Raw Thoughts - November 23

• Jesse walked to the ring and said "Hershey, Pennsylvania" and I was already longing for the days when he was in the colour commentator's position. There has barely been anyone like him for fifteen years, with the exception of JBL.
• I'm watching Raw early afternoon Tuesday, UK time, but I've had a spoiler as to who wins the "Breakthrough Battle Royal" that I've just seen Jesse announce. I'll try not to let it spoil things.
• Nice covering by Cole for Randy and Kofi simply having a stare-off and not fighting in the aisle by saying that perhaps Randy has gained a measure of respect for Kofi.
• I like the concept of different brands' wrestlers fighting each other and then facing their respective champ.
• We have an issue with the tourney straight away. Kofi and Ziggler are both talented individuals - and what did that match take? Four minutes? I don't set stopwatches, but that wasn't very long at all.
• Now I don't mind Sheamus and Finlay being short. Not because they couldn't have a good match, but because it fits Sheamus' current push to dominate like that.
• I enjoyed that Cena/Punk match. I don't think there was a lot of doubt that Punk would be losing the match, but they at least let Punk get to the ropes out of the STF and then it took a supersize version of Cena's finisher to polish him off. Did Punk no harm, that.
• That was AWESOME! Great promo by Jesse on Vince, classic McMahon double-taking and adams-apple-bobbing - I can't wait for these two on the mic.
• I don't like that concept - the six man tag with all winners progressing. Seems ludicrous to me.
• I give him enough abuse, I think I ought to say that Cole is on great form tonight. He just zinged Lawler for not being made Mayor of Memphis. Made I laff.
• Match itself was ok. I thought for a second that Henry and Porter were going to turn on Truth, but not to be.
• That DX segment was so poor. Two of the WWE's premier performers, amongst the top five biggest names in the business currently, both lost a title match last night, but rather than bemoan their bad luck, express their desire to win the title, Shawn played his "goofy Shawn" routine and they made Midget jokes. I don't know if DX are booking themselves at the moment, but they are doing a terrible job if they are - and I'm a DX fan.
• Sorry Cole, my kind words were short lived.........how can Orton 'stalk' Bourne, lying in wait for him......then hit an RKO "out of nowhere", exactly?
• I wonder if WWE poached Hector away from TNA to put him in the Gooker suit.
• AAAARGH. What am I supposed to do? I love Pilgrims, but now McCool is dressed as one. What do I do?
• So, where to start on that Divas aftermath? Why was King scared of Maryse? Why didn't Kelly and Mickie come back to help? Gooker's music and a video played, so therefore the conceit is that he was booked to be the timekeeper - so they knew it would be Maryse? King doing the interview in the ring? You have to do that often with no recriminations for it to actually be a surprise.
• Should Nattie make her surname "Brake" just for one night. Since Hart and Kidd are doing such a great job of killing Shawn - Hart, Brake and Kidd would be awesome. Actually, maybe not.
• Hell of a lot of punishment by the Dynasty on DX, before the sudden ending. Looked like Shawn Superkicked Hunter in the arse until I realised it was on Harry.
• A chair match? The winner straps his opponent into a high chair?
• That was hilarious - "I'm sick of your catchphrases.......I'm the best in the world at what I do." I wonder how intentional that was.
• Batista should have come out with a lucha mask on.
• You can tell that very few people remember Vince as a commentator. Muted response. I want to hear "The cover, the count, yes he got him! Wait, no he didn't."
• Mini Me as guest host - surely a face-off with Hornswoggle.
• Sheamus v Cena then, in a tables match. I see three major problems here.
• One is that Sheamus may not quite be ready to step up and put on a great match with Cena. He might, but it's a lot to ask of both men.
• The second is that his push would work much better as a slow burn over a reasonable amount of time. He would be better off beating some midcarders dominantly before stepping up. Loads of great superstars spent years building their character by battering people to build their aura
• And there lies the third issue. Do you beat Sheamus on his first major PPV singles match, and retain the SuperCena aura? Or do you give an inexperienced guy (in WWE terms - Sheamus has paid dues elsewhere) a World Title within two months of hitting Raw?

Survivor Series Live Notes

01.03am
Here we go, then, Survivor Series 2009, and it's from DC. I didn't realise that. I wonder if there will be any kind of mixed reaction for Batista.

01.04am
Robo-Roberts reads out the rules for the Survivor Series matches, but says that the "remaining teammates on the team will be sole survivors." Erm, no. If there is more than one remaining guy, that isn't a 'sole survivor' is it? I fear this is an unwinnable 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania argument again.

01.07am
Miz leads out his team, with Swagger, Ziggler, Galloway and O'Shaunnessy for company. Sheamus might well be an interesting element to this match. Might he simply attack someone and walk out, or get DQ-ed for excessive punishment? Odds on it's Evan Bourne who is his scapegoat, and a squash will follow on Raw.

