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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 21, 2011 at 10:44 pm
Rhodes is looking to knock off former mentor Randy Orton on Sunday at the Vengeance e pay-per-view. Image via Wikipedia
Welcome fans to another edition of the WrestleChat.net recap, where we sit down and take a look at your favorite WWE shows on Monday and Friday nights. With the company mere days away from the Vengeance pay-per-view SmackDown was packed full of action-so let us get right to it!
Starting off the show for the Blue Brand, as the company continues its tour of Mexico City, was Alberto Del Rio. No surprise the aristocrat received a huge ovation from the crowd, as the star is in front of his hometown crowd.
Del Rio puts on a great promo, saying how he’d love to wrestle in front of the crowd in Mexico-it has been his lifelong dream. Thanks to a brutal beat down by John Cena on Raw though, the reigning WWE Champion is out of commission.
Not so fast though, as the heel tactic did not work, as Teddy Long came out to quickly announce that Del Rio is in fact cleared for action tonight. Long has a feeling that the Mexican Aristocrat is scared to face his opponent tonight in the Main Event….The Big Show.
Long feels that Del Rio is weaseling his way out of the Main Event, with this supposed injury from Raw. The Aristocrat immediately denies the accusations saying that he will make the World’s Largest Man tap out, and that opportunity was granted by the SmackDown GM.
SmackDown started the in-ring action with a warm-up bout for one Mark Henry, who took on the Guru of Greatness John Morrison. The good news for the Shaman of Sexy is that he was finally allowed to show off a more aggressive skill set on this night.
The bad news for Morrison was that the offensive moves did not pin the World Heavyweight Champion, but instead angered him. For the second straight week the agile star was flipped up in the air into the ‘World’s Strongest Slam’ finishing move by Henry-for the victory.
There is a bit of good news for fans of Morrison, as it seems as if the young lion has found a new aggressive side to him. The one thing the company needs to do now is find a good feud for John so that he can now progress up the ladder of the company.
Fans watching the Blue Brand from home got to go backstage at this point and watch an interesting interaction between Christian and Vickie Guerrero. It seems the leader of the Peeps still wants one more bout for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Guerrero tried everything in her power to recruit the cagey veteran to her growing list of clientele. It’ll be interesting to see if that is something that the company will consider. Think about it this way-look at what Vickie did for Edge during their time together, you know that Christian wants power…and right now Vickie has it.
In comes Teddy Long to interrupt the two heels, and announce that Dolph Ziggler has two matches at the Vengeance pay-per-view. First up the ‘Perfect One’ will challenge for the tag straps with Jack Swagger, and then will defend his U.S. Strap against Zack Ryder.
This fan has a feeling that the Ryder Revolution will start on Sunday, though the company has really favored Ziggler as of late-so stay tune! It is going to be a huge boost for one Vickie Guerrero if her cubs could hold not only the U.S. Strap, but the tag straps as well.
It was announced earlier in the night that the original Sin Cara was going to challenge Sin Cara Negro in the first ever Mask vs. Mask bout. Thankfully the company showed a very good video promo to catch the fans up on what has been happening as of late.
Wade Barrett def. Daniel Bryan: One had a feeling that the English born star was going to pick up the victory on this night, as Barrett was allowed a video heel promo before the bout. Sadly for fans of Bryan, the star has been in a skid as of late.
The company has had these two men feuding for a while, but no real build-up…..here is hoping they can do something to make the rivalry between the two stars fresh. For me I’d love to see a two-out of-three falls stipulation or a submission bout between the two.
Sheamus/Zack Ryder def. Dolph Ziggler/Christian: Great White is on a roll, hitting a huge brogue kick in good action between all four men in the ring tonight. This bout was to more encourage the feud between Sheamus and Christian-which will hopefully come to an end on Sunday.
As for Ryder and Ziggler, I for one am extremely interested to see what direction the company will go on Sunday. The WWE Universe has been clamoring to see more of Ryder in the programming, and it’d be wise to give the young lion more time on either Raw or SmackDown.
It was certainly a night for promos as Cody Rhodes gave a good crazy/heel promo on this night, in building up his feud with Randy Orton, as the fact of years of torture with Legacy being part of what is fueling the star in this rivalry was admitted by Rhodes.
Rhodes called out Orton, looking for an apology along with wanting Randy to admit he got what he deserved, when the resident Phantom of the Opera paper bagged him last week on SmackDown.
Orton didn’t take long to respond, as the Viper had a great promo saying how the only mistake he made was allowing Rhodes to breathe after costing him the strap twice. Putting the paper bag over the head of Randy didn’t embarrass the Viper, but instead only fueled the fire within.
Fans get a bit of a preview of what potentially may break-down between the two stars on Sunday, but the baggers that escort Rhodes tried to get in the way of Randy. As a way to prove his point, Orton immediately beat down the extras and proceeded to stare down his rival.
If anything this fan is expecting for Rhodes to come out on top in this rivalry, right now the young lion is on the fast track to big things within the company. It should be interesting though, as Orton really does not like to lose…so stay tuned.
After much taking, the action in the ring picked up with the highly touted mask vs. mask bout between the two resident Sin Cara’s. One known fact that the announcers messed up on, was the fact that once a Luchador loses his mask, he is not allowed to put it back on.
That is not the case, as one Rey Mysterio lost his mask once-upon-a time in his time with WCW, and is now wearing it during his time with the WWE. So one as a fan knows there is a loop-hole somewhere.
The bout between the two masked wonders was an interesting one, the star known as Sin Cara Negro decided to use a more ground based skill set-where the original Sin Cara used his high flying exciting skills to earn the victory.
Original Sin Cara pulled out a beautiful tilt-a-whirl into a submission move for the victory. At first the ‘newer’ Cara didn’t want to unmask, but eventually the promise of the reveal was fulfilled.
This fan as a feeling that this will not be the end of the two stars rivalry, as there has been a history of Lucadors deciding to wrestle without their mask. If that is the case, here is hoping the company will figure out a way to make things less confusing.
SmackDown continued with more promos, as Beth Phoenix was in the ring with her buddy Natalya to build up heel heat before Beth’s big bout at the pay-per-view on Sunday. So it turns out that they are not jealous of the Barbie Doll Diva’s, but angry at the WWE Universe for wanting to see them so much.
Eve came out to respond to the bullying ways of the Glamazon, saying how at one point in time she felt that both ladies were beautiful women. Now the duo has turned ugly with their actions as of late. Eve pulled out a great line saying that she is not a Barbie Doll, and there is nothing Beth can do to break her.
Here is hoping the company can do this feud the right way, Eve is one of the few lady wrestlers right next to Gail Kim that could hold her own against the Glamazon. Please WWE allow for these two ladies to shine and show what woman’s wrestling can do for the company.
After the hype and the talking, it is time for the Main Event of the Blue Brand as Alberto Del Rio took on the Big Show. Even though the bout ended in disqualification, as Ricardo Rodriguez interfered in the bout-the fans were the real winners in this bout.
I personally felt that both men told a great story, Del Rio really opened up my eyes in this bout. Alberto took a beating, but would not stay down for a three count against the Big Show.
Also a nod of the head to The Big Show for taking the best shots that Alberto had on this night. Bouts like these make me want to see more of these two men for a long time to come. The company seems to be high on Show right now, as he was allowed three thudding knock out blows.
Show was allowed to knock out cold both Del Rio and Rodriguez, before a charging Mark Henry came into the ring. The World’s Strongest Man was laid flat on his back thanks to the World’s Strongest Man, and this fan has a feeling there may be a change of titles come Sunday.
Henry is an impressive champ for sure, but the thing is he cannot show weakness. With this Main Event tonight, Show told a great story in his bout with Del Rio. It was something the two were building on, and it could go longer.
For Mark Henry, he just wants to get his bouts over with as quickly as possible. Nothing wrong with that, but it just doesn’t seem to me that anyone outside of guys like Show, Ezekiel Jackson or Sheamus could defeat the World’s Strongest Man.
That’s a wrap for this week’s Friday Night SmackDown recap; hope to see you all on Monday night. We will have a ton of questions to answer after the Vengeance pay-per-view, so hope to see you then and as always stay tuned!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 18, 2011 at 12:17 am
Sight that fans can expect too see soon. Champ is here: Image via Wikipedia
Welcome WWE fans to another edition of the WrestleChat.net Monday Night Raw Recap. With the company only six days away from the Vengeance pay-per-view, and there is plenty of action to catch up on-so let us get to the recapping!
The Flagship brand comes to fans from Mexico City, Mexico…a first in the history of the company. Probably the last person that WWE fans want to see starts the show as John Laurinaitis comes out to kick things off.
As the resident Interim GM and exec introduces himself to fans, he also teases them into thinking that Rey Mysterio would return. Sadly the exec was just teasing the fans; thus far Laurinaitis has received a heel reception from the WWE Universe.
It seems as if the exec is doing a poor job of endearing himself to the fans, and of course constant teaming-up with heels isn’t going to win John any points with the fans either.
In an attempt to win back the crowd, John brings back HOFer Jim Ross, but instead of announcing the ‘Boomer Sooner’ is announced to wrestle in a bout featuring him and John Cena taking on Michael Cole and Alberto Del Rio.
Finally the in-ring action starts with a 6-man tag bout featuring Christian, Cody Rhodes and Mark Henry taking on John Morrison, Randy Orton and Sheamus. The heel trio won the bout on this night, as Henry did this amazing toss into the World’s Strongest Slam for the victory.
Sadly though the amazing finishing move was pulled on John Morrison, who actually had offensive momentum on the Champ prior to the devastating maneuver, the thing with Morrison is that the company needs to start building him up for one-on-one action…especially if they want him to challenge for the strap.
Though that is not the reason for the match, as the company just wanted to continue the feud between Christian/Sheamus and Orton/Rhodes; as these four rivals are slated to face each other at the Vengeance.
Here is hoping that the company will do something interesting to finish up the feud between Christian and Sheamus.
As for Orton/Rhodes it is the start of what is going to be a long standing rivalry between these two stars. It’ll be a huge boost for Rhodes, who is getting groomed to be a future heavyweight champion in the company.
Sheamus, meanwhile, is on the fast track to a championship…as the next stop for Great White will soon be wearing Gold within the company. After the first bout was over, fans already go to a backstage segment featuring the interim GM.
Things went from nice to nightmare for Laurinaitis, who first got to flirt with the Bella Twins. After that nice-ness was over, the exec was face-to-face with Alberto Del Rio.
The WWE Champ is not pleased with the fact that he is going to be in a bout with Cole and facing Cena/Ross later on in the night. The Mexican Aristocrat called the GM crazy, and was told some bad news, as the Main Event tonight would determine the stipulation to the Vengeance pay-per-view.
Eve def. Natalya: In what was a good bout between the two ladies. Eve pulled off a beautiful Moon Sault for the second Raw in a row. This was a quick bout, but a good step in the right direction for women’s wrestling.
It was announced that Eve is going to challenge Beth Phoenix for the Diva’s strap on Sunday, and should be interesting to see what happens next. It’d be good for the division to have a good feud between Beth and Eve, but as always stay tuned!
C.M. Punk vs. Miz: As of late C.M. Punk has been getting a huge face reaction from the crowd. One can see the Straight Edge star enjoying the attention, as he has had a huge smile on his face every time the crowd goes crazy.
Fans of the Awesome-Truth were treated to a heel promo the one-on-one bout between Punk and The Miz. Once the action between the two finally went underway, it was probably one of the better bouts of the night.
