wrestling / Columns
Wrestling’s 4R’s Monday Edition 3.15.10: ROH, Superstars and SmackDown Reviewed!
TWITTER
http://www.twitter.com/411wrestling
http://www.twitter.com/411moviestv
http://www.twitter.com/411music
http://www.twitter.com/411games
http://www.twitter.com/411mma
In HD where available…
By: Aaron Hubbard
ROH on HDNet 03.08.10:
QUICK RESULTS:
TV Title Tournament: Kevin Steen def. Rhett Titus [**1/2]
The Kings of Wrestling d. The Bravado Brothers [**]
Rasche Brown def. Caleb Conley [3/4*]
TV Title Tournament: Kenny King def. El Generico [***3/4]
STEEN vs. TITUS: This was our opener of the evening, and one of the more unique matches on HD Net as both guys are heel. However, Steen is a psycho crazy heel and Titus is a goofy comedy heel, so Rhett became the babyface for this match. Overall, I felt he did well, hitting all of his signature stuff but at a much faster pace. He still lacks transitions and punches don’t get the job done for babyfaces in ROH, but he did well. Steen was just awesome in this, as he looked like he wanted to whip Rhett’s arm off and take it to Quebec as a souvenir, before finishing with the Crossface, which I still have reservations with him using, but at least he’s building to it in the match. Quality opener that got Steen into the quarterfinals.
KING vs. GENERICO: WOW, I did not expect this match to be this good. Generico is consistently one of the most reliable guys when it comes to putting on exciting matches, but Kenny is a wildcard; when he’s on, he’s great, and when he’s off, he’s horrible. Well, Kenny was ON tonight, and the result was one of the most enjoyable matches I’ve seen on TV in recent memory. It just flew by, they worked in their spots well, the match had great flow, Generico worked in the awesome flipping coast-to-coast dropkick, and King got the big win with a Royal Flush from the second rope. I wanted to give this four stars, but couldn’t because the crowd just did not seem to care about this match for reasons I can’t understand. Great main event.
KINGS REIGN SUPREME: The Kings of Wrestling, comprised of Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, had one of the most entertaining squashes I’ve ever seen. From the awesome opening pose where Claudio does a spinning European Uppercut and Hero does a rolling elbow around it and they interlock, these guys were pure concentrated greatness. Some of the stuff they did in this match has to be seen to be believed, like Hero back body dropping Lance Bravado, only for Claudio to catch him in mid-air and turn it into a backbreaker. The KRS-1 also made me mark; this was glorious and definitely needed. After the match they plugged their title shot at “The Big Bang” (more on that in a second), and after this, who can argue that they don’t deserve it?
BUILDING TO THE BANG: ROH’s second GoFightLive.com PPV, “The Big Bang” (ROH’s debut in Charlotte, NC) is coming up, and this show really got me hyped for it. The first several minutes explained the situation with Tyler Black, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. Black is the champion, Aries is the former champion getting his rematch, and Strong was promised a title shot and is the #1 contender. Predictably, this led to the announcement of a Triple Threat Match, which made Roderick very angry. And we wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. I am looking forward to this, and Aries-Strong-Black could be the company defining main event for the PPV audience that Black-Aries failed to be. HDNet is their biggest audience, and ROH should be using it to shill their big shows, especially the internet one.
THE RASCHE BROWN BULLDOZING TOUR CONTINUES: At this point, the squashes are getting redundant, and I really don’t want to see anymore. However, there was one bit of booking that made this a “right” in my eyes. Brown gave his poor victim a clean break, and the moron slapped him. THEN Rasche destroyed him with the flipping spear and the Burning Hammer. This was a sportsmanlike gesture that really set up where he’s going (hint: he’s not joining The Embassy). No more squashes from Brown please though.
NECRO SUSPENDED: Necro Butcher was suspended from television due to punching a timekeeper during his brawl with Erick Stevens a few weeks back. Butcher is kind of a one-note guy and should be treated as a special attraction. His hardcore spots are different than the ROH norm and that’s a good thing, but it gets old. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I like this angle….except that it means that the Necro Butcher-Embassy feud MUST continue. END THIS PLEASE!
NOTHING OF NOTE.