01.10am
By contrast, Morrison brings up the rear for his team, with Bourne, Finlay, Hardy and Benjamin preceding him. Finlay can't seem to make his mind up whether he wants his original music or his "diddley-dee" Hornswoggle music.

01.12am
Hate to be picky, but Cole reckons that because this match features many future superstars that we are "looking into a mirror". OK. That means I'm a future star, because I have a mirror next to my desk, and when I look into it I see my handsome mug looking back. I think he means crystal ball.

01.14am
Air Bourne to Ziggler gets rid of him, but McIntrye follows with his cradle double arm DDT to make it 4-4. Good to see finishers being used to eliminate, and not the usual soft moves which would normally only just warrant a two count.

01.16am
Sheamus eliminates Finlay with a bicycle kick after a staredown. South defeats North there. 4-3 to the heels.

01.24am
Swagger is gone after Starship Pain, and we have a new ref in the ring. Seems Scott Armstrong has got injured. They didn't make enough of it to be storyline, so I'm guessing it was legit. I hope the guy is alright, but goodness knows we can cope without him.

01.25am
3-2 in the heels' favour after Miz rids the ring of Shelton after an SCF and an assist from Sheamus. Incidentally, they have shown Armstrong getting a knee to the back of he head from Sheamus.

01.28am
The highly-thought of (by me, at least) Drew McIntyre hits his DDT on Matt Hardy and it's 3-1, with only Morrison remaining. King says John has a 1 in 3 chance.

Actually, he doesn't, because statistically, using equal probabilities, he has a 1 in 2 chance of winning the next fall. Then, should he win that it is a 1 in 2 of the next, and the next. Accumulative, it's 1 in 8. Clearly Matt Striker wasn't a Maths teacher, or he's have picked King up there.

01.31am
Remember AJ said that Morrison steals moves? He just hit a Pele. Offense was short-lived, though, since Sheamus then laid him out. Game over, and the heels win with three men - Miz, Sheamus and McIntrye - remaining. "Sole" survivors, apparently.

01.36am
Cool little segment with Christian acknowledging he was 'different' from his team mates. The elephant in the room was the fact he was the only white guy, but he said it was because he was the only ECW guy or the only Canadian. He then said Canadians could rap, and went on to (try and) prove it.

"Team Kofi Kingston, looking for a fight.
Four of us are black, and one of us is white.
WASSUP?"

Awkward moment, then they all joshed with each other. Some will sniff at this, and say its racist or a lame attempt at humour, or maybe that the white-run WWE are trying to pretend they are cool. I tend to think that we ought to accept that this is a kids show now, and that this is actually a reasonable message to kids - that the good guys all get on despite any superfluous differences.

01.42am
Rey in the ring, and it's grudge match time next. Fair enough little storyline this, but I'm so fed up of Rey wrestling big guys. He has spent the last two years wrestling Kane, Mike Knox, JBL, now Batista...... save for a great feud with Jericho, Rey has had to work very hard with limited bigger guys. His match with Morrison before his suspension showed he can still go and create awesome matches - I wish he was allowed to do it more.

01.50am
Matt Striker is a superb, vaguely heel, colour guy. He is a majr asset to tonight's broadcast team, which is Cole, Lawler and Matt himself. Here is a gem.

Striker defending Batista's actions prompted Cole to remark "I'm glad I'm not your friend." Striker shot back with - "You are." Brilliant.

01.51am
Batista wins after hitting a methodical combo of spear, spinebuster and three Batistabombs. Ref had to stop it rather than a pinfall occuring.

Post match, big Dave gets a chair and spinebust Rey on said implement. The irony of all this was that the cheers for Batista, in his hometown, remember, actually grew as time went on.

02.01am
Orton, along with his team - Cody, Ted, Regal and Punk - are out first, with Cole making a nice deal of Orton having a good record of being a survivor at this event. I like that, it's what proper sports commentators would do.

02.07am
All the faces - MVP., Henry, KR-Truth Krush Kwik, Christian and Kofi - are out, and Punk does a brilliant job of going after Truth, still mad at him after ruining his fun on Smackdown.

02.09am
Heels gang up, and Henry is gone without even tagging anyone else into the match.

02.11am
Very Kwikly, Killing the Truth is gone, thanks to Punk. 5-3 now, and the heels look great so far. I'd expect Cody and Regal to go soon though, possibly to an incoming Kofi.

02.13am
Nope, it's the second Marine who departs, falling to Christian's sunset flip. Meanwhile, Cole uses the nonsense phrase "controlled frenzy" and gets called out by Striker, who says "What does that mean?" Cole can't explain. Striker is AWESOME tonight.

MVP does for Regal, and nearly rolls Cody up, too. This match, despite the added star power, has not been as good as the first SSeries match thus far - and the first one was no better than ok.

