Raw - 05th March 2012

Since I'm going until Wrestlemania 28 without being negative about WWE, I'm not going to be rating shows out of 10 either. So here's Madi's 100% Positive Raw "Review"!

We opened with a long ass promo, as usual. Thankfully, HBK opened the show and called out Triple H to explain what it was that made him snap and accept Undertaker's challenge. He left by oh so casually announcing he would be the Special Guest Referee for the match. I thought this was a good segment. HBK is a far better talker than Triple H. Triple H didn't talk much. What's not to like? I liked HBK's tone and you could feel some heat between the two guys when he confronted Triple H about him accepting the challenge because he couldn't handle being perceived as worse than Shawn Michaels. It wasn't just reiterating what we already know and developed the match further. I liked it. Shocker, I know.

I'm going to avoid talking too much about the United States Title match between Jack Swagger and Santino Marella. Despite Ziggler's interference, Santino won the match. Santino is on TV more often than Swagger so I guess it's not too bad to have him holding the title. But are they really going to keep him as Long's personal assistant?! There was further development in this Laurinaitis/Long feud (Otunga & Laurinaitis came out shortly after the bell went, followed by Teddy, Kofi (why?) and Aksana, who is apparently his girlfriend now~), which was good, I guess. Aksana looked like she was giving a blowjob when she mimed the trumpet...

Rock gave his first history lesson of the night in a pre-taped segment. It was good. Well, it started out good. It was better than last week?

Kelly Kelly is at the announce table for the very short match between Eve and Alicia Fox. It's unfortunate it was so short because it could have been half decent. I guess Eve squashing Alicia makes her look stronger though I don't really know how the length of divas matches on Raw really does much in that sense... Zack comes out and drops in the "Broskis before hoeskis" line. Backstage, she goes after him and kisses him before leaving. Zack looks happy. I like this new Eve. She's way better than that boring babyface we were so accustomed to seeing.

We get a pre-taped segment of Cena. It was less dramatic and over-the-top than Rock's. I think I preferred it. He said he won't settle for second best. Y'know, I have to hand it to Cena... A few months ago, I didn't give a fuck about their match at Wrestlemania but Cena's promo have managed to get me more interested in it.

We got a good tag team match of Sheamus and CM Punk vs Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan. Maybe I'd have waited a week to book this match but it was good nonetheless. Jericho won; Punk pulled him into a small package but Jericho rolled it into a package of his own and won the match before taking hold of the title, looking at Punk. The match itself had some good moments though it was a bit of a mess when everyone got involved near the end. We didn't get all too much interaction between champion and number 1 contender, which was good.

Rock gave us another history lessons. This was better than the first one and definitely more entertaining and had some slightly more original material rather than the usual phrases he tends to repeat over and over again...

The Miz faces the Big Show. Cody Rhodes comes out and shows us a segment from Wrestlemania 18 of Big Show hanging out, "WRESTLEMANIA YEAH BABY WOO". I enjoy Cody's little segments and the way Big Show gets victimised makes you feel sorry for him and hate Cody for "bullying" him a bit. Show basically squashes Miz though. Who's Miz got heat with?

Rock gives us yet another history lessons. Let's just say the previous one was better.

R-Truth comes along with Little Jimmy by his side and takes on Kane. Kane wins the match fairly quickly. Post-match, Randy Orton, unfortunately, comes out and RKOs him. Looks like we're probably going to get a match and Wrestlemania between the pair.

John Cena came out and got a nice share of boos in Boston. I enjoyed this promo. Cena's growing on me again and I kinda like him these days. Rock came out and cut a small promo, which was better than last week's. After he leaves, telling Cena he's going to rip out his throat at Mania, Cena carries on talking. Man, I don't know. Rock's holding back on his material because he's a better promo cutter but at the same time, he keeps using the same material, which is why I prefer Cena's promos... Cena was entertaining though.

Raw was okay. I usually hate too much promo time but these were good, for the most. It was lacking in wrestling but it helped build up all the matches on the Wrestlemania card so far, which was good.

Did anyone else find it stupidly hilarious during the HHH/HBK promo when

HHH takes off his jacket, all like a boss 

And then the mic gets stuck in his sleeve and he just struggles to take it off?

Because I was lol-ing so much.

