Well the best thing about Twitter is finding about breaking news and was pretty shocked to read about the WWE releasing Kaval. Most of you that read this will know that he is an independent star who wrestled under the name Low-Ki. In a trend recently, the WWE has been hiring indy stars and it has been a success for some part. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and Evan Bourne to name a few. The timing is ominous with it being two days before Christmas, losing your job during this time is downright cold. No doubt Kaval could find other places to wrestle, but still. A couple questions have already risen. Is it a work? I don't think so, there is no reason to speculate. He didn't have the buzz Bryan had. Did he do something to cause it? No one knows besides Kaval and the WWE management, at least for now.
I thought he was poorly booked after winning NXT. It's one thing to have him lose, but another thing to have him lose some of the meaningless matches. The most dubious was replacing him with Tyler Reks on the Bragging Rights team. That could of been a chance to get him good exposure, but it was wasted with a far less talented and less of a draw of Reks. And it's not like Reks has been rocketed because of that. As time passes more will be found out of what happened. Maybe it is a work and Vince is trying to make lightening strike again. It doesn't mean that we will never see him in the WWE again either, unless he spit on Vince or his grandchildren for some bizarre reason. I'll hope the best for him anyway.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
WWE TLC 2010 Recap
The last PPV of the year was one of the better ones. It's been awhile since my last post, but alas I'm still here. Let's get started though.
We start things off right with a three way ladder match for the IC strap with your champion Dolph Ziggler. His opponents are Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger. As any good opener, it was fun and fast paced. Kofi is very Shelton-esque in ladder matches. In a cool ending the title falls as Kofi and Swaggs are going for it and the Ziggler lucks out and snatches it up to retain his strap. Great ending, Ziggler has been great since being champion, his matches are good and he keeps managing to walk away with the title. I hope they are wise enough to keep it on him until Wrestlemania.
Our next match is a Diva's table match with Beth Phoenix and Natalya vs. Laycool. And what a match it was, these four ladies made people realize that women can still wrestle in the WWE. While I don't mind the WWE employing models, they really need to fill in the roster with legitimate women wrestlers. Beth took a NASTY bump, I thought she was a goner when I seen that. Natalya hooks the Sharpshooter on both members in Laycool. The end of the match had Laycool landing on the table that did NOT break and Nattie did an impromptu splash through the table. Very good match, can we get Beth vs. Natalya at Wrestlemania please?
An unadvertised match for the tag titles between the champs, Santino and Kozlov, vs. the Nexus. But like a shark smelling blood the pack of wolves uses this time to make a statement to John Cena when Wade Barrett came out and smashed the champs with a chair.
The highlight match is a ladder match for the number one contender between John Morrison and Sheamus. I thought this feud was going to be just fodder for Sheamus until HHH comes back, but it went beyond that. It's been pretty solid, the wins keep being traded back and forth. Sheamus got the last laugh when he won the KOTR but Morrison got back by grabbing the contract. Two different styles that work well and even though Morrison has defeated him, he still goes in like an underdog. Best match of the night and Morrison gets himself a title shot.
The Miz makes his first title defense as champion on a PPV against Randy Orton in a tables match. This is the type of match that Sheamus used to upset John Cena last year for his first title run. The trend of good matches continue. Alex Riley gets involved after a ref bump and gets thrown threw a table for his troubles. The Miz hits the SCF on Orton and finds and opportunity to fool the ref. It seems to work until the referee realizes what happened. The match restarts, but the Miz legitimately gets Randy through a table and barely makes it out as champ. Good booking.
The other big title match is next up. It's a four way TLC match with Edge, Kane, Del Rio, and Rey. Another pretty good match, but not much can be said that we already haven't seen. Just a fun match. There was a couple close wins and a couple more nasty bumps. The ultimate opportunist and master of the TLC match, Edge, ends Kane's reign.
There is some filler with Cody Rhodes and Big Show dressed as Santa.
