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In the spirit of Halloween, here are a couple "scary" videos with The Ultimate Warrior and Jake "The Snake" Roberts from the WWF in 1991.
The story line was that Roberts was helping prepare Warrior for his feud with The Undertaker by having him confront his fear.
The actual vignette for the first video begins at 4:45. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!
An exciting opening match and a strong main event were the cornerstones of a solid episode of Smackdown Friday night.
Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler kicked off the in-ring action and once again set the bar high for the matches that followed. This was the third straight show that these two wrestled each other (following last Sunday’s Bragging Rights pay-per-view and Monday’s Raw), and I wouldn’t be upset if they went at it a few more times.
Bryan, who won the first two meetings, went over in this one as well, which surprised me. Even though Ziggler is 0-3 against Bryan, however, the matches have been so good that I don’t think the losses have really hurt him. Plus, Ziggler nearly won all three contests.
This time, Ziggler had Bryan pinned after hitting the Zig Zag, but the referee had taken a bump seconds earlier and was incapacitated. Vickie Guerrero entered the ring and made the three count, but the referee did not allow it, and Bryan kicked a distracted Ziggler in the head and got the victory.
In the main event, Edge defeated Alberto Del Rio and Rey Mysterio in a triple threat match to earn a shot at world heavyweight champion Kane at the Survivor Series pay-per-view on Nov. 21. Even though it was pretty obvious that Edge was going to win (Mysterio has already had his series of matches with Kane, and I doubted that WWE would do a heel versus heel program with Kane and Del Rio), this was a really well-worked match that featured some excellent near falls before Edge speared Del Rio (who had Mysterio on his shoulders on that time) for the victory.
It’s nice to see Edge back in the world title hunt. Actually, it will just be nice to see something other than a Kane-Undertaker match at the next pay-per-view.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
I continue to like the way WWE is booking Del Rio. Just being involved in the triple threat match with superstars such as Edge and Mysterio gives him credibility. It also was a nice surprise to see him interrupt Kane’s “funeral ceremony” for The Undertaker and challenge him. ...
Kane delivered another strong promo during the funeral segment, but I’ve grown tired of all the caskets, tombstones and hocus pocus. Speaking of which, the opening segment that showed The Undertaker opening a door and walking into a bright light was really corny. I’d love to see The Undertaker return as “The American Badass” (which was pretty much the guy we saw confront Brock Lesnar at last weekend’s UFC pay-per-view), but I seriously doubt that will happen. ...
The breakup of the newly christened Dashing Ones – Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre – was unexpected. It might be for the best, though, as both guys have potential as singles wrestlers. ...
The tag team match that saw The Big Show and Kofi Kingston defeat Rhodes and McIntyre wasn’t bad. ...
The Jack Swagger-Kaval match – which Swagger won with the ankle lock – was OK. Kaval, the NXT Season 2 winner, isn’t faring quite as well as Season 1 winner Wade Barrett. ...
The eight-woman tag team match that featured the women wrestling in Halloween costumes was fun for what it was. Kelly Kelly – who teamed with Melina and The Bella Twins to defeat LayCool, Alicia Fox and Rosa Mendes (I thought she was supposed to be a babyface now) – was smoking hot as Little Bo Peep. ...
And speaking of smoking hot, what about Vickie Guerrero in that cougar/leopard costume?
The sick chair shot that Jeff Hardy delivered to the back of Mr. Anderson’s head on TNA Impact last week set off a chain of events on a wild episode of the show Thursday night that concluded with Matt Morgan turning babyface and being beaten down by his fellow Fortune members.
The originally scheduled main event for the show was a chain match between Anderson and Jeff Jarrett. Despite the fact that Anderson suffered a legitimate concussion from Hardy’s chair shot, Eric Bischoff (in the story line) demanded that Anderson go through with the match.
Morgan, citing the seriousness of concussions, attempted to convince Bischoff (as well as Ric Flair and Jarrett) to reconsider, but to no avail. After Jarrett rebuffed him while he was in the ring preparing for the chain match, Morgan – who was in his street clothes – hooked himself to the other end of the chain that Jarrett was attached to and an impromptu match was on.
After Jarrett got the win (more on that in a minute), Fortune and Jarrett attacked Morgan and hung him over the top rope with the chain to end the show.
So it looks as if Morgan may finally be receiving the big push that he appeared to be getting around this time last year. I’m all for it, as I have long believed that Morgan has major star potential. However, the build-up (or lack thereof) to Morgan’s turn doesn’t do him any favors as far as getting him over as a top-level babyface.
I said way back in February when there was speculation that Flair would be forming a Four Horsemen-type heel stable that Morgan, a babyface at the time, should be one of the members. I wrote: “It would be a little risky to turn Morgan heel since he’s over now as a babyface, but I could see him becoming a bigger star down the line once he broke away from the group and returned to being a babyface.”
I figured a story line to turn Morgan babyface would play out over the course of several months, not one night., but I realize that TNA had to call an audible and immediately elevate Morgan because of Anderson’s injury. Still, it’s a shame that Morgan wasn’t on more of a roll prior to his turn. I never understood why he was losing so frequently anyway, as he was even pinned by the likes of Brian Kendrick.
None of that would have really mattered, though, if Morgan had just beaten Jarrett in the chain match. The fact that Jarrett was booked to win is just mind-boggling. It’s almost as if TNA doesn’t want Morgan to get over.
It also seemed odd that Morgan, who was so remorseless when he kicked Hernandez in the head and put him on the shelf earlier this year, would suddenly be so concerned about wrestlers suffering head injuries. While I was glad that TNA had Morgan acknowledge his attack on Hernandez rather than pretend it never happened, his sudden change of heart really wasn’t explained well.
It would have added depth to the story if Morgan had cited a personal experience as his motivation. Perhaps he could have recounted a story about a friend who has suffered multiple concussions and how it really hit home with him and made him regret what he did to Hernandez. He could go on to say that because of that he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing while Anderson’s health was being jeopardized.
I hope that Morgan can overcome the questionable booking and that TNA does not drop the ball with him again. As Morgan said on Reaction recently when talking about being a future star, he’s 34 years old – how much longer is he supposed to wait?
Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:
I like that TNA is doing a story line on the hot button issue of concussions in sports, and I have no problem with heels such as Bischoff, Flair and Jarrett making light of Anderson’s condition to get heat. However, now that TNA has acknowledged the subject, it will make the company look bad if it continues to allow unprotected chair shots to the head going forward. ...
I was a little surprised that the Sports Legacy Institute – which was founded by former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski and is dedicated to the study, treatment and prevention of the effects of brain trauma in athletes – was mentioned on a wrestling show. Morgan said that he will posthumously donate his brain to the organization for research. ...
There was a little too much dissension on this episode. Not only is Morgan on the outs with Fortune, but Douglas Williams also isn’t happy with his Fortune teammates because he feels he is being underutilized. It seems way too early in the game for there to be in-fighting in Fortune. Rob Van Dam isn’t getting along with his EV 2.0 buddies either. ...
It was nice to see the Knockouts open the show, as there was a backstage brawl between Mickie James and Tara that eventually saw Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne and Sarita join in. You’re definitely not going to see anything that “hardcore” with the Divas in WWE, although I did think the fight went on a bit too long. ...
The back story with James and Tara doesn’t make sense to me. Tara speculated that James may have had something to do with her getting released by WWE, but in reality, Tara asked for her release while she still had a couple years left on her contract – a fact that Tara actually acknowledged on Reaction. So if it was Tara’s decision to leave, how did James have anything to do with it? ...
Taz said that the friction between James and Tara was “legit stuff.” To say that within the context of a wrestling show implies that the other feuds on the show are fake. I wish TNA would stop trying so hard with all the worked shoots and just concentrate on telling good stories. ...
I was glad to see Sarita get the pin in the six-woman tag team match that saw her, Tara and Rayne defeat James, Love and Sky. ...
“The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero brought a casket out to ringside. Gee, that’s original. Dinero, by the way, was made to look weak in his confrontation with Abyss. After introducing the casket into the mix and picking a fight with Abyss, Dinero ending up getting beaten up and thrown into the casket. ...
Abyss grabbing the guy and girl out of the audience and taking them backstage to do God knows what to them was different. ...
The three-way TNA world tag team title match that saw champions The Motor City Machine Guns defeat Generation Me and Ink Inc. was fast-paced fun. Ink Inc. had the match won but Generation Me pulled the referee out of the ring before he could count the pin on The Guns’ Chris Sabin. That perhaps sets up Ink Inc. as future challengers. ...
Team 3D’s retirement match against The Guns for the tag team title at the Turning Point pay-per-view on Nov. 7 was made official. When Brother Ray came to the ring after the three-way match, he slapped hands with The Guns and Ink Inc., including Jesse Neal. Weren’t he and Neal feuding not all that long ago? ...
The street fight that saw Robbie E. defeat TNA X Division champion Jay Lethal in a non-title match was entertaining and the crowd was into it. Robbie has a horrible gimmick but he has talent. ...
I’m glad that Raven got some mic time. He’s the best talker in EV 2.0, yet Dreamer is the group’s spokesperson most of the time while Raven usually just stands there with his hands in his pockets. ...
Winter (formerly Katie Lea Burchill) spooked Love again by seemingly appearing out of nowhere and then disappearing as soon as someone else entered the room. The now you see her, now you don’t routine is pretty silly, but Winter does play her role well. ...
It appears that A.J. Styles finally got rid of his Flair-style feathery robe. Good move. ...
When Flair used to punctuate his promos with a loud “Woooo!” it was cool. That little “woo-woo-woo” thing that he does now, not so much. ...
It was announced that TNA talent will be appearing on “Family Feud” next week. That show is still on the air? ...
Some thoughts on Reaction: As I watched Hardy try really hard to convince us how evil he is now, I kept thinking that this angle would have been much better if Rob Van Dam was the one who turned heel and Hardy was the babyface seeking revenge. ... Did I actually hear Hardy say that he used to be a role model? Now that was funny. ... The graphic footage of Anderson having his head stitched up after last week’s show was hard to watch. ... When talking about Hardy’s chair shot on Anderson, Bischoff said that “accidents happen” and Hardy wasn’t intentionally trying to hurt him. That was one of those worked-shoot lines that are really annoying. He’s basically saying that the chair shot was scripted and Hardy didn’t really mean to bust him open. ... Bischoff, a hardcore Republican, took a shot at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat. Since Bischoff is a heel, does that make Pelosi a babyface? It’s probably best if Bischoff limits his political rants to Twitter and Facebook. ... Morgan referred to the other members of Fortune as “vanilla midgets.” That’s what Kevin Nash supposedly called guys such as Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko when they were all in WCW together. Considering that Benoit and Guerrero became word champions, I suppose the guys in Fortune should take it as a compliment.
Since WWE.com recently ranked the 25 best talkers “who ever set foot in a WWE ring,” I decided to make my own list.
It proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be. I had no problem coming up with about 30 names and ranking the first eight or so, but whittling it down to 25 and putting the remaining wrestlers in order was a challenge.
Obviously, a list of this type is very subjective, especially because we're comparing performers from different eras. After shuffling the names around several times, this is what I’ve come up with:
25. TED DIBIASE
24. THE MIZ
23. RICK RUDE
22. JBL
21. JERRY LAWLER
20. CM PUNK
19. LARRY ZBYSZKO
18. CAPT. LOU ALBANO
17. JESSE VENTURA
16. BOBBY HEENAN
15. HULK HOGAN
14. SHAWN MICHAELS
13. CHRIS JERICHO
12. STEVE AUSTIN
11. SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM
10. RANDY SAVAGE
9. VINCE MCMAHON
8. PAUL HEYMAN
7. MICK FOLEY
6. DUSTY RHODES
5. JAKE ROBERTS
4. RIC FLAIR
3. JIM CORNETTE
2. RODDY PIPER
1. THE ROCK
So now what is John Cena going to do?
He used semantics to outsmart Wade Barrett at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view on Sunday, but Barrett chose his words more carefully on Raw Monday when announcing the stipulations for his WWE title match against champion Randy Orton at the Survivor Series pay-per-view on Nov. 21.
Barrett named Cena the special referee for the match and said that if he wins the title, Cena will be free to leave The Nexus. However, if Barrett doesn’t win the title, Cena will be fired on the spot.
That presents quite the dilemma for our hero. For years we’ve seen Cena overcome seemingly insurmountable odds in the ring, but this time he isn’t facing a physical challenge, he’s facing a moral one. Will he compromise his principles to continue doing what he loves?
What makes the scenario even more compelling is the fact that Orton – Cena’s longtime enemy who has since become a fan favorite – is the guy Cena is going to have to screw over in order to win his freedom.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
Other thoughts on Monday’s show:
The main event between Cena and Orton – which was to determine whether Barrett or Orton got to name the referee for the WWE title match at Survivor Series – was entertaining, even if the finish was somewhat predictable (Barrett clotheslined Cena, which got Orton disqualified). Cena versus Orton certainly isn’t a fresh matchup, but it’s still a big deal when these two guys face each other, especially when you don’t have to pay $44.99 to see it. ...
One night after they stole the show at Bragging Rights, Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler had another outstanding match together. I was surprised Ziggler didn’t win this one since Bryan went over on Sunday. The finish was interesting, as Vickie Guerrero placed Ziggler’s foot under the ropes while he was trapped in the LeBell Lock, but the referee didn’t see his foot there and Ziggler tapped out. Sometimes two wrongs do make a right. ...
CM Punk was quite entertaining doing commentary during the Bryan-Ziggler match. He was very complimentary of Bryan and stood and applauded after Bryan got the victory, so it looks like these two are headed for a program. That’s one I’m definitely looking forward to. ...
Punk had the line of the night. When talking about the people who trained Bryan, he said: “All Shawn Michaels did was take $3,000 from him. William Regal did the real work.” ...
The WWE tag team title reign of Cena and David Otunga didn’t last long, as they lost the belts to Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel. Barrett made the match (how he got the authority to do so was never explained) and then ordered Otunga to lie down in the ring and allow himself to be pinned. I hate when wrestling companies make a mockery of their titles like that, but it did make sense in the context of the story line. Barrett wanted to flaunt his power and send a message to Otunga, who has been defying him as of late. ...
Michael McGillicutty and Husky Harris are now official members of The Nexus, even though they lost to Cena and Orton last week in a match they needed to win to gain inclusion in the group. That seems like lazy writing to me. ...
Barrett and Otunga both did a nice job during their intense verbal exchange in the dressing room. ...
There was no explanation as to why The Nexus helped Kane beat The Undertaker at Bragging Rights, but apparently we are going to find out in the future. Otunga threatened to spill the beans during his confrontation with Barrett. ...
Eve Torres was decent on the mic during her verbal battle with The Miz and Alex Riley. Although with how good she looked in that dress, she had me before she ever said a word. I did think the segment went on a bit too long, however. ...
Riley’s booming voice reminds me somewhat of Mr. Anderson’s. ...
The Miz and R-Truth had a good match. Miz got the win but it was a very competitive match. ...
I’ll admit it: I popped for Santino Marella pinning Sheamus. Marella’s win was presented as a total fluke, but I’m still shocked that Triple H allowed Sheamus to lose to Marella before he came back to exact his revenge on the guy who put him on the shelf for months. Marella’s upset victory was really just a plot device to kick off a program between Sheamus and John Morrison, whose interference led to Marella’s victory. ...
Melina must really be in the doghouse. In the tag team match pitting Melina and Gail Kim against LayCool, Melina was pinned after one kick to the face by Michelle McCool. The match lasted about a minute, and Kim never even tagged in. ...
For some reason, guest star Toby Keith mostly kept his eyes closed while he was cutting a promo in the ring. The longer the country singer talked, the more my eyes started to close, as well. By the way, having Keith act as if he had no idea who Sheamus was doesn’t do Sheamus or WWE any favors. ...
It was announced that Pee Wee Herman will appear on next week’s show. In the immortal words of The Miz, “Really? Really?”
WWE issued the following news release, which the company sent out under the headline: “WWE makes Ct. secretary of state back down.”
“The moment Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz issued an un-American, unconstitutional and discriminatory directive prohibiting voters from wearing WWE merchandise at the polls, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal should have immediately stepped in to enforce the law. As a result of the Attorney General’s inaction, I brought suit to enforce these basic, fundamental constitutional rights. Within hours of filing the lawsuit, Blumenthal recused himself, and Bysiewicz reversed her position and immediately notified all Local Registrar of Voters and Town Clerks via email. I am pleased that Connecticut voters have had their freedom of expression and their right to vote restored,” said Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO, World Wrestling Entertainment.
For those who do not know, Blumenthal is the Democrat opposing Republican Linda McMahon in the Connecticut Senate race.
WWE issued the following news release today:
“On behalf of myself, my company, WWE fans and any Connecticut citizen who wants to exercise their constitutional right to vote, I have filed a lawsuit today asserting that Susan Bysiewicz’s directive that allows poll workers to refuse registered voters wearing WWE merchandise the right to vote is a flagrant act of censorship and discrimination,” said Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO, World Wrestling Entertainment.
