Bonus Wrestling List this week. Hope you all are having a great week.
I want to give TNA the credit that they deserve this week. That statement could probably be taken as I'm about to rip on them for something. LOL. No, it is good. They have taken a ton of heat this week over how the Victory Road PPV ended. Fans feeling cheated. Well, TNA has informed fans that if you bought the PPV, they are going to offer you six months free of their TNA On Demand programming on their site. They put out a press release basically saying that they want to give their best to the fans and that they didn't do that this past Sunday. I have seen their On Demand site on their website and there is a lot of stuff on there to watch. Good for TNA that they are looking to make good with the disappointed fans. They are showing effort and I give them a bunch of credit for that. To get the six months free, you send your PPV purchase receipt, name, address, and email address to this address and they'll set you up with the info on how to get it.
TNA OnDemand Offer
209 10th Avenue South, #302
Nashville, TN 37203.
Ok, this idea goes to Corey. He suggested to me a few weeks ago about doing a look back on the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak. Memories of the matches and all. Sounds like fun to me so if it's good, thank him. If it's bad, blame him. Completely kidding!! LOL. I love his idea so here we go.
1-0 - WrestleMania VII - vs. Jimmy Snuka. Who knew how important that this match would be as far as setting up the future of the streak? There was no doubt who was winning this match. Even me as a kid knew who was winning this one. Snuka on the back side of his career against the WWF newcomer, The Undertaker. This was basically a squash. Undertaker got the win at the LA Sports Arena and the streak begins.
2-0 - WrestleMania VIII - vs. Jake The Snake Roberts. This was a match that I was looking forward to at the time. This feud basically turned Undertaker face. Remember that on Saturday Night's Main Event that Roberts had taken on Randy Savage with their continuing feud. Roberts lost and was waiting backstage on Savage and Elizabeth to come through the curtain so he could blast them with a steel chair. When they walked through, Roberts went to swing and the chair was caught by Undertaker. Savage and Elizabeth ducked out of the way and Savage pounded on Roberts. That was the face turn and set up the dark feud between Undertaker and Roberts. Now, the match wasn't what it could have been probably due to Roberts having a falling out with the company and this being his last match. Undertaker gets the win including him taking a DDT on the floor. 2-0 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.
3-0 - WrestleMania IX - vs. Giant Gonzales. Yeah, this is one of his matches that isn't remembered well. In fact that whole WrestleMania isn't remembered well. The idea was to put Gonzales in a furry costume which looked bad. The whole idea was how Undertaker would respond to having to face a giant of a man bigger than him. The end result was that it wasn't a good match. Undertaker got beaten down and was taken backstage. He returned a few seconds later looking for payback. 3-0 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
4-0 - WrestleMania XI - vs. King Kong Bundy. A lot of people can't stand WrestleMania IX. Well, I can't stand WrestleMania XI. That is my least favorite WrestleMania ever. Just a bad show with Shawn/Diesel being the only highlight on it for me. There was no Undertaker at WrestleMania X due to him taking time off from the company. They did the angle at the Royal Rumble where something like 15 guys beat him down in a casket match against Yokozuna. He would return at SummerSlam that year. Against Bundy, I don't have a lot of memories of this match mostly cause I don't try to think about this PPV at all. LOL. This was also during the whole Million Dollar Corporation gimmick but the focus of that was mostly on Bam Bam and LT. 4-0 at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, CT.
5-0 - WrestleMania XII - vs. Diesel. Ok, here is the one where I was clearly cheering against Undertaker as a fan. At this time in 1996, I was solidly behind Shawn Michaels and his partner in crime, Diesel. I was a big fan of Big Daddy Cool. I liked the build to this match with most opponents being afraid of Undertaker. Diesel was one of the first guys to really be built as I'm not afraid of you. I still remember the interview with Diesel saying "I'm not afraid of the dark". This also culminated in the big triangle that had been going for the WWF title between Undertaker, Bret Hart, and Diesel. Diesel had cost Undertaker the title at The Royal Rumble. Undertaker returned the favor by costing Diesel the title at the In Your House PPV in Louisville by coming up from under the ring during the cage match and pulling Diesel underneath it allowing Bret to retain. The big match would happen at WrestleMania XII. It was a typical big man match but I thought it was solid and have good memories of it. It was the biggest opponent for Undertaker to date at a WrestleMania. 5-0 in Anaheim, CA.
6-0 - WrestleMania XIII - vs. Sycho Sid. This match closed the show in Chicago and unfortunately had to follow the epic Bret Hart/Steve Austin submission match. Shawn Michaels was at ringside doing commentary. There had been a big battle for the title leading up to this show involving several guys including Undertaker, Bret Hart, Sid, Vader, and Shawn Michaels. Shawn of course dropped the title in February leaving the others to battle for it. The culmination of this would be Undertaker winning the WWF title for the second time in his career and getting a big WrestleMania moment. 6-0 in Chicago, IL
7-0 - WrestleMania XIV - vs. Kane. The brothers clash at WrestleMania. The build of this match went back to Kane's debut at the Badd Blood PPV in St. Louis. The match was built up and this was the big face off. Not a lot of memories for me on this match but it was a fine match. 7-0 in Boston.
8-0 - WrestleMania XV - vs. The Big Boss Man. The only cell match to take place on a WrestleMania event. Yeah, it wasn't a good one at all. The finish was disturbing and just didn't do anything for me. This was also during the evil Undertaker era which was just too much as well. Blocked this one out. This is actually one of my least favorite WrestleMania events ever as well. 8-0 in Philadelphia.
9-0 - WrestleMania X-7 - vs. Triple H
Undertaker didn't make WrestleMania 2000 so his next match would be at Wrestlemania X-7 in Houston. This was a big match at the time and one that WWE is not bothering to mention in their current build. Guessing that they want us to forget that they have wrestled before at a WrestleMania. Triple H was on a major role at this point and Undertaker was on to the biker gimmick. Good match that ended up around the building. I remember being such a Triple H fan at the time that I uttered the words after the pinfall of Undertaker winning that this ranks right up there with Hogan/Warrior on garbage moments at WrestleMania. LOL. I was kidding of course. This was part of one of the best WrestleMania events ever. 9-0 at the Astrodome in Houston.
