Oh Yes.. There Will Be Blood

Hello there readers, I'm back again. It's Pay Per View review time. And what an unexpected treat Extreme Rules was. I'll be honest, I ordered this just before I went to bed last night (in Australia we get the PPV's on a monday morning..time differences and what not). But I just had a feeling that the two main events would be worth paying for. And I was not disappointed.

Extreme Rules felt like a WWE pay per view from 2003/2004. I can't quite explain why, maybe the blood, maybe the way the card was set up, but something about it gave it that "ruthless aggression" feel. Brock Lesnar being a big part of the event probably just added to that. To me 2003 was one of the better years in WWE history that I've seen a lot of, so that vibe surrounding the event gave it a really good, solid feeling.

As usual I'm going to break down each of the individual matches, and give my thoughts and opinions.

So let's get down to business.

The show opened with Randy Orton vs Kane, in a Falls Count Anywhere match. This was the first thing that surprised me. I was thinking that Cody and Big Show would start the event off, but once again, I was pleasantly surprised with this.

Randy and Kane put on a solid match at Wrestlemania. Solid, but not great. I wasn't exactly brimming with anticipation for this match, but I think they did a lot better than 'mania. The addition of the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation made it much more of a brawl, which was refreshing. Too often wrestlers get stuck in their patterns and routines, so doing something different, especially the match is taken out of the ring for an extended period of time can be a really good thing. One thing i found quite amusing was the random steel poles just lined up in the same room that the "WWE superstars and personnel are watching Extreme Rules in". Why would there be steel poles standing up in the corner of a room?

Zack Ryder interfering I think was done just so that people would see him on PPV. His push has kind of stalled lately, but hopefully that's just a temporary thing, and we see him in a mid card feud soon.

On a personal note, I've always really enjoyed when wrestlers go backstage and fight. Kane vs Shane McMahon in an Ambulance match from Survivor Series 2003 is a great example of doing that right. As is Big Bossman vs Al Snow in a Hardcore title match from either 1999 or 2000. That match actually ended up in a bar across the street from the arena, with Zakk Wylde making a bit of a cameo.

I think I had picked Kane to win this match, my reason being that he was the monster, and it made more sense. Honestly, I didn't really think that through a lot. Orton winning makes much more sense. Kane won at Wrestlemania, Orton has that crazy side of him, willing to put his body through a lot, and also the smaller guy winning is always fun to see in these types of matches. Unless it's completely unbelievable. Which this wasn't.

My only problem with the finish is the RKO on the chair. Every time I've seen the RKO, Randy's opponent's head is cradled in his arm, and it never looks like he really hits his head on the mat. Using the chair made it even more obvious.

But overall, a really good match, and a great way to start off the pay per view. 7/10.


Brodus Clay vs Dolph Ziggler
The first of two unannounced matches. I really like this match. Brodus has made sure his Funkasaurus character hasn't just become a joke, and Ziggler is the most under-used guy in the WWE, and can work with anyone. My problem is that it feels like Ziggler is kind of stuck in this lower spot, mainly because he's still associated with Swagger and Vickie. I'm not saying they are bad talents or no good, I just mean that Ziggler could be so much greater on his own. Also the crowd was chanting for him like crazy.

There's not really a lot more that I can say about this match. It was entertaining, and the perfect length. My only objection is that Ziggler should win. I feel like Brodus has won a lot, or almost all the time since his debut.

I also don't buy Hornswoggle as a minisaurus. I still remember when he had blonde hair and dirt on his face.

Excellent finish though, and as usual, Dolph's selling was one of the highlights of the night.

7/10


Big Show vs Cody Rhodes (Tables Match)

Now we're getting to one of my favourite parts of the whole event. This match, like the Orton vs Kane match, was another that I wasn't really that excited about. Once I found out the stipulation though, that all changed. Just like Big Show said.. "good luck putting me through a table". I'm really into the psychology of matches, and anything that adds something different to a match makes for a different way to tell essentially the same story. And that is always a good thing.

And Cody is another one of those guys, like Ziggler, that has so much potential, and he's finally starting to get that "it" factor. He was annoying as all hell in legacy, but unlike Ted DiBiase, he didn't become a Randy Orton clone. I think that helped keep him relevant and helped keep him in his spot.

As usual, Big Show gave us a really good showing, and Cody was phenomenal. I liked the use of the table for Cody to hit his "beautiful disaster" kick as well.

And then, the finish. Having watched the WWE for nearly 10 years, there comes a lot of points where you say to yourself "I've seen it all now". But, time and time again, the WWE continues to surprise us. Who would have ever thought a table match would end by someone stepping through a table? This is one of those polarizing events though, people will either love or hate this finish. I thought it was absolute genius. Big Show played it perfectly as well. That look of "I can't believe I did that" mixed with "I'm gonna kill all of you " .. Really well done.

To me it almost seemed like this could be one of those rare double turn things. Show attacking Rhodes after the match, and especially throwing him through that second table is a very Heel-ish move. And Cody, getting to his feet under his own power, and holding the title up, yet not in an arrogant way, was a very subtle babyface kind of a move. And he got a massive cheer for it as well. In that moment, he reminded me of Shawn Michaels for some reason.

