klunderbunker
Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
Monday
Punk is still going to be out until January.
Monday Night Raw
Date: November 15, 2010
Location: Giant Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole
Well it’s the go home show for Survivor Series but it’s also a three hour Old School Raw. This is basically another chance to run out the old guys again while no one really wants to see them again but we’re going to do it anyway just because. This isn’t anything I particularly want to see but we’re getting three hours of it. Oh and there are three matches set for Survivor Series. Let’s get to it.
The main appeal here is the chance of the return of the Warrior. Yes that Warrior.
They open with the WWF logo and the word Federation scratched out and Entertainment under it. We get the OLD SCHOOL Raw intro with the 93 music but modern highlights. They even have the old banners and graphics. This could be awesome.
EVERYTHING is old school here with the red white and blue ropes, the standard guardrails, and here’s Gene Okerlund to do the interviews from a PLATFORM!
Gene brings out Bob Orton who says Randy isn’t here yet. I’m marking out like a bitch here. Orton rambles on about not caring for Cena at all and how Orton is going to win this Sunday. Before he finishes here’s Barrett. Big RAW letter set too. Barrett says he didn’t get anything from the Old School and got here himself. After some more stuff from Barrett, here’s Miz with Riley who is in the old Raw is War shirt.
Miz gets on Barrett for no apparent reason. He says he might cash in tonight which he hasn’t said in awhile. If he does, Cena would be in Nexus forever. Cena pops up on the screen and says he’s going to stop Miz from cashing in because if he’s on the line Sunday he’s going to do it Sunday. Cena says tonight he’s protecting Barrett tonight by challenging Miz to a match which he accepts.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Mark Henry
We get an inset promo from Ziggler saying he was ripped off last time he was…..IT’S SEXUAL CHOCOLATE!!! I hated that gimmick but I’m loving this already. The ring looks GREAT and we have the bowtie referees. Lawler compares Henry to Bruno Sammartino. Let that sink in a bit. Henry looks at Vickie with those googly eyes. It’s a standard big man vs. smaller man here.
The fans chant chocolate which is a weird one indeed. Oh and Ziggler compared him and Vickie to Macho and Liz. So one will die and the other will be banished? Henry gets a powerslam for two. The splash misses though as I guess some things never change. A short range Fameasser (called the Zig Zag because Cole is a very stupid man) gets two. The REAL Zig Zag only gets two as well. Ziggler runs up behind him and gets a very bad sleeper to end it.
Rating: C-. After I got over the shock of Sexual Chocolate (well it is in Hershey after all) I saw a decent match here but you can really see how limited Henry is. He more or less stood there while Ziggler did 90% of the work. At least Andre moved. Henry just stood there and jumped a bit on the splash. Decent match though and it keeps Ziggler looking strong so it has that going for it.
The Hart Dynasty come to the ring in old school Wrestlemania shirts but are stopped by Tony Atlas who I can barely understand. He has a can of WD40 which he sprays on his arms and literally doesn’t stop talking for about a minute and a half, including talking about potato salad.
Back from a break and he’s still talking, this time about taking someone’s daughter out while Yoshi Tatsu is standing beside him and pretends to stab himself. Funny stuff.
Heath Slater/Justin Gabriel vs. Hart Dynasty
Gabriel vs. Smith to start us off here. Smith stays in there far longer than he should be and walks into a forearm from Slater for his troubles. I love these referee shirts with the bowties too. The crowd chants Nexus Sucks. Smith goes for the tag and gets kicked in the head by Kidd to break up the team. 450 ends it. This was like two minutes long so no rating. Kidd was never in the ring.
Gene is in the back and talks to the Ortons. Truth comes up in an old Survivor Series shirt. He says that Cena is going to screw him over at the PPV. Orton says he won’t be able to screw him over if he punts Cena in the head tonight.
UPDATE WITH GENE OKERLUND!
This is brought to you by WWEshop.com which has all kind of old school PPV shirts. I’m drooling. What was actually updated there?
Justin Roberts introduces HOWARD FINKLE! That voice is just awesome. He brings out Harvey Whippleman and the Brooklyn “I take Pat Patterson up the ass” Brawler. Brawler issues an open challenge.
Brooklyn Brawler vs. Ezekiel Jackson
Norcal called this one. Oh do I need to explain this one? Cole says it’s 2011. Do you see why I can’t stand this guy?
Otunga talks to the Nexus and says he’s the leader. Cue Barrett of course and we’re going to get Otunga vs. Truth tonight in a pro vs. rookie match. As they’re talking we get an e-mail. King is in old school clothes tonight too. Otunga isn’t fighting Truth apparently as he has a special match later. Barrett gets Truth instead. Cena comes in and says nothing to note. Harris and McGillicutty are assigned to protect him.
We open a commercial with an ad for Smackdown and close it with an ad for Smackdown. Nice to see them covering it, but damn man they’ve been on Syfy for how long now? It’s not new anymore.
John Cena vs. The Miz
Cena puts his hat on a kid and the kid is about to cry. That’s awesome. Miz says since the GM never sanctioned this match so Riley is in this instead.
John Cena vs. Alex Riley
Ok then. Cole corrects the year thing from earlier on. Cena of course toys with Riley because he’s John Cena and he’s against Alex Riley. Cole tries to force the A-Bomb From A-Ri line to get over and it continues to fail. Riley isn’t much in the ring at all. He hits something that we don’t see because we’re looking at Miz instead. Riley gets in some basic offense but the FU and STF end this easily.
Rating: C. It wasn’t a squash but there was no real point to this other than for Cena to look awesome and set up the showdown that comes after the match, which we’ll get to now.
Miz comes in and here’s Orton to fight him. McGillicutty and Harris come out and jump Orton who clears the ring other than Cena. Cena punches him and suits/referees come out for the save. An E-Mail says tonight it’s PIPER’S PIT with Cena and Orton.
After a break Sheik and Volkoff are in the ring and it’s singing time. Santino and Kozlov interrupt. Kozlov wants to sing with Volkoff. Nikolai looks BAD. Santino says he wants to sing something and needs some help with it. Cue SLICK to sing Jive Soul Bro. After Sheik does his usual thing (including having his mic cut thank goodness) it’s time for a #1 contenders match.
Usos vs. Vladimir Kozlov/Santino Marella
Snuka is in the Usos corner. Apparently Sheik started dropping F Bombs. That’s awesome. We come back from a break with the match already having started. More or less the faces are a lock to win this. Kozlov hits a fallaway slam on an Uso as this is one sided so far. This is an awkward match with weird mat stuff for the most part. The heels double team Kozlov for two.
One of the Usos gets the Russian in a front facelock and the look on his face is just awesome. Vlad gets a backdrop from his knees. That’s pretty awesome. Santino Canaditalians up, hitting his diving headbutt for two. Santino and one of the Usos fuck up something and the Cobra ends it.
Rating: D+. Awkward match that was never in doubt but I think this could work pretty well for the whole tag title scene. They’re a regular team so why not give them a chance at the titles? The match was nothing special in the slightest but this was ok for the most part. Snuka was completely worthless here mind you.
Post match Sheamus comes out and beats up everyone in sight but here’s Morrison. He says that he’s doing this because Sheamus is a bully and bullies will leave when stood up to. Sheamus actually leaves.
Kofi Kingston vs. David Otunga
Well nice to see Kofi getting some direction for a change. Yep no more random matches for him. In another inset interview he says he’ll be flying like Koko B. Ware. After some basic stuff, George Freaking Steele wanders down to ringside. He just kind of gets in the ring and eats a turnbuckle. Kofi sends Otunga into the exposed buckle and Trouble in Paradise ends it. No rating again as the vast majority of this was Steele, making it cool.
In the back Arn Anderson and Gerry Brisco are talking to Morrison but he gets his head kicked in by Sheamus. The match is made for Survivor Series. Shame there isn’t some team competition they could be in there instead.
Aksana is walking around with the Million Dollar Title but Duggan walks us with the flag attached to his 2x4 and gets on her for stealing his USA gimmick. Apparently her mom is here. It’s Dusty Rhodes in a wig. He shouts to Kelly who drops a net on her. Goldust comes up and wants the title back.
