Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[stasheroo]

Can someone get me a timing for the content of Raw?

I know shows are split up by adverts, but this week's felt like a joke.

Out of a two hour show, it felt like there was an hour of adverts.

I don't care if Tough Enough is on next or that a DX DVD is on sale or that there's leftover Wrestlemania merchandise to sell.

They should have to show a logo that denotes product placement, as that's what Raw is, one long advert.

For me, it indicates a lack of focus on what's happening now, but being so interested in what will happen. And if you continue to operate in that mindset, the current product will never be any good.

Despite what they'd like to tell us, I think the vast majority of opinions reveal that Wrestlemania was a letdown. The 'Showcase of the Immortals' was used merely as a stage to set-up what would be happening on RAW and setting-up the main event for a year from now.

I had hoped that the following night's RAW would be the start of new storylines, but instead it just felt like more of the same.

 

[The Calgary Kid]

I think that one thing that people are really glossing over is that Tough Enough has become a major part of recent bookings, purely as a means of getting people interested in the show. The Cole/Lawler match at Mania was practically the Austin Show, and the purpose of the mixed tag was two-fold, with Snooki there to gain extra PPV buys and Trish there for Tough Enough promotion. This is, of course, in addition to Austin and Trish being used on Raw recently.

Last night, with the show on after Raw, in just a few minutes, we had tons of adverts, a segment with Austin introducing the contestants and another match with Trish. Including Miz in the Austin segment was a good call, due to his past involvement and present success, but at the same time it's almost like saying, "The outcome of the show doesn't mean much, because the WWE Champion was on there and didn't win." Come to think of it, Morrison's involvement with Trish is probably due to his involvement on the show, as well.

At any rate, this was all flanked by minimal wrestling content, with Sheamus/Bryan yet again being given the shaft, this time as a last minute add on with barely any time left for it because we had to randomly debut a new Superstar without fanfare and promote the main event of next year's WM. Those two could have had an epic PPV match capable of stealing the show, and instead we get a five minute, commercial interrupted throwaway. Beyond that, Super Friends Orton and Mysterio needlessly go over Rhodes and Punk, HHH gave another worthless, ego filled promo, and Del Rio has another random spot on Raw to squash Evan Bourne. Oh, and we also had the Corre come out to get their asses handed to them, further contributing to their label as a second rate Nexus.

I get that marketing and advertising is a huge part of the business and contributes to the success of the product, but for fuck's sake, we had the biggest event of the year, the build for it and the fallout on Raw the night after basically functioning as a massive commercial. It's sad and frustrating.

On a more optimistic note, the Miz/Austin segment and Cena's promo did well to gain respect for Miz. It isn't often that they show actual footage from PPVs the night afterward, and we got that to show that Miz was concussed during the match, which got him a nice round of applause. He then got a good laugh with the Buckwheat joke and got in Austin's face. Cena later came out and congratulated him on the victory and the importance of it, regardless of how it happened. Considering that he's spent the past month, as WWE Champion, playing third wheel in his WM main event feud, these instances helped regain some of the credibility that they all but tried to deprive him of.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The numbers for Raw & Tough Enough are out and, generally speaking, I'd say that the WWE has to be pleased.

Last night's episode of Raw drew a 3.82 rating with average audience of 5.6 million viewers. Hour 1 drew a 3.71 rating and hour 2 increased to a 3.93. It was down somewhat from last week's 5.8 million average audience, but I can't say I'm surprised as the NCAA Championshp game between UConn & Butler scored 20 million viewer.

Tough Enough is off to a great start as the debut episode immediately following Raw drew a 2.51 rating with 3.3 million viewers. The second replay, which is the one I was able to catch, drew a 0.97 rating with 1.14 million viewers.

 

[X]

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 4/8/11
April 8th, 2011
Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina
Attendance: ???​

Just a quick note, I did not review last week's episode of Smackdown for those who have asked about it. The show was 90% video packages and highlights, with maybe about 15 minutes of newly filmed content, which equaled about two squash matches and less than 5 minutes of wrestling. No need to review a highlight show and nothing major happened anyways.


We're five days removed from Wrestlemania XXVII and only three days removed from the colossal announcement that the main event of next year's Wrestlemania will see the return of The Rock against John Cena in The Rock's return to wrestling after a seven (or eight by the time Wrestlemania rolls around) year hiatus. Can Smackdown live up to the hype of this week's RAW? How will Alberto Del Rio react to his loss to Edge at Wrestlemania? Who will be Edge's next challenger? And where does Christian fall into all of this? All of that and more on tonight's Smackdown. Let's get to it.


Your hosts are Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, and Booker T


We open the show with Alberto Del Rio coming out to the ring. Oh Christ Cole is back on commentary again. He's atleast bearable on Smackdown where he can just heel it up and not have to switch gears into being the play-by-play man every five minutes. Del Rio gets on the mic and tells us that destiny can be delayed, but not stopped. He gripes about his loss to Edge and the fact that he and Christian destroyed his Rolls Royce after the match. Before he can get much further though Edge's music hits and the World Heavyweight Champion comes out on the back of a tow truck, with Del Rio's destroyed Rolls Royce in tow behind him. He tells Del Rio that a little TLC should fix his car right up, so Edge pulls out a can of yellow spray paint and sprays something on the hood that I can't quite make out. Del Rio demands a rematch but Edge declines, saying there are many other more deserving people ahead of him, such as Christian, who steps out of the driver's seat of the tow truck to a nice pop. Edge reminds Del Rio that Christian has beaten him twice already before teasing coming down to the ring and getting into it Del Rio right then and there. Teddy Long's music hits of course though and the Smackdown GM comes out to the ramp with a mic and sets up a Number One contender's match tonight between Del Rio and Christian, with the winner going on to face Edge at Extreme Rules in a LADDER MATCH! Could it be? Could Christian's main event run FINALLY be upon us?


2/3 Falls Match
Big Show/Kane/Kofi Kingston/Santino Marella vs. Wade Barrett/Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater/Ezekiel Jackson

Oh joy, the rematch nobody was dying for. The Corre has about as much credibility as the nWo B-Team at this point, so there's really no excuse for them not to go over in this match here. No clue why it's 2/3 falls though. Gabriel and Santino start us off with some silly kicking and punching. Slater tags in and stomps away at Santino in the corner. Kane and Big Show take turns beating down Slater. Kofi tags in and teases going for the Trouble in Paradise as we cut to commercial. When we return Kane is beating down Barrett in the corner. Big Zeke tags in for a bit to bring the upper hand back to his team before the rest of The Corre starts trading frequent tags, isolating Kane in their corner. Kofi and Gabriel tag in and Kingston flies off the top with a big cross-body that gets the 3 count on Gabriel for the first fall at 5:30 (shown). After a commercial break we return to see Slater slamming Santino for a quick two count. Santino starts the comeback and hits a few hip-tosses and a headbutt before setting up for The Cobra. Barrett tags in though and boots him and then gives him the Waste Land for the pin to tie it up at one fall apiece at 7:25 (shown). Santino is isolated in The Corre's corner for a few minutes until finally he gets the hot tag to Kane, who cleans house on Wade Barrett with a big sideslam for a near fall. Kane hits the flying clothesline off the top but Big Zeke breaks the count up and things completely fall apart from here as everyone begins brawling in and around the ring. Kane tries for the choke slam on Barrett but the rest of The Corre hit the ring and attack Kane...and the ref calls for the bell for one of the absolute lamest DQs I've ever seen in my life, awarding the match 2 falls to 1 to Kane's team at 11:11 (shown). After the match Big Show and company completely destroy The Corre in the ring, just to make sure they're nice and buried. Somehow this got over 10 minutes, and The Corre's burial continues. There is NO EXCUSE for them not going over here, especially after the loss at 'Mania. Bad match and bad booking. ¾*


Cody Rhodes vs. Trent Bareta

Trent Bareta sighting! One of these days the WWE will figure out what to do with this guy, him and Zach Ryder. As you may have guessed, this is just a glorified squash match. Cody hits a few forearms before Trent actually gets some offense in with a nice missile dropkick that gets him a quick two count. Cody hits a big Russian leg sweep and then works him over in the corner for a bit. Rhodes finishes him off with the Cross Rhodes at 1:31. After the match Cody continues the beatdown on Trent until Rey Mysterio comes out and makes the save. So I guess that feud is continuing, which is good news in my book. Typical squash match, but hey, Trent actually got some offense in! That has to count for something, right? ¼*


Since this wouldn't be Smackdown without an excessively long video package of something that happened 3 days ago on RAW, we get to see the entire Rock-Cena segment that closed RAW, in it's entirety. I get showing highlights, but showing the ENTIRE segment is a waste of time.


Backstage Edge and Christian are together in the locker room, where Edge tells Christian that he hopes he wins tonight so they can wrestle at Extreme Rules, and that Christian deserves the title shot (which, damnit, he does). They joke around a bit about the possibility of facing each other later and Edge wishes him good luck and takes off. The camera lingers on Christian though as he stares intently at Edge's World title until Edge comes back in to grab it. Yeah, you definitely forgot something champ.


Michelle McCool/Layla vs. Kelly Kelly/Beth Phoenix

Well, atleast Kelly looks good as usual. Michelle and Beth start us off and Beth quickly dominates, slamming McCool around at will and hitting a backbreaker for a quick two count. Layla tags in and her and McCool argue a bit until McCool shoves Layla right into Beth Phoenix, who slams her on top of the turnbuckle and tags Kelly in, who locks in her weird semi-Tarantula submission in the ropes before hitting a cross-body off the top that gets a close two count. Facebuster from Kelly gets another near fall. Layla gets a few kicks in and goes to tag Michelle, who feigns an injury and falls of the apron, allowing Kelly to roll Layla up for the 3 count at 2:40. After the match LayCool argue all the way up the ramp. The LayCool break-up continues to be teased, and I'm still not sure who the hell thinks that is a good idea for either woman. The usual short Diva's filler. ¼*


After a quick commercial break we return to see Michael Cole in the ring. He introduces Jack Swagger and both men brag for a bit about Cole's DQ win at Wrestlemania against the King. Glad to see that Swagger push last year was so useful. They pat each other on the back some more and decide to celebrate with a victory lap around the ring, doing the Soaring Eagle run. The lights flicker suddenly though and Mistico---I mean Sin Cara's music hits. Nice pop for Cara as he sprints down to the ring and leaps into the ring straight from the floor in an impressive display of agility. Cara and Swagger stare off until Cara hits a handspring back elbow and a big headscissors takedown that sends Swagger to the floor. He follows him out with a twisting splash and he takes off, his impact having been made. Apparently Cara was so awesome on RAW that he was immediately told to scale back some of his trademark moves, which is why we got a twisting splash and a headscissors takedown instead of the usual crazy Mistico spots that not even Mysterio in his prime could pull off. Either way, he looked good again here tonight and the fans seem to have taken to him pretty quickly.


Backstage Layla walks up to McCool and hands her a piece of paper for a couples therapy appointment for the two of them next week. The only way I'll give a shit is if the therapist is DDP, otherwise, let's just move on.


World Heavyweight Championship Number One Contender's Match
Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian

Edge is our guest commentator for this match. These two have had some good matches over the last few weeks on Smackdown, pretty much saving the show from being a glorified 2 hour highlights show of RAW. Lock-up to start and Del Rio tries working a side headlock. Del Rio works some stomps on Christian until he gets tossed over the top rope. Big baseball slide dropkick from Christian sends Del Rio into the announcer's table as we take a quick commercial break. When we return Christian is getting slammed into the steel steps at ringside by Del Rio. Back inside the ring Del Rio hits a big backbreaker on Christian for a two count. Del Rio starts taunting Christian in the corner, slapping him around. Christian gives him a big slap of his own and then heads to the top rope, but Del Rio meets him there and delivers a nasty superplex off the top. Kind of sloppy execution from Del Rio, but it made the move look much more devastating. Christian rolls up Del Rio and almost gets the win then and there, but Del Rio kicks out at the last possible second. Both men clothesline eachother over the top rope and tumble to the floor as the ref starts his count. Both men barely make it back inside before the ten count. Del Rio goes for a big back senton (Dick Togo style!) but Christian moves out of the way and starts hitting big forearms on Alberto, trying for the comeback. Missile dropkick off the top gets another very close two count for Christian. He heads to the top again and hits a huge cross-body, but again Del Rio kicks out at two as the crowd is starting to really get into it now. Del Rio tries for the flying armbar, but Christian evades and tries for a springboard sunset flip, only to get catapulted right into the turnbuckle. Del Rio applies the armbar finisher now, but Christian immediately gets the ropes and Del Rio has to break. Brodus Clay at ringside tries to distract Christian, but Edge spears him. Christian climbs to the top rope but Del Rio hits that big running enziguri he's been using and that's enough to get him the win and the title shot at 10:29 (shown). And for the 9000th time, my hopes as a Christian fan have been crushed. These two have developed some good chemistry together in no time at all, and this continued their streak of good Smackdown main events as Del Rio gets the win, which is really the right call to be fair given how quickly he was beaten at Wrestlemania. Another fine match between these two to close out an episode of Smackdown. ***


We go off the air with a crushed Christian in the ring next to Edge as Del Rio walks away with a big smirk on his face.

Bottom Line: Pretty decent show this week as once again Christian and Del Rio had a good main event that made the show worth checking out, if only for that. The rest of the show was pretty bad though, with a ton of highlights packages that ate up a ridiculous amount of time and another really bad 8 man tag that continues the neverending burial of The Corre. A large chunk of this show is totally skip-able so I can't exactly give the show a glowing review, even with the fun main event. Still, the Del Rio/Edge/Christian trifecta continues to make Smackdown watchable, so I can't be too harsh. We'll go with a thumbs in the middle for this week's show. slightly leaning up.


Score: 5.5/10

REMEMBER! You can find ALL of my reviews and match ratings at my blog:
X's Wrestling Review​

 

[X]

WWE RAW 4/11/11
April 11th, 2011
Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Attendance: 9,000 +/-?​

We're one week removed from the colossal announcement that The Rock and John Cena will face off at Wrestlemania XXVIII as RAW stops into the Webster Bank Arena tonight. We're only a few weeks away from the Extreme Rules PPV, so tonight should primarily be focused around setting up matches for that event. How will John Cena occupy his time for one whole year? We'll have to wait and see tonight.


Your hosts are Michael Cole, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Josh Matthews


We open the show with Michael Cole being introduced as an "award winning broadcast journalist" and the "only undefeated man in the WWE". This Cole shit continues to drag on weeks after it should have been blown off at Wrestlemania. King teases going after him on his way to his Cole Mine, but nothing comes of it.


John Cena's music hits and it's time for our opening promo is my guess. He pumps up the crowd a bit, hyping up his match next year with The Rock. The question of course though is, what the hell does he do until then? Cena's new red gear just looks weird on him, I'm too used to the purple and gold. Cena promises that the match next year with The Rock will be for the WWE title, so I guess that's how they plan on using Cena for the next 12 months, chasing the title again. Because we haven't seen THAT before you know. Cena issues a challenge to The Miz but as soon as he does Randy Orton's music hits instead and the Viper makes his way down to the ring. Orton says none of Cena's grandstanding changes the fact that he lost to The Miz at Wrestlemania, and he tells him to stand aside so he can get a title shot. Before Cena can respond though, John Morrison's music hits and he makes his way down to the ring! What the shit? Everyone was/is expecting Morrison to do absolutely nothing following his supposed incident with Trish at Wrestlemania, but here he is now on RAW in the ring with Cena and Orton. Morrison grabs the mic and says that "we've all seen this show before" in reference to Cena and Orton, and says he wants a shot at The Miz's title as well. Of course before this can be responded to, Vickie Guerrero's shrill voice rings out as she and Dolph Ziggler come down to the ring and demand a title shot of their own. Spoiling what until now was a pretty awesome foursome in the ring, out comes R-Truth, who I guess is still employed. Truth wants a title shot because he's never gotten a one-on-one title match before on any show, which is just amusing. The lights flicker and it's ANONYMOUS GM TIME BABY! Cole does his usual shtick and announces that the GM has ordered a five man gauntlet match tonight with the winner getting a title shot against The Miz at Extreme Rules. Good opening segment to kick off the show, set up a fun-sounding main event for later tonight, and get the wheels in motion for Extreme Rules. Simple and effective, just the way I like it.