All in all I thought it was a really good match once again, but most importantly, it was unique. For that, it gets an 8/10 from me.

Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus (2 out of 3 Falls)

Yes! If there was one thing we could be certain of with this match, it was that it would last more than 18 seconds. And what we got was probably one of the best wrestling matches from the last 6 months. I've always liked the idea of the 2 out of 3 fall matches, like I said earlier, anything that deviates from the norm, can be a nice change of pace. The dueling chants of "Daniel Bryan" and "18 seconds" were pretty cool honestly. And the Yes chants are a great sign that Bryan is over.

 I really liked the way this match went with Daniel Bryan intentionally getting disqualified in the first fall. it's not often that you see wrestlers lose on purpose. But once again, it's that different kind of psychology that make these matches entertaining. The idea that someone would lose the first fall, knowing they'd done enough damage to hopefully get two quick falls on their opponent, very different.

Sheamus retaining wasn't what I'd hoped to see, but I'm not disappointed with it.

8/10


Ryback vs Jobbers
The second of the unannounced matches. Really once again, not a lot to say about this. Loved the Goldberg chants throughout the match, as there is quite a bit of similarity between Ryback and Goldberg. I mean they're both bald.. they're both muscular.. they both run/ran through their opponents.

Basically everything a squash match should be. Short, and brutal. The negative was that the jobbers got mic time. What was the point of that?

4/10

CM Punk vs Chris Jericho (Chicago Street Fight)
First off, I really liked the idea of coming out in different attire. You can't really call Jericho's "street clothes" because of the light-up jacket. CM Punk was rocking a Misfits/straight edge t-shirt which was awesome in of itself. But sometimes it's the smaller details that really make a match go from good, to great. The different look from the clothing made it feel much more serious, and really helped elevate the feel of the match.

Punk didn't get quite as huge a reaction as the last PPV match he was part of in Chicago, but it was still a huge pop. The Kendo stick got quite a big pop as well. Actually, now that I think about it, that kendo stick was another thing that reminded me of 2003. It's nothing huge, but I remember the Royal Rumble from 2003, Tommy Dreamer bought kendo sticks to the ring and Jericho got nailed in the face by one, and ended up with a huge knot on his head.

Of course the obvious highlight was CM Punk delivering a huge elbow to Jericho from the top rope, through the spanish announce table. Amazingly he was even forgiven for nearly falling off of the top rope!
 But another highlight, and again mainly for it's originality was the use of the, as Michael Cole called it "announce table hood". We never see them used as a weapon, they're always discarded and thrown away. My favourite use though, was Jericho smashing the broken off half over CM Punk's back, because of how it just broke into 5 or 6 pieces, and looked liked it just shattered on Punk's back.

I think this was the match of the night, really great action, back and forth, and at times it looked like a certainty that Jericho was about to win the title. 9/10


Nikki Bella vs Layla

I think the worst thing that happened to this match was the rumor that it would be Kharma finally making her return and taking out the Bellas. When Layla (or Michelle McCool)'s music started playing, it was a fairly big let down.
The match wasn't bad, however I did think it was a little strange to have Brie be the one beaten for the title. But I guess it at least leaves the door open for some kind of conflict between the twins on Raw this week.

5/10 and also glad to see Layla back. It's always good when someone returns from a bad injury.


John Cena vs Brock Lesnar (Extreme Rules match)

Where do I even begin? Lesnar just looks massive. It was cool to see him in his MMA-style gear, it really shows that he is a different guy than he was in 2003/04, and that he has evolved into something different.

There was a lot of talk in the promos about the need to bring back legitimacy to wrestling, and that Brock would be the guy to do it. And, a lot of people have complained for a long time about the lack of blood in matches. I think the problem is we became so used to seeing guys get "busted open" that it lost it's significance and became part of the norm. Having a few years without blood being a prevalent thing in matches has really been a good thing, when you think about it. It's reconditioned us as fans. Now, if we ever do see it accidentally, it adds something.

And in the main event, we found out that when it happens on purpose, it REALLY adds something. I really hope that Lesnar didn't just lose his mind and revert to MMA mode and stiff the crap out of Cena's head. I'm almost sure that it was all planned though. Which says a lot about Cena, because that could have been really dangerous.

Brock being the first guy to really bust someone open in the last 3 or 4 years basically solidified him as the biggest badass in the WWE. The whole match was brutal. Cena not getting any chances to make a comeback was really a key to making this match as intense as it was. Brutal knees, elbows, suplexes and submissions helped as well.

The referee knock downs were a nice touch as well.

Lesnar is a maniac too. That fall over the top rope should have knocked him out, or at least blown out his knee. It looked so brutal, and was a really bad fall because of the rotation he got from basically spinning over the top rope.

I've been trying to work out, since the show ended, what I think about the finish to the match. On one hand, I think it's cool that the WWE have so much faith in Cena that he continues to win these "impossible situation" matches, but on the other hand, what does it say about Lesnar's condition that he can be beaten with what was essentially two moves?

