Welcome to the "silence is golden" edition of The Wrestling List. I'm referring to the Triple H/Undertaker segment last night on Raw.
One thing that I thought as I watched last night's show was that I wish WWE would get more motivated like this year round. They care at WrestleMania time and do great TV but then start sliding back once it's over. Well, not all of it was good but I'll get to that in a minute. Let's start with the segment that I mentioned. The build of the big 2/21/11 countdown was the return of The Undertaker. Really cool entrance with bringing him back. He gets in the ring and takes his hat off. Then, Triple H's music hits. The crowd goes crazy again. After the usual entrance, the two face off and there is not one word said. Triple H looks at the WrestleMania logo. Undertaker turns to see where he is looking. They face back off. Undertaker does a laugh of sorts at Triple H and walks off. He then turns and gives him the throat slash. Triple H gives him the DX chop and that is the segment. It was awesome!! Not one word said! I've been hearing rumblings of this match for a couple of weeks now and it is a go. I've heard rumblings of more to it so I'm waiting to see if they go with it. Let's move on to what I didn't like. Feuding people becoming partners and winning the tag team titles. Now, Cena and Miz only held the belts for a few minutes but still. The one thing that will really make me groan when watching wrestling is when that type of angle is booked cause it is so overdone anymore. Speaking of Cena, the old school rap comeback by Cena was good. I think that was the only way that could get Cena in a decent comeback. I am looking forward to an exchange between the two of them but Rock is just on a whole different level than most everyone in that locker room. The Michael Cole/Jerry Lawler stuff was fine for what it was. I didn't mind it and it builds to their showdown at WrestleMania, whatever that is going to be. I liked the attack by Del Rio on Kofi. Big time beatdown that made Del Rio look good.
Other notes from Raw. Wow, WWE is really pushing on that PG deal, aren't they? These promos have been not so PG in the last week. Poor Sheamus. He is booked good one week and then gets destroyed the next. Can't figure it out. I have to say that I like the Bellas as heels. I think they're better in that role than as faces. Seriously, your first video that you show of the new WWE All Stars game is a custom Abe Lincoln vs. George Washington match? Not exactly the big launch I would expect.
Thrilled to hear of Trish Stratus' return at the Elimination Chamber PPV. I'm a huge Trish fan and she was announced as being a trainer for Tough Enough. She got physically involved with LayCool. She had a scare when her heels that she was wearing tripped her up. She later posted a funny comment on her Twitter account saying that she needs to make a note to herself to always bring wrestling boots when attending WWE shows. LOL.
I am hearing really good things about that PPV by the way. Sounds like the Chamber matches were really good. John Cena won the Raw brand one and will now face Miz for the WWE title at WrestleMania. Edge won the Smackdown brand one and retained the title meaning he will face Del Rio at WrestleMania.
Are we about to see Hogan/Rock II? No, I'm not referring to an actual match. I'm talking about a sequel to a certain scenario that occurred at WrestleMania X-8. That was Hogan/Rock. Now, granted that Hogan was a heel there and Rock was a face in the storyline anyway. Now, we have Cena and Rock ready for a faceoff. At WrestleMania, the crowd was expected to be 50/50. It wasn't. Hogan blew the roof off the place. Is WWE set to have a repeat performance of sorts. They probably expect it to be a 50/50 split but what if Rock gets this benefit as the returning hero facing off against the top guy? What if the crowd is all behind Rock? I think this is likely to happen. Keep in mind that Cena has trouble getting cheered at WrestleMania every year cause it is usually full of the hardcore fans who travel from all over and tend to boo Cena. I could see Cena getting booed really bad at WrestleMania. I was thinking about this the other day and just thought it was an interesting thought for the List.
I was watching an old house show from 1987 that took place from MSG that was airing on WWE Classics On Demand. Such a random match of Ivan Putski vs. The Million Dollar Man. Just kind of laughed thinking I don't think I've ever seen the two work with one another.
Call me crazy but The Chaperone looks like it could be a decent movie. Ok, I'll go run and duck at the stuff that you all are getting ready to throw at me for saying that. LOL.
Road Warrior Animal's book on the career of him and Hawk will be released on March 1. It is called "The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush Of Wrestling". I would like to give this book a read. Speaking of reading, countdown is on till I get to tear into Jericho's new book. With the great reviews of his new book, I could see this being a book that I just start on a morning and read it all day.
That is all I have for tonight. Have a great week. Take care and God bless each and every one of you!!
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Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Rock Returns On Raw - February 15, 2011
Welcome to the "if you missed the last segment of Raw last night.....wow, did you ever mess up" edition of The Wrestling List.
The Rock. Yep, The Rock. That was how we finished Raw last night with over 20 minutes of The Rock in a WWE ring live on Raw. WWE announced that The Rock will be the guest host for WrestleMania XXVII. The lights went out before the final segment and a new version of Rock's music hit and the roof was blown off of the building in Anaheim. The fans went nuts. The roar got even louder when Rock made his way down the ramp. What took place after that was Rock going through the usual stuff that we all know, thanking the fans, shutting down Michael Cole and the GM gimmick, and took some shots at John Cena. As I watched this segment and just even watched The Rock walking to the ring, I just realized how this guy is on a completely different level than the ones on the rest of the show. I just hope that the locker room was backstage watching and studying this guy. He is able to take that crowd on a ride that few others can. It was a lot of great comedy, intensity, and fun all wound into one. The stuff with Michael Cole was tremendous. When that GM sound went off, I knew this was going to be fun. Fun moment and the crowd loved seeing Cole get shut down. The other moment was the talk of John Cena. Rock talked about how he had met Cena and that Cena seemed like a nice guy but then heard all of the things that Cena had been saying about him. This is playing off of the comments that Cena has made about Rock in recent years. Nothing really bad but just kind of questioning his leaving WWE and things such as that. No one has ever really figured out if that is Cena saying that stuff or if Vince had encouraged it to maybe try and bait Rock to come back for a showdown with Cena. So, they played off of this and Rock was awesome here talking about how the catchphrase had spiraled from himself and Austin down to "you can't see me" and mocking it. He went on to say that of course we can see him because of his bright colored shirts that he wears and how he looks like a bowl of Fruity Pebbles. What was funny was how quickly the Rock got the crowd to turn on Cena. Cena usually just gets kind of the split crowd reaction but Rock just mentioning Cena's name got the crowd to turn on Cena. All I could think was wow. Rock said that he would be seeing Cena at WrestleMania. Raw went twenty minutes over not going off the air until after 10:25. Great, great segment.
Several stars took to Twitter to express their excitement over Rock's return. Jim Ross tweeted "Dwayne Johnson's classic 'Rock' promo 2nite on Raw was the best thing on Raw in recent memory. Young wrestlers hopefully paid attention." Stone Cold Steve Austin talked of how great of a promo it was "from an electrifying cat". Chris Jericho tweeted: "Congratulations to one of my favorite opponents and greatest rivals on returning to the WWE. The Rock is the BEST promo man of all time." John Cena responded to Rock's comments saying "CeNation. Rock was in rare form tonight. It was great to see him enjoying himself out there. Even if it was at my expens. I've been Called alot worse. Just glad to see him back in action".
WWE has gotten all sorts of publicity over the news of Rock being the host of WrestleMania. The media has picked up the story which WWE was hoping for. Twitter was going crazy last night over Raw. Rock also launched his Twitter account yesterday and posted two minutes before going out live that he was the host of WrestleMania. This has already sold some WrestleMania buys. I have no doubt about that. There will be people that buy this show By the way, I loved the new t-shirt that Rock was wearing. Really funny. "I Bring It" is the new slogan on the shirt and it is already selling on WWE.com.
As far as the rest of Raw, I enjoyed the show. It was the final build to the Elimination Chamber PPV. Punk and Cena had a solid match. I liked the finish with the chair being the distraction to let Punk use the wrench to take out Cena for the win. Cool finish. Good back and forth with Edge and Del Rio. l enjoyed the divas lumberjill match with Eve and Natalya. Daniel Bryan and Miz had another fun match. I liked the intensity of Morrison looking to get revenge on Nexus. Those were my highlights of the show.
Jerry Lawler was not at Raw due to the passing of his mother. Keep him and his family in your prayers as he goes through this terrible loss.
Chris Jericho's new book has now been released. Do yourself a favor and get it.
Interesting DVD and Blu-ray coming up that I am looking forward to picking up. WWE's True Story of WrestleMania. This is a documentary looking at the history of WrestleMania including new interviews. The trailer has a teary eyed Vince McMahon talking about the event's history. It looks really good. Release date is next month.
WWE announced last week that WrestleMania XXVIII will be taking place from Miami, Florida in 2012. Based on what Jim Ross said, the building it is being held in has no roof so it will be at an outdoor event.
That is it for tonight. Wishing you all a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
The Rock. Yep, The Rock. That was how we finished Raw last night with over 20 minutes of The Rock in a WWE ring live on Raw. WWE announced that The Rock will be the guest host for WrestleMania XXVII. The lights went out before the final segment and a new version of Rock's music hit and the roof was blown off of the building in Anaheim. The fans went nuts. The roar got even louder when Rock made his way down the ramp. What took place after that was Rock going through the usual stuff that we all know, thanking the fans, shutting down Michael Cole and the GM gimmick, and took some shots at John Cena. As I watched this segment and just even watched The Rock walking to the ring, I just realized how this guy is on a completely different level than the ones on the rest of the show. I just hope that the locker room was backstage watching and studying this guy. He is able to take that crowd on a ride that few others can. It was a lot of great comedy, intensity, and fun all wound into one. The stuff with Michael Cole was tremendous. When that GM sound went off, I knew this was going to be fun. Fun moment and the crowd loved seeing Cole get shut down. The other moment was the talk of John Cena. Rock talked about how he had met Cena and that Cena seemed like a nice guy but then heard all of the things that Cena had been saying about him. This is playing off of the comments that Cena has made about Rock in recent years. Nothing really bad but just kind of questioning his leaving WWE and things such as that. No one has ever really figured out if that is Cena saying that stuff or if Vince had encouraged it to maybe try and bait Rock to come back for a showdown with Cena. So, they played off of this and Rock was awesome here talking about how the catchphrase had spiraled from himself and Austin down to "you can't see me" and mocking it. He went on to say that of course we can see him because of his bright colored shirts that he wears and how he looks like a bowl of Fruity Pebbles. What was funny was how quickly the Rock got the crowd to turn on Cena. Cena usually just gets kind of the split crowd reaction but Rock just mentioning Cena's name got the crowd to turn on Cena. All I could think was wow. Rock said that he would be seeing Cena at WrestleMania. Raw went twenty minutes over not going off the air until after 10:25. Great, great segment.
Several stars took to Twitter to express their excitement over Rock's return. Jim Ross tweeted "Dwayne Johnson's classic 'Rock' promo 2nite on Raw was the best thing on Raw in recent memory. Young wrestlers hopefully paid attention." Stone Cold Steve Austin talked of how great of a promo it was "from an electrifying cat". Chris Jericho tweeted: "Congratulations to one of my favorite opponents and greatest rivals on returning to the WWE. The Rock is the BEST promo man of all time." John Cena responded to Rock's comments saying "CeNation. Rock was in rare form tonight. It was great to see him enjoying himself out there. Even if it was at my expens. I've been Called alot worse. Just glad to see him back in action".
WWE has gotten all sorts of publicity over the news of Rock being the host of WrestleMania. The media has picked up the story which WWE was hoping for. Twitter was going crazy last night over Raw. Rock also launched his Twitter account yesterday and posted two minutes before going out live that he was the host of WrestleMania. This has already sold some WrestleMania buys. I have no doubt about that. There will be people that buy this show By the way, I loved the new t-shirt that Rock was wearing. Really funny. "I Bring It" is the new slogan on the shirt and it is already selling on WWE.com.
As far as the rest of Raw, I enjoyed the show. It was the final build to the Elimination Chamber PPV. Punk and Cena had a solid match. I liked the finish with the chair being the distraction to let Punk use the wrench to take out Cena for the win. Cool finish. Good back and forth with Edge and Del Rio. l enjoyed the divas lumberjill match with Eve and Natalya. Daniel Bryan and Miz had another fun match. I liked the intensity of Morrison looking to get revenge on Nexus. Those were my highlights of the show.
Jerry Lawler was not at Raw due to the passing of his mother. Keep him and his family in your prayers as he goes through this terrible loss.
Chris Jericho's new book has now been released. Do yourself a favor and get it.
Interesting DVD and Blu-ray coming up that I am looking forward to picking up. WWE's True Story of WrestleMania. This is a documentary looking at the history of WrestleMania including new interviews. The trailer has a teary eyed Vince McMahon talking about the event's history. It looks really good. Release date is next month.
WWE announced last week that WrestleMania XXVIII will be taking place from Miami, Florida in 2012. Based on what Jim Ross said, the building it is being held in has no roof so it will be at an outdoor event.
That is it for tonight. Wishing you all a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
Raw, 2/21/11, & More - February 7, 2011
Welcome to the "Milwaukee turned on R Truth as quick as it took for him to say the words Green Bay". Not a good idea to not remember where you are. I'll get to that in a bit but it was funny.
