Falling in Love again

There are two great loves of my life. Football (the UK version) and wrestling. I don't ever see that changing. However, the levels of the love do fluctuate somewhat. And I don't think they have ever ebbed and flowed as much as they have in 2010.

If you are here solely for the wrestling please stick with me here, all will become clear.......

For those not "soccer" savvy, my team, Plymouth Argyle, after 6-8 really good years, got relegated to football's third tier in May after a dismal season. And we didn't start the current one very well either. When you get relegated it is in your mind that you might bounce straight back up, but one win in our first six games (and that was the first one) didn't point to this being likely.

You can all this to my other footballing love, The England national team, bombing in spectacular circumstances at the World Cup. A World Cup in which great football was at a premium.

It wasn't just Argyle struggling - I felt football was struggling.

Eleven days ago, things started to change. An absolutely scintillating game with Sheffield Wednesday which we won 3-2 was one of the best games I've seen in years. Perhaps not for quality as compared to Championship or Premier League football, obviously, but in terms of action it was phenomenal. Admittedly we lost against Brighton four days later, but we then got a creditable draw at Rochdale.

I think football in general is in a great place again. The first six weeks or so of the season have seen, in all four leagues, incredible scorelines, great games, great goals, major shocks, loads of talking points. You feel anyone could beat anyone. Seriously.

Last night, as I type this, I traveled 140 miles or so to Swindon. I saw my team score in the fifth minute of injury time to record another thrilling 3-2 victory. We scored twice in the first eight minutes. We slipped back to 2-2. There were two red cards, one for either team. I shouted myself hoarse. Went from elation to panic to despair and right back up again. I celebrated like a mad thing when we got the winner. I can't stop thinking about the game. I'm finding myself smiling like an idiot periodically. Could this be the start of something? Could we win on Saturday? Could we go up?

Of course, it's highly likely we'll get stuffed on Saturday against Hartlepool, and it'll all be for nought. But for now, I'll enjoy the high.

I don't get that from wrestling anymore. I've had these lows before and bounced back, so I'm sure I will again, but there is nothing that excites me right now.

I was so high at the start of the year. Hogan and Bischoff joining TNA, the live Monday head-to-head on Jan 4, Bret Hart returning.........what a start. I loved the unpredictability of the new Monday War (The Monday Night Skirmish?), I thought the build to Mania was terrific - Taker and Shawn.....just wow.

That match was the one which made me feel like I did during that game at Swindon. Now I don't expect every wrestling match to do that, nor every football game. But it is nice to be taken on a story, to have some hope, to feel some emotion. Wrestling now is so stale. So predictable. So bland.

Of course I am talking about the "big two" companies. (ROH is doing a reasonable job, but has it;s limitations) I've been down on TNA for some time, as you know. Their booking in 2010 has been largely abysmal. A staggering run of illogical decisions and pushes has turned me off of their product entirely. I watch it now because it's my job. No more.

For a long while I felt WWE was massive superior. Right now they are still in front in my mind - but only marginally. At least TNA take chances. It seems WWE would rather have a paint by numbers show with minimal athleticism and a couple of zany jokes which keeps Vince McMahon occupied. They rallied for a few weeks with the introduction of the Nexus angle, but that had it's flaws.

When the Nexus debuted it was a brilliant moment - but don't forget it was a three hour show which sucked until that point. There was a terrific show where Cena introduced his team to face Nexus, culminating in the Bret Hart announcement. But after they were booked to lose in the big showdown, Raw fizzled out again.

Now Plymouth Argyle are MY team. I don't expect to feel like a wrestler like that. I don't expect to follow MY guy to the title. I'm beyond that now. I'm a reporter. An analyst. It's my job. But this means that I always know when a match or a show hits the heights, because it makes me FEEL something. This happens so rarely now it's sad.

To be fair, Hardy and Angle did it, despite the criticism it received. So did Daniel Bryan beating Miz in a way. Some parts of Nexus made me react. But mostly I feel nothing. It washes over me. Doesn't mean anything. This might just be me, but the dwindling ratings for both TNA and WWE suggests it isn't just me. There are a lot of people fed up right now.

There isn't a major star in either company people want to get behind and see their rise to the top. There is a Jeff Hardy circa 2008 when he was the hottest thing in wrestling by a long way. The fans were dying to cheer for Jericho but didn't get their wish. No-one cares about the babyfaces in TNA because there are no major heels. Not one. At least in WWE they have had, in the last two years, Edge, Orton, Jericho, Sheamus, Miz and CM Punk feel convincing as heels you want to see beaten. TNA have a cartoon monster who is a derivation of Kane and a heel stable full of talented young fellas and led by a legend. People won't boo AJ. They won't boo Flair. They won't boo Fortune.

So no-one gets over. They have murdered the Kurt Angle retirement issue. That's a joke. RVD's injury is bizarre. Hardy looks half the man (or twice the man, I guess) that he was. Anderson's act is a lot of fun, but he's the fun second or third babyface figure, not a franchise guy you can build around. They've made Joe (who I think might be most talented wrestler in the world - at least the most fun to watch) look like a moron.

The most worrying thing is that apart from The Miz I can't think of a single wrestler who hasn't won a world title that I think either company could get behind and make something of. At risk of going all Joe McElderberry, it isn't just the winning of the belt, it's The Climb. That was why Hardy's push worked. It's why it was emotional when Benoit and Guerrero won gold. It's why they made a big thing out of HBK beating Bret and "the boyhood dream" coming true. It's people loved Mick Foley in the late 90s. Crikey, even Austin was the most popular wrestler in the world for about a year before he won the World Title at Wrestlemania.

I can't foresee a brand new concept executed well. I can't envisage a change in vision on either side. I can't pick out a wrestler to break out.

Mind you, three weeks ago I thought Argyle would be struggling to even stay in the league. Now I believe again. I think we can go up. Not only that, but I think I'll be entertained along the road.

I'm sure wrestling will recapture my heart at some point. But for some it will be too late.

I'm holding out hope for something major to be just around the corner. You'll know when it happens, because the pop will be heard for miles.

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.

Unforgiv.....dah, I mean Breaking Point Preview

Haven't a lot of time today, so very little intro, straight on with predictions.

Oh, but before I do, a reminder that I will be following the action with my usual live blog, if you'd like to stop by and read my ongoing thoughts on the PPV.

Singapore Cane Match - Kane v Great Khali
No, this is not a submission match, as many have pointed out, but I'll point out at this stage that most of the hype for the event has stated that 'main event matches' will be submissions based. Not the whole card.

Anyway, from what I gather, the Singapore Cane match basically means a normal match but the cane is legal, and I would think it will be suspended on a pole in the corner of the ring.

WWE had the sense to only give this match a short amount of time on the last PPV, perhaps sensing each man's lack of mobility.

Prediction: Khali. I'm going with the big Indian to even the score after Kane won at Summerslam

Kofi Kingston v The Miz
This kind of match might suggest that there is a lack of long term planning in WWE right now, since it comes from Raw, but was not even promoted or announced on Monday's show. On the other hand, perhaps we ought to cut a little slack, because this match is ostensibly replacing John Morrison v Dolph Ziggler, which is in turn replacing Rey Mysterio v Dolph Ziggler.

I think the Miz will win here. I like Kofi, and I think WWE are high on him, but his limitation is his ability to vocalise his part in a feud. He is over by virtue of being a babyface in the early 90s mould. Smiley, wearing bright ring gear and executing flashy moves, Kofi would have been over fifteen or twenty years ago. However, the fact that his is a Ghanaian portraying a Jamaican and an unconvincing accent holds him back. He gets no interview time, and it is hard for him to generate a long term feud with anyone.

Miz, however, is the opposite for the most part. A heel for the new millenium, he is cocky, spouts modern buzzwords verbosely and rubs people up the wrong way with words and not action. His wrestling, though, has improved greatly. He makes more sense as a United States Champion.

Prediction - He might do so by way of cheating, but I'd expect Miz to win gold tonight


Mark Henry and MVP v Big Show and Chris Jericho
A couple of interesting notes by way of WWE.com. Firstly, in talking about Jericho and Show's opponents, the site says that they beat Rhodes and DiBiase, but then refers to Cryme Tyme as "younger opponents". Hmm.

Secondly, and more importantly, I can't see a reference to this match being a submission encounter. If it is, it'll be interesting to see how they work the stipulation in. Jericho obviously has the Boston Crab varient we are all familiar with, and Show has been known to use a take on the Camel Clutch.

Henry due to his size and power could probably be effective with a submission hold, but MVP doesn't have a recognised hold in this ilk. I'm suprised, if this is a submission match, that they haven't attempted to build something.

If this is not a submission match, then it says a lot about the tag titles (even unified Tag titles) if they are not considered to be part of a main event set of matches, especially considering the prestige of the current champions.

I can't see MVP and Henry winning, with or without this being a submission match. It doesn't make sense to me, unless they decide to go with Jericho as a prospect for a World Title challenge. This wouldn't make a great deal of sense, because by rights he ought to go back to Smackdown, and it appears that Taker and Punk are set for the next month or two.

Prediction - Jericho and Show to retain

Christian v William Regal.....finally
The match that I was most looking forward to last time now occurs at Breaking Point. I considered this a blessing in disguise at one point, since a submission match seemed right up Regal's alley. But once again I can see no reference to that stip being upheld in this one. It seems ECW is considered a 'World title' but not a 'main event'.

The match ought to be good though. Just let the men wrestle for 12-15 minutes and then work the finish. As long as they don't constanly feature Jackson and Koslov I'll be happy. Use them a bit, possibly, but not overkill. I wouldn't be surprised to see one or both interject early, and then one of two things to happen. Either they are sent to the back, much to Regal's consternation, or two babyfaces, perhaps Dreamer and Reks, emerge to sit in Christian corner.

