(Quite a long one this week, haven’t written a blog for a while and got a lot to get off my chest.)
This week was mired with the news of ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage passing away due to a massive heart attack while he was driving his vehicle causing him to lose control.
I’m not going to pretend to be Savage’s biggest fan, nor am I going to pretend I’ve seen every single one of his match’s, well, because I haven’t. I started watching wrestling in around 1995/1996. I was limited to WCW Nitro and Thunder, which Channel 5 showed, WWF Heat and Pay Per Views on Channel 4 and Smackdown, Bottom Line, Velocity and Afterburn on Sky at my friends’ house. I’ve watched some of his classic match’s; Wrestlemania 3 vs Ricky Steamboat, vs Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 5, vs The Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania 7… match’s like that. My biggest personal memories come from his time in WCW with the N.W.O, some of his hilarious promos and commentary and his very brief stint in TNA. With his peak being in the 80’s, fans who began watching during the Attitude Era and who were too young to have lived through the 80’s have little experience of what the Macho Man brought to the table. I can safely say he was a great performer and a great entertainer. Something I’ve always admired about Randy Savage is that unlike many other stars of the 80’s, he knew when to quit.
After departing from WWE in 1994, there have been rumours, whisper’s and hearsay’s regarding why he left. Savage is one of the men who are guaranteed a WWE Hall of Fame spot one day. Will it happen next year? Possibly. One thing’s for sure if Vince McMahon decides to put him in the Hall of Fame in 2012 people will say he is cashing in on his death. On the other hand, if he waits he’ll be called the scum of the earth.
Rest in Peace Randy Poffo.
Onto this week’s shows starting with Raw.
Another go home Raw before a PPV, another Raw with little in the way of in-ring action.
A rather random match between CM Punk and Kofi Kingston kicked off the ring action and Punk won. You’re telling me WWE couldn’t choose another opponent for Punk to go over rather than the UNITED STATES CHAMPION? They really do love making any other title except the WWE Title look like utter shit don’t they? The match also looked like it was put together by a five year old with Kofi gently falling to the mat apparently being enough to incapacitate him for Punk to deliver the GTS. Just dumb booking all round really.
I thought Kharma flicking Kelly Kelly on the swede was a quality touch. It echoed her vignette’s leading up to her debut and indicated that she has something bigger in store for the Barbie look alike. Remember when I said that Brie Bella was going to be a transitional champion? (Well I did look it up) Isn’t it just OBVIOUS that Kelly Kelly is going to come out victorious at Over the Limit? Honestly, if she doesn’t win, I’ll chew my left testicle off… God I hope she wins. Saying that however, I’d much rather see Kharma square off against Natalya, Beth Phoenix or re-ignite the great feud she had with Gail Kim in TNA.
We have another Rey Mysterio vs Alberto Del Rio match. I’ll be honest, despite the fact that they have the ability to put on a great match, I’m getting a little sick of seeing them square off. WWE could at least give us a few months off because it seems as if they’ve faced each other every other show since Del Rio’s debut. Give it a rest dammit!
It’s becoming a trend that the first hour of a Raw show has to be terrible the past few weeks and this week was no different, check out this tweet:
@crapminitweets Omg, this Raw. I don't think I can make it another hour without falling asleep. #tiredandthisrawsucks
It must have been bad, or maybe I was indeed just tired.
I noticed that someone needs to tell R-Truth that the magic stick that he holds in his hand when he talks PROJECTS his voice. There is no need to YELL and YELL as he talks into the microphone. Like I’ve said, WWE need to tone down the goofyness to R-Truth’s heel character, the way he talks just makes him seem like a retard… and he’ll never be a legit character in my eyes unless he can tone that down. I did like his new look however, I’m glad he lost that graffiti jacket.
King vs Cole contract signing. What can I say? This was a hot feud a few months ago and I was a big fan of the direction it was taking pre – Wrestlemania. After we were forced to watch Michael Cole try to wrestle and then WIN at Wrestlemania, it has gone completely down hill. While I’m a fan of Michael Cole as a heel commentator, I do NOT want to see him competing in matches. I can’t believe WWE haven’t learnt their lesson after the shambles of the Wrestlemania match, followed by clusterfuck of a ‘country whipping match.’ We’re now treated to a ‘Kiss My Foot Match.’ I don’t know about anyone else but I have a horrible feeling that due to the Athlete’s Foot angle Cole is going to win this match as well, continuing the feud. This feud needs to be put out of its misery.
