William Shatner hosts as we get the fallout from the Royal Rumble! What’s to become of Legacy? What about DX? What will Shawn Michaels do now that his dream of winning the Rumble and challenging The Undertaker at WrestleMania is gone? Will Edge appear on RAW tonight and challenge Sheamus? What will happen when Bret Hart confronts Mr. McMahon? All this and more tonight on RAW!
Don Johnson and the dude from Napolean Dynamite host RAW tonight, and The Undertaker has vowed to confront Shawn Michaels over his challenges to a rematch at WrestleMania 26 tonight on RAW! Let’s go!
Hello all. Hope everyone is doing well and is keeping warm in this nationwide arctic blast. It’s actually below 0 farenheit here as the time of this writing. Well lets get this party started: (more…)
Welcome everybody to a special Tuesday edition of ThinkSoJoE’s Thoughts. This column usually comes to you on Saturdays, but it’s a special occasion. Last night was the night – TNA finally tried to battle RAW with a head to head live show. Both shows had their high points – but in my opinion, WWE won the battle.
Eric Bischoff knows television. Eric Bischoff will tell you that’s his business. He’ll tell you that he was the one who put Nitro on three minutes earlier than RAW and he was the one who knew enough to beat RAW back from commercial breaks to get the viewers watching and hooked. It didn’t quite work out for TNA last night, and here’s why. TNA aired the first hour unopposed by WWE, and in the first 30 minutes had Jeff Hardy, Shannon Moore, and Ric Flair pop up on their program – but they also had a match that is unique to TNA and it’s X-Division end in a no-contest and fan chants of “This-Is-Bull-Shit.” Tara and ODB managed to change the word “bullshit” to “awesome” before Scott Hall and Sean Waltman showed up and TNA aired nearly 10 minutes in commercials. Credit to TNA where it’s due – they did what any of us would’ve done and had Hulk Hogan debut at 9:57 EST.
Many of us didn’t care and switched to RAW anyway, knowing full well that Bret Hart would kick off the show. Those who continued to watch TNA got to hear Hall, Waltman, Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Bischoff repeat themselves for 10 minutes. The moment TNA went to commercial – which would likely be the moment that fans changed the channel to see what was going on over on RAW, Bret Hart shook Shawn Michaels’ hand, and the duo hugged. This is the point for me when WWE won the battle – hands down.
TNA’s show continued to put on good wrestling matches in between the myriad of talk segments, including an awesome match for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championships in which Hamada and Awesome Kong defeated Taylor Wilde and Sarita for the titles, and a short but good match between Pope D’Angelo Dinero and Desmond Wolfe. RAW had an excellent tag title match pitting DX against JeriShow, and the WWE Champion Sheamus in action against “Little Evan Bourne.”
WWE’s main match of the night pit Randy Orton against recent rival Kofi Kingston, but anybody who didn’t tune in to iMPACT for the TNA Championship match featuring the Champion, The Phenomenal AJ Styles, defending his title against Kurt Angle missed an early Match of the Year candidate. Throughout this match, fan chants ranged from the usual “Let’s Go AJ/Let’s Go Angle” to “This Is Epic” and the hilarious considering Earl Hebner was the referee “Who needs Bret?” Styles won this match, which was so amazing that Ric Flair watched from the top of the aisle and Hulk Hogan came out to commend the duo after the match. iMPACT ended with an old school nWo beat down as Hall, Nash, and Waltman beat down Mick Foley, much to the apparent surprise of Hulk Hogan.
As soon as the show went off the air, the Chairman made his way to the ring. With the knowledge that Bret Hart was on the show, fans probably knew, no matter which show they watched, that a confrontation was eminent. Indeed, Hart confronted McMahon, the duo seemingly made up, and McMahon kicked Hart square in the grapefruits to end the show.
I haven’t seen the ratings. Given that they were the number 3 Trending Topic on Twitter for most of the night, TNA likely popped a higher rating than normal. Going head to head with WWE on a historic night for the company, however, probably didn’t allow them to maintain it. Time will tell if last night was good or bad for TNA, but for the first time in nearly nine years, it was just awesome to be a wrestling fan on Monday nights.
Before I take off, I’d like to take a moment to thank chjpacheco for his iMPACT coverage and Legend Killer for stepping in to cover RAW so that I could sit back and be a fan rather than a critic on this spectacular night.
Tune in at the top of the hour for live coverage of Monday Night RAW, with guest host, Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart.
We begin with a promo for Bret Hart, ending with the comments made between Vince and Shawn last week, in which ‘only good things will happen’.
