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While it seems awfully soon for another three-hour RAW this is King of the Ring, so I am excited. Welcome to the Era of Awesome as the opening recap reminds us how our new champ became just that. Alex Reilly comes out first. He’s in a suit so maybe he came straight from court? Reilly is here to party, and he’s not afraid to party. Wow. Punk went all in and actually said DUI. Reilly hypes up The Miz but we don’t actually see the champ.

Instead its’ King of the Ring match #1. Alberto Del Rio and his black-eyed personal ring announcer to face Daniel Bryan. I’m going to predict Del Rio wins. The rest of the brackets are John Morrison versus Cody Rhodes (I bet on John), Ezekial Jackson versus Drew McIntyre (Big Zeke to go over) and Kofi Kingston versus Sheamus so I have to think Sheamus. I see an Ezekial Jackson versus Alberto Del Rio final here. Good match and the announce team is actually acknowledging that both these are the future of WWE. Bryan picks up a shoulder injury late in the match doing his usual dive to the outside, and that opens the door for the Cross-Armreaker. Bryan taps awfully fast but I guess the injury protects him.

The announce team’s recap of past winners included Brock Lesnar. They even half-acknowledge his UFC success. R-Truth raps his old theme song for a long time before finally entering the ring. R-Truth is here to say he misses Cena and challenge any member of Nexus to a one-on-one match. He gets Michael McGuillicuddy and I would rather see more KotR. But the camera guy goes down so we can’t quite see the attacker (who is clearly John Cena) takes Mr. Not-So-Perfect down. Good, no match.

Now we move on to Cody Rhodes versus John Morrison. Morrsion finishes with the kick then knee to the temple finish he’s been using lately. The kick is called the Flying Chuck according to CM Punk. Morrison can job to Del Rio next. Something went wrong because Morrison’s lower lip is bloody.

One commercial break later and we go straight into the third match of the tournament. So it’s Vince McMahon’s chosen one against the last ECW champion. Jackson dominates but the action spills out of the ring and this is a double countout. Which means neither man advances. So much for my pool. Whoever wins the next match gets a bye to the final. Which also means they only have to squeeze six matches in tonight, not seven.

Orton is not here tonight. He was actually injured but its minor enough he won’t need more time off. But here’s The Miz. Let’s see if this promo is gold. His suit jacket is actually worse than Cole’s. No flashy celebration just images of a cute kid really P.O.ed at The Miz’s win. I love how Miz can be himself and the crowd hates him. Miz plugs the WWE Championship book and starts running down Legends who never won the title. And that get Jerry Lawler’s ire up. Lawler isn’t impressed with The Miz’s win. So Cole comes to his favorite’s defense. In the end Lawler asks for a title shot. Miz isn’t interested but the General Manager is. And… dear lord, this is going to be the main event?! On King of the Ring night the final is not going to be the main event?! E-GM decides to make it a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. Jerry Lawler gets his first shot at the title in TLC at this stage in his career? Apparently it’s his birthday.

At least that reduces the announce team to two men as Sheamus takes on Kofi Kingston. In two weeks we have the Slammys, WWE’s self-congratulatory awards show, which may be three hours as well. Punk is making mistakes like calling guys “Wrestlers” instead of “Superstars” but he’s generally entertaining. Far too short a match. Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise but Sheamus rolls under the ropes and avoids a pin. That lets the Irishman hit his Brogue Kick for the pin and a bye to the finals. That makes Morrison more likely to advance than Del Rio, which is a pity.

Now we get a tag match with Yoshi Tatsu and Mark Henry facing the tag champs, non-title. Justin Gabriel’s beard is longer but that doesn’t make it suit him any better. This is just a set-up for Cena to show up, holding a ticket. Slater pays too much attention to Cena and Henry slams him for the win. Then Cena races in and puts Slater though the announce table before high-tailing it away from the rest of Nexus. The remaining members of Nexus decide to call him out later.

