Best of the WWF Volume 4
Host: Vince McMahon
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Lord Alfred Hayes, Gene Okerlund

Remember how I said I’d be doing two of these at once? This is the second one. We’re looking at a much older time in the company, probably about 5 months after the first Wrestlemania. In other words, everything is still about Hogan vs. Piper and company, with Paul Orndorff starting to hang out with and fight for Hogan somewhat. Big money would follow. Let’s get to it.

That Coliseum Video is still awesome.

Paul Orndorff vs. Roddy Piper

This is from MSG and the aftermath of the loss at Mania. Piper actually said he screwed up. That should sum up the rareness of this one. The crowd is ERUPTING and they’re on the floor very quickly. Paul grabs the arm and Piper messes up Paul’s hair. You don’t do that in the 80s! Piper tries everything he can think of but can’t break the wristlock. Piper gets a knee up in the corner and a clothesline sends Orndorff to the outside.

Back in Orndorff grabs a fast backslide for two but gets his eyes poked to change the momentum again. They go back to the floor again and Piper shakes his arm. See how easy it is? You see? The brawl begins all over again but Orndorff gets sent into the post. Piper hooks a front facelock and shifts it to a choke as often as he can. After a few failed attempts, Orndorff manages to bridge up into a backslide for two.

Paul slugs away and they go to the floor again. Now Orndorff pulls his hair to make up for the unfair cosmetic attack earlier. He pulls Piper back in by the hair (FREAKING OW) and Piper shakes like a fish on a plate. Orndoff goes up…and here’s Bob Orton to shove him off for the DQ. I guess Orton wasn’t happy with his “friend” having his hair messed with like that.

Rating: C+. Rather fun brawl although not much of a match. Still though, after watching that awful show I just sat through, how much can you complain about this? This was a super hot feud back in the day and it would continue on for a few more months until. Fun brawl and really fun to see them both, probably at their in ring peaks.

The pair beats down Orndorff for a good while until the Bulldogs make the save, probably to set up a future six man.

Hulk Hogan/Jimmy Snuka vs. Don Muraco/Bob Orton

In Boston which means a hot crowd. Hogan is champion (duh) and Jimmy is probably the second most popular guy in the company. More Mania fallout stuff here. Big brawl to start and the good guys clear the ring. Snuka and Orton officially start and Bob gets his cast beaten on. Well that’s a very slow healing injury after all. They work on the arm for awhile with Hogan even coming in off the middle rope with a shot.

The arm hits the post and at this point it’s still a fresh injury, only having been broken for a month or so. Back to Snuka and the beating continues. The Human Banana comes back in and Orton can’t get anything going. Big atomic drop has Orton in trouble but he manages to trip Hogan to bring in Muraco. Gee Hogan went down quickly there. Clipped to Orton hitting a nice delayed vertical on Hogan.

Back to Muraco with some nice heel double teaming. They collide and there’s the hot tag to Snuka. The camera cuts to a shot of the crowd and a kid pops up right in front of the camera like in a horror movie. Fuji gets up on the apron for a distraction and Orton hits Snuka with the cast. Hogan takes a shot too and Snuka is busted. OH MAN is he cut. Hogan goes into the post on the floor and we’re clipped to more beating on Snuka. He gets a shot in though and it’s off to Hogan finally. Orton pops him with the cast almost immediately and it gets thrown out.

Rating: C+. I liked this one a lot and I’d have loved to see the full version of it. That and a decisive ending instead of the DQ but whatever. This was Hogan 101 back in the day: find some guy to tag with, find a pair of heels, and watch the guy get bigger than he was going to be able to get on his own. They’re trying that with Cena and Ryder at the moment, but it’s not working so well because Ryder looks like a helpless chick (remember Cena holding him?) in the whole thing.

Big brawl post match again.

Battle Royal

There are 20 people in this and it’s from 1982 so I’m not going to bother figuring out who they all are. Just to give you some of the names: Atlas, SD Jones, Valentine, the Blackjacks, Morales, Fuji, Adonis (Biker, not yet gay), both Strongbows, Rodz, Estrada, Skiluna (thanks for listing all of these guys Vince) and others. Snuka goes out. Masa Saito is in there too.

Ivan Putski and Tiger Chung Lee are in this also. Garea is out there so that has to be most of them. Blackjack Mulligan and Putski are out. Swede Hanson is there too. That leaves one I don’t know. Apparently his name is Laurette Suce. Ok then. I know I butchered that. Garea is put out. Saito goes out as well. Either there are 21 people in this or I can’t count as a guy named Steve Travis chops Hanson.

Clipped to a bit later so I have no idea who is still in this. Morales pops Adonis in the face a few times and sends him flying. Someone goes out that we miss. It was both Strongbow brothers. Fuji is gone too. Adonis is tied in the ropes. That’s not a horrible place to be actually. I think there are about ten left. Pedro gets triple teamed in the corner and is finally put out.

Yeah there are nine left and no I won’t name them, mainly because I don’t know who they are. The fans are about 99% behind Atlas. Vince says Suce throws punches like a girl. Someone (the name Vince gives them) is out. Valentine is really busted open. Suce is gone as is someone else and all of a sudden they’re flying out.

Ok so the final four are Jones, Atlas, Valentine and Adonis. We get something like a mini tag match and heel miscommunication abounds. Tony beats up Valentine and the heels get slammed together. This is in Philadelphia if you’re curious. Powerslam by Adonis to Jones. Adonis busts out a top rope elbow, which would be a huge spot at this point. Off to a sleeper while on the other side, Valentine is tied up between the ropes. Atlas fights up and dumps Adonis with no acknowledgment at all from Vince. He wasn’t that good yet.

Atlas goes OFF on Valentine and knocks him into the corner with a headbutt. A dropkick by Jones almost puts Valentine out, so he fires a second one and Valentine is gone. He was practically out on his feet anyway. That makes the final two SD Jones and Tony Atlas. They hug, and I absolutely kid you not, flip a coin to decide the winner. Atlas wins. I’ll give them this: it’s a new one.

Rating: C. Well it certainly was different. This was a very refreshing kind of battle royal with no huge stars in it, making the whole thing just kind of fun. Vince mentioned the winner getting money so at least there was a reason for them to fight. Not a classic or anything but I liked it. The ending was creative and at least they were cheered.