The focus of tonight's Raw was mostly on the focus of Punk looking to get he and Nexus to start injuring people competing in the Chamber match. Not taking them out where they would be replaced but to where they would not be at 100%. They did get to some guys but Cena got the best of them at the end of the show. I did like the opening segment with Orton and Punk. It actually made sense. Punk's reasoning on why he is set to destroy Orton? Well, it is payback for Orton and Legacy putting him out of action back in 2008 while Punk was champion. Wow, using history. Who knew? Punk surely had to be the one that actually remembered that happened cause we know how WWE is about remembering history. I did find it kind of funny that Lawler was ranting about how it wasn't fair that Nexus was teaming up on Orton. I laughed pondering if he had just watched the same footage that I had seen with Legacy teaming up on Punk. It had a feeling of "what's the difference?" ha ha.
Other notes from Raw. Tonight was one of those nights where Michael Cole was way too over the top. Just too much. When he's so over the top, he takes away from the broadcast and I couldn't pay attention to the divas match cause he was screaming at Natalya the whole time arguing with her. Michael Cole is getting heel heat. He's getting X-Pac heat. If he keeps it up, we'll have to change the term of X-Pac heat to Michael Cole heat. I don't mind the character some times but when he's way over the top and distracting from what you're watching, that is the problem. That was definite a lesson in wrestling 101 tonight and that you don't mess up saying where you are. If you missed it, R Truth did his normal rap and yelled out Green Bay, Wisconsin instead of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The crowd booed him and then a Milwaukee chant broke out. They booed R Truth for the rest of the segment which included him taking a beating from Mason Ryan. Michael Cole then went nuts on the headsets about how terrible Truth was and I just really had this feeling that Vince McMahon sounded the same on the other end of the headsets encouraging Cole. Cole was probably yelling at the same level that McMahon was. Oh, and the Packers did win the Super Bowl so they played off of that tonight. I think I'm one of the few people that didn't watch one second of the Super Bowl. Just really have no interest. I missed it a couple of years ago cause of the ice storm and just realized that I really didn't miss it. I haven't watched it since then. Ok, Dolph Ziggler. This guy just does nothing for me. Never has. I know there are a lot of people that do like him. If you do, that is perfectly fine obviously but I just tend to zone out when he appears on my TV. So, Vince McMahon appears tonight and announces that there will be an announcement next week (follow all that, LOL) of who the guest host will be for WrestleMania. He said it would be huge buys. Hmm, do you think it might be Austin? When they talk of buys and the fact that Austin is back working with Tough Enough, maybe WWE wants to give him a role on the big event. Just a thought. I've heard nothing.
The 2/21/11 commercial got a LOT of people talking last week. A lot of speculation started on that it could be teasing Sting coming into WWE based on the look of the commercial. The video definitely had a Sting look to it from the late 90's of WCW. However, the other talk was that it was probably a return of The Undertaker. All signs at this point are pointing toward Undertaker's return especially after tonight's commercial that had the Johnny Cash song that had been used for last year's Undertaker/Shawn feud. Plus, the arena that is hosting that show posted a promotional video on their website for the show. In it was promoting the return of The Undertaker. WWE had the video pulled not long after it went online and news got out about its existence.
Something to keep an eye on later in the week is the WWE conference call. They are set to announce their quarter numbers and they are lower than anticipated. There appears to be a lot of worry within talent in the company that cuts may be coming as a result.
Is Edge's career starting to come to a close in the next year or so? He sure is teasing it. After a show in Toronto last week, Edge got on the mic saying how he wouldn't have very more of these shows in front of his home crowd.
If you missed it, Booker T is now on Smackdown doing commentary. He got a big pop from the crowd. Such a pop that you'd think that.....Stevie Ray walked out to resume his commentary career cause suckas need to know. How many people remember that? :) Booker T does seem to be very excited about the role. I'm interested to see how he enjoys it based on what you have to deal with and that is Vince McMahon screaming in your ear the whole time. This was common knowledge but you really get a big feel for it after you read Mick Foley's Hardcore Diaries book.
Speaking of Smackdown, I don't watch a lot of it but did watch the main event last week. Kelly Kelly was fired by Vickie Guerrero after she and Edge defeated the team of Ziggler and LayCool. Kelly got the win by pinning Ziggler. Vickie went nuts and Kelly was fired.
If you've been a long time fan, you'll know the name of Sir Oliver Humperdink. He has been a part of this business for decades but has recently announced bad news. He is battling kidney cancer. Paul Orndorff also revealed lately that he is battling cancer as well. Definitely keep both of them in your prayers!!
The reveal of "they" on last week's Impact brought a good rating. Dixie Carter announced on her Twitter account that it was the second highest rated Impact in history which was just over a 1.3. I didn't watch it. it has potential. However, TNA has potential with a lot of things. I've seen them mess up too many things.
Well, since I was snowed in today, I did finish watching the WWE Night Of Champions 2010 PPV and also finished Mick Foley's fourth book. PPV was all right. Great crowd in Chicago. I always love that crowd cause they like who they like. Chicago, New York, and Toronto have to be my favorite WWE crowds cause they like what they like. I enjoyed Foley's book but will go more into detail about it later. Ready for Jericho's book now which is just a week away from release.
That is it for tonight. If you're here locally, stay safe out in this mess of weather. It was nasty out today. Take care and God bless!!
The focus of tonight's Raw was mostly on the focus of Punk looking to get he and Nexus to start injuring people competing in the Chamber match. Not taking them out where they would be replaced but to where they would not be at 100%. They did get to some guys but Cena got the best of them at the end of the show. I did like the opening segment with Orton and Punk. It actually made sense. Punk's reasoning on why he is set to destroy Orton? Well, it is payback for Orton and Legacy putting him out of action back in 2008 while Punk was champion. Wow, using history. Who knew? Punk surely had to be the one that actually remembered that happened cause we know how WWE is about remembering history. I did find it kind of funny that Lawler was ranting about how it wasn't fair that Nexus was teaming up on Orton. I laughed pondering if he had just watched the same footage that I had seen with Legacy teaming up on Punk. It had a feeling of "what's the difference?" ha ha.
Other notes from Raw. Tonight was one of those nights where Michael Cole was way too over the top. Just too much. When he's so over the top, he takes away from the broadcast and I couldn't pay attention to the divas match cause he was screaming at Natalya the whole time arguing with her. Michael Cole is getting heel heat. He's getting X-Pac heat. If he keeps it up, we'll have to change the term of X-Pac heat to Michael Cole heat. I don't mind the character some times but when he's way over the top and distracting from what you're watching, that is the problem. That was definite a lesson in wrestling 101 tonight and that you don't mess up saying where you are. If you missed it, R Truth did his normal rap and yelled out Green Bay, Wisconsin instead of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The crowd booed him and then a Milwaukee chant broke out. They booed R Truth for the rest of the segment which included him taking a beating from Mason Ryan. Michael Cole then went nuts on the headsets about how terrible Truth was and I just really had this feeling that Vince McMahon sounded the same on the other end of the headsets encouraging Cole. Cole was probably yelling at the same level that McMahon was. Oh, and the Packers did win the Super Bowl so they played off of that tonight. I think I'm one of the few people that didn't watch one second of the Super Bowl. Just really have no interest. I missed it a couple of years ago cause of the ice storm and just realized that I really didn't miss it. I haven't watched it since then. Ok, Dolph Ziggler. This guy just does nothing for me. Never has. I know there are a lot of people that do like him. If you do, that is perfectly fine obviously but I just tend to zone out when he appears on my TV. So, Vince McMahon appears tonight and announces that there will be an announcement next week (follow all that, LOL) of who the guest host will be for WrestleMania. He said it would be huge buys. Hmm, do you think it might be Austin? When they talk of buys and the fact that Austin is back working with Tough Enough, maybe WWE wants to give him a role on the big event. Just a thought. I've heard nothing.
The 2/21/11 commercial got a LOT of people talking last week. A lot of speculation started on that it could be teasing Sting coming into WWE based on the look of the commercial. The video definitely had a Sting look to it from the late 90's of WCW. However, the other talk was that it was probably a return of The Undertaker. All signs at this point are pointing toward Undertaker's return especially after tonight's commercial that had the Johnny Cash song that had been used for last year's Undertaker/Shawn feud. Plus, the arena that is hosting that show posted a promotional video on their website for the show. In it was promoting the return of The Undertaker. WWE had the video pulled not long after it went online and news got out about its existence.
Something to keep an eye on later in the week is the WWE conference call. They are set to announce their quarter numbers and they are lower than anticipated. There appears to be a lot of worry within talent in the company that cuts may be coming as a result.
Is Edge's career starting to come to a close in the next year or so? He sure is teasing it. After a show in Toronto last week, Edge got on the mic saying how he wouldn't have very more of these shows in front of his home crowd.
If you missed it, Booker T is now on Smackdown doing commentary. He got a big pop from the crowd. Such a pop that you'd think that.....Stevie Ray walked out to resume his commentary career cause suckas need to know. How many people remember that? :) Booker T does seem to be very excited about the role. I'm interested to see how he enjoys it based on what you have to deal with and that is Vince McMahon screaming in your ear the whole time. This was common knowledge but you really get a big feel for it after you read Mick Foley's Hardcore Diaries book.
Speaking of Smackdown, I don't watch a lot of it but did watch the main event last week. Kelly Kelly was fired by Vickie Guerrero after she and Edge defeated the team of Ziggler and LayCool. Kelly got the win by pinning Ziggler. Vickie went nuts and Kelly was fired.
If you've been a long time fan, you'll know the name of Sir Oliver Humperdink. He has been a part of this business for decades but has recently announced bad news. He is battling kidney cancer. Paul Orndorff also revealed lately that he is battling cancer as well. Definitely keep both of them in your prayers!!
The reveal of "they" on last week's Impact brought a good rating. Dixie Carter announced on her Twitter account that it was the second highest rated Impact in history which was just over a 1.3. I didn't watch it. it has potential. However, TNA has potential with a lot of things. I've seen them mess up too many things.
Well, since I was snowed in today, I did finish watching the WWE Night Of Champions 2010 PPV and also finished Mick Foley's fourth book. PPV was all right. Great crowd in Chicago. I always love that crowd cause they like who they like. Chicago, New York, and Toronto have to be my favorite WWE crowds cause they like what they like. I enjoyed Foley's book but will go more into detail about it later. Ready for Jericho's book now which is just a week away from release.
That is it for tonight. If you're here locally, stay safe out in this mess of weather. It was nasty out today. Take care and God bless!!
WWE Classics - 10 Count - Debuts Recap & Thoughts - February 3, 2011
February is Defrost With The Divas month on WWE Classics On Demand. Here is a preview of what is on and what will be airing later this month. I gladly pay my $7.99 a month for this stuff.
Currently airing:
10 Count: Greatest Debuts - Part 2
Best Of The WWF Volume 13 (Coliseum Video)
Hulk Hogan Unreleased Collection Parts 1 & 2 (WWE DVD Release)
WWE Night Of Champions 2010
WWF SummerSlam 1994
Old School MSG - 11/24/87
Hall Of Fame Profile: Wendi Richter plus several matches from her career in the Legends section.
Mid-Atlantic Wrestling - 6/2/82
NWA Wrestling - 9/26/87
ECW - 7/29/97
Monday Night Wars - Raw and Nitro from 5/25/98
Prime Time Wrestling - 1/16/89
Shorties - Divas matches hosted by LayCool. Matches including Trish Stratus vs. Lita, Michelle McCool vs. Natalya, Maryse vs. Mickie James, Stacy Keibler vs. Victoria, and a steel cage match between Lita and Victoria.
Airing later this month:
WWE's Cell PPV from October
Old School - Philly - 3/12/88
WWE Unforgiven 2006
Old School - MSG - 2/18/85
NWA - 10/3/87
World Class Championship Wrestling - 11/26/83
ECW - 8/5/97
Monday Night Wars: The Beginning - Raw and Nitros from 9/9/96 and 9/23/96
Prime Time Wrestling 1/30/89
Mid-Atlantic - 6/9/82
Also will be more Richter matches along with diva matches in the shorties section. The rest of the Hulk Hogan DVD will also air.
WWE Classics On Demand had a theme for the month of January that focused mainly on debuts and firsts. The shorties were PPV debuts while the Hall of Fame stuff featured first championship wins and such. This was the tie in for the most recent episode of 10 Count. Matt Stryker hosted the show as WWE looked at the best debuts. The list is up and down for me but it did bring back a lot of great memories to watch. So, here is how they had the top ten ranked and I'll give my thoughts and memories on it.
10. The Undertaker's debut at the 1990 Survivor Series. This was a huge debut obviously and who knew that night just what we were witnessing? The Undertaker debuted as the surprise partner on Ted Dibiase's Million Dollar Team and was accompanied by Brother Love. Undertaker had a face off with Bret Hart in the match which was fitting considering how their careers would link together for many years to come. Undertaker's debut would end in a double countout following a brawl with Dusty Rhodes up the aisle.
