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Feb 17 2013
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Wrestling Clips

WWE Pay-Per-View Roundtable: Elimation Chamber (2013)

by Daniel Johnson, Kyle Childers and Bad Booking

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Brodus Clay and Tensai (with Cameron and Naomi) vs. Team Rhodes Scholars

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Daniel Johnson: Team Rhodes Scholars should get the win here after Tensai does something to goof up. It is a shame that Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow are stuck in this bout. Both should be in the main event scene within a year, but if they start getting booked regularly on the pre-show then their potentially may be wasted for a long time to come.

Kyle Childers: Pass.

Bad Booking: Despite the goofy lingerie and hip hop, the newly-formed tag team of monsters could very well be a threat. As much as I’m rooting for Rhodes and Sandow, I would love to see what WWE has in store for two giant monsters who are easily convincing crushing machines. I say Brodus/Tensai for the win just because of WWE’s tendency to push monsters.

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The Miz vs. Antonio Cesaro (c) for the WWE United States Heavyweight Championship

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Daniel Johnson:  Antonio Cesaro should retain in what will be a pointless rematch. Hopefully, from here Cesaro will feud with more worthwhile opponents. Since he has moved down the card anyway and Team Hell No can’t last forever I would love Daniel Bryan to feud with the Swiss technician.

Kyle Childers: Cesaro’s been on a major roll since winning the United States title in 2012 beating such big name contenders as, um, R-Truth, Tyson Kidd and the Funkasaurus but this is his first chance to shine on pay-per-view against a former WWE champion and lucky for Antonio, his opponent is The Miz. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a knock on The Miz by any means, unlike most other writers in this field I think he’s a solid, entertaining worker but now isn’t his time. Cesaro keeps his momentum going with a win over the Cleveland Screamer.

Bad Booking: Waste of time, as both men can easily be put into bigger and better things. I’ll take Cesaro for the win.

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Tamina Snuka vs. Kaitlyn (c) for the WWE Divas Championship

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Daniel Johnson:  Here is bathroom break number one. Still, at least Kaitlyn is an improvement over the previous face of the women’s division, Kelly Kelly. I find it hard to believe that WWE would do anything to slow down Kaitlyn’s momentum since they seem so high on her. Tamina should go down unless she is given a brief run with the title and loses it back to Kaitlyn.

Kyle Childers: Finally the Diva’s title is getting a little bit of television time and some real angles to work with, if they’re committed to the idea of rebuilding the diva division then the smart idea would be to keep the title on Kaitlyn.

Bad Booking: The yo-yo push of Tamina part 624. She is pushed strong for three weeks, then the momentum is halted suddenly. Kaitlyn will win, and Snuka won’t have the chance to squash her adversary from the top of a Chamber pod.

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The Shield vs. John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus

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Daniel Johnson:  I can’t see this match topping the one that The Shield had in December. I’d love to be proven wrong though. Just like The Shied proved me wrong by so far not becoming a more serious version of The Spirit Squad. With that said I think The Shield will score a massive upset.

Kyle Childers: The chances of the Shield winning this match are lower than the tops of Hornswoggle’s socks but that’s okay. With Cena likely facing The Rock at Wrestlemania, the Ryback win streak continuing and Sheamus being Irish John Cena it makes perfect sense for the odds to overcome the Shield especially with the booking possibility of rehabbing their loss at Wrestlemania. The only real prediction to make here is how foolish the Three CenAmigos make Heyman’s hitmen look in the process.

Bad Booking: It is 100 percent imperative that The Shield wins. Three promising up and comers need the rub and subsequent push more than the three guys whose solid foundation can afford a loss or two. I can see The Shield continuing their thing with Ryback all the way to Wrestlemania in an even more epic tag match. However, it needs to be said: This son of a bitch needs the Chamber, WARGAMES STYLE! It would put over The Shield as a bad-ass team who can make a super-strong babyface say I quit.

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Jack Swagger vs. Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane vs. Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton in an Elimination Chamber match

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Daniel Johnson:  This is perhaps the toughest match on the card to predict. I would love Daniel Bryan to win, but I just don’t see that happening. Since Alberto Del Rio will most likely beat The Big Show a heel needs to win. I’ll pick Mark Henry. Unless Jericho wins and Dolph Ziggler cashes in on Del Rio. Yeah, on second though that makes way more sense than a Henry win.

Kyle Childers: With so many possible victors it’s hard to pick just one…okay maybe not, I don’t think many would argue in favor of Team Hell No in this one and his recent time in the midcard makes it a smart bet that Randy Orton won’t be going to Wrestlemania for a title shot but with the Hall of Pain open for business again, the seemingly obvious potential match-up of Swagger vs. Del Rio, or even the incredible outlier of Ziggler winning the title and continuing the 2012 mini-feud he had with Jericho on the grandest stage of them all. If Del Rio retains then Jack Swagger will win, if my bold prediction of Ziggler as champion comes true then Y2J will be victorious.

Bad Booking: It depends where it falls on the card. Although I think the dissension between Kane and Daniel Bryan will continue.

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The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio (c) (with Ricardo Rodriguez) for the World Heavyweight Championship

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Daniel Johnson: Alberto Del Rio cannot lose this one. However, The Big Show won’t be the only one disappointed. This was by far the least interesting match at last month’s pay-per-view and it will drag down the card yet again. Let’s just hope Del Rio/Show ends here and doesn’t drag on like Del Rio/Sheamus from last year.

Kyle Childers: This is a match that I’m way more excited about than I feel I have any right to be. So far, Berto and the Big Show have had great chemistry in their matches with Del Rio playing a more engaging face than he ever even approached as a heel. The obvious pick is Alberto Del Rio but maybe not for obvious reasons; one direction we could see from here has plucky babyface Del Rio against survivalist Swagger (comes with beard and kung-fu ankle lock. Zeb Colter sold separately), but with the looming possibility of Dolph Ziggler cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase and this being the last big event before Wrestlemania, it’s entirely possible that Dolph Ziggler will leave New Orleans with the title.

Bad Booking: I’m not telling who is going to win as much as that where this match is placed will be 100 percent crucial for the rest of the card. If this is placed early, that means Ziggler is cashing in and Jericho wins the Elimination Chamber. If it is placed later in the card, then expect ADR to win and have a heel like Mark Henry win the Chamber.

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CM Punk (with Paul Heyman) vs. The Rock (c) for the WWE Championship

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Daniel Johnson:  The stipulation that if The Rock gets disqualified or counted out he loses the title makes things a bit interesting. I can’t see The Rock losing going into Wrestlemania. I think that The Rock will win after doing something that he should have been disqualified for. This will make room for Cena/Rock II to be turned into a three way with Punk.

Kyle Childers: I almost don’t want to write about this match but journalistic integrity prevents me from abstaining. Last month, I went out on a limb and picked CM Punk to retain over The Rock and technically, I was right but to be entirely honest, I wish I had been wrong. It’s hard to question that, even with the extra stipulations added, this is just WWE’s way of making The Rock look even stronger than a milk ad before the twice in a lifetime rematch with Cena in New York. Even with Punk’s historic title reign, the business potential of a second Cena/Rock showdown is too alluring to stray away from so, unfortunately, I expect the Rock to leave Elimination Chamber still the WWE champion.

Bad Booking: The Rock will retain the championship. No way he is heading into Wrestlemania without the belt, plus the publicity he could give the title would be huge as many movies are opening up soon. Did I mention the pay-per-view is sponsored by the new GI Joe movie that got pushed back from prime-time summertime so Rock can benefit from the PR? Anyhow, I think a swerve could happen in something NO ONE could expect: Brock Lesnar screws CM Punk, and establishes Paul Heyman as a guy whose primary mission is to only serve himself. Wise words from Hall of Famer (cheap pop) MICK FOLEY! Brock/Punk would be a great curve ball to Wrestlemania. Let HHH and Undertaker sit on the sidelines, because they have bigger things to accomplish.

