Friday, November 30, 2012

11/29/12 Impact

Ratings:
Mickie James vs. Gail Kim: *3/4

Bobby Roode vs. Christian York: **1/2

James Storm & AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels & Kazarian: **

Matt Morgan vs. Douglas Williams: N/A (squash)

Rob Van Dam vs. Austin Aries (X-Division Title): **3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
It's Championship Thursday, but only one title match scheduled? Oops.

Hulk Hogan starts the show. Of course, HH gets the huge cheer. He wants answers from Bully Ray regarding this whole alleged deal with Brooke Hogan. Do we really need another damn scandal? Hulk laying down the law about not wanting Brooke to see other wrestlers. Aries in Hogan's office. He wants to know how Brooke can lie down on that desk. ARIES BURN. Hulk pissed off now.

Knockouts start it off with Mickie and Gail. Yay for two women that can put on a decent match if given time. Gail with the legs around Mickie's neck, and slams Mickie's head into the canvas with the legs. Ow. Nice counters and crowd reaction. Tornado DDT gets three for Mickie. Enjoyed this one. Nice momentum for James heading into the PPV.

So it's Aries, Zema Ion, Kid Kash, and Kenny King that Hulk chooses from to get a shot at RVD tonight. King is the first eliminated. Leaving ROH doesn't look like a good decision now, huh Kenny? Granted, he really hasn't been given much of a shot aside from Destination X.

Roode promo saying Hardy is a paper champion. Roode also mentioned that he took out York with one move, and Hardy nearly lost to the new Gut Check winner. Enter York. Slap to Roode. Wake up call! We got a match! Must note that you can't call York a rookie because he's been in the business so long. Rolling Senton in the corner is called Dreamscape, and that got two. York nearly stole the win countering the fisherman's suplex, but Roode slaps on the crossface for the submission win. Another impressive match that makes me wonder if York got that much better over the years or if he simply was under the radar all this time. Or perhaps a little of both.

Jeff Hardy comes down to get a piece of Roode. RR avoids the Twist of Fate.

Devon wants his TV Title back and wants a match against Samoa Joe. It's true that Devon never lost it; he got stripped of the title after not renewing his contract and a lot of people thought he'd go back to WWE (but that didn't pan out because of the WWE-TNA lawsuit). If Hulk gives Devon the title match, Aces & Eights doesn't hurt anyone on this episode.

Prichard says there were positives and negatives in the Gut Check match, and I'm still a stickler for seeing that Brisco also had both of his shoulders down when pinning Garett Bischoff last week. Kurt does his one final pitch to Prichard and Taz. No Al Snow for the show? Interesting. D'Lo Brown doesn't know where Al is, either.

Kaz and Daniels vs. Storm and Styles. Can't go wrong with this tag match. It really should be a better 2013 for AJ Styles, because 2012 has really not gone his way. Styles can't get anything going in the early going, so Storm has to come to the rescue. Storm with the blind tag. AJ misses the Pele, but Storm nails the Last Call on Daniels for three. Styles doesn't feel like celebrating. It's more to further the hard luck that AJ has gone through lately.

Next year's TNA Lockdown PPV will be at the Alamodome. March 10. Nice.

Joe gives Devon his title shot. Meanwhile, Hulk decides who faces RVD later.

Douglas Williams faces Matt Morgan. Yes, size matters. Convincing win for the Blueprint. Nice beard, Morgan.

It's Gut Check time for Wes Brisco. Still no Al Snow, so D'Lo fills in. He saw Wes Brisco's match, so it's all good. Prichard speaks the truth; he knows the match wasn't that great last week. But he knows what Wes can do, so it's a yes. Taz with a surprising "no" vote after giving off the vibe that he would go with a "yes." So D'Lo does have to make the call after a final plea from Wes. It's a "yes" from D'Lo, and Wes has his contract. I would like to see what Al Snow would have voted, and frankly, it might have been "no," just to get some type of storyline going. Note also that Kurt had really been pushing hard for Wes to get in, so I'd even look for references to that down the road.

Aries gets the nod for the X-Division Title shot against RVD. Could we have a similar deal to how he won the world title in 2012? Main event intros from Borash. Aries mocks RVD with a version of the Rolling Thunder for two. Aries with the RVD mocking again, but the frog splash misses. Very good match here. RVD going for the five-star, but Aries pushes him off into the steel barricade. RVD tossed back in the ring. Aries with the trash talking on the mic instead and more Brooke Hogan bashing. Bully Ray runs down and the ref tosses the match out. Aries backs up the stage, but Hulk blocks his exit. Staredown now between Hulk and Bully as the show ends.

One more Impact until Final Resolution. My predictions right now:

Looking for Hardy to retain over Roode, in which Roode will somehow cry foul and get another rematch at Genesis. Tara should retain over Mickie, likely with Jesse's interference. Styles could get his win over Daniels to kiss 2012 goodbye, but that could depend on what we see on Impact next week.

11/28/12 Main Event

Ratings:
John Cena vs. Damien Sandow: **1/2

Antonio Cesaro vs. Zack Ryder: *3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Cole and JBL on commentary tonight.

We start things with Sandow and Cena. Cena with the mat wrestling just to stick it to the haters. Sandow tries to take a walk, but Cena says no way. Damien ended up holding his own here. Sandow got physical and countered a few moves while playing the "smart heel." Sandow got out of the AA, but quickly tapped to the STF. Likely wouldn't have done that if it happened to be some type of title match.

Josh Mathews reads a letter from Sandow. Day of enlightenment postponed due to ignorance. You're welcome. Aw.

Cesaro and Ryder close the show. Again, Ryder's career in neutral after the whole Eve and Kane storylines destroyed any real push the man from Long Island coulda had. Cesaro with fierce Euro uppercuts. No Broski Boot tonight. Ryder launches himself to the outside, but Cesaro nukes him with another uppercut. Another Neutralizer and it's over.

Cesaro heel promo saying he's the greatest, so IC champ Kofi Kingston comes out. Champion vs. champion next week on Main Event. Win.

11/28/12 NXT

Ratings:
Leo Kruger vs. Trent Barreta: *1/2

Xavier Woods vs. Memo Montenegro: N/A (squash)

Audrey Marie vs. Emma: 1/4*

Daniel Bryan & Kane vs. Michael McGillicutty & Johnny Curtis (Tag Team Titles): *3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Daniel Bryan is back on NXT, and he has three demands. No "YES," no "goat face," and Kane stays out of his way. Negative on all fronts! Vintage DB tantrum.

Trent Barreta is back with bandaged ribs. Was it Kassius Ohno? Leo Kruger? Conspiracy theory again. Kruger naturally attacks Trent's ribs. Tape comes off, for the most part. Leo gets the win with the Kruger End -- starts like a neckbreaker and finishes like a cutter.

Xavier Woods has dance fever. We've gone back to the damn 1970s again. Memo is Alberto Del Rio's real-life brother. Memo got some offense, but it's Woods with a front flip into a clothesline for the win. I think Woods' ring entrance lasted longer. Ugh.

Audrey Marie is the country cowgirl, and Emma is an Aussie working her first WWE match. Respectable mat wrestling, but real slow pace. Might also be due to not being familiar with each other's style. Audrey Marie with a swinging slam for the win. Nothing bad, but still not a match I'd choose to watch again.

Roman Reigns is a no-show and takes a "reigns-check" on the interview. Since the shows can be taped well in advance, I don't think it's related to his call-up to the main roster as part of the Shield. Seth Rollins is still doing the TV tapings as NXT champ anyway.

Good grief, Michael Cole has ring entrance music. Cole interviews Jinder Mahal and Seth Rollins. Their title match is in two weeks on NXT. Mahal puts his hands on Cole, and Jinder and Seth get physical. Mahal gets the upper hand this time, locking in the camel clutch.

Since when did McGillicutty and Curtis earn a tag team title shot? Announcers explain that Curtis never got his prize for winning NXT, which was originally a tag title shot with his pro, R-Truth. That all got nixed when Truth turned heel, and Curtis continued to languish in NXT all this time. Not that it matters. Curtis showing the dancing skills that foreshadow his upcoming Fandango character. Crowd really loves chanting "YES." Heels work over DB. Kane with the hot tag. Vintage Team Hell No arguing, but Kane with the chokeslam to Curtis. DB gets MM to tap to the NO lock. End the show by hugging it out.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

11/26/12 RAW

Ratings:
Ryback vs. Titus O'Neil: 1/4*

Alberto Del Rio vs. Great Khali: 1/2*

Tamina Snuka vs. Alicia Fox: DUD

Kofi Kingston vs. Tensai: *1/4

Rey Mysterio vs. Daniel Bryan: **1/2

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler: **1/2

Sheamus vs. Antonio Cesaro: **

Damien Sandow vs. Zack Ryder: *1/2

CM Punk vs. Kane: **
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Ryback starts the show against Titus O'Neil. Nothing real pretty about this match. Titus wants timeout but doesn't get it. Awkward toss into D-Young. Meathook and Shellshocked get three. Ryback wants Punk or the three guys who attacked him (Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose). Five security guys come down. Ryback gets Vickie to put him in another title match against Punk at the TLC PPV in a TLC match. Funny how Vickie has so much power over someone like AJ Lee, but zero leverage with Ryback. Must be great to have Vince McMahon in your back pocket. The security guys bail.

Possible seeds being planted for Del Rio and Rosa Mendes? Oh, and Khali and Hornswoggle again. Next!

Del Rio defeats Khali. Why is Khali wrestling again? At least it's cool to have Rosa on camera in some way. No, we don't need more scandals. Ricardo with the distraction, and ADR locks in the cross armbreaker for the submission win.

Vickie got explaining to do to Punk. Vickie also puts Punk in a match against either Daniel Bryan or Kane. One of those RAWactive polls to get the WWE Universe involved.

Time for the sit-down interview between Cole and Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns. Ambrose says they're not working directly with Punk. So why are they on WWE TV? To right wrongs. No clear bias towards anyone. Not about being another nWo or Nexus. It's about principles and honor. Seems good enough for now. Of the three, Ambrose seems the best on mic skills. They are the Shield. Simple name, and if that's what the group name is, I like it.

Another vignette hyping Fandango (a.k.a. Johnny Curtis). Well, at least it's a fun-looking gimmick.

Alicia Fox has a wrestling outfit fit for Halloween (sexy skeleton?). Basically here to make Tamina look good. Tamina is the chaotic exotic and doesn't like little girls who disrespect authority. I guess Tamina's injury earlier this year halted her push, and WWE wants to re-push her to a more prominent role. Shouldn't be too hard to get to the top of the list these days, anyway. Too long to deliver that superfly splash.

Cena promo, and Vickie has to interrupt. Mention the word "unstable," and AJ Lee is there. Oh, now Ziggler wants in on the AJ Lee stuff. Cena does the cheap pop and wants to kick Ziggler's ass. Finally, Cena and Ziggler in a match. Enough appeal to trend worldwide on Twitter.

Next up is Kofi and Tensai. Barrett on commentary. Kofi gets the win with the springboard crossbody. Not sure if WWE is getting a new finisher over, but I prefer Trouble in Paradise to finish Kofi Kingston matches. Barrett hands Kofi his IC Title.

DB gives data that he's winning the interactive poll. Kane wants to send DB to hell to find out if the monster's winning the poll down there. But hey, Kane actually won the vote (59%). Red rules! Earth to Cole: I wouldn't call 59-41 a landslide win.

DB faces Rey Mysterio next. Hey, a great consolation prize! Now this is wrestling. Good pace to this one. Mysterio counters the NO lock twice. 619 using the ringpost. Top-rope splash gets three.