However, Lesnar did completely dominate Cena for bout 20 minutes, so he really didn't lose any momentum or anything by being beaten. I think I would have liked to see it go the other way, just because it would have really just completely solidified Lesnar's spot as an unbeatable machine.

So with the blood, the brutality, and the really different feel for this match, I think it really capped off the night unbelievably well, and was the epitome of the theme of the night, which was "old school" for me.

8.5/10

Just quickly as well, John Cena's cryptic promo after the end of the match were.. well ... cryptic. The boss was going to get rid of him? What did he say or do that was so bad? Say the word Wrestling? Surely that's not it. Maybe he just knew he was injured and was trying to stay in storyline saying that Laurinitis was going to fire him. Maybe the blood wasn't supposed to happen and he thought Vince would be going crazy backstage. Maybe he was half unconscious and didn't know what he was saying? I think we'll probably find out tomorrow on Raw.


Ok that's about it for now, until tomorrow or wednesday, when my weekly recap will be up. Follow me on @TheOZMouthpiece if you're not already, and leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

I'm the Aussie Mouthpiece, and my business is concluded.. for now...

The calm before the storm: Extreme Rules

Hey guys, it's me, The Aussie Mouthpiece, and i'm back with my Extreme Rules predictions and preview.

So let's get right to it shall we?

Big Show vs Cody Rhodes

I'm not really sure what to say about this one. I would imagine that the WWE isn't done pushing Cody Rhodes, but I'm not really too interested in this feud to be perfectly honest. So I really don't have a lot to say about it. But, considering that Big Show won at Wrestlemania, and he's probably in that position these days of pushing younger talent, I'm going to say that Cody Rhodes is going to win this match.

Randy Orton vs Kane (Falls Count Anywhere)

Once again I'm not really sure what to say. Up until this latest episode of Raw I once again wasn't that interested in this feud. I think the writers really don't know what to do with it, even bringing in Bob Orton Jr, and Paul Bearer hasn't managed to make this rivalry much more interesting. Kane is always great when it comes to promos, but Orton is ... well... Orton. His character to me at least, has become stale and boring, and somewhat routine. I'm not really sure where this is going, but hopefully this is the end of this rivalry.

I'm going with Kane to win this one.


Nikki Bella vs Beth Phoenix (Diva's Championship)

I get the feeling there won't be much of a match, because the story here is going to be that Beth is injured. Whether it's a work or for real doesn't really matter, I think the general consensus (which i agree with) is that  Kharma is going to make her return and run through the Bellas, as their contract is up. I would be ok with this. It's beyond about time that some legitimate female competition happened in the WWE. For some reason they don't want the Beth vs Natalya match, but at least we'll get the Beth vs Kharma match. Which will be great.

Nikki Bella wins but gets destroyed by Kharma afterwards.


Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan (2 out of 3 falls)

At least we know this will be longer than 18 seconds. Unless it's three 6 second pinfalls. But surely the WWE won't do that. Right?

I have a feeling this will be a decent match. Daniel Bryan is developing somewhat of a cult following, and the Yes chants are, in a strange way, refreshing. I haven't seen a lot of smackdown recently honestly, but I have a feeling that Sheamus is going to keep the belt for a fair while longer.


CM Punk vs Chris Jericho (Chicago Street Fight)

Now we're getting into the interesting matches. Punk in his hometown defending the WWE championship. Jericho doing some really good heel work. It all adds up to what should be a really great match. Punk and Jericho have a really good chemistry in the ring, but with this being a street fight, it gives them a chance to show a different type of match to us.
My only problem will be that this match should be the main event. CM Punk is the WWE champion, and it's also his hometown. But I get the feeling that Lesnar and Cena will be in the top spot.

I'm not sure about who will win this match. Everything points to CM Punk retaining, with Jericho needing to get his come-uppance, and also because he's only there for a couple more months, but I have a seed of doubt, something saying that they might give Jericho the belt.

However, it's CM Punk's hometown, and they obviously have a lot of time and money invested in Punk. So my pick is that CM Punk wins, and retains the WWE Championship.


John Cena vs Brock Lesnar (Extreme Rules)

Ok. This match is interesting purely because it is Brock Lesnar's first match (in the WWE) for over 8 years. It's worth watching just to see if he's still got it, how he's changed his style with the MMA stuff, and if he's worth all the effort the WWE have put into him.

The way I see it, this match can go two or three ways. One is that Brock completely dominates Cena, and basically takes him out. Cena is out for a few months, and comes back just before Summerslam with a massive re-invention of his character.
Two: Cena comes out as a re-invented character, maybe new music, a new look, something. The chain was there in his second appearance on Raw, as opposed to the dog tags, but it's not enough. In this situation, I'm really not sure who would win.
Three: Brock wins, but without taking Cena out.

Either way, I can't see Lesnar not winning, and the final shot of the PPV being Lesnar on the turnbuckles, hands raised. Maybe there will be blood. Doubtful. But maybe.
Cena needs a revamp. I know they've just come out with the new colour of the cena shirt, but really, it's time. Edge said it. The Rock said it for a year. CM Punk has said it. Brock even said something about it.

