Yeah I'm back again, two posts in one day, but that's what happens when too many truthfacts are buzzing around your head, as they are mine.
Let me start off with a statement that i absolutely 100% disagree with:
"John Cena winning the title back is the Same old Sh*t and has killed the C.M. Punk angle"
Now I'm not quoting anyone directly, but I've seen a few posts and things to this effect. I mean, what was "the same" about Raw?
First of all, we had TWO championship matches in two hours. Not only that, we had two great championship matches. No squashes, no quick matches. Two quality matches.
That was different.
Yes, John Cena won the title. Yes, John Cena has been champion many times. 11 times i think is the number right now. Why did he win? Well, one opinion is just what i said before "To kill the CM Punk angle and go back to the same old stuff". I call shenanigans on that. And by that i mean, Horsesh*t!
Who has CM Punk been in a feud with for the last month or so? That would be John Cena. Who did CM Punk beat to win the WWE championship that he walked out of the company with? That would be umm... oh right, John Cena. Who did he talk about the most in his promos? Oh yeah.. JOHN CENA!
So who is the right person for CM Punk to direct his anger towards, talking about "You are not the real WWE champion, I am!" Why, it has to be the one and the same .. John Cena.
Summerslam is the WWE's second biggest Pay Per View. Doesn't it make sense to have your two biggest stars right now (being CM Punk and John Cena) in the main event? I know I want to see that match. Sure, Rey vs Cena was good, but the smart choice is CM and Cena.
This opens it up to the "who's the real champion" stuff that was really cool with Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon back in '93 and 94. Only difference is CM Punk isn't coming back as a heel.
People seem to be upset that this isn't working out the way everyone thought it would. I've probably already said that, but I mean, maybe the WWE have been keeping an eye on what the fans thought might happen, and have tried to go in a different direction. Different doesn't mean bad either. Things change, things don't go the way you originally thought, but that doesn't mean things can't work out. Not just with wrestling... that's a life truthfact right there. Philosophicalised.
I was thinking about this, talking to a friend tonight (who's not that into wrestling.. yet... ) What if Punk isn't back? We saw him walk out to new music, and hold up his title yes... but what about this? .. You ready?
You sure?
Ok i'll take you back just a few days. CM Punk "invades" the Comic-con press conference. Amazing. revolutionary some might say. Think about what he said.. he talked about the Title.. and then Triple H said to him "anytime you want to come back to perform, give me a call"... What if, and this is the rub.. storyline wise, Punk is back for one more match, against the new WWE champion. at Summerslam.
Ok I will admit I haven't thought this idea through totally, like why would he come back.. the only thing i can think of is some kind of bargain where HHH is lying to him, saying he'll give Punk all this stuff, when in reality HHH is just trying to get the WWE Title back... This would of course turn HHH into the evil boss. Could be interesting.
One other idea i had is that this whole Punk/Cena thing is just a small part of a much bigger angle. Being that HHH was behind all this Punk not resigning business, all to get control of the WWE from Vince. Think about where they could go with that.. Vince trying to get control of his company back.. Cena snapping? (unlikely).. Who knows.. Just remember that everything happens for a reason, especially in wrestling.
So that's about it, Let me know what you think, leave me a comment, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece ... Enjoy.
Also seriously stop hating on John Cena. That man puts in so much time for everyone. Do you really think he only knows 5 moves? Watch some 2002-2003 Cena matches. And just remember that the main event of money in the bank was as good as it was not just because of Punk, but Cena too.
What's it like to be me? You will never, ever know!
#CenaIsBeets
July 27, 2011
Live.. and in Living Colour... get it?
I'm baaaaccckkkk....
Ok so not the same kind of thing as that other guy who said it this week, but nonetheless, the Armchair mouthpiece is back. Time for some truthfacts.
So monday has come and gone, and of course with it another Monday Night Raw. Maybe one of the most anticipated Raw's in a really long time. Everyone wanted to know what was going to happen, Triple H is in charge now, what would he do? What would he say? How would he make his mark?
I'm still confused.
I should point out again that I live in Australia, and here, we get Raw on a wednesday afternoon, so around a day and a half later than it's on in the USA. So there's this crazy little bit of time where, if one isn't careful, Raw can be spoiled, be it on Twitter, or wrestling websites and forums. So tuesdays kinda suck for me.
Anyway, onto the wrestling.
Rey was NOT screwed. Come on.. Rey is one of those guys who I've always felt does what's right. I'm sure he's felt uncomfortable in the past with certain storylines (who's your papi springs to mind), but he had a kick-ass ladder match with one of the greatest ever, in Eddie Guerrero.
Rey was given the title so that we wouldn't see yet another Cena-Miz match. And I personally like the idea of Cena-Rey.
Any time you get big guy vs. little guy it tells a great story. Also, how hard did Rey land on Alberto Del Rio's face?!!!
But i'm still confused.
Dolph Ziggler is the f'n man right now. That new theme is great. And Evan Bourne? Is it just me, or does he have the most amazing way of getting in the ring ever?
Ziggler used the Fame-asser too. Just quickly on Dolph, I am really glad he went back to the blonde look. When i saw him come out with bland, medium dark brown hair.. it looked bad. He'd lost something.. He didn't look memorable. He kinda looked like a Randy Orton carbon copy.. So definitely much better blonde.
Also, "FOLLOW THAT!" was brilliant.
Not much else to say, Evan Bourne is amazing, dude needs more matches. I would watch him job just to see that shooting star press.
But, I'm still confused.
Why am I confused? Well.. i'm confused as to what the "state of the WWE" address was... nothing was stated or addressed, except that we all have to thank Vince. Which is damn true.
Did anyone else notice Eve kinda grabbed that Bella's boob? Also while i'm on the divas, Melina is looking good. There's also a lot of butts being shoved in faces. Kelly Kelly looks a little too orange for my taste, I'll tick with Melina. Interesting commentary from King tonight during the Divas match too.. little reminiscent of years past..
Ok back to Triple H and the state of the WWE. I definitely marked out just a little when JR's music hit. I'm such a huge fan of his, I think he's the greatest commentator in the history of the business. And he and King have the greatest chemistry. But it appears we're getting the DX-lite version of Triple H.. the funny guy who's just having fun, and poking fun at some people. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing at all. Could it be a slow build to a little more "attitude"? That's such a loaded word when you talk about wrestling, and the WWE. I wrote something on the wrestling.net.au forums about how I think there's some kind of happy medium between the Attitude Era (which pushed the sex stuff too far) and the PG Era (which doesn't appeal to the fans that remember the attitude era.) Hopefully this is the start of that.
Other than bringing JR back, what happened though? what did Trips talk about? John Morrison wasn't really a big surprise, we'd seen promos for his return last week on Raw.
So what happened? He talked with R-Truth and his friends? .. Incidentally, R-Truth had the moment of the night.. "Man... you crazy!.. You're talking to people that don't exist!"... But what happened?...
Zack Ryder was on RAW!! Finally! looks like CM Punk had 2 out of 3 questions answered. Let's hope it becomes a regular thing. WWWYKI
I'm not even going to talk about Michael Cole. I HATE this gimmick of Cole as the heel. It was bad when it started. It was really bad at Wrestlemania. Now.. it's not worth mentioning.
So I guess onto the real topic at hand. Cena being the what.. 11 time champion now? Did they put the belt back on Cena too quickly? Yes, if you're going with the plans that everyone thought would happen. But, what about this? What if the WWE have a different plan, one that we fans haven't thought of? I tend to think this is all leading to something really massive. And remember, there were reports last week of something big being in the cards for Mysterio. Triple Threat to declare the undisputed WWE champion maybe? Who knows.
Everyone is really quick to jump on the wwe it seems. Oh you brought back Punk too quickly. Maybe for what YOU though was going to happen yes. But, let's look at how they brought him back. Different entrance music for one thing. For those that don't know, he used Cult of Personality in ROH for a time. That song is totally fitting right now. It gives a different feeling when he comes out, it's a different Punk. Weirdly, even though the song isn't as heavy, he has more attitude with that song.
Now don't get me wrong, I agree that this wasn't done the right way. I LOVE that music, but I would've had it appear that Raw was ending, ie Cena's music stops.. he starts making his way out of the ring.. and then you hear, Via a megaphone "I have something to say about all this"... and Punk appears either from the side of the entrance ramp, or in the crowd somewhere. Now we kinda know he's back on the roster, and you lose that whole rogue champion thing, at least for now. We will have to wait and see. But having him come out of the stage entrance with music, with his WWE shirt on.. I don't think it kills the angle.. it could be HHH doing what's right for the business.. I think it sets up a Champion vs Champion match at Summerslam.
I'm not going to sit here and say I know more than other people who have written articles and columns about this, clearly I don't. But I think people need to step back and instead of damning the WWE for not going in a certain direction, try to see it from a different perspective. Sure, having the belt off of wwe would have sold the "I left with your title" angle, but maybe that was never the plan.. maybe Punk and HHH were in cahoots. It was all a grand scheme for Trips to take control of the company... who knows? Do i think Punk could have been brought back slightly differently? Yes. Was it too soon? Not if you want a match at Summerslam. Which the WWE does. It's their 2nd biggest Pay Per view. Why wouldn't they want their biggest star right now on that card?