THE GENERICO-STEEN-CABANA-CORINO SAGA: Hey, ROH, let me lend you in on a little secret; you are the third wheel in American Wrestling and there will not be a massive influx of fans coming to watch your show based on name value. HDNet only reaches a few people, and I’m not one of them; like thousands of ROH fans, I have to wait for ROH Brazil to upload the episodes on YouTube to watch and review them. My point is that the audience that is watching your shows are loyal fans who are familiar with the product. And guess what? WE KNOW THE FREAKING STORYLINE, okay? Steen’s an asshole, Corino’s a douchebag, Generico is a victim and Cabana is a nice guy. WE GET IT! Want to remind us they are feuding? Talk about it during the matches, since both of these guys were in matches. These Cabana promos are pointless and have officially become annoying. Unless something MAJORLY important happens in the storyline, let it go. We don’t need reminders EVERY week. You are making me LOATHE seeing Cabana, and killing the interest of the Steen-Generico feud for me. When Kevin Steen vs. El Generico seems like an annoyance, you are spending too much freaking time on it! Enough already!
| The 411
This was a huge step up from the last few shows. The main event was terrific, the opener was good, both squashes served a purpose and were entertaining. Aside from the redundant non-updates of the Generico-Steen story, there was nothing on here that I hated or even disliked. I can’t go into the nine’s because there wasn’t a **** match, but that was a tremendously entertaining hour of wrestling television; much more than either RAW or Impact. Definitely catch this show if you can. SHOW RATING: 8.5 |
By: Steve Cook
Superstars 03.11.10:
ZACK RYDER vs. SANTINO MARELLA: This has to go in the “Right” section for one simple reason…THE COBRA STRUCK! Man, I thought Santino would never hit that move, just like Bubba Ray Dudley never hit his second rope senton, or Arn Anderson never hit his double axe handle off the second rope. I also like Ryder’s theme music and Rosa Mendes, so this match was just full of win.
GOLDUST vs. MIKE KNOX: I’ll be talking about my main problem with this match in the Ridiculous section, but it had nothing to do with the workers. Goldy & Knox did what they could with the time given to them, and Knox did his awesome cross-body of doom. So I can’t hate on the match too much, and even if I did hate it I wouldn’t admit it because Mike Knox’s Beard deserves better than jobbing on Superstars every week.
CHRISTIAN/MVP vs. CHAVO GUERRERO/CARLITO: It seems like every week on this show there’s a match that’s just there. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just keeps going. This match kept going for twelve minutes, and I wished that at least six of those had been given to the other matches because they could have used them. Christian’s portions were decent, as they usually are, but I have to put the blame for the dullness of this match on MVP, who hasn’t done anything remotely interesting in quite a long time. OK, I take that back, his promo war with the Miz was interesting. But most of his baby face work hasn’t done a lot for me, and I think his in-ring skills are a tad overrated by some. I do think Chavo & Carlito have potential as a tag team, even though they’d obviously never win a match because they’ve combined for a total of one victory in 2010. Still, I think WWE should let them team for awhile and see if it goes anywhere.
DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. SHELTON BENJAMIN: I didn’t really like this match on SmackDown the week before, so a rematch was not something I was looking forward to. I guess it’s a good thing for my ADD that the match didn’t last too long, but Dolph busting out his finisher two minutes into the match and Shelton kicking out of it reminded me of some indy/Japan matches I’ve seen where nobody sells anything and everybody kicks out of everybody’s big moves. It can be good in the right setting, but Benjamin vs. Ziggler curtain jerking Superstars isn’t the time or place for it. Then Shelton fell asleep in a sleeper hold about 10 seconds later. Yeah, I guess some of my fellow old schoolers will like the return of the sleeper as a finishing maneuver, but it’s never done a whole lot for me, not even when Roddy Piper was using it. Both of these guys are capable of having good matches, but I don’t think they can have them with each other.