Here is hoping that one day the company will allow for Punk and Miz can go at it one-on-one without any interference from anyone. This fan feels that a feud with these two stars is a gold mine for the WWE, and you know one day the company will cash in.
At the end of this night though, the sole purpose of this bout was to continue to plug the pay-per-view tag bout between Awesome-Truth and Punk and Triple H. The company still has a ton of work on Friday night, to build things up further-but thus far the fans are hooked and wanting to see more.
The team of Dig-Swag came out for individual bouts, but before that fans of Vickie Guerrero got a treat via a heel promo by the Cougar. This fan is still enjoying the idea that Swagger is with the manager.
Swagger was able to pull out a half decent promo tonight, as one can see him slowing his speech pattern on this night. Eventually thanks to tutoring by both Vickie and Dolph, Jack will reach his potential in becoming a big star within the company.
The All-American-American was the first of the two cubs in action, as he suffered a tough loss to ‘Long Island Ice-T’ Zack Ryder. The Broski of the week has been on a roll as of late, and it is only a matter of time before he obtains gold for real.
With the duo of Dig-Swag moving on to the tag straps, the company may be more willing to give Ryder gold…but that is something still to be determined. In the other singles bout Dolph took on powerhouse Mason Ryan.
Ryan has really impressed this fan thus far, and is also enjoying his time as a face within the company. Mason is nice filler for fans who miss Batista, but has more expression and can show more of a fun side…whereas Batista was always a tad too serious for this gal.
Before the Main Event, fans were treated to a nice backstage segment featuring JR and John Cena. The Hall of Famer is worried that he will ruin the night for the resident Superman. Cena calms his partner down, assures him that things will be okay.
After waiting patiently, it is finally Main Event time on the Flagship brand. Ross got to get his hands on rival Michael Cole to start things off, but it didn’t take the weasel long to tag in his partner in Alberto Del Rio.
This fan admits that the action between Cena and Del Rio was really good. I personally enjoyed seeing these two go at it, for me it seems as if John has really improved and added to his traditional skill set-which is good and necessary for his future.
Cena put enough of a beat down on Del Rio, which the heel couldn’t take anymore tagging in Michael Cole. The announcer begged for mercy, before Cena tagged in Jim Ross-who applied an ankle lock submission move for the victory.
Thanks to the 1-2-3, Cena is allowed to pick the stipulation for the WWE Championship bout in six nights. The resident WWE Superman decides on a ‘Last Man Standing’ bout in an effort to regain his strap.
Who knows what direction the company will go in, but it will be a very physical bout between these two men in six nights. That wraps up this edition of the WrestleChat.net recap; hopefully you all will join me on Friday night for SmackDown…as always stay tuned!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 14, 2011 at 10:43 pm
Woo-woo-woo You Knot It: Image via Wikipedia
Welcome WWE fans to another edition of the WrestleChat.net recap, as the company is quickly moving towards the Vengeance pay-per-view. Tonight we fans sit down together to watch the latest instillation of Friday Night SmackDown, which according to announcers-became the second longest running weekly episodic TV show (634).
If that is a true statement or not is to be determined, either way it has been nice to see the Blue Brand has a good home on the SyFy network. As a way to celebrate their historical night, Teddy Long announced a 41-man battle royal to determine a number one contender for a bout for the belt of their choosing.
Stars from both brands squeezed into the biggest battle royal in the history of the company. This fan figured, with the way things were building that Sheamus was going to finally have his title opportunity on this night.
It is not yet time for ‘Great White’ to cash in on the face momentum he has gained with the fans, as the feud with Christian continues-as the leader of the Peeps screwed Sheamus out of winning the battle royal. At the end of a very competitive bout, it was The Miz taking on Randy Orton.
This was one bout that I, personally hope that the company will explore again in the future. I can’t recall these two stars meeting too many times before, and it’d be a bout/rivalry that fans would enjoy. Hopefully it’ll happen-so stay tuned.
As the two competitors tediously fought outside the ring for the opportunity for a shot at the strap, it was ‘The Viper’ that was the victor. Orton was able to pull an amazing RKO outside the ring on The Miz; it had seemed as if maybe both men’s feet touched the ground. After review though, one could clearly see that the Awesome One fell to the floor first.
With the Apex Predator now back atop the food chain on SmackDown, announcer Josh Matthews comes in to ask if Randy has a choice on which champion he’d like to face. Orton responds that he wishes to keep his word on getting vengeance on his former-rival Mark Henry.
So now that the Main Event is scheduled, and another bout of Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus booked for later on in the night, fans are set for an action packed night on SmackDown. The in-ring action continued with a very easy victory for one Beth Phoenix over Kelly Kelly.
In spite of a new aggressive side to the dual named diva, Kelly wasn’t able to muster much of an offense against Phoenix. It is a shame, because it really does seem like Kelly could hold her own against the Glamazon. Or at least put on a half decent bout-as always stay tuned.
The rivalry between Azul (Sin Cara) and Sin Cara continued, with a brutal backstage beat down by the black clad Mexican Luchador. It seems as if Azul is the original masked wonder, and is angry with the current star-for wanting to make a name for him.
I don’t know about the other fans, but this whole rivalry is confusing. What is the point of having these two men feud if they aren’t allowed to communicate? Yes there was some form of communication from Michael Cole, but fans would rather hear from the stars.
Hopefully the company will figure out a way to make things work between the two men. This is probably a way to sub for Rey Mysterio until he can return to the ring; you know that once the master of the 619 returns home-that he will feud with Cara.
Azul Sin Cara def. Justin Gabriel: This bout didn’t do much to allow for Gabriel to shine, as the storyline is mainly focused on the two Sin Cara’s. Thus far the WWE Universe does not like the Azul version of the masked wonder, as many voiced their displeasure after the bout.
Backstage promo where Vickie Guerrero demands a bout for the tag team championship straps for her cubs, Dolph Ziggler. It seems as if Evan Bourne is still injured, so Zack Ryder volunteers to take his place.
Who knows how long Bourne will be out of action for, thus making a perfect opining for one Zack Ryder. Long Island Ice T has a cult like following, and it is a matter of time before he finds a rival within the company.
Ryder was able to pick up a huge victory with Kofi Kingston over the team I will dub as, Dig-Swag. Jack Swagger was trying to do the right thing, causing heel interference in the bout-but smartly Kingston cashed in on that mistake.
As the referee was trying to rid Swagger from the ring, Kofi came in and connected on the ‘Trouble in Paradise’ allowing Ryder to pick up the victory. Should be interesting to see what direction the company will take with the feud between Dig-Swag/Air-Boom and Zack Ryder.
Alberto Del Rio def. Sheamus via disqualification: So it seems as if the WWE wishes to continue the feud between Great White and Christian. The leader of the peeps caused enough interference to allow Alberto Del Rio to pick up a victory. Two post-bout spears capped off a momentum filled night for Christian.
After the Raw Recap, we get a great backstage interview with Sheamus, as he is really enjoying his time as a face. Great White proceeds to tell Matt Striker an Irish Fable about a Great White bull and a troll (guess who is who). In the end the Celtic Warrior is looking forward to a beat down on Christian.
By the way who else called the eventual Main Event foreshadowing that happened on SmackDown tonight (raises hands)? As the participants of Orton/Henry bout headed to the ring, the company decided to show the action of one Cody Rhodes last week.
As soon as this fan saw that video, I knew that the Phantom of the WWE would be looking to make his mark for the second straight week. Thankfully Rhodes didn’t leave me waiting long, as the young lion did eventually cause interference for the disqualification.
Henry and Rhodes teamed-up for a two-on-one heel beat down, before The Big Show came out to make the save. It was also a great opportunity for Show to continue his newly started feud with the World’s Strongest Man.
Eventually Orton and Show ran the bad guys out of the ring, to stand ’tall’ in the ring. The two men stared at their rivals, while also celebrating as SmackDown goes off the air. With the Vengeance pay-per-view, I’d expect for an eventual tag bout featuring the four stars to happen.
That’ll wrap up this weeks’ edition of the WrestleChat.net recap, hopefully you all will join me on Monday Night for Raw, and as always Stay Tuned!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 10, 2011 at 11:49 pm
This maybe the sight for WWE fans very soon. With Cena slated to face Del Rio in two weeks at the Vengeance pay-per-view. Image via Wikipedia
Welcome to another edition of the Raw Recap from WrestleChat.net! The last we left the Flagship brand, 55 stars walked out on current COO, stating unworkable conditions on Monday night. It seems as if the WWE is reflecting the real life situation that is happening as of late.
There has been a growing, grass roots protest, not only happening here in New York-but in numerous other cities as well. The protest in which, this fan speaks of is the Occupy Wall Street movement. So now the stars decide to have their own Occupy the Raw parking lot, as they are unhappy with the way things have been run.
With 55 stars all protesting, Triple H comes out of his private room-to an empty announce table, and limited resources in which to run Raw. Hunter came out to a huge ovation from the WWE Universe, as the fans seem to enjoy the job that Corporate Hunter has done.
Hunter addresses the current state of Raw, saying how bewildered he is, and how all the stars didn’t walk out on him-but instead walked out on the WWE Universe. Talked briefly about how the stars won’t come back until he leaves, and contemplates quitting.
There is one thing about that word though, Hunter has never been much of a quitter-and will not be blackmailed or bullied into doing otherwise. This is probably one of the better promos I’ve seen from Hunter, as he seemed truly emotional and passionate about the situation.
Just when Hunter and the rest of the WWE Universe thought that everyone was on strike, three stars came out to show their loyalty to the show-as John Cena, Sheamus and C.M. Punk all crossed the picket lines.
The resident WWE Superman comes out first, to cut a promo to say how much he loves Raw-and that it doesn’t matter who the boss is. Cena loves the chaos of the Flagship brand, and that the word loyalty is more than just something to sell merchandise.
Loyal is something that Cena practices on a daily basis, and the thing that he is loyal too is the WWE Universe-which is the reason why he didn’t walk out.
Sheamus was the second star to come from the back, and discuss why he didn’t protest the current COO. At one point in time, when Great White was trying to make a name for himself-he hit Hunter with a steel pipe, during a time when Triple H was saying goodbye to his best friend Shawn Michaels.
Instead of whining and complaining, Hunter recovered-came back and gave Sheamus quite a beating. For that the King of Kings has the respect of the Celtic Warrior. There is another thing, Great White didn’t leave his friends, family and hometown to sit out with losers-he is here to be the best and to be on Raw.
Finally C.M. Punk comes out, probably stunning Triple H and a few others by not protesting. The Straight Edge star admits that he’s been at the center of a ton of controversy as of late, since he is the guy that made walking out look cool.
There is a difference between Punk and the 55 standing in the parking lot, and that is proving a point to the company versus to just one man. Made a funny statement about how he should walk out again, after losing his strap to Alberto Del Rio after an attack by Kevin Nash-along with other various reasons.
Punk made a very good point, about how the WWE is based on stars solving whatever problems they have in the ring; it is also a company that gives you Hell in the Cell as well as the Elimination Chamber. So the argument for the unsafe working conditions is out the window right there (didn’t I say that last week).
The Straight Edge star continued to say that if you believe in something, you stand and fight for it-and if he had a problem with anyone he dealt with it personally. With the four stars in the ring, the big question was-what to do now.
Hunter decides to take action with the limited resources he has, making a bout between Sheamus and John Cena. Triple H will do the officiating as C.M. Punk was allowed to take to both the announce table, as well as becoming the bell keeper.
