Once In a lifetime at the end of an era.

Wow.

If someone asked me to describe Wrestlemania 28 in one word, it would be exactly that. Wow. In every sense of the word.

From the opening joke of a match, to the epic Hell in a Cell, to the somewhat subpar main event, Wow seems to sum it up perfectly.

It had everything. So it seems right to talk about everything.

Lets start with the dark match. I didn't see much of it, but I know that Epico and Primo retained their titles. I guess that's a good thing right?

I have to say, I was quietly very excited about this Wrestlemania. Maybe it was the 3 main events, but I just had this feeling it was going to be one of the best, at least of the last 10 years. For me, my favourite Wrestlemania is 19, probably because it was the first one I saw, but there were so many big feel matches. Angle/Lesnar, McMahon/Hogan, Rock/Austin, Michaels/Jericho. Wrestlemania 28 had the same feel.

And for the most part, it really didn't disappoint. Yes, there were bad parts, which we'll get to when I run through the matches and segments, but the good definitely outweighed the bad.

And from a personal point of view, I picked 7 out of the 8 matches correctly. Not a bad effort.

Ok so let's get down to business and go through the card.

So first up we had the World Heavyweight Title match between Sheamus and Daniel Bryan, with AJ at ringside. And, in less time than it takes for Undertaker to walk out of the entranceway, the match is over.
I literally looked away for 3 seconds, and I missed the finish.

My first reaction, like a lot of people I would imagine, was just .. "what?" And from there, it morphed into a "what the f**k?" .. I mean come on. Apparently the WWE wanted to break the record set by Chavo and Kane back at Wrestlemania 24. And failed. So instead of being able to use the "record" angle as part of the story to soften the blow, we got an 18 second title match. Way to make the World Heavyweight Championship seem about as important as the Tag titles.

It was a joke. Plain and simple. We got commercials for next year's Wrestlemania, a Diva's commercial, a spot promoting deadliest catch that were longer than the first match. Couldn't we have done without the mimed musical performances, and had an actual match instead? It is called WRESTLEmania after all.

 However, I don't think it made Daniel Bryan look as bad as most people think. It's the Honky Tonk Man principle. Ultimate Warrior defeated Honky in 30 seconds or so to win the Intercontinental title, and it didn't hurt Honky, because it was a surprise. He could claim he wasn't ready, wasn't prepared etc.

In the same vein, Daniel Bryan can now say that Sheamus took advantage of him while his back was turned. Not 100% true, but as a heel he can get away with bending the truth. So if there's one saving grace, at least the storyline in the next month or so will be a little interesting.

I'm not really sure how to score this match out of 10.. on one hand we got ripped off because we didn't get to see a good match, but for what it was, and what it could be, it's not the worst thing ever.

So, for what it was, i'll give it 7/10, but for what it could have been, it's a 2/10.

After a quick backstage segment with Team Johnny, next up was Randy Orton vs Kane. I really wasn't sure about this match, I felt like it had no reason to be happening, and there wasn't really any reason that I should care about it.
They talked about how Kane was trying to shake of the last of his humanity I guess? And Orton was responsible for some of that humanity? I'm not sure.

It was however, a really solid match. Not amazing, but it definitely didn't suck. I think on first viewing it looked worse than it was, because of what happened with the opening match. People were still shocked. I know I was.

The problem was though, this match lacked any kind of "big fight" feel. It may have had to do with it still being daylight. Seeing wrestling in natural light is still a little strange. But I think really it was just the lack of story behind the match.

We got the usual spots from Orton and Kane, but the finish was at least a little special, with Kane hitting a chokeslam from the ropes.

A decent match, but could have been better with more build up. 5.5/10

Next up was another backstage segment with Santino, Mick Foley, and eventually Ron Simmons. Very funny stuff, especially Mick's pirate voice. Oh and there was some guy from some discovery channel show they were trying to pimp.. I mean advertise. And of course, we got Ron Simmons delivering a perfect "damn".

Following on from that we got the Intercontinental Title match between Cody Rhodes and Big Show.
I had a feeling this might have been one of those "dark horse" matches that could end up being really, really good. And Show and Rhodes did not disappoint.
Great action to start off, and Big Show's chops to the chest sounded extra brutal. In fact, a lot of the impacts sounded more violent tonight. Maybe it was that everyone was working a little stiffer, maybe the WWE used different microphones because it was an outdoor event. Either way it was great.

The only thing was that the match to me was a little short. But it worked.

I originally thought that Show needed to win, but Cody should retain his title. I was going with this line of thinking because I had figured Cody was going to be an IC champion with a long title reign, as in a record setting title reign. That way, Big Show got his revenge, but Cody could still stay champion.

But that wasn't to be. Big Show loaded up his KO punch and nailed Cody, pinning him for the 1, 2, 3, and becoming the new Intercontinental Champion. And also a grand slam champion. Which is an awesome effort.
You could tell that it really did mean something to Big Show. I've always liked that about him, he shows real emotion when he wins titles. It happened for that 45 seconds at TLC when he won the world title, and again at Mania. It makes it feel real, and it shows that he's not just there to be there.

So I've been thinking about what happens to Cody Rhodes now. I would imagine he has a rematch at Extreme Rules, but over the next few months I would expect to see him starting to get into the World Title hunt, whether it be on Smackdown, or RAW.

So overall I think that this match was right up there in the top few of the night, and Big Show deserved the win. 7/10

This tag line that has been used this year.. the "end of an era".. It's not only about the Hell in a Cell match, which i'll get to in just a minute. It feels like that was the overriding theme of the night. Not "Once in a lifetime". That was strictly for The Rock and Cena. (And possibly a TNA contracted wrestler appearing on camera at Wrestlemania as well, but hey.. it's Naitch!).

Think about it. Sheamus decimated Daniel Bryan and became World Heavyweight Champ for the first time. Big Show achieved the honor of becoming a grand slam champion. The fact that he was so emotional.. maybe that was his last Wrestlemania match.
There was the embrace after the Hell in a Cell match, almost like Undertaker, Triple H and Shawn were saying goodbye (I'll get to it in more detail later).
Jericho (the veteran) put Punk over.
Rock one his Once in a Lifetime match.  Everything has this "end of an era" feel about it, like RAW tomorrow (or today depending on where you are in the world) is going to be the start of a new day in the WWE, with a lot of the veterans stepping away. I have a feeling we might see Triple H, Undertaker, Big Show on raw, but we might not see them much after that.

