Extreme Rules 2011
Date: May 1, 2011
Location: St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Booker T, Josh Matthews

I see this show as being like TLC from last year: there isn’t much of a difference in the stories from here and Wrestlemania so here are a bunch of gimmicks tacked on and we hope that you watch our show and don’t notice that we haven’t put much thought into this past month.  The main event tonight (possibly) is Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio for the vacant world title.  If Christian doesn’t win here, I doubt he ever will.  Not really but it sounds good.  Let’s get to it.

Opening video is pretty much what you would expect: TONIGHT IS EXTREME!!!

CM Punk vs. Randy Orton

Last man standing here.  New Nexus is with Punk as they continue to try to validate their existences.  And never mind as an E-Mail throws them out.  Punk takes the pad off a buckle before he even gets in.  Hot start as they go right at it.  We go to the floor quickly with Punk getting introduced to the barricade.  They hit it off and are taking in a movie next Tuesday.

They go back into the ring as they’re keeping up that fast pace.  The problem of course is that in last man standings, there’s no real point to buying into any counts until after at least 8 minutes.  Punk grabs a kendo stick and the “brutal” part of the match starts.  Multiple shots by Punk (Straightedge anyone?) gets about seven and now it’s payback time.  Finisher attempts are exchanged and Orton sends Punk into a chair wedged in between the ropes to the floor for about 6.

Punk gets a solid kick to the head for about 8.  As always in these matches, a lot of time passes with little happening due to the counting and setting up for the counting.  Orton sends him into the barricade for six and we head back to the ring.  GTS actually hits and Orton gets up at 9, only to fall back down a second later.  That counts as being up though as it should.  Punk throws in a chair and a Russian leg sweep onto it gets about 8.

To their feet and Punk tries another leg sweep.  Orton pulls an RKO out of nowhere and both guys are down.  Orton gets up as does Punk but he stumbles to the floor just after he gets up.  Punk fights off the elevated DDT and wraps a chair around Orton’s throat to send it into the post.  THAT gets 9 and Punk is ticked off.  They go to the table and Punk tries the GTS on it….which wouldn’t add anything to the move but whatever.  There’s the counter into an RKO onto the (non-breaking in this case) table and Punk stumbles to his feet somehow at 9.  I would have bet on that being the ending.

Orton sets for a Punt but gets caught in a GTS into the steps.  When I say the GTS I mean he gets dropped face first onto the steps which is really about all you can do with that move.  Up at nine and Punk has a kendo stick.  Punk sends Orton in and goes up top for some reason, only to have Orton intercept the stick and WEAR PUNK OUT with it as he’s hanging from the top.  SUPER RKO from the top ends this with Orton barely beating the count.

Rating: B. I rather liked this one, mainly because they gave it a lot more time than I expected them to.  I would have thought the ending was going to happen multiple times in there but they let it keep going.  I think it was pretty clear Orton was going to win, but they had a lot of very close calls in there and it worked rather well.  Much better than I expected actually.

Lawler heads to the back to get read and we recap the Draft.

Morrison is warming up.

Sheamus is ticked off that Teddy has added an extra match with him defending against Kofi in a tables match.  He’s the US Champion and is defending against someone not from the US.  He demands to see the birth certificate.  This is FAR less stupid now that that whole issue is over.

US Title: Sheamus vs. Kofi Kingston

Booker continues to imply Kofi should turn heel as we hit the floor early.  First table is brought out by the pale one and set up on the floor.  Back to the ring and Sheamus gets caught on the apron, only to hit a slingshot shoulder block to take Kofi down.  Table #2 comes in and lands on top of Kofi.  We hear about how Sheamus beat Cena in one of these to win the title which still blows my mind.

Table gets set up in the corner but Kofi fights out of it.  Sheamus moves to avoid Kofi’s dive but Kofi is like screw it and does the splits in midair to land on the ropes with the table between his legs.  Big boot sends Kofi flying over the table on the floor as Sheamus takes over again.  The corner table is set up in front of the corner and Sheamus hammers away.  Sheamus can’t suplex him onto a table on the floor and gets caught by Trouble in Paradise but it doesn’t put him through the table.  The Boom Drop as Sheamus turns around does however to give Kofi the title.

Rating: C+. Not bad here and considering it was just a way to get a midcard title on Raw this was fine.  Kofi of course is his usually solid self and Sheamus loses the title without getting pinned.  This was perfectly fine and the ending plus some cool spots by Kofi were enough to push it over the top.

Truth complains about Morrison because that’s what he does anymore.  He can’t spell conspiracy.  The one thing he can’t stand is a thief which is what Morrison is.  Back in the 80s this would have been a squash over a jobber and the point is just to establish that Truth is here for when he likely runs in later.

Michael Cole/Jack Swagger vs. Jim Ross/Jerry Lawler

Country whipping match here, which means they all have straps.  Cole, I kid you not, is wrapped in bubble wrap.  Ross has a legit broken hand after beating Cole up Monday.  Cole gives us his resume as a reporter and insults all of Florida by saying everyone is old.  Lawler vs. Cole to start as Lawler can’t hurt him.  Lawler goes for the only unprotected part: Cole’s face.  There goes the bubble wrap and it’s off to Swagger.

Basically this is Lawler vs. Swagger for all intents and purposes as they have a one on one match for a few minutes.  Lawler gets him down but takes a chop block as he goes after Cole.  Ankle Lock goes on for like 30 seconds as Ross WEAKLY hits Swagger to break the hold.  Off to JR who puts an ankle lock on Swagger!  Swagger escapes and I think accidentally tags Cole.  Ross wastes WAY too much time for a clothesline and whips Cole a bit.  Ankle lock goes on Cole and even takes Swagger out with a low blow.  He turns to whip Swagger….and gets rolled up by Cole to end it.  Dang it this is going to keep going isn’t it?

Rating: F. Hey look, Cole wins again and gets to run his mouth a bit more.  Not as bad as Mania but still, DO SOMETHING ELSE!  This has been done and it’s been done multiple times already so why do they keep going with it?  Cole can still be a jerk but give us SOMETHING for a change instead.  Match sucked too.

Over the Limit is in three weeks.  Well of course it is.

Cena says he hasn’t been champion since June and will be champion again tonight.  Short interview here.

We recap Rey vs. Cody.  Not much to say here other than it’s been awesome from Cody and Rey messed up Cody, turning him into someone that thinks he’s grotesque despite looking the same as he always has.  That’s some solid psychological stuff there.

Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio

Falls count anywhere.  People hand out the bags which is a nice touch.  Cody has promised to send Rey to the hospital on his way to Raw.  Cody charges at Rey to start us off but Rey speeds thigns up to send him to the floor.  They go up the ramp and Rey gets a seated senton off the stage for two.  Out into the crowd as Rey kicks away at the head.  NOT IN THE FACE!!!

Up towards the back of the arena with Cody kind of in control now.  Into the back as this is more or less an old school hardcore match.  Cody mangaes the Beautiful Disaster off a concession stand window for two.  That looked awesome.  Back to the ring as this has been a very stiff looking match.  Rey tries his sitout bulldog but Cody reverses with a wheelbarrow drop onto the steps for two.

Cody picks Rey up like a 24 pack and throws him into the ring.  Rey fights back and sets for the 619, intentionally exposing his knee brace.  Cody counters and hits an Alabama Slam for two.  Up we go but Rey FIRES GREEN MIST at Cody to send him flying.  619 out of nowhere and the springboard splash finishes completely clean.

Rating: B. Another good match here, mainly due to them beating the tar out of each other.  This feud was solid and at least Cody got the win at Mania which looks better on his resume and will be what is remembered.  Good stuff overall here and the mist was a nice touch despite messing up the racial stereotypes again.

Layla apologizes to the Divas for being mean to them over the years.  They say they don’t like her but they like Michelle less.

Cole is back on commentary.  Oh joy.

Michelle McCool vs. Layla

More or less a street fight here and the loser leaves WWE.  Michelle wisely jumps Layla during her lay on the rope entrance.  Out to the floor as this is another intense brawl.  A shot into the table gets two for Michelle.  Big boot misses and here comes Layla.  Belly to belly gets two for Michelle as we hit the floor again.

They fight on the barrier of all things with Michelle taking over.  DIAMOND DUST gets two for Layla as they come back in.  Faithbreaker is countered into the Layout for two.  Michelle counters a jackknife cover into a Faithbreaker (Styles Clash) but can’t cover immediately.  Layla counters the cover into a rollup/crucifix pin to get rid of Michelle.

Rating: C+. I liked this again.  The Divas can do pretty well if they’re given the proper amount of time.  Layla winning here is probably due to Michelle leaving soon if not tonight apparently which is fine.  Definitely one of the better matches with the females in awhile as this worked fine.  Layle is getting a lot better every time she gets in there, which is definitely a good sign.

Layla cries as she leaves.

Michelle gets the goodbye song treatment but Kharma (Awesome Kong) debuts.  Implant Buster kills Michelle dead with ease.  All of the Divas are freaked out.  Beth is made to look the most prominent here.

Alberto gives Ricardo instructions on how to announce the ending.

We recap Edge’s retirement and the title being vacant.  This gets the 3 Doors Down video again which makes me smile.  Edge was supposed to defend in a ladder match but had to retire due to a neck injury so Christian took his place by winning a battle royal.

Smackdown World Title: Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio

Ladder match here.  Well we’re in Christian’s match with Edge’s momentum behind him in his (kind of) hometown.  If he doesn’t win here, he’s never going to have a better chance.  Brawl to start and Christian goes for the ladder only for the king of the golden banana hammock to take over.  Baseball slide into the ladder into Del Rio as Christian takes control right back.

First ladder is brought in and Del Rio gets in a shot to take over.  Christian is knocked to the floor as Del Rio gets the big ladder set up between the table and the ring like a platform.  Suplex is blocked but Christian is kicked into the steps hip first.  The Canadian gets knocked off the top onto a ladder and then jumps onto Del Rio to keep the advantage for the most part.

Up goes Christian but we’re only about 8 minutes into this so that’s not the ending.  They slug it out but the Killswitch is avoided.  Del Rio is sent into the ladder arm first.  Big ladder goes up in the middle of the ring but Del Rio chucks a stepladder at Christian for the save.  Codebreaker to the arm with Del Rio on the small ladder and Christian coming off the big ladder which looked awesome.

Del Rio works on the arm a bit as Cole declares Christian done.  The small ladder (I smell an alliance with Horny) is used again but Del Rio goes crashing into the big ladder to put him down.  Christian goes up again, only to get caught by Alberto in a kind of powerbomb move which is countered by a rana by Christian.  They fight over a chance to put the other through the ladder platform but Christian gets a suplex onto a ladder to put Del Rio down.

Alberto goes up, only to be stopped but the arm goes out on Christian as Alberto keeps control.  Chair slipped in by Ricardo which goes nowhere.  Back in the ring Christian busts out a SPEAR to put Del Rio down.  I guess he isn’t a master of it though as Del Rio makes the save by pulling Christian through the rungs of the ladder.  Christian slips free, sending Alberto into the corner where the stepladder gets kicked into his face again.

Christian gets laid out on the platform ladder and Del Rio goes up for an elbow/legdrop/splash/whatever.  Christian moves though and the ladder DOESN”T BREAK.  FREAKING OW MAN!  There goes the Canadian but Brodus runs in to move the ladder and pull him down.  Stepladder shot puts Clay down as Del Rio comes back in to take over.  Cross armbreaker with the arm in the ladder makes Christian tap which means nothing.

