2010 in the WWE - Gain vs. Loss

The year 2010 draws to a close and now we actually have some time to review at least part of what happened in Wrestling in general and in the WWE in particular over the course of the year. What I did here is a list (or two lists) of what wrestlers joined the company this year and what were released or left on their own accord. It's just a little list who we will miss in 2011 and who of the new guys could be a big star next year.

Gain (31)

Bret Hart, Alberto del Rio, Trent Baretta, Joey Mercury, The Uso Brothers and Tamina, Edge and Melina, plus NXT season 1, 2 and 3 a.k.a. Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, David Otunga, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, Darren Young, Michael Tarver, Skip Sheffield, Kaval, Alex Riley, Michel McGillicutty, Husky Harris, Percy Wattson, Eli Cottonwood, Lucky Cannon, Titus O'Neil, AJ, Aksana, Maxine, Kaitlyn, Naomi and Jamie 

Bret Hart - January grazed us with the return of Bret Hart after more than 12 year of absence from the WWE/F. It's good to have him back, even if he can't wrestle anymore ...the match with Vince McMahon was still embarrassing as hell (for both parties).

Alberto del Rio - I can't appreciate him as much as most others do. To me the guy just has nothing special at all about him plus I really think his gimmick is damn boring. But yeah, they need a new guy for the Mexicans when Rey Mysterio retires so I can tolerate him.

The Uso Brothers and Tamina - Seriously, when they suddenly appeard to attack the Hart Dynasty and no one knew them they were kinda cool. The bad thing was that WWE decided to definitely drop the Tag Team Division at that point so Tamina is now the girlfriend of Santino and the brothers are aren't seen on TV anymore. 

Edge - He could have had the comeback of the year when he entered and won the Royal Rumble this year but somewhere along the way he became a tweener, then he had no storyline and when Creative finally gave him a real one it was that shit with Kane. Really, it's not his fault.  

Wade Barrett - The leader of the Nexus sure made a big impact on Raw in 2010. At the beginning of NXT he practically was a nobody and now he is/was the leader of this years most prominent stable ...plus, aside from Daniel Bryan who is luckily out of Nexus, he is so far the only Nexus who can stand on his own as a performer.

Alex Riley - You could call him the "winner" of NXT season 2, since Kaval is now released and he is the only of the former rookies who regulary does have matches on Raw. The problem is just that he always loses and is currently best known for getting caught driving under the influence.

Daniel Bryan - The American Dragon provided for the biggest uproar in the IWC in 2010. It got as far as entire arenas chanting "Daniel Bryan" even when Cena and the Nexus were in the ring. In the end you could say that the fans won this battle even if they lost the war on so many other wrestlers. It's good to have one of the best current wrestlers back in WWE, if only for some awesome matches every so often.

Loss (34)

Aloisia, Batista, Carlito, Caylen Croft, Charlie Haas, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, Eric Escobar, Gregory Helms, Jillian Hall, Jimmy Wang Yang, Katie Lea, Kung Fu Naki, Luke Gallows, Maria, Matt Hardy, Mickie James, Mike Knox, MVP, Paul Burch, Savannah, Serena, Shad Gaspard, Slam Master J, Shawn Michaels, Shelton Benjamin, Tiffany, Tommy Dreamer, Tony Atlas, Vance Archer and former NXT rookies - I cringed writing rookies here, believe me - Daniel Bryan, Jamie and Kaval

Aloisia - The woman was released before she'd even had the chance to compete in NXT season 3 because some x-rated photos of her showed up on the internet. What can you say? ...I mean it isn't like there is any Diva who hasn't at least a few nude/half-nude pictures out there - it's almost an application criterion of some sort these days. 

Batista - He thought that the PG area sucked and that it wasn't the environment he wanted to work in. It was his decision so I won't mourn after him. Some he has MMA deal, some say he hasn't and he indead recently announced that he now has a deal with Strikforce. If this is what makes him happy let him go with it. 

Carlito - Another member of the future endeavoured club though it was really his own fault. We can just hope that he get's over his addiction to painkillers and that there will be no consequential damage to his body. 