Ziggler and Cena are up. Cena does his usual moves of doom, but Ziggler counters with a jumping DDT. Ziggler counters the STF and puts the sleeper on. Cena gets out of that and it's STF time. Ziggler off the top, but Cena rolls through. AA countered into a Zigzag, but only two. Cena about to hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but all of a sudden the left knee won't work. Oh really? So basically he's Supercena for the first so many minutes and all of a sudden he's not? AJ comes out, and Vickie does the same. AJ with the unstable look to Vickie. Ref distracted. Ziggler misses with the briefcase, and Cena with the "miracle" AA for three. Yup. Nice match, but typical result.

AJ and Cena liplock in the ring. Get them a room, please.

Sheamus battles Cesaro. Can always expect a hard-hitting match here. Several near falls. Cringed when Sheamus went for the battering ram off the top and ate that Euro uppercut. Sheamus Brogue Kick to Cesaro was really a glancing blow. Cesaro to the outside. Ref counts Cesaro out as Big Show comes to the ring. Sheamus confident he can win at TLC. Show rips the chair up in front of Sheamus. Enough said.

Sandow and Ryder in a polar opposite of gimmicks. Fairly formulaic here. Sandow avoids the Broski Boot and catches Ryder on the top rope. Terminus ends it. Cue the Rotation of Illumination (cartwheel). Now he gets Cena on Main Event.

I guess we get Punk and Kane this time because DB and Punk has already been done a few times. Come on, I want to see more DB and Punk. Kane in control first, then Punk slows the action down in his favor. Punk favoring the left knee, which has a bandage underneath the kneepad. Punk with two running knees in the corner, but the third isn't a charm. Kane chokeslam. Heyman tries to pull Punk out of the ring. Kane signals for the Tombstone. All of a sudden, the Shield show up around ringside. GTS by Punk ends it.

Shield now around ringside. Shield attacks Kane and Punk bails. DB runs down to help, but he too gets taken out. Here comes Ryback! Punk bails through the crowd now. Shield gangs up on Ryback. Powerbomb to Rollins and meathook for Ambrose. Punk jumps Ryback. Ryback wants to powerbomb Punk, but Reigns with the spear. Another gang beatdown. Shield leaves as Punk gets to stand over Ryback again.

Not a bad show, but now I can't help but feel Ryback's getting "de-pushed" a bit too much. Shield gets the new push to make their mark, while Punk gets to keep the glory. Is this what happens when WWE decided to put Ryback in all these title matches too soon? I get that you gotta ride the wave, but figures this had to happen when wanting to keep the long-term effect of a Punk year-plus title reign and an upcoming date with Rock.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

11/23/12 Smackdown

Ratings:
Ryback vs. Darren Young: N/A (squash)

R-Truth vs. Antonio Cesaro: *1/4

Alberto Del Rio vs. Sin Cara: **

Big Show vs. Daniel Bryan & Kane: **

Kofi Kingston vs. Damien Sandow (IC Title): **1/2

Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton: **3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Miz TV starts the show, guest is John Cena. We see the AJ kiss and the tweaked knee. Cena says he's fine and ready to go. Cena liked that AJ kiss and she's a good kisser. Damn you, Cena. AJ comes out, and Ziggler. Sounds about right. Cena wins with the "we still can't prove Vickie is medically a woman" comment. Oh wait, there's another winner: one likes eating a lot of nuts and the other is still looking to find his. Nice opening skit.

Ryback's hungry. D-Young's the victim tonight. Titus then got nuked after that. Pretty much sums up those few minutes.

R-Truth gets his non-title win over Cesaro here. Wonder if that means Truth gets a title reign soon.

Sheamus gets to drink in a luxury suite, a title match at the PPV, and watch big Show compete in a handicap match against Team Hell No.

Alberto Del Rio faces Sin Cara. JBL thinks Ricardo is awesome. ADR controls much of the match, and Cara does his usual fancy moveset. ADR catches Cara on the top rope and slaps on the cross armbreaker for the submission win.

Vintage Daniel Bryan and Kane bickering. Kane says DB and Show should team up and be Team No Show. Vegan turkey for DB this year. DB invites Kane over for Christmas if they win tonight. Kane gets to beat up Santa Claus if so. YES.

Handicap match time. Team Hell No has to tag in and out. Regal and Sheamus watch from the luxury box. Show works over DB's left arm. Show misses a second-rope elbow. UFO sighting there. DB refuses to tag Kane in, but gets some submissions on Show. Kane finally gets in the match and does more damage. DB tags himself back in and Kane takes a walk. DB with the NO lock on but Show gets out and chokeslams DB to get three. Kane avoids the KO punch and Team Hell No get Show out of the ring.

Wade Barrett on commentary to watch the IC Title match. He's the #1 contender and faces the winner of this title match. Sandow's upped his physical offense. Kofi goes back to being the wildcat and hits all his signature moves to retain.

We see the end of RAW again with the Punk celebration and Ryback going through the announce table. Next week, Cole does an exclusive interview with Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose.

Orton and Ziggler in the main event. Ziggler takes a good beating, but then Ziggler tosses Orton into the announce table. Back and forth stuff. that top-rope superplex has to take a crapton out of Orton; he hits his damn head on the canvas quite hard. Hangman's DDT sets up an RKO, but Ziggler counters and rolls Orton up for three. Good stealing of a win there.

Ricardo gets in the ring and Orton hits the RKO. No ambush from Del Rio tonight. Cena then puts Ziggler in the STF on the stage. Four refs can't get Cena off Ziggler. End show. I assume a tag match some some kind happens next week.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

11/22/12 Superstars

Ratings:
Heath Slater & Jinder Mahal vs. Santino Marella & Zack Ryder: *3/4

Justin Gabriel vs. Darren Young: **1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Team CoBro is back! Drew still just watching Slater and Jinder wrestle. Ryder goes flying over the top to give 3MB control. Santino the hot tag. Cobras for McIntyre and Jinder, but Slater hits his Smash Hit impaler DDT for three.

We see the AJ Scandal stuff from RAW again. Meh.

D-Young faces Gabriel this week. Kidd and Titus out to support their respective tag partners. Fun offense again from JG. D-Young smart to use the ring apron as a tag partner. Striker calls "Sean Payton" rule on D-Young only getting two on a rollup. Springboard thrust kick (a la RVD) and springboard moonsault get three for JG. Nice match.

Superstars ends with the Punk celebration segment from RAW.

Friday, November 23, 2012

11/22/12 Impact

Ratings:
Wes Brisco vs. Garett Bischoff: *3/4

Chavo Guerrero vs. Joey Ryan: *1/2

Sam Shaw vs. Alex Silva: *3/4

Jeff Hardy vs. Christian York: **3/4

Tara vs. Taeler Hendrix: *1/2

Eric Young vs. Robbie E vs. Jesse (Turkey Suit): **

AJ Styles vs. Kazarian: **1/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Open Fight Night on this episode.

Starting things off with Gut Check. Wes Brisco indeed gets his shot. Garett Bischoff is his opponent. Interesting choice. Nice chain wrestling to start. Angle comes down for a closer look. Both guys evenly matched. Pretty good, I'd say. Looked like Brisco had his own shoulders down when pinning Garett, but I liked what I saw. It'd be an easy yes from me, but we'll see what the judges say. I found it interesting that Angle is already assuring Wes he's on the roster by winning his match. Last time I checked, that's not the case. I now wonder if we will see a swerve where Wes doesn't make it to the roster....

All four previous Gut Check winners are here as well. I guess we finally see them all in action again tonight.

Joey Ryan says he and Matt Morgan will become tag team champions. He calls out Chavo tonight. Great energy here. Chavo goes for the frog splash but Morgan interferes with the chokeslam. Ref DQs Joey, not that it matters. Message sent to Hogan again. Hernandez comes down to prevent further damage.

Sam Shaw gets his first official match as a member of the TNA roster. He calls out the first Gut Check winner, Alex Silva. Alex playing the heel tonight. Nice comeback from Shaw. Sam's got great enthusiasm and agility. Hoped for a longer comeback sequence, though.

Eric Young's doing the Turkey Suit match again. Meanwhile, Doc's finally a full member of Aces & Eights. A&E plans to take out another TNA roster guy tonight. Magnus' pic has been X'd out.

Christian York, the latest Gut Check winner, feels lucky and calls out Jeff Hardy. Didn't expect that, but I love it. York controls a bunch of the match and shows his experience. Love the moveset York has, a very balanced attack. York used Hardy's Twist of Fate against the champ?! Hardy hits the Twist of Fate and Swanton for three. Loved this. Roode comes down after the match and spears Hardy.

Taeler Hendrix comes down for her match. Only female Gut Check winner to date. She calls out Tara. Hell yes. Not too bad, didn't care for the Jesse involvement. Taeler's got good upside, being young and passionate about the business.

Turkey Suit time. Good grief. Typical match where two heels work over the one babyface, then the two heels turn on each other. Tara and ODB randomly fight, and ref (Stifler) gets rolled over. Robbie E nails Robbie T by accident, and EY rolls up Jesse for the win. Jesse gets to wear the turkey outfit because he lost. Must be the new guy initiation thing. Match was fun.

A&E takes out Eric Young. ODB handcuffed to the corner turnbuckle. Doc with the hammer shot to EY's ankle and foot. Now EY can go back to filming his show, I guess. Knockouts tag belts lost relevancy eons ago, anyway.

Daniels and Kaz to the ring. Daniels will face AJ Styles at Final Resolution, but Kaz calls out Styles tonight. Kaz with more Gangnam Style moves. Vintage physical Earl Hebner. AJ hits the Pele for three.

So who does Austin Aries calls out? Aries says one name has held him back: Hogan. So Aries calls out Brooke Hogan. Nice heel move. Nice references to Trump and McMahon, but Bully Ray?! We got more video footage! Where have we seen this crap before? Nice shirt, Bully. Hulk wants answers, and I guess we'll get them someday.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

11/21/12 NXT

Ratings:
Paige vs. Alicia Fox: *

Big E Langston vs. Camacho: 1/4*

Bronson vs. Nick Rogers: N/A (squash)

Luke Harper vs. Mike Dalton: N/A (squash)

Trent Barreta Richie Steamboat vs. Kassius Ohno: **1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Kassius Ohno backstage interview, vowing to get the last laugh on Barreta. Will Ohno reveal how dangerous he really is?

Alicia Fox and Paige start things off. Alicia is a Fox-alicious diva, sure. Not bad to start; Alicia showed a bunch of athleticism herself. Crowd is pro-Paige. "Paige Turner" is Paige's finisher, looks like she grabs her opponent's leg and snaps the opponent onto her back. Kinda looks like a version of the Angle Slam, but without picking the opponent up off the canvas.

Big E Langston and Camacho next. Remembeer Vickie put that bounty on Langston. Langston is a lot better off pounding the chalk everywhere than talking, but even that isn't saying much right now. Camacho going solo because Hunico's injured. At least the "Five!" chant is over with the crowd. Langston hits his finisher and gets three, but he wants five. Another finisher and Big E counts his own five-count. Then another finisher to send the ol' message to the locker room.

Barreta's been taken out, and Leo Kruger is nearby with a sinister look.

Bronson beats Nick Rogers in a methodical squash. Love the heelhook finisher, but I hope he can slap it on quicker than that.

Promo for TLC. Otunga with his lawyer stuff to promote the PPV. Awesome to have Sheamus come in with a chairshot at the end.