Let me also say this. John Cena played that perfectly. The confusion... "that's not Alberto...".. to "Welcome back" to Punk.. then his reaction when Punk got a massive pop for holding his "real" championship up. John Cena is the top guy for a reason. He deserves respect. I have a massive amount of respect for him. You should too.
That's about it, I feel a more specific blog post forming in my head about something, but i'm not sure what.. stay tuned, hopefully it will materialise and form and then get written in the next few days.
Oh, and if you want to know how big CM Punk is right now.. I had a friend who has never watched wrestling and really didn't know the first thing about it ask me "who's this CM Punk guy I keep hearing about" last week. Austin 3:16.. meet CM Punk.. the voice of the voiceless.
What's it like to me be? You will never, ever know!
Follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece ... and remember.. #CenaIsBeets (That's for you @CouchPirateJake)
Ok so not the same kind of thing as that other guy who said it this week, but nonetheless, the Armchair mouthpiece is back. Time for some truthfacts.
So monday has come and gone, and of course with it another Monday Night Raw. Maybe one of the most anticipated Raw's in a really long time. Everyone wanted to know what was going to happen, Triple H is in charge now, what would he do? What would he say? How would he make his mark?
I'm still confused.
I should point out again that I live in Australia, and here, we get Raw on a wednesday afternoon, so around a day and a half later than it's on in the USA. So there's this crazy little bit of time where, if one isn't careful, Raw can be spoiled, be it on Twitter, or wrestling websites and forums. So tuesdays kinda suck for me.
Anyway, onto the wrestling.
Rey was NOT screwed. Come on.. Rey is one of those guys who I've always felt does what's right. I'm sure he's felt uncomfortable in the past with certain storylines (who's your papi springs to mind), but he had a kick-ass ladder match with one of the greatest ever, in Eddie Guerrero.
Rey was given the title so that we wouldn't see yet another Cena-Miz match. And I personally like the idea of Cena-Rey.
Any time you get big guy vs. little guy it tells a great story. Also, how hard did Rey land on Alberto Del Rio's face?!!!
But i'm still confused.
Dolph Ziggler is the f'n man right now. That new theme is great. And Evan Bourne? Is it just me, or does he have the most amazing way of getting in the ring ever?
Ziggler used the Fame-asser too. Just quickly on Dolph, I am really glad he went back to the blonde look. When i saw him come out with bland, medium dark brown hair.. it looked bad. He'd lost something.. He didn't look memorable. He kinda looked like a Randy Orton carbon copy.. So definitely much better blonde.
Also, "FOLLOW THAT!" was brilliant.
Not much else to say, Evan Bourne is amazing, dude needs more matches. I would watch him job just to see that shooting star press.
But, I'm still confused.
Why am I confused? Well.. i'm confused as to what the "state of the WWE" address was... nothing was stated or addressed, except that we all have to thank Vince. Which is damn true.
Did anyone else notice Eve kinda grabbed that Bella's boob? Also while i'm on the divas, Melina is looking good. There's also a lot of butts being shoved in faces. Kelly Kelly looks a little too orange for my taste, I'll tick with Melina. Interesting commentary from King tonight during the Divas match too.. little reminiscent of years past..
Ok back to Triple H and the state of the WWE. I definitely marked out just a little when JR's music hit. I'm such a huge fan of his, I think he's the greatest commentator in the history of the business. And he and King have the greatest chemistry. But it appears we're getting the DX-lite version of Triple H.. the funny guy who's just having fun, and poking fun at some people. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing at all. Could it be a slow build to a little more "attitude"? That's such a loaded word when you talk about wrestling, and the WWE. I wrote something on the wrestling.net.au forums about how I think there's some kind of happy medium between the Attitude Era (which pushed the sex stuff too far) and the PG Era (which doesn't appeal to the fans that remember the attitude era.) Hopefully this is the start of that.
Other than bringing JR back, what happened though? what did Trips talk about? John Morrison wasn't really a big surprise, we'd seen promos for his return last week on Raw.
So what happened? He talked with R-Truth and his friends? .. Incidentally, R-Truth had the moment of the night.. "Man... you crazy!.. You're talking to people that don't exist!"... But what happened?...
Zack Ryder was on RAW!! Finally! looks like CM Punk had 2 out of 3 questions answered. Let's hope it becomes a regular thing. WWWYKI
I'm not even going to talk about Michael Cole. I HATE this gimmick of Cole as the heel. It was bad when it started. It was really bad at Wrestlemania. Now.. it's not worth mentioning.
So I guess onto the real topic at hand. Cena being the what.. 11 time champion now? Did they put the belt back on Cena too quickly? Yes, if you're going with the plans that everyone thought would happen. But, what about this? What if the WWE have a different plan, one that we fans haven't thought of? I tend to think this is all leading to something really massive. And remember, there were reports last week of something big being in the cards for Mysterio. Triple Threat to declare the undisputed WWE champion maybe? Who knows.
Everyone is really quick to jump on the wwe it seems. Oh you brought back Punk too quickly. Maybe for what YOU though was going to happen yes. But, let's look at how they brought him back. Different entrance music for one thing. For those that don't know, he used Cult of Personality in ROH for a time. That song is totally fitting right now. It gives a different feeling when he comes out, it's a different Punk. Weirdly, even though the song isn't as heavy, he has more attitude with that song.
Now don't get me wrong, I agree that this wasn't done the right way. I LOVE that music, but I would've had it appear that Raw was ending, ie Cena's music stops.. he starts making his way out of the ring.. and then you hear, Via a megaphone "I have something to say about all this"... and Punk appears either from the side of the entrance ramp, or in the crowd somewhere. Now we kinda know he's back on the roster, and you lose that whole rogue champion thing, at least for now. We will have to wait and see. But having him come out of the stage entrance with music, with his WWE shirt on.. I don't think it kills the angle.. it could be HHH doing what's right for the business.. I think it sets up a Champion vs Champion match at Summerslam.
I'm not going to sit here and say I know more than other people who have written articles and columns about this, clearly I don't. But I think people need to step back and instead of damning the WWE for not going in a certain direction, try to see it from a different perspective. Sure, having the belt off of wwe would have sold the "I left with your title" angle, but maybe that was never the plan.. maybe Punk and HHH were in cahoots. It was all a grand scheme for Trips to take control of the company... who knows? Do i think Punk could have been brought back slightly differently? Yes. Was it too soon? Not if you want a match at Summerslam. Which the WWE does. It's their 2nd biggest Pay Per view. Why wouldn't they want their biggest star right now on that card?
Let me also say this. John Cena played that perfectly. The confusion... "that's not Alberto...".. to "Welcome back" to Punk.. then his reaction when Punk got a massive pop for holding his "real" championship up. John Cena is the top guy for a reason. He deserves respect. I have a massive amount of respect for him. You should too.
That's about it, I feel a more specific blog post forming in my head about something, but i'm not sure what.. stay tuned, hopefully it will materialise and form and then get written in the next few days.
Oh, and if you want to know how big CM Punk is right now.. I had a friend who has never watched wrestling and really didn't know the first thing about it ask me "who's this CM Punk guy I keep hearing about" last week. Austin 3:16.. meet CM Punk.. the voice of the voiceless.
What's it like to me be? You will never, ever know!
Follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece ... and remember.. #CenaIsBeets (That's for you @CouchPirateJake)
July 23, 2011
Totally not-that-good at-anything.. or TNA
Hello again, it is I, the armchair mouthpiece, truthfacts in hand, ready to spill some knowledge, all over this blog.
Ok so TNA... Total Nonstop Action.. Impact Wrestling.. where wrestling matters... I like the wrestling matters thing personally, but .. it almost seems like while wrestling matters, talent doesn't. Sure, there are talented guys on that roster, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe (when he makes an effort), Kazarian, Beer Money etc.. but who is the focus of iMPACT Wrestling on? As usual when he's involved, Hulk Hogan. Everything centres around Hogan, and Immortal.. who.. I mean I haven't been watching a lot of TNA lately, mainly because of this.. but from what i can tell right now.. Immortal is Hogan (who doesn't wrestle), Bischoff (who doesn't wrestle).. Abyss, Anderson, Gunner (did i miss the push or something?), and Bully Ray.. Oh and Jarrett, but he was in mexico or something?
