– WWE NXT began airing on the WWE website one year ago from today, 3/8/11. There is still no word on when the never-ending season of NXT: Redemption will conclude.
– Alberto Del Rio was backstage, but was not used at television this week after returning to the ring over the weekend.
Del Rio is expected to participate at WrestleMania 28 in the rumored Team Long vs. Team John Laurinaitis match. That match and its participants are scheduled to be announced on Monday’s RAW.
– The new Cosmopolitan Magazine features an article on Divas in pro wrestling and includes quotes from Eve Torres, Alicia Fox and former diva Torrie Wilson, who is now dating New York Yankee star Alex Rodriguez.
— The newly launched WWE.com features an updated 2012 pay-per-view event schedule and No Way Out is listed as taking place before SummerSlam. The event will take place on July 15 at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Money In The Bank was scheduled for that night but it will instead take place on June 18 at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
— WWE.com has updated their profile on Brodus Clay’s dancer Naomi with all new pictures. However, she, nor Cameron Lynn, are listed as members of either Raw or SmackDown.
— The term “#NewWWEcom” was a trending topic on Twitter shortly after the relaunch of WWE.com on Sunday.
— The April 2012 issue of WWE Magazine is the “ultimate guide” to WrestleMania XXVIII and features John Cena, CM Punk, The Undertaker, Randy Orton and Sheamus on the cover. The photo used for The Undertaker is two to three years old.
Welcome to Canton’s Corner. The column will be in a different format this week. I haven’t watched Smackdown yet. Not sure when I will. I haven’t watched TNA in a month. I probably will after Sunday’s PPV as they get on the road to Lockdown. What you’ll get here are the polls, a column from myself on the Jericho/Punk feud, the random clip, the Twitter Ten and the Melo Man will bring it home with his thoughts as usual. Let’s roll.
John Cena was involved in an automobile accident Monday morning while on a media appearance in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. CBS Philly reports Cena was supposed to appear on CBS’ noon program Talk Philly but his vehicle was rear ended by a tractor trailer. Police arrived to the scene and no immediate injuries were reported.
According to TMZ.com, they were told he’s “OK” and his upcoming match with The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII is not in jeopardy. He will meet with WWE medical personnel when he arrives to the Wells Fargo Center for tonight’s Raw SuperShow event. TMZ says “it doesn’t seem he was injured … although signs of whiplash often don’t show up for a day or two.”
WWE.com says they will post comments from Cena concerning the accident later today.
— John Cena tweeted a photo of himself happily holding urine samples after taking a WWE mandated drug test Sunday afternoon. He also wrote to ESPN’s accounts, “Hey @espn @SportsCenter drug test 7days from the dance. Looks like Aegis also wants to see a clean fight.”
Cena then posted a user comment reading, “Why is that drug test for ?? Besides, you seem so happy there.” He proclaimed to be “drug free 4 life,” writing in response, “Drug testing is @wwe policy since 05/06. Im happy because im proud that @wwe is committed to health of superstars #drugfree4life.”
— Legendary Japanese wrestler Jumbo Tsuruta would have turned 61 years old on Sunday. He died on May 13, 2000 at the age of 49 from complications of a kidney transplant after being diagnosed with kidney cancer.
— As reported earlier, SmackDown ring announcer Lilian Garcia will be holding a VIP concert this Wednesday from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the Gibson Miami Showroom (located at 180 NE 39th St Miami, Florida 33255). The WWE Diva is offering free VIP passes to fans at the following link.
Photos of Evan Bourne’s mangled foot following car accident
The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal 03/26/12 by John Canton (Twitter @johnreport)
Live from Atlanta, Georgia this is the Raw Deal…
Before I start, l saw the Rock/Cena documentary feature that was on USA Network pre-Raw. It was outstanding stuff. I’m a fan of both guys and have loved the build, so I recommend it to anybody that has similar thoughts on them. If you’re sick of them or dislike one of them a lot then it’s probably best to avoid because it’s about them obviously. I thought it was outstanding, though, like most WWE video packages.
Randy Orton & Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan & Kane
When was the last time Raw started with a match instead of a promo? That was a nice change of pace, I thought. Bryan had AJ at ringside with him and got a good luck kiss from her before the bell. I think their act is great. He’s done very well in terms of being a jerk on the road to WrestleMania. In the match, Bryan knocked Sheamus out to the floor for the vintage floor to commercial spot.
(Commercial)
Back from break, the heels worked over Orton. He fought off Kane’s attacks to tag in Sheamus while Kane brought in Bryan. Sheamus went nuts on DBry. He was setting him up for the Brogue Kick. AJ went into the ring to prevent him from hitting it. Meanwhile, out on the floor, Kane knocked Orton down. Bryan avoided the Brogue Kick. Kane showed up on the apron, gave Sheamus a chokeslam and Bryan covered for the win after 11 minutes. One move can put Sheamus down for the count? That’s it? After the win, Bryan did his “YES!” celebration, which is always great.
Winner: Daniel Bryan & Kane (**3/4)
It was a solid tag match that got a good amount of time. I’m likely going with Orton over Kane at WrestleMania. Not sure about Sheamus/Bryan, but I think Sheamus will be the new World Champion at WrestleMania. I think that match is going on first too.
