Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
Don't really have the time for my usual schtick. Overall, I thought Raw was a pretty decent show last night. I enjoyed the opener with Triple H. Aside from the "you broke my heart" line, it was a solid, courageous babyface performance for Trips on the mic. He got a good response from the crowd and Nash did exactly what was needed. It was an old school set up to make this feud more personal and it worked. As long as Trips doesn't show up next week ready to take on the world, it should be just fine.
I enjoyed the opening tag match. It featured some fun action and the live crowd was hot for it. I thought there were a couple of really nice teases that the match was about to end, like when Christian hit the spear on Sheamus. I'm a little bummed that the faces pulled out a win here. Both guys won their matches at Vengeance and I just think Christian & Rhodes needed it more. Still, a *** match in my view.
Wade Barrett vs. John Morrison was much better than I was expecting. Nice, fun competitive match that meshed JoMo's athletic style with Barrett's brawling & power game. I'm surprised that it went 10 minutes and both guys worked well. They botched the ending a little. They did a similar spot with Barrett against Daniel Bryan on SD! this past Friday but Bryan wasn't facing away from Barrett as JoMo was. Still, a good *** match with Barrett hitting Wasteland for the win.
The Punk & Del Rio segment was a lot of fun in my view. Punk getting back to the anti-authority rebel works best for him because he's so good at it. Del Rio came across nicely as a heel champ that actually had some legitimately decent points to make about Punk from a storyline point of view. JL coming out and interacting with Punk worked nicely. Despite what people might say, ol' Johnny Ace is good in his role as this dweeb, corporate suit that's downright unlikable. He's getting a great response. I'm looking forward to seeing the follow up to this.
The "Michael Cole Challenge" next week could be intriguing, or it could be one of those "why the frig are they taking up tv time for this" moments. Cole segments draw viewers and Jim Ross is so beloved. It's a great hook to get people to tune in just for the sake of curiosity.
The stuff with Miz, Truth & Cena was solid overall. Miz & Truth just work as an angry team that feels they've been sort of pushed aside and I dig the fact we didn't see SuperCena last night. As far as how The Rock being introduced into Survivor Series goes, I've got no problem with it. I agreed that it was a little lazy how they went into it but, c'mon, we've all known for a few months that Rock was going to be there. If none of us had EVER read any spoilers on this a while back, half of us would be marking out and the other half would've still complained, but would've been busting a nut while doing it. It's a match that could honestly be a lot of fun where some potentially very interesting things could take place.
What I didn't like really was how Ziggler was used last night and the thing with the Divas. Ziggler should have looked completely dominant against Santino Marella. There didn't even need to be a hint of interference from Swagger or Vickie in that match. Mason Ryan coming out also just made me kind of cringe. I just have a feeling that Ziggler is going to be fed to this green sack of meat and Ziggler is FAR too good for that. As far as the Divas match goes, the whole situation feels like it has Vince's hands all over it. I read an article in the last week or so that, allegedly, says Vince has a love-hate relationship with the Divas. The Divas tend to draw well in the male demographic but Vince just doesn't care for them and it's why women's wrestling just isn't a priority to him. Whenever Natalya & Beth Phoenix gain momentum over the course of a week or two, something like Natalya losing to Alicia Fox happens that just kills that momentum. It just seems like whenever the Divas take a few steps forward, Vince steps in and causes them to take those same two steps backwards.
Other than that, I enjoyed the show and they've already set up three potentially interesting matches, at least one for certain, for Survivor Series. I'd give last night's show a B-.
I enjoyed the opening tag match. It featured some fun action and the live crowd was hot for it. I thought there were a couple of really nice teases that the match was about to end, like when Christian hit the spear on Sheamus. I'm a little bummed that the faces pulled out a win here. Both guys won their matches at Vengeance and I just think Christian & Rhodes needed it more. Still, a *** match in my view.
Wade Barrett vs. John Morrison was much better than I was expecting. Nice, fun competitive match that meshed JoMo's athletic style with Barrett's brawling & power game. I'm surprised that it went 10 minutes and both guys worked well. They botched the ending a little. They did a similar spot with Barrett against Daniel Bryan on SD! this past Friday but Bryan wasn't facing away from Barrett as JoMo was. Still, a good *** match with Barrett hitting Wasteland for the win.
The Punk & Del Rio segment was a lot of fun in my view. Punk getting back to the anti-authority rebel works best for him because he's so good at it. Del Rio came across nicely as a heel champ that actually had some legitimately decent points to make about Punk from a storyline point of view. JL coming out and interacting with Punk worked nicely. Despite what people might say, ol' Johnny Ace is good in his role as this dweeb, corporate suit that's downright unlikable. He's getting a great response. I'm looking forward to seeing the follow up to this.
The "Michael Cole Challenge" next week could be intriguing, or it could be one of those "why the frig are they taking up tv time for this" moments. Cole segments draw viewers and Jim Ross is so beloved. It's a great hook to get people to tune in just for the sake of curiosity.
The stuff with Miz, Truth & Cena was solid overall. Miz & Truth just work as an angry team that feels they've been sort of pushed aside and I dig the fact we didn't see SuperCena last night. As far as how The Rock being introduced into Survivor Series goes, I've got no problem with it. I agreed that it was a little lazy how they went into it but, c'mon, we've all known for a few months that Rock was going to be there. If none of us had EVER read any spoilers on this a while back, half of us would be marking out and the other half would've still complained, but would've been busting a nut while doing it. It's a match that could honestly be a lot of fun where some potentially very interesting things could take place.
What I didn't like really was how Ziggler was used last night and the thing with the Divas. Ziggler should have looked completely dominant against Santino Marella. There didn't even need to be a hint of interference from Swagger or Vickie in that match. Mason Ryan coming out also just made me kind of cringe. I just have a feeling that Ziggler is going to be fed to this green sack of meat and Ziggler is FAR too good for that. As far as the Divas match goes, the whole situation feels like it has Vince's hands all over it. I read an article in the last week or so that, allegedly, says Vince has a love-hate relationship with the Divas. The Divas tend to draw well in the male demographic but Vince just doesn't care for them and it's why women's wrestling just isn't a priority to him. Whenever Natalya & Beth Phoenix gain momentum over the course of a week or two, something like Natalya losing to Alicia Fox happens that just kills that momentum. It just seems like whenever the Divas take a few steps forward, Vince steps in and causes them to take those same two steps backwards.
Other than that, I enjoyed the show and they've already set up three potentially interesting matches, at least one for certain, for Survivor Series. I'd give last night's show a B-.
I mean, obviously they botched The Rock's return. I'm pretty shocked that on consecutive pay-per-views they're giving The Miz and R-Truth opportunities against The Rock, HHH, Cena, and Punk. They're really putting a lot of stock into them and that's good. But we've known about The Rock's return for weeks. We knew he'd be teaming with Cena. There was literally no reason to announce in advance that he'd be coming back at Survivor Series except to sell a few more advance tickets which, frankly, would happen anyway since they made it mostly official still well in advance.
The Del Rio/Punk match isn't anything to get excited over. You know, Del Rio is right. He should be moving on to new challengers. I love Punk as much as the next guy, but I don't see any value added here. The WWE Championship has been flailing since Punk walked out with it. It's just been a trinket that happens to show up here and there and this just feels like another thrown together match to put that across. I mean, the WWE Champion stood in the ring like a nobody while Punk and Laurinitis continued their feud. He was a complete non-factor again. Then he gets attacked and runs off without making a mark. Del Rio is a lame duck transitional champion that they don't even bother trying to mold into anything.
Along those same lines, I think Punk needs to dump the GTS. Granted he was using it on a lowly ring announcer, but that move almost never connects anymore. How is he putting people to sleep hitting his knee into their chest or stomach or, in most cases, not even coming remotely close to making it look like he's connecting?
The HHH/Nash thing is, again, not very interesting to me. I get why some people would be into it though so I'm not fussing about it, it's just not doing anything for me.
My biggest problem with RAW this week was using so much TV time on John Morrison, who we all know is going to either leave or be fired soon. Unless that's changed, I really don't know why they gave him the longest match of the night. Morrison's treatment is so strange. They give him lots of ring time, the announcers put over how athletic and unique his style is, and he always loses. He never gets promo time so he has no actual character. The longer matches are nice, but I would have almost preferred that time split into two segments: a squash win by Barrett and a squash by, I don't know, either Mason Ryan or Jack Swagger. At least then they're establishing multiple people. The win for Barrett means little considering Morrison never wins.
The Cole/JR thing is obviously a waste of everyone's time. For the life of me I can't understand why wrestling companies put so much focus on the announcers. It's the equivalent of Dennis Miller doing Monday Night Football. They'd be better off moving Cole away from the booth -- his being there makes no sense since he commentates next to a rival and wavers from heel in some matches to neutral in others -- and into a managerial position or something. The commentary is so awkward and constantly draws attention away from everything else, deliberately no less.
And lastly: Zack Ryder. Why anyone would want this guy to be a champion in his current state is beyond me. As I said in another thread, he's a Jersey Shore cut-up of Santino Marella. He's comic relief. I'm glad he didn't make it to the ring if only because, well, what good would it have done? He's okay in the ring, but the personality they've given him is a drain.
The Del Rio/Punk match isn't anything to get excited over. You know, Del Rio is right. He should be moving on to new challengers. I love Punk as much as the next guy, but I don't see any value added here. The WWE Championship has been flailing since Punk walked out with it. It's just been a trinket that happens to show up here and there and this just feels like another thrown together match to put that across. I mean, the WWE Champion stood in the ring like a nobody while Punk and Laurinitis continued their feud. He was a complete non-factor again. Then he gets attacked and runs off without making a mark. Del Rio is a lame duck transitional champion that they don't even bother trying to mold into anything.
Along those same lines, I think Punk needs to dump the GTS. Granted he was using it on a lowly ring announcer, but that move almost never connects anymore. How is he putting people to sleep hitting his knee into their chest or stomach or, in most cases, not even coming remotely close to making it look like he's connecting?
The HHH/Nash thing is, again, not very interesting to me. I get why some people would be into it though so I'm not fussing about it, it's just not doing anything for me.
My biggest problem with RAW this week was using so much TV time on John Morrison, who we all know is going to either leave or be fired soon. Unless that's changed, I really don't know why they gave him the longest match of the night. Morrison's treatment is so strange. They give him lots of ring time, the announcers put over how athletic and unique his style is, and he always loses. He never gets promo time so he has no actual character. The longer matches are nice, but I would have almost preferred that time split into two segments: a squash win by Barrett and a squash by, I don't know, either Mason Ryan or Jack Swagger. At least then they're establishing multiple people. The win for Barrett means little considering Morrison never wins.
The Cole/JR thing is obviously a waste of everyone's time. For the life of me I can't understand why wrestling companies put so much focus on the announcers. It's the equivalent of Dennis Miller doing Monday Night Football. They'd be better off moving Cole away from the booth -- his being there makes no sense since he commentates next to a rival and wavers from heel in some matches to neutral in others -- and into a managerial position or something. The commentary is so awkward and constantly draws attention away from everything else, deliberately no less.
And lastly: Zack Ryder. Why anyone would want this guy to be a champion in his current state is beyond me. As I said in another thread, he's a Jersey Shore cut-up of Santino Marella. He's comic relief. I'm glad he didn't make it to the ring if only because, well, what good would it have done? He's okay in the ring, but the personality they've given him is a drain.
shitsngiggles
Pre-Show Stalwart
If these have already been asked I'm sorry, but I wanted to put these out there before I forget what I wanted to ask everyone.
Haven't had a chance to view all the newest threads and want to get this out there.
1. Did Cena throw up the 2 sweet sign before going down to the ring? Or am I reading too much into that? Looked like it to me.
2. Is it just me or was the Rock & Cena Vs Miz/Truth shown in an ad about 40 minutes before it was supposed to be announced? (I was half asleep at the time, need to watch the re-run today) If it was, was that a mistake?
When Johnny boy told Johnny boy he could pick his own partner, I could have sworn that match was already announced. Didn't have any edge to it at all!
3. Is Johnny Ace supposed to be a good guy now? He seemed to still be acting the part of the asshole stooge, but he also seemed to be trying to be a good guy and wasn't impressed by Nash and Miz/Truth.
Is that supposed to be an act or is he not actually the guy behind the whole conspiracy?
Haven't had a chance to view all the newest threads and want to get this out there.
1. Did Cena throw up the 2 sweet sign before going down to the ring? Or am I reading too much into that? Looked like it to me.
2. Is it just me or was the Rock & Cena Vs Miz/Truth shown in an ad about 40 minutes before it was supposed to be announced? (I was half asleep at the time, need to watch the re-run today) If it was, was that a mistake?
When Johnny boy told Johnny boy he could pick his own partner, I could have sworn that match was already announced. Didn't have any edge to it at all!
3. Is Johnny Ace supposed to be a good guy now? He seemed to still be acting the part of the asshole stooge, but he also seemed to be trying to be a good guy and wasn't impressed by Nash and Miz/Truth.
Is that supposed to be an act or is he not actually the guy behind the whole conspiracy?
I loved the opening segment, Nash you broke my heart.Nash nearly killing HHH was great, I guess he won't show up to a week before SS I imagine.Rhodes/Christan vs Orton and Sheamus was great, but I think Rhodes and Christan needed that win to draw any interests for either of those fueds.Ziggler winning great, wish it was against someone who jokes are no longer funny.Punk and Del Rio segment was great, especially when Punk started to own Johnny Ace on the mic! Del Rio and Punk are two of my favs I know could put on great matches, but I expect Del Rio will come up victorious! Main Event was ok, I guess people were more excited hearing the Rock teaming with Cena then how great the main event match was.Overall ok 8 out of 10.
Good show. Certainly better than previous weeks. I think I'dd write down a few positives and negatives.
Positives
Triple H & Kevin Nash
Triple H showed that he still owns the mic and Nash looked like a monster, which was great. I don't think we'd really seen that side to him since he returned at SummerSlam, so that was nice. The sledgehammer to the head was a great touch and actually had my own hand going to cover my mouth in shock. Nash handled the weapon very well too.
Alicia Fox
Yes, Alicia Fox. She showed some spark, which is awesome. She certainly was enjoyable in the ring, and she's hot. Fox gets the thumbs up from me - I'd love to see her challenge for the Diva's Title at Survivor Series.
Mason Ryan
Every time I see this man, my annoyance at Zack Ryder not winning the US Championship deteriorates a little. His energy is fantastic. I feel something every time he shows up on Raw, and judging from his reactions, I'm not alone in that.
Wade Barret vs. John Morrison
This turned out to be a surprisingly good. Like really good, although the result was obvious from the moment Morrison stepped out into the arena, unfortunately. Still this match showed off both Morrison's athleticism and Barrett's power very well.