Now it seems like a decent sized group, but .. I mean a couple of months ago wasn't there Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy (...), Murphy, Ric Flair (who i'll get to in a minute).. i'm sure there were more people involved in it. It just feels like as the group has gotten smaller it's lost it's momentum, and the angle is just dragging on to what is apparently going to be a Hulk Hogan face turn. Now, is Bischoff going to turn too? Coz i don't see that happening honestly, but I also know that I wouldn't believe Hogan would turn on Bischoff, being that they've been business partners for what.. 10+ years? No storyline that TNA can come up with will make it believable that Hogan and Bischoff will part ways. Also, I'm not interested in seeing Hogan on TV anymore, like, the gimmick is kinda done.. sure Hulkamania will never die and he'll always get that pop, and always be "Hulk Hogan".. but the business, from what i can see, has changed a lot since he was really "the hulk".. remember that match he had with Shawn Michaels at Summerslam? me either, but what i do remember is Shawn hamming it up like crazy and overselling to the point of it being funny. Great work on that Shawn by the way, absolutely loved it.
So what about isntead of it being the same guys in the title picture for what.. the last ... i don't know 4 or 5 months?... throw someone else up there.. just for kicks if nothing else.. Angle vs Sting could be a good match, lets face it, Angle is the man. But, it kinda feels a little WCW, where are the new stars being pushed into the main event slot?.. Sure, Beer Money have the Tag Team Titles. Tag Team wrestling actually means something in TNA. But it's not on the same level as the World title. Having said that, I'm not sure if there are any new stars who are ready to be pushed into the main event level.. he's not a new star, but a lot of people are mentioning Bobby Roode, I can see that. But what happens to Storm?.. he's too good to be the "janetty".. I just don't know if he can be a single's success.. the other problem with TNA is they don't have a mid-card title.. sure there's the TV title, but it's not exactly being defended or involved in any serious way. I love what Eric Young is doing though. Personally I don't think he needs the TV title, I think it would be funnier if he just used the old world title belt, and "defended" that. If they used the TV title properly, it could be a launching pad, like the Intercontinental or US titles are.
So who else on the roster is ready? What about Matt Morgan? I like him, but I don't really buy him as "that guy".. something doesn't click, but it could work because of his size. What about Kazarian?.. that, i think, could also work. I also think that Sabin has the potential to be in that main event level. I can hear the arguments .. he's a smaller guy.. Shawn Michaels is a smaller guy. Sting isn't a big guy.. AJ isn't a big guy. Now what about Ric Flair?
You read that right.. I saw an article today with Ric Flair saying he's going to be challenging for the World Heavyweight title after Hardcore Justice (i hate that they're using that name by the way). To quote Zack Ryder.. Are you serious bro? .... Ric Flair is challenging for the Title? What the hell is going on? I really hope it's not going to happen, because A: No-one has seen him on tv for a while... B: He doesn't need it, and it would do nothing for the company.. and C: you're too damn old Ric! Seriously, I love Ric Flair, I respect the hell out of him and what he's done. But it's a dumb move to make this Ric Flair your champion. His matches these days aren't lets say.. up to the standard of even 10 years ago.. he doesn't look like a champion anymore, he looks like a manager.. and I personally only understand about 50% of what he says on the mic nowadays.
I agree with what a lot of people are saying, Ric has damaged his legacy by going to TNA, and damaged it further by actually wrestling again. That match at Wrestlemania 24 with Shawn, was amazing. It was the greatest way to end a career you could ever imagine... and that next night on Raw.. amazing. Hell, Undertaker came out and BROKE CHARACTER! That never happens! And then just a short while later, he's back on worldwide Tv wrestling again like it never happened? Not cool. So please TNA... don't put the belt on Flair.
The other thing I want to mention is the Women's division.. the Knockouts. Much better name than Divas first of all. Implies much less attitude, yet the knockouts have more of a right to have an attitude, because... well they can wrestle. Angelina Love, Velvet Skye, Mickie James, Tara, Sarita, Winter (i think she can wrestle, I haven't seen her in a match for a while).. All these women are amazing athletes. I actually enjoy watching the women's matches on Impact, wheras on Raw or smackdown I do something more interesting like trim my fingernails, sometimes my nose hair on a longer match. There are exceptions of course with WWE, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim (if she's ever used).. umm.. Oh that AJ girl from NXT was pretty good i think.. But TNA's knockouts are far and away the best womens division going. My only problem is since Bishcoff and Hogan came along, we're seeing less diversity in the division. Remember a few years ago...Roxxi, Awesome Kong, Taylor Wilde, ODB, Alissa Flash, Hamada... I know ODB has been on Tv recently, but they're going with the "no contract" angle so that's why I included her. Now that was a strong womens division. Now it's still good, but a little ... eh...seen it already. Except Velvet, i never get tired of seeing her!
So I think that's about all I wanted to say... I'm not going to go off on a rant and say "they should get rid of hogan and bischoff" or "fire russo"..... Personally i think their product was better before Hogan.. I still remember watching that first Impact, he and Bischoff are standing in a 4 sided ring getting booed, and Hogan said something about that 6-sided ring not being any good ( can't remember the exact words).. but that right there was the first clue that this wasn't really all about TNA, it was about making TNA TNHogAn.. Also the X division was a lot more prevalent before Hogan and Bischoff.. I just hope that Destination X this year wasn't their way of saying "ok we gave you this whole pay per view of X division, now you fans can't complain when we don't do any x division stuff".. that would be terrible, but also not unexpected. Bischoff...
And while i think of it.. losing Jay Lethal is a massive blow to them, that guy is awesome! And if they don't sign Low-Ki, there is definitely something wrong in the "office"...
So lets hope that TNA can become true competition, because that would make everything better.
That's it, that's all i've got for now, hope you enjoyed it, leave a comment if you've got something to say, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece, and keep reading!
What's it like to be me? You.. will never, ever know.
Ok so TNA... Total Nonstop Action.. Impact Wrestling.. where wrestling matters... I like the wrestling matters thing personally, but .. it almost seems like while wrestling matters, talent doesn't. Sure, there are talented guys on that roster, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe (when he makes an effort), Kazarian, Beer Money etc.. but who is the focus of iMPACT Wrestling on? As usual when he's involved, Hulk Hogan. Everything centres around Hogan, and Immortal.. who.. I mean I haven't been watching a lot of TNA lately, mainly because of this.. but from what i can tell right now.. Immortal is Hogan (who doesn't wrestle), Bischoff (who doesn't wrestle).. Abyss, Anderson, Gunner (did i miss the push or something?), and Bully Ray.. Oh and Jarrett, but he was in mexico or something?
Now it seems like a decent sized group, but .. I mean a couple of months ago wasn't there Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy (...), Murphy, Ric Flair (who i'll get to in a minute).. i'm sure there were more people involved in it. It just feels like as the group has gotten smaller it's lost it's momentum, and the angle is just dragging on to what is apparently going to be a Hulk Hogan face turn. Now, is Bischoff going to turn too? Coz i don't see that happening honestly, but I also know that I wouldn't believe Hogan would turn on Bischoff, being that they've been business partners for what.. 10+ years? No storyline that TNA can come up with will make it believable that Hogan and Bischoff will part ways. Also, I'm not interested in seeing Hogan on TV anymore, like, the gimmick is kinda done.. sure Hulkamania will never die and he'll always get that pop, and always be "Hulk Hogan".. but the business, from what i can see, has changed a lot since he was really "the hulk".. remember that match he had with Shawn Michaels at Summerslam? me either, but what i do remember is Shawn hamming it up like crazy and overselling to the point of it being funny. Great work on that Shawn by the way, absolutely loved it.
So what about isntead of it being the same guys in the title picture for what.. the last ... i don't know 4 or 5 months?... throw someone else up there.. just for kicks if nothing else.. Angle vs Sting could be a good match, lets face it, Angle is the man. But, it kinda feels a little WCW, where are the new stars being pushed into the main event slot?.. Sure, Beer Money have the Tag Team Titles. Tag Team wrestling actually means something in TNA. But it's not on the same level as the World title. Having said that, I'm not sure if there are any new stars who are ready to be pushed into the main event level.. he's not a new star, but a lot of people are mentioning Bobby Roode, I can see that. But what happens to Storm?.. he's too good to be the "janetty".. I just don't know if he can be a single's success.. the other problem with TNA is they don't have a mid-card title.. sure there's the TV title, but it's not exactly being defended or involved in any serious way. I love what Eric Young is doing though. Personally I don't think he needs the TV title, I think it would be funnier if he just used the old world title belt, and "defended" that. If they used the TV title properly, it could be a launching pad, like the Intercontinental or US titles are.
So who else on the roster is ready? What about Matt Morgan? I like him, but I don't really buy him as "that guy".. something doesn't click, but it could work because of his size. What about Kazarian?.. that, i think, could also work. I also think that Sabin has the potential to be in that main event level. I can hear the arguments .. he's a smaller guy.. Shawn Michaels is a smaller guy. Sting isn't a big guy.. AJ isn't a big guy. Now what about Ric Flair?