Raw - 13th Feb 2012 - 6.5/10

I don’t know how to feel about this week’s Raw. I feel like it was centred too strongly on the six-man elimination chamber match in that pretty much the entire card was based on that as well as the opening segment and I thought that was unnecessary. I mean, another week of no appearances from our United States Champion and our Tag Team Champions? Surely, you could give up some time for them? Raw needs to structure itself around the midcard and below as well as the main event rather than just focusing on the big names.

That being said, R-Truth was golden in the opening segment, or rather "debate". God Bless Little Jimmy. Miz’s material is getting boring. Punk was decent, outshined by Truth though. Jericho and Punk’s little war of words was entertaining enough, hahaha and Ziggler’s with Truth was great.

John Laurinaitis has been reinstated as Interin GM of Raw. Otunga says he has a plan to give him the position permanently as well as Teddy Long's job as the GM of Smackdown. Okay then. That was the last we heard of that.

Chris Jericho finally defeats Kofi Kingston in singles competition! Wow! About time, huh? Hahaha. The match was alright. Not particularly memorable but it just kind of reinforced the idea that Kofi has essentially been slapped into this title match for no reason.

Miz lost to Punk. Whatever. Jericho was watching eagerly,, which highlights the possibility of a Jericho win at EC and a Punk/Jericho feud in the run up to Mania.

Truth beat Ziggler but just about. I don’t think this served much purpose aside from basically continuing from their squabbling in the opening promo.

I didn’t feel it was unnecessary to throw in a Randy Orton match against the Big Show, especially considering the finish of Smackdown last week. That botched RKO, however, was hilarious. Daniel Bryan was at ringside. I think. I loved the footage of post-Smackdown where Show chokeslams Orton though, hahaha. Anyway, I don’t even remember how this match ended. That was how memorable it was. I guess that speaks for itself.

The funny thing about this focus on Orton is that he's now been removed from the Elimination Chamber match due to injury so this was a bit of a waste, right? And that, WWE, is why you should invest an equal amount of time on your talent. But, y'know, despite how many times you've encountered these circumstances, you've not learned your lesson so why should I even bother saying this, right?

HBK came out and did exactly what we expected him to do; try to convince HHH to accept Taker’s challenge. The delivery of the promo segment was great. There was heat between the guys as they argued and it was pretty convincing the way they talked. There was a big pop for the Undertaker's theme but it was just another one of those taped promos. HHH/Undertaker is definitely happening, no doubt. And that's unfortunate.

The divas segment was, well, decent considering what we usually get! The match was short, as expected and Tamina pinned Brie (?) Bella after landing the superfly splash. Beth Phoenix was on commentary and  a match between herself and Tamina at Elimination Chamber was announced. I’m looking forward to this mostly because Tamina is half-decent and these two haven’t face each other before, thankfully!

We had this fiasco of an angle between Kane, Cena, Ryder & Eve running throughout the course of the show. It’s the day before Valentine’s and Ryder has something for Eve. Later, he sees her kissing Cena after he “saves” her from Kane… Even though he didn’t do much… Or anything. The acting was awful. The highlight was the spot were Kane throws Ryder off the ramp, after Ryder’s face-off with Cena over Eve, whilst he’s still in his wheelchair. Eve runs to his side, all concerned. I guess the rumoured heel turn for Eve is on its way. I don’t know whether they’re going for the whole “Lita slut” kind of thing. I’m all for “slut” chants during Raw. The acting really was terrible though. I’ve no idea who will win at the PPV on Sunday between Cena and Kane. Kane claims Cena has already embraced the hate… I’d like to see Cena lose so we’d get the whole “superhero’s ego is crushed, sulks, gets his shit together and kicks ass” sort of angle except he moves on from Kane and onto Rock.

I’m giving Raw a 6.5/10. It wasn’t bad. There were some entertaining segments but the matches just… Weren’t particularly interesting or memorable.

We have four matches on the card for Elimination Chamber. Make of that what you will.

I remember HHH cutting a promo on how Vince likes dicks.

That was only 5 years ago. I was 12. I thought it was hilarious. Entertaining segment.

PG WWE? I think not.

Imagine someone saying dick now. Damn you, Linda McMahon.