Chris Jericho - That one hurt. Jericho thought it was time to go and you have to respect that. If we're lucky he does what he did before and comes back better than ever sometime next year. I want him to, but honestly I don't think he will. The guy seems to enjoy his life without wrestling too much at the moment. It's a pitty but personal happiness always comes before the job.

Luke Gallows - I still haven't found a good reason to why they released him. He wasn't a bad worker and if they would just have kept the Straight Edge Society he could still have a job. Poor guy with bad luck. 

Matt Hardy - If you asked a fan what the biggest release in the WWE in 2010 was, about everyone would name Matt Hardy. He made goddamn show out of the whole thing, including videos from eating grapes on Youtube and telling some story about having a split personality. In the end however he got what he wanted when WWE eventually released him. Most think that he'll be in TNA as soon as his 90-days-no-compete-clause expires.

Mickie James - She apparently had heat on her backstage for attitude issues, she wasn't as thin as WWE likes their girls to be and she wanted to do a country music CD outside the company - what is never a good idea if you want to be on the good side of management. 

Serena - Another victim of the Straight Edge Society. She was fired because she "didn't live her gimmick". Don't get me wrong, if she was drunk during work or didn't do her job because of alcohol problems I would have released her too, but getting fired for not living your damn gimmick in 2010 - where every kid above 10 knows that the sport is fake - is just a sign of plain stupidity from the company.

Shawn Michaels - HBK, The Showstopper, The Headliner, Mr. Wrestlemania... he was one of the, if not the, best in the business. After so many years he earned his right to go and finally spend some time with his family. Best wishes to him. 

Tiffany - Nothing much to say about that. The woman was dumb enough to attack her husband while on tour with the WWE so I don't feel sorry for her release. 

Kaval - I already wrote about that one. Releasing Kaval because they had no storyline for him was just one of those facepalm-moments you had with the WWE in 2010. He is a superb worker however and I don't think that he will have problems finding a job next year.


*Copyright by Adam-On-The-Edge Photo Gallery for the picture of Edge winning the Royal Rumble

12/27/10 Raw - live

It's the last Raw of the year, but that doesn't necessarily have to be a good thing. One reason is that the weather is currently going crazy in about half the world as we all know pretty well. I mean hell, there are blizzards in New York, 3 hour car rides suddenly take 7 hours and counting and I'm even having 1 feet of snow over here in Germany - what in itself is a miracle considering that the last time we had snow at Christmas was... well, I've never seen snow on Christmas before.

We start off the show with John Cena out first. He starts saying that last weeks excitement obviously carried on to tonight. Let's see if he's right... a fan in the back is holding a "Mizgirl owns Cena" sign. We get a recap of CM Punk attacking Cena last week and of course Cena jokes about it when he declares that it was his fault for knocking over Punk's Pepsi and making him angry. He calls out Punk who obliges and gives a great heel-performance as ever what get's him a fat "You suck" chant from the crowd. They continue bantering and Cena's jokes just aren't funny to me, sorry. Punk is great thought, it's good to have him here now that CJ is gone.

Line of the night by CM Punk to John Cena: "You are not funny." 

They end the segment with CM Punk promising great things coming for tonight and the announcement of Randy Orton vs. Sheamus for later on. Nothing new here.

Next up are Ted DiBiase with Maryse against Santino with Tamina. Who's with me when I predict a huge girls brawl on the outside? Sorry, we don't even get there. Santino wins in no time and we see him giving Tamina a Christmas present: a litte Cobra.

We get a backstage segment with the Miz and Alex Riley. Nothing new here with the both of them talking about how Riley will crush Morrison in their match later on (does anybody still believe this little speach?). Morrison comes in to interrupt them and his promo is actually fairly good. They decide that if the loses, he will no longer be Nr. 1 contender - there is your de-push, Mr. Morrison. That match is up next, so he'll be gone from the big stage faster than he came, sorry JoMo.

Miz is, of course, at ringside, while Morrison and Riley go at each other and, of course, it doesn't take long for the WWE Champ to interfere on Riley's behalf when he dragges Morrison down from the ring ropes. The referee saw it but isn't really doing anything ...what was that about a disqualification because someone threw a shoe in? ...but yeah, we're not supposed to remember that. Anyway... justin.tv decides to be a bitch today and not let me see the finish of this but word is that Morrison actually won.

