The Calm before the storm No. 4

That's right, I'm back!
Yes, I've been away from the blog for a while. I'll be honest. The Muppets on RAW pissed me off, and I didn't want to write a completely negative post. And I needed a break from writing.

But Survivor Series is right around the corner, and shaping up to be something quite interesting. So let's talk about that.

However, before I get to that, seeing as how I haven't written anything for a couple of weeks, there are a couple of things I do want to talk about first.

Let's start with RAW getting Rocked.

I am SICK of the treatment of Jim Ross. WWE is all about anti-bullying, unless it's one of their own (and longest-tenured) employees apparently.
Michael Cole is boring, they have him talk about himself instead of the match that is happening in the ring, he's not entertaining as a heel, and he's certainly not at the level of Jim Ross or Joey Styles commentary wise.

As an on-screen heel character, it's a different story however. So, less Cole on commentary.

I was really appalled when Cole was brought out to replace JR what.. not even half way through RAW? That first part with JR calling the matches.. so great. So fluid. It felt good. Then Cole comes out, and just rants about himself. It made me want to fast forward.

Ok enough about Cole.

The other thing I wanted to talk about is something I just read. Matt Hardy has been kicked out of rehab and arrested.  I mean..... there's not a lot to say really is there? Well done, you moron. You get the opportunity to sort your life out paid for by a company you were no longer employed by, and you blow it? (pun intended)

Matt Hardy, you sir, are a fool. Enjoy sitting in jail. $1,000,000 bail fee... seems excessive. Maybe Jeff can scrape the cash together so the hardy boyz can make more "youtube eps".

Ok onto Survivor Series.

First off, bold prediction. Undertaker will be making an appearance. Think about it. 20 years ago, at Survivor Series 1991, 'Taker won the WWE(F) Championship for the first time. Survivor Series is when he made his debut, one year earlier. It's a special night for Undertaker. Maybe we'll see him.

Strangely the card isn't that enticing, at least on paper.

Aside from Rock/Cena vs Miz/Truth, which, honestly is only a draw because people want to see what happens between Rock and Cena.. there's the obvious draw of CM Punk, and I would also say Dolph Ziggler, wrestling twice in one night again.

I would say though that the "traditional survivor series match" doesn't seem that interesting to me. And once again, why is Daniel Bryan not at least in that match? He has a MiTB Case.. which is basically a way of saying "he's at the main event level, or thereabouts".. yet we haven't seen him wrestle on Pay Per View since Summerslam...

As far as the matches go, let's take them one by one.

Diva's championship match:
Seriously, who cares? They have had Beth/Natalya lose on RAW every time i've seen them wrestle lately. Doesn't make sense. I don't buy Kelly Kelly being able to beat Beth Phoenix. Or.. really anyone for that matter. Yes, I know it's Eve wrestling Beth, so that means that the match will be slightly better, but still... I'm not expecting anything amazing. And it's a shame, because Beth is a really good wrestler.

Beth Wins.

US Title Match: Morrison Vs Ziggler

Short but sweet for this one. Morrison is leaving (as far as we know) so he won't win. I expect Ryder to be involved somehow, or maybe it becomes a triple threat on the night.

Ziggler wins (Unless Ryder is in the match)


Traditional Survivor Series match:

Easy pick. Babyface team wins.  OR... Heel team wins with Cody Rhodes being the sole survivor.  Nothing else needs to be said really.

World Heavyweight Championship - Mark Henry vs Big Show

I am actually a fan of these matches. You don't get to see two huge human beings who actually have skill and co-ordination wrestle all that often. Sure, they aren't "5 star classics", but they're great for what they are. I would imagine this will be a fairly short match. I have a couple of ideas about the finish.. one being Henry wins, but 'Taker comes back to challenge for the title at the next two Pay Per views. Another being Henry wins by DQ because Show goes crazy.

Either way, Mark Henry wins this match.

WWE Championship match: CM Punk vs Alberto Del Rio

This is a tougher one to call. I would love to see Punk win, and I'm leaning more towards that. Maybe Cole will try to get involved in the match, as revenge for this week's RAW, but I think that's a very unlikely scenario.
Will be a good match, but as I said, I see Punk winning.

Winner: CM Punk.

Main Event: Rock/Cena vs Awesome Truth.

Now we're getting into the interesting stuff. Will Cena turn heel? That's the biggest question that is floating around I think. I would really like to see it, I think his character would benefit greatly from a change like that, and would help give Cena some more fire, doing something different after the same character for what.. 5 .. 6 years now?

How will Rock and Cena work together? Well.. there's a pretty easy answer to that.. Story-wise.. terribly. But they will both be on top of their games, and it will be really entertaining.

The almost sad thing is, as the Miz said, Awesome Truth almost feel like an afterthought. Like it could be any two opponents against Rock and Cena, because that's where the story is, not in the match itself. I agree to some extent, but I think this will be a really good match.

And, if nothing else, it'll be good to see if The Rock can still go. I'm betting he can.

As far as the finish.. I see Rock and Cena winning, because the people will want to see Rock win. But after the match, I see an altercation happening between Cena and Rock. Possibly Rock laying out Cena with a Rock Bottom, in order to set things in motion for the Wrestlemania match.

But, if they want to turn Cena heel, it would be John Cena F-Uing (or AA-ing, whatever) Rock, and leaving him in the middle of the ring, ripping off his own armbands and wristbands, and dropping them on Rock's chest, giving him the "You can't see me".. but then maybe flipping him (or the crowd) off afterwards.

Ok the last part is far-fetched I know, but how awesome would it be?

To sum up... Winners: Rock and Cena.

So that's it, Survivor Series is not far away at all, and looks like it could be quite the event. So follow me on twitter, I'll be tweeting during the Pay Per View @TheOZMouthpiece
Leave me a comment on here as well.

That's it, and that's all.

Home Schooling No. 5

It's another week, and time again for another edition of Home schooling, my weekly RAW recap, along with a few other topics about wrestling that i've had on my mind during the week.

This week I'll talk about RAW, mention a little more about Vengeance, and maybe a couple of other things.

Firstly coming off of Vengeance, there were some questions that were definitely left unanswered. Like when is it going to be "revealed" that Laurinitis is behind Nash's attacks? Or is it Laurinitis... maybe there's a higher power. Let's hope not. I don't think that needs to be re-visited.

Why did Zack Ryder lose? I saw a few people upset about that. Well.. has everyone forgotten the way things used to, and should be done? Won't it mean more if Ryder has to fight through another month of adversity and THEN win the title? I see "oh they've stopped his push" or "he was never really getting pushed". Just because he loses doesn't mean he's done being pushed. People just want a quick fix nowadays. It means more if it's long term. Think about it.

Think about the guys who were pushed way too quickly. There's one name in particular that springs to mind. Brock Lesnar. He left after not even 2 years in the WWE. Bobby Lashley is another one.
Slower builds mean more. And they seem to provide longevity.

I'm not upset Ryder lost. No-one else should be, except as a work.

I'm still amazed at how good the main event was. Especially in a broken ring. It's lucky that it was a last man standing match. I really can't think of any other type of match, except for an I Quit match that would work in a broken ring. Maybe a hardcore match, or a street fight, but a last man standing match is really just an extension of a street fight. As is an I Quit match. But, having said that, hardcore matches, street fights, they have to have a pinfall or submission.

Ok so let's move onto Raw.

I loved the opening of the show. Triple H seems like he's "back" .. as a wrestler I mean. No suit this week.  That could be a telling factor.
Laurinitis is REALLY boring. But you already know that.
Triple H did deliver quite a good promo, talking about how he thought he and Nash were cool buds forever, and that the kliq sign meant something. The best promos, interviews, whatever you want to call them, they always have something "real" about them. I'll talk more about that in the post i'm writing about great promos.

But man, I honestly did not expect Nash to come out and hit Triple H with that sledgehammer. Very surprising, very brutal looking.
And then the second attack, while Triple H was strapped to that stretcher? Anyone remember the last time something like that happened? We had a stretcher match after that between Lesnar and Big Show. Man, I'll never forget that image of Rey Mysterio being slammed into the ring post.

I could write a whole post on why John Laurinitis is one of the worst talkers in the WWE right now. Hell, Mike Adamle might have been better. Laurinitis sounds like he's reading from a script, which is a problem for a lot of the WWE at the moment, but the thing is, he's the least believable guy. Everything is so stiff, so forced, there's no expression, no feeling behind what he's saying.

He needs to become more believable. Otherwise the only way they'll get out of this Interim GM storyline is if it's revealed that John Laurinitis is actually a robot, and someone has a remote control in the back somewhere.

Also he looks like a muppet when he talks. Kind of fitting if you think about it.

Ok I got off track there. Like I said, I coudl write a whole post on him.

Back to Nash and Triple H. Oh one thing though, Laurinitis isn't all bad. When he was checking on HHH, it felt a lot more real than anything else he'd done.

Nash's expressions after he'd hit HHH were brilliant. He looks like he's a lot more comfortable now. And my god he's in good shape.

Here's the thing though. They show Nash walking backstage, that was good. But what I found a little weird, he walks past at least 4 active WWE wrestlers. Now, as far as storyline goes, Nash doesn't work there. Why wouldn't the people with jobs stand up for their boss? Sure, Nash had a sledgehammer, but DiBiase standing there with a dumb look on his face didn't really do anything good for the angle. Made it look less real if anything.

So the second attack, like I said was amazing. That felt really different again to what has been happening in recent months with storylines. I hope it's heading for a stretcher match. You really don't see those all that often, and it would mean that they could rely less on "wrestling" and use objects and what not to make a great match. And Nash and HHH have had great gimmick matches before. Hell in a Cell from Bad Blood in 2003 springs to mind.

So I've called it. Stretcher match. I'll probably be wrong.


The idea of the supershow must be to get the smackdown guys used to working live every week. Right? Why else have them on the show? We can see them every week on Smackdown.

Looks like Cena's had enough of John Laurinitis as well. I really hope we do get to see someone, Punk, Triple H, Cena, all of the above, let's hope we get to see Laurinitis get the crap beaten out of him.

Dolph will be world champion before the end of next year. And not just for one night. He is arguably the best thing going today. He and Punk are neck and neck. Here's an idea. After Wrestlemania, have Punk as champion, and have he and Ziggler get into a feud. Ziggler doesn't need to turn face, he's too good of a heel.

Santino reminds me of early 90's WWE. And.. I'm not sure it's a good thing. The Cobra, the over the top sillyness.. It's a shame that he's stuck in that character, I remember when he started, he was a great heel. Now he's essentially a job guy this week.