We get a little vignette of a dreadlocked black woman knocking the head off of a barbie doll, which is obviously a promo for the soon to debut Awesome Kong. Creepy promo and fans of female wrestling the world round are marking out, myself included.


WWE Diva's Title Match
Eve © vs. Brie Bella

Before the match starts Eve pulls out a magic marker and demands that Brie has an X written on her hand so they can tell who's who and they don't pull the old twin switcheroo. That's actually smart, shocking. Brie hits a forearm to the back of Eve's head to start and stomps away at her in the corner. Brie applies an abdominal stretch briefly but Eve fights out of it and hits a bulldog. Dropkick from Eve and the standing moonsault gets two. Eve and the ref argue for a bit which gives the Bellas long enough to make the twin switch, but the ref catches her. This distracts Eve long enough for Brie to hit a big facebuster for the pin and the title at 2:14. Brie Bella, Diva's champion? Hopefully this is just a stopgap until Kong shows up and destroys all of these women. The usual 2 minute filler here, as always. ¼*


Backstage Gail Kim and Natalya try to comfort Eve for her title loss, but Eve tells them both that she knows what the diva's locker room is "really" like and storms off angrily. Tell me they aren't turning Eve heel, please.


Sin Cara vs. Primo

Here we go now, Mistico, excuse me, SIN CARA, making his televised in-ring debut against (who else?) Primo Colon. This should be good, Primo being one of the few people that can actually work the style of match Cara does without looking like a fool. Lock-up to start and they go into your basic wristlock-armdrag lucha sequence. Big "Sin Cara!" chant starts up, which is great to hear, they've really managed to get Cara over just on hype alone. Cara flips right off of Primo's chest and dropkicks him to the outside floor. He follows him out with an awesome slingshot hurricanrana to the floor and then tosses Primo back into the ring. He waits too long and eats a dropkick from Primo though. Both men trade chops for a bit until Cara hits a springboard hurricanrana and then a headscissors, but he waits too long and Primo gets a cheap shot on him. He tries a powerbomb but Cara counters into a sunset flip driver for a near fall. Primo and Cara go to the top rope and Cara slips/gets thrown to the floor in what I'm pretty sure was a botched spot. No worry though because Cara slides right back in and maintains his balance this time, delivering the one-man Spanish Fly to Primo off the top rope for the win at 4:30! This was perfectly booked here, having Cara debut against someone he has experience with and who can work his style in Primo Colon and show off some of his flashy moves before getting the clean pin. Just an extended squash, but a fun and well executed one. **


The Corre come out to the ring, looking like the jobbiest bunch of jobbers to ever job despite having the IC and tag team titles with them. How sad is that? These guys are three of your main champions, and I can't even remember the last time they won a match that meant something (that includes title matches). Before Barrett can get far in his spiel about how he's better than the other members of the group, Gabriel grabs the mic and says he's the most talented one there, bragging about being a 3 time WWE champion, which is so sad and indicative of what a joke that division has become. Big Zeke and Slater both claim they've held up their end as well. Before this goes on very long though Santino's music hits, and he comes out with Mark Henry, Evan Bourne, and Daniel Bryan and claims that if they're the Corre, then this group is "The Apple". I see what you did there Santino. How sad is this, The Corre go from feuding with The Rock and John Cena last week to feuding with Santino and his merry band of jobbers (and a totally out of place Daniel Bryan) this week. Apparently the "Apple" stands for "Allied People Powered by Loathing Everything (you stand for)", whatever the fuck that means. I can dig Santino's comedy, but he's just that---comedy. Keep REAL wrestlers you're trying to push (like Bryan and The Corre members) as far away from him as possible, he does nothing for anyone. I guess this sets up an eight man tag, right now.


Wade Barrett/Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater/Ezekiel Jackson vs. Santino Marella/Daniel Bryan/Evan Bourne/Mark Henry

We return from commercial and join this match already in progress. Bryan is being isolated in The Corre's corner, getting worked over behind the refs back and having Big Zeke overpower him for a bit. The isolation continues for a bit until Bryan fights off Heath Slater and gets the hot tag to Santino, who cleans house on Slater and knocks Gabriel off the apron. Hip-toss and diving headbutt from Santino gets two, and things break down from here as Zeke and Henry battle over who's the biggest black guy on the roster and Evan Bourne hits a flying knee off the top on Barrett. Bryan hits a tope suicida on Barrett back on the outside while Santino sets up for The Cobra, but Gabriel hits him from behind which gives Slater the chance to give him a reverse DDT for the win at 3:33 (shown). I am SHOCKED that The Corre actually got a damn win for once here. Hopefully this "APPLE" stable is just a one-time thing , because it's a total waste of Bryan (and to a lesser extent Bourne). Finish was hot though. *¼


Boomer Sooner blares out over the speakers and good ol' Jim Ross makes his way down to the ring while Michael Cole verbally berates him from inside his Cole Mine. Ross just walks right up to Cole's little cage and starts shaking the damn thing. Holy shit, when did Ross become a tough guy? Jack Swagger runs down to make the save and The King gets up from the announcer's table to fight him off while a referee holds JR and Cole apart. This whole thing had better end with Cole getting shitcanned and Ross being given the Play by Play spot back on RAW. Cole can be the heel commentator on Smackdown and Swagger's manager, just get him out of the booth as the play-by-play man, for the love of God.


Jerry Lawler vs. Jack Swagger

Apparently if Lawler wins here he gets a rematch with Cole at Extreme Rules and gets to pick the stipulation. PLEASE let that be the blow-off guys. JR is in King's corner, which is fun to see, but a waste of a great talent. Why exactly couldn't JR be at the booth right now instead of just having Josh Matthews sit there and not commentate this match? No, seriously, he doesn't say a word while Cole and JR shout advice from ringside. Swagger stomps away at King in the corner while Cole screams across the ring as Ross. Swagger applies the ankle lock but King gets the rope break while Cole shouts "MOMMY MOMMY!" for some reason. Swagger tries a wristlock (which almost looks like a chimora) while Cole and JR continue to argue outside the ring, as more focus seems to be on them the match in the ring. Not that I'm complaining. Cole distracts King so JR comes over and throws him off the apron, allowing King to roll up Swagger for the win at 5:15. After the match King challenges Cole to a tag match at Extreme Rules pitting King and JR against Cole and his "former friend" Swagger. O..kay? I swear if Swagger turns and Cole wins again, I'm going to flip. And putting Jim Ross in a MATCH? You take him off TV as an announcer because he's "too old", but he's not too old to get in the ring? Ugh. This got five minutes, which is about five minutes more than it needed. ¼*


Backstage John Cena and Edge shake hands as Edge makes his way out to the ring. All night they've been teasing that Edge might announce his retirement tonight, and apparently his big announcement is up next. After a commercial break we return as Edge makes his way out to the ring and Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler join Josh Matthews at ringside (hooray!). Edge says to bear with him as he might ramble here. He says that anyone who's ever gotten in the ring knows how easy it is to get hurt. He brings up his neck injury from eight years ago and all of the rehab he had to do for it. He says he's been in a lot of pain and has been losing feeling in his arms. He made it through Wrestlemania but the WWE made him take some more tests and apparently the MRIs show that Edge has to retire. If this is legit, this is awful, awful news. I doubt it's legit though. Crowd buys into it though and gives him a big standing ovation as Edge gets misty-eyed and a "Thank You Edge!" chant starts up. He says that he felt like he was letting the fans and the boys down by doing this, but that his best friend Christian reminded him of all he's accomplished. He tells the Wrestlemania 6 Sky Dome story, which is always nice to hear and says he couldn't dream of a better way to go out than as World champion after winning at Wrestlemania. He jokes about his past as a pseudo-vampire in the Brood (which gets a nice little mini-pop) and how his character and career changed over the years. He acknowledges JR at ringside who signed him initially and says if he had to go through it all again, he's do it in a heartbeat. Finally he thanks the fans and gets a standing ovation. I keep expecting Alberto Del Rio's music to play to interrupt him here to confirm it's all an angle, but it never comes. Whether this was legit or not, this was a GREAT promo from Edge and a touching moment. Let the "Is Edge really retiring?!" chaos begin.


Backstage Edge gets a standing ovation and hugs from all of the boys in the back, heels and faces alike. More touching stuff, and if this is all an angle, they've done a phenomenal job of putting it over as legit. If it really is legit, man, what a damn shame. I'll rant on it later. Just checked some of the wrestling news sites and apparently this IS legit, atleast according to mysterious backstage sources. Holy shit man, this came out of nowhere and is like a shot to the heart. Edge gave this business as much as he possibly could during his career and I've never seen someone with so much passion for his work as Edge has, or I guess had. I'm still in shock right now, so you'll have to excuse me here. I'll post something on Edge's career later when more information becomes available.


The Miz comes out with Alex Riley and joins JR, King, and Matthews at the commentary table for our main event match. Damn, it's only 10:30, are we really getting a 30 minute long main event? Bring it on!


Five Man Gauntlet WWE Title Number One Contender's Match
Match #1
Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler

Orton and Ziggler start us off...hmmm, I wonder who's going to win here? Ziggler hits the Fame-Asser early on Orton and hammers away while Miz explains Alex Riley's role as his personal bitch, I mean assistant. Ziggler gets a bit of offense in until Orton goes into the Viper routine. Elevated DDT from the second rope, but the Nexus run out suddenly and distract Orton long enough for Ziggler to roll him up and get the upset pin at 2:47. Holy shit, did Orton just get pinned (semi) cleanly? What planet am I on right now? Nexus beats down Orton as we take a commercial break. ¼*


Match #2
Dolph Ziggler vs. R-Truth

Very glad they got Orton out of there quickly, the last thing we need is another Orton title run. R-Truth is out next. Ziggler dominates to start, driving an elbow into Truth's heart for a two count early. Ziggler tries working a chinlock but Truth fights him off. Both men trade knees but the crowd seems really deflated since the big Edge announcement. Ziggler misses a splash into the corner and Truth gives him a gourdbuster for a two count. Neckbreaker gets Ziggler a near fall as well. Truth hits a reverse STO on Ziggler, and that's enough for the clean pin at 4:28. From "World champion" to jobbing clean to R-Truth within a few months, my how Ziggler has fallen. *


Match #3
R-Truth vs. John Morrison

Morrison is out next. I don't hear a bell when we return from commercial so I guess we're joining this already in progress. Both men trade sunset flips for a series of near falls, which is kind of stupid considering the match JUST started and that's a sequence you should save for later on in a match, when you've actually been beat up enough to be down for several near-falls. Morrison pancakes Truth and hits a spinning leg drop for another near fall. Chinlock applied from JoMo and that's not going to get this crowd into it. Morrison clotheslines Truth out of the ring and both men end up giving each other clotheslines wiping both men out as the ref applies the count. Both men make it back in at 9 though and Morrison hits a big leg lariat. Ross has been on the mic for only about 20 minutes and he's already put over the talent better than Cole has in months. Truth hits his unique suplex-stunner move, but Morrison gets the shoulder up at two. Springboard kick from Morrison sets up the Starship Pain, but Truth moves out of the way at the last moment and hits the reverse STO on Morrison for the clean pin at 4:52 (shown). What the HELL is going on right now? R-Truth just pinned two upper midcarders clean in the span of ten minutes, did someone put acid in my spam again? Am I hallucinating? Not a bad mini-match either. *¾


Match #4
R-Truth vs. John Cena

Cena hits a gut-wrench suplex for a quick near fall as huge dueling "Let's Go Cena!" "Cena sucks!" chants start up, which The Miz acknowledges. I'm still in utter shock that R-Truth has made it this far. Nice snap suplex from Cena gets another two count. Back suplex gets him another two. Cena looks fired up, he's going suplex-crazy. Powerslam gets Cena yet another near fall and it's been all Cena so far here as you can tell. Another snap suplex and another near fall for John. Cena hits his top-rope legdrop, but AGAIN Truth kicks out at two. If Cena were a heel, this crowd would be rabidly behind Truth at this point. As it is he's still getting some decent support from the fans. Finally Truth gets some offense in with a big right hand and both men collapse. Big hip-toss from Truth he (somewhat) hits that spinning forearm of his for a two count of his own. Crowd is hot now, unlike the previous matches in this gauntlet, and it's sure helping matters. Truth goes for the reverse STO that put away both Morrison and Ziggler, but Cena counters and hits a pair of running shoulderblocks followed by an atomic slam. Cena hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle and then goes for the Attitude Adjustment, but Miz and Riley hit the ring and attack both Cena and Truth, causing the ref to throw out the match as a double DQ at 5:37 (shown). This was shockingly good until the no-finish as the crowd was red hot for both men and for the first time ever people were buying R Truth as a legit threat to a main eventer like John Cena. They need to do something with R-Truth and capitalize on the momentum he just gained here, NOW. **


After the match Miz gets on the mic and gloats about how both men lost and neither man gets a title shot. The lights flicker though and the anonymous GM sends another e-mail, which reads that there are now TWO number one contender's for Miz's title, and that both John Cena and R-Truth will face The Miz at Extreme Rules for the WWE title. R-Truth, in a title match on a PPV? Am I dreaming? Where am I? Who's hand is that? Why are there so many bright lights...


Cena and R-Truth shake hands to end the show, but they get a bit over zealous with their pats on the back and have a stare-off.

Bottom Line: Well this was an interesting show. While there wasn't anything wrestling-wise here you need to go out of your way to watch, we did get plenty of in-ring time and the entire show built up to the Extreme Rules show very well, setting up the main event with a shocking R-Truth inclusion. The big news of course from this show though is Edge's big retirement announcement, which is a shocker to say the least. It's hard to say where the WWE goes from here, but suffice to say they've lost an incredibly valuable and important member of their roster, and another main eventer during a time when they're still desperately trying to build new ones. Very touching goodbye from Edge though, and you should obviously seek that out. Sin Cara also made his in-ring debut in a fun little squash match, so all-in-all tonight's show was an extremely entertaining one for the most part, despite a few wasted segments. Thumbs Up.


