Who cut the better promo on RAW? CM Punk or The Rock?

For those of you looking for a College Football blog, neither of us will be making one. Why? College Football is a joke and the BCS is a joke. Notre Dame shouldn't have been on the field with Alabama. Alabama should've played Oregon and Notre Dame should've played Ohio State in the Rose Bowl or something. The playoff system can't come soon enough.

But anyway, getting to the point of this blog: The Rock and CM Punk. Last night was the start of the build up to their match at the Royal Rumble. So, the question is, who cut the better promo last night? Rock or Punk? I'm gonna dive into the promo exchange and then bring all the Rocky haters and CM Punk fanboys down to earth.

Now, CM Punk cut a great promo BEFORE The Rock came out. He cut a promo on the fans and mentioning most of the WWE superstars on the roster. He says how you do in this business depends on how popular you are, and he brings up R-Truth and Brodus Clay and their ridiculous gimmicks. He went on to say how he became successful in spite of the fans and not because of them. He says he's the greatest WWE Champion of all time and not just the modern era. He talks for a little while, before he gets cut off and we take a commercial break. Some great stuff there by Punk.

After the commercial, The Rock comes out and it's time to see what both men got on the mic. And I'll be honest, this promo exchange lacked any sort of intensity. It was good, not great. When people talk on the mic these days, there's no sense of realism anymore. I really don't know who's to blame there. The only line worth mentioning is when Punk said to the Rock, " you're going to realize that your arms are too short to box with God." That was his only good line, the rest of the promo was enjoyable. Rock had some great catchphrases and pretty much said "Time's Up." Punk talked and Rock had his jokes, which kinda made me chuckle, and afterwards he gave Punk a Rock Bottom.

If I were to choose and say who did better, I would say it would be The Rock. Simply cause he had the fans in the palm of his hands like he always does. This what The Rock does. I enjoyed him and other than Punk's "Box with God" line he didn't really OWN like everybody is saying. Rock made the promo enjoyable and made Punk step his game up.

People are probably gonna say Punk did better cause he didn't have cheesy jokes right? Let me let people in on something, The Rock has been making jokes for YEARS now. That's been his thing since the Attitude Era. You people ate it up as kids and now that you've "grown up" his jokes are cheesy, boring, and repetitive? You ask for The Rock to come back, but you bitch and moan when he does. You people complain when The Rock comes back to wrestle, but don't make a peep when it's Triple H, Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar, Stone Cold, or The Undertaker. You say he comes back for the money, but he makes A LOT more money making movies. Just because he found something else he's good at, you people wanna crucify him for it. Stop drinking the John Cena Kool-Aid and come back to reality please. Maybe we'll forgive you.

And by the way, since when did CM Punk become the gold standard when it comes to talking on the microphone? You guys really need to relax.

Bottom line, this was a great start to the first of many Punk/Rock confrontations. I already think this feud can be better than Rock/Cena. But I'll save that blog for after the payoff match at the Rumble.

But who am I right?

Watch the promo and you be the judge.

Feel free to Comment.

Monday Night RAW Review (6/11/12)

It's been a poor string of RAW's since the Over the Limit pay-per-view, but tonight's RAW should be good for a couple of reasons:

1) This is a 3 hour show so they have A LOT of time to build upon storylines and better matches.

2) It's the Go-home show for No Way Out this Sunday so it should be a very action packed RAW.

So, with all that aside, let's get to this RAW Review already!

Mr. McMahon Returns


The Boss is back!


John Laurinatis comes out and before he can even say a word, Mr. McMahon comes out to a HUGE pop from the fans. He comes in and runs down Johnny's list of bad things he's done as his time as GM like the Brock Lesnar incident, the lawsuits and the Big Show fiasco. The fans are chanting "Fire Johnny" and this brings out Sheamus.

He comes out and pretty much says the same thing and wants Laurinatis fired. Laurinatis then says he's gonna have an opponent for Sheamus.

But Mr. McMahon says, that Sheamus' match better be impressive and every match better be impressive or else Johnny is FIRED!

Good segment. It didn't eat up 20 minutes like I thought it would and Mr. McMahon sending Johnny's whatever that is he drives off the stage was pretty cool.

Sheamus vs Tensai


Regular big man match. Nothing too special. Tensai was dominating for a good portion of the match. Sheamus sold most of Tensai's work and made him look like a legitimate beast. Sheamus gets the win with the Brogue Kick. Now we await and see who Sheamus' new #1 Contender will be later on.



Backstage Segment


After a few moments of bantering, Teddy comes up with an idea to put Christian, Swagger, Khali, and Ziggler in a Fatal 4 Way match and that winner will face off against Sheamus at No Way Out. I think I have an idea who's going to win this one.


Tensai's Attack


Back from the break and Tensai is still in the ring with Sakamoto. Tensai attacks Sakamoto. That's about it. He's frustrated about his loss and takes it out on Sakamoto for what reason? Cause he lost the match and Sakamoto is apparently the only guy around. Well, Sakamoto was about as useless as a manager can be so I assume this is the last we'll be seeing of him.