Last week, Bysiewicz told Connecticut election officials that they can ask voters wearing WWE merchandise to cover it up before allowing them to vote on Tuesday because it could be interpreted as campaigning for former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, the Republican Senate candidate. Campaigning – which includes wearing political paraphernalia – within 75 feet of polling places is illegal in the state.
The pro wrestling and mixed martial arts communities have been buzzing ever since The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar had a confrontation while The Undertaker was being interviewed by Fanhouse at the UFC 121 pay-per-view post-show Saturday night after Lesnar had lost the heavyweight title to Cain Velasquez.
During the interview (video below) with The Undertaker – who was out of character and accompanied by his wife, Michelle McCool – Lesnar walked by, and he and The Undertaker stared at each other. The Undertaker said to him, “You wanna do it?” Lesnar just kept walking.
When the interviewer asked The Undertaker about the exchange, he said, “It’s kind of a personal thing.”
The confrontation has sparked speculation that Lesnar will face The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVII in April. UFC president Dana White, however, told TMZ.com that no such thing will take place because Lesnar is under exclusive contract with UFC.
“He is not going to wrestle in the WWE,” White said. “He cannot wrestle, box or fight anywhere else.”
According to The Wrestling Observer, WWE did reach out to Lesnar about doing the match, which doesn’t surprise me. After all, Lesnar is a proven pay-per-view draw and has become a household name.
I can’t imagine that Lesnar would do the match even if his UFC contract allowed it, no matter how much money WWE threw at him. For one thing, I don’t think he would agree to lose, which would be the likely scenario.
The Undertaker is probably never going to lose at WrestleMania, and WWE chairman Vince McMahon certainly wouldn’t allow someone from UFC – which is killing WWE on pay-per-view – to beat one of his greatest stars.
The Nexus got its first taste of gold at WWE’s Bragging Rights pay-per-view Sunday night. But don’t worry, Randy Orton fans, “The Viper” did not lose the WWE title to Wade Barrett in the main event.
It was actually the unlikely duo of David Otunga and John Cena that brought a championship to The Nexus camp, as they won the WWE tag team title from Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes in an impromptu match.
That wasn’t the only surprise of the night involving The Nexus. The faction also interfered in the Buried Alive Match, helping Kane defeat The Undertaker to retain his world heavyweight title.
As for the WWE title bout, Barrett won the match, but not the title. Barrett had said before the contest began that if he didn’t win the match, Cena would be fired. Cena figured out a way for Barrett to get his hand raised without Orton losing the championship, as he attacked Barrett during the match, causing Orton to be disqualified.
Overall, Bragging Rights proved to be a rather pedestrian show. I wouldn’t say there was anything on the show that was really bad, but the only above-average match was the opener between U.S. champion Daniel Bryan and Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler.
The seven-on-seven elimination match between Team Raw and Team Smackdown had its moments, but no one really buys into the supposed rivalry between the brands, and that was obvious from the less-than-enthusiastic crowd response to much of the match.
Here is a match-by-match look at the show:
Wade Barrett defeated WWE champion Randy Orton by disqualification (14:35): With a conflicted John Cena forced to be in the corner of Barrett, this was clearly the most compelling match heading on the show heading into it. The fact that Barrett wasn’t going to win the title was telegraphed not only by his choice of words before the bell – he said that Cena would be fired if he didn’t win the “match” but never used the word “title – but also by the announcers making the point several times that the deck was stacked against Orton and it was almost a foregone conclusion that Barrett would win. There was a “Fire Cena” chant early. There wasn’t a whole lot of heat for the match, as the fans just seemed to be waiting for the inevitable interference from Cena. There was a ref bump at the 11:30 mark. From there, Barrett ordered Cena to stand on the ring apron, but Orton shot Barrett into the ropes, knocking Cena down. The rest of The Nexus then hit the ring and attacked Orton, but Cena recovered and took them out. Barrett yelled at him, but Cena explained that he had to do it or else Barrett would get disqualified.
Orton made a comeback and was setting up for the RKO when Cena entered the ring and hit the Attitude Adjustment on Barrett. The referee called for the bell and awarded the match to Barrett by disqualification. Cena grabbed the title belt and went to hand it to Orton, but Orton hit the RKO on him. Orton also delivered an RKO to Barrett. The finish was logical and advanced the story line, but it made for a flat ending to a pretty lackluster pay-per-view. If WWE decides to pull the trigger and eventually turn Cena heel, this match (and the “fire Cena” chant) will certainly play into Cena’s motivation. He can claim that he was trying to make the best of a bad situation and do the ring thing, but the fans and Orton were ungrateful.
World heavyweight champion Kane defeated The Undertaker in a Buried Alive Match (16:58): I thought The Undertaker was going to regain the title and that this would be the blow-off match to the feud, but Kane defeated his “brother” for the third consecutive pay-per-view. According to several wrestling websites, The Undertaker has a bad shoulder and needs some time off but is expected back in a few months to begin his WrestleMania program. This match was all brawling, and at times it really dragged. The crowd chanted “We want blood” about a minute and a half into the match, which obviously WWE wasn’t going to deliver, so Kane and The Undertaker had their work cut out for them in trying to capture the audience. At the four-minute mark, the match was already starting to drag, so The Undertaker tossed several chairs and the covering on the announce table into the ring to wake up the crowd. The fans did get into at about the 10-minute mark, as they did the “yea-boo” chant when The Undertaker and Kane were exchanging punches.
As they were battling near the gravesite, The Undertaker caught Kane in Hell’s Gate and rendered him unconscious. Undertaker rolled Kane into the open grave, and then prepared to chokeslam Paul Bearer on top of his “son.” Just then, The Nexus ran out and attacked The Undertaker. He fought them off at first before ultimately being overpowered. Kane then smashed The Undertaker in the head with the urn, and Undertaker fell into the grave. The Nexus members began shoveling dirt onto him, and then Kane used his magic powers to make a bulldozer drop a huge load of dirt into the grave, thus ending the match. The fans booed, and I got the feeling that they were booing the nature of the finish rather than just the fact that their favorite lost. I’m curious as to what the explanation will be for The Nexus getting involved in the match.
Team Smackdown (The Big Show, Alberto Del Rio, Edge, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, Tyler Reks and Jack Swagger) defeated Team Raw (The Miz, Ezekiel Jackson, Santino Marella, John Morrison, CM Punk, R-Truth and Sheamus) in an elimination match (27:44): To the shock of no one, Marella was the first to be eliminated, as he lasted just 2:37 before he was pinned by Reks. A little while later, Del Rio attacked his rival/teammate Mysterio and threw him into the barricade. Mysterio sold a shoulder injury and was taken to the back. At around the 18-minute mark, we were down to Miz, Punk and Jackson against Edge, when Mysterio suddenly made his way back to the ring to make it three-on-two.
Mysterio pinned Punk (some things never change) at the 24:08 mark, and then pinned Jackson a couple minutes later. The Mysterio-Jackson spot created an awkward moment, as Mysterio slipped slightly while doing his springboard splash off the top rope. He still landed on Jackson, who appeared to kick out just before the three count. Time stood still for a second and then the referee ruled that Jackson had been eliminated. That left The Miz against Edge and Mysterio, and I didn’t like Miz’s chances. Mysterio went for the 619, but Alex Riley covered up Miz and absorbed the blow. Miz stumbled to his feet but was met by a spear from Edge and that was it. Edge and Mysterio (and Hornswoggle) celebrated with the trophy that goes to the winning team. No matter how large the trophy is, however, the fans still view the whole “bragging rights” concept as pretty meaningless. Edge was the star of the match, and Mysterio and Sheamus also were booked to look strong. (The order of elimination is below).
U.S. champion Daniel Bryan defeated Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler (16:15): As expected, this non-title match opened the show – and Bryan and Ziggler stole it. They were given enough time to put together an entertaining back-and-forth contest that built to an exciting series of near falls. At the 14:35 mark, Ziggler hit The Famouser and went for a cover. The referee counted to three, but then waved it off as Bryan had gotten his foot on the bottom rope at the last second. A short time later, Ziggler, began taunting Bryan, and it cost him. Bryan suddenly grabbed Ziggler and hooked on The LeBell Lock, forcing Ziggler to tap out. This was a good showing for both guys. And by the way, I must say that Ziggler’s “girlfriend” Vickie Guerrero looked great. Someone needs to tell Jerry Lawler that he sounds ridiculous by still making fat jokes after Guerrero has lost so much weight.
John Cena and David Otunga defeated WWE tag team champions Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes to win the title (6:28): McIntyre and Rhodes came out and cut a promo, saying that everyone is scared to face them. That led to the anonymous Raw general manager making a match between the champions and the team of Otunga and Cena. Cena basically won the match on his own, as Otunga tried to take charge but was ineffective. Cena got the victory by forcing Rhodes to tap out to the STF. After the match, Otunga grabbed both belts and celebrated, but Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment on him and left with the belts. I understand putting the title on these two to further the Cena/Nexus story line, but I didn’t like how McIntyre and Rhodes were made to look so weak. It will be interesting to see if WWE keeps them together or they go back into singles competition.
WWE co-Divas champion Layla defeated Natalya (4:48): Commentator Matt Striker delivered the line of the night in response to Layla and Michelle McCool cutting another one of their promos that get go-away heat. “That was Shockmaster bad,” he said. Do a Google search if you don’t get the reference. There was a cool spot early in the match, as Natalya got Layla up for a vertical suplex, held her in position for a several seconds and then did a few squats. That was impressive. As Natalya dominated the match with power moves, a frustrated Layla grabbed her title belt and started to leave, but Natalya caught her and threw her back in the ring. While the referee turned his back to get the belt out of the ring, Michelle McCool kicked Natalya in the face and Layla pinned her for the victory. The match was OK but it was another flat finish.
Ted DiBiase Jr. defeated Goldust (7:28): It was nice to see Goldust get a pay-per-view match. Near the latter stages of the match, Maryse attacked Aksana, who really wasn’t dressed for a catfight. Her short dress kept riding up on her during the beat-down, so she had to keep pulling it back down while she was getting roughed up. That was funny. After Goldust went to check on Aksana, DiBiase hit him from behind and finished him off with a DDT. Goldust got his heat back after the match by hitting The Final Cut on DiBiase and leaving with the Million Dollar belt still in his possession.
Team Raw vs. Team Smackdown order of elimination:
• Reks (S) pinned Marella (R), 2:37
• Sheamus (R) pinned Kingston (S), 6:51.
• Morrison (R) pinned Swagger (S), 13:07.
• Sheamus (R) pinned Reks (S), 14:30.
• Sheamus (R) and Big Show (S) both counted out, 15:28.
• Edge (S) pinned R-Truth (R), 16:41.
• Edge (S) pinned Morrison (R), 17:09.
• Punk (R) pinned Del Rio (S), 18:05.
• Mysterio (S) pinned Punk (R), 24:08.
• Mysterio (S) pinned Jackson (R), 26:15.
• Edge (S) pinned The Miz (R), 27:44.
Predictions for tonight’s WWE pay-per-view:
WWE champion Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett: John Cena, who will be in Barrett’s corner, helping Barrett win the title seems too obvious. My guess is that Cena’s interference backfires, allowing Orton to retain the championship and escalating the tension between Cena and Barrett.
World heavyweight champion Kane vs. The Undertaker in a Buried Alive match: With The Undertaker having lost to Kane on the past two pay-per-views, I have to believe that this is the night he finally regains the title.
Team Raw (The Miz, Ezekiel Jackson, Santino Marella, John Morrison, CM Punk, R-Truth and Sheamus) vs. Team Smackdown (The Big Show, Alberto Del Rio, Edge, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, Tyler Reks and Jack Swagger) in an elimination match: Team Smackdown has the stronger team on paper and has consistently gotten the better of the Raw squad on TV. So you know what that means – Team Raw is going to win.
U.S. champion Daniel Bryan vs. Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler: Neither title is on the line in this match, which will probably open the show and has the potential to be very good. This one could really go either way, but my guess is that the tension between Vickie Guerrero and Kaitlyn proves to be a distraction for Ziggler and costs him the match.
WWE co-Divas champion Layla vs. Natalya: WWE has done a nice job of making Natalya look strong heading into this match, which probably means that she’s losing here. While I wouldn’t be shocked if Layla lost the title, thus leading to a feud between her and Michelle McCool, I don’t think WWE is going to break up LayCool just yet. Layla retains, thanks to McCool’s interference.
WWE did a good job of promoting Sunday’s Bragging Rights pay-per-view on Friday night’s Smackdown, which featured five inter-brand matches.
The presence of the Raw stars made the show feel like a special episode. It was highlighted by matches pitting Edge versus CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio versus John Morrison and the team of The Big Show, Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio versus The Miz, Sheamus and Ezekiel Jackson in a six-man tag team match.
The main event between WWE champion Randy Orton and world heavyweight champion Kane was decent, as well.
By the end of the show, I was more excited about Bragging Rights then I was going in.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
I’ve been critical at times of the Kane-Undertaker program, but I have to admit that The Undertaker coming up through the ring after the Kane-Orton match and dragging Kane down into hole with him was pretty cool. ...
I was surprised that there was an actual winner in the main event, as Orton pinned Kane. It was done in a way that protected Kane, however. Just as he was about to chokeslam Orton, the gong sounded and the lights went out, which allowed Orton to seize the advantage and hit the RKO for the win. ...
There was no pinfall in the Edge-Punk match, which I think was the right call. These guys just switched brands, and you don’t want to kill either of their momentum. I really liked the finishing sequence. As Edge was about to spear Punk, The Miz and Alex Riley interfered, causing Punk to get disqualified. From there, everyone involved in the Raw versus Smackdown elimination match at Bragging Rights (well, except for R-Truth, who cannot travel to Canada, where the show was taped, due to legal issues) entered the ring and began hitting their finishers in rapid fashion. It all ended exactly where it began, with Edge preparing to spear Punk, and this time he succeeded. ...
It’s a shame Del Rio and Morrison weren’t given more than five minutes, because they were having a good match. It was a nice win for Del Rio, who made Morrison tap to the Cross Armbreaker. ...
The Smackdown team won the six-man tag match, and Jack Swagger defeated Santino Marella, which means that the blue brand went 4-1 on the night. Orton was the only Raw star to go over, and he needed a distraction from The Unbertaker to do so. Smackdown’s Big Show and Edge also won the inter-brand battle royal on Raw Monday night. Interesting. ...
I felt bad for Tyler Reks during the opening segment when the Raw and Smackdown guys were picking their opponents for the night. With R-Truth not there, the sides were uneven, and Reks ended up being the odd-man out. He was like the kid at recess who is the last to get picked for kickball. ...
I really don’t have a problem with WWE being PG, but the “feud” between Hornswoggle and Swagger’s eagle mascot couldn’t possibly appeal to anyone over the age of 6. ...
The women’s tag team match that saw Natalya and Kelly Kelly defeat LayCool was entertaining. Natalya again was put over strong heading into her WWE Divas title match at Bragging Rights. Kelly Kelly never even tagged in, and Natalya got the win by forcing Layla to tap to the Sharpshooter. It was announced that Layla will be the one defending the Divas title against Natalya Sunday. ...
LayCool’s parody of Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart was an easy way to get heat in Canada.
On Friday, it was reported that the Connecticut secretary of state told election officials that they can ask voters clad in WWE t-shirts and hats to cover them up before allowing them to vote on Nov. 2 because wearing the merchandise could be interpreted as campaigning.
Campaigning – which includes wearing political paraphernalia – within 75 feet of polling places is illegal in Connecticut. Because Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon is the former WWE CEO, the wearing of WWE apparel could be seen as political advertising, a spokesman for Connecticut secretary of state Susan Bysiewicz told cnn.com.
The statement by Bysiewicz, a Democrat, has sparked outrage from Connecticut Republicans as well as Vince McMahon. In the video below, which is part of WWE’s “Stand Up for WWE” campaign, the WWE chairman claims that the first amendment rights of WWE fans are being violated.
I know that a lot of people roll their eyes whenever Vince McMahon – who has a reputation for being ruthless in business and an overbearing boss – tries to portray himself as a victim, but it’s pretty difficult to argue with him on this point.
Bysiewicz’s spokesman pointed out that there was a similar situation in California, when voters were asked not to wear any Arnold Schwarzenegger garb when he was running for governor. I think there’s a big difference, however, because there’s no such thing as a WWE t-shirt that bears Linda McMahon’s likeness. I also think it’s a stretch to assume that just because someone is wearing a John Cena cap or an Undertaker t-shirt that they’re voting for Linda McMahon.
It just seems to be a case of politics as usual – and both parties are guilty of such tactics. Is there any wonder why there is such voter apathy? Instead of the parties trying to figure out ways to suppress the vote, election officials should be doing everything in their power to make it easy for people to vote.
OK, I’m off my soapbox.
TNA Impact scored its highest rating since January last week, but the show was unable to keep the momentum going.
