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.
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.
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