CM Punk & Alberto del Rio
Del Rio was pretty boring on the mic (I believe that's now a del Rio trademark now, great in the ring, bad on the mic). Punk came out, did his thing and pretty much saved the thing from going down the pan completely. He had some good lines, and this looks like it could be a very fun little feud. I hope WWE haven't completely gone off CM Punk's original storyline of being a catalyst for change, because that was gold.
Cena Announces The Rock As His Partner
While I had known that this was happening for a while, hearing Cena say The Rock's name was awesome. I do have one complaint though - why was this treated as an off-the-cuff surprise? WWE had officially stated that Cena and The Rock would be teaming at Survivor Series in the past few weeks. It's something I don't quite get. I'd also like to see this expanded into a full-blown Survivor Series match. They're always fun, and it would keep some of The Rock's in-ring intrigue for WrestleMania.
Negatives
Triple H vs Kevin Nash
Although I enjoyed it, it went on far too long. 25 minutes, or something like that. A wrestling show starting with a 25 minute promo is just not good enough.
Randy Orton & Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes & Christian
I'm a fan of all four of these guys, but this match just didn't do it for me. It felt like a normal, fairly formulaic house show match - nothing interesting really went down and after last night, they shouldn't still be feuding. Although Orton and Sheamus did look like a good team together, so there's that.
John Cena vs. Awesome Truth
When is Ryder going to get his break? Come on, WWE, he's done everything right. Why can't he team with Cena just once? Anyway, that's not the only reason this is a negative. The match started off nicely, with a clear story of Cena being angry and AT making the quick tags. Then it just fizzled out into nothing until it was finely ended by Truth and his Water Bottle Of Doom.
Positives
Triple H & Kevin Nash
Triple H showed that he still owns the mic and Nash looked like a monster, which was great. I don't think we'd really seen that side to him since he returned at SummerSlam, so that was nice. The sledgehammer to the head was a great touch and actually had my own hand going to cover my mouth in shock. Nash handled the weapon very well too.
Alicia Fox
Yes, Alicia Fox. She showed some spark, which is awesome. She certainly was enjoyable in the ring, and she's hot. Fox gets the thumbs up from me - I'd love to see her challenge for the Diva's Title at Survivor Series.
Mason Ryan
Every time I see this man, my annoyance at Zack Ryder not winning the US Championship deteriorates a little. His energy is fantastic. I feel something every time he shows up on Raw, and judging from his reactions, I'm not alone in that.
Wade Barret vs. John Morrison
This turned out to be a surprisingly good. Like really good, although the result was obvious from the moment Morrison stepped out into the arena, unfortunately. Still this match showed off both Morrison's athleticism and Barrett's power very well.
CM Punk & Alberto del Rio
Del Rio was pretty boring on the mic (I believe that's now a del Rio trademark now, great in the ring, bad on the mic). Punk came out, did his thing and pretty much saved the thing from going down the pan completely. He had some good lines, and this looks like it could be a very fun little feud. I hope WWE haven't completely gone off CM Punk's original storyline of being a catalyst for change, because that was gold.
Cena Announces The Rock As His Partner
While I had known that this was happening for a while, hearing Cena say The Rock's name was awesome. I do have one complaint though - why was this treated as an off-the-cuff surprise? WWE had officially stated that Cena and The Rock would be teaming at Survivor Series in the past few weeks. It's something I don't quite get. I'd also like to see this expanded into a full-blown Survivor Series match. They're always fun, and it would keep some of The Rock's in-ring intrigue for WrestleMania.
Negatives
Triple H vs Kevin Nash
Although I enjoyed it, it went on far too long. 25 minutes, or something like that. A wrestling show starting with a 25 minute promo is just not good enough.
Randy Orton & Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes & Christian
I'm a fan of all four of these guys, but this match just didn't do it for me. It felt like a normal, fairly formulaic house show match - nothing interesting really went down and after last night, they shouldn't still be feuding. Although Orton and Sheamus did look like a good team together, so there's that.
John Cena vs. Awesome Truth
When is Ryder going to get his break? Come on, WWE, he's done everything right. Why can't he team with Cena just once? Anyway, that's not the only reason this is a negative. The match started off nicely, with a clear story of Cena being angry and AT making the quick tags. Then it just fizzled out into nothing until it was finely ended by Truth and his Water Bottle Of Doom.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - October 28, 2011
Opening Segment - Solid segment to open the show with. Both Christian and CM Punk did solid jobs on the mic and Punk had the crowd behind him, especially after he said the word "bitching" about 10 times in a row. Nothing overly fantastic about this segment but I didn't expect CM Punk coming out, so it's nice to see him on SD! and the segment did a good job of just setting up a match between the two to close the show. Thumbs Up
1. Air Boom vs. The Awesome Truth - Good, solid energetic tag team match to star the wrestling action off on. Both teams have good, legit chemistry, which is suprising in the case of Miz & Truth, and put on a fun match. Kofi's offense looked especially crisp tonight and it's just plain fun to watch him in the ring and Miz & Truth showed some good tag team continuity. The ending comes about the 9 minute mark with Miz & Truth manage to hit both their finishers on Kofi simultaneously, I think it's called Little Jimmy's Finale, for the clean win. Nice that they got a clean win over the tag champs and it doesn't hurt Air Boom as they've won a lot of matches and already hold a win over Miz & Truth for the titles. **3/4
Backstage Segments - They showed a couple of backstage segments, the first of which showed a bunch of guys around tv in the back talking about the Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart DVD. Tyson Kidd comes up and gets in Daniel Bryan's face over who is better, with him being in Bret's corner and Bryan being in HBK's as HBK trained him at one point, so it sets up a match. They then show Teddy Long backstage with Hornswoggle dressed like Zack Ryder before they're interrupted by Vickie, Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger. They trade insults for a bit before Long tells Ziggler he has a match with Randy Orton and that Vickie & Swagger are banned from ringside. Then Aksana shows up and does her thing. I didn't really care much for Aksana's bit, even though it was harmless. The segments did their job in setting up a couple of matches. Thumbs In The Middle
2. Wade Barrett vs. Trent Baretta - This was basically a 3 minute squash match for Barrett, which is good because he needs it. He hit some high impact, good looking offense on Baretta and dominated him throughout the match, with Baretta getting a little offense in. Picking up Baretta in a powerbomb position and then switching it up so that he's across his shoulders for Wasteland was a nice little touch. Barrett gets the win. Simple and effective. If you're gonna have a squash match, this is how to do them. *1/4
3. Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler - Fantastic match and effort from both men here. I was hoping that they'd do this and make Ziggler a formidable opponent for Orton here instead of feeding him to The Viper in a 3 minute waste of time and talent. This isn't the first time I've seen them wrestle in this sort of way and they work extremely well together. Ziggler is a star, that's just all there is to it. The man's got the ability in the ring to go with anybody. The match was set at a great pace and both of them got in tons of offense on the other. I especially love to watch Ziggler sell, he's just so good at it. There were some great near falls during the match, such as when Ziggler nailed Orton with the super kick. The ending comes at the 15 minute mark when Orton manages to hit the RKO for the win. For me, this is one of those matches where I wouldn't mind a screwy finish because it's a shame that someone had to lose clean in that match. ***3/4
4. Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd - This match accomplished a couple of things. One thing it did was serve as a great tease and make me want to see these two work a 15-20 minute match at some point in the future. It'd be great. The second thing is that it's good to see Daniel Bryan finally get a win. Granted, Tyson Kidd isn't exactly in the upper reaches of the WWE hierarchy, but at least he didn't lose. The match was short, only about 3 minutes, but it was quite good for 3 minutes. Lots of energy with them mostly keeping it on the ground here. Bryan manages to lock in the LaBell Lock on Kidd, who does a good job fighting and selling it, before eventually tapping. I can understand if some are disappointed as this match was so short, but maybe we'll get something more substantial out of them soon and Bryan got a solid victory. **
Big Show & Mark Henry Promo Segment - I've got mixed feelings on the segment. I was kind of turned off that Show was out there smiling and joking when he should be angry, focused, serious and selling his "injuries" in his match with Henry at Vengeance. The focused, serious and intense Show is the one that had me interested in seeing him wrestle Henry in the first place. Henry did a nice job and put himself over by saying that Show's injuries were do to the beating he got while his were due to the ring collapsing. Henry's tease that they'd mix if up was nice and it keeping Show waiting is a good heel move. It could be seen as cowardly, but it doesn't really apply to Henry. He's faced anyone and anything no matter what, so this was just good old fashioned heel champion tactics designed to put heat on him. We'll probably see these two have a rematch at Survivor Series. Thumbs In The Middle
5. CM Punk vs. Christian - Great match to close the show with. In a nutshell, these are a couple of guys that can work with damn near anybody and get a good match out of them. Good back and forth action and the crowd was hot for it just as they'd been for most of the show. The match was somewhat overbooked, but at least there wasn't just tons of interference going on and just all sorts of craziness going on outside the ring. Alberto Del Rio & Ricardo Rodriguez both provided a distraction on Punk, with Del Rio pulling Punk's leg out from under him as he climbed the top rope. As Christian sets up a spear attempt, Sheamus' music hits and he comes to ringside and runs Ricardo off. Christian is distracted for a moment, allowing Punk to get his wind and he scoops Christian up for GTS. Punk gets the win at the 13.5 minute mark. Fun match, not as good as Orton vs. Ziggler, but a great tv main event all the same. ***1/4
Overall Show - I thought SD! was a very entertaining show tonight. There wasn't really anything that went on that felt like filler and everything seemed to have at least something of a purpose. The main promo segments were solid, the first one with Punk & Christian did a nice job of setting up the main event for the night. The Henry & Show promo was solid but it was due mostly to Mark Henry because Show just seemed a little too happy for someone that's "injured" and walked out of a ppv without the World Heavyweight Championship. The first match of the night was solid tag team stuff with fun action and Miz & Truth getting a clean win over the current tag champs. The champs lost but it didn't hurt them as they've been on a roll and hold a victory over Truth & Miz as well. Barrett's squash match was nicely done. They're in the process of building him back up so this match worked. Barrett looked tough, hit some good looking high impact stuff and looked dominant. Bryan vs. Kidd was a nice tease. I'd have loved to see these two get some real time, but at least Bryan's losing streak appears to be over. Orton vs. Ziggler was ppv quality all day long in my view. Ziggler has had the stuff in the ring for a long time and he's coming along quite well on the mic. I'd have loved some interference in this one, or for Ziggler to pull out the win especially, but it was a match where you kinda didn't want either guy to lose. Punk vs. Christian was another great match, not as good as Orton vs. Ziggler, but both guys put out a great effort. It was obvious that Punk was gonna win, same with Orton vs. Ziggler, and that did take a little away from the matches.
Grade: B+
Opening Segment - Solid segment to open the show with. Both Christian and CM Punk did solid jobs on the mic and Punk had the crowd behind him, especially after he said the word "bitching" about 10 times in a row. Nothing overly fantastic about this segment but I didn't expect CM Punk coming out, so it's nice to see him on SD! and the segment did a good job of just setting up a match between the two to close the show. Thumbs Up
1. Air Boom vs. The Awesome Truth - Good, solid energetic tag team match to star the wrestling action off on. Both teams have good, legit chemistry, which is suprising in the case of Miz & Truth, and put on a fun match. Kofi's offense looked especially crisp tonight and it's just plain fun to watch him in the ring and Miz & Truth showed some good tag team continuity. The ending comes about the 9 minute mark with Miz & Truth manage to hit both their finishers on Kofi simultaneously, I think it's called Little Jimmy's Finale, for the clean win. Nice that they got a clean win over the tag champs and it doesn't hurt Air Boom as they've won a lot of matches and already hold a win over Miz & Truth for the titles. **3/4
Backstage Segments - They showed a couple of backstage segments, the first of which showed a bunch of guys around tv in the back talking about the Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart DVD. Tyson Kidd comes up and gets in Daniel Bryan's face over who is better, with him being in Bret's corner and Bryan being in HBK's as HBK trained him at one point, so it sets up a match. They then show Teddy Long backstage with Hornswoggle dressed like Zack Ryder before they're interrupted by Vickie, Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger. They trade insults for a bit before Long tells Ziggler he has a match with Randy Orton and that Vickie & Swagger are banned from ringside. Then Aksana shows up and does her thing. I didn't really care much for Aksana's bit, even though it was harmless. The segments did their job in setting up a couple of matches. Thumbs In The Middle
2. Wade Barrett vs. Trent Baretta - This was basically a 3 minute squash match for Barrett, which is good because he needs it. He hit some high impact, good looking offense on Baretta and dominated him throughout the match, with Baretta getting a little offense in. Picking up Baretta in a powerbomb position and then switching it up so that he's across his shoulders for Wasteland was a nice little touch. Barrett gets the win. Simple and effective. If you're gonna have a squash match, this is how to do them. *1/4
3. Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler - Fantastic match and effort from both men here. I was hoping that they'd do this and make Ziggler a formidable opponent for Orton here instead of feeding him to The Viper in a 3 minute waste of time and talent. This isn't the first time I've seen them wrestle in this sort of way and they work extremely well together. Ziggler is a star, that's just all there is to it. The man's got the ability in the ring to go with anybody. The match was set at a great pace and both of them got in tons of offense on the other. I especially love to watch Ziggler sell, he's just so good at it. There were some great near falls during the match, such as when Ziggler nailed Orton with the super kick. The ending comes at the 15 minute mark when Orton manages to hit the RKO for the win. For me, this is one of those matches where I wouldn't mind a screwy finish because it's a shame that someone had to lose clean in that match. ***3/4
4. Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd - This match accomplished a couple of things. One thing it did was serve as a great tease and make me want to see these two work a 15-20 minute match at some point in the future. It'd be great. The second thing is that it's good to see Daniel Bryan finally get a win. Granted, Tyson Kidd isn't exactly in the upper reaches of the WWE hierarchy, but at least he didn't lose. The match was short, only about 3 minutes, but it was quite good for 3 minutes. Lots of energy with them mostly keeping it on the ground here. Bryan manages to lock in the LaBell Lock on Kidd, who does a good job fighting and selling it, before eventually tapping. I can understand if some are disappointed as this match was so short, but maybe we'll get something more substantial out of them soon and Bryan got a solid victory. **
Big Show & Mark Henry Promo Segment - I've got mixed feelings on the segment. I was kind of turned off that Show was out there smiling and joking when he should be angry, focused, serious and selling his "injuries" in his match with Henry at Vengeance. The focused, serious and intense Show is the one that had me interested in seeing him wrestle Henry in the first place. Henry did a nice job and put himself over by saying that Show's injuries were do to the beating he got while his were due to the ring collapsing. Henry's tease that they'd mix if up was nice and it keeping Show waiting is a good heel move. It could be seen as cowardly, but it doesn't really apply to Henry. He's faced anyone and anything no matter what, so this was just good old fashioned heel champion tactics designed to put heat on him. We'll probably see these two have a rematch at Survivor Series. Thumbs In The Middle
5. CM Punk vs. Christian - Great match to close the show with. In a nutshell, these are a couple of guys that can work with damn near anybody and get a good match out of them. Good back and forth action and the crowd was hot for it just as they'd been for most of the show. The match was somewhat overbooked, but at least there wasn't just tons of interference going on and just all sorts of craziness going on outside the ring. Alberto Del Rio & Ricardo Rodriguez both provided a distraction on Punk, with Del Rio pulling Punk's leg out from under him as he climbed the top rope. As Christian sets up a spear attempt, Sheamus' music hits and he comes to ringside and runs Ricardo off. Christian is distracted for a moment, allowing Punk to get his wind and he scoops Christian up for GTS. Punk gets the win at the 13.5 minute mark. Fun match, not as good as Orton vs. Ziggler, but a great tv main event all the same. ***1/4
Overall Show - I thought SD! was a very entertaining show tonight. There wasn't really anything that went on that felt like filler and everything seemed to have at least something of a purpose. The main promo segments were solid, the first one with Punk & Christian did a nice job of setting up the main event for the night. The Henry & Show promo was solid but it was due mostly to Mark Henry because Show just seemed a little too happy for someone that's "injured" and walked out of a ppv without the World Heavyweight Championship. The first match of the night was solid tag team stuff with fun action and Miz & Truth getting a clean win over the current tag champs. The champs lost but it didn't hurt them as they've been on a roll and hold a victory over Truth & Miz as well. Barrett's squash match was nicely done. They're in the process of building him back up so this match worked. Barrett looked tough, hit some good looking high impact stuff and looked dominant. Bryan vs. Kidd was a nice tease. I'd have loved to see these two get some real time, but at least Bryan's losing streak appears to be over. Orton vs. Ziggler was ppv quality all day long in my view. Ziggler has had the stuff in the ring for a long time and he's coming along quite well on the mic. I'd have loved some interference in this one, or for Ziggler to pull out the win especially, but it was a match where you kinda didn't want either guy to lose. Punk vs. Christian was another great match, not as good as Orton vs. Ziggler, but both guys put out a great effort. It was obvious that Punk was gonna win, same with Orton vs. Ziggler, and that did take a little away from the matches.
