Brock Lesnar versus.... Randy Orton???

Smackdown has come and gone and with it, the announcement of who Brock Lesnar will be facing at Summer Slam. And the opponent is Randy Orton.

I don't know, it is just me or is this news, well... very anti-climatic.

Orton's been out of action since November of last year. He'll most likely be popping back up on television before the Summer Slam match, but by the time that match roles around it will be over 8 months since we've seen him in the ring.

This match just isn't really sparking my interest. I don't see this is a "blockbuster" match, as much as WWE is going to want to play that up. What are your thoughts?

Future Endeavored List Expands

You can add Cody Rhodes and Eden to the list of talents released by WWE, either by way of the company, or of their own accord.

And now comes Cody Rhodes.

Cody Rhodes started posting a couple tweets earlier this month like this...

🎼Back beat, the word was on the street
That the fire in your heart is out...🎼 #RAW pic.twitter.com/sHBCQ0Ch9W

— Cody Rhodes (@StardustWWE) May 10, 2016

and it finally culminated with him asking for his release days before Extreme Rules.

(1/2) The past ten years have been quite the trek, but as of earlier today I have asked for my release from @WWE

— Hyrule Husky (@PrinceCGR) May 21, 2016

Just days later, it was announced that WWE came to terms with Cody Rhodes, and granted him his release. After it was annoucned, Cody released his own answer as to why he asked for and was granted his release.

My one&only statement on the matter. No podcasts or tell-all nonsense.

Thank you friends. pic.twitter.com/c5MNKw6spH

— Hyrule Husky (@PrinceCGR) May 22, 2016

Now, days after that incident, WWE announcer Eden, who's real name is Brandi Runnels and is the real life wife of Cody, announced she has asked for and was granted her release. Today, she blogged about her decision, and explains that this was already in the plans, as she has other opportunities that have presented themselves.

WWE also released Adam Rose, after his domestic dispute with his wife and him getting arrested.

So now, the may releases are as follows:
Zeb Colter
El Torito
Hornswoggle
Santino Marella
Cameron
Alex Riley 
Wade Barrett
Damien Sandow
Brooklyn Brawler
Christian
Adam Rose
Cody Rhodes
Eden



Plus Ryback is still out there making antagonizing tweets, so it's probably gonna expand soon.

Money In The Bank Predictions

Tomorrow is WWE's Money In The Bank pay-per-view. For future pay-per-views and special events I'm going to try and do extra comic strips with the blog post. Anyways, let's get to it shall we?

Kick-Off Show
King Barret VS R Truth
There's not a whole lot to say on this one. It's a kick-off show match, with really no build up (but is there ever really any build up for kick-off show matches?), and Barrett is going against R Truth. I'd say it could easily be a toss up as to who wins, but if R Truth goes over on Barrett, then what really was the point of making him King of the Ring? Winner: Barrett.


Intercontinental Title Match
Ryback(c) VS Big Show
If this match wasn't for the I.C. title, this could easily be a kick-off show match. Big Show hasn't really had a good story line since Survivor Series last year, when he flip-flopped YET AGAIN, and turned heel. Winner: Ryback.

Divas Title Match
Nikki Bella VS Paige
Speaking of flip-flopping.

Flip-Flop Magic

Paige really should be champion. Well, nix that. Naomi is deserving of that title actually, but since that story line seems to have gone kaput, Paige is the next logical choice. I'll agree with some podcasters out there, Nikki has gotten really good in the ring, but MY GOD, is she ever horrible on the mic. But we're not talking about mic skills are we? No, we're talking about the Diva's Championship. I wanna say Paige is going to win here, and maybe I should predict that, but I have a feeling WWE brass wants the Bella's associated with the Diva's title and is looking to make Nikki the longest reigning Diva's champion in history. To do so, she'd have to hold the title until September 16th, which means she'd retain through Summer Slam. With the Bella becoming heels AGAIN, I guess they could stretch out a story line to make it happen. Just please keep Brie around to speak for them. Every time Nikki cuts a promo I think she's auditioning for a bad Syfy movie. Winner: Nikki Bella

Tag Team Titles match
Prim Time Players VS New Day
This is a tough one. A New Day has gotten incredibly over as heels. Is there anyone more annoying then Xavier Woods? But Prime Time Players are starting to really come around again. I want to say that Titus O'Neil and Darren Young are going to win, but I think it's going to be A New Day somehow weaseling out another victory. Winners: A New Day


John Cena VS Kevin Owens

The Sandow Effect

Now this is an interesting match. On one hand you've got Kevin Owens, NXT Champion, and the man who came in and beat John Cena in his first WWE main roster match. How much over can you put a guy than that? With that being said though, he JUST went over John Cena. Do they really put him over again? Does Vince have that much faith in Triple H and his choice of Kevin Owens going over on Vince's golden Super-Cena two times in a row. I don't know. Sam Roberts had this awesome idea, that he should go over, and then he would have two wins over Cena. After the Japan show on July 4th, Roberts hypothesized Owens could drop the title to Balor there, and then come back and challenge John Cena again, only this time, he wants the U.S. Title. It's a very intriguing idea, if it were to happen. But I just don't see them putting Owens over Cena two times in a row. I think Samoa Joe makes an appearance, distracts Owens, and Cena gets the win. Winner: John Cena.