So we only have one semi-final match to look forward to and it’s up now. John Morrison and Albert Del Rio are starting to look good when Rey Mysterio distracts Del Rio and gives John Morrison the win way too soon. Wade calls Cena out. Cena replies via TitanTron from the parking lot. Wade sends the other three Nexus to get him then about eight angry RAW faces beat them down. Cena ends up AAing Justin Gabriel into a car windshield and vowing to be back next week. I had no idea who Darren Young was at first because he’s cut the wacky hair and replaced with a hair helmet that may actually be worse.

A six-diva match? Really? When we had to skip a KotR match? It’s not much of a match as Tamita gets serenaded by Santino Marello allegedly playing a Tiffany song on an acoustic guitar. Natalya gets the win since she’s the new champ and no one else in the match is married to The Undertaker.

There’s nothing wrong with the finals of King of the Ring. But it’s not as good as the match we just saw between these two at Survivor Series. And yes, the results are different, as Sheamus goes over here. But this entire tournament has been relegated to second or third most important storyline on this show so all my enthusiasm for it faded away well before the final.

Now we have a main event that’s not going to be a real match. Why is Alex Reilly still carrying the Money in the Bank briefcase? Miz cashed in why carry it any more? It doesn’t take a lot of skill to have a roughhouse match and that’s what this is. Lawler actually manages to put both Alex Reilly and The Mix through tables so Michael Cole ends up interfering to stop Lawler from getting the title. Lawler gets to punch out Cole but, when he and Miz end up fighting on top of the ladder, Miz actually swings the belt into the King’s face. Lawler takes a very careful fall from the ladder and Miz retains. No surprise, there.

So Jerry Lawler’s birthday present is more important than King of the Ring? And really, Sheamus? He’s a two-time world champion, what good does adding King of the Ring do for him? And John Cena hasn’t even paid lip service to being fired. You could see he was wearing a microphone pack in at least one scene. Yes Orton was out and yes, on his 61st birthday Jerry Lawler acquitted himself well, but I was disappointed with the show overall.

Posted on December 2nd, 2010 by David Creighton | Comments Off on Wrestling Recap: WWE Raw Week Ending 12/4/10
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For so long I have hoped this day would come. The end of season 3 of WWE NXT. Can you imagine if they had started with 8 rookies like the other seasons did? Let’s hope they stick with six when they return to male rookies next season. Cole has to address RAW to start. He claims he’s not even sure why he cost Jerry Lawler the title and that he will speaks to Lawler privately if he is able. But until Monday, he reserves comment.

Vickie still hates her rookie as she introduces her. Naomi doesn’t even get an intro. Kelly Kelly is not here but she sends video well wishes. Letting Kelly speak only hurts her appeal. Kelly does has a good excuse, she’s on the Tribute to the Troops tour. We’re debuting the fourth season rookies tonight and Cole is already demeaning the future.

We’ll see some eliminated rookie Divas in action later when The Bellas team with AJ to take on Maxine, Aksana and Alicia Fox. Oh, it’s now? It’s not much of a match but at least AJ gets to pick up a win over Maxine and she shares a kiss with Primo. Yeah he’ll really help your career.

The last divas get to trash talk each other. Kaitlyn feels Naomi was impressive at first then flatlined. She’s stepped up throughout. Naomi feels she’s ready to go Then she decides to plug herself and say how great it’s been rather than running down Kaitlyn. Next, they have a match. Watching the match I have to agree that Kaitlyn is a poor wrestler even by the miserable standards of the WWE Divas. Yet she gets the win on a terrible looking roll-up. Vickie introduces Dolph Ziggler. He’s a pro next season which means we’re not getting rid of Vickie. Dolph is wearing a sports jacket and a leather tie over a bare chest.

The crazy thing is, other than Kelly Kelly, all the pros are here. This season is so low rent none of them were needed on the overseas tour. WWE promos always make things seem more dramatic than they actually were. So Daniel Bryan has gone from rookie to pro in just four seasons?

They bring back the four eliminated rookies, even Jamie who was legit released. Jamie and Maxine pick Naomi to win. AJ stands by her friend Kaitlyn. Aksana flirts with Matt Stryker before pulling the tired crap of saying she should still win. Alberto Del Rio is going to be a pro? That pretty much guarantees season 4 will be better than 3.

So here are the rookies and pros. Really boring crop of names among the rookies.

