE landscape changes... well, kind of...
The night began with Bret Hart coming out and declaring that Show Miz are the greatest tag team of all time, he then declare that the Mountie was the greatest IC champion and the David Arquette was the greatest world champion, so you can see, he wasn't exactly serious. The match between Hart Dynasty and Show Miz saw the Dynasty beat Show Miz to earn the titles and saw the Big Show and Miz turn on each other... but with Big Show getting drafted, the inevitable feud has been overted.
Apart from the draft, the only other major thing to happen was a number one contenders match for the WWE title was won by Batista because of interference by Edge. So the boring storyline, which should have ended at Extreme Rules, is now being rehashed. FFS.
Anyway, the draft results:
Kelly kelly > Smackdown
Big Show > Smackdown
John Morrison Raw
R Truth > Raw
Edge > Raw
Kofi Kingston > Smackdown
Christian > Smackdown
Jericho > Raw
Predictions: Edge will turn heel and dominate Raw. Jericho will team up with the Miz, probably have a match with Big Show at next PPV. Punk will run out of people to have feuds with. Big Show will turn face and become a bad comedy character again. Undertaker will only appear at PPVs. John Morrison will get a big push. Orton will stand there and not say anything. Matt Striker will continue to suck as an announcer.
In summary, WWE really missed a great opportunity to shake things up. Moving Punk over to Raw and Orton over to Smackdown would have been a good move, also switching Edge and Christian was short sighted, would have been great to see them tag/feud.
Considering most of the Raw roster were stuck in Ireland because of a naughty volcano spewing smoke all over Europe and making people's cars slightly dusty, it was an excellent show. WWE pulled out all the stops and dragging in most of the Smackdown roster to make me excited about the prospect of the draft.
It opened with Mr Helmsley coming out to the ring and talking to the crowd only to be interrupted by CM Punk and SxE. Hunter and Punk microphone wrestled for quite a while and they were both on top form, with Triple H coming out with some classic lines. Punk made the mistake of trying to convert HHH to the Straight Edge Society without success. As Gallows and Sarena held the Celebral Assassin onto a steel chair, Punk advanced, hair clippers in hand. But wait, look! It's Rey Mysterio and he's not too happy and quickly grabs the clippers taking a chunk of Punk's hair with him - and boy was it a big chunk.
I'm sure I'll eat my words in a few weeks, but here's my prediction: Punk gets drawn to Raw and feuds with HH, the feud will be much better than the recent one with Mysterio and much better than Triple H's feud with the pale guy no-one gives a crap about. As I've said before, the laws of nature will not allow Rey Mysterio to lose against Punk, so Punk's going to be coming to Raw with a new haircut.
Anyway, the rest of the show was pretty decent. Matt Hardy and Drew MacIntire sucked as usual and the generic Russian character Boris somthing went into a match against... the guest host.
What I can make of the guest host 'MacGruber' is that he needs to sit in plagiarist's corner and stop trying to regurgitate songs from Team America and jokes from Anchor Man - the unoriginal prick.
With the jobbers out of the way (I don't care if Drew's got a title, he's still a jobber), it's time to focus on what I think was the main event of the evening (the actual main even was a six-man-tag with Punk on one side and Mysterio on the other, no awards for guessing which side won). The match in question was Jack Swagger vs The Undertaker; in the ring against 'taker, the all-American American looked like a main-eventer - he looked like a champion for the first time. The match wasn't exactly a classic, but it ranks up there as one of the finest non-PPV matches so far this year. Undertaker obviously won, but Swagger looked like a fighting champion, and that's what's important.
So, bring on the draft. I'd love to see Punk and the Undertaker on Raw and Orton on Smackdown - I'd also like to see WWE ununify (is that a word?) the tag-team belts and get a stronger tag-team division going.
Last weekend, I went to see Smackdown in Manchester, and on the whole it was pretty good. There were some great matches and more importantly some great chants.
When Zigler came to the ring, all I heard around me was "He's Jeff Jarrett", when Kane came to the ring there were chants of "Issac Yankem" clap clap clap clap clap and "He's a dentist." When Fat Hardy and Drew MacIntire were pissing about the crowd were chanting "we want wrestling", and when WWE's own MCMG clones 'the Dude Busters' came out, we got the most British of chants, straight from the football terraces of "who are ye? who are ye?" - not because we Brits didn't know who they were, but because they are shit. I think my favourite of the night was the chant of "enter-tain-ment" clap clap clap clap clap... you know it works.
So that was my live experience. It was pretty cool, the crowd was a bit flat, but on the whole pretty decent. I took my kid brother for his 11th birthday and he got to meet the Honey Monster. I was hoping to see HM in a hardcore match, but I'm a dreamer, man.
The highlight of the night was the triple threat match between Edge, Jericho and Swagger. Of course, a title changing hands was less likely than Ric Flair being tolerant to homosexuals, but it was worth it to see Bret Hart as enforcer putting Swagger into the victorious Swagger at the end of the match. (Like in Smackdown, Swagger had got a pin on Jericho from Edge's spear).
On to the broadcasts...
Lets's be honest, guest hosts on Raw are a bag of shit. A bunch of C list celebs who are only vaguely famous in America plugging their bullshit while we're waiting for the wrestling. This week was no exception. Contrary to what the commentators on Raw would have you believe, David Hasselhoff is not seen as a god in the UK (they're thinking of Germany), people see him as a joke. A bit of a sad parody of a famous person, the type of guy who student's though was cool about ten years ago. His recent hit only charted in the UK because of people ironically buying his record because Radio One's fattest DJ, Chris Moyles thought that it would be heeelarious (and it really was).
I'm not the biggest fan of women's wrestling, but I thought that the Baywatch Babe match was just a little bit insulting. Who was it aimed at? Baywatch hasn't been on the TV for about 15 years and most of its fans aren't teenage boys anymore, but in their 30s with kids and dogs and patios and pension schemes and are so desensitized to the excesses of internet porn that a few women jumping round in swimsuits just don't do it for them any more... unless they're farting on a Brazilian girl or something.
The fact is that the whole show was bullshit, especially the thinly veiled excuse to bring Orton over Smackdown (he's wrestled everyone on the Raw roster at least 3-4 times), by offering a shot at the World Championship against Swagger at Extreme Rules.
The highlight of the show was Miz's microphone wrestling against Bret Gart, that was funny as fuck.
Onto Smackdown...
at the minute, I think I prefer Smackdown to Raw, mainly because of CM Punk's microphone wrestling. I've marked for Punk for a few years now and can't wait to see him get back in the ring with Brian Danielson or Daniel Bryanson, whatever he's called now. Bring in McGuiness (AKA Desmond Wolfe) and Samoa Joe from TNA and you've got an ROH circa 2005 reunion - and it would piss over most of the WWE roster at the moment.
I'm not going to go into details about the matches on this one, but draw attention to one of the funniest moments I've seen on WWE for a few years, and completely unintentionally.
There was a point where the Miz came down to commentate on the six-man tag match between Hart Dynasty/Ray Mysterio and SxE. The result's was so obvious; it is actually a scientific and logical impossibility for Rey Mysterio to lose in a match with CM Punk. So, the Miz is sat at the announcer's table bragging about his Blue Peter badge. If you believe the Miz, then he was given it by "the UK" and it's like a "key to the city". Any UK fans will know the Blue Peter is the program of choice for little middle class kids who are into making stuff with "sticky-back plastic' and toilet roll tubes.
I'll let you judge by the clip. Just a side note, my missus went to school with Helen Skelton.