Thursday’s episode did a 1.2 (rounded up from 1.15), down from the 1.4 for last week’s show, which took place the night after the reveal of “They” and a Jeff Hardy heel turn at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view. The show prior to last week’s did a 1.3.
Despite last week’s near-record final number, the quarter-hour ratings dropped as the show went on, which seemed to indicate that people were curious about the fallout from BFG but they didn’t necessarily care for the show itself, which featured a lot of talking and very little wrestling.
As far as entertainment value, I thought this week’s show was much better than last week’s. Whether that translates into a ratings increase next week remains to be seen. My guess is that the rating at least matches this week's.
There’s no doubt that Jeff Hardy is the centerpiece of Immortal, but to me, the member of the heel faction that has stood out the past two weeks is Jeff Jarrett.
Jarrett is just more convincing as a heel than Hardy, and his motivation for turning (Dixie Carter stole his company and he also wanted to exact revenge on Kurt Angle) is much more believable than Hardy’s (he did it for the money; the fans didn’t appreciate the risks that he took in the ring).
On Thursday night’s show, Jarrett cut a good promo about his feud with Angle, and then he and Samoa Joe engaged in a scuffle that ended with Jarrett (with some help from security guys Gunnar and Murphy) tossing Joe off the stage. As Jarrett looked down on a lifeless Joe, he sarcastically said, “It looks like Joe needs a little help.”
Jarrett is doing a great job of getting heel heat without being over the top. It comes across in his performance that he (or at least his character) truly believes everything he is saying and that his actions are justified.
In contrast, while Hardy is definitely making a real effort to get heat, I’m still not buying him as “the anti-Christ.” Some guys just aren’t cut out to be heels, and I think he’s one of them. When I watch him, I see a guy playing heel for a wrestling angle rather than a believable villain.
Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:
This episode had some flaws, but it was definitely a big improvement over last week’s show. ...
During Jarrett’s promo, he was listing all of the things that he had stripped Angle of (his pride, dignity, etc.), ending with “and your precious, precious ... career.” I thought for sure he was going to say “family.” That was a nice tease for viewers who know the real-life story. ...
Mike Tenay standing up at the announce table and yelling at Jarrett after the attack on Samoa Joe added to the intensity of that segment. ...
TNA did a very nice job of getting Mr. Anderson over as a sympathetic, never-say-die babyface. Eric Bischoff had announced that to get a shot at Hardy’s TNA world title, Anderson had to “survive” in an Ultimate X match against Kazarian. The catch was that Anderson was not a hundred percent, as he was selling a shoulder injury and had his arm in a sling. Fortune also attacked him right before the match. Despite the deck being stacked against him, however, Anderson still nearly pulled out a victory before Fortune’s interference cost him the match. After it was over, Hardy came to the ring and blasted Anderson with a sick chair shot to the back of the head, legitimately busting him open. The blood pouring out of Anderson’s head made for a great visual, but I’m guessing – or at least I’m hoping – that Hardy meant to hit Anderson in the back and not the head. ...
TNA announced on its website that Hardy will defend the title against Anderson at the Turning Point pay-per-view on Nov. 7. It appears that TNA is wisely going to build up anticipation before delivering Hardy versus Rob Van Dam. ...
The final segment – which featured Angle showing up out of nowhere and busting the back window of an SUV that had Bischoff and Ric Flair inside – felt a bit anti-climactic. On a side note, it’s almost surreal to see Bischoff and Flair palling around considering the real-life animosity that has existed between them. I suppose that’s why they say “never say never” in wrestling. ...
With Bischoff and Hulk Hogan having seized control of the company from Carter, it was a nice touch that the opening for Impact featured only performers from Immortal and Fortune. However, after hammering home the point that Carter was no longer in power for three straight hours, TNA listed Carter as executive producer when the end credits rolled for Reaction. Oops. Someone sent Carter a message on her Twitter page about the story line inconsistency, and to her credit, she did have a good comeback. She tweeted: “See how stupid THEY are.” ...
Speaking of Reaction, the show was different this week, as the entire episode was devoted to explaining in detail Bischoff and Hogan’s plan to take over TNA. It was well done. Robert Roode was especially good. ...
The Mickie James-Sarita match was decent. Since it was James’ first match on Impact, she obviously had to win, but TNA really should give Sarita a push. ...
I liked that James and Sarita each got some mic time prior to their match. By the way, I’m digging James’ new country look. ...
When Bischoff ruled that Fortune could not interfere in the street fight between A.J. Styles and “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero, who didn’t know that Immortal was going to cost Dinero the match? ...
Dinero cutting a promo while supposedly in a strip club in Harlem was effective in getting him over as an irreverent, cool babyface. Dinero’s character is reminiscent of WWE Attitude-era babyfaces. ...
I liked that Samoa Joe rejected Dinero’s suggestion that they team up to fight Immortal and Fortune. After Jarrett turned on him, it makes sense that Joe – who is supposed to be a lone wolf, anyway – wouldn’t trust anyone. ...
The video package on Team 3D talking about their retirement was good. I’m not buying that this is the end of them, though. I think they’re either setting up a feud between Brother Ray and Brother Devon or a heel turn for them. ...
Unfortunately, the Jersey Shore story line with JWoww appears to be continuing. Once again, Robbie E. and Cookie were greeted with a “boring” chant at the Impact Zone. I can just picture Vince Russo backstage with his fingers in his ears, going, “La, la, la, la,la, I can’t hear you.” I know TNA is getting some play on TMZ because of JWoww, but I just don’t think it’s going to translate into more viewers. ...
I get it that TNA is pushing The Shore, so I don’t have a big problem with Robbie E. defeating Amazing Red. However, I do think the talented Red deserves better than to be beaten in less than two minutes. ...
The former Katie Lea Burchill debuted as a character named Winter. While Angelina Love was sitting in front of a mirror in her dressing room, Winter appeared behind her and said that she was a fan of Love’s. When Velvet Sky came into the room, Winter seemingly disappeared into thin air. I’m glad to see Burchill in TNA, but with all the Kane-Undertaker hocus pocus on Smackdown, the last thing I want to see is more supernatural silliness in wrestling.
In the spirit of Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Female 50 – a feature in the November issue of PWI that ranks the top women wrestlers over the past year – here is the second annual Ring Posts Female 20.
The rankings are based on championships won, prominence within their individual promotion, won-loss records, quality of opponents and activity. Attributes such as charisma, promo skills and in-ring ability were not taken into account.
The grading period is from Sept. 1, 2009 to Aug. 31, 2010. Only wrestlers under contract to WWE and TNA were considered.
Before getting to the list, I want to say that I thought it was more difficult to compile this one than last year’s. That’s because a number of top stars missed significant time during the grading period due to getting released or injured.
1. MICHELLE McCOOL
2. TARA
3. MICKIE JAMES
4. MADISON RAYNE
5. LAYLA
6. ODB
7. ALICIA FOX
8. EVE TORRES
9. BETH PHOENIX
10. ANGELINA LOVE
11. MARYSE
12. MELINA
13. KELLY KELLY
14. GAIL KIM
15. SARITA
16. TAYLOR WILDE
17. VELVET SKY
18. AWESOME KONG
19. HAMADA
20. DAFFNEY
Photo: Michelle McCool (No. 1) controls Gail Kim (No. 14). Courtesy of World Wrestling Entertainment.
To read the 2009 Ring Posts Female 20, click here.
To view photos of the WWE Divas, click here and here.
Last week I wrote that the angle of John Cena being forced to join The Nexus was making a star out of Wade Barrett. While watching Raw Monday night, it was apparent that it also is making Cena’s character more interesting than it has been in a while.
The premise of the story line – WWE’s ultimate good guy has to join the bad guys and follow their leader’s orders or else lose his job – is so simple, yet so effective.
A big reason it’s working so well is because of Barrett’s outstanding performance as an overbearing heel, but Cena also is doing a good job of portraying a guy trapped in a no-win situation who is being eaten up inside by his predicament.
During a backstage segment on Monday’s show, Barrett ordered Cena to get him a glass of water. After Cena fulfilled that request, Barrett took a sip of water and then threw the rest in Cena’s face. Again, simple but effective.
Later in the show, Barrett demanded that Cena simply stand by and watch as The Nexus destroyed Randy Orton (who had just wrestled alongside Cena in a tag team match) in a four-on-one attack. Barrett then ordered Cena to deliver an Attitude Adjustment to Orton, but before Cena could execute the move, Barrett changed his mind and he hit his finisher – Wasteland – on Orton instead.
That was a strong angle, as it got heat on Nexus and sympathy on both Orton and Cena. The only thing that I didn’t like about it was that Cena was almost too animated in his despair over Orton’s fate. You would have thought that he and Orton were lifelong friends the way Cena was almost in tears.
If this story line continues the way it has gone so far, even staunch Cena detractors will soon be begging for Cena to punch Barrett in the mouth. Personally, I hope when the time comes for the payoff that Cena will embrace Barrett rather than strike him. Now that would really get some heat.
Other thoughts on Monday’s show:
Smackdown general manager Teddy Long appeared in the opening segment and virtually the entire Smackdown roster appeared later in the show. WWE is trying to make the Team Raw versus Team Smackdown match at Sunday’s Bragging Rights pay-per-view seem important, but as I have said before, it’s a tough sell because the talent switches brands so often. ...
The crowd booed Long when he came out and it cheered when the anonymous Raw general manager ordered him to leave. Why all the hate-orade for Teddy, playas? ...
After Long turned off the GM’s computer, why didn’t the anonymous one just text his instructions to Michael Cole like he did once before? ...
The returning Ezekiel Jackson was introduced as the final member of Team Raw. He looked good in the Raw/Smackdown battle royal main event, as he made it to the final five and eliminated Rey Mysterio as well as WWE tag team champions Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes. ...
The battle royal served its purpose as far as promoting Bragging Rights and it made for a more interesting main event than the originally scheduled Big Show versus Miz singles match. Smackdown’s Big Show and Edge disposed of Raw’s Sheamus and The Miz for the victory. ...
I didn’t think anything could be more annoying than LayCool doing commentary, but then I heard Hornswoggle repeatedly grunting and laughing into the microphone during the battle royal and realized I was wrong. ...
The tag team match in which Orton and Cena defeated Michael McGillicutty and Husky Harris was entertaining. Since McGillicutty and Harris needed to win to gain entry into The Nexus, it will be interesting to see where things go from here. ...
Before highlights from last week’s angle with Cena and Barrett were shown, Cole issued a warning to viewers that the footage “was very uncomfortable to watch.” It was a good angle (Barrett turned his back and dared Cena to hit him), but let’s not get carried away. ...
I still think it’s ridiculous that Cena doesn’t have to wear a Nexus t-shirt or come out to the group’s entrance music. ...
I understand why WWE is doing the “Stand Up for WWE” campaign, as Senate hopeful Linda McMahon’s political opponents have spent a lot of time lately attacking the company, but I think politics should be kept off of Raw. A large portion of the video package that aired was from an old promotional video, as there were images of former WWE performers such as Jeff Hardy and Maria. I thought it was ironic that noted misogynist Snoop Dogg and convicted rapist Mike Tyson were among the celebrities featured in a package that was designed to get WWE over as family entertainment. ...
I was surprised that Bret Hart did not make an appearance on the show since it was in his hometown of Calgary. After Raw went off the air, Hart saved Orton from an attack by The Nexus and put Heath Slater in the Sharpshooter, according to online reports. It was probably for the best that he wasn’t on Raw. The novelty of seeing Hart on WWE television has worn off. ...
It was announced that WWE champion Orton will face world heavyweight champion Kane on Smackdown this Friday. It seems to me that a match between the two world champions should be on the Bragging Rights pay-per-view, not free TV. Speaking of Kane, I thought the commercial for the Buried Alive match between him and The Undertaker was very well done, especially with Halloween right around the corner. ...
What a nice treat to see Vickie Guerrero on a Monday night. Cole seemed confused, as he first acted as if he didn’t like Guerrero, which is inconsistent with his commentary as of late, and then he started complimenting her. Cole also said that Guerrero was Jerry Lawler’s age. Actually, Lawler is old enough to be her father (he turns 61 next month; she’s 42). ...
Dolph Ziggler standing behind Guerrero after challenging Daniel Bryan to a fight and slapping him was a great heel move. Wearing the Intercontinental title belt over his street clothes also is a nice touch. I like that the Intercontinental and U.S. champions will be facing each other at Bragging Rights. ...
Kudos to Bryan for doing Lance Storm’s “If I could be serious for a minute” line in Calgary. Bryan dancing with the Divas was funny and it gives him some personality, but like I’ve said before, WWE has to be careful not to make him too nerdy or the crowd will turn against him. I could have done without the spot in which he did a split and acted as if he had hurt himself. ...
Natalya quickly beat Alicia Fox with the Sharpshooter for the second time in three weeks. The post-match angle was good, as Natalya fought off an attack by LayCool, including reversing the Sharpshooter when McCool had the hold on her. ...
There was more dissension between Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith after their loss to McIntyre and Rhodes. This time, Kidd was the one acting like a heel. ...
It’s too bad the Goldust-Zack Ryder match wasn’t booked for WWE Superstars, because they probably would have had a good match. Unfortunately, they were only given about 30 seconds here (Goldust won). ...
When Tyler Reks was introduced as part of the Smackdown team, I think I heard crickets. ...
I’ve never seen that annoying, big-mouthed kid who was with The Big Show before, and I never want to see him again. ...
I was surprised to see CM Punk with dark hair. There were pictures online of him working at house shows over the weekend with bleached-blonde hair (or as I like to call it, the Kevin Eck look).
I know everyone is anxiously waiting the Monday Night Raw recap, but I’m still working on it. In the meantime, please feel free to go to The Midnight Sun blog and check out my review of the Rob Zombie/Alice Cooper concert that took place Sunday night in Columbia, Md.
I normally don’t plug any other writing I do for The Baltimore Sun or baltimoresun.com, but there is somewhat of a pro wrestling connection with this one.
In addition to performances by Zombie, Cooper and four other bands, The Halloween Hootenanny Tour Sunday featured wrestling matches involving the midget competitors from Spike TV’s "Half Pint Brawlers" (midget may not be the politically correct term but it’s what these little guys prefer to be called). I only saw a little bit of the wrestling action, but I don’t want to sell these wrestlers short. They were doing some impressive moves, which is no small feat. Sorry.
Zombie and Cooper, by the way, also have an association with pro wrestling. In addition to Zombie hosting Raw this past June, his song “Never Gonna Stop” was Edge’s entrance music at one time. Plus, he’s friends with former WCW star Diamond Dallas Page, who appeared in Zombie’s film, “The Devil’s Rejects.”
Cooper, of course, was in the corner of Jake “The Snake” Roberts when Roberts faced The Honky Tonk Man at WrestleMania III.
After sitting through a talk-heavy episode of TNA Impact Thursday night, it was refreshing to watch a wrestling show in which there were actual wrestling matches, including a couple of really good ones.
Friday’s Smackdown featured a series of qualifying bouts to determine who will represent Team Smackdown against Team Raw at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view on Oct. 24. Unlike the Raw squad, Smackdown has assembled an All-Star team that includes former world champions The Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Edge and Jack Swagger, as well as Kofi Kingston and Alberto Del Rio. The surprise member of the team is Tyler Reks, who returned to TV with a tougher look and attitude.
Edge and Dolph Ziggler had the best match of the night, and the Mysterio-Cody Rhodes contest also stood out. While the established stars predictably won those two matches, Ziggler and Rhodes both got in a lot of offense and looked strong in defeat.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
Smackdown opened with a cool shot of The Undertaker standing on the top of the arena. He hung out there all night until appearing in the ring for a confrontation with Kane and Paul Bearer in the final segment. ...
It was announced that Kane will defend the world heavyweight title against The Undertaker in a Buried Alive match at Bragging Rights. Hopefully, that will be the blow-off match to this feud. ...
There was more silly hocus pocus stuff with The Undertaker and Kane at the end of the show, but the segment was effective as far as establishing that The Undertaker is again a force despite not having Bearer and the urn by his side. ...
When Bearer was discussing the Buried Alive match in a pre-taped promo, he sounded like he was reading off a teleprompter. ...
The Big Show sat in on commentary during several of the qualifying matches and he did a good job of getting all of the competitors over and making Bragging Rights seem like a big deal. With that being said, however, the brand versus brand concept is still a tough sell because the talent moves from show to show so frequently. There really is no such thing as a Raw guy or a Smackdown guy (well, except for The Undertaker, who has been on Smackdown for seven years straight). There are four guys in the Raw vs. Smackdown match (Big Show, Kingston, Swagger and R-Truth) who were on the opposite side in last year’s match. ...
The finish to the 2009 Bragging Rights match saw The Big Show betray Kingston and Team Raw in favor of Team Smackdown. Now that Big Show and Kingston are once again teammates, I wonder if there will be tension between them. ...