Christian is busted open so we bust out the towel.  Alberto sets up the ladder and has to take his time as first aid is administered, making this look REALLY FREAKING STUPID.  He goes up but a horn honks and Edge is in a car.  Brodus is busted BAD.  The distraction lets Christian shove Alberto onto Clay and Christian is champion.  One important thing here: Edge stands off to the side for a good while to let Christian celebrate on his own.

Rating: B. Another rather good match here and this is the right move.  I’m skeptical about Christian as champion still, but this was 100% the right call given the circumstances.  He gets the chance to run with things here, despite being 37 now.  It’s a gamble, but it’s not a huge walk the plank one so I don’t have many complaints here.  Rather good match too but nothing we haven’t seen before for the most part.

Edge celebrates with Christian but DOESN’T STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT.

Package on Orton’s movie at a film festival.  I think they’ve figured out the idea here: let the actors do the acting and let the WWE guys have supporting roles.  It’ll do a lot better.

Riley gives Miz a pep talk as the fans can be heard heckling Del Rio.

Tag Titles: Kane/Big Show vs. Wade Barrett/Ezekiel Jackson

Lumberjack match here which is really needed as it’s 10:15 and we only had the Raw title match left.  Show vs. Barrett to start us off as Show dominates.  Kane comes in with his low dropkick for two.  Everything breaks down quickly as Show beats up various jobber lumberjacks as Jackson runs over Kane to take over.  Double clothesline puts both guys down as this is a bit of a mess.  It’s a bonus match though so you really can’t complain that much.

Off to Show who cleans a few rooms but gets sent to the floor by Jackson.  Jobbers pound on him which means they’ll be his dinner later.  DH Smith is actually here.  Wow indeed.  They finally get Show back in and Jackson slams him, but Barrett wants the glory.  The glaring between the foreigners allows Show to grab a chokeslam to retain over Barrett.  Just a quick match here.

Rating: D+. Again, it’s a bonus match so you really can’t complain much here.  They filled in the card and pushed the whole Corre breaking down thing.  This was fine for what it was as they weren’t expected to do anything of note.  I’m done will filling in space here but with this sentence I get four lines out of it so I’m happy.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. The Miz vs. John Morrison

In a cage and it’s pin, submission or escape.  Miz tries to run but the not brothers John save him.  Midnight Express flapjack puts the champ down as we’re firmly into the three way formula already.  Everyone beats on everyone as the former tag champions……and by that I mean Miz and Morrison…..go up but Cena makes the save.  Miz and Cena fight on the top rope for a bit and down goes Cena.

Morrison tries to make a quick escape as Miz tries a pin but the champion saves.  They sit on top of the cage and slug it out as Booker says they’re 20 or 30 feet in the air.  I give up.  Cena pops up and it’s a double suplex to Miz but they kind of botch it into almost a double brainbuster.  That looked SICK.  Back to the formula again and down goes Morrison.

Cena locks on the STF but Miz tries to escape.  Cena lets go for some reason and no one escapes.  Morrison gets thrown into the cage, only to jump up the wall and almost escape.  He’s a wildcard in this and changes the whole thing, as wildcards are designed to do.  With the Johns on top, Miz tries to go out the door.  Morrison kicks the door onto his head but gets crotched on said door.

Miz wisely pulls Morrison back into the cage because Morrison was about to just fall onto the floor.  Cena gets two on Morrison.  BIG DDT on Cena by Miz gets two.  Miz rams Cena into the cage and Morrison almost escapes, only to be caught again by Miz.  They slug it out on top of the cage again and Miz can’t quite get down.  Miz goes down so Morrison launches a Starship Pain off the cage to take out both guys in a cool spot.

Morrison almost gets out but of course here’s Truth to slam the door on Morrison’s head.  Truth comes into the cage and destroys Morrison.  Axe kick to Cena as Booker is confused.  Jumping downward spiral (NAME THAT MOVE ALREADY!) to Morrison as Truth climbs the cage.  He hasn’t touched Miz.  Truth climbs out of the cage and has the big freaky eyes going on.

Everyone is down now and Miz is the first one up.  He goes to escape, for some reason not going through the door, only to be caught by Cena.  They slug it out with the boo/yay which is required for Cena matches anymore.  Skull Crushing Finale is blocked into a big old FU off the top (stealing moves from Orton Cena?  Really) and Cena is champion again.

Rating: B-. Well we all knew the Truth interference was coming and that Morrison wasn’t walking out with the title which is fine.  The ending sets up a rematch and Truth vs. Morrison which is fine on both counts.  This was a pretty solid main event to a pretty solid show which is always a good sign.  They worked the formula and they worked it well here, so no complaints for the most part.

Overall Rating: A-. Dude this show was pretty awesome.  There are good matches throughout, some history thrown in there and two bonus matches, one of which was pretty good.  This is a lot like TLC: it wasn’t meant to be an epic show but rather fun instead and that’s just what they did here.  Good stuff throughout and not boring at all with everyone working hard.  That’s what you want here and it paid off.  Very good show and rather fun overall.

Results

Randy Orton b. CM Punk when Punk couldn’t answer the ten count

Kofi Kingston b. Sheamus – Boom Drop through a table

Michael Cole/Jack Swagger b. Jim Ross/Jerry Lawler – Cole pinned Ross with a rollup

Rey Mysterio b. Cody Rhodes – Springboard splash

Layla b. Michelle McCool – Crucifix Pin

Christian b. Alberto Del Rio – Christian pulled down the championship

Big Show/Kane b. Ezekiel Jackson/Wade Barrett – Big Show pinned Barrett after a chokeslam

John Cena b. John Morrison and The Miz – Cena pinned Miz after an Attitude Adjustment off the top

Extreme Rules 2010
Date: April 25, 2010
Location: 1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore, Arena
Attendance: 12,278
Commentators: Michael Cole, Matt Striker, Jerry Lawler

Ok so here we are. Again this is hopefully going to be a live review so if it comes off as odd don’t be surprised. This show was plagued by a lack of Raw build up show due to the volcano in Iceland. Even still though, this is a minor PPV as it’s just a rehash of the Mania feuds. This is the show where everything is a gimmick match which is always at least cool in theory. The main event is Batista/Cena in a last man standing match. Let’s get to it.

Opening video more or less says that Extreme rules. Cute. Incredibly stupid, but cute. Rey/Punk gets a higher billing than Edge/Jericho. That’s rather odd. Standard video package that sums up everything. WWE is very user friendly. It’s easy to step into any show and get what’s going on. That’s a HUGE perk for attracting new fans.

Street Fight: HHH vs. Sheamus

WOW. This is the opener? I’m stunned actually. This has been a decent build up to a feud…and there’s no HHH. ICELAND ATTACKS AGAIN! We go to the back and Sheamus has jumped HHH. I like it. It gives things a feeling of you don’t know what’s coming which is a very nice touch to say the least. The pale one has a steel pipe and gets in a solid shot on HHH’s head. I guess this has officially started but I’m not sure. The referee calls for the medic and we go to the arena.

And Big Show and Miz are here. Ok then. These two aren’t scheduled but I’d bet on a tag title match. They’re not scheduled but they just happen to have their wrestling gear on. The jacket on Miz works in some weird way. Miz has risen so far so fast that it’s amazing. I think Bret is going to be here soon.

Oh apparently they’re moving that to tomorrow. They say they have a lack of competition and they’re praying for opponents. I smell Kane for some reason. Here’s Teddy Long. He makes ShowMiz vs. a team of his choosing. This is just for a title shot, not the titles. Got it. And the opponents are….not announced yet. I’m liking this live way of reviewing actually. Ah .

Tag Team Gauntlet

R-Truth and Morrison are opening us up here. This is the first of three teams. I know this is a rematch of Mania but come on now. Actually this works so I can’t complain that much. Cole says the fans are behind the face team. NO REALLY? It’s a bit better than the previous one at Mania, but not by much. Morrison screws up and gets disqualified by not letting Show out of the ropes when he has a triangle choke on. Ok then.

Team number two is MVP/Mark Henry. This is rather short but it works fine I guess. Without going into details, MVP gets punched and pinned.

Cue Hart Dynasty, Hart Attack, pin. Literally, that’s it.

Rating: N/A. Too much of a mess to really grade it as a regular match. Something like this was needed to flesh out the card though. It came off fine though.

Grisham tries to give us an update on HHH but Sheamus says he’ll have to forfeit or get a worse beating.

CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio

Remember if Punk loses his head is shaved. Punk NEEDS this. Rey is wearing a Skelator mask. Ok then. Punk hits that sweet powerslam of his. In a nice spot, Punk just throws Punk under the ropes so he crashes into the floor. Nicely done. Gallows has a bit of an Austin look going for him.

Decent match far and longer than their Mania one I think. Come on WWE don’t kill Punk off yet. He busts out a bow and arrow of all things. Nice. Striker tries to turn Cole and Lawler to Straightedge. I like it. Punk busts out a freaking Gory Special of all things. See? Even back then they had special moves. No Mercy stole from them! Punk is more or less dominating, which scares me to no end. Serena stops the 619 and she and Gallows get ejected.

Rey hits an Asai Moonsault to get right back into it. Crowd is red hot by the way. Rey gets a seated senton but Punk hits a dropkick to make the save. This is a storied rivalry already. No Striker. Just no. Punk hits his springboard clothesline and I can’t stand Rey anymore. Seriously, get over the whole overcoming the odds idea.

It’s just stupid anymore. GTS is countered into a rana for 2 and then punk kicks Rey’s head off. Solid match to put it mildly. Rey gets the freaking 619 and someone slides a chair into the ring. It’s a bald guy that slides under the ring. No clue who that was. He also drops Rey with something on the floor and Rey is out. GTS ends it. YES!

Rating: A-. VERY good match that had me wondering who would win up until the very end. Also, this is the way the match needed to end. Rey needed to lose here and Punk now has a credible win in this gimmick. That was a great match though. Love it and yes my Punk bias likely has a lot to do with it but still.

Strap Match: JTG vs. Shad Gaspar

It’s the four corners version here which I’m in the minority that actually prefers it that way. I just could not care less about this match. I truly couldn’t. JTG needs to win to regain credibility apparently. That would imply he had it to begin with, which is a straight up lie. Shad is dominating for the most part here. Yeah riveting.

Wow the crowd is SILENT for this. Who would have seen that coming? Shad just destroys JTG here and beats on him with the strap sans mercy. Shad gets his first three…and JTG does the same three. Not THIS finish again. Yep. JTG hits his finisher and dives for the 4th corner. Screw me running at least it’s over.

Rating: D-. And I like these kinds of matches. The crowd simply could not care less and it came off very clearly here. I mean NO ONE cared. Just boring here with two guys that have no heat on them at all. At least it’s over though.

HHH can’t fight tonight. Yeah I’ll buy that.

Orton vs. Swagger is next? Really? We hit the recap. You know the drill by now.

Smackdown World Title: Randy Orton vs. Jack Swagger

Remember it’s Extreme Rules which I guess means no rules? Crowd loves them some Orton. Swagger controls early on as you would expect. I’m hoping they don’t make the switch tonight. Orton chasing the title for a few months would be nice. Also Swagger needs the credibility that the title gives him.

I love how more or less the announcers say Orton has nothing but the RKO. That’s not that nice. Swagger is dominating but Orton gets a belt shot to break that up. Ok then. Orton hits that same powerslam that Punk hit earlier. Swagger counters the elevated DDT too. Nicely done. It’s garbage can time.

