Day three of WrestleMania week, and we’re rolling on here at BoredWrestlingFan.com! Throughout this week I will relive the past 7 WrestleMania events, starting with WrestleManias XX (which was posted Sunday) and continuing through WrestleMania XXVII (which will be posted this coming Sunday). So we’re heading to the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois, heading to the Big Time for WrestleMania 22!
WrestleMania week is in full swing here at BoredWrestlingFan.com, and this is part two of an eight part series. Throughout this week I will relive the past 8 WrestleMania events, starting with WrestleMania XX (which was posted yesterday) and continuing through WrestleMania XXVII (which will be posted on Sunday). So we’re heading to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California as WrestleMania Goes Hollywood in it’s 21st edition!
This is it! WrestleMania week is kicking off in a big way today with the BWF Radio WrestleMania 28 special earlier today, and this – the first of EIGHT days of WrestleMania reviews, starting right now with WrestleMania XX, and ending a week from today with WrestleMania XXVII, just prior to our WrestleMania pregame podcast. In 2004, WrestleMania returned to it’s roots, emanating from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. This show sold out in a matter of seconds. Believe me, I tried to get tickets and couldn’t. Let’s roll!
Well, Justin Ruff may not be an awards show kind of guy, but I absolutely LOVE the Slammys! Luckily, I happened to have written a half-assed recap of RAW to use as reference for next Sunday’s episode of BWF Radio, so I’ll add to it a little and use it as this week’s RAW review!
We kick things off with the “Tell Me I Didn’t Just See That Moment of the Year” award, presented by Booker T and Hornswoggle. The nominees are:
The Slammy goes to: Jim Ross! Michael Cole interrupts JR’s acceptance speech, which leads to a battle rap between the two. JR flubs his lines but still manages to win. Before he leaves, Booker T convinces him to do a “JR-Roonie.”
This is Jim Ross’s first Slammy!
Mick Foley and “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase present the “Holy !@#$ Moment of the Year” award. Mick wonders why Ted DiBiase is presenting the award with him. DiBiase says it’s because he’s an ordained minister. So he’s the “Holy” part. The nominees are:
And the winner is: The Big Show and Mark Henry. Big Show accepts the award, then heads down to the ring for his match.
This is Big Show’s second Slammy. He won the award for Tag Team of the Year in 2009 as part of Jeri-Show. This is Mark Henry’s first Slammy.
The Big Show def. Wade Barrett via Disqualification – Barrett cut a promo on the way to the ring. He tried to use a chair, but Big Show punched it out of his hand.
The Road Dogg Jesse James (yes, you read that right) presents the award for “Pipe Bomb of the Year.” Instead of actual nominees in the category, various sound clips (mostly bloopers) are played. The winner, of course, is CM Punk, who comes to the podium with a mannequin in a Dynamic Dudes t-shirt and dedicates the win to John Laurinaitis. Punk then plays a video package of Laurinaitis’ career that says “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the end. It was set to “The Touch,” which, if you’re a dork like me, you’ll remember as the theme song from the 1986 animated classic, “Transformers The Movie.”
This is Punk’s fourth Slammy – he’s previously won the 2008 OMG Moment award for cashing in his Money In The Bank contract on Edge, the 2009 Shocker of the Year award for forcing Jeff Hardy to leave WWE, and the 2010 Despicable Me award for singing Happy Birthday to Rey Mysterio’s daughter.
Here to present our next award… it’s LITA! She’s here to present the “Divalicious Moment of the Year” award. The nominees are:
And the winner is: Kelly Kelly. Beth Phoenix comes out, steals the Slammy, and proclaims herself Diva of the Year, but Kelly slaps her and takes it back.
This is Kelly Kelly’s first Slammy!
Santino Marella and the Bella Twins present the award for “OMG Moment of the Year.” The nominees are:
And the winner is: Triple H! Hunter heads straight to the ring and cuts a promo on Kevin Nash. He scares Santino away at the top of the ramp.
This is Triple H’s second Slammy. He won the award for “Best Hair” in 1997.
