Thoughts on this?

My thoughts:It probably leads to a lot of talking which is something that happens a lot on Raw anymore.  It’s interesting that Cena, Punk, Sheamus and Orton weren’t out there, which means they’ll probably be the voices of reason or something.  Interesting, but I’d have liked someone to side with HHH tonight as it takes away a lot of the logic they were going for there.  I mean, why would Henry not like HHH?  Things have gone well for him under this regime no?

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 3, 2011
Location: Cajundome, Lafayette, Louisiana
Commentators: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, Booker T

We’re past HIAC and now only 20 days away from Vengeance. Yeah this isn’t going to blow up in their faces at all. Anyway Alberto is champion again, two weeks after losing it to Cena in the first place. It’ll be nice to see him have a reign as champion but after last night’s ending I’m sure the rematch with Cena in another one on one match is coming. Other than that we’ve got Truth/Miz stuff to get to. Let’s get to it.

There’s a 12 man tag later. That won’t be a mess at all.

Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre

Orton is now introduced as the Apex Predator. Drew is in black tights with a red design on the back. I don’t know if he’s worn them before as I haven’t seen him in a match (other than the battle royal that he was out of in about 5 seconds) in so long. Orton takes him to the floor and sends him into the barricade twice. Back inside now for ten corner punches as this is supposed to be the crazy Orton I suppose.

The referee gets in the way and McIntyre kicks Orton’s head off to take over. Oh come on the big boot is SO 2010. Snap suplex gets two. A neckbreaker puts Orton down and Drew goes up and dives into a boot. At least he looked like he was trying something else though. Elevated DDT hits and it’s time to spin around and slap the mat a lot. RKO ends this clean at 5:45.

Rating: C. I’ll go with right in the middle here because what were you expecting out of this match? Drew hasn’t been featured on TV in months and Orton is coming off a loss in a major match. Why would you expect anything other than this? McIntyre got in more offense than I was expecting and Orton won clean. No shocks here really.

Drew takes another RKO post match. Here’s Henry who holds up the belt, bringing out Orton. Security breaks it up pretty quickly. Both guys do the charge through security to get another shot. So I guess we won’t be ending a feud with HIAC like we should. Also I’d guess Orton gets the belt back after like two months now because that’s enough time to build a monster up right?

Here’s video #8000 about Mark Henry hurting people, this one focusing on Big Show.

Big Show returns Friday. I like that better than a shocking return a bit I think.

Mark Henry vs. John Morrison

My goodness this is the second match in 15 minutes to open the show. I don’t know how to take this. Non-title here. Morrison is in tights now. Morrison escapes the Slam and fires off some kicks and a knee to the head. Starship Pain hits and Henry is out at two. The fans popped BIG for that but Henry gets all mad about it and the Slam ends this in 2:00. Basically just a squash.

Morrison takes another Slam post match. Henry grabs the mic and calls himself a beast. Also he’s done with Orton. As far as Big Show goes, it’ll be a short return. Henry shouts a lot during this. Oh and on a random note, it’s John Morrison’s birthday. Nice present.

The group of people that want to sue HHH is yelling and we need an answer about the grievances. Everyone but Ace leaves and he takes out his phone to text.

Otunga/Christian/Rhodes/Del Rio/Swagger/Ziggler/Vickie are in the ring. Alberto talks about winning the title last night and about how the Cell came up and lowered. Only one man can do that and that is HHH. Christian talks about how they’re not going to take it anymore. Rhodes says everyone here has been a victim of HHH’s negligence. Ziggler says it’s time to take actions into their own hands. Vickie says she feels vulnerable as a woman. Otunga says he’s studied cases like this. There were wrestling cases in Harvard Law? I want to go there! The threat of legal action brings out the Game.

HHH wants to know what happened to the WWE. Men used to fight in that ring and they would win and lose. He doesn’t care about lawsuits but does care about later tonight when the six of them will be in the ring with five guys not including Mason Ryan apparently. HHH wants it to be about fighting, not talking.

Kelly Kelly/Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix/Natalya

Kelly goes insane on Beth and screams a lot, ramming her into the table a bunch. And it’s a DQ at 35 seconds.

Ace comes up to HHH in the back and wants an apology for getting shoved down last night. The locker room needs to be consulted so HHH says get them out there so he can get a vote of no confidence if that’s what we’re coming to. HHH grabs him by the tie and says Ace better be there too.

Video on the DVD/Blu-Ray of Fast Five. At least it has Rock in it.

Mahal is in the ring and JR says he’s mysterious. He’s cut off by……Santino???

Santino Marella vs. Jinder Mahal

Santino looks different now and I’m not sure it’s working for him. He was legit injured in a car wreck in case you’re wondering where he’s been. He makes fun of Mahal’s language and JR says the closed captioning person just walked off the job. Mahal starts fast but misses a knee in the corner. Santino loads up the Cobra and we’re done at 38 seconds.

Brodus Clay is coming. Cool.

We get a clip from last night after the main event ended and the attack from Miz/Truth. It was a huge brawl with Miz/Truth running in and beating down everyone with pipes as the roster tried to break in. Miz and Truth were arrested to end it. This was better when it was live.

We get a homemade Miz/Truth video from Youtube with them talking about last night and how HHH would have done the same thing last night. They mention the attorneys and they’re filing a wrongful termination suit against WWE and assault charges against HHH. They apologize too. The top comment says Kayfabe Lives.

David Otunga/Christian/Cody Rhodes/Alberto Del Rio/Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena/CM Punk/Sheamus/Mason Ryan/Air Boom

Think that’s a long enough match title? I’m not really going to try to call everything in this. Cena starts with Christian and beats up both the Canadian and Otunga in less than 30 seconds before it’s off to Ziggler. Dolph gets Ryan instead and then gets tossed to the floor as the heel team is in trouble. Back in the ring a powerslam gets two on Ziggler. See, it makes sense when a power guy uses a power move. WHY IS THAT SO COMPLICATED???

Off to Sheamus vs. Swagger which is also known as WHAT WERE THEY THINKING IN 2010. Sheamus destroys him for a bit and it’s off to Punk vs. Rhodes. Even JR says he likes the old IC Title being back. Punk sets for the GTS but everything breaks down and we go to a break in a standoff. Back with Kofi missing a cross body and Rhodes getting two.

Off to Del Rip as we’re getting to the issue of these matches: there’s no time to build flow or anything like that because there are way too many people to get into the ring. People come in and out rather quickly. Off to Swagger who brings in Ziggler fast enough that it doesn’t really require mentioning. Dropkick gets two for Ziggler. Not that we saw it because the camera was on Vickie but I guess the awesomeness was implied.

Kofi can’t make the tag because of Swagger so it’s back to Ziggler beating on him a bit more. Kingston and Dolph collide in the air and it’s the hot tag that brings in Bourne. He knocks Swagger down with ease and the Shooting Star hits, only for Vickie to put the leg on the rope. There goes Vickie. Her leaving takes forever and we take another break.

Back with Christian coming in to beat on Bourne a bit as the announcers hype up the vote of confidence later on. This is already over 20 minutes. Del Rio beats on Bourne a bit but Evan gets a SWEET tornado DDT to take over and it’s hot tag to Cena who gets a big old pop. Cena starts his finishing sequence but is put down into the corner as we have our third face beatdown segment of the match. When do you ever see that?

Del Rio gets in a kick to the ribs/arm for two and it’s off to Swagger. Vader Bomb misses and it’s hot tag to Sheamus. He cleans house on everyone but it’s mainly Ziggler. He kicks Christian off but gets shoved by Del Rio in an attempted top rope shoulder. Fameasser (called the Zig Zag) gets one but Christian hits a spear out of nowhere. It’s Parade of Finishers time and I’m not going to bother trying to call all this stuff. The Zig Zag (called the Zig Zag) puts Cena down but the Brogue Kick ends Ziggler at 26:54. Now that is a long TV match.

Rating: B-. For a 12 man tag that lasted nearly half an hour, this was pretty solid stuff. Everyone got in and they gave it the time it needed to go somewhere. The problem with these matches is they usually result in a big brawl and while this one did, it did it when it wasn’t an absurd thing and that made this match work a lot better than most of them I can remember. Good stuff.

Here’s the roster for the vote of confidence. The Divas get their own entrance for some reason. Even the referees come out together. Here are the Smackdown guys….and here are more Raw guys. Even Jerry Lawler comes back for this. The vote is after a break. Here’s HHH and he talks about how Miz and Truth should have been ready to do the time if they wanted to do what they did.

HHH says he’s old school and likes to see people fight. He says at the end of the day it’s the WWE Universe that signs all of their paychecks and it’s the WWE Universe that is the ultimate master. He’s doing things for the fans, not for any wrestler in particular. Now he wants to hear from the guys. Barrett is a spokesman and he says HHH has created an unsafe working environment.

The reason these guys came to WWE is because they’re professionals and they like rules. That doesn’t involve being attacked by outside individuals. Barrett talks about how HHH has made things crazy and it’s not good. HHH calls him out on the obvious: he used to lead the Nexus who did all that stuff. Barrett is shot down quickly by that. Mike Chioda is next (why?) and he says that he’s never seen this much abuse to the referees. HHH fired the guys that attacked the referees but they still got in.

Beth says the Divas are all feeling unsafe. HHH wants to know one thing that has happened. Beth says it could and that’s not really enough for HHH. Jerry Lawler comes in and says he thinks Raw is spiraling out of control. However he doesn’t blame HHH. He agrees with Punk that there’s something going on behind the scenes and whoever is behind it is trying to get HHH out of his job. The problem is that everyone around the ring is paying the price for it. What that means is that HHH may be innocent of the chaos, he’s the reason it’s happening.

They hold the vote and everyone says no confidence. Jerry calmly says he’s walking out. Otunga and his boys walk too. As do various people and then the rest of the guys. The fans chant for HHH but there are a few guys left. Ok now they’re leaving. The referees leave. There are about 15 guys left and most of them are laving. Now there are like six or seven, mostly faces I think.

It’s Air Boom, Ryder, Watson, Morrison and Riley. Cole leaves and no one seems to care. Oh and Santino is out there still too. Now those guys are leaving. Booker walks out and so does the time keeper and someone else. In a cool scene, the cameraman puts his camera down and leaves it in the ring and leaves too.