SICK shots with it from Orton. Those were nice. Orton is going off now and it’s awesome. Orton does a stomp to Swagger’s head while he’s on the steps. Ow. The knee drop misses though and Swagger hits the floor. Naturally he gets caught in the elevated DDT though and it’s Orton setting for the RKO now. Hint: when he slaps the mat and shouts, it means RKO is coming.

Instead though he sets up a chair but the RKO onto it is countered. Well kind of it was. The look came off terribly but I get the concept. Gutwrench powerbomb hits and Swagger gets the pin. HUGE win there. That was all Swagger as he countered the RKO and got the pin. All Swagger there. Post match Orton gets the RKO to keep the tweener thing going.

Rating: B-. Not great but the booking was exactly right. This was a decent little match as Swagger is getting better and better in the ring. I liked it for what it was. No classic but not bad at all.

And here’s Sheamus. Ok then. And despite not being able to feel his hand, here comes HHH. Ok, if he wins here, I give up.

Street Fight: Sheamus vs. HHH

HHH of course controls to start things off which is bearable I guess. He hits the spinebuster but can’t get the Pedigree because of the arm being how hurt it is. Now this is more like it. He’s just ramming HHH into the barricade over and over again. I forgot this is a street fight. That’s not a good sign at all.

Striker and King are arguing like no other here and it’s coming off as great. Striker says he and Lawler have both wrestled hurt. That’s rather stupid. Striker wrestled for what, a year or so? Just seems ridiculous to compare the two of them. And of course HHH has the energy to use a DDT with his left arm.

HHH grabs a pipe and smacks HHH in the head with it. Naturally he kicks out. Sure why not? Apparently after a massive Irish man blasts you in the head with a steel pipe you can kick out via instinct. Sure why not? Celtic Cross is blocked. Apparently that’s called Pale Justice now. HHH gets a kendo stick and all of a sudden his arm is fine. That makes my head hurt. This has at least picked up a bit. Pump kick hits though. A second kick hits and it’s all Sheamus.

Naturally he lets HHH get up and the third and fourth kicks land to FINALLY end him. And remember kiddies: do not attempt making yourself look that strong without a licensed wife with connections. To be fair, the ending makes this a lot more bearable. Post match he fights off a cervical collar and tries to crawl off. He’s almost to the entrance when Sheamus hits ANOTHER kick to put him down again. Nice.

Rating: C-. The second half saved this match. The first half was borderline failure but the weapons helped it a lot. Sheamus winning is the right thing though, period. Yes HHH looked very strong, but to be fair he laid down at the end of the match and that’s what counts at the end of the day. Not terrible but more about the angle afterwards than the match.

Ad for Over the Limit. Oh dear.

Edge is getting ready.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Beth Phoenix vs. Michelle McCool

This is an Extreme Makeover match. Michelle looks great of course. The music helps a lot here for her I think. There’s a table of makeup etc at ringside. Beth gets a semi-pop. Can someone shut Beth up? Please? Michelle is possibly the best women’s athlete ever? Really? That’s just pitiful.

Basically we’re just making fun of Vickie and using random weapons like hairspray and ironing boards. Beth counters the hairspray again and it’s one on one now. Vickie has a broom. Make your own jokes. Glam Slam ends it like it should have.

Rating: D. And that’s mainly due to Beth’s awesome cleavage in this one. This was a comedy match to put it nicely and it didn’t come off well to put it nicely. The girls looked hot, but having them use things like makeup and ironing boards? Really?

Ad for the Mania DVD.

Jericho does his usual great promo about how it ends tonight. He looks buff to say the least.

No recap actually.

Cage Match: Edge vs. Chris Jericho

Ah ok we got a quick recap after Edge’s intro. Makes more sense. Jericho stalls a lot to play himself some heel. Ah there we go now they’re both in. And we see Jericho’s tights pulled down. Didn’t need that one there. Jericho gets rammed into the cage. Striker: The metal militia bares its fangs.

Edge goes for the spear but misses entirely. That’s never a good thing. I love that springboard dropkick that Jericho busts out from time to time. Striker talks about footwork and Lawler just couldn’t care less. In a cool spot, Jericho hits a leg whip from the top into the Walls. Nicely done. Edge does the climb the ropes spot to get out which is a nice counter.

Jericho has the door open and knocks Edge to the middle of the ring. Then of course like an idiot he gets out of the cage and goes back in. Yeah he’s an idiot. Edge hits a fast spear for two. Codebreaker gets two and we fight on top of the cage for a bit. Edge gets crotched and Jericho gets out AGAIN but this time Edge stops him from falling.

We fight on top even more and Jericho comes back into the cage. And so does Edge. In a NICE spot, Edge is standing on the top rope and Jericho gets a running start, hits the other rope and into a Codebreaker so both guys are down. Nice. That only gets two for a pretty weak pop. Jericho goes for the top of the cage but Edge saves again.

He slams the door on Jericho’s ankle. That would freaking hurt. Edge spins the ankle around in a weird move. This is more psychological than anything else. Ok not really but there’s some of it in there. More ankle work. Edge hits a CRAP spear for the pin. Why does the announcer’s voice always crack when he’s saying superstar?

Rating: B. Good match here but not great. If nothing else, this gives Edge the definitive win here. That’s the biggest thing I think. It wasn’t great, but it did its purpose. Solid stuff, but nothing great though. Also, stop the stupid pinning in the cage. It’s just so idiotic. Two men enter, one man leaves. Not two men enter, one keeps the other down for three seconds.

We recap Cena vs. Batista. You know it by now.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. Batista

We get the big match intros. Depending on the source you read, this might be Big Dave’s last match. We get some feeling out stuff and then Batista is like screw it I’m getting a chair. Naturally this doesn’t work. When did so many people start using the big boot? FU doesn’t hit and Cena is thrown into the post.

Batista goes for the knee because that strategy always works in these things right? He does that for a good while. Cena gets a reversal into the steps to get Cena back to about even. Batista busts out a freaking figure four. Well you can’t fault him for a lack of psychology. Cena goes into his sequence but Batista hits the floor.

FU onto the chair hits but it gets 8. Wow that’s odd to type. Spinebuster gets 8 for Big Dave. Cena goes thgrough a table and of course that’s not enough. Batista is looking for plundah, perhaps a bicycle, when a kid yells that he hates the Animal. The Animal feels the same way. Cena puts him through the announce table. You can kind of say this is a paint by numbers thing. It’s not but you could say it is. STFU goes on and Big Dave taps, but you can’t win that way.

He’s out but gets up at 9. Nice little throwback (I crack myself up) to Raw two weeks ago. With nothing else left, Cena crotches him on the post and busts out Duct Tape to tie his legs together. Since he isn’t standing, that’s good enough to retain. Or win the title according to the main page.

Rating: B. Solid match but nothing classic. Cena beats Batista again to end the feud and possibly end Batista. This was fine for what it was, which is something I think people need to keep in mind. They weren’t going for a classic showdown here. That was at Mania. This was the violence aspect of it and more about a definitive ending. You have to keep that in mind on matches like these as it’s a huge difference in style and goals.

Overall Rating: B. I thought this was solid. Not great, but solid. Again, you have to keep in mind what you’re looking at here. Just by the name alone, Extreme Rules, you know this isn’t a standard PPV. It was a gimmick show and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. There isn’t a truly bad match all show, with the strap match and I guess the Divas match being the low points.

However you have a surprise ending and hot women. What more do you need? As for the best part of this show, the youth movement continues. Swagger gets a HUGE win over Orton and did it on his own. He countered the RKO, he hit the Bomb, he got the pin. That’s all you need. Also, Punk got the win that the needed in a great match. All of a sudden, he has credibility and momentum all over again. That’s all you need again.

Oh and Sheamus beats the crap out of HHH. Overall, this show did a great job of closing a lot of doors and getting the rest of the ones opened that need to be opened. This was a successful show. I’ll go with that. Oh and one more thing: there was a feeling of you didn’t know what was coming due to the opening of the show. That’s a very important thing there and it worked very well.

Punk/Mysterio and the main event are worth seeing. Everything else is decent enough for a watch later on. This isn’t a great show, but in a few years it would be a great way to kill an afternoon when it’s raining. Good show.

Smackdown
Date: April 29, 2011
Location: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

It’s the final night with the Smackdown roster as it had been for months.  It’s also the final night before Extreme Rules where we’re guaranteed a new World Heavyweight Champion in the form of Christian or Del Rio.  Orton is here tonight I’m assuming and it’s Rey’s last night here.  This should be good as there will be a lot of farewell matches.  Let’s get to it.

Naturally we open up with a recap of the Draft and Cena going from Friday to Monday, which really isn’t as big a deal as it’s being made out to be.  Of course Orton would wind up being the superstar brought in to replace Edge.  Also Smackdown lost Del Rio and Mysterio so they didn’t do perfectly.  Still though, Smackdown won on Monday.  In the supplemental….that’s up for debate I guess.

Do you know your enemy?  Mine would be IWC idiots that still say WWE is dying when it got 1 million buys for Wrestlemania which everyone said was impossible.  WWE is dying my foot.

The World Heavyweight Championship is above the ring again.

Kane/Show vs. Corre for the titles and Henry vs. Mysterio tonight.

Here’s Orton in the Smackdown shirt to open the show.  He introduces himself to the crowd, because no one here has ever watched Raw right?  Orton talks about how he’s looking forward to the challenges that await him but this Sunday he has some unfinished business.  It’s good that they’re not messing with the PPV matches at least.  Orton gets interrupted by….Drew McIntyre?

Drew says he’s moving up to Raw and the WWE Universe has to wait a bit longer on Orton vs. McIntyre.  Clearly a match the world is waiting for.  Drew tries to jump him with the Futureshock but walks into an RKO.  Orton tries to keep talking and here’s Alex Riley with generic rock theme #857, not to be confused with generic rock theme #856.  He doesn’t even get a word out before he gets taken down by an RKO.

He tries to talk again and this time it’s Del Rio to interrupt him.  Alberto is smart enough to talk on his way to the ring.  Orton apparently knows how to make a first impression but Alberto knows how to make a lasting one.  The three guys in Alberto’s crew surround Orton until Christian runs out to even the odds a bit.  Teddy comes out to make the tag team main event.  Clay gets knocked down and Orton and Christian stand tall.

Kofi is on his way to the ring for a match but Sheamus jumps him.  Apparently this is the match.  I can’t wait for Monday when those stupid shirts go away.  Total assault before the match starts (I think) with Kofi getting sent into the railing and steps.  That’s one thing I like about Sheamus: he isn’t a coward.  He’ll go straight at you and can be a monster fighter when he wants to be.

Into the ring now as I guess the match has officially started when Sheamus jumped him.  We’ll go with that for lack of anything official.  Into the ring and there’s the Brogue Kick and Sheamus holds up the belt and leaves.  I’m assuming this wasn’t an official match.  I’d bet on a match between them at the PPV to put a midcard title on Raw.

Here’s Cole to introduce Jack Swagger.  Cole implies JR is a pig.

Jack Swagger vs. Sin Cara

Cara NAILS the entrance.  I can’t believe I’ve read people complaining about how stupid the trampoline is.  Yes, of course he uses one.  It looks awesome too but hey, I guess since they think it’s stupid, it must be stupid.  Who cares that it looks cool or pops the crowd right?  Booker says he’s noticed Sin Cara can fly.  You can’t buy analysis like this people!!!