Bray Wyatt sits in a rocking chair on the stage as Luke Harper battles Mike Dalton. Harper's from Butte, Montana. At least I know there's a 5-pound calzone there. Sidewalk slam ends the squash.

Backstage brawl between Rollins and Jinder in some pre-taped segment. Fitting that led right into the Punk celebration segment at the end of RAW, where Rollins, Ambrose, and Reigns took Ryback out for the second straight night.

Ohno promo. He knows trent's hurt, so Ohno wants the ref to raise his hand. Rhodes has a replacement: Richie Steamboat. Richie skins the cat and soars through the air like his dad. Impressive stuff from Ohno, as usual. Richie with the comeback. Richie with the Slingblade finisher for the win. Nice match here.

Team Hell No advertised for next week's show. Woohoo.

11/21/12 Main Event

Ratings:
Dolph Ziggler vs. Miz: ***1/4

Wade Barrett vs. Justin Gabriel: *
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Reviews/Thoughts:
JBL and Cole on commentary this week because Miz is wrestling this week against Ziggler. Both with their parting shots on the mic at the start of the show. Some guy yelled "you suck!" at Ziggler, amusing. They finally get to the match, and it's a damn good one. Crowd was really into this and behind Miz. Looked like Ziggler favored his elbow around the middle of the match. Miz using that Matt Hardy Side Effect move again, should be another good signature as he does the face run. Several counters at the end. Miz looked like he ran into the steel turnbuckle, and Zigzag ends it.

Barrett and Gabriel battle in a duel of former Nexus and Corre members. JG with some impressive moves but a quick Bullhammer ends it. Damn these short matches.

Cena will be the next Miz TV guest this Friday on Smackdown.

Damien Sandow promo. He declares Cena the WWE's ultimate false idol. Match next week with Cena.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

11/19/12 RAW

Ratings:
Ryback vs. Tensai: 3/4*

Wade Barrett vs. Kofi Kingston: **1/4

Kaitlyn vs. Aksana: DUD

Antonio Cesaro vs. Brodus Clay: 1/2*

Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio (2 out of 3 Falls): ***1/4

Great Khali vs. Primo & Epico: N/A (lost brain cells)

Miz vs. David Otunga: *1/2

Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow: **

Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs. Daniel Bryan & Kane: **3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Headed out for Thanksgiving, so ratings will be delayed for the next week or so.

Ryback starts the show, and he's pissed. He wants Punk and the three guys who attacked him at Survivor Series to come down to the ring. Vickie sends Tensai to the ring. Fun. Ryback no-sells a bunch of offense. Meathook clothesline. Hey, he got Tensai up for Shellshocked this time! Ryback with a decisive win.

Barrett and Kingston next. WB with hard shots throughout, yet the offense isn't glamorous. Kofi's moves are a different story, though. Last few minutes were great. Trading offense, a few near falls. Bullhammer wins it for Barrett.

Cole and Lawler mention the three guys who attacked Ryback at the PPV. Also a video package of Ryback nuking Brad Maddox. Now you can see the Brad Maddox Experience on YouTube. Yay?

Punk has the "I"m a Paul Heyman Guy" shirt! Heyman has a Punk celebration tonight. Matt Striker is doing the Movember thing and now has to ask all the questions that could get his ass kicked. Ha, even Ryback is invited to the celebration. Punk doesn't look too thrilled.

Here's the short divas segment again. Aksana works on Kaitlyn's left arm. Aksana can't sell offense for beans. Kaitlyn comeback looked horrible. Just couldn't get into this match at all.

Truth back on commentary as Brodus faces Cesaro. I didn't care about the match except for Cesaro's Neutralizer on Brodus. Great feat of strength there.

Cena honored in a video package for granting over 300 make-a-wishes.

Back to the AJ Scandal stuff that generally makes me cringe. Vickie brings two people to the ring with her. Vickie is getting booed big time. I'm assuming real names aren't being used for those two. Woman works in a restaurant; she said AJ and Cena wanted a private table in the back and being touchy-feely. Guy is a parking attendant and said father of a family parked next to AJ and Cena complained to him. AJ understandably livid. Vickie about to show the cell phone pics, but Cena comes out.

And then all hell breaks loose with the AJ/Cena makeout session! First of all, I am now jealous of John Cena. Second, get a room for these two.

Ziggler comes out to attack Cena. Looks like Cena injured his left leg during this one. Could be an ankle or Achilles' tendon injury. AJ and Cena managed to trend on Twitter (again).

Finally, a great match. 2 out of 3 falls between Del Rio and Orton. ADR attacked Orton's left arm from the start. ADR gets the cross armbreaker on and Orton quickly taps. Smart to tap early on first-fall submissions. ADR continues the onslaught on the left arm for the second fall. ADR got DQ'd quickly after that for excessive beatdown on Orton using the ringpost. Ricardo then got ejected after ref caught him assisting ADR. Love how each mocked the other's signature pose. ADR even tried the RKO (countered). Solid finish with Orton nailing the RKO for the victory.

Cena's left knee gets taped up. Saying possible torn meniscus.

Khali and Hornswoggle?! NO! Hornswoggle has flowers for Rosa. The flowers spray water. Khali nukes both Primo and Epico in a handicap match. I swear I lost more brain cells.

Miz relishing the face push now as he takes on Otunga. Otunga with more physical offense this time. I think it's just about the best Otunga has looked in a match, but that's not saying much. How could Lawler not know Miz was a southpaw all this time? SCF gets three.

Scott Armstrong off TV tonight to sell the effects of the Brogue Kick he took from Sheamus during the World Title match at Survivor Series.

Sheamus cuts a promo carrying a steel chair. He wants Big Show again. Show says Sheamus doesn't deserve to be champion because the Irishman is barbaric. Hey, good time for Sandow to enter. A physical, lengthy match. Sandow in control for most of the match. Sheamus with his signature moves in the last couple minutes to get the win.

Tamina is now Vickie's bodyguard. Nice suit. AJ says she's gonna do something about all this now that Cena's injured. She goes to the guy's locker room to confront Ziggler. Ziggler says AJ's trash. AJ with the mentally unstable physical attack. Cena's there, so Ziggler and Cena take the bathroom apart. Cena favors the left knee again. Love how everyone but Titus stayed out of it, even though there were a bunch of superstars there. Way to go.

Primetime Players on commentary now as Sin Cara and Mysterio compete in tag action against Team Hell No. Vintage disagreement between Bryan and Kane. Team Hell No isolates Sin Cara. Mysterio gets in and duels with Kane. Rey with the 619, but gets caught on the splash. PTPs interfere and ref throws the match out. PTPs get a double 619. Sin Cara with the senton to D-Young and Kane with a chokeslam to Titus.

CM Punk celebration is next. Great Heyman promo. He has a poster board to highlight the top WWE Title reigns in history. Looks like Punk will eclipse Cena's 380-day reign and that'll be as high as he gets (the others are in the 1,000+ day range, which no one would dare do nowadays). Punk apparently has to get to 2018 to touch Sammartino's reign. Nice video package on Punk's title reign. Good job to bring Austin into all this. Would be great if he came back for one match against Punk.

Ryback comes out to get his hands on Punk. Rollins, Ambrose, and Reigns jump Ryback again. Numbers game eventually catches up to Ryback. Same spot that ended Survivor Series. Ryback through the announce table again. Punk stands over Ryback to end the show. Interesting to note that Punk gave props to Rollins when Punk made his cameo on NXT a while back, but also remember that Reigns wanted a shot at Rollins and the NXT Title. Ambrose is presumably the highly-touted blue-chip prospect, but not much else known right now.

There has been talk of making another Punk stable with Rollins, Ambrose, Reigns, and Heyman. The events at the end of RAW took a giant step in that direction. It would be great, if just to get new guys the exposure on a larger scale. The three guys attacking Ryback should be ready for the big time. It's also another way of probably saying "you're gonna get future endeavored soon" to the expendable talent in the back.

Monday, November 19, 2012

11/18/12 Survivor Series

Ratings:
Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd, Brodus Clay vs. Darren Young, Titus O'Neil, Primo, Epico, & Tensai: ***1/4

Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn (Divas Title): **

Antonio Cesaro vs. R-Truth (U.S. Title): *3/4

Big Show vs. Sheamus (World Heavyweight Title): ***1/2

Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, Damien Sandow, Wade Barrett, & David Otunga vs. Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, Miz, Daniel Bryan, & Kane: ***3/4

CM Punk vs. John Cena vs. Ryback (WWE Title): ***1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Indianapolis is the site for Survivor Series this year. Cole, Lawler, and JBL on commentary. JBL with the heart attack jokes, and we're not even three minutes in.

Bonus traditional Survivor Series tag match! YES! Brodus with a new gold vest. Glad they decided to throw this one in to get more guys on the actual show. Kidd and Epico with nice mat wrestling to start. JBL's on a roll with the commentary already regarding Gabriel's thrill-seeking hobbies. Fast pace, fun match early on. Great spot with Kidd and Gabriel suicide dive on to PTPs, then Rey and Cara moonsault onto Primo/Epico. Tensai got a pin on Brodus?! Guess Tensai's not totally buried. JG with a rollup on Tensai to make it 4-on-4 again. Kidd rolled Titus up for three a few minutes later. Kidd then got Epico to tap out to the Sharpshooter; how fitting is that at Survivor Series? Now 4-on-2 in favor of the faces. Rey with the hot tag. Rey missed the 619 but got a cradle rollup on Primo for three. Down to only D-Young for the heels. D-Young ate a ton of finishers and Rey's team (sans Brodus) survives.

Someone tries to attack Kaitlyn again. Oh, it's Aksana again in a blonde wig and hoodie. Kaitlyn fights Aksana off. Eve just so happens to be nearby. Kaitlyn, not too happy, pushes Eve down.

Divas title match next. Neither diva gets much of a response. Kaitlyn has cargo pants and boots, similar to an army woman (no camouflage). quickly beating Eve down early. Very physical. JBL said besmirched! Impressive roll-through into a headscissors for Eve. Kaitlyn comes back and Eve does a great job of the vintage heel "I'm sorry , have mercy on me" act. Gutbuster from Kaitlyn(?!) gets two. Eve suckers Kaitlyn to the outside, then hits that snap neckbreaker for three. Better than most divas matches you'll see in WWE. The back story buildup also helped the rating here. As crappy as the divas division is right now (read: on life support), Eve and Kaitlyn did their job.

Cody Rhodes has been scratched from the PPV after getting injured against Kane during WWE Main Event. Otunga is his replacement. During the pre-show segment, you actually get to see how small Ziggler is compared to his teammates. Even Del Rio is much larger.

U.S.Title match first. Cesaro heel promo on obesity. Pretty basic match against Truth. Truth got a couple near falls, but Euro uppercut and Neutralizer get three.

AJ Scandal graces Survivor Series! AJ said she will share evidence of Vickie getting caught red-handed on something. And it's next. AJ calls Vickie a witch. Vickie comes out to nice heel heat. AJ has a picture to show. YES! RICARDO AND VICKIE! Is that a large burrito or what? YES! JIM ROSS AND VICKIE WITH BBQ SAUCE! OH GOD NO! BRODUS AND VICKIE! Dammit, don't blind me. Now both AJ and Vickie have no-contact clauses.

Blindside attack on AJ. Wow, that's Tamina?! Love the new look. Blazin' red ring gear and straightened hair. Superfly splash to AJ. Tamina returns as a heel, but the divas roster is still thin. Can't they bring Paige up from NXT if Sara Del Rey won't be an active wrestler?