Crowd loved the interaction, and the fact that the show was going to happen, but before anything could happen out comes one Vince McMahon. Surprised, well don’t be as the Chairman of the Board swaggers to shock the WWE Universe.
After clearing out the ring of the current guys on the roster, McMahon decides to have some one-on-one time with his son-in-law. Thus far Vince has really enjoyed what he has seen from Raw, but the strike is a problem for the Board of Directors.
There is concern from the Board, because if things go out of hand there may not be any WrestleMania, no more pay-per-views and no more Raw. Thus in an effort to save the future of the company Hunter is relieved from running the Flagship brand.
Ironic isn’t it, how things have come full circle for Triple H-who relieved McMahon from running Raw oh-so-many-months ago. So now Hunter is relieved from running Raw, but still the COO of the company. New interim GM is the guy wanting the job the whole time….John Laurinaitis.
This fan firmly believes that John has been behind the scenes working the strings trying to oust the COO from control of the Flagship brand. Stay tuned for this one folks, as there may be a feud for eventual control (much like the current TNA/Impact storyline) of the company.
Fans watching Raw on TV got to see the new Interim GM in the back welcoming home the 55 that were protesting the idea of Hunter being in charge. John Morrison wasn’t so pleased to see Laurinaitis, as the Guru of Greatness immediately regrets going on strike.
Thanks to his protest, Morrison was booked in an impromptu bout with Christian. As the leader of the peeps was next to interact with the new GM, on what was a more positive note.
Christian def. Morrison: With Christian being flanked by Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes, it was easy for the cagy veteran to pick up a victory on this night. This fan is interested in seeing if the alliance between Christian, Swagger, Ziggler and Rhodes will continue in a new heel stable-as always stay tuned.
Fans go once again backstage where a very pissed of Triple H comes face-to-face with the man that took over the Flagship brand. Laurinaitis was trying to make it like this wasn’t his idea at all, but this fan feels that being the GM is exactly what the former exec was hoping for.
Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton: Disqualification: So this bout served two purposes, as it is building up feuds between four stars. Henry is currently in a feud with the Big Show, and built up on that via a heel promo. The WWE is also building up a one-on-one rivalry between Cody Rhodes and the Apex Predator.
The thing that seems funny to me is the fact that Rhodes is mad about Orton injuring the young lion to the point of needing staples in his head. One would think that Cody be more angry about being held back all of those years with Legacy, but oh well. Fans will have to stay tuned to see how these rivalries will continue.
Kelly Kelly/Eve def. Rosa Mendes and Tamina: It was nice to see the face team go up against another team today, as most fans are probably tired of the rivalry with the D.O.D. Another bright spot is the continued build up of aggression from last week for Kelly Kelly. There were some botched moments, but a pretty moon sault by Eve saved the night, while also picking up the victory.
In the middle of the Diva’s bout it was announced that John Laurinaitis is now on Twitter, so fans should do a search for WWE RAW Gm on the social media site, to share your thoughts and insights on the programming.
Speaking of the Interim GM, John came out to undo probably what was one of the best things that happened to Raw in a while. Ever since the return of Jim Ross to the programming, it has felt like WWE programming again. Ross is one of the few people that can get you excited and emotional during the course of the bout.
Well it turns out that the Hall of Famer is now fired, thanks to a grudge that John Laurinaitis holds. Weather one of the greatest play-by-play guys in the history of the company is slated to return or not is to be determined.
Mason Ryan and Team Air-Boom def. Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, and David Otunga: This was probably the one shocker of the night. Thus far Raw has had all the heels pulling and backing each other, so this fan was personally surprised to see a face team pick up the victory.
There was bad news though, as one Evan Bourn looks legitimately injured. There has been no word yet on if the high-flying star will have to miss any time with the company. The way things are looking though, it seems as if Mason Ryan is going to have a push, so maybe we’ll see the formation of team Boom-ista (since Ryan looks so much like the former WWE Star Batista).
Earlier on in the night the show had touted that fans were going to see C.M. Punk and Alberto Del Rio in one-on-one action. The two rivals did lock horns for quite some time, before the last shocking announcement of the night.
John Laurinaitis has decided to bring back The Miz and R-Truth to WWE programming. This was and wasn’t really shocking at the same time, as this fan had a feeling we’d see the duo returning to the company. Here is guessing that John put in the order for the duo to attack all participants in the Hell in the Cell pay-per-view.
In probably one of the oddest sights fans have seen in a while, C.M. Punk had to team up with Alberto Del Rio to face the team known as Awesome-Truth. At first things were cooperative, before the Mexican Aristocrat realized he was a heel.
Del Rio turned his back on Punk, leaving with a ‘leg injury,’ when in all reality he just didn’t want to be on the same team as the Straight Edge star. Punk pulled out one of the most impressive moves of the night with his simultaneous bull dog/close line combo-but could not hold off the two-on-one attack for long.
Eventually Miz and Truth just started to beat down on the ‘Voice of the Voiceless’ causing a disqualification in the bout. Before the two heels could cause any further damage, out comes Triple H to even the odds and regain momentum for the good guys.
Punk and Hunter really gave the Awesome-Truth their money’s worth, as Laurinaitis teases a bout between the four men for the Vengeance pay-per-view in two weeks time. Raw ends with the King of Kings and the Voice of the Voiceless shake hands and celebrating together.
So now the question is, will Hunter return to the roster full time? Or will the earlier theory of Triple H eventually challenging for his power back apply? There is no chance that the Interim GM will wrestle himself, but he could always send out a team like Awesome-Truth to do his dirty work.
That is a wrap for tonight’s Raw Recap, but hopefully you all will stay tuned-as WrestleChat.net will have continued updates on all things pro-wrestling!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 7, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Cody Rhodes set to feud with Randy Orton: Image via Wikipedia
Welcome WWE fans to another edition of the SmackDown Recap from WrestleChat.net. So while Raw is currently on strike, the superstars on Friday night are still wrestling-even though Triple H is still COO.
In case if you missed it, the stars on the Flagship brand are ‘upset’ with the current working conditions. One has to wonder though how unsafe things can be-if you voluntary decide to put your body on the line every night.
Sadly there is a conspiracy going on, and possibly spear-heading it is Executive VP of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, who has wanted Hunter’s job from Day One. Now that we are all caught up, let us get to the action of the Blue Brand on Friday night.
By the way happy One Year anniversary to SmackDown, as the show celebrates its anniversary on the SyFy channel today. Thus far the brand has had highs and lows since moving to the TV network, as it is still recovering from the loss of Edge.
Thankfully with the company incorporating stars from both shows, there have been stars galore-as well as matches that have kept people intrigued.
One such bout was the one between Alberto Del Rio and ‘Azul’ which is the evil persona of Sin Cara. Having the ‘Mexican Aristocrat’ on both shows is a smart move for the WWE, as they really need to build up heel heat for the star.
It’d also be a smart move, if the company would allow the younger lions to start feuding with Del Rio-such as Cody Rhodes or Ezekiel Jackson…but hopefully in due time.
The duo of ‘Zig-Swag’ Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger defeated Air/Boom in tag team action tonight. It seems as if the company is going to have these two teams rival the other for a while. The rivalry is a great move for the tag division, but not as much for one Dolph Ziggler.
Ziggler right now needs one-on-one action to help prove that he is the best U.S. Champion in company history, but maybe this rivalry will allow for a one-on-one with either Kofi or Evan Bourne. It also allows one Jack Swagger enough time to build up his resume, before his eventual feud with Dolph.
Beth Phoenix def. Alicia Fox as the company is trying to build up more rivalries for the current Diva’s Champion outside of Kelly Kelly. It was nice to see Beth fight someone outside the dual named diva, and hopefully the company will start going big things with the women’s division.
Fans of the Big Show will be happy to see that the World’s Strongest Man was back in action tonight, he gave a very emotional promo on his road back to the company. It seems that Mark Henry broke Show’s ankle, and it has taken a while for the Gentile Giant to come back.
The WWE is starting to move towards a Henry/Show feud for the World Heavyweight strap-which we will address later on in the blog.
Ezekiel Jackson def. Jinder Mahal in a complete waste of a bout tonight. One could figure that Big Zeke was going to pick up the victory. Right now the company is keeping Zeke warm for his eventual feud with Mark Henry.
John Laurinaitis warned SmackDown Teddy Long about losing control of the Blue Brand, in an interesting segment during the show today. This fan wonders where all of the power of Mr. Laurinaitis is coming from.
The WWE does not have a union, and all really John does is evaluate the new talent coming in. Makes you wonder if this is a ploy by Mr. McMahon to make his return somehow-or if really this is just the exec’s way of just taking over the company for himself.
For a second straight Main Event fans had to sit through a tag team bout, as last Monday on Raw the Flagship brand also had a 12-man tag match. There is reasoning behind this tag bout though, as one Cody Rhodes is not quite yet ready for a feud with Randy Orton.
One has to wonder as a fan, how ready does Rhodes have to be? Young Cody teamed with Randy as a part of Legacy for a while now, he also was embarrassed by the Viper in a two-on-one bout at WrestleMania (the bout that made Orton a face). It seems though as if the company wants a tad more seasoning for Cody-before starting a one-on-one match with the Apex Predator.
This tag bout also kept the feud between Sheamus and Christian going for a bit longer, as ‘Great White’ really has been on a role as of late. This fan expects an eventual title push for Sheamus real soon; it just should be interesting to see if it’ll be on Raw or SmackDown.
Here is the part of the recap, were we chat more about the Henry/Show feud-as Show requested a bout for the strap soon. Mark Henry came out at this point of the night to respond to that challenge with a resounding ‘No.”
Out comes a fired-up Big Show to start laying out the ‘SmackDown’ (pun intended) on the World’s Strongest Man. In one of the more impressive moments that this fan has seen in a while, Show actually choke slammed Henry into the announce table.
Before any more damage could be done by the Big Show, out comes Teddy Long to grant the bout that the World’s Largest Man had been hoping for. The one good thing about this feud, as was seen by the Choke Slam seen round the world-is that Show can hold his own against Henry.
Bad news is that if Show becomes champion, the company will have the same problem they have right now with Henry. Who in the company can match up with either man really?
That is a wrap for this week’s edition of the SmackDown recap! Hopefully you all will join me on Monday Night, as there are a ton of questions to answer on the Flagship brand. According to WWE.com Hunter is not giving up his title as COO, and the stars well are still on strike.
There are a few stars holding out though, as John Cena, C.M. Punk, Randy Orton and the Big Show will all be on hand to wrestle. The big question is-who will they be wrestling? Hopefully you all will join me then-and as always stay tuned!!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 3, 2011 at 11:18 pm
Triple H: King of the ring, but as COO not as much: Image via Wikipedia
Welcome WWE fans to the WrestleChat.net Monday Night Raw recap, as we are joining you the night after the Hell in the Cell pay-per-view. There is a ton of action to get too on this Monday Night-so let us get right to it!
Randy Orton starts the Flagship brand off with a very spirited bout with Drew McIntyre; sadly the former ‘Chosen One’ had no chance against the Apex Predator. At least the one bit of good news for Drew is that he was allowed to put on a decent bout.
It is a real shame that the WWE is burying one of their talents like this, but it seems as if this has been the case for McIntyre for quite some time. It has been all downhill for the Sinister Scotsman since he has lost the Intercontinental Championship, and Drew hasn’t been able to rebound.