JR is still left at the announce table and he’s the only person left at ringside. He takes his headset off and leaves to a lot of booing. HHH is all alone in the ring and Johnny Ace comes out to stare him down and shake his head. The big names weren’t there by the way. No Cena, Punk or Sheamus. No Orton either. Ace walks out (shocking). The fans keep cheering for the man with too many nicknames and we go off the air. HHH looks like he says “that’s all”.

Overall Rating: B. I know this show has been blasted a bit from what I’ve seen and I don’t get why. The first hour had four matches and yeah some of them were short but they all did something. Orton and Henry advanced their story and possibly segued into the Henry/Show feud. Kelly showed reasons for getting a rematch and we had a return in the fourth match. And then we get a nearly half hour main event that got almost everyone on the show. Add all that to a big ending and how can you call this bad? I don’t get it. Good Raw tonight. No idea where we’re going after everyone walking out but it should be interesting.

Results
Randy Orton b. Drew McIntyre – RKO
Mark Henry b. John Morrison – World’s Strongest Slam
Beth Phoenix/Natalya b. Eve Torres/Kelly Kelly via DQ when Kelly wouldn’t stop attacking Beth
Santino Marella b. Jinder Mahal – Cobra
Air Boom/CM Punk/Sheamus/Mason Ryan/John Cena b. Alberto Del Rio/Christian/Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger/Cody Rhodes/David Otunga – Brogue Kick to Ziggler

Hell in a Cell 2011
Date: October 2, 2011
Location: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jim Ross, Booker T

Well it’s only two weeks after the last PPV and it’s three weeks away from the next one so the build for this much be well developed right? Anyway the mains are a triple threat for Red and a rematch for Blue and as usual with the main events lately, Blue > Red. I’m really not wild on this show but the Cell should help things a little. Anyway let’s get to it.

The opening video is your usual “oh no the Cell is horrible even though it’s the PG Era and the lack of brutality cripples this thing.”

Miz and Truth are in the front row and are ejected by Johnny Ace. That was quick.

Christian vs. Sheamus

Sheamus uses his power stuff to start us off and Christian uses his size and speed to escape. I love power vs. speed matches. Christian tries to speed things up and slaps Sheamus on the floor. Yes, slap the big monster that already wants to hurt you. Back in the forearms to the chest start up. I’d say that needs a name but that could be stupider than having two PPVs in two weeks.

Christian tries going up and that fails also, resulting in a powerslam/spinebuster. The top rope shoulder block is broken up and Sheamus is knocked to the floor to finally give Captain Charisma (if that name still applies) the advantage. Back in and a jumping back elbow (still love that move) gets two. We head to a sleeper hold because someone thinks it’s the 1980s and that move still means anything.

After it gets broken up, the Canadian just hammers away and actually beats Sheamus down. Score one for Canada I guess. Missile dropkick gets two. Sheamus is like screw this in an Irish accent and pounds Christian down. When all else fails, hit the other guy a lot. That should work almost every time. All Sheamus now as he hits some clotheslines but has a gorilla press countered into a Killswitch attempt which fails as usual.

Irish Curse (probably not called that anymore because 3 people in some tiny town in Ireland complained so WWE paid them some obscene sum so that they wouldn’t complain to Linda’s Senate campaign) gets two but Christian gets out of the Celtic Cross again. Christian heads up and that fails as well. He’s just not having a good night. He manages to knock Sheamus back for a bit and we get close to even.

Tornado DDT puts Sheamus down but the Killswitch is countered. So is the flying shoulder there but Sheamus pulls himself from sitting down in the corner to the top rope using the rope for a backflip in an awesome move and there’s the shoulder. Out to the floor and Christian drills him with a spear to put big Irish down. He gets back in at 8 and walks into another spear for a close two. I thought that might have been it. Christian tries for the Killswitch but it gets countered both times and after the Canadian’s shoulder goes into the post, the Brogue Kick puts him down for the pin at.

Rating: B. This was like a Smackdown main event and that means it’s fine on PPV. I was digging this but I’m a big Sheamus fan so there’s no surprise there. Christian is on a roll at the moment and has been having good matches with everyone. He has that kind of style that is easily adaptable and it meshes with everyone so this was no real surprise. Good stuff.

Henry cuts off Striker and makes fun of his voice and the usual interviews they have, saying Orton is joining the Hall of Pain no matter what.

Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara

This could be horrible. For the sake of sanity I’ll call them Black and Blue with Blue being the botchtastic original and Black being the replacement. They feel each other out and Blue frustrates Black a bit. Blue sends him to the floor and hits a big old flip dive. He looks a bit better than he did before he left so maybe the time for practice helped him. Black takes over and we head back into the ring.

And let’s hit the chinlock. I mean let’s hit it for awhile. Yes because in a match over who the real crazy high flier is, the right thing to do is go to a rest hold. I guess Black is supposed to be the evil one but it’s pretty stupid. The fans chant boring and I can’t say I disagree. Blue takes offense to it I guess and sends him to the floor for a big dive and back in for some kicks and a rana for two.

Black counters into a layout powerbomb for a close two. Booker talks about hitting someone in the mask area. Cole: “You mean the head?” Cole can be annoying but when he’s on with his jokes, he’s very on. As Cole makes fun of the Spanish of both guys, Blue hits a top rope armdrag for two but a swanton misses. Not that it matters as a sunset bomb hits a few seconds later for the pin at 9:40. Blue won if that wasn’t clearn.

Rating: C. That’s it? Booker summed up the ending perfectly well. “So what does this mean?” That’s the question that summarizes the problems with this whole feud: so what? It wasn’t a definitive finish as he won with the equivalent of a rollup. I don’t think they knew where they wanted to go with this feud and it showed pretty badly.

Otunga comes up to Punk in the back and lawyer jokes abound. Punk doesn’t want to talk to him and Punk makes fun of him some more and says he doesn’t need a lawyer even when he wins the title tonight. Otunga even has a sweater and bowtie tonight. Punk tells him to vanish.

Tag Titles: Air Boom vs. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger

Cole: “And yes folks that name is your fault!” Ziggler vs. Kofi to start us off. See, this is old school booking: these were four guys in two singles feuds and they didn’t really have anything else to do after that so they were combined into one feud and made into tag teams which gives them new matches down the road while still being able to feud with the same people in a different feud. See it’s not that hard.

Ziggler gets beaten down for awhile but gets a boot up in the corner to take down Bourne and bring in Swagger. Everyone but Ziggler is in blue. We get into the standard Air Boom formula: hot start, then they get into trouble and by that I mean Bourne gets beaten down for awhile. Cole talks about how Vickie is going to get Swagger matches and spots he wants which is what you do as a manager. You have someone like Vickie who is a heat magnet and you have two guys like Swagger and Ziggler with talent but limited charisma. It’s a perfect match as they can do in the ring and she supplements it with the talking. Everyone wins.

Kofi comes in and Swagger pulls the rope down to send him to the floor so Ziggy can take over. Cole goes on a long rant about HHH and how horrible he is and Booker is like man I was in WCW so don’t try to tell me about politics. Not in so many words but it’s almost kind of maybe in a way implied. We mix up the formula a bit here so that Kofi is the one getting beaten down.

After Ziggler gets his beating in it’s the ankle lock by Swagger. Kofi escapes and hits a DDT to put both guys down. There’s the hot tag to Bourne and everything breaks down. Ziggler bails so Kofi takes Swagger down and breaks up the ankle lock with a top rope cross body. Bourne hits a standing moonsault to Dolph for two. The challengers set for some assisted powerbomb off the top but Bourne counters into a rana off the top to pin Swagger at 11:13.

Rating: B-. I liked this and I’m glad that they kept the belts on Air Boom. They need to build up a team like them so that we can have another team step up to challenge them. It doesn’t mean anything to have worthless teams lose and win the titles over and over again. Having a team like Air Boom on TV a lot and win the matches over and over again makes them interesting and builds up their reputation. See how it works?

HHH trailer.

We recap Henry vs. Orton and I think you know the story here by now. Henry is a monster, beat up everyone then beat Orton for the title two weeks ago and that warrants the biggest gimmick match in the company. Clear connection right?

Smackdown World Title: Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry

Vengeance is pushed and it’s in three weeks. Are you serious? They head to the floor quickly and Orton sends him into the cage and beats him down. Orton tries the elevated DDT but it’s too early for that so Henry fights it off and Orton’s shoulder goes into the post and gets pulled on. Orton gets sent into the cage but fights back in the ring. Henry is like FRIED CHICKEN AND BISCUITS and hits a powerslam for two. Henry goes for the steps and slams them into Orton (or was it the other way around?) to keep up the dominance.

Henry uses more step stuff and sends him into the cage then yells about pizza and twinkies before we go back inside. Orton tries to hammer away but Henry is just too fat. He picks Orton up into the World’s Strongest Slam position but hits a backbreaker instead. Then he does it again. I guess he wanted to go back for seconds. Off to a bearhug so Henry can think of peach cobbler and Skittles.

JR drops some alliteration on us as Henry keeps dominating. At Mania 13 Shawn was on commentary and said of Sid that he didn’t stray from the power game because it took him everywhere he needed to go. That’s Henry in a nutshell: why change things if they work? More bearhuggery as my money is on prime rib wishes and burrito dreams for the champion.

Orton tries to hammer away but Henry is like THE POWER OF PUMPKIN PIE COMPELS YOU and sends him to the floor again. He sets to plant Orton like a patch of carrots into the steps with the Slam but Orton grabs onto the cage and climbs up a bit so he can DDT Henry onto the steps. Momentum shifts now and Henry is in trouble. Thesz Press and punches set up a dropkick to put Henry on the apron.

The elevated DDT actually works and the RKO does as well but Henry kicks out at two. Orton is shocked and isn’t sure what to do now. That’s a great plot device as Randy only had one big weapon to use but it only got two. Cole says Orton can’t beat him. Booker says hit it again. I never got why after a finisher can’t get a pin that everyone thinks they can’t get the pin. I mean…you can do it again. Orton loads up the Punt but Henry grabs him into the World’s Strongest Slam and gets the pin at 16:00. Sweet.