It's time.

What I hope doesn't happen is John Cena winning. Not because I don't like him, or think he sucks, but it would kill Lesnar's momentum. He comes back as a massive animal, destroying everything in his path, and yet he gets beaten in his first actual match back? Why would I want to pay to see him in any other matches after that?

So, my pick is Brock Lesnar winning. and (hopefully) some kind of change for John Cena.


That's about it really. Oh wait, the pre-show match.
Santino vs The Miz (US Title).

The Miz is on the pre-show?? Wow. Last year he was in the main event. Ok then... Anyway, maybe this is the start of a push for him. He made a great US champion, so I guess lighning could strike twice, but I think Santino will retain for now.

That's it then. Hopefully it should be a decent show. I'll be tweeting along with all of you tomorrow live during the pay per view, so if you're not already, follow me @TheOZMouthpiece

That's about it really, my business is concluded.

Home Schooling No.9

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.

Home Schooling No. 6

Right, it's been a long time between drinks (or diet sodas), but it's finally time for another dose of home schooling, from me, The Aussie Mouthpiece.

So we're getting into the meat of the Road to Wrestlemania, so this installment will be focused purely on what's happening on Raw, and to a lesser extent, Smackdown as well. Also, I haven't really been watching TNA so .. there's not a lot I can say about it.

So let's talk about the major storylines going on at the moment.

This year's Wrestlemania, for me at least, seems bigger than the last few years. In fact, I'm struggling to remember what the title matches were for Wrestlemania 25 and 26. 27 was only one year ago so I do remember those. But for Mania 25 and 26, the first, and really only thing that comes into my head is Undertaker and Michaels.

This year seems bigger though as I said. There's the year long build of Rock/Cena (which I will get to in great length I'm sure), Undertaker/HHH (and HBK now I guess) and Punk/Jericho. It's almost a shame that the World Heavyweight Title doesn't seem that important, but I guess maybe it can open the show like it did last year.

So before I get to the big 3, let's talk about the other parts of RAW, and what else is happening this year.

Santino Marella. That guy put on one hell of a performance at the Elimination Chamber last month. I, like a lot of people I'm sure, was nearly convinced he was going to win the title. I'll admit, I marked out when he hit the Cobra, as ridiculous a move as it is.

But it seems that somebody took notice, because this week he won the US championship.

Now don't get me wrong, that's probably the title with the least amount of prestige at the moment. Ziggler and Ryder made it interesting, but once Swagger got it I pretty much lost interest. On a side note, check out Back to the Future, and tell me Swagger isn't Biff's identical twin. Seriously.

But it's still a pat on the back for Santino. Hopefully he gets to hold it until after Wrestlemania at least.
I have a feeling though, that this is actually leading to a match between Swagger and Ziggler for Wrestlemania. I'm not sure how they'll get there, one of them would have to switch, but Ziggler calls himself the #Heel, and Swagger I don't think is over enough. And plus, people don't want to hear him talk.

Santino is going to be a part of the Laurinitis/Long thing, with Otunga. So who knows. Maybe Swagger and Ziggler won't feud, but instead go for the Tag Title belts. Maybe this was a way to get the singles title away from Swagger, and focus he and Ziggler as a tag team more.

The GM story is kind of interesting as well, but I'm worried that we're going to get Mr Excitement shoved down our throats way too much. Sure it's fun to boo him, but unless he's tripping on his words and fumbling sentences on purpose (which would be an amazing work if he was), it's going to get to the point, if it hasn't already, where people don't boo because he's a bad guy, they boo because they don't want to see him.

I have a feeling that this might end up with Triple H as the GM, because let's face it, he's really the only person suited for it, unless good guy Vince wants to make a comeback, or Stephanie McMahon returns to Tv. But I don't see either of those things happening. Triple H makes sense.

Zack Ryder.
Really? Eve kisses him and he's suddenly love struck again like he's in a crappy teen movie? Only thing I can think of is he starts defending her to other people and becomes a heel? but, why would they do that? I am assuming here that the merch the WWE makes of Heel wrestlers doesn't sell as well as the babyfaces. That makes sense right?

Hopefully this gets back onto a decent track, even if it's just Eve and _________ vs Zack and Kelly Kelly or something. Or hell, even Zack and Beth Phoenix, seeing as how it's what, 4 weeks away from Mania and there's been nothing done with the women's title?

Miz.
Wow. How far one man can fall in one year. If it's because they lump Survivor Series on his shoulders, that's completely ridiculous. Blame the guy who's the biggest name if you're going to blame anyone. Oh you can't, he doesn't really work for you. Say what you will about some of the other part time guys, but at least they re-invent themselves, or at least refresh themselves a little. Rock is the same Rock, spouting the same old crap. But I'll get to that soon. I hope Miz gets some kind of spot at Wrestlemania. He's not my favourite guy, but considering where he was last year, he deserves a spot.

Big Show/Cody Rhodes.
Huh? Why is Show getting a shot at the IC title, at this stage in his career? That title is about giving a younger guy the opportunity to show he can be a top guy. I don't get this at all. That's really all i'm going to say about it. Not a fan at all.