10-0 - WrestleMania X-8 - vs. Ric Flair. The streak continues as Undertaker has to battle a legend. I don't think any of us really expected Flair to be given the win but it intrigued us by having a legend as Flair challenging the streak. My favorite memory of this match had nothing to do with either guy. It involved a run in from Arn Anderson who hit a spinebuster on the Undertaker. It got my room into a big time pop of cheers. It was awesome!! Good back and forth between Undertaker and Flair and it was a solid match. 10-0 at the Skydome in Toronto.
11-0 - WrestleMania XIX - vs. A-Train and the Big Show in a handicap match. Yeah, this is another one of those not great matches. Feels like a pad the stat kind of match for 2003. 11-0 at Safeco Field in Seattle.
12-0 - WrestleMania XX - vs. Kane. This was a very anticipated match from fans based on this being the return of the original Undertaker gimmick. Gone was the biker gimmick and back was the original Undertaker. Big entrance as expected and the MSG crowd ate it up. The match was what it was. It wasn't a classic but the match itself wasn't the attraction. It was the return of the Undertaker. 12-0 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
13-0 - WrestleMania 21 - vs. Randy Orton. I have good memories of this match. This was the build of could Randy Orton add to his list of legends? He was doing the legend killer gimmick at the time and could the youngster end the streak? Really fun match and my big memory of this match was Orton countering Undertaker's chokeslam into a RKO. It looked awesome and got the crowd on its feet. Really fun match. 13-0 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
14-0 - WrestleMania 22 - vs. Mark Henry. My first thought when this match was announced was that I knew that the streak was safe. If Mark Henry ends the streak, something is wrong. Just felt like a filler kind of match for that year with the streak. This WrestleMania is one of my favorites and it had a hot crowd backing it up. 14-0 in Chicago.
15-0 - WrestleMania 23 - vs. Batista. This match was better than I expected it to be. I'm not a Batista fan which all of you should know by now. LOL. I thought Undertaker got a good solid match out of him. Undertaker won the World Heavyweight title for the first time. 15-0 at Ford Field in Detroit.
16-0 - WrestleMania XXIV - vs. Edge. This was a match that I really looked forward to and got the honor of closing the show. I looked forward to seeing what the two of these guys could do. They had good chemistry. Undertaker wins his second World title which both wins taking place at back to back WrestleMania's. 16-0 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
17-0 - WrestleMania XXV - vs. Shawn Michaels. Well, what can be said here? I mean really. What a match at the 25th anniversary of WrestleMania. Just incredible. One of the best matches in WrestleMania history and one of the best matches that I've ever seen in my life. These two showed everyone just how you work a crowd into a frenzy. We were hanging on every pinfall attempt. There were so many false finishes in this that it just had you cheering. You didn't know when it was going to end and you didn't want it to end! This match had the feel of that the streak could very well end. If anybody was going to do it, it could have been Shawn. After a match that left us exhausted watching, Undertaker's streak continued. The bad thing about this match? They messed up and didn't put it last leaving Triple H and Randy Orton having no chance to get the crowd with them after that. One of the greatest matches ever with Undertaker and Shawn. 17-0 at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
18-0 - WrestleMania XXVI - vs. Shawn Michaels. Streak vs. Career. Which would give? The build to this match started back in January with Shawn wanting his rematch. The story would have Shawn be so obsessed with the streak that nothing else mattered to him. Shawn would get no for an answer for a rematch. So, he would go for the Rumble win so he could challenge him as champion. Shawn would lose and then superkick everyone out of frustration when he was eliminated. The story would have Shawn getting his match after his interference in the Elimination Chamber to cost Undertaker the title. The match was set and a deal was made to have Shawn put up his career. This was a great story build to this match. Great job to WWE cause this gave us a great match to care about. They had yet another classic that had the drama all the way to the end. I still remember watching the finish of Shawn climbing off the mat up to Undertaker while he yelled for Shawn to "just stay down". Shawn then was defiant right to the end with the throat slash and slap to Undertaker's face. This was followed by a jumping tombstone that had me saying that is definitely the finish. No kickout of that monster tombstone. It would be the end of Shawn's career and the two built a great legacy that will have their careers at WrestleMania revolve around each other forever. 18-0 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Phoenix.
That brings us to WrestleMania XXVII in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. A WrestleMania rematch with Triple H. Will the streak end? I hope not and don't think it will. This streak has become such a great thing in WrestleMania history and deserves to continue. There won't be anything else like this again. I just don't see anyone getting that kind of build. The question for me is just how many WrestleMania matches are we going to see out of Undertaker? I would love to see him go an even 20-0 but he is banged up pretty bad. Can you keep him as an attraction kind of star and have him back next year for another match? I could see it happening. His health is a concern on that one. What a lot of fun it has been though and it's wild to look back on it all.
So, there you go. If anyone has any ideas of stuff like this that you'd like me to do for a future Wrestling List, please let me know.
That is it for tonight. Have a great weekend and get out and enjoy this great weather!! Take care and God bless!!
Custom Search
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Raw Thoughts, Victory Road Makes Headlines, & More - March 15, 2011
Welcome to the "it's ok John Cena" edition of The Wrestling List.
