There's not much to talk about here, it's just a funny looking set of images to see someone like Khali hanging over a shopping cart looking at milk in Walmart lol.
The Miz def. John Morrison
Surprised that Miz got the win. I predicted Morrison as I figured they'd want to open up the ppv with a face winning, AND that Raw would win the divas match to even it out. Very, very solid from top to bottom. This was a great match. If you saw this and you still think that both the Miz and Morrison aren't the future of the WWE...then, I don't know what to tell ya, because these guys were great and are just ready to break out into what their full potential has. With Miz winning by a real cheap method (but still, nonetheless, winning without interference or anything), it helps BOTH these guys out. Now you may think, "how does Morrison benefit from this?" Think about it this way: if Morrison would have lost in a different way, he'd have looked weak, unless it were a DQ or whatever, in which case Miz would look weak. Both guys came out of this situation looking strong.
Backstage Segment: R-Truth, Cody Rhodes, & Big Show
Rhodes tells Truth that Smackdown sucks, Truth tries to remember his lines, and Big Show reiterates that Raw is better. Necessary type of build, but could've been done better. Any time you put R-Truth in a segment, it downgrades it lol.
Smackdown Divas (Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, & Natalya) def. Raw Divas (Melina, Kelly Kelly, & Gail Kim)
McCool is taking the hooded entrance from AJ Styles as well as one of his moves? Lol. McCool needs to show off her body, as it's one of her high points. Nice to see Natalya get some ppv time, as she's one of the few divas that can actually do some moves correctly lol. Ugh, Melina and Kelly with their screams. They need to knock that shit off. What else to say about a women's match?
Backstage Segment: R-A-W, Rah Rah Rah
Swagger asks, "do we really need this little rah-rah speech"? Meh, you sort of do on a ppv like this. Plus, it was kind of fun. A reference to Mark Henry's angle with Mae Young (with Henry saying "nobody still thinks of that"...shot at the IWC?), explaining how Kofi isn't going to be Jamaican anymore (which is ok), telling Hornswoggle to wash his face which we've all been thinking. HHH and HBK did a good job acting as the captains of their team, and it made perfect sense that they'd use the phrase "are you ready" for a rallying up segment.
World Heavyweight Championship (Fatal Four-Way Match): The Undertaker (c) def. Batista, Rey Mysterio, & CM Punk
Oh yeah, didn't I say that we'd have Taker retain and Batista attack Mysterio afterwards? SO obvious that that was going to happen. And you know, I'm ok with the way they did it. Normally, if you put the mic in front of Mysterio or Batista, I have to groan. However, I think them having that little mic section post-match helped the heel turn so much more than it would've been if Batista would have just attacked Mysterio afterwards like they do so often. The post-match beat down was forceful enough looking that it succeeded in turning Batista heel. Match itself, let's see what notes I wrote down...oh, here's one, why does Punk say "it's clobbering time" on the way to the ring? CM Thing? Lol. I like it better when he says "it's nap time" as it works with his GTS finisher. Sounds like the crowd was completely behind Taker, which was to be assumed anyway, as he's the man. Throughout the match, I felt Mysterio was used rather well. Instead of trying to give him some domination, he was merely used for little spots here and there. Essentially, if the entire match can be summed up as a sentence, he was the accent marks and apostrophes. That's how Mysterio works best. He takes lots of brutal moments where he looks weak, hits some quick things out of nowhere, and then leaves. Pretty decent job of keeping it a multi-man match with the offense, including Batista spearing Taker while he was busy with Mysterio. Plus, Batista launching Mysterio was fun to see lol.
Team Smackdown (Chris Jericho, Kane, Matt Hardy, R-Truth, Finlay, & The Hart Dynasty) def. Team Raw (DX, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, & Jack Swagger)
Team Smackdown has 58 championships compared to Raw's 59...how? Oh yeah, Jericho lol. The fans that they interviewed ahead of time were so lame haha. Still, that was kind of fun to do something out of the box and have their predictions, so it's ok in my book. DX's pyro was fucked up. Why was HHH the only person not wearing their team's shirt? Special treatment again? Lol. I do have to point out that I liked how they filmed the two teams from the reflection of the trophy. That was a very, very nice touch that will go unnoticed (or unappreciated) from most. Nothing really amazing about this. You had to know that Big Show would screw Raw out of it. Again, it was so obvious. This gives DX more of a reason to challenge JeriShow for their tag titles.
