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. #2 is ...the Corre? All nine Corre and Nexus members get in the ring all together and what the fuck is going on here? The GM seems to agree with me, saying that CM Punk is the only legal man in the match and the every other guy has to go back to the locker room to not get disqualified from the Rumble match. The real #2 entrie is Daniel Bryan and we get some great wrestling by both guys here with a "CM Punk" vs. "Daniel Bryan" chant battle for a few seconds. #3 is Justin Gabriel from the Corre. He tries to hit the 450 Splash on CM Punk who rolls out of the way. Daniel Bryan eliminates Gabriel. The intervals seem very fast with #4 being Zack Ryder. Bryan throws him out and we're back to Bryan and 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

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. 

1/24/11 Raw

I haven't watched Raw in weeks - hell, I haven't watched any Wrestling in weeks! It's not that I don't want to but that I don't have the time, what manages to make me angry because I like watching Wrestling (a lot more than I like sitting in school and doing nothing, at least). So yeah, that's most likely one of the last Raw's I'll be doing in the next two months. After that my exams are over and I will be glad to go back to a more or less normal schedule writing wise.

As usual the show starts off with the intro and "Burn it to the Ground" which I haven't heard in months and to be fair is more kick-ass than anything we're going to see inside the ring tonight. Sad but true. Into said ring steps Edge now to kick off the first segment of the night, in which he explains that he is finally sick of waiting. He gives a few examples on what he doesn't like to wait, including Michael Cole suddenly stopping to be a tool - what get's him the first real crowd reaction of the night and of course the usual bitching from Cole. So yes, Edge doesn't want to wait and is about to call the Miz out to start their match right now when the GM buzzes in at the four minute mark.

Do I have to mention that Edge is not pleased and Cole very happy? Anayway, since the General Manager apparently hasn't forgotten Edge's (successful) attempt to destroy the laptop when he last was on Raw there is no match but three men coming in to throw the World Champion out of the ring to gain the #40 spot in the Royal Rumble. It's Tyson Kidd, Jack Swagger and Drew McInytre - Edge disposes of them in a matter of probably two minutes.

Edge threatens to smash the computer and is urged on by the King "Go ahead. Get him, Edge!" while Michael Cole tries to stop him, begging Edge to not do it. One cue Nexus' music hits and out comes CM Punk tailed by his four loyal followers.

Punk talks about how the Royal Rumble evolves into something bigger with 40 men coming in the ring (I really want to rant about that, but unfortunately now's not the time) and how Nexus evolves too. Next he introduces Mason Ryan - who I guess was lucky to keep his name. Ryan says only one word: "Faith". CM Punk goes on to explain that the members of Nexus are bonded by faith unlike John Cena and Smackdown's Nexus. He says that they will unite to make him the winner of the Royal Rumble so that he can main event Wrestlemania and Nexus will be the most powerful group the "WWE Universe" has ever seen.

Since he called them the "poor man's Nexus on SmackDown" it's the Corre out next - best comment on the Youtube titantron: "You're either corre or you're a whore.". So of course they immediately get into each other's faces about who has the better group which is interrupted by the GM who says that he is the one making the rules here and that it will be Wade Barrett of the Corre vs. the leader of the new Nexus, CM Punk, later on. The losers will be out of the Royal Rumble - and right here you know that there is a 99% chance that this match will end in a DQ - insert desperate sigh here... oh, and John Cena will be the referee.

And did anyone see the bags under CM Punk's eyes? Honestly the guy looked like the made a night of it.

Is Raw a Smackdown-fest tonight? Seems that way, because next is John Morrison & Mark Henry vs. Sheamus & Alberto del Rio. I know, I know, Mark Henry is always booked as a threat around the Rumble and they're obviously putting efford into making ADR look like a serious competitor too (God, please don't let him win), but it's the third appearance from an SD member - or members in The Coore's case - and that's really too much. Concerning the match: John Morrison can be as bad he wants on the mic, but his in ring work gets better every time I see him. His kicks are - to say it in Miz' way - awesome. Other than that it wasn't overly special. The heels won.