He gives it to the original owner: Ted DiBiase Senior who is with IRS. He hands it off to his son who doesn’t want it. Goldust stands next to them and Dashing Cody Rhodes is there. Goldust wants grooming tips but Cody says not to breathe on him. Goldust: Oh come on and help a brother out!
Dusty, still in the wig, says he has some weird kids. Now hit his music! American Dream starts playing as Dusty, still the wig, dances along with Kelly, Aksana who still has the damn net over her, IRS, Ted, TATANKA in full costume and Duggan. Simmons pops up to say DAMN. This was greatness.
I usually don’t mention LD lines but IC just had a gem. “WWE extended an invitation to Owen Hart tonight. He’ll try to drop in.” IC and I will be headlining hell later this year.
ALFRED HAYES’ VOICE DOES THE VOICEOVER! WHICH IS IMPRESSIVE SINCE HE’S DEAD!
R-Truth vs. Wade Barrett
Eve is gorgeous and incredibly sexy but she flat out cannot dance. Truth dominates to start and hits a big dive over the top to the floor. Barrett hits a Boss Man Slam to take over again. He adds a top rope elbow for two. This is a rather short match as Truth misses the Axe Kick and gets out of Wasteland before the regular Wasteland hits for the pin. Somehow this was 5-6 minutes. There just wasn’t anything to say besides that.
Rating: D+. The match wasn’t bad but it’s the definition of forgettable. I don’t remember much of anything in this other than a little bit here and there. That’s not something terrible as not every match is going to be a classic, but I would expect to remember something about a match. Barrett won clean though which gives him some momentum for Sunday. At least there’s that.
They do the intro again for the third hour as they did for the second hour too. That’s old school for the most part.
Alberto’s ring announcer sets up his intro but TITO SANTANA does his intro instead. Chavo Classic is driving the car and apparently is going to captain a Survivor Series team! Oh man I’m in Heaven here.
Alberto runs down fat Americans and here’s the SARGE! He wants a match RIGHT NOW.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Sgt. Slaughter
Slaughter is very bald. Cobra Clutch goes on and gets him nowhere. Alberto kicks him very hard in some very skinny legs but Sarge gets the Clutch again and again it fails. The running enziguri ends this quickly. No rating once again. Alberto gets the armbar post match but here’s MVP for the save. Cole says this isn’t Alberto’s show. Well it isn’t MVP’s either.
Same WWEshop thing from earlier.
Clip of the Mania tickets going on sale.
Gene is with Mae Young. Oh sweet merciful crap no. She’s in wrestling gear too. The Bellas bring her out. We get a highlight reel of Mae Young who is 87 years old. The Moolah and Mae with Gene and Bobby at Mania XX is still hilarious. Laycool comes out to run down Mae of course. They talk about adult diapers etc.
She wants a match with these ****s. WOW. She wants it to be No DQ and calls them little bitches. MAE YOUNG IS AWESOME. It’s falls count anywhere too. Here are all the Divas. The other girls, mainly Natalya, beats up Layla and Mae puts her foot on her for the pin after a BIG slap. Ok that I can live with as a match.
Fink brings out JIM ROSS FOR THE NEXT MATCH! Jim won’t talk to Cole. Awesomeness.
Daniel Bryan vs. Jack Swagger
Swagger is in something at Survivor Series apparently. Cole keeps trying to get under Ross’ skin and he keeps ignoring him. Obviously the main point here is JR who is his usual old self. Cole can’t get Ross’ attention and it’s cracking me up as Ross is calling this straight. Ross hasn’t lost a step at all. Him and Lawler on Raw is just RIGHT.
We go to a break with Bryan on the floor as I haven’t paid a bit of attention to the actual wrestling. Back with Swagger dominating as Ross talks about Bryan. This is what we’ve been missing on commentary: making matches seem important. Ross is SELLING this. You couple that with Cole cracking me up and this is awesome.
Bryan makes his big comeback, hitting a running knee from the apron and then a dropkick off the top. I haven’t talked about it enough but the match has been awesome. Swagger gets the Vader Bomb for two. LeBell Lock is countered but Swagger goes for the gutwrench but it gets countered into a BIG kick to the head for the pin. Cole stands up and applauds it being over.
Rating: B. This was a very solid match actually. Swagger can still go in the ring but he just doesn’t need to be in the world title scene so thankfully he’s done with that. Him in the midcard/upper midcard works FAR better for him. He just didn’t have enough seasoning but this worked. I was impressed here and it was rather entertaining.
Post match Ted DiBiase comes out and beats up Bryan, hitting Dream Street. I can work with this. He gets the title and drapes it over Bryan’s chest.
We run down the card and we’re going to get a Survivor Series match with Rey as a captain with MVP, Chris Masters, Kofi Kingston and Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio as captain with Tyler Reks, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and Jack Swagger. This works very well for me and will DEFINITELY flesh out the card somewhat.
Ross hits Cole with his hat as he leaves in a funny bit.
They bring out the legends one more time.
Here’s Roddy Piper. He runs down all the things he’s done over the years which are all pretty cool. Piper has lost a ton of weight and looks far better than he did before. Cena comes out and Piper talks about being hurt that he’s never been WWE Champion. He lists off some people that never got the title and tells Cena that if he hands the title to Barrett Sunday then he’ll be spitting in the face of every legend he says he respects.
This promo is actually very good. Piper always was a great talker. Cena talks about how he wants to respect the legends because they were his heroes. This is great stuff. Cena says he’s tired of the free or fired stuff because if he has to hand over the championship then the freedom means nothing. He’s going to call it right down the middle on Sunday.
Here’s Barrett, Nexus shirt over his shoulder. Barrett says if he doesn’t win then it’s all over on Sunday. Piper gets in Barrett’s face and yells at him that even if he has the title on Sunday he won’t be a champion but rather just a joke. Barrett asks Piper who he thinks he is.
Barrett says tonight is Cena’s last night with the Nexus on Raw and it might be his final Raw ever. He holds up the Nexus shirt to Cena and says put it on. It goes on to a nice heel reaction. Cena says after the match Sunday he’s going to end Barrett. Barrett says once the match ends then Nexus can take him out.
Here’s Orton who says he could kick Cena in the head tonight and end this. Cena asks what’s stopping him. Orton spins around and blasts Barrett then sets up for the RKO but Cena stands in his way to HUGE boos. RKO to Cena instead and it appears to be punting time. Barrett gets up and Orton tosses him. He goes for the Punt but Cena gets up and hits an FU on him. Barrett says to raise his hands but Cena hits an FU on him too and throws down the shirt, leaving to his own music.
Overall Rating: A. This show was about having old school guys there and having fun. This show hit that on all cylinders. The wrestling was barely memorable but that’s just fine here. This wasn’t supposed to be a great wrestling show and it wasn’t, but the Bryan/Swagger match was good. The PPV card is fleshed out now and everything seems to be getting better. I was incredibly entertained by tonight’s show and it was definitely a success on all fronts.
Results
Dolph Ziggler b. Mark Henry – Sleeper
Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater b. Hart Dynasty – 450 to Smith
Ezekiel Jackson b. Brooklyn Brawler – Release Rock Bottom
John Cena b. Alex Riley – STF
Vladimir Kozlov/Santino Marella b. The Usos – The Cobra
Kofi Kingston b. David Otunga – Trouble in Paradise
Wade Barrett b. R-Truth – Wasteland
Alberto Del Rio b. Sgt. Slaughter – Running Enziguri
Mae Young b. Laycool – Mae pinned Layla after a slap
Daniel Bryan b. Jack Swagger – Kick to the head
Tuesday[/B]
Raw got a 3.1. Not bad all things considered.
NXT
Date: November 16, 2010
Location: The Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews
It’s another elimination tonight as we have three shows left. I can’t particularly say I’m complaining because I’m not but at the same time there is something to be said for this show. The comedy here is great with Cole and Josh just opening blasting it as they know it’s a joke. I can’t imagine that Aksana stays here. This should be funny if nothing else so let’s get to it as the show is starting now.
The first competition is how well do you know your pro. The pros are asked a question and the then the rookies have to try to guess the answers. If it’s a match they get a point if not they don’t. I’m not going to bother trying to keep up with the responses.
The first question is “When I first saw my rookie I thought she was “blank””. AJ and Aksana both get theirs right as does Naomi.
Question #2 is rate your rookie which is about knowing how good your rookie is from 1-5. AJ and Kaitlyn get it. Naomi does as well. Cole is killing it here with his answers to these questions.