Going back to my earlier sentiment, WHY did Punk go over the United States Champion? He’s been thrusted into a tag title match with Mason Ryan? Ok then. Mason Ryan is so green it’s unreal so I can see Punk carrying the majority of the match. Do I see them winning the titles? It’s really give or take, it would at least give the Nexus something to do but then again, Punk is too good to be wallowing down in the mid card with Batistwo.
WWE decided to skip the opportunity to pull the trigger on a Jack Swagger face turn and instead had him face Cena as The Miz’s chosen opponent. We saw a bit of a return of the ‘SuperCena’ booking here as he was dominated for the vast majority of the match, hit two moves and won. It continued after being beaten down with a led pipe, before hulking up and dominating The Miz and Riley. Please don’t return to this style of booking for Cena, WWE. It’s enough that you’ve copy and pasted the formula for Randy Orton in recent months, we don’t need to superchamps.
I liked the Miz’s promo at the end however; he promised to do something never before seen and it gave intrigue to the match. At the very least, it made this viewer want to see what The Miz pulls out. Lets be serious though, Cena’s winning.
Raw was pretty ‘meh’ for the most part, nothing really happened. What about Smackdown?
We kick off with a nice match between Christian and Sheamus, some nice back and forth action before we get an interference from Mark Henry: Buzz kill. Henry waddles to the ring and both he and Sheamus beat on Christian. Randy Orton comes out and just stands there on the stage while Sheamus and Mark Henry are attacking Christian. Can't argue with that strategy, I guess. He has a World Title defense against Christian this weekend, so he might as well let Christian take just a little bit more of a beating before he makes the save… nice touch I thought.
Ladies and gentleman, prepare yourself for more… BOOKER T COMMENTARY HATRED. That man on commentary Christ a-fucking-live. I wouldn’t be surprised if he causes a world wide rapture one day. After a two-count for Christian, Booker said that proves how bad Christian wants to win. Why? Because he didn't get the win? Because he went for the pin in the first place? As opposed to what, all of those wrestlers who don't want to win, so they refuse to go for pins? Booker, you're a fucking idiot, and I hope you permanently lose your voice soon.
Brie pins Natalya cleanly and Kharma doesn’t come out. Seriously? Whatsupwitdat?
Ezekiel Jackson, the man of five powerslam’s, is on the mic. It’s pretty clear from the way he’s talking that the ‘What?’ chants have been edited out in post – production. This guy is just terrible on the stick. We get a Corre vs Kane, Show and Zeke match whereby the faces win, but the match went on way too long, considering how.. well.. limited most of the guys in the match are. Nice that they gave Zeke a Torture Rack finisher, though, even if he's going to end up killing someone in the move one day.
Another example of dumb booking in preparation for Over The Limit came in the form of Chavo Guerrero vs Daniel Bryan. While I don't want to see Daniel Bryan squashed, and would have booked someone else in the match if I were in charge, does Bryan have a match at Over The Limit? Does Chavo Guerrero? Chavo should have been booked to look strong going into the pay-per-view. It's not rocket science, shit.
I absolutely LOVED the Cody Rhodes/Ted Dibiase segment and match. Cody Rhodes is the current WWE MVP in terms of character development. He is mastering his current character, but just needs that big win and main event push… we could see big things in the future for Mr Rhodes. His paper bag gimmick is priceless (pun intended) and his manipulation and utilisation of Ted Dibiase when addressing the Corpus Christi crowd was great. Dibiase as Cody Rhodes sidekick could be a good thing for both men.
The Great Khali’s entrance music hit. I fast-forwarded.
Booking Randy Orton vs Mark Henry is always a risk. Randy Orton works a slow and methodical style, Mark Henry is just slow. Christian comes out, and he's returning the favor to Orton, just standing there on the stage while Sheamus and Henry beat Orton up in the ring. Fair play. I think the big news coming out of the main event is Randy Ortons cheer leader leap celebration on the dance that ensued. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? Seriously, if you missed it, check it out.
Weird.
Smackdown trumped Raw for WWE show of the week this week for sure.
Impact. The first ‘Impact Wrestling’ show since their name change and a set change that makes the Impact Zone look like TNA: Smackdown. I warn you now, there’s going to be a couple of spoilers here if you haven’t watched the new Impact, read on regardless… as I’m sure you’re interested in whether watching it will be worth your time or not.