I don't see what this does for Tensai's character. Is he going to get even more angry? How could be possibly become more physical than he already is now?

Santino & Layla vs Ricardo Rodriguez & Beth Phoenix


Remember when Santino and Beth Phoenix were a couple?

Anyway, nothing more than a comedy match. Santino and Ricardo fool around on the outside while Beth pins Layla in the ring. This means Beth and Layla will probably collide for the Divas Championship again which doesn't bother me. They put on a great match at Over the Limit. The fans don't care, but I can't wait to see both Divas lock up again.

A really funny part of the match is after Beth gets the win, Santino rips off Ricardo's shirt to reveal a skin tight Justin Bieber shirt! I admit, I got a chuckle out of this Big Time.

Daniel Bryan/CM Punk/Kane/AJ Segment


Daniel Bryan comes out the crowd loves him. He comes out and runs down Punk and Kane and also throws in AJ saying she's still in love with him. Bryan says Punk is jealous of him and is trying to make him jealous by dating his ex-girlfriend. He also finished with a cool catchphrase: "Once you go Bryan, there's no point in trying." He started a YES! Chant until CM Punk's music hits.

CM Punk comes out and he and Bryan battle on the mic. Bryan calls Punk a sell-out and that he used to respect him, but he's changed since his promo last year. And I can't help but to agree with him. Let's be a bit real, I was a Punk fan when he first came in, but his character needed a drastic change to become relevant . But that's neither here nor there.

Back to the promo, Punk said he achieved success on his own terms, unlike Bryan. They go back and forth for a little bit until Kane comes out. Kane comes out and talks about all the crazy things he's done in his past and proclaims he will win the WWE Championship at No Way Out.

AJ runs out and addresses all 3 men. She looks at Kane and says he actually has a heart, she looks at Bryan and says she hasn't gotten over him, and looks at Punk and says he's the coolest guy she's ever known. Then here what was key about this promo:

She puts on a straight face and says she knows the best man will win on Sunday. AJ's allegiance will finally come to light this Sunday. Can't wait to see how it all pans out. This has been one of the best feuds going on right now and we really don't know where AJ will go. Maybe she really does have a thing for Punk, maybe her and Kane will make a twisted couple, or maybe, just maybe, AJ and Bryan will get back together and form a dominant heel couple. Either way, it should be interesting.

Solid promo overall. I liked the back and forth between Punk and Bryan. That was really the only enjoyable part of the promo IMO. I felt like this could've been handled a lot better towards the end, but it was good for what it was.

Fatal 4 Way Elimination #1 Contender's Match
Christian vs Dolph Ziggler vs Jack Swagger vs The Great Khali


A very short, but enjoyable match nonetheless. Didn't really care for Khali's elimination so I'll skip that one. Ziggler pinned his own teammate Swagger to eliminate him, and then it came down to Christian and Ziggler. These guys had a great back and forth and the crowd was hot for it. Ziggler finally pins Christian after connecting with the Zig Zag! This was a pretty cool spot in the match.

Ziggler wins and he's moving on to No Way Out to face Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship! Ziggler and Sheamus have a little face-off on the ramp for a little sneak preview. Ziggler's time has finally come. I don't think he's going to win, but he has another World Championship match under his belt. Should be a great match.

Ryback vs Local Jobbers


Typical Ryback squash. He destroyed these guys. They get funnier each week, but I really think it's time they did SOMETHING with Ryback other than feed him in town jobbers.

Steel Cage Match
Big Show vs Kofi Kingston


Kofi starts off attacking Big Show but that strategy quickly falls by the wayside. Big Show rebounds and destroys Kofi. Despite a great spot where Kofi bounces off the cage hitting the Trouble in Paradise and getting the crowd to their feet, Show dominated Kofi and literally knocked him out and left the cage.

This was another sample of Big Show's power and showing us what we can "expect" when John Cena faces Big Show Sunday. Kofi Kingston is no John Cena, but this is another way to get Big Show's monster character over more before Sunday.

Sin Cara vs Curt Hawkins


Meh, Sin Cara doesn't really do much for me. All the mood lighting and slow paced action. I skipped this match to be honest. Sin Cara didn't interest me when he debuted, and he's not getting me interested with this new red attire either.

Heath Slater vs Vader


Heath Slater was babbling and I wasn't listening until......VADER came out!

I don't know about most of you but seeing this guy is a blast from the past! I watched Vader from his time in the 90s and watched his old stuff as well. I was always a fan of Vader's. This was awesome to see. Glad to see him pummel Heath Slater and get the win. Finishing with the Vader Bomb was a sweet touch. One of the only bright spots in this 3 hour RAW.

Kane & Daniel Bryan vs CM Punk & AJ Lee


This was a very unusual tag team match. Punk and Kane start things off with some back and forth action until Bryan comes in and wants to get in on the action. Bryan and Punk do their occasional chain wrestling before Kane comes back in. In an awkward spot, Punk falls onto AJ which counts as a tag, I guess. AJ comes in and stares down the Big Red Machine.

