8/26/10 Impact & WWE Superstars

I'm starting things of with Impact, since I watched it before Superstars. Most of the time TNAs product doesn't appeal to me much, but I try watching none the less. Hey, they have MMG. Bottom line: Impact without the Guns is like NXT without The Miz - not worth watching.

1. Seeing Ric Flair hitting on Dixie Carter was... some people might like this, but I really didn't. The man is in his sixtys now, he souldn't be hitting on Dixie - hell, he souldn't be in a ring at all!

2. Dixies husband appeared on this episode of Impact. Do we really want to see that? I hope they don't want to be the next McMahons, because one family like this is really enough for the business.

3. Orlando Jordan?! This was the first time I saw the guy on TV and I knew he was going to do the job before they announced his opponent. Turned out he did. His match was against Samoa Joe who finnished the match in about 4 minutes. Jordans gimmick his disgusting my the way.

4. "... in front of millions of people?" Eric Bischoff is really opimistic regarding his attendance figure, isn't he?

5. The Motor City Machine Guns and Generation Me had the best watch of the night (this includes Superstars). It was a spotfest, but I enjoyed watching them. You never get to see a match between real Tag Teams like this in WWE an that's a pity. The only shortage is that the match didn't get enough time.

6. The Beautiful People reunited. At least this girls are hot (something I cannot say about most of the Divas). And, which is a bit of a shock for me who is used to watching female wrestler in WWE, they actually talked, they got Screentime. Scary, because their segment wasn't even bad.

Up next is this weeks WWE Superstars. This was one of the better episodes considered what we get here most of the time.

1. The show started of with Goldust vs William Regal. Some people might say watching this hurt them, but I honestly don't care anymore. The match was good and lasted relatively long for WWE standarts.

2. "A 100 million more homes in China." (King) - "Yeh, a 100 million more people who don't like me." (Cole). I was honestly surprised that Cole had that much insight about his popularity with the fans! They were talking about the fact that China seems to get WWE television now too, btw.

3. The Dudebuster vs Archer & Hawkins was next. A Tag Team match with actual Tag Tema - I was surprised here. The match was okay but felt worse because I watched MMG vs GMe only half an hour ago. Sorry guys, but it seems even your best effort can't save this devision anymore.

4. Matt Striker knows moves Michael Cole couldn't even spell. Kudos!

5. Main event was Drew McIntyre vs the master of the mast lock Chris Masters (this sentence irritated you? Me too). Did anyone think that Masters could win this? He obviously didn't.


That's it for today. No signs this time and also no thoughts on Smackdown - I don't have time for either. I'm off on holiday in a few hours, so that's the last you've seen of me until next Saturday (since my iPhone decided to break down yesterday and no iPhone equals no internet for the next week). Have fun watching RAWs 900th episode everybody!

8/23/10 RAW

1. It was a taped show, meaning that there were spoilers scattered all around the net, you couldn't have escaped them if you wanted to. But it was still a decent show, not the best but there have sure been worse. The sound of the crowd was edited (didn't notice it myelf at first, but someone on the live chat pointed that there was always the same woman screaming) but I honsetly don't care much.

2. Sheamus bashing little kids was hilarious. They looked like they didn't understand what he was talking about in the first place. It made im look a little dump dissing clueless children, but at least it was fun to watch.

3. They should turn Jericho face and get Edge over as a heel again. Jericho simply get's too much support form the fans to be a heel any longer, plus all the Y2J chants going on over the last two months. The problem with Edge is that when he is a face he still get's booed and when he is a face he doesn't get booed enough most of the time.

4. Jericho is the best in the world at what the does there is no doubt about that, but it seem's even he isn't great enough to make a match that has the Great Khali in it look decent. But hey, is was as close as you can get, thumbs up for trying Jericho.

5. Miz on the mic is like Jericho on the mic or Jericho in the ring: You can't do nothing wrong with it.

6. Cole is actually better as a heel announcer. Better doesn't mean good though. That and the fact that King obviously doesn't care anymore always make's be pray for WWE to finally invent the "commentary kill switch".

