The Wednesday Wire: 8.22.12: Say Goodbye To Summer

Seems to me that it’s Wednesday again. That must mean it’s time for the #WedWi! I’m Nick Marsico coming to you LIVE from Florida where it’s friggin’ humid as hell. Maybe not that bad.

– News From Cook’s Corner with Steve Cook
– The Wrestling News Experience with Stephen Randle
– Thursday Sports Entertainment Report with Sean Kelly
– Handicapping The News 8.17.12 with Gavin Napier
– The Wrestling 5&1: Maria v. Lita with Greg De Marco
– The Contentious Ten US Champions with Gavin Napier

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COMMENTARY DISCUSSION!
From BJC: “Better yet, have Cesaro win the U.S. Title, and have him denounce it on TV and change it to the European title. Works perfectly with his character, gets instant foreigner heel heat, serves as a nice callback to the Attitude Era, and whoever wins it from him can change it back (Ryder, Swagger, whoever) in a big match for instant All American babyface heat. Two birds with one stone, and a midcard title becomes important again.”

I love it! As long as it doesn’t become as overly USA v. Foreigners as the UnAmericans angle was. It shouldn’t be about AC being anti-American but rather very pro-European. Europeans are better than Americans, not Americans are evil and I need to burn the flag. It still lends itself to plenty of heat for Cesaro and lots of babyface love for the All American face. Maybe this can turn Swagger face! I can almost guaran-damn-tee that Cesaro and Swagger would have fantastic chemistry in the ring, plus neither are crazy strong on the mic, so such a simple concept would be very easy for them to pull off.

From Zig zag zach: “How many weeks are you going to say roh frustrations without actually putting it in a column lol”

Find out NEXT WEEK in the Wire!

From The Great Capt. Smooth: “This will likely be Henry’s final run, so a face turn would be nice. It’s good to see a wrestler go out well-liked.”

I enjoyed his face run when he tagged with MVP. They should put him in a tag team again and just let him be happy to be out there. He can even address the Hall of Pain saying that he realizes that he’s not going to be able to wrestle forever and it’s not fair to shorten other guys’ careers. He just wants to spend the rest of his time being able to enjoy himself and entertain the fans. I’d like it.

From Jason King: “Right? I read so many columns that say Punk’s a heel, but he’s not. It might be a super slow burn, but he’s not a heel. Heels don’t play to the crowd for cheers like Punk did when he came out for both of his matches on Monday night. What he said to Eve was legit — it’s not a new Punk at all, he’s just demanding respect and the limelight the WWE Champion deserves. No different than his pipe bomb promo.”

This was a reply to Guest#7898, who wondered why I called Punk a heel when he’s still a face or kind of a tweener. I agree with the sentiment as far as him not acting too much differently, but he sounds far more whiny in his promos than he did a year ago. His mannerisms and tone when he took his title belt and stood off by the side at the end of the tag match was also something a heel would do. He’s not a full blown heel, certainly, but his rant on commentary at the end of the 8/6 episode (Bryan v. Cena) was full of “the fans turned on me” sentiment. I said from the very beginning that it wasn’t a straight up heel turn when he hit the GTS on Rocky and everybody yelled at me for it.

From the mecca: “apparently AW kept putting out inappropriate tweets while employed. too bad too. I liked him as a manager. I must say I agree with most of your predictions, except 2. Ziggler will go over since Jericho is going on tour and will be out for a bit, and if they plan on having Brock win any matches this year that they have him he’ll win here. otherwise they are basically paying him a crap ton of money just to job him out for a year. which while seems stupid I guess its one way to go, but if you want to stick it to him make sure he’s putting over guys like Zach Ryder, not guys like HHH. Now the WWE title match, anyone think Big Show has a chance? I would like to say yes. Big Show could win here, lose the title back to Punk at Survivor series, Punk keeps it till the Rumble and then loses it to the Rock. Cena wins the Rumble and there is your Cena/Rock rematch. I also wonder about Brock winning the title? you think he wanted that when he came back? could Lesner end Punk’s reign say at hell in a cell or Survivor series, only to lose to the Rock at the Rumble? at this point the guys going up against Sheamus have to look a lot better because I don’t think anyone under Punk,Cena,Rock,Big Show,HHH has a chance of getting the WWE title any time soon. wheras the World title could change hands in the next couple of months and who knows when or who could do it. Ziggler cash in?”

