Tag Archive: wrestling


The Sleeper Hold – Episode 9

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
August 28, 2012

After an eventful Summerslam PPV, the WWE found itself in Fresno, CA, the site of RAW episode number 1004, to witness the fallout of the biggest event of the summer.

Main Plot Overview: CM Punk continued his quest for respect last night and in the process earned the right from GM AJ Lee to name his number one contender for Night of Champions and to the delight of the WWE Universe, Punk wanted to name John Cena, but one condition. And that was that John had to admit CM Punk was the best wrestler in the world.

When John refused though, after a long tirade about how important it is to always believe in yourself and that no matter how many times you fall down you need to get back up, and a bunch of other trivial self-help garbage, the title picture remained muddied. CM Punk, still looking for that respect, then demanded Jerry Lawler, the man who said Punk turned his back on the WWE Universe, offer him an apology and say the same thing. Although Lawler did apologize, he refused as well to say that Punk was best in the world, and thus got what he deserved. A kick upside the head by Punk.

It’ll be interesting to see how this long, drawn out story goes and why the WWE feels the need to insert Lawler into this shenanigans (now dubbed Minister or Propaganda by Punk), but as long as CM Punk remains champion, as he has now for nine months and counting, things will definitely remain interesting.

Match of the Night: Quite honestly, as is typical of RAW as it shakes off the post-PPV hangover, many of the matches were very one-sided, not clear-cut, or just plain not interesting. There were a couple of contenders for the Match of the Night though.

The Divas #1 Contendership Battle Royale just because of all the ladies being in the ring at once. Randy Orton vs Alberto Del Rio was actually very enjoyable for the most part until the ending. But the match that stood out above all others was the Dolph Ziggler vs Chris Jericho rematch of Summerslam, with the stipulation that if Ziggler lost, he’d lost his MITB briefcase, and if Jericho lost, he’d lose his job.

This match had the great pacing and top-notch technical acumen that we saw the night before during the PPV, but this time there was actually something of worth on the line (even though if you follow Jericho at all, you knew he was going to lose because he’s about to start touring with Fozzy, his band, once again). The match started off with Ziggler coming out of the gates on fire, not wanting at all to relinquish his briefcase, but Jericho started hitting a few great spots including both an axe handle smash and missile drop kick off the top rope. When he would go for his patented lionsault though, things would go awry as Ziggler countered with a pair of knees to the gut, followed by his Zig Zag to end it. Great pacing and tight wrestling all around made this an easy pick for Match of the Night.

Promo of the Night: This was an easy one as RAW kicked off with none other that Mr. Paul Heyman and his client Brock Lesnar. The pair were coming down to the ring to obviously gloat after their huge win over HHH at Summerslam where Brock ‘broke’ HHH’s arm and made one the WWE’s most resilient fighters tapout.

But not only did they gloat, but Heyman, in classic feel fashion, deemed Brock the new ‘King of Kings’ and therefore the entire WWE Universe must bow down now to Brock Lesnar. The pure intensity on Heyman’s face, while Brock danced around in one spot like he always does like he’s about to hit someone, as he made this proclamation was absolutely a joy to watch and I recommend you check out the video of it over at wwe.com if you can find it.

The best part of the whole promo though may have been when they called Scott Armstrong down to the ring and Heyman told the referee to hurry up because it was live TV (of course, he may have been taking his time because they wanted to make sure they could fill three hours again), and then Lesnar got right in the referee’s face, who was told by HHH to let the two fight, and Lesnar said ‘Good job’. Armstrong then ran away before he wet himself. Absolutely brilliant way to kick the show off.

Shocker of the Night: The Shocker of the Night didn’t come in a promo or a match announcement, it came in an actual match when AJ decided it best for Kane to tag with Zack Ryder against Daniel Bryan and The Miz. This comes just a few months after Zack Ryder’s big push and feud against Kane where Kane literally push Ryder off the stage in a wheelchair and tried to do…things…with his girlfriend of the time, Eve.