9. Steve Austin's debut on ECW TV. This absolutely deserves to be on the list. Austin had been fired from WCW via fax and was obviously furious over it. So, Paul Heyman and Austin connected and Heyman basically said if you want to rant about it, come on the show and I'll give you that window of opportunity. Austin did it and did it so memorably. It was great TV! All of the ECW stuff led the charge to what would later become the Stone Cold Steve Austin character. His promo skills definitely went to another level in ECW.
8. John Cena's debut in 2002 on Smackdown. Nothing really spectacular about Cena's debut. He accepted a challenge from Kurt Angle and the two had a match. Right around that time was the debut of Orton as well. Interesting to watch the start of Cena's WWE run.
7. A tie between Kane's debut at In Your House Bad Blood in the cell match between Shawn and Undertaker. The other in the tie was Big Show's debut in the Austin/McMahon cage match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Both were very cool moments. Like Undertaker, who knew just how big the Kane character was going to be? Big Show's debut was really well done with how the cage was set up. You may remember that Show sent Austin into the cage and the side of the cage flew open sending Austin to the floor to win the match. Very cool moment. Liked both of these debuts.
6. Tazz's debut at the 2000 Royal Rumble. Loved this! Still one of my favorite crowd pops of all time. Kurt Angle was doing his undefeated streak at this point and Tazz was the surprise opponent. Now Tazz making his debut was a terribly kept secret. They had been running these promo deals for several weeks leading up to this with random logos appearing during shows. I still remember the Raw that I attended in St. Louis that month and that logo popped up during an entrance. We and many in the building were yelling "Tazz" as it showed up. So, Tazz makes his entrance at MSG at the Rumble in front of a hot New York crowd that was very pro-ECW and gave him a huge welcome. One of the loudest pops I've ever heard from MSG. Tazz ended Angle's undefeated streak and the MSG crowd loved it.
5. Rocky Maivia's debut at the 1996 Survivor Series. Another MSG moment. Pretty fitting that Rock's debut was in that building. He was featured in a Survivor Series elimination match and got a good push just in that first match. Of course, we know how this all turned out. The fans turned on the Rocky Maivia character quickly and WWF was forced to turn him heel. Then, we started loving the heel character. Well, I did immediately. I was not a fan of the Rocky character. Yeah, that Rock guy turned out having a pretty good career. :)
4. The Nexus debuts on Raw in 2010. Yeah, I have a problem with this being in there but I guess they wanted something current in the mix. Way too early to have something like this that high on the list. Now, the debut was cool. They destroyed Cena, the announcers, officials, and the whole ringside area. It was something so unexpected that night. It was great TV. Of course, they blew the major heat that they had after the next couple of weeks but that is WWE for you.
3. Eric Bischoff's debut on WWE Raw in 2002. Hard to argue this one. Whoever thought you'd see Bischoff on WWE programming? Bigger than that though, whoever thought you'd see Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff hugging live on Raw??!! I'll never forget that moment. Funny how the segment doesn't have the same feel to it as it did live. The music to Bischoff's entrance is always changed to his "I'm Back" WWE theme. However, that night he came out to AC/DC's "Back In Black". Music rights do not let that be played anymore in the replay moment. So, the two guys that were at each other's throats for so many years were suddenly on TV hugging. Unreal.
2. Scott Hall's debut on WCW Monday Nitro in 1996. I absolutely like where this is at on the list. This moment changed everything. It led to one of the hottest angles that I've ever witnessed. Yeah, he know how bad it eventually got but it was HOT when it first started. I had just gotten internet access a few months before Hall's debut so I knew about Hall and Nash being WCW bound. However, the internet wasn't big yet and was a small minority. If you followed the newsletters, you knew the news too. If you were just a casual fan, all you knew was that a WWF guy had just walked out on to a live WCW show saying that they were taking over. Nash would follow him on to Nitro not long after. The first several months of the nWo was great TV cause you never knew what was going to happen. They would arrive through the crowd stirring trouble and the show would just stop. Nothing like this had ever been done and it was just fascinating to watch. This night on Nitro started it all.
1. Chris Jericho's WWF debut on Raw in 1999. Completely agree with this being number one. What a debut this was! Jericho had left WCW a few months earlier and he ended up being used as the Millenium Man. WWF had been running a countdown clock for a while and the countdown ended on Raw in Chicago during a Rock segment. What resulted was one of my favorite segments ever. The lights go out, the music hits, and the pyro goes off. You can hear some of the crowd chanting Jericho as the lights started flashing on and off before the reveal. I was expecting Jericho too at the time but was just waiting for the confirmation. Jericho's name appears on the screen and the crowd ERUPTS when his name appears. The lights come on and there is Jericho with his arms out pose. Jericho cuts an awesome promo and the Rock does his own awesome promo right back at Jericho. Great, great segment.
There was a definite honorable comedy mention as they showed the entire Flair For The Gold segment from the Clash which featured the debut of The Shockmaster. Oh my. I still laugh at Sid Vicious trying to save the segment by showing fear and trying to intimidate this guy.....who had just fallen through the wall. LOL.
Anyway, it was a fun show. Fun look back at these moments. Some of these segments I have seen lately and others I haven't watched in a while. They seem just like yesterday when they happened but yet they seem like a lifetime ago.
That is it for this week. Hope you enjoy the retro List. Just something different that I thought might be fun. Take care and God bless!!
Currently airing:
10 Count: Greatest Debuts - Part 2
Best Of The WWF Volume 13 (Coliseum Video)
Hulk Hogan Unreleased Collection Parts 1 & 2 (WWE DVD Release)
WWE Night Of Champions 2010
WWF SummerSlam 1994
Old School MSG - 11/24/87
Hall Of Fame Profile: Wendi Richter plus several matches from her career in the Legends section.
Mid-Atlantic Wrestling - 6/2/82
NWA Wrestling - 9/26/87
ECW - 7/29/97
Monday Night Wars - Raw and Nitro from 5/25/98
Prime Time Wrestling - 1/16/89
Shorties - Divas matches hosted by LayCool. Matches including Trish Stratus vs. Lita, Michelle McCool vs. Natalya, Maryse vs. Mickie James, Stacy Keibler vs. Victoria, and a steel cage match between Lita and Victoria.
Airing later this month:
WWE's Cell PPV from October
Old School - Philly - 3/12/88
WWE Unforgiven 2006
Old School - MSG - 2/18/85
NWA - 10/3/87
World Class Championship Wrestling - 11/26/83
ECW - 8/5/97
Monday Night Wars: The Beginning - Raw and Nitros from 9/9/96 and 9/23/96
Prime Time Wrestling 1/30/89
Mid-Atlantic - 6/9/82
Also will be more Richter matches along with diva matches in the shorties section. The rest of the Hulk Hogan DVD will also air.
WWE Classics On Demand had a theme for the month of January that focused mainly on debuts and firsts. The shorties were PPV debuts while the Hall of Fame stuff featured first championship wins and such. This was the tie in for the most recent episode of 10 Count. Matt Stryker hosted the show as WWE looked at the best debuts. The list is up and down for me but it did bring back a lot of great memories to watch. So, here is how they had the top ten ranked and I'll give my thoughts and memories on it.
10. The Undertaker's debut at the 1990 Survivor Series. This was a huge debut obviously and who knew that night just what we were witnessing? The Undertaker debuted as the surprise partner on Ted Dibiase's Million Dollar Team and was accompanied by Brother Love. Undertaker had a face off with Bret Hart in the match which was fitting considering how their careers would link together for many years to come. Undertaker's debut would end in a double countout following a brawl with Dusty Rhodes up the aisle.
9. Steve Austin's debut on ECW TV. This absolutely deserves to be on the list. Austin had been fired from WCW via fax and was obviously furious over it. So, Paul Heyman and Austin connected and Heyman basically said if you want to rant about it, come on the show and I'll give you that window of opportunity. Austin did it and did it so memorably. It was great TV! All of the ECW stuff led the charge to what would later become the Stone Cold Steve Austin character. His promo skills definitely went to another level in ECW.
8. John Cena's debut in 2002 on Smackdown. Nothing really spectacular about Cena's debut. He accepted a challenge from Kurt Angle and the two had a match. Right around that time was the debut of Orton as well. Interesting to watch the start of Cena's WWE run.
7. A tie between Kane's debut at In Your House Bad Blood in the cell match between Shawn and Undertaker. The other in the tie was Big Show's debut in the Austin/McMahon cage match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Both were very cool moments. Like Undertaker, who knew just how big the Kane character was going to be? Big Show's debut was really well done with how the cage was set up. You may remember that Show sent Austin into the cage and the side of the cage flew open sending Austin to the floor to win the match. Very cool moment. Liked both of these debuts.
6. Tazz's debut at the 2000 Royal Rumble. Loved this! Still one of my favorite crowd pops of all time. Kurt Angle was doing his undefeated streak at this point and Tazz was the surprise opponent. Now Tazz making his debut was a terribly kept secret. They had been running these promo deals for several weeks leading up to this with random logos appearing during shows. I still remember the Raw that I attended in St. Louis that month and that logo popped up during an entrance. We and many in the building were yelling "Tazz" as it showed up. So, Tazz makes his entrance at MSG at the Rumble in front of a hot New York crowd that was very pro-ECW and gave him a huge welcome. One of the loudest pops I've ever heard from MSG. Tazz ended Angle's undefeated streak and the MSG crowd loved it.
5. Rocky Maivia's debut at the 1996 Survivor Series. Another MSG moment. Pretty fitting that Rock's debut was in that building. He was featured in a Survivor Series elimination match and got a good push just in that first match. Of course, we know how this all turned out. The fans turned on the Rocky Maivia character quickly and WWF was forced to turn him heel. Then, we started loving the heel character. Well, I did immediately. I was not a fan of the Rocky character. Yeah, that Rock guy turned out having a pretty good career. :)
4. The Nexus debuts on Raw in 2010. Yeah, I have a problem with this being in there but I guess they wanted something current in the mix. Way too early to have something like this that high on the list. Now, the debut was cool. They destroyed Cena, the announcers, officials, and the whole ringside area. It was something so unexpected that night. It was great TV. Of course, they blew the major heat that they had after the next couple of weeks but that is WWE for you.
3. Eric Bischoff's debut on WWE Raw in 2002. Hard to argue this one. Whoever thought you'd see Bischoff on WWE programming? Bigger than that though, whoever thought you'd see Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff hugging live on Raw??!! I'll never forget that moment. Funny how the segment doesn't have the same feel to it as it did live. The music to Bischoff's entrance is always changed to his "I'm Back" WWE theme. However, that night he came out to AC/DC's "Back In Black". Music rights do not let that be played anymore in the replay moment. So, the two guys that were at each other's throats for so many years were suddenly on TV hugging. Unreal.
2. Scott Hall's debut on WCW Monday Nitro in 1996. I absolutely like where this is at on the list. This moment changed everything. It led to one of the hottest angles that I've ever witnessed. Yeah, he know how bad it eventually got but it was HOT when it first started. I had just gotten internet access a few months before Hall's debut so I knew about Hall and Nash being WCW bound. However, the internet wasn't big yet and was a small minority. If you followed the newsletters, you knew the news too. If you were just a casual fan, all you knew was that a WWF guy had just walked out on to a live WCW show saying that they were taking over. Nash would follow him on to Nitro not long after. The first several months of the nWo was great TV cause you never knew what was going to happen. They would arrive through the crowd stirring trouble and the show would just stop. Nothing like this had ever been done and it was just fascinating to watch. This night on Nitro started it all.
1. Chris Jericho's WWF debut on Raw in 1999. Completely agree with this being number one. What a debut this was! Jericho had left WCW a few months earlier and he ended up being used as the Millenium Man. WWF had been running a countdown clock for a while and the countdown ended on Raw in Chicago during a Rock segment. What resulted was one of my favorite segments ever. The lights go out, the music hits, and the pyro goes off. You can hear some of the crowd chanting Jericho as the lights started flashing on and off before the reveal. I was expecting Jericho too at the time but was just waiting for the confirmation. Jericho's name appears on the screen and the crowd ERUPTS when his name appears. The lights come on and there is Jericho with his arms out pose. Jericho cuts an awesome promo and the Rock does his own awesome promo right back at Jericho. Great, great segment.
There was a definite honorable comedy mention as they showed the entire Flair For The Gold segment from the Clash which featured the debut of The Shockmaster. Oh my. I still laugh at Sid Vicious trying to save the segment by showing fear and trying to intimidate this guy.....who had just fallen through the wall. LOL.
Anyway, it was a fun show. Fun look back at these moments. Some of these segments I have seen lately and others I haven't watched in a while. They seem just like yesterday when they happened but yet they seem like a lifetime ago.
That is it for this week. Hope you enjoy the retro List. Just something different that I thought might be fun. Take care and God bless!!
Kevin Nash & Booker T Return To WWE, Rumble and Raw Thoughts - January 31, 2011
Welcome to the "it's 2011 and I'm begging for Kevin Nash to be brought out on Raw" edition of The Wrestling List.
