Ratings:
Antonio Cesaro vs. Tyson Kidd: **1/2
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. JTG & Michael McGillicutty: ***
Zack Ryder vs. Heath Slater: ***1/4
_________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Antonio Cesaro works a Superstars match this week against Tyson Kidd. Yes, please. Cesaro speaks English, German, Swiss, French, and Italian, which is already awesome. Yes, Antonio is very European. A pretty lengthy bout, a few restholds from Cesaro to extend this match. Kidd keeps the match interesting with counters and agility. Kidd goesfor a tornado DDT, Cesaro counters with a deadlift into a European uppercut. Amazing counter. Cesaro gets three with his usual finisher.
BoomJimmys face JTG and McGillicutty. Still trying to get used to seeing JTG in regular in-ring gear. Kofi with hot tag #1, Truth with hit tag #2. Lots of great double-team stuff from Kofi and Truth, especially the double enzuguiri. Little Jimmy gets three. Josh Mathews disses the Facebook stock plummeting.
More hyping Cena and Show's feud. Pretty much the norm for all the shows now.
Ryder and Slater in the main event. Slater is now the "Honky Tonk Redonkadonk." Another great physical match. Lots of near falls and counters.
No complaints on this episode of Superstars! Perhaps the best show in months!
Friday, May 25, 2012
5/24/12 Impact
Ratings:
Gail Kim & Madison Rayne vs. Eric Young & ODB: *1/4
Rob Van Dam vs. Gunner: *1/2
Devon vs. Garett Bischoff (TV Title): 1/2*
Austin Aries vs. Joey Ryan: **1/4
Bobby Roode vs. AJ Styles (World Title): ***1/2
_________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
It's Open Fight Night!
Nice segment to start in Hogan's office with the guys Hogan has to choose. Even shows each of them the format for the show. I like this stuff because it gives more the "behind-the-scenes" feel, not just a wrestling show. Each makes their case to face Roode. Hogan eliminates Bully Ray for now. Down to Angle, Styles, and Hardy.
Gail promo, while Madison makes sure she looks real good. No problems there. Gail's wedding ring prominent. Open Fight Night time with the knockouts tag titles. Finally, EY gets more physical with the women! Guess Spike TV was willing to let that stuff happen. ODB gets jealous of all that. Madison's mind is not totally on the match. Still, the heels find a way to cheat and win.
RVD challenges Gunner. They remember Gunner taking RVD out in January. Physical from the start. Five-star frog splash to Gunner gets the win. RVD flew at least 3/4 across the ring for that. Impressive.
Devon comes out and calls out Garett Bischoff, stemming from GB eliminating Devon from that Battle Royal last week. Respect shown from both guys this time, and it's a good way for GB to work with a ring veteran. Robbie E and Robbie T interfere and the match is thrown out. Garett and Devon team up and clean house.
Hogan eliminates Jeff Hardy, citing performance is too shaky now (no guarantee Roode will get beat). Hogan makes his decision soon.
Joseph Park video package shown, leading to Bully Ray segment. HA, "Your Calves Suck" sign. Joseph Park in the audience with popcorn. Bully wants Park in the ring. Guess that counts for open fight night. "YESYESYES" chants?! So Joseph can see if a guy's guilty by looking at a man's eyes? If the crowd were the jury, Bully woulda been sent to the gallows already. Bully punches Park, then a chain shot. Nice segment.
Hey, it's Gut Check, and the indy star tonight is Joey Ryan. YES, he faces Aries. Brilliant. Pretty impressive stuff from Joey. Joey landed on his head on that brainbuster. Ouch. I'd still sign Joey. Looked decent.
Roode comes out for his title defense. Styles and Angle come out for the decision. Hogan picks AJ, citing Styles knows Roode better than Angle. Frankly, Angle not being 100% has to weigh into it as well (but they'll never say that). Watch this match. It's great stuff. Roode got virtually a clean win. Sure, AJ got distracted, but this Roode victory was a heck of a lot cleaner than most of his matches over his reign.
I know I was hoping Hogan would pick Angle, but it's best to save that for later. AJ will be occupied with Kaz and Daniels anyway, and this was one way to delay Angle's participation while furthering the AJ/Kaz/Daniels deal.
Celebration includes confetti and champagne. Hogan comes out and gives Roode props. But wait, another opponent in the wings. STING! I'm still not a fan of making Sting the one to dethrone Roode. Sting and Roode in a lumberjack match next week. Doesn't look like the title's on the line.
Impact will start one hour earlier beginning next week!
Gail Kim & Madison Rayne vs. Eric Young & ODB: *1/4
Rob Van Dam vs. Gunner: *1/2
Devon vs. Garett Bischoff (TV Title): 1/2*
Austin Aries vs. Joey Ryan: **1/4
Bobby Roode vs. AJ Styles (World Title): ***1/2
_________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
It's Open Fight Night!