We get a special segment on the wrestlers’ specialties, or finishers as we would call them. It’s really just a set of clips of the guys using them. Steamboat’s is just listed as “Karate.” These might just be signatures instead of finishers. Orndorff’s is “Strength.” Is he a Pokemon? Stan Hansen is in this. Bruno’s is “All The Right Moves.” Ok then. My goodness he’s a hairy man. Yeah Hogan is listed as a clothesline and an elbow. Seriously? There are a ton of these that I’m not mentioning because they’re just guys doing moves. The Superfly Splash is always cool, especially the cage dive. The Bulldogs use “acrobatics.”

Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan

This is a Mongolian Stretcher Match. Khan had broken Andre’s ankle so you have to beat one person down until they have to be carried out on a stretcher. We’re in Philly. Khan tries to run but Andre pulls him back in by the hair. Andre sits on him and the referees try to put him on the stretcher but he’s not done yet. Khan tries to backdrop him so Andre busts out a piledriver. A falling headbutt misses though and Khan goes after the ankle for some continuity. Khan drops a bunch of knees and calls for the stretcher. That just ticks the Giant off and here comes the pain.

Andre can’t really follow up though because of his ankle. His solution? HE SITS ON KHAN’S HEAD! Khan holds onto the ropes so Andre jumps on him SIX TIMES IN A ROW. Khan tries to grab the apron skirt and stays in. Oh this isn’t going to end well. Andre suplexes him, sits on him AGAIN, and splashes him to end this. Khan is DEAD.

Rating: C-. No it wasn’t that good, but man Andre’s destruction of Khan was something to see. Khan laying there like that was great as he looked like he had been completely destroyed. Fun stuff but Andre being a monster that is ticked off is always at least worth a look. Also cool to see him in better shape like this.

Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd

This is in a cage, before Wrestlemania, and joined in progress. This is just here for the ending. Studd is busted open already but manages to get in some shots and goes for the door. Andre stops him and drops a leg to break that up. Andre easily slams him and goes up. He goes to the top and JUMPS DOWN ONTO STUDD’S CHEST!!! When did this turn into a snuff tape??? No rating, but my goodness Studd has to be dead.

Andre the Giant vs. King Kong Bundy

By jove I think we’ve got a theme going here! This is called the Colossal Jostle for no apparent reason. Albano is with Andre to counter Hart. Andre goes right for him as this is about revenge from a Bundy attack in Toronto. Bundy gets chopped in the corner and knocked to the floor. Clipped to Bundy getting knocked back to the floor. Clipped again to Bundy knocking Andre down. Bundy goes after the injured sternum which was hurt by a bunch of splashes at the aforementioned Toronto show. Andre fires off some shoulders in the corner to take over. Bundy runs into a boot in the corner and here’s Studd for the DQ.

Rating: D+. Pretty dull stuff here but at least they kept it relatively short. The clipping really hurt it….I think. It might have helped it but it’s kind of hard to tell. Not terrible but definitely worse than the Khan match. This would result in Hogan coming in to help Andre….I think.

Dream Team vs. Tito Santana/Ricky Steamboat

This is in Toronto. My goodness that’s quite a face team. Ricky vs. Beefcake starts us off. The ring is quickly cleared and Ricky hits what we would call a springboard forearm to take over. Off to Tito as the camera stuff is really all over the place here. Jesse sounds like he has a sore throat. Valentine and Santana stall a lot so Brutus slams Tito and then brings in Greg.

Valentine misses an elbow and it’s back to more stalling. I can barely recognize Jesse’s voice. That’s how messed up it is. Big clothesline puts Valentine down but the Figure Four is broken up. Greg takes over and works over the arm. Off to Bruti who can’t do much more than choke at this point. This is before the Expresses established the tag team formula so things are a bit different here.

Tito grabs an armbar but his back is to the wrong corner so he can’t get anything going. Back to Beefcake in control via a headlock. In a nice sequence, Beefcake points at Steamboat to distract the referee and Valentine gets in a shot to the back of Santana. With Ricky trying to get in, Santana gets on all fours and tries to bob and weave, eventually diving through Beefcake’s legs for the HOT tag to Steamboat.

Sleeper goes on Beefcake but he pretty easily breaks it up. Valentine comes in to hammer on Ricky and an eye rake slows the Dragon down. The Dream Team (not sure if they’re named that yet or if Steamboat is the Dragon) works him over and Valentine starts loading up the Figure Four but Steamboat small packages him for two. Steamboat fights out of the corner and makes ANOTHER hot tag to Santana. The forearm gets two on Valentine and everything breaks down. Ricky is sent to the floor but he comes back off the top to take Brutus out. Santana counters an atomic drop, hooks the leg and the Figure Four ends this.

Rating: B. Great old school tag match here and more proof that you don’t need some big long back story to have a great match. These four had no history together outside of Valentine beating Santana for the IC Title and that was like 6 months prior to this. Very fun wrestling match here and we didn’t need Teddy Long to book it.

Overall Rating: C+. A lot of this is going to depend on your tastes. Other than the main event the matches aren’t great but there’s nothing on here that’s really bad. However if you don’t like old school stuff, this certainly isn’t going to be your taste. Good, fun show though and I liked it a lot. Good luck finding it though.

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And I’m sure people still want to turn him heel right?  I’ll never get some people.

Monday Night Raw
Date: January 9, 2012
Location: American Bank Center Arena, Corpus Christi, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

It’s the week after HE IS HERE and Chris Jericho is back. That being said, I don’t know what to expect from him. Maybe he’ll actually say something this time? Either way, things almost have to be better than they were last week. We’re getting close to Rumble time too which is always interesting. Let’s get to it.

After a video of the ending of last week’s show, here’s Kane to open the show. He says people are wondering why he’s embracing hate, and it’s because the people are in denial. Everyone gets up next to a spouse they can’t stand and go to a job they hate and go home to children who are brats. Everyone has delusions of hope like Cena himself does.

Cena represents hope and success. The people should see Cena as unfulfilled hopes and dreams. The people are all liars when they cheer for Cena because they think cheering for an underdog makes them good. Look at Zack Ryder for example: The people made him a star because he’s an underdog. Last week Kane tried to drag Ryder to the depths but Cena stopped him. That just delayed the inevitable though, because Kane wants consequences.

Cue Cena and it’s a brawl immediately. A clothesline puts Kane outside and they brawl up the aisle. They fight into the back and they’re outside. They’re over a kind of pit which looks to be a few feet deep but you can see the bottom. There’s a production truck and Cena is knocked into some metal stuff next to it. He hits Kane in the leg with a pipe but is knocked into some boxes. He gets up and Kane is gone as we go to a break.

