Yeah apparently there will be 40 participants now instead of the normal 30.  I’m not incredibly wild on this as it allows for an extra 10 guys to waste our time.  Also this match is going to go close to an hour and a half now which is WAY too long.  I’m not liking this idea at all really but it could work I think.

Thoughts?

Seems appropriate around this time of the very new year.

New Year’s Revolution 2006
Date: January 8, 2006
Location: Pepsi Arena, Albany, New York
Attendance: 11,000
Commentators: Joey Styles, Jonathan Coachman

Ok, so quite a bit has changed in the last year or so. Cena is now the Raw Champion and yet again the main event here is the Elimination Chamber, which is fine as they’re just bringing it out once a year to kick it off in some style so I can’t complain on that front. Anyway, other than Cena against five fairly weak challengers, the other things on the card are Big Show vs. HHH which actually is intriguing and…uh…actually never mind. There’s nothing else worth mentioning at all on here. Let’s get to this.

The video is of course all about the Chamber as you would expect of it. Joey’s voice here is either great or terrible and I’m not sure which.

Intercontinental Title: Edge vs. Ric Flair

Edge has the MITB at the moment and Flair has the title. Flair being the IC Champion was kind of a cool thing as he never held the belt before. He also brought some prestige to the belt which it was sorely lacking. Now I don’t know how smart it is to have a guy pushing 60 holding the midcard title, but Flair was still almost bearable in the ring at this point so it’s ok I guess.

This is going on as Flair had legitimately had a road rage incident and Edge did a hilarious parody of it. At this point Flair’s personal life was such a wreck because of a nasty divorce that he more or less was staying in the ring to pay his bills. This is your run of the mill Flair match here as Edge beats him up for a good while and works on his back, as it certainly has never healed at all in over 30 years.

Since I can more or less call the next few spots, I randomly start singing Trish’s theme song. Flair has so much charisma it’s scary. And Flair puts the figure four on Lita for no apparent reason, making Edge hit him with the case for the DQ. Well that came out of nowhere. At least the ending makes sense a bit as he’s protecting Lita. Flair bleeds. No need for the case here as a stiff glare could crack his head open.

Rating: C-. Standard Flair match here and while the ending is a bit odd, it’ll make sense in a little while and if you’re not familiar with that, you’ll find out soon enough. It looks like tomato soup on Flair which is just stupid but whatever. Not a terrible match as it was more or less acceptable.

Angle, a heel here, says he wants America to lose the war in Iraq. Well he’s 1 for 1. He says he likes France, doesn’t like black people, and he wants to go back in time and make Jesus tap out. Apparently no matter what he says people will cheer for him because he’s so awesome. That’s clever actually.

Flair is STILL being taken out. I’d hate to see what chicken noodle would do. Apparently if you put your hands on Lita, you pay. Dang that must be a poor locker room.

Recap of Mickie vs. Trish. Mickie was still insane and they would feud over the title for a good while, including at Backlash 2006 which I attended. Mickie beat Victoria for this shot. She was about to go nuts and heel at the same time after kissing Trish. It was interesting if nothing else.

Women’s Title: Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus

This is a weird match as Mickie is acting all honored to be in there and Trish is creeped out and annoyed by it. It’s a nice bit of storytelling that you rarely get in a lot of wrestling today, especially women’s wrestling. Trish does kind of a baseball slide and misses to let Mickie take over. James is WAY over here also as her character really was great. It’s weird as Mickie James is on Smackdown at the moment and she looks so different now and then.

She’s fat now? She looks about the same, but she’s wearing skirts here and jeans on Smackdown, that’s about it. This is more of a psychological match instead of based on wrestling which while hard to do can indeed work. Mickie hits the Stratusfaction as I’m liking the thinking of the match. Trish hits the Chick Kick out of nowhere for the pin. That’s a bit anticlimactic but it was good so I’ll take it.

Rating: C+. Not everyone is going to like this match as it’s not your standard match. They were going more for psychology and character development here and I’d say it was certainly a success. Fun match but this was really just a piece to the puzzle if that makes sense.

Maria interviews herself about the bra and panties gauntlet. She’s the ditzy blonde here so it’s a bit different but charming to an extent. Gregory Helms shows up to cut her off and he’s about as awesome as he’s ever been here as the ridiculously cocky heel.

Shelton Benjamin and his mother are here. This was somewhere between brilliant, hilarious and freaking stupid.

Edge doesn’t want to answer internet questions. He has Lita do it instead.

Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior DVD ad. This went about as ridiculously far into unfairness as you could possibly go as they bury this guy harder than they do anyone I’ve ever seen.

Jerry Lawler vs. Gregory Helms

This is more or less the same thing that they did with Hassan last year as they were just giving Helms this to get him over as a cruiserweight trying to fight heavyweight guys. Apparently Lawler said Helms sucked and he got slapped or vice versa, and I think it was the original. I love how Coach tries to act like he means something. The idea worked as I want to smack him already but then again I always do.

Helms is mostly dominating here so at least they’ve got that working right. In a funny line, Coach says he isn’t sure which chin Helms is grabbing. Helms pulls a Rock and does his own commentary in the match as this is going a bit long. Uh oh it’s strap time and here comes Lawler.

They say his fists are moving like pistons. That’s just amusing in general. Lawler shouts out piledriver and somehow Helms counters it. I wonder how he figured out what to do? And Lawler hits the middle rope punch….FOR THE PIN??? WHAT IN THE FLYING HECK WAS THAT???

Rating: F. Seriously, there is ZERO justification to put Lawler over clean here as this isn’t in Memphis. No way is this ok at all. This was a failure plain and simple. Not from a wrestling perspective but from a booking and thinking one.

Lita leaves the internet place and runs into Trish. Mickie follows her in and she has no issue with losing and is now implying she wants lesbian sex with Trish.

Mama Benjamin is at catering and says this won’t do. She bends over (she weighs probably 400lbs) and Viscera’s music starts up. He likes what he sees and thrusts his lower guy at her and then at the camera. Apparently his music and lights just follow him around and apparently she doesn’t notice any of this at all. Yeah this is dumb.

Quick recap of HHH vs. Big Show, which more or less is that HHH came back from an injury and turned on Flair which ticked off Show who fought him and then cost him a spot in the Chamber tonight. HHH broke Show’s hand, leading to this.

HHH vs. Big Show

I like this actually. It’s not something that’s been beaten to death and it has a bit of potential. That being said it’s likely to suck but what are you going to do? Show has a huge cast on his hand. We get a huge stall to start. You have to say huge in any match either of these guys have. Show is actually moving a bit here which is helping a lot. When he’s motivated he’s rather entertaining to watch although it has to be in doses.

Show is dominating here early on. HHH has had no offense about three minutes in. And then Show punches the post with the cast and HHH is suddenly fine. He’s really bad about that. He at least uses some psychology and works on the hand. And there goes the cast. Well at least they got it off early. It’s kind of basic but a lot of the time that’s all you need to do.

Another important thing to note here about it: HHH is mixing things up with strikes and holds. That’s a major perk as otherwise it just isn’t as interesting. Show makes his comeback to get us to even but misses a punch and knocks the referee out cold. Great looking shot there.

The hammer comes in but a chop goes through it. More or less it’s nothing but HHH using weapons on the hand now and Show fighting as hard as he can (ok not really but work with me here) to stay alive in this. A half sledgehammer shot to the head and a bad Pedigree ends this.

Rating: D. This started off as pretty good and then just fell off a cliff. The last 6 minutes of this or so are just freaking bad and there’s no other way to put it. This was like watching two matches and at the end you just wanted it to end. If you take four minutes or so out of this, it’s an easy C at minimum. Started out great, then just went to heck, which is a shame.

Coach and Styles could not have less chemistry if their lived depended on it.

And let’s have two minutes of replays to affirm that HHH is in fact, awesome (allegedly).

Masters is getting ready and Carlito comes up. They’re both in the main event tonight for no explainable reason. This goes nowhere.

Ad for the Rumble.

Lawler is back.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Viscera

Holy filler Batman! Something tells me this is going to suck and it’s going to suck hard. This is just boring beyond belief. Seriously, who thought this was a good idea? Shelton is more or less powerless to do anything with this second rate Mark Henry, and that’s saying A LOT. His mother promises him a sweet potato pie for a win.

Do you see what I do for you freaking people??? She yells the entire match too and talks about getting the belt etc. Is this supposed to be funny? SHUT UP WOMAN! This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. This is one of those angles that is only to amuse Vince and nothing more. She hits Viscera with the purse and he hits a spin kick to get the win.

Rating: S. As in the stiff drink that I want. This is easily the most ridiculous and annoying thing that I have ever seen on a wrestling show. It wasn’t funny at all but they kept this up for months. THANK GOD he turned heel soon after this and this idiocy ended.

Vince wishes Shawn good luck and Shawn lists off his accomplishments which really are rather impressive. This was the beginning of Shawn vs. Vince that wound up running all summer with DX reuniting.

Bra and Panties Gauntlet Match

It’s exactly what it sounds like and it will be just as worthless as you can imagine. The only good thing here is Lillian in a tied off jersey top. I have a thing for jerseys on women and more or less it’s a bikini top made of one. In short, she’s hotter than should be legally allowed. This is just a bra and panties match but then another comes out and they keep going. Candice and Maria starts.

Candice is about to be in Playboy here. Maria wins. Torrie is next. Notice a trend here: they’ve all been in Playboy and most of them can’t wrestle to save their lives. Maria puts Torrie out. Victoria is next and she puts Maria out. And here’s Moolah and Mae as I want to shoot this show. Ashley winds up winning and of course strips anyway.

Rating: N/A. Give me wrestling please. It’s what you advertised.

Shelton and his mother again make me want to shoot someone.

We recap the Chamber and it’s just the main Raw guys other than Show and HHH in the Chamber after qualifying matches.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. Carlito vs. Chris Masters vs. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Kane

Naturally it takes forever to get to this match but less time than last year which is at least a plus. Cena of course gets a lot of boos. This wasn’t even the most hated that he would ever get. He starts with Shawn. Cena isn’t ready to do that yet so this is nowhere near what it sounds like. Just 18 minutes between the ending of the last “match” and the bell in this one. The fans are ALL OVER Cena here.

The Chamber really does look awesome to say the least. Cena can sell really well. Kane comes in last due to winning a Beat the Clock Challenge. He’s the odds on favorite. That’s most amusing. In third is Carlito. He means nothing at this point either and no one really knew why he was in this. Nothing at all happens here other than some potential alliances. Finally Angle comes in to wake the crowd the up by suplexing the living tar out of everyone in the match.

Styles saying Angle is all impact amuses me. I mean he must throw everyone 4-5 times each. I have never seen anyone wake a match up like Angle did. Shawn is busted after being thrown into one of the cells. Good night Angle throws a pretty suplex. I mean Angle is just completely dominating. He gets the ankle lock on Shawn and then on Carlito. Masters finally comes in for the save. We’ve fought 15 minutes or so at this point and look at how little I’ve had to say.

Masters comes in and takes an ankle lock. Cena makes a save for no apparent reason and goes for the FU but Angle reverses into ANOTHER ankle lock. He’s just on freaking fire tonight. And then Shawn kicks him in the head and pins him. Yeah seriously, that’s how they get rid of him. Give me a freaking break. Ok it’s not that bad but I hate the out of nowhere ones like that.

You can tell they’re just killing time at this point as nothing at all is happening. Kane comes in so they’re all in now. I seriously couldn’t care less. This thing is boring as any and all goodness. After some brief domination, Kane chokeslams everyone but like an idiot never covers them. Carlito and Masters double team him and amazingly…it works. They do a double DDT and then a press slam of Carlito onto Kane.

At this point, it becomes somewhat clear how this is going to end and it gets dumber and dumber every second. Oh I forgot to mention that Shawn is bleeding. The problem with this match: Carlito and Chris Masters are dominating. Still, this is better than the Extreme Elimination Chamber as Shawn and Cena are at least major star power. Four of the six here were legit title guys and Carlito and Masters were solid midcard heels at the time, so it’s forgivable.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s freaking dumb and it’s very bad, but it could be worse. The other four being awesome balances it out a lot. Shawn gets Sweet Chin Music on Cena and Carlito hits a rolling cutter (Cody Rhodes’ finisher) on Shawn to pin him. Yes, the final three are Carlito, Masters and Cena. This is freaking stupid. No one bought Cena losing for a second.