I did notice that the first 3 matches were all done and dusted with only 45 minutes of the pay per view gone,
which did seem a bit fast. But we found out at the end that they needed all that time. I think it ended with only a few minutes to spare. So the timing was well done this year. It certainly didn't look like anything had to be cut down. So well done to the WWE for that.

So next up was a 3 or 4 minute video package about all the Divas. .. I don't know what point that served.

And now it's time for the Diva's tag team match. It was better than I expected, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting much. Beth carried the match (as usual), although Kelly Kelly did surprise me (and in a good way too) hitting a Molly Go Round (you know that's what it's called) on Beth.

What I didn't like is that damn finish. Maria Menounos took longer than a world heavyweight title match (Yup, that's going to become a thing) to climb the turnbuckles, selling the fact that she could hardly move. Yet she had the strength to hold Beth down with her entire body (including her apparently injured ribs) for a 3 count? A wrestler I could buy being able to do that, but a celebrity? She shouldn't have sold so hard. And if it was a legitimate injury and she really couldn't move that fast, she could have kept up the selling when going for the school boy(girl). Also, don't wear white pants when wrestling girls with fake tan on.
Overall it wasn't the worst divas match ever, but it was nowhere near as good as a one on one match with Beth and Natalya would have been. 4/10


Next up, somewhat surprisingly at first, is the End of an Era Hell in a Cell match. Undertaker vs Triple H, with Shawn Michaels as the guest referee. So many expectations. Would Shawn screw over one of the combatants? Would the match live up to the hype? And most importantly.. What would Undertaker's hair look like?

Before I get to the match, let me just say it was great to have Jim Ross call this match. Moreover, it was fitting. This match signified the last act of the attitude era. Jim Ross was the voice of the attitude era. In a perfect world, Cole would have left the commentary table for this match, but at least we got JR.

Shawn makes his entrance, and then that thundering open Eb Chord (yes, i know my music) hits, and Triple H makes his entrance, out of some kind of stage prop, that looked very cool, very metal, and very Triple H. He's been taking on this Viking style King of Kings character for his Mania entrances, and this one was right up there.

And then there's Undertaker. As you all know I'm a bit of an Undertaker mark, so his matches are always a special thing for me. As are his entrances. And this year he did not disappoint. That coat... yes it had a little bit of a Super Shredder vibe about it, but it was amazing. Somewhere between that ministry outfit, and his monk-like hooded robe/jacket.

The "hair reveal" almost had as much hype as the match itself. We'd all read the reports that he would be bald, but, in another surprise, Taker removed his hood and revealed a low mohawk. If you can, watch that part again, but watch the faces of the people in shot behind him. It's priceless.
It's certainly a different look for him, but it worked. Jim Ross's commentary once again made this moment so much more epic. Just a simple.. "My god".. Michael Cole really should pay attention to when the greatest of all time is speaking.

I'm not going to go through the match move by move, because let's face it, this is already long, and I've still got 3 more matches after this one to run through. Favourite parts though included the Spinebuster on the steps, which amazed me. Undertaker doesn't need to take bumps like that, but he still does. Amazing.

The brutal chair shots. All of them. Like I said before with Big Show's chops, the impact of the chair shots sounded different, more brutal.

The "DX finisher combo" on Undertaker had me going. No-one has ever kicked out of that combo of moves. Not that I've seen anyway. It's things like that which remind me how much I love pro wrestling. Even though every fibre of my being knows that Undertaker will win, because of the Streak, I still mark out for those near falls.

I liked the finish as well, but it was really the only part of the match that I felt like had been done before. We'd seen it with Shawn a couple of years earlier, only this year there was a sledgehammer. But it worked. It made sense. It was right.

What made this match so good though, was the story. And you can thank Shawn Michaels for making it as good as it was. Even in a refereeing only capacity, he is Mr Wrestlemania. Watch his reactions to the chair shots, the sledgehammer shots, the kickouts.. That was why Shawn was a part of this match. Look at the final Sledge shot from Taker to Triple H. The camera cuts back and it shows that Shawn can't even look. That says so much. And then after the pinfall.. Shawn looked like he genuinely had tears in his eyes.

All in all this was an amazing match, and an amazing finale to this 4 year journey of Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels/Undertaker vs Triple H, and an amazing final act of the Attitude Era. And the way that Undertaker, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels left the arena was.. it was perfect. Sure, people can say that Taker's character would never have done that, but this wasn't Undertaker the character. Since his return he's basically been I would say, as close to himself as he's ever been, without riding to the ring on a motorcycle. These three men have been a part of something that none of us as fans will ever truly understand. They clearly have a bond that goes beyond their gimmicks, and deserve all the accolades they have, and will ever get.

Before I move on from this match, let me posit a theory. Undertaker, and possibly Triple H, will come out on Raw tomorrow, and retire. Undertaker has reached 20-0. He's beaten every big name over the last 22 years. There's nothing else for him to do. 20-0 seems a fitting time to me, and if you watch the final couple of shots of Taker, Shawn and Hunter, it almost looks like a "goodbye" look from them. And I'm just going to go ahead and say it. That was a beautiful moment.

Ok so overall did this match live up to the hype? I think that yes, it did. It gave us everything we wanted (even accidental blood).. and brought to an end this amazing rivalry. 9.5/10


How does anyone follow that? The easy answer is that they don't, which is why a 12 man tag went on afterwards. That way the responsibility wasn't just on one or two people.

Just quickly, Edge choking up when he was announced in the hall of fame segment, same as Big Show, is one of those things that makes this feel even more special, and more real. It's really weird to see him with short hair though.

Heath Slater got slammed into that wall hard. Somebody tell that Flo Rida dude it's meant to be a work!

So next up is Team Johnny vs Team Teddy.

I really don't have a lot to say about this match, I thought it was as good as it could be. Dolph did indeed steal the spotlight as I thought he would. His sell of that monkey flip was insane. Best spot has to go to the Triple front flip rope dive though. Great timing by everyone, and everyone was caught safely.