Grade: B+
WWEIsLife2
Championship Contender
Smackdown was really good tonight once again overall. Really liked the CM Punk/Christian Match and the involvment of Alberto & Sheamus. I thought the Randy Orton/Dolph Ziggler Match really delivered and they have great chemistry. Big Show & Mark Henry Promo was pretty good,glad they held off getting into it and are saving something for Survivor Series.
TWJC: The Beginning
Royal Rumble Winner
Overall a good show. the opening was good and I understand that they're trying to sell it, but Jesus Lord Almighty, about 30 minutes? Show the segment, then show the replays at the hour mark, not right after.
The Nash/HHH segment was well done though, minus the endless replays.
Pretty good women's match. Phoenix and natalya are awesome and these other ladies are bringing their a game each time.
del Rio/punk was good. notice how both had lengthy feuds with cena first to make them both look credible. Love cena or hate cena, he gives guys main even credibility.
tag match was good. wasn't supposed to be a spectacular show-stealer, just another match to keep them in your minds.
jomo/Barrett was also good. barret is very good and every once in a while, Jomo wrestles like he actually gives a shit about storytelling and not flipz, or maybe that was just Barrett doing a good job.
everyone bitching about Ryder not getting his due....are you serious bro? He got taken out, he'll get sympathy. Wrestling isn't "X wins a lot, x is good', it's 'X is interesting". The wrestler's have to be INTERESTING being in the match wouldn't have been as interesting for the story or even for Ryder unless you have some ******ed fantasy that him pinning miz or truth would get him more over.
Also, lol @ Cena spitting all over the place when he said "THE ROCK". I hope rock makes fun of him for it, it'd be good TV. Even Cole chuckled about it.
i'm excited for Surser.
The Nash/HHH segment was well done though, minus the endless replays.
Pretty good women's match. Phoenix and natalya are awesome and these other ladies are bringing their a game each time.
del Rio/punk was good. notice how both had lengthy feuds with cena first to make them both look credible. Love cena or hate cena, he gives guys main even credibility.
tag match was good. wasn't supposed to be a spectacular show-stealer, just another match to keep them in your minds.
jomo/Barrett was also good. barret is very good and every once in a while, Jomo wrestles like he actually gives a shit about storytelling and not flipz, or maybe that was just Barrett doing a good job.
everyone bitching about Ryder not getting his due....are you serious bro? He got taken out, he'll get sympathy. Wrestling isn't "X wins a lot, x is good', it's 'X is interesting". The wrestler's have to be INTERESTING being in the match wouldn't have been as interesting for the story or even for Ryder unless you have some ******ed fantasy that him pinning miz or truth would get him more over.
Also, lol @ Cena spitting all over the place when he said "THE ROCK". I hope rock makes fun of him for it, it'd be good TV. Even Cole chuckled about it.
i'm excited for Surser.
The Rock is ready to "Just Bring It" – his response, that is – to WWE Raw SuperShow!
As Michael Cole stated on Friday Night SmackDown, The Rock is expected to answer John Cena's request to be his tag team partner against The "Awesome Truth" at Survivor Series this Monday night in Atlanta – the same city where Rock and Cena made history agreeing to face each other in Miami at WrestleMania XXVIII.
Will The Great One be amicable to teaming with his WrestleMania opponent just months away from the biggest main event in WWE history? Or will Rock tell Cena to find someone else to partner with against the poisonous pairing of The Miz & R-Truth at Madison Square Garden? And what would Cena's next option be if he faces rejection from The Rock?
Find out the answers to this and more on what will surely be an electrifying night in Atlanta LIVE Monday night at 9/8 CT on USA Network!
Careful what you wish for, CM Punk. After asking for a WWE Title Match against Alberto Del Rio on Monday night’s Raw Supershow, it appears the anti-establishment Superstar may finally get what he wants – but only if he can overcome The World’s Strongest Man.
The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw, John Laurinaitis, issued a statement arranging a match on Monday night between Punk and World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry. Should Punk prevail, he will earn a WWE Title Match at Survivor Series against Alberto Del Rio. For Mr. Laurinaitis’ full statement, please see below:
"After giving this CM Punk situation serious consideration, I've reached a decision. In my deliberations as Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw, I concluded that although Punk is extremely talented, he has lost several matches recently. As a result, I've decided that he must prove he's worthy of a WWE Title opportunity. This Monday night, Punk must compete against World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry. If Punk wins, he will face Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship at Survivor Series. I wish both men a good match." To celebrate their first theatrical release in more than a decade – Disney’s "The Muppets," opening this Thanksgiving – the Muppets will step into the ring on the Oct. 31 WWE Raw SuperShow to mix it up with the Superstars in Atlanta.
In the new film, "The Muppets," the crew is on a mission to save the Muppet Theater from demolition. (OFFICIAL TRAILER) But before that, they'll have to save themselves from our Superstars!
What will happen when Kermit the Frog meets The Viper? Will the Divas make Miss Piggy flip with jealousy? Will Beaker be confused for Sheamus? On Halloween, it's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights, because the Muppets are about to get Raw!
Muppets tonight should be funny to watch the segments! The Rock on Raw, you know a promo that will blow us away away! Punk will beat Henry, cause he's getting that push he deserves, should be a wonderful show.
Helmut Spargel
Dark Match Jobber
Nice call. I thought that the Muppets tie-in was going to be awful, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The voices of Waldorf and Statler seemed off. Although they were my favorite Muppets, I thought their segments were the weakest part of the Muppets appearance.
WWEIsLife2
Championship Contender
Hey guys just got back from RAW tonight and had a blast once again. The Muppets went over really well all night and had everyone laughing during their bits. Best ones were the Vickie/Miss Piggy,Sheamus/Redhaired one,Kermit getting kissed by Kelly,Santino drinking the potion,and Cody bagging Kermit.
The Rock got a Huge Pop when he came on the Titantron.
Best Matches were John Cena/Miz, Dolph/Zack Ryder, and I thought Big Show/ADR was good during RAW. Both Matches that were done for Superstars with John Morrison vs Drew Mcintyre & Yoshi vs Tyson Kidd were good also.
Micheal Cole & John Lauranatis probably got the biggest Heel heat of the night.
Zack Ryder was Over Huge here in Atlanta as well almost as much as John Cena & CM Punk tonight.
My friend and I got to see Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, and Drew Mcintyre walk through the CNN Center when we got there at about 5:00.
John Cena & CM Punk took on Awesome Truth in a quick Dark Main Event with Cena & Punk winning. Punk came out with a Vampire Mask on during that which was funny.
So in all in all another Fun night of WWE action from Atlanta, I got my CM Punk Best in The World Shirt as well and my friend got the Red John Cena Shirt.
The Rock got a Huge Pop when he came on the Titantron.
Best Matches were John Cena/Miz, Dolph/Zack Ryder, and I thought Big Show/ADR was good during RAW. Both Matches that were done for Superstars with John Morrison vs Drew Mcintyre & Yoshi vs Tyson Kidd were good also.
Micheal Cole & John Lauranatis probably got the biggest Heel heat of the night.
Zack Ryder was Over Huge here in Atlanta as well almost as much as John Cena & CM Punk tonight.
My friend and I got to see Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, and Drew Mcintyre walk through the CNN Center when we got there at about 5:00.
John Cena & CM Punk took on Awesome Truth in a quick Dark Main Event with Cena & Punk winning. Punk came out with a Vampire Mask on during that which was funny.
So in all in all another Fun night of WWE action from Atlanta, I got my CM Punk Best in The World Shirt as well and my friend got the Red John Cena Shirt.
supergav67
Pre-Show Stalwart
i was kinda surprised there werent many references to hands up bums,& puppet regimes, in a PG way,there mighta been had H not been injured.
Cant help feeling an opportunity was missed,especially during the Cole segment ,Zack or Teddy coulda interupted his cheap shot & announced a stand in,Sweetums,a muppet you Can show from the waist down.Mind you,someone might say,gawd Kevin Nash has let himself go-respect.
Would love for stad & wal to have been been on form sharing commentary & insults with Cole pronged with King,cest la vie.
Overall,decent enjoyable skits,unusual but surprisingly good guest stars who didnt detract from the plot of promoting SS,.In this sense it is BetteR without an AnoN GM.
Cant help feeling an opportunity was missed,especially during the Cole segment ,Zack or Teddy coulda interupted his cheap shot & announced a stand in,Sweetums,a muppet you Can show from the waist down.Mind you,someone might say,gawd Kevin Nash has let himself go-respect.
Would love for stad & wal to have been been on form sharing commentary & insults with Cole pronged with King,cest la vie.
Overall,decent enjoyable skits,unusual but surprisingly good guest stars who didnt detract from the plot of promoting SS,.In this sense it is BetteR without an AnoN GM.
MrMojoRisin
Championship Contender
The Muppets were fun... too bad they had to be on a poorly booked Raw like they were.
WWE title - is just being booked weakly right now. I get that Johnny Ace is the guy trying to hold back CM Punk, but doesn't want to reveal that he's the guy. But Punk's given him enough reason on the mike to legitimately hold him back without that reveal. Maybe this part of the program can be chalked up to Ace's horrible acting?
But to book Big Show to go over Del Rio clean in a non-title match a few weeks before a major PPV... and then not have Show treat it like the accomplishment that it is? I understand it was just to put Del Rio into a position where Punk could get him to agree to the title match, but there were so many other ways they could have gone with this. They obviously reused the Mankind/Shane McMahon angle from 1998 where Mankind got his shot at the Rock for the title, and that was done in a way that was both compelling, and had both Mankind and the Rock looking strong going into the title match.
This time, it was done so lacksidaisical and half assed, that the champ looks weak, Punk doesn't look like the guy who should get the shot (he's had trouble with Del Rio, while Show handled him easily), and the title seems devalued.
Ziggler/Ryder - another non-title win, and what was with that finish? They did the swerve where Ryder pins the champ, but gets the decision reversed. They could have let Ziggler go over at this point while still having Ryder look strong, but then they go right into Ryder winning again? Why even do the false finish then? So Ryder looks that much stronger by pinning the champ twice in the same match? No, keep both your guys strong... because it was just non-title which means the program isn't over.
World Title - Mark Henry's the guy Punk has to beat to get his WWE title shot? Yeah I get because Henry's the monster, but he's also the World Champ. The World Champ should not be a stepping stone to anyone. Would have been better to do a babyface match with Big Show, and come up with something better to get Punk his title shot.
Tag Titles - the tag division push seems to be dying. Instead of building new teams, they're just throwing together random guys now to fight the champs. Barrett and Rhodes? Isn't Rhodes still the IC champ? Make some real teams please.
WWE title - is just being booked weakly right now. I get that Johnny Ace is the guy trying to hold back CM Punk, but doesn't want to reveal that he's the guy. But Punk's given him enough reason on the mike to legitimately hold him back without that reveal. Maybe this part of the program can be chalked up to Ace's horrible acting?
But to book Big Show to go over Del Rio clean in a non-title match a few weeks before a major PPV... and then not have Show treat it like the accomplishment that it is? I understand it was just to put Del Rio into a position where Punk could get him to agree to the title match, but there were so many other ways they could have gone with this. They obviously reused the Mankind/Shane McMahon angle from 1998 where Mankind got his shot at the Rock for the title, and that was done in a way that was both compelling, and had both Mankind and the Rock looking strong going into the title match.
This time, it was done so lacksidaisical and half assed, that the champ looks weak, Punk doesn't look like the guy who should get the shot (he's had trouble with Del Rio, while Show handled him easily), and the title seems devalued.
Ziggler/Ryder - another non-title win, and what was with that finish? They did the swerve where Ryder pins the champ, but gets the decision reversed. They could have let Ziggler go over at this point while still having Ryder look strong, but then they go right into Ryder winning again? Why even do the false finish then? So Ryder looks that much stronger by pinning the champ twice in the same match? No, keep both your guys strong... because it was just non-title which means the program isn't over.
World Title - Mark Henry's the guy Punk has to beat to get his WWE title shot? Yeah I get because Henry's the monster, but he's also the World Champ. The World Champ should not be a stepping stone to anyone. Would have been better to do a babyface match with Big Show, and come up with something better to get Punk his title shot.
