WWE Elimination Chamber Reaction

The Elimination Chamber pay-per-view: the final pay-per-view before WrestleMania. And with a predictable card with a horrible build up, I wasn't expecting much from this show.

Pre-show:

Brodus Clay & Tensai vs Team Rhodes Scholars

My, we're off to a great start.

A Rikishi wannabe and Prince Albert vs a team that broke up, and out of nowhere got back together. I guess we're supposed to forget that they ever broke up in the first place. Go figure.

Anyway, the match was solid. Clay and Tensai showed some great teamwork. Rhodes Scholars always had great tag team presence, so it's nice to see nothing's changed. Slow, short match. Not bad. Clay and Tensai get the win with a double flop and Clay getting the pin.

I'll admit, the team of Brodus and Tensai has potential. I just PRAY they don't go overboard with the comedy stuff. A few short skits here and there and they'll be fine. There's no need for any long winded segments that get less funny as they go on. Keep it at a minimum, don't overload on the Nickelodeon humor and we've got something. Just keep Tensai as the serious guy with some flashes of dancing. No need to totally turn him into dancing goof like Brodus.

Looking at the other side of the spectrum, they break up Team Rhodes Scholars and have them get back together only to LOSE their first match back together. Um....?

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs Big Show

I was expecting the Elimination Chamber match to kick the show off, and this is quite a change.

This was a standard Del Rio/Show match. They told an ok story in the ring. Nothing really jumped out at me except Del Rio's change in moveset. Since his face turn, he's wrestled better and looser. In this match, he showed he had some serious hangtime on a couple of occasions. Del Rio gets the win making Show tap out to the cross arm breaker.

I just noticed, this was the first actual one-on-one match without an added stipulation to the match. It was just a straight forward match and it was good. Like I said above, Del Rio wrestles better as a face, There's just something different about how his moves flow.

Oh yeah, and there was a BOTCH! Del Rio missed a spot where he supposed to kick a bucket back into Show's face, but he missed him. He tried it again, but barely grazed the bald head of Show.

I'm pretty sure this is the end of their feud. Show has lost to Del Rio three times in a row now. Three strikes and you're out Big man. Their feud was enjoyable, I will say that. Started out good, but didn't have the same fire leading up to this match. I was also hoping Ziggler to cash in, but nope. Sooner or later, Ziggler has to cash that bad boy in. For now, Del Rio is going to WrestleMania as the World Champion and I don't have a problem with it.

United States Championship Match
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs The Miz

A match that I was somewhat excited to see. I've been telling people that Cesaro is the next big thing in this business. This match was pretty solid with both men telling a great story in the ring. This is one thing I love about Cesaro: not only does he show how good he is week by week, he can also tell a great story in the ring. This match was short, but still exceptional. The ending was kind of screwy. Miz was going for something, and Cesaro kicked Miz's leg and he landed on Cesaro's thigh, and he sold it like he got low blowed. The ref bought it and Miz was disqualified with Cesaro keeping the US Title. Miz gets angry and low blows Cesaro for real after the match.

The ending could've been a little better, but as long as Cesaro keeps the US Title, it's whatever. Because of this finish, I can see this feud going up until WrestleMania, but to do that, they're going to need to give this feud more life and substance. We had a taste of that on RAW last Monday when Cesaro threw Miz around the barricade like a rag doll. But it's not enough. The Miz's face run has been BAD so far. They need to tweak that a little bit. But anyway, the match was good, nothing special and Cesaro holds on to the US Title heading into WrestleMania and since I'm a big Cesaro fan, I don't have a problem with this.

Early on, I can see the crowd isn't that good, and the commentary is worse. Hopefully things pick up in this next match.

Elimination Chamber Match: Winner becomes #1 Contender for the World Title at WrestleMania
Chris Jericho vs Daniel Bryan vs Kane vs Randy Orton vs Mark Henry vs Jack Swagger

This was a surprisingly GREAT Elimination Chamber match! I didn't expect much, this match played out very well with stories told throughout. It was lengthy with great wrestling and near fall moments that got the crowd out of their seats. Kane and Bryan going at it, Mark Henry coming in and cleaning house, and Jack Swagger's new attitude coming full circle at Elimination Chamber. Great match, solid spots, but I knew before the match started who was going to win. Zeb Coulter and Swagger came out first and cut a promo. Then it hit me, a proud American is in this match and there's a proud Mexican as our World Champion. Predictable much? Swagger's new heel character, his heel manager pushing American Patriotism and there's a Mexican as the World Champion. Giving away the ending before the match even goes down. For shame.

If Ziggler cashed in, then things would've been a lot different as to who could've won, but since Del Rio debuted and Swagger's mouthpiece cut that promo for him, it was an open and shut case. Jericho, Orton, Kane, and Bryan were all faces; no way they were going to win. The ending looked like this: Orton eliminates Jericho, Swagger comes out of nowhere and rolls up Orton for the win. That ending could've gone better, but it shows Swagger as the opportunist and he's going to WrestleMania.

Getting back to the match, again, it was pretty good. I was really taken back by the great wrestling and moments in this match. All 6 of these guys did a great job putting this match over and going all out. Of course, there was the OMG moment when Henry tossed Orton through the Chamber Pod glass. Henry was the best part of this match.

