Tuesday, May 29, 2012

5/28/12 RAW

Ratings:
Alberto Del Rio vs. Santino Marella: N/A (squash)

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger (Tag Team Titles): *3/4

Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk: ***3/4

Christian vs. Miz: *1/2

Sheamus vs. David Otunga: N/A (squash)

Brodus Clay vs. Big Show: N/A
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Show starts the show off. Yeah, nice smile. He mentions Brodus dancing, Kofi/Truth, etc. Would be a good chance for Brodus to get a meaningful storyline, but nope, Cena must get in the way. Good heel promo in playing to the crowd.

Santino faces Alberto this week after giving the Cobra to Ricardo last week. Alberto basically wins in a squash this week. Meh. Ricardo rolls the Rs in Santino's face.

Big Show gets to pick his own opponent tonight for a match. A-Ry isn't it, but Big Show still introduces him to the wall. Ow.

ZigSwag get another crack at the tag titles. Kingston and Truth with some nice double-team moves. Average free TV match, but the crowd loves Kofi and Truth, so yay for crowd reaction. Truth pins Swagger again, and Ziggler hates it. Possible dissension in the ranks?

Hey, Brodus stands up to Show and wants to face him! Show accepts. I like it.

Johnny back on his Hoveround. Cena and Show will be in a cage at No Way Out. He's now the most popular WWE superstar in history? Ha, he's on WWE 13. That'll sell just as good as those Dreamcast games. Here comes Punk. Pukn's gum on the Hoveround. Big banner + pyro to show Punk's the real guy on the video game cover. And it looks damn sweet. ROFL, Punk's is a helluva lot bigger than Johnny's.

WWE 13 comes out October 30, FYI.

Punk vs. Bryan next. Hell yes. Yay wrestling! More great submissions and mat wrestling. Includes the traditional "bridge out of a pin and fight for a backslide" spot. #yesyesyes DB works on the left arm. Punk and DB on the outside, and AJ comes out in Punk's shirt?! Yay, I get to watch someone else in the match too! Tons of counters and near falls. Another great match. Again, can these two go at it for 2-3 hours? Seriously.

DB removes the top turnbuckle padding as AJ distracts the ref (or tells him what DB's doing). Punk kick gets two. DB catapults Punk into the exposed steel turnbuckle and gets three. Love it.

Oops. Kane nukes DB for what happened on Smackdown. Punk then unloads chair shots on Kane after AJ slips him that weapon. Yes, I would go crazy like that for AJ as well. Such a sultry look....

Cody on commentary tonight. Christian faces Miz. Decent match here with a bunch of counters. Cody tries to interfere once, but it didn't work. Frog splash ends it.

Big Johnny is tough on Otunga and Eve. Otunga faces Eve. Eve with the spittake on iced coffee that's supposed to be cold.

Miz is still miffed and complains. He wants his title match. Not gonna get it. Here comes Orton. RKO. Done.

Ziggler wants to be in Orton's spot. No more tag matches. I agree.

Cena's mentioned for a Memorial Day video package. Maybe a somewhat reduced work schedule is needed as he goes through this whole divorce mess.

Otguna with a lot of body oil and bodybuilding posing. Sheamus just picks this Harvard guy apart and practically squashes him. So much for Otunga's proclamation. Next!

Brodus comes out dancing. Show on the mic. Doink reference! Doink had talent? Sure. Spear by Show and we're off with a Brodus beatdown. Why do Cameron and Naomi just stand in the ring like two frozen pandas? Really? Run or something. Kofi and Truth come to help, but get taken out. Show nukes the announce table. Show grabs part of the announce table and hits Brodus with it. Truth and Kofi also get destroyed. WMD to Brodus.

Big Johnny comes out on the stage to raise Show's hand. I like this ending. Brodus may finally have a meaningful storyline.

I wouldn't be surprised if AW pulls the trigger and asks for the tag title match now against Kofi and Truth....

Saturday, May 26, 2012

5/25/12 Smackdown

Ratings:
Christian vs. Hunico: *3/4

Titus O'Neil & Darren Young vs. Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso: *1/2

Ryback vs. Brian Edwards & Kevin Bendl: N/A (squash)

Santino Marella vs. Ricardo Rodriguez: 1/4*

Sheamus vs. Jack Swagger: **3/4

Damien Sandow vs. Yoshi Tatsu: N/A (squash)

Alberto Del Rio vs. Randy Orton vs. Kane: **3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Eve starts the show. Johnny is not in the building due to a business trip, so she's in charge. Eve will deal with Sheamus for "bumping" Laurinaitis on Monday. Alberto stakes his case to be Sheamus' opponent for No Way Out. Orton does the same thing. Kane as well? Sure. Cool, it's Smackdown episode #666! Simple solution for Eve: triple threat match.

Christian faces Hunico as Captain Charisma begins his most recent IC title reign. I'd like to see more high flying in matches, so Hunico fits in that category very well. Killswitch, followed by frog splash gets another win. That frog splash is getting major airtime as a new possible finisher.

Titus and D-Young face the Usos. Backstage altercation from earlier that day shown. Jimmy gets the hot tag. Titus distraction leads to that Demolition Decapitation-like move for three. Love that tag finisher. Simple, yet so effective.

Sin Cara returns next week on Smackdown. He's been out for months with a severe knee injury, so it's nice to see him back.

Woohoo! Ryback in action next! He nukes two small-ish jobbers. Holy crap, Ryback has a black eye. Wonder what nukage he got into to get that. The two guys can compete at the same time against Ryback, but that didn't matter. YES, finishing move to BOTH guys at the same time. Very impressive. Ryback buildup is outstanding so far. Keep it up!

And to think, this all started when the man formerly known as Skip Sheffield broke his leg at a Honolulu house show. Got repackaged into Ryback. It worked out pretty good, I'd say.

Santino and Ricardo segment on RAW was hilarious. Ricardo is competing in his suit?! Man, at least remove the jacket! Just a comedy-filled match that did its purpose. I'll give it a quarter-star just for that.

Is Sheamus out to publicly apologize? Of course not. Sheamus wants Orton at No Way Out, if he had it his way. Vickie introduces Swagger as the Great White's opponent tonight. Vickie provides distraction and Swagger takes out Sheamus' ankle. Swagger focuses on that for the rest of the match. Very good match, with numerous counters and a nice flow.

Damien Sandow again. Will he really face Yoshi Tatsu this time, especially after last week? Yoshi is an ignoramus! A squash for Sandow here. He's pretty agile, that's for sure.

Big Show promo. He doesn't feel like he had the backing of anyone, and he explains Laurinaitis gave him a call to get re-hired. They made a deal. And you know what? It's perfectly fine with me. No need for some super elaborate explanation. Just use Show's love for the business, plus extra money. Good enough. And for some added benefit, it got the crowd buzzing.

Nice brief staredown between Kane and Show as the main event triple threat match begins. YESYESYES, Daniel Bryan with a chair! A zillion chair shots. Crowd loved it all. Kane's a tough guy so he'll compete anyway. Note all the guys in the front row with the Daniel Bryan shirts. YES!

Orton mentioned to people on Twitter that his punt is now "banned." They ban a punt but not stuff like non-chair shots to the head? Arbitrary much?

Very good triple threat. DB came back out after Kane chokeslams ADR. DB distracts Kane enough here. RKO to Kane. ADR does his own punt to Orton, then covers Kane for three. Oh, now ADR can do a punt-like move, but Orton can't? And wouldn't that "concussion" reasoning ban Sheamus' Brogue Kick or any superkick? Lovely. Anyway, ADR predictably is the new #1 contender.

Sheamus ambushes ADR on the stage afterward to close the show.
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In other news, Chris Jericho has apparently been suspended indefinitely for his actions in Brazil. Basically, Jericho disrespected the Brazilian flag during his promo, which is a serious felony there. According to one fan report, Jericho even had to make a public apology during the match. If true, this postpones his scheduled feud with Orton, and likely will allow him to travel with Fozzy after all.

Friday, May 25, 2012

5/24/12 Superstars

Ratings:
Antonio Cesaro vs. Tyson Kidd: **1/2

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. JTG & Michael McGillicutty: ***

Zack Ryder vs. Heath Slater: ***1/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Antonio Cesaro works a Superstars match this week against Tyson Kidd. Yes, please. Cesaro speaks English, German, Swiss, French, and Italian, which is already awesome. Yes, Antonio is very European. A pretty lengthy bout, a few restholds from Cesaro to extend this match. Kidd keeps the match interesting with counters and agility. Kidd goesfor a tornado DDT, Cesaro counters with a deadlift into a European uppercut. Amazing counter. Cesaro gets three with his usual finisher.

BoomJimmys face JTG and McGillicutty. Still trying to get used to seeing JTG in regular in-ring gear. Kofi with hot tag #1, Truth with hit tag #2. Lots of great double-team stuff from Kofi and Truth, especially the double enzuguiri. Little Jimmy gets three. Josh Mathews disses the Facebook stock plummeting.

More hyping Cena and Show's feud. Pretty much the norm for all the shows now.

Ryder and Slater in the main event. Slater is now the "Honky Tonk Redonkadonk." Another great physical match. Lots of near falls and counters.

