Smackdown
Date: July 15, 2011
Location: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

It’s the final show before Money in the Bank and everything is pretty much set in stone at this point.  The MITB match itself is a pretty open field but I’d look for Sheamus, Barrett or Rhodes to win it (what a limb I’m going out on with those picks).  Probably just some last minute pushes for the show here as expected.  Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy?  Mine is a bad internet connection.  And popcorn costing $7 at a theater.

Orton vs. Kane tonight.

DiBiase gets a shot at Jackson too.

Josh is in the ring and brings out the dude that hears voices in his head.  Orton says he won’t get disqualified and that he thinks this is a cheap attempt by Christian to try to steal the title.  Christian pops up on screen and says that clause was his lawyers’ idea.  He has a gift for Orton which is a portrait of Christian standing over Orton with the title.  Orton says that isn’t going to work to make him mad.

Christian starts talking about Orton’s family, namely Bob Orton Jr., who was only a glorified sidekick.  His dad is in the Hall of Fame in the wing with guys like Drew Carey and the other cheap jokes.  He’s in the HOF to keep Randy happy.  Orton says come say that to his face, which Christian says he’ll do once he wins the title on Sunday.  He calls Orton pathetic and Orton calls Christian a pathetic excuse for a man and a superstar.  After Sunday, Christian will be exposed as a flash in the pan that needed Edge to help him win the title for five days.  Simple segment but the emotion was there.

Video on Show vs. Henry which I think is the same one from Raw.  They face off tonight.  Not a match, just a face off.

Intercontinental Title: Ezekiel Jackson vs. Ted DiBiase

 

New ring announcer tonight who looks a bit better in a blue dress than Chimmel does.  DiBiase hits Jackson and that doesn’t go well for him.  Out to the floor as Booker rambles about his Fave Five as is his custom.  Jackson is rammed into the post which gets two in the ring.  Cody is watching and the referee, the former Nunzio, is really loud here.

DiBiase takes over and throws on a chinlock.  The following clothesline is countered by Jackson.  How has no one else ever countered that?  Apparently Ted has blown all of his money and it’s implied that it was on Maryse.  Here come the slams but DiBiase counters into a Dream Street attempt but Jackson shrugs it off and slams Ted again.  Rack doesn’t work but the second attempt does with the submission coming at 3:45.

Rating: C. See, this is what Jackson needs more of: wins where he gets in some trouble but eventually uses the power game to make his comeback and set up his finishing stuff.  Nothing fancy here and it worked just fine.  Also helps when he actually, you know, wins his matches instead of losing them.

Most of the MITB people are in matches later.

Ted is in the back and Cody says he’ll bag him if Ted loses again.

Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes

 

We get a quick recap video of this feud during the introductions.  It’s almost shot like its from the mind of a crazy person so it looks really cool.  Ok make that a long one.  Bryan hammers him into the corner to start us off and he escapes an Alabama Slam attempt.  LeBell Lock doesn’t work and Cole puts a bag on and imitates Booker.  Ok that was kind of funny.

Rhodes takes over for a bit but Bryan sends him to the floor and takes over with a dive.  We take a break and come back in the ring with Cody in control.  Cody throws on a half crab which doesn’t last long.  Like you can put a submission on Bryan.  Cody works over the ribs as the fans keep coming in and out of this one.  Booker gets asked about being in a MITB match and somehow he starts talking about Daniel Bryan.  Apparently it’s too brutal to talk about.  I give up.

Anyway it’s back to the half crab as the announcers totally ignore the match other than Josh when he can get a word in edgewise.  Bryan fires back with some forearms and a leg lariat/running kick for two.  Some light Cody chants start up.  Not we’re talking about Booker being a drum major.  Alabama Slam gets two and the commentary is really starting to get old.  Talk about MITB or ANYTHING of importance, but drop the bickering.

Cody tries Cross Rhodes but Bryan climbs the ropes to get behind Cody.  Bryan gets put on the top but kicks Cody away and manages to grab the LeBell Lock while on the ropes.  That gets broken up of course so Bryan settles for the missile dropkick for a long two.  Running dropkick in the corner puts Cody down again.  They both go up and Bryan gets crotched badly.  That positioning allows the Beautiful Disaster to end this at 7:29 shown of 10:59.

Rating: B. I liked this one a lot actually.  Cody can be really good when he gets some time and Bryan of course is capable of having a good match with anyone.  This has been a pretty solid mini feud and I’d like to see it get a title involved.  Good stuff here and a rather fun TV match indeed.

Teddy is on the phone talking about getting protection or something.  A referee comes in and Teddy tells him that if there’s any physicality in the Big Show/Mark Henry showdown, their PPV match is off.  The referee leaves and Teddy talks about gambling a lot.  This seems to be a running theme with him.  Kane comes in to thank Teddy for giving him a match with Orton as he requested.  Kane isn’t happy because he’s starting to feel human instead of like a monster.  Teddy says if it makes him feel any better, he’s scaring Teddy right now.  Kane says if Teddy was really scared, Teddy wouldn’t be able to tell him.

Jinder and Khali are in a photo shoot and Jinder isn’t happy with the photographer paying attention to Khali.  They both yell at him and that’s about it.

Christian is looking at Orton’s bus and there’s spray paint on the side talking about Christian being the uncrowned champion.  He says he’ll find out who did this.

Sheamus vs. Sin Cara

 

This should be interesting.  Wade Barrett is on commentary here.  The match starts after a break.  Cara takes over to start with his high flying stuff.  Barrett admits that the Corre was a disaster.  Sheamus can’t get anything going as Cara gets an armdrag out of the corner.  And let’s talk about the Fave Five because it’s been a full 4 minutes since we did.  Apparently Booker sees some of himself in Sheamus.  Uh….ok?

We talk about the drum major stuff as it’s kind of interesting to see how long they can go without actually talking about the match.  Barrett is talking about how he’s going to win as Sheamus gets a running knee lift while Cara is draped in the ropes.  Off to a cravate as we’re probably two minutes without talking about the match now.  Now let’s look at Booker and Barrett talking because the match isn’t important I guess.

Josh finally mentions Cara being grounded here, which apparently has NEVER happened to him before.  Honestly, is there something in the water in the announcers’ water cooler?  Cara sends him to the floor and Sheamus may have hurt his knee.  Back in Sheamus catches Cara in a dive and hits a fallaway slam for no cover.  He loads up the High Cross but Cara counters into a rana for the surprise pin at 6:00.

Rating: C+. Not a great match but by far and away Cara’s biggest win to date in WWE.  I’m rather surprised that they would have Sheamus lose here but it looked like a fluke win which is probably the best way to have it happen.  It doesn’t really hurt Sheamus as he had Cara beaten but took too much time to end him, which is good for both guys.

Barrett takes Sheamus down post match and hits Wasteland.  He looks weird in a collared shirt and slacks.

Christian is in the casino with a wallet.  Naturally it belongs to Orton and it’s time to gamble with the $1000 he finds in there.  He says Orton is going to need the money for anger management and his daughter’s college.  Christian puts it all on 1 in a game of roulette and loses it of course.  Christian says Orton’s luck just ran out.  I liked this as it was something outside of the ordinary which you hardly ever see anymore in promos.  Just having something different in the background makes it more interesting.

Time for the showdown which is just the two big guys talking.  Teddy moderates it for lack of a better term.  Henry isn’t going to come farther from the stage though because he can’t hold his temper well enough apparently.  They talk about pain and how it’s Show’s problem apparently.

Show says everyone has been waiting for Henry to wake up and Show finally did it.  Henry asks if Show thinks bigger is better.  Without waiting for an answer, he says stronger and meaner are better.  Both guys say the other has no idea what they’re capable of.  Teddy has to stop a fight and says we’ll see who wins Sunday.  I still don’t get the appeal of this feud.  Scratch that.  I get the appeal, but I just don’t care about Mark Henry at all.

Rosa Mendes vs. Kelly Kelly

 

Non title here.  I have absolutely no idea what to talk about here.  Match is over and there’s just nothing to say.  Kelly wins with the K2 at 1:49.  The majority of the match was spent talking about jobs Rosa has had.  Nothing else to say at all.  Oh and Alicia was at ringside and did nothing at all.

Johnny Curtis pulls an elephant out of a bag which is supposed to be a cat.  Apparently it’s the big elephant in the room.  They’re really running out of ideas aren’t they?

Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater

 

Both guys have their own music now.  Slater says he’s tired of being held back and that he’ll show he’s better tonight.  Nice technical stuff to start as they know each other really well.  The crowd doesn’t seem to care at all but you can’t have everything I guess.  Gabriel starts fighting back but can’t hit the 450.  Cole runs his mouth some more as Slater misses a moonsault.  The 450 hits and we’re done at 2:52.  Well Slater looks like nothing now.

Video on Punk vs. Cena, which is the same from NXT.

Randy Orton vs. Kane

 

For some reason I’ve wanted to see a proper feud between these two for years.  Just seems like it would be good.  Orton hammers away to start which doesn’t really work.  Christian is on the stage.  Kane hammers away as he is known to do.  The clothesline hits and he calls for the chokeslam about 75 seconds into this.  Orton counters with right hands but he can’t take Kane down.  He manages to get the powerslam and the elevated DDT.  RKO is countered and Orton sees Christian, allowing Kane to send him to the floor.  Christian throws a drink at Randy and runs into the crowd.  It’s enough for the count out at 2:58 though.

Orton chases after Christian and gets him near Kane and the beatdown is on.  Kane doesn’t like Christian though and chases him off.  Orton pops up and hits the RKO on Kane but Christian hits a spear and pounds on Randy.  Christian gets a chair but Orton gets it away from him as the Canadian runs.  Kane takes a chair shot.  Make that a lot of them.  Orton goes all bugged eyed on Christian to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. Good show but it was a step behind what the others have been recently.  That being said, they had some good matches and a story going throughout the show.  Also they had some nice build for the PPV so maybe it wasn’t all that bad of a show.  It’s not as good as some others they’ve done, but still for a go home show, this was really pretty good.

Results

Ezekiel Jackson b. Ted DiBiase – Torture Rack

Cody Rhodes b. Daniel Bryan – Beautiful Disaster

Sin Cara b. Sheamus – Hurricanrana into a pin

Kelly Kelly b. Rosa Mendes – K2

Justin Gabriel b. Heath Slater – 450 Splash

Kane b. Randy Orton via countout

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 14, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

It’s the first show post Destination X and most importantly it’s the Midsummer Nightmare.  The main event is Sting vs. Anderson for the title in Anderson’s first match I believe.  He’s also in Immortal now and since they have all the power, I’d bet a lot on Sting getting the title back since that’s what almost always happens: one side gets all the power including the title and then they lose it on the next show.  Let’s get to it.

We open with a Bully Ray narrated video about the whole Sting vs. Anderson feud and title match tonight.  Hogan comes out in a tuxedo along with Immortal.  There are various women with them too.  Even Abyss is in most of a tuxedo.  Everyone is in a tux here.  No Anderson though.  There’s a card table in the ring and Bischoff sends the girls away.  Eric says they’re here to gamble with some people’s careers, because they can according to Hulk.

Bischoff talks about the party that Anderson threw for himself a few weeks back that no one came to.  Tonight Immortal is making up for it though because Anderson is part of the family now.  The party tonight is in celebration of Anderson as the world champion.  Here comes the champ in a camouflage tuxedo.  When I woke up today, I really didn’t think I’d see one of those but I guess you never know what you’re going to see.

Hogan says he and Anderson haven’t seen things eye to eye forever for the most part.  However there’s always been the constant of them both wanting to be the best they could possibly be.  Hulk calls him champ and formally welcomes him into Immortal.  Anderson says this is a gamble to join Immortal but as long as Bischoff and Hogan live up to their promise of him being the top card in the deck, it’s a gamble he’s willing to take.

The lights go out and Sting is at the card table.  He says he heard someone say gamble and wanted to join in.  Eric accused Sting of being the cancer and that tonight Anderson gets rid of it.  Sting asks if Eric wants to bet on that because they have a poker table here.  Sting sees himself becoming champion tonight and kicking off his crusade of bringing the company back to Dixie Carter.  Didn’t he start that months ago?

Hogan threatens Sting with attacking him and says that Sting is leaving on a stretcher.  Sting freaks out and says no a lot.  Even Sting is starting to worry about himself.  Sting says Hogan is wrong about that because he has a lot of aces in the whole, such as the Network Ace.  He recalls that the Network told Hogan and Bischoff that they’re on a short leash with little room for error.  Apparently any shenanigans will bring about someone with a bigger bite than Sting’s.