They showed the clip of WM27 when Rock cost Cena the title. Does it matter that much since Cena won it a few weeks later anyway? I know winning it at WrestleMania is a bigger deal, but big picture it doesn’t matter that much.
(Commercial)
Michael Cole was in the ring in a Team Johnny (Laurinaitis) shirt. He said he was the official commentator of Team Johnny. We also found out that Vickie Guerrero was the official flag bearer. David Otunga entered for a match. He did a lot of poses on the stage. I guess he’s the new Masterpiece. Vince McMahon loves those pretty muscles. Booker announced Teddy Long, who came out with Hornswoggle as his team mascot and Santino, who would be facing Otunga again.
Santino vs. David Otunga
Comedy match. Lots of outside activities. Santino won clean with the Cobra in about 90 seconds.
Winner: Santino (DUD)
Post match, Santino shoved Laurinaitis over Hornswoggle, who was on all fours, so that Johnny fell on his ass. Santino was going to give him The Cobra, but Miz ran in and gave Santino the Skull Crushing Finale. Post match, Laurinaitis announced that Miz was on “Team Teddy.” Yes, JL got his own first name wrong. He quickly corrected himself. It’s nice that Miz is on the team. He should have been on from the beginning. It would have saved us from his boring “I headlined WrestleMania 27” promos.
(Commercial)
They showed a video about when The Rock/Cena match was set up one year ago.
There was a video package hyping up the Undertaker/Triple H match at WrestleMania 28. Here it is below:
Four minutes of awesomeness. Typical great stuff from the production team as it relates to an Undertaker match at WrestleMania. I think the one before his WM26 match with Shawn Michaels is one of the best video packages ever. This one was excellent, though. None of these three men were on Raw although Michaels & Hunter did appear in front of the live crowd prior to Raw. They did their DX routine while beating up Jinder Mahal.
Eve and Beth entered before the commercial. Eve was in ring gear. Beth was wearing a dress.
(Commercial)
Eve vs. Kelly Kelly
They worked about two minutes. Kelly won with a sloppy rollup after Eve missed a moonsault.
Winner: Kelly Kelly (1/2*)
Typical short divas match on Raw. It should be noted that Maria Menounos has apparently two broken ribs, yet she’s still wrestling. The crowd is going to be dead for that match at WrestleMania. I would assume this means Beth & Eve win at Mania and then something happens after for the faces to get their heat back.
We got a clip from Survivor Series when Rock & Cena teamed up to squash Miz & Truth. Rock gave Cena a Rock Bottom to end the night. That was their last physical altercation.
The top of hour two match was CM Punk vs. Christian, so we saw Punk getting ready for it.
(Commercial)
Christian entered first in a Team Johnny shirt. Punk followed. Before the match could start, Chris Jericho appeared on the big screen. He said he did some more family digging and this time went after Punk’s mom. He said she was clean unlike his dad and sister, but that he found out Punk was born before his parents got married. Thus, Punk is the legal definition of a bastard. Is that really a big insult if your parents had you before getting married? I don’t think so.
Christian attacked early. Match never started. Christian dumped Punk to the floor. Punk attacked by kicking at Christian’s ankle and also ramming him head first into the announce table multiple times. Punk gave Christian a GTS on the steps so that Christian’s head hit the steps rather than Punk’s knee. Punk gave Christian the Anaconda Vice as a number of refs ran out to try to stop it. He was yelling: “This is you, Jericho!”
I liked the intensity shown by Punk. He did a great job. It definitely added to the drama of the Punk/Jericho story and makes me even more excited for that much. Christian is awesome at selling moves, so he was the right guy for this. It could also set up a feud between them down the line, which would be fantastic.
(Commercial)
Back from break, the news was that Christian was out of WrestleMania due to a neck injury. That’s the storyline reason. The real reason is he hasn’t fully healed from his ankle injury yet. If he could go out there to do this angle for a few minutes then how come he can’t stand on an apron during a 6 on 6 tag where others could do a lot of work? It’s a shame that Christian isn’t wrestling at a WrestleMania for the second year in a row.
Brodus Clay vs. Curt Hawkins
Clay won in about 60 seconds with a big splash.
Winner: Brodus Clay (NR)
I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s a short Brodus “match” at WrestleMania. This act is getting stale until he gets an actual feud. I’m surprised they didn’t add him to Team Teddy.
They aired clips of the “war of words” between Cena and Rock.
(Commercial)
They plugged WWE.com for a list of Hall of Fame inductors. The names were leaked on the internet about a week before, but WWE.com likes you to think that they broke the news. Here’s the listing of the Hall of Famers along with their inductors.
Edge will be inducted by Christian
The Four Horsemen will be inducted by Dusty Rhodes
Mike Tyson will be inducted by Triple H & Shawn Michaels
Ron Simmons will be inducted by JBL
Yokozuna will be inducted by The Usos
Mil Mascaras will be inducted by Alberto Del Rio
Congrats to Christian, Del Rio and The Usos for being inductors at the Hall of Fame even though they aren’t on the WrestleMania card. I don’t really understand it in Del Rio’s case because he’s been wrestling at house shows over the past month.