Swagger takes him to the mat easily and hammers away.  What looks like a powerslam is reversed and Cara fires off some kicks and an INSANE armdrag off the top.  The lighting is kind of a blue haze here.  It’s almost like Kane’s back in the day although not red and nowhere near as dark.  Cara is sent into the corner chest first but the Vader Bomb is blocked with knees.

More kicks follow and a Tajiri handspring elbow.  Headscissors puts Swagger down but Cara walks into a big boot after a missed springboard move.  Cole slips Swagger a leather belt and Cara grabs a victory roll to get the pin at 3:17.  I’m hoping that’s a sign of how they have tension between Swagger and Cole for the tag match Sunday.

Rating: C+. This was easily Cara’s best match so far in the company.  He kept things a bit slower paced and the result was far fewer botches, far fewer times where he looked shaky and a more interesting match.  He had enough high spots to pop the crowd too and the whole thing worked.  Fun stuff.

Swagger goes after him again post match but is sent to the floor where Cara hits a big plancha to take Jack down.

Kharma ad.  That face is terrifying.

Tag Titles: Heath Slater/Justin Gabriel vs. Big Show/Kane

I still don’t get the point in having Show go to Raw when the champions can be on both shows.  Show vs. Slater to start us off.  The punch is now known as the WMD.  Slater and Gabriel use some nice teamwork and a missile dropkick to put Show down.  That gets one as Show launches Gabriel to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Slater getting two on Show.  Gabriel pops in and manages to counter the chokeslam with a DDT for two as well.  Sleeper/choke by Gabriel gets him nowhere on Show of course.  A sideslam allows the hot tag to the Big Fried Freak (who isn’t as fried as you would expect).  Another sideslam, this one from Kane, gets two.  Top rope clothesline sets up the chokeslam as the crowd is DEAD.  Gabriel saves for a bit but the double chokeslam ends them as Kane pins Slater at 3:40 shown of 7:10 total.

Rating: D+. Just a step above a squash here as there was nothing going on at all.  Corre needs to advance on to splitting or whatever else they’re going to do.  Not much going on here but at least it’s done now.  I was thinking they would shift the belts back now but apparently the giants get to keep them for awhile.  Works for me.

Khali and Singh say good luck on Raw to Rey.  An Indian man comes up whose name is apparently Jinder Mahal and he’s from FCW.  They treat him like a big deal and that’s about it.

Here’s Rey to say goodbye to Smackdown.  He thanks the fans for everything, including their world title win last week.  The journey isn’t done yet as this Sunday they have a match with Cody Rhodes.  Everyone will be part of the 619.  Is he going to buy them all houses in San Diego?

Rey Mysterio vs. Mark Henry

Mark is freshly heel for no apparent reason other than we needed a midcard heel monster on Fridays.  Henry says Rey’s farewell is his debut which is unfortunate.  Rey goes straight at him as Cole makes fun of Rey’s nicknames.  Henry sends him to the floor and Rey stalls for a bit.  Back in and Rey tries to speed things up.  This goes about as well as Goldberg as a heel in WCW as Henry steps on him a lot.

Henry throws him to the floor as this is a very slow moving match.  Rey goes into the steps but moves to send Henry knee first into them as we thankfully take a break.  Back with them in the ring and Rey hitting a seated dropkick.  This is rather boring to say the least.  Henry knocks him off the top and splashes him in the corner.  About ¾ of this match has been Henry running into Rey in some form or another.

We continue to go so slowly that I think I have horrible lag.  Henry tries a drop onto the chest but Rey manages to move.  I’m not sure what caused Rey to move but it was either Mark screaming or standing there for ten seconds.  Little from column A, little from column B I guess.  Rey fires back and hits the 619.  He sets for the seated senton but Cody runs in for the DQ at 5:30 shown of 9:00.

Rating: D. This was terribly boring.  I mean they had nearly ten minutes and it felt like about 40.  Henry isn’t interesting in the slightest as he fights like a 1980s monster heel.  That sounds good in theory, but when did Bundy or Gang EVER go more than 5 minutes without it sucking?  The answer would be when Hogan was there and Rey is no Hogan as far as fighting monsters.  At least it’s over.

Cody beats Rey up in the crowd for a bit and throws him in to Henry for the World’s Strongest Slam.  Rey gets the paper bag treatment also.

Michelle McCool vs. Layla

Layla can make a Smackdown t-shirt look good.  That’s impressive.  They come out to the same music which is pretty rare.  Doesn’t mean anything but it’s rare.  Layla goes straight at her and Michelle shoves her off with ease.  Total catfight and they brawl to the floor.  The fight continues and it’s a double countout at 57 seconds.  Intense if nothing else.

Layla grabs the mic and challenges Michelle to a no DQ and no countout (street fight) match at Extreme Rules.  Michelle says Layla is nothing without her so it’s on.  Michelle insists on loser leaves (overdubbed) WWE.

Video on the European tour.  Hard to argue with those as apparently they’re almost pure profit.  Edge was there too.

Christian says he hears Alberto talking about destiny all the time.  He talks about Alberto injuring him and how it gave him time to reflect.  Christian talks about how this was Edge’s spot but now he’s in it.  He wants to know if this is his time or if he got lucky.  It’s his destiny and he’s going to not only touch the title Sunday but earn the right to keep it.  Good promo.

We run down the card for Sunday.

Brodus Clay/Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian/Randy Orton

Entrances take forever of course.  Can’t tell if it’s a BMW or a Ferrari tonight.  Ferrari apparently which looks awesome.  Christian vs. Del Rio to start us off.  And never mind as here’s Brodus about 4 seconds in.  Standard monster vs. regular sized guy at the moment as we talk about Christian needing a win to validate his career which is a kind of interesting debate.

Off to Alberto as we talk about what his moving to Raw means for Clay.  Clay could be a solid midcard monster if pushed right.  Let the psychology begin as Alberto works on the arm of Christian.  Off to Orton who stares a lot.  Knee drop gets two but Del Rio gets a Codebreaker to the arm and it’s off to Clay as we take a break.  Back with more tagging by the heels and Alberto throwing on a chinlock.

Christian comes in as does Clay.  The Canadian speeds things up and takes the fight to Clay, but Del Rio cheats (that villain!) and Clay gets a t-bone suplex for two.  More standard beating by both heels kills some time.  Christian sends Del Rio to the floor but can’t make the tag.  Brodus works on the back and brings in Alberto for a backsplash off the top for two.  Christian takes him down eventually and it’s hot tag to Orton.  Orton fires off his standard moveset on Del Rio as I’m begging ANYTHING interesting to happen.  RKO doesn’t hit Del Rio but Clay walks into it for the pin at 11:42 shown of 15:12.

Rating: D+. WOW this was boring.  From a wrestling standpoint it was fine but there was nothing to this at all that was going to make this interesting.  It was very paint by numbers for a main event tag match.  This felt like something you would see at a house show which really isn’t what I wanted to see here.  Not a terrible match but really boring overall for the most part.

Overall Rating: D+. I really wasn’t that impressed with this show.  They tried but I really wasn’t all that pleased.  The stuff they did was all about the new people on Smackdown and the old guys leaving which is ok but that doesn’t mean it’s an interesting match.  They kind of built to Extreme Rules but the new World Heavyweight Champion candidates were totally on the back burner tonight to Orton, which really doesn’t make me feel strong about the next title reign.  Weak show.

Results

Sin Cara b. Jack Swagger – Victory Roll

Big Show/Kane b. Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater – Chokeslam to Slater

Rey Mysterio b. Mark Henry via DQ when Cody Rhodes interfered

Layla vs. Michelle McCool went to a double countout

Randy Orton/Christian b. Alberto Del Rio/Brodus Clay

This isn’t officially confirmed yet but according to Variety it did.  I’m rather surprised they got it that high up but definitely a major victory for Vince and WWE here.

Thoughts?

NXT
Date: April 26, 2011
Location: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina
Commentators: Todd Grisham, William Regal

Somehow this is two months old already.  Two months.  How in the world has it only been two months?  Anyway, we’re done with the draft now so it’s time to focus on the real important thing tonight: NXT!!!  Please, someone tell me there’s an elimination coming soon.  I can’t take these six guys on the show for another month.  Let’s get to it.

Maryse and Striker bring out the rookies and pros.  It’s time to play How Well Do You Know Your Pro.  This is the game where the teams are given a question and have to match their answers.  Is there a reason why the games are always the same and they NEVER come up with anything else?

First question is what is the one thing your rookie does better than any other rookie.  Byron says he speaks better, Tatsu says just wrestle.  Nice knowing you Yoshi.  Connor, with mutton chops, says punish people, Kozlov says fire up.  Young says he doesn’t care what Chavo said and that he thinks he’s a better wrestler than Chavo.  Chavo’s card says wrestle but it’s not a match.  Novak says he makes it look good, JTG says fly, which is apparently a match.  Cannon says this is about him, Kidd says best attire.  Titus says connect with the WWE Universe, Horny says bark.  Novak is the only one with a point.

Question two is if you can’t be a superstar, you should be what.  Regal talks about other jobs he used to have, such as working as a bouncer and wringing out sponges for a one armed window cleaner.  Byron says news reporter and is wrong as I didn’t see the card.  Conor says fighter, Vlad says firefighter which isn’t a match.  Young says he doesn’t care and Chavo says tax man.  Since when does Chavo wear glasses?

Novak says there is no answer because he will be the next breakout star.  JTG thinks hip hop MC.  Cannon wants to know how many times Maryse threw up in her mouth after kissing Yoshi but Kidd says fashion designer.  O’Neil says dogcatcher, Horny says bodyguard.  This ate up ten minutes and managed to make this show even weaker.  Regal again saves it, saying he understands why Cole left this show.  Novak wins with the only correct answer out of ten total.

Darren Young vs. Titus O’Neil

Young is being all aggressive to start and we hit the floor with Young in control.  Darren and Chavo are a weird pairing as they’re kind of both heels and yet they’re feuding.  Horny plays cheerleader to get Titus out of a chinlock.  Big old sideslam gets two.  Titus has beaten Young twice this season already so this is billed as a rivalry.  We’re in North Carolina so Young throws on a Figure Four.  Chavo won’t help him though so Young walks into a Low Down to end this at approximately 3:30.  My feed messed up so I missed a few parts but the match couldn’t have been longer than four minutes.

Rating: C-. Decent little match here as Titus continues to be pushed to the moon.  Ok maybe to outer space as I don’t think you can get to the moon from NXT.  Young arguing with Chavo is a nice little touch as it gives you a reason to pay attention to them, which is fine as Young is probably the best all around of these six.  Having a talented pro helps a lot too so they’re probably the best pairing.

Jacob Novak/JTG vs. Vladimir Kozlov/Conor O’Brian

The idea of putting a weak guy with a good guy is foreign on this show isn’t it?  Novak calls out Regal again as maybe my previous statement should be retracted.  Novak says Rega’s career is over which makes Regal stand up.  Regal says he’s over 40 and has lived 1000 lifetimes.  However, if Novak thinks he’s going to let a Muppet like Novak tell him what he’s going to do, Novak is crazy.  Regal wants a match RIGHT NOW.  Novak of course says no because he’s in the tag match but he’ll take on Regal next week.  I guess the big brawl of a feud is penciled in.