The third and final question is who does my pro think should be eliminated tonight. AJ gets up to three for three, Aksana misses, Kaitlyn gets it to go to two points and Naomi misses it giving AJ the win with three. Naomi got two and the others got 1. Sweet merciful crap AJ is cut. You just want to cuddle up with her and play some Call of Duty.
Ad for the Cena match at Survivor Series which costars Orton and Barrett.
Buy the High Fliers DVD!
Naomi vs. Kaitlyn
Vickie does the intro for her rookie and bitches the whole time in a funny bit. Damn she looks good in those shorts. Kaitlyn gets a weird Bubba Bomb for two. The commentators talk about Old School Raw as Kaitlyn gets a leg scissors with Josh picking her to win the whole thing. Surprisingly Kaitlyn is dominating this.
Josh is so natural on commentary. He has no wrestling career for the most part but he’s just smooth out there. AJ vs. Aksana later apparently. Naomi hits a big spin kick after being on defense for the vast majority of this to get the win. I forgot to time it but this couldn’t have been more than 3:00.
Rating: C-. This was surprisingly good. I didn’t doubt for a minute that Naomi would win but we got to see Kaitlyn on offense. They’re definitely pushing Naomi as the talent of the group which makes sense for the vast majority. This wasn’t anything that bad and considering Kaitlyn’s limited talents in the ring this was ok.
Aksana says she doesn’t know what got into her and it’s like when Smiegle (I didn’t read the books so don’t complain about the spelling) turned into Gollum. She wants her husband’s help and gives him some sunflowers. He reluctantly agrees.
We get the same Mania ticket ad from last night. I can’t wait for it. They make it seem like a huge show and it is. Great stuff.
AJ vs. Aksana
Why do I picture AJ running away from sex like it’s an evil disgusting concept? Goldust sends Aksana in alone and hangs with the pros instead. AJ is freaking tiny. Neither are much in the ring but Aksana controls for the most part. In something I’ve never seen before, Aksana holds the ropes open and AJ actually gets in. Never seen anyone actually do that.
Cole takes a phone call as they argue over Josh’s experience. What experience does Cole have exactly? The fans chant for AJ as she’s in a reverse Boston Crab with a chin lock. Cole says that Joey Styles is calling him. AJ gets a small package for two and a cross body for one. She takes over and we’re told again that Vince is in a coma.
AJ gets a submission hold that I’ve seen before somewhere but I can’t place it. She goes for a head scissors and then stays behind Aksana and grabs her arm too so it’s like a crucifix with pressure on the arm and neck. It looked awesome and actually gets the tap out in roughly 4:30.
Rating: C+. Considering who was in there, this was epic. It wasn’t any good for the most part but I was expecting a train wreck and got a half decent match out of it. AJ’s submission thing worked very well and surprised me as I was expecting a rollup or cradle of some kind. Not a good match or anything but considering what they had to work with, this was amazing.
Diss the Diva is the other challenge tonight.
Ad for the new Cena DVD.
Diss the Diva time. You have a minute to run down the other girls. AJ has won two competitions and Kaitlyn has won one. AJ goes first and says she’s shown us sugar and now it’s time for spice. Aksana tapped out, no one would know who she was without Vickie. And Kaitlyn stole her shoes. Naomi has no personality. Cole starts chanting boring which drowns her out. Oh and this is her lifelong dream.
Aksana says a bunch of stuff that I can’t understand at all. I use that as a joke a lot but I legit can’t understand what she’s saying. Naomi needs to stay away from her man and AJ is small. That’s all I’ve got.
Kaitlyn says that if NXT was high school, Naomi would be a jock, Aksana would be the weird foreign exchange student and AJ would be the nerd. She would be the prom queen of course. She says Aksana doesn’t know what USA stands for. Apparently it’s “U Suck Aksana.” She says she loves AJ and then says isn’t my time up yet as this is a trainwreck. I’m dying from laughter at how bad this is.
Naomi goes last and says Kaitlyn has nice legs but she can’t wrestle. I can’t understand her because Cole won’t shut up though. She makes fun of AJ’s jumping and Aksana is about to be eliminated. WOW Naomi can’t talk. Cole is talking to someone in the audience.
The fans aren’t thrilled with AJ or Aksana or Naomi but they liked Kaitlyn…not at all. They give it to Naomi as her booing was the weakest. I’m not kidding there either but AJ has immunity due to winning two challenges to Naomi and Kaitlyn’s one apiece.
Update with Gene Okerlund is the same T-shirt deal from last night. I wear a XXL if anyone wants to send me a Christmas present and I’d love one of those Survivor Series shirts.
Mania is STILL coming to Atlanta.
We talk about Survivor Series and the Cena match in particular. I pop in Super Punch Out for a bit as I really don’t need another recap of this. This gets a music video kind of thing to it.
Now we run down the rest of Survivor Series. I can’t believe we’re this close to Thanksgiving already.
The Bellas talk about the total package. Ok so just Brie thinks that. Nikki looks for class and respect, which none of them have. She says there’s no comparison from the rookies to the pros. Alicia is apparently an employee at Diva Daycare because this isn’t Disney, it’s WWE. She’s a hungry piranha apparently. I see why she’s never given a mic.
Hey did you know Knucklehead is on DVD? I didn’t know if you knew Knucklehead was on DVD. Well now that you know that Knucklehead is on DVD, I don’t have to tell you that Knucklehead is on DVD.
Finally elimination time. To really no one’s surprise Aksana is out. She “faints”. Goldust just doesn’t care and it’s rather funny. Aksana says she’s going to see Vince to write a ledger to someone. Goldust pulls out a paper or something and says he wants a divorce.
On a side note, apparently Joey Styles legitimately spoiled the elimination about ten minutes before it happened. Why do I have a feeling nothing will happen to him? My guess would be no one is watching.
Overall Rating: D+. Pretty bland show here that was about as by the book as you would expect it to be. The matches weren’t anything great at all with even the AJ vs. Aksana match that was rated highly being bad still. You can tell no one really cares anymore which is what makes this more entertaining. From a comedy standpoint this was pretty good but the lack of any kind of entertainment outside of that hurt it. Not a terrible show but one of the weaker in awhile.
Results
AJ won the How Well Do You Know Your Rookie Challenge
Naomi b. Kaitlyn – Spinwheel kick
AJ b. Aksana – Crucifix Submission
Naomi won Diss the Divas
Aksana was eliminated in 4th place
Wednesday
Alex Riley was arrested for drunk driving. Nice job.
There might be an old school Nitro. That could be interesting.
Thursday
Impact
Date: November 18, 2010
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz
Episode Title: Morgan Woooo’s the Nature Boy
Well this has to be better than last week’s show right? I’m hardly looking forward tot his and it’s likely going to be as gimmick heavy as ever but unfortunately that’s what TNA is now. I’m not thinking anything good is coming from this but it’s what you get here anymore. Let’s get to it.
We open with clips of Hardy and a recap of his whole heel stuff. His belt still looks like a Barney cookie cutter.
Flair comes out and says the fans are here to see Immortal, Fourtune and Flair. He’s here to talk about Morgan and says he’ll be the guest referee for Morgan’s rematch. His match will be refereed by God. Flair calls out Morgan and here comes the not seven footer. He revokes the Naitch privilege, meaning Morgan can’t call him that anymore. Ok this is SERIOUS.
He says he could have Fourtune come out here right now and kick Morgan’s ass. “Don’t look over your shoulder. Keep your eyes on God.” Flair vs. Morgan tonight apparently. Big DO IT chant for that. Morgan says that’s the #1 thing on his bucket list. Flair freaks out and says that last night he slept with Zenyatta or some horse. I have no idea what the point of it was but I’ll go with it I guess.
Gen Me is coming to the ring and Tara slaps their asses. Lucky guys.
Hardy vs. Raven later and it’s win or be fired. Well there’s the release angle for him. There’s also an open casket challenge from Abyss tonight.
Motor City Machine Guns/Jay Lethal/Velvet Skye vs. Cookie/Robbie E/Generation Me
For the love of crap can we get the Guns ANYONE else to feud with? Apparently Sabin and Skye are dating in real life and that’s of course going to be mentioned on here because TNA SHOOTS BABY! Jeremy vs. Lethal to start and here come the Guns. Apparently if Morgan wins he gets to pick the referee and if Flair wins Morgan doesn’t get the title shot at the PPV.