Ok, so that's the undercard stuff I guess, so let's move on to the main events. And also from this point i'm going to be talking about last week's RAW as well, seeing as how I didn't post anything last week.

Let's start with Punk/Jericho.

"Screw your stupid, Light-brite jacket". Brilliant.

Ok to elaborate, these two guys can obviously talk. Punk hasn't really been given as good of a foil lately, as opposed to 4 or 5 months ago, but now with Chris Jericho, he's got someone who he can really go toe-to-toe verbally with. I really liked that they got to talk for as long as they did, and you could clearly tell it wasn't a script, maybe just some notes (but not written on their bodies anywhere..but i'll get to that) but for the most part, it was on the fly. The way it SHOULD be done.

It looks as if Jericho is getting ahead on the one-upsmanship for now, but that's ok. Punk doesn't look worse for it at all, because we all know what he can do. I'm hoping they go for the sort of "Punk is the champion but still the underdog" kind of thing, because I always enjoyed the matches where the guy chasing the title wins at Mania, and really, Punk will win at Mania because he's, as he said "the man right now".

Undertaker/HHH/HBK
OK, I've said it before, Undertaker is my favourite wrestler, so I'm probably biased here, because HBK is 2nd on my favourites list.
But I really like where this is going. The special referee thing is a little odd, because Shawn isn't going to come out of retirement for a 'payback' match, so I don't see him really turning on either guy. In fact, the only way I could see that, is if he caused 'Taker to lose the match, therefore ending the streak, and also therefore 'Taker would be retired I guess, so there wouldn't be any payback.

But that won't happen. 20-0 looks and sounds too good.

It's strange, but even now, Triple H looks kind of like the third wheel in this whole thing. Maybe that's intentional, a part of the "Shawn is better than you" thing. Maybe it's just because of how things have gone for the last couple of weeks, with Shawn's "phone interview" on the WWE website, and with next week the advertisement being "Undertaker returns, and HBK will be there to see what he says".. but it's odd that the opponent for 'Taker isn't the focus right now.

I really like the idea of the Hell In a Cell, and honestly, I couldn't care less about all of this "how will they set it up" stuff. It doesn't matter, it's about the match. And plus, it's the WWE. They'll find a way.

I would expect to see a really brutal match, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was even some blood. Because of the history of these 3, and also because of who they are within the company. It's not some young guy trying to make a name for himself. It's not outlandish to imagine that inside this cage, with the weapons available etc, that someone would get cut open. If this is the "reality era", then blood is a possiblity in this match, because it would be realistic.

Obviously Undertaker will win though. Unless he's announced as going into the hall of fame, which won't happen. Also, I hope he takes his damn hood off at least once before 'Mania, and they bring the cutting of the hair into the storyline.

Ok onto the main event. John Cena and The Rock.

Well. There's certainly a lot to cover. I hope your eyes aren't too tired to read all of this. Cena's promo 2 weeks ago (best of his career indeed), the Rock's return last week (complete with cheat sheet on his wrist) and then this week with the Rock's history lessons... yawn.

Honestly, is anyone else getting bored with the Rock? He comes out every week (well.. not every week because he's not there every week) but whenever he comes out, it's the same old stuff. Making fun of the way Cena dresses. Saying he has no balls/ladyparts/pink parts. Calling him a bitch. I mean, to me that just sounds like a schoolyard bully picking on someone because they're different to themselves. Which is a jerk move.

And it's stale and boring. And also seems like a lot of PR crap. Trying to get things trending on twitter. Like twitter is what the entire world is actually talking about. Isn't it only a small percentage of WWE fans that are on twitter?

I know that Rock's biggest catchphrases are obviously something he would say every time he's around, but for over a year not, he's been spouting on about Cena being less than a man, because he wears coloured shirts or something. So much for the anti-bullying campaign right?

Anyway,  so last week we get a twenty minute Rock promo/twitter advertisement, and the Rock has notes on his arm? Now I for one don't believe that was done intentionally, nor do I believe that Rock knew Cena would bring it up. But I'm really glad he did, because, if you paid close attention to this week's Cena/Rock stuff (live in the ring i mean) there were smatterings, and sometimes halfway decent Rocky Sucks chants going on. And more to the point, Cena was absolutely spot on. Rock got shaken up.

After Cena left the ring last week, Rock repeated himself, stumbled over words (which I can never remember him doing) and then reverted to the catchphrases he made so famous 14 years ago. Wait, didn't he accuse Cena of saying the same old .. "hot garbage".. last year? Talk about your hypocrites.

Anyway, Cena is, on purpose or not (and my vote is for not) looking so much better than Rock right now. As far as I'm concerned, Rock is the heel in this situation. He's a bully, he's overbearing, and Cena is standing up for himself.

But regardless of whatever people think of either guy, this feud is heating up in a big way, and has the makings of being one of the biggest matches ever, and really, that can only be good for everyone. Even if you don't like Cena, or don't like the Rock, or don't like the match, it's going to bring more people in to watch the shows. And, probably more importantly, it's going to get the other guys to lift their game to try and get into those kinds of spots down the line.