I was reading WZ and was on AIM at the same time with a girl I knew who was a Cena fan and was telling her what was going on. She went to bed at this point as it was obvious to even her, a mark, that this was ending with Cena winning. The fans are now cheering for Cena as they see the alternatives. That’s rather funny. So they double team him for about 5 minutes until the Masterlock is put on. Carlito low blows Masters and rolls him up before getting rolled up by Cena to win the match.

Rating: D. Seriously, Masters and Carlito? This is short because literally the second the match ends, Vince’s music starts playing and it becomes clear what’s going on and why the Chamber sucking means nothing, so I won’t bother going into detail on it.

Vince says the show isn’t over yet and you can hear the crowd pop like a cherry over it. He has the cage raised up. And he says that while Cena did a great job, his night is not over yet, as Edge is cashing in his Money in the Bank contract and the match is NOW.

Raw World Title: Edge vs. John Cena

Cena is more or less dead and can’t even stand up. This is less than two minutes as Edge hits a pair of spears to win the title in a TOTAL shock.

Rating: A. I know I rarely grade matches this short, but this was absolutely brilliant. I mean NO ONE saw this coming and we all thought it was just Cena wins again and no one cares. This was legitimately shocking and it made the show ending awesome. Loved this and it’s one of the best moments of the modern era.

Overall Rating: D+. Again, this show just isn’t that good. The brand split shows were almost always awful because they have to have stuff like Viscera vs. Shelton for no reason whatsoever and no one cared but because they had 3 hours to fill and Vince was so obsessed on the stupid split looking legit and everything that the fans got screwed over for nearly 5 years.

Flair vs. Edge and the whole ending sequence are I guess worth seeing, although the main event should really be watched if you haven’t seen it before as it’s not great at all but since it’s the Elimination Chamber and not the Extreme version it’s worth a one off look I guess. Overall though, this show just isn’t very good as it felt like a Raw with more of a budget.

This would thankfully end before too long but DANG man, this was just painful every month that wasn’t a big show. Not an awful show but just not that good. Better than last year by far though, even though I think I graded them the same. If nothing else, watch the Chamber through the end just for the crowd. I have never heard a crowd turn back and forth so much in 40 minutes in my life as a fan. Other than that, not worth it.

WWE Year In Review 2010

It’s more or less the end of another year in WWE and since it’s all I know how to do, I figured I’d write something really long that most people won’t read all the way through. This is just what the title says: a look back at what happened this year in both the highs and the lows in as many aspects of the on screen aspects of WWE as I can come up with. Let’s get to it.

As always if you think I’m wrong or something, yell at me about it.

Timeline

Main Event/World Title/Upper Midcard

Raw

Raw started off on a bit of a rocky point with a glorified unknown as the world champion in the Human Jar of Mayonnaise himself, Sheamus. His title reign didn’t last long though as at the second PPV of the year, Elimination Chamber, John Cena took the title back. His reign was even shorter though, lasting all of four minutes. This was the beginning of our first big feud for the red team as Batista took the world title, holding it until Wrestlemania.

What was originally a dream feud was soon watered down as Cena destroyed Batista at every given turn, beating him at three straight PPVs with the title on the line. Following the third loss, Batista legitimately quit the company in a surprise. A mere two weeks later, something big happened. That something big was called Nexus.

For the next several months this team tormented John Cena. Led by Wade Barrett, they cost him the world title at MITB. At this show the contract for Raw’s MITB was won by The Miz. More on him later. Anyway at this show, Sheamus won his second world title in a Fatal Fourway match at the PPV of the same name.  For the next few months, the primary world title feud was Sheamus vs. Randy Orton which definitely took a back seat to Cena vs. Nexus.

During this time, the new Raw GM aided Cena in his battles along with others that had been attacked by Nexus over the past few months. The GM is a guy you may have heard of named Bret Hart. More on him later. Anyway at Summerslam, Cena’s army was able to defeat Nexus. Orton won the title the following month at Night of Champions in a 6 Pack Challenge.

After Orton won the title from Sheamus, Wade Barrett came after it, but he had a backup plan. His backup plan came in the form of Cena himself, having been forced to join Nexus after losing a match at Hell in a Cell to Barrett when two members of Season 2 of NXT joined Nexus (they officially joined a few weeks later but for all intents and purposes they joined here) and cost Cena the match.

The following months were built around Barrett’s chasing the world title with the help of Cena. At Bragging Rights Cena cost Orton the match but the title didn’t change hands. The following month was Survivor Series and a match called Free or Fired. The concept was simple: with Cena as the referee, Orton defended against Barrett. If Barrett lost, Cena was fired. If Barrett won the title then Cena was freed from Nexus. Cena counted Barrett’s shoulders down and was immediately fired.

Naturally Cena didn’t leave forever and was back at the next PPV. A funny thing happened on the way to that PPV though: there was a new WWE Champion. In this case that man’s name was The Miz. On the Raw following Survivor Series, Barrett got one more shot at the title. Orton won with the help of a “fan” named John. Immediately thereafter though, the music hit and Miz ran down to cash in his MITB contract, winning the title.

Barrett faced Cena one more time at the TLC PPV where Miz retained the title against Orton in a tables match. Cena defeated Barrett to close the show, literally burying him in chairs. Before the year closed out, we found Miz’s next opponent for the world title in the form of his old partner John Morrison. On the other side of things, Cena has a new foe in the form of CM Punk and his army: the Nexus.

Smackdown

The year began with a familiar name on the World Heavyweight Championship: The Undertaker. After defeating Rey Mysterio at the Royal Rumble, Taker lost the title to Chris Jericho in the Elimination Chamber with the assistance of Shawn Michaels who we’ll get to later. Jericho defended the title at Mania against Edge, which we’ll also get to later.

Going into Wrestlemania the other main feud had been Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk as Punk attempted to get Mysterio to join the Straightedge Society. This led to a series of very good PPV matches, ultimately resulting in Punk having his head shaved by Mysterio to make sure that the superhero was still all superheroish.

At Mania Jack Swagger won the first of three MITB contracts during the year. He cashed in almost immediately, winning the title on the first Smackdown from Jericho. Swagger would defend against Randy Orton and Big Show on PPV but would lose to Rey Mysterio in a Fatal Fourway match in June.

Around May of the year, we heard a shocking announcement: the Undertaker was in a coma (vegetative state but give me a break). Kane vowed to find the culprit no matter who it was. You could say he was trying to find himself but that’s a bit too clichéd for my tastes. This storyline would dominate the summer and lead into the storyline that would dominate the fall.

Around the same time (June) Big Show began to feud with the Straightedge Society and Punk in particular. Show attempted to get Punk to have fun and unmask after having his head shaved. This resulted in Punk being chased up a ladder and having his mask ripped off on Smackdown. Show destroyed Punk to end the feud before Punk headed over to Raw.

Mysterio’s second title reign would also be a short lived one as he would lose at the following PPV to Kane, who cashed in his MITB contract after Mysterio defeated Swagger. Kane would beat Rey at Summerslam and then face his brother the Undertaker at three consecutive PPVs.

After Mysterio lost the world title, a new opponent for him debuted by the name of Alberto Del Rio. Claiming to be the descendent of Mexican royalty, Del Rio quickly made an impact, putting Mysterio on the shelf for a few weeks and being credited for Christian being gone for several months with a pectoral injury that he is still out with at the end of the year.

The Brothers’ feud was highlighted by the return of Paul Bearer who naturally turned on the Deadman because that’s just what he does I suppose. The feud culminated at Bragging Rights where Kane buried the Undertaker alive. This would be the second time he had done that which makes things in wrestling seem a bit odd don’t you think?

After a brief Smackdown vs. Raw feud (as in one PPV/month’s worth), Edge rose up as the next challenger to Kane and his World Heavyweight Championship. The feud began as Edge kidnapped Paul Bearer, Kane’s father. After weeks of psychological torment, Kane and Edge wrestled to a draw at Survivor Series. The following month at TLC, Kane (after accidentally pushing his father over an edge and having him fall about 25 feet), lost the title to Edge in a TLC match also involving Mysterio and Del Rio. Edge and Kane’s feud will spill over into the new year.

Main Event/World Title/Upper Midcard: This was a good year for this area of the company. New names popped up in the title scenes and others were elevated from seemingly nowhere. The world titles were on fresh names in all parts of the year in one form or another and there was a time where the titles weren’t the focal points of PPV.

That was a change that many weren’t thrilled with but at the same time those shows were some of the more entertaining ones of the year. On Raw the main focus was on Cena vs. Nexus which was a very interesting change of pace from what we’re used to and I enjoyed it immensely.

Over on the blue show I wasn’t as thrilled with the main events. Swagger was an idea but it didn’t work out all that well. Kane’s title run was a very nice surprise as he had worked incredibly hard for the company for years and FINALLY got a long title reign to his credit. It makes him a threat all over again and gave him a chance to show off on the mic. The Taker feud was boring as you would expect but not entirely so. Overall, Raw was much better in this area than Smackdown by a wide margin.

Midcard

Raw/US Title

The year opened with Miz holding the title and the usual criticisms of the title abounding: it’s never defended. This was incredibly true actually as the title never really did anything. The major feud to start the year was MVP vs. Miz but the title never went to the now released guy (yeah MVP got released in December or November. Few people cared.)

Miz would lose the title to Bret Hart for one night. The following week R-Truth won the title and held it for a few weeks before dropping it right back to the Miz. The next few months didn’t mean much at all for the title as Miz flirted with the MITB cash-in and trying to be appreciated on Cena’s main event team to fight Nexus.

Finally at Night of Champions, Daniel Bryan won the title from the Miz in what was considered a way to free up Miz to go after the world title which he did shortly thereafter. Anyway, Bryan gave us some excellent matches against Dolph Ziggler, the reigning IC Champion. A brief feud with Ted DiBiase resulted in no title change and more or less dominance by Bryan, who is looking completely awesome at the moment and I’ll admit: I was wrong about him. Right now we’re waiting on his next challenger though.

Smackdown/Intercontinental

The IC Title saw far less action this year in the area of title changes, but the action for the title was more interesting than the red equivalent. Drew McIntyre started the year with the championship, continuing his feud with John Morrison. Drew would defend the title against Morrison, Kane and Matt Hardy during his reign.

Finally in May Kofi won the title after winning a tournament to gain the shot. In an odd sequence Drew kept the title after being stripped of it for his attack on Matt Hardy on Smackdown. This would be the start of a feud with Smackdown GM Teddy Long over Teddy fearing Drew while Drew abused his standing as Vince’s Chosen One. This would result in both of them humiliating the other on various occasions.

After a brief feud with McIntyre over the title, Kofi moved on to the major feud of the year over the belt as he faced Dolph Ziggler. For months upon end Dolph tried to win the title with the help of his new girlfriend, Vickie Guerrero. After several attempts to get his hands on the title, Dolph got his hands on it in late July. Their feud continued for what seemed like forever.

We ended the year with a threeway feud for the title between Ziggler, Kofi and Dolph. These three had a series of great matches on TV, culminating in a ladder match at TLC where Ziggler somehow retained the title. He’s held it for months now and is one of the surprises of the year. I’d assume Kofi and Swagger will still be coming for his belt in the near future.

Midcard: This was a year where the titles meant something again which is the best thing they could have done. Instead of having pointless title changes that almost no one was going to remember, the matches were at least all solid for the most part. We got to see guys go out there and wrestle, which has always been the point of those titles. In short, this was a good year for them as their prestige is back.

Tag Teams

This was an ok year for the division I thought with more of a focus being placed on the titles. Big Show and Miz more or less started the year with the titles (yes I know DX held them at first but who cared?) before we shifted over to the Hart Dynasty. During their reign we unified the physical titles into one set of belts. After some forgettable reigns by Nexus and McIntyre/Rhodes, the current champions are now Vladimir Kozlov and Santino Marella, who oddly work with them.

Tag Teams: This year was certainly an improvement over last year as things more or less were boring with the Colons and Jerishow dominating the title scene. Now we’re shifting over towards more natural tag teams rather than guys thrown together and being called a tag team. The comedy team here works with the titles as Santino is insanely popular and giving him a title makes sense at the moment. I have few complaints here but they’re nothing special as always.