TIME MANAGEMENT: Here’s the match times from this week’s Superstars:
Benjamin vs. Ziggler: 3:39
Goldust vs. Knox: 2:30
Ryder vs. Marella: 3:10
Christian/MVP vs. Carlito/Chavo: 12:11
The three undercard matches combined didn’t last as long as the tag team match, which quite honestly was pretty lackluster and didn’t need that much time. But that’s not my main point of contention…your average episode of Superstars lasts a little over 46 minutes. It hasn’t been posted to Hulu yet as I write this, but I’m willing to bet that this episode was right around the 46 minute mark as well. That means that this show had twenty-three minutes of things other than wrestling…take off a few minutes for entrances and what not and you get at least fifteen minutes of Raw rewinds and WrestleMania shilling. I don’t mind the Mania stuff as much, but why do we get a Raw rewind on every other show that WWE produces? If their ratings show anything, it’s that more people watch Raw than any other show they have. I’d say 99% of the people who watch Superstars watch Raw. We know what happened. We don’t need to see it again. Quit taking up our time with it. Give Goldust & Mike Knox more than two minutes and thirty minutes to work a match and quit showing us five minutes of everything Batista & John Cena did on Raw followed by Shawn Michaels & Undertaker’s entire WrestleMania career history and whatever Vince McMahon happened to say this week.
| The 411
Not a whole lot to write home about with this week’s Superstars, and I fear that’s going to become a trend. It’s still your home for your favorite underutilized wrestlers, but now they get to work three minute matches instead of eight minute matches. Yay? SHOW RATING: 5.0 |
By: Jeremy Thomas
WWE SmackDown 03.12.10
QUICK RESULTS:
R-Truth d. The Miz [** ¼]
Drew McIntyre d. Aaron Bolo [DUD]
The Big Show d. John Morrison [* ½]
The Undertaker d. Cryme Tyme & The Hart Dynasty [*]
Tiffany d. Michelle McCool by DQ [¾*]
Kane d. Luke Gallows by DQ [* ½]
EPIC HEEL PROMO OF AWESOMENESS +10: SmackDown kicked off Friday night with a bang, as out from the backstage are came Rey Rey in a swank shirt with his mask on it. Only he could pull that off. Rey Rey brought out his family, and I have to say I cringed a bit when I noticed that our old buddy Dominic was actually taller now than his dad is. Or is it his dad? Sorry, had a Top 5-Inspired flashback there. Anyway, I think we all knew where this was going; any time that a wrestler brings his family out, you just KNOW that the guy is getting beat down and probably humiliated. Rey Rey got on the mic to talk about how he wanted to let us into his home by introducing his family, because we were his family too. Awww. Rey at least got to make a joke about how Dominic was taller than him; and also, is it just me or does his wife look just a little like Chyna? I’m not being insulting or saying she’s unattractive, just that I noticed a resemblance. Rey talked about how entertaining us means that he sometimes missed out on the important days in his family’s lives, and that tonight was Aaliyah’s ninth birthday. You have to love the Pacific Northwest; we’re a nice little group of marks. The Seattle crowd chanted “Happy Birthday!” for the little girl, then sang along with Daddy Rey.
Of course, that meant that the Straight Edge Society had to come out. Seriously, if you can possibly get CM Punk more over as a heel, it has to be by him interrupting a birthday for a nine-year-old. Punk did a somewhat Orton-esque walk to the ring with a glare on his face…and I swear, that beard has truly gotten to epic lengths. Punk finished the birthday song and the crowd and Aaliyah were none too happy over it. Awesome. Punk said he wasn’t out there to hurt Rey or his family, he just wanted to get their respective families together. He challenged Rey Rey to a match at ‘Mania and to one right then and there. Rey said it wasn’t the time, and Punk paused to deliver one of the greatest heel lines I think I’ve ever heard. “Don’t be sad. Aaliyah, since it’s your birthday…sweet, innocent little Aaliyah I’ll tell you what. As my birthday present to you, I’ll let you shut your eyes while I reduce your daddy to tears and make him beg for my mercy.” You do not top that. Pretty much ever. He then turned to Dominic and said he’d grown up in front of us, but he’d never seen his father squeal like a pig. Finally it was Angie’s turn for a little taunting and he had Rey looking like he was about to lose it. Punk called Rey a coward and called for giant-killer Rey Mysterio, the 619, the underdog. He even “dropped down to his level” by going to a knee. Finally Punk smacked Rey and he left with his family, as Punk continued the Birthday song. There are no other words to describe this than absolutely, 100% freaking brilliant. If you haven’t seen it, you must. End of story.