She hops around the ring, jumps on Kane, wraps his legs around him and kisses him for a pretty long damn time. Kane is freaked out and leaves the ring. This allows Punk to take advantage and pin Daniel Bryan for the win.

AJ sits like Punk in the middle of the ring with a crazy look on her face as all three men look at her. This makes you wonder just who is AJ going to side with on Sunday? Which side is she going to choose? She's played this "crazy" role very well for the last month and it's finally time for the payoff. I think I have a solid idea of what might go down, but I want to see it happen. Can't wait to see how this all comes full circle.

Mr. McMahon's Decision


Mr. McMahon comes out with Security guards behind him and calls out Big Johnny.

Big Johnny tries to reason with Vince and said he's made RAW better, but Vince begs to differ. Just as he was about to fire him, out comes Big Show to defend his man. Show kisses Laurinatis ass for what seems to be a couple minutes. He mentions his contract and how he has done everything Vince has asked of him the last 14 years and he's done being what Vince wants and wants to do his own thing.

Cue John Cena.

Cena comes out and does his usual good guy rambling, but somewhere in that babble, Cena starts to make sense when he says everything Show has done will be all for not if he doesn't beat Cena. If Big Show doesn't beat Cena on Sunday, he'll be the World's Largest Disappointment. Show gets angry and throws around the security guards. Cena attacks Show, but gets swatted off. Mr. McMahon throws down Big Johnny and gets caught with a HUGE right hand by Big Show that lays him out!

Laurinatis and Big Show leave and Cena is still in the ring checking on Mr. McMahon as RAW goes off the air.

This segment was very....well awkward. Ok, let me not go that far. It was good. Mr. McMahon, Big Johnny, Big Show and John Cena got some decent mic time. This whole segment was just a way to put over the John Cena/Big Show match this Sunday. And now, there's a catch: If Big Show loses, then Big Johnny is fired. So now, for the second pay-per-view in a row, Johnny's job is on the line. We're almost assured now that there's a chance Big Show might pick up the victory. But after the way RAW ended, it's hard to exactly predict what might happen.

I mean, Big Show has been on a tear the last few weeks and if he loses to Cena, then this entire thing really would've been for no reason at all. If their serious about giving Big Show one last good run as a heel, he needs to pick up steam and be relevant and a loss to John Cena is NOT the way to go. But with Johnny's job on the line, I think Big Show might win this one. Then again, it is hard to say.


Overall, this was an ok RAW. If this is really what we're going to look forward too when RAW goes 3 hours in July, I don't know... the first hour was really a throwaway and things didn't get serious until the second hour. There were more bad spots than good spots. Some of the little things annoyed me like Heath Slater getting mic time, Hornswoggle getting air time, Sin Cara, Big Show burying the tag team champions.....again, more filler matches than actual meaningful matches, and no Miz. Really?

The only bright spots were Vader returning, the AJ/Punk/Bryan/Kane feud continuing and the last segment was ok. Mediocre at best if you ask me.

It was another lackluster RAW before a big pay-per-view show going down this Sunday. Well, I expect this to be a great show, but with the injuries and suspensions to guys like Jericho, Orton, and Del Rio, the buyrates will suffer quite a bit. Don't even know if I'm going to make a No Way Out prediction blog.

It'll be interesting to see if WWE can deliver another solid pay-per-view. Guess we'll find out on Sunday.


Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

WWE Monday Night RAW Review! (5/28/12)

After a week long hiatus, the RAW Review is back! For those who missed my RAW Review, I have a job so I'm not going to be posting at the rate I was before. Just a little heads up. For those who don't care, I could care less what you think.

Time for the RAW Review!

After a LONG recap from RAW last week, we kick off RAW with the Big Show coming out and cutting promo saying how nobody in the WWE is in his league. He rips on the people for not caring about him when he got fired, ripping on John Cena and his absolutely horrendous "Loser" fiasco on RAW 2 weeks ago. He went on and on about Cena and how he knocked him out and how he'll do the same at No Way Out. At this point, he just began to ramble on.

Show's promo started out well, but he just began to ramble on and recycle what he said last week. Nothing new or interesting. There needs to be more sizzle to this feud. Let's hope they add that soon in the next few weeks.

20 minutes of my life that I wish I had back.

Alberto Del Rio vs Santino Marella


Santino goes for the Cobra, Del Rio dodges and makes him tap out in the cross armbar. Short and sweet. Del Rio wins and is being built up to look strong heading into No Way Out.

It's not everyday that the United States Champion gets squashed in under 30 seconds. Hmph...





Backstage Segment:


After we see a shot of Eve in all her sexiness, Big Show throws Alex Riley into a wall. I hope they build up Show this way. Let him really bully around the entire locker room and cap it off with that showdown with John Cena at No Way Out. There has to be a payoff and I hope in some form that Show ends up winning to solidify this new heel turn.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (c) vs Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger


A rematch from the AWESOME Tag Team Title match these four men had at Over the Limit.