Rating: B-. This was like dipping a toe into the water of what the Cell is capable of. They used the cage a bit here and it helped a lot. Still though, this was kind of limited but you can’t really blame him for that. There’s only so much you can do with Henry and the big spots are of course out of the questions here. I’d have liked a few more minutes but if this was all they could do, I’m cool with that.

Post match Henry goes to leave but goes back in for dessert. He hits another Slam on Orton and sets up for Pillmanization. Orton moves (smart guy) and gets the chair. He pounds Henry down and they go up the aisle. Orton keeps pounding away and goes for a big chair shot but Henry gets a kick to the ribs and Henry runs. So yeah, there’s going to be a third one, probably in another gimmick match because the Cell is just a stop in the road on a feud anymore.

Alberto says he can win in the Cell and he’ll be like an animal trapped in a cage. You’ll see a new side of him tonight.

Here’s Rhodes and he has a surprise. He unveils a new IC Title which looks like the old style and has the white strap instead of the black. I think I’m digging this. Cody says he’ll defend the title anywhere anytime. Here’s Johnny Ace to complain though and he says HHH says the title is on the line tonight and it’s right now.

Intercontinental Title: John Morrison vs. Cody Rhodes

They needed a filler match so this is a good thing. Yeah I’m digging the white belt. Cody is in street clothes and is rolled up for two very quickly. Cole stands up for Cody (instead of WWE) and Cody can’t do anything because of his attire. Morrison takes over and sends Cody to the floor. Rhodes gets his shirt off and Morrison throws it into the crowd. Cody keeps heading to the floor and looks like he wants to leave.

Morrison is like *insert stupid expression here* and heads to the floor. Back in and Rhodes takes over for a bit. Well of course he can. I mean, Morrison is just a former champion and a world class athlete so of course a non warmed up guy can take over on him while in street clothes. Ok so he used the mask but you get the idea. Off to a seated abdominal stretch. Yeah because the weak spot on Morrison is his abs right?

Alabama Slam is countered but Rhodes grabs a Figure Four of all things. Ok so now he’s working on the knee. I guess it’s better than the ribs/abs. Now he’s focusing on the face. And I used to say he had psychology. Here’s Morrison’s comeback and a kick sets up Starship Pain but Rhodes breaks it up. Belly to back is countered but Morrison hits a Pele (called that) and sets for whatever he calls the Beautiful Disaster but Rhodes ducks and a rollup lets him retain at 7:23.

Rating: C. For a thrown on match, this was ok. They desperately needed something to fill out some of the card and getting the IC Title on PPV is always a bad thing. It’s hard to argue with bonus wrestling and this match was ok enough to fill in about ten minutes or so in total so no complaints there. Also having the white belt back with the old design brings a smile to my face.

Ace comes up to HHH on the phone and cuts HHH off from yelling at him. Awesome Truth is in the back. HHH runs to the back and finds them having destroyed Air Boom. Ace gets yelled at as the champions are down.

Divas Title: Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly

Kelly runs at her and hits what are supposed to be Thesz Presses (popular move tonight) and the screaming headscissors which is countered into a backbreaker. Beth takes over and chokes her down with what looks like a dragon sleeper. Off to another backbreaker but this time she bends Kelly over her knee but Kelly counters into a rollup for two. Slingshot suplex gets two for Beth.

Kelly starts her comeback and uses generic offense and a neckbreaker for two. She tries the bad bulldog but Beth counters into a Glam Slam attempt. Beth pounds away in the corner but Kelly fights out and hits the handspring elbow. Cole calls it vintage and Great Muta rolls his eyes somewhere. Top rope bulldog by Kelly gets a very close two. Eve and Nattie get into it on the floor and Eve goes flying into the barricade.

K2 is countered and Beth kicks Kelly between the legs for some reason. Beth hooks up that freaky submission that Natalya has been using lately and Nattie gets on the mic and tells Kelly to scream. Kelly makes the ropes and Natalya pops her with the mic which somehow the referee didn’t hear. Glam Slam FINALLY ends Kelly’s reign at 8:34. Yes they’re that long on time.

Rating: C. This was way too long and I can’t get over the ending: Beth Phoenix needed a mic shot to beat Kelly Kelly? I don’t get that at all as they’ve made Beth look weak already with two straight losses but at least she finally has the belt. I’d assume this sets up Eve vs. Kelly as they fill in as much time as they can for the Kharma return in like another 7 months or however long it is.

Vengeance is coming.

We recap the Raw World Title which is clouded or something because of what happened at MITB and Summerslam. Not really but whatever. Either way it’s Cell match time.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk

After big match intros we’re ready to go. There’s a TON of time for this as it’s only about 10 minutes after 10. They emphasize that the fall has to be in the ring. Fair enough. Alberto immediately hits the floor and runs a lot. Both guys chase him and they slide in to get in what they can and the Super Best Friends fight over who gets to beat up Del Rio. Punk tries to steal the title on a rollup but it only gets two.

The big stars face off and both escape the other’s finishers. Del Rio tries to take Cena out but gets caught in an AA attempt on the floor. Punk dives onto Del Rio and Cena to break it up for some reason and back in the ring a neckbreaker gets two on Del Rio. The dueling chants begin but after being a CM Punk/Let’s Go Cena chant it’s turned into Cena Sucks very quickly. See the issue? It’s not so much pro Punk but rather anti-Cena.

Del Rio gets back into this and sends Punk into the cage. Cena is down also and Punk is the only one left standing after he takes out Alberto. He loads up a table on the floor but Cena shoves him into the cage to avoid a bulldog. Alberto gets a chair in and hits a belly to back onto the chair with Cena slowing breaking the chair down. That looked good. There are the chants again.

Cena is in the Tree of Woe and Del Rio misses a charge, sending his shoulder into the post. Off to Punk vs. Del Rio and with Punk in trouble, Cena dives off the top with the legdrop and gets two on both guys. This is good so far. AA is escaped by Alberto and he goes for the ribs/back of Cena. Del Rio is sent to the floor and Ricardo fans him off. Cena and Punk slug it out and it’s boo/yay time. GTS is broken up by a chair swung by Del Rio.

He picks up the chair and comes off the top with it to land on both of the Super Best Friends, getting two on each. Del Rio charges at Punk in the corner but is dropped over the top and hits the stairs on the way out. You couldn’t see it but you could hear it. AA out of nowhere gets two on Punk with Alberto saving. Del Rio is sent to the floor again and this time it’s the GTS to Cena for two. Del Rio saves again and sends Punk into the steps. He’s been the wild card in this so far and it’s working.

Cena is sent into the cage again so it’s Punk vs. Del Rio in the ring. Punk fights back and the Macho Elbow gets two. Cena comes back in and sends Punk through the table at ringside. Cena grabs the STF and Ricardo takes down the referee and breaks into the Cell. Ricardo has a pipe with him but Cena takes him down and throws him out of the Cell. Del Rio gets the pipe and bashes Cena with it. He throws Cena out and locks him outside with the key inside. Ok this is interesting.

The Mexican hits a German on the American for two. Punk goes up and Del Rio hits the running enziguri for two. Cross armbreaker is broken up and Punk fires off the kicks. Leg lariat puts Del Rio down and Cena is just now getting up and figures out that he’s locked out. Punk hits the bulldog as Cena looks for the key. Springboard clothesline gets two and Cena is trying to break the chain and the lock open. Alberto goes to the floor and grabs the pipe. It’s only about 10:30 so there’s plenty of time here. Two pipe shots put Punk down and Del Rio wins it at 24:12. I guess there isn’t a lot of time left.

Rating: B+. Good match here as they had time to work with and made it violent. You can have good stuff like this without blood and this was one of the better ones ever. The ending came much earlier than I was expecting and the championship changing is a nice surprise. Also it gives Del Rio a more legitimate title reign which is something he needed. I’m sure Cena vs. Del Rio is booked for Vengeance though.

Post match the Cell raises up and Cena gets in as do men in black hoodies. It’s Miz/Truth with pipes or something and the beating is on. HHH comes out and gets beaten down also as the Cell lowers again. HHH is on the floor, outside of the cage. The locker room comes out but no one has the idea of bolt cutters. Miz and Truth beat up cameramen and referees as some cops come in with cutters and get in. Truth and Miz surrender to the police and are cuffed. HHH beats up the cuffed men and is taken out by security…and we’re off the air at 10:37.

Overall Rating: B. I had a good time with this show despite the early ending. The Cell matches were good because, and this is a new idea I know: THEY USED THE CAGE AND MADE THEM VIOLENT. My goodness why is that such a complex idea? Oh wait, Linda was trying to become a Senator so they had to slow things down and make sure it was as kid friendly as possible last year. Not bad at all and I had a good time with it. However, the lack of build for it is going to hurt and the stuff that happened on the show will be blamed when the buyrate sucks, which is the nature of WWE anymore. Good show though.

Results
Sheamus b. Christian – Brogue Kick
Sin Cara b. Sin Cara – Sunset Bomb
Air Boom b. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler – Top rope hurricanrana to Swagger
Mark Henry b. Randy Orton – World’s Strongest Slam
Cody Rhodes b. John Morrison – Rollup
Beth Phoenix b. Kelly Kelly – Glam Slam
Alberto Del Rio b. John Cena and CM Punk – Pin after a pipe shot to Punk

Ring of Honor
Date: October 1, 2011
Location: Frontier Fieldhouse, Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness

It’s week two after the disaster that was their debut episode. Tonight it’s the TV Title on the line as El Generico defends against Jay Lethal who apparently wasn’t a fan of being Macho Lethal, even though it’s the only time anyone actually cared about him. Let’s see if they can break that streak of 30 minutes with no wrestling this time. Let’s get to it.

After a quick recap of last week, here’s the intro video.

It only took them a week to tell us that Nigel is a former world champion.

We open the show with an interview. Yeah because nothing says wrestling like TALKING. It’s Haas/Benjamin to talk about how they’re the best team in the company but especially want the Briscoes, a legendary ROH tag team. They’re the team that beat down the champions after the four team elimination match, a beatdown we now see for the third time in two weeks. Haas and Benjamin have no problem putting the titles on the line RIGHT NOW. Cornette says he doesn’t want to reward the Briscoes for what they did. Haas and Benjamin say they’ll fight them one way or another.