World Title match next. Main event intros from Justin Roberts. Basically a brawl from the start. Show caught int the ropes and Sheamus pummels away. No Brogue Kick. Sheamus to the top, but Show nukes Sheamus with a spear. Ow. Show then with the methodical beatdown. Sheamus with the electric chair to Show for two! Crowd really perked up there. Sheamus misses the Brogue Kick, but counters Show's chokeslam into White Noise for another two-count. Wow. Sheamus tees up a Brogue Kick -- and nukes the ref. Oops. Refs and a trainer come out to help. Sheamus concerned with the ref. Bell never rang to end the match. Show KOs Sheamus and one of the other refs counts three. Then the announcement that Show got DQ'd for pulling the ref in front. Thus, Sheamus wins, but doesn't get the title. Show argues with the official and Sheamus clocks Show with repeated chair shots. Sheamus goes after Show's legs. Brogue Kick finishes Show. I smell rubber match at the next PPV. Chairs match!

Next is Team Foley and Team Ziggler. Ha, wonder if Kane shoulda just let Sandow abandon his team, but chokeslam eliminates Sandow anyway. Impressed that Otunga wasn't the first eliminated. Kane argues with DB, and Zigzag out of nowhere eliminates Kane. Wow. DB eliminates Otunga with the NO lock. Cole says Barrett's finisher is now the Bullhammer. Wade uses it on Kofi to get three. Back to 3-on-3. Note that Miz hasn't been in the match yet. Del Rio gets in and eliminates DB with the cross armbreaker. Miz now comes in. He and Orton remain, and they play off how they don't like each other. Orton beaten down for a bit, but Miz gets the hot tag. Miz counters Barrett's pumphandle slam and hits SCF to eliminate Barrett. ADR with the running enzuigiri to Miz in the corner for three. Only Orton left for Team Foley to fend off ADR and Ziggler. Ricardo distracts Orton on the comeback. ADR gets the same kick on Orton, but only two. Foley takes out Ricardo. Orton counters ADR into an RKO for three. Orton and Ziggler left. Ziggler counters the RKO, Zigzag hits! TWO! Outstanding match here. Crowd is going nuts. Orton's lip is bloody. Hangman's DDT to Ziggler. Orton lines up for his punt kick. Superkick from Ziggler gets THREE! Love the end. Channeling HBK! Ziggler the sole survivor. Well deserved.

WWE Title match ends the show. Cena has "new ring gear," which is basically khaki-colored shorts and a black shirt. JBL notes Cena is 7-0 at Survivor Series coming into this PPV.

Punk trying what he can to get the upper hand, but Ryback and Cena get rid of him. Ryback and Cena staredown. Split chants for Cena again. Ryback no-sells just about everything. Cena having to use restholds to wear Ryback down. Cena with his slam to set up the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but Ryback even no-sells that. Cena's face is priceless. Ryback hits Punk with the meathook clothesline. Ryback going for Shellshocked, but Cena takes Ryback down and locks in the STF. Punk with the Savage elbow to Cena -- and I guess he was confident that Ryback wouldn't tap. Punk and Cena trade shots, then Ryback comes in and clotheslines both of them. Ryback chucks both guys to the outside?! Double Shellshocked? Punk and Cena counter out and beat Ryback down. Strange bedfellows moment. Double suplex and Ryback through the announce table! Cena's moves of doom to Punk. AA countered. Punk hits the GTS, but only two! Punk stunned. AA out of nowhere, and that only gets two. Punk kick ducked, STF countered, high knee from Punk in the corner. Bulldog countered, STF from Cena! Ryback pulls Cena out, meathook clothesline. Punk crawls to the opposite corner. Ryback with meathook clothesline. Shellshocked! Cena breaks it up at the last second. Ryback with Shellshocked to Cena.

Three guys in black storm the ring?! It's Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose! NXT representing! They take out Ryback and send him through the Spanish table. Cena's still out in the ring. Punk crawls to pin Cena and gets three. Punk has survived one year as champ.

That was one bizarre way to end this match, but we finally see the TV debut of Dean Ambrose. He's been hyped for a long time, so it's good to see WWE pull the trigger. The three guys will reportedly be on RAW, possibly to explain why they did what they did.

I thought it was a solid PPV. I had Punk retaining, although I doubt anyone could have called the NXT guys attacking. Ryback may get a side feud with these "men in black," and since Punk pinned Cena again, the champ will make it clear he's done with John as well. With the TLC PPV next month, Punk probably has one more big match to clear before facing Rock at Royal Rumble. It'll probably be a TLC match, but will they really thrust Cena into the picture AGAIN? Guess we'll all know more as the weeks progress. ***1/4

Saturday, November 17, 2012

11/16/12 Smackdown

Ratings:
Damien Sandow vs. Kofi Kingston: **

Layla, Kaitlyn, & Natalya vs. Eve Torres, Alicia Fox, & Aksana: *1/4

Randy Orton & Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler & Alberto Del Rio: **1/2

Wade Barrett vs. Kane: N/A

Antonio Cesaro vs. Sin Cara: *1/2

Big Show vs.Great Khali: 1/2*
___________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Show takes place in Cleveland tonight. Sheamus waits for Big Show in the parking lot.

Miz TV starts it off. More evidence that Miz is becoming a face, as Chimel announces Miz as "Cleveland's own" to get the extra pop. "Miz is awesome" chants. He's even on the Survivor Series poster. Guest is Mick Foley. Foley questions which Miz shows up at Survivor Series. Foley calls all his team members out -- and each have had past feuds with Miz in some way. No team unity tonight. Hey, Orton with the thumbtack reference from 2004! Team Ziggler brings his team out to the stage. No Cody because he's nursing injuries from the Kane match on Main Event. Cody's status for Survivor Series uncertain as of Friday's show. More dysfunction on Team Ziggler. Del Rio says he should be the leader.

Sandow faces Kofi next. Sandow slowly showing me more moves. Decent match. Sandow with the rollup for three.

Six-diva tag match. At least they got more time here than on RAW. Layla slaps Aksana's ass and hits Aksana with her own ass. Really? Kaitlyn's getting hot tags now. Never would have believed it, but she's looking respectable in that ring. Kaitlyn knocks Alicia into Eve, then a reverse DDT gets three.

Booker tells Sheamus to wait 48 hours to get his hands on Big Show. Sheamus can't promise he'll restrain himself.

Ziggler/ADR vs. Orton/Miz next. Both teams seem to be well-oiled machines at this stuff, not surprising. Orton with the "shove tag" to Miz. Miz eats up the crowd pops. JBL says fans probably will turn on Miz like they did LeBron James. Ha. JBL rules. Miz gets worked over, then hot tag to Orton. Orton ready for the RKO, but Miz tags himself in. SCF for three as Orton looks pissed. RKO to Miz. Yup.

Sheamus to the ring for a serious promo. He doesn't want to wait until Sunday and wants Show now. Show on the stage saying he's scared of what he'll do to Sheamus. Sheamus doesn't care and wants to fight now. Booker ejects Sheamus. Show butters up to Booker afterward. Show gets a match tonight. No one's bigger than Big Show...right?

Barrett faces Kane. Team Ziggler storms the ring and the ref calls for the bell. Well, that was short. No rating. DB comes down, then Kofi and Orton. RKOs for Sandow and Ziggler.

Truth on commentary as Cesaro faces Sin Cara. Another average match here with the Sin Cara stuff. Cesaro with the Euro uppercut and Neutralizer for three. Truth wants to quote Hacksaw Jim Duggan, so the crowd naturally went "HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" But yeah, it's the "USA!" stuff Truth wanted.

So yeah, no one's bigger than Show, right? KHALI! DAMMIT, WHY?! No JBL, it's not a great idea. Khali's the one guy that moves slower than Big Show. Molasses in the ring. Show spear was cool, but only two. No chokeslam, Khali with the giant hand for two. No Punjabi Plunge. WMD for three.

Sheamus' music plays, but no Sheamus. Show walks to his bus. Poor Matt Striker nearly gets KO'd again. Sheamus waiting in the bus. Brawl time! Car windows and windshields busted. Multiple officials need to restrain Sheamus. 48 hours! End show.

11/15/12 Superstars

Ratings:
Heath Slater & Jinder Mahal vs. Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso: **

Great Khali vs. JTG: DUD
___________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Slater and Jinder represent 3MB against the Usos. Feels like the standard tag match at the start. Jey isolated for several minutes. Jimmy (large tattoo on the left arm and shoulder) gets the hot tag. Lots of energy at the end. Good finish with Slater hitting the Smash Hit for three.

AJ scandal segment from RAW fills in some time.

Replay of the Falls Count Anywhere match between Orton and Del Rio on Smackdown. Great stuff here, fellas.

Khali and JTG on Superstars. Unreal that these two are still employed. At this rate, JTG's virtually assured of getting future endeavored soon. Nice oversell on the Khali slaps, though. Khali wins with the overhand shot to JTG's head.

Show ends with replaying Punk and Cena from RAW. Cena and Ryback both grab Punk's title as the champ looks on.

Friday, November 16, 2012

11/15/12 Impact

Ratings:
Rob Van Dam vs. Kid Kash (X-Division Title): **1/4

Jesse vs. Eric Young: *3/4

Kurt Angle & Garett Bischoff vs. Devon & (unnamed Aces & Eights member): *1/2

Knockouts Battle Royal: *1/4

Bobby Roode vs. James Storm: ***
__________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Three-man booth again. Taz, Keneley, and Tenay. Might be a permanent thing. I'm a fan of Keneley's work so far. He does a pretty damn good job.

James Storm starts the show thanking the people for getting him back to the #1 contender spot. Roode comes out. This feud will never end, will it? Roode with the bottle of beer. Storm slugs RR and RR bails. Storm wants to fight Bobby. He accepts, but only if Storm puts up the #1 contender spot. Storm eventually accepts.

Aces & Eights meeting. Doc has to give up his jacket despite what he did to Sting. Devon throws another dart, so I guess A&E has a new target to take out.

X-Division Title match between RVD and Kash, two veterans who should know each other pretty damn well. Kash showing the lucha stuff here, impressive. RVD with the monkey flip and five-star frog splash to win.

Hmm, what if ODB and Eric Youngboth win tonight? Lots of fried chicken and beer?

Angle seeks a tag partner. Garett Bischoff and Wes Brisco make their cases, and Angle picks Garett. Angle says he has big plans for Wes.

Jesse and Eric Young next. Jesse with an impressive vertical on that dropkick. Helps to be in the ring with a ring veteran, doesn't it? EY drops the shorts and it's hulk-up Speedo time. ODB takes out Tara, but EY's distracted long enough for Jesse to get the upper hand. Tara then takes out ODB. Jesse with a jumping stunner for three.

Joseph Park still wants one more match with A&E. Hulk says no. Park somehow sees it that Hulk wants him to go to wrestling school. Good grief.

Magnus was to get ANOTHER TV Title shot? Didn't matter, because A&E took him out. Doc's there with ballpeen hammer and nukes both of Magnus' legs. Devon about to do the KO shot with the baseball bat, but Bully makes the save.

Aries says it's not over between him and Jeff Hardy. Great ladder match at the PPV. Massage time!

Angle and Bischoff face Devon and some large unnamed A&E member. Angle worked over here, and just as he starts the comeback, A&E members take out Bischoff. Wes Brisco races down with a lead pipe to scare A&E off. Angle with the low blow to that big A&E prospect and a rollup for three. Match was OK, I guess.

Knockout Battle Royal only has five ladies, and that's with Mickie James and Gail Kim back on the roster. Glad that Mickie's fine after docs discovered a benign tumor in Mickie. Tessmacher the first eliminated so there are two faces and two heels. Madison eliminated after ODB spits the liquid courage in her face. Gail tosses out ODB. Fitting that Mickie and Gail are the last two to make sure there's a fresh feud. Mickie sends Gail off the apron with a wheel kick to claim the #1 contender spot.