With SmackDown in need of a star, the company should build up Drew as a main focus on Friday night’s. It seems though that McIntyre has pissed off someone-somewhere that he is now downgraded to ‘jobber’ status in the company.
In the continued feud between Orton and Mark Henry, the World’s Strongest Man comes out to flaunt his retaining of the strap at the pay-per-view. Well the ‘Apex Predator’ was taking none of that, attacking Henry outside the ring.
Eventually the rivals were stopped by the security guards, as it was the segment into another jobber bout-as Henry took on John Morrison. In probably one of the worst birthday presents ever the Guru of Greatness was completely squashed by the WSM.
Morrison did put up a good fight though, as the Shaman of Sexy was able to put on a flurry of offense-he was even able to pick up a two-count on the current champion. Sadly all of that offense by John just pissed off the angry giant.
Eventually Henry just slammed Morrison-twice and eventually picked up the victory. According to the WSM he is done with Randy Orton-though you know the company will find one more bout for the two rivals.
It was promoted that the Big Show will make his return on Friday Night; the World’s Largest Man will make a return after sitting on the shelf-thanks to an injury by Henry. Should be interesting to see what happens next-as Show is probably one of the few stars that can match up with the WSM.
Fans at home go backstage, where we see various heels teaming up and complaining to Executive VP of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis. It seems as if the WWE is going legal-as there are several complaints filed against the company.
According to the executive-he will try to talk to Hunter about the ‘legitimate’ grievances that are on the table. The heels all head to the ring-to make their case known to a larger audience. Starting the in-ring complaint is new WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio.
It is no surprise that the ‘Mexican Aristocrat’ was able to win back the strap; the company has really been pushing the heel as of late. They have had advertisements on the site about Del Rio possibly winning the strap.
For those who missed the action of the Hell in the cell pay-per-view there was a brutal attack by the team known as ‘Awesome-Truth.’ According to the heels the WWE has now become an unsafe workplace, and they have filed a complaint against the company because of it.
To answer the response of the heels, Triple H comes out to address the ‘grievances’ of the heels in the ring. The Cerebral Assassin asked the stars-what ever happen to the guys who came in on a nightly basis and did their jobs. No one ever whined or complained about things-they just picked themselves up and fought.
According to Hunter-he really doesn’t care about any legal complaints the heel may have. All that matters to the current COO is that the stars are ready for the big 12-man tag bout that will happen later on tonight.
Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres vs. DOD (Beth Phoenix new Diva’s Champion): Kelly Kelly showed a new aggressive side-slamming the Glamazon’s head into the announce table several times. Eventually a disqualification was called by the referee. It seems as if the dual named diva has completely gone bonkers.
This was pretty awesome to see this different side of Kelly Kelly-it is nice to finally see the ladies going at it the way they can. I personally think fans would enjoy seeing a more aggressive-physical side of women’s wrestling.
For the second time in the night-the fans at home go to the back where we see John Laurinaitis interacting with Triple H. It seems as if the executive is just undermining everything that Hunter has done thus far, and even called for a vote of confidence from the stars….stay tuned for this one folks.
In one of the strangest build-ups to a bout this fan has seen, Jinder Mahal and Santino Marella got into an impromptu bout tonight. The thing that made this strange is that you really didn’t understand either star, Mahal chose to speak in his native tongue.
As for Marella-he decided to speak in gibberish, as if to make fun of the heel in the ring. In the sad-but-true moment of the night, Santino was able to pick up the victory via the Cobra. It seems strange that the company is pushing the ‘clown’ known as Santino-especially over what was a once feared heel.
This was the point of the programming that fans that missed Hell in the Cell saw the beat down by ‘Awesome-Truth’ as the heel duo made an impact at the pay-per-view. The company also aired the YouTube video the team made apologizing to the fans.
It seems as if Miz and Truth also have a legal complaint in on Triple H and the WWE. They say they want their job back-which is why they made the impact they did at the pay-per-view. The heel duo apologizes to the WWE Universe-and apologizes about the fact that Hunter is a sad excuse for a leader.
Raw shows how the Awesome/Truth just laid complete waist to the competitors in the Main Event of the Hell in the Cell pay-per-view-shows the heel duo being hand cuffed and led out of the arena-
Finally it was time for the huge 12-man tag bout, as team Del Rio took on team Cena. It seems as if on the night that the heels file a complaint against the company they took control of the Main Event bout.
Two moments that stood out to me, was when Mason Ryan did a standing power bomb during the bout. Also the ovation that C.M. Punk received from the crowd. Also this fan loved the new shirt that Punk was wearing, as the ‘Voice of the Voiceless’ is now wearing his ice cream bar on his new apparel.
Thankfully the 12-men were all allowed to shine at one-point in time, as the company really did a good job of keeping the Main Event a fast paced bout. A huge Brogue kick by Sheamus allows the face team to pick up the huge victory on this night.
In a nice moment the six faces all stand in the ring and celebrate. It was time for the vote of confidence from the stars to Triple H on the job that the ‘King of Kings’ has done thus far.
After the locker room emptied out of heels, faces, divas, referees and Hall of Famers’ a like it was time for the vote-but before that could happen Triple H gives some words.
Turns out the task of being COO is more difficult than Hunter thought it’d be, not one he asked for-but one that he was given. Rips into Truth/Miz, upset with inability to take the punishment from the actions that they took. Admits he is old school and enjoys the battles and chaos that is Raw and the WWE.
Reminds the stars that the WWE Universe signs the paychecks of the guys standing outside the ring, Hunters responsibility is to the fans and making the show the best it can be for the WWE Universe. Wade Barrett speaks out on behalf of the heels in the area.
Barrett claims that Hunter is out of control, who lest we forget once upon a time led a chaotic situation himself-shutting down the company. Referees and Divas’ a like even file complaints against the reigning COO.
Jerry Lawler comes into the ring, agrees with the idea that the show has gone out of control. Disagrees with the idea that Hunter is to blame; as the King thinks that there is someone behind the scenes pulling the strings working against Hunter. Sad part though is that the stars have to pay the price.
The vote is finally taken, as it seems as if everyone is in agreement-vote ‘no confidence’ in the reigning COO. Lawler is the first to walk out on Hunter, with the rest of the stars following. WWE Universe cheering for Triple H-as the crowd is clearly behind the former-star.
All of the stars, announcers, and camera men leave the arena in a show of strength and unity. As Hunter stands by himself in the WWE ring-the crowd shows love. Not showing love was John Laurinaitis-who is probably behind all of the conspiracy in the company as of late.
So the question is-will the company crown a new COO now that the stars have gone on strike? What direction will the company head towards now? All of these questions and more will hopefully be answered!
Hopefully you will stick with us, and as always stay tuned!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on September 21, 2011 at 7:11 pm
That catchy guitar riff…
The signature phrase…
The massive pop that follows…
The one that makes you want to bob your head or sing and hum along…
The connection that the song has with the wrestler using it…
They’re the essential pieces to a great pro wrestling theme. Over the years, we’ve heard thousands of them. A theme song can pretty much make or break a star and it defines them. It’s probably the most important quality for a wrestler. Think about it – before you ever see their look, hear them on the mic, or see how they work in the ring, you will hear their theme song. Think back to any of your favorite stars of the past and their theme song is one that you can instantly sing or hum nearly in its entirety.
After a pretty lengthy discussion with some friends, it got me thinking exactly what are the greatest wrestling themes of all time? This started off as a list of my Top 20, but after starting an Excel spreadsheet of all the ones under consideration, it turned into a Top 25, then Top 50, and where we ended up – a Top 75 Pro Wrestling Themes of All-Time.
To continue reading my special column and to see the list compiled by all of the votes, CLICK HERE to continue to the Camel Clutch Blog!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on September 20, 2011 at 12:10 am
Woo Woo Woo-You know it: Ryder before the revolution: Image via Wikipedia
Welcome WWE fans as we here at WrestleChat.net bring you another edition of the Raw Recap, as the Flagship brand has a ton of action to get too! The show comes to fans live from Cleveland, Ohio just after the Night of Champions pay-per-view.
There were some surprises as the pay-per-view, and something’s that most fans could have easily called-either way let us start getting to the action from tonight’s Raw!
Staring the show was C.M. Punk, who had to admit that he was wrong about R-Truth and Miz. As of late the tag duo known as the ‘Awesome Truth’ has been spewing ‘conspiracy theories’ to anyone around the company who would listen.
According to Punk, the do were right that there is a conspiracy-but before anything else is said cue the music of Triple H, who is still the COO of WWE. These two men went to war at NOC, and Hunter got right down to business first before anything else was said.
It turns out that there will be, for the first time a Triple Threat Hell in a Cell bout featuring Alberto Del Rio, newly crowned WWE Champion John Cena and C.M. Punk.
Quick personal note, this fan wishes to congratulate Cena on winning his 10th Championship. I know a ton of people hate the resident WWE Superman-but I for one am someone who has a ton of respect for the star. Yes, I am biased because he graduated a year ahead of me from our Alma Mater of Springfield College.
Here is the real reason why I respect Cena though, he does a ton of charity work and gives 1,000 percent of himself in the ring on a nightly basis. John is someone that is a positive example, and that is something I have a great respect for.
I am also very glad to see Punk finally get his due, and rematch for the WWE Title….I figured personally that the Straight Edge star was going to get the shot straight away. Turns out though that the Second City Savior is involved with a bigger storyline.
It turns out that Punk has figured out what the conspiracy is, and who may be involved. As there is someone pitting the dislike of two stars against one another. There is someone above Triple H trying to dethrone the King of Kings from his COO crown-and Punk’s theory is that John Laurinaitis is behind everything.
Of course the idea is denied, but there really isn’t anyone else to benefit from Hunter leaving the COO position than Laurinaitis-who is next in line to Hunters throne. It makes sense, and is something that this fan was wondering a while back when John was chatting with one Kevin Nash.
Laurinaitis tries to fire Punk, but with Hunter in the ring that is not going to happen. Triple H is the one with all the power, and by the end of the night the King of Kings will figure out who is behind the conspiracy and give the ‘Future endeavors’ to someone.
Raw got to the first in-ring action of the night with an eight man tag bout featuring Air/Boom, Justin Gabriel and Sheamus defeating David Otunga, Michael McGillicutty, Christian and Wade Barrett. It seems after tonight, and last Friday that the company is going to push a Sheamus/Christian feud.
There are mixed emotions with this feud, as Sheamus can easily dominate anyone in the ring. That is unless of course if the company is going to start a new conniving Christian, who will use his wits to defeat the Celtic Warrior. Either way stay tuned for this one folks.
So it seems as if Alberto Del Rio thinks that Hunter is the worse COO in the history of the company, as the Mexican Aristocrat tells Triple H this fact in a segment the back. The way the King of Kings’ sees things-Del Rio brought this pain on himself when he cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase. Alberto prays for the return of Mr. McMahon-when he should be praying to last through the Hell in the Cell bout in two weeks time.
The Mexican Aristocrat was in action with a very quick submission victory over John Morrison. The Guru of Greatness didn’t even have a chance over the angry Del Rio, who wished to prove a point after losing the WWE Championship.
For fans of movies-Hugh Jackman was the special guest host of Raw, but was quickly interrupted by Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero. It turns out a challenge was thrown down in the name of underdogs everywhere; that Jackman will take the biggest project in the company, and lead them to their biggest victory.
