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.

1/3/11 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?

10/11/10 Raw

First of all: This episode of raw was no spotfest, partly a botchfest and an absolute signfest. Never heard of that? I haven't either. But there was actually a forest of signs in the crowd, plus most of them were really good too (it's rare that I have to choose between two pics for the sign of the day, but for this show I saved nine).

Did I mention that I absolutely hate it that Cena is still wearing the purple crap? ... I did now and I could rant about it all day long. Honestly, he is a part of Nexus and you can barely see his armband under his t-shirt plus he still has his own entrance theme... that's utter bullshit!

Jericho is gone and it seems like Miz tries to be our new savior. I worship him as long as he shuts Cena up every time someone gives him a mic.

I am woman. That said I am allowed to say the following: Alex Riley looked better than The Miz today. The silver outfit just didn't fit him at all. That's obviously not his color, so please go back to something black with a blue/purple tie Creative. (And Miz' birthday was on friday by the way.) I however like Riley as the sidekick of the Miz, these guys have really good chemistry - a little too much at times, to be exact. 

There was a very good and very loud "What?!" chant when Cole quoted the GM. It was the first in about seven or so weeks that you didn't actually see the paper on the laptop.

Barrett lecturing Cena is always funny to watch. I assume it's because usually there is no one who tells John Cena what he has to do and gets away with it without being squashed in the process.

Count with me:
Ted DiBiase vs. R-Truth
John Morrison vs. Tyson Kidd
Santino Marella vs. Zack Ryder
Justin Gabriel vs. Randy Orton
Daniel Bryan vs, Sheamus
Evan Bourne vs. CM Punk
The Miz vs. John Cena

No, your eyes aren't playing trick on you, there were really seven (7) matches on the cared. And, astonishing as it was, the Seattle crowd was really into all of them. They cheered for the faces, booed the heels and brought on some really nice chants throughout the night.

The match between Morrison and Kidd was really good and could have been a lot longer, especially if you consider how much time Gabriel and Orton got. Apropos Justin Gabriel vs. Randy Orton - it was no spotfest, but a real botchfest. Why did they get eleven minutes and Jomo/Kidd only three? ...oh, and Randy Orton is the WWE Champion. I really forgot about that for a second - no joke!

Interlude: Whoever you are, anonymous guy holding that "Ask him" sign ... I love you! xD

Daniel Bryan really got one hell of a reaction from the crowd. It was to be expected, because Washington is his homestate, but they had some great "Let's go Bryan!" chants. Bryan and Sheamus had a very solid match, Danielson did a lot of his signature moves and the crowd poped for all of them. He lost but looked good throughout the match. Sheamus did a great running Irish Backbreaker.

Some may think of this as unnecessary information, but the font on Bryans boots isn't some crappy make up thing, but the actual Kanji for dragon. Compare for yourselves: 龍 (ryû) and

Evan Bourne lost to CM Punk, but that's because he is going out with a shoulder injury. Rumor has it that he has to undergo surgery and will be off for several months. So it's rather logical to let him lose to Punk who needed this win after Big Show wiped the floor with him on Smackdown so many times. As expected their match was one of the best of the whole evening.

Divas interlude: Natalya talked, then LayCool came in and I went out.

You can't let tweener Cole comment a match between John Cena and the Miz. One moment he is hyping Miz and the next he is hyping John Cena - it simply doesn't work and irritates the viewers more than anything else. It was admittedly to be expected that the match would be no DQ but really, who does still think that Creative would let anyone win clean over Cena if they can prevent it? Yeah right, you know it.

There was really a party going on in the ring at the main event. Riley interferred, Husky Harris and Michael McGilicutty showed up to beat Cena for a little bit and Barrett didn't miss out his chance to pummel him some more - verbally at least. I am a sucker for the whole Barrett/Cena storyline, because someone actually shuts John Cena up and (for the time being) gets away with it. Let's hope that there will be a lot more of Barrett tormenting Cena in the next few weeks - they not only have great chemistry, but also make for an entertaining storyline.

I liked this episode of Raw better than most, mostly because there were more matches and less stupid talk and guets hosts in it. Yes, the matches weren't all great but we got some really good action and that's more than Raw offers it's audience usually.

Sign of the day

There were so many ... let's see if someone finds the one in this picture that had me lol like crazy.

And here are the best of the others:

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did - I love the Jericho quote!