You read that right.. I saw an article today with Ric Flair saying he's going to be challenging for the World Heavyweight title after Hardcore Justice (i hate that they're using that name by the way). To quote Zack Ryder.. Are you serious bro? .... Ric Flair is challenging for the Title? What the hell is going on? I really hope it's not going to happen, because A: No-one has seen him on tv for a while... B: He doesn't need it, and it would do nothing for the company.. and C: you're too damn old Ric! Seriously, I love Ric Flair, I respect the hell out of him and what he's done. But it's a dumb move to make this Ric Flair your champion. His matches these days aren't lets say.. up to the standard of even 10 years ago.. he doesn't look like a champion anymore, he looks like a manager.. and I personally only understand about 50% of what he says on the mic nowadays.
I agree with what a lot of people are saying, Ric has damaged his legacy by going to TNA, and damaged it further by actually wrestling again. That match at Wrestlemania 24 with Shawn, was amazing. It was the greatest way to end a career you could ever imagine... and that next night on Raw.. amazing. Hell, Undertaker came out and BROKE CHARACTER! That never happens! And then just a short while later, he's back on worldwide Tv wrestling again like it never happened? Not cool. So please TNA... don't put the belt on Flair.
The other thing I want to mention is the Women's division.. the Knockouts. Much better name than Divas first of all. Implies much less attitude, yet the knockouts have more of a right to have an attitude, because... well they can wrestle. Angelina Love, Velvet Skye, Mickie James, Tara, Sarita, Winter (i think she can wrestle, I haven't seen her in a match for a while).. All these women are amazing athletes. I actually enjoy watching the women's matches on Impact, wheras on Raw or smackdown I do something more interesting like trim my fingernails, sometimes my nose hair on a longer match. There are exceptions of course with WWE, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim (if she's ever used).. umm.. Oh that AJ girl from NXT was pretty good i think.. But TNA's knockouts are far and away the best womens division going. My only problem is since Bishcoff and Hogan came along, we're seeing less diversity in the division. Remember a few years ago...Roxxi, Awesome Kong, Taylor Wilde, ODB, Alissa Flash, Hamada... I know ODB has been on Tv recently, but they're going with the "no contract" angle so that's why I included her. Now that was a strong womens division. Now it's still good, but a little ... eh...seen it already. Except Velvet, i never get tired of seeing her!
So I think that's about all I wanted to say... I'm not going to go off on a rant and say "they should get rid of hogan and bischoff" or "fire russo"..... Personally i think their product was better before Hogan.. I still remember watching that first Impact, he and Bischoff are standing in a 4 sided ring getting booed, and Hogan said something about that 6-sided ring not being any good ( can't remember the exact words).. but that right there was the first clue that this wasn't really all about TNA, it was about making TNA TNHogAn.. Also the X division was a lot more prevalent before Hogan and Bischoff.. I just hope that Destination X this year wasn't their way of saying "ok we gave you this whole pay per view of X division, now you fans can't complain when we don't do any x division stuff".. that would be terrible, but also not unexpected. Bischoff...
And while i think of it.. losing Jay Lethal is a massive blow to them, that guy is awesome! And if they don't sign Low-Ki, there is definitely something wrong in the "office"...
So lets hope that TNA can become true competition, because that would make everything better.
That's it, that's all i've got for now, hope you enjoyed it, leave a comment if you've got something to say, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece, and keep reading!
What's it like to be me? You.. will never, ever know.
July 20, 2011
Hey hey hey... good... bye?
Welcome to another installment of truthfacts, from me, the Armchair Mouthpiece. I have been posting fairly regularly, almost daily since i began this, only a few days ago, but i'm thinking that eventually this might become maybe a once or twice a week thing, with the exception of doing little reviews of pay per views that i watch. I'm not going to do detailed reviews of Raw, Smackdown, or iMPACT every week, I feel like there's enough places for people to find that kind of thing already. But what I do plan on doing is talking about the parts that interest me the most, and my thoughts on where some of the bigger angles are going. I do plan on writing a post about TNA very soon, but considering that the WWE is, let's face it, amazing at the moment, I'm focusing on that. I will just say however, I love the evolution of Sting's character.
So Monday night Raw this week, at least for me, was the most anticipated show I can remember in years.. maybe ever. Would CM Punk be there? What would they be doing? Would Cena be "fired"?.. I have to say first off, I kinda skimmed through the matches on Raw this week, though I did read that they were excellent. But for me, this storyline is the draw. I assumed Raw would start with Vince McMahon, though as soon as I heard him not say CM Punk, I began to get a little dis-heartened. Then he talked about the tournament to declare a new WWE champion.. to me this is a good way to keep people interested, in the sense of "will Punk show up and declare himself the "real" champion?".. but, something about this RAW felt like they were done with the Punk side of the angle..which if that's true, is a shame, because he is the best right now. I really like that Cena is showing attitude though. But, it makes sense not to turn him heel. They're building a match a year in advance. Cena get's booed already, but part of what is going to make Rock/Cena great, is the crowd. "Let's go Cena/Let's go Rocky!".. You turn Cena heel, possibly the "cena sucks" fans, change their mind.. and those "cena sucks" fans, are the fans that will chant "Rocky, rocky!".. so they're left stuck in the middle. It makes sense to keep Cena in this face persona for now.
So the other part of Raw that i want to write about (obviously) is the final segment. Now, living in Australia, we get Raw roughly around a day and a half later than the USA. Plenty of time to read the results. I chose not to do that this week, I wanted to be truly surprised. And wow, I was definitely surprised. Cena standing up to McMahon.. "I will walk on someone else's show and keep doing this BROTHER!".. nicely said, I wasn't expecting them to mention TNA in any way at all. It was good. It was unexpected.
Speaking of unexpected, I wonder how many people thought Cena would get "fired"... I myself, was of the opinion that someone would interrupt, I thought what could happen, especially after watching Rey's reaction to Vince postponing the championship match, maybe a group of wrestlers would walk out to the stage, and go with the whole "If you fire Cena, then we all quit" angle. I thought maybe we'd hear from Punk. To be honest, after thinking about this for a day or so, I am glad we didn't hear from Punk. It's not like he's disappeared, just follo him on twitter @CMPunk to see what he's doing. Great stuff by the way Punk, love the belt in the fridge.
What i REALLY didn't expect, was to see Triple H. That music hit, and I just went "holy sh*t!" this was at 4 in the morning though so it was more of a whisper. What's he going to say? Where's this going? Is he coming down as a son?.. It was really intruiging, and most importantly, it made me want to keep watching. It made Raw just as interesting as last week, just as must-see, even though there was no CM Punk.
HHH was awesome. Seriously, put him in a good movie, people might just be impressed with his acting. I know X-Pac commented on it saying that this was all real, but C'mon.. everyone should remember that Pac works for WWE. HHH using the kliq to further an angle? Of course that'd happen!
So now we have HHH in charge.. is he going to be a good boss? a bad boss? What does it all mean for Cena? Is HHH going to be able to "bring Punk back" when Vince couldn't? This could be the biggest angle for a really long time.. it's exciting, it's different, it feels "real".. I don't care what anyone says, those tears from both HHH and Vince sold this angle amazingly well. Seriously, go back, and watch when Vince is left in the ring to close the show. The crowd goes from singing Hey hey hey, goodbye.. to chanting "thank you Vince" and applauding him. To me that says, they bought it. Hell, I bought it. I mean, when have we ever seen Vince McMahon with tears in his eyes before for an angle? I would argue never. Sure, he's mostly been the heel, but still.. emotion captures people, and that's what has been missing from wrestling I think for a while.
I'm not saying there's no passion for what they're doing, clearly the wrestlers are passionate about what they do, but storylines with Emotion. And i don't just mean crying. Any kind of emotion. that's what we saw from Punk, honestly, that's what we see from John Cena. When you see him say "I love this".. on this week's raw.. you can feel it. It's real. It's true. It's not just a line on a script.
So to finish up, I think that we won't see CM Punk on tv for a while now, I kinda hope i'm wrong, because I can see an angle with 2 world champions, akin to when Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon were both the Intercontinental Champions. But Punk would come back as a good guy, I think that's pretty obvious, so they'd have to be careful who has the belt if and when that were to happen. I like the idea that i read, that maybe we'll get promos or vignettes of Punk, in the style of the NWO.. "the following message is brought to you by CM Punk" etc.. but with the new angle of HHH taking over, maybe the CM Punk stuff was a launching pad for this much bigger angle of the new Era in the WWE.. maybe with some more .. attitude?
Well that's it, Unless something major happens, my next post is going to be about TNA.
Oh before i go.. Sin Cara, suspended for drugs? ... way to kill your nearly dead push buddy!... See ya in TNA within a year I think.
So that's it, hope you enjoyed reading, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece ... leave a comment if you have something to say.
What's it like to be me? You will never, ever know!