Mason "batista with hair" Ryan.. I don't get it.

I tell you what was good this week. CM Punk got to speak. And it wasn't just a short little thing. We got some pipebombs. Finally. It's been about 3 weeks? The guy got over with his mic work, so he should be given time to use that which got him to this point every week.

As usual though, Punk was on fire. The best part is that Punk and Laurinitis having a conversation in the ring, just shows how bad Laurinitis is, and how good Punk is. The thing that makes Punk so good, is everything feels real. Whenever he's cutting someone down, like Laurinitis this week, it feels like a shoot. Sure, we know it's more like a worked shoot, but no-one else (maybe except Cena) is doing that.

Hey Wade Barrett! I forgot he had a job. Too bad they screwed up the finish.

Michael Cole's "JR" segment was disgusting. WWE don't seem to get the difference between a heel getting heat, and people wanting to see them get beaten up, as opposed to Cole's heat, where no one wants to see him at all.
I hope the idea is that JR is going to win this challenge thing, put Cole back on Smackdown. Or maybe he's going to take some much needed time off.
More than likely someone will interfere and JR will get screwed over again.

And the last thing I want to talk about is Cena announcing the Rock as his partner for Survivor Series. The idea of not having a traditional Survivor Series match is going to take so much steam away from this angle. Same as the decision to have the focus not be on CM Punk, who started everything. Hopefully, as the guys on Chair shot reality said, it'll become a 6-man tag at the very least.

Speaking of which, just quickly, everyone should check out Chair Shot Reality on Wrestlezone.com when you finish reading this. It's a great show, they're in the middle of their 100th episode at the moment. It's awesome.

I found it kind of funny that Cena was selling the beating Miz and Truth gave him until he "realised" he could choose The Rock.

Hopefully we get some more of the same kind of stuff next week on Raw. More CM Punk getting to talk. More good wrestling. And more Nash. But, one thing, Triple H should NOT be there. Maybe an interview "via satellite". Keep the angle going, but really sell the injury. It'll make Nash look even stronger than he already does, and it will help get across the fact that Nash, who (to the WWE audience) hasn't wrestled there for what.. 8 years? (and to the rest of us, like a year or so since he left TNA), but it will help get the fact that Nash would even be a decent opponent for Triple H over.

That's about it really, I'm working on this promos blog, hopefully have that done in the next week or so. It's gonna be a long one folks. But until then, you can follow me on twitter at @TheOZMouthpiece .. let me know what you think of the blog, read some of my other posts, even leave me a comment on here. But for now, that's it and that's all!.

best served cold

Welcome to this post-vengeance edition of The Aussie Mouthpiece blog. Let's get straight into it. It's vengeance time.

Decent video package to open up talking about chaos, which was really the theme througout the night, as we would soon find out.

So we start with the Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger vs AirBoom for the Tag Team Titles. I think this was the right way to start, but I didn't like the idea of Ziggler having to wrestle stwo matches in a row. Could have swapped Sheamus and Christian for Ziggler and Ryder.
Anyway, onto the match. I'm not going to go through everything, no play by play results here, just in case you were wondering.
Was a really good match, good to see a few double team moves by AirBoom. Kofi hit a huge monkey flip on Dolph, which, in all fairness was made so huge by the way Dolph made it look. He is so good. Seriously. World title for Dolph. It's going to happen soon.

Speaking of Dolph, he was wearing some new ring attire. Looked kind of like a singlet, similar to Swagger's gear, but he hadn't "put the straps on". He didn't pull it up for either match, which I found a bit odd. But it looked decent.

One of the weirder points in the match was Evan Bourne knocking Swagger down, going for a pin, and then when Swagger kicked out, he didn't get up. Instead he stayed laying on the ground and Bourne tried to hit the Airbourne. It makes sense I guess, it just seemed weird. If the guy was down on the ground, hit the finisher and then go for the pin instead of essentially giving him time to recover.

The crowd didn't seem to be into the match all that much either. A few cheers, but no huge pops or anything.
Another thing, you can really notice the difference between how good Dolph is, and how only ok Swagger is. There's just something that Ziggler has that Swagger doesn't.

I liked the finish, with Kofi and Evan both hitting their finishers, but Ziggler getting pinned doesn't make sense. It should have been Swagger.
So now, it makes Ryder look weaker if he wins, because he beat someone who had been hit with two finishers just minutes earlier, and if he doesn't win, it makes him look weaker because he can't even beat a guy who's had two other finishers hit on him, only minutes earlier. It's a no-win situation.

It helps make Dolph look good though if Dolph wins.

So let's get into the US Title match

Airboom and Swagger remain at ringside, but what was interesting is that it was AirBoom interfered, throwing Ziggler back into the ring, and therefore getting ejected from ringside by the referee. it was good to see it's not just the heels that get that treatment.

So like i said earlier, Ziggler didn't show off his new attire in either match. Kinda strange. And Ryder looked like he'd dyed his hair... red? orange?.. maybe some fake tan went into his hair.

I liked the finish with the super kick. Ziggler is money. Once again though, the problem is now Ryder is the guy who couldn't beat the guy who got pinned 10 mins earlier.

I am really sick of Michael Cole. It's the wrong kind of heat. The product would be better without his constant banter, his constant jokes at the expense of JR, and also, the fact that he spent a fair bit of time talking about what was trending on twitter, rather than talking about what happened in the ring.

I get that it's about telling stories for the WWE commentators, but surely you can spend two seconds and say "he's got him in a boston crab", rather than "so and so is trending worldwide on twitter"

Beth Phoenix vs Eve (Diva's title match)

What the hell kind of "music" is that? Here's the answer. Eve's new music is only a little worse than the skills of MOST of the divas.  So it was pretty bad.

Not really a lot to say about this match, I like the running story of Beth wanting Eve to cry. I liked Eve using a triangle choke, even though her legs weren't locked half the time. And I liked that Beth won. That's really about it.

Sheamus vs Christian

Once again the crowd didn't seem to care too much about this match. Quite frankly neither did I. I really like sheamus, but Christian is really boring to me. I wish he was better. I remember hearing when he won the Title in TNA. I was just like, Really? that guy??
I really hope that was the end of this little feud, Sheamus should be in the title picture. Henry vs Sheamus was a surprisingly good match at Summerslam, I'm sure they could do it again.


Punk/HHH vs Awesome truth.

First of all, that "promo" by Miz and Truth was awful. "You know who sucks?" YOU TWO DO! Childish humor. It would have been funnier if they were trying to be dirty with it. Who really believes that's how Miz and Truth would talk to each other backstage? And if you do, you may need to have your head examined.

Good slower pace to this match, Triple H looks in good shape, Punk looks like he's having fun.
Really good match, great old school vibe.
And then of course, the "complete shocker" of Kevin Nash returning. I mean, I guess it was a shock, but it was an expected shock I guess. But even though it was not shocking, he definitely made a big impact.

The Jacknife always looks great, but man, Triple H landed awkwardly. It looked brutal. I don't think Triple H was hurt, but he certainly sold it like he was. Really good finish though, and it was the right decision to have Truth and Miz win, and definitely the right decision to have them win the way they did.


Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton.
I really liked the promo package for this match. We even saw some blood.
The match was good, not great, but once again, the crowd wasn't interested for the most part.
Best part of the match was the TWO moonsaults by Cody Rhodes. The first one that missed looked absolutely flawless.
The match was for the most part, predictable though. Good ending, with the "baggers" getting involved, but once again.. predictable.

Big Show vs Mark Henry
Great promo package once again. These video packages make you excited for the matches. Hopefully the WWE keep it up.
The start of the match was pretty awesome, two spots in particular. Mark henry was thrown, almost hip tossed back into the ring, and also Big Show hit him with a superkick. I love seeing guys this size doing things that you wouldn't expect them to do.
The rest of the match up until the ending was decent, with one huge double clothesline to start heading towards the finish.
And then the ending. Sure, it's been done before, but that doesn't lessen the impact. Show climbed the ropes, and Henry superplex-ed him, and the ring broke.
The big difference between this and the last time it was done (in WWE at least), is that the Brock Lesnar/Big Show spot ended the show. There was still one more match to go at Vengeance.

The other thing that made this such a great finish, was Laurinitis and Teddy Long coming out, helped sell the idea that it wasn't supposed to happen, and also the way Mark Henry walked out, instead of being stretchered out. That was awesome, he is so improved this year.

John Laurinitis gets a microphone and tells us that the show will go on, but not before introducing himself to us. Why did he need to introduce himself? He didn't. We've seen him on TV. I mean we've fallen asleep after seeing him, but we've seen him. No personality at all.

John Cena vs Alberto Del Rio  - Last Man Standing (in a broken ring)

Straight away I want to watch this match, simply because the ring is broken. It means they have to do things differently,and any time things have to change, it always makes more interesting viewing. Think about it.  No irish whips, no coming off of the top rope, no shooting a guy into the turnbuckles. Even further than that, it made it harder to use the apron, the ring posts, and the ring itself.

Del rio's reaction to the broken ring was priceless. His face looked like he just smelled something really bad or something.
Cena has a new shirt, new shorts, new colour. He's wearing camo shorts, and his new shrit is black with the words "Rise above hate" on it. I guess because he's wearing black we're back to getting serious Cena. No more fruity pebbles?

The start of the match was decent, but I think the fact that it was unique was the main draw at the start. Having a broken ring adds so much to the match.

There was a really nice spot with Alberto Del Rio being thrown from the ring, through where the ropes would have been, into the guardrail. It looked like a really hard landing, fairly brutal.

Also, the whole nut shot on the ring post with Rodriguez and Del Rio was great. Yes a funny spot, but it was a nice little break from the seriousness of the match, and really of the whole night.

And the fight went backstage! I don't remember the last time I've seen that. Brings back memories of amazing matches, Kane and Shane from Survivor Series 2003.. many hardcore matches.. I always enjoyed the backstage stuff.

And this was no exception. Cena toppling over that huge equipment case, and it really looking (at least for a second) that it had landed on Del Rio. Then a slam on top of the tipped over case. And finally the interview area basically being dropped onto John Cena. To me that looked like it would be the finish.

Now some people I noticed on twitter were saying "oh Cena just keeps getting up". But, I mean it's a last man standing match, not just a regular match. It's kind of a given that people tend to take more punishment in these matches. It wasn't about Cena not selling, it was about Cena not giving up. That's kind of one of his mottos. Del Rio didn't sell things for ages either.

Like falling through a table. He got up at 8. That's 8 seconds and he's back on his feet. From falling through a table onto concrete. Any other match that's not selling. Last man Standing, it's having the guts to keep fighting.

