Ratings:
John Cena vs. Jack Swagger: *1/2
The Miz vs. Kofi Kingston: **1/2
CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio: **
Beth Phoenix vs. Eve Torres: N/A
Dolph Ziggler vs. Alex Riley: N/A
John Morrison vs. R-Truth: *
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Nice opening promo from HHH. Basically, he will be the special ref between Punk/Cena at SummerSlam. Cena basically curtain-jerks as far as matches go...not very often does that happen. Relatively "normal" match for Cena here.
Bret/Perfect from SummerSlam 1991 shown. One of my favorite SS matches. Definitely a four-star performance.
Miz assaults Rey before their match. I had heard Rey was injured at a house show, so perhaps this is the TV way to write him off for a while. So HHH sends Kofi Kingston to face Miz. Great match here. They got time, and the crowd responded in kind. Punk/Del Rio was also decent.
Divas match time. Time for Beth to squash someone. Eve now has a new version of her old theme song. Match was really not worth my time to scrutinize. Never thought I'd see Kelly Kelly hit someone from behind. Now is that a "good girl" image you want to portray? Just messin' with WWE here.
Ziggler has a new shirt for his match against Alex Riley. The match doesn't last very long. Basically Vickie comes in the ring at some point and slaps Riley right in front of the ref. DQ. Way to go. Vickie throwing Ziggles to the curb finally?
Truth/Morrison will close the wrestling portion of the show. No doubting Morrison has athleticism. But this match didn't really show too much of that. And it was short, too.
Epic promos for the Punk/Cena contract signing to close the show. Punk, Cena, HHH, and even Rock's taped promo. Just watch it. That's how you do things, folks. Punk is just amazing on the mic. Damn. Lauranaitis took a good kick to the back of the head.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
8/7/11 Hardcore Justice
Ratings/Analysis:
Brian Kendrick vs. Alex Shelley vs. Austin Aries (X-Division Title): Kendrick with new funky music. Aries plays the "smart" role and lets the other two guys fight each other first. Good stuff from Aries when he actually got down to wrestling. Fun really began when all three got involved. Aries really let loose with moonsaults and all that jazz. Nice mat wrestling between Kendrick and Shelley. Last Chancery from Aries! Tried the Tower of Doom spot, but Kendrick slipped, so Aries improvised well. Nice win by Kendrick with the Sliced Bread #2. ***
Tara & Miss Tessmacher vs. Sarita & Rosita (Knockouts Tag Team Titles): Sarita still wearing the mask which makes her look like Abyss' sister. Liked Rosita's second-rope hurricanrana. One of the best women's matches I've seen in a while. Fairly good crowd reaction throughout, at least for a Knockouts match. *1/2
Pope D'Angelo Dinero vs. Devon: Pope wanted to lay down but Devon wanted none of that. Not a bad match here, but I thought the Knockouts match had a bit more skill involved with the movesets. A bit of a lame finish. The storyline continues. *1/2
Winter vs. Mickie James (Knockouts Title): Mickie rockin' the short skirt ring gear tonight, so John Canton (pro wrestling writer of The John Report, a great site I must say) musta loved that sight. Apparently Tenay can say "bitch" on the show because it's a PPV and because it's part of the name of Angelina's finisher ("Break-a-bitch," was it?). Nice use of "mist" by Winter, although it's not as cool as when guys like Muta did it. Angelina interfered too much for my liking, sorry. Otherwise, it was fine. *1/4
Crimson vs. Rob Van Dam: BFG Series match here for first place. Figure as long as they keep hyping Crimson's undefeated streak, I doubt the guy is losing much anytime soon unless it's setting up a major storyline. I like how RVD takes some time to re-position people so that he actually would hit that split-legged moonsault on his opponent (while someone like John Morrison might neglect that and miss the target more often than not). Crimson kicks out of the Five-Star Frog Splash...and not as big a reaction as I would have wanted. And Jerry Lynn interferes to cost RVD the match?! Um...well, that was unexpected and lame at the same time. Obviously it will probably lead to a Lynn/RVD storyline. RVD loses points and Crimson gains points. Oops. *1/2
Abyss, Scott Steiner, & Gunner vs. AJ Styles, Daniels, & Kazarian: Six-man tag team mayhem here. To me, a slightly above average match, mainly because of AJ and Daniels. Liked Gunner and Daniels going through that table, as well as AJ's springboard Pele on Abyss. Otherwise, largely indifferent toward this one. *1/2