Rivals Mysterio and Del Rio being on the same side could be interesting. ...
I like what WWE did with Kaval and the way Reks was re-introduced. Big Show told Kaval that he could have a spot on Team Smackdown if he could last five minutes in the ring with him. Big Show dished out a lot of punishment to Kaval, but he never attempted to pin him, so it was almost like an initiation of sorts. After the match, Big Show shook Kaval’s hand. Moments later, Reks came out and challenged the weakened Kaval to a match with Kaval’s spot on the line. Kaval, showing that he won’t back down in any situation, accepted the challenge. Reks made quick work of him and took his spot, which puts heat on Reks and makes Kaval a sympathetic underdog. ...
Reks’ new look is an improvement, but the robotic promo that he cut on his way to the ring didn’t do him any favors. ...
I liked the spot in the Edge-Ziggler match when Ziggler hit the Zig-Zag into the ring steps and Edge was nearly counted out. ...
It was nice to see Swagger get a convincing victory, but it’s too bad it had to come at MVP’s expense. I’m always torn when Swagger and MVP wrestle because I’d like to see both guys get a push. By the way, WWE really needs to ditch Swagger’s ridiculous eagle mascot. I think the gimmick is hurting Swagger more than it’s helping him. ...
Speaking of convincing victories, I thought Kingston defeated Drew McIntyre a little too easily. ...
After last week’s loss to Mysterio, Del Rio looked strong in beating Chris Masters. ...
Michael Cole apparently is now a regular member of the Smackdown announce team with Matt Striker and Todd Grisham, so why does he keep referring to himself as a Raw guy when he is actually a Raw and a Smackdown guy? ...
Did anyone miss Michelle McCool? No, me either.
The good news for TNA is that this past Thursday’s Impact was the highest-rated episode of the show since January.
The bad news is that the quarter-hour breakdowns show that the longer the show went, the more people tuned out.
Coming off the company’s biggest pay-per-view of the year – Sunday’s Bound for Glory, which featured Jeff Hardy turning heel and the reveal that Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett are “They” – Impact did an overall rating of 1.4, which is up from last week’s live show (1.3) and the previous week’s episode (1.2).
However, while Thursday’s talk-heavy show opened with a strong 1.5 first quarter, it dropped in subsequent quarters, bottoming out with a 1.2 in the final one, which included the segment with The Shore and JWoww of “Jersey Shore.”
The rating for this coming Thursday’s Impact should be a good indication of whether the hostile takeover story line and Hardy’s heel turn are resonating with viewers.
Here is the second and final part of an interview I conducted with former WWE star Gregory Shane "Hurricane" Helms last weekend at the Maryland Championship Wrestling show in Joppatowne, Md.
In this part, Helms answers a series of light-hearted true or false questions.
There’s no way for me to sugarcoat this: Thursday night’s TNA Impact was one of the worst episodes of the show that I have seen in some time.
For one thing, there was way too much talking and way too little wrestling. But beyond that, the story line of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff staging a hostile takeover of the company had a been-there, done-that feel to it.
Viewers also were “treated” to a title change reminiscent of one of the lowest points of WCW, as the champion simply laid down for the challenger. And to top it all off, there was another horrible segment with The Shore and several scenes with annoying D-list celebrity J-Woww from “Jersey Shore.”
It all added up to three hours of my life (if you count Reaction) that I’d love to have back. In all honesty, if it wasn’t for having this blog, I probably would have fast-forwarded through a large portion of the show.
Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:
I get it that TNA needed to explain Bischoff and Hogan’s master plan, but the talking segment at the top of the show went so long that I began to think it was going to spill over into Reaction. ...
Jeff Hardy’s explanation for turning heel was pretty lame. He said something about blaming the fans’ cheers for his pain. Huh? Hardy tried, but I just don’t buy him as a heel. It seems too forced. Later in the show, he cut a monotone promo and referred to himself as “the anti-Christ of professional wrestling.” When he said that, there were some cheesy Exorcist-like special effects to help get the point across. ...
Sting and Kevin Nash turned down an invitation to join the Bischoff-Hogan group (which is known as Immortal) and walked out. Nash apparently is finished with TNA for real, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Sting ended up back in the rafters in the silent vigilante role. ...
After waiting an hour for the first wrestling match on the show, TNA gave us a “match” between Knockouts champion Tara and Madison Rayne that was right out of 1999 WCW and brought back bad memories of the infamous Hogan-Kevin Nash “finger-poke of doom.” Whatever shred of credibility the Knockouts title had left disappeared during this fiasco. Rayne instructed Tara to “do the right thing,” which was to let Rayne pin her, and Tara did exactly that. If the competitors don’t care about the title, why should anyone else? Perhaps it will be revealed that Rayne is blackmailing Tara or something along those lines, but it’s still counterproductive to do these “BS” title changes. ...
The main event between Rob Van Dam and Mr. Anderson to determine the No. 1 contender for Hardy’s TNA world title had a horrible finish, as Bischoff came down to the ring and ordered the referee to leave. Hardy then hit the ring and attacked both guys. ...
The two other matches on the show weren’t much. In one, Samoa Joe defeated Abyss by disqualification in about two minutes. And in the other, Fortune’s A.J. Styles, Beer Money, Kazarian and Douglas Williams defeated “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero in a handicap match. Despite having a five-on-one advantage, Fortune nearly lost and had to cheat to win (as Taz pointed out in commentary). Talk about making a faction look weak. I suppose it could have been worse, though. If it was Tommy Dreamer in there instead of Dinero, Fortune probably would have lost. ...
The best performer on Impact and Reaction was Jeff Jarrett. His motivation for joining Hogan and Bischoff – the Carter family taking his company from him and pushing him aside – made perfect sense and his delivery was very good. The verbal exchange between him and Kurt Angle was especially strong. Angle, by the way, said he was a man of his word and would retire, but then he kind of left the door open. ...
After Jarrett attacked Angle, Taz got up from his seat at the announce table and told Jarrett to leave Angle alone. Jarrett backed down, which made no sense. Why would Jarrett be afraid of Taz? ...
The Shore once again was greeted with massive go-away heat. The pay-off to J-Woww (God, I hate even having to type her name) was a weak-looking catfight between her and Cookie. I don’t even know why they were mad at each other, nor do I care. The funny thing about all of this is that “Jersey Shore” was on MTV at the same time as this segment, and Robbie E. even pointed it out. Brilliant. ...
Orlando Jordan got over with me when he told J-Woww that “Jersey Shore sucks.” ...
The first segment of the show featured Bischoff and Dixie Carter’s lawyer having a heated exchange. As far as acting goes, the lawyer made Carter look like Meryl Streep. ...
The audio was terrible for the backstage segment with Carter, Nash, Sting and Dinero. You could barely make out what they were saying. When Sting told Carter that he tried to warn her about Hogan and Bischoff, she said that she would have listened if he would have just come out and said what was on his mind, but instead he was “speaking in tongues.” ...
Carter’s husband showed up on the scene and immediately got punched in the face again. Now that was funny, although not as funny as when Carter called Bischoff a “smug sh*t.” I’m guessing it’s wasn’t the first time he’s been called that. ...
Bischoff finally realized that Miss Tessmacher has, um, loose lips, so he demoted her to being a wrestler in the Knockouts division. If he really wanted to punish her, he should have forced her to watch this episode on a continuous loop. ...
Samoa Joe had a couple of unintentionally funny lines. He said that he rarely makes mistakes on who he trusts, and he also said that he doesn’t need to be part of a group. Apparently he forgot when Nash strung him along and turned on him, as well as the fact that he was a member of the Main Event Mafia. ...
RVD remarked that he and Hardy are lifelong friends. That’s a new one.
Here is an interview I conducted with former WWE star Gregory Shane "Hurricane" Helms this past weekend at the Maryland Championship Wrestling show in Joppatowne, Md.
Helms discussed his MMA pursuits, whether he will go to TNA, his frustration with being part of WWE's ECW, and his good friend Matt Hardy's recent exploits.
Check back on Saturday for Part 2, in which I ask Helms a series of fun true or false questions.
Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said in a news conference Thursday that he uses Ric Flair's catch phrases to motivate his team, which begins play in the National League Championship Series against the San Francisco Giants Saturday night.
Listening to Manuel, however, I'm not sure "conquering Space Mountain" means the same thing to him that it does to "The Nature Boy."
Here is a video clip about the Flair/Manuel connection from the Fox affiliate in Philadelphia.
Matt Hardy, who has practically been begging for his release from WWE on YouTube and Twitter, finally got his wish. Hardy was wished well in his future endeavors by WWE today.
Hardy tweeted the following this afternoon:
“Thank God! :) I swear.. It was harder for me to get released then it was to get hired! This is ABSOLUTELY what I want, now I can be me! I wanna thank WWE for giving me an opportunity, & I thank all the people & friends that helped me there. But I HAD to move on to be happy. I wanna thank JR, who hired me, Michael Hayes, who taught me SO much, & Vince, for letting me make a living & learn from him for 12 years.
“While some of you make look at this as an ending-I promise you, this is THE [expletive deleted] BEGINNING FOR MATT HARDY! Now I can create change! Altho WWE gave me SO much, I honestly feel like a prisoner set free. Now I have no more strict rules, personal or creative, to be bound by.”
Joining his brother Jeff in TNA seems like the obvious next move for Matt.
Matt had been under contract with WWE since 1998, except for a four-month period in 2005. He was always over with the fans even during periods when he was buried on television. But while a case could certainly be made that he never received the push he deserved, he didn’t exactly blow anyone away with his performance as a heel during a high-profile feud with Jeff in 2009.
Former WWE Diva Katie Lea Burchill (real name Katarina Waters) has signed with TNA, according to a report on pwinsider.com.
Burchill – who will not be able to use that name in TNA – had been released by WWE last April. She was never given a significant push in WWE despite the fact that she had a unique look and was a decent worker.
This is another good signing for TNA as it attempts to reinvigorate its Knockouts Division. Former WWE star Mickie James, who was released by WWE the same day as Burchill, made her debut with TNA last week.
Check out our WWE Divas photo gallery.
Here is an interview I conducted with former WWE star Carlito this past weekend at the Maryland Championship Wrestling show in Joppatowne, Md.
Carlito discussed the Wellness Policy violation that led to his WWE release, his frustration with WWE while working there and whether he will end up in TNA.
Here is a report on this past Saturday’s WWE Raw house show from Stockton, Calif., courtesy of reader James V. I know this is a few days late, but I just came across James V.’s report while deleting old e-mails and it was so detailed that I decided to run it anyway.
Take it away, James:
WWE held a Raw house show at the Stockton Arena Saturday night in front of a few thousand people. There were 10 matches over about two hours and 45 minutes and they put on a solid show overall. Matches are listed by who came out first.
Goldust vs. Ted DiBiase Jr.: Goldust came out wearing the Million Dollar Belt, which he stashed beneath the ring while shushing the crowd before DiBiase came out in anger, demanding to know where the belt was. As he started to look around the opposite side of the ring, Goldust went after him. Things went back and forth for a little while at a good pace before Goldust got the pin with a twisting sort of suplex slam like the one seen on Raw recently. After the match was over, he laid the belt out on the mat and licked it, and then on the way to the back he gave a quick kiss to a female security person who followed each wrestler to the ring and back. WINNER: Goldust in about 8 minutes.
Zack Ryder vs. Mason Ryan: I had no idea who Mason Ryan was and it was tough to hear his name at first, but I was able to figure it out online after getting back home. He's currently the FCW champion and had been in the UK version of Gladiators in 2009. He's a fairly big guy, cut a bit like Batista, and in this match he used the basic big man moves. Kind of tough to tell how far along he is but he seemed decent enough in defeating Ryder with what looked like something very close to the Black Hole Slam used by Abyss. Perhaps we'll see him on NXT soon? We all know how Vince likes his men big (ahem). WINNER: Ryan in about 7 minutes.
The Bellas came out for a few minutes and schmoozed with the crowd. They did a little trivia, asking a kid who the WWE champ was. The kid said Sheamus. Then another one came up with John Cena. Finally the third kid got it right, saying Randy Orton. Ah, live events.
Nexus (Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel w/David Otunga) vs. Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov: It took a few minutes for this one to start because the anonymous Raw general manager interrupted to inform ring announcer Justin Roberts of a stipulation that there would be a dance-off that the fans would judge. Very predictably, Santino and Kozlov went first and got the crowd going with their moves, which is always funny to watch. Otunga and Gabriel then started to dance a little before Slater left the ring to grab a mic and complain about how stupid the whole thing was, refusing to go through with it. One guess who the fans deemed the winners. Once the match began, Otunga went to the floor. Santino started out against Gabriel and there was a bit of horsing around by Santino, including teasing the Cobra. Before long, Kozlov took control against Slater, then he tagged Santino back in. Action soon went outside the ring, where Otunga got a few licks in on Kozlov with the ref distracted before Gabriel and Slater used quick tags to their advantage. At one point Gabriel got Kozlov up for a bodyslam before Santino got the hot tag. It wasn't long before Otunga interfered again, leading to a jumping neckbreaker by Slater and the 450 Splash by Gabriel on Santino for the pin. WINNERS: Gabriel and Slater in about 13 minutes.
William Regal vs. Ezekiel Jackson: Jackson played babyface in this one. Before the start of the match, Regal tore into Jackson on the mic, saying he was devastated that Jackson would be so ungrateful as to ask for a match with him after everything they did in ECW (which he said only 16 people watched). He went on to say Jackson looked weak and feeble, pathetic. Regal attacked Jackson, but moments later Jackson turned it around and made Regal submit with the Torture Rack. After Jackson went to the back and Regal got to his feet, he stood in the middle of the ring for a few moments looking upset, then left while shaking his finger a few times as if to say "just this once." Typical quick squash match but they may be working Jackson back into things slowly. WINNER: Jackson in about 1 minute.
CM Punk vs. R-Truth: On the way to the ring, Punk stopped and stood in front of a kid for about 30 seconds while the kid laid into him verbally. Punk crouched to lean over a bit along the way, then went "boo" before continuing along to circle the outside of the ring and mess with a few more fans. Once he got on the mic he did the usual "I'm better than all of you" spiel and said he's beaten up everyone on Smackdown (naming the Undertaker and Big Show but also Arn and Ole Anderson, which seemed strange) so he came to beat up Raw next. Then he said, "I can beat up anyone here" and pointed to a few in the crowd before issuing an open dare, saying he'd make whoever came out go to sleep. R-Truth's music hit and he danced his way to the ring. During the intro, Punk sat next to Justin Roberts while looking bored. R-Truth played to the crowd before tossing his shirt into the seats. Punk teased doing the same with his shirt only to fake the throw and lob it to Roberts instead. R-Truth then took the shirt, put it on for a moment to a chorus of boos, then took it off, laid it in the center of the ring and came off the ropes for a leaping punch on it to the delight of the crowd. Once things got underway, Punk was mostly in control early, thwarting R-Truth's comebacks here and there. At about the 10-minute mark, they knocked each other down and both got back up at nine. Then a little more back-and-forth action ended up with R-Truth falling to the GTS. Punk is quality when it comes to working a crowd, no doubt about it. WINNER: CM Punk in about 12 minutes.
John Morrison vs. Daniel Bryan for the United States Championship: Morrison came out to a bigger pop. Bryan offered a handshake to start, which Morrison accepted. Lots of technical mat wrestling early before a test of strength that led to Morrison flipping Bryan over onto his back. Their hands remained locked and Morrison was flipped over next as they broke, but he landed on his feet before Bryan was sent outside. The crowd was still behind Morrison, and Bryan shook hands with him again upon getting back in. More mat holds and reversals led to Morrison going outside soon after. They hooked up again and Bryan methodically went to work on Morrison's left arm, snapping it over his shoulder multiple times along with bending it this way and that on the mat. I kept waiting for a "boring" chant but to the crowd's credit they didn't go there. After a few near falls, Bryan led into a knee following a hop-up and leap off the top rope, going back to the left arm again before missing a flip off the top while landing on his feet. Both men went down after hitting each other coming off the ropes. They each got up at the count of nine. There were punches back and forth before Morrison got a few signature moves in that led into Starship Pain, which he missed when Bryan rolled out of the way. Bryan followed with the LeBell Lock but couldn't hook it in completely, as Morrison managed to escape it before a couple more near falls led into Bryan coming out on top thanks to a roll-up into a seated pin. While Bryan caught his breath in the corner, Morrison came over and gave him a hand back up before leaving. A solid match, but the crowd was pretty lukewarm toward Bryan. WINNER: Bryan in about 14 minutes.
Intermission, including the Bellas tossing shirts to the crowd.
