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.

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.

Who's wearing the pants?

It's time for another installment from the aussie mouthpiece. It's another wednesday, and that means another RAW has come and gone, and I'm here to give my thoughts.

So let's get straight to it.

I like where it's going. I like that they aren't rushing this angle. Who sent the text message? We still don't know, but now, as CM Punk said, it looks like we have a little mystery on our hands. And it's just getting more and more complex as each episode plays out.

Last week Kevin Nash didn't seem right. It didn't feel comfortable. He didn't seem comfortable. Luckily this week, things changed. Maybe it was being in the ring with his good buddy Hunter, maybe it was just a case of nerves, being back on a big stage (let's face it, TNA isn't really big time these days) for the first time in a long time. But, as I said last week, I am a huge Kevin Nash fan, so I am really glad that he seemed more comfortable in the ring. And I hope we eventually see him wrestling.


I also really like the story that's developing with Dolph and Vickie. Dolph is a great performer, he's going to be a world champion soon. Vickie is doing really well as a manager, and she is really over as a heel. I really hope they decide to run with the idea of giving her a stable of guys (possibly girls too) to manage, and bring back this idea of managers. They add so much to someone's presence. Remember when Shawn Michaels split from Janetty? He gained Sherri's managerial services, and was suddenly a top singles guy. Anyone who was associated with Bobby Heenan was automatically a massive heel. As the brain once said, "you listen to me, you go to the top. You don't listen to me... you're never heard from again".

So let's get into the specifics.

Straight away, let me say I'm hoping that Kevin Nash get's "hired"... it seems weird that he has no entrance music. But, I like the way it's being done, as HHH said, "He doesn't work here". That gives this angle the potential to run for a long time.

Anyway, here's the part where i start talking about what I liked about the show.

Man, I tell you what, I loved the ending to last week's show. Oh no, I just said i loved something Cena did! Look out, all those Cena haters are going to jump all over me. Big deal. Keep an open mind.
John IS changing his character ever so slightly. But he's doing it because it's right for the business, not to appease the people who dislike him.
But he's angry. He's got attitude. He's got balls. And that can only be a good thing.

And he's fighting to keep the integrity of the WWE championship whole. This I can get behind.

Cena's mic work this week was excellent. "I am so sick of trying to make average seem awesome".. I'm starting to wonder if he's talking about Del Rio himself, or the barrage of sub-standard storylines we've been fed for the last few years.
And John is right. As of right now, out of all the talent in the WWE, there's only one guy on RAW that can go with him. and that is CM Punk. I'd put Randy Orton in that category, but other than that, everyone else is retired or not wrestling right now. Shawn, HHH, Edge and Undertaker.
I did always enjoy his matches with Big Show though.

Whenever CM Punk's music hits you know things are going to get good. And as usual we're not disappointed. Punk is the voice of the voiceless again, saying it's a "re-run" and John Cena wants yet another title shot.

One thing i did notice, is Del Rio fits into this opening segment really nicely. He doesn't seem intimidated by being in the ring with, let's face it, the top 2 guys in the WWE right now. This bodes well for the future.

Awesome Jack Tunney reference by Punk.

This all seems very reminiscent of something to me though, in a good way. I watched Wrestling with Shadows last night, for the first time. A big part of that talks about the change from the wholesome product, with Bret Hart as the good guy, to the "evil" Stone Cold Steve Austin becoming a fan favourite, even though he is a "typical heel" type character. That's what's happening with Punk right now. He, as he said, insulted Stephanie McMahon right to her face at Summerslam. But he got cheered for it. It's a good sign, that things are changing. And every rebel needs a "man" to rebel against.. I'm not saying they're trying to re-create McMahon/Austin, but Hunter/Punk looks like it could get to that level.


I'd figured this would all lead to a Triple threat for the WWE title at night of champions. I mean I guess we could still get there after the finish to the main event this week. And they do need to make sure that Punk is on the card for Night of Champions. Every match is supposed to be a title match right? Triple Threat seems to be the way to go. Punk shouldn't win though, it should be another screwjob finish. Punk doesn't need the belt for this angle to work.

I guess Morrison/Del Rio was a good match. If you don't count the mis-steps by morrison. Sure he's athletic and high flying, but it takes more than that to be a top guy. If he wants to be the next Shawn Michaels (never going to happen) he needs to develop more of a well rounded style. Also, since coming back, if i'm right, he's only won once in singles competition? Why are they having him lose so much?

Divas. Lets see.. Eve got her neck snapped on the ropes and held her stomach.That kinda sums up how the match went for me.

Already talked about Vickie/Dolph. All i'll say is Alex Riley is the one that feels like an after-thought right now. Sure, he won, but the big story was Dolph and Vickie. Swagger got outshined as well. Admittedly, that's quite easy to do.

Ok so the Nash/HHH/Punk segment. Definitely my favourite part of the episode. Also, I'm so glad JR is getting a more dominant role as commentator. Cole can be the main guy on Smackdown, but JR is the voice of RAW, and he always will be.

As I said, Kevin Nash seemed so much more relaxed and comfortable this week. I don't get why people are worried that the fans of today don't know who Kevin Nash is. I mean, the internet is only a click/swipe/touch away these days. And this angle isn't for the casual fans. Let's be honest, it's for the fans who were sick of the product, and I also think for fans who may have stopped watching, who they're trying to get back.

Nash was great. HHH was great. It still feels a little stilted though. The most interesting part, was HHH saying "If you want to beat up CM Punk, go ahead ..... i don't care". Really think about it. All the little things that HHH has said in the last month, the things that at first seem harmless, and of no importance.. those are the things that people need to pay the most attention to. Not just HHH, everyone involved. Really go back and watch.