Big Show vs. Primo
A squash in under one minute thanks to a Big Show chokeslam. Post match, he gave a chokeslam to Epico as well. That’s how you bury your tag champs in an effective manner.
Winner: Big Show (NR)
The music of Cody Rhodes started. He stayed at the ramp and told Big Show not to come after him because he wouldn’t able to catch him, which led to the cheetah/water buffalo reference. That’s how we got the banner for this column. Thanks Steve Melo. He said they would turn Big Show’s name into a verb, so students would pray that they don’t “Big Show” on their finals and young men at the bar hope they don’t “Big Show” with the ladies. Big Show = fail, you see? “Even better. I’ve got to take a Big Show.” So that time Big Show = shit. I’m here to help you, dear reader. Cody said he’d beat him at WrestleMania. The idea is that Big Show is going to be very angry going into the match on Sunday. If Show wins the IC Title, he would have won every active title in WWE. Divas title doesn’t count. Sorry.
More hype for the final Rock/Cena confrontation.
(Commercial)
They aired another “Lord Tensai” video. Apparently “A-Train” was trending on Twitter after this. I guess the WWE Universe likes his old name, huh? I’m not sure when he debuts. It’s possible that it will be next Monday, though.
Backstage, Brie Bella was in a Team Johnny shirt while Nikki had a Team Teddy shirt on. We also found out last week that Brie is dating Daniel Bryan. Maybe he can teach her how to be a better wrestler and actress. Zack Ryder showed up to say his catchphrase. Meanwhile in the background we saw Drew McIntyre talking to Abraham Washington, who is apparently back for some reason although they aren’t acknowledging him. He’s been on in the background a few times in recent weeks. More bad acting. Eve showed up as the Bellas left. She wanted to know what hotel he was staying at. Zack said he was staying with Team Teddy. She was hoping he would stay at her hotel. He went to kiss her. She stopped it by saying that after WrestleMania they can celebrate.
Backstage, Josh Mathews talked to CM Punk. He said he’s not off limits, but his family is. He said Jericho can call him whatever he wants. His sister is off limits and what he said about her is a fabrication. He also said what Jericho said about his mother was a lie. “I’m not a bastard. I’m the best wrestler in the world.” Punk showed a lot of intensity. Very good promo from the champ. This show did a good job of adding fuel to the fire for this Punk/Jericho match.
(Commercial)
Prior to the crappy match we’d see next, Drew McIntyre was announced as the replacement on Team Johnny. Their team has a lot of former World Champions and a guy that loses a lot. That’s balance.
Mark Henry vs. The Great Khali
I hope Khali is making them big money in India because that’s the only reason I can see why you want to put him in the ring. He looks like he’s going to hurt himself just by walking. Henry won with the World’s Strongest Slam in about one minute.
Winner: Mark Henry (NR)
Post match, the Team Teddy/Team Johnny guys brawled. Booker T made the save. He took it to Mark Henry, who was close to giving the World’s Strongest Slam to Teddy Long. Teddy asked Booker to be a part of his team. Teddy is such a good leader that it takes him four weeks to find people that like him. Booker accepted. He did the Spinarooni much to the delight of the crowd. I would have liked to see a younger wrestler in the spot, but they’ve done such a poor job with midcard babyfaces that there weren’t many options aside from maybe Brodus Clay. I pick Team Johnny to win at WM. I think a lot of people will pick them.
The Rock/Cena final hype was in the main event.
(Commercial)
The Rock came out first. He talked about how he hadn’t wrestled at a WrestleMania for eight years. He said that over the course of those eight years he was asked a lot about when he was coming back. He talked about Betty White’s “Civil War Pie” and then later in the segment we saw that “Civil War Pie” was trending. What an accomplishment, really. Rock said last year he knew he’d be coming back when he was at WrestleMania 27 and gave a Rock Bottom to John Cena. The next night on Raw, in the same building in Atlanta, the match was made because of the fans. “Finally The Rock has come back to Atlanta.” He took a while to get to it, but I liked that portion of the promo quite a bit. Rock said that Cena’s accomplished a lot, but he’s never been in the ring with somebody like The Rock. As he continued, John Cena’s music played.
Cena remarked to the camera that we were only six days from WrestleMania. Cena said that he knew that the mixed crowd reaction would happen at WM. He told Rock that he has never seen anything like Cena. Cena said he even after all the trash talk he’s happy to be there with a smile on his face. A “Fruity Pebbles” chant started up. Cena said in the time Rock’s been away, one guy has been thrown to the wolves for the last ten years and that’s him. A “Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks” chant started. Cena said he doesn’t care about all the trash talk because he does what his t-shirt says: “Rise Above Hate.” He said the thing that really angers people isn’t just that he rises above, but that he rises above and he wins. He said they know, referring to the doubters, what he knows: “I’m going to win at WrestleMania.” He said he’s been an active member in WWE longer than Rock. Cena started in 2002 so he’s going on 10 years now. Rock started in 1996, wrestled at his last WrestleMania in 2004 and has only been back for about a year, so that’s a fair statement by Cena. I thought Cena made a good point talking about how much he loves working for WWE. He said people know that he means it when he says he loves his job.