Jack Swagger, the proud American vs Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania. This reeks of JBL/Guerrero or  even Angle/Guerrero from WrestleMania 20 in terms of storyline purposes anyway. The whole racist American/Mexican storyline heading into WrestleMania has potential, but how far are they willing to go to make it interesting without offending anybody? WWE is PG after all. They need to tread lightly with this thing We're not in the early 2000s anymore.

Now that Swagger has a mouthpiece, I see a lot of potential in this feud. This could make up for Jack Swagger's last abysmal appearance in the World Title scene. Should be interesting to see.

6 Man Tag Team Match
John Cena, Sheamus, & Ryback vs The Shield

Going into this match, I was saying how The Shield needed the win, but would WWE really let their top 3 faces lose? This match answered my questions and then some.

The Shield have only had one match in the WWE and it was a Match of the Year Candidate at TLC. This match was no different. The Shield are an exceptionally gifted trio. The way they wrestle brings me back to the Attitude Era. The Shield don't have slow, methodical paces. The pace is fast, quick tags and great athleticism and team wrestling. This, along with their personalities, are why I love this unit.

The way the match started got me worried. I thought it was gonna be a straight burying of The Shield, but the match progressed and I was impressed. These young guys put on one hell of a show with the three top faces in the WWE at the moment. It did drag at times, but it was still a great match that got even better towards the end. Roman Reigns is a very underrated member of The Shield. First, he spears Sheamus through the security wall almost taking out Lillian Garcia in the process and then just flat out takes Ryback down with a Rhyno-esque GORE while Ryback had Rollins on his shoulders. Rollins gets the win over Ryback.

I am SO glad The Shield got the win here. A loss for The Shield tonight would've deemed them irrelevant. How could we have taken them seriously if they got squashed by the Justice League of the WWE? They needed this win and they did it impressive fashion. Great match, great job. Believe In The Shield!

What they do now is going to be most interesting indeed.

John Cena and Sheamus don't lose anything here. John Cena is still going to WrestleMania to challenge for the WWE Championship and Sheamus is the face of SmackDown. They'll be fine. Ryback on the other hand has not won a single pay-per-view since September I think. You could see how mad he was when he just walked away. Ryback maybe a big deal, but with each loss, his credibility takes a hit. This may have been the boiling point.

Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston

I love seeing Dolph wrestle, but what was the point of this? To get Ziggler on the card? A backstage promo would've sufficed.

These two have wrestled a dozen times, so it was really nothing new. Don't get me wrong, it was a solid match, but these two wrestle each other all the time. You almost come to know just what they're going to do. Ziggler wins with the Zig Zag.

Once again, what was the point? If they wanted to fill the time, where was the Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett? Didn't he have a feud going with that kid Bo Dallas? So, they take those two off the show to job Kofi out to Ziggler when he could've just cut a promo.

Moving on.

Divas Championship Match
Kaitlyn (c) vs Tamina

There's not much I can say about this match. It didn't even last that long. After Tamina missed the Superfly Splash, Kaitlyn hit a sloppy looking spear for the win.

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I need to rant about this again. It's sad to see what the Divas Division has become. The Divas today have no personality, barely any wrestling ability, their matches are less than a minute, the crowd is asleep during their matches, and even the commentators sound bored. For God sakes, Michael Cole was telling some dumbass story while the match was going on! The action was barely called!

The Divas Division needs a SERIOUS facelift and breath of fresh air because the way this keeps going, there will be no Divas Division a few years from now.

By the way, why is WWE trying to make Kaitlyn look like Trish? I'm talking about ring gear, hairstyle, stuff like that. Look at that picture and tell me she doesn't look like a buff Trish Stratus.

WWE Championship Match
The Rock (c) vs CM Punk

The build up to this match has been good, and I expected a match that surpassed their match at The Rumble and I think they did just that. I think this rematch easily surpassed their match at The Royal Rumble. Sure it was a tad bit shorter than their Rumble encounter, but there was better storytelling and better back and forth action between both men. Rock still can sell with the best of them, making Punk look like a ring general. The crowd was pretty HOT for this match and rightfully so, and both men delivered. Even the commentary, for the first time tonight, was spot on and well and sold this match as well.

As far as the ending goes, I thought when the ref went flying to the floor, The Rock would get DQ'ed, Vince would come out, restart the match, etc, but one ref after the other went down and after the 2nd Rock Bottom, Rock pins and beats CM Punk. I feel as if this isn't over. I feel like Punk is going to come out on RAW tomorrow and replay the clip of Rock hitting the referee and implying that Rock should've lost and Punk will ask for another rematch.

But The Rock retains and I'm fine with it. The CM Punk fanclub on the other hand are probably throwing tantrums, taking their anger to Twitter, and recording themselves to go on Youtube later as I type this. I wouldn't be surprised. The surge of Punk fanboys that have come out of nowhere is very annoying. I feel sorry for all of you. But I'm pretty sure that with Rock-Cena II pretty much set for WrestleMania, The Rock retaining shouldn't be much of a surprise to anybody. If you expected anything else, you need help.

For the past two months, I have enjoyed the Rock/Punk feud. I say it was better than Rock and Cena's feud. I mean, what is there to look forward to with Rock and Cena II? They're going to hurl out the same insults they did last year. Only the WWE Title is going to be mentioned more.

