On RAW, the crowd made the difference for the show to be a winner, ultimately, which I suspect and hope will remain a tradition as the so-called “hardcore” smarks stick around for it. Will that many of them stick around for Smackdown? I’d like to think so… but this “thing” is still a new “thing.” Only one way to find out, and you know what that means. Into the back of the closet and into Narnia, kiddo, we’re hunting wabbits. Hopping time! (a.k.a. Beer will make this better).
June 24, 1991. The World Wrestling Federation had a house show in Niagara Falls, NY. The card was nothing really to write home about. Bret Hart beat IRS, Ricky Steamboat defeated Haku, Mr. Perfect retained his Intercontinental Championship over The British Bulldog, The Bushwhackers beat the Orient Express, Greg Valentine beat The Barbarian, Big Boss Man and The Rockers defeated The Mountie and The Nasty Boys, and in the main event, Jim Duggan (replacing Hulk Hogan during the steroid scandal) defeated Sgt. Slaughter in a boot camp match. The only thing extraordinary about the show was that in the front row, a nine year old kid was attending his first live professional wrestling card. That kid was me.
Over the course of the next 22 years, I’ve been to countless wrestling shows, mostly WWE. Countless RAWs and SmackDowns, a few house shows, a Night of Champions PPV, four WrestleManias and more, the training is also important and the use of supplements as sr9009 also help boost the performance on these wrestlers. But nothing in the entirety of my wrestling attendance history can compare with this past Monday night at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ.
Coming off of WrestleMania, and finding out that the advertised Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was not appearing, the crowd was rowdy to start, booing new WWE Champion John Cena and cheering the appearance of Mark Henry. The “Sexual Chocolate” chants directed at Henry did not go unnoticed. A rematch for the Intercontinental Championship between The Miz and Wade Barrett had the crowd equally amped up, as chants of “Let’s Go Barrett” filled the arena. As then-World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio took on Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter, a very audible “we want Ziggler” chant erupted, and when Dolph Ziggler cashed in his Money In The Bank contract to defeat Del Rio and become the new World Heavyweight Champion, the place came unglued.
A match between Sheamus and Randy Orton was virtually ignored by the IZOD Center contingent of the WWE Universe, as they were too busy chanting for the Ice Cream Man, Cotton Candy, Randy Savage, X-Pac (who was in a luxury box behind the section next to mine), Steve Austin, JBL, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, referee Mike Chioda, ring announcer Justin Roberts, as well as others. When Big Show came out to interrupt the match, a “Thank You Big Show” chant erupted. We then chanted for ourselves, saying “we are awesome.”
The real tipping point for the audience was the introduction of Fandango. The IZOD Center crowd embraced the ballroom dancing Superstar by humming his theme music throughout the rest of the night, including during the main event between John Cena and Mark Henry.
As the show ended, Cena acknowledged our chants, saying that his favorite one of the night was when we told ourselves we are awesome, because it’s true. The show ended with Fandango’s theme being played through the speakers and the raucous crowd still humming it deep into the night.
To all 16,000 of the rest of you in the IZOD Center last night, thank you for helping me have the most fun I’ve had in 22 years attending wrestling events.
Let’s do something a little different. Instead of going segment by segment, I’m going to summarize each storyline in regards to how it was played out on the show, and offer my comments where I feel the need.
1.) CENA VS. MARK HENRY: THE RISE OF RYBACK – So we kicked off RAW with a word from our new WWE champion, John Cena. Jersey is NOT part of the CE-Nation, and their response makes it clear. Cena plays off the crowd’s hostility by joking about all the great things that come with being champ, like the applause. Cena offers to dance for the crowd, using this as context for teasing a “heel-turn,” and offers a title shot to whoever wants one tonight. Mark Henry comes out to take him up on it. Booker T comes out and says Henry has to beat Cena in a match to get a title shot.
Let’s fast forward to our main event, Cena vs. Henry. Less than a minute in, it spills out of the ring to the outside. Both men tease a table spot (which is a whole friggin thing in itself we’ll get to.) Henry sends Cena into the post. Cena whips Henry into the stairs AND GETS THE WIN BY COUNT OUT. OUR “MAIN EVENT” BARELY WENT FIVE MINUTES AND MORE THAN THREE SPOTS!!!
Henry responds to this by laying out Cena (much to the crowds’ delight,) and hoisting the belt up. Ryback comes out and runs off Henry. Ryback glares at Cena and the crowd gets excited. Ryback helps Cena up and the crowd gets less excited. Ryback gets a “FEED ME MORE,” chant going and CENA TAKES A CLOTHESLINE! Ryback gives the champ the Shell-shock and holds the belt up to a cheering crowd as RAW ends.