It was an interesting finish, with Eve showing her true colours (again). But it was good that Miz got the pinfall. Going from main eventing Wrestlemania to being part of a 12 man tag match mustn't have been easy.

A decent match overall, but really nothing all that special. 6/10

Punk and Jericho came next, with the freshly added stipulation that if Punk got DQ'd, he'd lose the title. This was a really good decision, because it made the story of the match so much more intense. Punk had to keep his cool, and Jericho would try to make Punk snap time after time. A really smart booking decision. Well done.

Jericho's jacket now comes with a 2nd colour. But he still can't get it all to flash at once.

I think this match was going to have a hard time just because of it's place on the card. People were still reeling from the Hell in a Cell match. But I think that if people watch this match on replay, once they've already seen Wrestlemania once, they'll realise just how good this match is. It was what they both said it would be. The best wrestling match on the card.

Punk took a really hard fall from that suplex off of the apron, it looked brutal. But having said that, Jericho took a few fairly stiff looking knees from Punk when he said "how's your father?"

Speaking of those barbs, I thought that was a really original, and really well executed idea. Jericho verbally goading Punk into snapping, and letting us hear it through the camera (i'm not sure if it got picked up for the live crowd) was a great touch. And Jericho's facial expressions were perfect too.

What else can I say about this match? It was great. Pure pro wrestling. Back and forth pinfall attemps and submission attempts, reversals, and most importantly, a great story was told. I think it was right that Cm Punk won this match, and it solidifies him as a top guy. He defended the title, at Wrestlemania. That's a big deal.
8.5/10

We got a dance number instead of a world heavyweight title match. But.. plus side is we saw the Dactyl! .. I'm happy for Brodus getting a fairly unique Wrestlemania moment to say the least, but I think the time could have been better used for the opening match.

And last but not least, the main event. The once in a lifetime match. John Cena vs The Rock. Would it live up to the hype? Would The Rock become the best ever? Or would Cena finally shut Rocky up?

First of all, I'm just going to say one thing about the musical "performances". Lip-Syncing. Terrible.

One saving grace, I thought that Machine Gun Kelly guy performed really well. And I liked his little speech too. It seemed like he was really grateful to get the opportunity. Too bad whoever the female "singer" was performed so badly. But the dude was like a heat magnet. Cleveland jersey in Miami, and saying Cena would beat Rock. Well done.

But let's forget about all that, and focus on what's important. Which is the match.

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed with this match. There seemed to be a lack of chemistry and timing between the two. Rock looked like he was half a step slower than Cena, and there were at least 2 times I saw Cena having to wait for Rock to get in the right position for the next move.
And Rock seemed less .. well less like "The Rock".

Also from a Cena fan point of view, I was a little disappointed that he went back to the jean shorts and coloured shirts. The black was a little more aggressive, but maybe with Rocky being associated with wearing the black tights and shirts, they wanted to give a visual indication of how different the two guys are.

The match reminded me a lot of Rock/Hogan from Wrestlemania 18. I mean the difference here is that both guys were still in their prime, but still it had the same feeling. Both guys hitting their big moves only to have the guy kick out at 2.

I'll admit, I was almost sure that Cena was going to win when he finally hit the AA. Rocky kicked out so late it was almost 3 for real. And then Cena kind of changed a little, got a bit of an attitude.. got a little angry, and disrespectful. It was kind of interesting. Trying to hit a people's elbow on The Rock, in Miami, at Wrestlemania. Very ballsy.

Now I've been sure of a Cena heel turn before and it's not happened, so I'm not going to sit here and say "Cena's turning heel on Raw!" But it felt .. interesting. I can't wait to see what happens. Maybe there will be a Rock/Cena II, maybe at Summerslam. If there is Cena has to win that one. But a heel Cena vs a Babyface Rock would make the rematch more appealing, because it would be different.

If you read my Wrestlemania predictions, you'd know that I picked Cena to win. In retrospect, that was .. stupid.  It's The Rock's hometown, he talked about wanting to be the best ever, and honestly, it makes sense. And Cena is a stand up guy to be good with that and do the job.

So Rock wins, and it's fitting. It made sense. Overall this match wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it really had a lot of hype to live up to. John Cena and The Rock did a really good job though, and it was a great way to finish the night. 8/10

So overall what did I think of the show? I thought that it was one of the best Wrestlemania's in recent memory. I'm trying to think of what I'd thought the best was before today. Possibly Wrestlmania 23. Undertaker/batista.. Shawn/Cena, That epic MiTB match with both Hardy boys. And the battle of the billionaires. This card had a similar amount of epic matches, and overall, it lived up to the hype.

Yes, the WHC match was ridiculous, but it opens up an interesting storyline moving forward. Yes, the Rock and Cena wasn't as good as it could have been, but it was still great. And we got a better Cell match than I think a lot of people were expecting.

So overall I would give Wrestlemania 28 a 7 out of 10.

So that's all for now, I'll be back in a few days with the next edition of Home Schooling, talking about the fallout from Wrestlemania and Monday Night Raw. Until then, follow me on twitter if you're not already @TheOZMouthpiece and leave me a comment on here or twitter to let me know what you think.

Business 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.8

It's that time again, another week has come and gone, we're one step closer to Wrestlemania, and I am back to talk about the goings on in the last week, in the world of Spor.. I mean Professional Wrestling.

It's been an interesting week. The main focus for me this week has been RAW, and the WWE in general, so that's what I'll be focusing on, and I may just touch on TNA's Victory Road pay per view as well. And possibly on this discussion about Sting, and if he is an "icon" or not.

So let's get down to business.

Last week the CM Punk/Chris Jericho feud finally got a little bit of personal tension about it. I've always thought the best feuds were the ones that had "real" pieces alongside the dramatic storylines, like Austin/McMahon, Shawn/Bret, Edge/Matt Hardy, and even Austin/Bischoff's GM feud in 2003. They stand out because they feel different. They feel well, real.

Punk/Jericho has been good at times, a bit off at times, but last week we finally got the injection of realism that has been lacking. Also, why have the "it begins" videos not been explained? But, let's get back on track.