02.18am
Painful looking CrossRhodes to MVP, and it's 3-2, with Kofi and Christian battling Cody, Punk and Orton.

02.19am
Equilibrium restored, as Christian pins Cody. Could go either way this.

02.21am
Killswitch looks to have Randy beaten, but Punk makes the save before and RKO gets shot of the Legend Killer. Kofi is left, but Orton tags out to avoid the confrontation. Former tag partners Punk and Kofi to face off.....

02.29am
The Kingston bandwagon rolls on. A reversal of a roll-up for three on Punk leads to Orton coming in, and getting met with a Trouble in Paradise. Kofi beats both men quickly, and wins the match for his team.

The cheer was major, the announcers went crazy. They are doing GOOD job with Kingston. Next step is a solid PPV effort with Orton. I wouldn't say he'll win the Rumble, but he ought to have a big run in it. Kingston for the Money in the Bank, I'd say.

02.38am
Three main men in the ring for the World title match. Smart money has to be on Taker's retention after Jericho accidently (or otherwise) costs Show the match.

Should go back and mention that the Survivor Match we just had did pick up from the point where I said it was inferior to the one before. From the point where it was Christian and Kofi v Orton and Punk it was very sound indeed.

02.55am
I don't really know what to make of that. It was very watchable, and reasonable executed, but it was like most Triple Threats you'll see. Quite slow, methodical, and unable to really shock or grip me.

Undertaker wins after a succession of finishing moves didn't do the job, and reversed a chokeslam by Big Show into a Hells Gate. I would fully expect the Raw triple threat to top that.

03.03am
Here comes the girls, now. Kelly eliminates Layla quickly. Pathetically, the talentless Michelle McCool quickly gets rid of Gail Kim. I think the success of Michelle McCool is quite possibly the most ridiculous thing in WWE right now.

03.06am
An unco-ordinated section between Eve and Jillian ends with the former hitting a top-rope sunset flip, before Beth demolishes Eve then Double Kelly. Surprisingly, though, Beth is pinned via a Mickie crucifix. Beth decks Mickie before leaving.

03.09am
Mickie removes Alicia with an untidy Thesz press from the top, before Striker undoes his night's good work in one fell swoop by suggesting that McCool could be in the Hall of Fame one day. Urgh.

03.13am
Melina puts this one away with her (much) modified Canadian Destroyer. Mickie and Melina survive - and I suspect the Verizon Center just sold more beer and popcorn, with people nipping out for the last time before the main event.

03.17am
DX Music hits. I'm surprised. I would have said this match merited seperate entrances for Triple H and Shawn Michaels, and not the DX music and hoopla. No video package building up the storyline for this one.

Because there hasn't been one.

03.23am
I was just in the process of typing that Cena has this one wrapped up because Michael Cole just led the commentary trio in declaring that either Trips or Shawn HAD to win.......when HBK turned and kicked Hunter in the face. Great moment.

Shawn and Hunter now battling away, but the real story is when HBK gets back in.

03.25am
Correction to the above, I obviously got my HBKs and my Hunters the wrong way around.

03.29am
O-ho! Hunter is back up, saves Shawn from Cena who was about to plunge HBK through the announce table, then a heavy duty spinebuster sends Michaels and the table sprawling.

It's interesting, no doubt, but it's taking away from the match a little because they are doing the old trick of having one of the three lie down for a while as the other two duke it out.

03.45am
Cena gets the win after a tense one. Lots of finishers and pauses as we approached the finish, before Michaels Superkicked Hunter, only to walk into an Attitude adjustment. Cena dropped HBK onto HHH, and the champ pinned The Game.

The intrigue in the match superceded the action here, and I would say that the booking of Shawn to kick Hunter in the face at the start of the match was an inspired decision. It's hardly an original or clever point to make when I say that the build to this was weak, but as soon at that first bar of chin music played you had to tune in.

So will they continue the DX break up? Possibly, and if they do it remains to be seen if it is a gradual or quick thing. I'd do a jump ahead to Mania and suggest that Michaels v Helmsley would be a great match at Mania, along with Cena v Taker and Edge v Jericho. I'd suggest you get to DiBiase v Orton by then, too, and you are in good shape for the PPV when March in Phoenix rolls around. Won't be long, you know.

Bragging Rights live notes

00.04am
Ok, I’ll be generous, you get some comments, but they’ll be snappy, hopefully pithy ones. Not massive reviews – you’ll have to go to www.thesun.co.uk/wrestling tomorrow for that.

00.06am
Oh, terrific, they’ve told us it’s best two out of three in the Raw v Smackdown matches. That means it will be 1-1 after two, with the tag being the rubber match.

00.07am
I'll go for Miz to win this. Makes more sense for Miz to win this with shenanigans, and then the SD girls to tie the series, before the tag is the decider.

00.13am
I bet the boys are happy to be watching the show on a monitor, at an angle, in character.

