Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[boozinjedi]

uhh the opening segment was great because the dialogue between cena and orton was very believable..

it was good to see vince n steph back with triple h in the background

HOWEVER that being said

it also had one of the worst segments of the year with PEE WEE HERMAN probably the worst of guest hosts followed by the brady bunch lady and all the others .. in fact the only awesome guest hosts were rob zombie and maybe that black guy (basketball player i think)

that black guy?...You mean Shaq?..you don't know Shaq??

I loved that in-ring segment with Pee-Wee!!
That was pure comic genius!!
Seeing Big Show come out in a pee-wee style suit,
First thought to myself was..Where the fuck did they find a suit that big!
And then he does the pee-wee dnace,the last time I laughed that hard was watching HBK make fun of Shane!!

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

Only wanna talk about Nexus.

The opening segment.. Orton felt completely unneeded because his delivery was not at the level of Woi or Cena. It didn't have any personality nor did it had that "must listen" like Woi or Cena. I loved loved loved Cena's line "When all of this is done, I am going to beat the hell out of you." The delivery was awesome and Woi really looked concerned while the other Nexus guys just laughed at Cena. I thought it was a really nice touch.

I like Gabriel and Slater as a team. It is a weird combo for me. Gabriel is very gutsy and doesn't know the difference between "brave" and "stupid." Then you got Slater trying to make sure they don't lose the match, but he usually ends up getting hit in the face for his efforts. It is a dynamic that really works for their size and their stooge statuses.

With that being said, their tag match vs the Hart Dynasty seemed very contrived. Not on Slater and Gabriel's part. They didn't do anything but punch, kick, fall down and Gabriel hit a 450. I thought they did really good in this match. Smith and Tyson's stuff looked completely telegraphed and slow. I just don't see how anyone can think these Canadians are any good.


I think the main event tag match was very flat. It wasn't 'bad', but it was completely boring. You got a frustrated Cena as the ref, an arrogant pick, and some dude claiming he isn't going down without a fight. So, what happened? Not much. It felt very generic and completely not "main event of Raw", but more like "Superstars" opening match. I guess I was expecting much more shenanigans than we got because:

Why was Truth out there? All the shitty guys on Raw, and that is the best guy they got? Doesn't help that Orton was as uninteresting as Truth was. Otunga and Woi.. Even before the 'dissension in the ranks', they really don't appear like friends in real life. Like you see Gabriel and Slater interact with Woi, it is probably a good guess that they are friends in real life or they are some pretty damn good actors.

So, you got babyface team that completely sucks at their roles and a heel tag with no chemistry. The ending came from absolutely out of no where and really looked lazy. =/

 

[Suneeboy]

On Monday Nights lately I usually watch the Event, combined with Monday Night Football. Now it’s basketball season, so that is where I’m spending Monday Nights as well, whether it be watching my NY Knicks on MSG, or watching NBA TV to see a random game.

With that said, there was some down time in my household this Monday, because the Event wasn’t on NBC, and Monday Night Football was a little dry. The Bulls/Blazers game on NBA TV was still in the early going, so I decided to watch a little RAW so I can see how unentertaining the WWE product has become, and boy did they not disappoint.

I have children, so naturally during the day I get to catch a few of the shows that they watch. iCarly and Drake & Josh over on Nickelodeon are some of the popular ones. That’s where the WWE Product, and specifically this episode of RAW fits in. They might as well have it come on at 6pm so that more children can see it, because that’s who the show is for, and that’s just not what I’m looking for.

Santino’s potty humor and fake Italian accent would be a great show to follow behind Spongebob Squarepants. The Big Show dressing up as and dancing with Pee Wee would go nicely on a Saturday morning Disney Channel skit. R-Truth’s god awful acting and stiff emotions would be perfect if he were teaching a bully a lesson on Sesame Street. Daniel Bryan looks content, but at the same time he looks like a castrated bull out there, unable to perform at the level he is supposed to.

The show is just there right now. Weekly squash matches, bad “comedy” skits, bad acting, and just a complete repetitive generic flow. The colorful merchandise, with camera angles to give the viewers in the arena and at home the best possible view of the products on the wrestlers makes me roll my eyes at every turn. However, things need to be kept simple for children, because they need to easily follow along. They seem to have gone away from “gimmicks”. The wrestler are more like characters, in a sense walking and talking action figures and dolls, with everything being a prop.

I am not in a position to even grade Monday Night RAW, because I’m an adult. My opinion is biased. As an adult, I should be watching adult programming, and it’s unfair to badger a PG rated show catered to pre and young teens. If this is your cup of tea, enjoy, but the WWE product has officially, fully and completely fallen out of favor with me. It’s not necessarily a bad show, but it’s just something that I shouldn’t be watching on a Monday at 9pm.

 

[EversorGrande]

I gotta say, Lita was looking very good last night. Shes on screen for just a few seconds and everyone forgets about all the other Divas in that scene. I just hope that was more than just a quick visit, and maybe the beginning of her return instead.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Raw Opener

I enjoyed this segment. Orton was actually given something to do, and did well with it. Best promo he's cut in months. Barrett was solid as usual. Cena often goes overboard, but it wasn't bad. It's nice to see all three guys involved in this feud, as opposed to just Cena and Barrett.

Gabriel/Slater vs. Hart Dynasty

Decent match, about average for a Raw tag match. I like that these teams are actual tag teams. Much better than the thrown-together garbage we usually get. I think it's a shame that the Hart kids are breaking up. What in the hell are they doing to do without each other? I doubt either are ready for singles competition. Plus, their are so many mid-card guys already, where do they fit it? I think it's stupid.

Sheamus/Santino/Kozlov/Morrison

Sheamus cut a decent promo here. Usually, I find him to be completely flat and boring on the mic, but he seemed legitimately pissed that Santino pinned him. Santino was funny, and the crowd was really into what he was saying/doing. Why can't Santino just get a push already? Stop making him look like a fool, the guy can actually wrestle.

Kozlov was humorous, but no one thought he stood a chance. He's nothing more than a glorified jobber these days, and it showed. Nice kick by Morrison. The feud will probably be short between Morrison and Sheamus, and that might be for the best.

Orton/R-Truth Backstage

Besides R-Truth being beyond awful on the mic, this was effective. I wish Orton had picked a different partner, or had gone at it alone, but whatever.

Mark Henry/Pee Wee/Diva's

Totally pointless. Mark Henry is a bum. I'm sorry, he is. He's big. That's it. Can't talk, can't wrestle. The Diva's were smokin, as usual. And what the hell was up with Lita? Nice to see her fine self, but what did that really matter?

Zack Ryder/Big Zeke

Neither guy interests me..at all. Actually, Ryder calling someone "Bro" every five seconds makes me want to change the channel. Squash match here, with Big Zeke looking strong..even though he doesn't do much.

Pee Wee/Miz/Riley/Big Show

I must admit, the idea of Pee Wee Herman taking up anothe segment nearly made me stop watching, but it wasn't bad. Is it just me, or is Alex Riley more entertaining, in almost every way possible, than the Miz? Show comes out with that idiotic suit on. Show is beginning to wear on me as of late. The match was shit, as you might expect with Show and Miz. Pee Wee and Riley were the best part of this, to be honest.

Barrett/Cena Backstage

Barrett telling Cena to scrub his back was priceless..minus Cena screaming at him, which seemed a bit forced and over-the-top. Actually laughed out loud at that, and not in a good way.

DiBiase/Daniel Bryan

Decent match. DiBiase looked good (as did Maryse in that dress), and Bryan is continuing to impress on a large scale. Daniel Bryan is by far the most over mid-carder I've seen in a long time.

LayCool/Natalya

No one cares. Two of the most annoying, yet attractive, women on television. I can't believe some of you think Natalya is hot. She looks like her old man, and that's not a positive.

Vince/"Doctor"/Steph/HHH (in voice only)

Funny, but completely shameful. But hey, I've watched campaign ads this year with far less class, so this isn't that bad. HHH staying off camera makes me think they are saving him for a big surprise sometime soon, at least I hope.

Otunga/Barrett vs. Orton/R-Truth

Otunga is about as interesting as a big rock. I think he stinks, completely. Not a fan of Truth either, especially that idiotic rap song. This match did nothing. Showed what Cena "might" do at Survivor Series. Not a very good match either. Very slow and uneventful. But, that's what happens with Barrett/Orton. They are somewhat similar in the ring, and neither man moves quickly. So unless it's very violent, it won't be that impressive.


OVERALL: C+

As I said earlier, it's nice to see Orton involved in this angle. He showed some real passion on the mic last night, and actually did a good job of connecting with the crowd. It shows he is able to pull of mic work, as a face, if given the opportunity. This angle is getting more interesting by the week, I just hope we aren't in for a big letdown.

Can we stop this Guest Host shit already? What was the point? I don't care if it ended being funny or not. 9/10 times it will not be funny, nor serve a purpose. Come on Vince, you're so close! Just end that idiotic gimmick.

The crowd was absolutely awful, and the Diva's need to show more skin.