I didn't expect it to be as good as their match at Over the Limit, but it was still solid nontheless with a good deal of back and forth action. Truth gets the win for him and Kofi by pinning Jack Swagger.

But what's more important about this is what happened AFTER the match. Dolph Ziggler yelled at Swagger and left in the ring saying "I'm better than this." Dolph Ziggler is finally beginning to split from Vickie and Swagger. Hmm...it'll be interesting to see where this goes. I've been waiting to see Dolph break away from Vickie and see what he can really do.





Backstage Segment:


Big Show attempted to bully around Santino, but was stopped by......Brodus Clay? o_O

This is the most interesting Clay has been since his debut as the Funkasaurus. He challenged the Big Show and we have what could be an interesting showdown later on between these two.

I'm actually excited for this.

In-ring Segment:


Big Johnny comes down and does his usual shtick talking about John Cena and the people. Then he goes on to make the match between Cena and Show at No Way Out a Steel Cage match!

Johnny somehow got into talking about WWE '13 and People Power and reveals a pretty cool looking cover of WWE '13 with John Laurinatis on the cover. I see the little WWE Attitude Logo in the top right of the cover. Hmm....

Enter CM Punk.

Punk comes out, rains on Johnny's parade and reveals a GREAT cover featuring CM Punk, which is probably going to be the actual cover. Laurinatis then wishes Punk good luck on his match with Daniel Bryan and leaves.

Talk about a plug.

Oh and by the way, Sin Cara returns to SmackDown this Friday Night. He's been gone so long, I doubt people even remember who he is. Not like he made a HUGE splash when he debuted anyway.

CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan


Every time these two step in the ring, they put on a great match and this was no different. Obviously, this wasn't their classic from Over the Limit, but it was a great match. These two do what they do best and put on a great technical wrestling match. A lot of submission holds and almost little brawling. They really put on a great match here and they were given a lot of time to work with.

Now, here's where things get a tad interesting. The whole match, AJ Lee was at ringside cheering on Punk wearing a CM Punk T-shirt. Thanks to AJ's interference, Bryan was able to drive Punk into an exposed turnbuckle and pinned him for the win!

But wait, there's more.

Kane comes out of nowhere and beats Daniel Bryan down with a steel chair and follows it up with a chokeslam. He turns to go after Punk, but AJ slides Punk a chair to use as a defense and he uses it to send Kane out of the ring.

This is an interesting angle indeed. AJ inadvertently costs Punk his match, Bryan now can challenge for the WWE Championship again and to top it all off, Kane is somehow going to get involved!

I love this actually. Kane getting involved adds another layer to this feud and I think No Way Out will finally be the night where the big payoff with AJ goes down. This angle is setting things up very nicely. Best feud going on right now.

Christian vs The Miz


A great match followed by another solid match? I'm cool with that.

Cody Rhodes was on commentary during this match and this wasn't too bad of a match either. Miz showed some great intensity which is what's missing from his character. There was a lot of back and forth action between the two and Christian wins the match with a frogsplash.

I'm really saying all this because the thought of a Miz/Christian feud is absolutely genius. Both men can wrestle and can provide some entertaining promo battles. Once Christian is done with Rhodes, I'd love to see him and Miz feud for that title.

A staredown ensues between Rhodes and Christian afterwards.

Aftermath:


Back from the commercial and Miz is STILL in the ring talking about what he's done and how he's not getting treated the way he deserves. Orton comes out and gives him an RKO.

But wait, Dolph Ziggler is looking on from the background. Ziggler wants to the "The Man" like Randy Orton is. It's like Ric Flair used to say, "To be the man, you gotta beat the man." I think Dolph Ziggler's time has finally arrived.





Sheamus vs David Otunga


Sheamus puts the beatdown on Otunga, allowing almost no offense whatsoever. He shuts down Otunga with the White Noise and Brogue Kick combination. Wonder what happens to Otunga now as life is all sunshine and butterflies for the World Heavyweight Champion.

Big Show vs Brodus Clay


Brodus Clay....in the Main Event. How about that? But this actually an interesting showdown. The newfound Big Show Monster vs the Undefeated Brodus Clay.

Match starts with Show cutting a promo on Clay comparing to Doink, except the fact that Doink had talent. They both charge each other and Show hits a BIG spear really taking Brodus Clay down. He then proceeds to beat on Clay while Naomi and Cameron watch on from the ring.

R-Truth and Kofi try to help, but Show catches a leaping Kofi in mid-air and throws him into the oncoming R-Truth! And then, Show tears apart the announce, starts beating on Brodus Clay with pieces from the announce table, throws Truth around and sends Kofi through the Security Wall! He finally finishes it up by knocking out Brodus Clay.

This ending was REALLY, well done. We haven't seen an aggressive, violent Big Show since the ECW Reboot in 2006. He left carnage and destruction in his path and left the fans in shock and awe. This is the perfect booking for Show's new heel turn. The people he used to call his friends, he DESTROYED.