CM Punk, I think, may be on the right track. But I think (i hope this doesn't happen) this is all going to end up with Vince trying to get his job back. Laurinitis is Vince's yes-man.. and after the events of this week's RAW, it's clear he's not on HHH's "side". There's something more going on. And it's awesome.

The best part was that we got another HHH/Punk confrontation. And it was just as good as the first one. Punk is pushing the right buttons to get this kind of reaction from HHH and the fans. And Nash was just sticking up for his buddy. Or... was he sticking up for someone else.. someone who sends texts from other people's phones maybe...

The extra little backstage segment with HHH and Nash was good too. Nothing much to talk about, except for Nash telling Hunter that he's changed... It's interesting. I get the feeling Nash is working for Laurinitis, maybe trying to get Hunter to attack someone physically, so Laurinitis can use it as ammo to get Vince's job back. Just a thought.


Pastel colours don't look good as wrestling tights! And once again, the new tag team champions are just two singles guys who have been put together. Why are they teaming together? Why did it start? Give us some back story if you want us to care about the tag team division..

King refereneced the Bushwackers. Awesome.

So new tag champs.. that leads to a rematch at Night of Champions. Maybe there's going to be a run in from one of these apparent new signings of tag teams. .. Do something to make the Tag Team Titles matter.

JR.. A shooting star press is not a 450 splash.

And all we hear is that they've been talking about teaming for a long time after the match.. that doesn't make it interesting.


Ok, the main event starts now. Johnny Ace tells HHH that Nash was in a car accident.. my first thought was just that he did it to get rid of HHH so he could affect the outcome of the main event.

Miz and Truth shouldn't be a team. Truth may benefit from it, but it sends Miz backwards. Miz is main event. That's all.

As soon as this match was announced at the start of the show, it seemed pretty clear to me that Cena was going over. It made sense. it wasn't for any titles, and it keeps putting over the fact that Cena and Punk are on the same level.

Cena gets into the ring in a really impressive way. Just saying.

Ok so the match is the match, we all know what these guys can do in the ring, especially when they're wrestling each other.

Onto the finish.

Nice and simple when you think about it. CM Punk gets distracted, Cena picks up the win. Punk gets screwed over.

But if you add in the fake hospital call that Laurinitis gave HHH, that's when it gets interesting.

Oh, and before i go any further, of course Del Rio was going to attack the winner. Why else would he be out there? He can scout by watching a tv screen in the back.

Ok back to Nash. What does this mean? Did Nash have anything to do with Laurinitis giving HHH false information? My gut says no. Unless the story goes that Nash is being paid lots of money by Laurinitis/whoever Laurinitis is working for. I mean really working for.

Is Del Rio in on it? as the "corporate" champion, if i can use that term?.. I don't think so.

I can't wait for next week. The Nash/HHH confrontation is going to be worth it by itself, even without CM Punk, Cena, and the rest of the good stuff.


So what happens now? Well Nash is clearly operating on someone else's agenda. But the big question is who? The obvious answer is Vince, and that Laurinitis is the go-between with Vince and Nash. But, as with everything that's happened in the last 2 months, there hasn't really been any obvious stuff done, with the exception of the champ vs champ match at summerslam. But that was obvious in a good way. I'm hoping we don't find out who's behind it all until at least around the time of Vengeance. I'm not a big fan of the night of champions PPV, it's limiting in terms of storyline advancement, especially when your main storyline isn't really involving the title right now. But I am fairly sure they'll find a way to keep things interesting.

That's it, i'm done, leave a comment or send me a tweet @TheOZMouthpiece and tell me what you think. And if you don't like it, go suck a lemon.

Is the fix in?

Welcome back once again. I am the Armchair Mouthpiece, the lord of the lazyboy. And i'm here to hit you with the truthfacts.

It's that time again, another Raw has come along. So it's time for me to give my thoughts about it. What I think. You, the readers can think what you like, feel what you like. This is what I think. It's just me saying "here's my opinion, do you agree? why/why not?" If you don't like it, go suck a lemon.

So I'll be honest. I, like I'm sure a lot of people are focused on the main storyline that we're seeing at the moment, the CM Punk, John Cena, HHH and Rock saga. So once again most of what i'm writing will be to do with that.

I don't like that there's been no build up for anything else on Summerslam, at least from the RAW side of things. I mean aside from the Diva's Championship match. Which, for once, I'm at least a little interested in seeing. Mostly because Beth Phoenix is going to destroy Kelly Kelly. I know that it's Randy Orton vs Christian in a no holds barred match.. I always hated that name.. No Holds Barred.. it doesn't apply these days. Just call it a No DQ match, or a street fight. And Sheamus vs Mark Henry. That's all we have so far for the 2nd biggest pay per view of the year? ... I mean yes, everything is kind of revolving around Punk/Cena (and now HHH), but if this pay per view is second only to Wrestlemania, then there should be a better card, now what... only 5 days from the pay per view? Imagine if Wrestlemania was booked this way.. terrible.

But now onto RAW and what stood out for me. I'll get to the obvious in a little bit, but to begin, I am sick of Michael Cole. Why did JR come back if he's not going to be the lead play-by-play guy? Doesn't make sense to me. JR isn't a 3rd man kinda guy. Not anymore. I was watching Survivor Series 1995 last night, even then when he WAS the 3rd guy on the commentary team he still stood out, and i'm talking 16 years ago.

I get the feeling the angle shot with Miz and Mysterio was just in case Rey's knee is injured again, I read that he got hurt at a house show. So hopefully Rey isn't hurt too badly, and we can at least get some kind of match at Summerslam. Having said that, Miz hasn't been champion for about 3 or 4 months now, he lost the title at Extreme Rules if i'm correct, and he's not in the title picture now.. He's still calling himself the most "must see WWE champion" though.. I get what he means, but i think it would make more sense now to say something like "most must-see WWE superstar". But his promo was solid, really good I thought, he's one of those guys who just "has it".. and from what I understand he's had to go through some hard times to get there, so he definitely has my respect.