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Photo Credits:

Photos 1-7: en.wikipedia.org

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Jan 27 2013
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Smooth Runs

WWE Pay-Per-View Roundtable: Royal Rumble (2013)

by Daniel Johnson, Kyle Childers, Jeremy Cundiff and Bad Booking

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The Miz vs. Antonio Cesaro (c) for the WWE United States Heavyweight Championship

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Daniel Johnson: It is a crime that Antonio Cesaro is not featured on the main Royal Rumble show apart from the Rumble match itself. What would be more of a crime would be if The Miz defeated him for the WWE United States Championship. I just don’t see The Miz coming out with the victory in this one. WWE has done too good of a job pushing Cesaro to botch his title run with a loss on a pay-per-view pre-show. It is also worth mentioning that The Miz really doesn’t need a run with that championship now and if he did get it, it would probably fade into the background again.

Kyle Childers: The WWE is doing something rare with this Cesaro run, they’re actually giving him time to get over while holding the title. While he had issues early on, Cesaro has finally found a foothold with the crowd in his United States of Antonio gimmick. For this reason I see them keeping the momentum going and the title on Cesaro.

Jeremy Cundiff: I would love to see Cesaro win and set up a Miz/Cesaro program, more because I am a fan of Cesaro and want to see him over than because I’d like to see Miz catch on again. But I’m tossing up my prediction and leaning with Cesaro, even though my gut is telling me they might go ahead and put it on Miz. Either way, this one will be a solid one, or at least it should be.

Bad Booking: Cesaro gets the win and moves on to bigger and better things. Miz needs that figure four to go away!

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Team Rhodes Scholars vs. Team Hell No (c) for the WWE Tag Team Championship

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Daniel Johnson: I’m going to be optimistic about this one and say Team Rhodes Scholars defeats Team Hell No. Bryan needs to get away from Kane and start shining as a singles competitor. Yet, all in all it is worth mentioning that none of these wrestlers needs to be in a tag team and could all do better as singles competitors (apart from Kane who would probably just play psycho for the umpteenth time). WWE is letting their tag team division slip again anyway so Bryan, Rhodes and Sandow need to be let loose.

Kyle Childers: While I’m a fan of both teams, the graduation segment sort of brought some finality to Team Hell No. It was like a band doing their farewell concert and performing all the hits before that last encore. As much as I’d like to see Sandow and Rhodes find singles success, it’s hard to argue against them winning the titles at the Rumble.

Jeremy Cundiff: Hmm…this one’s up in the air, too. I say the champs retain, and then we wait for some more tag teams to step up…otherwise we could be heading into another tag team drought. Shame, because that shit was just starting to pick up.

Bad Booking: If there is any time to pull the trigger on the inevitable break-up of Hell No, better start here. Replay the whole Harts/Quebecers scenario, but Kane is Bret Hart to Bryan’s Owen Hart. Don’t worry about Bryan though, he’ll still be popular/over as hell.

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The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez) (c) in a last man standing match for the World Heavyweight Championship

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Daniel Johnson: Talk about a dull match to balance out Rock/Punk with. Alberto Del Rio will most likely win this bout that will surely serve as a bathroom break for many. I really hope they prove me wrong, but I don’t see that happening.

Kyle Childers: Didn’t we see this match already? I swear that we did, I mean, I watch a lot of wrestling but I know I didn’t imagine it. Same match, same result. WWE seems very high on Del Rio as a face but there’s always the wild card of Ziggler and his Money in the Bank.

Jeremy Cundiff: Oh God, no…I’m covering my eyes as I type this out, but Del Rio. They’re really going to try and make him a likeable face…for the love of Eddie Gilbert, just get Ricardo off on his own and out in the ring already!

Bad Booking: The most redundant match on the whole card. I wouldn’t be so surprised to see both men knocked out which allows Ziggler to cash the briefcase.

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The Rock vs. CM Punk (with Paul Heyman) for the WWE Championship

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Daniel Johnson: The Rock will reclaim the title and it may even close out the show. Punk has had a great run despite some hiccups here and there. There is no shame in Punk dropping it now and if the WWE wants to go with another WWE Championship run for the The Rock they probably won’t get a better time to do it than this year’s Wrestlemania season.

Kyle Childers: This one seems like a foregone conclusion to most, it’s Wrestlemania season and all signs point to the once in a lifetime rematch of Cena vs. The Rock at Wrestlemania with the WWE Championship on the line but I’m an optimist. I’m also Team Knees 2 Faces in the encounter, however foolish that may be.

Jeremy Cundiff: This is the moneymaking match for Wrestlemania. Or so I thought. I hate to say it, but I think I know where this one is going to go. The Rock beats Punk, going on to face John Cena in a rematch at Wrestlemania where Cena gets the belt back from Rock. And I don’t like it one damn bit.

Bad Booking: The Rock is going to win sadly. WWE has invested too much money in him, and not winning the title is not in the cards. Don’t worry for Punk though. He can still enter the Rumble, and enter Wrestlemania as the one who is about to end the streak!

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2013 Royal Rumble Match

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Daniel Johnson: I’m banking on Dolph Ziggler to pull out the victory here. Speaking of banking since Ziggler already has a Money in the Bank briefcase itcould be either great or garbage if he wins the Rumble. With the brand split over the unification of the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship should be inevitable. If Ziggler wins he could win both titles and restore them. Yet, it could be garbage as that might just be getting fans’ hopes up for something special. Plus,with all the people WWE pushes as main event players a title unification would really throw the main event scene out of whack. Apart from that as I’ve mentioned elsewhere I’d love to see El Generico appear in the Rumble even if it is just a one time appearance and that character never appears in WWE again. With there being no chance of that happening WWE better deliver as far as surprise entrants go. Also, if Rock and Punk don’t close out the show the chances of one of them winning the Rumble is through the roof.

Kyle Childers: As sad as it is, over the last few years the Rumble winner has started to matter less and less. 2008 saw John Cena use his shot at No Way Out instead of Wrestlemania, lose and then lose his rematch in a triple threat at Wrestlemania XXIV. Randy Orton, Edge, and Alberto Del Rio all won the Rumble and then lost their title challenges while the sole Rumble winner/champion got his shot in an opening match that lasted 18 seconds. This year seems to be the year that WWE brings some significance back to the Royal Rumble and that burden looks like it will fall on John Cena.

Jeremy Cundiff: I see Cena and Ziggler are both in this match, and I see two potential outcomes. One is John Cena winning, and going on to face The Rock in a Wrestlemania rematch for the WWE Championship. That is the predictable one that I’ve seen coming since last year, and one they’ve probably had booked for a while. The other is the one that the fans are seemingly demanding, the one that goes against all logic. That one is Dolph Ziggler winning the Rumble, thus being the only guy to ever have two guaranteed title shots at the same time…and that’s all I’ve got to say about that. As for miscellaneous stuff…screw Wrestlemania, THIS is the one pay-per-view a year I will spend the cake on. And the Royal Rumble match is the reason why. It is the big shock event of the year, seemingly, where you can see guys returning for just one night, or coming back to blaze a new career path. You can see strange pairings, amazing match-ups, and moments where shit just stops making sense. I LOVE the Rumble, and where WWE has spent 2012 to be firing on all cylinders, I can only hope they’ve saved something for 2013. Tonight should be worth the delinquent cable bill, my friends.

Bad Booking: Dolph Ziggler or John Cena are the really obvious answers to me. Ziggler for the heel heat, and Cena to set up Wrestlemania with The Rock. That being said, don’t be surprised if Brock Lesnar and HHH brawl to start their Wrestlemania program. Also, I think Mark Henry returning to destroy The Shield would be an awesome sight too. Ryback most likely will have the most eliminations, because he needs to be fed!

