It's that time again, another week has come and gone, another episode of RAW, and that means it's time for another installment of Home Schooling. This week is going to be a little different. The first half of this post will be about Raw, and the second will be my regular "pre pay-per-view" blog, The Calm Before the Storm, which will be my rundown and predictions for the Wrestlemania card. I'll try to keep everything nice and concise so this doesn't turn into a short novel.
So let's get down to business.
I thought this week's RAW was a decent episode, but I was a bit disappointed with it, seeing as though it was the "go home" show for Wrestlemania. To me, this show is meant to be the one that "talks people into the building". I know that with Wrestlemania it's obviously different, because you have people who will be buying it no matter what, and also that most people will have already made up their minds about buying it or not, but still, it lacked that extra something for me.
Maybe it was that Chris Jericho wasn't "live" in the arena. Maybe because we just got a video package for one of the top 3 matches for Wrestlemania. Maybe it was because the last 25 minutes of the show were set aside for Rock and Cena. Probably not that last one. I really enjoyed that whole segment. Especially once Cena came out. But I'll get to that later.
The other thing that bothered me, is that we seem to have lost a lot of that "Pay per view" feel. Take the opening match. Sheamus and Orton vs Daniel Bryan and Kane. I would have thought the way to have this match work, would be to tease Orton and Kane (and Bryan and Sheamus) being in the ring together, not have the two sets of opponents spend a good majority of the match wrestling each other. To me it's now kind of like (especially with Orton and Kane) I've seen a lot of the match I'm going to see at Wrestlemania already, and I didn't have to pay for it. So why do I care about this match now?
One quick thing about Team Johnny/Team Teddy.. Laurinitis can't even deliver a one line promo correctly. That says just about everything that needs to be said about this match.
Part of me thinks that there's a little too much emphasis on the Rock and Cena. Yes, it's a huge match. Yes, it's "once in a lifetime". But the WWE Title should be just as important I think. So why wasn't Chris Jericho wrestling a singles match this week? All we've seen is Jericho talk for the last few weeks. Why is that? Do we not need to see that Jericho is a great wrestler? Something doesn't quite feel right in that sense, and I can't really figure out why they wouldn't have him wrestling, or at least interfering in a match or something.
Unless Jericho is slightly injured. Hopefully that's not the case.
Jericho's promos have been entertaining, and edgy. They have made the feud personal. Now I don't really see that the whole "bastard" thing is a big deal, or why that's a bigger deal than saying things about CM Punk's family. But that's neither here nor there.
Punk taking his anger out on Christian was the right move. It shows us that Punk IS angry about this, and also that Jericho has gotten to him, which in turn adds a little bit of doubt into whether Punk will retain the title. And also, apparently Christian isn't 100%, so it was a good way to write him out of the Tag match.
Incidentally, I really like the way Punk delivers those kicks to the head.
Did anyone else notice that this week's Jericho promo looked exactly the same as last weeks? As in, it was recorded the same time as last weeks? Lazy bit of TV right there.
Now, about this "End of an Era" video package. I understand that Triple H and Undertaker have basically said everything they could possibly say, but I think we, the viewers, and more importantly the people who paid to be at the show deserved to see these guys. Originally I was thinking the way it should have been done, would have been to show the video package last week, and then have the in ring segment from last week, on this week's show. But I've come up with a second theory.
What if this week, Triple H came down to the ring, and called out Shawn? They have some kind of heated words about Shawn's ego, about what Undertaker said, and maybe it gets a little phyiscal, maybe they push each other, get in each other's face? And then, the lights go out. When they come back on, Undertaker is at the top of the stage, looking at the ring, and all he does is smile. I don't know, it just felt like only having a video package detracted from how big this match is.
Cody Rhodes delivered probably the second best moment of the episode for me this week. His promo was great. And the best part, it actually got me interested in the Intercontinental title match. Well done to Cody. Hopefully this continues after Wrestlemania, and we see him getting a shot at the World title/WWE Title soon.
Ok onto The Rock, and John Cena. Rock spends way too much time standing there with a cheesy grin on his face. So let's just get that out of the way right now. Rock talks about all the young starlets throwing themselves at him. That's only a little bit creepy Rocky. But let's move on.
Yes. Rock delivered a great promo. It was the same stuff though. My biggest problem with all this though, is yes, The Rock will be on RAW next week. But after that, he's gone again right? So really, regardless of the result, John Cena will be proven right (at least temporarily if Rock is going to be part of WM 29).