I think there is a real possibility of a title switch. Regal has all the momentum in ECW right now, and it would make sense to have babyfaces fighting the smug champion rather than the three-strong group being made to look like fools.

Prediction - Regal, probably with a little help from his big friends

Triple H and Shawn Michaels v Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase
Here is the big question: Are Cody and Ted hurt by not beating DX? Are their careers elevated solely by working with these two (go on, say it) legends or are they made to look small time?

I personally think that in the last couple of weeks they've come over quite well. Perception is the key here, not fact. Because, well, fact isn't fact in wrestling, is it? It's about making the audience believe that Cody and Ted are equals, or at least stand a chance. I can't speak for the world and say whether this has happened or not, but it strikes me that their characters have built nicely in the last few episodes of Raw.

Will they win tonight? Possibly. Maybe not, but possibly. If I was forced to wager money then the safe bet is always Triple H, but I smell an exchange win to lead to the structure known as Hell in a Cell. (hold that thought, back to it later)

I'm interested in the stipulation. That this is a Falls Count Anywhere submission match, and their little brawl on TV, suggest to me they will explore the arena a little tonight. If they do so, perhaps there is scope for others to get involved. Perhaps Orton helps his proteges - or perhaps Brett DiBiase shows up and helps - getting initiated to Legacy the following night on Raw.

Prediction - Going deliberately against the grain, I'll take Legacy for the upset

John Cena v Randy Orton (WWE Title)
There are two major aspects to this which heavily point to Cena coming away with the belt. One is that any interference on Orton's behalf would lead to him being stripped of the title, and the other is the nature of the I Quit Match.

The loser has to, as far as I am aware, say the words "I Quit" into a microphone. Cena isn't going to do that just to Orton. The only way I can possibly see Cena not winning is if somehow he does the Austin-Bret pass-out-rather-than-tap-out finish, but even then that means Orton has dominated him.

Tonight has to be Cena's night. Although logic suggests to me a heel keeping the belt because of all the challengers being babyface, I can't see how Orton comes out of this match with a win that doesn't hurt Cena. Hey, I'm not saying Orton shouldn't win - why shouldn't he show he is a great wrestler, a nasty heel and get the win? - but tonight has to be Cena's night. And he, despite his detractors, deserves it too.

Prediction - JC all the way.

And another thing.........The next PPV is Hell in a Cell, right? Here's a thought - Orton, DiBiase and Rhodes v Triple H, Michaels and Cena. If you are going to have a HiaC themed show, I think it is a stretch to have two one-on-one Cell matches, and you'd think Punk v Taker was nailed on for the SD main event. Would be an idea to have a six man on the either side of the bill.

You could take this in many directions. One would be for Cena to cost DX the match and them to get pissed off at him, leading to either Shawn or Hunter getting the next shot at him. You could even throw in some sort of "If DX wins, Legacy disbands" and vice versa stipulation to the mix.

CM Punk v The Undertaker (World Title)
This is a little similar to Cena in a way. Would they really put Punk over Taker cleanly?

I'm not looking forward to this as much as I'd like to, because I think they'll either just limply end Punk's reign by him losing to Taker as normal, or they'll have Punk somehow obliterate Taker with help, chairshots or something, because I simply cannot see Undertaker ever losing a submission match. It doesn't scan.

Prediction - short and sweet. Taker wins. Punk taps. Yet another new champion.

Enjoy the show, folks. Come back for the live blog.

Raw Thoughts - August 25

· Interesting to open with explaining who the ‘fan’ is. I thought that might have been a hook through the show.
· Hey, Vince is out here. Maybe he’ll fire Lillian for last night.
· That should have been Edge and Christian’s fat Elvis.
· Cole said it was the Honky Tonk Man, which is as funny a thing as Cole has said.
· That was largely quite funny, but admittedly it did drag on a bit. There will plenty of people who say it is self-indulgent DX nonsense, but I genuinely find them amusing, and we forget this show is supposed to be entertaining and, as WWE say and genuinely mean, about putting smiles on faces.
· That was funny to dress Jillian up as Marilyn Monroe, but she actually sang TOO well.
· The trouble with Mayweather having that many guys with him is that he looks weak. Wrestlers don’t have ten men for backup, so you build this guy as a really tough fighter, but Freddie Prinze jnr and Jeremy Piven didn’t bring all these men.
· Shaq and Floyd v Jericho and Show? Maybe not.
· The trouble is with Mayweather is he is a natural heel. To have Jericho and Show after him and MVP backing him up somehow feels wrong.
· To MVP’s credit though, that was a good babyface promo telling Jericho to shut up.
· I’m not too embarrassed to tell you that the last time I saw MVP and Henry together was at the Wrestlemania Reading Challenge. Oh, I get to go to all the big things, you know.
· Crowd were HOT for MVP. Maybe he is nearly ready to step up.
· End the pain with Chavo and Hornswoggle, please.
· I like the fact that they said “you never know what to expect with Randy Orton” at the very second he slapped on a rear chin lock. You can always expect that, can you not?
· A bit of a nothing main event. You get the feeling they might just fill the next couple of weeks until Breaking Point.
· Interestingly, they didn’t announce next week’s guest host did they?

Summerslam Live Notes

00.58am
Summerslam is upon us folks. We're in LA. Glitz, glamour, razzmatazz.........and Khali v Kane

01.01am
Many will fart all over that opening, but it was original as hell. Mind you, Shawn saying he could fix the camera.....he should have superkicked it.

01.04am
Straight in with Rey and the IC strap. Poor Rey has to go so early on PPVs. I wonder if it is because WWE are thinking of his fan base being kids and putting him on before they have to go to bed. Anyway, he's out here to face Dolph Ziggler. I wonder if Mum, before she puts little Frankie to bed after this match answers his question.
"Mum, why is that guy called Dolph Ziggler?"
"Well, there's this film called Boogie Nights....."

01.10am
Only a minute or two in, but two stunning moments. Rey hits a phenomenal moonsault after a balancing act on the top rope that needed to be seen to be believed. Then, a diving huracanrana to the floor which catapulted Ziggler into the barricade and the cameraman, making Ziggler look like he was falling into your living room (well, I'm in my office, but you take my point.)

01.11am (Nelson)
This match is the best advert for 7-11, since they seem to spend the whole time showing replays because of various spots.

01.12am
JR bigs up Kane v Khali?! Only an idiot would mentioned this match firs......oh wait....my bad.

01.22am
Now that was very, very good. Everyone on top of their game here. The fans in LA, presumably with a large hispanic portion cheering on Rey all the harder were loud as anything; JR and Todd were excited and incisive in the right moments; most importantly, though, Mysterio and Ziggler were on fire.

That was a really sound match. Fast, exciting, told a reasonable story, and I think had the right outcome. To me, Ziggler didn't lose anything by, well, losing. He gained status, I think. You don't always have to win to get over. Terrific start to the show.

01.25am
MVP and Swagger next. Nice backstage promo by both men - can't help but think it would have been better on Raw, and cut out 90 seconds of Hornswoggle and Chavo playing the fool.

01.33am
Can't say that one really clicked. It was ok, there was nothing wrong with it, and it probably suffered mainly from having to follow Rey and Ziggler. I'm mainly disappointed with the result, because it seemed more apt for Swagger to win for me, but I'm happy for MVP, who is a solid hand too.

01.39am
Coincidence that the Tag Champs emerge after all the talk about Guest Hosts? I think not. Second title encounter up next. Nice remix of Show and Jericho's themes, by the way.

01.54am
I probably shouldn't have built my hopes for Shaq. That was a very average tag match, with very little going on outside of traditional two-on-two action.

01.57am
Pretty interesting, I think, that CM Punk's promo is one I completely agree with. More to the point, it'll convince a lot of people who needed convincing to boo him. Good stuff.

01.58am
Kane v Khali now. This is almost a lost cause, so it will be very interesting how they pick the pace up afterwards. An awesome start to Summerslam, almost too good, and a gradual deterioration since.

Maybe these two will surprise me........

02.06am
Reasonable enough. I'm glad Kane won, since to me he is worth far more than Khali in my mind.

DX next, apparantly. So no main event for them. C'mon Shawn, chin him. Drop Hunter like he was Chyna and you were doing the boss's daughter. OK, that was a little cheap, but if Hunter insists with the shoot comments every week. I'm sure he'd dig that.

02.21am
Tanks huh? Quite the entrance. I guess the tanks were there to remind us of the PPV buyrate which has been tanking for the past couple of years. OOOOH, have that one. There's just something about Triple H that drags these comments out of me. And I actually like the guy.

02.41am
I guess the key is to be patient, am I right? It'll be fun to someday see HBK turn on Triple H, but I have to concede that it's probably more in WWE's short term interest to have DX as a united force for a bit. Never mind.

Good match though. Basic tag team match which then developed and grew an extra seven or eight minutes. Legacy got to go for a long time on an even keel. I definitely think we'll get a rematch with a stip at Breaking Point.

02.47am
While I was typing that last entry the ECW title match came and went. Here's what pisses me off. Actually two things. Firstly that pathetic little two minute segment with a seven second match was immediately succeeded by a video package hyping how awesome WWE are. Don't get me wrong, I think the stuff WWE does for their fans and most importantly for charities is genuniely awesome. I'm serious here, not joking. WWE's work in charitable fields is amazing and is genuinely good hearted.

But, that section was longer than an actual match I wanted to see. They could show that clip of charity and Axxess on Raw to a larger audience. In fact, they'll probably show it again then anyway. I was looking forward to Regal and Christian, but I got duped. So Christian got slammed by Zeke and Vlad. Big deal.

