So last week’s Raw took some pretty big steps. I know. I was going through caffeine withdrawal a few weeks ago and decided it was time to go off of it again. Not sure why I did that. Even with everything, there is still a little bit of anticipation tonight. Piper’s Pit. John Morrison’s Future Endeavored Tour ends tonight. Punk-Del Rio.
I liked the build-up to the title match. Cole & Lawler made it sound important.
They introduced a skinny guy named Rowdy Roddy Piper. Piper is one of my top 5 all-time favorites (Double-A, Taker, Terry Funk, Piper & Sting). Piper brought something we haven’t seen in months. Fire and intensity. It took me a while to figure out what was going on with this promo or why it was happening. I think Piper was trying to get the people to cheer him. Cena continued being happy, smiley Cena. So Piper slapped him. Cena stopped smiling and walked off. Did we find some intensity?
Miz was supposed to fight Morrison. Miz attacked John Morrison with a lead pipe. Welcome to the last stop of the Future Endeavored Tour. Morrison got in some offense and had lots of heart. I was actually surprised this match was as good as it was. He wasn’t even pinned. The referee called the fight.
Psycho Miz cut a nice promo. He had good intensity and fire. He’s the one guy who does well with scripted material. The only problem was that I think he sounded just like Cody Rhodes.
The Bellas wrestled Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox, the new love of my life. By the time I was done typing this sentence, Alicia pinned a Bella for… why? Beth and Nattie did a run-through that didn’t involve interfering in the match.
We got a Sheamus package. I love the video packages they do. This needs to happen more. Broadus Clay has to hold off ANOTHER week? Then Punk delivers a killer segment. Loved the Jennifer Hudson reference. Now Punk can’t get intentionally disqualified? Does this make ANY sense?
Wade Barrett walks down to the ring nicely dressed. We get Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler. I’m expecting a lot out of this. This was a really good match. The crowd was really into this. Ziggler won through a little help from Wade Barrett.
Michael Cole introduced Daniel Bryan. Michael Cole was awful during this promo. Daniel Bryan spoke with a lot of passion and fire. This would have been a great segment with Josh Matthews instead of Cole.
We got Swagger (without an entrance) versus Zack Ryder. It was a nice short match. Swagger needs to go to Ring of Honor and feud with Homicide. Or Eddie Edwards. Right now I’d take just about anybody. Ryder won.
The Kane promos are awesome.
Mick Foley is now destroying every happy memory I’ve ever had of him. Then Punk says “ass.”
The main event was really good. Lots of near-falls. They were going to do the “heel pretends to be hit by a chair” and Punk fell down first.
Tonight’s Raw was pretty good. Everything seemed to be a little more serious. There was some good passion and fire here. Please tell me we are going to make John Cena not hated again. I could do without “St. Mick,” but Super Dave was only featured in one scene.
To follow me on Twitter, click here. For Facebook, click here.
I did a live Raw blog last night. I’m not sure how it was received or if anybody thought it was nice. Looking over Raw I wanted to point out some things I really liked.
1. John Cena. I liked this John Cena. Let’s be honest. John Cena is not going to be Ric Flair or The Rock or Macho Man. He is a charismatic larger-than-life star, but he’s not on the level of some of those great talkers. I won’t say that he never will be, but right now he’s built like the Pied Piper of Hamlin leading the kids away. He has recently sounded like he was trying to get all the other kids to gang up on Little Jimmy (See what I did there?) in the schoolyard. But last night he was different. He seemed honest, transparent, self-depricating. He championed free speech. He sounded like John the guy you would find in the bar, rather than Captain Kangaroo gathering up the rest of the Children of the Corn.
2. Sgt. Slaughter. I enjoyed seeing Sgt. Slaughter last night. Done that way, it was perfect. We got to see our legend, our villain got to crush our hero and then a new hero came out to save the old one. I was going to rip them a new one, but it was fun and it gave Swagger and Bourne a nice rub.
3. Vicky/Lawler. I preferred Jerry Lawler calling Vicky an “old bag” rather than fat. Vicky has worked really hard to lose a lot of weight. Matter of fact, I think she looks a lot better than Lawler. It’s one thing for the Bellas to bully Kharma. They’re heels. It’s another thing for a babyface commentator to make fun of somebody for being fat, especially when they make David Otunga’s soulmate look like an underachiever (Jennifer Hudson reference).
4. Commentary. The commentary was very good last night. Jerry Lawler told us what “Rey Misterio” means, like he was Jim Ross or WCW Mike Tenay. The commentators were summarizing Miz’ losing streak. Michael Cole was fine in his heel role. Commentators should not be involved in matches because they spend all their time putting over their own storylines other than what is going on in the ring (and outside of it).
5. Questions. Raw answered some questions. But it also left a lot of questions unanswered, but in a good way. What will CM Punk say the next time he gets a mic? Why did Zack Ryder come out at the end of the tag match? Since Alberto del Rio won the triple threat, what does he get? Can Dolph beat Kofi alone? How will Riley react with Miz’ beatdown.
To follow me on Twitter, click here. For Facebook, click here.
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!
Darren Young, CM Punk’s rookie, defeated Jennifer Hudson’s fiancee and R-Truth’s rookie, David Otunga in the opening contest. Luke Gallows and Truth got into a discussion outside of the ring, and as the referee was distracted, Punk tripped up Otunga, allowing Young to pick up the victory.
After the match, Otunga shoved Truth.
Promo: Daniel Bryan says he’ll headline WrestleMania some day.
Video: Bryan taking a huge bump courtesy of Chris Jericho.
Backstage: Bryan is getting looked at by the trainers, and Miz informs him that he’ll be facing Jericho’s rookie, Wade Barrett, next!
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
During the break, David Otunga and R-Truth got into a bit of a brawl before officials broke it up.
Chris Jericho is introduced, and he comes to the stage to introduce Wade Barrett
Video: Wade Barrett will dominate you, because that’s what will put money into his bank account.
Daniel Bryan’s ribs are taped up as he makes his way to the ring, sans The Miz.
Wade Barrett def. Daniel Bryan
The Miz and Carlito watch from a monitor backstage, as Barrett dominates early on. Barrett hits a spinebuster and it’s too much for Bryan to overcome.
Chris Jericho attacks Bryan after the match and locks him in the old school Lion Tamer style Walls of Jericho.
Later on tonight, Justin Gabriel teams with his pro Matt Hardy to face Skip Sheffield and his pro, William Regal.
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
Backstage: Heath Slater is bragging about his and Christian’s win last week. Christian tells him that he shouldn’t be overconfident, and that David Otunga won his match too.
Backstage: Justin Gabriel is excited to work with Matt Hardy. Hardy says Gabriel will bring a lot of high flying maneuvers, kind of like a young Matt Hardy. Here’s hoping he doesn’t get fat and wear tights that are too small for him.
Regal and Skip Sheffield make their way to the ring.
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
Video: Skip Sheffield is a Corn fed Meathead. He’s an entertainer, and he’s good at it.
Hardy and Gabriel make their way to the ring and we’ve got our main event.
Matt Hardy & Justin Gabriel def. William Regal & Skip Sheffield
Gabriel picked up the win for his team. Matt Hardy dropped Regal with a Twist of Fate, and Gabriel nailed a 450 splash, picking up the victory.
Backstage: Matt Striker is with the rest of the rookies. Carlito comes in and spits in the face of Heath Slater. He says that’s cool. Slater doesn’t think so, but Striker says, “That’s NXT.”