Nice segment to start in Hogan's office with the guys Hogan has to choose. Even shows each of them the format for the show. I like this stuff because it gives more the "behind-the-scenes" feel, not just a wrestling show. Each makes their case to face Roode. Hogan eliminates Bully Ray for now. Down to Angle, Styles, and Hardy.
Gail promo, while Madison makes sure she looks real good. No problems there. Gail's wedding ring prominent. Open Fight Night time with the knockouts tag titles. Finally, EY gets more physical with the women! Guess Spike TV was willing to let that stuff happen. ODB gets jealous of all that. Madison's mind is not totally on the match. Still, the heels find a way to cheat and win.
RVD challenges Gunner. They remember Gunner taking RVD out in January. Physical from the start. Five-star frog splash to Gunner gets the win. RVD flew at least 3/4 across the ring for that. Impressive.
Devon comes out and calls out Garett Bischoff, stemming from GB eliminating Devon from that Battle Royal last week. Respect shown from both guys this time, and it's a good way for GB to work with a ring veteran. Robbie E and Robbie T interfere and the match is thrown out. Garett and Devon team up and clean house.
Hogan eliminates Jeff Hardy, citing performance is too shaky now (no guarantee Roode will get beat). Hogan makes his decision soon.
Joseph Park video package shown, leading to Bully Ray segment. HA, "Your Calves Suck" sign. Joseph Park in the audience with popcorn. Bully wants Park in the ring. Guess that counts for open fight night. "YESYESYES" chants?! So Joseph can see if a guy's guilty by looking at a man's eyes? If the crowd were the jury, Bully woulda been sent to the gallows already. Bully punches Park, then a chain shot. Nice segment.
Hey, it's Gut Check, and the indy star tonight is Joey Ryan. YES, he faces Aries. Brilliant. Pretty impressive stuff from Joey. Joey landed on his head on that brainbuster. Ouch. I'd still sign Joey. Looked decent.
Roode comes out for his title defense. Styles and Angle come out for the decision. Hogan picks AJ, citing Styles knows Roode better than Angle. Frankly, Angle not being 100% has to weigh into it as well (but they'll never say that). Watch this match. It's great stuff. Roode got virtually a clean win. Sure, AJ got distracted, but this Roode victory was a heck of a lot cleaner than most of his matches over his reign.
I know I was hoping Hogan would pick Angle, but it's best to save that for later. AJ will be occupied with Kaz and Daniels anyway, and this was one way to delay Angle's participation while furthering the AJ/Kaz/Daniels deal.
Celebration includes confetti and champagne. Hogan comes out and gives Roode props. But wait, another opponent in the wings. STING! I'm still not a fan of making Sting the one to dethrone Roode. Sting and Roode in a lumberjack match next week. Doesn't look like the title's on the line.
Impact will start one hour earlier beginning next week!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
5/23/12 NXT
Ratings:
Jinder Mahal vs. Derrick Bateman: **
Percy Watson vs. Heath Slater: *3/4
Maxine vs. Alicia Fox: *
Great Khali & Ezekiel Jackson vs. Drew McIntyre & Johnny Curtis: *1/2
__________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Regal getting pretty critical of Bateman lately. I wonder if this could lead to a feud. Regal's more than capable to wrestle and put people over. Great moves by Bateman. This is the type of stuff I want to see from him every match. Jinder hits several knees and locks in the camel clutch for the submission win. Hot crowd for this match.
Percy still can't get a big pop on his ring entrance. Maybe that's why he's not curtain jerking. Now sure why Percy still thinks he can get three after his showtime splash. To my knowledge, he really hasn't put anyone away with that. Finally looked on Wikipedia for the name of his fireman's carry flapjack finisher: Percycution. Huh?! Think of a better name, fellas.
Battle of the ol' NXT rookie and pro stuff with Maxine and Alicia Fox. I'm really diggin' Maxine's submissions because it can further separate her from the rest of the divas roster. A pretty methodical match.
Might as well keep Zeke and Khali together. Both aren't the best in singles matches. Decent heel tactics to ground Zeke in this match. Punjabi Plunge to Curtis gets the three. Would WWE be willing to give them a tag title reign? They still get nice crowd reaction, so it wouldn't be the worst decision ever. Not the best choice, though.
Jinder Mahal vs. Derrick Bateman: **
Percy Watson vs. Heath Slater: *3/4
Maxine vs. Alicia Fox: *
Great Khali & Ezekiel Jackson vs. Drew McIntyre & Johnny Curtis: *1/2
__________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Regal getting pretty critical of Bateman lately. I wonder if this could lead to a feud. Regal's more than capable to wrestle and put people over. Great moves by Bateman. This is the type of stuff I want to see from him every match. Jinder hits several knees and locks in the camel clutch for the submission win. Hot crowd for this match.
Percy still can't get a big pop on his ring entrance. Maybe that's why he's not curtain jerking. Now sure why Percy still thinks he can get three after his showtime splash. To my knowledge, he really hasn't put anyone away with that. Finally looked on Wikipedia for the name of his fireman's carry flapjack finisher: Percycution. Huh?! Think of a better name, fellas.