So let's talk about Cena for a minute here. His promo was the best part of the night. He talked about how the fans boo him. He talked about it not bothering him. That was expected. But after a few minutes it got real good, real quick. It got into that weird area of "is this a shoot?" for a little bit there as well. But once again, as has happened in the last few weeks, John Cena basically owned The Rock on the microphone.
He talked about how he's been the only guy who's gotten booed and never turned heel. And then antagonised the booing crowd, saying that he always wins. That part to me was the most interesting, because if you think about it from a non-kayfabe perspective, he's saying "The office knows that I'm the man, and that's why I always win". Very interesting. Of course, kayfabe wise, it was just saying "you can hate me all you want, but i'll still find a way". I think that may have been my favourite part of Cena's promo.
He talked about how The Rock was there when it was "cool" to be a WWE Superstar, but Cena has been the face of the company when it's been going through harder times. This is why Cena has been better than The Rock in these promos. Rock has insulted everything Cena wears, cares about, says, his family, and basically been a schoolyard bully.
Cena, has been saying things that are fact, yet things that show the Rock in a poor light, like the notes on the wrist, like Rock being there when it was "cool". Not insulting what makes the Rock, The Rock.
Ok scratch what I said about my favourite part. Cena calling the Rock a visitor, and then Rock's response. That is my favourite part of the night, and this entire feud. Because Rock delivered his response with passion. Not trying to get things trending, not trying to say new cool catchphrases, just speaking from the heart. Also, Cena's response to Rock's response was just as good. All in all a brilliant final segment, and thinking about it, definitely worth giving them the 20 minutes at the end of RAW.
One last thing about Rock/Cena, I think they should have made a slightly bigger deal about Rock wanting to be the greatest of all time by being the first guy to beat Hogan, Austin and Cena, instead of the ladyparts/transvestite wonder woman/barney's turd crap that we had to put up with. I would have been much more interested, and, now that I think about it, probably have been wanting The Rock to win if it had gone that way. Oh what could have been....
Ok so that's all for this week, I'll be on twitter during Wrestlemania so I'll be joining in with the crazy tweet barrage that happens. Until next week's blog, follow me on twitter if you're not already @TheOZMouthpiece and leave me a comment on here if you like, or dislike, or have something interesting to say.
Business.. is concluded.
Showing posts with label McMahon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McMahon. Show all posts
March 28, 2012
October 12, 2011
Home Schooling no.3
Hello friendly blog-readers, it's time for another weekly write up on this crazy thing we love called professional wrestling.
This week, as i usually do I'll be talking about RAW. In fact, I imagine most of this blog will be about RAW, because even after just skimming through and watching the promo segments, I have a lot to say. But there are a couple of other topics i'll mention too. So let's get those out of the way first.
I recently bought the "Best of Monday Nitro" dvd. I know it's been out a while, but the local stores where I live don't exactly keep a lot of wrestling dvd's in stock. So when I saw a copy of it, I snapped it up.
WCW, and more so Monday Nitro was the first wrestling show I ever watched, and the show that got me into wrestling. Sure, I knew some of the names, who didn't? Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, possibly Ric Flair as well. So I was really looking forward to watching this dvd.
And I wasn't disappointed. I'm a huge fan of Sting and Kevin Nash, so to see matches with those guys in their prime, or at least at the height of their fame, was really good. Some of the contriversial moments were really great too, I mean let's be honest, Nitro was the better show for a good few years there.
Anyway, I'm not going to do a whole review on the DVD, chances are most people who wanted it have already bought it, and know that it's a great set of matches and moments. If you haven't got it, I definitely recommend it, even just to get a glimpse of what the "other side" were doing that made the WWF step their game up.
There have been a few news items that i've read this week that I wanted to mention and give a thought or two about. The main one being, Hulk Hogan (and Eric Bischoff)'s contracts expiring with TNA, and then a few days later the news that they have both re-signed.
I haven't watched TNA for a long time now, last thing I rememember was when Sting first started doing the insane gimmick. Hogan is basically the reason for me not watching. The product, as it was in WCW, is still centered around himself.. when he is in no shape to actually compete. And he's having a match with Sting at TNA's biggest pay per view?