So Monday night Raw this week, at least for me, was the most anticipated show I can remember in years.. maybe ever. Would CM Punk be there? What would they be doing? Would Cena be "fired"?.. I have to say first off, I kinda skimmed through the matches on Raw this week, though I did read that they were excellent. But for me, this storyline is the draw. I assumed Raw would start with Vince McMahon, though as soon as I heard him not say CM Punk, I began to get a little dis-heartened. Then he talked about the tournament to declare a new WWE champion.. to me this is a good way to keep people interested, in the sense of "will Punk show up and declare himself the "real" champion?".. but, something about this RAW felt like they were done with the Punk side of the angle..which if that's true, is a shame, because he is the best right now. I really like that Cena is showing attitude though. But, it makes sense not to turn him heel. They're building a match a year in advance. Cena get's booed already, but part of what is going to make Rock/Cena great, is the crowd. "Let's go Cena/Let's go Rocky!".. You turn Cena heel, possibly the "cena sucks" fans, change their mind.. and those "cena sucks" fans, are the fans that will chant "Rocky, rocky!".. so they're left stuck in the middle. It makes sense to keep Cena in this face persona for now.
So the other part of Raw that i want to write about (obviously) is the final segment. Now, living in Australia, we get Raw roughly around a day and a half later than the USA. Plenty of time to read the results. I chose not to do that this week, I wanted to be truly surprised. And wow, I was definitely surprised. Cena standing up to McMahon.. "I will walk on someone else's show and keep doing this BROTHER!".. nicely said, I wasn't expecting them to mention TNA in any way at all. It was good. It was unexpected.
Speaking of unexpected, I wonder how many people thought Cena would get "fired"... I myself, was of the opinion that someone would interrupt, I thought what could happen, especially after watching Rey's reaction to Vince postponing the championship match, maybe a group of wrestlers would walk out to the stage, and go with the whole "If you fire Cena, then we all quit" angle. I thought maybe we'd hear from Punk. To be honest, after thinking about this for a day or so, I am glad we didn't hear from Punk. It's not like he's disappeared, just follo him on twitter @CMPunk to see what he's doing. Great stuff by the way Punk, love the belt in the fridge.
What i REALLY didn't expect, was to see Triple H. That music hit, and I just went "holy sh*t!" this was at 4 in the morning though so it was more of a whisper. What's he going to say? Where's this going? Is he coming down as a son?.. It was really intruiging, and most importantly, it made me want to keep watching. It made Raw just as interesting as last week, just as must-see, even though there was no CM Punk.
HHH was awesome. Seriously, put him in a good movie, people might just be impressed with his acting. I know X-Pac commented on it saying that this was all real, but C'mon.. everyone should remember that Pac works for WWE. HHH using the kliq to further an angle? Of course that'd happen!
So now we have HHH in charge.. is he going to be a good boss? a bad boss? What does it all mean for Cena? Is HHH going to be able to "bring Punk back" when Vince couldn't? This could be the biggest angle for a really long time.. it's exciting, it's different, it feels "real".. I don't care what anyone says, those tears from both HHH and Vince sold this angle amazingly well. Seriously, go back, and watch when Vince is left in the ring to close the show. The crowd goes from singing Hey hey hey, goodbye.. to chanting "thank you Vince" and applauding him. To me that says, they bought it. Hell, I bought it. I mean, when have we ever seen Vince McMahon with tears in his eyes before for an angle? I would argue never. Sure, he's mostly been the heel, but still.. emotion captures people, and that's what has been missing from wrestling I think for a while.
I'm not saying there's no passion for what they're doing, clearly the wrestlers are passionate about what they do, but storylines with Emotion. And i don't just mean crying. Any kind of emotion. that's what we saw from Punk, honestly, that's what we see from John Cena. When you see him say "I love this".. on this week's raw.. you can feel it. It's real. It's true. It's not just a line on a script.
So to finish up, I think that we won't see CM Punk on tv for a while now, I kinda hope i'm wrong, because I can see an angle with 2 world champions, akin to when Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon were both the Intercontinental Champions. But Punk would come back as a good guy, I think that's pretty obvious, so they'd have to be careful who has the belt if and when that were to happen. I like the idea that i read, that maybe we'll get promos or vignettes of Punk, in the style of the NWO.. "the following message is brought to you by CM Punk" etc.. but with the new angle of HHH taking over, maybe the CM Punk stuff was a launching pad for this much bigger angle of the new Era in the WWE.. maybe with some more .. attitude?
Well that's it, Unless something major happens, my next post is going to be about TNA.
Oh before i go.. Sin Cara, suspended for drugs? ... way to kill your nearly dead push buddy!... See ya in TNA within a year I think.
So that's it, hope you enjoyed reading, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece ... leave a comment if you have something to say.
What's it like to be me? You will never, ever know!
July 19, 2011
Let me tell ya something...
It's me again, the armchair mouthpiece, back to sling you some more written truthfacts from the couch of creativeness.
Ok so I did say my next post would not be about the whole CM Punk/Cena/McMahon situation, and I meant it. So what I thought i'd do is give you a little history lesson, namely how I became a fan, and why I feel like I can actually write this blog, and not come off like some huckster, who doesn't know what he's talking about.
I also thought I might start doing some random top 10 lists, a few ideas I have include the obvious top 10 wrestlers and top 10 matches.. but I thought some things like top 10 sick bumps, top 10 fails, maybe top 10 one liners could be interesting as well. So if anyone wants to comment on wether or not that would be good, or not, please feel free.
So, as far as my history goes, I mentioned this in my first post, so forgive me for repeating myself. I started watching wrestling right around 1997-98. I can't remember exactly when, could have been slightly earlier in fact. One of the first matches I can remember seeing involved Sting, but it was before the "Crow" transformation, he still had his blonde hair and coloured face-paint, however it could have been a highlight package or something. I used to visit my father every couple of months or so, and at the time he had Optus Cable TV, which carried TNT, and therefore WCW Monday Nitro. So originally, as a teenager, I was a WCW guy. I saw a little WWF stuff late at night on tv, I even remember thinking "this is stupid, why is he bleeding?"... Oh to be young again..
Anyway the first main story I remember, as many who watched WCW around that time was the NWO, and in turn the NWO wolfpack. I became a big fan of Kevin Nash, Sting, Juventud Guerrera, Raven, and I remember the commentary of Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan especially. I remember watching Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio, Alex Wright, Glacier(!), Ric Flair.. Also i remember disliking Eric Bischoff right from the get go. Not much has changed in 13 years. But, I was still under the impression this was all completely "real", and was just a fan of the matches, i suppose not really a "smark" or whatever we're supposed to be called.
I got a bit older, my father moved to a different place and didn't have cable, so from 1999 or so onwards, no more wrestling for me. That is until 2003. I don't remember exactly why I did this, but I was in a local video rental store, and they had a bunch of WWE and WWF videos. not dvds, videos. The first ones I hired were Wrestlemania XII, and Judgement Day 2003. So it must have been around July/August 2003. I watched Wrestlemania XII, and immediately I was hooked again. Undertaker vs. Diesel, Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart, even Ultimate Warrior vs HHH (clearly i still wasn't that knowledgable)... Instantly I was a Shawn Michaels fan. I liked Undertaker, but didn't know a lot about him. That would change very quickly.
Then I popped in Judgement Day 2003, I can remember watching that video so vividly.. The banter between Austin and Bischoff (who i recognised of course) was amazing. I think what drew me to hiring that particular video was the 2 main event matches, HHH vs Kevin Nash, and Big Show (or, as i knew him.. The Giant) vs Brock Lesnar in a stretcher match. Nash powerbombing HHH through the announcer's table is still one of my favourite memories.
So that was where my current love of wrestling began. I hired just about every single video they had there, they had some pay per views from 1998, Unforgiven i think was one, with the Inferno Match between Undertaker and Kane.. seeing that side of Undertaker was what got me really interested in him, and it was around the same time that he'd been buried alive at the survivor series of 2003, and there were all those signs of his return as the Deadman.
So that was 2003/2004. I started buying dvds, reading histories, learning as much as I could about everything to do with wrestling, the backstage stuff (as much as you can really), watching Shawn Michaels interviews helped, all the interviews I've seen him give on dvd's and such, he speaks truthfully, talking about "we talked about what we could do with the cell".. basically no kayfabe with him.
I got cable tv in 2005, in october.. about a month before Eddie died. I feel really lucky that I got it when I did, because I was able to see Eddie's last televised match.. and the tribute RAW.
So since then, i've wathced a lot of ECW, and then a couple of years ago when Foxtel started broadcasting Impact, started watching TNA. And that in turn led to buying a whole bunch of TNA dvds from overseas, namely the older ones not available here in australia. Watching AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, Sabin, Shelley, Petey Williams.. That was a whole extra level of amazing ability that i'd not seen before. And it was something different, and especially in the early days, i think something better than "the norm".
And that's about it as far as watching history.. as far as why I feel like I have valid opinions, why my opinions should be read by others.. well, whenever i get passionate about something, I learn as much about it as I can.. a "student of the game" without being in the game, if you will. A few years ago i bought the Anthologies that the WWE released, the wrestlmanias, the summerslams, the Royal Rumbles (my favourite event by the way).. and watching all of those, which I have done.. in order even, has really helped me see the change in style from the mid 80s to today, from the new generation, the attitude era.. and things like being able to see legends like Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker arrive, and mature and mould and shape their characters, and constantly change.. it's all education. I'm not saying i'm an expert, I like to think I know a bit about what makes a match good, who's good, who's overrated.. and most importantly, I have an opinion that is my own, I don't just jump on someone else's bandwagon.. like the "cena sucks" bandwagon, Cena does not suck. You watch his early matches, before he became the Rapper. Watch his work from MITB (i know, i'm talking about it again).. Watch Wrestlemania 22 and 23.