Last night was the WWE Royal Rumble. The major stories coming out of it was the winner, Albert Del Rio. The second was the return of two former champions, Kevin Nash and Booker T. Nash was in his Diesel gimmick. Both got a huge reaction from the live crowd upon their entry into the Rumble match. News broke about Nash and Booker T over the weekend including fans catching pictures of them arriving at the airport in Boston. Both did not spend much time in the ring as they were eliminated fairly quickly. That did not go over well with the live crowd. Funny moment from Shawn Michaels on Twitter as he was tweeting his thoughts while watching the Rumble at home. He said "hey, I know that guy" when Diesel appeared. I am completely excited about his return to WWE. It's funny how I have not been into Nash at all while he has been in TNA for the last several years. Just no excitement. They put him back in the Diesel gimmick and darken his hair and I care again. Amazing what a change in atmosphere will do for me to get interested. I am just not into Booker T but maybe that will change. My last memories of Booker have been King Booker and then his run in TNA which did nothing for me. Del Rio wins the Rumble. Wow, they are pushing him to the moon! I was trying to think of someone else that got this kind of a push right out of the gate including them winning the Rumble. My first thought was Yokozuna in 1993. He made his debut at the 1992 Survivor Series and then won the 1993 Rumble. It worked out well for Yokozuna. Let's see how Del Rio does with this push. Del Rio did choose to face Edge for the World title at WrestleMania.
Tonight's Raw featured a seven man Raw Rumble match with the winner getting the title shot at the Elimination Chamber PPV. The other six would do battle in the Chamber to get the shot at the title at WrestleMania. The match featured Orton, Cena, R Truth, CM Punk, Morrison, Sheamus, and Lawler. I liked the way that the Orton deal went down. Orton had taken out Harris earlier in the night with a punt kick. Punk made a threat to make Orton pay dearly for it. So, Orton is the last guy to enter in the ring. He goes for Punk but he wasn't in the ring as Punk had bailed out under the ring. Orton pulls him out from under the ring and begins pounding him. Orton clotheslines Punk out of the ring eliminating him and then Truth runs up and eliminates Orton. Cool moment where Orton's focus was too much on Punk. The last three was Cena, Sheamus, and Lawler. Lawler had Cena on the apron trying to eliminate him. Sheamus then sent Lawler into Cena knocking Cena off the apron and to the floor. Sheamus then went for the kick to Lawler but Cena pulled the rope down. Sheamus crashed to the floor and Lawler won the match. Lawler gets the match at the PPV against Miz for the WWE title. Speaking of pushes, how about Lawler? They are really pushing him and the crowd is behind him. I really hope that he gets to work some match on WrestleMania this year. He has never gotten to wrestle on one and I have never really understood why he has never gotten booked on a show.
Other notes from Raw. What did Ted Dibiase do to deserve this treatment? I heard a great comparison last week on Dibiase and Maryse. The statement was that usually when you get a girl put with you, it takes you up. However, Dibiase has brought Maryse down. I laughed at the statement cause of the fact that it is true. I really thought that Dibiase would have the better upside after the Priceless break up but Cody is doing much better. At least he wins. I think. He was winning some of the time. When I saw the Uso's in the ring tonight, it was clear their push was over. Nothing says your push is over like having your ring entrance cut out of multiple shows. I've been saying this but Layla is fantastic! That girl has a ton of personality and I enjoy watching her on WWE TV. That spot where she ran and hooked herself to Michelle was hilarious. I also laughed at the apology stuff backstage where she said that Michelle had kicked her with her big foot. LOL. When the Bellas were attacking Gail Kim tonight, my thought was who could even this up? My next thought was how about Awesome Kong? Now, that would be cool to see those two rivals team up. I'm not sure how many WWE fans would know of their previous great feud but it would be fun for us that do remember their TNA feud. After last night, I was expecting to see Nash or Booker featured prominently in that WWE history opening package but no change. LOL.
Stone Cold Steve Austin is returning to WWE. He will be the host of the returning Tough Enough show which will air later this year on USA Network. The show premieres on Monday night, April 4 after Raw goes off the air. The show will then start airing in its normal time slot at 7pm on Monday nights starting April 11.
Tough Enough isn't the only thing coming back. Oh, you're not going to like this one. LOL. The Divas Search will be returning later in the year and will be on various WWE programming.
That was mighty impressive of John Morrison last night in the Rumble. If you missed it, Morrison was about to be eliminated from the Rumble and caught himself on the barricade around the ring. He then jumped from that to the steps avoiding touching the floor. It looked really incredible.
Wow, WWE ran that video package twice for that guy in black on Raw tonight with the date of 2/21/11. They're serious with promoting that guy. That is a Monday night by the way.
February means Divas for WWE Classics On Demand. The theme for the month will be focusing on the ladies including a new Hall Of Fame profile segment on Wendi Richter.
The latest 10 Count episode that is currently airing on Classics On Demand focuses on the greatest debuts. The list is a mixed bag as far as my opinion goes and the opinions of you all too. I have watched it and I'll recap it in a future Wrestling List is my plan. Hopefully, later in the week.
Well, one year ago, I was live in attendance at the Raw in Nashville on the night after the Royal Rumble. I had to reflect and think about that a little bit tonight. That has ended up being one of my favorite shows that I've attended. Seeing Bret Hart and Vince McMahon standing in the same ring together right in front of my eyes was priceless to see. Qualifying matches for the Chamber match. Just a great show all around. Getting texts saying hey, we see you on TV was fun. LOL. Seriously, it was a very fun show.
I did enjoy watching Shawn Michaels' comments from Twitter as he watched the Royal Rumble. Funny that he wasn't watching the beginning of the Rumble as he was out of the room. He said he knew what was going on based on listening to his son's reactions in the living room.
The TNA Lockdown PPV will be held in Cincinnati, OH on April 17.
TNA taped Impact tonight and "they" was revealed. I have seen the spoiler cause I don't watch Impact so spoilers mean nothing to me for that show. Hmm, we'll see how it goes.
That is it for tonight. Have a great week. Take care and God bless!!
Last night was the WWE Royal Rumble. The major stories coming out of it was the winner, Albert Del Rio. The second was the return of two former champions, Kevin Nash and Booker T. Nash was in his Diesel gimmick. Both got a huge reaction from the live crowd upon their entry into the Rumble match. News broke about Nash and Booker T over the weekend including fans catching pictures of them arriving at the airport in Boston. Both did not spend much time in the ring as they were eliminated fairly quickly. That did not go over well with the live crowd. Funny moment from Shawn Michaels on Twitter as he was tweeting his thoughts while watching the Rumble at home. He said "hey, I know that guy" when Diesel appeared. I am completely excited about his return to WWE. It's funny how I have not been into Nash at all while he has been in TNA for the last several years. Just no excitement. They put him back in the Diesel gimmick and darken his hair and I care again. Amazing what a change in atmosphere will do for me to get interested. I am just not into Booker T but maybe that will change. My last memories of Booker have been King Booker and then his run in TNA which did nothing for me. Del Rio wins the Rumble. Wow, they are pushing him to the moon! I was trying to think of someone else that got this kind of a push right out of the gate including them winning the Rumble. My first thought was Yokozuna in 1993. He made his debut at the 1992 Survivor Series and then won the 1993 Rumble. It worked out well for Yokozuna. Let's see how Del Rio does with this push. Del Rio did choose to face Edge for the World title at WrestleMania.
Tonight's Raw featured a seven man Raw Rumble match with the winner getting the title shot at the Elimination Chamber PPV. The other six would do battle in the Chamber to get the shot at the title at WrestleMania. The match featured Orton, Cena, R Truth, CM Punk, Morrison, Sheamus, and Lawler. I liked the way that the Orton deal went down. Orton had taken out Harris earlier in the night with a punt kick. Punk made a threat to make Orton pay dearly for it. So, Orton is the last guy to enter in the ring. He goes for Punk but he wasn't in the ring as Punk had bailed out under the ring. Orton pulls him out from under the ring and begins pounding him. Orton clotheslines Punk out of the ring eliminating him and then Truth runs up and eliminates Orton. Cool moment where Orton's focus was too much on Punk. The last three was Cena, Sheamus, and Lawler. Lawler had Cena on the apron trying to eliminate him. Sheamus then sent Lawler into Cena knocking Cena off the apron and to the floor. Sheamus then went for the kick to Lawler but Cena pulled the rope down. Sheamus crashed to the floor and Lawler won the match. Lawler gets the match at the PPV against Miz for the WWE title. Speaking of pushes, how about Lawler? They are really pushing him and the crowd is behind him. I really hope that he gets to work some match on WrestleMania this year. He has never gotten to wrestle on one and I have never really understood why he has never gotten booked on a show.
Other notes from Raw. What did Ted Dibiase do to deserve this treatment? I heard a great comparison last week on Dibiase and Maryse. The statement was that usually when you get a girl put with you, it takes you up. However, Dibiase has brought Maryse down. I laughed at the statement cause of the fact that it is true. I really thought that Dibiase would have the better upside after the Priceless break up but Cody is doing much better. At least he wins. I think. He was winning some of the time. When I saw the Uso's in the ring tonight, it was clear their push was over. Nothing says your push is over like having your ring entrance cut out of multiple shows. I've been saying this but Layla is fantastic! That girl has a ton of personality and I enjoy watching her on WWE TV. That spot where she ran and hooked herself to Michelle was hilarious. I also laughed at the apology stuff backstage where she said that Michelle had kicked her with her big foot. LOL. When the Bellas were attacking Gail Kim tonight, my thought was who could even this up? My next thought was how about Awesome Kong? Now, that would be cool to see those two rivals team up. I'm not sure how many WWE fans would know of their previous great feud but it would be fun for us that do remember their TNA feud. After last night, I was expecting to see Nash or Booker featured prominently in that WWE history opening package but no change. LOL.
Stone Cold Steve Austin is returning to WWE. He will be the host of the returning Tough Enough show which will air later this year on USA Network. The show premieres on Monday night, April 4 after Raw goes off the air. The show will then start airing in its normal time slot at 7pm on Monday nights starting April 11.
Tough Enough isn't the only thing coming back. Oh, you're not going to like this one. LOL. The Divas Search will be returning later in the year and will be on various WWE programming.
That was mighty impressive of John Morrison last night in the Rumble. If you missed it, Morrison was about to be eliminated from the Rumble and caught himself on the barricade around the ring. He then jumped from that to the steps avoiding touching the floor. It looked really incredible.
Wow, WWE ran that video package twice for that guy in black on Raw tonight with the date of 2/21/11. They're serious with promoting that guy. That is a Monday night by the way.
February means Divas for WWE Classics On Demand. The theme for the month will be focusing on the ladies including a new Hall Of Fame profile segment on Wendi Richter.
The latest 10 Count episode that is currently airing on Classics On Demand focuses on the greatest debuts. The list is a mixed bag as far as my opinion goes and the opinions of you all too. I have watched it and I'll recap it in a future Wrestling List is my plan. Hopefully, later in the week.
Well, one year ago, I was live in attendance at the Raw in Nashville on the night after the Royal Rumble. I had to reflect and think about that a little bit tonight. That has ended up being one of my favorite shows that I've attended. Seeing Bret Hart and Vince McMahon standing in the same ring together right in front of my eyes was priceless to see. Qualifying matches for the Chamber match. Just a great show all around. Getting texts saying hey, we see you on TV was fun. LOL. Seriously, it was a very fun show.
I did enjoy watching Shawn Michaels' comments from Twitter as he watched the Royal Rumble. Funny that he wasn't watching the beginning of the Rumble as he was out of the room. He said he knew what was going on based on listening to his son's reactions in the living room.
The TNA Lockdown PPV will be held in Cincinnati, OH on April 17.
TNA taped Impact tonight and "they" was revealed. I have seen the spoiler cause I don't watch Impact so spoilers mean nothing to me for that show. Hmm, we'll see how it goes.
That is it for tonight. Have a great week. Take care and God bless!!