THE MIZ vs. R-TRUTH: This was coming off the match between Miz/ Bryan and Truth/Otunga on NXT, as well as the whole bitch-slapping the faces did on Raw. Miz got on the mic and went into his “Really?” catchphrases to hype up the crowd. He said that Morrison had a match with Show later, but now was time for him to show Truth what he can do. Out came Truth with his rap, and he hopping into the ring all sorts of hyped. An “Awesome” chant got semi-started early, but it died out when Truth took control. These two guys did some very decent work against each other, and put together a good match that built nicely toward ‘Mania. The ring work was smooth between them and both men looked very strong. An awesome face moment came from Bryan as he stopped his pro from getting the cheap win over Truth, and the crowd ate it up. Right after, Truth hit the Lie Detector for the pinfall. You know this is going to play into NXT next week and that should be a lot of fun; meanwhile it gave Truth the win without hurting Miz any. Good stuff as far as I’m concerned.
TIFFANY vs. MICHELLE McCOOL: Backstage, we had a reunion between Teddy and Tiffany where apparently the GM is on SmackDown as a wrestling Diva. Color me concerned. We got an update on Mickie James’s knee injury and that she was recovering nicely before Vickie showed up. Vickie got all bitchy and said that Tiffany was why ECW got cancelled. Vickie told Tiffany she should go back to being a babysitter and that she doesn’t want to be on Vickie’s bad side. Teddy tried to reassure Vickie and she went all psycho laughing before she said she would be facing Michelle. You know, Tiffany has her good points, but selling emotion? Not one of them. On the plus side, wearing a cheerleader outfit IS one of her good points. She actually got a mild pop from the crowd as she came out. The match was nothing special; after some grandstanding Tiffany pretty much controlled this match, showing a load of aggression until Vickie slammed into her to cause the DQ. This then turned into a Lay-Cool beatdown until Beth made the save and then almost played nice with Vickie before a “DO IT! DO IT!” chant caused her to knock the Chipmunk down. Was this a great match? No, not at all. It had moments of sloppiness. But it was a good way to put Tiffany over on her debut, and the Beth Phoenix stuff was pretty good, so I’m giving this one an easy pass.
THE HIGHLIGHT REEL: The main event interview portion featured the return of the Highlight Reel and…oh yes…the JeriTron! Jericho didn’t bother to introduce the Highlight Reel which was a bit disappointing, instead having us go straight to Edge’s entrance and the crowd going nuts. Of course, the “Spear” chant kicked off immediately and Edge started smirking. Jericho asked what was so funny and that gave Rated-R carte blanche to start talking about how he kept spearing Jericho….with audience participation, of course. Jericho called us all sheep and mindless drones, then said that it was fantasy and he dealt in reality. He talked about how they could have been one of the greatest teams, but Edge got hurt like he always does. Jericho brought up WrestleMania XIX and how Edge was injured then while he was facing Shawn Michaels. Edge pointed out that he lost that match, then lost to Christian at ‘Mania 20. Jericho countered that he was building a career injury-free. Edge’s comeback was exactly what he needed to do; he talked about the risks he’s taken and the crowd popped for it. Jericho countered with the “bad things happen” and that Edge is a fraud. Vickie was then brought up, and Edge just said “touché” before talking about how he regretted Vickie as a girlfriend, and Jericho regretted Show. What did Jericho come back with? “Bad things happen.” That was my own problem with this segment, was that it seemed like Jericho was on autopilot a bit here. We’ve heard everything Jericho said here before; we’ve heard it many times over the last several months. It wasn’t bad, but it did seem a bit overdone. But then the good part came, as Jericho finally got his heat back on Edge by beating him to the punch and then beating the crap out of him. We almost got a toss into the JeriTron, but Edge countered with a DDT and then went for the spear…only to get nailed with the title. He then mocked the spear chant. This was a good promo from them; far from their best, but it did what I’ve been wanting for a couple of weeks by giving Jericho some heat back against Edge. It was a good way to close out the show and continue the WrestleMania build.