At this point in juncture, as if on cue the WWE Universe starts to chant the name of one Zach Ryder…that does not get enough time on TV. Jackman hears the chants and sees the signs and responds by taking one such sign reading Ryder > Wolverine to the back-stay tuned fans!
So it seems as if The Miz and R-Truth continue to get into trouble, their action at the Night of Champion pay-per-view event may possibly get them fired. The heel duo eventually goes in to apologize to Hunter and say how much they love being a star in the WWE.
Hunter accepts the apology and puts Awesome/Truth in a bout with John Cena and C.M. Punk in the Main Event tonight. Before any of this action happened there was a very quick bout with the real Sin Cara taking on the imposter.
This is a feud that will continue to confuse fans, until the company can figure out a way to get one of the two guys to speak. Either that or get someone to speak on their behalf if they wish to keep the Masked Wonders ‘mystique’ intact. One could tell there was confusion with the people, as they really do not know what is going on.
After 15-years of waiting, struggling injures and haters Mark Henry won his first World Heavyweight Championship at the pay-per-view. The World’s Strongest Man was interviewed by Jim Ross-who wasn’t always high on the star.
According to Henry, Ross called the WSM an overachiever and too injury prone-well the fact that Henry has the strap proves not only Ross but everyone else wrong. It proved this fan wrong for sure, as I for one figured that Orton was probably going to retain last night.
Maybe the company wanted to do something different, or finally reward a guy who has done everything they have asked him. Either way Henry was able to build up some real heel heat with his actions tonight-even though something about what he did wasn’t right.
This is the crazy thing about the WWE programming, as a fan you are invested in the characters. You care about all of them, and hate to see anyone you like get hurt. So to see Henry picks on guys like Jim Ross or Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler-though an effective heel building technique also is not necessary.
There are a million different ways the company could have gone to build up points with Henry; sadly though they decided not to use any of them. Either way the WSM is going to have his first challenger in two weeks, as Randy Orton has revoked his rematch clause for Hell in the Cell.
In non-surprising news from the NOC pay-per-view was that Kelly Kelly defeated Beth Phoenix to retain the Diva’s Championship. All of the good momentum the company was building with the ladies is being negated with the losses taken by the Diva’s of Doom aka. Phoenix and Natalya.
Ryder/Jackman def. Ziggler and Guerrero: In one of the nicer/feeling fuzzy as a fan of the company moments of the night-the underdog known as Zach Ryder picked up a huge victory. Thanks to help from his friend Hugh Jackman and a bit of distraction from Vickie Guerrero. The Cougar distracted the official enough to eject the manager from ringside.
As the official was tending to Vickie, it allowed Hugh enough time to ‘clock’ Dolph Ziggler. That punch combined with the ‘Rough Ryder’ finishing move allowed the ‘Internet Champion’ to pick up a victory. Stay tuned as it should be interesting to see where the company will take young Mr. Ryder.
Raw continued with a video promo of the All-American-American Jack Swagger, which led to Jack becoming a part of Vickie Guerrero’s ‘Den’ with Dolph Ziggler. I for one am very happy about this, as hopefully it will help the young lion go to the next level.
Eventually Swagger and Ziggler are going to have a rivalry against each other, and it is something that will help both young men to the ‘next level.’ It is going to be a very interesting couple of weeks with the Den, and as always stay tuned!
Interesting moment in the back with C.M. Punk and John Cena as the duo are trying to get on the same page before the tag bout tonight. It seems as if according to Cena the duo are more alike, as they have made history-and will continue to do so as a part of the Hell in the Cell Triple Threat bout.
The two rivals were actually on the same page, picking up a victory over The Awesome/Truth in the Main Event. Actually it was Punk that picked up the win-as the GTS led to an interesting moment of celebration between Punk and Cena.
Before the celebration could continue though, out comes Triple H with some news. First he congratulates Punk on the victory, than he fires the duo known as Awesome/Truth before walking away. The heel duo was shocked, as Hunter could have fired them earlier on in the night.
Not going to take the COO’s decision lying down, Miz and Truth run to the back to attack Hunter. That turned out to be a bad move, as the whole locker room was there watching the show on TV. Eventually the numbers game got to the heel duo.
Hunter gathered enough men to kick both Miz and Truth out of the building, before storming off to end Raw. So is this the last time we have seen the heel duo on WWE programming? What did Hunter learn that he decided to fire them?
Is John Laurinaitis involved with anything, and with the return of Kevin Nash last night-is Big Sexy back with WWE? There are a ton of questions to be answered, and hopefully you all will stay tuned-as WrestleChat.net will have a ton of news and recaps for all wrestling fans everywhere!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on September 16, 2011 at 10:58 pm
Edge: Image via Wikipedia
Greetings fans, as the WrestleChat.net SmackDown recap has returned to your internet screen. The WWE is only days away from the Night of Champions pay-per-view, so let us get right into the action from Friday night.
SmackDown started on a ‘Rated-R’ note, as the one and only Edge returned home to Friday Night. Of course no homecoming is complete without a rude welcome-as Cody Rhodes played the part of spoiler. It seems as if the young lion felt that the return was nothing more than to pander/please the crowd.
Much to the surprise of everyone involved, Ted DiBiase came out and attacked his buddy- in a surprise move by the company. It may also be the move that Ted needs to build his own momentum, as there hasn’t been any interesting storyline to build from.
Now with this turn on his best friend, it is going to be interesting to see where the company takes the young lion next. Hopefully they can figure something out, because Ted has the talent and the skill set to be with the company for a very long time.
Bryan Daniels def. Sin Cara via disqualification: It is always a good night for wrestling fans when guys like Cara and Daniels can get together, but sadly the Masked Wonder started to use some heel tactics. With Bryan dangling off the top rope with his legs, Sin Cara just relentlessly attacks the head of the young star.
In probably the ‘Huh’ moment of the night, the music of Sin Cara hit-and a second Masked Wonder steps out onto the entrance ramp. Fans have known there were two stars for a while now, as the company had to fill in for the original while he was dealing with his ‘wellness’ problems.
The identical luchador warriors stood in the ring and tried to vie for the approval of the fans, and it was the real-trimmer Sin Cara that won…as most people figured out the heftier of the two is a heel. The one thing that complicates this is the fact that Cara cannot speak.
Or maybe the company will allow him too, so that they can build up a proper feud. Either that or the heftier Sin Cara will be revealed somehow-maybe a battle to be the true masked wonder is in store? Stay tuned for this one fans.
For most of the night the Blue Brand was promoting the fact that there’d be a face-to-face between Mark Henry and Randy Orton, to build up their bout at the Night of Champions pay-per-view; thus the return of Edge, so that he could host the duo on his ‘Cutting Edge’ show.
An announcement was made in the back by Teddy Long, in an interaction with Zack Ryder, that there will be no touching/contact between Orton and Henry on this night. Also it is up to the young lion Ryder to tell both men-who are extremely volatile.
Trish Stratus also made an appearance on the Blue Brand, as the company was in her hometown of Toronto. It was a shame she didn’t show her face in this next bout-as it might have been interesting to see what she would have said/done.
Beth Phoenix def. A.J.: In a tune up bout the Glamazon dominated the rookie diva-finishing off with a ’Glam Slam’ for the victory. Cut in the heel promo for Beth, as the clock is about to strike on the championship reign of one Kelly Kelly.
The reason why I personally wanted Trish out at this moment was to stand up to Beth and maybe give a verbal assist to Kelly Kelly (who really doesn’t need it). It might have been nice though for someone like Trish, who herself had to work her way up the WWE latter-to help out the next generation of Diva.
Like it was previously mentioned though, there really is no need to push the dual named diva over any more then she has. Kelly Kelly is wildly popular within the company, and as a fan I cannot see the company allowing Beth to get the strap this weekend. As always though stay tuned!!
Sheamus/Justin Gabriel def. Wade Barrett/Christian: So since I’ve been gone they have gone and made Justin Gabriel a face. Either that or, the company is in the process of doing so. If the second part is the case it was a smart move pairing Justin with Sheamus, as ‘Great White’ is popular as anything right now.
Eventually the power of Sheamus led to a 450 plash for Gabriel, as the duo picked up a well earned victory. This is a first for Justin as a possible face-and here is hoping there is a ton more to come. The high-flyer is a very charismatic guy, and puts on one check of a bout-so for sure the company and fans will get behind this new character very quickly.
Also while I was away the Great Khali finally separated himself from Jinder Mahal (yay). Finally after a week of insults and putting the giant down, Jinder is getting his due-as Khali has turned on his former running mate.
I like this rivalry between these two men, and am glad to see Khali break out. It is an interesting move to have the giant stand up like this to a bully–and it is going to be interesting to see where the company takes it next.
So the duo of R-Truth and Miz are calling themselves the Awesome-Truth, a very interesting name for the duo. These two heels continue to pick up momentum before their Tag Team championship bout at NOC. Again neither of these men really should be in the tag division, but it does allow for them to start building up feuds with other stars.
Maybe-just maybe this will lead to an eventual face turn for The Miz and a feud with R-Truth down the line. It just seems strange to this fan, why the company hasn’t tried the Awesome one as a face yet. The young lion does have the charisma and talent to pull it off. Hopefully soon, both the company and The Miz will realize that is the smart move to make.
The night ended with Edge hosting his famous talk show, to help the rivalry between both Mark Henry and Randy Orton. It was nice to see the Rated-R Superstar again, as he returned home-to the place where he first learned to love the WWE….and where he earned his first strap.
Edge put on an interesting segment, as he was brutally honest with both Orton and Henry; as the retired star reminds his former ‘RKO’ partner that Mark has been a bulldozer as of late. Randy reminds everyone though; that the only time the WSM ever put his hands on ‘The Viper’ is after a bout.
Orton looks Henry in the eyes and says that maybe Mark isn’t good enough to wear the strap, and knows he can defeat the mammoth star this Sunday. Edge agrees with his former running mate-as if you look at the WSM…one would think that there would have been several title reigns for one Mark Henry.
Sadly that hasn’t been the case, and Mark admits that-as all he was told to do is ‘smile’ and ‘show his personality.’ There will be no more of that as Henry will now dominate the Viper and take what is rightfully his-after 15 years with the company…the World’s Heavyweight Championship.
A stare down ensues between both men, as this is the part of the program that Edge reminds them of the ‘no contact’ rule during the talk show. The cunning star also tells them, as he bolts out of the ring-that the time for talking is over-as he allows for the duo to go at one another.
The entire SmackDown locker room could not keep these two away from each other, as Henry eventually got the better of Orton-hitting the Viper with two big splashes and two World Strongest Slams’. As was mentioned on my Raw recap this past Monday, I cannot see the company letting Henry win the strap.
That is unless if they have other things in plan, like letting Henry finally have his first run-and then building up a feud with someone new. It’d be nice to see something like a Sheamus or Ezekiel Jackson feud, as the duo can certainly hold their own against the resident power house.
Hopefully you all enjoyed the return of the SmackDown recap, and will rejoin me on Monday…as the company will have a ton of questions answered. The pay-per-view is this Sunday, so will the WWE allow Hunter to remain as COO? Will Del Rio and Orton still have the strap? What direction is the company going in now?
All that and more will be answered on Monday, as the WrestleChat.net Raw recap comes to your screen on that night. Until then everyone-stay tuned!!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on September 13, 2011 at 12:17 am
Alberto Del Rio: Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Ladies and gentlemen-welcome to another edition of the WrestleChat.net Raw Recap, as the WWE is only six nights away from the Night of Champions pay-per-view which is held in Buffalo, NY this year.