Divas

This was the year of Laycool. The two beauties had dominated the title scene for almost forever it seemed, namely making fun of Mickie James and her allegeded fatness. Other than that though, not a lot happened in the earlier parts of the year. Things picked up once the titles were unified which they had been needing for a very long time.

With Laycool becoming the first unified champion they dominated things again for the most part, but having them be the only champion helped quite a bit. There simply wasn’t room for two titles in the company and the unification has helped. Eventually Natalya won a far too long feud with Laycool and Beth Phoenix’s return sets up an eventual mega showdown between the blondes for the title.

Divas: Not a great year or anything, but the introduction of major heels and the unification of the titles were things that needed to happen. This year worked far better than last year and with a single champion, the division is far better than it was in years passed. It’s still the weakest part of the show, but it’s caught up a good bit indeed.

Outside The Ring

There were a few major areas here and some of them go together.

Legendary/Knucklehead

We’ve all heard the lines from the trailers and probably know them by heart at this point. I know Doc certainly does. The thing is, either way you want to look at it the movies bombed. They were in theaters for a single weekend and were on DVD mere weeks later. Both were panned by the critics the whole way and they didn’t work on any level at all. They’re running jokes now and that’s all there is to it.

Linda’s Senate Run

This was one of the big ones. As you all know, Linda McMahon was running for Senate this year. She was beaten badly in the campaign and it was rather clear that Raw and Smackdown were used to push her as a viable candidate. We constantly heard about how great WWE was and how they do all kinds of nice things for people, such as with Stand Up For WWE. Naturally as soon as the campaign was over the videos and talk of how awesome WWE was stopped, just as was predicted.

In short, when Vince and Linda take their eyes and focus off wrestling, they fail. The movies fail, the football failed, the politics failed and everything else has failed. This year was no different at all as the McMahons tried to do something else and it fell apart for them. The wrestling and shows got better when they were paying attention, and that clearly shows as well.

Highlights

The Impossible Return

The year opened with what many believed would never happen in a million years. On January 4, Bret Hart made his return to the WWE. In one of the most mind blowing moments of all time, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels shook hands in the middle of the ring on Raw, burying the hatchet to the biggest feud of all time and the most controversial angle ever occurring in wrestling.

This is the epitome of an event that no one would have ever believed could happen and yet it did. The lesson to be learned from this is that you can never say something is for sure. Coupling this with the Chick Magnet being the WWE Champion and Kane now being a two time world champion, never let it be said that something is impossible in the world of professional wrestling.

Wrestlemania

What would a year in review be without looking at Wrestlemania? I’ve seen every Wrestlemania multiple times and I can certainly say this was one of the better ones. With everything from Bret Hart making Vince McMahon tap out (that was still a great match no matter what people say) to MITB to Jericho vs. Edge, the undercard was good all around.

Then we had the two main events. First up was the far weaker of the two: John Cena vs. Dave Batista. The graphic for this match still gets me excited. It was the two biggest stars in the company squaring off for the World Title at the biggest show of the year. That is how you define epic and the match being very good helped things a lot.

And then there was the main event. A year removed from the most exciting match I have ever seen, it was time for the rematch. In the main event of Wrestlemania, it was Streak vs. Career as Shawn Michaels faced the Undertaker with Shawn’s career on the line. This was absolutely epic on all levels as these two beat the tar out of each other and gave us a great match in the process. Mr. Wrestlemania delivered on the grandest stage of them all and that’s what matters at the end of the day.

Finally, the theme song, I Made It, was so awesome it could walk down the street and people would scream “MR. NORRIS! Can we please have your autograph???” Sweet song for the show and perfect indeed.

NXT/Nexus

A main addition this year was the debut of a new third show in the form of NXT, which replaced ECW back in February. 8 wrestlers would vie for a spot on one of the main rosters and a title shot. After 15 weeks of obstacle courses, program selling, jousting, talking and the occasional wrestling match thrown in, Wade Barrett emerged as the winner of Season 1. Since the end of the season, 4 of the wrestlers on this show have won championships. Not a bad ratio.

Season 2 began the next week which didn’t go as well. The star of this season was Kaval who is already gone. The majority of these people meant nothing at all in the company as they are back down in FCW. The only major players from this season still around are Michael McGillicutty, now part of Nexus, and Alex Riley, now annoying.

The third season was more or less a comedy season with Divas. The winner was Kaitlyn, who had her debut match on the show. I’ve ranted on that enough so far so I’ll spare you the details. Season 4 is still ongoing and it sucks to put it mildly.

As for Nexus, they were clearly the surprise of the year. At the end of the Viewer’s Choice Raw, Wade Barrett popped up on the top of the stage and stood there. From out of the crowd like locusts came the other members of the first season of NXT. The attack was on as Cena and Punk were annihilated by the new team in a near riot like atmosphere. The ring was destroyed, the set was destroyed, Cena was destroyed, and the stage was set for the rest of the year. This also spurred off into several other things:

Anonymous Raw GM: After the resignation of Bret Hart as GM as he won the US Title in another surprise, the GM was revealed…kind of. Now coming from a computer, Michael Cole reads the e-mails from the anonymous GM, more or less making him the GM which is a discussion for another thread. The GM is hard to pinpoint as he/she has gone back and forth for both heels and faces. I have my theories but the story is ongoing as you would expect.

Daniel Bryan Saga: One of the original NXT rookies was Daniel Bryan Danielson, indy superstar that is now the US Champion. During the initial Nexus attack Bryan was seen on camera choking Justin Roberts with a tie. This was deemed too extreme and Bryan was released. The forums were in an uproar as it appeared that this was in fact legit. Bryan returned in a shocker at Summerslam, teaming with Cena’s Army to fight Nexus. Amazing moment and shocking for the most part, other than that whole posting of it on WWE.com before it happened.

Special Events

There were several this year, not all of which will be talked about here as some simply weren’t anything special at all.

Shawn’s Retirement: This was the night after Wrestlemania and featured an incredible speech from Shawn who unlike Flair two years earlier stood in the ring on his own. In another incredible moment, the Undertaker came to the stage and tipped his hat in an ultra-rare show of respect for a fellow wrestler. Also, Shawn has lived up to his word and stayed away. What more can you ask for from the guy?

Monday Night Smackdown: Now this was an interesting one. Back in April there was a big volcano that erupted in Iceland. At the same time the Raw guys were on a European tour. They were stuck there and couldn’t make Raw, so instead we got the guys from Smackdown to give us a show. It’s the beauty of having two rosters and it worked fine here. Cool moment and making the best out of a bad situation.

2010 Draft: Nothing huge this year with Raw more or less raping Smackdown again, stealing Edge, Morrison and Jericho in exchange for Kofi and Big Show. Pretty forgettable show.

Viewer’s Choice: Again pretty weak but the results were real and Nexus debuted that night. No one remembers the show other than the ending.

900th Raw: This happened. That’s all I’ve got to say about it.

WWE Old School: OH YES! Now this was fun. We had old announcers, old sets, the old logo, old t-shirts and a great show. Easily one of the funnest shows I’ve seen in years and the whole thing worked incredibly well. I’d love to see another one of these again someday as it gave us some incredible nostalgia.

King of the Ring: I liked this show and the ending worked perfectly with Morrison vs. Sheamus. Granted he now looks like the possessed child of Batman and Satan but it was a nice boost for him.

Slammys: Same as usual with this. Cena won Star of the Year and it was bogus as ever.

Tribute to the Troops: This was one of the best shows of this kind that they’ve ever done. They filmed it in Texas instead of overseas and it made the special seem just that: special. It came off like a USO show and the visuals were great. Definitely something they should shift over to as it’s far more interesting and entertaining this way.

Guest Hosts/Stars

The Guest Host (later named Guest Stars) were around to start the year but phased out by the end to the point where they no longer exist now. Aside from a handful I barely remember any of them, showing that the appearances weren’t helping at all. Some of them got downright stupid, such as Jon Lovitz and Buzz Aldrin. There were a total of three wrestlers as hosts in the entire year. I think you get why I’m glad this was ended. Not much to say here.

And yes I know that the vast majority of these were on Raw, but seriously did anything of note happen on Smackdown? Oh yeah they moved to Syfy. That’s about it though isn’t it?

Overall Themes

Out With the Old

The big one for me is the youth movement more or less being over as the youth has arrived. The following people are those that I would consider major players in WWE at the moment: Punk (32), Bryan (29), Cena (33), Miz (30), Morrison (31) Orton (30), Sheamus (32), Del Rio (33), Rhodes (25), Ziggler (30), McIntyre (25), Swagger (28), Kofi (29), and Barrett (30).

In other words, the oldest listed Cena at 33. The rest of the main event/upper midcard is comprised of HHH (41), Big Show (38), Christian (37), Edge (37), Kane (43), Mysterio (36) and Undertaker (45). In other words, the upper midcard/main event is comprised of 21 guys. Of those 21 guys, 14 are under age 34 and there are 12 age 32 or under. Steve Austin’s age when he won the WWF Title and kickstarted the mega boom: 33. Hogan’s age when he won the world title for the first time: 31.

This year we’ve lost three guys that were in their forties: Batista, Shawn and Jericho. Batista and Shawn seem to be gone for good and Jericho could be gone for awhile if not forever. Those are three faces (people, not good guys) that while great, were in need of leaving as they were getting up there in years and thankfully left before they expired.

In short, the company has shifted away from the old guard and the new generation is here. Of the older guys, HHH has been gone for the majority of the year, Rey is aging rapidly, we have no clue how long Taker has left, Christian is a veteran that hasn’t hit his prime yet, Edge is a prime face and Show has hit his stride as a face. The blend is excellent right now and most important of all: the younger generation is running the place.

If We Can Be Serious For a Minute

This was one of the bigger things I noticed this year: the company is taking itself seriously again. The angles have been far more serious as has the show. Once about June hit the Guest Host concept came to a close and the remaining hosts were far more serious and were mostly just there to make a quick appearance and then be gone for the rest of the night.

There were no more Chavo vs. Hornswoggle matches. There were far fewer comedy bits. The comedy that they did have was used in moderation. Those signs all indicated that the company was once again actually being serious with its shows and the results came out on TV. Comedy certainly has a place in wrestling, but in moderation, which is exactly what they’ve done this year and it has certainly been a positive.

And Now For Something Somewhat Different

This might be a bit of a stretch but it was something I certainly noticed this year: there was a much greater variety on PPV this year in terms of feuds. Let’s take a look at some numbers.

Wrestlers with Multiple PPV World Title Matches (either belt) in 2009:

John Cena – 11
Edge – 7
Jeff Hardy – 8
HHH – 6
CM Punk – 7
Undertaker – 6
Big Show – 3
Rey Mysterio – 2
Chris Jericho – 2
Randy Orton – 10
Batista – 4

Wrestlers with Multiple PPV World Title Matches (either belt) in 2010:

Undertaker – 5
Rey Mysterio – 5
Sheamus – 7
Wade Barrett – 3
Kane – 7
Batista – 4
Jack Swagger – 4
Chris Jericho – 3
Edge – 5
Randy Orton – 10
Big Show – 2
John Cena – 7
CM Punk – 2

In 2010, two more people had multiple title matches. Also, the average number shifted from 5.9 to 4.9. In other words, more people are now getting title shots per year. Also, look at the highs for 2009. In 2009 you had two people getting double digit title shots and another guy getting 8. In 2010 you had Orton at 10 and no one else even at 8. Aside from Orton and arguably Cena, the main event has opened up a bit. Only Mysterio and Jericho received more shots as every else’s total went down. The world title picture is opening up and it’s opening up nicely.

Superlatives

I’m not going to go into a big thing here but am merely going with Show of the Year and Wrestler of the Year.

Show – Wrestlemania. It’s the biggest show of the year, the crowd was hot, the matches were good, the song was great and the ending was awesome. It’s supposed to be the be all and end all of WWE and needless to say, this was a raging success.