Cena talked about how he has to win at WrestleMania because life goes on for Rock. He mentioned Rock would be starring in GI Joe, which comes out this summer. Cena mentioned that after WM his office doesn’t change. It’s still his life. Crowd barely reacted to that part. Cena: “I’ll be god dammed if you come in – a visitor – as good as you think you are, and take my life from me.” I really liked that line. He said nobody remembers second place. That’s why he has to win. Cena: “I have to win this match more than anything in my entire life.” Rock said he knows the match is important to Cena, but it’s important to him. He said the people know he’s not a visitor. “This house, this office, your office – The Rock helped build.” Damn right he did. Rock said it’s more than just the biggest match of all-time. Rock said he’s come back after all these years to beat Cena. He said never before has somebody walked into a WrestleMania to say he’s beat Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and John Cena. Good point. Rock: “On a professional level, The Rock needs to beat you to become the greatest WWE superstar of all time. On a personal level, I just don’t like you.” He said “I” instead of speaking in the third person. You know it’s serious now. Rock said that in six days he’ll beat Cena and give him the ass kicking of a lifetime. Rock: “You know it, The Rock knows it and you can bet your ass that they know it too.” They being the fans in this instance. Cena said “it doesn’t matter what you think.” Oh, he stole a Rock-ism. Cena said he usually says you can’t see me, but at WrestleMania The Rock will see him. Cena: “The headline reads what I predicted: John Cena whips The Rock’s ass at WrestleMania.” I agree. I pick Cena. They dropped their microphones. They went face to face. The show ended.
I thought it was an effective segment. They’re two great talkers setting up one of the biggest matches ever. They each got about the same amount of time to talk. The best part of the promo? When Cena talked about why he has to win. Then Rock talked about why he wants to win. That’s what wrestling is about. The victory should be important. I loved their intensity too. Well done by both guys. That’s no surprise.
They didn’t say anything really new, but it’s been built up for more than a year that there was only so much they could really do here. The interesting thing to me is that they did not hit eachother at any point over the month. We know Rock wants to win to prove he’s the best ever in his mind. We know Cena wants to win to prove that he’s the best. Works for me. Bring on the match!
——————-
Three Stars of the Show
1. CM Punk
2. The Rock
3. John Cena
6 out of 10
Last week: 6.5
2012 Average: 6.19
2012 High: 9 (January 30)
2012 Low: 4 (January 9)
Last 5 Weeks: 6.5, 6, 7, 6, 7.5
As you can see from the ratings of the last 5 weeks, every edition of Raw got between a 6 to 7.5 from me. That’s my way of saying that while none of these shows were especially great, they were all good. I think what we’ve learned is that the WM card has been built up so well for so long that there was only so much they could do to add to the stories involved with the top matches.
They’ve done a good job of keeping Rock & Cena from touching eachother. If you want to see them fight, watch WrestleMania. The same can be said about the Hunter/Undertaker, Jericho/Punk and Rhodes/Show matches, which all have been built up in a way that has kept the opponents from going after eachother physically. While Jericho/Punk have had matches together, they have been kept apart for the most part.
There’s not much more to say. It’s WrestleMania 28 time. Finally, the most heavily promoted WrestleMania of all time is here. Bring it on.
I’ll be back on Friday with Andrew & Christian from TJR for a WrestleMania preview.
I leave for Miami on Wednesday morning. I’ll be there five days. While I’m there I’ll write WrestleMania related diaries every day…I hope. Last year I only did two in the three days I was there. I’m hoping to be able to write five this year. I’ll have a review of the show up probably next Wednesday or Thursday after I return home on Monday and have a chance to watch it again.
If you’re in Miami this week, shoot me an email at [email protected] or send me a tweet @johnreport and I’d be happy to say hi or have a drink. I’ll probably be at the WrestleReunion event on Saturday and Sunday. Ring of Honor on Friday is a possibility too. Not sure about when I’ll go to Axxess, but I’ll likely be at one of the sessions. Hall of Fame is a maybe. WrestleMania is a full go obviously. Otherwise I plan on just hanging out, relaxing, visiting with friends and having a good time. Even though it’s a “vacation” in some ways in other ways it’s not. I’m very happy about going, though. Believe me.
I finished writing about every WrestleMania event in WWE history. If you missed any of the 27 reviews you can catch up by viewing the archive here. After WrestleMania 28, I’ll be writing a column that looks closer at the best matches, worst matches and what makes a WrestleMania great among other topics in that column.
Keep checking out thejohnreport.net for plenty of WrestleMania related columns all week from the staff at TJR. Thanks for reading!
John Canton – [email protected]
thejohnreport.net
Twitter @johnreport
Facebook Facebook.com/thejohnreportnet
– The news of Brock Lesnar returning to WWE was a hot topic of disucssion in the crowd at the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in Miami last night. While there is still no confirmation that Lesnar has signed a 1-year deal with WWE, expectations are high that he will be appearing at RAW tomorrow night.