Who Is Better? Shawn Michaels or Ric Flair - January 28, 2011
Who is the greatest in ring performer ever? There are so many names that could be thrown in that and everyone has their opinions. I want to discuss and debate two names. Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. For decades, Flair's name has been mentioned as the greatest ever. When you look at rankings such as these kind of deals, eras and time are often used to compare this. I know I am biased but I really feel that Shawn has jumped over Flair in this category. How do you compare these two? Do you compare them in the prime of their careers? Overall careers? This is an interesting topic that I've wanted to type for a List for probably a year now. Let's look at Flair first. Keep in mind that a lot of Flair's stuff is not out there as far as his early career. Flair boomed huge in the 80's. He had legendary matches and feuds with so many people in that era including Dusty Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, Terry Funk, Harley Race, and the list goes on and on. When I look at Flair's career, I look at 1989 as his best year in wrestling. He had an incredible year. The three match series with Steamboat which has went down as some of the greatest matches of all time. From there, the face turn against Terry Funk which main evented what many consider to be the best NWA/WCW PPV of all time, the Great American Bash 1989. The Flair/Funk feud brought Sting and Muta into the equation. The 90's had Flair continue his greatness over to WWF and also back to WCW. He had rivalries with Sting, Luger, Piper, Hogan, and more in that decade. When you get the 2000 era, Flair had some great matches but started to fall off. He did have some very entertaining matches in this era upon his early WWE run including Undertaker and even a match with McMahon. Flair got the great sendoff after WrestleMania against Shawn Michaels. Financial troubles have plagued Flair putting him back in the ring in TNA. Has the fact that Flair stuck around too long hurt his legacy? I absolutely think so. Let's flip the coin and look at Shawn Michaels. Flair's potentially last match was against Shawn and Shawn was that go to guy determined to bring the best out of Flair for that last match. Shawn has had the opposite sendoff so far. Shawn had his plan in place on when to bow out. He had his last match and gave it all he had and then said that's it. Shawn has not backed off his statements of that he is done in the ring. Shawn now has had a great sendoff as well and another upcoming with the Hall Of Fame. Shawn's career has seen him in all sorts of different roles. Tag team wrestler, mid card show stealer, and on up to the main event. Shawn has always been the guy that you knew was going to steal that show. As a tag team star with Marty Jannetty, the two were often put toward the end of the cards knowing that the show would close strong with them in the match. The 90's saw Shawn launch to the top level. Was he a pain to deal with at times? Of course. He fully admits it. However, the comeback of Shawn's from 2002 to 2010 puts him in a whole different level. He proved himself to not just be a great wrestler but to be one of, if not the, greatest of all time. Remember that Shawn came back in 2002 after a four year layoff and wrestled an insane match where it looked like he had never left. WrestleMania 14 in his final match before his then retirement in 1998 is still one of the gutsiest performances that I've ever seen in my life. Shawn was the guy that you knew could have a good match with anyone. I saw Shawn matched up with Khali one night and my first thought was, well, we're about to see what he can get out of him. He got as good of a match out of him as you're going to get. Shawn has been that go to guy. You know he's going to give you all that he has. He can bring someone up to the next level. He has that incredible way of connecting to the crowd. Shawn has had his battles over the years including having a tough time winning over some of the hardcore audience. Remember Survivor Series in 1996 when Shawn was getting booed by that MSG crowd. Years later, Shawn blew the roof off of that place every time he came out. He won that crowd over by his work and work ethic. In the last couple of years for sure, Shawn became that match on the card where you were guaranteed to have one really good match on the show. He knew how to work that crowd and get them to feed into everything. The proof of it that I would argue to anybody is to let them watch the Undertaker matches from WrestleMania 25 and 26. Those two guys had the crowd there and the fans watching at home in the palm of their hands. Two of the best performances that I've ever seen from those guys. Shawn and Flair both had that talking ability and great personalties. Both were revolutionary. Flair had his style and made the Horsemen a staple in wrestling history. Shawn took the business to a different level in the 90's during the Monday Night Wars including his time as champion and a member of DX. Shawn had that attitude in the mid 90's against WCW where he was the smaller guy that was determined to prove everyone wrong. He did and proved everyone wrong to the point where people quit arguing. It's an interesting argument. Who is the better of the two? Everyone will have an opinion. Me? I'm going with Shawn. I think Shawn is better than Flair. I don't doubt my decision because I think he has had a better overall resume of work. Some of you may argue Flair against me and that is fine of course. We all have our different opinions but I'm going with Shawn. We've been very blessed to watch these performers all these years. The topic of who is/was better is going to go on for a long time to come.
New Legends Roundtable shows are being recorded this week for WWE Classics On Demand. Very interesting panel as Bret Hart will make his debut on the panel along with Jim Ross, Michael Hayes, and Pat Patterson. Mean Gene has been doing the hosting duties on the programs. I really look forward to watching this panel. JR did say something in a recent post on his website that one of the topics would be best rivalries. On a side note, I have really enjoyed the back and forth between Jim Ross and JJ Dillon on the recent roundtables. Dillon had the role of head of talent relations and then JR had the job after him. It made for some great conversation to see these two guys debate on overrated/underrated superstars. You had two guys that were in the same position but had two different view on how they went about hiring talent including what they were looking for. I have to say that I agreed with JR more than I did JJ on their opinions on guys. It was just a really fun debate among the two of them on various superstars.
The Royal Rumble is this Sunday. I'm not sure what to make of this year's Rumble match. Here is my thinking on it. I think a Smackdown guy will win this year. I think it would be more unpredictable that way and you aren't pinned into something on that brand as far as matches. When you get to the Raw brand, you're pinned. I tend to think we're going to see Cena/Miz at Mania. If it's a Raw win at the Rumble, I keep thinking that we may see something like Cena winning cause it does not have that excitement to it like years past. Just kind of an easy give the fans a happy ending kind of a win. Which fans? Well, that is the question. LOL. Now, I say that going with the thoughts of that we don't have these great storyline builds like previous years. Putting 40 guys into the match obviously increases excitement. I think that was why it was done. If Cena wins, it just seems like they are pinned on the Raw brand with what to do unless you have something happen at the Chamber PPV. You could have an upset win over on the Smackdown brand. I just don't see Raw upset win kind of deals with the build up from the Raw brand. Raw just feels like it would be an established star getting a win such as Cena or even Orton. I do think we'll see Triple H return. I think we'll see some legends make a fun surprise. The Rumble is always a fun match despite the build to it. It is hard to follow that great story last year of Shawn's determination to win the Rumble so he could get that Mania rematch showdown with Undertaker. Then, seeing him go nuts and losing his mind afterwards was fun. There just isn't that kind of exciting story going on with this year's Rumble. We'll see what happens.
That is it for today. Take care and God bless!!
New Legends Roundtable shows are being recorded this week for WWE Classics On Demand. Very interesting panel as Bret Hart will make his debut on the panel along with Jim Ross, Michael Hayes, and Pat Patterson. Mean Gene has been doing the hosting duties on the programs. I really look forward to watching this panel. JR did say something in a recent post on his website that one of the topics would be best rivalries. On a side note, I have really enjoyed the back and forth between Jim Ross and JJ Dillon on the recent roundtables. Dillon had the role of head of talent relations and then JR had the job after him. It made for some great conversation to see these two guys debate on overrated/underrated superstars. You had two guys that were in the same position but had two different view on how they went about hiring talent including what they were looking for. I have to say that I agreed with JR more than I did JJ on their opinions on guys. It was just a really fun debate among the two of them on various superstars.
The Royal Rumble is this Sunday. I'm not sure what to make of this year's Rumble match. Here is my thinking on it. I think a Smackdown guy will win this year. I think it would be more unpredictable that way and you aren't pinned into something on that brand as far as matches. When you get to the Raw brand, you're pinned. I tend to think we're going to see Cena/Miz at Mania. If it's a Raw win at the Rumble, I keep thinking that we may see something like Cena winning cause it does not have that excitement to it like years past. Just kind of an easy give the fans a happy ending kind of a win. Which fans? Well, that is the question. LOL. Now, I say that going with the thoughts of that we don't have these great storyline builds like previous years. Putting 40 guys into the match obviously increases excitement. I think that was why it was done. If Cena wins, it just seems like they are pinned on the Raw brand with what to do unless you have something happen at the Chamber PPV. You could have an upset win over on the Smackdown brand. I just don't see Raw upset win kind of deals with the build up from the Raw brand. Raw just feels like it would be an established star getting a win such as Cena or even Orton. I do think we'll see Triple H return. I think we'll see some legends make a fun surprise. The Rumble is always a fun match despite the build to it. It is hard to follow that great story last year of Shawn's determination to win the Rumble so he could get that Mania rematch showdown with Undertaker. Then, seeing him go nuts and losing his mind afterwards was fun. There just isn't that kind of exciting story going on with this year's Rumble. We'll see what happens.
That is it for today. Take care and God bless!!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Raw, Impact, Randy Savage/Mattel, & More - July 24, 2010
The WWE Money In The Bank PPV was this past Sunday night. Sounds like it was a good show from the reviews that I've heard. Two surprise winners for me on the MITB matches. The Miz kept the tradition going of a young guy winning the match and it being used as a way to elevate him. Kane winning the Smackdown side was surprising to me. Ehh, I'm just not a big Kane fan. He then cashed in the MITB later in the night and won the World title from Rey Mysterio. John Cena and Sheamus had their match and there was interference by Nexus which helped Sheamus retain the title.
I enjoyed Monday's Raw. Fun show overall. I wasn't crazy about the last segment cause I just didn't think much of the whole Cena going for a truce thing with Nexus. It was played up to where I couldn't tell if WWE was wanting this to be serious or if it was a plan all along. When I heard of the segment getting ready to take place, I thought that this is going to be a Austin in a suit against McMahon type segment or even Hogan teasing that he was going to give the WWF title to The Million Dollar Man but it didn't. Instead, it played out more like Cena just trying to make a deal and when it didn't work, he loaded up a team. Now, obviously he had the team in place but it was just kind of a weirdly booked segment by WWE. The big finish to the show was Cena announcing his super team to take on Nexus at SummerSlam. Chris Jericho, Edge, John Morrison, R Truth, Bret Hart, and……The Great Khali. Wow, that one really left me thinking….really?? (to quote The Miz). It's kind of 2001 Alliance kind of feel with the superstars putting their differences aside to defeat Nexus. I seem to remember Chris Jericho not exactly being on the same page as the WWF guys during that feud back in the day. I don't really like that 2001 is now being referenced as back in the day from me. LOL. I really liked the opener with Edge, Jericho, and Orton. Crowd was hot for it too and popping like crazy for the multiple RKO's to finish the match. Orton won and that gets him the title match at SummerSlam. I loved the tease of that The Miz was about to cash in the MITB against Sheamus after attacking him. He hit the skull crushing finale on to the MITB briefcase and then went to try and take advantage of the hurt WWE champion. The crowd was up for it and the excitement was there to see what was going to happen. I was sitting up too waiting to see what would happen. Then, R Truth comes out and all the excitement is gone. You could hear the crowd barely making any noise after the run in. When they went to Miz in the back, I was thinking that we had better hear some anger from him on this whole thing and he did. The story was that Miz had the perfect scenario in place to win the WWE title. Then, Truth messed it all up and now Miz is back to square one. He should be furious over that and be looking for some major revenge for it.
I'm late posting this so these are my thoughts on the July 15 Impact. I watched TNA Impact last week for the first time in 3 months. With the new direction of the company possibly looming and talk that the company has went back toward wrestling, I decided to tune in especially with the big angle to close the show. I liked what I saw. I really enjoyed the show and there wasn't one thing on the show that made me want to go crawl in a hole. The ECW invasion angle that closed the show was fun. Dreamer, Rhino, Richards, and Raven watched the Hardy/Lethal match from the crowd. They also watched as RVD faced off with Abyss in the final segment. They did get involved to help RVD and others got involved as well including TNA talent and other former ECW talent. Al Snow and Simon Diamond were two guys that were in the brawl as well. The segment closed with Dixie Carter stopping the brawl by saying "I invited them". Yes, it is setting up something which is a One Night Stand type PPV on August 8 which I may be inclined to buy. The show is said to feature all ECW talent. There was a really good match between the Machine Guns and Beer Money which was a ladder match. Lots of nasty spots in the match and this was the first of a best of five series of matches. Lethal and Hardy had a solid match. Samoa Joe, Desmond Wolfe, and Rob Terry had a nice little three way match with Joe picking up the win. I liked The Beautiful People exploding segment. I have always liked Velvet Sky and I thought she was really good in this segment. The controversy continued over who was in the hooded outfit riding the motorcycle making attacks. Angelina Love got involved. I did laugh at Madison Rayne going nuts yelling that she wanted her title back and to give it to her. I liked the exchange between Pope and Anderson with the uneasiness of Anderson helping Pope. I also liked the Taylor Wilde and Sarita brawl especially when it got into the building. I just liked seeing more knockouts action from someone besides just The Beautiful People. Speaking of that match, did you hear Taz say that you could get fired for doing something like that in another company when Sarita choked out Taylor? A definite reference to WWE and Danielson.
Randy Savage, Comic-Con, and WWE was quite the talk in the last couple of days. Mattel announced that Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior are now signed to be part of the action figure line. The Savage figure is part of the Defining Moments series with his figure having his WrestleMania VII look. The big shocker of the announcement was how it all was announced. Savage was the feature of the presentation and they kept him a surprise until running a video. The video started with black and then you hear "ooohhhh yeah". The video shows the figure being held and then the camera pulls out to show Savage. Savage talked about the new figure line and went into full Savage promo mode. It was awesome!! It was probably the most pumped that I've been to see a returning superstar in a long time and it was just for a Mattel figure promotional piece. Best part of the whole clip is Savage comparing himself to how he looks now. I laughed hard at that. The crowd there was loving the video too. Here is a video from the presentation that shows the entire Savage video. A must see.
