Well.. what a week it's been in the world of wrestling. Wrestlemania, the Hall of Fame, and two epic episodes of Raw. And that was just on the WWE side of things. I think it's safe to say that this week has been one of the best Wrestling weeks for a long time.
Before we get into this weeks' episode of Raw, and the Hall of Fame special, let's talk a little bit more about Wrestlemania.
Having watched it a few more times, I'm even more convinced that Wrestlemania 28 is one of the better Mania's ever. Everyone put in a good performance, all of the matches had some memorable moments (yes, even the Orton/Kane and Cody/Big Show matches) and all the big matches lived up to the hype, and in the case of the Hell in a Cell match, exceeded expectations.
I said last night that out of all the 'Mania matches that Triple H, Undertaker and Shawn have had in this 4 year journey, last night's was easily the second best. I don't think anything could top the first Taker/Shawn match, but this was a close second. The emotion, the story told, the brutality, it was all amazing.
The other thing is that the CM Punk/Jericho match is better the second time you watch it. You're not coming down from watching Taker/HHH for the first time, so you get a better appreciation for what they did with the match. I highly recommend checking it out again if you can.
If you haven't already, check out my full Wrestlemania review on here by viewing the previous post to this one.
So let's talk a little about the expectations of this week's Raw.
The post-wrestlemania Raw.. To me it is the episode with the most chance to be a total let down. What rivalries would continue? What new conflicts would begin? Where would the WWE go? And especially this year, with Wrestlemania's theme being the End of an Era, what would the start of the new era be like?
So let's get down to business and talk about Raw.
The first episode of the new era. The first episode of John Laurinitis' total control of the WWE. And the start of the new year, at least in terms of wrestling.
Initially I was thinking that all of the rivalries that we saw at Wrestlemania would end, and it would be a clean slate. But I'm glad that this wasn't the case, and we saw the Chris Jericho/CM Punk rivalry continue. It felt like it had a lot more that could be done with it, and now it appears we're going to get at least one more PPV match.
And it also appears that Big Show and Cody will be continuing for a little longer. Cody needs to get his rematch at least. As does Daniel Bryan.
Before I get into the specifics of the events on Raw this week, let's talk about Daniel Bryan. WWE have been building him as a heel, and doing a fairly good job of it. There were still smatterings of cheers for him, which I can understand. The guy went through a lot just to get to the WWE, and you could tell that winning the World title meant a lot to him.
But then, in one moment, everything changed. Well, to be specific, in 18 seconds, everything changed. Maybe this was the WWE's plan all along, but I don't think so. Daniel Bryan, because of being beaten so quickly, and having a simple, catchy catchphrase (that sounds weird), has become a fan favourite again it seems. How many times did a YES! YES! YES! chant break out on Raw this week? And more to the point, how many times did a Daniel Bryan chant break out at Wrestlemania and Raw?
And speaking of the Yes chant, I have to agree with a few people's posts I've seen in forums and on twitter, in that this chant is going to be as big as Stone Cold's "what?". It's so easy to fit into a wide range of situations during matches and promos, and it's catchy. Let's just hope that it doesn't become as over-used as What? is. And let's also hope that Bryan Danielson's biggest legacy is NOT the introduction of this chant. He deserves better. For now though, it's awesome. YES! YES! YES!
Now let's get to the events of RAW.
John Laurinitis continues to portray himself as a fair general manager, while still favouring the heels. It's a really well done and quite tricky thing to do I think. I mean really, it would be much easier for him to not be seemingly staying impartial, and being a flat out heel. I kind of like it. Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with CM Punk, Johnny Ace is a giant toolbox. I mean, last week on Raw he got his own team's name wrong. That can't be done on purpose. Really. It can't. He's just bad.
We got to see the debut of Lord Tensai this week. I'm quite surprised there were no Shave your Back chants (unless I missed something). I was glad that Michael Cole at least referenced the fact that he'd been in the WWE before. It shows that they don't think we're all idiots and have no long term memory.
I'll be honest, I was never a big fan of A-Train back in 2003. It may have been because he was in a feud with the Undertaker and I was a bit of a mark, but something about him just didn't click with me. What's clear though is that he's improved amazingly since then. I haven't seen a lot of his work from Japan, but I was really impressed with his match this week on Raw. He looks great too. I mean, it's hard to make an american guy look japanese, but they've done quite well.
You can tell he's still getting used to the new character, but it was still a really good debut. I'm a big fan of his stalling underhook suplex just quietly as well. All in all it wasn't a let down, and that's the best thing. So welcome back to Prince Albert/A-Train/Giant Bernard/Lord Tensai. Hopefully we get some really good stuff out of it.
I'll get to the other return towards the end of this post. There's still quite a bit to talk about first. Like CM Punk and Jericho.
CM Punk ... he's becoming the guy who can have a great match with anybody. What a great match he had with Mark Henry this week. And what an amazing crowd. At some points, it felt like they were more amped for Raw than the crowd at Wrestlemania was. So many YES! chants. And even a couple of No chants.
But the real story here was after the match. Punk was laid out by Mark Henry, which gave Chris Jericho the opportunity to come out and make their feud even more personal. I wasn't sure it could get more intense, but seeing as how he poured one bottle of .. "alcohol" into his mouth, and broke a second one over the back of his head.. it's safe to say it has.
I was genuinely shocked with that bottle smash. Even though it clearly was designed to break with any kind of impact, it was still a very graphic thing to see. I hope that it wasn't really alcohol in the bottles, I would imagine it was cold tea rather than actual Jack Daniels.. I'm fairly sure that the WWE wouldn't put Cm Punk in that position.
