When Raw starts off with John Cena coming down to the ring with the WWE Title on his shoulder and Michael Cole on commentary it just feels so ... cliché. Same old, same old. Lucky for us Alex Riley interrupts Cena before he can do anything more than greet the audience with a Miz video package for Over The Limit - funny fact: this year at Over The Limit it is Champ Cena vs. The Miz in an "I Quit Match" for the title. Last year at Over The Limit it was Champ John Cena vs. Batista in an "I Quit" Match in the main event. Sounds familar, hm?
Basically it's John Cena ripping on The Miz and Aley Riley after that. Part of it was oaky, but Cena still bores me at the end of the day. The lines he has to say aren't his fault but that doesn't make them any better. The GM buzzes in via Coles iPad and says that Miz is allowed to choose the opponent and stipulation for Cena's match tonight.
The first match of the evening is US Champion Kofi Kingston vs. CM Punk. It is a good match, especially because it is a match-up we haven't seen over and over in the last half year. Punk against Kofi feels fresh and that makes it more interesting than the thousandth match between Randy Orton and CM Punk. With more time these too could have really done great, but we're on Raw and not Smackdown so time is something they don't get. Punk actually wins for once - I don't even remember his last win. Did he beat Orton even once in their feud?
Backstage The Miz is talking to Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero about Ziggler being a possible opponent for Cena later tonight.
After commerical we get a recap of Kharma beting up Eve on last weeks Raw followed by a Divas match between Kelly Kelly and that Bella that is currently holding the butterfly belt (Brie?). Will this lead to anything else than other beat down by Kharam? ...of course not, but I'm still at a point were I can enjoy her beating up the wannabe-Divas. Oh, and I feel like I have to mention that Kelly is actually, really over. Scary.
As I predicted Kharma is there moments after the match ends. One of the Bellas is actually dumb enough to jump her from behind when she turns to Kelly Kelly, and it's just hilarious to watch how Kharma absolutely no-sells it and clears house with the twins. Turning back to Kelly said woman is cowering in the corner and looks she is going to faint any moment. Lucky for her the big bad nightmare has no interst in her and the only thing Kelly Kelly has to endure his a poke on the forehead - Itachi anybody? (Ignore this if you don't get it.)
Rey Mysterio calls out R-Truth next but after commercial we get Alberto Del Rio instead of Truth. They are talking in Spanish for a big part to please the San Antonio crowd and in the end Mysterio says that he has no problem beating Del Rio with R-Truth doesn't come out to have a match.
When we come back from commercial Alberto Del Rio is on the offense and working on Mysterio's left arm for most the match, but just when Rey is coming back they are interrupted by R-Truth who distracts Rey Mysterio long enough for Del Rio to partly recover. It doesn't help him much though, because shortly after Rey has the upper hand again and sets him up for 619. Rodrigez jumps in to take the hit however and that makes it a DQ win for Rey Mysterio.
Afterwards Alberto Del Rio leaves the ring after the ref stopped him from doing any more damage to Rey. Unfortunately for the little Mexican R-Truth comes down in the ring and attacks him from behind, getting some good heel heta in the process.
Next is the contract signing for the Over The Limit match between Cole and Lawler on Sunday - this angle has been going for way to long now. The King reminds Cole that he has never beaten legitimately beaten him and agrees to hand over his ring and induct Cole into Hall of Fame if he loses at Over The Limit. It will be a kiss my foot match by the way and after Michae Cole talks smack about Jack Swagger said man walks off and leaves him alone with Lawler. That means no back-up for him on Sunday and that The King had some fun showing Cole his place right then.
We get another filler match with Kane and Big Show vs. The (New) Nexus aka David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty. Is it for the Tag Team title? ...hell do I know. It is just very hard to buy that McGillicutty and Otunga are actually able to beat up a guy like Big Show. After interferrence from CM Punk behind the referees back Kane gets pinned. Seems like it isn't a title match.
They show a vidoe package for the I Quit Match between Miz and Cena at Over the Limit - has John Cena ever lost an I Quit match? I don't think so.
Back from commercial the Miz (with Riley of course) comes out to announce that Cena's match tonight will be a No Holds Barred match against Jack Swagger, who jumps Cena from behind before he drags him into the ring for the match. The crowd is hot how, with a loud "Let's go Cena!" "Cena sucks!" chant battle. They also scream "Two!" at a two-count (as they have all night long).
Did you expect Jack Swagger to win this match? Because if you did, you obviously don't know the WWE. Plus Cena didn't sell the Ankle Lock from Swagger all that well. He limped once, then was back to jumping around the ring for the Five Knuckle Shuffle like nothing happened at all.
The end of the show comes with a promo from Miz on how many ways there are for him to beat up Cena on Sunday. It was good stuff, but you expect nothing less from him these days. Anyway, Alex Riley and Miz )of course) tried to attack Cena in the ring and Cena (of course) won the brawl and had Miz running away while Riley rolled out of the ring and was never seen again.
All in all it was an average Raw. There was nothing really bad about it, but there wasn't anything really funny or entertaining either. I liked The Miz and I didn't really buy John Cena, but neither of this things is new. It's just kind of sad that we all know that there is no way in hell that Miz will win an I Quit Match when Cena is in it.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Extreme Rules Preview
It's already been a month since Wrestlemania - somehow, with Edge's retirement and everything it feels like more time as gone by than four weeks - and that means that it's time or the annual "after Mania" Pay-per-View. Usually that means that we get the leftovers of every feud that should have ended at Wrestlemania and didn't and this year is no exception with the rematches of CM Punk vs. Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio, The Miz vs. John Cena (with the addition of John Morrison) and Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio where Christian is filling in for his retired buddy Edge.
Of course one can't forget the new Cole vs. Jerry Lawler rematch. This feud should have ended with The King beating Michael Cole up for five minutes, getting the pin and winning the thing. It didn't however as we all know and now it's Jerry and JR vs. Cole and Jack Swagger. That means that we'll get a Tag Team match where one half of all entertainers in the ring actually can't wrestle - bad idea.
And what exactly is "Country Whipping Match" supposed to mean? Most people assume it to be some kind of strap match but since we're talking about he WWE here you can't ever be sure. Anyway, if Jack Swagger is lucky he could get a face turn of out this thing if Creative plans to actually use him and therefore be the only participant who gets something out of this match. That's the positive about it so far - and the prospect of Michael Cole getting his ass whipped of course. The feud should really end after this, it has already dragged on for too long.
It is also said that Michelle McCools match with Layla will be her last in the company because she is going to quit wrestling (presumedly to take care fo her husband The Undertaker). I don't have much to say about that because I am no LayCool hater and no Michelle McCool fan either - but hey, she married the right man, it's not like she has to worry about money ever again.
My predictions for Extreme Rules:
Jerry Lawler and JR will defeat Michael Cool and Jack Swagger in a Country Whipping Match because seriously this feuds need to end, not the mention that neither Cole nor Jim Ross belong inside that ring. We need JR on commentary.
The Miz will keep his WWE Championship a little longer after this Triple Threat match. Morrison is obviously in there ot take the pin and protect John Cena, but it's good for him because at least he gets the exposure and the Pay-per-View payday. I don't know how much longer the Miz/Cena program will go after today, probably until Rocky's new movie is recorded.
