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.

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:

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.

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!

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?

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.

11/22/10 Raw

Kate is back on Raw after several weeks of absence and I bring good news with me. The Miz is our new WWE Champion and at least I can say that I'm very pleased with this outcome. The guy earned his win ... anyway, on to this weeks Raw with a nice wallpaper (created by Modified Cravate from Chikara Fans).

Did someone beside me notice the irony of Nexus leader Wade Barrett telling the world that Cena being the ref in his match "wasn't fair"? You beat Cena*cough* seven on one *cough* and talk about unfair now? But hey, the audience was really into it, so his speach probably gained more heat than this guys got ever before. And it was hilarious watching how Barrett was booed whenever he started with "last night".

Two weeks no Wrestling and what I didn't miss was the laptop ordering guys around 6:24 in the show. There are things that never change...

CM Punk on commentary. Yeeees.

There was some shameless pandering of WM XXVII by the WWE after one commercial. But hey, they need to do it. The pre-sale of Wrestlemania tickets hasn't been that bad in years (I don't remember the actual number), so they obviously have to do something about it. WWE of course could just as well do something about their product, but we all know that that's the last they think about. 

Sheamus vs. R-Truth was an okay match. For some reason I didn't really enjoy it, but there were some good spots in there and it took a while actually. At least they gave the guys some time to tell a little story.
After that we got a LayCool segment. I don't like them. Most people watching wrestling don't like them for various reasons, but at least I stilll laughed. If I were Nataly I'd said that I didn't know them too. 

...and can someone please tell me what the reason was for this Santino-segment? 

Ezekiel Jackson vs. the Miz aka Riley was next (Random info: Ezekiel was a prophet in the Old Testament, there is even a Book of Eezekiel). And yeah, I typed that sentence before Riley walked out to Miz music. How did I know? Foreshadowing? Riley is a punshing bag by the way ... but hey, now he is the Champ's punshing bag. There are worse positions to be in on RAW. Plus he got arrested for DUI (that's how you call it, right?) so the guy can be lucky that he still has a job. Wrestlers have been fired for less. 

Ezekiel punched A-Ry (how do you write this stupid nickname?) right into oblivion - see you again the next time Miz doesn't want to get his ass handed to him, Riley.

Cena came in. The audience went nuts. My dad screamed "Quiet this noise down!". I loled.  

Joke aside - I could actually like this angle if Cena is really off for a few months now. But since we all know WWE, he'll be back in about three weeks and that just makes it crappy booking. But yeah, his promo was still good, there was a lot of emotion behind it (a wrestler crying on TV is still pretty rare). And the chant-war was brilliant, by the way. You saw that Cenat totally enjoyed doing this. The guy actually can be funny after all. I even would've chanted "Let's go Cena" along for this one time. So we just have to see what's gonna happen with him in future, I pressume. 

Like I said, the whole thing was done pretty well ... until Cena walked out of the building in his ring gear, for
God's sake ... but yeah, what did I expect from WWE? 

CM Punk on commentary is so gold. "Bree Bella is a 4.", tell the world how it really is, Punk. The match between Bryan and DiBiase was on the good side but way too short. I didn't watch Suvrivor Series so I can't compare it to that match, but you saw that they're both good workers. I mean Ted DiBiase can wrestle. The shitty storyline isn't his fault ...and does Bryan win every match with the Le Belle Lock?

Now we got the mandatory Divas match what led me to the question "How many Divas are left in the WWE?" Natalya, because she is third generation (first 3rd generation women's wrestler to be exact), Beth Phoenix because she too can wrestle, the Bella twins because they apparently look hot on the arm of some guest host and LayCool because Michelle's surename is McTaker. Any else? Okay, Eve and Maryse who belong to R-Truth and DiBiase respectively ...and Alicia Fox who can do nothing. Jillian got fired apparently. 

Damn, I needed like 10 minutes to name them all - and I think I'm still missing some of them ... doesn't matter anyway. Natalya won obviously. Follow-up: Jep, I forgot Melina. Happens. 

Alicia Fox is a 9.8 when the Bella is a 4. Seriously Punk? Give Maryse the 9.8 or Michelle for all I care but Alicia... urghh. The guy is lucky that none of his (ex-)girlfriends was in that ring. I wonder what Beth Phoenix would've done to him if he'd given her a 6 or something like that.

Tyson Kidd has is own opening intro titantron now. He is the heel of the team... right? Useless breackup of a good Tag Team - that's what I call this. HIs opponent for tonight was John Morrison by the way (with a beard which at least makes him look like a man.) The grey shirt and brown coat didn't fit but that's a woman's opinion so you can just ignore this piece of information. Kidd did some good old Jericho-screaming here. No "Ask him!" or "Stupid man!" of course, because no one who isn't Jericho is allowed to say that. Morrison won with a Starship Pain that didn't really connect - nothing new here. 