Just as shockingly though was the two seemed to be working well together until Daniel Bryan, the latest target of Kane’s wrath, entered the ring against the Big Red Monster and Kane was ready to get revenge for his upset loss at Summerslam. Daniel Bryan would have no part of it though and ran straight out of the ring, through the crowd, and out of the arena, resulting in a countout win for Kane and Ryder.

Luckily, things resumed some sort of normalcy when in his rage at having lost Daniel Bryan a second time, Kane took his rage out on Ryder, delivering a Tombstone Piledriver that was originally intended for Daniel Bryan the night before.

Cheap Pop of the Night: During the Cena tirade about how important it is for someone to believe in him/herself, he kept dropping little facts about Fresno, CA, from their location to their football team and had the crowd eating out of his hand. Considering how polarizing John is typically amongst WWE fans, this was a rare moment where it seemed he had 100% of the folks in attendance behind him, even if he had to kiss their butts to do so. Therefore, it was with ease to name John Cena’s little self-help speech about Fresno the Cheap Pop of the Night.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

The Sleeper Hold – Episode 6

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
July 27, 2012

It was RAW’s 1000th episode, and unfortunately the WWE still can’t find a way to work some solid wrestling into the show even at three hours long now. Although I understand that it was a bit of a celebration, and hopefully things will pick up a bit next week, I can’t forgive the blatant extra advertising and time wasted pandering to the WWE Universe. As a whole, those of us who grew up in the ‘Attitude Era’ had a few extra laughs and it was nice to see legends like Bret Hart again. All in all though, this was a monumental waste of time and I fear for the future of Monday Night RAW’s ability to entertain us.

Main Plot Overview: The big shake-up in the main plot of the show was The Rock re-inserting himself into the WWE Championship picture, proclaiming he has been promised a title match at The Royal Rumble in January. Of course, with that still being six months away, the title can change hands several times potentially, with the first time being that night with John Cena cashing in his MITB contract.

Not surprisingly though, the match was interfered with by The Big Show and Cena became the first man to ever win his MITB contract title match, but not the title as a title cannot change hands via outside interference. The most infuriating thing about this match though was the sad attempt by WWE to possibly turn CM Punk heel, as he did what everyone else in the world would do and tried to capitalize on the opportunity afforded him by The Big Show. It’s not good for a face to win like a heel though, so this move likely means Punk is turning his back again on the people, especially after he clotheslined The Rock during his People’s Elbow on The Big Show.

Match of the Night: In three hours of programming, the WWE put on two good matches. The first was a 6-man tag match between Sheamus/Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio and Jericho/Dolph Ziggler/Alberto Del Rio. The match of the night though was the other good match in Christian vs The Miz for the IC belt.

Marking the 66th time the title was defended on MNR (average one defense every 15 weeks on the show), Christian came out with a flurry against the Miz, quickly taking to the air and hitting moves like missile dropkicks and crossbodies. But Miz would counter often and Christian would be unable to hit The Kill Switch. Instead, the Miz would finally get his chance and would take advantage, hitting the Skull-Crushing Finale and capturing the IC belt.

This was significant not only due to a major belt changing hands, but because this completes the career Triple Crown for the Miz who was a former WWE and US Champion. It also shows WWE’s commitment to insert the Miz right back into some decent storylines after some time away by giving him this storied mid-tier belt.

Promo of the Night: After the failed wedding of Daniel Bryan and AJ (more on that shortly), Daniel Bryan threw a tantrum of epic proportions. And CM Punk came down to the ring to gloat. Daniel Bryan didn’t take too kindly to this and proceeded to proclaim himself the greatest of all-time.

The Rock then had issue with this and came down to the ring to not only tell the people about The Royal Rumble, but to put Daniel Bryan in his place. After putting together a rhyme about how Daniel Bryan looks like something out of Lord of the Rings and is nothing but a glorified Oompa Loompa, the Rock gave Daniel Bryan a present. A Rock Bottom. Seeing the Rock rattle off an old-school promo like that was very enjoyable and so it is no surprise to see The Rock take home something he would have often back in his heyday, and that is The Promo of the Night. 