Christian is going to win the World Heavyweight Champioship for the first time tonight. I want him to and everyone else wants him to, too. He deserves the title plus if Del Rio gets it he'll take it over to Raw and merging the two major titles is hopefully something Vince McMahon has moved away form over the last half year.
CM Punk will defeat Randy Orton. To be honest I still doubt that he will, but it is the smarter choice to make. Orton does not need that win and while CM Punk doesn't need it either the company will want to give him something since he is swinging the sword of Domocles over their heads right now with his talk of not extending his contract.
Rey Mysterio gets back on Cody Rhodes by winning their Wrestlemania rematch. It is the standart WWE booking, plus Rey is the face - there isn't anything else to say about that match.
Layla will force Michelle McCool to leave the WWE. We know that Michelle is leaving the company so there isn't that much room for speculation in that match - but hey, at least she is putting Layla over on her way out and that is a classy way to go.
Since we have only six matches on that card of which two won't last that long (the tag match and the Divas match) there is a good possibility that we'll see an additional match for the Tag Team titles between Kane and The Big Show and some guys from The New Nexus or The Corre.
Monday, April 25, 2011
4/26/11 Raw - live
And here we are live for this year's WWE Draft. The show directly starts with a battle royal for the first draft pick with ten men from Smackdown and ten men form Raw in the ring.
The problem with this things is always that you just can't concentrate on something when there are twenty men brawling in a ring that just about fits them all. It's not any better today, but at least the red and blue shirts help to distinguish who belongs to which team. Speculation has it that either John Cena, Randy Orton or both will go to Smackdown by the way, while Beth Phoenix and Alberto Del Rio could be in for Raw.
After the comercial it's three on four with four Raw men in there until The Big Show eliminates Santio Marella and Mayson Ryan get's Cody Rhodes out. Daniel Bryan is next. The final four are two of each Brand with The Big Show and Kofi Kingston in for Smackdown and Evan Bourne and Mason Ryan for Raw. Bourne and Kingston have some nice action on the rope with Kofi nearly throwing Bourne out of the ring who manages to avoid thouching the floor with his feet. In the end Big Show get's the better of the High Flyer however, and see ya Evan Bourne. It's two on one after that and Maosn Ryan is send flying out of the ring next - that is the win for team Smackdown.
Draft pick from Raw to Smackdown: JOHN CENA!
John friggin' Cena was just drafted to Smackdown! What the fuck?! The world just turned upside down! He talks about being on Raw and how he will win the WWE Title on Extreme Rules and brimg it back to Smackdown. Miz interrupts and him and says that that won't happen and after he wins at the PPV he really won't see Cena again, what get's him some cheers from the crowd.
Next we actually get a video package of R-Truth's hell turn, that I just couldn't bring myself to watch last week. It's loong and we see a replay pf Truth blowing smoke into John Morrisons face. He comes out - without music! - and half the crowd actually cheeres for him before he tells them to shut up. There is a nice, loud, long "What?" chant when R-Truth talks about how Morrison wronged him and they either hate him or they're really annoyed of him (okay it's the latter, because the "What?"s are on again).
I honestly have no idea what the man talked about for like 15 minutes, but that was the longest "What?" chant I've ever heard in my live. Oh, and the announcers weren't speaking. Absolute silence feven from Cole.
Then suddenly - thank the Heavens above - John Morrison comes out to end this tragedy. He attacks R-Truth from behind before they are separated by security only for Morrison to jump Truth again seconds later. I don't know if that makes John Morrison a heel too, and the audience seems unsure too - did we really need that segment? I doubt it.
The Diva's match is up next with Eva Torres for Raw vs. Layla for Smackdown. The show the LayCool issues from last Friday again before the match starts - did Layla always wear that grey, dark blue glitter stuff? Anyway, there is Cole to interrupt the match saying that he has to go warm up. Eve wins somehow while no one is paying attention and Layla starts to beat up on Michelle McCool afterwards. This seems very very strange and very very rushed to me. But that's the downside of 2 hour Raw, I guess.
Draft pick from Smackdown to Raw: REY MYSTERIO!
Seriosuly, what is going on here tonight? Did someone whack Vince McMahon over the head with a steel chair prior to the show?
Anyway because of less time for this Draft there's actually less backstage/comdey stuff and more matches. Next up is Kofi Kingston for Smackdown vs. Sheamus for Raw. They too don't get much time, probably under five minutes, with Kofi picking up the win after a series of kicks.
Draft pick from Raw to Smackdown: RANDY ORTON!
Okay, now you definitely know that rosters won't stay that way. There is no chance in hell that both Cena and Orton, who are the main guys of the WWE, will stay on Smackdown permanently.
After commercial we have Jim Ross vs. Michael Cole - JR just doesn't belong in a ring ...Cole doesn't either, though. Swagger and The King are in both men's respective corners and Cole really is doing the despiceable heel here. The audience eats it up but this still can't be considered a wrestling match - the Diva's are miles ahead of this, and that really says something.
Of course Swagger get's involved for Michael Cole which leads in the disqualification of Cole. After that the heels team up on JR and ...no ...Cole whipps Jim Ross with his belt until Jerry Lawler breaks it up and this time it is Cole eating the belt - I don't have to mention that the crowd loves this. Ross busted Michael Coles lip by the way, good work JR!
The GM buzzes in 1:10 into the show and makes their Extreme Rules match a "Country Whipping Match", whatever this is.
We get a replay of the "New Nexus" attacking Randy Orton on last weeks Raw. It's Randy Orton vs. Doplh Ziggler who I actually confused him for Cody Rhodes at first glance because he just looks like any other guy now. Sad, but what can you do? Anyway, Orton wins and secures Smackdown to Draft picks - when exactly was Ziggler traded to Raw by the way? ...no, I don't expect an answer.
The Draft starts on the titantron but is interrupted by CM Punk who says that he is more important than the Draft - I can't argue with that. The Orotn vs. Punk match on Sunday is a Last Man Standing match and CM Punk says that he will beat the Viper to the point where he won't be able to answer the ten count. In return Randy says that he will miss Raw but won't miss having to listen to CM Punk's rambling. He will beat Punk into until he is unconscious, sleeping and then he will be the last man standing.
Draft picks from Raw to Smackdown: MARKY HENRY and SIN CARA!
Another match for two draft picks is Intercontinental Champion Wade Barret vs. Rey Mysterio. Of course it is short but in the end it looked like Barrett really fucked up his timing for the 619 setup. I'm not sure, but it just looked off.
Draft picks from Smackdown to Raw: BIG SHOW and ALBERTO DEL RIO!
Teddy Long announces the final match fo the night with is a three on three tag team match between Raw and Smackdown. The Miz, Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk vs. Christian, Mark Henry and John Cena.
The Miz is in the ring with Aley Riley to start the match while CM Punk and Alberto del Rio both get their own entrances. Del Rio of course comes in some shining, expensive looking black car (I don't think it is a German one, probably a Maserati ...I don't know, I don't care) and I like how CM Punk makes the little devils horns on the ramp. After that Christian, Mark Henry and John Cena come out for Smackdown, Miz and Cena get in the ring to start things off and we go right to commercial.
Back in the ring we have Cena and CM Punk in there right before Cena tag in Mark Henry who tags in Christian shortly after. There are lot of tag, especially form the heel/Raw team when the beat down Christian. If counted right Miz, Punk and Del Rio tagged six times before Christian finally manages to get some good offense on Alberto Del Rio which leads to a double hot tag that bring Miz and Cena in again.