But still, Cena will probably still beat the Big Show. This ending all but solidified that. Who's going to stop the rampaging Monster? Take a wild guess. Bingo. John Cena. I like John Cena. I really do, but Big Show needs this win or else what he did on RAW and everything up until No Way Out will be a complete waste of time and effort. But I'll save that and more for when the pay-per-view approaches closer and closer.



Overall, it was a solid RAW. Some interesting angles were set up for No Way Out and it's going to be great seeing how most of these are developed over the next few weeks, especially Ziggler/Orton and Punk/Bryan/AJ/Kane. And a RAW without Cena. The kiddies must be so disappointed.



Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

Monday Night RAW Review!!! (5/14/12)

Before I start this blog post, I want to make a couple of announcements:

1) Sometime next week, after the Over the Limit pay-per-view, I'm going to address the current State of the WWE and why I think people have been so turned off by it. I'm going to talk about everything from the current superstars, championships, storylines, and everything in between.

2) Also next week, I'm going to weigh in on a very HOT topic: Who is the biggest star the WWE has ever had? I'm going to choose from the 3 potential candidates: Stone Cold, John Cena, and Hulk Hogan. I'm gonna give my thoughts on who I think is really the biggest star the WWE has ever produced. I don't mean right now, but of all-time. My answer may just surprise some people.


And now, onto Monday Night RAW!

WWE Monday Night RAW is live tonight and this is the go-home show for Over the Limit this Sunday on pay-per-view. It's going to be interesting to see how they build up the angles heading into this Sunday. Maybe, just maybe it'll make up for the lackluster RAW we got last week.

RAW starts off with "The Game" Triple H! After some small talk with John Laurinatis, HHH came to the ring and cut a promo on Brock Lesnar. He talked about Lesnar and how he quit WWE, how he left UFC to come back to the WWE when he got beat, and now that he got beat by Cena, he left again. Very well said and only Triple H could deliver a promo that good.

Before he could finish, Lesnar's music hits and out comes Paul Heyman. Basically, he comes to say that Brock Lesnar is suing Triple H for breach of contract. This gets Triple H pissed and he puts his hands on Heyman. But the Corporate Triple H doesn't really go through with his attack. Instead he says, "You tell Brock he's going to get EVERYTHING he deserves" and leaves the ring. Heyman then comes back and says that HE is now suing Triple H for assault and battery.

Nice promo between Heyman and Triple H. I kind of expected more, but it's good enough and got across the Lesnar storyline without actually having Lesnar on RAW.

CM Punk & Santino vs Daniel Bryan & Cody Rhodes

Not a bad match here between these four. It seemed to lag at times, but overall it was a nice little match. There was nothing really special about it, or any spots to comment on. I will say this, Cody Rhodes gets better and better in the ring each and every week. He was always good, but he seems to be getting even better.

But CM Punk pins Cody Rhodes with the GTS with Bryan cowardly walking up the ramp, not helping his partner.

In case you forgot, because they've barely been talking about it, CM Punk defends the WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan this Sunday. Despite the poor build, I'm still looking forward to the wrestling match they're going to have.

Beth Phoenix vs Alicia Fox


Despite Alicia looking sexy as usual, Beth squashed her for a quick win. Beth wanted to inflict some more pain on Alicia after the win, but Layla came down to stop it. And afterwards, we had a staredown between both females.

On a side-note, the crowd was absolutely dead for all of this.




John Cena Make-A-Wish Segment:


They aired a John Cena vignette where he visits the Make-A-Wish foundation to further prove to us how much of a good guy John Cena actually is. We get it. This is not me being a hater. I'm just saying, we know he's a nice guy, we don't need to be reminded of that.

Big Show vs Kane


Before this match happens, there's a recap of last week's RAW when Show mocked Laurinatis and Eve forced him to apologize. But then Friday on SmackDown, Laurinatis said he wanted an apology on RAW and it better be a damn good one. With that said, let's get to this match.

I enjoyed this match better than the tag match. The pace was slow, but Kane and Big Show have wrestled each other so many times, everytime they get in the ring, they can put on a decent match. This was a good match, but John Laurinatis got on the mic and demanded an apology during the match. Big Show got distracted, Kane took advantage and chokeslammed Show for the win.

After the match, John Laurinatis got on the mic and demanded an apology from Show or else he was fired. After giving a tearful speech about how much he loved the fans and the business, Show says, "I'm sorry." But that wasn't good enough, Johnny wanted Show to get on his knees and beg for his job.

After a few minutes, Show decided not to beg and after all the crying, Johnny says he'd "re-consider" it. He leaves, waits until he gets to the top of the ramp, and decides to fire Big Show altogether. He leaves and Big Show is left in the ring, on his knees, crying his eyes out. Wow.

Despite Big Show's great acting, that promo was painful. And by painful, I mean awful, like it was bad. It took too long and it made Big Show look like.....y'know, I'm just gonna move on.

On a brighter note, this segment made John Laurinatis look like an awesome Asshole Boss. I hated the promo, but it did its job to perfection.