Wade Barrett vs. Mark Henry: There was good heat for Barrett. Henry was in control early until following Barrett outside, which he paid for. Barrett soon went to work on Henry's left arm, but the World's Strongest Man fought back briefly. Barrett then hit a flying elbow off the second rope before taunting the crowd. Barrett sized up a couple left-handed punches on Henry before a right, and then he went back to the arm. The crowd got behind Henry, who got to his feet with Barrett on his back. He squashed the Nexus leader in the corner and then hit him with a clothesline. At that point, The Nexus came out and distracted Henry and the ref while Barrett exposed a turnbuckle. He ran Henry into it twice before setting up for a spinning DDT off the top for the pin (no Wasteland, which was probably a good call considering how awkward it looked on TV the last time Barrett tried it on Henry). WINNER: Barrett in about 8 minutes.
Alicia Fox and Maryse vs. Eve and Melina: There was a big pop for Melina. Eve and Maryse got in each other's faces to start before all four briefly went at it. Fox and Maryse teased leaving but were brought back in the hard way. They teamed up on Eve for a bit before Fox got knocked into Maryse, sending her to the floor. That led to Melina getting the hot tag and she worked on Fox briefly before scoring the fall with her back arched over Fox during the pin. Fox and Maryse teased dissension on the way to the back. WINNERS: Melina and Eve in about 7 minutes.
Sheamus vs. Randy Orton in a Steel Cage Match for the WWE Championship: There were massive cheers for The Viper. It was a real back-and-forth match all the way, with neither wrestler getting the advantage for long. They began with a tie-up that worked its way around the ropes, then traded attacks briefly before Sheamus stomped Orton in the corner. Orton then turned the tables and gave it right back, leading into a clothesline and a missed knee drop that shifted things back to Sheamus. Sheamus wound up between the ropes and the cage, leading into him taking a dropkick against the cage. Back inside the ropes, Sheamus reversed a DDT and tossed Orton into the same spot of the cage. Sheamus tried to climb out but Orton stopped him before being reversed into the ropes, taking a knee, a few kicks and a backbreaker across Sheamus’ knee for a two count. Sheamus was then run into the cage before Orton suffered the same. Then Orton sent Sheamus into the steel a few more times prior to going down courtesy of a double axe handle by the Celtic Warrior. Orton recovered in time to stop Sheamus from crawling out of the open door, but he took a suplex for two. Things slowed briefly around the 10-minute mark but picked up again as both wrestlers knocked each other down. Sheamus charged into the corner before taking a pair of clotheslines, a powerslam and a belly-to-belly suplex from Orton. But Sheamus came back again for another backbreaker. He then missed the Brogue Kick into the ropes, leading into Orton hitting the DDT off the second rope. Sheamus then blocked an RKO and hit the Brogue Kick a second time for two. He set up Orton for the High Cross, intending to throw him into the cage, but Orton slipped out. Nexus ran out and began to climb the cage, giving Sheamus a chance to go for an escape over the top on the opposite side, but Orton got away from the distraction in time to stop him before hitting the RKO for the pinfall to retain the title. This was a great match with constant action nearly the entire way. WINNER: Orton in about 15 minutes.
After the match was over Nexus (Barrett, Otunga, Gabriel and Slater; John Cena was not there) entered the cage and surrounded Orton before attacking him. Goldust and Daniel Bryan ran out to help and moments later Mark Henry, Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson joined them to make it a pretty unique six-on-four. I think Jackson saw more action here than he did in his own match. The rest of Nexus was soon sent out, leaving Barrett alone with the rest. Henry grabbed Barrett and pushed him toward Orton, who closed things with another RKO. The others left to let Orton celebrate.
All told, there was about 85 minutes of actual wrestling along with the intros and intermission. Good times for a little under $30!
• Tuesday night’s episode of WWE NXT ended with Goldust proposing to Aksana, who accepted. I’m guessing that Ted DiBiase Jr. and Maryse will crash the ceremony. I wonder if Goldust will wear a gold wedding dress.
• It was a good night for Naomi, who delivered a solid promo, had a good showing in the ring and won the Power of the Punch competition.
• The women were asked to cut a promo on a topic of their choice. Naomi ripped on Michael Cole and came off a lot more natural and less scripted than the others. A.J. sounded nervous doing her “I love to eat pizza and play video games” deal; Kaitlyn’s promo about Vickie Guerrero fell flat; Aksana did a lame “I love America and Double-Double-E” promo; and Maxine cut a heel promo in which she basically said nothing.
• Naomi lost to Alicia Fox but was able to get in a lot of offense. Fox won after hitting her Scissors Kick twice. The first kick was too far down on Naomi’s back. Realizing that it missed the mark, Naomi kicked out (or perhaps Fox instructed her to do so) and Fox did the move again. It didn’t look much better the second time.
• A.J. destroyed the competition in a game of “Name That Tune” in which the all of the songs were WWE entrance themes. She was the first to answer correctly on all but one of the tunes; Naomi got the other one and the rest of the women were shut out. It was mostly current themes, but A.J. also got Dusty Rhodes’ old “Common Man” song. No one recognized the Legion of Doom’s song. As A.J. was getting one right answer after another, Cole said that she needed to get a life. So his message is that if you’re really knowledgeable about WWE then you need to get a life. Vince McMahon couldn’t have been happy about that remark. Cole also referred to A.J. as a nerd, so she is the female version of Daniel Bryan.
• The small package that A.J. used to beat Aksana was pretty sloppy but the rest of the two-minute match was fine.
Not only is the story line of John Cena joining The Nexus a compelling one, but it also is making a star out of Wade Barrett. That was clearly evident watching Monday night’s Raw.
Barrett did an excellent job on the mic during his verbal exchanges with Cena, especially in the final segment. He came across very sure of himself and his taunting of Cena generated a lot of heat.
With his considerable speaking skills, impressive size and solid in-ring ability, Barrett is proving worthy of having a top spot.
Other thoughts on Monday’s show:
Barrett turning his back to Cena and daring him to do something made for a dramatic conclusion to the show. …
I liked the main event, which saw The Miz defeat Cena in a no-disqualification match to become the Raw team captain at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view on Oct. 24. Miz definitely looked like he belonged in a high-profile match with the company’s biggest star. The no-disqualification stipulation pretty much guaranteed that there would be outside interference, and it came in the form of Michael McGillicutty and Husky Harris, who attacked Cena and cost him the match. Barrett announced that McGillicutty and Harris will become official Nexus members if they defeat Cena and Randy Orton in a tag team match on next week’s show. Barrett told Cena to “do the right thing.” Throwing Orton into the mix adds another layer of intrigue to the story line. ...
I thought The Miz had already been named the Raw team captain before Monday’s show. At least that’s what The Big Show said on Smackdown this past Friday. If that was a slip-up on Big Show’s part, I’m surprised WWE didn’t edit it out. It did telegraph that Miz was going to beat Cena. ...
Just as I figured, CM Punk is the guy who was traded from Smackdown to Raw in exchange for Edge. Punk was put over strong, as he scored a convincing victory over Evan Bourne in a Team Raw qualifying match and then destroyed Bourne in a post-match attack. The injury angle was done because Bourne reportedly needs shoulder surgery and will be out for four months. Now that Punk is on Raw, perhaps we’ll get a Punk-Orton feud at some point. ...
Six of the seven members of Team Raw were decided in a series of qualifying matches. In addition to The Miz, the team consists of Punk, John Morrison, R-Truth, Sheamus and Santino Marella. Yes, Santino Marella is on the team by virtue of his win over Zack Ryder. Ryder really gets no respect. ...
It’s pretty silly for the announcers to be acting as if Cena getting a mixed reaction from the crowd is something that hasn’t been happening for years. Cena, in his promo at the beginning of the show, even acknowledged that fans have always either loved him or hated him. ...
It was a nice touch having Cena hesitate for several seconds before saving Barrett from an attack by The Miz and Alex Riley. ...
I was glad to see Daniel Bryan booked to be competitive against Sheamus after he was made to look weak on last week’s show when Sheamus beat him down. I’d like to have seen Bryan win but I knew that wasn’t happening. ...
Justin Gabriel got in a decent amount of offense before losing to Orton. Orton was fortunate that he wasn’t injured when he failed to move out of the way fast enough on Gabriel’s 450 Splash. Gabriel landed hard on Orton’s back. ...
Morrison’s win over Tyson Kidd was short but exciting. I’d be interested in seeing a longer match between them. It was announced that the match originally was supposed to have been a triple threat that included Kidd’s tag team partner, David Hart Smith. Smith no-showed, however, as his gradual heel turn continues. ...
The match between R-Truth and Ted DiBiase Jr. was decent. The look on Maryse’s face during R-Truth and Eve’s entrance was great (it was a combination of befuddlement and disgust). ...
The heat that Michael Cole got after receiving the first e-mail from the anonymous Raw general manager was almost at a Vickie Guerrero level. ...
During the Sheamus-Bryan match, Cole said that Team Raw lost at SummerSlam, and Jerry Lawler never corrected him. Team Raw beat The Nexus at SummerSlam. ...
When Michelle McCool and Layla were talking during a verbal exchange with Natalya, Lawler said, “Please get the hook.” My thoughts exactly.
Kevin Nash, who wrote on Twitter Saturday that he was leaving TNA, tweeted early this morning that his final appearance with the company will be at tonight’s Impact tapings.
“If you were a fan of mine, please stay true to TNA,” he wrote. “My deal went south on money not respect for the guys I worked with or the production crew that busts their a** every week.”
Nash also indicated that he was not going to WWE. A source within WWE told me recently that the company would not sign Nash if he became available.”
If Nash is truly leaving and the decision-makers in TNA knew it heading into Sunday’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view, it’s mind-boggling that they still booked Nash to beat Samoa Joe in the handicap tag team match at the show.
"They" are here. And Jeff Hardy is one of them.
“They” – the mysterious entity that Abyss has been referring to and taking orders from – finally were revealed at TNA’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view Sunday night.
As expected, Hulk Hogan (who miraculously was able to appear at the show despite supposedly being incapacitated after multiple back surgeries), Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett are all part of “They.” The only question going into the show was which main-event-level guy was going to join them in the group.
I thought Mr. Anderson made the most sense from a business standpoint. Hardy – who was rumored to be the guy to do the turn, and if you were paying close attention to Impact there were several hints – made the least sense business-wise. So of course Hardy is the one that TNA decided to go with.
The big reveal occurred during the three-way main event for the vacant TNA world title between Hardy, Anderson and Kurt Angle. After a ref bump and with all three guys down, Bischoff came to the ring wielding a chair. Suddenly, Hogan’s music hit and he hobbled to the ring on crutches.
Hogan and Bischoff acted like they were going to go at it, but Hardy then got to his feet and stood between them. Hogan gave Hardy one of his crutches, and Hardy proceeded to whack both Angle and Anderson with it. Hardy then hit the Twist of Fate on Anderson to win the match and the title.
Hogan, Bischoff and Hardy were joined by Abyss and Jarrett in the ring to celebrate, as the fans pelted the ring with trash.
My reaction to the whole scene was more of a groan than a gasp.
While I’m sure Hogan, Bischoff and Vince Russo are convinced that they have re-created Hogan’s heel turn at WCW’s Bash at the Beach in 1996 – which took that company to unprecedented heights – it came off more to me like the Goldberg heel turn at WCW’s The Great American Bash in 2000 – which was ill-advised, poorly-received and quickly aborted.
Sure, turning Hardy – one of the best babyfaces in the business – is something different, but different doesn’t necessarily translate into good business. I think it’s unlikely that fans will accept Hardy as a heel, so why even go there? I’m also not convinced that Hardy can pull off playing a heel.
Beyond that, the whole “They” story line dragged out too long, and by the time we got to the payoff, everyone had figured out that “They” were Hogan, Bischoff and Jarrett, and that Sting had been right all along. All of the cryptic talk and insider stuff about things that had happened behind the scenes in WCW more than a decade ago has been more annoying than compelling.
Plus, an nWo-like heel faction attempting a hostile takeover of the company has been done to death by Bischoff and Russo over the years. Talk about a couple of one-trick ponies.
Overall, Bound for Glory, was a mixed bag. The matches were mostly good – and in the case of the tag team match between The Motor City Machine Guns and Generation Me – great, but in addition to the climax of the show falling flat, there were a few matches that didn’t do much for me, and the booking for the Lethal Lockdown match between EV 2.0 and Fortune was highly questionable.
Here is a match-by-match look at the show:
Jeff Hardy defeated Mr. Anderson and Kurt Angle to win the vacant TNA world title (18:40): Angle and Anderson had both talked about this potentially being the Match of the Year, and while it was really good, it fell short of that even before the over-booked, predictable finish. The match was laid out well and all three guys worked hard and demonstrated terrific timing. At the 8:50 mark, Angle had both Anderson and Hardy in ankle locks, but they broke free. About a minute later, Anderson hit an impressive Rolling Senton off the top on Angle for a near fall that was broken up by Hardy’s Swanton Bomb. At the 11:20 mark, Angle delivered an Angle Slam off the top onto Anderson, who was covered by Hardy for a two count. About a minute and a half later, Hardy spun out of Angle’s ankle lock, sending Angle right into the grasp of Anderson, who landed the Mic Check for the nearest of near falls. A couple minutes later, Anderson ducked Angle’s clothesline attempt, and Angle inadvertently took out the referee.
At that point, Bischoff came to the ring with a chair and Hogan followed moments later to set up the finish. It came off a bit silly that all three wrestlers had to sell like they were dead while Bischoff and Hogan took their sweet time pretending to argue. After the match, RVD came down to confront Hardy, who clobbered him with the title belt. Angle had vowed that he would retire if he didn’t win the title, but we all know that’s not happening. His out came be that he was double-crossed and also that it was Anderson who technically got beat.
Rob Van Dam defeated Abyss in a Monster’s Ball Match (12:58): This was a good hardcore match. RVD and Abyss took turns taking sick bumps onto a board that was wrapped in barbed wire. At one point, RVD was getting ready to come off the top rope, but Abyss tossed a chair from across the ring that smashed RVD in the head, and he went crashing through the barbed wire board outside the ring. RVD eventually got the win after hitting Abyss in the gut with the board of nails and then landing the Five Star Frog Splash. Abyss was spitting out blood after the match, selling internal injuries.
EV2 (Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Rhino, Stevie Richards and Sabu) defeated Fortune (A.J. Styles, Kazarian, Matt Morgan, Robert Roode and James Storm) (24:44): Team captains Mick Foley and Ric Flair started brawling on the floor before the match, and Flair almost immediately sliced his forehead open in an obvious manner. So Flair, who wasn’t even in the match, was bleeding before the opening bell. He also fought with Foley later during the match and again did a blatant blade job. “The Nature Boy” has some serious issues. As for the match itself, I thought it was entertaining for what it was. It was certainly not something that you’re going to see in WWE, as just about everyone was bleeding at some point. I didn’t care much for the finish, however.
While Kazarian and Richards were battling on the roof of the cage, Brian Kendrick – who had been hiding up there unbeknownst to everyone – suddenly popped out and prevented Kazarian from diving off a ladder onto Richards, who was lying on a table. So the babyfaces needed help from someone who wasn’t in the match. Back inside the cage, Dreamer hit a Dreamer Driver off the middle rope on Styles and pinned him for the victory. Dreamer beating Styles is a complete joke and it’s beyond me why TNA would book their franchise guy to job to a guy whose prime was more than a decade ago and was never even the biggest fish in a small pond. I also don’t see the benefit of having a group of in-their-prime studs such as Fortune losing to a bunch of former ECW guys. I suppose one could make the case that it made sense for EV 2.0 to win since it was a weapons match and that’s their specialty, but I still think the wrong team one.
I also couldn’t help thinking as I watched the match how badly TNA has dropped the ball with Morgan. At last year’s BFG, he had what should have been a career-making match against Angle in the second-biggest match on the show. Angle versus Morgan was billed as “Wrestling’s Best versus Wrestling’s Future.” Apparently, the future isn’t now. By the way, someone in TNA figured out that Fortune has more than four members, as the spelling has been changing from Fourtune.
“The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero, Kevin Nash and Sting defeated Samoa Joe and Jeff Jarrett in a handicap match (7:41): Joe started the match and did not attempt to tag Jarrett until just after the six-minute mark. Jarrett refused to tag him and walked to the back. Nash, Sting and Dinero tried to say “I told you so” to Joe, but an incensed Joe went after Nash. Joe was out-numbered, however, and Nash quickly finished him off with a Jackknife Powerbomb. And once again Joe is made to look like the most naïve babyface of all time.
TNA world tag team champions The Motor City Machine Guns defeated Generation Me (12:53): This was a fantastic opener that was hard-hitting and had a rapid pace. All four guys were flying all over the place, as there was one spectacular high spot and near fall after another. One spot that stood out saw Jeremy Buck hit a 450 Splash onto Chris Sabin, who was hanging across the middle rope. Another one was Sabin running across the ring and jumping up to the top rope to deliver a Release German Suplex on Max Buck. Sabin and Alex Shelley got the win after hitting their Skull and Bones finisher on Jeremy.