Then, out of nowhere, Mark Henry first attacks John Cena and then Christian, brining down his team members down and allowing The Miz to hit teh Skull Crushing Finale on Cena for the Raw win. This leads us to the last pick of the night and that really isn't a surprising one because pretty much anyone predicted it on twitter already...
Draft pick from Smackdown to Raw: JOHN CENA!
Yeah, John Cena is back on Raw without ever having been on Smackdown and he clears the house to show the rest of the red barnd how is boss. The Miz has the bad luck of being the one to take the inevitable beating, aka a Five Knuckle Shuffle from John Cena. We end the show with Cena standing in the middle of the ring alne and celebrating that he is back on Raw. How lame.
Question of the night: With Alberto del Rio on Raw, does this mean that Christian will win the World Heavyweight Championship? ...I hope so.
The problem with this things is always that you just can't concentrate on something when there are twenty men brawling in a ring that just about fits them all. It's not any better today, but at least the red and blue shirts help to distinguish who belongs to which team. Speculation has it that either John Cena, Randy Orton or both will go to Smackdown by the way, while Beth Phoenix and Alberto Del Rio could be in for Raw.
After the comercial it's three on four with four Raw men in there until The Big Show eliminates Santio Marella and Mayson Ryan get's Cody Rhodes out. Daniel Bryan is next. The final four are two of each Brand with The Big Show and Kofi Kingston in for Smackdown and Evan Bourne and Mason Ryan for Raw. Bourne and Kingston have some nice action on the rope with Kofi nearly throwing Bourne out of the ring who manages to avoid thouching the floor with his feet. In the end Big Show get's the better of the High Flyer however, and see ya Evan Bourne. It's two on one after that and Maosn Ryan is send flying out of the ring next - that is the win for team Smackdown.
Draft pick from Raw to Smackdown: JOHN CENA!
John friggin' Cena was just drafted to Smackdown! What the fuck?! The world just turned upside down! He talks about being on Raw and how he will win the WWE Title on Extreme Rules and brimg it back to Smackdown. Miz interrupts and him and says that that won't happen and after he wins at the PPV he really won't see Cena again, what get's him some cheers from the crowd.
Next we actually get a video package of R-Truth's hell turn, that I just couldn't bring myself to watch last week. It's loong and we see a replay pf Truth blowing smoke into John Morrisons face. He comes out - without music! - and half the crowd actually cheeres for him before he tells them to shut up. There is a nice, loud, long "What?" chant when R-Truth talks about how Morrison wronged him and they either hate him or they're really annoyed of him (okay it's the latter, because the "What?"s are on again).
I honestly have no idea what the man talked about for like 15 minutes, but that was the longest "What?" chant I've ever heard in my live. Oh, and the announcers weren't speaking. Absolute silence feven from Cole.
Then suddenly - thank the Heavens above - John Morrison comes out to end this tragedy. He attacks R-Truth from behind before they are separated by security only for Morrison to jump Truth again seconds later. I don't know if that makes John Morrison a heel too, and the audience seems unsure too - did we really need that segment? I doubt it.
The Diva's match is up next with Eva Torres for Raw vs. Layla for Smackdown. The show the LayCool issues from last Friday again before the match starts - did Layla always wear that grey, dark blue glitter stuff? Anyway, there is Cole to interrupt the match saying that he has to go warm up. Eve wins somehow while no one is paying attention and Layla starts to beat up on Michelle McCool afterwards. This seems very very strange and very very rushed to me. But that's the downside of 2 hour Raw, I guess.
Draft pick from Smackdown to Raw: REY MYSTERIO!
Seriosuly, what is going on here tonight? Did someone whack Vince McMahon over the head with a steel chair prior to the show?
Anyway because of less time for this Draft there's actually less backstage/comdey stuff and more matches. Next up is Kofi Kingston for Smackdown vs. Sheamus for Raw. They too don't get much time, probably under five minutes, with Kofi picking up the win after a series of kicks.
Draft pick from Raw to Smackdown: RANDY ORTON!
Okay, now you definitely know that rosters won't stay that way. There is no chance in hell that both Cena and Orton, who are the main guys of the WWE, will stay on Smackdown permanently.
After commercial we have Jim Ross vs. Michael Cole - JR just doesn't belong in a ring ...Cole doesn't either, though. Swagger and The King are in both men's respective corners and Cole really is doing the despiceable heel here. The audience eats it up but this still can't be considered a wrestling match - the Diva's are miles ahead of this, and that really says something.
Of course Swagger get's involved for Michael Cole which leads in the disqualification of Cole. After that the heels team up on JR and ...no ...Cole whipps Jim Ross with his belt until Jerry Lawler breaks it up and this time it is Cole eating the belt - I don't have to mention that the crowd loves this. Ross busted Michael Coles lip by the way, good work JR!
The GM buzzes in 1:10 into the show and makes their Extreme Rules match a "Country Whipping Match", whatever this is.
We get a replay of the "New Nexus" attacking Randy Orton on last weeks Raw. It's Randy Orton vs. Doplh Ziggler who I actually confused him for Cody Rhodes at first glance because he just looks like any other guy now. Sad, but what can you do? Anyway, Orton wins and secures Smackdown to Draft picks - when exactly was Ziggler traded to Raw by the way? ...no, I don't expect an answer.
The Draft starts on the titantron but is interrupted by CM Punk who says that he is more important than the Draft - I can't argue with that. The Orotn vs. Punk match on Sunday is a Last Man Standing match and CM Punk says that he will beat the Viper to the point where he won't be able to answer the ten count. In return Randy says that he will miss Raw but won't miss having to listen to CM Punk's rambling. He will beat Punk into until he is unconscious, sleeping and then he will be the last man standing.
Draft picks from Raw to Smackdown: MARKY HENRY and SIN CARA!
Another match for two draft picks is Intercontinental Champion Wade Barret vs. Rey Mysterio. Of course it is short but in the end it looked like Barrett really fucked up his timing for the 619 setup. I'm not sure, but it just looked off.
Draft picks from Smackdown to Raw: BIG SHOW and ALBERTO DEL RIO!
Teddy Long announces the final match fo the night with is a three on three tag team match between Raw and Smackdown. The Miz, Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk vs. Christian, Mark Henry and John Cena.
The Miz is in the ring with Aley Riley to start the match while CM Punk and Alberto del Rio both get their own entrances. Del Rio of course comes in some shining, expensive looking black car (I don't think it is a German one, probably a Maserati ...I don't know, I don't care) and I like how CM Punk makes the little devils horns on the ramp. After that Christian, Mark Henry and John Cena come out for Smackdown, Miz and Cena get in the ring to start things off and we go right to commercial.
Back in the ring we have Cena and CM Punk in there right before Cena tag in Mark Henry who tags in Christian shortly after. There are lot of tag, especially form the heel/Raw team when the beat down Christian. If counted right Miz, Punk and Del Rio tagged six times before Christian finally manages to get some good offense on Alberto Del Rio which leads to a double hot tag that bring Miz and Cena in again.
Then, out of nowhere, Mark Henry first attacks John Cena and then Christian, brining down his team members down and allowing The Miz to hit teh Skull Crushing Finale on Cena for the Raw win. This leads us to the last pick of the night and that really isn't a surprising one because pretty much anyone predicted it on twitter already...
Draft pick from Smackdown to Raw: JOHN CENA!