There was a lot that happened, as fans continued to gain pieces of the NOC special from the company tonight-so let us get to the action from the Flagship brand. The night opened up with Alberto Del Rio wondering why the WWE Universe has been disrespecting the undisputed WWE Champion.
The Mexican Aristocrat, who has been putting on a brutal display of post-bout attacks as of late-hasn’t won over anyone yet in his reign as champion thus far. According to Del Rio though, he is going to teach a lesson to one John Cena-as the two are slated for one-on-one action at the PPV.
Alberto continues to crow about how he is the best-of the-best in the WWE, and tonight that fact was disputed by one Brett ‘The Hitman’ Heart. Hart just wanted to give the young lion advice-saying that the champ thus far has been all style and no substance.
According to Brett, one needs to go in and out of the ring giving 100% on a nightly basis to be a true Champion within the company. Del Rio didn’t take to that advice lightly though-disrespecting the Hall of Famer.
Before these two stars could lock horns, out comes John Cena to continue to build up his feud with the Mexican Aristocrat. It seems as of late Del Rio is just running, each time that the resident WWE Superman comes out to challenge the current Champ.
John comes up with the idea for Del Rio to take on ‘The Hitman’ with the WWE Championship on the line in Ottawa, Canada tonight. Even though the crowd loved that idea, one John Laurinaitis didn’t. As the Executive VP of talent relations decides to instead make a tag match featuring Ricardo Rodriguez and Alberto Del Rio, taking on the duo of Brett Hart and John Cena.
By the way I know most fans know this already, but is it just me or does the deck seemed stacked against C.M. Punk in his no-disqualification bout with Triple H at NOC in six nights….we will get back to that later.
John Morrison/Alex Riley def. Ziggler/Swagger: Basically the whole point of this bout was to continue this growing rivalry between the two young lions Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. As both stars are vying for the services of one Vickie Guerrero as their manager Stay tuned for this one fans as this is another issue we will address later.
Alex Riley was able to pick up a victory-in what seems like a renewed storyline for the star. It is going to be interesting to see where the company will take A-Ry as he is definitely going to be a building block for the WWE.
Team Conspiracy had an interesting night with a great backstage promo, along with a huge victory by the Miz over Kofi Kingston. It truly is a shame to see either Miz or Truth in tag action-as both men were shining in one-on-one action.
For now though, both Miz and Truth are pushed to the side thanks to the many rivalries with the bigger stars. Right now the feud with Punk/Hunter and Cena/Del Rio are enough for the company to handle-and this is their solution.
As a fan, I personally would just move either Truth or Miz over to SmackDown and allow for them to be the main heel on the Blue Brand. Right now the Friday night show is suffering for a big name star-and either The Miz or R-Truth is a perfect fit…for what is promoted as a high energy show.
Miz and Truth are slated to meet AirBoom for the tag team championships at NOC, and I have a feeling the company may just give the heels the straps. Right now the Tag Team straps are suffering-and need something to renew the luster that was lost….as always stay tuned.
Remember how we said we’d address the whole Ziggler vs. Swagger situation-well it was announced at this point by SmackDown GM Teddy Long that Dolph Ziggler is going to put up his U.S. Strap in a Fatal Four way.
The bout will feature rivals; Jack Swagger, Alex Riley and John Morrison in what should be a very competitive and high-flying match-up. I personally think they will give the strap to Riley and start a feud between Ziggler and Swagger for the services of Vickie Guerrero.
I’ve stated before in this blog that Swagger having a manager is a brilliant move, the young lion is still not comfortable with his promos and Vickie is the perfect mouthpiece for him to have. Here is hoping the company will figure out something smart to do with Swagger- who is another building block in the company’s future.
In another stay tuned moment-it was announced that Edge will be returning home to SmackDown this Friday Night! I for one am very interested to see what the Rated-R Superstar will do in his return to the company. Does this mean that Edge is back for good? Maybe he can be a manager or something if he can’t wrestle.
Either way it’ll be a ratings boost for the Blue Brand to have Edge back-as SmackDown has really suffered since the star left their ranks. Christian has tried his best to fill the void-but sadly this heel run has been unsuccessful…as the leader of the peeps is whinier than conniving.
Does anyone else think that this storyline between David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty taking on the King Jerry Lawler has been ridiculous thus far? The storyline has done nothing for the young duo-then disprove their very long-and successful run as tag team champions.
However, I personally do agree with Jerry that both Otunga and McGillicutty need some more personality when they wrestle. Maybe they can also form up with Vickie Guerrero and be a part of her ‘Den’ until someone can teach them what it means to be a star.
How much is Sheamus loving being a face of the company thus far, one could see the Celtic Warrior smiling from ear-to-ear-as he and Lawler defeated Otunga/McGillicutty in action tonight. It is nice to see ‘Great White’ as a face-and thus far Sheamus has really embraced the role as well as the fans.
In the easy-to-predict moment of the night John Cena and Brett Hart defeated Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez in tag action. Sadly this wasn’t much of a bout-but instead a warm-up to continue things between Cena and Alberto.
Either way it seems as if the fans are tired of Cena being the champ, as the Chain gang leader received a lukewarm reaction to the idea of John with the strap. Maybe-just maybe the company will allow Del Rio to hold the strap just a bit longer until Punk’s feud with Hunter is over….here is hoping.
Anyone else noticed that it was at this point of the night that the WWE took time to remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. As a native-New Yorker, I’m sitting watching this tribute going-why wasn’t this in the beginning of the show?
No shocker to hear John Cena narrating the moving tribute of pictures, as the company was one of the many things that allowed people to start healing and moving on from that tragic day.
After the touching tribute, the company got back to action with in-ring action as Kelly Kelly took on Vickie Guerrero. Sadly the whole point of this bout was to continue the feud between Ziggler and Jack Swagger. The company just squeezed in the feud between Beth Phoenix and the dual named diva at the last minute-but sadly for fans of women’s wrestling….the ladies are still taking a back seat in the WWE programming. Stay tuned to this one folks-as a reign as champion by Phoenix may mean changes are coming.
As of late though, with Phoenix barely in action-and being squeezed in at the last minute tonight….there is a good possibility of things remaining the same in the women’s division. For fans of the X-Men movies-stay tuned as next week Hugh Jackman aka Wolverine will be the guest star of the show.
Remember how we were saying that the deck was stacked against C.M. Punk in his bout with Hunter at NOC. Well the company stacked another card-by giving the fans a special look at the Cerebral Assassin. As if fans of the company don’t remember all the times we were force fed the various reigns of the King of Kings.
Fans of Mark Henry were treated to a backstage interview by the World’s Strongest Man-as Henry explained his actions as of late. You see the reason why the WSM has destroyed all of these stars is 15 years of no respect, not being able to become a number one contender and not being a Champion within the company.
As a fan, I feel for Henry-who really has dedicated a lot to the WWE…there is just one problem though. Mark Henry as a wrestler has no weaknesses- the fact that he can destroy a superstar, sadly works against him.
The company loves to build up guys like Cena and Orton-because they can be beaten down and somehow make that ‘miraculous comeback.’ There is no such thing with a guy like Henry-who is too big and strong to beat in a match.
It should be interesting though as the WSM is going for his first ever strap in a match with Randy Orton. Will the company allow Mark Henry one reign with the World Heavyweight Championship? If they do-they at least have one answer in Ezekiel Jackson-who maybe one of the few stars that can break the WSM.
Cody Rhodes def. Randy Orton: In a non-title champion vs. champion bout-this was the first time the company allowed the young Mr. Rhodes to build some momentum with a pin fall victory over Orton. Just the only catch for Rhodes fan, was the huge distraction known as Mark Henry helped Cody out with the win.
Rhodes has been on a major role with the company as of late, and it is going to be interesting to see where the company will take this star. The son of the American Dream does have the talent, and since this ‘disfigurement’ storyline happened-great promos. As always stay tuned as this young lion will continue to make his mark with the WWE.
Raw came to an end with an explosive one-on-one encounter with C.M. Punk and Triple H as the two are heading for a bout at the Night of Champions pay-per-view. According to Punk the feud was about disrespect and lack of opportunities-but to Hunter the Second City Savior has had them the whole time.
It seemed funny to me though, that the man that really was seemingly handed everything was lecturing C.M. Punk on what it took to become a star in the company. Yes the WWE did allow guys like Rey Mysterio, Shawn Michaels (Hunter’s best friend) and Mick Foley opportunities-but there are so many others that didn’t.
You mean to tell me-Triple H that a guy like Kaval couldn’t make it with the company. There are countless other names-that my sleepy brain cannot think of at this moment….but for sure there have been a ton of guys who never got a chance within the WWE.
The bout with Punk and Hunter should be an interesting one though, as the Straight Edge star has had a ton of momentum as of late. Again though we are speaking of Hunter and his ego-will Triple H really lie down.
One of the biggest things about a Hunter loss-is the fact that the King of Kings will lose his title as COO of the company…which is another reason why the deck is stacked against Punk in this bout. Never mind the supposed firing of one Kevin Nash.
Will ‘Big Sexy’ make an appearance at the pay-per-view to assist his best friend in his pursuit of ridding C.M. Punk from the company? Now I will admit- I was surprised once by Hunter-as I thought for sure the multi-time champion was bound to break the streak of the Undertaker at the last WrestleMania.
So maybe-just maybe Punk has a chance-especially say with a possible return of the ‘Straight Edge Society,” As always though folks-you have got to stay tuned. Things between the two stars ended on an intriguing note
Punk had just dropped the real name of not only himself-but of Hunter before the microphone went out. Phil was about to drop another ‘pipe bomb’ on John-Paul, before two microphones went out. A third one was brought in for Phil to make his point-before the man known as Punk just decided to hit Hunter in the head with it.
Surprisingly enough the fans in the arena were booing this action as Punk was leaving the ring-just about three seconds ago the crowd loved the Straight Edge star-showering him with chants of his stage name on numerous points of his interaction with Hunter.
Weather the fans were booing because they wanted to hear what Punk was going to say, or if they were just upset with the actions of the Straight Edge star is still to be determined. That is however how the night ended-with Punk being booed and exiting the arena with a smile on his face.
Stay tuned fans as we are hoping to resume our regularly scheduled recaps this week. Hopefully Friday Night will bring the return of the SmackDown recaps-and we will look forward to seeing all of our fans on that night!!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on September 6, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Image by thatguygil via Flickr
The following is courtesy of our partner Tom Holzerman of “The Wrestling Blog“. Tom’s blogs will now be featured on WrestleChat.net from time to time. To visit Tom’s blog, please visit: http://wallsofjerichoholic.blogspot.com/
Zack Ryder finally arrived last night.
After months and months of rallying the WWE fans to put pressure on the company to give the man more of a platform to shine, Ryder got his ultimate reward in a video package, a spotlight position in a tag match as Jerry Lawler’s partner against the Newish Nexus, badgering from Michael Cole and the pinfall victory with his finisher. Unlike other darlings of the Internet, Ryder did all this to massive applause. Those cheers have been there since the Long Island RAW where Ryder wasn’t to be seen anywhere but on Superstars, and finally the attention from the front office has caught up to the fan reaction.
The biggest thing that this proves is that maybe, just maybe, WWE is wising up to the fact that it’s not just “their” vision that creates stars. Ryder was unhappy with the amount of time on TV he had and the lack of merchandise that was being made for him, so he made a Youtube show and built a grassroots rapport with fans who already were supporting him from having watched him on ECW. Those fans spread the word, and Ryder himself found his coworkers who already liked him and what he was doing becoming more and more vocal about him needing more time to shine.