Tag Titles - the tag division push seems to be dying. Instead of building new teams, they're just throwing together random guys now to fight the champs. Barrett and Rhodes? Isn't Rhodes still the IC champ? Make some real teams please.
stephenjpunk317
Pre-Show Stalwart
Here are my thoughts on last night's show. I thought it was an all right one. Full of cheesy Muppet moments, but what did you expect? I was fine with one week of it. I think next week things will pick back up for Survivor Series. And the week after, the Rock gets to show up in person...hopefully.
http://stephenjpunk.blogspot.com/2011/11/raw-thoughts-for-october-31st-show.html
http://stephenjpunk.blogspot.com/2011/11/raw-thoughts-for-october-31st-show.html
Raw Hits and Misses 10/31/11
Raw Hits:
The Muppets: This all depends on your taste and your personal feelings towards the Muppets. Personally, I was as entertained with Raw last night as I have been in a long time watching Kermit and Miss Piggy interact with Vickie and Jack Swagger, Beaker and Sheamus, Gonzo and Ziggler, and so on. The Muppets were a large part of my childhood growing up, and even at 29, I enjoy the heck out of them. Ill admit, any other guest stars dominating the show like they did would have been a large thumbs down for me, but the Muppets had me grinning from ear to ear. Did they do much for the Survivor Series build? Not really, but they were a fun distraction.
CM Punk gets a title shot: I groaned initially as I watched Del Rio and Ric Rod cause the purposeful disqualification that cost Punk the match, knowing full well that WWE would find an end-around to getting there. Is it unbecoming of a face to attack a heel after he's just lost clean? Sure, but Punk isn't a typical face, and this was strangely reminiscent of how Del Rio attacked Punk at Summerslam to win the title. Punk's mic work was solid as always, and Del RIo loses nothing hanging strong with Big Show for 12 minutes.
Big Show vs Alberto Del Rio: Ive heard the boring complaints, but I really enjoyed this match. Del Rio truly took it to Show for most of the match, and chopped te big man off his feet. For Del Rio, even as WWE Champion, losing to the 450 lb Big Show in the fashion he did isn't a hit to his credibility. In my eyes, it bolstered it if nothing else that he hung so strong with Show and truly looked like he had the chance to beat him. He also got a good 12 minute match out of Show, and the psychology was very good. **1/4
Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett vs Air Boom: First off, let me say that I'm not a fan of the thrown together team of Rhodes and Barrett, nor did I really like the fact that the tag champs lost to Miz and Truth on Smackdown, but Bourne's suspension makes sense of the situation, if nothing else. This was a quality tag match with some excellent exchanges, high flying moves, counters, and reversals, specifically Evan's reversal of Wasteland into a DDT. The post-match attack served to likely set up a Survivor Series tag match, so no complaints there either. **
Zach Ryder vs Dolph Ziggler: I love the way these two work together, I really do. In this case, that can be said for anyone who works with Dolph Ziggler these days, as he sells as well as anyone in the company. The crowd was hot for this match, the re-start made sense, and the finishing sequence was excellent. How Ryder works with other opponents in matches of this length on Raw and PPV's remains to be seen, but he clicks well with Ziggler, and this was their best match to date. ***
The Rock's to team with John Cena: Several things were done right here. The Rock did his best to make Miz and Truth seem like threats, even though WWE has done nothing themselves to do so. (More on that later) It made sense for Rock to initially turn down teaming with Cena, and again, he did his best to explain why he changed his mind. I like the Never Before, Never Again tagline as well. This didn't come off great taped, however, and it hurt not having John Cena come out to respond as well, but it was quality.
Raw Misses:
Survivor Series build: Yes, Im incredibly high on the Muppets and felt like a 10 year old watching them last night. But the build for the show did suffer last night. Eve seems to be no threat to Beth, Punk and Del Rio isn't flowing, as the #1 Contender continues to lose matches, as does the WWE Champion. I like how Punk went about getting his title shot, but Id prefer to have seen him earn it. Del Rio was fine in his match versus Show, but we've got a champion and challenger who both continue to lose. Miz and Truth look like no threat to Cena and Rock whatsoever as well. WWE seems to be counting on Rock selling the PPV, and little more.
Divas Battle Royal: Quick and painless, I guess, but why is Eve a threat? I was intrigued as Beth spoke about the arrangement she and Natalya have, and Id have liked to have seen how that played out had she won. Perhaps we still will see it play out in the future, although I'm not optimistic about it. But Stinkfaces and standing moonsaults have little to do with winning a Battle Royal, which seemed to be the focus here. Eve just seems like a filler challenger until we get to the inevitable Natalya/Beth feud, which should be good. It's getting there that's painful. 1/2*
The Miz vs John Cena: These two work well together, and did as well last night also, especially in such limited time. It's a good thing Cena has Rock to watch his back against Miz and Truth though, right? Perhaps this will all go somewhere, with Cena insisting he doesn't need the Rock after a heel turn at SS, but his dispatching of the Miz and Truth last night makes the Rock seem unnecessary, to be honest. If Cena can defeat Miz, and take out Truth following, what does he need Rock for? Wouldn't any old partner do? It's a feel good ending to the Halloween show, but it made Miz and Truth look like chumps. *3/4
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
WWE Raw Supershow - October 31, 2011
The Rock's Response - Solid, quality promo from The Rock and I dig the fact that he didn't really rely on the various catchphrases all that much. He used a few of them, but he didn't go over the top as he normally does. Not that they aren't fun, but sometimes they can detract from the promo. I thought, for a few minutes, that The Rock was turning Cena down, which would've meant they'd have to keep it going and drag it out longer than necessary. We all knew Rock would say yes, so I'm glad they just decided to get it out of the way. As for Rock's reasons for teaming with Cena, it was pretty much what I figured. He dislikes Cena, but he also dislikes Miz & Truth in the sense that he thinks they're getting a little too big for their britches. So the match it set and nice work from The Rock. It didn't have the energy a live appearance would have packed, of course, but it did what it needed to. Thumbs Up
1. CM Punk vs. Mark Henry - Some decent action while the match lasted. Punk did a good job of looking intimidated by Mark Henry, which is what needs to happen. Henry's a big bad dude and his opponents need to view him as such and convey that to viewers. I was a little disappointed that we didn't have a full blown match between the two of them, but neither of them really needed a loss here. Del Rio having his flunky interfere in the match for the purpose of getting Punk DQ'd was a nice way to generate some heat. Ricardo ultimately caught the World's Strongest Slam for his trouble and Mark Henry wins via DQ. It'll be interesting to see where Punk goes from here. *1/2
The Muppets, Vickie Guerrero & Jack Swagger - The first Muppets segment of the night featured Kermit the Frog & Miss Piggy. I was not looking forward to the Muppets at all but this segment honestly wasn't bad. I thought Vickie interracted well with them here and Kermit's response to Swagger about not wanting any trouble with him or his mother did get a few chuckles out of me. Santino came out and announced that Mr. Laryngitis, great name and one that very much fits ol' Johnny Ace, booked them in a match for the night. I cringed here because I just had a feeling it was gonna be a bad night for Swagger. Kelly Kelly's music hits after a bit and she gives Kermit a kiss on her way to the ring, which pisses Piggy off. It was a little corny, but it was also kind of funny and not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Thumbs Up
2. Diva Battle Royal - I don't have a clue what happened here. When I saw the Divas coming out in costume for a battle royal, I got up and went to the bathroom and rooted around in the fridge until I found a Pepsi. By the time I got back, it was over. So I don't think I missed much. N/A
Muppet Skit - This backstage skit featured Beaker and the doctor Muppet, I can't remember his name. He told him to get some sort of formula to Santino during his match that's supposed to be a new energy drink. Christian harrassed Beaker for a few minutes before Sheamus comes up and talks to him for a bit. Pretty cheesy stuff here but I found myself liking Beaker. Nobody can understand a word he says, we have a lotta people here in Ky that have that same affliction
so I just warmed up to him. Cheesy but harmless. Thumbs In The Middle
3. Air Boom vs. Wade Barrett & Cody Rhodes - Decent 5.5 minute tag team match with a lot of fun action. Bourne & Kingston both hit some of their trademark spots in the match and they continue to bring a fun energy to the match. I had a feeling that they were going to lose, however, since Barrett was in this match and Rhodes has been on something of a slight losing streak. There were a few nice teasing moments, such as Bourne countering Barrett's first attempt at Wasteland into a DDT. The ending comes, however, with Barrett hitting Wasteland on Bourne for the clean win. It's odd booking and the second match in a row Air Boom has lost. However, having just found out that Bourne failed a drug test and is suspended might explain why it happened. **
CM Punk & John Laurinaitis - Brief backstage segment that did its job in keeping tension up between Punk & JL. Punk did a nice job belittling him for a few minutes by making fun of his suit and his hair and basically calling him a corporate ass kisser. JL did a good job. JL basically told Punk he could have his match with Del Rio if Del Rio simply agreed to give it to him. The segment did a nice job of making me wonder how Del Rio would agree to the match. Thumbs Up
4. Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show - I'm sure some weren't into this match but I enjoyed it. I thought it told a great story and put on display how a top heel is supposed to take on and legitimately face someone Big Show's size. I thought we'd wind up getting a 2 or 3 minute match where Show does little more than toss Del Rio all over the place before getting DQ'd or counted out or something. The match was definitely at a slow pace but it needed to be when you think on it. In these matches, the smaller guy is supposed to outwrestle the big man. And when the big man is billed at over 200 pounds heavier than you, then a lot of mat wrestling is expected. Del Rio got in a lot of solid, ground based offense on Show. The ending comes a bit after the 14 minute mark when Del Rio charges Show in the corner and winds up being hit with the WMD. Show picks up the clean win. I was surprised to see Del Rio take a clean loss here, maybe his title reign is coming to an end or the WWE wants to make him look especially vulnerable for Punk. Either way, I thought both men put out a very solid effort in a match that told a good, old school kind of story. **3/4
CM Punk & Alberto Del Rio - After the match, Del Rio is laid out and Punk's music hits. He hits the ring and talks to Del Rio for a few minutes, eventually pouring some water on him to bring him around. Punk explains things to him simply and straight forward. He tells him that he's going to put him in the Anaconda Vice and he's not going to let him out until he agrees to give him a match at Survivor Series. So, that's pretty much what happened. Simple, basic, effective. Thumbs Up
Muppets Segment - The next segment takes place backstage with Vickie, Swagger & Ziggler confronting Fozzy Bear & Gonzo. They twist Gonzo's arms and pull them about before leaving. Gonzo makes a joke wondering how they knew he needed an adjustment. Didn't really care for this, just seemed kinda unnecessary. Thumbs Down
5. Jack Swagger vs. Santino Marella - I was really disappointed here. They turned this into a comedy match, which I figured it would be. By this time, the stuff with the Muppets has gotten a bit much. Beaker came out and gave Santino whatever that "energy drink" was. He sprayed it in Swagger's face and got the pin. Lousy use of a legitimately talented guy. N/A
6. Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder - Very competitive back and forth match between Ziggler & Ryder. The crowd was very much behind Ryder, who looked good in there, and Ziggler continues to shine inside the ring. Both wrestlers got in a good amount of offense and the double knee smash that Ziggler took from Ryder as he was diving at him in the corner looked great. Ziggler looked like he'd been hit by a car. The ref counted to 3 but then saw Ziggler's foot was on the rope so the call was thrown out. Ziggler goes for the Zig Zag at one point but Ryder holds onto the ropes. Ryder then hits the Rough Ryder on Ziggler for the clean win at the 9 minute mark. ***
7. John Cena vs. The Miz - Very solid back and forth match to close the show out with. The match went about 9 minutes and Miz is generally looking more confident inside the ring now than he has in a very long time. As expected, the crowd was heavily into the match and both wrestlers got in a good amount of offense. Both of them hit some big moves here and there, Cena hitting the leg drop off the top rope was a great near fall. The ending comes when Cena puts The Miz into the STF and forces him to tap. Afterward, someone dressed in a Scream costume jumps the railing and Cena hits him with the AA. Of course, it's R-Truth and the show closes with Cena triumphant. ***
Overall Show - I have mixed thoughts on Raw last night. The segments featuring The Muppets weren't as bad as I thought they would be, but there were far too many of them. The Muppets were all over the show at various times tonight instead of just the one segment, or sometimes two, that WWE has done for a long time when it comes to guest hosts. It was alright in the beginning, but it started to get on my nerves after about the second or third time. I was suprised, however, that there was some good wrestling action on the show tonight though there was some unusual booking going on. The tag match was pretty decent, not great but a decent 5.5 minute match. Del Rio vs. Big Show was surprisingly good in my view and told a good story. Ziggler vs. Ryder was a fun, competitive match as was Cena vs. Miz. The stuff with the Divas and Swagger jobbing to Santino did nothing for me whatsoever.