Am I the only one that doesn't think John Morrison lives up to his hype? he keeps botching movies.. people talk about Sin Cara botching moves.. look at Morrison though. I don't actually remember him hitting his finishing move cleanly, ever. It's always off target and he only hits with his arm or something. I remember not too long ago people were calling him "the next shawn michaels"... not a chance in hell. Seriously, Shawn Michaels, compared to John Morrison? there is no comparison. Morrison is good in the ring, and that parkour stuff is awesome to watch. But he's terrible on the mic. And without that getting better, he's not going to be able to connect in the same way that Michaels, Austin, Rock, CM Punk have.

HHH made himself the special referee for the Summerslam main event. I love this move. As soon as he started talking about it, you could see there was just a hint of what could happen if he turns Heel. He started talking about "how do you ensure one undisputed champion? You put someone in there who can control everything" (i'm paraphrasing.) He talked about change, how it's been a theme lately. He's right, and as far as I can tell, things are going to keep changing. Has anyone else noticed they're using "Anything can happen" again.. just like back in 1995/96. Just a nice little coincidence.

Now when he started talking about who the guy he picked was.. that was the start of the Heel turn. As he started reeling off the "larger than life" stuff, for about 5 seconds four or five names ran through my head. Who's he talking about? First I thought himself (always go with your first instincts is the lesson). Then as he said that man "towers over not only John Cena, but CM Punk" I started thinking Big Show? no.. Undertaker? Why would he come and referee..  then i thought Diesel/Kevin Nash... he's under contract with WWE, he's larger than life and towers over everyo.. oh what HHH said it was himself. Damn. Seriously though, I would've bought Kevin Nash being the Ref. He's buddies with HHH, he's talked about (and to) Punk on twitter.. it could have worked.

But I think HHH being the referee makes sense if the plan is to make him a bad guy.

And then we are told that there's going to be a contract signing. That peaked my interest, because it meant that CM Punk and Cena would be on the mic.

One thing i really liked was the little exchange between Cena and Triple H during Cena's entrance. Everything about this angle is really well done, and feels different. They played it perfectly. Cena trying to keep his words hidden from the camera's microphone, but not really at the same time.. and questioning HHH's motives. Really well done.

I'll be honest, I kind of skipped through most of the matches this week. For a few reasons. One, because i was watching at about 3am. 2, and this is more specific. I do not like Jack Swagger. He looks like Biff from Back To The Future. And that running around the ring gimmick, is kinda awful. Cena wins, nuff said.

R-Truth has become a joke. Sucks, coz Truth is awesome. Spider Soup? really?

Oh and another thing. Kofi Kingston is great, but pastel colours make him look weak. He is not weak.

Alberto Del Rio is awesome. But he needs a finisher that isn't a submission. It limits what stories can be told in a match if he always has to "work on a body part". He used a backstabber in his match on RAW with Punk this week.. Make that his second finisher or something. Give him a bit more freedom.

Ok onto the contract signing.

Oh wait, Divas. The gap in talent between the few that can actually wrestle well and the ones that can't is huge. Beth Phoenix, Natalya, ...who else is there?.. Oh right they fired one other one with talent, and the other quit. Beth Phoenix spoke the truth after decimating Eve this week. It should be about WRESTLING! Not perving.

Kelly Kelly looks unsure about everything she does. If change is really in the air, we will see a new Women's champion at Summerslam.


Dolph Ziggler will be in the title picture for real soon. He's one of the best things going today.

Ok onto the contract signing for real this time.

I love that Punk is given the freedom to say things that seem "contreversial" Talking about how what the contract signing segment is really used for was great.
Using the Rock's facebook video was interesting, but I'm guessing it was just used to keep the rivalry going between Rock and Cena. One a side note, Rock is boring. Yup i said it. I'm not a massive Cena fan, but Rock is coming across like a bully to me. Taking shots at Cena because of how he looks/dresses/what music he likes. And Rock? I'm a man, and you DON'T represent me.
But this isn't about the Rock, that's for another blog.
I LOVE Cena's promo on the haters. "maybe i could increase my workrate, maybe i could add to the 5 moves of doom, maybe i could let my heel persona shine through".. Ha! Brilliant. All signs of change. Cena said Punk (and the voiceless) think maybe he's a "product of the system". I think that's true. He's been marketed to kids. He did change.
He said maybe he's a little "too pg for ya". It's not him, it's the product as a whole. Cena being the face of said product, he gets the brunt of the criticism. Now I may not be a huge Cena fan, but i've said it before, I respect him for sticking to his guns, for not pandering to the people who hate him. Sure he's a product of the system, but he's not changing who he is to fit in with what other people want. And really, isn't that what CM Punk is doing too? Just in a different way?
But back to Punk.
It looked like to me after HHH called him gutless and Cena called him a phony, Punk actually got legitimately mad.
Maybe that's why he dropped the names of the released wrestlers. Laurinitis sure didn't look happy when Kozlov, Smith and Masters were mentioned. But then, maybe it's all part of the story and really, isn't that the mark of a good promo or angle? When we, the so called smart wrestling fans question wether something is real or not?

Only problem is dropping names has lost a little of it's effect since the first time he did it.

Punk was at his best as usual though, telling Cena he gave up on his dreams etc. It's all great stuff, it's all the signs of change happening.
Cena having the last word was great. He delivered that last little part so well. "You will be a loudmouth, one hit wonder". Punk calling Cena a phony seemed to get under his skin a little too.

The last thing i want to talk about is the ending of the show. It was, without a doubt, the best part of the entire show.