Our main event is Wade Barrett vs. Cena. And why wouldn't they give John Cena the last match (ugh)? The match was good in it's own right, but didn't live up to it's undercard. And I knew that Cena was going to win this match, so that took away from my enjoyment. Cena hits the AA on Wade through some chairs, that was nasty. And that wraps up the match, but he's not finished. He destroyed Barrett even more and drops some the hanging chairs on Barrett, don't worry he was beneath some wooden thing. I think that ends the Cena/Nexus feud. I sure hope so, because that well has been tapped dry. He got his revenge. I wonder what's next for Barrett and the Nexus, I still think Barrett has a bright future.
After all of that, this might be one of the top PPVs of the year. I need to think back, but no doubt it was good on it's own. Sure it was gimmicky, but wrestling is meant to be fun to watch and that's what it was. Everything wasn't completely a spotfest with some good wrestling mixed in there. Stay tuned as I will give out my end of the year awards, I'm pretty excited for that.
We start things off right with a three way ladder match for the IC strap with your champion Dolph Ziggler. His opponents are Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger. As any good opener, it was fun and fast paced. Kofi is very Shelton-esque in ladder matches. In a cool ending the title falls as Kofi and Swaggs are going for it and the Ziggler lucks out and snatches it up to retain his strap. Great ending, Ziggler has been great since being champion, his matches are good and he keeps managing to walk away with the title. I hope they are wise enough to keep it on him until Wrestlemania.
Our next match is a Diva's table match with Beth Phoenix and Natalya vs. Laycool. And what a match it was, these four ladies made people realize that women can still wrestle in the WWE. While I don't mind the WWE employing models, they really need to fill in the roster with legitimate women wrestlers. Beth took a NASTY bump, I thought she was a goner when I seen that. Natalya hooks the Sharpshooter on both members in Laycool. The end of the match had Laycool landing on the table that did NOT break and Nattie did an impromptu splash through the table. Very good match, can we get Beth vs. Natalya at Wrestlemania please?
An unadvertised match for the tag titles between the champs, Santino and Kozlov, vs. the Nexus. But like a shark smelling blood the pack of wolves uses this time to make a statement to John Cena when Wade Barrett came out and smashed the champs with a chair.
The highlight match is a ladder match for the number one contender between John Morrison and Sheamus. I thought this feud was going to be just fodder for Sheamus until HHH comes back, but it went beyond that. It's been pretty solid, the wins keep being traded back and forth. Sheamus got the last laugh when he won the KOTR but Morrison got back by grabbing the contract. Two different styles that work well and even though Morrison has defeated him, he still goes in like an underdog. Best match of the night and Morrison gets himself a title shot.
The Miz makes his first title defense as champion on a PPV against Randy Orton in a tables match. This is the type of match that Sheamus used to upset John Cena last year for his first title run. The trend of good matches continue. Alex Riley gets involved after a ref bump and gets thrown threw a table for his troubles. The Miz hits the SCF on Orton and finds and opportunity to fool the ref. It seems to work until the referee realizes what happened. The match restarts, but the Miz legitimately gets Randy through a table and barely makes it out as champ. Good booking.
The other big title match is next up. It's a four way TLC match with Edge, Kane, Del Rio, and Rey. Another pretty good match, but not much can be said that we already haven't seen. Just a fun match. There was a couple close wins and a couple more nasty bumps. The ultimate opportunist and master of the TLC match, Edge, ends Kane's reign.
There is some filler with Cody Rhodes and Big Show dressed as Santa.
Our main event is Wade Barrett vs. Cena. And why wouldn't they give John Cena the last match (ugh)? The match was good in it's own right, but didn't live up to it's undercard. And I knew that Cena was going to win this match, so that took away from my enjoyment. Cena hits the AA on Wade through some chairs, that was nasty. And that wraps up the match, but he's not finished. He destroyed Barrett even more and drops some the hanging chairs on Barrett, don't worry he was beneath some wooden thing. I think that ends the Cena/Nexus feud. I sure hope so, because that well has been tapped dry. He got his revenge. I wonder what's next for Barrett and the Nexus, I still think Barrett has a bright future.
After all of that, this might be one of the top PPVs of the year. I need to think back, but no doubt it was good on it's own. Sure it was gimmicky, but wrestling is meant to be fun to watch and that's what it was. Everything wasn't completely a spotfest with some good wrestling mixed in there. Stay tuned as I will give out my end of the year awards, I'm pretty excited for that.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
King of the Ring 2010
Sorry about the tardiness of this post, to be honest, I've been lazy. But I feel like this Raw is good enough to cover, so let's get started.