Shelley plays the face in peril as everyone gets to beat on him. No tag yet as we’re getting a bit of time here, which granted in TNA is like 4 minutes. Robbie E vs. Lethal for the title at the PPV. There’s your opener. Lethal Combination gets two on Jeremy. Velvet gets a very long headscissors on Jeremy as the face team is dominating, signaling their downfalls. Velvet spears cookie down as Skull and Bones takes down Max. Yep there’s the hairspray to Sabin so Max can get the pin. I guess it’s time for match #6 for Gen Me.
Rating: C-. I couldn’t bring myself to give this lower but it was closer to that than the C- I think. The problem here was that the tag feud is played and Robbie is a comedy/parody character for the most part which means his interest levels are limited to say the least. Also, why would I want to see Gen Me vs. the Guns AGAIN when the Guns are what, 5-0 against them? Apparently that’s what we’re getting though and since TNA has the BEST tag division in the world, and I know that because they tell us that so often, it’ll be oh so interesting right?
Jarrett is in MMA gear in the back. Oh dear.
Back from a break we have Gen Me celebrating until the Guns come up. Empty arena match….on ReAction. Great.
Jarrett is a jerk and slaps JB. There’s an MMA exhibition tonight. He kisses Hogan and Bischoff’s asses because that’s what he does anymore.
We get a package on Angle who says he isn’t ready to retire yet. Not sure when that was said but it appears to be before BFG.
It’s time for the Double J Double M A (get it?) exhibition. Oh this is going to be bad. He brings out six jobbers to destroy. JB is going to be doing the in ring commentary. Jarrett’s thing under his name says MMA enthusiast. They do a don’t try this at home thing to show that Jarrett is a pro. First up is an armbar. The fans chant boring almost immediately.
The second hold is a heel hook and points out that his buddy Frank Mir made Lesnar tap to it. I can hear the MMA fans changing the channels as this happens. Third is an ankle lock. Get Angle out here already or Joe or whoever. There’s the Shamrock reference. The fourth move is the rear naked choke and Jarrett says he might have done the naked rear choke with you know who, as in Karen Angle, his new wife.
As he demonstrates that, here’s Joe to FINALLY end this. Jarrett says if Joe can get through the two students Jarrett has left he’ll get a submission match vs. Jarrett tonight. Jarrett shouts to SHOOT ON HIM. Key lock gets the first to tap and a modified Anaconda Vice gets the second one. JB calls for the submission match and Jarrett, of course, bails after sending the students at him. One of the students goes after Joe and gets destroyed with the MuscleBuster.
Stevie says to Raven that he’s a star and Dreamer says EV is dying with everyone leaving. Kendrick rambles.
Jeff Hardy vs. Raven
Well Hardy looks drunk off his ass. JB does the specially written entrance for Hardy which kisses his ass nice and well. No entrance for Raven. Guess they didn’t have time for that since we needed more MMA. JB says this is the featured contest of the evening. What does that make Flair vs. Morgan then?
Raven does the old wedge the chair in the corner and get thrown into it because karma is a bitch spot. Hardy in control but the Whisper in the Wind misses. Twist of Hate is the counter to the DDT and the Swanton ends clean in three minutes flat. Nice to see the former world champion looking so strong there. This was more or less a squash.
Rating: N/A. So much for Raven I guess. Also so much for Hardy not using the Swanton anymore. This was a waste of time but it writes him off I guess.
EV comes out to console Raven. Hogan comes out and says “Raven, you’re fired, quoth the Hulkster nevermore.” Ok point for a decent line.
Back from a break and Dreamer is calling out Rhyno. No music for Rhyno for some reason. Rhyno says that EV didn’t care that his contract was expiring but only Bischoff cared. It was about employment or unemployment. Dreamer kisses his ass (I’m shocked too). Dreamer talks about Rhyno selling out which they would never do. Tommy Dreamer is trying to tell people about selling out. That’s rich. Rhyno grabs Dreamer’s bad wrist and RVD comes out to save him then gets Gored to end the segment.
Morgan has no issue with going through Flair to get to the title.
Shannon Moore vs. Abyss
And this is a casket match. Great. Abyss tries to be all shifty to start. That’s just amusing. A modified powerbomb/throw puts Shannon in trouble early on. Moore gets a top rope slap to the back of the head which is called a bulldog but can’t get Abyss in the casket. He charges and still can’t get him down.
This has been mostly Moore so far which is freaking pitiful. Abyss is supposed to be unstoppable and he can barely stop a glorified career jobber. Black Hole Slam takes Shannon down and Pope is in the previously opened casket. It’s a DQ in a casket match. Well of course it is.
Rating: D. This match may have been decent but it made ZERO sense. First of all, Abyss needed almost seven minutes to beat Shannon Moore in a match where you don’t even have to get a pin. Second, Pope popped out of the casket in Undertaker style. Third, A DQ IN A CASKET MATCH? ARE YOU HIGH OR JUST REALLY STUPID, to quote someone from South Park. This company makes my head hurt.
Angelina Love vs. Mickie James
Winner gets Rayne at the PPV. Back and forth match to start with neither being able to keep an advantage. Love can’t get anything going and just stands there for like 10 seconds with her back to Mickie. She pulls Mickie’s hair to act a bit heelish. A rollup gets two for Angelina. This isn’t bad but it’s just not interesting for the most part. Big old kick takes Mickie down for two. Mickie gets a bad version of her jumping DDT to end it.
Rating: D+. The match was ok for the most part but it just wasn’t interesting at all. Mickie vs. Angelina is a decent sounding match on paper but this never was able to get going. I guess they set up the next feud and Angelina’s next storyline but I could not get into this at all.
After a break Angelina is all pissed off and breaking stuff. Winter comes up and says her rambling stuff to her about destiny and all that jazz. Just make out already.
Here’s Ray for his explanation. He kicked D-Von because he could. Fifteen years ago he created the 3D and it had never been kicked out of before. He talks about everyone it has beaten and we list off the WWF guys just because it’s been a whole night since we have. Apparently D-Von has always been the weak link and it’s his fault that the 3D failed for the first time ever. We get the Jannetty/Shawn reference and Bubba says D-Von was just the guy that got his tables.
Quick aside: Marty Jannetty had a good career. Why not say I’m the Bret you’re the Anvil?
Ric Flair vs. Matt Morgan
Yes, in 2010 Ric Flair is the main draw of a television show. Morgan dominates of course and does his elbows so that Flair can do the Flop. And down goes the referee maybe two minutes into this. Low blow takes Morgan down. Flair, despite being on offense for the most part, starts to bleed.
We go into ReAction with Morgan taking over. Side slam takes down Flair and here’s Fourtune. Douglas Williams is kind of standing back for a bit here which gets AJ to yell at him. The referee hasn’t been seen since the bump he took and is likely dead. Williams finally goes off and beats up Fourtune so there’s your next face. He leaves Morgan to fight for himself. Carbon Footprint hits and Morgan wins.
Rating: D. Almost an N/A here as the match was all over the place with the turn, the run-in, the ref bump and then the ending finally happening. Oh and it was on a new show. This was rather stupid to put it mildly and of course the ending of Impact is about Flair again in some fashion. Weak ending to a mostly bad show.
Overall Rating: D+. Well it was better than last week, but that’s really not saying much. It’s still just killing time before Final Resolution as we wait for someone to rise up to fight Immortal. What is different now than at this point last week? Morgan gets to pick the referee, and that’s about it.
This wasn’t a horrible show, but it wasn’t interesting at all and nothing of note happened. I don’t look forward to Impact for the most part anymore and it’s just two hours of usually bad wrestling and angles and then a week passes and we have another one. That’s Impact in a nutshell and it’s steadily not improving. That’s bad.
Results
Cookie/Robbie E/Generation Me b. Motor City Machine Guns/Jay Lethal/Velvet Skye – Rollup to Sabin
Jeff Hardy b. Raven – Swanton Bomb
Abyss b. Shannon Moore via DQ when D’Angelo Dinero popped out of the casket
Mickie James b. Angelina Love – Jumping DDT
Matt Morgan b. Ric Flair – Carbon Footprint
Punk is still going to be out until January.