So this week was CM Punk's response to Jericho's promo about his alcoholic father. From what i've read, this is apparently similar to a feud Punk had with Raven in 2005 (correct me if i'm wrong on the year). It makes sense for Raven to use mind games, psychological games etc to get inside his opponent's head, but it doesn't seem like a Jericho thing as much.

Having said that, Chris is making it work really well. Punk is great, as always. I really liked the line "if there's a devil in my DNA, it's now your problem". The only thing that bothers me about this, is while CM Punk is still being edgy, and being himself, a couple of the other lines, such as the "there isn't a person on this planet who should let a past nightmare dictate or cloud their future dreams", while it's an awesome line, and I agree with it, it's very... babyface. CM Punk to me is at his best when he's still saying things he would say if he was a heel. The switch to babyface took a little of the edge off. But having said that, he still delivered a brilliant promo.

Jericho's "via satellite" response was even better. I was going back and forth as to whether or not going down the "sister" road was too much, but I'm of the mindset that it isn't. It works. It makes it even more personal. I did find it quite funny that in one sentence Jericho said "I'll never talk about your father again" and within 1 minute, he mentioned Punk's father. I guess that's all part of being a heel, being completely disingenuous with everything you say.

People seem to be making a big deal about whatever it was that CM Punk said that got censored. Apparently he repeated himself, saying "you're bullsh*t" both times, the second one you can clearly see. To me this is really good. Think about it. If someone was digging up your family's personal issues in a public forum, how would you react? You'd lose it, you'd say things you wouldn't normally say in a public setting. It does nothing but help this feud. Bit annoying that it was censored, especially considering all the things that The Rock is allowed to say and get away with. But I'll get to him later.

I'm not sure why Big Show was made to look so weak this week. Yes I know he was handcuffed, but that match was so quick as well. The only reason I can think of is to give the fans the impression that Cody has a chance to beat him. Which if you think about it, makes Show a great guy.  I get the feeling that it's going to end up with Show getting the big payoff at Wrestlemania, while making Cody look good at the same time.

Kane... so much for the dominant monster returning. Maybe it's a case of all the big matches already being set in stone. I think Kane vs Orton will be good, but I could be wrong. Randy Orton's promo this week was just ok, and really didn't make a lot of sense. Yes. Your name is Randy Orton. Well done. Why do I care about your match?

I have to say, I was probably the opposite of a fan of David Otunga, but that's changed a bit in the last few weeks. He's come into his own lately, probably just because he's had time to develop more of a character, he's not getting ridiculed every week by the good guys, or the cool guys. He's still not great in the ring, and that finishing move is pretty bad, but give it time. Johnny/Teddy however, I'm not sure. I said last week I was hoping Dolph Ziggler wouldn't get put into this match, because he deserved a bigger spot on the card. But it seems to be happening now, so hopefully he'll get a chance to do something memorable at least. Unless the match is really short. Which is likely.

Something that seems to never get cut short is the amount of time given to The Rock, and to a lesser extent, John Cena. And this week we got yet another pre-recorded promo from The Rock, talking about the city he's in, looking all intense, and flashing that hollywood smile.

Funnily enough however, this week Rock started by saying that Cena is on the same level as Austin and Hogan. That was interesting to me. He then talked about how beating Cena would make Rock the greatest of all time. What he did not do this week, is pick on Cena's clothes, or hair, or friends, or family, or his fans. I get the feeling that there might have been some kind of heat for all the constant bullying tactics in Rock's promos of late, and really, since april last year.

I really liked The Rock's promo this week. THAT is the kind of thing that Rock can do. That's why he's so good, why he's one of the best ever. He doesn't need to be a bully. And it was really awesome to hear Randy Savage mentioned. The only thing that I didn't like is it seemed a little like The Rock was playing to the crowd with the whole Philadelphia and Rocky Balboa thing. But overall it was a great promo, and a lot better than the last few weeks.

Which brings me to one other point about the Rock/Cena feud. It seems that this week was meant to be Rock's week. Cena didn't have any promo time or anything, he had the match with Mark Henry, which he did win, but the win was kinda negated by The Rock coming out and hitting the Rock Bottom on Henry afterwards, kind of sending the message of "I can do anything you can do". The difference is though (if we suspend disbelief for a minute here), The Rock did hit a Rock Bottom on Mark Henry. Impressive. But he hit the Rock Bottom on a Mark Henry who'd just been in a match with Cena, and in that match Cena hit his own finisher in that match. So Rock's finisher, not so impressive.

Also, I think having Cena come out this week as the smiling, camo-short wearing, rise above hate Cena has kind of hurt him, after last week's RAW. I think it would have been better for him to keep that "character" going, at least until the Raw after Wrestlemania. Rock has basically said he's fake, and that is also part of the problem people who boo Cena has. And by having that "rapper" Cena only around for one week, it felt like it was just something he did for the show, and not something he believes in.


Now, with that done, that really only leaves one thing to talk about from RAW this week, that being the "end of an era" match.

Now i'm a massive Undertaker fan, as I'm sure I've said before. But that doesn't mean I'm going to say everything that happens with him is great. Undertaker vs Kahli? Not great. Undertaker vs Undertaker? Interesting, not great. And this week's promo segment on Raw? Not great.

The problem is that there's nothing left to say. Where can it go? We already had the promos last year about how much Undertaker and HHH respect each other. We've already had the promos about Shawn and Undertaker and how much they respect each other. And we know that Triple H and HBK are best friends.

So what's left to say?

The focus is still not where it should be. What would have been better this week, is to show video packages of Triple H's Hell in a Cell matches, Undertaker's Hell In A Cell matches (with special attention paid to the Undertaker/HBK cell match), and maybe even a package of Shawn Michaels' appearances as Special referee. Save the 3 person in ring promo for the RAW before Mania, not two weeks before.  Who knows though, they're probably going to show a Cell package (unless they already have and I missed it) next week.

But what happens with this feud next week?

My guess is it's going to be Shawn and HHH talking about the last thing that Undertaker said, which i'll get to in a minute. But basically it was that Shawn is better. So HHH and HBK will argue about that, Undertaker will interrupt, and then we might get Shawn hitting a Sweet Chin Music on one of them. Or at least feigning one. But which guy? Maybe he goes to hit it on Undertaker but Taker moves, and it hits HHH. Or the reverse of that.


