What? I was supposed to review this at 9? What? I was supposed to use tweets? What? I should be publishing this right now instead of just starting on it? What? Deadline? What? Schedule? What? Punctuality? What? What? What? Truth be told, I was unable to catch the beginning of RAW or iMPACT for reasons beyond my control, so I opted to wait until after the shows were over to start writing about them. So I found a copy of RAW first – and fast! – so we’re going to start with the WWE’s show tonight. Too bad today’s only 3/15, because with our guest host tonight, 3/16 may have been more appropriate – That’s right, Stone Cold Steve Austin is our host tonight, and he’ll be moderating the contract signing between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon for their WrestleMania match. Speaking of WrestleMania, it’s WrestleMania rewind night tonight! We’ll get a rematch from WrestleMania XIX, which I happened to have attended, when Shawn Michaels faces the World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho. We’ll see a rematch of WrestleMania XX’s opening contest when John Cena faces The Big Show. WrestleMania 25’s main event will also see a rematch tonight, as Randy Orton takes on Triple H.
Alright, I don’t want to talk too much (this is the RAW review, not the iMPACT review, y’know!), so let’s get started!
Welcome all to another edition of Random Randomness. Happy St. Patrick’s day to all those who celebrate it on Wednesday. Here in JTland the celebration has already started. But we’re not here to talk about that this is a wrestling website so lets talk about wrestling:
We’re still rolling here on the Road to WrestleMania! Will ShoMiz respond to getting rolled over by John Morrison and R-Truth on Monday? Will Chris Jericho continue to be rolled over by Edge when the number one contender to Jericho’s title is the guest on the Highlight Reel? Will I continue to try to work the word “roll” into every sentence?
Let it roll, let it roll, Friday Night SmackDown is unstoppable, and it’s starting now!
Hey folks. We love to joke around here on BoredWrestlingFan.com, but sometimes there are situations where we have to be absolutely serious. This is one of those times.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts’ granddaughter is fighting for her life, and we encourage everybody to help in any way they can. For a $25 donation, Jake will mail you an autographed photo and personally call you on the telephone. He’s posted all of the information on his MySpace blog, so please check it out and help save the life of a little girl.
Last week: David Otunga and R-Truth had a bit of a falling out.
The theme song plays, the pyro goes off, and the broadcast team of Michael Cole and Josh Matthews welcome us to WWE NXT!
R-Truth and David Otunga make their way to the ring, Truth rapping the whole way. Otunga can care less about Truth’s performance, he walks right past his mentor and into the ring.
Matt Striker is standing by backstage, and he explains the rules of the show once more. The pros will vote on the rookies – but they can’t vote for or against their own rookies.
AWESOME!
The Miz leads his rookie, Daniel Bryan, to the ring. This is a tag team match, which will probably wind up coming down to which team can put aside their differences better. Miz has a pep talk for Bryan. Right now, Bryan is 0-2. He hasn’t proven anything to anybody yet. Last night on RAW, Miz was jumped. This match is very important to him. If Bryan is pinned tonight, Miz will make sure he never achieves his goal of becoming a WWE Superstar. And he’ll have him thrown off of NXT.
R-Truth & David Otunga def. The Miz & Daniel Bryan
Bryan starts off with R-Truth, with Truth having the upper hand early on. Otunga gets the tag in and the team of Truth and Otunga start utilizing classic tag team strategy, keeping Bryan away from The Miz. Things get a bit crazy – Bryan and Miz get dumped to the outside by Truth, who dives on them, sending us to a…
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
When we come back, Michael Cole screws up David Otunga’s name, calling him Daniel Otunga. Miz and Bryan are also in control by this point. Bryan tags in The Miz, who admonishes him for showboating. Miz is nearly pinned by Truth off of a rollup, but manages to take control right back from him. Truth causes some separation, and finally manages to get the tag in to Jennifer Hudson’s fiancee. He gets Miz in a pinning predicament, but Bryan makes the save. Bryan tags himself in and turns the tide back into his team’s favor. He locks a heel hook in on Otunga. Will Otunga snap or tap? Miz tags himself back in, and then the two start battling – meanwhile, Truth sneaks in and nails the Lie Detector on The Miz, allowing Otunga to pin the WWE United States Champion.
After the match, Miz threatens Bryan’s career again, telling him to go away. Bryan feigns punching The Miz, who flinches, before leaving.
Video: Carlito Surprised Heath Slater by spitting in his face. That wasn’t cool to Slater. Slater says if he had an apple and Carlito was standing in front of him, he wouldn’t spit in his face, he’d chuck it like a fastball at Carlito’s head. He’ll have the opportunity, as he takes on Carlito, NEXT!