Rookie / Pro

  • Johnny Curtis / R-Truth
  • Byron Saxton / Chris Masters
  • Brodus Clay / Ted Dibiase
  • Jacob Novak / Dolph Ziggler
  • Derrick Bateman / Daniel Bryan
  • Conor O’Brien / Alberto Del Rio

And, with little fanfare, Kaitlyn wins. Kaitlyn is certainly a Cinderella story. She was a last second replacement. She had never had a match before NXT. Yet, doesn’t WWE trumpet on their PSAs that these moves take years of training to perfect and do safely? Yet someone starts wrestling on WWE TV? Not a good message. Kaitlyn probably won’t last long. Maybe when she ends up in TNA she can make something of herself.

Posted on December 1st, 2010 by David Creighton | Comments Off on Wrestling Recap: WWE NXT Season 3 Finale
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Ah Smackdown, a crap shoot of a show each and every week. Kane is out to open so we’re not starting well. Kane loves his daddy even more than his title. Kane has woken up to the fact kidnapping is illegal. But he just wants Paul Bearer back and all will be forgiven. Kane’s not a freak, or a monster, he has feelings. He wants daddy home for the holidays. Yeah, this is just…not right. Here come Edge with the empty wheelchair. Edge makes Kane ask nicely but Edge still doesn’t buy Kane’s sincerity so he wheels off like a homeless person with a shopping cart.

King of the Ring qualifiers should dominate this show. The first pits Kofi Kingston versus Jack Swagger. Another crap shoot. It’s a good match, lots of back and forth. There’s a great series of counters late in the match but Kofi ends it all with Trouble in Paradise. How’s being a former world champion working out for you Swags? So Kofi will be one of eight in the hunt on Monday night. I don’t have high hopes for his chances.

This Edge storyline graduates to urine and feces jokes as Paul has been tied to a chair for two weeks. Edge teases Kane with his location then takes off. Alberto Del Rio has his work cut out for him as he faces the Big Show. But Del Rio is the kind of guy who should be winning KotR, Show is not. Show is dominant here. Del Rio survives, but his offence doesn’t cut it against the giant. But Show leaves the ring and Del Rio’s ring announcer is able to occupy him long enough for the big man to get counted out. By the numbers booking with Show here but the right guy goes over and that’s what matters.

Edge reappears, with his victim. He calls out Kane but is ready to push Paul down the stairs to keep him at bay. Kane calls Edge names in a deliberate case of the pot calling the kettle black. Kane finally figures out Edge probably wants a title match in exchange for his father. But Edge still plays games and won’t give back Bearer.

These days it’s hard to predict if MVP or Drew McIntyre will advance. Neither seem to be on fire lately. McIntyre targets MVP’s left arm early, using the ring environment to his advantage. McIntyre quickly takes advantage of the debilitated face and it’s the sinister Scotsman who’ll be competing Monday night. LayCool gives us some increasingly repetitive digs at Natalya before McCool faces Kelly Kelly. In a ridiculously short match double K actually wins! This is just to set up a beat down so Beth Phoenix can make the save and destroy McCool.

The final qualifier of the night is Rey Mysterio against “Dashing” Cody Rhodes. Since two heels have already won I’m expecting Rey to win here. But before we can start Del Rio returns to join commentary. Thing is, he really doesn’t say that much. Mysterio accidentally accidentally hits Del Rio with a Seated Senton when he is aiming for Rhodes. A ref bump follows and Del Rio crotches Rey on the ring post to allow Rhodes to pick up the win. Now that I think about it 3 faces qualified on Monday so three heels from Smackdown makes sense. I don’t see Cody making round 2 but this is a nice little push for him.

Kane is no longer playing nice as he threatens Teddy Long. Edge continues to magically appear on nearby monitors. Now Edge has Paul out in the parking lot. Kane arrives in time to see his dad run down by a car but it’s an obvious manikin. Edge drives off, still holding Paul, and I’m getting really tired of this storyline.

All the KotR qualifiers were fine matches so I’m happy with this show overall. The return of the King of the Ring gave the writing staff an “Easy” button for coming up with storylines this week. Monday’s show should be good, although cramming seven matches in a three hours show may force some of them to be quite short. Still, I’m looking forward to RAW more than I have in some time.