But that ending.. Undertaker's last words this week. "You remember when I said Shawn is better? .... He is!"
Umm.. Sorry did I miss something? Were you not serious the first time you said it Undertaker? That really, was an awful way to end it. With how long of a pause he took between the two lines, I was sure he was going to say something like "Remember when I said Shawn is better? Well I'm better than Shawn". I get that the idea would be to cause tension between HHH and HBK, but really, there must be some other way to have said that. Maybe Taker forgot what he wanted to say and improvised. Maybe he didn't deliver it the way he wanted to. But it was really sub-par. Even an extra line.. "He is. And he couldn't beat me. What chance do you have?" ANYTHING would have been better. Not saying "he is" would have been better.



Just quickly, why has there been no mention of Taker's videos that were shown a bunch of weeks ago, especially when he cut his hair? That to me was a big deal. Why would Taker cut his hair off? But, once again, like Chris Jericho's "it begins" videos, it's been forgotten about apparently.

So next week, to build to Wrestlemania, I would have Shawn kick Undertaker after HHH moves out of the way, which knocks him down and also knocks the hood off so his baldness is revealed. Which would then (feasibly) make Undertaker even more angry, give the impression that Shawn will screw over Taker (not going to happen), and then if Shawn and HHH share a smile, it wouldn't do anything to Triple H either.

But that's just me. I highly doubt the WWE thinks the same way I do. But if they did, it wouldn't be the worst way to head into Wrestlemania would it?


So that's all I've got to say about Raw this week, I think it was a fairly good episode, but it could have been better. Hopefully next week changes that.

Onto other business now, TNA's Victory Road, which I only saw a little of, had quite an interesting main event, or at least finish to the main event. I guess they're really trying hard to push Bobby Roode as the biggest heel in wrestling, duct-taping Sting to the ropes and threatening Dixie Carter. It was a little unsettling, which is good, makes people question how "worked" things are when that happens. But honestly, I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to TNA lately, but I do think their product is a lot better than it was say, 6 months ago.

Speaking of Sting, there's a big debate about whether Sting is an icon going on right now. One argument is that without going to the WWE, he can't be an Icon. But what does the term icon mean? He's a legend, he's one of the best ever, but does that make him an icon? An Icon to me is someone like Hogan. Like Flair. Someone that everyone, even if they're not a fan, would know as a wrestler. For example, I'm not a fan of Baseball let's say, but I know exactly who Babe Ruth is, because he's an Icon. If I asked my non-wrestling fan friends who Sting was, I would say all of them would talk about the guy who plays bass guitar.

But, within the wrestling business, I think Sting IS an icon. He is WCW's icon. He was the only guy who never left WCW. And he's never left TNA either. I think that makes him iconic for those companies.

So that's about all I have to say for this week, next week I'll give my Wrestlemania predictions, and give a rundown of the full card. Until then, if you're not already, follow me @TheOZMouthpiece on twitter, and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

Business is concluded.

Home Schooling No.7

It's time for another dose of home schooling from me, the Aussie Mouthpiece. So get set for my weekly round-up of what's interested me, both the good, and the bad.

It's been another big week for wrestling, with the "Road to Wrestlemania" taking more twists and turns as we get closer to the big day. So this week I will be talking once again about the main storylines on RAW and Smackdown, but as an extra added bonus, I want to talk about one small part of TNA this week as well. And, if there's time and I don't forget, a slight ROH mention too.

So let's get down to business.

This week's episode of Raw was billed as the Cena Rap/Rock Concert (or something), therefore I'll start off this week talking about them.

Now this might not be popular opinion, but John Cena "won" again. I don't know if it's scripted that way, or if (at least to me) what Cena is saying, or his side makes more sense to me than The Rock's, but as far as I'm concerned, John Cena is winning the verbal battle.

You can hear it even just from the crowd reactions. Sure, The Rock will always get cheered by most of the people. But in the last couple of weeks, Cena has been getting a solid cheer for his efforts. And that's more than has been happening in about 4 or 5 years.

So let's talk about Cena first. And this isn't fruity pebble Cena, or Rise Above Cena, this was old school Cena, the Cena that used to get cheered by just about everyone. Seriously, go back and watch Smackdown in 2004 after he won the US title, or even just watch Wrestlemania 20's opening match. No dog tags and camo shorts this week, we get basketball jersey and chain and padlock Cena. And I for one, was really happy and excited for that.

I've seen comments like "now he's just trying to be a rapper again"... isn't the Rock still using the same gimmick from oh.. what 15 years ago? You use what works. John Cena was (and probably still is) into rap and hip hop in "real life", he got over with his rapper gimmick, and then slowly toned it down when the WWE was changing eras. But there's no doubt that even though this is a different side of Cena, it's not anything that he's pretending to be.

Best of all, he did what the Rock couldn't do, and he didn't take 20 minutes and other people's music to do it. Cena was in the ring for about 3 and a half minutes. Listen to the crowd after each of his "rhymes". Listen especially to when he walked out of the ring. Everyone who has ever said "we want cena to turn heel" or something like it, well.. you just got it.

I'm not saying he's "heel" now, but what I am saying is that, at least on screen, John Cena's attitude has changed. This week there was no pandering to the children, no talking to the cameraman on the stage, no salute, and we got swearing and innuendo. But it probably won't be enough for those people either.

I have a feeling though, that it may not be a permanent change, that this may have been a once off. But, even if it is, it was worth it just for the "boobies" lines.

So on the other side of things, we have The Rock.

Now, I could write an entire blog about why I think The Rock isn't all he's cracked up to be, and I probably will eventually get around to it as well, but for now, let's talk about this week specifically.

First of all, this is the 2nd time in what.. 3 weeks that we've had a 20 minute plus Rock segment to end Raw.Yes, i know that the first one (which was 2 weeks ago) was interrupted by Cena, but still, at least this week I thought the two segments (Cena's Rap and the "Rock" concert) should have been put closer together.
Also, the way it was advertised seemed like the rapping and singing would be happening in the same segment, like a battle. Maybe WWE was afraid Cena would get cheered louder than the Rock.