Did we have to have Kane and Khali go six minutes and that match get nothing. What about that pointless shit with Nancy someone and Freddie Prinze junior speaking but saying nothing. I'll actually let the tanks and stuff go because you need spectacles like that. The live crowd deserve something to differentiate their experience, and I remember the entrances of HBK, Taker and Cena from Wrestlemania very vividly. It was awesome to be there and see great matches, but those entrances remind you that this is special.

Seven second matches do not, especially when those involved are people I want to see wrestle. Really disappointed.

03.11am
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Poor Lillian. And in her last week. Called the "I have just heard word...." then said "NEW Champion" as a giveaway that Cena will win, and finally mumbled her way through saying that Mr McMahon has ordered the match to start again. The second "I just heard word..." was just sad.

03.16am
A count-out, reversal of decision, feet on the ropes, pin, reversal of decision........the sign says "This is why I watch Smackdown" Ahem.

03.18am
Seriously, what the f... is going on? Was that a real intruder from the crowd? I guess it was. But wasn't Cena winning and Orton tapping before that guy came in? So was that scripted? That was seriously bloody weird. Maybe they called it on the fly. I have no idea at all.

I tell you what, say what you like about the quality of the match, that was damn sure memorable. I can only think that the guy that ran in - who is a grade A moron, by the way, if a real intruder. An epic, f'n idiot- wasn't part of the plan.

I know that more than once announcers have pretended like it's shoot and then it turns out otherwise, but that felt eerie. When they cut to the guy being dragged backstage I thought for sure he had to be kayfabe, because why show him. But if it was planned, it would be in the replay package, right?

Jesus that was strange. Newsworthy and remarkable, but not in a good way, really.

03.26am
Now JR's headset isn't working. What the hell is going on here? I reckon Vince might be hyperventilating right now. JR calls Punk the Second City Saint, which is a really cool callback to an old alliance with Cabana (and Ace Steel) but I am fairly certain there is deeper irony here.

Chicago (remember I'm English, so I'm nto certain about this) used to be the Second City of America, and cultivated this as an image. When I was in Chicago for Bound For Glory I even went to the Second City Comedy venue. I think that Chicago no longer has this title, and it is now.......LA. I may be wrong, though. Sorry for wasting your time whichever way is true. Back to the car crash that is Summerfestslamtime.

03.55am
Sorry for the lack of quick updates in that last half-hour. I'm just a bit shell-shocked with all that's gone on.

Punk v Hardy is over, and Punk has the belt back. It was a good but not great match. I am glad they ended with this, and you can see why after the chaos of Orton/Cena and also the post match activity.

Before we get to that, though, it has to be noted that it was the best ending for Jeff. It'll be interesting to see if they acknowledge his disappearance for a bit, either by saying he's off or by faking an injury. I wondered if they were just going to wheel him out on that stretcher for a bit, and not bring him back, allowing Punk to climb the ladder unopposed. That would have been creative, but Punk deserves to win and claim a legit title reign after sneaky MITB wins. How ironic he should now reign after a clean win as a heel, while his earlier sneaky ones were as a face.

Post match, there was a brief light flicker, which Punk sold but the announcers didn't, which I initially thought was going to be one of many for a long while. Not to be though, as a gong soon sounded. Taker was beneath Punk when the lights came back on in one of the more creative visual effects I've seen in a while. I spotted it was Taker when they cut to a wide shot, but many won't have. Cleve booking to push Punk straight into a programme with Taker and let everyone forget about Jeff Hardy.

Overall, an odd show.

Great opener, really good DX tag match and pretty good closing bout. Jericho/Show v Cryme Tyme average, same for MVP/Swagger. Kane v Khali and ECW matches a joke for different reasons. Orton v Cena is one of the strangest matches I have seen, for about twenty of the oddest minutes I have ever lived. Just crazy. Bizarrely it actually helped the finale of the night.

SummerFest Preview

The Hottest Night of the Summer is upon us, so are you feeling like this is the little brother of Wrestlemania?

WWE have shown indications that they want the August PPV to become second only to their flagship event, but this is hardly a stellar card that makes you salivate and feel excited in a way that Wrestlemania does, that usually the Royal Rumble does, and even events with a hook like the Elimination Chamber do.

For this reason, I’d like to stipulate at this point that this predictions piece will be littered with elements of hope – suggestions of turns of events that may occur in the Staples Center this evening that will give this ordinary looking show a degree of excitement to match it’s alleged billing.

Before the predictions start, let me remind you that I’ll be doing my usual live notes blog tonight during the PPV, so be sure to stop by and keep refreshing your page to see what I’m making of what’s unfolding at Summerslam.


MVP v Jack Swagger
To be honest, when you look at this feud, it begins to explain to you a few things that don’t make sense......I was going to say in WWE, but mainly on Raw.

It is Raw that has the depth problem, and Raw that has three guys on top we are al bored of. Therefore, exceptional effort ought to be going into these two getting over. However, since one face-off on the VIP Lounge which was captivating, this feud has been stop start. It looked like it was ending, with speculation that Swagger would be Jericho’s mystery partner, but has been resurrected. Even then, they had about thirty seconds on Raw to wrestle to a DQ, “setting up” this match.

To me, the logical man to be progressing is Jack Swagger. I think his presence in the ring – both as a talent and a character – is very good. You really feel he can handle himself, and although he has an element of cowardly heel about him, he has won enough matches cleanly to be taken seriously.

There is also the match he had with John Cena in March/April time to take into consideration. I personally remember not caring for the match too much, but I will bow to a) the majority who did and more importantly b) those in the business (including John Cena when I spoke to him) who were mightily impressed with Swagger. I get the feeling that Cena could do a lot more for Swagger, seen as a legit athlete, than he did for The Miz, whose strengths lie in a similar area to that of Cena. Swagger would be able to dominate Cena in a wrestling sense, definitely helping his cause.

Whether this feud is Cena v Swagger for the title or simply as a semi-main, I think it ought to happen. For this reason, I’ll take, and I want Jack Swagger to win this one.

Prediction – Swagger.


The Great Khali v Kane
A match we’ve seen before, but with roles reversed (a theme I will come back to later). We all know roughly what we are getting here. I think they’ll know well enough to not let this go too long, and just have a couple of the usual big man face-off spots.

I hope they let Kane get a clean victory. I don’t really see the value of Khali winning this, because they surely realise that his value is not as a serious contender, whereas Kane, while I’m not saying he ought to be world champion, is more suited to a spell near the top of the card in proper feuds.

Prediction (although it’s hope as much as anything): Kane


ECW Title – Christian v William Regal
I think this could be a little hidden gem on the card. You have a couple of wrestlers who, while neither has been hugely critically acclaimed, rarely have a bad match.

I wouldn’t think this will be one for the ages. They’ll likely be given a nothing spot on the card and no exciting plot twist, but I would expect a well crafted ten-minuter with some nice chain wrestling and decent psychology, culminating in Christian getting the better of the man from Blackpool.

The contrary argument, of course, is that Regal now has a couple of big dudes in tow, and there is an out for having Christian drop the title due to interference and then have him chase again. But I’ll stick my original thought.

Prediction – A solid, if unspectacular event. And Christian to win it.


Intercontinental Title - Rey Mysterio v Dolph Ziggler
It seems rather odd to book this twice in successive PPVs only to have Dolph lose again, so it’s easy to simply say he’ll win this time. However, we mustn’t forget that in WWE’s eye simply being in the ring with established superstars is enough of a rub, and in reality what Ziggler needs is to give Mysterio a close match. If he looks like he might win, it’ll help him. That was the old Flair philosophy.

Maria is a major factor to bring into play, here. She is, I guess, Dolph Ziggler’s girlfriend, but she is still ostensibly a babyface. Maria has been in WWE for over five years, and although she has largely dropped the ditzy gimmick of asking stupid questions, she is still essentially the wide eyed, innocent, good girl next door. It might be fun to see her be the bad girl. That was one of the great attributes, among many, that Trish Stratus had. She was a easy to get behind (steady...) as a babyface, but also a really believable, sexy heel.

They may well be feeling that this is a time for Maria to make this transition. I can see her being the story of the match. Perhaps appearing to rebel against Dolph, making taking a bump which draws Rey’s attention to see if she is okay, and then Ziggler nailing him while his guard is down. Maria then celebrates, showing it was all a ruse, while Grisham plays along like a chump.

Or, Mysterio will win in seven minutes.

Prediction – Rey Mysterio. I think they’ll simply have Rey win. But all that speculation on Maria and Dolph’s win was fun.


Tag Titles - Chris Jericho and Big Show v Cryme Tyme
(I’m sick of saying Undisputed Tag Titles, so to me this is just the Tag Team Championships now. )

I can’t help but feel a little sorry for the participants in this match, because the underlying seam of gold under this match’s surface is Mr Shaquille O’Neal. Rumours of Show v Shaq have refused to go away, and with this show taking place in the Staples Center, home of the LA Lakers, O’Neal’s former team, it would make for an enormous news story if he were to emerge and get involved.

I want to believe something like this will happen. It would be a major fillip for the show, and for the audience. It isn’t by any means certain though, so we need to look at how things may pan out either way.

If Shaq does appear, it may be to cost Show and Jericho the belts, but I’m not sure that would be wise. For one it would mean that if they did look for a Show v Shaq showdown at any point the mainstream build wouldn’t feature a belt. That means a lot when you are trying to attract a non-traditional wrestling audience. Secondly one of the benefits of having undisputed champions is that they can appear on two shows. Think of Miz and Morrison’s versatility, The Colons wrestling prowess, and then the star power of Jericho/Edge/Show and what that gives all brands that use them. Would all brands really benefit that greatly from having Cryme Tyme on the show? I don’t think so.