The Divas Title is on the line next in a match-up between Melina and Natalya. I have three words for this match: This. Was. Hardcore. - if you consider that we're talking about two women in a WWE ring. Good work as opposed to what we usually see from the Divas.

After a reminder of how Punk introduced Mason Ryan last week we go backstage to the Nexus. Basically Husky, Otunga and McGillicutty are not sureif CM Punk can win the Royal Rumble, especially if he comes in first and the others a while later - plus Cena will be the ref tonight and Punk was the guy who made his life a living hell the last weeks. They have a point, but their leader tells them to have faith - CM Punk is just amazing in that messiah/leader role.

Next we have Josh Matthews interviewing John Cena who says that he will eliminate whatever Nexus group wins tonight in the Royal Rumble. He muses what the second r in The Corre means when he his interrupted by the Miz and Alex Riley. Cena goes on to say that it stands for rectum and gives a pointed look from Miz to Riley - what is about the worst kind of profanity just there. Bah! The Awesome one's counter with an absolutely hilarious round of evil laughter (search for it on Youtube if you didn't watch the show).

Anyway, Cena is not funny anymore. Yes, he wasn't overly funny last year but it really got worse since 2011 started. We get a video package from Miz and Riley beating down Randy Orton last week before the cameras are back to show master and apprentice walking down the ramp - what's that damn briefcase for anyway? Cole rants about how cool Miz is.

The match is about to start with Edge now in the ring too when suddenly Dolph Ziggler's music interrupts and Edge does not look happy seeing his ex-wife and the Nr. 1 Contender for his Championship coming to the ring - neither am I, Edge, neither am I... they join the commentators and Dolph Ziggler actually has mic skills. I know that Vicky has them but obviously her boyfriend got some good vibes from her here. I've never really heard him talk before so that's probably why I'm more than a little surprised at this.

To be honest the commentary hurt the match big time here. Vicky, Dolph and Cole were too focused on ganging up on Lawler to really pay attention to the actually CHAMPION vs. CHAMPION match. The King tried to talk about the match at some points, but it didn't overly help. Plus whenver it seemed to get good there was a commercial. I'm sorry for Miz and Edge here, because they might haven't gone all out like they would have on a PPV, but they tried and in the end it was the environment that made this match lesser than it was.

The end comes when Edge sets up the Spear on Miz but is attacked from behind by Ziggler all of a sudden. Of course it is an instant DQ win for the World Champ who promptly eats a Zig Zag by the Nr. 1 Contender. Riley is in the ring too, looking after Miz when Orton comes running down the ramp and goes straight after Miz who is still down. A-RY and Ziggler try to hold him back to no avail and he chases the champ and beats him up on ringside.

But we all know that Miz is a slippery bastard and he lures the Viper back into the ring were both Riley and Ziggler have to fall victim to a RKO to make the crowd happy before Miz ramms his briefcase into Orton's knee from behind, grabs his belt and is out of the ring in seconds, leaving Orton standing in the ring staring after him.

Backstage Wade Barrett tells Josh Matthews that the Corre has no leader and they have no issues with John Cena anymore - too bad that Cena seems to have issues with them. Oh, and no, they had nothing to do with the attack on Teddy Long last week on Smackdown and Wade Barrett wishes him a fast recovery.

Next match is Daniel Bryan with Bella one and two (who cares for their names? I can't tell the difference anyway) vs. Ted DiBiase, Maryse and Alicia Fox scratch that, because it wasn't a match. Bryan and DiBiase were in there for a about half a minute, then Maryse tagged in and pinned the Bella while DBD was trying to get rid of the other Bella who seemed to be set on making out with him at ringside. It really doesn't get much more stupid than this, people ...and I don't know why, but I start to like Maryse. She's developing ...character?!