Bully Ray vs. Mr. Anderson: Good match here, better than I thought would occur at the PPV. Liked the cutter from Bully Ray as Anderson came off the second rope. Unfortunately, it seemed like the crowd was still pretty dead. And it largely failed to really keep my attention. Ouch. *3/4
James Storm & Bobby Roode vs. Hernandez & Anarquia (Tag Team Titles): Roode still nursing the shoulder and now Storm with a bad back. Storm's back musta felt a bunch better during the match because he hit that top-rope hurricanrana. Crowd definitely into this one. Decent finish with the Last Call superkick. **
Kurt Angle vs. Sting (World Title): Sorry, I'm not buying that Angle is still 240 pounds (according to what the Tale of the Tape said). That's probably the weight Angle was at when he debuted in WWE...I'd guess he's really around 210 or so right now. Split chants here. Crowd is the hottest it's been all night. Seemed like Angle's leg gave out a bit during the middle of the match, might have done a bit of improvising there. Sting using the Angle Slam? Come on, it's just an Angle Slam...people always kick out of that now! Sting using the Ankle Lock now? Sweet. Crowd really getting more into it. Angle with the Scorpion Death Lock! Brian Hebner took a nice hit with the Angle enzugiri. And with the ref down, here comes Hogan! Angle takes the chair away -- only to nail Sting with it. Angle Slam gets three. Angle heel turn maybe? ***1/2
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Final Thoughts:
To me, this was a largely disappointing PPV. The X-Division opener was good, but I felt could have been a bunch better. I really couldn't get into any other match but the main event. Angle/Sting was clearly the match of the night for me. Do I care how many world championships Angle's won? Nope. But he's definitely still one of the best I've ever seen. No Surrender is TNA's next PPV...on September 11. I'm probably gonna care a lot more about college football and NFL football than this. ** (mainly because we had two decent matches bookending the card)
Brian Kendrick vs. Alex Shelley vs. Austin Aries (X-Division Title): Kendrick with new funky music. Aries plays the "smart" role and lets the other two guys fight each other first. Good stuff from Aries when he actually got down to wrestling. Fun really began when all three got involved. Aries really let loose with moonsaults and all that jazz. Nice mat wrestling between Kendrick and Shelley. Last Chancery from Aries! Tried the Tower of Doom spot, but Kendrick slipped, so Aries improvised well. Nice win by Kendrick with the Sliced Bread #2. ***
Tara & Miss Tessmacher vs. Sarita & Rosita (Knockouts Tag Team Titles): Sarita still wearing the mask which makes her look like Abyss' sister. Liked Rosita's second-rope hurricanrana. One of the best women's matches I've seen in a while. Fairly good crowd reaction throughout, at least for a Knockouts match. *1/2
Pope D'Angelo Dinero vs. Devon: Pope wanted to lay down but Devon wanted none of that. Not a bad match here, but I thought the Knockouts match had a bit more skill involved with the movesets. A bit of a lame finish. The storyline continues. *1/2
Winter vs. Mickie James (Knockouts Title): Mickie rockin' the short skirt ring gear tonight, so John Canton (pro wrestling writer of The John Report, a great site I must say) musta loved that sight. Apparently Tenay can say "bitch" on the show because it's a PPV and because it's part of the name of Angelina's finisher ("Break-a-bitch," was it?). Nice use of "mist" by Winter, although it's not as cool as when guys like Muta did it. Angelina interfered too much for my liking, sorry. Otherwise, it was fine. *1/4
Crimson vs. Rob Van Dam: BFG Series match here for first place. Figure as long as they keep hyping Crimson's undefeated streak, I doubt the guy is losing much anytime soon unless it's setting up a major storyline. I like how RVD takes some time to re-position people so that he actually would hit that split-legged moonsault on his opponent (while someone like John Morrison might neglect that and miss the target more often than not). Crimson kicks out of the Five-Star Frog Splash...and not as big a reaction as I would have wanted. And Jerry Lynn interferes to cost RVD the match?! Um...well, that was unexpected and lame at the same time. Obviously it will probably lead to a Lynn/RVD storyline. RVD loses points and Crimson gains points. Oops. *1/2
Abyss, Scott Steiner, & Gunner vs. AJ Styles, Daniels, & Kazarian: Six-man tag team mayhem here. To me, a slightly above average match, mainly because of AJ and Daniels. Liked Gunner and Daniels going through that table, as well as AJ's springboard Pele on Abyss. Otherwise, largely indifferent toward this one. *1/2