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Photo Credits:

Photos 1, 3-5: en.wikipedia.org

Photo 2: dropkickradio.com

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Jan 26 2013
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Smooth Runs

Random Roundtable: Looking Back at 2012 and Forward to 2013

by Daniel Johnson, Kyle Childers, Jeremy Cundiff and Bad Booking

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What wrestler do you think deserves to be called Mr. 2012 or Ms./Mrs. 2012?

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Daniel Johnson: CM Punk deserves the title of Mr. 2012 beyond a shadow of a doubt. He held the WWE Championship for the entirety of the year and had some good to great matches with the likes of Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, John Cena and others. While not nearly as well known in the United States Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada have also been tearing the scene up in NJPW and perhaps deserve some honorable mentions. As for female performers, AJ Lee hogs enough time each week that regardless of quality she almost has to be the choice for Ms. 2012.

Kyle Childers: Mr. 2012 is, without question, CM Punk. Was there anyone that could outclass him in 2012? He started the year as WWE champion, had a great series of title defenses against the likes of Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan and John Cena. Some people may say the character has gotten stagnant or that the heel turn shouldn’t have happened but even after the turn and the Heyman team up Punk was one of, if not the, most interesting characters in the WWE. Without question, 2012 was the year of the Punk. The question of Ms. 2012 is a bit harder for me since I’m a wrestling fan that exists in this odd sort of WWE, BJW, DDT bubble which really aren’t the best promotions for women. Based on my viewing habits, I’ll give the title of Ms. 2012 to Paige. She’s still very new on the American scene and hasn’t made it to either of the main shows yet but her in-ring talent shined in NXT this year as she put on some of the most enjoyable women’s matches the WWE has produced in a long time.

Jeremy Cundiff: CM Punk. Everyone else who’s been on top this year was already on top. Punk is now elevated to that level. They got behind him, and it’s paid off. Cementing yourself in the upper echelon and only needing one full year to do it? You earned that, Punk.

Bad Booking:  Mr. 2012: CM PUNK! The man’s been the champion for the whole year, a feat that hasn’t been matched since Hulk Hogan in 1987. He has had a great variety of title defenses against many different characters. He can virtually work with anyone, anywhere, any time. He may very well be the best overall WWE Champion since Shawn Michaels in 1996-1998. The late addition of Paul Heyman only adds to the intrigue. Both heel and face, amongst the best and freshest things WWE has had going in the last little while. Ms. 2012: AJ Lee. I’m only writing this because she is the best overall woman in the WWE. That was a sad but true sentence to write. WWE has pretty much told us sports entertainment fans that women just don’t matter unless they have a vague presence of authority. At least with AJ, we have an unstable skippy who makes everything unpredictable and fun. That’s more than I can think of for anyone else eligible.

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Who was 2012 the worst year ever for?

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Daniel Johnson: Two names come to mind as far as 2012 being the worst year for them ever. Christian is the first to come to mind. With more injuries and lack of a serious push when he was healthy it solidified that he would never be at the level of World Heavyweight Champion again even if he is tremendously talented. Speaking of the World Heavyweight Championship Jack Swagger would be my second choice. With how little he did in 2012 it is tough to imagine he once carried that strap.

Kyle Childers: The TNA fans. I know I said I exist in a bubble of fandom and that’s true but there was a time earlier this year when Impact Wrestling was among my weekly watch-list and that was before Aces & 8s. That’s not to say the whole angle was terrible, it wasn’t, the starting few months were pretty good TV but then Devon was revealed as not the leader and things all went to hell. After months of rampant speculation, very little development, no resolution, and the rumor that TNA creative plans to extend the feud at least until Lockdown, possibly to Bound for Glory, 2012 was a bad year to be a TNA fan.

Jeremy Cundiff: Zack Ryder, easily. He started 2012 as being one of the few, if not the only, guys in WWE to get himself over WITHOUT the company pushing him in any way, shape or form. The fans got behind him moreso than anybody they’ve been forcefed in the last decade. WWE repaid this man’s extra effort by promptly burying the ever-loving piss out of him, letting every single wrestler in the industry know that you’re never going to make it in this business unless WWE SAYS YOU ARE. Zack Ryder not only had the worst year ever, but to me, that killed the dreams of every youngster in the indies. How could I expect to bust my ass knowing that even if the fans do like me, I’ll just get buried if I’m not what corporate wants?

Bad Booking: This is a tough one. WWE hasn’t really had a bad year in terms of Raw, Smackdown, or any of the other shows. However, there are two downsides to their current programming mantra: One, there is too much of WWE’s product on television. Three hours of Raw, two hours of Smackdown, one hour of Main Event and countless other online shows done on the WWE site. That’s at least six hours a week of original programming, not including specials and pay-per-views. OVERKILL! In turn, there is a big hint of indifference towards the product. Raw has pretty much been labelled the “must see” show. The effect of this is that all the other shows not named Raw have significant amounts of time devoted to recapping major angles on the flagship show. Geez, isn’t that what the Internet is there for?

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What is the one match that you want to see for Wrestlemania this year?

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Daniel Johnson: I love dream matches and WWE having The Rock, Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, HHH, John Cena, CM Punk and others has a ton of potential. Yet, I’d rather see a match between two full-time wrestlers with proven chemistry on the biggest show of the year. CM Punk and Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania XXIX would be a match people could still talk about positively 20 years later. They nearly had a 5 star match on a B pay-per-view. Imagine what they could do at Wrestlemania?

Kyle Childers: Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker in a street fight. Lots of speculation points to Lesnar taking on HHH again at Wrestlemania and while I’m sure the creative team thinks that’s awesome and HHH is itching to get his win back, it’s not what the fans want. Give Taker and Lesnar 20-25 minutes to just beat the hell out of each other, no end of an era, no overly dramatic stipulations, just two dudes attempting to punch each other into comas on the grandest stage of them all.

Jeremy Cundiff: The Rock vs. CM Punk. Only feud going on right now that might convince people to pay for the show. Everyone else is doing well, but they ain’t doing well enough to sell Wrestlemania. The Rock is guaranteed to have that show built completely around him, and since he’s already put John Cena down I believe they have no choice but to feed Punk to The Rock. Punk will at least make The Rock’s vacation in the WWE entertaining. And there’s always a chance that Punk will win, as opposed to anybody else they throw at Dwayne.

Bad Booking: The match I want to see for Wrestlemania this year is Undertaker/John Cena. Although these two have had run-ins here and there, their last major feud occurred in 2003 as completely different entities. Think of how these two men have evolved since then. Undertaker is an outlaw elder statesman, capable of getting a great match from anyone. John Cena is in a point of his career where not only does he still draw like gangbusters, but just his name recognition gets main event status. Undertaker’s career is coming to a close, and there is no better time than now to have the face of the WWE versus a man who is practically WWE.

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In the WWE by the end of 2013 what wrestlers will have held the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships, respectively?

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Daniel Johnson: For the WWE Championship CM Punk, The Rock and John Cena will have all held it. I see The Rock beating CM Punk at the Royal Rumble and Cena getting his win back at Wrestlemania. Perhaps someone could beat Cena later in the year as well, but if that happens I just see it going back to Punk. Sheamus will win back the World Heavyweight Championship either from Alberto Del Rio or possibly from The Big Show if he gets it back.

Kyle Childers: By the end of 2013, most of the people will be old faces and I’m okay with that. The WWE Championship is the top tier prize in the company to be given to whoever is established enough for WWE to promote him as THE face of the company (barring Sheamus and The Miz) so 2013′s WWE title holders will likely consist of CM Punk, The Rock and John Cena. There’s an off chance that Bryan or Ziggler will get a run with it but it seems more likely Ziggler willl get a World Heavyweight Championship reign along with Damien Sandow. I’m still holding out hope that Wade Barrett sees a title run soon.