No complaints on this episode of Superstars! Perhaps the best show in months!

5/24/12 Impact

Ratings:
Gail Kim & Madison Rayne vs. Eric Young & ODB: *1/4

Rob Van Dam vs. Gunner: *1/2

Devon vs. Garett Bischoff (TV Title): 1/2*

Austin Aries vs. Joey Ryan: **1/4

Bobby Roode vs. AJ Styles (World Title): ***1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
It's Open Fight Night!

Nice segment to start in Hogan's office with the guys Hogan has to choose. Even shows each of them the format for the show. I like this stuff because it gives more the "behind-the-scenes" feel, not just a wrestling show. Each makes their case to face Roode. Hogan eliminates Bully Ray for now. Down to Angle, Styles, and Hardy.

Gail promo, while Madison makes sure she looks real good. No problems there. Gail's wedding ring prominent. Open Fight Night time with the knockouts tag titles. Finally, EY gets more physical with the women! Guess Spike TV was willing to let that stuff happen. ODB gets jealous of all that. Madison's mind is not totally on the match. Still, the heels find a way to cheat and win.

RVD challenges Gunner. They remember Gunner taking RVD out in January. Physical from the start. Five-star frog splash to Gunner gets the win. RVD flew at least 3/4 across the ring for that. Impressive.

Devon comes out and calls out Garett Bischoff, stemming from GB eliminating Devon from that Battle Royal last week. Respect shown from both guys this time, and it's a good way for GB to work with a ring veteran. Robbie E and Robbie T interfere and the match is thrown out. Garett and Devon team up and clean house.

Hogan eliminates Jeff Hardy, citing performance is too shaky now (no guarantee Roode will get beat). Hogan makes his decision soon.

Joseph Park video package shown, leading to Bully Ray segment. HA, "Your Calves Suck" sign. Joseph Park in the audience with popcorn. Bully wants Park in the ring. Guess that counts for open fight night. "YESYESYES" chants?! So Joseph can see if a guy's guilty by looking at a man's eyes? If the crowd were the jury, Bully woulda been sent to the gallows already. Bully punches Park, then a chain shot. Nice segment.

Hey, it's Gut Check, and the indy star tonight is Joey Ryan. YES, he faces Aries. Brilliant. Pretty impressive stuff from Joey. Joey landed on his head on that brainbuster. Ouch. I'd still sign Joey. Looked decent.

Roode comes out for his title defense. Styles and Angle come out for the decision. Hogan picks AJ, citing Styles knows Roode better than Angle. Frankly, Angle not being 100% has to weigh into it as well (but they'll never say that). Watch this match. It's great stuff. Roode got virtually a clean win. Sure, AJ got distracted, but this Roode victory was a heck of a lot cleaner than most of his matches over his reign.

I know I was hoping Hogan would pick Angle, but it's best to save that for later. AJ will be occupied with Kaz and Daniels anyway, and this was one way to delay Angle's participation while furthering the AJ/Kaz/Daniels deal.

Celebration includes confetti and champagne. Hogan comes out and gives Roode props. But wait, another opponent in the wings. STING! I'm still not a fan of making Sting the one to dethrone Roode. Sting and Roode in a lumberjack match next week. Doesn't look like the title's on the line.

Impact will start one hour earlier beginning next week!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

5/23/12 NXT

Ratings:
Jinder Mahal vs. Derrick Bateman: **

Percy Watson vs. Heath Slater: *3/4

Maxine vs. Alicia Fox: *

Great Khali & Ezekiel Jackson vs. Drew McIntyre & Johnny Curtis: *1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Regal getting pretty critical of Bateman lately. I wonder if this could lead to a feud. Regal's more than capable to wrestle and put people over. Great moves by Bateman. This is the type of stuff I want to see from him every match. Jinder hits several knees and locks in the camel clutch for the submission win. Hot crowd for this match.

Percy still can't get a big pop on his ring entrance. Maybe that's why he's not curtain jerking. Now sure why Percy still thinks he can get three after his showtime splash. To my knowledge, he really hasn't put anyone away with that. Finally looked on Wikipedia for the name of his fireman's carry flapjack finisher: Percycution. Huh?! Think of a better name, fellas.

Battle of the ol' NXT rookie and pro stuff with Maxine and Alicia Fox. I'm really diggin' Maxine's submissions because it can further separate her from the rest of the divas roster. A pretty methodical match.

Might as well keep Zeke and Khali together. Both aren't the best in singles matches. Decent heel tactics to ground Zeke in this match. Punjabi Plunge to Curtis gets the three. Would WWE be willing to give them a tag title reign? They still get nice crowd reaction, so it wouldn't be the worst decision ever. Not the best choice, though.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

5/21/12 RAW

Ratings:
John Cena vs. David Otunga: N/A

Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio: *3/4

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane: N/A

Christian vs. Jinder Mahal: *1/4

Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly: *

Sheamus & John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, & Tensai (Lumberjack): **
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Cena starts the show and he's got the serious look. Vintage funny complaining Cena. Laurinaitis music. JL's got one of those scooters for the physically challenged. Oh no, not potential nerve damage! Show was re-hired the previous night. Wait, wasn't there a clause saying no outside help from guys on the roster? (oh, that got cleared up by Cole later in the show...verbal agreements) Nice job on continuity. Show's in a nice suit. No explanation from him, but Show vows to nuke Cena on June 17. Otunga with excess body oil comes to wrestle Cena. Game of cat and mouse for a while. Cena ultimately wins. No rating from me.

Reks, Hawkins, Titus, and D-Young all pounce on Cena. Sheamus runs over Laurinaitis and helps Cena clean house. 2-on-3 handicap lumberjack match? That's sorta new.

Ricardo's in the ring, but Santino interrupts. I miss Santino's unibrow. It's a battle of rolling Rs, and Santino wins. Hilarious stuff. Just epic.

Starting with RAW's 1000th episode, the show will be THREE hours. Starts July 23! Woohoo!

Orton and Del Rio go at it. Jericho with the interference on Orton, so that'll be the next feud. Vintage angry Jericho! Yes, he's the best in the world at what he does. Trifecta of codebreakers.

Daniel Bryan calls out Punk. He blames the ref and wants a rematch. Punk mentions what happened on Smackdown, so DB faces Kane. Oops. Punk's on commentary! YESYESYES! Almost same spot as Smackdown, with roles reversed. DB gets caught with the chair and Kane nukes DB. Match thrown out. Anaconda Vice from Punk.

Punk and AJ segment was amusing. Punk digs the crazy chicks. I would too if they look like AJ.

Christian faces Jinder. Killswitch hit, but then Christian hits a frog splash. Looks like they're building even more signature moves for Christian.

Kelly Kelly is back on TV to face Beth. Layla watches in the back. Beth makes a statement here.

We find out the three guys Sheamus and Cena will face: Ziggler, Swagger, and Tensai. Yeah, they dropped "Lord" in Tensai's name, and no more weird entrance suit. All lumberjacks are heels, typical. Sheamus gets worked over. Show spotted on the stage. Cena with his comeback stuff. WHOA, did Cena do some type of suicide dive through the ropes when Sheamus got attacked?! All lumberjacks maul Sheamus and Cena. Face guys in the locker room come down. Vintage brawl!

Cena looks for Show. Show finds Cena. Show decks Cena. End show.

5/20/12 Over the Limit

Ratings:
People Power Battle Royal: **1/2

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger vs. (Tag Team Titles): ***

Layla vs. Beth Phoenix (Divas Title): **1/2

Sheamus vs. Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho vs. Alberto Del Rio (World Heavyweight Title): ***1/2

Brodus Clay vs. Miz: *1/4

Christian vs. Cody Rhodes (IC Title): **

CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan (WWE Title): ****1/4

Ryback vs. Camacho: 1/2*

John Laurinaitis vs. John Cena: **
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Reviews/Thoughts:We join the People Power Battle Royal mid-match? Wow. Christian was deemed a "late entrant" and really played the face here. Not surprising that Captain Charisma won this one. Note to JTG, I'm still waiting for you to make an impact with your Alicia Fox-inspired makeover. Khali booked pretty strong in this one, eliminating a few guys. Miz, Kidd, Otunga, and Christian were the final four. Very exciting finish. Pretty damn good, better than I thought.

ZigSwag and BoomJimmys in a great tag title match. Really one of those extended standard tag matches with a couple of hot tags. Everything after the second hot tag to Kofi was excellent. Lots of energy and agility.

Anti-Laurinaitis signs getting confiscated. Otunga's right, WWE can confiscate any signs they deem offensive.

Divas title match followed. Beth's wearing pants tonight. Shucky ducky quack quack from Booker when Layla comes out. Beth works on Layla's surgically repaired knee. To Booker, if you have a knee brace, you shouldn't be competing in that ring. Stone Cold and HBK (among others) say hi. You mean this divas match really got time? Wow. And Beth's very much over with this crowd. Layout -- out of nowhere! -- wins it for Layla. Great counters, heck of a match.