Randy Orton came out next followed by the lot of the Nexus who beat him up a bit and injured his left knee (why do I even write that it was the left knee? It's not like we're in Mexico...). After that he wasn't in the condition to walk, aka stuck in a kind of handicap match. Barrett squarrled a little with the ref before the actual match and the ref just told him something along the line of "It's my decision ,bastard. No fuck off."

Orton shouted at said ref to "Ring the bell" after he fussed around a little and he did as the still-Champ told him. Barrett got beaten by a Viper with only one leg (get it?) for a short time here, what in itself was hilarious, but then got some momentum behind him when he started to further work on Ortons injured knee. Then we had one bad announcer plus one announcer turned bad plus CM Punk all talking at the same time while Barrett and the Viper exchanged blows back and forth. It was a little confusing to watch, I have to admit.

Finally we get to the point where Orton was down and Barrett went for the pin. He won? Duh, wrong. John Cena appeared from out of nowhere, grabbed the ref from behind, dragged him outside the ring and then delivered an Attitute Adjustment (AA in whatever language Cole speaks) to the englishman which in turn allowed Randy Orton to give the Nexus leader an RKO. 

Now, why was John Cena back after said his goodbye to the fans not even what, an hour ago? If you seriously ask yourself that question, you're using logic on a WWE product - let me tell you to never do this, because the WWE product alsways wins. If you want to see logic, go do some math ... and that dear readers, is what I called "crappy booking" some lines further up in this article. 

Oh, and ... Karma is a bitch, Barrett. Cena told you.

If you think it was over now... you're dead wrong, because suddenly "I Came To Play" played and there came the Miz (witch Alex Riley) to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase. There was a short brawl, Randy went for the RKO which Miz counterd into the Skull Crushing Finale. 1, 2, 3. Yeeeees. The Miz is your new WWE Champion.

Punk said "I have been there" and I remeber reading somewhere that The Miz is to Randy Orton what CM Punk was to Jeff Hardy... only that I do not begrudge the Miz for cashing in and winning like I did with Punk.

They showed Miz and Riley celebrating and the sad/angry faces of some kids and a handful women. Would I've been there you would've seen a blondie with a big fat grin on her face by the way ;) Congratulations to The Miz for winning his first big title. It most likely won't be his last.

End of show, end of article. Kate over and out.

Sign T-Shirt of the day

Because this girl obviously put a lot of efford into that shirt.

10/25/10 Raw

Yesterday we got to see another episode of Monday Night Raw and I doing the review here, but before we come to this I have to say somethign about the whole Cena-Nexus that bugged we for a while now:

When you talk about John Cena nowadays (since he joined Nexus to be exact) the correct term when reffering to him should be CeNexusBitch. Why CeNexusBitch? The Ce of course comes from John Cena, while the Nexus part obviously states that he is now a member of The Nexus. Bitch because that is what he currently is: he bitch of Wade Barrett, who has to do everything Barrett says (therefore the absolutely exact term would be CeNexusWadesBitch but I am simply too lazy to type a name that long).

Fittingly Nexus started off this show. They came down to the ring with Wade Barrett in the front while Cena keept his distance and walked behind the group. He and Otunga are the new Tag Team Champions since Bragging Rights - even if Cena did most of the work and Otunga simply "was along for the ride" as Lawler put it. I loved how Barrett was treating Cena here, ordering him around with so much as a wink of his finger. John Cena plays the defiant part rather well, too.

"Why on earth would the Nexus help Kane?" that's what I wanted to know since I first learnt what happened at Bragging Rights, but Wade Barrett told the audience that this is none of their business and he won't say anything about it - that is WWEs way of telling us that they won't tell anything because they simply have no idea how to explain this.

After an "I quote" 8:04 minutes into the show, Miachel Cole only mentinos the words "Randy Orton" and the girsl start shrieking immediately. At least half of the 6 Million female viewers Raw claims to have every week watch the show only to see a half-naked Randy Orton. I'd vouch for that.

When Barrett announced that it would be Nexus versus Nexus for the Tag Team Belts I was like: "What the f***?!" but he saw the light in the end and told David Otunga to be a good boy and lie down for his stable. He complained but did as he was told in the end, thus giving the titles to Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel. It was a clever choice to not have them fight each other, because it would hav destroyed some of their strength as a group if they had done it.

"Excuse me!" screams echoed through the building and we all knew who was coming in next. Vickie claimed that Danile Bryans victory over Doplh Ziggler was illegal (doesn't she always?) and that there would be a rematch right now. I was fine with that, because after their match on Sunday night how could I not want a rematch? CM Punk joined the party before the bell rang and sat down at ringside beside Lawler to give us some comments on the match.