David Otunga and Tony Atlas present the award for “Trending Superstar of the Year.” Otunga explains, while Tony Atlas laughs the whole time, that the four nominees will wrestle in a Fatal Four Way Match. While the match is going on, the first one of the four to trend on Twitter will win the award, which will be presented after the match. The nominees – and participants in the next match – are:
Dolph Ziggler def. Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes, and Zack Ryder in a Fatal Four Way Match. This match is a must-watch. Hell of a battle between these four, and they gave it a lot of time. In the end it was Ziggler hitting a Zig Zag on Daniel Bryan to pick up the hard fought victory. However…
Jerry “The King” Lawler enters the ring and announces that the winner of “Trending Superstar of the Year” is, of course, Zack Ryder. Ryder gets his Slammy, but Ziggler hits him with a Zig Zag and walked away with the trophy.
This is Zack Ryder’s second Slammy. He won the 2010 “Most Annoying Catchphrase” Slammy for “Woo Woo Woo, You Know It.” My how times have changed.
Christian, on crutches and wearing a neck brace, presents the award for “Game Changer of the Year,” but not before calling himself the “Courageous Superstar of the Year” and blaming the WWE Universe for him not being in the running for “Superstar of the Year” later on tonight. The nominees are:
And the winner is: The Rock and John Cena. Cena accepts the award and says it’s a two person award. He introduces The Rock, who doesn’t come out. Cena says that we have him via satellite. We don’t. Cena says he’s saying these things to make the Rock that much more motivated to put boots to asses.
This is John Cena’s 4th Slammy. He’s won the 2009 and 2010 Superstar Of The Year awards, and the 2010 Holy !@#$ Moment for putting Batista through the stage with an Attitude Adjustment.
The Miz & Alberto Del Rio def. CM Punk & Randy Orton – The Miz and Alberto Del Rio won by keeping Punk away from Orton. Orton was eventually pulled off the apron by Wade Barrett, leaving Punk alone, and the numbers game caught up with him. After the match, Orton took off looking for Barrett, while The Miz and Del Rio assaulted Punk with a ladder. Del Rio locked the Cross Armbreaker in on Punk through the rungs of the ladder while Miz stated that no matter what happens, Punk won’t walk out of TLC with the WWE Championship.
We get another “Kane Resurrected” Promo
Vickie Guerrero and Goldust present “WWE A-Lister Of The Year.” The nominees are:
And the winner is: Snooki, who accepts via pre-recorded message. She wishes Zack Ryder luck at TLC and gives a “Woo Woo Woo, You Know It.”
I’m sure it goes without saying that this is Snooki’s first, and probably only, Slammy.
Matt Striker interviews Mark Henry backstage, who is looking to induct John Cena into the Hall of Pain tonight.
Sheamus heads to the ring for action. His opponent is scheduled to be Jinder Mahal, but as he’s talking trash when he gets in the ring, Sheamus nails the Brogue Kick and leaves.
Rey Mysterio presents “Superstar of the Year.” The nominees are:
And the winner is: CM Punk, with his second victory of the night. John Laurinaitis says Punk is in no condition to accept, so he accepts on Punk’s behalf.
This is Punk’s 2nd Slammy tonight and his 5th overall win.
Mark Henry walking backstage is cut off by the newest cryptic video.
John Cena vs. Mark Henry ends in a no contest when Kane returns! Wearing a hard black mask when he gets to the ring, he chokeslams John Cena! He sets off his pyro and removes the black mask, only to reveal that he’s returned to wearing a half mask and having long hair.
My thoughts: Quick thoughts, of course. I need stuff for the podcast, after all. I’m glad to see Kane back, and back to his old look. Maybe we’ll get the Big Red Monster back! And yes folks, all the stats I added in about the Slammys are 100% correct. I did my research!
