Been away for a couple of weeks. Having a little marriage and honeymoon. Don't worry. It's over now. Anyway, I come back, and there's a new WWE show which is just wrestling matches, and I LOVE wrestling matches. Last week there was a nice little CM Punk-Jericho match. This week, there's some John Cena. Let's do it.
Tag match between Carlito and Primo and Haas and Benjamin. I am shocked how much of a turnaround Carlito has had since this tag team run. I'm not saying he's a great worker or anything, but he looks happy in the ring, and the team is over. Decent little formula match. Primo is fun to watch - entirely unnecessary flips aside, he does his share of flying around. WGTT cut Primo off and it feels like 2003 again, with Haas and Benjamin working the arm in tandem. The Cryme Tyme interruption ruins the build of the heat section, leading to a lukewarm tag and a flat finish. I assume this builds to something else, but I was all set to recommend to call this decent.
Finlay and Swagger are the ECW match. The four minute ECW match. If this was longer, it would have been pretty great. We could imagine that the story here is that a continually developing Swagger doesn't get bogged down on the mat with Finlay again, who has been shown to match him there. So instead he comes out with a barrage of strikes and impact moves. Finlay manages a couple of comeback spots to make a little competitive, but this is all about elevating Swagger, which is fine.
And... I have now caught up with the basketball thing. Half of my brain feels the response was stupid, childish and that Vince managed to make himself look like the jerk. The other half of my brain contains a reminder that I'm frequently amused by all those things.
Main event is Cena vs. Ted Dibiase, which I'm looking forward to. Cena's like Rock is being a top guy who always looks to elevate anyone he's with, including midcard guys. The Swagger match a couple of weeks a go is a good example. Cena bumps around for Dibiase, and Dibiase comes off as a smarter opponent against Cena's more highly charged character. In fact, although the commentary puts over Dibiase smartness as learning from Orton, Dibiase seems much more cerebral than Orton ever does. Obviously, Dibiase does falling fistdrops, which are great, and he can throw as punch too. There's a nice crossbody roll-through sequence as Cena puts over his strength and lifts Dibiase in the Attitude Adjustment position. Dibiase avoids three attempts at Cena's finisher, which I enjoyed. Cena finally resorts to his secondary submission finish, obviously playing towards the Big Show match on Sunday. Simple, effective TV match, with a clear dynamic and plenty of energy. Good stuff.
A show worth watching on a regular basis, especially as it is all wrestling. I like the concept of a show case show with each brand getting one match. RAW wins this week for best match. I don't usually get time to watch all four WWE shows, so I'll be continuing to watch this and ECW on a regular basis, and trying to post thoughts when I have them (intermittent).
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