I know, I know. I’v e been changing the format of the RAW review on a near weekly basis. I wasn’t intending to this time, but I wound up oversleeping and waking up just 5 minutes before the show started, leaving me with no time to set up a review. The important thing is, I watched RAW, and I’m going to tell you about it. Ready? Let’s go!
Wow. BoredWrestlingFan.com is celebrating it’s one year anniversary this Tuesday, June 9th. Normally by this point in a project, I’ve lost all interest and will have not updated in months. BWF is not one of those projects. I still love this site and update it as often as possible, and with the cast of characters I’ve assembled here, we keep this place live nearly every day of the week. But enough about that for now, I’ll devote an article to that on Tuesday.
On to the wrestling news for the week.
The big news still on the radar from last week is the sudden release of Mr. Kennedy as details continue to leak. Word is that Randy Orton complained about Kennedy’s wreckless nature in the ring. The story goes that Mr. McMahon asked other Superstars about it, and they agreed which led to Kennedy’s release. Rumor has it that Kennedy is also now a member of the WWE “do not call” list, which is a very exclusive club.
Almost lost in the mix of Kennedy stories are the injuries that Samoa Joe suffered at a TNA house show sometime in the past week. The former TNA Triple Crown Champion suffered two broken fingers and a torn bicep. The injuries couldn’t come at a worse time for TNA, as they’ve already taped every episode of iMPACT! leading up to Slammiversary, where Joe was set to participate in the King of the Mountain main event. At this point, the only thing yours truly would expect is Joe to be taken out by the Main Event Mafia at the start of the PPV.
Chris Mordetzky, better known as Chris Masters, has apparently re-signed with World Wrestling Entertainment. Maybe he stopped taking steroids and learned how to wrestle, and can actually justify whatever push they give him this time around.
Sting is (allegedly) seriously considering retirement following this year’s Bound For Glory Pay-Per-View. If he does decide to retire, rest assured that he’d probably stay retired, and also bet your house on Sting being inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame no later than 2011.
Hey, speaking of Pay Per Views, WWE’s changed the name of another one. The Great American Bash is now simply known as The Bash. The reasons rumoured for this change include the old name being too WCW sounding, and the fact that if it’s the Great American Bash, you can’t hold it outside of the U.S.
The highlight of this week in wrestling for me was actually watching SmackDown for the first time in over a month. There were a few great matches on there that made me remember why I’m a wrestling fan. Edge vs. Rey Mysterio was a definite match of the year contender in my book.
And since it’s a PPV weekend, here’s my predictions for Xtreme Rules!
Vickie Guerrero vs. Santina Marella: Hog Pen Match
My prediction is this match will suck. For the hell of it, let’s go with Santina regaining her Miss WrestleMania crown.
CM Punk vs. Umaga: Samoan Strap Match
Time for these guys to move on from this random feud. Punk wins.
US Championship – Kofi Kingston vs. Matt Hardy vs. William Regal vs. MVP: four way match
What the hell is extreme about a four way match? Kingston just won the title on Monday, don’t expect that belt to be going anywhere this soon.
Intercontinental Championship – Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho: No Hold’s Barred
Just as long as Zeus doesn’t get involved, we’re good here. Rey Rey will find a way to win. Jericho doesn’t need another IC Title run.
ECW Championship – Christian vs. Jack Swagger vs. Tommy Dreamer: Hardcore match
I know the story here about Dreamer getting one more chance at the ECW Championship, getting a one day extension past today’s original date. I just can’t see him getting the win. Christian retains.
John Cena vs. The Big Show: Submission match
I predict myself falling asleep. Two decidedly non-submission wrestlers in a submission match. Boring. Technical guys like CM Punk and Chris Jericho can get away with submission matches, not power guys like Cena and The Big Show. Anyways, why bother, we all know Cena’s going to win.
WWE Championship – Randy Orton vs. Batista: Steel Cage Match
For crying out loud, what is Batista even doing in a championship match? The guy sucks in the ring, he sucks on the mic, he is NOT championship material. Never was, never will be. I just hope he doesn’t injure Orton, who I’m sure is going over.
World Championship – Edge vs. Jeff Hardy: Ladder Match
Jeff hasn’t re-signed with WWE yet, and they want him to. Hardy goes over, believe it or not.