I could go on and on about Rock, and Undertaker, and HBK, but my fingers are about to fall off from typing so much, so until next time, remember to leave me a comment, cut a promo on me if you don't like what i've said, and if you're not doing so already, follow me on twitter @TheOZMouthpiece and remember, I come from a land down where? Down UNDER!

The Calm before the storm No. 4

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

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

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

Let's start with RAW getting Rocked.

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

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

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

Ok enough about Cole.

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

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

Ok onto Survivor Series.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beth Wins.

US Title Match: Morrison Vs Ziggler

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

Ziggler wins (Unless Ryder is in the match)


Traditional Survivor Series match:

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

World Heavyweight Championship - Mark Henry vs Big Show

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

Either way, Mark Henry wins this match.

WWE Championship match: CM Punk vs Alberto Del Rio

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

Winner: CM Punk.

Main Event: Rock/Cena vs Awesome Truth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's it, and that's all.

The Calm before the storm No. 3

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

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

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

So the card.

Sheamus vs Christian.

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

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

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

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

Airboom vs Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger

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

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

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

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

Diva's title match.

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

Beth has to win.

Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes

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

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

Mark Henry vs Big Show (WHC)

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

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

Del Rio vs Cena (WWE Title)

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

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

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

CM Punk & Triple H vs Awesome Truth

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

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

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

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

Home schooling no.2

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

So let's start there shall we?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just something to think about...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Champions or Chumps?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's it, and That's all.

Lay it on me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's it, and that's all.

Mr Future Endeavours

It's that time again. Time for another dose of mouthpiece-ing. With me, The Aussie Mouthpiece.
let's talk about the wwe this week. Specifically RAW. As Smackdown hasn't been on TV yet and I'm not the kind who spoils things.

So let's talk about RAW.

My first thoughts after my first viewing? Let down.
For the first week since "that" promo, this week hasn't quite lived up to the previous week's episodes.

CM Punk was still right on the ball, he was great. Triple H was still good. But the story wasn't as satisfying, at least to me.

Then I saw that little news item that was posted recently.. about Kevin Nash.. anyone else seen it? "Kevin Nash has been released".
That was when I got it. I understood.

I'll get to that later.

So Punk opens RAW, says some stuff about being different, and then we get Kevin Nash.
By the way Punk, I got the Super Shredder reference. Awesome. I like bearded giraffe too.

I mean, CM Punk never fails to deliver, he's constantly trying to better himself, and better the company. Plus, this whole thing is staying within that foggy area of "is it real".. The little jabs Punk takes, maybe they aren't planned (i don't think they are), because the other guys reactions are really "real". That word has a bit of a different meaning in wrestling. "real". \

Like when HHH's music hit, and Punk kept talking. saying "i'm not done..." That never used to happen. I don't remember anyone talking over someone else's entrance music.

So now the big mystery is solved. And wow.. that was a big let down. Like someone just let the air out of a big bearded balloon.
Why would Kevin Nash send a text to himself? Money? .. no.. he wanted to make the WWE cool? But.. this is Kevin Nash. He's the guy that openly says he's about money.. I suppose the only thing that is still unanswered is if somebody else tipped him off to send the text? But that's starting to sound a bit far-fetched to me.

Nash still doesn't sound completely comfortable on the microphone either. "I'm your FRIEND!"... I don't know what it is, but something's not quite right.
I just noticed something too, while Nash was getting in Triple H. Hopefully there's some kind of footage of that, because i bet it's gold.

So Nash is fired... what? Didn't make any sense.. they've built up a Nash/Punk match for 3 or 4 weeks now, and then they "fire" him? ... Punk's last little jab was awesome. "haa haaaa.. best of luck in your future endeavours". Also, that was another of those little things they keep putting in that don't seem important, but really is.
Then Laurinitis joins him in a limo? Why was there a limo for Nash if he was fired? ... think about it.

And then today, he's "released"? I guess they thought Nash needed yet another nickname. I'm fairly sure we'll see him back as some kind of pivotal element in a bigger power struggle. The really annoying thing is they keep making it almost impossible not to order Night of Champions.

Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne, are NOT going to revamp the tag team division. You put two singles wrestlers together, occasionally it works and they form a great team. Los guerreros, Big Show and Kane.. Undertaker and Kane.. But most of the time it just seems like two guys thrown together for some other reason. like to eventually turn one against the other.

If the WWE really wants to re-ignite the tag teams and make it a relevant part of their TV, they need actual teams. There is one actual tag team in the WWE right now. But they're not the ones having a match on RAW, Khali and his.. whatever Jinder Mahal is get the match. Why not showcase a Tag team instead of use the tag team champions to further a boring storyline for khali and mahal?

Speaking of Tag Team matches, Miz and Truth are going to be going for the tag team titles? ... If the tag titles meant anything now that would be great, it would keep Miz in the big spotlight, and help continue R-Truth's push.
But they don't mean much of anything.
It's a step back for Miz. Headlining wrestlemania, to a last minute match on Summerslam. Not good.