World Title Fatal Four Way next. Lilian finally allows someone to actually figure out where Alberto hails from. Sheamus erroneously billed at 227 lbs, but Lilian's botched way worse before. Fans still chant "NO" every time Sheamus hits one of  those impactful moves. Orton ready to hit Sheamus with an RKO but ADR slithers in for a cross armbreaker. Double hangman's DDT to ADR and Ricardo was great. Cross armbreaker countered into Walls of Jericho, nice. Loved the end. Multiple RKOs and a Brogue Kick, but the Jericho rollup made it that much better. White Noise from Sheamus gets three.

Cody runs his mouth about Christian. Christian picks Cody to face for the IC Title. So Christian is a face again? Lovely.

Miz out to talk trash about Brodus. Miz does some dancing of his own. Enter Brodus and we have a match. Crowd was mostly dead for this one. Pretty standard stuff.

IC Title match was pretty physical. Cody gets all vocal near the end, and Christian hits Killswitch for three. New champ. Not bad, but seen better.

No Way Out is June 17.

AJ again in a Punk promo? Woohoo! YESYESYES it's Daniel Bryan! There are a zillion YES signs everywhere. Even DB's jacket says YES a lot. Main event intros. Big Punk head in the crowd! Split chants, crowd the loudest it's been all night. Lots of kicks. Woohoo. Unique moves from both because they know each other so well. DB gets Punk in a surfboard, then contorts Punk's head back into a Dragon sleeper-like move. Damn. I don't mind if they take up the entire three hours of the PPV. Figure four to DB! Trading slaps even in the hold, very cool. DBto the ropes, but Punk says he has 'til FIVE. Indeed! DB skins the cat as well! DB has Punk in the YES lock. Punk shifts his weight and pins DB right before Punk taps. Match of the night, by far. Let the Summer of Punk commence -- again!

HUnico says Camacho's wrestling tonight, but Lilian still announces Hunico's competing. Oops. Doesn't matter anyway, because Ryback nukes people. ROFL, Cole does power cleans every day? That's a good one.

Laurinaitis is in an atheltic training suit. Cena's ready. JL tries to bail but Cena's loving it. Lawler and Booker are laughing a lot. Ring bell dings in JL's ear! Cena and JL do commentary, and I admit, that was freakin' hilarious. JL lasted 10 seconds in the STF, then did it again. Cole is all giddy on the mic. Two bottles of water to the face, one down the pants. Vintage fire extinguisher! Then the trash. JL escapes through the crowd. OOPS. Big Show brings JL back, and it's fine because he's supposedly fired. Cena's loving it and JL cowers. Show toys with JL, throws him into Cena's AA attempt. Show decks Cena out, and JL wins.

A predictable "return" for Big Show, but a great way to play it out. Crowd got reeled in.

A great PPV. Punk and Bryan lived up to the hype, and there's more to come on that. Good job turning Show heel because he's better for that, IMHO. Fatal Four Way was also awesome. Heck, when the divas title match is a pretty good one (or at least better than 99% of the stuff we're used to seeing), then I'll take this show any day. ***1/2

Saturday, May 19, 2012

5/18/12 Smackdown

Ratings:
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Darren Young & Titus O'Neil: *3/4

Damien Sandow vs. Yoshi Tatsu: N/A

Daniel Bryan vs. Zack Ryder: *1/4

Kane vs. CM Punk: **3/4

Santino Marella vs. Cody Rhodes: *

Sheamus vs. Randy Orton: ***3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Laurinaitis starts the show, taped in Hershey, PA. Now Big Johnny tries to show how weak he is to get the Board of Directors to reconsider their stipulations for the Cena match. No dice. Laurinaitis now pleads to the fans, who don't buy it at all. Enter Punk to rub it in Johnny's face. Laurinaitis makes Punk face Kane. Johnny blames the fans and tells them to all go to hell.

Team BoomTruth (my name for Kofi and Truth) face Young and Titus. Short, fun tag match here. Truth with the hot tag. Kofi takes out Titus, and Truth hits Little Jimmy on D-Young for three. Good momentum as BoomTruth faces ZigSwag on Sunday. Faces probably retain their titles, paving the way eventually for AW and his All-World stable to capitalize.

The whole "Be A Star" campaign is cool stuff. Even Mark Henry got bullied in his life. Very moving stuff.

Damien Sandow comes out. Will he compete tonight? Yoshi Tatsu's in the ring already. Vintage Sandow monologue. DS deems Yoshi unworthy and starts to leave. Yoshi calls Sandow a chicken and clucks. Sandow removes the robe (pink tights), and nukes Yoshi. Neckbreaker...is that gonna be his finisher? No match here, just a short beatdown.

Orton and Sheamus with fighting words in the back. Good tension for their main event later.

DB and Ryder square off. DB apparently knows over 100 submissions, but he's not nothing on Jericho's 1004 holds! No Broski Boot tonight. DB with the huge kick to the head and the YES lock for the submission win.

DB stays out for the Punk/Kane match. Punk with the upper hand early, Kane fights back. Kane targets Punk's ribs throughout the match, so DB will be going after that on Sunday. Very competitive match here. Counters, variations on signature moves, etc. Chokeslam attempt, but Punk kicks Kane in the head. Suicide dive to the outside. DB fakes going after Punk with the chair, then decks Kane in the back, so Kane gets a DQ win. Kane then nukes Punk, thinking it was the straight edge one who gave him the chair shot. DB strategy worked tonight. Punk may still retain on Sunday, especially if they want the feud to last through the summer. Come on! I want another Summer of Punk...and Daniel Bryan!

Battle of two champs as Santino faces Cody. Cody still does a great moonsault. No Cobra; Cody got the dropkick in. Cobra! Announcers really didn't see that one coming. Three for Santino.

They replayed the entire Big Show firing segment from RAW. I'm still pretty sure Show's turning heel. They could also make it more like the Teddy Long situation and have Show return to do heel stuff that he wouldn't otherwise do (perhaps be Johnny's hired security help or something). It's interesting that Punk mentioned that no one could interfere in the Laurinaitis/Cena match, when Cena's words had left the door open for someone like Show to interfere. We'll see what transpires.

Sheamus and Orton finish the show. Orton with one of the best dropkicks in the company today. Physical on the outside. Orton shoulder-first into the steps. Quick note of Orton's past shoulder problems and Alberto Del Rio's cross-armbreaker submission. Now Orton gets to Sheamus' shoulder as well. ADR will now be able to work on both guys on Sunday. Lengthy match for free TV here. A methodical pace, but still a lot of nice moves and counters. Good flow here. Orton with his comeback. Belly-to-belly from Orton? Uncommon for him to pull that off, at least compared to some of his other moves. Sheamus now with his comeback. Extremely competitive. Superplex from Orton, who hit his head there. Only two. Damn. Brogue Kick missed, Orton with the hangman's DDT! Crowd is really loving it. RKO missed, Brogue Kick missed, RKO countered! Sheamus rolls Orton up for three! Just outstanding.

Post-match, handshake between Orton and Sheamus -- then Orton with the RKO. Sunday should be good.

5/17/12 Impact

Ratings:
Bully Ray vs. Rob Van Dam: *1/2

Open Fight Night Qualifier Battle Royal: **

Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson: **1/2

Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky vs. Brooke Tessmacher (Knockouts Title): **

Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe: **3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Roode again starts the show to gloat about his latest win against RVD. Celebration of domination, and he wants Hogan out here. A few demands for Hulk. Champagne! Vintage green plain M&Ms! Golden Canadian confetti! There are other demands as well. No dice, says Hogan. Open Fight Night again next week, and Roode's number is up. Who wants to challenge? Everyone! We got RVD/Bully, Hardy/Anderson, Angle/Joe, and everyone else in a battle royal. Nice opening segment.

In two weeks, Impact moves to 8 pm ET (one hour earlier).

RVD and Bully begin. RVD's left knee taped, so Bully focuses on that area. Bully uses a cutter for his finisher now. No need a partner. Joseph Park and Bully in the back. Only a matter of time when Abyss shows up more often.

King Mo announced as the first to try pro wrestling and MMA at the same time. Clearly, they forgot about Bobby Lashley's attempt at that.

Battle Royal time to determine the wild card spot for the OFN qualifier for Roode's title. EY and ODB went right after Crimson, so that storyline continues. Madison Rayne spotted on the stage having eyes for someone in the ring, so at least that got narrowed down to a few guys. Robbie E eliminates his own bouncer (Robbie T). Devon took Robbie E out, so that didn't work out so well. Garett Bischoff among the last four guys. Gunner, Styles, and Aries are the last three. Gunner took Aries out, but Styles tosses Gunner to get into that title match. Good, but not the best battle royal, Taz.

ROFL, there's a Dixie Styles sign in the front. AJ vows to explain the photo. Daniels and Kaz come out, and they only wanted to expose the truth. Now a video is shown of Styles and Dixie.

Joe and Angle get it on in the back. There was even video from when Angle first broke into the company, with one of his first feuds being against Joe. Great stuff. But Anderson and Hardy are first.

Very good match between Jeff and Ken. Counters at key points of the match, and also otherwise placed here and there throughout. Lots of crowd reaction, although I'm sure a bunch was pumped in. Lots of free-flowing action here. Anderson tries that roll through fireman's carry slam but Hardy counters with the rollup for three. Again, very close on whether it was three. Solid.