Here’s a video on The Prodigy Mike Bennett. Cornette talks about how great he is but Bennett is a joke. He looks a bit like Mike Sanders from WCW. Bennett wants to be a movie star and has a trainer named Bob Evans who looks like a young Mickey from Rocky. Yeah he’s just a cocky heel that apparently has talent.

Mike Bennett vs. Jimmy Jacobs

Jacobs’ manager is Steve Corino and they’re trying to repent for past sins in ROH. Here’s the opening bell for the first match, 18 minutes into the show. And now we have an opening focused on the idea that Jacobs won’t hit him. Bennett takes over with really basic stuff and we have a Tweet of the Week which says “You should watch ROH because I’m Batman and Batman says so.” Seriously? I mean seriously?

Jacobs sends him to the floor and misses a dive to shift the little momentum he had going. Bennett pounds away with some of the most generic offense I’ve ever seen. Jacobs no sells a kick to the face and takes over with a clothesline and a neckbreaker. He sets for a tornado DDT but instead lands on his feet and hits a top suplex for two. Bennett grabs a spinebuster for two. Sliced Bread gets two for Jacobs. A senton backsplash eats knees and a sitout Rock Bottom called the Box Office Smash ends this at 5:56.

Rating: D+. Boring match here as Bennett is nothing interesting in the slightest. He’s as generic of a heel as you could ask for and easily could be one of the FCW guys that the IWC thinks is killing wrestling. Nothing to see here and I thought Jacobs was supposed to be something important in this company.

A fan thinks El Generico will win tonight.

Eddie Edwards talks about how he got the name Die Hard. He hurt his elbow and fought the next day so it was a huge deal.

Richards talks about facing Roderick Strong next week. I like Roderick but can’t stand Richards so maybe it’ll be better. Richards sums the match up well: “We’re fighting because we don’t like each other and we never have.” I can live with that.

Roderick says he’ll beat Richards.

TV Title: Jay Lethal vs. El Generico

Well they have a lot of time for this one at least with over 20 minutes to go. And never mind as Kelly tells us there’s a 15 minute time limit. McGuinness wants to know why he’s more tanned than Generico who is from Mexico. Generico speeds things up to take over early. Lethal is like “I can do moves that are flashy but don’t really hurt that much either!” Backbreaker gets two for Lethal but Lethal hooks on some weird surfboard variation with a Texas Cloverleaf leg grip.

Dropkick gets two for Lethal. Generico speeds things up with arm drags and hits a huge swan dive over the top to take Lethal out as we go to a break. Back with Lethal in control after Generico hit a moonsault off the guardrail. Ok scratch that as Generico gets two off something we missed while watching a replay. Lethal gets a sunset flip for two. This isn’t much of a match but indy fans would love it.

They slug it out and Lethal is sent to the top for a missile dropkick. With three minutes remaining in a 15 minute time limit we’re heading for a time limit draw (at the 12 minute mark that is). Lethal Injection gets two. Generico walks the corner and hits most of a tornado DDT for two. There’s a minute left. Blue Thunder Bomb (go play No Mercy for a description) gets two and we have thirty seconds left. Time expires at 12:40 which is including the commercial time.

Rating: C+. I couldn’t get into this one as well as I was supposed to I don’t think. There wasn’t much of a story to it other than two not very high fliers doing their thing. It wasn’t bad or anything but it wasn’t this epic confrontation that they were shooting for. Still though, pretty good although the ending is kind of stupid. Oh of course that isn’t the finish.

At 2:54 Jim Cornette comes out and says we have three minutes left in the show so put three minutes on the clock and get to it.

They slug it out like crazy after being all respectful. Generico hits the Yakuza kick and a half nelson suplex for two. Generico loads up the Brainbuster but Lethal escapes and goes up for a top rope elbow but Generico moves and the Brainbuster is blocked again. There’s the elbow for two. A snap suplex sets up a second Yakuza kick but Lethal counters with a superkick and the Lethal Combination (called the Injection here) for the pin and the title at 2:24 of overtime. The overtime was better than the regular match.

And again we go off the air at 2:58. What’s up with that?

Overall Rating: C-. Well it was a little better than last week but it still was better than nothing. They need to get this fascination about pointless promos and talking out of the way. ROH’s philosophy seems to be why should we show you how tough Eddie Edwards is when we can just tell you how tough he is? I could get into this show more if these promos and talks actually lead to something but this is approaching Superstars from the 80s levels of random matches. Not impressed but it was better than last week for sure.

Results
Mike Bennett b. Jimmy Jacobs – Box Office Smash
Jay Lethal b. El Generico – Lethal Injection

Smackdown
Date: September 30, 2011
Location: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

It’s the go home show for Nigh….oh I’m sorry I seem to have gotten the wrong review. It seems like only a little while ago that it was a go home show and it can’t be another one so soon. Only a bunch of idiots would have two PPVs for 45 bucks with one off week in between them. I mean you would have to be crazy to think that would be a good idea. Since there’s no way this can be another go home show so soon, I’m curious as to what happens. Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is the Cleveland Indians who can’t win one game to finish .500.

Rhodes vs. Sheamus for the title and Christian vs. Orton 10 later.

Here’s Booker to open the show and he’s going to interview Henry. Booker says he was a fan of Henry since the beginning and that since he’s a 6 time champion, he knows what it takes to get there so congratulations. Henry wants to know if that means Booker thinks he’s six times better than he is. Henry yells a lot and says he could put Booker through that announce table but he’s here for Orton, not Booker.

Night of Champions was about the World Heavyweight Championship. He talks about how at home he has the heads of Lawler, Kane and Big Show mounted on his wall (I guess being future endeavored erases your head from existence) and there’s a special place on the wall for Orton. Booker wants to know why it’s all about the violence and pain. Henry says lower your tone and that for fifteen years he did the good things and took pictures and kissed babies. Now he wants to be dominate.

Booker asks about Sunday (wow they really are that stupid) and if Randy can hit the RKO…but Henry cuts him off saying that won’t happen because it can’t happen. Orton can’t beat him and everyone knows it. Henry is going to beat down Khali tonight like he did on Monday so bring him out right now so we can do it. Henry won’t shake Booker’s hand to end this.

Mark Henry vs. Great Khali

Khali pounds away and Henry is staggered. It’s a heavyweight slugfest and Henry is in trouble. Two chops put Henry down for two and here comes Henry’s comeback. He pounds away and puts Khali down where two splashes only get a two count. I’d have thought that was it. There’s the Slam and we’re done at 2:51. This was a lot more fun than I was expecting but battles of the giants are an old standard and they almost always are worth at least a glance.

Post match Henry Pillmanizes Khali’s leg.

Khali is being taken out on a stretcher and Mahal comes up to yell at him.

Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger

Bourne gets the big hometown boy pop. Swagger comes out to Ziggler’s music to annoy me. I’m really liking these guys being on both shows as it lets you keep these stories going. Swagger takes over early as is his custom. Bourne fires off some kicks but Swagger catches a headscissors into a side slam.

Vader Bomb misses and Bourne fires off some offense, including that double knee to the neck thing he does. Ziggler interferes but the powerbomb is countered. Bourne sets for the Shooting Star but Vickie breaks it up and the ankle lock ends this at 2:32. Another fast paced match that sets up the probable tag title match at the PPV.

We get a video on the Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara feud and the match at the PPV is announced.

Sin Cara vs. Heath Slater

Slater has a boring southern rock song as his theme music now. At least it’s supposed to be southern rock. It sounds like bad country. It took me longer to say that than the whole match which ends in 42 seconds with a Swanton Bomb.

The other Sin Cara pops up on screen and takes off his mask to reveal a new black one. He says the other Sin Cara stole his identity as Mistico so now it’s time for him to do the same thing. Cool to hear an actual reason for what’s going on.

Video on HHH and how things are going crazy in the company at the moment. He’s not here tonight.

The group that wants to sue HHH is in the back and there are a lot of them: Team Vickie, Johnny Ace, Rhodes, Christian and Otunga as the lawyer. Otunga has an idea put together that could work. Christian says he’s cool with Otunga doing this. It goes down Monday.

Kelly Kelly vs. Natalya

Well at least Kelly is in the white shorts. No entrance for Nattie. Beth sits in on commentary. Kelly goes off on her to start and hits a Thesz Press off the ropes but Nattie pounds away and hooks a chinlock. A victory roll gets the pin at 1:25. Can we get a match that breaks three minutes?

Post match Beth hits the Glam Slam and Natalya puts her in that freaky submission she used on Monday. Beth talks trash and Kelly screams a lot.

Intercontinental Title: Cody Rhodes vs. Sheamus

This is happening because Christian cost Sheamus the battle royal Monday. Cody says he’s being discriminated against by the WWE, referencing being put in a battle royal after having his head injured by the bell. They slug it out to start and guess who gets the better of that. Sheamus tries his forearms in the ropes but Cody escapes. Sheamus is like ok then and beats Cody down a bit and then hits them the second time.

Cody gets in a mask shot and the Beautiful Disaster for two as we take a break. Back after a video about the Cell and Cody has a hammerlock on. Sheamus fires back but a single arm DDT gets two for the champ. This is a pretty boring match. Sheamus gets sent into the post for two.

Cody keeps working on the arm which is kind of stupid since one of Sheamus’ big moves and the easier of his big moves to hit is a kick. Now Cody goes into the post and Sheamus makes his comeback with power moves and the the shoulder block. Brogue Kick misses but he breaks up the Beautiful Disaster for a close two. He sets for the Celtic Cross but here’s Christian for the DQ at 8:37 shown of 12:07.

Rating: D+. The ending was a little better but man the ten minutes it took to get there were boring. I like both of these guys but this was a very boring match all around. The arm work was really slow and it didn’t add anything to the ending of the match as his arm wasn’t really hurt all that badly (or maybe he’s just bad at selling it) and the match just went on and on. Not horrible, but nothing interesting at all.

Video on HHH’s movie. No one cares.

Zack Ryder vs. JTG

I know I’ve been liking NXT more but I don’t want to see JTG anywhere else! Cole makes fun of JTG who wants to take over the WWE. Ryder is in the Fave Five which is currently at about 28 members. JTG takes over to start and makes fun of Ryder at the same time. Off to a chinlock and Booker has four nicknames for JTG already (and Cole makes fun of them all). Ryder starts his comeback and the Broski Boot gets two. Rough Ryder ends this at 2:56. Just a way to get Ryder on TV as his push continues.