Sting says he has a lot of magic bullet aces.  They’re magic because they’ll just appear.  He points to the rafters and there are four clowns up there.  Eric: “You’re a freak!”  Sting: “Why thank you Eric!”  Sting says he’s all in tonight (hasn’t he said that before?) and turns over the poker table before leaving.  We go to a break with Immortal being confused.

Bound For Glory Series Standings with 8 weeks to go:

Crimson 31

Gunner 21

Devon 21

Matt Morgan 14

AJ Styles 14

James Storm 14

Rob Van Dam 14

Bully Ray 14

Scott Steiner 7

D’Angelo Dinero 0

Bobby Roode 0

Samoa Joe 0

Bound For Glory Series: Samoa Joe vs. Bobby Roode vs. D’Angelo Dinero

 

No entrances other than the very ending of Joe’s music.  Joe jumps Roode to start us off and hammers him down in the corner.  Pope heads to the floor and Roode gets crushed in the corner.  Pope stays on the floor as Roode makes a comeback with the spinebuster.  His arm gives out though and Pope comes back in, hitting an STO for two.  With Joe down Pope takes over on Roode, working over the arm.

The fans are behind Bobby here.  Pope gets a DDT for two but Hebner looked like he counted REALLY slow on the three.  Middle rope fist gets two for Pope.  Joe finally starts getting back in but Pope knocks him right back.  DDE misses and Roode fires off some clotheslines.  Russian legsweep puts Pope down and Joe is knocked back to the floor again.  Blockbuster hits for a close two.

We finally get everyone in the ring at once and Roode gets a Perfectplex on Joe for two.  Joe gets the Clutch but we get the Austin vs. Hart at Survivor Series 96 ending as Roode climbs the ropes and goes backwards onto Joe for the pin at 5:55.  Roode was tapping just after the three.  Joe freaks out on the referee post match.

Rating: C+. Not bad here and the idea of keeping Joe out worked well enough I guess.  Not much of a match otherwise but for a six minute TV triple threat it was fine.  They didn’t go fully into the standard procedure for one of these matches which is a perk and it’s good to see one of them getting somewhere in this series.  Also you can probably expect Joe to just start ending people with submissions soon.

The Jarretts are here.

Hogan wants Sting eliminated tonight.  He’s talking to all of Immortal rather than just Anderson.  Eric implies staging an accident which Abyss kind of volunteers for.  Eric blasts Abyss for losing the X Title and says get this done someone.  Abyss leaves and the Jarretts are here.  They have presents for everyone but Hogan gets the AAA World Title.  No mention of the company name that I could hear.

Pope is with D-Von’s kids and D-Von says stay away from them.  The kids leave and D-Von yells at Pope.  Pope says they look up to him and D-Von calls him a con man.  D-Von calls Pope stupid for giving up the seven points.  Pope says if the kids turn their backs on D-Von, that’s not his fault and he leaves.

Highlight package from Destination X with highlights from every match.

Austin Aries vs. Shannon Moore

 

Shannon gets some arm drags very fast to start us off.  Apparently the X-Division has their own locker room.  Basic X-Division style match here which is fast paced with some nice speed stuff.  Aries can’t get control or deal with Moore’s speed but finally gets a forearm to the back.  Brainbuster is blocked and Aries mostly skins the cat back in through the top and middle ropes.

He gets dropkicked to the floor though and Moore hits a dive to take him down.  Something similar to a Whisper in the Wind gets two.  Aries grabs the Book of Dilligaf but gets it taken away.  He keeps the chain though and after knocking Moore out, a slingshot spinning splash ends this at 3:42.  Shelley runs out to yell at Aries post match.

Rating: C. Not bad and just a basic debut for Aries who needed a win to establish himself on the roster.  Things got a bit sloppy here but they fit in a lot of stuff in a short amount of time so it’s hard to complain.  Aries will likely get a lot more time soon and that’ll help him a lot, even though he’s rather skilled already.

Abyss wants his title back tonight.  He turns to leave and one of the clowns from earlier blasts him with a bat.

Shelley and Moore complain about Aries cheating.

Aries says he’s the best and that he doesn’t think he can be beaten.

Recap of Tara vs. Madison and their feud that has barely meant anything in like a month.  Both chicks talk about their match tonight and Tara has a gift for Madison but it’s for after the match.

The match is after a break.

Ad for Bound For Glory which will be in Philadelphia.

Steiner shows off for one of the girls from earlier and gets jumped by a clown as well.

Madison Rayne vs. Tara

 

Tara has the gift for Madison but it’s for after the match remember.  Madison wants Tara to lay down like before.  Tara takes over to start and hits her standing moonsault.  There’s the spinning side slam and this is looking like a squash.  No cover though and the Widow’s Peak is countered.  Tara gets sent to the apron and dropped face first onto it.  So much for the squash.  Tara is sent into the steps and Madison goes for the present.  And it’s a spider.  Madison screams at it and the distraction allows Tara to get up and hit the Widow’s Peak for the pin at 4:00.

Rating: D. Seriously, who cares?  This feud started what, last year?  Who in the world cares at this point about these two and whatever issue they have?  The Knockout Division is dying for capable wrestlers at this point and all we can get is Angelina Love being all creepy and these two talking about a spider?  Such a shame.  Nothing match here too which was all about setting up the spider thing.

Tara chases her off with the spider post match.

Angle is coming to the ring.

The Brits are mad at Mexican America.  Tonight they fight for the #1 contender spot.  About time Beer Money defended the belts.

Here’s Kurt, who says he has his title shot at Hardcore Justice.  He’d prefer to face Anderson due to their history together.  He remembers the cage match and thought there was some respect there, until Anderson joined Immortal.  Title match or not, Angle is coming for Anderson.  As for Sting, they have history also in the form of the Main Event Mafia and the empty arena match.  Angle has never beaten Sting before (yes he has) and that doesn’t sit well with him.  He’s leaving Hardcore Justice as the champion, and it’s real.

The Jarretts try to leave and a clown jumps Jeff in the car and takes him away with the bat to Jeff’s throat.

Mexican America vs. British Invasion

 

This is for the #1 contendership.  I wouldn’t have guessed this but Beer Money’s current reign is the longest reign in the history of the TNA tag titles.  The Mexicans say their usual stuff pre-match.  The Brits storm the ring and we’re ready to go.  Williams dives out of the ring onto Hernandez and it’s Magnus vs. Anarquia to start us off.  Off to Williams who gets caught by Hernandez off a blind tag.

Shoulder block sets up a backbreaker submission into a regular backbreaker for two.  Mexican America takes over as we talk about the clowns taking Immortal out.  More double teaming keeps Williams down but he manages to get a middle rope European uppercut to bring in Magnus.  Williams is bleeding a bit from his head.  Magnus takes over and beats up both guys.  Anarquia gets double teamed and a top rope elbow gets two for Magnus.  Their top rope European uppercut hits but Rosita comes out for the distraction, allowing Hernandez to drill Magnus and let Anarquia pin him at 6:43.

Rating: C. Just a tag match here and thankfully we finally have some challengers for Beer Money.  The girl coming out at the end worked fine as it was what the Brits were worried about in the first place.  Not bad, but just a tag match for the most part here.  Also it gives the Mexicans something to do.

Eric says it’s up to Gunner and Ray to take Sting down.  Gunner wants to go find the clowns and Sting instead of just waiting around.  Ray stays behind though.

Video of Kendrick winning the title on Sunday.

Kendrick defends next week.  Also Mickie defends against Velvet and there will be a four way ladder match in the BFG series.

Main event is next.

Gunner has a pipe and is looking for the clowns and here they come, pounding their bats on the ground like a revival of West Side Story.  They surround him and take him down with a shot to the knee.  The clowns beat him down and he’s outmatches.  They take their masks off band it’s Fourtune.  They say Ray is already taken care of.

TNA World Title: Mr. Anderson vs. Sting

 

Anderson has the mic in hand but doesn’t say anything this week.  Pretty slow start as they’re feeling each other out.  Sting gets a solid dropkick to send Anderson to the floor.  Back in Anderson can’t get a sunset flip so Sting punches him in the face.  Stinger Splash hits but a second one misses as Anderson dropkicks the knee.  Anderson works on the knee and tries the Scorpion on him.

That doesn’t last long and Anderson works on the leg a bit more.  There’s a half crab which is more like a half Liontamer.  Sting kicks him off and does a good job of selling the knee.  He manages to hit the Mic Check for a close two.  There’s your required ref bump and Sting gets the Scorpion which looks awful here.  Anderson taps but there’s no ref.  Here’s Bully Ray who Fourtune said was taken care of.

He hammers Sting and pulls out a chain.  The lights go out and there’s another clown in the ring.  He takes out Ray and looks at Anderson but the lights go out again.  When they come back Anderson is alone in the ring and the clown is on the ramp.  Sting pops up and the Death Drop gives Sting the title back at 9:11.

Rating: C+. I liked this actually.  It’s probably their best match ever which isn’t saying much given their pretty weak efforts a lot of the time.  The ending with the clown was kind of overbooked but they tried and made a decent effort out there.  Not sure what the point was in giving Anderson the title for a month but it’s whatever I guess.

Angle was the clown.  The reveal ends the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Well it was a bit down from previous weeks but this certainly was better than I was expecting.  I’m not a fan of a lot of the stories they have going on, but there was a nice pacing to the show and the stories make sense for the most part.  Nice to see Fourtune back into things as a unit again so it’s not Sting vs. the whole Immortal team.  Not a great show but it’s definitely not bad.  I’d call this a nice surprise.

Results

Bobby Roode b. Samoa Joe and D’Angelo Dinero – Roode pinned Joe while in the Koquina Clutch

Austin Aries b. Shannon Moore – Slingshot spinning splash

Tara b. Madison Rayne – Widow’s Peak

Mexican America b. British Invasion – Anarquia pinned Magnus after a forearm from Hernandez

Sting b. Mr. Anderson – Scorpion Death Drop

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 11, 2011
Location: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

It’s the go home show for MITB and things should be rather interesting here.  It’s probably going to be either Punk’s last or next to last Raw so the talking could be great.  With Vince being around now there’s a chance he might pop up too.  Also we’ll get some build for the MITB match itself.  The interesting thing though is that the guys just got back from Australia so they’re likely going to be tired from the flight.  Let’s get to it.

Here’s Punk to open the show with a bullhorn.  He also grabs a headset and says something to the producer on it that we can’t here.  Punk sits in the ring and asks if he has everyone’s attention now.  He says recapping is in order in case you didn’t watch, which he didn’t because he wasn’t on, so last week he was suspended for what he said a few weeks ago.  Punk sums it up by saying he gets in trouble for saying things that no one else has the balls to say.

He demonstrates the bullhorn in case the mic is cut off.  The fans are totally behind him here and there’s a loud CM PUNK chant.  He says he’s here because Vince wants to sign him to a very long and lucrative contract to WWE.  Oddly enough all he’s ever wanted is a microphone.  I think you can buy one for like 12 bucks at Wal-Mart dude.  Punk says he’s been doing what Vince has wanted to do for years: making the WWE relevant in the real world.

That has only happened twice apparently: when Punk talks and when someone dies (no names mentioned).  Everyone from ESPN to E is calling him for his story.  Punk finds it funny that only now is Vince begging him to stay.  If Vince had treated him like this for the last five years, there wouldn’t be so much ammo built up for him to use.  Punk wants a live contract negotiating tonight in which Vince might have to join Punk’s version of Vince’s old kissing club.

Cue Cena who says cut the music.  Punk thanks him for getting him a job back that he didn’t even want.  He says he’s going to change the look of the title when he wins it because it’s been far too ugly for far too long.  Punk points out that Cena isn’t going to be fire because he was once before and it lasted like a week.  Cena: “You done?”  Punk: “Probably not but would you like to say something?”

Cena says that Punk has been talking about how he’s walking out of Chicago with the title and there’s nothing that can stop him.  Cena is no pushover though and now let’s talk about the word wrestler.  People have said for years that Punk is great and that Cena is what the company thinks is great.  Everyone has said that Punk is great over the years and a lot of names are mentioned including Eddie and Angle.  We’ll see how great they both are on Sunday.  A GM E-Mail says Vince is on the way and Cena is in action next.

John Cena vs. David Otunga/Michael McGillicutty

 

Cena vs. McGillicutty to start and Cena treats the champions like the jobbers they are, sending him to the floor as we take a quick break.  Back with Cena in a chinlock, apparently due to interference from Otunga.  STF attempt doesn’t work and it’s off to Otunga.  The match is completely boring as the announcers rant about how important the title is.  You know, that belt that they made a second version of at the drop of a hat.