Jeremy Cundiff: I see Sheamus holding one of the titles for sure. The other is a total blank to me. It’s a tie between Cena and Punk, although if there was ever a year to pull a Tommy Rich and shock people, this year would be it. I’d love to see Ziggler get at least a chance, but as I said once before—until Dolph turns face, he’s not going to get that big win. He just can’t. It’s the Shawn Michaels effect—the cocky heel who sells so good he can’t help but turn face. The turn has to be done right—gradually and logically. If that turn does not happen in 2013, then expect the same old guard until the next level is ready.

Bad Booking: WWE Championship: CM Punk and John Cena. World Heavyweight Championship: Big Show, Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Randy Orton and Damien Sandow.

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By the end of 2013 what wrestlers will have held the top titles in TNA, ROH and the NWA, respectively?

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Daniel Johnson: Jeff Hardy will drop the TNA World Heavyweight Championship to Christopher Daniels if TNA is smart (meaning we may never get a Daniels run). If TNA does go with Daniels don’t expect him to have it for long as he will likely transition it to another face. My money is on James Storm since he was on fire in the last few months of 2012. For the ROH World Heavyweight Championship it is tough to see anyone defeating Kevin Steen at the moment. Still, Steen will probably drop it sometime before the end of the year. Possibly Davey Richards or Adam Cole could upset him. Lastly, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship will be around “The Tokyo Monster” Kahagas’ waist for some time. I see NWA eventually deciding to give it to a more well-known indie wrestler though. For some reason I’m thinking Steve Corino.

Kyle Childers: TNA: If Christopher Daniels or Bully Ray haven’t been champion by the end of the year, TNA hates their fans. ROH: I would answer this question but I don’t follow ROH well enough to have the slightest idea. I couldn’t even tell you who their champion is currently. NWA: The highest bidder for the belt.

Jeremy Cundiff: Austin Aries will get a second run with the TNA belt. Count on it. In ROH, I’d expect El Generico to finally get his run at the top, if Kevin Steen still isn’t. As for the NWA, I can’t even begin to tell you anymore. I’m shocked there’s still an NWA to begin with, and the only two guys I knew who were in the NWA World title picture (Colt Cabana and Adam Pearce) just walked out on them.

Bad Booking: I can really only answer for TNA mainly because I don’t follow the other two.TNA:  Austin Aries, Bully Ray and Jeff Hardy.

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What independent star will make it big in 2013?

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Daniel Johnson: El Generico would be a predictable answer since he just got signed to WWE, but I see WWE botching his push. This is perhaps cheating a little, but I think Steen will make it big (or bigger). WWE or TNA (the latter of which I find more likely) may sign him at some point and give him a decent push. I could definitely see Steen being put in the Aces & 8s’ angle. Whether he could survive that angles’ inherent goofiness is tougher to say.

Kyle Childers: 2013 will be the year I keep the dream of Kenny Omega finally making it in the U.S. alive.

Jeremy Cundiff: I don’t see anyone catching fire really. If Joey Ryan couldn’t do it in TNA this year, I don’t know who will this year.

Bad Booking: Either Tony Nese or Sami Callihan. Both are great talents who don’t need any developmental work.

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By the end of 2013 what will be the most impressive use of foreign talent by WWE/TNA?

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Daniel Johnson: This one is really tough especially since WWE’s plan to sign Kazuchika Okada just fell through (if it ever actually existed). I’m reaching here a bit, but I wouldn’t be shocked if WWE finally unlocked some of Sin Cara’s true potential. Maybe he’ll just have a little more success with Rey Mysterio or actually be pushed in the upper midcard for a bit. Alternatively, Del Rio is a safer bet, but is pushing him down people’s throats really a sign of success? As for TNA they would be crazy not to do more with Magnus (which again may be a good sign that they won’t).

Kyle Childers: I think 2013 will be a big year for Antonio Cesaro, he’s got all the right tools and he’s finally starting to get a foothold in popularity. Hopefully the WWE gets behind him as a legitimate star in the next year.

Jeremy Cundiff: Alberto Del Rio actually gets over.

Bad Booking: Foreign talent…hmm…I just really hope WWE and TNA can promote talent for their talent and not predictable stereotypes.

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What wrestler do you think will be Mr. or Ms./Mrs. 2013?

dolphziggler

Daniel Johnson: I could see Bryan breaking away from Kane to become Mr. 2013. The guy is more phenomenal in the ring than AJ Styles and while I don’t care for a lot of his mic work all those people chanting “yes” or “no” seem to disagree with me. As for Ms. 2013 I’ll say Kaitlyn. Like AJ Lee, WWE love her. Unlike AJ Lee, WWE are actually willing to showcase her in-ring skills.

Kyle Childers: I really hope that when I write my portion of this next year I can spend most of my time talking about what a great year Dolph Ziggler had.

Jeremy Cundiff: Anybody but Garett Bischoff.

Bad Booking: Mr. 2013: Dolph Ziggler sounds like a damn good bet. He’s catching fire just as we go to Wrestlemania season. He looks really good right now. Ms./Mrs. 2013: Kaitlyn will be promoted as a big-time women’s player. Too bad we’ve all come to expect piss breaks for diva matches/sketches.

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Any other thoughts on what will be in 2013?

hiroshitanahashi

Daniel Johnson: 2013 has the potential to be an incredible year. Wrestlemania in particular looks exciting with all of the aforementioned dream match potential. On a different note NXT has also been working to turn out a fine crop of talent. As for non-WWE related stuff NJPW can do no wrong with Okada and if his upward momentum continues he has a shot at succeeding Hiroshi Tanahashi as the true face of the company. TNA while not having the dream match potential of the WWE will continue to put out quality programming (as mistake heavy as it may be). Finally, the indies as always are unpredictable and I look forward to seeing what talent debuts and what talent steps up.

Kyle Childers: With NXT running strong with a deep talent roster of varied superstars, 2013 and will be looked at much in the same light as 2002 was in terms of introducing us to the next line of talent that will be the focus of the company for the next ten years.

Jeremy Cundiff: This is the year the fan will not be ignored.

Bad Booking: WWE and TNA need to prove they can rejuvenate an audience and promote new talent. Especially on WWE’s side, the main event scene needs a little shuffling with the midcard looking ready to cross over big time. 2013 could be a fruitful year if the chess pieces are placed properly.

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Photo Credits:

Photos 1-6, 8-9: en.wikipedia.org

Photo 7: tribalwrestling.com

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Dec 28 2012
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Wrestling Lists

6 Wrestlers TNA Should Sign/Re-sign…Just for Giggles

by Daniel Johnson

I’ve heard TNA called the “spiritual successor of WCW” and for a while I almost believed it. However, if you’ve been watching TNA television lately then you’ll know that TNA is far too financially responsible to be the spiritual successor of Ted Turner’s money pit. Where are all the needless mini-concerts by incredibly pricey music groups, D-list celebrities and contracts for stars of yesteryear?

Okay, you TNA haters. It is true enough that the company has been guilty of all of these sins to some extent. Still, the asylum (or former asylum anyway) is nowhere near as badly run in TNA as it was in WCW. However, here are a few wrestlers TNA could sign to start fixing that. Why, you may ask? Just for giggles.

1. Vader

Vader made a brief return to the WWE earlier this year and promptly squashed Heath Slater. He then followed this up by coming to blows with a nearly 70 year old Harley Race. Even with Vince Russo gone the company has shown a desire to continue booking worked-shoots. Well, using the WCW philosophy there is no better way to trick an audience into believing something might be real than hiring someone who may actually have a screw or two lose. How else can you explain Scott Steiner’s  2000-2001 push? Sure, the mastodon may not be as fearsome as he once was and there is no way he can cut a promo like Scott Steiner (who can?), but to live up to WCW’s name TNA needs to starting taking chances. Incredible chances, illogical chances, idiotic chances! With TNA’s riskiest recent signing being Christian York a guy who probably should have been signed to a major company ten years ago and probably gets paid with Monopoly money, TNA needs to throw some big bucks at Vader to balance things out.