 

[ctln4rko]

yeah, no big fan of Pee Wee and show. love miz and riley like always, so talented on mic, pissed miz lost, cuz he is my fav wrestler for his mic skills and ring work. riley, every week i voted for him. pissed he lost.
anyway, back to raw, loved the opening, the nexus and cena and orton. loved right when cena said classless, barrett came out. I really tire of R truth, same moves, same songs. now, just wanna see cena quit. dont beat the nexus, but get his ass kicked and get fired. we dpnt NEED a screwjob, plus it would send cena on to the same storylines,, same outcomes. with cena winning every 1.
sadly, my first favorite wrestler, zack ryder, was jobbed again. so much wasted talent. the dream segment really confused me. so do they want us to think mcmahon is back or not??? plus, tho i missed it, i hear lita was there with mark and the divas.
besides incluing r truth and otunga, main event was great, great ending. cena was a great ref, loved how he screamed TAG! i am shocked cole didint even mention that r truth was otunga's pro on season 1 nXt.
ive warmed up to sheamus, but now he jobbed to santino, and beat a jobber, kozlov. done correctly, a feud with jomo will redeem him. wwe is really promoting the free or fired match, i really want to get survivor series to find out, cant wait till smakcdown to see how they promote their half of the show. ( ik its not half of the ppv per brand, just using that term) with edge vs kane, etc.

 

[The People's Peep]

I was at last nights show and a few things stood out to me.

1. New York is always a pretty smarky crowd and last night was no exception. Lots of Cena haters as usual and tons of Nexus fans. I dont know how much came through the TV, but it actually seemed like the older Cena haters overpowered the younger Cena fans. Cena even mentioned it during the show, which I thought was interesting.

2. I was expecting Zack Ryder to get a nice ovation from the homecrowd, but instead he got almost no reaction. And of course, the WWE continued with the whole "home-town boy loses" thing.

3. When I heard that Pee-Wee was the guest star for the show, I was pretty upset. I liked his show when I was little, but I though he was going to be terrible and the crowd would eat him alive. Instead, the crowd loved him. In fact, during the superstars taping before RAW, there was a pretty big "We Want Pee Wee" chant. I went back and watched his promo with The Miz, and a lot gets lost in the broadcast. It seemed to the viewer that Pee Wee and the secret word got no reaction, but really it was probably the loudest 10 minutes of the night. Everyone in the building, including myself, was loving that whole thing and having a lot of fun with it.

4. My favorite wrestler right now is Daniel Bryan and it felt like a lot of the crowd felt the same way. During commercials, people were starting Daniel Bryan chants. But when his music hits, he gets no reaction. I thought maybe it was just the TV, but in person, the place is pretty quiet. During the match, the fans really get into it though. I think they need to do something with his music, and make it more exciting. I feel like the fans would pop for him, but the music is holding them back.

5. Ahh, politics. I loved the Vince segment. Thought it was hysterical, especially the ending. I think I might have been the only person in the building that realized it was Freddie Prinze Jr. as the doctor, but everyone loved the skit. One of the bigger pops of the night came when Vince was talking about running for president. I thought that was pretty interesting...

Other than that, the show was pretty average. Being there made it 20 times better though. Storylines just went along with nothing major, but it was still very entertaining.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The November 1st episode of Raw drew a 3.3 Nielsen Rating and drew roughly 4.9 million viewers. Last night's episode of Raw wasn't great, it wasn't really a bad show and of course the haters will make posts that attempt to make it seem that last night's Raw was an example of that they do on the show all the time. However, I was surprised to see it score that high when it was up against Monday Night Football and Game 5 of the World Series. It's still not in the 5 million range, which is typical for Raw most of the year, but it's significantly better than the past few weeks.

 

[angrypanda]

The November 1st episode of Raw drew a 3.3 Nielsen Rating and drew roughly 4.9 million viewers. Last night's episode of Raw wasn't great, it wasn't really a bad show and of course the haters will make posts that attempt to make it seem that last night's Raw was an example of that they do on the show all the time. However, I was surprised to see it score that high when it was up against Monday Night Football and Game 5 of the World Series. It's still not in the 5 million range, which is typical for Raw most of the year, but it's significantly better than the past few weeks.

I never understood the IWC big thing with the neilson stats. Sure the big tv bosses or whoever put stock by them. When you consider only 25000 tv's are monitered in the US, meaning something like 99.98% of TV watching Americans have no input in the stat (let alone the TV watching world) it seems a little redundant to me. When your only monitering 0.2% of the market there is just too much room for error to make the stat seem worthy.

That being said I enjoyed RAW this week.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Alberto Del Rio VS Edge

Good match. There were some nice spots here. Edge’s cross body, and Del Rio’s kick to Edge while he was perched on the top rope looked awesome. This match had a nice pace to it, and I think Edge winning here could've helped him build some momentum....but this isn't over just yet.......

Nexus Attacks

Edge looks like he’s about to end the match with a spear, but Nexus(minus Wade Barrett) hit’s the ring. They attack Edge and Del Rio. Otunga says Nexus has come to take over Smackdown, but then The Big Show comes to save the day. He brings out Rey Mysterio….yeah, he’s intimidating. Kane follows, and all three men take the fight to Nexus. Edge and Del Rio join in, and Nexus runs away.

Dolph Ziggler VS JTG

Holy shit! JTG is still in WWE! Dolph hit’s the Zig Zag, but he pulls JTG up before the three count. Dolph locks in the sleeper for the win. After the match Kaitlyn tries to celebrate with Dolph, but Vickie comes down to slap Kaitlyn. Dolph tries to play peacemaker, as the referees separate Kaitlyn and Vickie. The match was nothing but a squash, and this was just another way to advance the love triangle storyline.

Nexus beats up Mysterio backstage.

Cody Rhodes VS MVP VS Drew McIntyre- #1 Contender’s Match For The Intercontinental Championship

MVP has new music. It sounds okay. Drew convinces Cody to work as team, but of course that doesn’t last long. Another good match here. MVP picks up the when he hits Drew with a kick to the head. This was a pretty physical match that featured some cool spots. The suplex combo which involved all three men from the top rope was amazing. You could really see how bad all three men wanted a shot at the IC title.

I fully expect Dolph to lose the title to MVP. This love triangle will be Dolph’s downfall. Some how Vickie or Kaitlyn will cost him the title. You can just see it coming from a mile away.

Vickie Guerrero VS Kaitlyn

Vickie puts her feet on the ropes, while she’s covering Kaitlyn to get the win. This was pretty bad. Seeing Kaitlyn in her ring gear was the best thing about this match. Vickie spent most of the match screaming and dodging Kaitlyn. She even started doing football moves outside of the ring. Kaitlyn did hit a decent leg drop here, but still, this match was bad.

Nexus beats up Kaval and MVP.

Chris Masters VS Tyler Reks

Decent enough match here. Reks hits the Burning Hammer for the win. Masters losing here really doesn’t surprise me at all. He hasn’t been pushed in a LONG time, and Reks is being groomed to go places on Smackdown, so the outcome of this match was pretty predictable.

Nexus VS Edge, Big Show, Kane, Kofi Kingston & Alberto Del Rio

Rey is out of this match because of the beat down he suffered earlier. Del Rio bails on Team Smackdown. Kane goes for a choke slam, but Edge tags himself in. Kane tries to choke slam Edge, but Edge counters this with a spear. Edge then hit’s a spear on Otunga for the win. This was a solid tag team match, and a nice main event. This match featured some nice spots, and the energy was definitely there. I’m also surprised this match was give so much time. My only problem here is that we’ve seen Nexus VS WWE guys a good amount of times. This type of match has been done a lot over the past couple of months. The tension between Edge and kane was expected, and Del Rio abandoning his team didn’t surprise me at all.

Overall Show Rating 8/10: I really enjoyed tonight’s show. Smackdown had a good set of wrestling matches tonight. Kaitlyn VS Vickie was the only match I couldn’t stand, but everything else was either very good or solid. MVP seems to be on his way to another push, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he took the title off of Dolph. This love triangle thing will be Dolph’s downfall. I’m not a fan of MVP at all, and I would much rather see Cody have a shot at being IC Champion. Edge continues to build some momentum as he heads into Survivor Series, but I still don’t think he’ll win the title.

 

[klunderbunker]

Smackdown
Date: November 5, 2010
Location: Arena at Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Commentators: Michael Cole, Todd Grisham, Matt Striker

We should start the actual build to Survivor Series tonight as we have the world title match set up already. Edge vs. Kane works fine as it more or less is the only match that works for the show. I would expect usual Smackdown goodness here so let’s get to it.

We open with the theme song. I like Green Day but I can’t get into this one for some reason.

Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio

Wow this opens the show? I’m liking Edge as a face for a change rather than the one that just didn’t work at all back in the Spring. He busts out the Rolls Royce tonight which works fine for me. Edge sends him to the floor very early on as we’re in a feeling out process here. In a nice bit of continuity the announcers point out Edge’s pectoral tear a few years ago so he has to stay away from the armbreaker.

What is everyone’s obsession with the number of titles that people have won? Edge goes for the spear in the corner which is just a running shoulder but eats post instead. Alberto goes after the arm as we take a break. Back and Edge gets a sunset flip for two. A fan in Cena gear keeps doing You Can’t See Me when the camera is on his section. So he waits until he can be seen to say that no one can see him. Irony is an underappreciated style of comedy.