THE BIG SHOW vs. JOHN MORRISON: This was the second of the Unified Tag Team Title build matches on the show, and I believe it’s the first one-on-one meeting between these two guys. This would have been a bit more of a foregone conclusion if Morrison hadn’t looked so impressive at the Chamber against the Undertaker; as it was there was just enough doubt for me to be a bit invested in this match. It played out about how you would expect, as Show dominated until Morrison came back out of nowhere with counters to get his chance. These guys had an okay chemistry; it wasn’t great and the match was by and large a squash when you consider that Morrison only hit a few moves before the Chuck Kick was countered with the KO Punch for the pinfall. But it did what it needed to and Show picked up the win so that the champions weren’t getting completely owned by the challengers. It wasn’t a great segment but it accomplished its goals.
KANE vs. LUKE GALLOWS: This was billed as a “first one-on-one match;” I was going to look that up to see if Kane ever faced Festus but meh. As a match to help Gallows get over in the ring, this wasn’t bad at all. It was a typical Kane vs. Another Big Man match, just a touch quicker-paced. I thought it was better put-together than the old Kane vs. Knox matches we got a few months ago. It ended with Punk coming in to attack Kane, and that brought Rey Rey out for the save. This was begging for someone to note the irony of Rey coming to Rey’s defense, even if for his own reasons. The match wasn’t particularly much to speak of, but I didn’t mind that they helped get Gallows over and gave Rey some heat back.
DREW McINTYRE’S LAST CHANCE: Drew was walking backstage when Teddy Long came up behind him to get his attention. Teddy noted that Drew’s loss from last week had been expunged by Vince once again, and he had hand-picked the Intercontinental Champion’s opponent for this week. Yeah, this is going to go well. Teddy said that he must be proud; Drew countered that he was proud to be the undefeated IC Champion and that Vince was Teddy’s boss. Teddy acknowledged that he was still on the longest probationary period of all-time and that he was making tonight’s match a Winner Takes All match; winner gets the Money in the Bank shot AND the Intercontinental Title. Drew looked pissed, but I’m pretty sure he had no reason to be concerned. Just a feeling.
Once the match kicked off, we got Drew’s awesome entrance before we got recaps of his two losses matches that never happened. Then Drew’s opponent was announced…Aaron Bolo. Yeah, this was a no-brainer. They tried to play his accolades as an MMA guy and Washington State wrestling champion off as significant, but let’s be frank, this was going to be a squash and we all knew it. And look, it was. Listen, the match was nothing and that was fine enough, but I don’t think the best way to get a supposed star over is by having him lose twice and get a spot in his first ‘Mania match by beating a nobody scrub. No offense, Aaron. This just didn’t play well and I didn’t like the way that it hurt Drew more than it helped him.
THE HART DYNASTY vs. CRYME TYME: When I saw this match, I shook my head a little, just because we’ve seen these guys fight so much. Granted it’s been a several weeks, but it still feels like an incredibly stale match-up. Don’t give me any of that “it’s an extended feud” crap, there’s no element of actual feuding to it. The match got started and they started to put on a pretty standard example of their past matches—not bad, but not all that great either—before the Undertaker decided that he was done watching these guys fight. He showed up in the ring all pissed-looking and beat the living crap out of all four men. So, uh, why? I mean, don’t get me wrong; I’m not angry that Taker wiped the floor with four guys that he has every right to do so. But I don’t see why. Is this because Shawn is getting into Taker’s head? Is Taker trying to make a statement to Shawn that he can destroy four men, so Shawn should be no problem? There was no explanation, and while I imagine we’ll get one there’s no guarantee of that and this just didn’t seem to make much sense.
DID YOU KNOW?: Nope. And, as always, I don’t care.
| The 411
The promos and WrestleMania build were what made this show a can’t miss. Punk’s work in the beginning was absolutely phenomenal and showed why he is one of the best heels in the WWE, while they gave Jericho some much needed heat in his battle with Edge. The Unified Tag Title match was built well and Money in the Bank continued to take shape, even if I didn’t like the actual set-up for that one. This show had its flaws but they were few and far between, making for a great episode of the Blue Brand. SHOW RATING: 8.0 |
A pre-comments note: So, I think it must be said once again, just so everyone’s clear. If you want to continue making yourselves look like people who don’t fully read before you jump to conclusions they you’re absolutely welcome to; that is your prerogative. But for those who may have missed it, I’ll make it clear:
Jeremy Thomas does the R’s for Raw and SmackDown.