Nora Greenwald, or also known as Molly Holly will be getting married in the near future. The White Bear Press had a great article up about how she was working at a drug rehabilitation facility helping others fight addiction. If you don't know her story very well, she is a strong Christian and I have admired for her many years with how strong of faith that she has. While working at the facility, her now fiance' was working his way through there as a recovering drug addict. He eventually ended up working there and the two began dating. She is going one for one with dating as the article says this is her first boyfriend. He had no idea of her wrestling past until she told him and he looked up some of her videos on You Tube. The two plan to minister together in helping others battle drug addictions. Just a great, great story and I am thrilled for her. One of the great stories and people that has come from the wrestling world. Here is the link to the article if you want to read it. http://presspubs.com/articles/2010/07/20/white_bear_press/news/doc4c461f5508850811901173.txt
The voting for events to air in August on WWE Classics On Demand is between three different SummerSlams. 1992, 1997, and 2007. Just thought I'd go over some thoughts on each one of them. 1992 was from Wembley Stadium in London. This event is always remembered for the great Intercontinental title match between Bret Hart and The British Bulldog. That match closed the show. Other matches on the show included the big rematch between Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior with the WWF title on the line this time. The fans were split in this one with who to cheer for. Undertaker's feud with Kamala was capped off with a casket match between the two. The tag team title match with LOD against Money Inc. opened the show. 1997 was a solid show which had a main event of Bret Hart and The Undertaker battling for the WWF title with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. I remember this PPV greatly as we had a fun group together watching the PPV that night. Mankind battled Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a steel cage. 2007 was a solid show. John Cena took on Randy Orton in the main event which had a split crowd which is always fun. I love split crowds during Cena/Orton matches. Triple H made his long awaited return taking on King Booker. Batista took on The Great Khali and I have no recollection of that match which is probably because I blocked it out. LOL. Rey Mysterio returned to action taking on Chavo Guerrero. Stone Cold Steve Austin had an appearance on the show having a beer drinking contest with MVP. I remember this show being a solid one but not a show that I was jumping up and down about. Just a thumbs in the middle show is what I remember. Ok, so if I am voting between the three of them on which to play on Classics On Demand, I would pick between 1992 and 1997. Either one would be fine. 1992 is probably a better event overall than 1997 but I enjoyed both shows.
I watched The History Of The World Heavyweight Championship documentary recently. Thumbs in the middle for me on it. The best part of it is them going way back to the early to mid 1900's talking about the history and seeing a lot of old footage that I hadn't seen. It's really impressive with how they cover it and talk about how wrestling was in that time period and how it evolved to what it was in the 60's and 70's. I was wondering how they would cover the title situation when it got to 1991 and Ric Flair. If you remember, Flair left with the title and took it to the WWF after a fallout with those in charge. WCW crowned a new champion which was Lex Luger. What I found odd was that the documentary didn't even talk about Luger being the first champion after Flair leaving the company. They skip right ahead to Ron Simmons win over Vader. The end of the documentary does kind of just go all over the place with stories and timelines. I will forgive them for that though because, let's be honest, the lineage of that title got so messed up and confused over the last decade or even longer than that. When I was watching it, I was thinking that I'm not even sure how you cover that anyway cause of all the battles involving the NWA and its lineage with the title. If I had to recommend anything, I'd check out the first half of it and watch the really classic footage and stories on it. That was worth watching it for me.
I enjoyed Monday's Raw. Fun show overall. I wasn't crazy about the last segment cause I just didn't think much of the whole Cena going for a truce thing with Nexus. It was played up to where I couldn't tell if WWE was wanting this to be serious or if it was a plan all along. When I heard of the segment getting ready to take place, I thought that this is going to be a Austin in a suit against McMahon type segment or even Hogan teasing that he was going to give the WWF title to The Million Dollar Man but it didn't. Instead, it played out more like Cena just trying to make a deal and when it didn't work, he loaded up a team. Now, obviously he had the team in place but it was just kind of a weirdly booked segment by WWE. The big finish to the show was Cena announcing his super team to take on Nexus at SummerSlam. Chris Jericho, Edge, John Morrison, R Truth, Bret Hart, and……The Great Khali. Wow, that one really left me thinking….really?? (to quote The Miz). It's kind of 2001 Alliance kind of feel with the superstars putting their differences aside to defeat Nexus. I seem to remember Chris Jericho not exactly being on the same page as the WWF guys during that feud back in the day. I don't really like that 2001 is now being referenced as back in the day from me. LOL. I really liked the opener with Edge, Jericho, and Orton. Crowd was hot for it too and popping like crazy for the multiple RKO's to finish the match. Orton won and that gets him the title match at SummerSlam. I loved the tease of that The Miz was about to cash in the MITB against Sheamus after attacking him. He hit the skull crushing finale on to the MITB briefcase and then went to try and take advantage of the hurt WWE champion. The crowd was up for it and the excitement was there to see what was going to happen. I was sitting up too waiting to see what would happen. Then, R Truth comes out and all the excitement is gone. You could hear the crowd barely making any noise after the run in. When they went to Miz in the back, I was thinking that we had better hear some anger from him on this whole thing and he did. The story was that Miz had the perfect scenario in place to win the WWE title. Then, Truth messed it all up and now Miz is back to square one. He should be furious over that and be looking for some major revenge for it.
I'm late posting this so these are my thoughts on the July 15 Impact. I watched TNA Impact last week for the first time in 3 months. With the new direction of the company possibly looming and talk that the company has went back toward wrestling, I decided to tune in especially with the big angle to close the show. I liked what I saw. I really enjoyed the show and there wasn't one thing on the show that made me want to go crawl in a hole. The ECW invasion angle that closed the show was fun. Dreamer, Rhino, Richards, and Raven watched the Hardy/Lethal match from the crowd. They also watched as RVD faced off with Abyss in the final segment. They did get involved to help RVD and others got involved as well including TNA talent and other former ECW talent. Al Snow and Simon Diamond were two guys that were in the brawl as well. The segment closed with Dixie Carter stopping the brawl by saying "I invited them". Yes, it is setting up something which is a One Night Stand type PPV on August 8 which I may be inclined to buy. The show is said to feature all ECW talent. There was a really good match between the Machine Guns and Beer Money which was a ladder match. Lots of nasty spots in the match and this was the first of a best of five series of matches. Lethal and Hardy had a solid match. Samoa Joe, Desmond Wolfe, and Rob Terry had a nice little three way match with Joe picking up the win. I liked The Beautiful People exploding segment. I have always liked Velvet Sky and I thought she was really good in this segment. The controversy continued over who was in the hooded outfit riding the motorcycle making attacks. Angelina Love got involved. I did laugh at Madison Rayne going nuts yelling that she wanted her title back and to give it to her. I liked the exchange between Pope and Anderson with the uneasiness of Anderson helping Pope. I also liked the Taylor Wilde and Sarita brawl especially when it got into the building. I just liked seeing more knockouts action from someone besides just The Beautiful People. Speaking of that match, did you hear Taz say that you could get fired for doing something like that in another company when Sarita choked out Taylor? A definite reference to WWE and Danielson.
Randy Savage, Comic-Con, and WWE was quite the talk in the last couple of days. Mattel announced that Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior are now signed to be part of the action figure line. The Savage figure is part of the Defining Moments series with his figure having his WrestleMania VII look. The big shocker of the announcement was how it all was announced. Savage was the feature of the presentation and they kept him a surprise until running a video. The video started with black and then you hear "ooohhhh yeah". The video shows the figure being held and then the camera pulls out to show Savage. Savage talked about the new figure line and went into full Savage promo mode. It was awesome!! It was probably the most pumped that I've been to see a returning superstar in a long time and it was just for a Mattel figure promotional piece. Best part of the whole clip is Savage comparing himself to how he looks now. I laughed hard at that. The crowd there was loving the video too. Here is a video from the presentation that shows the entire Savage video. A must see.
Nora Greenwald, or also known as Molly Holly will be getting married in the near future. The White Bear Press had a great article up about how she was working at a drug rehabilitation facility helping others fight addiction. If you don't know her story very well, she is a strong Christian and I have admired for her many years with how strong of faith that she has. While working at the facility, her now fiance' was working his way through there as a recovering drug addict. He eventually ended up working there and the two began dating. She is going one for one with dating as the article says this is her first boyfriend. He had no idea of her wrestling past until she told him and he looked up some of her videos on You Tube. The two plan to minister together in helping others battle drug addictions. Just a great, great story and I am thrilled for her. One of the great stories and people that has come from the wrestling world. Here is the link to the article if you want to read it. http://presspubs.com/articles/2010/07/20/white_bear_press/news/doc4c461f5508850811901173.txt
The voting for events to air in August on WWE Classics On Demand is between three different SummerSlams. 1992, 1997, and 2007. Just thought I'd go over some thoughts on each one of them. 1992 was from Wembley Stadium in London. This event is always remembered for the great Intercontinental title match between Bret Hart and The British Bulldog. That match closed the show. Other matches on the show included the big rematch between Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior with the WWF title on the line this time. The fans were split in this one with who to cheer for. Undertaker's feud with Kamala was capped off with a casket match between the two. The tag team title match with LOD against Money Inc. opened the show. 1997 was a solid show which had a main event of Bret Hart and The Undertaker battling for the WWF title with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. I remember this PPV greatly as we had a fun group together watching the PPV that night. Mankind battled Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a steel cage. 2007 was a solid show. John Cena took on Randy Orton in the main event which had a split crowd which is always fun. I love split crowds during Cena/Orton matches. Triple H made his long awaited return taking on King Booker. Batista took on The Great Khali and I have no recollection of that match which is probably because I blocked it out. LOL. Rey Mysterio returned to action taking on Chavo Guerrero. Stone Cold Steve Austin had an appearance on the show having a beer drinking contest with MVP. I remember this show being a solid one but not a show that I was jumping up and down about. Just a thumbs in the middle show is what I remember. Ok, so if I am voting between the three of them on which to play on Classics On Demand, I would pick between 1992 and 1997. Either one would be fine. 1992 is probably a better event overall than 1997 but I enjoyed both shows.
I watched The History Of The World Heavyweight Championship documentary recently. Thumbs in the middle for me on it. The best part of it is them going way back to the early to mid 1900's talking about the history and seeing a lot of old footage that I hadn't seen. It's really impressive with how they cover it and talk about how wrestling was in that time period and how it evolved to what it was in the 60's and 70's. I was wondering how they would cover the title situation when it got to 1991 and Ric Flair. If you remember, Flair left with the title and took it to the WWF after a fallout with those in charge. WCW crowned a new champion which was Lex Luger. What I found odd was that the documentary didn't even talk about Luger being the first champion after Flair leaving the company. They skip right ahead to Ron Simmons win over Vader. The end of the documentary does kind of just go all over the place with stories and timelines. I will forgive them for that though because, let's be honest, the lineage of that title got so messed up and confused over the last decade or even longer than that. When I was watching it, I was thinking that I'm not even sure how you cover that anyway cause of all the battles involving the NWA and its lineage with the title. If I had to recommend anything, I'd check out the first half of it and watch the really classic footage and stories on it. That was worth watching it for me.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Raw Thoughts, Steamboat, & More - July 12, 2010
Welcome to the "I loved the RKO counter to the Air Bourne but I hated Sheamus running away like a little kid!!" edition of The Wrestling List.
Just some overall thoughts on Raw tonight. I thought it was a solid show overall. There were some things that made me annoyed obviously which I'll get into but I enjoyed the show for the most part. The focus continues to be on the Nexus group. They laid out attacks on several starts tonight and the night concluded with Cena in a handicap match against six members of the group. Cena was defeated but was able to avoid the beating to follow after he landed a punch to get free and went to grab a chair. Sheamus made his way out with a chair to help out Cena and Nexus bailed. Let's get into the night of Sheamus. Basically, he was confronted by Nexus backstage and he ran away. Ran away like a little kid!! All I could think was, are you kidding me? I'm talking about him running away cowardly. Yep, the big nasty brute of a heel just ran away from Nexus. That should be the guy that just fights them head on. They have done such a good job of building him up as this tough guy and they really hurt him tonight. You could hear the crowd laughing in the background. (Sigh). Move of the night was the RKO counter to the Air Bourne. Unbelievable. It was awesome and WWE knew it was because they replayed it about 20 times. LOL. Orton wrestled Edge in a fun match which ended with the money in the bank competitors getting involved. Bourne went for his revenge from last week on Orton. Orton was laying on the mat. As Bourne got in mid air, Orton got up and nailed a RKO. It looked AWESOME. The Hart Dynasty and The Uso's had a solid match which resulted in the Uso's getting the win going into the PPV title match this Sunday. Really hoping they don't even think of taking the belts off of the Harts. Really like them. I liked the segment with Dibiase and Maryse against Morrison. Good back and forth exchange that was entertaining. Mark Henry was put in the Money In The Bank match to replace R Truth playing off of the injury angle from last week. Henry faced Miz tonight but Miz destroyed him. Only unfortunate thing was that Henry didn't accidentally take out that GM podium or some cable to disable that thing when he ran into it. LOL. I can't stand the anonymous Raw GM deal. It's not entertaining and is just lame so far. I loved that the crowd gave Michael Cole the "what" treatment as he was reading the emails. Ok, I admit that I laughed at the Santino and Regal Brady Bunch show open spoof. How can you not laugh at Regal's face looking around at the Brady Bunch style boxes? The segment that followed with the laugh track. Yeah, not so good. The match, yeah, not so good. I can't believe I watched Doink wrestle on Raw in 2010. The match also featured guest host, Florence Henderson, who had a make out session with The Great Khali. Yeah, not so good. Gail Kim lost to Alicia Fox as Eve watched on from ringside. Poor Gail Kim. She was a huge star in TNA and has done nothing since her WWE return. Really is frustrating. I did enjoy Raw overall but had some things that left me frustrated.