Cena takes Otunga down and it’s off to McGillicutty who gets dominated.  You Can’t See Me and there’s the Shuffle.  AA is broken up by Otunga and they hit an atomic drop/dropkick combination for two.  Superplex by McGillicutty is blocked and there’s the top rope Fameasser to set up the STF but Otunga makes the save again.  Well at least it hasn’t been total Cena dominance.  And never mind as the AA ends McGillicutty at 9:56.

Rating: C-. Pretty boring match here but then again the Nexus are very boring to put it mildly.  I really don’t mind the champions losing again because it’s not like they’ve been built up in the slightest anyway.  Not sure why the GM would give Cena a seemingly hard match like that but maybe Punk will get one too.

Video on Henry being all dominant and evil lately.

Vickie is coaching Dolph on how to talk to Vince tonight.  The US Title needs to be the premiere title apparently so Punk and Cena need to be fired.  Vickie imitates Vince before Drew pops up and imitates him.  Dolph makes fun of “Vince” and they all make fun of his breath.  Vickie snorts when she laughs and Vince pops up behind them (big pop).  Tonight they’ll be in a handicap match against Big Show.  They leave and Vince is asks for a message for the people.  He doesn’t want to talk to the people right now.

Kelly Kelly vs. Melina

 

The Bellas are on commentary.  Jerry gets on Cole for saying there’s a way to tell the Bellas apart which they say doesn’t exist.  Kelly is in trouble early but takes over, uses a Stinkface for no apparent reason and hits the K2 to retain at 1:45.  Total nothing match.

Post match the Bellas say Kelly is way to skinny and wears way too much makeup.  They beat her down and Eve comes out for the save.  The Bellas leave her laying.

Quick recap of Miz destroying Riley after losing to him last week.

Here’s Miz and there are ladders everywhere.  He climbs up to the top of one underneath the MITB case.  He knows what it means to win the case and be world champion.  He’s taken that path before and since he’s the future, he’ll do it again.  Miz says he’s used to being above everyone else because he’s the best.  Cue Swagger who points out that he’s won the case and the title before.  Miz: “If someone cashed in MITB and no one remembers it, did it really happen?”

Cue Bourne who says he’s tired of hearing about what they’ve done so he’s going to talk about what he’ll do Sunday.  Bourne gets a running start and slides into the ring feet first with no hands.  Here’s Kofi who says the exact same thing that everyone else in the match is going to come out and say.  He talks about Edge getting hurt in these matches or something like that.  Truth comes out and talks about beating Cena recently.  He’s afraid of heights too, and there better not be any spiders on the ladder because he’s afraid of them too.  If he opens that case and there’s a spider, the grits will hit the pan.

Here’s Riley because six promos about one match isn’t enough.  He comes out at a spring and Miz runs.  Here’s Alberto in a Mercedes.  He got rid of Rey and now has to do all this all over again.  Oh and something about destiny.  An E-Mail makes a six man that starts right now.

The Miz/Jack Swagger/R-Truth vs. Alex Riley/Evan Bourne/Kofi Kingston

 

No Alberto or Rey here.  Back with the match already in progress with Bourne vs. Swagger.  Off to Miz as Cole talks about how awesome Miz is.  Everyone beats down Bourne for a bit with Truth in the ring at the moment.  Bourne gets a knee to the face and it’s hot tag to Kofi.  He comes in off a springboard and starts jumping all over the place.  Boom Drop to Truth.  He loads up Trouble in Paradise but stops to hit Swagger.

There’s the springboard cross body to Truth but Miz saves.  Truth knocks him to the floor as we take a break.  Back with Kofi getting beaten down by Miz.  Off to Truth who gets a two count.  Kofi manages to get a double DDT to Truth and Swagger and tags Morrison.  He hits a bunch of stuff on Swagger and beats on Miz a bit because he can.  Everything breaks down and Riley hits the inverted DDT on Swagger for the pin at 10:45 total.

Rating: C. Just an average match here with nothing of note going on.  You get almost the same match every year and it’s really not all that interesting.  Not a bad match or anything but really just kind of there.  They need to go with six people in the match instead of 8 as there are just too many of them that way.  Not bad, but the same stuff we always see out of these.

Everyone hits their finishers post match until Alberto comes out and destroys everyone with the ladder, including throwing it at Miz’s arm.  Bourne was holding his ankle too.

We recap the ending of Raw last week with Vince and Cena talking about everything involving Punk.   If Cena loses at the PPV he’s fired.

McIntyre/Ziggler vs. Show up next.

Drew McIntyre/Dolph Ziggler vs. Big Show

 

Show is all mad here.  Ziggler starts and looks at Show.  He tags out immediately so Show beats them both up.  Show dominates Drew as Ziggler hides.  Drew tries to leave and gets mauled by Show.  McIntyre gets thrown up the stage and it’s a countout at 2:00.

Show sets to chokeslam McIntyre off the stage but Henry comes out of nowhere and tackles both of them off the stage.  Henry goes flying also.  Drew just kind of disappears.

Henry doesn’t want help to the back.

We get a clip of Alberto destroying everyone earlier, setting up a long highlight video on MITB matches.

We run down the card for the PPV.

Punk and Vince are up next.

Vince comes out three times because the reaction isn’t strong enough for him.  No handshake for Cole.  He shakes hand with someone at ringside that is either famous or really lucky.  There’s a table and a red carpet in the ring.  He doesn’t want to negotiate in person but he’ll do it here.  He wants to get this over with so get out here.  Punk imitates Vince’s walk as is required by WWE law.

Vince’s chair falls down as he sits in it.  The contract has the provision for a Punk collector’s cup in it apparently.  Punk talks about how this contract proves that Vince has no faith in Cena.  Vince says he couldn’t live with himself if Punk somehow wins the title on Sunday.  He actually calls Punk Phil.  Punk doesn’t like the contract that’s made up so he had his lawyers make a new one.  Punk has already signed this one.

One of the provisions is he gets to push Vince.  Apparently Punk wants respect or he’s leaving with the title.  Apparently that wasn’t a provision.  The first is that he wants a jet.  As in a new one, not Vince’s because that one smells.  Punk wants his face on the Tron, the buckles, spoons, knives, forks, cups, everything.  HE WANTS THE ICE CREAM BARS BACK!!!  Punk is officially better than everyone.  That actually gets a HUGE reaction.

He wants CM Punk The Movie.  You can even call it the Chaperone II, although his will be funny and successful.  Oh and the main event of Wrestlemania will be Punk vs. whomever he’s against.  The last major perk is that he wants an apology for the suspension and for Vince being a huge hypocrite.  As far as the anti-bullying campaign goes, Vince is one of the biggest bullies Punk has ever met.  The fans are eating up every word Punk says.

Punk says his friends have worked here and they have been fired.  Vince says they deserved to be fired and Punk says that Vince is out of touch for firing people like Luke Gallows and Colt Cabana.  Vince doesn’t want to apologize so Punk throws the table over.  The fans want something that was either ice cream or wrestling.  Vince doesn’t care what the people want and Punk says that’s the point.

The fans want an apology right now and Vince actually says he’s sorry.  The fans chant for Colt Cabana as Vince picks up the contract to sign it.  Here’s Cena though who points out that even though the fans are cheering for him now, Punk is walking out on them Sunday.  Cena calls him a terrorist and says they’re both like kids.  Cena says he hates Vince too and makes stupid jokes.

Now we get to the awesome stuff.  Cena tells Punk that he’s lost sight of what got him here.  Punk talks about how at Wrestlemania 23 he was riding on the side of Cena’s car with a Tommy gun, saying that he promised himself that one day he would be in the ring with Cena instead of watching him.  Boston prides itself on being the underdog but now Cena is the WWE Champion and has become exactly what he hates.  Now he and Vince are the New York Yankees.  Cena drills him and Punk bails.  Apparently the man Vince shook hands with was Cena’s dad.

Punk sits on the stage and says that illustrates why he wants to leave.  He’s tired of all this and he’s leaving on Sunday.  Say goodbye to the WWE Title, say goodbye to John Cena and say goodbye to CM Punk.  He tears up the contract and does You Can’t See Me to end this.  The ending segment ran a bit too long and it hurt things.

Overall Rating: C+. Well the wrestling was pretty awful but the show got pushed very hard tonight.  The Raw side is built on two matches and those were pushed very hard indeed.  Anything else that happens at the PPV will be bonus material so it’s hard to complain about the lack of wrestling.  Ok no it isn’t but it’s more forgivable here.  Not a great show but for a go home show for this particular PPV, this was fine.

Results

John Cena b. David Otunga/Michael McGillicutty – AA to McGillicutty

Kelly Kelly b. Melina – K2

Evan Bourne/Alex Riley/Kofi Kingston b. The Miz/R-Truth/Jack Swagger – Inverted DDT to Swagger

Big Show vs. Dolph Ziggler/Drew McIntyre went to a double countout

Destination X 2011
Date: July 10, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Jeremy Borash

It’s the X-Division show as the division that has gone from the focal point of the company is now relegated to a show that gets four weeks of buildup!  Anyway the main event is Daniels vs. AJ in a face vs. face respect match.  Daniels has had the seeds planted for a heel turn though so it’s a distinct possibility.  The six sided ring is back for tonight only and there are a lot of X-Division style matches.  Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about how these guys have been around since the beginning and set a new standard in wrestling.  Abyss gives a voiceover about the Art of War and we get parts of Kendrick’s promo from Impact about how various religions view life and God.

Samoa Joe vs. Kazarian

 

Kaz goes straight at him at the bell and Joe is like dude no and chops away.  Kaz escapes the Clutch and Joe tries to fly, only to have Kaz move.  Joe doesn’t crash though and takes Kaz down on the floor.  Kaz tries to dive off the apron and Joe just steps to the side.  I love when he does that.  Back inside now and Joe hits an enziguri in the corner.  Kaz tries a springboard move and lands in an atomic drop.

Almost all Joe so far as he takes Kaz down again.  Headbutt by Joe hurts a lot more because he’s Samoan.  There’s a knee drop for two.  Joe puts him in Musclebuster position but chops him instead.  Kaz finally gets something of note with a springboard dropkick to put both guys down.  Joe hammers away but walks into a slam.  Yeah just a slam.  There’s that spinning legdrop that has a cool name that I can’t think of.

Slingshot DDT gets two for Kaz.  Joe goes up and Kaz gets an enziguri to stop him.  Kaz tries to load up the Flux Capacitor (C4) but they tumble out to the floor and Joe hits a suicide dive to take over again.  Back in and Joe hammers on the back a bit.  Kaz tries the Fade to Black but gets caught in a powerbomb for two.  Off to an STF by Joe which is transitioned into a Crossface which doesn’t work either.  Joe finally gets the choke and Kaz somehow makes the rope after being in the hold long enough to probably kill him.  Joe argues with the referee and Kaz rolls him up for the weak pin.

Rating: B-. This would have been higher with a better finish.  I mean it came out of nowhere and had zero heat.  I don’t know what Joe did to go on this losing streak and be pushed this far down the card but he must have done something akin to giving away Foley winning the title.  Anyway, good match up until the ending.  With another three minutes or so this could have been awesome.

We’re going to look back at AJ vs. Daniels throughout the years with the first one being from Unbreakable.  So I guess we’re skipping the 2-3 years of them feuding before that?

Daniels arrives.

Eric Young is at a convention of some sort and runs into Curry Man, Suicide and Sangriento signing autographs.  He wants a partner for tonight and Shark Boy shows up and will be his partner.  Curry Man can’t do it because he’s got a Fire Championship match tomorrow in Tokyo vs. Cody Deaner.  Oh dear.

Douglas Williams vs. Mark Haskins

 

Haskins is a British guy making his debut.  He looks like John Morrison mixed with someone far less interesting.  This is the open challenge.  Williams says the other Brits (minus his opponent) can leave.  He praises Haskins but says he’s in over his head here.  Williams is in trunks here which is kind of weird to see.  They start off fast with a pinfall reversal sequence and the overly annoying fans chant USA.

Nice technical stuff to start and Haskins sends him to the floor.  He follows him out and hammers away which doesn’t last long.  Williams takes over back inside and slaps him in the face.  Clothesline takes Haskins down again and Williams throws on an inverted Gory Special.  They slug it out with Williams taking over.  He can’t hit Rolling Chaos Theory and here comes Haskins.  Cutter gets two.