We'll know in the next couple weeks if Undertaker will be at Mania. If Punk is added to make it a Triple Threat, either no Taker or Taker vs Lesnar. If there's no appearance by Taker tomorrow night or next Monday, we'll have our answer.



This pay-per-view was pretty good. The Rock and The Shield saved it from being a straight faceplant. Not to mention The Elimination Chamber match was damn awesome. Jack Swagger is going to WrestleMania, the Intercontinental Champion was nowhere to be found, Ziggler had a pointless match, the Divas continue to be irrelevant, and Del Rio retains the World Title. Thank God for The Rock and The Shield. They stole the show with their matches.

I'm going to be VERY generous and give it a 6.5 out of 10. If not for an epic Chamber match, The Rock, and The Shield, score would've been much worse, but I'll stick with this score and call it a night.

The Road to WrestleMania gets started tomorrow night. This is when WWE usually turns it up a few notches. Hoping for some great TV between now and WrestleMania.


Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

Super Bowl 47 Reaction

Well, well, well. Look at who played a somewhat complete game and beat the San Francisco 49ers to become the Super Bowl Champions.

As the game went on, it was clear who the better team was: The Baltimore Ravens. Flacco was playing like Peyton Manning and went up 21-6 at the half. Like I said, the Ravens defense were zoned in on this read option and Kaepernick looked like a deer in the headlights. The so called greatest receiver of all time Randy Moss ha 0 catches, they couldn't get anything done on the ground, and could barely get the passing game going. Colin even threw up a duck that landed right in Ed Reed's lap. I knew the Niners defense wasn't that great, but 21-6? The Ravens were looking like a very dominant team. Boldin was having a great game, Jacoby Jones had that fantastic TD catch and run play, and it looked like it was going to get uglier.

Sure there were some questionable moments like The Ravens not trusting their kicker TWICE in the first half. Punting on a long FG try was smart, but I think Tucker could've made it. And then trying the fake FG to try to pick up the first down. It almost worked but to no avail. It was also obvious that John was coaching circles around Jim. How the Niners come out with an illegal formation on the FIRST PLAY OF THE GAME is weird.

Beyonce's performance was absolutely sensational. She is the perfect woman, great voice, great look, amazing dancing ability, and the body. I thought Alicia Keys performance was great, but Beyonce's took it to a whole other level. Bringing in Destiny's Child was a nice touch too. Would've liked them to perform "Say My Name, but I digress.

Kelly Rowland was looking pretty damn good too. Michelle will probably get no love out of this whole thing, but I think all 3 females did a great job. Nothing more, nothing less. This Halftime Show blows last year's out of the water. The last good one was the Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson incident. Maybe this is the start of bringing prominence back to the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Great job Beyonce. Jay-Z is a lucky man.

The third quarter got started and started in a BIG way. Jacoby Jones runs the opening kickoff back all the way to the house for a 109 yards and a COMMANDING 28-6 lead over the 49ers. If it didn't look bad before, it was getting gruesome for the 49ers, and then.....the Lights when Out. I don't think something like this has ever happened before. This outage took about 34 minutes, the Ravens momentum was completely shot and The Niners had a chance to make the necessary adjustments to their gameplan.

I'm gonna be honest here, if the Niners had come back to win this game, this power outage should've been looked into. It's TOO convenient how The Ravens were ROLLING on offense, all of a sudden, the lights go out, killing the Raven's momentum allowing the Niners to outscore Baltimore 25-6 the rest of the way.

Then again, it could've been the work of The Undertaker.

Getting back to the game, The Niners had a surge of fire and they started to roll on offense. The read option was beginning to work, the running game began to pick up chunks of yards, and Kaepernick began to make plays with that cannon arm and his feet. He was making clutch plays and before you knew it, 28-6 was 28-23. The Ravens needed to make some clutch plays and THIS is why DEFENSE wins Championships.

The Ravens looking like they were about to lose their lead, Flacco leads his team and drives the length of the field with Boldin, who was making clutch plays all over the field, go down and extend their lead to 31-23. The Niners came back, on a very fantastic drive in my opinion, and scored making 31-29. The Niners tried going for two, but it was not to be. Ed Reed sprinted off the edge, undetected by LeMichael James and pressured Kapernick into a hesitation throw and just tosses it out of bounds. Ravens tack on another FG making it 34-29 and the Niners get the ball back.

And then here was the biggest moment of the game, The Niners were inside the 5 yard line and The Ravens HELD. They prevented Kaepernick and Company to take the lead. And then there was the so called, "holding" call on 4th and Goal. Ok, I admit, Jimmy Smith was holding, but then what Crabtree did afterwards was an obvious offensive pass interference. Both men held, but in this game, you have to let the guys play. You don't make that call. There a NUMBER of bad calls by the way including that BS running into the kicker call in the second half, but I digress. Backed up in their own territory, the punter gets the ball and runs around in the endzone and chews up about 10 seconds. Extremely smart move. This is why John Harbaugh is an outstanding HC. The Niners had no shot when they got ball back with just 4 seconds.

DEFENSE wins Championships. Goal Line Stand moments are what defines how dominant and elite a defense truly is.


Last Words:

- The game wasn't as bad as people are saying. It got exciting towards the end. Which makes the power outage look like more of an inside job, but it could've been a lot uglier. It got better and suspenseful. Great game.