Shocker of the Night: Shortly before Daniel Bryan’s tantrum, he was the happiest guy in the world, as he was about to marry AJ (a lucky guy indeed). But like most weddings staged in a WWE ring, all was not well. And so the shocker came when we found out when AJ was saying ‘yes’ to someone else. Specifically, Mr. McMahon. But as Mr. McMahon explained to Daniel Bryan, it was a business proposition she was agreeing to. AJ was to be the new GM of MNR, to which I broke out with a ‘yes’ chant of my own! Our lovely geek goddess then proceeded to skip around the ring in her usual care-free demeanor as Daniel Bryan, with special guest reverend Slick, were left standing in shock in the middle of the ring. This is one of the few reasons I can’t wait for RAW episode 1001 now. 

Cheap Pop of the Night: The night started off with a bang as promised, as DX came out to the ring to kick things off. I was a bit disappointed though because it was only HHH and HBK and I remember when DX was actually a much larger stable than these two WWE mainstays. But I should learn not to doubt DX as they always have something up their degenerate sleeves and after some humorous banter between HBK and HHH, almost all the rest of the crew came out. X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Billy Gunn, in a military jeep, came rolling out to ringside and the gang was back together and for the first time in a while, I legitimately cheered at the TV while watching MNR. And it only got better as they hit all their catch phrases and even embarrassed Damien Sandow, who is definitely turning heads as a heel and passed his initiation as one after he was promptly disposed of by DX.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Sleeper Hold – Episode 5

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
July 20, 2012

With Money in the Bank now behind us and Dolph Ziggler and John Cena the holders of the most coveted contracts there are in the WWE, things began to actually settle down a little as we move forward to next week’s monumental 1000th episode of Monday Night RAW. Several plot lines were tied up as several new ones started. And others took interesting twists in the hopes of making next week’s RAW the most historic episode ever. But before next week gets under way, we needed to get through this week first!

Main Plot Overview: After CM Punk’s successful title defense at Money in the Bank, he came out to tell the folks in Vegas that it was a year ago at that venue when he dropped his infamous pipe bomb and has reigned as WWE Champ for over eight months now. Interrupted by the Big Show though, Punk was reminded that John Cena can cash in his Money in the Bank at any time and if Show were to knock Punk out that evening in their main event match, that would be an awesome time to do it.

Flash forward to the end of the night and many thought that is just what John would do after Big Show DQ’d himself by hitting the referee and continued to swing away on Punk. Mind you, if this match had carried to a natural conclusion instead of a build up to next week, it was a strong contender for Match of the Night. Anyway, those of us who knew better that John would not cash in the briefcase because he is so honorable and righteous and…

…

Sorry, I couldn’t finish that last sentence without throwing up in my mouth a little. I’m good. I’m good. Back on track. But yeah, Cena instead gave Punk a week’s notice that at the 1000th episode of RAW the main event would be him and Punk for the WWE Championship, setting himself up as possibly the first man to lose his title match after winning his Money in the Bank contract match.

Match of the Night: This was very tough as few of the matches that went on were actually worth our time. The mixed tag match between AJ/D-Bryan vs Eve/The Miz was solid, but it was predictable for the most part and had only a couple of nice spots. The match that really impressed me, but wasn’t technically a match since the bell never officially rang, was Ryback vs. Jack Swagger.

First, thank you WWE for finally starting to push Ryback against real competition as I’m tired of watching him powerbomb some 130lb weaklings in a ‘handicap’ match. At Money in the Bank he had a handicap match against real wrestlers in Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins and then tonight he had some really good spots with Swagger.