Score: 7/10

REMEMBER! You can find ALL of my reviews and match ratings at my blog:
X's Wrestling Review​

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Monday Night Raw - April 11, 2011

Opening Segment - I enjoyed the opening for Raw tonight overall. John Cena came out and plugged his match with The Rock at WM 28 before talking about The Miz & the WWE Championship. After a bit, Randy Orton's music hit and I have to admit that I groaned a little. I have ZERO interest really in seeing Cena vs. Orton Part 3,294. I did think it was a nice little touch for Orton to just flat out tell Cena that, no excuses, he didn't get the job done at WM. John Morrison's music hit and my spirits did pick up. Morrison comes out and does quite well for himself on the mic. His promo was short, clear, right to the point and without any lame attempts at jokes. Dolph Ziggler came out next and did a nice job on the mic as well, putting himself over as before R-Truth's music hits. Truth did his thing and I thought it was a nice touch of him adding that he's never gotten a title shot. The Raw GM chimed in and makes a 5 man gauntlet match for later in the show. I thought the segment did a good job and all of these guys coming out and stating that they want to be champ was nice little treat. The WWE doesn't generally have a ton of guys come out at once and say they wanna be #1 contender very often. Thumbs Up

Eve Torres vs. Brie Bella - Nothing spectacular here but nothing particularly great either. In short, your standard Raw Diva match. Eve & Brie did a nice job and I like the idea that Eve was smart enough to have a litle counter for Twin Magic with the magic marker making an X on Brie's hand. Decent stuff in general but the crowd didn't really care all that much. Nikki & Brie do try and pull the Twin Magic bit but it served as a distraction. Brie gets the pin on Eve about the 2:15 mark to become the new WWE Divas Champion. 1/2*

Sin Cara vs. Primo - Fun showcase/debut match on Raw for Sin Cara. Both wrestlers did a nice job and Sin Cara got to show off some of his flashy offense, which was fun and it does make the guy stand out. He's already over with the crowd and they definitely appreciated his athleticism. Sin Cara goes for the Spanish Fly off the top but botches it and he falls to the floor, but both guys recovered nicely and Sin Cara did pull off the move the second time around. It's one of those heavily choreographed moves that can be fun if you don't see it all that often. Sin Cara gets the win at the 4.5 minute mark. Fun way to introduce him inside the ring before actually putting him in a storyline feud with someone. **1/4

The Corre vs. Santino Marella, Daniel Bryan, Evan Bourne & Mark Henry - Before the match, The Corre is in the ring and Barrett starts to run them down for not holding up their end of the group. I liked the fact that Gabriel, Slater & Big Zeke stood up for themselves and all got it Barrett's face. It's nothing groundbreaking but it's progress. Santino's music then hits and he's created a group called Apple...Yeah...really. Anyhow, they challenge The Corre to a match. The match was really too short to mean all that much but it was kinda fun while it lasted, though the whole situation just felt kinda weird. I just has this feeling that everyone was caught off guard with this Apple faction and didn't really know how to react. The Corre actually got the win, hot damn, here after Gabriel hits the reverse DDT on Santino for the win. I'm hoping that this was just a little one time thing for Apple because it's just a real waste of Daniel Bryan & Evan Bourne. *

Jerry The King Lawler vs. Jack Swagger - Things start off with Boomer Sooner hitting and Jim Ross coming out. JR goes after Cole in the Colemine and the crowd is eating it up. Cole is in Swagger's corner and JR is in Lawler's. I enjoyed this little match for what it was because everything with this Lawler/Cole situation has told a really interesting story in my opinion. Lawler's facial expressions were great and he continues to show that he knows how to tell a story inside the ring. I thought Cole was a little distracting out there and while I love what they're doing with the guy, it just got a little annoying for me tonight. Cole gets up on the apron cheerleading Swagger while running down Lawler before JR pulls him off the apron for a huge crowd pop. Swagger tries to get at JR before Lawler rolls him up about the 5.5 minute mark for the win. Cole dresses Swagger down in the ring and goes so far as to slap him before hightailing it. Lawler, since he won the match, gets to pick the stipulation for his match against Cole at Extreme Rules and makes it a tag match with he & JR against Cole & Swagger. Eh, I can't say I'm all that excited about that, but it might be fun. **1/4

Edge - This was a great segment. Basically, it was Adam Copeland out there talking tonight rather than Edge. If this retirement is really a work, then it's a fucking good one that they've really gone all out for. But yeah, every fiber of my being says that this is 100% legit. Edge was trying to keep his emotions in check as much as he could during the interview, you can definitely see him trying to keep tears from flowing and hear a definite catch/quiver in his voice. This just completely came out of left field. I kept expecting Alberto Del Rio to run out and waffle Edge or some sort of run in or something but it didn't happen. It was just a classy segment and the stuff backstage with him being given applause and all from the roster was nice to watch. It'll be strange with Edge being gone so abruptly but he gave everything he could. Thumbs Up

Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler - The match only lasted about 3 minutes and I had to admit that my spirits were sorta low. Ziggler & Orton did a good job with the time they were given and I just kept waiting for Orton to hit the RKO. However, I'll be damned if Ziggler didn't upset The Viper. And shit, he did it about 90% clean at that. Otunga & McGuillicutty jump up on the apron and get Orton's attention for a brief second. Ziggler comes up and rolls up Orton with a schoolboy and a handful of tights for the win. HA! *1/2

R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler - Ziggler dominated most of this match but Truth showed some heart throughout the match. Like the first match, it was pretty decent while it lasted and I was legitimately surprised to see Truth hit the reverse STO for the clean win over Ziggler. *

John Morrison vs. R-Truth - Good back and forth competitive match in my view. Both of them worked hard and put show. Both guys hit some of their signature moves & spots but, again, I was surprised to see R-Truth get the clean pinfall victory over JoMo here. **1/2

John Cena vs. R-Truth - This was much better than I thought it was going to be. Cena did control a good portion of the match but Truth kept bouncing back. For the first time in a very long time, Ron Killings hasn't look like a jobber. Cena hit some of his usual offense and mostly just kept hitting Truth with high impact power moves only for Truth to kick out. The Miz & Alex Riley interferred in the match when the Gauntlet Match in and of itself had been going on about the 31 minute mark. Both Truth & Cena get beaten down, therefore both are disqualified. The Raw GM chimes in and makes a triple threat match of The Miz vs. John Cena vs. R-Truth at Extreme Rules. There was some definite friction between Truth & Cena during their little "friendly" shoving match and this could be an interesting turn of events if the WWE does something with Truth. **1/2

Overall Show - Overall, I thought that tonight's Raw was a very interesting and entertaining show. Taking center stage, of course, is Edge's surprise retirement announcement. This just came completely out of left field and it's sad to see his career end but, at the same time, it's better that he goes out before something happens to really wreck his health. Great speech from Edge and just a classy segment all around. We had a Divas Title change tonight though nobody really cares all that much. Still, it's nice that they got the title off Eve and put it on someone that the crowd somewhat gives a damn about. The 8 man tag match had just a weird little vibe to it that I don't think really clicked. Fun debut match from Sin Cara that gave a nice hint of what he's capable of. I did like the fact that the match wasn't just one long procession of hurricanranas that I thought it'd be. I'm still entertained by the Lawler/Cole feud but I'm hoping it comes to an end at Extreme Rules. It's been fun but I think they need to end it before it really starts to drag. The Gauntlet Match to determine a new #1 contender for the WWE Championship was a lot of fun and delivered some very unexpected results. People are already bitching that R-Truth is one of the #1 contenders and I think it just goes to show that for all the whining the IWC does about how predictable wrestling has become, the IWC doesn't really want unpredictability. Truth had a great night generally speaking and if the WWE can do something with R-Truth out of all this to make him an interesting guy, then I'm all for it.

Grade: B+

 

[Darkshot77]

Darkshot77's Review of Monday Night Raw 11/4/11

It's been 2 years I might be a little rusty. But then again for my first Raw in 2 years, I wasn't disappointed.

Cena, Orton, Morrison, Ziggler, R-Truth, Opening Segment: I missed the beginning of Cena's speech, but I got the point later on, He wants a title shot, as do other legitimate contenders, Randy Orton, some semi-legitimate, John Morrison, and some not even close, Dolph Ziggler. Vicky Guerrero looks much better I must admit. She has lost weight and the new hair style makes her look alot younger (probably along with the make up). She fits along side Dolph. Then came out R-Truth. I must admit I was surprised at the Crowd reaction he got, and continued to get throughout the show. He seemed pretty over. His Pop was louder than Vicky's Heat. (The Loudest thing I can remember from 2 years ago) Well the GM gives us an Email and we have a gauntlet match for the ME. Could they please drop the Anonymous part off of the GM bit, it is a little redundant, we get it we don't know his name,on with what he wrote.

Mysterious Promo: I for one enjoyed this it was well done, for those who didn't know who it was, it was mysterious and left questions. For those of us who do, it represented her well. Well done WWE.

Eve (c) vs. Brie Bella-WWE Diva's Title Match: This one left me a little puzzled...ah who am I kidding, flat out confused. The Bella's don't strike me as credible singles stars, I mean if you took one of them away, you would have talent on par with Maria, not Diva's champion caliber. Eve on the other hand looked great, hit her moonsault with out problem and probably could put on a good match with, Melina, Gail Kim, or Natalya if needed. But...Brie Bella, Diva's Champion do not like the booking cant see this leading to great divas matches that would revive this division. Eve's interaction with Gail and Natalya was completely believable and totally true. That is exactly how a champion would feel after a loss. Winner and NEW Diva's Champion: Brie Bella

Sin Cara vs. Primo: Sin Cara made good showing. I greatly enjoy his ring attire. He didn't strike me as anything special though in the ring, all things that he did, Rey Mysterio or John Morrison could do, but, it was still impressive. He just needs room to work. I thought the match was too slow for the hyped up Sin Cara. They picked a good pair in Primo who could keep up with him, but, I was expecting him to be flying around the ring like Masato Yoshino, guess I should lower my standards. Good, but for the Hype I was expecting more. He needs to remove the tramp from his entrance, he will get hurt. And he needs a more credible finisher, the moonsault side slam takes to long to set up. About the botch at the end I think it was Primo who slipped and Sin Cara sold it off well. Reset and get the pin. But from what I hear he had some botches in his attack on Sheamus, so he better clean things up, though this one may not be entirely his fault.Winner: Sin Cara

The Corre vs. Santino Marrella, Evan Bourne, Daniel Bryan, and Mark Henry: Impromptu match started from a Corre Promo teasing some internal problems. Now this was my first look at Barrett on the mic, I hear he is good, and if so deserves more time. The only people I saw participating in the match on the face side was Daniel Bryan and Santino. Kinda Dissapointing. But the Corre finally put it together and get a win on the board, just what they needed. I like them, and would like to see more. But we need a credible tag team to do battle with them. Winners: The Corre

Jerry Lawler vs. Jack Swagger: Have to admit as annoying as Cole is he was really funny to watch parading around the outside. Lawler wins with a roll up, meltdonw between swagger and Cole and we have a tag match at ER involving Good ol' JR.....Cant wait. Winner: Jerry Lawler

Edge Retires: Well Now we know why his match was so short ans first on the card at WM 27. I am a huge fan of Edge and it will be sad to see him go. He was still cracking jokes, and has had a great career. He will be missed. I was impressed that this and the opening were the only 2 main promo's of the show. This was a lot more action packed than last week's SD for that i was grateful. The Aftermath in the back while cool was a little weird, and kinda funny how he just brushed off Vicky, I chuckled. But could they have kept the heels off camera, I know it was a general kafabe break, but please seeing Barrett in is Corre shirt cheering on Edge just didn't fit.

5 Man #1 Contender's Gauntlet-Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. R-Truth vs. John Morrison vs. John Cena: Very Good Match. Well done by all involved. The New Nexus Screws Orton Reviving the Orton Nexus Feud, but he is going to need some back up to take them all on. Everyone will attribute JoMo's elimination to his Backstage heat, but who really knows. Again R-Truth gets great crowd reactions and performed very, very well. His Surprise finisher on Ziggler was a good spot. It was interesting cause the only person who we all knew had the shot was John Cena. And after Orton was eliminated i was sure he was going to win. He came out and perceded to hit several different suplexes and slams on R-Truth. This part of the match was paced very poorly. But after Truth got back in it picked up. Note on Cena, love him or hate him, he gets more reaction than anyone else in the locker room. Good or bad it is still reaction. I thought I heard some "Lets got Truth" Chants opposing the "Lets go Cena Chants" But they were completely drowned out from the "Cena Sucks" chants. The funny thing is there is no other face nor heel that can get a reaction like that, Cena gets both. That is why he is the biggest superstar in the WWE. He is a draw you pay to see him win, or you pay to see him lose, either way you pay. Miz interrupts making it a double disqualification and a Triple threat at ER. Am I the only one that would like to see R-Truth win. It certainly would be a swerve. And you know what he wrestles good enough and has a decent crowd reaction. But that's a different thread

Final Thoughts: For 2 years away it was entertaining, which is exactly what it should be.

Final Rating: 6/10

 

[X]

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 4/15/11
April 15th, 2011
Time Union Center, Albany, New York
Attendance: ???​

And so we've arrived at a very somber and emotional night in the WWE, only a few days removed from the shocking (legit) announcement by Edge that he has to retire for health reasons. Tonight Edge will relinquish his World Heavyweight Championship and say one last goodbye to the fans and business he's loved his entire life. My expectations wrestling-wise for this show are slim, which is fine, because this really is all about Edge tonight. Let's get started.


Your hosts are Michael Cole, Booker T, and Josh Matthews


We open the show with Alberto Del Rio coming out to the ring to some decent heat, doing his usual shtick about how the world title is his "destiny" and all that jazz. He initially puts over Edge, talking about the achievements he accomplished in the business and the respect he's earned over the years. He quickly returns back to himself though, and demands Edge come out to present him with the World Heavyweight title. Instead we get Teddy Long, who sets up a 20 man battle royal for later tonight to decide who will face Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight title in the ladder match at Extreme Rules.


Kofi Kingston vs. Ezekiel Jackson

Quite the clash of styles here, but sometimes that results in an entertaining match. The rest of The Corre is at ringside on commentary, as if anyone cares. Kofi is decked out in all green. Preparing for 4/20 a bit early this year Kofi? Big Zeke shows off the power early on, tossing Kofi around at will like a ragdoll. The Corre are all bickering at ringside, so I guess they're teasing a break up. This would be what, the 2nd or 3rd splintering of the original Nexus members? The action spills to the outside and Big Zeke tosses Kofi right onto all 3 members of The Corre. So wait, are they still stablemates or what? Wade Barrett tries entering the ring which distracts Kofi long enough for Zeke to give him a big side-slam for the pin at 2:24. After the match Big Zeke says he's going to win the Battle Royal tonight. I certainly hope not. They can't seem to make up their mind whether they want to push Jackson or not, but disposing of Kofi that quickly certainly makes him look dominant. What now for Kofi? ¼*


Elsewhere we catch up on Michelle McCool and Layla in "Couples Counseling", bickering like a couple of hens. Does anybody actually care about this? McCool walks off within minutes. Poor adorable Layla.


Back in the ring a hooded and masked Cody Rhodes has a mic and cuts a promo on Rey Mysterio. He says he hoped to feel vindicated after his victory at Wrestlemania, but he feels nothing. He says he's going to scar Mysterio so that children are horrified at the sight of him. Rey's music hits and he runs to the ring and delivers a 619 on Cody. Decent promo from Rhodes.


Another creepy Awesome Kong promo with her flicking off a barbie doll's head. Looking forward to her debut big-time.