So that's about it. Nothing much else to say, i kinda like this catchphrase I used last time, I think i'll stick with it, as it's kind of appropriate for my life. I hope this wasn't too boring or anything.. in the meantime, I can't wait for RAW tomorrow. Expect postings.
What's it like to be me? You will never, ever know!
July 18, 2011
Money. In the Bank, and in Punk.
Wow!
I figure that's the best way to start a post about the best PPV of the year. For me i always have to sit for a while and just think about what i've just seen in order to figure out how good/bad i thought it was. I'm not one for instantly claiming "best match ever" or anything like that. So it's about 40 mins since Money in the Bank ended, and i've been sitting here reading tweets, and thinking about what i just spent 3 hours watching. I'll do a match by match rundown in a minute, but for now, after thinking about it for a while, it's pretty clear to me that this was the best pay per view of the year, including Destination X (great old school x division tna style), the Rumble, and even Wrestlemania. All the big spots were great, huge risks, little bit of creativity shown finally, and of course the main event. Personal highlights (without spoiling anything, that comes later) were Cena nailing Laurinitis (who saw that coming, seriously?) Airbourne from the ladder, Rey being Unmasked, and Randy Orton's crazy facial expressions.
Ok onto the match by match. Oh before i begin, i found it hilarious that this violent pay per view was sponsored by Skittles. Also, anyone else notice that Cena's shirts over the last couple of years have been all the colours of the skittle rainbow?
SPOILER ALERT!
Smackdown Money in the Bank match.
Ok, so the first thing i noticed is Sin Cara on pay per view. I haven't been watching smackdown, but from what i've been reading, he's been botching quite a bit.
Also, anyone else think Wade Barrett looks like Johnny Cash?
Ok the match was fairly good, don't remember a lot of the spots to be honest, probably because, as i said i haven't been watching Smackdown a lot recently. But I think Sin Cara did an awesome job, couple of high cross bodies, and that bump he took, with Sheamus Powerbombing him through the ladder was awesome. Cole on commentary was ridiculous, saying "did you see that steel ladder bend in half" when we could clearly see the WOODEN ladder splintered. Jeez..
Was impressed as usual with Kane, awesome Road Warriors tribute from him, and also the chokeslam on Sheamus onto the ladder was pretty awesome looking.
I was really (happily) surprised to see Daniel Bryan win. First thing that went through my mind was a flashback to the Royal Rumble from 2010, CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan for the first 2 minutes. I think Matt Striker said "The internet loves this matchup".. so i started thinking ... Punk vs Bryan cashing in MITB.. of course, i was wrong as we all know now.. But huge congratulations to Bryan, hope he isn't the first to cash it in and lose. And enough of Cole calling him a nerd, what .. michael cole is the epitome of "Jock"? Please.
7/10
Diva's Title match.. Kelly Kelly vs ... umm.. A Bella
Yeah... the one move that sums up this match for me was Kelly Kelly being shot into the ropes, and stopping to turn around when she hit them.
She won by the way. ... umm... don't really know how to score it. coz i didn't really watch much.
Big Show vs. Mark Henry
To be honest, i'm not really a big fan of super heavyweight vs super heavyweight matches, i think there's less story to be told. Having said that, Mark Henry is a beast! And the way that Show put him over was really cool, really made Henry look Badass.. it's one thing to throw a little guy over a table, but to slam Show twice in one match, and leave him laying flat.. it looks like WWE is really trying to push Henry hard, which is great. I hope i can get to the point of believing he's as bad as they want to make him.
I also want to applaud Big Show for the work post match, I think most of us these days are pretty sort of desensitised to injuries in the WWE, the first thought always being "it's a work".. Show had me second guessing that though. As they were heading to the back, I'm sure i heard the doctor say "was he supposed to do that?" .. little touches like that make it more interesting. Solid match. give it... 6.5/10
Was surprised to see John Laurinitis talking on camera with Mr. McMahon (that sure wasn't "Vince"), I always thought he was a behind the scenes guy. It made sense though with Punk using his name in that first promo.
Raw Money In The Bank Match.
Different start to this match with everyone holding a ladder.. was interesting, don't know if it really worked. Del Rio took the brunt of the shots, especially when he was on the floor and people were just throwing ladders (and at one point, Rey) onto him.
The obligatory high ladder spot was anything but standard. It's one thing to jump off a ladder, or to do a swanton, but a shooting star press off of a ladder? that was Holy SH*T moment for me. Well done to Evan Bourne, looked amazing. What i found interesting was Michael Cole (again) suggesting everyone start recording the pay per view.. i thought that was illegal? I know i can't record it using my cable box (which is a dvr).
R-Truth botched the see-saw ladder spot, which i'm surprised to see used at all after Joey mercury had his face ripped off by one. Still one of the sickest spots ever.
Double Hurricanrana (or Hurricane-rana.. thankyou Booker T) off of the ladders was great, looked awesome, and really well synchronized.
The finish was awesome! Everyone predicted Del Rio to go over, it made sense really. But the unmasking of Rey Mysterio was definitely unpredictable, a great spot, it would be awesome to see some kind of program with Rey having to stay unmasked, or fighting for his mask or soemthing like that, but i'm pretty sure it was just a one time thing. All the ladders crashing into Rey looked really crazy too.
Del Rio is kind of in no-man's land after the end of the PPV, but who knows what Raw will bring tomorrow?
7.5/10
Orton vs Christian
Once again, having not watched Smackdown a lot I didn't know a ton of the backstory going on here, I knew Christian had turned heel again though. The stipulation for this match seemed to make it almost a certainty to me that Orton would retain.
Was a really solid match i thought, good story of Christian trying to goad Randy into snapping, liked the back and forth. Loved the finish, I can totally buy Randy (or anyone) snapping if someone had spit right into their mouth.. gross. Really loved the post match, Orton's facial expressions were brilliant, and the RKO's on the table were sick.
Christian wins by DQ (via awesome kick in the nuts) and becomes the new World Heavyweight Champion
7.5/10
Oh before i get onto the main event, am I the only one who thinks that Randy Orton looks just a bit like the Giant Gonzales from 1993 with that beard? All he needs is the airbrushed muscle suit with the fake fur i reckon!
Ok onto the main event.. where do I begin? I could start by saying the crowd was the loudest i've heard since.. since i can remember really.. i don't know if i've heard a louder reaction for anyone. And wow did Cena get booed.. last time it was that hostile was the One Night Stand in 2006. I wish he'd get angry at them, like "how can you boo me? he's the one leaving! F**K You!". but no, we just get stone-faced Cena. It's not boring. it was boring in 2007. Now it's just annoying. Having said that, Cena is great. And he gets a reaction wherever he goes. That's not something everyone can do.
It was awesome to see Colt Cabana at ringside. For a while there i was convinced he'd be involved in the finish somehow.
The match was great. Better than great really. Great story, loved the little parts where Punk acknowledged the crowd.. for example..
Crowd: You can't wrestle (clap clap, clap clap clap) You can't wrestle (clap clap, clap clap clap)
Punk: *points at himself* Me? or *points at Cena* Him?
Crowd: Him!
Punk: *nods*
Also, I should point out for those "cena only has 5 moves" folks, I saw something new from Cena tonight. Maybe he listened to Chavo's tweets? He gave us an Elbow Drop, an Abdominal Stretch, that Sidebuster/sidewalk slam from his shoulders, and it wasn't the standard super-cena comeback either. Well done Cena. Seriously, I see all these people posting negative things about him, but he works like crazy, he's proven himself, and if you don't believe me, find the match he had with HBK the night after Wrestlemania 23. And I believed his knee was truly hurting, did anyone else see Punk land ribs first right on his knee? looked painful.
My favourite part of this match, was Mr.Mcmahon coming out to the ramp with John Laurinitis, and going for the screwjob finish. Sending Laurinitis down to ringside to get the timekeeper to ring the bell.. and as he's running down there, Cena slides out of the ring and knocks him on his ass! I started thinking.. "i wonder how many fired wrestlers wish they could have done that?"... It looked a little stiff too! But awesome Cena character moment, saying "the best man is going to win this match"..
Great finish, Punk finally nailing the GTS and getting the 3 count. The ref's reaction was great, like he thought vince was going to kill him.. But the best part was McMahon, doing everything he can to make us feel like it's real, instead of going for a microphone, he went for a headset and spoke to the back, but it was a commentators headset so everyone watching could hear what he was saying.. "Get Alberto out here, cash it in!"
Del Rio comes running down to the ring, slides in, and gets his head kicked off by Punk! brilliant.
Punk jumps into his crowd, and leaves with the Title. Punk wins!