Last night's Raw was a solid show from St. Louis. The show opened with that really fun taped segment of The Rock talking to the little kid that was supposed to be John Cena. Really funny and really well done. I laughed quite a bit through it. It's ok, John Cena. You took the ball and ran with it. You didn't run far but you tried. Effort. Funny line there. The show closed with The Miz coming out dressed as The Rock to attack John Cena. I bet that crowd had to be furious when they realized it was Miz and it took a few seconds for the fans to realize that it wasn't Rock. It was that convincing. I have to say that Snooki wasn't bad in her role last night. She was the guest star of the night and was put out there during the Trish Stratus/Vickie Guerrero match. LayCool hit the ring and took out Trish helping Vickie get the win which gets her hired on Raw. Then, Michelle got in Snooki's face and she went after LayCool. Trish got back up and going. The two of them along with John Morrison got the best of LayCool, Vickie, and Dolph Ziggler. Now, you know I love seeing Trish back in the ring so that was great for me as a fan. Randy Orton got the huge hometown pop with his entrance. He took out the last member of Nexus that Punk had with a punt to the head. That leaves Orton and Punk one on one. When Cole announced that he had a surprise from Lawler's past, I called it right saying it would be Brian Christopher. My reasoning was that they already had Cole talking about family previously so I thought maybe they'd go down that road again. Wasn't it just bizarre to see Christopher back on TV? I wondered how many of the fans knew who he was with this new generation of fans. After that confrontation, we had another one with JR and Cole. Great to see JR back on Raw. Just wish we could get him back in that announce booth. Swagger takes out Lawler leaving JR against him and Cole. I thought it did a good job of getting more heat on that match. Sheamus is the new U.S. champion after defeating Bryan with a boot countering Bryan's top rope move. Sheamus had put his career on the line so it was clear who was going to win the match.
Other notes from Raw. I laughed a lot when I saw them go on the air with Cole in his protected table. I thought that was hilarious. Although, he made a big deal about how he was staying in the box away from Lawler. Then, a few seconds later the GM sound goes off and he walks out right past Lawler. That made no sense as I just thought why are you leaving the box??!!! Cole is a really good heel character. Notice that I said heel "character". I don't like a heel play by play announcer that takes the attention off the talent in the ring. If they would just make him a character and have him as the mouthpiece for Swagger, I think it would help. I just don't like him dominating the talk especially like last week where he stopped the divas match telling everyone how lousy that it was. That doesn't do a thing to help the talent. Like I said, I loved the Rock segment. Laughed at it a lot. Rock and that kid played off of each other really well. So, I guess Snooki got Kelly Kelly's spot in the WrestleMania match. The rumor had been that six person tag but with Kelly involved with Trish and Morrison. Fun to see the promos with Edge and Christian's reunion being pushed. Loved that tag team.
TNA's Victory Road PPV is making all sorts of headlines..….mostly for the wrong reasons. If you missed the happenings, here we go. The main event went around 90 seconds in length. Yes, the main event went for that long. Sting taking on Jeff Hardy. Eric Bischoff made his way to the ring to announce that this match was now going to be a no DQ match. Sting went right at Hardy landing punches followed by the scorpion death drop and got the pin to retain the title. The crowd was really mad afterwards with chants that were heard over TV. So, the question is what was going on with that finish? Well, there is reasoning behind it and then I'll follow with my criticism of the way this all got handled. Jeff was said to not be in good condition backstage. They went with the quick finish with Sting making sure to hold him down. If Hardy is in that kind of condition backstage, why do you do the match? Why not change the booking? This company does all sorts of last minute booking including them not even having matches announced for this PPV as of about a week ago. Somebody backstage didn't say that we shouldn't send Jeff out there? The backlash has been big among fans as you would expect. People pay money for a show and when you deliver a minute and a half main event, people are going to complain. When this company is trying to draw in PPV buys as it is, this kind of thing doesn't help. So, what is the fallout of this situation? Well, Hardy was sent home from the tapings on Monday. No word yet on potential longterm punishment type scenarios. Sting was said to be very professional considering the situation that he was put in. Fans are furious over it. So, here is my rant over this situation. I blame TNA on this deal. They have made a lot of decisions lately that have made me think, hmm ok. Why do you have this match even happen? Shoot a segment backstage with something happening to Hardy and change up the match. Do something to warrant a change in the main event. It short changed the fans that spent $35 on the PPV, turned off your fan base, and was just a bad decision all around. I don't know what happened with Hardy obviously but there should have been some better decision making here than what they went with.
On the bright side of Victory Road, I am hearing really good things about the AJ Styles/Matt Hardy match on the show. Sounded like it was really good. Actually, several of the matches were said to be good but it's going to be hard for that to overshadow the main event.
Drew Carey is the latest inductee into the WWE Hall Of Fame. Hmm, ok. I think he has made two appearances ever. I know of the 2001 Royal Rumble appearance which was shown last night. It was a funny twist into the Rumble and all of us watching that night got a good laugh out of it especially when we realized that Kane would likely be the next entrant. Now, I think he has appeared again on WWE TV in the last couple of years, right? I think he has but maybe I'm wrong. Yeah, I know they like to put a celebrity in every year but there are so many celebrities that have made many more appearances. I like Drew but this is just a bizarre kind of pick.
WWE is currently airing their March Mania tournament in the shorties section of WWE Classics On Demand. I spoke of this last week. Well, Hogan was a 1 seed and Big Boss Man was a 8 seed. They showed a match from MSG that resulted in a DQ win for the Boss Man. That puts Hogan out and my first thought was wow, they really don't like Hogan right now. LOL. I do enjoy waiting to see what matches that they are going to pick to show with these brackets. When I saw Sting vs. Muta in the first round, I thought well, they'll show either the Bash 89 or Starrcade 89 match. I was wrong. They showed a rare match from the old Power Hour show from 1989. I forgot all about that match and loved seeing it. Way to go WWE. Way to pick a rarity instead of the same matches we've seen over and over.
There are some in the business that I would love to see drop their Twitter accounts. It hasn't been a good thing for them. There are some that have really used it well and it has been a great vehicle for them to keep in touch with fans and promote stuff that they're doing. However, there are some that really need to probably just not use Twitter.
That is it for this week. Take care and God bless all of you!!
