Where the hell was the champion tonight?!?! Del Rio wasn't even on RAW.
Triple H v. Punk, well hope he enjoyed it while it lasted. Have fun being buried Punk. This is gonna go one for a few months with Triple H giving himself the rub because he "needs to get over." Of course now I believe the obvious direction they're taking this in is all leading up to a Nash v. Triple H match, which will truly be one of the greatest matches of all time.
God, the opening just would not end. HHH seemingly ended the brand extension by saying the stars of SD and Raw will be on SD all the time now. Great way to build up SD - make every Raw seem as big as one SD show. Then HHH and Nash (with NWO theme) babbled for nine hours, then Punk fake coughed, fake puked, said Nash was old with bad knees...and then they made Punk-Nash for the PPV. Great, so if Punk wins, he beats an old man with bad knees who makes the fans change the channel, and if he loses, he loses to an old man with bad knees who makes people change the channel. Then they announced Dolph-Orton for later in the show, with a pretty good Dolph video almost making you think the U.S. Champion could beat the world champ. So much for later. They just had the match right after the break, instead of at the top of the hour, like you'd think a world champion's match would be. The match was technically fine, but not very exciting, and didn't really pick up until the end, which had a nice tease of a Dolph win, then Orton gave him a flapjack, Dolph lept up into an RKO. Awesome-looking ending. Very GIF-worthy.
Thank God that match ended, because WE NEEDED MORE TALKING. Cena had to come out and talk. He didn't exactly reference feces this time, but did bring up Alberto's anus, so...yeah. Main event PPV build here. Oh, and he's REALLY REALLY MAD too. Then Mark came out to talk, then Christian came out to talk...and I just felt like I was watching every SD opening seemingly ever where we get five billion guys coming out to ramble. Here's where Cena referenced shit - thank God. And then Sheamus came out to help save Cena, which is a step up for Sheamus in a way, but this sure did kill the World's Strongest Slam on the steps as being damaging. Especially when Sheamus came out RUNNING as fast as humanly possible. 51 minutes into the and ONE MATCH happened. Ugh. And then Punk-Miz was announced with zero build of any kind. There's no logical reason for this match to happen beyond maybe the conspiracy deal. I'm all for good matches on paper being set up, but BUILDING THEM would be nice too.
Punk got jobber intro'd...wow. Come to think of it, not only is this match being given away for free with no build, but barring a miracle, it'll be worlds better than the Punk PPV match. Miz cut a good promo to actually set this up, which is nice. Shame they did this AFTER announcing the match - furthering the Impact-ish feel of the show. King "so whatted" Cole saying Miz main evented WrestleMania. Incredible. At least he also talked about Punk-Nash at NoC a lot, which built up that match throughout this one. First King said HHH was guilty, now Cole said he was too, so yeah, it definitely isn't him, unless it's a double swerve. Then everyone talked about the cast of characters in TEXTGATE instead of the match. J.R. at least tried to steer the conversation back to this thing in the ring that I think is a match. Cole then make sure to bury J.R. for pronouncing "striker" with an accent on a night where he screwed up saying the word "donate"...and then he buried the town they were in. Ugh. Commentary really killed this match for me. Then Truth came out for a finish...and the camera guy missed the GTS. Welcome to Impact... THEN NASH CAME OUT. And beat up Punk. Well, he got his visual won on Punk in a way here, so hopefully this leads to his match at the PPV going maybe a minute or two.
Swagger-Hunicara pissed me off. For one thing, Hunico ed up a flying headscissors spot terribly, then Cole brought up the fake Sin Cara's history as if he was the real one, which is total bullshit. This is getting to be '96 Razor-Diesel-level shit here. And then Vickie came out, Dolph came out, and Hunico won. Match didn't mean a thing and was largely terrible. This wolf in sheep's clothing isn't working at all. Just deal with Mistico's shit, face the fact that he is a superstar because AS WAS JUST SAID ON RAW, HE'S A BIG ING STAR - HE WAS SUCH A HUGE STAR HE WAS THE BIGGEST DRAW IN MEXICO AND HAD HIS OWN COMIC BOOK. There's no upside to using the fake now - he's become terrible at it. He was okay for the first show, then it's like he cracked under the pressure of being the fake Sin Cara, so now he just sucks. Mistico botches some stuff, sure, but goddamn is he ever graceful and he makes himself seem special just by how he does moves - even with WWE stripping him of 90% of the cool ones he did in his pre-debut videos.