Rey Mysterio vs. Drew McIntyre

It's kind of amusing just how much larger Drew is than Rey. And he's not even that big. Big powerslam and a backbreaker from Drew get him a pair of early near falls. Snap suplex gets Drew another two count while Booker T puts him over on commentary. Rey gets a headscissors and tries for the 619 but Cody avoids it. Rey dropkicks him outside to the floor and then tries for a headscissors out of the ring, but Drew holds onto Mysterio and slams him head-first into the guard barrier. Quick commercial break and when we return both men trade waistlocks until Drew is sent outside to the floor once again. McIntyre gets draped over the second rope and Rey hits a springboard legdrop for a near fall of his own. Drew tries working an armbar but gets thrown shoulder-first into the steel post. Seated senton from Rey and he hits a beautiful headscissors takedown and a springboard cross-body block for a close two count. Big boot from Drew nearly takes Rey's head off, but he gets the shoulder up at two. Rey hits a big tornado DDT, but Drew gets his foot on the ropes at two. This is really starting to pick up now. Stiff clothesline by Drew from his knees. He tries another one but Rey counters and Drew gets set up on the second rope long enough for Mysterio to hit the 619 and then a big splash off the top rope for the win at 9:20 (shown). This was damn good, Drew has been really motivated over the last few months and Rey almost looked like the 2003 version of himself here, bumping his ass off. Very good television match. ***


Backstage we see Edge getting a standing ovation and handshakes all around from the boys on his way to the ring for his farewell speech next. HUGE pop for Edge here and tons of signs for the Rated R Superstar. Tony Chimel must be getting misty-eyed that this could be the last time his voice ever cracks like a prepubescent twelve year old while announcing Edge as the "Rated R SOOOOOOperstar". Edge breaks kayfabe immediately in the promo by referring to "last night on RAW", as Smackdown is always taped the Tuesday after RAW. You're breaking the walls of kayfabe man! Edge, being a true lover of this business, HAS to do his entrance one more time though to feel the goosebumps one more time. I'm not going to recap every little thing Edge says here, but suffice to say it's a fitting and touching farewell from Edge expressing how much this business and the fans have meant to him and how honored he's felt to be able to live his dream for the last 18 years. He points out his mom in the front row here tonight and thanks her for all of her support and the crowd actually starts a "Thank You Mom!" chant, which is cute. He says Albany is a special place to him because this is the city he won his first World title in back in January of 2006. He wraps things up with one last thank you and lays the World Heavyweight Championship down in the center of the ring and gives his mother a hug before heading to the back and saying goodbye to the wrestling business (atleast for now). Another great and touching speech from Edge just like on RAW, and I'm glad they gave him some more time to do this on Smackdown, the show he spent most of his career on.


Backstage Rosa Mendes says something in Spanish to Edge, which he doesn't understand. Alberto Del Rio interrupts and offers Edge his hand, but a cocky grin and a wink seems to ruin any chance of a handshake and Edge walks off.


Kelly Kelly vs. Layla

McCool is on commentary, as usual. She talks about how couples counseling is just a waste of their time, kind of like this match. Kelly hits a boot and locks in her bizarre headscissors submission over the top rope. She slams Layla to the outside floor and then starts pounding her head into the mat. Layla nearly gets counted out but Michelle tosses her back into the ring and Kelly just rolls her up for the 3 count at 2:05. After the match McCool shoves Layla down in the ring. Barely even a wrestling match here, total DUD.


World Heavyweight Title #1 Contender's Battle Royal Match
(Featuring Christian, Kane, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntyre, Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Tyler Reks, Kofi Kingston, Big Show, JTG, Chris Masters, Yoshi Tatsu, Cody Rhodes, Brodus Clay, Trent Baretta, Chavo Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, and Curt Hawkins)

Never much of a Battle Royal fan, but let's do this. JTG is the first one out, big shocker. Trent Baretta tries to eliminate the Big Show and I almost mark out with the power of a thousand suns at the thought of it, but Show quickly tosses him over and out. Show hits the knockout shot on Slater and eliminates him next. He runs to clothesline Big Zeke out, but in the process he eliminates himself as well and both big men are out, much to Del Rio's delight at ringside. We take a commercial break and when we return Cody Rhodes is stomping away at Rey Mysterio in the corner. Cole cheers on Jack Swagger, despite the fact that he turned on him on RAW. Damnit Cole, you can't even get your own angles right? Rey eliminates both Rhodes and Hawkins in quick succession. Big Brodus Clay eliminates McIntyre next and then tosses Chavo Guerrero out next. Kane and Clay have a showdown in the middle of the ring and Kane tries for the chokeslam, but Clay fights it off. He tries to eliminate Kane but gets tossed out himself instead as we take yet another commercial break. Kofi tries to skin the cat but Wade Barrett eliminates him. Somehow Yoshi Tatsu is still in this thing, which is pretty neat. Christian eliminates Reks next and then eats a series of kicks from Tatsu before tossing him out next as well. Kane tries to chokeslam both Barrett and Gabriel, but they eliminate the Big Red Machine instead. Masters gets booted out next by Barrett, and Gabriel sneaks up behind his Corre stablemate and tosses him out next to a nice pop. Gabriel has got something special about him, and I hope this is hinting towards a break-up of the Corre and a Barrett vs. Gabriel feud with Justin playing the babyface role, that's something I'd actually want to watch. Final four is Christian, Mysterio, Swagger, and Gabriel. The heels and babyfaces partner up of course and Gabriel hits a sweet roundhouse kick on Rey. Rey misses the 619 and Gabriel tries to powerbomb him, but Rey counters and eliminates Justin instead. Rey sets up Swagger for the 619 and Michael Cole runs to protect Swagger, taking the 619 instead of Swagger, allowing him to eliminate Rey and bring us down to just Swagger and Christian. I'm sure you can guess who wins from here. Both men jockey on the apron for a bit and Christian goes for that swing kick ofhis, but Swagger grabs the ankle and applies the ankle lock! Christians rolls out of it and nearlyt gets thrown over the top but he hangs on. Del Rio tries to pull Christian off from the apron but Christian kicks him off and then back drops Swagger to eliminate him and win the battle royal and title shot at 15:33 (shown). I'm not usually one to enjoy battle royals, but this one actually had a pretty good flow to it and things really picked up once it got down to the final 6 or so men. Good stuff for a battle royal. **


After the match Edge comes down to the ring and congratulates Christian as they hug while Del Rio snarls like an angry cat while he stands on top of the commentator's table. Right around here may or may not be where the US broadcast cuts off, but lucky for me I've got the entire feed of the show so we get to see the touching ceremony after the show went off the air. Christian grabs a mic and both he and Edge do one last "Five Second Pose" for the benefit of those with flash photography. Awesome little moment and I'd have marked out if I were in attendance. The entire Smackdown locker room comes out afterwards to the stage and gives Edge one last standing ovation. Big Show, Chavo Guerrero and Rey Mysterio hit the ring and give Edge a farewell hug. Suddenly Triple H's music hits and The Game hits the ring to give Edge a hug of his own. Edge is really emotional here and you can see some tears in his eyes. The ring clears out and everyone heads to the back so Edge grabs the mic one more time and says what the boys just did for him there was the ultimate sign of respect, as it appears the standing ovation and Triple H coming out was just as much of a surprise to Edge as it is to the fans. Edge puts over most of the boys in the back as well as all of the ring and camera crews. Edge totally breaks kayfabe here, even thanking the writers backstage like Brian Gewirtz and Michael PS Hayes. Big "Hall of Fame!" chant starts up. Finally Edge thanks Christian, who's been his best friend for the last 27 years. He says he hopes any Edgeheads out there will throw their support behind Christian now as well. He says he'll always be a part of the WWE and says this probably won't be the last time we see him, but he's going to take a long break and just be with his dogs. He says one last farewell and the crowd gives him one last standing ovation as the show ends. This was probably an even more touching speech than the one earlier in the show, and if it doesn't make the US broadcast it is WELL worth your time to seek this segment out on YouTube.

Bottom Line: I came in expecting nothing more than a good farewell to Edge, but instead we got some good wrestling to go along with it as well. You really can't ask for much more than that, can you? Rey Mysterio and Drew McIntyre had a solid match earlier in the show, the main event battle royal was actually pretty decent, and Christian finally gets a PPV title shot, something I personally have been waiting for to happen for a very long time. Add in the touching farewell to Edge, the REAL farewell, and this was an excellent episode of Smackdown and gets the easy Thumbs Up.


Score: 7.5/10


REMEMBER! You can find ALL of my reviews and match ratings at my blog:
X's Wrestling Review​

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - April 15, 2011

Opening Segment - Good opening segment with Del Rio doing a pretty good job of trying to be magnanimous. Del Rio comments on his respect for Edge & his accomplishments in the WWE and he sounds pretty sincere and I think this was a logical way to go in wake of Edge's retirement. Del Rio asking Edge to come down and surrender the WHC was a nice, subtle sign that Del Rio is still the dastardly heel and "really doesn't care" about Edge. Teddy Long comes out and informs Del Rio that Edge won't surrender the title to him or anyone. Del Rio will still have a ladder match at Extreme Rules and there'll be a 20 man battle royal at the end of the show to determine who he'll face. I like that they got what's ultimately gonna happen with the WHC out of the way first. We don't have to do some sort of somber ceremony to close out the show. Thumbs Up

Kofi Kingston vs. Ezekiel Jackson - At only 2.5 minutes, it barely had any time to get started. I thought they did a decent job with the time they were given. The crowd was into what they were seeing and Kofi still brings a lot of energy. Big Zeke gorilla pressing Kofi over his head with ease and tossing him into the laps of the other members of The Corre, as they were doing guest commentary, was a nice display of strength. Ezekiel Jackson gets the win after hitting Kofi with his big slam finisher. Jackson got the clean win and I was surprised by that. I dunno what the WWE is doing with Kofi. If he didn't have a new t-shirt out, that he wore out tonight, I'd say that he's creeping towards being wished the best in his future endeavours. 1/2*

LayCool Segment - I was dreading this "couples therapy" session when they announced it last week on the show. To be completely honest, I thought this was actually pretty decent. I thought Michelle McCool did a good job of putting Layla down, hyping herself as the real force of LayCool, while Layla plays the partner trying to mend fences. The "therapist" didn't say shit, there wasn't any cornball comedy in this and it lasted maybe 90 seconds or so. Short, simple and it moved along the break up that we all know is coming. Thumbs Up

Cody Rhodes - Very well delivered promo from Cody Rhodes. Cody is someone that's really come a long way over the course of the past 8 months or so and I'm digging this darker character. The promo was dark and I like that Rhodes talked a little about Mysterio's children. It wasn't anything over the top or tasteless, just a nice little jab at Mysterio where he lives so to speak. I also like that Cody mentioned his participation in the battle royal and putting over the WHC. I like that the WWE has done a good deal of that with the WHC and WWE Championship this week and they should do it more often. Mysterio came out and the two got into it for a bit with Mysterio ultimately getting the better of it. Really good promo segment. Thumbs Up

Rey Mysterio vs. Drew McIntyre - I thought this was an excellent match. It was physical, highly competitive, had some fun near falls and both guys looked great. Drew McIntyre has really come a long way since his debut last year and he looked like a star against Mysterio tonight. I also loved the stiff shots that Drew hit from time to time and it was just a very entertaining mesh of styles. I didn't really expect McIntyre to win the match but I'm pleasantly surprised that he had such a strong showing here against a solidified main eventer. Mysterio eventually hits the 619 and I loved the look of McIntyre falling onto his back while Mysterio simultaneously leaped off the top rope for the big splash. Mysterio scored the win at about the 12.5 minute mark. ***1/4

Edge - This was another incredible segment from Edge. I enjoyed this one more than I did on Raw because I think this one really just had a more overall personal feel to it. Before this segment, they aired a vignette showing some of the highlights of Edge's career. As expected, it was great and brought back some fond memories. Edge talked some more with the fans and went back out to do his entrance all over again. He seemed really happy and generally more upbeat tonight I think than he was on Raw. The crowd was super hot for anything he said and everything he did. I thought the best part was Edge talking about his mother, who was in the front row, and the crowd started chanting "thank you mom". I just thought that was a lotta fun. Edge put over the WHC as well and how important it is to him. I thought the segment ended perfectly with Edge folding up the title and just place it in the center of the ring before hugging his mom and walking back up the ramp. Thumbs Up

Kelly Kelly vs. Layla - Pretty typical Diva match in general. Kelly looked astonishingly hot as usual. Michelle McCool was doing commentary during the match. I thought there was some good energy during the match but I was hoping to see more actual wrestling out of the two. They've both improved tremendously inside the ring and I know that they both can actually wrestle now. It looks like they're both about to be counted out before Kelly rolls back into the ring. Michelle gets up from doing commentary, which she did ok on, and actually tossed Layla into the ring. Kelly rolls Layla up for the pin. Michelle is disgusted, talks down to Layla for a bit before pushing her hard onto the mat before leaving. 1/2*

Battle Royal - Battle royals can be kinda hard to assign any sort of grade or rating to. However, I thought this was was a lot of fun. I was legitimately interested to see who would do what, who would eliminate who, who would be the final guys left in the ring. There just seemed to be some good energy. There was a lot of usual battle royal stuff going on, as one would imagine. Big Show eliminated several guys before accidentally eliminating himself along with Ezekiel Jackson. I was so happy to see Show eliminated as I have ZERO desire to see him against Del Rio. Kane had a decent showing for himself and eliminated several guys, including Brodus Clay. Justin Gabriel & Wade Barrett worked together to eliminate Kane. It was a fun twist to see Justin Gabriel double cross Barrett and eliminate him because I just didn't expect it from him. I expected it to be the other way around so it's nice to see Gabriel finally starting to show some sort of initiative. The final four was an interesting mix consisting of Rey Mysterio, Jack Swagger, Christian and, surprisingly, Justin Gabriel. Mysterio does wind up eliminating Gabriel, but I was surprised Gabriel made it that far. Mysterio had a good showing for himself overall and the crowd was very much into the suspense of all the near eliminations going on. Swagger is eventually successful in eliminating Mysterio. Swagger & Christian didn't have much of a one on one match to the degree I would have preferred. It was mostly just them trying to eliminate each other rather than wrestling around first. Still, I was digging what I saw and was very pleased to see Christian come out the winner. So it'll be Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match at Extreme Rules for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. While there was a lot of the usual battle royal stuff going on, which is to be expected, it had a great flow to it with a lot of energy and a great outcome in my view. ***

Overall Show - I didn't have high hopes for the show this week as I figured that anything and everything would be centered around Edge's retirement and whatever segment they had planned. I was pleasantly surprised, however, and thought they delivered a very good, entertaining show. The opening segment worked well and it answered a big question about the WHC right off the bat without us having to wonder and wait all night. Kofi vs. Big Zeke was pretty much a dud, though I was surprised to see Zeke get a clean win over Kofi. Cody Rhodes delivered a great, dark promo and moved his feud with Mysterio along. Mysterio vs. McIntyre was a great long television match that was far better than I expected. I hope the WWE doesn't release McIntyre because he's got loads of talent and has come a very long way. The stuff with LayCool was pretty decent. Nothing earthshattering but solid overall and didn't make me embarassed to be watching them. Edge's goodbye segment was excellent, better than what happened on Raw in my opinion. The battle royal was a lot of fun and kept me entertained the whole time. What I loved best was the outcome as Christian is FINALLY going to get a World Championship match at a ppv, something I've wanted to see happen for a very long time. I also thought the WWE did a good job of hyping the importance of the WHC tonight and the WWE Championship as well. It doesn't take much effort to do it and I wish they'd do it more often. It's like telling someone you love that you do love them. They may know that you love them but it's still very nice to hear it every now and again.

Grade: B+

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

I thought SD was pretty good this week as well.

- Del Rio prattled on again. He has been talking about his destiny since January. What does he do after he gets the belt besides get little to no reaction for a guy getting pushed that hard?

- Zeke vs Kofi was what it was. I was more entertained by Wade, Slater and Gabriel on commentary. They really came across as a bunch of friends just bullshitting with Wade face palming, Slater being whiny and Gabriel chiming in with one-liners. Zeke really does feel like the odd man out.

- LayCool is over. Hopefully Layla sticks around.

- Drew has improved greatly since debuting, but I just don't find anything interesting about him. Add Rey being Superman with the counters even though he is a midget and you got me fast forwarding through the match.