That's what I really like about Last man Standing matches. There's a ton of "this has to be it" moments.

And we get the amazing finish of Del Rio being smashed through a table by Cena, and then Miz and Truth running in and destroying Cena. But that wasn't the finish. The Ref was distracted by Miz and Truth, and therefore not counting Del Rio. So Cena is up at the count of 9, and then Del Rio gets the title belt and blasts Cena in the head with it, and that is the finish.

Really great match, especially because they had a broken ring. To me it sets up the survivor series match really well. something like Triple H, CM Punk, Rock and Cena on one team, with Nash, Del Rio, Miz and Truth on the other.

Overall I think this was a really good Pay per view, all decent matches, and the two main events really lifted the quality.
I'll give it.... 8/10.

Ok that's about it, I'll be back with my weekly blog in a few days, but until then, tha'ts it, and that's all.

People complain about cena's work, but it was a lst man standing match. they have to build to those "he got up at 9" moments.

The Calm before the storm No. 3

Welcome to another edition of the Aussie Mouthpiece blog. This quick post is the 3rd post in my Calm before the Storm series, which I write the day before Pay per views. Or in this case, hours before Vengeance.

So I'll run down the card and give some thoughts.

I should point out this was a last minute decision to order Vengeance. I just have this feeling that something big is going to happen. And even so, seeing that Dolph Ziggler is wrestling twice, is a big enough deal for me to get it.

So the card.

Sheamus vs Christian.

I'm guessing either this or the Tag Team Titles match will open the show. I'd go with the Tag Team match, with the US title match later in the card, to give Dolph some time to catch his breath.
Anyway, Sheamus is really coming along well as a babyface, it still feels a little strange to me though.

I think that's just because I was watching when he first started, as a heel and working with Triple H. Then I stopped watching for a while, and when I start again, he's a babyface. Strange indeed.

But, Christian is obviously getting over as a heel, because he annoys the hell out of me. Should be a decent match. I'd like to see Sheamus in the title picture soon. Doesn't he have some unfinished business with Mark Henry?

I would like to see Sheamus win, but I won't mind either way.

Airboom vs Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger

I don't have much to say about this match. I guess it's there to try to keep the tag belts relevant, but what's going to happen? Are the newly formed "tag team".. and I use that term loosely.. are they going to drop the titles? What happens to them if they do?

I'll add into this Dolph Ziggler vs Zack Ryder (US Title match). The reason being that my predictions relate to both matches.

I like that Dolph is getting to defend his singles title. It's about time. Ryder getting a title shot is a really good thing too.
I just hope that it's not a once-off. Hopefully this all isn't a ploy by the WWE to get him to stop his youtube show.

I think we're going to see Ryder win the US title, while Ziggler and Swagger get the Tag Team Title belts. AirBoom can be built up more if they are chasing belts, rather than defending belts and barely scraping by.

Diva's title match.

At least it's not Kelly kelly. But.. did she get her re-match? Do diva's contracts not have that stipulation in them?
Ok not much to say. Beth will be great. Eve will look ok, and probably do a moonsault. But if Eve wins, it will kill the angle, kill all the momentum of Beth and Natalya, and basically cement the divas division as a joke.
Beth needs to keep the title, at least until survivor series, maybe even until Kong can return. Because really, there's no other Diva on the WWE roster, other than Natalya, that could give her a great match.

Beth has to win.

Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes

This could steal the show. Because of Cody, and also because of the history between the two guys. They know each other well, both in terms of storylines and I would assume in real life as well.

I see Cody going over in this one. Vengeance on a whole feels like it's supposed to be building everything up, rather than solving problems and finishing feuds. So it would make sense to have Rhodes win. Build him up, make that Intercontinental title mean something.

Mark Henry vs Big Show (WHC)

I haven't watched Smackdown for the past few weeks. It's good to see Big Show back, but, let's face it. Big man vs Big man matches are never "5 star classics", but the last time these two met it was a decent match. Hopefully the same will go for this match.

Henry will win, but maybe not cleanly. Big Show might snap and get a chair and try to get revenge, something like that. Maybe someone interferes and starts an issue with Show.

Del Rio vs Cena (WWE Title)

Last man standing. These matches seem like they must be a lot harder to work out finishes for than they would have been 5 years ago. No chair shots to the head, or much of anything to the head really. Problem there is.. how do you knock someone out if you can't hit them in the head?

But, Cena has been good in these matches in the past. I think this will be a fairly good match. Will be a good test for Del Rio, and will maybe show a slightly different side of his character. Expect some interference, especially for the finish.

I think Alberto Del Rio will win. I hope Del Rio will win. Cena winning makes no sense, that would make 3 title changes in a month. Ridiculous. What does a belt mean if it's so easy to get? Where's the struggle.. the obstacles to get past?.. Del Rio has to retain the title.

CM Punk & Triple H vs Awesome Truth

I agree with whoever said it or wrote it, this has to/will be the main event. I'm seeing a fairly standard kind of a match, but the finish will be something akin to Night of Champions, but hopefully will make more sense.
I see Nash returning to at least try to cost Punk and HHH the match. I see Laurinitis making his presence felt, hopefully by nothing more than appearing at the entrance. Not by talking, that would put everyone to sleep.

I think the right thing to do is have Awesome truth get the pin, but once again definitely not clean. I'd like to see Punk and HHH win, but I think it would build Survivor Series more if they lose.

So that's about it. Will someone else interfere? Will we see Shawn Michaels, or Sean Waltman? BG James maybe? Who knows. But I think if all goes well, Vengeance could be a really decent Pay Per View.

That's about all I have to say, I'll be tweeting tomorrow during Vengeance, so if you read this and aren't following me on Twitter you can do so @TheOZMouthpiece
That's it, and that's all!

Home Schooling no.4

Welcome to another edition of Home schooling, my weekly blog about the goings on in this funny little thing we call professional wrestling. Or maybe that should be this funny massive thing. Anyway, I am The Aussie Mouthpiece, and hopefully you like what I have to say, and that's why you're here reading this.

Topics covered this week will include RAW, TNA's bound for glory (which I haven't seen, but I did read about and have some thoughts), Secrets of the Ring with Raven (all 5 volumes), and Mick Foley. I'm also in the process of writing a more specific blog about great promos, so that should also be up in the next few days.

I'm going to start with Bound for Glory. Now as I've said in the past, I haven't watched TNA for a long time. since around Destination X i'm talking about. I've been keeping up to date on what's been happening mostly through news sites, reading the results of the iMPACT shows, and then more recently today, the Bound For Glory results.

I don't have a lot to talk about, just a few things that intrigued me. Firstly, Hogan did the job. I assume you all know what I mean. I was kind of shocked when I saw that result. Hogan lost? Really? .. Wow. Maybe the 5th back surgery removed a part of his ego as well as fixing his back.

All i really have to say about Hogan losing is.. GOOD. Sting is still wrestling full time, and especially because Hogan said he wouldn't take bumps, if he had won it would have crapped all over Sting, and TNA in general.

While i'm talking about Hogan I want to mention Robert Roode not winning the title. Now, this whole Bound for Glory series was a tournament and the payoff was getting a match against the champion at Bound for glory right? Sounds kind of similar to the Royal Rumble concept, in the sense that it's pushing a new face up to the World title picture.

So why did the guy who won this *really* long tournament (only thing longer has been NXT.. week 142 i think we're up to now right?).. why did he not win? That just completely takes all the momentum out of his push. Bad decision. I read maybe they're thinking of having him win at Impact or the next ppv?.. How is that going to mean anywhere near as much as winning at TNA's "wrestlemania"? Dropping the ball.. well i guess in TNA's case it's more like.. "still not picking up the ball and it fell down a drain into the sewer".

And Hogan was talking on Radio or something saying that Roode wasn't ready? and that he isn't a main event guy or something? Before the event? Burying the guy before the pay per view? If the guy in control is saying Roode isn't ready, and you can't tell if it's a work or not.. why would that make anyone want to buy the PPV?

And then Hogan took a shot at AJ Styles because Styles stood up for Roode and TNA in general? Hogan.. just leave. You're only there for a paycheck and to boost your own ego. TNA would do better without you.

Ok onto cheery happy things, Velvet Sky won the Knockouts title. That is awesome! She was a favourite of mine when I watched, both for the obvious reasons, and also because you could see her trying (and succeeding) to improve in the ring, and you could tell she loved wrestling and wasn't there to be a model.
So congratulations to her.

I just quickly watched RAW tonight, didn't see everything, most of it bored me. Most of it felt like stuff i'd already seen.
I have a few comments about the show though.

Why did Laurinitis get so much promo time this week, when he is absolutely terrible, and yet, CM Punk, the guy who really shot to the level he's at right now because of his promo work YET AGAIN have no mic time?

Sure, his reactions to what Miz and Truth said were really good, and really funny, but the guy is known (at the moment) for saying controversial things, for his "pipebombs" .. and he doesn't get a chance to talk?? What is that??

David Otunga on WWE is a waste of time. Stiff as a board, Laurinitis is a better talker than him (yep, i said it), and more importantly, not really talented. I get the feeling he's going to be known as "the guy who sipped out of the tartan cup" ... or whatever the hell that is.

Immigration problems? And yet again Laurinitis stops a match half way through. Abusing power? Yes. Entertaining tv? No. Makes me stop watching? Yes.

At least J.R got a positive send off this time, no colon surgery spoof, or any other embarassing final moment. A match with Cena, and also getting to make Cole tap out. Problem is now we're going to have to hear Cole's whining about it.

One positive to me was Dolph Ziggler. So good on the microphone. And he's been really entertaining doing his little Ask the Heel spots on Zack Ryder's youtube show. Maybe instead of adding heel to the list of names he used this week, the show stealer.. i don't remember the other one, he should keep the gimmick going of finishing an "Ask the heel" by saying "Hashtag Heel". That would work well in this social networking era.

That's about it for RAW, other than it's getting less interesting to me. Hopefully things pick up again before Survivor Series. I really want it to be good. At this stage i'm not ordering Vengeance because again, it's another pay per view what.. 3 weeks after the last one? Space it out more WWE...


Ok onto Secrets of the Ring. For those who don't know or haven't heard of it, the Secrets of the Ring with Raven is a shoot style interview series that Ring Of Honor did I think something like 6 years ago with Raven, and I think also a few other people have done a Secrets of the Ring. I know that Jim Cornette and Al Snow have done an edition.