That’s all for me for now, JT will be around tomorrow with more Random Randomness, and we’ll have some sort of coverage of Extreme Rules – probably not live but it’ll be up sometime before RAW on Monday.
Raven, Kennedy, and Striker – OH MY! Let’s get started.
Monday night on RAW, Mr. Kennedy returned to the WWE after being out for a very long period of time with an injury. What followed was not nearly as surprising – he injured himself in his first match back. The fans at the Staples Center seemed to enjoy his presense, but that wasn’t enough for the WWE to keep wasting their time with MISTEEERRRRRRR INJURY PRONE!
INJURY PRONE!
Kennedy was back for four days before WWE decided to release him from his contract. Do you think that TNA would take him, or is he now resigned to work as MISTEEEERRRRRRR FRY COOK?
5/30/09 UPDATE: Rumor flying around is that Randy Orton had some kind of discussion backstage with Mr. Kennedy following RAW, that Orton has considerable influence in the company, and these factors may have been what led to Mr. Kennedy’s release.
ECW color commentator Matt Striker is the center of controversy this week as alleged nude photos of the school teacher turned professional wrestler began circulating the internet. Internet Wrestling Community pundits are beginning to wonder if this is the sort of thing that could cost Striker his cushy World Wrestling Entertainment job. In my opinion, if Disney kept that High School Musical girl after her nude pics leaked, WWE will certainly keep Striker.
Buff Bagwell did an interview recently where he said he’d work for WWE for free, and if TNA called him, he’d listen. Does this guy seriously think he’s got a shot at WWE again? He was there for all of a week before they fired his ass the first time around.
AOL and Time Warner are set to dissolve their merger after nearly a decade. Could this mean a new wrestling organization under the direction of Ted Turner is now possible?
WWE has now changed the name of the Unforgiven Pay-Per-View event. It’s going to be called “WWE Breaking Point” and is rumored to be a submission themed pay per view. I kind of like the idea, though there aren’t really a whole heck of a lot of submission wrestlers on the roster that I can think of at the moment, so I can’t imagine what the matches would be.
The highlight of my week actually happened on TNA iMPACT! this past Thursday night as my favorite wrestler returned. During a therapy session, Dr. Stevie put Abyss in a straight jacket, prompting Lauren to come to his rescue. Through the crowd emerged a familiar face – RAVEN! The former NWA and ECW Champion took away Dr. Stevie’s kendo stick – and blasted Abyss with it himself! Raven and Dr. Stevie, the former ECW Tag Team Champions reunited with an embrace in the ring. Welcome back, Raven!
Last night was a lot of fun for me, although I had to work at 1AM following the show. PaintFingers and I took a lot of pics from the show, so we’ll start from the very beginning.
Welcome, everyone to another edition of Random Randomness. Well since I have a lot to do today, lets get going: (more…)
Yes folks, the format from last week’s RAW is back! I liked the way last week’s turned out, even if it was a lot more work than normal, so we’re going with it again. Randy Orton is the WWE Champion after last night’s Backlash event, and Triple H was sent to the hospital, so tonight I suppose we’ll find out who’s going to step up to challenge the Legend Killer (not our Legend Killer, the WWE’s version) for his title.
Before I get started, I want to thank the entire BoredWrestlingFan staff for all of their contributions to WrestleMania week. Overall we finished with 331 page views on the week, which is more than we had in some of our early months here. Great job, guys! Tonight on RAW, we’ll see a 10 Diva tag team match with five of RAW’s Divas vs. five of SmackDown’s Divas. We’ll see Miz and Morrison get their chance at redemption as they get a rematch with Carlito and Primo for the unified tag team championships, and according to Joey Styles himself, tonight’s RAW Main Event is an “All-Star WrestleMania Tag”: Cena, Hardy, Punk, Dragon and Mysterio vs. Edge, Show, Hardy, Jericho and Kane (source: twitter.com/WWEJoeyStyles). There’s also been a rumor that Randy Orton might be getting another chance at the WWE Championship as well, but again, it’s only a rumor.
Will anybody bother to step up and try to top HBK/Undertaker as a potential Match of the Year? We’ll find out tonight! Results after the jump! (more…)
It just wouldn’t be Wrestlemania Week without every keyboard-bashing monkey who knows the difference between a wrist lock and a wristwatch weighing in on match predictions and offering generally self-important commentary on the biggest wrestling – er – sports entertainment show of the year. Know what I have to say to that? My turn!