2. Shark Boy

sharkboy

With TNA showing some love for underwhelming reveals recently the company has taken some strides to resemble the old WCW. But was Devon really as bad of a reveal as Road Warrior Animal? Perhaps. Still, sometimes “perhaps” just isn’t good enough. A way to top this would be by running some short vignettes saying that “3:16 is coming to TNA” only to reveal that instead of Austin, TNA has brought back Shark Boy with his tribute to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin gimmick. Actually, going beyond just for giggles bringing back Shark Boy may not be that bad of an idea. He could work with a lot of the X division guys and TNA could probably get away with not paying him that much. Of course as long as York is willing to share his Monopoly money with Shark Boy then why not?

3. Adam Bomb

adambomb

Now, I know what you’re saying. “Isn’t that guy dead.” No, that’s Brian Adams. Yes, it is easy to get the former Demolition Crush mixed up with people whether it be his former tag team partners or a Canadian singer-songwriter. What you also may be saying is, “Hasn’t Bryan Clarke been retired for like 10 years? God knows what kind of shape he is in?” To that I answer that if Brock Lesnar can return to the WWE in 2012 then surely Adam Bomb can return to TNA in 2013. If nothing else he could be signed to a short term contract and fed to a bigger hoss the way that he was fed to Bill Goldberg in the original WCW. I think Samoa Joe is hungry.

4. El Generico

elgenericoLike Shark Boy this guy could fit in great by wrestling the X division roster. Plus, one of the legacies that WCW left behind was the company’s tendency to sign world class talent and do absolutely nothing with them. They had the technical wizard himself, freaking Yuji Nagata for over a year and the most he did was briefly feud with Ultimo Dragon and then was quietly swept under the ring. Just think of all the potential they could pee away with El Generico. Generico is one of the most well traveled independent wrestles out there and has wrestled in countries as random as Peru, Chile and Sweden. TNA signing him to an exclusive contract could kill that traveling act just like Nagata’s commitment to WCW prevented who knows how many potential great matches for NJPW. Somewhere John Laurinaitis’ mouth is watering.

5. Kevin Steen

kevinsteen

El Generico and Kevin Steen go together like peanut butter and ketchup to a weirdo without taste buds. For some reason you can’t have one without the other. If TNA signed El Generico then it stands to reason that they would have to sign Steen…then promptly make no mention of their past history together. Steen is the kind of guy who could come in and if positioned right could look like a legitimate challenge to someone the company has already built up. Say Bully Ray for example. Of course if they were to follow the WCW model they couldn’t book him that well. After all his name is Kevin Steen, not Bil Goldberg or Lance Storm. So if TNA signed Steen then perhaps the best he could hope for would be a one sided feud with Bully before quickly dropping down the card. Alternatively, they could throw him in with Aces & 8s since the company loves to throw away talent that way.

6. Scott Steiner

scottsteinerAs mentioned earlier no one can cut a promo quite like Scott Steiner so why not bring him back? He’s already suing TNA anyway so what could be a more amicable way to end this bad blood then with a nice fat paycheck. On the negative side Scott Steiner has been hit or miss in the ring for a while now and he’s not getting any younger. On the positive side the man has that Ultimate Warrior kind of appeal that can only come from some legitimate insanity. Kind of like why Damien Demento developed a cult following after he started making Internet videos a few years back. Wait! That’s it! Give Steiner his own Internet recap show! License to print money.

Photo Credits:

Photos 1-2, 4-6: en.wikipedia.org

Photo 3: onlineworldofwrestling.com

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Nov 24 2012
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Wrestling Lists

5 WWE Feuds That Accomplished Nothing

by Kyle Childers

Sports entertainment is a product based on feuds. The conflict between performers is what drives the angles at the core of almost every wrestling program produced post 1985. The innovator of the story driven overhaul of the sport of professional wrestling is undoubtedly WWE owner Vince McMahon. If not for McMahon making his product the only game in town in the 1980s while focusing on higher production values and more angle driven direction it’s entirely likely that the wrestling landscape in 2012 would be vastly different from what it is.

Probably not the worst idea I’ve ever heard…

But being the creator of something doesn’t automatically make you the best at it and sometimes even the WWE has a feud or angle that accomplishes far less than intended. This list is five feuds from the last ten years that either did nothing to help the workers involved or didn’t have the intended effects.

5. Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena (2012)

Brock Lesnar’s return in the Spring of 2012 is easily one of the top stories of the year, sending shockwaves through the wrestling industry and that one guy in the front row into convulsions. Not only was it the first time Lesnar had been in the WWE in eight years, his intial assault of John Cena promised a follow up to an angle that occured in 2003 when young up-and-comer John Cena challenged WWE Champion Brock Lesnar for his title at Backlash 2003. However, this time, Cena was a ten time world champion and Lesnar was returning following his time in the UFC, which included Lesnar having a run with the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Where could they possibly go wrong?

Where They Went Wrong

Spoiler: Cena wins. Some may disagree that having Cena win was a mistake, after all he is the undisputed top draw the WWE has to offer.

Best in the world…at selling t-shirts.

Factor his drawing power against the fact that he just lost what he and the commentators put over as the most important match of his career against The Rock at Wrestlemania XXVIII and it’s easy to see how the creative team and Mr. McMahon would want to have Cena look strong in a high profile match. The only problem is that John Cena didn’t really need the win because he’s John freaking Cena. If watching the WWE over the years has taught me one thing it’s that nothing bothers John Cena. Well, except Wade Barrett, Cena tried to murder him.

Then again, nothing bothers Brock Lesnar either, a man one step below The Terminator in determination after he’s decided to destroy something. The weeks leading up to Extreme Rules saw Lesnar F5 Cena and negotiate his contract to include such clauses as changing the name of Monday Night Raw to reflect his starring role. When the pay-per-view rolled around, Lesnar spent most of the match treating Cena like a meat-filled punching bag, bludgeoning and blooding the former Doctor of Thuganomics for the better part of fifteen minutes (and shaking off a potential knee injury along the way) before a chain assisted right hand and attitude adjustment secured the win for Cena. After the match, Cena cut a promo that alluded to taking time off and then he totally didn’t. No, John showed up on Raw the next night, and most Mondays since, before feuding with John Laurinitis while Lesnar kayfabed time off until SummerSlam. A Lesnar victory would’ve perfectly set up Cena to take the time he probably needs while establishing Lesnar as a big deal to the young audience that has no knowledge of his previous run.

4. Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton (2009)

Remember 2009? That magical, unforgetable time when Jeff Hardy and CM Punk were getting their first shots at being “top guys” and Raw had guest hosts? Okay, I’ll admit that second wasn’t all that magical but it is hard to forget, mostly because the doctor told me that I had to choose between forgetting guest hosts or total liver failure.

Liver failure’s suddenly not sounding too bad…

The guest host thing wasn’t all bad though right? I mean, it did give us the return of Bret Hart, William Shatner “singing” superstar entrance themes, and R-Truth exploding. Unfortunately, of those three bright spots, only The Hitman coming back had long term implications. Another angle that failed to live up to it’s potential in a big way (even bigger than R-Truth not staying blown up somehow), started when Raw was hosted by Kyle Busch and Joey Logano who gave Randy Orton a custom stock car for some reason. Later in the evening, Kofi Kingston took it upon himself to give Orton’s new ride a fresh yellow paint job along with fancy key scratches down the side and a swanky dent from a production trunk. Kofi capped (or is it “kapped?”) it all off with a crowbar beating to the car all while screaming, “I got you Randy” approximately 43,000 times. Despite my aloof description, the segment was actually pretty good and for the first time Kofi Kingston was showing real main event potential.

Where They Went Wrong

Kofi Kingston is Intercontinental Champion in 2012. Some may say that’s a good thing but three years ago at the Survivor Series, Kofi pinned Orton cleanly to be the sole survivor on a team he captained while this year he was the fourth person eliminated from a Survivor Series match while Orton went on to again be the last eliminated.