First of all Impact Wrestling’s new tag line is ‘Wrestling Matters.’ Does it? Does it really? I’m going to do a bullet point list right here proving that this is utter bullshit.
- Abyss defeats Kazarian for the X- Division Championship. A 300 pound man, is the X-Division champion. The X- Division put TNA on the map. It was a company that embraced smaller workers and made them the cornerstone of the company. The X-Division matches were amazing in the company’s early days. One can argue this is all just part of a storyline that brings the X-Division back to prominence after Hogan and Bischoff try to storyline destroy for a couple of months. However, if Hogan and Bischoff hadn’t destroyed it in the first place, this never would have had to happen. Further, this isn’t the way to go about it. Put some amazing X-Division matches on again. Bring Daniels, Samoa Joe and Styles back into the division and lets have some rematches from their past classics. Fuck me, a child could book this shit. The promo poster for Destination X has surfaced online recently. It features a six – sided ring and a tag line of ‘The future is the past.’ Lets hope it’s not a one time deal and TNA show us once again that the X-division is a cornerstone of the company.
- Stop trying to ruin AJ Styles by having him take part in fucking pointless feuds. TNA has already ruined Samoa Joe. At one point, he was primed to be the next big thing in wrestling, and in one of the worst cases of not listening to your fans that I've ever seen, the company royally fucked up his push and ruined him. I don't think he'll ever reach legit main event status again, and it's a shame. TNA has tried to ruin AJ Styles on multiple occasions, but, as a sign of just how much the TNA fans love him, they continue rooting for him as if he were someone special. The company has him jobbing to Tommy Dreamer, for fuck's sake. Tommy Dreamer was a jobber in ECW, when he was in his 20s. Now he's 40 and we're supposed to believe he's going to be winning matches? Fuck outta here with that garbage. TNA tried to turn AJ Styles into Ric Flair Jr, and that certainly didn't work. They're always trying to do all these different things with AJ, instead of just letting him loose and having him work his ass off for people. It shows how lost and in their own little world the TNA writers are. They have no idea what they have in AJ Styles, and if they continue taking him for granted, he'll be on the WWE roster before you know it, and TNA fans will be out for blood at every Impact taping. Wise up, TNA.
- Speaking of Samoa Joe, I have no idea what’s going on with him at the minute. One minute he’s face, one minute he’s heel and where the fuck did his feud with Crimson come from?
- Matt Hardy and Eric Bischoff beat Generation Me, Bischoff gets the pin. I don’t even know where to begin here. Aren’t Gen Me supposed to be heel? Aren’t Gen Me supposed to be broken up? WHY is written all over this situation. Again, the X-Division are getting screwed in the storyline, but again there’s better ways to go about it then having Eric Fucking Bischoff go over one of the most promising young tag teams in the world. Uck.
- Knockouts match is a main event. I like the job they’re doing with making Velvet Sky their top knockout. She’s over as hell! GOOD JOB! But, If I have to watch Angelina Love’s ugly, fucked up, botoxed to shit face blankly stare at people one more time. I’m going to punch the screen.
- We have a main event of Rob Van Dam vs Kurt Angle GREAT MAIN EVENT… in 2001 maybe. PUSH your original talent. Fuck me.
- We had nearly the same amount of talking we’ve had on Impact the past few months. Wrestling sure does matter TNA… Bullshit.
I desperately want TNA to succeed, don’t get me wrong. It's honestly not that difficult. There's so much talent on the TNA roster, and it's a crying shame that the current product is what it is. They have all the potential in the world to be pulling in Raw-like numbers if they really put their minds to it. If "wrestling matters", though, it would be nice if they actually tried to prove it, instead of just talking the talk and then giving us the same fucking routine that they've been giving us.
This blog has been bitter. This week’s wrestling shows have left nothing but a bitter taste in my mouth. We’ve come off the back of a very mediocre Raw, into another example of TNA promising change and delivering sweet fuck all, into a mediocre Smackdown. To add to that we’ve lost a wrestling great topping it all off with what could be a terribly Pay Per View in Over The Limit and it’s been a bit of an off week for Wrestling.
I really do dread to see Over The Limit’s buyrates…I hope I have something pleasant to write about. Now, if only I could find some ROH streams online… my sources have disappeared.
What were your thoughts on this week, leave me some feedback.
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