00.14am
I really like the ring, by the way, with the mixture of blue and red ropes.

00.19am
Hmm, pretty not surprised at the winner, but a little about the method. I'm not unhappy though. Miz needed a win more, and Morrison is flashy enough to get back over some more.

00.21am
Has Finlay ever won a match in WWE without the Shillelagh?

00.22am
I am most amused by the fact that R-Truth sounded more like Dusty than Cody did.

00.23am
"That's the truth.......and the truth hurts" is a better catchphrase that "truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth, which is a mouthful and, well, stolen.

00.25am
Speaking of stolen, Michelle now appear to have nicked AJ's hooded robe as well as his finishing move.

00.26am
About three weeks ago Beth was complaining about being traded to SD, now she is fighting for their pride?

00.33am
Kelly did a great Ricky Morton - right down to the haircut.

00.34am
Springboard suplex into a rolling small package? NICE! Great work Beth and Melina!

00.35am
Smallest of points, shouldn't Harry Smith and TJ Wilson (fuck their screen names) have been front and centre in the SD locker room rather than Jericho, Kane and Hardy there?

00.38am
I enjoyed that backstage pep talk/DX comedy bit. But then I like DX more than most.

00.39am
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster? Never heard of them. You couldn't do better than "Sons of Disaster"? Here's a tip Maylene, if you want a great bandname, don't picked one that sounds like it could go after "Harry Potter and...."

00.41am
A four way match seems perfectly placed to take the belt off of Taker, relieve his burden of being top dog in the yard while injured, and get the belt back on Punk without Taker having his shoulders counted down. I forecast something happening to shift Taker's focus.

00.56am
"These guys are literally throwing bombs." Erm, no they are not, King. They are figuratively throwing bombs.

1.00am
Hmmm, seems odd to me to have Taker win a fourway. I guess they just had nothing to do for Rey and Batista and wanted to put them out there in a PPV match. Also, there was probably motivation for a tease of a falling out between Batista and Rey.

I hope Rey is ok. He was (Literally?) launched by Batista onto Punk, and looked to land back and neck first. Hopefully it was flat enough, and not at a poor angle.

01.02am
As I speak, Rey is on his feet, speaking to Josh. He looks ok.

01.04am
I think that would have been better if Batista had clotheslined Mysterio out of his boots out of nowhere, rather than telegraph it. Now we know why these two are in the match.

01.05am
That was pretty well done. I think Batista's heel turn is long overdue, frankly. He'll shine now.

01.09am
When they were doing that 'Team Raw!' 'Team Smackdown' thing with fans, I'd have loved one little weedy bloke to jump in the middle and, in a high pitched voice, shout 'Team ECW'.

01.15am
Have they once mentioned the video game while hyping this as Smackdown v Raw?

01.32am
I rather liked that ending. It's a bit of a copout, and celebration was a little over the top, but I like Show turning on people that he has had his differences with, and it leads into a presumed DX v Jericho and Show feud.

That then leaves something else to ponder. If this really is the end of Orton v Cena, forget who will win - who will the winner face next? Who else is there to step up?

02.03am
2-2 and nearly twenty minutes in. This has been tremendous thus far. Surpassing my expectations already.

02.07am
Legacy interfere to earn Orton a fall. Kofi arrives with a chair to chase them off, and gets a massive cheer. Huge moment for Kofi.

02.46am
I would change one thing. I'd have had Orton pass out and the ref award a fall to Cena. It simply wasn't logical for Orton to hold out for nearly a minute and then give up with six seconds to spare.

That said, it was a marvellous match. If Match of the Year voting ended here, Undertaker and HBK would still win, but this will be on the shortlist.

Orton was amazing in this match. Utterly brilliant.

Rob Update

Guys, at the risk of sounding like Dragon's Den, let me tell you where I am right now.

I have just come back from California having been out there for TNA Bound For Glory. It was a great show, BTW. I hope you saw my review on TheSun.co.uk/wrestling.

Since being back, I've had a number of things to deal with at home, and have a mega busy week or two coming up.

I will endeavour to post here when I can, but just to warn, it will not be business as usual for a few weeks.

I may be able to do my usual as-live PPV notes tonight, but in all honesty, probably not.

I urge you to keep your eyes on The Sun's wrestling page this week - I'll be all over it, with PPV and Raw reviews, plus a couple of exclusive TNA interviews.