To continue reading about Zack Ryder’s self-made WWE push, CLICK HERE to continue to The Wrestling Blog.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on September 6, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Image via Wikipedia
By Eric Gargiulo of CamelClutchBlog.com
The WWE Divas are upset! Following in the steps of former WWE Divas Melina and Gail Kim, several Divas have taken to Twitter to vent their frustrations over a website article. Ironically the article in question comes from WWE.com.
This is one of those stories that just gives and gives and gives. The WWE Divas are angry and they aren’t going to take it anymore! The Divas have gotten their panties in a bunch over an article on WWE.com that takes some shots at the current crop of ladies. The irony here is that the article is written in kayfabe storyline mode yet the girls are reacting as if their favorite frozen yoga instructor just got fired.
Katie Raymond of WWE.com has posted an article entitled, “Divas of Doom … or salvation?” The article is a little unclear to me but in the end appears designed to get the new team of Beth Phoenix and Natalya over. The article does take some shots at the girls, specifically saying that none of the Divas will ever be as good as Trish Stratus or Lita. The article also questions what the Fabulous Moolah would think of today’s Divas. All in all, pretty harmless stuff if you ask me. Not to the Bella Twins of course.
To continue reading this article with all of the specific quotes from the WWE Diva’s, click here to continue to CamelClutchBlog.com.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on August 30, 2011 at 12:16 am
Welcome WrestleChat.net fans to another edition of the Raw Recap, as the Flagship brand is bringing the stars of both Red and Blue brands to one show.
Confused, as was I, but it seems in Corporate Hunter’s way of mixing things up and brining a better product to fans. This was bound to happen as the WWE television has suffered from bad ratings as of late. This move will help build up the reputation from guys from the Blue Brands.
It also serves as a way to start new feuds on a nightly basis; the company may keep this formula until the young lions are ready to step into the spotlight on SmackDown. Heck they may keep this formula in general, as fans will never really know who they will see on what show.
Fans of the flagship brand are still anxiously awaiting an answer to the conspiracy surrounding Raw, as it seems as if it is C.M. Punk against the company. Punk had another classic encounter with Triple H in the ring tonight, as he confronted both Hunter and Kevin Nash in his search for answers.
Punk completely rode Hunter, saying the King of Kings wore his wife’s panties. Heck it seemed as if even Kevin Nash was questioning the manhood of one Triple H, as the two best friends clash.
By the way for those who didn’t know, Nash now is an official star within the WWE ranks (really because this fan thought that after the last Survivor Series). Big Sexy and Punk have wanted to get their hands on each other for some time, and Hunter finally made a bout at the Night of Champions official tonight.
The interesting thing with Hunter is that he is not afraid to speak his mind to either man-as he broke out his old ‘DX’ catchphrase before exiting the ring. Hopefully the company will reveal who sent the text that put the ‘hit’ on C.M. Punk soon, because I know I for one am tired of waiting.
The SuperShow began with Randy Orton taking on and defeating Dolph Ziggler in a great Champion vs. Champion clash. The ‘Perfect One’ held his own against the Viper, and showed that he is getting close to that Main Event spotlight.
This is the one good thing thus far about having the stars on both shows is that it allows stars opportunities they may not have had sooner. Ziggler is a guy that the WWE is hoping to build around, and it is matches like this that will help the young lion hold the strap for a very long time.
John Cena continues his edgy type promos with a very interesting one on the Flagship brand tonight. For me as a fan it’d be smarter to have Cena go back to his ‘Chain Gang’ roots for a little, as fans maybe tired of this Superman spiel.
Probably one of the best part’s of Cena’s promo tonight was his encounter with Christian, who claimed that the resident ‘Superman’ to be a whiner. Well the leader of the Peeps doesn’t have to look far in terms of whiners, as it seems as if Christian has been nothing more than a crybaby as of late.
Mark Henry came out earlier on wanting a piece of Cena, and to put the ‘Superman’ in the Hall of Pain, with both Henry and Christian threatening a two-on-one attack, it’d seem as if John was not going to back down. Thankfully for fans, Sheamus came into the ring to help Cena drive the two heels out of town.
By the way does anyone else wonder what exactly is up with John Laurinaitis, and why he is still on WWE programming. One would think if Hunter really wanted to make a change, he’d get rid of his father-in-law’s longtime advisor.
One does have to like the confrontation the two had on the Flagship brand tonight, as Laurinaitis thought he’d book a tag bout featuring Sheamus and Cena taking on Mark Henry and Christian. It’d seem as if though Hunter made that match happen already though, as the King of Kings truly is the man in charge right now.
For fans in the New York City area itching to see WWE programming live, it was announced on Raw that Survivor Series is going to be at Madison Square Garden on November 20. Tickets for one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year will go on sale on September 10.
In one bout that I’m sure fans want to see again C.M. Punk and The Miz were robbed of a classic encounter due to a growing dislike for Punk. It seems as if R-Truth and Miz are teaming against anyone in their way of a title opportunity, and Kevin Nash well just doesn’t like the ‘Straight Edge’ star to begin with.
The trio of heels attacked Punk in a cowardly attempt to quiet the ‘Voice of the Voiceless.” Truth and Miz eventually set Punk up for a Jackknife power bomb, as Nash celebrated his antics in the ring. Stay tuned for this one fans, as you know Punk will recruit people to his cause, maybe a ‘Straight Edge Society’ reunion is in order?
Sin Cara def. Jack Swagger: This is another bout I am sure members of the WWE Universe want to see again. As the company continues this growing rivalry between Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger; with the Perfect One causing enough distraction to cost Swagger a bout with the masked wonder.
One can expect Swagger and Ziggler to meet in a bout soon; I’m sure the services of one Vickie Guerrero maybe on the line, as the resident Cougar is looking to expand her stable.
In a continuation of building up the Tag Team division the duo of Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne now have a great catchy nickname, as Team Air-Boom made their debut as Champions tonight. The duo continues to thrill in their first victory with the straps against Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga.
For those who missed it there was a confrontation between Otunga and Hall of Famer Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler after the bout was over. For weeks Lawler was calling out the former ‘New’ Nexus duo, saying the two young lions were bland as Champs.
Otunga took exception to that confronting Lawler on this night. This fan wonders though if Otunga should take out his frustrations on the guys who took the title from him. It is time for Otunga and McGillicutty to step it up in the WWE programming, and picking on The King isn’t going to do anything for them.
Unless if this means a return to the ring for Jerry as a manager for the former members of the Black and Yellow. That’d be a huge boost to Otunga and McGillicutty as the duo really does need to shake things up with their characters.
Brie Bella def. Kelly Kelly: It wasn’t much of a bout between the Diva’s as the company is continuing to build up the Diva’s of Doom with promos in the back. I know I for one am tired of seeing the DOD talk and want to see the powerful ladies in action, hopefully that’ll happen soon.
There was a great promotional video for Alex Riley during the course of Raw tonight, as the young lion is looking to earn the respect of others now in WWE programming. With these SuperShows now taking place it should be interesting to see what the company will do with the talented star.
Cena/Sheamus def. Mark Henry /Christian: This was a very fast paced and action packed Main Event between all four men in the ring. Sheamus continues to impress with each night he steps into the ring. It wasn’t expected for Henry and Christian to pick up the victory, but it was a good bout for the heels to build up steam for both men as they head to Main Event status.
Probably in one of the more interesting and surreal moments of the night was seeing Sheamus and Cena celebrating in the ring. This moment for the ‘Celtic Warrior’ promotes him to instant face mode, as fans are really enjoying seeing this new side of ‘Great White.’
It was a surreal moment because it seemed as if not that long ago Cena and Sheamus were feuding, now the duo are pairing up to make one heck of a tag team. It is really amazing how quickly things can change in storylines within the company.
The night ended on an interesting note as the bout between Punk and Nash at Night of Champions is canceled, instead the Straight Edge star is going to face Hunter in a bomb shell of an announcement. Hunter has made a promise to everyone that he wasn’t going to wrestle.
It seems as if the questions of the manhood of one Cerebral Assassin finally got to Hunter, as he is now going to answer the challenge of C.M. Punk. Rumors have swirled for a while that Triple H and Punk were going to go at it, and it is now official.
This fan is interested to see what the company has planned-will Hunter only wrestles when he wishes too? Will Nash interfere in the bout at all? And the question that continues to surround the Flagship brand-who sent the text message putting the hit out on C.M. Punk?
For fans who haven’t heard yet these SuperShows will continue. This time the Blue Brand is going to air on Tuesday night, as a very special one night showing for their fans.
Hopefully you all will rejoin me next week as we continue to with the WrestleChat.net Monday Night Raw recaps!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on August 22, 2011 at 11:56 pm
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Welcome fans to another WrestleChat.net edition of the Raw Recap. Texgate continues as the controversy between Triple H, Kevin Nash, John Cena and C.M. Punk continues on the Flagship Brand.
Supposedly at SummerSlam former WWE-great Kevin Nash was sent a text message from his friend Triple H to ‘waste’ whoever won the WWE Championship bout at the pay-per-view. According to Corporate Hunter, no such text was sent.
Either way WWE fans now have to live through the reign of one Alberto Del Rio, which no one seems to enjoy thus far, as the WWE Universe voices their displeasure at the Man of Destiny of the second straight night.
Del Rio started the show tonight, but before he could say anything the Mexican Aristocrat was interrupted by John Cena. The resident WWE Superman wishes to reintroduce himself, as the man who will put a beat down on Alberto.
Before anything happened- another interruption by C.M. Punk causes the crowd in Canada to erupt. As the WWE Universe in Edmonton loves the Straight Edge star, showering him with chants of his name throughout the night. Punk has a grudge as well, since we’ve seen the whole John Cena battling for the WWE Championship before.
Punk has beaten Cena twice in high pressure situations, and if there is anyone who is going to challenge Del Rio-it should be Punk. The trio had a great interaction with one another, as it seems as if someone other than destiny wishes to see the Mexican Aristocrat as Champion.
As Punk and Cena argue over who will challenge Alberto for the strap, out comes Corporate-Triple H to end the dispute. Hunter books a bout for both Punk and Cena with the winner challenging the WWE Champion at the up-and-coming pay-per-view Night of Champions.
According to Hunter, Alberto also has a match, which will take place next-right after our commercial break.
Del Rio vs. John Morrison: In one of the rare appearances for the resident WWE Spider-Man against a champion…Morrison was allowed to shine in his bout against Alberto. Even though John suffered a loss, it is a step forward for the star eternally stuck in the Mid Card zone.
Hopefully this bout tonight showed that Morrison can hold his own in the Main Event spotlight, and someone-somewhere will continue to give him an opportunity in the spotlight.
The bad news for fans of good-guys everywhere, is that Del Rio continues these strings of brutal post-bout beat downs after his match. I know it is a storyline, but feel that a star of the caliber of Del Rio shouldn’t have to do something like this to build up heel heat.
Eve def. Nikki Bella: The positive momentum for the Women’s Division on the Flagship brand continues with a great bout between these two ladies. Eve won using an impressive neck breaker to finish up the bout. With Beth Phoenix and Natalya continuing their heel/mocking tactics of the face duo of Eve and Kelly Kelly it is only a matter of time before a confrontation between the four ladies.