Wrestler – The Miz. This is going to get some arguments, but at the end of the day, what has Miz not accomplished this year? He goes from being US Champion at the beginning of the year to adding in the tag titles to reclaiming the US Title to winning Money in the Bank to cashing in to win the WWE Title. All along the way he climbed higher and higher on the totem poll to the point where he’s now a credible world champion. Considering that two years ago he was the chick magnet, how else can you say he isn’t the most amazing star in wrestling this year?

Overall

This was a big improvement overall for the company. Things are being taken more seriously and it has shown onscreen. However this has not seem to agree with the viewing audience. The ratings for Raw and Smackdown are both down and the total PPV revenue through the 11th PPV of the year was down as well. While there obviously could be more reasons for that than the product on TV, it’s not likely a good sign.

What I think the most important thing to take out of this year was is that things are looking up. They took some hits this year but they were clearly building for the future which is very important. The youth is here, the older generation is going away (Shawn and Jericho it seems on a permanent basis) and the older stars still around are being phased out.

This could be seen as a rebuilding year, but I’m not sure if that’s the right term. They’re certainly shifting things in a new direction and it seems that things are holding up for that period of time. A young generation has taken over the company and seem to be connecting with the crowd. The last time this happened, the Attitude Era was on the horizon. That sounds like a good sign to me.

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 27, 2010
Location: Times Union Center, Albany, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

First and foremost I hope everyone had a safe and Merry Christmas. Tonight is another edition of Raw and in this case it’s the final show of the year. We’re on the road to the Rumble which then merges with the Road to Wrestlemania. Tonight we’ll see what’s next for Punk vs. Cena which has me very interested indeed. With that being said, let’s get to it.

There’s a Smackdown house show tonight in Pittsburgh. Nice job guys. Make sure that however many thousand people going to that can’t watch Raw.

Well if nothing else the voiceover guy has promised me a great main event tonight so there’s that to look forward to.

Theme song opens us up which I don’t recall them doing lately.

Cena is here to open the show and remember he is LIBERATED now. He talks about how it’s odd that every time someone comes down the ramp they always grab a microphone and just talk about what happened last week. Tonight, he’s going to do the exact same thing. As always he acknowledges the fans that boo him which is rather refreshing. We get a clip of Punk destroying Cena with the chair and starting what could be a very awesome feud.

He talks about how in his relentless pursuit of Nexus he did in fact, accidentally spill Punk’s diet soda. Cena apologizes for costing Punk .75 or 1.25 in select vending machines. The soda can’t be replaced but he can give Punk a chance to come out here and air his grievances. Cue Killswitch Engaged and here’s Punk.

CM says that the Cena we get isn’t the real one as Cena is dishonest. Punk says this is beyond a diet soda. Oh man this is about to get intense. I mean, BEYOND A DIET SODA??? It goes like this I believe: a slap in the face, a murder, economic collapse, diet soda. Beyond that is hard to say. Punk talks about how Cena’s word means nothing as he said he was going back to Massachusetts but he was back that night. And then back the next week, and the next week and the next week.

And then we get to TLC, where Cena dropped 15 chairs on Barrett after winning. Cena calls that Balderdash (fun game actually) because it was 22 steel chairs. Cena says that after all the beatdowns Cena had taken from Nexus and being their slave and all that jazz, it was rather justified. Punk brings up making Batista quit after beating him at Over the Limit which Cena says was on his own choice and after Batista broke Cena’s neck, which is true to a degree.

Punk says this is all about making fun of people and how he always insults people that don’t deserve it all the time. Cena claims he has done that for 8 years and makes fun of everyone. This is going very fast and is hard to keep up with but it’s going very well so far. Punk says those two attacks last week were warning shots but this is going to stop.

Cena says nothing is going to stop and is all like bring it on. Punk says this is his show and tonight he’s going to call out Cena. There’s a real surprise later tonight and it’s something Cena is never going to forget. Punk says Happy New Year and salutes as he leaves. I’m intrigued now.

Orton vs. Sheamus and Miz vs. Lawler later, non title.

Ted DiBiase vs. Santino Marella

Wow DiBiase has fallen a good bit this year. DiBiase gets his following clothesline for two early on. Lawler blames Maryse for the losses that DiBiase has had recently. DiBiase misses a dropkick and Santino rolls him up to win this in a minute flat. This isn’t a surprise somehow.

Santino presents Tamina with her gift, and it’s a cobra. Better than a snake in a box I guess. Maryse and Ted jump them so Tamina and Santino hit matching salute splashes and Cobras to clear the ring. I use the term hit loosely in her case.

Miz tells Riley that he’s going to teach Morrison a lesson tonight. Miz says not to win but destroy him. Lawler is going to beg for mercy tonight too. Morrison pops up and says if he beats Riley, he gets to pick the stipulation and the date of their title match. If Riley wins then Morrison loses his #1 contender spot. Miz says deal.

John Morrison vs. Alex Riley

After a break we’re ready to go. During the break there was an e-mail and the stipulations are confirmed. Miz is up on the apron as Morrison hits a Russian leg sweep for two. Riley takes over after a distraction from Miz and hammers away for a bit. Morrison makes the standard comeback but Miz grabs his foot on the Flash Kick and gets thrown out. Riley gets a rollup for two but Morrison gets the Flash Kick and running knee to end this in approximately 4:30.

Rating: C. Basic match but it did the job it was supposed to. Morrison gets a win he’s supposed to and Riley loses a match he’s supposed to. Nothing special about it but nothing bad about it either. The rating of average is about as perfect as it could be right here.

Morrison goes over to Lawler and says the title match is NEXT WEEK and it’s falls count anywhere. All of a sudden I’m not sure how secure Miz’s title reign is as that could mean a quick Morrison run for the title switch again at the Rumble.

Back from a break Miz yells at Riley who yells back.

Punk talks to a cameraman and says he needs to make sure that every shot is perfect tonight, even moreso than Snooki on New Year’s Eve. Dang it.

Bryan is with the Bellas who are talking about Christmas when Kidd comes in. He talks about how he’s going to be the next US Champion and that you should watch his match with Mark Henry later.

Josh talks to Orton who says that he’s going to be champion again and tonight the reign of Sheamus ends. Nothing special here at all.

Mark Henry vs. Tyson Kidd

Jackson Andrews is the bodyguard of Kidd and is here with him. Henry tries a flying Rikishi drop but can’t hit it. Kidd, with hair growing in now, takes control for a little bit but tries to charge at him and runs into the World’s Strongest Slam to end this at about 2:15. Well that was abrupt. Post match Andrews comes in and we have a showdown. Henry hits Andrews with the Slam as well.

Miz vs. Lawler later still. That hasn’t changed in the last 40 minutes.

The Miz vs. Jerry Lawler

Cole is joined by Matthews on commentary here. That might explain Lawler being in the ring so often: getting Matthews in his spot and making him more familiar. Before this starts Miz talks about how awesome he is and how he is a master of the science of professional wrestling. He yells at the audience to stop talking while he is, drawing loud boos. Why mess with the classics I suppose.

Lawler is in a WWE shirt and regular pants because his luggage was lost in a storm. Miz shows off to start including walking on Lawler’s back. Lawler fights back with his vast array of offense including shoulders and punches. We keep getting quick shots of Riley which makes me think shenanigans are up, especially with the title match looming. Miz locks on the chinlock as we talk about the TLC match. Matthews finally tells Cole to shut up. The blowoff of Cole being a jerk is going to be epic beyond words.

Miz is taking time to get through with Lawler as another sign points to s surprise ending. Miz rakes the eyes and Lawler is more or less just taking a beating. Cole says he’s uncomfortable watching this as Lawler is taking too much of a beating. Lawler is standing in the corner and Morrison comes out. Lawler takes a clothesline in the corner and starts dodging. He looks pretty bad here but it’s time to fight. No strap to pull down though.

Lawler hammers away with lefts and rights. Dropkick takes Miz down as do two more. The crowd is back into this now. Miz reverses a slam and puts him in the corner. The running clothesline Mizes (anybody? Anybody at all?) but Miz gets a clothesline over the top rope. Lawler knocks him off the top and Miz’s head hits the steps. FREAKING OW MAN! Riley gets on the apron but Morrison uses the distraction to drill Miz with the knee. LAWLER WINS BY COUNTOUT!!! Match ran about 9:45.

Rating: C. This was exactly what it was supposed to be. Miz beat the heck out of Lawler. Lawler stayed in this just long enough to survive, and Morrison is in Miz’s head for the title match next week. The quality wasn’t great of course but it wasn’t supposed to be. This was what it was supposed to be: furthering of the Miz vs. Morrison rivalry. And let the people saying I’m crazy and biased begin.

Sheamus is looking at his crown when Punk comes up to him. Punk talks about how Cena has disrespected him time after time and how he’s been on the receiving end of Cena’s insults over the last year. He’s right too.

Eve Torres/Gail Kim vs. Alicia Fox/Melina

Alicia has red hair now. She and Eve start us off. Lawler is back on commentary and Natalya is a guest for this match. Cole tag off to Gail as the crowd isn’t seeming to care. Everything breaks down and Melina hits the Sunset Split to beat Gail in approximately 2:00. Natalya slaps Melina post match. No rating as this was simply to get Melina over a bit more. Love that jet black hair.

Punk talks to the trainers, saying that they need to be ready for Cena tonight. Actually scratch that as trainers won’t be enough as we need EMTs. I want to know what’s coming now.

Zach Ryder vs. Daniel Bryan

We come back with this already in progress. The Bellas are with Bryan of course. Ryder gets basic offense going but taps out in a little over a minute shown to the LeBell Lock. The Bellas come in to celebrate and we get an E-Mail. This coming year is going to be the best ever…MIZ ATTACKS LAWLER! Miz runs in and destroys Lawler as Cole is reading, ramming him into the barricade and leaving him laying. Skull Crushing Finale to the floor leaves Lawler laying. I guess Bryan just kind of left. If Matthews is coming in to the broadcast team full time, there’s his door.

Back from a break and Cole is concerned. Josh doesn’t believe him.

Sheamus vs. Randy Orton

BIG pop for Orton. Orton controls early for the most part with all of his basic stuff. The7 color difference is striking here as Orton is almost orange and Sheamus is almost clear. Elevated DDT is countered and Orton fires away. Sheamus hits the floor and rams Orton’s head into the post. Orton may be bleeding from the back a bit. Sheamus goes aerial with a flying shoulder block for two as we take a break.

Back with Sheamus holding a modified crossface chickenwing on Orton. Sheamus hammers away for a few minutes with big forearm shots and clubbing blows that get him nowhere. He charges in the corner but his shoulder hits the post. Orton gets a suplex with one foot on the top rope and one on the middle rope for a close two. Mild boo/yay as they slug it out. Orton gets the Angle Slam for two. Sheamus is almost the same color as the mat.

RKO is blocked and reversed into the Irish Curse Backbreaker for two. Brogue Kick is ducked and another RKO attempt fails as Sheamus takes his head off with an axehandle. Here comes the High Cross but Orton reverses into the backbreaker. Sheamus avoids the third RKO and heads outside. He sets for another shoulder block but jumps into the RKO to end it at 14:15. Oh sweet merciful psychology how I love you!

Rating: C-. Dull match throughout but the ending was sweet. Orton had gotten caught by that very move but knew it was coming this time and caught Sheamus with the RKO this time. That is what you call psychology in a match. Orton learned as he went and incorporated it into the ending. Perfectly done.

Cena is on his way to the ring.

Ad for the Heenan DVD which should be a definite pickup.

Back from a break with Cena. He’s all ticked off and calling Punk CM Sucks. Punk’s music hits but there’s no Punk. Cena says he’ll go get them himself. Instead he gets…..Nexus? Minus Barrett but it’s still Nexus. Otunga does the talking as usual. Cena got them as he said he would so now Nexus is under new management. Otunga wants to offer Cena a truce.

Cena grabs the mic and says he’d shake Otunga’s hand if he believed a word he says, which he doesn’t. Otunga is a slimy worm of a man it seems. No truce, no moving forward. Otunga can leave or the fight is on. Otunga leaves and lwalks away with Nexus but they turn and charge the ring to beat down Cena. Everyone hits their finishers on him as Cole says Otunga is the new leader. Yeah…you’re a stupid man Cole.