Battle of the ol' NXT rookie and pro stuff with Maxine and Alicia Fox. I'm really diggin' Maxine's submissions because it can further separate her from the rest of the divas roster. A pretty methodical match.
Might as well keep Zeke and Khali together. Both aren't the best in singles matches. Decent heel tactics to ground Zeke in this match. Punjabi Plunge to Curtis gets the three. Would WWE be willing to give them a tag title reign? They still get nice crowd reaction, so it wouldn't be the worst decision ever. Not the best choice, though.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
5/21/12 RAW
Ratings:
John Cena vs. David Otunga: N/A
Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio: *3/4
Daniel Bryan vs. Kane: N/A
Christian vs. Jinder Mahal: *1/4
Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly: *
Sheamus & John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, & Tensai (Lumberjack): **
_________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Cena starts the show and he's got the serious look. Vintage funny complaining Cena. Laurinaitis music. JL's got one of those scooters for the physically challenged. Oh no, not potential nerve damage! Show was re-hired the previous night. Wait, wasn't there a clause saying no outside help from guys on the roster? (oh, that got cleared up by Cole later in the show...verbal agreements) Nice job on continuity. Show's in a nice suit. No explanation from him, but Show vows to nuke Cena on June 17. Otunga with excess body oil comes to wrestle Cena. Game of cat and mouse for a while. Cena ultimately wins. No rating from me.
Reks, Hawkins, Titus, and D-Young all pounce on Cena. Sheamus runs over Laurinaitis and helps Cena clean house. 2-on-3 handicap lumberjack match? That's sorta new.
Ricardo's in the ring, but Santino interrupts. I miss Santino's unibrow. It's a battle of rolling Rs, and Santino wins. Hilarious stuff. Just epic.
Starting with RAW's 1000th episode, the show will be THREE hours. Starts July 23! Woohoo!
Orton and Del Rio go at it. Jericho with the interference on Orton, so that'll be the next feud. Vintage angry Jericho! Yes, he's the best in the world at what he does. Trifecta of codebreakers.
Daniel Bryan calls out Punk. He blames the ref and wants a rematch. Punk mentions what happened on Smackdown, so DB faces Kane. Oops. Punk's on commentary! YESYESYES! Almost same spot as Smackdown, with roles reversed. DB gets caught with the chair and Kane nukes DB. Match thrown out. Anaconda Vice from Punk.
Punk and AJ segment was amusing. Punk digs the crazy chicks. I would too if they look like AJ.
Christian faces Jinder. Killswitch hit, but then Christian hits a frog splash. Looks like they're building even more signature moves for Christian.
Kelly Kelly is back on TV to face Beth. Layla watches in the back. Beth makes a statement here.
We find out the three guys Sheamus and Cena will face: Ziggler, Swagger, and Tensai. Yeah, they dropped "Lord" in Tensai's name, and no more weird entrance suit. All lumberjacks are heels, typical. Sheamus gets worked over. Show spotted on the stage. Cena with his comeback stuff. WHOA, did Cena do some type of suicide dive through the ropes when Sheamus got attacked?! All lumberjacks maul Sheamus and Cena. Face guys in the locker room come down. Vintage brawl!
Cena looks for Show. Show finds Cena. Show decks Cena. End show.
John Cena vs. David Otunga: N/A
Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio: *3/4
Daniel Bryan vs. Kane: N/A
Christian vs. Jinder Mahal: *1/4
Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly: *
Sheamus & John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, & Tensai (Lumberjack): **
_________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Cena starts the show and he's got the serious look. Vintage funny complaining Cena. Laurinaitis music. JL's got one of those scooters for the physically challenged. Oh no, not potential nerve damage! Show was re-hired the previous night. Wait, wasn't there a clause saying no outside help from guys on the roster? (oh, that got cleared up by Cole later in the show...verbal agreements) Nice job on continuity. Show's in a nice suit. No explanation from him, but Show vows to nuke Cena on June 17. Otunga with excess body oil comes to wrestle Cena. Game of cat and mouse for a while. Cena ultimately wins. No rating from me.
Reks, Hawkins, Titus, and D-Young all pounce on Cena. Sheamus runs over Laurinaitis and helps Cena clean house. 2-on-3 handicap lumberjack match? That's sorta new.
Ricardo's in the ring, but Santino interrupts. I miss Santino's unibrow. It's a battle of rolling Rs, and Santino wins. Hilarious stuff. Just epic.
Starting with RAW's 1000th episode, the show will be THREE hours. Starts July 23! Woohoo!
Orton and Del Rio go at it. Jericho with the interference on Orton, so that'll be the next feud. Vintage angry Jericho! Yes, he's the best in the world at what he does. Trifecta of codebreakers.
Daniel Bryan calls out Punk. He blames the ref and wants a rematch. Punk mentions what happened on Smackdown, so DB faces Kane. Oops. Punk's on commentary! YESYESYES! Almost same spot as Smackdown, with roles reversed. DB gets caught with the chair and Kane nukes DB. Match thrown out. Anaconda Vice from Punk.