Well, now the Bellas are backstage fighting over who get's Daniel Bryan's virginity (that's what this is about, isn't it?). Their only problem: he is making out with Gail Kim. And Gail get's herself two stars awarded right there - one for telling the Bellas how it is i.e. saying that there are no Guest Hosts and that they have nothing to do without Guest Hosts around, and number two forl ooking absolutely gorgeous.

I thought it was already time for the main event but no, we get a tag team match first. It's Santino & Kozlov vs. Nexus a.k.a. Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty. Do I care? Whatever, Nexus dominates and Harris pins Santino clean in the middle of the ring.

Finally the main event is on now. It's The Corrrrre vs. The New Nexus or rather Wade Barrett vs. CM Punk after John Cena sends the remaining members of both groups back into the locker room to a round of cheers.

The match in itself is just ridculous. Cena doesn't count a pinfall, signs for fans at ringside and shoves both Barrett and Punk around as he pleases reminding them that he is the referee whenever one of them makes a move to punch him. At some point Punk and Barrett hit a double clothline and Cena has them both disqualified for "use of excessive profanity" because this a PG show. So they are both out of the Royal Rumble. Aha. Cena call it genuis, I call stupidity.

For once we can thank good for the GM who is not down with this says that allows both the Corre and The New Nexus to compete in the Rumble. John Cena though as to apologize to both or he won't be in it - where I come from we call this pwnd. As we all know however, hell will freeze over before Vince misses a chance to shove Cena down our throats, so of course he does apologize only to start beating down on Punk and Barrett.

Corre and Nexus come for the save, they tease attacking John Cena and then have the Big Show followed by the rest of the locker room coming down the ramp to end Raw in a big messy brawl and completely and utterly unnecessary here. That is how we end Monday Night Raw: with a sigh and in hope that the Royal Rumble will be a lot better than this.

1/9/11 TNA Genesis

I didn't watch the actual Pay-per-View but it seems that is was a better show than most Impact's are - not that this really means anything considering that Impact is usually an hour full of shit not worth watching (what, to be fair, is less the fault of the wrestlers and more the one of TNAs creative team - but we all know that).

The Beer Money vs. Motor City Machine Guns match apparently was a blast as their matches usually are and the only high class match of the entire show. That however is nothing new, since these two teams tore the house down in nearly TNA PPV they took part in.

The reason I'm doing this little post is another though: the fact that Tyler Reks was a trending topic on twitter last night. Why Tyler Reks you may ask, because there was no Raw or any other noteworthy WWE show tonight. Well, because Matt Hardy - yes the guy eating grapes in that Youtube video ... I knew you'd remember him - made his debut on the Genesis Pay-per-View spotting a new hairstyle that pretty much resembled Reks' mop of hair.

Oh and he here is the really funny thing: unlike Reks Matt Hardy wasn't a trending topic on twitter.

 Just for the fun:

Tyler Reks

 Matt Hardy

...you can't deny a certain resemblance, even if Reks is clearly more muscle than Hardy.

1/3/11 Raw - live

Another Monday, another Raw. The first Raw of 2011 in fact and they obviously tried something to get our attention here, because there will be a "Falls Count Anywhere" match between the Miz and John Morrison for WWE Championship today. Let's see if it will be as good as they make it to be.

Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Todd Grisham are on commentary. The Championship match his actually the first one on the card, with Miz coming out first. It has some pretty good action so far. At one point Alex Riley dragged Morrison off of Miz and got one hell of a beating for it. John Morrison shows a lot of aggression here and it gives the whole match a really great vibe. Of course they use whole equipement around the ring: tables, steel barricades, everything and Miz even did a little trash talking in between ... this is pure action and very impressive sportmanship by both man. Morrisons athleticism his incredible. He jumped from everywhere and actually hit a Starship Pain on Miz, who managed to power out of the two-count. After that Morrison actually tried another flying move while Miz was lying on a table outside of the ring. Miz rolled away in the last second, hit the Skull Crushing Finale that was the end. Great match.