Loved seeing Bourne with a belt. Poor Kofi's pyro didn't go BOOM! Air Boom vs. Nexus was okay, but like every tag match, KING ING KILLED IT with his commentary. He said that if Otunga wasn't married to Jennifer Hudson, he'd just work at a fast food join. For one thing, IT'S KNOWN ON-AIR THAT HE HAS A HARVARD LAW DEGREE. God, I wanted to kill him here. Then he said that even if they win, they'll still be WWE's most boring team. J.R. almost saved things by saying Kofi had amazing hops. Air Boom won, Nexus got mad at King, and hey, I was hoping they'd kick his ass here too. King's easily the heel in all this, and they didn't even do anything to him to deserve this. King let Cole off easier and he mocked his own mother's death. LOLed @ the one guy behind King saying "YOU SUCK, OTUNGA!". Divas tag was a match. One hurt by acting from the Divas of Doom that was worse than the wrestling in the ring - minus Kelly's awesome Thesz Press. Loved the wacky King-Cole exchange with Cole saying Otunga was talking about King having a fat butt, then King asked why a man married to Jennifer Hudson was staring at his butt - THAT was hilarious.
Loved the A-Ry vid - now he just needs to live up to the hype he's had built around him at times, and the company needs to actually be consistent with how they push him. Otherwise, he'll just get lost in the shuffle forever. Very odd to have HHH, THE star of the company, the on-air COO, billed as the star of a movie you KNOW is going to bomb. Looks like a fun movie though - I'll definitely get it on Redbox for Rapaport. Oh, and to see HHH play another ex-con. Mark came out with his sadface, and I'd be sad too since he seems like a huge deal on SD, but came off as just another dude here on Raw.
They announced Punk-Khali for SD LIVE. This has to be a rib on Punk, who seemed like way less of a star here, and matches with Khali and Nash won't help. Sheamus at least came out with his ribs taped - that made me less pissed about him appearing to be just fine earlier on. Loved King mentioning Kozlov - I'm guessing he either doesn't know the guy is gone or they just don't care about mentioning him on TV. Throughout the match, they casually had a graphic showing that SD will be on tomorrow night, and they didn't really drive it home much, which make me think the rating is going to suffer, especially with them building up very little for the show beyond announcing three matches for the show, with two having no prior build in Cena-Barrett and Punk-Khali. Sure, they make sense in a way - Barrett facing a man who is worthy of facing him and Punk getting ready for Nash by facing Khali, but those stories weren't told here. Match was perfectly fine - loved Sheamus's flying shoulderblock off the apron.
Cena beating Christian made me hope that Christian wins the title, otherwise, they're clearly just sending him back into midcard hell. Then came a weird bit where they had HHH announce himself versus Punk for the PPV. This was weird because they just threw it out there and you could barely hear it over Cena's theme blaring. It just reeked of desperation. They finally toned things down a bit and now we're back to them booking chapters 1 through 5 in seconds. On the upside, HHH-Punk will be five billion times better than Nash-Punk would've been. The WWE Champion wasn't on the show at all - very weird. They build up the WWE Title and its holder as be THE man in the industry and on this, the BIGGEST RAW IN THE HISTORY OF RAWS THIS MONTH, he isn't on?
This whole show was just odd - it had some good wrestling at times, but just dreadful booking as well, and the stuff that was good didn't really excite me because it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere. Another stop and start push for A-Ry? So what? Fake Sin Cara wins? So what - he's terrible compared to the real deal and having them do an imitation act when they have the real guy under contract is idiotic. They talk about titles mattering, then book them so they don't. This was a really sloppy show - WWE has its good shows, bad shows, and then some magical shows - they rarely have completely sloppy shows, and that's what this was. It felt like two hours of patchwork programming being done to fill time, build up a PPV, and oh yeah, SD is going to be on a new night as well. They didn't push that anywhere near as much as they should have, and if they want the idea to fail, then fine. Don't push it when you've got a good chance to succeed, and just risk killing your ratings further when UFC hits Fridays on a bigger station. Just kill SD then and blame the roster for it. Go ahead, blame the lack of star power on the guys playing the parts and not the people writing and booking them. Then they get a guy who basically makes himself into a huge draw without a single promo, you can sell his masks for at $75 a pop, make a mint, then do nothing with him because you brought him in because he was a megastar and he acted like one.