Punk and AJ segment was amusing. Punk digs the crazy chicks. I would too if they look like AJ.
Christian faces Jinder. Killswitch hit, but then Christian hits a frog splash. Looks like they're building even more signature moves for Christian.
Kelly Kelly is back on TV to face Beth. Layla watches in the back. Beth makes a statement here.
We find out the three guys Sheamus and Cena will face: Ziggler, Swagger, and Tensai. Yeah, they dropped "Lord" in Tensai's name, and no more weird entrance suit. All lumberjacks are heels, typical. Sheamus gets worked over. Show spotted on the stage. Cena with his comeback stuff. WHOA, did Cena do some type of suicide dive through the ropes when Sheamus got attacked?! All lumberjacks maul Sheamus and Cena. Face guys in the locker room come down. Vintage brawl!
Cena looks for Show. Show finds Cena. Show decks Cena. End show.
5/20/12 Over the Limit
Ratings:
People Power Battle Royal: **1/2
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger vs. (Tag Team Titles): ***
Layla vs. Beth Phoenix (Divas Title): **1/2
Sheamus vs. Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho vs. Alberto Del Rio (World Heavyweight Title): ***1/2
Brodus Clay vs. Miz: *1/4
Christian vs. Cody Rhodes (IC Title): **
CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan (WWE Title): ****1/4
Ryback vs. Camacho: 1/2*
John Laurinaitis vs. John Cena: **
_________________
Reviews/Thoughts:We join the People Power Battle Royal mid-match? Wow. Christian was deemed a "late entrant" and really played the face here. Not surprising that Captain Charisma won this one. Note to JTG, I'm still waiting for you to make an impact with your Alicia Fox-inspired makeover. Khali booked pretty strong in this one, eliminating a few guys. Miz, Kidd, Otunga, and Christian were the final four. Very exciting finish. Pretty damn good, better than I thought.
ZigSwag and BoomJimmys in a great tag title match. Really one of those extended standard tag matches with a couple of hot tags. Everything after the second hot tag to Kofi was excellent. Lots of energy and agility.
Anti-Laurinaitis signs getting confiscated. Otunga's right, WWE can confiscate any signs they deem offensive.
Divas title match followed. Beth's wearing pants tonight. Shucky ducky quack quack from Booker when Layla comes out. Beth works on Layla's surgically repaired knee. To Booker, if you have a knee brace, you shouldn't be competing in that ring. Stone Cold and HBK (among others) say hi. You mean this divas match really got time? Wow. And Beth's very much over with this crowd. Layout -- out of nowhere! -- wins it for Layla. Great counters, heck of a match.
World Title Fatal Four Way next. Lilian finally allows someone to actually figure out where Alberto hails from. Sheamus erroneously billed at 227 lbs, but Lilian's botched way worse before. Fans still chant "NO" every time Sheamus hits one of those impactful moves. Orton ready to hit Sheamus with an RKO but ADR slithers in for a cross armbreaker. Double hangman's DDT to ADR and Ricardo was great. Cross armbreaker countered into Walls of Jericho, nice. Loved the end. Multiple RKOs and a Brogue Kick, but the Jericho rollup made it that much better. White Noise from Sheamus gets three.
Cody runs his mouth about Christian. Christian picks Cody to face for the IC Title. So Christian is a face again? Lovely.
Miz out to talk trash about Brodus. Miz does some dancing of his own. Enter Brodus and we have a match. Crowd was mostly dead for this one. Pretty standard stuff.
IC Title match was pretty physical. Cody gets all vocal near the end, and Christian hits Killswitch for three. New champ. Not bad, but seen better.
No Way Out is June 17.
AJ again in a Punk promo? Woohoo! YESYESYES it's Daniel Bryan! There are a zillion YES signs everywhere. Even DB's jacket says YES a lot. Main event intros. Big Punk head in the crowd! Split chants, crowd the loudest it's been all night. Lots of kicks. Woohoo. Unique moves from both because they know each other so well. DB gets Punk in a surfboard, then contorts Punk's head back into a Dragon sleeper-like move. Damn. I don't mind if they take up the entire three hours of the PPV. Figure four to DB! Trading slaps even in the hold, very cool. DBto the ropes, but Punk says he has 'til FIVE. Indeed! DB skins the cat as well! DB has Punk in the YES lock. Punk shifts his weight and pins DB right before Punk taps. Match of the night, by far. Let the Summer of Punk commence -- again!
HUnico says Camacho's wrestling tonight, but Lilian still announces Hunico's competing. Oops. Doesn't matter anyway, because Ryback nukes people. ROFL, Cole does power cleans every day? That's a good one.
Laurinaitis is in an atheltic training suit. Cena's ready. JL tries to bail but Cena's loving it. Lawler and Booker are laughing a lot. Ring bell dings in JL's ear! Cena and JL do commentary, and I admit, that was freakin' hilarious. JL lasted 10 seconds in the STF, then did it again. Cole is all giddy on the mic. Two bottles of water to the face, one down the pants. Vintage fire extinguisher! Then the trash. JL escapes through the crowd. OOPS. Big Show brings JL back, and it's fine because he's supposedly fired. Cena's loving it and JL cowers. Show toys with JL, throws him into Cena's AA attempt. Show decks Cena out, and JL wins.