Sheamus/Santino Marella vs. Jinder Mahal/Wade Barrett

All four are officially in the Rumble. The non-main event guys start us off as Cole tries to explain to us what the turban is for because he’s a man of the world or something. Off to the Englishman who beats up the Canditalian who is waiting on the tag to the Irishman so he can hopefully beat up the Indian that he’s mad at. There’s the tag and Sheamus cleans house. Brogue Kick to Mahal and the Cobra gets the pin at 2:52. This was nothing, and Mahal continues to look like nothing compared to Sheamus.

Miz complains to Ace and Otunga about the Truth attacks lately. Brodus is debuting tonight apparently. Miz wants private security but Ace says he’s Big Johnny, not Little Jimmy.

We get a Hall of Fame inductee announced tonight.

The first inductee is…….Edge. We get a video about his career. There’s going to be a second inductee tonight as well. Cool.

Miz is trying to get a bodyguard in the form of Mason Ryan but he gets turned down.

Ryder is on the phone with his dad, talking about how afraid he is of Kane. Eve pops up and he says he’ll beat Kane up later. He’s off the phone and asks Eve for another date. She actually says yes but it’s after her match later. Both of them leave separately and a door opens behind Ryder. Kane pokes his head in and then goes back out as we go to a break.

Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan

Well this is a surprise. This was set up via a video on WWE.com where Kofi questioned Bryan’s methods of winning the world title. I hope they showed that to the live crowd. Bryan’s weight is up to 210lbs so maybe they’re back to faking weights. Kofi hits a springboard cross body for a fast two but Bryan rolls him up for the same. This is non-title if I didn’t mention that. Bryan does his corner moonsault so Kofi comes out of the corner with a cross body. In a SLICK counter, Bryan lands in the LeBell Lock and we’re done at 1:14.

Bryan does the big celebration again post match. And here’s Big Show. He gets in the ring and Bryan begs off, saying he hated the ending to the title match. The title is too important to end like that. He offers Show a title match anytime he wants. Show says Teddy agrees as well, so there’s going to be a title match on Friday, no DQ and no count-outs. Oh dear. They shake hands and Show leaves.

Royal Rumble Moment is the end of 1994 with the double winners.

Justin Roberts introduces Brodus Clay as being from the Planet Funk and being the Funk-o-Saurus. He has dancers and is coming out to ERNEST MILLER’S WWE music. WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I WATCHING??? He’s DANCING! I swear I’m not making this up. He’s in a red track suit and has a red hat on.

Brodus Clay vs. Curt Hawkins

Total squash and he dances a lot. A cross body ends this in 65 seconds. This is BIZARRE.

Zack Ryder is brushing his teeth and looking in a mirror. He keeps thinking someone is watching him and leavesl.

Miz tries to get Rosa and Epico/Primo to protect him. They say no and leave but Punk pops up to NO reaction.

They go to a break here and thank goodness. I need a minute after what I just saw with Brodus.

Jack Swagger vs. CM Punk

Ace comes out and says that if Punk wins, Swagger and Vickie are barred from ringside at the Rumble. Ziggler tonight has to fight Cena to keep things fair. Feeling out process to start with Punk working a headlock but Swagger taking it to the mat. Punk goes up for the elbow so Jack hits the floor. Swagger takes over with his size advantage and hooks a quickly countered ankle lock. Off to a double chicken wing kind of hold and then a waistlock. Swagger is knocked to the floor and a suicide dive takes him out as we go to a break.

Back with Punk starting his comeback. He fires off some strikes and hits the knee in the corner but the bulldog is thrown off and the Vader Bomb gets two. Another attempt at a Bomb is countered but Swagger takes over again quickly. He loads up a superplex but Punk shoves him off for a top rope elbow….for the pin? I thought he kicked out but apparently not as Punk gets the pin at 13:57.

Rating: C. Not a bad match here despite what the referee shows was a bad call at the end. Not sure if that’ll play into the Ace as referee thing or not but it could have been an honest mistake. I mean it’s not like Swagger was going to win either way. Decent match and while I think Swagger should go face, he’ll be ok as a jobber to the stars like this.

Replay shows that it was a bad call and Cole freaks.

We see the ending of the Cena vs. Kane fight earlier.

Cena and Ryder are in the back talking and Ryder thanks Cena for everything he’s done for him.

The Bellas are talking in the back when Ricardo pops up. They brought him all the way from Mexico to give Del Rio a message. Miz interrupts them and says Ricardo is going to draw out R-Truth by insulting him. Ricardo says no but Miz threatens him.

The second HOF inductee: It’s still not Savage, but it’s THE FOUR HORSEMEN!!!

Here’s Ricardo to insult Truth but he’s very nervous to do so. He says that Truth’s breath smells like a rotten burrito and that’s enough to draw Truth out. Truth doesn’t know why Ricardo would want to pick a fight with him. Even Little Jimmy thinks he’s a good R-Truth now. He asks Little Jimmy if he should let Ricardo go. Apparently Jimmy doesn’t like Ricardo so Truth should turn Ricardo into a human pinata.

Ricardo freaks out so Truth asks for a song. La Cucaracha in fact. Ricardo gets WAY into this and even says this is a remix halfway though. Truth asks him to do it again and Ricardo knocks the mic out of his hand. Ricardo takes a Little Jimmy and here’s Miz for the beatdown.

Jericho time. He gets an entrance from Roberts and does the same entrance that he did last week. He’s doing the same thing he did last week with the whole running around the ring. No mic that I can see. Oh now he has one and the music ends. He poses on the corner and hasn’t talked yet. The mic is to his chest….(this is high drama stuff people) and he looks like he’s about to cry. He takes a minute to compose himself…..and is now crying. The music comes on and he walks out, still not saying anything.

Another Rumble Moment: 98, Austin wins.

Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix

Eve has new music I think. It’s 10:51 before Beth comes out so they’re going to have to blaze through this. And never mind because here’s Kane. Since women in wrestling are idiots, Eve gets out of the ring and STANDS THERE. Ryder runs out to save her and they run off to the side of the tron. No match.

We cut to the back and Ryder throws her into a car. The tire is flat though, so Ryder CHANGES THE TIRE. We take a break as Pep Boy #4 keeps at it.

Ryder defends against Swagger next week.