MONEY IN THE BANK MATCH
Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Neville, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Sheamus, and Kane.
Yikes. I mean, story line-wise you've got what? Kane really. Kane could win, and then he's at odd's with Seth Rollins. Still. That's been going on for months. Sheamus? I don't know... why? He's getting some good response as a heel, but I don't seem him winning. Neville and Kofi? Again, why? That leaves Orton, Ziggler, and Reigns. Ziggler and Orton have both won it already. Winning Money In The Bank twice isn't unprecedented (John Cena and CM Punk both won it twice), but I don't see them doing it. Winner: Roman Reigns.


WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Seth Rollins VS Dean Ambrose
So here's the the thing about this match. I don't really see Ambrose as the World Champion, but at the same time I don't see Rollins continuing on as champion either. There's been some rumors on the dirt sheets, that they could been setting up for a Rollins/Triple H match, which could be pretty awesome for Summer Slam. So for the finish of this match match I've got to go into story-teller mode. Rollins has pretty much alienated everyone in The Authority. And when he accepted this match he even got in Triple H's face for a second, telling everyone he could do it all by himself.

Then we have Dean Ambrose. The crazy wildcard, the "lunatic fringe". Every time I see him with the championship, I think of Heath Ledger's line as the Joker; "Do I look like a guy with a plan? I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do with it if I caught it. I just... do things." That's Dean Ambrose. He's just out there, causing chaos, living it up. And it's good. It's fun. But I don't see him as the champion.

So, then what? Well, Ambrose and Rollins fight out out, and out of the blue Ambose somehow wins. Triple H is furious at Rollins, and the next night berates him on Raw. Dean Ambrose comes out the next night on Raw, to a huge pop, he's just living the dream, and then Brock Lesnar's music hits. Out walks Paul Heyman and tells Dean, his client, "BROCK LESSSSNARRRR" wants his title back.

What do you think? I think it sounds like a plan. Either that, or there's a run-in and Rollins retains. I really hope it's not that. Winner: Dean Ambrose!

You got any predictions for Money In The Bank?

Triple H's Announcement

Tonight was the supposed earth-shaking announcement from Triple H, about the "controversy" over the Royal Rumble, specifically Roman Reigns winning.

Monday Night Raw started off the night as Triple H and Stephanie McMahon came out, but really no announcement was made. They eluded to Roman not being the one the fans wanted in the main event at WrestleMania, to which Reigns answered by coming down to the ring and a stare down with Triple H.

After some words, then Daniel Bryan came out to cheers and the yes chant. Bryan said he never lost the heavyweight championship and should get a match.

Seth Rollins then came out and said he deserved one.

After this segment Reigns fought Big Show, and then Curtis Axel came out and said he wanted a shot at Brock Lesnar, which led me to think everyone on the show tonight was going to be saying that.

Anyways, back to the announcement, it was announced that Seth Rollins would face Daniel Bryan on Raw and the winner would face Reigns at Fastlane. The winner of THAT match would then go on to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. And who won that match? Daniel Bryan.

This just spells all kinds of trouble for Roman.

First off all, there's no choice he can make but to accept the match. Because if he declines and says he earned the right to main event WrestleMania at Royal Rumble, he comes off as weak and scared to face either Bryan or Rollins. So he has to accept.

Now, by accepting, it's really a lose-lose situation, regardless of whether he faces Daniel Bryan or Seth Rollins.

By losing, it's obvious: He won the Royal Rumble, but that means nothing now. He's out of the main event at Mania. But even if he wins, do they really think he's going to get over at Fastlane?

No matter how well Daniel Bryan wrestles and puts Reigns over, no matter how good Bryan makes him look, the fans will want nothing less then Daniel Bryan in the main event at WrestleMania.

We'll just have to wait and see how Fastlane plays out, but I have a sneaking suspicion that no matter what the WWE tries to to pull the strings, operating behind the curtains, the fans still wont get behind Reigns, at least this year, leading to WrestleMania.

There is a silver-lining here, that I think played out at the end of Raw. Reigns was booked strong at the end of Raw when he came out and speared Big Show. Good crowd reaction to that. Then a Superman punch to Rollins, which in turn, allowed Daniel Bryan to hit the running knee and get the win. He subtlely aligned himself as a good guy, helping Bryan out to get the match that everyone wants to see. If nothing else, at least subconsciously, it could stick in the fans mind, and actually help Roman Reigns going into Fastlane. We'll see.

Weekend Update: Mick Foley Cheats, Bam Bam Trends

Over the weekend, a couple interesting tidbits hit the wrestling world.

Saturday

First off was Mick Foley competing in the annual Philadelphia Wing Bowl and was caught red handing dipping his hands into the cookie jar, er... fanny pack. Foley was at the event and strolled out to the contestant area via a mini ring, like the Wing Bowl was happening during Wrestle Mania 3.


But things took a turn for the worse, when Foley was caught red handed, stuffing some of his chicken wings down his fanny pack in an effort to take the lead.

This was obviously done tongue-in-cheek, as you can see Foley looking around and appears to see himself on camera, before stuffing the wings in his fanny pack. Plus, there was a referee standing right in front of him, and when Foley was DQ'd, he threw a fit, waving his hands in the air. Because of the mischief, the Wing Bowl actually got some pretty good social media coverage. If I was the organizer of the event, I'd bring Foley back every year, and have him try a new way each year to cheat his way to the top, making a show of it. Good stuff.