Give Cole a role where his entire purpose on the show is to bury seemingly everything and everyone on it, AND BURY THE COMPANY'S OWN PROGRAMMING and then wonder why people aren't buying PPVs or the guys on the PPVs as acts worth paying for. Does the UFC tell Rogan "hey Joe, instead of putting over how tough these guys are, just talk about their weaknesses". For goodness sake, even EXC had the sense to not bring up Ken Shamrock losing to a no-name guy before his fight with Kimbo - why? BECAUSE DOING SO WOULD BE STUPID. They wanted to build guys up. They didn't say "Ken Shamrock's old, washed-up, injured, losing to scrubs, and he's facing this no-talent guy", they said "HE'S THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS MAN AND HE'S GONNA FIGHT KIMBO SLICE!"
Maybe WWE going head to head with UFC will actually motivate them - I hope something does, because in less than two months, hell, barely a month and a half, they've gone from having a super-hot angle and seeming relevant again to just going back to having their heads up their asses and panicking about everything. They need something to motivate them to get their shit together and stop resting on their laurels. They had something really special with the Punk deal in July, but now, it's clear that they didn't learn a thing. It's like they found a moldy wall, and instead of getting to the root of the problem and eliminating the mold, they just slapped a fresh coat of paint over it and said the problem's solved.
Screens -
Finish Him!
Fatality
Quotes -
Cole - WELCOME TO MONDAY NIGHT RAW! (HHH comes out)
J.R. - The man with more on his plate than he can say grace over.
Cole - IT’S THE START OF A SUPER WEEK HERE IN WWE. WE’LL GET MORE INTO THAT LATER!
HHH - So…it’s my job now to make sure that we give you the absolute best that the WWE has to offer at all times. It’s my job to make sure this company survives and thrives, so with that said, starting tonight and for the foreseeable future, you are not only gonna get the superstars of Raw every Monday night, you’ll also get the superstars of SmackDown joining forces with them to create Raw’s SUPER SHOW. That announcement, something like that is the cool part of being COO. It also comes with some not so cool parts, like people lying to you and disrespecting you, and saying you sent me a text, you didn’t, you told me to jump a guy, didn’t tell me to jump a guy…It comes down to lying and most of those lies are coming from my friend Kevin Nash. Kev is upset that I wouldn’t allow him to be a man with CM Punk. Well Kev, you wanna be a man? BE A MAN RIGHT NOW, COME TO THE RING, LOOK ME IN THE EYE, AND TELL ME WHY YOU LIED TO ME!
Punk - WOW, WHAT A PERFORMANCE. MAN, I KNOW YOU’VE BEEN IN MOVIES, BUT THAT WAS OSCAR-CALIBER. THAT WAS PACINO IN HEAT. GREAT PERFORMANCE.
HHH - What do you want?
Punk - THIS ISN’T A MOVIE - STOP ACTING. MAN UP, TELL THE TRUTH - YOU, AND BIG DADDY COOL HAVE BEEN IN THIS SINCE THE BEGINNING! (NWO theme hits)
Nash - YEAH, I LIED! I had my driver call Laurinitis and tell ‘im I got in a wreck BECAUSE YOU WOULDN’T LET ME TAKE CARE OF THINGS. I knew it’d get you out of the building - the problem is HIM! YOU WOULDN’T LET ME DO WHAT I HAD TO DO, SO I HAD TO GET RID OF YA! YEAH! You been trying to make a fool out of me and it’s done. IT’S OVER! BUT YA KNOW WHAT, THE THING IS, IT’S JUST NOT ME! IT’S YOU HE’S INSULTING, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOUR WIFE! So I got a question for ya - I didn’t act like ya wanted me to, but what kind of man are you?
HHH - What kind of man am I? THE KIND OF MAN WHO DOESN’T EXPECT TO BE LIED TO BY HIS BEST FRIEND! WHO EXPECTS THAT IF HIS FRIEND TELLS HIM SOMETHING, IT’LL BE THE TRUTH. I CAN’T TRUST YOU - NOT WHEN IT COMES TO BUSINESS. YOU LIED TO MY FACE. Kev, I’ll ask you one more time - LEAVE! And this time, don’t come back.