Backstage Segment: Cody Rhodes Attacks Kofi Kingston
Rhodes says Kofi was the weak link and attacks him. They starting a singles feud between the two? I'll watch.
WWE Championship (Iron Man Match): John Cena def. Randy Orton (c)
I'll admit it. I thought they'd put on an absolutely horrid match, but they weren't too bad together. Though, even fans of this match and of Cena have to admit that Cena was extremely limited here. It was not only obvious that Orton was calling the shots in the ring but there is also more steam for the "Cena only knows 5 moves" argument. How many times did he repeat the same offense instead of trying something new? I mean, hell, he won FOUR (five if you count the double count RKO thing) out of his SIX decisions by using just the STF and the Attitude Adjustment. The other was a roll-up. Give me a break, man. You're the top guy in the company and you can't learn some variety? Have Jamie Noble teach you something...lord knows he's not too busy lol. Cena gets busted early on but then it stops. What, he doesn't even sell BLEEDING anymore? Haha j/k. Since when was this a Falls Count Anywhere match as well, instead of just being no-DQ and no count out? Idk, but it helped the match greatly. Why did it take so long for Legacy to come down instead of having them show up at the very beginning? Then again, its WWE, you're not supposed to think of that. Good to see Kofi come out though, as that gave him some more time on this pay-per-view, and it'll burn into the minds of the fans, which will upgrade his status on the WWE hierarchy. Dreamstreet gives Orton a pinfall, so I'm thinking maybe DiBiase can say something along the lines of how he gave him an extra decision but Orton still lost the match, so it clearly wasn't Ted's fault, but it was solely Orton's. The pyro stuff was pretty stupid. Sure, if it were real, it would be devastating, but they never do a good job rigging those things to look realistic. You can always tell how fake they are, and that hurts the angle each and every time they try to pull it off. Orton's DDT on the outside was a good way to utilize a pinfall as that looked rough. But then I thought, again, why wouldn't Orton just take advantage of Cena being down and punt him? If that apparently puts people out for months on end (unless you're Cena or HHH of course...allow me to roll my eyes) then why not do it and get a few pinfalls? Not supposed to remember that, either lol. A bit unnecessary having the referees taken out, unless they want to say that Orton had another pinfall on Cena but screwed himself by taking out the ref. Cena wins, as expected, with the STF in the final moments. Meh. I really hope they don't talk about this match too much as it certainly wasn't great by any standards - it was just better than I had thought it would be.
Overall thoughts on Bragging Rights? Well, I liked the nice touches of having the ring ropes as both the colors, and it makes perfect sense to have a trophy, but I doubt that they'll have Smackdown showcase the trophy for the rest of the year or something, so it most likely will be about as prestigious as the king of the ring scepter and throne lol. So, did you notice that in all the brand matches, the heels won? I mean, sure, you can say that Team Smackdown wasn't a full on heel team, but who got the pinfall? Jericho. Smackdown had 4 heels and 3 faces, with 2 of those heels being captains, compared to Team Raw which had only 3 heels and 2 face captains. The Miz and Morrison had a great match, the divas had...well, a divas match, the fatal four-way was kind of fun, the tag team match was ok, and the Iron Man match was ok. That balances out to a massive "meh". About as C+ or B- as you can possibly get, I think. Still, the next pay-per-view is Survivor Series which is always something to look forward to.
Six Diva Tag Team Match: Team Raw (Melina, Kelly Kelly, & Gail Kim) vs. Team Smackdown (Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, & Natalya)First off, thank god they put Natalya on here instead of Layla, and Kelly and Gail instead of the Bella twins or Eve. Clearly they've continued the "Raw is face, Smackdown is heel" motif here. Really, it doesn't matter what happens as nobody will care.
PREDICTION: Team Raw wins.