Monday Night Raw
Date: November 15, 2010
Location: Giant Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole
Well it’s the go home show for Survivor Series but it’s also a three hour Old School Raw. This is basically another chance to run out the old guys again while no one really wants to see them again but we’re going to do it anyway just because. This isn’t anything I particularly want to see but we’re getting three hours of it. Oh and there are three matches set for Survivor Series. Let’s get to it.
The main appeal here is the chance of the return of the Warrior. Yes that Warrior.
They open with the WWF logo and the word Federation scratched out and Entertainment under it. We get the OLD SCHOOL Raw intro with the 93 music but modern highlights. They even have the old banners and graphics. This could be awesome.
EVERYTHING is old school here with the red white and blue ropes, the standard guardrails, and here’s Gene Okerlund to do the interviews from a PLATFORM!
Gene brings out Bob Orton who says Randy isn’t here yet. I’m marking out like a bitch here. Orton rambles on about not caring for Cena at all and how Orton is going to win this Sunday. Before he finishes here’s Barrett. Big RAW letter set too. Barrett says he didn’t get anything from the Old School and got here himself. After some more stuff from Barrett, here’s Miz with Riley who is in the old Raw is War shirt.
Miz gets on Barrett for no apparent reason. He says he might cash in tonight which he hasn’t said in awhile. If he does, Cena would be in Nexus forever. Cena pops up on the screen and says he’s going to stop Miz from cashing in because if he’s on the line Sunday he’s going to do it Sunday. Cena says tonight he’s protecting Barrett tonight by challenging Miz to a match which he accepts.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Mark Henry
We get an inset promo from Ziggler saying he was ripped off last time he was…..IT’S SEXUAL CHOCOLATE!!! I hated that gimmick but I’m loving this already. The ring looks GREAT and we have the bowtie referees. Lawler compares Henry to Bruno Sammartino. Let that sink in a bit. Henry looks at Vickie with those googly eyes. It’s a standard big man vs. smaller man here.
The fans chant chocolate which is a weird one indeed. Oh and Ziggler compared him and Vickie to Macho and Liz. So one will die and the other will be banished? Henry gets a powerslam for two. The splash misses though as I guess some things never change. A short range Fameasser (called the Zig Zag because Cole is a very stupid man) gets two. The REAL Zig Zag only gets two as well. Ziggler runs up behind him and gets a very bad sleeper to end it.
Rating: C-. After I got over the shock of Sexual Chocolate (well it is in Hershey after all) I saw a decent match here but you can really see how limited Henry is. He more or less stood there while Ziggler did 90% of the work. At least Andre moved. Henry just stood there and jumped a bit on the splash. Decent match though and it keeps Ziggler looking strong so it has that going for it.
The Hart Dynasty come to the ring in old school Wrestlemania shirts but are stopped by Tony Atlas who I can barely understand. He has a can of WD40 which he sprays on his arms and literally doesn’t stop talking for about a minute and a half, including talking about potato salad.
Back from a break and he’s still talking, this time about taking someone’s daughter out while Yoshi Tatsu is standing beside him and pretends to stab himself. Funny stuff.
Heath Slater/Justin Gabriel vs. Hart Dynasty
Gabriel vs. Smith to start us off here. Smith stays in there far longer than he should be and walks into a forearm from Slater for his troubles. I love these referee shirts with the bowties too. The crowd chants Nexus Sucks. Smith goes for the tag and gets kicked in the head by Kidd to break up the team. 450 ends it. This was like two minutes long so no rating. Kidd was never in the ring.
Gene is in the back and talks to the Ortons. Truth comes up in an old Survivor Series shirt. He says that Cena is going to screw him over at the PPV. Orton says he won’t be able to screw him over if he punts Cena in the head tonight.
UPDATE WITH GENE OKERLUND!
This is brought to you by WWEshop.com which has all kind of old school PPV shirts. I’m drooling. What was actually updated there?
Justin Roberts introduces HOWARD FINKLE! That voice is just awesome. He brings out Harvey Whippleman and the Brooklyn “I take Pat Patterson up the ass” Brawler. Brawler issues an open challenge.
Brooklyn Brawler vs. Ezekiel Jackson
Norcal called this one. Oh do I need to explain this one? Cole says it’s 2011. Do you see why I can’t stand this guy?
Otunga talks to the Nexus and says he’s the leader. Cue Barrett of course and we’re going to get Otunga vs. Truth tonight in a pro vs. rookie match. As they’re talking we get an e-mail. King is in old school clothes tonight too. Otunga isn’t fighting Truth apparently as he has a special match later. Barrett gets Truth instead. Cena comes in and says nothing to note. Harris and McGillicutty are assigned to protect him.
We open a commercial with an ad for Smackdown and close it with an ad for Smackdown. Nice to see them covering it, but damn man they’ve been on Syfy for how long now? It’s not new anymore.
John Cena vs. The Miz
Cena puts his hat on a kid and the kid is about to cry. That’s awesome. Miz says since the GM never sanctioned this match so Riley is in this instead.
John Cena vs. Alex Riley
Ok then. Cole corrects the year thing from earlier on. Cena of course toys with Riley because he’s John Cena and he’s against Alex Riley. Cole tries to force the A-Bomb From A-Ri line to get over and it continues to fail. Riley isn’t much in the ring at all. He hits something that we don’t see because we’re looking at Miz instead. Riley gets in some basic offense but the FU and STF end this easily.
Rating: C. It wasn’t a squash but there was no real point to this other than for Cena to look awesome and set up the showdown that comes after the match, which we’ll get to now.
Miz comes in and here’s Orton to fight him. McGillicutty and Harris come out and jump Orton who clears the ring other than Cena. Cena punches him and suits/referees come out for the save. An E-Mail says tonight it’s PIPER’S PIT with Cena and Orton.
After a break Sheik and Volkoff are in the ring and it’s singing time. Santino and Kozlov interrupt. Kozlov wants to sing with Volkoff. Nikolai looks BAD. Santino says he wants to sing something and needs some help with it. Cue SLICK to sing Jive Soul Bro. After Sheik does his usual thing (including having his mic cut thank goodness) it’s time for a #1 contenders match.
Usos vs. Vladimir Kozlov/Santino Marella
Snuka is in the Usos corner. Apparently Sheik started dropping F Bombs. That’s awesome. We come back from a break with the match already having started. More or less the faces are a lock to win this. Kozlov hits a fallaway slam on an Uso as this is one sided so far. This is an awkward match with weird mat stuff for the most part. The heels double team Kozlov for two.
One of the Usos gets the Russian in a front facelock and the look on his face is just awesome. Vlad gets a backdrop from his knees. That’s pretty awesome. Santino Canaditalians up, hitting his diving headbutt for two. Santino and one of the Usos fuck up something and the Cobra ends it.
Rating: D+. Awkward match that was never in doubt but I think this could work pretty well for the whole tag title scene. They’re a regular team so why not give them a chance at the titles? The match was nothing special in the slightest but this was ok for the most part. Snuka was completely worthless here mind you.
Post match Sheamus comes out and beats up everyone in sight but here’s Morrison. He says that he’s doing this because Sheamus is a bully and bullies will leave when stood up to. Sheamus actually leaves.
Kofi Kingston vs. David Otunga
Well nice to see Kofi getting some direction for a change. Yep no more random matches for him. In another inset interview he says he’ll be flying like Koko B. Ware. After some basic stuff, George Freaking Steele wanders down to ringside. He just kind of gets in the ring and eats a turnbuckle. Kofi sends Otunga into the exposed buckle and Trouble in Paradise ends it. No rating again as the vast majority of this was Steele, making it cool.
In the back Arn Anderson and Gerry Brisco are talking to Morrison but he gets his head kicked in by Sheamus. The match is made for Survivor Series. Shame there isn’t some team competition they could be in there instead.
Aksana is walking around with the Million Dollar Title but Duggan walks us with the flag attached to his 2x4 and gets on her for stealing his USA gimmick. Apparently her mom is here. It’s Dusty Rhodes in a wig. He shouts to Kelly who drops a net on her. Goldust comes up and wants the title back.
He gives it to the original owner: Ted DiBiase Senior who is with IRS. He hands it off to his son who doesn’t want it. Goldust stands next to them and Dashing Cody Rhodes is there. Goldust wants grooming tips but Cody says not to breathe on him. Goldust: Oh come on and help a brother out!