Maybe Show and Jericho win, beat Cryme Tyme down afterwards and Shaq comes out to save. But why? If he has travelled to the show, wouldn’t he help before this stage? He could be in the crowd I guess, and then be invited in. There are multiple ways of doing it. I just hope they use one.

If there is no Shaq, it seems pointless having the match at all, but assuming he isn’t there, you just can’t see Cryme Tyme winning. Therefore.....

Prediction – To make it simple, Big Show and Jericho to win. And then we hope Shaq gets involved, not because a Show v Shaq will rule, but because there are multiple benefits including the spectacle and simply the element of something different.


Legacy v DX
Here we go, this is my almost monthly major PPV theory, and it has to be said these are normally absolutely miles off the mark. The best one I had, in terms of it playing out in reality, was Matt Hardy, not Christian, being Jeff’s attacked, but I wanted Edge and Matt to be in cahoots and for Christian to help Jeff, mixing up the old E&C v Hardys battles.

Since then, I’ve periodically come up with a big idea ranging from Christian as Jericho’s partner to JBL buying Raw. All have come to naught. Now, though, this really will be it.

Essentially, what I’d like to happen is for HBK, at a crucial point, to Superkick Triple H’s face off. Not because I have the bizarre hatred for Triple H that most of the net does, but because if Michaels really is going to call it a day soon then I think he ought to have one more go round with Triple H at the top of the card, and for HBK to be the heel and Triple H the babyface has not been done, to the best of my knowledge.

The turn could occur in many ways. We could simply have a regular match for while before Michaels simply kicks him. He could do the old Owen Hart at the Calgary Stampede injury and disappear for ten minutes before emerging to help Trips, although that would mean the same old handicap match we’ve already seen.

Perhaps Triple H could be seen on camera wondering where his partner is, because he is late. He then arrives mid-match to cost Hunter the bout. He might get ‘injured’ backstage then emerge midway through, selling an injury, before BOOM! A little chin music.

Whichever way it occurs, I think it would awesome. Yes we’ve seen these two wrestle before, but I’d seen Jericho wrestle Mysterio plenty of times, it was still brilliant when they did again.

Of course, this may not happen. If it does not, then I would anticipate DX winning. I don’t see that as an overly negative thing, as long as Legacy are allowed to wrestle an even fight, and not just roll over.

Interestingly, the UK tour later in the year is called the DX Reunion Tour. It would be really interesting if they were battling each other on that trip.

Prediction – Yeah, what the hell! HBK turns, and Legacy win.


WWE Title - John Cena v Randy Orton
It is hardly a new observation to say that these two wrestling again is the same old stuff. I will offer a slight counter-argument that they have often had very good contests, so let’s hope that they can really raise it tonight.

It’s worth having a look at who these men may move on to feud with after tonight, if indeed this is a one-shot deal. If you assume that even if DX don’t split they carry on battling Rhodes and DiBiase, then Cena v Swagger becomes the possibility mentioned earlier. That leaves Randy Orton with several options. He could assist Legacy in a battle with and we get a three-on-two handicap match, maybe in a Cell or something. He could battle a stepping-up Mark Henry or MVP, with the former being more likely in my eyes. Or, if DX are a-feudin’, then they may push the button on the Legacy break up and have Orton v DiBiase sooner than we thought.

I think that the better option of the two is to keep the belt on Orton. As maligned as Mark Henry has been over the years by critics, including me, his babyface turn has been reasonable, and he would be a legitimate contender for Orton. It would also be a welcome chance for Orton to win a title match cleanly. I don’t see Swagger v Cena being as good a prospect for title bout as Orton v Henry.

Prediction – Via that blatantly flawed and questionable process of logic, it’s Orton to win. Presumably by foul means.


World Title - Jeff Hardy v CM Punk – TLC Match
This ought to be the main event really. It’s certainly the one most people will be excited about, certainly above Cena and Orton. The main talking point, as it has been for a couple of months, is the imminent disappearing act of Jeffrey Nero Hardy. He’s the champ going in, with CM Punk chasing his former possession, the Big Gold Belt.

Firstly, you feel this ought to be a cracker. These two have been tremendous in their programme, some great matches, solid promos and an effective turn by CM Punk. The blowoff match, with two passionate an innovative competitors, ought to top it all off.

Logic would dictate Punk winning. They may well try and throw things up in the air by having a surprise win, but it does seem more likely that Punk will take it, and quite possibly via a rather sizable fareweel bump by Jeff.

If Hardy does indeed do a runner after this, then it will help Punk immensely. They could make Punk an enormous star in the next two months if they choose. They have him go over Jeff, the gloat at getting rid of him. “I’m the man who retired Jeff Hardy,” he’ll say, and talk of his pride of being the clean-living Straightedge guy prevailing over the flawed hero. Punk has the ability to be very self-righteous and smug, and this will definitely help his cause as a major heel.

So who to face Punk? Well how about him being forced to have a title defence, maybe against Matt Hardy or John Morrison, in which he prevails. Then, at the height of his gloating.........BONG! Back comes Taker in due time to scare the living daylights out of Punk, and if they feel like it Punk can get the better of Taker. He’d be the biggest star in the company.

Leave the title on Punk for the foreseeable, and then when the time is right, from the perspective of both parties, get Jeff Hardy back to take the title back from Punk, maybe at the Royal Rumble.

Prediction – CM Punk. Tonight, and hopefully for the future.


Well, I’m looking forward to this slightly more now. Hope you enjoy it, and don’t forget to join me just before the show starts, and I’ll be providing you with my thoughts live.

Raw Thoughts - August 17

· When WWE has these odd little fetishes about using certain words (i.e Skull not head and so forth) you wonder why. They now seem to be all over the word “group” Orton says it for Legacy, and now they are taking about DX being the most controversial “group” ever. I understand them not using ‘stable’ but why not faction or something? Group sounds so weak.
· Awesome to see Santino back doing what he does best. So, so funny. I loved it when he told Lillian not to laugh because Terrorism was very serious. Nice, fun, relaxed opening. That was really cool.
· I like the Orton thing too. I like it when incidents happen that make you go ‘wow’ and then wonder how it will be resolved. Admittedly it will probably end in Prinze putting himself in the tag match at the end somehow and more ordinary folk pretend to be wrestlers, but it was a cool spot, to be fair.
· I like how Jerry Lawler went to check on the Guest Host. Kind of like the King checking on the Prinze.
· There’s another one – Medical facility, not hospital. Who is in charge then, if Prinze is out of here?
· While we’re on it, I heard Goldust quite fancied the guest host. Dustin for Prinze?
· Good, solid match between Kofi and Carlito. A decent enough length. I like both of these guys, but I’m sure they would look any better in a longer effort. That said, good set of false finishes, even if Lawler and Cole did ruin one, after a neckbreaker by Carlito, by giving it the old “that must do it....” Whenever they exclaim that a match is surely over, then it surely isn’t.
· Shouldn’t the Miz have to be the Calgary Kid, since that is what it would say on the contract?
· Shame that Bourne had to lose in his home town (in fact, shame he lost, in general) but it made sense to lose to Miz, who deserves a run, and it was another good match. Huge thumbs up for Raw thus far.
· That being said, very little has been said about either Orton or the state of the temporary GM. I might have kept updating that.
· They’ve managed the DX deal well tonight. Two good video packages – the first a good look back on stuff they’ve done, and then a set of clips that actually made the chef skit from last week look good, which it most certainly was not.
· I love Jillian, she’s so over-the-top she’s hilarious, and that was a fun little walk through the back. I am really, really enjoying this show so far.
· That’s good booking with Legacy and DX. Tease the reunion and the usual antics, only to have the heels beat them down. Straightforward wrestling booking. Make the heels nasty, evil bastards who spoil the fun. Then hope people pay to see the babyfaces kick their arse all over SummerFestSlam
· Wow, I wasn’t expecting to see Mickie v Kim this quick. It strikes me they could have saved this for a future PPV. Maybe they’ll start a build with this.
· That was a decent divas match until what looked very like a botched finish. Real shame. The other note from this is that the crowd was dead, and the wrestling was very, very good for much of it. These are as good as women wrestlers get on this scale, and nothing. I hope no-one in the back holds this against Gail and Mickie too much, because the crowd are dead due to them having nothing to care about. Build up a several week programme between them, which they did very effectively with Mickie and Maryse, and the crowd will care.
· I don’t care for that kind of Cena promo. Too stupid and too reliant on ‘poop’ jokes and that old standard of Big Show eating somebody. But if that is what we get rather than Hornswoggle and Chavo being ridiculous, that’s not too bad. A little Jericho saved the seg.
· Strikes me that there isn’t enough mention of Cryme Tyme challenging Jericho and Big Show for the titles. I don’t think it’s been mentioned.
· I don’t mind Swagger and MVP only going seconds before the DQ, but I’d had have them fight to the back.
· Spoke too soon on Horny and Chavo, then.
· You could have had them run under the ring, the ref follow, and count the three. It says anywhere.
· Horny wins. He beats Chavo. He wouldn’t have beaten Joe Pesci though.
· I swear I wrote that before I saw.......Macauley Culkin! That was a fantastic cameo. Really, really funny.
· Speaking of Joe Pesci, his children stopped Freddie Prinze doing a Scoopy Doo follow up. If it wasn’t for those Pesci kids........
· Wasn’t a bad main event, but a bit muddled at times. It was too hard to work out who was face and heel, so the crowd didn’t know who to cheer.
· I didn’t really care for the end. Cena did for Jericho and Show a little too quickly and easily for my liking. I thought the RKO out of the celebrations was terrific, but Cena getting up soon after to rid the ring of Jericho and Show didn’t sell the big RKO spot whatsoever.
· Enjoyed the show overall, Prinze undersold the role really, but worked in context.