Williams goes up but jumps into a superkick.  Haskins goes up this time and then does it again.  I mean he comes off and goes back up again.  He tries a shooting star but totally misses, allowing Williams to get the rollup for the win.  Fans were REALLY not impressed there at the end with Haskins.  Williams shakes his hand post match.

Rating: C. Not bad but with all the hype Haskins got, this was pretty pedestrian.  Also not much of a match as far as an open challenge.  I’d have wanted to see more than that as far as star power but it wasn’t bad.  Just kind of there for the most part but I’ve seen far worse.  Haskins isn’t what he’s cracked up to be but he tried.

Austin Aries is with So Cal Val and says her outfit isn’t an outfit of the year candidate but he’ll give it about three and a half stars.  He talks to all the fans and all those watching on illegal streams, hoping they all choke.  Aries says he’s the best and everyone will find that out tonight.

Generation Me vs. Eric Young/Shark Boy

 

This is a bonus match.  I can never remember which Buck is which.  Eric and Shark Boy tag about five times before the match starts.  Ok so Jeremy is the blonde.  Got it.  Sharky stomps a mudhole in him early and hammers away in the corner.  There’s the Thesz Press and an elbow.  Eric comes in and beats on both guys a bit.  Off to Sharky who bites Max.  Yep it’s a comedy match.

Jeremy throws on a chinlock as Sharky is still ridiculously over.  Clothesline misses and Shark Boy gets a shot to the back of the head to put both guys down.  Young pulls his tights down to shift to trunks and gets the hot tag.  Gen Me takes over again and a bulldog gets two on Young.  Stunner by Shark Boy sets up a wheelbarrow suplex into a reverse neckbreaker by Young for the pin on Max.  Think Lethal’s Lethal Injection but with a wheelbarrow suplex.

Rating: C-. Just a comedy tag match to fill in some time.  I still hate what they’re doing with the midcard title as it’s being used as a comedy prop like Santino did to the IC Title a few years ago.  Not bad here but it’s really just a filler match and nothing all that great.  Shark Boy’s popularity is still strong though.

Clip of Daniels/Styles winning the tag titles.

Daniels and AJ are excited for the main event.

Zema Ion says he’ll win.

Same video on Ultimate X from Thursday.

The announcers talk for a bit to fill in time while the structure is put up.

Shannon Moore vs. Amazing Red vs. Alex Shelley vs. Robbie E

 

Ultimate X with the winner being #1 contender to the X Title.  Things start out quickly of course and Robbie makes a fast run for the X.  Red gets the always sweet double spin kick.  Robbie looks like he’s having a seizure or something.  Shelley and Red put Robbie on the floor before Shelley beats up Red a bit.  Shelley climbs on Moore’s shoulders but Robbie makes the stop.  Robbie is sitting in the corner and Moore is put in the Tree of Woe at the same time.

Shelley goes for the X but Red saves.  Robbie clears the ring but gets caught in the ring skirt and pummeled by Moore.  Moore and Shelley have a nice little sequence resulting in a moonsault off the stage by Moore to take Alex out.  Red is alone in the ring but Moore gets in quickly to stop him.  Shelley gets crotched and Red gets a shooting star off the shoulders of Moore in a cool spot.

Moore and Red collide so Robbie goes up now.  Red saves of course and fires off some kicks to hurt Robbie.  Robbie manages to throw Red over the top onto the other two guys to clear the ring other than himself again.  The fans are for Red here.  Robbie almost gets there but stops to fist pump, allowing Red to hit a springboard dropkick to take him down.  Moore goes up above the X and on top of the truss.  This is always scary.  I’m terrified of heights so this is really intense for me.

Moore lowers himself onto the X as Red is almost there.  Shelley is trying to catch up and Moore is down on the X now thank goodness.  Shelley kicks him down and casually wins this.  One of the fastest Ultimate X matches ever and I think that might not have been the planned finish.  Came out of nowhere with no spark at all.  Shelley looked like he was waiting on someone to stop him before he pulled it down..

Rating: C. That’s a low grade for Ultimate X, not in general.  Not much here as it was really paint by numbers out there.  I really think the ending didn’t happen as it was planned as things just kind of came to an end rather than with any kind of big spot.  Either way, not a bad match but just kind of bland, especially with no story and having an Ultimate X match for the sake of an Ultimate X match.

Clip of Daniels vs. AJ from Final Resolution 2009 which was good if I remember right.

Low Ki says he’s proven himself for his entire career and he’ll do it tonight for everyone ever told they’re too small etc.

We recap RVD vs. Jerry Lynn which is really just a respect match because they had a bunch of matches that I’ve never considered as great as most people claim they are.  This was supposed to be the main event of Hardcore Justice but Lynn hurt his back.

Jerry Lynn vs. Rob Van Dam

 

They actually say ECW.  Eh not like anyone is watching so no lawyers will hear it.  Apparently Lynn and JB used to be roommates.  That’s not something I want to picture.  Lot of stalling to start as they circle each other.  Rob grabs a headlock to start and they use a sequence they used in every ECW match they had and built on it every next match.  As always it results in a standoff.

The fans are totally split here.  They speed things up and Lynn gets taken down by a legsweep for two.  Off to an armbar as we hear about Forever Hardcore, JB’s ECW documentary.  Rob misses a kick in the corner but hits a spinwheel kick to Lynn as Lynn goes up.  Superplex is blocked and Lynn tries a tornado DDT to the apron which doesn’t work.  Back in the ring with Rob still in control.

Both guys miss a ton of stuff (due to counters, not botches) and it’s another stalemate.  Rob gets a kick to send him to the floor and teases a dive but stays in the ring.  He holds the ropes open for Jerry and actually lets him back in.  There’s the ECW chant that is required.  Lynn takes a handshake and sends Van Dam to the railing, more or less turning heel mid match.

Lynn hits a running flip off the apron to take Rob out again.  That gets two back in the ring.  Jerry hammers away some more and we hit the chinlock.  German suplex puts Van Dam down again.  Clothesline gets two.  Rob fires back with a kick to the head and Rolling Thunder for two.  Another spin kick sends Lynn to the floor again.  Rob hits the spinning legdrop to Lynn while he’s on the railing.

Slingshot legdrop gets no cover and Rob goes up.  Lynn gets up and shoves Rob off the top and we’re back on the floor again.  Been there quite often in this match.  Just as I was thinking at least this match doesn’t have a bunch of weapons, Lynn grabs a chair.  Rob tries a leg sweep but Lynn hits a Fameasser onto the chair.  Rob is busted open and Lynn gets two off of it.

Rob tries a spinning sunset flip out of the corner (think Booker T) but Lynn throws him across the ring onto the chair for two.  Rob gets a Van Daminator and hits the Five Star out of nowhere for the pin.  Has he been taking lessons from Sting in how to finish a match out of nowhere?

Rating: C+. Not a bad match but the majority of it was just like any other match.  Lynn turning mid match is definitely a good thing because face vs. face gets very boring in a hurry.  I still don’t get the appeal of this pair but I kind of liked this one better than their ECW stuff because it wasn’t as sloppy.  Started slow but it was getting much better at the end.

Jack Evans quotes Eminem and says this is his chance.

Austin Aries vs. Low Ki vs. Zema Ion vs. Jack Evans

 

Christy of course messes up something, in this case Aries’ entrance.  We get some clips of their qualifying matches during each guy’s entrance.  Winner gets a contract of course.  No tagging here thank goodness.  Aries gets a quick two count on Ion as the fans chant “everybody.”  Aries and Low Ki (Kaval for the uneducated) square off and Evans starts flipping.

Spin kick by Evans gets two on Ion.  Low Ki takes over again and hammers on Evans in the corner.  Aries takes Low Ki down and uses some Hogan in late 90s offense for some reason.  He beats up everyone but takes a triple dropkick to send him down.  Evans starts flipping again and hits a dropsault to get two on Ion.  Ion gets his turn to be on offense and gets a bunch of two counts.

Aries takes Ion down and has another showdown with Low Ki.  After getting attacked they both throw submissions on the guys that jumped them.  They manage to yell insults at each other while they have the holds.  Ok that was cool.  With the others outside they argue again and chop it out.  Aries loads up the brainbuster but Low Ki escapes and gets a big kick to Aries’ back.  Evans and Ion are back in now and Ion gets a knee to Evans’ face for two.  Pendulum elbow gets two for Aries.

Ion clears the ring and takes over but Aries stops a dive.  Aries tries a suicide dive but Low Ki gets a fast kick up to send him flying backwards.  Evans comes in and flips a lot but spins around too much as Aries takes him down with a spinning forarm.  The fans chant sign them all.  Ion and Aries are the only ones up right now.  Aries gets a neckbreaker on the rope to put Ion down.  Low Ki gets a cartwheel into a kick to knock Aries off the top and also get two.

Evans blocks a Warrior’s Way to Aries with a rana, getting two.  He calls for the 630 but Ion breaks it up.  Ion hits the 450 on Low Ki but Aries makes the save.  Using the distraction, Evans fires off the 630 but eats knees.  Aries hammers on Evans and hits the brainbuster on Low Ki to win the contract.  Probably the best choice.

Rating: B. Can’t really complain here as this was what the X-Division was built on.  The fans got their flips and probably the best possible outcome here with Aries arguably being the best guy here.  I’d expect to see all of them again in the future which is probably the best thing, especially with how weak the division has been lately.  Fun match.

Aries asks Val if she’s surprised.  He takes the contract and leaves.

Abyss talks about the Art of War and how he’ll keep the title.  He implies he ate his missing teeth.

We recap Abyss vs. Kendrick.  Abyss took the title in an attempt to kill the division and Kendrick is fighting for the honor and tradition of it or something.

X-Division Title: Brian Kendrick vs. Abyss

 

Kendrick fires away at the legs to start and that gets him nowhere.  A cross body is totally no sold which is a cool visual.  Kendrick hammers away but none of it’s working.  Chokeslam is teased but Kendrick bites the fingers to escape.  Kendrick is sent to the floor as Abyss asks if this is it.  Fan: “Nobody likes you Abyss!”  Abyss keeps hammering back in the ring and stops to read a few pages.

Kendrick keeps kicking at the legs and that doesn’t work at all.  Instead Abyss hammers him down in the corner as this has more or less been one sided.  Time for more reading!  A right hand makes him drop the book and apparently that was enough to open him up.  Abyss is all ticked off and Kendrick is able to fight back, hitting a dropkick to send him to the floor.

Back in the ring and Kendrick gets a missile dropkick for two.  Sliced Bread is countered into Shock Treatment which gets two.  Ref is bumped in a really stupid looking spot.  Sliced Bread hits but there’s no referee.  Here’s Bischoff to solid heat.  He yells at Kendrick who decks him.  Immortal runs out and the beating is on.

The X guys run out and get tossed with ease.  They get Kendrick on his own and here are more X guys to fight Immortal.  They clear the ring as I REALLY hope the match doesn’t continue after this.  The ring is cleared out and a chokeslam is countered into a victory roll for Kendrick to win the title.  You know, because the referee didn’t notice FIFTEEN PEOPLE IN THE RING.  Confetti goes off but we’ve got another match to go because Brian Kendrick can’t win a main event match.

Rating: C. Match was pretty boring and despite one of the dumbest moments I’ve ever seen and that this match should have ended the show PERIOD, this was a solid feel good moment and absolutely had to happen on this show.  Otherwise this wouldn’t have made a bit of sense.  It worked though and while the match was boring, the ending worked, lack of common sense aside.

Video on AJ vs. Daniels which I’m sure you’ve gotten the point of in all the talking they’ve done already.

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

 

Apparently the winner is best X-Division Wrestler EVER, despite AJ’s resume blowing Daniels’ away.  Christy does big match intros again.  Apparently these two named their kids after each other.  That’s borderline creepy.  The latest chant: “Wrestling. YAY!  Hulk Hogan.  Boo!”  Give me a break.  Lots of basic back and forth stuff to start with them knowing each other really well being the idea.

AJ works the arm a bit and they speed it up quickly.  Both guys work the arm and it comes down to another stalemate after about 5 minutes.  They shake hands and AJ puts another armbar on.  The fans are split again.  They speed things up and Daniels hits the floor.  They have a TON of time here so this is going to be a very slow build.  Daniels keeps trying to speed things up but AJ keeps going with the armbar.

They slowly start cranking things up as Daniels takes over.  He works AJ over for a good while but AJ sends him to the floor, adding in a plancha that looked almost like Delirious’ Shadows Over Hell.  Back inside now and AJ hammers away again.  AJ works on the arm AGAIN but at least is using a Fujiwara Armbar here.  Helps a lot when they mix things up.  Out to the apron and AJ counters into a suplex on the apron.