Rytman Remarks: So, Henry, the only established heel at Wrestlemania who won a singles match, has to beat Cena in a non-title match, to get a title shot?
Fine
Booker T, General Manager of Smackdown, can dictate who gets WWE title shots on RAW?
Fine
The match itself can’t have more than five spots and go more than five minutes?
Okay, Fine.
BUT NOW YOU’RE GOING TO GIVE THE PUSH TO THE GUY YOU BOOKED TO CHOKE IN EVERY BIG MATCH YOU PUT HIM IN? GIVING HENRY A SHOT WOULD BRING ABOUT THE END OF ALL LIFE IN THE WWE UNIVERSE OR SOMETHING!?
I seriously don’t know why I’m still watching this crap.
2.) ORTON/SHEAMUS BOTH WANT BIG SHOW – Orton, backstage in Vicki’s office w/her and Brad Maddox, demands a match w/Big Show, wanting payback for what happened at Mania. “Briki” (Brad and Vicki) agrees, reminding Sheamus he’d owe them a big favor for this.
Later in the show, Randy Orton goes to Booker T, asking HIM for a shot at big show, saying it was his mistake to trust big show, and wants to make good on it. When Booker tells him Vicki already made the match w/Sheamus, he brown-noses Booker into over-ruling Vicki, on the grounds he’s a GM, and she’s a Managing Supervisor. Booker decides to make it happen.
Later, we get a pre-recorded interview from Natalya with Big Show. Show blames his team-mates for what happened, saying they turned on him by not giving him the hot tag. Show says from now on, he’s all about the Big Show.
Later in the show, both Orton and Sheamus came out to the ring and asked the crowd who’d they like to see kick Big Show’s ass. Cole tells us to use the WWE ACTIVE APP and vote on Twitter for who we want. One commercial break later, Booker and Vicki come out together on the same page, making a Sheamus vs. Orton match w/the winner getting Big Show, making the Twitter thing totally irrelevant.
The match itself is hard fought, and both men hit their major spots, but it ends with the Big Show taking matters into his own hands. He tosses Sheamus away like nothing and BRUTALIZES Randy Orton for about twenty minutes. Orton is pounded on, and tossed around like a sack of rag-dolls. Show tosses Orton hard over the announce table into the seats, and then tosses the seats all over the place. Show leaves Orton broken on the ground, and walks off to a hero’s reception from the crowd. (This crowd was another whole thing we’ll get to.)
Rytman Remarks: Orton and Randy are fighting over who gets to beat up the guy they didn’t trust in the first place, but teamed up with anyway and then lost the match because they didn’t tag him, and he got mad and punched them out. Gotcha!
The interesting thing is, during the interview with Natalya, Show played hurt by his team not trusting him, like he really wanted to be part of something, and pulled it off pretty damn well. I actually felt bad for him.
3.) ALBERTO DEL RIO VS JACK SWAGGER & ZEB COULTER: YOUR WINNER, DOLPH ZIGGLER! – World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez,) faced Swagger in a handicap match w/Zeb Coulter as Swagger’s partner. Before the match, Zeb took the mike and actually pleaded with the crowd for their support. He even got a small “USA” chant going. The match was primarily Del Rio and Swagger with Zeb hanging back on the outside. Del Rio managed to win it, but Swagger had worked the ankle/leg the whole match and Del Rio had ringside attendants looking at him.
Cue Dolph Ziggler.
Dolph chose that moment to Cash in his MiTB briefcase on Del Rio. Del Rio managed to muster up enough offense to get Ziggler in the Cross-Arm-Breaker. Ziggler escaped by working the injured ankle and won with a Zig-Zag for the three. Later in the show, Ziggler is interviewed, saying it’s “about damn time” this happened.
Rytman Remarks: during the whole match, the crowd chanted “we want Ziggler,” until he finally came out. I’m thinking Del Rio and Swagger are both gonna sit out a few shows.
4.) UNDERTAKER PROMO: IN THE SIGHTS OF THE SHIELD – Undertaker comes out to do a promo. He talks about dedicating his win to Paul Bearer…
SIERRA, HOTEL, INDIA, ECHO, LIMA, DELTA, BELIVE IN THE SHIELD
The Shield makes their way towards the Dead-man. They’ve got Taker surrounded when the pyro goes off and Team Hell No (Kane and Bryan) run out to offer back up. The Shield calls it a night and head off.
Rytman Remarks: A feud w/the Undertaker to set up a program with the tag team champions? I like it, which is why it won’t happen.
5.) FAHHHHN-DAHHHN-GO-OW! – So Fandango got a rematch with Kofi Kingston, from last month when he was supposed to debut on RAW. The match goes less than ten minutes before Chris Jericho runs out and beats down Fandango, who gets the win by DQ. After the match, Fandango still has enough in him to take a mike and do the bit with his name.