Dusty, still in the wig, says he has some weird kids. Now hit his music! American Dream starts playing as Dusty, still the wig, dances along with Kelly, Aksana who still has the damn net over her, IRS, Ted, TATANKA in full costume and Duggan. Simmons pops up to say DAMN. This was greatness.
I usually don’t mention LD lines but IC just had a gem. “WWE extended an invitation to Owen Hart tonight. He’ll try to drop in.” IC and I will be headlining hell later this year.
ALFRED HAYES’ VOICE DOES THE VOICEOVER! WHICH IS IMPRESSIVE SINCE HE’S DEAD!
R-Truth vs. Wade Barrett
Eve is gorgeous and incredibly sexy but she flat out cannot dance. Truth dominates to start and hits a big dive over the top to the floor. Barrett hits a Boss Man Slam to take over again. He adds a top rope elbow for two. This is a rather short match as Truth misses the Axe Kick and gets out of Wasteland before the regular Wasteland hits for the pin. Somehow this was 5-6 minutes. There just wasn’t anything to say besides that.
Rating: D+. The match wasn’t bad but it’s the definition of forgettable. I don’t remember much of anything in this other than a little bit here and there. That’s not something terrible as not every match is going to be a classic, but I would expect to remember something about a match. Barrett won clean though which gives him some momentum for Sunday. At least there’s that.
They do the intro again for the third hour as they did for the second hour too. That’s old school for the most part.
Alberto’s ring announcer sets up his intro but TITO SANTANA does his intro instead. Chavo Classic is driving the car and apparently is going to captain a Survivor Series team! Oh man I’m in Heaven here.
Alberto runs down fat Americans and here’s the SARGE! He wants a match RIGHT NOW.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Sgt. Slaughter
Slaughter is very bald. Cobra Clutch goes on and gets him nowhere. Alberto kicks him very hard in some very skinny legs but Sarge gets the Clutch again and again it fails. The running enziguri ends this quickly. No rating once again. Alberto gets the armbar post match but here’s MVP for the save. Cole says this isn’t Alberto’s show. Well it isn’t MVP’s either.
Same WWEshop thing from earlier.
Clip of the Mania tickets going on sale.
Gene is with Mae Young. Oh sweet merciful crap no. She’s in wrestling gear too. The Bellas bring her out. We get a highlight reel of Mae Young who is 87 years old. The Moolah and Mae with Gene and Bobby at Mania XX is still hilarious. Laycool comes out to run down Mae of course. They talk about adult diapers etc.
She wants a match with these ****s. WOW. She wants it to be No DQ and calls them little bitches. MAE YOUNG IS AWESOME. It’s falls count anywhere too. Here are all the Divas. The other girls, mainly Natalya, beats up Layla and Mae puts her foot on her for the pin after a BIG slap. Ok that I can live with as a match.
Fink brings out JIM ROSS FOR THE NEXT MATCH! Jim won’t talk to Cole. Awesomeness.
Daniel Bryan vs. Jack Swagger
Swagger is in something at Survivor Series apparently. Cole keeps trying to get under Ross’ skin and he keeps ignoring him. Obviously the main point here is JR who is his usual old self. Cole can’t get Ross’ attention and it’s cracking me up as Ross is calling this straight. Ross hasn’t lost a step at all. Him and Lawler on Raw is just RIGHT.
We go to a break with Bryan on the floor as I haven’t paid a bit of attention to the actual wrestling. Back with Swagger dominating as Ross talks about Bryan. This is what we’ve been missing on commentary: making matches seem important. Ross is SELLING this. You couple that with Cole cracking me up and this is awesome.
Bryan makes his big comeback, hitting a running knee from the apron and then a dropkick off the top. I haven’t talked about it enough but the match has been awesome. Swagger gets the Vader Bomb for two. LeBell Lock is countered but Swagger goes for the gutwrench but it gets countered into a BIG kick to the head for the pin. Cole stands up and applauds it being over.
Rating: B. This was a very solid match actually. Swagger can still go in the ring but he just doesn’t need to be in the world title scene so thankfully he’s done with that. Him in the midcard/upper midcard works FAR better for him. He just didn’t have enough seasoning but this worked. I was impressed here and it was rather entertaining.
Post match Ted DiBiase comes out and beats up Bryan, hitting Dream Street. I can work with this. He gets the title and drapes it over Bryan’s chest.
We run down the card and we’re going to get a Survivor Series match with Rey as a captain with MVP, Chris Masters, Kofi Kingston and Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio as captain with Tyler Reks, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and Jack Swagger. This works very well for me and will DEFINITELY flesh out the card somewhat.
Ross hits Cole with his hat as he leaves in a funny bit.
They bring out the legends one more time.
Here’s Roddy Piper. He runs down all the things he’s done over the years which are all pretty cool. Piper has lost a ton of weight and looks far better than he did before. Cena comes out and Piper talks about being hurt that he’s never been WWE Champion. He lists off some people that never got the title and tells Cena that if he hands the title to Barrett Sunday then he’ll be spitting in the face of every legend he says he respects.
This promo is actually very good. Piper always was a great talker. Cena talks about how he wants to respect the legends because they were his heroes. This is great stuff. Cena says he’s tired of the free or fired stuff because if he has to hand over the championship then the freedom means nothing. He’s going to call it right down the middle on Sunday.
Here’s Barrett, Nexus shirt over his shoulder. Barrett says if he doesn’t win then it’s all over on Sunday. Piper gets in Barrett’s face and yells at him that even if he has the title on Sunday he won’t be a champion but rather just a joke. Barrett asks Piper who he thinks he is.
Barrett says tonight is Cena’s last night with the Nexus on Raw and it might be his final Raw ever. He holds up the Nexus shirt to Cena and says put it on. It goes on to a nice heel reaction. Cena says after the match Sunday he’s going to end Barrett. Barrett says once the match ends then Nexus can take him out.
Here’s Orton who says he could kick Cena in the head tonight and end this. Cena asks what’s stopping him. Orton spins around and blasts Barrett then sets up for the RKO but Cena stands in his way to HUGE boos. RKO to Cena instead and it appears to be punting time. Barrett gets up and Orton tosses him. He goes for the Punt but Cena gets up and hits an FU on him. Barrett says to raise his hands but Cena hits an FU on him too and throws down the shirt, leaving to his own music.
Overall Rating: A. This show was about having old school guys there and having fun. This show hit that on all cylinders. The wrestling was barely memorable but that’s just fine here. This wasn’t supposed to be a great wrestling show and it wasn’t, but the Bryan/Swagger match was good. The PPV card is fleshed out now and everything seems to be getting better. I was incredibly entertained by tonight’s show and it was definitely a success on all fronts.
Results
Dolph Ziggler b. Mark Henry – Sleeper
Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater b. Hart Dynasty – 450 to Smith
Ezekiel Jackson b. Brooklyn Brawler – Release Rock Bottom
John Cena b. Alex Riley – STF
Vladimir Kozlov/Santino Marella b. The Usos – The Cobra
Kofi Kingston b. David Otunga – Trouble in Paradise
Wade Barrett b. R-Truth – Wasteland
Alberto Del Rio b. Sgt. Slaughter – Running Enziguri
Mae Young b. Laycool – Mae pinned Layla after a slap
Daniel Bryan b. Jack Swagger – Kick to the head
Tuesday[/B]
Raw got a 3.1. Not bad all things considered.
NXT
Date: November 16, 2010
Location: The Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews
It’s another elimination tonight as we have three shows left. I can’t particularly say I’m complaining because I’m not but at the same time there is something to be said for this show. The comedy here is great with Cole and Josh just opening blasting it as they know it’s a joke. I can’t imagine that Aksana stays here. This should be funny if nothing else so let’s get to it as the show is starting now.
The first competition is how well do you know your pro. The pros are asked a question and the then the rookies have to try to guess the answers. If it’s a match they get a point if not they don’t. I’m not going to bother trying to keep up with the responses.
The first question is “When I first saw my rookie I thought she was “blank””. AJ and Aksana both get theirs right as does Naomi.
Question #2 is rate your rookie which is about knowing how good your rookie is from 1-5. AJ and Kaitlyn get it. Naomi does as well. Cole is killing it here with his answers to these questions.