It was so well done, all the little things that came together to set up this match.
I'm talking about after the predictable table thrown aside spot.
Punk and Cena get in each other's faces, and Laurinitis breaks them up, firstly pushing Punk back, and then turning around to Cena to push him back. Now this is where it gets brilliant.
Punk goes to kick Cena in the head, but hits Laurinitis and MISSES Cena. Laurinitis goes down (which I'm always happy to see), and the HHH gets in front of Punk. Now Cena, in retaliation, goes to Punch CM Punk in the face, kind of hits HHH but actually CONNECTS with Punk.
That's important. That Punk missed, but Cena hit. Because what happened is Punk didn't see HHH and Cena argue and shove each other because he was knocked down and rolling out of the ring. So as far as Punk sees, he gets hit in the face with HHH holding him back, and then the next thing he sees, is HHH and Cena standing next to each other in the ring.

I can't stress enough how awesome that was. It sets up the match perfectly. Cena won't back down from HHH or Punk, Punk now thinks, as he said .. that "the fix is in" and Cena and HHH are working together, and everything will go back to the soul crushing status quo. Triple H is, at least appearing to be trying to maintain order, and send the impression that that's what he's going to do as the referee. But, let me take you back to the opening segment. He never said "I'm going to call it right down the middle." He said "I will call it, as I see it". And we all know, if the ref doesn't see it, it never really happened. Little touches like that are what the WWE has been missing, the little things that push the storylines over the edge and make them great, instead of good.

Absolutely brilliant ending. If you can, really go back and watch it to see what i'm talking about. CM Punk as the underdog, the guy that doesn't fit what society (or in this case, the WWE) says is "the norm", which I relate to. This match has a lot to live up to, but adding the special Ref element will give it a different flavour.

Let's just hope that the rest of the card will be as entertaining at the last 45 minutes or so are sure to be.

That's it. I hope you enjoyed reading this, leave me a comment, follow me on twitter at @TheACMouthpiece and remember, you only get truthfacts from the couch. and Cena is the beets of pro-wrestling. #CenaIsBeets

Goons, Punks, and Attitudes.

Welcome to another installment of truthfacts from the lazy-boy himself, the Armchair Mouthpiece. And it seems we're at that point in the week again where I give you my thoughts on RAW, and what I think could happen.

Let me start off by saying, that unless it's amazingly clear that there's been a huge mistake made, you're never going to see me write something like "They did it wrong, this is how it should have been done" or "My way is better" or anything like that. I'm not going to sit here and pretend to be better than anyone. I'm not going to sit here and claim to have some knowledge of "the business" that i don't have. All i'm doing is giving my opinion on what happened, what may happen, and what i'd like to see happen.

Ok so onto the show!

There was an intro video package, I never like them, they seem to leave out tiny little details that could make them better. The biggest example that i can think of that is way back (waaaayyyy back) in 1993/94 with Bret and Owen, when Owen "turned on Bret". Owen, at the 94 royal rumble was in a tag match with Bret, and it ended with them losing and Owen blaming Bret, claiming that Bret was being selfish, staying in the ring when he was injured and try to get the pin/submission instead of tagging in Owen. The funny thing is, that's exactly what happened. Bret started to move over to tag Owen, but then changed his mind and went to put the sharpshooter on their opponents. 
So Owen had a legitimate side to his argument, but in the video packages for Wrestlemania and Summerslam that year, that part wasn't shown. All that was shown is Bret hurt, them losing, and then Owen attacking him. Now, to me, giving the heel a slightly more legitimate argument would have made it even better than it was (and that feud was amazing!)

Anyway, video package aside, I think it was assured that this RAW's opening segment would be either Triple H, or CM Punk with the other interrupting. I was thinking it would be Triple H out first, but I was suprised (pleasantly). I'm loving everything CM Punk is doing these days, so anytime he's on the mic for me it's great TV.

Then i got a little worried.

Punk started telling us why he came back. He told us all about how he had to make this life-changing decision (and if you've heard his interview with Bill Simmons on ESPN you know that's real). Talking about taking credit for the changes that have been happening. All that was great.

Then he said "some of that credit goes to you, the audience".

That took a little bit of steam out of it for me. I know he wasn't pandering, Punk just doesn't seem like the "I did it for you" kinda guy. He's an Anti-hero. And, just personally, i preferred the version he used on the bill simmons show.. "I'm gonna make this sh*t cool again" as opposed to "i'm going to make this fun again".

So I got worried. Was this going to be the end of the controversial CM Punk? Was he, now that he'd resigned, been told to ease up on what he'd been saying?

Then we got to the real point of it all. "The voice of the voiceless needs to be heard". And I got a little less worried. He certainely wasn't pandering, reverting, doing any of that. Punk is back because Punk wants to be heard. The only reason it sounded a little weaker than some of his other promos was because the crowd didn't give that "OOOOOOHHHHH" chant, just a nice applause because they were mentioned.

So it goes on, it's interesting, we get some strong CM Punk chants, and then Booom...... "It's time.. to play the game".

And i get worried again.

Now i'd read last week, or heard last week, that one of the original ideas floating around for CM Punk's return last week was to have HHH pedigree him. Would've been a fairly terrible idea I would imagine.

So this being the first time we'd seen HHH and CM Punk in the same ring (with HHH being in charge i mean), i got a little worried. Because HHH pedigree-ing CM Punk out of nowhere would kill the momentum he had, and it really would be, as CM Punk said, a return to the "soul-crushing status quo".

But, of course, that didn't happen.