Novak and Kozlov start us off as Regal is eerily calm.  O’Brian and Kozlov send Novak to the floor as we take a break.  Regal calls JTG a waste of space and one of the worst people in the WWE.  Preach it brother man.  Back with JTG hitting a clothesline for two on O’Brian.  O’Brian fights back but stops to hit Novak like a good man but JTG takes over again.  Novak hammers on him a bit as Regal talks about lighting Novak on fire in the middle of winter and using his burning flesh to warm his hands.  Vince….about that offer for help for any employee…

The rookies hit the mat as we hear about how impressive Novak has been lately.  Regal takes credit for that which is saying a lot as I’ve become more and more bored by him week in and week out.  Naturally the two guys that are joined at the hop this season get to work the majority of the match.  O’Brian gets a DDT to break the momentum and it’s off to Vlad.  JTG gets involved and everything breaks down.  Novak fights off a double team and hits a big boot to O’Brian to end this at 6:45.

Rating: D+. I know this is getting into a good bit of personal bias, but I do not care about these two anymore.  Novak is trying with the whole Regal thing but it’s nothing.  If they let Novak go over Regal it’ll help him a bit but at the end of the day, Novak and O’Brian have no point being here and yet they’re never thrown off and are even brought back.  I don’t get it at all.  Match was just kind of there anyway.

Raw ReBound recaps the Draft of course.

Someone has destroyed Maryse’s purse so she rants to Tatsu in French.  She blames Lucky and goes off to check on her shoes.  Tatsu comes up to Saxton and asks if he’s seen Lucky.  Saxton gets annoyed with Tatsu not being his pro and says Tatsu can come to the ring for his match with Cannon.  Good to see Saxton showing some serious nature.

Byron Saxton vs. Lucky Cannon

Saxton takes over to start as we hit the floor.  The crowd is SILENT.  Do you know how hard it is to kill fans in North freaking Carolina???  Big boot gets two for Cannon.  Triangle choke by Cannon gets him nowhere.  We hit the chinlock as Todd talks about Tatsu and Kidd going to Smackdown along with Regal, meaning they can hang out together.  Regal goes into a rather depressing speech about having no friends.  Grisham says the two of them get along.  Regal says in total deadpan that they don’t.  This was almost saddening.

Saxton makes his comeback and gets two off a shot from the middle rope.  Rollup gets the same.  We reference Gorgeous George and Chanel #10.  Kidd breaks up a pin attempt so Yoshi takes him out.  Cannon takes out Yoshi so he can tell Maryse he had nothing to do with this.  Yoshi comes in for the DQ at 5:44.  Saxton beats up Yoshi and gets beaten up by Cannon post match.

Rating: C-. Not terrible here but this was more or less the Maryse match rather than Cannon vs. Saxton.  That being said, it’s hardly a bad thing as she’s far more interesting and charismatic than both of them.  Match was only there to set up the finish which is ok, but it gets annoying after awhile.

Maryse might be impressed by Cannon.

Overall Rating: D. This didn’t do it for me at all.  They seem like they’re just going in circles at this point with nothing at all coming to help this show.  O’Brian needs to go as he has nothing going on at all.  Even Novak has something to do here.  Still no mention of an elimination as I really think it’s going to be one winner and no eliminations throughout the season.  It’s never been this far into a season without one so maybe that’s what they’re going with.  Anyway, bad show here but there are at least some stories coming together, which would help this show a lot.

Results

Jacob Novak won the How Well Do You Know Your Pro Challenge

Titus O’Neil b. Darren Young – Sitout Spinebuster

JTG/Jacob Novak b. Conor O’Brian/Vladimir Kozlov – Big boot to O’Brian

Lucky Cannon b. Byron Saxton via DQ when Yoshi Tatsu interfered

Here’s the final results. Is there a reason why the midcard champions are on the same show?

TO RAW
* Jack Swagger
* Kelly Kelly
* JTG
* Drew McIntyre
* Curt Hawkins
* Chris Masters
* Kofi Kingston
* Tyler Reks
* Beth Phoenix
* Rey Mysterio
* The Big Show
* Alberto Del Rio
* John Cena

TO SMACKDOWN
* Daniel Bryan
* The Great Khali (w/Ranjin Singh)
* Jimmy Uso
* Alicia Fox
* William Regal
* Yoshi Tatsu
* Natalya
* Jey Uso
* Ted DiBiase
* Tyson Kidd
* Tamina
* Alex Riley
* US Champion Sheamus
* John Cena (later drafted back)
* Randy Orton
* Mark Henry
* Sin Cara

Monday Night Raw
Date: April 25, 2011
Location: RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Tonight is the Draft and also the go home show before Extreme Rules.  The changes tonight don’t go into effect until after the PPV so the matches there are set in stone.  What it does mean though is that we could see a changing of some of the shows various titles are on which could help spice things up a bit.  This is usually fun and is being moved to this date due to Edge’s retirement, which is definitely a good thing as Smackdown is very low on star power right now.  Let’s get to it.

During Tough Enough we saw the Raw midcard coming into the ring for a 20 man battle royal with the winning brand getting the first pick.

Battle Royal

This is in progress as we start.  More or less imagine anyone in the midcard or upper midcard on either show and they’re in this.  There are 20 men in this with guys like Kane, Show, Bourne, Sheamus, Corre, DiBiase, Tatsu, Clay, Henry etc.  Three or four guys put Kane out.  Show fights Khali for a bit to a nice reaction.  These matches are always hard to call and this is no exception.  A bunch of Smackdown guys put out Khali.

Sheamus tries to dump Barrett but can’t get him.  Clay is walking around looking like he wants lunch.  Only two eliminations so far that I can tell.  Drew almost gets Bryan out but DiBiase saves.  If I understand this right any amount of people can win for a team, as in if there are three Smackdown guys left in the end the match ends.  Kozlov is out.  Show beats down Sheamus as Henry puts Big Zeke out.  The team dynamic here is kind of cool.

Slater is gone as is Masters.  Raw has a slight advantage now.  Barrett is gone as Raw takes over.  Did Ted DiBiase just put Barrett out?  Wow indeed.  There goes DiBiase.  Henry and Clay go out at the same time.  It looks like it’s 6-4 with Raw ahead but Tatsu goes out to make it 5-4.  Sheamus can’t put Rhodes out.  For Raw it’s Sheamus, Bourne, Daniel Bryan, Mason Ryan and Santino.  For the blue guys it’s Rhodes, Kofi, Drew and Show.  Drew puts Sheamus out as we take a break.

Back with no changes.  Bryan gets crushed by Show as Bourne puts McIntyre out.  Kofi comes off the top on Ryan but misses completely.  Santino goes to the apron and tries the Cobra on Show.  Show casually grabs it and hits Santino with his own move.  Bryan and Rhodes go out as we’re down to Mason Ryan and Evan Bourne vs. Kofi Kingston and Big Show.  Size vs. size and speed vs. speed.  Kofi goes to the apron and we get an awesome sequence with Bourne hanging off the apron and sliding back in while Kofi jumps back in.

Bourne is put on the top but jumps at Show, only to be thrown out with ease.  The double teaming begins and a pendulum kick sends Ryan into Show who tosses him to earn the blue show the first pick at 13:40 since the show came on the air.  Best time guess I can give you there guys.

Rating: C-. Battle royals are hard to grade but this was just ok.  The ending sequence with Kofi and Evan was awesome and the right team won.  I’d bet on this being the big star pick that they need or they’ll save it until the end.  Either way not bad here but just a battle royal which isn’t something that is very good most of the time.

To Smackdown: JOHN CENA!!!  Cena comes out on the stage in the blue shirt as I’m stunned.  Raw belongs to Orton I guess.

We get the recap video of Morrison and Truth which is made out to be something Biblical almost.

Here’s Truth to no music and he says Raleigh, North Carolina…..SHUT UP!  Tonight is all about you, meaning the fans.  They do the WHAT chant and Truth gets annoyed.  He blames the fans for his failure because they goaded him into it and says the fans haven’t gotten him anywhere over the years.

Truth says the fans need rhythm and to get in tune for his singing and dancing.  He talks to an imaginary fan named Little Jimmy who he apparently made happy by singing What’s Up.  The kid singing doesn’t make him a champion either so Little Jimmy can SHUT UP.  He’s giving the fans the boot tonight and is done with them.  When he let go all of the frustration and anger if felt MARVELOUS (he screamed it, not me)!  For the first time the Truth has set him free.

Morrison jumps Truth and the referees come out for the pull apart.  Morrison breaks free and charges Truth who he leaves laying as we take a break.

Rock is here next week which is his birthday.

Another video of what will be Awesome Kong and we see her face.  The world Kharma pops up on the screen.

Eve Torres vs. Layla

Well the people in this one look better than they did in the first match.  Michelle comes out after Layla and is pretty ticked off here.  Eve gets a very quick Downward Spiral for two.  Layla comes over to Michelle and swings at her as Cole interrupts again.  Eve wins with a rollup at 40 seconds.

Cole is talking about his training regimen and says that Mr. Wrestlemania has left ringside.

Layla DESTROYS Michelle post match and cries, shouting that she’s sick of this.  Michelle goes onto the announce table as Layla is bawling.

To Raw: Rey Mysterio.  Well that’s a change of pace for him.

JR is warming up.  Trish wishes she jiggled that much.

Cody Rhodes talks

about giving Rey a new mask, as in the kind that you get in a hospital.  This is another of those creepy Cody promos that get better and better every time.

Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus

Sheamus takes over early and hits a slingshot shoulder block for two.  After that chickenwing Sheamus uses he gets sent into the post to shift momentum.  Top rope cross body gets two.  Next week will be Raw and Smackdown combined again apparently.  High Cross misses as does the Brogue Kick but a pair of Trouble in Paradises ends this at 2:34.  Quick match and nothing to rate at all.

To Smackdown: Randy Orton.  My jaw literally dropped on that one.

Michael Cole vs. Jim Ross

Booker T is on commentary now which I believe is the 9^th consecutive week that the announce team has changed during the show.  Lawler gets up to be in JR’s corner.  Ross is in dress pants and an Oklahoma football jersey.  The seconds are on the apron instead of the floor.  Cole makes fun or Ross’ weight and they circle each other a lot.  A minute in and we’ve had no contact.

Cole, in his orange singlet, dances around a lot as Ross throws right hands.  Cole hits the floor as we’ve had no serious contact after two minutes.  Cole puts JR’s hat on then takes it off and stomps on it.  Cole has a lot of tattoos.  Swagger towels Cole off and he does some pushups.  We’ve now reached the length of Sheamus vs. Kofi with no contact yet.  Ross finally grabs Cole and shoves him down.

Cole calls for timeout and Swagger puts a stool in the corner.  There’s a spit bucket and water.  Cole actually tries to slam him so Ross hammers on him with some ground and…..with some ground and……no I just can’t say it.  Cole tries to run and Lawler throws him back in.  Swagger takes down Cole and then comes in for the DQ at 4:35.

Rating: F-. Oh just…..no.  We get it: Cole is a jerk that everyone hates.  This needs to END.  It’s played beyond belief and I have a bad feeling that it’s going to keep going after Extreme Rules.