The third and final question is who does my pro think should be eliminated tonight. AJ gets up to three for three, Aksana misses, Kaitlyn gets it to go to two points and Naomi misses it giving AJ the win with three. Naomi got two and the others got 1. Sweet merciful crap AJ is cut. You just want to cuddle up with her and play some Call of Duty.
Ad for the Cena match at Survivor Series which costars Orton and Barrett.
Buy the High Fliers DVD!
Naomi vs. Kaitlyn
Vickie does the intro for her rookie and bitches the whole time in a funny bit. Damn she looks good in those shorts. Kaitlyn gets a weird Bubba Bomb for two. The commentators talk about Old School Raw as Kaitlyn gets a leg scissors with Josh picking her to win the whole thing. Surprisingly Kaitlyn is dominating this.
Josh is so natural on commentary. He has no wrestling career for the most part but he’s just smooth out there. AJ vs. Aksana later apparently. Naomi hits a big spin kick after being on defense for the vast majority of this to get the win. I forgot to time it but this couldn’t have been more than 3:00.
Rating: C-. This was surprisingly good. I didn’t doubt for a minute that Naomi would win but we got to see Kaitlyn on offense. They’re definitely pushing Naomi as the talent of the group which makes sense for the vast majority. This wasn’t anything that bad and considering Kaitlyn’s limited talents in the ring this was ok.
Aksana says she doesn’t know what got into her and it’s like when Smiegle (I didn’t read the books so don’t complain about the spelling) turned into Gollum. She wants her husband’s help and gives him some sunflowers. He reluctantly agrees.
We get the same Mania ticket ad from last night. I can’t wait for it. They make it seem like a huge show and it is. Great stuff.
AJ vs. Aksana
Why do I picture AJ running away from sex like it’s an evil disgusting concept? Goldust sends Aksana in alone and hangs with the pros instead. AJ is freaking tiny. Neither are much in the ring but Aksana controls for the most part. In something I’ve never seen before, Aksana holds the ropes open and AJ actually gets in. Never seen anyone actually do that.
Cole takes a phone call as they argue over Josh’s experience. What experience does Cole have exactly? The fans chant for AJ as she’s in a reverse Boston Crab with a chin lock. Cole says that Joey Styles is calling him. AJ gets a small package for two and a cross body for one. She takes over and we’re told again that Vince is in a coma.
AJ gets a submission hold that I’ve seen before somewhere but I can’t place it. She goes for a head scissors and then stays behind Aksana and grabs her arm too so it’s like a crucifix with pressure on the arm and neck. It looked awesome and actually gets the tap out in roughly 4:30.
Rating: C+. Considering who was in there, this was epic. It wasn’t any good for the most part but I was expecting a train wreck and got a half decent match out of it. AJ’s submission thing worked very well and surprised me as I was expecting a rollup or cradle of some kind. Not a good match or anything but considering what they had to work with, this was amazing.
Diss the Diva is the other challenge tonight.
Ad for the new Cena DVD.
Diss the Diva time. You have a minute to run down the other girls. AJ has won two competitions and Kaitlyn has won one. AJ goes first and says she’s shown us sugar and now it’s time for spice. Aksana tapped out, no one would know who she was without Vickie. And Kaitlyn stole her shoes. Naomi has no personality. Cole starts chanting boring which drowns her out. Oh and this is her lifelong dream.
Aksana says a bunch of stuff that I can’t understand at all. I use that as a joke a lot but I legit can’t understand what she’s saying. Naomi needs to stay away from her man and AJ is small. That’s all I’ve got.
Kaitlyn says that if NXT was high school, Naomi would be a jock, Aksana would be the weird foreign exchange student and AJ would be the nerd. She would be the prom queen of course. She says Aksana doesn’t know what USA stands for. Apparently it’s “U Suck Aksana.” She says she loves AJ and then says isn’t my time up yet as this is a trainwreck. I’m dying from laughter at how bad this is.
Naomi goes last and says Kaitlyn has nice legs but she can’t wrestle. I can’t understand her because Cole won’t shut up though. She makes fun of AJ’s jumping and Aksana is about to be eliminated. WOW Naomi can’t talk. Cole is talking to someone in the audience.
The fans aren’t thrilled with AJ or Aksana or Naomi but they liked Kaitlyn…not at all. They give it to Naomi as her booing was the weakest. I’m not kidding there either but AJ has immunity due to winning two challenges to Naomi and Kaitlyn’s one apiece.
Update with Gene Okerlund is the same T-shirt deal from last night. I wear a XXL if anyone wants to send me a Christmas present and I’d love one of those Survivor Series shirts.
Mania is STILL coming to Atlanta.
We talk about Survivor Series and the Cena match in particular. I pop in Super Punch Out for a bit as I really don’t need another recap of this. This gets a music video kind of thing to it.
Now we run down the rest of Survivor Series. I can’t believe we’re this close to Thanksgiving already.
The Bellas talk about the total package. Ok so just Brie thinks that. Nikki looks for class and respect, which none of them have. She says there’s no comparison from the rookies to the pros. Alicia is apparently an employee at Diva Daycare because this isn’t Disney, it’s WWE. She’s a hungry piranha apparently. I see why she’s never given a mic.
Hey did you know Knucklehead is on DVD? I didn’t know if you knew Knucklehead was on DVD. Well now that you know that Knucklehead is on DVD, I don’t have to tell you that Knucklehead is on DVD.
Finally elimination time. To really no one’s surprise Aksana is out. She “faints”. Goldust just doesn’t care and it’s rather funny. Aksana says she’s going to see Vince to write a ledger to someone. Goldust pulls out a paper or something and says he wants a divorce.
On a side note, apparently Joey Styles legitimately spoiled the elimination about ten minutes before it happened. Why do I have a feeling nothing will happen to him? My guess would be no one is watching.
Overall Rating: D+. Pretty bland show here that was about as by the book as you would expect it to be. The matches weren’t anything great at all with even the AJ vs. Aksana match that was rated highly being bad still. You can tell no one really cares anymore which is what makes this more entertaining. From a comedy standpoint this was pretty good but the lack of any kind of entertainment outside of that hurt it. Not a terrible show but one of the weaker in awhile.
Results
AJ won the How Well Do You Know Your Rookie Challenge
Naomi b. Kaitlyn – Spinwheel kick
AJ b. Aksana – Crucifix Submission
Naomi won Diss the Divas
Aksana was eliminated in 4th place
Wednesday
Alex Riley was arrested for drunk driving. Nice job.
There might be an old school Nitro. That could be interesting.
Thursday
Impact
Date: November 18, 2010
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz
Episode Title: Morgan Woooo’s the Nature Boy
Well this has to be better than last week’s show right? I’m hardly looking forward tot his and it’s likely going to be as gimmick heavy as ever but unfortunately that’s what TNA is now. I’m not thinking anything good is coming from this but it’s what you get here anymore. Let’s get to it.
We open with clips of Hardy and a recap of his whole heel stuff. His belt still looks like a Barney cookie cutter.
Flair comes out and says the fans are here to see Immortal, Fourtune and Flair. He’s here to talk about Morgan and says he’ll be the guest referee for Morgan’s rematch. His match will be refereed by God. Flair calls out Morgan and here comes the not seven footer. He revokes the Naitch privilege, meaning Morgan can’t call him that anymore. Ok this is SERIOUS.
He says he could have Fourtune come out here right now and kick Morgan’s ass. “Don’t look over your shoulder. Keep your eyes on God.” Flair vs. Morgan tonight apparently. Big DO IT chant for that. Morgan says that’s the #1 thing on his bucket list. Flair freaks out and says that last night he slept with Zenyatta or some horse. I have no idea what the point of it was but I’ll go with it I guess.
Gen Me is coming to the ring and Tara slaps their asses. Lucky guys.
Hardy vs. Raven later and it’s win or be fired. Well there’s the release angle for him. There’s also an open casket challenge from Abyss tonight.
Motor City Machine Guns/Jay Lethal/Velvet Skye vs. Cookie/Robbie E/Generation Me
For the love of crap can we get the Guns ANYONE else to feud with? Apparently Sabin and Skye are dating in real life and that’s of course going to be mentioned on here because TNA SHOOTS BABY! Jeremy vs. Lethal to start and here come the Guns. Apparently if Morgan wins he gets to pick the referee and if Flair wins Morgan doesn’t get the title shot at the PPV.