Raw Thoughts - August 10

· After Orton said “You people”, “Skull” and “Each and every one”, followed by Cena confronting him, including the head to head touching, I thought it was a formulaic opening to the show. However, thank goodness for the Unified tag champs, and the always hot Canadian crowds.
· King said early on that this is Bizzaroland, since in Canada they have a tendency to cheer for heels, particularly in Alberta, Bret Hart country.
· Jericho v Cena is a great booking as a main event – the crowd reactions will be amazing - but the trouble is I can’t see anything but a ‘schmozz’ ending.
· At least Jericho and Show making those challenges shook it up. I like that.
· Look for a Jericho Sharpshooter on Cena for cheers, or maybe Cena Sharpshooter to get heat.
· Hey, did they just mention Savage on Raw? Cool.
· Did Lillian say Alicia Keys?
· Gail looked amazing in that match. They can’t turn her heel, because she wouldn’t be able to do all that high flying stuff and not get cheered.
· Sarge heel turn!! Awesome. I love it.
· That’s a really good, tight little match by Swagger and Bourne, but it’s just too short. If that’s a serious rubber match, they have to be given longer.
· “The Search for Shawn Michaels”? Even just hearing that you have to think that it will be ridiculous and not at all a serious look at the guy who is perhaps the most respected performer in the industry, and who had one of the greatest matches of all time with perhaps the other candidate for most respected performer in the industry.
· Nope, as I thought. It’s complete nonsense. Vaguely funny gay joke, and then Michaels violently overacting as a chef. Just.......what?
· I am not down with this, and I have three words for you........”Lost in Cleveland”
· Hey, Eugene’s back. No entrance for him. Calgary Kid? I was sort of expecting Miz there, but it doesn’t look like him.
· Oh. Ok. It’s him. Hell, how gullible was I there?
· Did you expect Show and Orton to go any other way?
· The Tater Tot throwing girl’s timing was off. Too big a pause. Mind you Shawn sold the snack’s blow really well.
· How many more ticks in the ‘con’ column do you need? Why would Shawn, who was nearly penniless some months back, drop his high-paying wrestling job for one in a kitchen? How come he didn’t have anyone else working with him in his kitchen? How come he could chat to Hunter at lunch time? Isn’t he in breach of his WWE contract?
· Most importantly, why hasn’t there been a wrestling chef before? I can’t remember one, anyway. I would have thought that during the mid 90s there ought to have been one.
· Was that UFC.com on that list of sites WWE.com has beaten? Wow, UFC and Savage mentioned on the same show?
· I’ll give you the SummerFest and Hickenbottom lines. They were pretty funny. But overall that was horrific. Thank God they did it in one week.
· Do you reckon that was in the cafeteria at Titan Towers and the extras were all WWE staff?
· Fair enough, the MVP/Masters/Swagger stuff. Gotta find something for these guys, and for Raw week-to-week.
· The Duggan/Hart thing was unnecessary. Shouldn’t have played Bret’s music.
· I’m not sure I’d have done that Jericho swerve. Didn’t have a great deal of effect. In fact if anything it numbed the crowd a little, as those that were not going to cheer for Cena still didn’t, they just didn’t cheer for Jericho either.
· Ending to the main event was terrible. The timing during the match was a little off, too. Tag team announcement for next week made sense. The RKO on Jericho looked amazing, but Jericho’s legs went really high. Hopefully he’s ok.
· Barely a whisper about Show and Shaq this week, by the way. Little bit at the start with Cena, but not much from commentators.

Raw Thoughts

· I don’t profess to know either the American audience or the younger demographic. I thought that was the worst opening segment I have seen in many a year. I have no idea who either Jeremy Piven or Dr Ken are (although I have heard of Entourage) and between Piven’s smug attitude (should have been a heel GM) and the annoying little shit he had with him, I wanted to crawl into a hole.
· Cena burying Miz was completely unnecessary. Just telling the audience he is not very good is ridiculous. Just moronic. And then to cap off this most ludicrous of Raw openings, the all-knowing GM says that if Miz doesn’t beat Cena tonight, he is banned from “Summerfest”. Good save by Cena admittedly, but that was so embarrassing.
· At this point, what hook do you have to keep watching. A match which Cena noted that we saw last week and lasted two minutes, and have seen three times previous to that, and another Triple H Handicap match, this time with Rhodes and DiBiase. If I wasn’t working, I’d switch this show off.
· Hmm, did Swagger really need to dominate Bourne so badly, and completely negate the win last week.
· Too much Shaq in this Show to be coincidence – you’d think a match might be on down the line. When does the NBA season finish, because I’d surprised if they let Shaq do anything while he has to compete.
· Show given a US title match. Putting another belt on him to make him a champion and therefore a more mainstream commodity? Advertise on ESPN Shaq v US Champion Big Show?
· Decent divas match there. Beth, Mickie and Gail might well be the best three workers in the company, and Jillian is ok, without being spectacular. She is actually a very good bumper and seller.
· Decent enough handicap match, with the right result, and a setup for HBK’s return.
· I would dearly, dearly love HBK to return in time for Summerslam, and announce that he’ll team with Triple H to take on Legacy. They would then have a decent ten minutes or so again Orton’s duo, before Michaels turns round and Superkicks Triple H.
· Shawn v Hunter has been done before, but not for a long time, and never with Trips as babyface and Shawn as the heel.
· I think Primo v Carlito might have been a nice hook for Superstars. They could have a decent amount of time to wrestle, and it may have drawn a fan or two extra.
· Mind you, that said, the crowd were dead for this one.
· Didn’t seem worth breaking them up for a nothing feud that ends in this manner. I’m guessing the reason is to build Carlito up a bit, since he had a decent enough bout with Henry last week.
· I don’t think they’ve even mentioned Randy Orton yet, have they? Isn’t he the, erm.....what do call him.....oh yeah CHAMPION!
· Chavo, Hornswoggle blah blah. I’ll let them off this as the live crowd and kids lap it up. It’s inoffensive, really, I guess.
· Boring Show stuff to put him over as a monster Shaq has to conquer.
· Interesting Trips phone call – why did he get a phone plugged in the locker room and not use his mobile/cellphone? Obviously the intimation is that he is speaking to Shawn Michaels, and “I thought you didn’t do jobs” is another of those classic moments of Triple H (Or Shawn, for that matter) using insider terminology where others wouldn’t dare. I’m guessing we have a couple of weeks of Trips chasing Shawn, before he finally decides to come back. I just hope that, as I said before, Shawn swerves and has a lovely drawn out battle with his old pal.
· NICE!! Quality swerve by Piven and his pal, backing up Orton
· Very ordinary win for Cena in the end. Would have been a good opportunity to have a heel ending to one of these guest GMs.
· As annoying as he was throughout, Dr Ken trying to be friends with Cena and shouting “we did it” was pretty funny.
· Weak ending, when it had potential to be otherwise.
· Looking forward to seeing Sarge next week. Can’t have celebs every week.

Night of Champions Preview

Every title on the line in one night. What a fantastic opportunity to explain to the entire “WWE Universe” (yes I used that sarcastically) that the company has too many titles and too many title holders that don’t hold the public attention.

You can see why they turned me down for that marketing job with WWE can’t you?

By the way, if you go to the WWE website and get asked to do a survey, it’s all about Gillette. I just went there and expected to be asked searching questions about their TV shows and storylines, but instead it asked me about my Razor.

“What do you think about the Razor?” it said.

“He was awesome in his ladder matches with Shawn, but I didn’t care for the Goldust programme” I replied.

Anyway, it is Night of Champions tonight, where there is a possibility that I have opened up the prospect of looking forward to something which will likely be a massive letdown. The old mystery partner thing. More on that later. Let us now run down the card.


Michelle McCool v Melina (Divas championship, I think) (Frankly, Who cares?)
Oh dear God I have to sit through another Michelle McCool PPV match. When you have about 12 divas in the company, and about 4 of them can actually work, it is so pathetic having two title. Have a unified one like the tag titles, and let one of the talented girls work all brands.

Melina is the kind of worker who can add to a match with a talented worker. In fact, her matches with Beth Phoenix have been some of the best women’s matches of recent times. McCool, though, is torture to watch. I hate saying things like this sometimes, because she may well be a very nice person, and I’m sat behind a computer screen slagging her off. Well, I’m a jolly nice chap, and she may hate my writing style. I don’t care. Her prerogative.

Anyway, this match is not going to be the highlight of my evening. I think they’ll spin Maryse v Mickie out for another month (I’m giving away my future predictions here, aren’t I?) with a Maryse win, so I’ll take Melina to have this one to balance things out.

Prediction – Melina



Maryse v Mickie James (the other female title, probable the Women’s one)
Err, I’ve already said, haven’t I?

To be fair, this has been a tidy little programme, at least giving the impression they’ve given some thought into it. I still want to see heel Mickie again, because she was really awesome, but I’m glad that her babyface character is back in high profile again. Lord knows what Beth has done to piss someone off.

I’ll take Maryse to win by foul means, foot on the ropes or something similar.

Prediction – Maryse

And another thing.......All participants in female matches at Night of Champions have names beginning with M. And I believe they are all their real names. There you, hard hitting wrestling journalism at its very best.



Christian v Tommy Dreamer (ECW Title)
I’ll have to view this as though my theory that Christian could be Chris Jericho’s mystery partner is incorrect, I guess, because it is admittedly unlikely.