Anyway, I couldn't talk about everything in Raven's series (5 dvds!) even if i had 3 hours to do so. Basically each dvd covers a different part about wrestling. How to be a Babyface, Star power and Charisma, Odds and Ends (like etiquette), how to be a heel, and how to work angles. Anyone who's seen any of them I'm sure would agree with me that listening to Raven talk about this stuff is amazing. I watched all 5 dvds in one day, so we're talking nearly 10 hours of basically watching someone sit on a chair and talk.

He covers so much stuff, talks about his experiences, even gives a few demonstrations, and it's really just opened my eyes to a new way of looking at matches and what makes them good and what makes them bad.
I will probably even go back and watch them a second, third, maybe fourth time in the near future. They're that good.

I highly, highly recommend them if you can find good copies. (or illegal copies, you dirty pirates.. har har har...)

Last but most certainly not least, Mick Foley. Again wanting to talk about him came about from watching his Straight Shootin dvd, once again also from Ring of Honor. It came out I think maybe 2005, it was before the first ECW one night stand I think. I'm not entirely sure,but I do know that the last match he talks about wrestling in the WWE on this dvd is the amazing match he had at Backlash 2004 with Orton.

I'll never forget the first time I watched that match. Seeing (at the time) "pretty boy" Randy Orton bleeding, and then dropping into those tacks.. my jaw was on the floor. Also at seeing Mick still take that beating. Of course at the time I was upset that Mick didn't win, but of course now I realise he was putting Orton over to help get him over.

So I watched his shoot, he talked about Ric Flair a lot. Which was really interesting to hear parts of that, that I hadn't heard before, not having read Flair's (or Foley's) books. Mick always speaks very well, speaks from the heart, and it's always entertaining to listen to him.

I've since started reading his first book, and really liking it so far. I would imagine once i get through it (i'm not a huge book reader) I'll want to read his other two as well. But once again I definitely recommend getting the Straight Shootin with Mick Foley, and also Mick Foley's Greatest Hits and Misses, especially for the Mick/Vader match where Vader breaks Mick's nose.

While you're at it, get the straight shootin with Jim Cornette and Percy Pringle DVD. The stories are amazing and funny. Especially a gem about Undertaker.

That's about all I have to say for this week, hopefully i'll have my extra blog up in the next couple of days, so keep checking my twitter or just keep checking this page. I'm going to start doing more of them, reviewing old pay per views, talking about specific wrestlers etc. So hopefully I get some positive feedback on this first one.

Until then, don't forget you can follow me on Twitter if you're not already at @TheOZMouthpiece .. leave me a comment if you want, and for now, that's it and that's all!

Home Schooling no.3

Hello friendly blog-readers, it's time for another weekly write up on this crazy thing we love called professional wrestling.

This week, as i usually do I'll be talking about RAW. In fact, I imagine most of this blog will be about RAW, because even after just skimming through and watching the promo segments, I have a lot to say. But there are a couple of other topics i'll mention too. So let's get those out of the way first.

I recently bought the "Best of Monday Nitro" dvd. I know it's been out a while, but the local stores where I live don't exactly keep a lot of wrestling dvd's in stock. So when I saw a copy of it, I snapped it up.

WCW, and more so Monday Nitro was the first wrestling show I ever watched, and the show that got me into wrestling. Sure, I knew some of the names, who didn't? Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, possibly Ric Flair as well. So I was really looking forward to watching this dvd.

And I wasn't disappointed. I'm a huge fan of Sting and Kevin Nash, so to see matches with those guys in their prime, or at least at the height of their fame, was really good. Some of the contriversial moments were really great too, I mean let's be honest, Nitro was the better show for a good few years there.

Anyway, I'm not going to do a whole review on the DVD, chances are most people who wanted it have already bought it, and know that it's a great set of matches and moments. If you haven't got it, I definitely recommend it, even just to get a glimpse of what the "other side" were doing that made the WWF step their game up.


There have been a few news items that i've read this week that I wanted to mention and give a thought or two about. The main one being, Hulk Hogan (and Eric Bischoff)'s contracts expiring with TNA, and then a few days later the news that they have both re-signed.
I haven't watched TNA for a long time now, last thing I rememember was when Sting first started doing the insane gimmick. Hogan is basically the reason for me not watching. The product, as it was in WCW, is still centered around himself.. when he is in no shape to actually compete. And he's having a match with Sting at TNA's biggest pay per view?
I saw another little item that talked about Hogan saying he wouldn't take any bumps in the match against Sting. Now if that's true.. there's really not a lot to say about it, other than THIS IS WRESTLING! You're supposed to take bumps.. right? I mean, a bump is essentially being "knocked down".. i have the definition right don't i? So what? Sting won't knock Hogan down once in the entire match?

 How does Sting get Hogan in position to put the Scorpion Deathlock on and therefore win? Oh.. wait.. silly me.. it's a Hogan match.. Hogan isn't going to put Sting over is he... Of course not.. and it's totally believable that a what.. 60 year old man who's had multiple back surgeries in recent times could beat a still full-time active wrestler isn't it...

TNA, or iMPACT.. or whatever the hell it's called these days, had an opportunity to get out from under the huge shadows of Hogan and Bischoff, make the company not about one or two people anymore, and get back to what made their product interesting, and unique. But for whatever reason, they didn't. There was one tiny piece of good news... Vince Russo is no longer the head writer. Brother Love now has that job. Could be interesting.

Jeff Hardy got 10 days jail for his drug possession charges. 10 days... that will teach him. Maybe he should take a page out of his brother's book. They seem to be sharing the same story lately.

Ok enough negativity. I wanted to talk also about Cactus Jack, Mick Foley, Mankind, Dude Love. Whatever you want to call him. I watched Mick's "Hard Knocks and Cheap Pops" dvd this weekend, really enjoyable. I kinda wish the WWE would do a few more dvds like this, with the Wrestler whom the dvd is about hosting it.
But it was good, in a weird "shoot yet still kayfabe" kind of a way. I wasn't watching any wrestling in 2000/2001 really, so I haven't seen a lot of Mick Foley as the commisioner, but it appears he was really funny.
But after watching the dvd, I decided to try to find some of the infamous Death matches Cactus Jack had with Terry Funk, quite easy really..Youtube is always the answer. So I watch a couple, and man.. I mean i knew Mick was hardcore, I've seen a fair bit of his ECW matches, and of course the Hell in a Cell, and hardcore matches with the WWE (Edge vs Foley at Mania 22 is amazing), but this was on a whole different level.

If anyone hasn't watched them, go and check them out. Some of it I found a little unbelievable, one match i saw was an "exploding ring deathmatch", but it was just pyro boxes on each side of the ring, but the crazy barbed wire boards that exploded and also just that it was a barbed wire match... Mick and Terry are insane. In the best possible way.

One last thing about Mick Foley, and i'll touch more on this when i start doing my "Top 10" lists (i need some kind of catchy name gimmick first), but his promo skills are better than just about anyone i've ever seen. Especially in ECW. Go and find some if you haven't seen anything already.

---------------------------

Ok let's move on to this week's episode of RAW.


I really loved the first 20 mins of RAW. It was amazing. All four guys did a really good job making it feel real, feel improvised, and feel refreshing and different. Punk finally got to speak after two weeks of no promos, and what's more he got to ring the bell, even though he feigned not knowing how to do it (awesome touch by the way). Punk really shone through as the star in that opening segment, he was the guy who came out last, he got the biggest cheer (maybe Triple H's was bigger, but I wasn't paying attention), and he was the one guy who felt like he wasn't "delivering a promo".

Also asking Triple H if he could wear his blazer made me laugh. Punk is the man. His reaction when Triple H told him "I got a whole table full of headphones and pipebombs just waiting for you" .. was absolutely priceless. That little 30 seconds right there is why CM Punk is the man.

"Can i wear your blazer??" "You can even wear my blazer!!" Brilliant.

So then we get this familiar music hitting. Oh wait, speaking of music, there is one thing I wanted to talk about that I don't think worked, especially last night, but also in general.

People's music "hitting" before they walk out to interrupt or to say their piece. Now, i'm sure this wasn't always the case was it? I know it's been used with certain characters, Undertaker for example. But his character is meant to be "supernatural" and is supposed to have the ability to change things, like bring lights up or cause black outs.

But if everyone had walked out, and it was really Triple H on his own.. who pushed the button for Cena's music to hit? Or even HHH's? We see him come out of his office, no music, no announcers, he walked past one, maybe two people.. and then walked through the gorilla position. No one was there... yet his music hit before he came out into the arena.

It would have felt even more like "not a normal night on RAW" if HHH walked out to no music. If Cena's music didn't hit, if he just started talking. Same with Sheamus and Punk.

I guess the point of the music playing is so that fans know who is coming out. But isn't it more of a surprise when someone just starts talking? I'm sure Austin's music didn't always hit every single time he interrupted McMahon.. did it? (help me out, i didn't watch during the austin/mcmahon feud). Fans aren't dumb.. we don't need to be given a musical cue to know if we're supposed to cheer for the person who's about to interrupt or not. And we can usually work out who someone is when they start talking.

Anyway back to RAW. Vince's music hits.I'm glad we saw Vince McMahon. I hope it was more than a one off, and it turns out it was actually Vince pulling the strings. Sure it's been done before, but there's a reason Vince is one of the best heels in the history of the WWE. So anyway..  we get a roles-reversed firing, just like back in june. Triple H is fired as the COO, and ... John Laurinitis is his replacement?

Sure it fits the angle.. Laurinitis wormed his way in by getting people to cause chaos.. but really.. i've seen grass growing that has more charisma than Johnny Ace. He can't talk on a mic, everything sounds forced (probably because he's trying to remember a script), and most people aren't booing him because he's a heel, they're booing because he shouldn't be on camera and no-one wants to see him.

So the first 20 minutes was great tv. Unfortunately after that, RAW felt like a step back. Maybe it was done deliberately.. but it was the same guys just wrestling different people.. Mark Henry, Randy Orton, Christian, John Cena.. oh and one small thing, people are complaining about Cena getting another title shot... ? He was the guy that Del Rio beat, so doesn't that mean Cena gets a rematch? That's how it's been done for years right? Del Rio will win at Vengeance and move into a program with Punk.

Triple H may have been fired as COO, but he's still under contract as a wrestler apparently.. which i like. Sure, he's another guy who's been a main eventer for a while, but at least he's not been a regular on TV (as a wrestler) for a while. Also, that line.. "have you ever tried to pick up your teeth on the ground, with broken fingers?"... That was amazing.Great to see Triple H as a wrestler. His "pick up teeth with broken fingers" line was amazing.

