I should be hopped on caffeine right now as this college life is draining me, but it didn’t stop me from watching a pretty good Monday Night Raw. Emanating from London, England during their annual European tour, it was highlighted with a John Cena/Ryback confrontation alongside Mick Foley, Fandango continuing to be a sensation, and a 6-Man Tag Main Event that featured Undertaker’s first in-ring match on Raw in 3 years. To be honest, I only watched bits and pieces of this show due to school priorities, but there were some parts I really liked. So without further ado, I’ll discuss the top 3 things that were really cool and 3 things that just sucked.
Punks going for knee surgery. That’s gonna put a hair in his title reign’s orange juice, huh? Today Punk, as it is at 381 days as champion, he now has the longest WWE Championship run in the modern era. But the timing isn’t all bad. You see (as of this writing) the TLC ppv is a mere 10 days from now; now normally the company would kinda lean on the talent to get to the ppv, keep the buys up, put over who you gotta put over and go under the knife after the event…just ask Shawn Michaels’ L5-S1 (that’s a lower back disc to you humanoids).
So I received an email the night after Monday Night Raw, asking my thoughts on CM Punk hitting a fan. I let a few weeks go by forgetting to blog about the situation. So its better late than never…. Let me start of by saying I have a problem with wrestling fans, who feel entitled to put there hands on the talent. I have several friends who wrestle and deal with large crowds. Some who’s character are faces but mostly heels.
*I do not work for WWE. This is not what WILL happen in the coming months but rather an editorial suggestion of what MIGHT happen and likely what I’d do if I held the book & pen…*
So Heyman was the 2nd gunman on the grassy noel?? (He was Punk’s getaway driver after the Cena attack.) Ok…I think I see where this is going; at the very least, I’ll give you my opinion on what they SHOULD do.
When CM Punk wrestled Daniel Bryan, 2 weeks ago on WWE Monday Night RAW, I got a shit load of tweets saying FINALLY “pure wrestling”. The idea of “pure wrestling” is more of an opinionated statement. Locks, holds, escapes and an explosive back and fourth with a lengthy time limit give short but matches that have impact a bad rap. I think idea of “pure wrestling” is telling a story in the ring. To quill pure wrestling enthusiast next week I will blog a match that could be the definition of “pure wrestling”.
Its not rare to see a great technical wrestling on RAW. I think most just like to bitch and moan because they aren’t paying attention to Dolph, Cody and Kofi who are ALL technical wrestlers. What was rare was this match between Bryan and Punk. It came out of nowhere, which was cool. Wrestling fans nowadays take the Internet for granted with results and spoilers, so the surprise factor to me was great.
The last time these two faced each other was at ROH back April 2004. Matches like this really highlight how amazing the talent in the WWE really is. Anyone else notice the ROH handshake at the beginning of the match? The code of honor in a WWE ring…AMAZING. After the match I was asked why wasn’t there a clean finish?
Two reasons. The obvious…Being you cannot have one champion superior over the other, it shows weakness. The champion always has to be the “best” of the company. Jericho lost the rumble the night before so doing a run in on Punk during Raw did a great job of setting Punk vs. Jericho.
We all are going to have a markgasim for Punk vs Jericho at WrestleMania, but lets chat for a moment about Bryan vs Sheamus. Bryan and Sheamus will put on a great match. Sheamus and Bryan had some fantastic matches last year on RAW, contrary to all his squash matches Sheamus is very good. He is second most over babyface on SmackDown. If and when Bryan is victorious at Elimination Chamber this month, Bryan will be walking into WrestleMania as champion. Remember last year when Bryan and Sheamus were suppose to be on the card for WrestleMania but got dropped from the broadcast and made into a dark match before the show? What a difference a year makes.
I know its a tab early for the WrestleMania rumors but since the Rumble is this weekend Maina talk will be all the rage for the next several weeks.
Contrary to what has been previously reported, it appears that and are the two big matches currently being discussed. , fans have been expecting the tentative plan and while those plans have not been scrapped by any means, officials have discussed a creative shake-up.
Because of the IWC (Internet Wrestling Community) and its conspiracies and assumptions, rumors are circulating that we might see Triple H vs. CM Punk instead Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk at Mania. While is isn’t confirmed or denied the possible match might be scrapped. WWE is hip to the Internet game and as we know the WWE likes to shake shit up. So Chris Jericho vs The Undertaker might be a go.