Johnny Ace is texting someone when HHH comes up. HHH wants to know what’s up with the meetings Ace has been having. Ace says he’s behind him but HHH says it’s about trust. Future endeavors are implied.

The same video that we’ve seen a million times on the Cell airs and we run down the card.

Orton says he’s crazy and evil and isn’t afraid of Henry. He doesn’t regret hurting Orton last week.

Randy Orton vs. Christian

Feeling out process to start which is odd since they’ve spent more time with each other this summer than is healthy. A clothesline gets two for Orton but Christian hits a middle rope dropkick to take over. Spinebuster gets two and we take a break. Back with Christian having a neck crank broken so he hits a neckbreaker for two instead. Oh this is Orton’s hometown too. I forgot about that.

Orton comes back for a few seconds but Christian smacks him down (nice touch) again and keeps the advantage. Orton comes back with his usual stuff including that awesome dropkick. WWE developmental can teach a pretty awesome one of those. Orton hits that powerbomb into a neckbreaker which is a favorite of mine and it gets two. In a nice bit of psychology, Christian escapes the DDT and goes to the corner for the sunset flip out of it. Orton jumps for the RKO but Christian fakes him out. Orton counters Christian’s fake out though and gets a fast rollup for two. NICE.

Orton hits his powerslam but Christian misses a cross body. RKO is countered and Christian sets up for the spear. I’m so over the spear that I cant fathom it anymore. It hits this time but it only gets two because Christian is an average sized guy hitting a power move so it doesn’t work as well. Killswitch is countered into the elevated DDT and Orton is all fired up. Christian hits the floor and runs but Orton catches him. He sends the Canadian into the steps and stalks him long enough for the double countout at 10:56 shown of 14:26.

Rating: B-. Not exactly Over the Limit but this is a different kind of match. I did like the incorporation of older stuff into this match as it’s good psychology and stuff you rarely get to see in WWE. The ending hurts it a lot too but these two have very good chemistry together and Christian brings out the best in Orton which is hard to do.

Orton goes after Christian post match and loads up the announce table. Cody comes out to beat down Orton but Sheamus makes the save and chases Christian through the crowd. Here’s Henry and the Slam puts Orton down in just a few seconds. Henry goes to get a chair to Pillmanize him but Orton grabs an RKO out of nowhere to put Henry down and stand tall to end the show. They needed to do that before the PPV.

Overall Rating: B-. Pretty good show here as they had a lot of wrestling on it and a lot of stuff got TV time (take notes TNA). Orton getting in the RKO on Henry is a great thing as they need to give fans a reason to think Orton can beat him. I’m hoping Henry keeps the title but it’s hard to say as WWE might get nervous that a guy is actually over as a heel. Anyway good show, although they needed to add in some new matches for the PPV and they didn’t get much in that area.

Results
Mark Henry b. Great Khali – World’s Strongest Slam
Jack Swagger b. Evan Bourne – Ankle Lock
Sin Cara b. Heath Slater – Swanton Bomb
Kelly Kelly b. Natalya – Victory Roll
Sheamus b. Cody Rhodes via DQ when Christian interfered
Zack Ryder b. JTG – Rough Ryder
Randy Orton vs. Christian went to a double countout

Also like my Facebook page please so I can expand a bit more.  I’d appreciate it.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall

We don’t have much to work with this time as there haven’t been a lot of matches announced.  Here’s what I’ve got for the main events though.I’ll hope Henry gets the win over Orton as it’ll keep him in this roll he’s on.  We haven’t had a true monster heel in forever and a win over Orton is a great way to get him going.  It’ll be a nice touch as faces control the title way too often.

Cena probably retains but I have very little confidence there.  Punk or Del Rio would be the best choice but I see very little reason for this to be in the cage.  A regular match would be fine and the Cell being 2 weeks after NOC isn’t going to pop buyrates like they think.

Also Beth to get the title, Air Boom to keep the tag titles (assuming it happens) and Christian to steal a win over Sheamus.

Your picks?

Impact Wrestling
Date: September 29, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

After this week we move off to Nashville for two weeks and then it’s Philadelphia for Bound For Glory. Tonight we’re going to hear that it’s Hogan’s retirement which is a big announcement and a spoiler but by the time this is posted it’ll be fair game. Anyway other than that there’s a five way ladder match which will be lucky to go six minutes. Let’s get to it.

Sting is here to open the show and he calls out Roode. It’s the same stuff you would expect: Sting says he’s awesome and can beat Angle, Roode says he’ll do his best and that it means a lot and says that Sting needs to beat Hogan. Here’s AJ to say take care of things and go become world champion because you might never get another shot. Here’s Angle who says if AJ wins tonight he’ll get a shot at the title. This felt really rushed for some reason.

Hogan is here and is looking nervous.

Alex Shelley vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Zima Ion vs. Kid Kash vs. Jesse Sorensen

This is a ladder match and the winner gets the shot at Aries at BFG. Aries is on commentary and says he wants to face Kash. It’s your usual insane match with all the people doing everything they can. There’s a chair brought in and Sorensen is dropped onto the ladder by Kash and looks like he was shot. Kash goes up but Kendrick makes the save. Tazz: “Austin what would you do in this match?” Aries: “Climb the ladder as fast as I could.”

Ion takes Kendrick out with a moonsault to the floor and no one is really trying to go up. Shelley kicks Kash down and makes a run up but takes forever because it’s a wrestling match involving a ladder and Ion makes the save. BIG chop by Kash to Ion and Aries says maybe he doesn’t want to face him. Ion gets countered and Sorensen puts him into the ladder. Kash goes up but is taken down by Kendrick. Kendrick and Shelley go up at the same time but Kendrick knocks him down and wins at 5:45. Nice to see them expanding the title feuds.

Rating: C+. The match was exciting but I’m tired of these matches that are supposed to be special and draws etc being given five and a half minutes so that we can have everyone on the roster post on their video blogs about how they feel about everything that is happening tonight with nothing interesting to say at all. Not a bad match or anything, but these matches need more time to build up some kind of drama.

Kaz is talking about the Roode/Styles match when the Jarretts come in and say get to the ring now.

Flair is on the phone and is upset about something. He wants to be part of a decision that is being made and is coming to someone’s office.

Here are the Jarretts and they call out Kaz and tell him to bring Traci with him. Jeff gets in his face, talking about how he gave Kaz a job and how Kaz went to the WWE and then Jeff let him come back and then left again and Jeff let him back in again. He insults Traci a bit and they almost get into it but referees and agents come out. Jeff threatens to fire them because he can I guess and another brawl starts up. Gunner comes in and leaves Kaz laying with an F5.

We recap last week’s thing with Ink Inc and Mexican america with the tattoo raping.

Hernandez vs. Jesse Neal

Mexican America jumps Ink Inc and we’re told that Hernandez hurt Neal which is why we haven’t seen them lately. Well that’s better than nothing. The beatdown goes on for awhile and the bell hasn’t rang yet. Anarquia and Moore are in the ring and Moore gets crushed by a splash. Here’s one for Neal also and the Mexicans stand tall. They spray pain MA on both of their backs and it’s 1996 all over again. No match. Hernandez’s splashes looked great.

Ray says he knows what Hogan is going to say and says he was the first one that Hogan told about it.

Storm says if Roode wins, Storm will be winning with them because they’re a team.

Flair rants to Hogan about what Hogan is going to do and says it’ll change the business. Whatever it is, it’s not a good decision.

We recap Tara vs. Madison Rayne which started back at Sacrifice 2010 where Tara put her career up for a title shot. Then Tara came back with Madison because I guess Madison had the authority to break the contract. Tara rebelled against Madison and won her freedom. Do we really need a year plus recap for a TV match where you get a spot in a title match?

Crimson is here just as he promised he would be.

Madison Rayne vs. Tara

This is a qualifying match to be in the Knockouts Title match with Mickie and Winter and whoever else is the final person. By the way, total time from the end of the ladder match to the bell for this: 33:54. Madison hits on Earl and screams a lot. Tara grabs her hand and bends the finger back, making Madison tap but it doesn’t count I guess. I have a feeling we’re in a comedy match.

Tara takes it to the mat with a headlock takeover and Madison keeps carressing Earl. Madison uses the distraction to take over with a right hand and beats on her in the corner. She does the hump the mat spot and hits on Earl AGAIN. That’s about 8 times now. Madison cheats to escape a chokebomb by hitting Earl so Earl says kill her. Release chokebomb hits Madison but Rayne escapes the Widow’s Peak and rolls her up with the feet on the ropes at 4:43.

Rating: D. I have no idea what the point of the video was as this really wasn’t a match that required a lot of explanation or backstory to it. Also I don’t get the point of the hitting on Earl as it didn’t play into the ending at all. Pretty much a nothing match that didn’t need a backstory or the cross generational flirting.

Daniels says he wouldn’t want to face AJ again at BFG because there’s no point. The match is happening it seems and Daniels says if he beats AJ again it would be a kick in the nuts, which makes him chuckle.

Here’s Crimson after having his leg broken or something similar to that by Joe. He wants Joe out here right now to settle this. Joe appears and says he’s allowed Crimson to be here and to continue his farce of an undefeated streak. Without Crimson, who else is going to be Joe’s female dog? Crimson charges and the brawl is on. Joe goes to the ankle and kicks Crimson low and into the ring we go. He puts on the leg bar until Matt Morgan comes out to make a save. Morgan helps Crimson up.

AJ is ready for Roode but they’re cool.

D’Angelo Dinero vs. Mr. Anderson

Just 19:37 between bells this time so they’re improving. Feeling out process to start as this is the always rare face vs. face match. They do nothing of note for awhile until they head to the floor and Anderson pulls back to punch Pope. D-Von’s kids grab his arm and Pope misses a charge into the railing. Anderson goes into the ring and Ray pops up with a kendo stick. Pope comes in and gets the pin at 4:12. D-Von came down to yell at his kids.

Rating: D. I can’t call it a failure because it plays into both stories. Anderson and Ray are fine, but is this Pope/D-Von/D-Von’s kids thing going ANYWHERE? They’ve been doing this same stuff for months now and I guess D-Von is mad at Pope again or maybe now at his kids or something? I have no idea what the end goal of this is but it’s taking way too long for an angle with D-Von Dudley in it.