I don’t do awards shows, so you’ll have to forgive me for the lack of Raw coverage. Instead, I bring you the following Christmas list:
John Laryngitis-an off-screen role (ONLY)
John Cena-intensity
Alberto Del Rio-a promo that does not use the word “destiny”
WWE Creative Team-creativity
Divas-real women wrestlers and more than two minutes for matches (must be both; don’t do one or the other)
Dolph Ziggler-a main event push
Goldust-likability on Twitter
Jack Swagger-a role where he never has to talk and where he is pushed like a monster
Rey Jr.-new knees
Sin Cara-a new guy behind the mask
Hunico-a gimmick not currently being used by Impact’s Hernandez
Jim Ross-never to be humiliated in Oklahoma on TV again
Kevin Nash-relevance
Mick Foley-see Kevin Nash
Hogan & Bischoff-a repeat of Bash at the Beach where he’s given his walking papers
Impact-stop pushing the old guys at the expense of the new generation & a product that I consider watchable
All Night Xpress-a tag title run
Kyle O’Reilly, Tommaso Ciampa, Caprice Coleman, El Generico, Grizzly Redwood, Willie Mack-pushes to the moon
Matt Palmer, ACH, Athena-a chance on a national stage
Gregory Iron-a shot in the WWE; there are so many stories to be told there; unlike Eugene, you could have a bonifide handicap wrestler that the WWE fans would genuinely go for
Ring of Honor-a show in Dallas… please
Sara Del Rey, Cherry Bomb, Eric Ryan, Rickey Shane Page, Façade, Marion Fontaine, Tim Donst, Johnny Gargano, Aeroform, Portia Perez, Mad Man Pondo, Sugar Dunkerton-a match in the Dallas area
Coming off the heels of a monumentally awesome birthday I return refreshed and rejuvenated or maybe it’s just the coffee. Thanks to all who wished me a a happy birthday if it was on here facebook, twitter, or google+ (yeah I actually got one on there). Now to get back on track and see what’s going on in the world of whatever: (more…)
Tonight was a 3-hour Raw with The Rock or something.
It began with the Michael Cole challenge. There was a really awful arm wrestling. Then we got to see JR dance. Is there anything they won’t do to him? At this point, Jim Ross needs to tell the WWE to go f*** themselves. Then the final thing was a weighing contest. Then we are saved by CM Punk who rips into Michael Cole. Finally we have the sanest man in wrestling. Johnny Ace makes a match and Eddie Kingston dies inside. CM Punk is RP McMurphy in the insane asylum.
Mick Foley came out of a limo.
We had a pretty decent tag match. Cody Rhodes and Hunico versus Sin Cara and Kofi Kingston. It was a good solid match. The funniest part was that she had to leave the room because she was on the phone and she got distracted because she likes Sin Cara.
The Rock arrived. My wife’s heart fluttered.
Santino pimped the WWE new video game with Zack Ryder.
Vickie Guerrero walked out. Dolph Ziggler would be the new member of Team Barrett.
The Walking Wellness Violation Mason Ryan took on Dolph Ziggler. Vickie interfered and Dolph was dq’d. As Vickie and Dolph ran, John Morrison threw him back in the ring for some roid rage.
Mick Foley got to do the “Woo woo woo, you know it” thing with Zack Ryder. Then he walked out before the adoring crowd. Foley wants people to cheer John Cena. Then Foley invites John Cena to the ring. They went back to This is Your Life? Foley is one of my favorite all time on the mic. (Punk, Funk, Heyman, Dusty, Flair) Why did they have to have to do something so unoriginal? It was fun seeing Bull Buchanan. Then they brought out John Cena, Sr. I will never complain about Bob Orton Sr. after seeing that travesty.
We got Jack Swagger getting mugged by Sheamus. It wasn’t that bad of a match. Swagger now is my cue to play Civilization IV.
The Bellas would rather have Alberto Del Rio than Zack Ryder.
There was a video package of Kelly Kelly’s photo shoot. Due to me not being 12, I could care less.
Kelly Kelly pinned Nattie Neidhart in record time. Alicia Fox looked really hot in her dress. But don’t worry, AJ, you’re still the center of my Divas universe.
Super Dave and ADR argue about something. Matt Striker is standing by with R-Truth and Miz. I think Miz was just wearing random outfits that didn’t matter whether they matched or not.
As Punk was walking out to the ring, ADR attacked him. Ugh, why is Punk walking around by himself?