John Morrison vs. The Miz
I'm head over heels excited for this match. Both Morrison and the Miz are two of my favorites in the WWE right now and two guys that I think we can all agree will be on top of the company in the future. There's lots of comparisons lately about the Shawn and Marty duo, but I'm actually looking at this match in a different light. You know what this reminds me of? Steve Austin versus The Rock for the Intercontinental title...before either man made it as a main event star. I wholeheartedly expect these two to put on one hell of a show and leave us looking back a few years from now, while they're headlining WrestleMania.
PREDICTION: John Morrison defeats the Miz.
World Heavyweight Championship (Fatal Four-Way): The Undertaker (c) vs. Batista vs. Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk
I think we've all discussed this already...Batista is going to turn heel. This angle where they're repeatedly drilling home the point that he and Mysterio are friends, alongside him being frustrated from losing recently, just spells that Batista will somehow lose this match and lash out, probably on Rey. Rumor has it that the WWE wants to do another program between Batista and Taker and I can see them doing that for Survivor Series while Rey and Punk start a program together. Look for Punk and Rey to try to quicken the pace while Taker and Batista do a power struggle a lot. Could work, could be a snooze.
PREDICTION: The Undertaker retains and Batista goes nuts afterwards.
WWE Championship (Iron Man Match): Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena
As excited as I am for the Morrison/Miz match, I'm equally NOT excited about this match. I have absolutely no faith that these two will pull off a decent Iron Man match. Why? Because I don't feel like watching 40 minutes of headlocks from Randy Orton and I don't want to see the Five Knuckle Shuffle performed 12 times from Cena. Sure, Cena receives a lot of criticism about "only knowing five moves", which is a bit of an exaggeration, but he certainly is no Shawn Michaels when it comes to variation. He's got his leg drop, his punches, his STF and his Attitude Adjustment, but not much more than a handful of other moves. Plus, Cena has a trouble selling pain for more than thirty seconds, so I wouldn't be too surprised if this match looked like it made no sense. The main problem I foresee with Orton is pacing. He wrestles very slowly...and walks...very...slowly....and....talks...very....slowly....and that will become boring as all hell if you're watching it for a straight hour. Another thing that bothers me about this is that its so obvious that Cena will not be losing. Do you really think they'll move their top guy in ratings and merchandise to the show that some people don't even get on their cable networks? Not a chance. So far, the WWE has had their Iron Man matches with the outcomes of 1-0, 6-5, 5-4, and 4-3. Want to go with the pattern and say 3-2? I'm hoping that's not the case, as I think the more exciting conclusion would be if they had lots of decisions.
PREDICTION: John Cena wins the title. I'm hoping with something like 8-7, but knowing the WWE, it'll probably end up being 3-2 lol
Bragging Rights: Team Raw (DX, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, & Mark Henry) vs. Team Smackdown (Chris Jericho, Kane,
PREDICTION: Team Smackdown is victorious.
*UPDATE: Now that Team Smackdown has changed to be Jericho, Kane, the Hart Dynasty, Matt Hardy, R-Truth, and Finlay...actually, I still think that Team Smackdown is going to win from Big Show screwing over Raw. However, I no longer think that the odds are so heavily in favor of Raw, as now, the teams are pretty evenly matched up (all things considered).
As noted earlier, I'm afraid that this pay-per-view will cheapen the effect of Survivor Series since it is taking place directly before it. They need to tread a fine line here to make it appear different enough that the fans don't feel like they're being given the same thing twice. With no ECW representation, an Iron Man match that I feel is doomed to fail, a divas match that nobody will give two shits about,
What are your predictions? What are you looking forward to/not looking forward to? Which brand are you rooting for? Leave your comments.
Now, I'm not a TNA fan. I check it out every so often and I follow some of the news if something big happens. Basically, I have a generic idea of what they're doing there but I don't pay any attention. I was bored, though, so I figured what the hell...I might as well check out the ppv that TNA considers their equivalent of WrestleMania: Botch for Glory! I mean, Bound for Glory!
First, I missed a few matches, because the Treehouse of Horror episode of the Simpsons means more to me than this. Supposedly, though, there was a really nasty botch involving Daniels. We'll count that as #1. I started watching when they were interviewing Kevin Nash talk about how Eric Young gave him money for protection during the upcoming Legends Championship match. So let's dive into it from there.