Roode is ready.

D-Von yells at his kids and Pope. D-Von is training his kids to be wrestlers it seems. Pope says chill and D-Von yells at his kids more, saying he calls the shots and says when for the kids to jump.

We get one of those serious videos about Roode training for his one match and how he’s given up so much for his family and his dream and all that jazz.

AJ Styles vs. Robert Roode

Just 12 and a half minutes this time. LONG headlock by AJ to eat up some time and then a dropkick gets two. Off to another headlock as I think it’s one of those “big” matches where they do very basic stuff but nothing actually comes out of it. AJ tries the springboard but gets caught in an over the shoulder gutbuster for two, injuring Bobby’s leg. They go to the floor and once that goes nowhere, AJ puts on a bridging Indian Deathlock to work on the knee a bit more.

They continue with this slow pace and it’s ok but it’s not much to watch, especially after how boring the rest of the show has been. Roode knocks him off the top but gets caught by the springboard forearm for two. Here’s the springboard 450 but Roode moves. Styles Clash is blocked twice, the second time into a sunsef flip for two. Pele misses and Roode grabs the Crossface and AJ taps at 8:32.

Rating: C+. The ending was good but this is another match like the opener: they needed more time to make it good. A win over AJ is a good thing but there’s still a total lack of heat in my eyes on the title match. They’re trying so hard to make this a huge match and I’m not getting into it at all. Roode simply isn’t that interesting and would rather talk about how much he respects everything and show absolutely no emotion other than serious which is logical I guess, but MAN is it dull.

AJ praises Roode and says he’s going to be the next champion. This takes forever and AJ says he wants a shot. Roode says ok.

Here’s Hogan for the big announcement. He talks about how he’s been soul searching recently and started thinking about how the Hulk Hogan run has been awesome. He talks about Hiro Matsuda breaking his leg when he started training and how he came from the beginning to the match with Andre and how many times he sold out MSG and all those big matches. Sting is watching in the back.

Hulkamania could go on forever. Then he had a chance of a lifetime: to come to Impact Wrestling and make a difference. He saw a bunch of hungry eyes and now they’re all stepping up. Every moment has been worth it and Sting is still watching. He (Sting) talks about Suburban Commando and says Hogan is a great actor.

Hogan says this is the end of the road and he’s retiring. He wants to thank the Impact Zone fans because they’re the important ones. Even his wife hasn’t heard this yet. But Flair and Bully Ray have? The fans are always with him and he’s leaving. Next week will be the formal announcement and it’ll be a big celebration of Hulk next week. Sting doesn’t buy it.

Overall Rating: D. Oh man I did not like this show. They spent the whole night plugging Roode vs. Angle and I still don’t care to see it. The match will probably be very good, but at the end of it I’ll say something like “Ok so what’s next?”, which will be Sting vs. Hogan because that’s been built up far better, although the match will be a disaster. These buildup shows for BFG have been built on two matches and I’m not thrilled to see either, which isn’t a good thing.

Results
Brian Kendrick b. Kid Kash, Alex Shelley, Zima Ion and Jesse Sorensen – Kendrick pulled down the contract
Madison Rayne b. Tara – Rollup
D’Angelo Dinero b. Mr. Anderson – Pin after Bully Ray hit Anderson with a kendo stick
Robert Roode b. AJ Styles – Crossface

NXT
Date: September 27, 2011
Location: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Jack Korpela, William Regal

Another week here and after the last two weeks I’m assuming that it’s time for the Usos to face JTG and Young in what Gorilla Monsoon would call a main event in any arena in the country except the one we’re in now where it’s a filler match 2 spots down on the card because it’s a pair of teams that not many people care about. Also I’m sure Maxine and Bateman will try to further the split of Horny and AJ because….because….because that’s what bad people on an internet wrestling show do. Let’s get to it.

JTG and Young open the show and I still want to hurt JTG. Regal: “You know I absolutely hate him.” Young calls JTG a tag team specialist and they go over their tag team success here. They talk about winning NXT and then the tag titles but the Usos interrupt. They actually get to talk and no one seems that interested. We get clips of both Uso attacks after the wins by Team Annoying. The Usos talk about the Samoan heritage and how great at tag team stuff the Samoans are. Fan: “SHAD WAS BETTER!” JTG says the Samoans were a joke and gets chased to the floor. The tag match is mentioned.

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Jinder Mahal

Yep it’s officially the minor league show and not about a competition anymore. Yoshi’s music doesn’t really fit with the new look. Regal says he was at Mahal’s christening 25 years ago and was rivals with Mahal’s dad. We hear about how Yoshi was squashed by Mahal about two months ago and got some teeth knocked out in the process. I remember that match and if this isn’t better than that one, that says a lot.

Yoshi takes over with a headlock but a suplex gets Mahal out of trouble. A chinlock eats up a few seconds and Mahal takes over. Korpela: “What would your strategy be if you were Yoshi?” Regal: “Win the match.” You can’t buy this kind of analysis people. Regal follows that up by talking about Mahal’s uncle, the Indian Karaoke Champion: Getupta Singh. Back to the chinlock. A kick by Yoshi gets two. The Indian hits a Samoan on the Japanese but it gets reversed into a crucifix for two.

They go up to the corner and Yoshi blocks a superplex. Tatsu tries a dive as Regal talks about how you have to be a special kind of man to headbutt someone. Yes you do, but it takes a more special man to Coco Butt someone. As Yoshi is getting up he gets caught in the full nelson slam for the pin at 6:07.

Rating: C-. Not too bad but I feel sorry for Mahal. He was getting a fairly decent push on Smackdown or at least the opening stages of one and then that just kind of stopped. That’s another case of someone getting some kind of momentum and then the writers getting bored with him and so much for that. The match wasn’t bad but it’s nothing I’ll remember tomorrow.

Video on the Cell.

And now from that to something completely different as Horny is looking for AJ and has a note for her. Maxine tries to tell him that AJ is with Titus but Horny shushes her. Horny finds Titus and AJ (score one for Maxine) and the note (read by Titus for some reason) is a very poetic letter (it talks about being a boat tethered in a storm and stuff like that), basically saying that Horny is leaving NXT for Smackdown. AJ is sad but uh…isn’t she on Smackdown too? Horny leaves all sad and AJ points out just that: she’s on Smackdown too. I believe that officially eliminates all the remaining Pros.

Percy Watson vs. Tyson Kidd

Regal talks about how Punk winning would mean he has no more worlds left to conquer because he’d be WWE Champion. My face actually scrunched up and I looked up from my computer in a state of confusion over that one. Kidd speeds things up to start but Watson (much better without the glasses and OH YEAH) hits a dropkick for two. Korpela says everyone is talking about Watson’s vertical leap. Today I talked about how the Monopoly game is back at McDonald’s which means the McRib is back soon, but that’s just me.

Back in after a quick bit on the floor and Tyson hooks a chinlock. He shouts to the crowd and they don’t shout back. A belly to back breaks the hold up and both guys are down. Watson hits another dropkick and a clothesline in the corner. A spinning splash gets two as Regal makes fun of JTG a little more. Kidd hits something like a spinning neckbreaker that has a long name including the word moss that I don’t feel like typing and a springboard elbow for the pin at 4:12.

Rating: C. Kidd is getting better and better every week and thankfully he’s regularly appearing on Smackdown because of it. However, I’d like to see him doing something more than just appearing on NXT beating up random former NXT rejects. They need to just turn this into its own independent show and make an NXT Champion already so Kidd can challenge for it.

Mahal says not to talk about Khali because he’s the only one that matters. Most of this isn’t in English so it’s hard to really get what’s going on. I think he says eat more chicken. His eyes are all freaky looking. Tonight he’s returning to greatness.

Usos vs. JTG/Darren Young

Why does no one jump the Usos during that dance thing they do? I mean….it wouldn’t be that hard. JTG vs. let’s say Jimmy (like I can tell them apart) to start us off. I was watching the 88 Great American Bash and turned off Fantastics vs. Midnight Express for this. I have a feeling this isn’t going to be as good. Jimmy hits a northern lights suplex as we’re told that JTG never won a tag title despite being in a (not named) popular tag team.

Korpela talks about how there’s still a competition and says it’s about being the next break out star. There’s no mention of being on Season Six now. I think my blood pressure just dropped down to healthy. I think that’s Jimmy getting beaten down but I don’t particularly care enough to remember which has the chest tattoo. Hot tag brings in Jey who kicks and punches a lot. Young manages to grab a belly to back to Jimmy (I had them wrong) on the apron to shift momentum as we take a break.

Back with JTG coming in to pound on I guess Jimmy. After a long chinlock, Jey breaks up a cover and it’s off to Young. Regal explains the point of the rapid covers that don’t work as he says Young knows it’s not going to get a pin but it’ll drain Jimmy a lot. See, THAT is what an analyst is there for. He knows what he’s talking about because he’s been in there. It’s a lot better than saying someone is in the Fave Five which has about 27 people per week.

Jimmy’s back is worked on and Young sends him into the corner for two. Has anyone ever been pinned off an Irish Whip? Young slaps away at the back and hits a chinlock again, this time with the knee in the back. Maybe he did learn something in Nexus. Regal talks about how Young is working on the back. Korpela: “Good point.” Regal: “I know.” Jimmy breaks up the chinlock but JTG gets a tag to break it up again.

To my great surprise, this hasn’t been a very bad tag match. It’s amazing what random guys can do when they’re thrown out there and allowed some time to develop and get experience isn’t it? Jimmy sends JTG flying with something called an Alley-Us (I’d call it a flip but what do I know?). Either way it gets the tag in to Jey and the lower half of the house is cleaned. He hits the running Umaga smash to the face in the corner which Korpela says is shades of Rikishi and a double superkick sets up the superfly splash to Young for the pin at 11:23.

Rating: B-. I don’t know if it was the total lack of anticipation or expectations, but this was a pretty good match. The hot tag was obvious, but they built it up the whole time and with Regal talking about how good the back work was, I was getting into it a little bit at the end. Keep in mind that this was Usos vs. JTG/Darren Young and you’ll get why that’s a lot harder than it would be in most matches.