Wow. That was my first reaction to this little segment. But, i have a couple of problems with it. One, I don't really buy HHH not liking CM Punk. I mean i can understand it, he's doing what's right for business, and CM Punk walking out with the title isn't good business, but this is HHH, one half of D-Generation X... i mean, they were going against the grain 14 years ago. I guess i prefer my Triple H with some more attitude. Attitude is a big word at the moment I think. We seem to be getting the slightly comedic corporate Trips though. Two, and this isn't really a problem, more an idea I had that I think would work for Punk. He talked about commodities, how he's a commodity and HHH couldn't afford to let him go anywhere else.

So it seems like one of the things Punk dislikes is that it's all about the money, or at least appears to be. CM Punk also seems like the kind of guy who doesn't really like mainstream music.. hell, he's not really mainstream anything. So he could talk about how it's not just him, i mean, there are great bands out there not getting any attention because they're not "the norm", they're not like everybody else.. something like that, just to bring a wider audience in. It could work, the whole Anti-hero thing, pushing for change. It could (if done right) give this angle, and the WWE a wider range of media outlets getting interested in them.. I'm not sure it's a road they would want to go down though. Being that they're using i think... C-Lo (is that his name?)'s song for Summerslam. I guess i just felt it would work, being a musician who's struggled with that, as i don't play "pop" music.

Back to the show. Wow i'm still on the first segment. Must mean it was either really good, or really long. Ha, i just checked. it's both. 24 minutes or something before the first wrestling match I believe.

So we still don't know what kind of boss HHH is going to be. I think Summerslam is when we're going to find out. As in, is he the good guy boss, or the heel boss? I'm hoping for heel, HHH is amazing as a heel.
I don't like the "without the WWE, you really mean nothing" .. that's a huge knock to TNA (deserved) and ROH (not deserved). That's part of that old Vince mentality that i do not like.
But let's talk about what i do like. I do like Punk telling HHH not to leave the ring. This part got me excited. I'd forgotten about the possible pedigree. Punk taking shots at HHH is a big move. It all needed to be said to keep up the whole "Punk won't play by the rules" part.

And then he let his Pipebomb off. (Pretty sure that's going to become a thing). "How many times have you said "ahhh I just don't think he has what it takes", when you're lying in bed with your wife?" WOW!

What the hell is with the Skinny Fat ass remark? Did i miss something? Can skinny people now be fat people too? Does it work the other way? can fat people be skinny? What am i missing here? weird.

So we had Triple H laying down the law. And then we get what i thought was the 2nd best part of the night. CM Punk not backing down, messing with HHH's suit and tie.. and then delivering .. "are you going to punch me in the face.... or do you have to go ask your wife's permission first?" Brilliant.

Stuff like that just helps show that it's a new day, there's a bit more attitude. I mean think about it from a backstage point of view, or a "real" point of view. So awesome. I'm excited.


Ok so on to the rest of the show.. Divas battle royal.. nuff said.

Except, Beth Phoenix works so much better as a heel. So whoever made that decision, well done. That, and only that, makes the championship match at summerslam interesting. Beth for champ.


Ok what else happened.. umm... Oh yeah that's right R-Truth.. He's doing awesome work right now. Not as good as last week, but still, he's great.

Ok i'll be honest, I didn't watch much of the matches this week. Not that they're bad, just that it's that same old status quo that Punk is talking about.
John Morrison is overrated though. He's not consistent. And consistency is what makes high flyers amazing. like Rey Mysterio. like Evan Bourne. Like most of the x-division in TNA.

Also i didn't watch a lot of the matches because i seriously can't stand listening to michael cole. especially the parts where JR and King are trying to call the match, and Cole just starts running down the babyfaces in the match. Boring, old, really bad, and really hard to sit and listen to/watch. Someone needs to reign him in.

Seriously, what was the point of that Alex Riley guy coming out and trying to get Dolph Ziggler to "drop Vickie".. is that the best way they could think of to start a potential Riley/Ziggler feud? C'mon.. what about.. oh let's see.. "Hey Dolph, your hair looks like crap"... or "Hey Dolph, you couldn't beat me if you tried".. and that's just off the top of my head (note... sarcasm). Dolph is great, but this promo sucked. Follow that means no-one will have his skills? what?


Hey Zack Ryder was on tv 2 weeks in a row.. if that's not a sign of change, nothing is!

Did Santino have a Mr.Cobra-o? I sense gimmick infringement.

Alberto Del Rio is a bit of a strange one for me at the moment. He won the Royal Rumble, but didn't win the Title.. (most likely because of it being Edge's last match i would have to think).. now he has the briefcase, and the first time he tries to cash it in he gets kicked in the head. (Which was awesome). He's great in the ring, but it seems like they're not sure if he is ready yet or something. News flash ... he's ready! Summerslam beckons .....

Ok now onto the closing segment. And once again, something that I (and i'm sure a lot of people) didn't expect, happened. Also, something i was pretty sure was going to happen, happened. It was the only logical choice. But before i get to that, Johnny Ace?? Is this the start of the power struggle between the old regime and the new?  We got to see a little of it with HHH clearly being annoyed about Laurinitis being out there. This storyline has the potential to be huge, especially with Laurinitis trying to get over as a heel by saying he replaced JR and trying to throw his weight around.

So now we get to my favourite part of the night. John Cena. Yep, i said it.

He's got a little of that word back.. that.. attitude. That 2003-04 era John Cena attitude that got him over in the first place. Imitating Laurinitis.. and of course the "punched you in the face" schtick. Brilliant. best part of the whole show. There's a little boston accent coming out in Cena's voice lately.. I kinda get the feeling this is all leading to the Rock/Cena thing, Cena is going to get his attitude back, and make that match amazing. Rock is going to do the same thing he did 10 years ago, and get cheered for it. But then, he's not gonna be there the next night. Cena will.


Ok so onto the end of the night. We have the Champ vs. Champ match at Summerslam. Then we had the little ego pose off thing... right way to end the night, especially with HHH getting a little pissed off and laying down the law.


