Saturday April 6th 2013, 9.15pm: So, here's the thing, dear readers frequently checking this un-updated blog. It is the eve before Wrestlemania 29 and I am exactly twelve months behind in WWE watching, because of this life and how it gets in the way of things. However, I have all PPVs between Wrestlemanias 28 and 29 lined up to watch. I've spent the last week rewatching the Elimination Chamber 2012 and some TV between that and 'Mania and I am READY TO GO.
9.20pm: Lilian singing the National Anthem to open the show. Shows you how it's done, Beyonce (this is an example of a reference that is both too soon in that it wasn't relevant in April 2012, and incredibly dated in that I'm actually making it April 2013).
9.27pm: Crowd inexplicably chanting "you, esse". Lots of Hispanics in Miami, of course.
9.33pm: World Heavyweight title with the Royal Rumble winning challenger is opening the show again. I suppose when you stack a card with so many big matches you need to spread them out. Keep the crowd energy high for all of them. Give them all equal chance to shine. Ensure you give the spotlight to as many guys as possible, including your future stars, on the biggest show of the ... oh, they did a nine second title switch angle masquerading as a match. No, no, don't worry. It's fine. Your idea was good too.
9.53pm: Anyway, you definitely need to leave sufficient time for the Kane-Randy Orton issue to finally be settled. Cole: "Orton says he couldn't care less about Kane's identity crisis". Randy Orton - voice of the people. I'm making myself a cup of tea, in the way you all think English people do whenever they have to deal with adversity such having to watch a Kane match.
10.15pm: Just a match with effectively nothing to be interested or excited by. Unlike the tea, which was a total crazy spotfest. The Daniel Bryan fans on the front row start a Daniel Bryan chant because they really want to see a lengthy Kane match.
10.20pm: Annual Comedy Skit actually amused me.
10.31pm: Big Show vs Cody Rhodes next. Hey, you know which match would make complete sense if it finished with one strike in less than twenty seconds?
10.39pm: Rhodes gets far too much time-filling offense here. But to make it all right, Show spears him in the groin whilst jumping off the ropes and then does it eight more times as I rewatch that moment again and again.
11.03pm: Divas tag match caps off what must be the worst first hour of any Wrestlemania ever. Cole hypes Maria Menonous as she came down the aisle by reporting her Dancing With The Stars score from the previous week. Daniel Bryan chant starts up to voice positive thoughts about seeing two wrestlers lightly cuddle a non-wrestler for about four minutes. A Daniel Bryan chant can mean almost anything (except that people want to see Daniel Bryan wrestle a proper match, of course).
11.12pm: OK, Taker vs. HHH in the Cell with guest referee Shawn Michaels is next. So that'll be the next hour of the show at least.
11.16pm: HHH enters from out of Vader's old helmet. This match is described as the end of an era, but no-one has really clarified what is potentially ending. No-one is explicitly saying there's a career-ending stipulation although I guess that's heavily implied.
11.20pm: BONG! Taker enters. JR talks about this match being the path to "everlasting mortality". Not immortality, you'll note. "Are you immortal?" "No, I'm just planning on being mortal for a really long time". Taker still entering. He pulls off his hood to reveal he's had a haircut. JR: "What has happened to the Undertaker?" as I begin to suspect that the commentators will be overhyping everything in this match.
11.22pm: Ah, the perfectly choreographed upwards stare towards the descending cage. I amuse myself by imagining the conversation between the production team and the writing team, focusing on the moment when they casually mentioned they'd need a enormous cage to descend onto the ring IN AN OPEN-ROOFED ARENA. The match then begins, as they do.
11.30pm: Slow methodical start with Taker very much in control. Cole notes that HHH has never lost a match which Shawn has been the guest referee. How many have there been? There was that Iron Man match with the Rock. And then...help me out here? There was that match from Summerslam 1997 between Bret and Taker. I guess he technically didn't lose that one either. I think we're about twenty minutes in.
11.36pm: Trips takes control with a nasty looking spinebuster on the steps and demonstrates he does in fact know how to beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania - hit him in the skull with a sledgehammer. Jimmy Snuka's kicking himself for not thinking of that one. HBK want Triple H to stop the madness. HBK asks Taker to give it up but he won't. It's all too much for him. Feels like we're at about the thirty five minute mark.
11.40pm: Taker stops HBK from ending the match by putting him in the Hell's Gate. This backfires because less than a minute later, he could have won the match. They do a brief second ref run-in and bump and then HBK superkicks Taker into a Pedigree. TWO COUNT and Shawn falls back into the corner battling some intense but unspecific moral dilemmas. Nearing an hour now, I'd guess.
11.53pm: Match finally drags itself to a finish with the decisive pinfall win that Taker wanted. Before that there's more chair shots and sledgehammer shots and kickouts from finishers. In a vacuum, I probably would have thought this was OK - the match is largely uninspired brawling and weapons stuff, dragged out far longer than it should have, but at least they don't fill all that time with a finisher overkill run to the same degree as last year's match (which I also disliked). It doesn't need the Cell at all, but whatever. The problem is that the more the commentators talk in terms of classics and epics and it being one for the ages, the cognitive dissonance becomes too much. The crowd is not better - there's a fucking 'this is awesome' chant for a ref bump and I don't feel like crediting them with hipster irony. Shawn's referee act was distractingly bad - the build for this match demanded these two guys battle it out until one was left standing. If it's brutal, it should look brutal to anyone watching. You don't need someone close-captioning that for you with their hammy acting. I dislike big matches that did very little with massive amounts of resources, and this match stands as the epitome of that. If that's the era that's ending, I welcome it with a hearty Daniel Bryan chant.
Sunday April 7th 2013, 12.20am: Team Johnny vs. Team Teddy for overall control of both shows. I liked this when Dolph was in the ring because Dolph is great and people being great is the sort of thing I like. His bumping makes a bunch of really weak offence (which is in copious supply in this match) look good. The finishing run, when its all been uncluttered and it's basically Miz and Dolph vs. Santino and Ryder makes me wish that's what the match had been because it's quite fun.
12.26am: CM Punk vs. Jericho title match is next.
12.37am: The last minute stipulation that Punk could lose the title on a disqualification really hampers the start of this match. I don't know why they through in all the personal stuff in this feud - it's enough for me that two guys are fighting over the right to call themselves the best wrestler in the world. Instead we have Punk playing a guy who's fighting to control his anger, in a very unconvincing fashion, having to stop himself from getting disqualified on a number of occasions.
12.52am: Turns out it wasn't just the stipulation that was the problem here. There was a couple of great spots (especially that nuts suplex bump to the outside) but the majority of this match just didn't click at all even after the early DQ-teasing stuff, and the crowd response was a pretty overwhelming silence which dragged the energy down even further. This is a shame because the last three minutes showed they really did have a good wrestling match in there. Jericho keeps escaping the Anaconda Vice with some stiff knees to the back of Punk's head until, on the third occasion, Punk shifts around and out of the way of Jericho's flailing legs and he has to give up. Smart story-telling through wrestling is what I want from a Punk vs. Jericho match. Jibes about alcoholic fathers and half-hearted acting - not so much.
1.01am: Last match is Cena vs. Rock. Watching the build-up over the previous month, I thought it was obvious how much better Cena was than Rock at this point despite how it's being billed. His promos were on-point and relevant and hard-hitting. Rock's were all over the place and sounded dated and infantile. This feud would have made more sense to me if they'd really pushed arrogant Hollywood heel Rock rather than trying to recreate his headlining face persona, which does nothing for me in 2013 after eight years away. Sure, people cheered, but I suspect it's more a combination of nostalgia and the in-built unwavering dislike for Cena from a certain segment of the audience.
1.10am: Just to emphasise my point, none of the crowd is cheering for Rock. They are either cheering for or against Cena but I can barely make out a 'Rock' chant.
1.40am: I thought this match was basically fine and there's some nice moments throughout (the roll-through into the Attitude Adjustment, twenty five minutes into the match was incredibly impressive) but much of it felt by-numbers. It ticked all the boxes and didn't have obvious flaws, but that's it. And be under no illusion - the positives that did exist were almost entirely due to Cena. Rock inserted his moves here and there, but his personality is entirely absent from the match. Cena was leading the way. It's his facial expressions that tell the audience what's going on while Rock looks intense and out-of-breath. You'd barely notice the times where Rock is slow to get up for the next spot as Cena filled the space talking at the crowd, the referee, himself. On offence, I like that he neither plays for cheers nor takes any shortcuts - he admirably walks the line between the heel the crowd want him to be and the good-guy company ace that he is booked as. You understand his character and that all he wants to do is win. For the purpose of this assessment, please ignore the attempted finisher theft back-firing at the end. The writers don't understand Cena like I do.
1.47am: Overall a deeply underwhelming and disappointing show. None of the big matches lived up to their hype either because they under-delivered on reasonable expectations or delivered something decent but had unrealistic expectations. If I'm going to mainline WWE PPVs over the next couple of weeks I'm going to need something more. You hear that, already-occurred events? It's time to step up.
Showing posts with label wwe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wwe. Show all posts
Sunday, 7 April 2013
Saturday, 12 May 2012
A (possible) WWE Night of Champions 2011 liveblog
Monday May 7th 2012, 22.45pm: I made a DECISION. I skipped over Money in the Bank and Summerslam for two reasons 1. They were basically two match cards, and I feel like I've written enough about Orton and Christian. 2. I'm writing a separate piece on CM Punk vs. John Cena (and the feud in general). It feels like I should give it a fuller treatment than the smug glibness I manage here.
22.47pm: I don't want to give anything away from that piece, of course - otherwise, you'd have no reason to check back Wednesday for my opinion a match which was as good as any done in the promotion and the style for maybe a decade. OR WAS IT?
22.48pm: (Yes, it was.)
22.50pm: So here's Night of Champions, a PPV designed to showcase title matches headlined by a non-title match. Ha, that would like if the Royal Rumble event wasn't headlined by the Royal Rumble match or the Survivor Series event wasn't headlined by a Survivor Series match or the King of the Ring wasn't headlined by the King of the Ring final or if Tuesday socks weren't worn on Tuesday. They say Tuesday on them! Why do you hate society?
23.07pm: There was a tag title match to start the show. Miz's fall down the card is quite spectacular, now doing the same comedy gimmick that R-Truth is doing, only doing it with seriousness. They do an ending where the heels get screwed three or four times and lose by DQ when they get frustrated, and I only just got how amusing it is for a professional wrestler to have a gimmick where they believe they keep losing because an unknown outsider had decided they are going to lose. They could really push it and start questioning all sort of wrestling cliches.
23.18pm: I've just noticed that the sound on this (entirely legal) DVD is about two seconds out. The sounds of Cody Rhodes vs. Ted Dibiase is next, followed by the pictures of Cody Rhodes vs. Ted Dibiase.
23.33pm: Match was standard TV match stuff. Dibiase pulls off Cody Rhodes' protective mask at the end and I add excitement to the match by shouting 'OH MY GOD IT'S CODY RHODES' as it comes off. Commentators claim Cody won by holding on to a handful of tights - replay confirms he had perhaps one-and-a-half finger tips near some tights. It's odd to me that Cody Rhodes is the one that got the push out of that tag team.
23.45pm: Fatal fourway for the United States title. Cole is doing this thing where he lists the famous holders of each belt, but it's a really predictable list. I'd like him to start pulling out obscure title holders with the same reverential tone: "Past winner of the US title have included Steve McMichael, General Rection and future Hall of Famer Orlando Jordan".
23.50pm: They're doing a escalating row between Vicky and Dolph, with Jack Swagger in the middle of it. Vicky puts Swagger's foot on the ropes to save a pinfall, then Dolph comes over and gets annoyed with Vicky for saving Swagger and asking if she cost him the match. The match is still ongoing. This makes absolutely no sense. Then Lawler says, "What do you think? Did Vicky just cost Dolph the match?" Seriously, the match is still ongoing.
Tuesday May 8th 2012, 12.02am: This was quite fun with some nice spots. Dolph looked really good (nice dropkick, great bumps off some of Morrisons more flippy offence). Said flippy offence is fine by me in this sort of sprint.
12.10am: Henry vs. Orton. Henry has been booked really well over the few months leading up to this match and I secretly have Sting-Vader type expectations.
12.11am: I'm also a child and I'm laughing to myself about figuring out that Apex Predator is exactly one letter away from A Sex Predator, which I've always thought would be a gimmick that suited Randy's creepy creepy face.
12.13am: Cole fails to mention Vince Russo and David Arquette among the notable holders of the big gold belt.
12.26am: Totally great match. It opens with Henry being surprised to be caught out by Orton dodging his offence and tumbling to the floor. Henry's obviously in control for most of the match, and he has some great offence - there's a great moment where he that knocks Orton off the top to the outside with a single right hand, and another where he does a backbreaker around the post. The measure of Henry as a big-man wrestler is how good his selling is of when his opponent is on offence - watch how he rocks and flails around as Ortonf fires off punches and uppercuts. Orton times all his big hope spots well, but gets caught with what almost looks like a frustrated fluke kick and takes out one of his legs. This leads to a great ending where Orton, like a champion, tried battling on defiantly and stands right up in Henry's face. He almost sneaks in an RKO, misses and gets slammed for the victory. Perfectly executed story with really great character depth on both sides.
12.30am: Belt looks good on Henry.
12.45am: There was a Divas title match and then we moved on to the WWE title match. I'm a sucker for John Cena's overly grandiose promos about integrity and honour and the fans and what it means to be alive. It's the sort of thing that should probably come across as trying too hard, but he somehow makes it work
1.08am: Not a spectacular match, but pretty good stuff. I thought Del Rio came across as pretty dominant here, as Cena does such a good job of timing his comebacks, only to be cutoff quite soon afterwards. Del Rio has quite a lot of really good-looking offence that I don't remember seeing before (top rope senton, bridging German suplex, jumping enziguri whilst Cena was sat on the turnbuckle). Cena wins feels decisive, like a true champion surviving everything and finally getting his biggest offence in - I particularly liked how much he was cranking up the STFU.
1.33am: It's getting late, so I've stopped typing much. I thought the main event was overbooked to the point of collapse. The majority of the match was absolutely fine - the brawling was at the upper end of WWE brawling, and their were some fun bumps (the announce desk elbow was a clear highlight, and really felt like the climax of the match before all the other stuff happened). The result of all the run-ins and finisher kickouts was to make the actual outcome meaningless, but maybe that was intentional. Based on this match, I'm not convinced the WWE can continually write for a character as nuanced and different as Punk was from June to August - the storyline of the feud and the match were both less well-defined (in that Punk motivations and ambitions weren't as clear as during the Cena-McMahon), and consequently it felt a bit more ordinary (two guys don't like each other; have a match).
1.37am: Fun show, with one absolutely standout match in Orton-Henry, and a bunch of other things I enjoyed. Demonstrably less good than the previous two PPVs.
22.47pm: I don't want to give anything away from that piece, of course - otherwise, you'd have no reason to check back Wednesday for my opinion a match which was as good as any done in the promotion and the style for maybe a decade. OR WAS IT?
22.48pm: (Yes, it was.)
22.50pm: So here's Night of Champions, a PPV designed to showcase title matches headlined by a non-title match. Ha, that would like if the Royal Rumble event wasn't headlined by the Royal Rumble match or the Survivor Series event wasn't headlined by a Survivor Series match or the King of the Ring wasn't headlined by the King of the Ring final or if Tuesday socks weren't worn on Tuesday. They say Tuesday on them! Why do you hate society?
23.07pm: There was a tag title match to start the show. Miz's fall down the card is quite spectacular, now doing the same comedy gimmick that R-Truth is doing, only doing it with seriousness. They do an ending where the heels get screwed three or four times and lose by DQ when they get frustrated, and I only just got how amusing it is for a professional wrestler to have a gimmick where they believe they keep losing because an unknown outsider had decided they are going to lose. They could really push it and start questioning all sort of wrestling cliches.
23.18pm: I've just noticed that the sound on this (entirely legal) DVD is about two seconds out. The sounds of Cody Rhodes vs. Ted Dibiase is next, followed by the pictures of Cody Rhodes vs. Ted Dibiase.
23.33pm: Match was standard TV match stuff. Dibiase pulls off Cody Rhodes' protective mask at the end and I add excitement to the match by shouting 'OH MY GOD IT'S CODY RHODES' as it comes off. Commentators claim Cody won by holding on to a handful of tights - replay confirms he had perhaps one-and-a-half finger tips near some tights. It's odd to me that Cody Rhodes is the one that got the push out of that tag team.
23.45pm: Fatal fourway for the United States title. Cole is doing this thing where he lists the famous holders of each belt, but it's a really predictable list. I'd like him to start pulling out obscure title holders with the same reverential tone: "Past winner of the US title have included Steve McMichael, General Rection and future Hall of Famer Orlando Jordan".
23.50pm: They're doing a escalating row between Vicky and Dolph, with Jack Swagger in the middle of it. Vicky puts Swagger's foot on the ropes to save a pinfall, then Dolph comes over and gets annoyed with Vicky for saving Swagger and asking if she cost him the match. The match is still ongoing. This makes absolutely no sense. Then Lawler says, "What do you think? Did Vicky just cost Dolph the match?" Seriously, the match is still ongoing.
Tuesday May 8th 2012, 12.02am: This was quite fun with some nice spots. Dolph looked really good (nice dropkick, great bumps off some of Morrisons more flippy offence). Said flippy offence is fine by me in this sort of sprint.
12.10am: Henry vs. Orton. Henry has been booked really well over the few months leading up to this match and I secretly have Sting-Vader type expectations.
12.11am: I'm also a child and I'm laughing to myself about figuring out that Apex Predator is exactly one letter away from A Sex Predator, which I've always thought would be a gimmick that suited Randy's creepy creepy face.
12.13am: Cole fails to mention Vince Russo and David Arquette among the notable holders of the big gold belt.
12.26am: Totally great match. It opens with Henry being surprised to be caught out by Orton dodging his offence and tumbling to the floor. Henry's obviously in control for most of the match, and he has some great offence - there's a great moment where he that knocks Orton off the top to the outside with a single right hand, and another where he does a backbreaker around the post. The measure of Henry as a big-man wrestler is how good his selling is of when his opponent is on offence - watch how he rocks and flails around as Ortonf fires off punches and uppercuts. Orton times all his big hope spots well, but gets caught with what almost looks like a frustrated fluke kick and takes out one of his legs. This leads to a great ending where Orton, like a champion, tried battling on defiantly and stands right up in Henry's face. He almost sneaks in an RKO, misses and gets slammed for the victory. Perfectly executed story with really great character depth on both sides.
12.30am: Belt looks good on Henry.
12.45am: There was a Divas title match and then we moved on to the WWE title match. I'm a sucker for John Cena's overly grandiose promos about integrity and honour and the fans and what it means to be alive. It's the sort of thing that should probably come across as trying too hard, but he somehow makes it work
1.08am: Not a spectacular match, but pretty good stuff. I thought Del Rio came across as pretty dominant here, as Cena does such a good job of timing his comebacks, only to be cutoff quite soon afterwards. Del Rio has quite a lot of really good-looking offence that I don't remember seeing before (top rope senton, bridging German suplex, jumping enziguri whilst Cena was sat on the turnbuckle). Cena wins feels decisive, like a true champion surviving everything and finally getting his biggest offence in - I particularly liked how much he was cranking up the STFU.