Knockouts title match now. Velvet and Brooke gang up on Gail. Nice spot with Gail's Boston Crab on Tessmacher and Velvet with a dragon sleeper on Gail. Octopus from Gail, almost thought Brooke tapped for a sec there. Unique rollups resulted there. Gail with a missile dropkick to both opponents, nice. In Yo Face from Velvet to Tessmacher, but Gail picks the scraps for three.

Angle and Joe finish the night off. Crowd pretty jacked for this one. Roode comes out for commentary during the match. Usual great stuff from both guys; they know each other so well. Numerous counters. Ankle lock on Joe for a pretty long stretch. Muscle Buster countered, sunset flip by Angle gets three. Nice main event.

All four guys (Angle, Hardy, Bully, Styles) come out to eye Roode and his title. Hogan's likely picking Angle. Bully's occupied with Abyss, Styles has Daniels and Kaz, while Hardy probably still has stuff with Anderson.

Friday, May 18, 2012

5/17/12 Superstars

Ratings:
Heath Slater vs. Alex Riley: **1/2

Lord Tensai vs. Tyson Kidd: N/A (squash)

Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger vs. Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso: **3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Alex Riley gets a respectable reaction. Still love his theme music. Slater, still not too big a fan, but there are probably worse guys on the roster. Good point, never seen Slater really perform using actual musical instruments. Hot crowd on this one really helped. Good flow to the match. Just realized Heath Slater and Brooke Tessmacher have the same finisher.

Tyson Kidd has to face Lord Tensai. Tensai shoves Sakamoto aside, no entrance ring gear. All business tonight. Kidd with no shot tonight.

Everyone, including me, says Big Show returns as a heel at Over the Limit to help Laurinaitis. It seems logical, but will WWE actually go through with it now?

Team ZigSwag on Superstars facing the Usos. Ziggler showing off that athleticism. Jimmy with hot tag #1 for the Usos. Jey gets hot tag #2. Can't expect anything less from these guys; they all know what they're doing. Nice heel tactics from ZigSwag. Vickie with distraction, Ziggler with a punch, no Swagger gutwrench powerbomb, though. Usos rollup for three. Wow, thought ZigSwag would get the win here.

5/16/12 NXT

Ratings:
Johnny Curtis vs. Percy Watson: *1/2

Ezekiel Jackson & Great Khali vs. Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks: *1/4

Kaitlyn vs. Maxine: *

Tyson Kidd vs. Michael McGillicutty vs. Derrick Bateman: **1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Ratings have been delayed lately because I've just had so much stuff going on. Next week will be similarly busy.

Percy? Charismatic? The lack of big crowd reaction says otherwise. Decent standard match with Curtis hitting his finisher for the win.

Am I really supposed to feel threatened by Zeke and Khali? One guy who hasn't won in a long time, and another who only has about five moves in his entire arsenal? Khali basically had to get the hot tag by default. Wait...what?! Khali and Zeke won?! Maybe this is what the doctor ordered for these two.

More Kaitlyn and Maxine action. Kaitlyn can't get much of a reaction coming out, but she tried. Maxine has long pants tonight. Kaitlyn powers out of a guillotine choke after a couple of attempts. Maxine likes to scream. There was very little flow in this match, almost like they randomly decided to throw moves together. The finish was very good. I loved Kaitlyn's submission finisher. Just wish the crowd was more into that one.

This time, we have Kidd and McGillicutty again, but we add Bateman to the mix. MM wants the other two to start. Bateman suicide dive to MM, Kidd with a moonsault that largely missed both Bateman and MM. Regal raves that MMcan do a Saito Suplex again; Regal's only said that many times the last few weeks. I wonder if there have been any two guys that hit heads when doing the double crossbody KO spot. Kidd was again the star here. Each guy had their moments to shine, which was nice. Easily best crowd reaction of the night. Nice to see MM use his dad's Perfect-Plex, even though Bateman broke up that pin. Great job on the finish from Kidd, seeing both Sharpshooter and Dungeon Lock.

Tough crowd all night.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

5/14/12 RAW

Ratings:
CM Punk & Santino Marella vs. Daniel Bryan & Cody Rhodes: **1/4

Beth Phoenix vs. Alicia Fox: N/A (squash)

Kane vs. Big Show: *1/2

Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, & Brodus Clay vs. Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, & Miz: *3/4

Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton: **
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Reviews/Thoughts:
HHH starts the show off. Footage shown of Lesnar attacking HHH. High compliments for Brock on ability, but also mentions he quit. Enter Heyman and some guy to serve lawsuit papers. Brock's suing HHH. Oh how lovely. Heyman's great on the mic. HHH puts his hands on Heyman and tells Paul to tell Brock he'll get everything he deserves. Vintage assault and battery!

Punk comes out for a tag match w/Santino. They go against Daniel Bryan and Cody. Lots of "YES" chants even when DB just stays on the apron. Punk with the suicide dive, while Santino should never try that again. Santino worked over. Crowd very much into it. Santino dives to tag Punk and misses, but gets it on the second try. Punk a house of fire. DB gets away but Cody eats the GTS for three. I'd look for Punk to win this Sunday anyway against DB. Could be another epic Summer of Punk with these two.

Beth Phoenix no longer selling the ankle, and she faces Layla at Over the Limit. Layla watches on the ramp. Basically a Beth dominating performance here to make a statement. Layla then rushes the ring and makes her own statement. Layla should retain the title this time; she needs the title more.

Cena has over 11 million people liking his FB page. I'm not one of them.

Over the Limit pre-show will be shown on YouTube and all other social media. Ryder faces Kane. Sucks to be Zack.

I like Laurinaitis using Show to get major heel heat. People are saying Show turns heel on all this, and I hope he does. He's entertaining as a face, but just better as a heel to me. Kane with a crossbody?! Interesting. When was the last time Show even hit that Vader Bomb? Physical on the outside. Spear to Kane! Laurinaitis demands an apology mid-match. Kane delivers one of the worst chokeslams ever to get three.

Show cuts an emotional promo for his apology. Johnny keeps refusing to accept, stepping up the humiliation with each passing minute. Watch the segment. Listen to that crowd. They were totally drawn in. One of the best non-wrestling segments of the year. Johnny gets his heel heat, Show gets "fired." Not sure if this was meant as a vacation for Show, but he probably comes back a destructive force. Might be a heel run. We'll see.

Six-man tag time. Or is it seven guys with Little Jimmy? Seems like your usual six-man tag here. AW giving his clientele the royal treatment. Epico, Primo, and Rosa are all dressed up. Mason Ryan gets to show the muscles. Brodus blind tag, Trouble in Paradise and Brodus splash to Miz gets three.

Punk and...AJ? I dunno why yet, but I like it. Vintage instability!

Here we go with Orton and some guy with a light-up jacket. Sheamus on commentary. Good match here, with Jericho throwing Orton into Sheamus. Orton gets his hangman's DDT in. Sheamus nukes Jericho so Orton gets DQ'd. I like the booking here. They want to fight now, but a zillion officials separate the two. Through Eve's Twitter account, Sheamus and Orton are booked in a match for Smackdown.

Cena's back in a WWE ring. He'll be single again for the ladies soon enough, with all that divorce stuff he's going through. Desperation is such a stinky cologne. Cena makes fun of JL's voice. Cena's in a very joking mood tonight. LOSER for Laurinaitis. Hard for JL to not bust out laughing, you can tell. Lots of crowd response, awesome. Cheap pop for Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Penguins in the house! Cena tells Johnny to go puck himself. HA.

Here comes Eve with some papers. Cena takes it -- accidentally ripping it in two -- and reads it. WWE Board of Directors. One on one. No superstar interference (or be fired), no special refs, pinfall or submission wins only. If Laurinaitis loses, he's fired. Huge stakes.

Now I have a feeling this is where Big Show "returns." After all, this is for business. If not at the PPV, it could be the next night. Any way you slice it, Laurinaitis is winning by evil means. Vintage slap to Cena closes the show.

Monday, May 14, 2012

5/13/12 Sacrifice

Ratings:
Christopher Daniels & Kazarian vs. Samoa Joe & Magnus: ***

Gail Kim vs. Brooke Tessmacher (Knockouts Title): **3/4

Devon vs. Robbie E vs. Robbie T (TV Title): *1/2

Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy: **1/4

Crimson vs. Eric Young: *1/4

Austin Aries vs. Bully Ray: ***3/4

Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles: ****1/4

Bobby Roode vs. Rob Van Dam (Ladder; World Title): ****
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Earl Hebner comes to get Roode's title so he can hang it for the ladder match tonight. Needless to say, Roode's pissed and complaining.

Tag title match starts the PPV off. Magnus impressive, catching Daniels on a crossbody and lifting him up for a delayed vertical suplex. Champs dominate early, then Daniels with the heel tactics to seize control. Heels isolate Magnus. Joe gets the hot tag and goes to town. Double-team on Joe leads to STO from Daniels for two. Daniels gets nuked good by Joe in the corner, snapmare into flying elbow only gets two because Kaz pulled Magnus out of the ring. Nice high clothesline-low sweep from Kaz and Daniels gets three. New tag champs. Solid opener.