- I liked the battle royal, even though I thought it lost the crowd for a bit before the eliminations that mattered happened. Lol at them showcasing Zeke's strength earlier but not even letting him do anything in the battle royal. I loved Wade's elimination. I know a lot of people think Gabriel isn't charismatic or doesn't do anything outside of that 450, but that look on his face when he chucked Wade out was great. It made him look like a total backstabber who "got away with it." Wade looked like a combination of shock and rage. I think it got a bigger pop than Del Rio got a reaction earlier in the show. haha

- Guess I am the only WWE fan who doesn't care that Edge is retiring. I am happy for him that he understood when enough is enough, but I I never found him entertaining. That gawd awful fucking "Kidnap Paul Bearer and go Annie Wikes on his ass" storyline is one of the worst I've seen the WWE do in a long time. Not as morally distasteful as Katie Vick, but just as unbearable to watch. [/rant over]

 

[X]

WWE RAW 4/18/11
April 18th, 2011
O2 Arena, London, England
Attendance: 18,000 +/-???
​

Your hosts are JIM FUCKING ROSS, Jerry Lawler, and Michael Cole
​

We start the show off with R-Truth coming out to the ring and getting a great reaction from the crowd. He says he's very happy because he's been down a long road of trials, tribulations, and demons to get to this WWE title shot. He promises to win the title at Extreme Rules and become the most fightingist champion of champions who will take on anyone, anywhere, anytime. Nice babyface promo here and the crowd eats it up until John Morrison comes down to the ring and congratulates Truth on his "good luck" from all of the outside shenanigans during the gauntlet match last week.JoMo says he's not in shape, and then shows a clip from the gauntlet match showing R-Truth cooling down with a bottle of water while waiting for Cena to make his entrance. Am I missing something here? Morrison says Truth is in as good of shape as a smoker can be. Oh no, R-Truth smokes! Won't somebody please think of the children? Truth says he's trying to quit and then says he knows that Morrison is just trying to get in his head to set up a match for Truth's WWE title shot jokingly, but Morrison accepts. JoMo says the Draft is next week and this could be the last time these two wrestle. Truth tries to back off from the match but he realizes the crowd wants to see them wrestle, so he relents and here we go...


R-Truth vs. John Morrison

This looks like a good opener, how about that? Cole tries to claim that Morrison just pulled the oldest trick in the book. Where is this book and who wrote it? I say this every week, but it's great to hear JR on commentary. Feeling out process between both men to start with a nice exchange of holds. Truth goes and gets a drink of water while we cut to commercial. When we return things have become more heated both in the ring and on commentary between Cole and JR. Truth takes control with a side-headlock. Morrison fights out of it and it's literally agony to listen to Lawler and Cole insult each other and not talk for one second about the match in the ring. Truth blocks a suplex attempt and gives Morrison the suplex-stunner variation he's been using recently. Truth shouts "GOTCHA!" and goes for his reverse STO finisher but Morrison blocks it and hits the Starship Pain to pick up the win at 4:00 (shown). Not exactly the good match these two are capable of, this was mostly R-Truth working chinlocks until JoMo hit his finisher. More of an angle than a match. Blegh. *


After the match Truth is obviously devastated, but he really only has himself to blame. He booked the match himself after all. Truth YANKS Morrison off the top rope while he's celebrating though and gets a big chorus of boos for it. He hits a vicious running knee to Morrison in the ring and this crowd that was just cheering the hell out of Truth is now booing him thoroughly. Truth hits another running knee, this time outside the ring, and almost looks regretful about what he's done. He grabs a bottle of water off of the commentator's table (I sweat to God I hear a "Water!" chant) and slams it into JoMo's head as a big "R-Truth Sucks" chant starts up. He lets John know that this is his fault and gives him the reverse STO finisher on the outside floor. Morrison is selling all of this like he's just been shot multiple times, which only adds to the drama. Truth grabs a pack of cigarettes from some random fan (looks like Marlboro Lights) and lights it up, which I shit you not, gets him a bunch of heat. Probably because smoking indoors in a public place in England is illegal (and most other places these days). I am not even making this shit up, not one but TWO people in the crowd audibly shout "THINK OF THE CHILDREN TRUTH!". Have I traveled back in time or something? This was a really well done heel turn and the crowd went from popping for everything Truth did to booing him out of the building by the ending, which is impressive. I'm guessing this leads to an R-Truth vs. John Morrison feud over the summer.


Evan Bourne comes out for the next match but Vickie Guerrero interrupts for some nuclear heat. She introduces the "new and improved" Dolph Ziggler, which is just a new haircut and dye-job. I liked him as a blonde!


Dolph Ziggler vs. Evan Bourne

So I guess this is the new and improved Dolph Ziggler push. Bourne hits a big rana early and leaps off the second rope only to eat a big dropkick from Ziggler for a near fall. Ziggler works the old bow and arrow submission hold for a bit and then drops an elbow. Bourne tries fighting back with kicks and a high knee. Bourne rolls out of a pin attempt and hits a doublestomp before climbing to the top rope and going for the shooting star press, but Ziggler moves and Bourne lands on his feet only to eat the Zig-Zag from Dolph for the pin at 2:12. Why again did they put Bourne over Swagger in his return if they were just going to use him as a jobber? Short match, but holy shit, this was an AWESOME two minutes and twelve seconds. Give these guys 10 minutes and they could tear the house down. **¼


After the match Michael Cole claims he's going to be knighted by the Queen tonight in the ring. Suuure. And as if things couldn't get worse, we get a trailer for the latest WWE film "That's What I Am", which is quite possibly the most hackneyed, cliched, over-the-top and limp-wristed attempt at a coming-of-age film I've ever seen in my life. Oh and Randy Orton is in it. For five seconds. Oh and they got Ed Harris, somehow. Does Ed Harris owe Vince McMahon money from a poker game or something?



We get a nice little video package of all of the Edge retirement stuff over the last week. Nice little video.


Apparently Alberto Del Rio is going to be having a "retirement party" for Edge on this Friday's Smackdown.


The Miz's music hits and it's a huge mixed reaction, like some scary combination of half monster pop and half mega heel heat. Big reaction nevertheless. He grabs a mic and says that he's not happy about having to face Morrison and Cena now instead of Cena and Truth, and that he's definitely not happy about it being a steel cage match, which I guess is the announcement right here. Pinfall, submission, or escape rules apply. Sounds pretty decent to me. Miz thinks he's being screwed, so he has Riley set up a chair for him to sit on and wait for the RAW GM to intervene. We cut to commercial and when we return Miz is talking, apparently talking the entire commercial break. The WWE logo on the mic is upside down for the Miz, which is pretty awesome. Miz goes to do his "Awesome" catchphrase but suddenly Sin Cara's music hits and the former Mistico hits the ring. Cena's music hits though and he makes his way down to the ring to a very mixed reaction from this British crowd. The RAW GM finally sends an email that books Cena and Sin Cara against The Miz and Alex Riley in a tag team match, right now.


John Cena/Sin Cara vs. The Miz/Alex Riley

Cena and Riley start us off with Cena going to work on him. See, the idea here should be that the big babyface (Cena) teams up with the new underdog (Sin Cara) against the dastardly heels in an attempt to give a rub to Sin Cara. Only this crowd seems to strongly dislike Cena, probably because of The Rock feud, so that's not really going to work. Cena and The Miz square off now as Cena hits a fisherman's suplex and tries for the Attitude Adjustment, but Miz counters with a jumping sideslam. Miz and Riley trade quick tags, working over Cena in their corner and isolating him. Cena hits a running powerslam to make the comeback and gets the hot tag to Cara, who springboards in with quick kicks and forearms before taking The Miz out with a handspring back elbow and a flying headscissors. Cara tries another springboard but Riley grounds him and The Miz slams his back into the ring apron. Back inside Cara gets a victory roll for a near fall, but Miz gives him a big boot for one of his own. Now Cara plays the role of babyface in peril, being isolated in Riley and Miz's corner. Big dueling Cena chants until John gets the hot tag and cleans house on the heels. He hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle and the Attitude Adjustment on Riley and then tags Cara in, who hits a lionsault for the pin at 7:03. This was as formulaic as it gets, but that's never a problem when you've got talented people out there. Cara is still adjusting to the WWE style, but he and Cena played their parts perfectly here, even if the crowd wasn't keen on Cena. Quite the decent TV tag match. **½


Eve Torres vs. Nikki Bella

This division is dead to me until Kong debuts. Eve does a nifty cartwheel to escape one of Brie's dreaded hairpulls to start us off. No heat for these women at all, what a shocker. Brie stomps away and applies an inverted chinlock. Eve hits an elbow and a jump kick then rolls her up for the win at 1:47. This was...something. Just not something good. DUD


After the match Cole gets on the mic and declares he's going to be knighted in a few minutes. Jack Swagger comes out and puts a big King's cape around Cole and pulls out a scroll (yes, a scroll) that declares Michael Cole as Sir Michael Cole. They bring out the Queen apparently...only it's clearly not the Queen, at all. I wonder if this offends anyone in attendance? Probably not. Queen gets NUCLEAR HEAT. She Knights Cole and he gives her a big fat kiss on the lips. Cole decides that since he's royalty now, he wants JR and the King to get in the ring and kiss his feet. King hits the ring but Swagger disposes of him with ease. JR is about to totally bust Cole's ass, but Swagger grabs him and puts him back in the ankle lock while Cole stuffs his dirty nasty foot in JR's face. Sweet Jesus, you bring back Jim Ross for THIS? To kiss Michael Cole's feet? Just move Cole to Smackdown as a pure heel, make JR the regular play-by-play man, and end this feud at Extreme Rules. Please.


Sheamus vs. Santino Marella

Before the match starts Sheamus says he wants to embarrass Santino. I don't think Santino can be embarassed. Sheamus dominates to start, as expected. Sheamus hits a series of elbows for a near fall and gets some boos from the crowd. Sheamus locks in a chinlock and hammers away on Santino's chest. Marella seriously hasn't gotten a single offensive move in yet. So tries for The Cobra but eats the Brogue Kick instead for the win at 3:37. This was just a total and complete squash for Sheamus, but there's nothing wrong with a squash match every now and again. Just make them shorter. Sheamus could use the wins. ½*


CM Punk vs. Randy Orton

Crowd is pretty split here, it's probably 50/50 in terms of fan support. Nice to have a Wrestlemania rematch on free TV, I always look forward to those every year in April. Side headlock from Punk to start as the dueling chants start up instantly. Orton stomps away at Punk in the corner Josh Matthews reminds us that Nexus is banned from ringside. Are you sure they can't just be banned from television? Orton hits a series of clotheslines and a powerslam on Punk and then sets up for the RKO, but Punk evades it as we cut to commercial. We return with Punk body-slamming Orton and dropping a knee. Punk hits a snap suplex and floats over into the pin for a two count and then puts Randy in a chinlock. Orton rolls out of the ring for a breather and Punk flies off the apron with a running clothesline. Back inside the ring Punk gets a near fall and blows a kiss to the crowd while they have dueling chants for each man's finishing move. Punk locks his legs around Orton's neck in a vicegrip. Orton fights it off but Punk still delivers a running knee to the face. He tries for a bulldog but Orton counters with a back suplex for a two count of his own. Punk nails the bulldog now and tries a victory roll but again Orton kicks out. Punk lays in a series of kicks but Orton counters with a backbreaker and the Angle Slam (Kurt Angle tweets about this in 3, 2, 1...) for another close two count. Punk hits a springboard clothesline but that won't keep Randy down either. Orton hits a textbook superplex off the top. Punk counters out of the second rope DDT and tries for the GTS, but Randy counters and tries for the RKO, so Punk just says "fuck that" and kicks him square in the face for a close two count. Punk tries for the GTS but Orton counters out and rolls Punk up for the win at 12:00 (shown). This was an excellent television main event, and a better match than their encounter weeks ago Wrestlemania to be honest. Crisp execution, swank counters, false finishes, this match had it all. A perfect way to close out the show. ***½


After the match Nexus hits the ring and attacks Orton. Punk goes to hit the punt kick, but Orton jumps up and gives him the RKO. We close out the show with CM Punk flipping out in the ring, kicking the ring ropes.

Bottom Line:​

This was an excellent show with a lot of good stuff packed into a concise two hour broadcast. R-Truth turned heel, and it actually went over very well despite what you might have expected. His character has a whole new spark to it that could hopefully provide some energy to the midcard again. Cena and The Miz continue their feud and throw in Sin Cara and Alex Riley to even it out in a fun formula tag, and the whole thing is washed down with the cool, refreshing taste of a great CM Punk vs. Randy Orton main event with a clean finish. I was liking the show up until the main event, which solidified the recommendation here and the easy Thumbs Up.



Score: 7.5/10


REMEMBER! You can find ALL of my reviews and match ratings at my blog:
X's Wrestling Review​

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

I thought this was a forgettable Raw.

- Thjat opening segment with Morrison trying to be cool was as cool as that wrestler giving AIDS to people. The match after that was just 30 seconds of armdrags. Thank goodness they cut most of the match for a commercial break.

- Dolph's new 'do makes him look like a regular dude. He is still lacking severe star power regardless of what color is on the box of hair dye.

- I couldn't get into the big tag match. It could be that I have seen enough Miz promos whining about no one believing in him to last a life time. It could be that I have seen enough Miz vs Cena matches to last the year. Heck, it could very well be the time slot. Either way, couldn't give a damn less.

- I thought Nikki looked already in the ring. But Eve fucking blows. She brings absolutely no freaking emotion to the ring. Like hello?! Those two broads just took your title and instead of wanting to whoop ass, you want to do fancy moves and smile? No wonder she ain't over.

- How much heat does Micheal Cole possibly need? Really. That big blow off was suppose to be at Wrestlemania.

- I enjoy a good Sheamoose ass kicking.

- I dunno about the Punk vs Orton match. It seemed like they were trying hard to make it all epic and what not, but it felt like the top of the second hour match.. Then again, that is also Miz's time slot on the show. Talk about conflict.

 

[The_Reptile_]

I think... haphazard is the word I would use to describe RAW. Outside of Morrison being put on ER and Truth's heel turn, there really wasn't anything worth watching.

 

[DarthSaeris]

Yeah, there was some decent stuff, but also a lot of rehashed stuff like the Orton and CM Punk and the Lawler Cole bit. I'm hoping that next week with the draft on RAW we'll see a pretty sweet shake up. I did a RAW review with pictures, but I don't think they'd all paste on the message board. lol

 

[TheNewStyle]

A very average Raw episode we got here.

The Good:

- R-Truth turning heel. From getting huge pops, Truth was able to get some of the biggest boo's I've heard in a long while. Going as far as lighting up a cigarette to make sure the fans hate him. Great job done here and something about Truth is, like others said, refreshing. Morrison sold the beat down pretty well too.

- Sin Cara/John Cena vs Miz/Riley - A pretty good tag team match that put over Cara even more and heated up the Cena-Miz feud, which should lead into a great triple threat with Morrison on Extreme Rules. Cara's flashy, high flying moves never cease to impress me too. Gladly he cleared the top rope in his entrance and people need to ease off with all the botch talk, cause he's still new and needs a few more matches to shake it off. Though, I admit the finisher on Riley didn't look good with him barely touching A-Ri.

- Randy Orton vs CM Punk - These guys have excellent chemistry on the ring and managed to put on another great match in addition to their Wrestlemania one and the tag-team with Rey Mysterio and Cody Rhodes two weeks ago. This match had all it took to be an exciting show-stealer and despite most others disappointment, I liked the ending. Though, Orton could've slipped out of the punt attempt and just made his way back to the locker-room, escaping in the process.