Last night's Raw was a solid show from St. Louis. The show opened with that really fun taped segment of The Rock talking to the little kid that was supposed to be John Cena. Really funny and really well done. I laughed quite a bit through it. It's ok, John Cena. You took the ball and ran with it. You didn't run far but you tried. Effort. Funny line there. The show closed with The Miz coming out dressed as The Rock to attack John Cena. I bet that crowd had to be furious when they realized it was Miz and it took a few seconds for the fans to realize that it wasn't Rock. It was that convincing. I have to say that Snooki wasn't bad in her role last night. She was the guest star of the night and was put out there during the Trish Stratus/Vickie Guerrero match. LayCool hit the ring and took out Trish helping Vickie get the win which gets her hired on Raw. Then, Michelle got in Snooki's face and she went after LayCool. Trish got back up and going. The two of them along with John Morrison got the best of LayCool, Vickie, and Dolph Ziggler. Now, you know I love seeing Trish back in the ring so that was great for me as a fan. Randy Orton got the huge hometown pop with his entrance. He took out the last member of Nexus that Punk had with a punt to the head. That leaves Orton and Punk one on one. When Cole announced that he had a surprise from Lawler's past, I called it right saying it would be Brian Christopher. My reasoning was that they already had Cole talking about family previously so I thought maybe they'd go down that road again. Wasn't it just bizarre to see Christopher back on TV? I wondered how many of the fans knew who he was with this new generation of fans. After that confrontation, we had another one with JR and Cole. Great to see JR back on Raw. Just wish we could get him back in that announce booth. Swagger takes out Lawler leaving JR against him and Cole. I thought it did a good job of getting more heat on that match. Sheamus is the new U.S. champion after defeating Bryan with a boot countering Bryan's top rope move. Sheamus had put his career on the line so it was clear who was going to win the match.
Other notes from Raw. I laughed a lot when I saw them go on the air with Cole in his protected table. I thought that was hilarious. Although, he made a big deal about how he was staying in the box away from Lawler. Then, a few seconds later the GM sound goes off and he walks out right past Lawler. That made no sense as I just thought why are you leaving the box??!!! Cole is a really good heel character. Notice that I said heel "character". I don't like a heel play by play announcer that takes the attention off the talent in the ring. If they would just make him a character and have him as the mouthpiece for Swagger, I think it would help. I just don't like him dominating the talk especially like last week where he stopped the divas match telling everyone how lousy that it was. That doesn't do a thing to help the talent. Like I said, I loved the Rock segment. Laughed at it a lot. Rock and that kid played off of each other really well. So, I guess Snooki got Kelly Kelly's spot in the WrestleMania match. The rumor had been that six person tag but with Kelly involved with Trish and Morrison. Fun to see the promos with Edge and Christian's reunion being pushed. Loved that tag team.
TNA's Victory Road PPV is making all sorts of headlines..….mostly for the wrong reasons. If you missed the happenings, here we go. The main event went around 90 seconds in length. Yes, the main event went for that long. Sting taking on Jeff Hardy. Eric Bischoff made his way to the ring to announce that this match was now going to be a no DQ match. Sting went right at Hardy landing punches followed by the scorpion death drop and got the pin to retain the title. The crowd was really mad afterwards with chants that were heard over TV. So, the question is what was going on with that finish? Well, there is reasoning behind it and then I'll follow with my criticism of the way this all got handled. Jeff was said to not be in good condition backstage. They went with the quick finish with Sting making sure to hold him down. If Hardy is in that kind of condition backstage, why do you do the match? Why not change the booking? This company does all sorts of last minute booking including them not even having matches announced for this PPV as of about a week ago. Somebody backstage didn't say that we shouldn't send Jeff out there? The backlash has been big among fans as you would expect. People pay money for a show and when you deliver a minute and a half main event, people are going to complain. When this company is trying to draw in PPV buys as it is, this kind of thing doesn't help. So, what is the fallout of this situation? Well, Hardy was sent home from the tapings on Monday. No word yet on potential longterm punishment type scenarios. Sting was said to be very professional considering the situation that he was put in. Fans are furious over it. So, here is my rant over this situation. I blame TNA on this deal. They have made a lot of decisions lately that have made me think, hmm ok. Why do you have this match even happen? Shoot a segment backstage with something happening to Hardy and change up the match. Do something to warrant a change in the main event. It short changed the fans that spent $35 on the PPV, turned off your fan base, and was just a bad decision all around. I don't know what happened with Hardy obviously but there should have been some better decision making here than what they went with.
On the bright side of Victory Road, I am hearing really good things about the AJ Styles/Matt Hardy match on the show. Sounded like it was really good. Actually, several of the matches were said to be good but it's going to be hard for that to overshadow the main event.
Drew Carey is the latest inductee into the WWE Hall Of Fame. Hmm, ok. I think he has made two appearances ever. I know of the 2001 Royal Rumble appearance which was shown last night. It was a funny twist into the Rumble and all of us watching that night got a good laugh out of it especially when we realized that Kane would likely be the next entrant. Now, I think he has appeared again on WWE TV in the last couple of years, right? I think he has but maybe I'm wrong. Yeah, I know they like to put a celebrity in every year but there are so many celebrities that have made many more appearances. I like Drew but this is just a bizarre kind of pick.
WWE is currently airing their March Mania tournament in the shorties section of WWE Classics On Demand. I spoke of this last week. Well, Hogan was a 1 seed and Big Boss Man was a 8 seed. They showed a match from MSG that resulted in a DQ win for the Boss Man. That puts Hogan out and my first thought was wow, they really don't like Hogan right now. LOL. I do enjoy waiting to see what matches that they are going to pick to show with these brackets. When I saw Sting vs. Muta in the first round, I thought well, they'll show either the Bash 89 or Starrcade 89 match. I was wrong. They showed a rare match from the old Power Hour show from 1989. I forgot all about that match and loved seeing it. Way to go WWE. Way to pick a rarity instead of the same matches we've seen over and over.
There are some in the business that I would love to see drop their Twitter accounts. It hasn't been a good thing for them. There are some that have really used it well and it has been a great vehicle for them to keep in touch with fans and promote stuff that they're doing. However, there are some that really need to probably just not use Twitter.
That is it for this week. Take care and God bless all of you!!
Austin Returns On Raw, & More - March 8, 2011
Welcome to the "JBL's return last night put a William Regal sour looking face on me" edition of The Wrestling List.
Well, all of the returns can't be good. However one was and that was the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Michael Cole brought out JBL as the surprise referee for Cole and Lawler at WrestleMania. It was then interrupted by Austin who took out JBL and then he signed the contract to become the special referee. Austin then poured beer on a very upset Michael Cole. He got in the ring and did the toast tease with JBL followed by a stunner. More celebration from Austin and the classic mess with the camera guy moment where he started chasing the camera guy on the ramp. It looked like he was having a lot of fun out there. You could see the huge grin on his face when he walked toward that first ring corner during his entrance. So, in 2011, we're talking about Austin but we're also talking about Rock. Cena had his followup promo to last week's Rock segment. He went with a hip hop type theme this week instead of the rap. Cena held up his own version of Rock's new shirt that said "I Bring It Via Satellite". He basically told the Rock to just show up for a change. The segment ended with Miz attacking Cena and laying him out while he boasted about himself to Cena and also introducing himself to the Rock over the camera. Really thinking we'll see Rock next week from St. Louis. Just my prediction. Speaking of who is in St. Louis, Trish Stratus will be on the show as it was announced by the Raw GM that she will take on Vickie Guerrero. Always going to be happy to have Trish back on TV. Triple H and Undertaker continue their war of words back and forth. Probably better expect that more than anything. Undertaker is really banged up and word is that his arm is past the point of no return on fixing it. He has been working through it and putting off surgery. It's been so long that it can't be surgically repaired now. That was the story going around and then Kevin Nash confirmed it in recent comments.
Other notes from Raw. When I saw Austin putting up fingers on the entrance, I thought, well, so much for PG again. Then, I noticed the director moving those cameras in closer on him when he raised his arms so you couldn't see it. I have got to say that Undertaker walking out to that Johnny Cash song really does add something different to that entrance. Did you hear the fan yell "Houston" at R Truth just as he was about to yell "Dallas, TX"? I laughed at that which is playing off of Truth messing up a few weeks ago on yelling where he was at. I am enjoying the taped pieces with Shawn Michaels talking about Triple H and Undertaker. I have to say that I laughed at the new commercial with Randy Orton just popping up and hanging out sitting in the house with the family.
Last night's Hall Of Fame inductee was named and it wasn't as surprise as this name has been talked about for a while now. Sunny. Tammy Sytch is going into the WWE Hall Of Fame and rightfully so. I'm a long time fan of hers going back to her Smoky Mountain days. I remember reading so much about her in the Apter magazines back in the day and there was a lot of talk about her. So, I bought a Smoky Mountain Wrestling tape to see what all the talk was about. I became a fan of hers and of Candido's. Needless to say that I was very happy when she jumped over to WWF. She was one of those managers that wasn't afraid to mix it up physically and verbally. She then was put into the tag team ranks with her story of that she would jump with whatever team had the gold. I thought that was a lot of fun and yes, I jumped to whatever team that she did too. LOL. 1996 was the big launch of Sunny when WWF had their site on AOL. They would post downloadable pictures of her on the site and she became the most downloaded person on the internet. It was a huge deal at the time. Sunny was the launching pad for the future divas. She opened the door for women like Sable and Marlena to be a female star attraction in the company and not just be sidekicks. She ran into personal problems which really hurt her career in the late 90's. In the last several years, she has made a comeback after going through such terrible adversity including the loss of Candido. Things are going much better in her life and it's great to see. This is a woman that deserves the Hall Of Fame honors. She was a trail blazer for women in this business. The original WWE "diva" as far as the line of them that happened from the late 90's on up to today. Yes, there were women before her that opened the door for her obviously but she took it to another level as well. Happy to see her go into the Hall Of Fame.
Things are getting ugly in a war of words between Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart on Twitter. Wow, UGLY. No love lost between those two.
So, I tend to disagree with a lot of Eric Bischoff says lately but I do tend to agree with him on a statement that he had made recently on his Facebook page. He said that the number of PPV's needed to be dropped down in TNA and how a PPV a month worked in the 90's but just doesn't work now. This has been talked about a lot in recent years with PPV buyrates. I know I've had this conversation with a bunch of you over the years. Remember back in the day when we had the big four PPV's in WWE. It was WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Rumble, and Survivor Series. Later, King Of The Ring was added. WCW back around that same time was running Wrestle War, Great American Bash, Halloween Havoc, and Starrcade. The shows felt important. Keep in mind that WWF was running Saturday Night's Main Event shows just about every month. WCW was running Clash Of Champions shows. My question is would the business be better off maybe running a PPV every other month and just scaling back a bit? From a WWE point of view, I'm not sure it would work cause their bottom line is really focused on needing that monthly PPV money. They're not going to budge off of that. There have been a lot of WWE PPV's over the last few years that just felt thrown together at the last minute and have no hype to it at all to make you want to buy it. However, WWE loves that PPV money. WWE knows how to make money and my only complaint is their fix being to raise the PPV prices every year or so. From a match build point of view, I think they could make PPV interest higher with a lower number of shows. Revenue wise, I just don't think it would work for them. However from a TNA point of view, we don't know their buyrate numbers because they don't release them. I can't think that they are something to be jumping up and down about though based on their ratings. I think TNA could be in a good position to gamble. Scale back the number of PPV's. If anything, maybe just do some random TV specials with a Clash kind of feel to them. It would be different and then you don't have to worry about building to a PPV every single month. You can build to a smaller number of PPV's on these shows. On another note, TNA really needs to get out of that Impact Zone more. A change of scenery does them good because it just makes the product feel different.
Bret Hart has been answering a lot of questions from fans on Twitter and it has been a lot of fun to read. He is very honest. Just thought I'd throw out some highlights on comments he has made. He and Shawn Michaels do stay in touch are on good terms. His favorite PPV that he was on was the Calgary Stampede show with the awesome crowd reaction from the Canadian crowd in 1997. His favorite match: Austin at Wrestlemania 13. His least favorite was against Backlund at WrestleMania 11 which he says is because of the match stipulation instead of the opponent. He talks about his problems with the match in his book by the way. This next one goes back to the war of words between he and Hogan this week as he was asked if Hogan ducked him back in WWF and Bret says yes, he absolutely did. Bret talks in his book about how he and Hogan were set to face off against each other at SummerSlam 1993 and how the match was all set to take place including them talking about it. Hogan then left and dropped the title to Yokozuna at King Of The Ring. Bret wasn't happy about it at the time including the happenings of WrestleMania IX and apparently still isn't. He did also say that Hogan and Bischoff needed to be tarred and feathered as to what needed to be done to help TNA. This got the Hart/Hogan war of words started but it got way personal after that. His favorite match that he wasn't involved with is the Lesnar/Angle match from WrestleMania XIX. His response to Michael Cole was him saying that Cole does a terrible job of putting over the talent and that he couldn't lace Jim Ross's boots. On who he would like to wrestle today, he named Orton, Cena, and Sheamus. His favorite angle that he was involved in? The USA vs. Canada angle with the new Hart Foundation in 1997. Yeah, that was awesome!! His favorite time period as champion was 1997. One of his favorite matches of all time was his match with Diesel at the 1995 Survivor Series while he also pointed out that the table wasn't gimmicked. He was asked if he holds any ill will to Goldberg for the kick that ended up ending his career and Bret said that he never had any and had great respect for Goldberg while saying that what happened was an accident. Favorite female wrestlers? Melina, Nattie Neidhart, Beth Phoenix, and of course Gail Kim. He was asked about if he would like to induct Shawn into the Hall Of Fame and he said he would like to but Triple H makes more sense. Bret said that Cena is one of the hardest working guy sin WWE history. He put over Miz and Punk as guys that he enjoys from today's product. Interesting comments from Bret.
Have a great week! Take care and God bless!!
Well, all of the returns can't be good. However one was and that was the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Michael Cole brought out JBL as the surprise referee for Cole and Lawler at WrestleMania. It was then interrupted by Austin who took out JBL and then he signed the contract to become the special referee. Austin then poured beer on a very upset Michael Cole. He got in the ring and did the toast tease with JBL followed by a stunner. More celebration from Austin and the classic mess with the camera guy moment where he started chasing the camera guy on the ramp. It looked like he was having a lot of fun out there. You could see the huge grin on his face when he walked toward that first ring corner during his entrance. So, in 2011, we're talking about Austin but we're also talking about Rock. Cena had his followup promo to last week's Rock segment. He went with a hip hop type theme this week instead of the rap. Cena held up his own version of Rock's new shirt that said "I Bring It Via Satellite". He basically told the Rock to just show up for a change. The segment ended with Miz attacking Cena and laying him out while he boasted about himself to Cena and also introducing himself to the Rock over the camera. Really thinking we'll see Rock next week from St. Louis. Just my prediction. Speaking of who is in St. Louis, Trish Stratus will be on the show as it was announced by the Raw GM that she will take on Vickie Guerrero. Always going to be happy to have Trish back on TV. Triple H and Undertaker continue their war of words back and forth. Probably better expect that more than anything. Undertaker is really banged up and word is that his arm is past the point of no return on fixing it. He has been working through it and putting off surgery. It's been so long that it can't be surgically repaired now. That was the story going around and then Kevin Nash confirmed it in recent comments.
Other notes from Raw. When I saw Austin putting up fingers on the entrance, I thought, well, so much for PG again. Then, I noticed the director moving those cameras in closer on him when he raised his arms so you couldn't see it. I have got to say that Undertaker walking out to that Johnny Cash song really does add something different to that entrance. Did you hear the fan yell "Houston" at R Truth just as he was about to yell "Dallas, TX"? I laughed at that which is playing off of Truth messing up a few weeks ago on yelling where he was at. I am enjoying the taped pieces with Shawn Michaels talking about Triple H and Undertaker. I have to say that I laughed at the new commercial with Randy Orton just popping up and hanging out sitting in the house with the family.
Last night's Hall Of Fame inductee was named and it wasn't as surprise as this name has been talked about for a while now. Sunny. Tammy Sytch is going into the WWE Hall Of Fame and rightfully so. I'm a long time fan of hers going back to her Smoky Mountain days. I remember reading so much about her in the Apter magazines back in the day and there was a lot of talk about her. So, I bought a Smoky Mountain Wrestling tape to see what all the talk was about. I became a fan of hers and of Candido's. Needless to say that I was very happy when she jumped over to WWF. She was one of those managers that wasn't afraid to mix it up physically and verbally. She then was put into the tag team ranks with her story of that she would jump with whatever team had the gold. I thought that was a lot of fun and yes, I jumped to whatever team that she did too. LOL. 1996 was the big launch of Sunny when WWF had their site on AOL. They would post downloadable pictures of her on the site and she became the most downloaded person on the internet. It was a huge deal at the time. Sunny was the launching pad for the future divas. She opened the door for women like Sable and Marlena to be a female star attraction in the company and not just be sidekicks. She ran into personal problems which really hurt her career in the late 90's. In the last several years, she has made a comeback after going through such terrible adversity including the loss of Candido. Things are going much better in her life and it's great to see. This is a woman that deserves the Hall Of Fame honors. She was a trail blazer for women in this business. The original WWE "diva" as far as the line of them that happened from the late 90's on up to today. Yes, there were women before her that opened the door for her obviously but she took it to another level as well. Happy to see her go into the Hall Of Fame.
Things are getting ugly in a war of words between Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart on Twitter. Wow, UGLY. No love lost between those two.
So, I tend to disagree with a lot of Eric Bischoff says lately but I do tend to agree with him on a statement that he had made recently on his Facebook page. He said that the number of PPV's needed to be dropped down in TNA and how a PPV a month worked in the 90's but just doesn't work now. This has been talked about a lot in recent years with PPV buyrates. I know I've had this conversation with a bunch of you over the years. Remember back in the day when we had the big four PPV's in WWE. It was WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Rumble, and Survivor Series. Later, King Of The Ring was added. WCW back around that same time was running Wrestle War, Great American Bash, Halloween Havoc, and Starrcade. The shows felt important. Keep in mind that WWF was running Saturday Night's Main Event shows just about every month. WCW was running Clash Of Champions shows. My question is would the business be better off maybe running a PPV every other month and just scaling back a bit? From a WWE point of view, I'm not sure it would work cause their bottom line is really focused on needing that monthly PPV money. They're not going to budge off of that. There have been a lot of WWE PPV's over the last few years that just felt thrown together at the last minute and have no hype to it at all to make you want to buy it. However, WWE loves that PPV money. WWE knows how to make money and my only complaint is their fix being to raise the PPV prices every year or so. From a match build point of view, I think they could make PPV interest higher with a lower number of shows. Revenue wise, I just don't think it would work for them. However from a TNA point of view, we don't know their buyrate numbers because they don't release them. I can't think that they are something to be jumping up and down about though based on their ratings. I think TNA could be in a good position to gamble. Scale back the number of PPV's. If anything, maybe just do some random TV specials with a Clash kind of feel to them. It would be different and then you don't have to worry about building to a PPV every single month. You can build to a smaller number of PPV's on these shows. On another note, TNA really needs to get out of that Impact Zone more. A change of scenery does them good because it just makes the product feel different.
Bret Hart has been answering a lot of questions from fans on Twitter and it has been a lot of fun to read. He is very honest. Just thought I'd throw out some highlights on comments he has made. He and Shawn Michaels do stay in touch are on good terms. His favorite PPV that he was on was the Calgary Stampede show with the awesome crowd reaction from the Canadian crowd in 1997. His favorite match: Austin at Wrestlemania 13. His least favorite was against Backlund at WrestleMania 11 which he says is because of the match stipulation instead of the opponent. He talks about his problems with the match in his book by the way. This next one goes back to the war of words between he and Hogan this week as he was asked if Hogan ducked him back in WWF and Bret says yes, he absolutely did. Bret talks in his book about how he and Hogan were set to face off against each other at SummerSlam 1993 and how the match was all set to take place including them talking about it. Hogan then left and dropped the title to Yokozuna at King Of The Ring. Bret wasn't happy about it at the time including the happenings of WrestleMania IX and apparently still isn't. He did also say that Hogan and Bischoff needed to be tarred and feathered as to what needed to be done to help TNA. This got the Hart/Hogan war of words started but it got way personal after that. His favorite match that he wasn't involved with is the Lesnar/Angle match from WrestleMania XIX. His response to Michael Cole was him saying that Cole does a terrible job of putting over the talent and that he couldn't lace Jim Ross's boots. On who he would like to wrestle today, he named Orton, Cena, and Sheamus. His favorite angle that he was involved in? The USA vs. Canada angle with the new Hart Foundation in 1997. Yeah, that was awesome!! His favorite time period as champion was 1997. One of his favorite matches of all time was his match with Diesel at the 1995 Survivor Series while he also pointed out that the table wasn't gimmicked. He was asked if he holds any ill will to Goldberg for the kick that ended up ending his career and Bret said that he never had any and had great respect for Goldberg while saying that what happened was an accident. Favorite female wrestlers? Melina, Nattie Neidhart, Beth Phoenix, and of course Gail Kim. He was asked about if he would like to induct Shawn into the Hall Of Fame and he said he would like to but Triple H makes more sense. Bret said that Cena is one of the hardest working guy sin WWE history. He put over Miz and Punk as guys that he enjoys from today's product. Interesting comments from Bret.
Have a great week! Take care and God bless!!
Raw Thoughts, Jericho, TNA, WWE Classics, & More - March 2, 2011
Last night's Raw saw a lot of familiar faces on it with returns including Rock, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels. Rock and Shawn were taped segments of course but it was still great stuff. I loved Rock's promo going back at Cena. Rock blasted Cena saying how dare he criticize him for leaving WWE and going to Hollywood and Rock said that he blew the door wide open for other talents in WWE to make a move to entertainment as well. He had a lot of other great points that he shot back at Cena with that was good. It was a very serious promo. Well, except for the beginning with Rock wearing the Cena cap sideways and mocking the "you can't see me". Rock did say that he would be seeing Cena at WrestleMania but told Cena that he will be seeing him before then. A definite tease of a Rock/Cena face to face on an upcoming Raw. Triple H opened Raw saying how there wasn't anyone in the locker room that he hadn't beaten and said that Undertaker was the only guy for him. From what I've heard, this did not go over well with a lot of the talents in the locker room that were watching that and felt disrespected. Speaking of disrespected, that brings me to Sheamus. Wow, that poor guy. He was getting pushed to the moon and even put out Triple H. So, Sheamus comes out to confront Triple H. Then, he gets squashed huge including getting pedigreed through the announce table. Who did Sheamus make mad behind the scenes is what many have been wondering for weeks? Evan Bourne also made his return to Raw and defeated Sheamus who had just been taking out by Triple H. Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole is on for WrestleMania. In the corner of Cole will be Jack Swagger. Shawn Michaels was part of a pre tape where he talked about Undertaker vs. Triple H.
The Raw ratings are up with the show recently doing a 3.8. The big returns have got the viewers coming in.
I have already read over 250 pages of the new Chris Jericho book. I would also like to point out that I read all of that in one day. If I had more hours in that day, I would have finished it. It is that good and hard to put down. I laughed out loud just barely into it when he talked about an old foe of his that returned that has been with him through his career. If you read the first book, you'll know it when you read it. He has a lot of interesting stories about dealing with Vince McMahon, how he struggled early on in WWE, out of the ring tales, and great stories about The Rock who he names as his favorite opponent. The foreward of the book is written by Mick Foley where he talks about Jericho may now have the best wrestling book in history after reading his first book. I can already tell you just by reading a little over half of this book, pick it up. Do yourself a favor and get it.
It was announced this week that Chris Jericho will be competing on the new season of Dancing With The Stars.
Big news last week out of WWE with them signing Mistico from Mexico. He is going to go by the name of Sin Cara in WWE.
It was announced on WWE.com this week that Bob Armstrong is going into the Hall Of Fame. There is talk also of Abdullah The Butcher going in.
So, TNA's 3/3/11 video? Oh wow. I don't even know what to say and I'm not speaking excitement. TNA pushed to watch the last few minutes of Impact with a big surprise. The result was a video that spoofed WWE's 2/21/11 video. Right down to the graphic. This video for 3/3/11 was pushing Sting. Ok, I get that they are trying to play off of the fact that a lot of fans were speculating that Sting might be coming to WWE. However, I just get tired of TNA playing off of WWE all the time. There is always mentions of I did this or that in WWE instead of talking about TNA. I have heard the spoiler for what happens involving Sting on tomorrow night's Impact so tune in if you want. I just can't take that show. Like I've said countless times, I want to like their show. I want to. Why do they always choose to make me not want to tune in? That can be said for so many people unfortunately. The foundation is there. If they could creatively get that company going, they could do something.
Speaking of TNA, a wedding involving Jarrett and Angle and the kids? Seriously??!!
WWE Classics On Demand is doing their second annual March Mania tournament. Basically, they play off of the NCAA tournament. They have a bracket with all the superstars on it. Let's say that the first round has Savage vs. Santana. If Savage moves on, they'll play a match with Savage getting the win. Then, they'll find a match with whoever he faces in the second round from wrestling history. It's kind of fun. They also let you fill out a bracket online. I try to think ahead and see who has faced who and won. I am not sure about the whole concept of WWE doing some interviews with it this year. They had a "play in" bracket which is currently airing. Well, Joey Styles interviews William Regal who is talking about how he has faced Larry Zybysco before and how he'd beat him this time. Now, keep in mind that he is cutting a promo talking about how he is going to win....a match that has already happened. The really bizarre one that just struck me odd was that they interviewed The Brooklyn Brawler. He cuts a promo about how he is going to win his match in the March Mania "play in". He cuts a promo on...The Big Boss Man. He talks about how if Boss Man shows up that he is going down. Yes, he was cutting a promo about a guy that passed away several years ago. It was weird. Really weird. I get that WWE is looking to have fun with the tournament but can't you pick a different match to do a promo with.
This month's Hall Of Fame profile on WWE Classics is on The Million Dollar Man including matches and moments. That should be good stuff. The new roundtable show will be airing as well which will be a panel including Bret Hart. This particular panel looks really strong and I look forward to hearing it.
I am happy to see that the Prime Time Wrestling airings are now up to February 1989 on WWE Classics which is after the MegaPowers exploded on. I have not seen the Savage promos on Hogan in a long time and am looking forward to seeing them. If you don't remember them, Savage did these long taped interviews where he would recount the year and show his take of the videos of how Hogan had been going behind his back all year.
Have a great rest of the week!! Take care and God bless!!
The Raw ratings are up with the show recently doing a 3.8. The big returns have got the viewers coming in.
I have already read over 250 pages of the new Chris Jericho book. I would also like to point out that I read all of that in one day. If I had more hours in that day, I would have finished it. It is that good and hard to put down. I laughed out loud just barely into it when he talked about an old foe of his that returned that has been with him through his career. If you read the first book, you'll know it when you read it. He has a lot of interesting stories about dealing with Vince McMahon, how he struggled early on in WWE, out of the ring tales, and great stories about The Rock who he names as his favorite opponent. The foreward of the book is written by Mick Foley where he talks about Jericho may now have the best wrestling book in history after reading his first book. I can already tell you just by reading a little over half of this book, pick it up. Do yourself a favor and get it.
It was announced this week that Chris Jericho will be competing on the new season of Dancing With The Stars.
Big news last week out of WWE with them signing Mistico from Mexico. He is going to go by the name of Sin Cara in WWE.
It was announced on WWE.com this week that Bob Armstrong is going into the Hall Of Fame. There is talk also of Abdullah The Butcher going in.
So, TNA's 3/3/11 video? Oh wow. I don't even know what to say and I'm not speaking excitement. TNA pushed to watch the last few minutes of Impact with a big surprise. The result was a video that spoofed WWE's 2/21/11 video. Right down to the graphic. This video for 3/3/11 was pushing Sting. Ok, I get that they are trying to play off of the fact that a lot of fans were speculating that Sting might be coming to WWE. However, I just get tired of TNA playing off of WWE all the time. There is always mentions of I did this or that in WWE instead of talking about TNA. I have heard the spoiler for what happens involving Sting on tomorrow night's Impact so tune in if you want. I just can't take that show. Like I've said countless times, I want to like their show. I want to. Why do they always choose to make me not want to tune in? That can be said for so many people unfortunately. The foundation is there. If they could creatively get that company going, they could do something.
Speaking of TNA, a wedding involving Jarrett and Angle and the kids? Seriously??!!
WWE Classics On Demand is doing their second annual March Mania tournament. Basically, they play off of the NCAA tournament. They have a bracket with all the superstars on it. Let's say that the first round has Savage vs. Santana. If Savage moves on, they'll play a match with Savage getting the win. Then, they'll find a match with whoever he faces in the second round from wrestling history. It's kind of fun. They also let you fill out a bracket online. I try to think ahead and see who has faced who and won. I am not sure about the whole concept of WWE doing some interviews with it this year. They had a "play in" bracket which is currently airing. Well, Joey Styles interviews William Regal who is talking about how he has faced Larry Zybysco before and how he'd beat him this time. Now, keep in mind that he is cutting a promo talking about how he is going to win....a match that has already happened. The really bizarre one that just struck me odd was that they interviewed The Brooklyn Brawler. He cuts a promo about how he is going to win his match in the March Mania "play in". He cuts a promo on...The Big Boss Man. He talks about how if Boss Man shows up that he is going down. Yes, he was cutting a promo about a guy that passed away several years ago. It was weird. Really weird. I get that WWE is looking to have fun with the tournament but can't you pick a different match to do a promo with.
This month's Hall Of Fame profile on WWE Classics is on The Million Dollar Man including matches and moments. That should be good stuff. The new roundtable show will be airing as well which will be a panel including Bret Hart. This particular panel looks really strong and I look forward to hearing it.
I am happy to see that the Prime Time Wrestling airings are now up to February 1989 on WWE Classics which is after the MegaPowers exploded on. I have not seen the Savage promos on Hogan in a long time and am looking forward to seeing them. If you don't remember them, Savage did these long taped interviews where he would recount the year and show his take of the videos of how Hogan had been going behind his back all year.
Have a great rest of the week!! Take care and God bless!!
Triple H + Undertaker + Faceoff + No Words = Awesome - February 22, 2011
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!!
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!!
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!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)