Knockouts title match next. New ring attire for Tessmacher, Captain America-like colors, with Undertaker-like  coat (no hood). As a note, Gail actually got married a few days ago to chef Robert Irvine, congrats to the newlyweds. Brooke tries Gail's own finisher early on for mind games. Crowd is somewhat into it, which is nice to see. Gail in control for much of the match, fairly slow pace. Wow, not often that I see a woman hit a top-rope elbow. Gets only two for BT. BT goes for her finisher, countered. Gail tries Eat Defeat, countered. BT hits Eat Defeat on Gail! GK to the outside. BT had to roll Gail in, and that cost her, only two.  Gail uses the rollup with the ropes to cheat and escape with the title. Very good match, was the proper way to end it.

Great promo from Kaz and Daniels gloating about their title win and sticking it to AJ some more.

Triple threat TV title match next, although it'll resemble more of a handicap match. Devon isolates Robbie E early before Robbie T starts getting physical. Basically the Robbies double-team Devon before Devon makes a comeback. Robbie T with a powerslam on Devon, and here goes the ol' heel arguing about who should win the title. Devon physically introduces the Robbies to each other, then Robbie T rolled up for three. Robbie T looks pissed, but they reconcile. Vintage noogie! Robbie E should never hug another guy ever again. Awkward.

Anderson and Hardy starts with ground moves from Jeff. They fight on the outside, Hardy still in control. Anderson attacks Hardy's left arm. Hardy hit a Mic Check on Anderson?! Anderson later hits Twist of Fate on Hardy. What's with the talent doing other wrestler's finishers so much now? Totally destroys the awesomeness of that scenario. Senton by Anderson, but Hardy with the knees up. Swanton by Hardy...only two! Hardy atomic drop, goes for his heels to midsection move with Anderson's legs spread.Anderson blocks and rolls Hardy up for a close three count. On replay, looked like Hardy kicked out before three. Slightly awkward, not sure if that was supposed to be the end. Christy Hemme announced it pretty quick, so it probably was planned that way. Anderson acts surprised. They shake hands and a friendly embrace after the match. Would be a decent explanation to extend the storyline.

Video shown of Abyss resurfacing on Impact. JB has Joseph Park in the crowd. Joseph is not surprised if Abyss appears tonight. He wants Aries to kick Bully's ass.

Crimson again comes out. Open challenge. Brian Hebner to the ring. Bullies Hebner to ring the bell and count. At about eight, here comes Eric Young and ODB. Really?! ODB calls Crimson a douche. EY has some nice moves and chases Hebner. You can tell ODB wants to get involved. Nice suplexes and throws from Crimson. ODB with the liquid courage but Crimson shoves her down. Not on Spike TV, so that's fine. EY's pissed. Again, EY checks on ODB. Opening for Crimson to hit Red Sky for three. Actually better than I thought it would be.

Hit up Bully Ray on MySpace! Aries doesn't back down from the bully. Now it's Bully who wants Aries to calm down. More stalling in the ropes. Bully gets caught in the nuts (by AA kicking the ropes). Bully uses power to get the upper hand. Spit to Aries' face. Aries biting the calf of Calfzilla! Whoa, Aries got kicked when on the top rope, and he flew into the barricade. Ouch. Aries in a bad way now. Back probably hit the guardrail; it's all bruised. Bearhug by Bully. Big Rock Bottom-like move got two for Bully. NICE, lifted Aries up into an Ace Crusher for two. A solo 3-D! Bully with the chain. Joseph Park makes his voice heard and face seen. Bully assaults Park as Aries hits his dive through the ropes. Aries a house of fire now. BRAINBUSTER! One, two, NO! Wow. Bully for a powerbomb, countered! Last Chancery! Bully taps! Best match of the night so far.

Time for Angle and Styles. Angle's put on weight in the last few months. AJ with the mat wrestling! Very good start. Angle quickly shows Styles who's the king of all that. Angle tries to give AJ a chance to take him down with the leg, Angle ducks, and walks right into a kick. Numerous counters out of the Clash and Ankle Lock. Outstanding stuff even on the floor. If there are three things you can expect between these two, it's counters, a consistent flow, and nice crowd reaction. Each guy got great time for a bunch of offensive moves. Huge springboard Superman punch to Angle on the outside! AJ landed pretty hard. Angle still quick well into the match. Amazing conditioning. Styles with the Clash! Only two! Angle Slam a bit later, and that only got two. Angle tries the Clash, blocked. Ankle lock countered. AJ hurricanrana countered. Angle hits the Styles Clash?! Only two!!! Wow. Angle badly misses a moonsault. AJ springboard senton for two. I think he wanted the 450 but wouldn't have been able to flip over to finish it. Kaz and Daniels interfere. Angle doesn't see the interference. Angle Slam...TWO?! Ankle lockwith grapevine, and AJ taps. Excellent match.

Kaz and Daniels attack AJ post-match. Angle doesn't like it and decks Kaz. Respect for AJ and Angle. Awesome.

Facebook poll: fans pick RVD to win there. Duh. Roode with another promo.

Time for the ladder match. RVD out first, then Roode. Roode looks nervous. Main event intros. The usual wrestling to start. Spills to the outside. RVD with his 360 guillotine legdrop on the guardrail. RVD just impales himself headfirst when taking a DDT. To me, the best part of the match was seeing the ladder in the supporting role, instead of just seeing ladder shots every 2 seconds. Slingshot by Roode, and RVD's head gets caught in the ladder. Wow. RVD suplexes Roode on the ladder, then springboard moonsault. Roode wedged in the corner by a ladder. RVD gets a chair. He dropkicks the chair and the ladder into Roode. Ouch. RVD goes for the title, and Roode cuts him off. OW, spinebuster to RVD on the ladder. RVD comeback. Monkey flip on the ladder. Rolling Thunder! RVD's elbow is busted and swollen. RVD misses the five-star and crashes on the ladder. RVD to the outside. Crowd is very much into it. Roode sets up the ladder and slowly climbs. RVDtries to do the Spiderman spot onto the ladder but misses. Roode falls off to play along. RVD leg twists badly in the ladder. Roode gets the other ladder. RVD tries to stop Roode. Roode knocks RVD off and Rob's head hits the chair. Roode climbs and takes the belt down to retain. Another excellent match.

Trainer comes down, but RVD looks pissed. Not sure if he's just mad at himself.
___________________

I really liked the show. Fairly solid from top to bottom. The knockouts match impressed me the most; it showed that Gail is the proper person to carry the division, and she's turned Brooke Tessmacher into a legitimate threat. She made BT look awesome in that match.

OK, I really, REALLY don't like how so many matches here had people stealing finishers. It just cheapens its use. It wasn't necessarily novel coming into this one, but it should really be saved for the huge feuds. Otherwise, great stuff. Slammiversary is June 10. ***3/4

Friday, May 11, 2012

5/11/12 Smackdown

Ratings:
Chris Jericho & Alberto Del Rio vs. Sheamus & Randy Orton: *1/2

AJ vs. Kaitlyn: N/A (squash)

Daniel Bryan vs. Big Show: 3/4*

Ryback vs. Heath Slater: N/A (squash)

Antonio Cesaro vs. Alex Riley: *

Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio: *1/2

R-Truth vs. Jack Swagger: *1/2

Titus O'Neil & Darren Young vs. Santino Marella & Zack Ryder: *1/2

Brodus Clay vs. Hunico: N/A (squash)

Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho: **1/4
__________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Video package of Orton and Sheamus. Fatal four way at Over the Limit. Starting the show with a return tag match. Didn't realize 25% chance means it's just about impossible to retain the title. Nice logic, Cole. Also didn't realize Orton just added a dropkick to the arsenal. He's only been doing it for years. Ref calls for the bell after he lost control. So Eve relays the message...Sheamus faces Jericho, Orton faces Alberto.

Oh, this should be fun. AJ and Kaitlyn. Vintage NXT moments! Kaitlyn with new music? I don't really keep track anymore. Bell rings and AJ turns nutso. Takedowns and a shining wizard later, AJ wins in like 20 seconds. No offense for Kaitlyn whatsoever.

DANIEL BRYAN TIME YESYESYES. DB's looking forward to moving on! He's moving on...to Kaitlyn?! YESYESYES. AJ's reaction was great. Twitching a little. I'm gonna really like this.

DB faces Show right after the commercial. Huge Big Show slaps. DB gets Show in the YES lock and bell rings immediately. Laurinaitis positioned right at the timekeeper's table. How convenient. Laurinaitis embarrasses Show and puts him in his place. Show must apologize for real on RAW. Laurinaitis is getting very good on the mic.

Slater with a big mouth. Ryback squashes Slater. Ryback rules. 'Nuff said.

Teddy Long gets to ring announce Antonio Cesaro's match. Of course it's a long-winded intro. Aksana looks great. Antonio with a decent win. Aksana and Antonio...yup, get a room, you two.

Orton and Alberto time. Ricardo gets involved. ADR works on Orton's shoulder. Orton fights back, still favoring that injured body part. ADR does well to keep attacking the shoulder. Ricardo to the top rope and he eats an RKO, very nice. DQ win for Orton. ADR attacks Orton after the bell.

Next is Truth and Swagger. I see Little Jimmy! OK, maybe not. AW now has Mason Ryan in his corner? Cool, at least the stable's getting built quick. Truth with that Lie Detector move that never pins anyone anymore. Ziggler pulled Truth's leg. Kofi gets involved. Swagger gets Truth in the ring. Oops. Trouble in Paradise to Swagger and Little Jimmy gets three.