Nash - You’re right - I lied, but only about the accident - not the text. While you were out last week, John Laurinitis, signed me to a, in this economy, a very lucrative WWE contract. So, buddy o pal, if you’re gonna fire me, you’ll have to do it in front of all these people and the millions at home. And op top of that, it’s guaranteed, so I’ll sit home and get paid! Ball’s in your court.
HHH - I’m not gonna fire you. Nah nah nah…but the lying stops now!
Punk - COUGHING! GET IT! I’M ACTING! LIKE I’M SICK! Just like you two - you expect anyone to believe this crap!? HHH, you can’t be the bad guy, so you have him do the work, and then you apologize to him AND HIRE HIM BACK!? THAT’S A GOOD ACQUISITION - THE KLIQ’S BACK! WOOHOO! Which is ironic, because click is the audience’s remote makes when Nash appears, and it’s the noise your knees make when you walk! CLICK CLICK CLICK!
Nash - YA KNOW WHAT? SINCE I’M NOW UNDER A WWE CONTRACT - DO ME A FAVOR, HUNTER - BOOK THE MATCH EVERYONE WANTS TO SEE! NASH VERSUS CM PUNK!
Punk - Let’s do it at NoC - HE’S A CHAMPION ASS-KISSER. Make the match…after checking with the board of directors. I mean your wife. C’mon, Mr. COO! MAKE THE MATCH HE THINKS HE WANTS! YOUR WIFE RUNS THE SHOW, ANYWAY, ask her if it’s okay. She told you to text Nash. You don’t wear the pants, BUT YOU DO WEAR HER PANTIES, DON’T YOU! PIPE BOMB!
HHH - You want the match? FINE, IT’S OFFICIAL - NASH-PUNK NOC! As far as the two of you go, I got two words for both of you (crowd - SUCK IT)
Cole - WE’RE LIVE BACK ON THE FIRST-EVER RAW SUPER-SHOW!
J.R. - Randy Orton, the third generation superstar with BIG TIME DNA!
(after a Dolph super kick)J.R. - TAKE ME BACK TO TULSA WITH THAT KICK!
Cena - YOU GUYS SHOULD BE HERE - THIS IS AWESOME RIGHT NOW!
King - Love him or hate him, you gotta respect him - JOHN CENA!
Cena - Mixed emotions as usual - I LOVE IT! I myself am uneasy - Alberto’s actions have been speaking louder than his words. His words were that he’d be a champion with honor, class, and dignity. He actions have shown he has no honor and has mastered the art of douchery. My reaction to what Alberto is to kick his teeth so far down his throat that his mouth becomes his anus. SENOR, YOU WANT SOME, COME GET SOME!
Henry - Cena, you talking about getting some. I CAME DOWN HERE TO GET ME SOME!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but over the past few months, I’ve dismantled Kane, the Big Show, and many others. Last week, I gave the world’s strongest slam to Sheamus on those steps! And you too John, are gonna join the HALL OF PAIN! Now regardless of who wins the cage match, they too are gonna join my list! And at NoC, Mark Henry, the world’s strongest man, is gonna be the new world champion. (Christian comes out)
Christian - Let me put your mind at ease - after I beat and embarrass Orton, you’ll face me at NoC, but let’s deal with that later. Cena, you make me sick to my stomach! If there’s one thing I can’t stand is someone who whines, bitches, and then whines more to get what they want - YOU’RE EMBARRASSING YOURSELF!
Cena - Pump the brakes - THAT’S NOT WHINING, THIS IS - WHY DOES CHRISTIAN COME OUT IN SO MUCH FAKE TAN! DOESN’T HE KNOW IT’S HD TV!? AND WHY DOES MARK HENRY’S BREATH SMELL LIKE FUNNEL CAKES MIXED WITH DOG CRAP!?
Christian - You just gonna stand here and take that, Mark? THERE’S TWO OF US AND ONE OF YOU!
Miz - I’VE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING LIKE THE GARBAGE SPEWED OUT OF YOUR MOUTH. TALKING ABOUT MAKING PEOPLE SICK!? REALLY!? REALLY!? WHAT YOU NEED TO REALIZE IS THAT I WAS DROPPING TRUTH BEFORE YOU WERE DROPPING PIPE BOMBS. YOU CALL YOURSELF THE BEST WRESTLER IN THE WORLD? I’M THE MOST MUST-SEE WWE CHAMPION IN HISTORY. I’M THE MIZ, AND I’M AWESOME!
Cole - THIS IS A RAW SUPER-SEW! THE STARS OF RAW AND SD WILL BE ON RAW FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE!
Cole - I THINK HHH IS BEHIND THIS!
Cole - WHAT IS A STRIKAAAHHH!
J.R. - I’ll get back to you on that.
Cole - THIS MATCH IS TRENDING WORLDWIDE ON TWITTER RIGHT NOW!
J.R. - We’re in cowboy country - BULLDOG HEADLOCK!
King - CM Pulll is pulling everything out of his repertoire.
Cole - CM Pull!? I’M CONTAGIOUS!
Cole - HE WAS EFFECTIVE WIT DOSE STRIKES! STRIKES STRIKES!
Cole - THE COO’S LATEST MOVIE IS ABOUT TO BE RELEASED!
Cole - Despite the fact that Swagger’s from Oklahoma, he’s a great athlete.
J.R. - That’s a brilliant deduction.
Cole - Sin Cara started wrestling at 15 - and at one point, was the biggest box office draw in Mexico and Japan. HE HAS HIS OWN COMIC BOOK!
Cole - AIR-BOOM!
King - Air-Boom are the opposite of what Otunga and McGillicutty were.
King - If they regain the titles, they’ll still be the most boring team I’ve seen in WWE.
King - If Otunga wasn’t married to Jennifer Hudson, the only thing he’s ay in a mic was “do you want fries with that.”
J.R. - Kingston with some amazing hops!
Guy - YOU SUCK, OTUNGA!
Cole - Looks like you just ate your words.
Cole - Can I say what he said? OTUNGA CALLED YOU QUOTE - YOU HAD A FAT, OVERWEIGHT ELVIS BUTT!
King - When’s he been looking at my butt? That came from a guy married to Jennifer Hudson?
J.R. - Eve got clipped on the backside.
J.R. - It won’t be a pretty night for CM Punk.
Cole - THE SLOGAN FOR THE MOVIE DESCRIBES THIS MATCH - SOMETIMES YOUR BEST FRIEND IS YOUR WORST ENEMY!
Cole - You’re both members of the hall of fame, but I wish you were members of the hall of pain.
Cole - Henry broke the legs of Kane and Big Show and put them in the hall of pain.
King - Who could forget what he did to Vladimir Kozlov?
HHH - I just got off the phone with the board of directors…
Punk - YOU RESIGNED!?
HHH - No…
HHH - Your match with Nash has been cancelled - at NoC, YOU’LL GO ONE ON ONE WITH ME!
Good thing I missed the show then. I was watching Phillies/Red, but realized I was actually home on a monday night, so I turned on Raw at about 9:10. I see CM Punk coughing and choking in the ring for a good minute.... and I turned back to ESPN.
To be fair, booking Hunter and Nash against each other at some point at least doubles the chance of a torn quadricep. Nash enters the ring over the top rope, blows his quad, and HHH tears his clean off the bone again jumping to cover Nash to put himself over again.
[quote name='mykevermin']Does a tag team looking like a tag team matter to any of you at all?
Having a team name, wearing similar tights, etc? Is that important? Or is it okay if the entire tag division is just named "guy a and guy b," no change in outfits, etc.? It really reinforces the feeling that the tag division is like the WWE equivalent of the dudes who go to every school dance in high school but never had a date. There's kind of that "well, it, it's not like I'm doing anything else anyway" attitude about it, combined with the minimal effort to pretend like there's minimal effort.[/QUOTE]
It does to me, but then again I grew up in the era of where tag teams were important. The Rock n' Roll Express vs Midnight Express put asses in the seats. People came to see the Road Warriors. People bought a ticket for Demolition. I love that time! If "Air Boom" start getting the matching outfits and single unified entrance, and a Team finish, then I'll start to maybe believe the rumor.
I thought Smackdown was live tonight. What gives? They taped it already? And moved back to UPN? And changed their name back to "WWF"?
On a serious note, last night I briefly experienced the same kind of frustration that Trakan and some of the other TNA fans must experience regularly. In reading reviews of Raw, places like PWTorch and Prowrestling.net praised the show, saying it was good at the same time they also said the booking of Punk in his angle was okay because they knew it would be messy/overbooked anyway. But these are the same people who dump on TNA week in and week out for overbooking and cluster finishes. WWE gets a pass for booking a 12-month story arc (with Punk) over 8 weeks - Punk/Cena (1/2/3), Punk/Nash, and Punk/Triple H. They all have (or will have) run-ins and screwjob/overbooked finishes - Punk pins Cena 'clean' at SS, but it involves (1) ref error, (2) a run-in by a 50+ year old man, and (3) a spontaneous (but okay, semi-expected) run-in and brand new champion who was not advertised for the title match on the card. That was the cleanest finish of their three matches, I believe.
So to see the same people who bash TNA look the other way when WWE does it damn near exactly the same way is a bit off-putting. This doesn't mean I'm suddenly in love with the way TNA does business; I still think they're largely a promotion based on wasted opportunity, squandered potential, and some of the laziest check-cashing stars of yesteryear I've ever seen. But WWE is not improving their product in the slightest. This angle is WCW Invasion of WWF bad.
[quote name='mykevermin']Does a tag team looking like a tag team matter to any of you at all?
Having a team name, wearing similar tights, etc? Is that important?[/QUOTE]
I actually almost put something about Kofi and Bourne getting matching outfits in my earlier post but removed it. Would be nice, but I know from the company standpoint (as short-sighted as it may be) it's still "better" to be able to market them separately. That ain't a fight that can be won, as far as I can tell, so I'm not going to harp on it. I hope it happens but I'm not going to call this supposed revitalization bullshit if they don't do it.
It's really all about them making the titles seem important and putting effort into making some actual tag team storylines appealing. If they do that, that's probably going to be good enough for me.
Next up: Intercontinental title. Make it happen. I don't even know who the champion is right now.
Need to slap a Sub-Zero mask on the 3rd screencap and a Kane mask on the final screencap above.
My girlfriend didn't work last night (she normally does work Mon. nights) so we watched a movie together when Raw was on. She went to bed around 10 so I stayed up a little longer to watch the end of Raw. I tuned in during the middle of the main event tag match. Then I see Super Cena get the finisher and the pin. Then they cut in to break the news that HHH is gonna bury Punk sooner than we thought.
As Raw was going off the air I realized that aside from the CAG chat I clearly had not missed a single thing by skipping Raw. Just pitiful to squander everything that had been built up over the last couple months.
I'm left wondering what the CM Punk before he re-signed who was telling us about the same crap being given to us week in and week out would have to say about the CM Punk we're being given today...
Also, did I read Jay's post correctly; Del Rio, the UNDISPUTED World Champion, wasn't even on Raw tonight?!?!
There is no possible way they can have a one on one match with Punk and Nash, so I am not surprised they aren't going in that direction. With that being said, this storyline is a total cluster.
My thoughts on this storyline can be summed up by one Tweet:
CM Punk vs HHH already? With this kind of rushed storytelling, we'd have learned Laura Palmer's killer in the pilot.
WWE does realize that ending the brand split means nothing if there's still 4 un-unified belts, right?
I like how everyone is talking about the Nash quad-tear in the future tense. They switched the match to Punk/HHH last night. To me, that's a clear indication that Nash already did it. DEDUCTIVE REASONING, YOU GUYS.
Apparently Del Rio is having visa issues so that covers my complaint about why the champ wasn't on RAW. That gif pretty much sums up everything you could have said, seriously if anyone thinks that Triple H is going to go 0 - 2 on matches this year, they're crazy. If (and that is a big if) Punk wins, there is no way it is a clean victory.
Yeah, Punk is going down for sure. No reason to get bent about it; in fact, the .gif above has me giggling every time I see it.
When Triple H finally retires for good, will he be known as one of the best of his generation, or will he be known as one of the most shrewd political manipulators of all time, a Mitt Romney of pro wrestling, who will be anyone you want him to be as long as it gets him more power and prestige - power and prestige spent only to try to assure the public that this person is, in fact, deserving of the position they are in?
Part of me thinks that history will not look fondly upon his matches and that his political machinations are so transparent as to clearly shed a light on how he managed to get to be where he is in his career. Without the clique, and without Stephanie, Triple H would be exactly where Shane Douglas is now.
I have a few friends who are all casual fans and really enjoy Triple H. They actually don't understand why I can't stand him. Trying to explain to them that the only reason he is as big as he is is because of who he knows/knew is like talking to a brick wall. When Trips finally hangs up the tights for good, all I will be is happy, the guy who buried countless people unless he deemed them "worthy" to be put over by him. Just think about how different the main event scene may have been for the better part of the 2000's if Triple H hadn't buried so many people.
WWE officials made the decision some time in the past week or so that Kevin Nash won't be wrestling for them. It's likely Nash will stick around for the time being and participate in the occasional angle but unless something changes, he won't be having a match. This is why CM Punk vs. Kevin Nash at Night of Champions was changed to Punk vs. Triple H. WWE knew going into RAW last night that Nash wouldn't be wrestling.
Nash recently went to Pittsburgh to do physicals for the company and something happened there that made them decide that they don't want Nash in the ring taking bumps and doing something as physical as a whole match. There is still some chance that Nash could end up wrestling but something happened after the physicals that have put a roadblack in front of Nash's return match.
The decision to put Triple H in the match with Punk wasn't made until yesterday. The original plans had Punk going over Nash at Night of Champions.
Someone posted this vid on another forum, and I hadn't picked up on it last week. I don't see it leading to anything, but I figure it was something to post:
That Nash timeline doesn't make any sense. Okay, we all understood the original plan. That's not an issue. The HHH decision was made yesterday. They decided Nash wouldn't be wrestling in the past week.
So, uh, all signs here point to them knowing before that promo on Raw that Nash wasn't going to be wrestling. Why even go through the motions of setting it up, then? Why even bother teasing the crowd with a match that will never happen? From a writing standpoint, that makes no sense. For a company that books on the fly, that indicates an extreme lack of flexibility in the writing. It also explains why the HHH announcement seemed really random.
Rushed. One word perfectly encapsulates Punk's recent run. Returning to the company? Rushed. Unification match? Rushed. HHH vs. Punk? Rushed. They've literally blown through a good 6 months of storyline here in about a month and a half. That's just ed.
Oh, and one more thing... gee, maybe we should've had Nash get medically checked out *before* debuting him on TV? No? For 's sake.
[quote name='mykevermin']$20 sez that Nash will be Sin Cara by next week. That's the only explanation; they've soured on both Mistico and Hunico.[/QUOTE]
"Sin Cara's been working out! Just look at how big he's gotten!"
I'm done with my last Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 theme pack. It contains theme edits for:
Alberto Del Rio
Alex Riley
CM Punk (Cult of Personality edit)
Daniel Bryan
Dolph Ziggler
Justin Gabriel
Kevin Nash (2011 nWo edit used on Raw 8/29/11)
R-Truth
Sin Cara
The Rock (2011 edit)
Wade Barrett
If you're interested in it, PM me and I will send you the link for it.
[quote name='mykevermin']$20 sez that Nash will be Sin Cara by next week. That's the only explanation; they've soured on both Mistico and Hunico.[/QUOTE]
Now you're on to something.
Real Diesel and Real Sin Cara vs. Fake Diesel and Fake Sin Cara for Night of Champions
I feel like the 2 seconds it took me to type that up is more thought than the WWE has given to booking Night of Champions.
[quote name='Scorch']It probably will, given the rumors of Team Triple H vs. Team CM Punk at Survivor Series.[/QUOTE]
See but that team vs. team match would work better as a buildup to a match between them, rather than a continuation of their feud...
I think that's WWE's biggest problem right now, they haven't learned what the word "buildup" means.
[quote name='RedvsBlue']Now you're on to something.
Real Diesel and Real Sin Cara vs. Fake Diesel and Fake Sin Cara for Night of Champions
I feel like the 2 seconds it took me to type that up is more thought than the WWE has given to booking Night of Champions.
[/QUOTE]
Does that mean Kane has to pretend to be Fake Diesel again? In which case hopefully it'll spiral out into a Kane as Fake Diesel versus Luke Gallows as Fake Kane. This can have an endless doppelganger storyline somewhere...
[quote name='bardockkun']Does that mean Kane has to pretend to be Fake Diesel again? In which case hopefully it'll spiral out into a Kane as Fake Diesel versus Luke Gallows as Fake Kane. This can have an endless doppelganger storyline somewhere...[/QUOTE]
That's ing meta...
[quote name='RedvsBlue']See but that team vs. team match would work better as a buildup to a match between them, rather than a continuation of their feud...
I think that's WWE's biggest problem right now, they haven't learned what the word "buildup" means.[/QUOTE]
Imagine how much heat Triple H would get if their feud started out w/ a Team H versus Team CM match at Survivor Series, wherein (1) Triple H tags or fades out every time Punk tries to get in the ring with him *or* (2) start w/ #1, but finish by having Punk finally corner Triple H into the ring, only to have them brawl outside the ring and both get counted out in like 30-40 seconds, sending them brawling to the back. Suggest something to the fans, then take it away from them - that's what makes them want to see something.
Rehire Chavo Gurrerro as well to dress up as CP Munk (the straight edge chipmunk) to face off against CM Punk and you'll have easily one of the best Survivor Series in awhile. Which says alot about how well this CM Punk feud is going right now...
Not because the article paints him as a bankrupt, run-down old man, but because the article claims that he is suffering from Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy.[/QUOTE]
Too bad he admitted having it in his autobiography.
"Through my many years of partying, I also developed something called "alcoholic cardiomyopathy," a weakening of heart muscles. I first detected that there was something wrong when my heart began skipping beats. I went to a cardiologist friend who told me that when your heart pumps, it expands to a rubber band. But mine was doing it too much. Initially, I thought that steroids might be responsible, but the doctor dismissed this theory. My heart was fluttering from thirty-five years of hitting it hard.
It's the part of the price of being Ric Flair. In exchange for the glory and the good times, I acquired a heart condition, self-esteem issues, and cataracts from tanning beds—and very nearly wrecked my marriage to a great woman. But incredibly, I remained ageless in other ways. And in 2002, at nearly fifty-three years old, I was about to see if I could show a new generation of fans what they missed in the 1970s and 1980s."
I just can't be mad at Flair, it's just depressing.
He did a signing event at a furniture store in Roanoke, VA shortly after he "retired" from the WWE and (according to one of my Dad's friends whom I have no reason not to believe) he stayed way after he was scheduled to be there, spent a long time with each fan and was generally a class act all around. No word on if he whipped 'Lil Naich out of his pants on the drive home but whatever.
[quote name='Scorch']Wow. Not even two minutes in and we get Nitro, Thunder, Shotgun Saturday Night, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, XFL, and Shockmaster references.
They should go a step further and have Glacier appear from somewhere in the back.[/QUOTE]
What in the fu-hell am I missing?
Imagine how much heat Triple H would get if their feud started out w/ a Team H versus Team CM match at Survivor Series, wherein (1) Triple H tags or fades out every time Punk tries to get in the ring with him *or* (2) start w/ #1, but finish by having Punk finally corner Triple H into the ring, only to have them brawl outside the ring and both get counted out in like 30-40 seconds, sending them brawling to the back. Suggest something to the fans, then take it away from them - that's what makes them want to see something.[/QUOTE]
Now that's an idea that would make a HHH v Punk match actually interesting. Instead HHH is likely going to bury him, the feud will likely be strung along till Survivor Series and the face-off between them will just come across as "oh, this again"...
I know Punk's contract likely doesn't have much in the way of creative control but I can't help but feel disappointed in him at this point as well for getting pulled into such a blah storyline.
The Sin Hunico vs Daniel Bryan match was *really good*, but it's also completely inconsequential (i.e., it doesn't matter at all that Sin Cara won, and nobody will remember it in 2 weeks - most of all, WWE themselves).
The Triple H vs CM Punk promo was treading water like a motherer. Absolutely, positively terrible, go-nowhere segment that was two people rambling incoherently and angrily. By the time Nash came out, he was the de facto babyface for putting a stop to all the ing awful talking.
finish...and the camera guy missed the GTS. Welcome to Impact... THEN NASH CAME OUT. And beat up Punk. Well, he got his visual won on Punk in a way here, so hopefully this leads to his match at the PPV going maybe a minute or two.