- It was a great moment seeing the Harbaugh Brothers after the game.

- Ray Lewis' emotional speech after getting the trophy was AMAZING.

- Like I said, Karma came back to bite the 49ers. Alex Smith is probably saying, "we would've won if it was me." Well maybe. We'll never really know. The Cardinals or The Jets are awaiting Mr. Smith's arrival.

- The commercials were HORRIBLE. There were at least one or two good ones. The Rock's Got Milk Commercial was great, the M & Ms commercial was funny, but the rest were just downright outlandish. Especially the one with the "nerd" making out with the sexy model. The fact that they had to ZOOM IN was irritating.

- Flacco is a GREAT QB, but I'm not calling him Elite yet. The Media will just forget that his defense didn't come up clutch when they needed to be.

- Early Prediction: Ravens won't be back here next year. They had a great run this season, but I don't see the repeat. But for now, The Ravens are the Super Bowl Champions! Ray Lewis' journey is finally complete and he can move on to bigger and better things in his life. I'll leave you with one final image of the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time)

Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

Super Bowl Predictions

The Ravens and 49ers both have had their struggles this season, but when January came, both teams turned their game up several notches. This is why both teams are in the Super Bowl this year. It's The Baltimore Ravens vs The San Francisco 49ers for the right to be Super Bowl Champions of the National Football League.

Let me say, it's actually a pleasure to see two fresh teams in the Super Bowl. It was always the whole Patriots, Colts, Steelers vs Random NFC Team, repeat, repeat, etc. So, this will be a treat. I've heard people cry about how the ratings won't be good because there's no big names involved. It's the Super Bowl. The SUPER BOWL. The ratings will be fine. 

Before I get to the Super Bowl, I wanna talk about the Pro Bowl. I don't think the NFL will get rid of it. They should add to it. Right now, the NBA has the best All-Star Weekend lineup out of all the sports. So many events and competitions and it ends with the All-Star Game. The NFL should go back to having different activities. A Field Goal kicking contest, a 40 yard dash race with the fastest stars in the NFL, an accuracy skills challenge for the QBs, and a Celebrity Flag Football game. Just having the Pro Bowl is eh. The stadium is never filled all the time and it's just annoying and boring to watch at times. If they were to include these activities, then the hype and everything would keep people interested and keep them in Hawaii until the Pro Bowl. It's a simple solution to a simple problem. Imagine seeing Adrian Peterson race against Chris Johnson, or Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees in an accuracy challenge, or seeing celebrities show their skills in a flag football game. Food for thought Mr. Goodell.

Let's get to the game. ESPN has said The Ravens have not faced a defense like the Niners yet. The Niners have not faced a defense like the Ravens yet either. The Ravens are not going to let Kapernick run all over them like Green Bay did. Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs have been studying that read option and they're going to be ready. And after this postseason, I've got newfound respect for Joe Flacco. The Denver game was whatever, but he still won. And then he threw 3 TDs on Tom Brady's team. Flacco is playing some damn good Football. The Niners defense isn't exactly elite. They've got power and speed up front and rush the passer, but their secondary isn't exactly shutdown. Their secondary is good, but they've been known to give up the big play here and there. I have faith that Flacco will have a big game with the help of Boldin and Ray Rice. He's got a lot of options to spread the field, but the Niners are rugged players. They will get their hits and they can hurt people. Let's not forget that. 

The 49ers, as much as I am NOT a fan of how they treated Alex Smith this season, they are in the Super Bowl nonetheless with Colin Kapernick. He took over this team and used the read option to perfection leading his team to a blowout win over Green Bay and a comeback win on the road in Atlanta. But the Niners have not faced a defense like this before. Ed Reed is going to be ready, the Ravens' corners are not scrubs either. The Ravens' have some serious power on their defensive line with Kruger and Ngata leading the charge. But Kapernick has really come alive and has found a favorite target in Crabtree and he's got so many other options with Vernon Davis, Randy Moss, and now LeMichael James. This team can come at you and beat you in so many different ways. Kapernick can run and the man has an arm. This has been well documented. But this is a tall task, even for the 49ers. How will Kaepernick play against a defense like this. The man can play, but this defense is primed and ready to stop whatever he's got planned. It's not going to be as easy as people think. 

And we have the Harbaugh Brothers. We're going to find out who the better Coach is. We know these two aren't going to play conservative and play not to lose. These teams are almost mirror images of each other. The defenses hit hard and force turnovers, and their QBs aren't too bad either. 

Time to pick a winner. I've got the Baltimore Ravens. It's funny how this works out. I picked the Niners to get to the Super Bowl and I've picked against them all month and I'm still going against them. I just don't trust Colin Kapernick in this position. I have more faith in Joe Flacco than Colin Kapernick. The Niners have the better team, but the best team doesn't always win the big game. It's about who has the better coaching and gameplan coming into the game. Ray Lewis has been a BIG difference maker for this team all postseason long. It's Ray's last game and Ed Reed's last game. A LOT of people are picking the 49ers, but I've got the Ravens. 