Chad Nevett does the R’s for Impact.
Michael Bauer does the R’s for NXT.
Aaron Hubbard does the R’s for ROH on HDNet (which aren’t going away).
Steve Cook does the R’s for Superstars.
We are different individuals and likely have very different opinions of the shows. It’s very possible that Chad hated Raw more than he did Impact; it’s also very possible that I enjoyed Impact more than I did Raw. I’m not going to say whether I did or not because it’s not the point. Hell, Hubbard might have thought Raw was a 1.0 and Impact was a 10.0. It’s doubtful, but you never know. The point is that we all have our own thoughts and when I rate Raw higher than Chad rated Impact, or Bauer rates NXT lower than Steve rated Superstars, that doesn’t mean that “we” as a whole liked one show more than the other. The Hive Mind broke down a while ago, and we’ve been thinking on our own ever since. Thanks for reading, and now onto the comments!
From SHADE:
The whole Legacy/Orton fiasco has only two logical possible outcomes for Mania:
– Kofi teams with Orton
– Triple Threat match
Either way, I don’t see Legacy having a chance of winning what-so-ever with Orton as the face. It’s just not gonna happen.
On the flip side, if Sheamus loses to Triple H, his career will be DONE. He hasn’t had a legitimate win since he won the title and if he loses here, there’s no going back up.
Based on the potential spoiler that a tenth person may be added to Money in the Bank, Kofi is the odds-on favorite for that spot so I imagine it will be a Triple Threat or perhaps DiBiase vs. Orton with Cody in Ted’s corner. I agree that the way this has been booked so far Legacy doesn’t look like they have much of a shot, but as people have noted regarding Edge vs. Jericho there is still time left for them to build so you never know. As for Sheamus vs. ‘H, I agree that a loss by Sheamus would be a big blow to his credibility but I think it’s a bit much to say his career will be done. It’s very possible to gain credibility in one’s push by virtue of a loss, and while I think the ‘E needs to get Sheamus over by putting him over the Game, I wouldn’t consider losing to a multiple time World Champion at WrestleMania to be a career-killer.
From Lance Storm said so:
Another stacked Raw this week. Can’t miss for any wrestling fan.
Plus rumor has it Stone Cold will make Stu Hart go into the Hall of Fame and because of Vince ‘changing the rules’ this week against Cena, Austin will appoint himself guest referee at Mania for Vince/Bret.
I heard the Storm-inspired rumors, and while they would make sense I wouldn’t say that it’s a done deal. I’m definitely interested to see what the Rattlesnake has in store for the Raw roster and he is certainly primed to make a big impact, far bigger than any of the guest hosts have to date. Hopefully the ‘E will utilize Austin the way that they should which is to remind us that the guest hosts can be relevant. A little good this Monday can make the host concept go a long way toward credibility.
From Sarcasm Gets Me Hot:
Dude, lighten up with all the Criss Angel praise. We get it – the guy’s awesome and talented. Frankly I myself think him to be one of the great entertainers of our time. But let’s try and focus here.
From Guest#8673:
If Jillian didn’t get her voice back, than Criss Angel is a saint.
From Guest#9268:
“I hate Criss Angel. I think that he’s not all that talented of an illusionist, and I think he’s a world-class douche on top of it. He comes across to me like the Pussycat Doll of stage magic: all style, no substance”
This comment is in the Right for me! Dead on my friend!
From Guest#3450:
And Jeremy i think that Chris Angel is a douche bag. But we each have our own opinions. And they need to get rid of Hornswoggle fast. He’s not doing anything anymore just stands around.
Glad to see I’m not the only Mindfreak-hater around here. If Angel did permanently make Jillian not sing again I will be happy to give him just the slightest modicum of respect; sadly I don’t see that happening for obvious reasons. We can dream though!
From Damninater:
HEATH SLATER absolutely sucks!!! Typically WWE drones love him because he’s so goddamn generic and dull. He acts and looks like a high school douche. Danielson’s the only genuine thing on NXT.