Swagger started things off quickly by hitting Ryback as soon as he got into the ring. After tossing him around for a while and even hitting the Swagger-bomb for the first time in nearly forever, he tried to perform the ankle-lock. Twice. But Ryback countered each time and continued to show off his impressive power as he performed a TRIPLE powerbomb on Swagger before starting his chant ‘FEED ME MORE’ once again. Most impressive.

Promo of the Night: Another night of solid promos from several folks, but again Dolph Ziggler stole the show when he decided to ‘show-off’ his microphone skills talking about he’ll be the greatest undisputed world heavyweight champion of all-time. Better than The Rock, Stone Cold, and Bret Hart. Then Chris Jericho showed up.

But for the first time I can ever remember, Jericho didn’t say a word as Ziggler belittled him, saying no one even remembers the last time he won a big match as he’s been on the losing streak of a lifetime. And basically, he’s lost it. After several long minutes of being verbally broken down by Ziggler, it was like Jericho’s eyes started to glaze over…and then he hit a Codebreaker and walked out of the ring. I don’t know if it’ll actually lead to anything, but it was a great job by both men as Ziggler continued to cement himself as a great mic man and Jericho’s presence only helped intensify the entire promo.

Shocker of the Night: For once, AJ and the drama that follows her is no longer the shocker of the night although her and Daniel Bryan getting married next week was a close second. No, the shocker of the night was the long awaited return of the master of the 619, Rey Mysterio.

After Zack Ryder served as a jobber to let Alberto Del Rio take his frustration out on after blowing another title match against Sheamus at Money in the Bank, Rey Mysterio came back after almost a year ‘hiatus’ caused by Del Rio supposedly injuring Mysterio’s arm. To a huge ovation, Mysterio and Del Rio went back and forth for a short while before Del Rio set him up for and hit the 619 to start a new rivalry between the wrestlers. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here as both are very strong in the ring as well as to see how crisp the now 37-year old Mysterio is after such a long break.

Cheap Pop of the Night: What will likely be the last time this happens, Heath Slater took on another WWE Legend. Of course, the legitimacy of him as a legend as much as his bloodline being legendary is questionable, but the return of Rikishi was a nice moment for sure.

As has been the motif the past several weeks, Rikishi dominated and hit all his signature moves including the Stink Face as Slater did a nice job of putting an older wrestler over. The nicest thing about this moment though was when the lights went down and The Usos, who happen to be Rikishi’s twin sons, popped out and danced with their poppa. Definitely that moment alone made this worthy of the cheap pop of the week.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The Sleeper Hold – Episode 3

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
July 9, 2012

With Money in the Bank fast approaching, several wrestlers were revealed to be in contention for the fabled contract that guarantees a title shot at any time within 365 days of the PPV.

Main Plot Overview: Vickie Guerrero kicked the night off by excusing herself and saying she was Interim GM for this week’s Raw and Smackdown. The biggest news that Vickie revealed though was the WWE Championship Money in the Bank match would only be full of former champions themselves. So when John Cena revealed he would be partaking in his first Money in the Bank, along with Kane, Jericho, and Big Show, the stakes were immediately raised. Meanwhile CM Punk, the current title holder, will defend the WWE Championship that night anyway against Daniel Bryan after he won a triple threat match with Punk and Kane to kick things off.

Honestly, the biggest positive that comes from this is seeing John Cena back in the title hunt after being absent from that picture for almost a full year after losing the belt at Money in the Bank and then losing the re-unification match to CM Punk at Summerslam last year. Cena is at his best when the belt is involved and after this recent feud with Big Johnny and the Big Show seems to have won over a good portion of the crowd back to Cena’s side, now is the perfect time to re-insert him back into the picture. If we see ‘Super Cena’ too early though, the positive energy John has been getting lately may be flushed back down the toilet. Best outcome for the WWE Championship MITB? Jericho winning hands down.