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
Matt Striker wants to know how Miz feels about the fact that it was he who lost the match for his team, and not Daniel Bryan. Miz reminds Striker of all the gold he has. Bryan comes in, he doesn’t care about Miz’s accolades. He says that everybody he’s ever been partners with have carried him. Miz reminds him he’s the pro. Bryan asks if Miz is so talented, why is he the one who lost tonight?
Video: Justin Gabriel grew up in the wrestling industry and he’s a martial arts expert.
Matt Hardy is giving Gabriel a pep talk backstage, telling him to do exactly what he did last week. Chris Jericho and Wade Barrett come in. Jericho says he did good last week, but not good enough for this week, because Wade Barrett is Jericho’s protege, and look at the size of him. Barrett reminds Gabriel that last week, he destroyed Daniel Bryan in less than 3 minutes. Hardy tells Jericho that his protege will defeat Jericho’s tonight.
Heath Slater makes his way to the ring along with his pro, Christian. Carlito heads to the ring with his rookie, Michael Tarver. Carlito heard what Slater had to say about him, but he should be honored that Carlito spit in his face. You know how many WWE Superstars faces Carlito’s spit into? Slater should be begging to get spit at again. Carlito gets in the ring, takes a bite of his apple, but Slater ducks the spit.
Heath Slater def. Carlito
Slater decked Carlito to start the match and then we went to a…
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
Carlito is in control when we come back, but that doesn’t last very long. Slater holds his own with Carlito, and when Carlito kicks Slater in the face, Tarver cheers from ringside, saying “that boy’s gonna need to go to the dentist!” Carlito takes control for a few minutes, but he takes some time to talk to Tarver on the outside, and Slater takes advantage. Carlito hits a spinebuster on Slater, and he goes to grab his apple, but Christian took it away. Christian tosses it to Tarver, who doesn’t think it’s funny. Carlito tells Christian to watch what he does to Slater – he goes for a Backstabber, but Slater escapes. Carlito tries to roll up Slater, but Slater rolls through and pins Carlito.
Video: Darren Young says this is his destiny. He thinks the WWE Universe will find him entertaining. There’s no better feeling than being in the spotlight, and he looks up to guys like Shawn Michaels and Ricky Steamboat.
CM Punk is discussing Young with the Straight Edge Society. Young comes in and says he respects Punk’s lifestyle, but wants to know why he can’t live his own. Punk says he can lead a horse to water, but he can’t make him drink. Straight Edge can make him a winner, but Young can live his own lifestyle and see where that gets him.
Up next, Justin Gabriel takes on Wade Barrett in our main event.
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
It’s confirmed that “Be Yourself” by Audioslave is an official theme song of WrestleMania.
RAW REBOUND: Mr. McMahon defeated John Cena in the main event. Nevermind the fact that it was a handicap gauntlet match and that the WWE Champion Batista was Mr. McMahon’s last partner, Mr. McMahon pinned John Cena.
We get a rundown of the WrestleMania XXVI card – Batista vs. John Cena, Chris Jericho vs. Edge, Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker in a no DQ match, Triple H vs. Sheamus, Bret Hart vs. Mr. McMahon, John Morrison & R-Truth vs. ShoMiz – what a hell of a card we’ve got for the show of shows!
Chris Jericho leads Wade Barrett to the ring and we’re informed that for the first time in two years, this Friday on SmackDown it’s the return of Chris Jericho’s Hi-Lite Reel with special guest Edge!
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
Matt Hardy leads Justin Gabriel into battle, and last week, Gabriel became the first rookie to have pinned a WWE pro, that pro being William Regal.
Justin Gabriel def. Wade Barrett
Power vs. speed – that’s what this match is. Barrett is a big guy who can really hurt you, and Gabriel is a smaller guy – well, compared to Barrett anyway – who can use his speed to avoid being hurt by a bigger guy like Barrett and to strike before his opponent can counter. The crowd actually starts chanting USA in this one, despite the fact that the only American in this match is Gabriel’s pro, Matt Hardy. Gabriel manages to squeak out the win, knocking Barrett down and hitting the 450 splash from the top for the victory.
Jericho attacks Hardy after the match, knocking him out of the ring, then hitting a codebreaker on Gabriel before locking him into the old school Lion Tamer style Walls of Jericho. Barrett and Jericho are the ones standing tall as NXT goes off the air.
My Thoughts: WWE did a great job this week and getting me interested in some of the rookies who I didn’t care about at all. Darren Young showed a bit of personality, Heath Slater showed that he could be a great commodity for World Wrestling Entertainment, and Michael Tarver seemed to open up a bit more this week than he had a couple of weeks ago. Still the star of this show is Daniel Bryan, and that’s not by accident. WWE is trying to make that happen, and they’re doing a good job of it – though Justin Gabriel seems to be developing quite a fan base, even if they don’t realize he’s from South Africa and not the United States. Some people I’ve talked to don’t like the show – I, on the other hand, have really enjoyed it the last few weeks and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next. See you Friday for SmackDown!