Ryder is still changing the tire when we get back. Call AAA dude. I’m sure they have some luchadores that could help you.

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler

No entrance for Dolph and the bell rings at 10:59. Ziggler starts fast and hits a quick Fameasser for two. Off to a chinlock and Ziggler does a headstand while holding it. Cole: “You couldn’t do that King.” Lawler: “Why would I want to?” Good question. Ziggler drops some elbows and does the situps. Cena starts his comeback and we cut to the back where Ryder is STILL changing the tire.

Kane finally comes to attack him and Ziggler throws on a sleeper. We cut to the back again and Kane chokeslams him into the pit I mentioned at the beginning of the show. Ziggler puts on another sleeper but Cena hits an AA to escape. He goes to the back and I guess the match is thrown out at about 5:00. I’m not going to rate it due to the match just being a placeholder for the angle. It was nothing of note anyway.

Cena gets out there and Kane jumps him. He smothers Cena down again and Ryder is just laying on the wooden pallet he was chokeslammed onto. Cena is left laying too. Kane stands very tall to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This was a very different kind of show but I was liking it a lot. Things were a lot more comedy based than they were last week and it was certainly a more memorable show. The wrestling was just ok but they played things up as over the top and overly dramatic tonight and I thought it made for a much better show. Also the HOF stuff is a nice touch so few complaints here, other than the lack of in ring action.

Results
Sheamus/Santino Marella b. Wade Barrett/Jinder Mahal – Cobra to Mahal
Daniel Bryan b. Kofi Kingston – LeBell Lock
Brodus Clay b. Curt Hawkins – Cross Body
CM Punk b. Jack Swagger – Top Rope Elbow Drop
John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler went to a no contest

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Announced on Raw.  Another inductee coming later tonight.

Thoughts on this?

Very simple question here: of all the wrestling companies that you’ve ever seen (doesn’t have to have been live/at that time), what is your favorite? It could be anything from WWF/E to WCW to the old NWA to WCCW to TNA to ECW to some local company to some foreign company. What’s your pick?This shouldn’t shock anyone, but mine is WWE.  It’s what I grew up on and it’s what I watch to this day.  They have incredibly talented guys who use a lot of psychology in their matches and they work for the most part.  Good stuff, although i can easily understand people getting sick of them at times.

Your thoughts/picks?

Smackdown
Date: January 6, 2012
Location: Verizon Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

I’m presuming Booker will be on commentary here. Anyway tonight we have a double main event with two title matches. First of all we have Booker challenging Cody for the IC Title in their rubber match in what should be good. We also get Bryan defending the world title against Big Show in what should be an interesting match as I’m really not sure how well Bryan will be able to manage against a monster. He’s a great seller though which should help. Let’s get to it.

We open with a video of Orton vs. Barrett last week.

Booker isn’t on commentary.

Intercontinental Title: Booker T vs. Cody Rhodes

Feeling out process to start and Booker has a very mild advantage. Cody takes over and works on the arm. They chop it out with Booker winning. They’re starting slowly here which implies they’ll have a lot of time to work with. Booker sends him to the floor where he gets dropped onto the railing. We take a break with Rhodes in control. Back with the same circumstances, just in the ring this time.

Backslide gets two for the challenger as does a big kick. Rhodes blocks a shot into the corner and tries the top rope standing moonsault, which only partially hits. Cody seemed to have hurt his leg coming down. He isn’t limping so maybe it was just a quick flash of pain. Off to a double arm hold, as in imagine if Booker is sitting down and Cody has Booker’s arms like he’s trying a double arm DDT or butterfly suplex.

Spinebuster takes Cody down but Booker can’t hit the scissors kick or the Book End. The second attempt at the kick gets two. Big reaction on the kickout too. Cody gets up and sends Booker into the corner where he sets for the Jack Brisco sunset flip but Cody stays in the middle of the ring. Booker tries a side kick but Cody ducks and hits the Beautiful Disaster for the pin at 9:12 shown of 12:42.

Rating: C+. Pretty good match and they made Booker look good here as it came off like he got caught rather than he got beat. I’ve heard rumors he might have something else like this and I wouldn’t be all that opposed to it. There’s nothing wrong with a guy that still gets a reaction from the crowd being used to put someone over like he did for Rhodes here.

Cody is walking in the back and Dustin pops up to congratulate him on a big victory. Cody yells at him, saying this is why they don’t talk. He’s already more of a success than his brother and he might be a better one than his dad. If Dustin considers putting on the gold paint for one more run, think twice because he’s a joke but not a laughing stock. Cody can change that though, so don’t try it.

Ryder is with Teddy and says he’s stepping down as assistant to the GM. Drew pops in but Ryder offers up Santino to be the new assistant, which is accepted. Zack leaves and Santino mentions some of the things he can do for Teddy, including syncing his iPod. As for Drew, he’s got Santino tonight and if he loses, he’s on very thin ice. If Santino wins, he’s officially the assistant. Drew leaves and here’s Aksana. Santino leaves while the two of them make dinner plans.

Royal Rumble moment: Cena returns. Screw WWE.com’s list. That’s the #1 moment in the history of the Rumble…..maybe. It’s probably either that or Hogan vs. Warrior. Either way it’s better than their’s: Shawn survives from #1.

Alicia is talking to AJ and AJ is really happy with Daniel. She’s worried about his match though. Bryan pops up to a pop which I don’t buy. He brags about beating Big Show and Alicia leaves. AJ is nervous about the match and Bryan is very confident. Sex is implied for later.

Hornswoggle vs. Heath Slater

This is an over the top rope challenge, so basically a two man battle royal. Horny looks at something in the lights and when Slater looks, Horny stomps on his foot. Slater chokes in the corner as we’re certainly in a comedy match. Horny tries a middle rope cross body but gets caught. Slater tries to dump him but Horny uses leverage and hair for the win at 1:37. This was just for the kids.

Slater beats him down post match but Gabriel makes the save. He hits the 450 and we cut to a very closeup shot on Slater, as in it looked like it was about a foot from his body on the mat and pointed at the corner.

Don’t be a bully.

Ted DiBiase vs. Hunico

Camacho, the bodyguard, has a mic. Oh wait it’s Hunico with the mic and Camacho is riding the bike. Both of them talk and aren’t happy that they didn’t get invited to join the DiBiase Posse. That Lowrider bike just isn’t working for me. Hunico tries to speed things up to start and hooks a headscissors which DiBiase countered into kind of a reverse sitout powerbomb. That could be a solid finisher if used by some power guy.