1.33am: It's getting late, so I've stopped typing much. I thought the main event was overbooked to the point of collapse. The majority of the match was absolutely fine - the brawling was at the upper end of WWE brawling, and their were some fun bumps (the announce desk elbow was a clear highlight, and really felt like the climax of the match before all the other stuff happened). The result of all the run-ins and finisher kickouts was to make the actual outcome meaningless, but maybe that was intentional. Based on this match, I'm not convinced the WWE can continually write for a character as nuanced and different as Punk was from June to August - the storyline of the feud and the match were both less well-defined (in that Punk motivations and ambitions weren't as clear as during the Cena-McMahon), and consequently it felt a bit more ordinary (two guys don't like each other; have a match).
1.37am: Fun show, with one absolutely standout match in Orton-Henry, and a bunch of other things I enjoyed. Demonstrably less good than the previous two PPVs.
Monday, 30 April 2012
A (possible) WWE Capitol Punishment 2011 liveblog
Sunday 29th April, 2012, 11.06am: Sitting in bed with nothing to do today EQUALS I write about some wrestling. I have a stack of WWE DVDs from when I last watched (Extreme Rules) to the present so that's what I'm doing for the next few weeks. I watched Over the Limit before this, and actually enjoyed it quite a lot. I thought the Punk/Mason vs. Show/Kane tag was a lot of fun and that Orton vs. Christian match was really a very good face vs. face WWE heavyweight match (with a particularly well-paced finishing stretch and some nice spots that played off the knowledge each man had of the others moveset). The I Quit main event was sort of worth watching for Cena doing his performance art limits of human endurance act, although that idea dragged on way too long and I didn't like recorded voice false finish.
11.13am: So, next up is Capitol Punishment, from June 2011. PLAY.
11.20am: I don't know what they do with R-Truth after this title match, because his title shot feels like what the character is really all about, but I'm enjoying how insane-looking he is in this gimmick. He's got some impressive mic skills that haven't seen much play in recent years.
11.23am: First up, a match to determine: (a) whether Dolph Ziggler can drag anything worthwhile out of Kofi Kingston, and (b) the US championship. In the meantime, there's some borderline intolerable misogyny going on as the commentators discuss Vicky Guerrero's weight. "Want to be of value, ladies? Don't forget to be thin and attractive. And even if you do make yourself more thin and more attractive, old overweight men who decide these things will probably still determine that it's not enough." Someone put that on the side of a bus.
11.40am: Cole says Kingston takes inspiration from Shawn Michaels. Kingston does some weak chops and pointlessly jumps around a bit in lieu of doing anything with any impact. I mention these things together for you to draw your own conclusions.
11.54am: Look, I'm glad they gave the belt to Dolph, and he was really good in the match, especially the way he bumped around and made Kofi's stuff look actually dangerous (he absolutely jumps into the crossbody which was, like, well good), but that ending was really rubbish. Firstly, I'm not sure if Kofi fell over while Dolph was going for the Zig-Zag (a much tidier ending), but if so, Dolph salvage it by making it a sleeper hold. Then, the ref is clearly able to see the rope break, whereas he should have been facing away. Thirdly, what happened to the old 'arm drops three time' finish for a KO victory? Lastly (and this is a bit pedantic, I grant you), Booker's going on about it being a DQ because of the use of ropes, which doesn't make any sense. I generally like how unpolished he is on commentary, it feels more real when events are surprising, but sometimes he needs to keep on-script more to get over the actual story points.
12.03pm: Alex Riley vs. The Miz next. Got to say, it's a smart move them doing this turn with his first big match in his billed hometown. I mean, I don't think he's getting that ovation on his own merits (yet) (maybe ever), but it should play well.
12.21pm: That was what it was. Riley has some terrible punches and they featured heavily, so that's not good. Miz played his role fine (I liked him taunting Riley then acting shocked when he actually got slapped), and the ending was a bit of a surprise. I hope they are not banking on Riley being a potential star, because I didn't see much here.
12.32pm: I'm going to make a potato rosti and bacon and eggs, because HELLO, it's a Sunday and I'm not dead yet.
1.34pm: Back now. This Obama skit is ridiculous. Remember: satire isn't funny if it takes a political position. Obviously, that doesn't include left-wing positions.
1.40pm: Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rios is next. Big Show interrupts Del Rios' entrance from behind, and I'll be honest: I would not look quite some comfortable waiting for the Big Show to run into me from behind as he did.
1.51pm: I really liked that as a half-angle half-match. The Mark Henry run-in and slam through the table was impressive, and the leg injury finish lets both men leave looking good. Show's sell job of the leg was really great.
1.55pm: Oh, come on. I've already sat through one Big Zeke vs. Wade Barrett match this week. Why is this happening again? Barrett runs through the usual heat-generating heel promo tactics: mentioning the national debt, rubbishing the education system, recommending the establishment of a monarchy. Standard.
2.04pm: Well, they kept it short at least. Nothing actually to be offended by, just nothing very interesting. NEXT.
2.06pm: This anti-bullying campaign is basically commendable but pretty incredible given the Vicky Guerrero stuff at the beginning. "Don't bully people. Except if they're full figured and slightly less attractive. They don't count. They're barely people."
2.09pm: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio is more like it. I can not believe they ever booked Punk as a face for the first couple of years in the WWE. Is there a more naturally gifted heel out there at the moment (where the moment was, admittedly, 10 months ago)?
2.24pm: Really nice match with lots of cool spots. Obviously, Rey and Punk work really well together, as seen in the past. I liked the avoidance of each others stuff - the sequence where Punk avoided Rey's kick twice before getting kicked was really cool. Punk avoiding three 619s, with the third one transitioned into the GTS, completed that theme in a convincing ending. And if Punk wasn't actually nursing both an arm and leg injury, his selling had me convinced otherwise.
2.29pm: Christian vs. Randy Orton is next. I've liked both their prior matches, but this is the first with Christian working heel. For the record, Orton as face and Christian as a heel is really not playing to anyone's strengths. On the other hand, they've made it work in storyline terms. So much so that Booker T has geesebumps, which I believe is where your goosebumps have goosebumps.
2.50pm: I enjoyed this as well. The match was built around Orton's concussion, so that gave it a nice storyline. Orton does some stupid things that would obviously aggrevate a head injury, and I have this internal debate about whether that's acceptable. On the one hand, he sells it, so it is consistent. On the other hand, he KEEPS HEADBUTTING Christian and basic common sense screams at him to find another move. Has he even done headbutts before? King is explaining that he's probably not thinking straight, but even the most brain-addled can understand, on a primitive level: 'Head hurts, stop hitting things with head'. Christian doesn't actually stand out for me much here, although I do like that last month Christian does Edge's spear to a big cheer, and this month it comes off as a complete douchebag move. I should probably give them more credit for a storyline that has turned the fans so effectively.
2.58pm: Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger have been sent out to fill some time between title matches. Swagger tries to get heel heat by the standard trick of raising his arms, but no-one responds. They are ambivalent to his arms. He is saying to them 'Look at my arms, evil and raised' and the crowd collectively shurg and say 'S'just arms, man'. One guy at the back boos a little. It was a bit like my graduation, except almost everyone hated my arms.
3.10pm: I'll give the Obama impersonator credit for the quality of the impression. He absolutely nails the mannerisms. But this is still beyond stupid. I don't care that someone who is playing the part of someone else can do something that you wouldn't expect the person he is playing to be able to do, because IT'S A DIFFERENT PERSON.
3.30pm: And that was the Cena vs. R-Truth main event right there. Match was passable and inoffensive and I'm struggling to think of any real highlights. The commentators spend most of the match picking minor faults with the things other commentators say (although some of them were spot on, like Booker saying Cena always finds a way to pull victories out, and Cole saying that a day will come when he doesn't, and Booker saying that of course such a day always comes, and Cole then questioning what his point actually was). Booker also asks for the name of moves It occurs that Truth hasn't worked out how to turn crazy heel interview persona into crazy heel in-ring persona, and he mostly does his moves and mouths off a little bit. Finish is a nice little pay-off, and it doesn't feel like they'll be running a longer feud here.
3.36pm: So, you know, this was an actually good show. The main event wasn't really anything special, but the other title match and the Rey-Punk match was definitely worth the time, and the other stuff had some nice moments and didn't last too long if it didn't need to. Plus the next month is all about Punk, so I'm in a pretty positive-about-the-WWE place right now
11.13am: So, next up is Capitol Punishment, from June 2011. PLAY.
11.20am: I don't know what they do with R-Truth after this title match, because his title shot feels like what the character is really all about, but I'm enjoying how insane-looking he is in this gimmick. He's got some impressive mic skills that haven't seen much play in recent years.
11.23am: First up, a match to determine: (a) whether Dolph Ziggler can drag anything worthwhile out of Kofi Kingston, and (b) the US championship. In the meantime, there's some borderline intolerable misogyny going on as the commentators discuss Vicky Guerrero's weight. "Want to be of value, ladies? Don't forget to be thin and attractive. And even if you do make yourself more thin and more attractive, old overweight men who decide these things will probably still determine that it's not enough." Someone put that on the side of a bus.
11.40am: Cole says Kingston takes inspiration from Shawn Michaels. Kingston does some weak chops and pointlessly jumps around a bit in lieu of doing anything with any impact. I mention these things together for you to draw your own conclusions.
11.54am: Look, I'm glad they gave the belt to Dolph, and he was really good in the match, especially the way he bumped around and made Kofi's stuff look actually dangerous (he absolutely jumps into the crossbody which was, like, well good), but that ending was really rubbish. Firstly, I'm not sure if Kofi fell over while Dolph was going for the Zig-Zag (a much tidier ending), but if so, Dolph salvage it by making it a sleeper hold. Then, the ref is clearly able to see the rope break, whereas he should have been facing away. Thirdly, what happened to the old 'arm drops three time' finish for a KO victory? Lastly (and this is a bit pedantic, I grant you), Booker's going on about it being a DQ because of the use of ropes, which doesn't make any sense. I generally like how unpolished he is on commentary, it feels more real when events are surprising, but sometimes he needs to keep on-script more to get over the actual story points.
12.03pm: Alex Riley vs. The Miz next. Got to say, it's a smart move them doing this turn with his first big match in his billed hometown. I mean, I don't think he's getting that ovation on his own merits (yet) (maybe ever), but it should play well.
12.21pm: That was what it was. Riley has some terrible punches and they featured heavily, so that's not good. Miz played his role fine (I liked him taunting Riley then acting shocked when he actually got slapped), and the ending was a bit of a surprise. I hope they are not banking on Riley being a potential star, because I didn't see much here.
12.32pm: I'm going to make a potato rosti and bacon and eggs, because HELLO, it's a Sunday and I'm not dead yet.
1.34pm: Back now. This Obama skit is ridiculous. Remember: satire isn't funny if it takes a political position. Obviously, that doesn't include left-wing positions.
1.40pm: Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rios is next. Big Show interrupts Del Rios' entrance from behind, and I'll be honest: I would not look quite some comfortable waiting for the Big Show to run into me from behind as he did.
1.51pm: I really liked that as a half-angle half-match. The Mark Henry run-in and slam through the table was impressive, and the leg injury finish lets both men leave looking good. Show's sell job of the leg was really great.
1.55pm: Oh, come on. I've already sat through one Big Zeke vs. Wade Barrett match this week. Why is this happening again? Barrett runs through the usual heat-generating heel promo tactics: mentioning the national debt, rubbishing the education system, recommending the establishment of a monarchy. Standard.
2.04pm: Well, they kept it short at least. Nothing actually to be offended by, just nothing very interesting. NEXT.
2.06pm: This anti-bullying campaign is basically commendable but pretty incredible given the Vicky Guerrero stuff at the beginning. "Don't bully people. Except if they're full figured and slightly less attractive. They don't count. They're barely people."
2.09pm: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio is more like it. I can not believe they ever booked Punk as a face for the first couple of years in the WWE. Is there a more naturally gifted heel out there at the moment (where the moment was, admittedly, 10 months ago)?
2.24pm: Really nice match with lots of cool spots. Obviously, Rey and Punk work really well together, as seen in the past. I liked the avoidance of each others stuff - the sequence where Punk avoided Rey's kick twice before getting kicked was really cool. Punk avoiding three 619s, with the third one transitioned into the GTS, completed that theme in a convincing ending. And if Punk wasn't actually nursing both an arm and leg injury, his selling had me convinced otherwise.
2.29pm: Christian vs. Randy Orton is next. I've liked both their prior matches, but this is the first with Christian working heel. For the record, Orton as face and Christian as a heel is really not playing to anyone's strengths. On the other hand, they've made it work in storyline terms. So much so that Booker T has geesebumps, which I believe is where your goosebumps have goosebumps.
2.50pm: I enjoyed this as well. The match was built around Orton's concussion, so that gave it a nice storyline. Orton does some stupid things that would obviously aggrevate a head injury, and I have this internal debate about whether that's acceptable. On the one hand, he sells it, so it is consistent. On the other hand, he KEEPS HEADBUTTING Christian and basic common sense screams at him to find another move. Has he even done headbutts before? King is explaining that he's probably not thinking straight, but even the most brain-addled can understand, on a primitive level: 'Head hurts, stop hitting things with head'. Christian doesn't actually stand out for me much here, although I do like that last month Christian does Edge's spear to a big cheer, and this month it comes off as a complete douchebag move. I should probably give them more credit for a storyline that has turned the fans so effectively.
2.58pm: Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger have been sent out to fill some time between title matches. Swagger tries to get heel heat by the standard trick of raising his arms, but no-one responds. They are ambivalent to his arms. He is saying to them 'Look at my arms, evil and raised' and the crowd collectively shurg and say 'S'just arms, man'. One guy at the back boos a little. It was a bit like my graduation, except almost everyone hated my arms.
3.10pm: I'll give the Obama impersonator credit for the quality of the impression. He absolutely nails the mannerisms. But this is still beyond stupid. I don't care that someone who is playing the part of someone else can do something that you wouldn't expect the person he is playing to be able to do, because IT'S A DIFFERENT PERSON.
3.30pm: And that was the Cena vs. R-Truth main event right there. Match was passable and inoffensive and I'm struggling to think of any real highlights. The commentators spend most of the match picking minor faults with the things other commentators say (although some of them were spot on, like Booker saying Cena always finds a way to pull victories out, and Cole saying that a day will come when he doesn't, and Booker saying that of course such a day always comes, and Cole then questioning what his point actually was). Booker also asks for the name of moves It occurs that Truth hasn't worked out how to turn crazy heel interview persona into crazy heel in-ring persona, and he mostly does his moves and mouths off a little bit. Finish is a nice little pay-off, and it doesn't feel like they'll be running a longer feud here.
3.36pm: So, you know, this was an actually good show. The main event wasn't really anything special, but the other title match and the Rey-Punk match was definitely worth the time, and the other stuff had some nice moments and didn't last too long if it didn't need to. Plus the next month is all about Punk, so I'm in a pretty positive-about-the-WWE place right now
Monday, 4 April 2011
A (Possible) Wrestlemania 27 live blog
Monday 4th April, 7.43pm: Everyone on the social networks seems to be adamantly trying to lower my expectations (mostly about this Wrestlemania show, but also overall with this life), but as ever I am filled with a childish excitement and my spirits can not be dampened.
7.45pm: The Rock! Is here! And his music!
7.54pm: He talks and leads the crowd in some chanting. Meanwhile, someone in the crowd has a Wrestle Maina sign. I am excited by near-impossible illiteracy.
8.00pm: Atlanta! Wrestlemania! Rock! The People! (and repeat)
8.04pm: The world heavyweight title match with the Royal Rumble winner is the opening match and Christian is booked to stand in a corner. Many people would have their spirits dampened by these decisions. Not me. I am just looking forward to an Edge match.
8.23pm: There's a lot of Edge criticism in the parts of the Internet I frequent, but really there are just two problems with his work - his offence, and all the things he does when he's not on offence. Meanwhile, Alberto Del Rios works a very smart, simple match around these limitations, and I end up enjoying what he does. The last few minutes with the Christian-Brodus Clay exchange were the best part. I'd quite like to see that match. I didn't like Edge coming close to a submission victory without any build-up to it, nor the business-exposing escape from it.
8.27pm: The Rolls Royce no-sells Edge's terrible offence.
8.35pm: Michael Cole's special protective booth is hilarious. Cole taunting King from behind it is hilarious. King calling Cole a moron is hilarious.
8.37pm: My guess for Rey's superhero costume is Hit Girl.
8.52pm: Sort of a weird match. It felt kind of disjointed for most of it, with each guy doing some nice stuff, but not much flow. They trade protective medical gear - Rey headbutts Cody Rhodes with the face mask, then Cody clocks Rey with the knee brace, which is an interesting finish because it feels like justifiable rule-breaking after Rey went there first. I wasn't sure how they were supposed to be playing Cody's injury - he loses the mask, but doesn't sell the kicks to the face like the major damage you might expect. Of course, they could be doing an Eddy Guererro arm injury thing, but that would be weird given that Cody is supposed to be narcissist who presumably wouldn't wear that ugly mask just to gain an advantage.
8.53pm: Of course, it is theoretically possible to overthink professional wrestling.
8.54pm: And it's time for the annual frustrated comedy writers segment, with Snoop Dogg and Teddy Long auditioning talent for Snoop's tour. It's always embarrassing when black guys pretend to be black. OK, Zack Ryder singing 'Friday' makes me actually laugh out loud, but then I'm very into the Zack Ryder character.
9.10pm: Eight man tag is quick. Big Show looked great, charging around and bumping and punched a guy out, so that'll do me.
9.15pm: Ah, time for a break because the wife wants to finish this season of 30 Rock.
11.34pm: Randy Orton (with giant meaningless cube) vs. CM Punk is next.
11.54pm: Yeah, I really kind of liked that. Borders on being a one-man show, Punk demolishes Orton's leg and does Punk stuff (awesome laughing at Orton when his leg buckles on the run up to the punt, and the look of his face after he dodges the RKO is perfect - a mix of shock and delight at his own quick thinking), but Orton sold it all well and held up his end. Finish was predictable, but other than that, a good match.
Tuesday 5th April, 12.05pm: Cole looks like such a faggoty homosexual gay in his ring gear, but obviously I don't mean that in the way you might take it.
12.22pm: I was kind of hoping Lawler's first Mania match might have been a bit better - it's starts really good, watching Cole being pulled face first into his protective glass booth over and over had me giggling in delight, but the middle was too long and Lawler didn't need to sell for Cole that much. I was hoping for a piledriver, but the dropkick absolutely connected. Austin's involvement added to the fun - there's a moment where Swagger touches him, and you hear the whole crowd, as one, say 'stunner'.
12.44am: This Mark Collie song is so cool.
12.49am: This Triple H entrance is so absurd.
12.53am: This Johnny Cash song is so cool. However, with all this buildup, it now feel's like there hasn't been any wrestling since, I think, when Taker was 14-0.
1.26am: There were parts of this match that I liked. The story of Taker refusing to lose and his selljob and HHH's frustration were well done. It was also far too long, and the finisher series was not exactly imaginative - ten minutes of a move, a near fall, and surprised look, and repeat doesn't really inspire me. I've said it before, and I stick to it - I like a match that does a lot with very little than a match that does just enough when the wrestlers are given so many extra resources (table bumps, no DQ, finisher theft spots, almost an hour of air time).