Now get a lot of backstage parts again. Riley is bitching around, Punk wants "the great moment" to be picture perfect and annoys the camermen and they make poor Tyson Kidd really be jealous on Daniel Bryan on behalf of the Bella twins. And no, I'm not saying anything more about that, because it's the end of the years and I want to be nice to the WWE for once. Randy Orton is last when he tells something about the "impressive" year he had in 2010 (to me it wasn't, because Miz' years was impressive, but whatever).

Following up his Mark Henry vs. Tyson Kidd (with the bodyguard whose name I always forget). This match is like Undertaker vs. Rey Mysterio, only that Rey and Taker provide a way better show. Like every match so far it is short and Mark Henry comes out as the winner. Tyson's bodyguard however doesn't like that fact very much and tries taking on Henry - he is actually a few inches taller than Cool-Aid - but falls victim to the World's Strongest Slam.

And now "the Champ is here" (you know who I'm talking about) and Riley is caring the usless briefacase again. Cole doesn't forget to hammer home that we'll see Miz defend his title next week on Raw in a "Falls Count Anywhere" match against John Morrison because Riley didn't do his job - does he anything else but driving under the infulence these days?

Miz tells the crowd repeatedly that "Noboy compares to me in the WWE" and they repeatedly answer with a very loud "What?" that goes on while HE continues talking that he is the best. He does the usual stuff, bashing Jerry Lawler a bit and making fun of him until the King himself comes out (though not in wrestling gear) and steps in the ring with him. The crowd appreciates it big deal with a loud "Jerry" chant.

Practically it's Miz beating down on the King now with Michael Cole jizzing in his pants about the Miz winning "the match" - and it really isn't much of a match, because Lawlers offenence is few and far between. Alex Riley tries to add his own two cents too and Yosh Matthews is about the only sane person in there until Morrison decides it's time for him to try and save the day. Everyone is around the ring now with Riley & Miz against Morrison & Lawler. The King manages to kick Miz out of the ring and since the referee is actually looking this time Riley can't do nothing but watch while his boss is counted out. That's the win for Lawler.

Sheamus vs. Randy Orton will be next with CM Punk's great surprise obviously coming at the end - I get to think that I might like whatever he'll doing. Backstage Punk talks to Sheamus about how Cena always makes jokes about people that aren't funny and instead humiliating for the person being made fun of. Sheamus agrees and they part ways.

And they actually manage to fit a Diva's match in there... Nattie is on commentary and it still isn't worth watching - no Divas match is. It's a tag team match actually with Gail Kim and Eve vs. Alicia Fox and Melina and of course the Lady with the unbearable screaching music wins.

After that there is actually another match that is most likely under five minutes with Daniel Bryan winning over Zack Ryder. Seriously, those two guys are good, they could have provided some great action in a longer match if Creative had just cut one of the other three-minute-gigs... but they didn't and so we directly rush into Michael Cole getting another e-mail (after more than 1:30 hours!) that is disturbed by Miz doing a sneak attack on Jerry Lawler. Uuh, Mizzy is in a bad mood and Jerry get's to feel that temper really close up. Outch! Even Cole is not down with that, and if that doesn't telly ou something...

Well, next up is the match I'm not interested to see: The Viper vs. The King of the Ring (what isn't the same as a King of Kings, mind you). Damn, they're stealing time in which CM Punk could talk! What a waste. The match was quite good actually, it's just my fault for not caring... Orton wins.

Now everyone is waiting for CM Punk but out comes John Cena to call out Punk (don't search for the logic). The only problem is that it isn't Punk coming out but Nexus and they do what they did best in 2010: beat up John Cena. Because well, he could have been a Nexus member and declined again. So they beat down on him, leave in the ring ...and finally, at 11 sharp comes out CM Punk to give a GTS to John Cena. Punk ogles with the steel chair but in the end decides to just sit down on it. Looking down at the more or less liveless Cena he finally sees it... the Nexus armband John didn't want to have... and Punk takes it, puts it on, and I guess Nexus has a new boss now. Great ending to an otherwise average show.