Yeah, John Cena is back on Raw without ever having been on Smackdown and he clears the house to show the rest of the red barnd how is boss. The Miz has the bad luck of being the one to take the inevitable beating, aka a Five Knuckle Shuffle from John Cena. We end the show with Cena standing in the middle of the ring alne and celebrating that he is back on Raw. How lame.
Question of the night: With Alberto del Rio on Raw, does this mean that Christian will win the World Heavyweight Championship? ...I hope so.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Undertakers Streak at Wrestlemania 2.0
More than a half year ago I wrote a (not so) little piece about Taker's Streak at Wrestlemania and since it's that time of the year again that article has been the most watched enterie of this blog for the better part of the last two months. Since half a year is a decade in wrestling however the post isn't really up to date anymore, so I decided to again do a little something on the legendary Streak on the brink of Wrestlemania XXVII.
When I wrote that last article The Undertakers match with Shawn Michaels was still pretty fresh in my mind, actually both of them were. Even to this day this hasn't changed, because Wrestlemania 26 was the first one I really experienced as a fan and therefore every other one that is to come will have to live up to it - or to the 'Taker vs. HBK match, to be precise. So can any future match in the Streak top what we had at the last two Manias? Hell no.
But, honestly, it doesn't have to. What Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker had was one of a kind, you cannot copy the emotional rollercoster they put the fans (no, I will not utter the bad U-word. Ever.) through, if only because it will be hard to find a man that will be as good an opponent to 'Taker as good ol' HBK was. The WWE can try though, and they obviously do as we can see form the Undertaker vs. Triple H match - I mean that as a compliment.
First of all you have to give Vince McMahon and the company credits for getting anyone interested in a match between a guy that hasn't wrestled since Bragging Rights last year and another who wasn't on the active roster since Extreme Rules last year. That is more than five months since 'Takers last match and close to a year for Triple H. Just think about that for a minute.
Now of course 'Taker vs. HHH isn't perfect - it will never even scratch at the matches Hunters buddy HBK had with The Undertaker - but you have to work with what you have and in that regart it was possibly the best choice to make.
Half a year back I listed four possible opponents for 'Taker to face to make the Streak 20-0 next year: John Cena, Triple H, Chris Jericho and Kane. Shortly after that we got the dreaded feud between Kane and Undertaker again and Kane proved with is amazing mic-work that this doesn't have to be as boring as we thought it would be - but also eliminated a possible match at Wrestlemania 27 with it, because we all knew that the WWE wouldn't drag this feud out for so many months. Chris Jericho is now on hiatus for only God knows how long, what leaves John Cena and Triple H.
If I have to guess John Cena will be Undertakers final opponent for the 20-0 next year before 'Taker retires for good from wrestling, but that's another twelve months into the future which means that there isn't a guarantee for anything yet. Triple H however is the not so distant future as in 1 day and 1 hour until Wrestlemania 27 so even the WWE has no way of cancelling the match now ;-)
Will The Undertaker vs. Triple H - The Phenom vs. The Game - be a good match? That obviously depends on how you define a good match. Will he have spots never seen in a ring before, "Oh my God!" moments that will never be forgotton or a bout that will have us staring with our mouths agape because the in-ring quality of the match is that amazing? Most likely not. Yes, I don't doubt for a moment that as to veterans they will have a rather good match, but it won't be that match, the one everyone can't stop talking about the next day because of how great it was like we experienced with Taker vs. HBK ...well, it doesn't have to be.
No one expects wonders from this match-up like they did last year and the year before, and in a way that removes a big bit of pressure from both men. They will still give their best to make this match worth every dollar people spend on it, but it is probably nice to know for them that they are not in the main spot and have to make the impossible possible, so to speak.
An important point is that Undertaker and Triple H can make up for a possible lack of in-ring action with the vibe they created around the match. The build of this feud admittedly wasn't that great until last Monday, but together with Shawn Michaels they managed to get a lot of the fans interested in a match that practically no one really cared about up until then. Now we have the possibility of HBK playing a role in what will happen tomorrow and even if that chance isn't big it is still there and that is all that matters. With that and the fact that people now care how this match will run down the chance we'll be well entertained is very good right now.
Of course The Undertaker will win against Triple H, but let's be realistic: does anyone really expect anything else, especially after HBK lost twice? I don't think so, but I also don't think that we can't enjoy it nonetheless. In matches like this one - were neither guy really has to lose anything and no title is on the line - we can just lean back and enjoy the ride, so to speak... and if nothing else that is what counts at Wrestlemania.
When I wrote that last article The Undertakers match with Shawn Michaels was still pretty fresh in my mind, actually both of them were. Even to this day this hasn't changed, because Wrestlemania 26 was the first one I really experienced as a fan and therefore every other one that is to come will have to live up to it - or to the 'Taker vs. HBK match, to be precise. So can any future match in the Streak top what we had at the last two Manias? Hell no.
But, honestly, it doesn't have to. What Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker had was one of a kind, you cannot copy the emotional rollercoster they put the fans (no, I will not utter the bad U-word. Ever.) through, if only because it will be hard to find a man that will be as good an opponent to 'Taker as good ol' HBK was. The WWE can try though, and they obviously do as we can see form the Undertaker vs. Triple H match - I mean that as a compliment.
First of all you have to give Vince McMahon and the company credits for getting anyone interested in a match between a guy that hasn't wrestled since Bragging Rights last year and another who wasn't on the active roster since Extreme Rules last year. That is more than five months since 'Takers last match and close to a year for Triple H. Just think about that for a minute.
Now of course 'Taker vs. HHH isn't perfect - it will never even scratch at the matches Hunters buddy HBK had with The Undertaker - but you have to work with what you have and in that regart it was possibly the best choice to make.
Half a year back I listed four possible opponents for 'Taker to face to make the Streak 20-0 next year: John Cena, Triple H, Chris Jericho and Kane. Shortly after that we got the dreaded feud between Kane and Undertaker again and Kane proved with is amazing mic-work that this doesn't have to be as boring as we thought it would be - but also eliminated a possible match at Wrestlemania 27 with it, because we all knew that the WWE wouldn't drag this feud out for so many months. Chris Jericho is now on hiatus for only God knows how long, what leaves John Cena and Triple H.
If I have to guess John Cena will be Undertakers final opponent for the 20-0 next year before 'Taker retires for good from wrestling, but that's another twelve months into the future which means that there isn't a guarantee for anything yet. Triple H however is the not so distant future as in 1 day and 1 hour until Wrestlemania 27 so even the WWE has no way of cancelling the match now ;-)
Will The Undertaker vs. Triple H - The Phenom vs. The Game - be a good match? That obviously depends on how you define a good match. Will he have spots never seen in a ring before, "Oh my God!" moments that will never be forgotton or a bout that will have us staring with our mouths agape because the in-ring quality of the match is that amazing? Most likely not. Yes, I don't doubt for a moment that as to veterans they will have a rather good match, but it won't be that match, the one everyone can't stop talking about the next day because of how great it was like we experienced with Taker vs. HBK ...well, it doesn't have to be.
No one expects wonders from this match-up like they did last year and the year before, and in a way that removes a big bit of pressure from both men. They will still give their best to make this match worth every dollar people spend on it, but it is probably nice to know for them that they are not in the main spot and have to make the impossible possible, so to speak.