Divas. Who cares. Kelly Kelly is not good in the ring, i don't really want to hear what she has to say, I just want to see her without the belt. Also I want to see that belt go back to the Women's championship. Diva's title is a joke. Women's title means something.

Punk and Truth had a good match, Miz out there keeps him around, even though he should have a bigger role I think.
So Triple H comes out, tells Punk the match is now No DQ. Because HE changed it. Triple H used his power to make the match the way he wants. He's essentially a heel boss, but no one is booing him. It's interesting. And then he says "If i don't get it all out of my system, I might just fire you too".

Here's my take. The big payoff, the bigger picture, is HHH will be said to be "unfit to be the COO" by someone. Either Laurinitis, or Vince. Maybe we'll see Nash/HHH, with Nash being the guy wrestling on behalf of whoever the other guy is.
At Survivor series.
And, at Night of Champions, the Punk/HHH match won't end cleanly.


King and Zack Ryder? That's interesting.
And it seems that they're FINALLY giving Zack a little push, showing a promo package of his TLIS show, and in ring work.
Otunga is going to go nowhere, and if they don't give Hennig his actual name.. .. well they need to change his name.

I thought it was kind of interesting they put all the little jabs Ryder takes on his show into that promo package.. "i'm trying to get over/i can draw money/no-one pushes Zack Ryder" etc.

Why is Heath Slater on tv? Why not Randy vs Cody Rhodes/Dolph Ziggler/ANYONE ELSE!

Hey.. John Cena took a shot at The Rock. Bout damn time.

The main event was what it was. A way to show off a bunch of talent. And it's good that they do that.
Also I think i figured out the reason for the Raw Supershow concept. Smackdown is going to be live, and they're A: trying to promote Smackdown, and B: getting the Smackdown guys used to live tv.


So it wasn't a bad show by any stretch of the imagination. It just didn't have that same awesome feeling. Maybe it's because of the Supershow thing. Who knows.

Anyway, I'm about done for this installment. Remember, leave me a comment and tell me what you think, and follow me on twitter if you're not already @TheOZMouthpiece

That's it, and that's all.

Never leave your phone lying around.

Another week, and another RAW.

Welcome back to the newly named Aussie Mouthpiece blog. I am the Aussie Mouthpiece (formerly known as the Armchair Mouthpiece), and I'm here to talk about what I liked about RAW.

If you haven't read one of my posts before, this isn't a minute by minute recap of what happened on the show. Basically, what I do is talk about what I feel are the highlights, and what could potentially be in the cards.


So onto the show.

Coming off of Summerslam, which left us with more questions than answers I feel, this show needed to be top notch. We needed to hear from HHH, Punk, Nash, and Cena.

We got that.

But what we didn't get was a great show I don't think.

It felt like they didn't know where they are going with this angle yet. HHH is still in this weird funk of not having his role made completely clear yet..we're being given this 'corporate' good for business version of HHH.. but hopefully this storyline will give us a clearer perspective on where the HHH character stands. I don't think the blend of heel/face works for everyone, and he is one of those guys that it doesn't work for. Edge, CM Punk, Cena it works for.

So HHH started the show, apologised, claimed no prior knowledge of his actions at Summerslam. If they are going down this road of it eventually being HHH, for whatever reason, it kinda feels like we've been down this road before.
When Shawn Michaels returned, in 2002 there was an angle where he was attacked from behind and his head was put through a car window.  HHH claimed no knowledge, said he'd find out who did it.. and eventually it turned out to be HHH who attacked Shawn.
It is slightly different, but it's still the bad guy feigning innocence. I for one hope they don't go with HHH as the "guy who sent the text".

Alberto Del Rio is champion huh? .. I've always really disliked the elitist champions/wrestlers. He's good, sure. He has entertaining matches, and I think having him cash in the MiTB helps move Punk into a different level of his feud, away from John Cena, which means Cena may get more focused towards The Rock (Survivor Series is coming up fairly soon remember), and Punk can start "fighting the power". So to speak.
So Alberto Del Rio is champion.. I say he has the belt for at most, a couple of months.

They gave him a lot of mic time though, was a decent promo. Especially.. "Alberto, what are you gonna do today? I feel like beating up Rey Mysterio!". I just don't see him as the face of the company. Which is kinda what the WWE champion is, even more than the World Heavyweight champion at the moment.

Now, you may wonder why I don't talk about the matches a lot during these RAW posts. I was wondering that myself for a while, but I realised something after watching Raven's latest blog. He talked about why he watches wrestling, and that there are 2 types of people who watch wrestling. Those who watch more for the actual wrestling, and those who watch for the episodic storytelling. You can't tell a good story without the matches, but the matches need to have some kind of story behind them to make them really interesting. And I fall into that category of watching for the episodic storytelling.
That's why.

So Morrison and R-Truth have a falls count anywhere match. And he cut a bad, terrible, boring promo before the match.. Morrison is fairly good in the ring, but he's not awesome. There are other people on the current WWE roster that can do what he does, and more.