9/10 Definitely contender for match of the year (that i've seen)
So overall what did I think of the PPV? Well, I can sum it up in one word.. unpredictable. The WWE lately has been anything but unpredictable lately.. but that's all changed now. No-one is going to miss RAW tomorrow.. australians have to wait until wednesday.. except for less than legal means of watching of course. But it's must-see TV again. Will Punk make an unannounced appearance? Will we see a different belt? (please yes!).. Will Cena be fired? What happens to Dwayne then?
To sum up, great action, great spots in the Ladder matches, Amazing main event, and the best part, WWE did not screw it up! Lets hope this is an end to the PG only era. Sure, keep it kinda aimed towards kids, but give those who fondly remember the attitude era something to watch, as in KEEP THE PUNK ANGLE GOING (unless he's done.. )
Ok that's about it, next post i'm going to write will be about something other than CM punk, maybe TNA, maybe some of my favourite matches.. either way, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece
What's it like to be me? You will never, ever know!
I figure that's the best way to start a post about the best PPV of the year. For me i always have to sit for a while and just think about what i've just seen in order to figure out how good/bad i thought it was. I'm not one for instantly claiming "best match ever" or anything like that. So it's about 40 mins since Money in the Bank ended, and i've been sitting here reading tweets, and thinking about what i just spent 3 hours watching. I'll do a match by match rundown in a minute, but for now, after thinking about it for a while, it's pretty clear to me that this was the best pay per view of the year, including Destination X (great old school x division tna style), the Rumble, and even Wrestlemania. All the big spots were great, huge risks, little bit of creativity shown finally, and of course the main event. Personal highlights (without spoiling anything, that comes later) were Cena nailing Laurinitis (who saw that coming, seriously?) Airbourne from the ladder, Rey being Unmasked, and Randy Orton's crazy facial expressions.
Ok onto the match by match. Oh before i begin, i found it hilarious that this violent pay per view was sponsored by Skittles. Also, anyone else notice that Cena's shirts over the last couple of years have been all the colours of the skittle rainbow?
SPOILER ALERT!
Smackdown Money in the Bank match.
Ok, so the first thing i noticed is Sin Cara on pay per view. I haven't been watching smackdown, but from what i've been reading, he's been botching quite a bit.
Also, anyone else think Wade Barrett looks like Johnny Cash?
Ok the match was fairly good, don't remember a lot of the spots to be honest, probably because, as i said i haven't been watching Smackdown a lot recently. But I think Sin Cara did an awesome job, couple of high cross bodies, and that bump he took, with Sheamus Powerbombing him through the ladder was awesome. Cole on commentary was ridiculous, saying "did you see that steel ladder bend in half" when we could clearly see the WOODEN ladder splintered. Jeez..
Was impressed as usual with Kane, awesome Road Warriors tribute from him, and also the chokeslam on Sheamus onto the ladder was pretty awesome looking.
I was really (happily) surprised to see Daniel Bryan win. First thing that went through my mind was a flashback to the Royal Rumble from 2010, CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan for the first 2 minutes. I think Matt Striker said "The internet loves this matchup".. so i started thinking ... Punk vs Bryan cashing in MITB.. of course, i was wrong as we all know now.. But huge congratulations to Bryan, hope he isn't the first to cash it in and lose. And enough of Cole calling him a nerd, what .. michael cole is the epitome of "Jock"? Please.
7/10
Diva's Title match.. Kelly Kelly vs ... umm.. A Bella
Yeah... the one move that sums up this match for me was Kelly Kelly being shot into the ropes, and stopping to turn around when she hit them.
She won by the way. ... umm... don't really know how to score it. coz i didn't really watch much.
Big Show vs. Mark Henry
To be honest, i'm not really a big fan of super heavyweight vs super heavyweight matches, i think there's less story to be told. Having said that, Mark Henry is a beast! And the way that Show put him over was really cool, really made Henry look Badass.. it's one thing to throw a little guy over a table, but to slam Show twice in one match, and leave him laying flat.. it looks like WWE is really trying to push Henry hard, which is great. I hope i can get to the point of believing he's as bad as they want to make him.
I also want to applaud Big Show for the work post match, I think most of us these days are pretty sort of desensitised to injuries in the WWE, the first thought always being "it's a work".. Show had me second guessing that though. As they were heading to the back, I'm sure i heard the doctor say "was he supposed to do that?" .. little touches like that make it more interesting. Solid match. give it... 6.5/10
Was surprised to see John Laurinitis talking on camera with Mr. McMahon (that sure wasn't "Vince"), I always thought he was a behind the scenes guy. It made sense though with Punk using his name in that first promo.
Raw Money In The Bank Match.
Different start to this match with everyone holding a ladder.. was interesting, don't know if it really worked. Del Rio took the brunt of the shots, especially when he was on the floor and people were just throwing ladders (and at one point, Rey) onto him.
The obligatory high ladder spot was anything but standard. It's one thing to jump off a ladder, or to do a swanton, but a shooting star press off of a ladder? that was Holy SH*T moment for me. Well done to Evan Bourne, looked amazing. What i found interesting was Michael Cole (again) suggesting everyone start recording the pay per view.. i thought that was illegal? I know i can't record it using my cable box (which is a dvr).
R-Truth botched the see-saw ladder spot, which i'm surprised to see used at all after Joey mercury had his face ripped off by one. Still one of the sickest spots ever.
Double Hurricanrana (or Hurricane-rana.. thankyou Booker T) off of the ladders was great, looked awesome, and really well synchronized.
The finish was awesome! Everyone predicted Del Rio to go over, it made sense really. But the unmasking of Rey Mysterio was definitely unpredictable, a great spot, it would be awesome to see some kind of program with Rey having to stay unmasked, or fighting for his mask or soemthing like that, but i'm pretty sure it was just a one time thing. All the ladders crashing into Rey looked really crazy too.
Del Rio is kind of in no-man's land after the end of the PPV, but who knows what Raw will bring tomorrow?
7.5/10
Orton vs Christian
Once again, having not watched Smackdown a lot I didn't know a ton of the backstory going on here, I knew Christian had turned heel again though. The stipulation for this match seemed to make it almost a certainty to me that Orton would retain.
Was a really solid match i thought, good story of Christian trying to goad Randy into snapping, liked the back and forth. Loved the finish, I can totally buy Randy (or anyone) snapping if someone had spit right into their mouth.. gross. Really loved the post match, Orton's facial expressions were brilliant, and the RKO's on the table were sick.
Christian wins by DQ (via awesome kick in the nuts) and becomes the new World Heavyweight Champion
7.5/10
Oh before i get onto the main event, am I the only one who thinks that Randy Orton looks just a bit like the Giant Gonzales from 1993 with that beard? All he needs is the airbrushed muscle suit with the fake fur i reckon!
Ok onto the main event.. where do I begin? I could start by saying the crowd was the loudest i've heard since.. since i can remember really.. i don't know if i've heard a louder reaction for anyone. And wow did Cena get booed.. last time it was that hostile was the One Night Stand in 2006. I wish he'd get angry at them, like "how can you boo me? he's the one leaving! F**K You!". but no, we just get stone-faced Cena. It's not boring. it was boring in 2007. Now it's just annoying. Having said that, Cena is great. And he gets a reaction wherever he goes. That's not something everyone can do.
It was awesome to see Colt Cabana at ringside. For a while there i was convinced he'd be involved in the finish somehow.
The match was great. Better than great really. Great story, loved the little parts where Punk acknowledged the crowd.. for example..
Crowd: You can't wrestle (clap clap, clap clap clap) You can't wrestle (clap clap, clap clap clap)
Punk: *points at himself* Me? or *points at Cena* Him?
Crowd: Him!
Punk: *nods*
Also, I should point out for those "cena only has 5 moves" folks, I saw something new from Cena tonight. Maybe he listened to Chavo's tweets? He gave us an Elbow Drop, an Abdominal Stretch, that Sidebuster/sidewalk slam from his shoulders, and it wasn't the standard super-cena comeback either. Well done Cena. Seriously, I see all these people posting negative things about him, but he works like crazy, he's proven himself, and if you don't believe me, find the match he had with HBK the night after Wrestlemania 23. And I believed his knee was truly hurting, did anyone else see Punk land ribs first right on his knee? looked painful.
My favourite part of this match, was Mr.Mcmahon coming out to the ramp with John Laurinitis, and going for the screwjob finish. Sending Laurinitis down to ringside to get the timekeeper to ring the bell.. and as he's running down there, Cena slides out of the ring and knocks him on his ass! I started thinking.. "i wonder how many fired wrestlers wish they could have done that?"... It looked a little stiff too! But awesome Cena character moment, saying "the best man is going to win this match"..
Great finish, Punk finally nailing the GTS and getting the 3 count. The ref's reaction was great, like he thought vince was going to kill him.. But the best part was McMahon, doing everything he can to make us feel like it's real, instead of going for a microphone, he went for a headset and spoke to the back, but it was a commentators headset so everyone watching could hear what he was saying.. "Get Alberto out here, cash it in!"