Star of the night: CM Punk

Question of the night: Is Nexus now Straight Edge?

Kaval got future endeavoured

Today I came home in the middle of the night wanting to watch the final 20 or so minutes of Raw and to write a review/some thoughts on the show ...well, then I had to read that Kaval has no job anymore and decided I won't finish watching this show because it'll leave me either a) angrier as I currently am (and that is not an easy thing to accomplish) or b) wanting to vomit on my keyboard.

I'm usually not a person who occupies herself very much with what goes on outside of the ring if it isn't Chris Jericho related, but that just perfectly sums up all the crap that WWE did this year. You could even say that this last act of the year shows the mentality of the WWE better than anything else could have, because, really, this was as unnecessary as it gets.

Word is that Kaval might have actually wanted to leave the company because they couldn't provide him any storyline at all and the only thing he seemed to do on a constant basis was lose. I totally understand that he doesn't want to work in this environment but I don't understand why Creative didn't do something about it. Hell, there are guys out of NXT 1 and 2 running around Raw who obviously don't earn the contract they have and can't wrestle half as good as Kaval!

But yeah, that obviously is was the WWE does this days: fire the guys who actually can work and keep the idiots and play-boy bunnies who can't. The only people who seem to have an assured job are Trips (because he married Sephanie), Cena (golden boy), Orton (golden boy II), Rey Mysterio (Mexican + high flyer) and The Undertaker (because firing him would be... well, suicide).

They got rid of people like Luke Gallows - I've never even heard of a reason why they fired him - Serena - because he didn't live her gimmick in a time where everyone over 12 knows that the sport is fake - MVP - who could've been damn good but couldn't be bothered anymore after years of virtually doing nothing - and Bryan Danielson who only was resigned because the "Daniel Bryan"-chants were the loudest thing heard on every Raw for over a month.

One the other hand people like the Great Khali, R-Truth and JTG still have a job and (in two of those three cases) even get regular air-time on Raw ...and I'm not even mentioning the likes of McGillicutty, Darren Young ... etc. 

All in all you probably noticed that this whole thing pisses me off one many levels. I genuinely hope that this is what will kill the monopoly the company currently has in the business at some point - because the WWE seems to do everything they can to be hated by the fans. So hell, let them continue. I'm not spending one Cent for their product ...it just isn't worth it when they let you down three times of four.

12/6/10 Raw

The opening segment starts with as recap from last weeks Raw which I didn't watch. It was admittidly very strange to see Cole and King in the ring while Punk was on commentary when it's usually vice versa, but at least it looked like fun. CM punk and Jerry Lawler are on commentary and the show starts with Punk congratulating the King to a round of applause when Cole interrupts with "Can I have your attention please?" Isn't it a bit early even for a GM-mail? Yup it is, and therefore Cole for once talks his own shit.

I have to say it: Cole get's more heat than most midcard wrestlers do! For once the WWE actually gets someone over and it has to be an announcer of all people. Sigh. Worst (or best, depending how you see it) about it: Cole is actually good in that segment!

Aynway, Cole obviously doesn't regret "how he feels about the Miz" and is not going to apologize. I'm really hurt now. But it doesn't stop there as Cole compares Miz to his son and CM Punk makes a sound in his throat that resembles absolutely how I feel about this piece of information. Cole says he was caught up in the emotion of the moment last week (for like five times or so) and in the end admits it was a mistake, though he obviously still doesn't want to say he's sorry. Lawler sees this as his cue to join his colleague in the ring and "finish what he started". Go for it, Lawler!

As you probably expected, Cole screams at the King to "wait,wait,wait." while Punk simply mumbles that he won't stop him - this guy is so hilarious on commentary, really. The King indeed stops while Michael Cole seems to have some kind of sudden inspiration. He says what happened last week was as much Lawler's fault as it was his - I don't have to mention that the audience doesn't like it. Going there comes my second "Gag!" moment of the night, when Cole says to Lawler that they are "Broadcast jourmalists". They are supposed to report the news, not make them and that is what King did last week. Cole thinks he stole Miz's moment and therefore it's he who owns and oppology but Jerry obviously disagrees.