– Former WWE Superstar MVP noted on Twitter that his upcoming hip-hop mixtape is about 50% done. MVP, who is from Miami, also commented on The Rock’s ties to the city:
“I’ve always been a huge fan of the Rock. 1 of the greatest ever! But Rocky went “to school” in Miami. He’s not FROM Miami! Big difference!”
– Below as a new promotional poster for WWE’s upcoming Over the Limit pay-per-view featuring Randy Orton:
* NEW Pictures Of The WRESTLEMANIA STAGE & Update on BROCK LESNAR At MANIA
Justin Gabriel stated Monday afternoon Twitter that he suffered an elbow injury during the Triple Threat Tag Team Championship Match at WrestleMania XXVIII and therefore will be sidelined for six weeks.
“Just had X-rays and MRI on elbow,” Gabriel wrote. “Good news: no surgery needed. Bad news: out for six weeks.”
The WWE Tag Team Champions stood tall against their challengers was Primo and Epico defeated The Usos and the pairing of Tyson Kidd and Gabriel.
ImpactWrestling.com has released the official preview for Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling.
Preview IMPACT On Thursday: The Final Countdown To Lockdown
Preview Thursday’s IMPACT WRESTLING broadcast on SpikeTV at 9/8c. If you can’t watch it Thursday, make sure to set your DVR to record it so you don’t miss any of the action.
– The broadcast will feature the final countdown to the Lockdown Pay-Per-View event
– World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode and challenger “Cowboy” James Storm will have one last face-to-face before their main event match at Lockdown
– Eric Young and ODB get married on Thursday’s broadcast in the first-ever Steel Cage Wedding
– Who will Eric Bischoff and Garett Bischoff pick for their Lethal Lockdown teams? Find out Thursday night! We also understand that members from Eric and Garett’s team will battle in a Best of 3 Series with the winning team getting the man advantage going into Lethal Lockdown.
– We’ll hear from the Motorcity Machine Guns, who challenge for the World Tag team Championship at Lockdown
– In Knockouts Tag Team action, champion Gail Kim and Madison Rayne battle Velvet Sky and Mickie James
All this and much more on Thursday’s IMPACT WRESTLING broadcast on SpikeTV
*PHOTO* Mike Tyson backstage at WrestleMania with The Undertaker
The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal 04/09/12 by John Canton (Twitter @johnreport)
Live from Washington, DC this is the Raw Deal…
Before we start, my website is moving from thejohnreport.net to TJRWrestling.com. TJRWrestling.com is already working, but we are moving content over so it may be slow for a few days meaning it may not load if you try to go there. By Friday, thejohnreport.net won’t be working and TJRWrestling.com is the place to go to read my work as well as the work of the TJR staff. I’ve already posted a column about the six Brock Lesnar matches we need to see and there’s a post up explaining the move too. It’s about growth and wanting to grow the TJR name. To those that care, thanks for the support. To those that don’t care, sorry to have wasted your time. Now we move on to the discussion about the men pretending to fight in their underpants!
The announcers welcomed us to the show and the first thing they did was tell us that the Three Stooges were the guest stars on Raw. Calling them “slapstick comic geniuses” is an insult to the actual three stooges that were actually comic geniuses. They also plugged CM Punk vs. Mark Henry in a rematch from last week.
The show started with GM John Laurinaitis walking out with his associate David Otunga. I love how regal his song is and how it says words like “people power” and “Big Johnny” on his entrance video. Laurinaitis introduced Brock Lesnar, calling him a legitimate athlete. They showed a video package of what happened last week when Lesnar returned to attack Cena the F5. Laurinaitis announce Lesnar vs. Cena at Extreme Rules so that Brock can “bring back legitimacy” to WWE.
Lesnar made his entrance. Cole mentioned his NCAA accomplishments, his WWE accomplishments and the fact that he was UFC Heavyweight Champion as well. I doubt you’ve heard the words “UFC” on WWE TV very often in recent years. Lesnar thanked Laurinaitis, which firmly establishes him as a heel right away. Cena’s music started up before Lesnar could say a whole lot.
Cena walked up to Lesnar. He slapped Lesnar in the face. Brock took him down with a double leg takedown and they brawled. Officials broke it up as well as other wrestlers. The entire locker room broke it up. Hey look there’s Jamie Noble, Billy Kidman, Bill DeMott and Dustin Rhodes among others in suits. All former wrestlers that work backstage these days. There were a lot of current wrestlers breaking them up. Cena’s mouth was bleeding too. They did the classic thing where dozens of guys held them back, they stopped and then they went at it again. The crowd was hot for all of it.
I loved this segment. A brawl is a great way to start the show. It may have been a bit silly to have everybody break it up so soon, but they could play up the fact that these guys don’t like eachother. I doubt Lesnar meant to really hit Cena in the face as hard as he did so that it bloodied his mouth. It sure made it seem more “real” which is exactly the right way to go about things with Lesnar. These kinds of segments work when you don’t do them that often. If you do them all the time they have less of an effect, but since we haven’t seen a pull apart brawl in a long time it came off as very fresh to me. It was smart for them not to have Lesnar or Cena talk that much at the beginning of the feud. It’s about action. That’s what wrestling is supposed to be. Great opening.
(Commercial)
They replayed the Cena/Lesnar brawl.