TNA X Division champion Jay Lethal defeated Douglas Williams (8:16): Lethal picked up the victory after turning Williams’ top rope huracanrana into a sunset flip in a solid match. After it was over, The Shore hit the ring, and Robbie E. laid out Lethal. Once again, a promo by The Shore was greeted with a “boring” chant. What’s the over/under on when the TNA creative team realizes this isn’t going to get over?
Tara defeated TNA Knockouts champion Angelina Love, Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky to win the title (5:54): Mickie James was the special referee, which was about the only thing that was special about this match. The finish saw Sky go for a roll-up on Tara – knocking Rayne off the apron in the process – but Tara rolled through and grabbed the tights for the win. It wasn’t executed smoothly and Tara barely had any of Sky’s tights. Rayne was upset at Tara after the match and she also wasn’t happy with James. Rayne slapped James, who responded by KO’ing her.
Ink Inc. defeated Orlando Jordan and Eric Young (6:37): I had zero interest in this match, but the crowd certainly seemed entertained by Young, so it served its purpose. The gimmick is that Young is so goofy that he spends half the match battling his own partner. Ink Inc. got the win after hitting a combination top rope neckbreaker/Samoan Drop on Jordan.
Team 3D’s announcement: Brother Ray had promised on Impact that this announcement would “change tag team wrestling” forever. It ended up being Team 3D saying that they had nothing left to accomplish and were going to retire. Yeah, and Angle’s also retiring and Abyss is fired. Before Brother Ray and Brother Devon hang up the tights, however, they said they want one last match for the TNA world tag team title against The Motor City Machine Guns.
Alberto Del Rio received a blemish on Friday night’s Smackdown, and even “Dashing” Cody Rhodes’ cosmetic creams will not be able to remove it.
Del Rio lost for the first time on WWE television, as Rey Mysterio gained a measure of revenge by scoring a decisive victory over the man who had put him on the shelf for six weeks.
WWE did a good job of making the match feel important by showing clips throughout the show that recapped the Mysterio-Del Rio feud. The match was good, as were the four other bouts on the show.
I was a little surprised that WWE didn’t keep Del Rio’s undefeated streak going longer, but I’m guessing that Del Rio will do something on this Friday’s show to get his heat back and keep the feud going.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
The Edge-Jack Swagger match got Smackdown off to a strong start. I was hoping that Swagger would win this one since he put Edge over last Sunday at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, but Edge winning Friday made sense because WWE is obviously trying to get some momentum going for him now that he is part of Smackdown. It feels like Edge’s babyface turn is getting over better than his previous one. …
Sometimes silly can be entertaining, and other times silly is just silly. The Swagger Soaring Eagle is just silly. Hopefully we’ve seen the last of Swagger’s mascot, who was taken out on a stretcher after being speared by Edge. …
I was glad we got the Dolph Ziggler-MVP Intercontinental title match that we didn’t get last week due to The Nexus attacking both guys. Ziggler won due to interference from Kaitlyn, which furthered the love triangle story line between those two and Vickie Guerrero, but it was odd that Kaitlyn, who I thought was supposed to be a babyface, would cheat to help Ziggler. …
I think the scary music that played while Kane cut his promo was even more over-the-top than usual. Please make it stop. …
I liked the tag team match in which Rhodes and Drew McIntyre defeated Kofi Kingston and Kaval. It was a solid win for the champions, and the babyfaces got in a lot of offense before losing. …
The Layla-Kelly Kelly match (won by Layla) was decent. The best part was that LayCool wasn’t doing a running commentary throughout the match this time. I’m glad someone realized how bad that was on Raw Monday. By the way, I really could do without seeing LayCool on both shows every week. …
Here’s a real surprise: The only bad segment on the show involved Hornswoggle. The little guy was announced as the official mascot for Team Smackdown for the Bragging Rights pay-per-view on Oct. 24, which makes Swagger’s Soaring Eagle just the second-most annoying mascot on this program. It also was announced that The Big Show and The Miz are the team captains for Raw and Smackdown, respectively. The segment featured a verbal exchange between The Big Show and The Dudebusters, who ended up getting choke-slammed. I thought The Dudebusters were supposed to be wacky babyfaces now. Whatever.
I conducted a phone interview earlier this week with Mr. Anderson, who will face Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy in a three-way match for the vacant TNA world title at Sunday’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view.
Talk about the differences in the creative process between WWE and TNA. It appears that the talent has more creative freedom in TNA. Is that accurate?
Yeah, creative freedom in WWE is kind of like an oxymoron. And that’s their business decision. Don’t knock them, because their ratings are pretty positive. But from a wrestler’s standpoint, from an artist’s standpoint, it’s a lot more fun when you can get out there and be yourself and goof off a little bit and not take everything so seriously and not take yourself so seriously and just really have fun. The thing here is that if I’m putting a match together and somebody has an idea, I don’t get upset, and I don’t have somebody getting upset at me if I come up with a better idea. I’ve had some other situations where I’d come up with an idea and I’d get the old, “Hey, you just worry about the wrestling and I’ll worry about coming up with the creative stuff,” which is just silly. To me, two heads are better than one when it comes to working on creative stuff.
What are your thoughts on the stylistic changes in TNA’s creative direction, as far as Reaction concept and the documentary-style backstage segments?
I love it. The first time I saw it, I thought this right here is what wrestling needs. It was always interesting to me that everything that takes place in a wrestling show always takes place in whatever building that they happen to be in. But you have this whole world out there. Wrestlers are traveling on the road constantly. Why not follow them to their hotels at night or get in the car with one of them and listen to them tell stories on the road? I love the fact that TNA is really blurring the line between fact and fiction, which is what wrestling is really all about to me.
You recently signed a contract extension with TNA. How many years is it for?
Three more years.
So I take it you’re happy in TNA.
I am. I’m very happy. They’ve been very good to me. We worked out a good deal. I was very happy with it; my agent was happy with it. I would like to stay where I’m at. Never say never in this business or any business for that matter, but for all intents and purposes, I would really like to finish my career here in TNA.
Would you say that you had a bit of a chip on your shoulder when you first came to TNA? Did you feel like you wanted to prove something to WWE after the way things ended there?
Absolutely. I’ve proven that to myself. I don’t really care if I’ve proved that to them at this point. I did at one point. I was really pretty bitter for a good year, but I’m way over that now. I’m glad that things happened the way they did because since parting ways from that company, I’ve had a lot of great opportunities come into my life that I wouldn’t have gotten had I still been there. TNA is one of those. The agency that I work with is another one. It’s one of those agencies where everybody that works there is always looking for opportunities for you. I’ve got 30 agents working to find me roles in movies and television shows and things like that, so I’m constantly reading scripts and doing auditions. I’m actually coming home from an audition right now. There are a lot of good people that came into my life after everything went down, so I‘m very happy.
So you’re still pursuing acting roles even though you’re no longer affiliated with WWE, where you had a role in one of their films?
Even moreso. There was a situation in WWE where I was offered an audition for a role on “Burn Notice,” which comes on right after Raw, and I was told no, that it wouldn’t benefit the WWE in any way, shape or form so why would we let you do that. Here in TNA, as long as I fulfill my obligation to [TNA president] Dixie Carter to the best of my ability, we have an understanding that she and the company will try to work around some kind of a schedule so that I can pursue those other things. It’s kind of like one hand washes the other, too. If I’m able to get out there and represent TNA Wrestling to a degree – a TNA wrestler gets a series regular spot or a big movie – it would totally be a good thing for TNA and I think that’s the way they look at it.
I don’t want to rehash old news too much, but when Randy Orton suffered a shoulder injury during a WWE pay-per-view several months back, you commented about it on Twitter and you didn’t exactly feel sorry for him, did you?
I was actually posting about Brett Michaels winning “The Apprentice.” I said: “It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy and karma’s a mo-fo.” [laughs] No, it was just kind of one of those rash decisions that I made in saying that. I don’t wish any ill will toward anybody. Again, I’m happy that things worked out the way they did. I’m in a much happier place right now. That was really stupid of me and kind of sophomoric to say something like that.
You’ve said that you were surprised at how things went down with your release from WWE because you and Orton had been friends. Now that you’ve had a while to look back on it, do you have any idea why things deteriorated?
No, I don’t know, and to be honest with you, I don’t really care [laughs]. Again, I’m happy where I’m at.
It’s been said that the travel schedule in TNA is easier than the one in WWE. With TNA doing more and more house shows, is that still the case?
Absolutely. I look around and I see some of my friends [in WWE] who were injured for the last three years – one guy in particular had a hernia that had been bothering him for a long time and was given three weeks off to heal that before he got out on the road again and wasn’t necessarily wrestling, but he was still having to travel, and just that stress and not being able to just stay home and relax and recuperate and recover and fully heal. He was just forced to push it, push it, push it. And then I think the guy broke his wrist and he got three more weeks off for that and he had one more injury and got another three weeks off. Here at TNA, we’ll go down to Orlando and we’ll have three or four days where we do tapings, and then we’re off for the entire month except for a couple house shows here and there. It’s great to be able to go out there and bust your [butt] for three days, work really hard and then go home and be able to rest and recover, because sometimes it takes you three or four days to recover. To be honest with you, with WWE, you had two days off, and the first day home you’re already thinking like, “God, I have to start packing tomorrow to leave the next day.” It’s just very taxing and it wears on you emotionally and physically.
We all know pro wrestling isn’t a true competition in the ring and titles aren’t really won and lost in that sense, but what would it mean to you to become a world champion Sunday, which is something that you haven’t done yet in your career?
Even though we know that it is a prop, that wrestling is entertainment, it is very competitive. To have the company put their seal of approval on you would be a good feeling.
One of the guys you’re working with at Bound for Glory is Kurt Angle. What is it like being in the ring with someone as intense and driven as he is? Is it more pressure to perform at a certain level, or is it easier because he’s just so good?
To me it’s easier because you have less to focus on. You don’t have to think about his stuff. You know that he’s going to do his thing and you don’t have to worry about it. He’s going to be where he needs to be. I guess I can explain it this way: I wrestled with [The Undertaker] a lot when I was with WWE, and we would go into the ring sometimes with nothing in our heads – we wouldn’t even know what we’re going to do. Those were some of my favorite times because I just knew that I was in good hands and I had nothing to worry about. I’m working with two pros this weekend – Jeff [Hardy] and Kurt both know what they’re doing in there and I have the utmost confidence. Our plan is to tear the house down. We hope to have the match of the night; we hope to have the match of the year.
Mr. Anderson is on Twitter at twitter.com/secondpower .
Photo courtesy of tnawrestling.com
There’s just something about a show being live that creates an exciting atmosphere, but as Thursday night’s live TNA Impact proved, the rush of live TV doesn’t always translate into an entertaining episode.
The go-home show for the Bound for Glory pay-per-view was disjointed and didn’t do a very good job of pushing Sunday’s show.
The most compelling part of Impact was the Last Man Standing match between Mick Foley and Ric Flair, which, not surprisingly, saw both men spill a lot of blood. Part of what made the match interesting was the train wreck aspect of it, and I had mixed emotions watching the spectacle. I admire the willingness of both men to subject their bodies to such punishment for our entertainment, but watching it also made me a little sad (that’s a word I seem to use a lot when writing about Flair these days).
As expected, former WWE Diva Mickie James made her TNA debut on the show. She got a good pop and it’s great to see her back on television, but it came off flat.
James was brought out by Miss Tessmacher and announced as the special referee for the four-way match for the Knockouts title at BFG, but her appearance at the Impact Zone was a bit anti-climactic because she already had been shown arriving backstage prior to going to a commercial break. During Reaction, James said she was in TNA to go after the champion – Madison Rayne. Unfortunately, Angelina Love is the champ. Such are the pitfalls of live TV and working without a net.
Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:
The opening segment with Abyss manhandling TNA president Dixie Carter and taking her hostage went on too long and missed the mark. Even though Abyss was wielding a board of nails it seemed kind of silly that no one tried to save Carter. …
The kidnapping angle led to Carter demanding that Eric Bischoff fire Abyss. Why couldn’t she just fire Abyss herself, you ask? Well, because that would have presented a story line problem. Bischoff had Abyss’ termination papers drawn up and he got Carter to sign them, which she did without reading them first. Hmmm. …
I didn’t like the finish to the Foley-Flair match. After Flair put Foley through a table by diving off the top rope onto him, Flair got to his feet but then did his face-first comedy bump into thumbtacks (earlier in the match he took a back-body drop into the thumbtacks). Foley, meanwhile, was able to stand (sort of) and was declared the winner. We never heard the referee make the 10 count and therefore it was lacking in drama. …
Within the first two minutes of their match, Foley and Flair were both bleeding heavily. Foley was busted open about 30 seconds into the bout, and Flair did a really obvious blade job a short while later. …
The Royal Rumble-style battle royal, which was won by Kurt Angle, wasn’t especially compelling, but TNA did do a good job of putting Abyss over strong. For some reason, Rob Van Dam got to enter the battle royal at the very end. I thought he wasn’t cleared to wrestle until 10-10-10. …
Bischoff, Sting, Kevin Nash and “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero talking in circles has gotten really old. Thank God the payoff is coming Sunday. Speaking of which, apparently Hulk Hogan will not wrestle in the six-man tag match at BFG due to undergoing back surgery, and instead Sting, Nash and Dinero will face Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe in a handicap match. Footage of Hogan’s surgery and him recovering in the hospital were shown. There’s no chance this is all an elaborate work and he shows up on Sunday to turn heel, right? …
I knew The Shore was going to be bad, but their debut was instant WrestleCrap. I actually felt bad for Rob Eckos and Becky Bayless, who were portraying Robbie E. and Cookie, respectively. A gimmick based on characters from “Jersey Shore” is just a horrible idea and has Vince Russo written all over it. The reason I don’t watch “Jersey Shore” is because I hate that type of reality garbage and couldn’t care less about Snookie and The Situation, so I certainly don’t want it on my wrestling program. Plus, people I work with who watch “Jersey Shore” tell me that the show comes on at the same time as Impact, which makes it even more absurd that TNA would create these characters. I hope TNA realizes that The Shore was getting go-away heat and they drop the gimmick immediately and repackage Eckos and Bayless. Something tells me they will try to force it down the fans’ throats, though. …
Thanks to The Shore making their debut, the vignette and match featuring the new tag team of Orlando Jordan and Eric Young was only the second-most embarrassingly bad thing on the show. I can’t believe a promising team such as Ink Inc. had to job to those guys. It was done, however, to set up a rematch at BFG. That actually makes me less likely to watch the pay-per-view. …
The women’s tag team match that saw Love and Velvet Sky defeat Rayne and Tara was OK, although the finish seemed to come out of nowhere. With the win, Love and Sky get to keep The Beautiful People name and entrance music. Why they had to win a match to keep what was theirs anyway I have no idea. …
For some reason there was video of Jay Lethal hanging out at the New Jersey home he grew up in. It wasn’t very interesting and just seemed to be filling time. I kept waiting for a heel such as Douglas Williams to suddenly appear and attack him to set up a TNA X Division title match at BFG, but it didn’t happen. …
Here’s something to think about: With James and Jeff Hardy now both on TNA’s roster, WWE has lost its most popular female and perhaps its most popular male to the competition. …
Some thoughts on Reaction: This was the worst episode of the show so far and it was mostly due to it being live. There was a lot of talking but not a lot being said. There also were some technical issues. The feed went out right in the middle of an interview with James. By the way, in the graphic, James’ first name was shown as “Mickey.” I’m not sure if that was a mistake or if she has changed the spelling for her stint with TNA (Mickie James is her real name). … The camera work was really annoying, as it kept panning in and out and showing close-ups of people’s hands and chests. … The climax to the show was a locker room brawl between Angle and Mr. Anderson, which was supposed to be intense but was actually funny at certain points. Every time Angle would walk away, Anderson would mutter something under his breath, and Angle would come back and say, “What did you say? Say it to my face.” After it happened a couple times, Angle actually said, “This is stupid!” The segment concluded with Angle taking down Anderson with a low blow. As the camera panned in on Anderson while he writhed in pain on the floor, he said, “Oh, my nuts.” Ugh.
Mickie James, the newest addition to the TNA Knockouts division, will be joined by former WWE stars Carlito and The Hurricane at Maryland Championship Wrestling’s Aggravated Assault at the Joppatowne Plaza Flea Market on Saturday.
In addition to those three seeing action in the ring, MCW heavyweight champion Ryan McBride defends the title against former tag team partner Teddy Stigma.
Bell time is 6:30 p.m. For more information, click here .
A recurring story line with Mick Foley’s character in TNA is whether he can still perform at a level that does justice to his past glories.
That theme also is at the heart of Foley’s just-released book, “Countdown to Lockdown,” but it goes beyond exploring whether the hardcore legend can still deliver in the ring. Foley, who set the standard for wrestling autobiographies with 1999’s “Have A Nice Day” – one of two books written by Foley that hit No. 1 on the New York Times’ best-seller list – also raises the question of whether “a fourth wrestling memoir was important enough to write, let alone important enough to expect people to read.”