Raw's intro is Cena free, nice subtle touch by the production crew on that. We are now treated to Miz's number 2, Alex Riley. I like this guy, not sure how he is in the ring, but I don't care. He entertains me and seems comfortable on the camera. He hypes up the Miz's championship address later that night.
And now it's time for the King of the Ring and our first match is between two new faces to the WWE fans, Daniel Bryan and Smackdown's Alberto Del Rio. I'm a huge fan of both of these men, so this match was excited. Del Rio, like Riley, is comfortable on camera. He can work in the ring too. Bryan attempts a suicide dive but misses and hits his shoulder, which is unfortunate since ADR focuses on that area with his finishing submission. And just like that he locks in the arm bar and Bryan has no choice but to tap.
R-Truth comes out and is pissed off about his friend Cena getting fired. They were teasing a Truth heel turn for the past month or so. I hope they go through with it. Sure the WWE is a little heel heavy, but R-Truth is getting stale and I'm sure his merchandise is flying off the shelves. Plus a heel Truth would make his entrance shorter, or at least it should. He calls out any member of the Nexus and Joe Hennig answers the call. He is met by a mysterious attacker, who is obviously John Cena (or Juan Cena?).
Morrison vs. the Dashing One in the next first round match. Not bad, but not given enough time. Morrison wins with a kick to the head and moves on.
Next KOTR match is between Drew and Zeke. We get our standard draw to probably cut time. Drew keeps Zeke from returning into the ring and is counted out along with him. I think that the WWE obviously didn't have plans for Zeke to win it all, and didn't want him to job to anyone quite yet. Makes sense, let's move on.
Our new champ comes out and he saves us of the confetti and the spectacle others have done in the past. He cuts a you can do it promo but then swerves it into a you can't do it promo. Good stuff, he even showed a picture of the angry Miz girl. Imagine being that girl, waking up being excited to go the Raw, perhaps her first live event. And then being angry your favorite wrestler, loses and she's seen on TV being salty. And now she's become a meme with the IWC, fortunately I would bet she doesn't go on wrestling message boards. Miz pulls out the book from Kevin Sullivan (not the Taskmaster) about the history of the WWE Championship, which I need to read. He mentions how people like Piper and Steamboat aren't in it. Jerry Lawler took offense to that and stuck up for his fellow legends. He brought up how he never was given a title shot and challenged the Miz, the Miz told him he didn't feel like it. The GM disagreed and set up the match and even made it a TLC match. I got no problem with Lawler getting a title shot, it's on free TV, no big deal.
We get our final first round match, Kofi vs. Sheamus. Winner goes to the finals, and nothing much to report about the match. Sheamus wins and moves to the finals. In the history of the KOTR the finals always been face vs. heel so I knew that Morrison would win his match to move on.
We get a tag match with the Champions, the Nexus, vs. Yoshi Tatsu and Mark Henry. So John Cena during this match comes walking down to the front row through the crowd flashing tickets. So we know the purpose of this match. The Nexus is distracted and the odd pairing of Tatsu and Henry wins. Afterwards Cena throws Heath Slater through the table.
Backstage the King is getting ready for his match and Arn Anderson has some words of advice. He warns him of the danger of the match, but says one mistake by the Miz and he's the new champion.
Alberto Del Rio and Morrison is up next and as expected Morrison wins. Told you the final is always face vs. heel, but that's nothing you don't already know, right?
Wade Barrett comes out and cuts a promo saying that Cena won't make him crack. Backstage Cena says he's going to hunt all of them down, it looks like he's outnumbered. All of the unused faces have his back though, and Justin Gabriel becomes the sacrifice and takes some nasty bumps into a nearby car. The Cena/Nexus story is taking a backseat to the Miz and for good reason. To be honest, I loved the Nexus, but they are running out of steam. Wade Barrett is the gem of that group so I hope he breaks away soon or at least cuts the fat. You can only feud with someone for so long before you want them to move on.