1.37am: What the fuck is a Snooki?
1.45am: The main event does not have the big match feel. Actually, it kind of has the SD main event feel. It was mostly fine and all, with a tendency towards overbooking at the end. Miz wasn't even benefitting from Cena's usual PPV heat, it basically feels like the crowd don't like Cena, but also don't like Miz, and as a result don't really get into anything. I just about convinced myself that the finish makes sense. I mean, I don't really know what Rock would have done to stop Cena winning if there hadn't been a restart for him to introduce the no DQ rule, but whatever.
1.49am: It's late and I have tired of typing and, to an extent this show. But yet I am still filled with childish excitement. I win, expectation lowerers.
1.50am: The Rock! Poses to close the show! And his music!
7.45pm: The Rock! Is here! And his music!
7.54pm: He talks and leads the crowd in some chanting. Meanwhile, someone in the crowd has a Wrestle Maina sign. I am excited by near-impossible illiteracy.
8.00pm: Atlanta! Wrestlemania! Rock! The People! (and repeat)
8.04pm: The world heavyweight title match with the Royal Rumble winner is the opening match and Christian is booked to stand in a corner. Many people would have their spirits dampened by these decisions. Not me. I am just looking forward to an Edge match.
8.23pm: There's a lot of Edge criticism in the parts of the Internet I frequent, but really there are just two problems with his work - his offence, and all the things he does when he's not on offence. Meanwhile, Alberto Del Rios works a very smart, simple match around these limitations, and I end up enjoying what he does. The last few minutes with the Christian-Brodus Clay exchange were the best part. I'd quite like to see that match. I didn't like Edge coming close to a submission victory without any build-up to it, nor the business-exposing escape from it.
8.27pm: The Rolls Royce no-sells Edge's terrible offence.
8.35pm: Michael Cole's special protective booth is hilarious. Cole taunting King from behind it is hilarious. King calling Cole a moron is hilarious.
8.37pm: My guess for Rey's superhero costume is Hit Girl.
8.52pm: Sort of a weird match. It felt kind of disjointed for most of it, with each guy doing some nice stuff, but not much flow. They trade protective medical gear - Rey headbutts Cody Rhodes with the face mask, then Cody clocks Rey with the knee brace, which is an interesting finish because it feels like justifiable rule-breaking after Rey went there first. I wasn't sure how they were supposed to be playing Cody's injury - he loses the mask, but doesn't sell the kicks to the face like the major damage you might expect. Of course, they could be doing an Eddy Guererro arm injury thing, but that would be weird given that Cody is supposed to be narcissist who presumably wouldn't wear that ugly mask just to gain an advantage.
8.53pm: Of course, it is theoretically possible to overthink professional wrestling.
8.54pm: And it's time for the annual frustrated comedy writers segment, with Snoop Dogg and Teddy Long auditioning talent for Snoop's tour. It's always embarrassing when black guys pretend to be black. OK, Zack Ryder singing 'Friday' makes me actually laugh out loud, but then I'm very into the Zack Ryder character.
9.10pm: Eight man tag is quick. Big Show looked great, charging around and bumping and punched a guy out, so that'll do me.
9.15pm: Ah, time for a break because the wife wants to finish this season of 30 Rock.
11.34pm: Randy Orton (with giant meaningless cube) vs. CM Punk is next.
11.54pm: Yeah, I really kind of liked that. Borders on being a one-man show, Punk demolishes Orton's leg and does Punk stuff (awesome laughing at Orton when his leg buckles on the run up to the punt, and the look of his face after he dodges the RKO is perfect - a mix of shock and delight at his own quick thinking), but Orton sold it all well and held up his end. Finish was predictable, but other than that, a good match.
Tuesday 5th April, 12.05pm: Cole looks like such a faggoty homosexual gay in his ring gear, but obviously I don't mean that in the way you might take it.
12.22pm: I was kind of hoping Lawler's first Mania match might have been a bit better - it's starts really good, watching Cole being pulled face first into his protective glass booth over and over had me giggling in delight, but the middle was too long and Lawler didn't need to sell for Cole that much. I was hoping for a piledriver, but the dropkick absolutely connected. Austin's involvement added to the fun - there's a moment where Swagger touches him, and you hear the whole crowd, as one, say 'stunner'.
12.44am: This Mark Collie song is so cool.
12.49am: This Triple H entrance is so absurd.
12.53am: This Johnny Cash song is so cool. However, with all this buildup, it now feel's like there hasn't been any wrestling since, I think, when Taker was 14-0.
1.26am: There were parts of this match that I liked. The story of Taker refusing to lose and his selljob and HHH's frustration were well done. It was also far too long, and the finisher series was not exactly imaginative - ten minutes of a move, a near fall, and surprised look, and repeat doesn't really inspire me. I've said it before, and I stick to it - I like a match that does a lot with very little than a match that does just enough when the wrestlers are given so many extra resources (table bumps, no DQ, finisher theft spots, almost an hour of air time).
1.37am: What the fuck is a Snooki?
1.45am: The main event does not have the big match feel. Actually, it kind of has the SD main event feel. It was mostly fine and all, with a tendency towards overbooking at the end. Miz wasn't even benefitting from Cena's usual PPV heat, it basically feels like the crowd don't like Cena, but also don't like Miz, and as a result don't really get into anything. I just about convinced myself that the finish makes sense. I mean, I don't really know what Rock would have done to stop Cena winning if there hadn't been a restart for him to introduce the no DQ rule, but whatever.
1.49am: It's late and I have tired of typing and, to an extent this show. But yet I am still filled with childish excitement. I win, expectation lowerers.
1.50am: The Rock! Poses to close the show! And his music!
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
A (possible) Royal Rumble liveblog
Tuesday 1st February, 2011, 9.02pm: The 24th annual Royal Rumble finished nearly 48 hours ago from the sold out something arena, Boston. But this blog is LIVE. It's going to be a night of surprises (I haven't watched WWE in about 3 months)
9.05pm: Opening with the world heavyweight championship. Edge comes out. Is he champion? Yes. I literally have no idea. (Surprise #1 if we're counting). Dolph Ziggler is the challenger, which is welcome. Edge is a babyface champion? Oh nuts.
9.08pm: There is a sign saying 'We hate sign guy', displaying a level of knowing irony not usual associated with WWE fans (I usually associate irony with the fans of Mike Modest's old promotion, Pro Wrestling Irony)
9.14pm: There's something amusing to me about talking about Edge's marriage to Vicky Guererro. Sure, they were married, she just kept her old husband's surname. This isn't actually very amusing, is it?
9.28pm: Edge has terrible offence, yet Ziggler is bumping like a maniac to make it look acceptable. That powerbomb counter was a nice nearfall, Dolph really let it look nasty in the way he twists and lands half on his shoulders.
9.39pm: Ziggler's performance and substantial booking gimmickry can, apparently, make for a decent Edge match. How is it that after all these years, Edge has absolutely no presence as a champion? The spear spot was predictable enough, but it was done very artlessly and made Edge look a guy who only has one useful tool. Also, when someone stacks the deck against someones favour like that, you kind of want to see it backfire in their face, not just have to guy work around it via a technicality.
9.46pm: Miz vs. Randy Orton. Of all the upper-midcarders they elevated to champion in one fell swoop, the Miz is the first one that works for me.
10.11pm: I really liked that. I think the thing I got into as the match went along was how much it felt a lot like a fight in how stiff and intense a lot of the action was, and how no-one really kept control for a long time. Plus, it kept pretty localised to the ring, which seemed to magnify the intensity. WWE doesn't know how to do fights anymore. A lot of matches which are actually booked as grudge matches go over the top, around the arena, use gimmicks and other things to try to divert your attention away from the banned lack of blood. It does work for me at all, and actively dimishes the violence. This was not booked as a grudge match but as a title match, yet the effect was something that they should try to replicate in the future.
10.30pm: Quick break. Stryker is talking about Cody Rhodes and his broken face. I know I can be pedantic, but this is ridiculous: "not only does Cody Rhodes has a shattered face, he also has shattered dreams, no pun intended". Tell me, Matt, what would be the point of that sentence if a pun was not intended? Otherwise you would have just said, "not only does Cody Rhodes has a shattered face, he also has some feelings of great disappointment". And then you probably would still have pointed out there was no pun intended. Only then, you would have been right.
10.35pm: The only reason I care about these things is because Matt Stryker portrays himself as an intellectual, what with his Morrissey references and his long words.
10.43pm: Laycool vs. Natalya. I can't believe it took ten years for them to work out that no-one likes Michael Cole and that there might be some interest in playing up to that. OK, this is now a fourway. Eve is the forth participant.
10.52pm: That was the very definition of clunky booking at the end, should such a thing need visual representation.
10.55pm: So what I really want to happen is for the Danielson romance angle to carry on with all these girls, then one of them is his girlfriend for a bit, then someone tells him he needs to break it off AND THEN he turns around and says, "I've got until FIVE, referee".
10.57pm: Next year, the number of times this Royal Rumble by numbers promo has been used will be one of the numbers used in the Royal Rumble by numbers promo.
11.01pm: OK, Rumble match time.
Wednesday 2nd February, 201112.20am: Mixed thoughts on the match. I loved the first half - you had the undercard guys doing some cool stuff (Bryan vs. Punk opening as a wink to the "internet" fans, Regal vs. Bryan, Morrison's crazy ringbarrier spot), before it settled down into the first important narrative of the match, being Punk and his Nexus' complete control. They built up the eliminiations, brought in Khali to disrupt the rhythm for the first time as a fake turnaround point, leading up to Cena's entry and elimination of all the Nexus. I particularly liked how after Khali gave the Nexus a fright, they lost their form and tightly organised attacks, allowing Cena the opportunity to take out all four. The stuff with Hornswaggle in the middle worked as light relief, but the real problem with the second half is that we never got showed the jeopardy. I just didn't buy most of the entrants as likely people to defeat Cena, and the ones who I did were either used poorly (like the Big Show) or arrived far to late to create any real tension (Orton). Of course, Cena didn't win, but that isn't really the point. I'm delighted that the top of the card is so unrecognisable from two years ago (no Taker, HHH, HBK), but there is still some way to go to truly establish the next generation of main eventers. I worry they'll end up going for the wrong guys (Kingston, Sheamus) rather than guys like Swagger or Ziggler.
12.25am: Oh, but that ending was just fabulous. It's the kind of wouldn't-it-be-cool-if idea that you never actually expect to see, much less subverted.
12.29am Surprise #2 was Del Rio winning.
9.05pm: Opening with the world heavyweight championship. Edge comes out. Is he champion? Yes. I literally have no idea. (Surprise #1 if we're counting). Dolph Ziggler is the challenger, which is welcome. Edge is a babyface champion? Oh nuts.
9.08pm: There is a sign saying 'We hate sign guy', displaying a level of knowing irony not usual associated with WWE fans (I usually associate irony with the fans of Mike Modest's old promotion, Pro Wrestling Irony)
9.14pm: There's something amusing to me about talking about Edge's marriage to Vicky Guererro. Sure, they were married, she just kept her old husband's surname. This isn't actually very amusing, is it?
9.28pm: Edge has terrible offence, yet Ziggler is bumping like a maniac to make it look acceptable. That powerbomb counter was a nice nearfall, Dolph really let it look nasty in the way he twists and lands half on his shoulders.
9.39pm: Ziggler's performance and substantial booking gimmickry can, apparently, make for a decent Edge match. How is it that after all these years, Edge has absolutely no presence as a champion? The spear spot was predictable enough, but it was done very artlessly and made Edge look a guy who only has one useful tool. Also, when someone stacks the deck against someones favour like that, you kind of want to see it backfire in their face, not just have to guy work around it via a technicality.
9.46pm: Miz vs. Randy Orton. Of all the upper-midcarders they elevated to champion in one fell swoop, the Miz is the first one that works for me.
10.11pm: I really liked that. I think the thing I got into as the match went along was how much it felt a lot like a fight in how stiff and intense a lot of the action was, and how no-one really kept control for a long time. Plus, it kept pretty localised to the ring, which seemed to magnify the intensity. WWE doesn't know how to do fights anymore. A lot of matches which are actually booked as grudge matches go over the top, around the arena, use gimmicks and other things to try to divert your attention away from the banned lack of blood. It does work for me at all, and actively dimishes the violence. This was not booked as a grudge match but as a title match, yet the effect was something that they should try to replicate in the future.
10.30pm: Quick break. Stryker is talking about Cody Rhodes and his broken face. I know I can be pedantic, but this is ridiculous: "not only does Cody Rhodes has a shattered face, he also has shattered dreams, no pun intended". Tell me, Matt, what would be the point of that sentence if a pun was not intended? Otherwise you would have just said, "not only does Cody Rhodes has a shattered face, he also has some feelings of great disappointment". And then you probably would still have pointed out there was no pun intended. Only then, you would have been right.
10.35pm: The only reason I care about these things is because Matt Stryker portrays himself as an intellectual, what with his Morrissey references and his long words.
10.43pm: Laycool vs. Natalya. I can't believe it took ten years for them to work out that no-one likes Michael Cole and that there might be some interest in playing up to that. OK, this is now a fourway. Eve is the forth participant.
10.52pm: That was the very definition of clunky booking at the end, should such a thing need visual representation.
10.55pm: So what I really want to happen is for the Danielson romance angle to carry on with all these girls, then one of them is his girlfriend for a bit, then someone tells him he needs to break it off AND THEN he turns around and says, "I've got until FIVE, referee".
10.57pm: Next year, the number of times this Royal Rumble by numbers promo has been used will be one of the numbers used in the Royal Rumble by numbers promo.
11.01pm: OK, Rumble match time.
Wednesday 2nd February, 201112.20am: Mixed thoughts on the match. I loved the first half - you had the undercard guys doing some cool stuff (Bryan vs. Punk opening as a wink to the "internet" fans, Regal vs. Bryan, Morrison's crazy ringbarrier spot), before it settled down into the first important narrative of the match, being Punk and his Nexus' complete control. They built up the eliminiations, brought in Khali to disrupt the rhythm for the first time as a fake turnaround point, leading up to Cena's entry and elimination of all the Nexus. I particularly liked how after Khali gave the Nexus a fright, they lost their form and tightly organised attacks, allowing Cena the opportunity to take out all four. The stuff with Hornswaggle in the middle worked as light relief, but the real problem with the second half is that we never got showed the jeopardy. I just didn't buy most of the entrants as likely people to defeat Cena, and the ones who I did were either used poorly (like the Big Show) or arrived far to late to create any real tension (Orton). Of course, Cena didn't win, but that isn't really the point. I'm delighted that the top of the card is so unrecognisable from two years ago (no Taker, HHH, HBK), but there is still some way to go to truly establish the next generation of main eventers. I worry they'll end up going for the wrong guys (Kingston, Sheamus) rather than guys like Swagger or Ziggler.
12.25am: Oh, but that ending was just fabulous. It's the kind of wouldn't-it-be-cool-if idea that you never actually expect to see, much less subverted.
12.29am Surprise #2 was Del Rio winning.
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
A (possible) Night of Champions 2010 liveblog
21st September, 7.34pm: Tell me. Is this live-blog-several-days-later concept I wheel out for WWE PPVs working? Does anyone like it?
7.35pm: (Or me? Does anyone like me? Maybe if people got to know me better...)
7.36pm: So, I'm watching this PPV, having actually sat down and watched some recent WWE TV. I'm excited for Big Show vs. Punk, and Miz vs. Danielson. I am not excited for the world title matches. No Christian match, which is a shame because he's been on a great run since July - his matches with Drew Macintyre have been some of the best things in US wrestling this year.
7.37pm: (I had macaroni cheese for dinner, and I am in the process of making some tea.)
7.39pm: Show starts. Picture flash. Words are ominous.
7.44pm: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston. Why is this happening again? Dolph has managed to carry something half-decent out of Kofi in past months, but I'm tiring of it.
8.04pm: That was OK. Kofi didn't do much that was offensive, and Dolph was fun on offence and bumped pretty big for a few of Kofi's spots (particularly the outside body press). Dolph has a couple of really nice little touches within his repetoire. I like how he scrambles for a pin after doing some move with an obvious urgency. Also, he works the sleeperhold in very well, capitalising on an opportunity with an almost pounce-like motion.
8.07pm: (I've just had some Coke, and I'm wearing an Emperor t-shirt)
8.10pm: Punk vs. Show next. Well, they are embracing Punk's home support then. Kind of cool. Punk's on mic. He loves Chicago.
8.11pm: Wait for it...
8.14pm: Just a great promo. Undiluted, self-righteous Punk is as good as mic work gets.
8.20pm: Man, I wish that wasn't just five minutes, because it was tremendous fun. Obviously, it's hard to book a long small heel vs. monster face, but this packed a lot of nice stuff in. I love Punk's stiff knees, Big Show's bodyshots, the slingshot senton to the outside (and Punk counting Show out and praying for him to stay down), and the spear on a mid-air Punk.
8.27pm: (I went for a swim this evening and earlier today I saw a crow.)
8.30pm: Miz vs. Daniel Bryan.
8.50pm: No thoughts as we went along, because I was completely absorbed. Tremendous match, probably the best thing I've seen so far this year, certainly in the US. There are two excellent performances here. Firstly, Bryan's selling of his injured arm and his fighting through the pain facials made this a really dramatic fight. Secondly, this is a match that has really sold me on the Miz. His arm work was all really nasty - the shoulderbreaker, the snap over the ropes and loads of other stuff which relentlessly targetted the arm all look great. In fact, both men brought loads of stiff offence and some stuff I've never seen in WWE before, like the lariat off the top. Some of the nearfalls absolutely had me, especially the two rollups and I loved the swerve finish (I was convinced they were going to do a bullshit DQ finish).
8.53pm: Also, great booking, great crowd heat, great stuff on commentary. And how satisfying is it to see a seven month long storyline paid off that well?
8.56pm: Cena is a slick promo, smart, funny (but not desperately so) and the sort of confident that wins over parts of an otherwise hostile crowd.. He also make a refreshing change of pace from the somewhat uninspired intensity of the other guys.
9.10pm: I shall go and do some tasks.
9.12pm: (I tidied the kitchen and I'm sure there were some others tasks.)
9.41pm: Diva's match. One thing I really like about the WWE women's division is the writing of storylines and characters which capture the subtle tensions, bitternesses and jealousies that groups of women experience. Case in point: Layla looking like thunder.
9.49pm: Well, it's not like the match was particularly good, but I kind of enjoy McCool schtick at times, and I'm Lay-Cool aren't breaking up. Their best friend mean girls act is the best thing the division has been built around in years, plus its is frequently hilarious (especially when combined with Ki).
9.52pm: I find it impossible to be excited by another Kane vs. Undertaker match. The whole storyline is absurd and the language gets more and more ridiculous each time. Whose the demon? Who will eat whose soul? What will happen when the screaming nemesis of children's dreams meets the harrowing strangler from the dreaded abyss? Then you throw in the world title, so you get this wierd narrative on commentary where they alternate between hyperbole about one souless evil attempting to destroy an inhuman monster (who, by the way, was recently in a vegetative state in a hospital, like hospitals would be happy to admit one of those without comment: "Well, nurse, the problem seems to be in his black heart and the fact he doesn't respire". His health insurance must be a financial burden.) and a title match story, where they are competing for a belt. Why couldn't you just book a straight up title match? That would at least be novel at this stage.
10.09pm: Match was a slugfest, in the most onomatopoeiac sense of that word. Taker's glassy-eyed, worn down selling is good, but for all the stuff used to set up this match, it wasn't even particularly violent. Sometimes, it pays to be a little more understated.
10.11pm: (I'm very good at the A-minor chord and my bedtime is 12am)
10.14pm: Tag team gauntlet match.
10.20pm: Tyson Kidd is trying to get himself more over by amping up his highspots. It might work, his asai moonsault was impressive. Cole tries to help the process by calling him a 'bundle of energy'. As is everything.
10.30pm: Not really sure how to deal with these sorts of matches. You basically get a miniscule formula tag match at the beginning and the end, and a bunch of spots in the middle as they move from Harts vs. Usos to Bourne/Henry vs. Macintyre/Rhodes, one team at a time. Bourne looked great in this, his jumping rana seems physically impossible. Rhodes manages to completely kill the hot tag by bumping way to early for a Henry chop though - the crowd collectively deflates with how ridiculous it looked. The finish ended up being anticlimatic.
10.31pm: (I write regular wrestling reviews of noted wrestling blog Spin Fly Kick).
11.08pm: Just whistled through the main event six man elimination. This mostly worked OK through the booking, which a multi-man has to because there's never time to develop much through the wrestling. Jericho's early elimination, teasing of Cena-Orton, Barrett as outsider, Edge and Sheamus' brief alliance, the Nexus run in and the remaining falls concealed some fairly run-of-the-mill action. The finish seemed rushed - a minute long between the last two guys, but four minutes of Orton posing with the belt is weird.
10.10pm: One great match, a couple of decent things, but a lot of stuff that could have been better. But definitely watch the US title match.
11.11pm: (That concludes this comprehensive 'getting-to-know-me' session. I assume I am now much beloved.)
7.35pm: (Or me? Does anyone like me? Maybe if people got to know me better...)
7.36pm: So, I'm watching this PPV, having actually sat down and watched some recent WWE TV. I'm excited for Big Show vs. Punk, and Miz vs. Danielson. I am not excited for the world title matches. No Christian match, which is a shame because he's been on a great run since July - his matches with Drew Macintyre have been some of the best things in US wrestling this year.
7.37pm: (I had macaroni cheese for dinner, and I am in the process of making some tea.)
7.39pm: Show starts. Picture flash. Words are ominous.
7.44pm: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston. Why is this happening again? Dolph has managed to carry something half-decent out of Kofi in past months, but I'm tiring of it.
8.04pm: That was OK. Kofi didn't do much that was offensive, and Dolph was fun on offence and bumped pretty big for a few of Kofi's spots (particularly the outside body press). Dolph has a couple of really nice little touches within his repetoire. I like how he scrambles for a pin after doing some move with an obvious urgency. Also, he works the sleeperhold in very well, capitalising on an opportunity with an almost pounce-like motion.
8.07pm: (I've just had some Coke, and I'm wearing an Emperor t-shirt)
8.10pm: Punk vs. Show next. Well, they are embracing Punk's home support then. Kind of cool. Punk's on mic. He loves Chicago.
8.11pm: Wait for it...
8.14pm: Just a great promo. Undiluted, self-righteous Punk is as good as mic work gets.
8.20pm: Man, I wish that wasn't just five minutes, because it was tremendous fun. Obviously, it's hard to book a long small heel vs. monster face, but this packed a lot of nice stuff in. I love Punk's stiff knees, Big Show's bodyshots, the slingshot senton to the outside (and Punk counting Show out and praying for him to stay down), and the spear on a mid-air Punk.
8.27pm: (I went for a swim this evening and earlier today I saw a crow.)
8.30pm: Miz vs. Daniel Bryan.
8.50pm: No thoughts as we went along, because I was completely absorbed. Tremendous match, probably the best thing I've seen so far this year, certainly in the US. There are two excellent performances here. Firstly, Bryan's selling of his injured arm and his fighting through the pain facials made this a really dramatic fight. Secondly, this is a match that has really sold me on the Miz. His arm work was all really nasty - the shoulderbreaker, the snap over the ropes and loads of other stuff which relentlessly targetted the arm all look great. In fact, both men brought loads of stiff offence and some stuff I've never seen in WWE before, like the lariat off the top. Some of the nearfalls absolutely had me, especially the two rollups and I loved the swerve finish (I was convinced they were going to do a bullshit DQ finish).
8.53pm: Also, great booking, great crowd heat, great stuff on commentary. And how satisfying is it to see a seven month long storyline paid off that well?
8.56pm: Cena is a slick promo, smart, funny (but not desperately so) and the sort of confident that wins over parts of an otherwise hostile crowd.. He also make a refreshing change of pace from the somewhat uninspired intensity of the other guys.
9.10pm: I shall go and do some tasks.
9.12pm: (I tidied the kitchen and I'm sure there were some others tasks.)
9.41pm: Diva's match. One thing I really like about the WWE women's division is the writing of storylines and characters which capture the subtle tensions, bitternesses and jealousies that groups of women experience. Case in point: Layla looking like thunder.
9.49pm: Well, it's not like the match was particularly good, but I kind of enjoy McCool schtick at times, and I'm Lay-Cool aren't breaking up. Their best friend mean girls act is the best thing the division has been built around in years, plus its is frequently hilarious (especially when combined with Ki).
9.52pm: I find it impossible to be excited by another Kane vs. Undertaker match. The whole storyline is absurd and the language gets more and more ridiculous each time. Whose the demon? Who will eat whose soul? What will happen when the screaming nemesis of children's dreams meets the harrowing strangler from the dreaded abyss? Then you throw in the world title, so you get this wierd narrative on commentary where they alternate between hyperbole about one souless evil attempting to destroy an inhuman monster (who, by the way, was recently in a vegetative state in a hospital, like hospitals would be happy to admit one of those without comment: "Well, nurse, the problem seems to be in his black heart and the fact he doesn't respire". His health insurance must be a financial burden.) and a title match story, where they are competing for a belt. Why couldn't you just book a straight up title match? That would at least be novel at this stage.
10.09pm: Match was a slugfest, in the most onomatopoeiac sense of that word. Taker's glassy-eyed, worn down selling is good, but for all the stuff used to set up this match, it wasn't even particularly violent. Sometimes, it pays to be a little more understated.
10.11pm: (I'm very good at the A-minor chord and my bedtime is 12am)
10.14pm: Tag team gauntlet match.
10.20pm: Tyson Kidd is trying to get himself more over by amping up his highspots. It might work, his asai moonsault was impressive. Cole tries to help the process by calling him a 'bundle of energy'. As is everything.
10.30pm: Not really sure how to deal with these sorts of matches. You basically get a miniscule formula tag match at the beginning and the end, and a bunch of spots in the middle as they move from Harts vs. Usos to Bourne/Henry vs. Macintyre/Rhodes, one team at a time. Bourne looked great in this, his jumping rana seems physically impossible. Rhodes manages to completely kill the hot tag by bumping way to early for a Henry chop though - the crowd collectively deflates with how ridiculous it looked. The finish ended up being anticlimatic.
10.31pm: (I write regular wrestling reviews of noted wrestling blog Spin Fly Kick).
11.08pm: Just whistled through the main event six man elimination. This mostly worked OK through the booking, which a multi-man has to because there's never time to develop much through the wrestling. Jericho's early elimination, teasing of Cena-Orton, Barrett as outsider, Edge and Sheamus' brief alliance, the Nexus run in and the remaining falls concealed some fairly run-of-the-mill action. The finish seemed rushed - a minute long between the last two guys, but four minutes of Orton posing with the belt is weird.
10.10pm: One great match, a couple of decent things, but a lot of stuff that could have been better. But definitely watch the US title match.
11.11pm: (That concludes this comprehensive 'getting-to-know-me' session. I assume I am now much beloved.)
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
A (possible) WWE Money In The Bank 2010 Live Blog
Tuesday, 20th July, 9.10pm: This show has been finished and completed for nearly two days, and I have managed to inadvertently find out who leaves the show with the world title belts. Damn you Twitter and my inability to not follow links even though I suspect they will spoil a surprise.
9.15pm: PLAY. I have a cup of tea (no milk or sugar). Just hardcore tea. My wife is drinking heavily in the corner and cursing at the Irish (this is a lie).
9.21pm: Smackdown Money In The Bank match. And Kofi is first out. Great news for fans of Kofi Kingston in ladder matches. Maybe he'll try that stilts spot again. Four guys I like in this (Dolph, Christian, Matt and Big Show), four guys I don't care four (others, look up names yourself)
9.27pm: Big Show was awesome at the beginning of this. I loved the look on his face as he breaks that first ladder under his weight.
9.59pm: Well, how about that? At first watch, I thought that was really good. Felt a lot more like a fight and a struggle compared to the usual spotfest with elaborate unrealistic setups. Having the two big guys in there gave it a different feel, with one story being about how the smaller guys could restrain them. Big Show's involvement was great - he made getting the huge ladder into a real performance for what could have been very dull - but they don't overplay his stuff and use credible stuff to keep him out. He took Kofi's DDT like a king. A little bit, I thought Dolph was the best guy in this. He's a good bumper, so there's plenty of opportunity for that (has he started doing Foley's apron bump regularly? Onto ladder was a cool spot), but his best moments came fighting with Kane on the ladder, scrambling over him then catching him with a sleeperhold. Kane does some stuff I don't like, but the booking of Drew Macintrye as the guy left at the end only for Kane to stop him was a great way of getting a face pop. Had it been Matt Hardy, for example, it would have been badly received.
10.15pm: Oh, and Kofi was inoffensive and that announce desk leg drop was nuts. Well played, WWE. Next match.
10.17pm: Next match soon. Errands have emerged.
11.25pm: Sheamus interview. I'd like to clarify that great white sharks do have souls. Some produce beautiful poetry (largely unwritten), about the loneliness of being a shark in a world that thinks you are soulless. Decent interview. Sheamus has got better at talking.
11.28pm: Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox begins. It's the battle of the divas with surnames. This was what it was. Alicia Fox looks more able than the average diva. Is it futile to point out that if you can't do a suplex because of a bad back, you can't then do a moonsault?
11.36pm: Speaking of divas, my wife has just fired our cleaning lady for putting the shampoo in the conditioner's spot on the shelf (utter fiction).
11.39pm: That was not a realistic conversation between Jack Swagger and the (imaginary) Ma Swagger, unless Ma and Pa Swagger are divorced. Or, more probably, if they are still are married.
11.40pm: Haven't seen the Usos before.
11.50pm: That was a perfectly decent, if short tag match. Felt like they packed a lot in and I was surprised only about seven minutes passed. Usos look like competent heels, and that assisted samoan drop was very cool. I'm very into the Harts being top team now, after being jobbed out all of last year. They complement each other well - definitely a greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts deal
Wednesday, 21st July, 12.01pm: Tired. Going to put on the Segunda Caida radio hour and fall asleep to Eric and Phil's melodious banter and Dean's falsetto. Will finish this tomorrow, providing my wife doesn't insist we got out shooting dogs again (absolutely never happened before).
11.52pm: This is ridiculous. I've been procrastinating watching stand-up on Youtube. Onwards.
11.56pm: Man, I wish I'd watched more Smackdown this last month. Rey vs. Swagger is on my screen now. Rey appears to be wearing his tribute to the gimp from Pulp Fiction costume, one of the lesser superheroes.
Thursday, 21st July, 12.05am: I love Rey busting out the split-leg moonsault as he's going around on a bad leg. Commentators missed how clever that was.
12.11am: Just a really nice match. Swagger looks great beating up Rey, Rey plays to his strengths (great selling, nice comebacks, including a couple of really nice dodges which barely missed). Couple of minor annoyances (Rey's setup headscissors seems to get less and less believable, and the top rope DDT was telegraphed and looked overly co-operative.
12.16am: This MitB angle is WELL played out by this point. Are they doing a split personality thing with Kane? That was the only thing that struck me as interesting here. That tombstone was a mistake, there was daylight and some of the following night between Rey's head and the mat.
12.20am: Layla vs. Kelly. SC's Eric says Layla is good, I have seen no singles matches of hers in 2010. Let us test this hypothesis. LayCool always strike me as two of the better developed characters on the show, and it's not just booking - they play them well.
12.27am: Fine for what it was. I liked Layla using Finlay's ring apron spot, but the slightly botch the dodgy finish. OK, it's late again. More sleep.
6.22pm: Right, I'm finishing this tonight. RAW ladder match now.
6.35pm: OK, a lot of this is really uninspiring and unimaginative multi-person ladder match fare. But Mark Henry pushing four guys off the ladder in two directions was a really cool visual. Bourne and Henry are the only people I care about so far, mostly for actually bringing something new to the table.
6.40pm: Morrison's obstacle course run to the ladder was nice - sort of thing that usually goes wrong. His unprotected bump inside the ladder looked really nasty.
6.43pm: Not a word of a lie: Henry bump off Edge's spear outside was the greatest bump ever taken by any man ever.
6.50pm: Fuck it. COME ON EVAN.
6.54pm: Nowhere near as good as the Smackdown match. Highspots weren't as good, loads of stuff that was overly contrived. The few nice moments featured Henry (his elimination was great, his bumping and selling off of that terrible offence was a sight to behold) and Bourne (I liked the shooting star out of nowhere). It felt like all the really good ideas were taken by the Smackdown match. All things in moderation, WWE.
7.02pm: Main event: Sheamus vs. Cena, in a cage.
7.30pm: A perfectly solid main event, with overbooked ending. Not particularly violent or hate-filled, nor did it feature anything standout-ish, but it was all put together well. I thought that they might actually give Sheamus a cleaner win at one stage, before Nexus came out. That said, this felt like a match where Sheamus seemed at home as heel champion and main-eventer, and I think that was Cena's doing.
7.33pm: I think it's time to move Cena away from the title belt for a bit, which this Nexus angle gives the opportunity for. Overall, a good show, with most things solid, and only the second ladder match disappointing my expectations. The opener was most surprising of all, and I recommend a watch.
7.35pm: My wife has just proof-read this post, and dislocated my arm as a punishment (a complete fabrication).
9.15pm: PLAY. I have a cup of tea (no milk or sugar). Just hardcore tea. My wife is drinking heavily in the corner and cursing at the Irish (this is a lie).
9.21pm: Smackdown Money In The Bank match. And Kofi is first out. Great news for fans of Kofi Kingston in ladder matches. Maybe he'll try that stilts spot again. Four guys I like in this (Dolph, Christian, Matt and Big Show), four guys I don't care four (others, look up names yourself)
9.27pm: Big Show was awesome at the beginning of this. I loved the look on his face as he breaks that first ladder under his weight.
9.59pm: Well, how about that? At first watch, I thought that was really good. Felt a lot more like a fight and a struggle compared to the usual spotfest with elaborate unrealistic setups. Having the two big guys in there gave it a different feel, with one story being about how the smaller guys could restrain them. Big Show's involvement was great - he made getting the huge ladder into a real performance for what could have been very dull - but they don't overplay his stuff and use credible stuff to keep him out. He took Kofi's DDT like a king. A little bit, I thought Dolph was the best guy in this. He's a good bumper, so there's plenty of opportunity for that (has he started doing Foley's apron bump regularly? Onto ladder was a cool spot), but his best moments came fighting with Kane on the ladder, scrambling over him then catching him with a sleeperhold. Kane does some stuff I don't like, but the booking of Drew Macintrye as the guy left at the end only for Kane to stop him was a great way of getting a face pop. Had it been Matt Hardy, for example, it would have been badly received.
10.15pm: Oh, and Kofi was inoffensive and that announce desk leg drop was nuts. Well played, WWE. Next match.
10.17pm: Next match soon. Errands have emerged.
11.25pm: Sheamus interview. I'd like to clarify that great white sharks do have souls. Some produce beautiful poetry (largely unwritten), about the loneliness of being a shark in a world that thinks you are soulless. Decent interview. Sheamus has got better at talking.
11.28pm: Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox begins. It's the battle of the divas with surnames. This was what it was. Alicia Fox looks more able than the average diva. Is it futile to point out that if you can't do a suplex because of a bad back, you can't then do a moonsault?
11.36pm: Speaking of divas, my wife has just fired our cleaning lady for putting the shampoo in the conditioner's spot on the shelf (utter fiction).
11.39pm: That was not a realistic conversation between Jack Swagger and the (imaginary) Ma Swagger, unless Ma and Pa Swagger are divorced. Or, more probably, if they are still are married.
11.40pm: Haven't seen the Usos before.
11.50pm: That was a perfectly decent, if short tag match. Felt like they packed a lot in and I was surprised only about seven minutes passed. Usos look like competent heels, and that assisted samoan drop was very cool. I'm very into the Harts being top team now, after being jobbed out all of last year. They complement each other well - definitely a greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts deal
Wednesday, 21st July, 12.01pm: Tired. Going to put on the Segunda Caida radio hour and fall asleep to Eric and Phil's melodious banter and Dean's falsetto. Will finish this tomorrow, providing my wife doesn't insist we got out shooting dogs again (absolutely never happened before).
11.52pm: This is ridiculous. I've been procrastinating watching stand-up on Youtube. Onwards.
11.56pm: Man, I wish I'd watched more Smackdown this last month. Rey vs. Swagger is on my screen now. Rey appears to be wearing his tribute to the gimp from Pulp Fiction costume, one of the lesser superheroes.
Thursday, 21st July, 12.05am: I love Rey busting out the split-leg moonsault as he's going around on a bad leg. Commentators missed how clever that was.
12.11am: Just a really nice match. Swagger looks great beating up Rey, Rey plays to his strengths (great selling, nice comebacks, including a couple of really nice dodges which barely missed). Couple of minor annoyances (Rey's setup headscissors seems to get less and less believable, and the top rope DDT was telegraphed and looked overly co-operative.
12.16am: This MitB angle is WELL played out by this point. Are they doing a split personality thing with Kane? That was the only thing that struck me as interesting here. That tombstone was a mistake, there was daylight and some of the following night between Rey's head and the mat.
12.20am: Layla vs. Kelly. SC's Eric says Layla is good, I have seen no singles matches of hers in 2010. Let us test this hypothesis. LayCool always strike me as two of the better developed characters on the show, and it's not just booking - they play them well.
12.27am: Fine for what it was. I liked Layla using Finlay's ring apron spot, but the slightly botch the dodgy finish. OK, it's late again. More sleep.
6.22pm: Right, I'm finishing this tonight. RAW ladder match now.
6.35pm: OK, a lot of this is really uninspiring and unimaginative multi-person ladder match fare. But Mark Henry pushing four guys off the ladder in two directions was a really cool visual. Bourne and Henry are the only people I care about so far, mostly for actually bringing something new to the table.
6.40pm: Morrison's obstacle course run to the ladder was nice - sort of thing that usually goes wrong. His unprotected bump inside the ladder looked really nasty.
6.43pm: Not a word of a lie: Henry bump off Edge's spear outside was the greatest bump ever taken by any man ever.
6.50pm: Fuck it. COME ON EVAN.
6.54pm: Nowhere near as good as the Smackdown match. Highspots weren't as good, loads of stuff that was overly contrived. The few nice moments featured Henry (his elimination was great, his bumping and selling off of that terrible offence was a sight to behold) and Bourne (I liked the shooting star out of nowhere). It felt like all the really good ideas were taken by the Smackdown match. All things in moderation, WWE.
7.02pm: Main event: Sheamus vs. Cena, in a cage.
7.30pm: A perfectly solid main event, with overbooked ending. Not particularly violent or hate-filled, nor did it feature anything standout-ish, but it was all put together well. I thought that they might actually give Sheamus a cleaner win at one stage, before Nexus came out. That said, this felt like a match where Sheamus seemed at home as heel champion and main-eventer, and I think that was Cena's doing.
7.33pm: I think it's time to move Cena away from the title belt for a bit, which this Nexus angle gives the opportunity for. Overall, a good show, with most things solid, and only the second ladder match disappointing my expectations. The opener was most surprising of all, and I recommend a watch.
7.35pm: My wife has just proof-read this post, and dislocated my arm as a punishment (a complete fabrication).
Saturday, 12 June 2010
WWE Superstars: 4th March 2010
I've been going over some Superstars shows as part of getting back into current WWE. Got a bunch of reviews coming in the next couple of days. Opening match of this show is Kofi Kingston vs. Chavo. This is a match of two polar opposite performances - Chavo has great-looking offence, whilst Kofi has awful looking offence. He does a tope which barely creeps over through the ropes, whilst Cole mentions his "imaginative" offence. Perhaps in this case, he was imagining what it would be like to do a tope whilst wearing armour. Chavo, on the other hand, leads Kofi through some matwork (whilst making it look like Kofi was matching up), works the blood stoppage with palpable exasperation and does some really nice looking stuff, like the roll-up boston crab, before the inevitable loss.
William Regal is on Superstars. Amazing. I am short of William Regal in 2010. He's against Evan Bourne. I am short of Evan Bourne in 2010. And he is short in 2010 (aha!). This was a really fun six minutes of match. I was really enjoying Regal submission work - with a smaller opponent, he really gets to improvise increasingly painful and elaborate looking stretches. I also liked how Evan battled to escape - they do a nice little roll through with Regal holding on before shakes it off. For the size difference, Regal's bumping off Bourne's early offence - headscissors, monkey flips - and his selling of the strike to the back and the knee to the chin at the end were an utter treat.
The Kane-Mike Knox match had little to recommend for it, aside from Knox's chokeslam bump. I don't think I've seen a guy the size of Knox take such a great bump off that move. The main event was Goldust vs. Jericho. I got a kick out of the early interactions - Jericho's has two facial expression which he does well. Firstly, there's when he doesn't understand why something has happened, and Goldust's schtick let's him play that one out. Secondly, he knows how to look smug, and when the smugness comes off the back of some minor victory (here, a shoulderblock that knocks Dustin down), it works really well. Goldust is so good taking the beating - I loved the little wild swinging fist as he fell down at one point, and he does a tremendous job selling his throat after getting guilottined (a move which rarely looks any good). His comeback was typically exciting - he really gets the crowd involved as he fought out of a sleeper, and there was some nice nearfalls. Both the first version and replay of Dustin getting caught by a dropkick as he came off the top really was as spot-on as the commentary suggested.
Quite the little TV show, with two matches that are definitely worth your time. Superstars, I am sorry I did forsake you these past three score and seven...weeks? Maybe.
William Regal is on Superstars. Amazing. I am short of William Regal in 2010. He's against Evan Bourne. I am short of Evan Bourne in 2010. And he is short in 2010 (aha!). This was a really fun six minutes of match. I was really enjoying Regal submission work - with a smaller opponent, he really gets to improvise increasingly painful and elaborate looking stretches. I also liked how Evan battled to escape - they do a nice little roll through with Regal holding on before shakes it off. For the size difference, Regal's bumping off Bourne's early offence - headscissors, monkey flips - and his selling of the strike to the back and the knee to the chin at the end were an utter treat.
The Kane-Mike Knox match had little to recommend for it, aside from Knox's chokeslam bump. I don't think I've seen a guy the size of Knox take such a great bump off that move. The main event was Goldust vs. Jericho. I got a kick out of the early interactions - Jericho's has two facial expression which he does well. Firstly, there's when he doesn't understand why something has happened, and Goldust's schtick let's him play that one out. Secondly, he knows how to look smug, and when the smugness comes off the back of some minor victory (here, a shoulderblock that knocks Dustin down), it works really well. Goldust is so good taking the beating - I loved the little wild swinging fist as he fell down at one point, and he does a tremendous job selling his throat after getting guilottined (a move which rarely looks any good). His comeback was typically exciting - he really gets the crowd involved as he fought out of a sleeper, and there was some nice nearfalls. Both the first version and replay of Dustin getting caught by a dropkick as he came off the top really was as spot-on as the commentary suggested.
Quite the little TV show, with two matches that are definitely worth your time. Superstars, I am sorry I did forsake you these past three score and seven...weeks? Maybe.
Thursday, 27 May 2010
A (possible) WWE Over the Limit 2010 Live Blog
May 28th, 22.03: I must apologise for the lack of posting in the past month. I've been busy with a number of things, and also, a very little bit, I wanted a bit of a wrestling watching break. Anyway, getting back into things with last Sunday's WWE PPV - Over the Limit. I haven't watched any WWE tv since the RAW after Wrestlemania, so this is really going to be a catch up. By the way, the name of this PPV is odd. There can't be such a shortage of names that you need one that close to another which they will obviously never use again. (Has this been noted elsewhere? I am out of the loop)
22:10: Roll intro. Wait, was that Warrior in the opening video?
22.18: Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre is the opener. I am excited, but it has nothing to do with the opener, Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre.
22.28: Nope, didn't like that at all. Kofi's offence is just the worst. At least he's added an overly elaborate Japanese indie ripoff finisher to increase his credibility. McIntyre is bland. He should consider adding an overly elaborate Japanese indie ripoff finisher.
22.40: R-Truth vs. Ted Dibiase is next. Ted has the Million Dollar Belt and is accompanied by Virgil, circa 1990. That guy has not aged well. In that, he has not aged at all. That's some incompetent ageing.
22.55: I don't think Virgil loves this anymore. The commentators manage to interpret many emotions (concern, disgust, panic, lust, enuit) from that one expression. Maybe that's why he looks like he hasn't aged. It's a mask. It's a man in a Virgil mask. In the good old days of wrestling, black men got put in masks. Today, a black man has been put in the mask of a black man. This we call progress.
22.57: Match was fine. I enjoy some Ted Dibiase bumping and a bit of old-school glassy-eyed selling. The finish was underwhelming and looked a bit rubbish though.
22.58: I pause the show, and move to bed, to annoy my wife with tapping keys whilst she attempts to sleep.
23.21: Drew McIntyre goes crazy in Teddy Long's office when he doesn't contravene the rules of sports. He doesn't destroy the picture of a man in a Martin Luther King mask, however.
23.23: Rey vs. Punk next. This is what I most regret about not watching WWE over the past couple of months.
23.32: Man, there's some great bumps in this. Punk's head first into the railings and Rey's slide into the chair both looked awesome. What could be more appropriate in a quasi-lucha stipulation match, that they do a medical stoppage spot? The answer is: letting Punk bleed like a Brazo. The fans annoy with the 'boring' chant. Ignore them, guys, I love actual selling.
23.35: They must have annoyed Punk as well, but that little bit after Rey got in the ring and they'd fixed Punk's head was awesome violent. That suplex on the outside was, like, the greatest thing I've ever seen.
23.45: Really good match. It had a simple story, with both guys looking for their finishers, great selling from both guys and a good build. I love how violent a match they work together - it shows a great deal of trust in each other abilities, because there was plenty of kicks and other stuff (like the corner powerbomb) that looked nasty, and probably could have been. The finish was out-of-nowhere, but in a good way. Post-match activities went as you would expect, yet another testament to Punk's acting abilties.
23.50: I develop The Fatigue and sleep for a number of hours.
May 30th, 21.35: Annnnd...back. Yes, I slept all that time. I wake up and go straight into Hart Dynasty vs. The Miz and Jericho. This Bret Hart US title angle is a little silly, but I guess it might help get the younger three over, after a year of jobbing them out to everyone. And they're the champions as well? I lost track.
21.56: Nothing actively wrong with the match, but not much that stood out. There was a surprising number of near falls, including a couple that actually would have made satisfying finishes (like the role up from Miz's attempted sharpshooter). The Hart Dynasty's version of the Hart Attack isn't as good as the original.
22.00: Edge is a heel now. That is an improvement. The justification for the turn, however, makes absolutely no sense or either real life or wrestling terms. Or is a convoluted way of saying 'just fancied a change'. This match could be OK though, with the Rated RKO history and the finisher vs. finisher build giving an obvious storyline.
22.13: That was an odd finish, it looked a little like they made it up on the spot, which suggests that wasn't a worked injury. But maybe the would know I'd think that, so they worked a finish which looked like it wasn't a worked finish, so maybe it wasn't a worked injury. But then they would know that I'd think that, so they would have wouldn't have worked that finish unless they had to, so maybe it wasn't a worked injury. Of course, they would know that I would think that they would think that so - sorry, out of time. This concludes today's episode of 'If wrestling booking was like the Princess Bride'. The match wasn't much. I liked how Randy worked a couple of Edge's restholds, looking for escapes, but the rest was just typical Edge and Randy Orton moves, performed by Edge and Randy Orton.
22.20: Big Show in the world title scene is a welcome return, after a year of him propping up the tag division. Big Show as a serious face is an intriguing proposition.
22.38: I got over-excited. It's an intriguing proposition if WWE didn't always resort to the most tediously uninspiring booking. There was some fun bits in this - Big Show running ropes and knocking guys all over the place always looks great, and Swagger and Big Show are well matched, with Swagger getting in a moments of credible offence (limited by the time constraints), which bodes well for a longer match.
22.45: The Divas title match slot is filled with a Divas title match. Maryse comes to the ring displaying some of poses that earned her a spot on the WKO 100 countdown. Michael Cole goes over the history of the feud between Maryse and Eve (three weeks old today!). Maryse attacked Eve at a photoshoot. Eve gets payback at the makeup table. You see: they are women. Next month, Maryse attacks Eve during a cosmetic surgery consultation. Eve gets revenge whilst shoe shopping. Maryse challenges Eve to a rematch whilst parking badly.
22.50: Maryse kicks the ring post. I agree with Matt's analysis (Ooooooooooo. Oooooo etc.) Maryse displays some of the selling that earned her a spot on the WKO 100 countdown, and ignores it.
22.58: I Quit match for the main event. I didn't watch the Last Man Standing match, but that finishing spot was a pretty imaginative way to finish a match never has imaginative finishes. That said, its not really in keeping with Cena's character. Cena's a battler and an overcomer of adversity. They should have saved that for an Edge match.
23.02: Pro-Cena crowd on a PPV. Unusual.
23.14: Striker attempts to build drama (his job) by suggesting that delays in responding suggest Cena and Batista are considering quitting. Cole ruins it (his job) by suggesting they might just be winded. When does Michael Cole's try-out period run out? Seems to have gone on quite a long time now.
23.30: Decent spotfest, if a little gimmicky at the end. Not the dramatic piece of performance art Cena-Orton was, of course, but they couldn't recreate that.
23.32: An underwhelming show overall. Punk-Rey was really good, but the main events felt like they were treading water, and the booking was dull and not at all creative. Maybe the writing staff should change their name to Uncreative, amiright?
22:10: Roll intro. Wait, was that Warrior in the opening video?
22.18: Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre is the opener. I am excited, but it has nothing to do with the opener, Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre.
22.28: Nope, didn't like that at all. Kofi's offence is just the worst. At least he's added an overly elaborate Japanese indie ripoff finisher to increase his credibility. McIntyre is bland. He should consider adding an overly elaborate Japanese indie ripoff finisher.
22.40: R-Truth vs. Ted Dibiase is next. Ted has the Million Dollar Belt and is accompanied by Virgil, circa 1990. That guy has not aged well. In that, he has not aged at all. That's some incompetent ageing.
22.55: I don't think Virgil loves this anymore. The commentators manage to interpret many emotions (concern, disgust, panic, lust, enuit) from that one expression. Maybe that's why he looks like he hasn't aged. It's a mask. It's a man in a Virgil mask. In the good old days of wrestling, black men got put in masks. Today, a black man has been put in the mask of a black man. This we call progress.
22.57: Match was fine. I enjoy some Ted Dibiase bumping and a bit of old-school glassy-eyed selling. The finish was underwhelming and looked a bit rubbish though.
22.58: I pause the show, and move to bed, to annoy my wife with tapping keys whilst she attempts to sleep.
23.21: Drew McIntyre goes crazy in Teddy Long's office when he doesn't contravene the rules of sports. He doesn't destroy the picture of a man in a Martin Luther King mask, however.
23.23: Rey vs. Punk next. This is what I most regret about not watching WWE over the past couple of months.
23.32: Man, there's some great bumps in this. Punk's head first into the railings and Rey's slide into the chair both looked awesome. What could be more appropriate in a quasi-lucha stipulation match, that they do a medical stoppage spot? The answer is: letting Punk bleed like a Brazo. The fans annoy with the 'boring' chant. Ignore them, guys, I love actual selling.
23.35: They must have annoyed Punk as well, but that little bit after Rey got in the ring and they'd fixed Punk's head was awesome violent. That suplex on the outside was, like, the greatest thing I've ever seen.
23.45: Really good match. It had a simple story, with both guys looking for their finishers, great selling from both guys and a good build. I love how violent a match they work together - it shows a great deal of trust in each other abilities, because there was plenty of kicks and other stuff (like the corner powerbomb) that looked nasty, and probably could have been. The finish was out-of-nowhere, but in a good way. Post-match activities went as you would expect, yet another testament to Punk's acting abilties.
23.50: I develop The Fatigue and sleep for a number of hours.
May 30th, 21.35: Annnnd...back. Yes, I slept all that time. I wake up and go straight into Hart Dynasty vs. The Miz and Jericho. This Bret Hart US title angle is a little silly, but I guess it might help get the younger three over, after a year of jobbing them out to everyone. And they're the champions as well? I lost track.
21.56: Nothing actively wrong with the match, but not much that stood out. There was a surprising number of near falls, including a couple that actually would have made satisfying finishes (like the role up from Miz's attempted sharpshooter). The Hart Dynasty's version of the Hart Attack isn't as good as the original.
22.00: Edge is a heel now. That is an improvement. The justification for the turn, however, makes absolutely no sense or either real life or wrestling terms. Or is a convoluted way of saying 'just fancied a change'. This match could be OK though, with the Rated RKO history and the finisher vs. finisher build giving an obvious storyline.
22.13: That was an odd finish, it looked a little like they made it up on the spot, which suggests that wasn't a worked injury. But maybe the would know I'd think that, so they worked a finish which looked like it wasn't a worked finish, so maybe it wasn't a worked injury. But then they would know that I'd think that, so they would have wouldn't have worked that finish unless they had to, so maybe it wasn't a worked injury. Of course, they would know that I would think that they would think that so - sorry, out of time. This concludes today's episode of 'If wrestling booking was like the Princess Bride'. The match wasn't much. I liked how Randy worked a couple of Edge's restholds, looking for escapes, but the rest was just typical Edge and Randy Orton moves, performed by Edge and Randy Orton.
22.20: Big Show in the world title scene is a welcome return, after a year of him propping up the tag division. Big Show as a serious face is an intriguing proposition.
22.38: I got over-excited. It's an intriguing proposition if WWE didn't always resort to the most tediously uninspiring booking. There was some fun bits in this - Big Show running ropes and knocking guys all over the place always looks great, and Swagger and Big Show are well matched, with Swagger getting in a moments of credible offence (limited by the time constraints), which bodes well for a longer match.
22.45: The Divas title match slot is filled with a Divas title match. Maryse comes to the ring displaying some of poses that earned her a spot on the WKO 100 countdown. Michael Cole goes over the history of the feud between Maryse and Eve (three weeks old today!). Maryse attacked Eve at a photoshoot. Eve gets payback at the makeup table. You see: they are women. Next month, Maryse attacks Eve during a cosmetic surgery consultation. Eve gets revenge whilst shoe shopping. Maryse challenges Eve to a rematch whilst parking badly.
22.50: Maryse kicks the ring post. I agree with Matt's analysis (Ooooooooooo. Oooooo etc.) Maryse displays some of the selling that earned her a spot on the WKO 100 countdown, and ignores it.
22.58: I Quit match for the main event. I didn't watch the Last Man Standing match, but that finishing spot was a pretty imaginative way to finish a match never has imaginative finishes. That said, its not really in keeping with Cena's character. Cena's a battler and an overcomer of adversity. They should have saved that for an Edge match.
23.02: Pro-Cena crowd on a PPV. Unusual.
23.14: Striker attempts to build drama (his job) by suggesting that delays in responding suggest Cena and Batista are considering quitting. Cole ruins it (his job) by suggesting they might just be winded. When does Michael Cole's try-out period run out? Seems to have gone on quite a long time now.
23.30: Decent spotfest, if a little gimmicky at the end. Not the dramatic piece of performance art Cena-Orton was, of course, but they couldn't recreate that.
23.32: An underwhelming show overall. Punk-Rey was really good, but the main events felt like they were treading water, and the booking was dull and not at all creative. Maybe the writing staff should change their name to Uncreative, amiright?
Monday, 29 March 2010
A (Possible) Wrestlemania Live Blog
Monday, 18.17: By my reckoning, Wrestlemania actually finished 14 hours ago, which makes the use of the word 'live' in the title somewhat erroneous. To compensate, I'll be blogging not only on the wrestling I'm watching, but the life around me (small flat, wife watching awful celebrity ice skating TV, sausages cooking). A Wrestlemania/Life Blog, perhaps.
18.19: I press play on the legally obtained video on my computer. It's Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania! Wrestle! Mania! The Wrestlemania-ness of it all is overwhelming. The reception to Fantasia is underwhelming. Well done, universe. You remain in a perfect balance.
18.20: I hate patriotism. Not just the nauseating brand of US patriotism currently being shoved down my throat in this opening video. All patriotism. Hate it all. Except British patriotism.
18.24: Man, every year the introduction video gets more absurdily grandiose, yet still I get the chills. I don't know how they do it. Sausages are cooked.
18.25: I eat a sausage. It is good. My wife tells me to put the laptop down and concentrate on my dinner.
19.07: Let's try again. Tag title match first. Weeeellll....AWESOME....Big Show.
19.14: Rushed, but that was quite fun, especially (perhaps entirely) when Show was doing stuff. Pulling Miz out of the ring, throwing Truth into the post, bumping off the top, punching Morrison out.
19.18: Legacy triple threat next. One thing I like about this card is that there are a bunch of non-title feud matches. Most PPVs usually have one at most. Orton as babyface feels not right. Expecting the Breakdown 98 formula triple threat here.
19.26: I don't like fantasy booking, but it occurs this would have been better as a tag match, where Randy has to find a partner. And in my head, that partner would have been Dustin.
19.36: Predicable story aside, that was actually quite well done. Not much down time, some cool spots as Orton works out how to outsmart two opponents and there is apparently a lot of people that have been waiting a long time to cheer him. I'm glad he's still just doing his old character against heels, rather than turn face in some obvious, cliched way.
19.41: Money in the Bank. Not sure who I think is going to win this. What I do know is that Shelton Benjamin is the most athletically gifted Shelton Benjamin. I'm cheering on Christian.
19.54: I take a perverse amount of pleasure watching dumbass Kingston powerbombed headfirst into the ladder. Don't tell anyone how I live.
20.06: Kofi using the split ladders as stilts, hobbling across the ring, then slowly moving up the two is the most retardedly amusing thing I can remember in a WWE gimmick match.
20.14: Yeah, that was just a Money in the Bank match, and even by those standards, the spots weren't particularly crazy, and the finish was a little anticlimatic. This is a match that needs
20.29: I take a break to test my wife's new iPhone Shazam app. What an age. It got AFI, Phobia, and Akercocke ("Of Menstrual Blood and Semen? Gross"), but did not manage Sisters of Mercy. Or more correctly, it did not identify the right Sisters of Mercy. Ah, those similar bass-lines. Back to the show.
20.59: More distractions. How is Sheamus' first year unprecedented? WWE champion within the 12 months? That's been done. He's not even headlining Wrestlemania, placing him a rung behind Lesnar. He appears to be wrestling a black man. No, wait, that's Triple H.
21.05: Triple H and Sheamus are like night and day, except they wrestle the same minimal mobility weak brawling and resthold style. Triple H and Sheamus are like night and a particularly well-lit night.
21.16: Ugh. If there's an inverse relationship between match quality and how much Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler feel they need to talk afterwards about match quality, then I should note that Lawler says we just witnessed 'a classic'.
21.20: Hey, it's Wrestlemania 26. And I'm 26. I'd never really noticed before. I bet it's always been like that.
21.23: CM Punk is great.
21.25: I will say it again. CM Punk is great.
21.38: Punk vs. Rey was full of nice little moments, both guys laying into their kicks, Rey's moonsault DDT, several long complicated sequences that came off really smooth and all the setups to the 619. Far too short though to tell much of a story. Hopefully a precursor to a great rematch.
22.07: At some point in your life, you realise that you've just been watching one old man beat up an older man slowly for about twenty minutes, for no discernable reason. I guess the idea is that it was supposed to be cathartic to see a one-sided story of revenge, but it got tiring quickly. This didn't have the usual overbooking of a McMahon Wrestlemania match, partially because all the garbage stuff is probably not compatible with Bret's physical health. That said, if anything was crying out for distracting overbooking or people to fight as proxies for the two physically limited guys, it was this match.
22.18: Edge vs. Jericho. As the entrances happen, I check, and yes, I was 19 years old for Wrestlemania 19. When was the last time the Rumble winner actually main evented Wrestlemania, rather than just got a title shot? Answers on a postcard, not to be mailed.
22.42: As you would expect, this was a match with no body, because Edge can't work as a babyface. He can't really work as a heel, but at least his heel persona papers over the gaps. And this is the match you throw in all the gimmickry? - ref bumps, belt shots, multiple improbable kickouts. Even the post match fight used a gimmicked bump high spot, something he wouldn't need if Edge had credible looking offence. Basically, don't help out the old cripple whose at least earned the right for someone to cover for him, but do cover for the perfectly healthy guy who just can't put a match together. Jericho was fine here, he does his usual stuff and schtick (although a little downtuned). I actually liked the finisher theft stuff, for a change, given the build-up story of the spear being Jericho's constant come-uppance.
22.56: Divas take turns to do finishers. I can do maths, so I should be able to work out who wins. Mickie's DDT looked spectacular. Vickie pulls out the Malenko frogsplash. Points for getting that joke.
22.58: And they are actually going to main event with HBK and Taker.
23.02: This show needs to two great main events. By the way, I was seven during Wrestlemania 7. Curiouser and curiouser.
23.31: The wife has gone to sleep next to me, so I am typing less. Cena vs. Batista was no great surprise. It had the selling of a heavyweight clash, which I liked, and then the predicable counters of finishers which is fine, but not particularly exciting. Thought Cena's selling of the neck left a lot to be desired. On the other hand, I enjoyed Cena laughing his ass off with the pathetic-looking Cena haters.
Tuesday, 00.14: I will need to watch the main event again, but here are my initial thoughts. Firstly, this was clearly superior to last years effort. Last year's match has three sections. Ten minutes of meaningless mat stuff, the dives, the finisher stretch and selling. This might have been Taker's greatest performance, his selling both of the leg and of fatigue were incredible. The opening exchanges starting really energetically and felt meaningful - both going for weaknesses and fighting for positions. Possibly HBKs best performance since returning in 2002 as well, I can't really find fault with it. He's not the seller that Taker is, but his early stuff was really focused and believable, he was not afraid to bump all over and the moonsault spot was crazy. I'm glad they didn't repeat last year's dive section, opting instead to tease it and work in new spots. The final stretch became finishers and they probably stretched it out too long, but in the context I didn't really care. Main event of the biggest show of the year, leading to a retirement storyline permits you to stretch believability a little more than usual.
My major point about the match last year was that they more or less coasted on the vast resources given to the match - the buildup, the atmosphere, the time and the booking - and didn't create anything truly exceptional. I didn't feel that here. There was a strong sense of a real battle, a tremendous performance by Taker, and the feeling that the various elements came together as a gradual escalation than the preliminary section-dives-finishers layout of last year.
00.46: Time for sleep. Overall, a fairly middle of the road show, with just one excellent match. That said, I'll probably always watch Wrestlemania. I'll be there, watching Wrestlemania 80; God only knows how old I'll be then. Night.
18.19: I press play on the legally obtained video on my computer. It's Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania! Wrestle! Mania! The Wrestlemania-ness of it all is overwhelming. The reception to Fantasia is underwhelming. Well done, universe. You remain in a perfect balance.
18.20: I hate patriotism. Not just the nauseating brand of US patriotism currently being shoved down my throat in this opening video. All patriotism. Hate it all. Except British patriotism.
18.24: Man, every year the introduction video gets more absurdily grandiose, yet still I get the chills. I don't know how they do it. Sausages are cooked.
18.25: I eat a sausage. It is good. My wife tells me to put the laptop down and concentrate on my dinner.
19.07: Let's try again. Tag title match first. Weeeellll....AWESOME....Big Show.
19.14: Rushed, but that was quite fun, especially (perhaps entirely) when Show was doing stuff. Pulling Miz out of the ring, throwing Truth into the post, bumping off the top, punching Morrison out.
19.18: Legacy triple threat next. One thing I like about this card is that there are a bunch of non-title feud matches. Most PPVs usually have one at most. Orton as babyface feels not right. Expecting the Breakdown 98 formula triple threat here.
19.26: I don't like fantasy booking, but it occurs this would have been better as a tag match, where Randy has to find a partner. And in my head, that partner would have been Dustin.
19.36: Predicable story aside, that was actually quite well done. Not much down time, some cool spots as Orton works out how to outsmart two opponents and there is apparently a lot of people that have been waiting a long time to cheer him. I'm glad he's still just doing his old character against heels, rather than turn face in some obvious, cliched way.
19.41: Money in the Bank. Not sure who I think is going to win this. What I do know is that Shelton Benjamin is the most athletically gifted Shelton Benjamin. I'm cheering on Christian.
19.54: I take a perverse amount of pleasure watching dumbass Kingston powerbombed headfirst into the ladder. Don't tell anyone how I live.
20.06: Kofi using the split ladders as stilts, hobbling across the ring, then slowly moving up the two is the most retardedly amusing thing I can remember in a WWE gimmick match.
20.14: Yeah, that was just a Money in the Bank match, and even by those standards, the spots weren't particularly crazy, and the finish was a little anticlimatic. This is a match that needs
20.29: I take a break to test my wife's new iPhone Shazam app. What an age. It got AFI, Phobia, and Akercocke ("Of Menstrual Blood and Semen? Gross"), but did not manage Sisters of Mercy. Or more correctly, it did not identify the right Sisters of Mercy. Ah, those similar bass-lines. Back to the show.
20.59: More distractions. How is Sheamus' first year unprecedented? WWE champion within the 12 months? That's been done. He's not even headlining Wrestlemania, placing him a rung behind Lesnar. He appears to be wrestling a black man. No, wait, that's Triple H.
21.05: Triple H and Sheamus are like night and day, except they wrestle the same minimal mobility weak brawling and resthold style. Triple H and Sheamus are like night and a particularly well-lit night.
21.16: Ugh. If there's an inverse relationship between match quality and how much Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler feel they need to talk afterwards about match quality, then I should note that Lawler says we just witnessed 'a classic'.
21.20: Hey, it's Wrestlemania 26. And I'm 26. I'd never really noticed before. I bet it's always been like that.
21.23: CM Punk is great.
21.25: I will say it again. CM Punk is great.
21.38: Punk vs. Rey was full of nice little moments, both guys laying into their kicks, Rey's moonsault DDT, several long complicated sequences that came off really smooth and all the setups to the 619. Far too short though to tell much of a story. Hopefully a precursor to a great rematch.
22.07: At some point in your life, you realise that you've just been watching one old man beat up an older man slowly for about twenty minutes, for no discernable reason. I guess the idea is that it was supposed to be cathartic to see a one-sided story of revenge, but it got tiring quickly. This didn't have the usual overbooking of a McMahon Wrestlemania match, partially because all the garbage stuff is probably not compatible with Bret's physical health. That said, if anything was crying out for distracting overbooking or people to fight as proxies for the two physically limited guys, it was this match.
22.18: Edge vs. Jericho. As the entrances happen, I check, and yes, I was 19 years old for Wrestlemania 19. When was the last time the Rumble winner actually main evented Wrestlemania, rather than just got a title shot? Answers on a postcard, not to be mailed.
22.42: As you would expect, this was a match with no body, because Edge can't work as a babyface. He can't really work as a heel, but at least his heel persona papers over the gaps. And this is the match you throw in all the gimmickry? - ref bumps, belt shots, multiple improbable kickouts. Even the post match fight used a gimmicked bump high spot, something he wouldn't need if Edge had credible looking offence. Basically, don't help out the old cripple whose at least earned the right for someone to cover for him, but do cover for the perfectly healthy guy who just can't put a match together. Jericho was fine here, he does his usual stuff and schtick (although a little downtuned). I actually liked the finisher theft stuff, for a change, given the build-up story of the spear being Jericho's constant come-uppance.
22.56: Divas take turns to do finishers. I can do maths, so I should be able to work out who wins. Mickie's DDT looked spectacular. Vickie pulls out the Malenko frogsplash. Points for getting that joke.
22.58: And they are actually going to main event with HBK and Taker.
23.02: This show needs to two great main events. By the way, I was seven during Wrestlemania 7. Curiouser and curiouser.
23.31: The wife has gone to sleep next to me, so I am typing less. Cena vs. Batista was no great surprise. It had the selling of a heavyweight clash, which I liked, and then the predicable counters of finishers which is fine, but not particularly exciting. Thought Cena's selling of the neck left a lot to be desired. On the other hand, I enjoyed Cena laughing his ass off with the pathetic-looking Cena haters.
Tuesday, 00.14: I will need to watch the main event again, but here are my initial thoughts. Firstly, this was clearly superior to last years effort. Last year's match has three sections. Ten minutes of meaningless mat stuff, the dives, the finisher stretch and selling. This might have been Taker's greatest performance, his selling both of the leg and of fatigue were incredible. The opening exchanges starting really energetically and felt meaningful - both going for weaknesses and fighting for positions. Possibly HBKs best performance since returning in 2002 as well, I can't really find fault with it. He's not the seller that Taker is, but his early stuff was really focused and believable, he was not afraid to bump all over and the moonsault spot was crazy. I'm glad they didn't repeat last year's dive section, opting instead to tease it and work in new spots. The final stretch became finishers and they probably stretched it out too long, but in the context I didn't really care. Main event of the biggest show of the year, leading to a retirement storyline permits you to stretch believability a little more than usual.
My major point about the match last year was that they more or less coasted on the vast resources given to the match - the buildup, the atmosphere, the time and the booking - and didn't create anything truly exceptional. I didn't feel that here. There was a strong sense of a real battle, a tremendous performance by Taker, and the feeling that the various elements came together as a gradual escalation than the preliminary section-dives-finishers layout of last year.
00.46: Time for sleep. Overall, a fairly middle of the road show, with just one excellent match. That said, I'll probably always watch Wrestlemania. I'll be there, watching Wrestlemania 80; God only knows how old I'll be then. Night.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Best WWE matches of this decade (part three)
I'm working through a list of 64 nominated matches to compile this list. As aresult, it's unlikely the list will be my TOP 64. Some matches you might consider best of the decade aren't on that list. Feel free to suggest them, and I'll either shoot them down immediately (don't suggest Flair vs. HBK or Rock vs. Hogan or similar spectacle matches) or try and have a watch. As it now is:
1. Umaga vs. John Cena, 28th January 2007
2. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guererro, 23rd June 2005
3. Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit, 28th May 2001
4. Matt Hardy vs. Edge, 18th September 2005
5. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay, 9th Novmber 2007
6. William Regal vs. Chris Benoit, 16th July 2005
7. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay, 22 June 2007
8. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004
9. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, 23rd April 2007
10. Hardy Boys vs. MNM 28th January 2007
11. Eddie Guererro and Tajiri vs. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin, 22nd May 2003
12. Finlay vs. Undertaker, 9th March 2007
13. Steve Austin vs. The Rock, 1st April 2001
More thoughts:
William Regal vs. Chris Benoit, 16th July 2005 - I've watched three of their matches in quick succession (Pillman memorial, No Mercy 2006, this match) and they are all strikingly similar in terms of content and sequences, in the way that two guys who have a great match will often do (Sting-Vader is another good example). This is face vs. face, but it's the most violent face vs. face match you're going to watch in WWE. In all three of those matches, Regal bleed hardway from a headbutt. This is a match on a D-show, and Regal's bleeding hardway from a headbutt. Really nasty surfboard submission, and even nastier elbows from Benoit. In the Pillman match they do a tombstone reversal spot, which they do here also, only Benoit does a shoulder breaker, which is even better given the crossface finish. Loads of great struggle spots, this and the No Mercy match have a really cool battle over the crossface, with Regal blocking it until Benoit found a way to loosen Regal's grip.
Matt Hardy vs. Edge, 18th September 2005 - Exactly what you want out of a feud ending cage match. Guys punching each other, loads of bumps off the steel, a couple of high spots thrown in and an insane finish. Added into that, they play off the concussion from the previous month a lot, making everything, even Edge's usually weak looking offence looked deadly. I like how they moved between the twin aims of victory and revenge, which helped to deal with the most obvious flaw of escape cage matches (that there are usually loads of chances to win and slow crawling or climbing exposes the concept)
Steve Austin vs. The Rock, 1st April 2001 - Hard not to be massively disappointed revisiting this now. My biggest problem is how unepic it felt, despite the billing. Top two guys in the promotion, two year lrematch, huge arena - you expect a epic heavyweight war. I don't think either was so limited they needed all the gimmickry to have a war, although I was decidedly unimpressed with Rock's offense here. Even then, the furniture and weapons stuff felt weak to me - Rock obviously taking the table slamming with hands, the bell shots missing by a visible distance. Finisher theft stuff feels like a crutch to fall back on in lieu of anything more meaningful. There's other minor niggles as well, but it doesn't matter at this point. The finish is well executed as an angle, with Vince motivations being revealed slowly, but again this distracts from the actual matchup. Austin bouncing around the rings and the ropes was the only bit I really liked - that level of selling for long stretches whilst working fully heel was one of the things I really liked in his matches later in the year, particularly against Benoit. That match proves to me that Austin at least didn't need gimmickry to have a great match at this point in his career.
1. Umaga vs. John Cena, 28th January 2007
2. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guererro, 23rd June 2005
3. Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit, 28th May 2001
4. Matt Hardy vs. Edge, 18th September 2005
5. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay, 9th Novmber 2007
6. William Regal vs. Chris Benoit, 16th July 2005
7. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay, 22 June 2007
8. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004
9. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, 23rd April 2007
10. Hardy Boys vs. MNM 28th January 2007
11. Eddie Guererro and Tajiri vs. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin, 22nd May 2003
12. Finlay vs. Undertaker, 9th March 2007
13. Steve Austin vs. The Rock, 1st April 2001
More thoughts:
William Regal vs. Chris Benoit, 16th July 2005 - I've watched three of their matches in quick succession (Pillman memorial, No Mercy 2006, this match) and they are all strikingly similar in terms of content and sequences, in the way that two guys who have a great match will often do (Sting-Vader is another good example). This is face vs. face, but it's the most violent face vs. face match you're going to watch in WWE. In all three of those matches, Regal bleed hardway from a headbutt. This is a match on a D-show, and Regal's bleeding hardway from a headbutt. Really nasty surfboard submission, and even nastier elbows from Benoit. In the Pillman match they do a tombstone reversal spot, which they do here also, only Benoit does a shoulder breaker, which is even better given the crossface finish. Loads of great struggle spots, this and the No Mercy match have a really cool battle over the crossface, with Regal blocking it until Benoit found a way to loosen Regal's grip.
Matt Hardy vs. Edge, 18th September 2005 - Exactly what you want out of a feud ending cage match. Guys punching each other, loads of bumps off the steel, a couple of high spots thrown in and an insane finish. Added into that, they play off the concussion from the previous month a lot, making everything, even Edge's usually weak looking offence looked deadly. I like how they moved between the twin aims of victory and revenge, which helped to deal with the most obvious flaw of escape cage matches (that there are usually loads of chances to win and slow crawling or climbing exposes the concept)
Steve Austin vs. The Rock, 1st April 2001 - Hard not to be massively disappointed revisiting this now. My biggest problem is how unepic it felt, despite the billing. Top two guys in the promotion, two year lrematch, huge arena - you expect a epic heavyweight war. I don't think either was so limited they needed all the gimmickry to have a war, although I was decidedly unimpressed with Rock's offense here. Even then, the furniture and weapons stuff felt weak to me - Rock obviously taking the table slamming with hands, the bell shots missing by a visible distance. Finisher theft stuff feels like a crutch to fall back on in lieu of anything more meaningful. There's other minor niggles as well, but it doesn't matter at this point. The finish is well executed as an angle, with Vince motivations being revealed slowly, but again this distracts from the actual matchup. Austin bouncing around the rings and the ropes was the only bit I really liked - that level of selling for long stretches whilst working fully heel was one of the things I really liked in his matches later in the year, particularly against Benoit. That match proves to me that Austin at least didn't need gimmickry to have a great match at this point in his career.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Best WWE matches of this decade (part two)
The list:
1. Umaga vs. John Cena , 28th January 2007
2. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guererro, 23rd June 2005
3. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay 9th November 2007
4. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay, 22nd June 2007
5. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004
6. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, 23rd April 2007
7. Hardy Boys vs. MNM, 28th January 2007
8. Finlay vs. Undertaker, 9th March 2007
Umaga vs. John Cena , 28th January 2007 - Eddie Fatu died about an hour before I'm writing up this match which I watched last night, and it feels to me that talking about this match is an appropriate tribute, it being the best of his career (and possibly the best Cena match too) . There was a period in 2007 where WWE could have made a long-lasting monster heel out of Umaga. Perhaps this main event push was too fast, or not followed up well - his matches with Jeff Hardy later in the year rank amongst my favourite Jeff matches ever, but he was soon lost in the mid-card, and then distinctly not winning against HHH upon his return that summer. The character was well developed up to this point, with Estrada directing everything like Umaga really was a savage. In this match, there are a bunch of nice touches where Estrada stops Umaga from doing something counterproductive (like break up a ten-count just to hit Cena with the steps).
Much like a southern tag, monster heel vs. champion babyface is a difficult formula to mess up. John Cena had two perfectly decent matches with Khali later in 2007 because of this. Here, though, you've got a monster heel with a great looking moveset and an ability to bump, which means they could build a match around a series of Umaga domination sections with Cena selling his injuries (which he does brilliantly), and comeback spots. I liked how each comeback was increasing in its violence, as Cena had to go further and further beyond the norm to try to beat Umaga. It's an incredibly studied performance from Cena, torn between wanting to assert his superiority as champion and feeling no joy for the lengths he is being forced to go to. The monitor shot illustrates this best - he shows no eagerness, only weariness, walking up the steps to bash it into Umaga's skull, and raises the weapon to the crowd after doing so, but with a completely blank face.
What I like most about this is the balance and pacing off all the hardcore spots. It felt neither like overkill, nor like big spots with meaningless filler in between. There's a gradual build in their visual impact, and a lot of variety. The finish is great, with the ring literally pulled apart. The visual of Cena roaring, face red with blood, choking out an increasingly blue Umaga borders on iconic. Watch Cena during the final ten count. There's no celebration here, or particular pride in what he had done. It's because of the level of storytelling, along with the quality of its execution and the numerous memorable moments, that I placed this match top of the list. Probably the best gimmick match of the decade. This is also feels appropriate to have a match on top that is pure WWE style.
Eddie "Umaga" Fatu, 1973-2009.
1. Umaga vs. John Cena , 28th January 2007
2. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guererro, 23rd June 2005
3. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay 9th November 2007
4. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay, 22nd June 2007
5. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004
6. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, 23rd April 2007
7. Hardy Boys vs. MNM, 28th January 2007
8. Finlay vs. Undertaker, 9th March 2007
Umaga vs. John Cena , 28th January 2007 - Eddie Fatu died about an hour before I'm writing up this match which I watched last night, and it feels to me that talking about this match is an appropriate tribute, it being the best of his career (and possibly the best Cena match too) . There was a period in 2007 where WWE could have made a long-lasting monster heel out of Umaga. Perhaps this main event push was too fast, or not followed up well - his matches with Jeff Hardy later in the year rank amongst my favourite Jeff matches ever, but he was soon lost in the mid-card, and then distinctly not winning against HHH upon his return that summer. The character was well developed up to this point, with Estrada directing everything like Umaga really was a savage. In this match, there are a bunch of nice touches where Estrada stops Umaga from doing something counterproductive (like break up a ten-count just to hit Cena with the steps).
Much like a southern tag, monster heel vs. champion babyface is a difficult formula to mess up. John Cena had two perfectly decent matches with Khali later in 2007 because of this. Here, though, you've got a monster heel with a great looking moveset and an ability to bump, which means they could build a match around a series of Umaga domination sections with Cena selling his injuries (which he does brilliantly), and comeback spots. I liked how each comeback was increasing in its violence, as Cena had to go further and further beyond the norm to try to beat Umaga. It's an incredibly studied performance from Cena, torn between wanting to assert his superiority as champion and feeling no joy for the lengths he is being forced to go to. The monitor shot illustrates this best - he shows no eagerness, only weariness, walking up the steps to bash it into Umaga's skull, and raises the weapon to the crowd after doing so, but with a completely blank face.
What I like most about this is the balance and pacing off all the hardcore spots. It felt neither like overkill, nor like big spots with meaningless filler in between. There's a gradual build in their visual impact, and a lot of variety. The finish is great, with the ring literally pulled apart. The visual of Cena roaring, face red with blood, choking out an increasingly blue Umaga borders on iconic. Watch Cena during the final ten count. There's no celebration here, or particular pride in what he had done. It's because of the level of storytelling, along with the quality of its execution and the numerous memorable moments, that I placed this match top of the list. Probably the best gimmick match of the decade. This is also feels appropriate to have a match on top that is pure WWE style.
Eddie "Umaga" Fatu, 1973-2009.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Best WWE matches of this decade (part one)
Hey, this decade which doesn't have a snappy name like The Nineties, or The Eighties or countless (seven) others, is ending. I will compile a list of the best WWE matches from this decade in our new series: Best WWE matches of this decade. Currently:
1. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guererro, 23rd June 2005
2. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay 9th November 2007
3. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay, 22nd June 2007
4. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004
5. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, 23rd April 2007
Rey vs. Eddie, 23rd June 2005 - Both men were at the point of their careers where they no longer relied on their moves - this thing is carried by everything in between, Rey's at the start of being the best babyface underdog in WWE history, and Eddie's every mannerism and reaction is hugely absorbing and believable. Opening establishes an Eddie trying beat Rey fairly. When this fails, he cheapshots in a break, and uses the outside to injure his opponent. Eddie's heel act is so understated for the most part, yet everything conveys his villany. The comebacks and cutoffs are textbook, and I love how this match has no hot finisher stretch and no high spots. In 2005, I expected them, hoped for them, was a different wrestling fan. I missed so much in the story telling. The finish is the perfect payoff. Eddie slips from his focus when he becomes convinced he's finally beaten his man - he avoids a 619 and finishes his suplexes. Rey, for his part, sells every inch of his predicament. This match is Eddie's - and this momentary lapse in focus and indulgence of his crowd taunting habits presents an opening, the only real opening, and Rey takes in and wins out of almost nowhere. I'm thinking top 5, probably higher.
Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay, 9th November 2007 - The first few minutes are pretty even - Rey lays into his punches, matching Finlay's intensity; after they spill to the outside, Finlay takes an above and beyond back bump off a Rey baseball slide and follows up with a hugequebrada. After that, Finlay looks awesome, in the original meaning of that word. This match is an absolute stomping, Finlay destroys Rey for most of this and looks unstoppable, more so than many of Rey's larger opponents. Some of the highlights include catching Rey mid-rana and powerbombing him into the corner and a nasty bump into the barricade. Aside from a couple of short comebacks (all ultimately cutoff, first with a lariat, and secondly knocking Rey off the ropes as he springboared), Rey's job here was to bump and sell, a task he obviously excels at. That said, I enjoyed some of his kicks, and the 619 seemed to connect with the point of the boot which was nice. The best thing about this match up is that Finlay can (and does) look great destroying Rey, but the size difference isn't as obvious a gimmick here compared to similar Rey underdog matches, especially with the way Finlay bumps and stooges for all of Rey's offence. I find there's added intensity find this credibility.
Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004 - This is a fish-out-of-water story, with Randy failing right from the beginning to compete in this environment, losing his barbed wire bat and running for cover. I don't know if the barbed wire board is gimmicked, but it looks pretty evil and distinctly denser with wire than most. The teased fire spot and Bischoff's intervention doesn't work for me - I get that it's about Mick wanting to go as far as possible, but it has no possible payoff, ruins the flow and weakens the impact of what follows by comparison. Orton's bump onto the tacks is great - the shock in his face at the landing is joyous, and that visual should by all rights be as iconic as Austin in the sharpshooter. Didn't coming away thinking I watched a particularly hate-filled encounter, and the match suffers from lacking a decent finish - an RKO onto a barbed wire bat (allegedly) lacks the impact of any of the big spots, or even Mick's suplex bumps onto the ramp. All told, I liked this plenty. Crowd chant "ECW" halfway through, but this is Mick's WWE tribute to his IWA Japan days, with the barbed wire board and the fire and the tacks. Would be topped in gimmickry in the Edge match, but this is a much better executed version and told a more compelling story.
1. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guererro, 23rd June 2005
2. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay 9th November 2007
3. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay, 22nd June 2007
4. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004
5. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, 23rd April 2007
Rey vs. Eddie, 23rd June 2005 - Both men were at the point of their careers where they no longer relied on their moves - this thing is carried by everything in between, Rey's at the start of being the best babyface underdog in WWE history, and Eddie's every mannerism and reaction is hugely absorbing and believable. Opening establishes an Eddie trying beat Rey fairly. When this fails, he cheapshots in a break, and uses the outside to injure his opponent. Eddie's heel act is so understated for the most part, yet everything conveys his villany. The comebacks and cutoffs are textbook, and I love how this match has no hot finisher stretch and no high spots. In 2005, I expected them, hoped for them, was a different wrestling fan. I missed so much in the story telling. The finish is the perfect payoff. Eddie slips from his focus when he becomes convinced he's finally beaten his man - he avoids a 619 and finishes his suplexes. Rey, for his part, sells every inch of his predicament. This match is Eddie's - and this momentary lapse in focus and indulgence of his crowd taunting habits presents an opening, the only real opening, and Rey takes in and wins out of almost nowhere. I'm thinking top 5, probably higher.
Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay, 9th November 2007 - The first few minutes are pretty even - Rey lays into his punches, matching Finlay's intensity; after they spill to the outside, Finlay takes an above and beyond back bump off a Rey baseball slide and follows up with a hugequebrada. After that, Finlay looks awesome, in the original meaning of that word. This match is an absolute stomping, Finlay destroys Rey for most of this and looks unstoppable, more so than many of Rey's larger opponents. Some of the highlights include catching Rey mid-rana and powerbombing him into the corner and a nasty bump into the barricade. Aside from a couple of short comebacks (all ultimately cutoff, first with a lariat, and secondly knocking Rey off the ropes as he springboared), Rey's job here was to bump and sell, a task he obviously excels at. That said, I enjoyed some of his kicks, and the 619 seemed to connect with the point of the boot which was nice. The best thing about this match up is that Finlay can (and does) look great destroying Rey, but the size difference isn't as obvious a gimmick here compared to similar Rey underdog matches, especially with the way Finlay bumps and stooges for all of Rey's offence. I find there's added intensity find this credibility.
Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004 - This is a fish-out-of-water story, with Randy failing right from the beginning to compete in this environment, losing his barbed wire bat and running for cover. I don't know if the barbed wire board is gimmicked, but it looks pretty evil and distinctly denser with wire than most. The teased fire spot and Bischoff's intervention doesn't work for me - I get that it's about Mick wanting to go as far as possible, but it has no possible payoff, ruins the flow and weakens the impact of what follows by comparison. Orton's bump onto the tacks is great - the shock in his face at the landing is joyous, and that visual should by all rights be as iconic as Austin in the sharpshooter. Didn't coming away thinking I watched a particularly hate-filled encounter, and the match suffers from lacking a decent finish - an RKO onto a barbed wire bat (allegedly) lacks the impact of any of the big spots, or even Mick's suplex bumps onto the ramp. All told, I liked this plenty. Crowd chant "ECW" halfway through, but this is Mick's WWE tribute to his IWA Japan days, with the barbed wire board and the fire and the tacks. Would be topped in gimmickry in the Edge match, but this is a much better executed version and told a more compelling story.
Friday, 13 November 2009
ECW: November 10th 2009
I have been watching ECW all the while, just not posting reviews. I've started several, but scrapped them after they proved dull. The shows are excellent, do not get me wrong, but haven't found anything worthwhile to say. Quite frankly, there's enough wasted words on the Internet (running by in the Blogosphere, just past the Twitterscape) and I don't need to join in. I've been enjoying the lengthy feud story arcs, particularly of Christian and Regal, but also of Burchill and Helms.
I nearly got tickets for this show, but it turned out that it was fortunate that I didn't, as I ended up with a work thing. I'll see Christian live one day, and I will go nuts for his entrance music. Opening Abraham Washington intro was kind of pointless, an entire segment built around a quick pop culture reference. The segment has a charm, albeit a special one.
Some has a Vote Jedward sign in the audience as Goldust comes to the ring, and already I wish this was not in Britain. The "Who are ya" chant during the last segment was tired enough. If they'd done that right after Washington's lengthy introduction, that would have been funny, but no. I'm so proud of my fellow countrymen. And while I'm complaining about people who use words, there is nothing ironic about Burchill "preparing to take on ECW's superhero next week" while this week he's facing ECW's most bizarre superstar. It's not even coincidence, let alone irony. It's just two occurences. Fine little TV match. Goldust is one of the best guys anywhere for four minute TV matches. Strong selling, well-timed comebacks and cutoffs, crisp offence; Goldust in incredibly watchable even with so little time.
I don't think there's anyone anywhere in the world having as much fun with his life than Zack Ryder, and I'm glad we get to share in his dorky glory. He'll probably take my no. 100 place on my WKO ballot, just for a year's worth of entertaining television.
New commentator annoys for a second time at the beginning of the Regal-Christian match with his lack of English speaking ability, saying how Christian had problems checking in last night, and that you don't want to allude to anything, but Regal has connections. You see, the thing about Regal is, well, I ain't saying he a golddigga. But he ain't...erm, let's focus on the match rather than soil this blog's near perfect reputation for not using racial slurs. I liked this match a lot. What I particularly liked is how both men have enough confidence in themselves and each other to stray away from the formula match which Christian has used so well this year with less experienced opponents. There was no particular bump which switched the match from early Christian control to heel opponent body part work, which is the biggest structured element of most Christian matches. Instead, the match feels a lot more organic and contested. They work lots of struggle spots, especially Regal, whose had this short section of pinfall attempts where each looked like it required a huge effort. Christian displayed hints of heeling, in the face of strong support for Regal. I liked the Killswitch being used as a nearfall, in desperation, and the push off the turnbuckle bump being used by Regal on defence rather than on attack. Christian's elbows to escape the Regal Stretch were awesome. Working with Regal this summer and autumn really seems to have improved Christian's striking.
I don't think this was better than their two matches in August and September, for all the things I liked about it. I think the crowd may have diminished my enjoyment - maybe it was the pace or the style (a match bereft of rope running or excessive reversal spots lacks the immediacy of, say, a John Morrison match) or the split allegiances, but their reactions were all over the place. I would suspect this had an impact of Regal and Christian's performances - both men are experienced enough to work off the crowd, so when a crowd is as confused as this one was, it must throw them. Something felt slightly off throughout the match. Objectively though, this was excellent.
I will say this though. Don't you think it's sort of ironic that I just watched an episode of ECW, while tomorrow I'll probably watch something from Japan? Don't you?
I nearly got tickets for this show, but it turned out that it was fortunate that I didn't, as I ended up with a work thing. I'll see Christian live one day, and I will go nuts for his entrance music. Opening Abraham Washington intro was kind of pointless, an entire segment built around a quick pop culture reference. The segment has a charm, albeit a special one.
Some has a Vote Jedward sign in the audience as Goldust comes to the ring, and already I wish this was not in Britain. The "Who are ya" chant during the last segment was tired enough. If they'd done that right after Washington's lengthy introduction, that would have been funny, but no. I'm so proud of my fellow countrymen. And while I'm complaining about people who use words, there is nothing ironic about Burchill "preparing to take on ECW's superhero next week" while this week he's facing ECW's most bizarre superstar. It's not even coincidence, let alone irony. It's just two occurences. Fine little TV match. Goldust is one of the best guys anywhere for four minute TV matches. Strong selling, well-timed comebacks and cutoffs, crisp offence; Goldust in incredibly watchable even with so little time.
I don't think there's anyone anywhere in the world having as much fun with his life than Zack Ryder, and I'm glad we get to share in his dorky glory. He'll probably take my no. 100 place on my WKO ballot, just for a year's worth of entertaining television.
New commentator annoys for a second time at the beginning of the Regal-Christian match with his lack of English speaking ability, saying how Christian had problems checking in last night, and that you don't want to allude to anything, but Regal has connections. You see, the thing about Regal is, well, I ain't saying he a golddigga. But he ain't...erm, let's focus on the match rather than soil this blog's near perfect reputation for not using racial slurs. I liked this match a lot. What I particularly liked is how both men have enough confidence in themselves and each other to stray away from the formula match which Christian has used so well this year with less experienced opponents. There was no particular bump which switched the match from early Christian control to heel opponent body part work, which is the biggest structured element of most Christian matches. Instead, the match feels a lot more organic and contested. They work lots of struggle spots, especially Regal, whose had this short section of pinfall attempts where each looked like it required a huge effort. Christian displayed hints of heeling, in the face of strong support for Regal. I liked the Killswitch being used as a nearfall, in desperation, and the push off the turnbuckle bump being used by Regal on defence rather than on attack. Christian's elbows to escape the Regal Stretch were awesome. Working with Regal this summer and autumn really seems to have improved Christian's striking.
I don't think this was better than their two matches in August and September, for all the things I liked about it. I think the crowd may have diminished my enjoyment - maybe it was the pace or the style (a match bereft of rope running or excessive reversal spots lacks the immediacy of, say, a John Morrison match) or the split allegiances, but their reactions were all over the place. I would suspect this had an impact of Regal and Christian's performances - both men are experienced enough to work off the crowd, so when a crowd is as confused as this one was, it must throw them. Something felt slightly off throughout the match. Objectively though, this was excellent.
I will say this though. Don't you think it's sort of ironic that I just watched an episode of ECW, while tomorrow I'll probably watch something from Japan? Don't you?
Monday, 21 September 2009
ECW: 21st September 2009
I loved the Regal stuff at the beginning of this show. Most defeated heel title challengers come out and demand another chance like it's their right. Regal comes out with a menancing politeness, attempting to charm his way into another shot whilst barely containing his anger at the perceived wrong to him. Regal's got the facials and the acting ability to pull this level of detail off without forcing it down anyone's throat. He was great in his short match with Hurricane, doing everything humanly possible to make make a cruiserweight comedy guy look like a credible opponent. Just a great display of bumping and selling, which also served to supplement the little story about how he was unprepared for a match.
The Zack Ryder-Yoshi Tatsu match was OK. My favourite thing about it was Striker referencing Misawa after the roaring elbow. Oh, and Ryder's music, which is just heinously catchy. The match itself is pretty generic TV fodder - fast stuff to start, chin locks in the middle, a few near falls. Yoshi's is seemingly getting his choice of puro junior spots, which makes his offence seem fresh, and he's continuing to learn how to work the crowd. Ryder's a guy I am just entertained by. He plays the gimmick brilliantly.
The battle royal suffered, like they all do, from meaningless stuff early on. Once the ring cleared, though, there was lots of enjoy. Goldust in particular was a blast. He has great babyface offence, hits it hard and fast and times it right. His rope running stuff at the end with Ryder was fun. Shelton skinning the cat and pulling Jackson over the top was a cool little spot. The finish was surprising (for everyone who didn't see the results before), and providing they're not actually lining Ryder up for the belt now, I approve - he's not the right guy to win, but he'll make a fine challenger. A decent little show, and no mistake.
The Zack Ryder-Yoshi Tatsu match was OK. My favourite thing about it was Striker referencing Misawa after the roaring elbow. Oh, and Ryder's music, which is just heinously catchy. The match itself is pretty generic TV fodder - fast stuff to start, chin locks in the middle, a few near falls. Yoshi's is seemingly getting his choice of puro junior spots, which makes his offence seem fresh, and he's continuing to learn how to work the crowd. Ryder's a guy I am just entertained by. He plays the gimmick brilliantly.
The battle royal suffered, like they all do, from meaningless stuff early on. Once the ring cleared, though, there was lots of enjoy. Goldust in particular was a blast. He has great babyface offence, hits it hard and fast and times it right. His rope running stuff at the end with Ryder was fun. Shelton skinning the cat and pulling Jackson over the top was a cool little spot. The finish was surprising (for everyone who didn't see the results before), and providing they're not actually lining Ryder up for the belt now, I approve - he's not the right guy to win, but he'll make a fine challenger. A decent little show, and no mistake.
Monday, 14 September 2009
WWE Breaking Point: 13th September 2009
I've been rubbish at writing up WWE PPVs of late. I'm genuinely excited by this show though, especially the Punk-Taker match. I think they made a bad choice in booking Taker vs. Punk so soon, as Punk is on a roll, but I can't see Taker submitting. I'd jump out of my seat if he did, however.
Tag titles to begin. I haven't really been watching RAW, but Henry vs. Big Show is quite the matchup. This follows the Jericho-Show formula, with Jericho doing the lion's share of stuff in the ring, bumping and stooging, especially at the beginning and at the hot tag, with Big Show being sparingly. The knockout punch finish from the outside is such a great spot. It feels like the heels stealing a victory, even though it's (broadly speaking) legitimate.
The Legacy-DX match was kind of ludicrous. I didn't dislike it, partially because I'm thrilled Legacy were given an almost equal footing in the match, and won cleanly. But there was a lot that was just done badly. First of all, Rhodes and Dibiase were holding this together. I like that in a storyline sense, as the proper tag team, but really, without them being very very energised, this would have dragged awfully. Shawn Michaels is a terrible brawler. I liked the fight at the top of the steps, with the crowd forming a circle and chanting and having a great time. The ending took far too long. If your aim is to do the 'good guys lose in a two-on-one' situation, having HHH layed out for, like, an hour, after being hit once in the head looks stupid. It needs to be decisive, with Legacy quickly capitalising on their advantage. The endless Michaels comeback spots ruined it. Also, they were playing for the drama of having HHH almost make the save, but the submission they went for was so hard to apply that by the time HBK tapped, it barely looks like a submission at all (quite aside from the fact that the Dream is a knock out move anyway). The positives are all with Legacy, who took the opportunity to shine. Dibiase, in particular, looks like a credible main eventer. Unlike Michaels and HHH, whose puerile schtick is about my least favourite thing in all wrestling. The Montreal comeback was sort of amusing, I guess.
The ECW title match was truly excellent. They threw in a bit more mat stuff at the beginning, which looked great. This was less strikey (although still very strikey) compared to the TV match, but Regal brings outs a couple of great suplexes to fill up the violence quota. Christian myriad selling talents are less necessary against Regal, who makes his own offence look great - instead, it's Regal's selling ability which is more prominent here. Doesn't stop Christian setting up the middle with one of his over the buckle bumps to the outside. Working with Regal seems to have improved Christian's striking, which was his only real weak point. I liked the body shots in particular, but I particularly like how they are able to lay into each other during transitions. It makes the whole thing seem like a more legitimate fight and a tougher struggle. Match of the show, and one of the WWE matches of the year.
The Cena-Orton I Quit match is less a wrestling match, and much more a piece of performance art. The story was strong, and in this bloodless WWE environment, the level of physical violence was as much as they could realistically achieve to tell it. The cane shots to Cena's exposed ribs seemed legitimate, and Cena should be commended for his commitment here. Its not met uniform approval, but I like Orton's evil persona overacting in this setting. I also loved the symbolism of the key, being tauntingly out of reach - made me think of The Life of David Gale, of all things. These sorts of dramas need the hero to overcome the antagonist, and a sense of poetic justice, which we certainly got with the handcuff assited STF inches away from the key. I didn't love it all - Cena has developed a worrying tendency to go from great selling to no selling, which he does near the end. It detracts from his excellent performance all the way through the body of the match.
I don't know how to talk about the main event. I mean, even though deep down I remember enjoying how the smaller Punk matched up with the bigger Taker, the ending is so deeply unsatisfactory that it's all that I can think about. Repeats of the Montreal screwjob are not clever. It needs to be said, in a loud voice to whoever it is in the creative team who thinks they are. Not because I feel angry about the first one, but because they are now tired and cliche, especially when they insist on repeating them in the same city. I assume they realised the massive booking mistake they made in having this first match up between the two be a match which Taker could never lose, and decided that a short-term negative reaction from a screwjob finish would be compensated for a better long term feud narrative. I assume that, because the idea that this was always the long term plan is far too unpalatable. They'll go to Hell in a Cell next. What I actually want, however, is to see a singles match between the two.
Tag titles to begin. I haven't really been watching RAW, but Henry vs. Big Show is quite the matchup. This follows the Jericho-Show formula, with Jericho doing the lion's share of stuff in the ring, bumping and stooging, especially at the beginning and at the hot tag, with Big Show being sparingly. The knockout punch finish from the outside is such a great spot. It feels like the heels stealing a victory, even though it's (broadly speaking) legitimate.
The Legacy-DX match was kind of ludicrous. I didn't dislike it, partially because I'm thrilled Legacy were given an almost equal footing in the match, and won cleanly. But there was a lot that was just done badly. First of all, Rhodes and Dibiase were holding this together. I like that in a storyline sense, as the proper tag team, but really, without them being very very energised, this would have dragged awfully. Shawn Michaels is a terrible brawler. I liked the fight at the top of the steps, with the crowd forming a circle and chanting and having a great time. The ending took far too long. If your aim is to do the 'good guys lose in a two-on-one' situation, having HHH layed out for, like, an hour, after being hit once in the head looks stupid. It needs to be decisive, with Legacy quickly capitalising on their advantage. The endless Michaels comeback spots ruined it. Also, they were playing for the drama of having HHH almost make the save, but the submission they went for was so hard to apply that by the time HBK tapped, it barely looks like a submission at all (quite aside from the fact that the Dream is a knock out move anyway). The positives are all with Legacy, who took the opportunity to shine. Dibiase, in particular, looks like a credible main eventer. Unlike Michaels and HHH, whose puerile schtick is about my least favourite thing in all wrestling. The Montreal comeback was sort of amusing, I guess.
The ECW title match was truly excellent. They threw in a bit more mat stuff at the beginning, which looked great. This was less strikey (although still very strikey) compared to the TV match, but Regal brings outs a couple of great suplexes to fill up the violence quota. Christian myriad selling talents are less necessary against Regal, who makes his own offence look great - instead, it's Regal's selling ability which is more prominent here. Doesn't stop Christian setting up the middle with one of his over the buckle bumps to the outside. Working with Regal seems to have improved Christian's striking, which was his only real weak point. I liked the body shots in particular, but I particularly like how they are able to lay into each other during transitions. It makes the whole thing seem like a more legitimate fight and a tougher struggle. Match of the show, and one of the WWE matches of the year.
The Cena-Orton I Quit match is less a wrestling match, and much more a piece of performance art. The story was strong, and in this bloodless WWE environment, the level of physical violence was as much as they could realistically achieve to tell it. The cane shots to Cena's exposed ribs seemed legitimate, and Cena should be commended for his commitment here. Its not met uniform approval, but I like Orton's evil persona overacting in this setting. I also loved the symbolism of the key, being tauntingly out of reach - made me think of The Life of David Gale, of all things. These sorts of dramas need the hero to overcome the antagonist, and a sense of poetic justice, which we certainly got with the handcuff assited STF inches away from the key. I didn't love it all - Cena has developed a worrying tendency to go from great selling to no selling, which he does near the end. It detracts from his excellent performance all the way through the body of the match.
I don't know how to talk about the main event. I mean, even though deep down I remember enjoying how the smaller Punk matched up with the bigger Taker, the ending is so deeply unsatisfactory that it's all that I can think about. Repeats of the Montreal screwjob are not clever. It needs to be said, in a loud voice to whoever it is in the creative team who thinks they are. Not because I feel angry about the first one, but because they are now tired and cliche, especially when they insist on repeating them in the same city. I assume they realised the massive booking mistake they made in having this first match up between the two be a match which Taker could never lose, and decided that a short-term negative reaction from a screwjob finish would be compensated for a better long term feud narrative. I assume that, because the idea that this was always the long term plan is far too unpalatable. They'll go to Hell in a Cell next. What I actually want, however, is to see a singles match between the two.
Monday, 31 August 2009
ECW: 25th August 2009
Been away for a couple of weeks (Edinburgh Fringe 2009 oh yeah), so let's get back into some wrestling. I've a review of Summerslam coming - goodish show (there's more). I'm also thinking of doing a Great Sasuke project, based on my growing love of Sasuke this year, and my lack of M-Pro watching from the early to mid 1990s. Thoughts, my regular readers?
So, the Extreme Championship Wrestling. Regal on this stick is good times, especially him reaching breaking point as Christian taunts him with "eight seconds" and the Bill stuff. And who else in wrestling can get away with a finger wag? (If nobody thinks about Hogan, I'll get away with this)
Goldust and Sheamus get a video package. Not Rock-Austin, but then that would be pretty weird. Shorter match, but intense. So many WWE feuds, even the headline ones, don't convey the hatred that I'm getting from this series. I was delighted with the non-finish because I want to see a no-dq based gimmick match, and see Dustin go out it.
Zack Ryder makes the tag match for me. The ridculous way he refuse to take a tag because he's fixing his knee pads, and shouting orders at Benjamin, much to Shelton's displeasure was as entertaining as anything. Yoshi gets some kicks in, but this was all about the angle and the feud. And here's a question - whose the worst Tyler? Reks or Black? Both are bigger athletic guys who can jump around a bit, which seems to be the only thing they bring. I'm going with Black because Reks is just a third show undercard guy, while Black is pushed as a guy as good as Danielson or McGuiness.
Main event is just great. Not often you see such a long TV match with such protracted level of violence. Regal makes everything look killer. Christian can't match him for striking ability, although he has a go. What he can do is take big bumps and sell like the best babyface in the company that he is. The arm wringer off the apron was nasty. Regal's selling is also great. He makes Christian's elbow to the face look like he'd been shot, even though it was probably pretty safe. They both convey the overall toll of the match - watch Regal collapse near the end for a pin cover. I loved the finish - Christian impulsively lashes out at Koslov over the previous week's beatings, provoking the interference which costs him the match. That final knee was exactly violent enough to cap off this match. Right to the top of my WWE MOTY list for you. Almost.
So, the Extreme Championship Wrestling. Regal on this stick is good times, especially him reaching breaking point as Christian taunts him with "eight seconds" and the Bill stuff. And who else in wrestling can get away with a finger wag? (If nobody thinks about Hogan, I'll get away with this)
Goldust and Sheamus get a video package. Not Rock-Austin, but then that would be pretty weird. Shorter match, but intense. So many WWE feuds, even the headline ones, don't convey the hatred that I'm getting from this series. I was delighted with the non-finish because I want to see a no-dq based gimmick match, and see Dustin go out it.
Zack Ryder makes the tag match for me. The ridculous way he refuse to take a tag because he's fixing his knee pads, and shouting orders at Benjamin, much to Shelton's displeasure was as entertaining as anything. Yoshi gets some kicks in, but this was all about the angle and the feud. And here's a question - whose the worst Tyler? Reks or Black? Both are bigger athletic guys who can jump around a bit, which seems to be the only thing they bring. I'm going with Black because Reks is just a third show undercard guy, while Black is pushed as a guy as good as Danielson or McGuiness.
Main event is just great. Not often you see such a long TV match with such protracted level of violence. Regal makes everything look killer. Christian can't match him for striking ability, although he has a go. What he can do is take big bumps and sell like the best babyface in the company that he is. The arm wringer off the apron was nasty. Regal's selling is also great. He makes Christian's elbow to the face look like he'd been shot, even though it was probably pretty safe. They both convey the overall toll of the match - watch Regal collapse near the end for a pin cover. I loved the finish - Christian impulsively lashes out at Koslov over the previous week's beatings, provoking the interference which costs him the match. That final knee was exactly violent enough to cap off this match. Right to the top of my WWE MOTY list for you. Almost.
Sunday, 16 August 2009
WWE: All the TV August 11th - 14th
I watched ECW, Superstars and Smackdown this week, like most weeks. I tend to review ECW and Superstars because they are wrestling focused. Smackdown is usually good for one long TV match, but has more angle stuff that isn't worth reviewing. But ever since Punk won the title and began the turn, I've watched every show. And it hasn't disappointed - his promo work as a heel and his performances in matches all the way through have been so much better than anything he's done in WWE since joining in 2006. Last week's title match was the best example yet - his post-match beatdown, shouting "Fixing him up so I can break him again" to the EMTs, forcing the stretcher guys to take the long way around the ring just cemented him as my favourite current heel in wrestling. Matt Hardy's return is also intriguing, and his heel turn momentum was ruined by injury so I could quite happily watch months of Punk vs. Matt main events.
ECW packed five matches and an interview segment in this week, two of which were dull squashes. I want to know where the Kozlov-Jackson stuff is going. I'm still pulling for homoerotic courtship ritual. Zack Ryder busting out a hand-phone and a "Call me" on his way to the ring added another layer of dorkiness to a character I'm fast falling in love with. Matt Striker questioning whether Yoshi Tatsu had even seen a superhero before was utterly ridiculous and borderline offensive. He's not from a cave, he's from Japan. He used to wrestle with Jushin Liger, whose whole look was based on a superhero, and who you, Matt Striker, have referenced before.
The only particularly good bit of wrestling was Regal-Dreamer, which was Regal dragging Dreamer through to a good six minute TV match by virtue of the fact that at times, Regal can look like the most vicious man on the planet. He's relentless when attack a limb and his strikes always look deadly. Maybe I'm being unfair to Dreamer, whose job here was to eat a beating and set up Christian vs. Regal, which has the potential to top MOTY lists, based on their few recent encounters.
I enjoyed Smackdown, aside for the dull Khali-Kane stuff. Kane is never as violent or sadistic as he is made out to be. Unlike Mike Knox, who came across like an absolute psycho after dropping Finlay on the steps. I look forward to Matches. The Finlay-Ziggler match was fine, as Finlay pulled a game Ziggler through a pretty stiff little TV match - I enjoyed the return of the ring apron spot, but Ziggler's boot, catching Finaly between it and the ringpost was spot of the match and looked really nasty.
Punk vs. Morrison was also good. Some people just work better as a heel or a face. With Punk, his strike based offence is much more suited to working heel, and now he's fully turned, he's free to drop in also sorts of violent kicks, like those knees at the end with Morrison in the tree of woe. The knee drop on the apron looked really great. The match is carried along by Punk, with Morrison contributing his flashy offence (It's a standing shooting star press. How are both commentators continually messing this up). The GTS looked great as well, as Morrison sold the blow like he'd been shot.
I'm glad they didn't do something stupid like bury the Hart Dynasty in the main - but I don't understand why this needed to be a handicap in the first place. Why couldn't an injured Jeff take on one of them, lose because of his injury, which affects his standing not a little but raises that of his opponent? The stuff post match sets up what could be a really good match next week - I'm excited to see Matt Hardy again. Smackdown has the freshest main event scene in the company since, what, 2002?
I've saved Superstars until last, because it featured the match of the week in Goldust vs. Sheamus. I loved the early intensity to signify the bad feelings between the two, Sheamus pushing Dustin away from a tie up, and Dustin using the momentum to come off the ropes felt like the sort of thing someone would do when tussling over a grudge. There were some great punches by Dustin, and his selling made There were some great punches by Dustin, and his selling made Sheamus look mighty. He's so old school in the way he draws the crowd in - there's a lot of upper mid-card guys who are being heavily pushed who wouldn't have gotten that sort of response. I've struggled to get into Sheamus yet - there's not something I could say 'yeah, he does that well' or 'I like that move' - but I thought his simple moveset worked well here, especially with the way Dustin sold it all. The reactions after the roll-up were great too. The first two five minute matches were good, but give Dustin ten minutes, and he makes for great TV.
ECW packed five matches and an interview segment in this week, two of which were dull squashes. I want to know where the Kozlov-Jackson stuff is going. I'm still pulling for homoerotic courtship ritual. Zack Ryder busting out a hand-phone and a "Call me" on his way to the ring added another layer of dorkiness to a character I'm fast falling in love with. Matt Striker questioning whether Yoshi Tatsu had even seen a superhero before was utterly ridiculous and borderline offensive. He's not from a cave, he's from Japan. He used to wrestle with Jushin Liger, whose whole look was based on a superhero, and who you, Matt Striker, have referenced before.
The only particularly good bit of wrestling was Regal-Dreamer, which was Regal dragging Dreamer through to a good six minute TV match by virtue of the fact that at times, Regal can look like the most vicious man on the planet. He's relentless when attack a limb and his strikes always look deadly. Maybe I'm being unfair to Dreamer, whose job here was to eat a beating and set up Christian vs. Regal, which has the potential to top MOTY lists, based on their few recent encounters.
I enjoyed Smackdown, aside for the dull Khali-Kane stuff. Kane is never as violent or sadistic as he is made out to be. Unlike Mike Knox, who came across like an absolute psycho after dropping Finlay on the steps. I look forward to Matches. The Finlay-Ziggler match was fine, as Finlay pulled a game Ziggler through a pretty stiff little TV match - I enjoyed the return of the ring apron spot, but Ziggler's boot, catching Finaly between it and the ringpost was spot of the match and looked really nasty.
Punk vs. Morrison was also good. Some people just work better as a heel or a face. With Punk, his strike based offence is much more suited to working heel, and now he's fully turned, he's free to drop in also sorts of violent kicks, like those knees at the end with Morrison in the tree of woe. The knee drop on the apron looked really great. The match is carried along by Punk, with Morrison contributing his flashy offence (It's a standing shooting star press. How are both commentators continually messing this up). The GTS looked great as well, as Morrison sold the blow like he'd been shot.
I'm glad they didn't do something stupid like bury the Hart Dynasty in the main - but I don't understand why this needed to be a handicap in the first place. Why couldn't an injured Jeff take on one of them, lose because of his injury, which affects his standing not a little but raises that of his opponent? The stuff post match sets up what could be a really good match next week - I'm excited to see Matt Hardy again. Smackdown has the freshest main event scene in the company since, what, 2002?
I've saved Superstars until last, because it featured the match of the week in Goldust vs. Sheamus. I loved the early intensity to signify the bad feelings between the two, Sheamus pushing Dustin away from a tie up, and Dustin using the momentum to come off the ropes felt like the sort of thing someone would do when tussling over a grudge. There were some great punches by Dustin, and his selling made There were some great punches by Dustin, and his selling made Sheamus look mighty. He's so old school in the way he draws the crowd in - there's a lot of upper mid-card guys who are being heavily pushed who wouldn't have gotten that sort of response. I've struggled to get into Sheamus yet - there's not something I could say 'yeah, he does that well' or 'I like that move' - but I thought his simple moveset worked well here, especially with the way Dustin sold it all. The reactions after the roll-up were great too. The first two five minute matches were good, but give Dustin ten minutes, and he makes for great TV.
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