So Jim Ross is fired again? And apparently it was an "improvised segment".. as in.. a shoot? .. I can see how it fits in with the Laurinitis in charge angle, but it seems yet again, the WWE just want to keep embarrassing JR, and they keep trying to tarnish his legacy. JR is my favourite commentator of all time. I cannot stand Michael Cole. I don't like his voice, I don't like the way he describes (or doesn't describe) what's happening in the ring, and instead tries to put himself over.

I feel bad for Jim Ross, he seems to get this poor treatment a lot. But then again, this whole story has used twitter and youtube before, maybe it's all a big work.

One last thing.. Vince McMahon was "fired" back in june because he was making rash decisions and throwing his weight around and basically not running the company the right way right? Triple H was "fired" this week because he'd lost control of the company, and there was too much chaos right?

Didn't John Laurinitis throw his weight around last night and make a lot of snap decisions? He fired JR, he interruped the main event and changed it, he threw Morrison and Christian into a match in their street clothes.. that sounds a lot like making rash decisions. This angle suddenly doesn't make sense.  Laurinitis needs to not be on TV. Bring back Austin as GM... make Teddy Long Raw GM..hell, even make Shawn Michaels GM.. I get that it works for the storyline.. but he's so bad. The only thing that will make it interesting is if Triple H gets to actually knock his teeth out. For real.

Anyway that's about all i've got to say for now.. I hope you enjoyed reading, as always, leave me a comment if you want, and also you can follow me on twitter at @TheOZMouthpiece
That's it, and That's All!

Home schooling no.2

And we're back. Installment two of my new weekly blog. A more general look at whats happening in wrestling. This week I want to talk about some older wrestling, how it's different to today, and also shoot interviews. And of course, the big ending to RAW. And there will probably be some mention of Hell in a Cell.

So let's start there shall we?

So at first viewing, I wasn't too thrilled. Anyone who read my blog last week, saw that I wasn't all that thrilled last week either. Unfortunately this week I felt mostly the same.

Now, it wasn't all bad. It was good to see some guys who don't get on tv much getting some airtime. I haven't seen Drew McIntyre for ages. But, what I didn't understand is why they decided to wait until halfway through the show to talk about what was clearly the biggest angle coming off of hell in a cell.

I do like what they're doing with Miz and R-Truth, however... it does kinda feel like a re-hash of the CM Punk fired antics, except that Punk never apologised for anything he did.

Speaking of CM Punk.. where is he? I think it's a safe bet to say that a lot of people got really excited with Punk's promos, or in ring talking segments over the last couple of months.. but the last 2 weeks on RAW, even though he was in the main event of the Pay per view they were building towards (can you call it building towards if it's only 2 weeks?), there were no Punk promos. It made it almost obvious that he wasn't going to win the title. It also made it look like he was an afterthought, and I'm fairly sure that's not what he re-signed for.
Hopefully the reports are accurate and Punk's push is going to continue for a long time to come, because he's basically the most entertaining thing on RAW at the moment.

I should point out I clearly dont mean the jumping the rail at the end of HIAC, just the use of youtube and twitter. It makes less sense with Miz and truth,  they're not as controversial as CM Punk.

So the end of Raw was a little hit and miss with me. I read that the wwe decided to keep the top babyfaces in the back to stop them from getting booed. Absolute nonsense. How can you have a full vote of no confidence, if you don't have the entire roster out in the arena? That does not make sense.

I did like Mike Chioda getting to talk. what he said sounded like it was coming from a real place, and that definitely helped make this all seem more real.

Why was JR the last to leave? That seemed a little strange. All I can think of is that he is basically the only guy (besides Lawler) to have been working for the wwe when HHH started...so I guess the whole "long time friend" thing makes a bit of sense...right? Maybe it was because RAW was in his home state, and they thought it would garner a bigger reaction...

But.. wow. Talk about sending a message.  I just don't know where this is all heading. I mean, the big payoff clearly is Survivor Series, with the anti-wwe.. or the "laurinitis led team" vs the pro-WWE or "HHH's team" match heading the show. But what happens next week? Is this when we get the return of Vince McMahon? He's going to be the "saviour".. wanting to return the WWE to how it was before CM Punk started all this? Will he get booed like they want? It seems like the general reaction to all of this stuff is fairly mixed. With the exception, of course, of the cheer HHH got when he was left all alone, literally, in the middle of the ring.

One other thing about this walk-off,  the cameramen putting the cameras down and leaving ringside was an absolutely brilliant touch. Amazing work.

Hell In A Cell:
I haven't seen the whole show, but I did like what I saw. I'm not going to do anything like I would do had I watched the Pay Per View live, so no match by match review.
I think once again, it was a poor card. 5 matches only announced before the start of the event? I mean, it was a great thing to add the Tag match between Air-Boom (seriously? that was the best name?) and Dolph and Swagger. They all deserved to be on the card.

I think most of the matches had the right finishes. I guess maybe the plan for SinCara and.. SinCara.. is for Mistico to unmask? I mean, the heel SinCara won so Mistico can't be called Sin Cara any more right?

Not a fan of Del Rio winning the title again 2 weeks after losing it. That means, he is already a Two Time World champion. That means, he has won more World titles than Miz. Who headlined Wrestlemania. Short title runs are not good. More importantly, it doesn't really help make the titles seem meaningful. The mid card titles are being used well, especially with Cody Rhodes bringing out the "classic" Intercontinental Title belt. The same belt Shawn, Razor, Bret, Honky Tonk, and Macho man won. Or at least a close resemblance. Much better.
And the same goes with Dolph and the US Title.

And that's basically the problem today. The top titles don't mean anything, because they keep changing hands. There's no building of a champion. I can't really remember the last time anyone was built up in what i think is the best way possible, I think i'd have to go back to 2004 and John Cena, or even 2003, with Randy Orton. You could probably throw Batista into that as well. Batista and Cena both won their first world titles at Wrestlemania 21. But after that, I really don't remember anyone else. Maybe Punk, but he cashed in Money in the bank for his first title.

Maybe that is the problem. The Money in the Bank. It worked great for the first cash in, Edge. That was a great moment. The beaten and bloodied Cena who had just gone through an Elimination Chamber match and retained his title, only to have Edge cash in, take advantage of the situation and become the WWE champion for the first time. But i don't remember the build up for that. Oh well, let's throw Edge into that mix of guys too.

But since then, every "cash in" has gotten less meaningful. Del Rio's wasn't too bad, but he only held the title for a month. It makes the cash in look temporary, and like a means to a different end, as opposed to the object being "Make the guy who cashes the briefcase in a main eventer".
How long did Jack Swagger hold that title for anyway?

Just something to think about...

So one last thing. Shoot Interviews. They're awesome if you want to know some inside stories and knowledge. I especially like Kayfabe Commentaries' Guest Booker series. That side of wrestling always interested me.
Here's a few i'd recommend seeing if you haven't already.

Timeline of the WWE: 1997 w/Jim Cornette
Absolutely brilliant. Jim Cornette always has something to say, and it's always entertaining. Definitely watch this.

Guest Booker with Raven.
Raven books the Outsiders coming into ECW instead of WCW. Awesome. Raven is so smart. Really good , really entertaining.

Guest Booker with Jim Cornette
Jim Cornette re-books the Invasion angle. Do I really need to say anything more?

Ok that should get you started, or something. There's so many more, anything with Jim Cornette or Raven is gold.

So I think i'm done for this week. I'm going to start adding some new things to this weekly blog, maybe different topics like i covered this time, maybe a more detailed review of a shoot dvd. I'm also planning to start reviewing older pay per views. maybe pick a year and review the "big four" events. Also some entries about single wrestlers are planned.
But until then, I hope you enjoyed reading this, leave me a comment and follow my tweets at @TheOZMouthpiece and that's it.. and that's all.

Home schooling no. 1

Welcome back to the Aussie Mouthpiece blog. Another week, another installment of RAW, and another chance to talk about the goings on in wrestling.

You may notice this post is entitled "home schooling no.1". I'm changing things up a little to see how it feels. But this week, i'm not just going to talk about RAW. Sure, none of the other shows have happened yet, but I did get a chance to see Ring of Honor's first episode over the weekend, and i've also got a couple of other things to talk about.

So this new idea I have is basically to make these "go home" posts less about RAW specifically, and talk about a wider range of topics. If RAW has an amazing week, like the builds to Summerslam or the night Vince was "fired", then i'll do a specific post about it. I just have to come up with a catchy name.

Anyway... for now, it's installment one of "Go Home time" (which will probably have a name change eventually, that's how these things go.)

Let's start with RAW, because I just finished watching it.

I didn't like this week's episode. This is your "go home" show right? The last RAW before the pay per view. Don't get me started on how ridiculous it is to have a 2 pay per views two weeks apart (i'll get to that later). Regardless though, isn't this the RAW that is supposed to make people want to buy the pay per view? I'm no closer to buying it than before I watched this week's episode.

So Triple H comes out and does his "i'm going to make a joke out of everyone" schtik... yeah great, you're just making a joke out of two guys who have massive potential as main event wrestlers. That's the problem.

Ok i'm deviating from RAW, but I watched something today that has altered my perception a little. I'm not claiming to be smart to the business or anything though.
Today I watched the "Guest booker with Al Snow" dvd from Kayfabe Commentaries. It was amazingly good. But the one thing that stuck with me is when he talked about heels. And what they're supposed to do.

My idea (now) of a heel, is a guy who you want to see the babyfaces beat up and give him what's coming to him basically. His job is to draw people in, to sell tickets, all that stuff. But to get heat first and foremost. And to get fans to come back/watch again so they can see him get beaten up.

Most of the heels today in WWE.. and I think maybe in TNA (haven't watched it for a long time now) don't do that. I just plain do not want to see them on tv, in matches, in anything. Laurinitis is a perfect example. I really want to see someone kick his ass (because of stories i've read/seen) .. but as an on screen character, it's boring, it makes me want to skip to the next scene.

Del Rio is good, but I'm not that interested in seeing him wrestle.
I don't want to see Jack Swagger at all.
Hogan.. well.. y'know. Sick of it ten years ago.
Christian. He doesn't look like he could beat anyone. And he's orange. I don't buy him as champion. I never have.

BUT, there are some great heels at the moment too. I don't understand why they don't use them more. Dolph being the first guy that comes to mind. Mark Henry (now) has taken that next step. Cody Rhodes is pretty entertaining.

It just seems that a lot of the "bad guys" .. at least to me, get booed because people don't want to see them. As opposed to they get booed because they're actually bad guys. Something needs to change there.