Looks like Doc was gonna get booted out of the group, but it was all a joke.

AJ Styles speaks out regarding what happened at Turning Point. Again, no World Title shot until BFG 2013. Tough year for him, that's for sure. He's not thankful for anything this year. Enter Daniels and Kaz to rub salt in the wound. Styles and Daniels one last time, date TBD. Can't complain after seeing the stuff they pull off.

Next week is Open Fight Night. Aries will call someone out. Also, all four previous winners of Gut Check return...finally.

Angle pitches Wes Brisco to be the next Gut Check contestant. Not a bad idea. I'd like to see what he brings to the table other than wielding a lead pipe.

Storm and Roode one more time in the main event. Borash with the main event intros. Roode removed the top turnbuckle pad early on. Roode works on Storm's left arm for several minutes. Storm and Roode with a bunch of back-and-forth offense in the last few minutes. Several near falls. RR with the crossface, but Storm to the ropes. Crowd gets behind Storm. Backstabber and codebreaker to Roode. Storm signals for Last Call. RR shoves the ref in front, then tosses Storm into the exposed steel turnbuckle ring. Rollup with the tights for three. Makes a bit more sense with Roode facing Hardy, but I just wonder why they didn't just have RR win at Turning Point. Keep it simple, dammit.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

11/14/12 NXT

Ratings:
Conor O'Brian & Kenneth Cameron vs. Yoshi Tatsu & Percy Watson: 1/2*

Corey Graves vs. Oliver Gray: DUD

Layla vs. Aksana: *

Roman Reigns vs. Chase Donovan: N/A (squash)

Jinder Mahal vs. Bo Dallas: *3/4
___________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Jinder basically calls Bo Dallas a nobody, so a rematch tonight with the #1 contender spot again on the line. Well played, Bo. Definitely see a resemblance to his father.

Yoshi Tatsu and Percy Watson are still employed? Conor O'Brian with a shaved head. Better than being labeled a rat. A virtual squash here. Fall of Man (high-low) wins it for Ascension. Crowd pretty much dead for this one.

Layla with the "real talk" reference! Win. Aksana and Layla in a match? Um, not really a win.

Corey Graves to the ring. Reminds me of a non-freestyle John Cena thuganomics guy. Going with the jean jacket and tattoos instead. Graves is a body modification specialist. Couple of botches that looked like a mix of Gray being too green and lack of chemistry. Oliver Gray jobs tonight to the Savior of Misbehavior. Graves uses some type of leglock for a submission win. It wasn't the worst thing ever, but I thought this one was very forgettable.

Looks like that Graves/Gray match was taped in October (middle rope is still pink).

Big E Langston promo again?! Basically, he's not worried about the bounty. Didn't like the promo. Too rigid, seems unsure what to say. No passion or flow to his promo other than the word "five." Camacho with a forearm to the back of Langston's neck and a quick taunt before taking off. That was a huge waste of my time.

Layla and Aksana at least got more time than the divas match on RAW. Aksana does the sensual crawling on the apron instead of attacking Layla. Yeah, that was smart. At least Aksana knows how to apply a headscissors. Layla with a quick high kick to the head for three.

Bray Wyatt taped segment. I love the preaching stuff he does. Just wish he would be wrestling more.

Roman Reigns with a pretty quick win over Chase Donovan. Reigns now dubbed as that big blue-chip prospect.

Bo's entrance video is a bit generic with some patriotic feel to it. Jinder controls most of the offense, then the short Bo comeback. Bo then into the middle turnbuckle, then Camel Clutch from Jinder for the win. Too bad. Woulda been a nice win for Bo. Jinder continues the assault until Seth Rollins makes the save. Not sure yet when that NXT Title match will take place (no, I don't read spoilers on this stuff).

11/14/12 Main Event

Ratings:
Daniel Bryan & Kane vs. Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow (Tag Team Titles): **3/4

Santino Marella vs. David Otunga: *1/2
___________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
This week, it seems real fitting that Miz is doing color commentary after what happened on RAW. WWE probably turning Miz face soon.

Vintage bickering between Daniel Bryan and Kane. Rhodes Scholars takes out DB before the tag title match. Kane slugs DB on accident and there's another possible implosion. Allows Rhodes Scholars to take advantage. Kane back body drops Cody on his shoulder and side of his head; that can't feel good. DB misses a headbutt and Cody goes on offense. Rhodes Scholars works on DB's ribs, hurt from the backstage attack. Sandow isolates DB while Cody tries to shake off the cobwebs. Kane gets the hot tag and takes care of business. Chokeslam to Sandow. Tag to DB?!?! Wow, they're on the same page! Top-rope headbutt gets three.

After the match, Miz wants the handshake. HUG IT OUT! Aw, no hug. Sad panda.

Thoughts from Ziggler regarding Rhodes Scholars losing. Ziggler says he's a leader and isn't worried. Miz with the "I've main evented a PPV" stuff. Ziggler with the passionate Mr. MITB promo. Real good back-and-forth stuff here. Ziggler and Miz next week on Main Event. Awesome.

How did Otunga get a match on WWE Main Event? Oh, to job to Santino. Win after hitting the Cobra. Typical Santino match that the fans enjoyed.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

11/12/12 RAW (Lawler Returns)

Ratings:
Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler: *3/4

Randy Orton & Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio & Dolph Ziggler: **1/4

Big Show vs. William Regal: N/A (squash)

Kaitlyn vs. Layla: N/A (too short)

Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Justin Gabriel, & Tyson Kidd vs. Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Primo, & Epico: ***1/4

R-Truth vs. Tensai: *

Ryback vs. Brad Maddox: N/A (super squash)

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

Kane & Miz vs. Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow: *3/4

John Cena vs. CM Punk: ***1/2
__________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
With things being even more hectic in real life right now, pleaseforgiveme in advance if the ratings are delayed and either get ridiculously short or non-existent. Survivor Series is this coming Sunday, as a note.

Veteran's Day edition of RAW starts with Cole and Ross on commentary. Orton and Ziggler start the wrestling off. A good match, but real short. Del Rio tries to cost Orton the match, but Randy avoids the rocker dropper and rolls Ziggler up anyway for three. Pretty hot crowd to start. 3-on-1 assault afterward on Orton. Kofi downfor the save.

Teddy Long comes out because Vickie is "tied up" with the AJ Scandal and makes a tag match on behalf of Booker T. Sounds OK to me. Kofi gets worked over, then hot tag to Orton. Nice snap powerslam from Orton out of the cross armbreaker counter. Ziggler late on the pin breakup on the Kingston SOS, so ref hesitation to avoid counting three looked awkward. Ricardo distracts Kofi and ADR with that enzuigiri in the corner for three.

Vickie and Ziggler in the ring. AJ Scandal time. Vickie calls AJ out to explain herself before this new incriminating evidence is revealed. Vickie basically telling AJ to admit this affair, but AJ refuses. Oh, there's the whole "weight" joke again at Vickie. Seriously, Vickie's actually lost weight. And now, we have voicemails. AJ says they're edited. Ziggler rubs salt in the wound. Cena comes out to a HUGE pop, AJ slaps Ziggler, and Cena with a right hand. I don't like the use of this AJ Scandal crap, but if it means Ziggler gets a good feud out of this, I can deal with it.

I get to envy Cena now that he gets to work with AJ. Dammit, Cena.

We get footage of that brawl at the English pub last week. Show and Regal next. Nothing really to mention here, other than Show wins in a squash via chokeslam. Show wants to KO Regal, but Sheamus with the save.

Divas action quickly with Layla and Kaitlyn. Eve on commentary. Does it really matter who wins and faces the champ? Ugh. Kaitlyn with that reverse DDT to win it. Screw rating that one. Too short.

WWE has an eerie video package on when Jerry Lawler collapsed on RAW over two months ago. Lawler's return is next. Cole and Ross go in the ring to introduce the King. An awesome pop for Lawler when he made his way down the ramp. Nice short speech from King.

Punk basically interrupts the festivities. Fitting, don't you think? Punk milking the heart attack and the death stuff for all they are worth, even blaming Lawler for trying to relive the glory days. And then the topper was the fake heart attack with Heyman. Yeah, I can definitely see how people think WWE went too far with this one.

Foley comes out. The WWE Universe picks the last member of Team Foley to fill Ryback's spot. Foley's the special guest enforcer for the Cena/Punk match tonight.

8-man tag match! Yay tag division! I'll never get tired of Mysterio's offense. Last few minuteswere just awesome. 619 and a 450 end it. Mysterio and Sin Cara mock the "millions of dollars" dance. Ha!

Paul Heyman wants a talk with Brad Maddox. So is this how Maddox gets his million bucks?

Miz still not in a Survivor Series match since he quit what was Team Punk. Ziggler the new captain dangles the carrot for Miz to crawl back on the team. Foley says two members of Ziggler's team (Rhodes Scholars) against two of his team (Kane and whoever the WWE Universe picks as the Ryback replacement). And hey, Miz is on the ballot for getting picked! Awesome!

R-Truth will face Cesaro at Survivor Series for the U.S. Title, and tonight it's Tensai. Cesaro on commentary (nice suit). Tensai with only basic offense again. Truth wins again with Little Jimmy. Sounds about right. Truth even with a knock-knock joke. Did he just say he was gonna knock Cesaro's teeth down his esophagus? Facepalm.

Maddox and Ryback with that million-dollar contract for Brad on the line. I love the EMTs and the ambulance on the scene. Maddox plays keepaway at the start. Basically just a big-time beatdown from Ryback. No contract for Maddox. However, Maddox will probably play a part in the triple threat at Survivor Series. Just keep the "talk" in mind that Maddox and Heyman probably had.

Maddox put on the stretcher, but Ryback nukes Brad around ringside now. Brad driven into the ambulance, then tossed inside it. Ambulance takes Brad away. Ouch. Maybe he won't be at the PPV then....

Sheamus and Otunga go at it. McGillicutty, Aksana, and Regal watch in the back. White Noise...FELLA! Brogue Kick quickly ends it. Sheamus vows to take back his World Title, but Show beats up Regal and KOs him. Concussion and possible broken jaw for Regal.

Daniel Bryan with the classic pouty NO! stuff to Kane. It was so pathetically good.

Santino, Ryder, or Miz are the choices to be Kane's partner and Foley's fifth guy on the team. THE MIZ! YES! YES! Daniel Bryan comes out. There was an "I'm with Goat Face" sign. I WANT THAT SIGN ON A T-SHIRT!

Miz now would make a pretty good babyface. DB with the distraction to get Rhodes Scholars the upper hand. Kane gets the hot tag. DB goes after Miz. Miz throws DB into Cody. Cody tossed back in. Kane with chokeslam for three. Teamwork! And Kane's in the middle of all this again!

Tribute to the Troops is back again at the end of the year!

Punk and Cena in the main event. Foley at ringside. Actual wrestling to start, but still the usual split chants for and against Cena. Yet another masterpiece in this rivalry. Counter after counter. Punk breaks out the Koji Clutch again! YES! And Cole and Lawler have no idea what the move is called. Heyman involved when Punk's in the STF. Foley pulls Heyman out. Punk with a kick to the head for two. GTS countered into STF! Crowd going pretty nuts for a RAW. Punk tries to leave. Ryback blocks that. Cena with an AA for three. Staredown between Ryback and Cena over the WWE Title to end the show. Feed me more chants pick up. They both pick up the title while Punk looks on the outside. Outstanding.