Lots of arm work by Alberto of course which makes perfect sense. Cole says not many men can say they have defeated Edge. He’s a 9 time world champion so I can think of at least 9 people that have. Edge busts out a top rope cross body. When’s the last time you saw him do that? Flapjack gets two. Striker calls Edge the Maple Leaf. How long before that’s an official nickname for him?

The Mexican uses a German on the Canadian in the American ring. That joke never gets old (to me at least). Edge goes up again but Del Rio hits a running enziguri up the ropes to drop Edge for two. Big boot by Edge sets up the spear but here’s….Nexus? They do their big beatdown and clear the ring after approximately 10 minutes shown of a 13:30 match (again assuming three and a half minutes for commercials).

Rating: B-. This was solid stuff as again you get a long television match which makes things more interesting. You can see more of the in ring styles as well as the physical aspects of wrestling far better here and it’s still entertaining. Take this for an example of the vast differences between WWE and TNA. Last night on Impact we got about 22 minutes of wrestling. This was 13. Very different kind of show. This was fun though and both guys looked good out there. Not wild on the ending but this was a solid TV match.

Otunga says last time they dominated but this time they’re taking over. Can I get a BWO theme song in there? Big Show comes out apparently as the opposition. No Barrett or Cena if you’re wondering. Rey comes out to join Show for the staredown as he’s in the aisle. Kane makes it 5-3 and Alberto with Edge tie it up. Kane charges in and Nexus goes running. I think I smell Survivor Series.

After a break Teddy comes out to make a ten man tag with the aforementioned guys. Striker says Teddy should be in the Hall of Fame. If Koko B. Ware can be in it I have no issue with Teddy being in there too.

Dolph Ziggler vs. JTG

While the champion is coming to the ring we see a clip from NXT where Dolph was making out with Kaitlyn. Always good to have jobbers around for things like this. JTG takes him down and throws nothing but punches. Remember when he was considered the breakout star of Cryme Tyme? Sadly enough I think that’s still the case.

Dolph hasn’t won in a month apparently. Cole says cougar in a weird way which Striker likes apparently. Old school style squash with Ziggler winning with the Zig Zag and sleeper in 2:12. No rating for a squash match but Dolph looked great so I’d call it a success.

Kaitlyn comes out to celebrate but Dolph keeps his distance. Here’s Vickie to solid heat. She gets after Kaitlyn and slaps the hell out of her. Nothing close to Stephanie or anything but definite points for the aggression.

Triple threat later for the #1 contendership to the IC Title later with Rhodes vs. McIntyre vs. MVP. ANYONE but MVP please.

The song is really getting old as it plays us out and stops but since I’m watching a pre airing of the show it immediately picks up just after it ends so it sounds like it’s on a big loop.

Back from the break we recap the previous segment.

Horny is freaking out about something to Teddy and Vickie comes in and bitches about everything. She wants a match tonight and of course gets it. I’d assume it’s just to shut her up.

We cut to a running camera shot of Nexus destroying Rey which apparently is so he can take time off for an injury.

After a break Josh tries to talk to Nexus. Barrett left early for England which explains his absence. Otunga says they’re here to prove that there is more to Nexus than Cena and Barrett. This could be interesting.

MVP vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre

New music for MVP. Remember the winner gets Dolph next week. Given that next week’s show is in England and MVP has been ticked off recently, I’d bet a large amount of money on MVP winning the title next week. We also recap the breakup from last week between the not so dashing ones. Could it be said that they were dashing away from one another?

MVP stands back but Cody goes right for him. MVP puts both guys down for a bit before we have a standoff. Drew wants a temporary alliance to take care of MVP before they settle it. The Chosen One turns on the Dashing one after maybe thirty seconds. We come back from a break with Drew down somewhere. Thanks for telling us how that happened. I’m so glad you could stop talking about Nexus to tell us where Drew is.

MVP misses a kick in the corner and Cody gets a bad looking neckbreaker for two. He’s either selling really well or he’s legit hurt. Cody is the only one not down on the floor but there are no countouts here. He goes up for something but Drew crotches him. Drew is wrestling somewhat like a face here but not to a huge extent at all.

He sets for a suplex but MVP runs in for a belly to back to McIntyre who suplexes Cody in a Tower of Doom spot for twos all around. Ballin is broken up by Drew but he eats post for stopping it. Ballin hits Drew but the Playmaker is blocked and Drew hits a huge clothesline. Beautiful Disaster breaks up the Futureshock and there goes Cody. A running boot to Drew gives MVP the win and the title shot at 9:00 shown out of 12:30.

Rating: C+. I’m not a fan of triple threats but this was fairly good. MVP winning though is not what I wanted to see but there was more or less no way he was losing here, given that Cody and Drew would cancel each other out due to the tag split last week and the other things I mentioned. This was decent and I really hope MVP doesn’t get the title next week as I don’t think I could stand the boredom I’d get from it.

Kofi has replaced Rey on the Smackdown team tonight.

Vickie Guerrero vs. Kaitlyn

Either something was clipped on Kaitlyn’s entrance or she set a record for fastest time ever getting from the floor into the ring. She looks great in those green shorts of course. Vickie does football warmups on the floor so Kaitlyn drills her from the apron. Kaitlyn kicks Vickie in the stomach and she might be sick. Cole, in a disturbingly calm voice: this is what happens to me every Tuesday.

Vickie can’t slam her and Katilyn gets two ala Andre on Hogan at Mania III. Cole says this is what WWE is all about. And then Vickie shoves her down and puts her feet on the ropes for the really stupid pin. Sweet damn I cannot stand that woman. No rating again as it was 2:42 seconds with nearly 45 seconds being just Vickie warming up on the floor or them looking at each other.

Stand up for WWE, the celebrity edition.

Kaval and MVP are walking and talking in the back. Kelly congratulates MVP on his win but he turns into a Nexus attack for both guys.

Chris Masters vs. Tyler Reks

Hey he still has a job. You can discuss which one of these guys I meant amongst yourselves. Masters sends him to the floor early on. This is a rematch from Superstars which I don’t watch. Crowd doesn’t seem to care here that much.

Masters reverses a belly to back into a cross body for two. He actually gets in some solid offense here, as in beyond jobber level stuff. Masterlock is avoided and here comes Tyler. He hits his Burning Hammer into a DDT to win in approximately 2:50.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t great or anything but Reks and Masters both got to show off a little bit. Masters doesn’t win anything but he’s not a full fledged jobber. He’s a jobber to the stars I guess but at least he has a job which he probably shouldn’t have at this point. Nothing special here though but it was fine for what it was.

Nexus vs. Team Smackdown

Nexus: David Otunga, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Husky Harris, Michael McGillicutty
Smackdown: Kane, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Alberto Del Rio, Edge

Grisham says this is a modern day West Side Story. That was the 05 Rumble actually so this is really a modern day Rumble. No special announcer for Alberto this time. Show’s Tron video says Go Big or Get Lost. That sounds like something you would see on a discounted shirt at Wal-Mart. Nexus of course bails when Smackdown gets in the ring. We take a break and start when we return.

Kofi and McGillicutty to start us off here. Kingston is being extra aggressive here which I guess is because he’s disappointed with his student. Show comes in and threatens to knock the red out of Slater. Edge comes in to a solid pop. Cole says if Nexus wins it could lead to a mutiny led by Otunga. Gabriel comes in now and loses a kick off to Edge.

Harris is from three different families (Mulligan/Windham/Rotunda which technically are all one family but three sounds better) and is only in for a bit as Edge is the face in peril here. Show comes in as we still haven’t seen Alberto or Kane. Del Rio is accidently sent to the floor by Show but not in a manner similar to Owen and Bret in 94. He leaves anyway to make it 5-4 and we take a break.

Back and it’s Slater vs. Kofi. Gabriel grabs his fellow African’s foot which gets him nowhere as Kofi takes out every Nexus member here not named Otunga. Slater finally gets a shot in to send Kofi to the floor and gain momentum. Otunga comes in with some weak stomps. Does he have a style or anything close to one? He’s not as bad as people make him out to be, but he just lacks a distinct style which hurts him a bit I think.

Gabriel comes in off a slingshot splash as Kingston is in trouble. After a suplex, Kane tags himself in even though Edge was a bit closer. Kane cleans house, beating the tar out of everyone in sight. Well everyone in sight wearing a Nexus armband. Ok every professional wrestler in sight wearing a Nexus armband.

Show comes in when the numbers get to be too much and Kane thinks it was Show that hit him in the back. Chokeslam for Show and Edge tags himself in. Kane goes to chokeslam him but Otunga hits the world champion in the back because he’s an idiot. Spears for Kane and then Otunga end this at approximately 15 minutes shown of 18:35.

Rating: C. Just a long multiman tag match here. This wasn’t anything special at all and was more or less entirely formula based, but that doesn’t mean it was bad. Right in the middle is about all I can give to it as there wasn’t anything all that bad but it wasn’t anything I’ll remember in about two days. It was fine for a main event though so no real complaints.

Overall Rating: B-. This was incredibly wrestling heavy at not quite an hour of action tonight including commercials. Think about that: nearly half of this show was wrestling. Considering the amount of time spent on introductions and the Nexus beatdowns, there was very little time being wasted here.