Rock took longer to say one word, than Cena's entire promo ran for. Yeah, he's The Great One, but still.
And then one of the first things he talked about was how Cena had been "running around here for 8 years, looking like vanilla ice banged a tellytubby"... So somebody forgot to mention to the Rock, that, even before he left the first time, Cena was doing the rapper gimmick, wearing basically what he wore this week on RAW? Wasn't Rock on smackdown at the start of 2003?

Something else that really gets to me, is the Rock's flashy hollywood grin. It worked when he was a heel, but now it looks condescending or something. Ok that's not really a big deal, but I have a lot of problems with the way the Rock is going about attacking Cena.

See, the way I see it, The Rock is essentially a schoolyard bully. I think i said this last week, but he's attacking what somebody else wears, has interest in, and basically just picking on someone because he's different to the Rock.
We get constant references to Cena being a bitch, or having no balls, having "ladyparts".. oh and this week some kind of inference about being gay. Be a star huh WWE? So don't bully people unless you're The Rock. That's the message apparently.

Ok now we're at the part that has really pissed me off.  So... Rock. You're not a "real man" if you are a fan of John Cena, or Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings? And anyone who is, must be a virgin? You sir, are an asshole. You're a bully, you're just some jock who tries to be cool by making fun of people who have different interests to you.

Ok i'm done ranting, that part just really pissed me off. But on the flipside, before I get to the complete trashing of a classic Queen song, the verse about Eve and Cena was really good. See if that kinda stuff was the main part of Rock's promos I would probably be leaning towards him for who i'd want to win at mania. It was on a different level to the "kung pow bitch" crap.

Ok and just quickly about the We Will Rock You .. um.. "cover".. Awful. That's it. Just plain bad. And full of the same kind of repetition that Rock talks about Cena using.

Right, time to move on!

Let's quickly talk about Dolph Ziggler. The fact that this guy doesn't have a match at Mania yet is a damn shame. I hope he doesn't just get put into the Laurinitis/Long tag match, because he deserves a much bigger spot than that. Unfortunatlely, with Santino being in said tag match, and Cody Rhodes wrestling the Big Show for the IC title (why?) There's not really a lot they can do with him, other than maybe a Tag Title match, with he and Swagger teaming up. But that probably won't happen because Swagger is who Santino beat for the US title, so Swagger will want on the Laurinitis team.

But more likely than not, he (Ziggler) will do something memorable during the match, and I get the feeling that this time next year we might be seeing him in a title match.

I'm not really going to talk about the Laurinitis/Long tag match, because I really don't care right now. They've got two more weeks to make me care.

Funkasaurus was back on Raw! .. Different finisher though. Maybe a splash is safer than a cross-body.

Jericho and Punk got a lot more interesting this week. Now there's that personal .. thing, that is going to make CM Punk care more about this match than any other match he's had in a while. It was so well done, and a lot of that credit I think must go to Punk. I remember seeing an interview about the Austin/McMahon rivalry, and whoever it was, was talking about how without McMahon's visual reactions to Austin's actions, that rivalry wouldn't have gotten as hot as it did.

Punk's reaction was exactly what it needed to be. We haven't seen Punk look that way before. Something finally got to him. He's not the carefree guy who will drop a pipebomb now and then. Suddenly he's dealing with something he's (storyline wise at least) tried to forget about.

But let's not forget Chris Jericho.

That was one of the better promos I've seen in a long time. At first, I thought the "i'm going to make you drink" was a bit off, a little odd, but thinking about it a bit more, because of CM Punk's beliefs, saying that would be like saying "i'm going to destroy everything you believe in" to him. So it makes sense.

All in all, this promo has me excited for this match again, after a couple of weeks of just coasting.

Ok lastly let's talk about Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H.

I didn't love the whole segment this week. So far, it feels like Triple H is the third wheel. Shawn and 'Taker's battle seems like the focus right now, and it really shouldn't be like that. It gives the impression that it doesn't matter what Triple H does in the match, because Shawn is basically the more important factor. And it really shouldn't be like that.

The promos were really good this week. However, Undertaker sometimes is a bit of a mystery. He looks all demonic and kind of "ministry-esque" with the hood, yet he's talking more like Big Evil. Also Undertaker's eyes tell a lot of the story I think, and it's hard to see them with that hood covering up his baldness.

So what's going to happen? Well, if you take what you saw at the end of the segment at face value, Shawn and Triple H are back on the same page, and Shawn is going to "screw" Undertaker. Of course, this is WWE, so the more likely option would appear to be that Shawn will swerve Triple H. Why? Who knows. But what I think will happen, is Shawn will call it down the middle. Which kind of begs the question.. why do we need him there at all?

I'm not complaining that we get to see Shawn Michaels in the ring again, don't get me wrong. I just don't think this match NEEDS him to be a part of it. You've already got 20-0 on the horizon, which should be a really big deal. You've got the rematch aspect, the fact that last year they did the "Taker on a stretcher" bit after the match, and the Hell in a Cell. Adding Shawn seems like overkill. I just hope it doesn't take away from the match.

Oh and you also have this whole "end of an era" thing. Which intrigues me. Does this mean that it will be an attitude era style match? I still think we're going to see blood in this match. Obviously we're not going to see anyone fall off of the cell, not unless Mick Foley does a run in of course..

And yes, Taker said the wrong date. People make mistakes. CM Punk fumbled his words during his promo with Jericho a couple of weeks ago. Rock fumbled his words this week, last week, the week before. Nobody is perfect.

I really like Shawn's angle in this though, even though it could be overkill. I like his line about it being ironic that he could still "be the guy to possibly end the streak". He's not saying he's going to screw Undertaker. He said possibly. Undertaker's reply was just as strong. "If you don't do the right thing, I will officially end.. you". Awesome. 22 years on, and the guy can still garner as strong a reaction as ever. Maybe not the best ever, but definitely the best character ever.

I would have liked to see Triple H go down to the ring to confront Undertaker, but as I was watching it, I just thought to myself.. What are they going to say to each other? There's really not much more to be said. Maybe that's why Shawn was brought in. I have a feeling next week, we might get a solo Undertaker promo. I hope so. I really liked the couple he's done in the past few years.

This match will obviously be good, probably great. Just hopefully all of the different aspects of the match don't weaken the match as a whole.

Another long one this week folks, but I'm done for now. So until next time, leave me a comment to let me know what you think, follow me on twitter @TheOZMouthpiece and until then, business is done.