Posted on November 28th, 2010 by David Creighton | Comments Off on Wrestling Recap: Smackdown Week Ending 11/27/10
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It’s Thanksgiving tonight and we celebrate with some nice trash talk between Fortune and their ex-members Doug Williams and Matt Morgan. We’ll have an 8-man elimination tag match, basically ripping off Survivor Series; Matt and Doug need to find two partners. And Eric Bischoff has invited Dixie Carter here tonight.

There’s a very tame street fight between Tommy Dreamer and Rhyno where Dreamer actually picks up a win for a change. Rhyno refuses to make peace and puts Dreamer through a table before RVD drives him off. RVD wants to bust Rhyno open so, at Final Resolution, these two will have a first blood match. Meanwhile, Morgan and Williams recruit Samoa Joe.

We get some knockouts brawling and Winter (the former Katie Burchill) actually reveals herself to all the women. We get too much recap of last week’s fight between the Motor City Machineguns and Generation Me. This is just to let us know they’re going to try to take it up a notch at Final Resolution with a Full Metal Mayhem Match, which is what TNA calls Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches. It takes some work to convince The Pope to join Morgan’s team but it looks like the foursome is set.

I guess Sarita turned face on Xplosion or something because Madison Rain calls her out for a match and, this being non-title, actually gets upset. This is a long match but it’s not particularly good. We see way, way too much of Immortal celebrating Thanksgiving. Jeff Jarrett continues to declare his love of MMA. We see him lecturing a group of kids at a kick boxing school. And yeah, he hurts a little kid. Then he hurts Jesse Neal in a Submission Match. Thanks to a ref bump Jarrett goes old school and hits Neal with a guitar.

We now come to the eight-man main event. I say main event but the appearance of Dixie Carter is yet to come so that’s what TNA thinks people really want to see. They’re wrong. Storm goes out early and the faces seize the advantage going into the first commercial. Kazarian goes next and the faces are surprisingly strong so far. Then Joe and the Pope tag in at the same time and end up fighting each other on the outside. We’re already past 11:00. The heels take out Williams and that leaves AJ and Roode to take on Morgan. Morgan manages to take out AJ but, as he sets up for the Carbon Footprint on Roode, Jeff Hardy shows up. Hardy kicks Morgan in the junk then takes out the ref with a Twist of Hate. That lets Jeff, AJ and Roode beat Morgan down for a bit.

It’s not a swerve, Dixie really is here. Bischoff and Hogan offer Dixie an office job but Dixie decides to serve an injunction on Hogan for signing talent without authorization from the board of directors. And these two are no longer in charge. So who is? Do we care? Hogan’s eyes are really bloodshot. Is he on something?

I kind of miss the Turkey Bowl. At least that was original and not a blatant rip off of Survivor Series. I’ll be glad when Jeff Jarrett moves past this whole MMA thing, presumably after his Submission Match with Samoa Joe at the PPV. It’s nice to see the tide turning against Immortal but Dixie Carter is not someone I want totally behind. She needs a champion who can actually wrestle. Is Kurt Angle coming back?

I hope my American readers had a great Thanksgiving as we now have to suffer through five weeks of Christmas music.

Posted on November 27th, 2010 by David Creighton | Comments Off on Wrestling Recap: TNA Week Ending 11/27/10
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RAW starts with Nexus coming out. John Cena has been fired. After a long goodbye last night he’s going to get another one tonight. Barrett is arguing Cena had decided in advance Barrett was going to lose. Since Cena shoved him into an RKO Barrett expects a rematch against Orton. Oddly, the anonymous GM by email actually agrees and we won’t have to wait for the next PPV, that match is tonight! Justin Gabriel is doing a poor job of growing a beard. Lose the facial fuzz, it doesn’t work for you.

Next week is King of the Ring. Which means another three hour RAW. I wish I got paid overtime for these shows. Cole introduces CM Punk, who is joining the RAW commentary team while he recovers from an injury. Tonight we’ll have four qualifier matches for King of the Ring, the other four competitors will come from Smackdown. Sheamus faces R-Truth. Truth has gone back to the old theme music but still has Eve dancing with him. Punk endears me immediately by comparing her dancing to an epileptic fit. This match is too slow for me. Sheamus goes to a lot of really basic submission holds that don’t excite me and he wins with the Celtic Cross, not a submission, so it’s not good match storytelling.