Grade: C+
The Rock's Response - Solid, quality promo from The Rock and I dig the fact that he didn't really rely on the various catchphrases all that much. He used a few of them, but he didn't go over the top as he normally does. Not that they aren't fun, but sometimes they can detract from the promo. I thought, for a few minutes, that The Rock was turning Cena down, which would've meant they'd have to keep it going and drag it out longer than necessary. We all knew Rock would say yes, so I'm glad they just decided to get it out of the way. As for Rock's reasons for teaming with Cena, it was pretty much what I figured. He dislikes Cena, but he also dislikes Miz & Truth in the sense that he thinks they're getting a little too big for their britches. So the match it set and nice work from The Rock. It didn't have the energy a live appearance would have packed, of course, but it did what it needed to. Thumbs Up
1. CM Punk vs. Mark Henry - Some decent action while the match lasted. Punk did a good job of looking intimidated by Mark Henry, which is what needs to happen. Henry's a big bad dude and his opponents need to view him as such and convey that to viewers. I was a little disappointed that we didn't have a full blown match between the two of them, but neither of them really needed a loss here. Del Rio having his flunky interfere in the match for the purpose of getting Punk DQ'd was a nice way to generate some heat. Ricardo ultimately caught the World's Strongest Slam for his trouble and Mark Henry wins via DQ. It'll be interesting to see where Punk goes from here. *1/2
The Muppets, Vickie Guerrero & Jack Swagger - The first Muppets segment of the night featured Kermit the Frog & Miss Piggy. I was not looking forward to the Muppets at all but this segment honestly wasn't bad. I thought Vickie interracted well with them here and Kermit's response to Swagger about not wanting any trouble with him or his mother did get a few chuckles out of me. Santino came out and announced that Mr. Laryngitis, great name and one that very much fits ol' Johnny Ace, booked them in a match for the night. I cringed here because I just had a feeling it was gonna be a bad night for Swagger. Kelly Kelly's music hits after a bit and she gives Kermit a kiss on her way to the ring, which pisses Piggy off. It was a little corny, but it was also kind of funny and not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Thumbs Up
2. Diva Battle Royal - I don't have a clue what happened here. When I saw the Divas coming out in costume for a battle royal, I got up and went to the bathroom and rooted around in the fridge until I found a Pepsi. By the time I got back, it was over. So I don't think I missed much. N/A
Muppet Skit - This backstage skit featured Beaker and the doctor Muppet, I can't remember his name. He told him to get some sort of formula to Santino during his match that's supposed to be a new energy drink. Christian harrassed Beaker for a few minutes before Sheamus comes up and talks to him for a bit. Pretty cheesy stuff here but I found myself liking Beaker. Nobody can understand a word he says, we have a lotta people here in Ky that have that same affliction
so I just warmed up to him. Cheesy but harmless. Thumbs In The Middle3. Air Boom vs. Wade Barrett & Cody Rhodes - Decent 5.5 minute tag team match with a lot of fun action. Bourne & Kingston both hit some of their trademark spots in the match and they continue to bring a fun energy to the match. I had a feeling that they were going to lose, however, since Barrett was in this match and Rhodes has been on something of a slight losing streak. There were a few nice teasing moments, such as Bourne countering Barrett's first attempt at Wasteland into a DDT. The ending comes, however, with Barrett hitting Wasteland on Bourne for the clean win. It's odd booking and the second match in a row Air Boom has lost. However, having just found out that Bourne failed a drug test and is suspended might explain why it happened. **
CM Punk & John Laurinaitis - Brief backstage segment that did its job in keeping tension up between Punk & JL. Punk did a nice job belittling him for a few minutes by making fun of his suit and his hair and basically calling him a corporate ass kisser. JL did a good job. JL basically told Punk he could have his match with Del Rio if Del Rio simply agreed to give it to him. The segment did a nice job of making me wonder how Del Rio would agree to the match. Thumbs Up
4. Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show - I'm sure some weren't into this match but I enjoyed it. I thought it told a great story and put on display how a top heel is supposed to take on and legitimately face someone Big Show's size. I thought we'd wind up getting a 2 or 3 minute match where Show does little more than toss Del Rio all over the place before getting DQ'd or counted out or something. The match was definitely at a slow pace but it needed to be when you think on it. In these matches, the smaller guy is supposed to outwrestle the big man. And when the big man is billed at over 200 pounds heavier than you, then a lot of mat wrestling is expected. Del Rio got in a lot of solid, ground based offense on Show. The ending comes a bit after the 14 minute mark when Del Rio charges Show in the corner and winds up being hit with the WMD. Show picks up the clean win. I was surprised to see Del Rio take a clean loss here, maybe his title reign is coming to an end or the WWE wants to make him look especially vulnerable for Punk. Either way, I thought both men put out a very solid effort in a match that told a good, old school kind of story. **3/4
CM Punk & Alberto Del Rio - After the match, Del Rio is laid out and Punk's music hits. He hits the ring and talks to Del Rio for a few minutes, eventually pouring some water on him to bring him around. Punk explains things to him simply and straight forward. He tells him that he's going to put him in the Anaconda Vice and he's not going to let him out until he agrees to give him a match at Survivor Series. So, that's pretty much what happened. Simple, basic, effective. Thumbs Up
Muppets Segment - The next segment takes place backstage with Vickie, Swagger & Ziggler confronting Fozzy Bear & Gonzo. They twist Gonzo's arms and pull them about before leaving. Gonzo makes a joke wondering how they knew he needed an adjustment. Didn't really care for this, just seemed kinda unnecessary. Thumbs Down
5. Jack Swagger vs. Santino Marella - I was really disappointed here. They turned this into a comedy match, which I figured it would be. By this time, the stuff with the Muppets has gotten a bit much. Beaker came out and gave Santino whatever that "energy drink" was. He sprayed it in Swagger's face and got the pin. Lousy use of a legitimately talented guy. N/A
6. Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder - Very competitive back and forth match between Ziggler & Ryder. The crowd was very much behind Ryder, who looked good in there, and Ziggler continues to shine inside the ring. Both wrestlers got in a good amount of offense and the double knee smash that Ziggler took from Ryder as he was diving at him in the corner looked great. Ziggler looked like he'd been hit by a car. The ref counted to 3 but then saw Ziggler's foot was on the rope so the call was thrown out. Ziggler goes for the Zig Zag at one point but Ryder holds onto the ropes. Ryder then hits the Rough Ryder on Ziggler for the clean win at the 9 minute mark. ***
7. John Cena vs. The Miz - Very solid back and forth match to close the show out with. The match went about 9 minutes and Miz is generally looking more confident inside the ring now than he has in a very long time. As expected, the crowd was heavily into the match and both wrestlers got in a good amount of offense. Both of them hit some big moves here and there, Cena hitting the leg drop off the top rope was a great near fall. The ending comes when Cena puts The Miz into the STF and forces him to tap. Afterward, someone dressed in a Scream costume jumps the railing and Cena hits him with the AA. Of course, it's R-Truth and the show closes with Cena triumphant. ***
Overall Show - I have mixed thoughts on Raw last night. The segments featuring The Muppets weren't as bad as I thought they would be, but there were far too many of them. The Muppets were all over the show at various times tonight instead of just the one segment, or sometimes two, that WWE has done for a long time when it comes to guest hosts. It was alright in the beginning, but it started to get on my nerves after about the second or third time. I was suprised, however, that there was some good wrestling action on the show tonight though there was some unusual booking going on. The tag match was pretty decent, not great but a decent 5.5 minute match. Del Rio vs. Big Show was surprisingly good in my view and told a good story. Ziggler vs. Ryder was a fun, competitive match as was Cena vs. Miz. The stuff with the Divas and Swagger jobbing to Santino did nothing for me whatsoever.
Grade: C+
It was a throw-away show. It sucks because it's right in the middle of the Survivor Series build but like most other "episodic" television shows...the Halloween episode is a special throw-away.
And since it was Halloween odds are most of WWE's core PG audience were out Trick or Treating so really what was the harm?
The Muppet segments were funny, although I wanted some Animal/Diva interaction myself. Beaker/Sheamus, Beaker/Santino, the Kermit/Piggy/Swagger/Vicki segment were very good.
As far as the WWE stuff...Ryder got a clean(ish) win over Ziggler. We saw Air-Boom as Tag Champs for the last time possibly (ha!). They advanced the ADR/Punk feud.
What went wrong was the Rock's response, his pre-tapes have all fell flat since he 'returned'. And the SuperCena squash which to be honest has been the case for awhile so not really surprising. And yes it is bad wrestilng logic to have Cena destroy the 2 people he needs help to beat 3 weeks from now.
But unless Cena was beat down by Awesome Truth and Dwayne running in to make the save...thus giving us his response live, nothing could've saved this scenario.
And since it was Halloween odds are most of WWE's core PG audience were out Trick or Treating so really what was the harm?
The Muppet segments were funny, although I wanted some Animal/Diva interaction myself. Beaker/Sheamus, Beaker/Santino, the Kermit/Piggy/Swagger/Vicki segment were very good.
As far as the WWE stuff...Ryder got a clean(ish) win over Ziggler. We saw Air-Boom as Tag Champs for the last time possibly (ha!). They advanced the ADR/Punk feud.
What went wrong was the Rock's response, his pre-tapes have all fell flat since he 'returned'. And the SuperCena squash which to be honest has been the case for awhile so not really surprising. And yes it is bad wrestilng logic to have Cena destroy the 2 people he needs help to beat 3 weeks from now.
But unless Cena was beat down by Awesome Truth and Dwayne running in to make the save...thus giving us his response live, nothing could've saved this scenario.
berlinbrawler
Lovable Curmudgeon
Maybe I just wasn't in a rasslin-mood that night, but I felt the show was really, really bad. Even the opener with the Rock seemed half-assed and uninspired to me.
Hated having the Muppets there. Loved the Muppets as a kid, but that doesn't mean I want them to put the fake in fake wrestling.
Not even a peep from Kevin Nash? Ugh! Lame!
The one saving grace: No Cole-JR showdown after all.
And in the end we have Super Cena make the Miz tap out just like that and beat up R-truth, too. Why bring in the Rock at all? Apparently Cena can beat these bozos while half-asleep. AAAARGH!
So much for my determination to focus on the bright side, rather than what bothers me. But this show was just so bad!
Hated having the Muppets there. Loved the Muppets as a kid, but that doesn't mean I want them to put the fake in fake wrestling.
Not even a peep from Kevin Nash? Ugh! Lame!
The one saving grace: No Cole-JR showdown after all.
And in the end we have Super Cena make the Miz tap out just like that and beat up R-truth, too. Why bring in the Rock at all? Apparently Cena can beat these bozos while half-asleep. AAAARGH!
So much for my determination to focus on the bright side, rather than what bothers me. But this show was just so bad!
Nothing special happend on Raw this past Monday.
CM punk did great with what little time he was given, and Sheamus and Christian used the 30 secconds of air time they were given quite well also.
I had to pause the show for a moment when Sheamus threw Christian out the ring, as I was laughing hysterically.
Nash should have made an appearance, Alberto Del Rio should have won his match with Show Via DQ or outside interfearance, and Miz should have beaten Cena after Truth's interuption.... I mean seriously why make Miz look weak by Submition? The ending to that match was BULLSHIT. I was really starting to like Cena again after the way he announced the Last man standing stipulation to Del Rio and then the match itself... but now WWE have made him win yet another match that he would have been better off loosing. Why Tag with Rock if Cena can beat them both alone?
Barrett and Rhodes teaming up.... yet no Orton or D-Bryan ?.... Good win for Barrett though, you can really tell they are trying to push him, especially since they gave him the pinfall over Rhodes. Good job it is a 3 hour special next week (it is isnt it?) because how the hell is Brodus Clay going to fit into this Mess of stories?
Ryder and Ziggler is starting to loose its Heat, something other than a regular match needs to happen soon to spice it back up a bit.
And lastly but ofcourse not least.... The Muppets.... The Fucking Muppets!
I love the Muppets and I have to admit that some of those segments actually did ammuse me....however they were used WAY too much and we know Santino is already a Joke....but do we have to continue making Swagger look a Dick ? This guy has potential to be one of the next up and coming stars in the WWE.... do you really need to destroy his image before he makes the big breakthrough (after they cocked up his first big push).
My problem with the Muppets on Raw this week is that although WWE appeals to Kids aswell as Adults (kids are probably the main focus) Kids will still like to feel like watching WWE is a grownup mature programme that they feel they are old enough to watch themselves.
Although its a Family show.... Children and teenagers still want to think they are watching an adults programme...... the Muppets Turned WWE RAW into Sporticus (or whatever that damn show is called)
CM punk did great with what little time he was given, and Sheamus and Christian used the 30 secconds of air time they were given quite well also.
I had to pause the show for a moment when Sheamus threw Christian out the ring, as I was laughing hysterically.
Nash should have made an appearance, Alberto Del Rio should have won his match with Show Via DQ or outside interfearance, and Miz should have beaten Cena after Truth's interuption.... I mean seriously why make Miz look weak by Submition? The ending to that match was BULLSHIT. I was really starting to like Cena again after the way he announced the Last man standing stipulation to Del Rio and then the match itself... but now WWE have made him win yet another match that he would have been better off loosing. Why Tag with Rock if Cena can beat them both alone?
Barrett and Rhodes teaming up.... yet no Orton or D-Bryan ?.... Good win for Barrett though, you can really tell they are trying to push him, especially since they gave him the pinfall over Rhodes. Good job it is a 3 hour special next week (it is isnt it?) because how the hell is Brodus Clay going to fit into this Mess of stories?
Ryder and Ziggler is starting to loose its Heat, something other than a regular match needs to happen soon to spice it back up a bit.
And lastly but ofcourse not least.... The Muppets.... The Fucking Muppets!
I love the Muppets and I have to admit that some of those segments actually did ammuse me....however they were used WAY too much and we know Santino is already a Joke....but do we have to continue making Swagger look a Dick ? This guy has potential to be one of the next up and coming stars in the WWE.... do you really need to destroy his image before he makes the big breakthrough (after they cocked up his first big push).
My problem with the Muppets on Raw this week is that although WWE appeals to Kids aswell as Adults (kids are probably the main focus) Kids will still like to feel like watching WWE is a grownup mature programme that they feel they are old enough to watch themselves.