So where could it be headed? Well apart from the obvious, hopefully CM Punk doesn't have to find any more urinals to throw up in, meaning.. hopefully we don't go backwards from here. Punk (i feel) should win at Summerslam if you want the momentum to continue. Or at least, if he doesn't win, it can't be a clean victory over him. Someone... HHH, Rey (he never got his rematch), Laurinitis, Vince.. a returning ___________ , someone! Remember, they now have to live up to the match they had at MiTB... so it's gotta be stepped up somewhere. I was thinking it might be some kind of gimmick match, a cage was the only thing that popped into my head.. they just had the ladder match ppv... last man standing wouldn't fit, i quit doesn't fit (yet), but who knows. I would love to see another one on one match between Cena and Punk. Maybe Colt Cabana will show up... could be fun.


Ok so in closing, I think this week's Raw did nothing but strengthen the whole "we've changed" bit. The matches i watched were good, not awesome.. Morrison botched a corkscrew dive over the ropes... Del Rio/Bourne was good. But clearly they're focused on Punk/Cena/HHH.. and rightfully so.

So what do you all think? Let me know please... I need criticism. At least RAW isn't the same old crap anymore though right? Gotta be a good thing, I know i'm excited about next week again. that makes it what.. 4 or 5 weeks in a row? That hasn't happened since i got Cable tv!

Also, on a different note, i need a new way to end these things..

Thats it for now.


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

Live.. and in Living Colour... get it?

I'm baaaaccckkkk....
Ok so not the same kind of thing as that other guy who said it this week, but nonetheless, the Armchair mouthpiece is back. Time for some truthfacts.

So monday has come and gone, and of course with it another Monday Night Raw. Maybe one of the most anticipated Raw's in a really long time. Everyone wanted to know what was going to happen, Triple H is in charge now, what would he do? What would he say? How would he make his mark?

I'm still confused.

I should point out again that I live in Australia, and here, we get Raw on a wednesday afternoon, so around a day and a half later than it's on in the USA. So there's this crazy little bit of time where, if one isn't careful, Raw can be spoiled, be it on Twitter, or wrestling websites and forums.  So tuesdays kinda suck for me.

Anyway, onto the wrestling.

Rey was NOT screwed. Come on.. Rey is one of those guys who I've always felt does what's right. I'm sure he's felt uncomfortable in the past with certain storylines (who's your papi springs to mind), but he had a kick-ass ladder match with one of the greatest ever, in Eddie Guerrero.

Rey was given the title so that we wouldn't see yet another Cena-Miz match. And I personally like the idea of Cena-Rey.

Any time you get big guy vs. little guy it tells a great story. Also, how hard did Rey land on Alberto Del Rio's face?!!!

But i'm still confused.

Dolph Ziggler is the f'n man right now. That new theme is great. And Evan Bourne? Is it just me, or does he have the most amazing way of getting in the ring ever?
Ziggler used the Fame-asser too. Just quickly on Dolph, I am really glad he went back to the blonde look. When i saw him come out with bland, medium dark brown hair.. it looked bad. He'd lost something.. He didn't look memorable. He kinda looked like a Randy Orton carbon copy.. So definitely much better blonde.
Also, "FOLLOW THAT!" was brilliant.
Not much else to say, Evan Bourne is amazing, dude needs more matches. I would watch him job just to see that shooting star press.

But, I'm still confused.

Why am I confused? Well.. i'm confused as to what the "state of the WWE" address was... nothing was stated or addressed, except that we all have to thank Vince. Which is damn true.

Did anyone else notice Eve kinda grabbed that Bella's boob? Also while i'm on the divas, Melina is looking good. There's also a lot of butts being shoved in faces. Kelly Kelly looks a little too orange for my taste, I'll tick with Melina. Interesting commentary from King tonight during the Divas match too.. little reminiscent of years past..

Ok back to Triple H and the state of the WWE.  I definitely marked out just a little when JR's music hit. I'm such a huge fan of his, I think he's the greatest commentator in the history of the business. And he and King have the greatest chemistry. But it appears we're getting the DX-lite version of Triple H.. the funny guy who's just having fun, and poking fun at some people. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing at all. Could it be a slow build to a little more "attitude"? That's such a loaded word when you talk about wrestling, and the WWE. I wrote something on the wrestling.net.au forums about how I think there's some kind of happy medium between the Attitude Era (which pushed the sex stuff too far) and the PG Era (which doesn't appeal to the fans that remember the attitude era.) Hopefully this is the start of that.

Other than bringing JR back, what happened though? what did Trips talk about? John Morrison wasn't really a big surprise, we'd seen promos for his return last week on Raw. 

So what happened? He talked with R-Truth and his friends? .. Incidentally, R-Truth had the moment of the night.. "Man... you crazy!.. You're talking to people that don't exist!"... But what happened?...

Zack Ryder was on RAW!! Finally! looks like CM Punk had 2 out of 3 questions answered. Let's hope it becomes a regular thing. WWWYKI
I'm not even going to talk about Michael Cole. I HATE this gimmick of Cole as the heel. It was bad when it started. It was really bad at Wrestlemania. Now.. it's not worth mentioning.

So I guess onto the real topic at hand. Cena being the what.. 11 time champion now? Did they put the belt back on Cena too quickly? Yes, if you're going with the plans that everyone thought would happen. But, what about this? What if the WWE have a different plan, one that we fans haven't thought of? I tend to think this is all leading to something really massive. And remember, there were reports last week of something big being in the cards for Mysterio. Triple Threat to declare the undisputed WWE champion maybe? Who knows.