We see long boring clips from Cena’s DVD compilation. Even with him allegedly fired he’s still being shoved down our throats. LaCool can’t get into the building. Natalya refuses to vouch for them. They are still doing a romance angle between Santino and Tamita, who can play the ukulele. Orton says he’ll win. Ezekial Jackson is supposed to face The Miz but he has apparently suffered an anxiety attack and Alex Reilly will compete for him. An anxiety attack does not make someone sound tough. Jackson wins pretty quickly and qualifies for King of the Ring.

Cena says a long, long goodbye. It’s mostly the same tired “Cena is Superman” stuff as usual but there is one brilliant moment where Cena gets all the women and kids in the audience to chant “Let’s go Cena!” then all the men chant “Cena sucks!” Since I don’t buy for a second Cena is really leaving there is no emotion to this. Not like when we thought Flair was retiring or when HBK retired, for now. In fact, Cena talking about missing his brother’s child being born and spending more time with his mom are actually a little disingenuous.

Qualifier #3 is Ted Dibiase versus Daniel Bryan. That’s two matches from last night’s PPV that they are giving away a rematch on free TV the next day. Why should people buy the PPV if they get the match for free the next day? In this case, because it’s a much shorter match with the exact same result, Dibiase taps. And the Bellas are apparently now smitten with Bryan. In better woman’s action, Natalya makes short work of Alicia Fox. Melina now seems to be hitting on John Morrison. Does she still call him Nitro? Morrison takes on Tyson Kidd in the final qualifier of the night. This is the best of the four qualifiers tonight as the pair show off their speed and agility. We get a real finisher in this one as Morrison lands Starship Pain and fills RAW’s last spot in the tournament.

So now we get a title match on free TV. I always complain when the champion comes out first but tonight he needs to as Nexus attacks him on the ramp and damages his right knee before the refs can get them away. Orton is taken out and Barrett expects a forfeit but, no, Orton will defend, hurt leg and all. Though considerably shorter, I actually enjoyed this match more than the main event last night. Orton’s injury is a built in story for the match and it dominates throughout. When Barrett hits Wasteland we wonder why they would change the title tonight but not last night. Then John Cena pulls the ref out of the ring and attacks Barrett. The rest of Nexus chase off Cena but Orton not only recovers, but hits a good old RKO to retain his title. Odd, we’re actually finishing a little early this week-

AWESOME!

I spoke too soon. The Miz is cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase! Orton is still on his feet so he’s better off than most champions who had the briefcase cashed in on them. Once again, the heel goes after the injured knee of Orton. Orton looks like he might hit RKO after all – only to be reversed into a Skull Crushing Finale!

1…

2…

3!

THE MIZ IS THE CHAMP!

So let’s examine this. Rather than let Barrett win the championship and The Miz cash in on him they had Cena get fired then not even have the decency to keep him off camera for a week. Miz wins, not by being the better wrestler, but by cashing in MitB at a smart moment. I doubt Miz will have a long title reign but they have to be careful not to book him too strong.

This was not a bad show. The qualifiers took up most of the time and action with a main event I was interested in watching followed by a big surprise. But, the new announce team is iffy. Punk is a fine addition but with Cole usually playing heel it’s unbalanced. With the only face being Jerry Lawler, who never reads the script in advance and tries to interject too much reason into this mess, it’s even worse.

This is the second last episode of NXT season 3 and yes, the affiliates have been informed there will be a fourth with men again. There’s a trivia challenge, which AJ runs away with. Of course the questions are so easy she may be winning simply because she’s quicker to sound her air horn. Nikki Bella beats Kaitlyn. AJ and Naomi have the best match of the season, an actual good match, which AJ wins. This gives me more faith in AJ if she turns out to be the winner. Then they dress the competitors up in fat suits for a sumo challenge. Because the largely male audience really wants to see beautiful women in fat suits. Kaitlyn wins. There’s no immunity so the only point of these silly competitions is to supposedly impress the pros. The announce team continues to treat the show, and by association the viewers, with disdain. Matt Stryker is at least trying to be professional and you can tell Cole’s antics are bothering even him.