That sums up Smackdown in general: it’s efficient. They get in, they get out, there’s almost nothing stupid at all and we’re out the door with a solid TV show every week. They had a show they could throw away here and they did just that. Edge vs. Kane, the only announced match so far, was given some build and we set up MVP vs. Ziggler for next week.

This was a pretty solid show and definitely gave you enough wrestling to keep a fan happy. In ring action plus stories being told plus getting six matches out there plus an overarching theme with Nexus makes this another solid show. If this isn’t the best show on television for wrestling right now I’d love to know what is. More efficiency from Smackdown which has become the standard for them. Solid stuff again.

 

[Mustang Sally]

SmackdownMVP winning though is not what I wanted to see but there was more or less no way he was losing here, given that Cody and Drew would cancel each other out due to the tag split last week and the other things I mentioned. This was decent and I really hope MVP doesn’t get the title next week as I don’t think I could stand the boredom I’d get from it.

Yes, I hope he doesn't win the title, either, but it's interesting that MVP gets this mini-push after having brought heat on himself by complaining about his role with the company. Sometimes the squeaky wheel does get the grease. But they might just be throwing him a bone; it's tough to believe they have a title reign waiting for him......though, stranger things have happened.

As for Cody and Drew, I guess the purpose of this match was for them to cancel each other out, as Klunderbunker said. Yet, the focus of the contest was the two of them; not MVP. In that regard, the result was effective. Now, we'll probably see a short program with them against each other. It will be interesting to see what kind of series they can manage. Presumably, one of them will turn face at the conclusion and I hope it's Cody.

I like my Drew to be mean and rotten.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - November 5, 2010

Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio - I thought this was going to be the main event of last night's show. In any case, it was an extremely solid and competitive match up I thought. Edge has been better since coming to SD! than he's been in a long while and Alberto Del Rio continues to impress. The match started slowly with both guys kind of feeling each other out but it got going soon after that. The match ends in a no contest due to Nexus coming out and interfering a little past the 13 minute mark. Both Edge & Del Rio looked good throughout the match and it was a fun opening. [Thumbs Up

Dolph Ziggler vs. JTG - There really wasn't all that much to say about this in general. However, the match was a decent showcase bout for Ziggler and he needed something like this I believe since he lost 3 high profile matches last week against Daniel Bryan. It wasn't a straight up squash match and it did what it was supposed to do, that being to make Dolph Ziggler look dominant. Thumbs Up

MVP vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes - I thought this was a fun match that came off really well. I'm not a big fan of MVP but I do believe he's improved a lot in the ring. He's not choppy or clunky in the ring now and he just seems much sharper overall. Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre both looked good in the match and it was competitive. All three men got in some good offense and were able to showcase themselves and that's really a key to making a triple threat match work for me. The last 5 minutes of the match were especially entertaining with a lot of activity going about. MVP gets the win a little past 12 minutes to become #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship and the feud with Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre heats up a little. Like I said, I'm not a huge fan of babyface MVP but he looked good in this match and he's had good matches against Ziggler in the past so this worked out just fine. Thumbs Up

Kaitlin vs. Vickie Guerrero - Yeah, this was pretty bad. I like Vickie Guerrero on the mic, she gets fantastic heat but they shouldn't put her in wrestling matches. The woman's awful inside the ring and I don't think there's any woman in any company anywhere today that could've made a good match with her. It was slow, choppy, clumsy & Vickie did an incredibly poor job selling anything that was done to her. This is the kind of Diva match that makes me long for the usual 90 second crap the Divas usually put out on SD!. Vickie does get the win, if you wanna call it that. They don't need to put Vickie in the ring again anytime soon. Thumbs Down

Tyler Reks vs. Chris Masters - I wasn't feeling this match either as I thought they had a better outing on Superstars last week. Both guys did alright with the time they were given, but there just really wasn't enough time for these guys to really click or anything. The way Tyler Reks moves inside the ring makes me think that he could work at a much faster pace but had to slow down because of Masters. Reks wins in about 3 minutes with the Burning Hammer, which is a great name and I dig the move. Still, just nothing all that great here. Thumbs Down

The Nexus vs. The Big Show, Edge, Kofi Kingston, Kane & Alberto Del Rio - This was a solid 10 man tag team match and it definitely got enough time as it went for almost 20 minutes. Nexus looked good I thought, very much like a functioning and cohesive unit with all the members that were present getting some time to show what they've got. I think that David Otunga is the weakest of the group when it comes to in-ring ability at this time. Kofi Kingston saw a lot of time in the ring here and looked strong and resilient, as he took a lot of punishment from Nexus. They kept the Big Show out of the match for the vast majority of it, which is a good thing all around. Del Rio leaves when he accidentally gets knocked off the ring apron as Show bounces off the ropes. I thought this was very appropriate for his character as the guy's a wealthy elitist asshole. He left before seeing any action and that's how it should have been. Kane came in late in the match and basically turned on his own team, which worked out well too because being on a team and defending SD! from the invading Nexus doesn't fit into his character either. It would've been better if he hadn't been booked in the match altogether, but it was alright. It did add a little more fire to his feud with Edge. Team SD! gets the win in about 19 minutes as Edge hits Otunga with the spear. This was a fun match, though I'm kinda tired of these huge tag team matches. The WWE has done several of them since SummerSlam, with most of them involving Nexus to some degree, and I think they need to lay off 'em for a long while. I thought that Nexus should've won here, but I'm hoping that they'll be involved in a traditional Survivor Series match at the ppv. If they are, then they definitely need to pull out a win there if the WWE is planning to keep the faction around until after WrestleMania as the latest rumors have suggested. Still, it was a fun match overall. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - I thought that SmackDown! delivered another strong show last night. SmackDown! is usually a wrestling heavy show and roughly half of the 2 hour show last night had wrestling content on it, more than that if you were to take commercials out of the equation. Generally speaking, the only bad match on the card was the Diva match. The show didn't really do much to build up for Survivor Series due to the invasion of Nexus but that'll change over the next few weeks. There really wasn't much in the way of promos on the show last night except for a few short ones scattered here and there, which is fine sometimes but part of SD!'s successful formula usually includes having 1 or 2 strong promo segments for the show. It wasn't as good as last week's show, but it was still quite solid.

Grade: B

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

I forgot that SD doesn't come on at the same time as Raw, so I only caught the main event.

Justin Gabriel looked noticeably better. He isn't flying around as much, so his striking and intensity have really gotten better. Everything had a purpose and I thought he looked really good in this match. The other thing I could think of while watching it was "Holy crap. Can this match get any more contrived?" Everything felt really force and you didn't have to be a quantum physicist to see what the next 'big' spot was.

 

[martymcfly]

Perhaps this is more appropriate to put on the NXT page, but since we have seen some spillover into smackdown now, I guess it can go here too.

Personally, I think this whole Vickie/Dolph/Kaitlin love triangle thing is not really accomplishing much of anything. First, I think the majority of folks have not been watching NXT so to spillover into a kailin/vickie match on smackdown didn't seem to serve a purpose, and seemed odd that the WWE assumed that us fans have been keeping up with that storyline and cared.

Second, it may be just me, but I don't think it's a very interesting story overall because personally I really don't care one whit about whether or not there was anything going on between dolph and kaitlin, and now that apparently there was, who dolph ends up with.

Third, while it could be argued that this story does let a spotlight shine on kaitlin and gives her some exposure that the others don't get to have, it hasn't been much of a spotlight since vickie seems to always come out looking better in any sort of scuffle or exchange between vickie and kaitlin. I think in both matches between the two that I've seen (not counting all the slaps that apparently are so devastating that they knock kaitlin to the ground) kaitlin has basically looked like a weakling. How can we take her seriously if she is weak against vickie?

Finally, it seems kind of a shame that kaitlin has to start out her WWE career as basically a man-stealing ****, especially since I am a fan of hers, storyline aside. Outside of Trish Stratus, I can't think offhand of any female wrestlers who went on to have successful careers once they were involved in a storyline that painted them in that way.

Other than that bit, I thought the last smackdown was a quality show.

 

[Post]

11/8/2010 RAW

I really thought Santino did a great job at stealing the show last night in his segment. The tea party bit with him, Kozlov, and Sheamus was very entertaining. I never seem to grow tired of Santino. It looked as if Sheamus was fighting the urge to laugh throughout most of the segment.

I always like watching RAW from other nations, especially the UK, to see their reactions and who they pop for. Cena seemed to get the typical 50/50 split from the crowd. Half the people loved him and half hated him...pretty typical.

I thought Barrett would get a bigger pop, being in his hometown. I also thought Orton would receive more of a reaction from the fans.

Overall, it was a decent show. I didn't care for the main event until The Miz turned on Orton.

 

[klunderbunker]

Monday Night Raw
Date: November 8, 2010
Location: M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

Yes those are the correct commentators. No idea why Lawler is gone. Ok so since I’m watching this Tuesday morning due to falling asleep, the reason is apparently he had an infection from a knee injury/surgery and had to be in the hospital to get it cleaned up. Makes as much sense as anything else would. Anyway we’re in England tonight so expect Barrett to be a huge face. Also this was taped so the show might be a bit off. Let’s get to it.