Sunday

Sunday was Super Bowl 49, and everyone was ready for the halftime performance of Katy Perry. What they weren't ready for was the flame-engulfed attire Perry wore for the performance, drawing similarities to the late Bam Bam Bigelow. Below are a couple tweets from The Iron Sheik and JBL.

THE KATY PERRY SHOW THE RESPECT TO MY BROTHER BAM BAM BIGELOW TONIGHT #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/h5j3JSY3Az
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) February 2, 2015

Bam Bam never looked that good, but his dancing land sharks were much tougher! @katyperry pic.twitter.com/QCyJAlQocx
— John Layfield (@JCLayfield) February 2, 2015

WWE's Next Competitor

The title of this post may be a tad misleading. World Wrestling Entertainment is on the stock market. It's a multi-million dollar company. What company out there could possibly rival the machine that is WWE. Well none of them individually. But all together? That could be a different story.

WWE hasn't been rivaled in ratings or any other way since the Monday Night Wars with WCW. But since that company has shut down, no other single company has been able to put on a product with the budget and spectacle of WWE.

For a moment, TNA looked like it might start to come close, especially when a number of WWE stars went over there, including Booker T, Jeff Hardy, Hulk Hogan, The Dudley's, Sting, just to name a few. But for whatever reason, and there are numerous websites out there that talk about such, they've never been able to break the barrier in fan growth.

But in 2014 the landscape started to change. Towards the end of January, the day after the 2014 Royal Rumble, CM Punk, arguably the most popular wrestler in WWE, left the WWE. The whole ordeal was talking about in Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling Podcast, but right when it happened, people didn't know what was going on.

Was it a work? Was Punk really gone? And if he was really gone, where was he going? He'd already mentioned ROH on WWE t.v. before, was he going there? Would he actually go over to TNA and wrestle there? New Japan Pro Wrestling? No one knew and everyone was speculating.

As more time passed in 2014, it would seem to everyone that CM Punk was done with wrestling, at least for the immediate future. But then another shake up.

In August of 2014, Alberto Del Rio was involved in an incident with a WWE employee and was subsequently fired from the company. Though it was reported that WWE had a non-compete clause in their contracts, lawyers for Del Rio contested that clause and he won. He was free to wrestle. At first he appeared on the Mexican promotion AAA, and then in December it was reported that Del Rio, now going by Alberto el Patron, would be wrestling for ROH in January of 2015.

So in 2014 we had two rather large shake-ups, with CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio. But that's not all. Both TNA and WWE decided to release or not renew contracts with a number of wrestlers. Coming from a large group of released WWE wrestlers was Curt Hawkins, Drew McIntrye, Brodus Clay, and Evan Bourne, as well as others.

In TNA, A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Chris Sabin, and others did not have their contracts renewed with the company.

So now, throughout 2014 we have all these great wrestling talents out on the market. They've all continued to wrestler on the independent scene, and also Clay has now signed with TNA going by the name Tyrus. But that's not it.

Along with an abundant of free agent talents on the market, not only do we have WWE, TNA and ROH, but New Japan Pro Wrestling was beginning to be highly promoted through Jeff Jarrett's new promotion GFW (Global Force Wrestling). AND, a new player came to the t.v. screen in the form of Lucha Underground. Though debuting on a small network, El Rey, in October, fans and wrestlers alike have been giving the promotion high praise. There's also Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore, which isn't really a weekly or monthly promotion, but putting on great wrestling shows every few months.

Finally, there is the plethora of "indy" talents already making names for themselves with small independent wrestling promotions like Adam Cole, The Youngbucks, Chris Hero, Ricochet (who wrestlers as Prince Puma in Lucha Underground), reDRagon (the tag team of Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) and others.

So what does this all mean? An abundance of talent not only in TNA and WWE, but performing on independent shows, as well as wrestling promotions like NJPW, ROH, and Lucha Underground reaching a wider audience. Professional wrestlers out there, can perform in front of crowds today, some larger than others, and if they didn't make to to WWE or just don't want to go to WWE, they don't have to, and can still make a living. That's why some of the talents like TNA, the schedule isn't as grueling.

The title of this post is "WWE's Next Competitor" and the next big competitor is the market itself. Because if a fan doesn't like what's going on in WWE, they can check out TNA. Or ROH. Or NJPW. Or Lucha Underground. There are so many options out there now, including some great independent promotions not on t.v. So WWE, at least in my opinion, needs to put out a great product. Because over time, if they just put out middle of the road entertainment, fans can tune in to other products. Will the fall-off be like that of the nineties, and make a company rival WWE? Probably not, but the fall-off wouldn't be good for business, no pun intended.

But it's not just the fans with options. The wrestlers have options now too. I don"t know the pay scale for wrestlers, but if you're a top talent in WWE, there probably isn't another company out there that can rival their pay. I'm talking main event wrestlers, at every pay per view. But not everyone can be that, for one reason or another. But you can go out and be a free agent, wrestling for other promotions, and make a living. And if you're good, you can make a good living.

So WWE's next competitor isn't just one promotion, but all the great promotions putting on good shows right now as a whole. There are lots of other options out there for professional wrestlers, and they don't HAVE to stay in WWE. Sure, WWE is the desired destination for many wrestlers, because it's the show. If you play football, you're goal isn't to play in the Canadian Football League or the Arena Football Leaugue, but the NFL. That's just the way it is. WWE is the big show. But the other shows out there are an actual option for wrestlers now, to not only perform and entertain the fans, but make a living as well.