The thing to look at with this match is really how long they want to run with Dreamer as champion. Fair enough that they didn’t get rid of him as champ straight away, because they needed to give the run a bit of credence, but if they have him as the top man for too long, the pudgy fellow who has been a jobber for about five years will start to make the rest of the roster look bad.

In multi-man match it makes sense to have Dreamer go over, but in a one-on-one, it just makes no sense to have Dreamer best Christian.

But then, am I seriously thinking that Christian will be looked after by WWE?

Perhaps I’m being naive, who knows? It just seems highly unlikely to me that Dreamer would be booked to cleanly defeat Christian. I hope that is the case, anyway.

Prediction – Christian



Rey Mysterio v Dolph Ziggler
And here is another candidate for the Jericho partner. No, no, silly, not Rey Mysterio, but Mr Ziggler.

Ziggler has rather suddenly been given a sizable push, but could be really be put over Rey Mysterio? I wouldn’t think so, but I am suddenly looking forward to this match, so credit to WWE for positioning Ziggler as a genuine threat. After all, that is actually what wrestling is supposed to be about. Not Leprechaun embarrassing Mexicans, but two WRESTLERS competing and the audience having an interest in who wins.

I think that Ziggler is more likely to be given the spot as Jericho’s number two than the IC Champ, however. I just hope that this match is a good one, because it has the potential to be.

Prediction- Rey Mysterio



Kofi Kingston v Big Show v Miz v Carlito v Jack Swagger v MVP – US Title, six pack challenge
Firstly, apologies for calling Kofi the IC champ and not US champ this week.

But will he still be champ after tonight. I think he probably will, because I don’t see a lot of value in swapping a title in a match like this. To me, a wrestler should win a title to either underline his dominance, or to add value to his character. If the former, then you don’t really want to show how rubbish the opponents are.

To me, the only man who can win to show dominance is Big Show, and since a) no one wants to see that and b) it would ruin the rest of them it would be a pointless step.

Anyone else wins they are basically getting a bit lucky, due to the nature of the contest. You have four wrestlers in the match who you could make by giving them a title. Miz, Swagger, Carlito and MVP (especially the first two) would all benefit from a title win, but surely winning it in a straightforward one-on-one contest would hold more sway, and give them a better rub.

Anyway, that’s a convoluted way of saying that I don’t think they’ll switch the title. I can see the finish being Big Show destroying Swagger, Miz, MVP and Carlito, and then walking into a spinning Kofi Kick (I always forget its name – is it trouble in paradise?)

Prediction – Kofi Kingston to retain.



Tag Team title match – Chris Jericho and his mystery pal v Legacy

I’m not going through a big long look at the possible partners again, but realistically it’s Swagger, Christian, Miz or Ziggler, I would think. Somebody suggested Punk, but I don’t buy that. Can’t see it being Kendrick after his squash by the King.

A returnee? Chris Masters perhaps? Or Eugene? That second one is a joke, but surely Masters could be possible.

After that, it’s left field stuff, including Rick Steamboat and Shawn Michaels. I’m not saying they are likely, but they are possible.

These, though, would need a leap of faith that Jericho would turn face again, and this make so little sense it is untrue. Having lost Edge as a top heel, Jericho has to keep him place I would think. Even more so with the promise of Edge to come back as a babyface to feud with Jericho, possibly to Wrestlemania.

I think the most likely candidate, realistically, is Swagger. He has the smart-ass persona that would ingratiate himself to Jericho. I don’t see why they blew off the MVP feud as quickly as they did unless Swagger was lined up for something else. Perhaps even the Swagger Raw debut was with this in mind (although that probably falls down, since I think it was before Edge got injured). Character-wise Swagger simply compliments Jericho the best, and the fact that he is an up-and-comer who will benefit from the association would be even more reason to give him the gig.

Miz is possible, and I wouldn’t complain. It’d be entertaining. I hope it’s not Ziggler. I don’t see him as deserving as the last two mentioned. I’d love to see it be Christian, but I’m not overly hopeful. Not as much as I was when I tipped him nearly two weeks ago.

Oh fuck it, it’ll probably be bloody Great Khali, won’t it?

As for the match, I would assume that Jericho and partner win. Makes no sense otherwise.

This may well lead to Legacy being rebuked by Orton, and a further DiBiase babyface turn tease.

Prediction – Jericho and Swagger to win


World Heavyweight Title – Jeff Hardy v CM Punk
I thought there might have been a stipulation attached to this one, following on from the match last time. Because if CM Punk wants to get DQ-ed again, what is stopping him?

Here’s what I forsee happening. I will take Jeff Hardy to win the World Heavyweight Title this very evening, and he will do so after another restarted match.

This time, as opposed to Hardy defeating Punk only to see his foot under the ropes, we’ll get CM Punk once again getting disqualified, but since Teddy Long is still trying to impress Vinny Mac, he’ll controversially restart the match, saying to Punk that he doesn’t away that easy. Hardy hits a Swanton, new champion.

We then get Punk bitching about the decision on Smackdown and telling Long and Hardy what a cheap way to win a title that was, with the obvious irony being that he won it cheaply in the first place.

We then book Hardy v Punk III, perhaps in a cage or simply no DQ, for Summerslam.

This would tick all boxes. You’d have a victory and a title run for Hardy before he has a hiatus. You have Punk getting a couple of comeuppances, but still maintaining his stance of doing nothing wrong.

Prediction – Hardy to win, eventually


Randy Orton v Triple H v John Cena

I’ll give you the prediction I’ve had in my head for ages, but I’ll temper it at the end with a new thought.

I’ll go with Cena to win the title here. The fact that Triple H said that as long as Orton loses he’ll be happy might have been more important than we initially realised. I’d say Cena wins and becomes champ, opens Raw, and is cut off by Triple H, demanding a shot at him. This would eventually lead to Game v Cena at Summerslam. It’s been brewing, and although we’ve been there before, I actually think it would work right now.

To add a little bit of spice, I’d have a guest host (Maybe Shaq tomorrow) book Orton v Cena in Randy’s mandatory rematch on Raw to have a hot main event on TV. Cena can win this reasonably clean, after DiBiase screws up a run in, and then Randy has no logical claim to have number one contendership.

That’s how I projected things last week, but suddenly I realise that leaves nothing for Orton at Summerslam. He is too big a name to leave off the card, but has no logical opponent. You can’t suddenly have him wrestling MVP for no reason, and they best not pull out DiBiase v Orton now and have a Lergacy break up. They could roll this all the way to Survivor Series or even beyond.

Perhaps it makes more sense for Orton to retain, and Cena v Triple H to just be a grudge match. Orton could then face a new challenger for the belt (Oh God it would be Mark Henry, wouldn’t it?) with less need for a backstory for the match.

I wouldn’t like to see Orton win, mainly because it would mean the same winner that came from the Wrestlemania 24 match between this trio. WWE are getting enough grief (some of it from me) for rehashing the same old stuff, they need to make sure they don’t tread even closer to the line they have already drawn.

Prediction – John Cena.......I think

Enjoy the show folks, I’ll be back with my patented Live Blog for this one.



LATE UPDATE – I’ve seen on Chris Jericho’s Twtter page that he says his partner will be EVIL. That hints towards Kane.........or Taka Michinoku.

So who will Jericho's mystery partner be....?

Ah, the old Mystery Partner. Usually such a great concept, and so often punctuated by a crappy pay off.

Now, we have a mystery partner angle involving Christopher Keith Irvine, better known as Chris Jericho. Formerly the Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla. Formerly Y2J. Currently calling himself simply “The best in world at what he does.”

And he may be right.

Jericho has been nothing short of awesome for the last 16 months or so, with quality encounters with Shawn Michaels and Rey Mysterio punctuating this period. His emergence as half of a Smackdown “Dream Team” which netted the Unified Tag Titles, along with Edge, seemed to signal a fun coalition and a logical use of Edge and Jericho on all shows.

Now, though, Edge is kaput. He is broken. On the shelf.

Hence the quick rewrite this week. Jericho emerges with a document stipulating he can choose his partner, who will become his co-champion. It remains to be seen whether his cohort will be named next week on TV or at the PPV itself.

In the meantime, I offer you three options for who it could be. The first is, I think the most likely. The second less likely, a little less logical, but a bit more fun, in my opinion. The last, though, is unlikely, won’t happen, and is a flight of fancy. But it’s my favourite, and would be a terrific idea.

1) Jack Swagger

Jack Swagger has two major negatives about him. One is his stupid nickname, “The All-American American.” It’s nonsense, get rid of it. The second downer is his ricockulous (thanks CJ) pantomime as he heads to the ring. I don’t mind the press ups, but the cross between an epileptic fit and King Kong is ludicrous. Lose it.

That aside, the guy is clearly a keeper. He has the WWE physique and look which is a bonus, of course, but more importantly he can wrestle, has character, is a good heel, is young, and has already had a number of very decent matches.

His move to Raw is very obviously an indication that he is moving up in the world, and a clean win over MVP further evidence of his upward mobility. My instinct was that blowing off of a potentially feud with MVP was ludicrous, but thinking about it, it was probably done to allow Swagger a free run at being Jericho’s upstanding partner. Who better than Jericho than Swagger to learn from and who better than Young Jack to be given a boost from this position?

It’s the most likely scenario.

2) The Miz
This is less likely, but not impossible.

Let’s look at the evidence. Miz has been in a brief little angle with John Cena, which although it didn’t go fabulously, most definitely gained respect in certain quarters. He, like Jericho, is a genuinely over heel thanks to the almost lost art of being a complete prick (and I mean that in the nicest of ways).