Scott Armstrong counts a lot slower than other referees.

The match was decent, but I'm not a huge fan of Morrison, I get a bit bored watching him. R-Truth needs a more serious promo or something. He's great in the ring, but the spiders and the c.o.n... spiracy thing makes it seem like he's a comedic character, when he could easily be so much more. I do like the little jimmy thing though.

One thing i don't like about this falls count anywhere match, is that they spent too much time out of the ring. John Morrison is supposed to be a high flyer right? Truth has a lot of moves that he hits after coming off of the ropes right? How do you do that, if you're out of the ring 80 percent of the time? Think about it.


Miz is great. I like Subway. Sure, that was basically just a big Ad for subway, but it was entertaining.

All i'm going to say about the divas match, is why the hell aren't Kelly and Eve in a match with the people they're feuding with? Bellas are not entertaining. That match, was not entertaining.

Oh hey look Kelly kelly ... who's leg was worked on for the whole match.. is walking with no trouble at all. ........

So this is the part of RAW that i'll be talking the most about. Kevin Nash, and CM Punk.

I am a huge Kevin Nash fan. When i started watching wrestling in 1996/97 he was the guy that became my favourite. So I was really excited about him being back on RAW.

What the hell happened?

He doesn't sound like Kevin Nash.. there was nothing goin on.. he sounds like he's on something. I like the explanation, "just business". Nash has been known for doing "business", so it makes sense.
Like I said, i'm a huge Nash fan, so it was disappointing that he wasn't, at least to me, at his best.

Punk on the other hand, was at his best.

I keep getting worried that the whole "what will he say" thing is going to become a bit stale, like, it'll just become a little boring, a little less shock value, but he keeps pulling out these brilliant lines.

"If Triple H told you to jump off a bridge would you? Because I think that would be good for business".

CM Punk is so good on the mic right now. Scratch that, he's been great on the mic for years, but now we're really getting to see how good he is, because he's been given a bit of freedom. He, and I'm sure not in a malicious way, ran rings around Nash mic wise.

I read that a lot of the little jabs etc. in this promo weren't talked about before hand. You could kind of see Kevin Nash getting pissed off at a few of the things Punk said, but for some reason, it didn't really come across that way in his voice. I just feel like Nash wasn't all there or something, he could be so much better.
He wasn't terrible by any stretch, don't get me wrong. Nash is awesome. He will always be awesome to me.

Punk is on a different level though.

I really hope the text message he read out was real. That was brilliant. Line of the night.

So really, to sum up, Punk was amazing, Nash seemed unsure of what he was saying, but he's still Big Daddy Cool when it all boils down to it, and that means I want to see more.
Also, Nash's goatee is awesome, even if it's a little reminiscent of Undertaker when he was in the ministry.

My only concern is that this is all going to end up a lot like the "Higher Power" story line. What i mean by that is all that's going to happen, the big payoff is that everyone is doing Vince McMahon's bidding. That would be boring.

I like that all the suspects are being shown, and the little backstage segment with Laurinitis and Nash was a great example of that. Now we're thinking.. Laurinitis is Vince's yes-man.. maybe it's Vince! Then later on Stephanie is in Triple H's office.. maybe it's Stephanie!
Regardless, it's interesting, and that's what's important. I'm almost at that point where i'm confident that this change to really entertaining wrestling and storylines is permanent, and they're not going to drop the ball. Almost.

One little thing, Jerry Lawler needs to stop calling Vickie Guererro fat. Hey king, go get some more plastic surgery!

The commentary on the Riley/Swagger match was way more entertaining than the match. And what the hell happened with that finish?

They're trying to rebuild the tag team division and make it relevant again. So instead of just putting two singles wrestlers together, aka evan bourne and kofi.. with no reason as to why they'd team up (unless i'm mistaken).. give us a reason for them teaming up, make them a tag team.. a proper tag team!


So much for giving Rey big plans for this summerslam/raw weekend. I guess maybe it was because of his knee injury, but, I never really believed they were going to have him win the championship.

So I have to talk about John Cena's promo too, because it was very, very good.
He's talking about integrity, bringing as much integrity to the WWE title as possible. I like it.
Cena showing some more attitude.
I love it. Not trying to be funny, no little jokes, just attitude and passion. That's what i want to see. And that's what Cena is giving us.

So what happens now?

Well, I think next week's RAW won't answer everything, I think we'll find out if CM Punk gets to fight Nash, but i'm guessing that wouldn't be at Night of Champions right.. because that's the Pay per view where it's all championship matches. So Vengeance? that's about 2 months away though. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Clearly it looks to be Del Rio vs Cena coming up at some point. Maybe the night of champions match will be a Triple Threat. Punk vs Cena vs Del Rio. that makes sense.

I think Miz needs to be in there too though, they can't leave him off of two pay per views (I know he was at summerslam, but it was a last minute match)

Should be an interesting few weeks. Can't wait to see more CM Punk, more Nash, more Cena (wow, i just said that). Who knows, maybe more of the kliq will show up.. X-Pac works for WWE right?...

That's it, i'm done, if you don't like it, go suck a lemon.