It's a good time to be a wrestling fan.

Recap: Royal Rumble 2015

Man oh man!

The Royal Rumble. What can you say? It's taken over the internet the last couple days, unfortunately for the wrong reasons. The hashtag #CancelWWENetwork went viral and was trending all over the world. Everyone was up in arms and by the reactions, some people might have thought a high government official had been assassinated. But alas, it wasn't as traumatic or serious as that. It was, professional wrestling.

Wrestling fans are loyal and emotional, sometimes as we've seen, on a unreal level. But I guess that is what a fan is right? Fanatical. The Royal Rumble proved just how fanatical wrestling fans can get, but before we get to the main event of the night that set twitter ablaze, had people booing their heads off, and even had the Rock wondering what the hell was going on, let's talk about the precursor matches.

In the kick-off show we saw two member of New Day take on Cesaro and Tyson Kidd, who had Adam Rose in their corner. The match was okay, but what many people were talking about were the shirts Cesaro and Rose were wearing. Apparently the "Brass Ring Club" may or may not be a personal motto between the three unlikely allies, and both Rose and Cesaro came out with a parody shirt of the Bullet Club, made famous now through NJPW. Replacing the skull, machine guns, and bullets for the Brass Ring Club was a cat skull with ears, two Swiss crosses on the sides and two long stemmed roses. It was actually pretty cool. I really hope Cesaro "proves" he's over, because in my book he already is.

The Usos went on to defeat The Miz and Mizdow. Not much to say about this match, but Mizdow continues to impress. The fans really like him, but I have a sneaking suspicion that even when he splits from Miz, they'll have a match or two, but then "creative" will have nothing for him, which is horrible.

The Bella Twins beat Paige and Natalya, which only had a couple good spots. I wish Paige would get back into a good story line, whether it's for the title or not. Preferably for the title. Every time Nikki Bella holds that title up, it just seems like one of those things where someone had a championship or what not, but you know they shouldn't. But they are holding it up to prove to everyone that they do. I can almost hear the words "Nah-uh, I'm the champion. See!! I have the title, see! I'm the champion." That's the feeling I get. She's good, so maybe she just needs to change her demeanor/attitude.

The Ascension defeated the New Age Outlaws, in a match I think was there to show that the Ascension are good, but I'm still not buying them. I've been watching them since NXT, and I wasn't buying them there either. I don't think they are gonna work. Hopefully they can get something else with either different tag team partners and single story lines.

The World Championship match came right before the rumble, and wow! Man, this match was great. It got great buzz on social media from everyone, whether they were in WWE or not. I tweeted that no matter the outcome of the rumble, that match was worth the 9.99 for the network.

Brock Lesnar is a beast. plain and simple. His nickname as the Beast Incarnate has never been so apropos as these last few matches he's had and he did it again at the Royal Rumble. He's a monster. He's a suplex machine. And ever since that Undertaker match at WrestleMania 30, every match he's had he's just looked dominant.

For all the boos and all the haters and every person out there that says "I respect him, I just don't like him", John Cena is the man. And not the man in the sense as the face of the company and all that, even though he is. I mean he's the man in the sense that he puts it all on the line, every match and you gotta give him props for that. He went through barricades at the rumble and threw stairs around and took a boatload suplex's yet again and he still put on a great show.

And Seth Rollins. I'm buying in on Seth Rollins. If this wasn't his coming out party to the top players in the WWE, it was damn close. Jumping off the top rope with knees to Lesnar and Cena, that amazing Phoenix Splash on Cena and Oh. My. God. That top turnbuckle elbow drop on Lesnar over the spanish announce table (why is it always the spanish announce table?). Rollins proved that he definitely is in the main event scene, and as he puts it, the future of the WWE.

Finally we had the Royal Rumble.

Okay, while I felt the end was definitely lack-luster, I did not jump on the #CancelWWENetwork bandwagon. I like the network. I like the countdowns, and I'm always browsing through the documentaries. But yes, they could have had a little more drama to end the match.

Daniel Bryan. We all knew he wasn't going to win, but it felt like he got eliminated as just another guy. Some more story and drama could have been utilized. Anything other than just being bounced off the apron.

The guest spots were pretty cool. Bubba Ray Dudley making a come back was cool for sure and it was awesome watching DDP nail some diamond cutters on people. One thing I wasn't thrilled with was the Boogey Man taking a spot. I get it, he was a crazy scary guys going up against Bray Wyatt, supposedly another crazy scary guy. But I thought they could have given that spot to someone else. Maybe even Sami Zayne or Adrian Neville from NXT. Last year the NXT guy was Rusev, so I was hoping at least one person from NXT would show up. But nope.

While not disappointing, a little bit of a head scratcher was Kofi Kingston's "rumble spot" this year. Kofi's become an attraction at every rumble the last few years, with interesting predicaments on how to get back in the match without being eliminated. Granted, it's hard to come up with these spots, but this year we saw him sort of crowd surf the rosebuds around one part of the ring and get put back in. Kind of "meh".

It was cool that The Rock came out to help Roman Reigns for a moment, the last thing that really disappointed me was the way Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose were eliminated. No drama. No tension. Just Big Show and Kane laying waste and quite literally simply dumping them over the top rope. Come on WWE!!  Give us a little more story and drama then that! I get it, you want to show them unstoppable for Reigns to try and look heroic, but while you're making one guy look like a hero, you're making the other main event players look like chumps.