Not only did Kofi pin Orton at Survivor Series, he also defeated him on a Raw following the event. Not bad for a guy that had been pretending to be Jamaician and representing the midcard most of his WWE career. It all came toppling down for Kofi a few blown spots and Orton victories later as he was vanquished back to the midcard in 2010 while Randy went on to win the WWE Championship for the sixth time in August. Let us take a few minutes to remember those few minutes that Kofi Kingston was a badass.

October 26, 2009—Never Forget.

3. Edge vs Dolph Ziggler (2011)

Dolph Ziggler is, perhaps, the most naturally gifted performer in WWE today. I’m not saying it’s fact, it’s really just my opinion, but watching Ziggler in the ring it’s hard to deny that with the proper push Dolph would easily fit into the WWE main event scene. Unfortunately, January 2011 was not the time for Mr. Ziggler. It’s hard to imagine that a feud between a WWE Hall of Famer/one of the best workers to come out of the WWE in the last fifteen years and a hungry, young, and naturally determined to make the most of his first main event push star would fail, but if I’ve learned two things from watching WWE over the years it’s nothing bothers John Cena and never underestimate the ability of the creative team to disappoint.

Where They Went Wrong

This feud was once again a case of the problem being the face winning. Okay, it’s not so much that the face won as much as it is how the face won, how many times he won and how little effort he put into winning.

Edge actually pinned Dolph twice between the flash and the shutter.

The feud followed the tried and true wrestling formula of a heel authority figure (Vickie Guerrero in this case) favoring a heel who is pursuing a title. When Ziggler dropped the Intercontinental Championship to Kofi Kingston, ending a five month reign, before winning the number one contendership for the World Heavyweight Championship over Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and The Big Show, it seemed that the 2011 Royal Rumble would be the scene of Dolph’s first World Championship victory. As it turned out, that wouldn’t be the case. Nor would it be the case a few weeks later when Ziggler got a rematch on SmackDown. Ziggler would actually only get to lay hands on the title belt after a violation of a ban on the spear allowed Vickie to hand him the title.

I was going to link to a picture of Ziggler with the belt but this lasted longer.

11 minutes and 43 seconds later, Edge was World Heavyweight Champion again and Ziggler went tumbling back down to the midcard, a position he is only just now starting to claw his way out of. This whole thing is even more tragic when you realize that Dolph once again failed to win the big one with assistance a year later when he faced CM Punk at the Royal Rumble.

2. Booker T. vs. HHH (2003)

What can I say about this feud that hasn’t been said? I could spend this whole entry talking about the racist overtones of the angle or how Booker T. had all of the momentum in the world leading up to their Wrestlemania match and he still somehow lost to the bigoted heel but that’s not where WWE’s blowing of this feud stopped. Somehow a feud between the top heel for the better part of three years and a five time former heavyweight champion seems like a sure thing but…

Where They Went Wrong

At no point in the feud was Booker really treated like a main eventer. Sure, to earn the title shot he went over some of the bigger names in the WWE at the time but once the actual program with HHH started, Booker only had a few moments of strength before Hunter ultimately won. Wrestlemania XIX could’ve been a chance to have a face beat the dominant heel and complete his underdog tale of triumph and redemption. Instead, HHH retained his title and moved on to feud with his old pals Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash while Booker fell down the card and into Intercontinental and Tag reigns.

Then there’s this.

It took Booker T. a complete gimmick overhaul and nearly three and a half years to regain the footing he had in early 2003 while HHH had added another title reign to his list before the end of 2003.

1. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero (2005)

Let me start this entry by saying that this feud only earned a spot not because of what it didn’t do but because of what it undid. Eddie and Rey had a long and storied history spanning multiple companies and two decades that produced some of the finest matches ever seen anywhere. Whether it was WCW Halloween Havoc 1997 or Wrestlemania 21, Guerrero and Mysterio always had amazing chemestry. It makes sense too, they were best friends in real life and had worked together repeatedly. When their feud turned from friendly competition to bitter and heated because Eddie couldn’t seem to score a victory, it provided a new slant to a proven formula.

Where They Went Wrong

They had a ladder match for the custody of a child. Let me just get that out of the way right now because that’s what happened and that’s where this is all building. The angle was going just fine until the build to Great American Bash 2005 when Eddie got all creepy and cryptic by promising to reveal a Mysterio family secret while offering to read Rey’s son Dominic a bedtime story. They went with a ladder match because Chris Hansen refused to referee a To Catch a Predator match.

Predictably, Rey won and even more predictably, Eddie reneged on his promise to keep the secret, which Eddie promised to keep if Rey beat him. Eddie revealed that Rey’s son was actually Eddie’s and Rey and his wife had only adopted him as an infant. Eventually, Eddie brought a social worker to back his claim of parental rights and that gave us the ladder match. This angle could’ve possibly been saved if they had to climb the ladder to actually retrieve Dominic but instead they had to grab a briefcase full of custody papers. Granted, it was a pretty good match and it did have Eddie freaking out over Vickie missing her cue but that’s not enough to save this.

Too little, too late, Vickie.

This wasn’t even the end of the angle. Despite Rey winning the right to keep his child in what really should become legal precedent in all custody suits, they still had one more cage match on SmackDown that Eddie won before feuding with Batista just prior to his untimely death. Really though, when it was all said and done, despite the incredible matches, despite Eddie moving into a title program that he potentially could’ve come out on top of, despite Rey eventually winning the World Heavyweight Championship the next year, no one came out of this feud any better than when it started and that can mostly be blamed on the fact that they fought over the possession of a child.

Photo Credits:

Photos 1-2, 5-7, 9-10: en.wikipedia.org

Photo 3-4, 8, 11: onlineworldofwrestling.com

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Nov 22 2012
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Wrestling Clips

Happy Thanksgiving

Since turkey day is today I thought I’d post a clip of two big guys who look to be going after their dinner. In one corner you have Akebono and Ryota Hama, former sumo wrestlers and two of the heaviest wrestlers today. In the other corner you have Joe Doering and Zodiac. If you directly compare the two then you get the impression that the first team is so big that the other team comes off as kind of scrawny. Doering certainly doesn’t look like a Brock Lesnar-type. Keep this in mind for later on.

The match features a bunch of no-selling by the big boys and some tortoise slow action. The speed of the bout picks up when Akebono splashes Zodiac and Doering in one corner. Hama then comes in and he and Akebono run towards each other leaving Zodiac in the middle. Zodiac becomes a sandwich. A sandwich made out of pain! Hama then runs into Doering while he is resting on the turnbuckles or as one of the commentators puts it “STINK FACE-AAA.” For all the effort of the big men dinner wins out when Hama gets salt thrown in his eyes and Doering hits a death valley driver. Who would have thought Doering had it in him?

Anyway, have a fun Terkay day. Yes, that is short-lived WWE wrestler Sylvester Terkay’s head combined with the body of a turkey.

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Nov 19 2012
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Smooth Runs

MMA: Wrestling’s Distant Cousin 2

It can be a challenge to get into MMA if you’re a wrestling fan. There may be promos, but they are a world apart from those that open WWE Monday Night Raw every week. There may be fighting, but for some wrestling fans matches can often look like they’re filled with nothing, but rest holds. There may be swerves, but…wait a second. On second thought no. There are no swerves in MMA. At least not in the Vince Russo sense of the word. The biggest swerves in MMA for a wrestling fans is when they see a monster like Brock Lesnar go into the ring with Cain Velasquez and watch Lesnar get his ass handed to him.

Sadly, for us Russo fans there will never be an angle where Shane Carwin runs in on a match between Junior dos Santos and Frank Mir for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Of course, if this run-in followed the Russo line of thinking Carwin would immediately get put in a Kimura lock by Mir resulting in old Frank becoming the new champion.  Likewise, Randy Couture is not going to prepare for a comeback only to get blindsided backstage minutes before his fight. Again, following the Russo train of thought the attacker would be revealed the following week as…Randy Couture.