Nexus leaves and here’s Punk of course. He comes to the ring where Cena has been left laying and hits GTS. Nice one too as the knee caught him square in the shoulder. Punk hits the floor and grabs a chair. He pulls it back but pauses and instead sits down in it. Punk picks up the Nexus armband that Otunga left in the ring and slips it on, revealing to everyone including the very stupid Cole that HE is the new leader of Nexus, not Otunga. He does the fist in the air to Nexus as we go off the air.

Overall Rating: B. The ending, while good, kind of came off as underwhelming. I missed the return of Nexus line that was apparently said at some point earlier in the show so this was more surprising to me. Once Otunga said the new management line it was rather clear what was coming, but this sets up a brand new dynamic for the feud which I rather like. The show was solid and sets up a lot of new stuff for the new year, including a possible new champion. Good stuff but it could have used more wrestling for sure. See you next year.

It’s the closest thing to a major Christmas show I could think of.  Also, what better way to almost close out the year than with an absolutely horrible show?

December to Dismember
Date: December 3, 2006
Location: James Brown Arena, Augusta, Georgia
Attendance: 4,800
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

So this is more or less considered the standard for worst WWE PPV of all time. There are quite a few reasons for that and I’d say it’s likely true. Number one is Vince McMahon. Heyman was told to run this show and he put together a run sheet and the endings to matches etc.

Since Big Show had made it clear that he was leaving the company as soon as his contract was up two days after the show, the title change was clearly coming. Heyman’s original idea was Punk and Show start the Chamber match and Punk gets Show to tap out inside of four minutes. Punk liked it, Heyman liked it, Show LOVED it, the writers liked it, Vince hated it.

Vince insisted on Lashley getting the belt and a huge celebration ending the show. Heyman said allegedly three or four times that this was going to bomb. It did indeed bomb and guess what happened. Yep, Vince blamed Heyman for the whole thing and Paul quit/was thrown out. The second issue here is that we had seen Survivor Series SEVEN DAYS EARLIER.

Yeah, this is our second PPV in two weeks, so of course the buyrate was through the floor. That was of course Heyman’s fault too. Finally, this was called an ECW show. The problem was it was more or less a really long episode of the TV show with a bit main event. This wasn’t like the TV show now either. This was back when the show was awful and more or less held together with tape and gum every week. Let’s get this over with.

Of course the opening video is all about the Chamber. Oh, it’s an EXTREME Elimination Chamber as the four in pods will all have weapons. Give me a break.

Joey says this show might be infamous. That’s just amusing. He follows this by screwing up and saying there will be a new champion tonight. Thanks for the spoiler Joey.

MNM vs. Hardys

This was an open challenge that was accepted by MNM. Who cares that neither was on ECW at the time? This was one of two matches announced for the show. What does that tell you? MNM beat up the Hardys on Tuesday and that’s all there is to it. Jeff is IC Champion here by the way. Matt and Mercury start us off.

The Hardys are dominating and throw in a spin cycle which is always a cool move. It’s like a double suplex but they spin the other guy around. It’s hard to explain. And now we get the weird part of this: ECW chants by fans that actually think this is a real ECW show. They start a she’s a crack w**** chant at Melina and no one knows how to react to it.

Matt hits splash mountain on Nitro (Morrison) for two. Apparently Melina has herpes. This show really was doomed from the start on this. I didn’t know Scott Armstrong was refereeing this far back. Tazz isn’t helping things either with his idiotic commentary. To be fair though, he could be far more annoying, like that scream from Melina.

Tazz throws in that Cole doesn’t like women. If true, I’m not entirely surprised. In a funny bit, MNM go for the Twist of Fate and Swanton but Matt fights off and gets the hot tag to Jeff. Matt hits a Pescado on Mercury which is more or less caught and reversed to set up the big pile of aerial moves which never gets old.

Jeff misses the Swanton as Mercury pulls Nitro out. This has been pretty good so far. Tazz gets off on the screaming I think. Morrison looks weird with blonde hair. It’s MNM in control now as they beat up Jeff. Yeah Tazz is driving me crazy. Melina gets that same chant again. It amazes me that she was more or less just the sexy valet at this point and became a great worker (by comparison) in just a few years.

They’re being given a lot of time if nothing else as we’re about 15 minutes into this and there seems to be a good amount of time to go in it. Is Tazz supposed to be Jerry Lawler or something? If he is he’s somehow more annoying than Jerry if that’s possible. Jeff gets a Whisper in the Wind out of nowhere to set up the tag to Matt.

In a cool spot, Jeff is tagged back in and goes up. Matt tries to set Mercury up for a powerbomb by handing him to Jeff but Nitro makes the save and then shoves Mercury up to Jeff so he can hit a hurricanrana. That was freaking cool. Nitro accidentally dropkicks Melina and Jeff rolls him up for a LONG two.

Jeff takes the Snapshot but Matt makes the save. This is awesome stuff now. MNM sets for a top rope Snapshot but Matt saves with a double cutter to let Jeff hit a Swanton onto both of them for the pin. By the way, the Snapshot is Nitro holding up the other guy and Mercury hitting an elevated DDT.

Rating: B+. This was very good stuff as they were given a lot of time and it worked very well. This was a way to let MNM look good, even though at the end of the day they weren’t even the best tag team that Morrison was even a part of. Either way this was good stuff and it worked very well. Definitely good, but the show would go all downhill from here.

Van Dam says he’ll win the title tonight.

Matt Striker vs. Balls Mahoney

See what I mean about them not advertising anything? I think you can see why based on this one alone. They had been feuding back in the day and no one cared so let’s have people pay to see the “blowoff” to it. They kept saying that Striker was a former teacher that had to resign but it was never explained why: he got in trouble for going to wrestle at night.

The match tonight is under Striker’s Rules, meaning very strict. There is no eye gouging, no hair pulling, no top rope moves, and no foul language. I didn’t know that Bill Watts booked ECW. Balls comes out to a bad cover of Big Balls. They make jokes about Striker having a picture of himself on his body.

If there has ever been a match that belonged on TV, this is it. It’s ok, but it’s certainly not worth paying anything for. After even more boring stuff, this time mainly arm work from Balls, he hits the Nutcracker Sweet, of course not called that here, to get the win.

Rating: D. Not only was it boring, but this was something people had to pay to see without it being mentioned or advertised. Other than the opener and the main event, that’s the case all around tonight actually. You’re starting to get the idea why this show is considered awful.

Punk is getting ready.

Sabu is hurt and Hardcore Holly is replacing him in the main event. The fans, knowing what’s going on, loudly chant BS at this.

Sylvester Terkay/Elijah Burke vs. F.B.I.

This FBI is Guido and Tony Mamaluke. Burke is the Pope from TNA, and yet, he’s still overrated and more or less worthless. “But KB, he can talk so well!” Well that would bet true if it wasn’t BS. He’s talking now and he’s annoying me already. Now in TNA he’s a modern day Slick and just as annoying.

The only good thing about the FBI is they have Trinity and she looks quite good. Yep, that’s all I’m going to care about here. Terkay is more or less an MMA guy that wrestled. Apparently Tazz needs a cold shower. Can we please get to the end of this show PLEASE? We have a very weak where’s my pizza chant as I feel so sorry for the live fans.

This was a massive slap in the face of all of ECW and its fans, but hey, Vince gets to feel like he killed the freaking place and his delusions of grandeur are fulfilled for one more day right? All is right with the world now. More or less this is a way for Terkay to beat people up. It’s more or less a squash.

Actually screw that: it is a squash. Naturally the ECW guys get destroyed on an ECW show so that the WWE guys can look great. Oh and after the match, Terkay uses a Muscle Buster to get a big TNA chant going. Ok so not big but whatever. Just move on please.

Rating: D-. Screw Vince. This was just dumb. I get that you hate ECW but if you’re going to screw the audience like this, get over yourself Vince.

Sabu is put in an ambulance.

We get an ad for Raw, on an ECW show. This is freaking garbage.

Daivari vs. Tommy Dreamer

Daivari is more commonly known as Sheik Abdul Bashir recently and here he’s known as the manager of the Great Khali. I wonder what’s going to happen here. Dreamer jobbing would be ok I guess. Those poor fans actually think Dreamer has a chance in this. Khali is thrown out. And now no one else cares. It’s Dreamer vs. a tiny guy that never does anything else.

Dreamer gets some of his big spots in to get the crowd going a bit, but naturally as he goes for the DDT, Daivari just rolls him up with the tights for the pin. I hate this show more and more every time. Of course Khali comes out and chokeslams him on the ramp. Tazz is legit ticked off as you can tell.

Rating: W. That stands for who freaking cares anymore. I’m not even an ECW fan and I’m even an ECW critic and this is ticking me off. Tell me one reason why Daivari should have gone over like that here. If you’re going to have Khali destroy him, fine, but have that be the reason to end the freaking match. This is just mindless.

Dreamer takes forever to get up as we’re an hour and 15 minutes into this and we have two matches left, one of which is a mixed tag.

Ad for See No Evil, which is of course, a WWE thing and not an ECW thing.

I actually took a break at this point to watch a bad Disney Channel movie. That’s how annoyed I am with this show.

Heyman gives Hardcore Holly the spot in the main event. The fans pause and then know what’s coming, as Holly gets the spot. I actually can’t understand Holly’s first line as the fans are booing so loudly. This was a freaking atrocity and it’s pathetic that it has to be. The fans are just freaking dead now.

Ariel/Kevin Thorn vs. Kelly/Mike Knox

Kelly dated Knox apparently. Kelly at this point is an exhibitionist and AWFUL. I mean she’s ridiculously bad so we get Knox and Thorn. Knox has no beard at this point and is somehow more worthless than he was before. Oh dang it they’re letting him talk. Oh good Kelly is talking instead. She likes Punk, who gets a chant. That chant didn’t happen though. No one likes Punk. What people want is HARDCORE HOLLY AND TEST!!!

Thorn is a vampire and Ariel is a fortune telling gypsy or something. She would become Salinas in TNA in case you’re more familiar with them. This is a freaking disgrace. I’m glad no one bought it as it makes things seem a bit better. No one cares about this either as since both girls can’t wrestle we more or less have a Knox vs. Thorn match.

And here they are. At least Kelly looks hot. Kelly tries to get the tag to Knox but he leaves. Note: the fans chant for Punk to come make the save. To make sure it’s clear: Punk is WAY over. Sandman makes the save instead which gets a nice pop.

Rating: D-. Kelly looking hot is the only reason this passes. I just want to get to the end of this.

We get a long ad for Armageddon, which was the third PPV in four weeks. WWE was so stupid at this point that I can’t comprehend it.

Some RIDICULOUSLY hot chick named Rebecca interviews Lashley. She can’t talk but she doesn’t need to. It’s mainly about how Lashley has had to put up with a ton of nonsense, more or less confirming that he’ll win tonight, which only Vince wanted to see.

Three of the people in the chamber come to the ring together. We get the same exact video as the one that opened the show. Oh man they knew they had jack. We’re about an hour and a half into the show at this point mind you.

Heyman comes out and talks while saying nothing at all. This is nothing more than trying desperately to fill in time.

ECW World Title: CM Punk vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Test vs. Hardcore Holly vs Big Show vs. Rob Van Dam

Now keep in mind, Punk and Lashley were more or less worthless at this point, so the only two legit main event guys you have in there are RVD who was hated by the company at this point and Show who didn’t care as he was leaving in 48 hours. RVD and Holly start. Remember that as soon as each pod opens up, the person comes out with a weapon which I’ll get to as each pod opens.

Holly is booed out of the building. Naturally Vince will insist that it’s because of how great a heel he is or whatever. So we have to watch Holly and Van Dam for five minutes. Oh joy. The entrances took almost ten minutes mind you. The fans are dead here by the way. We get Rolling Thunder on the cage, which is impressive but we’ve seen it before.

They’ve managed to make the Elimination Chamber boring. That’s just impressive. Note: another Punk chant goes up. I can’t emphasize this enough: PUNK IS OVER. In third is Punk and his chair to a freaking ERUPTION.   It’s a shame that he didn’t have a chance to win here. And Van Dam kicks the chair into him so he’s down 30 seconds in.

Ok to be fair, they’re the two most over guys in there so that’s ok I guess. Van Dam is bleeding. Apparently you can get pins outside on the cage now. That’s new I think. Heyman is the evil GM here in case you didn’t know. Punk is getting destroyed by Holly here in case you weren’t sure.