So, yes, while the Royal Rumble match itself was a bit under-whelming, I still keep thinking about the championship match and it reminds me that there are still great matches to be had and stories to be told. And even if Roman Reigns is rumored/scheduled to be the man in the future, I'm not hitching my horse to that wagon. Make mine Seth Rollins.

#IBelieveInSethRollins

I am the light at the end of the tunnel.
— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) January 27, 2015

REVIEW: TLC Pay Per View

A lot of the dirt sheets were reporting that tensions were high backstage, as many of the WWE Superstars wanted to prove just how much better they are than the NXT talent, after a highly rated NXT Takeover event. It seems like most of the talent went for it and the TLC(and stairs) pay per view event was pretty entertaining.

Dolph Ziggler VS Luke Harper (c) - Ladder Match Inter-Continental Championship
The match to kick off the show was Ziggler and Harper and I think this match was excellent. Ziggler had stated he wanted to make this the best ladder match of all time, and while I don't think it attained that magnitude, it was good. What impressed me most about this match, wasn't so much the spots the two wrestlers did using the ladders, we've definitely seen some more innovative ways to use ladders as weapons in past matches, but the bumps these guys were taking with the ladders was crazy. At one point Harper had Ziggler setup for a sling-shot maneuver, but a ladder on top of Ziggler, and then Harper hit the move underneath the second rope. Ziggler got busted open on that one. In the end highly entertaining, and Ziggler came away as the new inter-continental champion.

The Usos VS Miz and Mizdow (c) -Tag Team Championship
This match was good, and though I'm not trying to take anything away from these guys, it seems like just a normal tag team titles match. They've been playing up the angle with Jimmy Uso and his wife Naomi, so I thought that somehow she might find her way down to ringside and somehow inadvertently caused the Usos the titles, but there was no appearance from her. Instead The Miz used his (Mizdow's) Slammy award to knock out either Jimmy or Jay and caused a DQ. Miz and Mizdow retained their titles. Like I said, seemed like just another match kind of.

Big Show VS Eric Rowan - Stairs Match
Before this match started I thought it was either going to be really entertaining or really bad. I'm glad it was entertaining and I'm really starting to like the Eric Rowan character. I noted on Twitter that he kind of gives me the vibe of Lennie from "Of Mice and Men". Not so much that he's handicapped, but that he can be this monster, but seems like he'd be this big lovable oaf. Anyways, this was like human bumper cars, with the Big Show and Rowan getting slammed into, on top of and, through steel stairs all around the ring. Big Show ended it with a knock out punch, plus he added some stairs on top of Rowan to make sure he didn't kick out. There might be enough for one more match between these two. But, it looks like Big Show has another feud brewing now, more on that in a minute.

John Cena VS Seth Rollins - Tables Match
In the middle of the card we get a main event type match and I have to say, this was really good. Lots of different components going on in this match and I thought it had a terrific finish. Before the match Paul Heyman came out and stood by to see if Cena would lose the match, thereby lose his number one contenders match. Out with Seth Rollins, came J&J Security (Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury).  Lots of tables got set up in and around the ring, so we now know multiple people are going through tables. Rollins is really proving that he certainly is the future of the WWE, his work ethic and style are great.

Almost from the beginning J&J get involved keeping Cena from getting tables in the ring and then helping Rollins put tables in the ring. At one point Cena actually wins the match, putting Rollins through a table, but the ref's out cold, and with no ref, J&J can help Rollins and get rid of the table making it look like nothing happened. Cena finally takes them out, at one point getting an old school metal guard rail and suplexing Jamie Noble on it. For a second I though he was going to pin in J&J somehow with the rail and really do a Superman type save. Things were starting to look good for Cena when Big Show comes out. He nails Cena with a punch to the ribs, but before he can do anymore damage, Roman Reigns came to his return to the WWE through the crowd, and nails Big Show with a Superman Punch (I still think they should call that punch the Reign of Thunder!!) and then delivers a spear through a table to the Big Show. Rollins gets in the ring, Reigns hits him with a Superman punch and then Cena grabs Rollins, nailing him with an AA through a table for the win. This was a great match!

AJ Lee VS Niki Bella (c) Diva's Championship
This was a good Diva's Title match, but with NXT still freshly in mind, I don't think it had the impact it should have, as I think the NXT Women's title match was better. Niki just isn't as innovative, though there was on spot were she wrapped AJ lee around the ring post, which looked cool and painful at the same time. And again, I was expecting and actually I wanted a turn from Brie Bella, turning on her sister after all the stuff Niki put here through. Before the match they interviewed them and Brie said she's tired of people talking about that and that blood is thicker than water. Really?! Niki told Brie that she wished she had died in the womb and she has no sister. I don't get it. Unless they are going for a better turn at Royal Rumble, this story line got old fast. Brie Belle interfered on behalf of her sister, the ref sent her away from ringside, which enabled Niki to spray AJ in the face with something, and then hit her finisher and retain the title. Good match, could have been better, especially with a Brie turn. But I guess they are back to the same old, boring, evil Bella twins.

Kane VS Ryback - Chairs Match
I'm going to be completely honest. Kane's getting old and Ryback is stale. With a chairs match there could have been some many things they could have done, but it was just the same old routine, hitting each other in the back with chairs. Ryback missed a spot putting Kane through two chairs, and it looked like they just got pushed out of the way. Ryback keeps calling for the same old "Feed Me More" chants it seems every five minutes and hits the same moves. Ryback won.