Daniels takes over on the floor.  Back in he chops away at the back and gets a neckbreaker for two.  Pinfall reversal sequence ends in AJ being caught in a Crossface.  Death Valley Driver gets two and Daniels is getting frustrated.  They chop it out and AJ hits an enziguri to put both guys down.  AJ slips off the top and crashes down, letting Daniels get two.  Daniels goes up but gets caught in a Torture Rack which AJ spins out into a powerbomb for two.

Bad Downward Spiral by Daniels sets up the Koji Clutch to AJ.  They’re getting tired here.  AJ makes the rope as this probably needs to end soon.  Daniels uses his variety of strikes but still can’t pin him.  The tape finally comes off Daniels’ arms which is good as it had been dangling for awhile.  AJ snap mares him off the top for two.  He can’t get Angel’s Wings or the Clash (AJ can’t that is) so Daniels hits an STO and release Rock Bottom but the BME eats boot.

Styles Clash out of nowhere gets two as this is nearly half an hour long now.  Angel’s Wings gets two and Daniels is ticked.  They fight to the corner but Daniels can’t hit the Angel’s Wings from up there.  AJ busts out the Spiral Tap but it doesn’t look as good as it usually does.  That’s enough for the pin though at nearly half an hour.

Rating: B. Another good match here but I don’t think it got as epic as they were hoping.  It was one of the longest matches I can ever remember in TNA but at the same time they got sloppy later on in it.  It was good, but I still think the title match should have closed the show.  I’ve never been a big fan of these matches but they’re usually pretty good.  Good choice to end the show, but it’s not like it means anything more than bragging rights.  Also this went too long and the fans were losing interest late in it.

Daniels won’t shake his hand post match.  Ok yes he will.  And that’s it.

Overall Rating: B. This is a very subjective grade and I won’t defend it that much because some people will love it, some will hate it and some will find it at every point in between.  The idea was an all X-Division PPV and they certainly did that.  However, the first probably hour or so was just average at best.  The three main matches delivered, but the match order didn’t work for me.

With the story coming in being Bischoff wanting to kill the X-Division, having the X-Division overcome him should have been the main event and closing scene of the show.  The fourway was good and what the X-Division is built upon.  The main event was good as well and even very good at times.  All around this show worked and was a great showcase of the X Division, but it’s not a blow away show like I think they were shooting for.

The main problem is that this isn’t a show that I would predict meaning much.  It’ll probably be referenced for a few weeks and some of the guys will say how they showed how awesome it was, and then the division will go right back to what it was: a title match thrown on here and there and an occasional bonus match on PPV as an opener.  That’s the nature of the beast though and it’s more or less reality.  That’s probably what hurts this the most, but there’s nothing that can be done about it.

Results

Kazarian b. Samoa Joe – Rollup

Douglas Williams b. Mark Haskins – Pin after a missed shooting star press

Eric Young/Shark Boy b. Generation Me – Wheelbarrow suplex into a neckbreaker to Max Buck

Alex Shelley b. Robbie E, Shannon Moore and Amazing Red – Shelley pulled down the X

Rob Van Dam b. Jerry Lynn – Five Star Frog Splash

Austin Aries b. Zema Ion, Jack Evans and Low Ki – Brainbuster to Low Ki

Brian Kendrick b. Abyss – Victory Roll

AJ Styles b. Christopher Daniels – Spiral Tap

I’m going to try to do this either the Friday or Saturday before every PPV.

What do expect for Destination X?

My thoughts:

The last few weeks of Impact have been far better than usual and that’s mainly due to the better pacing of the show.  At the same time the majority of the focus being on the X-Division and random talent that hasn’t been seen in a long time if ever at all.  This should be a fun show, but what I wonder is what’s going to happen once this show passes.  I’d bet they’re just going to go back to business as usual after mentioning Destination X and how awesome it is a few times, which is annoying but probably the best idea overall.  As for match predictions, I’ll take the following:  Abyss over Kendrick  Styles over Daniels  Joe over Kaz (not sure on this one at all)  RVD over Lynn  Zima Ion to win the contract (total hunch here)   As for the fourway, I’ll take Shelley with no real reason.

Your thoughts?

 

Smackdown
Date: July 8, 2011
Location: Tucson Arena, Tucson, Arizona
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Booker T, Michael Cole

 

 

This was taped last week but for Smackdown that’s not going to change anything from the norm. Tonight we get some fallout from last week with Sheamus interjecting himself into the main event scene to end the show. Other than that we’ll probably be building up to Money in the Bank with some more stuff between the ladder match guys. Let’s get to it.

 

 

We open with a recap of the ending of last week’s show where Orton signed the contract but before Christian did, Sheamus returned and beat both guys up and ripped up the contract.

 

 

Do you know your enemy? Mine is a really bad sunburn.

 

 

Most of the MITB guys are in the ring but I only see seven right now. Sheamus is missing I believe. Everyone gets to say something. Bryan says he’s excited and nervous because he’s wanted to be world champion since he was a little kid. Cody cuts him off and says it’s because Bryan is a common man incapable of the things exceptional people do. Cody is one of those exceptional people. Once he wins the title everyone will have to swallow their pride and look him in the eye.

 

 

Barrett says he’s tired of hearing about what everyone else has done. He starts listing off his accomplishments but here’s Sheamus with a chair. He cracks almost everyone with it and clears the ring. Sheamus says he’ll win and cash in on Orton when he beats Christian. He’s going to get Orton tonight though, because of getting punted last month. Here’s Christian who asks if Sheamus thinks he can’t beat Orton. Sheamus calls him a scrawny, malnourished, googly eyed homely weasel.

 

 

Christian points out that he beat Sheamus a few weeks ago before Orton punted Sheamus. He’ll also be world champion after MITB. There’s a clause in the contract, saying that if Orton gets disqualified or if there’s bad officiating, Christian is automatically world champion. Christian calls him Ronald McDonald and asks if he can even read a contract. Sheamus throws the chair at him and here’s Teddy. Orton vs. Sheamus is the main event. Really solid opening segment here as Sheamus looked fired up and intimidating. I’m liking this three way feud a lot and they’re running it perfectly.

 

 

Clip of the first MITB match with Edge winning and cashing in about 9 months later.

 

 

Cody Rhodes/Ted DiBiase vs. Daniel Bryan/Ezekiel Jackson

 

 

Booker gets a bag again. DiBiase and Bryan start us off with DiBiase not being able to do much. Off to Jackson who is part of the Fave Five of Booker. We actually get the full list: McIntyre, Jackson, Sheamus, Barrett, Cara and a dark horse in Ryder. The good guys clear the ring and send Cody to the floor as we take a break. Back with Bryan firing off kicks to Cody in the corner.

 

 

Cody avoids a charge in the corner and backdrops Bryan onto the corner and catches him in an Alabama Slam for two. It’s off to DiBiase who keeps the advantage and hits a chinlock. Back off to Cody who uses his old school style to dominate even more. DiBiase chokes some more. Cole picks Wade Barrett to win MITB. Bryan gets a boot up in the corner and Josh picks Sin Cara, the same as Booker. Hot tag to Big Zeke who gets a nice reaction. He starts slamming people and Racks DiBiase but it’s broken up by a Beautiful Disaster and Dream Street gets the pin at 6:45 shown of 10:15.

 

 

Rating: C+. Pretty basic tag match here but for the love of all things good and holy Vince, why do you think midcard champions always have to lose? He won the title and then beat Barrett a second time and now he’s lost to Rhodes (not that bad) and then to DiBiase. Why in the world would that be something they’d think is smart? I don’t get why midcard champions are booked into the ground so often anymore but it’s getting annoying.

 

 

Video on Mark Henry and his domination as of late.

 

 

Striker tells Henry he’s facing potential fines, suspensions and criminal charges after what he did last week. Henry breathes a lot.

 

 

Jinder Mahal vs. Trent Barreta

 

 

During Mahal’s entrance we hear about some empire he’s built up and we don’t hear anything about his wife/Khali’s sister. Are they already changing the story? Anyway Khali sits in on commentary (you read that right) and actually speaks some English now. Total squash in the ring and the full nelson slam ends it at 1:04. The camera was on Khali more than the match. Post match Cole mentions the story we got last week.

 

 

Sheamus says his recent rampage is an Irish thing.

 

 

AJ vs. Tamina

 

 

Cole: “Hopefully this doesn’t put me to sleep like a Harlem Heat match.” Josh: “Tell me you didn’t just say that.” AJ has different hair now as it’s a bit lighter and a bit wavier. Natalya and Alicia are at ringside. Cole bashes Natalya for most of the match as Tamina dominates with an Umaga hip smash to the face. Off to a chinlock which doesn’t last long. AJ fights back and hits a Shining Wizard for two. Tamina misses a splash in the corner and AJ gets a rollup for the pin at 2:28.

 

 

Alicia yells at Tamina post match.

 

 

Mark Henry vs. Kane

 

 

Kane looks terrified but hammers away to start. Henry runs him over but Kane gets three dropkicks, two to the knees and a seated one to the chest, for two. Top rope clothesline is caught in a belly to belly for two. Henry stands on the chest for a bit and Kane is in trouble. The big fried freak fires off a right hand and the crowd is surprisingly into this. Big boot puts Henry down for two.

 

 

Kane goes up again and this time the clothesline hits. He loads up the chokeslam but Henry breaks out of it and headbutts Kane. A second attempt at the chokeslam hits but Henry gets his foot on the ropes. Out to the floor and Kane tries a chokeslam through the table but Henry breaks it up, ramming Kane into the post. Back inside a splash gets two. Mark is all ticked off now and the World’s Strongest Slam gets the pin at 5:52.

 

 

Rating: C. For a battle of the big men this was fine. They kept it relatively short which is the right idea for sure. If they want Henry to be taken as a big threat, this is the kind of win he needs. Kane is still someone with credibility and Henry beating him clean by just overpowering him is a good thing for him. I still don’t get the appeal or point of pushing Henry but it’s his every other year push so it’s to be expected.

 

 

Henry yells at the announcers post match.

 

 

Orton says he doesn’t care what the contract says because he’s going to win with the RKO. As for Sheamus, he’ll have to defend the title against him eventually but as for tonight, good luck to him.

 

 

Video of Miz winning MITB last year.

 

 

Tyson Kidd vs. Sin Cara

 

 

There go the lights again. Kidd grabs an armbar to take him down almost immediately. Cara speeds things up and hits an armdrag to send Kidd to the floor. Cara tries a dive or something similar to one, only to get his head slammed into the apron. Back inside Cara hits a slingshot corkscrew splash for two. Off to a chinlock by Kidd as the fans chant for Cara. Kidd keeps countering Cara’s moves and it’s working pretty well. He tries a springboard elbow but Cara gets the knees up to block it.

 

 

Cole says his name would be Billy the Kid if he was a superstar. Booker and Josh are quiet for a bit and then laugh at him. Cara starts his comeback and gets a victory roll into a sunset flip for two. Kidd kicks him down and goes up, only to get dropped onto the buckle. They go up again and the C4 off the top ends this at 4:16.

 

 

Rating: B-. Pretty good stuff here as I didn’t notice any botches which is a change for Cara. Granted they may have been edited out but that’s the perk of a taped show. Anyway not bad here and Cara is starting to get better slowly but surely as he’s having more coherent matches rather than just doing random spots. Good stuff.

 

 

Teddy is asked if he’s intimidated by Henry and won’t answeron.

 

 

Video on Ezekiel Jackson.

 

 

Usos vs. Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater

 

 

The matches are good but we’ve seen this how many times now? The Usos do their dance thing on the way to the ring. Jey has a tattoo on his chest apparently so he starts us off with Gabriel. Slater comes in rather quickly and takes Jey down as the crowd is more or less silent. Booker talks about the Fave Five again and it’s already annoying. Gabriel comes in and gets two before hitting a headlock. After some silence on commentary, Booker randomly says that no one likes Cole.

 

 

Double big boot puts both guys down as Jimmy tries to get the crowd back to life. It’s not really working but points for trying at least. Off to Jimmy vs. Slater with Jimmy being labeled as the powerhouse. Bubba Bomb puts Slater down as Booker says they both need gain another hundred pounds or so. Samoan Drop gets two on Slater. Slater manages to take him down with something like a Zig Zag and it’s off to Gabriel. He wants the 450 but Slater gets kicked into the ropes to crotch Justin. We get Power and Glory’s old finisher (superplex/top rope splash combo) to end Gabriel at 3:32.