Also Punk would have his first loss in the company to Holly in about a month with the justification being that Holly was the bigger star and should go over. Again: if it’s not Vince’s idea, it’s not a good idea. In fourth is Test with a crowbar. Naturally he nails Punk with it. This is freaking stupid. Test and Hardcore Holly are in THE MAIN EVENT OF A PAY PER VIEW.

The idea here is that the heels are all working together which is completely pointless considering the idea of the match but that can’t be Vince’s idea. Heyman “booked” this remember? And then Van Dam hits this Five Star and Punk is gone. Yep, the most over guy in the match is out first while Test and Holly get to stick around.

Test puts Holly out ten seconds later with a big boot. It was only a two but the referee calls it three. The announcers and fans are confused but since this show isn’t for the fans it doesn’t matter. Van Dam goes up on top of Big Show’s pod but a chair shot puts him down. Test hits a big elbow off the pod…and Van Dam is out. Let’s see. Why is this stupid? Number one, the most over guy left is Big Show.

Second, now THERE’S NO ONE FOR TEST TO FIGHT, so it’s just dead time now. Third, you had freaking TEST beat RVD. We’re still just sitting around after two replays of the elbow and just waiting on ANYTHING to happen. The fans have completely turned on the match at this point and don’t care at all. Thankfully the next guy in is Lashley.

He gets NO pop at all. Heyman’s security try to hold him in the pod, but using the WOODEN table in the pod with him, he breaks the STEEL chains on top of the pod. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? The table is still in the pod mind you so it’s not like it’s even being used. They keep ramming Test into the Plexiglas to set up Lashley vs. Show.

Yeah, that’s what this whole thing is supposed to end with: the massive showdown between Show and a heavily muscled guy. I know I’ve said it before, but Vince has to have repressed homosexual desires towards musclemen. I mean really, is there any doubt of it at this point? The fans HATE this mind you.

A spear puts Test out with a minute and a half left until Show comes out. In other words, we have nothing to do but wait for the time to run out. You might as well quit reading now as you know exactly what’s coming. Show comes in with his barbed wire ball bat and naturally he gets in no offense as it’s ALL Lashley here.

He avoids the chokeslam and they slug it out. Lashley is terrible in the ring at this point mind you, so this is even more torture. And he wins it with a spear. The main event is over two hours and five minutes into the show.

Rating: D-. This was just completely ridiculous for reasons I’ve already gone into. For another thing, SABU, the guy that has somehow made a whole career out of doing stupid stunts in a ring, is left out here in favor of Holly. Are you freaking KIDDING? This was just dumb and nothing more than Vince deciding that he’s smarter than the fans once again.

And that’s it. No seriously, the show which cost 40 dollars started at 8pm and was over at 10:05pm, the last 4 minutes being the celebration by Lashley. Do I even need to insult this?

Overall Rating: I. For incomplete. Where’s the last 45 minutes of this? I know WWE cuts their shows early, but this was inexcusable. Not only does it end 40 minutes early, but there were two matches allegedly worth seeing and the Hardys vs. MNM was the only good thing of it at all. This wasn’t a PPV. It was Vince making sure that ECW died the way he wanted it to.

If Vince would listen once all night, he could have heard the fans BEGGING for this to be Punk but the rookie muscle guy gets it instead. Heyman was of course blamed for the whole thing because while he wrote the show, it was his third one or so and the only reason he went with it was because Vince wouldn’t accept anything.

Like I said, the initial idea was Punk puts Show out in about three minutes and we end with Van Dam, Punk and Lashley (if we have to) in a 20 minute war. Alas, that would have been entertaining though so they went with Lashley being given the hero push so Vince would have nice wet dreams that night. This was an abomination and not a PPV at all.

Get the Hardys/MNM match if you like tag wrestling, but other than that don’t do anything with this show so Vince doesn’t get anything out of it. This was an insult to the fans at best and an ego trip by Vince of epic proportions.

Maybe he can get a job as a seasonal elf somewhere?

This surprises me somewhat, but it’s not like he had done anything at all with them. Season 2 of NXT was a pale comparison to Season 1 and Kaval has a fluke win over the IC Champion. This isn’t huge really, but it is kind of surprising.

Thoughts?

Tribute to the Troops 2010
Date: December 22, 2010
Location: Fort Hood, Killeen, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

It’s the annual tradition and in this case it’s the two hour version rather than the one hour one that was shown on Saturday.  In other words, I know half of the show but not the rest of it, which I’ll throw in if I can.  There isn’t much to say about it but so far it’s the best one they’ve done.  Let’s get to it.

Expect a lot of “so and so says thanks to the troops” and “so and so performs” tonight.

We open with a clip of President Obama thanking the troops for what they’re doing.  He doesn’t actually mention WWE but the idea is there I guess.

We get a quick set of shots of WWE being there for the troops for years.

Battle Royal

Mark Henry, John Morrison, Ezekiel Jackson, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, Chris Masters, Cody Rhodes, Vladimir Kozlov, Santino Marella, Michael McGillicutty, Husky Harris, Justin Gabriel, David Otunga, Heath Slater, Chavo Guerrero

The commentary is different here as they’re referencing TLC having already happened which hadn’t happened when this first aired.  This wasn’t on the first show.  They’re getting some big names in there at least.  Fifteen guys in there if you don’t want to count.  Everyone surrounds Nexus and the beating is on.  They’re all run off but not over the top rope so I guess they’re still in?

Sheamus puts out Masters but can’t get rid of Bryan.  Nexus is chilling out maxing relaxing all cool and all watching some wrestling out by the ring.  Chavo dumps Jackson which surprises me a bit so the ring is kind of empty without Nexus in there.  Cobra to everyone and it works on them all, cleaning the ring.  And then he goes after Sheamus like an idiot.

Sheamus and Henry have a standoff but HERE THEY COME!  I haven’t gotten to write that in a long time.  Everyone is still down from the Cobra of all things.  The tag champions go out as Nexus is cleaning house.  Chavo and Cody are out, leaving Morrison, Bryan, Sheamus and Henry against the black and yellow dudes.  They charge with Sheamus chilling in the corner.

Bryan beats up the Wendy’s chick/dude but everyone else has it 2-1.  Gabriel vs. Bryan makes the IWC orgasm just a bit but Bryan gets rid of Gabriel.  Sheamus kicks Bryan’s head off though and dumps him with ease.  Harris takes down Sheamus and the beatdown is on.  There goes Otunga as Morrison is doing most of the fighting.  Sheamus and Morrison start fighting but Morrison is finally put out by Nexus.

And then Henry awakens, throwing Slater over to leave him, McGillicutty, Harris and Sheamus.  Henry beats the tar out of the Nexus guys and throws out Hennig’s son.  There goes IRS’ son as well, leaving us with Henry vs. Sheamus.  The very white guy beats down Henry for a bit until the POWER OF TEXAS wakes Henry up.  In a very impressive display of strength, Henry gorilla presses Sheamus over the top with relative ease.  That was scary.

Rating: B-. Battle royals are really hard to grade but this one definitely was good stuff.  Nexus trying to be all sneaky fit really well and having the hometown guy winning was a good thing to do here.  It’s not like it changes anything so I can’t complain here at all.  Better battle royal than most for sure.

Taylor Swift loves the troops.

The Bellas love the troops and are very hot.

Diddy Dirty Money performs I’ll Be Missing You.

After a break, Miss USA is introducing the next match.

Kofi Kingston/Big Show vs. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler

No Vickie this time.  This was on the first show.  Dolph vs. Show to start us off here.  Show stands on his ribs and I think the champion is about to cry.  Kofi in now and he and Ziggler do their usual good stuff.  King talks about the morale people and gets in a Craig Pittman line: beatings will continue until morale improves.

After Swagger interferes a bit, Kofi gets a SLICK counter of the Fameasser into a powerbomb.  Semi-hot tag to Show who gets a sidekick to take down Swagger.  He cleans house and Ziggler is thrown into the air.  Kofi gets a cross body to put both he and Ziggler on the floor.  The chokeslam to Swagger ends this totally clean.

Rating: C. This was fine.  It wasn’t anywhere close to the regular tag matches they’ve been having on Smackdown lately but that’s not the point.  This was about giving the fans a quick thrill and having Show out there winning is always good as he’s freaking huge which is a treat for the fans.  Nothing great, but this was fine.

Trace Adkins performs.

R-Truth vs. Ted DiBiase

Not on the first show.  Truth jumps him to start as this is looking one sided so far.  This is probably Truth’s last TV appearance for a long while given his recent health issues.  Both guys go down off a double clothesline as I think this is going to go fast.  Maryse gets on the apron, Eve pulls her down, Dream Street is countered, Axe Kick ends it.  This was nothing.

Bella Twins/Natalya/Kelly Kelly vs. Alicia Fox/Melina/Laycool

Not on the first show either.  Yep the evil ones are definitely hotter.  They’re all in Santa outfits of course.  Alicia vs. a Bella starts us off and Cole thinks it’s Nikki.  Since Cole is a very stupid man we’ll call her Brie.  Melina is working as a heel here to play up the whole turn on Raw two days ago.  Kelly comes in and we get the headscissors to show off the underwear under her skirt.  She beats the tar out of Michelle before Layla saves.  Everyone gets in until Kelly hits K2 to beat Michelle.  Another nothing match.

The cast of 30 Rock loves the troops.

Back from a break we see Sherri Sheppard throwing shirts and DVDs out to the troops earlier along with Horny.

George W. Bush thanks the troops.

Diddy Dirty Money performs Coming Home which makes sense at least.  The chorus of that is actually pretty awesome.

Lindsay Vonn (Olympic skier) loves the troops.

We get an arm wrestling contest between the commander of the base who is rather wrinkly and he gets…..Kane.  Oh dear.  The commander whose name is Grimsley gives Kane a chance to back out.  Grimsley gets an advantage early on but here comes Kane.  The soldiers are of course behind their boss.  Edge’s music hits and the distraction lets the General get the win.  Nicely done.  Spear puts Kane on the floor and Edge shakes the General’s hand.  Not on the original show.

Earlier today Cedric the Entertainer came out and did a short routine.  It looked like they clipped a bit of it so maybe it was longer.  That would make some more sense.

Jimmy Fallon loves the troops.  He tells some horrible jokes until Miz pops up behind him and slams him to a big pop.  Funny stuff.

Adkins performs Whup a Man.  There’s a line in there that says something about you should whip a man if he cusses out a kid.  After the song his 9 year old daughter comes out and it’s supposed to be a big emotional moment.  Bit contradictory there isn’t it?  The second of each performances were on the Saturday show.

The military chief of staff says basic stuff.

John Cena/Rey Mysterio/Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio/Wade Barrett/The Miz

Del Rio has the whole car thing here.  This was on the Saturday show too.  ERUPTION for Cena.  Before we go to break, the cast of the Today Show loves the troops.  Miz vs. Cena to start which I have a feeling might be Wrestlemania.  Off the Barrett and Orton and you can feel the interesting part of the show dying away almost instantly with those two fighting.  Orton gets the elevated DDT to take over but can’t get the RKO.

Rey comes in and things speed up as he hits a Seated Senton to Miz for two.  Riley hooks Rey’s foot though and here come the evildoers as we take a break.  Back with Barrett hitting a backbreaker on Rey for two.  Off to Alberto who tries a sunset flip and gets kicked in the head.  Again, that always works if you just give it a try.  Rey reverses a top rope suplex and gets a top rope cross body.

Hot tag to Cena and Alberto no puede ver Cena.  Everything falls apart and Orton gets the Angle Slam to Miz.  Riley pulls him out before the RKO can hit.  Barrett takes a backbreaker and it’s 1238 time to Alberto and Barrett.  FU to Del Rio and RKO to Barrett with Del Rio getting pinned to end this.

Rating: C. This was what it was.  There’s nothing special about it at all and there isn’t supposed to be.  As King says, this is about putting smiles on the faces of the troops.  There was nothing special here but there wasn’t supposed to be.  The ending was IDENTICAL to the ending of the 2008 show which was kind of cool.  Nothing terrible at all and it did its job.