Everyone is really quick to jump on the wwe it seems. Oh you brought back Punk too quickly. Maybe for what YOU though was going to happen yes. But, let's look at how they brought him back. Different entrance music for one thing. For those that don't know, he used Cult of Personality in ROH for a time. That song is totally fitting right now. It gives a different feeling when he comes out, it's a different Punk. Weirdly, even though the song isn't as heavy, he has more attitude with that song.
Now don't get me wrong, I agree that this wasn't done the right way. I LOVE that music, but I would've had it appear that Raw was ending, ie Cena's music stops.. he starts making his way out of the ring.. and then you hear, Via a megaphone "I have something to say about all this"... and Punk appears either from the side of the entrance ramp, or in the crowd somewhere. Now we kinda know he's back on the roster, and you lose that whole rogue champion thing, at least for now. We will have to wait and see. But having him come out of the stage entrance with music, with his WWE shirt on.. I don't think it kills the angle.. it could be HHH doing what's right for the business.. I think it sets up a Champion vs Champion match at Summerslam.

I'm not going to sit here and say I know more than other people who have written articles and columns about this, clearly I don't. But I think people need to step back and instead of damning the WWE for not going in a certain direction, try to see it from a different perspective. Sure, having the belt off of wwe would have sold the "I left with your title" angle, but maybe that was never the plan.. maybe Punk and HHH were in cahoots. It was all a grand scheme for Trips to take control of the company... who knows? Do i think Punk could have been brought back slightly differently? Yes. Was it too soon? Not if you want a match at Summerslam. Which the WWE does. It's their 2nd biggest Pay Per view. Why wouldn't they want their biggest star right now on that card?

Let me also say this. John Cena played that perfectly. The confusion... "that's not Alberto...".. to "Welcome back" to Punk.. then his reaction when Punk got a massive pop for holding his "real" championship up. John Cena is the top guy for a reason. He deserves respect. I have a massive amount of respect for him. You should too.

That's about it, I feel a more specific blog post forming in my head about something, but i'm not sure what.. stay tuned, hopefully it will materialise and form and then get written in the next few days.


Oh, and if you want to know how big CM Punk is right now.. I had a friend who has never watched wrestling and really didn't know the first thing about it ask me "who's this CM Punk guy I keep hearing about" last week. Austin 3:16.. meet CM Punk.. the voice of the voiceless.

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



Follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece ... and remember.. #CenaIsBeets (That's for you @CouchPirateJake)

Money. In the Bank, and in Punk.

Wow!
I figure that's the best way to start a post about the best PPV of the year. For me i always have to sit for a while and just think about what i've just seen in order to figure out how good/bad i thought it was. I'm not one for instantly claiming "best match ever" or anything like that. So it's about 40 mins since Money in the Bank ended, and i've been sitting here reading tweets, and thinking about what i just spent 3 hours watching. I'll do a match by match rundown in a minute, but for now, after thinking about it for a while, it's pretty clear to me that this was the best pay per view of the year, including Destination X (great old school x division tna style), the Rumble, and even Wrestlemania. All the big spots were great, huge risks, little bit of creativity shown finally, and of course the main event. Personal highlights (without spoiling anything, that comes later) were Cena nailing Laurinitis (who saw that coming, seriously?) Airbourne from the ladder, Rey being Unmasked, and Randy Orton's crazy facial expressions.

Ok onto the match by match. Oh before i begin, i found it hilarious that this violent pay per view was sponsored by Skittles. Also, anyone else notice that Cena's shirts over the last couple of years have been all the colours of the skittle rainbow?

SPOILER ALERT!

Smackdown Money in the Bank match.

Ok, so the first thing i noticed is Sin Cara on pay per view. I haven't been watching smackdown, but from what i've been reading, he's been botching quite a bit.
Also, anyone else think Wade Barrett looks like Johnny Cash?

Ok the match was fairly good, don't remember a lot of the spots to be honest, probably because, as i said i haven't been watching Smackdown a lot recently. But I think Sin Cara did an awesome job, couple of high cross bodies, and that bump he took, with Sheamus Powerbombing him through the ladder was awesome. Cole on commentary was ridiculous, saying "did you see that steel ladder bend in half" when we could clearly see the WOODEN ladder splintered. Jeez..
Was impressed as usual with Kane, awesome Road Warriors tribute from him, and also the chokeslam on Sheamus onto the ladder was pretty awesome looking.

I was really (happily) surprised to see Daniel Bryan win. First thing that went through my mind was a flashback to the Royal Rumble from 2010, CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan for the first 2 minutes. I think Matt Striker said "The internet loves this matchup".. so i started thinking ... Punk vs Bryan cashing in MITB.. of course, i was wrong as we all know now.. But huge congratulations to Bryan, hope he isn't the first to cash it in and lose. And enough of Cole calling him a nerd, what .. michael cole is the epitome of "Jock"? Please.

7/10



Diva's Title match.. Kelly Kelly vs ... umm.. A Bella

Yeah... the one move that sums up this match for me was Kelly Kelly being shot into the ropes, and stopping to turn around when she hit them.

She won by the way. ... umm... don't really know how to score it. coz i didn't really watch much.


Big Show vs. Mark Henry
To be honest, i'm not really a big fan of super heavyweight vs super heavyweight matches, i think there's less story to be told. Having said that, Mark Henry is a beast! And the way that Show put him over was really cool, really made Henry look Badass.. it's one thing to throw a little guy over a table, but to slam Show twice in one match, and leave him laying flat.. it looks like WWE is really trying to push Henry hard, which is great. I hope i can get to the point of believing he's as bad as they want to make him.
I also want to applaud Big Show for the work post match, I think most of us these days are pretty sort of desensitised to injuries in the WWE, the first thought always being "it's a work".. Show had me second guessing that though. As they were heading to the back, I'm sure i heard the doctor say "was he supposed to do that?" .. little touches like that make it more interesting. Solid match. give it... 6.5/10

Was surprised to see John Laurinitis talking on camera with Mr. McMahon (that sure wasn't "Vince"), I always thought he was a behind the scenes guy. It made sense though with Punk using his name in that first promo.