Remember 5, 6.. even 8 years ago? Who were the main heels? Jericho, HHH, Big Show, Kane (when he took his mask off for the first time), Vince, Flair. How could things have gotten so far off track in such a short amount of time?
My point is that people should still want to see the bad guys on tv. At the moment it doesn't feel like there's a lot of those guys around.

Anyway, i digress. Back to RAW.

So as I said, I really wasn't into Triple H making jokes of Dolph and Cody. Christian.. well .. ok that wasn't cool either. There's no point to it. It's not like it builds up your heel guys .. all it does is make the COO look like a bully. As in "Just because you pissed me off, i'm putting you in this match".

The intercontinental title match however, made Cody look somewhat good. It's just a shame that the match for his title belt was overshadowed by the Christian/Sheamus storyline. Why not have a triple threat, Cody, Christian and Sheamus? Or a tag match.. or one on one? Cody and Sheamus for the belt.. and Christian tries to interfere, fails, and Cody picks up the win slightly cleaner... Seems better? Didn't Cody not get involved in the battle royal straight away?

Ok I either really don't understand fashion, or David Otunga dressed in the dark. A bowtie? and an army green shirt? I don't get it. And of course we have to have our obligatory "I'm the executive vice president of dull monotonous sounding promos" bit from Johnny Ace. Really didn't like it. Maybe they're trying to change things up, but .. change isn't always the way to go. If it ain't broke.. dont' fix it right?

FINALLY... something good to say about the divas match. As in, the dominant looking women beat the scrawny model looking girl. Because that seems like it's what would happen if all this was real.. and isn't that the point? To get people to believe it's real? even for just a split second?

Mark Henry is a badass. Slamming Khali just re-asserts that. And that is the only reason that man should be on any kind of WWE TV. To make other guys look awesome. Khali that is, not Mark Henry. Khali needs to be gone.

The WWE title match .. who knows what's going to happen...? They make Del Rio look like he can take both guys.. so clearly he's not going to win the title. My hope is that Cena holds on to it. Not because I don't want Punk to win, but because then Cena will just win it back in a couple of weeks, and he'll be a 13 time world champion.
 Triple H is a 13 time world champion. Cena's been wrestling in the wwe for 9 years, and already has more than 1 title run for every year he's been with that company.
Triple H has been wrestling for ... 20 years? Been with the WWE for roughly.. what... 17 of those years? Something like that anyways. Something's wrong there...

Anyway, Cena's promo was a Cena promo.. "I know you all don't like me, but i'm going to do this and i'm going to win, because i'm a man of my word and i stand for hustle etc etc etc". I know he didn't say that, but it was the equivalent. Step backwards for me.

Awesome to see Zack Ryder getting a (real) title shot! The guys deserves it. I don't see the point of after Dolph won, to then have a second match.. I guess they needed something for the Tag champs to do.. surely they couldn't just wrestle against a tag team ..could they?

Raw was missing something this week. Do you know what that something was?
Realism.
CM Punk, talking, on a microphone.
It's the last RAW before a pay per view.. John Cena cut a promo. Alberto Del Rio cut a promo. Why not Punk?
Surely out of the 3, he's the guy you want talking the most right? Yes he was on commentary, but that's not the same thing.
Also they tried to re-do the "My diet soda" spot from a while back... or at least it seems that was the idea.. I don't understand that at all.
Punk and Cena are so good, especially when they work together, that you don't need to rehash things, no matter how funny they are.

So that's about it, I thought RAW was really disappointing, most of it felt like a step backwards. This whole 2 weeks between a pay per view just feels weird. I mean, surely the Titles aren't going to change hands. What a way to destroy a talent.. make them look awful. "Mark henry was a world champion from the middle of september to the end of september".. doesn't really work for me.

Here's what i liked:

• Beth and Natalya finally getting a win after a long time
• Mark Henry destroying Great Khali
• Zack Ryder getting two matches in one night

Here's what i didn't like

• Messy title picture, very confusing
• Triple H being "funny"
• Christian being on RAW (where was orton... isn't he going to be in a title match?)
• Battle Royal
• David Otunga's bow-tie (seriously, it was bad)
• CM Punk being the only guy out of the three who didn't get any promo time

So.. RAW was kinda bad this week. Maybe all the good stuff is being saved for smackdown? 

Ok.. quick little thing on Ring of Honor

I don't really know a lot about ROH, it's really hard to watch it over here in australia, but I saw the first episode. Liked the wrestling, thought it was cool to see Haas and Benjamin, But it felt like there were way too many ads. And the vignettes, interviews, whatever, were too long. It's an hour show, surely you could get three decent matches into an hour right?

But it was good, as i said I liked the matches. I'll be tuning in next time for sure. 

So what else is there to say.. Well.. i have a few points.. one is.. how much longer are Kane and Big Show going to be off of tv? They've been gone since a couple of weeks (or a few in Show's case) before Summerslam... which was the middle-ish of August.. that's about 6 weeks ago. Hopefully they come back soon. Feels like we just keep seeing the same matches all the time. We're getting Randy vs Christian yet again on Smackdown this week.. why not Christian vs the Returning Big Show!.. I'd tune in for that.

Matt Hardy went to rehab. Not got much to say about it, except that I hope it works for him. At least he had the balls to admit he has a problem, and is doing something about it.

The other thing, and again this something that stuck with me from watching the Guest Booker with Al Snow thing.. he talked about how the idea of wrestling is to get people to suspend disbelief, to buy in to it being real,  even though we know it isn't. To buy into the idea of both guys wanting to win, to be specific.
His thoughts about why wrestling isn't as popular as it once was is because people don't believe it anymore. The one example that really stuck out, was when he said something like "One guy knocks his opponent down, and then reaches down and picks him back up".

This happens a lot in wrestling, we've all seen it probably countless times. I've never really even thought about it until I watched this.. but it doesn't make sense at all. Why pick a guy up when you've knocked him to the mat and could possibly get a 3 count? Sure, probably the guy would kick out most of the time, but the point is that people should feel like you're always trying to win, as a wrestler.
And that's what's missing.

It's a really interesting dvd, i would recommend people trying to watch it if they haven't already.

Anyway, that's about it from me, as always leave me a comment (seriously, no-one ever leaves one.. please do!), follow me on twitter @TheOZMouthpiece and that's about all i have to say.
That's it, and that's all.

To gimmick, or not to gimmick?

And here we go again, with a belated edition of my weekly Raw blog.
I am the Aussie Mouthpiece, and if this is your first time reading this page, you're in for a treat! No recapping here, no move for move retelling of this week's episode of RAW, just what I considered the best parts, and my take on what it all means and what happens next.

So onto the show.

I think it was a pretty obvious point to everyone that Nash would be returning at Night of Champions, and would be doing Laurinitis' bidding. (to check out my NOC review, go to this link http://aussiemouthpiece.blogspot.com/2011/09/champions-or-chumps.html)

And also I, like a few other people who's opinions i've read/heard, thought Nash would not be on RAW this week. And it was the right decision not to have him there. Here's an idea.. have him show up at Hell in a Cell. Maybe distract Punk, costing him the title. (it's a HIAC match, he's not going to be able to interfere.. is he?)
That sets up Punk/Nash at the appropriately titled Vengeance.. right?

It's too bad Michael Cole's voice came back. Just saying...

It's been said a lot before, but the best wrestlers, the wrestlers that have the most success, they're just themselves turned up to 10. That's what has happened with Punk since july.
He's not playing a character that says things people find shocking. He's not pretending to be pissed off with the way things are.

This week's opening segment, with Punk talking about how he's beat up, but his pride hurts the most, was more of the same. It's believable, I mean, clearly whoever saw that main event.. those 2 guys were hitting some brutal stuff on each other.
But it was good to see he's not relying on dropping "pipebombs" every week just to stay over.

It was good that Triple H showed a bit of respect towards Punk as well. I like the slight change in direction.. the "somebody is playing both of us" angle.
It's just too bad that we have to listen to John Laurinitis' poor mic skills, annoying voice, and stilted delivery of lines he clearly can't fully remember.

It kinda seems obvious to me where this is going.. and that it's all heading to survivor series, with some kind of "control of the wwe" match maybe, like we had in 2001. Vince's team vs HHH's team maybe. And apparently because Del Rio mentioned Vince's name, Vince lost his mind this week.
He doesn't want anyone to know he's going to be coming back.. but, Laurinitis was Vince's lackey on TV.. now he's opposing HHH.. it's not the biggest leap to think that Laurinitis is working for Vince.

I'm not going to talk about each match specifically, BUT... way to bury Morrison RAW writers.. 45 seconds? We already know that Del Rio's submission move is really effective. So unless the show was running amazingly behind schedule.. why were the entrances for the del rio/morrison match longer than the match itself? Ridiculous.

Hugh Jackman! Awesome! Aussie Aussie Aussie.
Vickie Guerrero is the best heel in the WWE right now. She has the most heat in the WWE right now. Awesome.

I think this was my favourite part of the show this week. I've been saying it for a month.. but Ziggler is the next big thing. The way he and Jackman interacted was really natural, really funny. It helps having a really good actor to play off of. But it was great.

"Are you staring me down?" "Are you hypnotised? A little confused?" Brilliant.

Hugh Jackman gets a sign from the crowd that says Ryder is greater than Wolverine.. that was awesome.
Oh one other thing about Dolph, I really hope he starts (or continues) to use "No offense" as a catchphrase.

 Here's an idea: If you're going to have Sin Cara come out to attack Sin Cara, and you want people to cheer for one Sin Cara and boo one Sin Cara... give the audience the ability to differentiate between the two! Black tights! Dark Blue tights! anything!

Mark Henry. He's suddenly become really good at delivering a promo. I don't know how the change happened, maybe he watched some tapes of great talkers and picked something up, but it's really great to see. The guy deserves this run. I especially liked him making JR apologise and then telling him "i hate ass-kissers".
I read that the table was supposed to be gimmicked, but it wasn't. And because of that King is really injured. That's not good. But, in a weird kind of way it helps put Henry over even more. Hopefully it's not a serious injury and King will be back soon.
Or it's just a story to help get Henry over even more. We are in the "reality" era...

Ok so I had one thought about Henry and where this is heading. He said "ain't no man gonna take this from me".
Well.. what about Undertaker? Survivor series... 20 years since he won his first world title... could be interesting. Who knows.. i'm kind of leaning towards Undertaker not coming back until it's time for the Mania build.

I'm saying only this about the divas. If the "Divas of Doom" are supposed to be really strong and shaking up the divas division, why are they being beaten all the time? Unless it's some weird idea about trying to turn them face or something. But I can't see how that would work. Kelly is starting to piss me off though.