WWE Champion Triple H vs. Randy Orton
Trips wins. As if there’s any doubt. This was a storyline that really could have gone places. It did, but all the wrong places. Randy Orton was hotter than he had ever been, and people were absolutely into him. This whole story just got dragged out too long, and should have been left alone earlier. I’ll probably get slammed majorly for this, but the last thing that I wanted to see was the McMahon family stepping up to the Legacy at the end of RAW. This could have been THE moment for Orton and the Legacy. It won’t.
World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. John Cena vs. Big Show (Triple Threat Match)
John Cena wins. Again, it’s not necessarily the best idea, but no way is this guy losing at Mania. I like a comedy love triangle story as much as anyone, but this one really hasn’t clicked well. Wrestlemania should be about the titles and major feuds, and throwing the “Who will Win Vickie Guerrero?” aspect into the match really cheapens it. A World Heavyweight Championship Title match does not need that type of extra flavor.
Intercontinental Champion JBL vs. Rey Mysterio
This match screams “Oh crap! We forgot to put the guy who single-handedly draws the Hispanic demographic on the show!” The IC title should be a major reward, not a consolation prize, which is what it looks like by having JBL win it and Rey challenging for it. With all of JBL’s promises to do something legendary at Mania, look for him to retain the IC title, retire it, and take his rightful place at the announce table.
Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy (Extreme Rules Match)
This looks to be really good. Matt versus Jeff couldn’t really have happened before this year and actually worked, and I’m hoping to see an absolutely unbridled vicious side of Matt Hardy in this match. Matt has pushed and pushed Jeff, but this story isn’t ready to end at Mania. It really hasn’t played out long enough. There’s still more to come, and with that thought in mind, Matt wins after using his more grounded technical skills and savage brutality to take out the more daredevil Jeff. Jeff really shouldn’t win until the feud is ready to end, and it shouldn’t yet. I’m all for things beginning and ending at Mania, but this story just doesn’t feel complete.
WWE Tag Team Champions [Carlito and Primo Colon] vs. World Tag Team Champions [The Miz and John Morrison] (Unified Tag Team Championship Lumberjack Match)
The Miz and John Morrison win, and unify the tag team belts. Please don’t let this match come down to the interference of the feuding and still interchangeable Bella twins! Please? The fact that there’s as much focus on these two twits as there is on the actual tag teams and belts causes concern. No title unification match at Wrestlemania should hang on the interference of irrelevant valets. Period.
Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker
Undertaker wins, and the Streak (insert Ray Stevens song here) remains intact. This match will be great. Probably the match of the night. And well should it be, considering the two guys involved. The fact that Mania is in Texas, and both Michaels and Taker are from Texas, will kick this match off the chart. However, the very idea that Shawn Michaels should be the one to end Undertaker’s Mania win streak is incomprehensible. The Streak is almost as legendary as the man who holds it. The person who ends it, if anyone ever does (and it might not ought to be ended at all), would be catapulted to the highest level and be forever remembered in the annals of pro wrestling as the guy who ended a legendary winning streak. Michaels doesn’t need that. He’s already a legend in his own right, and, in a sense, ending Taker’s streak would be wasted on him. It’s not as if he suddenly needs to get over after a lengthy absence. If someone is going to finally defeat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania, it should not be Shawn Michaels.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match (Mark Henry, Finley, CM Punk, Kane, Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, MVP [US Champion], Christian)
I would love to see CM Punk win this because CM Punk rules. He’s my favorite guy in the match, and I’m totally biased in his favor. The fact that he has already won it once, though, makes it unlikely. As much as I love Punk, he really shouldn’t even be in this match. Previous winners shouldn’t be in it again, and if they must, it should be quite a while. Several years, possibly. Punk should be in a one-on-one Mania match, which is described below. Christian winning the MITB would be amazing, because he would then be in a position to insert himself in angles involving Edge or the Hardys afterwards. He’s certainly the most experienced “ladder match” guy of the lot. However, Vince doesn’t see him as a star, and the MITB isn’t just a ladder match. It’s a guaranteed title shot, and I don’t see Christian being allowed that at this point. Therefore, with my first choice (CM Punk) and my second choice (Christian) being highly unlikely, I’m calling MVP to win it. He has the US title, which means that he’ll probably have to lose it to someone before cashing in his title shot. This could be the start of a major angle for MVP if he wins.