TNA taped Impact tonight and it sounded like the end of the show was awesome. The closing angle is getting rave reviews from everyone that was in attendance. It involved the former ECW crew. Yeah, I'll have to check it out. The show will air this Thursday.
Ricky Steamboat remains in the hospital after suffering a serious medical condition. What is going on with him has been kept close to home and not let out. He appears to be on the road to recovery but the family has been asking for prayers for him over the last couple of weeks. I really couldn't stand hearing that news that he was in bad shape. My prayers go out to him on his continued recovery.
Wow, Jim Ross was left out of the new WWE history show open. Michael Cole's voice is now in there. I'm not a fan of JR being taken out of that at all. Why would you take JR out of there?
So, who got the better of the Priceless split? I vote for neither. LOL. I thought Cody had gotten the better of it just based on the fact that Dibiase has been losing all the time on Raw. Then, I heard the name "Dashing" Cody Rhodes and, well, I think that maybe Dibiase wins by default. LOL. I do like the pairing of Maryse with Dibiase. I like Maryse and think that she is a fun character. I laughed at the image from last week of her wearing Morrison's gear and then starting to do her rope pose with it.
ECW Barely Legal is currently airing on WWE Classics On Demand. This was ECW's first PPV of course and a great show. One of the most amazing stories to hear about still to this day is the talk of the power outage that happened right after the show went off the air. If you don't know the story, the ECW Arena wasn't exactly built to power all that equipment that they had going that night for a live PPV. They were pushing the limit on power restrictions all night. The power went off in the building about a couple of minutes after the show went off the air. They were that close to disaster with having a power outage knock their first PPV off the air. Barely Legal was a great show and was such a great moment for ECW to get to PPV.
There was a real classic match on Classics On Demand this week. The oldest Ric Flair match that I've seen as it was an AWA match from 1973. If I hadn't been told that it was Ric Flair, I wouldn't have even recognized him. A heavier and brown headed Flair with a very different style than we're used to. Really interesting to watch.
I recently watched this year's Royal Rumble and I thought it was a solid show. Seeing Shawn Michaels get in there and clean house looking to get that match with Undertaker at WrestleMania was an attention getter. The Rumble match is always fun and was this year as well. The Edge surprise return and win was awesome and the Atlanta crowd was going nuts for it.
The WWE Money In The Bank PPV is this Sunday and here is your lineup for it. Sheamus defends the WWE title against John Cena in a cage. World Champion Rey Mysterio defends against Jack Swagger. The Raw Money In The Bank match features Randy Orton, Edge, Chris Jericho, The Miz, John Morrison, Ted Dibiase, Evan Bourne, and Mark Henry. Smackdown's Money In The Bank match includes Big Show, Matt Hardy, Christian, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Kane, Drew McIntyre, and Dolph Ziggler. The Hart Dynasty defends the tag team titles against the Uso's. Divas Champion Alicia Fox defends against Eve. Layla defends the Women's title against Kelly Kelly.
Take care and God bless!!
Just some overall thoughts on Raw tonight. I thought it was a solid show overall. There were some things that made me annoyed obviously which I'll get into but I enjoyed the show for the most part. The focus continues to be on the Nexus group. They laid out attacks on several starts tonight and the night concluded with Cena in a handicap match against six members of the group. Cena was defeated but was able to avoid the beating to follow after he landed a punch to get free and went to grab a chair. Sheamus made his way out with a chair to help out Cena and Nexus bailed. Let's get into the night of Sheamus. Basically, he was confronted by Nexus backstage and he ran away. Ran away like a little kid!! All I could think was, are you kidding me? I'm talking about him running away cowardly. Yep, the big nasty brute of a heel just ran away from Nexus. That should be the guy that just fights them head on. They have done such a good job of building him up as this tough guy and they really hurt him tonight. You could hear the crowd laughing in the background. (Sigh). Move of the night was the RKO counter to the Air Bourne. Unbelievable. It was awesome and WWE knew it was because they replayed it about 20 times. LOL. Orton wrestled Edge in a fun match which ended with the money in the bank competitors getting involved. Bourne went for his revenge from last week on Orton. Orton was laying on the mat. As Bourne got in mid air, Orton got up and nailed a RKO. It looked AWESOME. The Hart Dynasty and The Uso's had a solid match which resulted in the Uso's getting the win going into the PPV title match this Sunday. Really hoping they don't even think of taking the belts off of the Harts. Really like them. I liked the segment with Dibiase and Maryse against Morrison. Good back and forth exchange that was entertaining. Mark Henry was put in the Money In The Bank match to replace R Truth playing off of the injury angle from last week. Henry faced Miz tonight but Miz destroyed him. Only unfortunate thing was that Henry didn't accidentally take out that GM podium or some cable to disable that thing when he ran into it. LOL. I can't stand the anonymous Raw GM deal. It's not entertaining and is just lame so far. I loved that the crowd gave Michael Cole the "what" treatment as he was reading the emails. Ok, I admit that I laughed at the Santino and Regal Brady Bunch show open spoof. How can you not laugh at Regal's face looking around at the Brady Bunch style boxes? The segment that followed with the laugh track. Yeah, not so good. The match, yeah, not so good. I can't believe I watched Doink wrestle on Raw in 2010. The match also featured guest host, Florence Henderson, who had a make out session with The Great Khali. Yeah, not so good. Gail Kim lost to Alicia Fox as Eve watched on from ringside. Poor Gail Kim. She was a huge star in TNA and has done nothing since her WWE return. Really is frustrating. I did enjoy Raw overall but had some things that left me frustrated.
TNA taped Impact tonight and it sounded like the end of the show was awesome. The closing angle is getting rave reviews from everyone that was in attendance. It involved the former ECW crew. Yeah, I'll have to check it out. The show will air this Thursday.
Ricky Steamboat remains in the hospital after suffering a serious medical condition. What is going on with him has been kept close to home and not let out. He appears to be on the road to recovery but the family has been asking for prayers for him over the last couple of weeks. I really couldn't stand hearing that news that he was in bad shape. My prayers go out to him on his continued recovery.
Wow, Jim Ross was left out of the new WWE history show open. Michael Cole's voice is now in there. I'm not a fan of JR being taken out of that at all. Why would you take JR out of there?
So, who got the better of the Priceless split? I vote for neither. LOL. I thought Cody had gotten the better of it just based on the fact that Dibiase has been losing all the time on Raw. Then, I heard the name "Dashing" Cody Rhodes and, well, I think that maybe Dibiase wins by default. LOL. I do like the pairing of Maryse with Dibiase. I like Maryse and think that she is a fun character. I laughed at the image from last week of her wearing Morrison's gear and then starting to do her rope pose with it.
ECW Barely Legal is currently airing on WWE Classics On Demand. This was ECW's first PPV of course and a great show. One of the most amazing stories to hear about still to this day is the talk of the power outage that happened right after the show went off the air. If you don't know the story, the ECW Arena wasn't exactly built to power all that equipment that they had going that night for a live PPV. They were pushing the limit on power restrictions all night. The power went off in the building about a couple of minutes after the show went off the air. They were that close to disaster with having a power outage knock their first PPV off the air. Barely Legal was a great show and was such a great moment for ECW to get to PPV.
There was a real classic match on Classics On Demand this week. The oldest Ric Flair match that I've seen as it was an AWA match from 1973. If I hadn't been told that it was Ric Flair, I wouldn't have even recognized him. A heavier and brown headed Flair with a very different style than we're used to. Really interesting to watch.
I recently watched this year's Royal Rumble and I thought it was a solid show. Seeing Shawn Michaels get in there and clean house looking to get that match with Undertaker at WrestleMania was an attention getter. The Rumble match is always fun and was this year as well. The Edge surprise return and win was awesome and the Atlanta crowd was going nuts for it.
The WWE Money In The Bank PPV is this Sunday and here is your lineup for it. Sheamus defends the WWE title against John Cena in a cage. World Champion Rey Mysterio defends against Jack Swagger. The Raw Money In The Bank match features Randy Orton, Edge, Chris Jericho, The Miz, John Morrison, Ted Dibiase, Evan Bourne, and Mark Henry. Smackdown's Money In The Bank match includes Big Show, Matt Hardy, Christian, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Kane, Drew McIntyre, and Dolph Ziggler. The Hart Dynasty defends the tag team titles against the Uso's. Divas Champion Alicia Fox defends against Eve. Layla defends the Women's title against Kelly Kelly.
Take care and God bless!!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
WWE Injuries, Raw Thoughts, & More - June 2, 2010
Lots of news out of WWE and most of it is not good because it centers around injuries. WWE has been bitten by the injury bug once again and there are top stars going down. Randy Orton separated his shoulder on the Over The Limit PPV and that was why his role on Raw was so limited this week and last week. CM Punk was busted open badly during his match against Rey Mysterio which required thirteen stitches to close it up. Undertaker broke his orbital bone in his match against Rey Mysterio last week on Smackdown and will be out for a while. John Morrison has an ankle injury that has been keeping him out of action. Ted Dibiase suffered a concussion during his match with R Truth at Over The Limit.
WWE released Carlito last week after a wellness policy violation. WWE wanted Carlito to go to rehab for whatever he tested positive for but Carlito declined and WWE released him. Carlito and Primo had just been reunited as a tag team.
Bret Hart was named the new general manager of Raw last week. I like it. It gives him a role and keeps him around.
This week's Raw saw WWE push Evan Bourne to the moon. I'm fearful though of that. Why? Well, they have a tendency to push someone to the moon with a big win and suddenly they lose for the next five weeks. Having Bourne get the tag team spot with John Cena and pinning Sheamus was huge. The original partner for Cena was supposed to be Orton but they did a segment in the back where Edge slammed Orton's shoulder with the door. So, there is how they are working the shoulder into the show. Vince McMahon returned on the show to a big response from the fans. Vince talked to Bret about there having to be wonders from people on why he would let Bret be GM. It was definitely left open ended on why he allowed it. It was announced that next week's Raw will be three hours and be a viewers choice type show. Fans will vote for the happenings on the show. I was a little disappointed with Ashton Kutcher as guest host. I guess I just expected it to be a little better. I am happy that the guest hosts have been pushed back a bit where they're not dominating the show anymore. Miz vs. Daniel Bryan was a fun match with Bryan getting the win to a shocked Michael Cole. Miz then got thrown on to Cole at the announce table. Truth and Jericho had a solid match with Truth getting the win. Kozlov turned on Regal. Alicia Fox turned on Zack Ryder. Overall, I thought the show was entertaining.
Well, who knew that Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole would be the hottest thing going in WWE right now? I have recorded NXT the last couple of weeks just to watch their segments but that is all that I watch. The stuff with them last week was great and then the pull apart between Bryan and Miz was great too.
Jim Ross has announced that he is staying with WWE with a new role with the company.
The announcing in WWE is a problem. I just get tired of it. Michael Cole is either a face or a heel depending on what is going on during the show. The stuff with him and Bryan is fine but then he goes heel during the whole Bret/Vince WrestleMania deal. Then, he's a babyface announcer the rest of the time. Just strange. I've heard people critique Lawler about how he doesn't seem to know how to call Smackdown matches since it is the show that he doesn't call. It's the feeling of that he doesn't watch the other shows. He almost didn't seem to know all of the details of the Bryan vs. Cole stuff when all of that was going on Monday night. The Raw announcing situation is definitely a problem.
The new tag team that debuted on Raw last week are the sons of Rikishi. The female that was with them is the daughter of Jimmy Snuka. Hopefully, this feud that they are setting up with them against The Hart Dynasty does great things.
Wade Barrett won NXT last night and they are going to try and squeeze a second season out of this before the show ends this fall. On the new season will be none other than Low-Ki. He obviously has a different name on the show but he will be trained by LayCool. Wow, that is just bizarre. Also on the show will be Mike Rotunda's son and Curt Hennig's son. That should be interesting.
I talked a few weeks ago on the news that WWE was working on a Monday Night Raw 1993 DVD set but the plans have apparently changed. It appears to now be a "best of" set.
I have watched half of the new 10 Count show that aired recently on WWE Classics On Demand. The show focused on the top 10 Piper's Pit segments of all time. I'll have more thoughts on it when I get it watched but it has been a fun show to watch so far.
Dixie Carter posted on Twitter last week that Angelina Love and Daffney are both set to return to action.
WWE released Carlito last week after a wellness policy violation. WWE wanted Carlito to go to rehab for whatever he tested positive for but Carlito declined and WWE released him. Carlito and Primo had just been reunited as a tag team.
Bret Hart was named the new general manager of Raw last week. I like it. It gives him a role and keeps him around.