Monday, November 12, 2012

11/11/12 Turning Point

Ratings:
Samoa Joe vs. Magnus (No DQ; TV Title): ***1/2

Eric Young & ODB vs. Jesse & Tara: **

Rob Van Dam vs. Joey Ryan (X-Division Title): **1/4

Doc vs. Joseph Park: *3/4

Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez vs. Christopher Daniels & Kazarian (Tag Team Titles): ***1/4

James Storm vs. Bobby Roode vs. AJ Styles: ***3/4

Kurt Angle vs.Devon: **1/2

Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries (Ladder; World Title): ****
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Taz starts the show in the ring acknowledging Hurricane Sandy and the victims affected by that storm. Orlando's Buckethead and TNA's Bully Ray come out. They want to break a Guinness world record for most people texting donations at one time. Going to the American Red Cross. Nice gesture.

Now TNA has a three-man booth for PPVs. Todd Keneley joins Taz and Tenay.

TV Title match up first. No DQ, and it doesn't take long in getting physical on the outside. Ring of Honor reference! Joe kicking Magnus' ass all over the ring, then Magnus throws a chair in Joe's face. Typical Joe offense, but Magnus impressed with his own submission attempts. Good crowd for this. Two top-rope elbows only get two. Even got split chants going here. Corkscrew from Joe late in the match. Muscle Buster...TWO?! Awesome. Double bird from Magnus and the fighting spirit. Joe with slaps and the choke for the win. Great way to start.

Nice to see Eric Young back on TV. And a shark ate his phone! Mixed tag match next, but here, I guess it's OK for guys and gals to (sorta) wrestle each other. Matching colors for Tara and Jesse. Crowd welcomes EY back. Tag partners kiss and then a double elbow drop. Now I've seen everything. EY looks good in the ring despite the time off. Typical EY tag match with the humor and serious bits. ODB with the hot tag and she gets physical on Jesse. EY with the blind tag, then an elbow drop to Jesse for three.

No Matt Morgan (per Hulk's stipulation) for the X-Division Title match. Joey said he told Matt to stay in the back, not because Hulk said so. Crowd really loves RVD. Joey pushes RVD off the top to get on offense. Back and forth they go, but RVD hits the five-star for the win. RVD celebrates on the stage, and Morgan comes out with the carbon footprint. Sounds about right.

Doc and Joseph Park next. Nice to see Luke Gallows have a high-profile role in the company. Park still has no ring music. I've never associated a guy like Joseph Park with quickness, but he did that to stay away from Doc early on. Doc punches the post with his left hand, but can still get shots in with his right. Ref took the studded belt away, but didn't take the chair away earlier? Way to go. Just a basic beatdown from Doc now. Doc then busts Park open with a belt shot behind the ref's back. Park sees red. Remember what happened against Bully Ray? Same thing here. Kinda like the hulking up aspect. Park with the Black Hole Slam generates a big pop, but that's basically the bright spot of the match. Splash for two. Park with a chair to Doc, but only two again. Doc with a chokeslam out of nowhere for three. Sudden finish and damn, that felt long.

Doc with more beating up afterward. Ball-peen hammer again! Bully Ray for the save. Who woulda thunk that a few months ago?

Tag title match next. Crowd still red hot for Chavo. Chavo feeding off the rage Kaz and Daniels caused. Great tag offense from the champs, isolating Kaz. Chavo misses the frog splash and the challengers isolate him. Kaz and Daniels target Chavo's ribs. ROFL at double Gangnam Style moment. Hernandez gets the hot tag. Seeing Hernandez skin the cat and do the clothesline shows how he and Sheamus can have some similarities on moves. Chavo with a crossbody on Daniels (perched on Hernandez) for the win. Strong finish to retain.

It's time for the #1 contender's three-way match. Just to clarify, it's only the guy who gets pinned (or submits) that has to wait until next year's Bound for Glory for his next title shot. What can I say...you knew it would be awesome from the start. You also have to appreciate the complexity the three-way matches take on. Give one guy a chance to breathe while the other two go at it, but the switches are incredibly seamless. Figure four from Styles, so his affiliation with Flair was worth something. Styles smart to target Storm's legs and take the Last Call away. Loved the Beer Money tease, and Storm was ready for the Roode cheap shot. Signature moves galore. AJ misses springboard 450. Roode spear for two. Crossface but Styles counters to get two. Uranagi from Roode?! That gets two. Roode looks for the fisherman's, but backstabber from Storm to Roode. Last Call to Styles, and that gets three. Poor AJ will have to wait nearly a year.

Next up are Angle and Devon. Taz gets all giddy seeing Devon's studded belt, similar to the one Doc had against Joseph Park. Rare botch from these guys on the powerbomb attempt, but they got back to their spot quickly. Devon misses a headbutt, Angle Slam for two. Aces & Eights members surround the ring. Angle with the ankle lock out of nowhere for the submission win. Angle smartly bails quickly. Doc is incensed and says Angle's next on the hitlist.

Main event is the Ladder match for the World Title. Gotta take both belts off the top to win, I guess. Main event intros. Hardy places the ladder upside down, then basically misses a move and impales his body on the steel support to the ladder. OW. Guess we need a new ladder. Aries was smart to wedge Hardy under a ladder and the steel steps. Hardy escaped and nearly got to the belts but got knocked off. Again ow. Second ladder now busted up. Looked like a botch on the counter to the brainbuster, but leads to a Hardy Japanese arm drag on Aries into the ladder. Hardy rides the ladder down and splashes Aries...cool. Hardy climbs, Aries dropkicks the ladder, and Hardy goes flying AGAIN. Ladder sandwich in corner, then Aries with the brainbuster. Aries to the top of the ladder -- and Hardy meets him there. Twist of Fate off the top of the ladder! Swanton! Woohoo! Aries to the outside. Hardy to the top of the ladder. HA! Aries is at the controls and raises the hook carrying the titles! AWESOME. Hardy nukes Aries again, then gets a bigger ladder. Aries meets him up there, and they topple onto the ladder resting in the corner. Big ladder falls. Hardy Twist of Fate on Aries on that smaller ladder in the corner. Hardy climbs big ladder and retains. Damn good match. Most of the ladder spots were at least variations of stuff I'd seen before, but you have to admit, it's still cool to watch. Match of the night for me.

I thought it was a solid show overall. Each match delivered in some way except that Joseph Park "match." I miss Abyss, dammit. ***1/2

Friday, November 9, 2012

11/8/12 Superstars

Ratings:
Jimmy Uso vs. Jinder Mahal: **1/2

Justin Gabriel vs. Tensai: *1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Jimmy Uso and Jinder Mahal start the show. Jey Uso and Heath Slater accompany their respective tag partners. Jinder's now a class clown after being the serious Hindi guy previously. Fairly standard stuff with a little action on the outside. Nice counters into pinning predicaments in the latter stages of the match. Superkick and superfly splash gets three for Jimmy.

Just learned earlier that Drew McIntyre's mother passed away recently, my condolences to him and his family.

Replay of the AJ Scandal segment from RAW.

Next up is Gabriel and Tensai. Crowd clearly pro-Gabriel. Gabriel chucked off the top to the floor, and he holds his left ankle. Tensai with the methodical beatdown, several different moves. JG beat down for a while, but somehow gets a rollup for the win. Yet again confirming Tensai is buried in midcard status, the hype of those vignettes just all for naught.

"Fandango" video to hype Johnny Curtis' new gimmick. Only one "o" in Fandango. Wondering why I devoted three sentences in this post to this.

Show ends with the Brad Maddox explanation and Vince saying Maddox can have a million-dollar contract if he defeats Ryback on RAW next Monday. Again, you'll probably see some fluke countout or DQ win for Maddox.

11/8/12 Impact

Ratings:
Bobby Roode vs. AJ Styles: ***

ODB vs. Tara & Jesse: *1/4

Kurt Angle & Sting vs. Devon & Doc: **1/2

Kazarian, Christopher Daniels, & Magnus vs. Chavo Guerrero, Hernandez, & Samoa Joe: ***1/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Turning Point is on Sunday, so this is the final show before the PPV. Now I see the ring canvas has transparent labels on them. Proceeds to benefit military groups.

Storm now on commentary as Styles takes on Roode. Physical, competitive match here. AJ with the comeback, leads to several near falls. Countering finishers and other signature moves. Frustrated Roode goes for the chair. Storm distracts Roode and AJ springboards onto Roode. AJ then distracted. Roode catches AJ coming with another springboard move and covers for three.

Last week, the former Luke Gallows got unmasked as one of the Aces & Eights members. He's now known as "Doc" in TNA. Doc means "director of chaos."Tagging with Devon later to face Sting and Angle.

Joseph Park in the ring. He begs Hulk to get another match with Aces & Eights. Hulk isn't willing to give Park another match, saying he was lucky. Bully Ray comes out. A complete 180 from Bully, who now endorses Park. Playing the respect card and the heart card. Hulk relents and Park gets his match at Turning Point.

Again, no Eric Young. Probably filming his show and stuff. ODB still wants to take on Tara and Jesse. Why are the Knockouts Tag belts still there?! Fun stuff when ODB's on offense. Good laugh when ODB hit the drop toehold on Tara, sending her head into Jesse's nuts. Double bronco buster. ODB spear and rollup for three. Fun. 2-on-1 assault afterward, and Widow's Peak hit on ODB. Emptying the liquid courage on ODB.

ODB calls EY and gets the voicemail. She wants Eric to be there on Sunday to challenge Tara and Jesse again. Again, Knockouts tag titles remain irrelevant.

Judges contemplating Christian York's Gut Check fate. Taz seems committed to voting "yes." Al's hesitant. Prichard plays the moderator position. Big question is whether York can break out of the tag team wrestler mold and be a singles star. Nice jacket, Al.

Huge tag match next. Angle and Sting face Devon and Doc. Brawling to start. Doc's moving pretty well in the ring. Helps to have Devon as a tag partner. Sting takes a bunch of punishment but eventually makes the hot tag to Angle. Angle Slam to Devon, but Doc breaks it up. Sting comes back in to take Doc out. Scorpion Death Lock to Doc. Devon grabs the black baseball bat and nukes Sting and Angle for the DQ.

Bully Ray runs to the ring and clotheslines Devon. Bully grabs a table. Crowd's going nuts. Devon bolts and Bully chases after him. Two more A&E guys help Doc. Ball-peen hammer to Sting! They put Sting through the table. Doc with several HARD shots to Sting with that hammer. OW. TNA guys storm the ring a bit late. Damn.

Christian York Gut Check voting. Taz with a quick yes. Prichard weighing the pros and cons, and feels like he should get a shot as a singles star. It's a yes as well! Well deserved.

Aries continues to find a loophole to prevent returning Hardy's title belt (the nice one, not the custom belt) tonight. Hulk earlier in the show demanded that Aries return it or give up the title shot.


Matt Morgan tells Hulk that the Hall of Famer doesn't know who he's messing with. I hope this leads to a good Morgan push. Excellent size and good agility, just gotta take advantage of it all.

Six-man tag up next. Joe always makes me cringe when he hits someone. Chavo still with that black tape on the right shoulder. Hernandez rockin' the Superman logo on the shorts. Hernandez with the hot tag from Chavo. Tag to Joe. He and Magnus go at it. Quick pace at the end with signature moves. Outstanding finish getting Chavo out of the picture. Then a high-low from Daniels/Kaz and a top-rope Magnus elbow to pin Joe.