That said the King makes his way to the ring to do what every wrestling fan wanted to do at least once this year: give Cole a good, well deserved beating. But they get interrupted by the latop before anything happens. Since Cole his in the ring and King halfway there, Punk makes his way to announce the bad news. You see him walking up to the podium and know that that's gonna be a lot of fun hilarious - and it is.

Of course the GM has to riun the fun that is about to ensure between Cole and Lawler. He does not allow the beating and wants them to shake hands. I don't have to mention that the king isn't happy about this aoutcome of things, but steps into the ring none the less and eventually, relucantly, shakes Cole's hand ...and won't let go. He says that he knows that no physicality between them is allowed, but somebody else wants to have a word with him. Cue for the voices.

Cole is like "holy shit, please no." but he should have thought about that before, because the Viper is on his way to the ring and the King still doesn't let go of his hand. You're in deep shit, cole. To sum it up, Randy tells him that he is not angry with him or Miz, but he wants his championship back. Tonight.

Of course the word championship brings Miz to the scene, Riley on his tail. Miz tells the world that the GM told (when? how? why? ...okay, just forget I asked) that because of his match last week he won't have to defend his title until the TLC PPV. Orton uses this an opportunity to remind the Miz that it took seven guys to beat him up before their match for Mike to win... and no, he doesn't need to look a Riley, because he doesn't even count as one.

They instead set up a match between A. Riley and Orton for tonight. But Miz doesn't have to be so confident, because injured knee or not, there is still one thing Randy Orton can do... he RKOs Michal Cole, who stumbled at him from behind. Huge pop. Go Randy!

After the break we have Josh Matthews join the announcement crew behind the desk. Rumors have it that Vince wants a three man team at least for Raw, so it's no real surprise here. The three of them decide that they're all buddies and we go on the macth between Ted DiBiase and Maryse & Daniel Bryan and a Bella twin. Yes, you heard right, the Bella is about to be in an actual wrestling match plus she and her sister apparently got a storyline fighting about Daniel Bryan. Urgh.

Err... yeah, the match was a match. There was about one good minute at the beginning with Danielson and DiBiase ... then the Divas came in. Chaos ensures after that, the Bellas do a little "twin magic" (original CM Punk) and Team Amercian Dragon wins. That's everything there is to say about it.

The announcers promise an interview with Wade Barrett from his hotel next but Wade isn't there and so they have to put up with David Otunga. He answers two questions and basically doesn't say anything before room service knocks on the door. The food is late and cold and growling at the poor hotel clerk that he won't pay any of this, Otunga kicks him out. There's another knock ... and it's our ever-grinning friend John Cnea. He has a field day with another Nexus member (I think it's Harries) who comes to Otungas aid while said man runs for his life. Cena's not amused.

Next match is the former Hart Dynasty against each other. The pink and black is gone in favor of white on both DHS and Tyson Kidd, who brings his new bodyguard with him to the match. Hart looks small against this man, and he's 6'6'' so I think you can imagine what a monster the guy is. Anyway, the match is over rather fast, probably five minutes or less, and Kidd wins. I heard that they had a longer match on Superstars last week that was really great, so look for that if you want some Hart Dynasty action.

We get to see a little beatdown of David Hart Smith by the new bodyguard and then switch into the locker room of Nexus. Heath and Gabriel (?) are nearly pissing their pants because Cena could ambush them ...well, anywhere he wants to. Husky is still out from what Cena did to him a few minutes ago (aha, so that was really him) and McGillicutty isn't off any better. Wade Barrett tries to calm them down the moment Otunga storms in to ask if they saw what happened at the hotel (of course they did). While the Tag Champions walk out for the match the other two remain behind and talk about how Barrett wants to call out Cena after the match.

So of course the Fatal 4-Way match for the Tag Belts Titles is next. First we see Santino and Kozlov coming down the ramp, followed by the Usos - they still exist? Haven't seen them since... I don't even know how long - and Yoshi Tatsu and Mark Henry. The last team entering are of course the champs who are booded quite a bit by the crowd.