Backstage, Laurinaitis was yelling at Teddy Long – who now works for him. He wants him to find Cena so he could have an explanation. Eve showed up. She wanted to talk to Johnny. He said he didn’t have time, so he’ll call her to set up a meeting. And that was the end of that segment.
Brodus Clay & Santino vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger w/Vicky Guerrero
Fun entrance by the Clay/Santino team with the comedic dancing. For the first time since he debuted, Swagger was able to take down Clay by going after his knees. They went to break a couple of minutes into the match.
(Commercial)
Back from break, the heels were working over Santino. That was the obvious strategy to work over the smaller guy on the team. Awesome slam by Swagger. The crowd was chanting “Funkasauras” while Santino was getting worked on. Clay got the hot tag, he hit the running headbutt on Ziggler and then a big suplex. He finished him off with the big splash. I thought the ending sequence would be longer, but it got the job done. The match went about eight minutes.
Winners: Brodus Clay & Santino
Analysis: *3/4 It was a basic tag match. The Santino/Clay team is a lot of fun and could really work. As I say every week, Ziggler deserves better than this. I’d love to see him moved to Smackdown where he would at least have longer matches once again.
Backstage, The Miz was in Laurinaitis’ office. JL said he was busy, but that he had big plans for Miz and they could talk next week.
Teddy Long showed up in JL’s office. John Cena was there too. He said that JL wanted legitimacy. He took a shot at Rock saying he’s not an actor afraid to mess up his pretty face. He’s there to fight. Cena said he’d be able to handle Lesnar at Extreme Rules. Cena didn’t care that he was bloody. He wanted a match later in the show. He left, so Laurinaitis told Teddy to tell Otunga that he’d be facing Cena later and that Laurinaitis would be out there with Otunga.
Ever since Laurinaitis has been an on screen character, the main babyface that he made life difficult for was CM Punk. Now it’s time for the feud with Cena to begin thanks to the addition of Lesnar. We’ve seen Cena feud with authority figures in the past, but this does have some freshness to it. Plus, Lesnar is perfect as the henchman of Laurinaitis.
Backstage, Santino was looking for the Three Stooges. Hey there’s a Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks cameo. He also found some tech nerds backstage. He couldn’t find them. I wish he never found them.
They plugged Henry vs. Punk for the WWE Title one more time.
(Commercial)
They replayed the Lesnar/Cena brawl once more.
Santino looked for the Three Stooges again. Instead, he found Kane, who was just standing there. No response, so Santino walked away doing the Santino walk.
R-Truth vs. Cody Rhodes
They worked for less than a minute. Big Show’s music started up. He wanted Cody to watch something. It was the video from last week that showed Big Show knocking out Cody at WrestleMania 28. The video stopped, Cody turned around and Truth beat him with the Little Jimmy in under two minutes.
Winner: R-Truth
Analysis: 1/2* They interrupted a match to show a video package of a video package from the week before? Who is booking this angle? The story is Big Show is now in the head of Cody Rhodes.
Backstage, Santino found a box that said “Fragile” on it, saying it sounded Italian. In the great movie “A Christmas Story” the dad says that “fragile” sounds Italian. Santino cracked open the box to reveal that The Three Stooges were in character. They smacked eachother around with sound effects. It wasn’t a great segment that ended with a lame “think outside the box” joke.
TJR Radio returns this Wednesday live at 10pmET/9pmCT. I’ll be joined by Frank The WWE Clown, The Ace & Jakey to talk about WrestleMania. I’ll have a few good stories from my WrestleMania weekend, I can assure you. To listen or to talk to us, go here: TJR Radio – Episode 11. I’m really looking forward to this one.
(Commercial)
They showed these dudes on a Syfy show called “Dream Machines.” Crowd didn’t care. Neither did I.
Lord Tensai vs. Yoshi Tatsu
I love how they tried to build up this match by saying Yoshi got mad at him on Twtter because Tensai isn’t really Japanese. Then the announcers said he didn’t claim to be Japanese, he claimed to dominate the Japanese. It was a two minute squash. Ref rang the bell when Tatsu didn’t get up after the Baldo Bomb, or whatever they may be calling it. It’s a two handed chokeslam/powerbomb variation.
Winner: Lord Tensai
After the win, Tensai gave him the claw. The announcers even busted out the SERIOUS VOICES~! when talking about Tatsu.
Analysis: 1/2* Tensai didn’t sell a move. It was a dominant squash. The most noteworthy thing is the crowd chanting “Albert” during the whole match, which the announcers didn’t acknowledge. I’d assume that the squash matches will continue until Punk gets past Jericho because that’s the next rumored feud for Punk.
They showed a clip of Jericho hitting Punk with the bottle last week. Punk vs. Henry for the WWE Title is up next at the top of hour two.
(Commercial)
They plugged the Blast from the Past live Smackdown on Tuesday. That should be a lot of fun. It will be interesting to see if the Foley/Ambrose feud begins there stemming off of their youtube angle last week.
The “did you know” was about the 78,000 people at WrestleMania. The number isn’t accurate apparently (Wrestling Observer estimates around 65,000 noting that WWE lies about the number every year by about 10,000 people or so), but if you say it enough times people will believe it.