Match of the Night: In terms of actual wrestling, this was one of the worst MNRs in a while as most matches were gimmick matches, but the US Championship match between Santino and Jack Swagger actually had a couple of nice spots to barely beat out the women’s match (I was very tempted to make this the Divas Summertime Beach Battle Brawl match it was so bad a night), and the Alberto Del Rio/Dolph Ziggler #1 Contender’s match (the Del Rio Samoan Drop from the second turnbuckle was the spot of the night for sure) and only that there was a cop out outcome where there would just be a triple threat match Friday for Sheamus’ World Heavyweight Championship kept that from getting match of the night.

Swagger and Santino are both very strong in the ring although their styles are completely different. Santino’ speed versus Swagger’s strength were clearly played up throughout. Santino hit his classic arm drag after doing a split to duck a clothesline and Swagger showed off his power by countering several moves into solid suplexes and power slams. So technically this was a very solid match. But in the end the Cobra would be Swagger’s undoing as Santino continues a remarkable run as the US Champion.

Promo of the Night: It was very unusual that RAW didn’t really have a promo to kick the night off and instead got very quickly into the Punk/Kane/Bryan triple threat match. Instead, the biggest promo of the night was John Cena’s ‘historic’ announcment where he said he would take part in MITB for the WWE Championship.

The promo started with John doing a horrible Star Wars parallel to recent events in the WWE, but we were all saved by Chris Jericho (after a very long Fozzy promo) who called Cena out on his arrogance and how he doesn’t know what he’s getting into at MITB. The best line of the promo though was Jericho making fun of Cena’s Star Wars promo that seemed dedicated to 9-year olds and then Cena pointing out that is the majority of their audience. Cena was also quick to point out that although Jericho has been in more MITB than anyone on the current roster, he’s also never won it. It was a great promo that really helps set the stage for the weeks to come and possible a Cena/Jericho/Big Show rivalry or maybe the return of Jeri-Show!

Shocker of the Night: RAW opened up with AJ (I love her) practicing how she was going to break up with her recent love interests in front of a mirror, but the shock came when she was backstage with Kane and the Big Red Machine beat her to it. Calling AJ’s sanity into question in a bit of delicious irony, Kane appreciated her affection but was too much of a monster to become involved with Daniel Bryan’s former flame. This entertaining moment was definitely a shock as it seemed Kane broke character to let her down gently, although it reality it was all part of AJ’s plan…I think.

Cheap Pop of the Night: Sycho Sid was a dominate force in the WWE and WCW when he was in his prime before a career ending leg injury forced the 6’ 9” mountain of a man into limited action and then retirement. So to see him come out for a match against Heath Slater as we continue the build up RAW’s 1000th episode was a great moment indeed. Sid looked very stiff in the ring, no surprise considering most of his one leg is an iron bar, but Slater took the bumps well and seeing Sid toss the ‘One-Man Band’ down with authority when he hit his finishing release powerbomb was definitely worthy of the cheap pop of the night.

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

The Sleeper Hold – No Way Out PPV

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
July 8, 2012

Although The Sleeper Hold will typically only be a once a week thing, we feel that for PPVs, we will hold special editions of the column. If you do not wish to have the results spoiled, in this case for No Way Out, before tonight’s Monday Night RAW, we are officially warning you now. Let me be the first to say though that this was one of the most solid PPVs, from start to finish, that the WWE has put on in a while.

Main Plot Overview: The Big Show vs John Cena was finally here. And yet another final match of the night with no gold on the line. I understand that Cena is the ‘golden goose’ as Big Show puts it, but with the WWE Championship being so hotly contended right now, I’m still a little disappointed in the rundown of the card.

Anyway, Cena and Show did a great job inside the cage, each hitting several big spots that showcased their limited skills in the ring. Big Show dead lifting Cena by his throat to the top rope and then missing with an elbow that shook the entire ring (not on purprose) were both great moments.

Outside the ring is where the real action took place though as Brodus Clay looks to finally move up in the world and stop dealing in dark matches and jobbers. His interference in the match cemented him as a face for some time as with a steel chair he prevented Big Show from escaping the cage and then prevented John Laurinatis from stopping John Cena from leaving the cage.