But enough about Vince Russo! Instead let’s discuss an MMA fighter who makes transitioning from being a wrestling fan to a wrestling/MMA fan a lot easier, Tom Lawlor. The following clip shows just how much personality a member of the UFC roster can cram into a minute.

For wrestling fans, Lawlor should gain points just for impersonating former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Dan Severn. Throw in him performing nearly as hilarious tributes to Apollo Creed, Steven Seagal and Olivia Newton John and you have a man who can kill with laughter as well as his fist. Speaking of which in addition to Lawlor’s awesome sense of humor he also has an awesome sense of…well how to beat the crap out of people. Just look at his MMA record according to the ever reliable Wikipedia.

Now before I bury the lede any further you probably know why I am writing about Tom Lawlor today. Especially if you come to this website regularly and you’re an MMA fan. For those who don’t know let’s just say Lawlor’s latest impersonation was shocking:

Who is The Shockmaster? I’m glad you asked. For those who didn’t watch WCW in the mid-1990s, man you avoided a lot of garbage. Not the least of which was Fred Ottman, the man who previously played Tugboat and Typhoon in the WWF debuting as The Shockmaster. If you watched the above clip then you have already more or less watched Ottman’s botch in that debut. I would post the original clip, but why not be proactive and find it on YouTube yourself (plus I need to avoid those copyright infringements).

So, why would Lawlor pay tribute to an obscure and awful wrestling angle? Is he a distant relative of Jerry Lawler that is just really bad at spelling? Did he then want to pay his respects to the masked men of the USWA? Why am I asking so many rhetorical questions? The answer to all these questions is:

1. Again, he has an awesome sense of humor.

2. No.

3. Doubtful.

4. I figured I haven’t used enough lately.

Expanding on the answer to that first question aside from what makes him laugh, Lawlor obviously has a love for the world of professional wrestling. Again, according to the ever reliable Wikipedia he even has a background in wrestling. Admittedly it is amateur wrestling, which about as different from professional wrestling as professional wrestling is from MMA, but hey look there goes the point I was trying to make.

Anyway, plain and simple Lawlor rules and deserves a nice rebound after losing to Francis Carmont at UFC 154.

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Oct 29 2012
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Wrestling Reviews

WWE Hell in a Cell (2012) Review

WWE painted themselves into a corner in a variety of ways with WWE Hell in a Cell 2012. The outcome to the CM Punk/Ryback match for the WWE Championship was bound to be disappointing no matter how it unfolded. At least a run-in could have added an unexpected twist to it. It wouldn’t even necessarily have to be Brock Lesnar (though he probably would have been the best choice). Instead what fans got was a lame nut shot from the referee. Going beyond the main event though WWE had to have known that Sheamus/Big Show was going to be a slow mess that couldn’t possibly make up for Punk/Ryback. While Sheamus/Show was not the worst bout on the card it by no means was a great battle. Even the undercard suffered from a mixture of terrible booking (the chief cause) and matches that didn’t look that exciting to begin with. The match of the night is tough to say. It was either the Randy Orton/Alberto Del Rio opener or Antonio Cesaro defeating Justin Gabriel, but even that was way too short. When one of the best matches on the card is just over seven minutes and features someone who has been treated like a glorified jobber for the past year then it is clear that the show is in big trouble.

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Randy Orton defeated Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez)

Del Rio shows some great in-ring psychology in this bout. He works on Randy Orton’s arm early and often to set up his finisher. Del Rio also uses some standard heel tactics including repeatedly mocking Orton with Orton’s own poses. At one point Del Rio even attempts the RKO! The best move of the match though has to be when Alberto hits Orton with a double stomp from the top rope while Orton  is in the tree of woe position. This proves to not be enough and despite some minor interference from Rodriguez on top of Del Rio’s assault Orton pulls out the victory with an RKO.

Rating: 3.5 stars

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Team Rhodes Scholars defeated Team Hell No (c), but did not win the WWE Tag Team Championship

Some cookie cutter back and forth action that makes one almost overlook just how underutilized Bryan is in this tag team. The action picks up when Bryan tags himself in and nearly annihilates Rhodes with a diving headbutt! Kane is jealous and pulls Bryan off while Daniel is covering Cody. The Rhodes Scholars come back and the fight spills to the outside where Team Hell No is winning the brawl. Bryan and Kane start arguing again and Kane eventually causes the team to get disqualified when he won’t stop attacking the Rhodes Scholars as an illegal man. Lame!

Rating: 2.5 stars

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Kofi Kingston (c) defeated The Miz to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship

The match has an unbelievably slow start and the audience responds accordingly. Kofi gains momentum when he wallops The Miz with a clothesline while Miz is attempting an attack to the corner. Miz shortly after starts to work over Kofi’s left leg and even takes off his boot. Kofi battles back and wins it with a thunder in paradise. Decent, but not a show stealer (even on this show).

Rating: 3 stars

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Antonio Cesaro (c) defeated Justin Gabriel to retain the WWE United States Championship

The two work in some technical wrestling to start. This allows Cesaro, the superior technician to gain an early advantage. Jim Ross mentions that Gabriel is showing shades of Chris Jericho when Gabriel hits a springboard moonsault off of the ropes. Gabriel tries two more aerial maneuvers, but he is not as lucky with either one. First, Gabriel misses a 450 splash. Next, Gabriel dives to the outside, but Cesaro hits him with the European uppercut from Hell! Gabriel sells it like a champ and acts like he is out cold. Cesaro hits a gratuitous neutralizer before the pin. The fans were robbed! This should have been at least another five minutes (in a perfect world at least ten more).

Rating: 3.5 stars

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Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara defeated The Prime Time Players

It doesn’t make much sense to put this match after the more prestigious bout for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but oh well. Titus O’Neil barks a bit when he is charge of the match. I guess he keeps trying to sound like a dog, but he reminds me more of a muscular walrus. Also, the baldness isn’t helping. Mysterio wins it after a top rope splash onto Darren Young. Sin Cara had earlier already taken care of O’Neil with a crossbody to the outside. WWE officials come down to the ring after the match and it looks like Sin Cara might be hurt again. However, it is made clear that he is okay.

Rating: 3 stars

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The Big Show defeated Sheamus (c) to win the World Heavyweight Championship

At least if this was an actual Hell in a Cell match it would have had a gimmick to add to the action. Instead what fans got was a lot of slow moving, a lot of rest holds and a lot of mildly decent brawling. The only good part about this over 20 minute match is the end. Okay, maybe Sheamus managing to hit Big Show with white noise was kind of nifty too. Right before the end Sheamus kicks out of a WMD. Not to be outdone The Big Show kicks out of a brogue kick. Sheamus attempts to hit the big man with another brogue kick, but instead gets hit in mid-kick with a WMD.

Rating: 2.75 stars

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Eve Torres (c) defeated Layla and Kaitlyn to retain the WWE Divas Championship in a three way match

This is the weakest match of the night and the fans are appropriately dead for it. Perhaps more surprisingly the commentary team is dead for it too. At one point JBL says something about all the divas looking alike and it is pretty obvious that he is getting an earful on his magic headset after the comment. Michael Cole tries to call the match, but neither JBL or Jim Ross seem to care instead changing the subject to football. Eve wins following a senton bomb. The Team CoBro skit before the match with Zack Ryder dressed as Eve and Santino Marella dressed as Lady Gaga with a cameo by Ron Simmons was more entertaining.