Del Rio comes running down to the ring, slides in, and gets his head kicked off by Punk! brilliant.
Punk jumps into his crowd, and leaves with the Title. Punk wins!
9/10 Definitely contender for match of the year (that i've seen)
So overall what did I think of the PPV? Well, I can sum it up in one word.. unpredictable. The WWE lately has been anything but unpredictable lately.. but that's all changed now. No-one is going to miss RAW tomorrow.. australians have to wait until wednesday.. except for less than legal means of watching of course. But it's must-see TV again. Will Punk make an unannounced appearance? Will we see a different belt? (please yes!).. Will Cena be fired? What happens to Dwayne then?
To sum up, great action, great spots in the Ladder matches, Amazing main event, and the best part, WWE did not screw it up! Lets hope this is an end to the PG only era. Sure, keep it kinda aimed towards kids, but give those who fondly remember the attitude era something to watch, as in KEEP THE PUNK ANGLE GOING (unless he's done.. )
Ok that's about it, next post i'm going to write will be about something other than CM punk, maybe TNA, maybe some of my favourite matches.. either way, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece
What's it like to be me? You will never, ever know!
The calm before the storm
Welcome! Once again i am the armchair mouthpiece, shooting opinions and truthfacts your way from the comfort and relative safety of the couch. I was going to wait until after Money in the Bank to write my second post, but, as i'm sure a lot of people are, I can't stop thinking about what may happen tomorrow. I've read a lot of different people's ideas on what could happen, and i agree with what a lot of them are saying, that the most likely scenario is that Punk will win, but someone will cash in their money in the bank that night. I did read one column (possibly Mark Madden?) where they were talking about "what if _______ cashes in the briefcase, and loses the match?? We've never seen that before I think was the argument. Interesting, but that kind of leaves more questions unanswered I think.
I would LOVE to see Punk win full stop. But think of the possibilities for the end of this match. I'll list a few that have popped into my head in the last week.
1. Vince screws CM Punk to keep the belt in the WWE
2. Vince screws Cena, revealing it was all a scheme and he and CM Punk have "joined forces" so to speak, causing Cena to be "fired".. but eventually return with an attitude.
3. Colt Cabana does a run in. We're led to believe it's not planned at all. He and Punk screw Cena and Punk wins.
4. Cena turns heel.
5. (and this is remote, because let's face it, Rock isn't the most WWE guy there is) Rock makes a run in. Screws Cena building more heat for mania.
6. Rock runs in, screws Punk, using the "I respect the belt" angle. Cena gets pissed saying he doesn't need Rock's help, Cena turns heel.
7. Someone else (Mick Foley, Stone Cold) make a run in.
Now those last 2 i just thought of as i'm writing this, so they might not be any good. But what i'm trying to get at is that I hope that the ending to this pay per view is worthy of the storyline, worthy of the buildup. As far as wether Punk is really leaving, who knows? Part of me thinks it's just another "take time off" storyline, part of me thinks he's really done, which would be a huge mistake on WWE's part. Part of me thinks it's all an angle. Let's face it though, I think it's fairly safe to say this is the best thing WWE has done in a long time. I'm trying to remember the last time i was this excited about a Pay per view that wasn't one of the big 4.. I may have to go all the way back to the Armageddon with Undertaker vs Randy Orton in the hell in a cell match. Certainly the last time i was this excited about any WWE programming was the Undertaker/Shawn Michaels II, just based on the hype from the first match at WM 25.
To sum up, i sincerely hope that we don't get a boring, predictable super-cena comeback finish, with Punk's last moments in WWE being embarassing and having him leave in a bad way. Remember the way Vickie Guerrero left the first time? They called her all kinds of names and it was disgraceful. Remember the way Lita left? With her underwear being sold to the crowd? I'm not saying Vince McMahon will come out with some CM Punk drawers trying to hock them for $20, but I just hope they give us something amazing. This is the first time in about 3 years i've bought a WWE pay per view that wasn't Mania or the Rumble. Please don't make me regret my purchase WWE...
With all that being said, I'm going to wrap this up now, so until i write again. *I still have no idea on a finishing catchphrase*
I would LOVE to see Punk win full stop. But think of the possibilities for the end of this match. I'll list a few that have popped into my head in the last week.
1. Vince screws CM Punk to keep the belt in the WWE
2. Vince screws Cena, revealing it was all a scheme and he and CM Punk have "joined forces" so to speak, causing Cena to be "fired".. but eventually return with an attitude.
3. Colt Cabana does a run in. We're led to believe it's not planned at all. He and Punk screw Cena and Punk wins.
4. Cena turns heel.
5. (and this is remote, because let's face it, Rock isn't the most WWE guy there is) Rock makes a run in. Screws Cena building more heat for mania.
6. Rock runs in, screws Punk, using the "I respect the belt" angle. Cena gets pissed saying he doesn't need Rock's help, Cena turns heel.
7. Someone else (Mick Foley, Stone Cold) make a run in.
Now those last 2 i just thought of as i'm writing this, so they might not be any good. But what i'm trying to get at is that I hope that the ending to this pay per view is worthy of the storyline, worthy of the buildup. As far as wether Punk is really leaving, who knows? Part of me thinks it's just another "take time off" storyline, part of me thinks he's really done, which would be a huge mistake on WWE's part. Part of me thinks it's all an angle. Let's face it though, I think it's fairly safe to say this is the best thing WWE has done in a long time. I'm trying to remember the last time i was this excited about a Pay per view that wasn't one of the big 4.. I may have to go all the way back to the Armageddon with Undertaker vs Randy Orton in the hell in a cell match. Certainly the last time i was this excited about any WWE programming was the Undertaker/Shawn Michaels II, just based on the hype from the first match at WM 25.
To sum up, i sincerely hope that we don't get a boring, predictable super-cena comeback finish, with Punk's last moments in WWE being embarassing and having him leave in a bad way. Remember the way Vickie Guerrero left the first time? They called her all kinds of names and it was disgraceful. Remember the way Lita left? With her underwear being sold to the crowd? I'm not saying Vince McMahon will come out with some CM Punk drawers trying to hock them for $20, but I just hope they give us something amazing. This is the first time in about 3 years i've bought a WWE pay per view that wasn't Mania or the Rumble. Please don't make me regret my purchase WWE...
With all that being said, I'm going to wrap this up now, so until i write again. *I still have no idea on a finishing catchphrase*
July 17, 2011
The voice of the (not-so) voiceless.
G'day everybody, welcome to my blog. I am the armchair mouthpiece, the procrastinator of procrastinators, and the euphamistic genius. I am not in the "biz" by any stretch of the imagination, though i am a creative person in my "normal" life, and have been for my entire life, so i like to think i have a little bit of knowledge in that area. I liken myself more to a manager than a wrestler, hence the mouthpiece terminology. Hopefully armchair doesn't need explaining!
Suffice to say, i've been watching wrestling since around 1998 (my early teen years), but in the last 5 or 6 years i have been educating myself on not only the history of wrestling, especially wwF and ECW, because i was a WCW fan when i began watching, but also educating myself to some extent on the "inner workings".. ie how matches are put together, what makes a good match, the psychology of it all. Call me a smark if you want, all I know is I love wrestling, and I'm passionate enough about it to write this blog.
Enough about me though.. on to some wrestling. As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I wanted to say something about CM Punk, and this amazing storyline that is happening. I had stopped watching all current wrestling programming since wrestlemania. Then I heard about this promo Punk had done on raw, now almost 3 weeks ago.
See, here in australia, we get raw on a wednesday, not live monday. So there's time to read results if you want. So I watched a video of that first promo, and just like that, I was back into wrestling in a big way. I watched raw that week, impact that week (love what sting is doing by the way, but thats for another post), watched raw the following week, saw cena get a little attitude going.. I even ordered the destination X pay per view.
I'm not going to sit here and write the same thing that everyone is saying. Yes, CM Punk is amazing right now. I hope he's not really leaving.. but I do want to mention one part. Just one line he said that really spoke to me. "You will apologise TO ME, for THEM! I am CM Punk, and I am the voice, of the voiceless and you WILL apologise... and you will like it!!" .... my jaw dropped when he said that. I got chills. That resonated with me, as someone who has been on the receiving end of bullying, as someone who feels like his voice is never heard.. as a fan of wrestling who has been dying for a change from the pg era. I watched Austin's 3:16 promo, then watched that part of raw again.. Punk's promo is just as good... only time will tell for sure though. So much depends on what happens in Chicago this weekend.
I feel like I want to thank CM Punk though, for being the guy to watch in a sea of not so great tv, but more personally, for getting me interested in wrestling again, because I have missed it. As I write this I'm watching the 1993 royal rumble. Grey undertaker is awesome. Giant Gonzales just walked out. Randy Orton took beard advice from him it looks like.
I dont have a catchphrase to end this yet. I'll think of one for my next post. For now, thanks for reading.
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