Legends Championship [Triple Threat Match]: Eric Young def. Kevin Nash (c) and Hernandez
Even without following TNA 100%, I knew Young would win this. It was telegraphed early on that he would get some sort of cheap win. I'll give them this, though...Hernandez was kind of entertaining. The match was overall ok.
TNA Tag Team Championship & IGWP Tag Team Championship [Full Metal Mayhem]: Team 3D (IGWP) and the British Invasion (TNA) def. Beer Money and Booker T & Scott Steiner
So this was a ladder match, for both tag team titles, essentially. Early on, Booker T gets injured somehow and leaves. SOMEHOW, Scott Steiner ends up not botching like crazy and actually being entertaining. Bunch of spots here and there, blah blah blah. Botch #2 occurs when Beer Money tries a double-suplex and Williams or Magnus, whoever it was, ends up basically landing on RR. Rhino comes out and hits both 3D members with a chair and it looks like Devon accidentally grabs the IGWP titles. If he was supposed to, it looked sloppy, and if he wasn't supposed to, well they're tag champs now. Rhino just leaves afterwards, which was stupid.
Knockouts Championship [Triple Threat]: ODB (c) def. Tara and Awesome Kong
Some back and forth and nothing to be proud of. For some reason, Tara just leaves during the match. No explanation whatsoever. She comes back out a few minutes later to interrupt a pinfall a second too late but the ref just ignores it and says its a two-count anyway. Another botch. Nice finish, though, which could've easily been botched but wasn't, wherein ODB counters Kong and slams her into a chair.
Backstage, they interview Matt Morgan, who screws up trying to say "I'm a college educated man". Botch? Yup. And hilarious.
Submission Match: Bobby Lashley def. Samoa Joe
Blah. The only things interesting to point out in this match are actually the screw ups. They have Lashley come out with his ribs taped up, but it never comes into play. Why? Poor story telling. At the end of the match, they have Lashley put Samoa Joe into some sort of move...I couldn't tell what, because the camera angle was totally ignoring it. Almost immediately, the ref ends the match and the fans are confused. But never fear! In TNA, the commentators are more like narrators than commentators, as they IMMEDIATELY, and I mean IMMEDIATELY claim that Joe didn't tap and that the ref was ending the match because he thinks Joe was unconscious. Then, they screw up again, as they claim that the ref is NOW checking to see if Joe really was unconscious hahaha. Of course, does the camera catch any of that? No. The camera angle was basically letting you see Lashley's back on top of Joe. Really, really bad.
Monster's Ball: Abyss def. Mick Foley
In TNA it seems like every match has to be no-DQ lol. This was the "gore" match of the night for all those fans that seem to think that if its hardcore, it by default means its better. Again, nothing really to talk about here outside of "wow that must hurt" and the screw ups. At one point, a new ref comes in. Foley gets some really shitty fake taser which EXPLODES with an incredibly fake looking fireworks display. This leads to the new ref doing a full on three-count for the pinfall, with Abyss kicking out like two full seconds afterwards, and they don't end the match. Abyss throws Daffney through a table and lots of barbed wire, but once again, the camera angle doesn't capture it at all. Hell, even the fans throughout this match were chanting "you fucked up".
Kurt Angle def. Matt Morgan
Best way to sum this match up is that Kurt Angle gets the Ankle Lock on Morgan, whom kicks him off, but Angle holds on to his foot, tries again, gets kicked off again, but holds on, tries again, etc. Just read that sentence about six times and then tack on "they kick out of their respective finishers and then Angle wins with a victory roll". That's it.
TNA Heavyweight Championship: AJ Styles (c) def. Sting
Whole match was just the two of them "showing respect for each other" by slowing the pace of the match down and making it look like they were going easy on their opponent. Out of the blue, AJ Styles gets the win, but the fans don't even react. This was supposed to be the big finish to the main event of the biggest TNA ppv of the year, and it doesn't even get a "yeah!" reaction. Then, AJ Styles gets the microphone and the MICROPHONE even botches!! He needs a new one. Jesus Christ, TNA. This is your Superbowl??? Sting cuts a promo where he addresses AJ Styles as the "new" TNA champion, despite how he won the title at the last ppv. He then says that he won't give a "kayfabe" answer about his retirement, and no, he won't be leaving. And that...that is how TNA ends their biggest ppv of the year...with the loser of the match saying that he won't be retiring, breaking the fourth wall so to speak, and sucking out all the energy.