A predictable "return" for Big Show, but a great way to play it out. Crowd got reeled in.
A great PPV. Punk and Bryan lived up to the hype, and there's more to come on that. Good job turning Show heel because he's better for that, IMHO. Fatal Four Way was also awesome. Heck, when the divas title match is a pretty good one (or at least better than 99% of the stuff we're used to seeing), then I'll take this show any day. ***1/2
People Power Battle Royal: **1/2
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger vs. (Tag Team Titles): ***
Layla vs. Beth Phoenix (Divas Title): **1/2
Sheamus vs. Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho vs. Alberto Del Rio (World Heavyweight Title): ***1/2
Brodus Clay vs. Miz: *1/4
Christian vs. Cody Rhodes (IC Title): **
CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan (WWE Title): ****1/4
Ryback vs. Camacho: 1/2*
John Laurinaitis vs. John Cena: **
_________________
Reviews/Thoughts:We join the People Power Battle Royal mid-match? Wow. Christian was deemed a "late entrant" and really played the face here. Not surprising that Captain Charisma won this one. Note to JTG, I'm still waiting for you to make an impact with your Alicia Fox-inspired makeover. Khali booked pretty strong in this one, eliminating a few guys. Miz, Kidd, Otunga, and Christian were the final four. Very exciting finish. Pretty damn good, better than I thought.
ZigSwag and BoomJimmys in a great tag title match. Really one of those extended standard tag matches with a couple of hot tags. Everything after the second hot tag to Kofi was excellent. Lots of energy and agility.
Anti-Laurinaitis signs getting confiscated. Otunga's right, WWE can confiscate any signs they deem offensive.
Divas title match followed. Beth's wearing pants tonight. Shucky ducky quack quack from Booker when Layla comes out. Beth works on Layla's surgically repaired knee. To Booker, if you have a knee brace, you shouldn't be competing in that ring. Stone Cold and HBK (among others) say hi. You mean this divas match really got time? Wow. And Beth's very much over with this crowd. Layout -- out of nowhere! -- wins it for Layla. Great counters, heck of a match.
World Title Fatal Four Way next. Lilian finally allows someone to actually figure out where Alberto hails from. Sheamus erroneously billed at 227 lbs, but Lilian's botched way worse before. Fans still chant "NO" every time Sheamus hits one of those impactful moves. Orton ready to hit Sheamus with an RKO but ADR slithers in for a cross armbreaker. Double hangman's DDT to ADR and Ricardo was great. Cross armbreaker countered into Walls of Jericho, nice. Loved the end. Multiple RKOs and a Brogue Kick, but the Jericho rollup made it that much better. White Noise from Sheamus gets three.
Cody runs his mouth about Christian. Christian picks Cody to face for the IC Title. So Christian is a face again? Lovely.
Miz out to talk trash about Brodus. Miz does some dancing of his own. Enter Brodus and we have a match. Crowd was mostly dead for this one. Pretty standard stuff.
IC Title match was pretty physical. Cody gets all vocal near the end, and Christian hits Killswitch for three. New champ. Not bad, but seen better.
No Way Out is June 17.
AJ again in a Punk promo? Woohoo! YESYESYES it's Daniel Bryan! There are a zillion YES signs everywhere. Even DB's jacket says YES a lot. Main event intros. Big Punk head in the crowd! Split chants, crowd the loudest it's been all night. Lots of kicks. Woohoo. Unique moves from both because they know each other so well. DB gets Punk in a surfboard, then contorts Punk's head back into a Dragon sleeper-like move. Damn. I don't mind if they take up the entire three hours of the PPV. Figure four to DB! Trading slaps even in the hold, very cool. DBto the ropes, but Punk says he has 'til FIVE. Indeed! DB skins the cat as well! DB has Punk in the YES lock. Punk shifts his weight and pins DB right before Punk taps. Match of the night, by far. Let the Summer of Punk commence -- again!
HUnico says Camacho's wrestling tonight, but Lilian still announces Hunico's competing. Oops. Doesn't matter anyway, because Ryback nukes people. ROFL, Cole does power cleans every day? That's a good one.
Laurinaitis is in an atheltic training suit. Cena's ready. JL tries to bail but Cena's loving it. Lawler and Booker are laughing a lot. Ring bell dings in JL's ear! Cena and JL do commentary, and I admit, that was freakin' hilarious. JL lasted 10 seconds in the STF, then did it again. Cole is all giddy on the mic. Two bottles of water to the face, one down the pants. Vintage fire extinguisher! Then the trash. JL escapes through the crowd. OOPS. Big Show brings JL back, and it's fine because he's supposedly fired. Cena's loving it and JL cowers. Show toys with JL, throws him into Cena's AA attempt. Show decks Cena out, and JL wins.
A predictable "return" for Big Show, but a great way to play it out. Crowd got reeled in.
A great PPV. Punk and Bryan lived up to the hype, and there's more to come on that. Good job turning Show heel because he's better for that, IMHO. Fatal Four Way was also awesome. Heck, when the divas title match is a pretty good one (or at least better than 99% of the stuff we're used to seeing), then I'll take this show any day. ***1/2
Saturday, May 19, 2012
5/18/12 Smackdown
Ratings:
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Darren Young & Titus O'Neil: *3/4
Damien Sandow vs. Yoshi Tatsu: N/A
Daniel Bryan vs. Zack Ryder: *1/4
Kane vs. CM Punk: **3/4
Santino Marella vs. Cody Rhodes: *
Sheamus vs. Randy Orton: ***3/4
__________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Laurinaitis starts the show, taped in Hershey, PA. Now Big Johnny tries to show how weak he is to get the Board of Directors to reconsider their stipulations for the Cena match. No dice. Laurinaitis now pleads to the fans, who don't buy it at all. Enter Punk to rub it in Johnny's face. Laurinaitis makes Punk face Kane. Johnny blames the fans and tells them to all go to hell.
Team BoomTruth (my name for Kofi and Truth) face Young and Titus. Short, fun tag match here. Truth with the hot tag. Kofi takes out Titus, and Truth hits Little Jimmy on D-Young for three. Good momentum as BoomTruth faces ZigSwag on Sunday. Faces probably retain their titles, paving the way eventually for AW and his All-World stable to capitalize.
The whole "Be A Star" campaign is cool stuff. Even Mark Henry got bullied in his life. Very moving stuff.
Damien Sandow comes out. Will he compete tonight? Yoshi Tatsu's in the ring already. Vintage Sandow monologue. DS deems Yoshi unworthy and starts to leave. Yoshi calls Sandow a chicken and clucks. Sandow removes the robe (pink tights), and nukes Yoshi. Neckbreaker...is that gonna be his finisher? No match here, just a short beatdown.
Orton and Sheamus with fighting words in the back. Good tension for their main event later.
DB and Ryder square off. DB apparently knows over 100 submissions, but he's not nothing on Jericho's 1004 holds! No Broski Boot tonight. DB with the huge kick to the head and the YES lock for the submission win.
DB stays out for the Punk/Kane match. Punk with the upper hand early, Kane fights back. Kane targets Punk's ribs throughout the match, so DB will be going after that on Sunday. Very competitive match here. Counters, variations on signature moves, etc. Chokeslam attempt, but Punk kicks Kane in the head. Suicide dive to the outside. DB fakes going after Punk with the chair, then decks Kane in the back, so Kane gets a DQ win. Kane then nukes Punk, thinking it was the straight edge one who gave him the chair shot. DB strategy worked tonight. Punk may still retain on Sunday, especially if they want the feud to last through the summer. Come on! I want another Summer of Punk...and Daniel Bryan!
Battle of two champs as Santino faces Cody. Cody still does a great moonsault. No Cobra; Cody got the dropkick in. Cobra! Announcers really didn't see that one coming. Three for Santino.
They replayed the entire Big Show firing segment from RAW. I'm still pretty sure Show's turning heel. They could also make it more like the Teddy Long situation and have Show return to do heel stuff that he wouldn't otherwise do (perhaps be Johnny's hired security help or something). It's interesting that Punk mentioned that no one could interfere in the Laurinaitis/Cena match, when Cena's words had left the door open for someone like Show to interfere. We'll see what transpires.
Sheamus and Orton finish the show. Orton with one of the best dropkicks in the company today. Physical on the outside. Orton shoulder-first into the steps. Quick note of Orton's past shoulder problems and Alberto Del Rio's cross-armbreaker submission. Now Orton gets to Sheamus' shoulder as well. ADR will now be able to work on both guys on Sunday. Lengthy match for free TV here. A methodical pace, but still a lot of nice moves and counters. Good flow here. Orton with his comeback. Belly-to-belly from Orton? Uncommon for him to pull that off, at least compared to some of his other moves. Sheamus now with his comeback. Extremely competitive. Superplex from Orton, who hit his head there. Only two. Damn. Brogue Kick missed, Orton with the hangman's DDT! Crowd is really loving it. RKO missed, Brogue Kick missed, RKO countered! Sheamus rolls Orton up for three! Just outstanding.
Post-match, handshake between Orton and Sheamus -- then Orton with the RKO. Sunday should be good.
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Darren Young & Titus O'Neil: *3/4
Damien Sandow vs. Yoshi Tatsu: N/A
Daniel Bryan vs. Zack Ryder: *1/4
Kane vs. CM Punk: **3/4
Santino Marella vs. Cody Rhodes: *
Sheamus vs. Randy Orton: ***3/4
__________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Laurinaitis starts the show, taped in Hershey, PA. Now Big Johnny tries to show how weak he is to get the Board of Directors to reconsider their stipulations for the Cena match. No dice. Laurinaitis now pleads to the fans, who don't buy it at all. Enter Punk to rub it in Johnny's face. Laurinaitis makes Punk face Kane. Johnny blames the fans and tells them to all go to hell.