Coming from a personal standpoint, Karma has yet to hit the 49ers for their poor treatment of Alex Smith. Things have gone far TOO perfect for the 49ers. I feel like it's going to be a rude awakening for the Niners. The Ravens will defeat the 49ers and bring them down to earth and back to reality. God help the world if the Niners win. The Colin Kaepernick, Joe Montana, and Steve Young comparisons will be overwhelming for days to follow. Ray Lewis and Ed Reed go out with a ring. Joe Flacco and Ray Rice get their first.

Prediction: Ravens defeat 49ers

Feel free to Comment.

By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

WWE Royal Rumble Reaction

The Road to WrestleMania has officially begun with the first WWE major pay-per-view of 2013: The Royal Rumble! To be honest, the only major reasons to order this show is for The Rock and CM Punk and the 30 Man Royal Rumble Match. Let's get down to business.



Preshow: 

WWE United States Championship Match
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs The Miz

The preshow kicks off with the United States Championship Match between The Miz and Antonio Cesaro. First of all, I can't stand The Miz and his face turn. His jokes are corny and everything seems forced. He needs to go back to being a heel. All that aside, it was a pretty basic match. Very technically sound match with a lot of holds. Nothing too fancy. When Miz landed on his ankle, I think he tweaked it a bit. Hope it's not serious. Cesaro gets the win and retains the title. Hoping to see more Cesaro exposure heading into WrestleMania.

Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship 
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs Big Show

The Royal Rumble kicks off with the Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship and to be honest, this was a GREAT match. I'm always against the idea of having the World Title go on first, but this was a great way to set the tone for the night. I think that this even trumped their match from SmackDown a few weeks ago.

I LOVE Alberto Del Rio as a face. He's played the role well so far. Getting to the match, there was a lot of great action. The match started off slow, but soon after, it picked up and picked up in a BIG way. Del Rio uses the same aggression he had as a heel and fights with the same style. Great spot with Big Show chokeslamming Del Rio off of the light structure at the top of the set through a table! Great spot! And the ending works for me. It furthers Del Rio's character and how much of an asset Ricardo is to him. He tapes Big Show's feet to the ropes so he can't get up and Del Rio retains the World Title. Kinda lame, but how else were they supposed to end it?

Good move here. I didn't expect Del Rio to drop the title to Big Show here. I feel confident that Del Rio is going to walk into WrestleMania with the World Title. I'm really enjoying this face turn he's on. Don't know where Big Show goes from here though.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Team Hell No (c) vs Team Rhodes Scholars

This match is, hopefully, the last installment of this feud. It's been going on for 4 months too long now. I predicted Team Hell No would win this and they did. Their face turn has been going so well. The crowd loves them, they put on entertaining segments, and they're just a great team overall. I don't see them losing the titles until WrestleMania.

It was a great match. Classic tag team wrestling by both teams. Loved it. All four men really put it on the line. Rhodes Scholars really worked well as a team in this match, and Team Hell No simply work better as a team. I like the way they booked this match. Team Hell No gets the win here and I'm not mad about it. Hopefully they move on from this feud and Team Hell No takes on The Shield.

Royal Rumble Match

Ok then, Royal Rumble in the middle of the show. That means something big is going down in The Rock and Punk Main Event.

What can I really say about the Royal Rumble Match? It was Amazing! I thought last year's Rumble was entertaining, but this one was better. I say better by miles. Loved seeing Dolph come out cutting a good promo before facing CHRIS JERICHO! The fans were LOUD for Jericho when he came out. That was the loudest they've been all night and Jericho got a very deserved standing ovation. Great moment with Dolph and Jericho. Shows how far Dolph has really come. He looked  like he hasn't missed a beat as usual. It was great seeing guys Goldust giving some good minutes and The Godfather (even though he lasted two seconds.)

I would've liked to see Dolph in the Final Four. Kind of bland when the final four are all faces. The Rumble always provides some great energy and the crowd always gets into it. This year was no different. Final Four came down to Ryback, Cena, Orton, and Sheamus and the Final two were.....wait for it......John Cena and Ryback. Guess who won? Yup, you guessed it. John Cena. I think everybody in the world saw that coming. It's whatever. I'm not gonna go on some long rant about Cena, but it's whatever. Cena is going to WrestleMania to compete for most likely the WWE Championship.

Overall, I LOVED this Royal Rumble Match. Great energy, great atmosphere, great Rumble match. There was just a certain energy about this Rumble better than last year's. Dolph Ziggler has come a long way, Ryback has come a long way, Jericho coming out was a HUGE surprise and there were better moments. Like Kane and Daniel Bryan's funny moment, Barrett being eliminated by a rookie, and Kofi's little stunt with the chair. I still think John Morrison's spot from 2011 was better, but that's just me.

Still, I think the Royal Rumble should ALWAYS close the show. It's tradition, but I guess WWE these days don't respect tradition anymore.

WWE Championship Match
CM Punk (c) vs The Rock

Main Event Time! A feud that's been developed since the Summertime has culminated in this Royal Rumble showdown for the WWE Championship. Let's get right to it!

I'm gonna go ahead and say The Rock is getting too old for this. Sure he can still sell moves and he made Punk look like GOLD, but Rock doesn't have the same energy and explosiveness like his younger days. There's a big difference between being in shape and being in "wrestling" shape. This is what age does to people. That aside, I think this match was better than Rock/Cena. I'm not blowing smoke up Punk's ass, but he can carry a match better than Cena can. His moves are more fluid and he can make a good match, a great match.