Bully Ray vs. Mr. Anderson: Good match here, better than I thought would occur at the PPV. Liked the cutter from Bully Ray as Anderson came off the second rope. Unfortunately, it seemed like the crowd was still pretty dead. And it largely failed to really keep my attention. Ouch. *3/4
James Storm & Bobby Roode vs. Hernandez & Anarquia (Tag Team Titles): Roode still nursing the shoulder and now Storm with a bad back. Storm's back musta felt a bunch better during the match because he hit that top-rope hurricanrana. Crowd definitely into this one. Decent finish with the Last Call superkick. **
Kurt Angle vs. Sting (World Title): Sorry, I'm not buying that Angle is still 240 pounds (according to what the Tale of the Tape said). That's probably the weight Angle was at when he debuted in WWE...I'd guess he's really around 210 or so right now. Split chants here. Crowd is the hottest it's been all night. Seemed like Angle's leg gave out a bit during the middle of the match, might have done a bit of improvising there. Sting using the Angle Slam? Come on, it's just an Angle Slam...people always kick out of that now! Sting using the Ankle Lock now? Sweet. Crowd really getting more into it. Angle with the Scorpion Death Lock! Brian Hebner took a nice hit with the Angle enzugiri. And with the ref down, here comes Hogan! Angle takes the chair away -- only to nail Sting with it. Angle Slam gets three. Angle heel turn maybe? ***1/2
_________________
Final Thoughts:
To me, this was a largely disappointing PPV. The X-Division opener was good, but I felt could have been a bunch better. I really couldn't get into any other match but the main event. Angle/Sting was clearly the match of the night for me. Do I care how many world championships Angle's won? Nope. But he's definitely still one of the best I've ever seen. No Surrender is TNA's next PPV...on September 11. I'm probably gonna care a lot more about college football and NFL football than this. ** (mainly because we had two decent matches bookending the card)
Friday, August 5, 2011
8/5/11 Smackdown
Ratings:
Sheamus vs. The Great Khali: *1/2
Natalya vs. AJ: DUD
Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd: ***1/2 (edited 8/7; good grief, I had omitted a star from this...)
Ezekiel Jackson vs. Zack Ryder: *
Mark Henry vs. Vladimir Kozlov: N/A
David Otunga, Michael McGillicutty, & JTG vs. Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, & Trent Barreta: 1/2*
Christian & R-Truth vs. Randy Orton & John Morrison: ***
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Sheamus somehow worked an average match with Khali. Props there.
Regarding the divas match, I like Natalya's heel turn. Natalya is better as a heel and will hope to elevate AJ and the other newcomer face divas.
Daniel Bryan got new music...I actually like this one better. Thank you, WWE, for giving Bryan and Kidd time to work a nice match.
Average match from Zeke/Ryder. Poor Zack gets to play jobber again.
Aksana dyed her hair black and looks damn fine. But seriously, can she even wrestle? Otherwise, she still resembles Trish Stratus only in appearance (somewhat).
And Mark Henry gets to destroy Kozlov in what would be Vlad's last match (WWE released him today). Of course, Mark hits that Vader Bomb on Vlad's leg. Kozlov oversold that leg, in my book. He flopped around way too much, like a violent fish out of water.
Six-man tag was OK, but my feed also didn't want to cooperate much.
Anyway, Johnny Curtis apparently debuts next week. Finally....
Main event was awesome. Crowd very much into it and lots of great action.
Sheamus vs. The Great Khali: *1/2
Natalya vs. AJ: DUD
Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd: ***1/2 (edited 8/7; good grief, I had omitted a star from this...)
Ezekiel Jackson vs. Zack Ryder: *
Mark Henry vs. Vladimir Kozlov: N/A
David Otunga, Michael McGillicutty, & JTG vs. Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, & Trent Barreta: 1/2*
Christian & R-Truth vs. Randy Orton & John Morrison: ***
_________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Sheamus somehow worked an average match with Khali. Props there.
Regarding the divas match, I like Natalya's heel turn. Natalya is better as a heel and will hope to elevate AJ and the other newcomer face divas.
Daniel Bryan got new music...I actually like this one better. Thank you, WWE, for giving Bryan and Kidd time to work a nice match.
Average match from Zeke/Ryder. Poor Zack gets to play jobber again.
Aksana dyed her hair black and looks damn fine. But seriously, can she even wrestle? Otherwise, she still resembles Trish Stratus only in appearance (somewhat).
And Mark Henry gets to destroy Kozlov in what would be Vlad's last match (WWE released him today). Of course, Mark hits that Vader Bomb on Vlad's leg. Kozlov oversold that leg, in my book. He flopped around way too much, like a violent fish out of water.