Brodus Clay, Kofi Kingston, & R-Truth vs The Miz, Jack Swagger, & Dolph Ziggler


This was actually a very entertaining little tag team match. It wasn't very long, but it was short enough so that people didn't get tired of it. Everybody got in some decent action with Miz and Kofi wrestling most of the time.

Kofi's hits Miz with his Trouble in Paradise kick which Miz selled so perfectly, and Brodus Clay comes in for the splash and the win for all the faces.

And afterwards, they bring in the little kiddies to dance with them. How nice.

Randy Orton vs Chris Jericho


No surprise here as these guys put on a good one-on-one match. It was short for my liking but because of the time constraints, they put on some solid action.

As for the ending, I liked how they booked this. Jericho throws Orton into Sheamus, which causes Sheamus to go into this rage and attack Jericho and get him disqualified, giving the win to Jericho. Once Jericho retreats to the back, Orton and Sheamus get into a disagreement and are about to go at it until the referees break them up. Very good. Nothing like two fan favorites ready to rip each other apart.

Best part of the show in my opinion, but the show isn't over yet.

By the way, where was Del Rio? Unless plans changed, I'm sure he's involved in the Fatal 4 Way Match this Sunday too. But after seeing this, there was no place for him in this segment. Guess I answered my own question.

It's time for the final confrontation between John Cena and John Laurinatis before their match this Sunday.

This promo started out strong with John Laurinatis coming out and poking fun at John Cena and all of his fans in the arena.

Cue John Cena. He comes out and makes fun of John Laurinatis like a good guy would make fun of a bully. He started making fun of his voice again, calling him names, interrupting him with the word "loser" and calling upon the crowd to join in on the fun. The crowd was really into it. As for me, not so much. His insults were unfunny and he did that ridiculous "loser" thing twice. Once is enough. Not to mention, his back and forth with Laurinatis was boring and dragged on too long.

When Sexy Eve came out, things got interesting. She handed him a piece of paper from the Board of Directors, which John Cena took and read.

In the John Cena/John Laurinatis match this Sunday it will be one-on-one, the only way to win is by pinfall, or submission, and if any superstar gets involved in the match, they will be fired. But here's where things get interesting because if John Laurinatis loses to John Cena on Sunday, then he's fired!

This prompts Laurinatis to slap Cena in the face! Johnny walks off and Cena gives his serious face.

That promo went on WAY too long, but this does make things interesting. John Laurinatis has been a GREAT heel general manager and it's a little too early for him to lose his position of power. It's going to be intriguing to see how this match goes. I already have a feeling, but I'm going to keep that one to myself.



Overall, this RAW......was very bland. Nothing very spectacular. Another poor RAW with little to no wrestling and two promos that went on WAY too long for the message it was trying to get across. Poor show going into Over the Limit. Then again, the RAW before Extreme Rules was poor and that pay-per-view turned out to be pretty good, so I guess we'll see how the pay-per-view goes. I give this RAW a C, and once again, I'm being very generous.



Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

Monday Night RAW Review!! (5/7/12)

After a recap of last week's RAW where Johnny Ace, Lord Tensai and his manager beat the hell out of John Cena, it's time for Monday Night RAW and we're just two weeks away from WWE Over the Limit!

RAW kicks off with John Laurinatis cutting a nice little promo on John Cena. Boy, he really put over this match with Cena at Over the Limit. He talked about him being in a position of power, losing his temper, Cena making fun of him, and that being the driving force for his attack. He says a man in power should be respected. All that stuff a corporate guy would say. I felt like he went a little overboard showing his Japan wrestling stuff, but he didn't talk and talk about it, so it was good to me.

He was going good until he was interrupted by CM Punk. Big Johnny and CM Punk have had problems with each other since late October/early November, which really reinforces the fact that this John Cena/John Laurinatis match really came out of nowhere, but I digress.

Punk cut his usually rant on Big Johnny saying the same things he's been saying about Johnny since Day One. Let me just say, the insults he threw out were so......elementary, but hey, it's the PG Era, so I can't get too mad about that. But still, "you're stupid, you're ugly, and you don't have any friends." Really? That's what an anti-authority guy says to the Big Boss Man?

Nonetheless, Big Johnny makes CM Punk vs Lord Tensai for later on tonight.

Intercontinental Championship Match
Cody Rhodes (c) vs Big Show 


WHOA! A Championship Match?!?! On RAW?!?! Two weeks in a row?!?! How about that?

After throwing Cody Rhodes around for a few minutes, Rhodes grabs his belt and leaves and Show wins by count-out. I knew it was too good to be true to have a good Championship match.

Eve then comes out looking like a new generation Stephanie McMahon. She forces Show to apologize for making fun of John Laurinatis' voice.......and he did. What Era are we in where superstars apologize these days? The old Big Show never would've done that. Sheesh, I know it's PG, but at least give the good guys some sort of backbone.

Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston


A solid match. These two are great athletes so that's what you expect from these guys.

Ziggler gets the win after some interference from Jack Swagger. Maybe this will lead to a tag team feud that's been foreshadowed since before WrestleMania: Kofi/Truth vs Ziggler/Swagger. Let's just see where this goes.