Overall Rating: A. This was by far the best of these shows ever as it felt like a combination of a USO show and the Tribute to the Troops.  It was fun and the two hours flew by to say the least.  The wrestling isn’t the point here but it certainly worked.  Very fun show to say the least and it definitely did its job very well.  Very good show to cap off a very good week for WWE.

Smackdown

Date: December 21, 2010
Location: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Matt Striker

It’s the beginning of Edge’s tenth title reign which doesn’t have much of a ring to it when you think about it.  I think they’ll probably set up Del Rio vs. Edge at the Rumble but we’ll find out.  This is on Tuesday for the first time as they didn’t want to have Smackdown on Christmas Eve which makes sense to say the least.  This should be a good show but it’ll be fun to see it live.  Let’s get to it.

Oh and NXT is on at 11 so I’ll have that up as soon as it finishes as usual.

Edge will address the crowd tonight.

Randy Orton vs. The Miz

Dang jerking the curtain this fast?  How the mighty have fallen.  You can figure out which one I’m talking about.  I was thinking the GM would make Miz vs. Lawler tonight but this is probably a better option on all fronts.  Orton goes OFF on Miz to start, beating the tar out of him on the floor.  Riley is of course here also.

Miz gets a guillotine clothesline over the top to take over and a boot to a seated Viper gets two.  Orton comes back and looks like he wants the RKO but settles for a powerslam.  They’re kind of flying through this.  Elevated DDT is blocked but Orton lands on the apron.  Riley interferes and here comes Miz again.  We take a break with Orton ramming into the steps and holding his arm.

Back with Miz holding a chinlock on the Viper which is reversed while the TVPG logo is still in the corner.  Miz goes up but is crotched as we’re talking about Money in the Bank for no apparent reason.  Suplex from the middle rope puts the champion down for two.  This match is getting some time as we’re past ten minutes already.

They slug it out with Orton hammering him down in the corner so he can stomp a mudhole (he does the two fists in the air pose on the corner now, he stomps people in the corner, he uses a quick strike finisher and he’s named after a snake.  He reminds me someone but I just can’t place it.  I’ve got it: The Rougeau Brothers) in the champion.  Miz fights back with a Reality Check for two.

Orton sets for his powerbomb which I guess along with the Angle Slam are his new signature moves now but Riley’s distraction interrupts it.  Clothesline in the corner and a DDT gets both a smile from me (it’s my favorite move) and a two count.  The Finale and the RKO are both countered as Miz gets a backslide for two.

There’s the elevated DDT and Orton sets for the RKO.  Riley gets up AGAIN and there’s the RKO, but Riley runs in for the DQ at approximately 11:00 shown of 14:42.  This was a lot longer than I expected but was still good.  We’re not done yet as Orton sets for the Punt.  Riley comes in at the last second and runs into an RKO for his troubles.

Rating: B-. This was much better than I was expecting.  Miz held his own but escapes again.  For people that complain about making him look weak, have you ever seen a Miz match?  When has he EVER been a dominant guy?  He’s a heel.  He’s not supposed to look all awesome (no pun intended) and get a perfect win.  He escapes with the title and can still point to it and say look what I’ve still got.

I don’t get why so many people complain about heels not looking strong.  Heels have been doing it for years and only recently have I heard them get heat for it.  What’s going to be more annoying/evil, which is what a heel is supposed to be: a guy that is all big and bad, or a guy that you want to see get his beating and finally lose, ala Honky Tonk Man back in the 80s?  He was an incredible heel and never once looked dominant.  Heck how often did Flair look dominant against a big name?  He almost always cheated to win and he’s praised for it.

Show is still Santa and he and Rosa are giving out action figures.  Blast it Hornswoggle is an elf.  Can’t we just look at the hotness that is Rosa?

Back with the aforementioned three throwing out presents and DVDs and such.  There’s a Christmas setup in the ring complete with a small tree, milk and cookies and presents.  Oh wait that tree is bigger than I thought as it was positioned kind of weird.  Show breaks the chair as he sits on it.

Show sits in another chair (still taller than Horny) and reads a WWE version of Night Before Christmas.  It’s about TLC which is a nice little thing actually.  “Santa now must leave before it’s too late.  Go out and get the Knucklehead DVD….IT’S GREAT!”  Cole whines about it of course and they throw out more presents….with no heel attack.  I’m surprised indeed.  Oh I knew it.  Here’s Cody who takes out Horny and the Christmas stuff.

Back with a recap of the Cena segment last night which was absolutely hilarious.  To the people that thought it was childish, get the sticks out of your head and have a bit of fun.  The handicap is still later.

Beth says she’s glad she’s not hurt from the SICK fall she took at the PPV.  Santino and Vlad come in and the Italian/Canadian/Russian depending on which company he’s in wants to know how she’s doing.  For old time’s sake he requests a lip lock and more or less snaps his fingers, making Kozlov produce some mistletoe.

Tamina isn’t an issue as she’s on Raw and this is Smackdown.  Santino is a player!  Santino puckers up and closes his eyes, so Beth grabs Vlad and kisses him.  The look on his face is hilarious as his eyes bug out.  Santino sees the lipstick on his lips after Beth leaves and says it’s like they just kissed as he had kissed Beth before.  Funny stuff indeed.

Santino Marella vs. Chavo Guerrero

They’re going to reair this show Friday which makes this airing make more sense.  Smart to offer a reairing of this later but to not try to go against Christmas Eve.  Santino uses his Sambo stuff to start but Chavo uses basic wrestling to take over again.  Santino comes back but the headbutt eats knees.  Chavo does Eddie’s dance and Three Amigos have Marella in trouble.  Third is blocked though and it’s Cobra time, ending it at 3:00.  Basic little match to fill in some time.

Back from a break and it’s time for Edge to address Smackdown. I can’t imagine this won’t be interrupted by Alberto to set up the Rumble match.  He talks about how all the insanity with Paul and Kane is now worth it because he now has his world title back.  Edge talks about how he’s worked his entire career to get here and has accomplished all the goals he’s set for himself.

Kane comes out a bit to my surprise and says no one wants to hear this story.  Edge more or less says shut up and challenges Kane to a world title match RIGHT NOW.  Kane….turns it down?  He wants it to be under his own rules and he’ll get the title back.  PLEASE don’t let that be the Rumble match.

Rey/Kofi vs. Alberto/Swagger later.

Back with a video on Big Zeke who is awesome to look at to put it mildly.  He’s coming soon even though I was pretty sure he was supposed to be on here.

Drew McIntyre vs. Kaval

Drew gets a decent face pop actually.  Drew jumps him before the bell and Kaval is barely able to get up.  A big boot and the Future Shock end this in 28 seconds.  Well that was abrupt.  Maybe Kaval’s ankle isn’t healed up yet.

We look at Tribute to the Troops, which was rather good.  Not sure if it’ll be the same as a 2 hour show but it should be solid still.

Jack Swagger/Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston/Rey Mysterio

This should be pretty good as the tag match last week was rather awesome indeed.  Back and we see everyone not named Alberto’s entrance as his had already happened.  Rey vs. Alberto to start us off as Swagger still has his t-shirt on for some reason.  He goes after Kofi before the match really gets going and Alberto gets to jump Rey.  OH SNAP Alberto goes for the mask and we saw Rey’s face!

Rey fights him off and here’s Kofi.  Rey and Kofi clean house and the bad guys are both sent to the floor.  Stereo dives have Swagger and Alberto reeling as we take a break.  Swagger was holding his arm and it didn’t look too good.  Back with Alberto holding a chinlock on Rey.  That double dive was pretty sweet as they show it again in slow motion and from a second angle from facing the stage.  Striker: take two hits and pass it on.

Swagger comes in and hits his Vader Bomb as his arm looks just fine.  Bearhug goes on Rey for a bit but even with some kicks Rey can’t get a tag out.  He does however get one after sending Swagger into the buckle.  Big crossbody and dropkick to bring Kofi in but he runs into boots in the corner and a big boot takes him down.

The announcers say Alberto will be a future world champion but they’re not sure about Kofi.  Interesting debate topic indeed.  Kofi takes Swagger down after a long beatdown and both Spanish speakers comes in and Rey shows off a lot with a tornado DDT after a bunch of spins and flips.  BIG swinging kick to the head gets two for Rey.  SICK tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two for Alberto.

Rey gets a dropkick to the back to set up Alberto for the 619 but Swagger gets a blind tag to lay out Rey for a close two.  Kofi has apparently been swallowed by the Earth as Rey gets out of the gutwrench powerbomb.  It’s almost a double 619 but Alberto gets out of the way.  Trouble in Paradise out of nowhere kills Swagger and the springboard splash ends this at 13:40.

Rating: B. Smackdown has this tag team thing DOWN lately as this was another good one.  Also it’s nice to see some tag matches without the team having like two matches and instantly becoming the #1 contenders for the titles.  This was really fun and that double dive with the alternate camera shot is awesome stuff.  Good match again and a big pickup for this kind of lackluster show.

Drew comes up to Kelly and says he’s sorry for last week and acting weird.  She says he wasn’t weird and he says that he’d never hurt her.  She seems a bit receptive this time.

Dolph helps Vickie stretch for her match which is a fairly pointless scene.

Kane/Del Rio vs. Edge/Rey next week.  That should be good, although on New Year’s Eve the ratings are going to TANK.

Dolph Ziggler/Vickie Guerrero vs. John Cena

Vickie is in her EXCUSE ME tights.  She’s all whiny to Dolph as they wait for Cena to come out.  Vickie tries to get to Cena immediately but Dolph holds her back.  They have to tag here.  Dolph beats him down and then Vickie tags herself in to stand on John’s head so he lifts her off the ground by bench pressing her.  Keep in mind she’s standing upright and her feet were on his face and he simply lifted her off from his back.  That is SCARY strength.

Back to Ziggles who hammers away and hits a jumping elbow like Sting always used to miss.  Loud Vickie Sucks chant as Cena can’t get the FU and Dolph hits a DDT for two.  It’s the standard formula for these kinds of matches: the heel destroys the good guy while the weaker heel hangs out on the apron and steals a shot here or there.

To the floor where Dolph eats steps after Cena blocks the same kind of shot.  Yep it’s an overrun while NXT is being advertised as starting now.  Back in and Cena gets a suplex to put Dolph down and they slug it out.  Ziggler finally figures out a counter to the shoulder blocks.  After years of studying mystical scrolls, consulting various monks and reaching near nirvana…….he ducks and lets Cena crash to the floor.

The dueling chants begin as Vickie gets some kicks in on the floor.  Vickie distracts again and Ziggler gets a chinlock before that cool Stunner kind of move.  He sets for a Downward Spiral and then jumps to drop into a Stunner.  Vickie tags herself in AGAIN and misses a splash.

Dolph back in and the ancient scrolls fail him as Cena initiates his ending sequence.  Vickie can’t see him apparently.  Ziggler counters the FU and hits a Fameasser for a close two.  This is getting more time than I expected it to by far.  Ziggler goes for another but Cena steps to the side for the STF but Vickie saves.  Cena kisses her hard and the FU ends it at 13:30.

Rating: B-. Another good match here but it was never really in doubt.  It was all to set up the post match stuff which I’ll get to here in a minute.  Ziggler has gotten one heck of a rub from Cena in the last two nights and it’s made him look great.  He’s quite good on his own but this has been a nice bonus for him.  Good match but no classic or anything.

Post match Cena goes for an FU on Vickie but punk runs in for more chair shots and leaves.  Cena getting up in pain ends the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was ok and had a lot of wrestling on it, but it came off like an episode of Raw with Smackdown guest starring.  That’s not a good thing as they had a great chance to give Smackdown some extra exposure but we didn’t really get that here at all.  This was rather wrestling heavy with over 45 minutes of action in two hours which is solid for any show.  It was good, but definitely a step down from Smackdown’s usual stuff.  Still decent though.

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 20, 2010
Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, CM Punk, Jerry Lawler

After last night’s AWESOME TLC, we begin the Road to the Royal Rumble and ultimately the Road to Wrestlemania with tonight’s episode of Raw. We have Miz vs. Morrison at the Rumble for the Raw World Title which is amazing when you consider where they were a mere two years ago. But remember, WWE doesn’t elevate people right? Let’s get to it.