I’ve finally gotten a copy of TNA iMPACT from last night. Sadly, I could’ve gotten a copy of RAW 3 times over before getting this, so maybe next week I’ll cover TNA live and WWE afterward. Before I begin though, I figured I’d share with you what I just experienced over on another wrestling website. I actually just had two people try to tell me that WCW went out of business because Ted Turner decided to get out of the wrestling business, that WCW’s ratings were strong and still beating WWE’s when they went out of business, and that television executives didn’t have anything to do with Nitro and Thunder getting canned and the company going out of business. Kids. *Shakes head.*
Welcome to part two of our Monday Night Wars coverage for this week. Earlier tonight, Drow brought you our very first ROH Report, and here I am to bring you your RAW results, and later on, we’ll have iMPACT coverage as well. Tonight, the Mindfreak, Criss Angel hosts RAW (great. Lame magic tricks all night), Vince McMahon takes on John Cena, and Randy Orton will take on Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase in a handicap match. We’ll also see what happens next between John Cena and Batista, Triple H and Sheamus, and Vince McMahon and Bret Hart. Ready to go? Then don’t cross the line, because on USA Network we’re uncut, uncensored, and uncooked, it’s Monday Night RAW!
Greetings, everyone! This is a new one. Since I now get HDNet, thanks to my move, I am officially the only BWF staffer who can review Ring of Honor’s Monday night show. As they ARE the only hour of pro wrestling on Monday nights, I’m quite happy to do so. Our fearless leader, ThinkSoJoE, will continue to provide you with excellent coverage of “Smackdown” on Friday nights. (more…)
Welcome all and how is everyone? Things are all well here in JTland , but enough about me, I have a whole week of wrestling to to talk about. So without further ado, lets get this show on the road:
1. More releases this week. Last week I forgot to mention the release of WWE referee Scott Armstrong. For those who don’t know, Armstrong was the referee who made The Undertaker “tap out” to CM Punk at Breaking Point. This is a shock because you don’t hear about referee’s being released that often. Also released this week was Charlie Haas which is really no surprise because we barely saw him on TV in the last year, so it was coming.
2.RIP Angelo Poffo, father of The Genius and Randy “Macho Man” Savage.
3. TNA released Awesome Kong, Traci Broooks, and Roxxi. I guess they won’t be focusing hat much on the Knockouts anymore.
4. Sean Morley (aka Val Venis) has left TNA to work in Mexico saying TNA had nothing solid yet. Damn, I figured that TNA would have him under some kind of contract seeming that he just went over TNA founder Jeff Jarrett this past week on iMPACT!
5. So, tomorrow is the “big night” where iMPACT! goes head to head with RAW. While I wish them all the best, unless they air the replays on Thursday, I won’t be tuning in.
6. Rob Van Dam is scheduled to appear on tomorrow night’s iMPACT!
7. What was with the squash match Money In The Bank qualifying matches on RAW this week? Ok, I understand Jack Swagger killing Santino Marella, because Marella is a jobber, but MVP squashing Zack Ryder shouldn’t have happened especially after pushing him to the moon on ECW.
8. Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon in the inductee into the class of 2010 WWE Hall Of Fame.
9. I’m still not really into the NXT program. I just don’t get what everybody likes about it.
10. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch the Goldust/Chris Jericho match from this weeks Superstars. Hell the whole show was goos, but the Jericho/Goldust matchup was awesome. Lets hope WWE does something with Goldust now that he’s on Smackdown.
11. Ok, so WWE now stops matches when someone gets a cut (Chavo was cut during his match with Kofi Kingston). Come on, this is stupid. Even the live fans didn’t like it. It’s one thing to do it during a live show, but to do during a taped show is just stupid.
12. John Morrison and R-Truth are facing Show-Miz for the WWE Unified Tag Team Titles. I think someone said that a couple weeks ago in his Random article. I wonder who that could be?
13. We have a Slam Master J and Jimmy Wang Yang sightings, yet they weren’t jobbing together. In fact Slam Master J didn’t even wrestle.
14. I don’t know why people give Matt Hardy crap for being fat, he really isn’t. He’s in better shape than most of us are.
15. Apparently now you can get your losses removed from you record no in the WWE, even when you lose clean, twice. Who knew.
16. On a final note, for all of those interested, I will be hosting the Wrestlemania 26 Roundtable and I would like to make this a big one, so all are welcome, but please get me your picks by no later than Friday March 26, 8pm eastern so I can have it up Sat morning.
Ok that all for another week, thanks again for reading and see you all next week.