Hunico takes it to the mat and hooks a Fujiwara Armbar. DiBiase comes back and hits some dropkicks but Dream Street is countered. The arm goes into the buckle and Hunico locks in one of the weirdest pinning combinations I’ve ever seen. Basically DiBiase looked like he was in a backslide but Hunico was on one knee with DiBiase’s legs on his shoulders and was looking the other way. No idea what that’s called but it gets the pin at 3:06.

Rating: C. I liked this a lot as there was some basic psychology in it. Hunico worked on the arm which weakened DiBiase’s finisher, then DiBiase couldn’t hit Dream Street, Hunico went back to the arm and it led straight to the finish. Now why can’t we see something that simple a lot more often?

At the end of the day though, they’re riding away on a bicycle. Not working for me.

Here’s Barret and apparently this is supposed to be an update on Orton. Barrett says he’ll be handling this update instead of the doctors. We see a clip of the end of the show last week. As for the medical update, he has a herniated disc. As for his career update, he’s done. Oh sure he might try to come back someday but his mental edge is gone.

That brings us to the Royal Rumble in Orton’s hometown, where Orton will have to sit in the crowd and watch him win. There isn’t a single superstar that can stop him from winning. Cue Sheamus with a rebuttal. I like the idea of this feud as Sheamus needs something to do until the Rumble and Barrett can’t get to Bryan yet while the monsters are still after him. Sheamus says Barrett is like his uncle: a big talker, but just a sheepherder. Well at least he’s not a bushwhacker. However the uncle had been kicked in the head as a child so he wasn’t all there. Now what’s Barrett’s excuse?

They’re about to fight when they’re interrupted by…..Jinder Mahal? He doesn’t say anything but slaps Sheamus in the face. Sheamus fights them off but sets for a Celtic Cross on Barrett. Mahal gets in a shot but Sheamus destroys him again. Sheamus walks into Winds of Change and Barrett leaves. Sheamus gets put in a camel clutch and Jinder stands tall. Why are they going with this match again? Sheamus has destroyed him every time they’ve been together and they’re doing it again? Why? Hopefully so it’ll lead to Barrett vs. Sheamus, which is what it probably is.

We recap the Show/Bryan/Henry ordeal at TLC.

Santino Marella vs. Drew McIntyre

If Santino wins he’s the assistant to the GM and Drew is on very thin ice. Santino does his splits and hammers away. Drew comes back with a suplex, getting two. Futureshock is countered but Drew keeps control. Drew sets up a superplex but Santino slips off the top (intentionally) and sends Drew into the post. Cobra ends this at 2:28. Cole: “We’re going to go the way of WCW with these two running the show.” I’m fine with Santino here as it’s going to be played for comedy and it gives him something to do. No harm no foul here as Drew isn’t doing anything anyway.

In the back, Drew is freaking out when Teddy comes in. Drew says that can’t count because of a greased rope or something. Teddy says that’s strike two and next week, if it’s strike three he very well may be out.

Epico/Primo vs. Air Boom

Non-title here. Rosa is rather enjoying to watch. We haven’t seen the champs in awhile. I think that’s Epico starting with Bourne. Bourne lands on his feet out of a snapmare attempt and it’s off to Kofi. The champs combine to do AJ Styles’ dropdown to the dropkick spot. Rosa: “Ay caramba!” Off to Primo as we hear about Epico playing baseball at Western Michigan University. Kofi gets in a shot and double tags bring in Bourne and Primo. Bourne speeds things up and everything breaks down. Kofi sets to dive but Rosa blocks I think Primo. Bourne tries Air Bourne but Epico pulls Primo out and Bourne crashes, getting pinned at 3:50.

Rating: C-. The match was ok with a little change of pace since it’s usually Kofi that plays cleanup. I’m really not wild on the way Epico and Primo seem to be getting their push towards the title here because they’ve already lost to the champs a few times so now why should they be getting more shots? It’s FAR too common of a way of building to a title match and I’ve never been a fan of it.

Big Show says that tonight he’ll be conscious and he’ll get the title back. Bryan may be a good wrestler….and here he is. Bryan comes off like a total jerk here, talking about how Show is all natural and Bryan had to work to get where he is. If Bryan had been born as big as Show is, it wouldn’t have been 9 years between his title reigns. Show puts his hand on his shoulder and says don’t make me hurt you out there. Bryan doesn’t like being touched and is very defensive about it. Pretty heelish promo by Bryan here.

Sheamus vs. Jinder next week.

Natalya vs. Tamina

We get a quick highlight package of both of their papas before the match. Natalya takes her down quickly and pounds away at Tamina, shouting about family. Tamina tries a cross body but bounces off Natalya instead of falling on top of her. A Samoan Drop sets up the Superfly Splash and we’re done at 1:42. Standard Divas match anymore.

Raw ReBound.

Still don’t be a bully. If we have to Stand Up For WWE this fall again I’ll pull my hair out.

The same Rumble moment from Raw is shown here: Hacksaw winning it.

Smackdown World Title: Big Show vs. Daniel Bryan

Henry joins us for commentary, probably giving away the ending already. We get big match intros. Cole asks Henry who would win between Bryan and Hornswoggle. Henry GOES OFF, ranting about how that has nothing to do with this match and how it has nothing to do with him not having the title, which is all that matters here. Henry: “If you don’t got nothing intelligent to say, don’t say nothing at all.”

Show charges right at Bryan so the champ has to use speed maneuvers. Josh asks Henry if he thinks it’s fair that Show gets the first shot. Henry says no so Josh points out that Show was the champion that Bryan beat. He gets cut off by Henry who tells Josh to shut up. I’m LOVING Henry on commentary here. He’s all ticked off and tells people what he thinks. Show grabs him by the throat and throws him to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Bryan firing away kicks to no effect. He goes to the floor and after a quick switch, Bryan hits a baseball slide to send Show back to the table. Henry: “Why you all jumping?” Cole: “It might have something to do with a 500lb man coming at us.” A plancha is caught but Show’s knees go into the post. His head does the same and Bryan tries to win via countout. Back in and Show is mad.