So where is this all heading? To me it's got to be a rematch, with some kind of gimmick or stipulation added to the match at Extreme Rules. Maybe a Street fight, and if Jericho wins, Cm Punk has to drink a shot or something. To me that would be an interesting stipulation. Especially if CM Punk lost.
But well done to the WWE for intensifying this rivalry even more, and keeping it interesting beyond the Wrestlemania match.
Great to see Alberto back.. but you already knew that. Hopefully he gets a slight character change so he's not quite so bland this time.
I found it interesting that Sheamus was getting a few boos as well. Sheamus vs Bryan has a lot of life left in it. Hopefully WWE capitalises on that.
And now, probably for the last time for a while, let's talk about Rock and Cena. Oh and that other guy who came back.. Lesnar I think his name is?
Rocky had the first in-ring segment this week. It was mostly just standard Rock stuff, which is fine. Those people who were chanting "same old shit" to Cena need to realise that most established wrestlers do the "same old shit" because it's what made them who they are, and get off of the anti-Cena bandwagon.
He did make the announcement that he wants to be WWE champ again however. I'm intrigued by this. To do that, he would have to be coming back for a full time spot, at least for a couple of months. Which, let's face it, as long as he remembers how to be The Rock, can only be a good thing.
I'm glad that both Rock and Cena showed respect to each other by thanking each other. It didn't feel scripted either. It felt real. It felt like it was from the heart.
Rocky delivered a great Rock promo. I just hope he sticks to his word, and doesn't stay away for too long, proving those right who said he was lying when he said he was never leaving.
Before i get to Cena, I just have to say.. that crowd was one of the loudest I think I've ever heard for a Monday Night Raw. Absolutely awesome.
Ok let's skip ahead to the end of the show, and John Cena. Cena came out and, just like The Rock, he cut a very "cena" promo.
The greatest thing about this yes chant is it's ability to very simply and very directly tell the WWE exactly what we, the fans, want to see.
It seemed like John wanted to react to the "You're a loser" chant too. Unfortunately it seems like a different plan is in effect.
But as clear as day, take another look at the part of Cena's promo where he says "would this finally be the day where I lash out at the WWE universe?"
The crowd chants louder than ever, YES! Cena's response is "I hate to be the bearer of bad news" etc.. and the crowd erupt in boos.
Why can't the WWE see that this is what we all want to see? I honestly think that Cena would get cheered if he "turned heel". Based on the crowd's reaction this week, he might get the biggest babyface pop of the night. The one saving grace is that the longer it takes for Cena to turn (he will at some point), the better it's going to be when he finally does make that switch.
I did like that Cena chanted along with the fans at one point during a Yes chant.
But then.. that familiar music hits, and out walks Brock Lesnar! And what a reaction from that amazing crowd. And he looked great too. What we need to remember is that back in 2002/03 Cena and Lesnar were both coming up the ranks. Lesnar made it a little quicker than Cena, but they both started right around the same time. But we never really saw them feud.
So it's two established guys who have never really touched in the ring before. I'm sure they have had a few interactions, but it's basically new. And that's something that, aside from Rock/Cena, hasn't happened a lot lately. All the top guys have wrestled each other. Really think about it, which of the "top guys" at the moment, haven't had some kind of feud with each other. By top guys I mean CM Punk, Orton, Cena, Jericho, Miz and Kane.
Brock Lesnar coming back to the WWE is massive. It's bigger than massive. There will be a slew of people who discovered Brock when he started fighting in the UFC and became massive Lesnar fans. And now that he's back on TV, you would have to imagine they will start tuning in. It gives the WWE more credibility as well. A legitimate fighter coming back to Pro Wrestling. We've seen wrestlers go to the UFC, but I'm certain we've never seen it the other way around. Maybe that Daniel Puder, but he doesn't really count.
You could tell Brock was happy to be back as well. Sure, he left under.. interesting circumstances, but all that is in the past, and everyone has forgotten and forgiven. I think it will take a little time for the character to come back out in him, he seemed a little subdued this week. I would imagine that's just from being in the UFC for that long, and also it's been 8 years since he was in the WWE. He's matured a lot since then. But give it a couple of weeks for him to get back into the swing of things, to get comfortable, and I'm sure we'll get more of a character out of Brock Lesnar.
I'm excited about the potential this has. Listen to the crowd during his entrance. It was almost like they were chanting holy shit to say "the wwe actually gave us what we wanted? Holy shit!" .. Maybe this is a turning point. Whatever the case, Lesnar is going to give the WWE a big injection of big name star-power that's definitely going to be welcomed with open arms.
Just quickly on the hall of fame special, I really enjoyed the whole thing, even though it was so cut down and shortened. Hopefully the DVD/Bluray release of Wrestlmania will have the entire show on it. But the parts that were shown were great. It was awesome to see Ric Flair on WWE programming again, Shawn and Triple H were really funny, and Edge's speech (at least the parts shown) was wonderful. He deserved to be the main guy.
Speaking of Edge (I swear this is the last thing) I watched Bending the Rules today as well. I actually didn't mind it. It's no classic by any means, but it didn't suck. If you like action comedies, it's worth watching. Edge gives a really good performance, even if the story is slightly hard to follow at some points.
Ok that's about all I have to say this week. Oh, no it's not. I've started writing articles for We Want Wrestling, which can be found at http://pwjournal.wordpress.com/ and my first article can be found at http://pwjournal.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/the-aussie-mouthpiece-is-here-2/ Check them both out!
Until next time you can follow me on twitter if you don't already @TheOZMouthpiece and you should leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
Business is over.
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