There is good news for fans of Jack Swagger, as the members of WWE Creative are possibly moving on with the storyline of Vickie Guerrero becoming the manager of the All-American-American. Sadly the heel manager couldn’t help her Cub pick up the victory on this night, but it did make things interesting.
It was interesting due to the fact that Dolph Ziggler caused interference between a bout between Swagger and Alex Riley. The tension built up now between Ziggler, Swagger and Riley is a good storyline-and one this fan is going to be interested to see.
Raw continues with the first confrontation between Kevin Nash and Triple H, as everyone is trying to figure out the mystery of who sent the text message to Nash at SummerSlam. It seemed as if there is still confusion amongst the best friends, but either way Hunter wishes to see Nash leave the ring.
Before that could happen though, out comes C.M. Punk to try to solve the mystery and conspiracy surrounding Raw. Punk doesn’t believe Nash nor Hunter in their claims, and is guessing as to who sent the text?
Punk brought up one interesting name, as quite possibly Stephanie McMahon sent the text. This fan had one other thought pop up in her head, and will reveal it later on in the article. Punk continues a great promo and eventually evoked a blindsided attack by Kevin Nash.
Hunter immediately rushed his best friend out of the ring, berating the former-WWE star along the way. The scene continued in the back as Hunter asked Nash to leave. According to Kevin since putting on the suit and becoming COO, Hunter has changed-and not in a good way…as the ex-star eventually did leave the arena.
Raw continued the in-ring action with a Tag Team championship bout between Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne taking on David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty. The former ‘New’ Nexus duo saw their three month reign with the straps end on this night, as a more exciting team are now champions.
Kingston and Bourne will bring high energy, flying as well as enthusiasm back to a Tag Division that was at one point in time, something people don’t care about. Judging by the crowd’s reaction tonight though, the duo of Air-Boom will bring things to new heights.
Cue to a backstage segment were WWE exec John Laurinaitis tells Triple H that his best friend Kevin Nash was involved in a car crash. The exec tells Hunter the info, as the Cerebral Assassin goes to run to his injured friend’s side.
R-Truth and the Miz used this point in the programming to prove a point to the members of the WWE Creative. The duo beat down one Santino Marella, in trying to show the company they deserve time on the Flagship brand.
This one fan agrees as both Truth and The Miz haven’t been used as much in the reign of Triple H thus far on Raw. Maybe a move to SmackDown is in order-since the Blue Brand is suffering not only in ratings, but in stars-as really there aren’t many names to pay attention too on Friday night.
Santino Marella taken down by The Miz and R-Truth: Truth saying over and over again there is a conspiracy in the WWE-Triple H, Kevin Nash, Stephanie McMahon, John Cena, and C.M. Punk all in on it-all in on the conspiracy table-
Finally it was Main Event time as C.M. Punk took on John Cena for the right to take on Del Rio at Night of Champions. It was another classic encounter between these two stars, before yet again controversy prevailed.
It seems as if one Kevin Nash wasn’t injured, as ‘Big Sexy’ interrupted the classic bout and gave Cena just enough time to pick up the victory. The night didn’t end there as a brutal
Punk vs. Cena: Cena used the cross face submission move tonight-once used by Chris Benoit: Del Rio outside looking like he wishes to face neither one of these talented stars
Nash comes out interrupts the bout-gives Cena enough time for the A.A. and the victory-Del Rio beat down afterward-brutal beating continues outside the ring. Raw ended with a very angry Alberto staring down the resident WWE Superman.
With Kevin Nash returning to the ring and causing the distraction, and recent discussions between ‘Big Sexy’ and one John Laurinaitis-this one fan has to wonder…did the Exec send the text to ‘waste’ the winner at SummerSlam to Nash?
Think about it Laurinaitis was ordered by Vince McMahon at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view to ring the bell during the classic clash between Punk/Cena in Chicago. Maybe the Exec is still under orders from Vince to keep the strap away from one C.M. Punk?
Either way this storyline continues to keep Raw relevant and interesting, as all the members involved continue to do a great job with selling this story to fans.
Hopefully you fans will rejoin me next week as we will continue the WrestleChat.net recap! As a FYI for fans next week, WWE is planning to have a SmackDown special on Tuesday on SyFy network-so hopefully you all will stay tuned!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on August 16, 2011 at 12:04 am
Welcome WWE fans to the Monday Night Edition of the WrestleChat Recap! As the company is coming off of one of their biggest pay-per-views of the year as SummerSlam took place in LA on Sunday.
There were many title changes at one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year, but probably the biggest news was the man of destiny Alberto Del Rio winning the WWE strap. Of course the victory wasn’t without controversy as Kevin Nash made a return to the company.
After what was another great encounter between C.M. Punk and John Cena ending with a Punk victory, Nash came in and attacked the new undisputed champion. The attack left Punk vulnerable enough for Del Rio to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, to earn the title.
In an attempt to clear the air out comes Corporate Triple H to start the show, first he apologizes to Cena….whose foot was on the bottom rope while Hunter was officiating. If the King of Kings had just looked up, then maybe Cena may have had the chance to continue his bout.
Hunter continued his count though, and rewarded Punk the WWE Championship-before Kevin Nash came in to destroy the Straight Edge star. According to Triple H-he had no clue as to why his best friend attacked Punk, and that the former-star will explain his actions later on in the night.
The new reigning WWE Champion came out to pull what I thought to be a very interesting promo. Del Rio said that he was going to be a champion for the WWE Universe to be proud of, a true hero and someone that is going to represent the people.
Del Rio must be delusional, because the crowd booed the Mexican Aristocrat throughout his promo. It should be interesting to see where the company will take the star, as for now the man of destiny will be in action over hometown hero Rey Mysterio in his first title defense later on tonight.
John Morrison def. R-Truth: Did anyone else notice that Truth had his theme music playing again. That was curious to see. This fan wonders if that was a mix-up in the back or if Truth is going back to having music again.
Either way Morrison and Truth put on a great Falls Count Anywhere bout to continue a great rivalry. John was able to pick up a gritty victory. Here is hoping the company will continue things with a best 2-of-3 match or Steel Cage bout.
Raw continued with a great promo by The Miz, as he broke into a Subway commercial during his skit. Either way he wanted to make it known that he will shine with the company, and eventually capture the WWE Championship- because he is The Miz and he is awesome!
Kelly Kelly and Eve def. Bella Twins: The nice thing for fans of women’s wrestling is seeing the great technical ability coming from the Bellas and Eve. This bout continues the trend of women’s wrestling being promoted within the company, and I for one hope it happens.
Either way the feud between Kelly Kelly and her rival Beth Phoenix isn’t over. Phoenix who is now teaming with Natalya forming the Divas of Doom, just came out to mock the face team before a commercial break ended the segment.
Stay tuned for this one fans as you know that this feud between these four stars aren’t over. It should also be interesting to see where the company will take the women’s division in the coming weeks-as they are promoting the ladies more on both brands.
Raw continued the night with former-star Kevin Nash comes into the ring to explain his actions against C.M. Punk in the pay-per-view on Sunday. It seemed as if the conspiracy was in the works as Nash implied that he received a text message from Corporate Hunter, to ‘stick’ whoever won the Main Event.
Well Nash wasn’t going to say no to a request from his friend, and since he misses the action of wrestling so much-he jumped at the chance to destroy. His message to C.M. Punk-this was nothing personal….just business.
Out comes C.M. Punk as the Straight Edge star has a bone to pick with the legendary wrestler. Fans of Raw were then treated to one of the best interactions seen between two wrestlers on the show in quite some time; trust me when I say you have to YouTube this one folks.
Nash and Punk were throwing out the kitchen sink in verbal form at each other; it was going to lead to a physical confrontation….but Hunter sent security guards to protect his best friend. Stay tuned to this one folks as you know that things will not end here.
A bit of foreshadowing happened as John Laurinaitis wanted to have a private conversation with Big Sexy. It is only a matter of time before we see Big Daddy Cool on the WWE roster and facing C.M. Punk.
Jack Swagger: def. Alex Riley: With a little help from Vickie Guerrero, who caused the distraction that gave the All American-American his first victory on the Flagship brand. Guerrero was with her current client Dolph Ziggler, who did some interesting play-by-play during the night.
Vickie wanted to show her young cub Ziggler, who the real star of the show was between the duo, in assisting with the Swagger victory. Just when thoughts of a Swagger/Guerrero partnership were forming in the minds of the fans, Jack went to recruit Vickie in the back.
The awesome part about this, was the fact that one of the fans on twitter had just recommended that Vickie start a stable of stars. Stay tuned to see if the Cougar will in fact add more cubs to her den. It’d be a brilliant idea if the WWE does it, because Swagger needs something to lift him right now.
Swagger is a great wrestler, but still is unable to pull off a good promo in the ring. This can also create an instant feud with Ziggler for the U.S. Strap, as well as a storyline that is interesting to fans.
By the way, I know I for one really loved seeing all of the footage of how the WWE took over Los Angeles for SummerSlam. It seemed as if everyone had such a great time at the pay-per-view, but it also sets up great expectations for the company for future pay-per-views in other states.
Kofi Kingston/Evan Bourne def. Otunga and McGillicutty: In another division that seemed lost, but now is found under the reign of Triple H-the tag division continues to gain more air time in WWE programming. It was great to see the high-flying duo of Kingston and Bourne goes up against the champs.
Here is hoping that the company will keep the dynamic duo together for a while and start a great feud between Otunga and McGillicutty. By the way isn’t it time for the two young lions to have some sort of time like the A-list team or the Bland-list team…come on WWE Creative.
Alberto Del Rio def. Mysterio: This was such a great bout between two bitter rivals, as both Del Rio and Mysterio put it all on the line. Del Rio really earned his first victory as the WWE Champion, before turning into heel mode with a brutal post-bout beat down of the Masked Wonder.
The sad part was for Del Rio, is that he would eventually earn the peoples respect with great bouts like he had with Mysterio tonight. But in the end he is the hottest heel in the company for a reason, and wanted to prove a point.
That point being that this title reign is for no one but himself, and that he is going to take no prisoners and make no friends while holding the crown jewel of championships.
Before Alberto could do any major damage to Rey Mysterio’s arm, in comes John Cena to break up the post-bout beat down. Raw ended with a very emotional promo from Cena, and one that I’m not sure most fans were expecting.
Cena’s promo was very real, very emotional, and one that seemed straight from John himself. He does not like the fact that Alberto cashed in his MITB briefcase when he did (via the attack from Kevin Nash). Especially after John and Punk tried to bring dignity back to the strap.
According to Cena-Alberto has a target on his waist in the WWE Championship, and every single person that Del Rio knows is not a friend, but an enemy. Though Del Rio was lucky at SummerSlam that his luck will change if an encounter happens between the two should happen.
The two started the other down as Raw went off the air. I’m sure most fans probably would prefer to see a Punk/Del Rio rivalry, but it seems as if the company has something different planned for the Straight Edge star.
This fan thinks that more people would buy another Cena title reign, as long as he continues these ‘straight’ promos. Who knows what the company has planned, as not only Kevin Nash-but Stephanie McMahon made a return to the programming tonight.
For now the company is trying to build-up momentum to their next pay-per-view in September-which is ‘Night of Champions.’ Speaking of Champions-the Blue Brand also has a new champion as Randy Orton regained the gold at the pay-per-view on Sunday. Hopefully you fans will join me on Friday night, as we continue the reign of Randy Orton on SmackDown!
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