Post match the Usos celebrate but Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins run in for an attack. Again, that is almost territory style as you bring in whatever random talent you can find for a quick feud/program with someone else after another program is over.

Overall Rating: C+. I liked this tonight because they got a step closer to making this the C show instead of the competition nonsense. Also it means no more Hornswoggle at least here which means maybe that story is over. AJ’s reaction to it made me chuckle too. When you look at this show, there’s the makings of some decent stuff, especially if they gave up on the competition and just let it be its own thing. Not bad here as it gets closer to dropping the NXT nonsense.

Results
Jinder Mahal b. Yoshi Tatsu – Full Nelson Slam
Tyson Kidd b. Percy Watson – Springboard Elbow
Usos b. Darren Young/JTG – Top rope splash to Young

Monday Night Raw
Date: September 26, 2011
Location: Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri
Commentators: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, Booker T

Since we’re 8 days removed from Night of Champions and the WWE is stupid, this is the last Raw before Hell in a Cell. The main event is already set so I’d expect a lot of stuff being added in to fill up the midcard tonight. Also we should probably get some more on the firings of R-Truth and Miz tonight as we got some advancement in the whole big story last week. Let’s get to it.

Booker is in on commentary instead of Jerry due to Henry’s attack last week.

The Cell is hanging above the ring.

Alberto vs. Punk in the main event tonight.

Here’s HHH to open things up to a big ovation. He wants to explain the firings last week. The firings were due to this, and we throw it to a video about Truth and Miz freaking out post Night of Champions and about the events of the PPV and last week. After the video HHH says he didn’t buy the apology but he used them for one more main event then fired them. The fine however will still be paid but by Mark Henry for his attacks last week.

HHH says no one is bigger than the WWE and he’ll always do what is right for the company…and here are Vickie and Dolph. Dolph complains about getting his jaw broken by Hugh Jackman and the headlines on news sites because of it. He wants to know what HHH plans to do about it. HHH takes some not so subtle shots at Dolph and offers Dolph security for when the Muppets are here next month.

Cue Cody Rhodes who complains about Orton hitting him with the bell in the head and needing 9 staples to close it. Why wasn’t Orton fired or fined? HHH talks about how a few years ago Orton attacked his wife while HHH was handcuffed (nice touch by pointing out that Rhodes was there helping) and then he beat up Orton on Orton’s front line. Rhodes needs to man up. This draws out Christian who says HE was wronged the most by Sheamus for throwing him back into the ring against Henry. “It was a lumberjack match idiot.”

Christian threatens a huge lawsuit but won’t do it for the sake of one more match. That’s what Christian will get. At HIAC he’s getting one more match, but it’s against Sheamus. This Friday Christian gets one more match against Randy Orton. Tonight Christian gets one more match against John Cena. “Is it for the title?” “No.” Christian freaks out and leaves.

Ziggler yells some more and is told he has to defend the US Title tonight against Ryder. HHH says WOO WOO WOO You Know It. Cody is the last one in the ring and HHH gives him the night off. Cody says give yourself the night off. HHH doesn’t like this and says Cody is defending tonight. Every time Cody complains the match is upgraded. It goes from a triple threat to a fatal fourway to a ten man battle royal in about 15 seconds. The battle royal is up next. Cool.

Intercontinental Title: Battle Royal

Cody Rhodes, John Morrison, Ezekiel Jackson, Drew McIntyre, Sin Cara, Ted DiBiase, Alex Riley, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, Justin Gabriel

Cara gets an entrance and it’s the original blonde. Good pop for Sheamus and those are the only two who get entrances. Cody hits the floor quickly and Drew is beaten down and tossed in about 15 seconds. The other Sin Car comes in and takes the original’s place. Bryan tosses him a second later so we’re down to 8 in less than a minute. The original hits a rana off the steps to the fake one but isn’t allowed to go back in.

Cody is back in the ring now and Ted is all over him. Gabriel skins the cat and pulls Riley to the apron with him. Sheamus misses the Brogue Kick but takes Riley out anyway. A double axe puts Gabriel out and we’re down to six. Make that four as Jackson throws out Bryan and Morrison in a double backdrop. Sheamus and Jackson (Legacy are the other two remaining guys) go at it in the big brawl and Jackson is beaten down quickly.

Ted tries to sneak in with Dream Street but gets put on the top rope and knocked out. Beautiful Disaster puts down Sheamus but Jackson throws Rhodes….to the apron. Jackson charges like an idiot and is tossed to get us down to Rhodes vs. Sheamus. Sheamus gets ready for the Cross but Christian comes out for the distraction. Cody can’t toss Sheamus in the distraction though so Sheamus tries a Brogue Kick and gets caught on the apron. Cody takes the mask off but Sheamus gets a shot in to block it. Christian distracts him though and a mask shot ends Sheamus at 4:34 for Cody to retain.

Rating: D+. Battle royals are hard to grade but this was pretty weak. They had some drama at the end which helped but people went out so fast that it was hard to get into it. With a person going out about every 30 seconds there’s only so much you can do as far as getting into this. Not a very good match and not very interesting.

Christian rams Sheamus’ arm into the post and yells a lot.

We get a clip of Henry beating Jerry down last week.

David Otunga says that he’s got a law degree (and he has the bowtie to prove it) and Johnny Ace says maybe he should do something about the safety of people.

Video on Kelly Kelly.

Kelly Kelly/Eve Torres vs. Natalya/Beth Phoenix

Eve has changed her hair and it’s not working for me as bangs are never my thing. Beth and Eve get us started but it’s off to Natalya quickly who interlocks her legs with Eve’s and rolls her over so that their legs are both up in the air and it’s torquing her back and neck. That looks awesome. Back to Beth and off to Kelly who does her usual stuff including a spank and the screaming headscissors. Eve misses a charge but Kelly throws Natalya out anyway. Beth gets the Glam Slam and we’re done at 3:17.

Rating: D. Ok so let’s see. It’s taken us two PPVs and two Raw matches to get us to the point where we all knew it was going eventually: Beth beats up Kelly and pins her with the Glam Slam. Is there any reason it took us this long? I’m guessing Kelly somehow blames Eve because Kelly is the special angel that can’t do anything wrong or whatever so Eve has to turn out of it. Bad match but that’s expected.

Mark Henry vs. Great Khali

Khali only weighs 350lbs now. Before the match Henry hits Khali in the head with the world title and hits him with the Slam. Henry yells a lot and leaves while only sweating a few buckets, which is normal for him. No match.

Here’s Cena to get into the Cell which is halfway lowered. The fans pop big for Cena holding up the title. He talks about this Sunday and it’s going to be the first triple threat ever in the Cell. Cena talks about how this Sunday he’s going to use the Cell as a problem solver to prove he’s the best. He plays up the brutality of the match and says he doesn’t lose it Sunday.

This brings out Alberto as well as Punk in a sports coat for commentary on the next match.

John Cena vs. Christian

Yes we have 5 people on commentary tonight. Christian is launched into the ceiling quickly and Punk argues with Alberto almost immediately. Alberto yells and Punk says Alberto is half undressed. Christian takes over with high impact stuff but misses a swan dive. Cena fires off the shoulders but the Proto Bomb is countered. Killswitch doesn’t work either and there’s the Bomb. There’s the Shuffle but Christian runs before the AA can hit. They go to the floor and onto the table where Alberto jumps Punk. Christian gets a shot in on Cena but runs into the AA. And here’s Alberto for the DQ at 3:20.

Rating: C-. The stuff we got was ok but this was barely enough to grade. I don’t get how this really pushes forward the match but maybe they should have more than 13 days to promote the thing? That would make sense though so we’ll have to throw that explanation out the window. Not much to see here.

US Title: Zack Ryder vs. Dolph Ziggler

If this actually happens….I can’t say I’d really be complaining. Before the match we get a recap of last week’s Jackman stuff. Ziggler goes right at him and Ryder is in trouble. Swagger is at ringside too. A splash in the corner misses for Dolph and his head cracks the buckle. Ryder pounds him down and does the Woo Woo Woo kick in the corner. Vickie is on the apron and the Rough Ryder misses. Swagger clotheslines Ryder on the ropes and the Zig Zag keeps the title on Ziggler at 2:03.

Post match the Vickie Family tries to beat Ryder down but Air Boom’s pyro messes up and they run out for the save. Teddy Long comes out and makes a six man. Vickie has until after the commercial to find a third man. If she can’t, it’s a handicap match.

Air Boom/Zack Ryder vs. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger

There’s no third man nor Vickie when we come back so it’s 3-2. Swagger vs. Kofi to get us going and Kofi takes over quickly. Off to Bourne who doesn’t do as well because he’s Evan Bourne and it’s his job to be destroyed a lot. Swagger goes way old school and hooks on the Rings of Saturn. Kofi comes in off a hot tag and hits a cross body which isn’t nearly as good as most of his usual ones.

He does the jumping ten punches in the corner to Swagger and Vickie comes back with Mason Ryan with longer hair. Do was have a Vickie Family now? The African escapes a German from the All-American and brings in Ryder. Ryder gets to meet Ryan….who beats up Swagger instead and tags in Ziggler by slamming him into the ring. A spinning release Rock Bottom leaves Ziggler dead and the Rough Ryder pins Ziggler at 6:31.

Rating: C-. Pretty weak match but the ending was a good thing as we have a reason for a third match now, possibly at the PPV. Ryder has a chance to get a big push and this might be the right time to do it. Air Boom is getting some traction and that’s what they need to do at this point. Pretty boring match and it’s pretty clear that they weren’t all that into it out there.

Video on the Cell which we saw last week.

We run down the PPV card and Kelly defends against Beth again. JR: “Beth finally gets her opportunity.” I’m leaving that one alone.

Otunga talks to Christian, Vickie, Dolph and Cody about a lawsuit and says it’s important they’re all together in this.

Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk

Cena is out for commentary. CM pounds him down quickly and we head to the floor. Punk throws Del Rio in Cena’s direction and Johnny isn’t thrilled with it. Back inside Alberto takes Punk’s head off with a kick to take over. This is more of a brawl than a match. Punk pounds him down in the corner and then fires off the knee lifts. Del Rio lands an enziguri to send Punk to the floor and we take a break.