8. Is WWE Changing?

On the 17th of December 2011, I was discussing Daniel Bryan on Twitter with William; about how he’s been booked, whether it’s the right move if he cashes in his Money In The Bank contract at TLC, whether he’s conveyed as an “underdog” or just weak. William said he was certain he would cash in on Sunday night at the TLC PPV event on the Big Show. I think a lot of people were expecting it. I thought it was probable. I doubted it slightly because I suspected he would do this at Vengeance and it didn’t happen. So Sunday night rolled around (or rather early Monday morning) and just before the World Heavyweight Championship match, I had this feeling of excitement, thinking, “Wow, by the end of this, we could have our best set of champions in a long time.”

The match was short. I had no interest in it and I zoned out, very nearly falling asleep, right up until Big Show struck Mark Henry with that right fist, laying him out and pinning him. Post-match, Mark Henry retaliated, assaulting Big Show with the chairs strewn around them in the ring. At this point, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind what the consequences of this brutal aftermath would be. Some fans at ringside could be heard starting a “Daniel Bryan” chant and sure enough, Daniel Bryan’s theme hit. He ran down that ramp, cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, hooked Big Show’s leg and 1, 2, 3… We have our new World Heavyweight Champion.

Hearing Lilian Garcia announce Daniel Bryan as the new World Heavyweight Champion... The feeling was just… Euphoric.

Following this, Cody Rhodes successfully defended his Inter-Continental Championship against Booker T and, as expected, CM Punk retained his WWE Championship. Earlier that night, Zack Ryder finally defeated Dolph Ziggler in their anticipated match for the United States Championship. Air Boom beat Epico and Primo in an unadvertised match to keep hold of their Tag Team titles as did Beth Phoenix against Kelly Kelly for her Divas title.

After the PPV, Punk tweeted the following:

Two Indy schmucks didn't do so bad, Eh? Very proud right now. Proud of@WWEDanielBryan proud of@ZackRyder proud of my crew of young, talented hard workers. @findevan @TrueKofi...and a ton of others. Tonight was a great step toward the future of the wrestling business. That change I've been talking about? Started. My march to Wrestlemania doesn't begin after the rumble. It's starts today. You're in or you're out. If you're out, you'll be left behind.

And then he tweeted my favourite photo of the year.

But whilst it may be true that change has arisen in the WWE, how long will this “Change” last?

Seth Mates:

To borrow a holiday metaphor, this is the time of year (betw SSeries & Rumble) when Vince "tries on" his new clothes, or new main eventers Foley (99), Jericho (01), Evolution (03), Edge (06), Sheamus (09), Miz (10) and Bryan (11) among those elevated during this stretch of yr. And to continue with the bad holiday metaphor, Vince has til RRumble undercard to return them if they don't fit just right. Also Jeff Hardy in 08- almost forgot him. So don't be surprised if Bryan loses the title at RRumble. Not a dealbreaker. Just Vince's history with change.

This week’s Raw had a good, entertaining opening promo and main event, featuring CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Zack Ryder (as well as Alberto Del Rio, The Miz & Dolph Ziggler). It was a good move to have Punk lead this segment to help get Bryan especially more over with the fans. The problem is the main event’s ratings have come in as 2.67, which is reported as one of the lowest this year. In fact, since the glorious Summer of Punk, ratings have apparently been lower on a whole. Despite all the flaws the ratings system has and the illogical structure of WWE programming in general, this doesn’t reflect well on our guys from the perspective of WWE management, which is sad. Granted, it has only been one Raw and the Royal Rumble isn’t until late January. Of course, WWE are in a state of flux where new talent is rising and the standard main event scene is changing. This takes time to adapt to and can’t be judged based on one show’s ratings.

Raw’s ratings haven’t been great as it is (let’s not start on Smackdown) but that aside, the lack of response on TV a man of Daniel Bryan’s calibre receives is saddening. Unless this picks up, I can’t see him holding onto that title for long. It was especially surprising considering the show was taking place in Philadelphia. Philly shows, you can usually expect very strong responses from the crowds so they were almost alien on Raw. I am hoping everyone will be watching this up-coming Raw where CM Punk returns to Chicago and hopefully, this crowd won’t disappoint. Of course, the real test for these guys is the response they evoke outside of their comfort zones.

Personally, I could not care less about the ratings. It's the importance the company places on them and the decisions they make based off of them that is worrying.

