Welcome to the “I’m not selling Vince, I’m not selling Vince, I love these fans Vince, Double my money? Sold” edition of The Wrestling List.
Another Smackdown. Another great show. Nothing but love for Michael Hayes. This show just has logic all over it along with great action. The show opened with Josh Mathews talking to Jeff Hardy and CM Punk in the ring. I liked the segment with Punk telling Hardy that there is no rule in the contract that he couldn’t cash in on him while adding that he didn’t steal the title. They both agreed that they live a different lifestyle while Hardy said he would win the title on Sunday. The opening match had Hardy taking on Chris Jericho. This was a very fun and creative finish. Rey Mysterio got involved and hit a rana on Jericho on the floor which sent Jericho into the post. Where did Rey come from? He was sitting in the front row with others dressed like him. It was great!! Very much a play off of Jericho hiding in the crowd weeks ago. Jericho got counted out with Hardy getting the win. Jericho complained to the ref after the match but then Hardy hit the twist of fate and swanton. Rey Mysterio would see action at the end of the night against CM Punk. Rey and Jericho did set up their match stipulation for The Bash with the title vs. mask match. Jericho did commentary on this match and he was in GREAT form. I love how Jericho keeps saying how great Rey is and how great Rey can be . Jericho just wants to set him free from the mask to make him greater. Great line from Jericho when JR asked if his attack on Rey was cowardly? Jericho responded saying that it was strategy and called it the art of war. Punk threw Rey to the floor at one point. Jericho jumped up and threw Rey into the post. The announcers went at Jericho over what he had done with Jericho asking them if they really thought he was just there to talk to them. He was there to get even. I thought that was a great verbal exchange. Rey barely beat the count back into the ring. Punk hit the GTS for the win. Hardy ran out pointing out the Jericho attack to the ref. Then, Hardy got mad at Punk over taking advantage of the situation while Punk had a look of that he did what he had to do. Edge and John Morrison did battle in a really fun match!! Lots of near falls and they were really putting over how Morrison was so close to getting the huge win. Story of this match was Edge damaging Morrison’s ribs early on which was a disadvantage to him throughout. Yeah, logic!!!! Morrison missed his finisher and then Edge hit a spear to win the match. Haas, Benjamin, and Ricky “I’m a heel now” Ortiz lost to the team of R Truth and Cryme Tyme when Truth pinned Shelton with a corkscrew elbow. Melina defeated Alicia Fox with Michelle at ringside. Melina won with the sunset flip slam. Michelle landed a kick on Melina after the match. She then bashed Melina’s head into the announce table while talking of how she was going to win the title. Khali was once again outsmarted by Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler brought a chair inside the ring and threw it at Khali. Khali punched it to the mat and Ziggler fell to the mat. The ref didn’t see this but turned to see Khali having the chair in his hand. The ref called for the DQ while Ziggler faked that he had been hit with the chair.
Well, that was fast. Donald Trump was one and done in this storyline. Tonight’s Raw was the commercial free episode which was the first time that it has been done in seventeen years of Raw. Overall, I thought it was a good show. Trump opened the show promoting what he was going to do which also included him giving refunds for ticket holders in the arena. Later in the show, Trump announced that there would be nothing as far as a GM announcement. Instead, there would be a guest celebrity GM every week. Vince McMahon arrived to the ring area after being downgraded big time by Trump backstage including his office being moved to the men’s room. Vince was mad at the free stuff that Trump was doing saying that Trump was going to put him out of business in six months with this progress. Trump went on to say that he had paid a big amount for Raw and that he could do whatever he wanted with it. He went on to say that he had a ton of offers from people wanting to buy Raw for double what he paid for adding that he could sell it at any point. Vince then started to see that he had been played and began throwing offers at Trump to buy Raw back. Vince offered him the original price and a percentage increase getting up to 75%. Trump wouldn’t budge saying that he loved the fans and wasn’t selling. Then, Vince offered him double which is the offers of what Trump said he was getting. Trump then caved immediately and agreed to the sell. I thought that was just bizarre with how quickly that happened. Vince buys back Raw and tells Trump that he is fired. Trump slaps Vince and then some security gets in the ring to make sure Vince didn’t retaliate. So, there you have it. The Vince/Trump storyline is over after one week. Randy Orton defended the WWE title against Triple H in the last man standing match. I thought the match was a solid one. Lots of big spots including a RKO on the table, a backdrop on the table by Triple H, a monitor to the head of Orton, and more. They worked their way up the ramp. I should point out that one story told in the match was Triple H getting his knee and leg worked on by Orton from early on. They ended up battling beside the stage. Triple H grabbed a ladder. He went to hit Orton with it like a battering ram but Orton ducked with the ladder nailing a crew guy. They played up how Orton didn’t care anything about the crew guy and grabbing the ladder to do more damage. Orton used the ladder on Triple H’s knee and then stomped the ladder with his leg in it. Orton went for a RKO off of the ladder but Triple H shoved him off of it. Triple H nailed the pedigree. The ref made the ten count but Triple H couldn’t even get to his feet after hitting the move. No winner and Orton retains the title. Later, Triple H attacked Orton as Orton was leaving the arena which was the ending of the show tonight. Fun six man tag from Smackdown that I would have liked to see given more time. Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, and The Great Khali defeated the team of Edge, Chris Jericho, and Dolph Ziggler. Lots of fun spots. The finish had Jeff pinning Ziggler with the swanton. CM Punk was on commentary and walked in the ring. He raised Hardy’s arm but Hardy pulled away when he realized who it was. John Cena and The Miz had a talking segment early in the show where Cena dished back at Miz for his recent comments. Cena took on Big Show in the last match of the night. Cena had the STF on when Miz arrived. Cena let go of it to go after Miz. Cena picked up Show for the adjustment but Miz shoved Show on Cena. Show gets the pin and then Miz stood over Cena. Cody Rhodes defeated Primo Colon. Primo hit a crossed body but Cody rolled through and hooked the tights to score the pin. Mickie James and The Bellas defeated Maryse, Beth Phoenix, and Rosa Mendes when Mickie pinned Rosa with a superkick. She blew a kiss at Maryse after the pinfall continuing the whole storyline of Maryse ducking Mickie James for title matches.
Other notes from Raw. I couldn’t have been the only one that kept waiting for a commercial all night long. It was just instinct to expect it at the usual commercial points of the show. In the six man tag, everyone was diving out of the ring and I was waiting for the commercial. Ok, the KFC chicken? If everyone was so hungry, why weren’t they eating the chicken? I thought that was kind of goofy. I did think it was funny to watch Punk looking at the chicken while he was talking about the match. At least Punk asked if they could eat it!! Cole just kept talking about how big his appetite was with that chicken nearby. So, did anyone eat it? Good idea for WWE to get some advertising though with the commercial free show. Trump did announce at the press conference earlier today about the free ticket deal. Anyone else hoping that the Santina Marella firing holds true? I’m sick of Santina. Did you see Donald Trump Jr. in the front row watching the last man standing match? The Cena/Chicago Cubs segment was fun. I noticed this last week but didn’t say anything about it while others did say something. I wasn’t crazy about the countdown clock to the title match last week or tonight. It just kind of ruins the show portion of it when you know that a match is going to end at a certain point. From a logic point of view, how do you know when a match is going to be over? How do you know that the match before the title match won’t go longer? I thought about that last week but it didn’t bother me as much as it did others.
Several media outlets reported the Donald Trump buying Raw storyline as fact last week. That is twice that WWE has done that to the media over the last year. You might remember that several media outlets picked up the Jeff Hardy unconsicious in a hotel room story which was the storyline that teased an Edge attack but eventually turned into the Matt Hardy heel turn. You have to know that these media outlets that report these stories as fact get such mud on their face for it.
I thought I would take some time to discuss the out of nowhere face/heel turns that WWE did when the draft happened. Some have done ok, others have been in the middle, while others have stopped their momentum completely. First, Santino’s sudden face turn. This has been a terrible thing. He was much better as a heel. Santino has almost gotten to be boring in recent weeks. How does that happen??!! John Morrison. The jury is still out on this one but it still has promise. Morrison is going to be a star for sure. It is just a matter of if he can get over as a face or if he is a better heel. MVP. This has been bad. He suddenly turned face and was moved to Raw. I can’t decide whether his downturn has been from the face turn or if it is the move to Raw. Actually, I think it is both. He’s a better heel and getting lost in the shuffle on Raw hasn’t helped. Ricky Ortiz. Who knows? I thought it was funny the first week that he was acting like a jerk on Smackdown. My first thought was so I guess he is suddenly a heel now since the draft happened? The only turn that is at all working so far is Morrison. The rest have either been bad or fans just don’t care. The Santino turn has completely stopped his momentum. Santina didn’t help either.
The Bash PPV is this Sunday on PPV. Here is the lineup for it. Randy Orton defends the WWE title against Triple H in a two out of three falls match. The first fall will be a regular match, second fall will be falls count anywhere, and the third fall will be a stretcher match. CM Punk defends the World title against Jeff Hardy. Intercontinental champion Chris Jericho defends against Rey Mysterio which also has Rey’s mask on the line. The ECW title will be defended in a scramble match when Tommy Dreamer defends against Christian, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, and Finlay. John Cena vs. The Miz. Tag Team champions, The Colons defend against Dibiase and Rhodes. Melina defends the Women’s title against Michelle McCool.
That is it for this week. Wishing all of you a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
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