The match is, as expected, not that great, but the commentators make it more than up. When the Uso's try to decide who to tag in, CM Punk argues with Josh Matthews why you can't have the Uso's and the Bella's together in a mixed Tag Team match until Lawler reminds them that there is still a match going on in the ring. Hilarious stuff.

Against my prediction, the Uso's get a lot of action while the team of Tatsu and Henry is eliminated first. They do some pretty good combo attacks until Kozlov tags in for Slater and clears the ring. It's down to two teams now and the numbers aren't good for Team Nexus at first. But they manage to turn the thing around rather fast and beat down on both Kozlov, Santino and again Kozlov. When Santino is tagged in a second time however, Justin Gabriel is on the receiving end of the blows. Then suddely the whole arena screams and it is - you knew it - John Cena, who distracts Gabriel just enough for Santino to hit the Cobra. That's the finish and we have two new Tga Team Champs, ladies and gentleman.

After Kozlov, Santino and Tamina (don't ask) celebrated their victory it's time for the coronation of the new King of the Ring: Sheamus. Of course he has to brag about how he is the King now and how he ended the career of Triple H, the King of the Kings. He goes to tell another tale about an Irish king who was respected and feared but fell in the end and talks about how this will never happen to him.

John Morrison came in to interrupt him shortly after this, but that's about all I know about that part of the show ... that's the problem with watching on Youtube: if you're too late the vids are blocked. Sorry dear readers, but I'm only human and in this case I was too slow.

I reinsert when the Miz and Alex Riley come down to the match between Riley and Randy Orton, who is already in the ring. They start the match and as expected Riley is working on Ortons knee form the moment the bell rings. The whole thing isn't exactly a match because Miz runs into the ring after not even three minutes and gives a Scrull Crashing Finale to the Viper. Orton is down, the bell rings and the official match is over.

That however never stopped the Miz before and - oh wonder - it doesn't stop him this time around. He wants to show Orton exactly what match they'll have at TLC and pulls out a table from under the ring. After he sets it up in the ring, Miz goes for another SCF through the table but the Viper counters and the Champ only just manages to avoids crashing into the table and bails the arena with Riley still laid out cold.

Now Randy Orton turns his head and sees that there are only three things in the ring: him, a table and Alex Riley. So everyone guess what will happen next ... yep, it is Riley through the table while Miz looks on and is clearly not pleased with the situation.

They clear the ring somewhere along the break and when we're back Wade Barrett makes his way down the ramp to Nexus' music. He tells the audience that he thought of Cena as a man of his word, but he obviously isn't, because the stipulation for their match was free or fired and Cena is still showing up on Raw. Cena can beat the rest fo Nexus up as much as he wants, but Barrett is the only one who can get him his contract back. So the Nexus leader calls out John Cena who actually complies and makes his way through the crowd into the ring.

On cue Nexus (or what remains of them after Cena's first round of beating) comes out and Barrett threatens Cena that if he makes so much as wrong move, they will come down and beat him - if you'd be allowed to use logic on a WWE product I would ask why Cena should be scared by five men coming for him when they needed eight to subdue him the first time, but since logic is forbidden around here... anyway, Barrett makes clear that he will never rehire Cena and that his plan of beating Nexus won't work - his problem is just that Cena is very content with beeing fired ... and making the lifes of Nexus a living hell.

Cena basically tells Barrett that he is in a lose-lose situation: If he rehires him, he will compet for the WWE Championship again and if he doesn't Cena'll just buy a ticket every week and ruin the lifes of the Nexus members. Plus, if Cena is rehired, he may stop his attacks on the rest of Nexus, but not those on Barrett himself.

At this point, Barrett looses it and orders his guard dogs the rest of Nexus to come down the ramp and destroy Cena. Problem is ... they don't. Worse, they one after another, turn around and leave the arena until the Nexus leader and his worst nightmare are alone in the ring. Long story short: We end with John Cena celebrating after he beat Wade Barrett and then chased him out of the arena.

Sign(s) of the day

What do this two signs together want to tell me? Whatever it is, it's hilarious.

PS: I know this acrticle was too long and I apologize. The next will be shorter - or I'll just go back to collection of random thoughts.