I saw another little item that talked about Hogan saying he wouldn't take any bumps in the match against Sting. Now if that's true.. there's really not a lot to say about it, other than THIS IS WRESTLING! You're supposed to take bumps.. right? I mean, a bump is essentially being "knocked down".. i have the definition right don't i? So what? Sting won't knock Hogan down once in the entire match?
How does Sting get Hogan in position to put the Scorpion Deathlock on and therefore win? Oh.. wait.. silly me.. it's a Hogan match.. Hogan isn't going to put Sting over is he... Of course not.. and it's totally believable that a what.. 60 year old man who's had multiple back surgeries in recent times could beat a still full-time active wrestler isn't it...
TNA, or iMPACT.. or whatever the hell it's called these days, had an opportunity to get out from under the huge shadows of Hogan and Bischoff, make the company not about one or two people anymore, and get back to what made their product interesting, and unique. But for whatever reason, they didn't. There was one tiny piece of good news... Vince Russo is no longer the head writer. Brother Love now has that job. Could be interesting.
Jeff Hardy got 10 days jail for his drug possession charges. 10 days... that will teach him. Maybe he should take a page out of his brother's book. They seem to be sharing the same story lately.
Ok enough negativity. I wanted to talk also about Cactus Jack, Mick Foley, Mankind, Dude Love. Whatever you want to call him. I watched Mick's "Hard Knocks and Cheap Pops" dvd this weekend, really enjoyable. I kinda wish the WWE would do a few more dvds like this, with the Wrestler whom the dvd is about hosting it.
But it was good, in a weird "shoot yet still kayfabe" kind of a way. I wasn't watching any wrestling in 2000/2001 really, so I haven't seen a lot of Mick Foley as the commisioner, but it appears he was really funny.
But after watching the dvd, I decided to try to find some of the infamous Death matches Cactus Jack had with Terry Funk, quite easy really..Youtube is always the answer. So I watch a couple, and man.. I mean i knew Mick was hardcore, I've seen a fair bit of his ECW matches, and of course the Hell in a Cell, and hardcore matches with the WWE (Edge vs Foley at Mania 22 is amazing), but this was on a whole different level.
If anyone hasn't watched them, go and check them out. Some of it I found a little unbelievable, one match i saw was an "exploding ring deathmatch", but it was just pyro boxes on each side of the ring, but the crazy barbed wire boards that exploded and also just that it was a barbed wire match... Mick and Terry are insane. In the best possible way.
One last thing about Mick Foley, and i'll touch more on this when i start doing my "Top 10" lists (i need some kind of catchy name gimmick first), but his promo skills are better than just about anyone i've ever seen. Especially in ECW. Go and find some if you haven't seen anything already.
---------------------------
Ok let's move on to this week's episode of RAW.
I really loved the first 20 mins of RAW. It was amazing. All four guys did a really good job making it feel real, feel improvised, and feel refreshing and different. Punk finally got to speak after two weeks of no promos, and what's more he got to ring the bell, even though he feigned not knowing how to do it (awesome touch by the way). Punk really shone through as the star in that opening segment, he was the guy who came out last, he got the biggest cheer (maybe Triple H's was bigger, but I wasn't paying attention), and he was the one guy who felt like he wasn't "delivering a promo".
Also asking Triple H if he could wear his blazer made me laugh. Punk is the man. His reaction when Triple H told him "I got a whole table full of headphones and pipebombs just waiting for you" .. was absolutely priceless. That little 30 seconds right there is why CM Punk is the man.
"Can i wear your blazer??" "You can even wear my blazer!!" Brilliant.
So then we get this familiar music hitting. Oh wait, speaking of music, there is one thing I wanted to talk about that I don't think worked, especially last night, but also in general.
People's music "hitting" before they walk out to interrupt or to say their piece. Now, i'm sure this wasn't always the case was it? I know it's been used with certain characters, Undertaker for example. But his character is meant to be "supernatural" and is supposed to have the ability to change things, like bring lights up or cause black outs.
But if everyone had walked out, and it was really Triple H on his own.. who pushed the button for Cena's music to hit? Or even HHH's? We see him come out of his office, no music, no announcers, he walked past one, maybe two people.. and then walked through the gorilla position. No one was there... yet his music hit before he came out into the arena.
It would have felt even more like "not a normal night on RAW" if HHH walked out to no music. If Cena's music didn't hit, if he just started talking. Same with Sheamus and Punk.