7. The Miz didn't lose to Cena. That was has much of a surprise as you can get in a match with the orange purple Superman. They had some good offence in there. Miz looked good, Cena ...who cares?

8. Morrison tried, you have to give him that.

9. The Six Pack Challenge: Sheamus (has to be in there because he is the champ), Orton (has to be in there because he does the RKO), Cena (has to be in there because... he's Cena, applying logic never works with him), Barrett (has to be in there so we don't forget that Nexus still exists), Jericho & Edge (have to be in there because they obviously need somone who can actually wrestle)

10. 900th episode of RAW next week. Let's try to not get our hopes up too high ...

Sign of the day

I gave up searching for a better one, taped epsiodes are not good for signs

8/20/10 Smackdown

Like I said before I'm not going to do a real review of Smackdown - I may know more moves than Michael Cole but there are still a lot of people out there who can recap a match way better than I can. So I am going to stick with some thoughts I had while watching the show, you can probably call it "10 Thoughts on Smackdown" (the number varie but still).

1. Dos Caras Jr. or Alberto del Rio or whatever you like to call him walked into the ring and told Rey "You know my bloodline comes from kings.". Why was the first person I thought of when hearing that sentence Triple H? I still don't know. It has probably something do with his title as King of Kings and the fact the had that "Connecticut Blueblood" gimmick when the first debuted, but that was in 1995. I wasn't even four then. Strange.

2. "Respect is earned around here." These words are oh-so-true. Listen to Rey little Mexican Prince from the river.

3. Another session of "Dashing" Cody Rhodes' grooming tips. I have nothing against homosexual people really and in my opinion everybody can love whoever he or she wants... but it doesn't get much more gay than that  okay it does. See down below (8).

4. Intercontinental Title match. Vickie was there. She screamed. Kofi didn't slap her. The guy has more self-control than about anybody else - because every fan in that arena would have gladly done the job for him. Kofi won per DQ. That shit is getting worse with every time WWE uses it, and that have been many times in the last few weeks.

5. The S.E.S. beat Big Show and ... Tiffany it was? Punks army won because they would have been out of Straight Edge if they didn't. It was as useless as a match can get ...it's time to dissolve the Society. CM Punk needs to be solo again. There was a time I really liked him - that was when most of his hair was still on his head.

6. Kane cut a long promo. Very long. Very long and very good. I like the guy (his laugh his absolutely badass) but I don't like this storyline. But let him and Undertaker have some fun, they're both retiring soon anyway.

7. Christian actually won against McIntyre. I still hate Drew McInytre... and I still love his Titantron.

8. Striker was seriously flirting with Cody. Is he the new Cole or what? I feel sorry for Todd Grisham who put up with a lot of shit this episode without openly protesting.

9. When Drew and Cody beat up Christian it was obvious that Hardy was about to come in and help. Smackdown does not have other wrestlers than them apart from Kane vs. Taker and Rey vs. Dos Caras. Jack Swagger was burried as fast as he had risen. The guy was in a match with Chris Masters on Superstars this week, that says it all.

10. The loudest pop of the night was when Teddy Long announced that Undertaker will be back next episode.

11. Biggest advantage of this episode: there will be no more Alberto del Rio promos from now on.

Sign of the episode

There are so many good sings out there and so few people who appreciate them. 

Therefore the picture of the best sign I saw will be included in every review I do. Have fun with it.

And today the award goes to: Alberto del Rio & a female fan

The "I belong" Feeling

What exactly am I talking about here? Easy: There is a wrestler you have never seen before and he (or she) walks into the ring and you know only by watching him that he belongs in that ring. It does not happen often – at least to me – but when it happens you sit there and simply can’t stop watching and loving him. This is what I call the “I belong” feeling.

Some people may call it naturals, but I don’t really like the term. Because “natural” means that one is good in whatever he is doing from the very beginning – and that doesn’t necessarily apply to a wrestler who I feel belongs in a ring. There is a connection between the two terms however to the point where you can’t simply teach someone what to do for the crowd to love them. Because no matter how good a wrestler is trained there is no guarantee that people will like him. You can give a guy promo lessons three hours every day a month and then send him out into the ring and it could very well happen that the fans still wouldn’t like his promo. Not because he was bad or anything but because he simply hasn’t it. The same goes for in-ring-ability – there are wrestlers who can do really difficult moves but are not over with the crowd because they can’t sell them the right way.