We open with Miz coming to the ring as STILL WWE Champion! There’s no Cole on commentary here. Miz says that you better get used to hearing people saying STILL WWE Champion about him. Miz is ROCKING that suit by the way. Suddenly the lights dim and we get something close to a gong. No way….

Nah it’s Riley with bandages and chains around him as the Ghost of Christmas Past to show him the error of his ways. The first clip is of him beating Lawler which Miz says was impressive. Gong and lights go down again and Cole is the Ghost of Christmas Present. And he quotes™ that although his actions last night were vintage™, he needs to change. Miz says nah because the actions of a champion are defined by one statement: he is STILL WWE Champion. He’s a bit fixated on that no?

Miz gives us a Christmas card picture as he holds up the title and the lights/gong go off again and DEMON CHILD pops up on the screen. Her mouth moves and says Miz needs to change or Morrison will take his title. This is awesome by the way, but I’m sure people will b**** and complain because it’s “childish” or something like that. Miz disagrees again and does his catchphrase but is cut off by a very sweaty Morrison.

He says that that was really stupid, even for Miz. Morrison says that he’s getting a title shot soon and that he’s beaten Miz in the past, he can beat him in the present, and he will beat him in the future. Simple but effective line. Miz says really a lot and Riley jumps Morrison. Cue Sheamus and it’s on again. Sheamus hits John’s knee in a nice bit of continuity and Morrison is down. Lawler DRILLS Riley who goes down in a heap.

We get an E–Mail and we’re going to get Miz vs. his ghosts tonight in a 6 man tag. Riley/Miz/Sheamus vs. Morrison/Lawler/Orton. That should be fine, as long as it doesn’t lead to more Orton vs. Sheamus. Miz holds up the title and gets drilled by the emerging Orton.

Clip from the end of the PPV with Barrett being “buried”. Cena addresses the Cenation tonight.

Cole is on commentary now, as is Natalya for the following match.

Melina vs. Alicia Fox vs. Eve Torres

Winner gets Natalya at a later date. Melina has a bit of a haircut. I could look at Eve in those gold shorts all day. Natalya puts her arm around Lawler which is odd. There really isn’t a leader in this for the most part but Eve is down for the most part. Melina tries a headsdissors out of the corner but gets caught in a powerbomb by Alicia for two.

Standing moonsault by Eve gets two on Alicia. She tries to go up but Melina charges into her and is acting all aggressive here. Eve and Alicia set for a Doomsday Device on Melina but she rolls through with a victory roll as Eve’s cross body misses for the pin at 3:15. Pretty slick ending.

Rating: C+. Short match but it was energetic throughout. The powerbomb was very nice and the ending was another thought out one. They’ve been doing better at that recently and it’s making the shows better. Fun match and it sets up the post match stuff right here, which was needed.

Post match Natalya goes into the ring to congratulate Melina but gets slapped instead. Looks like a heel turn which is probably a good thing.

The Bellas are talking about some guy when Bryan comes up and they walk him to the ring arm in arm in arm.

Daniel Bryan vs. William Regal

The IWC just collectively orgasmed. To the shock of no one we start with a lot of technical based stuff with no one really being able to control. Bryan rapid fire kicks in the corner and backflips off the top. He runs into a running forearm/elbow for two for Regal. Regal gets a side headlock/Cravate on the mat and hammers away for two.

This is a rather physical match with them hammering away with European uppercuts and the boo/yay thing begins. Bryan starts winning it but Regal blocks and we hit the mat. Regal Stretch can’t go on though so Regal wants a butterfly suplex instead. That can’t connect either and Bryan reverses into the LeBell Lock for the tap out at 4:33.

Rating: B-. I liked this for the style of it as both guys hammered away on each other but neither could pull it off until the very end. Allegedly Regal is considering retirement so going out against your best student (he trained Bryan) is certainly a nice way for him to go out if he’s leaving soon. Good match with a very different style than we’re used to recently.

Post match Regal applauds a bit and Bryan points at him. The Bellas celebrate with Bryan and one kisses him on the cheek. The other spins him around and kisses him on the lips. The other is like oh no you didn’t and kisses him even harder. Not bad Bryan.

Back from a break with Morrison getting ready. Orton pops up and says they’re partners tonight and if Miz loses the title to Morrison, Orton will come after the new champion. Orton says don’t trust him.

Santino is getting a massage from Tamina who is walking on his back. Maryse comes in and says that now Tamina has a plan B. Maryse gets on his back also and Santino is in pain after Vlad and Ted take the girls away.

Mark Henry and Gail are talking about how nice it is with Nexus gone. Vickie and Dolph come up and she says EXCUSE ME so Henry says maybe he was wrong. Was there a point to this at all?

Santino Marella/Tamina vs. Maryse/Ted DiBiase

Tamina actually looks like a girl here. It’s hard to believe but it’s true. Tamina has to crack Santino’s back to get him able to move. Santino and Ted start us off with Santino threatening the Cobra but uses the fake out to flip Ted over in a nice move. Nice dropkick puts him down though and the evildoer takes over. Ted goes for his clothesline move but Santino does the splits to get out of harm’s way.

He hits his flying salute headbutt and loads up the Cobra but Maryse is tagged in before he can hit it. He can’t use it on Maryse though due to the rules but he can’t get it to stop going. Maryse turns his hand around, causing the Cobra to hit Santino! Tamina comes in and throws the WORST SUPERKICK EVER which misses by a good six inches to put Maryse down. Superfly splash ends it at 3:00. No rating as it was mainly just the guys fighting but the splash was awesome.

Cena (Eruption for seeing him) is coming to the ring and a guy gives him flowers for some reason. He gives them to a female stagehand and steals he coffee! What a jerk our hero is!

After a break here’s Cena who is REALLY happy. He says that for the first time in 6 months there’s no Nexus on Raw! He hugs a guy with a WE HATE CENA sign. Cena says he feels like singing and dancing so we get the Dougie and what I’m assuming was the opening of the University of Texas theme song.

Cena shows us footage from TLC last night where all the chairs fell on Barrett from three camera angles and once in slow motion. That was still awesome whether you think it was or not. Cena invokes the Shamwow and the Snuggie for no apparent reason. Last night he got to every member of Nexus so now Cena can focus on the more important things, like winning the Rumble. Punk wasn’t happy with the chair thing at all.

Instead here are Vickie and Dolph. Vickie keeps trying to say that Cena isn’t the only one that won a match last night but she keeps getting booed out of the building. Cena dies laughing and even Vickie starts laughing at it. AWESOME crowd tonight. This goes on for like three minutes until Cena has to tell them to be quiet so they can talk. Even that doesn’t work so Vickie just has to talk over them.

What we learn after a LONG time is that Dolph is still champion and we have a clip from Vickie. It’s from last week where Vickie made fun of King losing the title and then Lawler making fun of her figure. It turns into Lawler and Cena ripping on Vickie back and forth. It’s really stupid but the crowd is cracking me up.

Vickie FREAKS OUT and Dolph yells at Cena and Lawler in her defense. Cena gets on Dolph saying that when they met Dolph was afraid of the dark. Then he saw Vickie undressed and he was afraid of the light. E–Mail makes the match you would expect it to make, and it’s happening RIGHT NOW! AFTER THIS COMMERCIAL! Absolutely hilarious segment and one of the funniest things on Raw in as long as I can remember.

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler

The bell rings as we get back which is a nice touch. Ziggler stomps away as apparently Dolph wants revenge. This should be a pretty good match actually and it’s a good sign to see Ziggler getting ring time with the big boys instead of fighting Kofi all the time. Cena takes over for a bit but misses a charge and hits the corner rather hard.

Cena gets a suplex/slam to reverse for two. Ziggler hooks a side chinlock while on the mat and the crowd keeps getting louder and louder. Cena picks him up into the FU position but Ziggler counters into an X–Factor for two as we take a break. Back with Cena hammering away at Dolph. Side slam marks Cena’s 7^th move.

They ram heads and both men are down. Dolph gets a Downward Spiral Stunner for two. Nice move. Big dropkick gets two and here comes Cena as he initiates his ending sequence. Five Knuckle Shuffle hits but Ziggler avoids the FU and tries for the sleeper. John blocks and the STF….doesn’t end this as Vickie has the referee.

Ziggler gets a Fameasser which is apparently now called the Zig Zag for a long two. There goes the buckle at the hands on the blonde, meaning he’ll be going into it. It’s just a diversion though as Dolph goes for the belt. FU is the counter to end this at 13:15. Nice long match here.

Rating: B-. Nice match here as they got some time here with Ziggler getting a chance to rub elbows with the big boys and gets to look pretty good doing it. He’s one of the best heels on the roster and him getting ring time against a prominent guy is the best thing for him at this point. Nice match here and it got good time.

Post match Punk runs into the ring and drills Cena with a chair. OH HELL YES!!!!!

Back from a break and Josh asks Punk why he did that. Punk says all Cena understands is aggression and he was giving him a taste of his own medicine after what he did to Barrett. Punk drives away.

Jerry is getting ready for the main event and looks pretty good for a guy that is 61. Sheamus comes up and says he’s the real king and that tonight Lawler is done. LONG LIVE THE KING.

Vickie is going off on Ziggler. He’s challenging Cena to a rematch tomorrow on Smackdown which Vickie makes a handicap match with her in it also. Oh dear.

The Miz/Alex Riley/Sheamus vs. Randy Orton/Jerry Lawler/John Morrison

It’s 10:35 and this is starting already? Riley’s briefcase is just a normal one now so maybe people can quit complaining about him holding it a bit. We take a break after Miz and Riley’s entrances. Back with some clips of Miz on Jimmy Fallon’s show with the title. Lawler gets a nice reaction. Orton gets a BIG pop. He’s doing the Austin rope pose now. I guess using a move similar to Austin’s and being names after a snake weren’t enough similarities.

Josh Matthews is on commentary for the main event. Riley and Orton start us off. Big pop for Lawler as he comes in and he manages a dropkick. It sucked but he tried at least. Cole complains about Lawler doing too many things on Raw lately. The irony there slays me. Orton comes in to fight Miz and the champion runs to bring in Sheamus which stops Orton in his tracks as we take a break.

Back with Sheamus working on Lawler and getting two off an unseen move. Morrison comes in and SELLS THE KNEE from last night as he reverses an Irish Curse. Flash Kick takes Sheamus down but a quick interference from Riley stops Starship Pain. Sheamus works on the knee as the fans chant for Morrison.

Miz goes to cannonball down onto the knee but Morrison kicks him to the floor. The champion makes the save to stop the tag though and here’s Sheamus again. A big kick can’t get Morrison out of trouble as Sheamus goes right back to the knee. Half Crab by the pale one until Orton makes the save. Tags in to Orton and Miz and the crowd wakes WAY up.

Powerslam and Angle Slams take down Miz. Elevated DDT has the champion reeling but it only gets two as Sheamus saves. Morrison takes the Irishman to the floor as Orton sets for the RKO. Riley takes it instead as Miz gets a big boot to Orton. Lawler tags himse in and pulls the strap down. Miz goes for the Finale on him but Orton sneaks in with an RKO and Lawler pins Miz at approximately 13:00.

Rating: C. Not bad here with a fun main event to end this. Lawler winning was a nice touch there as it’s a feel good moment to end the show. I would have gone with Morrison pinning Miz to further the setup for their title match but this works too. It was a decent little main event tag match and we got two thirteen minute matches tonight. That’s a rarity for Raw and it worked rather well.

Post match we get an E–Mail which is booed out of the building. The GM apparently has authority to make matches on Smackdown now as he makes Miz vs. Orton which is non–title I’d assume. Orton goes for a powerbomb on Riley but Miz saves and runs.

Overall Rating: B. This was an incredibly fun show. We had well over half an hour of wrestling here including two matches going thirteen minutes which was a nice change of pace from the wrestling–lite show from last week. They have six weeks until the Rumble so it’s more than ok to have a fun show like this one where things weren’t as serious as they have been recently.

Cena vs. Punk sounds great and there was no Nexus for at least a week so maybe they really are on the verge of death. I liked this show a lot as it offered a little something for everyone. Very good show and I’m looking forward to Smackdown tomorrow.

Since the feud seems to now be over with the “burial” of Wade Barrett at TLC, are there any thoughts overall on the feud as a whole?