Six-man tag was OK, but my feed also didn't want to cooperate much.
Anyway, Johnny Curtis apparently debuts next week. Finally....
Main event was awesome. Crowd very much into it and lots of great action.
8/4/11 Impact
Ratings:
Miss Tessmacher vs. Madison Rayne: DUD
Devon vs. AJ Styles: *1/4
D'Angelo Dinero vs. Samoa Joe: *
Hernandez vs. Bobby Roode (Street Fight): *1/2
Austin Aries vs. Alex Shelley: **
Rob Van Dam & Crimson vs. Scott Steiner & Gunner: **
_________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
How the heck did James Storm appear to injure his back during the opening segment? Looked like he was about to throw a punch and he wrenched that back or something....
Knockouts match was boring. The post-match stuff was passable.
Crimson leads the BFG Series with 40 points coming into this week's Impact. Devon vs. AJ was also OK, but it was all about furthering the storylines between Pope/Devon and AJ/Daniels. I have no clue what the deal with Samoa Joe is. Is this gonna be another heel dealie? I don't know whether to cheer or boo him anymore.
Sarita still sporting the mask during the Hernandez/Roode street fight. Hernandez really knows how to wield that belt. Those shots on Roode made me cringe. Another lame finish, though. Holy crap, these bookies know how to really work those lame endings to matches. I liked the Shelley/Aries match. Screwy finish, but at least it was to get Aries (still really a newbie -- or an old newbie to TNA) over as a heel.
Eric Young segment was weird as usual.
The start of the Angle/Sting empty arena match from February 2009 is shown, with Angle on commentary. Woohoo, felt like I was watching a DVD of Angle's or Sting's best matches for free. Nice way to hype their upcoming battle. Didn't show the whole match, oh well.
Good main event BFG Series tag match. RVD gets closer to the lead with 7 points!
Contract signing for the World Title closed the show. Nice war of words between Angle and Sting. Should be a great match at Hardcore Justice.
Miss Tessmacher vs. Madison Rayne: DUD
Devon vs. AJ Styles: *1/4
D'Angelo Dinero vs. Samoa Joe: *
Hernandez vs. Bobby Roode (Street Fight): *1/2
Austin Aries vs. Alex Shelley: **
Rob Van Dam & Crimson vs. Scott Steiner & Gunner: **
_________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
How the heck did James Storm appear to injure his back during the opening segment? Looked like he was about to throw a punch and he wrenched that back or something....
Knockouts match was boring. The post-match stuff was passable.
Crimson leads the BFG Series with 40 points coming into this week's Impact. Devon vs. AJ was also OK, but it was all about furthering the storylines between Pope/Devon and AJ/Daniels. I have no clue what the deal with Samoa Joe is. Is this gonna be another heel dealie? I don't know whether to cheer or boo him anymore.
Sarita still sporting the mask during the Hernandez/Roode street fight. Hernandez really knows how to wield that belt. Those shots on Roode made me cringe. Another lame finish, though. Holy crap, these bookies know how to really work those lame endings to matches. I liked the Shelley/Aries match. Screwy finish, but at least it was to get Aries (still really a newbie -- or an old newbie to TNA) over as a heel.
Eric Young segment was weird as usual.
The start of the Angle/Sting empty arena match from February 2009 is shown, with Angle on commentary. Woohoo, felt like I was watching a DVD of Angle's or Sting's best matches for free. Nice way to hype their upcoming battle. Didn't show the whole match, oh well.
Good main event BFG Series tag match. RVD gets closer to the lead with 7 points!
Contract signing for the World Title closed the show. Nice war of words between Angle and Sting. Should be a great match at Hardcore Justice.
8/4/11 Superstars
Ratings:
Alicia Fox vs. Kaitlyn: DUD
Brodus Clay vs. Pat Silva: N/A
Vladimir Kozlov vs. Primo: 3/4*
Jack Swagger vs. Chris Masters: **1/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
You see, Matt Striker, when you announce you have a "secret girlfriend," it's no longer a secret. Good work. This match was boring as heck. Yeesh. Finally, Brodus Clay shows back up. Apparently, he was filming a movie and now gets to squash jobbers. Something to note...Primo did not actually hit his shoulder on the ringpost. Oops. Another relatively boring match here. Good main event. Started slow but the finish was good.