We get a three on three woman's match. Alicia Fox is awful in the ring, I mean bad. I can't believe they gave her the Diva's Title, much less still given ring time. Santino comes out and sings a song for Tamina, and drags her away from the match. Oh, I get it and Santino romantic odd couple comedy story, that's original. That's sarcasm. Natalya gets the tag signaling the end is near, and she made Fox tap out once again.
Backstage Ted Dibiase is pissed off and frustrated, presumably about his losing streak. Maryse berates him but then he gets close to slapping her but remembers the PG rating and just tells her to shut up. Ted isn't the most polarizing guy on the roster, but I feel bad for him. It's like they can't find his niche for him to make him interesting.
And we get our final match up for the KOTR, Morrison and Sheamus. It was another good match between the two. They work well together, not their best match, but good. Morrison has a win over Sheamus and the Series, but this time the Celtic Warrior can be called the Celtic King as he puts John Morrison away. He walks up stage and is giving his cape, scepter, and crown. And he sits in his thrown, now that's a good look for him. He gets up and yells "All Hail The King!" It's only a matter of time before the Game returns and we get the Celtic King vs. the King of Kings.
And for our main event, it's The Miz vs. Jerry Lawler, in a TLC match. Ten years ago if you told me the Mike from the Real World would be defending the WWE Title vs. a 60 plus year old Jerry Lawler in a TLC match, I'd be stunned. It was emphasised that one mistake by the Miz and the King can be our new champ. Very good story telling in this match, it goes to prove that it doesn't matter on age or ability that if you can tell a good story in a match then you can entertain. Michael Cole is 100% for the Miz in this match and Punk is actually finding himself cheering on Lawler. Riley gets involved but finds himself through a table for his troubles. Both competitors are on the top turnbuckle but the King pushes Miz off and sends him through a table too. And the Miz made his mistake, and for all it's worth Jerry Lawler is the new WWE Champion. Michael Cole doesn't think so and grabs the foot of the King and keeps him from grabbing the belt. Lawler goes to knock Cole out as he pleads that he didn't mean it. During all of this the Miz gets time to get back to his feet and fights off Lawler to claim his title.
A great way to end an enjoyable Raw. Sheamus as King of the Ring adds another feather in his cap, so I approve. It looks like stories are moving in new directions and I'm anxious to see what's next.
Raw's intro is Cena free, nice subtle touch by the production crew on that. We are now treated to Miz's number 2, Alex Riley. I like this guy, not sure how he is in the ring, but I don't care. He entertains me and seems comfortable on the camera. He hypes up the Miz's championship address later that night.
And now it's time for the King of the Ring and our first match is between two new faces to the WWE fans, Daniel Bryan and Smackdown's Alberto Del Rio. I'm a huge fan of both of these men, so this match was excited. Del Rio, like Riley, is comfortable on camera. He can work in the ring too. Bryan attempts a suicide dive but misses and hits his shoulder, which is unfortunate since ADR focuses on that area with his finishing submission. And just like that he locks in the arm bar and Bryan has no choice but to tap.
R-Truth comes out and is pissed off about his friend Cena getting fired. They were teasing a Truth heel turn for the past month or so. I hope they go through with it. Sure the WWE is a little heel heavy, but R-Truth is getting stale and I'm sure his merchandise is flying off the shelves. Plus a heel Truth would make his entrance shorter, or at least it should. He calls out any member of the Nexus and Joe Hennig answers the call. He is met by a mysterious attacker, who is obviously John Cena (or Juan Cena?).
Morrison vs. the Dashing One in the next first round match. Not bad, but not given enough time. Morrison wins with a kick to the head and moves on.
Next KOTR match is between Drew and Zeke. We get our standard draw to probably cut time. Drew keeps Zeke from returning into the ring and is counted out along with him. I think that the WWE obviously didn't have plans for Zeke to win it all, and didn't want him to job to anyone quite yet. Makes sense, let's move on.