Although its a Family show.... Children and teenagers still want to think they are watching an adults programme...... the Muppets Turned WWE RAW into Sporticus (or whatever that damn show is called)
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - November 4, 2011
1. Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes - Great match to start the show off with. Even though Cody Rhodes didn't win here, I don't think anybody can deny that he looked like a star out there. He's come such a long way since WM 26 and this match showed it. Great back and forth match with the two of them fighting all over the arena and both got in a lot of offense. Rhodes gave as good as he got and when he hit the Beautiful Disaster kick was a great near fall that Orton just plain sold the crap out of. The match did have a little something going against it in the sense that I don't think anybody really thought that Orton was going to lose here. Orton ultimately does get the win about the 24 minute mark after hitting the RKO. Rhodes didn't lose anything here and looked damn strong in defeat, but you just had to know that Orton was walking out with the win. Still, it was a damn good match that would have been all the better, for me anyhow, if Rhodes had gotten the win. ***1/2
2. Ted DiBiase vs. Tyson Kidd - Even though this match lasted only a little more than 2 minutes, it was surprisingly decent. It was actually much better than I was expecting. The wrestlers packed in a lot of action into those 2 minutes and 10 seconds and it's nice to see DiBiase actually trying to show some range of emotion or excitement. Kidd looked crisp inside the ring as did DiBiase. I liked how Kidd continuously fought DiBiase's attempt to lock in the Million Dollar Dream and Dream Street whenever he had it slapped into him. It just made things look a little more believable. Ultimately, however, DiBiase does hit Dream Street for the win. As with Bryan & Kidd last week, this match made me want to see DiBiase & Kidd have a match with some real time to it. *3/4
Mark Henry & Daniel Bryan - Good backstage segment featuring Henry & Bryan. Henry continues to just flat out ooze physical intimidation. His angry monster is just so damn menacing that it's easy to put yourself in the shoes of the other guy. As Henry is talking about Big Show to Matt Striker, Henry heads over to a table where Daniel Bryan is and asks him what he's looking at. Bryan did a solid job just playing the straight guy there that was really not up to anything at all, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bryan also did a good job of looking intimidated when Henry got in his face and the size difference between the two put things into perspective. Henry challenged Bryan to a match and Bryan accepted without showing any fear or sounding reluctant. This could potentially be interesting or it could make Bryan look like a complete chump. Thumbs Up
3. Alicia Fox vs. Natalya - Don't have a clue what happened here. I spilled a drink on my shirt and grabbed a paper towel to clean it up with. By the time I got back, the match was over with Alicia Fox as the winner. So I guess I didn't miss much. N/A
Big Show & Christian - I just wasn't feeling this promo segment. Show is someone that has some legit ability on the mic, but he loses me whenever he tries to be the big happy, friendly giant. It just goes completely against everything you think of when you look at the guy. When he came back after being "injured" by Henry, he came back and delivered a passionate and intense promo that made it easy to get behind him. Now, he's out there grinning like a pup with two peckers and trying to be funny. Christian coming out to interact with Show also didn't do much for me. I think it's time for WWE to move on from the "one more match" mantra of Christian. They've milked it and gotten a lot of great matches and interesting scenarios out of it, but it's gotten old. Show laying Christian out with the chokeslam was expected. It wasn't really a bad segment, I'm just not into Big Show as the happy go lucky giant when he should be a pissed off badass gunning for the World Heavyweight Championship. Thumbs Down
4. Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett - I was pleasantly surprised when Barrett came out and announced that he'd take Christian's place in his match with Sheamus as Show's chokeslam had left him "unable" to compete. Very good back and forth, hard hitting and physical match from the two big Brits. They have a similar style that looks impressive and looks nice & stiff. It just works for both of them. Sheamus just looks like a big Irish lug and Barrett has the face of a guy that's been in more than a few hard fights in his life. Both guys got in some really good offense and the live crowd was really feeling it. The ending comes when Christian jumps up on the apron to provide just a slight distraction for Sheamus as he tries to lock in the Celtic Cross on Barrett. Barrett runs up behind him and rolls him up for the 3 count at the 10.5 minute mark. He & Christian work on Sheamus a bit more with Sheamus eating a spear from Christian. Coming back from commercial, Sheamus & Barrett are brawling backstage until officials come to pull them apart. Good intensity from both guys and a feud between them could be a lot of fun. ***
5. Sin Cara vs. Epico - Again, pretty decent match while it lasted. It was just about 2.5 minutes, but the did put a lot of action and a good deal of the fun Sin Cara offense into the time they were given. Epico hit some nice looking offense, whoever he is, and his uses of the suplexes looked solid. The match ends via DQ in favor of Cara as Hunico comes out to interfere. Hunico comes out dressed like a stereotypical Latino thug and beats on Sin Cara with Epico for a bit. **
6. Mark Henry vs. Daniel Bryan - Solid match that told a really good story in my view. I didn't really expect this match to have a finish and that's what needed to happen. Henry looked dominant and physically overwhelming and Bryan looked like a determined scrapper that wouldn't quit. Bryan got tossed around a bit, as you'd expect, and the crowd seriously popped for his offense against Henry. Those kicks just look and sound stiff as hell and the crowd rallied behind Bryan. Henry did a good job of selling Bryan's offense and him shifting into another mode after Bryan almost pinned him. Henry delivered a barrage of avalanche style moves in the corner but Bryan kept getting back up. Big Show interferes at this time and hits Henry with the WMD. Henry wins via DQ at the 6.5 minute mark. Show then heads outside and revives Daniel Bryan but pouring some water on him. He then hands him his MITB briefcase and helps him back into the ring. The crowd pops as it looks like Bryan is going to cash in. Bryan does a good job here of looking dazed and confused, selling the physical effects of Henry's assault. Before he can cash in the briefcase, Henry recovers and hits the World's Strongest Slam. Henry then attacks Big Show and hits the World's Strongest Slam on him. Eventually, Teddy Long comes out and declares that Show has his rematch against Henry at Survivor Series for the title. Good showing by both Bryan & Henry that told a good story and may have possibly planted the seeds for what could be a match between them at WrestleMania. **3/4
Overall Show - I thought tonight's episode was extremely entertaining. The two hours just seemed to fly by. The opening match with Orton & Rhodes was great. Rhodes looked like a star against Orton. I would have loved to have seen him get the win here, I knew he wouldn't, but he didn't look weak in defeat. DiBiase vs. Kidd was a good match for while it lasted. Both guys looked crisp and this made me wanna see them get 10+ minutes with each other at some point. Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett was a really good physical match and I'm glad to see Barrett get what was, almost, a clean win over Sheamus. It looks as though WWE is getting back on track with Barrett and that's just fine with me. Sin Cara vs. Epico was also ok for what it was. The only part of the show I didn't really get into was Big Show's promo segment. I dig Show when he's a serious, intense guy because he can really pull out surprisingly good promos when he's in that mind set. Him playing the big happy giant kinda turns me off. Daniel Bryan & Mark Henry worked quite well together I thought. Their match told a great story and both of them looked good. Even though Bryan lost via DQ, he didn't get pinned and kept getting up and coming at Henry and/or taking everything he could dish out. It makes me wonder if tonight was, just maybe, the first steps towards Henry vs. Bryan at WM for the WHC in a true David vs. Goliath match.
Grade: A-
1. Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes - Great match to start the show off with. Even though Cody Rhodes didn't win here, I don't think anybody can deny that he looked like a star out there. He's come such a long way since WM 26 and this match showed it. Great back and forth match with the two of them fighting all over the arena and both got in a lot of offense. Rhodes gave as good as he got and when he hit the Beautiful Disaster kick was a great near fall that Orton just plain sold the crap out of. The match did have a little something going against it in the sense that I don't think anybody really thought that Orton was going to lose here. Orton ultimately does get the win about the 24 minute mark after hitting the RKO. Rhodes didn't lose anything here and looked damn strong in defeat, but you just had to know that Orton was walking out with the win. Still, it was a damn good match that would have been all the better, for me anyhow, if Rhodes had gotten the win. ***1/2
2. Ted DiBiase vs. Tyson Kidd - Even though this match lasted only a little more than 2 minutes, it was surprisingly decent. It was actually much better than I was expecting. The wrestlers packed in a lot of action into those 2 minutes and 10 seconds and it's nice to see DiBiase actually trying to show some range of emotion or excitement. Kidd looked crisp inside the ring as did DiBiase. I liked how Kidd continuously fought DiBiase's attempt to lock in the Million Dollar Dream and Dream Street whenever he had it slapped into him. It just made things look a little more believable. Ultimately, however, DiBiase does hit Dream Street for the win. As with Bryan & Kidd last week, this match made me want to see DiBiase & Kidd have a match with some real time to it. *3/4
Mark Henry & Daniel Bryan - Good backstage segment featuring Henry & Bryan. Henry continues to just flat out ooze physical intimidation. His angry monster is just so damn menacing that it's easy to put yourself in the shoes of the other guy. As Henry is talking about Big Show to Matt Striker, Henry heads over to a table where Daniel Bryan is and asks him what he's looking at. Bryan did a solid job just playing the straight guy there that was really not up to anything at all, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bryan also did a good job of looking intimidated when Henry got in his face and the size difference between the two put things into perspective. Henry challenged Bryan to a match and Bryan accepted without showing any fear or sounding reluctant. This could potentially be interesting or it could make Bryan look like a complete chump. Thumbs Up
3. Alicia Fox vs. Natalya - Don't have a clue what happened here. I spilled a drink on my shirt and grabbed a paper towel to clean it up with. By the time I got back, the match was over with Alicia Fox as the winner. So I guess I didn't miss much. N/A
Big Show & Christian - I just wasn't feeling this promo segment. Show is someone that has some legit ability on the mic, but he loses me whenever he tries to be the big happy, friendly giant. It just goes completely against everything you think of when you look at the guy. When he came back after being "injured" by Henry, he came back and delivered a passionate and intense promo that made it easy to get behind him. Now, he's out there grinning like a pup with two peckers and trying to be funny. Christian coming out to interact with Show also didn't do much for me. I think it's time for WWE to move on from the "one more match" mantra of Christian. They've milked it and gotten a lot of great matches and interesting scenarios out of it, but it's gotten old. Show laying Christian out with the chokeslam was expected. It wasn't really a bad segment, I'm just not into Big Show as the happy go lucky giant when he should be a pissed off badass gunning for the World Heavyweight Championship. Thumbs Down
4. Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett - I was pleasantly surprised when Barrett came out and announced that he'd take Christian's place in his match with Sheamus as Show's chokeslam had left him "unable" to compete. Very good back and forth, hard hitting and physical match from the two big Brits. They have a similar style that looks impressive and looks nice & stiff. It just works for both of them. Sheamus just looks like a big Irish lug and Barrett has the face of a guy that's been in more than a few hard fights in his life. Both guys got in some really good offense and the live crowd was really feeling it. The ending comes when Christian jumps up on the apron to provide just a slight distraction for Sheamus as he tries to lock in the Celtic Cross on Barrett. Barrett runs up behind him and rolls him up for the 3 count at the 10.5 minute mark. He & Christian work on Sheamus a bit more with Sheamus eating a spear from Christian. Coming back from commercial, Sheamus & Barrett are brawling backstage until officials come to pull them apart. Good intensity from both guys and a feud between them could be a lot of fun. ***
5. Sin Cara vs. Epico - Again, pretty decent match while it lasted. It was just about 2.5 minutes, but the did put a lot of action and a good deal of the fun Sin Cara offense into the time they were given. Epico hit some nice looking offense, whoever he is, and his uses of the suplexes looked solid. The match ends via DQ in favor of Cara as Hunico comes out to interfere. Hunico comes out dressed like a stereotypical Latino thug and beats on Sin Cara with Epico for a bit. **
6. Mark Henry vs. Daniel Bryan - Solid match that told a really good story in my view. I didn't really expect this match to have a finish and that's what needed to happen. Henry looked dominant and physically overwhelming and Bryan looked like a determined scrapper that wouldn't quit. Bryan got tossed around a bit, as you'd expect, and the crowd seriously popped for his offense against Henry. Those kicks just look and sound stiff as hell and the crowd rallied behind Bryan. Henry did a good job of selling Bryan's offense and him shifting into another mode after Bryan almost pinned him. Henry delivered a barrage of avalanche style moves in the corner but Bryan kept getting back up. Big Show interferes at this time and hits Henry with the WMD. Henry wins via DQ at the 6.5 minute mark. Show then heads outside and revives Daniel Bryan but pouring some water on him. He then hands him his MITB briefcase and helps him back into the ring. The crowd pops as it looks like Bryan is going to cash in. Bryan does a good job here of looking dazed and confused, selling the physical effects of Henry's assault. Before he can cash in the briefcase, Henry recovers and hits the World's Strongest Slam. Henry then attacks Big Show and hits the World's Strongest Slam on him. Eventually, Teddy Long comes out and declares that Show has his rematch against Henry at Survivor Series for the title. Good showing by both Bryan & Henry that told a good story and may have possibly planted the seeds for what could be a match between them at WrestleMania. **3/4
Overall Show - I thought tonight's episode was extremely entertaining. The two hours just seemed to fly by. The opening match with Orton & Rhodes was great. Rhodes looked like a star against Orton. I would have loved to have seen him get the win here, I knew he wouldn't, but he didn't look weak in defeat. DiBiase vs. Kidd was a good match for while it lasted. Both guys looked crisp and this made me wanna see them get 10+ minutes with each other at some point. Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett was a really good physical match and I'm glad to see Barrett get what was, almost, a clean win over Sheamus. It looks as though WWE is getting back on track with Barrett and that's just fine with me. Sin Cara vs. Epico was also ok for what it was. The only part of the show I didn't really get into was Big Show's promo segment. I dig Show when he's a serious, intense guy because he can really pull out surprisingly good promos when he's in that mind set. Him playing the big happy giant kinda turns me off. Daniel Bryan & Mark Henry worked quite well together I thought. Their match told a great story and both of them looked good. Even though Bryan lost via DQ, he didn't get pinned and kept getting up and coming at Henry and/or taking everything he could dish out. It makes me wonder if tonight was, just maybe, the first steps towards Henry vs. Bryan at WM for the WHC in a true David vs. Goliath match.
Grade: A-
coldasicex5
Dark Match Jobber
It's time, it's time, it's Smackdown! Time! And we're starting off with Randy and Rhodes in a street fight. Good pop for Randle! Ahh! Not even 5 minutes into the show and Cole is already mentioning twitter. Somewhere McMahon popped a woody for hearing it.
I don't care what anyone says, I'm loving the IC belt. And we start off with some old fashion grappling. The voices in Randy's head told him that he recognized one of those baggers from Stop n Shop as he gazed upon him. A fight into the crowd! All the girls suddenly in the audience are experiencing floods in their panties. Bye bye bagger # 1. And there goes bagger # 2! So far they're getting some nice time out of the ring. Nice suplex on the stage! Good superplex, the ring is still in tact!
Good use of the mask, Cody! Now put it back on. A figure four by cody? Nice! So far he's been on top of his game in this match with the countering. Super Orton just kicked in and gave Cody a taste of his own medicine with his own mask. ANOTHER nice counter of the RKO, followed by a kick to the head off the ropes. Randy countered the cross roads into a nice back drop. A front suplex into the guard rail turned into one of Orton's famous DDT's, awesome! RKO in the ring and Orton has won. And this time, Cody gets himself bagged.
MATCH RATING - *** Some very good countering and offense by Rhodes here. Great start to Smackdown! Now let's get raw to start off with good matches like this more for a change up.
Out comes Dibiase and vintage smackdown crowd sounds. Kidd in ring, no entrance. Wah! Twitter arguments going on by our announcers. We need to play a game where we drink a shot each time someone mentions twitter on the shows. Some good ground wrestling going on and match is over in 2 minutes.
MATCH RATING - *, it was short, Ted needs a gimmick change and put Tyson back with Bryan for some long matches.
Henry is walking towards something with a serious face, must of seen a buffet, wait, it's Daniel Bryan! "You can't beat me", says Henry to Daniels . Henry's been watching Nutty Professor! A match setup later for the two, this could be interesting.
Out comes Alicia fox, wearing road kill on her shoulders. What the hell did Alicia just say about her nose? She just beat Natalia in a minute with that leg drop?
MATCH RATING - 1/2 *
Ahh, video clip of the ring breaking. This might of been the second highlight of Henry's career, the first being Mae Young's hand.
Big show is out in the ring, singing "Moma sad knock you out". What the hayul! You said it Booker! Out comes Christian to interrupt. It's one more match time! "I'm not going to knock you out", nice show! And it's followed up with a choke slam to shut Christain up.