I guess the point of the music playing is so that fans know who is coming out. But isn't it more of a surprise when someone just starts talking? I'm sure Austin's music didn't always hit every single time he interrupted McMahon.. did it? (help me out, i didn't watch during the austin/mcmahon feud). Fans aren't dumb.. we don't need to be given a musical cue to know if we're supposed to cheer for the person who's about to interrupt or not. And we can usually work out who someone is when they start talking.
Anyway back to RAW. Vince's music hits.I'm glad we saw Vince McMahon. I hope it was more than a one off, and it turns out it was actually Vince pulling the strings. Sure it's been done before, but there's a reason Vince is one of the best heels in the history of the WWE. So anyway.. we get a roles-reversed firing, just like back in june. Triple H is fired as the COO, and ... John Laurinitis is his replacement?
Sure it fits the angle.. Laurinitis wormed his way in by getting people to cause chaos.. but really.. i've seen grass growing that has more charisma than Johnny Ace. He can't talk on a mic, everything sounds forced (probably because he's trying to remember a script), and most people aren't booing him because he's a heel, they're booing because he shouldn't be on camera and no-one wants to see him.
So the first 20 minutes was great tv. Unfortunately after that, RAW felt like a step back. Maybe it was done deliberately.. but it was the same guys just wrestling different people.. Mark Henry, Randy Orton, Christian, John Cena.. oh and one small thing, people are complaining about Cena getting another title shot... ? He was the guy that Del Rio beat, so doesn't that mean Cena gets a rematch? That's how it's been done for years right? Del Rio will win at Vengeance and move into a program with Punk.
Triple H may have been fired as COO, but he's still under contract as a wrestler apparently.. which i like. Sure, he's another guy who's been a main eventer for a while, but at least he's not been a regular on TV (as a wrestler) for a while. Also, that line.. "have you ever tried to pick up your teeth on the ground, with broken fingers?"... That was amazing.Great to see Triple H as a wrestler. His "pick up teeth with broken fingers" line was amazing.
So Jim Ross is fired again? And apparently it was an "improvised segment".. as in.. a shoot? .. I can see how it fits in with the Laurinitis in charge angle, but it seems yet again, the WWE just want to keep embarrassing JR, and they keep trying to tarnish his legacy. JR is my favourite commentator of all time. I cannot stand Michael Cole. I don't like his voice, I don't like the way he describes (or doesn't describe) what's happening in the ring, and instead tries to put himself over.
I feel bad for Jim Ross, he seems to get this poor treatment a lot. But then again, this whole story has used twitter and youtube before, maybe it's all a big work.
One last thing.. Vince McMahon was "fired" back in june because he was making rash decisions and throwing his weight around and basically not running the company the right way right? Triple H was "fired" this week because he'd lost control of the company, and there was too much chaos right?
Didn't John Laurinitis throw his weight around last night and make a lot of snap decisions? He fired JR, he interruped the main event and changed it, he threw Morrison and Christian into a match in their street clothes.. that sounds a lot like making rash decisions. This angle suddenly doesn't make sense. Laurinitis needs to not be on TV. Bring back Austin as GM... make Teddy Long Raw GM..hell, even make Shawn Michaels GM.. I get that it works for the storyline.. but he's so bad. The only thing that will make it interesting is if Triple H gets to actually knock his teeth out. For real.
Anyway that's about all i've got to say for now.. I hope you enjoyed reading, as always, leave me a comment if you want, and also you can follow me on twitter at @TheOZMouthpiece
That's it, and That's All!
This week, as i usually do I'll be talking about RAW. In fact, I imagine most of this blog will be about RAW, because even after just skimming through and watching the promo segments, I have a lot to say. But there are a couple of other topics i'll mention too. So let's get those out of the way first.
I recently bought the "Best of Monday Nitro" dvd. I know it's been out a while, but the local stores where I live don't exactly keep a lot of wrestling dvd's in stock. So when I saw a copy of it, I snapped it up.
WCW, and more so Monday Nitro was the first wrestling show I ever watched, and the show that got me into wrestling. Sure, I knew some of the names, who didn't? Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, possibly Ric Flair as well. So I was really looking forward to watching this dvd.
And I wasn't disappointed. I'm a huge fan of Sting and Kevin Nash, so to see matches with those guys in their prime, or at least at the height of their fame, was really good. Some of the contriversial moments were really great too, I mean let's be honest, Nitro was the better show for a good few years there.