Cole shouts about what Ross did to him as he has a bloody lip.  He gets a belt off JR I think and whips Ross with it.  Lawler comes in for the save and the heels run.  An E-Mail makes the match on Sunday a country whipping (strap) match.  Someone got busted legit in that as there’s a bunch of blood on Ross’ cheek.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton

This is for two picks.  Orton takes over for a bit until Ziggler comes back with a crossface chickenwing as the Backlundmania is spreading.  Orton fights back as they seem to botch something with Ziggler going to the floor.  Dropkick sends Orton into the front row and it’s not a countout of course.  Orton’s new beard won’t let that happen.  Randy comes back in and hits what is supposed to be a Thesz Press and hammers away.  Angle Slam gets two.  He loads up the RKO and despite Vickie interfering we’re done at 3:20 to send two more people to Fridays.  Good grief that’s a ton.

Rating: C+. This was short but they fit a lot in there.  It was a pretty good job of getting a very quick match that made sense which is hard to do with just over three minutes.  The ending was pretty obvious when Ziggler got no entrance at all and now looks like Evan Bourne’s cousin.  Not bad but WAY too short.

We start the Draft wheel again but Punk cuts it off.  He talks about beating Orton in the last man standing match this Sunday.  Orton says he’ll be glad to be gone from Raw so he won’t have to deal with Punk anymore.  This Sunday he’ll be the last man standing.  Now for the picks.  Ok never mind as they’re after the break.

To Smackdown: Mark Henry and Sin Cara.  Henry still has a job?  Cara is good because they can edit his matches to make them a bit less sloppy which will help him a lot I think.

Wade Barrett vs. Rey Mysterio

Barrett gets kicked in the leg to start but a Boss Man Slam gets two.  Off to a bow and arrow as Rey is in trouble early on.  Rey gets a springboard cross body for two.  Into the corner as I love that evil smile Barrett has.  Rey knocks him down and gets a headscissors to set up the 619 and top rope splash to end this at 2:30.  Just like the previous match: short but they got some stuff in there.

To Raw: Big Show and Alberto Del Rio.  Show is pointless as he can go from show to show with his tag title.  Alberto changes the whole world title picture though.  In the back Alberto is mad and Clay wants to know what happens to him but is sent away.

After we run down the card, Teddy introduces the main event which is for the final draft pick.

CM Punk/Alberto Del Rio/The Miz vs. John Cena/Mark Henry/Christian

The match starts after the break.  There’s going to be a supplemental draft tomorrow at noon.  That’s always fun.  Josh says this is the final time for Cena on Raw.  Assuming that draft picks stays, that’s absolutely laughable since they said next week is going to have guys from Raw and Smackdown on it already.  Christian vs. Miz to start us off.  Off to Cena and Miz runs off.  We actually take ANOTHER break as this is ridiculous.  Vince must need a new plane with this many commercials tonight.

Back with Cena cleaning house with a dropkick to Punk and it’s off to Henry.  After he stands on Punk a bit Christian comes in but the clapping gets him in trouble.  Avoid the clap dude.  Punk gets a big kick to take him down and it’s off to Del Rio. He works on the shoulder a bit and it’s off to Miz.  Lots of tagging in this match so far.  More arm work follows including a Codebreaker to the arm for two.

After Christian plays Ricky Morton for a bit (does that make Edge Robert Gibson somehow?) he manages to pull off a tornado DDT to Del Rio and it’s hot tag to Cena.  Miz comes in also and Cena hammers on the champion.  Protoplex puts him down but Henry takes Cena down with a shoulder block.  He picks Christian up in a press slam and throws him into the steps and the Skull Crushing Finale ends Cena.

Rating: C. Just a main event tag match here with nothing of note to it.  I think we all knew Raw would win here as they more or less had no other option.  Henry turning isn’t anything of note at all as he’s boring beyond belief for the most part anymore.  Not much here but a decent ending I guess.

To Raw: John Cena.  Yeah we knew it was coming.

Cena cleans house to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Well for overall shock value this certainly worked.  Cena and Orton both going had my jaw dropping.  The wrestling itself though….not so much.  The Cole/Ross thing was just annoying as it has been for weeks now.  The total focus on the main event save for a few picks is rather annoying stuff but that’s par for the course here.  Pretty weak Draft but it gave Smackdown more than the boost it needed, which is the point of the show.  The ending was a bit predictable but that’s fine as the initial shock was great.  Not the worst show but nothing great at all.

Results

Team Smackdown won a battle royal – Big Show last eliminated Mason Ryan

Eve Torres b. Layla – Rollup

Kofi Kingston b. Sheamus – Trouble in Paradise

Jim Ross b. Michael Cole via DQ when Jack Swagger interfered

Randy Orton b. Dolph Ziggler – RKO

Rey Mysterio b. Wade Barrett – Top rope splash

The Miz/Alberto Del Rio/CM Punk b. John Cena/Mark Henry/Christian – Skull Crushing Finale to Cena

Smackdown
Date: April 22, 2011
Location: O2 Arena, London, England
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

Tonight Alberto Del Rio is going to have a going away party for Edge who apparently will be in attendance tonight.  Things are all leading to the Draft on Monday where things are going to get turned upside down as they typically do.  This should be fun as Smackdown was pretty good last week.  They’ve changed their style to more of a squash heavy show which works in a different way than the style they had used before.  Let’s get to it.

We open with the 3 Doors Down video from Raw which works for me as they’re my favorite band.  This is a clipped down version, as in like 45 seconds long.

We also get a recap of the ending of the battle royal last week with Christian winning the spot in the match against Del Rio.

Do you know your enemy?  Mine at the moment is people that can’t understand what “no lettuce” means.

The world title belt is hanging above the ring.

Big Show and Kane vs. Corre for the tag titles later as well as Kofi vs. Barrett for the IC Title.  Didn’t he get a rematch already?

Cole gets a big introduction as Sir Michael Cole.  Wouldn’t he be subservient to King Booker?

Cody Rhodes comes out with a paper bag.  There are also people in suits with a shopping cart.  Cody says his mask is for protection but Rey’s is for hiding his fears and hatred for the fans.  He talks about how the fans are all wearing masks as we’re getting philosophical here.  He has a remedy though at his own expense.  In the shopping cart are paper bags with faces cut out of them.  Not quite the cars that Oprah gives away but a nice gift I guess.  Cody has a bag saved for Rey.

Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio

Rey gets a kick in early and we head to the floor.  Rey gets a seated senton off the apron as we take a break.  Back with Cody knocking Rey off the top and taking over.  Cody tries a powerbomb which is reversed for two.  Big old clothesline gets two for Rhodes as Cody is being all psycho.  Dropkick looks to set up the 619 but Cody reverses with a backdrop to the apron.  They fight on said apron with Cody sending Rey into the post as we take ANOTHER break.  We’ve had two breaks with three minutes of actual wrestling to watch.

Back with Cody hammering away as Booker and Cole get into it again.  Rey does the Bret Hart chest into the buckle bump so Cody can ram the mask into the head of Rey.  Booker thinks Cody has amnesia.  What in the world is Booker on anyway?  Rey fights Cody off of the top and gets some high flying stuff including a cross body for two.  The swinging kick to a seated Cody misses as he rolls Rey up for two.

Top rope….something….jumps into a dropkick by Cody for two.  It might have been a cross body but it wasn’t actually cross.  Cody sets for Cross Rhodes but Rey fights out of it.  Another powerbomb is attempted but Rey counters again, this time into a rana for the pin at 7:10 shown of 14:10.

Rating: C+. Well what we saw of it was good.  This will likely be setting up the tiebreaker match at Extreme Rules which I really hope Cody wins.  He has the potential to be a decent main event jobbing heel and I hope they let him do that rather than having him job to Rey like so many others have done in the past.

Cody keeps beating on Rey post match and they go into the crowd for a bit.  They get bored out there I guess as they head back to ringside.  Cody sends Rey into the steps and they fight on the barricade.  Rey sends him into the crowd again and takes over.  Rey LAUNCHES Cody over the railing to send him back towards the ring.  Cody looked like a mannequin flying through the air.  Cody takes over again and hits Cross Rhodes on the floor.  He puts a paper bag over Rey’s head and leaves him laying.

Gabriel and Barrett are in the back and Gabriel says it wasn’t personal when he eliminated him.  Barrett says it was personal and Slater says they both would have sold their mother down the river to get ahead.  Jackson comes up and says calm down because he’s the leader.  Barrett glares at him so Jackson says he’s just kidding.  Barrett and the tag champions still aren’t happy.

We recap Laycool’s therapy from last week.  They had more therapy earlier today and McCool says Layla wouldn’t be here without her.  They argue even more and yell at the therapist.  McCool says maybe they should split because Layla might not be flawless.  Michelle apologizes and they hug to a nice pop.  And never mind as McCool grabs her by the hair and throws her onto the couch.  I’ll let that image sink in for a few moments before I point out it was to hurt Layla.  She cries as McCool leaves.

Cole is in the ring and we see a clip of the knighting and feet kissing thing from Raw.  He brings out Swagger for the following squash.

Jack Swagger vs. Trent Barreta

Total squash as Swagger beats him up with ease, hitting the Vader Bomb.  An enziguri hits and Trent tries a springboard, only to get caught in a powerbomb.  Angle lock ends clean at 1:13.

Big Show was at the Kids Choice Awards.

Tag Titles: Heath Slater/Justin Gabriel vs. Big Show/Kane

Slater vs. Kane to start as we’re talking about John Kennedy for some reason.  Cole says Booker is jealous because he’s not a King anymore.  Maybe he’s an 8 or 9 but not a King.  Show comes in for some pounding and it’s back off to Kane.  Slater gets a shot to the knee and immediately tags out.  Gabriel comes in and before he takes two steps takes a right hand from Kane to take him down.  That looked great!

Kane goes up but Jackson shoves him off to set up the Ricky Morton stint.  Slater grabs a chinlock and tags out again to Justin.  Gabriel at least makes it more than a few seconds before getting drilled this time that’s an upgrade for him.  Kane pops him with another hard sounding shot and tries the side slam.  Gabriel reverses into a spinning DDT for two.  Slater comes off the top and Kane pops him as well.  He’s been sharp with those punches in this.

Hot tag to Show who cleans house.  Slater gets sent to the floor onto Jackson and Kane hits that uppercut on Jackson as well.  He must have been following his brother with only big right hands or uppercuts.  Anyway Slater runs into Big Show and we remember who is who here, meaning the chokeslam gives us new champion at 4:04.  Kane and Big Show were never once in anything resembling jeopardy here.

Rating: D+. Pretty boring match here but Kane’s uppercuts, while basic, were cool looking as they made every member of the Corre go flying.  Also they didn’t make things ridiculous by having the two small guys fight against the monsters which would have been a good bit realistic.  Not much here but the right ending and it gives the English fans something special to remember.

The Corre argues in the back with Jackson blaming Slater for getting pinned and Slater shoving Gabriel and walking away.

Drew McIntyre vs. Chris Masters

When is the last time Masters won a match that wasn’t on Superstars?  Masters shoves him into the corner to start and sends Drew to the apron.  Masterlock out there doesn’t work so Chris blasts him to the apron.  Back in and Drew wakes up a bit as he hammers away for two.  Futureshock is reversed into a small package for two.  Sky High gets two for Masters as he makes a nice comeback.  Middle rope shoulder gets two and he goes for the Masterlock again.  Drew walks up the corner and slams back onto Masters to reverse.  Futureshock ends this at 3:35.  Nice pop for McIntyre.

Rating: C. Better match here with Masters looking competitive again but eventually he has to beat someone.  He really needs a move that is a pinning move like a powerbomb or something as most heels simply aren’t going to give up to end a match.  That Sky High of his could work.  If he gets some pins with it then it makes him a far better threat to anyone else he fights, which he really isn’t at the moment.