The Bad:

- Michael Cole's own 10 minutes - Damn, that was the biggest waste of 10 minutes in my life. Where the hell are they going with this? And showing his foot was the worst they could've done. Just draft him to Smackdown, away from JR and Lawler then finish it off on Extreme Rules with Cole getting his ass kicked. Cole doesn't need any more heat. When some people want to literally kill him, that's taking it too far.

- Eve vs Nikki Bella - zzzzzzzzzz...

Everything else isn't mentioned cause I found them to be fillers that did nothing special for me.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Monday Night Raw - April 18, 2011

Opening Segment - I've got mixed feelings about last night's opener. On one hand, it was refreshing to see someone other than the main event crowd of Cena, Orton or Miz out there to do an opening promo. I liked the energy that R-Truth brought out there and, like him or not, Truth is pretty over with the crowd. John Morrison came out and while I thought he did a decent job, this laid back attitude he seems to have just needs change. JoMo needs some fire in his promos, some intensity and that was completely missing. But, at least he didn't try to do some lame jokes. The way he suckered Truth into putting his #1 contendership spot on the line in a match was pretty transparent, but it was transparent anyhow because we knew that JoMo was going to issue the challenge the moment his music hit. That's just simply how these sorts of set ups have always gone throughout wrestling history. Neither guy was stellar on the mic by any means but it was nice to see them get a shot and maybe if they're given more time on the mic they can improve over time. Thumbs In The Middle

John Morrison vs. R-Truth - I thought it was a pretty decent match that did a good job of telling a story. JoMo & Truth have been friends for a while, even teamed together at one point, and I thought the match did a decent job of portraying the match as something of a friendly rivalry with maybe something a little more serious underneath. I thought there was some fun offense with them trading side headlocks & arm drags, playing little games of trying to one-up the other. JoMo impressed me by kicking out of the modified Stone Cold Stunner that Truth used as it finished him in their match last week. JoMo is able to get the win with Starship Pain a little past the 7 minute mark and is now one of the #1 contenders for the WWE Championship. **

R-Truth's Heel Turn - Generally speaking, I thought Truth's heel turn came off really well and was pretty creative. The crowd went from popping for everything Truth did at the beginning of the night to booing the shit out of him. I did think this segment went on for a little longer than necessary but I do like how Truth's frustration at himself and the situation was sold with him ultimately taking it out on John Morrison. Truth lighting up a cigarette was kind of fun and sort of a nice middle finger to all the concern we've seen over the years regarding the portrayal of smoking. You could hear some people chanting that it was illegal and that Truth should think of the children, which I thought was kind of funny. There is a smoking ban in public areas in London so that did give Truth a little something of an edge. It's rare to see someone in wrestling actually do something on television that's actually considered to be illegal. Truth lighting up and blowing smoke in JoMo's face after beating him down was a nice way to finish things. I don't know if I buy Truth as a heel or not, we'll have to see how this works out in the coming weeks but I thought his heel turn was one of the better ones I've seen in quite a while. Thumbs Up

Dolph Ziggler vs. Evan Bourne - Ziggler is introduced by Vickie as being new and improved. Ziggler comes out with shorter hair with a dye-job. He looks a lot like Randy Orton did circa 2004 or so before he started shaving his head down to the scalp and went apeshit with all the tattoos. The match itself was pretty short but it was quite good for the amount of time it was given. This is probably as good as a match can possibly be that's in the 2.5 minute range. Some fun energy with a lot of offense packed into the match. I'd love to see these two get some real time at some point in the future but I have a feeling that Bourne is either headed to SmackDown! next week or he's getting cut. Ziggler gets the win with the Zig Zag after rolling out of the way as Bourne attemps to hit Air Bourne. The timing worked out well with Bourne landing on his feet and Ziggler taking advantage of his momentary disorientation. Bourne took the Zig Zag great and was folded like a letter. **1/4

The Miz - The Miz comes out to a big reaction from the crowd. It's kind of mixed with a good number of cheers and boos. At any rate, he gets a great reaction from the crowd. Miz comes to the ring and complains about the change to the WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules as his "preparations" have been for Cena & Truth rather than Cena & Morrison. Good old school heel tactic. Miz explains that the match will be a triple threat cage match at the ppv and decides to stage a sit in until the Raw GM changes the decision. Alex Riley has a match against Sin Cara and this entire segment is primarily to hype the match at ER and to give a rub to Sin Cara. Cara comes out and interrupts Miz before running down to the ring. Sin Cara gets a big reaction from the crowd and manages to hit his platform jumping entrance thing into the ring without a hitch. Cena's music hits and he comes out to a massive mixed reaction from the London crowd. Tons of boos & cheers greet Cena as he runs out to the ring before Miz & Riley can jump Sin Cara. The Raw GM chimes in and makes the match a tag match. Nice way to give Sin Cara a bit of a rub and a logical lead into this match that will no doubt be much better than simply seeing Cara against Riley. Thumbs Up

John Cena & Sin Cara vs. The Miz & Alex Riley - I thought this was a really fun match overall. It was a pretty standard formula, but that's not really a problem when you've got guys out there that know what they're doing and the match has a lot of positive energy going on. Everyone in the match got an opportunity to shine and having Sin Cara's second televised match involve the WWE Champion is a sign that the WWE ultimately has big plans for him. The Miz looked good during his match as did Cena and I like that they went through the match without either of them really looking as though they ultimately got the better of each other. There's a massive "let's go Cena/Cena sucks" chant going on and the crowd is just super hot for the match in and of itself. Sin Cara's offense was a lot of fun to watch but you can tell that he's still sort of finding himself in there. He messed up a little on some of his spots but he was still fun. Cara & Cena ultimately get the win about the 10.5 minute mark after Cena hits Riley with the AA before Cara tags in for a lionsault for the victory. Nice rub for Sin Cara and a fun match. **1/2

Eve Torres vs. Nikki Bella - The crowd was 100% dead for this. They couldn't care less and it's hard to blame them really. Eve is as one dimensional as it gets and I can't wait for Kharma, AKA Awesome Kong, to arrive and just tear through her and the rest of the Divas. Eve gets the win but this was about 2 minutes of filler that nobody cared about. N/A

Michael Cole Knighting Ceremony - I just really wasn't into this. I've liked the Cole/Lawler feud overall because it's been a fun story and Cole has been great in his role. However, this segment was just too over the top and really shouldn't have been done. I know that Raw was in England but I honestly don't see why Vince has to have at least one completely British segment. I think this could've been much better if they'd done a tea party thing as they did with Santino & Sheamus last year. The gal that they got to play as The Queen didn't look a damn bit like her. The segment had Swagger beat up Lawler before grabbing JR from behind and ultimately forcing him to "kiss" Cole's foot while Cole calls him a peasant about 15 times in a role. It wasn't nearly the worst segment I've seen, it was just kinda stupid and pointless. Thumbs Down

Sheamus vs. Santino Marella - I'm not generally a fan of squash matches. They're usually extremely short and pointless. This one, at a little over 3.5 minutes, was a little longer than your typical squash and did have something of a point to it. Sheamus, prior to becoming United States Champion, had very much been stuck in a rut so it's nice to see him get back on the right track. He's had a couple of good wins over Daniel Bryan so beating the snot out of Santino here is a nice way to rack up a win. Sheamus does get the win with the Brogue Kick and I'm hoping to see him head to SmackDown! in the draft for possibly some new feuds. 3/4*

Randy Orton vs. CM Punk - This was an excellent main event and I thought it was a better match than they had at WrestleMania. The crowd is split and we have a number of "let's go Orton/CM Punk" and "RKO/GTS" dueling chants that take place during the match. The match started out slowly but they quickly worked their way up to a great pace. Orton & Punk have great chemistry together and the match had a crisp flow to it. There were some great near falls & counters with Punk doing a good job of selling his frustration at being unable to put Orton away. Both of them counter each other's finisher multiple times in the match and while I would have liked to have seen Punk win this match, I do like that Orton was forced to resort to using a roll up to get the win. Punk did a great job of countering/avoiding the RKO here and it was just kind of refreshing to see Orton having to resort to a more simple, schoolboy roll up to get the win at roughly the 16 minute mark. Mason Ryan, McGuillicutty & David Otunga hit the ring and beat Orton down. Ryan nails Orton with his Rock Bottom style finisher before getting in the corner preparing to punt Orton. I thought Ryan did a great job with his facial expressions, the guy looked really intense out there and the crowd was very lively when it looked like he was gonna punt Orton. Punk calming him down and about to take his place in punting Orton only for the Viper to quickly strike with a surprise RKO before rolling out of the ring to safety was a nice way send the crowd home happy. ***1/2

Overall Show - There were a few bumps in the road on the show last night but, overall, I thought it was a very entertaining Raw. The segment with JoMo & R-Truth had mixed results. Neither guy was particularly captivating on the mic but it was nice and refreshing to see them out there instead of the usual. They had a decent match that told a good story and I thought Truth's heel turn came across quite well. Ziggler vs. Bourne was a fun little match that packed a lot of action into a short amount of time. The tag match between Cena & Sin Cara and The Miz & Riley was a good formula tag match with some fun offense from Cara, Cena & Miz both looking good and a nice little rub for Cara. Michael Cole's knighting ceremony was just too over the top for me, just came across as unnecessarily tongue in cheek. Nice to see Sheamus still building momentum and the main event match was great, definitely a ppv caliber match from Orton & Punk. I thought that Raw did a decent job of hyping the WWE Championship match and the tag match at the ER ppv thus far, as well as a good job of hyping the WWE Draft next week on Raw. For the past few months, John Cena has been pretty heavily featured on Raw and I thought it was refreshing last night to have him not be the center of attention at the show. He didn't cut a promo, he just came out there and wrestled a match. I thought it was a nice change of pace that someone else got more focus than he did.

Grade: B

 

[berlinbrawler]

Did anyone else lovethe "Sir Michael Cole"-SUCKS, "Sir Michael Cole"-SUCKS
back-and-forth with the crowd? Most of the segment was boring, but it did have it's highlights. This Cole, I want to hate him, but I would be lying if I said he didn't make me laugh. Him screaming "Kiss my feet, you peasant" was priceless.

 

[Long Island Iced WXYZ]

I hated the ending of RAW. Hated it!

CM Punk just cannot catch a break.

He's supposed to be a heel with a gang of followers and yet they're constantly made to look like fools at the hands of Orton.

Why are they doing this? CM Punk has yet to look strong in this whole feud, there's no reason to boo Punk when he's this weak.

And there's no reason to get behind Orton because he's seemingly Superman now.

CM Punk, I hope he can recover from this. Get rid of Nexus entirely and then he'll be back on track I think.

 

[arkady]

Smackdown, 22nd April 2011
O2 Arena, London​

An enjoyable Smackdown. I'm not liking the whole "Knighting of Michael Cole" thing. It feels really disrespectful to the British Knighthood system, where the whole "Sir" thing is actually a fairly big deal. It doesn't really do much to further Cole's character, except give him something else to harp on about. (I thought the point of the character was that Michael Cole was the only one who thought he's brilliant?) It was quite amusing on the tape to hear "The Queen" slip into a cockney accent once or twice.

Rey Mysterio def. Cody Rhodes

I loved the paper bag thing Cody did before the match. That was pretty neat. The actual match was enjoyable too, with Mysterio's style and Rhode's style complementing each other pretty well. It was quite amusing/creepy watching several members of the audience watch the match with their bags still on.

I don't see the point of brawling in the crowd these days. It's been done, it's not that safe. Still, Rhodes took an awesome looking bump as he got thrown over the guard rail from the crowd.

Rhodes' new "masked" character is so much more interesting than the "Dashing" Cody Rhodes.

LayCool look to be on their last legs

I hope WWE handle these two well, because there's a lot of potential. Layla can actually wrestle, and is able to take bumps that no-one else in the womens' division (I hate the name "Divas' Division") will take.

In any case, I'd love to see an actual, real feud in the womens' division, rather than the whole "she was a bitch to me and I don't know why, but I want revenge" thing that seems to happen so much.

Jack Swager def. Trent Baretta

Obvious result. Ok match.

Big Show and Kane def. The Corre (C) (Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) for the Tag Team Titles

So it looks like The Corre are going to break up, which is a shame. The WWE seem to have forgotten how to book a stable properly. (C'mon HHH, you know how it's done - get up there and kick them into shape!) There was so much potential for The Corre to turn face and take on The New Nexus.

Then again, if they are going to break up The Corre, wouldn't it have been more interesting to keep them with the Tag Team Title? They could - despite hating each other and trying to sabotage each other - keep fluking wins, forcing them to wrestle together again. It would have funny, and done something with those two characters that get us to remember them.

The actual match was good, with action going both ways. I enjoyed the finish too. It actually felt good and natural, as opposed to some of the younger wrestlers where you can see them transition into their planned finish spot.

Drew McIntyre def. Chris Masters

How crappy is Chris Masters' finisher? Well done, you can do a Full Nelson - one of the first holds you teach a new wrestler (pro, not amateur, where the full Nelson hold is illegal). Drew McIntyre is coming over better and better with each match. I see great things for him in the future.

Wade Barrett (C) def. Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Championship

Wade Barrett is much more interesting as a singles wrestler. Keep him this way! As Barrett was telling Jackson to get out of there, I was somewhat surprised that Kofi didn't go for a roll-up or anything. Given how much of a bad idea it is to give your opponent your back in a real fight, I'm amazed at how much pro-wrestlers do it - it can strain the willing suspension of disbelief sometimes.

The match was well fought - I genuinely though Kofi was going to get the title back at some points.

Del Rio building some cheap heat

Nothing unsurprising about Del Rio's "party". Christian got one over on him. In the run to Extreme Rules, I have the feeling that Christian going in looking stronger is a build up to Del Rio surprising us all by winning the title.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

I thought it was a fun show. I am so biased that if Wade is interesting, the whole show is. Okay, not really the whole show..

- I get that Cody has been great with his characters in the past year or so, but where is this masked offender thing going? I am also very, very done with Rey's "I am an underdog but goddamnit! I be unbeatable!" booking. Thank goodness that Cody the final laugh last night.

- Layla is awesome, Michelle is awful.

- Again, how much air time does a commentator need? He all he talks about is himself 9 out of 10 segments. Not much to say about the squash tho.

- I don't mind Gabriel and Slater as a team. I don't mind Big Show and Kane as a team. But this match just seemed really, really flat and uninteresting. Zeke also looked like a bumbling, uncoordinated guy here too.

- Not much to say about the other squash match on the show.

- I thought Wade looked really awesome in his match. I don't care for his matches when he tries to show off as strong he is with movez. This is what I want to see Wade do in the ring: look confident and obsessed with being just such an asshole towards the other guy. I loved the spot with him knocking Kofi from behind > punching the back of Kofi's head. Wade didn't do but 2 moves (and tried a Wasteland), but I think this is the best he has looked from a in-ring standpoint in months. Kofi wasn't bad either. But I think Wade made this look like an important match more than Kofi's jumping around. Zeke still uncoordinated and bumbling.

- Damn, That crowd couldn't give two whatever-the-UK-version-of-shits about Del Rio. People always prattle on about 'wasted talent,' yet Del Rio is an example of 'a wasted push.'

 

[X]

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 4/22/11
April 22nd, 2011
O2 Arena, London, England
Attendance: 15,000 +/-?
​

We're only nine days away from the big Extreme Rules PPV as Friday Night Smackdown rolls into the O2 Arena in London, England. Tonight Alberto Del Rio has promised to throw a "retirement party" for Edge, while Rey Mysterio and Cody Rhodes face off in a Wrestlemania rematch, the Big Show and Kane get another shot at the WWE Tag Team titles, and Kofi Kingston gets his rematch with Wade Barrett for the IC title. Let's get right to it.