He ultimately reaches a positive conclusion about the worth of the book, and after reading it, I agree with him. “Countdown to Lockdown” proves that Foley still wields a mighty pen (he wrote the book longhand in notebooks, just as he has done with his previous books). Like the “Rocky” movies that Foley references in the book, his literary sequels may not garner the acclaim of the original, but they’re still pretty darn entertaining in their own right.
“Countdown to Lockdown” chronicles the build-up to Foley’s match against Sting that headlined the Lockdown pay-per-view in 2009. As Foley points out, that match and that show have already been largely forgotten, but it was a significant time period in Foley’s life, both personally and professionally, and I think wrestling fans will find the story compelling.
Foley’s gift for storytelling is once again on display, as he takes readers behind the curtain and into the creative process during what proved to be a bumpy road to Lockdown. In typical Foley style, the tone is frequently humorous and the narrative is peppered with pop culture references.
The book does take several detours while counting down to Lockdown. Among them are chapters devoted to his departure from WWE and his ill-fated stint as a color commentator there, his charity work and – in what he has called his favorite chapter – meeting singer Tori Amos, whose music has played an important role in his wrestling career.
He also addresses some serious subjects concerning the wrestling business, such as wrestlers dying young, the Chris Benoit tragedy, performance-enhancing drugs and substance abuse. “An Open Letter” is an especially intriguing and insightful chapter, as Foley offers his advice to “every wrestler: past, present and future” about the dangerous pitfalls of the industry.
The only aspect of the book that left me a bit unsatisfied was Foley’s recounting of his unpleasant experience as a color commentator in WWE. He acknowledges that WWE chairman Vince McMahon routinely screamed expletives at him over the headsets during broadcasts, but, unfortunately, Foley refrains from going into the specifics of the exchanges, preferring to write about the situation in a humorous vein and “leaving the actual content of the headphone head games between Vince and myself, and between you and your imaginations.”
That’s a minor complaint, however. Ultimately, “Countdown to Lockdown” is an enjoyable and at times thought-provoking read that adds to Foley’s literary legacy.
I called Mick Foley today to record an audio interview with him about his new book, "Countdown to Lockdown," but I ended up speaking with some special friends of his instead.
One of the things I was going to ask him about was the fact that he said in the book that he does three imitatons really well -- Rocky Balboa, Vince McMahon and Terry Funk -- but I never got the chance.
To listen to the audio, click here .
• Jamie was the first rookie Diva to be eliminated from WWE NXT Season 3, as the series made its debut as an online-only show Tuesday night. I can’t argue with Jamie getting the boot. I figured it would either be her or Aksana. Kudos to Jamie for delivering a classy farewell promo after she was voted off.
• The highlight of the show was an entertaining match between Vickie Guerrero and Kaitlyn. It certainly wasn’t a technical wrestling classic, but both women played their roles well and what they did in the ring didn’t look bad. It certainly was better than any match involving Lacey Von Erich. Kaitlyn got the win after a distracted Guerrero yelled at Dolph Ziggler, who was outside the ring, for not helping her win.
• It was a good night for Kaitlyn, as she also won a talent competition. Her talent was drawing an unflattering stick figure of Guerrero. Seriously. I thought Aksana should have won for her impressive and unique set of pushups (she did them with her arms folded over her legs in an unnatural position). A.J.’s talent was flexibility, but she had no chance after Aksana’s act. Naomi did a really good rap but the crowd booed her. Haters. Jamie’s talent was making out with Matt Striker. I got the sense that he had no idea that was coming, but he certainly wasn’t complaining. Maxine never got around to performing her talent. Instead, she took the opportunity to present Hornswoggle with a pie and apologize to him for dumping him out of the wheelbarrow on last week’s show. Of course the pie ended up in her face. If this was the Attitude Era, a hot woman, a little person and pie would have had a different punch line.
• Kaitlyn’s feud with Vickie is definitely getting her over. Since she and A.J. both won the most competitions (three), the crowd was asked to determine which of them would get immunity. Kaitlyn won by a landslide.
• The show opened with a mechanical bull-riding competition, which Aksana won. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the rookies ride the bull. Is that so wrong?
• Aksana looked like she nearly broke Maxine’s neck when delivering a snapmare during their match. I don’t know how Maxine avoided being seriously injured. For the finish, Aksana executed the worst small package ever. Kaitlyn versus Guerrero was like Flair-Steamboat compared to this.
• The Aksana deportation story line continued, as a representative from immigration served her with papers and told her that she has four weeks to clear things up. You mean WWE actually thinks she is going to be on the show four more weeks?
John Cena in The Nexus equals ratings. Well, at least that was the case Monday night.
This week’s Raw – which featured Cena officially becoming a member of The Nexus – did a 3.3 rating, which isn’t spectacular, but it’s way up from the alarmingly low numbers the show posted the previous two episodes (Raw did a 2.7 last week and 2.8 the week before).
Time will tell if this is the start of a trend, but WWE certainly has to be pleased with the initial spark the Cena/Nexus story line has provided.
I conducted a phone interview last week with TNA star Mick Foley, whose latest book, “Countdown to Lockdown,” was released on Friday.
Did you know that WWE was going to plug your book on Raw? What are your thoughts about them doing it?
I had a vague idea because I had gotten an e-mail from my publicist saying that someone from WWE had requested a copy of the book and asked me if I was OK with that. I said it was fine, and I received a phone call from someone who was not Vince McMahon telling me that they really appreciated the time I had spent there and that they were going to be mentioning my book. It was one of those things that I had to really see to believe. So even with a little bit of a head’s up it still caught me by surprise when it came on the air.
I think it caught a lot of people by surprise. And then WWE did the “This Week in WWE History” segment that showed you as Cactus Jack defeating Triple H from a Raw in 1997. The combination of the two things has people speculating that you are the mysterious Raw general manager. You want to put that one to rest?
[Laughs] You know, it’s dragged on so long that I’ve wondered if they’re waiting on my contract with TNA to run out. I’ve got a full year and I’m very happy where I am. It’s fun to be part of these rumors. It really was a nice gesture on their part and it’s something that is very much appreciated.
In "Countdown to Lockdown," you chronicle the build-up to your match with Sting at the Lockdown pay-pay-per-view in 2009. Why did you choose that time period to write about?
Well, it was arguably my biggest match in at least five years, probably right up there with the match I had with Edge at WrestleMania in 2006 and maybe bigger because the match with Sting had been the biggest part of the build to this show. Over time, obviously, we learned that [WrestleMania XXVI] was a much bigger show, but heading into both shows – not that we thought we were going to do anywhere near the number – we had the sense that we had done a really good job building that main event. So I think it’s a chance for fans who have probably read a number of WWE-related books to take a first look at a TNA book and see what that company looks like behind the scenes.
You tackle some serious subjects in the book. There are chapters on performance-enhancing drugs, wrestlers dying young and Chris Benoit. What motivated you to address those subjects at this time?
The Benoit situation had taken place after my last WWE book, and it was something that I had promised myself I would address when all the smoke had cleared from that initial feeding frenzy. I just really felt like at the time of the deaths that the television shows covering the tragedy were only interested in little sound bites and arguments. I knew it was a very complex issue and I felt like it was the type of issue that would really best be taken on in book form. I think people who read Internet blogs are usually trying to fit it in during a busy part of their day, and there’s only so much information that you digest. Whereas an experience with a book is a little more comfortable, and I think people are a little more willing to really delve into information.
There’s a chapter in the book titled “An Open Letter” in which you speak to “every wrestler: past, present and future” on the subject of wrestlers dying young. Have you gotten any feedback yet from anyone in the business?
I have not gotten any feedback about that chapter. I’m interested to see what the reactions from younger wrestlers might be. I had addressed the developmental guys in WWE’s two developmental territories at the time – Ohio Valley Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling – and I wanted to do a chapter that would have the potential to reach anybody who was in the business or thinking of breaking into the business. I would like to think that trainers would be making this one chapter mandatory reading, even if they go run it off on a Xerox machine. I’m not suggesting they buy a copy for each wrestling trainee. But I think it’s a pretty good perspective from a guy who’s been around a long time and that it should be part of a conversation that other wrestlers should feel free to join in on. I don’t ever claim or feel like my thoughts or answers are the only ones that are important, but I do think when it comes to these really timely discussions that I do have a voice to add.
You wrote about your brief stint as a WWE color commentator and you give the reader a sense of what it was like having Vince McMahon yelling at you in your headset, but you refrain from getting into the specifics of what he actually said to you. Why did you decide to not make that public?
Well, I got some of that bitterness out during post-announcing interviews with different news sources and I just thought it would be dated, kind of childish. And by that time I had come to appreciate the surreal nature of that situation and thought it would be better to write it in a fun, unusual type of fictional format that would allow the readers to use their own imagination.
I know that your favorite chapter in the book is the one you wrote about meeting singer Tori Amos. Has she seen the final version of it, and have you gotten any response from her about it?
I don’t know if she’s seen the final hardcover version, but I was able to get her the original chapter when I wrote it about 15 months ago. There was this fear I had that the real Tori Amos might not particularly want to be in a wrestling book. As it turns out, she was very flattered, enjoyed it very much and she said she was looking forward to reading the rest of the book. In large part, I think it kind of put a certain fear into me that the book better be pretty good. So I definitely felt a little extra pressure to make chapters that were written later on, like “an Open Letter” and the one about the substance problems and the one about the little boy in Africa, really good.
What I really liked about that chapter is that is showed you, a guy who obviously has a level of fame and has fans who look up to you, on the other side of that equation. It showed you as a fan of someone and kind of being nervous about meeting them for the first time.
I’ve actually met quite a few of my heroes from the past. I’ve been disappointed with a couple of the encounters, but I was not swayed from listening to their music or watching their movies, but the Tori Amos connection was very personal and I was a little worried that if she were anything but super nice it might cloud the great experiences I’ve had preparing for matches by listening to her music. But she was awesome. She could not have been nicer, and she was a very positive influence as the book moved forward.
You wrote in the book about the charitable work that you’ve done with ChildFund International and RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network), and you donated your entire advance for the book to those two organizations. Tell me about your work with them.
Those are the two main groups I work with. I volunteer with other groups but as far as financial donations, those are my two big ones. RAINN in particular was a group that I just thought I could benefit solely as a donor. It never really dawned on me until about a year ago that I might want to give volunteering a try. It was a difficult adventure because at the time I had really limited computer skills, so to be an online volunteer, it took a little courage on my part, if I may say so, and I’m glad I did it. It’s been one of the most important things in my life and I think I’ve turned into a pretty good volunteer and I hope to do it for many years to come.
The news broke last week that your life story is going to be made into a feature film. Tell me about that.
I had met with the director Christopher Scott several years ago and he convinced me that he had a unique way of telling a story that would lend itself to the big screen. I think I was really hesitant because until “The Wrestler” came out I don’t know if I believed that any wrestling story could be well told or accepted by an audience. So when I received another call from him out of the blue several months ago, I was very open to working with him. Together we worked out I think a really good way of telling a story that will appeal to wrestling fans and non-fans alike. I’m very involved in the process and will be writing the script for Scott over the next several months.
Will you play yourself in the movie?
Oh, man, those things have not been decided. I’d have to lose a ton of weight. So if you hear of me employing DDP’s YRG routine you’ll know that there may be a place for me in the movie.
Well, Howard Stern pulled it off, so you could probably do it.
Yeah, Stern acknowledged the ridiculous, that he looked a little too old to be playing a high school kid but you’d just have to use your imagination. But he did a great job. Who knows? That’s one of the things we’ve talked about, but I would guess that if some talented Hollywood star really wanted to play Mick Foley that I might have to allow that to happen.
Anybody in mind?
No, we don’t have anybody in mind. I’m more thinking about which hot Hollywood actress I might get to make out with.
In TNA, you’re currently working with Ric Flair, a guy you’ve certainly had your ups and downs with over the years. What’s it like working with him at this point?
You’ll see the promo tonight [Note from KE: This interview was conducted last Thursday], and unless I’m imagining things, it’s going to leave a great impression. He knew I was going to challenge him to a match and I knew he was going to say something about me being a pretty good father who needed to stay out of the ring, and that was it. We went out there and I think put some really memorable stuff on film. Anything that comes out on that interview is at least grounded in the truth, so there was a lot of real emotion in that promo, and afterward I felt more excited about pro wrestling than I had in a long time.
After you do a promo like that in which there are real emotions, what’s it like when the two of you get backstage? Is there any uneasiness, or do you shake hands and say that was great?
We were both aware that we had done something pretty special out there. There was no uneasiness. We had both acknowledged that anything was fair game once we were in the ring and that it was just a part of doing business.
I always like touch on politics with you because I know you’re knowledgeable about the subject. We’re not too far away from the two-year mark of the Obama presidency. What are your general thoughts on how he's done do far?
I think he is guilty of misreading the partisan rancor. I believed, like he believed, that there was a way to work with both sides, and I think there was a concerted effort by the Republicans to make his first two years very difficult. I’d like to think that both parties have America’s best interests at heart, and I think the Republicans felt that by making life difficult and by creating a situation where nothing appeared to be going well, that they could recapture the House and the Senate and then do what they thought was best for America. My fear is that if they do recapture the Houses, that the Democrats will then do the same thing, which is make life difficult for the Republicans. It’s almost like a game of political chicken, and eventually somebody is going to have to give in and do what’s right for the country.
Is there anything else about the book that you wanted to bring out?
I think people know by now that I do my own writing. This is the longest and hardest that I’ve ever worked on a book. There were several chapters that I worked on extensively in order to get them right. And I think that people who enjoyed my other works will like this one as well. I’m flattered that a couple of non-wrestling outlets like Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist have enjoyed the book and recommended it based on the non-wrestling chapters. I’ve made it real easy for wrestling fans to skip chapters that might not interest them and I think it’s very accessible to people who might enjoy my takes on life but not care so much about counting down to Lockdown.
If Monday night’s Raw was any indication, then the story line of John Cena joining The Nexus is going to be a good one and just might be exactly what WWE needs to spark the show’s sagging ratings.
Wade Barrett’s promo to open the show got a lot of heat, and Cena did a nice job of selling how conflicted he was over his circumstances. WWE then teased that Cena was going to be able to outsmart The Nexus by destroying them from within.
In a tag team match pitting Cena and Michael Tarver against Evan Bourne and Mark Henry, Cena refused to help Tarver and then destroyed him after the match. “I just proved that you can be Nexus and against us,” Cena said.
However, the anonymous Raw general manager announced that if Cena did not take direction from Barrett then he would not be honoring the stipulations of this past Sunday’s pay-per-view match and would be fired.
That set up the climax to the show, which was a 20-man battle royal to determine who faces WWE champion Randy Orton at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view on Oct. 24. Before the match, Barrett ordered Cena to make sure that Barrett won it.
Cena saved Barrett several times during the match, and they ended up being the last two men in the ring. Barrett demanded that Cena eliminate himself, and after Cena initially resisted, creating some drama, he did exactly that. So it will be Orton versus Barrett at the pay-per-view.
Of course, the big question with the Cena/Nexus story line is what the payoff will be. Will Cena eventually get an opportunity to win back his freedom and remain a hero to all the little kids and women in the “WWE Universe?” Or will he turn heel at some point and become a true member of The Nexus?
Creatively speaking, the best thing would be for Cena to turn, but will WWE have the testicular fortitude to pull the trigger? We can only hope.
Other thoughts on Monday’s show:
I was disappointed to see Cena continuing to wear his purple and gold t-shirt and cap. He was only forced to put on a Nexus armband rather than a black and yellow t-shirt. That was weak. …
Just as I predicted, Edge is leaving Raw for Smackdown, as the Raw GM announced that Edge had been traded. It makes sense because Edge seems lost in the shuffle on Raw and Smackdown needs another top guy on the roster. I wonder if we will find out on Smackdown Friday who Raw gets in the trade. CM Punk, perhaps? …
While Cena was delivering a long beat-down to Tarver, I was wondering why the rest of The Nexus wasn’t coming out to make the save, but Barrett later told Cena that he was going to get rid of Tarver anyway. Barrett also said that Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty – the two guys who interfered in the Cena-Barrett match Sunday night – were not part of The Nexus, but I’m guessing that’s going to change. ...