The match culminated in an unusual high note for a PPV as Cena AA’d Laurinatis through the Spanish announce table (it survived all but the last 30 seconds of the PPV…so close!) and McMahon uttered those two classic words: YOU’RE FIRED! The question now is who will take over as GM. Front runner is Teddy Long, but as long as its not the computer again, I’ll be happy.

Match of the Night: I was very tempted to give this to CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan vs Kane for the WWE Championship, but that match’s ending left a bitter taste in my mouth. Bryan wasn’t involved, AJ interfered, and although it was expected, it was only for two seconds as Kane immediately smacked into her by accident, he was distraught and Punk capitalized. A brilliantly executed match ended in about 15 seconds on a sour note.

No, the winner of Match of the Night goes to the IC Championship match between Cody Rhodes and Christian, where Christian retained. This match had everything you wanted from a mid-card match. A quick and frantic pace where each competitor countered and kicked out of the other’s best moves, and the ones that did hit mattered. This was easily the tightest match of the night and along with the fact that it helps the movement to re-establish the IC belt as something coveted by up and coming wrestlers, it was my hands down favorite match of the night.

Promo of the Night: It is rare for promos to be cut during a PPV as it is supposed to be the culmination of a month’s worth (if not longer) of storylines and so I thought about removing this category. But we had a couple of nice promos early in the night to promote later matches where Josh Matthews was belittled by John Laurinatis and AJ made Matt Stryker look like he was crazy, but the big one came from The Game. Yes, HHH reappeared and called out Brock Lesnar for a match at Summerslam in Los Angeles. I’m sure we’ll hear Brock’s acceptance of the match in the coming weeks, but it was good to see The Game again as he is still an expert with the microphone.

Shocker of the Night: The Divas’ Championship (I still wish it was ‘Women’s Championship’) match. Why? Because someone besides Natalya and Beth Phoenix showed they can wrestle (Kharma can too, but no one knows where she is still). Layla, who missed a year due to an awful knee injury, showed she can play with the big dogs in the ring. In a match that was longer than 95% of most other women’s matches, Beth and Layla pulled off a surprisingly entertaining and technically tight match that does the struggling women’s division proud. What had become a joke in recent years is once again starting to show promise with girls who actually know what they’re doing when they step in the squared circle and Layla has definitely won me over now. The talent may always have been there, but no one could see it when she was part of ‘Laycool’.

Move of the Night: Speaking of struggling divisions, the Tag Team division has been in shambles for a long time and part of the reason is you don’t have any real ‘tag teams’ anymore. Even Kofi and R-Truth isn’t a real tag team and it’s only a matter of time before they return to singles matches. But the WWE is still trying to fix what they broke almost a decade ago now.

So there was a Fatal 4-Way tag match between Epico and Primo vs Primetime Playas vs The Usos vs Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd. First off, I’d love to see Gabriel and Kidd stick around as a tag-team. And right there in that card, you have an okay foundation for your tag division. Everyone there is extremely talented in the ring. All you need is for some of them to work on their mic skills and start cutting promos that call each other out, which may have started with AW, Epico and Primo’s manager, jumping ship to Primetime Playas.

Anyway, I digress. Move of the night was hit by Tyson Kidd. This was an easy call as it elicited the only ‘Holy S***!!” chant of the night from East Rutherford, NJ, crowd (Mick Foley thumbs up). Kidd hit a hurricanrana from the top turnbuckle to the outside of the ring that threw his opponent into four of the other opponents who had stumbled outside the ring during a scuffle. This left only two men in the ring to let the match come to a conclusion, but also was easily the most death defying move of the night deserves to have a spotlight shone on it.

Most Disappointing Match of the Night: The overall card was very solid for No Way Out, but one match stuck out to me as kind of a stinker. It was the World Heavyweight Championship match that kicked the night off. Firstly, I understand you want to try to start the show off with a bang, but it seems more like a slap in the face of this particular title when you put it out first and then have those matches be some of the shortest of the night.