Also I avoided spoilers so this review is more or less just like watching Raw.

We open the show with Cena in the ring at a podium and reading from a scroll. Scrolls are awesome. He introduces Barrett with an overly done intro that he’s not happy to read. Looks like that Wrestlemania Reading Challenge paid off. Yep Barrett gets a big reaction but it’s not all cheering. The rest of Nexus is here too and that theme song is growing on me.

Barrett has some big old elf ears. He says he has returned to a nice pop. There’s going to be a big preview of his championship celebration tonight. A Cena chant breaks out and Barrett isn’t happy with it. We see a clip from Smackdown where Otunga brought Nexus in and lost. Barrett gets on him and says if you’re going to do that, be successful. The fans chant something that I can’t make out.

He turns his attention to Cena who gets a very mixed reaction. We see the clips of Cena refereeing fairly last week and costing the Nexus the (dull as all hell) tag match. Barrett says explain yourself. Cena says it all started as a joke at a Smackdown Thanksgiving show where he rapped and then the next thing he knew he was wearing a backwards hat and had a chain around his neck and he was invisible.

Barrett gets annoyed at Cena’s funny joke and Cena says that the explanation for last week was Nexus lost, plain and simple. Barrett says for Cena to announce what he’s going to say at Survivor Series, which is that Barrett is the new champion. Before he can here’s Orton. As he comes out, a thought occurs to me: if Cena gets fired, couldn’t they just immediately rehire him? Was that covered?

Orton knows he can beat Barrett. Wade says he has an army behind him and Orton has no one. It’s E-Mail time and the heat on Cole is INSANE. At the PPV, no disqualifications or count outs to the title match. That isn’t said but it can only be won by pin or submission. Nexus is also banned. Tonight it’s Nexus vs. Team Orton in a ten man tag. The GM will pick the members of Team Orton later. The guest referee is Cena. He kicks over the podium and shoves down Otunga before leaving.

The Divas Cup is next. Oh dear.

Divas Cup: Bella Twins/Eve Torres vs. Tamina/Alicia Fox/Maryse

They’re all in very short shorts and cut off shirts, dressed like Liverpool for the heels and Manchester United for the faces. The fans aren’t happy with the Man U stuff as apparently there are a lot of Manchester City fans. Tamina vs. Eve to start us off. Samoan Drop by Tamina as she lives up to her racial stereotypes.

Next week it’s a three hour Old School Raw. That isn’t acknowledged by the announcers but rather we’re told that on a graphic onscreen. Eve gets a kind of enziguri to put down Maryse as the fans don’t seem to care. A Bella vs. Alicia now as the Bellas look good in those shorts. Maryse gets her DDT on a Bella and they switch for the rollup win for the good girls. And there’s no cup.

Rating: D-. Yep it sucked. The shorts looked great though. How much analysis are you really expecting here?

Otunga is giving a speech to Nexus and is cut off by Barrett when he comes in. Barrett throws Otunga off Team Nexus tonight as he has Cena tonight instead.

Hart Dynasty vs. Usos

Do they really think we want to see this again? It’s a handicap Divas Title match at the PPV which I have to think Natalya wins as she’s beaten both girls in a big brawl already. Jimmy vs. David to start. Apparently Jimmy’s partner’s name is Jey not Jay. Kidd hits a Mysterio-esque dive to one of the Usos into a rana which was pretty freaking sweet.

Kidd gets beaten down and I could have sworn there was a three count but apparently it was only two. Smith doesn’t look happy at all. He’s on the floor arguing with Natalya actually. And so much for that as he’s there for the tag. There’s the powerslam to one of the Samoans for two as the other breaks it up. Jumping superkick kills Tyson on the floor and another one gets David. Jey ends him with a top rope splash.

Rating: D+. We get it: the Harts don’t get along at the moment and they can’t beat a team that they’ve beaten a ton of times before. Now NEVER let these two fight again. We understand the idea here but sweet damn the Usos are not interesting at all. This was the same thing we’ve seen time and time again and it’s still boring.

Santino has invited Sheamus to a tea party later.

Striker is in the back and asks Orton who he thinks his partners will be tonight. Miz comes up and says he’s one of his partners tonight.

Back from a break and Nexus is talking until Otunga comes in and they’re not happy with his most talented person comment. He wants them to have his back tonight but Gabriel wants to know if Barrett says it’s ok. They’re not sure if they’re going to do it or not.

We recap the wedding from Tuesday which had me rolling laughing.

Goldust vs. Ted DiBiase

Goldust is ticked off at him and has to be held back before the match starts. He does his breathing thing and gets slapped into the face. We hit the floor and it’s all Goldust here. Back in the ring and Ted is pounding away. Not much of a match here but just a bunch of brawling and striking. Sweet damn this is boring.

With Goldust down, Maryse walks over and picks up the Million Dollar Title with ease. Well that was easy. Snap powerslam by Goldust gets two and Aksana bounces down to ringside and hits Maryse in the face with the belt and runs off with it. Goldust gets a quick rollup for the pin as Cole says holy confusion.

Rating: D+. Again this was just dull beyond belief. This was more of an angle which I give them credit for at least trying something with for a change. The match was beyond boring but at least they were trying at least. I’m not completely bored with this yet but it’s not incredibly good at this point.

John Cena vs. David Otunga

This should be a somewhat long match as it’s the ending segment of the first hour. Otunga has a Nexus hoodie now. Nexus comes out with him, including Barrett. And so much for that as Barrett sends them away and leaves with them, making this one on one. Otunga tries to run and fails miserably at that and the fight is on.

Dropkick puts Otunga down but Cena’s shoulder is acquainted with the post so the A-List can take over. That’s a very short list as he’s just one guy. Dueling Cena chants. After a very short offense by Otunga, Cena makes the comeback, hits his sequence of moves and the FU/STF ends this. Nothing match.

Rating: C. Oddly enough I liked this though as the idea was just for Cena to run through Otunga and that’s exactly what he did. At the end of the day Cena is a guy that shouldn’t have any issues with Otunga and he didn’t. That’s all you need to have sometimes and this worked very well. Solid little glorified squash.

After a break Otunga has a bag of ice on his neck in the back. Barrett comes in and is all ticked off at him. He says go back to Smackdown and fight Edge. If Otunga loses, he’s out of the team.

It’s time for Tea Time with Santino. He and Kozlov come out in very stereotypical British suits which look cool. I actually didn’t recognize Kozlov. Santino says they’ve been watching British TV shows and movies to get the culture down. Sheamus comes down and Santino says he has green tea, regular tea and ginger tea, getting a laugh from the crowd. He makes up for it by offering….Mr. T? Oh it’s just a picture.

Basically this turns into nothing but jokes about Sheamus being very pale. That takes several minutes though. Sheamus can’t remember why he hates Santino. Santino can’t remember either. Kozlov: He hates you because you beat him in the biggest upset in WWE history. This is a decently funny segment actually. And now Sheamus is pissed off. Santino spills tea on him and an e-mail makes the obvious match with Kozlov in the back.

Santino Marella vs. Sheamus

We start after a break and Santino is in street clothes. Thankfully he has his in ring gear on after it. Apparently this is common according to Cole. Marella runs and another e-mail says get in or be suspended. He gets in and gets his head kicked off. He hits Sheamus low for the DQ and then the real beating begins. Morrison comes out to prevent murder on WWE television.

Cena is watching a video on Mania and we zoom into the monitor to watch it too. It’s in Atlanta. Ok then. Barrett pops up and says do your job or never be at Mania again. That was a nice touch.

Same second generation Stand Up For WWE thing again.

Nexus vs. Team Orton

Team Orton is Orton, Miz, Daniel Bryan, R-Truth and Mark Henry. Sweet damn does no one believe in surprises anymore? Cole jumps up to hug Riley in a funny moment. Cena comes out with Nexus. After a break Bryan vs. Gabriel starts us off. What is with WWE’s obsession with ten man tags lately? Off to McGillicutty now and the good guys beat on him for awhile.

Orton throws him to Nexus and says he wants Barrett. He gets Slater instead. After a bit of Truth vs. Slater everyone comes in and Team Orton clears the ring. Otunga saunters out and we’re not sure what he’s going to do here. We take a break with Otunga staring at Barrett. Back with Truth vs. Gabriel. Truth gets to play a mini Morton but brings Henry in to scare Harris a bit.

Josh says Cruiserweight so don’t expect him on Raw EVER again. Henry misses a splash but takes down McGillicutty to get out of trouble. Bryan in again as this is rather boring. Barrett vs. Bryan now with the British dude taking over. Bryan really plays Morton as the fans want Miz. They get the Viper vs. Barrett instead and Orton takes over.

Elevated DDT to Barrett as Cena counts to five. Orton waits as long as he can which is kind of stupid as it gives Barrett more time to make the easy counter. Wasteland is reversed and Truth comes in for no apparent reason and it’s all breaking down. Otunga trying to get involved caused this apparently. Back to the title match preview and Wasteland is countered again. Cena stops Otunga and Miz drills Orton with the Skull Crushing Finale so Barrett can pin him. Cena didn’t see Miz.