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, both extremely talented, worked their way up to the WWE after many years of hard work on the independent scene. Both new and old fans alike can recognise their passion for the business, having dedicated so much to it. We can all recognise the immense in-ring ability both men possess. We know of the potential they have to be real stars of the biggest promotion in this industry and we know they can do it.

But without the support of the big powers of the WWE, they won’t. Inevitably, there will be many people behind the scenes hoping for them to fall flat on their faces. Because they were self-made? Came to WWE with a loyal following? Because they’re better than WWE let on? Because they’re not disgustingly ripped like Triple H?

You can see how hesitant WWE are with these guys by the way they build them. CM Punk won the Money in the Bank ladder match two years in a row and both times, he cashed in to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Daniel Bryan won Smackdown’s Money in the Bank ladder match and cashed in to become our current World Heavyweight Champion. This is like WWE’s “safe” testing route. It doesn’t require any major build-up, which takes up less TV time, making it less risky. It doesn’t make any bigger stars look weaker as they’re put in a vulnerable position where they are taken advantage of. It’s easy to have Money in the Bank winners drop the title as they’re not immediately perceived as the most credible champions. 

Look at the things Daniel Bryan has accomplished. He has won titles from too many promotions to even count. For five years in a row, Wrestling Observer Newsletter has named him as the ‘Most Outstanding Wrestler’, following the likes of Chris Benoit, Koji Kanemoto, Kurt Angle etc., ‘Best Technical Wrestler’ for six years in a row and ‘Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Decade’. It’s almost impossible to see this guy as anything but world champion material. CM Punk and Samoa Joe put on the first “five star” match in North America in seven years. Unfortunately, in the world of the ‘E, with their abundance of casual and sheep fans, some things hold precedence over this factor. An exciting entrance (please, just change it to The Final Countdown and Daniel Bryan will be the most over guy), flashy ring gear, a marketable face, catchy…well, catchphrases, a menacing build… Leading to management completely overlooking the actual physicalcapabilities of the talent for some comparatively inferior, ripped beasts with little experience.

The Wrestling Fans supports these guys and generally believe they’re what is needed to make wrestling entertaining again. CM Punk consistently says he will make this happen. But does this change cater to the remainder and vast majority of WWE’s audience?

With talk of Chris Hero signing a WWE contract and Claudio Castagnoli AKA Antonio Cesaro already on the FCW roster (alongside Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins etc.), there’s hope for real change yet. But despite how much we’d like to ignore it, the support of the “other” fans is needed; the fans who aren’t as big fans of the wrestling aspects of the product. And until we get that, prepare to see a consistent amount of John Cena, Randy Orton and HHH in the top babyface positions. The concept of real, technical wrestling will probably be almost foreign to them and few of them will be able to appreciate true in-ring artistry (my sources being my family and a “real-life” friend). They tend to favour Cena, Orton, HHH, “Rock” and when the spotlight starts to deviate from these men, it takes them time to adjust to the new guys. Eventually, of course, they warm up to them. It took CM Punk around two to three months to really get them along his side. Considering Daniel Bryan is a far lesser known talent amongst such fans and because of his gimmick (or lack of) failing to emphasise his presence, it’ll take him longer.

WWE lack patience. But that’s exactly what they need to have.

Putting the title on smaller guys is one thing but building them in a credible manner to outdo the traditional body-builder type is important to prove the sceptics wrong. Punk talking and handing out the GTS is all very well but as long as he’s in this very grey area, people who don’t get “it” are going to find him annoying. Men like Triple H need to set aside their pride and (as it should have been earlier this year) put these guys over by turning heel, leaving more positivity to be inflicted on the young babyfaces. Punk’s position is pretty ambiguous at the moment. He needs a strong target and he needs to make his following on the roster more prominent, kind of like he did on Raw this week.

If you're out, you'll be left behind.

Punk’s words are somewhat comforting. They make me more hopeful. They’re almost assuring us that Change is here, Change is staying and no one gives a fuck about those objecting to Change. I can only hope this is true. If we can get to Wrestlemania with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan as our world champions, some of my faith in this company may be restored.

Divas matches lasting longer than 3 minutes would also help immensely, Punk. Thanks.

Are there any gifs from Vengeance when

Truth jumps out of HHH's way and starts celebrating with the splits so HHH knocks him down and tells him to Suck It? :'D

Night of Champions 2011 - Predictions

I haven’t written anything in quite a while, huh? I won’t be watching the PPV live tonight. Instead, I’ll be watching back at some point tomorrow. In any case, here are my predictions for ‘Night of Champions’.