I haven’t paid any attention to Twitter in a while (I’m fickle, I know) so I didn’t see any of AW’s tweets and now that account is deactivated anyway. I thought he tweeted his support for Linda. Maybe it was the opposite. Beats me.

Jericho/Ziggler can go either way but I think Y2J gets the win because he just started being “Y2J” again and he keeps being accused of not being able to keep up with the young guys. A win will prove that he still can, and as long as they don’t follow up with Ziggler looking like a loser he won’t be hurt at all. Lesnar isn’t back to be a big winner, and losses aren’t going to hurt his appeal. He’s an excuse-maker and primadonna now, and a loss to Triple H just gives Heyman more ammo to bitch about Brock being screwed by the system. I hate the idea of him winning the title. He only has a few dates in his contract and it wouldn’t work to have the champion away from TV. I think he’ll win one big match and lose the rest… Triple H could be the win, but I don’t know. The whole story leading up to Sunday has a Triple H victory as the proper end.

I wrote the above last Wednesday night. Now after seeing SummerSlam, let’s see… Jericho did indeed get the win in the opening match. Triple H took the loss and I figure that at this point maybe Lesnar will win all of his matches leading up to challenging The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Who knows.

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WWE SUMMERSLAM PPV REVIEW!
My gosh he’s writing a PPV review when it’s relevant? It can’t be! Yeah, I actually have a slight bit of time on my hands, so I figured I would take some initiative. Lo and behold, here we are.

United States Championship
Antonio Cesaro def. Santino Marella

I felt like the result of this one was an absolute given but I read a lot of people who were suprised by the outcome. Yes, it was the pre-show, but they haven’t made it out to be an important title so it wouldn’t matter if AC won it on PPV or at a house show. What matters is what is done with the belt moving forward. Match was nothing special, but I’m glad Cesaro is beginning to figure out how to use his finisher. He originally just dropped forward with it but now he really drives down and it actually feels like it can get him a 3-count. **

The Big One…
Chris Jericho def. Dolph Ziggler

Fantastic choice to open the PPV proper. Jericho’s win is perfectly legitimate. Remember the days when we just rooted for the good guy to win but if he lost we didn’t think it was the end of the world? DZ didn’t need the win by any means. He’s the heel and he lost after being an asshole. That’s how it works. Good match, by the way. Give it ***1/2.

No Versus… Brimstone, I guess
Daniel Bryan def. Kane

This is the kind of match that I don’t think anybody expected to be much more than just there, and that’s exactly what we got. Where does Bryan go from here? I wouldn’t mind seeing an extended feud with Kane that reaches into Falls Count Anywhere/Last Man Standing territory. Remember when X-Pac dropped the 55 gallon drums on Kane in a FCA match? That was pretty sweet. Bryan and Kane can also pull off something similar to (or better than) the Kane v. Benoit match at Bad Blood from back in June of 2004. I’m going to seek that one out and watch it again. **1/2

Intercontinental Championship
The Miz def. Rey Mysterio

I am certainly digging the reenergized Miz that emerged from filming TM3 and it’s good to see that they seem to be over whatever was keeping him from being featured this year. His slingshot powerbomb was very nice but he’s used it a number of times before. They kept trying to get over a new moveset but I didn’t see anything new. Don’t bring up the torture rack backbreaker because that’s something a lot of Mysterio’s opponents do in matches with him. **3/4

World Heavyweight Championship
Sheamus def. Alberto Del Rio

I’m so tired of this feud. Seems like we all are at this point. Match was fine and I liked the finish (shades of Rock v. Shamrock from Survivor Series 1998!) although the foot on the ropes means the feud must continue. Please just blow it off on SmackDown and move on. ***

WWE Tag Team Championship
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth def. The Prime Time Players