Alberto Del Rio walks out and I just gotta say Ricardo Rodriguez is one of my favorite things on WWE TV. We had ADR/Henry vs. Big Show/Punk. Punk apparently had some spinach or something. He came out and wanted ADR. This made me intrigued with this match for the first time ever. I thought they had some pretty decent things going on in this match. Big Show-Henry was no Chikara action, but I am looking forward to this match. ADR won and then put Punk in the arm breaker. Big Show came to his rescue. Decent build-up.
Santino Marella came out and cut a cute promo. Then Kevin Nash came out; everybody died inside except Jim Cornette. At least it wasn’t a big name he destroyed.
Michael Cole was doing the video game hard sell and my wife the nurse pointed out he wasn’t even wearing his sling right.
Looks like they’re serious about Wade Barrett again. It was a decent match, but it was SO predictable.
Then The Rock came out and rambled. Fortunately for us, with The Rock, it never seems like rambling. Then Miz and Truth came out and held their own against The Rock, and then John Cena came out. They forgot the TV-PG part for a minute. It was just ok for me.
I didn’t entirely hate this Raw. The first segment made me want to close my eyes and dream of Chikara. But it went better as time went on. I’m thinking “thumbs in the middle.”
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Ésta noche, estamos en México D.F. para Raw. Pues, voy a blogear totalmente en español para celebrar.
According to my professors, I couldn’t write good in Spanish so I better quit while I’m ahead. (And yes, my grammatical error is there completely for irony.) All I said was tonight, we are in Mexico City for Raw. So, I’m going to blog totally in Spanish to celebrate. (Or something equivalent to that)
Last week, we suffered through one of the worst Raws since Katie Vick. If I were personally not committed to do the Raw blog, I would have switched to Fox and watched House or something. I still have faith that somehow they will turn this around.
We start off the night with Super Dave Osborne in the ring. He is so awful on the mic. The wrong Dynamic Dude is speaking. (Shane Douglas, where are you?) He brings back Jim Ross. I haven’t seen a more emotionless hug since Hollywood Hogan hugged “in-the-rafters” Sting. He makes a match. Cole/Del Rio vs. Ross/Cena. At least we know who’ll win.
Randy Orton comes out. The crowd acted like it was Juanes. In accordance with the art of Lucha Libre, we get a 6-man tag. Orton/John Morrison/Sheamus versus Christian/Cody Rhodes/Mark Henry. The crowd hung off of every move Randy Orton made. Orton & Rhodes were not long for this match as they got to go to the back and fight. It was a nice match. I really feel that Henry is coming into his own as a top guy. The John Morrison Future Endeavors tour continued as he was probably killed by Mark Henry.
No matter what happens here, it could be worse. I could be seeing that awful movie In Time.
We got some more time with Broadus Clay. He isn’t a bad speaker. After the Bellas hung on Johnny Ace, they can only go up. Eve is making her way to the ring. I will take this opportunity to pee. It took longer than I intended. I have no idea what happened.
After the commercial, we got CM Punk and then Awesome Truth came out. They cut a promo on Punk and he just stood there and smiled. This was a decent match. My satellite went out so I have no idea what happened. Punk got a roll-up and won.
We had Jack Swagger escorted by Dolph and Vickie. She looked really nice in her traditional Mexican dress. And yes, she said “Excuse me” in Spanish. They really got the crowd going. They were very good with them. Then we were saved by my daughter’s favorite wrestler, Zack Ryder. My daughter doesn’t know any wrestlers. She just says, “Woo woo woo.” Zack Ryder get a pin in record time. After they start a beatdown on Ryder, he is saved by Matista.
Ziggler did a good job carrying the Walking Wellness Violation. Matista got disqualified for… I have no idea.
Then JR and John Cena had a little back and forth and then Cole heeled the crowd.
The main event turned out to be an ok match. For it to be a good match, I have to believe Cena can lose.
This was not as bad as last week’s Raw. We are still stuck with Super Dave Osborne, but the crowd was hot and made the wrestlers seem important. There is plenty that can be improved, but for tonight, I’ll rest on not hating it.
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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.
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Well here we are the time of year that is almost Wrestlemania time as college basketball hits it’s tournament to crown a National Champion (GO ORANGE!) but since this is a wrestling website, and Wrestlemania is only 2 weeks away I think there should be some wrestlemaina talk so lets go: (more…)