On a side note: That Little Jimmy medallion/necklace that Truth was wearing looked pretty cool.

John Cena Interview


Time for a John Cena interview.......oh joy. And it's via satellite! Oh, the irony!

First of all, why was the camera so close up in Cena's face? I was seeing too much of him then I wanted to.

Nonetheless, Cena cuts the usually goody-goody promo. This is one problem I have with Cena. His promos lack depth, he's not speaking from the heart and he sounded he was reading off cue cards at certain points.

I will give him this, towards the end, the promo turned pretty good when he said he was gonna kick Johnny's ass. It was short, and he pretty much said what he had to. No harm, no foul.

Layla vs Maxine


Before I start, for those that don't know about Maxine, she's a developmental star from FCW, wrestled a bit on NTX and is actually pretty good in the ring. I recommend checking out some videos on her if you haven't.....I mean if you're interested that is.

Nonetheless, Layla wins with a rollup (I think) inside of a minute. Oh by the way, Layla will defend the Divas Championship against Beth Phoenix at Over the Limit.

Not that most people care because the Divas Division has long since been butchered, but that's a rant for another time I suppose.

Chris Jericho & Alberto Del Rio vs Sheamus & Randy Orton


Solid tag team match with these four superstars. Nothing spectacular, but it was good enough to give the crowd something to cheer for. A little interesting fact is that both men had some pretty good chemistry to put  on a good performance.

So, Sheamus accidentally kicks Orton in the face, Jericho comes back hits Sheamus with the codebreaker. Jericho just pinned the World Champion, then grabbed the belt and said "This is mine!" And then after the match, Sheamus tried to help Orton, but got an RKO for it! I think we all know where this might go: Fatal 4 Way for the World Heavyweight Championship. Interesting. Very interesting.... But wait.....there's more.....

Segment in Big Johnny's office


I knew it! What did I tell you?!?!

So Big Johnny was talking to Eve and then Jericho, Del Rio, and Orton barge in and say they want a shot at Sheamus. Everybody fights and Big Johnny makes the World Championship match at Over the Limit a Fatal 4 Way match. We haven't had one of these in a LONG time. Can't wait to see it!

Brodus Clay vs The Miz


How far has The Miz fallen where has to job to Brodus Clay?

Brodus Clay has gone from an entertaining part of the show to a new generation Barney the Dinosaur.

Getting to the match, I think this was the longest match Brodus has ever had......how about that? The crowd was dead, the match was slow, and Miz loses after like 3 or 4 moves.

No little kids dancing in the ring this time? Thank God.

Latest on the "condition" of WWE COO Triple H


Just looking at the recap of the footage.... Brock is a Gangsta.

So, Triple H will be on RAW next week and he's doing fine. That's what they wanted to tell us. Splendid.
Somebody inform WWE that Triple H was part of the Money Team with Mayweather on Saturday WITHOUT the cast on.

Meh....

But wait, back in the arena......it's Paul Heyman! PAUL HEYMAN!

Paul Heyman is back to represent Brock Lesnar, or at least speak on his behalf for tonight anyway. And he has NOT lost a beat. Heyman can still cut a damn good promo. Too bad these PG fans can't appreciate his greatness. They were quiet when he came out.

Paul Heyman read a few things off Brock Lesnar's contract and pretty told the fans that Brock had quit the WWE.

Things should get interesting in the next few weeks. Let's see how long this lasts. On another note, I hope Heyman sticks around for a while, we need a manager with good mic skills for a change. I'd like to see the team of Heyman/Lesnar back together for old times sake.

CM Punk vs Lord Tensai & Daniel Bryan


Meh. For a main event, it was pretty dry and un-entertaining. Punk seemingly got beat up in the entire match and ends with Lord Tensai getting the pin. I see they really are putting some time into Tensai with two wins over Cena and Punk already.

But after the match, Daniel Bryan locks Punk in the YES! Lock and stands in the ring shouting YES! YES! YES! as RAW goes off the air. Obviously, this adds some more heat to their feud for Over the Limit.


Overall, I really don't know what to say about this RAW. It had some strong points, but the bad mostly outweighed the good in this RAW. No Lesnar, no HHH, Cena was via satellite, and we had an apology. I give this RAW a C- and this is me being very, very generous.

I expect a much better RAW next week. Why? Because it's the final RAW before Over the Limit. Any RAW before a pay-per-view should at least be halfway decent. At least, that's how things worked back in the day. But I need to keep telling myself that we are not back in the day anymore.

*Sigh*


Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

Monday Night RAW Review!!! (4/30/12)

Monday Night RAW is live in Dayton, Ohio coming off the heels of WWE Extreme Rules. I'm here to give my reaction to one of the more.....unusual Monday Night RAW shows.

This was quite the interesting opening segment. Triple H and Brock Lesnar face to face. I've been waiting to see these two go at it for a long time and we may just get out match.......well maybe.

Triple H went on a long speech basically saying all the stuff Lesnar asked for is null and void. Brock attacked Triple H and "broke" his arm. Let's be real, Triple H's arm isn't broken, but for the sake of argument, let's just say it is.