 

 

Rating: C+. Another fine match but again, we’ve seen this how many times now? The teased tension between the former Nexus/Corre is what you would expect as they’ve been a successful team long enough so it’s time to split them in a feud that not many people want to see. Anyway this was fine and it’s cool to see the Usos have an actual finisher.

 

 

Johnny Curtis is at a table with a bunch of birthday stuff on it. He takes the cake. Debut him already and get it over with.

 

 

We get an abbreviated version of Cena and Vince from Raw.

 

 

We run down the MITB card. Henry vs. Show is official.

 

 

Randy Orton vs. Sheamus

 

 

Christian vs. Orton has been signed apparently and the Canadian is on commentary here. Orton fires away in the corner and Sheamus is in trouble. Pretty basic back and forth stuff here as Orton counters some Sheamus offense with a dropkick. He loads up the punt but Sheamus hits the floor. Back in Orton hits his way too enthusiastic Thesz Press and they slug it out to the floor.

 

 

Orton gets reversed into the railing and part of the wall falls down. Elevated DDT is blocked and Orton goes shoulder first into the post and back out to the floor. Christian goes after Orton but Sheamus stops him. Orton goes into the post again as we take a break. Back with Sheamus hitting a DDT to the arm for two. Orton makes a brief comeback but takes a knee to the ribs to put him right back down.

 

 

Randy makes his comeback and uses his regular stuff including the scoop powerslam. He adds something new to the arsenal with a belly to belly suplex for two. Sheamus gets a kick to the knee and pulls himself up to the top for a shoulder block for two. Irish Curse gets two. Brogue Kick and RKO are countered and Orton hits the backbreaker. Not that it matters as Christian comes in for the DQ at 8:24 shown of 11:54, giving Orton the win.

 

 

Rating: B-. Not a great match or anything but compared to the stuff these two were putting on in 2010, their recent stuff has been a miracle. I was thinking Sheamus would win MITB and then cash in at the end of the night but now I’m not so sure. Either way, not a bad match here and fine for a TV main event.

 

 

Post match Sheamus lays out Christian but walks into an RKO to leave Orton standing tall to close the show.

 

 

Overall Rating: B. While a step down from last week this was still good stuff. The key thing to Smackdown is they don’t waste time. Everything they do is either advancing a story, in ring action or promoting one of their wrestlers. This show was no exception as everything on here had a point, which is rare in today’s wrestling product. Anyway good show but not as good as last week.

 

 

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 7, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

It’s the last show before Destination X and we have a final push towards the PPV with another triple threat to determine who goes to the four way at the PPV.  There are only 5 matches by my math (Kaz vs. Joe, AJ vs. Daniels, RVD vs. Lynn, the four way and Abyss vs. Kendrick) and we’ve heard of an Ultimate X match but no one has been named.  Maybe that’ll be the contract match?  We should find out tonight so let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the ending of last week’s show and Angle making the save for Sting, perhaps joining him in the war with Immortal.

Ray, Gunner and Steiner are in the ring to open the show and Ray calls out Anderson.  Here’s Anderson and he does his usual intro.  Ray makes fun of it and threatens Anderson with a Steiner beating if he doesn’t shut his mouth.  Ray says tonight Anderson is going to join Immortal for his own good because Sting has been nuts lately.  The Bully says they need each other and joining Immortal will make everyone happy.
Steiner says it’s time for him to screw some people and tells Anderson he’s either with them or against them.  He has to decide tonight or he’ll deal with Steiner.  Gunner says tonight it’s all of Immortal vs. Sting and Angle.  Anderson has until the end of the match to decide.  Gunner says hit their music but Sting’s comes on instead.  The lights go out but a spotlight shows Sting in the rafters.  They come back up and Angle is in the ring.  He clears out Immortal and tells Anderson not to make a decision that makes things hard on himself.

Storm asks Roode if his arm is ok.  Roode says not really but he needs to get the points in the Series.  He gets Crimson so things don’t look great for him.

Bound For Glory Standings:

Crimson 24

Gunner 21

Matt Morgan 14

AJ Styles 14

James Storm 14

Rob Van Dam 14

Bully Ray 14

D-Von 14

Scott Steiner 7

D’Angelo Dinero 0

Bobby Roode 0

Samoa Joe 0

Bound For Glory Series: Bobby Roode vs. Crimson

 

Roode hammers away to start with some shoulders in the corner and a Hennig neck snap for two.  Crimson takes over with his power stuff and grabs the cravate which he turns into a swinging neckbreaker for two.  Crimson starts snapping off some suplexes but Roode goes up and hits his Blockbuster.  The shoulder gives out though and he can’t capitalize.  Crimson shows some intelligence by kicking him in the arm.  He hits the ropes and walks into the Roode spinebuster for two.  Roode grabs a Fujiwara armbar but Crimson makes the rope.  Slingshot shoulder block takes Roode down and the Red Sky ends this at 4:50.

Rating: C. Not bad here as I’m kind of surprised Roode keeps falling like he does.  The shoulder injury is fine for a reason for him not being his usual self though.  Crimson stays undefeated which really makes me wonder where they’re going with this series, especially since the top four advance to No Surrender for the #1 contender match.  Should be interesting.  This was fine.

Tony Nees says he wants to compete against the best and will do so in the three way tonight.

Abyss is still looking for his mask.  We cut to Kendrick who is wearing it.

Jack Evans wants the contract.  He can do flips really well.

Here’s Kendrick in the ring with the mask in hand.  He says he’ll give it back and doesn’t want violence.  What he wants is a word and he’ll share his thoughts on those if Abyss will come out here.  Kendrick talks about various religions and philosophies and their takes on things.  He asks what that has to do with wrestling.  Apparently he’s trying to restore the X-Division and says Abyss can help him do that.

His ego is holding him back though and Abyss can give up his pain this Sunday.  Kendrick’s mission is to defeat him though and he gives Abyss his mask back.  Abyss drills him and beats the tar out of him on the floor.  Back in the ring Kendrick gets in some shots but Abyss shrugs them off.  Shock Treatment hits as does the Black Hole Slam.

Jesse Sorensen says it’s time for the new guys to rise up in the X-Division.  Guys like him of course.

Tony Nees vs. Jesse Sorensen vs. Jack Evans

 

Evans does a standing moonsault on the stage and break dances in the ring.  Big chant for Evans and we get a three way test of strength to start.  It follows the same formula as the other matches have so far, with two guys staying in the ring while a third is down on the floor.  Sorensen hits a big flip dive to the floor to take out Nees but Evans hits a bigger one off the top rope, hitting a 450 to take out both guys.

Nees gets a running knee to Evans for two as Jesse saves.  Sorensen gets a modified Overdrive to Evans for two so it’s Sorensen vs. Nees for a bit.  German gets two for Nees as Evans hits a standing moonsault to break it up.  Sorensen gets sent to the floor by Evans and Nees gets dropped off the top.  Evans hits a 630 to pin Nees at 5:37.

Rating: C. Just your usual match here with three guys flying everywhere.  It’s fun but we’re seen the same match most of the last four weeks.  That 630 was nice but Evans has a tendency to do a lot of flips when they’re really not necessary.  Take the standing moonsault to break up the pin for example.  From a psychology standpoint, why set for a big flip when the extra time could cost you the match?  Anyway, fun match but we’ve seen it a lot lately.

The Brits say Mexican America is doing what the Brits did a few years ago.  Douglas Williams issues an open challenge for Sunday.

Shannon Moore, Robbie E, Amazing Red and Alex Shelley are in Ultimate X.

Velvet says she’s going to get rid of Jackie and ODB.  We can only hope.

Angle is walking into a locker room and Sting is laying on top of the lockers, singing modified versions of Rocky songs.  Angle says we have to get through tonight and Sting goes a bit nuttier.  He says this is all to get to Hogan.

Velvet Sky vs. ODB/Jackie

 

If Velvet wins, the two annoying girls leave TNA, despite technically not being in it right now.  Velvet comes in through the crowd with a chair and takes out Jackie with a shot to the back.  She and ODB start us off and Velvet is dominating.  Jackie gets back in and the numbers start catching up with Velvet.  We finally get down to regular tagging and never mind that as we’re back to the two on one at once.  ODB tries to bring the chair back in but hits Jackie by mistake.  A DDT by Velvet pins Jackie at 5:00.

Rating: D. The only good thing here was that ODB and Jackie are allegedly out of TNA now.  The match wasn’t anything more than an ending to this story (I hope) and other than that it was just bad.  Velvet isn’t that great in the ring and on her own she’s not capable of much physically other than looking good.  Bad match.

ODB shouts that Velvet hasn’t gotten rid of her yet.

D-Von tells Pope not to screw him over tonight.

Daniels talks about how AJ has had a better career in TNA than he’s had and that he’s been lost in the shuffle since coming back.

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Rob Van Dam

 

They have to tag in and out here and it’s Lynn vs. Daniels to start us off.  Lynn speeds up a headscissors and AJ tags himself in.  They exchange arm drags and then both try it at the same time, resulting in a stalemate.  The fans can’t decide if they like RVD or Lynn.  Jerry wants RVD and here they are.  They exchange a lot of counters with very little contact being made.

Off to RVD vs. Daniels and RVD kind of messes up Rolling Thunder, landing on his neck instead of his back.  Daniels gets sent to the floor and it’s AJ vs. RVD for a bit.  A very short bit as AJ knocks RVD into the corner which is classified as a tag to Lynn.  Jerry hits an enziguri to put AJ in the corner, followed by a hurricanrana.  Daniels comes in off an iffy tag.

Boot to the chest of Lynn gets two and everything starts breaking down.  Springboard forearm by AJ sends Van Dam to the floor.  Lynn sends AJ to the floor and a releases Rock Bottom looks to set up the BME.  Rob tags himself in as Lynn hits something like an Celtic Cross (Finlay’s old move) on Daniels.  Rob fires off the Five Star on Daniels for the pin at 7:13.

Rating: B-. Good match but not the classic they were hyping it up to be.  Granted this Sunday is the main thing they were building to so this wasn’t supposed to be the big match.  Van Dam needed a win as he’s kind of fallen off the charts the last few months.  Nothing great here but fine for a mostly big TV match to hype a PPV.

Eric Young says to the victor go the spoils because he’s apparently gotten a trailer somehow.  He’s a TV star now and is going to Hollywood to defend the title.

Bound For Glory Series: Matt Morgan/James Storm vs. D-Von/D’Angelo Dinero

 

Only one person gets points, kind of defeating the point of the team aspect.  Pope gives his glasses to D-Von’s kid which D-Von isn’t thrilled with.  D-Von and Storm start us off.  That doesn’t go much of anywhere so it’s off to Morgan who runs over D-Von.  Pope plays cheerleader and shouts encouragement.  Morgan sets for the elbows but Storm tags himself in.

Pope finally gets in so he can hammer on Storm a bit.  Storm fires back and Pope falls out of the ring, tagging D-Von as he goes.  Back to Morgan who gets to hit his elbows now.  There’s a side slam for two.  Back to Storm as D-Von is in trouble.  Pope gets back in and has a bit better luck this time, taking Storm down and Morgan as well.

Storm gets a Backstabber for two as Morgan (Storm’s partner mind you) makes the save.  D-Von and Morgan go to the floor with Morgan possibly hurting his knee.  Storm and Pope ram heads and Pope is outside too.  He gets Storm’s title belt and clocks him with it…then tags D-Von in so he can get the points at 6:00.  The plot thickens I guess.

Rating: C-. The aspects of tagging and teaming more or less meant nothing here as the partners were fighting each other and only one person got points in the match.  As a match in the series, this was ok but as a tag match it was pretty weak.  The Pope/D-Von stuff is kind of interesting though.

Anderson is mad.

The Jarretts say Jeff is now King of Mexico and they’ll be back next week with a big fiesta.

We run down the card for the PPV.  The Ultimate X match is #1 contender for the X-Division Title.

Hogan is punching Sting out in the back and Sting says that’s the Eye of the Tiger.  Hogan picks up the bat and Sting says aw crap.  He hits Sting in the face with it and Sting is out.  Hogan says he told Sting he’d never embarrass Hogan again.

Kurt Angle/Sting vs. Immortal

 

It’s Abyss, Steiner, Ray and Gunner.  And there’s no Sting so this is a handicap match.

Kurt Angle vs. Immortal

 

Steiner starts with Kurt and doesn’t do that well, taking a belly to belly for two.  Off to Ray who talks trash about Mexico, hitting a neckbreaker for two.  Bubba Bomb doesn’t work so Kurt snaps off a German.  Here’s Gunner who Angle runs through as well.  Let’s try Abyss and Angle is 4-0 as he gets an ankle lock.  Ray breaks it up and here comes Abyss.  Scott comes in to beat Angle down as Immortal takes over.