But the real reason why this match stunk was because ‘The Great White’ Sheamus didn’t hold his own against a much more technically sound Dolph Ziggler, but still won the match. I understand they are two completely different kinds of wrestlers, but if Kane can put on a good show with Punk and Daniel Bryan, Sheamus can at least sell a little better against Ziggler. Not to mention that several times during the match, moves were botched and it looked like the two of them were just crawling all over each other.

Sheamus is heading into dark waters if he is not careful because several times the crowd starting rooting for Ziggler, the heel, and it reminded me a lot of John Cena’s matches when he started to lose the crowd (which it seems he has finally won back almost completely).

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

The Sleeper Hold – Episode 1

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

Something new we’ve been mulling over for some time at EGMNOW.com is to look at professional wrestling. All of us here in the office are huge fans of the WWE brand and often we get into arguments over how plotlines are developing, who should and shouldn’t be getting put over, and just how much power John Cena gets from his trademark jorts. In that vein, we hope to give you a brief overview of our thoughts on what is transpiring each week and maybe even entertain some of you in the process.

Main Plot Overview: The big overarching plot of June 11th’s Monday Night RAW, which came to us live from Hartford, CT (gives Mick Foley thumbs up), was whether or not John “Big Johnny” Laurenitis would finally be fired, as Vince McMahon would step back into the squared circle for the first time in nearly nine months and re-take the reigns of his company. Giving Laurenitis one last chance, McMahon wanted Big Johnny to put on the card of a lifetime in a special 3-hour edition of RAW (really a test run for the expanded format starting July 23rd, which I’m all for because it will allow a lot of wrestlers and the lesser belts to be put back into the spotlight on a regular basis).

Laurenitis would seemingly fail at this task though, and at the end, when he was about to be fired in classic McMahon fashion, Big Show would storm the ring to side with Big Johnny, soon followed by John Cena who would side with McMahon. This would lead to a scrum (of course) and the stipulation that Cena vs Show at No Way Out, this coming Sunday’s PPV, would have Laurenitis’ job on the line (again).

Match of the Night: A decent subplot that emerged from last night came really from the fact that Alberto Del Rio was injured once again in his last match. This left the number one contendership for the World Heavyweight Championship wide open and so an impromptu Fatal 4-Way Elimination match was signed between Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Christian, and the Great Khali.

Once Khali was quickly eliminated (his continued presence after all is only there for the obligatory Indian audience demographic bump), the match really did a great job of impressing. Swagger, Ziggler, and Christian are three of the better in-ring tacticians the WWE roster has right now and when it came down to Christian versus Ziggler, the crowd couldn’t get enough of it.

Ziggler was going to get the obvious bump when it was down to them though since Chrisitian is already the IC champ, and many more expected it would’ve been Ziggler vs Swagger in the end anyway since both are in such desperate need of a bump, but to see the Show-Off walk away as number one contender was the right move and may make the PPV Sunday actually watchable.

Promo of the Night: Vince’s return to the ring was a great moment and his banter with Laurenitis to open the show was comical and necessary, but this award goes to CM Punk and Daniel Bryan in preparation for Sunday’s Triple Threat WWE Championship match. And not just because these two know how to drop pipe bombs that always push the right buttons with the crowd, but because when the third participant in that match, Kane, came to the ring, it added a nuance to the “I’m better than you” angle that Punk and Bryan have going with each other right now.

What really put this over the top was AJ though. Aside from being insanely hot (she’s a pro wrestler and a fellow geek…yes, I am in love), her crazy chick motif got the biggest rise out of the crowd during this segment and the jokes that King and Cole were cracking about her was probably their best moment of the night as well. From her gushing over Punk, to saying how D-Bryan has her first love, and that like the tin man, Kane actually has a heart, this love quadrangle train wreck kept everyone talking long after it was over.