25-Diva Battle Royal for title of “Miss WrestleMania”
Ugh. This is a complete waste, but not for the reasons one might assume. Lance Storm was completely right when he said that this match was a good idea because it gave more of the women a piece of the big Mania payday, which they would not otherwise get. That much is absolutely fair. Unfortunately for them, a 25-person over-the-top-rope elimination battle royal is going to be a giant mess no matter who is in it. That’s just too many people in one ring at a time, and all of them can’t even wrestle to begin with. Candice Michelle and Ashley Massaro won’t be involved, so the chances of serious injury for everyone else in the match just went down. Some of the truly important former Divas aren’t going to be involved, and it really doesn’t feel significant. Sunny will be there, as will Victoria, Torrie Wilson, Jackie Gayda-Haas, and Molly Holly, but let’s look at the list of those who will not. Wendy Richter turned them down, supposedly. Sable and Dawn Marie are both pregnant, and won’t be there. Lita won’t be there, and after how she was treated at the end of her tenure, one can’t blame her at all. The Fabulous Moolah is no longer with us, not that she should have won such a thing, but come on, it’s Moolah. Mae Young won’t be involved in the match itself, but, to be fair, she IS almost 90 years old now. Amy Weber and Joy Giovanni don’t count as major contributors, but they won’t be there. Christy Hemme and Jacqueline (the original Jackie) obviously weren’t asked, as they currently work for TNA. Gail Kim is there. Terri Runnels isn’t. Debra won’t be there. I don’t personally know about Chyna (unlikely) or Jazz. There may not even be 25 women to put in the match by the time it’s all done. With some of the truly legendary Divas not being involved in this match, the original point seems to have been lost. Even so, I call Trish Stratus to win, as she deserves the title of “Miss Wrestlemania” (such as it is) more than anyone, past or present.
Chris Jericho vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat & Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka (w/ Ric Flair)
This is terrible. Chris Jericho wrestling three old guys who can barely move, bona fide legends though they may be, is a very bad decision. Sure, this could all be a swerve and Stone Cold comes out at the actual show to defend the honor of legends everywhere, and it’s really a one-on-one match. The entire angle also could have and should have served the purpose of elevating someone who stepped up to fight on behalf of the legends who inspired him to get into wrestling in the first place. Someone like CM Punk would have been perfect for this, despite the fact that Punk has already been World Champion once. Imagine the absolute GOLD that a promo war between Jericho and Punk would have been! Jericho takes out legend after legend, then Punk steps up and announces that he’s had enough of the disrespect, and that if Jericho wants to bully someone, he can try to bully him. Part of Punk’s appeal to the masses is that he’s one of us, a regular guy who was a fan, and who just happened to have the talent and drive to realize his wrestling dream. Inspiration from legends such as these three is almost built in to the story. This would have been a great Mania match. At least the match of Jericho/Punk wouldn’t have given away the winner. It could have gone either way. No such luck here. Jericho loses at Mania, no matter who and how many he faces in the ring. Aside from the fact that he has already succeeded in beating up the legends, no way is the feel-good vibe of Mania being sullied by evil Jericho winning. Jericho will not only lose, he’ll do so in utterly humiliating fashion. Jericho and the fans deserve better than this.
Let’s see what happens!
Peace out,
Drowgoddess
We’re on the final stretch of the Road to WrestleMania. There’s just a little bit more scenery to take in before we hit the exit ramp and head to Reliant Stadium for the biggest show of them all. Speaking of The Big Show, he’s taking on John Cena tonight! What else is happening? I guess you’ll find out when I will!
Full RAW results, after the jump! (more…)
Welcome to WrestleMania week here on BoredWrestlingFan.com! We’re working overtime this week to bring you WrestleMania related articles throughout the week, and this one is just the first. I want to take the opportunity to talk about the way that I would have booked WrestleMania, starting from the Royal Rumble. Some things would have still played out the way that they have, but other things would have been much different.
How different? Find out after the jump! (more…)