It’s Friday, and that means I’m tired as hell and Smackdown is on. Let’s check out our card for the evening:
Some dude who knows the BWF and WPO's own Justin Ruff, tagged him on facebook in this picture. Don't thank me, thank the interwebs.
Looks like a happening to me, so let’s get to it… shall we?
First off, Adam “MCA” Yauch of the Beastie Boys passed away. I don’t know about you, but I’m a huge fan. This really sucks. So since the WWE puts up their own memorium messages at the start of their shows, I am putting my own one up for the start of my reviews. He will be missed. I’m going on a B-Boy marathon this weekend.
You’ll never guess who shows up on Smackdown tonight! Oops…
Seriously, let’s just hop to it, shall we? My day was lame, started off with a flat tire, had to cancel my day gig, got the tire fixed while I watched The Avengers. At least the movie kicked some serious ass.
(more…)
Just as we kick off the show, we learn that Josh Matthews will not be with us since he was murdered by Brock Lesnar on Monday NIght RAW. So it’s just Cole and Booker on commentary…. I debate hitting mute… Ok, let’s just hop to this, shall we?
Creeped out?
Hey look it’s Smackdown! And it’s Friday! So it must be time for me to deprive myself of a good night’s sleep and watch two hours of this show. After a piss-poor live event last week, let’s see what the good folks in London, England did at this installment. That in itself should be incentive to watch, considering the hot crowd on RAW. There will be no holograms on this show…
Enough. It was kind of neat, but enough.
It’s our first Smackdown back after WrestleMania 28! We wrapped our Celebration of Professional Wrestling 2012. Be sure to click that link to check out any of the fantastic podcasts and articles we saw during our marathon.
But things changed in some massive ways on RAW to kick off the unofficial start of the new “season” of the WWE. John Laurinitaus took over the reigns of Smackdown from Theodore Long, for example. Jack “The San Jose Shark” Swagger debuted his new look and showed distention with Dolph Ziggler. John Cena questioned his inner being. Brodus finally got elevated. The Rock made allusions to being World Champion one more time. Some oddly familiar, non-Asian looking guy debuted. Oh yeah… and….
Let’s hop to it, shall we?
This puppy was probably taped so the guys giver, and get themselves to Flo Rida. Translation: “This is the last ditch attempt to get random casual viewers to throw down a bunch of money and watch WrestleMania 28.”
Look, this will likely be the easiest review I do all year. It will have some Monday pre-taped matches that I didn’t pre-research, so Daniel Bryan could Brie-Slam and get his Twin Magic girlfriend on TV to earn some money to go watch the Hunger Games movie. Anyways, regardless of this episode, I will watch The $1000 Paternity Of Them All! Let’s just get to the jump, so we can all get to possibly having buyer’s remorse on Sunday!
Seriously, I’m sure I will enjoy the PPV.
Click below immediately or CM Punk DIES!
There are fewer bigger nights than this. Wrestlemania is the event that all events are measured by. This is the WWE’s second-to-last chance to get us to want to buy Wrestlemania.
We begin with a tag match, Orton/Sheamus vs. Bryan/Kane. This match (shoot, this whole Raw) had one purpose-to get us to buy Wrestlemania. I like that they kept opponents separate. Heel Daniel Bryan was pretty impressive for me. I also like his commitment. There is no hesitation from him. The crowd seemed to be really hot and into a lot of the match. Commentary was also very strong. AJ got involved in the match and Bryan/Kane won. What a great first match.
They did a really fun segment/match with Johnny Ace coming out first. Then he introduced his flag-bearer Vickie Guerrero and his team captain David Otunga. Booker T introduced Teddy Long’s flag-bearer Hornswoggle and team captain Santino Marella. As with all good David Otunga matches, it was short. As the match ended Miz did the beatdown and was announced as a member of Team Johnny.
Eve killed Kelly Kelly. In other news, Beth Phoenix looked really hot in that dress. I was wrong. Kelly Kelly is now Super Cena with breasts.
Christian walks out solidifying that he and Jack Swagger have a bad haircut contest. Then out comes Punk to reveal Jericho on the screen. He revealed that Punk was illegitimate. Then Christian attacked him which sent my wife into a tirade about his hair. My wife even liked the match enough to tell me. What a beatdown. Punk has snapped!