When the Raw GM said that he would fire Cena if he didn’t legitimately become a member of The Nexus, he stated that “no one man, despite his popularity, is bigger than WWE.” Well, except for The Rock, who, by the way, will be featured on WWE Classics on Demand the entire month of “Rocktober.” …
Michael Cole tried to make the point that the crowd didn’t know what to make of Cena being with The Nexus and therefore their reaction to Cena was mixed. Except it wasn’t. Cena almost always gets a mixed reaction, but ironically this crowd was solidly behind him. …
There is an interesting sub-plot developing with The Nexus in which David Otunga and Barrett are beginning to butt heads. …
The talking segment with Edge, Cole, The Miz and Alex Riley was entertaining. While I do think Edge going to Smackdown is a good move, an Edge-Miz program would have been fun. …
They replayed the segment from last week when Edge beat up the computer and it made me laugh out loud again. “Edge, stop looking at me like that. You’ve got the crazy eyes. … Cole, stop him, Cole!” …
I get it that WWE wanted Sheamus to get his heat back after losing to Orton at Hell in a Cell, but having him destroy Daniel Bryan wasn’t a smart decision. It made Bryan look really weak. Someone such as Primo should have been in that spot, not the U.S. champion who was coming off a big win at the pay-per-view. Now if Bryan returns the favor on next Monday’s Raw and this was the start of a program between the two, then I’ll take back what I said. …
Speaking of things that weren’t smart, shouldn’t Sheamus have sold even just a little bit the effects of being in a supposedly brutal Hell in a Cell match the night before? …
The person who came up with the idea of having Michelle McCool and Layla mic’d up during their tag team match against The Bellas should be fired. That was perhaps the greatest example of turn-the-channel heat since a certain bloated, Florida-based shock jock’s stint in TNA. …
Goldust was revealed as the mystery person who has been stalking Ted DiBiase Jr. and Maryse. It turns out that Goldust’s object of desire wasn’t either of them – it was DiBiase’s Million Dollar Belt. I don’t know why Goldust would want a meaningless belt, but I am glad that he’s in a program. He has gotten himself into really good shape and done an excellent job in an enhancement role. …
It was good to see Natalya put over strong, as she scored a quick victory over former WWE Divas champion Alicia Fox. …
Did I hear guest star Johnny Knoxville call someone a “tool?” That would be like Husky Harris calling someone fat. I was surprised to see WWE promoting Knoxville’s “Jackass 3D” movie in the first place. It’s not exactly a family film. …
When the giant hand appeared during the backstage segment with Knoxville, my first thought was, “Wow, Mark Henry and Mae Young’s kid has really gotten big.”
Every so often, John Cena changes his color scheme in a not-so-subtle attempt to keep his merchandise sales up.
Tonight on Raw, Cena will once again be donning colors that will be new for him, but I don’t think the members of Cenation will be rushing to wweshop.com this time to order what Cena will be sporting. That’s because Cena will be wearing the black and yellow that is representative of The Nexus.
At The Hell in a Cell pay-per-view Sunday night, Wade Barrett defeated Cena, which means that Cena has to join the group that he has been fighting for months.
With the Raw ratings significantly down the past two weeks, WWE needs to shake things up, and having the face of the company become a reluctant member (well, he’s reluctant for now, anyway) of the top heel faction certainly accomplishes that goal.
The Barrett-Cena bout was perhaps the best match on a show that featured several good ones, including the Submissions Count Anywhere match that saw Daniel Bryan retain the U.S. title against The Miz and John Morrison, and the Hell in a Cell Match in which WWE champion Randy Orton made a successful title defense against Sheamus.
Unfortunately, the pay-per-view ended on a flat note. The Hell in a Cell match between world heavyweight champion Kane and The Undertaker just wasn’t very exciting and the finish was extremely hokey. In a turn that couldn’t have been more telegraphed, Paul Bearer betrayed The Undertaker, using the “magic urn” to cost him the match.
Here is a match-by-match look at the show:
WWE champion Randy Orton defeated Sheamus in a Hell in a Cell match (22:51): This was a hard-hitting match that told a good story. Both guys dished out a lot of punishment but neither of them would stay down. At the 15-minute mark, Orton power-slammed Sheamus onto the steps, which had been brought into the ring, for a near fall. A few minutes later, Orton kicked out of a Brogue Kick, and then he kicked out again after Sheamus had slammed him in the back several times with a chair. At just under the 20-minute mark, Orton ducked another chair shot and hit the RKO, but Sheamus was able to roll out of the ring. Orton then went for the punt to the head outside the ring, but he missed and Sheamus followed up with another Brogue Kick. He threw Orton back into the ring and covered him, but Orton again kicked out at two.
At around the 22-minute mark, Sheamus went for the High Cross on the steps, which were still in the ring, but Orton countered and dropped Sheamus hard on his back onto the steps. Orton then hit the RKO for the win. The match solidified Orton’s standing as the top guy on Raw and it also made Sheamus look tough in defeat. Sheamus can definitely hold up his end in the ring, but I still don’t see that “it factor” in him.
World heavyweight champion Kane defeated The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match (21:38): Before the match began, Paul Bearer told The Undertaker that he wanted to remain inside the cage because The Undertaker needed him, but Undertaker told him no. That brief exchange confirmed my suspicion that Bearer was going to turn heel. This was a slow match that never really got out of first gear. At the 17-minute mark, Kane countered The Undertaker’s attempt at a Tombstone Piledriver and hit a Tombstone of his own. The Undertaker’s head looked dangerously low on the move, but apparently he was OK. After The Undertaker kicked out of Kane’s pin attempt at two, a frustrated Kane slugged the referee. That led to the cage being unlocked so that another referee could enter and the injured referee could be taken to the back. Bearer also slipped into the cage at that point. Kane stalked the rotund Bearer, who was moving (more like waddling, actually) very slowly, and forced him into the ring.
While Kane threatened Bearer, The Undertaker recovered and then choke-slammed Kane. As The Undertaker was about to finish off Kane, lights suddenly began to flash and thunder sound effects went off. It was so painfully obvious that Bearer was going to turn on The Undertaker. Bearer pointed the urn at The Undertaker and a bright light came out of it, blinding “The Dead Man.” Bearer then handed the urn to Kane, who smashed The Undertaker in the head with it. Kane followed up with a chokeslam for the win. All of the hocus pocus stuff was beyond silly. I was waiting for Edge – who says he is on a mission to eliminate everything that is stupid from WWE – to come out and spear them all. I’m ready for this feud to be over. On a side note, Kane was bleeding slightly from a cut on the top of his head during the contest, but the match was never stopped. That was a good call, because the fans would have booed them out of the building if a Hell in a Cell Match was interrupted to close a wound.
Wade Barrett defeated John Cena (17:48): The stipulation was that if Cena won, The Nexus had to disband, and if Barrett won, Cena had to join the group. The crowd was into this match more than any other on the show. Barrett, who looked like a legitimate main-event-level star in this match, controlled the bout early on, repeatedly beating Cena to the punch until Cena made a comeback at around the 8-minute mark. Shortly thereafter, wrestlers from both Raw and Smackdown (mostly babyfaces; I think Dolph Ziggler was the only heel) came out and ran off the other Nexus members, who had been standing outside the ring. There were some good near falls, as Barrett and Cena kicked out of each other’s finisher.
As Cena had Barrett in the STF at the 17-minute mark, a “fan” suddenly tried to enter the ring. Cena released the hold while the referee grabbed the guy and stopped him. With the referee’s attention diverted, another “fan” – this one was Husky Harris from NXT Season 2 – hit Cena in the head with a 2X4. That allowed Barrett to pin him for the victory. Little kids and women in the crowd were stunned, and Michael Cole – who was a total babyface during this match – was going crazy about what a travesty this was. Cena had a sad look on his face as he made his way to the back. By the way, several wrestling websites were saying that the first guy to hit the ring was Michael McGillicutty, also of NXT Season 2, but I couldn’t see his face well enough to tell.
U.S. champion Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz and John Morrison in a Submissions Count Anywhere match (13:33): These three put on an entertaining match that took place mostly on the floor, in the crowd and on the entrance ramp and stage. At the 6:30 mark, Miz had Morrison trapped in a Dragon Sleeper around a guard rail, but Bryan broke it up. About five minutes later, Morrison performed the high risk move of the night when he dove off a lighting grid onto both guys on the stage. Morrison then had Miz in the Texas Cloverleaf on the ramp, but Alex Riley ran out from backstage and attacked Morrison. Bryan then took out Riley and applied the LeBell Lock to Miz, who tapped out. After the match, Miz’s biggest fan, Michael Cole, said that he had to admit that Bryan was for real.
Edge defeated Jack Swagger (11:31): This impromptu match, made by the anonymous Raw general manager, was set up by a segment that began with Alberto Del Rio cutting a promo, included mic work by Edge and Swagger and ended with Del Rio and Swagger jumping Edge. This was a decent match that saw Edge – who worked as a babyface – kick out of Swagger’s Gutwrench Powerbomb and maneuver his way out of the ankle lock before winning with a Spear. It was announced that the Raw GM demanded that Edge apologize to him tonight on Raw. My guess is that Edge will refuse to do so, which will result in him getting fired from Raw and joining Smackdown.
Natalya defeated Unified Divas champion Michelle McCool by disqualification (4:54): It was obvious watching this match that these two are more skilled in the ring than most of the other Divas, and they were having a nice match until it was marred by a bad finish. Natalya had McCool locked in the Sharpshooter, and just as it appeared that McCool was going to tap, McCool’s BFF, Layla, threw her shoe into the ring. That caused McCool to lose the match by disqualification but it saved the title. I was really surprised that McCool didn’t pin Natalya. I suppose this means Natalya will be getting another title shot, so that’s a positive.
Predictions for tonight’s WWE pay-per-view:
WWE champion Randy Orton vs. Sheamus in a Hell in a Cell match: I still don’t get the sense that fans care enough about Sheamus for him to be in this spot. If Orton doesn’t win, I riot.
World heavyweight champion Kane vs. The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match: I can envision a scenario in which Paul Bearer turns on The Undertaker and costs him the match, setting up another showdown between the “brothers” at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view in three weeks, but I really don’t think it’s going down that way. I expect The Undertaker to regain the title tonight, and then for Kane to attack Bearer on television and put him out, setting up a rematch in which The Undertaker has to beat Kane without Bearer (and the magical urn) in his corner.
Wade Barrett vs. John Cena: The stipulation is that if Cena wins, The Nexus disbands, and if Barrett wins, Cena has to join the group. The Nexus is barred from ringside and Cena will win automatically if any of them interfere. I don’t see The Nexus breaking up yet, and the story line of Cena having to join the hated black and yellow faction is a compelling one. Somehow, Barrett finds a way to emerge victorious.
U.S. champion Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz vs. John Morrison in a Submissions Count Anywhere match: It’s too early to take the title from Bryan. Plus, Miz doesn’t need the belt at this point, and I just don’t see Morrison winning. In fact, I won’t be surprised if Morrison is the one to do the job.
Unified Divas champion Michelle McCool vs. Natalya: It’s a shame that McCool keeps getting pay-per-view matches while Layla has to play cheerleader outside the ring. Oh well, it is what it is, as they say. I am glad to see Natalya getting a title shot, and these two will likely have a better-than-average Divas match. I would be stunned if McCool doesn’t win.
Note: With only five matches announced, I would expect there to be at least one more, possibly an Intercontinental title bout between champion Dolph Ziggler and MVP. Edge, CM Punk and Jack Swagger are among those who do not have an advertised match.
An act from Raw made the biggest impression on the debut episode of Smackdown on SyFy Friday night.
The Nexus interrupted the opening match for the Intercontinental title between champion Dolph Ziggler and MVP and laid out both men. Nexus leader Wade Barrett then announced that he was close friends with the president of SyFy and thus was able to book a couple matches for the show – Nexus versus The Big Show in a five-on-one handicap match, and John Cena versus Kane with The Nexus as lumberjacks.
Barrett and company went on to score a quick victory over Big Show, and their interference in the main event between Cena and Kane led to the match ending in a no-contest.
With The Nexus’ existence on the line for the Barrett-Cena match at Sunday’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, it made sense to feature them prominently on the go-home show.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
Overall, I thought this episode was a bit of a mixed bag. Having the top stars from Raw on added to the excitement level, but there were no matches or angles that were particularly memorable. …
I was surprised that The Undertaker and Paul Bearer didn’t cut a promo explaining why they were back together and Bearer isn’t siding with his “son” Kane and where Bearer has been for the past six years after The Undertaker tried to bury him alive in cement. …
Cena versus Kane was an interesting match-up, as it pitted two WWE veterans who have rarely wrestled each other (at least from what I can recall). I’m surprised WWE didn’t promote this match ahead of time. …
Regarding The Undertaker’s win over CM Punk, which was pretty much a squash, I get it that WWE was trying to show how much stronger The Undertaker is now that he has been reunited with Bearer (and the magical urn) than he was the last time he faced Punk, but Punk still deserves better. I really hope he gets into a productive program with someone soon. …
The segment with Alberto Del Rio and the returning Rey Mysterio got a good reaction from the crowd. I’m looking forward to a series of matches between these two. …
Nobody likes Jack Swagger more than me, but the segment with him proclaiming to be the king of Oklahoma or something to that effect was just stupid. Then again, based on what Edge said when he interrupted Swagger, I guess that was the intention. Edge said that he was making it his mission to eliminate everything that’s stupid in WWE. Hornswoggle better watch his back. Anyway, Edge was acting like a total babyface. Does that mean he’s turning again? …
Speaking of Hornswoggle, I’m not the biggest Michelle McCool fan, but I marked out for her when she kicked the little guy in the face. …
The Divas match in which Kelly Kelly, Natalya and The Bella Twins defeated Lay-Cool, Alicia Fox and Maryse had a lot of energy, but it was kind of a cluster. …
I was disappointed that the Ziggler-MVP match only went about two minutes before The Nexus interfered. However, The Nexus’ attack on Ziggler and MVP, which led to Big Show and Cena making the save, did get the show off to a hot start. …
Did Matt Striker actually say that David Otunga was “something of a pop culture icon?” Let’s not get carried away. …
Green Day’s “Know Your Enemy” is an excellent choice for Smackdown’s new theme song.
When I interviewed Mick Foley over the phone Thursday afternoon to discuss his new book (the Q&A will be posted within the next few days), he mentioned that he thought the verbal exchange he had with Ric Flair that was airing on TNA Impact later that night was something special. I had also read on a wresting website that it was “a great segment.”
After watching it, however, I felt a bit let down. It’s not that it wasn’t riveting. In fact, I was hanging on Foley and Flair’s every word. These two have had a well-publicized strained relationship in real life and they were speaking from the heart, not from a script. But I think it ultimately fell short of being the “magical moment” that Foley described it as on TNA Reaction.
For one thing, their promos were kind of all over the place (which is one of the drawbacks to not working off a script), as they were insulting each other in one breath and complimenting each other in the next – all with the same level of intensity.
And speaking of intensity, the two of them hitting themselves in the face until they bled just seemed kind of silly to me. Flair, in particular, was so over-the-top with his facial expressions and mannerisms that I thought he began to become a parody of himself. Plus, there’s just something about seeing a 61-year-old Flair pounding himself in the face until he’s busted open that makes me a little sad.
Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:
I liked the Kurt Angle-Abyss cage match despite the fact that it did not have a finish. I got nervous when Angle climbed the cage and appeared to be setting up for a moonsault off the top, but, fortunately, it was just a tease. Good work by TNA, by the way, for ending Impact with Angle on top of the cage and then having the match pick up from that spot on Reaction. …
Impact opened with Angle talking on the phone to Hulk Hogan, who apparently was telling Angle that he wanted him to take out Abyss in the cage match. If Hogan ends up turning heel at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view on Oct. 10 as I suspect, it can be explained that Hogan was actually softening up Angle for his TNA world title match at BFG by having him face Abyss in the cage. …
Beer Money losing to the make-shift team of Rhino and Tommy Dreamer was absurd, as is the continual booking of Super Dreamer. After being temporarily blinded by having beer spit in his eyes, Dreamer kicked out of a Back Stabber by James Storm and then hit the Death Valley Driver on Storm for the win. …
It was surprising to see Mr. Anderson win clean over Samoa Joe, but it makes sense given that Anderson is in the main event at Bound for Glory. Joe seems to have settled into an upper-mid-card role, which is probably where he belongs. …
Eric Bischoff was good on the mic during his verbal exchange with “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero, Sting and Kevin Nash. By the way, shouldn't Bischoff be angry at Miss Tessmacher for apparently telling secrets to Dinero and Nash? …
The Generation Me-Ink Inc. match (won by GM) was decent. …
The A.J. Styles-Brian Kendrick match was OK but I expected better from these two. I get it that Kendrick is playing an eccentric character, but it’s really hard for me to take him seriously when it looks like he’s wearing his mother’s bathrobe to the ring. …
Between the claustrophobic camera shots and the shrill, non-stop bickering, the scene with Miss Tessmacher, Madison Rayne, Tara, Angelina Love, Velvet Sky and Lacey Von Erich gave me a headache. This segment really looked like amateur hour and never should have aired. …
Some thoughts on Reaction: Angle was the star of the show. No one in TNA is better at doing worked interviews in such a realistic manner. … Vince Russo appeared on camera for the first time in years, talking about his history with Bischoff and Hogan. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing Russo return as an on-air performer – as long as he gave up his writing/producing responsibilities and was strictly talent. I enjoyed Russo’s heel work in WCW, but he got carried away with booking himself to be the star of the show. … Sting, talking about his drawn-out story line with Hogan and Bischoff, said: “I’m tired of all this stuff. Wrestling fans have to be tired of it.”Amen, Stinger.
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