Rytman Remark: I’ll give the guy credit for sticking with it, but I’m thinking the last dance is coming up soon.
6.) “A BAD NIGHT FOR PAUL HEYMAN GUYS.” – Paul Heyman gets interviewed about how bad Wrestlemania went for him. Heyman points out that Triple H finished the night with a broken (which we saw earlier in an exclusive,) arm and Shawn Michaels got his face smashed in. He says Lesnar is here and ready to fight, but not for free. He tells us C.M. Punk will speak for himself… next week, swerving the disappointed crowd.
Now let’s look at the results from the few “filler” matches…
BIG E. LANGSTON DEF DANIEL BRYAN – High point was Big E. tossing Bryan over the top rope onto Kane.
Rytman Remark: Would’ve made sense to book this match BEFORE MANIA!
WADE BARRETT DEF. THE MIZ – BARRETT NEW INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION
Rytman Remark: Decent match but I’m not expecting Barrett’s stock to skyrocket. There was a noticeable “botch” when Miz went for the knee-drop/neck-breaker combo and Barrett dropped too soon. (Michael Cole, at ringside, tried to sell it as a “sit-out” attempt by Barrett.)
R-TRUTH, RYDER, AND SANTINO MORELLA DEF 3MB
RR; Went maybe seven minutes and was more of an actual match then the main event.
TONS OF FUNK/THE FUNKADAYCTALS DEF THE BELLA SISTERS/TEAM RHODES SCHOLARS
RR; High point was Brie/Nikki giving “Sweet T” a double butt-bump to the head.
A few other points of interest…
One guy in the crowd managed to get his “WE WANT PAGE” sign on camera almost all night. Apparently, we can’t get her jobbing out to AJ and the Bella Sisters fast enough.
There seemed to be a contract out on the announcers table tonight. It wound up collateral damage in almost every brawl tonight. (Big Show’s rampage, Jericho’s payback, maybe during Del Rio Swagger,) In the Main Event, Cena and Henry both teased putting each other through it but never came across.
And now, we get to the real stars of this show…
This fucking crowd
Credit where it’s due, these folks decided they were going to have some kind of fun at this show and they did, to the detriment of the WWE. Some of their highlights included “singing along” to Fandango’s music and cheering for RVD, Randy Savage, and anyone/thing other than Sheamus or Orton during their match.
Overall, this was a weird RAW. It had some high points, but it wasn’t the best follow-up to a lackluster Mania.
This week on BWF Radio, we get Joe calling us live from outside the IZod arena waiting to get into WrestleMania 29. He depicts his experience from the crowd outside. He elaborates on his experience with his wife at the WWE Hall of Fame induction last night. The podcast goes slightly off the rails as we discuss how terrible WMV was, the new Evil Dead movie, terrible Hulk Hogan films, and more!
This is a really big moment for SHIMMER. They have had their model of how they did business for a long time. For a lot of the fans who can’t afford trips to Illinois or New York but can afford the $15 for an Internet Pay Per View, this is a really special thing for us to be able to witness live.
1. Mia Yim vs. Amazing Kong
It was great to see both back, as I haven’t seen either recently. This was big girl-little girl match. You had Kong destroy and Mia sell. I had computer issues during this match itself. Something with needing to use a laptop made in this decade. So I didn’t quite get the look at this match I wanted to. I missed the finisher.
Winner: Kong
Interview with Serena-There was a run-in by Jessicka freakin’ Havok. My wife walked in and said, “That sounded like an orgasm.” I did NOT see that coming. Do you know what the possibilities are here? Jessicka is probably the best wrestler in the world not in SHIMMER. I tried explaining to my wife that this was the equivalent of AJ Styles showing up on Raw.
2. Cherry Bomb & Kimber Lee vs. Veda Scott & Shazza McKenzie
This match surprised me. This was my first time to see Kimber as a heel. Cherry/Kimber did a great job of wrestling a heel style. Veda/Shazza were great as a tag team. They have a natural chemistry you can’t teach. I was kind of disappointed in the length this match was here. I’d love to have seen more development in a story.
Winner: Shazza & Veda
3. Rhia O’Reilly vs. Evie vs. Kalamity vs. Christina Von Eerie vs. Yuu Yamagata
This match alone is worth the purchase. It was a GREAT debut for Evie. She had some great kicks. Kalamity is great for what she does, just that little spitfire full of fight. And Von Eerie was sporting long, not-mohawked hair. Plus, she is so crisp and refined in the ring. If you’ve never seen any of these 5, this match would be a great sampler for any of their work.