Bryan manages to get his to his knees and fires off the kicks which have no effect. Cole and Henry are cracking me up with Henry refusing to admit he’s wrong on anything, even stuff that makes no sense and scaring Cole into agreeing. That’s what a monster should do. Bryan goes outside again so Show pulls him up by the hair. FREAKING OW MAN! Bryan tries something off the top but jumps into a chop. Show comes out of the corner and spears Bryan down for a very delayed two.

Henry is standing up now. He actually gives Bryan credit for kicking out of that. Show pulls the straps down and calls for the chokeslam but Bryan counters into a guillotine. Why Show doesn’t use his free hand to punch Bryan in the ribs is beyond me but whatever. Bryan is bleeding from the mouth and he shifts to a LeBell Lock. Show breaks it pretty easily and pulls up the big punch but Bryan hits the floor. Bryan gets in Henry’s face and Henry shoves him, so Bryan yells to the referee and it’s a DQ. Total heel move there by Bryan. Match ran 6:17 shown of 9:47.

Rating: C-. Well it wasn’t awful and Bryan made it more believable than I’d expect but the ending is a good thing. Without a ton of cheating or making Show look like an idiot, there aren’t many ways you can conceivably have Bryan win here. Show easily breaking the LeBell Lock was a good example of it. Bryan does know a bunch of holds, but Show is so big and powerful that it’s a stretch to believe he can keep Show in them. I’m interested in this heel turn that Bryan is heavily teasing though.

Bryan does the huge post match celebration as usual.

Overall Rating: B-. Not a great show but I thought this was pretty good. We got some stories advanced tonight and some new stuff like Barrett vs. Sheamus set up. Bryan’s heelish ways are interesting as he can only be interesting as the face champion that escapes with the title for so long. Good show here and a good way to start the new year.

Results
Cody Rhodes b. Booker T – Beautiful Disaster
Hornswoggle b. Heath Slater – Slater hit the floor
Hunico b. Ted DiBiase – Bridging Rollup
Santino Marella b. Drew McIntyre – Cobra
Epico/Primo b. Air Boom – Epico pinned Bourne after a missed Air Bourne
Tamina b. Natalya – Superfly Splash
Daniel Bryan b. Big Show via disqualification when Mark Henry interfered

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NXT
Date: January 4, 2012
Location: Verizon Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas
Commentators: Josh Matthews, William Regal

It’s a new year and it’s the same old show here. NXT will continue to defy all odds and reach new levels of worthlessness, and I’ll still be here to watch it because…..uh….. someone has to do it I guess. Anyway we’re inching closer to the 100th episode of this show and somehow, this season has been almost half of those. Let’s get to it.

We open with Striker who hypes up the 100th episode. He brings out The Natural Michael McGillicutty. Striker offers him a handshake but Hennig (seriously, just call the guy Joe Hennig and let him be Curt’s son) says this show sucked and that it gave him nothing. He became part of the Nexus, the most dominant faction in WWE history. That’s hilarious but we’ll move on.

Everything he’s accomplished has been because of his own abilities. Cue….ALEX RILEY??? He’s got his varsity jacket again and REGAL IS BACK!!! Sorry for shouting but you have to take what you can get with this show. They argue and start fighting. Striker shouts to get a ref here and it’s match time.

Alex Riley vs. Michael McGillicutty

Regal can’t pronounce McGillicutty’s name. He asks about any new year’s resolutions Josh may have made. Regal had his toes amputated so he can be closer to a bar. McGillicutty sends him to the floor and Riley is in trouble. He laughs as we take a break. Back with him in control still and it’s off to a quick chinlock. This match is going nowhere but it’s not that bad. Backbreaker gets two. Here’s a longer version of the chinlock.

Riley fights up and starts his comeback as Regal talks about how he had years in WCW before he got here. That’s such a huge difference in today’s product: there really are no major places to learn your craft other than FCW so you see so many styles that are the same. That’s what I like about OVW: you got a nicer variety to pick from. The inverted DDT is countered into a Saito Suplex for two from McGillicutty. McGillicutty goes up but gets crotched and caught in something like a super-butterfly suplex for two. TKO attempt is countered into a McGillicutter attempt which is countered into the TKO for the pin at 9:30.

Rating: C+. Better match than I was expecting but the part before the break was pretty dull. Riley is a guy that I like what I see out of but for some reason he was thrown off the main shows for whatever reason. He’d be a guy you could throw into Vickie’s stable really easily but instead he’s back here on NXT, hopefully as a regular if he’s not going to be on Raw anymore.

We get a video from last week where Maxine left with Curtis.

Bateman is talking to Kaitlyn who calls him Derrick Sweet Meat Bateman. Maxine and Curtis come up and it turns into a big argument. Maxine yells a lot and then kisses Curtis. After Maxine and Bateman both leave, Curtis hits on Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn vs. Maxine

Maxine has a cousin is a part time pilcher pickler from Portland and is married to a Peruvian pygmy who is a purveyor of fine pot-bellied pigs and peacocks. Josh: “You can get all that out of her but you can’t say McGillicutty?” Anyway Kaitlyn uses her power to control but Maxine counters into a slam into a dragon sleeper minus the arm trap with a bodyscissors for the tap at 1:55.

Here’s the Raw ReBound.

Yoshi and Barretta are in the back playing WWE 12 when Hawkins and Ryder show up. Trent invites them to jump in on their game and apparently Yoshi put superglue on the controller so Reks is stuck. Yeah….comedy.

Royal Rumble moment from 1988.

Trent Barretta vs. Curt Hawkins

When Hawkins was coming out, Curtis’ Tron video popped up for a split second. We talk about how Yoshi is always smiling. Regal: “You should always have a smile on your face. You make a better corpse that way in case you die.” We wish JR a happy birthday as the match is very basic to start. You hear that a lot anymore in WWE. Regal talks about coming to America and seeing JR as the first thing he saw on American TV. Suplex gets two for Hawkins.

We’ve gotten Norman Smiley and Gordon Solie references so far. The commentary is more fun than the match. All Hawkins so far. Regal and Josh won a Slammy for best announce team according to Josh. Regal wants cash instead of a trophy. Trent hits an enziguri and a running jumping elbow in the corner. Out to the floor and Trent hits a gorgeous flip dive to the floor. Back inside a tornado DDT gives Trent the win at 6:02.

Rating: C. I’m a big Trent fan and this was a great example as to why. He’s so smooth in the ring and can go from one thing to another with seemingly no effort at all. The dive was absolutely perfect and the DDT had a great spike to it. It’s a shame he doesn’t get more time, even just a spot fest with someone like Kidd. Still fun though.