My pick for elimination is Naomi. She’s the least attractive of the group and, while her ring skills are impressive, she doesn’t feel like a complete package. AJ has the geek cred she could win this all but Kaitlyn’s storyline with Vickie Guererro has been a big part of this season. It also wasn’t nearly as annoying as Aksana and Goldust. But no, I’m wrong. AJ goes home and I am sad. She was the one I liked. That probably leaves Kaitlyn to win it all and end this train wreck forever.

Posted on November 26th, 2010 by David Creighton | Comments Off on Wrestling Recap: Raw & WWE NXT Week Ending 11/27/10
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Welcome to Survivor Series. The focus tonight is on a man who is not even wrestling. What will John Cena do? More importantly, what will WWE brass do? The opening video is all about Cena so it’s a bit of surprise when we open with Ted Dibiase challenging Daniel Bryan for the United States Championship. I don’t recall this even being announced in advance. Dibiase puts up a good fight and the match is a decent opener. The LaBell lock is teased constantly and, in the end, it keeps Bryan his championship. Considering this was a free add to the card you can’t help but get your money’s worth.

Miz ambushes Bryan with the Money in the Bank briefcase then he and Alex “Will a DUI get me fired?” Reilly. Miz is out before the Miami crowd to get heat by making fun of the Heat. He also runs down Nexus to keep us all wondering if Miz will cash in his title shot after the main event.

Next match is John Morrison versus Sheamus. Who wins here will be very interesting just in terms of figuring out which of these guys is trending upwards. I heard one commentator say the best way to book this is like an old Undertaker/Jeff Hardy match. They don’t really go that direction but they get a lot of mileage out of Morrison’s willingness to throw himself/be thrown around like a toy. I don’t know why WWE is having a lot more matches end without finishing moves lately but it happens again here. Morrison strings together a few moves, ending with a leaping knee strike, and that’s enough for the pin. So Morrison is moving up the card. But is Sheamus moving down?

Now it’s time to catch up with Cena backstage. R-Truth is really weird lately, now he’s offering to take down Orton so Cena can keep his job? Cena once again vows to be fair and now R-Truth doesn’t believe him? Why would he turn down Truth’s offer if he planned to rig the match?

Before we get to the Kaval vs. Dolph Ziggler title match some bad news. There will be a fourth season of NXT. It will be back to men but will that bring it back to watchable? This match features a nice mix of high impact and submission wrestling. No Kaitlyn to distract Vickie or Dolph. Dolph takes a real shot to the nose and it’s bloody from then on. It could even be broken. It’s a good match with a weak roll-up reversal finish, holding the tights to give Ziggler the win. I hope this feud continues.

We get some mic time from the Survivor Series heels. They aren’t entirely on the same page but Del Rio remains gold on the microphone. MVP is the hometown hero tonight so it’s weird to see him getting a chant over Mysterio or Big Show. Cole and Striker actually waste mic time arguing if Ricky Henderson was the best baseball player of all time. He wasn’t; he was great, but not the greatest. MVP is the hometown boy so, of course, he’s eliminated first. Chris Masters doesn’t last much longer, falling to Del Rio’s Armbar. Big Show punches out Del Rio when he is not legal and gets led out. Cody Rhodes falls to the Big Show so it’s effectively 3 on 3 now. Del Rio is technically still in the match so could return.

Kofi Kingston takes out Tyler Reks, who I’m not getting behind no matter how hard they try. This gives the faces the advantage but Kofi soon taps to a Jack Swagger Anklelock. Matt Striker sounds like an idiot when he tries to make Mysterio falling off Show’s shoulders sound impressive. He actually adds Rey’s height to the distance he supposedly fell. It doesn’t work that way. Never mind Rey was not standing on the top of Show’s head. Swagger falls to Mysterio and the lone Drew MacIntyre eats a Chokeslam and the faces win with the same survivors as Friday’s Smackdown. This seems like wrong booking. Del Rio looks like he has a glass jaw, the other heels don’t seem strong and people who don’t need to be elevated are the only winners. We’ve already had two face wins on the card the bad guys should have pulled it out here.