Alicia Fox vs. Kaitlyn: DUD
Brodus Clay vs. Pat Silva: N/A
Vladimir Kozlov vs. Primo: 3/4*
Jack Swagger vs. Chris Masters: **1/4
________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
You see, Matt Striker, when you announce you have a "secret girlfriend," it's no longer a secret. Good work. This match was boring as heck. Yeesh. Finally, Brodus Clay shows back up. Apparently, he was filming a movie and now gets to squash jobbers. Something to note...Primo did not actually hit his shoulder on the ringpost. Oops. Another relatively boring match here. Good main event. Started slow but the finish was good.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
8/2/11 NXT
Ratings:
Vladimir Kozlov vs. JTG: *
Titus O'Neil & Matt Striker vs. Darren Young & Derrick Bateman: *3/4
______________
Statistics:
Here are the official NXT rookie's records as of 8/2/11:
Titus O'Neil: 12-7
Darren Young: 7-14
Derrick Bateman: 3-1
Conor O'Brian: 6-6 (eliminated)
Lucky Cannon: 6-6 (eliminated)
Jacob Novak: 2-5 (eliminated)
Byron Saxton: 2-8 (eliminated)
WWE Redemption Points:
Titus O'Neil: 28 (Talk the Talk; Keg Carry; Arm Wrestling; Power of the Punch; King of the Hill; Talk the Talk Part 2; Talk the Talk Part 3; Dummy Demonstration)
Darren Young: 7 (Obstacle Course; Battle of the Mic)
Derrick Bateman: 0
Jacob Novak: 6 (Pull Through; Know Your Pro) (eliminated)
Byron Saxton: 4 (Trivia) (eliminated)
Conor O'Brian: 3 (Tag Team Turmoil) (eliminated)
Lucky Cannon: 0 (eliminated)
This Week's Challenge: None.
Is there any point to these challenges anymore? Titus will probably win each week from now on anyway.
______________
Reviews/Thoughts:
I kinda liked the opening skit, especially when Striker was named Titus' tag team partner. Titus needs major work on the mic because a bunch of words coming out of his mouth didn't make much sense.
I laughed pretty good when Kozlov came out in JTG-like gear. I must admit, gotta give props to Kozlov for becoming that midcard, entertaining character like Santino. JTG's music played even though Kozlov won. Just was weird to me. Planking on JTG! Win!
Have I said already that I'm jealous of Hornswoggle? Grr.
Ha, Grisham and Regal making fun of Striker's pro wrestling win-loss record. Hornswoggle and AJ should not be on commentary. Striker really botched that sunset flip when he went for more flare on the move. Yeah, stick to being the host of NXT.
Yeah, I thought this episode stunk.
Monday, August 1, 2011
8/1/11 RAW
Ratings:
Divas Battle Royal: *
R-Truth & The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio & John Morrison: **1/2
David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty vs. Santino Marella & Zack Ryder: DUD
Alberto Del Rio vs. Evan Bourne: *
________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Opening skit between Punk and HHH was just awesome as hell. Oh yeah.
Regarding the matches: The Divas Battle Royal was a snore until the end. Extremely impressive stuff from Beth. Guess Beth is heel again. The first tag match was great...good heel heat for Truth and Miz. The second tag match with the tag champs...oh, a match even occurred? I didn't even notice. Del Rio/Bourne was quite short and nothing to really write home about.
The final segment was interesting. I didn't expect John Lauranaitis to come out to interrupt HHH, but it did get my attention. Predictable that we'd get Cena/Punk II at SummerSlam. Loved the end to the program with Cena and Punk posing with their belts trying to get the crowd reaction. The sound guy was really working overtime tonight switching themes. I wonder what a Punk/Cena remixed theme would sound like....
Divas Battle Royal: *
R-Truth & The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio & John Morrison: **1/2
David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty vs. Santino Marella & Zack Ryder: DUD
Alberto Del Rio vs. Evan Bourne: *
________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Opening skit between Punk and HHH was just awesome as hell. Oh yeah.
Regarding the matches: The Divas Battle Royal was a snore until the end. Extremely impressive stuff from Beth. Guess Beth is heel again. The first tag match was great...good heel heat for Truth and Miz. The second tag match with the tag champs...oh, a match even occurred? I didn't even notice. Del Rio/Bourne was quite short and nothing to really write home about.
The final segment was interesting. I didn't expect John Lauranaitis to come out to interrupt HHH, but it did get my attention. Predictable that we'd get Cena/Punk II at SummerSlam. Loved the end to the program with Cena and Punk posing with their belts trying to get the crowd reaction. The sound guy was really working overtime tonight switching themes. I wonder what a Punk/Cena remixed theme would sound like....
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