PS. I know i didn't get around to the TNA or ROH stuff, so really REALLY quickly. TNA: Joseph Parks =  awesome. ROH: Kevin Steen = awesome. there you go.

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!

Totally not-that-good at-anything.. or TNA

Hello again, it is I, the armchair mouthpiece, truthfacts in hand, ready to spill some knowledge, all over this blog.

Ok so TNA... Total Nonstop Action.. Impact Wrestling.. where wrestling matters... I like the wrestling matters thing personally, but .. it almost seems like while wrestling matters, talent doesn't. Sure, there are talented guys on that roster, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe (when he makes an effort), Kazarian, Beer Money etc.. but who is the focus of iMPACT Wrestling on? As usual when he's involved, Hulk Hogan. Everything centres around Hogan, and Immortal.. who.. I mean I haven't been watching a lot of TNA lately, mainly because of this.. but from what i can tell right now.. Immortal is Hogan (who doesn't wrestle), Bischoff (who doesn't wrestle).. Abyss, Anderson, Gunner (did i miss the push or something?), and Bully Ray.. Oh and Jarrett, but he was in mexico or something?

Now it seems like a decent sized group, but .. I mean a couple of months ago wasn't there Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy (...), Murphy, Ric Flair (who i'll get to in a minute).. i'm sure there were more people involved in it. It just feels like as the group has gotten smaller it's lost it's momentum, and the angle is just dragging on to what is apparently going to be a Hulk Hogan face turn. Now, is Bischoff going to turn too? Coz i don't see that happening honestly, but I also know that I wouldn't believe Hogan would turn on Bischoff, being that they've been business partners for what.. 10+ years? No storyline that TNA can come up with will make it believable that Hogan and Bischoff will part ways. Also, I'm not interested in seeing Hogan on TV anymore, like, the gimmick is kinda done.. sure Hulkamania will never die and he'll always get that pop, and always be "Hulk Hogan".. but the business, from what i can see, has changed a lot since he was really "the hulk".. remember that match he had with Shawn Michaels at Summerslam? me either, but what i do remember is Shawn hamming it up like crazy and overselling to the point of it being funny. Great work on that Shawn by the way, absolutely loved it.


So what about isntead of it being the same guys in the title picture for what.. the last ... i don't know 4 or 5 months?... throw someone else up there.. just for kicks if nothing else.. Angle vs Sting could be a good match, lets face it, Angle is the man. But, it kinda feels a little WCW, where are the new stars being pushed into the main event slot?.. Sure, Beer Money have the Tag Team Titles. Tag Team wrestling actually means something in TNA. But it's not on the same level as the World title. Having said that, I'm not sure if there are any new stars who are ready to be pushed into the main event level.. he's not a new star, but a lot of people are mentioning Bobby Roode, I can see that. But what happens to Storm?.. he's too good to be the "janetty".. I just don't know if he can be a single's success.. the other problem with TNA is they don't have a mid-card title.. sure there's the TV title, but it's not exactly being defended or involved in any serious way. I love what Eric Young is doing though. Personally I don't think he needs the TV title, I think it would be funnier if he just used the old world title belt, and "defended" that. If they used the TV title properly, it could be a launching pad, like the Intercontinental or US titles are.

So who else on the roster is ready? What about Matt Morgan? I like him, but I don't really buy him as "that guy".. something doesn't click, but it could work because of his size. What about Kazarian?.. that, i think, could also work. I also think that Sabin has the potential to be in that main event level. I can hear the arguments .. he's a smaller guy.. Shawn Michaels is a smaller guy. Sting isn't a big guy.. AJ isn't a big guy. Now what about Ric Flair?
You read that right.. I saw an article today with Ric Flair saying he's going to be challenging for the World Heavyweight title after Hardcore Justice (i hate that they're using that name by the way). To quote Zack Ryder.. Are you serious bro? .... Ric Flair is challenging for the Title? What the hell is going on? I really hope it's not going to happen, because A: No-one has seen him on tv for a while... B: He doesn't need it, and it would do nothing for the company.. and C: you're too damn old Ric! Seriously, I love Ric Flair, I respect the hell out of him and what he's done. But it's a dumb move to make this Ric Flair your champion. His matches these days aren't lets say.. up to the standard of even 10 years ago.. he doesn't look like a champion anymore, he looks like a manager.. and I personally only understand about 50% of what he says on the mic nowadays.
I agree with what a lot of people are saying, Ric has damaged his legacy by going to TNA, and damaged it further by actually wrestling again. That match at Wrestlemania 24 with Shawn, was amazing. It was the greatest way to end a career you could ever imagine... and that next night on Raw.. amazing. Hell, Undertaker came out and BROKE CHARACTER! That never happens! And then just a short while later, he's back on worldwide Tv wrestling again like it never happened? Not cool. So please TNA... don't put the belt on Flair.

The other thing I want to mention is the Women's division.. the Knockouts. Much better name than Divas first of all. Implies much less attitude, yet the knockouts have more of a right to have an attitude, because... well they can wrestle. Angelina Love, Velvet Skye, Mickie James, Tara, Sarita, Winter (i think she can wrestle, I haven't seen her in a match for a while).. All these women are amazing athletes. I actually enjoy watching the women's matches on Impact, wheras on Raw or smackdown I do something more interesting like trim my fingernails, sometimes my nose hair on a longer match. There are exceptions of course with WWE, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim (if she's ever used).. umm.. Oh that AJ girl from NXT was pretty good i think.. But TNA's knockouts are far and away the best womens division going. My only problem is since Bishcoff and Hogan came along, we're seeing less diversity in the division. Remember a few years ago...Roxxi, Awesome Kong, Taylor Wilde, ODB, Alissa Flash, Hamada... I know ODB has been on Tv recently, but they're going with the "no contract" angle so that's why I included her. Now that was a strong womens division. Now it's still good, but a little ... eh...seen it already. Except Velvet, i never get tired of seeing her!