Raw Thoughts: October 12

· I hated that opening segment, with only a few exceptions.
· The phonecall to Michaels was really quite lame. Not funny, didn’t go anywhere, and even the plug for the book didn’t work.
· The Bragging Rights exposition did not work at all. Not in my mind, anyway. I was under the impression that there would be a bunch of matches on the show and whoever won each match went onto a team for the end of the show. That didn’t resemble what Jericho, the apparent Smackdown captain said. Nor did it sound like what Triple H said, especially when he told Show there were no spaces. If the team is already made up, then surely it doesn’t matter about the winners of the matches?
· I think the only bit I liked was when Jericho said he would fight Bob Barker anytime anyplace. Other than that even Chris couldn’t save this segment.
· The forced infighting between Show and Jericho was ludicrous. Why have Show say they are equals, then say he carries the team? I don’t want to see them wrestle, because at some point I’d like to see a team actually be a team for more than a couple of months.
· Making the match didn’t make sense. How was Triple H, and therefore guest host Nancy O’Dell, able to know that Show and Jericho would a) interrupt him and b) start bickering. She should have come out at that point and made the impromptu match.
· Most of all, I hated Triple H’s little burial of Smackdown. Are you kidding? Smackdown has been superior for a long while now, and I fail to see what business sense it makes for Triple H, a major babyface with influence over the minds of impressionable fans, to bury the show. And to say they have great wrestling, then cite Great Khali, is pathetic.
· I’ll allow the Big Show/Jericho match. At least it looked like a spat rather than a falling out.
· Oh my God, that Divas section was HIDEOUS.
· Goodness knows what Mickie has done to deserve that (although her matches haven’t been great lately). Unless she is injured I guess. The first match was terrible, and Jillian of all people gets a three-minute reign. To make matters worse, guest hosts are now trading, and Melina appears on Raw. To cap it off, Melina and Jillian botch the big move. Credit to them, though, because I’m assuming they called an audible and changed the finish.
· So Cena will face both members of Legacy in a Triple Threat? That would mean if he wins he would be in an iron match AND the seven-on-seven?
· Wait, I got that wrong. Apparently Cena has no real motivation here.
· The only redeeming feature of the triple threat was the finish. I liked Cody sneaking the win by pinning Ted and causing contention, and I liked Randy Orton slithering in and out of the ring. Other than that, it was the usual SuperCena garbage, followed by an announcement of Cena/Orton v Legacy. Just..........what?
· So we get to see Cena AGAIN, Legacy AGAIN......MVP and Swagger are in the ring while I’m typing this bit and....wait, it’s finished. A throwaway match lasting about four minutes. We have to see double Cena and Legacy, all of whom are over. But only a few seconds of MVP and Swagger, who need assistance.
· Kofi and Evan didn’t even get to start on TV? Just add this to the point above.
· As a contrived main event, that was just about passable. I guess the most important thing was that after all the double crossing and second guessing, Ted DiBiase was the one who emerged with the high ground. He pinned Orton with a surprise roll-up in the main event.
· Just an odd show. No logic, and flaws up the yin yang.

Hell in a Cell live notes

01.00am
Hi all. Sorry about the fact that there was no predictions before the show today. Have had a hellishly busy few days, and simply did not have time. I'm here now though.

I've been that busy that I have not had a lot of time to follow the ins and outs of the wrestling world this week. So rather than catch up on one or two things, I've removed myself completely. So if there are any spoilers out there, I know not of them. Trying it as an experiment, because sometimes I can ruin PPVs by knowing little titbits of info.

01.06am
Interesting start to the show. Long, long preview of Taker v Punk following a great opening from the announcers (note sarcasm). Cole asked if it was the end of an era (i.e DX losing) or the beginning of a Legacy (which would mean, erm, DX losing....idiot).

Here comes Punk. Wow, opening the show with the match that closed the last PPV? In a Cell? The conspiracy theorist would say another screwjob and Punk somehow retains. Otherwise why wouldn't this close the thing?

01.26am
Taker wins. Surprised that's gone on first, I have to say. Ok match without being great, but it's an unenviable position. The crowd know Taker will win, barring screwjobs, and Punk and Taker can't go all out because they have to leave something for the matches yet to come.

JR mentioned this being the 17th HiaC match ever. I seem to remember the 1st was late in 1997. So they've had 16 in 12 years - then they want to do three in one night? Don't they realise that devalues things? No, apparently not.

Morrison v Ziggler next. Should be fun.

01.49am
Morrison beats Ziggler after a long back and forth match.

I really enjoyed that. It wasn't as good as Morrison v Rey, and the fans didn't get behind Morrison like they did when Rey faced Ziggler, but it was a really good match. It maybe went a bit long without picking up a pace, and I'm stil not sold on Starship Pain (looks flashy, but doesn't like it would hurt. The Chuck Kick, meanwhile, looks devastating)

01.52am
Master Shredder for Raw Guest Host!

01.56am
Alicia v Mickie now. Don't expect anything other than a Mickie quickie vickietory.

02.03am
And there we go. Mickie wins in a poor divas match, interesting only for the DDT which ended it. Alicia took a hell of a bump on her head. Hopefully she's not too badly banged up

02.23am
If you consider for a moment who was involved in that match, then Big Show/Jericho v Batista and Rey wasn't too bad at all. The Show and Rey match-ups in the ring were fun, there were some fun spots (I liked Show catching Jericho but Batista spearing them down) overall. I didn't care for the ending, because Show's right hand ought to be illegal and makes no sense.