Cena and Laurinaitis go face to face on RAW. Yay.

Santino and Ryder...Team Co-Bro! I like it. Nice way to let Titus and D-Young make a name for themselves. Decent tag match. I love the double-team finisher. Very old school. And they still like to be goofs after the match.

More Damien Sandow talking. Yeah, the words went over my head as well.

Hunico and Camacho jump Brodus before the bell rings. Brodus does the Ultimate Warrior-like hulk up thing, but he jiggles up instead. He smiles. It's a squash. Cameron and Naomi react like Brodus just won the WWE Title. Vintage dancing!

Main event is Sheamus and Jericho. Nice job to work on Sheamus' shoulder. Jericho with a great dropkick. Very good counters here. Gotta expect a few of those in a Jericho match. Jericho launched to the outside. ADR out of nowhere rams Jericho into the steps. Then cross armbreaker on Sheamus. Orton in for some action. He and Sheamus quarrel. Codebreaker to ADR by Jericho. RKO to Del Rio. Brogue Kick to Del Rio. Ouch. End show.

5/10/12 Impact

Ratings:
Brooke Tessmacher vs. Velvet Sky: *

Crimson vs. Matt Morgan: N/A

Austin Aries vs. Zema Ion (X-Division Title): **3/4

Devon vs. Robbie E (TV Title): N/A (meh)

Rob Van Dam vs. Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson: **
__________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Roode again starts the show, gloating he took out three guys. Nice to know he's held the title this long. Something that TNA has actually done right. RVD spoils the party to get some shots in before Roode bails. Anderson comes to get shots on Roode now. Then Hardy. Hogan comes out and wants a fatal four way tonight. Is RVD willing to sacrifice his #1 contender shot? Yup. RVD wins, he gets to pick the stipulation. Roode wins, he gets to pick any of the three guys. If Hardy or Anderson win, that winner replaces RVD as #1 contender against Roode.

Gail and Madison Rayne in the back. Madison wants to impress this guy. I won't lie...I had an awesome dream with Madison Rayne in it. 'Nuff said. I'll watch the TNA knockouts over the WWE divas, thanks.

Brooke and Velvet square off. What is it with this whole "stinkface" move the ladies like to do? Velvet uses the knees and legs well. Velvet has her finisher countered. Brooke didn't really nail her finisher, but it still gets three. Gail with the post-match attack.

Morgan comes out for his match with Crimson, but the match doesn't happen. Bully's pissed and takes Morgan out to send a message to Aries. MM blades on that chair shot. Stretcher for Morgan. Meanwhile, Crimson does his heel shtick and gets a "countout win." Nice job.

Oh, Zema Ion is back to wrestle. Vintage hair spray! Nice brisk pace at the start. A few aerial moves. Crowd thought it was awesome and we're only like two minutes in. Crowd is awake! Really, they are enjoying this! Woohoo! Match was maybe...a bit over 4 minutes. I loved it. If this went 10, it would be on pace for four stars.

Here we go with the stuff about AJ Styles. Daniels and Kaz in the ring. AJ comes out. Pics are revealed. First, an innocuous picture of AJ and Dixie Carter. Next, AJ with his hands on Dixie's cheek. Third one is a full-on kiss. Lovely. AJ's embarrassed. I'm sure the frat boys are considering Styles a god, though.

Devon and Robbie E again?! Devon physical on both Robbies early on. Devon with a quick win, and Rob Terry jumps Devon right after. Is it a handicap match at Sacrifice now? I couldn't tell. Devon just wants both guys at Sacrifice.

Nice video on James Storm. Seems like he went back home, almost like he's finding himself again.

Hey, Joseph Park to the ring! He can barely get in the ring, way to go. Give him a mic! Lots of sweating. Park plans to be at Sacrifice for Bully Ray, but he doesn't have to wait. Bully comes on down now. Intimidation from the Bully. Park back with facts of his own showing Bully is a loser. Bully is pissed and shoves Park down.

If RVD wins the fatal four way tonight, the stipulation is a ladder match.

Great fatal four way here. Fairly short but filled with nice spots. RVD fittingly pins the champ to get his ladder match stipulation.

HOLY CRAP ABYSS WTF. Woohoo. Roode's reaction is awesome. Abyss tells Joseph Park to back off before he gets burned. End show.

5/10/12 Superstars

Ratings:
Drew McIntyre vs. Ezekiel Jackson: *

Natalya vs. Alicia Fox: *3/4

Hunico vs. Tyson Kidd: ***

Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks vs. Zack Ryder & Santino Marella: **3/4
__________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Drew and Zeke, in a battle of midcarders to start. Average showing. No torture rack for Zeke, Future Shock gets three for Drew. Zeke may be on the future endeavors chopping block soon.

Divas match next. Alicia the fiery redhead gets a little face pop coming out. Nice slaps. Actually some decent offense. Matrix move and some more agility from Fox. Wait, a divas match that actually got time! Must be an alternate universe. Natalya sharpshooter FTW.

Kidd and Hunico? Gonna like this one, just know it. Camacho predictably interferes to allow Hunico to get the upper hand. Kidd comes back with a ton of kicks. Crowd amped up for the comeback. Lots of high-flying stuff. Kidd took Camacho out. Senton from Hunico countered. Sharpshooter by Tyson, but Hunico gets the ropes. Hunico catches Tyson off the springboard attempt into a Samoan Drop for three. Very good match.

RAW recap of Brock "quitting" (after injuring HHH), then Paul Heyman's return. Should be interesting to see this one develop.

Time for the main event. Santino with the delayed high-pitched scream on the atomic drop. Funny stuff there. Nice to see Ryder show Hawkins some respect (remember when they used to be a tag team?). Good chain wrestling between the two. Ryder with the agile stuff early on. Heels then worked on Santino. Ryder comes in and does his thing, then heels get to him. Santino hot tag. Usual signature moves, nice interception by Ryder. Cobra wins it.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

5/9/12 NXT

Ratings:
Maxine vs. Tamina Snuka: 3/4*

JTG vs. Yoshi Tatsu: *

Tyson Kidd & Percy Watson vs. Michael McGillicutty & Johnny Curtis: **
__________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
So now Reks and Hawkins are the "security" for NXT, thanks to Laurinaitis. Good choice. Striker's not happy, duh.

To me, Tamina gets more of a reaction than Layla (our Divas champ). Maxine is still handcuffed to Curtis and sucks up to Regal again. The "new" Maxine likes to say "Tammy" (or "Tami," perhaps) to address the daughter of the Superfly. Maxine's done pretty well with submissions. Dragon sleeper wins it for Maxine. Crowd probably took their bathroom break here. Maxine's being the obedient one to Regal this week, and Regal doesn't really know what to think right now.

OK, let's see what Alicia did to JTG. Now JTG's got tights, a vest, and his dreads in a ponytail. Great job, he just became another superstar on the damn roster. Yoshi's kicks remain hard-hitting. Yoshi misses his big roundhouse, and JTG hits some neckbreaker-like takedown move for three. A good win for some much-needed momentum, but he didn't impress me.

So far, Paul Heyman's return is a very good one. It's great that he acts as Brock's mouthpiece for promos leading up to a rumored Brock/HHH at SummerSlam. Good shock value for me as well, because I didn't see it coming.

Striker with a "Terra Ryzing" reference! (Hi, HHH) Curtis and Maxine are now apparently free from handcuffs.

Bateman acts like a jerk to Percy and mysteriously gets jumped. Oh look, it's Percy's old Urkel-like glasses from his NXT days!

Kidd with more impressive aerial moves, although he missed his somersault dive over the top this time. Percy with the hot tag in this one. He moved pretty good for supposedly having a taped-up left knee. Solid match overall.

Hawkins and Reks still in their suits. They slug Tyson and force Percy to the back. I guess we get answers eventually.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

5/7/12 RAW

Ratings:
Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show (IC Title): N/A

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston: *

Layla & Kelly Kelly vs. Natalya & Maxine: N/A (squash)

Chris Jericho & Alberto Del Rio vs. Sheamus & Randy Orton: **1/2

Brodus Clay vs. Miz: DUD

Daniel Bryan & Lord Tensai vs. CM Punk: **
_________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Laurinaitis starts the show. Don't piss him off, he says. Otherwise, he's capable of more destruction. He's tough, but fair. He wants Cena to rest his elbow. Laurinaitis and Cole are apparently friends. Not surprised. Don't make fun of Johnny's voice! Old Japanese wrestling photos shown. Biggest star in Japanese wrestling history, eh? Sure others have a claim to that.

Punk interrupts. Vintage Punk awesome promo on Big Johnny. Johnny says Punk faces Lord  Tensai tonight.

IC Title rematch on RAW with Show and Cody. Cody gets whipped for a minute or  two, then scampers away. Show wins via lame countout. Eve comes out and demands Show apologize for making fun of Laurinaitis' voice. Show reluctantly does so. Good for heel heat.