Out comes Shaemus for a match. Time to change the contrast on my TV. Christian is unable to compete and out comes Barrett. So far a back and forth match, neither dominating over the other. Nice kick by Barrett as Shaemus is caught up between the ropes. Christian is still outside selling the chokeslam from Big Show. SELLING, take notes, Cena. Barrett going for a decent amount of submissions in this match. Celtic Cross countered. Did Josh mathews just say "Sheamus is so big and thick"? Now I'm worried! A dueling "Let's go Shaemus, let's go Barrett chant". That's nice. Another CC countered, distraction by Christian and Barrett has won. WHAT THE HAYUL! Now the Fella is ANGER!
MATCH RATING -- ** 1/2, good job by both men, evenly paced match. Christian/Shaemus feud is obviously not over. No problem with that.
BACKSTAGE BRAWL! Well that didn't last long. That's what SHE said! And now we're back to the announcers arguing with each other. Raw rebound time to show us the Muppets. The highlight of raw was deff Shaemus and Beaker's "family reunion".
Big show pushing DB to use the breif case... Interesting!
Sin Cara vs Epico. Who the bloody hell is this? Nice backdrop combo! You don't see that too much these days. Good back submission. Fast paced match and how comes Hunico! And.. Epico.. interesting! Post match double teaming taking place on Sin Cara. Nice overhead toss into a power bomb!
MATCH RATING -- * 1/2, short, face patched match, with a DQ Ending.
It's time for Daniel Bryan vs Mizark Henry. DB is out with Big show. DB in main event, this is a nice touch to the show. Early submission attempted by DB, easily countered by Henry. So far Henry is dominating most of the match; DB selling each attack pretty well. DB kicking the shit outa Henry and the crowd is LOVING it. Pinfall attempt and DB is throw literally out of the ring, nice touch! Henry catches DB in air, right into a submission, then another counter. These two are surprisingly working well together. And here comes big show as he KNOCKS HENRY THE FUCK OUT! Now he's reviving DB and grabbing the brief case. WHAT THE HAYUL! A nice briefcase cash-in tease. Henry recovers, takes out DB and Big show. This is how you make the champion look dominant, good job WWE!
Out comes Teddy, there's only three guys out there so I don't see a tag team match happening. Big Show vs Henry is made AGAIN for Survivor Series. A regular match at this point? Should of been a gimmick match, oh well.
MATCH RATING -- ** stars, good for Henry. DB sold the match well and added that nice little tease at the end.
OVERALL SHOW RATING. I'd give it 7/10. Some good matches here and the continuation of several feuds.
I don't care what anyone says, I'm loving the IC belt. And we start off with some old fashion grappling. The voices in Randy's head told him that he recognized one of those baggers from Stop n Shop as he gazed upon him. A fight into the crowd! All the girls suddenly in the audience are experiencing floods in their panties. Bye bye bagger # 1. And there goes bagger # 2! So far they're getting some nice time out of the ring. Nice suplex on the stage! Good superplex, the ring is still in tact!
Good use of the mask, Cody! Now put it back on. A figure four by cody? Nice! So far he's been on top of his game in this match with the countering. Super Orton just kicked in and gave Cody a taste of his own medicine with his own mask. ANOTHER nice counter of the RKO, followed by a kick to the head off the ropes. Randy countered the cross roads into a nice back drop. A front suplex into the guard rail turned into one of Orton's famous DDT's, awesome! RKO in the ring and Orton has won. And this time, Cody gets himself bagged.
MATCH RATING - *** Some very good countering and offense by Rhodes here. Great start to Smackdown! Now let's get raw to start off with good matches like this more for a change up.
Out comes Dibiase and vintage smackdown crowd sounds. Kidd in ring, no entrance. Wah! Twitter arguments going on by our announcers. We need to play a game where we drink a shot each time someone mentions twitter on the shows. Some good ground wrestling going on and match is over in 2 minutes.
MATCH RATING - *, it was short, Ted needs a gimmick change and put Tyson back with Bryan for some long matches.
Henry is walking towards something with a serious face, must of seen a buffet, wait, it's Daniel Bryan! "You can't beat me", says Henry to Daniels . Henry's been watching Nutty Professor! A match setup later for the two, this could be interesting.
Out comes Alicia fox, wearing road kill on her shoulders. What the hell did Alicia just say about her nose? She just beat Natalia in a minute with that leg drop?
MATCH RATING - 1/2 *
Ahh, video clip of the ring breaking. This might of been the second highlight of Henry's career, the first being Mae Young's hand.
Big show is out in the ring, singing "Moma sad knock you out". What the hayul! You said it Booker! Out comes Christian to interrupt. It's one more match time! "I'm not going to knock you out", nice show! And it's followed up with a choke slam to shut Christain up.
Out comes Shaemus for a match. Time to change the contrast on my TV. Christian is unable to compete and out comes Barrett. So far a back and forth match, neither dominating over the other. Nice kick by Barrett as Shaemus is caught up between the ropes. Christian is still outside selling the chokeslam from Big Show. SELLING, take notes, Cena. Barrett going for a decent amount of submissions in this match. Celtic Cross countered. Did Josh mathews just say "Sheamus is so big and thick"? Now I'm worried! A dueling "Let's go Shaemus, let's go Barrett chant". That's nice. Another CC countered, distraction by Christian and Barrett has won. WHAT THE HAYUL! Now the Fella is ANGER!
MATCH RATING -- ** 1/2, good job by both men, evenly paced match. Christian/Shaemus feud is obviously not over. No problem with that.
BACKSTAGE BRAWL! Well that didn't last long. That's what SHE said! And now we're back to the announcers arguing with each other. Raw rebound time to show us the Muppets. The highlight of raw was deff Shaemus and Beaker's "family reunion".
Big show pushing DB to use the breif case... Interesting!
Sin Cara vs Epico. Who the bloody hell is this? Nice backdrop combo! You don't see that too much these days. Good back submission. Fast paced match and how comes Hunico! And.. Epico.. interesting! Post match double teaming taking place on Sin Cara. Nice overhead toss into a power bomb!
MATCH RATING -- * 1/2, short, face patched match, with a DQ Ending.
It's time for Daniel Bryan vs Mizark Henry. DB is out with Big show. DB in main event, this is a nice touch to the show. Early submission attempted by DB, easily countered by Henry. So far Henry is dominating most of the match; DB selling each attack pretty well. DB kicking the shit outa Henry and the crowd is LOVING it. Pinfall attempt and DB is throw literally out of the ring, nice touch! Henry catches DB in air, right into a submission, then another counter. These two are surprisingly working well together. And here comes big show as he KNOCKS HENRY THE FUCK OUT! Now he's reviving DB and grabbing the brief case. WHAT THE HAYUL! A nice briefcase cash-in tease. Henry recovers, takes out DB and Big show. This is how you make the champion look dominant, good job WWE!
Out comes Teddy, there's only three guys out there so I don't see a tag team match happening. Big Show vs Henry is made AGAIN for Survivor Series. A regular match at this point? Should of been a gimmick match, oh well.
MATCH RATING -- ** stars, good for Henry. DB sold the match well and added that nice little tease at the end.
OVERALL SHOW RATING. I'd give it 7/10. Some good matches here and the continuation of several feuds.
Yesiamaduck
Pre-Show Stalwart
WWE Smackdown 4th November 2011 Thoughts & Results
It's the day before Guy Fawkes night here in the UK, fireworks are going off in the air but is tonight's edition of Smackdown nearly as explosive or as exciting? We find out as the build to Survivor Series 2011 continues.
Street Fight:
Randy Orton Vs Cody Rhodes (approx 18mins)
Wow a Street Fight to open a show, Michael Cole proclaims this will be the end of their feud, hmm thought this would be on Survivor Series myself but oh well... then Cole promises us much talk of twitter, odd, no I know WWE programming is a glorified Twitter widget these days but to highlight it as one of the main things they're going to talk about c'mon!
The match starts off in the ring with some basic in ring stuff, they quickly find their way in the crowd where Orton begins owning Cody hitting his head on all sorts of objects, Rhodes sacrifices both baggers and then tries to escape. As we return from ads Rhodes is seen being beaten on the ramp before Rhodes gets the upper hands and lays Orton out on the stage. He tries to suplex him off the stage but Orton reverses and starts getting the upper hand and throws Rhodes over the barrier. He walks over to the barrier and gets clocked with Rhodes protective mask which lays out Orton, Orton gets beaten outside of the ring before being taken back into the ring where Rhodes starts working the leg (just so Orton wont sell it later obviously) and puts on the figure 4, very nice! Rhodes see's Orton won't submit so takes off his mask and clocks Orton with it again! Very nice again! Eventually after lots of offence Orton gets the upper hand, attempted RKO is reversed, Rhodes gets the upper hand and hits the Beautiful Disaster kick for the 2. Orton tries to get Rhodes with the rope DDT spot but Rhodes escape, the 2 exchange fists until Orton throws Rhodes into the barrier, he then does the DDT off the barricade! Very nice! Brings Rhodes back into the ring,gets hit with the mask then RKO 123.... what a match! This was brilliant and entertaining and Rhodes, despite loosing and the cowardly start, looked like a force to reckon with, this is easily one of the best TV matches all year and deserves (on the tv rating scale remember)
****1/2
Easily PPV match stuff here, would have been a great addition to Survivor Series but we got it for free!
Randy Orton comes back into the ring and bags Rhodes and Orton celebrates once again, the crowd are shit hot at the moment and I don't blame them, would of preferred a Rhodes win but he didn't look bad here, not by a long shot, and it won't surprise me if this gets Rhodes some more fans. Orton walks off with the cracked protective mask.
HHH & Kevin Nash video segment, don't get me wrong as with all WWE video packages they're done well but yeahhhh we had 20minutes dedicated to this last week and a video package on Smackdown & on Raw, oh well I guess they're keeping people in tone with the main storyline (something TNA needs to learn) everyone needs to know HHH has a broken heart.
We get reminded that Nash has a new contract with the WWE and we get advertised Sheamus Vs Christian later on tonight.
We then get CM Punk at the Kids Choice Awards, wonderful. CM Punk gets slimmed!
Matt Stiker promises us an interview with Mark Henry after this next match
Match 2:
Ted DiBiase Vs Tyson Kidd
Tyson Kidd is here once again with his pipped in heat by his side and his weekly squash match with Ted DiBiase. Standard back and forth in ring action, it'll looks good enough, then the commentators start arguing like school kids about how many twitter followers they have (incidentally Matthews has more than Booker T if you want to know) oh then we get dream street. Standard TV match
1/2*
Mark Henry begins his interview then walks off, accuses Bryan of eyeballing him and asks him if he was thinking of cashing in on him backstage. Mark Henry runs down Bryan who just stays quiet, Henry then says he's going to ask Long to book a match with Bryan. I've seen better promos from both men but I'm intrigued by this match.
Match 3:
Alicia Fox Vs Natalyia
Alicia Fox has a new gimmick, she wears a fox scarf type thing on her head. Natalya comes out alone and storms down with purpose. Stuff happened, Alicia Fox enzeguri then drops a leg (with a flip) for the 3, whatever like
1/4*
Big Show walks out & we once again get shown the ring collapse from Vengeance, to be fair Big Show should have a rematch by default the match was deemed a no contest therefore the match should be re-scheduled right? Thats what happens in most sports. Big Show says mamma gonna knock you out, Christian comes out, I like the way Big Show mentions that monsters shouldn't talk it makes them lose their Mystique! Christian says he's here for his match, Big Show says he's going to leave then Christian asks him why does he think he deserve one more match at the world title. Christian says he gets screwed repeatedly and that's why he keeps on asking for one more match. Big Show then chokeslams Christian and leaves.
Match 4:
Christian Vs Sheamus
Christian forfeits Wade Barrett comes out and says he'll take on Christian
Match 5:
Wade Barrett Vs Sheamus
An okay heavyweight match, standard offence of which Barrett gets the majority in the early goings of the match, eventually Sheamus gets the upper hand and signals the Celtic Cross, but Christian distracts Sheamus and Barrett picks up with the win with a roll up. Afterwords Sheamus goes to attack Barrett but is stopped by a Spear from Christian. This match was okay
**
We come back from commercials and we see Sheamus attacking Christian backstage, Barrett goes to make the save and the 2 brawl backstage before being broken up by security (and The Usos)
Looks back on Raw with the Raw rebound, looking at the Muppets (The Muppets were good the show wasn't, so I appreciate this look back on The Muppets i.e. all that was good about the Halloween show)
We cut to Bryan in the back, scratching his beard and stretching, the Big Show says he'll be in Bryans corner.
Brodus Clay returns on Raw, video package. I really can't wait to see this guy come back I enjoy his look, his move set and he's good on the stick. He was great value as Del Rios bodyguard earlier this year.
Match 7:
Sin Cara Vs Epico
Who is Epico, is that Primo? Oh I just looked him up he's primos cousin & has wrestled a few dark matches tagging with Primo. Epico looks good and this match was good fun Sin Cara wins via DQ after Hunico attacks Sin Cara, Hunico and Epico beat up Sin Cara. I like the looks of this, this angle has some promise after all, new tag team/stable? Showed a tag team move some sort of leap-frog powerbomb.
*3/4
Match 8:
Daniel Bryan W/The Big Show Vs Mark Henry
This was a good match considering the limitations involved, Henry dominated but the moment Bryan fought back with kicks and got a 2 count the was a huge pop from the crowd and momentum was behind him, he then got Henry groggy with a hold of some sort (I don't know what, so sue me!) this made Henry mad and he flipped and begun repeatedly running at Bryan who was in the corner of the ring, the Big Show comes in and knocks out Henry with the punch.
**1/2
Big Show then revives Daniel Bryan convincing him to cash in his briefcase but before he can Henry gives Bryan the Worlds Strongest Slam and then Henry delivers a HUGE Worlds strongest Slam onto the Big Show. Teddy Long comes out and announced The Big Show and Mark Henry will face each other at Survivor Series for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Overall:
The were parts of this show which dragged, namely the 2nd half hour, things did pick up though with some nice development in a good 3 or 4 story lines which will culminate into something in Survivor Series with 2 weeks to go, the show set up the potential for a strong midcard build in Survivor Series as well as continuing the pretty good World Heavyweight Championship match build. The excellent opener alone makes this show above average and I suggest you check it out for that, with added bonuses of a promising debut in Epico & some good action between Christian/Barrett and Sheamus.
7/10
Match Of The Night:
Cody Rhodes Vs Randy Orton
Action packed match full of good action and a good showing from both men who put in an exceptional amount of work for a TV match.
Best Be Avoided:
Natalya Vs Alicia Fox
Nothing of note here, both women didn't look especially sloppy it was just all very pointless.