Shelley plays the face in peril as everyone gets to beat on him. No tag yet as we’re getting a bit of time here, which granted in TNA is like 4 minutes. Robbie E vs. Lethal for the title at the PPV. There’s your opener. Lethal Combination gets two on Jeremy. Velvet gets a very long headscissors on Jeremy as the face team is dominating, signaling their downfalls. Velvet spears cookie down as Skull and Bones takes down Max. Yep there’s the hairspray to Sabin so Max can get the pin. I guess it’s time for match #6 for Gen Me.
Rating: C-. I couldn’t bring myself to give this lower but it was closer to that than the C- I think. The problem here was that the tag feud is played and Robbie is a comedy/parody character for the most part which means his interest levels are limited to say the least. Also, why would I want to see Gen Me vs. the Guns AGAIN when the Guns are what, 5-0 against them? Apparently that’s what we’re getting though and since TNA has the BEST tag division in the world, and I know that because they tell us that so often, it’ll be oh so interesting right?
Jarrett is in MMA gear in the back. Oh dear.
Back from a break we have Gen Me celebrating until the Guns come up. Empty arena match….on ReAction. Great.
Jarrett is a jerk and slaps JB. There’s an MMA exhibition tonight. He kisses Hogan and Bischoff’s asses because that’s what he does anymore.
We get a package on Angle who says he isn’t ready to retire yet. Not sure when that was said but it appears to be before BFG.
It’s time for the Double J Double M A (get it?) exhibition. Oh this is going to be bad. He brings out six jobbers to destroy. JB is going to be doing the in ring commentary. Jarrett’s thing under his name says MMA enthusiast. They do a don’t try this at home thing to show that Jarrett is a pro. First up is an armbar. The fans chant boring almost immediately.
The second hold is a heel hook and points out that his buddy Frank Mir made Lesnar tap to it. I can hear the MMA fans changing the channels as this happens. Third is an ankle lock. Get Angle out here already or Joe or whoever. There’s the Shamrock reference. The fourth move is the rear naked choke and Jarrett says he might have done the naked rear choke with you know who, as in Karen Angle, his new wife.
As he demonstrates that, here’s Joe to FINALLY end this. Jarrett says if Joe can get through the two students Jarrett has left he’ll get a submission match vs. Jarrett tonight. Jarrett shouts to SHOOT ON HIM. Key lock gets the first to tap and a modified Anaconda Vice gets the second one. JB calls for the submission match and Jarrett, of course, bails after sending the students at him. One of the students goes after Joe and gets destroyed with the MuscleBuster.
Stevie says to Raven that he’s a star and Dreamer says EV is dying with everyone leaving. Kendrick rambles.
Jeff Hardy vs. Raven
Well Hardy looks drunk off his ass. JB does the specially written entrance for Hardy which kisses his ass nice and well. No entrance for Raven. Guess they didn’t have time for that since we needed more MMA. JB says this is the featured contest of the evening. What does that make Flair vs. Morgan then?
Raven does the old wedge the chair in the corner and get thrown into it because karma is a bitch spot. Hardy in control but the Whisper in the Wind misses. Twist of Hate is the counter to the DDT and the Swanton ends clean in three minutes flat. Nice to see the former world champion looking so strong there. This was more or less a squash.
Rating: N/A. So much for Raven I guess. Also so much for Hardy not using the Swanton anymore. This was a waste of time but it writes him off I guess.
EV comes out to console Raven. Hogan comes out and says “Raven, you’re fired, quoth the Hulkster nevermore.” Ok point for a decent line.
Back from a break and Dreamer is calling out Rhyno. No music for Rhyno for some reason. Rhyno says that EV didn’t care that his contract was expiring but only Bischoff cared. It was about employment or unemployment. Dreamer kisses his ass (I’m shocked too). Dreamer talks about Rhyno selling out which they would never do. Tommy Dreamer is trying to tell people about selling out. That’s rich. Rhyno grabs Dreamer’s bad wrist and RVD comes out to save him then gets Gored to end the segment.
Morgan has no issue with going through Flair to get to the title.
Shannon Moore vs. Abyss
And this is a casket match. Great. Abyss tries to be all shifty to start. That’s just amusing. A modified powerbomb/throw puts Shannon in trouble early on. Moore gets a top rope slap to the back of the head which is called a bulldog but can’t get Abyss in the casket. He charges and still can’t get him down.
This has been mostly Moore so far which is freaking pitiful. Abyss is supposed to be unstoppable and he can barely stop a glorified career jobber. Black Hole Slam takes Shannon down and Pope is in the previously opened casket. It’s a DQ in a casket match. Well of course it is.
Rating: D. This match may have been decent but it made ZERO sense. First of all, Abyss needed almost seven minutes to beat Shannon Moore in a match where you don’t even have to get a pin. Second, Pope popped out of the casket in Undertaker style. Third, A DQ IN A CASKET MATCH? ARE YOU HIGH OR JUST REALLY STUPID, to quote someone from South Park. This company makes my head hurt.
Angelina Love vs. Mickie James
Winner gets Rayne at the PPV. Back and forth match to start with neither being able to keep an advantage. Love can’t get anything going and just stands there for like 10 seconds with her back to Mickie. She pulls Mickie’s hair to act a bit heelish. A rollup gets two for Angelina. This isn’t bad but it’s just not interesting for the most part. Big old kick takes Mickie down for two. Mickie gets a bad version of her jumping DDT to end it.
Rating: D+. The match was ok for the most part but it just wasn’t interesting at all. Mickie vs. Angelina is a decent sounding match on paper but this never was able to get going. I guess they set up the next feud and Angelina’s next storyline but I could not get into this at all.
After a break Angelina is all pissed off and breaking stuff. Winter comes up and says her rambling stuff to her about destiny and all that jazz. Just make out already.
Here’s Ray for his explanation. He kicked D-Von because he could. Fifteen years ago he created the 3D and it had never been kicked out of before. He talks about everyone it has beaten and we list off the WWF guys just because it’s been a whole night since we have. Apparently D-Von has always been the weak link and it’s his fault that the 3D failed for the first time ever. We get the Jannetty/Shawn reference and Bubba says D-Von was just the guy that got his tables.
Quick aside: Marty Jannetty had a good career. Why not say I’m the Bret you’re the Anvil?
Ric Flair vs. Matt Morgan
Yes, in 2010 Ric Flair is the main draw of a television show. Morgan dominates of course and does his elbows so that Flair can do the Flop. And down goes the referee maybe two minutes into this. Low blow takes Morgan down. Flair, despite being on offense for the most part, starts to bleed.
We go into ReAction with Morgan taking over. Side slam takes down Flair and here’s Fourtune. Douglas Williams is kind of standing back for a bit here which gets AJ to yell at him. The referee hasn’t been seen since the bump he took and is likely dead. Williams finally goes off and beats up Fourtune so there’s your next face. He leaves Morgan to fight for himself. Carbon Footprint hits and Morgan wins.
Rating: D. Almost an N/A here as the match was all over the place with the turn, the run-in, the ref bump and then the ending finally happening. Oh and it was on a new show. This was rather stupid to put it mildly and of course the ending of Impact is about Flair again in some fashion. Weak ending to a mostly bad show.
Overall Rating: D+. Well it was better than last week, but that’s really not saying much. It’s still just killing time before Final Resolution as we wait for someone to rise up to fight Immortal. What is different now than at this point last week? Morgan gets to pick the referee, and that’s about it.
This wasn’t a horrible show, but it wasn’t interesting at all and nothing of note happened. I don’t look forward to Impact for the most part anymore and it’s just two hours of usually bad wrestling and angles and then a week passes and we have another one. That’s Impact in a nutshell and it’s steadily not improving. That’s bad.
Results
Cookie/Robbie E/Generation Me b. Motor City Machine Guns/Jay Lethal/Velvet Skye – Rollup to Sabin
Jeff Hardy b. Raven – Swanton Bomb
Abyss b. Shannon Moore via DQ when D’Angelo Dinero popped out of the casket
Mickie James b. Angelina Love – Jumping DDT
Matt Morgan b. Ric Flair – Carbon Footprint