Winner: Von Eerie
4. Mercedes Martinez vs. Ayumi Kurihara
Some good emotion for this match as it was Kurihara’s last match in the US (if I am correct). Mercedes did quite the beatdown on Kurihara. The crowd reaction made this match worth it. The story was that the two were so even. A well-received “That was awesome” chant.
Winner: Mercedes
A great show of class by the fans chanting “Arigato” after the match.
5. Jessicka Havok, Sassy Stephanie & Nevaeh w/ M. Rochelle vs. Regeneration X & Serena Deeb w/ Daffney
Regeneration dressed as Jay and Silent Bob. Nice. Serena looked great, did a lot of bumping. When the crowd became a little quiet, Alison got them back with one move. They are teasing a Serena-Havok feud. There was a Havok chokeslam that was the best one I’ve seen since WCW’s The Giant.
Winner: Re-X & Deeb
Jessicka continued an EPIC beatdown. Now THAT is how you start a feud!
6. Jessie McKay vs. Madison Eagles
Forgive me as I swoon over McKay. The beginning was very nice, as it showed how alike these two were. This match was a feat of athleticism. This match was really what SHIMMER does best: two athletic women having a physical contest. This match is a definite recommend.
Winner: Eagles
7. Made in Syn vs. Kellie Skater & Tomoko Nakagawa vs. LuFisto & Kana vs. Canadian Ninjas
Made in Syn is just too much prettiness for one team to contain. Skater & Nakagawa are awesomeness as a tag team. I would like to never step into a ring with LuFisto or Kana. And the Canadian Ninjas are greatness. The Nakagawa-Kana stuff was great. Made in Syn did some Dusty Rhodes clubberin’. Allysin took a lot of lumps and I hope people are noticing she is earning her place. LuFisto took a really bad moonsault. How she is still alive I’m not sure. Made in Syn were first eliminated followed by LuKana. The Canadian Ninjas won by spitting the water in Skater’s face for once.
Winner: Ninjas
8. Athena vs. Ayako Hamada
It is so surreal to see the wrestler at my local indy who got started around where I started watching wrestling to be taking on a Japanese legend. This began with some GREAT mat wrestling. Athena got some insane kicks from Hamada. Holy crap. THIS was a match. I’m pretty sure this is going to be the best match I’m watching this weekend. If you watch no other match this weekend, watch this match.
Winner: Athena
With the exception of the 4-way ladder match from AIW, this is my choice for Match of the Year.
9. Cheerleader Melissa vs. Saraya Knight
Saraya’s entrance is one of the best in wrestling. There is no more convincing heel. The crowd was madly in love with this match, which the crowd was kind of hit-or-miss. The match was really good, but it had the misfortune of being after Athena-Hamada. The ending was an incredible huracanrana that saw Cheerleader Melissa get the pin.
Winner (and new champion): Cheerleader Melissa
All in all… It will be interesting to see how this plays out on DVD. First of all, Athena-Hamada was the match of the afternoon and perhaps the Match of the Year. Melissa-Knight was a great emotional story. If you are wanting to know how to be a heel, study Saraya Knight. The 4-way tag match was really fun and really good story-telling. The Aussie battle was like watching some athletic spectacle. The 6-woman match was great for the history of Havok being in the SHIMMER ring and for Re-X as Jay and Silent Bob. Each match brought something unique and distinctive. If you find a replay, well worth the watch.
This is it! BoredWrestlingFan’s WrestleMania week is in full swing, which kicked off with the WrestleMania 29 prediction podcast. My contribution to WrestleMania week this year will be reviews of the first six WrestleMania events, which started Monday with 1985′s WrestleMania, and ends today with a review of WrestleMania VI. And don’t forget to tune in to BoredWrestlingFan Radio this Sunday at 2PM Eastern as I will be reporting LIVE from Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, the site of WrestleMania XXIX!
I don’t remember a damned thing about this show, other than the Hogan/Warrior main event. Considering how much I remembered about WrestleMania V, and that I thought the show sucked when I reviewed it yesterday, my expectations are low going in. Well, let’s roll.
The only new content on this show was taped around RAW this week, and the rest will likely be all hype, zombie attacks and video packages towards Mania. Hence, this review should be really short. Probably like one jump. Not even hopping, just hop. Now get to it and click that hyperlink below…
Well here’s my contribution to Wrestlemania week and like last year is a look at what Wrestlemania through the eyes of WWE’13 well the Wii version anyway. Hey it’s better than Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 which is what I used last year. Just to let everyone know that the Wii version of this game has no DLC so I’ll only be doing the matches I can with what I’ve got. I will also be doing this on simulate mode so I will have no effect on the outcomes of the matches. So without further ado, lets go: (more…)