Enter the Hitman… to new music. It sounds the same, but it’s got more of a rock feel to it.
“I guess Hell’s frozen over” – Bret Hart
The Hitman talks about why he has came back, and thanks the fans for still supporting him. He flashbacks to his past, and then gets right down to the nitty gritty. Bret Hart calls out Shawn Michaels.
Enter the Michaels.
Hart wants a truce between himself and HBK. Shawn decides to let rip on the Hitman, stating that he deserved what he got that night, and that he did have a part in the actions of that fateful night in Montreal. Shawn says that there are parts of him that doesn’t want to forgive him. He then goes on to say, that whenever he thinks of Bret Hart, he doesn’t think of Montreal, he thinks of Anaheim, California, and the 60-minute Iron match (his words, not mine). Michaels agrees with Bret, that he wants to bury the hatchet.
Hart says that Michaels wasn’t the easiest man to get along with, but says that now, he doesn’t want either career to be remembered for that night. Bret offers his hand, Shawn shakes it, and the truce is made. They finish with a hug, and that moment right there, is a moment I will never forget.
However, Bret’s not done. Hart calls out… Vince McMahon!! However, Vince doesn’t show.
PREVIEW FOR TONIGHT’S SHOW
Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston
D-Generation X (c) vs. JeriShow – Unified Tag Team Championships
We’ll be right back.
We return to find Josh Matthews outside Vince’s office. Apparently, Vince was in a meeting and didn’t hear the Hitman call him out.
Cole and King tells us that Melina was injured in a House Show recently, and thus has been stripped of whatever title she holds. An 8-Diva tournament will be held to determine the new Champion.
TOURNAMENT MATCH#1: Maryse vs. Brie Bella w/Nikki Bella
Oh look, a divas match, watch me not care.
The Twins switched, but that didn’t help.
YOUR WINNER: Maryse
Enter the Miz… and he has music. It says he’s awesome. He says that if Maryse wins, he might just call her back. Miz disagrees with 2010 being the year of Maryse, and says it’s the year of the Miz.
MATCH #2: FATAL FOUR WAY
#1 Contender Match: United States Championship
MVP vs. Jack Swagger vs. Carlito vs. Mark Henry
Don’t get suckered in by iMPACT!. join me after the break…
We return, already in action, and we are shown that Mark Henry was taken out of the matchup for now. Swagger with a PowerSlam-type move on Carlito for a near fall. Swagger then tries for a pin on MVP for another near fall. Swagger nails Carlito in the corner, as MVP gets out of the way. Henry is back in the ring, and starts cleaning house. Carlito is used as a weapon, before being put in a Bearhug. The All-American American American American breaks up the Bearhug, but receives a Torture Rack for his troubles. They take Henry out again, and MVP nails the Playmaker on Swagger for the win.
YOUR WINNER and #1 Contender: MVP
Jericho and Show are talking backstage. If Jericho loses tonight, then he’s off RAW. But the Ayatollah of Rock-N-Rollah has a plan, and he’s off to see the Hitman, the Wonderful Hitman of RAW.
Another break.. Y’all come back now.
We return to find out, that Fozzy’s new song “Martyr No More” is the offical song of the Royal Rumble!! Yieewwww
In the Hitman’s Office, enter the Jericho. He suggests Bret be the Guest Referee for the tag title match, so that Bret can screw Michaels. The Hitman doesn’t want to do another Montreal, Jericho thinks it’s an act.
Hornswoggle and Triple H are flogging off the new Mattel line of WWE toys. Hornswoggle wants to play, and Trips says no, until they retain the titles. Shawn enters and asks why Hunter treats Hornswoggle like a little boy, when he has a beard. Helmsley then brings in his Jericho impersonator (Santino Marella) , and sicks Hornswoggle onto him.
Hornswoggle, is now Triple H’s lap dog. Literally.
The Tag Titles are on the line, NEXT!!
Last week, over 2 million females watched RAW. Woop de fucking do.
MATCH #3: Unified Tag Team Championship
D-Generation X (c) vs. Chris Jericho and the Big Show
DX go for the advantage early, but Big Show ends up double suplexing both members.
A commercial follows.
Back from the break, and the challengers are in total control. Jericho just mocked a certain Hulk Hogan in the ring. Gee, I wonder why? Triple H with the Spinebuster! Both men down.
HBK trying to get Big Show down, and finally succeeds, before heading up top, and getting knocked down by Jericho. Hornswoggle gets involved as well, but it only leads to two. Michaels looks for Sweet Chin Music, but Shwo counters into a Chokeslam! Big Show looks for the cover, but Michaels kicks out. Jericho looks for the Walls, but HBK gets the tag to Triple H. A pedigree to Jericho, but Show breaks it up.