Both men told a great story in the ring. Match started off fast pace and back-and-forth, and then Punk started to take control and dominate a good portion of the match. Rock came back towards the end and the energy in the building went up a few notches. Too bad the table spot didn't work and it collapsed since the weight was too much.

The ending of the match was pretty out of nowhere, but very well done. Rock goes for the people's elbow, the lights go out and The Shield puts the Rock through the table. All of this in the dark. Impressive. Punk capitalizes and get the win. Or does he? Remember when Mr. McMahon said if The Shield interfered, Punk would be stripped of the title? Yeah. Out comes Mr. McMahon to a BIG pop and was about to strip Punk of the title, but Rock refuses and advises the match to be restarted. The match restarts, Rock hits the people's elbow and the match is over! The Rock has become the NEW WWE Champion!

I know there's A LOT of people that have mixed reactions about this. The Punk fanboys are upset that their Champion lost to a part-timer, while others, me included, are glad to see The Rock wear the WWE Championship one more time. I enjoyed CM Punk's reign as WWE Champion, and it was a GREAT ride as the Champion, but it had to end sooner or later. Great moment for us fans to see one of our childhood heroes win the WWE Championship.

Here's my take on the matter. CM Punk's Championship reign had to end sooner or later. Punk is already a star. This year long title reign has boomed Punk's career so much and losing the title isn't a bad thing. What do you want? Punk to hold the title for 20 years? Open your eyes people. Don't drink the Kool-Aid. For those saying Punk should've beaten The Undertaker.....stop....now. Rock winning does a number of things. 1) brings the casual fans back into the WWE seeing a guy they watched as a kid hold the title and 2) gives the WWE great exposure heading into WrestleMania. Losing the title can open up new opportunities for Punk's character to get even better. It's not about nostalgia. It's about putting over the young guys and making them look good. Punk is going to benefit from this. I LOVE CM Punk, but some of you out there need to relax. Who better to end CM Punk's great reign as Champion than The Rock himself. Arguably Top 5 of all time.




Overall, The Rumble was a great show. Not really worth $50 Bucks, but a watchable show. TLC was better. Too predictable, but that's WWE these days. Only entertaining part of the show was The Royal Rumble Match. It SHOULD HAVE closed the show. I know Rock and Punk was a big deal, but it's tradition that The Royal Rumble Match end the show. I think that was the best part of the show. Loved The Rock winning the title. Great moment, but the Rumble should've closed the show. Oh yeah, and there was SUPPOSED to be a Divas Match that was advertised and barely talked about, but I guess they couldn't spare the 2 minutes. Life goes on I guess.

I'll give it a 6.5 out of 10. Great show, but let's not get too crazy.

This opens up possibilities for WrestleMania. It SHOULD be Rock vs Punk vs Cena, but it's gonna be Rock/Cena II. Really don't want to see that match again. Punk and Rock and Cena's paths have been paved  and this a serious money making match.

I would like to see Del Rio face off with Dolph Ziggler for the World Title. Get some fresh faces in the title picture. We've already seen Orton and Sheamus. Let Del Rio ride this face turn into Mania and square off with Ziggler. That'd be a match I'd love to see.

The Road to WrestleMania has begun and there's no telling what could happen and how plans could change.


Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

NFL Championship Sunday

Well, let me start by saying last weekened was a GREAT weekend of Football! Not just the Saturday games, but the Sunday games as well. Well, at least the early Sunday game anyway. Before I dive into Championship Sunday, I'll give my thoughts on the Divisional Round games.



(4) Baltimore Ravens defeat (1) Denver Broncos

Game of the weekend and it's not even close. This game surpassed the greatness that was that Niners/Saints game from last year. Nobody gave the Ravens a shot against this Peyton Manning led team and they proved everybody wrong and beat them in Double Overtime 38-35. I would love to give credit where credit is due, but let's be honest, the Broncos beat themselves. Champ Bailey was burned for two TDs and never recovered, Denver played too conservative for their well being, Von Miller and Co. couldn't get to Flacco all game, and the refs practically gave Baltimore 14 points.

Then, two HUGE blunders reared their ugly heads. Up 35-28 on 3rd and 7, Denver runs the ball rather than throwing for the first to put the game away. And then with 44 seconds left on the clock, the Denver defense allowed a 70 yard TD BOMB to send the game to OT. Rahim Moore makes a Horrible play on the ball and Jacoby Jones sails into the endzone to send the game to OT. That kind of play in that kind of situation is unacceptable. After that play, I think everyone knew the Ravens had the chance to put it away. But then with 30 seconds, 2 timeouts, with Peyton Manning, you take a knee? I believe Manning could've led his team down the field.

So, Peyton Manning falls to 9-11 in the playoffs, but once again, this was NOT his fault. I could go into great detail, but that's a blog for another time. Once again, hats off to the Ravens for making the plays and never giving up, but in my opinion, Denver beat Denver. Bad coaching, bad playcalling, and bad defense.


(2) San Francisco 49ers defeat (3) Green Bay Packers

Coming into this game, I realized something: You should never abandon your pick until the pick is dead. I had the Niners in the Super Bowl, but I thought Green Bay would be the only team left to stop them and they got stomped on. So, that's my fault.