Gunner in now for some basic stuff before bringing Abyss back in.  Back to Ray quickly and he has the chain.  Here comes Anderson though and the distraction lets Angle get an Angle Slam to Ray.  Anderson gets in the corner as Kurt’s partner and takes a tag.  Anderson beats on Immortal and basically cleans house.  Mic Cehck is loaded up on Ray but he hits Angle with it instead.  Anderson “tags” Kurt back in and Ray pins him at 6:00.

Rating: C. Hard to call this anything but in the middle.  Angle dominated for awhile and then the numbers caught up with him as you would expect them to.  Anderson at the end doesn’t make much sense but I think that was supposed to be the point, at least until the end.  It was more about the ending than anything else though, which is fine.

Anderson joins Immortal post match and Hogan comes out to cheer.

Overall Rating: C. Still good but a step behind what they did for the last two weeks.  Destination X is going to be their best built PPV in a very long time and will probably be quite good, but I’m very interested in what comes after that.  Something tells me it’ll be more Immortal vs. everyone and that hasn’t been incredibly interesting stuff.  The non X-Division stuff was pretty boring overall and the matches were ok but not blow away great.  Anyway, not bad at all but a step behind what they’ve been doing lately.

Results

Crimson b. Bobby Roode – Red Sky

Jack Evans b. Jesse Sorensen and Tony Nees – 630 Splash to Nees

Velvet Sky b. Jackie and ODB – DDT to Jackie

Rob Van Dam b. Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn – Five Star Frog Splash to Daniels

D’Angelo Dinero/D-Von b. Matt Morgan/James Storm – D-Von pinned Storm after a shot with a title belt

Immortal b. Kurt Angle – Ray pinned Angle after a Mic Check from Mr. Anderson

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 4, 2011
Location: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

We’re still in Vegas as this show was taped last week.  It’s the 4^th of July so expect a lot of Vince’s patriotism to shine through.  We have the Punk promo that everyone has been talking about to get through tonight which should definitely be interesting.  Vince himself might bere here too so let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week which is the same as the Raw ReBound from Smackdown.

There’s a triple threat match for the #1 contender spot: R-Truth vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio.

Riley vs. Miz tonight….again.

Here’s Cena to open the show and he’s very serious it seems.  He talks about how Punk has said some stuff that has ticked off WWE management.  Due to those comments he’s been suspended indefinitely and loses his title shot.  There’s a triple threat match tonight and we’re just supposed to forget Punk existed.  Cena thinks that sucks.  The two of them have never seen eye to eye but Punk has been suspended for speaking his mind.

Cena says it’s unfair that someone has had his freedom of speech taken away.  He references the Bryan tie choking incident and the removal of various signs.  If the WWE Universe is silenced and Punk is silenced, what’s next?  The fans chant 1^st Amendment and Cena agrees.  If they can sweep Punk under the rug, what’s next?  He wants answers and he wants them from Vince himself.  Vince is on the way and Cena will get his answers tonight.  Solid opening.

Bella Twins vs. Eve Torres/Kelly Kelly

 

All of the girls looking good of course.  Eve starts with we’ll call that Brie.  Eve dominates to start and makes fun of the Bellas.  She gets tossed over the top though and might have hurt her shoulder.  Off to Nikki who works over the arm.  Eve finally escapes for the hot tag to Kelly who cleans house.  She hits the headscissors and the Stink Face.  Bulldog gets two.  K2 ends this clean at 3:14.

Rating: C. The arm work here was actually pretty good and showed some rare psychology in a Divas’ match.  Not bad actually as the whole thing worked pretty well.  Having the girls look good in their tiny outfits is always a nice perk.  I know the Divas aren’t going to amount to much anytime soon but it’s nice to see a decent little match like this every now and then.

Video on Andy Levine of Tough Enough.  It’s a bunch of trainers and him talking about Silent Rage and how they need to get him to let it out more often.

Truth is on the phone with what sounds like an insurance company.  Scott Sanford comes up to ask him about the triple threat.  Truth says he’s happy because he just saved 15% on his car insurance by switching to Geico.  Oh and he’ll win as Alberto comes up.  “First Little Jimmy, now Senor Jimmy?”  Alberto says it’s about destiny and Truth isn’t that impressed.

Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov vs. Michael McGillicutty/David Otunga

 

Apparently Mason Ryan is hurt.  Santino and Otunga start us off with Otunga in control briefly.  Santino tries the Cobra but David bails.  Off to McGillicutty who doesn’t do that well either.  Kozlov comes in and manhandles McGillicutty a little bit.  Double teaming by the champions takes Kozlov down and work their basic offense on the Russian.  He blocks a double suplex and brings in Santino.  Marella takes down everyone and loads up the Cobra, but McGillicutty manages to get a boot to the ribs and the McGillicutter ends this at 4:20.

Rating: D+. Pretty weak tag match here.  No idea why the titles weren’t on the line as they never deliver them anyway.  There really aren’t any teams on Raw to defend against anyway so I’d like to see them head to Smackdown once in awhile.  Nothing of note here and really pretty boring.

Post match, Zack Ryder comes out and says Woo Woo Woo You Know It and that’s it.  Literally, he came out, said the catchphrase and smiled at the ring.

Miz is in the back and says there’s a golden opportunity to get a shot at Cena but because of Alex Riley, Miz doesn’t get a chance to get the shot.  Tonight he’s taking Riley out for good.

Evan Bourne is in the back with Sergeant Slaughter.  He’s going to lead the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Swagger comes up and says that he should get to do it.  We even get a reference to the Gulf War angle back in 91.  Slaughter says everyone makes mistakes, like Swagger’s parents when they didn’t use birth control.  A match is made for later.

Vince’s plane arrived earlier.

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Jack Swagger

 

Slaughter is very bald.  If you’ve seen any Sarge match where he’s a legend you’ll seen this one.  Sarge gets the jump on him a few seconds into the match and gets the Cobra Clutch but Swagger escapes and a Vader Bomb ends this at 1:18.

Post match Sarge gets put in the ankle lock and Evan Bourne makes the save.  Sarge gets to do the Pledge of Allegiance.

We get a clip of the pretty cool destruction of the cage last week by Henry.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio vs. R-Truth

 

No entrance for Del Rio.  Whoever wins this is replaced by someone else in MITB.  Alberto takes over to start and a kick to the back of the head gets two on Rey.  Del Rip misses a charge and heads to the floor as Truth comes back in.  The spinning forearm gets two.  Everyone is on the floor now with Truth in control.  He sends both guys into the railing and gets two on Rey back in the ring.

After beating Rey down a bit more he hits a dive to keep Del Rio down.  Spinning side slam gets two on Rey as Del Rio is back in.  Truth hammers on Rey some more but Del Rio gets Truth onto his shoulders as we get a modified Doomsday Device with Truth taking the majority of the blow.  We take a break with everyone down.

Back with Del Rio choking Rey on the ropes and Truth nowhere to be seen.  Rey tries to fight back but gets caught in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two.  Del Rio sets for an O’Connor Roll but Truth pops up to hit Alberto in the face.  In a cool spot, Truth hits a sunset flip on Del Rio who still has his hands on Rey, meaning Rey takes a German suplex.  Backstabber to Truth for two.  Axe kick gets two but Del Rio breaks it up.  Alberto is sent to the floor as Rey hits the top rope splash to Truth.  Alberto runs back in and throws on the cross armbreaker for the tap from Rey at 13:07.

Rating: C. Just another triple threat match for a title shot.  I’m really getting tired of matches like these determining title shots rather than angles setting up matches, meaning they’re set up on emotion and hatred.  Still though that’s the modern method of doing things so it’s what we get.  Anyway, this was nothing special but the sunset flip/German suplex spot was cool.

Back with a recap video of the first MITB match and cash-in.

There’s a party setup in the ring and the cake says Happy Birthday Dolph.  Oh ok it’s because he’s US Champion and this is the birthday of the US.  Vickie sings Happy Birthday to Dolph.  Ziggler says there will never be another him and he’s awesome.  Forget Punk and Cena and the WWE Title because as long as he’s US Champion, it’s the only title that matters.

Here’s Kofi because we haven’t seen them fight enough.  Kofi says he should have been invited to the party.  He also says that Dolph can’t beat him without Vickie.  His eyes are very bloodshot.  Dolph says beat it so Kofi shoves him into Vickie who goes into the cake.  They brawl a bit and Vickie is knocked into it again.

Video on Miz’s MITB stuff last year.

The Miz vs. Alex Riley

 

We get a quick video about Riley during his entrance.  Riley gets all aggressive and takes over but messes up an attempt to throw Miz over the top.  He takes him out there anyway and keeps hammering.  Miz catches him coming back in though and takes over.  Off to a cravate and then a short DDT for two.  Vince is on his way to the arena.  Riley gets in some punches but walks into a flapjack for two.

Miz keeps hammering away and gets a reverse DDT for two as we take a break.  Back with Riley ramming Miz’s head into the mat to take over.  He gets all fired up and hits a spinebuster for two.  Inverted DDT is countered by a northern lights suplex though and hits the corner clothesline.  Miz tries the Reality Check but gets caught in a backslide for the pin at 9:10.

Rating: C+. Not bad here and it’s good to see Riley keep getting pushed, but eventually they have to let Miz get a win over someone.  I can’t think of the last time he won something.  Anyway, not bad here and probably about equal to their match at the PPV, which is a good sign for Riley.

Post match Miz snaps and beats Riley down, including Riley having his head rammed into the steps while Miz yells at him.  A running boot puts Riley over the announce table.

We see the same video from the beginning of the show.

Here’s Vince to talk about Punk.  Vince says that Punk was suspended because he deserved it.  He has a story about Punk.  Punk’s contract is expiring very soon and Punk wanted to have limos, first class flights, to be on DVDs etc.  Punk was suspended because he deserved it.  Punk is just that: a punk.  Vince goes to leave and here’s Cena to say not so fast my friend.

Cena says that’s not enough for Punk and says Punk was using his freedom of speech.  Vince is very pro-freedom of speech right?  “That’s why your microphone is still working pal.”  Cena remembers that when Vince used to walk down the aisle every week (required Vince walk impression included) and took on whatever was in front of him.  Vince took down Turner but he just suspended Punk for talking about him.

Cena wonders if the grapefruits are gone.  He still wants to fight Punk and if Vince doesn’t want to fight, maybe he should hang it up “old man”.  Vince says he really suspended Punk out of fear.  He’s afraid that Cena can’t beat him and Punk takes the title away with him wherever he goes.  Cena says he wants the match and so do the people.  God forbid we risk embarrassing Vince.

To Cena this is the biggest PPV of the year because of everything up against him.  We get a reference to Punk riding on Cena’s car at Mania 22 in Chicago.  However, Vince won’t let it happen because Vince didn’t like what Punk said.  Would Vince ever do that to Cena?  Vince says we don’t do this in public.  “Don’t be Hogan.”  Vince says it’s his company, not Cena’s, so does it really matter?

Cena says that’s not what he signed up for.  He gets that everyone is replaceable and that he shouldn’t be afraid of losing.  Cena hands the title to Vince and walks away.  Vince freaks out and more or less begs Cena to come back.  Vince says wait a minute and takes the belt with him up the ramp to Cena.  Vince hates this but the match is back on and Punk is reinstated.  However, if Punk walks out of Chicago with the title, Cena is fired.  Cena’s stunned look at Vince ends the show.

Overall Rating: D. The problem here is a very obvious one: this show revolved around two promos and other than them, not a single thing on this show mattered.  The triple threat is proven to be completely inconsequential given the announcement at the end of the show.  The lack of it being live and the crowd being burned out after four hours of Raw didn’t help anything.  This was a very bad episode of Raw and one of their weakest in a long time.  The featured promos keep it from being a failure though.

Results

Eve Torres/Kelly Kelly b. Bella Twins – K2 to Brie Bella

David Otunga/Michael McGillicutty b. Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov – McGillicutter to Marella

Jack Swagger b. Sgt. Slaughter – Corner pump splash

Alberto Del Rip b. Rey Mysterio and R-Truth – Cross Armbreaker to Mysterio

Alex Riley b. Miz – Backslide

Smackdown
Date: July 1, 2011
Location: US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

We have the main event set for MITB as it’s Christian vs. Orton 39 or whatever we’re up to with them now.  Also tonight we’ll probably find out who the Money in the Bank guys are, which should be interesting given who we have in the midcard on Smackdown.  The field for both shows is pretty wide open this year.  Hopefully Smackdown can get back to where it usually is.  Let’s get to it.

