Welcome to the "we need to build more stars so let's put the titles on the two top established guys that we already have" edition of The Wrestling List.
WWE and TNA were the focal point of something last Tuesday night. However, they were the focal point of fan anger. Why Tuesday? Well, this was the night that Smackdown was taped in Orlando while TNA was also taping Impact in Orlando. I won't yet get into the Impact deal since it hasn't aired but my goodness I just don't understand that company. So, let's get to WWE. If you watched Smackdown, you know that Christian's world title reign last all but two days. I'm saying two days cause that was when it was actually taped. The match was good. However, fans were furious over Christian's title reign being ended so quickly. Fans vented on Twitter and also lit up WWE through other social networking. The anger was definitely noticed by WWE and Joey Styles even commented on his Twitter saying: "When sending hate tweets to myself or @WWE because of @Christian4Peeps, @RandyOrton and the World Heavyweight Championship, please be PG ;)". Randy Orton commented on his Twitter saying: "Biggest change from Raw to Smackdown…Ignorance x Jealousy + Spoilers = entertaining tweets!! Keep em coming!!". WWE is said to be shocked over the outrage and also kind of annoyed at it. The talk appears to be that Christian was never planned to be a long term champion and that the change of Del Rio to Raw altered their plans and resulted in giving Christian that feel good championship winning moment. Ok, here is my thing with this. How much have we talked about the young guys lately? Even so much with WWE mentioning it in their conference calls. In one week, we had the belt go back to Cena on Raw. Then, the belt goes to Orton on Smackdown. The two top established guys in the company have both titles now. What does that accomplish?
Monday's Raw. Just don't have much to say about it. It was just kind of there for me. The main event was solid with Miz defeating Del Rio and Mysterio to get the title shot at Extreme Rules. Cena also won a match earlier in the night against Alex Riley. It was just there for me. Been there done that. R Truth continues his heel turn and it's turned into a conspiracy against him kind of deal with the storyline where he is getting overlooked. Kharma laid out what I believe was her first "face" diva as Eve attacked Kharma as Kharma stood in the ring with Eve and Kelly. Kelly then ran away. One problem that I see with Kharma is that WWE has decimated the women's division so much that I just don't see anyone that should be able to be a strong opponent against her. She is this monster heel and they don't have a strong opponent on the other side for her. Even if she was a face, she wouldn't have a strong heel to go against either. The last one would probably have been Michelle McCool as far as someone believable as a stronger opponent. Now, Michelle is gone though. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. This is going on so long and the segments are so long as well. Every time that a Cole segment comes on, I just tend to zone out. It's just boring. I think it would be fine if Cole was just a character but he's a commentator. We listen to him for the whole show giving his thoughts so why do we need long promo segments from him as well. They just have Cole dominating these shows way too much. The payoff of the crowd getting to see him get beat up isn't even fun anymore. It isn't for me anyway. Just bores me.
Other notes from Raw. I loved the Bellas hiding and then running away from Kharma. I thought that was great. That is what you should do instead of just standing there in fear. Especially if you have a good minute before she gets to the ring to do anything. Can't really think of anything else to say about this show that I haven't already said.
Significant news out of TNA last week and those letters really are the news. TNA is rebranding itself. They will now be referring to themselves as Impact Wrestling. The domain has been bought for the website and the change will be coming soon. I can't say that I blame them for this cause it is hard to take a company very seriously that has those initials. Although there are other reasons to not take the company seriously but I'll refrain. I don't know why they thought those letters would be good and was anyone thinking about marketing that thing in the future when they created the name? Impact Wrestling will be something to get used to and I was thinking about whether it would hurt what they're already built as far as a name. Maybe a little bit but I still don't think many people know they're out there. When you see a TNA clip on TV, people not in the know about wrestling will refer to it as WWE when it isn't. I like having letters for a company name but this is the plan going forward. I just want the company to do more "wrestling" with the name change. On a side note, I did watch about five minutes of the show last week and I felt a headache arriving on the scene and changed the channel.
Hulk Hogan still needs to get off of Twitter. Some fan took him to task about not jobbing much to other talent and Hogan brought up that he had jobbed to Kidman three times back in WCW. That is true but then another fan brought up to him about not wanting to job to Shawn Michaels. Hogan tweeted saying "Vince is the only man that makes thoeszdecisions,that came from him.hbk didn't want to job not me. By,over it. HH". He didn't bring up the fact that Shawn wanted to do a three match series with Hogan that year. Shawn pitched having Hogan win the first one, Shawn winning the second, and then Hogan winning the third. Instead, Hogan wanted to win all three. It ended up being one match and Hogan won. Shawn then ranted a little on Raw the next night after SummerSlam about the experience. LOL.
The WrestleMania XXVII DVD and Blu-ray release is this week and it has already been reported that there are a couple of music changes. Johnny Cash's song for the Undertaker's entrance has been replaced as has the Metallica entrance for Triple H. Just how much has Metallica got to charge for WWE to cut them out of two big entrances in the history of the company. I'm referring to the Sandman from the first ECW One Night Stand in 2005 where the music was replaced on the DVD release. Then again, the DVD had a JBL commentary track on it so it was fitting to make that DVD worse. Strange though to see music replaced on a WrestleMania DVD as that hasn't happened in years. I thought that maybe WWE had worked out a deal with the rights where they could use it on live shows but also include on DVD. I guess I was wrong. Wrong in this instance anyway for sure. So, if you pick up your WrestleMania set, don't be surprised to see music changes. Really takes a lot of kick out of those entrances.
Good month to be a WWE Classics On Demand subscriber. The shorties section for May is all about Smoky Mountain Wrestling. I am really excited about watching this stuff. I've watched some of it over the years of course but didn't have weekly access to it. So, the shorties section is going to be various Smoky Mountain matches. In this is a treat for fans, especially Shawn Michaels fans. There is a match included in there from 1995 where Shawn went to Smoky Mountain as then WWF Intercontinental champion and took on Buddy Landell. The match was never released on video as the company went out of business not long afterward. So, now here it is for Classics subscribers.
Wishing you all a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
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Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Rock's Birthday Celebration on Raw & More - May 3, 2011
Welcome to the "Rocky, it's your birthday" edition of The Wrestling List.
Let's get into Extreme Rules. This sounds like it was a really good show based on all reports. Top to bottom people are saying that it was better than WrestleMania from an in ring standpoint. John Cena wins the WWE title back against The Miz. Yeah, I didn't care for this. When we need something new on WWE programming, having Cena as champion again just doesn't scream new to me. Christian wins the World title. On the other hand, I loved that. Christian finally gets his dream of being a world champion and gets to celebrate with Edge. The Layla/Michelle McCool match ended up being loser leaves WWE and saw the debut of Awesome Kong or who is now known as Kharma. Put over Kharma big in the debut by having her lay out Michelle on her way out.
Last night's Raw was a mix of patriotism and The Rock. The show kicked off with a big salute of patriotism with Lilian Garcia returning to sing the national anthem. This of course was in response to the news of Bin Laden from the night before. How fitting was it to have her kick off that show when she was the one that got to also sing that incredible anthem on the Smackdown show after 9/11 in 2001? It really brought back memories of that time. That video that they opened the show with definitely put tears in my eyes thinking back. Lilian was incredible last night and it was fitting that The Rock was there as well just like in 2001. I remember watching that show in 2001 and how horrible of a week that it had been. The Rock's music hitting and him walking to the ring was the first time that I had truly smiled all week at that time. Having him on this show last night really felt like a flashback as well. Rock was a good one to have out there as a face of the company to get the patriotic feel going. The Rock then had a face off with Michael Cole which was funny and the crowd ate it up. Several good Rock segments throughout the night for his birthday celebration. The stuff with the past movie roles was so cheesy that it was funny especially with Simmons finishing it off. Rock got the big celebration from the end of the show including Vince McMahon coming out to pay tribute to him along with a music video that was very well done. There was a face off with Rock and Cena backstage where Cena held up the WWE title saying that he would have it at WrestleMania XXVIII when they faced off. My goodness, I hope he doesn't hold that thing for eleven more months. Other happenings on the show had Truth putting a beating on Morrison before their match started. Definitely added more to that feud. Kharma once again returned getting involved in the Maryse and Kelly Kelly match. I loved the expression on Kelly's face as Kharma made her way to the ring with the look of fear. Then, Kharma lays out Maryse while Kelly looks on scared in the corner. John Cena and The Miz was a good match. Strange ending though with Miz cheating and using the belt to pin Cena to win the title. I reacted to it but was thinking there has to be a twist. Hoping there wasn't but then there was the DQ. The ref saw the title fly out of Miz and Riley's hands and the ref DQ'd Miz. Cena retains. Umm, yeah. I didn't pay much attention to the tag match with Rey and Kofi against Drew and Swagger so I can't really comment on that. Wow, they are really pushing Mason Ryan. He was taking down both Kane and Big Show and blocking big moves. Take a look at the next guy that WWE is going to push as a monster only for him to be squashed three months ahead.
Other notes from Raw. Nothing like having Rock lay out Michael Cole and seeing JR when they come back from commercial. Just a good sign for commentary for the rest of the night. Being someone that doesn't like the Miami Heat and being someone that cheers every single team that plays them, I did like Cole standing up with the Celtics jersey on in Miami. LOL. I laughed at the Rock's line of picking at himself with his old picture saying he looked like the lead singer of Menudo. Surely, Kharma isn't going to be a face, is she?? Alex Riley's excuse to Miz for not being at the PPV was that he isn't a Raw talent anymore. Umm, aren't both brands supposed to be the PPV's?
Michelle McCool is indeed done with WWE. That was a surprise last week. Michelle has decided not to continue with WWE and has moved on. She thanked her fans on Twitter and that is it. Really surprised by this as she was someone that I expected to be around for a long time especially with who she is married to. I'm interested to see what they do with Layla from here. She made a face turn at the PPV with the divas locker room basically saying we don't like either one of you but we dislike Michelle more. I really like Layla as a heel so I'm going to wait and see what her face turn is like. I am bummed that the LayCool gimmick is over cause I really enjoyed it.
The news about Bin Laden was told to the live crowd after the main event at Extreme Rules. John Cena got on the mic and told the live crowd the news. Probably some knew it already from their phones but you could tell some were very shocked over the news. WWE definitely had a big moment there including some media outlets showing it to get the reactions from around the country to the news.
WWE held their stockholders meeting last week. It was announced that WrestleMania did over a million buys so the return of The Rock did help with buys. Highlights of the meeting was Vince being asked about the PG product. He said that sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward saying that they went back to their roots of being PG. He didn't talk like they would ever go back to an adult type product. I think there is that balance and they have been doing it lately with the build to WrestleMania. Plus, Vince said that being PG is going to help them get bigger name sponsors that they wouldn't be able to get with a higher rating. Absolutely true there. Vince did also say that they were going to focus on bringing in more international stars. Funny moment when Vince was asked if they were going to buy that company in Nashville, TN and if he was going to save the world from Dixie Carter. That of course is TNA. Vince said that "Stephanie has more brains that Dixie Carter has" which got a lot of laughs including from Stephanie and Triple H. Vince answered saying that he didn't know that they were for sale. They aren't of course but it was kind of a funny little moment.
The theme for WWE Classics On Demand in May is The 90's. The programming will center around 90's happenings and events. The Hall Of Fame will be on Stone Cold Steve Austin which will include a profile and matches from his career. The Greatest Superstars of the 90's DVD will be airing. The In Your House Ground Zero PPV will air this month which is one of my favorite PPV's of 1997. It took place from Louisville and that crowd was hot. Other events airing include WCW SuperBrawl VI, WCW Clash Of The Champions XX, and also the WWE TLC 2010 event. A new Ten Count will also air with a top ten list focusing on the 90's. The Shawn Michaels: My Journey DVD will also air in several parts throughout the month. It is a very good program to watch if you haven't seen it. The shorties appear to have a Smoky Mountain Wrestling theme to it which is exciting to see. Just something different and I like it. Those are just some of the highlights for the month.
Take care and God bless!!
Let's get into Extreme Rules. This sounds like it was a really good show based on all reports. Top to bottom people are saying that it was better than WrestleMania from an in ring standpoint. John Cena wins the WWE title back against The Miz. Yeah, I didn't care for this. When we need something new on WWE programming, having Cena as champion again just doesn't scream new to me. Christian wins the World title. On the other hand, I loved that. Christian finally gets his dream of being a world champion and gets to celebrate with Edge. The Layla/Michelle McCool match ended up being loser leaves WWE and saw the debut of Awesome Kong or who is now known as Kharma. Put over Kharma big in the debut by having her lay out Michelle on her way out.
Last night's Raw was a mix of patriotism and The Rock. The show kicked off with a big salute of patriotism with Lilian Garcia returning to sing the national anthem. This of course was in response to the news of Bin Laden from the night before. How fitting was it to have her kick off that show when she was the one that got to also sing that incredible anthem on the Smackdown show after 9/11 in 2001? It really brought back memories of that time. That video that they opened the show with definitely put tears in my eyes thinking back. Lilian was incredible last night and it was fitting that The Rock was there as well just like in 2001. I remember watching that show in 2001 and how horrible of a week that it had been. The Rock's music hitting and him walking to the ring was the first time that I had truly smiled all week at that time. Having him on this show last night really felt like a flashback as well. Rock was a good one to have out there as a face of the company to get the patriotic feel going. The Rock then had a face off with Michael Cole which was funny and the crowd ate it up. Several good Rock segments throughout the night for his birthday celebration. The stuff with the past movie roles was so cheesy that it was funny especially with Simmons finishing it off. Rock got the big celebration from the end of the show including Vince McMahon coming out to pay tribute to him along with a music video that was very well done. There was a face off with Rock and Cena backstage where Cena held up the WWE title saying that he would have it at WrestleMania XXVIII when they faced off. My goodness, I hope he doesn't hold that thing for eleven more months. Other happenings on the show had Truth putting a beating on Morrison before their match started. Definitely added more to that feud. Kharma once again returned getting involved in the Maryse and Kelly Kelly match. I loved the expression on Kelly's face as Kharma made her way to the ring with the look of fear. Then, Kharma lays out Maryse while Kelly looks on scared in the corner. John Cena and The Miz was a good match. Strange ending though with Miz cheating and using the belt to pin Cena to win the title. I reacted to it but was thinking there has to be a twist. Hoping there wasn't but then there was the DQ. The ref saw the title fly out of Miz and Riley's hands and the ref DQ'd Miz. Cena retains. Umm, yeah. I didn't pay much attention to the tag match with Rey and Kofi against Drew and Swagger so I can't really comment on that. Wow, they are really pushing Mason Ryan. He was taking down both Kane and Big Show and blocking big moves. Take a look at the next guy that WWE is going to push as a monster only for him to be squashed three months ahead.