Kaepernick ran WILD on the Green Bay defense. Not much to be said there. He shook off an early Pick Six and just dominated the Packers defense. Well, I didn't see this coming. The game was close until after halftime. San Fran was up 24-21, but after the half, Kapernick and Company just imposed their will on the Packers. There's really not much else to say about this game. Kaep showed us that he's a baller throwing for over 250 yards and running for 181 yards. One hell of a performance if you ask me.


(1) Atlanta Falcons defeat (5) Seattle Seahawks

I knew I had a good feeling about this defense. Atlanta jumped all over the Seahawks and took a 20-0 lead into halftime. I can say I wasn't surprised. I knew Atlanta could do this sort of thing. But what surprised me is after halftime. You know Seattle loves to make those adjustments and come out strong and that's what they did. Russell Wilson came out slinging that ball and, again, I gotta say I love the way this kid plays Football. Such great pocket presence, nice release on the ball resulting in a fluid throw. Love it. Seattle roared back on Atlanta and took a 28-27 lead late in the fourth quarter. But we've seen Matt Ryan do this so many times. Under a minute to go, Ryan makes two clutch passes to set up a Matt Bryant game winning FG to send Atlanta to the NFC Championship Game! The Seahawks played great Football. I firmly expect these guys to be back here next year.


(2) New England Patriots defeat (3) Houston Texans

41-28 was the final score. While Houston put up a valiant effort, things got out of hand in the third quarter. Down 17-13 going into Halftime, Houston had to feel pretty good, and then before you knew it, Brady and his crew had a 38-13 lead. Houston scored a few points to pull it close, but in the end, the Patriots shut them down. But they lost Gronkowski and Julian Edleman. Two BIG losses for them. Brady was Brady and he helped his team get back to the AFC Championship and a rematch with the Baltimore Ravens.

NFC Championship Game - Sunday, 2 p.m.

(1) Atlanta Falcons vs (2) San Francisco 49ers

Since this game is gonna be on first, I'll start with this one. This one is hard to choose for me. I should pick the Niners because I have them in the Super Bowl, but Atlanta playing at home could cause some problems.

Overall, I think The Niners are the better team and if this game was in San Francisco, I would give Atlanta no shot, but I think the Falcons can thrive off their fans and play a spirited game. People are gonna look at how Seattle almost beat the Falcons and how their defense was lit up by Russell Wilson. With Kapernick coming in being faster and having a stronger arm than Russell Wilson and a more elite defense, this could cause some problems for the Falcons. How will Atlanta contain Colin Kaepernick and prevent him from doing what he did to Green Bay to them too. Even if they do attempt to contain Kaepernick's running, they have to worry about his arm and the man has a CANNON for an arm. He can beat you from the pocket and with his arm. Atlanta's defense has to be prepared.

The only way the Falcons can have a chance in this game is to do what they did to Seattle and jump out to an early lead and make Kaepernick play from behind. If they can do that, they could win this one. The Falcons offense have to really put up some points on this defense. The Niners defense isn't perfect and they can get scored on. Ryan has to be mindful of the Niners pass rush and the fact that they are relentless. White and Jones have to be physical with the Niners' corners and work them off line and get open. Tony Gonzalez needs to gave another BIG game. They cannot miss opportunities against this team. They've got to cash in on touchdowns and not score too many FGs. They've got to get physical with the physical 49ers and out physical them.

Here's the deal, Kaepernick can beat the Falcons with his running and his passing ability, and everybody already has them as a 4 point favorite and rising. But at HOME, I think the Falcons can grind out a win against this team. Playing at home has its strengths, and these fans will be LOUD. And we saw how Kapernick struggled with a LOUD atmosphere when he went up to Seattle and got blasted 42-13. I think the Falcons' home crowd will be on their side and Atlanta will rise up against the hate and the critics and punch their ticket to the Super Bowl.

Prediction: Falcons defeat the 49ers

AFC Championship Game - Sunday, 6:30 p.m.

(2) New England Patriots vs (4) Baltimore Ravens

Well, here we go again. Last year, the season ended for Baltimore Ravens in Foxboro, and they have returned to face Tom Brady and the Patriots one more time for the AFC Championship. In that game, Brady had maybe his worst game with 239 yards and 2 interceptions. His defense came to play and lucked out when Lee Evans dropped the game winning TD in the endzone and Billy Cundiff missed the FG that could've sent the game into OT.

The Ravens came off a memorable, 2OT game against Peyton Manning and the Broncos and now they have to face a much faster, up tempo offense in New England. I believe Flacco and the Ravens will score points on this defense, but I will tell you this, Aqib Talib will be a difference maker for the Patriots' Secondary. And the defense will have to play better than they did against Denver which means Suggs, Lewis, and Kruger will have to bring the house on Brady and disrupt his rhythm. All over ESPN, people say Destiny is on the side of the Ravens. Kinda hard not to believe that after the way that game in Denver ended.

BUT, it's Tom Brady, at home, and in the AFC Championship. He's 3-0 at Home in this situation. I would like to say the losses of Woodhead and Gronk would hurt them, but even without them, they put 41 on the Texans. Brady's offense still flowed. Hernandez has really emerged since Gronk's been out, Welker is still the best slot receiver in the game, and they got some serious power in the backfield with Vereen and Ridley. This offense just clicks and moves the ball at will no matter who they have out there.