If the tag division is truly being rebuilt it is very smart to keep the titles on a team that is over and very capable in the ring. I did think there would be a title change though, and the fact that there wasn’t is a good sign that they actually might be serious about the tag teams. Again, I stand very cautious. **1/4

WWE Championship
CM Punk def. John Cena & The Big Show

CM Punk may actually factor into the future of the WWE Title picture! Or he’ll lose it to Cena in a singles match at Night of Champions next month. Match was fine. I enjoyed it and it’s always fun to watch John Cena matches with my son. By the way, Punk used the Koji Clutch, not the Anaconda Vise. It would be impossible for the Vise and the STF to be locked on at the same time. ***

The Perfect Storm
Brock Lesnar def. Triple H

Not as good as Brock/Cena from Extreme Rules but this was arguably the best match of the night, not that it’s necessarily saying much. Psychology was simple — Lesnar worked on Triple H’s arm while Triple H did whatever he could to defend himself until he got lucky and found out that Brock’s weakness is his stomach thanks to his past issues with diverticulitis. It was still too much for The Game to handle and in the end he was overtaken and forced to give up. The drawn out attempt for a standing ovation at the end was pretty embarassing, though. ***1/2

Overall Thoughts
The 2 hours and 45 minutes went by pretty quickly. Nothing was bad by any means (with the exception of Triple H at the end) but it wasn’t the epic event they were going for. Solid show with a crowd that was far better than people reported, and in fact they were great up until the Tag Title match and then dropped off but were not bad. Enjoyable show but there’s nothing worth going out of your way to see. ***

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WWE RAW 8.20.2012: SummerSlam Fallout
I’m going to try the review a different way this week. Let’s see how it turns out.

Hour One: Brock, Six-Man Tag & Ryback

– Heyman and Lesnar came out to start the show with a short and to-the-point promo stating that Brock’s the new King of Kings and all that jazz. That’s how a promo that only has one thing to say should be. 10-ish minutes and out. Not 25 minutes without a point being made. Too bad Brock isn’t sticking around so they can really make use of the proclamation that Heyman made.

– I was thinking while watching SummerSlam that they should pair Darren Young and Titus O’Neal with Damien Sandow. It originally popped into my head due to the similarity of their trunks, but when I put some thought into it, I realized it could actually be pretty cool. Neither of the PTPs can talk and Sandow certainly can; it would also be a significant clash in styles that would likely really piss the fans off. Go with it!

– I wonder if Jinder Mahal was the second choice for the Ryback feud. Jack Swagger put up a fight on RAW one week and Mahal did the same on SmackDown, and since then we haven’t seen Swagger on TV at all. What did he do? Maybe he’s just taking some time off from RAW to be repackaged/revitalized.

Hour Two: Orton v. Del Rio, Shawn Michaels Talks

– Orton and ADR had themselves a pretty decent match. Sheamus has a ton of personality and was great on commentary, but the SmackDown World Title scene is pretty boring right now. I would love to see Mark Henry come back as a face and ask Sheamus for a true rubber match after their dueling count-out victories last summer.

– They’re high on Sandow/Clay and THAT is what we get? Really? Three hours of TV and they get a sub-3 minute match that ends with a fluke rollup and the face beating up the heel afterward?

– I like when they pull back and show the whole crowd just sitting there watching the Titantron. It makes segments like the HBK interview feel much more important because we can see everybody in the arena watching intently. The interview itself was a bit of masturbatory crap that won’t really matter since nothing is going to change. Triple H will continue to be a part-time wrestler and part-time authority figure. Still an A+ on production, though.

Hour Three: Strange Bedfellows, Jericho v. Ziggler, Punk Demands Respect

– Zack Ryder gets back on TV just to have his ass kicked again by Kane. Nice. At least it looks like the Kane/Bryan feud is continuing, which I’m all for. They could really have some darn good matches.

– There are few things worse than a Divas Battle Royal.