Rating: C. Not bad but nothing special here really. This was all so that Barrett could pin Orton but I’m intrigued by Miz hitting the Finale like that. It came out of nowhere but it made you realize that he’s still a factor. Not much of a match but it served its purpose pretty well. I’m interested in this Cena thing heading into the PPV so they’ve done that right. Not bad but nothing great.

Overall Rating: C. This is barely a decent show as the whole thing kind of came off as transitional. They threw this one away much like Smackdown but I guess that’s ok. They need to start fleshing out the card and they need to do it fast though. With just the three hour show next week before the PPV, I’m not sure what they’re going to do. If nothing else the rest of Nexus could have a Survivor Series match which would be good but I’m not sure at all as to what they’re going to do with it. Not a bad show but it kind of felt pointless.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

Outside of the Harts/Usos, I thought last night's show was a blast from top to bottom.

The Nexus podium was nifty and all, but Wade forcing Cena to read from a scroll and going "I could not said it better myself.. But then again, I did write it for you." Then Cena just kinda smiling and shrugging it off was great too. I noticed for most of the segment, Cena looked he wanted to laugh his buns off. I don't care, I want a segment with Wade and Cena every week. They just work with each other so damn well together. I know Cena is suppose to be the guy on the edge, but has anyone notice that Wade has really let Cena get under his skin? Man, their next match together is going to be GREAT.

I don't know if it was edited or not, but man, Wade even gets booed in his hometown. That is some uber heat right there. haha

I thought the 6 diva tag was a lot of fun. You would think that the WWE would pick up on little English culture after being there so many times. But like I said, it was just fun.

Wade's own brand of revenge is all kinds of awesome. He doesn't get mad, he gets sadistic.

Now, if the 6 diva match was dubbed the The Diva Cup, The Harts vs Usos should've been called "The Apathy Cup." The Usos looked good, but no one else gave a damn about the match. The Harts looked like they wanted to be else where, Cole and Matthews sounded like "I gotta call the match because it's my job." and that crowd might as well went to intermission. Horrible match with horrible wrestlers.

The other members of Nexus alienating Otunga = win.

Goldust vs Teddy was what it was. I was more entertained by Maryse getting slapped. Is there a better seller of a slap than Maryse?

Otunga getting his butt kicked by Cena = Double win.

Tea Time with Santino. Shaymoose was trying so hard not to laugh his ass off. It was great. And if you don't like that entire segment and match, you have no soul. Speaking of lifeless, Morrison is a great buzzkill.

Another Wade segment. We can never have enough of those. =D

When it was announced who was in the main event, I got excited. Mark Henry vs Husky Harris was awesome. A big black guy and a big white guy running into each other was sp 'pro wrestling.' Wade's black hole slam on Daniel was incredible and might have sent him into next week for all we know. And we are people going to get on Randy because "he only does 5 moves"? He did his freaking backbreaker twice in the span of 3 minutes. I didn't care for how it ended, but I loved the premise of Orton winning one week, Wade winning the next. It makes me really interested in what is going to happen on the go home show considering the title match is now pinfall or submission only and the Nexus guys are banned from ring side.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Monday Night Raw - November 8, 2010

Opening Segment - I thought the opening segment of the show was very well done. It was able to put a lot of heat on Barrett while hyping both the main event for last night and the WWE Championship match at Survivor Series. I like how the announcers spun the anti-Cena fans in the crowd as people booing him because he's in Nexus. While some fans just outright don't like the guy of course, it's a little white lie that's not hurting anyone and just adds to the angle. Orton was superhot with the crowd last night and Barrett got some decent cheers, not surprising when you consider that the returning hometown boy always gets cheers, but he had some real heat on him by the end of the segment. Thumbs Up

Divas Cup - This wasn't terrible, but it's mostly along the same vein that we're used to from the Divas. They did look very hot running around in those shorts though. The crowd was pretty dead for this and nobody can really blame them. It wasn't all that bad, but it certainly wasn't what I call good either. Thumbs Down

The Hart Dynasty vs. The Usos - This was a solid 4 minute tag match. It wasn't anything to write home about, but the action was solid and it continued the story of the troubles brewing within the Hart Dynasty. I do kind of like how they seem to make one member of The Hart Dynasty look weak during a match while making that same one look strong next time around. This time, it was David Hart Smith that was build into the strong one for the match even though he got pinned. The Usos win via the Superfly splash off the top. Thumbs Up

Goldust vs. Ted DiBiase - As with the previous match, this one was a pretty solid 4 minutes but it wasn't anything special. I have to admit that I haven't really cared all that much for this feud but I do like that Goldust has been getting tv time on Raw. The action was solid and Maryse looked scrumdiddlyumptious out there in that short skirt and those gogo boots. Nothing special here, but it was alright. Thumbs Up

John Cena vs. David Otunga - I was a little disappointed in this match to be quite honest. Otunga has had much stronger performances against John Cena in the past and only lasted about 5 minutes here. The action was solid, but I just wasn't feeling it. I understand that it's important sometimes to give fans a dose of the Cena of old now that he's in this forced servitude angle, but I think they could've done that while not making Otunga look as much like a scrub. Thumbs Down

Santino's Tea Party - I thought this was actually pretty funny. There've been times when Santino is just plain annoying, but I laughed a lot during this segment. Santino came across as this charming, bumbling idiot in this segment and the crowd was eating it up. When Sheamus was on camera, there were times you could see him struggling not to smile and laugh, at least until he was supposed to. Even Koslov was able to add something to the segment. The match that followed went about as I figured with Morrison saving Santino again. I like how they haven't rushed into this with Morrison & Sheamus but something definite needs to happen next week between them. I have no problem with segments like this every once in a while when they're well done and this one worked out just fine. Thumbs Up

Team Nexus vs. Team Raw - The WWE has really developed a hard on for these big, crowded tag team matches over the past several months. But, this was actually a pretty good match. I thought it was better than the one they had on SmackDown! this past Friday. Daniel Bryan saw a lot of action in the match, they booked him to look strong and resilient in the same way they did with Kofi on SD!. The match told a good story and continued building the overall tension in the Orton/Cena/Barrett situation. The Miz turning on Orton and hitting the Skull Crushing Defeat was a little surprising and it'll be interesting to see how they follow that up next week. Barrett gets the pin on Orton around the 14 minute mark to give Nexus the win. It was a fun match, but the WWE needs to lay off these sort of matches for a while. Part of me hopes that they'll do a traditional Survivor Series match but part of me doesn't because, as I've said, they've done a lot of these big ass tag matches. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - I thought Raw was pretty good last night. It wasn't a spectacular show but I thought it was overall a stronger one than last week. The overall wrestling content was somewhat stronger, though it was still a little on the weak side. Most of the matches were at least solid, but I'm hoping for much better for the 3 hour Old School themed show next week. The Santino's Tea Party segment was well done and was genuinely funny, the Divas looked hot even though their match kinda blew. I'm not sure what they're doing with David Otunga right now, but I'm hoping that he and Edge pull out a good match this Friday on SmackDown!. Wade Barrett did well and I like that he's been booked as a very controlling leader that has virtually unquestioned devotion among almost all the members of Nexus. It wasn't an outstanding show, but it was a pretty decent effort.

Grade: C+

 

[tehblogger]

Loved the Santino tea party segment. Santino and Kozlov in suits and bowler hats was absolutely priceless. Very often Santino's humour is just juvenile, but he pitched this beautifully to his audience, and it came across very well - even gently moving, in a way.

A Kozlov chant? Seriously? That's pretty amazing as well. Clearly Santino can do some amazing things for people. I love the way this is heading into a JoMo/Sheamus feud - but hopefully they can keep Santino involved there somehow.

 

[MrHashasheen]

The Santino segment was awesome as had already been said, but to be honest, the Otunga segments were just great. Otunga is so out of the Nexus it isn't even funny.

That and the Riley/Cole segment had me

Was I the only one who heard "Miz is awesome" chants? What the heck? When did Miz get over as a face with the fans?

Finally, John missed his chance with a career as a referee.

This was a good episode of Raw.

 

[klunderbunker]

Smackdown
Date: November 12, 2010
Location: M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
Commentators: Michael Cole, Matt Striker, Todd Grisham

Still in England here and the big matches tonight seem to be Edge vs. Otunga, Show vs. Kane and the IC Title match between MVP and Dolph Ziggler which I think might be the token title change for the live crowd. We need to actually start building some stuff to Survivor Series as I think we only have three matches unless I’m missing something. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Barrett telling Otunga that if he loses to Edge tonight he’s off the team.

Cue Green Day.

Here’s Edge who I definitely like much better as a face. He says he’s a busy guy and that he hopes everyone has their tickets for Mania because he’s walking in as the World Heavyweight Champion. Tonight it’s about David Otunga though. Here’s Nexus sans Barrett who is with the Raw guys. They surround the ring but here’s…Vickie?

Teddy apparently has had customs issues so she’s in charge. If any Nexus guys come in then Otunga automatically loses and is “excommunicated” from Nexus. Think that’s overkill much? Vickie runs down the card for the night because that hasn’t been done enough I guess. Nexus gets to be lumberjacks along with the rest of the Smackdown roster. What is with the obsession with lumberjack matches recently?