Back with Del Rio escaping the GTS and getting two on a DDT. A kick to the head gets two and it’s time for arm work. Punk’s arm goes into the post and a dropkick gets two. Del Rio is sent to the floor and Ricardo freaks. Back in a big kick misses for Punk and Del Rio stuns the arm. It’s good that he’s showing psychology here which is something you rarely miss with Del Rio. That’s such a nice breath of air.

They slug it out and Punk sells the arm by shaking it a bit. A leg lariat/kick to the face takes Del Rio down and there’s the knee/bulldog combination but the bulldog is countered. A Codebreaker to the arm gets two and Alberto is fired up. Punk fires off some kicks and that’s enough for the pin (yes, a non-finisher got a pin) at 12:02.

Rating: C. Not bad here and the ending is a nice touch here but I’m not entirely sure what the point of it was. I mean…Del Rio looks totally weak here which means he’s probably going to win the title back on Sunday because that’s how WWE rolls. Nothing impressive here but it could have been a lot worse I guess.

The Cell lowers and Ricardo is trapped inside with all three of them. He takes both finishers and the Super Best Friends escape finishers before Del Rio smacks them both with a chair and lays them out.

Overall Rating: D+. I wasn’t feeling this one at all. Two weeks is not enough time to set up a PPV and that’s all there is to it. I mean there’s nothing else to say about it and the build for this Sunday’s show proves it. The show doesn’t feel developed at all and it’s like “hey let’s just throw everyone into the Cell and hope for the best.” The match should be ok but there’s no reason for this to be in the cage. Tonight’s show felt like it was trying to piece together a PPV using glue and paperclips and that’s not something I’d ever pay $45 to see. Weak Raw and a horrible buildup show.

Results
Cody Rhodes won a battle royal last eliminating Sheamus
Natlya/Beth Phoenix b. Kelly Kelly/Eve Torres – Glam Slam to Kelly Kelly
John Cena b. Christian via disqualification when Alberto Del Rio interfered
Dolph Ziggler b. Zach Ryder – Zig Zag
Air Boom/Zack Ryder b. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler/Mason Ryan – Rough Ryder to Ziggler
CM Punk b. Alberto Del Rio – High Kick

Ring of Honor
Date: September 24, 2011
Location: Frontier Fieldhouse, Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness

This is the debut episode under the new owners of Sinclair Broadcasting and since I get the channel that it airs on, I’ll be reviewing it weekly now. I won’t be doing it live but it’ll be up by the end of Saturday. This should be interesting as I’ve heard nothing but how great ROH is and now I can watch it. I’m not sure how great it’ll be but maybe it’s worth seeing. Anyway, I don’t watch a ton of ROH but I know of it and follow it to a certain degree. Let’s get to it.

Please keep in mind I haven’t watched an ROH show in about a year so if I don’t get a reference or miss something big, please bear with me.

The arena looks kind of small and it’s dark like the old WCW arenas were but with better production values obviously.

Kevin Kelly welcomes us to the show and announces the main event of the show as being for the tag titles with Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Haas/Benjamin) defending against the Kings of Wrestling (both in WWE now). He also brings out the returning Nigel McGuinness (Desmond Wolfe) as the analyst. Nigel talks about how he’s here for the boys in the back and how he wanted to be a part of this.

Adam Cole and Kyle O’Riley (Futureshock) says they’re going to take over the tag division.

The Bravados (didn’t catch their first names) say they’re going to destroy Futureshock and parents shouldn’t let their kids watch. These teams had a match before and one of the Bravados was injured so there’s a story to this.

Futureshock vs. The Bravados

Both teams appear to be faces and the Bravados are Cherokees. Their names are Harlem and Lance and Kevin Kelly says their win/loss record isn’t great. They’re shaking hands to follow the Code of Honor (not defined here) and it’s Adam vs. Harlem to start. Ok so Adam has the long hair. Got it. Futureshock uses some speed moves to take out Harlem and it breaks down quickly as Lance doesn’t have much more success. They hook a weird move where the Bravados’ legs are intertwined and both Futureshock guys hook armbars.

The Bravados make a blind tag (Kelly: He didn’t see that one.) and take over on Cole. I have no idea which Bravado is which but one gets a Justin Bieber chant. Yeah he does look a bit like him and the pin spotted trunks and boots don’t help. Ok Harlem looks like Bieber and Lance has long hair. Got it also. There’s a Tweet of the Week which makes fun of Russo’s booking by saying “You should watch ROH because it’s not 1997.”

The Bravados hit a double team superkick/German suplex combo called Gentlemen’s Choice for two. Adam tries to fight out of the corner and eventually rolls through to O’Riley. He’s part of Team Richards, meaning he trains with Davey Richards, meaning I’m probably not going to like him at all. He uses a double dragon screw leg whip (he whips one Bravado and that Bravado whips his partner because letting go is too much of a stretch I guess) and a double dropkick takes the Bravados down for two.

Futureshock does a bunch of combo suplexes and Adam hits a suicide dive to take both Bravados out. A missile dropkick off the apron puts a Bravado down and top rope cross body gets two for both guys. They take out Harlem with something that has a name but I couldn’t understand Kelly. It’s Total Elimination but with a clothesline rather than a spin kick and it gets the pin at 7:20.

Rating: B-. I think I can sum up this entire series in the following statement: if you like the ROH style, you’ll like this and if you don’t, you’re not going to be that impressed. There’s some good stuff here but a lot of the moves are ones where the other team clearly had to work with them for it to work and that drives me crazy. It was entertaining but I wouldn’t call it great. That can be good but it’s not going to get to a higher level than that with this style, at least not with me.

We get a report from Best in the World, a show back in I think June. Uh yeah….shouldn’t we be seeing new stuff instead of clips from old shows? It focuses on a four team elimination match won by Haas/Benjamin and followed by a post match beatdown by the Briscos. Now we talk about the world title match where Davey Richards finally won the title by beating Eddie Edwards. Never been a fan of Richards and I don’t think I’ll start now. This eats up like 6 minutes, or 10% of the show.

Here’s a segment called Inside Ring of Honor which explains the Code of Honor. Jim Cornette says that it’s a self imposed code. The idea is you shake hands pre and post match as a show of respect etc. It’s not mandatory but the guys that don’t use it aren’t that popular. In other words, take away the aspect of hatred for the sake of a Code and respect. That’s the same issue that TNA has far too often and it gets old.

Jay Lethal vs. El Generico for the TV Title next week. Lethal says he tried to be someone else for years (Savage) but here it’s about competition and not politics. He’s taking the TV Title so he can get the respect of the fans.

Since it’s been long enough since we’ve had an actual match, here’s a second look at the elimination tag match. Is there a point to this? I mean, it’s like an ad for the website/DVD instead of talking about the show itself. I don’t get this. WE SAW THIS TEN MINUTES AGO. This is eating up like 5 more minutes. They do know they only have an hour a week right???

Nigel interviews a fan who says the champs will retain.

Tag Titles: Kings of Wrestling vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team

Each time someone comes to the ring they get streamers thrown at them. It’s annoying but I guess it’s something to get used to. The Kings are Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. The champs (Haas/Benjamin) took the belts from them after the Kings held them forever. This is the first match in 24 minutes, meaning 40% of this show had zero wrestling on it due to highlight packages. That would be like 48 minutes without wrestling on Raw. Oh wait WE HAVE A COMMERCIAL BEFORE THE BELL.

There’s the bell and it’s been 27 minutes since the last match ended, or 54 minutes in Raw time. Haas vs. Hero to start us off. How did a guy like Haas get Jackie Gayda? Off to Nigel quickly so maybe he started and I wasn’t paying enough attention. Haas counters a few hip tosses and takes Claudio down with arm drags. This is match #4 in their series and the champs are 2-1 so far.

Blind tag brings in Benjamin and he hits a top rope clothesline to take over. Off to hero who gets caught in a small package for two. Hero sells a lot and things start to break down. Benjamin can’t hit the dragon whip and the Kings take over with nefarious means. Benjamin is thrown outside and Hero hits a baseball slide to take him out again. We take a break and come back with Claudio holding a headlock and hitting a powerslam for two.

Benjamin tries the tag and hits Dragon Whip this time but Hero pulls Haas off the apron. Charlie comes in and lets Hero hit an elbow to the back of the head for two. Off to Hero (Claudio got the two) and Hero hits a senton backsplash for two. Benjamin counters a double suplex into a double neckbreaker and there’s a leaping hot tag. Roaring Elbow by Hero is countered into a German and Claudio takes a T-Bone for two.

A rana and a big boot gets the same. Haas gets taken down and another elbow called the KTFO (you figure it out) gets two for Hero. Was there a tag there? The third spinning forearm/elbow (WE GET IT ALREADY) sets up a giant swing by Claudio as we go back to the 70s. The Kings set for their finisher (KRS 1) but it’s broken up by Benjamin. A hot shot sets up the thing where Shelton jumps over Charlie to land on the other dude’s back and a Hart Attack ends this at 16:48.

Rating: B-. Not bad here but dude, this was the best they could do? This is supposed to be the big and epic tag team division that is the best in the world? It’s not bad but it’s certainly not a classic or anything at all. I’ve definitely seen better stuff on Raw or Smackdown this year. I saw a match live that was better than this and I can’t even remember who were partnering with Orton and Christian.

They’re off the air at 2:58. We didn’t even get the whole hour. WOW.

Overall Rating: D+. And that’s a stretch. This was one of the least inspiring debuts I’ve seen in a very long time. On a 58 minute show (whatsupwitdat?) we had 22 minutes of wrestling and 36 minutes of talking/highlight packages. Now I could understand that if you’re introducing characters etc, but that isn’t what they did. We got two packages OF THE EXACT SAME THING, a quick promo for a TV Title match next week and a video on Richards who won’t be here for two weeks.

If this is the debut, you need to bring out the champ for it, not the tag champs. Wrestling fans see the world champion as the top guy in any company. I don’t care if it’s different in ROH, it’s not different for fans. This was their coming out party and it didn’t work for the most part. Not a fan so far, but this was their first show so we’ll see how it goes next time. Bad show.

Results
Futureshock b. The Bravados – Ride the Lightning to Harlem
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team b. The Kings of Wrestling – Wrestling’s Greatest Finisher to Hero