Miz is an experienced Tag Team wrestler, after his successful stint with John Morrison (my Mizorrison nickname never took off, did it? Everyone went with “JoMizzy” instead. Rubbish) and would be good from a logic perspective, since Jericho would likely pick someone like Miz, as a bit of a trailblazer and a successful Tag Team guy.

Other factors would be Miz’s little Twitter battle with Jericho. This is clearly something that they are doing for a joke between the boys, but it would indicate that they are good friends, I would think. Jericho is a man who is known to have respect backstage and gets a lot of input into his own angles. I can envisage the powers that be going to Chris, asking his advice, and his request to work with Miz.

They would be a stunningly over heel team. They would be really hated, and if WWE actually had any (and I mean, ANY) tag teams then a babyface one would have a perfect opportunity to get the fans behind them, since folks really don’t like Miz and Jericho (Mizco?).

When you think about this combination, some of the promo and segments ought to be absolute dynamite. I’d like to see Miz emerge as the partner.

Unless...........

3) I’ll tell you in a minute.......

So then, Chris Jericho needs a partner. He needs someone he’d like to work with, someone who is a skilled worker, someone who needs a direction, could do with a change of scenary, and can work as a cocky heel if necessary.

Can you see who I mean? Can you see what I’m getting at?

‘You’ll see if you just close your eyeeeeeeees. If you just close your eyes’

Now open them again (which, I suppose, you have if you are reading this again) and think about Christian finally, FINALLY being given a chance to shine again on a proper scale, and not the bloody ECW.

The problems here are plentiful, and I understand how unlikely this is. But wouldn’t it be fun?

WWE don’t appear to be that high on Christian, perhaps as a knock on him for disappearing to TNA before returning, but it ought to be remember that Jeff Hardy did this too, and long at the push he has had over the last couple of years.

Yes, Christian has a match scheduled for Night of Champs, but don’t forget Jericho had wrestled already when he emerged with Edge to grab the belts in the first place. That shouldn’t be a stumbling block.

The logic holds through here (mostly). Jericho wants someone he can trust, and since he knows Christian and has a history with him, can claim that he trusts him. Admittedly, Christian turned on Jericho and went off with Trish, who Jericho had a thing for. Incidentally, this was probably the last ‘boy meets girl’ storyline that has been done successfully.

Christian and Jericho have always had an onscreen chemistry, and are friends in real life. It would work nicely.

And here’s the clincher. Christian as the new partner. Christian, replacing EDGE, as a partner. Play up the idea that Christian is the superior one of the old E&C duo. Then, if you can keep a certain focus on Christian and Jericho as a duo for long enough – not necessarily as a tag team, but at least as allies – when Edge is ready to return, you have a plethora of options.

Edge can come back to conquer Jericho and Christian, with his own partner. Christian and can turn on Jericho and reform his partnership with Edge. Jericho could turn on Christian and once again align with the Rated R Superstar. Any man could be heel, any man could be face, in any combination.

I am aware that my last big idea was about Christian and Edge, but I’d like to point out that I was half right. While the world was all about Christian being Jeff’s attacked, and Vince apparently all anxious about a leak, I said Matt to be the culprit all along. Admittedly I then fantasy booked Edge and Matt to be in league, with Christian returning to assist Jeff, but you can’t have everything.

It should be Christian. It’ll be cool if it’s Miz. It’ll likely be Swagger. And that would be fine too, but I prefer one of the other options.

If you have your own idea, I’d love to hear it. Comment beneath or send to robthegreen (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Raw Thoughts - July 13

· That wasn’t over the top and exaggerated at the top of the show. That really was an incredible ovation for The Game.
· Is that Seth Green or is that Rey Mysterio without the mask?
· Guest Host booking himself in the main event. Cool, so at least Seth is following the example of bookers throughout history.
· Poor Primo. A during the break ring entrance already, and with a new song too.
· I have little interest in the Carlito Primo thing, despite it’s good start last week. Mainly because the brother v brother thing has been done too much now, not to mention the tag partner turn angle.
· This is a painful Raw so far. “One million dollars” Austin Powers reference? Hmm, topical.
· MVP v Swagger? Match thrown away. That could have been a several week build after a terrific opening gambit last week in the VIP Lounge. On the positive side, it looks like MVP is a little more over as a babyface.
· Swagger has to lose that mime coming down the aisle. The press-up is ok, but the hitting the chest thing is ludicrous.
· Tidy match for what we saw – the break came too early and I’d sooner it didn’t come during the match at all – and I think it’s fine Swagger getting the win. I’d really like to see him with Kofi for the US Title.
· Interesting promo from Jericho. Slightly weak excuse that he had a clause written in about Edge getting injured, but I’ll let it go. It was a tough one to write themselves out of.
· I like the idea of the slow burn of the partner. Let’s speculate and then tune in to find out. My initial guess would be Swagger, since we are looking for a man who Jericho would consider an honest man and so forth.
· I actually have a fantastic idea for a partner for Jericho – and I’ll tell you on a separate blog.
· Also liked the burial of Edge by Jericho. Suggests Edge may return, whenever that may be, as a babyface.
· Poor Chavo. So this is another Guerrero getting embarrassed is it? Hardly seems right to me.
· There wasn’t any exaggeration about that Big Show spear to Evan Bourne. That did look awesome and devastating.
· Aside from the wrestling for a second. I don’t know what Robot Chicken is. Nor do I want to. That is all.
· From a ‘don’t do this at home’ perspective, Green ought to get pummelled within an inch of his life.
· I think Orton does that DDT off the middle rope too often. That ought to be a dangerous finisher, not just some move that goes in the middle of a match.
· I tell you what, that was a really, really fun main event. I think the show overall has been quite dull and at times cringeworthy. However, they obviously limited the activity of Seth Green, but managed to include him well. The breaking up of the cover after an RKO was genius, because it got the move over, didn’t pin Triple H and got the celeb involved. The cheer after Cena broke up Orton attempted punt was deafening. I don’t even mind the DQ finish because it was secondary. The brawl taking over was the story, and then a near sledgehammer shot to Cena, which both Trips and Cena sold the motion of well, was a nice coup de gras.

Raw Thoughts - July 6

· Ah, it’s good to see the Million Dollar Man again. Its presumably his choice, but you wonder why he didn’t stick on for longer. Wrestling misses managers like him.
· They need to do the slow burn with DiBiase jnr – they need to be careful pushing his babyface side TOO much.
· Interesting booking for tag titles at next PPV. Heel v Heel, Legacy v Edge/Jericho. Of course, that won’t happen, because of Edge’s injury, but strange they’d book that kind of contest
· Bah – this is why I don’t like taped Raws. This bloody piped in cheers for people. IF THEY ARE NOT OVER, YOU ARE PUSHING THEM WRONG, OR WE DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM. DON’T PRETEND THEY ARE BEING CHEERED.
· Now that is what you call a sudden and vicious heel turn. Loved it. Believable anger from Carlito and I like Primo trying cover up rather than fight his brother. I’d expect this break-up to take a while longer yet.
· I love that Ted Snr plays up disliking Dusty. Nice little callback to the polka dots too.
· That match (Orton v DiBiase jnr) was the match John Cena and The Miz should have had. Maybe not with so many babyface-like spots for Miz, but certainly the extra nearfalls and moments when there was a prospect of the underdog getting the W.
· Nice little segment – the VIP Lounge. Those talk show segs are supposed to help people’s characters get over. That was one of the better babyface reactions for MVP in a while, and it was a chance to allow a new audience to see Jack Swagger, especially after his odd debut last week.
· Enjoyed that Bourne v Kofi match, but two problems with it. One was that Kofi doesn’t really need to be getting beat. Two was that it was too short. The amount of reruns, recaps and other needless bits that take ages, you could let them have three more minutes and have some fun with the match.
· I think Big Show is getting ‘X-Pac heat’ now. To me, crowds are booing him because he is boring not because he is an effective heel. He has always been slow, but he used to be menacing. Now, he is a slower version of the same giant we saw ten years ago.
· Is there no Miz at all this week? Nor Santino?
· I tell you what, say what you like about Hunter and Cena (and I have done) but they had a reasonable match there, and you’ll do well to find too many other wrestler sin the company who could have a match on Raw and get the crowd cheering and booing mere punches.
· That ending would be understandable and perfectly sensible booking.......if it didn’t happen EVERY BLOODY WEEK. I am so sick of them protecting guys in ridiculous ways. Just book the triple threat. Don’t come up with daft ways of doing it with crappy finishes. Just book the triple threat. I tell you what, have Batista book Hunter v Orton for the PPV. Then have Million Dollar Man get pissed off by Hunter, so he puts Cena in there too. Next week’s guest host could then get Hunter and Cena to pick each other’s opponent, or better yet get Randy to pick their opponents and if either man loses their match they lose their place in the match against Orton. If both lose, Orton gets the night off.
· The trouble is, if you keep booking matches like Hunter v Cena, and just spoil the ending (don’t forget this is frequently happening at PPVs too) then people will just get fed up.
· “Hey man, did you hear about the main event on Raw this week? Sounds good, doesn’t it? Are you going to tune in?”“Nah, don’t think I’ll bother. Those matches always end in DQs and shit. I’ll read the reports on TheSun.co.uk/wrestling instead.” (cheap pop)

Smackdown Thoughts - July 03

· I like the idea of Punk explaining to everybody about what went wrong. He is talking sense, but he is doing it a whiny sort of way, so he may get booed.
· There was a masterstroke of a line in there – Punk telling Jeff that they had to be on the same side otherwise Jericho and Edge, their opponents for the evening, would tear them apart. That makes sense on a couple of levels. One is that is gives proper credit to Edge and Jericho for being good. I hate it when one wrestler run another one down, because if you beat them, what have you beaten? The other was it was perfect sense. ‘Hang on, we need to wise up here’ in effect.
· I thought for a while that Ziggler was going to be a bit of a joke for the company, but it seems they may be getting behind him a little. A win over RK-Kwiktruth and a tease of an alliance with Maria suggest there are plans for him.
· Not sure if you get From the Vault stuff elsewhere in the world, but we do. We’ve now got Batista v Finlay from Smackdown, with Khali wandering to ringside as champion. Wow, things were bleak on SD then, weren’t they? Is their way of saying to us to appreciate what we have now?
· Cryme Tyme were hunting “wangstas” and saw the Asian Redneck. But they didn’t go for a Wang Yangsta joke? I actually thought that segment was quite humourous.
· Rey and Kane? Again? Oh please......
· Ads for Raw in the Sheffield Arena advertise Batista on them, if you are interested. But not Shawn Michaels......
· The Hart Dynasty need to have plenty of mic time and character development. They have a story to tell, and are on a new show. There will be Smackdown viewers who haven’t seen them before, they should be introduced in a deeper way.
· I’m not sure I agree with the Harts being beaten in their first Raw match. Cryme Tyme didn’t need the win as much, and could easily get their heat back elsewhere.
· Bad? That Teddy and Morrison segment was not just bad, it was terrible.
· Decent closing match. It’s nice that SD are in a position to load the main event with high-quality fresh matches.

Raw Thoughts - June 29

· Did Vince just say 15 person trade between the brands? And that’s it? No speculation, no explanation?
· And we are keeping the guest host thing? Hmm, ok.
· Here is the thing, though, if Trump instituted these things and Vince doesn’t like them, why can’t he just overturn them?
· Not sure I like the idea of ‘guest hosts’ having GM powers. Why would Batista book a tournament? What investment would he have in that? Why would Vince hand over power like that? It’s a terrible idea.
· Nice match, that, between MVP and Triple H. I thought MVP did a good job of hanging with the Game and looked like a potent force when on top. Understandably Triple H won, but it made sense and was a better match than I expected.
· The usual quality from Jericho, using his promo to immediately address the fact that he said he wouldn’t be back on Raw. No-one does continuity better than Chris Jericho.
· Haha, King said “Edge and Christian” by mistake.
· Speaking of Captain Charisma, you’d like to think he’d be a great fit for the small trade, and I’d take him out of ECW and place him in the IC title picture on Smackdown.
· Crowd, really REALLY into the Colons chasing the belts.
· I don’t like them throwing Cena v Miz out again. It just sends the message to those who pay their PPV money that they are idiots, because you’ll soon see the same show for free.
· Great call by King, comparing Miz to an early John Cena, being brash and talking smack to others.
· I would have liked to have seen a couple of attempts at a Miz nearfall to try to tease the audience, but generally that was a far better match than the evening previously. They gave Miz time to attack, to get some offence in and to not show the weakness which has held him back. Cena, for his part, sold well, and it seemed to me like this went a little longer than at The Bash?
· So it’s Triple H v Cena next week – but didn’t King say earlier that Triple H had to wrestle again that night? Either they changed it on the fly or (more likely) the lines of communication from writer to commentator was not clear.
· Why, again, would Batista book a tournament where the pay off is next week, outside his jurisdiction?
· A kind of ‘just there’ divas match, with the logical conclusion of Mickie winning. At least there is a reasonable angle between Maryse and Mickie, and Mickie has gained plenty of momentum of late.
· Not really sure what the purpose of the double count-out between Kofi and Show was. Looking forward to the gauntlet match. I love “who is it” angles.
· Evan Bourne on Raw? Cool. I’d have preferred him on Smackdown, but at least he is off ECW.
· Swagger to Raw. That’s really interesting. They are really high on this kid, so I’d expect him to come in to a good spot. Maybe with MVP? Or maybe taking on Kofi for the US Title.
· I love that. Swagger gets counted out, serious heat drawn there. A little tease of an alliance with Orton. I like it when strange things happen like that. Remember when Mike Knox, when asked why he attacked Rey Mysterio, simply said “I don’t know”. The guy that doesn’t know or doesn’t say why he does things is a far more scary dude than one who screams “I hate you”
· Haha, now Henry did it as well, but then came back in? Is that a Henry babyface turn?
· I like that booking. I’m not a Henry fan, and I don’t want to see him pushed to the moon, but it doesn’t hurt Orton to get beat. Flair used to lose all the time when he was champion in his prime, and it simply built up his challenger. I thought Henry played his role very well, and has successfully turned and got over within the space of five minutes. It doesn’t hurt Orton because he was already hurt and had had a match.

The Bash review

· Just starting my recording of The Bash. No timechecks, because it seems redundant. However, I will tell you at this point that I have one piece of spoiler knowledge. Someone I know was watching it, I asked what they had got up to, and they said the third Hunter v Orton fall. No no-one is taking two straight then?
· Those rules for the scramble were up and gone mighty quickly. That seemed very much to me that the rules have changed. I don’t remember their being three minute intervals last time.
· Did striker say “If that’s a word”? Shouldn’t he know, he’s the frickin’ teacher. (“Frickin’”....is that a word?)
· “It took Tommy nearly two decades to become ECW champion” says Josh. Erm, no, I’m pretty sure Dreamer won the ECW title towards the end of the ECW proper. It may have been for one night, but he was champ.
· Oh, where to start? Maybe with the fact that Dreamer was (interim) champ made still covered someone? How about the dead crowd? Perhaps that the ending held very little excitement? Maybe even the graphic that proclaimed that he was “New” champion, even though he retained.
· I just didn’t enjoy that match. It had no flow, the three minute gaps were not enough to allow the entering superstars to get going, and the action was not gripping enough. Average at best. Although I said that Dreamer would win with a late fall. One to me.
· Grisham – Rey has worn a mask ever since he started wrestling. Erm, wrong, because he was unmasked for a while in WCW, but in fairness Todd will have been told that, probably not his fault.
· Jericho and Rey have to go on SECOND?? Come on......
· JR just said Jericho is a future hall of famer.....in the eyes of many. First time I think I have heard him say that.
· You know Rey Rey had a week off.....was that for his new ink?
· My goodness me that was a good match. These guys continually pull out great match after great match. There were so many innovative spots, reversals, counters and pin attempts, it was truly a pleasure to watch. Once you have those ingredients, all you need is a decent ending to make it feel right, and they had one. Rey won, and it was the right call, although I would have loved to see what they’d do with an unmasked Mysterio. This didn’t really hurt Jericho, because he wasn’t going for the win at that point, but the mask. Good work.
· My run goes on. I felt that Ziggler winning with some assistance was by far and away the most likely scenario. I may not have been definite in saying Kane, but it had to be the most sensible way out. Mind you, it better not be Kane v Khali. Ouch, that’ll be painful.
· Vince and Long slot seemed a little redundant, but interesting that Vince namechecked Bischoff and Heyman.
· Were the crowd chanting ‘We want Christian”?
· There is a slight problem when a sudden tag team like Edge and Jericho emerge, because you know they’ll win. You can’t book them in that match and have them get beat. The match was far from awesome, but it was ok, and it is good to see something a little different.
· I don’t care for Orton belittling the tag team titles, but I loved the DiBiase confrontation. What we’ve got here, is a terrific opportunity to slowly burn that Orton and DiBiase have heat with each other, and spin a huge babyfacfe turn for Teddy, in a similar sort of manner, in a way, to when Batista went babyface after heat with Triple H.
· The women’s division is completely in disarray, and McCool’s defeat of Melina feels largely unimportant.
· Some will moan, but I think it is correct to have the Three Stages of Hell last.
· My observation from that Hardy v Punk match – Hardy looked so frighteningly like Raven at the end of that match it was terrifying.
· Odd, odd, finish to Punk v Hardy. The post match, though, was tremendous, and is a perfect setup for a forthcoming contest.
· If Punk is to go heel, it is exactly the right feud for him to be in. Jeff might well be the most unequivocally over babyface in the company, what with Hunter and Cena having certain detractors and Taker and HBK being absent. Anything he doesn’t is fine according to the people, so Punk becomes the villain.
· The match itself, I thought, was good but not great. I still am not sure that Jeff Hardy, without partners or gimmicks, can have a stand up great one on one contest with anyone. I mean GREAT. Not good, not really good, but GREAT, on the level that Jericho and Mysterio have had several times.
· I don’t think that Cena and Miz match really achieved anything. Does not make Cena look any better? No, because he didn’t beat anybody he wasn’t expected to. He is so much further up the pecking order than his opponent for the night that he gets no rub from picking up a win. Miz, meanwhile, won’t be completely destroyed, but any attempts to raise his level will be met with resistance, because he was made to look second rate to Cena. He wasn’t really given anytihgn but a brief flurry, and to me that is a shame. Cena wouldn’t have looked weak letting Miz take his part in a 50/50 match, because the case could have been made that he took him a bit lightly, and no one realised how good Miz was. Instead, it was one-sided, not entertaining, and helped no one at all.
· Yes! Triple H with the chair. That is so, so smart! I was a bit disappointed that the FCA portion of the match didn’t last longer, but nice to see some proper logic applied.
· I hope the first thing on Raw is Triple H complaining about Vince. My father in law is an idiot, who booked me in a match where I was clearly at a disadvantage because my opponent’s two buddies would come and help.
· That was pretty good, for what it was, I guess. A DX chop at the end – HBK to come back? Orton/Legacy v Hunter/Shawn? I would think there would be a chance there except for the fact that it’s Night of Champions next.