All that considered, that was on the good side if acceptable for me.

02.24am
I like that theme music by the way. Could actually be a good TV show theme. Better than SDs, I think.

02.25am
Looks like Cena v Orton next. Assume DX v Legacy to close.

02.32am
After long entrances, we're underway. Trevor writes and suggests Cena is like Marmite - love him or hate him. I agree - and so do the live crowd. Sounds like the most negative Cena reaction in quite some time.

02.36am
An observation watching Cena and Orton fight on the near side of the cell. I see foot holes. Someone may well be climbing tonight........

02.53am
Well well, new champion. Orton beats Cena in a decent Cell effort. Not a classic, again, but some decent psychology in this, and Orton's ruthlessness wins the day. I could have lived without the tap out the ref didn't see, but other than that I'm happy to see Orton with the belt again. The punt didn't look as good as previous ones have done. Expect to see slo-mo and other angles used creatively on Raw.

02.56am
Plenty of discussion in the comments section, reaction to Cena/Orton but also questions about the finale tonight. A suggestion that HBK could turn on HHH? I'd love that, and predicted it would happen weeks ago. The problem with it is twofold. One that he has fought side by side with Hunter, so to turn now makes no sense. He needed to turn after that initial chef nonsense.

The second issue, pointed out below, is that the DX Reunion tour is imminent. Unless WWE are going for ironic branding.

Also mentioned is HHH being a better heel than babyface. I agree to a point, but we've seen heel Trips v Face Shawn. I'd like to see it the other way around.

03.11am
Drew McIntyre beats R-Truth, in a bout which felt like a Smackdown match. I don't mind it being on PPV, though, because if Drew is to get a push, then he needs to get wins on a big stage.

03.25am
Kofi celebrates being finally billed as from Ghana by retaining his US title. OK triple threat, but again it felt like a pretty good TV match and not a PPV spectacle.

This PPV, with the exception of the Divas match, has been almost entirely populated with avergae to pretty good matches. Individual hard to complain, but as a whole this has been an unispiring event thus far.

03.56am
That was pretty good. DX win after a drawn-out, intricately plotted Cell match. A legacy pre-match jump saw a fight outside the ring for several minutes, with Cody and Ted laying out Hunter on the stage and locking Shawn inside the Cell. Many minutes of beating preceeded Trips disappearing and re-emerging with bolt cutters. Back inside, he evened the score, threw out DiBiase, and then DX polished Cody off.

DX winning is the right thing, but it needs them to address on Raw the fact that Legacy ran them very close.

I'd expect DX v Show and Jericho soon.

Orton got Tombstoned on SD last week.........Randy v Taker at Bragging rights?

Generally very average indeed.

Thanks for joining me - good night!

Raw Thoughts - 28 Sept

· Oh no, tell me Lillian’s replacement isn’t that drone from Smackdown. Justin Roberts, the man with the random stresses.
· Someone tell those people holding the “Y-2-J” signs they’ve got it the wrong way round.
· Another guest host who I’ve never heard of, but it was very strange after a nice build up from both teams – Jericho/Show, MVP/Henry – that Rev. Al Sharpton got booed. I don’t know who he is that he got booed, but there you go.
· I don’t quite get why you would book these men in a title match just days before a PPV. Makes no sense.
· Reasonable tag match, I guess. Cole announced that Batista and Mysterio will now face Show and Jericho. The problem with having Show with Jericho, although it gives the team a good dynamic, is that matches become slow. Henry, and now Batista, will compound that. I hope Batista and Rey will, so that Jericho can go back to singles action.
· Matches like Mickie v Rosa just show there is very little depth to the Divas division.
· Legacy and DX – good exchange, but dragged a little. I am, though, very much looking forward to their cell match. Their falls count anywhere was really, really good.
· Although I’m fed up of Chavo and Hornswoggle, at least we saw a little development this week. God knows what it means, though.
· If you accept that matches like Bourne and Swagger are going to last three minutes, then that was more than acceptable.
· Gauntlet match was quite dull, really, although come bits of Cena/Jericho perked things up. Cena recovering to best Orton was ludicrous. The whole thing was a setup to lower the cell. I’m not sure why the cell was lowered from a storyline perspective, and it made no sense in a match context, but the reasoning was surely the visual.
· Cena and Orton taking to the top of the cell was spectacular, and WWE will hope that it convinced a few people that ordering a show with Hell in a Cell. I think it will.