Your hosts are Michael Cole, Booker T, and Josh Matthews


We start the show off with "Sir" Michael Cole being introduced to his usual chorus of boos as he takes his seat in the Cole Mine, which is now adorned with "royal" decorations. The vacant World Heavyweight Championship is hanging high above the ring.


Cody Rhodes comes out next and is followed to the ring by a group of men wheeling out a cart with them. Rhodes grabs a mic and says he wears a mask to protect himself, while Mysterio wears a mask to hide something and because he's ashamed of himself. He says that everyone in attendance tonight wears a mask as well, but he can see through their masks and see their envy for himself and the misery they're in. Rhodes offers a remedy however and pulls out a brown paper bag with eye and mouth holes. The men who came to the ring with him begin handing out the brown paper bags to members of the audience, and like a bunch of goofs they all put them on to drive Cody's point home. He says that he wants the fans to cover their faces until he's drafted from this show or at the very least until he beats Rey in a few minutes, leading us right into our first match of the night. Excellent promo here from Cody, who seems to improve on the mic every single week.


Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio

Cody's aggressive to start, hammering away at Rey, but he's overzealous and gets tossed out of the ring. Rey follows him out with a running seated senton off the apron as we take a quick commercial break. When we return Rey tries for a moonsault but Rhodes takes his legs out from under him and begins choking Rey on the mat with his knee. Rhodes tries for a powerbomb but Rey counters into a pin attempt for a quick two count. Rhodes picks Rey up around his shoulders in a torture rack and then falls to his knees with a devastating back-breaker that gets a near fall. Enziguri from Rey sets up the 619, but Rhodes counters with a backdrop to the apron. Rey lands on his feet but eats a boot from Cody that sends him crashing into the steel post as we take another commercial break. What the hell, we just took a break less than 2 freaking minutes ago, this must be to give the "retirement ceremony" more time later tonight. When we return Rhodes is working a reverse chinlock on Rey. Snap powerslam from Rhodes gets him another near fall. Cole and Booker bicker on commentary while Rhodes drops a knee and then sends him flying chest-first into the turnbuckle. Rey hits a big seated senton off the top and follows it up with a springboard cross-body block as they trade quick pin attempts. Rey comes off the top again but eats a dropkick from Cody. Rhodes tries for a powerbomb but Rey counters into a rollup and gets the pin and the victory at 7:13 (shown). Fairly good match ruined by an excessive amount of commercial breaks. This was just about giving Rey a win to even the series up, but this "you win one, I win one" booking never gets anyone over and Rey doesn't need the win honestly. **¼


After the match Cody continues to attack Rey, hitting him with his mask and hitting the Cross Rhodes before putting one of the paper bags over Rey's head.


Backstage Justin Gabriel tells Wade Barrett that eliminating him last week in the battle royal was just business and nothing personal. Wade claims he wouldn't have done the same to him. Heath Slater and Ezekiel Jackson both approach them and say tonight needs to be about unity. Big Zeke facetiously calls himself the Corre's "leader", but Wade doesn't seem to think the joke is very funny. The sooner this joke of a stable breaks up, the better.


We get some highlights of LayCool's match and couples therapy session from last week before we start the latest therapy session. McCool whines about Layla losing again and says she rode her coattails their entire career. McCool says she's not sure Layla is flawless which sends Layla into tears and McCool apologizes and they hug...until Michelle shoves Layla down and slaps her a few times. So, are they officially broken up now? Are we done with these time-wasting segments?


After a quick commercial break we return to see Michael Cole in the ring. Cole plays the clip from RAW where JR was forced to kiss Cole's feet (so glad we brought back Jim Ross just to humiliate him some more on national TV) and the bogus "Knighting" ceremony he had. He introduces Jack Swagger and that leads us into our next match.


Jack Swagger vs. Trent Bareta

It's Friday, so that means it's time for our weekly Trent Bareta squash. Cole yaks away on commentary while Swagger tosses Trent around the ring like a ragdoll. He hits the big Swagger Bomb and taunts the crowd a bit afterwards. Trent tries for a tornado DDT but Swagger evades, so he hits an enziguri on him instead. What the hell, Trent's actually getting some offense in? He hits a running elbow on Jack in the corner and then springboards right into a huge powerbomb from Swagger, who then locks on the ankle lock and forces Trent to tap at 1:14. Just your weekly Bareta squash match, but it was fast paced for that one minute. ½*


After the match we get some clips of the Big Show doing a segment for the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards last week, followed by a trailer for the new WWE film "That's What I Am", which quite literally looks like the biggest piece of garbage they've ever released, and that's seriously saying something. We also get another Awesome Kong (or as she'll be known in the WWE, "Kharma") promo.


WWE Tag Team Title Match
Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater © vs. Big Show/Kane

Quite the difference in size in this one. Kane and Slater start us off with Kane dominating early and getting a quick near fall. He tags Show in who uses the power of his ass to slam it into Slater in the corner. Kane tags back in and hits a big uppercut. He tries a body slam but Slater evades and tags Gabriel in, who just runs right into Kane's right hand. Kane goes to the top rope but the ref is distracted and Big Zeke tosses him off at ringside. Slater slaps on a chinlock and Gabriel gets the blind tag as they attempt to isolate the Big Red Machine in their corner. Gabriel hits a nifty tilt-a-whirl DDT and tags Slater back in, who comes off the top rope only to eat another big right hand from Kane. Big Show tags in and cleans house on Slater easily. Gabriel tries to interfere but gets thrown to the floor while Kane tosses Big Zeke off the apron. Big Show hits the choke slam and that's enough for the pin and the titles at 4:04. And the joke of a title reign that Gabriel and Slater had is over, without so much as a single meaningful or clean victory throughout the entire reign. Way to build new stars guys. Putting the tag belts on Show and Kane I'm guessing is just a way to do something with those two, but they really don't need the titles at all. Average, short match. *¼


After the commercial break we cut to The Corre backstage, where Slater and Gabriel blame Big Zeke for their loss. Zeke tells them to look in the mirror to see who to blame for the loss, and Slater shoves Gabriel down afterwards for no particular reason. The WWE always does this, they tease a stable break up for weeks and weeks and weeks until even the most uneducated and casual fan can see the break up from a mile away, so by the time the break-up actually DOES happen, nobody cares. Example: the Legacy break-up last year.


Drew McIntyre vs. Chris Masters

Cole shifts back into analyst mode and puts over Masters. Listening to Cole on commentary is like listening to someone with multiple personality disorder these days. Lock-up to start and Masters goes for the Master Lock early, but Drew counters out. Big clothesline from Drew but he wastes too much time to make the cover and only gets a two count. Masters tries a rollup for a two count and then hits a sloppy sitout spinebuster for another near fall. Masters hits a flying shoulderblock off the top rope and goes for the Master Lock again, but Drew climbs up the ropes and flips out of it. He hits the Future Shock DDT and that's enough for the win at 3:37. Just an extended squash for Drew, but Masters got a surprising amount of offense in. Short and inoffensive. *½


The Raw Rebound recaps the R-Truth heel turn on John Morrison from RAW this week.


WWE Intercontinental Title Match
Wade Barrett © vs. Kofi Kingston

These two have had a decent feud going over the IC strap, and it's nice to see Wade Barrett paying his dues in the midcard after his mediocre main event run late last year. Big Zeke accompanies Barrett to the ring. Kofi's fired up to start, hitting shots in the corner on Wade and laying in quick kicks. Barrett elbows him though and stomps away on Kofi. Kofi knocks Barrett out to the floor and flies off the top with a beautiful cross-body block to the floor as we take a commercial break. When we return Wade is working his knee into Kofi's back, wrenching away on his arms in a submission hold. Kofi fights him off and sends Barrett crashing to the floor. Big Zeke runs to try and interfere but Kofi moves and he winds up clotheslining Barrett instead. Shouldn't that be a DQ? Wade argues with Zeke and tells him to leave back in the ring while Kofi rolls him up for a close two count. Big dropkick and a jumping lariat from Kingston as he's all fired up now. He hits the Boom Drop and sets up for the Trouble in Paradise, but Barrett ducks and tries to give Kofi the Waste Land, but he loses his balance and Kofi winds up on the top turnbuckle. Big right hand from Barrett and he rolls up Kofi, grabbing the rope for extra leverage to get the cheap win at 4:25 (shown). Another short title match, but this was fast-paced and exciting while it lasted. Finish kind of came out of nowhere and was a bit sloppy, but points for effort. *¾


After a commercial break we return and it's time for Alberto Del Rio's retirement party for Edge. He drives out in a brand new Bentley while Ricardo Rodriguez does the usual epic lucha ring introduction for him. He's accompanied by big Brodus Clay. In the ring are some balloons and various objects covered in black sheets. WWE editing has spliced in some cheesy flamenco guitar music in the background for this promo, kind of like how they used to edit in generic ominous music for Kane's heel promos last year. Not a fan of the background music in promos, it makes the whole promo seem overly-scripted and fake. Anyways, Del Rio says no one throws a fiesta like him and pulls off a black sheet off of one of the "presents" for Edge, which is a grandfather clock. He says Edge can use the clock to tick away the remaining hours in his life. Next he reveals a pack of Depends adult diapers and a bedpan because when you get to be Edge's age, apparently making it to the bathroom becomes too difficult. Next Del Rio introduces one of Edge's "old friends", and to the shock of the crowd and myself Lita's music hits! Big pop from the crowd. Man I loved her theme music, good stuff. Of course it's not really Lita, it's a fat woman with a red wig on. Del Rio says she's never looked better. He says if she and Edge ever want to go for a romantic stroll, they can use a walker that he unveils next. This brings us to his last present for Edge, and Ricardo Rodriguez comes riding out on a power scooter while Frank Sinatra plays in the background. Ricardo even does the Edge pyro entrance, which is just downright hilarious because of Ricardo's great facial expressions. The scooter even comes with a handicap parking pass, how nice of Del Rio. Alberto calls himself the Essence of Excellence and promises to win the world title at Extreme Rules. Suddenly Edge's music hits and the Rated R superstar is in the building! Crowd is pretty shocked by this and so am I, I was not expecting Edge to be back on TV so soon, what happened to him taking some time off? Edge says he went on Facebook and told Del Rio he was going to be here tonight, and then does the old Mick Foley cheap pop by saying they're in beautiful London tonight. Edge says we all know two things about Del Rio, 1) He sucks, and 2) He can't throw a party. He calls Del Rio's group in the ring a "flaming bag of poop". Wow, what a burn Edge. Brodus Clay starts to walk up the ramp to approach Edge but suddenly Christian appears out of nowhere with a ladder and slams it into Clay. He slams the ladder into Del Rio as well and then slides the ladder into the ring, sets it up, and takes down the World Heavyweight title that's been hanging from the ceiling all night long. We close out the show with Christian celebrating on top of the ladder with the World title. You know, this was a pretty good segment all around, it served a purpose and was humorous at times. But the focus was entirely still on Edge and Del Rio, and not Christian, the guy who's actually facing Del Rio for the title at Extreme Rules. I'm all for keeping Edge around on the roster, but the focus here really should have been on building up Del Rio vs. Christian and not continuing the Del Rio-Edge feud, especially since Edge is retired now. Minor gripe though.

Bottom Line: About the only thing I can say about this show tonight was that it was average, but enjoyable. Kind of like a bad action movie in the summer time, there isn't much substance to it but you still enjoy the ride regardless. Cody Rhodes and Rey Mysterio had a decent match to continue their feud, while elsewhere we continued the Wade Barrett-Kofi Kingston feud and crowned new tag team champions. It's clear The Corre are on their last legs as a stable, and it'll be interesting to see where it's individual members wind up once the split officially happens and the Draft takes place on RAW. There's nothing here you need to go out of your way to take a look at, but certainly not a bad show either. Just average really, so we'll go with a Thumbs in the Middle for tonight's Smackdown.


Score: 5/10


REMEMBER! You can find ALL of my reviews and match ratings at my blog:
X's Wrestling Review​

 

[X]

WWE RAW 4/25/11
April 25th, 2011
RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina
Attendance: ???​

So we're only six days away from the Extreme Rules PPV but tonight is big in it's own right as it's the annual WWE Draft. It was originally supposed to take place sometime in June, but for reasons unknown they decided to bump it up all the way to now. This is usually always an interesting episode of RAW, so let's see what surprises they might Tehave in store for us here tonight.


Your hosts are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and Josh Matthews


We open the show by joining an inter-brand Battle Royal already in progress...


20 Man Battle Royal Raw vs. Smackdown Match
(Featuring Kane, Great Khali, Vladimir Kozlov, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, Wade Barrett, Chris Masters, Ted DiBiase, Mark Henry, Brodus Clay, Yoshi Tatsu, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Santino Marella, Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan, and Evan Bourne)

Pure chaos to start the show tonight with the usual Draft night battle royal. Winning team gets the first pick in the draft tonight. Kane is the first one eliminated. Khali is wearing huge red fleece pants which is absolutely bizarre looking. A bunch of Smackdown guys team up and eliminate Khali. Vladimir Kozlov is eliminated off-camera next. Battle Royals are great for the live crowd, but they always wind up being pretty boring for the viewers at home. Mark Henry eliminates big Ezekiel Jackson next. Heath Slater gets tossed out and is followed shortly by Chris Masters. Wade Barrett gets tossed while Cole yaps about how great he is on commentary. Ted DiBiase is tossed next before Mark Henry and Brodus Clay eliminate each other at the same time. Yoshi Tatsu is gone next. Sheamus blocks the Future Shock DDT from Drew McIntyre only to be eliminated by Drew moments later as we take a commercial break. When we return Daniel Bryan is getting squashed by the Big Show, literally. Drew is out next. Santino tries The Cobra on Big Show but is easily eliminated instead. Daniel Bryan goes after Show again, showing a lot of heart. Cody Rhodes is tossed out next by Mason Ryan, and is then followed shortly by Bryan. Final four is Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, and Mason Ryan. Bourne is nearly eliminated by a backdrop off the apron from Kofi but he hangs on showing great athleticism and balance. Big Show just tosses Bourne out next with ease. Big Show eliminates Mason Ryan and the winners are Kofi and Big Show, giving Smackdown the first pick in the draft at 10:15 (shown). Just your typical Battle Royal, but the stuff with Bourne and Kofi at the end was fun. *½


The Draft-o-matic 3000 fires up on the screen and Smackdown's first pick in the 2011 Draft is... John Cena! Smackdown celebrates backstage while the RAW superstars look crushed. This move definitely makes sense for John as he's done just about everything he can on RAW and needs some material to work with while he's waiting for the big Rock match next March. Cena's music hits and he makes his way out to the stage where he puts on a Smackdown t-shirt as we cut to commercial. When we return Todd Grisham gets a few words with Cena about how he feels about moving to Smackdown. The Miz walks up moments later and says so-long.


Recap of R-Truth's heel turn last week before he comes out to the stage, without his music. He acts like he's going to do the "What's Up" bit but instead tells the crowd to "Shut Up". He talks about how both John Morrison and the fans turned their backs on him last week and it's like it's 2001 all over again as the entire crowd shouts "WHAT?" after everything Truth says. He blames the fans for his loss last week and laments about spending his entire career trying to please the fans and how it's gotten him nowhere. He mocks the children in the crowd who would sing along to his theme music next. Truth says he's going to leave RAW tonight and says that for the first time in his life the "Truth" has set him free. Out of nowhere John Morrison jumps him from behind on the stage and gets a few shots in before WWE officials are able to separate both men.