Wow. I mean, WrestleMania XXV sucked overall, and their main event with HHH/Orton was an immense let down. But you know what the difference is? WrestleMania not only felt like the biggest ppv of the year, but it also had two matches that were very good. The Money in the Bank was just as entertaining as the spotfests of Bound for Glory but actually felt special because it wasn't surrounded by four or five matches that were basically the same hardcore style. And then you've got HBK/Taker which was just phenomenal and didn't have to rely on a gimmick like this TNA pay-per-view clearly did, and still failed. TNA consistently proves to me why I shouldn't be wasting my time watching it, and I BEG someone to tell me why TNA is better than the WWE without using the phrase "they only focus on Cena, HHH, Orton, and Batista" as not only do we all know that, but we all know that WWE is starting to deviate from that AND that that singular criticism of the WWE doesn't mean TNA is better, it just means that the WWE isn't perfect.
There's your goal, TNA fans. You can't use the Hornswoggle argument as TNA is not immune from stupid humor and such, and you can't use the "same old guys" argument as TNA is even guilty of focusing most of its energy on WWE rejects like Steiner. Now try to explain why I shouldn't think TNA is crap after watching this ppv.
Unfortunately, it appears as though Captain Lou Albano has passed away. Although he was a part of an era that I wasn't old enough to really appreciate in wrestling, anyone who is a fan knows the guy's a legend in the business. I mean hell, he was even on the Mario Bros cartoon lol. Thankfully, the guy was 76 years old and seemingly led a full, happy life. Too often in professional wrestling, those who pass away are far too young and far too troubled. I look forward to the look back on his life the next time WWE gets a chance.
 |
| RIP Captain Lou Albano |
A little later, Beth Phoenix is traded to Smackdown. According to WWE.com, these are the full results:
Melina, the Bella Twins, and Eve to RAW
Beth and Mickie to SMACKDOWN
Rosa to ECW
Gotta ask...why? Now, Smackdown has the only 3 heel women that can wrestle (Beth, Natalya, and Michelle) and only one face that can wrestle (Mickie). Raw has no heels that can wrestle as they're limited to Jillian and Alicia as Maryse is injured and not really that great in the ring anyway - but they have an excess in faces with Melina, Kelly, Gail, Nikki, Brie, and Eve. And what about ECW? ECW's whole women's division right now is two heels - Katie Lea and Rosa.
I don't see the point in this at all. But, here are some predictions to go along with it:
1. Mickie vs. Michelle
2. Beth may turn face unless they really want to push Maria for some reason.
3. Gail Kim is going to turn heel.
4. Katie and Rosa won't wrestle a single match on ECW.
5. I still won't give a shit about the women's division.
What say you, yea or nay on this trade?
Word going around is that the WWE wants to introduce a new design for at least one of the heavyweight championship belts, if not more. If that's the case, I'd LOOOOOOOOVE for them to redesign the current WWE title. The spinner thing has outlived its usefulness and it looks cheap and tacky. They need something with the prestige of the old winged belt design.
The current World Heavyweight Championship belt, dubbed by the fans as "The Big Gold Belt" should stay the same. That belt's too synonymous with that championship. The ECW title has a great design to it, especially since it is silver, but it could use a BIT more color in it and a size shift. The plate is so huge it makes wrestlers look like they've got a vest around their waists practically. There's no need for Chris Jericho and Big Show to carry around two tag team championships anymore. It's been long enough that they can TRULY unify the titles and just have one. As far as the IC and US titles go...I'm fine with keeping them the same, even though I'd LOVE to see the old squared off IC title come back just for nostalgia purposes, but right now the IC title is my favorite out of all the designs they currently are running with.
That is, of course, if the goal is to just redesign the belts. They might introduce a new championship altogether - which they don't need to do. They barely have enough people to scrounge together to challenge for the titles as it is, and if they introduce a new one, it'll screw it all up.