They replayed the Punk/Jericho angle from last week. They’re big fans of replaying things they just showed minutes earlier aren’t they?
CM Punk walked out for his match. He’s so angry that he couldn’t even say “it’s clobberin’ time” when he made his entrance. He grabbed the microphone. Punk said that he understands straight edge isn’t a concept that everybody gets. He said straight edge was a personal choice and a way of life. Punk said it wasn’t anybody’s business why he was straight edge and that his goal was to make it to the top of the WWE because he was the best in the world. The crowd chanted “CM Punk” for him. Punk talked about how Jericho entered his world and how he tried to get under his skin after he couldn’t beat him. “At WrestleMania, I made Chris Jericho tap out.” Huge pop. He said after that happened Jericho took it one step too far by pouring whiskey on Punk and smashed a bottle on the back of Punk’s head. Punk said when he was sitting in the alcohol last week his thought was that he smelled exactly like his father did. He showed great emotion during this promo. Perfect facial expressions. The crowd could tell he was emotional, so they chanted “CM Punk” to support him. Before he could continue, Jericho showed up on the screen. He wondered if Punk was hungover. Jericho said that when the fans see Punk they see a loser because he tasted alcohol for the first time last week. Jericho called him CM Drunk…ohhhhh. Punk said that Jericho made a mistake because every bad memory he has will be used against Jericho. “This is no longer about me being the best in the world. This is about me kicking your ass!” Huge pop from the crowd. Amazing delivery by Punk. Speaking of ass, somebody gonna get they ass kicked because Mark Henry’s started up to begin the match.
(Commercial)
WWE Title: CM Punk vs. Mark Henry
The bell rang as soon as they returned from commercial. Punk went after Henry with kicks, but Henry decked him with a clothesline. Punk rolled to the floor. He grabbed the television monitor and hit Henry in the ribs with it. Then he hit Henry in the face with it. The “match” went about 45 seconds.
Winner by DQ: Mark Henry
Analysis: NR More of an angle than a match. As we would find out, it would set up another match next week.
Post match, Punk continued to try to attack Henry. Chris Jericho’s music started up. He had two cases of beer in his hands. Henry recovered to attack Punk on the floor. He threw Punk into the ring and gave him the World’s Strongest Slam. Meanwhile, Jericho walked to the ring with the beer while Henry gave Punk another World’s Strongest Slam. Henry left.
Jericho cracked open a beer. Punk recovered. Jericho was able to fight him off and hit the Codebreaker to put Punk down. Jericho opened the cans of beer and poured them on Punk’s body. “It’s all for you! Drink it in! Drink it in you stupid idiot! This one’s for your father.” Jericho is such a classic old school kind of heel. After about two minutes of the beer pouring, refs broke it up. People broke up the Lesnar/Cena thing after about 20 seconds, but it took them a couple of minutes here. Punk staggered back to his feet (drunk reference for ya) and Jericho gave him another Codebreaker to end the segment. Jericho grabbed the WWE Title. He posed with it as we got a shot of Punk out in a heap in the center of the ring as they went to break.
It was a similar angle to last week. Since Jericho lost at WrestleMania, they have to make him look strong in the build up to the rematch at Extreme Rules, which hasn’t been announced officially as of yet. That should be a great match in front of a hot crowd since it is in CM Punk’s hometown of Chicago, which is one of the best WWE crowds there is.
(Commercial)
The “Be a Star” commercial aired as it does every week.
Zack Ryder vs. Alberto Del Rio
Del Rio’s getting a title shot against Sheamus, so of course he got the easy win here. Is Ryder going to try to get revenge on Kane for putting him in a wheelchair, or is that angle completely dropped? I guess it’s been completely forgotten except by those of us with an actual memory. They worked a quick match. Ryder made a comeback with the Broski Boot. His Rough Ryder didn’t work, though, as Del Rio threw him into the turnbuckle and gave him the Cross Armbreaker leading to Ryder tapping out after about 90 seconds.
Winner: Alberto Del Rio
Analysis: 1/2* Another squash match. At least Ryder got in a move before he lost. I say it every week. Ryder is probably the most poorly booked character in all of WWE.
Backstage, The Three Stooges said they had a great idea for what they would do when they enter the arena. That was after the commercial.
(Commercial)
The Three Stooges made their entrance to boos. Will Sasso, the actor playing Curly, entered to Hulk Hogan’s music and in full Hogan gear. I’m sure TNA thinks this is a great endorsement of their product. He morphed into Hogan by doing his voice, plugging the Three Stooges movie. Kane’s music hit. He gave Hogan/Curly/Sasso a chokeslam. I miss Pete Rose. This movie is going to bomb badly and this segment did nothing to make me or any sane person want to see it.
Backstage, Josh Mathews interviewed Mark Henry. They showed a clip of Punk losing his match thanks to the television monitor and then Henry got revenge on Punk with the World’s Strongest Slam on two times. Henry said he beat Punk by countout last week and this week he won by disqualification. He said Laurinaitis gave him a title match for next week that would be no countout and no disqualification. That means we’re looking at the “next World Heavyweight Champion.” He should have said WWE Champion since the WWE Title is the one that Punk holds, but you get the point.