Jack Swagger VS Rusev (c) - United States Championship
I feel like these two could have delivered so much more. There was no special stipulation, so just go out there and put on a great WRESTLING match, I mean Swagger is an NCAA All-American amateur wrestler. But nothing happened that we hadn't already seen before. The only intriguing part seems to come from some commotion in the crowd, where everyone stopped watching the match and turned to see what was happening. Rusev retained AGAIN with the accolade.

Dean Ambrose VS Bray Wyatt - TLC Match
I had high hopes for this match and I think it delivered. Ambrose is just so crazy in and out of the ring, it keeps the fans guessing and you kind of never knew what he was going to do. And Wyatt, to me, has finally come around to that intenseness and hate he needed to be more of a heel than and baby face. At one point these two went out into the crowd, near the Kick-Off Show table and Ambrose actually got up on the table, ran across it, and dove off attacking Bray. Within the first five minutes I think Ambrose went through a table.

One really impressive and innovative spot came when Wyatt hooked up a kendo stick somehow on the turnbuckle, so it was pointing straight into the ring. He whipped Ambrose into the turnbuckle and Ambrose did great job of what looked like he ran right into the thing, eyes first. Through the aisle Ambrose hit two elbow drops off of ladders through Wyatt laying on tables. Then they get back to around ringside, and Ambrose finds this TV under the ring. It's showing what we see on our TV sets and he looks back at the big titan tron and goes and grabs a huge ladder, which looked to be a 20 footer. Biggest moment of the night was when Ambrose used the ladder to hit a third elbow drop on Wyatt from the top of the ladder through the announce table. And just to show how crazy Ambrose is, they are both laying on the flattened table, Ambrose starts to sit up, taps Wyatt on the chest as if to say good job buddy, kisses him on the forehead, and then proceeds to just nail Wyatt in the head with punch after punch. I laughed out loud on that one.

Ambrose and Wyatt get back into the ring and Ambrose is going to the the TV screen from before and smash it over Wyatt. Only it's hooked up to wires and pulls him back. He tries it again and as the wires disconnect it explodes in Ambrose's face and Wyatt capitalizes, getting the win. When the explosion happened, I couldn't help but think, this is the second time we've seen Ambrose in a unique and innovative situation, the first being curb stomped through the cinder blocks. Awesome outside the box thinking.

Final Thought
Overall I thought this was a pretty good pay per view. It could have been better with the Rusev/Swagger and the Kane/Ryback matches, but everyone else I thought really stepped up. Ziggler I think delivered a hell of an opening match to tell everyone "top that" and I think Cena and Rollins did. Then Ambrose and Wyatt topped it all. I'm looking forward to see if the Ambrose/Wyatt feud continue, which I think it can and what happens with Big Show, Rollins and now the returning Roman Reigns.

REVIEW: NXT Takeover [R]Evolution

The latest special event for WWE's NXT delivered some good matches, even if the name still has me scratching my head. I mean, I get it. I understand what they were going for. It just comes of as "meh".

Kevin Owens VS. CJ Parker
Anyways, the night opened with the debut of Kevin Owens (former Kevin Steen) and he showed the NXT crowd, and everyone who hadn't seen him before, what he brings to the table. Though, from the reaction he got when he came out, it seem like everyone was already on board with Kevin Owens. It was a good first outing for Owens, not delivering too much, but just enough to wet the fans appetite for more. An interesting spot came when CJ Parker delivered an open hand to the face of Owens, and it busted him open and actually broke his nose. It didn't stop Owens though, who just went with it and finished the match with a pop-up power bomb for the win. Nice debut for Kevin Owens.

Vaudevillians VS Lucha Dragons (c)
I don't really have a whole lot to say for this match. It was good and entertaining, but I'm not especially into the Vaudevillains. The Lucha Dragons look promising, especially Kalisto, so I'm definitely interested to see what else he can bring to the table after their tag team run is over. Enjoyed the match for what it was, but didn't really wow me. The Lucha Dragons retained their titles.

Tye Dillinger VS Baron Corbin
This could easily be called a squash match, and it was. I think I'm in the minority, but to me Tye Dillinger looks like he could be an asset, but he's easily beaten in matches, that it looked like he's an enhancement talent for NXT. Corbin has a good look and he's got something there, easily defeating Dillinger in under a minute. It looks like they are setting up a feud with Bull Dempsey though, as Dempsey was in the audience and gave a mocking/antagonizing round of applause after Corbin won.

The Ascension VS Hideo Itami & Finn Balor
I think I'm in the minority, but I've never been that big on the Ascension, though I was looking forward to this match to see Finn Balor and Hideo Itami in action. They're both wrestling veterans and have been in action on NXT already, but with this being a special event, everyone looks to go big and I wanted to see what they can do. Balor's opening was outstanding and definitely a spectacle to behold to anyone who hadn't seen him on the indies as Prince Devitt. The lighting, along with his face painting, and his movement, was a show in and of itself. Super Awesome! The match delivered the goods and in the end Hideo and Balor won. For a moment, it looked like Hideo was setting up for the GTS, the move CM Punk borrowed from him and made famous, and when the crowd saw it, they knew what was coming and cheered loud. Unfortunately it didn't happen, but it'll be interesting to see if he starts to use the move in future matches.