Aries promo end the show. Fans want Hardy. Will Aries accept the ladder match stipulation? Of course he does. Nice "best in the world" reference. Aries still says he's the best pro wrestler in the universe. Hardy comes out and they brawl for a bit. Hardy tries the Twist of Fate, but I guess Aries slipped out at the last second (or so Tenay says). Hardy puts both belts on a double-sided hook and has it raised to the rafters. Nice visual for the main event at Turning Point.

Hardy climbs to the top of the ladder and poses, but Aries pulls the ladder to send Hardy flying off. Aries positions ladder over Hardy, climbs to the top, and poses. Good build for Sunday.


Nice in-ring action, good promos. Storylines furthered. I thought it was a very solid go-home show for Turning Point.
____________________

Doing some quick predictions:
Hardy should win the rematch between him and Aries to retain the World Title. It should be an awesome match. Have to envision a decent run for Jeff.

Predicting Doc to win against Joseph Park due to Aces and Eights interference.

Chavo and Hernandez should retain the tag belts against Daniels and Kaz.

I think Magnus has a decent chance to win the TV title against Samoa Joe. No DQ stipulation could play a factor in the outcome. Ensured to be a hard-hitting affair.

I think Joey Ryan should win the X-Division Title over RVD. Only thing that could prevent this is if TNA management thinks RVD could stick around longer and remain happy without the title. RVD is one of those characters that could easily disappear from TV for months at a time.

Tara and Jesse likely to win against ODB and Eric Young. EY's off camera way too much these days and it seems right to give the new "power couple" (Tara and Mr. Pec-tacular) a win to solidify that status.

Devon should win against Angle if A&E gets involved. Angle could still pull it out, but if TNA eventually wants Devon and Bully to feud, Devon should go over.

I'm finding the #1 contender's triple threat match hard to call. Styles, Storm, or Roode? No matter what the outcome of this match and the World Title match is, we should get something good at Final Resolution next month. I frankly think AJ Styles should get the win for all that Claire Lynch crap he went through. There will seemingly always be that bad blood with Storm and Roode. I'll cancel Roode out only because there's that hanging stipulation on not getting a shot if Aries is champ (don't want to have that come into play at any point). Storm has seemingly been climbing for eons chasing that title, so he has an excellent shot to win on Sunday. Remember, the two guys that lose don't get another title shot until next year's Bound for Glory -- October 2013. High stakes for sure.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

11/7/12 Main Event

Ratings:
Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett: ***3/4

Heath Slater vs. R-Truth: *3/4
_________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
We're in Birmingham, England. Cole and Miz hype Sheamus and Barrett, which is next.

Speaking of show...Big Show comes out for commentary. They replay the cell phone video of Big Show starting a fight in a nearby pub with Sheamus and Regal. Gotta love the video packages for Barrett and Sheamus. Sheamus comes down and goes straight for Big Show. Refs gotta restrain everyone.

Match eventually starts. All of a sudden, Cole's grown a set and dares to question Show's actions when sitting right next to the giant. Nice to reference ShoMiz and the ironclad contract during all that. Barrett gets on offense and the crowd responds favorably. Crowd really pro-Barrett, while there are a few people still cheering for Sheamus (sounds like the kids). Barrett even gets on the padded barricade and delivers an elbow to Sheamus on the outside...huh?! Gotta milk the home crowd for all its worth. Cole still the antagonist with ShoMiz there. It's like he's poking two bears while sitting right in the middle.

Sheamus and Barrett make it through a second commercial break. Crowd hasn't let up on electricity. Sheamus builds momentum late in the match. Wade's back thrust mule kick is pretty damn cool, I must say. Celtic Cross countered, Bossman slam from Wade for two. Irish Curse gets two. Wade pulls Sheamus off the top and gets two. Tons of near falls here. Wade tries the flying elbow again but Sheamus gets the knees up. Sheamus with White Noise to Barrett. Show leaves ringside. Sheamus hits the Brogue Kick for three. I'd call it the best match on Main Event to date. Show with the applause on the stage, then still holds the title high.

Striker asks Show multiple times to comment on Sheamus and the title match. Show decks Striker with the WMD. Don't poke the bear too many times. Way to go.

Cole and Miz hype Ryback/Maddox for RAW. If Maddox can win against Ryback, he gets a million-dollar contract. Gotta have some type of countout or DQ finish, I'd reckon.

Slater and Truth in action. Again, Jinder's there, but no McIntyre. Cole says Drew's doing some booking, meeting with marketers and promoters, etc. I guess WWE also doesn't want the team getting cheered with Drew being from the UK. Truth with the comeback. Suplex-stunner from Truth, so Jinder decides it's wise to interfere and cause the DQ. Well, that ending sucked. Jinder with the Harley Race high knee to Truth. Smash Hit (impaler DDT) from Slater.

Featured match for Main Event next week: Tag Team Title match between Team Hell No and Team Rhodes Scholars. Should be a great one. Video package hyping the tag match ends the show.

11/7/12 NXT

Ratings:
Kassius Ohno vs. Trent Barreta: *3/4

Big E Langston vs. Memo Montenegro: N/A (squash)

Luke Harper vs. Jason Jordan: N/A (squash)

Bo Dallas vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Drew McIntyre (Elimination): **1/2
_________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Ohno and Barreta to start the show. Ohno with a unique use of the ring apron to stomp on Trent and deliver more punishment. Barreta with good fight in him throughout, throwing in a few decent counters. Ohno hits hard, that's for sure. Unfortunately, the crowd's just ridiculously dead. Was this the end of the taping session or something? Barreta with the missile dropkick, but Ohno avoids the knee. Trent runs right into a rolling elbow for three. It really coulda been at least two stars from me, but damn, that crowd needs to wake up.

Ohno wants to deliver another KO shot to the back of the neck but Trent ducks and hits a dropkick to send Ohno retreating.

Short taped promo to hype Graves. Lots of tattoos, reminds me of the stereotypical thug who's done time in prison. Graves has the words "STAY DOWN" on his knuckles. He has been on NXT before as Corey Graves, teaming with Jake Carter. Interesting that Graves (real name Matt Polinsky) is a professional piercer. He's got a good look, great upside.

Big E Langston faces Memo Montenegro (a.k.a. Del Rio's real-life younger brother). Poor Memo gets squashed in no time. Ref only counts three, but Langston (and the fans) want that five-count. So Langston does it himself. Crowd woke up here. Where was this last match?! Was this even the same crowd?!

Vickie Guerrero on the titantron saying she's put a $5,000 bounty on Langston. Vintage witch laugh. Wait, only $5,000? Vince offered a million bucks to Brad Maddox if he can win against Ryback next Monday. Money talks.

Some guy (Chad Baxter) tries to claim the bounty and gets squashed. Crowd chanting "Five!" So Baxter gets laid out.

Husky Harris...er, Bray Wyatt is back! He's been on the shelf for a while. Think a pastor who's high on drugs. Jason Jordan in the ring and he came to fight. Wyatt says he's a monster and he's never alone. Some tall, thick-bearded dude comes down, and somehow he reminds me of Eli Cottonwood. Seems like a makeshift match. Crowd is silent and probably confused as heck. Bossman slam gets three for this mystery man. Regal's right, he does look like he came out of swamp. Wyatt says the tall guy is Luke Harper, the "first son" of the Wyatt family. No rating from me. I'm probably just as confused as the next fan.

Saxton interviews Roman Reigns. Well, more like Reigns takes the mic and shoos Saxton away. Reigns says he's the man. OK, we get that. Some type of air signature gesture at the end. Nice suit. That really accomplished nothing.

#1 contender's fatal four way ends the show. It's an elimination match. Should be the match of the night by default, especially as Jim Ross joins the broadcast team. McIntyre and Jinder team up against Bo, even though they're not doing the 3MB thing for the tapings. Every man for himself! Nice to have Ross mention that four countries are represented here (five if you count that Jinder was born in Canada). Gabriel with great moves on McIntyre. Bo with the spear on Drew to send the Scotsman packing. Seconds later, Bo catches Gabriel with a spear to send the South African to the showers. Seth Rollins appears on the stage to see the finish. Gets physical with Jinder sending Bo hard into the steps. Bo goes for the spear later in the match, but his throat hits the second rope. Jinder with the camel clutch for the win. Good stuff.

Jinder then slaps on the clutch again, message directed at Rollins. Seth comes down, so Jinder goes to work on him. Jinder clutches and stares at that fugly belt, then Rollins gets shots in of his own to close the show. I actually wish Bo coulda won to get a new feud going, but he did look strong taking two guys out in mere seconds.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

11/6/12 Super Smackdown (Live)

Ratings:
Kofi Kingston vs. Miz (IC Title): **3/4

Titus O'Neil & Darren Young vs. Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara: *3/4

Sheamus & William Regal vs. Big Show & Wade Barrett: **1/2

Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio (Falls Count Anywhere): ***3/4
_________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Cole interviews Sheamus to start the show. Josh Mathews and JBL on commentary, and they mention a pub fight he and Regal had with Big Show. Vintage cell phone video! Sheamus praises Regal's career and feels Show stooped real low here. Show says he did Sheamus a favor by holding back, because he can KO Sheamus again. Sheamus says Show's full of it. Wade Barrett interrupts and questions Sheamus' sanity. Sheamus doesn't care and wants a fight.

Miz exercises his IC Title rematch clause against Kofi tonight. Kofi with the frenzied pace at the start. Kofi tweaks his left knee, so Miz spends time attacking that. Boomdrop hits, but no Trouble in Paradise. SCF countered into victory roll for two. Miz with half-crab, nice job. Fight on the top rope, but Kofi hits a high crosbody for three. Thought it'd go longer, but nice match.

Miz sticks out his hand for a handshake. Kofi doesn't believe him and dropkicks Miz out of the ring. Classy.

Time for the masked marvels to face the Primetime Players. Don't blink when Sin Cara is on offense. Rey gets the hot tag as Josh again brings up how Mysterio retired JBL. I'd love the retired life as well if I got to play golf and have a home in Bermuda. D-Young distracts Rey as he tries the 619. Sin Cara takes D-Young out, but Rey runs right into Clash of the Titus for three. Millions of dollars for these two!

Vickie tweets that she's been given more evidence in this AJ Scandal. Oh, she even has a typo in the hashtag (#CourgarInCharge).

Booker and Teddy Long business relationship is just fine. Teased tension but Booker was joking. Did a great job of it, too.

Regal gets a nice pop of his own here. Sheamus runs to the ring and we got a war. Barrett getting cheered against Sheamus. Rugged style between Regal and Barrett. Show then tees off on Regal and isolates him for several minutes. Regal with a running elbow to Barrett, leads to Sheamus hot tag. A few moves, but Show spears Sheamus. Regal tags in. Show no-sells the knee trembler and runs right into a KO punch for three.

Del Rio pulls the "he attacked me from behind" card with Orton. ADR vows to show people that he's the only apex predator in WWE.

The spelling for this new gimmick is now "Fandango" (without the extra "O" at the end).