Great to see Ryder on Raw again, even greater that he got a win over the US champion. And wow... that punch from Hugh Jackman looked really stiff. Dolph is the man.

I thought the ending to this week's show was great. It felt really real, which is always a good thing. I mean aside from the firings, which is a work. Clearly.

So where's it all going? Well here's how i see it. It all leads to survivor series right? That's the big payoff. It's gotta be a traditional elimination match. We already know that Cena and Rock are supposed to be teaming up (at least at the moment that's the plan). So then on one team you could have Cena, Rock, HHH and Punk. Facing Nash, Miz, Truth and ??? (vince.. shane o mac, johnny ace, X-Pac even) Probably not vince, he might be in the corner or make a run in though.

But it's set up for Miz and Truth to be re-hired by Laurinitis, like Nash was, undermining HHH's authority, leading to arguments etc.. It's a big storyline... the biggest they've tried for a while. Probably since the "who killed Vince" one that got cut off in the middle.

Anyway, I've written enough for now. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment, or if you're not already, follow me on twitter @TheOZMouthpiece
I'm trying to set up a google+ account too, but i'm still learning how the hell it works. Once that's done though i'll add it to my page somehow.

That's it, and that's all.

Champions or Chumps?

It's that time again... another pay per view has come and gone, and I'm going to give my thoughts. This will be more of a recap than my blogs about RAW, so if for some reason you don't want spoilers, look away, or wait until you've watched Night of Champions to read this.

So my first overall thoughts, some 3 hours and a bit after the PPV has finished? I thought it was a good show, was surprised by how good some of the matches were, shocked at some of the finishes.. but overall, a little confused. Hopefully watching the replays (of which we get 3 in australia) will help.

I'll get to the rundown of the matches in a minute, but first of all, some initial opinions

No Jim Ross? Are you serious? Especially bad considering the "lead" announcer lost his voice and didn't do anything during the main event.

Just because Kofi and Bourne both wore green, it doesn't make them a "team". To me it still feels like two singles wrestlers put together. I'm not a fan of their name, and i've never been a fan of just using both guy's music as their entrance. At least do what they did for Miz/Show, or Jeri-Show, or RatedRKO and make one song out of their two entrance themes.
And Miz and Truth look even less like a "team". For all the reports that the tag team division is supposed to be being built back up, we're not seeing it yet. What about pushing the Uso's? The one "TEAM" you have WWE...

After the way the Women's (not using the word diva) match went down, I think it would have made more sense to put it earlier in the card. Just in case the crowd kinda died because their hometown girl didn't win. And also, who the hell believes that Kelly kelly could hold Beth Phoenix down in that kind of pin combination for a 3 count, especially when she didn't even get her legs over Beth's arms??

Cena winning is the right idea. Del Rio wasn't doing well as champ. I wasn't taking him seriously. He can be a world champ, but it wasn't the right timing I don't think.

Mark Henry cut a great promo after he (finally) won the title. He surprised me with how good that was. I hope he can keep it up, because he deserves a run with the belt.

Why was there an in ring promo segment?.. This isn't RAW or Smackdown.. i didn't pay to see guys talking to each other. Why not instead of that, have Christian and Sheamus in a match? Sure, it's "night of champions", but what was the main event?

And I'll get to that main event later, because I have a feeling it's going to be a long post.

Ok, so now that's out of the way. Let's get on to the matches.

So the show opened with the Tag Team titles.. well what are you going to do? They are, at this point, the belts with the least amount of importance. Which is a shame, because tag team wrestling can be a great part of a wrestling show. Look at the motor city machine guns and beer money. when they're not injured. But, having said that, the first match on a card is fairly important. It sets the tone.

As I said before, Miz and Truth don't look like a team. Miz could have worn black tights so he matched Truth's pants...
The match was solid, but nothing special to me. I still think that Miz needs to be in the main event picture, maybe move to smackdown, and have a Miz/Orton feud after Orton and Henry are done.
No real highlights to speak of, at leats nothing that I remember, aside from Miz's Cutter/DDT move which is .. pun intended.. awesome.

Oh actually, I remember watching Raven's video blog, and he talked about the fake tag spot that people do sometimes, they did that spot, but it was reversed, where the good guys faked the tag, and the bad guys got caught. That was interesting.

The finish makes sense, the whole conspiracy angle that's been going on, but just because it makes sense, doesn't make it good.
Why not have the finish be that Miz or Truth went for a cover but the ref was knocked down or distracted, and then bourne or kofi got the quick roll up, instead of a DQ. It would serve the same purpose, and they could still knock the ref down afterwards. The DQ wasn't satisfying at all, and didn't help make AirBoom look strong at all.
 5.5/10

It is quite funny that Miz and Truth beat down a ref and try to bully him.. and then there's an Anti-bullying ad shown.

Cody and Ted Dibiase was also a solid match. I'd even say it was quite good. The problem is that the crowd were pretty much dead for the whole thing.
I haven't watched a lot of Smackdown, so I'm not exactly up to speed on this storyline, but I would assume these guys would work well together because of their past.

Ted still moves too much like Randy Orton to me though. I know that they had that big run as Legacy, but Cody doesn't move like Orton anymore.
A decent match, not many highlights.. Funny moment when Booker T called a Spinebuster a Sidewalk Slam... Booker used to use a spinebuster when he wrestled right?
6/10

Christian and Sheamus talk.. only thing worth mentioning is Uncle Fergus/Fargas's green testicle.


US TITLE MATCH
I was completely surprised by this match. I'm a big fan of Ziggler, but the other 3 guys, i'm not so much into. Especially Swagger. He's annoying, he's not that good in the ring, and he's got no personality. Morrison was a little impressive, but he's still not as good as he thinks he is. And Riley.. just looks like a carbon copy of the Miz with less hair on the sides of his head.

But it was a good match. Some good spots, using 3 of the guys doing combination moves, and variation of a tower of doom, (with a near botch however), and as usual the interaction between Vickie and Ziggler is great tv.

Really good finish too, Ziggler picking up Swagger's scraps after knocking Swagger out of the way.
7/10.
And i'll say it again. Dolph is going to be the world champion before the end of 2012.


Mark Henry's pre match promo was fairly solid. He's really improved this year. Like i said earlier I haven't watched a lot of Smackdown, but I've been noticing Mark Henry. And today/tonight's match was no exception. He's doing a great job.

This match was really good too. Orton is great, and works well with Mark. They told a really good story with Orton having to really pull out all the stops as it were, to even do a little bit of damage to the much bigger Henry.

The spot where Henry was stretching Orton around the ring post looked absolutely brutal, and really highlighted the whole "Mark Henry could break you in half if he wanted" thing. And then standing on Orton without putting his weight on the ropes was just as brutal.

Henry dominated, as he should for most of the match. That's the thing with the big man/smaller man match.. the story is already written essentially.
Great finish, if a little surprising.. I was not expecting Henry to win. Glad he did though. And that promo he delivered after he won...really great.
7.5/10

Beth vs Kelly. Ok so we all already know that most of the divas are not what you'd call "good" workers.. But, having said that, Kelly at least y'know.. could take a lot of moves from Beth.
On the other hand, that match had the worst finish of the night. And Kelly clearly didn't know how to react when the crowd booed her.

The match was decent, the Superplex looked awesome. Beth was great. And deserved to win. I don't understand why they decided not to have her win in her hometown.. it doesn't make Kelly look like a strong champion when she gets a quick roll up and messes up the pinning move, it doesn't really help Beth and Natalya's crusade look legitimate when Beth can't beat Kelly on 2 occasions..
4.5/10 (low score for the stupid finish)

Here's an original idea though.. what about at Hell in a Cell in 2 weeks (don't get me started on how stupid that idea is... 14 days between pay per views? I'm not buying it)... lets have Beth vs Kelly inside the cell! You want to put the divas back on the map, do something that's never been done before. Cage matches have been done yes, but as far as i can remember, not in the WWE.

But that won't happen.. will it...?

John Cena vs Alberto Del Rio
Great match. I know right? I said a Cena match was a great match. Cena has been on a different level lately. Sure, he's still "the man" and still marketed to kids, but he's added some new moves to his arsenal, and especially tonight, there was no 5 moves of doom. Not all in the same order anyway.
I said this on twitter, but i'll say it again. Alberto needs a non-submission finisher. Having a submission finisher is fine, but when it's an armbar, it makes it harder to tell different stories. He has to target the arm at least part of the match, so it's limiting.
The match was good, honestly I was suprised when Cena won, but I think it was the right move.
7.5/10
One other thing.. if Cena is marketed to kids, and an all around good guy.. how is it ok that he stole a car, and admitted it?


Onto the main event. CM Punk vs Triple H.. well before jumping too far ahead, lets see.. it was fairly obvious that Nash would be involved somehow. Laurinitis texting earlier in the ppv, and even before that, the Limo ride that Laurinitis took with Nash. That was a no brainer I think.

I'm not going to talk about everything that happened in the match.. this thing is already really long. I do want to mention a couple of things though, and then i'll get to the finish.

Lets start with Triple H. He looked damn good. It just goes to show, the best guys can (until they get to ric flair's age) can always god, even with a bit of a layoff. And really, I'm pretty sure just because he's not working in the ring as a wrestler full time anymore, that wouldn't mean he has stopped training, or getting in a ring and working out somewhat. So really, it's no surprise that he didn't miss a step. Was the same with Undertaker at 'Mania this year.

And then there is the Macho Man Elbow through the announce table. Moment of the night, spot of the night, move of the night. Brilliant. Looked really brutal too. Looked like it hurt both guys a lot. And it was good to hear Lawler slip in "That was Savage... " too.

Speaking of commentary.. it was such a refreshing change to have no Michael Cole. It was like this annoying buzzing little insect that i'd finally killed. Seriously, that match was so much better just because his voice wasn't constantly nattering on.

The way Punk took the "chair in the turnbuckle" spot was really cool. The way he got stuck in the turnbuckle.. great stuff.