Anyway, I'm not going to do a whole review on the DVD, chances are most people who wanted it have already bought it, and know that it's a great set of matches and moments. If you haven't got it, I definitely recommend it, even just to get a glimpse of what the "other side" were doing that made the WWF step their game up.
There have been a few news items that i've read this week that I wanted to mention and give a thought or two about. The main one being, Hulk Hogan (and Eric Bischoff)'s contracts expiring with TNA, and then a few days later the news that they have both re-signed.
I haven't watched TNA for a long time now, last thing I rememember was when Sting first started doing the insane gimmick. Hogan is basically the reason for me not watching. The product, as it was in WCW, is still centered around himself.. when he is in no shape to actually compete. And he's having a match with Sting at TNA's biggest pay per view?
I saw another little item that talked about Hogan saying he wouldn't take any bumps in the match against Sting. Now if that's true.. there's really not a lot to say about it, other than THIS IS WRESTLING! You're supposed to take bumps.. right? I mean, a bump is essentially being "knocked down".. i have the definition right don't i? So what? Sting won't knock Hogan down once in the entire match?
How does Sting get Hogan in position to put the Scorpion Deathlock on and therefore win? Oh.. wait.. silly me.. it's a Hogan match.. Hogan isn't going to put Sting over is he... Of course not.. and it's totally believable that a what.. 60 year old man who's had multiple back surgeries in recent times could beat a still full-time active wrestler isn't it...
TNA, or iMPACT.. or whatever the hell it's called these days, had an opportunity to get out from under the huge shadows of Hogan and Bischoff, make the company not about one or two people anymore, and get back to what made their product interesting, and unique. But for whatever reason, they didn't. There was one tiny piece of good news... Vince Russo is no longer the head writer. Brother Love now has that job. Could be interesting.
Jeff Hardy got 10 days jail for his drug possession charges. 10 days... that will teach him. Maybe he should take a page out of his brother's book. They seem to be sharing the same story lately.
Ok enough negativity. I wanted to talk also about Cactus Jack, Mick Foley, Mankind, Dude Love. Whatever you want to call him. I watched Mick's "Hard Knocks and Cheap Pops" dvd this weekend, really enjoyable. I kinda wish the WWE would do a few more dvds like this, with the Wrestler whom the dvd is about hosting it.
But it was good, in a weird "shoot yet still kayfabe" kind of a way. I wasn't watching any wrestling in 2000/2001 really, so I haven't seen a lot of Mick Foley as the commisioner, but it appears he was really funny.
But after watching the dvd, I decided to try to find some of the infamous Death matches Cactus Jack had with Terry Funk, quite easy really..Youtube is always the answer. So I watch a couple, and man.. I mean i knew Mick was hardcore, I've seen a fair bit of his ECW matches, and of course the Hell in a Cell, and hardcore matches with the WWE (Edge vs Foley at Mania 22 is amazing), but this was on a whole different level.
If anyone hasn't watched them, go and check them out. Some of it I found a little unbelievable, one match i saw was an "exploding ring deathmatch", but it was just pyro boxes on each side of the ring, but the crazy barbed wire boards that exploded and also just that it was a barbed wire match... Mick and Terry are insane. In the best possible way.
One last thing about Mick Foley, and i'll touch more on this when i start doing my "Top 10" lists (i need some kind of catchy name gimmick first), but his promo skills are better than just about anyone i've ever seen. Especially in ECW. Go and find some if you haven't seen anything already.
---------------------------
Ok let's move on to this week's episode of RAW.
I really loved the first 20 mins of RAW. It was amazing. All four guys did a really good job making it feel real, feel improvised, and feel refreshing and different. Punk finally got to speak after two weeks of no promos, and what's more he got to ring the bell, even though he feigned not knowing how to do it (awesome touch by the way). Punk really shone through as the star in that opening segment, he was the guy who came out last, he got the biggest cheer (maybe Triple H's was bigger, but I wasn't paying attention), and he was the one guy who felt like he wasn't "delivering a promo".
Also asking Triple H if he could wear his blazer made me laugh. Punk is the man. His reaction when Triple H told him "I got a whole table full of headphones and pipebombs just waiting for you" .. was absolutely priceless. That little 30 seconds right there is why CM Punk is the man.
"Can i wear your blazer??" "You can even wear my blazer!!" Brilliant.
So then we get this familiar music hitting. Oh wait, speaking of music, there is one thing I wanted to talk about that I don't think worked, especially last night, but also in general.