Time for the Falls Count Anywhere match. Ricardo at ringside, a bigger factor now that this is a No DQ match. They do the vintage "fight in the crowd" spot and head to the backstage area. ADR gains control during the commercial break. Ricardo stays close to the action throughout. Orton hangman's DDT teased a couple of times -- once on the concrete -- but countered both times. More fighting in the crowd on the stairs. RR hands ADR a chair to use on Orton. Two chair shots get two. Second commercial break, and they're back in the ringside area. ADR grabs the big steel ringside steps and puts it in the ring. But hell, let's go to the stage! They've spent maybe less than two minutes in the ring so far. RR gets involved again, so Orton kicks him and beats him up in the red telephone booth. Superman's not coming out this time. Vintage Orton in the ring. ADR into the steel chair propped in the corner. Chair shot gets two. Nice to note that the ropes do NOT break the count on pinfalls. Orton goes through a table set up at ringside, but ADR only gets two. ADR trash talk to Orton. Cross armbreaker. Orton gets out by clocking ADR with the mic. Orton into the ringpost. Big steel steps positioned. ADR tries Orton's hangman's DDT on the chair, countered. ADR still tosses Orton into the steps. KO shot with the chair misses. Orton with an RKO on the steps for three. Awesome match.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

11/5/12 RAW

Ratings:
Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, & R-Truth vs. Antonio Cesaro, Titus O'Neil, & Darren Young: **1/4

Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan: *

Kane vs. Damien Sandow: *1/4

Sheamus vs. Miz: **1/2

Layla & Kaitlyn vs. Eve Torres & Aksana: 1/2*

Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio: **1/4

Santino Marella & Zack Ryder vs. Primo & Epico: *1/2

Wade Barrett vs. Brodus Clay: *1/2

Heath Slater vs. Jey Uso: *

John Cena & Ryback vs. CM Punk & Dolph Ziggler: **
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Birmingham, England, is the site for RAW this week. Always can expect a great crowd in the UK.

Miz not on the same page with Heyman and Punk. Miz quits Team Punk. Welp, sucks to be Paul.

Six-man tag starts the show. Cesaro continues to impress me. Great all-around game. Awesome finish. Sin Cara with the dizzying head scissors takedown into the 619, into Little Jimmy for the win. Pretty standard stuff, but the chemistry was there.

WWE hypes Jerry Lawler's return to RAW next week. Glad that he's still with us after his near-fatal heart attack.

Vickie Guerrero comes out to boos and ready to give this evidence. Cena's back in his green shirt this month because Breast Cancer Awareness month is over. Cena with the self-deprecating humor about his lack of wrestling moves...nice to see he's taken all this in stride. He brings up Vickie's past storyline with Edge and current run with Ziggler. What?! Continuity?! More hotel footage. AJ in a bathrobe, coming from one hotel room, knocking on another hotel door, and going in. We never see who actually opens the door. Video #2, purportedly of the same room, then shows Cena in a bath towel, put up that "Do Not Disturb" sign on the doorknob. Fans go nuts. Vickie wants AJ to come on out. AJ says she's not going out there because otherwise, Vickie's gonna get her ass kicked. Ziggler on camera to rub salt in the wound. Cena takes off and Vickie laughs like a wicked witch. Good segment here to further the storyline. Can we have more shows in the UK?

Heyman tries to recruit Wade Barrett again. Yup, Barrett's getting a huge pop in the UK! Barrett's on the team, but Paul owes him. And put that in writing. Smart man.

The crowd goes bonkers with the "YES" chants as Daniel Bryan comes down with Kane. Cody's already in the ring. Sandow in Cody's corner. Damien's also back in the pink tights. Real short match here. Sandow takes Kane out. DB takes out Sandow. Disaster Kick to DB, then Cross Rhodes in the ring for three.

Cody then runs his mouth that Sandow can beat Kane just as easily as he did with Daniel Bryan. Kane pulls Sandow in the ring and here we go! Nope, not as easy as beating Daniel Bryan, sorry. Ref ejects DB and Cody to the back. Sandow's screwed now. Kane chokeslam eventually ends things.

Cole asks Brad Maddox to explain his actions at the HIAC PPV and if he's working with Paul Heyman and CM Punk. Maddox says it was all him. "Feed me more!" chants. All Brad wanted to be was a WWE superstar. He once paid $2,000 for a tryout match, ouch. Brad then got a developmental contract but was told he wasn't good enough. He doesn't have the freak physique, lucha skills, etc. He still wanted to make an impact and be somebody. Brad wants a contract and a match with Ryback. Well, he'll be famous for sure now. HI VINCE! Vince will give Maddox a million-dollar contract if Brad defeats Ryback next week. I guess this means a countout or DQ win, right?

Vince brings out Vickie Guerrero for the vintage awkward segment. Vickie wants Ziggler in the WWE Title match, but Vince won't make that happen. Punk now defends the WWE Title at Survivor Series in a triple threat against Ryback and Cena. Double ouch. Sounds like Punk will be pinning Cena after Ryback does the dirty work. They wouldn't have Ryback pinned here, I don't think. Unless they have Maddox interfere again, I suppose.

Sheamus comes out for his match against Miz. Nice sign that spoofs off of one of Austin's shirts: "Arrive. Kick Arse. Leave." Big Show comes out for commentary and to watch the festivities. Show vows to KO Sheamus again at Survivor Series. Miz takes advantage of Show distracting Sheamus to gain the upper hand. Show intimidates Cole with the KO punch. More of that, please! Show basically being the guy who takes things the wrong way. Sheamus with the eventual comeback in this competitive match. White Noise and Brogue Kick for three. Show still holds the title aloft at Sheamus.

Team Punk now becomes Team Ziggler. Dolph captains a team for the first time, and frankly, I'm happy for the guy. Punk calls Vince a cranky old bastard...awesome. Vickie says the main event tonight is Punk and Ziggler vs. Ryback and Cena. Crowd loves it. Fifth guy for Team Foley to replace Ryback still TBD.

Fandangoo! WTF. I lost brain cells on that.

Time for divas tag action. Aksana doing all the sultry stuff but not many wrestling moves. Slow match with too many restholds or awkward-looking spots. Bombshell kick to Aksana, snap neckbreaker to Layla, then reverse DDT from Kaitlyn to Eve gets three. At least the finish looked good.

Kofi and Del Rio next. Pretty good here, although the crowd didn't seem as much into it as other matches. Counters on each guy's finishing moves. Kofi goes for the springboard crossbody but misses. ADR gives a signal for the cross armbreaker. Orton's music hits, but no one comes out. Kofi rolls ADR up for three. Sounds about right.

Oh, there's Orton. RKO to Del Rio and a no-remorse stare. Cole and Ross hype the Super Smackdown that goes live later today in Birmingham! Orton and Del Rio in a falls count anywhere match!

Team CoBro back in action against the Puerto Rican cousins. Vintage power walk from Santino. Ryder's very over with the crowd. Typical tag match. Santino with the cobra to Epico and the three-count. Double trombone!

Brodus faces Barrett. Anywhere else, Brodus gets the bigger pop, but we're in the UK. HUGE response for Wade. Huge Bossman slam from WB, plus strikes. Funkadactyls with hands on ears, tuning out the Barrett cheers. That's a good pose for them. Brodus tries on avalanche too many. Kick to the gut, then a Souvenir for three. Crowd should be going home happy there.

A reminder that Barrett faces Sheamus on Main Event (to air Wednesday), also taking place in the UK.

More of 3MB! Frankly, the best thing to happen to each guy lately. Slater's in action, and Jinder accompanies him to ringside. No McIntyre probably because he's from the UK and they don't want the faction cheered. Superkick from Uso, and JR makes the HBK reference. Sweet Island Music? Could be catchy. Uso misses the superfly splash, and Slater hits yet another new finisher (Smash Hit -- impaler DDT) for three.

Punk promo. Punk says he's being screwed at Survivor Series. He's gonna have to survive the PPV to become champ for a full year.

Time for the main event tag match. Cena and Punk with the chain wrestling at the start, then Cena and Ziggler pretty much do the same thing. Cena with a desperation AA to get Ryback in the match. Heels still manage to isolate Cena for a couple more minutes before Ryback gets in. Ryback cleans house and hits Shellshocked on Punk for three. Nice clean win there over the champ. A weakened Cena looks on as Ryback demands to be fed more.

Ten matches again, by my count. Bunch of people get airtime, and there are a few good matches, but not a ton of quality overall. Great fans in the UK made it a better show than it probably woulda been elsewhere.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

11/2/12 Smackdown

Ratings:
Darren Young vs. Sin Cara: *1/2

Rey Mysterio vs. Titus O'Neil: *

Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton: **1/4

Great Khali vs. David Otunga: DUD

R-Truth vs. Justin Gabriel: *3/4

Big Show & Miz vs. Sheamus & Kofi Kingston: **1/2
________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
We start things off with Miz TV. Guest is Sheamus, who basically says Miz didn't win his rematch against Kofi. Sheamus feels like kicking Miz in the face. Miz vows to regain his IC title, so Kofi comes out to say that won't happen. Show then comes to the party. Show refuses Sheamus' challenge. Kofi then backdrops Miz out of the ring.

Booker makes a match: ShoMiz face Kofi and Sheamus. Yeah, ShoMiz is back! Sorta.

Sin Cara up against D-Young in singles action. Rey and Titus are at ringside supporting their respective tag partners. Standard match that you'd expect from these guys. D-Young hits his gutbuster for three. Great, Titus has a whistle now. Where's Mr. Perfect's coach when you need him? Titus with the big mouth to call Rey out, and Mysterio has no problem with that.

Good laugh when Josh Mathews brought up how Rey retired JBL and JBL saying he was sick that night. Titus blocks the 619 thanks to D-Young distracting Rey. Three-point stance from Titus didn't work, and Rey rolled him up for three. Oops.

We get the main event segment from RAW: announcing Team Foley and Team Punk at Survivor Series. Should be a good one. I'd also look to see if Maddox gets put in as ref again -- or otherwise makes some type of appearance in the match (whether to cover for a fallen ref or just get involved for the hell of it).

No Eve tonight. Natalya wants to be the replacement. Otunga steps in, but Booker wants him to face a returning Khali. Dammit. Spit take! Poor Natalya -- and Teddy Long.

Next up is Orton and Barrett. Rubber match between the two. Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo at ringside as well. ADR tries to get the jump on Orton, and Ricardo helps out. Orton goes on with the match anyway. Wade unable to put Orton away with a number of moves. Randy with the usual signature comeback moves. ADR again with the distraction from the stage. Ricardo gets decked, but Barrett takes advantage and rolls up the Viper for three. Orton's pissed and looks for ADR. They brawl in the back by the catering area. Was that marinara sauce to Ricardo? Orton backdrops ADR through a table. Why does Matt Striker have to interview Orton right there? Orton introduces Striker's face to the dessert table. Yup.

Jerry Lawler returns to RAW in two weeks in Columbus. Real awesome news that he's recovered so quickly.

Otunga and Khali? Please shoot me that Khali's even back wrestling. Josh says Khali's hands are the size of laptops. Really?! Yes JBL, I'd say iPad minis. So stuff happens and Khali hits that overhand chop to the head for three. I lost brain cells. And please don't tell me Natalya will be having eyes for Khali. Yes, Khali has big hands.

R-Truth in a quick match with Justin Gabriel. JG mocked Truth's dancing pretty good there. Good counters and kicks from JG. JG misses his springboard move and Truth hits Little Jimmy for three.

More RAW footage highlighting the AJ Scandal. Still trying to figure out why the hell WWE would even bother to take TNA's Claire Lynch angle like that. Couldn't they have figured out a better way for Cena to feud with Ziggler?

Main event tag match time. Looks like Kofi and Miz start, then Show tags in. Sheamus tags in, so Show tags out. Sounds about right. Kofi with the early spark, but then the heels beat him down. Kofi with the hot tag to Sheamus. Sheamus goes to town on Miz. Kofi gets to work on Miz. Sheamus takes Show to the outside. Ref restrains Sheamus. Show with KO to Kofi and it's over.

Show pisses Sheamus off and Miz -- who stupidly kept celebrating in the ring -- eats a Brogue Kick. Making another statement there....