Raw Thoughts - Sept 21

· Triple H is opening Raw? Wow, when did that last happen. In a match I mean.
· An okay match, but really good booking post match. Legacy are being positioned well as a threat to DX. Even if they lose in the Cell, they are being treated as genuine threats, as an entity. The next step is getting themselves taking seriously as individual wrestlers.
· Santino is getting gayer. Still quite funny, but too camp.
· Oh my! Cedric said Wrestling. He won’t be invited back. Don’t say Wrestling, Ced. They don’t like that.
· Mickie looks.........all fixed
· How much sense does it take to bury the Divas champ like that?
· Alicia is not the greatest worker in the world, but that Scissors kick is AWESOME.
· Miz, Swagger, Kofi.....United States belt........that makes no sense at all. Not one iota. Nonsense.
· I don’t know who Cedric the Entertainer is.......and I don’t know who Reverend Al Sharpton is either.
· The best bit of Raw was Lillian’s promo. I would have totally brought out Viscera, though.
· I like it when main events have something on them that affect next week’s show.
· What a good guest host Koko B Ware was.

Raw Thoughts - September 14

· Really solid opening segment between Batista and Randy Orton. I never really bought the retirement, but I suspect many did. I may be wrong, but I think Batista actually hurt his right arm, not his left one. As I recall they did the attack on Raw on Batista’s left arm, but his was really hurt the other side. So the fact that he had the brace on his left suggested to me it wasn’t needed.
· Was it just me or did Trish seem a bit lost? Maybe I’m being harsh. Interesting note about Barker “nearly making Jericho cry” – a little back reference to Wrestlemania 20?
· OK tag match. I liked seeing Swagger get a pinfall to boost him a little. There was no reaction for Primo at all.
· Mickie James on Alicia Fox: “Every dog has her day”. King quickly asserted that she wasn’t referring to Ms Fox as a dog. She said no. Good job too. The Korean Ms Kim would eat her alive. Ahem.
· Mickie v the Wedding Planner coming soon then.......
· I thought Mickie was great as guest commentator by the way. I like people doing that. I think they should have someone on guest commentary more often, especially newer blood trying help get their character over.
· Nice little seg with Trish being faced in her office by Beth and Jericho. Nice interplay between Jericho and Stratus, although interestingly no namedrop for Captain Charisma, who was instrumental in the ‘break-up’. Nice to see a little nod to history though.
· I hope Trish chooses Santino as her partner! Or at least they have a seg where he is campaigning to be her partner.
· I was really disappointed that HBK v Ted didn’t have a finish, but I guess I understand why.
· Oh wow, Hornswoggle wins again (note sarcasm). Chavo asks “What do I got to do?” Firstly, learn English, Pedro, because it’s “What do I have to do?” but secondly I got the feeling he was addressing that to more than just the little midget fella he’s been wrestling for the last seventeen years or thereabouts.
· I get whole thing of Trish having a win in her hometown, but it strikes me it would have been a big thing for Beth to beat her and use it to have an achievement to boast of, rather than Trish getting a fun, but ultimately fruitless, win.
· Ordinary Batista v Orton match. Actually an ordinary Raw overall. Nothing to write home about, although the initial Batista head fake was quite neat. If someone came up to you tomorrow and asked you what the story was from Raw, what would you say? Batista to Smackdown, and they announced a couple of matches we knew were happening anyway for HiaC.

Breaking Point Live Blog

01.02am
Shall I start with a moan? Yeah, why not.

What are the point of those little packages at the start of PPVs? Who has ordered the PPV that doesn't know the storyline or the matches? Even if they haven't watched, you've got 'em anyway. I don't mind if they are really arty or hard hitting, but that was just wishy washy standard dialogue with generic music in the background.

I won't be negative all night, it's just I really want to see Christian v Regal, and I'm still pissed off that they wasted time at Summerslam with tanks and all that nonsense then didn't let Christian and Regal do their thing.

01.10am
Slow start to the match, but I'm more interested in the crowd. Very mixed. Mixed reaction for JeriShow, decent pop for MVP then a really good reaction for Henry. All this on entrance.

No discernable support for Jericho in Canada, then a Big Show chant, now a Y2J one. Cool spot with Henry catching Show in the corner.

01.19am
Meh. Passable opener. MVP's flip onto his feet followed by a DDT was special, but the rest of the match was largely forgettable.

I am not a big tag team wrestling guy, so I'm biased, but I can't help watching Jericho and thinking he is wasted doing this. Nothing too much against the Big Show, it's just Jericho is THE man for my thinking. The biggest thing about Taker winning the World Title is that he might get to face jericho soon. It's not brand new, but Y2J could do big business with Cena, Triple H or even Batista if he comes back. Any brand, any babyface.

I hate the big punch as a finisher. Why wouldn't he just punch someone all the time? It isn't stopped for being illegal.

01.23am
Interview with Cody and Ted. Cody is getting much better on the mic. What the hell did Ted DiBiase have in his ear???

Miz and Kofi in the ring. Nice little bit of average French to get the crowd against him. Seemed to work.