TLC is a weak Pay Per View but I am loving this promo made up largely of crude stick figure drawings. Orton doesn’t feel sorry for John Cena. He’s focused on Wade Barrett. Cena knows if he screws Orton then Orton will make getting fired look good by comparison.

Diva handicap match is next. I have little to say about the match. The heels have to tag in and out. The finish? I never thought I’d see the day Michelle McCool would tap out to Natalya’s Sharpshooter. The subsequent beat down is interrupted by the non-surprise return of Beth Phoenix to make the save. My buddy Hugh begged and begged for Beth to turn but instead I predict a tag match at the next PPV.

Next comes the Edge/Kane match and a long video reminds us Edge has kidnapped Kane’s father Paul Bearer. Both the guys who saw the show with me had thought he was dead in real life. Edge brings out a wheelchair, but no Paul. Kane is obsessed with his father through the match, trying to beat the information out of Edge. Edge looks like a threat throughout. But Kane still bores me, no matter who he faces, and none of us really enjoy this match. Edge reverses a Tombstone attempt into a Spear. Kane goes down, Edge falls down with an arm draped over Kane and it’s bloody obvious from the poorly chosen camera angle that both men’s shoulders are down. They tease Edge as the new champ but it’s a draw so Kane retains. I’ve seen this done before, way, way better on free TV in a HHH/HBK title match. Here, it’s just lame. Kane tries to beat down Edge but it ends up with Edge wheelchairing Kane through a ring barricade. We never see Paul Bearer. Yes, Edge still looks strong for this feud to continue but big PPVs should be above cheap crap like this.

Now it’s Barrett’s turn to talk to Cena backstage. They are in the same arena tonight where Nexus debuted by beating down Cena. It’s all come full circle. Don’t pretend you planned that. Barrett could have fired Cena after Monday’s Attitude Adjustment. But no, John will hand Barrett the title tonight and be free.

The rest of Nexus come out as Gabriel and Slater defend their tag belts against Santino Marella and Vladimir Koslov. Slater still isn’t ready for this. The other guys are merely ok tonight. Extra Nexus interference makes the difference and Nexus stands tall. We hear from the anonymous GM for the first time all show. He or she just wants to make sure the rest of Nexus are gone for the main event.

That brings us to our final contest of the evening. It’s supposed to be Orton and Barrett but Cena steals most of the focus. He calls it even, as Barrett grows more and more frustrated with him. Behind all this isn’t a great match. Orton can wrestle but he’s not at the point where he can carry a green opponent to a great match. After a long back and forth Barrett hits Wasteland and Orton barely grabs the ropes to save his title. Barrett shoves Cena, Cena hits back and Barrett stumbles straight into an RKO! Cena hesitates just for a moment before counting the three and ending his career. The rest of Nexus attack. Cena and Orton fight them off together but not before they rescue their beaten leader. Cena hands Orton his title. They even hug. Orton gets in his celebratory poses but the focus is not on him. Soon he heads to the back. Then Cena takes a ridiculously long time saying goodbyes. He ranges all over the arena. He hugs Cole but not King or Striker.

So WWE was not willing to put a title on Barrett to such a point they now have to write their way out of this mess. I haven’t heard anything about Cena actually wanting time off for any reason so this shouldn’t last long. So how was the show? Well there was some good wrestling. There was some good match storytelling. But usually you had to choose one or the other and in some cases got none. There were some big surprises and it felt like a big event. And Michael Cole was toned down from Monday or NXT, so that helped. I’m going to give this one a thumbs up, especially since I didn’t have to pay. But even then, it’s on the line.

Posted on November 23rd, 2010 by David Creighton | Comments Off on Wrestling Recap: Survivor Series 2010
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I already feel like I’ve watched a lot of wrestling this week and I still have Smackdown and Survivor Series to come! We get to see a singles match between Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio before they captain their respective teams at Survivor Series. I was hoping it would start the show but it’s just Del Rio cutting a promo. And it’s MVP who interrupts not Rey Rey. MVP is still ticked off about Del Rio respecting the legends on Monday night. MVP wants a fight but Del Rio is saving himself for Mysterio. So he calls out Drew McIntyre to face MVP.