Rating: 2.25 stars

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CM Punk (c) (with Paul Heyman) defeated Ryback to retain the WWE Championship in a Hell in a Cell match

Throughout the night Paul Heyman had begged Vickie Guerrero to call off the match with no success. Shortly before the championship encounter Punk even personally begged Vince McMahon, but with no success.  After some stalling Punk first really takes charge of the match by using a fire extinguisher and then attempts to nail Ryback with a steel chair. Ryback catches Punk and instead kicks the chair into his face. However, Punk is persistent and after some time gets a chair shot in. The match has only gone on about eleven minutes when Ryback is about to make Punk shell shocked. The weak twist comes when the referee, former Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) star Brad Maddox hits Ryback with a low blow and makes a fast count. Punk and the ref then try to leave the cell, but Ryback is too quick and assaults both of them. The show ends with Ryback celebrating after he performs his shell shocked finisher on top of the cell on Punk. Nope, there are no spots off of the cage or breaking through the cage tonight.

Rating: 2.5 stars

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Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org

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Oct 11 2012
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Wrestling Clips

Sensational Sumo Smashes Samoan

AJPW has made some odd choices in the talent they have brought over from overseas. In 2007 competitor NJPW had Brock Lesnar so the company needed to match that star power with something. That something was a past his prime and way out of shape Rikishi appropriately called in his AJPW run Sumo Rikishi.

The man who sung the lyrical masterpiece, “Put a Little Ass on it” needed to look at least somewhat fit so they feuded him with the small island off the coast of Japan known as Akebono. Here, they wrestle in a tag match alongside their respective partners, Jonny Dan and Toru Owashi.

The two first square off in this bout when Dan is in the ring and signals for Owashi to tag in Akebono. However, once Akebono enters he immediately orders Rikishi to be tagged in. They square off, but no clear winner emerges. The two fight again when Rikishi is about to hit a banzai drop on Owashi, but Akebono stares the big Samoan down. Rikishi then picks up Owashi and forces him to tag in the beastly sumo.

Akebono hits an avalanche in the corner, but Rikishi fights back with a super kick. Akebono gets up and is angry so Rikishi retreats. Dan is tagged in and Akebono scores another avalanche and finishes Dan off after a sumo throw.

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Sep 30 2012
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Wrestling Reviews

WWE SummerSlam (2012) Review

WWE SummerSlam 2012 had a couple of great looking matches going into it. No, really it was just a couple. Okay, maybe putting Chris Jericho/Dolph Ziggler in there to kick the show off makes three. HHH and Brock Lesnar’s fight had the best build and it is difficult to put on a bad CM Punk/John Cena match these days. The WWE tried by throwing The Big Show in there, but it was still pretty entertaining. Theaformentioned Jericho/Ziggler of course delivered and the rest of the show was okay with the exception of Sheamus/Del Rio. The feud was stale going in and their match just made it more obvious that Sheamus should be moving on to a new challenger. Anyway, here is a closer look at WWE’s summer spectacular.

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Chris Jericho defeated Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero)

Ziggler plays a convincing threat to the more experienced and crafty veteran, Chris Jericho. Jericho doesn’t look his age though and even manages a sick hurricanrana on Ziggler. Ziggler gets in some offense as well, but it is just a matter of time before he is trapped in the walls of Jericho. The way Jericho applied this submission reminded me of his WCW days as he really stretches Ziggler in a painful looking way.

Rating: 3.75 stars

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 Daniel Bryan defeated Kane

Kane hits a sweet looking dropkick to Daniel Bryan’s face. It is not long before Bryan hits a dropkick of his own…from off the top rope. Kane dominates a lot of the bout, but Bryan hits two absolutely lethal looking kicks. Bryan makes a mistake when he goes upstairs for a diving headbutt and misses. Kane hits him with a chokeslam and signals for the tombstone piledriver, but Bryan ends up getting out of the deadly move and steals the bout with a small package. At just over eight minutes the bout is way too short and Bryan is wasted here.

Rating: 2.75 stars

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The Miz (c) defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Rey Mysterio comes out in one of his crazy costumes. This time it is a Batman outfit. The dark knight doesn’t rise here though he delivers some pain to Miz even feeding him a 619 at one point. Mysterio messes up and Miz avoids a top rope maneuver. I guess he should have picked a superhero that could fly. Mysterio’s final mistake comes when he charges Miz only to scream right before nailing one of the turnbuckles. Ever the opportunist Miz plants Mysterio with the skull crushing finale for the easy win.

 Rating: 3 stars

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Sheamus (c) defeated Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez) to retain the World Heavyweight Championship

Before this bout there is a backstage segment featuring Punk and AJ Lee. It is lame even though Punk tries his best. A small Mike Chioda chant (that must have come about because he just entered the ring off camera) gets a louder response than anything in this scene. Moving on Sheamus looks like a beast in this match and at on moment lifts Del Rio up while he is applying the cross armbreaker in a maneuver that is tough to believe. Sheamus then follows up with white noise, but only gets a two count. Ricardo attempts to help out Del Rio by tossing him his shoe, but Sheamus grabs it and gives him an Irish curse for the three count even though Del Rio’s foot was on the rope.

 Rating: 2.5 stars

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Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (c) defeated The Prime Time Players to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship

Kofi Kingston and Titus O’Neil have some great chemisty in a David vs. Goliath sort of way. Darren Young comes in at one point and schoolboys R-Truth for two, but that is about as close as the Players ever come to wearing the straps. Truth soon makes the pin after he DDTs Young and picks up the victory.

 Rating: 3.5 stars

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CM Punk (c) defeated The Big Show and John Cena to retain the WWE Championship

CM Punk debuts his Bret Hart attire in this match. Punk and Cena attempt their finishing moves on Show early in the encounter, but neither has any luck. Later on Show taps out to a double submission that looks sloppy as heck. Cena uses the STF on him and Punk wraps his legs around his head. AJ Lee comes out and prances to the ring before ordering the match be restarted. Punk drops the line, “Do the right thing like Spike Lee” at this point. I love that movie! Anyway, Punk and Cena turn around to get a double chokeslam from Show. Show covers Cena then Punk for two. Cena wallops Show with the attitude adjustment for the sure victory. Punk has other plans and swoops in, throwing Cena out of the ring and stealing a win.

Rating: 4.25 stars

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Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) defeated HHH

Since there is no buffer match between the contest for the WWE Championship and the main event fight, there is a whole slew of filler shown. This allows the audience a chance to cool down, but also means a lot of crap. First, the celebrities in attendance are shown including Piers Morgan, Fred Durst (who flips off the camera and has to be bleeped), Rick Rubin, David Arquette (who holds up a replica of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship) and Maria Menounos (who is wearing a Bob Backlund shirt in an attempt to get more undeserved attention from the WWE). Up next a trailer is shown for the new WWE Studios movie, “The Day.” Then it is back to some wrestling, but only for a few second as clips are shown of Antonio Cesaro (with Aksana) defeating Santino Marella for the WWE United States Championship. That was left off the card, but Kevin Rudolf wasn’t. He performs a set with a social media backdrop and the divas come out and dance along to the music. It is lame as can be, but at least it’s not as bad as the garbage that Cee Lo gave us last year. Finally it is back to wrestling and HHH lets us know it. After knocking Lesnar outside he bellows, “WWE not UFC.” Lesnar comes back and slams HHH on an announce table while holding his arm. He is really heeling it up and working on HHH’s injury. Lesnar takes some stiff shots to the face from HHH and is quickly bleeding from his nose. If it wasn’t a full out brawl already then Lesnar turned it into one after he tipped over an announce table and jumped off of it, giving HHH an axe handle on the way down. HHH works Lesnar’s stomach and the commentators play up Lesnar’s past health issues concerning his tummy. At one point HHH really punishes Lesnar by sending him gut first into an announce table. Not too long later, HHH hits a pedigree, but Lesnar kicks out. Lesnar comes back and plants HHH with his F5 finisher. HHH kicks out, but then Lesnar clamps on the Kimura lock. HHH sells the pain like crazy, but he reaches the ropes. HHH delivers another pedigree, but when he tries to pin Lesnar he gets trapped in another Kimura lock. This time he is in the middle of the ring and is forced to tap.

Rating: 4.25 stars

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Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org

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