Team BoomTruth (my name for Kofi and Truth) face Young and Titus. Short, fun tag match here. Truth with the hot tag. Kofi takes out Titus, and Truth hits Little Jimmy on D-Young for three. Good momentum as BoomTruth faces ZigSwag on Sunday. Faces probably retain their titles, paving the way eventually for AW and his All-World stable to capitalize.
The whole "Be A Star" campaign is cool stuff. Even Mark Henry got bullied in his life. Very moving stuff.
Damien Sandow comes out. Will he compete tonight? Yoshi Tatsu's in the ring already. Vintage Sandow monologue. DS deems Yoshi unworthy and starts to leave. Yoshi calls Sandow a chicken and clucks. Sandow removes the robe (pink tights), and nukes Yoshi. Neckbreaker...is that gonna be his finisher? No match here, just a short beatdown.
Orton and Sheamus with fighting words in the back. Good tension for their main event later.
DB and Ryder square off. DB apparently knows over 100 submissions, but he's not nothing on Jericho's 1004 holds! No Broski Boot tonight. DB with the huge kick to the head and the YES lock for the submission win.
DB stays out for the Punk/Kane match. Punk with the upper hand early, Kane fights back. Kane targets Punk's ribs throughout the match, so DB will be going after that on Sunday. Very competitive match here. Counters, variations on signature moves, etc. Chokeslam attempt, but Punk kicks Kane in the head. Suicide dive to the outside. DB fakes going after Punk with the chair, then decks Kane in the back, so Kane gets a DQ win. Kane then nukes Punk, thinking it was the straight edge one who gave him the chair shot. DB strategy worked tonight. Punk may still retain on Sunday, especially if they want the feud to last through the summer. Come on! I want another Summer of Punk...and Daniel Bryan!
Battle of two champs as Santino faces Cody. Cody still does a great moonsault. No Cobra; Cody got the dropkick in. Cobra! Announcers really didn't see that one coming. Three for Santino.
They replayed the entire Big Show firing segment from RAW. I'm still pretty sure Show's turning heel. They could also make it more like the Teddy Long situation and have Show return to do heel stuff that he wouldn't otherwise do (perhaps be Johnny's hired security help or something). It's interesting that Punk mentioned that no one could interfere in the Laurinaitis/Cena match, when Cena's words had left the door open for someone like Show to interfere. We'll see what transpires.
Sheamus and Orton finish the show. Orton with one of the best dropkicks in the company today. Physical on the outside. Orton shoulder-first into the steps. Quick note of Orton's past shoulder problems and Alberto Del Rio's cross-armbreaker submission. Now Orton gets to Sheamus' shoulder as well. ADR will now be able to work on both guys on Sunday. Lengthy match for free TV here. A methodical pace, but still a lot of nice moves and counters. Good flow here. Orton with his comeback. Belly-to-belly from Orton? Uncommon for him to pull that off, at least compared to some of his other moves. Sheamus now with his comeback. Extremely competitive. Superplex from Orton, who hit his head there. Only two. Damn. Brogue Kick missed, Orton with the hangman's DDT! Crowd is really loving it. RKO missed, Brogue Kick missed, RKO countered! Sheamus rolls Orton up for three! Just outstanding.
Post-match, handshake between Orton and Sheamus -- then Orton with the RKO. Sunday should be good.
5/17/12 Impact
Ratings:
Bully Ray vs. Rob Van Dam: *1/2
Open Fight Night Qualifier Battle Royal: **
Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson: **1/2
Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky vs. Brooke Tessmacher (Knockouts Title): **
Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe: **3/4
__________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Roode again starts the show to gloat about his latest win against RVD. Celebration of domination, and he wants Hogan out here. A few demands for Hulk. Champagne! Vintage green plain M&Ms! Golden Canadian confetti! There are other demands as well. No dice, says Hogan. Open Fight Night again next week, and Roode's number is up. Who wants to challenge? Everyone! We got RVD/Bully, Hardy/Anderson, Angle/Joe, and everyone else in a battle royal. Nice opening segment.
In two weeks, Impact moves to 8 pm ET (one hour earlier).
RVD and Bully begin. RVD's left knee taped, so Bully focuses on that area. Bully uses a cutter for his finisher now. No need a partner. Joseph Park and Bully in the back. Only a matter of time when Abyss shows up more often.
King Mo announced as the first to try pro wrestling and MMA at the same time. Clearly, they forgot about Bobby Lashley's attempt at that.
Battle Royal time to determine the wild card spot for the OFN qualifier for Roode's title. EY and ODB went right after Crimson, so that storyline continues. Madison Rayne spotted on the stage having eyes for someone in the ring, so at least that got narrowed down to a few guys. Robbie E eliminates his own bouncer (Robbie T). Devon took Robbie E out, so that didn't work out so well. Garett Bischoff among the last four guys. Gunner, Styles, and Aries are the last three. Gunner took Aries out, but Styles tosses Gunner to get into that title match. Good, but not the best battle royal, Taz.
ROFL, there's a Dixie Styles sign in the front. AJ vows to explain the photo. Daniels and Kaz come out, and they only wanted to expose the truth. Now a video is shown of Styles and Dixie.
Joe and Angle get it on in the back. There was even video from when Angle first broke into the company, with one of his first feuds being against Joe. Great stuff. But Anderson and Hardy are first.
Very good match between Jeff and Ken. Counters at key points of the match, and also otherwise placed here and there throughout. Lots of crowd reaction, although I'm sure a bunch was pumped in. Lots of free-flowing action here. Anderson tries that roll through fireman's carry slam but Hardy counters with the rollup for three. Again, very close on whether it was three. Solid.
Knockouts title match now. Velvet and Brooke gang up on Gail. Nice spot with Gail's Boston Crab on Tessmacher and Velvet with a dragon sleeper on Gail. Octopus from Gail, almost thought Brooke tapped for a sec there. Unique rollups resulted there. Gail with a missile dropkick to both opponents, nice. In Yo Face from Velvet to Tessmacher, but Gail picks the scraps for three.
Angle and Joe finish the night off. Crowd pretty jacked for this one. Roode comes out for commentary during the match. Usual great stuff from both guys; they know each other so well. Numerous counters. Ankle lock on Joe for a pretty long stretch. Muscle Buster countered, sunset flip by Angle gets three. Nice main event.
All four guys (Angle, Hardy, Bully, Styles) come out to eye Roode and his title. Hogan's likely picking Angle. Bully's occupied with Abyss, Styles has Daniels and Kaz, while Hardy probably still has stuff with Anderson.
Bully Ray vs. Rob Van Dam: *1/2
Open Fight Night Qualifier Battle Royal: **
Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson: **1/2
Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky vs. Brooke Tessmacher (Knockouts Title): **
Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe: **3/4
__________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Roode again starts the show to gloat about his latest win against RVD. Celebration of domination, and he wants Hogan out here. A few demands for Hulk. Champagne! Vintage green plain M&Ms! Golden Canadian confetti! There are other demands as well. No dice, says Hogan. Open Fight Night again next week, and Roode's number is up. Who wants to challenge? Everyone! We got RVD/Bully, Hardy/Anderson, Angle/Joe, and everyone else in a battle royal. Nice opening segment.
In two weeks, Impact moves to 8 pm ET (one hour earlier).
RVD and Bully begin. RVD's left knee taped, so Bully focuses on that area. Bully uses a cutter for his finisher now. No need a partner. Joseph Park and Bully in the back. Only a matter of time when Abyss shows up more often.
King Mo announced as the first to try pro wrestling and MMA at the same time. Clearly, they forgot about Bobby Lashley's attempt at that.
Battle Royal time to determine the wild card spot for the OFN qualifier for Roode's title. EY and ODB went right after Crimson, so that storyline continues. Madison Rayne spotted on the stage having eyes for someone in the ring, so at least that got narrowed down to a few guys. Robbie E eliminates his own bouncer (Robbie T). Devon took Robbie E out, so that didn't work out so well. Garett Bischoff among the last four guys. Gunner, Styles, and Aries are the last three. Gunner took Aries out, but Styles tosses Gunner to get into that title match. Good, but not the best battle royal, Taz.
ROFL, there's a Dixie Styles sign in the front. AJ vows to explain the photo. Daniels and Kaz come out, and they only wanted to expose the truth. Now a video is shown of Styles and Dixie.
Joe and Angle get it on in the back. There was even video from when Angle first broke into the company, with one of his first feuds being against Joe. Great stuff. But Anderson and Hardy are first.
Very good match between Jeff and Ken. Counters at key points of the match, and also otherwise placed here and there throughout. Lots of crowd reaction, although I'm sure a bunch was pumped in. Lots of free-flowing action here. Anderson tries that roll through fireman's carry slam but Hardy counters with the rollup for three. Again, very close on whether it was three. Solid.
Knockouts title match now. Velvet and Brooke gang up on Gail. Nice spot with Gail's Boston Crab on Tessmacher and Velvet with a dragon sleeper on Gail. Octopus from Gail, almost thought Brooke tapped for a sec there. Unique rollups resulted there. Gail with a missile dropkick to both opponents, nice. In Yo Face from Velvet to Tessmacher, but Gail picks the scraps for three.
Angle and Joe finish the night off. Crowd pretty jacked for this one. Roode comes out for commentary during the match. Usual great stuff from both guys; they know each other so well. Numerous counters. Ankle lock on Joe for a pretty long stretch. Muscle Buster countered, sunset flip by Angle gets three. Nice main event.
All four guys (Angle, Hardy, Bully, Styles) come out to eye Roode and his title. Hogan's likely picking Angle. Bully's occupied with Abyss, Styles has Daniels and Kaz, while Hardy probably still has stuff with Anderson.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)