I liked this segment, it still showed that Brock Lesnar is an unstable monster even after losing to Cena to last night. He "broke" the arm of the COO and put him on the shelf. I expect a match between these two somewhere down the road.  If you think Triple H will just let this go, you haven't been watching Triple H for very long.

But where does Lesnar go from here? First Cena, then Triple H. Who does he go after next?

And now, we begin the Beat the Clock matches. It's been a while (I think) since we had a beat the clock series of matches on WWE Television. The prize is to face CM Punk for the WWE Championship at Over the Limit.

The Miz beat Santino in this first match which was wayyy better than their pre-show match last night. Given a little more time, they had a good match. Miz holds the record so far at 4:18.

The Divas Championship. I guess I have no choice but to review this. I have this rant about the Divas Division and how far it's fallen, but that can be saved for another day.

Layla squashes The Bella Twins and retains the Divas Championship. Meh, the Bellas contract was expiring anyway.

The Jericho/Big Show match wasn't bad. When you've been around as long as Jericho and Show have, you know how to get a solid match out of one another. The pace was slow, and methodical and good for the little time they were given. But what confused me was the ending. I think it was a little bit botched. Either the referee didn't count fast enough so that he reached 10 as soon as the clocked hit 0, or what. I don't think they even put Jericho's time up. They pretty much forgot about it and Miz still held the top time. Oh well. Moving on....

Brodus Clay squash. Nothin much else to say here. Oh, they brought kids in the ring to dance with them. How nice. I wish they would do something with this man. I'm slowly starting to get tired of him. Not yet.

Randy Orton took on Jack Swagger in the third beat the clock match. This match wasn't anything special. I personally don't like Jack Swagger's in-ring ability. He comes off too sloppy at times and rather boring to me. Nothing jumps out about him to me. Makes me wonder why he was World Champion that one time.

Nonetheless, Randy Orton wins after hitting the RKO narrowly beating The Miz's time and The Viper controlled the top spot.

I must say, I was thoroughly enjoying the Beat the Clock matches.

A WWE Tag Team Championship Match? On RAW? Whoa....

Anyway, I was never really sold on Primo and Epico as tag team champions, even though they're great in the ring. They were only relevant because Rosa is so sexy. But I saw this coming a mile away. Truth and Kofi are over with the crowd and this was a good tag team title match in my opinion. But, I wonder if Kofi and Truth are actually going to do anything with the tag titles. There really aren't that many tag teams in the WWE.

But where do Rosa, Epico and Primo go from here? After the match, they were seen talking to A.W. Apparently, this guy is putting together a stable of superstars. I'm interested in seeing where this goes and if it's going to get these guys over.

Kane and Khali was just your normal big man match. I didn't find anything particularly special about it except for the fact that time ran out. I was expecting something a little better than that. Kane gets pissed and chokeslams Khali afterwards.

Orton is safe for yet another round.

I assume there was nobody left for Bryan to fight, so they just gave him Jerry "The King" Lawler to beat up on. Lawler moved pretty well in the ring and showed that he still got for a man of his age. But, it was inevitable. We knew who was winning this one. Daniel Bryan makes King tap out to the YES! lock and beats Orton's time.

CM Punk will defend the WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan at Over the Limit.

Let that sink in for a minute. We're in store for what could be one of the best technical wrestling matches to date. We know how extremely skilled in the ring these two are and had a few matches on TV here and there. But now, they're on a pay-per-view stage where they truly show off their abilities and fight for the WWE Championship. I will certainly be glued to this match every second. If you're a fan of good wrestling, then you're going to enjoy this match.

But, I'm interested to see what they do in terms of a feud. Do they go back to their roots in ROH, or do they just make up a whole fantastical storyline?

Hey, it's John Cena! Wasn't he was going on vacation or something?

Anyway, Cena comes and cuts the usual good guy promo and cue Big Johnny. If there's one thing I'll give Cena is that he does a damn good impression of Big Johnny. That's for damn sure.

Now, this segment was pure genius. He goads Cena into thinking he'd be facing Lord Tensai at Over the Limit, but he's really going to be facing Big Johnny! Big Johnny took some lessons from Mr. McMahon with the way he attacked Cena and barked out orders to Lord Tensai.

I am actually excited for this match. We all know this won't be a straight up one-on-one match. There's gonna be a stipulation where the odds will be stacked against Cena. This has the potential to be very good, but that all depends on what they do with Cena. They can't have him get his ass whipped all the way up to Over the Limit. He needs at least one week where he gets the upper hand on Big Johnny.

But overall, I'm actually glad it's Cena vs Big Johnny and not Cena vs Lord Tensai.


I give this RAW a B. Some good matches here and there and a nice surprise at the end and we already have two matches heading into Over the Limit and I can't wait! Cena vs Big Johnny and Punk vs Bryan for the WWE Championship. WWE is slowly, but surely getting their edge back. We're looking at perhaps 5 great pay-per-views in a row!