An important point is that Undertaker and Triple H can make up for a possible lack of in-ring action with the vibe they created around the match. The build of this feud admittedly wasn't that great until last Monday, but together with Shawn Michaels they managed to get a lot of the fans interested in a match that practically no one really cared about up until then. Now we have the possibility of HBK playing a role in what will happen tomorrow and even if that chance isn't big it is still there and that is all that matters. With that and the fact that people now care how this match will run down the chance we'll be well entertained is very good right now.
Of course The Undertaker will win against Triple H, but let's be realistic: does anyone really expect anything else, especially after HBK lost twice? I don't think so, but I also don't think that we can't enjoy it nonetheless. In matches like this one - were neither guy really has to lose anything and no title is on the line - we can just lean back and enjoy the ride, so to speak... and if nothing else that is what counts at Wrestlemania.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
3/23/11 Raw
Yes, I'm still alive. My last post on this blog was nearly two months ago and the last Raw I watched some six weeks (the one with the Rock and yes, it was great) ago, but hey, the good side of it is that in some one and a half months I'll never have to see a school from the inside again ;-) Anyway, I'm back with yesterdays Raw and I have to say that it was probably the best of the year so far.
The show started with CM Punk in the ring and since we were in Chicago you better don't doubt that Punk got the reaction he deserved from his home crowd. Of course it helped that his promo on Randy Orton was great as always, but you don't expect anything less from CM Punk these days. When The Viper finally showed up to confront Punk he selled the knee injury from last week, which provided some nice comments on twitter since we all know that Orton usually is as good in selling an injury as "Super-Cena" is. It didn't do him any good in my eyes however, because even after six weeks of no wrestling alltogether I'm dead for Randy Orton. I just don't buy the guy, never have and never will.
Edge and Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio and Brodus Clay was an okay match if you take into account that I can't stand Del Rio and don't know Clay. But hey, we had E&C back together after six years of abstinence so I actually could tolerate Del Rio in favor of some good tag team action.
The next memorable segment of the show started with The Undertaker walking down the ramp to a huge pop and "Ain't No Grave". Of course Triple H joined in the action was soon as Undertaker was in the ring and because that wasn't enough we also got HBK on top of that. With those three names you knew that this would be good shit and well, it was. It was actually funny to watch Shawn Michaels join the other two men in the ring, around and jumping around while Taker and HHH just stood there and waited for him to finish interacting with the fans.
After that it was just a great promo with Shawn Michaels carrying a big part of it, and winning a lot of people over with this match with his great facial expressions alone. Triple H and The Undertaker should also congratulated on a job well done though and since I can't do this promo justice with words, here it is straight from Youtube:
The show started with CM Punk in the ring and since we were in Chicago you better don't doubt that Punk got the reaction he deserved from his home crowd. Of course it helped that his promo on Randy Orton was great as always, but you don't expect anything less from CM Punk these days. When The Viper finally showed up to confront Punk he selled the knee injury from last week, which provided some nice comments on twitter since we all know that Orton usually is as good in selling an injury as "Super-Cena" is. It didn't do him any good in my eyes however, because even after six weeks of no wrestling alltogether I'm dead for Randy Orton. I just don't buy the guy, never have and never will.
Edge and Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio and Brodus Clay was an okay match if you take into account that I can't stand Del Rio and don't know Clay. But hey, we had E&C back together after six years of abstinence so I actually could tolerate Del Rio in favor of some good tag team action.
The next memorable segment of the show started with The Undertaker walking down the ramp to a huge pop and "Ain't No Grave". Of course Triple H joined in the action was soon as Undertaker was in the ring and because that wasn't enough we also got HBK on top of that. With those three names you knew that this would be good shit and well, it was. It was actually funny to watch Shawn Michaels join the other two men in the ring, around and jumping around while Taker and HHH just stood there and waited for him to finish interacting with the fans.
After that it was just a great promo with Shawn Michaels carrying a big part of it, and winning a lot of people over with this match with his great facial expressions alone. Triple H and The Undertaker should also congratulated on a job well done though and since I can't do this promo justice with words, here it is straight from Youtube:
A big thumbs up also goes to the Chicago crowd that was amazing throughout the whole show both in their reactions and in being a smart wrestling crowd. No matter if it was their hero CM Punk, Undertaker or HBK, they poped huge, had a few very nice chants ("Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!") and also proved that they know their shit when they booed John Cena. Additionally I give props to the guys holding the "Game Over" and "The guy behind me can't see me" signs.
The third big promo of the night of course was The Rock, John Cena and The Miz. Rock again brought the best line of the night by referring to John Cena as "looking like a homless Power Ranger" - you just can't beat that. Furthermore I like the serious and a little bit defiant Cena a lot better than the usual cheesy version that makes gay jokes that aren't funny in the least. Miz of course was great too, especially when he called The Rock and John Cena the O-brothers: overhyped and overrated.
One of the thinsg I wasn't really into however was the ending. Alex Riley and Miz beat up Rock, who of course came back, throw A-Ri out of the ring and delivered the People's Ellbow and The Miz to roar from the Chicago crowd. He didn't see Cena coming at him from behind though, and at a FU AA for the end of the show - it wasn't a bad ending per se, the fact that Miz, who is the WWE Champion for God's sake, was Rock's bitch and practically and afterthought to Cena/Rock again.
Other than that I have nothing to rant about. Yes, the show was very promo heavy, but it was the go home show for Wrestlemania so that was expected. Chicago was a great crowd and the three big promos all delivered - you can't wish for more in the last show before we go to the big stage next Sunday.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
1/30/11 Royal Rumble live
I will do a live coverage of this years Royal Rumble here on this blog, starting 8 pm ET a.k.a. 2 am CET. All matches plus the actual Rumble will be one here, so don't miss any of it ;-) Rumored special appearances for the Rumble match are HHH, Christian, Kevin Nash, Booker T, Evan Bourne and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, plus it is said that we'll also get to see Awesome Kong (probably under another name though) in the Divas Title Match tonight.
Pyro goes off, the Boston crowd is hot and here we go people. The Heavyweight Championship Match is first and The King, Michael Cole and Matt Striker welcome us to the Royal Rumble while Edge makes his way down the ramp. He is followed by Vickie Guerrero who garnerns instant heat from the crowd with her "Excuse me!". She tells us that Edge his disqualified as soon as he uses the Spear and introduces her boyfriend Dolph Ziggler - the match is on, ladies and gentleman.
Edge is dominating early on with 3 near-falls, sending Ziggler into the barricade but he comes back wiht a neckbreaker off the ropes, working onto Edge's neck. They're wrestling in the ring before Edge gains the upper hand again when he sends Ziggler flying into the turnbuckle. There is a really good "Let's go Edge!" chant and the crowd is into it now, even if Edge is not allowed to use the Spear. They both attempt a crossbody, going down and the ref starts counting. No count outs though and shortly after Edge is on the turnbuckle with Ziggler down, though he gets up in time, comes for him and tries to suplex him off. Edge headbutts him down for a 2-count and then goes for a submission move that looks like an incomplete Sharpshooter. Ziggler manages to get the ropes in time though and he has to release him.
With Ziggler down Edge is of course tempted to go for a Spear but he quickly realizes the he can't with Vickie there. He beats down Ziggler a bit and get's him down for another 2-count because Vickie draggs the ref away from behind. Edge of course is not happy with his ex-wife interferring and they have stare-down on the ropes. Vickie slaps Edge with Dolph Ziggler coming for him from behind, but Edge side-steps and he runs into Vickie instead. Ziggler is down and his girlfriend slaps Edge some more who is not happy but knows better than to slap back. Ziggler hits a Zig Zag from behind on Edge who kicks out while Kelly Kelly (random?) comes running down to beat down on Vickie Guerrero. In the ring Ziggler applies the Sleeper Hold on the World Champ who manages to stan up and get him off his back, knocking the referee down in the process. The ref is down now, Vickie is down and the crowd his wild when Edge hits a Spear on Dolph Ziggler.
A lot of near-falls in the second half of this match but Edge hits Christians finisher (if I've seen that right) for the finish and the 3-count. The match is over and Edge has retained. It was slow in the beginning, but the pace picked up big deal in the later half and the crowd was really into it in the end.
We're backstage with Miz and Riley now. Miz recognizes that Michael Cole and Aley Riley helped him win some matches and Riley tells that Miz is going to Wrestlemania as the WWE Champion. Of course Miz has to add that he is the Miz and he is Awsome - well he is, but that's not the point here.
The Voices sound through the arena and of course it's the Miz vs. Randy Orton next. Do I have to mention that the crowd into everything Orton does? Anyway, they're fighting pretty even until Aley Riley attacks Randy Orton from behind while the ref his looking at Miz a.k.a. in the other direction. Orton goes shoulder first into the turnbuckle and the Miz follows up with his running clothesline. Miz is on the offense now for a little and then goes up the turnbuckle but Orton get's up there too and superplexes him off. It's "vintage" Orton now as Cole reminds us until Miz manages to send him over the ropes and of course Alex Riley is there to do some dirty work.
Outside the ring Randy Oorton goes head first into the turnbuckle and the ref start's counting him out. He's back before 10 though and get's his usual offense on Miz - thank you so much Matt Striker for calling it powerslam and not coope slam like some idiot known as Michael Col does! He's starting to hear voices and does his well-known Orton-stamp on Miz on the floor. The end comes when the New Nexus (minus CM Punk) suddenly come down the ramp, distracting the ref long enough for Riley to try and sneak up on Orton. But the Viper notices and sends him flying to the floor into Nexus and referee who all five go down. Out of nowhere CM Punk comes from behind, feeds a GTS to Randy Orton and pulls Miz over the liveless Viper. The ref's back in the ring now while Punk hides under the ring and 1, 2, 3 the Miz retains his Championship.
We get a short statement regarding why Cody Rhodes isn't in the Rumble anymore. Rey Mysterio apparently broke his nose ad Cody is highly offended that Mysterio didn't aplogize to him, because his career his now in jeopardy. Poor baby ...you smell the irony just here?
Next is the Divas Title Match but before the match starts the GM mails in saying “I get a lot of complaints about how annoying Michael Cole is…”and therefore he doesn't want any more complaints about LayCool. The match is now a Fatal 4-Way with Natalya, Layla, Michelle McCool and ...no, not Awesome Kong but Eve. Only God knows how she of all people got in there. They tease LayCool attacking each other at some point when Natalya and Eve are out, but it doesn't happen. But we get a nice spot with Natalya applying a double-Sharpshooter on both Eve and Layla that is broken up by Michelle. Eve get's the pinfall over Layla ...I thought they were going somewhere with the women once, but obviously not. Sigh.
Backstage we get a brawl with the Bella's, Daniel Bryan and Gail Kim who also can't tell the twins apart. It starts their feud I presume.
We get the Rumble facts now.
The #1 entrie is the New nexus leader CM Punk.
#5 is William Regal and you notice from the good wrestling that there are only great workers in the ring. Entrie #6 is Ted DiBiase who seems to be in there despite having the flu. He tries to eliminate CM Punk who hangs on. Daniel Bryan interferes but DiBiase manages to avoid elimiation. #7 is John Morrison who get's offense on all four guys in the ring. He fights a bit with DiBiase who tries to throw him but but Morrison hangs on the barricade, his feet not touching the ground. Amazing spot. Morrison walks on the barricade and jumps on the steal setps to get back in the ring while William Regal is eliminated by Ted DiBiase. #8 is Yoshi Tatsu.
Next in is Husky Harris at #9 and he's also youngest participant this Rumble at age 26. He protects his leader CM Punk from the other guys, taking a few kicks and fists. #10 is Chavo Guerrero who gets some offense on CM Punka and Ted DiBiase while Morrison works on Husky in the corner. Chavo and Bryan start suplexing each other and there are seven man in the ring when the "threat to win" Mark Henry comes in at #11 to a round of headbutts. Chavo is thrown out by the World's Strongest Man with Yoshi Tatsu being is next victim and in comes JTG at #12. He's followed by another New Nexus member with Michael McGillicutty at #13 who throws out JTG. McGillitcutty and Harris double team on DiBiase who is out next. #14 is Chris Masters ...and there's Nexus member number three with David Otunga at #15. Bryan and Masters are eliminated by Nexus next. They try and succeed in throwing out John Morrison and then Mark Henry. Bye Johnny. #16 is Tyler and Reks and he doesn't fare better than the guys before him when he is thrown out by Nexus in no time.
#17 is Vladimir Kozlov and #18 R-Truth who are both fodder for The New Nexus. #19 is Great Kahlie and see ya Husky Harris. But we get Mason Ryan in exchange at #20 who exchances blows with Khalie before throwing him out. And your number #21 is ...Booker T! He roughs up Nexus a little and nearly elimiates CM Punk but of course is stopped in time and thrown out by Mason Ryan. Next is #22 John Cena who si happy to say goodbye to Mason Ryan, David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty. He goes after Punk and they exchange blows but no elimination. #23 is Hornswoggle who taunts CM Punka and get's kicked in the head as thank you. Cena manages to throw CM Punk out with an AA and helps Hornwswoggle up. In as #24 is Tyson Kidd who is beaten up by both, even eating a mini-AA by Hornswoggle - no joke. Tyson is out.
Entrie number #25 is Heath Slater form the Corre. Cena beats him up, both he and Hornswoggle do a double-5-Knuckle-Shuffle on him and there you go Slater. #26 is Kofi Kingston who faces of with Cena while the little man looks on. No elimination until #27 Jack Swagger comes down to the ring. He gets offense on both Cena and Kingston and says that he's going to Wretlemania ...dream on, Swagger. Boom Drop by Kingston on Swagger with a little help from Hornswoggle. He mocks #28 Sheamus and hit Sweet Shin Music only to be thrown own by the pale fella. #29 is Rey Mysterio who hits some moves on Swagger, Cena and Sheamus, setting Swagger up for the 619. Sheamus stopps him though and tries to throw Mysterio out to no avail. Rey manages to hit a 619 on Jack Swagger who is now out.
From the Corre it is Wade Barret at #30 who of course faces of with John Cena. Nobody goes out until Doplh Ziggler is entrie #31 and goes right after Kofi Kingston. Barrett and Cena both evade near elimination by a group of the other guys.
#32 is Kevin Nash as Diesel who towers over everyone and gets some punchs here. A huge "Diesel" chant breaks out. Sheamus and #33 Drew McInytre double-team on Diesel and Rey Mysterio hits a 619 on him, but still no elimination. Down the ramp next comes the still WWE Champion the Miz with his apprentice Alex Riley as #34. Diesel is eliminated while Miz goes to join the commentators. Big Show elimiates Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston and John Cena team up to throw out Alex Riley. #35 Ezekiel Jackson eliminates the Big Show. Drew McIntyre is out too. Santino is #37 and already lasts longer than at his last Rumble - which was one second. Barrett and Zecke nearly manage to throw out John Cena who hangs on.
Driving in as #38 is Alberto Del Rio who get's beaten up before he is even in the ring by #39 Randy Orton. The Viper deals out RKOs and throw out Kofi Kingston and Sheamus. #40 is ...Kane! He exchanges blows with Ezekiel Jackson who goes over the top rope a few instants later. Mysterio eliminates Kane and his thrown out seconds later by Wade Barrett.
Alberto Del Rio, Wade Barrett, John Cena and Randy Orton are the final four ...I don't like that. No, I really don't like that. Cena goes for the Attitude Adjustment on Randy Orton but eats a boot from Wade Barrett. He hits it on Del Rio though, while Orton his handling Barrett. The Miz eliminates John Cena! There you have your Wrestlemania main event! Congratulations Miz! Randy Orton is on fire now (or coiled up, whatever you wanna call it I guess) and throws out Wade Barrett. Del Rio comes from behind and ...oh crap, no, please no... fuck, Del Rio throws out Orton. Del Rio- no he still didn't win, because suddenly there is Santino from out of nowhere with the Cobra. It doesn't help though, because he goes over the top rope only instants later. That's it, we have a winner.
Your Royal Rumble 2011 winner: Alberto Del Rio
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Royal Rumble 2011
The Royal Rumble will feature 40 instead of the usual 30 men this year. Some people say this is a good thing - most people say that this a bad thing and a waste of time. I say that it was a necessary thing to save this match from total boredom ....you don't believe me? Continue reading please.
We all knew form the beginning that The Corre and the New Nexus would be in there before it was actually announced. They are/were the leading stable on Raw and a part of them even has taken over Smackdown now. There is no way to have them not in the Rumble. This points out a big problem however ...because from the nine guys we are talking about here at least seven have to be considered as rookies i.e. are as green as fresh grass in the ring i.e. will expose how bad their in-ring ability really is if they are in there alone and have to actually do something that doesn't include standing around and looking like idiots.
Oh, and these guys are not CM Punk and Wade Barrett. CM Punk of course, but the other guy who I think can survive a Rumble without making it worse is Justin Gabriel. He started wrestling Africa sometime around 1997 - if you are interested: the other seven remaining rookies statistically started their careers in 2007, and yes, that was two years ago - and as his match with Edge on last weeks Smackdown showed, he is at least able to hang in there with the right people.
That said if this was a 30 people match and seven of these guys would have been rookies, we'd already had a 23% chance of seeing crap. It's the truth and it's ugly.
Now going on to the other participants. 28 people who will take part in the Rumble were already announced beforehead, so if you substract the nine (former) members of Nexus there are 17 men left to take a look at. These guys are: Alberto del Rio, Cody Rhodes, R-Truth, Rey Mysterio, John Cena, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, John Morrison, Ted DiBiase, Mark Henry, Darren Young, David Hart Smith, Primo, Tyson Kidd, William Regal, Yoshi Tatsu, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger and Drew McInytre (thank you Wikipedia).
Before I say anything else let me remind you what a Royal Rumble is about: elevating young talent by sending them in the ring with a a certain amount of veterans who know how to work the crowd and keep them enterained even if the rookies fail to deliver. Furthermore the older guys of course have recall value because they have been with the company for years and therefor have a certain fanbase.
Sounds logical. Problem: we have a lot of rookies, we have a lot of younger guys who have been with the company for only a few years, we have some in-between guys and we also have only a handful veterans left. The balance is shifting heavily towards the young wrestlers here.
To explain this I take a look at last years Royal Rumble. Our vets were Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Kane, Chris Jericho and Edge ...you could probably count Mark Henry and Big Show too if you wanted to be overly fair. That's 7 veterans out of 30 people, what sums up to 23% as we saw earlier.
This year he have... well, no Shawn Michaels, no Chris Jericho, no Undertaker because he is out on injury, and probably not even a Triple H. That leaves us with Kane, Edge, Rey Mysterio (who was in a singles match last year), Big Show, Mark Henry and Christian if we a very, very lucky. That's six veterans out of 40 participants, which equals 15%, which equals a big "Ouch!". Another problem is that we lost wrestlers who can carry a match. Big Show and Mark Henry might be "threats" but they can't hold a candle in match quality to a Shawn Michaels or a Chris Jericho.
That leaves us with a lot of middle guys - to continue explaining with the numbers nine out of all 28 wrestlers named for the Royal Rumble have been wrestling since before 2000 and of these nine only four wrestled since or before the year 1995 (namely Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Tyson Kidd and William Regal).
So what he have thus far are seven rookies and six veterans. That's 18% and 15% each with leaves us with 67% of other guys, what isn't the best distribution you can have but it's also not the worst - by way of comparison if there had been only 30 men in the match it would have been 23% and 20% with 57% other wrestlers remaining. The difference is simply that both vets and rookies don't matter as much as they would otherwise, or in other words that you can bring the inexperienced guys in and get rid of them fast without affecting the over-all match quality or length very much.
Let's finally get down to the 17 participants I already mentioned before. The very good thing about them is that nearly all of them can work good matches. There is no real guy in there who makes you want to close your eyes and gag when you hear his name - okay, probably R-Truth, but let's be honest the music is more horrible than is in ring work is on most days. Mark Henry isn't the best worker either, but he's just in there as a "threat" and to give his fellow wrestlers someone to gang up on. Aside from them the mix looks really promising with great workers such as Daniel Bryan and John Morrison in there together with the big names like the golden boy John Cena and fella Sheamus.
However there are still 12 free spots remaining. Some of them could probably turn out to be wrestlers who make a one-time appearance just for the sake of the fans, others will be well known faces in the Rumble. I definitely think that Kane will be in there, what would make this his 15th participation in a Royal Rumble - a number that will never be beaten because every man who has at least seven appearances would be extremly lucky to even be in one more Rumble (okay, maybe Trips can up his stat from eight to ten, but that's about it).
But Kane is only one guy and that leaves me with another 11 wrestlers to put in there. Okay, here go Chris Masters, Kofi Kingston, The Big Show, Santino Marella, Vladimir Kozlov, Tyler Reks and The Uso brothers. I want Masters in because he earned it in a ton of Superstars matches, Big Show, Santino and Kozlov are obviously for the comedy, Kingston and Tyler Reks because I feel like it and the Uso's because it's not their fault that WWE ditched the Tag Teams about a year ago, plus they desperately need some air-time.
That leaves another four spots to fill. First of all Christian could come back for the Rumble. I don't really know how good his injury has healed, but he his a great worker and would be a nice addition for the Rumble. A-RY could possibly get a number too, even if I'm still not sure if they'll allow him to be in after he has to be in a match with Miz beforehand. Then there is obviously the guy everyone is talking about in Triple H. If he his ready to go again I say let him in, another veteran in there can never hurt. The last spot goes to the Great Khalie because I'm honestly out of ideas right now - there are simply no wrestlers left to fill in!
...if this Royal Rumble had been a 50 men match WWE would have seriously had a problem here, because save for Chavo Guerrero, Michael Tarver, Curt Hawkins and Trent Barreta everyone who is not out on injury or a current NXT rookie is in thatt f***ing Rumble right now! ...I mean, hell, they'd have to give spots to the Divas!