So I think that's about all I wanted to say... I'm not going to go off on a rant and say "they should get rid of hogan and bischoff" or "fire russo"..... Personally i think their product was better before Hogan.. I still remember watching that first Impact, he and Bischoff are standing in a 4 sided ring getting booed, and Hogan said something about that 6-sided ring not being any good ( can't remember the exact words).. but that right there was the first clue that this wasn't really all about TNA, it was about making TNA TNHogAn.. Also the X division was a lot more prevalent before Hogan and Bischoff.. I just hope that Destination X this year wasn't their way of saying "ok we gave you this whole pay per view of X division, now you fans can't complain when we don't do any x division stuff".. that would be terrible, but also not unexpected. Bischoff...

And while i think of it.. losing Jay Lethal is a massive blow to them, that guy is awesome! And if they don't sign Low-Ki, there is definitely something wrong in the "office"...
So lets hope that TNA can become true competition, because that would make everything better.
That's it, that's all i've got for now, hope you enjoyed it, leave a comment if you've got something to say, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece, and keep reading!


What's it like to be me? You.. will never, ever know.

Let me tell ya something...

It's me again, the armchair mouthpiece, back to sling you some more written truthfacts from the couch of creativeness.

Ok so I did say my next post would not be about the whole CM Punk/Cena/McMahon situation, and I meant it. So what I thought i'd do is give you a little history lesson, namely how I became a fan, and why I feel like I can actually write this blog, and not come off like some huckster, who doesn't know what he's talking about.

I also thought I might start doing some random top 10 lists, a few ideas I have include the obvious top 10 wrestlers and top 10 matches.. but I thought some things like top 10 sick bumps, top 10 fails, maybe top 10 one liners could be interesting as well. So if anyone wants to comment on wether or not that would be good, or not, please feel free.

So, as far as my history goes, I mentioned this in my first post, so forgive me for repeating myself. I started watching wrestling right around 1997-98. I can't remember exactly when, could have been slightly earlier in fact. One of the first matches I can remember seeing involved Sting, but it was before the "Crow" transformation, he still had his blonde hair and coloured face-paint, however it could have been a highlight package or something. I used to visit my father every couple of months or so, and at the time he had Optus Cable TV, which carried TNT, and therefore WCW Monday Nitro. So originally, as a teenager, I was a WCW guy. I saw a little WWF stuff late at night on tv, I even remember thinking "this is stupid, why is he bleeding?"... Oh to be young again..

Anyway the first main story I remember, as many who watched WCW around that time was the NWO, and in turn the NWO wolfpack. I became a big fan of Kevin Nash, Sting, Juventud Guerrera, Raven, and I remember the commentary of Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan especially. I remember watching Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio, Alex Wright, Glacier(!), Ric Flair.. Also i remember disliking Eric Bischoff right from the get go. Not much has changed in 13 years. But, I was still under the impression this was all completely "real", and was just a fan of the matches, i suppose not really a "smark" or whatever we're supposed to be called.

I got a bit older, my father moved to a different place and didn't have cable, so from 1999 or so onwards, no more wrestling for me. That is until 2003. I don't remember exactly why I did this, but I was in a local video rental store, and they had a bunch of WWE and WWF videos. not dvds, videos. The first ones I hired were Wrestlemania XII, and Judgement Day 2003. So it must have been around July/August 2003. I watched Wrestlemania XII, and immediately I was hooked again. Undertaker vs. Diesel, Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart, even Ultimate Warrior vs HHH (clearly i still wasn't that knowledgable)... Instantly I was a Shawn Michaels fan. I liked Undertaker, but didn't know a lot about him. That would change very quickly.

Then I popped in Judgement Day 2003, I can remember watching that video so vividly.. The banter between Austin and Bischoff (who i recognised of course) was amazing. I think what drew me to hiring that particular video was the 2 main event matches, HHH vs Kevin Nash, and Big Show (or, as i knew him.. The Giant) vs Brock Lesnar in a stretcher match. Nash powerbombing HHH through the announcer's table is still one of my favourite memories.

So that was where my current love of wrestling began. I hired just about every single video they had there, they had some pay per views from 1998, Unforgiven i think was one, with the Inferno Match between Undertaker and Kane.. seeing that side of Undertaker was what got me really interested in him, and it was around the same time that he'd been buried alive at the survivor series of 2003, and there were all those signs of his return as the Deadman.

So that was 2003/2004. I started buying dvds, reading histories, learning as much as I could about everything to do with wrestling, the backstage stuff (as much as you can really), watching Shawn Michaels interviews helped, all the interviews I've seen him give on dvd's and such, he speaks truthfully, talking about "we talked about what we could do with the cell".. basically no kayfabe with him.

I got cable tv in 2005, in october.. about a month before Eddie died. I feel really lucky that I got it when I did, because I was able to see Eddie's last televised match.. and the tribute RAW.

So since then, i've wathced a lot of ECW, and then a couple of years ago when Foxtel started broadcasting Impact, started watching TNA. And that in turn led to buying a whole bunch of TNA dvds from overseas, namely the older ones not available here in australia. Watching AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, Sabin, Shelley, Petey Williams.. That was a whole extra level of amazing ability that i'd not seen before. And it was something different, and especially in the early days, i think something better than "the norm".

And that's about it as far as watching history.. as far as why I feel like I have valid opinions, why my opinions should be read by others.. well, whenever i get passionate about something, I learn as much about it as I can.. a "student of the game" without being in the game, if you will. A few years ago i bought the Anthologies that the WWE released, the wrestlmanias, the summerslams, the Royal Rumbles (my favourite event by the way).. and watching all of those, which I have done.. in order even, has really helped me see the change in style from the mid 80s to today, from the new generation, the attitude era.. and things like being able to see legends like Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker arrive, and mature and mould and shape their characters, and constantly change.. it's all education. I'm not saying i'm an expert, I like to think I know a bit about what makes a match good, who's good, who's overrated.. and most importantly, I have an opinion that is my own, I don't just jump on someone else's bandwagon.. like the "cena sucks" bandwagon, Cena does not suck. You watch his early matches, before he became the Rapper. Watch his work from MITB (i know, i'm talking about it again).. Watch Wrestlemania 22 and 23.

So that's about it. Nothing much else to say, i kinda like this catchphrase I used last time, I think i'll stick with it, as it's kind of appropriate for my life. I hope this wasn't too boring or anything.. in the meantime, I can't wait for RAW tomorrow. Expect postings.

What's it like to be me? You will never, ever know!