Another Awesome Kong promo. This time we actually get to see her face and they debut her new name, Kharma.


Eve Torres vs. Layla

Another Raw vs. Smackdown match with the winner's brand getting the next pick. We recap Michelle attacking Layla during their "couples therapy" session on Smackdown last week, and yet here comes Michelle behind Layla, watching from ringside. Just break them up already guys. Layla is fired up to start with big punches, but it's not long before this thing turns ugly as Eve totally botches a reverse STO in ugly fashion. Suddenly Michael Cole gets on the mic and this distracts Layla long enough for Eve to roll her up for the win at 0:38. That's thirty eight seconds of my life I'll never be getting back. They attempted one wrestling move in this match, and completely botched it. Big, fat DUD


After the match Cole is still on the mic, talking about how he's a real athlete unlike the divas in the ring. He walks backstage to do an "extensive pre-match warm-up" before his match with Jim Ross later tonight. They bury their own Divas while still finding a way to humiliate JR on national TV, What exactly the point is here, no one knows. Layla attacks Michelle at ringside after the match as well. She tosses her into the commentary table while crying at the same time, making this the most awkward segment in quite some time. For the love of God, let's move on.


The Draft-o-Matic 3000 fires up again and RAW's first pick in the 2011 Draft is... Rey Mysterio! Rey comes out onto the stage and throws on a RAW t-shirt. Kind of strange to see Rey moved off of the brand he's been synonymous with since his debut, but hopefully it will give him some fresh faces to feud with. Backstage we see Jim Ross warming up for his match with Michael Cole later tonight.


Backstage Todd Grisham asks Cody Rhodes for his thoughts on Rey being drafted to RAW. Cody says he's going to give Rey a going-away present after their match at Extreme Rules...a new mask. I vote for Jason's hockey mask. The original one from Part 3, not the Zombie Jason mask.


Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus

I'm guessing this is another match for a draft pick. I think we're supposed to just assume every match tonight is. Sheamus is all over Kofi to start with hammer fists. Slingshot shoulder-block from Sheamus only gets him a one count. Kofi hits a cross-body block off the top for a near fall of his own. He fires away at Sheamus in the corner but eats a lariat. Sheamus tries for the Celtic Cross but Kofi slips out, so he tries for the Brogue Kick but Kofi avoids it again and then nails Sheamus with the Trouble in Paradise as he turns around. He doesn't get all of it though so he nails him with another one and that's enough for the clean pin on Sheamus at 2:22. Short and inoffensive, but having either guy job clean so quickly doesn't help either man's credibility. *


The Draft-o-Matic 3000 fires up once again as Smackdown gets it's second pick in the 2011 Draft, which is none other than... Randy Orton! Well that's rather shocking to see both of the WWE's biggest babyfaces drafted to Smackdown. Orton comes out on stage and throws on his new Smackdown t-shirt. It'll be nice to see Orton on a different show for once, and so far it seems like Smackdown for once is actually getting the better end of the draft this year, we'll have to wait and see the remaining picks.


Booker T comes out to join us on commentary for the next match.


Michael Cole vs. Jim Ross

They're still referring to Cole as "Sir" Michael Cole. I flat out do not understand what Vince has against Jim Ross sometimes, apparently he's too old to be a regular commentator but he's not too old to be wrestle on RAW every other week? Someone will have to explain the warped logic of that one to me. JR gets his usual nice pop and is rocking an Oklahoma Sooners jersey. King leaves the commentary table to be in his corner. Cole walks around for a bit mocking JR's weight. Cole's not one to talk as his gut seems to get bigger every time we see him in his amateur wrestling gear. Cole grabs JR's cowboy hat from ringside and puts it on. Wow, great use of television time here guys. Finally after about four minutes of walking around Ross grabs Cole and tosses him down. Cole tries to call time out and Swagger freshens him up in his corner like he's a pro boxer or something. The referee for some bizarre reason has no problem with any of this. Cole tries for a body slam on JR but he's too big and collapses under the Hall of Famer's weight. JR gets some nice shots in and Cole bails from the ring only for the King to toss him right back in. Swagger tosses the King into the steel post and barricade and then hops in the ring to attack JR for the DQ at 4:34. So glad we gave that five minutes for that finish. I'm skeptical of even calling this a "wrestling" match considering 99% of it was stalling. Awful and way too long for what they were trying to accomplish here. Another DUD


After the match Swagger takes of JR's belt and applies the ankle lock on him while Cole whips his back with his own belt. This goes on until the Anonymous RAW GM sends an e-mail making the JR/King vs. Cole/Swagger tag match at Extreme Rules a "Country Whipping Match", whatever the hell that is. I pray this feud mercifully comes to an end this Sunday.


Backstage Scott Stanford (who should be the number one Play-by-Play commentator in the company right now if we can't have JR) catches up with The Miz about his thoughts on the Draft and next week's RAW where The Rock will celebrate his birthday. He promises to defeat Cena and Morrison this Sunday at Extreme Rules to retain his title and says that if he gets drafted off of RAW, the show will wind up cancelled in a month.


Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler

Apparently the winner's brand here gets TWO Draft picks. Dolph doesn't even get his own entrance anymore. Coupled with his new ultra-generic look, it seems like they're doing everything to bury this guy after spending the last 4 months trying to make him a main eventer. That's WWE logic for you. Neckbreaker from Ziggler gets an early near fall. He applies a half-Chicken Wing submission as the crowd rallies behind Randy. Ziggler gets sent to the floor and he delivers a nice dropkick to Orton, sending him over the barricade into the front row as the referee applies his count. Orton gets back into the ring just before the ten count and starts his go-home sequence; clotheslines, snap powerslam, and an Angle Slam for a two count. Orton gets distracted briefly by Vickie Guerrero on the outside and gets rolled up for a two count, but he recovers quickly and nails Ziggler with the RKO for the pin at 3:25. Just like with Jack Swagger last year, the WWE seems to have done a complete 180 on their booking of Ziggler. From World title contender to jobber fodder in less than three months, sad to see. Pretty good stuff for a three minute match though. **


So with Orton's win Smackdown gets the next two picks in the Draft. The Draft-O-Matic 3000 fires up but before it can pick the next wrestler, CM Punk interrupts and walks out with a mic in hand. He says he has no doubt that this Sunday he and Orton will get "extreme" on each other, but there won't be many rules being applied. He says he's going to defeat Orton this Sunday and Orton basically says the same back to him as we cut to commercial.


When we return we see that the latest picks for Smackdown are none other than ... Sin Cara and Mark Henry! Bringing Cara to Smackdown makes perfect sense since he's being pegged to fill Rey Mysterio's role in the future, but Mark Henry is a total waste of a draft pick. Nobody has cared about Henry in a very long time, and that pick could have actually been used on someone who needs a brand change, like Daniel Bryan. The 15 year love affair between the WWE and Mark Henry continues, much to everyone's utter apathy.


Rey Mysterio vs. Wade Barrett

This match is also for two draft picks apparently. Barrett delivers a big Bossman slam early on for a quick two count and then hammers away on Rey with closed fists and chokes him in the corner with the heel of his boot. Rey hits a springboard cross-body block for a near fall of his own but then gets rammed into the corner by Barrett. Wade tries for a superplex but gets knocked off and Rey hits a flying headscissors off the top that sets Wade up for the 619, which Rey hits. He finishes him off with a splash off the top at 2:31. Another criminally short match as I guess they're in a real hurry to fit in everything on the show tonight. Decent while it lasted. *½


Rey's win gives RAW the next two Draft picks. The Draft-O-Matic 3000 fires up and selects the next star drafted to RAW...the Big Show! Another guy who didn't need to be drafted, but atleast this should finally end his painful Smackdown babyface run. The Draft-O-Matic 3000 fires up again though and the next selection for RAW is none other than...Alberto Del Rio! We cut backstage to where Del Rio throws away his Smackdown shirt and talks to Ricardo Rodriguez in Spanish about something as we cut to commercial. Moving Del Rio was something everyone was expecting, and it's the right move for the guy. Hopefully this confirms my suspicions that they'll finally pull the trigger on Christian this Sunday and have him win the title, something that's been long overdue.


Michael Cole returns to his Cole Mine with a mouth full of cotton balls. And just when you thought he couldn't get any worse on commentary, now we have to listen to him with a mouth full of cotton. Wonderful. Teddy Long comes out next for some reason and says our main event tonight will be a six man tag team match, with the winning team getting the final Draft pick tonight.


Trailer for the latest WWE film "That's What I Am", which appears to be quite possibly the worst piece of trash the WWE has produced yet. I have no idea how they got Ed Harris to do that movie for them.


John Cena/Christian/Mark Henry vs. The Miz/CM Punk/Alberto Del Rio

One of these six is not like the others. We've got nearly 15 minutes before the top of the hour, but by the time all of the entrances are done it's almost 10:55. Christian and The Miz start us out with with a nice running-the-ropes sequence. Christian tags Cena in but The Miz bails immediately as we take a commercial break. When we return Cena hits a suplex on The Miz. Punk tags in and eats a dropkick from Cena, who then tags Mark Henry in. Henry beats down Punk for a bit and tags Christian in, who hits a sweet back elbow off the top on Punk. Punk nails him with a boot though and tags Del Rio in. Rio hammers away on Christian and tags The Miz back in as the heels work away on Christian in their corner. Christian tries to fight Miz off but Punk is tagged back in and the isolation continues. Miz clotheslines Christian and gets a near fall as this crowd is red-hot for this match and Christian is playing the babyface-in-peril perfectly. Del Rio tags back in and goes to work on Christian's arm, setting him up for his armbar finisher. Both men fight to the top rope and Christian knocks Alberto off, nailing him with a huge tornado DDT. Strange to listen to King cheer on Del Rio, a heel, as he's a member of the RAW team. Miz tags in as Christian gets the hot tag to Cena, who cleans house on Miz with ease. He goes for the Five Knuckle Shuffle...but Mark Henry nails him with a clothesline? Swerve! Henry tosses Christian into the steel steps as well and then walks off. That's exactly what this show needed, the 9000th Mark Henry heel turn. Miz hits Cena with the Skull Crushing Finale back in the ring and gets the win for RAW at 8:25 (shown). Pretty fun six man tag here to cap off the show, but another Mark Henry heel turn seems completely pointless at this stage in his career. If it didn't work the first twenty times, it's not going to work now. **½


The Draft-O-Matic 3000 fires up again and in the last pick of the Draft Raw gets... John Cena! Again, making his first selection a total waste of a draft pick and TV time. Sure, why not. We close out the show with Cena beating up on the heels.

Bottom Line: I really wanted to like this show, I did. The Draft is usually always a very entertaining show each year for the WWE, but that wasn't the case this year. We saw some big moves in the Draft and for once Smackdown got the better end of the deal. The main event was decent fun as well, but everything else here ranged from average to downright atrocious in the case of the Cole/Ross and Eve/Layla matches, both of which could be contenders for the worst WWE match of the year so far. Talented guys like Orton and Ziggler get two minutes, but Cole and Jim Ross get nearly five? Hard to understand the logic there. Throw in the 9000th Mark Henry heel turn and the whole show came off flat. Average stuff really, worth looking into if you're a fan of The Draft, but otherwise this simply wasn't a very good show. Thumbs Down.


Score: 4.5/10





REMEMBER! You can find ALL of my reviews and match ratings at my blog:
X's Wrestling Review​

 

[Darkshot77]

Darkshot77's Thoughts on RAW-25 April 2011

It's late I have work in the morning, lets get this going.

I did not like how they set the draft up. After the Superstar was drafted they came out and...bowed to the crowd...Put a shirt on...was this really necessary. The Interviews afterwords were also a little much. Now I love Cody Rhodes, but I don't care about his promos. Cena Hyped up Smackdown, for no apparent reason. As a general rule I felt that there was more out of ring action than In ring action. There was only about half an hour of actual wrestling. That is a serious problem.

R-Truth Good promo. I thought he was legitimately pissed off by the WHATS!? as was I. They are obviously redoing his entrance music. So it appears that John Morrison will NOT be winning at Extreme Rules and will most likely be feuding with R-Truth afterwords. Just what we wanted to see.

A grand total of 3 divas get air time tonight. Eve, Layla, and McCool. 4 if you count Kharma. That was one of the worst reverse STO's I have ever seen. And that was the continuity of the match. Interesting...Layla is still coming out to McCool's music, even though she was kicked to the curb, see's McCool follow her, Knows she is at ringside, and is still distracted...And what was Layla doing at the end, was she trying to be upset, cause it was some of the WORST acting I have ever seen. No Tears and looked completely forced. That was painful to watch. How are we to take anyone in the divas division seriously when the match we get is 30 sec with a botch and a rollup, and NO DIVAS WERE DRAFTED. There will be diva movement, but it will be on the supplement draft, come on, move Beth Phoenix to Raw, Natalya to Smackdown, something, on live TV. Make us Care. John Cena is Drafted Twice and no divas are...John Cena just buried the entire Divas division.

Michael Cole has single handedly succeeded to piss me off every time he talks or gets in the ring. I get that that's his job being a heel, but every time I see him i want to shoot myself to stop the pain. Some times his antics are funny most of the time he is just plain annoying. Michael cole gets more time than the divas, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, Wade Barrtet, and Dolph Ziggler. Michael Cole Buried the entire WWE midcard.

Good match from Kofi and Sheamus, but you had your IC and US champion losing tonight...they need to look credible. I did not like how drafted members, wrestled afterwords for their new brands. the back room is filled with superstars and you couldn't find a Raw guy to fight Wade Barret? No one on Smackdown could face Dolph Ziggler...I find it hard to beleive.

Lets go to commercial before we reveal the draft picks...what didn't have a shirt for Henry ready so he couldn't put it on on air? Sin Cara drafted, and we never see him. But given his track record they probably wanted to make sure he did not botch putting on his shirt on live TV.

I couldn't take Cole and JR, that was more painful than the divas match, just cause it dragged on. I got on half and hour of wrestling and you give a solid 5-6 on this shit? Did like Cole getting busted open, that was funny

The Main event was OK I guess, well executed. Mark Henry turns heel which made no real sense. Miz gets the pin, the draft pick and guess who goes to Raw...JOHN CENA!!!!! Really, so the entire Draft was about John Cena, leaving and coming back. And for good measure he beats up the heels. So we end the night in the exact same place we started in. So What was the point of it all. That was my general opinion on Raw.

Christian is essentially slated to win the World heavyweight championship, which doesn't make me very happy. I think it would be much more interesting if he chased the title. I am a massive christian mark, but his reign better be short, cause even though I really like him and how he wrestles, he just isnt super credible as a main champ. I also like Alberto Del Rio, who should win the title at Extreme rules as he would benefit more from it. But looks like he is gonna have to wait which is sad.

Final Score: 4

 

[DarthSaeris]

I found this episode of Raw not to be too bad. I thought it was great that Smackdown was getting so much talent.... until the last pick. Seriously how stupid and what are the odds of the same guy getting picked twice? FAIL!
Here is my review : Raw Review (DRAFT NIGHT!)

I'm really enjoying everyone's reviews on this board. It seems like we all have the same opinions on a lot of things if not everything.

 

[DarthSaeris]

XfearBefore: Loved the review, very detailed and I agree how the Cena picks wasted our time and quite frankly insulted our intelligence. It would have been better seeing Raw lose and Miz go to Smackdown too!

Darkshot, I have to agree with you about the Divas. If they actually did anything useful with them I'd be more into it. What guy wouldn't? They're already smoking hot!