People's music "hitting" before they walk out to interrupt or to say their piece. Now, i'm sure this wasn't always the case was it? I know it's been used with certain characters, Undertaker for example. But his character is meant to be "supernatural" and is supposed to have the ability to change things, like bring lights up or cause black outs.
But if everyone had walked out, and it was really Triple H on his own.. who pushed the button for Cena's music to hit? Or even HHH's? We see him come out of his office, no music, no announcers, he walked past one, maybe two people.. and then walked through the gorilla position. No one was there... yet his music hit before he came out into the arena.
It would have felt even more like "not a normal night on RAW" if HHH walked out to no music. If Cena's music didn't hit, if he just started talking. Same with Sheamus and Punk.
I guess the point of the music playing is so that fans know who is coming out. But isn't it more of a surprise when someone just starts talking? I'm sure Austin's music didn't always hit every single time he interrupted McMahon.. did it? (help me out, i didn't watch during the austin/mcmahon feud). Fans aren't dumb.. we don't need to be given a musical cue to know if we're supposed to cheer for the person who's about to interrupt or not. And we can usually work out who someone is when they start talking.
Anyway back to RAW. Vince's music hits.I'm glad we saw Vince McMahon. I hope it was more than a one off, and it turns out it was actually Vince pulling the strings. Sure it's been done before, but there's a reason Vince is one of the best heels in the history of the WWE. So anyway.. we get a roles-reversed firing, just like back in june. Triple H is fired as the COO, and ... John Laurinitis is his replacement?
Sure it fits the angle.. Laurinitis wormed his way in by getting people to cause chaos.. but really.. i've seen grass growing that has more charisma than Johnny Ace. He can't talk on a mic, everything sounds forced (probably because he's trying to remember a script), and most people aren't booing him because he's a heel, they're booing because he shouldn't be on camera and no-one wants to see him.
So the first 20 minutes was great tv. Unfortunately after that, RAW felt like a step back. Maybe it was done deliberately.. but it was the same guys just wrestling different people.. Mark Henry, Randy Orton, Christian, John Cena.. oh and one small thing, people are complaining about Cena getting another title shot... ? He was the guy that Del Rio beat, so doesn't that mean Cena gets a rematch? That's how it's been done for years right? Del Rio will win at Vengeance and move into a program with Punk.
Triple H may have been fired as COO, but he's still under contract as a wrestler apparently.. which i like. Sure, he's another guy who's been a main eventer for a while, but at least he's not been a regular on TV (as a wrestler) for a while. Also, that line.. "have you ever tried to pick up your teeth on the ground, with broken fingers?"... That was amazing.Great to see Triple H as a wrestler. His "pick up teeth with broken fingers" line was amazing.
So Jim Ross is fired again? And apparently it was an "improvised segment".. as in.. a shoot? .. I can see how it fits in with the Laurinitis in charge angle, but it seems yet again, the WWE just want to keep embarrassing JR, and they keep trying to tarnish his legacy. JR is my favourite commentator of all time. I cannot stand Michael Cole. I don't like his voice, I don't like the way he describes (or doesn't describe) what's happening in the ring, and instead tries to put himself over.
I feel bad for Jim Ross, he seems to get this poor treatment a lot. But then again, this whole story has used twitter and youtube before, maybe it's all a big work.
One last thing.. Vince McMahon was "fired" back in june because he was making rash decisions and throwing his weight around and basically not running the company the right way right? Triple H was "fired" this week because he'd lost control of the company, and there was too much chaos right?
Didn't John Laurinitis throw his weight around last night and make a lot of snap decisions? He fired JR, he interruped the main event and changed it, he threw Morrison and Christian into a match in their street clothes.. that sounds a lot like making rash decisions. This angle suddenly doesn't make sense. Laurinitis needs to not be on TV. Bring back Austin as GM... make Teddy Long Raw GM..hell, even make Shawn Michaels GM.. I get that it works for the storyline.. but he's so bad. The only thing that will make it interesting is if Triple H gets to actually knock his teeth out. For real.
Anyway that's about all i've got to say for now.. I hope you enjoyed reading, as always, leave me a comment if you want, and also you can follow me on twitter at @TheOZMouthpiece
That's it, and That's All!
July 27, 2011
The Champ is here.. and .. here.. ? Where do they go now?
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
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
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 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 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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)