(Commercial)
The “did you know” was about how Raw was the #1 cable show for the last four weeks. That’s probably accurate.
Another recap of the Lesnar/Cena brawl. They showed it in slow motion with Lesnar hitting Cena in the mouth with a big right hand.
Backstage, Mathews asked Brock if he’s proud of being back in WWE. Brock said he’s proud of everything he does. He talked about how left this company eight years ago. He was WWE Champion. Left the company. Went to UFC. He actually tried out for the NFL first, failed at that and then after a few years went to UFC. He said UFC was on his blood, sweat and tears. UFC’s growth happened before Lesnar got there, but he did become the biggest draw in that organization. He said he’s proud that Laurinaitis had enough wisdom to bring him back to WWE to put him at the top where he belongs. He said Cena couldn’t hold his jock strap in a million years. “I’m not here to make any friend. I’m a war machine. An ass kicker. And a proud one at that.” That was a good cocky heel promo. I like Lesnar in this role instead of a babyface one. He’s better this way.
There was a video package featuring the Undertaker/Triple H “End of an Era” match at WrestleMania. A number of different people talked about how great it was including Cena, Punk, Rhodes, Regal, Miz, Show, Henry, Orton and Bryan. Show called it the greatest match ever. I’ve seen Big Show call dozens of matches the greatest match ever over the years. He loves them all. They did a good job talking about the story that was told although they only showed pictures rather than video. Best match I’ve ever seen in person. I guess the point is to tell us that Undertaker, Triple H and Michaels won’t be on Raw any time soon.
David Otunga made his entrance for the main event. He’s the most oiled up wrestler I’ve ever seen, which is something Vinny Mac loves I’m sure. I like his theme music at least. They went to break with John Laurinaitis walking down to the ring with him.
(Commercial)
John Cena made his entrance after the break. Another clip of the Lesnar/Cena brawl. How many times did they show it? This time they highlighted on Cena’s bloody lip.
John Cena vs. David Otunga
The dueling Cena chants started up right away. Lawler pointed out that Otunga was oiled up. Thanks Jerry we couldn’t tell. I’m sure the blind viewers appreciate it though. Cena missed a splash in the corner, so Otunga capitalized with his weak offense which included clotheslines and shoulderblock before grabbing a chinlock. I’m fine with Otunga as a character and a talker, but putting him in main events isn’t a good move. Otunga waste time by posing, so Cena came back with the usual shoulderblocks, spinning suplex and the Five Knuckle Shuffle. The Attitude Adjustment set Otunga up for the STF leading to the tap out victory at the 5 minute mark.
Winner: John Cena
Analysis: * At least it was kept short. I would have booked it to go shorter and given Otunga even less offense.
After the match, Lesnar snuck up behind Cena and kicked him in the balls (or the leg). They replayed the kick to the balls while Lesnar was stalking him. Lesnar waited for Cena to get up. Lesnar hit the F5 on Cena just like last week. A lot of the crowd was cheering him. Some were booing. Laurinaitis looked on like a proud father. The show ended with standing over Cena. There were some fans chanting “one more time” for Lesnar to do another F5, but he just walked up the aisle while Cena was trying to recover from the attack.
I liked the ending. Lesnar got the upper hand for the second week in a row. It makes him look dominant. It will be interesting to see if people get behind Cena for this feud or if Lesnar is the one that gets more cheers. It sure sounds like the crowd supports Lesnar more than Cena. Will that be the case at Extreme Rules in Chicago? It will be a lot of fun in Chicago like always.
——————-
Three Stars of the Show
1. CM Punk – Amazing performance in everything he did on this show.
2. Chris Jericho – Classic old school heel. Great as always.
3. Brock Lesnar – I loved how they booked him.
5 out of 10
Last week: 8
2012 Average: 6.23
2012 High: 9 (January 30)
2012 Low: 4 (January 9)
Last 5 Weeks: 8, 6, 6.5, 6, 7
This week’s show was a significant step back after last week’s awesome edition of Raw. I liked most of the angles involving the big names like Punk, Jericho, Cena and Lesnar, but everything else was well below average.
In terms of in-ring action, it was one of the worst Raw’s ever. The stories on the show were okay though. I can remember giving Raw ratings of 3 and 4 many times in 2009 when the guest host segments carried shows that were a lot worse than this.
The lack of Daniel Bryan disappointed me. I wanted to see if the “YES” chants we got last week would continue. I guess that could happen on the live Smackdown tonight.
The segments with The Three Stooges were all awful. Even the greatness of Santino couldn’t save them.
The main event level angles are fine. It’s everything else on the show that I worry about going forward. Without a strong midcard, the shows are going to suffer. That’s what we saw this week.
Just a reminder that TJR Radio returns this Wednesday live at 10pmET/9pmCT. I’ll be joined by Frank The WWE Clown, The Ace & Jakey to talk about WrestleMania. I’ll have a few good stories from my WrestleMania weekend, I can assure you. To listen or to talk to us, go here: TJR Radio – Episode 11. Keep checking out TJRWrestling.com for more of the fine work of the TJR staff.
Thanks for reading.
John Canton – [email protected]
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