Raw ReBound is the R-Truth heel turn from Raw.  The video they have is the one from NXT which is much better than the actual turn itself.  Eats up about 4:30.

We recap the Rhodes/Mysterio match and post match stuff from earlier.  The match at the PPV will be falls count anywhere.  That fits with the crowd thing earlier I guess.

Intercontinental Title: Kofi Kingston vs. Wade Barrett

Jackson is with Barrett.  Kofi hammers away to start as Booker says Kofi worries about the fans too much.  Barrett gets a boot in to take over.  Kofi sends him to the floor and hits a BIG cross body to the floor as we take a break.  Back with Barrett holding a bow and arrow hold on Kingston.  During the break Barrett sent Kofi into the steps to take over.

Back to the floor again as Barrett might have a bad wrist or hand.  Jackson accidentally takes Barrett out and we head back in.  Barrett yells at Jackson and sends him to the back.  Small package gets two for Kofi and it’s comeback (was he ever in trouble) time.  Boom Drop hits and Kofi sets for Trouble in Paradise.  Wade catches him in a fireman’s carry and puts Kofi on top.  Kofi tries a victory roll/rollup off the ropes but Barrett kneels down and grabs the ropes for the pin at 4:24 shown of 7:54.  Well that was short.

Rating: C-. Kofi’s big spots were nice but he needs to go to Raw.  There is nothing left for him to do on Smackdown and it’s very clear.  He hasn’t had any direction in forever and he needs a change of scenery.  This was a pretty weak match overall but the time is to blame for that.  Even though the whole thing was almost 8 minutes, just seeing about four and a half didn’t work.  Not a fan of this one but it was ok from a technical standpoint.

Time for Alberto’s party for Edge.  Clay and Rodriguez are there with him of course.  There are presents apparently and they’re under sheets.  Alberto pulls the first sheet off and it’s a grandfather clock.  Gift number two: adult diapers.  Make you own jokes there.  The third gift is her.

Cue LITA of all people….and it’s a fat chick.  Yeah I think we all saw that coming.  Del Rio says she never looked better.  Edge can go on a romantic stroll with her because he has this: a walker.  Time for the final gift which is a motorized scooter driven by Ricardo.  He does the Edge pose for the pyro to go off.  Oh and it comes complete with a handicap parking pass.

Cue Edge, looking a bit more like himself in jeans and a t-shirt with sunglasses.  Edge RSVPed on Facebook (that was on the graphic every time they showed it tonight) and this party sucks.  After some bad insults, Del Rio sends Brodus after Edge.  Christian pops up from nowhere with a ladder to drill Brodus and Del Rio as Alberto charges.  Christian sets the ladder up in the middle of the ring and pulls down the title to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Considering this was one of the England show, this worked pretty well I though.  They let it be a regular show instead of a boring one like they tend to have on the British episodes.  Things are kind of on hold until the Draft which is a problem as we have the PPV right around the corner.  Cody was good tonight and the PPV is a good place to blow that feud off at.  Solid show overall and it worked rather well.  Good stuff.

Results

Rey Mysterio b. Cody Rhodes – Hurricanrana

Jack Swagger b. Trent Barreta – Ankle Lock

Big Show/Kane b. Heath Slater/Justin Gabriel – Chokeslam to Slater

Drew McIntyre b. Chris Masters – Futureshock

Wade Barrett b. Kofi Kingston – Rollup

NXT
Date: April 19, 2011
Location: O2 Arena, London, England
Commentators: William Regal, Josh Matthews

Week I think seven here as I’m starting to think no one is ever going home.  I don’t mean that as hyperbole either.  I’m thinking that it might be just one winner declared at the end rather than having eliminations.  We don’t have much going on here probably as it’s another show in England which rarely get anything other than a token title change.  Let’s get to it.

It’s interesting to me that all of the major shows in a major city like London are in the same city.  Not saying it’s a bad thing but when you have shows in multiple major arenas in multiple cities in the same state in the same week at times normally, it’s kind of interesting to see.

One other note: I’ve been having very bad connection issues all night so I’m not sure if my internet is going to hold up 100% through the show.  I’ll do the best I can though.

First up we have the joust challenge and there’s no Striker this week.  The joust this time is a tug of war on the pedestals.  There are three random matches and whoever Maryse says does best goes to the finals.  O’Brian beats Saxton, Novak beats Young (WITH CONTROVERSY!!!!!  They went off at the same time and had to go to the replay) and Cannon beats Titus by DQ because Titus tried to pick up too much rope or something.

This is flying by as they’ve done the first three in maybe 2 minutes.  Cannon goes to the finals for being the most obnoxious.  Ok then.  Novak beats O’Brian and then Cannon (who gave up) in the finals to win.  This took less than five minutes combined.  Novak gets two points.  Novak steals Cannon’s robe.

That’s What I Am ad.

JTG introduces Novak who is apparently a street guy now.  He’s privileged to be an American apparently.  It’s time to talk to Regal whose name gets a solid pop.  Saxton and Kozlov cut them off and it’s time for O’Brian vs. Novak.  Oh joy.  What is this, their 5^th match?

Jacob Novak vs. Conor O’Brian

Novak takes over early and gets a clothesline to put O’Brian down.  We’re in the chinlock less than two minutes in.  The lack of charisma here is so high it’s unreal.  Novak puts him down with a big boot as the fans chant for Regal.  O’Brian gets a rollup for a quick three abut the referee says shoulder was up, despite him slapping the mat three times.  O’Brian grabs a rollup which Novak yells at Regal to end this at 3:03.  Man I have to grade it.

Rating: D-. Jacob Novak has managed to reach a level of boring that I didn’t think existed.  I mean good grief this guy is just not interesting at all.  They’ve tried to give him the character of being made a street guy by JTG and it doesn’t fit him but that character doesn’t fit him (I hope that made sense to you because it only kind of did to me).  O’Brian isn’t any better.  The problem is they have no characters and are just people with names that wrestle.  There were names for those kind of people back in the 80s: they were called jobbers.

Post match Novak shoves Regal who charges at him until JTG gets between them.

We recap (thankfully not re-air) the Morrison/Truth segment from last night which was a pretty good heel turn I thought.  The recap is actually rather good, making the whole beating seem epic and making Truth look like he’s completely evil.

Saxton and Yoshi talk about Maryse in the back.  Saxton says slow it down a bit.  Yoshi says it’s cool.  Maryse comes up and asks Yoshi to come shopping with her.  Yoshi gets a kiss on the cheek and pays no attention to what Saxton suggests about their tag match later on.

Hornswoggle vs. Darren Young

Young is blindfolded and has an arm tied behind his back.  Apparently Young shot his mouth off backstage and Chavo “just happens to have a rope right here.”  What kind of freaky stuff is Chavo up to when he’s waiting on his matches?  Also whose side is Chavo on here?  He just happens to have a blindfold in his pocket too.  I know you can make the argument that Chavo had time to get this stuff, but where do you find rope and a blindfold in a foreign city on such short notice?  Odd indeed.

Regal randomly talks about how he used to manage the five Spice Girls but now at his age he can only manage two.  It was as random as it sounds.  This is exactly what you would expect it to be.  Horny moves around and when the referee is distracted Young cheats by moving the blindfold with his right arm.  Young gets shoved off the ropes and Horny hits the Tadpole Splash to end it at 1:28.  This was one of those comedy matches where they left out the comedy.

Yoshi Tatsu/Byron Saxton vs. Lucky Cannon/Tyson Kidd

WOW I completely forgot Kidd was on this show.  There’s a lot of time for this match too.  Maryse is at ringside here.  The rookies start us off but Cannon wants Yoshi.  I know this because he shouts I WANT YOSHI.  Off to Tatsu whose music sounds like constantly saying the word chimichanga.  Listen to it over and over again and you’ll hear it too.  This isn’t just me being random.  Regal is talking about ground beef for some reason.

The pros are in there rather quickly and Kidd can’t get a backslide.  Tatsu gets an appropriately Japanese armdrag and works the arm a bit as it’s off to Saxton.  Bryon has the armbar on with his back to Yoshi yet Yoshi has his arm out for a tag anyway.  Jumping back elbow gets two for Byron.  Off to Yoshi again as Regal talks about how he would never be able to make it in this kind of environment.  I’m not sure what you can really draw out of that but there’s something there.

Kidd gets kicked in the face and clotheslined to the floor as we take a break.  Back with Cannon holding Saxton in a modified triangle choke.  That lasts a few seconds as we have to see a replay of what happened during the break.  Kidd jumped Cannon apparently to give his team the advantage.  Off to Kidd again who gets the dreaded “aggression” tag put on him.

Sunset flip by Saxton gets two but he can’t keep the arms down.  Regal actually has a name for getting the legs over the arms, which is apparently called the double legged nelson.  That’s a new one on me.  Saxton tries to fight back but gets kicked in the head by Cannon to take him back down.  Cannon gets him down and hammers away while yelling at him.  “It’s all” *WHACK* “about” *WHACK* “ME!” *WHACK* Not quite Magnum and Tully but it’s something I guess.

Saxton fights back and it’s a double tag to bring in the pros.  Tatsu takes over and a big kick gets a long two.  The crowd is starting to get into this now.  That says something about the rookies I think.  Shining Wizard gets two.  Yoshi sets for something but Cannon hits on Maryse.  Yoshi gets distracted and a Moss Covered Three Handled Family Credenza from Kidd ends him at 11:26.  And yes that’s the real name of the move.

Rating: C-. Pretty boring match here but it might be the longest match of the entire season so far.  The rookies weren’t that interesting and Saxton was in there for too much of the match to keep it interesting.  He’s not the worst of the rookies by far but his in ring work leaves a lot to be desired as far as being past the basics goes.  Not a terrible match but nothing great at all.

Overall Rating: D. Well the main event wasn’t terrible but the rest of the show isn’t interesting other than the Maryse thing if you really stretch it.  The problem at the end of the day is simply that the rookies aren’t very good with the main two here being Novak and O’Brian.  O’Neil has a look, Saxton has charisma, Cannon is a decent heel and Young is the best in the ring and has some experience.

Then you get to O’Brian and Novak.  What in the world do these two have to offer?  Whatever WWE thinks it is, I’m not seeing it.  They’re not charismatic, they have no characters, they’re not anything past average at best in the ring, they get zero reactions, and yet they’re here again.  If you cut those two off, this show goes WAY up in value, yet there wasn’t a single word about eliminations again tonight.  Not a horrible show as they cut down on the Raw stuff, which makes sense as there wasn’t as much on last night’s show.  Anyway, not terrible but Novak and O’Brian are killing this thing.

Results

Jacob Novak won the Pull Through Challenge

Conor O’Brian b. Jacob Novak – Rollup

Hornswoggle b. Darren Young – Tadpole Splash

Tyson Kidd/Lucky Cannon b. Yoshi Tatsu/Byron Saxton – Fisherman’s Suplex into a spinning neckbreaker to Tatsu

Monday Night Raw
Date: April 18, 2011
Location: O2 Arena, London, England
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole

We’re in England tonight as you can see by the location of the show.  This show was taped which might explain some differences in the look and feel of the show.  We’re apparently a week away from the 2011 WWE Draft which means this might be the last night a lot of Raw stars are well….Raw stars.  We also will likely get some more matches added to the Extreme Rules card.  Let’s get to it.