One of the best examples is John Cena. WWE wants us to love him, in fact they do everything possible to get him over with the crowd but in the end there are still wars between “Let’s go Cena” and “Cena sucks” chants whenever he is out there. Cena has his good moments on the mic and isn’t as bad in the ring as many fans out there make him out to be, but for me he hasn’t it. He walks out and talks a bit and wrestles a bit and I think “Okay that was funny, okay that move wasn’t half bad …is he done yet?”. To me he could be any other guy wouldn’t it be for the fact that the WWE books him like the next Hulk Hogan and has most of their merchandise build around him. He feels replaceable, as if any other man of his build with a decent smile could do the exact same thing.

The exact opposite example his Chris Jericho. The first time I saw Jericho walking down the ramp in his typical fashion with that arrogant grin on his face I felt like he really belonged there. He is a heel and I can boo him for that but I also want to cheer him at the same time because he is so damn good at being this heel, he gets across his persona like few others. I honestly can’t imagine another man doing Jericho’s gimmick with the same effect. Even if the guy had about the same height, same hair color and the same style of clothing he still wouldn’t be able to deliver Jericho’s promos the same way he does – because what makes this guy really good is not necessarily what he says but how he says it, facial expression body language and all.

Then there are the guys who don’t have that feeling at first, who struggle and then somewhere along the line find their uniqueness, their personal “I belong” feeling. One of these guys in my opinion is the Miz. When he was still in a Tag Team with John Morrison he was nothing special. Yes, they were funny, but if one of them was sticking out it was Morrison and not Miz. The Miz was simply there and even if he wasn’t bad he was somehow forgettable, a guy who could have left the business without being missed in the long run. Now look at the Miz as he is today, a guy who walks out and you feel like he owns the whole arena. I can’t think him away from today’s wrestling; it wouldn’t be the same without him. He suddenly belongs in that ring.

Partially that feeling comes to wrestlers with time – look at the old guys: The Undertaker, Triple H, Shawn Michaels – but it doesn’t have to be that way. Because Shawn Michaels belonged in that ring from the moment he first set foot in it. Bret Hart on the other hand, to me, doesn’t have this special feeling about him anymore. He isn’t the man he was once and I don’t blame him for it, but he lost his charm along with his ability to still wrestle matches. Other guys never made me feel like they really belong in a ring and most likely never will. A good example is Randy Orton. I think he can wrestle good matches, he has the right vibe around him, his promos are decent and he still does not have that feeling around him that makes me antsy whenever he comes into the arena like Miz and Jericho do.

The “I belong” feeling in other words is the “It factor” of wrestling. Some guys have it, some don’t. Everyone has to choose for him- or herself and in the end it’s most likely up to personal preferences who you think has this special vibe about him and who hasn’t. Now I’d like to know your opinions on the matter. Who do you think has it? Do you disagree with me on the matter? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Welcome to Kate's Wrestling Blog

Welcome everyone to Kate's Wrestling Blog. I am Kate and from now on I will be posting my bits and pieces about everything going on in the world of wrestling in this blog. My entries will mostly cover the WWE an it's different shows plus some news concerning TNA now and then. Unfortunately my reviews will not cover the Indies because my access to them is very limited at best. I also won't do a weekly cover of RAW, Smackdown, WWE Superstars and NXT. If you are interested in any of these shows I recommend you reading the articles published by TJR, their work is really good.

Who am I? I am, as my name suggests, a woman. My age is 18 and I am from Germany. I obviously like wrestling very much and try to watch as many of the weekly shows and PVVs as I can. You can also find me on my Youtube account under the nickname WrestlingKate491 and on Twitter as WrestlingKate. I'd also like to remind you that there is a time difference of six hours between me and the weast coast of the United States, thus I usually can't watch any wrestling show live (8pm in New York is 2am in Germany) and my reviews will be a bit delayed.