We open with a video about Mark Henry and how dominant he’s been lately.  Apparently he gets Orton tonight.

Teddy is in his office and Christian comes in with a contract.  He wants a contract signing with Orton tonight.  Teddy points out that he didn’t win the tag match last week, Henry did.  That clears up some stuff so we’re off to a good start.  If Henry wins, he might make it triple threat.  Christian is barred from ringside.

Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry

 

Not bad for an opener.  Henry immediately rams him into the corner but Orton fires off some right hands.  That doesn’t last long as Henry throws him into the corners a few times and then hits a belly to belly suplex for two.  Big boot puts Orton down again and Henry chokes a bit.  Time for some smack talk as Henry says he’s the champ and not Orton.  World’s Strongest Slam is countered and Orton gets a DDT for two.

We head to the floor and the referee actually lectures them for a bit, saying get back in the ring before he has to start counting them.  I’ve never heard that before.  Not that it matters though as here’s Big Show’s music.  No Big Show though as Henry stares at the runway.  When he realizes that there’s no big bald dude coming, he turns into an RKO at 8 and Orton wins by countout at 4:24.

Rating: C-. Not much here but it wasn’t meant to be a classic or anything like that.  Henry not being in the main event makes sense as they’ve been building to Show vs. Henry for awhile now.  This gets Henry out of the equation though so it accomplished that at least.  Nothing great but the pop for Orton was solid.

Post match Henry goes up to the technical area and yells at the music guy.  He destroys a lot of equipment while the sound guy is sitting there in terror.  I run the sound board at my church so I feel for this guy.  The guy starts to leave but Henry changes his mind and throws him off the side of the stand they’re on in a nice visual.  The guy just disappeared.  Henry finally leaves.

Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase

 

Neither guy has music due to the attack.  It’s a weird visual to see Bryan coming out to dead silence.  The lack of music of course.  The very mild reaction is typical.  DiBiase coming out to no music is a nice unintentional throwback to his pop’s days.  That’s about the only similarity between them though.  Ted says he’s enjoyed humiliating Bryan and it’s due to Cody in an inset interview.

Basic stuff to start with Bryan getting an armdrag into an armbar.  Off to a full on surfboard which still astounds me every time.  Bryan heads up but misses a jump of some sort, allowing Ted to dropkick him to the floor as we take a break.  Before we go back to the match, let’s have a quick video about Daniel Bryan.  Not bad for mid match advertising.

Back with Ted holding a chinlock.  DiBiase hits his following clothesline for two and it’s right back to the chinlock.  Bryan gets his backflip out of the corner and a clothesline puts DiBiase down.  He’s getting frustrated here.  Here come the kicks but Ted grabs one into a rollup.  Bryan counters that into an attempt at the LeBell Lock but Ted gets a rope before it’s on.

A backdrop puts Ted over the top and Ted tries to jump off the apron, only to be rammed into the post and then the railing.  He’s holding his shoulder after the second ram which gets two for Ted.  DiBiase gets some facewashes in the corner and a big slap.  They go up the corner but Ted is knocked off and Bryan hits a dropkick to put both guys down.  His arm and shoulder are still bothering him.  Bryan unloads with strikes and a big kick gets two.  Dream Street is countered so Ted tries another following clothesline.  Bryan is ready for it though and throws on a guillotine choke which is good for the submission at 9:03 shown of 12:33.

Rating: B. I liked this here as they had the time to build up a solid match with some psychology at the end of it also.  As usual, Bryan has a solid TV match.  I was very skeptical about him when he first came to WWE but he’s proven me wrong and has gone on to have some very solid matches.  Good TV match and it worked well, which is stunning for DiBiase.

The music is working again.

Christian comes in to see Teddy, saying since Henry lost he should get the title shot.  Teddy says the word on the street is that Christian was seen leaving the production truck after Big Show’s music played.  Apparently that doesn’t matter as there will be a contract signing in about an hour.  To kill the time though, Christian will be facing Sin Cara.  Bit of a step up from what Cara’s been doing to say the least.

Ted is upset and Cody says Ted hasn’t won a match since May 20.  He can’t guide Ted until Ted changes his ways.  If Ted can’t do that, he might as well wear a paper bag.

We recap Khali and Mahal and the heel turn of Khali.  We get highlights of Mahal and Khali dominating people while Singh talks about what’s going on.  Apparently Jinder wishes he was Great Khali but never will be.  He’s Singh’s brother in law apparently which makes him Khali’s brother in law also.  Mahal is married to their sister.  His power over Khali and what he’s saying when he shouts is that he’ll humiliate their family by divorcing his sister.  Dang it’s nice to have everything explained all at once for a change.

Video on Sin Cara that we’ve seen before.  Actually this is an extended one because he talks in it.  Wait that’s Mysterio.  What am I watching?  It started as a video on Cara and became one about Rey.  Why are they promoting Rey on Smackdown now?

Sin Cara vs. Christian

 

The MITB case is hanging over the ring and we’re told the SD MITB participants:

Kane, Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, Sheamus

Some interesting choices in there.  I guess Sheamus is the frontrunner but I’m not very sure.  Rhodes as a dark horse I guess.  Cara under jumps a springboard armdrag and Christian hits the floor.  Cara keeps teasing dives but Christian runs more as we take a break.  He complains about the lights before we cut away.  Back with Christian hammering away and trying to start a Sin Cara chant for some reason.

Christian hits the floor and Cara hits a corkscrew plancha to take over.  Back in Cara gets two.  There’s the way too complicated arm drag out of the corner for two.  Christian manages to backdrop him to the floor to take over.  The Cara chant starts up as he’s in a chinlock.  The Canadian gets a few near falls and chokes him on the middle rope.

Top rope headbutt misses and Cara gets two.  Springboard back elbow gets two.  Cara tries what looked like his finishing move but rotates more into a DDT instead for two.  Victory roll and a pretty ugly one gets two.  Christian goes up but Cara gets a boot to try to set up the top rope C4.  Christian shoves him off and hits the floor to rest a bit.  Cara is like cool dude and gets a rana off the apron to put Christian down again.

Back in a kick staggers Christian again and a springboard crossbody gets two.  Christian counters into a reverse DDT for a long two.  Cara grabs a small package for two.  Tajiri elbow is countered into a failed Killswitch attempt.  Cara charges but gets dropped onto the turnbuckle, followed by a spear to give him his first loss at 9:31 shown of 13:01.

Rating: B-. Good but not quite as good as the previous one.  It’s scary to think how bad this could have been without Smackdown editing for it.  The high spots are cool but at the same time they can cause problems with botching, which is something that it’s hard to overcome.  Kind of surprised Cara’s first loss is here, but at least he was able to hang in there with some higher level talent so that’s a good sign.  Pretty fun match, botches aside.

We get a clip of Jackson winning the IC Title.  He gets Cody tonight.  I was kind of hoping for a feud between those two so I’m happy here.

Cody Rhodes vs. Ezekiel Jackson

 

Jackson goes right at him and tosses Cody around like a tiny man.  Cody escapes a gorilla press and heads to the floor.  Some distracting by Ted allows Cody to take over for the first time.  Back inside Cody works on the arm and turns it into a hold I don’t think I’ve ever seen.  He’s sitting back like a camel clutch but has Jackson’s arm wrapped around his leg like a LeBell Lock.

Jackson gets up and throws Cody with a release gordbuster.  Big Zeke sells the arm and hits a corner clothesline and it’s slam time.  DiBiase comes up on the apron and gets drilled, only for Cody to hit the Beautiful Disaster and Cross Rhodes for the upset pin at 4:06.  I’m rather surprised by that.

Rating: C+. I know Jackson is almost universally hated on the internet, but answer this: what exactly are you expecting him to do/be out there?  The guys is a pure power wrestler and he uses basic power moves.  Why in the world would you expect him to do anything other than that?  I really don’t get the criticism I read about him as he’s doing exactly what someone that looks like him is supposed to do.  Anyway this wasn’t that bad at all with Jackson dominating and Ted trying to redeem himself in Cody’s eyes.  Nice little match.

We get a video on Jackson in the form of a little highlight package.  This is a new running thing on Smackdown and I really like them.  They’re like 30 seconds long and gives you a nice quick idea of what you can see if you keep watching the show.  Well, at least in cases where the guy hasn’t had his match already.

Johnny Curtis draws a picture of himself in a corner.  He has to run out of lines eventually.

Raw ReBound is the same as from NXT, showing a shortened version of Punk’s promo.  Cole tells us that Punk has been indefinitely suspended.  Booker saw it on Youtube and says he was blown away.  Good to know that Booker doesn’t watch Raw.  Vince is rumored to be on Raw apparently.

Kane vs. Wade Barrett

 

Barrett actually throws some bareknuckle punches which I don’t remember him doing any other time.  He controls early until Kane gets a boot up to break the momentum.  The low dropkick is set up but Wade hits the floor to avoid it.  Kane chases him in and runs into a big boot to knock him back to the floor as we take a break.  Back with Barrett holding a chinlock that is quickly broken.

Kane charges into an elbow and takes another big boot.  Barrett really likes that move.  He chokes Kane on the middle rope as Booker criticizes him for wasting time.  All the choking gets him a one count so let’s hit that chinlock.  Big uppercut takes him down after the hold is broken.  Barrett keeps expanding his moveset by hitting a DDT for two.  Middle rope elbow misses as the announcers are talking about ducks.  I think I’m glad I missed what got us there.

To the shock of everyone Kane busts out a pretty good cross body for two.  It’s followed by a big boot of his own for two.  Clothesline in the corner and a side slam get two.  Top rope clothesline looks to set up the chokeslam.  That gets reversed so Kane tries what looks like either a tombstone or a powerslam but Barrett gets out of that also.  Boss Man Slam gets a close two as this is getting good.  Doesn’t last long though as Barrett misses a big boot and Kane is able to hit the chokeslam for the pin at 8:37 shown of 12:07.

Rating: B. I like both of these guys and they put on a good match here.  This is one of those matches where both guys look good which is a good sign.  Barrett certainly doesn’t look weaker for losing and it’s not like Kane winning is a shocking upset.  Barrett keeps using his varying offense and it makes for entertaining matches.  The rating might be a bit high but I liked this quite a bit.

We see Henry attacking the guy earlier.  He’s been taking to the hospital and his vital signs are good.

Time for the contract signing.  Christian comes out with a lawyer with him.  He says there’s a clause in the contract saying that if there’s a bad decision or unfair call he gets an automatic rematch.  He swears he can beat Orton and cuts the champ off when he tries to talk.  The WWE and the fans can’t save their golden boy anymore because Orton can’t beat him.

Orton talks about how they had great matches and Orton kept winning.  Now we’ve gotten to all this and it’s making him angry.  As you know, he’s had problems in the past controlling his anger.  Lawyers won’t help him though because the only way he can get the title is to beat Orton, and that won’t happen.  Orton signs it up and hands it to Christian.  The lawyer reads it first and whispers something to Christian.

He goes to sign but the pen doesn’t work.  Teddy goes into his pocket for another pen but here’s Sheamus, returning from being punted and massacring both guys.  RKO is blocked and it’s a Brogue Kick for both guys.  Sheamus picks up the contract that doesn’t have Christian’s signature yet and rips it up.  He leaves both guys laying to end the show.

Overall Rating: A. Well that was a pretty awesome TV show.  You had some good matches, the main event scene has a new element added to it which was needed as Christian vs. Orton can only happen so many times.  Almost every match got some time and the whole thing was very good.  No bad matches, everything made sense, stories were advanced and the whole thing was very efficient.  Nice to see Smackdown bounce back after a few weaker shows.

Results

Randy Orton b. Mark Henry via countout

Daniel Bryan b. Ted DiBiase – Guillotine choke

Christian b. Sin Cara – Spear

Cody Rhodes b. Ezekiel Jackson – Cross Rhodes

Kane b. Wade Barrett – Chokeslam

I can’t believe I didn’t put something up on this sooner.

As I’m sure you’ve all seen by now, Punk had an awesome promo on Monday that was at least somewhat shoot.  What are your thought on where he’s going and what he’ll be doing in the future?

At the moment, I’m thinking he’s going away, at least for awhile and that Cena gets the clean win.  I think we’re probably building this up too highly, because the whole thing ends with a single fall.  I’d like to be wrong, but I don’t think it can end any other way.