If this does happen The Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho wouldn’t be a bad watch. Having Taker do a fresh WrestleMania match is way better than seeing the repeats like the last 3 WrestleMania’s.
Ok lets get in to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of Monday Night RAW.
Normally I review Monday Night Raw in its entirety, but since were in a new year I’m going to do something a tad different. The Good, The Bad Monday Night Raw.
This is going to be what I liked and disliked about the program. Raw and Smackdown air for several hours on Universal HD for time warner cable on Saturday nights, I get to view both programs twice and it really cement what I like or didn’t. I have the flu so bare with me if my enthusiasm is non existent. My brain feels like its trapped under Rick Ross’s underboob. Insane pressure.
THE GOOD:
WWE Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston vs. World Champion Daniel Bryan
Bryan came out, very confident pointing at the Championship and going “I’m the Champion!!!!”. Bryan caught Kofi with the LeBell Lock in a very nice spot where Kofi came off the top rope with a reverse cross body.
Bryan did an over the top celebration after the match, standing on the barrier and on the announce table kept going “YES!!!!”. Bryan winning clean against Kofi this week and Cody last week establishes the heel “IM THE CHAMP AND IM GREAT” character. Bryan is doing a great job of being the cocky. The fact the announce team is treating Danielson like he got lucky really builds the to the heat.
Tonight’s WWE RAW Supershow opens with clips from CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series as Lawler hypes the rematch tonight. What older fans like my self really wanted to see was Piper open RAW.
Hall of Famer and OG Roddy Piper makes his way to the ring for a special Piper’s Pit. Last few times I saw Piper on WWE TV he looked like complete shit. On Monday’s RAW Rowdy Roddy didn’t look like he was half dead, thats always good.
Piper said something that made me nod in agreement. “How a guy who never won the WWE Title, one who wasn’t ever the biggest or strongest, has became a Hall of Famer and one of the biggest icons. The answer energy”.
Piper talks about how when the crowd cheered him, he did good things, and when they boo’d him, he did rotten things. Piper goes on and brings out John Cena. Piper says Cena is the face of WWE, but the booing is getting louder. Piper starts poking Cena to tell the fans what’s on his mind.
RAW, England I’m excited not really but anything is better than seeing The Muppets.
Cena opens the program and is greeted with boo’s. John mentioned the record breaking “one day” ticket sales, for Wrestlemaina 28. Brilliant move to announce Rock vs Cena the night after Wrestlemaina 27.
Wrestling fans who haven’t watched in years are now watching again. Then we get a Survivor Series plug. Cena plugs next week’s show…Where The Rock will be live in Boston for a three hour edition.
I marked a bit when he said when the madness meets the maina. (Savage/Hogan reference for anyone born after 95)
Before Cena could finish, he was interrupted by The Miz & R-Truth. Miz cut an amazing promo. Truth added “get got”. Both went down the ring to attack Cena, Zack Ryder makes the save as the pop for Ryder was huge. Clearly you can see Cena is a Ryder supporter and it was a nice built up for Ryder.
Ive have been asked, why is this column entitled “The Week In Wrestling” if all you cover is Monday Night RAW. My response is why watch Smackdown theres a “super show” for that. Why do I have to sit through a Wade Barrett match when I can see Mark Henry (Smackdown’s World Champion) on the RAW “super show”.
I also got an email asking why haven’t I covered TNA Impact Wrestling? My response is Id rather listen to Racks or that Tony Montana record on repeat then sit through “impact Wrestling”. Once Vice Russo, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan get fired then Ill consider viewing that shit show.
Even WWE’s sub par story lines as of late are far more engaging than anything TNA can conger up. So with that lets start this review…
If you remember last week John Cena asked “The Great One” to be his tag partner against The Miz & R-Truth at Survivor Series. So yea RAW starts off with The Rock in a prerecorded promo. Its Dwayne, the actor who used to wrestle. Who’s part time wrestling again. Side note What the hell is The Rock on? HGH? Maybe Anadrol, Dianabol or Sustanon to bulk with Anavar or Primobolan to lean out? The villain goatee with gray hairs might foreshadow a turn maybe.
The Rock does the typical Rock stick. The people this that people that add a few candy asses and close with catchphrase. So the “People’s Champion” The Rock, John Cena’s WrestleMania XXVIII opponent will be Cena’s partner at the Survivor Series.
That is how this past Monday RAW Halloween Supershow started. O yeah The Muppets are the Guest host of RAW. Yeah I can careless about that nonsense as well.
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