Vickie makes them shake hands or Otunga will forfeit his match. Apparently she wants them to be like fine Englishmen. If Edge doesn’t do it he loses his title shot. They shake hands which I’m sure was completely legitimate. Edge goes to leave but spears Otunga off the apron to knock down all of Nexus.

Alberto is driving around in the back. How ridiculous does that seem when you picture him doing it all day?

Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston

Why can’t Alberto afford his own driver? I guess this is the closest thing to direction we can have for Kofi. Todd mentions some soccer player for Man U and you can see Cole turning to him as he freaks out on him. Back and forth stuff to start. Striker says Kofi can defy gravity. Wouldn’t that mean he can literally fly? I think you mean he can jump really high there teacher man.

I think they botch something as Kofi goes down off a shoulder block that had zero force behind it. I don’t think that was supposed to happen. Kofi slips on the apron and Alberto gets the enziguri as we take a break. Back as Kofi gets in a few kicks but it’s about 90% Alberto so far. Kofi’s tights look like they have Spiderman’s logo on them.

Kofi gets a BIG springboard cross body for two. That’s definitely his biggest move of the match so far. Cole’s laughing as he says unbelievable on a replay is funny stuff. Kingston gets going a bit finally but misses Trouble in Paradise. Alberto goes to the apron and comes back in a second later. The Cross Armbreaker ends it clean at approximately 7:35 of 11:05 shown.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t doing it for me for awhile. I like Kofi and these random matches with no apparent point to anything he does are hurting him a lot I think. He went from being awesome in his feud with Orton to being a guy that is just on Smackdown in less than a year. This was just a few steps ahead of a squash as Kofi was on offense for maybe two minutes total. Alberto looks strong though.

Post match here comes Rey as apparently the decisive victory over Alberto a few weeks ago wasn’t enough to end this feud. 619 clears the ring. The commentators make it sound like they’ve never fought before.

In the back Nexus thinks they need to change the plans because they don’t want to get destroyed by Smackdown in the lumberjack match. Otunga says come out there and do it for him. He says if Otunga fails any of them could be next. That gets their attention I guess.

Natalya vs. Layla

Sweet damn just get this feud over with already! Layla looks very god if nothing else. Natalya gets a vertical suplex and does some squats while holding her up. They do an insane head scissors spot that would be great if there hadn’t been at least two botches. The fans don’t seem to care about Layla. Striker wants to use British accents. And there’s the Sharpshooter to end it clean in 3:23.

Rating: C-. Considering this was a Divas match this wasn’t bad. I hope they put the title on Nattie at the PPV as she has dominated Laycool the entire time and it wouldn’t make a ton of sense for her to not get the win and the title after all that time. This was nothing that bad as of course Layla is no match for Natalya at the end of the day. Not bad actually.

Kane says that everyone has false hope regarding Edge and reminds us that he buried Taker.

Edge vs. David Otunga

All of the Smackdown roster comes out and stalks Nexus. For no apparent reason they don’t close from both sides. Why is Goldust on a Smackdown show? Even Finlay is out there. Edge gets a spinwheel kick to start as Nexus is on the ramp rather than around the ring. We take a break less than a minute in and it’s all Edge. The Smackdown guys (including the Harts too) beat on Otunga before sending him back in.

Del Rio trips up Edge as he’s getting back in the ring so Otunga can take over a bit. His offense is so generic his finishing move might as well be called the vanilla ice cream drop. Edge makes his comeback after Otunga’s biggest move in his offensive flurry is a suplex. How could Edge come back after THAT? Edge gets a rollup for two.

He pauses to baseball slide Del Rio which starts a big brawl on the floor. In the ensuing chaos McGillicutty comes in and takes the spear that was supposed to be for Otunga. Edge sets for another on the A-List but Kane comes through the crowd and chokeslams him as Otunga crawls over for the pin to stay in Nexus at approximately 6:30 of 10:00 total.

Rating: D+. This just didn’t do it for me at all. Otunga is a solid talker and definitely has the look but he can’t back it up in the ring at all. This was just barely ok and the gimmicks were pretty clearly there to give us some cover for all of the inadequacies in David’s game. This was pretty bad and it never really went anywhere at all.

Intercontinental Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. MVP

Dolph is alone here. A quick rollup gets one for MVP. According to Todd MVP kicking Dolph out of the ring is the same as MVP almost kicking Dolph out of the ring. Love that play by play there dude. Back from a break and Dolph is in control again. MVP seems very fond of rollups as about five minutes in we’ve gotten four of them.

Ziggler gets the turnbuckle off and MVP gets a small package as the referee is putting it back on. The champion misses a Stinger Splash and here comes MVP again. Ballin gets two. The English fans give us dueling chants. Ziggler jumps off the middle rope into a big boot for two. He hits the Zig Zag but MVP has his foot on the rope. Ziggler shoves it off before the referee sees it for the pin at about 6:00 shown of 9:30.

Rating: C+. I’m not a fan of MVP at all but he’s been getting a bit better in the ring. This wasn’t bad at all with Ziggler out thinking MVP to get the win. Ziggler’s matches have been getting better and better. If he didn’t have such a stupid name he could really become something special. But hey he has a somewhat funny name so he’s AWESOME right Vince?

Stand Up For WWE. Yep because the previous match couldn’t use these two minutes. The Divas love WWE too.

Kane can’t find Paul Bearer.

Cody comes out and says that England and America are friends. He’s tired of all the stereotypes about Englishmen having bad teeth. They’re not stereotypes because they’re true according to him. England is definitely NOT dashing. He gives out mouthwash and tooth brushes to people there which is kind of funny. He goes up to a guy in the crowd and says that he too can be…..no never mind he doesn’t have any hope.

We get a grooming tip, naturally about keeping your teeth flossed. I still think Dusty’s kids are one massive rib on him. No match or anything but just a heel running down the audience. This guy is awesomely old school.

Kane still can’t find Bearer. No buffet jokes sadly.

Kane vs. Big Show

Kane pounds away to start and Show will have none of it. I don’t get why he doesn’t go for his big punch immediately. If it’s the knockout shot then why not just drill the guy early and get the win? This is happening because Kane and Show had an issue in the tag match last week. And because these two are joined at the hip throughout their career. Todd says Kane might be on the biggest roll of all time. That’s rather amusing.

Show just overpowers him and as Grisham sounds like an idiot. Grisham: that registered on the seismic scale. Cole: it’s Richter Scale. Grisham: Thank you Dr. Joyce Brothers. See what I have to deal with? Both guys go to the floor on a clothesline and we cut to Paul in the back bound and gagged watching on a monitor as we go to a break. Back with Show working on the arm and using his basic stuff that works because he’s so big ala Andre.

Kane gets a running DDT to counter and take over again. They go up to the middle rope and Show teases the suplex. Kane knocks him off and hits the clothesline for two. Show hits some running splashes but the champion gets a boot up to stop. Kane calls for the chokeslam but here’s Edge with Bearer still bound and gagged and in a wheelchair.

He says that wheelchairs have a hard time stopping once they get rolling. Edge teases shoving him off, telling Kane to not come any closer. If you can’t figure out the ending to the match from here you have no business watching wrestling. It’s a chokeslam if you’re curious as to the finisher which ends it at 11:15 shown of 14:45.

Rating: C. Considering who was in this and their history of just atrocious matches, this was surprisingly decent. Show as a face is FAR more interesting and valuable than as a heel and having him face Kane as the heel champion is a new twist on this. I liked it for the most part and the ending played up nicely to the Kane run-in earlier in the show. Nice little main event.

Edge wheels Bearer off to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Smackdown continues to be the wrestling heavy show with another solid performance here tonight. You had five matches and one didn’t crack ten minutes (I’m counting the Edge/Otunga one at ten minutes if you’re confused. It’s close enough). That’s a LOT of wrestling to pack into a two hour program. Smackdown compliments Raw perfectly and this was no exception.

Also they did a great job of tying the show together as you star with Alberto who gets involved in the Edge match as does Kane. Kane then closes the show and Edge gets involved there. That’s a great little story to tie the show together and make everything seem connected. I’d assume MVP vs. Ziggler in a rematch can be penciled in for Survivor Series but that’s still just four matches (two world titles and Divas). They need to flesh that out and quickly. All that said though, this was solid again which is the norm completely on Fridays.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Edge Opens The Show

Edge cuts a promo. He talks about winning the World Heavyweight Championship. He says he will main event Wrestlemania. Edge bashes his opponet for tonight, David Otunga. Nexus(minus Wade Barrett) comes to the ring. Nexus looks as if they’re going to attack. Vickie interrupts. She says Teddy Long has been detained, so she’s in charge of tonight’s show. Edge VS Otunga is now a lumberjack match. She wants Otunga and Edge to shake hands. Otunga and Edge reluctantly shake hands, and then Edge spears Otunga off of the ring apron.

Good opening segment here. Edge continues his momentum swing, and I’m glad he’s a face now. Edge can be a damn good heel, but I want to see him do something different, and I’m thoroughly enjoying his renewed face run so far.

Alberto Del Rio VS Kofi Kingston

Del Rio went to work on Kofi’s arm towards the end of the match, and he locks in the Cross Arm Breaker submission for the win. After the match, Rey Mysterio comes down. He hit’s a 619 on Del Rio. As far as the match goes, I thought it was pretty good. Kofi’s cross body looked amazing, and there were some other nice spots here. This match had a good flow to it, and it’s nice to see Del Rio's push continue.