We recap Titus vs. Young, which resulted in a bunch of brawls. O’Neil will be back next week.

Darren Young vs. Derrick Bateman

They have just over 4 minutes left in the video so this isn’t going to last long. They start fast and Bateman gets a quick two count. They go to the floor and Young hits an atomic drop kind of move onto the apron, taking the advantage. Back in Bateman sends him into the post shoulder first and we’re running out of time very fast. A running missile dropkick takes Young down. Maxine pops up and says in two weeks, she and Curtis are getting married in Vegas. Young hits his gutbuster for the pin at 3:30.

Rating: D. This was nothing other than a way to make the announcement about the wedding in a few weeks. I couldn’t be happier it was short either as these two are just not interesting at all, especially Young. He’s just boring and offers nothing at all of note. He never has and I can’t imagine him ever doing so.

Overall Rating: C. Much better show than usual but two of the matches were long and had people in them that I like so I’d think that has something to do with it. The two shorter ones were just there and the main storylines continue to bore me on this show. The love triangle thing has been played out for months now and it’s going to continue until they have their own network. Decent show from a wrestling perspective though.

Results
Alex Riley b. Michael McGillicutty – TKO
Maxine b. Kaitlyn – Standing dragon sleeper
Trent Barretta b. Curt Hawkins – Tornado DDT
Darren Young b. Derrick Bateman – Fireman’s Carry into a gutbuster

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Monday Night Raw
Date: January 2, 2012
Location: FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

We’re in Lawlerville tonight for the first WWE show of the year. There are two major things tonight: we see who the It Begins videos are for and we have a world title match in the form of Punk vs. Ziggler. With the ratings sagging, it might be interesting to see if the title changes hands tonight. Anyway, the road to the Rumble probably will get going tonight so let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the ending last week where the fans didn’t chant Cena Sucks, even though the video presents it as if they did. This is the most forced attempted heel turn ever.

Cena opens the show to of course a mixed reaction. He doesn’t look that upset. He wishes everyone a happy new year and it’s a split chant again. Cena talks about how the new year is time for resolutions and changes. He’s going to make some changes in 2012. First off, he’s going to start wearing less underwear (girl pop). As for the This is Your Life John Cena segment, his dad is now banned from WWE programing.

Finally, the last change is coming at Wrestlemania. After he beats Rock, he’s resolving to prove he’s lost his lady parts. The one thing that won’t change: he’s going to remain who he is and his convictions will remain true. Hustle, Loyalty and Respect don’t go away because someone throws fire at you. Every single one of the fans here has paid their money to be here tonight and if they want to cheer, boo, or shout whatever they want, that’s up to them and they’ve earned that right.

Cena’s disappointment is in Kane. Kane has an issue with Cena and Kane can’t settle it the way we do it here in the WWE. Kane pops up….or at least his voice does. He says Cena will eventually embrace the hate and tonight, he’ll witness the power of hate. Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh.

After a graphic about Punk vs. Ziggler, a video pops up saying the end begins tonight.

Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes

Bryan gets NO reaction. Cena got a big reaction and Kane got a pop too, but this is pathetic. Cody shakes off some kicks to start and hooks onto the arm. Bryan fights back and hits the running knee off the apron to the floor. Back in the Beautiful Disaster gets two. Cody tries a release gordbuster and gets rolled up for the pin at 3:20. Where do I begin?

Rating: D. So the IC Champion who has a big match on Friday loses in 200 seconds. Could they be any more counter productive with this stuff? Does the name Jack Swagger or Drew McIntyre not ring a bell to anyone? I’m already in a bad mood tonight and this is just making it worse.

Video of Miz getting attacked last week.

Miz comes in to see Johnny Ace and Ace says he won’t do anything about it. Miz wants to know why he’s here tonight then. Ace shows him a video of Miz attacking Truth two months ago but Miz says he doesn’t know why Truth would attack him. Sheamus vs. Miz tonight. Ace says he’ll have some people watching for Truth tonight. Miz says he’ll be a sitting duck. He leaves and the camera watches him go. Truth pops up and does a duck dance. This also gets a bigger reaction than Bryan had.

Video on Duggan’s Rumble win.

Barrett comes out for a match but before the match we get a clip of the Orton injury moment. Barrett says he’d wish us a happy new year, but he really doesn’t care about his new year, or our old year for that matter. This has been a good year for him already due to a lack of Orton. Orton was just another victim of the Barrett Barrage. Santino comes out and reminds us that he lasted longer than Barrett did in last year’s Rumble. He makes train sounds so he’s funny, get it?

Wade Barrett vs. Santino Marella

Let’s get this over with. Barrett throws punches and Santino does the splits. Barrett stops and kicks him in the head which makes me smile. Santino tries to load up the Cobra and gets a kick to the face. His shoulder goes into the most and Winds of Change ends this at 1:18.

The Bellas argue in front of Miz and Miz asks if they’ve seen Truth. He walks off and Truth is still stalking him.

Sheamus vs. The Miz

Miz immediately jumps Sheamus with a DDT and pounds him down. I don’t think the bell rang yet. He gets Sheamus tied in the ropes but Sheamus kicks him off. There are the forearms in the ropes and I mean like 20 of them. They go to the floor and Miz runs into the crowd. Truth jumps on the PA and is in the crowd.

Guess who he ran into? LITTLE JIMMY! Little Jimmy doesn’t like Miz. Little Jimmy says Miz needs to get got. Miz runs back to ringside and right into a Brogue Kick. Truth pops him with the water bottle. There was never an official match I don’t think. Truth goes back into the crowd and says this week’s Miz Beatdown was brought to you by Little Jimmy where you’re going to get got.

We see how Ziggler “earned” his shot tonight.

Ziggler is showing off in the back and says he flaunts it better than anyone else does every night. He talks about debt and how it dominates things, but he’s a walking talent surplus. Everything he’s wanted he’s gotten except for the WWE Title. He wins tonight. Good stuff.

Ryder continues to hit on Eve because he’s the US Champion so he’s hitting on a woman. Swagger comes up and says he should be champion. They get into an argument and Ace pops up. There’s a six man elimination tag with Kane/Swagger/Kane vs. Cena/Ryder/Show.