Beth Phoenix V Kelly Kelly © for the Divas Championship. It’s a surprise in itself that K2 retained at SummerSlam but I fully expect Beth to win tonight in her hometown. It makes sense. I hope it’s a clean win too. For those of us, who still have the glimmer of hope that change is coming (Hello CM Punk), a clean win for Beth is what we want, right?

Dolph Ziggler (c) V John Morrison V Alex Riley V Jack Swagger for the United States Championship. I wasn’t expecting a fatal four-way. Near SummerSlam, I expected Ziggles to defend against Alex Riley with A-Ry possibly going over but Swagger came in the way. I think Swagger and Ziggles will cost each the victory (perhaps a face turn for one of them?) and they will possibly engage in a feud (though I’m hoping for Ziggles to be elevated to the main event very soon)? This leaves us with John Morrison and Alex Riley. It’s anyone’s game, really. A-Ry, I understand why he’s in the match. JoMo, it seems, was just randomly thrown in. Maybe if he turned heel, he and A-Ry could give us a good series of match? I can see JoMo winning just because A-Ry is still pretty green but a feud with JoMo would help there and keep him in the title picture. I'm going for JoMo to win.

Cody Rhodes (c) V Ted DiBiase for the Inter-Continental Championship. This match has been booked too early. I don’t think Ted should have turned on Cody so soon but it was still effective and Ted did a good job. I hope to see Ted DiBiase win and hopefully a feud with Cody will last longer than A-Ry and Miz’s did.

Air Boom (Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston) (c) V Awesome Truth (R-Truth & The Miz) for the World Tag Team Championships. This should be a good match. I’m a bit unsure as to who will win following RAW and Smackdown this week. Having Air Boom lose after losing their singles matches this week would make them look very weak yet I’d like to see Miz and Truth go over and it would make sense for them to win. I’m going with Miz and Truth to win.

Mark Henry V Randy Orton (c) for the World Heavyweight Championship. Mark Henry has to win. End of. Having him lose would majorly fuck up this entire storyline. There are rumours circulating that Kane and Show could turn up and cost him the match? If Henry’s going to lose, I’d like it to be via DQ as he destroys Orton. Orton winning clean will make me lose all faith in this company.

Alberto del Rio (c) V John Cena for the WWE Championship. WWE go on their tour of Mexico next month. It would be incredibly stupid to take the title of ADR. ADR hasn’t been made to look like a champion at all so it’s important he wins tonight. I expect him to retain, preferably clean but I can see some interference from Ricardo, following what happened on RAW. Either way, ADR should win. No more rematches for Cena. Someone else should be pushed for the world title.

CM Punk V Triple H in a no DQ match. If Triple H loses, he must step down from being COO. Ah yes, the real main event. The match this PPV is all about. If anything, this should be a great match. It should be pretty intense considering the heat between these guys both on and off-screen. If Triple H can control his ego, we could see Punk win. But I think Kevin Nash will interfere. In favour of whom, I have no idea. I’m thinking most likely Punk? It could really all be an act between himself and Triple H. Or perhaps Nash is in support of Punk? Why do I say that? We saw him leave with Johnny Ace a few weeks ago. If Triple H has to resign, he’s a perfectly viable option for the next COO, right? I, personally, would like to see some McMahon drama and Stephanie step in. Preferably against HHH but let’s be honest, storyline or not, The Game would never let that happen, right? We could have a great set-up for Survivor Series if Nash and his buddies try to help HHH. I mean, why else would HHH introduce this no DQ stipulation? Add in the rumours going around for a while now about guys like KOW apparently about to be signed (Claudio Castagnoli who was signed a few days ago under Antonio Cesaro) amongst others and Punk could have a stable of his own formed. I think so long as it’s more beneficial for the storyline, it doesn’t matter too much who wins. I’m going to say Kevin Nash interferes and cost… Triple H the match. ><

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to share your view. :D

Undertaker's needs to wrestle at Wrestlemania 28.

And his last match needs to be against Kane.

Not Triple H. He shouldn't be booking himself anyway. It has to be against Kane.

A pity Kane has been pretty dull lately.

I don't know how I feel about Triple H taking over.

I just miss Shane McMahon.