What exactly did Bryan do there in the beginning of the match? Is there even a name for it? That back arch honestly looked nothing short of a-ma-zing, the guy is super flexible and knows how to show it off in the best ways. Althought the crowd was about dead at his entrance Daniel Bryan really got them hyped up throughout the match. I have to say that the guy can sell a punch like few others. Ziggler hit him in the chin and he literally dropped like dead weight.

Through the whole match Vickie at ringside did the one thing she is absolutely perfect at: screaming like a bitch. She screamed even more when Dolph Ziggler lost, but the ref had nothing of it and declared Bryan the winner. We saw CM Punk on his feet, applauding with that certain look on his face that screamed "Feud!" but who am I to complain about a future feud between the American Dragon and Mr. Straight Edge?

We went backstage after that for about 2 minutes of guest host talk that I don't regrett having skipped. Still backstage there was another CeNexusBitch-Wade Barrett episode but hey, they work well together. Currently it is the first time since ... well, ever that I like John Cena's acting. Yes, it is predictable, but that doesn't mean that it is not good.

I clearly didn't miss them but it was time for the women's match then, apparently. It was LayCool vs. Mellina and Gail Kim. I didn't watch it. LayCool won, I just know it - there were two good female wrestlers in the ring against LayCool, so there was no chance in hell that they'd win. That's the truth when you talk about WWE women's division.

Next up was a little Miz-time. I usually like his promos and this one wasn't bad but still kind of ... boring. He talked about the loss of Team Raw and how they would've won with seven Mizes on the team. He is the Miz and people watch Raw because of him (what I can't deny). Suddenly there came Eve and I was stunned to say the least. She walked to the ring, she got a mic and she started talking - that's when I started to ask myself if I was really watching Raw here. Oh, and she bashed the Miz. Eve said Miz is ugly (what I can deny) and immediately Alex Riley jumped to help out his best buddy idol (not so secret) man-crush lover former NXT-pro - way to start the bromance ... and who gave R-Truth a mic, dammit? Big no-go here.

The GM told to ring the bell and the match was on with R-Truth vs. the Miz. Of course everyone knew that R-Truth had no chance in hell winning here but most of us just tried to pretend that they didn't know. The most interesting thing going on was the sidekick/valet/lover brawl outside the ring when Eve slaped Alex Riley right across the face after he attacked Truth behind the refs back. I don't have to mention that the crowd poped huge for this ... and why is Cole calling Alex Riley "A. Riy"? That sounds so damn stupid my ears hurt.

Our guest host who's name I fortunately never will know talked another 4 minutes which I strictly skipped. That's 6 minutes for the country music star already. If you count the 2 minutes of Sheamus vs. Santino Marella and another 3 minutes of Divas trash that's 11 minutes of crap so far. But, I dare say this: I kinda liked the Stand up for WWE clip. Some of the wrestlers really sounded like they meant what they said (Riley, Miz, Show). Personally I'm not exactly a fan of the campaign but i can understand why the WWE does it.

Another Nexus segment followed. Husky Harris and Michel McGillicutty finally got their N-shirts today - I won't ly, I honestly think that Joe Henning has no charisma at all and that there are people earning this spot way more than him, but let's just see what he does with it. Harris in an okay guy and moves rather fast for his size. David Otunga decided that he's still in Nexus, but that wasn't much of a choice for him.

CeNexusBitch entered the ring for the main event next with Wade Barrett on his tail and then the voices filled the arean. Cena and Orton met in the ring with Barrett standing in Cena's corner and later at ringside to give instructions.

The match felt strange to me. I always liked Cena vs. Orton, because no matter what people say, these two men can work great matches together. Heel Orton vs. face Cena was always good, because (at least in my mind) they have chemistry in the ring (something I never saw between Sheamus and Randy). I'm just not used to CeNexusBitch (who has to take orders from the heels) fighting face Randy Orton. Even writing that seems wrong somehow.

They had a good match but like I said it felt strange. Randy Orton was always the heel in a match with Cena, because no one can be more of a face than John Cena, it's as simple as that. The Viper has that whole sneaky from behind thing going for him and you can't deny that feels heelish no matter what.

Barrett medled a little, but Cena told him to stay out of his match and he actually did. Cena looked really pissed by the way when he screamed at his "boss". The finnish was predictable but at least helped to further the storyline between Nexus and John Cena. Contrary to the last few Pay-per-Views Survivor Series actually get's a build up here.

Over all it was one of the better shows of the year. There was only a small amount of crap and the matches were good with Bryan/Ziggler, R-Truth/Miz and Cena/Orton as main event. I'll need at least a year until a match between John Cena and Randy Orton will feel special to me again, but they still delivered a solid performance. I also like that there are storylines that lead into the next PPV and that it hopefully won't have some crappy last-minutes-we-have-to-fill-time matches.

Sign of the day

It's always nice when someone bashes the Miz. I like him, but some of those signs are hilarious.