Other notes from Raw. Nothing like having Rock lay out Michael Cole and seeing JR when they come back from commercial. Just a good sign for commentary for the rest of the night. Being someone that doesn't like the Miami Heat and being someone that cheers every single team that plays them, I did like Cole standing up with the Celtics jersey on in Miami. LOL. I laughed at the Rock's line of picking at himself with his old picture saying he looked like the lead singer of Menudo. Surely, Kharma isn't going to be a face, is she?? Alex Riley's excuse to Miz for not being at the PPV was that he isn't a Raw talent anymore. Umm, aren't both brands supposed to be the PPV's?
Michelle McCool is indeed done with WWE. That was a surprise last week. Michelle has decided not to continue with WWE and has moved on. She thanked her fans on Twitter and that is it. Really surprised by this as she was someone that I expected to be around for a long time especially with who she is married to. I'm interested to see what they do with Layla from here. She made a face turn at the PPV with the divas locker room basically saying we don't like either one of you but we dislike Michelle more. I really like Layla as a heel so I'm going to wait and see what her face turn is like. I am bummed that the LayCool gimmick is over cause I really enjoyed it.
The news about Bin Laden was told to the live crowd after the main event at Extreme Rules. John Cena got on the mic and told the live crowd the news. Probably some knew it already from their phones but you could tell some were very shocked over the news. WWE definitely had a big moment there including some media outlets showing it to get the reactions from around the country to the news.
WWE held their stockholders meeting last week. It was announced that WrestleMania did over a million buys so the return of The Rock did help with buys. Highlights of the meeting was Vince being asked about the PG product. He said that sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward saying that they went back to their roots of being PG. He didn't talk like they would ever go back to an adult type product. I think there is that balance and they have been doing it lately with the build to WrestleMania. Plus, Vince said that being PG is going to help them get bigger name sponsors that they wouldn't be able to get with a higher rating. Absolutely true there. Vince did also say that they were going to focus on bringing in more international stars. Funny moment when Vince was asked if they were going to buy that company in Nashville, TN and if he was going to save the world from Dixie Carter. That of course is TNA. Vince said that "Stephanie has more brains that Dixie Carter has" which got a lot of laughs including from Stephanie and Triple H. Vince answered saying that he didn't know that they were for sale. They aren't of course but it was kind of a funny little moment.
The theme for WWE Classics On Demand in May is The 90's. The programming will center around 90's happenings and events. The Hall Of Fame will be on Stone Cold Steve Austin which will include a profile and matches from his career. The Greatest Superstars of the 90's DVD will be airing. The In Your House Ground Zero PPV will air this month which is one of my favorite PPV's of 1997. It took place from Louisville and that crowd was hot. Other events airing include WCW SuperBrawl VI, WCW Clash Of The Champions XX, and also the WWE TLC 2010 event. A new Ten Count will also air with a top ten list focusing on the 90's. The Shawn Michaels: My Journey DVD will also air in several parts throughout the month. It is a very good program to watch if you haven't seen it. The shorties appear to have a Smoky Mountain Wrestling theme to it which is exciting to see. Just something different and I like it. Those are just some of the highlights for the month.
Take care and God bless!!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
WWE Draft Results & Thoughts, & More - April 27, 2011
Welcome to the "apparently you can be redrafted" edition of The Wrestling List.
Wow, was Monday night's WWE Draft edition of Raw a mixed bag. As usual, matches were held with draft picks being on the line. A battle royal was held to open the show and it was won by Smackdown. The first pick of the draft was John Cena going to Smackdown. My first thought was oh my goodness. This draft is going to be huge. Moving the top guy over to Smackdown. Gutsy move. Later, Rey Mysterio was sent to Raw. Not a balance fixer at all but then the move of Randy Orton over to Smackdown not long after stunned all of us. Cena and Orton moving to Smackdown? Umm, who is there to move from Smackdown to Raw to be a top draw for that brand??!! That was my thinking for the rest of the show. Well, until the end. Mark Henry gets drafted to Smackdown. He turns on Cena in the six man tag team match. Miz pins Cena. Raw gets the last pick and I'm thinking that it has to be something huge. Then, it's Cena…..going back to Raw..….ok? It was just really bizarre. Since when can you be redrafted? I guess in the world of WWE you can. It would have made better sense to have Cena traded like Triple H was years ago. Remember he was drafted the one year to Smackdown and there was suddenly this really weak trade announced later in the week sending him back to Raw. Yeah, that was lame and this was too. A trade would have at least made more sense instead of the same person being drafted…twice. Just didn't like it. It did answer of my question of who the top draw on Raw was going to be. Same one as before.
So, let's look at the draft picks and I'll give my thoughts on each one that were announced on last night's Raw.
Raw Picks:
John Cena. Goes to Smackdown and back to Raw. Already talked about that so moving on.
Rey Mysterio. I'm just not excited about this move. I guess I'm just not excited watching Rey matches anymore.
Big Show. No excitement here either. Been there done that. Show has jumped brands and switched from face to heel so much that I can't really keep up. I'm not knocking Rey or Show obviously. Just not excited at all.
Alberto Del Rio. This is a big move sending him over to Raw. It's also making fans of Christian get excited that maybe he has a shot of winning the title on Sunday. Del Rio just hasn't done anything for me either. I've seen a lot of him on Raw and I'm just not getting into him yet. Maybe I'll be proved wrong. I'm just in that middle ground with him.
Smackdown Picks:
Randy Orton. This is obviously the pick of the draft since Cena stayed on Raw. Sending Orton over to Smackdown will send him to the top level of that brand immediately. Should be a good thing for Smackdown.
Mark Henry. I think this is going to be a good thing especially after his heel turn. If they make him a monster heel again which is likely, he'll be fun to watch. I like this move. His move over to Raw was bad as it is usually for a lot of Smackdown top talent that move over.
Sin Cara. Not surprised at all here. Probably be a good thing for him especially with as nervous as he has looked in his matches. They can post produce him now on any mistakes in the ring now. Gives Smackdown a lucha guy that will get fans behind him. Good move here.
Other notes from Raw. This was exactly my complaint about Michael Cole. Divas match starts and he rants and raves. Takes full attention off the match especially when we have a storyline going on with LayCool at ringside. This whole thing just didn't make any sense. When Cole got up and the distraction made the match end early, my first thought was ok, Cole has to be traded here. His rant and rave costs him to be traded. The draft graphic pops up and it's…..Rey Mysterio. Absolutely no ties to the match or angle especially when WWE overbooks those kind of situations all the time in these drafts. Then, LayCool has a really good brawl that saw Michelle get fired over the announce table by Layla. I thought that looked awesome and then the emotion from Layla on what has happened with her best friend and her. However, a lot was taken away from it due to the ranting and raving of Michael Cole. Again, he overshadows the other talent. I was hoping that he'd get drafted to NXT….which is shown online. The R Truth promo was really good. I loved the opening where he teased the "what's up" and then said "shut up". His reaction to the "what" chants was good. Not sure how WWE felt about him having to be bleeped a couple of times for language but I thought he did good in getting over his new heel persona. Again, he should be the face in this whole deal in my opinion. Friend fooled him into giving up his dream, outed his personal problems, and basically made a mockery of him. How is Truth the heel here? Wow, JR busted his hand on Cole's mouth. Bet that hurt both of them!
Let's get to the supplemental draft that was covered on WWE.com this past Tuesday. To keep it simple, I'll just separate the brands as I did early and show who is going where and give thoughts.
Going to Raw:
Jack Swagger. Unfortunately, this means more of Michael Cole is what this told me.
Kelly Kelly. Good to have her back on Raw. Thought she shouldn't have went to Smackdown in the first place. Raw seems like a good place for her.
JTG. No real comment here. Haven't watched him in forever.
Drew McIntyre. This is an interesting one. I'm not sure if a move to Raw is going to help him or not. I think he may just get lost in the mix on Raw just like so many others from Smackdown have.
Curt Hawkins. Yeah, I've got nothing here. Haven't watched him in forever either. Solid when he was with Edge. Lost in the mix since then.
Chris Masters. Probably will be used as a comedy type gimmick on Raw.
Kofi Kingston. This is an interesting one. I think Raw is a better place for him but I just think he may get lost in the mix. Another young guy that got pushed and then stopped.
Tyler Reks. Got nothing on this one either. Barely watched him.
Beth Phoenix. I like this move of her coming back to Raw. She got lost in the mix fast on Smackdown. Hopefully, Raw will get her rolling again. She's much better than how she is being used.
Going to Smackdown:
Daniel Bryan. I really like this. This could be a great thing for him to get on Smackdown.
The Great Khali and Runjin Singh. I really like this too cause he's off Raw. LOL
Jimmy Uso. Means nothing unless the others are going with him.
Alicia Fox. Ehh, whatever. Think it will be a fine move for her. No opinion really either way.
William Regal. Honestly did not even know he was on the Raw roster. Wasn't sure what roster that he was on to be honest.
Yoshi Tatsu. Probably be a good thing for him.
Natalya. I just want Natalya to get a good run wherever she is. Hoping this will be a good thing.
Jey Uso. Ok, now we have both Uso's together. Tag teams unfortunately don't matter in WWE. Frustrating obviously. More young guys that got the push and then right back down.
Ted Dibiase. Wow, I hope this is a good thing for Dibiase. Anything has got to be better, right? Surely, it can't get worse. They've turned Dibiase into a joke much like they have a lot of the young guys. Never would have guessed that Rhodes would be more successful right now than Dibiase.
Tyson Kidd. Another start stop guy. Got this big push including a bodyguard and then completely gone off of TV. I like him. Hope it's a good move for him.
Tamina. Well, I guess they put her back with the Uso's?
Alex Riley. Wow, splitting up Riley and Miz. Probably the right time for it.
Sheamus. This was a surprise but I like this move. He needs a fresh start on Smackdown cause they have ruined him on Raw. Bad ruined him.
So, there you have it. Overall thoughts. I think Smackdown got the much better deal out of this. I'm not excited about any of the moves for Raw. I think Smackdown is a much better position right now. That show tends to be good especially for in ring action. Seeing the talent going over there could be a good thing for them and for the show. They have the star power with Orton. A big heel in Henry. Some definite good mid card talent. Bryan and Sheamus are guys that you can into the title mix. Gotta say that Smackdown came out the winner in my opinion.
The WWE Extreme Rules PPV is this Sunday. I think it will probably be a solid show.
Don't forget that The Rock will be on Raw this Monday night. It will be his birthday party.
Chris Jericho was eliminated on last night's Dancing With The Stars. He had a good run on there.
Jay Lethal was let go by TNA. Yeah, of all the talent that they have that should probably be cut loose. Lethal is the one that they let go. Really what can you say to this news?
The news on Scott Hall just continues to get sadder. Just looks really bad for him. Kevin Nash took to his blog to type up his comments on Hall. It is a really interesting read and it's just sad knowing how bad of shape that Hall is in. Here is a link to what Nash had to say: http://kevinnash.tumblr.com/
That is it for tonight. I have a Wrestling List typed up that I'll send out later this week probably. Looking back on my favorite moments in WCW Monday Nitro history in anticipation of the new WWE DVD that is a best of Monday Nitro set. Take care and God bless!!
Wow, was Monday night's WWE Draft edition of Raw a mixed bag. As usual, matches were held with draft picks being on the line. A battle royal was held to open the show and it was won by Smackdown. The first pick of the draft was John Cena going to Smackdown. My first thought was oh my goodness. This draft is going to be huge. Moving the top guy over to Smackdown. Gutsy move. Later, Rey Mysterio was sent to Raw. Not a balance fixer at all but then the move of Randy Orton over to Smackdown not long after stunned all of us. Cena and Orton moving to Smackdown? Umm, who is there to move from Smackdown to Raw to be a top draw for that brand??!! That was my thinking for the rest of the show. Well, until the end. Mark Henry gets drafted to Smackdown. He turns on Cena in the six man tag team match. Miz pins Cena. Raw gets the last pick and I'm thinking that it has to be something huge. Then, it's Cena…..going back to Raw..….ok? It was just really bizarre. Since when can you be redrafted? I guess in the world of WWE you can. It would have made better sense to have Cena traded like Triple H was years ago. Remember he was drafted the one year to Smackdown and there was suddenly this really weak trade announced later in the week sending him back to Raw. Yeah, that was lame and this was too. A trade would have at least made more sense instead of the same person being drafted…twice. Just didn't like it. It did answer of my question of who the top draw on Raw was going to be. Same one as before.
So, let's look at the draft picks and I'll give my thoughts on each one that were announced on last night's Raw.
Raw Picks:
John Cena. Goes to Smackdown and back to Raw. Already talked about that so moving on.
Rey Mysterio. I'm just not excited about this move. I guess I'm just not excited watching Rey matches anymore.
Big Show. No excitement here either. Been there done that. Show has jumped brands and switched from face to heel so much that I can't really keep up. I'm not knocking Rey or Show obviously. Just not excited at all.
Alberto Del Rio. This is a big move sending him over to Raw. It's also making fans of Christian get excited that maybe he has a shot of winning the title on Sunday. Del Rio just hasn't done anything for me either. I've seen a lot of him on Raw and I'm just not getting into him yet. Maybe I'll be proved wrong. I'm just in that middle ground with him.
Smackdown Picks:
Randy Orton. This is obviously the pick of the draft since Cena stayed on Raw. Sending Orton over to Smackdown will send him to the top level of that brand immediately. Should be a good thing for Smackdown.
Mark Henry. I think this is going to be a good thing especially after his heel turn. If they make him a monster heel again which is likely, he'll be fun to watch. I like this move. His move over to Raw was bad as it is usually for a lot of Smackdown top talent that move over.
Sin Cara. Not surprised at all here. Probably be a good thing for him especially with as nervous as he has looked in his matches. They can post produce him now on any mistakes in the ring now. Gives Smackdown a lucha guy that will get fans behind him. Good move here.
Other notes from Raw. This was exactly my complaint about Michael Cole. Divas match starts and he rants and raves. Takes full attention off the match especially when we have a storyline going on with LayCool at ringside. This whole thing just didn't make any sense. When Cole got up and the distraction made the match end early, my first thought was ok, Cole has to be traded here. His rant and rave costs him to be traded. The draft graphic pops up and it's…..Rey Mysterio. Absolutely no ties to the match or angle especially when WWE overbooks those kind of situations all the time in these drafts. Then, LayCool has a really good brawl that saw Michelle get fired over the announce table by Layla. I thought that looked awesome and then the emotion from Layla on what has happened with her best friend and her. However, a lot was taken away from it due to the ranting and raving of Michael Cole. Again, he overshadows the other talent. I was hoping that he'd get drafted to NXT….which is shown online. The R Truth promo was really good. I loved the opening where he teased the "what's up" and then said "shut up". His reaction to the "what" chants was good. Not sure how WWE felt about him having to be bleeped a couple of times for language but I thought he did good in getting over his new heel persona. Again, he should be the face in this whole deal in my opinion. Friend fooled him into giving up his dream, outed his personal problems, and basically made a mockery of him. How is Truth the heel here? Wow, JR busted his hand on Cole's mouth. Bet that hurt both of them!