This week's Raw saw WWE push Evan Bourne to the moon. I'm fearful though of that. Why? Well, they have a tendency to push someone to the moon with a big win and suddenly they lose for the next five weeks. Having Bourne get the tag team spot with John Cena and pinning Sheamus was huge. The original partner for Cena was supposed to be Orton but they did a segment in the back where Edge slammed Orton's shoulder with the door. So, there is how they are working the shoulder into the show. Vince McMahon returned on the show to a big response from the fans. Vince talked to Bret about there having to be wonders from people on why he would let Bret be GM. It was definitely left open ended on why he allowed it. It was announced that next week's Raw will be three hours and be a viewers choice type show. Fans will vote for the happenings on the show. I was a little disappointed with Ashton Kutcher as guest host. I guess I just expected it to be a little better. I am happy that the guest hosts have been pushed back a bit where they're not dominating the show anymore. Miz vs. Daniel Bryan was a fun match with Bryan getting the win to a shocked Michael Cole. Miz then got thrown on to Cole at the announce table. Truth and Jericho had a solid match with Truth getting the win. Kozlov turned on Regal. Alicia Fox turned on Zack Ryder. Overall, I thought the show was entertaining.
Well, who knew that Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole would be the hottest thing going in WWE right now? I have recorded NXT the last couple of weeks just to watch their segments but that is all that I watch. The stuff with them last week was great and then the pull apart between Bryan and Miz was great too.
Jim Ross has announced that he is staying with WWE with a new role with the company.
The announcing in WWE is a problem. I just get tired of it. Michael Cole is either a face or a heel depending on what is going on during the show. The stuff with him and Bryan is fine but then he goes heel during the whole Bret/Vince WrestleMania deal. Then, he's a babyface announcer the rest of the time. Just strange. I've heard people critique Lawler about how he doesn't seem to know how to call Smackdown matches since it is the show that he doesn't call. It's the feeling of that he doesn't watch the other shows. He almost didn't seem to know all of the details of the Bryan vs. Cole stuff when all of that was going on Monday night. The Raw announcing situation is definitely a problem.
The new tag team that debuted on Raw last week are the sons of Rikishi. The female that was with them is the daughter of Jimmy Snuka. Hopefully, this feud that they are setting up with them against The Hart Dynasty does great things.
Wade Barrett won NXT last night and they are going to try and squeeze a second season out of this before the show ends this fall. On the new season will be none other than Low-Ki. He obviously has a different name on the show but he will be trained by LayCool. Wow, that is just bizarre. Also on the show will be Mike Rotunda's son and Curt Hennig's son. That should be interesting.
I talked a few weeks ago on the news that WWE was working on a Monday Night Raw 1993 DVD set but the plans have apparently changed. It appears to now be a "best of" set.
I have watched half of the new 10 Count show that aired recently on WWE Classics On Demand. The show focused on the top 10 Piper's Pit segments of all time. I'll have more thoughts on it when I get it watched but it has been a fun show to watch so far.
Dixie Carter posted on Twitter last week that Angelina Love and Daffney are both set to return to action.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Raw Is Toronto, Bret Wins The US Title, Over The Limit Preview, & More - May 18, 2010
Welcome to the "I was waiting to count how many times bizarro land was used and ended up counting how many times that people messed up with saying the letters WWF" edition of The Wrestling List.
Last night's WWE Raw was commercial free from Toronto and I loved the show. I didn't like everything on it of course but the two hours without commercials flew by so that was a sign that I was really enjoying the show. I love the Canadian crowds especially in Toronto. It's funny how WWE will go into panic mode trying to explain why the fans aren't doing what they're supposed to do with cheering and booing. They didn't do it as much last night with explaining the fans but they also mostly put the Canadians against each other. It was like the crowd was getting neutralized a lot. The first mention of explaining the situation was when Jericho got a big pop when he made his way to the ring and confronted Bret Hart. Speaking of Bret, he got a big reaction and that was great to see him at a Toronto show back with WWE. He ended up beating The Miz for the US title. That is a puzzling one. Not sure what to make of that but it really depends on what they have for Bret going forward. Was it a tribute kind of deal with him getting such a big win in his home country once again? Not sure but I tend to think so. The real bizarre moment was Michael Cole suddenly going heel and talking about how the Hart family had ripped Miz off. Cole was seemingly going nuts for the finish and then went heel out of nowhere. It's strange how they have Cole being a face announcer and then suddenly goes heel for two minutes. Then, he goes back to being a face. Well, how about Edge and Christian being in the same ring together? I was thinking that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. They had a really fun match that got a lot of time on the show. Really liked it. Edge got the win on him and it was a pick your poison match. Basically, the story was that Edge and Orton got to pick each other's opponents. After Edge beat Christian, Orton appeared on the screen saying that it wasn't Edge's opponent and then Undertaker made his way to the ring. My first thought was is this guy going to get any time off??!! LOL. Edge bailed and it was a countout win but Taker did get a chokeslam in when Christian fed Edge to him. Speaking of Taker, so much for separate brands. There were already a bunch of talent on this show from Smackdown. Buzz Aldrin's appearance was just there for me with his guest starring spot. I had no idea that he had punched someone a while back for questioning him on the moon conspiracy theory!! He did say the letters WWF during his promo in the ring but then again so did Bret Hart. Whoops. LOL. Virgil returns. I let out a big cheer for it. Loved it!! I just wanted him to get involved in the match. He is paired up with Dibiase and I'm liking it. They did add that he would be in the corner of Dibiase on Sunday. The only thing that could have topped that cheering wise was the anticipation that we'd see Trish Stratus. We got that tease with the Maryse backstage segment but got nothing of Trish. I was surprised at that. Maryse got a big pop from the fans on her entrance even after they tried to get the fans to turn on her. Toronto does not like John Cena. He got booed bad!! Sheamus was the face in that match in Toronto. That was really the only moment last night where the fans cheered for a heel besides them being Canadian. Batista getting involved was predictable and he also destroyed Mark Henry earlier in the night. I admit that I laughed at the WWE commercial spoofs. The one with Khali and Hornswoggle with them driving cracked me up big. Hornswoggle's laugh just cracks me up.
As was talked about last night, The Score in Canada was putting in commercials during Raw.
Beth Phoenix had surgery done this morning on her torn ACL. She will be gone for several months. With her being out and the release of Mickie James, that women's division is really hurting right now. I'm begging for Melina to hurry up and get back.
Jim Ross is closing down his BBQ restaurants and posted the following comments on his website: "At the end of the day, our business plan could not handle the shift in the economy or the rising overhead that we encountered. We make no excuses. We worked diligently on making this aspect of our BBQ dream come true but this time around it simply wasn't meant to be. We played the game hard and played to win but we came up short. Again, we make no excuses." http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/His BBQ business will continue online however. In more comments that I'm sure will make fans continue to wonder about his future, he posted that his professional schedule will likely change significantly in the upcoming weeks. He talked of how there was only so much that he could pile on his plate and that the unfortunate turn of events is a blessing in disguise. Let the fans run wild with those comments. LOL.
WWE released their Best Of PPV Matches 2009-2010 DVD set today which is in standard definition or on Blu-ray with the Blu-ray being a Best Buy exclusive. Solid lineup of matches that you can't go wrong with and here is the link to check it out. http://www.amazon.com/Best-View-Matches-Year-2009-2010/dp/B00368PSMS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1274207126&sr=1-1
I've heard the results of the TNA Sacrifice PPV and don't really have any opinions on it. Yeah, just really have nothing to say about it.
How does Scott Hall get away with the comments that he makes on his You Tube videos? I'm amazed at what he gets away with from TNA.
The WWE Classics On Demand fan voting for events in June is between WCW Clash Of The Champions 27, WWF In Your House 1, or WCW SuperBrawl VIII.
WWE's Over The Limit PPV is this Sunday and here is the lineup. John Cena defends the WWE title against Batista in an I Quit match. Jack Swagger defends the World title against The Big Show. Randy Orton vs. Edge. CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio with the stipulations of that if Rey loses, he joins Punk's group. If Punk loses, he gets his head shaved. Drew McIntyre defends the Intercontinental title against Kofi Kingston. The Hart Dynasty defend the tag team titles against Chris Jericho and The Miz. Eve defends the Divas title against Maryse. R Truth takes on Ted Dibiase.
That is all I have this week. Kind of a quiet week in the wrestling world outside of last night's Raw. Take care and God bless!!
Last night's WWE Raw was commercial free from Toronto and I loved the show. I didn't like everything on it of course but the two hours without commercials flew by so that was a sign that I was really enjoying the show. I love the Canadian crowds especially in Toronto. It's funny how WWE will go into panic mode trying to explain why the fans aren't doing what they're supposed to do with cheering and booing. They didn't do it as much last night with explaining the fans but they also mostly put the Canadians against each other. It was like the crowd was getting neutralized a lot. The first mention of explaining the situation was when Jericho got a big pop when he made his way to the ring and confronted Bret Hart. Speaking of Bret, he got a big reaction and that was great to see him at a Toronto show back with WWE. He ended up beating The Miz for the US title. That is a puzzling one. Not sure what to make of that but it really depends on what they have for Bret going forward. Was it a tribute kind of deal with him getting such a big win in his home country once again? Not sure but I tend to think so. The real bizarre moment was Michael Cole suddenly going heel and talking about how the Hart family had ripped Miz off. Cole was seemingly going nuts for the finish and then went heel out of nowhere. It's strange how they have Cole being a face announcer and then suddenly goes heel for two minutes. Then, he goes back to being a face. Well, how about Edge and Christian being in the same ring together? I was thinking that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. They had a really fun match that got a lot of time on the show. Really liked it. Edge got the win on him and it was a pick your poison match. Basically, the story was that Edge and Orton got to pick each other's opponents. After Edge beat Christian, Orton appeared on the screen saying that it wasn't Edge's opponent and then Undertaker made his way to the ring. My first thought was is this guy going to get any time off??!! LOL. Edge bailed and it was a countout win but Taker did get a chokeslam in when Christian fed Edge to him. Speaking of Taker, so much for separate brands. There were already a bunch of talent on this show from Smackdown. Buzz Aldrin's appearance was just there for me with his guest starring spot. I had no idea that he had punched someone a while back for questioning him on the moon conspiracy theory!! He did say the letters WWF during his promo in the ring but then again so did Bret Hart. Whoops. LOL. Virgil returns. I let out a big cheer for it. Loved it!! I just wanted him to get involved in the match. He is paired up with Dibiase and I'm liking it. They did add that he would be in the corner of Dibiase on Sunday. The only thing that could have topped that cheering wise was the anticipation that we'd see Trish Stratus. We got that tease with the Maryse backstage segment but got nothing of Trish. I was surprised at that. Maryse got a big pop from the fans on her entrance even after they tried to get the fans to turn on her. Toronto does not like John Cena. He got booed bad!! Sheamus was the face in that match in Toronto. That was really the only moment last night where the fans cheered for a heel besides them being Canadian. Batista getting involved was predictable and he also destroyed Mark Henry earlier in the night. I admit that I laughed at the WWE commercial spoofs. The one with Khali and Hornswoggle with them driving cracked me up big. Hornswoggle's laugh just cracks me up.
As was talked about last night, The Score in Canada was putting in commercials during Raw.
Beth Phoenix had surgery done this morning on her torn ACL. She will be gone for several months. With her being out and the release of Mickie James, that women's division is really hurting right now. I'm begging for Melina to hurry up and get back.
Jim Ross is closing down his BBQ restaurants and posted the following comments on his website: "At the end of the day, our business plan could not handle the shift in the economy or the rising overhead that we encountered. We make no excuses. We worked diligently on making this aspect of our BBQ dream come true but this time around it simply wasn't meant to be. We played the game hard and played to win but we came up short. Again, we make no excuses." http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/His BBQ business will continue online however. In more comments that I'm sure will make fans continue to wonder about his future, he posted that his professional schedule will likely change significantly in the upcoming weeks. He talked of how there was only so much that he could pile on his plate and that the unfortunate turn of events is a blessing in disguise. Let the fans run wild with those comments. LOL.
WWE released their Best Of PPV Matches 2009-2010 DVD set today which is in standard definition or on Blu-ray with the Blu-ray being a Best Buy exclusive. Solid lineup of matches that you can't go wrong with and here is the link to check it out. http://www.amazon.com/Best-View-Matches-Year-2009-2010/dp/B00368PSMS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1274207126&sr=1-1
I've heard the results of the TNA Sacrifice PPV and don't really have any opinions on it. Yeah, just really have nothing to say about it.
How does Scott Hall get away with the comments that he makes on his You Tube videos? I'm amazed at what he gets away with from TNA.
The WWE Classics On Demand fan voting for events in June is between WCW Clash Of The Champions 27, WWF In Your House 1, or WCW SuperBrawl VIII.
WWE's Over The Limit PPV is this Sunday and here is the lineup. John Cena defends the WWE title against Batista in an I Quit match. Jack Swagger defends the World title against The Big Show. Randy Orton vs. Edge. CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio with the stipulations of that if Rey loses, he joins Punk's group. If Punk loses, he gets his head shaved. Drew McIntyre defends the Intercontinental title against Kofi Kingston. The Hart Dynasty defend the tag team titles against Chris Jericho and The Miz. Eve defends the Divas title against Maryse. R Truth takes on Ted Dibiase.
That is all I have this week. Kind of a quiet week in the wrestling world outside of last night's Raw. Take care and God bless!!
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