Kofi in singles action tonight against Ziggler. Michael Ealy and Warren Kole (from USA's "Common Law") are in the front row. So now we know AW runs a business called "All World Enterprises." Will be interesting to see how he handles the managerial/agent role. Swagger interferes, doesn't work. Swagger interferes with Vickie again, and this time it works. Zigzag wins it.

Cena interview via satellite. Still wearing a sling to sell injuries. Cena still vows to face Laurinaitis at Over the Limit. Good Cena promo. Not so stoked about the actual match, though.

Divas tag...and Natalya and Maxine are a tag team now? Um, sure. Beth still selling the ankle injury and on commentary. Kelly Kelly and Layla are the opponents. Layla still doesn't get much of a crowd reaction. Best part was KK yanking Natalya off the apron. In less than a minute, the match was over. Layout gets three.

Sheamus' left shoulder worked on very well in the tag match. Orton with a hot tag. It takes Jericho and Ricardo to give the heels the upper hand again. Sheamus gets the hot tag. Orton with RKO to ADR. Sheamus accidentally with the Brogue Kick to Orton. Codebreaker to Sheamus gets three. Post-match, Orton RKOs Sheamus. Could be the start of a Sheamus/Orton feud? Vintage brawl between all four of those guys in Johnny's office. Fatal Four Way for the World Heavyweight Title at Over the Limit.

Funkasaurus time against Miz. No squash tonight, so a good test to see if Brodus can work a longer match. Very slow and boring match. Good grief. I should call Brodus' mama and ask her if Brodus can go faster in the ring. Or just not have a match with a ton of rest holds.

Video package of Lesnar's destruction. Lesnar not here, but his music plays anyway. Legal representatives, we're told.

PAUL HEYMAN?! He represented Brock during Lesnar's first run with the company. Some of the fans mark out, others probably don't care because they don't know who he is. Heyman says Lesnar feels betrayed by the WWE Universe. Gotta admit, Lesnar's been a wrecking machine that hurts people. Heyman hasn't lost his superior mic skills. He says Lesnar has quit the company. In all likelihood, just a work to give Lesnar time off.

Ealy and Kole have fun with Show earlier and make fun of Laurinaitis. Eve conveniently there.

Punk comes out, but Laurinaitis quickly interrupts and makes it a handicap match. Tensai and Daniel Bryan against Punk. Punk beaten down in the early going. No diving headbutt for DB this week. Punk gets a comeback. Blind tag by Tensai. Punk still gets shots in. Sakamoto interferes, DB crotches Punk on the top rope. Tensai with one of the worst two-handed chokeslams ever. Green mist, claw, and STO pin Punk.

DB picks the bones after the match. YES lock twice to Punk. Charles Robinson was quite physical getting DB off of Punk. Cole seemed more muted tonight while still playing the heel announcer.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

5/4/12 Smackdown

Ratings:
Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan: *1/4

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Hunico & Camacho: *3/4

Brodus Clay vs. Jack Swagger: 1/2*

Damien Sandow Ryback vs. Derrick Bateman: N/A

Randy Orton & Big Show vs. Kane & Cody Rhodes: ***1/4

Layla vs. Natalya: 1/2*

Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan: ***
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Sheamus starts the show and loves to fight. Sounds familiar, right Finlay? There go the "YES" chants again. Daniel's not amused. DB goes right after the left arm in various ways. Holycrap, Ricardo with a crossbody! DQ win for Sheamus. Cross armbreaker from Alberto. Then a YES lock. Note how Sheamus is not tapping out. It's been that way for a while now. DB's not happy Alberto and Ricardo interfered. Sheamus gets treated in the back and is pissed.

Truth and Kofi in tag action against Hunico and Camacho. Primo and Epico look on with AW and Rosa, so I guess AW officially has his first clients. Why the hell do people go after Little Jimmy? Camacho getting more physical with each passing week. Truth with the hot tag after Kofi had gotten beaten down for a bit. Pretty good stuff here.

Funksaurus time. Naomi and Cameron are Funkadactyls. Swagger is his opponent. Dolph tries to get involved but eats a Rhino headbutt. Swagger gets counted out. Lame.

Nice video package of Cena and...Laurinaitis? So is this like, the fourth coming of Austin/McMahon?

Laurinaitis took a "personal day" off, so I guess Eve's in charge. Women in power. Gotta love that.

Damien Sandow's debut Smackdown match -- well, for this gimmick. Bateman gets to job to the Intellectual Savior of the Masses. Sandow refuses to fight some ignoramus. So we wait on that one.

Bateman wants a match. Enter Ryback! Oh crap. Ryback gets a pretty good pop! He even has some pyros now! Squash galore. A LETHAL lariat there. Damn. Could hear that one in China. No, not Chyna. Feed the machine!

Kane/Cody vs. Orton/Show. Anything Show does could just look so devastating. Orton gets beat down, then Show gets the tag. Spear to Kane, then nukes Cody. Kane gets the heels back on offense. Orton with the hot tag this time. Usual signature moves. Low bridge from Cody and here we go again. Very good here. More back-and-forth stuff than the standard tag match.

Sheamus is the tough guy so he fights tonight.

Layla gets the full intro, Natalya a mere mention in the ring. Some good spots, not nearly enough to keep my full attention for very long. Luckily, the match was short.

Photo shoot for Aksana and Antonio. Teddy gets to rub oil on Antonio. How lovely.

Looks like AJ has a new gimmick of snapping whenever she hears Daniel Bryan's name.

Sheamus and Daniel Bryan again in the main event. Ricardo with a big intro for ADR. DB back on the injured left shoulder. DB's got 'til FIVE, ref! Good selling of the injury, good targeting of that area the entire match .DB with a bunch of great moves. Love that diving headbutt. ADR tries to get involved, to no avail. Nice Brogue Kick as DB came off the top.

5/3/12 Impact

Ratings:
Velvet Sky & Brooke Tessmacher vs. Gail Kim & Madison Rayne: *1/2

Devon vs. Rob Terry (TV Title): *

Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy: *1/2

AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, & Magnus vs. Kurt Angle, Christopher Daniels, & Kazarian: **1/4

Bobby Roode vs. Mr. Anderson (No DQ): **
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Replay from last week where Eric Bischoff gets sent off in the port-a-potty. Flair starts the show and voices his complaint. Not bleeping Bischoff's name this week. Don't piss off the guy with two HOF rings! He calls out Hogan, and Hulk comes out. Hogan wants Impact to succeed, and (thankfully) hung up the boots. He's Flair's boss. Hogan wants Flair to be a judge for Gut Check. Flair accepts. YES. Finally, a good move.

RVD and Roode pick each other's opponent tonight.

Impact moves to 8 p.m. on May 31.

Knockouts tag starts it off. Taz gets to let the pigeons loose. Brooke got the hot tag here. Velvet came in and took out Madison. Gail caught Brooke's foot. Eat Defeat from Brooke?!?!?! Holy crap, that was unexpected. Another win for Tessmacher! Three straight wins over the champion. Love it. That's how you push a new Knockout to a future title match.

Road to 10th annual Slammiversary. Jarrett and Raven for the world title in late April 2003 (then the NWA title). Sabu with an appearance then.

Typical RVD promo, then Roode comes out for his usual promo. Roode's facing Mr. Anderson tonight. RVD faces Jeff Hardy. Yay for potentially good matches.

The two Robbies have matching sweaters. Ugh. Rob Terry faces Devon for the TV title this week. Nice diving headbutt from Devon got two. Robbie E got introduced the hard way. Robbie E shatters the clipboard over Devon's head for the DQ. Merely furthering the feud here.

Three judges for Gut Check are Al Snow, Flair, and Bruce Pritchard. They are now gonna consider Alex Silva, who wrestled last week. I just loved the behind-the-scenes deliberation. Fans on Twitter wanted Alex to get the contract (63%). Flair seems hell-bent on rejecting Silva. Only takes two "yes" votes to get the contract.

Hogan makes the Roode/Anderson match a No DQ match. Nice.

But first, Hardy and RVD. Nice match with the usual high-flying stuff. Big moves and counters. Here comes Roode with his title. Ref dives out of the way as he see Hardy coming off an Irish whip reversal. Roode cracks Hardy in the back with the title, probably expecting RVD. RVD with a superkick for three.

Joseph Park getting more in Bully's face. Bully bullies back. Finally seeing the end of this whole charade.

Borash vents about Eric Bischoff. Here comes Bully Ray. He wants a few words in the ring. Bully is excellent in his role. And here comes Aries! A war of words. Aries beats down Bully. Security restrains Aries, and Bully with the nut punt. This was outstanding.

Six-man tag match time. Joe and Magnus take Daniels and Kaz outside to fight, so Angle and AJ start in the ring. Angle pushes Daniels around for trying to get involved. Styles eventually also got the hot tag. Magnus and Joe work so well together now. Holy crap, there's the Joe suicide dive! Angle gets Styles in the ankle lock. Kaz tags himself in, and Angle's pissed. Fade to Black countered, Styles with Styles Clash for three.

Angle's still pissed after the match and ultimately leaves. Meanwhile, Daniels gives AJ seven days to spill this secret.

Gut Check moment for Alex Silva. Flair says no. Snow says yes. Silva then gets 30 seconds to sell himself. Flair with a great line to not talk to the "marks." Talk to the judges. What came next was 30 seconds of wrestling passion out of Silva's mouth. Made Flair change his vote to yes. Pritchard otherwise woulda voted no, but also now says yes. Silva is on the roster. This could seriously be a great segment for Impact.