Best Performer: Cody Rhodes
The guy did an excellent job convincing myself & I'm sure many others that he is ready to be put in the main event picture in the near future after his brilliant display against Orton.
Weakest Performer: The Big Show
Sorry, his promos tonight were sort of corny... he didn't do anything bad outside of the promo work but it really made it hard to believe he's in a heated 5month long feud.
It's the day before Guy Fawkes night here in the UK, fireworks are going off in the air but is tonight's edition of Smackdown nearly as explosive or as exciting? We find out as the build to Survivor Series 2011 continues.
Street Fight:
Randy Orton Vs Cody Rhodes (approx 18mins)
Wow a Street Fight to open a show, Michael Cole proclaims this will be the end of their feud, hmm thought this would be on Survivor Series myself but oh well... then Cole promises us much talk of twitter, odd, no I know WWE programming is a glorified Twitter widget these days but to highlight it as one of the main things they're going to talk about c'mon!
The match starts off in the ring with some basic in ring stuff, they quickly find their way in the crowd where Orton begins owning Cody hitting his head on all sorts of objects, Rhodes sacrifices both baggers and then tries to escape. As we return from ads Rhodes is seen being beaten on the ramp before Rhodes gets the upper hands and lays Orton out on the stage. He tries to suplex him off the stage but Orton reverses and starts getting the upper hand and throws Rhodes over the barrier. He walks over to the barrier and gets clocked with Rhodes protective mask which lays out Orton, Orton gets beaten outside of the ring before being taken back into the ring where Rhodes starts working the leg (just so Orton wont sell it later obviously) and puts on the figure 4, very nice! Rhodes see's Orton won't submit so takes off his mask and clocks Orton with it again! Very nice again! Eventually after lots of offence Orton gets the upper hand, attempted RKO is reversed, Rhodes gets the upper hand and hits the Beautiful Disaster kick for the 2. Orton tries to get Rhodes with the rope DDT spot but Rhodes escape, the 2 exchange fists until Orton throws Rhodes into the barrier, he then does the DDT off the barricade! Very nice! Brings Rhodes back into the ring,gets hit with the mask then RKO 123.... what a match! This was brilliant and entertaining and Rhodes, despite loosing and the cowardly start, looked like a force to reckon with, this is easily one of the best TV matches all year and deserves (on the tv rating scale remember)
****1/2
Easily PPV match stuff here, would have been a great addition to Survivor Series but we got it for free!
Randy Orton comes back into the ring and bags Rhodes and Orton celebrates once again, the crowd are shit hot at the moment and I don't blame them, would of preferred a Rhodes win but he didn't look bad here, not by a long shot, and it won't surprise me if this gets Rhodes some more fans. Orton walks off with the cracked protective mask.
HHH & Kevin Nash video segment, don't get me wrong as with all WWE video packages they're done well but yeahhhh we had 20minutes dedicated to this last week and a video package on Smackdown & on Raw, oh well I guess they're keeping people in tone with the main storyline (something TNA needs to learn) everyone needs to know HHH has a broken heart.
We get reminded that Nash has a new contract with the WWE and we get advertised Sheamus Vs Christian later on tonight.
We then get CM Punk at the Kids Choice Awards, wonderful. CM Punk gets slimmed!
Matt Stiker promises us an interview with Mark Henry after this next match
Match 2:
Ted DiBiase Vs Tyson Kidd
Tyson Kidd is here once again with his pipped in heat by his side and his weekly squash match with Ted DiBiase. Standard back and forth in ring action, it'll looks good enough, then the commentators start arguing like school kids about how many twitter followers they have (incidentally Matthews has more than Booker T if you want to know) oh then we get dream street. Standard TV match
1/2*
Mark Henry begins his interview then walks off, accuses Bryan of eyeballing him and asks him if he was thinking of cashing in on him backstage. Mark Henry runs down Bryan who just stays quiet, Henry then says he's going to ask Long to book a match with Bryan. I've seen better promos from both men but I'm intrigued by this match.
Match 3:
Alicia Fox Vs Natalyia
Alicia Fox has a new gimmick, she wears a fox scarf type thing on her head. Natalya comes out alone and storms down with purpose. Stuff happened, Alicia Fox enzeguri then drops a leg (with a flip) for the 3, whatever like
1/4*
Big Show walks out & we once again get shown the ring collapse from Vengeance, to be fair Big Show should have a rematch by default the match was deemed a no contest therefore the match should be re-scheduled right? Thats what happens in most sports. Big Show says mamma gonna knock you out, Christian comes out, I like the way Big Show mentions that monsters shouldn't talk it makes them lose their Mystique! Christian says he's here for his match, Big Show says he's going to leave then Christian asks him why does he think he deserve one more match at the world title. Christian says he gets screwed repeatedly and that's why he keeps on asking for one more match. Big Show then chokeslams Christian and leaves.
Match 4:
Christian Vs Sheamus
Christian forfeits Wade Barrett comes out and says he'll take on Christian
Match 5:
Wade Barrett Vs Sheamus
An okay heavyweight match, standard offence of which Barrett gets the majority in the early goings of the match, eventually Sheamus gets the upper hand and signals the Celtic Cross, but Christian distracts Sheamus and Barrett picks up with the win with a roll up. Afterwords Sheamus goes to attack Barrett but is stopped by a Spear from Christian. This match was okay
**
We come back from commercials and we see Sheamus attacking Christian backstage, Barrett goes to make the save and the 2 brawl backstage before being broken up by security (and The Usos)
Looks back on Raw with the Raw rebound, looking at the Muppets (The Muppets were good the show wasn't, so I appreciate this look back on The Muppets i.e. all that was good about the Halloween show)
We cut to Bryan in the back, scratching his beard and stretching, the Big Show says he'll be in Bryans corner.
Brodus Clay returns on Raw, video package. I really can't wait to see this guy come back I enjoy his look, his move set and he's good on the stick. He was great value as Del Rios bodyguard earlier this year.
Match 7:
Sin Cara Vs Epico
Who is Epico, is that Primo? Oh I just looked him up he's primos cousin & has wrestled a few dark matches tagging with Primo. Epico looks good and this match was good fun Sin Cara wins via DQ after Hunico attacks Sin Cara, Hunico and Epico beat up Sin Cara. I like the looks of this, this angle has some promise after all, new tag team/stable? Showed a tag team move some sort of leap-frog powerbomb.
*3/4
Match 8:
Daniel Bryan W/The Big Show Vs Mark Henry
This was a good match considering the limitations involved, Henry dominated but the moment Bryan fought back with kicks and got a 2 count the was a huge pop from the crowd and momentum was behind him, he then got Henry groggy with a hold of some sort (I don't know what, so sue me!) this made Henry mad and he flipped and begun repeatedly running at Bryan who was in the corner of the ring, the Big Show comes in and knocks out Henry with the punch.
**1/2
Big Show then revives Daniel Bryan convincing him to cash in his briefcase but before he can Henry gives Bryan the Worlds Strongest Slam and then Henry delivers a HUGE Worlds strongest Slam onto the Big Show. Teddy Long comes out and announced The Big Show and Mark Henry will face each other at Survivor Series for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Overall:
The were parts of this show which dragged, namely the 2nd half hour, things did pick up though with some nice development in a good 3 or 4 story lines which will culminate into something in Survivor Series with 2 weeks to go, the show set up the potential for a strong midcard build in Survivor Series as well as continuing the pretty good World Heavyweight Championship match build. The excellent opener alone makes this show above average and I suggest you check it out for that, with added bonuses of a promising debut in Epico & some good action between Christian/Barrett and Sheamus.
7/10
Match Of The Night:
Cody Rhodes Vs Randy Orton
Action packed match full of good action and a good showing from both men who put in an exceptional amount of work for a TV match.
Best Be Avoided:
Natalya Vs Alicia Fox
Nothing of note here, both women didn't look especially sloppy it was just all very pointless.
Best Performer: Cody Rhodes
The guy did an excellent job convincing myself & I'm sure many others that he is ready to be put in the main event picture in the near future after his brilliant display against Orton.
Weakest Performer: The Big Show
Sorry, his promos tonight were sort of corny... he didn't do anything bad outside of the promo work but it really made it hard to believe he's in a heated 5month long feud.
So it sounded to me that the crowd in Liverpool was not very enthusiastic at this weeks RAW. And as someone that only lives a few miles away from Liverpool....thats an unusual thing to see.
So why did RAW suck and Smackdown was as good as it was in England?
The show was totally boring....why give so much time to Re-cap the muppets last week? Why Leave Kevin Nash's Promo until close to the end?
Nash was awesome by the way....I really like the excuse he gave for being pissed at HHH.
CmPunk and Del Rio was....terrible. CmPunk Otunga.... was great.
Kelly Kelly was Hotter than ever!! but that segment was pointless....show us the picture and then get the fuck out please?...move out of the way of that nice car too whilst you are at it.
ProMo - John Cena, Zack Ryder & AwesomeTruth. Lengthy and Boring...got nowhere....hyped nothing.
John Morrison Vs Dolph HEEL
Sounds fantastic!.... Was not up to scratch, Boring. Morrison went over Ziggler...I wonder where this will go? Another Push for Morrison where he will Drop the ball again? Or Dolph Ziggler frustration leading into him losing the title to Ryder and then transfer toward the main event? Or nothing?
Mason Ryan Squash Match?
Unbelievable load of Green Chris Masters Masterlock Bullshit!
Alberto Del Rio Squash Match?
Needed to be done...but was far from Entertainment. And the Promo that came after it was boring as hell.... lengthy as hell.... and got the storyline and Feud ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE. And neither did the backstage Promo following it....I am not interested in this match whatsoever based on the Build up.
Jack Swagger V Santino
Boring.... was not far off a Squash in itself.
MAIN EVENT: Long Island Iced ******** Rapper Vs Awesome Truth
Not a Terrible match actually. I get the feeling that John Cena is Patronising Ryder a little bit and was probably not even told he was to do so..... Zack Ryder needs a little work but he does have the potential to be a big Upper Mid Card player the way things are going.
MizTruth got the Win....as they very well should have done.... and by cheating...they are HEEL after all. But not giving Cena a Beatdown straight after the match? Missed a golden opportunity to give The Rock a reason to even be there in 2 weeks time at Survivor Series.
So what did we get from this weeks RAW?
Absolute TRASH! The only decent thing to happen on RAW this week is Kevin Nash giving a Legitimate reason for being pissed off with HHH....other than that Survivor Series has gained absolutely NO heat or Hype.
Garbage.
Michael Cole has done his Homework on Liverpool and they are Called SCOWZERS...because they eat SCOWZE.
Mentioned The Beatles about 100 times, and waffled some other crap!
THIS....THIS is why the rest of the world thinks that Americans are fucking stupid people who live in a bubble.
What was RAW missing in England? Wade Barrett, William Regal.... Are you serious BRO ?
What else was RAW missing? Brodus Clay...I couldnt give two fucks if there was not enough time....Make time! WWE had three Promo's that went several Minuits WAAAAY over the amount of time that they should have....So we dont see Brodus......We dont get to see this Michael Cole Challenge, not that we care.
WWE are missing out things that need to happen in order to focus on more important things..... but screws them up and those important things have been left in the same position they were at in the first place.
Congratulations Kevin Nash. You were the only thing worth watching on RAW tonight.
*
1/5
ONE STAR
So why did RAW suck and Smackdown was as good as it was in England?
The show was totally boring....why give so much time to Re-cap the muppets last week? Why Leave Kevin Nash's Promo until close to the end?
Nash was awesome by the way....I really like the excuse he gave for being pissed at HHH.
CmPunk and Del Rio was....terrible. CmPunk Otunga.... was great.
Kelly Kelly was Hotter than ever!! but that segment was pointless....show us the picture and then get the fuck out please?...move out of the way of that nice car too whilst you are at it.
ProMo - John Cena, Zack Ryder & AwesomeTruth. Lengthy and Boring...got nowhere....hyped nothing.
John Morrison Vs Dolph HEEL
Sounds fantastic!.... Was not up to scratch, Boring. Morrison went over Ziggler...I wonder where this will go? Another Push for Morrison where he will Drop the ball again? Or Dolph Ziggler frustration leading into him losing the title to Ryder and then transfer toward the main event? Or nothing?
Mason Ryan Squash Match?
Unbelievable load of Green Chris Masters Masterlock Bullshit!
Alberto Del Rio Squash Match?
Needed to be done...but was far from Entertainment. And the Promo that came after it was boring as hell.... lengthy as hell.... and got the storyline and Feud ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE. And neither did the backstage Promo following it....I am not interested in this match whatsoever based on the Build up.
Jack Swagger V Santino
Boring.... was not far off a Squash in itself.
MAIN EVENT: Long Island Iced ******** Rapper Vs Awesome Truth
Not a Terrible match actually. I get the feeling that John Cena is Patronising Ryder a little bit and was probably not even told he was to do so..... Zack Ryder needs a little work but he does have the potential to be a big Upper Mid Card player the way things are going.
MizTruth got the Win....as they very well should have done.... and by cheating...they are HEEL after all. But not giving Cena a Beatdown straight after the match? Missed a golden opportunity to give The Rock a reason to even be there in 2 weeks time at Survivor Series.
So what did we get from this weeks RAW?
Absolute TRASH! The only decent thing to happen on RAW this week is Kevin Nash giving a Legitimate reason for being pissed off with HHH....other than that Survivor Series has gained absolutely NO heat or Hype.
Garbage.
Michael Cole has done his Homework on Liverpool and they are Called SCOWZERS...because they eat SCOWZE.
Mentioned The Beatles about 100 times, and waffled some other crap!
THIS....THIS is why the rest of the world thinks that Americans are fucking stupid people who live in a bubble.
What was RAW missing in England? Wade Barrett, William Regal.... Are you serious BRO ?
What else was RAW missing? Brodus Clay...I couldnt give two fucks if there was not enough time....Make time! WWE had three Promo's that went several Minuits WAAAAY over the amount of time that they should have....So we dont see Brodus......We dont get to see this Michael Cole Challenge, not that we care.
WWE are missing out things that need to happen in order to focus on more important things..... but screws them up and those important things have been left in the same position they were at in the first place.
Congratulations Kevin Nash. You were the only thing worth watching on RAW tonight.
*
1/5
ONE STAR
sjdigitall
Pre-Show Stalwart
You need to get the audio fixed on your tv, the Liverpool crowd was as hot as ever. Did u not hear the massive reaction that Punk, Ryder and Cena got. Hell even Alberto Del Rio, with his blandness got a reaction. I reckon it was a great RAW. This is what is wrong with the IWC. Overcritical stupid analysis'. Just watch the show and enjoy. Im not saying dont have an opinion but stop looking for things to trash on and just watch it normally.