Sasha Banks VS Charlotte (c)
NXT women continue to impress and I really like what Sasha Banks is showing. Some new innovative moves. This was a great match and had it not been for the Neville/Zayn match, I would vote for this match as match of the night. Charlotte is better than almost every diva on the main roster and Sasha Banks isn't far behind, if she isn't there already. I just hope when these these two get to the main roster, they are given the amount of time they are in NXT to really show everyone how good they are. For a moment I thought Sasha Banks was going to come out as the upset winner, but Charlotte pulled through and retained the title. Definitely looking forward to more from both.

Sami Zayn VS Adrian Neville (c)
I cannot say enough good things about this match and these wrestlers. Sami Zayn has been hot for what seems like forever, and Adrian Neville just delivers killer moves after killers moves. These two together bring the fire and this match has to be one of the best NXT matches since the shows inception. And I already thought Sami Zayn and Cesaro brought the house down with the first Takeover special, so that just goes to show how awesome I think Zayn is. And the drama was great, with Zayn playing up to the theme they were delivering, him being a nice guy, wearing his heart on his sleeve. It was awesome. And in the end, Zayn comes out victorious. Once he hits the main roster, I really hope the people who don't watch NXT embrace him, because that would seriously suck for him to be relegated to squash matches that don't last more than a few minutes.

And then came the ending of Takeover REvolution (or however you spell it). Kevin Owens, and the rest of the locker room, come out to cheer on Zayn, after winning and everyone is partying. The night was going to end on such a high note. Then Owens turned on Zayn and power bombed him on the side of the ring apron, outside of the ring. The show ended with William Regal and refs coming down to assist Zayn, who was out. A program of Zayn against Owens is sure to be awesome and I look forward to it.

Stone Cold and Vince McMahon

After Raw went off the air last night, Stone Cold held his podcast, live on the WWE Network, interviewing the owner of WWE, Vince McMahon. Here are a few thoughts I had from the podcast.

First off, I'm glad Austin covered everything I think that is on the minds of wrestling fans. Not only CM Punk, but about pushing guys, Macho Man's HOF status, and others. When the podcast started it seemed to me Vince had a little trepidation, almost like he was unsure what Austin was going to ask him and didn't want to be blind-sided. After about 20 minutes or so, I felt like his nerves calmed a little and he felt more easy. That's not to say I thought he was nervous, again, just he didn't want to be blind-sided by Austin.

Austin started talking about pro wrestling versus sports entertainment, and Vince kind of cut him off, disagreeing that Austin didn't come from "pro wrestling". Vince said pro wrestling was what his dad did, and that he does sports entertainment. While I see the argument there, I do have to agree with Stone Cold. I'm sure we can go back longer, but my first thought was of Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawler. They were going at each other and it was called pro wrestling. Was there entertainment there? Of course, they appeared on Letterman for crying out loud, but no one called it sports entertainment back then. There's always been entertainment in it, again, thinking about Gorgeous George and him strutting around the ring, playing to the crowd. So I agreed with Austin about that.

Getting back to the point though, Austin said it seemed like the wrestlers are walking around backstage on eggshells. We've heard that before from others. Vince called out the locker room, saying it's a different generation, and not as ambitious as previous generations of wrestlers. It'll be interesting to see how the talent reacts to that. Seth Rollins already did, posting on twitters

No better way to grab the brass ring then to take out the so-called last guy to do just that. #WWETLC #TablesMatch How's that for ambition?
— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) December 2, 2014

Austin commented that they have to go out on a limb for success. Great advice, not just for wwe superstars, but anyone, in any field, trying to gain momentum and break through.

Macho Man's hall of fame status was asked point blank. Vince gave a straight answer "Yes". It was a funny moment because Austin didn't really follow up with another question or point, he just let that answer linger in the air, staring at Vince, to which Vince asked "Why are you looking at me like that?". Austin stared and asked him again in a way as if to say "Bro, settle with me, man to man, is he going in?", and Vince said he will be in the hall of fame. Maybe not this year, but he'll be there. So there's that.

Cesaro's name came up. Vince complimented Cesaro and thought he does great work, but when asked by Austin what's keeping him back, Vince said he lacks a little charisma and doesn't quite have that "it factor" yet. I think a lot would disagree. He was getting over with the crowd a lot, especially with the "king of swing" gimmick and then they squashed it, putting him with Heyman and now by himself. I hope Cesaro is able to do something that changes Vince's mind.

Austin then turned the attention to CM Punk, asking Vince if he wanted to talk about him or the situation. Vince didn't side step the question, and though he did say he didn't want to air dirty laundry he address the situation, saying a big part of the problem was probably a lack of communication, which from the Art of Wrestling podcast with Colt Cabana, it sound about right.

Austin said that lack of communication was one of, if not the biggest problem when he walked out on the company for eight months. Vince did offer an apology to Punk about the termination papers on his wedding day and said that was nothing but coincidence. That I don't think I'm buying. Maybe, MAYBE, Vince didn't know about that, but there's no way anyone can convince me that didn't happen on purpose.

One of the last things that kind of peaked my interest was Austin asking about Brock and where he was. Vince said he didn't think Brock needed to be there every week, because that title is a special attraction. Man, whoever sold that line or gimmick to Vince should get a raise. I disagree with some of that. Does that champ need to be there every week. I'd say no. Does that champ need to defend every ppv. I'd also say no to that. But not being on television or the ppv events month after month? I don't think that's best for business. He's a special attraction, treat him like one. Have him ringside for a number one contenders match. Make a special appearance on a couple T.V. events. But to not hear anything from him for over two months, and with TLC coming in just a couple weeks, looks to be over three months soon, I think it hurts the title. Just my opinion.