Roode and Anderson, no DQ. Very physical from the start. Roode wedged the chair in between the middle and top ropes, but Anderson threw Roode in there instead. Nice kick into an enzuguiri for two by Anderson. Hardy gets involved on Roode. Anderson takes out Hardy?! WTF, probably didn't know. Chairshots by Roode, Fisherman's Suplex for three. Roode with more chair shots post-match. RVD with the save. Roode bolts...then comes back in and attacks. RVD DDT'd on the chair. End show.

Friday, May 4, 2012

5/3/12 Superstars

Ratings:
Dolph Ziggler vs. Mason Ryan: *3/4

Zack Ryder vs. Michael McGillicutty: **1/2

Great Khali vs. Jinder Mahal: *1/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Dolph on Superstars to face Mason Ryan. Mason's still employed? Haven't seen much of him lately, but it's clear he's been growing his hair some more. Yeah, Mason needs a manager. How about AW? Ryan controlled for the first part of the match. Ziggler does well to subdue the much-larger Ryan. Nice showing off in the process. I like that nickname Striker mentioned: "The Ryan Express." Zigzag ended things.

MM even gets a match on Superstars! Ryder gets a nice pop coming out. The man's super over with the WWE Universe; he's come a long way from his Major Brothers days. Chalk it up in part to his YouTube show. Great finish.

Oh no. Khali's in another match with Jinder Mahal. It's so laughable to me that Khali can be billed a former world champion. Standard match here, and the crowd at least is behind Khali. Punjabi Plunge nets three. I long for the day Khali does more than five moves -- if even that.

Superstars ends with the RAW segment where Laurinaitis snaps on Cena. Best thing Big Johnny's done while on camera.

5/2/12 NXT

Ratings:
Tyson Kidd & Alex Riley vs. Johnny Curtis & JTG: **1/2

Michael McGillicutty vs. Percy Watson: *3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Striker's in a suit, and Josh is back from Brock nukage. Regal's in the ring. New faces over the next few weeks. Curtis and Maxine are still handcuffed. Curtis calls Regal "Billy." Ha. Now JTG has a problem with Regal. Curtis and JTG are now a tag team for this match. Kidd and Riley are their opponents. Riley with some good height on the dropkick. A-Ry's much better in the ring now. Riley got beat down for quite some time before Kidd got the hot tag. Nice Russian leg sweep from the second rope by Kidd. Love Tyson's quick pace. Kidd's submission is now the Dungeon Lock. Love it.

Footage from RAW with Brock "breaking" HHH's arm. Liked the segment to get Brock off TV for a while. He'll eventually be back for the big PPVs. Otherwise, I think they'd use taped interviews or some other non-wrestling appearance.

Reks and Hawkins now with signs in the crowd. Security escorts them out. Wondering how this storyline goes down....

JTG accepts Alicia Fox's offer to do a makeover on him. One week. Could save his WWE career. JTG's got nothing else to lose at this point.

A-Ry's left knee is taken out, probably by McGillicutty. Good job by MM targeting Percy's left knee, especially with that dragon screw leg whip. Percy sold it well. Unfortunately, crowd chants of "boring" can be heard. Figure Four from MM. Watson not selling the knee as well on his comeback. MM with that snap neckbreaker for the win.

After the match, Striker brings one of Percy's tassels apparently found at the place where A-Ry got attacked. Security "wants a few words" with Watson. MM is all grinning and asking "what happened?"

It's unlikely, but I think it could still pave a possible outlet for Watson to go heel. Look at the crowd reaction Watson's getting. Oh right, he's not getting any. It's been like that for ages. He really has no gimmick. I think it's time for a change here, fellas.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

4/30/12 RAW

Ratings:
Miz vs. Santino Marella: *1/2

Layla vs. Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella (Divas Title): N/A

Chris Jericho vs. Big Show: *1/2

Brodus Clay vs. JTG: 1/4*

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Primo & Epico (Tag Team Titles): *3/4

Great Khali vs. Kane: -*

Daniel Bryan vs. Jerry Lawler: *1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Sure enough, new RAW opening. "RAW Supershow Starring Brock Lesnar." We're in Dayton, Ohio, for this one.

Laurinaitis comes out, praises Brock, and introduces him. WTF, HHH?!?! HHH and Brock shake hands. Brock's anointed new face of WWE by Laurinaitis. HHH says no more Lesnar demands, and no free private jet...bummer. HHH says no one is bigger than RAW. HHH won't approve Brock's demands Laurinaitis seemed to approve last week. HHH with an ultimatum to Lesnar on staying. Johnny tries to get involved but HHH says shut up. Again Johnny involved, so HHH turns his back. Lesnar attacks! Kimura on HHH! A few of the faces come down to chase Lesnar away. HHH says his left arm is broken. Brock walks out to huge heat. HHH gets helped to the back and gets treated by the trainers. Very good opening. Very vital to keep building Lesnar's intimidation factor.

NOTE: According to reports, Lesnar went nuts backstage after Extreme Rules because of Cena's post-match promo. I too wanted Lesnar to look strong, but Cena's promo didn't help matters. Why not have Cena on a stretcher or something? Relations between Lesnar and WWE purportedly not good. The RAW segment was still the plan all along to get Brock off TV for a while.

Eve announces a Beat the Clock competition. Five matches, person who wins with fastest time gets to face Punk at Over the Limit.

Santino and Miz are first. Fast paced because they want a short match. Miz keeps looking over the clock on the Titantron. Pretty good for 4:18. Miz prevails.

Highlights of the divas match last night with Layla returning and winning the title. Triple threat match tonight. Nikki AND Brie in the match. Dissension in the ranks between the twins. Layla comes out to some fanfare. If you blinked, you missed the match. Layla dropkick to one Bella. The other Bella gets knocked out of the ring. Layla rolls the first Bella up for three. Thanks for being a short "match."

Jericho faces Big Show in the next Beat the Clock match. Clock counts down from 4:18. Jericho's right elbow is taped up. Show misses the Vader Bomb. Lionsault for two. Good stuff here, as even Big Show used a small package to try pin Jericho. Wow. They get to the outside. Show's counted out and Jerichogot back in, but did Jericho win before the clock hit 0:00? Nope! Miz still with the time to beat.

Brodus is out for action. No Hornswoggle tonight. JTG is like...WTF is going on. He may be on the chopping block for talent cuts. Brodus has "Funkasaurus" on the seat of his singlet, and I think that's a Jurassic Park-like design. Don't ask why I observed that one. Rhino headbutt, a suplex, and a big splash. JTG is nuked.

They replay Lesnar's attack on HHH, plus news on Cena.

Eve gives a pep talk to Laurinaitis?! Well, she did a pretty good job. Laurinaitis knows who Cena's next opponent is.

Orton faces Swagger for the next BTC challenge. Still must beat 4:18. Nice back-and-forth action. Great timing on the finish. Ankle lock countered into RKO. Orton beats the clock with two seconds to spare. New time to beat is 4:16.

Kofi and Truth get a tag title shot against Primo and Epico tonight.

Breaking news from Cole...Bellas have been "fired." Looks like Eve takes credit for that one. I honestly wish Kharma could have destroyed the Bellas and sent them packing that way, but I guess she's still not ready to return.

Primo kicks "Little Jimmy," and Truth attacks. Good grief. Lawler then says HHH's arm is broken (for storyline). Kofi gets the hot tag and is a huge ball of energy. Rosa on the apron, but that hurts the cousins this time. Trouble in Paradise ends it and we have new tag champs.

Perfect time for AW to gain three new clients. I'm now interested on who will be a part of AW's stable. The guy can talk. Now it's a matter of building that stable and gaining momentum.

OH HELL NO. They ACTUALLY booked Khali and Kane for a match. This is just tragic. I'm just happy we'll never see Khali vs. Giant Gonzalez. Time runs out as the two guys literally had each other by the throat. I lost brain cells regardless.

Daniel Bryan is part of the last BTC challenge match. And his opponent...JERRY LAWLER?! WTF. They really want DB to face Punk, huh? Jerry gets goodoffense here. He even hit his fist from the second rope,but only two. Piledriver countered. DB with a huge kick and the YES lock to easily beat the clock.

Woohoo, the IWC must be all giddy now! Punk and Bryan! YES YES YES!

Cena has "multiple muscle strains." Right, nothing's broken or torn because he's SuperCena. He's still sporting a sling so Brock looks even better. Here comes Laurinaitis. Big Johnny was trying to "motivate" Cena. Cena does a great Laurinaitis impression...but a lot of people probably can do that one.

Hey, Cena's got that attitude back! Wait a sec, the "WHAT?" chants are back. NO! Must have "YES!" chants! Lord Tensai out with Sakamoto. Cena turns to face them.

Laurinaitis decks Cena with the mic! All three attack. Laurinaitis has full out snapped. Cena faces Laurinaitis at Over the Limit. I dunno about the PPV match, but that was an excellent ending to RAW. Laurinaitis would have to prevail at Over the Limit, and I'd expect Tensai and Sakamoto to again play a big role.