– Jericho and Ziggler had another strong match, I just wish it would have been given more time. He also was the second face to lose clean on RAW this week and beat up his heel opponent after the match. Not cool. I think the crowd was expecting/hoping for Jericho to shake Ziggler’s hand. That would have been a great rub for DZ, much bigger than the victory itself.

– The closing segment was very strong in my opinion. Cena cut an incredibly strong promo with zero silly shit, got his point across and walked away. As one fan said, CM Punk was completely and summarily “served” by Cena, and his ignoring of it to go right back to Lawler was such a great thing to follow up on how strong he really did just take it in the ass from Cena. I now REALLY want to see this match at Night of Champions and it will be a great follow-up to the Punk/Cena match in Punk’s hometown last July. It almost feels like a natural progression. I pray that Punk wins that match and can be a strong (even if he’s whiny) heel champion at least until the Royal Rumble. By rule I prefer a match over a promo segment to close a show, but as far as show-closing promos go this one was pretty great. Hopefully next week Punk gives Lawler a good shitkicking (maybe holds him hostage for Cena to agree to the match?) and that runs its course.

Overall RAW Thoughts
Not a bad show. There wasn’t much wrestling and the only things they did that really built directly to the near future were the last two segments of the night. Ziggler has gotten rid of Jericho and now he’ll be moving on to something bigger and better (I assume) and Punk is going to get himself back into the spotlight at least for another few weeks as they build to a big match at Night of Champions. Otherwise it was mostly fallout from the previous night’s PPV and the whole evening felt more like a placeholder than a push forward, which is not how one would expect the night after a so-called “big time” pay-per-view, but I won’t complain much. I didn’t feel robbed of my time watching the show and that’s really all I can ask.

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Free Pro Wrestling: 4 Front Wrestling

Prince Devitt v. Owen Phoenix || 4FW Wrestlewar 2011 – October 29, 2011
From TJ Hawke: “This was a fun little match, and I think it was the first Devitt match I’ve seen that didn’t take place in Japan. You can really tell how great of shape Devitt is in, because this match was worked at a fairly brisk pace, but he looked like he didn’t even break a sweat. I hope to see more Phoenix matches going forward, as he seems to have potential.”

For More, Please Visit FreeProWrestling.com

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PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING NEWS!
– Stephanie McMahon stated that she has no plans on making a return to TV but would be completely open to it if the fans demand it. Somehow I don’t see that on the horizon.

– Reports have been going back and forth as to whether or not WWE has signed Alex Shelley. Is it true that he more or less demanded to go directly to the main roster as opposed to flailing around in FCW/NXT first? His signing (if it’s finally legit) could mean that WWE may begin to sign other recently departed TNA talent such as Matt Morgan. WWE should give Shelley the gimmick of a mad scientist who is actually a descendant of writer Mary Shelley. They can bring Matt Morgan in to be his monstrous creation.

– Pope D’Angelo Dinero is out again due to injury, this time with a broken collarbone. I think the guy has a ton of potential but being bitten by the injury bug so often has really set him back. I think TNA needs to let him go for a while and he needs to tour the indies. Once he’s been injury free for a period of time either WWE or TNA will surely pick him back up.

– Steve “Mongo” McMichael is running for mayor of Romeoville, IL. He and Kurt Angle should be running mates and vie for the White House. Also, Mongo is only 54? I refuse to believe that shit. He seemed like he was in his fifties 15 years ago.

– Jim Ross filmed and interview with CM Punk and Steve Austin that was said to be a very “heated” (in kayfabe) encounter. It was shot as a “what would happen if they met” scenario for the WWE ’13 video game. It isn’t known whether it will be simply a game extra or if it will air on TV to hype its release. One step closer to Punk/Austin at WrestleMania, even if it is a very, very small one. Austin and JR took to Twitter to deny a return, but all they said was that the dirtsheets are wrong and that if Austin returns it will be on HIS terms. Isn’t that exactly what every reputable sheet has been reporting/speculating anyway?

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Stick a fork in me, I’m DONE!

Next week: TNA talk? Ring of Honor frustrations? Excited chitter chatter about Judge Dredd 3D?

– Nicholas A. Marsico