Natalya VS Layla

Layla comes to the ring by herself. Natalya locks in the sharpshooter for the win. Another solid match here. There were some nice moves in this match. Natalya does a squatting standing suplex, which looked very impressive by the way. We’ve seen Natalya VS Lay-Cool for a while now, and the match quality between these three can be very streaky, but I thought this encounter delivered well.

Edge Vs David Otunga- Lumberjack Match

So for this match we have Neuxs and the Smackdown roster as the lumberjacks. Holy shit! A Finaly sighting! Wow, it's been a long time since I’ve seen that guy on TV. Del Rio gets a cheap shot in on Edge when he goes to the outside. Edge dropkicks Del Rio into MVP later on in the match. This causes a brawl amongst the Smackdown guys. Kane sneaks in the ring while the melee is going on. He hits a chokeslam on Edge. Otunga takes advantage of this, and he gets the pinfall to remain a member of Nexus. I just couldn’t get into this. First of all, why in the fuck was Nexus at ringside in the first place? The Smackdown roster outnumbered Nexus by A LOT, so it’s not like they could’ve helped Otunga.

MVP VS Dolph Ziggler- Intercontinental Championship

Dolph hits the Zig Zag for the win. MVP had his foot on the ropes, Dolph moves it as the ref is counting, and of course, the official didn’t see any of this. This match was pretty solid. I thought Dolph was going to lose here, but he didn’t. But MVP will definitely get his rematch soon, and it might take a while, but I’m sure MVP will be our next Intercontinental Champion. I don’t like MVP, but his matches aren’t terrible anymore, and he has been improving in the ring, so he does deserve some credit for that.

Cody Rhodes

Rhodes cuts a promo. He runs down England. He tells us how to properly floss our teeth. This was pretty funny.

Kane VS Big Show

Kane can’t find Paul Bearer. He seems to be on edge. Paul Bearer is shown tied up backstage. Kane goes for the finish on Show, but Edge comes up with Paul Bearer tied up. Show takes advantage of the distraction, and he hits a chokeslam for the win. After the match, Edge takes Paul Bearer away. Kane screams in the middle of the ring to end the show. I wasn‘t too crazy about this. I didn’t expect much from a Big Show kane match. The pace here was kind of slow, this match never gained any kind of momentum, and, we saw a good amount of rest holds from Kane here.

Overall Show Rating 7/10: Tonight’s episode of Smackdown delivered well. The wrestling on this show was pretty solid. Cody Rhodes continues to impress me with his character, and I think his mic skills are getting better. I hope he can have a chance at the IC title some where down the line. I like how WWE used Vickie tonight. We saw her in the opening segment, and that was it. I know she had full power on tonight’s show, but watching Vickie dominate Raw or Smackdown ss the GM has become kind of stale. I couldn’t get into the Edge VS Otunga. I really don’t care about Otunga, and I just don’t see why the rest of nexus had to be at ringside. The Edge VS kane build on tonight’s show was done well, but I wasn’t too crazy about the main event. It’s hard for me to get excited about a Show VS kane match. The match wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t that good either.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - November 12, 2010

Opening Segment - Solid opening for the show tonight that helped to establish and hype the WHC match at Survivor Series and the match Edge has with Otunga on the show tonight. Edge is over with the crowd and gave a solid promo addressing his impending match with Kane and a possible 10th World Championship for himself. He disses Otunga by bringing up his famous wife and Nexus comes out to the ring, minus Wade Barrett again this week. I like that they didn’t have this become a Nexus beat down by having Vickie Guerrero come down to the ring. She wasn’t really in heel mode tonight but still managed to get some good heat from the crowd. She makes the match between Edge & Otunga a lumberjack match. If Edge loses the match, then he’s got himself a way out due to the lumberjack stipulation Nothing overly spectacular in this segment but I thought it was quite solid. Thumbs Up

Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio - Strong opening match for the show tonight with Kofi & Del Rio putting on a competitive match. Both guys garnered strong reactions from the crowd and put on an entertaining match up. Both of them looked strong and stayed in control for roughly equal time, so it looked as though it could’ve gone either way. Del Rio does get the win a bit past the 11.5 minute mark via the arm bar submission. I was a little surprised that they had Del Rio go over Kofi cleanly. I find myself a little disappointed and glad simultaneously as Del Rio scored a big win but that he scored it cleanly over Kofi. That being said, it was still a very fun match up in my view. Thumbs Up

Natalya vs. Layla - This match was about 3.5 minutes long, but it honestly was a good 3.5 minutes. Natalya and Layla are two Divas that honestly do know how to wrestle and can wrestle quite well if given an opportunity. This match was able to show that and I was pleasantly surprised. I’d hoped that we might actually get a good, quality match out of these two instead of the usual bullshit and nonsense we usually see from the Divas on Raw and SmackDown! and that’s what we got. It wasn’t a classic and it was a little sloppy in one spot, but it was a good solid match between two women that can wrestle. Natalya gets the win via the Sharpshooter to build momentum towards her handicap match against LayCool at Survivor Series. Thumbs Up

Kane Promo - Kane’s promo backstage was quite solid. The red lights were up, the slow eerie music was playing and Kane continues to be quite eloquent on the mic. The villainous laugh at the end was a little cheesy, but Kane continues to be money on the mic. He put over his defeat of The Undertaker, insults all the fans and puts down edge. Thumbs Up

Edge vs. David Otunga - This was an ok match, nothing overly spectacular and I think that’s due in large part to Otunga. David Otunga is easily the greenest inside the ring of the members of The Nexus and it shows when he’s in a decently long match all to himself. Still, he managed to look pretty solid in general though the man does need some work. Edge managed to carry him through an overall pretty solid 10 minute match. The lumberjacks all got into it around ringside and allowed Kane to slip into the ring and chokeslam Edge, allowing Otunga to get the pinfall victory. Thumbs Up

Dolph Ziggler vs. MVP - Very good match and competitive match from these two. Dolph Ziggler has improved a lot since becoming IC champ and MVP has definitely been much sharper inside the ring in recent months than he used to be. The match told a good story and the commentators did a good job of putting over both guys during the match. Ziggler gets the win about 9 minutes in after hitting the Zig Zag. The story with the ending is that he pulled MVP’s foot off the rope, which the ref didn’t see, so MVP is kept strong even though he lost and Dolph scored a solid victory using a time honored heel trick. Overall, a fun match and I’d like to see some sort of gimmick match between these two sometime in the future to blow the feud off. Thumbs Up

Dashing Cody Rhodes - Some people hate Cody Rhodes’ character but I’m digging it. I thought he came out and delivered a great promo. Rhodes is very comfortable with this whole hygiene obsessed metrosexual and kept the crowd entertained through the segment. Ragging the British about their dental hygiene works on a lot of levels because Brits get in on the act. Rhodes’ interraction with the crowd was a lot of fun, though I was kind of expecting Drew McIntyre to come out and beat him down. Thumbs Up

Kane vs. The Big Show - In all honesty, this actually turned out to be a pretty good match. When I first heard it announced on Raw this past Monday, I kind of cringed a little because we’ve seen one on one matches involving these two before and they’ve been pretty bad. Much to my surprise, however, Kane & The Big Show actually wrestled a pretty good match. It wasn’t a game changing classic or anything, but it was honestly pretty good I thought. Watching Show try to throw punches sometimes is painful because they looked incredibly fake. I expected this match to be little more than a punch and kick fest but it wasn’t. They hit some pretty good high impact offense during the match, used some submission holds, Show actually hit that slingshot splash off the second turnbuckle for the first time in his career, Kane took Show off his feet many times in the match. Edge coming out with Paul Bearer tied up in a wheelchair was a little cheesy and it distracted Kane long enough for Show to hit the chokeslam for the win around the 15 minute mark. It was a far better match than I was expecting and I have to give both of them some credit. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Tonight’s show was quite strong overall in my opinion. From top to bottom, I’ve really got no complaints about the show with the exception of a few small things. I thought the show followed it’s usual formula of providing strong wrestling content coupled with a few good promo segments while helping to hype the upcoming ppv. I do think there could’ve been more hyping done for Survivor Series, but I was entertained throughout. The 2 hours pretty much flew by and even the Diva match was actually quite good.

Grade: B+

 

[WWEIsLife2]

Solid Smackdown once again tonight from the UK. Vickie only being on once since she was in charge didn't bother me too much,she is over and her voice does get annoying at times though but thats the point so it works. Kane/Big Show was a solid Main Event,I like seeing the big boys hook it up just having a slugfest and they delivered on that. Good IC Title Match with Dolph & MVP,kinda thought MVP would take home the Gold but maybe they will do it again at Survivor Series in Miami (which would make sense).

Natalya & Layla was a decent Divas Match,Layla looked good if nothing else and I hope Nattie gets the Divas Title at Survivor Series. Alberto/Kofi was pretty good as was Edge/David Otunga's Lumberjack Match. Edge kidnapping Paul Bearer was a nice touch to one up Kane a little bit. No New matches for Survivor Series but im sure they will finalize the Card this coming week.