Raw Money In The Bank Match.
Different start to this match with everyone holding a ladder.. was interesting, don't know if it really worked. Del Rio took the brunt of the shots, especially when he was on the floor and people were just throwing ladders (and at one point, Rey) onto him.
The obligatory high ladder spot was anything but standard. It's one thing to jump off a ladder, or to do a swanton, but a shooting star press off of a ladder? that was Holy SH*T moment for me. Well done to Evan Bourne, looked amazing. What i found interesting was Michael Cole (again) suggesting everyone start recording the pay per view.. i thought that was illegal? I know i can't record it using my cable box (which is a dvr).
R-Truth botched the see-saw ladder spot, which i'm surprised to see used at all after Joey mercury had his face ripped off by one. Still one of the sickest spots ever.

Double Hurricanrana (or Hurricane-rana.. thankyou Booker T) off of the ladders was great, looked awesome, and really well synchronized.

The finish was awesome! Everyone predicted Del Rio to go over, it made sense really. But the unmasking of Rey Mysterio was definitely unpredictable, a great spot, it would be awesome to see some kind of program with Rey having to stay unmasked, or fighting for his mask or soemthing like that, but i'm pretty sure it was just a one time thing. All the ladders crashing into Rey looked really crazy too.
Del Rio is kind of in no-man's land after the end of the PPV, but who knows what Raw will bring tomorrow?
7.5/10


Orton vs Christian
Once again, having not watched Smackdown a lot I didn't know a ton of the backstory going on here, I knew Christian had turned heel again though. The stipulation for this match seemed to make it almost a certainty to me that Orton would retain.
Was a really solid match i thought, good story of Christian trying to goad Randy into snapping, liked the back and forth. Loved the finish, I can totally buy Randy (or anyone) snapping if someone had spit right into their mouth.. gross. Really loved the post match, Orton's facial expressions were brilliant, and the RKO's on the table were sick.
Christian wins by DQ (via awesome kick in the nuts) and becomes the new World Heavyweight Champion
7.5/10

Oh before i get onto the main event, am I the only one who thinks that Randy Orton looks just a bit like the Giant Gonzales from 1993 with that beard? All he needs is the airbrushed muscle suit with the fake fur i reckon!

Ok onto the main event.. where do I begin? I could start by saying the crowd was the loudest i've heard since.. since i can remember really.. i don't know if i've heard a louder reaction for anyone. And wow did Cena get booed.. last time it was that hostile was the One Night Stand in 2006. I wish he'd get angry at them, like "how can you boo me? he's the one leaving! F**K You!". but no, we just get stone-faced Cena. It's not boring. it was boring in 2007. Now it's just annoying. Having said that, Cena is great. And he gets a reaction wherever he goes. That's not something everyone can do.
It was awesome to see Colt Cabana at ringside. For a while there i was convinced he'd be involved in the finish somehow.

The match was great. Better than great really. Great story, loved the little parts where Punk acknowledged the crowd.. for example..
Crowd: You can't wrestle (clap clap, clap clap clap) You can't wrestle (clap clap, clap clap clap)
Punk: *points at himself* Me? or *points at Cena* Him?
Crowd: Him!
Punk: *nods*

Also, I should point out for those "cena only has 5 moves" folks, I saw something new from Cena tonight. Maybe he listened to Chavo's tweets? He gave us an Elbow Drop, an Abdominal Stretch, that Sidebuster/sidewalk slam from his shoulders, and it wasn't the standard super-cena comeback either. Well done Cena. Seriously, I see all these people posting negative things about him, but he works like crazy, he's proven himself, and if you don't believe me, find the match he had with HBK the night after Wrestlemania 23. And I believed his knee was truly hurting, did anyone else see Punk land ribs first right on his knee? looked painful.

My favourite part of this match, was Mr.Mcmahon coming out to the ramp with John Laurinitis, and going for the screwjob finish. Sending Laurinitis down to ringside to get the timekeeper to ring the bell.. and as he's running down there, Cena slides out of the ring and knocks him on his ass! I started thinking.. "i wonder how many fired wrestlers wish they could have done that?"... It looked a little stiff too! But awesome Cena character moment, saying "the best man is going to win this match"..

Great finish, Punk finally nailing the GTS and getting the 3 count. The ref's reaction was great, like he thought vince was going to kill him.. But the best part was McMahon, doing everything he can to make us feel like it's real, instead of going for a microphone, he went for a headset and spoke to the back, but it was a commentators headset so everyone watching could hear what he was saying.. "Get Alberto out here, cash it in!"
Del Rio comes running down to the ring, slides in, and gets his head kicked off by Punk! brilliant.

Punk jumps into his crowd, and leaves with the Title. Punk wins!

9/10 Definitely contender for match of the year (that i've seen)

So overall what did I think of the PPV? Well, I can sum it up in one word.. unpredictable. The WWE lately has been anything but unpredictable lately.. but that's all changed now. No-one is going to miss RAW tomorrow.. australians have to wait until wednesday.. except for less than legal means of watching of course. But it's must-see TV again. Will Punk make an unannounced appearance? Will we see a different belt? (please yes!).. Will Cena be fired? What happens to Dwayne then?

To sum up, great action, great spots in the Ladder matches, Amazing main event, and the best part, WWE did not screw it up! Lets hope this is an end to the PG only era. Sure, keep it kinda aimed towards kids, but give those who fondly remember the attitude era something to watch, as in KEEP THE PUNK ANGLE GOING (unless he's done.. )

Ok that's about it, next post i'm going to write will be about something other than CM punk, maybe TNA, maybe some of my favourite matches.. either way, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece

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