01.36am
I'm surprised at the retention of the title, but not as surprised as I am about the quality of the match. I said I thought it would be alright and that Miz is improving, but this was beyond my expectations. Really, really good action. Well done. Potential show stealer there.

01.46am
Credit to Montreal for not ponly being a hot crowd, but one with timing. They waited until Triple H paused during his standard rallying speech to do a "You Screwed Bret" chant. To Hunter's credit, after a pause, he came up with an answer (pointing at Shawn and stating "it was all his fault") which I think he ad-libbed. Also, he was careful not to diss Bret and get the crowd even more offside.

02.09am
Oh me oh my. Where to start? So what was that, the best past of a thirty minute match? That was a fantastic brawl. It so perfectly illustrates the art of the gimmick match if sparingly used. That kind of arena-wide brawl was ten a penny eight or nine years ago, but now they are rare, and this was brilliantly put together.

And chalk one up to me for predicting a Legacy victory. Miz has let me down, otherwise I'd be 3-0. That could be a career maker. It had all the ingredients of a great match for Legacy. Give and take was evident in the match, the heels gradually got the better of the situation, and the babyfaces had mini-comebacks to spike the crowd. Perhaps Shawn's fire was a little overdone, but on the whole that was a terrific effort. I liked how Legacy looked like proper bullies while going about their business.

02.14am
Whoa, tremendous promo from Randy. I thought he was channelling the Godfather early on. I thought that was captivating, and you had to sit up and take notice. I still think he'll lose, but it was a great promo.

02.23am
I took Khali to equalise this feud, but I prefer Kane winning. It makes more sense, because he can go on to now work with some mid-to-top babyfaces rather than Khali being elevated.

Match pretty much sucked, as you'd expect. Bad enough for them without following DX/Legacy.

02.25am
Nice speech from Punk backstage. Very sarcastic and condescending. Still taking shots at Hardy, even mentioning the mugshot. Doing the Jericho thing of coming up with words to have a go at the local fans (he called them derelicts). Cool effect for JWY (Yang) turning lights off and then getting his head kicked in.

02.34am
There is a trivia question. Striker says Regal would be the 9th person born outside the US to win a world title in the last 15 years. I'm assuming that doesn't include TNA, so lets try to work it out.
I've got Benoit, Bret, Christian, Edge, Khali, Eddie, Masato Tanaka, Chavo Guerrero. That's eight. Have I missed one, or are they being accurate?
Yokozuna is just outside 15 years, Rey and Jericho born in the US.

02.42am
Someone sent a tape of this to Lance Storm, he'll be delighted with this effort. Good match.

Well, I predicted four out of five title changes tonight, so far none through three matches.

Pressure on the big title matches, because aside from the combined bulk of Henry, Show, Kane and Khali dragging things down, the undercard has been very good.

02.54am
Pat Patterson hit the ring in his hometown to presumably bring out Morrison, but Ziggler came out to humiliate Pat with various age jibes. Crowd went with "shut the f up" and "what" taunts. At least they were reacting. Ziggler kicked Pat in the stomach and then shaped to do more, but Morrison interupted. I would have had Ziggler then attack Morrison from behind, because then Morrison would have more of a problem with Ziggler.

Small point, why was Dolph in his gear and Morrison wasn't?

03.24am
You know what, that Cena v Orton match will have it's critics, and I certainly won't rush out to buy the DVD for this one match, but I'll give them a lot of credit for doing something different.

I surmise that they must have taken a look at the show as a whole seen this: DX/Legacy were doing a big brawl, Miz/Kofi the fast pace, Christian/Regal the wrestling and one assumes Punk and Taker will have a more typical main event. They couldn't match any of the other styles, so they did their own thing. They played off their facial expressions, used Orton's sadistic character and Cena's resiliant equivilent and built the match around emotion.

It might not be your thing, you might not have enjoyed it, but you have to, surely, give credit where it is due.

03.51am
I guess that was sorta creative. It looks very much like WWE just did Montreal in Montreal. Having Long come out and reverse the decision on Hell's Gate was a terrific idea. I love the continuity in that, and was a great get out for not having the Undertaker win. To have Scott Armstrong call for the bell quickly and everyone to scarper was odd, but presumably done to once again recall the incident of November 1997. (Oh Google it if you don't know - everyone else does)

Storylines sit easily enough don't they. Brace yourself for a bunch of rematches in three weeks time. Punk and Taker are unclear of how they stand - rematch in the cell. Orton demands a rematch. It happens in the Cell. And now DX and Legacy are one apiece. Into the Cell for them too. To accompany - Ziggler v Morrison, Christian v one of Regal's henchmen and perhaps Batista and a partner v Jericho and Show?

Hope you enjoyed that folks. I did more than I expected to. Creative stuff, if nothing else.

Good Day to You.