Nickelback opens us up.  Awesome.  Yes I like them.  Go ahead and make your jokes.

Here’s R-Truth to open the show in the arena.  Cole cuts Lawler and King off almost immediately and says it’s not 12 years ago.  Lawler says he likes listening to R-Truth rap.  Why do I have a problem believing that?  Truth says he’s going to preach the gospel.  He’s been down a long road of trials, tribulations and demons.  His problem now is that he’s in line to become WWE Champion.  Cena’s name is booed.  For the WWE Universe he’s fighting everybody anywhere anytime.  And that is the truth.

Cue John Morrison who says he’s happy but would be happier if it was him.  Morrison says Truth got lucky last week.  Truth says he’s in the best shape of his life.  We get a clip from last week where during a commercial a referee handed Truth some water as Cena came in.  Morrison says Truth is in good shape for someone who smokes.

Truth: “All you’re trying to do is get me to challenge you to a match for my spot at Extreme Rules.”  Morrison: “All right I accept.”  Morrison points out that Truth said he’d fight anybody and the people seem to like the idea.  Truth says he’ll do it on two conditions.  First up a bottle of water and a cigarette.  Morrison says he’ll need some luck too.  Crowd had no response at all to those three final things.

John Morrison vs. R-Truth

This is for the spot at Extreme Rules apparently.  Morrison takes over early and Truth hits the floor.  The fans aren’t thrilled as he gets some water and we take a break.  Back with Truth holding a headlock and then grabbing some pinning combinations for two.  Back to the headlock again as I guess Truth was tired again?  Morrison makes a small comeback with clotheslines but is takes down by a spinning kick by Truth.

Truth works on the arm for a bit and hits that suplex into a Stunner move of him for two.  Axe kick misses as does Morrison’s kick off the middle rope.  Morrison blocks the jumping downward spiral (which I think is called What’s Up but I’m not sure), putting Truth in perfect position for Starship Pain to end this in 7:08 (counting commercial).  Morrison is now in the PPV main event.

Rating: C. Just an ok match here but the water angle was kind of interesting for a nice twist.  The reaction to the change in the triple threat is kind of surprising though as they acted like it was no big deal at all.  Not a terrible match but just kind of there.  The best word I can think of for this match is basic.  It wasn’t anything great but it wasn’t bad either.  Average grade sounds right.

Truth goes off on Morrison post match, apparently turning heel.  He throws in a running knee to Morrison’s head, driving it into the railing.  Then he kind of hougs Morrison and says it’s all right before throwing him down on the floor.  He steals Jerry’s water and blasts Morrison in the head with it.  Truth says John did this and hits What’s Up on the floor.  He gets a cigarette from a fan and actually lights up.  Never thought I’d see that on WWE programming.  He blows smoke on Morrison and throws the lit cigarette at him before leaving.  Long segment here but not too bad.

Evan Bourne vs. Dolph Ziggler

No entrance for Bourne here other than a faint trace of his music.  Vickie does the regular entrance for Ziggler, who she claims is new and improved.  He has a haircut and dark hair now.  Well he doesn’t look like Curt Hennig anymore.  Ziggler takes over quickly but is caught in a hurricanrana.  Bourne tries to come off the ropes but gets caught by a dropkick for two.

We hit the mat and Ziggler looks like he’s unsure what he wants to do before settling on a bow and arrow kind of hold for a bit.  Bourne keeps trying to fight back with some strikes but Ziggler takes him down with ease.  A nice little string of offense by Evan ends with a spin kick for two.  He goes up for Air Bourne but Ziggler moves.  Bourne LANDS ON HIM FEET but is caught in a Zig Zag to end it at 2:10.  That landing by Bourne was amazing.

Cole is going to be knighted later apparently.

The Raw Rewind is all three of Sin Cara’s appearances.

Video of Edge’s two appearances last week, set to 3 Doors Down’s When You’re Young.  Del Rio is going to have a farewell party for Edge on Smackdown apparently.

Here’s Miz in a new shirt, along with Riley.   It looks like a baseball jersey and says Awesome.  Miz complains about being in a triple threat match and having it changed on him.  The match is going to be in a cage also where you can win by pinfall, submission or escape.  He wants a chair because he’s going to protest this change as we take a break.

Back with Miz running his mouth as we come back in mid sentence.  He’s talking about how it doesn’t matter who does something because at Extreme Rules he’s going to still be champion at the end of the match.  He sets for the catchphrase and Sin (Scene according to JR) Cara’s music cuts him off.

Sin Cara vs. Alex Riley

BIG height on the trampoline this week as he easily clears the top rope.  Loud Sin Cara chant starts and here’s Cena at a full sprint to clear the ring.  Well you can’t say Cara isn’t getting a good rub right of the bat.  The GM sends an e-mail to make it a tag match.  Works for me.

Alex Riley/The Miz vs. John Cena/Sin Cara

Riley and Cena start with the fans booing Cena out of the building.  Bulldog takes Alex down and he bails to the floor as we take another break.  Back with Cena taking it to Miz FU is blocked and Miz gets a Side Effect to send Cena into the corner.  The announcers talk about the Draft and Jerry wants to know if Cole is drafted off Raw.  My guess would be very little would change as he already does Smackdown but what do I know?

Riley and Miz hammer on Cena a bit more until Cena gets that sitout powerslam kind of move he hit last week.  That’s enough for the hot tag as Cara comes in by kind of jumping into Miz.  Things speed way up and Cara hits all kinds of dives and springboard moves to take down both opponents.  He sets for what looked like a springboard splash of some sort but Riley made the save, pulling him to the floor.

Miz rams him into the apron and takes over as they’re now the legal men.  The dueling Cena chants begin as Riley gets a clothesline for two.  Back off to the champion who can’t get his running clothesline in the corner.  Double tags bring in Riley and Cena and John initiates his ending sequence.  Before 5 Knuckle Shuffle he takes out Miz.  The champ picks up his title to leave as Cena hits the FU on Riley.  Tag brings in Sin Cara who TOTALLY misses a springboard moonsault which is enough to end this at 10:30.

Rating: C+. Not a terrible match but Cara still looks really shaky out there and can’t hit some very basic spots.  If not for the sake of a quick camera edit that ending would have looked completely unrealistic and even with it the move looked bad.  Cara is trying but he looks like he’s about to go flying to the floor any second.  Not a good sign to be sure.

Nikki Bella vs. Eve Torres

Brie says that she wants a rematch but Eve might get drafted to Smackdown.  Not really any kind of a threat or anything but just kind of a statement of fact.  Eve misses a baseball slide to Nikki as she’s in a Tree of Woe to let Nikki take over.  Brie I think tries to slam Eve’s knee into the apron but the contact doesn’t seem to be there.  Nikki misses a double knee drop and Eve gets a rollup to end it at 1:48.

Eve poses after her win and Cole cuts it off.  He’s going to be knighted next.

Back with Cole in the ring and he calls out Swagger.  Jack comes out in a suit holding what looks like a robe over his arm.  Swagger doesn’t look mad at him after last week.  They hug so I guess everything is ok.  Swagger pulls out a scroll and botches saying “Hear Ye” by saying “Hear He”.  Tonight we add a new item to his hall of fame career as he becomes Sir Michael Cole.

Swagger brings out a woman that is called Queen Elizabeth.  The fans boo loudly as she reads whatever proclamation she has and taps him on the shoulders with the sword.  Cole kisses the queen and tries to start a Sir Michael Cole chant.  The fans reply by chanting sucks.  Cole says to show respect because they’re all his peasants.  And speaking of peasants, he turns his attention to JR and the King.  Isn’t a King ahead of a knight?

Cole says they should kiss his feet.  Cole takes his shoe and sock off, revealing a disgusting looking foot that looks like it’s dirty and infected or something.  Swagger takes Lawler out and then grabs Ross.  JR of course refuses so the ankle lock goes on and down goes Ross onto the foot.  Cole and Swagger stand tall.

Punk vs. Orton later tonight.

Santino Marella vs. Sheamus

Cole and Matthews on commentary now as this is what, the 7^th or 8^th week in a row that the same team doesn’t finish commentary?  Sheamus says this might be his last chance to embarrass Santino due to the draft.  The Champion sends Santino into the corner and takes over with ease.  Powerslam is reversed and that’s about it for this sequence by Santino.

Off to that crossface chickenwing on the mat but Marella fights back up.  An elbow drop leads to a similar version of the same hold.  Total dominance for the first few minutes until Santino dodges a charge in the corner.  He loads up the Cobra but falls down in the process.  Brogue Kick ends this clean at 3:28.

Rating: D+. Just a squash here and a way to get Sheamus on the show.  Santino is a rare breed of jobber where he can lose time after time but keep his credibility based solely on his comedy.  Not much of a match but at the same time it wasn’t supposed to be.  Kind of surprised that Santino got in literally no offense.

CM Punk vs. Randy Orton

Punk grabs a headlock to start and the fans chant in a dueling fashion.  Orton stomps Punk down in the corner which doesn’t last long at all.  Punk fires off some knees to the head and a running one puts the Viper down.  Orton comes back and gets his powerslam to set up the RKO.  Punk shoves him off and we take a break.

Back with Punk slamming Orton and dropping a knee.  Off to a front facelock and Orton can’t seem to reverse it.  We get a GTS/RKO chant as Punk keeps up his offense.  We go out to the floor for a bit as Punk wants to know if he can get a pin out there.  Back in and it’s off to a modified triangle choke.  Orton bites the fingers to escape.  Punk tries a bulldog which is reversed into a belly to back suplex as we’re back to about even.

The bulldog hits this time and it gets two.  Punk is all frustrated since getting bitten on the hand.  He fires off some kicks but walks into the Orton backbreaks and an Angle Slam for two.  Punk clotheslines him on the top rope as we get another dueling chant.  Springboard clothesline gets two.  Punk goes up, only to get caught by a superplex for a long two.  Punk rolls to the apron which is a bad idea against Orton.  Elevated DDT is reversed into a GTS attempt.  That is countered into an RKO attempt but Punk gets a kick to the head.  Another GTS attempt is countered into a rollup for the pin at 15:44.

Rating: B-. Not a terrible match here but it certainly wasn’t enough to save the show.  They were trying and gave us a pretty good match but it wasn’t as good as their Mania match.  This was the standard long match to end a TV show and send the fans home happy which is fine, but I’d like to see Punk get one win over Orton in this feud.  Not bad, but nothing classic.

Post match the New Nexus hits the ring for the big beatdown.  Batista’s Welsh son hits his Rock Bottom/Side Effect finisher to leave Orton laying.  McGillicutty and Otunga want to do something of their own but Ryan says Orton is his.  Ryan sets for a punt but Punk wants the honor.  After taking forever, Punk charges into an RKO to end the show.  Nice ending.

Overall Rating: D. This didn’t do it for me at all.  I know it’s a show over in London so things are a bit different, but at the same time a lot of this felt like it was completely lacking.  There wasn’t a main point to most of tonight other than I guess you could say Truth’s turn.  Cole’s segment didn’t really do anything other than make him look like a bad guy which we’ve known for a long time now.  Nothing of note here and I wasn’t impressed at all.

Results

John Morrison b. R-Truth – Starship Pain

Dolph Ziggler b. Evan Bourne – Zig Zag

Sin Cara/John Cena b. The Miz/Alex Riley – Springboard moonsault to Riley

Eve Torres b. Nikki Bella – Rollup

Randy Orton b. CM Punk – Rollup