I would love to give this game to the Ravens and believe they will right the wrong made last season, but beating Tom Brady and the Pats at Home in the AFC Championship is going to be a tall task. A task that I don't think Baltimore can do. At Home, it's gonna be too much of Brady and that offense. I got the Pats taking it in a close game.

Prediction: Patriots defeat Ravens

As much as I would love to see the Harbaugh Bowl in New Orleans, I think their luck has run out. Tom Brady at home and a hostile environment in Atlanta could put a damper on any hopes of the Harbaugh Bowl. I guess I got the Patriots and Falcons in the Super Bowl. Let's see what happens on Championship Sunday!



Feel free to Comment.

By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

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.

Playoffs? Well Let's Hope So

      By Phillip Stats Rodney 

           The playoffs have started and the buzz and excitement  that was Saturday morning began to rise slowly. However as soon as the excitement came, it left for many fans. This wildcard weekend possibly was the worst I've ever seen. Most of the games lacked any form of excitement. We saw a lot of bad quarterback play, and a lot of conservative play calling. So let's quickly review wildcard weekend and discuss my observations, then move on to the real playoffs or "Big Boy Football" as my SEC fans like to say.

          Andy "Red Rocket" Dalton played like, well.... Andy Dalton. A second year player with room to grow. There are times when Dalton shows flashes of being a stellar QB but he seems to fade as the season goes along and at times lack confidence so he hesitates and settles for the check down way too often. Dalton also seems to lack pocket presence in crucial situations, I find myself screaming for Dalton to step up in the pocket to not  have the ball swiped out his hand from behind way too often. The Bengals will need another wide out beside AJ Green to upgrade this team for next year.  The next on my list will be the Vikings and Joe Webb and how he was just down right awful, but then again he hasn't played all year. The Minnesota Vikings really were out of this game once Ponder was listed as inactive which I cant believe I'm saying. The Vikings will need a true elite wide receiver to help this team take the next step.

         Time to talk about the snooze-fest that was Sunday's Wildcard games . The crowd in Baltimore was electric, as the players started to come out  and the lights flashed as we waited for one of the all time greats to come out. I found myself glued to the T.V because we all wanted to see Ray-Ray do his intro one last time and he didn't disappoint setting the tone from the gate. The Colts were a great story for the season but this game was full of conservative play calling  and unfortunately the Colts lack of talent finally caught up to them. The Colts will need to fix that line-backing core, and safety position to help further this teams development.  

         Now wrapping up the week of dreadful games we had, the Redskins vs Seahawks. the game started out like a bat out of hell, with the Redskins moving the ball at will, and scoring two touchdowns. Seattle showed resilience and battled back but the game was really over after halftime, once we realized RG3 was immobile the Seahawks did too and the punt fest began. As RG3 earned his Philip Rivers play with no leg Pokemon badge or achievement, the rest of the Redskins offense was terrible and wont be praised. Most of the blame goes on coaching using ineffective formations, and not putting the team in a position to win, why use the pistol if the quarterback is not a threat to run. Washington still needs upgrades on defense to take the next step  such as defensive-backs, safety or another pass rusher.

      This wildcard weekend  reminded me of a song with too many features, when the song starts off and the beat drops you are hype. But the more you listen, or watch, the more it becomes just a drag and you cant wait to skip to the next track or week: inserts A$AP Rocky 1 train: so lets skip to the next week and what's shaping up to be ratings heaven for the NFL.

Your Uncle Phil's predictions its like I'm giving out free money, the Vegas lines will be provided in the link below.    

NFL Lines

Stats  Preview and Picks 

Ravens at Broncos (W)

Peyton Manning and his offense will be too much for the ravens, like last time they played this one might get ugly but we have seen Peyton Manning teams come out flat many seasons so you never know, however who you going to trust Joe Flacco and Tory Smith or Peyton Manning and the goonsquad.

Final score-  28-21

(Broncos)

Seattle at Falcons (W)

I'm going Dirty Birds(Falcons) because that dome will be rocking. If I told you Matt Ryan has a better home winning percentage at home than Tom Brady, you wouldn't believe me right? Well he does and after no MVP love or league respect, look for him and his crew Julio and Roddy White to ball out against a rusty Browner and an overhyped Sherman.

Final score - 30-21

(Falcons)

 (W) Green Bay at 49ers

This one is a tough one most likely game of the weekend, but when in doubt got to go with the best QB in the league. Even though the 49ers defense rank among the best, they are running into a red hot Packers team, and not having a healthy Justin Smith has swayed my vote to the Packers. This is strictly just a upset-special call, also knowing that the 49ers passed up a chance to draft Mr. Rodgers he will try to put on a show. This game will be decided by the kickers also who both have been horrible all season.

Final score  - 27-24

(Packers)

Texans at Patriots (W)

Let's get straight to the point people have already looked past the Texans giving them no shot to beat Brady's Bunch. The Texans have an elite wide receiver, elite running back and, what was once a top three defense, however injuries have slowed this team down. The Patriots will still win the game, but I believe a team playing inspired will come out to play and the game will be a lot closer than many think. However I'm riding with the G.O.A.T Tom Brady.

Final Score - 24-21

(Patriots- aka Tom Brady & them)