I think your expectations are a bit high, to be honest. Remember, NXT is basically the second tier of the farm system; a chance to give these guys development in a television setting. Slater has a ways to go before he becomes a potential star or even a bona fide prospect, but he has a lot of potential. I’d take a “wait and see” aspect with these guys, because there is definitely a lot of potential there.
From Guest#1760:
I actually like the Orton thing they got going. And big surprise. Larry gave impact a low score. Big surprise.
Chad did, not Larry. Thanks for reading though!
From Justin Weinblatt:
Wow. That’s a ton of wrestling you just covered there. I don’t envy you. Keep up the good work.
P.S. I loved the Allied Powers when I was a kid.
Thanks Justin! And yeah, the Allied Powers rocked way back when. Never got the respect they deserved. But then, I was a Davey Boy mark growing up; not so much Luger. Either way, they ended too early.
From Insider:
“I hated them teasing that the Manimal wasn’t getting involved when we all knew he was.”
No…. they teased that Batista wouldn’t INTERFERE. And he DIDN’T. He was the last wrestler in the gauntlet. That’s NOT interference.
From DeeRayMooreL
I didn’t interpret Batista coming out as the WWE teasing something to swerve us. Rather, I saw it as Batista being a great heel…when can you ever trust the word of a heel? I thought it was great the way he promised he wouldn’t get involved, then did it anyway. He’s a HEEL…that’s what he does.
Also, did you notice how Cena was strong enough to kick out of everyone’s finisher, but he couldn’t kick out of Batista’s? I thought that was subtle but great.
I guess I should have been clearer there. It seemed (to me, at least) that they were trying to build suspense of whether Big Dave would show up and be involved, and it was blatantly clear that he would. It was a decent character moment, but the lack of believability that he wouldn’t be getting involved hurt the story overall and I think they could have gone about it a better way. As for Cena not kicking out of the Batista Bomb, I thought that was nice but it also must be said that he was severely weakened by all the other guys. Not that it makes it less cool, but it is something to consider.
From Guest#5191:
Eve is in no way the best choice to push for a fresh divas contender. Even the Bella twins, for all the criticism they get, don’t botch as many moves as Eve when they have a match, they’re also more over than her. Kelly should be pushed as top babyface, she’s the most popular.
From What are you talking about:
Eve f’ed on one dropkick (partly Alicia on that too) and the whole world is coming down on her, the Bellas’, seriously they’ve been treated like escorts and not more over than her and Kelly/Maryse has been tried out before last year, so like it or not Eve is here to stay, I guess Eve should have dyed her hair blonde and look like she belong on [email protected] for everyone to oversee her suckiness (cough*Maryse*cough)
Eve is hardly as bad as the Bellas or Triple K, and with all due respect I think you’re looking back at Bella matches with rose-colored memories. They are absolutely atrocious in the ring and botch nearly everything they try. Eve is clearly the best face wrestler not named Gail (who just had her shot) or Melina (who is injured). Thus, she is and should be the best choice to face Maryse. It’s just that simple.
From hmmm:
“Here, they looked—well, not like main eventers, but hardly weak either.”
Not for me – I’m a casual WWE fan and after seeing those mid card guys fail to keep 1 single human down for 3 tiny seconds. It just left me thinking ‘well why should I care about those guys now? Those guys couldn’t keep 1 guy down with everyone else’s help… why would i believe they’re capable of keeping someone else down on their own now?’.
To each their own. Swagger, Drew, Koz and Henry are all significantly lower in the card than Cena and thus are way less of threats (even considering Henry’s size). Thus, they shouldn’t be looking like they can beat him; they should certainly be able to beat others on their own level. From a realistic standpoint it doesn’t make sense, but if you’re looking in the wrong direction if you’re looking for realism.
IWC Member #23495867:
“A persona and a look only goes so far…”
We’re talking about the WWE here. Thats the two main things they look for. In ring ability takes a back seat and is a plus but nothing special to them.
Well, realize that by “persona,” I mean a character. What’s equally important is charisma and speaking ability. If only a character and look got someone over without the ability to perform on the mic, Gangrel would have been WWE Champion. I’m less concerned about his in-ring skills than I am his ability to talk and get himself over.