Our new champ comes out and he saves us of the confetti and the spectacle others have done in the past. He cuts a you can do it promo but then swerves it into a you can't do it promo. Good stuff, he even showed a picture of the angry Miz girl. Imagine being that girl, waking up being excited to go the Raw, perhaps her first live event. And then being angry your favorite wrestler, loses and she's seen on TV being salty. And now she's become a meme with the IWC, fortunately I would bet she doesn't go on wrestling message boards. Miz pulls out the book from Kevin Sullivan (not the Taskmaster) about the history of the WWE Championship, which I need to read. He mentions how people like Piper and Steamboat aren't in it. Jerry Lawler took offense to that and stuck up for his fellow legends. He brought up how he never was given a title shot and challenged the Miz, the Miz told him he didn't feel like it. The GM disagreed and set up the match and even made it a TLC match. I got no problem with Lawler getting a title shot, it's on free TV, no big deal.
We get our final first round match, Kofi vs. Sheamus. Winner goes to the finals, and nothing much to report about the match. Sheamus wins and moves to the finals. In the history of the KOTR the finals always been face vs. heel so I knew that Morrison would win his match to move on.
We get a tag match with the Champions, the Nexus, vs. Yoshi Tatsu and Mark Henry. So John Cena during this match comes walking down to the front row through the crowd flashing tickets. So we know the purpose of this match. The Nexus is distracted and the odd pairing of Tatsu and Henry wins. Afterwards Cena throws Heath Slater through the table.
Backstage the King is getting ready for his match and Arn Anderson has some words of advice. He warns him of the danger of the match, but says one mistake by the Miz and he's the new champion.
Alberto Del Rio and Morrison is up next and as expected Morrison wins. Told you the final is always face vs. heel, but that's nothing you don't already know, right?
Wade Barrett comes out and cuts a promo saying that Cena won't make him crack. Backstage Cena says he's going to hunt all of them down, it looks like he's outnumbered. All of the unused faces have his back though, and Justin Gabriel becomes the sacrifice and takes some nasty bumps into a nearby car. The Cena/Nexus story is taking a backseat to the Miz and for good reason. To be honest, I loved the Nexus, but they are running out of steam. Wade Barrett is the gem of that group so I hope he breaks away soon or at least cuts the fat. You can only feud with someone for so long before you want them to move on.
We get a three on three woman's match. Alicia Fox is awful in the ring, I mean bad. I can't believe they gave her the Diva's Title, much less still given ring time. Santino comes out and sings a song for Tamina, and drags her away from the match. Oh, I get it and Santino romantic odd couple comedy story, that's original. That's sarcasm. Natalya gets the tag signaling the end is near, and she made Fox tap out once again.
Backstage Ted Dibiase is pissed off and frustrated, presumably about his losing streak. Maryse berates him but then he gets close to slapping her but remembers the PG rating and just tells her to shut up. Ted isn't the most polarizing guy on the roster, but I feel bad for him. It's like they can't find his niche for him to make him interesting.
And we get our final match up for the KOTR, Morrison and Sheamus. It was another good match between the two. They work well together, not their best match, but good. Morrison has a win over Sheamus and the Series, but this time the Celtic Warrior can be called the Celtic King as he puts John Morrison away. He walks up stage and is giving his cape, scepter, and crown. And he sits in his thrown, now that's a good look for him. He gets up and yells "All Hail The King!" It's only a matter of time before the Game returns and we get the Celtic King vs. the King of Kings.
And for our main event, it's The Miz vs. Jerry Lawler, in a TLC match. Ten years ago if you told me the Mike from the Real World would be defending the WWE Title vs. a 60 plus year old Jerry Lawler in a TLC match, I'd be stunned. It was emphasised that one mistake by the Miz and the King can be our new champ. Very good story telling in this match, it goes to prove that it doesn't matter on age or ability that if you can tell a good story in a match then you can entertain. Michael Cole is 100% for the Miz in this match and Punk is actually finding himself cheering on Lawler. Riley gets involved but finds himself through a table for his troubles. Both competitors are on the top turnbuckle but the King pushes Miz off and sends him through a table too. And the Miz made his mistake, and for all it's worth Jerry Lawler is the new WWE Champion. Michael Cole doesn't think so and grabs the foot of the King and keeps him from grabbing the belt. Lawler goes to knock Cole out as he pleads that he didn't mean it. During all of this the Miz gets time to get back to his feet and fights off Lawler to claim his title.
A great way to end an enjoyable Raw. Sheamus as King of the Ring adds another feather in his cap, so I approve. It looks like stories are moving in new directions and I'm anxious to see what's next.
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