Let's get to the supplemental draft that was covered on WWE.com this past Tuesday. To keep it simple, I'll just separate the brands as I did early and show who is going where and give thoughts.
Going to Raw:
Jack Swagger. Unfortunately, this means more of Michael Cole is what this told me.
Kelly Kelly. Good to have her back on Raw. Thought she shouldn't have went to Smackdown in the first place. Raw seems like a good place for her.
JTG. No real comment here. Haven't watched him in forever.
Drew McIntyre. This is an interesting one. I'm not sure if a move to Raw is going to help him or not. I think he may just get lost in the mix on Raw just like so many others from Smackdown have.
Curt Hawkins. Yeah, I've got nothing here. Haven't watched him in forever either. Solid when he was with Edge. Lost in the mix since then.
Chris Masters. Probably will be used as a comedy type gimmick on Raw.
Kofi Kingston. This is an interesting one. I think Raw is a better place for him but I just think he may get lost in the mix. Another young guy that got pushed and then stopped.
Tyler Reks. Got nothing on this one either. Barely watched him.
Beth Phoenix. I like this move of her coming back to Raw. She got lost in the mix fast on Smackdown. Hopefully, Raw will get her rolling again. She's much better than how she is being used.
Going to Smackdown:
Daniel Bryan. I really like this. This could be a great thing for him to get on Smackdown.
The Great Khali and Runjin Singh. I really like this too cause he's off Raw. LOL
Jimmy Uso. Means nothing unless the others are going with him.
Alicia Fox. Ehh, whatever. Think it will be a fine move for her. No opinion really either way.
William Regal. Honestly did not even know he was on the Raw roster. Wasn't sure what roster that he was on to be honest.
Yoshi Tatsu. Probably be a good thing for him.
Natalya. I just want Natalya to get a good run wherever she is. Hoping this will be a good thing.
Jey Uso. Ok, now we have both Uso's together. Tag teams unfortunately don't matter in WWE. Frustrating obviously. More young guys that got the push and then right back down.
Ted Dibiase. Wow, I hope this is a good thing for Dibiase. Anything has got to be better, right? Surely, it can't get worse. They've turned Dibiase into a joke much like they have a lot of the young guys. Never would have guessed that Rhodes would be more successful right now than Dibiase.
Tyson Kidd. Another start stop guy. Got this big push including a bodyguard and then completely gone off of TV. I like him. Hope it's a good move for him.
Tamina. Well, I guess they put her back with the Uso's?
Alex Riley. Wow, splitting up Riley and Miz. Probably the right time for it.
Sheamus. This was a surprise but I like this move. He needs a fresh start on Smackdown cause they have ruined him on Raw. Bad ruined him.
So, there you have it. Overall thoughts. I think Smackdown got the much better deal out of this. I'm not excited about any of the moves for Raw. I think Smackdown is a much better position right now. That show tends to be good especially for in ring action. Seeing the talent going over there could be a good thing for them and for the show. They have the star power with Orton. A big heel in Henry. Some definite good mid card talent. Bryan and Sheamus are guys that you can into the title mix. Gotta say that Smackdown came out the winner in my opinion.
The WWE Extreme Rules PPV is this Sunday. I think it will probably be a solid show.
Don't forget that The Rock will be on Raw this Monday night. It will be his birthday party.
Chris Jericho was eliminated on last night's Dancing With The Stars. He had a good run on there.
Jay Lethal was let go by TNA. Yeah, of all the talent that they have that should probably be cut loose. Lethal is the one that they let go. Really what can you say to this news?
The news on Scott Hall just continues to get sadder. Just looks really bad for him. Kevin Nash took to his blog to type up his comments on Hall. It is a really interesting read and it's just sad knowing how bad of shape that Hall is in. Here is a link to what Nash had to say: http://kevinnash.tumblr.com/
That is it for tonight. I have a Wrestling List typed up that I'll send out later this week probably. Looking back on my favorite moments in WCW Monday Nitro history in anticipation of the new WWE DVD that is a best of Monday Nitro set. Take care and God bless!!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Raw Thoughts, Edge, Tough Enough, and More - April 18, 2011
Welcome to the "shouldn't Morrison be the heel?" edition of The Wrestling List.
Last night's Raw was honestly a pretty dull show. London hosted Raw so the show was taped earlier in the day from when we saw it due to the obvious time difference. The show opened with R Truth doing a promo and was happy about being in the main event at Extreme Rules. John Morrison came out and got Truth to give him a match with the winner going on to Extreme Rules. Truth ended up losing the match and then lost it afterwards. He pounded on Morrison badly blaming him for what had happened. Ok, here is my point on this and I'm going to go in depth more on the talking part. First, the promo stuff was pretty bad. Second, how is Truth the heel here? Morrison is supposedly Truth's friend, right? Morrison comes out and works on Truth to give him a match. Morrison had his chance and lost last week. Morrison shows video of Truth drinking water in between matches and how he wasn't in shape. Definitely an embarrassing kind of deal. Next, Morrison goes on to say that Truth smokes and that it doesn't help his health at all and hurts him in the ring. Now, Morrison is attacking his "friend" on another level in front of an audience. Truth kind of gets persuaded into this match. Then, Morrison gets his way and wins. Now, Truth is without a title match that he worked for and Morrison got what he wanted at the expense of his "friend". Truth then pounds on Morrison for what happened. Now, how is Truth the heel here? It seems to be that he was done pretty dirty by his friend in the ring. Just kind of my observations of that storyline as it played out last night. Just didn't make sense to me. The Michael Cole being knighted thing was so silly. I know it's supposed to be silly but wow. This was Lawler/Bret Hart kiss my foot level bad. Literally. Just a silly and dumb segment. Niki Bella and Eve had a decent match with Eve pinning Niki. However, there is Cole right after it saying well now that that silliness is over, let's get to my stuff. Give me the divas match anytime over that Cole segment. Randy Orton and CM Punk was the best thing on this show. Solid match and fun to see the crowd being split on who they were cheering for. Nexus returns and almost takes out Orton only for him to avoid a punt kick from Punk and hitting a RKO. Dolph Ziggler with a new look took on Evan Bourne. It's going to take a lot more than a new look for me to get interested in Ziggler. John Cena gets involved in the Sin Cara/Riley match when it looks like a doubleteam of Miz and Riley is about to occur. Solid match. There were other things on the show but those were my main points on it.
Other notes from Raw. Well, Truth suddenly being talked about with smoking was sure a random out of nowhere thing to insert into the storyline. I did laugh at the people in the audience being goofy over the storyline. I can't blame them. This was such a random thing to add in there. I don't like having a guy smoking on TV especially even more with kids there but it's WWE. Just bizarre. How awesome was that Edge tribute video? Just great, great stuff. New look for Ziggler, same boredom from me. Did you see Sin Cara hit that entrance perfect this week? Probably the best he has done it. He's had a rough go of it so far and it really is a dangerous entrance. Dangerous especially when we've had a guy have to retire from neck trouble. The draft conversation got to be annoying with them talking about what would happen if Cole went to Smackdown? Well, what would be different? He is on Smackdown every week anyway.
You knew this was coming especially with Edge's retirement. Enter the WWE Draft next week. The draft is kind of pointless with the way that talent jumps shows but I think it is more important on the live event end than it is on TV. House shows are obviously going to have their talent set by who is on what roster. So, who is going to be moved? With Ziggler's new look, I think he will be on the move. I'm also thinking that Truth and Morrison may be on their way back to Smackdown. A new heel in Truth so it would send a fresh heel back to Smackdown. Send Punk back to Smackdown? He has thrived on Smackdown and what else is there for him to do on Raw? I really think we'll see LayCool split up. One will move to Raw and the other will stay on Smackdown. That is a major gut feeling there from me especially with the timing of this split.
If you aren't watching Tough Enough, you really need to be. It is fun. Last week's episode was pretty intense. Running from attack dogs which Austin sure had a lot of fun with. I think he had too much fun. He almost seemed disappointed when they got away from the dog. LOL. Then, they had to take a running Bill DeMott move in the corner followed by five bodyslams. Wow, that was rough. Matt was sent home last week. He was one of the front runners but it didn't help his cause when he just didn't show that personality. He didn't show enough early on in the competition. Last week had John Cena making an appearance. SPOILER ALERT if you have not seen this week's episode yet cause I'm going to talk about it. This week's episode had two people making appearances which was Big Show and also Stacy Keibler. Loved seeing Stacy and Trish back on TV together. Two of my very favorites ever. Luke looks like a major front runner right now. He also got to go in the ring with Austin this week. He did get knocked down a peg in that last challenge. Eric is still battling his conditioning. Big Show gave him some advice on that one. Michelle quit this week after missing her daughter. It was a really nice moment with her and Austin talking to one another. He understood her position saying he had children and that he was just now getting to know them. Picking between the two, she wasn't about to pick this business over her family. Good for her on that. Mickael, Ryan, and Rima were picked as the bottom three. The trouble between Mickael and Ryan was brought to a head as Austin let it be between the two of them on who went home. Austin had them cut a promo on one another and it was not even close. Ryan destroyed him on the promo and it was the best thing that Ryan has done so far this season. Like I said, you really need to watch this show if you're not.
Edge's farewell speech was aired on Smackdown last week. If you didn't read the List last week, you need to cause there is a link to the additional farewell that he got after the show went off the air. On Smackdown, there were some edits to the speech. The mentions of the writers, Michael Hayes, and Lita were removed from the segment. It is strange how WWE does not want writers names out there. Dave Lagana talked on a recent podcast of his where he said that they were mentioned in a Hall of Fame speech but it was cut off the DVD. They weren't happy about it and Stephanie McMahon made sure that they got an unedited version of it with them being thanked. If you have not seen the amazing music video tribute to Edge that aired last night, here is the link to it set to a song by 3 Doors Down.
It has been announced that The Rock will be back on Raw on May 2. This is also the Rock's birthday.
WWE is really getting behind Chris Jericho with Dancing With The Stars. They were sending out alerts last night telling you to vote for him and how to do it.
TNA held their Lockdown PPV over the weekend. I'm hearing up and down things on the show. The obvious good thing was the lethal lockdown match which sounded like it was great. Good thing for TNA there especially with how they closed their show last month. A scare for Kurt Angle when he took a powerbomb off the top rope from Jarrett and landed wrong. Angle is a guy that I just don't know how he is able to keep going with all the injuries over the years.
Hulk Hogan commented on Twitter about Edge's retirement last week with multiple comments. Here was his first post: "if any of the guys like me,Flair,Hardy,Andre,AA,Blanchard,orndoff,Henning would have listened to doctors we would have quit15yrsago. but I don't know Edges working environment because they are a media company not a wrestling company. HH"
"wrestlers work hurt! What about Foley! I bet EDGE still wants to keep wrestling,he's one of the boys big time!!! HH"
Then, he pulled the other comments because they came off bad and he was getting criticized for them from fans. He then posted this one to finish: "I'm not saying anything bad about Edge but he's a real wrestler,Stone Cold and Cena had neck surgery and u couldn't stop em,Or Edge it's in Edges blood,he lives for this business he's a real wrestler,he a lifer,he's one of the real boys,he's hard to hold down,that's all. HH"
Sigh, I don't even know what to say here. I love Hulk Hogan but my goodness. It should be pointed out too that Austin did have to retire for the very same reason that Edge did so that ruins that point of his. Just pay tribute and don't make it look like you're using it to take a shot at the other company.
I now have a book in my possession that I have heard so much about over the years. The Death Of WCW. People say that it is a very interesting read and I just finally had to check it out.
That is it for tonight. Hope you're all doing great!! Take care and God bless!!
Last night's Raw was honestly a pretty dull show. London hosted Raw so the show was taped earlier in the day from when we saw it due to the obvious time difference. The show opened with R Truth doing a promo and was happy about being in the main event at Extreme Rules. John Morrison came out and got Truth to give him a match with the winner going on to Extreme Rules. Truth ended up losing the match and then lost it afterwards. He pounded on Morrison badly blaming him for what had happened. Ok, here is my point on this and I'm going to go in depth more on the talking part. First, the promo stuff was pretty bad. Second, how is Truth the heel here? Morrison is supposedly Truth's friend, right? Morrison comes out and works on Truth to give him a match. Morrison had his chance and lost last week. Morrison shows video of Truth drinking water in between matches and how he wasn't in shape. Definitely an embarrassing kind of deal. Next, Morrison goes on to say that Truth smokes and that it doesn't help his health at all and hurts him in the ring. Now, Morrison is attacking his "friend" on another level in front of an audience. Truth kind of gets persuaded into this match. Then, Morrison gets his way and wins. Now, Truth is without a title match that he worked for and Morrison got what he wanted at the expense of his "friend". Truth then pounds on Morrison for what happened. Now, how is Truth the heel here? It seems to be that he was done pretty dirty by his friend in the ring. Just kind of my observations of that storyline as it played out last night. Just didn't make sense to me. The Michael Cole being knighted thing was so silly. I know it's supposed to be silly but wow. This was Lawler/Bret Hart kiss my foot level bad. Literally. Just a silly and dumb segment. Niki Bella and Eve had a decent match with Eve pinning Niki. However, there is Cole right after it saying well now that that silliness is over, let's get to my stuff. Give me the divas match anytime over that Cole segment. Randy Orton and CM Punk was the best thing on this show. Solid match and fun to see the crowd being split on who they were cheering for. Nexus returns and almost takes out Orton only for him to avoid a punt kick from Punk and hitting a RKO. Dolph Ziggler with a new look took on Evan Bourne. It's going to take a lot more than a new look for me to get interested in Ziggler. John Cena gets involved in the Sin Cara/Riley match when it looks like a doubleteam of Miz and Riley is about to occur. Solid match. There were other things on the show but those were my main points on it.
Other notes from Raw. Well, Truth suddenly being talked about with smoking was sure a random out of nowhere thing to insert into the storyline. I did laugh at the people in the audience being goofy over the storyline. I can't blame them. This was such a random thing to add in there. I don't like having a guy smoking on TV especially even more with kids there but it's WWE. Just bizarre. How awesome was that Edge tribute video? Just great, great stuff. New look for Ziggler, same boredom from me. Did you see Sin Cara hit that entrance perfect this week? Probably the best he has done it. He's had a rough go of it so far and it really is a dangerous entrance. Dangerous especially when we've had a guy have to retire from neck trouble. The draft conversation got to be annoying with them talking about what would happen if Cole went to Smackdown? Well, what would be different? He is on Smackdown every week anyway.
You knew this was coming especially with Edge's retirement. Enter the WWE Draft next week. The draft is kind of pointless with the way that talent jumps shows but I think it is more important on the live event end than it is on TV. House shows are obviously going to have their talent set by who is on what roster. So, who is going to be moved? With Ziggler's new look, I think he will be on the move. I'm also thinking that Truth and Morrison may be on their way back to Smackdown. A new heel in Truth so it would send a fresh heel back to Smackdown. Send Punk back to Smackdown? He has thrived on Smackdown and what else is there for him to do on Raw? I really think we'll see LayCool split up. One will move to Raw and the other will stay on Smackdown. That is a major gut feeling there from me especially with the timing of this split.
If you aren't watching Tough Enough, you really need to be. It is fun. Last week's episode was pretty intense. Running from attack dogs which Austin sure had a lot of fun with. I think he had too much fun. He almost seemed disappointed when they got away from the dog. LOL. Then, they had to take a running Bill DeMott move in the corner followed by five bodyslams. Wow, that was rough. Matt was sent home last week. He was one of the front runners but it didn't help his cause when he just didn't show that personality. He didn't show enough early on in the competition. Last week had John Cena making an appearance. SPOILER ALERT if you have not seen this week's episode yet cause I'm going to talk about it. This week's episode had two people making appearances which was Big Show and also Stacy Keibler. Loved seeing Stacy and Trish back on TV together. Two of my very favorites ever. Luke looks like a major front runner right now. He also got to go in the ring with Austin this week. He did get knocked down a peg in that last challenge. Eric is still battling his conditioning. Big Show gave him some advice on that one. Michelle quit this week after missing her daughter. It was a really nice moment with her and Austin talking to one another. He understood her position saying he had children and that he was just now getting to know them. Picking between the two, she wasn't about to pick this business over her family. Good for her on that. Mickael, Ryan, and Rima were picked as the bottom three. The trouble between Mickael and Ryan was brought to a head as Austin let it be between the two of them on who went home. Austin had them cut a promo on one another and it was not even close. Ryan destroyed him on the promo and it was the best thing that Ryan has done so far this season. Like I said, you really need to watch this show if you're not.
Edge's farewell speech was aired on Smackdown last week. If you didn't read the List last week, you need to cause there is a link to the additional farewell that he got after the show went off the air. On Smackdown, there were some edits to the speech. The mentions of the writers, Michael Hayes, and Lita were removed from the segment. It is strange how WWE does not want writers names out there. Dave Lagana talked on a recent podcast of his where he said that they were mentioned in a Hall of Fame speech but it was cut off the DVD. They weren't happy about it and Stephanie McMahon made sure that they got an unedited version of it with them being thanked. If you have not seen the amazing music video tribute to Edge that aired last night, here is the link to it set to a song by 3 Doors Down.
It has been announced that The Rock will be back on Raw on May 2. This is also the Rock's birthday.
WWE is really getting behind Chris Jericho with Dancing With The Stars. They were sending out alerts last night telling you to vote for him and how to do it.
TNA held their Lockdown PPV over the weekend. I'm hearing up and down things on the show. The obvious good thing was the lethal lockdown match which sounded like it was great. Good thing for TNA there especially with how they closed their show last month. A scare for Kurt Angle when he took a powerbomb off the top rope from Jarrett and landed wrong. Angle is a guy that I just don't know how he is able to keep going with all the injuries over the years.
Hulk Hogan commented on Twitter about Edge's retirement last week with multiple comments. Here was his first post: "if any of the guys like me,Flair,Hardy,Andre,AA,Blanchard,orndoff,Henning would have listened to doctors we would have quit15yrsago. but I don't know Edges working environment because they are a media company not a wrestling company. HH"
"wrestlers work hurt! What about Foley! I bet EDGE still wants to keep wrestling,he's one of the boys big time!!! HH"
Then, he pulled the other comments because they came off bad and he was getting criticized for them from fans. He then posted this one to finish: "I'm not saying anything bad about Edge but he's a real wrestler,Stone Cold and Cena had neck surgery and u couldn't stop em,Or Edge it's in Edges blood,he lives for this business he's a real wrestler,he a lifer,he's one of the real boys,he's hard to hold down,that's all. HH"
Sigh, I don't even know what to say here. I love Hulk Hogan but my goodness. It should be pointed out too that Austin did have to retire for the very same reason that Edge did so that ruins that point of his. Just pay tribute and don't make it look like you're using it to take a shot at the other company.
I now have a book in my possession that I have heard so much about over the years. The Death Of WCW. People say that it is a very interesting read and I just finally had to check it out.
That is it for tonight. Hope you're all doing great!! Take care and God bless!!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
A Tribute To Edge - April 14, 2011
This edition is all about Edge. One of my favorite superstars ever and just want to share my thoughts on his career and what others are saying as well. Where do I start with Edge? If you've known me for a long time, you know that I jumped on board with this guy right from the start. I was hooked just watching those promos in 1998 that were setting up his debut. Who was this mysterious guy in a trenchcoat running around the streets with the "you think you know me" line playing over the video? I was pumped by the time this guy even debuted and I liked what I saw right from the debut match. I was one of the first Edgeheads. I just loved watching him. Music playing, spotlight all over the arena, and there he is. Trying to figure out where this mysterious figure was going to walk from to get to the ring. Edge would go into tag team stardom pretty early on and have that exclamation point during the first ever tag team ladder match on PPV in late 1999. It was that first big moment to where it gave a signal to the crowd that you had better pay attention to this guy. The Edge and Christian tag team quickly became my favorite. They turned into a great comedy team that saw so many fun moments that just reeked of awesomeness. Like how I got one of their lines in there? I still laugh at them at Stephanie's birthday party and playing Triple H's music on the kazoo. "It's my time, it's my time". LOL It erupted the room gathered watching it into laughter as Triple H kicked them out of the room. The five second pose stuff. Just loved it. Team ECK. Remember that? Edge and Christian would go along with The Hardys and The Dudleys to take tag team wrestling and extreme to the next level with a match we still see today, TLC. It was great at SummerSlam and tore the house down at WrestleMania X-7. The spear of Edge on to Hardy off the ladder is still all over the highlight reels and probably will be his defining big spot moment that people will remember cause it was at such a high profile event. I always knew that Edge could be a singles star. I had seen it in 1998. When the team was split up, I just knew that it was going to be big things for him. It was. Edge would win his first Intercontinental title in 2001 and was on his way. By the time that 2002 rolled around, he was one of the best stars in WWE. He had that great entrance where he would run out, run up and down the stage, and just pump that crowd up. I loved it!! I often get asked what is the best match that I've seen live? I have always answered this and still do. Edge vs. Kurt Angle at Judgment Day 2002 in Nashville. Hair vs. Hair. This match was just off the charts good. They had the crowd in the palm of their hands and we were reacting on everything. Just two incredible performers. I have seen some great matches live but that one still tops the list to this day. 2002 was a break out year for Edge and I just knew that 2003 was going to be bigger. Then, unfortunately came the neck fusion surgery. It would keep him out of the ring for a long time and it did seem to break his momentum. WWE didn't help matters by putting his first feud with Kane. They're great friends but I have just never seen good in ring chemistry with those two together. It also didn't help that WWE shot an angle upon Edge's disappearance where someone had knocked him out in the back. Did WWE do a storyline upon his return where he looked for who took him out? Nope. They acted like it never happened and wanted us to think that it never did happen. It's funny too cause in Edge's book, he talks about how he argued the same point saying shouldn't I be looking for who did this to me? Edge worked his way back in and got his momentum rolling again. He was turned heel and eventually paired up with Lita. The feud with Edge and Matt Hardy was great TV and basically cause it played off of a real life situation. WWE did what WWE does a lot of times and broke that momentum of the feud that everyone was into and it fizzled out. It was a shame but Edge had big momentum as a heel. He was that big time jerk of a heel that people just loved to hate. I still loved him. LOL. It's always funny when you see such genuinely nice guys play such horrible people on TV and are able to make it work. Edge would launch into the stratosphere in January of 2006. New Year's Revolution in Albany, NY. One of my favorite moments ever. John Cena wins the Elimination Chamber match and the Albany crowd is just furious. This was when the Cena dislike had really gotten rolling. That crowd was booing everything that Cena did. Vince McMahon walks out and announces that Edge is cashing in his Money In The Bank. Edge walks to the ring and that place popped like you would not believe. I heard someone that was in the building that night describe it as a hero's welcome that he got. Edge pulls such a heel tactic by cashing in at the most opportune time on a hurt Cena. Edge hits the spear and wins the WWE title for the first time and the place goes insane. It is hilarious to watch the show and see the reaction from that crowd. It was said to be unbelievably loud there live including people jumping up and down. Me? Duh, of course I loved it. Edge's title reign wouldn't last long unfortunately but it was the first of many to come. Edge became one of those guys in WWE that you could count on to have a great match. Edge and Cena was one of my favorite rivalries in recent years and they just had a bunch of great matches. The big culmination was the TLC match that just tore the house down. So many big spots in it. Another one of my favorite feuds in recent years was his feud with The Undertaker. Lots of mind games played between the two and great matches including WrestleMania. Edge had bad timing at a lot of times due to injuries just after he would win the title. Just felt so bad for the guy. Then, he would come back and jump right back in the mix where he was. Edge has jumped from face to heel a lot in the last couple of years but has become the face of Smackdown. You knew that you were going to get something quality on that show with him being on it. My last time seeing Edge live, so far anyway, was last year at Raw in Nashville. It was the night after he won the Royal Rumble as he was the surprise return entrant that night. Edge opened the show to a mixed reaction from the fans not knowing whether he was a face or heel really. It didn't matter to me as I was up out of my chair screaming when his music hit. LOL. He had a face off with Sheamus as he teased on who he was going to face at WrestleMania as the challenger. Sheamus attacked but Edge ended up laying him out with a spear. The crowd was definitely into him then. I had thought about attending a Smackdown live event in the future just to make sure that I got to see him again knowing that his career was winding down. Just wasn't expecting it so suddenly. Edge's last match would be fittingly enough at WrestleMania XXVII a few weeks ago. He walked in and walked out as champion in front of a sold out crowd. Hard to beat that for your last match. I have heard that Christian was likely added to that match with WWE wanting them to come full circle just in case this was his last match. WWE was definitely planning on a just in case deal there. Edge has always been known for having those great matches. Lots of high risk moments. All of those risks and injuries have piled up and unfortunately ended his career way too young. His WWE career was 13 years in length. Seems like a short time compared to others but look at the accomplishments in those 13 years. 31 championship wins. The most by any WWE superstar ever. 11 world titles (4 WWE titles, 7 World titles), 5 Intercontinental titles, 14 tag team titles, and 1 U.S. title reign. He won King Of The Ring in 2001, main evented WrestleMania, and just did everything that you can do. That is one topic this week. What really was there left for him to do anyway to accomplish? He was that great solid performer that we could count on. Now, unfortunately we won't get to see him compete again but I do look forward to seeing him go into the Hall Of Fame.
The farewell for Edge is not over. Raw was not the last moment. I'm not going to spoil anything for Smackdown cause it has already been announced. Edge does appear on Smackdown to give up the world title and gives another great speech. I have seen the video of it already and it is tremendous. What is even more tremendous is the stuff that I don't think we will see on TV. I'm fairly sure that the post show stuff will not air with Edge getting a locker room wide ovation from the fans. Triple H gets involved and it is just great stuff including his "get back in there" thing.
Many people took to Twitter to comment on Edge and his retirement. Just so many great messages and you can see just how well loved this guy is. I don't have them all in here so just know that there are a TON of messages. I just picked out some of them.
"I've shed my tears..And from here on out I choose 2celebrate 1 of the greatest careers in WWE history..Cant wait2 induct u in the HOF #Edge." - Christian
"Edge will always be one of my favorites. I'm so grateful I was in a role to help him launch his wwe dream. Dreams do come true. Edge=HOF!" - Jim Ross
"Have had contact w/Edge & he is looking 4ward 2what the future holds. It will b great, good things happen 2 good people & he is just that." - Shawn Michaels
"Edge - you are my brother, an inspiration and define the word "superstar". THANK YOU Adam.. for everything." - The Rock
"CeNation. I am very proud of edge for all that he has accomplished. He is certain to be in the hall of fame. Im proud to have had so many Great moments with him. He is a true wrestling purist and one of the smartest people I've had the pleasure of wrestling with. For your last match to be a championship win at WrestleMania ...is a good finish to one great career." - John Cena
"I remember training w/both Edge & Christian in a ring @ my house back in '97 & he'll always be one of my guys. Such an abrupt end to a great career saddens the entire wrestling world. Cheers to the rated-R Superstar." - Bret Hart
"Will miss Edge not only in ring, but in the lockeroom even more. He was one of the few who I could call a friend. I learned alot from him." - Randy Orton
"Thank you Adam for everything.. you've been such a great friend your an amazing person, n inspiration and I had the honor of working with u!" - Kelly Kelly
"In wrestling you make many acquaintances and few friends. Edge is a friend. My friend, seeing you was always a pleasure and never a chore." - Joey Styles
"Edge is a great performer and 1 of my favorite opponents. He's also got an incredible MIND for the business. Congrats on an amazing career" - Chris Jericho
"An emotional night for sure. #ThankYouEdge. One of the most creative, hard working, passionate, & helpful men in the WWE. We'll miss you!" - Eve
"I'm so sad to see Edge leave...I'm honored I got to learn so much from him. He will be missed." - Vickie Guererro
"My motto has always been I wrestle every single match like it is my last, cause 1 day I know it will b. Thanks Edge 4 everything u hav done" - Tommy Dreamer
"It's sad to see my friend Edge Retire from WWE. Edge was one of the Best. Your Fans will miss You dearly. I know I will. Luv u Edge!!!!" - Kurt Angle
"A sad day for wrestling, but what an amazing career for Edge. I was so fortunate to have been his opponent, his partner, his friend." - Mick Foley
"Thank u Edge for everything u have given to the business and ur friendship. We r sad 2 c u go but grateful 4 ur health.also can't wait 2 c christian induct u to the HOF" - Gail Kim
"Thank you Edge for everything that you gave and meant to this industry, and personally speaking, thank you for your friendship!" - Howard Finkel
"Wishing Edge the very best. What a outstanding gentleman and friend, notwithstanding a fine athlete and performer." - Paul Bearer
"A Little late but I just heard about Edge's Retirement. Good People, GREAT wrestler, and will sorely be missed in the ring." - Samoa Joe
"Best of luck to Edge. Class guy and a great talent. He will find success in anything he pursues." - Eric Bischoff
"the loss of Edge is a sad day 4 the WWE great in ring,but such a special guy out,he still has years left to give" - Kevin Nash
"Thank you Edge..." - Maryse
"Heard Adam is retiring because of physical issues that won't allow him to safely continue wrestling. He'll be missed, we've certainly had our fair share of issues.. Both good and bad. But I tip my hat to Edge who is one of the greatest I've ever been in the ring with. Adam resides in NC now-sure I'll run into him down the road. Glad that him & I are in a good place. We came in as friends, & went out that way." - Matt Hardy
"EDGE will be missed. It was an honor to share the ring with him, and compete against him. Truly one of the best. Stay in touch Edger" - Charlie Haas
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Edge. A great career and a great human being." - Wade Barrett
"Beside's I love the guy & I hope he enjoys his retirement, for how ever long it may be. He deserves everything he achieved" - Sean Waltman
"Seeing edge say goodbye was surreal. He is irreplaceable." - Beth Phoenix
"Didn't catch raw but heard about most important part. I love you Edger! Thank you all you've given to a biz I have always loved! Mad respect" - Michelle McCool
"Edge, 1 of the GREAT guys in the biz. Awesone talent & awesome guy! I live the numbness in arms due to neck issues also, scary.Be well bro." - Taz
"Yeah my wife told me about Edge turning in his boots last night. I'm Happy that he knows when the ring is a danger. You guys remember that Wrestling is a Biz to us and luxury to you. Edge will do great in his next steps of Life. Thank you Edge for all the bumps and bruises that you put your body through. You where one of the best in the ring. Hopefully some young guys takes notes. Young man does well for himself =makes money=saves money=retires young=lives ever after a good life. Who knows he might get better and make a big return. You never know!!!!!" - Shannon Moore
"I always enjoyed Edge. Good dude too. Always nice (must be the Canadian in him). Good luck to him in his future. Def HOF guy." - Steve Corino
"Good luck to Edge on his future endeavors. He will be missed. But he is going to love retirement. Enjoy !" - Tara, the artist formerly known as Victoria.
So, there you have it. A lot of great tributes to Edge. You can tell just how loved that he is in this business and how missed he is going to be. I know I'm going to miss him. One of my favorite superstars ever and one of the greatest ever. Edgehead since 1998 and that will go on. Thanks for everything Edge.
Raw Thoughts, Trish/Morrison, & More - April 12, 2011
Welcome to the "we'll miss you Edge" edition of The Wrestling List. The buzz of the wrestling world continues to center around Edge's announcement last night of his retirement. Many in the wrestling world have posted comments on Twitter about him and wishing him well. I'll have a tribute Wrestling List coming up later in the week looking back on my favorite moments of his career.
Last night's Raw obviously centered around Edge's announcement and it was also that feeling of seeing what WWE was going to do moving forward. We got the announcement of the five way gauntlet match to determine the challenger for Miz at Extreme Rules. It featured Orton, Cena, R Truth, Morrison, and Ziggler. I was surprised to see Orton eliminated so early as the Nexus members caused the distraction. Morrison made his way to the ring and I thought maybe this was his big chance but I wondered if WWE would go with him on it. Then, he gets eliminated by R Truth. WOW. That left us with Cena and R Truth. There was no doubt in my mind who was getting the title shot and I think the fans in attendance felt the same way. It fueled the anti-Cena crowd as they got loud against Cena knowing that he was likely to win. I was also thinking that with Edge going down, you're going with Cena AGAIN. Miz and Riley then attack Cena and R Truth. The GM then makes the announcement that it will be Cena, Truth, and Miz in a triple threat match at Extreme Rules. Cena and Truth started to kind of mess with one another in a jokingly kind of fashion knowing that they were going for the title against one another but it ended with a huge shove from Cena. Truth laughed and left the ring. It made me wonder what WWE had planned for Cena cause it kind of felt like a heel kind of tactic in a way. Lawler battled Swagger with JR and Cole in opposite corners. Interesting that Vince loves Cole so much that he had Josh completely stay quiet so we could listen to mostly Cole rant and rave at ringside. JR got in there especially at the end yelling for Lawler. Lawler wins and now gets the rematch with Cole at Extreme Rules. Cole goes off on Swagger for dropping the ball while Swagger blamed Cole for distracting him as he was up on the apron. Cole slaps Swagger and bails before Swagger can retaliate. Lawler then announces the match as it will be a tag match, Lawler and JR against Cole and Swagger. New Divas champion as Brie Bella defeated Eve. I like the Bellas as heels and I like the whole "loser" thing that they do after the pinfall. Corre vs. Apple. Seriously?? Barely paid attention as I was trying to find out what the Edge story was at this point anyway. Sin Cara made his in ring TV debut against Primo. The spot at the end was messed up a bit and Cara tried to save the messup by making it look like Primo threw him to the floor. Really impressive finish which looks like the old spanish fly finisher.
Other thoughts. Wow, nothing screams squash when you see Primo in the ring on Raw. JR shaking the Cole Mine to get to Cole was pretty funny. On a side note, how annoyed would you be to have to sit behind that thing at ringside? That would block a ton of your view. I like Sin Cara. I think he will be a lot of fun to watch. Scary moment last week when he almost landed on his head during his entrance. Funny deal with Eve demanding that one Bella be marked on her hand to prevent the switch from happening. Why not put a Killer Bees mask on one of them?
One thing that I noticed last night is that I no longer have a real favorite wrestler. Very bizarre and a bummer. Edge has been right behind Shawn Michaels so I just moved Edge into that spot when Shawn retired. Now, there is no one behind him. There is plenty of great talent but the booking of them make me not like them as much. Waving at TNA here. I was thinking last night who I like the most and I have to say. It looks like it may be Mizville - population ME. LOL.
Sad news out of the wrestling world in the last few days. Larry Sweeney passed away. Lots of people in the business very sad over the loss of him. My prayers obviously go out to his family and friends that are missing him.
Some back and forth between John Morrison and Trish Stratus this week. There has been issues between the two revolving around WrestleMania. It was made public when Trish was asked in an interview about the rumors. She didn't duck the question and answered it. She was asked if she got a bit of a cold shoulder action from him and she replied: "I got a bit of cold shoulder action, correct. John Morrison himself is amazing. He’s a great athlete. I was really looking forward to working with him. I thought it would be cool if we could do some stuff together. He didn’t think it would be that cool. It happens. Hey whatever. It happens. You know he’s into his thing and just didn’t think that I should part of his thing I guess, but I still admire him as an athlete, as a performer. I think he does a great job out there. Cold shoulder? Yeah I felt it. I was shunned. Some people are not smart maybe? You know they wrestle well, but maybe they’re not smart. I don’t know." Morrison took to Twitter to make fun of the comments. One was a reply to Melina's comment about how their bags were taking an hour to get to baggage claim to which Morrison added to it that "American Airlines is not smart". He later tweeted something else saying "Raw in Bridgeport today - Lookout @HEELZiggler....I got a mean punch, a furious kick, and a cold shoulder!" Now, you know who I'm siding with in this deal. Pretty obvious if you know me.
Lots of great comments being posted about Edge from his friends in the business. I'll put them in the next List which will be reflecting back on Edge's career. Take care and God bless!!
Last night's Raw obviously centered around Edge's announcement and it was also that feeling of seeing what WWE was going to do moving forward. We got the announcement of the five way gauntlet match to determine the challenger for Miz at Extreme Rules. It featured Orton, Cena, R Truth, Morrison, and Ziggler. I was surprised to see Orton eliminated so early as the Nexus members caused the distraction. Morrison made his way to the ring and I thought maybe this was his big chance but I wondered if WWE would go with him on it. Then, he gets eliminated by R Truth. WOW. That left us with Cena and R Truth. There was no doubt in my mind who was getting the title shot and I think the fans in attendance felt the same way. It fueled the anti-Cena crowd as they got loud against Cena knowing that he was likely to win. I was also thinking that with Edge going down, you're going with Cena AGAIN. Miz and Riley then attack Cena and R Truth. The GM then makes the announcement that it will be Cena, Truth, and Miz in a triple threat match at Extreme Rules. Cena and Truth started to kind of mess with one another in a jokingly kind of fashion knowing that they were going for the title against one another but it ended with a huge shove from Cena. Truth laughed and left the ring. It made me wonder what WWE had planned for Cena cause it kind of felt like a heel kind of tactic in a way. Lawler battled Swagger with JR and Cole in opposite corners. Interesting that Vince loves Cole so much that he had Josh completely stay quiet so we could listen to mostly Cole rant and rave at ringside. JR got in there especially at the end yelling for Lawler. Lawler wins and now gets the rematch with Cole at Extreme Rules. Cole goes off on Swagger for dropping the ball while Swagger blamed Cole for distracting him as he was up on the apron. Cole slaps Swagger and bails before Swagger can retaliate. Lawler then announces the match as it will be a tag match, Lawler and JR against Cole and Swagger. New Divas champion as Brie Bella defeated Eve. I like the Bellas as heels and I like the whole "loser" thing that they do after the pinfall. Corre vs. Apple. Seriously?? Barely paid attention as I was trying to find out what the Edge story was at this point anyway. Sin Cara made his in ring TV debut against Primo. The spot at the end was messed up a bit and Cara tried to save the messup by making it look like Primo threw him to the floor. Really impressive finish which looks like the old spanish fly finisher.
Other thoughts. Wow, nothing screams squash when you see Primo in the ring on Raw. JR shaking the Cole Mine to get to Cole was pretty funny. On a side note, how annoyed would you be to have to sit behind that thing at ringside? That would block a ton of your view. I like Sin Cara. I think he will be a lot of fun to watch. Scary moment last week when he almost landed on his head during his entrance. Funny deal with Eve demanding that one Bella be marked on her hand to prevent the switch from happening. Why not put a Killer Bees mask on one of them?
One thing that I noticed last night is that I no longer have a real favorite wrestler. Very bizarre and a bummer. Edge has been right behind Shawn Michaels so I just moved Edge into that spot when Shawn retired. Now, there is no one behind him. There is plenty of great talent but the booking of them make me not like them as much. Waving at TNA here. I was thinking last night who I like the most and I have to say. It looks like it may be Mizville - population ME. LOL.
Sad news out of the wrestling world in the last few days. Larry Sweeney passed away. Lots of people in the business very sad over the loss of him. My prayers obviously go out to his family and friends that are missing him.
Some back and forth between John Morrison and Trish Stratus this week. There has been issues between the two revolving around WrestleMania. It was made public when Trish was asked in an interview about the rumors. She didn't duck the question and answered it. She was asked if she got a bit of a cold shoulder action from him and she replied: "I got a bit of cold shoulder action, correct. John Morrison himself is amazing. He’s a great athlete. I was really looking forward to working with him. I thought it would be cool if we could do some stuff together. He didn’t think it would be that cool. It happens. Hey whatever. It happens. You know he’s into his thing and just didn’t think that I should part of his thing I guess, but I still admire him as an athlete, as a performer. I think he does a great job out there. Cold shoulder? Yeah I felt it. I was shunned. Some people are not smart maybe? You know they wrestle well, but maybe they’re not smart. I don’t know." Morrison took to Twitter to make fun of the comments. One was a reply to Melina's comment about how their bags were taking an hour to get to baggage claim to which Morrison added to it that "American Airlines is not smart". He later tweeted something else saying "Raw in Bridgeport today - Lookout @HEELZiggler....I got a mean punch, a furious kick, and a cold shoulder!" Now, you know who I'm siding with in this deal. Pretty obvious if you know me.
Lots of great comments being posted about Edge from his friends in the business. I'll put them in the next List which will be reflecting back on Edge's career. Take care and God bless!!
Edge Retires - April 11, 2011
I want to talk about the obvious big news that came out of Raw tonight. That is the retirement of Edge. Edge has retired and everything that he said is the truth. The show kicked off tonight with the announcement of Edge having something big to say with the tease of retirement. There has been rumblings for a while now that Edge's career was coming to a close. His neck still had been bothering him and he was starting to look at things the way that Shawn Michaels did. Pick a date and retire. However, it sounds like that his recent test results have changed that plan. Edge has battled neck troubles for a lot of his career. Edge broke his neck back and had spinal fusion surgery in 2003. Edge was able to return the ring obviously and have many more great years in the ring. His best years in my opinion. Edge walked out on Raw and was clearly shaken with the news that he was about to deliver. He talked about his career and the business overall along with the fans. Edge got choked up when he said the words that he was told that he could end up in a wheelchair. Test results had shown that he was going to have to hang it up. He talked about how he wanted to go out on his own terms while Christian had told him that his whole career had been on his own terms. He talked about getting to finish his career as world champion and competing at WrestleMania. Edge said farewell and the crowd gave him a huge ovation of appreciation. We then got to see him walk through the hallway in the back saying goodbye to the talent. That was a touching scene. This has been kept quiet. Even when I was watching it, I wasn't sure what I was seeing. It was so far out of the blue especially with the announcement of a Edge/Del Rio match set for Extreme Rules. Glad that he got those test results now before he did that match. Whew. WWE.com has posted an article on Edge. Basically, he has been "suffering numbness and uncontrollable trembling in his arms and hands". They are symptoms of nueropraxia. He had a MRI done last week and was sent to a neurosurgeon. It was determined that Edge has stenosis of the spine which is a narrowing of the spinal column above and below the fused discs from the surgery. The narrowing decreases the amount of fluid needed to protect the spinal cord. Edge competing could result in him being paralyzed or could even kill him. There is no way around it other than to say that that is flat out scary. SCARY!! I'm just glad that they did find this out now and that he isn't going to be doing worse damage to himself. I am so sad as an Edge fan. I've been an Edge fan since 1998. I became a fan just by watching those promos teasing his debut. I've annoyed a lot of people over the years with my cheering of a heel Edge. LOL. Just a great, great talent and he is going to be missed. A quick note to WWE. People have been saying this for a while but you guys had better start getting some talent elevated. Not this start/stop stuff that you do with the young talent. You need to get these young guys over to the fans and quit pulling the rug out from under them. Chris Jericho did that interview within the last year about how this current generation is almost gone from the business and how he is concerned about how WWE hasn't done enough to replace them. Shawn Michaels has retired. Triple H is going to see little action now as he is settling into his office position. Undertaker is at the very end of his career with a shoulder that is barely holding on. Edge has retired. Jericho is in and out. How many times can you do John Cena vs. Randy Orton?
I'll have more in the next Wrestling List along with Raw thoughts and other happenings from the week but I wanted to get something out tonight cause people are asking me what is going on.
Have a great night!! Take care and God bless!!
Raw, Hall Of Fame, Tough Enough Premiere, & More - April 5, 2011
Welcome to the "Rock, Austin, Triple H, and Trish on Raw in 2011" edition of The Wrestling List.
WWE's week in Atlanta continued last night with Raw being held in Phillips Arena. I bet that 95% of that crowd was at WrestleMania the night before. We got the big announcement of the main event of WrestleMania XXVIIII. Rock and Cena closed Raw out with the big challenge being laid out. It will be Rock vs. Cena at WrestleMania XXVIII in Miami. WWE has never announced the main event this far out. Now, I'm sure that WWE has done this in the past as far as booking cause back in the day they used to go ahead to WrestleMania's planned main event for the next year and book backwards on how to get there. That is a gamble to book that far in advance and that automatically takes Cena out of the title picture for WrestleMania. Well, I guess they could always throw that in but I don't see the point. A title doesn't need to be added cause people are already going to care about it. I liked Triple H's promo where he said that he hit Undertaker with everything that he had and hit him harder than he had ever hit anybody but he still kept going. He closed it by saying that he knew Undertaker would be back and that he would be waiting for him when he did. I was thrilled to see JR open the show on commentary but it was not to be as we soon got the return of Michael Cole. We finally got the U.S. title match with Sheamus and Daniel Bryan. The big moment out of it was the debut of Sin Cara. He has been getting rave reviews on the house shows and he had a big debut here. His jump to the floor looked incredible. I look forward to seeing him work a full match. Trish Stratus on Raw. Great thing. Always happy about that. Austin was on the show and introduced the Tough Enough cast. Austin then was confronted by The Miz. Miz attacks Austin and then leaves him for Alex Riley to have. Austin takes out Riley and then heads over to the Cole Mine to have some fun with Cole. Wow, three segments for Orton and Mysterio against Punk and Rhodes. That surprised me. Solid match.
Other notes from Raw. How hilarious was the "stun them all" chant from the fans in the front row to Austin for the Tough Enough contestants? Austin got a laugh out of it too. Soon after, the rest of the crowd joined in on it. Funny how Triple H and Undertaker happens and then suddenly Triple H mentions, oh by the way, we have wrestled before at WrestleMania. Funny how that works. I wonder if Cena is going to hear those "fruity pebbles" chants every week now. I'll be curious to see what the reaction is to Cena over the next several weeks. It will depend on what part of the country they are in obviously but has this Rock deal brought the boos back out more nationally now? How wild is it that it is 2011 and we have a Raw that has Rock, Austin, Triple H, and Trish Stratus all on it? I like 2011 if that is the case. Speaking of that, the face off with Austin and Triple H was fun. I like these little segments over the last couple of shows just having these old rivals have a face off to give us fans a retro moment.
Moving on to the Hall Of Fame from this past Saturday night. I did watch the special last night on USA. I don't watch it really closely cause I know it is going to be heavily edited due to time and all. I usually really wait to pay close attention to when the full special is released on the WrestleMania DVD. That being said there was a LOT of editing on that thing last night. I'm talking about just the speeches that they did show as I was following the live online coverage of it during the night. Dusty's speech was chopped amazingly. He had a lot of stories to tell and they basically cut him down to saying, I introduce the Road Warriors. Drew Carey had a lot of editing done to it and that was from a technical point of view. He was booed throughout his speech. They did some big time audio editing to that to where it almost sounded like that I heard a laugh track at one point to cover the boos. You could very faintly hear the boos in the background during the speech and his entrance had the music cranked up really loud. Fans just aren't going to like that induction. The Shawn speech was edited down but contained a lot of it. Triple H's speech was edited down too. Good that they did show the Kliq reunion at the end of the Hall Of Fame with Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman making their way to the stage. Shawn's speech was good and he was extremely nervous based on him getting his Hall Of Fame ring backstage before the show. He said he was less nervous performing in front of 70,000 people but this was making him nervous. Triple H had fun with his speech picking at Shawn. I loved Shawn's comment saying that he came to the Hall Of Fame and a roast broke out. Triple H got very emotional though when it was time to stop the joking and introduce his friend. Shawn spoke more about his early career in his speech and his family. Fun moment. I was disappointed that Sunny's induction was just glazed over so I look forward to that on the DVD. The Hall Of Fame special was fun but it was edited big time. If you want the full version, pick up the DVD or wait for it to air on Classics.
There were no injuries coming out of WrestleMania which is great to hear.
Shawn Michaels reaction to watching the Triple H/Undertaker match was caught on camera and you can watch it at this link.
The other must see video is this one which shows Vince McMahon presenting Shawn with his Hall of Fame ring. Really touching moment including Shawn telling Vince, thanks for putting up with me.
WWE has set something in motion that they are no longer a wrestling company. They are an "entertainment" company. Wrestling is to not be used in talking about the company anymore. They are also being referred to now straightly as WWE and not World Wrestling Entertainment because they don't want wrestling in there.
Last night was the premiere of WWE Tough Enough. I'm going to talk spoilers here so if you haven't seen it and don't want to know things about it, read this later. I enjoyed the show. I liked the original show so I was interested to see what the return would be like. Stone Cold Steve Austin serves as the host with the trainers, Trish Stratus, Booker T, and Bill DeMott. It is very much like the original show. The cast is put through the training and learn the basics. Simple things like running the ropes, doing a roll, and taking bumps. That was the first episode. We had some moments in this first episode including Miss USA using a pad to protect herself on bouncing off the ropes. Ariane was voted off as she didn't have the fire that Austin was looking for. She really knew nothing about the business including her telling Austin that her favorite match ever was Melina vs. Alicia Fox. Austin's face was stunned when he heard that. She didn't help her cause with running the ropes and holding on to her pants the whole time from falling down. Trish's biggest pet peeve is that the women have got to do everything possible to make sure they are clothes ready when they enter the ring. The show went by fast watching it. I wasn't crazy about some of the language used in it and the fact that it wasn't bleeped. Those that know me will know what that was. Never like that. Overall, the show is definitely worth watching. Give it a shot and see what you think of it.
That is it for this week. Big week for all of us wrestling fans. Love WrestleMania week! Take care and God bless!!
WWE's week in Atlanta continued last night with Raw being held in Phillips Arena. I bet that 95% of that crowd was at WrestleMania the night before. We got the big announcement of the main event of WrestleMania XXVIIII. Rock and Cena closed Raw out with the big challenge being laid out. It will be Rock vs. Cena at WrestleMania XXVIII in Miami. WWE has never announced the main event this far out. Now, I'm sure that WWE has done this in the past as far as booking cause back in the day they used to go ahead to WrestleMania's planned main event for the next year and book backwards on how to get there. That is a gamble to book that far in advance and that automatically takes Cena out of the title picture for WrestleMania. Well, I guess they could always throw that in but I don't see the point. A title doesn't need to be added cause people are already going to care about it. I liked Triple H's promo where he said that he hit Undertaker with everything that he had and hit him harder than he had ever hit anybody but he still kept going. He closed it by saying that he knew Undertaker would be back and that he would be waiting for him when he did. I was thrilled to see JR open the show on commentary but it was not to be as we soon got the return of Michael Cole. We finally got the U.S. title match with Sheamus and Daniel Bryan. The big moment out of it was the debut of Sin Cara. He has been getting rave reviews on the house shows and he had a big debut here. His jump to the floor looked incredible. I look forward to seeing him work a full match. Trish Stratus on Raw. Great thing. Always happy about that. Austin was on the show and introduced the Tough Enough cast. Austin then was confronted by The Miz. Miz attacks Austin and then leaves him for Alex Riley to have. Austin takes out Riley and then heads over to the Cole Mine to have some fun with Cole. Wow, three segments for Orton and Mysterio against Punk and Rhodes. That surprised me. Solid match.
Other notes from Raw. How hilarious was the "stun them all" chant from the fans in the front row to Austin for the Tough Enough contestants? Austin got a laugh out of it too. Soon after, the rest of the crowd joined in on it. Funny how Triple H and Undertaker happens and then suddenly Triple H mentions, oh by the way, we have wrestled before at WrestleMania. Funny how that works. I wonder if Cena is going to hear those "fruity pebbles" chants every week now. I'll be curious to see what the reaction is to Cena over the next several weeks. It will depend on what part of the country they are in obviously but has this Rock deal brought the boos back out more nationally now? How wild is it that it is 2011 and we have a Raw that has Rock, Austin, Triple H, and Trish Stratus all on it? I like 2011 if that is the case. Speaking of that, the face off with Austin and Triple H was fun. I like these little segments over the last couple of shows just having these old rivals have a face off to give us fans a retro moment.
Moving on to the Hall Of Fame from this past Saturday night. I did watch the special last night on USA. I don't watch it really closely cause I know it is going to be heavily edited due to time and all. I usually really wait to pay close attention to when the full special is released on the WrestleMania DVD. That being said there was a LOT of editing on that thing last night. I'm talking about just the speeches that they did show as I was following the live online coverage of it during the night. Dusty's speech was chopped amazingly. He had a lot of stories to tell and they basically cut him down to saying, I introduce the Road Warriors. Drew Carey had a lot of editing done to it and that was from a technical point of view. He was booed throughout his speech. They did some big time audio editing to that to where it almost sounded like that I heard a laugh track at one point to cover the boos. You could very faintly hear the boos in the background during the speech and his entrance had the music cranked up really loud. Fans just aren't going to like that induction. The Shawn speech was edited down but contained a lot of it. Triple H's speech was edited down too. Good that they did show the Kliq reunion at the end of the Hall Of Fame with Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman making their way to the stage. Shawn's speech was good and he was extremely nervous based on him getting his Hall Of Fame ring backstage before the show. He said he was less nervous performing in front of 70,000 people but this was making him nervous. Triple H had fun with his speech picking at Shawn. I loved Shawn's comment saying that he came to the Hall Of Fame and a roast broke out. Triple H got very emotional though when it was time to stop the joking and introduce his friend. Shawn spoke more about his early career in his speech and his family. Fun moment. I was disappointed that Sunny's induction was just glazed over so I look forward to that on the DVD. The Hall Of Fame special was fun but it was edited big time. If you want the full version, pick up the DVD or wait for it to air on Classics.
There were no injuries coming out of WrestleMania which is great to hear.
Shawn Michaels reaction to watching the Triple H/Undertaker match was caught on camera and you can watch it at this link.
The other must see video is this one which shows Vince McMahon presenting Shawn with his Hall of Fame ring. Really touching moment including Shawn telling Vince, thanks for putting up with me.
WWE has set something in motion that they are no longer a wrestling company. They are an "entertainment" company. Wrestling is to not be used in talking about the company anymore. They are also being referred to now straightly as WWE and not World Wrestling Entertainment because they don't want wrestling in there.
Last night was the premiere of WWE Tough Enough. I'm going to talk spoilers here so if you haven't seen it and don't want to know things about it, read this later. I enjoyed the show. I liked the original show so I was interested to see what the return would be like. Stone Cold Steve Austin serves as the host with the trainers, Trish Stratus, Booker T, and Bill DeMott. It is very much like the original show. The cast is put through the training and learn the basics. Simple things like running the ropes, doing a roll, and taking bumps. That was the first episode. We had some moments in this first episode including Miss USA using a pad to protect herself on bouncing off the ropes. Ariane was voted off as she didn't have the fire that Austin was looking for. She really knew nothing about the business including her telling Austin that her favorite match ever was Melina vs. Alicia Fox. Austin's face was stunned when he heard that. She didn't help her cause with running the ropes and holding on to her pants the whole time from falling down. Trish's biggest pet peeve is that the women have got to do everything possible to make sure they are clothes ready when they enter the ring. The show went by fast watching it. I wasn't crazy about some of the language used in it and the fact that it wasn't bleeped. Those that know me will know what that was. Never like that. Overall, the show is definitely worth watching. Give it a shot and see what you think of it.
That is it for this week. Big week for all of us wrestling fans. Love WrestleMania week! Take care and God bless!!
WrestleMania XXVII Recap and Thoughts - April 4, 2011
Last night was the super bowl of wrestling, WWE WrestleMania XXVII. I thought it was a solid show. There was some of the booking that left me scratching my head but overall I enjoyed the show. Over 71,617 fans were in attendance at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. It was sold out and looked packed. First, the dark match. This got a lot of people angry. The Daniel Bryan/Sheamus U.S. title match was bumped from the PPV to the dark match due to time. The match then turned into a battle royal. Fans were not happy to see that title match live as the dark match. Definitely got a negative reaction from the live crowd.
WrestleMania went on the air with America The Beautiful sang by Keri Hilson. We go right into the introduction of The Rock. Huge ovation for Rock as he did an in ring promo to open the show. First time ever for WrestleMania to start with an in ring promo like that. Good talking from the Rock setting up his plans for the night. We go into the awesome as always video package starting the show. Pyro goes off and we're into the action. Are you kidding me? The World title match was first. I was not expecting that!! Crowd was into the match. Edge gets the win after hitting the spear. Good reaction from the crowd. I was anticipating a Del Rio win and/or a Christian heel turn. After the match, Edge and Christian go about destroying Del Rio's car. Solid match and the crowd was into it. Next match was Cody Rhodes taking on Rey Mysterio. Captain America look for Rey this year at WrestleMania keeping with his superhero tradition. This match surprised me. It was a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. I have not watched Rhodes in a while so I was impressed with him. Crowd was split in this match which was fun. Quite a few fans cheering for Rhodes. How impressive was that standing superplex? He held him for a while with that. I actually thought that pulled more fans over to his side in cheering for him. Cody wins with the crossrhodes. I liked the back and forth with the mask against the knee brace. Backstage segment with Snoop Dogg and Teddy Long auditioning people for his tour. Goofy segment but some of it was fun. I always like a Piper cameo. It ended with Hornswoggle rapping (yes, he was talking) with the Bella twins. The next match had me thinking, wow, just how short of time are you on this show? The 8 man tag team match with Show, Kane, Santino, and Kofi (replacing Kozlov where an angle was done at Axxess where the Corre took him out) against The Corre. Wow, this match was a blur as The Corre got squashed in no time. Sure didn't do them any favors. Wow. Backstage to Rock and Eve. This was a fun segment with Rock telling Eve he would make a WrestleMania moment with whoever walked around the corner next. That turned out to be Mae Young. Funny stuff there. The best was the slap by Mae at the end and Rock's face to it. Then, he makes the same offer and he turns to see Stone Cold Steve Austin. That was awesome to see the two of them on camera together again. Just felt right. On to CM Punk and Randy Orton. I liked this match. I liked the finish. Punk had Orton hurt and where he wanted him. Orton stumbles on the kick. Punk regroups but then has to avoid a RKO. Punk was sitting laughing at how he now had the upper hand. He goes for the springboard move and lands right into a RKO. Fun finish. Another Rock segment in the back. Pee Wee Herman. I think seeing Mean Gene in the Cena gear was enough for me to like this segment. Hall Of Fame introductions are next. Great to see everyone. Sunny looks great and just looks happy. First time I've seen her in a year probably. Poor Drew Carey gets booed again. Yes, he got booed badly at the Hall Of Fame ceremony too. Shawn Michaels gets the big moment at the end. Great stuff.
Into the second half of the show. Next is Cole against Lawler with Austin as the referee. Loved having JR getting to do commentary. Booker T joined him and Josh Mathews. Swagger's entrance was stopped by Austin driving the four wheeler to the ring. That was great stuff. Swagger having to jump out of the way was funny. Loved Lawler coming out in the old school AWA outfit. Great stuff. The match itself was what it was. Funny moment with Lawler pulling Cole's face right into the Cole Mine wall. His face was hilarious. The match had Cole on offense for too long and the crowd started a boring chant. Lawler got on offense and Swagger tried to throw in the towel. Austin took the towel and wiped his sweat with it not allowing for the match to be stopped. Austin stuns Swagger. Cole puts his hands on Austin and the ohhhh reaction was hilarious from the Atlanta crowd knowing that Cole was about to get his. Austin sends Cole right to Lawler for more offense. Lawler hits the fist drop but won't do the pinfall. Austin laughs and lets it continue. Lawler uses an ankle lock submission and Cole is tapping. Austin won't signal for the bell as he continues to ask Cole if he wants to give up. Lawler wins and Austin calls for the bash. If you watch Lawler, you will notice that he did not drink one of them. The reason being is that he doesn't drink. Good for him on that I say. Booker T hits the ring and does a spinarooni to get in on the action. Austin lets him join in the bash as well but eventually gets a stunner too. Then, the GM noise kicks in. Mathews reads it which says that Lawler was DQ'd due to Austin stepping over his boundaries as referee. Austin and Lawler are furious and Austin nails Josh with a stunner taking out the messenger. Lawler then joins JR to call the rest of the show. LOVE that! Now, we get into the match of the night. Triple H vs. Undertaker. Awesome entrances. Triple H does a combo entrance of Metallica's For Whom The Bell Tolls and his usual Game music. Undertaker walks out to Johnny Cash. Just so visually impressive were both of these entrances. The concern for a while has been Undertaker's shoulder. It is not in good shape at all and we are likely seeing his career getting near the end. So, what does a guy that has a bad shoulder in such horrible shape do? His normal dive over the top rope. Blew my mind. Then, Triple H puts Taker through the table a few seconds later. You knew that this was going to be a big time brawl and it was. Lots of big moves hit by both guys and kickouts. Awesome moment where Undertaker had the pin and had his tongue out anticipating the win only for Triple H to kick out. A frustrated Triple H finally went to a chair to get business done. The last one was one to the head. My first thought was I thought we weren't doing chairshots to the head anymore. On about the third replay, I finally saw that he did get his hand up to block it. Great job by Undertaker. He did it so quick that you could hardly tell. Taker still kept kicking out. Triple H hits a tombstone and I sat up with my blood pressure going up on it. I thought it was over. He's going to lose the streak on his own move???!! Undertaker kicked out. Whew. Undertaker looks destroyed. Triple H goes for the sledgehammer and goes to use it. However, he ends up right in the choke submission move. Triple H ends up dropping the sledgehammer. I loved the build of it with you knowing that if he can find that sledgehammer, things are going to change. Just a great moment wondering what is going to happen. Triple H finds it and goes to use it. However, the submission is too much and he drops it. Triple H taps slowly on Taker's shoulder. 19-0 for Undertaker. Huge amount of pyro while both guys just lay on the mat. What a match!! Just incredible. Triple H gets up first and just has this look of amazement and frustration on his face. Undertaker is helped up by officials. Great, great match. Time for the mixed tag match. Morrison, Trish, and Snooki against Ziggler, and LayCool. Trish looked really good on offense here and I enjoyed the back and forth with her and Michelle. One spot for Morrison in the match as he dives over and takes out Ziggler. Tag in for Snooki. She hits a handspring elbow on Michelle to get the pin. Crowd booed Snooki when she tagged in but I think she won a lot of them over with that move cause it did look good. Main event time. Miz defending against John Cena. That video to Hate Me Now for Miz was awesome. No pun intended. Great video and it just made me cheer for him when he came out. I loved the tie in to his younger days and showing old clips of him. He had a great entrance. Cena then had his video play hyping up his story and had a choir singing. I felt bad for the choir cause there were boos. Boos weren't for the choir. They were directed at Cena who came out in his new t-shirt color of red. I thought about and the last time that Cena wasn't booed bad at WrestleMania was WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles. The match was just kind of there. I kept watching the clock thinking they don't have much time especially knowing Rock was going to get involved. Big size of the crowd booing Cena and cheering Miz. The two end up on the floor battling and end up over the barricade in the crowd. A double countout. Seriously?? I knew it wasn't going to stand but it just strange. Rock hits the ring. GM thing hits and Rock starts to read. He then throws it to the floor. He announces that the match is going to restart and have no DQ or countout rules. Cena then hit the fireman's carry quickly. I thought you have got to be kidding me that it is over for Miz now. Miz kicks out which got a big pop from the people cheering for him. Myself included who sat up quickly clapping. LOL. However, Rock was standing right behind Cena. Rock bottom to Cena which allows Miz to get the pin and retain the title. Miz stumbles around celebrating. Rock then hits the ring and takes out Miz with a people's elbow. Rock poses to close the show.
Overall thoughts. Ok, the booking of the main event just wasn't too my liking. I don't like crazy booked finishes for WrestleMania main events. If they were going to do this finish, I wish they would have let Triple H and Undertaker close the show. It just didn't have that big feel of a close to the super bowl. It is obviously going to set up more going forward beginning tonight with Rock on Raw. I was bummed that the 8 man tag got such a short amount of time and that the U.S. title got bumped from the broadcast all together. It's not like they could pull some other things out of it. They ran two match build video packages all night. One with Triple H and Undertaker which needed to air. The other for Punk and Orton. That could have been pulled but what is two minutes going to help? They ran the WrestleMania week package which needs to air cause it shows all the big things that go on during the week. They went off the air at 9:59. How close is that??!! I think some time could have been pulled from Cole/Lawler cause that went on too long. Kind of like Bret and Vince last year where we just watched Bret beat up Vince for an eternity of ten minutes. LOL. Felt kind of bad for Michelle getting pinned by Snooki. It gives WWE the highlight stuff on the various entertainment shows which is good for them for publicity. I would have liked that match to get a longer time. Triple H and Undertaker was the big thing of this show. It was great. They just pounded each other and it was all about survival. They kept you guessing on who was going to win. Rock was fun. Austin was fun. Overall, I enjoyed the show. I thought it could have had more and the booking wasn't as good as I would have liked. I enjoyed it though.
There is plenty more to discuss from the weekend including the Hall Of Fame and more but I'll save it for the next List which will also cover tonight's Raw. Hope you enjoyed the WrestleMania recap. Take care and God bless!!
WrestleMania went on the air with America The Beautiful sang by Keri Hilson. We go right into the introduction of The Rock. Huge ovation for Rock as he did an in ring promo to open the show. First time ever for WrestleMania to start with an in ring promo like that. Good talking from the Rock setting up his plans for the night. We go into the awesome as always video package starting the show. Pyro goes off and we're into the action. Are you kidding me? The World title match was first. I was not expecting that!! Crowd was into the match. Edge gets the win after hitting the spear. Good reaction from the crowd. I was anticipating a Del Rio win and/or a Christian heel turn. After the match, Edge and Christian go about destroying Del Rio's car. Solid match and the crowd was into it. Next match was Cody Rhodes taking on Rey Mysterio. Captain America look for Rey this year at WrestleMania keeping with his superhero tradition. This match surprised me. It was a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. I have not watched Rhodes in a while so I was impressed with him. Crowd was split in this match which was fun. Quite a few fans cheering for Rhodes. How impressive was that standing superplex? He held him for a while with that. I actually thought that pulled more fans over to his side in cheering for him. Cody wins with the crossrhodes. I liked the back and forth with the mask against the knee brace. Backstage segment with Snoop Dogg and Teddy Long auditioning people for his tour. Goofy segment but some of it was fun. I always like a Piper cameo. It ended with Hornswoggle rapping (yes, he was talking) with the Bella twins. The next match had me thinking, wow, just how short of time are you on this show? The 8 man tag team match with Show, Kane, Santino, and Kofi (replacing Kozlov where an angle was done at Axxess where the Corre took him out) against The Corre. Wow, this match was a blur as The Corre got squashed in no time. Sure didn't do them any favors. Wow. Backstage to Rock and Eve. This was a fun segment with Rock telling Eve he would make a WrestleMania moment with whoever walked around the corner next. That turned out to be Mae Young. Funny stuff there. The best was the slap by Mae at the end and Rock's face to it. Then, he makes the same offer and he turns to see Stone Cold Steve Austin. That was awesome to see the two of them on camera together again. Just felt right. On to CM Punk and Randy Orton. I liked this match. I liked the finish. Punk had Orton hurt and where he wanted him. Orton stumbles on the kick. Punk regroups but then has to avoid a RKO. Punk was sitting laughing at how he now had the upper hand. He goes for the springboard move and lands right into a RKO. Fun finish. Another Rock segment in the back. Pee Wee Herman. I think seeing Mean Gene in the Cena gear was enough for me to like this segment. Hall Of Fame introductions are next. Great to see everyone. Sunny looks great and just looks happy. First time I've seen her in a year probably. Poor Drew Carey gets booed again. Yes, he got booed badly at the Hall Of Fame ceremony too. Shawn Michaels gets the big moment at the end. Great stuff.
Into the second half of the show. Next is Cole against Lawler with Austin as the referee. Loved having JR getting to do commentary. Booker T joined him and Josh Mathews. Swagger's entrance was stopped by Austin driving the four wheeler to the ring. That was great stuff. Swagger having to jump out of the way was funny. Loved Lawler coming out in the old school AWA outfit. Great stuff. The match itself was what it was. Funny moment with Lawler pulling Cole's face right into the Cole Mine wall. His face was hilarious. The match had Cole on offense for too long and the crowd started a boring chant. Lawler got on offense and Swagger tried to throw in the towel. Austin took the towel and wiped his sweat with it not allowing for the match to be stopped. Austin stuns Swagger. Cole puts his hands on Austin and the ohhhh reaction was hilarious from the Atlanta crowd knowing that Cole was about to get his. Austin sends Cole right to Lawler for more offense. Lawler hits the fist drop but won't do the pinfall. Austin laughs and lets it continue. Lawler uses an ankle lock submission and Cole is tapping. Austin won't signal for the bell as he continues to ask Cole if he wants to give up. Lawler wins and Austin calls for the bash. If you watch Lawler, you will notice that he did not drink one of them. The reason being is that he doesn't drink. Good for him on that I say. Booker T hits the ring and does a spinarooni to get in on the action. Austin lets him join in the bash as well but eventually gets a stunner too. Then, the GM noise kicks in. Mathews reads it which says that Lawler was DQ'd due to Austin stepping over his boundaries as referee. Austin and Lawler are furious and Austin nails Josh with a stunner taking out the messenger. Lawler then joins JR to call the rest of the show. LOVE that! Now, we get into the match of the night. Triple H vs. Undertaker. Awesome entrances. Triple H does a combo entrance of Metallica's For Whom The Bell Tolls and his usual Game music. Undertaker walks out to Johnny Cash. Just so visually impressive were both of these entrances. The concern for a while has been Undertaker's shoulder. It is not in good shape at all and we are likely seeing his career getting near the end. So, what does a guy that has a bad shoulder in such horrible shape do? His normal dive over the top rope. Blew my mind. Then, Triple H puts Taker through the table a few seconds later. You knew that this was going to be a big time brawl and it was. Lots of big moves hit by both guys and kickouts. Awesome moment where Undertaker had the pin and had his tongue out anticipating the win only for Triple H to kick out. A frustrated Triple H finally went to a chair to get business done. The last one was one to the head. My first thought was I thought we weren't doing chairshots to the head anymore. On about the third replay, I finally saw that he did get his hand up to block it. Great job by Undertaker. He did it so quick that you could hardly tell. Taker still kept kicking out. Triple H hits a tombstone and I sat up with my blood pressure going up on it. I thought it was over. He's going to lose the streak on his own move???!! Undertaker kicked out. Whew. Undertaker looks destroyed. Triple H goes for the sledgehammer and goes to use it. However, he ends up right in the choke submission move. Triple H ends up dropping the sledgehammer. I loved the build of it with you knowing that if he can find that sledgehammer, things are going to change. Just a great moment wondering what is going to happen. Triple H finds it and goes to use it. However, the submission is too much and he drops it. Triple H taps slowly on Taker's shoulder. 19-0 for Undertaker. Huge amount of pyro while both guys just lay on the mat. What a match!! Just incredible. Triple H gets up first and just has this look of amazement and frustration on his face. Undertaker is helped up by officials. Great, great match. Time for the mixed tag match. Morrison, Trish, and Snooki against Ziggler, and LayCool. Trish looked really good on offense here and I enjoyed the back and forth with her and Michelle. One spot for Morrison in the match as he dives over and takes out Ziggler. Tag in for Snooki. She hits a handspring elbow on Michelle to get the pin. Crowd booed Snooki when she tagged in but I think she won a lot of them over with that move cause it did look good. Main event time. Miz defending against John Cena. That video to Hate Me Now for Miz was awesome. No pun intended. Great video and it just made me cheer for him when he came out. I loved the tie in to his younger days and showing old clips of him. He had a great entrance. Cena then had his video play hyping up his story and had a choir singing. I felt bad for the choir cause there were boos. Boos weren't for the choir. They were directed at Cena who came out in his new t-shirt color of red. I thought about and the last time that Cena wasn't booed bad at WrestleMania was WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles. The match was just kind of there. I kept watching the clock thinking they don't have much time especially knowing Rock was going to get involved. Big size of the crowd booing Cena and cheering Miz. The two end up on the floor battling and end up over the barricade in the crowd. A double countout. Seriously?? I knew it wasn't going to stand but it just strange. Rock hits the ring. GM thing hits and Rock starts to read. He then throws it to the floor. He announces that the match is going to restart and have no DQ or countout rules. Cena then hit the fireman's carry quickly. I thought you have got to be kidding me that it is over for Miz now. Miz kicks out which got a big pop from the people cheering for him. Myself included who sat up quickly clapping. LOL. However, Rock was standing right behind Cena. Rock bottom to Cena which allows Miz to get the pin and retain the title. Miz stumbles around celebrating. Rock then hits the ring and takes out Miz with a people's elbow. Rock poses to close the show.
Overall thoughts. Ok, the booking of the main event just wasn't too my liking. I don't like crazy booked finishes for WrestleMania main events. If they were going to do this finish, I wish they would have let Triple H and Undertaker close the show. It just didn't have that big feel of a close to the super bowl. It is obviously going to set up more going forward beginning tonight with Rock on Raw. I was bummed that the 8 man tag got such a short amount of time and that the U.S. title got bumped from the broadcast all together. It's not like they could pull some other things out of it. They ran two match build video packages all night. One with Triple H and Undertaker which needed to air. The other for Punk and Orton. That could have been pulled but what is two minutes going to help? They ran the WrestleMania week package which needs to air cause it shows all the big things that go on during the week. They went off the air at 9:59. How close is that??!! I think some time could have been pulled from Cole/Lawler cause that went on too long. Kind of like Bret and Vince last year where we just watched Bret beat up Vince for an eternity of ten minutes. LOL. Felt kind of bad for Michelle getting pinned by Snooki. It gives WWE the highlight stuff on the various entertainment shows which is good for them for publicity. I would have liked that match to get a longer time. Triple H and Undertaker was the big thing of this show. It was great. They just pounded each other and it was all about survival. They kept you guessing on who was going to win. Rock was fun. Austin was fun. Overall, I enjoyed the show. I thought it could have had more and the booking wasn't as good as I would have liked. I enjoyed it though.
There is plenty more to discuss from the weekend including the Hall Of Fame and more but I'll save it for the next List which will also cover tonight's Raw. Hope you enjoyed the WrestleMania recap. Take care and God bless!!
WrestleMania Preview, Early Hall of Fame Stuff, & More - April 2, 2011
Welcome to the "Chicago still doesn't like John Cena" edition of The Wrestling List. I've been trying to find time to finish this List all week. I'm about to run out of time so I'm hurrying it out cause it's almost outdated!!
We are just days away from WrestleMania XXVII and we basically have had our final show before the big event. Friday's Smackdown was mostly a video package kind of deal but did have a main event match in there. So, Raw was the big last build for the show. The show was obviously hyped on two things. The Rock's return and the face off between Triple H and The Undertaker. I enjoyed both segment. I'm going to start with the face off. This was great start to finish with Triple H, Undertaker, and the surprise of Shawn Michaels. Undertaker stopping Triple H's entrance was fantastic. Really cool thing to start. Then, I loved having Shawn coming down dancing to the ring saying that there was no way possible that he was going to miss this face off in person. The story of this segment was really good. Shawn stepping up and putting his two cents in there including him going to Triple H and saying what makes you think you can do what I couldn't do. I liked Triple H's reasoning with him saying that Shawn was always great no matter if there was a win or loss. Triple H didn't think that way. Triple H said that he was 1 as in 18-1. Good stuff there. Good turn with Undertaker getting on the mic and saying how Shawn gave him two of the greatest matches but now he has to live with being close but not getting the job done. Shawn continued to get annoyed with things and then went to throw a superkick. It was caught and then Undertaker went for the chokeslam but Triple H stepped in and stood eye to eye. The next part was very telling with how the segment turned. Shawn had gotten rattled by Undertaker's comments and would not step up and tell how Triple H was going to beat him. Shawn mouthed sorry you can't beat him to Triple H as he walked away. Great finish with having Undertaker just laugh and smirk while tipping his hat. Really cool segment. Loved it. That gets us to Rock, Cena, and Miz. Rock gets a huge ovation and John Cena gets what I expected, boos out of the building. Remember that John Cena does not ever get good reactions in Chicago. That is one of those cities that he has just not won over. That was very clear back at WrestleMania 22 when Chicago cheered heavily for a heel Triple H against Cena in that title match. Good back and forth between the two but we really didn't get to hear a lot of Rock rebuttal to Cena due to Miz interrupting. I thought Miz was good in the segment but he got shut down pretty quickly with a people's elbow after Miz and Riley attacked Rock. Very interesting finish with Cena slipping back in the ring and hitting the fireman's carry on Rock to a round of heavy riot sounding boos from the Chicago crowd.
Other notes from Raw. Rock was talking about his first WrestleMania in Chicago and the great experience with it. I am trying to remember but didn't the "die Rocky die" chants and signs start that event in Chicago which really got the Rocky Maivia backlash going?
Interest was definitely in this show. The second hour saw Raw get up to a 4.0 rating.
Remember when I said that I thought they had announced the last Hall of Fame inductees? Well, I was wrong. They saved a great one for last in their home town. The Road Warriors. Hawk, Animal, and Paul Ellering will be going into the WWE Hall of Fame. I wish they had played the pop for this video on TV as the reaction was said to be loud in the building when the video started playing. The Road Warriors are one of the most legendary tag teams of all time. I have so many memories of them. Just this destroyer of a tag team. When I first started watching wrestling, they were heels and I thought they were just plain scary. They had the spikes, the face paint, and the evil sounding music as they hit the ring. Just one of those teams that you did not want to cross. You knew you were going to get intensity when you saw these guys hit the ring. My favorite memories of the Road Warriors are in the NWA. Yeah, their WWF run was solid but not like that NWA run. Great video piece that WWE did on them as well.
WWE held their WrestleMania press conference this week from New York City. Not a lot of big happenings. Just mostly publicity type stuff. Rock was there. Stephanie McMahon handled the hosting duties of it. Triple H was there helping her out as well along with taking part in it. John Cena was booed heavily. The fans gave him the "same old" chant that you might remember from the ECW One Night Stand PPV a few years ago at the Hammerstein. Snooki also got booed. Just a lot of face off kind of stuff for the most part.
The WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony will be tonight. Going in will be Shawn Michaels, The Road Warriors and Paul Ellering, Sunny, Abdullah The Butcher, Bullet Bob Armstrong, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and Drew Carey. With WWE not airing the Hall Of Fame special on USA until Monday night, I'm really hoping that this means WWE will get back to not limiting people on their talking time. It has ruined the last couple of years of the Hall Of Fame. Guys are allowed to talk for about five minutes and that is it. With the time limit, we lost the amount of time that these Hall Of Famer's were able to get up there and just tell stories. That took a LOT of fun out of the Hall Of Fame. I'm hoping that the time restrictions will be taken off this year.
Let's look at the WrestleMania XXVII card. This is looking to be a very solid show on paper. I wasn't sure how this show was going to be as far as top drawing matches a couple of months ago. The Rock was brought in and it just seemed like things got going from there. Here is the lineup and my thoughts on them.
The Miz defends the WWE title against John Cena. The Rock is obviously going to have some kind of role in this so it will be interesting to see what happens. Do we have another Cena wins the title moment on a WrestleMania? I'm hoping not. Hoping that Miz retains.
Edge defends the World title against Alberto Del Rio. Christian will be in Edge's corner while Brodus Clay will be in Alberto's. I don't watch a lot of Smackdown so I have not kept up with this feud as much. I just paused even trying to think what to type about this match so I guess I'll just leave it at that.
The Undertaker vs. Triple H - No Holds Barred. Undertaker's streak stays in tact. That is what I want to see. Hoping that these guys put on a great show. Undertaker makes it through this without being injured worse. That is what is best case scenario for me.
Sheamus defends the US title against Daniel Bryan. This is one of those undercard matches that I really hope is strong. Not a lot of attention on it and I think both guys need this to be a great match.
Randy Orton vs. CM Punk. Good build and two solid performers. Should be a good one and I'm looking forward to it. I think Punk gets the win.
Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special referee. Swagger will be in Cole's corner. This is all about getting to watch Michael Cole finally get beaten up. Isn't that the scenario that is likely to play out with fans finally getting to see what they've wanted for months now? Austin will be fun as always.
John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki vs. Dolph Ziggler and LayCool. I think this will be a fun match. Good balance and I always look forward to having Trish in the ring. Snooki will get the media highlights which is what WWE wants. LayCool will be fun. Morrison and Ziggler will deliver. I think it will be good. Just a matter of what the finish is.
The Corre vs. Santino, Kozlov, Big Show, and Kane. Yeah, really nothing to say about this one.
Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes. If you would have told me a year ago that Rhodes would have a WrestleMania match instead of Dibiase, I never would have believed it. This should be a solid one.
Tonight is the WWE Hall Of Fame and Shawn Michaels is doing a video diary for WWE.com. Two very good videos already posted. One with Ric Flair giving Shawn a belt buckle which goes back to Shawn giving him a watch for his Hall Of Fame night. The other one is the Kliq reunited. A video has been posted of Shawn, Triple H, Kevin Nash, and Sean Waltman together. That is wild to see.
Have a great rest of the weekend. Take care and God bless!!
We are just days away from WrestleMania XXVII and we basically have had our final show before the big event. Friday's Smackdown was mostly a video package kind of deal but did have a main event match in there. So, Raw was the big last build for the show. The show was obviously hyped on two things. The Rock's return and the face off between Triple H and The Undertaker. I enjoyed both segment. I'm going to start with the face off. This was great start to finish with Triple H, Undertaker, and the surprise of Shawn Michaels. Undertaker stopping Triple H's entrance was fantastic. Really cool thing to start. Then, I loved having Shawn coming down dancing to the ring saying that there was no way possible that he was going to miss this face off in person. The story of this segment was really good. Shawn stepping up and putting his two cents in there including him going to Triple H and saying what makes you think you can do what I couldn't do. I liked Triple H's reasoning with him saying that Shawn was always great no matter if there was a win or loss. Triple H didn't think that way. Triple H said that he was 1 as in 18-1. Good stuff there. Good turn with Undertaker getting on the mic and saying how Shawn gave him two of the greatest matches but now he has to live with being close but not getting the job done. Shawn continued to get annoyed with things and then went to throw a superkick. It was caught and then Undertaker went for the chokeslam but Triple H stepped in and stood eye to eye. The next part was very telling with how the segment turned. Shawn had gotten rattled by Undertaker's comments and would not step up and tell how Triple H was going to beat him. Shawn mouthed sorry you can't beat him to Triple H as he walked away. Great finish with having Undertaker just laugh and smirk while tipping his hat. Really cool segment. Loved it. That gets us to Rock, Cena, and Miz. Rock gets a huge ovation and John Cena gets what I expected, boos out of the building. Remember that John Cena does not ever get good reactions in Chicago. That is one of those cities that he has just not won over. That was very clear back at WrestleMania 22 when Chicago cheered heavily for a heel Triple H against Cena in that title match. Good back and forth between the two but we really didn't get to hear a lot of Rock rebuttal to Cena due to Miz interrupting. I thought Miz was good in the segment but he got shut down pretty quickly with a people's elbow after Miz and Riley attacked Rock. Very interesting finish with Cena slipping back in the ring and hitting the fireman's carry on Rock to a round of heavy riot sounding boos from the Chicago crowd.
Other notes from Raw. Rock was talking about his first WrestleMania in Chicago and the great experience with it. I am trying to remember but didn't the "die Rocky die" chants and signs start that event in Chicago which really got the Rocky Maivia backlash going?
Interest was definitely in this show. The second hour saw Raw get up to a 4.0 rating.
Remember when I said that I thought they had announced the last Hall of Fame inductees? Well, I was wrong. They saved a great one for last in their home town. The Road Warriors. Hawk, Animal, and Paul Ellering will be going into the WWE Hall of Fame. I wish they had played the pop for this video on TV as the reaction was said to be loud in the building when the video started playing. The Road Warriors are one of the most legendary tag teams of all time. I have so many memories of them. Just this destroyer of a tag team. When I first started watching wrestling, they were heels and I thought they were just plain scary. They had the spikes, the face paint, and the evil sounding music as they hit the ring. Just one of those teams that you did not want to cross. You knew you were going to get intensity when you saw these guys hit the ring. My favorite memories of the Road Warriors are in the NWA. Yeah, their WWF run was solid but not like that NWA run. Great video piece that WWE did on them as well.
WWE held their WrestleMania press conference this week from New York City. Not a lot of big happenings. Just mostly publicity type stuff. Rock was there. Stephanie McMahon handled the hosting duties of it. Triple H was there helping her out as well along with taking part in it. John Cena was booed heavily. The fans gave him the "same old" chant that you might remember from the ECW One Night Stand PPV a few years ago at the Hammerstein. Snooki also got booed. Just a lot of face off kind of stuff for the most part.
The WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony will be tonight. Going in will be Shawn Michaels, The Road Warriors and Paul Ellering, Sunny, Abdullah The Butcher, Bullet Bob Armstrong, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and Drew Carey. With WWE not airing the Hall Of Fame special on USA until Monday night, I'm really hoping that this means WWE will get back to not limiting people on their talking time. It has ruined the last couple of years of the Hall Of Fame. Guys are allowed to talk for about five minutes and that is it. With the time limit, we lost the amount of time that these Hall Of Famer's were able to get up there and just tell stories. That took a LOT of fun out of the Hall Of Fame. I'm hoping that the time restrictions will be taken off this year.
Let's look at the WrestleMania XXVII card. This is looking to be a very solid show on paper. I wasn't sure how this show was going to be as far as top drawing matches a couple of months ago. The Rock was brought in and it just seemed like things got going from there. Here is the lineup and my thoughts on them.
The Miz defends the WWE title against John Cena. The Rock is obviously going to have some kind of role in this so it will be interesting to see what happens. Do we have another Cena wins the title moment on a WrestleMania? I'm hoping not. Hoping that Miz retains.
Edge defends the World title against Alberto Del Rio. Christian will be in Edge's corner while Brodus Clay will be in Alberto's. I don't watch a lot of Smackdown so I have not kept up with this feud as much. I just paused even trying to think what to type about this match so I guess I'll just leave it at that.
The Undertaker vs. Triple H - No Holds Barred. Undertaker's streak stays in tact. That is what I want to see. Hoping that these guys put on a great show. Undertaker makes it through this without being injured worse. That is what is best case scenario for me.
Sheamus defends the US title against Daniel Bryan. This is one of those undercard matches that I really hope is strong. Not a lot of attention on it and I think both guys need this to be a great match.
Randy Orton vs. CM Punk. Good build and two solid performers. Should be a good one and I'm looking forward to it. I think Punk gets the win.
Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special referee. Swagger will be in Cole's corner. This is all about getting to watch Michael Cole finally get beaten up. Isn't that the scenario that is likely to play out with fans finally getting to see what they've wanted for months now? Austin will be fun as always.
John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki vs. Dolph Ziggler and LayCool. I think this will be a fun match. Good balance and I always look forward to having Trish in the ring. Snooki will get the media highlights which is what WWE wants. LayCool will be fun. Morrison and Ziggler will deliver. I think it will be good. Just a matter of what the finish is.
The Corre vs. Santino, Kozlov, Big Show, and Kane. Yeah, really nothing to say about this one.
Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes. If you would have told me a year ago that Rhodes would have a WrestleMania match instead of Dibiase, I never would have believed it. This should be a solid one.
Tonight is the WWE Hall Of Fame and Shawn Michaels is doing a video diary for WWE.com. Two very good videos already posted. One with Ric Flair giving Shawn a belt buckle which goes back to Shawn giving him a watch for his Hall Of Fame night. The other one is the Kliq reunited. A video has been posted of Shawn, Triple H, Kevin Nash, and Sean Waltman together. That is wild to see.
Have a great rest of the weekend. Take care and God bless!!
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