Raw World Title: CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler

You know, because the world title needs to end the first hour, not the main event of the show. This gets big match intros. If they let this match go, it should be good. They go to the mat to start and neither guy can get much of an advantage. Backbreaker gets two for Punk. Punk takes over for awhile until Ziggler hits a hot shot to take over. Ziggler gets in a shot on the floor and we hit the chinlock and take a break.

Back with them slugging it out on their knees but Ziggler grabs the sleeper. Punk quickly escapes and hits a leg lariat to take over. Snap powerslam gets two. They trade rollups and Dolph hits a Fameasser for two. Stinger Splash and something like a reverse powerslam gets two. They go to a corner and the buckle gets pulled off. Knee in the corner and a bulldog get two for Punk.

He calls for the GTS but here comes Ace. He points out the exposed buckle as Punk locks in the Anaconda Vice. Ziggler is tapping but there’s no referee so Punk lets it go. Ziggler tries the Zig Zag but Punk moves and Ziggler collides with Ace. GTS is countered and Ace pulls the top rope down. The fastest count ever results in a LAME countout win for Ziggler at 13:09.

Rating: C+. It was good up until the really stupid ending. If Ace wants the title off Punk that badly, wouldn’t he know to throw him back inside? I think we know what the Rumble is going to be though and that’s fine. Anyway, good stuff here, until the ending. That’s about what you would expect for this match though.

Ziggler celebrates with the title and goes into the crowd. The video interrupts it and says He Is Here.

Another Rumble video, this one from 1995.

Bella Twins vs. Eve Torres/Kelly Kelly

Kelly vs. let’s say Brie to start and Kelly does her spanking and Stinkface to get on my nerves even more. Eve comes in and does her usual stuff. The moonsault is broken up and it’s Nikki in now. Top rope moonsault gets two and it’s Twin Magic for the pin on Eve at 2:04. Are we really back to this again?

Punk comes in to yell at Ace and Ace makes Punk vs. Ziggler with Ace as referee for the Rumble. Punk says if he gets screwed out of the title, Otunga is going to come in handy because Punk will be arrested for animal cruelty when he beats Ace like a female dog.

Here’s another video with very similar images. It says a familiar force shall arrive to claim what is his. She holds the beckoning of his rebirth. The focus seems to bemore on the girl in this. She has spoken. It is time. And it looks like an earthquake in the arena. And it’s…..a blackout. Big Y2J chant starts up and there are lights of a guy in Jericho’s pose on the stage. It’s Jericho. Blast it. Freaking blast it. All those weeks and it’s Jericho….again.

Jericho takes a lap around the ring, slaps the hands of the fans, goes into the ring, goes back outside and slaps more hands and does the pose where he leans against the crowd. It’s Y2J Jericho too. He keeps playing to the crowd but hasn’t said a word onto the mic yet. There’s something up here. He goes outside AGAIN and shouts at the crowd. Now he points to the side of the crowd he wants to cheer. I’m waiting on a heel promo here.

And he drops the mic and does it AGAIN. This has been going on for like 5 minutes now. Here’s lap #4 around the ring and the fans are getting tired. Up the ramp he goes to grab a camera. And now he’s leaving. Ok no he isn’t…..and yes he is. He’s on the stage and there are some boos now. And he leaves. Jerry isn’t sure what we just saw. Jericho never said a word into the mic and nothing at all other than COME ON BABY!

Big Show/Zack Ryder/John Cena vs. Kane/Mark Henry/Jack Swagger

Elimination rules here. And there’s no Kane. Instead Otunga comes out and says it’ll be a handicap match. Swagger and Cena start us off with Cena taking him to the mat and dropping an elbow for two. Dropkick gets the same. Swagger kicks him into the corner and we take a break. Back with a Vader Bomb getting two. Cena backdrops out of it and here’s Big Show. No eliminations yet.

Show beats Swagger up and it’s time for a battle of the giants. Henry gets knocked to the floor and Show goes after him. Henry grabs a chair but Show knocks it out of his hands and cracks him in the back with it to get us down to two on two. It’s a double elimination though so it’s now Ryder/Cena vs. Swagger. Ryder comes in for the first time that we’ve seen and hits the Broski Boot. Rough Ryder is countered into an awful powerbomb and the ankle lock. Ryder makes the tag to break the hold and Cena cleans a few rooms (I don’t think Swagger qualifies as a house). AA ends this at 8:22.

Rating: D. Uh…yeah whatever man. I don’t get the point of anything here other than the lack of Kane. Having him not come in here is a good thing as he needs to make a big return for his first match back. Not a terrible match but what was the point of this being like 8 minutes long? I don’t get it.

Ryder is down from the ankle lock and the fire goes off. Cena goes straight up the ramp to go after Kane when he pops up through the ring. He gets one shot on Ryder and knocks Cena off the apron. Cena get smothered down and is out. Kane goes back in and grabs Ryder’s bad ankle. He pulls him down into the hole with him ala Taker and Diesel. Or maybe he doesn’t as Cena pulls Ryder out before he goes under. A big explosion from the hole and a bunch of fire pops out to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. The word of the night should be frustrating, because this show just failed to deliver on almost everything. Cody loses in three minutes, the world title match goes nowhere other than to set up another match, Brodus doesn’t debut still, Kane is a no show (which might be a good thing), Jericho does…..whatever (and yes I know it’s going somewhere else) and the main event was whatever it was. I don’t know what they were shooting for here, but I don’t think it was their foot like they hit.

Results
Daniel Bryan b. Cody Rhodes – Small Package
Wade Barrett b. Santino Marella – Winds of Change
Dolph Ziggler b. CM Punk via countout
Bella Twins b. Eve Torres/Kelly Kelly – Small package to Eve
Big Show/John Cena/Zack Ryder b. Jack Swagger/Kane/Mark Henry – Cena last eliminated Swagger to win

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Yep. Just like in 2007. I’m as shocked as I sound. Can’t you hear the shock in my voice?

If you were starting a wrestling company and could build it around one person not named John Cena, who would it be?  For the sake of this, consider their current ages (as in Taker is still old), the amount of time they appear (as in Rock only appears a handful of times a year) and all other factors.I’d go with Miz.  The guy knows how to antagonize a crowd like few others and it works every time.  Anyone can come out there and smile and laugh and all that stuff, but it’s impressive to get someone that is so loathed and hated to the point where the fans will boo whatever you say.  He’s a young guy and can cause a lot of havoc on a show.  He’s been dedicated to improving his game too and he’s a credible main event heel.  The Hollywood connections don’t hurt either.

Your picks/thoughts?