Big Show and Michaels out of the ring, and Jericho tries to steal the win, but only gets two. Y2J then hits the CodeBreaker!. but both men are down. Jericho finally goes the cover, but HBK breaks it up. Hronswoggle looks for Sweet Chin on Jericho, but he is knocked down. Jericho looks for the Walls on the Game, but HBK nails Sweet Chin Music, and Trips gets the fall.
YOUR WINNERS: D-Generation X
Stop. Commercial Time.
We return to see Chris Jericho leaving RAW, as per the pre-match stipulation.
Someone’s knocking on Vinnie Mac’s door, and it’s Randall. He has a business proposal for Vince. He wants to kick Bret’s head off, in exchange for the #30 spot in the Rumble. But Vince has his own security, and tells Randy to bugger off. Enter the Legacy. DiBiase and Rhodes want to repay the favour, from last week, by sitting ringside during Orton’s match with Kofi Kingston. Oh, and if Randy doesn’t win, they’re gonna throw him outta Legacy!
Find out (maybe), after the break!
TNA Genesis just got advertised during a RAW commercial. Somebody’s getting fired.
Next Week’s Guest Host… ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson!
Recap of last week’s title match between John Cena and Sheamus.
Enter the Sheamus. He says he’s the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. Does he not remember who the Guest Host is? Anyways, enter the… Bourne?
He wants a title shot, and thinks he can beat the Champion? HA! Sheamus calls him Little Evan Bourne, and asks for a referee.
If Bourne can beat Sheamus, then Evan Bourne gets a WWE Title shot at the Rumble? WTF?
MATCH #4: Sheamus vs. Evan Bourne
This match is impromptu, and if Bourne wins, he gets Sheamus at the Rumble for the title. You gotta be f**king kidding me right?
Even though Evan hits his ‘Air Bourne’, it doesn’t take long for Sheamus to win.
YOUR WINNER: Sheamus.
Sorry Evan, no title shot for you.
Cole and King, then talk about the life of ‘Dr. Death’ Steve Williams, who passed away after a long battle with throat cancer. He will be missed.
I’ll be right back.
Return to the misery, in which this is the first RAW I’ve watched in five months. No kidding. A Bret Hart promo video plays, showing the build-up, and the aftermath of the Survivor Series of 1997.
Kofi comes to the ring for his match, as it’s now…
Commercial time!
RAW was watched more than ABC, CW, NBC and FOX last week. Why do I have trouble believing that?
MATCH #5: Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton
Kofi in control early, clotheslining Randy over the top, then jumping over the ropes, and nailing Orton on the outside. Randall tries figbhting back, with a DDT in the ring, but that doesn’t work, and Kingston sends him to the outside again. Guess what’s next? Yep, you guessed it.
COMMERCIAL!
We return to find Randy Orton applying the patented Indiana Jones and the Chinlock of Doom! This leads to the momentum being in Randy’s favour. Back to the Chinlock of Doom!, but Kofi gets out of it, and both men are down. Kofi Kingston in control now, as the crowd doesn’t really care much for Kofi. Kingston nails Randall with a cross boyd, but it only brings him two. Kofi counters the RKO, into a fancy looking move, for another near fall.
Kingston looks to finish it with Trouble In Paradise, but Orton counters it into the RKO, and the three count.
YOUR WINNER: Randy Orton
Vince is going to the ring, tune in for it, NEXT!
COMMERCIAL!
Enter McMahon…I have a feeling, this is going to be HUGE!
Vince is trying to get the focus off of Montreal, however, it doesn’t take long for the Hitman to arrive. McMahon seems scared of Bret, as he brings back memories of the past between the two. Vince is trying to kiss Bret’s ass, in order to not get dropped.
Did he just say “I want to bring up your dead”? Anyways, Vince brings a nice gesture, by wanting to put Stu Hart in the WWE Hall Of Fame. Bret accepts, nice touch.
McMahon now thanks Bret for everything he did during his time in the company. Hart shakes McMahon’s hand, and the two stand, arms raised, in the middle of the ring, and just when it looks like things end on a good note, Vinnie Mac gives Bret the ol’ Low Blow, and leaves the ring. Bret stands annoyed in the ring, and that’s all she wrote.
For those who watched that other wrestling show tonight, you sure as hell missed something tonight. Tonight wasn’t about the action. It was about Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon. Hart and Michaels buried the hatchet, and Vince just couldn’t bury it. The Road to WrestleMania begins. Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon in Phoenix.
That’s it for RAW! This has been the one they call ‘Legend Killer’.
Ugh. There’s a new episode of Mythbusters on tonight, live tweeted by Grant Imahara, but sadly, RAW is on, so guess what I’m stuck doing.
Welcome to the War for this special occasion. Your Legend Killer is declaring war on the festive season. That means Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, plus any other celebration you can come up with for this holiday season.
First of all, I’m writing this on three hours sleep after pre-christmas drinks, so I’m as tired as tired can be.
The WWE boycott is running loud and proud at about five months. In all honesty, I have completely lost track of how long I haven’t watched. All I know is that the last thing I watched, was Shaq guest hosting RAW. That’s how long ago it’s been since I last watched, and to be honest, I don’t miss it. Now that I am in the process of receiving every WWF RAW and SmackDown! from 1998 and 1999. Oh, The good ol’ days.
Christmas is too expensive. Especially when buying presents for yourself.
If you want to buy me something for christmas, give me money. Money is always a wanted christmas present in my books.
D-Generation X. Destroying their legacy one stupid unfunny skit at a time. Remember when they made christmas time fun? Here’s the longer, but censored version. Censored, because they are soft.
Instead, we get stuff like this…
Anyways, a short, but sweet War on Christmas, is proudly brought to you by a rather tired Legend Killer. That means, I’m ending this way too early. No time to talk about Hulk Hogan signing with TNA. No time to talk about Bret Hart signing with WWE. No time to talk about Tommy Dreamer’s departure from ECW. Just no time for that. Blame pre-Christmas drinks, and my ability to not sleep during any decent drinking session.
However, this is time to give you, last second advice, on what to buy the rest of the BWF staff. No screwjobs here, folks. Although, the aftermath of one can be seen here, here aaaaaaaaand … … … … here.
A tip for Drow. I wouldn’t just give her the tip, I’d give her the whole damn thing.
For Joe. Beard trimmers.
For JT. A cardboard cut-out of Velvet Sky.
For tharvey1. A capital ‘T’ for his name.
For Jason. A friend to watch ECW with.
For everyone else, there’s MasterCard.
From myself, and the rest of the crew that help me in my war, I’d like to wish all of you the best this holiday season, and hope that you all get coal, or doggy doo, or stuff of that nature in your presents. Tune in next week for the special New Year’s edition. The only place to start your New Year’s party, is right here at BoredWrestlingFan.com… oh, except that other place… you know the one.
Welcome everybody and Happy Holidays to all! Hope you ave a happy and safe holiday, whatever it may be. Ok now it’s time to get this party started: (more…)
I didn’t watch this PPV, and I’m refusing to. At first, I was refusing to watch because of the whole “submission matches without primarily submission wrestlers” thing. Now there’s another reason, but I’ll get to that at the end.
Chris Jericho & The Big Show def. MVP & Mark Henry to retain the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships. As if we didn’t see that coming.
Kofi Kingston def. The Miz to retain the WWE United States Championship. And the point of that was?
Legacy def. DX in a Submissions Count Anywhere match. Really? Wow! There’s some credibility for the two young guys there – which will no doubt be destroyed by Hell In A Cell next month.
Kane def. The Great Khali in a Singapore Cane Submission match. And people actually paid for this?
Christian def. William Regal to retain the ECW Championship. By Pinfall. On a submission themed Pay Per View. Where the main events are all supposed to be submission matches. In the ECW main event. Yup.
John Cena def. Randy Orton in an I Quit Match to win the WWE Championship. Great. Now we have to deal with Cena as the champion again.
The Undertaker def. CM Punk to win the World Heavyweight Championship – but wait, there’s more!
Teddy Long came out and announced the the Hell’s Gate submission was still technically banned, so the match had to be restarted…
CM Punk def. The Undertaker to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Punk reversed a Last Ride into an Anaconda Vise, and the referee immediately called for the bell. Punk and the referee then bolted up the ramp to where Teddy Long was standing. Yes folks, another rehash of the Montreal Screwjob.
You know what, I’m sick of this crap. Every time the WWE is in Canada, they have to do some kind of screwjob angle. 2003 in Montreal with The Rock and Hulk Hogan. A few years back with Shane McMahon and Shawn Michaels. Look. The Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels thing happened in November of 1997. That’s nearly 12 years ago. The fact is, that wasn’t a storyline – that was real, or as they say in the business, a “shoot.” That pissed off a lot of people because Bret Hart was loved by the fans – especially the Canadian fans – and was legitimately screwed out of the WWF Championship. I get it, wink wink, nudge nudge, we screwed the fan favorite in Canada. It’s getting old. I get where you’re coming from with it, but enough is enough.
I also hate the whole gimmick PPV thing. John Cena, Randy Orton, The Undertaker, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes, The Great Khali, and Kane are not names that spring to mind when you mention submission wrestling to me. And next month is Hell in a Cell. Because a John Cena/Randy Orton Hell in a Cell main event makes any sense. Really, to have, at the very least, two Hell in a Cell matches in one Pay Per View sort of diminishes the significance of the match. Same with the TLC Pay Per View coming up in December. These type of matches should be kept to one per year, maximum, and the guys in the matches should be guys who specialize in them. Undertaker or Triple H in Hell in the Cell, for example, or Edge, Christian, or Matt Hardy in TLC.
Given the lack of anything decent or new on the card, and the oh so cliche Montreal Screwjob ending, I’m glad I didn’t waste either my time or my money on this PPV.
Well, well, well. Here we are at another Wednesday, which normally means you’d read about my views about the week that was in professional wrestling. But this week, I’d thought I’d try something different. I dont know how this will turn out, but here goes.
The View of the Non-Wrestling Fan
James Guttman said it best in his book, World Wrestling Insanity: the Fall and Decline of a Family Empire, when he quoted the adage “For those who enjoy it, no explanation is needed. For those who don’t, no explanation will do”. I can sit here for hours, trying to explain to you why exactly I an a fan of the business this website is based on, but to be honest, I cant. What I can tell you, is that there were three things that got me going, my second eldest brother, some WWF Steel Cage wrestling game for the SEGA Mega Drive, and Shawn Michaels. Infact, Michaels and Bret Hart were my Tag Team Champions on that game. This was 1993. Little did I know of the future these two would have. But moving on, the reason this column is being written as you see it, is because of work, and my lunch breaks.
In the past couple of days, I have been taking in some PPVs to watch during my 30-minute break. Which normally means I get a full match in. However, what I have found, is that there people in my workplace, who cannot stand the sight of wrestling. They are the type who say ‘it’s fake’ or ‘they know what’s gonna happen, don’t they’? This is where the old adage I mentioned earlier comes in. No matter what I say, I cannot and will not change their minds about what they think.
The following is from the point-of-view of the non-wrestling fan. The PPV in question, is Judgment Day 2000. The match was the first on the card. A six-man tag between Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle versus Too Cool and Rikishi.
There was a time in this match where, I think it was Rikishi was in the ring, and he was beating up all three of his opponents. Now, rather than ganging up for a 3-on-1 assault, they attacked him individually. Infact, one waited for the other to be knocked down, before making his move. Now, common sense will tell you that, if you have three guys, against one, then the three should attack all at once, thus increasing their chances of beating down the one. I decided not to argue, and infact listen to their opinions of the action. Here’s some questions that arose, other than the one I just mentioned:
What is the point of that (Scotty 2 Hotty’s worm) when all that happens is a chop to the throat that misses by three inches?
They wouldnt be able to do this as much as they do if they actually connected?
and one that I came up with …
What was everyone’s fascination with Too Cool? They sucked!
Let’s analyze as the wrestling fan. Scotty’s worm is purely for show. Much like Rock’s ‘People’s Elbow’, or Hogan’s ‘Leg Drop’. They’re basic moves done in a way to make it look like it would have more effect on their opponent, when really, it wouldnt do much to them at all.
If they actually connected, you would only see a guy wrestle every few months. You don’t see the same guy fight at a UFC PPV 3,4,5 months running, because it would be almost physically impossible to not only compete, but to be able to recover enough from the beating they received in their last bout. Also, they are entertainers. I was told something which struck a cord with me. “That’s why wrestlers become good actors, because they need to act in order to do this (wrestle)”. I agree with this statement. Would the Rock, or Steve Austin, or John Cena be as good as what they in the movies, without performing in a wrestling ring? We cannot answer that, with a definite answer, but being involved with ‘Sports Entertainment’ has helped, and thats all the wrestling business is now. It’s ‘Sports Entertainment’, not ‘professional wrestling’.
I think the point I’m trying to make is, we all know we know it. Some of us can explain why we like this guy, or boo that guy, but some of us don’t understand why others don’t like it as much. My advice is, chances are your not going to change someones mind about it, but listen to their thoughts. Look at things from another perspective, a non-wrestling fan’s perspective. You might just learn a thing or two, but most of all, realize, that Too Cool really did suck.