All things considered I'm not really a fan of having 40 men in that Royal Rumble, but if it helps to conceal the weaknesses of the new guys and puts over some of the mid-card talent in return I'm game. That is what is considered great booking in wrestling: hide your weaknesses and concentrate on your strengths. You have to have all Nexus guys in there? Fine, put enough good worker in the ring with them and you can still make a great match out of it. There will moments where no real talent is in the Rumble? Put a comedy guy like Santino in there to at least make it entertaining - because that is what wrestling is, pure entertainment. You have to make it enjoyable for people to watch because in the end that's the only thing that counts. If the audience is happy with the outcome it just doesn't matter if a few spots in-between were slow paced or lacked some action.
So I say let the WWE go with it. If the Rumble is well done no one will complain afterwards and if it isn't they won't do it again - that's how easy it is.
We all knew form the beginning that The Corre and the New Nexus would be in there before it was actually announced. They are/were the leading stable on Raw and a part of them even has taken over Smackdown now. There is no way to have them not in the Rumble. This points out a big problem however ...because from the nine guys we are talking about here at least seven have to be considered as rookies i.e. are as green as fresh grass in the ring i.e. will expose how bad their in-ring ability really is if they are in there alone and have to actually do something that doesn't include standing around and looking like idiots.
Oh, and these guys are not CM Punk and Wade Barrett. CM Punk of course, but the other guy who I think can survive a Rumble without making it worse is Justin Gabriel. He started wrestling Africa sometime around 1997 - if you are interested: the other seven remaining rookies statistically started their careers in 2007, and yes, that was two years ago - and as his match with Edge on last weeks Smackdown showed, he is at least able to hang in there with the right people.
That said if this was a 30 people match and seven of these guys would have been rookies, we'd already had a 23% chance of seeing crap. It's the truth and it's ugly.
Now going on to the other participants. 28 people who will take part in the Rumble were already announced beforehead, so if you substract the nine (former) members of Nexus there are 17 men left to take a look at. These guys are: Alberto del Rio, Cody Rhodes, R-Truth, Rey Mysterio, John Cena, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, John Morrison, Ted DiBiase, Mark Henry, Darren Young, David Hart Smith, Primo, Tyson Kidd, William Regal, Yoshi Tatsu, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger and Drew McInytre (thank you Wikipedia).
Before I say anything else let me remind you what a Royal Rumble is about: elevating young talent by sending them in the ring with a a certain amount of veterans who know how to work the crowd and keep them enterained even if the rookies fail to deliver. Furthermore the older guys of course have recall value because they have been with the company for years and therefor have a certain fanbase.
Sounds logical. Problem: we have a lot of rookies, we have a lot of younger guys who have been with the company for only a few years, we have some in-between guys and we also have only a handful veterans left. The balance is shifting heavily towards the young wrestlers here.
To explain this I take a look at last years Royal Rumble. Our vets were Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Kane, Chris Jericho and Edge ...you could probably count Mark Henry and Big Show too if you wanted to be overly fair. That's 7 veterans out of 30 people, what sums up to 23% as we saw earlier.
This year he have... well, no Shawn Michaels, no Chris Jericho, no Undertaker because he is out on injury, and probably not even a Triple H. That leaves us with Kane, Edge, Rey Mysterio (who was in a singles match last year), Big Show, Mark Henry and Christian if we a very, very lucky. That's six veterans out of 40 participants, which equals 15%, which equals a big "Ouch!". Another problem is that we lost wrestlers who can carry a match. Big Show and Mark Henry might be "threats" but they can't hold a candle in match quality to a Shawn Michaels or a Chris Jericho.
That leaves us with a lot of middle guys - to continue explaining with the numbers nine out of all 28 wrestlers named for the Royal Rumble have been wrestling since before 2000 and of these nine only four wrestled since or before the year 1995 (namely Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Tyson Kidd and William Regal).
So what he have thus far are seven rookies and six veterans. That's 18% and 15% each with leaves us with 67% of other guys, what isn't the best distribution you can have but it's also not the worst - by way of comparison if there had been only 30 men in the match it would have been 23% and 20% with 57% other wrestlers remaining. The difference is simply that both vets and rookies don't matter as much as they would otherwise, or in other words that you can bring the inexperienced guys in and get rid of them fast without affecting the over-all match quality or length very much.
Let's finally get down to the 17 participants I already mentioned before. The very good thing about them is that nearly all of them can work good matches. There is no real guy in there who makes you want to close your eyes and gag when you hear his name - okay, probably R-Truth, but let's be honest the music is more horrible than is in ring work is on most days. Mark Henry isn't the best worker either, but he's just in there as a "threat" and to give his fellow wrestlers someone to gang up on. Aside from them the mix looks really promising with great workers such as Daniel Bryan and John Morrison in there together with the big names like the golden boy John Cena and fella Sheamus.
However there are still 12 free spots remaining. Some of them could probably turn out to be wrestlers who make a one-time appearance just for the sake of the fans, others will be well known faces in the Rumble. I definitely think that Kane will be in there, what would make this his 15th participation in a Royal Rumble - a number that will never be beaten because every man who has at least seven appearances would be extremly lucky to even be in one more Rumble (okay, maybe Trips can up his stat from eight to ten, but that's about it).
But Kane is only one guy and that leaves me with another 11 wrestlers to put in there. Okay, here go Chris Masters, Kofi Kingston, The Big Show, Santino Marella, Vladimir Kozlov, Tyler Reks and The Uso brothers. I want Masters in because he earned it in a ton of Superstars matches, Big Show, Santino and Kozlov are obviously for the comedy, Kingston and Tyler Reks because I feel like it and the Uso's because it's not their fault that WWE ditched the Tag Teams about a year ago, plus they desperately need some air-time.
That leaves another four spots to fill. First of all Christian could come back for the Rumble. I don't really know how good his injury has healed, but he his a great worker and would be a nice addition for the Rumble. A-RY could possibly get a number too, even if I'm still not sure if they'll allow him to be in after he has to be in a match with Miz beforehand. Then there is obviously the guy everyone is talking about in Triple H. If he his ready to go again I say let him in, another veteran in there can never hurt. The last spot goes to the Great Khalie because I'm honestly out of ideas right now - there are simply no wrestlers left to fill in!
...if this Royal Rumble had been a 50 men match WWE would have seriously had a problem here, because save for Chavo Guerrero, Michael Tarver, Curt Hawkins and Trent Barreta everyone who is not out on injury or a current NXT rookie is in thatt f***ing Rumble right now! ...I mean, hell, they'd have to give spots to the Divas!
All things considered I'm not really a fan of having 40 men in that Royal Rumble, but if it helps to conceal the weaknesses of the new guys and puts over some of the mid-card talent in return I'm game. That is what is considered great booking in wrestling: hide your weaknesses and concentrate on your strengths. You have to have all Nexus guys in there? Fine, put enough good worker in the ring with them and you can still make a great match out of it. There will moments where no real talent is in the Rumble? Put a comedy guy like Santino in there to at least make it entertaining - because that is what wrestling is, pure entertainment. You have to make it enjoyable for people to watch because in the end that's the only thing that counts. If the audience is happy with the outcome it just doesn't matter if a few spots in-between were slow paced or lacked some action.
So I say let the WWE go with it. If the Rumble is well done no one will complain afterwards and if it isn't they won't do it again - that's how easy it is.
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