 

After comercial we get a backstage interview with the still WWE Champion the Miz. There is a new Interviewer, I think the name was Scott or something, but it doesn't matter - if he's good I'll learn and if he isn't he'll be fired before I miss him. Anyway, Miz braggs about he is still the Champ and Riley get's the honor of saying how "Aweeeeeeesome" Miz is.

Next on is the Divas match. It's a 3-on-3 Tag Team match with team Natalya and team Melina. A Bella is in there too and I also saw a little bit of Maryse (at least looking at hear is worth it). Team Natalya won apparently.

The commentators really try to make me care for a Tag Team match between the Champs a.k.a. Santino and Kozlov against the Usos. Well, froget it, because as long as the company doesn't care I won't for any tag team that could be broken up the next week. The Tag Team devision lost it's vibe around this time last year, when DX and Showmiz were still around... the Champs win and Tamina turns on her brothers in favor of sticking with Santino - did I mention that she looks a lot better than she did in her debute?

Tough Enough will be back this year, apparently. Josh Grisham was there, John Morrison and of course the Miz was. Is there anyone else who won this show and actually lasted in the business? I don't believe so. Oh, and there is an elimination on NXT this week.

We get CM Punk in the ring next, talking smack about JohnCena and basically saying that Cena doesn't preach what he prays, that it was doing that Cena isn't on Raw today and that he is the new leader of Nexus. Obviously he part about Cena was wrong and astonishingly enough Wade Barret comes out to point out that fact and add the he of course the lader of Nexus. The argue it over and then decide to have Nexus come down to the ring and decide who is boss. Before any of them can say much however, the GM mails in and says that either Punk or Barret will be in a Steel Cage match for the Nr. 1 contender tonight with the King of Gesident Ghosts and the Viper. CM Punk, nice guy that he is (irony!), tells Barrett that he can have the match but if he loses Punk is the new leader of Nexus. Barrett agress to the deal.

When nexus has left we get a Alberto Del Rio on Raw. Why he is here I have no idea and to be precise I don't want to know either - just kick him out of that arena so he stopps talking. Obviously someone heard me and there is ... R-Truth. Oh my God "What's up?" is back and Cole too would have evaded this song if he could. Well, the crowd apparently liked him, so let the match begin. It is okay, but since I am honestly not interested in either of these men so I don't move much to saw. Alberto del Rio get's the win as expected and he promises to win the Royal Rumble.

I just get back from the break in time to hear Randy Orton saying that last year he was too nice and that the same won't happen again this year, because he knows that "Nice guys finish last.". The crowd cheers him none the less and that just proves another time what kind of phenomenon Orton is. Seriously, the guy can do whatever he wants the audience is still on his side.

Finally it's time for the last match of the night and I have to say no matter how shitty I think his character is, Randy Orton is still eye candy. If men can drowl over Natties cleavage women can drowl over Orton's abs ;) Anyway the match has a lot of action. Right in the beginning Randy Orton wants to climb out of the cage but is stopped and the heels double team on him for a little. All three guys try to climb out on occassions and beat each other up in between. At one point Barrett had the chance to escape the cage but instead jumped down on Sheamus, who pulled the knees up and hurt his arm. It goes on a bit and then Barrett is the sole one standing but is slow in escaping the cage due to his nearly useless arm.

And guess who comes down the ramp for a little help? It's CM Punk who climbes the cage and offeres is hand to Barrett who looks a little stunned but accepts. Since we all know Punk we also know happens next: he ripps the Nexus armband of the former stable leader and kick him back into the rin. You just got punk'd Wade Barrett. Sayonara.

After that it's basically Randy Orton clearing the house and doing his due to the fans with an RKO to Sheamus. The door openes and out walks the new nr. 1 contender for teh WWE Championship - "because nice guys finish last".

Final thoughts: This first Raw of 2011 was one of the, probably even the, best Raw(s) I have ever seen. It was a really great show with that awesome Miz vs. Morison match that already started the show on a high level. The comedy matches were short, there was no stupid guest host (WWE finally saw a light and cancelled the concept) and main event again was a good match. Even Michael Cole didn't any me as much as he usually does. I hope to see more of this!