From RazzleDazzle:
I’m digging NXT. Darren Young does need a new persona and I think they are going to do that. When CM Punk became his pro I could see that happening. He will be converted to the SES. I think it can work in his favor having the awesome CM Punk by his side.
Bryan Daniel..Daniel Bryan…whatever..He looks great out there and is a very polished wrestler. I’m looking forward to him getting better promos which is why The Miz is there. Like him or now, Miz can work a mic.
NXT is quickly becoming my favorite wrestling show. It’s simplistic wrestling with simple storylines. Exactly what pro wrestling should be. More focus is in the ring then in their ‘personal’ lives. I like that a lot.
If Young goes Straight-Edge, I’ll be happy. They’re doing too many rookies who don’t like their pros, and making Young a Society convert would be good for him I think. Bryan is looking great and I know that Miz is going to help him with the mic work, which should definitely give him a shot at making it big. And yes, NXT is one of the best shows right now for that very reason. Not that I think a show should be bereft of non-wrestling segments, but the focus in-ring action is something that is different on TV right now and it’s setting the brand apart. That’s what it needs to do in order to work…oh yeah, and make a superstar or two while it’s at it.
From The_Mystical_Ninja:
“Yes, all of you people who have been complaining about me calling them “Priceless” can rest easy…at least for this week. We’ll see how my mood changes next week, they may just become Flabberscnackle.”
Nah, let’s go with the ‘still hilarious when I hear it’ name of “double-trouble crap on a stick”
Not bad, but it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
From Guest#7446:
I was surprised to hear Triple H reference his match with the Ultimate Warrior as I thought that was going to be quietly arrays from history at some point but it worked quite well here. Now if we can only have a repeat of that match with Triple H obliterating Sheamus and sending him back down to FCW until he can actually bring something to the table.
Yeah, not happening. Sheamus is here to stay for a while. I was surprised to see the Warrior match mentioned too but hey, stranger things have happened in wrestling before. It was a nice nod to continuity that I totally appreciated.
From From JMAC:
Yeah, Jericho was awesome on NXT. “Did you see that?! That is my influence, right there!!” And then his rookie takes the pinfall. LMAO!
From JSN:
COLE: Why don’t you just join us on commentary?
JERICHO: MAYBE I SHOULD!!!! MAYBE I SHOULD!!!
The only extra thing I could have asked for, was for Y2J to call him “Mitchell” again.
Exactly this. Jericho has been doing a great job of getting the talent over, and he was clearly a great choice for a trainer. With him mentoring, I would venture to say that Wade Barrett has a hell of a shot of making it here.
From Cyrith:
I’ve really been liking NXT, but I’m wondering how much of the rookies promos are scripted? I ask because I felt Heath Slater has shown better than he did this week, and it really sounded like he was reading from a card.
I would imagine that they’re at least partially the talent’s own words, but probably pre-planned. Yes, he did sound a little bit stilted; I expect that to improve as time goes on. We’ll see!
From The Great Capt. Smooth:
“Flabberscnackle” doesn’t really fit.(That caught me off guard. LOL!) I like “The Family Business”. What I remember most about RAW were certain performances. Mark Henry was PERFECT in his role. “You owe me a Travis Tritt CD!” made me feel a lot better about Skip Sheffield being good for some laughs. Santino jumping during the “trick” shows just how great he is. Sometimes, it’s the small things that get you.
I did like Santino’s reactions to Angel, and he’s gotten many segments over that didn’t deserve it…just not this one, I thought. I did like Henry in his role and it worked out really well. As for Sheffield…the Tritt CD line was cute, but I’m far from sold on him. We’ll have to see how it goes, but of all the rookies he has probably the farthest to go in my eyes.
Until Friday, keep on kickin’ it!
~454~
More Trending Stories
- WWE Sunday Night’s Main Event Set For Original Money In The Bank Date
- Backstage Details on WWE Pushing Back Money in the Bank 2026 by a Month
- American Flag at WWE HQ Causes Thousands of Power Outages After Catching Fire
- AJ Styles Responds to LA Knight’s Description of Their Unplanned Brawl Before WrestleMania XL
