I could say in the same voice as The Rock that I am back and will never go away again but unlike the Rock I don’t want to get your hopes up in case it all goes wrong!
Firstly I must apologise that it has been a few weeks since my last post. Things with work have been crazy (back in the UK) and I write this article on Day 11 of my current working day streak count! I’m attempting to go for the Undertakers record of 19-0 but I think I’ll tap out way before then!
A lot of things have taken place in the last few weeks and I just wanted to share some thoughts with you.
First off we had Survivor Series, an event that WWE have tried to make relevant again. Opinions are divided on the delivery of the show. Whilst things were not perfect by any stretch of the imagination I have to admit that I thought it was a good show with many special spots for future highlight reels.
During the first contest between Dolph Ziggler and John Morrison the Triangle choke was applied by the US Champion only for our lovely commentator Booker T to shout out “TRIANGLE!” Yes ladies and gentleman, Booker T was briefly possessed by Joe Rogan! He actually shouted out a hold which is used in Wrestling and MMA! Shocker!
Sin Cara destroyed his knee as he pivoted his weight when he jumped over the top rope. Something that everyone felt was an eventual reality after the amount of botches he has delivered recently. Oddly, it wasn’t done by one of his botches; it was done in a situation where anyone could have had the same injury. Nevertheless, let’s hope that Sin Cara can use his time off to study the way that WWE matches seem to flow for his return.
Beth Phoenix delivered a Glam Slam from the turnbuckle which sent the MSG crowd in to a frenzy, and rightfully so. This was a great highlight to a poor match. Full credit goes to Eve for taking a dangerous move so well.
Wade Barrett continues to receive his push from WWE and this Manchester lad isn’t complaining! One point of interest though, has anyone noticed Wade’s hair starting to flop as the match progresses? It makes him look like Rocky Balboa! Awesome!
CM Punk regained the WWE Championship in a solid match with Del Rio. I was quite surprised with the outcome and as Punk said the following night, hopefully this is the end of the title being a hot potato!
Mark Henry and Big Show faced each other in a match which didn’t have much going for it until Big Show delivered an elbow drop from the top! It took him long enough to steady himself but when he did it was worth it, full credit to the man!
The main event, The Rock was awesome! Sure, he has more enhancement drugs running through his veins than he does blood but he hasn’t missed a beat! I am half and half in this one because the idea of Rock wrestling his first match back in 7 years was something I felt would have been ideal for WrestleMania but now it is gone… and on what? Beating Miz and R-Truth? Sure, it progressed the storyline between John Cena and The Rock, but it was done so poorly. Everyone hoped for the turn from Cena but we all knew better. Rock delivered Rock Bottom and Cena took his ball and walked. It was a very odd ending to the PPV.
The next night on RAW we got Cena claim that he manned up and came back in to the ring after the match at Survivor Series, only for him to leave once attacked. How exactly is that being a man? Apart from this small observation I think we are on the road to the turn or at least a bit of a character change for Cena. He showed signs of frustration with The Rock and Roddy Piper called him out the following week (we’ll get to that RAW shortly)
This RAW however featured another terrible spot with Kevin Nash not only speaking for the sake of it, but also not being able to construct a sentence, classy!
Michael Cole has started to find a new way to grate me recently. Every time he talks about a heel making a choice which gains them heat, all he can say is “Can you blame him!?” he must have said it 5 times during the one episode of RAW!
One of the many things I love about Cody Rhodes is his cradle pin. He makes the pin so tight that it makes everyone else look like an amateur! He continues to use his new bizarre laugh. The one he did on RAW after the Survivor Series was eerily similar to the one that Kane occasionally uses.
Speaking of Kane, the new video segments showing the burning mask has me intrigued! I’m all for seeing a new style to Kane’s character and as the word resurrection has been used I can only imagine the mask coming back in to play.
Barrett gave Kofi Kingston a side walk slam that looked like he was going to throw Kofi in to the first row! I love the chemistry between Barrett and Orton and I hope they continue to develop this feud.
This past week’s RAW was quite a good show which started off with Piper’s Pit. To be completely honest I think that this was one of the best Pits’s I’ve seen in many years! Cena is still living by his ‘Rise Above Hate’ but to be honest it feels like he is living more by a quotation from Oscar Wilde “Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much” The segment again started to show chinks in Cena’s armour. Now it might be nothing, but the sheer fact that WWE are including it in a storyline shows that they recognise the issues that fans are raising. Here’s hoping that they continue to slowly develop this over the next few months.
Daniel Bryan had a fantastic segment with Michael Cole where he really showed that in the last few months his mic work has been greatly improved. He showed a great deal of passion and this is something he is going to need if WWE are to get behind him come WrestleMania next year.
This week’s Smackdown was live! Something that WWE needs to consider as an option moving forward in my opinion.
Jinder Mahal and Ezekiel Jackson was featured which was a surprise as I thought they were hitting the reset button on these guys. Then again, in the battle royale we watched Titus O’Neill, Percy Watson, Johnny Curtis and Darren Young compete. I thought these guys were on NXT Redemption, where they are fighting to be on the NEXT season of NXT so that THEN they can be on RAW or SmackDown!? This is something that has simply lost its way and something that needs to be addressed ASAP.
Randy Orton and David Otunga had a fun match. Whilst I was watching this match I had completely lost track that Orton and Barrett was in a feud so it never even entered my mind that Barrett could interfere… Until Michael Cole opened his mouth and started talking about Wade Barrett during the match! If he had spoke about the match rather than a feud which WASN’T taking place in that match then I might have been more surprised when Barrett got involved with proceedings! Thanks Cole!
Hornswoggle won a battle royale where he got his voice from Santa. That is about as PG as it gets folks! Nevertheless I’ve seen worse segments.
The main event of this live Smackdown was Mark Henry and Daniel Bryan in a steel cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship. A very solid match which was smartly worked by both men. The finish with Bryan receiving the World’s Strongest Slam from the turnbuckle was a fantastic finish which did no harm for both men. I’m interested to see what direction they go in with Bryan now as I hope they continue to build his momentum.
Overall, it has been a very interesting past few weeks. TLC has 3 solid weeks to build now and WWE will hopefully try to make something than just a filler PPV heading into the holidays.
Do you think WWE are going in the right direction? Do you think WWE should have gone a different direction with Survivor Series and beyond? Email me at beansontoastuk@msn.com or get in touch via Twitter at @BeansOnToastUK.