Ok the finish. I'll try to remember it all.
So.. Miz and Truth come out.. and beat up both guys.. for some reason.. Ok i know that they attacked HHH because he's the COO and they think there's a conspiracy, but why Punk? Other than they both had matches with him recently..
Anyway, they knock both guys down, then drag Punk onto Triple H and demand the ref counts the pin.
Then when the Ref hesitated and Triple H kicked out, Miz and Truth attacked him.
Johnny Ace comes out to check on said ref, and while that happens, Punk and HHH start beating up Miz and Truth, knocking them both out of the ring, and then HHH hits a pedigree on Punk.
At the same time, a second ref runs down, and HHH goes for the cover, but Laurinitis stops the 2nd ref and gets him to check the 1st ref.
Triple H gets to his feet, goes to the ropes and asks what the hell is going on?... Punk hits the GTS, goes for the pin  near the ropes, and Laurinitis sees this and gets the ref into the ring to count the pin. He then turned away to "text" someone.
And then, in the most confusing moment of the night, R-Truth pulls CM Punk off of Triple H. 5 minutes after dragging him onto Triple H when they were both out of it.
What? Who booked that crap?
Anyway. after that, HHH hit a pedigree, Punk kicked out at 2, and then Nash came out from the crowd.
Nash took out Punk and HHH, went for a Jacknife on HHH, but Punk attacked him. Punk then got hit with a Jacknife.
Nash went to the announcers table,and took the monitors out, and then as he turned around, HHH nailed him with a sledgehammer.
He then got back in the ring, and hit the Pedigree again and won the match.

I swear that is the finish. I may have even missed a couple of details.

The truth dragging punk of the pin spot was ridiculous. And what happened to Laurinitis? did he just leave after he "texted" Nash?

So what does all that mean? Well.. Punk was only pinned after taking 2 pedigrees and a Jacknife.. so Punk looks tough as all hell. Triple H eked out a win, and got a measure of revenge for all the crap Punk has talked about Stephanie.
Match gets 8.5/10

I saw a bunch of tweets about how "everything's back to normal" and "way to ruin it WWE".. really? You think it would be better for them to go with HHH not being in charge? Who would replace him? Johnny Ace, or.. Vince McMahon. Talk about going back to the way things were.. And they talk about how Cena winning makes it terrible product again.
NO. it doesn't. Del Rio wasn't a good champion. The only reason that match had the spot it did was because of John Cena, and because it was the RAW title. Berto will be champion again, but the timing wasn't right.

So overall, I think the pay per view was decent. I think it's a slight step down from Summerslam. And in a pay per view when every title is defended, you would think they would try to keep the quality going. You know.. to make their champions look good..

So overall.. Night of Champions was a 7/10 for me.

If you made it all the way through this, you get a 10/10 from me. It was long. let's be honest.
But thanks for reading, don't forget to follow me on twitter at @TheOZMouthpiece and leave me a comment on here too.

That's it, and That's all.

Lay it on me.

Hello again, it's time for another weekly Raw roundup and opinionisations. I am the Aussie Mouthpiece, and I'm going to give my thoughts.

So the final Raw before night of champions. Night.. of Champions. And the main event spot on this final Raw before the pay per view goes to a promo. A promo of a match, that doesn't involve a champion.
Why is this pay per view still called night of champions, if clearly what's most important, is not either championship? Change it to unforgiven, or backlash or any of the better names that they've since canned for brilliant strokes like Bragging Rights, or Over the Limit....

The CM Punk/HHH segment was great. Don't get me wrong. My problem is that this pay per view, since it's inception, was about every title being defended. Now i'm assuming that's still going to happen, but (and especially because we're talking about RAW) the WWE title has, it appears, less significance than the intercontinental title, and the World's title.

Why was the tag match featuring Del Rio, Cena and Bret Hart put on in the middle of the show? Why has Randy Orton had the 2nd to last match on Raw's card for 2 weeks in a row now?.. Change it up! Cena and Bret should have been on then. After all, the WWE title is the "RAW" title. At least he was wrestling an actual big name, and not Heath "worst hair i've ever seen" Slater.

Ah the divas. To be honest, as soon as I saw that it would be Kelly Kelly vs Vickie, well.. needless to say I was ready to fast forward. I saw one move. A bulldog. Botched of course. The timing was off more than anything. I don't know who's fault that was, it's not my place to judge that. But it looked terrible.

Vickie I think is best suited to a manager-type role. Managers do get in the ring from time to time, but it's usually in a tag match, or as a post match beatdown situation. Thing is, the managers I remember doing that, could work in the ring. Bobby Heenan springs to mind of course. Jim Cornette took a good bump too. Keep Vickie as a manager, forget about her as an in-ring competitor. She's great outside the ring.

It's the old ECW mentality. Accentuate the positive, hide the negative.

I'm trying to work out what the point of the Otunga/Hennig (the other name is too long and annoying) vs Lawler feud is about. Is there any point to it? I can't see one. If it's a Raw Supershow, then why are we only seeing (correct me if i'm wrong) 2 smackdown guys on the card this week? Why not, instead of Sheamus teaming with Lawler to fight those two, have Daniel Bryan around, or Wade Barrett?

Am I the only one who thinks Wade Barrett and William Regal would work well together?

Ricardo Rodriguez was really funny this week. I guess it was because he wasn't announcing Alberto to the ring. His antics as Cena was insulting Del Rio, or even as Del Rio himself talked, saying Ricardo wanted to fight Cena were great. Really entertaining. I liked how he played the match too. Like, he didn't really want to be in there, but at the same time, he tried his best to fight Cena. At least during the part when Cena treated him like a bull?... Huh?

Speaking of Cena.. way to cut back on the edginess of his character. There were hints for a few weeks, especially when he was working with Punk.. but now it's "this is a special crowd"... "jalapenos" in reference to the mexican guy's balls.. instead of balls... Oh well. Oh wait, my mistake, he did make fun of John Laurinitis. I really hope Laurinitis isn't "mr future endeavour"... he's so boring.. talk about charisma vacuums. Nash has more charisma in his goatee than laurinitis has in his whole body.

I think it was smart (unless he's really fired.. that little seed of doubt though right? suspending disbelief, that's how you know wrestling is good), yes i think it was a smart decision not to have Nash on Raw at all. If it's a worked firing, have him do another run-in at night of champions. But.. people might be expecting that. So maybe they'll wait until the fallout on next week's Raw.

Triple H and CM Punk. Wow. Those two guys were given about 15 minutes to talk. Does anyone remember who, before Punk's "shoot".. was given this much time to talk? It's great.
Triple H was good, but then, he's Triple H. He's a big, agressive guy who has a mean looking face. It's not a big stretch to believe that he'd try to intimidate Punk. He was right about a few things in what he said though.

Punk has been given a lot of opportunities. He worked a title program with Undertaker. And beat him for the title if i remember correctly. Sure, it was a "screwjob", but he still beat 'Taker.  He's a 2 time money in the bank winner, cashing in both times to become world champion. He's led factions, feuded with big names.. and won.
What i didn't like, was Triple H referencing a year ago, and how the people weren't chanting for Punk. Um, wasn't Punk a heel a year ago? The crowd aren't supposed to be cheering him.. right?

So what's different now? Well for one thing, Punk isn't being a warped version of himself. No more "I'm straight edge, which means I'm better than you". He's got no faction behind him, he's not acting like he's the messiah, or the saviour. Well, maybe the last one, but this is something he can actually help save. Professional Wrestling.
He's being himself. Saying what he thinks. We've probably all seen the articles saying that Punk has been given a lot of leeway on what he can say in a promo, and ad-libs a lot.
I know this is obvious and it's been said before. But, think of most of the top names from the last 15 or so years. They've all been blown up versions of themselves. Austin, Rock, Michaels, Cena, McMahon (one of the top heels ever.) And now, add CM Punk in that same category.

The only exception is Undertaker. But even he's 'himself', it's just that he focuses on certain aspects of himself, to fit his character.

I'm not sure how i feel about the muted mic spot again. To me it feels like a "Vince McMahon" move. Maybe it's supposed to feel like that. Maybe Johnny Ace is pulling the strings. It's gotta be. Unless it's Stephanie. and she orchestrated all of this, to get control of the company from her Daddy. But, it seems like that storyline maybe has been done already? McMahon-Helmsley era anyone?

But, I do know this. I want to know what Phil Brooks wants to say to Paul Levesque. It's interesting.. today, I watched Kayfabe Commentaries Timeline of the WWE: 1997, with Jim Cornette. There was one part where he talked about how he'd put the idea forth about reality based programming. I wonder if this is the kind of thing he was talking about. It doesn't really pull the curtain back and expose the business (already been done), but it feels real.

Really good ending segment though. It's a shame we couldn't have a longer build to Survivior Series, but as i've been saying.. this is all part of a much bigger story.
Maybe we're going to see Triple H vs Vince McMahon at wrestlemania 28... for control and ownership of the WWE. Just putting it out there...

It's funny, there was a lot of rumor about this proposed incident of Triple H leaving CM Punk lying in a bloody heap the week before their match (originally at Survivor Series) would take place. I get the feeling the Mic shot by Punk was a way of saying "yeah.. we know what you read. That's why we're going this way".

The only criticism I would have is that Triple H repeated himself a lot. Talking about how "it's not about my opinion, it's about the fan's opinion". As Punk said though, was he even listening? He talked about Cena, they booed. He said Cena was one of the greatest ever, they booed. He talked about how Punk needed to impress them. Punk didn't even have to start anything, and they were chanting his name really loud. CM Punk HAS got over with the fans.

Then, towards the end, HHH started saying that HE was the only one that mattered. That Punk should be thinking about. Kinda contradicted himself and it got a little confusing, but the last few lines he delivered about being a man were pretty awesome. Topped only by Punk's reaction.

So what happens now?
Well here's how i see it.

Cena probably won't win the title. Del Rio should keep it a while longer. And should be given a more prominent role on RAW. After all, he is the WWE CHAMPION!

The Four Way for the US Title should be interesting. 2 ways you can go. Further the storyline between Swagger, Ziggler and Vickie and have Swagger win, or keep building Dolph and have him retain. I don't think Morrison will win, and Riley isn't ready.
Dolph should retain. Until possibly Survivor series. Then, Dolph wins the Rumble, and faces Orton at Mania. Bold prediction I know, but still.

Please, have Beth beat Kelly Kelly. That's all I need to say.

I'd like to see Mark Henry have the belt. Even for a short time. I think he's doing great work, especially as of late, and it might mean a different opponent for him too.. maybe Sheamus gets a title shot this way. Maybe Kane/Big Show return and we see either of them with the belt. Big Show should get one more title run.

And the big one.. Punk.. or Triple H. Well.. I don't know how to call it. So i'm not going to. I, like most everyone else, will wait and see what happens. Whatever happens, it will be a great match, it will not disappoint. Punk is the best he's ever been right now, and Triple H is still The Game. Will we see Nash? My instincts say yes. But let's hope for something outside the box.

Ok i'm done, don't forget, leave me a comment and tell me what you think, and follow me on twitter if you don't already @TheOZMouthpiece.

That's it, and that's all.