Ah, yes. Nothing says focused for Wrestlemania quite like Brodus Clay. Curt Hawkins is on his way to your local Lions Club to put over Johnny Attitude. In his defense, Hawkins sold well.
Big Show killed Primo. Remember when tag team champs weren’t jobbers? Cody Rhodes cut a really good promo.
The Bellas demolish dialogue. So Zack Ryder’s gimmick is that he says stupid things to women. At least they had a focus for Wrestlemania.
Great Khali fought Mark Henry in a match no one wanted to see. It was short and very painless. They had a face off and Booker T came to Teddy’s rescue. So Booker gets his Wrestlemania payday.
Rock and Cena had their final stand-off. Rock sounded like he needed to work on his material in front of a live crowd. His monologue was awful. Then he was met by Cena. Rock has always put over talent. Shoot, he lost to Hurricane once. Now he has put Cena over verbally.
It ended up being a really good Raw. They were focused and everything (except for Clay) seemed to be building towards a Wrestlemania. I’m ready for Wrestlemania. Bring it on.
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Hey hey! What’s going on WPO Crew! AudioMaster G here! Oh wait, that’s my alter-identity on the Wonderpod-cast that usually airs on Fridays… just felt odd this week not hearing that spiel since the computer ate Bruce’s homework. But it is what it is. Speaking of which, it’s time for the holding pattern that is WWE television leading up to the Grand Daddy of Them All, WrestleMania 28! I’m sure tonight will entertain, but don’t expect much advancement in any storylines…. well, perhaps some members of Team Teddy will be announced. Regardless, get your ring gear on, call your Momma (he WILL appear), and let’s get to it, shall we?
Not single one was given that Monday.
Smackdown will save my week. It has too. I wasn’t thrilled about RAW nor Impact Wrestling (haven’t caught up on ROH yet). Obi-Wan will show up. It has to happen. I’ll complain about that stuff on BWF Radio #16 this Sunday. Until that time, let’s hit up Smackdown, shall we? Giver!
Happy 3/16 Day! One for the marks!
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“You sit there, and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn’t get you anywhere… Talk about your Psalms, talk about your John 3:16 … Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!”
Raw may not be tired and cranky, but I sure am. Time changes, days at work and being accused (wrongly) of stealing by one of my heroes.
A lot of the AIW people I follow on Twitter are saying that Cleveland is a packed house.
John Cena opens up in a Mark Price jersey channeling old John Cena that we fell in love with.
Vickie took the mic and cut a great promo. But then again, I’ve never heard a bad Vickie Guerrero promo. Sheamus took on Dolph Ziggler. I’ve used the Mr. Perfect comparison before for Ziggler and I stand by it. It was a long good match.
I am going to rip the WWE in a future blog several new ones for the abusive storyline. It has no place in wrestling.
Johnny Ace is doing commentary. It was going to be Santino vs. David Otunga. Then it became Mark Henry. Now we have a squash of the US Champ.
WWE got publicity. And Eve has large fake breasts. And Zack Ryder is more stupid than anyone I’ve ever met. Beth Phoenix wants to attack Maria M. on Extra. I’m too lazy to google her name to get it right. Miz is on Psych. James Roday is on Raw. Is Psych that much in the toilet?
We get the return of Brodus Clay. This is the greatest Jinder Mahal match I’ve ever seen. Even WCW’s The Gambler got in more offense.
HBK comes out to talk to Undertaker. Undertaker takes longer to walk to the ring than Jinder Mahal’s match. They had a really nice exchange, but neither really said anything.
James Roday made an ass out of himself, but he looked like he was living a life-long dream. Punk and Miz fought a pretty decent match. Then Chris Jericho took the mic and proved why he’s Chris Mother-effin’ Jericho.
Do you remember that Seinfeld episode when Jerry couldn’t quit going to his current barber and had a little boy’s hair cut? That’s what Jack Swagger looks like. However, he and Orton had a pretty good match.
Then Rock sang. He looks like he enjoys himself out there. And you had to love the Vanilla Ice + Teletubbies reference. Honestly this was one of the most entertaining things I’ve ever seen on wrestling tv in a long time.
All in all, a good Raw. I would say most things should be watched.
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