Here are the teams:

Rey Mysterio, Big Show, MVP, Chris Masters, Kofi Kington

Alberto Del Rio, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes, Tyler Reks, Jack Swagger

Isn’t it a bit odd to see Cody and Drew on the same team right after they broke up their own tag team? Doesn’t that seem like poor planning on WWE’s part? This is a pretty standard match for Smackdown midcarders, so not bad. I’m surprised MVP wins and without a finisher, just a running kick to the head.

Edge has apparently kept Paul Bearer tied up for over a week. I wonder what he smells like? Edge was on a campaign against stupidity just a little while ago and this, this is stupid. Kane thinks Teddy Long knows where Paul Bearer is and trashes his office when he doesn’t get an answer.

Another Survivor Series preview as Jack Swagger faces Chris Masters. Masters never wins so I can’t see this being the first, especially with the face going over in the prior match. And yes, Masters manages to lock on his deadly version of the (snicker) Full Nelson, the Master Lock, but Swagger gets to the ropes. Swagger gets an Ankle Lock in short order and his submission move wins.

Play dodgeball with a tied up man? Stupid.

Kaval faces Dolph Ziggler and, finally, actually picks up a win. Kaval actually cashes in the title shot he won on NXT for a shot at the Intercontinental title. Talk about aiming low. Still, something else to look forward to on Sunday.

Edge continues to use torture despite being the good guy. He’s the Jack Bauer of WWE.

More Survivor Series preludes as Cody Rhodes faces Kofi Kingston. Here, I can buy either guy as the winner. I love Cody Rhodes leaving the ring to check his reflection after being hit in the face. And getting furious about it to. Like he really believe opponents should know better than to hit him in the face. After a good match it’s Rhodes who picks up the win with Cross Rhodes after grabbing handfuls of tights and hair.

Kane misses his daddy.

There is not enough diversity in the Divas lineup if the buildup to a handicap match is a tag match with the same participants plus Kelly Kelly. It’s way too short and LayCool go over with a double team. Unless Natalya is winning the title Sunday this was terrible booking. And I don’t think Natalya is winning.

Smashing food on a gagged, hungry, fat man may violate the Geneva Convention. And I don’t want to see Kane cry. Ever.

That leaves Big Show to face Tyler Reks. Yeah, that’s not predictable at all. Especially, with the heels up 2-1. Yeah, it’s a squash. They just released Shad and Luke Gallows and they are treating Tyler Reks like he’s never going to be any better than those two were.

Edge and Bearer are at the arena and, in a show this pre-taped, Kane passed Luke Gallows on his way to the parking lot. Edge gets the jump on Kane, literally, when he leaps off a limo roof to knock him over. Then he tosses him into some equipment and takes off with Paul Bearer back in the limo. That really didn’t accomplish much for Edge, did it?

I’d actually like to be able to understand Spanish to know just what Del Rio’s personal ring announcer actually says. The match doesn’t last nearly long enough before Del Rio’s team runs in for a DQ. The face team runs in for a brawl. There’s ten minutes left so, of course, here comes Teddy Long to turn this into a team Battle Royal. Rhodes is out first, actually eliminated by Chris Masters. Masters ends up dumped next. Tyler Reks goes, lasting longer than I expected. McIntyre takes out Kingston to even it up again. Then MVP is quickly out to put the heels back ahead. Show dumps McIntyre and with Show left the faces have the advantage even when it’s even. With Del Rio going next that leaves Swagger to try to hold off Big Show and Mysterio. Swagger seems to think an Ankle Lock will help him eliminate Mysterio. It doesn’t and Show takes him out to leave two faces as winners. That should mean the heels find a way to win Sunday but they sometimes play against trend just to swerve us.

For what seemed like a throwaway addition to the card, a lot of time was spent plugging the Survivor Series match. Kane and Edge was not built that well. Too much silliness and histrionics. The Kaval/Ziggler match was a nice addition but the women didn’t build that well. I guess that makes this a so-so show so far but it got me reinvigorated for Survivor Series so it wasn’t a failure. Expect my PPV recap on Monday. If you’re seeing it I hope you enjoy it.