Anyways, I enjoyed the podcast, and enjoy most of Steve Austin's other podcasts over on Podcast One. Who knows if Vince will do another interview like that in the near future, so it was cool to get his feedback and views on things.

They broke the internet

It's the day after thanksgiving. Black Friday. A day of exciting deals and pandemonium running rampant through the aisles of Wal-mart. But something itneresting happened Thursday, thanksgiving day, and that's the release of the newest episode of Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast. No flare or hype to promote the show. We thought it was just another episode, number 226. But his guest this week broke the internet and everyone flipped out. CM Punk.

When it was released, the website crashed and as of this writing, it still wasn't available for download from itunes. Punk trended everything, from Facebook to Yahoo, and headlines plastered wrestling websites.

I've actually listened to the show twice and I found it enlightening, but even more so confirming all the things I thought happened with WWE business practices. Here's just a few of the many points covered that stuck out to me. I'm not going to go into detail, as I really think every wrestling fan should listen to the pod.

Pushing wrestling to hard. Punk admits that some of the things were on him, things he maybe shouldn't have done, but felt he had to since he was the champion. The travel isn't a surprise to any wrestling fan, as it's noted as one of the biggest drawbacks to being a WWE wrestler, on the road over three hundred days a year. But we're given a little more insight, as to just how much these guys and girls are pushed to go out and perform, even when sick and hurt.

Not giving a push to wrestlers when they deserve it. Punk was pissed he didn't get pushed after he was on top of the wrestling word after his promo in Vegas and rightly so. But it just confirmed what always happens. They only like pushing guys who "they" want in the spotlight. If Punk hadn't left in January, who knows what would have happened with Daniel Bryan. Maybe he still would've been in the main even in wrestle-mania, maybe not. But I really think him leaving, helped with Bryan's push. And before anyone says wrestlers do get over by themselves, yes that's true. But for how long? Ryder comes to mind. He got himself over and the WWE went with it for a little bit, but then squashed it. Titus O'neil comes to mind now. He was getting really over, and then they split up the Primetime Players and where's he been since? Damien Sandow too. Now he's getting over again, so hopefully it helps, but he's done it by his work ethic and connecting with the crowd. Not because of WWE.

CM Punk mentioned something that should not be a revelation to many, that the company doesn't really plan right. No long term planning. The first thing that came to mind was when they had Daniel Bryan joined the Wyatts. Then two weeks later he's out. Okay, some may think that how long it was supposed to be. Except, in an interview about his fur boots at wrestle-mania, Bryan said himself that he had those made when he joined the Wyatts, because the run with them was supposed to be a lot longer then it was. Poor planning on the companies part.

 Ryback was a reveal to me. Let me preface this by saying I don't see the big deal in him. He's big sure, but to me he's always been kind of bland. Just a big lunk in the ring with a running Samoan drop for a finish. After reading some comments on some dirt sheets (I try not to do that too often), some people thought maybe punk was making it up. Then Ryback himself got on twitter and starting posting nonsense again. First off, he shouldn't have even acknowledge it, so I think that shows stupidity there. But by acknowledging it, with the action figures and Punk, he re-enforced my belief in what CM Punk was saying, because it caused me to think back to a tweet Ryback sent out before his operation video. Another picture of a toy Ryback standing over a toy CM Punk on a table and he said sorry. Sorry?! That's admitting fault. Ryback was just getting the fans behind him, so we'll see what happens now.

All this sound like WWE bashing, and maybe a little is. Even before Punk said it, for years I've thought wrestlers should try to assemble some type of union for themselves, if for nothing else at least for the protection of their health. But really, these are just my opinions and like I said, the podcast re-enforced a lot of the things I had already thought about WWE.

Now, with that said, I'm probably still going to watch Raw on Monday. I'm probably still going to keep my WWE Network subscription. Because it is enjoyable to watch and there are wrestlers on WWE that I'm a fan of. Rollins, Ambrose, Mizdow, and others. I know, it might sound lame and hypocritical, but after getting "Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows" on video cassette all those years ago, I thought it was heinous and despicable of how WWE acted and treated Bret Hart. But even then, I couldn't bring myself to stop watching. I guess I can only hope something happens one day where things changes for the wrestlers. Where things are better. Or maybe a new company comes along that can treat them better, seeing as how WWE is really the only game in town, that's widely recognized in the United States.

I submitted an email for the follow up interview, hopefully it gets read, because I'd like to know if Punk is doing any more comic writing stuff. As far as Raw, the next wrestling show to go on since the podcast came out, it'll be interesting to see if there are any "CM Punk" chants during the next raw.

And just one more little opinion, I thought it was interesting at the timing of this podcast. A couple episodes ago, Punk was on the podcast, just briefly, not as a guest, and Colt asked him if he had anything to say or plug. Punk asked him when it was airing, Colt told him, and Punk said no, after what seemed like he thought about it for a second. I think he's had a lot of this on his mind, but didn't want to say anything because he knows exactly how the company is and they'd retaliate, the one way they could, which would be by taking it out on AJ Lee, his wife. But now, supposedly she might be done with WWE, so now he knows they can't mess with her career, so he can say what he wants, and more power to him.

Good job. Enjoyed it.