World Heavyweight Championship (Hell in a Cell): Undertaker def. CM Punk (c)
Way to book Punk to look like he isn't championship material. This guy's a three time world champ and every single one of his reigns has consisted of him winning matches by default, DQ, count out, or cheating. He can't just beat someone. This match was nothing to write about as it basically consisted of burying Punk. Where do they go from here? There's nobody in line to face Taker, who has a lighter schedule and won't work house shows really. I'm really questioning the logic on this.
Intercontinental Championship: John Morrison (c) def. Dolph Ziggler
Very solid from top to bottom. These two put on a match that wasn't specifically stellar and nothing memorable happened in it, but I can't think of ANYTHING to complain about in it. They wrestled as if they're veterans. I do, though, think that this feud needs something more than just Morrison calling Ziggler "Mr. Ziggles" to boost its value, but as far as this match, very good overall. This time last year, Ziggler was a jobber, and now he's IC material while Morrison could hold a world title.
Divas Championship: Mickie James (c) def. Alicia Fox
Ok so the match sucked, but really, did you expect anything different? It wasn't as bad as the Mickie/Rosa one, though, which is a step up. But the most important thing here...both of these girls looked HOOOOT. They stepped it up for the cameras this night and looked extra sexy.
Unified Tag Team Championship: Chris Jericho & The Big Show (c) def. Batista & Rey Mysterio
This really felt too standard to pinpoint anything, except one particular moment in the match: the ending. Between the two of them, Jericho and Big Show have about 10 finishers. Why do they have to constantly use just Show's punch as the finish to their matches? They need to start thinking up some different ways for JeriShow to retain their titles, as they should be keeping them for a long time.
WWE Championship (Hell in a Cell): Randy Orton def. John Cena (c)
Really, what the fuck is the purpose of all these short title reigns? Its annoying the hell out of me. This match was, like the rest of this card, bland, and I ask you...what during this match should I have been excited about? What was so great that I should talk about it here? If you can think of any answer, I'd like to know.
Drew McIntyre def. R-Truth
Waste of time on a ppv. McIntyre is being pushed to the moon basically, and I have no clue why, as he's boring and looks and sounds weird as hell, and annoying. Pretty bad when I like R-Truth better than a guy, as I don't like R-Truth at all.
United States Championship: Kofi Kingston (c) def. The Miz & Jack Swagger
I hate that Swagger's been thrown into this title situation. Its unnecessary. He feels out of place. It should just be the Miz, who, by the way, stole the show in this match and proved that he is going to be a world champ one day. Kofi is looking damn good as a champion with all his defenses and clean wins and stuff. Fun match, except Swagger was slowing it down.
Hell in a Cell: DX def. Legacy
You start the final match with a jump? Wouldn't that have worked better in the middle of the card to shock the audience back to waking up after the bore of all the repetitive promos and commercials? Interesting keeping HHH out of the cell. Something different, at least. Legacy came out of this looking really calculating and evil, which is good, as they are the ones needing the push in this feud and it feels like the job has been done. Now, Creative needs to follow up on it and not just abandon it by forcing them into some lame ass feud with Cryme Tyme or someone again.
After this ppv ended, I can't help but think that it didn't feel like I watched three Hell in a Cell matches. It felt like three cage matches. Way to waste your gimmicks, WWE. Useless. And what the fuck was up with the organization of the matches on this card? Why was it so haphazard and out of order? I don't know.
Hopefully Bragging Rights is better.
R-Truth vs. Drew McIntyre. WOW. They're pushing these two to a pay-per-view match already??? They must REALLY like McIntyre to give him a rub from McMahon and put him on a ppv in his first match. Can't say I agree with them on it, though, as McIntyre is not impressive to me on the mic, or his look, or his generic character.
Hopefully this is the 5 minute filler match as they shouldn't take time away from the US/IC title defenses for this. Another thing it brings up is...why no ECW title match, but this?
Prediction: R-Truth comes out happy, McIntyre comes out pissed, they brawl real fast, a couple kicks and punches and headlocks, then McIntyre scores a pinfall, and everyone lets out a "meh".
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