Shocker of the Night: Although some people are still shocked that John Cena has finally won the crowd completely back over to his side by pitting him against some great heels in Big Show and Laurenitis, the shocker came in the glorified handicap match that was D-Bryan and Kane vs CM Punk and AJ, which was a result of their aforementioned promo.

Mind you, it wasn’t the match itself, but how it was won. By AJ planting a 30-second kiss on Kane that took the Big Red Machine completely out of the match. And yes, it was literally a 30-second kiss, with just Kane standing there, looking completely dumbfounded, and AJ going to town while having her legs wrapped around his waist. The crowd started cheering…and the kiss was so long that the cheers turned to leers as we all just couldn’t help but watch this unfold in the ring. Did I mention that I love AJ?

Cheap Pop of the Night: It was revealed late in the show that Vince had brought with him a classic wrestler from RAW’s past to help ring in the event in a few weeks that will be the 1000th episode, that he was to be in action that night, and that his opponent was to be Heath Slater.

And when we all found out who it was, the crowd went absolutely nuts. Because it was time. It was time. IT WAS VADER TIME! That’s right, the Mastadon himself, looking much slimmer than during his prime, so much so that his mask didn’t even fit right, came storming down to the ring and everyone threw up the V’s with their fingers in a salute to this legend.

And to his credit, even in his late 50s now, Vader put on a solid show. Part of this I think was also Slater doing a solid job of taking bumps and selling everything, including the patented Vader bomb, but Vader got around the ring very well and showed he was still in decent wrestling shape. It wasn’t a long match by any means, but the crowd went absolutely bonkers for it and admittedly, as a long time Vader fan, it was great to see him in action one last time.

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

WWE 12 EGM E3 2011 Preview

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
June 29, 2011

Originally Published: June 21, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

IT’S GONNA BE A SLOBBERKNOCKER!

WHAT ITS ABOUT: This is the latest installment of THQ’s hit yearly WWE wrestling franchise, which sees a much needed facelift while still featuring some of the sports entertainment business’s biggest names.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: This franchise had been just coasting along up until last year’s revolutionary online Royal Rumble feature. But that was only the beginning as this year’s entry marks not only a branding change that falls in line with the WWE’s slow movement to dissolve the rivalry between their RAW and Smackdown TV programs, but adds a brand new submission system and new “Predator” gameplay mechanics in honor of the game’s cover boy, Randy Orton.

WHAT RAY THINKS: I was able to take control of “The Awesome One” himself, The Miz, for a brief demo against a CPU Randy Orton and was amazed at not only how smooth the new animations for the game seemed, but how much easier it was to just pick up and play, which should please old and new fans alike. I just hope they work out the glitch that wouldn’t let me pin Orton after performing four finishers before November’s launch.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

From My Mom’s Basement – Vol. 2 Ep. 6 – From My Grandmother’s Attic

Filed under: From My Mom's Basement — Leave a comment
April 6, 2011

Originally Published: April 5, 2011, on Youtube.com/Rcars4885

I come to you once again with your weekly geek fix, but now from my new apartment in…my grandmother’s attic! This week’s episode sees me review Deadpool Team-Up #883 from Marvel and WWE All-Stars from THQ. My hot chick pick of the week is Italian “journalist” Marika Fruscio and this week’s theme is Hulk Hogan’s theme “Real American”.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

WWE Legends of Wrestlemania Review for the Xbox 360

Filed under: CGR Undertow — Leave a comment
December 14, 2010

Originally Published: December 9, 2010, on Youtube.com/CGRUndertow

As a part of CGR Undertow, I reviewed WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania for the Xbox 360.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

TNA Impact Review for the Xbox 360

Filed under: CGR Undertow — Leave a comment

Originally Published: December 9, 2010, on Youtube.com/CGRUndertow

As a part of CGR Undertow, I reviewed TNA Impact for the Xbox 360 from the now defunct Midway Games.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment