This is one of those feuds that people always mention among the best ever, but every time I watch some of the matches from it, I’m blown away all over again by how freaking AWESOME they are. These guys had some of the best chemistry you’ll ever see in wrestling and I don’t recall them ever having a bad match against each other. I don’t really have a point to this other than I love this feud and I felt like talking about it and why it’s awesome. Let’s get to it.

Before we get to the reasons this was awesome, let’s get through the basic story of it. Vader had been around WCW for a year or two but didn’t do much. Then he was paired up with Harley Race and got a world title match against the resident superhero and WCW World Champion Sting. They fought in the Omni in WCW’s home city of Atlanta and in very basic terms, Sting got massacred. Vader beat him from one side of the arena to the other with Sting not getting in much offense at all. The beating became so bad that Vader was disqualified and Sting literally escaped with the title.

They had a rematch a few months later (to sell Sting’s injuries from the match. That’s very important as it made Vader look like even more of a monster) at the Great American Bash and things got interesting. Sting did WAY better this time, hitting Vader with almost everything he had and literally throwing him around the ring (Remember that Vader is roughly 450lbs and a MONSTER) for over fifteen minutes…..and then got powerbombed to death and Vader won the title.

Between July and December, Vader lost the title to Ron Simmons, but both he and Sting were entered into the King of Cable (This wasn’t about cable TV. This was about the ropes being made of cable. WCW was actually confused as to why most people didn’t get this) Tournament. The finals were at Starrcade 1992 and Sting had been talking about a new strategy against Vader. Watching the match, you can see Sting’s basic pattern: when he goes all insane and aggressive, Vader destroys him. When Sting takes his time and makes Vader miss, Sting takes over. Midway through the match, Vader starts beating on Sting again, but Sting tells him to bring it on, resulting in Vader being spent and allowing Sting to FINALLY catch Vader in a powerslam to win the tournament.

At SuperBrawl III there was a strap match where Sting agreed to fight Vader in a match based on power. Sting may be a lot of things, but smart has never been one of them. To the shock of almost no one, Vader completely overpowered Sting and won the match by hogtying Sting and touching all four corners. They then feuded over Vader’s WCW World Title in Europe and traded the title back and forth in a week.

Over the summer and into late 1993, they feuded with each other in a variety of tag matches with various partners. In the spring of 1994, the main event of a PPV was going to be Vader vs. Rick Rude for the WCW International Title, but since Rude had a career ending injury, the title was returned to the former champion Sting (WCW made little sense at times if that wasn’t already clear) but Sting wanted a match to earn the title. The natural opponent to pick: the #1 contender, Vader (Someone has to explain this logic to me. Shouldn’t it have been Vader being handed the title and then him having to earn it?). Anyway the match wasn’t great but it was still one of the best matches of the night.

The final match was actually a threeway involving the Big Boss Man who was eliminated early, leaving Sting vs. Vader. To give you an idea of how good Vader and Sting were, the match (through MORE WCW idiocy) wound up being about who could knock the other off their feet first (Vader won due to cheating), and it was STILL arguably the best match of the night. You could watch these two fight over a game of Chinese checkers and it would be interesting.

Now the interesting question is WHY these matches and the feud were so great. There are a few different reasons here and we’ll start with the most important one: the results weren’t obvious. Look back at the matches in the feud that I listed. A quick count shows that the results are 4-3 in favor of Vader. The key idea to this is that it’s not clear who is going to win. By comparison, John Cena and Chris Jericho have fought on PPV in singles matches or triple threats five times. Cena is undefeated. To the best of my knowledge, Chris Jericho has a total of one televised one on one win against John Cena, which was in their first match when Cena was a rookie.

Having the winner of a match being pretty obvious doesn’t make things interesting. It takes something special to overcome an obvious ending to a match. Look at Undertaker’s Wrestlemania matches for an example where this can work. It took people like HHH and HBK to make those matches interesting, because there was no way someone like Mark Henry was going to end the Streak. That’s the main reason a feud like Vader and Sting worked: it was a legitimate rivalry instead of Sting beating Vader every time, giving you an uncertainty of who is going to win. Think of it like this: it’s rare that a movie or book is as good if you’ve heard the ending, because the payoff isn’t there.

A second reason these matches worked is the formula. It’s a classic story of a hero against a monster. Sting was the undisputed top man in the company and by 1992, it was a pretty safe bet to say that he was the most popular wrestler in the world, given that Hogan was on an indefinite hiatus. Vader was an unstoppable monster that only Sting could stop and you can connect the dots yourself here. The idea of a classic story is one that you can run at any time and get a reaction. Hero vs. monster is one of the most classic stories of all time and it’s never not going to work.

Third, and arguably the most important depending on how you look at it, the matches were really good. I know that sounds simple, but that’s a very important point that a lot of feuds don’t have. Look at Flair vs. Rhodes. It’s another classic story (wealth/elite status vs. the common man) where the promos were great and the fans were into the feud, but the matches SUCKED.

Sting is one of those wrestlers that gravitates to the kind of wrestler he’s facing. If his opponent is good, he’ll have a good match. If his opponent is bad though, the match is going to suck. Vader happens to be one of the best big men workers of all time, and Sting had the power and speed combination that works perfectly against him. You had Sting selling like a madman out there for Vader, causing the crowd to erupt whenever Sting would make a comeback. Vader would then kill Sting dead with a few HARD shots and the sequence would start all over again.

Finally, the matches were mixed up. Look at the list of matches I gave you. We had title matches, tournament finals, gimmick matches, tag matches and multiple man matches. It wasn’t the same stuff every single time and you had to wait between each match to get another one on one encounter, even if it was just a little time. This is the way to keep the feud fresh, which is something that so often misses anymore. Look at the recent snoozefest known as Alberto Del Rio vs. Sheamus. There were three PPV matches and two of them ended with Sheamus Brogue Kicking Del Rio for the pin. Mix it up a little. Throw out the Cloverleaf for one of them. You know, the move that Sheamus had built up for weeks.

Overall, Sting vs. Vader is one of the best feuds ever for a lot of reasons, ranging from how back and forth it was, to how high quality the story was, to how the feud was kept fresh. You don’t get stories like this too often anymore, mainly due to how fast the turnover is in them, but when you do you’ll often hear them compared to this one. Sting vs. Vader is one of those matches that I throw on every now and then when I just want to see a fun match. Check them out, especially the Starrcade one as I can almost guarantee you’ll be impressed by something in it.

I mentioned this in the review last night but it deserves its own mention here.Last night on Raw, we saw WWE rip off the Clair Lynch storyline that TNA ran a few months back.  We have Cena in the role of AJ Styles, being accused of an affair and having a plausible excuse for every piece of evidence presented to him.  Vickie is now playing the role of Kaz and Daniels as the accuser and AJ is playing a not-angry Clair Lynch.  This is the consensual PG version, but it’s the same story.

If this is the best they can come up with, they’re in trouble.

If you haven’t seen/read about Raw from last night and don’t want to be surprised, go check it out before you read this because there are heavy spoilers inside this.

This is one of those posts that isn’t going to make a ton of sense in a few months (hopefully), but for now it’s what’s on my mind. In short, Raw has been especially bad for weeks now and last night’s (this is October 30, 2012) was one of the worst episodes I can remember in years. Not that it was actively bad, but that it was so dull and counterproductive that it might as well not have existed. There were two major areas that are causing all these problems though, and today I’m going to use last night’s Raw as to illustrate this. Let’s get to it.

We’re going to go step by step through Raw (it won’t take long) and then I’ll get to my conclusion. My first major problem with Raw though is that NO FUN IS ALLOWED. The opening segment is about Ryback, a guy who at least got the crowd excited, getting the rug cut out from under him at the PPV. Want to cheer this guy who is unstoppable? WELL SCREW YOU! HE LOSES! Ryback gets to squash a jobber and the fans get to do his cheer.

Then we have Wade Barrett vs. Orton. This is going to be covered in the second major issue.

We go to Vickie and AJ in the back. Here we have Vickie laughing at AJ and making her beg for her job because of some affair and a romantic dinner. In other words, we have a person losing her job doing the thing she loves. This is a stretch, but in an economy like the United States is in today, talking about losing your job isn’t exactly going to thrill fans. Ignoring that though, this is another segment about stuff that isn’t fun (or interesting but that’s another discussion) and looks grim.

Next up is HELL NO vs. the Prime Time Players. This can be classified as laid back, but the most popular part of the champions, as in the comedy sketches they did, are long gone and they’re just arguing. This segment is a lot better than most of the stuff on the show but it’s not great.

Now we get a recap of the Punk/Ryback/referee stuff to further hammer it in.

Vickie calls Cena to the ring and we get the WWE version of the AJ/Claire Lynch story from TNA a few months back. This involves Cena being accused of having an affair with AJ (are either of them even married right now? Does it even qualify as an affair?) and having to explain away photos, videos, and jokes he makes. Ziggler comes out and gets shoved down as well. How is this supposed to be entertaining or something I want to see?

The next match is champion vs. champion with Antonio Cesaro vs. Kofi Kingston. This will also be covered in the second point.

And now we get to the exception that proves the rule: the 3MB, a goofy, WAY over the top band gimmick played by Jinder Mahal, Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre. This is presented in a Behind The Music segment where they refuse to play any music and act as stupid as possible. Remember this segment because it’s going to be referenced later. 3MB also wins a match over Ryder/Santino.

AJ beats Beth on a fluke after the cute and tiny AJ gets crushed by Beth for about two minutes. This is IMMEDIATELY changed because Vickie wants to torture AJ some more and Beth beats her in ten seconds.

Now we have Sheamus and Big Show talking about going to WAR with each other. Not a fight, not a battle, but war. SERIOUS don’t you know.

Then Cena tells AJ it’s ok. Vickie comes up and fires Beth for winning a match. Not only is it more serious and mean stuff, but it doesn’t make sense.

A long tag match follows with the fan favorites Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio losing to Rhodes and Sandow. Quick sidebar: the Rhodes Scholars is a cool name for a team. Team Rhodes Scholars sounds ridiculous.

After all that other stuff, let’s talk about CANCER! This goes on for about eight minutes with Cena presenting a check to a cancer charity. That’s a cool thing to do, but again it’s depressing, especially with the video reminding us that most people know someone who has suffered from breast cancer.

Then Justin Gabriel gets squashed by Alberto Del Rio. Remember last week when Gabriel had a good match and looked like he was being moved up the card? WELL SCREW YOU FOR GETTING EXCITED! HE HAS TO LOSE TO DEL RIO BECAUSE……WELL SOMEONE HAS TO! More on this later.

We close out the show with the announcements of the teams for the Survivor Series matches. Again, a serious subject for a main event which has nothing on the line but pride. Also, Punk gets to look like an idiot because he thinks Ryback isn’t in the match. Nice touch there guys.

This ends point one, so let’s look at the second point that is holding WWE back: nothing goes anywhere. Let’s again look through Raw for examples.

We’ll begin with Ryback. Ryback dominates for six months and then loses in his first major match because of a crooked referee. Why is he crooked? Why did he do it? That’s not important enough to address in the first show after it happened. Ryback appears to still be a factor in the main event, but the initial spark is gone and they can never get it back.

Now here we get to the main extreme of this issue: Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton. Orton lost to Barrett on Smackdown, then tonight Orton beat Barrett. What does this accomplish? That’s not a rhetorical question. I honestly don’t know what the point of it is. Orton doesn’t look better than Barrett and Barrett doesn’t look better than Orton as they both come out 1-1. They’re both at the same place they were before this exchange of wins started and now Orton is back to facing Del Rio this Wednesday on Main Event. We’ve wasted a match that might make people want to pay money to see (don’t believe me? WWE ran it as a PPV main event before) twice in four days on free TV and no one gained anything from it.

Let’s talk about Barrett a little more while we’re on the subject because he’s an example of the crux of this whole problem. The following statement was written before HIAC and doesn’t involve Barrett, but it fits perfectly.

WWE wants to push let’s say Kofi. Kofi pins Miz and gets pushed. Well now Miz needs to get his heat back so let’s have him beat Brodus. Brodus looks weak now so have him get a fluke win over Del Rio. Del Rio is angry so he destroys Kofi.

Now we’re say two weeks later, everyone is 1-1 and no one is any stronger than they were when the whole cycle started. Then the cycle starts all over again and there’s no one to get behind because they’re all the same and no one of the four looks ready to move up because they’re the same as everyone else. Then Cena gets hurt and you get lucky that there’s one guy you haven’t jobbed out yet and the fans are getting behind. If Ryback wasn’t there, who in the world were they going to throw at Punk? Orton? Maybe? They need to fix this FAST so there are people to get behind. Stop worrying that these people are going to get hot and leave and enjoy them while you’ve got them there.

How many people does this apply to in WWE? Someone comes in hot, dominates for a few weeks, and then loses to someone else or is just not pushed anymore (think Brodus in the last month). This doesn’t do anyone any good and it’s a big part of why no one can ever seem to get any elevation on the roster anymore.

After that match we had the tag champions facing the Prime Time Players. Why? The Players lost clean at the PPV, so why should they get a chance to face the tag team champions? The titles weren’t on the line, but a win would have launched the Players up in the rankings, likely ahead of a team they lost to a single day ago. Bascially what is being said here is the match at the PPV meant nothing and Sin Cara and Mysterio’s win was worthless.

Cesaro vs. Kingston. This is another great example of the booking being worthless. The Miz was on commentary for this match and Cole constantly talked about how Kofi had beaten Miz three times in a row. The problem here can be summed up in a pair of simple questions: if Miz has lost to Kofi three times in a row, 1) why should I think he has a chance in the fourth match and 2) if Miz wins the fourth match, so what? It puts him at 1-3 in this series, yet by wrestling logic he’ll be declared the winner because he wins last. That’s never made sense to me but it’s how wrestling works.

The 3MB beats Marella/Ryder. Again this is fine as Marella/Ryder are jobbers and the 3MB are a new team (who lost their first match).

AJ vs. Beth Phoenix happened twice with AJ getting destroyed but winning the first match, then getting slammed and pinned in the second about 45 seconds later. Not only does AJ’s win mean nothing at all, but she looked bad in getting the win. This begs the question: why have the second match? “To have a reason to fire Beth.” Here’s another way to fire Beth: DON’T PUT HER ON TV AND RELEASE HER! As usual, WWE makes problems they don’t need to have.

Now it’s Sin Cara/Mysterio vs. the Scholars. Based on the match last night, it appears that the masked guys are getting a push, but now they lose to the Scholars? Easy solution: don’t have them fight. Put the Usos in there instead of the masked guys and have the masked guys beat the Players earlier. The masked guys still win, the Players lose, the Scholars win, and you have a potential big match saved for later. Also this puts the Scholars up 2-0 over the masked guys in two weeks, making any future matches look less interesting ala Miz vs. Kofi.

Remember earlier when I said WWE makes problems they don’t need to have? Gabriel vs. Del Rio is a great example of that. As I said earlier, Gabriel’s win last week looks to mean nothing now. Want to keep the idea of him getting pushed alive? Don’t have him fight here. With the roster WWE has, they don’t have ANYBODY else to put in there? Not Derrick Bateman or, I don’t know, A JOBBER? Yoshi Tatsu anyone?

Finally we get to the Survivor Series announcement. The teams are the usual idea of matching up feuds in an elimination match, but at the end of the day, this match means nothing. The team is called Team Foley, which AGAIN takes the focus off Ryback and puts it on someone else. This is what happened with Cena last week and it’s happening again here. Put SOMETHING on the match so that it means something. Ryback gets a rematch maybe?

So after looking at Raw last night, it’s clear that we have at least two problems: things are too serious, and the matches/booking go nowhere. Why would I want to watch this show? It’s not targeted to me, because stuff like affairs and managing supervisors and fake pictures don’t interest me whatsoever. They don’t interest children either, so who is this show marketed to?

In the review of the show, I mentioned the idea of comic relief. By that, I mean WWE needs to have something on their show where we can breathe for five minutes. Even the Divas have a big serious story going now with someone attacking Kaitlyn and blonde wigs and whatever else is going on. I know I criticized them a lot but sometimes you need good looking women in tiny outfits having bad matches for the sake of bad matches.

For an example of how this can be a problem, look at Wrestlemania 19 with me for a second. The last probably two hours or so are spent on the following in order (matches only):

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho

HHH vs. Booker T (Raw World Title)

Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. McMahon

The Rock vs. Steve Austin

Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle (Smackdown World Title)

That’s A LOT to sit through in a row. While the matches are all at least pretty good, they’re all big and sitting through four straight matches that could be called the main event of the show with no break is a lot to ask. For a comparison, let’s look at Wrestlemania X7’s final five matches.

Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon

TLC 2

Gimmick Battle Royal

Undertaker vs. HHH

The Rock vs. Steve Austin

By simply throwing in an easy match, you give the fans a chance to breathe (as well as go to a restroom and buy nachos and soda for the two big matches. No joke, that’s a good thing to do). If that portion of the Mania 19 card looked like this instead:

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho

Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. McMahon

Chris Benoit/Rhyno vs. Los Guerreros vs. Team Angle (Smackdown Tag Titles)

The Rock vs. Steve Austin

Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar (Smackdown World Title)

By having the Raw World Title moved earlier, that last stretch is MUCH easier to sit through. My point is exactly the same for Raw: give us something where we can turn our brains off and not have to be all focused. It doesn’t have to be comedy even. Just give us something simple that doesn’t mean much. Put out a simple Divas match or a Tyson Kidd match or whatever you like that can go nice and easy with zero thought from us. You have 8.5 hours of TV a week. I’m sure you can come up with five minutes to spare for something like this.

In short, Raw’s main problems are that it’s WAY too serious with no relief and the booking goes nowhere for various reasons. Why would I as a fan want to sit through three hours a week of wrestling that isn’t very entertaining, has no idea what its target audience is, and gives me zero reason to get behind almost anyone on its show? That’s not entertaining television, which is why Raw has been so awful the last few weeks, among other reasons of course.

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 29, 2012
Location: Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jim Ross

It’s past HIAC and we’re on the way to Survivor Series now. Ryback got screwed over by the referee that Punk and Heyman yelled at a few weeks ago because of the botched call in the Cena match. Other than that we’ve got Big Show as Smackdown Champion in a decision I like the less I see it. I’m not sure what’s coming tonight but let’s get to it.

Here’s a very banged up champion (Punk) to open the show. He says everyone thought, nay they KNEW, that Punk would be just another victim (hi Taz) in the path of destruction of Ryback. Punk points at a lot of people and says they were wrong. He talks about beating all of the heroes the WWE fans have: Mysterio, Orton, Cena, and now Ryback. As for the referee last night, he had nothing to do with it and only took advantage of the situation. He talks about how awesome his reign is and how there’s no rematch with Ryback.

Cue Foley with an interruption that annoys Punk. Punk: “It’s a homeless guy who got misplaced by the storms in the northeast.” Foley talks about how Ryback left Punk laying on top of the Cell and Punk wants to know why Foley is here. Mick talks about how he told Punk to make himself famous in the Cell instead of cheating again. Punk says that the bandages on his body are the results of doing what Foley told him to do.

Punk rips into the audience a bit and says that the belt is what represents tradition for the last 344 days. The champ throws out the idea of Team Foley vs. Team Punk at Survivor Series and Foley says you’re on. Cue Ryback and Punk runs. No word on if Foley is wrestling in the match or not.

Ryback vs. JTG

Meathook, Shell Shock, 1:58. A lot of that was JTG walking around and a Thesz Press into the head smashes into the mat.

Post match Ryback…..talks? He says that revenge is an admission of pain. He isn’t hurt and the next time he feasts, it will be on Punk. FEED ME PUNK.

Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton

Is there some rule that says if you have one match, you have to have it again on the next TV show? Orton dropkicks Wade to the floor but Wade goes after the bad arm. Randy is like DRAMATIC STARE and rams Wade into the steps and the announce table. Back in and Orton hits the Circle Stomp followed by a clothesline to take Barrett to the floor. Uh oh, it’s been less than five minutes since we had a commercial, so let’s go to a break.

Back with Barrett holding an armbar followed by a different variety of an armbar (that’s a good thing) to have Orton in trouble. Wade cranks the arm and sends Orton down to the mat for two. There’s the big boot to Orton in the ropes which gets another two. Orton comes back with his usual stuff (clotheslines, powerslam, you know the deal) but after the Elevated DDT, the RKO is countered into the Winds of Change for two. Not that it matters as the second attempt at the RKO gets the pin at 10:11.

Rating: C. I like Barrett, but YET AGAIN he’s a guy that gets off to a hot start and then turns into cannon fodder for the established names. But hey, it’s his fault for not getting over right? To be fair, Barrett at least gets in a good deal of offense and never looks like a clueless putz out there. This was nothing compared to their match on Smackdown though.

We go to Vickie and AJ in the back with AJ possibly getting a job as a Diva back. Vickie asks what AJ thinks her weakness is and she says she gets too attached to her job. Vickie says that means you’re crazy right? AJ has to come up with a good reason to get her job back when Vickie gets back.

HELL NO vs. Prime Time Players

Lose on PPV, fight the champions on Raw. Makes sense. Bryan fires off kicks to Young to start but Kane tags himself in and beats on Darren a bit as well. Young takes over on Bryan as Cole called him Darren O’Neil. Bryan realizes he’s getting beaten up by Darren Young and makes the tag to Kane. The side slam sets up the top rope clothesline and a chokeslam kills Young. Titus is shoved to the floor and the NO Lock gets the tap from Young at 4:22.

Rating: D+. Total squash here as the Players, who three months ago seemed like the next champions, are now the tag team jobbers. At least the champions get to look good here which is the right idea for them. The bickering is still funny but I’d like a few more comedy bits from them which have just stopped happening anymore.

The champs argue post match.

We recap the opening promo.

We recap the history of Brad Maddox, with the guy being brought in as a referee when we needed more for the three hour shows. He messed up a count on Punk in a tag match and then somehow his next major appearance is refereeing a world title match in the main event of a PPV. Makes sense.

Here’s Vickie to talk about the new era on Raw. This would be the third new era on Raw this year if you’re counting. She has evidence of AJ and Cena’s inappropriate relationship and brings out Cena to present it. We get a clip from three weeks ago where Cena jokingly asked AJ out on a date. Cena talks about how he tells jokes all the time but Vickie has more footage of Cena hugging a crying AJ. Vickie shows us a still of Cena at dinner with AJ. Cena is wearing his t-shirt and there’s a candle.

The last video is Cena in his hotel doorway and Cena seemingly inviting AJ in. Apparently it was an elevator. Cena says it was nothing and they went their separate ways. Vickie laughs evil and insults AJ, but Cena defends her. FINALLY Ziggler comes out to hopefully make this something resembling interesting if you have 20/4000 vision and squint. Cena says don’t talk about him and AJ anymore and shoves Ziggler down. This felt like WWE ripping off the Claire Lynch story.

Antonio Cesaro vs. Kofi Kingston

Antonio makes fun of America having fat kids which is going to get worse because of Halloween. Miz is on commentary and neither title is on the line. Cole talks about how Kofi has beaten Miz three times in a row. Yet the feud looks to be continuing. You know: because THAT MAKES SENSE. Miz lists off his accomplishments as Cesaro slams Kofi down and double stomps him. After a chinlock goes on for a bit they head to the floor where Kofi throws Cesaro at Miz. Miz interferes for the DQ at 2:32.

The heels beat down Kofi post match until Truth makes the save.

Vickie continues to annoy AJ and offers to give AJ a job as a Diva if AJ admits to the affair. Vickie hires her back anyway and AJ gets to face Beth Phoenix tonight.

We go Behind the Music with 3MB. Mahal says he’s the fun one and Drew talks about his looks. They refuse to perform and THEY HAVE HAND SIGNS. This was so campy that it was AWESOME.

Santino Marella/Zack Ryder vs. 3MB

Drew is on the floor for this. Mahal and Ryder start things off with Ryder taking over. Mahal gets in a knee and it’s off to Slater who takes over. Ryder gets beaten on for awhile before Santino gets the tag. Everything breaks down and the match gets REALLY sloppy until Santino Cobras McIntyre, allowing Slater to hit MVP’s Play of the Day for the pin at 3:51.

Rating: D. It’s 9:37pm EST right now and 3MB has been by far and away the most entertaining thing on this show. Here’s why: it’s the only thing (other than maybe HELL NO) that isn’t being treated as the most serious thing on the planet. It’s something FUN, which is probably the biggest problem on Raw right now: everything is treated so seriously and it’s hard to sit through as it gets tiring after awhile. Sometimes it’s ok to just throw something light and silly out there and let the fans know they’re watching an entertainment show, not a high strung drama.

Jerry Lawler returns to Raw in two weeks. That’s awesome.

AJ vs. Beth Phoenix

Beth glares at AJ to start and says AJ should be scared. Beth shoves her and AJ goes nuts, but Beth slams her down onto the mat. AJ gets her face rubbed into the mat and we head to the floor. AJ gets rammed into the barricade but back inside she grabs a rollup for the pin at 2:08.

Vickie comes out post match and demands more from AJ. Beth jumps her so Vickie says restart the match. Glam Slam gets the pin in like ten seconds.

Video on WWE 13.

Here’s Sheamus sans belt for the first time in months. He says that he’s got a smile on his face but no title. Show was the better man last night but it took two knockout punches to do it. He didn’t come to WWE to win all the time. He came here to fight. Last night was the greatest fight of his life and Big Show won. The war is far from over though and he wants a rematch with Big Show. After the war is over, he’ll be smiling and still champion.

Cue Big Show who is very happy to have the title back. He says that the fight last night took him to levels that he didn’t know he could reach and thinks that no one can beat him. If Sheamus fights him again, it’s going to take more than Sheamus has to win. Sheamus can’t beat him and he’ll never take the title from him. He calls Sheamus a ginger snap, so Sheamus picks him up and hits White Noise with ease. That’s scary power.

Cena is with AJ in the back and says it’ll be ok. Cena leaves and Vickie pops up to yell at….Beth. Vickie FIRES Beth because the match shouldn’t have needed to be restarted. That’s how they’re writing her off TV I guess.

Rhodes Scholars vs. Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio

Cara and Sandow start things off and Damien is quickly frustrated. Off to Cody who gets kicked by both guys and covered for two by Rey. The Scholars cheat and take over on Rey but the masked dudes start cheating as well. Cara hits a PERFECT Asai Moonsault to take Cody out as Rey hits a seated senton off the apron on Sandow as we take ANOTHER FREAKING BREAK.

Back with Damien tagging in Cody to work on the down Sin Cara. A long delayed gordbuster gets two for Cody and it’s time for arm work. Damien comes in and does nothing but Cara reverses an Alabama Slam into a sunset flip for two. Cara’s spinning mat slam puts Cody down and there’s the hot tag to Rey. Rey speeds things up but gets sent to the floor where the Scholars double team him to take over. Sandow comes in and hits the Wind Up Elbow before tagging back to Rhodes.

Rey counters a double suplex into a double DDT and there’s the tag to Cara. Cara hits a top rope cross body on Rhodes and an enziguri on Sandow for two before going to the floor with Cody. Everything breaks down and Cody pulls Sandow out of the way of a Swanton from Cara, allowing Sandow to hit the Terminus for the pin at 14:43.

Rating: C-. Not a bad match here but it’s the weekly match that gets extended because we can only stretch out so many recaps and stupid segments. The match was fine, but was there any reason to have the masked guys lose tonight? Why not have them off the card, have Santino/Marella lose here, and have some other random team put the Band over? It’s like you could keep the masked guys hot and put the Scholars over at the same time!

Foley is playing a video game when Heyman comes up and they banter about the Survivor Series match a bit.

Video on breast cancer. Make that a long one about it. Eh it’s the last show of the month with this stuff. The roster (most of it) comes on stage and Cena presents a check to the Susan G Komen Foundation in the amount of one million dollars. Ok that’s awesome. The people from the foundation speak a bit.

Justin Gabriel vs. Alberto Del Rio

Alberto pounds him down to start but Gabriel comes back with a corner clothesline. Gabriel sends him to the floor but Del Rio wrenches Gabriel’s arm to take over. Off to an arm hold as Ricardo yells at a Hogan fan at ringside. A suplex puts Gabriel down and it’s back to the arm hold. Del Rio kicks him in the back a bit and puts the hold on for a third time. Gabriel comes back and hits his top rope Lionsault but it’s the armbreaker for the tap at 5:20.

Rating: D+. Gabriel beats the US Champion last week, loses to him last night, then gets squashed tonight. All those fans that looked at Gabriel as something new, SCREW YOU! HE’S A LOSER! That’s the WWE idea anymore: keep people looking weak even if they’re big names, because only a few people are allowed to stay pushed.

Here are Heyman and Punk to announce the Survivor Series teams. Punk comes out in a WWE 13 video game hoodie. A big banner comes down with the cover of the game on it. Heyman has been asked to pick Team Punk, so his first name is The Miz. He’s also picked the Rhodes Scholars and Alberto. If it’s not clear at this point who most of Foley’s team is (assuming he’s not wrestling), you need to pay better attention.

Punk runs his mouth a bit before Foley cuts him off again. Foley says Punk weaseled his way out of the Cell last night instead of surviving. He has no problem referring to Punk as champion, but he does have a problem addressing him as a man. Foley’s team is about what you would expect: Kofi (no belt), HELL NO (no belts either), Orton and….Punk starts running his mouth when he thinks Foley is the fifth man. Since….you know what, screw the joke. Ryback is the fifth man, Punk is suddenly an IDIOT that didn’t see that coming, and a brawl (Punk runs from Ryback) won by Team Foley with Cody getting killed by Ryback ends the show.

Overall Rating: D. This was another bad three hour Raw which is the norm. I’m not going to go into full details of why I didn’t like this Raw as I don’t have the time right now to get into everything in depth, but for now, we’ll go with this: you may have heard of something called comic relief. Think about that term for a second.

It’s comedy used to take pressure off something. That’s what this show is dying for right now. Other than the 3MB and maybe HELL NO, everything is serious. We’ve got people fighting to keep their jobs, accusations of affairs, war, and CANCER. It’s ok to do something stupid every now and then and it can really make things better. In short, lighten up already. It’s not the most serious show in the world.

I know that’s not much to go on, but I’ll be back tomorrow (or Wednesday) with a much more in depth look at what I think is wrong with WWE and Raw in particular.

Results

Ryback b. JTG – Shell Shock

Randy Orton b. Wade Barret – RKO

HELL NO b. Prime Time Players – NO Lock to Young

Kofi Kingston b. Antonio Cesaro via DQ when Miz interfered

3MB b. Santino Marella/Zack Ryder – Spinning Neckbreaker to Marella

AJ b. Beth Phoenix – Small Package

Rhodes Scholars b. Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio – Terminus to Cara

Alberto Del Rio b. Justin Gabriel – Cross Armbreaker

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Hell in a Cell 2012
Date: October 28, 2012
Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jim Ross, John Bradshaw Layfield

The main event here is Ryback vs. Punk and there’s one thing I love about it: I have no idea who is going to win. They really could go either way and as a big supporter of Rybac, I’d love to see it. The main event is in need of a major change, so why not Ryback? The main issue for him though is that the fans are going to have the Goldberg chants going on high tonight. The Sheamus vs. Big Show match should be good too. Let’s get to it.

On the preshow, here’s Cena to address the AJ/Vickie/Cena story. Apparently Vickie has evidence of the inappropriate relationship which she’ll show tomorrow on Raw. Tonight, Cena is answering questions from social media. The first questions is about him passing a torch to Ryback. Cena says no but he never had any fire to pass. A TOUT asks what advice Cena would give Ryback for the Cell tonight. Cena says that brute strength alone isn’t going to do it.

A Tweet asks if Cena could beat Ryback. Cena asks the fans who aren’t really clear on an answer. He does however say if Ryback wins the title, he’d love the first shot. Another TOUT is about what was Cena’s toughest match. Of course he says it’s the one against Rock. Cena wants another shot of course. This isn’t going anywhere is it? Another TOUT asks if Punk is the best in the world but Cena won’t say yes. Another TOUT is from Dolph Ziggler asks if Cena will tell the truth. Cena says the people should cheer Dolph because he used TOUT. If Dolph is here, why not just come out here and fight?

Here’s Dolph…..or make that Vickie. She says the fans are more confident in her than in Cena because Cena got his hand caught in the cookie jar. Ziggler finally charges and gets knocked right back to the floor. This was free on Youtube and I feel like I deserve a refund after sitting through it.

Now on to the actual show.

The opening video is about the two world title matches, just as it should be.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Randy Orton

That’s quite the opener. Orton immediately jumps Del Rio and we’re out on the floor very quickly. Alberto goes face first into the announce table and back inside we get the Orton Stomp. Orton stomps away in the corner until the referee pulls him off. Alberto throws him to the apron and rams the arm into the bar connecting the buckle to the post. Back in and Del Rio hooks a kind of armbar followed by something close to the armbreaker over the top rope.

Orton’s shoulder goes into the post and Randy is in big trouble. Alberto hooks a different kind of armbar to keep control. It’s nice to see the holds used being mixed up as watching the same stuff over and over again gets old in a hurry. Orton jumps over Del Rio out of the corner and grabs a rollup for two. Del Rio hits a DDT on the arm for two and puts on yet another kind of armbar, followed by another armbreaker over the rope. This time though Orton shoves Del Rio off and out to the floor. Basic storytelling and psychology there but it worked just as well.

Orton sets for the powerslam back inside but Del Rio hangs onto the ropes. More good psychology there as you can only have Orton or anyone use the same moves so many times before someone sees it coming. Del Rio tries the armbreaker but Orton makes the rope almost immediately. The backbreaker from Randy looks to set up the Elevated DDT but Del Rio counters into another shot on the arm. Alberto tries the RKO but gets countered into the Elevated DDT.

Randy tries the mat pounding but hurts his bad arm again. Nice touch there again. Del Rio hits the Backstabber for two but the armbreaker is countered into the powerslam for two. They go to the corner but Orton gets shoved off. He hangs on by the ropes but Del Rio hits a double stomp to Orton’s chest for two. This has been way better than I was expecting.

Just as I say that, Del Rio goes up and I think is supposed to jump into the RKO, but instead he just lands next to Orton and they’re completely out of sync now. The RKO is countered as Orton is sent into the corner where Ricardo rams the arm into the post. There’s the armbreaker but Orton somehow hangs on and rolls on top of Del Rio for two. Del Rio tries the running enziguri in the corner but Orton ducks and catches Del Rio in the RKO as he comes down for the pin at 13:06. That didn’t have the impact they were looking for I don’t think.

Rating: B-. This was higher until the jump off the top which looked horrible. Either way, this was a very nice surprise with some solid psychology and storytelling the whole way through. Orton isn’t great all the time but if you get him the right kind of opponent, which is usually a guy who isn’t a giant, he can have some solid matches and this was one of those. If the botch hadn’t happened, it would have been an excellent opener. With it, the match is just quite good.

We recap the AJ/Vickie/Cena stuff and Vickie says she’s got the pictures to prove the affair happened. Vickie turns around and runs into Heyman. Paul wants the match canceled but Vickie will have none of it. Heyman snaps at the theory that Ryback scares Punk and goes off on Vickie for a bit. Vickie continues to do nothing for me at all.

Tag Titles: HELL NO vs. Rhodes Scholars

The Scholars won this shot in a long tournament. In case it’s not clear, HELL NO is defending. The Scholars say that there’s one thing for sure: at the end of the night they’ll be able to say “WE ARE THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!” Funny stuff. Bryan vs. Sandow (in dark gray trunks, just like Cody) starts things off and Bryan hits a running knee to Damien’s ribs. Off to Kane for a low dropkick before it’s off to Cody for the same move for two.

Cody gets caught in the champions’ corner and it’s back to Bryan for some rapid fire kicks in the corner. Kane comes in again and throws Cody around again until Damien gets in a chop block to take Kane’s knee out. More leg work keeps Kane down but Sandow jumps into an uppercut. There’s the tag to Bryan who moonsaults over Sandow in the corner and hits a running clothesline to take Damien down. There are the NO Kicks and the Scholars are both sent to the floor. Bryan hits a BIG suicide dive to take them both out.

As they head back in, Cody grabs Bryan’s leg and Sandow knocks Daniel into the barricade. Back in and a running knee gets two for Rhodes as we enter the tag team formula mode. Bryan plays Ricky Morton for a bit as Cody comes in to work on the arm a bit. Bryan punches his way out of the corner but a knee to Bryan’s ribs takes him right back down. Off to Sandow again who pounds on the ribs for two.

Sandow’s windup elbow gets two (I’m not even going to try to spell the real name) and it’s off to a chinlock. Kane: “COME ON GOAT FACE LET’S GO!” That actually works as Bryan almost gets the NO Lock before hooking a drop toehold to send Sandow into the middle buckle. A double tag brings in Cody to face the fresh Kane and the Big Fried Freak takes over. The sidewalk slam gets two and the top rope clothesline kills Cody. Kane signals for the chokeslam but Bryan tags himself in and hits a Swan Dive, but Kane breaks up the cover.

Sandow pulls Kane to the floor and gets punched in the face. Bryan backdrops Cody to the floor onto Kane and misses the running knee, taking out Kane by mistake. The champs get into a shoving match and a pair of baseball slides take out Kane. Back in and Cody hits Cross Rhodes on Bryan but Kane makes the save. Kane is losing it and destroys everyone in sight drawing a lame DQ at 13:30 for beating on Sandow in the corner.

Rating: C+. This was getting good at the end before the lame DQ. They did set up another match later on which is fine, but with all of the teams they’ve got built up, do they really want to go another month with the same guys? Still though, entertaining enough match here and the champs fighting is almost always entertaining.

Sandow gets a chokeslam post match.

Miz talks about how Kofi brings mediocrity and mediocrity brings the end of civilization, so Kofi brings the end of the world. It ties into a show coming up about people who are preparing for doomsday if that clears up anything.

Intercontinental Title: The Miz vs. Kofi Kingston

The inflatable AWESOME from the Mania match with Cena is back. Kofi is defending and this is a rematch from a few weeks ago on Main Event. Both guys try and miss their finishers less than thirty seconds in, sending Miz to the floor to regroup. How much regrouping do you need after half a minute? Kofi jumps over the steps on the floor but Miz kicks his head off to take over. That gets two back in the ring and things slow down a bit.

Off to a chinlock for awhile followed by a clothesline to put Kofi down. There’s a top rope double ax for two and Miz punts him in the ribs. Miz’s corner clothesline is blocked by a hard clothesline from the champ and both guys are down. Kofi chops Miz down and hits the Boom Drop for two. Miz runs from Trouble in Paradise but gets caught by the spinning top rope cross body for two.

The SOS is countered into half of the Reality Check but they seem to miss on something before the neckbreaker. SOS gets two and Miz hits a kind of Stunner to the leg. Miz bends the leg around the ropes and takes off the leg pad and boot from Kofi’s left leg. Kofi gets to the second rope but Miz slams him off and puts on a half crab.

Kofi crawls to the ropes but Miz pulls it right back to the center. The champ counters into a cradle for two but Miz gets the same off a short DDT. Miz loads up the Finale but Kofi counters into a kind of victory roll for two. The kick misses for Kofi but the Finale can’t hit again. Miz gets kicked to the floor and as he comes back in, Kofi kicks him into oblivion for the pin to retain at 10:44.

Rating: C+. Another good and lengthy match here as this show is already better than anything WWE has thrown at us in weeks. This gets Miz out of the title picture and hopefully pushes him back up the card. Kofi is fine in this role and can be put with almost anyone to get a good match. Solid stuff here and a fine match.

Kofi says Miz has brought out the wildcat in him and that he’s proud to be the champion.

HELL NO argues again. Kane thinks Bryan almost lost because he was thinking about vegan candy. Bryan yells at Kane for bringing up Halloween when he’s always wearing a mask. Kane says that Bryan has been wearing a mask since he was born on Old McDonald’s Farm….AND HE SINGS THE SONG. Bryan: “YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE!” Kane: “No. I AM THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!” I love these two.

US Title: Antonio Cesaro vs. Justin Gabriel

Since we only had three announced matches left and it’s ten after 9, they had to add another match or two. Antonio says something in what sounds like German or Swiss before the match. Cesaro is defending and they’ve traded wins on Raw lately to set this up. Cesaro takes it to the mat as soon as the bell rings before cranking on the arm a bit. Gabriel counters a hip toss and monkey flips Cesaro down.

Justin goes up top but the champ knocks him off to the floor. Back in and a legdrop gets two for Cesaro and he pounds away with some rough looking shots to the head. An uppercut to the back of Gabriel’s head gets two and it’s off to a chinlock with a knee in the back of Justin. Cesaro puts him face down on the top rope and hits a running knee to the ribs. A double stomp gets another two on Gabriel and it’s back to the arm. The crowd is pretty dead for this so far.

Gabriel comes back and takes Cesaro down for a quick top rope Lionsault for two. Cesaro takes Justin’s head off with a clothesline for two. The champ pounds away in the corner but Gabriel comes out with a spinning DDT for two. Gabriel tries the 450 but rolls through when Cesaro moves. Cesaro goes to the floor so Justin hits a dropkick through the ropes for two. He heads back in but dives into the uppercut to knock Gabriel silly. Back in and the Neutralizer retains the title at 7:35.

Rating: C. I know there wasn’t much here, but having Cesaro run through the entire lower card is a fine way to keep him on TV without having him face guys he’s not ready to beat yet. It’s also a good way to make him look like more than he really is, which is something Cesaro needs. Imagine that: using jobbers to the stars to push someone higher up the card. It’s so crazy that it just might work.

Breast cancer is bad.

Video on Ryback and how unstoppable he is.

Heyman sucks up to Vickie in the back because apparently the Cell has been canceled. Vickie doesn’t seem to understand what he’s talking about. The match is still on.

Prime Time Players vs. Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara

Sin Cara and Darren start things off with Young slapping him around on the mat. Cara headscissors him down and there’s the tag to Rey. Cara has what looks like a Mysterio mask on the back of his own mask. The main event for Main Event this coming week is these four teaming with Del Rio and Orton respectively. Yep the card is already falling down. Off to Titus for some power to take over on Mysterio. A double elbow by the Players take Rey down and Young comes in for some near falls.

Off to a quick reverse chinlock by Young but Titus charges into a boot in the corner to let the masked guys make a tag. Back to Cara who speeds things up and hits a top rope cross body on Titus. Cara’s spinning armdrag out of the corner is caught by Titus and he rams Cara into the corner. Back to Darren to pounds away a bit more before hitting the belly to back suplex onto the apron for two.

Back to Titus who suplexes Young onto Sin for two. JR says the Players are trying to get a big payday for a win on a major PPV. What exactly would be a minor PPV? Titus yells at Cara in the corner and tells him to speak English, which will probably be a fine for O’Neal. Titus puts on a kind of abdominal stretch before slamming him down for two. Back to Young for a backbreaker which gets two. Titus gets in a three point stance but charges into the post.

Cara hits a kind of standing Sliced Bread #2 and makes the hot tag to Rey. Mysterio speeds things up and hits a tilt-a-whirl DDT on Darren for two. JR: “Keeping up with Rey is like trying to pour smoke through a keyhole.” JBL: “Who would want to do that?” Cara dives on Titus on the floor as Rey counters the gutbuster from Young into the 619 and top rope splash for the pin at 12:50.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t a bad match at all but it ran too long and overstayed its welcome. These guys are a good undercard feud for the tag division (imagine THAT say six months ago) and putting them on here was as decent enough of an idea as you were going to get. Either one of these teams could get a title shot, and that’s kind of cool to think about.

Cara may have hurt his neck but he gets up on his own power. Apparently on that standing Sliced Bread he landed on the top of his head.

WWE is promoting a Rolling Stones PPV concert.

We recap Big Show vs. Sheamus. The idea is that Sheamus can’t Brogue Kick Show but he wants to fight no matter what.

Smackdown World Title: Big Show vs. sheamus

Sheamus is defending. Show throws him around to start and Sheamus tries to brawl with him. That results in the champion being knocked down into the corner and Show is in command. Ziggler is watching with the case in the back. Sheamus knocks Show to the floor and as the challenger gets back in, Sheamus fires away with all he’s got. It does a bit of damage but Show shrugs it off and knocks Sheamus to the floor again.

We head to the floor with Show throwing Sheamus into the barricade. Back in and Show keeps pounding on Sheamus very slowly. He steps on Sheamus’ head and knocks the champ to the floor before sending him over the announce table. This has been almost all Show so far and Sheamus is looking like a ragdoll. Back in and Show hits the Eye of the Hurricane for two. I think he used to call that the Final Cut. Sheamus tries to fight back with some punches to the ribs but Show throws him over the top to the floor.

As Sheamus comes back in, he hits the slingshot shoulder but charges right into a superkick for two. Show knocks him down again with Sheamus only being able to get in some punches before charging into a bearhug. Show gets on his knee instead of picking Sheamus up, allowing Sheamus to hit some forearms. A slam doesn’t work at all and the Vader Bomb Elbow gets two for Show. He calls for the chokeslam but Sheamus counters into a DDT but the kickout sends Sheamus out to the floor.

Sheamus tries the ten forearms in the corner but Show shoves him off. The chokeslam hits but it only gets two. Show is getting ticked off now but he can’t hook the Colossal Clutch. Sheamus avoids an elbow and tries the Cloverleaf of all things but Show kicks him off. They head to the floor and Sheamus drives Show into the post a few times. Back in and Sheamus goes after the knee before hitting some ax handles to take Show down.

Sheamus hits White Noise and does it with EASE. That looked better than a lot of the AA’s Cena hits on Show. That only gets two and Sheamus charges into the WMD…..for two. Show tries another punch but Sheamus kicks Show’s head off…..FOR TWO. This is getting AWESOME. Sheamus gets WAY fires up but the Brogue Kick charges into the WMD for the pin and the title at 21:37.

Rating: B+. This was exactly what it was supposed to be: a heavyweight slugfest with Sheamus pounding away with everything he had but it just wasn’t enough. I would initially say that Show winning the title was a bad thing but the way they were going with the feud it was probably the best idea. This was a great match though and WAY better than I was expecting. The kickouts were great and the match worked really well. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but match of the night so far.

Eve tries to talk to Booker but Booker goes to check on Sheamus. Teddy says Eve is going to lose when Ryder comes up dressed as a witch. Oh ok he’s Eve. Teddy says that’s one letter off.

Vince is here and Punk asks him to cancel the match. Vince asks if Punk is afraid of Ryback but Punk says no and leaves.

Divas Title: Layla vs. Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn was attacked at Night of Champions and Layla had to defend against Eve instead of Kaitlyn. Eve won the title and was accused of attacking Kaitlyn, setting up this. The challengers double team Eve, argue a bit, and then double team Eve again. Eve and Kaitlyn finally start fighting and we get a pinfall reversal sequence. Eve comes back in and knocks Layla to the floor so she can beat on Kaitlyn a bit.

Eve works over Kaitlyn’s leg with a long hold until Layla finally gets back in. A hard kick to Eve’s face slows her down and Layla pounds away in the corner. A cross body gets two for Layla but Eve throws her into the splits. Eve gets thrown into the splits as well and Kaitlyn gives us a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER!!! Kaitlyn puts Layla in a Fujiwara Armbar but Eve makes the save. The crowd dies as the match starts to drag. Kaitlyn hits Stratusfaction on Eve to send her to the floor and powerslams Eve down. Eve hits a middle rope Swanton to break up the pin and covers Layla to retain the title at 6:39.

Rating: C-. The girls are getting better and they have an actual story anymore, but the fans still don’t care. This is MILES better than they were having a few months ago, but at the same time it’s still nothing to write home about. Kaitlyn appears to be the future but I’m still not sold on her at all. Decent match that ran too long.

Big Show brags about getting the title back and dares anyone to try to take it from him. That sounds like a match for Ryback once he’s done with Punk.

Sheamus is getting looked at.

We recap Punk vs. Ryback. Punk and Cena were feuding, then Cena got hurt and Ryback was the next best thing they could come up with. It’s in the Cell because the calendar says it needs to be.

The Cell is lowered. Cole says the Cell was introduced 15 years ago. My goodness do I feel old.

Raw World Title: Ryback vs. CM Punk

I honestly don’t know who is going to win here and I love that feeling. The Goldberg chants start before the music hits. Ryback has a red singlet tonight. Not much of a pop for him though. The big match intros inform us that this match will indeed be taking place inside the Cell. You know, in case you’re REALLY FREAKING STUPID. The fans get fired up for the Feed Me More chant at least.

Punk immediately heads to the floor and we’re in the big Cell where there’s almost no room at ringside. Punk gets back in and immediately runs to the floor again. After almost a minute and a half Ryback gets his hands on Punk and chokes him in the air. Ryback kicks him in the chest and Punk is in trouble early. Punk gets a boot up in the corner but a tornado DDT is easily countered.

Punk is sent back to the floor where he tries to get out of the door. Ryback throws him into the Cell wall and then does it again. The Goldberg chants start up and Punk hides under the ring. Heyman distracts Ryback, allowing Punk to spray him with a fire extinguisher and knock Ryback into the cage. The champ finds a chair but Ryback knocks it into Punk’s head. Back in and Ryback hits a Warrior gorilla press drop.

Ryback misses a charge into the corner and Punk hits a springboard clothesline to take him down. A top rope double ax only kind of hits so Punk hits a second to stagger Ryback. A third attempt is caught in midair but Punk hits a leg lariat to take Ryback down again. Punk sends him to the floor and hits the suicide dive but Ryback is slammed into the cage instead of being knocked down. Ryback easily breaks up a neckbreaker on the floor but his spear hits the steps.

Back in and Punk puts on a chinlock. We’re over eight minutes into this and it’s been pretty good stuff so far. Another Ryback charge hits the post and Punk smiles. Heyman: “HE’S STILL ALIVE!” Punk hits the running knee in the corner and a clothesline to set up the Macho Elbow for no cover. Punk brings in a kendo stick and mocks the FEED ME MORE chant.

Ryback Hulks Up and takes the stick out of Punk’s hands. Ryback is all fired up now and Heyman is panicking. The fans are getting into the chant now and there’s the Meathook (clothesline). Ryback loads up Shell Shock….and the referee hits Ryback low and fast counts a Punk rollup for the pin to retain at 11:45.

Rating: B-. This is one of those what the heck was that endings but it was a good match until we got there. I don’t like the screwjob ending and I wanted Ryback to win, but this sets up another match down the line I guess. I don’t recognize the referee but I’m sure we’ll find out who he was later on. The fans went silent after the pin which is a good thing….I think?

Ryback gets up and murders the referee as Heyman pulls Punk through the door. Ryback catches up to him though and throws Punk at the Cell, but Punk climbs up to escape. Ryback follows him and hits the Shell Shock on top of the Cell.

Ryback poses on top of the Cell to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. This was a really good show actually and the ending has me wondering where they’ll go next. There wasn’t a really bad match on the show but a few of them were pretty slow. The Show title win was a nice surprise and the ending visual of the Shell Shock was good, but it wasn’t a classic show. For what it was, this was solid, but it’s another show that leads to another one instead of something conclusive, which is an annoying habit WWE has.

Results

Randy Orton b. Alberto Del Rio – RKO

Rhodes Scholars b. HELL NO via DQ when Kane would not stop attacking Sandow

Kofi Kingston b. The Miz – Trouble in Paradise

Antonio Cesaro b. Justin Gabriel – Neutralizer

Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara b. Prime Time Players – Top rope splash to Young

Big Show b. Sheamus – WMD

Eve Torres b. Kaitlyn and Layla – Eve pinned Layla after a powerslam from Kaitlyn

CM Punk b. Ryback – Rollup after a low blow from the referee

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

My thoughts:Geez I hope not. Cena has been a part of this story, but this needs to be Ryback vs. Punk.  They need to throw Ryback out there and see what they’ve got, and having Cena out there is going to overshadow that.  Also what does it help?  They don’t have time to advertise him for the show.

Thoughts?

It’s time to take feuds that don’t belong in a Cell and lock them in a box in an attempt to make them seem more important.  Let’s get to it.We”ll start with the big one: Punk vs. Ryback.  This is an interesting one and a match I want to see for one reason: there are multiple options to who could win the match and that makes the match incredibly interesting.  I could see Punk or Ryback walking out with the title.  From what I’ve heard the house show matches have actually been decent which doesn’t surprise me given the guys in there.  At the end of the day I’m expecting Punk to retain but seeing Ryback take the title would be a nice surprise and something I’ve been calling for for months now.

The other world title match got a nice boost Friday (imagine that: the TV show before the PPV pushing a match) and I’m really not sure what to expect there either.  I’ll go with Sheamus to retain in a match that’s more entertaining than it has any right to be.

HELL NO to retain in another good match but I think the Scholars have a chance of taking the belts.  They’ll probably get the belts one day, but I’d rather see Sandow get a singles push.

I have a gut instinct that says Del Rio and while those are usually wrong, I’ll go with it.

Kofi to retain.

Kaitlyn gets the Divas Title.

Overall this has the potential to be a pretty good B show, but it’s not something I’m looking forward to aside from the main event.  The real main event that people are looking towards is Punk vs. Rock at the Rumble which I can’t see not happening, hopefully setting up a triple threat with Rock vs. Cena vs. Punk, which is what the story would seem to be building towards.  The show should be entertaining though, and that’s a step up for WWE after the disaster that was Raw.

Thought/predictions?

Smackdown
Date: October 26, 2012
Location: Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s the final show before the PPV and I think everything major is set. We finally know the tag title match so you can probably expect to see some more about that. After the disaster of a Raw this week, maybe Smackdown can redeem things a bit. If nothing else, Sheamus vs. Big Show is probably the best feud going in the WWE right now. Let that sink in for a minute. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Orton to open the show. As he comes to the ring, we get a history of Orton vs. Del Rio, including the graphic for their match on Sunday. Does anyone else find it stupid looking when they have the video game graphics in the background? It takes away how serious the feud is supposed to be. Orton says he doesn’t hate Del Rio for attacking him last week, but rather why the attack happened. If it was because Del Rio was embarrassed for losing to Sheamus over and over, that’s one thing. But doing it and pretending to be a tough guy was a mistake.

Orton says he’ll be honest with Del Rio: on Sunday, Alberto is getting the most brutal beating of his life. Alberto cuts Randy off and says they’re doing this on Del Rio’s terms. Randy isn’t a viper but rather a garden snake. Orton says no one here knows what Del Rio just said. Apparently Del Rio is all talk and is a spineless bottom feeder with no cajones. Randy’s words, not mine. Del Rio starts to come to the ring with Orton saying bring it on, but here’s Barrett from behind to jump Orton.

Post break Del Rio is in the back when Teddy comes up. Before anything can be said, Barrett comes up and asks if that was what Del Rio was looking for. It’s Barrett vs. Orton tonight.

Kane vs. Cody Rhodes

Bryan and Sandow are on commentary. Kane takes him into the corner to start as Bryan and Sandow argue back and forth. There’s the top rope clothesline followed by an uppercut to put Cody down. Cody escapes a side slam and hits a running knee to the face of Kane. A Disaster Kick winds up being a dropkick for two and Cody goes for the knee. Sandow and Bryan argue over whose beard is better. Josh: “Damien what is your IQ approaching?” Sandow: “It’s approaching infinity. I become smarter merely by sitting here.” Cody tries that uppercut from the mat of his but Kane grabs him for the chokeslam and pin at 3:15.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have time to get anywhere but the champions dominated for the first time in this feud that I remember. This is an interesting feud as the champions completely dominate on an individual basis but when they combine it’s not so one sided. That makes for an interesting match on Sunday if nothing else.

Booker comes in to see Show, who is face to face with Sheamus tonight. Booker requests professionalism tonight but Show cuts him off. Show won’t cause any trouble because he’s got nothing left to prove until Sunday. I keep forgetting how tall Booker is.

The Miz vs. Yoshi Tatsu

There’s a name I haven’t seen in awhile. Feeling out process to start with Miz taking him down via a shoulder. They head to the floor with Tatsu having his back rammed into the barricade. A boot to the side of Yoshi’s head puts him down and Miz puts on a reverse chinlock with a hand full of face. Another running boot to the face takes Tatsu down. A belly to back suplex is countered into a cross body for two for Yoshi. Miz’s short DDT puts Yoshi right back down and it’s the Skull Crushing Finale for the pin at 4:02.

Rating: D+. Another squash here but even less competitive. Like I’ve said for a few weeks now though, WWE is finally starting to use its army of wrestlers in spots like this instead of someone that’s currently being used in a story. Yoshi losing here doesn’t mean anything and doesn’t hurt him at all while giving Miz a boost before the PPV. It’s not hard.

Video on the Egyptian tour.

Raw ReBound is Ryback destroying Punk on Monday.

We also get a video from Main Event with Heyman talking (on the monitor) about how Ryback isn’t in Punk’s league. Now when Miz (who is in the ring at this point. On Main Event that is) faced Ryback, he took his beating like a man. Ziggler losing to Ryback has no correlation with Punk because Punk is a much better strategist than Ryback.

It’s ANOTHER recap about the Divas situation with Kaitlyn saying she has proof of Eve being behind the attack at Night of Champions.

In Booker’s office, Aksana says it was a text from Eve and not an e-mail. Teddy tries to make sense of this whole story, which boils down to Eve is behind everything. Booker says if this is true, then Eve is off his staff. Eve says she’s too trustworthy and leaves her iPad and iPhone out with no pass code on it. More yelling ensues between all four girls in the office until it’s announced as Eve vs. Layla vs. Kaitlyn for the title. Tonight it’s a tag match though.

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

Barrett is sent to the floor very quickly with Orton following and in full control. Back in and Orton does his circle stomp before hooking a chinlock. Barrett comes back and sends Randy into the buckle but Orton clotheslines him down and drops a knee. They head to the floor with Orton being rammed face first into the apron a few times. As they come back in, Orton’s Elevated DDT is countered and Barrett sends him back to the floor.

Randy gets sent into the table and we take a break. Back with Barrett holding a chinlock, only for Orton to elbow out of it. Scratch that comeback as Orton gets taken right back down by Wade. Barrett puts Orton in the ropes and hits that running big boot to the face that looks awesome. A backbreaker gets two for Barrett and it’s off to a reverse chinlock. Barrett fires off knees to the ribs of Orton followed by a clothesline for two.

Barrett tries going up top but gets crotched and eventually superplexed down for two. Randy starts his finishing sequence with the clotheslines and a powerslam. The place freaks out over the RKO coming up but Barrett comes back with the Winds of Change for two. Barrett misses the Souvenir and gets caught in Orton’s over the back backbreaker. Now the Elevated DDT hits and Orton loads up the RKO, but here’s Del Rio. The distraction lets Barrett hit the Souvenir for the pin at 9:12 shown of 12:42.

Rating: C+. The more I see of Barrett the more I like him. He’s got a good physical style and looks like he could take down anyone in any given match. Orton losing here is fine as it advances his feud with Del Rio before the payoff on Sunday. I’m already digging this feud WAY more than the Sheamus one, mainly because there’s a chance Alberto could win.

Post match Del Rio attacks but neither the cross armbreaker or the RKO can hit.

Aksana/Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn/Layla

Layla and Aksana get things going but it’s off to Kaitlyn. Aksana continues to be the current worst worker on the roster so thankfully it’s off to Eve. She pounds on Kaitly a bit but a backsplash hits knees. Eve blocks the tag to Layla so we get more Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn runs over both heel girls and Layla kicks Aksana in the ribs. Layla misses a high kick and knocks Kaitlyn out, giving Eve the pin on Kaitlyn at 3:43.

Rating: D+. To be fair, the girls aren’t as terrible as they used to be as Kaitlyn is at least passable in the ring. Layla and Kaitlyn….eh not so much. Aksana continues to be there for looks only but someone has to do that I suppose. Not horrible here, but the NXT Divas matches are much more entertaining lately.

Raw ReBound sums up the Vickie/AJ/Cena stuff.

Sheamus doesn’t believe Show will be calm tonight.

Kane tells Bryan that he won his match so if Bryan loses, it’s clear that Bryan is the weak link.

Daniel Bryan vs. Damien Sandow

Sandow offers the audience some better words than YES to use, such as undoubtedly his beard is better than Bryans and absolutely the Rhodes Scholars will win the titles on Sunday. Kane and Bryan are in on commentary now. They start on the floor before Bryan takes over with kicks in the corner back inside. Bryan works on the arm as we take a break. Back with Sandow on the floor and Bryan firing off kicks.

Back in and Sandow hits the Russian legsweep and the windup elbow for two. Off to a chinlock before Sandow fires away right hands to the head. Kane won’t say a thing. Bryan starts firing off the YES Kicks and backdrops Damien to the floor. There’s a suicide dive and Cody gets in Bryan’s face. Kane goes after Sandow but no DQ has been called yet. Cody posts Bryan and Sandow slides in for the Terminus and the pin at 5:00 shown of 8:30.

Rating: C. Sandow getting a pin on Bryan is a big win for him and splitting up the wins tonight is a good move for the tag match. Nothing great here but seeing Damien hang in there with a guy like Bryan is a great sign. The guy could be a big deal for years to come, and having him get wins like this is a good idea.

Here are Sheamus and Big Show for their face to face time. There’s a ton of security here just in case. Show lists off a lot of famous finishers that the KO Punch is stronger than, including the Brogue Kick which they’ve proven scientifically. Sheamus says the KO Punch has to connect to work, so Show gives us some footage from a few weeks ago where he blocked the Brogue Kick.

Show says the Kick can’t get high enough and it’s a matter of physics that says Sheamus can’t beat him. If Sheamus thinks he can win, he’s either stupid or delusional. Sheamus there there are two thinks he loves: cold ale on a hot day and a good fight. The idea of fighting Show has his mouth watering. Sheamus again says that the title he holds today is the same as the WCW Title.

The champ is looking forward to fighting Show because he’s the ultimate fight. Show says Sheamus is scared but Sheamus says he doesn’t care how many Brogue Kicks it takes. Sheamus shouts that the time for fighting is now and it’s on. The security all gets tossed out but Show leaves before fighting Sheamus. Good hard sell for the title match here which you don’t get enough of anymore.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a solid go home show as the main matches all got a focus. The show isn’t going to be great but they’ve done enough here to make me interested in seeing it, which is exactly what they were shooting for here. I’m pleased by how Big Show vs. Sheamus is looking, as they’ve done a great job of building up the idea of can Sheamus beat him. I’m not at all saying it’s a great feud or that the match is going to be awesome, but they’ve done well with what they’ve got. Good show tonight.

Results

Kane b. Cody Rhodes – Chokeslam

The Miz b. Yoshi Tatsu – Skull Crushing Finale

Wade Barrett b. Randy Orton – Souvenir

Eve Torres/Aksana b. Layla/Kaitlyn – Torres pinned Kaitlyn after a high kick from Layla

Damien Sandown b. Daniel Bryan – Terminus

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 25, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Todd Kenely, Mike Tenay, Taz

It’s Championship Night or whatever the latest gimmick show these guys have going on is called. I’m not a big fan of having I think three title matches less than two weeks after BFG, but since the shows themselves aren’t worth watching, they need a gimmick to draw in fans. There’s a world title match tonight with an opponent for Hardy to be announced. Let’s get to it.

We open with Hogan and Hardy in the back. Hogan is picking Hardy’s first challenger tonight and Hardy is ready for anyone. Hardy leaves and we get a really stupid voiceover from Hardy, talking about all of his potential opponents. He doesn’t care who he faces here.

X-Division Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Zema Ion

We’ve got split announcers tonight, with Kenely (not sure who he is) and JB doing the first hour and the usual boys doing the second. Ion tries a quick rollup for two but it’s a standoff. Rob gets a gorilla press of all thigns and a pair of moonsaults for two. Ion heads to the floor and Rob is sent into the barricade when he follows. Ion charges into a kick in the ring but Rob misses a dive to the floor. Zema hits a flip dive over the top to take the champ out. Back in and Ion misses a majorly flippy dive so Rob kicks him in the face and hits Rolling Thunder for no cover. The Five Star retains the title at 4:33.

Rating: C-. Van Dam is a good pick for the title because you’re going to get at least a watchable match out of him and a win over him will mean something. Thankfully this should get him past Ion who was champion because….I’m not sure why he was champion, but it might be because he’s still around when everyone else from the X-Division revival

As Van Dam celebrates, Matt Morgan takes his head off with the Carbon Footprint. Joey Ryan has the X Title and poses with it. Morgan says this is what Hogan wanted.

Austin Aries is listening to the people trying to get the title match. The options are Angle, Anderson, Storm and Ray. Aries gets a shot anyway so he doesn’t care. We get some good jabs at Hogan’s “acting” and Aries says he’s going to use these guys for his personal amusement once they’re eliminated.

Here are Daniels and Kaz who don’t like the lack of tricks they’ve been getting for all the tricks they’ve been through. Daniels was left alone last week because Hogan screwed with Kaz’s travel. Kaz thinks the new champions are here in this country illegally. Daniels takes the mic from him and says that it’s not really Championship Thursday is it Suburban Commando? It’s a crime that everyone else is getting a shot but not them.

Daniels accuses Dixie of pandering to a Latino audience and says they should wear sombreros and drink tequila. Maybe they should call themselves Dos Stereotipicos. Daniels has a petition to get another title match. Well that’s better than the auto rematch clause. Cue the champions who say they’ll help with the petition. Hernandez has his title wrapped a chain around his neck. The brawl is on and the champs clear the ring in about a second. I think we have a rematch made. Kaz: “GIVE ME THAT CLIPBOARD BACK! THAT’S AN EXPENSIVE PEN!”

Hogan eliminates Anderson for nothing having enough fire. Aries tries to interview him. “Was it not taking enough vitamins? Not saying enough BROTHERS?” Aries says Anderson would be an easy opponent than him and throws a drink in Anderson’s face. The fight is on and Aries is down off a WICKED PAPER POSTER SHOT TO THE HEAD! A match is made and Anderson laughs. Then, to further the stupidity, we hear the director yell CUT. I mean…..really?

D-Von is with Aces and 8’s. The President has said no masks can come off. There are some women here to entertain them apparently, but first they have to take someone out. A member throws a dart at a bunch of pictures of wrestlers but we don’t see who it hit.

TV Title: Robbie T vs. Samoa Joe

Geez enough with the Robs getting title shots! Joe pounds away in the corner to start but T comes back with a spin kick to take him down. Joe puts on the Clutch and after a meaningless Robbie E distraction, Joe puts the hold on again while jumping on T’s back. Terry falls back on him but in an AWESOME moment, Joe sits up and with an INSANE look on his face, puts the hold back on and gets the tap at 2:28. Look up that ending. It looked great.

We recap Tara taking the title from Tessmacher along with Jesse from Big Brother. Did I mention I can’t stand reality TV?

Back to Hogan’s office and Ray apparently isn’t focused enough. He’s going to find D-Von and take care of him, basically eliminating himself.

Anderson yells at a guy in a headset and apparently it’s Anderson vs. Aries next. I know this because the announcer said it’s Anderson vs. Aries next.

Mr. Anderson vs. Austin Aries

They start immediately and Anderson yells mean things at Austin. Anderson takes his shirt off as Aries chills on the floor. A fireman’s carry goes nowhere and things slow down. Aries puts brass knuckles in Anderson’s tights but the referee takes them away. That was kind of odd. The fans chant cheater and Anderson pounds him into the corner again. Anderson gets sent to the floor and there’s the suicide dive as we take a break.

Back with Aries still in control but the fans are cheering for the cheater now. Anderson tries to fight back with some elbows and a clothesline that spins Aries inside out. Anderson’s spinning neckbreaker takes Aries down but the Regal Roll is countered again. The double rotation kick sends Aries to the floor and Anderson adds a plancha.

The fireman’s carry is loaded up again but Aries takes out the referee. Aries steals the knuckles from Aries and Anderson gets them. The referee takes them away and Aries knocks him cold with another pair. Aries pulls Anderson on top of him to feign a pin attempt before putting on the Last Chancery for the pin at 11:49.

Rating: C-. This was an awkward match, likely because Anderson is so unorthodox in the ring. Not a horrible match but it was missing by a half beat. Aries is doing some cool stuff and I like him way better as a heel. I like Anderson way better off my TV, but I guess he’s better in this role than another, but it’s not like it’s a great improvement.

Brooke and Tara/Jesse do their usual stuff. Brooke tells Jesse that ODB has an eye on him. Isn’t ODB married?

Tenay and Taz take over in what is supposed to be a big deal I think. We recap the show up to this point.

Knockouts Title: Miss Tessmacher vs. Tara

Tara is defending and gets jumped before she can get in the ring. After more of a beating, a Jesse distraction lets Tara take over with some cheap shots. Tara slams Tessmacher’s face into the mat a few times but stops for a kiss. From Jesse unfortunately. More kissing occurs and Tara misses her slingshot somersault legdrop. Tessmacher comes back and hits her Stinkface before hitting an X Factor out of the corner. Tara grabs Terrell and Jesse lowbridges Tessmacher. Widow’s Peak retains the title at 3:57.

Rating: D+. Annoying non-celebrity aside, Tessmacher contines to do nothing at all for me. She’s just there and is exactly the same character she was a year ago. Also she’s just not that good in the ring, period. Her looks are great but mix up the outfits a bit already. Tara continues to be annoying with Jesse so it’s a success on that front. Hopefully this feud is done now.

Post match more making out occurs until Brooke comes out to shake her head. Apparently ODB is calling out Jesse next week on Open Fight Night.

Joseph Park goes in to talk to Hogan about fighting Aces and 8’s. Hogan says Park has had one match (he’s had two) and also he’s worried about Park’s liability. Park has a piece of paper. Hogan: “What’s that?” Park: “It’s a piece of paper.” He goes on to say it’s a letter of indemnification which means if he gets hurt fighting Aces and 8’s, it’s no one’s fault but Park’s and there’s no legal responsibility for anyone else.

Here’s Ray who again thanks Sting for letting him be his partner. Not much shocks Ray anymore, but the D-Von reveal did. Ray wants an explanation from D-Von but gets the whole group instead. They get in the ring and D-Von says they’re not friends or a team or anything anymore. D-Von says this has nothing to do with Ray anymore and it’s all about Hogan. Apparently this is because Hogan said that he wanted D-Von re-signed to the company, but Hogan and Dixie never called. In other words, if you don’t follow TNA online and follow Hogan on Twitter, this whole story makes VERY little sense.

D-Von says it’s over but Ray says it’s over when he says it’s over. Ray says D-Von is lying and he talks about the Guns coming back from 3D like two years ago and how they should have retired as champions. Years ago D-Von said they’re rich so screw the fans. D-Von says yeah he said it, so Ray wants to fight one on one right now. D-Von says it’s on his time but Ray says he’ll call him out next week on Open Fight Night.

Ryan says he wants the X Title and Morgan says Hogan started this.

It’s also Gut Check next week. The wrestler is Christian York. He wrestled on the first TNA show and in ECW.

Hogan says he’s got something big planned for Storm in the future but tonight Angle has the title shot.

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Hardy

Jeff has two belts here: the vanity belt around his waist and the real one over his shoulder. We get some big match intros and we’re ready to go. Jeff takes him down with an armbar followed by the slingshot dropkick in the corner. Jeff goes to the corner but gets shoved out to the floor as we take a break. Back with Hardy escaping a chinlock and they clothesline each other.

Hardy starts speeding things up and kicks Angle to the floor. There’s a big clothesline off the apron and back inside for Whisper in the Wind for two. Angle comes back with Rolling Germans for two. The Slam is countered into the Twisting Stunner for no cover. Hardy goes up for the Swanton but Angle throws him off the top for two. Angle busts out a powerbomb for two and puts on a quick ankle lock, but Jeff kicks him off. The same kick puts Angle down but the Swanton misses.

The Angle Slam gets two so Jeff hits two straight Twists and the Swanton for just two. Jeff charges at Kurt and gets backdropped to the floor. Angle is spitting up blood. There go the straps as Hardy is thrown back in. Another Slam is countered into a rollup for the pin at 14:29 to keep the belt on Hardy.

Rating: B. When you need a solid match, call Kurt Angle. He’s great in spots like this where you need a main event and have no one else to throw in there. His resume is good enough to buy as a challenger no matter what he’s been doing lately. Either way, good stuff here and a very solid TV main event.

Post match Aries jumps Hardy and says the rematch is at Turning Point. Aries is so confident he’ll win that he takes the belt with him. The original, not the stupid one.

We cut to the back to see Angle getting destroyed by Aces and 8’s to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. I liked the show, but man alive was it exhausting. There’s WAY too much stuff going on here between all of the title matches and the backstage stuff and the reality show stuff with Hogan and it’s all just too much. TNA is the opposite of WWE in that respect as while WWE has too much time on their hands, TNA doesn’t have enough and you get shows like this where there’s so much stuff going on that you can’t get a chance to breathe.

Still though, this was WAY better than last week and I feel better about where they’re going now. One more note: slow down on the gimmick shows. We’re going from Championship Thursday to Open Fight Night next week. Space them out or cut one. Back to back is too much, and there’s likely another gimmick that I can’t think of.

Results

Rob Van Dam b. Zema Ion – Five Star Frog Splash

Samoa Joe b. Robbie T – Koquina Clutch

Austin Aries b. Mr. Anderson – Last Chancery

Tara b. Miss Tessmacher – Widow’s Peak

Jeff Hardy b. Kurt Angle – Swanton Bomb

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

NXT
Date: October 24, 2012
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tony Luftman, William Regal

Back to NXT again and it’s still the same feuds we’ve had for the last few weeks if not months. They need to add in some new ones soon because this is starting to wear a bit thin. The feuds aren’t to the point yet where they’re stale or anything, but they’re inching towards that being the case. Hopefully things can be adjusted tonight. Let’s get to it.

Earlier today Heath Slater came in to see Dusty Rhodes. Slater wants a title shot against Rollins but Big Dust says you have to earn the shot. Vickie comes in to interrupt. Oh sweet goodness she’s on THIS SHOW TOO??? She wants to recruit Slater but Dusty says that Slater can have a title shot if he wins tonight. I have no idea why Vickie was here at all.

Theme song.

Brodus Clay vs. Camacho

Brodus gets the full entrance here and has his old hat because his burial hasn’t happened in NXT time yet. There’s a new commentator with Regal now and he’s got a good voice. The ring announcer sounds like Matt Striker. Brodus shoves him down and dances a bit before suplexing Camacho down.

Brodus punches away a few times in the corner but gets his knee taken out. A dropkick puts Clay down and it’s off to a nerve hold. Clay fights up but gets caught in a Samoan Drop. Camacho heads to the floor and glares at the Funkadactyls which gets him nowhere. Back in and Camacho jumps into the headbutt followed by the suplex and splash for the pin at 3:53.

Rating: C-. Not much to see here but for the life of me I don’t get the idea of depushing a guy like Brodus. He’s a guaranteed pop to open a show but he gets to lose to a guy like Slater on Smackdown? Oh well, the guy only got over on a stupid gimmick and the company did nothing with him so it must be Brodus’ fault right?

Kassius Ohno vs. Trent Barreta

Trent takes him down and cranks on the arm as things speed up. A fast rollup gets two on Ohno and things stay fast. Ohno throws him to the mat and hits an elbow in the corner, only to have Trent clothesline him out to the floor. A BIG dive takes Ohno out but as they get back up Kassius sends him into the apron to take over again. A knee to the back of the head gets two and it’s off to the cravate.

After the hold is cranked on for a bit, Ohno kicks him in the head and puts the hold right back on. Riveting stuff. We actually hear the name Misawa on WWE TV as Regal talks about Ohno revering Misawa in Japan. Trent comes back with a slap to the face for two and sends Kassius to the corner.

Barreta charges at the ropes and jumps onto the middle one, launching himself sideways into an elbow in the corner. I’m not sure what was supposed to happen as the elbow looked like it hit but Ohno was fine and Trent went down. Maybe Trent hit his head? Anyway, Ohno pounds away some more but here’s Richie Steamboat with a towel. He throws it into Ohno’s face, allowing Trent to hit his running knee to the face for the pin at 6:50.

Rating: C. As usual, Trent is fun to watch and I fail to see what the appeal is of Ohno, especially in this character. I guess he likes to be violent and physical but that’s not really much of a character, especially given what Ohno is capable of. Also his name being Kassius Ohno doesn’t help him much either. This was a nice job of furthering the Steamboat Ohno feud I guess, but it needs to wrap up or have them fight soon.

Layla/Alicia Fox vs. Audrey Marie/Paige

Alicia vs. Paige gets us going and Paige hits a quick dropkick. Alicia hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two and a double tag brings in Layla vs. Audrey, who is looking quite good in white here. After Layla dances a bit, she takes Audrey down with a rollup for two. Layla hits a quick kick to the face for two and a kick to the head gets two as well. Regal points out how rare it is to see two British women wrestling in WWE.

Back to Alicia who hits a northern lights suplex for two but Audrey grabs a quick rollup. The kickout sends her into the corner for the tag to Paige in a nice spot. Paige comes charging at the freshly tagged in Layla who clotheslines her down for no cover. Paige picks Layla up for that fisherman’s DDT of hers but Audrey tags herself in. Paige and Audrey get in an argument and Layla rolls Audrey up for the pin at 5:03.

Rating: C. It’s amazing what happens when they treat the Divas like something serious instead of a joke. The match wasn’t great or anything like that but it was more entertaining than most of what you get on Raw anymore. Layla is still pretty annoying, but Paige and Audrey are a breath of fresh air in the division. This isn’t as good as the match from I think last week with the girls, but it was still solid.

Video on the tour of Egypt.

Bronson vs. Lincoln Brodrick

Bronson is a guy in a hoodie who resembles Boris Zhukov and/or Ivan Koloff. Brodrick (that’s how it’s spelled in the graphic) is a musclehead who looks familiar but I can’t place him. Ah apparently he wrestled under the name Marcus Anthony (his real name and a great wrestling name) in OVW for awhile.

Bronson immediately puts on a front facelock and takes Lincoln to the mat. A hard clothesline takes Lincoln down and a leg trip does the same before it’s off to a freaky looking leg lock to make Lincoln tap at 1:08. The best way I can describe the hold is like a Figure Four but with Bronson’s legs sticking up instead of going down under Lincoln. Bronson looked awesome here.

Ohno throws a fit in the back.

Here’s Antonio Cesaro with something to say. He says that he’s the champion of everyone here because he’s the champion of all America. Cesaro asks us to stand for the national anthem but most people don’t seem interested. Instead here’s Tyson Kidd to interrupt him. Tyson makes fun of Cesaro’s man purse (Cesaro: “IT’S NOT A PURSE!!!”) and says he wants a title shot right here. Cesaro goes off in some other language, but Kidd says he’s got something universal. He slaps Cesaro and the champion bails to the floor.

Heath Slater vs. Seth Rollins

Non-title here and Vickie is managing Slater, presumably as a tryout. I’m assume this is from before the 3MB. JR has replaced that Tony guy on commentary. Slater shoulderblocks him down to start and a headlock takeover does the same. Rollins comes back with a chop and Slater bails to the ropes. Rollins works over the arm and while holding a wristlock, plays air guitar with it in a funny bit.

Slater heads to the floor and slows things down a bit. A baseball slide puts Slater on his back in the aisle and Vickie yells at Heath to win. We take a break and come back with both guys hitting cross bodies at the same time back in the ring. They slug it out for some boo/yay time from the audience before Rollins takes over with a dropkick.

An enziguri from the apron staggers Slater and Heath is backdropped to the floor. There’s a suicide dive to take Slater out and Heath is reeling. Back in a springboard I think knee to Slater’s head gets two but Rollins walks into that falling Cutter for two for Heath. Rollins kicks Heath in the head and hits a standing Sliced Bread #2 for the pin at 6:46 shown of 7:16.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t bad but it never got to the level that you would expect from Rollins. The problem here is that Rollins is a bigger deal than Slater, who is arguably the king of jobbers in the WWE. For Rollins, this wasn’t much of a challenge and the match wasn’t really much to get excited about.

Overall Rating: B-. I liked this show a lot with the main event being the weakest part. Bronson is a guy that I’m interested in as he looks tough and dominated in his first match. On top of that the more Trent Barreta I see the happier I am. This episode was a nice surprise as things were starting to get a bit stale with the long running stories.

Bringing in a new character helps, as does bringing in the main roster people to put the NXT guys over. Oh and the new announcer isn’t bad. He sounds like someone with a lot of announcing experience but not necessarily in wrestling. Regal had to tell him of a lot of names of moves and the new guy didn’t sound entirely sure who the wrestlers were. For a debut though, he sounded fine and didn’t make any mistakes that I heard.

Results

Brodus Clay b. Camacho – Splash

Trent Barreta b. Kassius Ohno – Running Knee to the Face

Layla/Alicia Fox b. Paige/Audrey Marie – Rollup to Marie

Bronson b. Lincoln Brodrick – Inverted Figure Four

Seth Rollins b. Heath Slater – Standing Sliced Bread #2

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews