I don’t do awards shows, so you’ll have to forgive me for the lack of Raw coverage. Instead, I bring you the following Christmas list:

John Laryngitis-an off-screen role (ONLY)

John Cena-intensity

Alberto Del Rio-a promo that does not use the word “destiny”

WWE Creative Team-creativity

Divas-real women wrestlers and more than two minutes for matches (must be both; don’t do one or the other)

Dolph Ziggler-a main event push

Goldust-likability on Twitter

Jack Swagger-a role where he never has to talk and where he is pushed like a monster

Rey Jr.-new knees

Sin Cara-a new guy behind the mask

Hunico-a gimmick not currently being used by Impact’s Hernandez

Jim Ross-never to be humiliated in Oklahoma on TV again

Kevin Nash-relevance

Mick Foley-see Kevin Nash

Hogan & Bischoff-a repeat of Bash at the Beach where he’s given his walking papers

Impact-stop pushing the old guys at the expense of the new generation & a product that I consider watchable

All Night Xpress-a tag title run

Kyle O’Reilly, Tommaso Ciampa, Caprice Coleman, El Generico, Grizzly Redwood, Willie Mack-pushes to the moon

Matt Palmer, ACH, Athena-a chance on a national stage

Gregory Iron-a shot in the WWE; there are so many stories to be told there; unlike Eugene, you could have a bonifide handicap wrestler that the WWE fans would genuinely go for

Ring of Honor-a show in Dallas… please

Sara Del Rey, Cherry Bomb, Eric Ryan, Rickey Shane Page, Façade, Marion Fontaine, Tim Donst, Johnny Gargano, Aeroform, Portia Perez, Mad Man Pondo, Sugar Dunkerton-a match in the Dallas area

It’s about that time of the year when we look at what we are thankful for. Yes, I know it’s cheesy, but I think it needs to be said. These are not in order of importance, just in an order of some kind.

1. CM Punk-He’s cut two of the greatest promos of the year. He cut a promo so good it made us think that wrestling had become real for a night. Plus, the night he shocked the wrestling world when the WWE champion appeared on an AAW show to put over competitor Gregory Iron (see #2). And how about the time period after Money in the Bank and before Summerslam? Has wrestling been that exciting in years? CM Punk was showing up at Wrigley Field, tweeting pictures of the title belt in the refrigerator, showing up at Comic conventions. It bled over into John Cena’s promos and Raw was exciting to watch again. Money in the Bank was still the top match the WWE has put together this year. He is the one sane person in the world of the insane. And he’s one of the few things that gives me hope for the future of the WWE.

2. Gregory Iron-The guy has cerebral palsy. Let me say that again. The guy has cerebral palsy. And he wrestles. This isn’t Eugene playing a retarded character. He is an actual handicapped wrestler. There is a documentary that will be coming out. Fox News did a feature on him. Now there is a petition to get him into the Royal Rumble! The guy has a legitimate shot at being in the WWE as a great story to be told. If you have never seen one of his matches, go to Youtube and search. You will be blown away.

3. Sheamus-I am a fan of Sheamus because he is pasty white. I’m pasty white. My body does not tan. I go out into the sun, my skin burns (“fries” is a better word), it peels off a day later and whiter than I was before. So having somebody like Sheamus in the public life makes me happy, rather than Hulk Hogan or George Hamilton. I am on Team Pasty White.

4. Air Boom-These are two of the best in-ring workers in the business. Evan Bourne has one of the happiest smiles in wrestling (and of course, after the wellness violation, we know why). Not only that, he’s one of the best at selling. And how do you not love Kofi Kingston? And as a tag team, these guys have great chemistry.

5. Mark Henry as champ-How many years did we sit through “Sexual Chocolate,” humping Mae Young, going on a date with Chyna? And now here is, a truly dominant, well-booked champ (for the WWE). I look forward to seeing him, and I had a genuinely emotional moment when he walked away the champ.

6. Ricardo Rodriguez-I’ve decided that if Ricardo Rodriguez would announce my arrival at work, I would be CEO. I haven’t decided whether it’s the perfect hair, the tuxedo or the majestic voice. But not only that, he makes a great manager/lackey.

7. MPX-This is my local wrestling promotion. At first they started out as nothing, but it has been awesome to watch them mature into a hotbed. There’s Kenny Steele, a heel who could be on the cusp of greatness. Cash & Carry, one of the top upcoming tag teams in the Texas scene. Seph Annunaki, who could be a match or two away from being a huge name in Texas. $Payday$ who is our version of Kofi Kingston. Ben Wylde, fellow member of Team Pasty White. Headbanger who is already cementing himself as a mainstay in promotions all over Texas. Great veterans like Kristopher Haiden, Carrion Arcane, Matt Palmer (!). Plus, I love the family atmosphere and saying hi to everybody.

8. Lance Hoyt-I say that name, but it stands for all the guys (and girls) who like to give back. For a company that started pretty lowly, guys (and girls) like Lance Hoyt, Mike Foxx, SHIMMER’S Athena have helped build it up. Lance Hoyt came in, loved it AND returned. Now there’s talks of him bringing other big names.

9. Ring of Honor-How do I BEGIN to describe what I love about Ring of Honor? Shelton Benjamin doesn’t have a low-rent comedienne playing his mother. Charlie Haas gets to be Charlie Haas. Homicide, Jay Lethal, Davey Richards, El Generico, Tommaso Ciampa, Grizzly Redwood. It gives me something to look forward to every few months or so. And now there’s a weekly tv show!

10. Chikara-So the WWE’s problem is that they make a TV-PG product. Right? Chikara has a G-rated product. And their product is infinitely more watchable than the WWE’s product. You have names like Eddie Kingston, Mike Quackenbush, The Colony, BDK. You have great action, long matches, a devoted crowd and a lot of passion.

11. SHIMMER-Have you ever watched a Bella Twins match and prayed that God would take you now? You know, the “I-Don’t-Want-to-Live-in-a-World-Where-The-Bellas-Are-Considered-Entertainment” feeling. About a month ago, I discovered SHIMMER. I watched SHIMMER VOL. 1 and was completely blown away by the matches I saw. I know I’m only on Vol. 2, but I’m excited to see where women’s wrestling goes from here.

12. Sara Del Rey-This is for all the women’s wrestlers. Del Rey is one of my favorite workers, male or female. And there are a lot of great women’s wrestlers out there who are not WWE Divas. These are the Del Reys and Cherry Bombs and Jessicka Havocs and Mickie Knuckleses and Athenas and Portia Perezes that give daddies of little girls somebody they can watch with their daughters.

13. AIW-I remember asking what promotion I should try on Twitter. AIW (who follows me) recommended I buy Absolution VI or Girl’s Night Out IV. I bought Absolution and was so blown away by this wrestling, whether it was the atmosphere, the devotion of the fans, the Rickey Shane Page/Vincent Nothing match, Josh Prohibition/Greg Iron match (my first time to see an Iron match), Tim F’ing Donst. I was hooked and a fan for life.

14. All the wrestlers-All the boys who go out and give everything for the fans in the crowd. You can always tell those who have the passion and those who give everything for the fans every time. I know it’s been done, but… “It’s still real to me, damnit.”

15. AJ Lee & Alicia Fox-Just for existing. I know I said something about how much I love SHIMMER because of the hard-working women who aren’t sex objects. But I gotta admit. Those two are just breath-takingly beautiful and it makes me happy whenever I get to see them.

16. Sites I get to write for. I love writing and I love wrestling. So it’s a given that one of my favorite things on Earth would be writing about wrestling. I am very proud to be part of very awesome teams no matter where I write. I also want to thank my fellow co-writers, who I feel very lucky to even consider some my friends.

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17. Wings in Euless-Somehow I was discovered by www.bigbadsportsdaddy.com. I started doing a Saturday MMA column for them. Then after their Raw blogger was future endeavored, I was given the role. Ever since February, they have let me join them in a live broadcast. It’s now one of the favorite parts of my month. I love getting to hang out with the guys like Larry, John & Eric and getting to see all the variety of people: Drew and Chelsea, Zero, Carlos and their crew, the MPX guys. It makes me happy knowing that we will all get to experience the new PPV together.

What are yours? What are you thankful for in wrestling?

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I’m trying to find a place to start with this and it’s just not happening. So forgive me for being a little disjointed in starting here. I have my favorite promos. Anything that comes out of Mick Foley’s or Ric Flair’s mouth. I remember Al Snow cutting a promo in the ECW days before a big match that was so quiet and to the point and great. There was Roddy Piper at Halloween Havoc in 1996. And of course there was CM Punk’s “The Promo” where I couldn’t sleep that night because I couldn’t decide if it was a work or not. Guys could make you hate them with a short 5-minute promo like Owen Hart, Jerry Lawler or Bubba Ray Dudley. Or the guys who could have you eating out of their hand like Jake “The Snake”, The Rock or Dusty Rhodes.

This week, a great promo joined the ranks of the best ever. Eddie Kingston cut a promo that is probably the best of the year. And that’s on a year where you had CM Punk’s “The Promo,” CM Punk honoring Gregory Iron at AAW and HHH-Taker stare-down when both made their returns at the same time building up Wrestlemania. (I wrote a Facebook status after that where I said “Cut the promo. And if necessary, use words.”)

After Punk’s “The Promo,” a lot of the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) used the phrase “talking people into the building. ” This Eddie Kingston promo does exactly that. Around Money in the Bank, there were so many great promos on Raw, not just from Punk. John Cena also cut some good promos during that time. He didn’t sound like the 10-year-old trying to get the other 10-year-olds on his side at the playground. He sounded legitimate and that he believed what he was saying. But some nights he just sounds like he’s reciting lines.

When I hear that Eddie Kingston promo, I hear something I don’t hear very often on WWE television… passion. And I’m not saying that John Cena doesn’t have any passion. I see that passion when he walks out to the ring every time. But I just don’t hear his passion through his promos. You can only believe somebody’s else’s thoughts so much. Even the great actors-Kevin Spacey, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon-you can tell when they are playing a role and when they are not in character. The problem is that too many times, John Cena sounds like the guy you see on The Marine and not the athlete you go for on your local sports team, which is who he should be.

What I would love is for WWE to bring back the passion. Stop scripting stuff for the boys to say. I’m ok with rehearsing, but let them say what they want. After you watch this Eddie Kingston promo, you can’t live without seeing High Noon. When was the last time we wanted to see a WWE pay-per-view that much?

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I should probably write an intro here. I do a lot of rambling here so I apologize for the length. If you want a real recap, you can find that anywhere. These are meditations of the iPPV event and my stream-of-consciousness as it happened.

Jigsaw vs. El Generico

The opener was pretty fun. You got a Gory special from Jigsaw. What was special about that was that this was the 6th anniversary of Eddie Guerrero’s death. Eddie, if he were still around, would have been very proud and very humbled. There was very good action; both wrestlers came out of this looking strong. There weren’t any “Holy s***” moments, but there was some great action and some innovative moves I’ve never seen before. And you don’t need to have too many “Holy s***” moments in an opener. Being two high flyers, there were some great planchas and suicide dives. The announcers over-sold it a little, but it was still a great match.

Young Bucks w/Marty Jannetty vs. The Colony (Soldier & Fire Ant)

First of all, I loved the surprise of Marty Jannetty. I don’t understand why he was there though. Could they have maybe found a face tag team he could be mentor for, like an inspirational leader? (Let’s face it. Who is going to boo Marty Jannetty at this point in his career?) At first appearance, the Young Bucks look so indy and so generic. As the match goes on, we find out they have moments of greatness in the ring. Aside from the last ROH Ladder Match at Death by Dishonor, the best match of the night for me was Young Bucks-Future Shock-Bravados (once the Bravados were eliminated). They can be so great. There’s just nothing that separates them from Joe Indy Tag Team at my local VFW. One of my favorite moves is the guy close to the ring apron, they spin him and then kick him. I’ve seen that in PWG, I saw it today and think it is an awesome spot. I counted 2 “Holy s***” moments, one team each. You have to love Chikara’s style. They have their own story to tell and they’re not afraid to tell it. They took a lucha style to the states and found it more than successful. Their crowd is so great and so devoted. This had a very good finish that resulted in The Colony winning out of nowhere.

Sara Del Rey vs. Jakob Hammermeier

Sara was greeted with a Happy Birthday chant and a “Sara’s gonna kill you” chant. Hammermeier gave a really good cowardly heel-Genius-type performance. During this match, the commentary got much better. It didn’t seem like they were channeling Don West so much now that they already had our money. The thing closest to a “Holy s***” moment was an axe kick to the back of the head. Del Rey pretty much killed him for the match. She won. It was a short match, everything it should have been.

Amassis came out and retired. Ophidian sprayed mist on him and then proceeded to attack him. And then they unmasked him! I like a wrestling promotion where masks mean something. (hint, hint, WWE)

Green Ant vs. Tursas

To begin with, there was a huge size difference. It began with a heel ref. I hate heel refs. Well, Green Ant moved and Tursas ended up hitting the ref and he was out. The Colony carried him out. I liked it. It was a good big man-little man match. There was a reference to Tursus having, “Arms like legs and legs like people” followed by an “Oh, my God!” Not many people would get that reference, but I did-Mr. Joey Styles in ECW. There was one “Holy s***” moment for me, Green Ant’s splash off the top turnbuckle onto Tursas on the floor. He got a “Please don’t die” chant before he even did it. Green Ant put Tursus in a hold I’ve never seen before and submitted him.

During the intermission they had an unbelievable video package talking about the main event. It was up there with the Triple H-Undertaker package they did with Arn Anderson and all the legends.

Colt Cabana vs. Archibald Peck

Ok, I get Chikara’s weird and wacky gimmicks. But I’m sorry. This one was too much. The comedy spots in this match were really good. You can tell they had lots of fun preparing this match. This hurts me to say this. I love Colt Cabana. I listen to Art of Wrestling when they have somebody I care about on. Archibald Peck also cut his teeth in my neck of the woods in Arlington, so I have all the love and respect for him. If ever there are two sacred cows on this show, these two are it. But something did not click for me during the match. It was paced very slowly, and while I appreciated the comedy aspects, it took them a while to get serious. It still had some really good comedy aspects, but overall, this match did not do it for me. Colt Cabunny (yes, I just wrote that) hit Peck and Cabana got the pin. After the match Colt Cabana and Colt Cabunny hugged. The only way to salvage this match was for CM Punk to be the bunny and turn heel on Colt Cabana. That didn’t happen.

Gregory Iron vs. Icarus

Of course during this match, my wife came home with the groceries and dinner for the night so I had to help her out. It reminded me of one WWE house show I went to (the night I bought my Eddie Guerrero “Latino Heat scarface” t-shirt btw). During the Shawn Michaels match (where my wife and sister-in-law acted like tweens meeting Justin Bieber), a guy walked past our way on his cell phone saying, “Come on, what do you want? You got me during HBK.”

Now, onto the match. I liked Icarus engaging the crowd during his entrance. And how do you not love Iron? I gotta admit. I popped for the sweater-taking-off thing from Icarus. Aside from the main event, this was the greatest story of the night. Icarus did everything he could to Iron. And every move, Iron would get back up. There was a lead pipe where Iron took the whole 20-count to walk back into the ring. This was a huge way to put him over. Icarus won with a low blow followed by a Spicolli Driver into the turnbuckle. Iron was almost put over more because he lost.

After the match, Akuma appeared in the ring and when he was trying to attack Icarus, he got Gregory Iron. Akuma tried to apologize and they kept holding him back from apologizing. There was a lot of raw emotion in this segment.

Ares & Tim Donst vs. Hallow Wicked & Ultra Mantis Black

This is the match where my wife decided to have dinner so I put the laptop to my right and ate sesame chicken with white steamed rice with my ear-bud in my right ear while the tv played “The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That.” So my attention to this match was pretty low. (Sorry, guys) There was one major moment that stood out to me. That was Ares’ insane bump he took onto the chairs. It felt like a season finale to a huge storyline. The action was pretty good; I just had life happen during this match.

Eddie Kingston vs. Mike Quackenbush

First of all, Eddie Kingston cut the promo of his life before this match. My three favorite promos of the year are Triple H-Undertaker when they just stared at each other and then both looked at the Wrestlemania sign, CM Punk’s “The Promo” and the promo Kingston cut before this match (with special props being given to CM Punk’s promo he cut on Greg Iron at the AAW show near Chicago).

This had a big-match feel. You could feel the anticipation so much. I can’t remember the last time I saw a pro wrestling match that had so much anticipation at the moment. What made this match was the emotion. Mike Quackenbush was escorted by Jigsaw and Eddie Kingston was escorted by Tommy Dreamer. During the intros, my daughter climbed up on the couch with me. She looked at what was going on and I told her who everybody was. She is two and has never really acknowledged wrestling characters before (thought she did say “Woo woo woo” after Zack Ryder on Smackdown once). She was pointing at the wrestlers and I was telling her who they were. We tried saying Eddie and Mike. That didn’t quite happen.

To me, the most touching part was when the ring announcer said “For those watching around the world… (long pause) And for those watching up above…” There was a long pause and the fans started chanting something. I couldn’t tell whether it was “Eddie” (for Eddie Guerrero, who had passed away 6 years ago to the day) or “Larry” for Larry Sweeney, a very instrumental figure in the Northeastern Independent scene for a long time.

I guess I should start talking about the match. They really played up the knee injury and told the story of Quackenbush going after the knee. Quackenbush is billed as the Master of 1,000 Holds and did everything he could to use them on Kingston. Then the wrestlers started coming out one-by-one to watch. It was reminiscent of an early ECW Pay-Per-View show when all the wrestlers would come out to watch or Wrestlemania X when all the wrestlers came out to celebrate with Bret Hart. There were names I hadn’t heard in years, like Reckless Youth. The wrestlers would pound the apron in honor of them. The fans started chanting “Please don’t tap” when Quackenbush would put him in a hold. Then the wrestlers joined them in chanting “Please don’t tap.” They were all out there, heel and face alike. It has got to be one of the most emotional things I’ve ever seen.

For me the special moment happened when my daughter’s attention was diverted to the computer from Dora or whoever she decided to torture us with. Eddie Kingston had Quackenbush hooked in a submission hold and was putting him through body scissors. She looked down at the laptop and saw Quackenbush struggling to break free. She said “Uh-oh.” And for a second, she diverted all her two-year-old attention to the laptop screen. She watched the match for a while. It was like the first time she realized wrestling was going on. So it was kind of like “Baby’s First Wrestling Match.”

Eddie won and it was such a great moment. The title was brought to him by Larry Sweeney’s brother and friend. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.

So, match of the year so far? We’ve got Trips/Taker at WM27, Punk/Cena at Money in the Bank, All Night Xpress/Briscoes in the ROH ladder match. This has got to be up there. You didn’t know who was going to win the match (Taker-Trips). Both wrestlers could do abdominal stretches (*cough, cough* John Cena). And this fight didn’t rely on plunder or blood. (Ladder match) Dare I call it the match of the year?

All in all… I have rambled so much about this event. While I think this event had Match of the Year, I’m not quite so sure it was Event of the Year. I’m still going with ROH’s Best in the World 2011. Not every match on this card clicked for me, but there were a lot of great stories told. I’d say the main event and the Gregory Iron match are worth the price of the iPPV alone. You can’t book passion, and that’s exactly what we saw on Sunday afternoon.

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This was my first time to watch an AIW show. I started out being very intrigued by all the promos at the beginning. I know some of the wrestlers, but I am not familiar with their characters. This gave me a brief overview. What it reminded me of was the UFC product. Fighter #1 doing an interesting soundbite followed by fighter #2 doing the same. It’s a formula that works. I don’t need the WWE 5-minute video package I just watched last Monday on Raw. Just give me brief promos so I can know I need to care about these wrestlers.

First match: 6 Pack Scramble: Sugar Dunkerston VS. Sabbath VS. AERO! VS. Kobald VS. Maximo Suave VS. Low Rider

I know who Sugar Dunkerton is from his Twitter presence, so I was excited to see him wrestle. Sabbath had no crowd reaction, but had a different look. Suave looked like a died-black-hair Amazing Red. AERO! looks like a skinny white guy wearing a mask. Low Rider looks like a low-rent Perros del Mal wannabe (I did not find his name listed as a Perro del Mal). And Kobald looks like a bad Mortal Kombat character. I was impressed by how Sabbath used his power and the other wrestlers sold it. Sugar Dunkerton did a clothesline that would have impressed Stan Hansen. And Low Rider did a powerslam type move into the turnbuckles I’ve never seen before. Random painted people attacked somebody and Kobald got the win.

Winner: Kobald

Second match: BJ Whitmer VS. Eddie Kingston

This was my first Eddie Kingston match. I’ve followed Whitmer for about 10 years, going back to his IWA-Mid South days. I’m a little cautious about “the first time they’ve ever met” fights because they can be clusters because the guys have no chemistry together. It looked like there was a feeling out period and they let the drama slowly build. They told a story of Whitmer working over Kingston’s leg and Kingston trying to overcome. It got a “This is Awesome” chant. This was a GREAT match that really had the crowd going.

Winner: Whitmer

Whitmer and Kingston had a nice exchange and the crowd received it well.

Third Match: Chad “The Chad” Williams w/Chest Flexor VS. Tursus

There is a guy named Chest Flexor who must have a faction somewhere. The Chad looks like Randy Orton without the tattoos. The crowd chanted “Randy Rip-off” but I really didn’t think he was a rip-off; he just looked like Randy Orton. This is my first time to see Tursus after hearing so much about him, so I was very impressed with him. I’m surprised the WWE has not brought him in yet.

Winner: Chad by DQ

Fourth match: Team Duke VS. Team Dalton

I have no idea who these people are. Dalton Castle has a Puerto Rican faction as his partners. This RBI guy is named Bonds. I couldn’t figure out who I was supposed to cheer for. This reminded me a lot of a Ring of Honor 8-guy match from their early days. Dasher Hatfield was one of the major workers to stand out to me. Ben Fruith was another worker who stood out to me. He looks like he needs to eat, but man, can this guy sell. I was impressed that Izeah Bonds did a standing moonsault. It told a nice story.

Winner: Team Duke

Fifth match: Marion Fontaine VS. Shiima Xion VS. Chuck Taylor

I’ve tried watching some Xion matches on Youtube and stuff before. (I don’t currently watch the TNA/Impact! product.) Fontaine looks like he needs to eat. Xion has all the makings of a star, except for the awful tights. Chuck Taylor interfered in this match and made it into a 3-Way Dance. It just went way too short. I found myself more impressed by Fontaine with his in-ring action.

Winner: Fontaine

Sixth match: Josh Prohibition VS. Gregory Iron

I still have a deep-seated hatred of Josh Prohibition that goes back to him leaving CZW to start wrestling for XPW during the days of the PA Indy Wars. And holy s***, Greg Iron. He is everything Zach Gowen tried to be. He overcomes a huge disability, but he is still believable when he wins in the ring. The two had an unbelievable Street Fight. I knew about Iron from him the night CM Punk about how awesome he was. Regardless of how I felt about Prohibition, he and Gregory Iron were incredible in the ring together.

Winner: Prohibition

The crowd did a Holy s*** chant and rightfully so. Every Greg Iron match deserves a Holy s*** chant. Forgetting that Iron has cerebral palsy, it was probably one of the best matches I’ve seen all year.

Seventh match: Eric Ryan VS. Bobby Beverly

From this point on, the only wrestler I’ve ever seen before is Sabu, so I promise I will stop saying this is my first time to see this guy. Eric Ryan really impressed me. I think Beverly did a good job of making Ryan look good. Something tells me he’ll get over in the future. Eric Ryan wrestled with a lot of passion and definitely got my attention. You can’t book or train for that.

Winner: Ryan

The Olsen Twins VS. The Irish Airborne VS. AEROFORM

(Ok, so I’ve seen Colin Delaney before, but I really wasn’t into the WWECW product that much at the time.) The six worked really well together. I have no idea what I watched here because it was so fast-paced. Irish Airborne & AEROFORM are tag teams that could walk into Impact or AAA/CMLL and be successful. There was just so much going on it was hard to comprehend this match.

Winner: Irish Airborne

This was everything we wanted it to be. Six amazing athletes just doing their thing.

Ninth match: Sabu VS. Facade in a Falls Count Anywhere Match

I was curious why there were was a Street Fight and Falls Count Anywhere Match on the same card. On thing I have to give AIW credit for is distinct-looking wrestlers. It’s not like watching NXT where you see nothing different than the other 10 guys. Facade looks different. He has a distinct look and it differentiates him from “Joe Indy Wrestler.” And of course I worship Sabu and pray to him every night before I go to bed. I am intrigued by how Sabu reinvented himself. As he wasn’t able to keep up in the ring as much, he started using a toolbox like his late uncle (The Shiek) used to do. It added some longevity to his career.

Winner: Sabu

This booking made absolutely no sense by having Sabu go over, but Facade bled. Prohibition/Iron was more of a wild brawl, but the image of Facade wearing the crimson mask was pretty good.

Tenth match: Rickey Shane Page VS. Vincent Nothing

The video package was well-done. I still had no idea about anything, but it looked to be very emotional. Nothing has a really good look. Page is way too young-looking, but I get what they’re trying to do. The commentating was pretty awful. The play-by-play guy was fine, but the color commentator bordered on stupid. Heel does not equal stupid. I loved Nothing’s in-ring style. I love me some MMA, so a fighter who incorporates some of his moves into wrestling makes me pop. Plus, an MMA fighter could be a huge heel. This had a “big match” feel. There were light tubes. That is all you need to know to grasp how intense this fight was. It got a “Match of the Year” chant during the match.

Winner: Page

Wow. I think I missed a lot of the emotion which was probably like tuning in during a Season Finale. WWE, Impact, this is how you put a guy over. Right now, I believe Page could main event this company. I’m still going with Iron/Prohibition for Match of the Night, but Page gets my MVP. There was total commitment and it was kind of like a “coming of age” match.

Main Event: Johnny Gargano VS. Tim Donst

Donst is ridiculously over with this crowd. Donst is great when it comes to mat wrestling. I haven’t seen much in the way of a distinct look or personality to Donst, but he is super-over with this crowd and reminds me of Dean Malenko in-ring. Gargano had a RED chest. Gargano has a good look and I could see him in Impact before too long. The commentary deteriorated to Mark Madden levels. I can’t describe all the highlights of this match. All I know is that Tim Donst is one of my favorite new indy guys.

Winner: Gargano

What a match. As they were signing off, Chest Flexor’s music hit and Shiima Xion started fighting Gargano and the match started.

Real Main Event: Gargano vs. Xion

This went on until Chest Flexor interfered, the referee turned heel and Xion won the belt.

Winner: Xion

So yes, I am in love with my new favorite non-Texas wrestling promotion. I cannot decide match of the night. Iron/Prohibition, Page/Nothing, Donst/Gargano would all be Match of the Year candidates with any promotion. This is a company I will put my money behind. It’s hard to find a certain name that stood out to me the most. Now that I have been introduced, it’s time to start following the stories that are to be told here.

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For those of you who have no idea who Mr. Peppermint is, click here. His show, Peppermint Palace, was on every Saturday morning on ABC at 6 (or 5, I don’t remember). His show meant Saturday morning cartoons were going to start. And that was back when you didn’t have Nick Jr. or Cartoon Network. This was the highlight of your week. So a moment of silence and respect to Mr. Peppermint.

We have some questions from last week’s Raw. What will come of “on-fire” Alberto del Rio? What of Miz and Truth being fired? What injury will Tony Romo suffer? What indy promotion do I want to get next and do a review on? (I’m thinking Chikara.)

We start off with Triple H. I look at upcoming Chikara and AAW shows. My AIW show is on its way. Triple H was interrupted by Vickie Guerrero. And yet, people still booed her. Ziggler sounded really good. Ziggler and Triple H played off each other really well. Then Cody Rhodes interrupted. And then Christian interrupted. Christian gets lots of matches. Ziggler fights Zack Ryder. Cody Rhodes gets a Battle Royal.

This was a pretty good fast Battle Royal. Cody Rhodes retained.

After the break, Super Dave Osborne is talking to “Not-so-Super” David Otunga. Apparently, he is still a lawyer even if he’s not practicing. Oh, the stupid… It burns.

We got a tag match. Nattie/Beth vs. Eve/Kelly. We got a Kelly Kelly video package. We need more of these. The crowd actually seemed to care about this match. Beth pinned the champion. Hopefully we get Beth winning more. Her and Nattie are a really good duo.

Mark Henry took apart Great Khali. It was an awesome image and added credibility to his tear of destruction.

John Cena cut a promo. Kansas City thought he was the Chiefs because there were some cheers, but a lot more boos. Then Del Rio came out ringside. Del Rio was doing commentary with his wrestling tights on. Then Punk came out with his announcer’s jacket. This match ended in a DQ. This was the best way to do this. Christian didn’t lose.

We got Zack Ryder vs. Dolph Ziggler. We got to plug Hugh Jackman’s film. Ziggler looked really good in this match. Due to some outside interference by Jack Swagger, we got a tainted Ziggler victory. Air Boom came to Ryder’s rescue.

Teddy Long made a match: AirBoom/Ryder vs. Swagger/Ziggler in a handicap match. This was a fun match. The crowd was really into it. Vickie went out and found a soon-to-be-suspended Mason Ryan, affectionately known as “Matista.” He’s a heel still. As soon as Mason Ryan was tagged it, he was a heel no more. He took out Team Vickie. Why did he do that? Interesting question.

Not-so-Super David Otunga is talking to the boys in the locker room. He’s creating a lawsuit. I like this. It’s creating an interesting storyline.

Our main event was ADR vs. CM Punk. This was a really decent match. Punk won. Then the cage lowered. Punk and Cena destroyed Ricardo Rodriguez and then ADR destroyed the other two with a chair.

This was a pretty good Raw, but then again, I DVR’d it so I didn’t have to sit through the stuff I didn’t want to see. But a lot of questions are raised. And I’m really digging the build-up for Hell in a Cell.

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Forgive me for this rant. But I’m angry. This is not focused on a specific wrestler. This is just me railing on the upper echelon of the business and the prices it takes to get there. Forgive me, but I am angry.

I’m angry that there are still wrestlers out there using PED’s. I understand I am not a wrestler, and I don’t have the same perspective on the business as somebody inside would. But I am a fan. The people in front of that camera matter to me. I’m tired of caring about a wrestler and then hearing about them violating the wellness policy again and again. And it’s not the same idiots like Chris Masters or Mr. Kennedy (dramatic pause… Kennedy). It’s guys I’ve cared about: Chavo, Regal, Sin Cara (though it looks like they might find a better one because of the first one’s violation). I’m angry at watching wrestlers cut corners.

I’m angry at the unreal expectations the WWE, TNA, AAA (Yeah, I’m going after my sacred cow, too.) have set before their wrestlers. Why is Andy Leavine on juice? Why is Sin Cara? What about Hector Garza? Why did they take 5’3” Rey Misterio Jr. and make him put on weight? He is way ridiculously over his ideal weight for his size. And we wonder why he’s about to get ANOTHER knee surgery? What about Chris Benoit’s and Eddie Guerrero’s abnormal thickness for their heights? Remember when Randy Orton was coming back from surgery and Vince McMahon told him he needed to work out (on national tv)?

I’m angry that nobody seems to be trying to look into the “why.” Nobody seems to care about finding the root cause of “why” wrestlers are using their PED’s. Maybe it’s Body Dismorphic Disorder. Maybe it’s addiction to the adoration of the crowd. Maybe it’s cause they’re young and stupid and think they won’t get caught.

It’s time to change the culture. You can’t just give press lip service and then do what you’ve always done. Be different.

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So tonight was MPX’s Scars and Tattoos. Right now I’m in reflection mode, but I think this might have been MPX’s best show top to bottom. It was hot. Duh! It’s July in Texas. The crowd was a little out of it because of the heat. There were hand-held fans for the crowd. It was a great idea. The crowd was very kid-saturated. This is a very smart plan because kids will make their parents come back. And at the end of the day, it’s all about them.

There were guard rails. It looked nice and professional. They were held together with bubble gum and chicken wire, but they were there. And they needed to be there. The night began with Kate introducing Mike Dolenz. He wanted to apologize to $Payday$ and Jiggle-O for putting them in a match last month. He was going to make it up to them by giving them a singles match for a title shot. Dolenz has improved nicely on the mic.

First match: $Payday$ vs. Jiggle-O Jim Johnson (for a future title shot)

Payday did his best to try to get the crowd going. The crowd has mass heatstroke so the crowd plants did their best to get the crowd going. The kids really love Payday. He is a great person to start off the night because of the reaction he gets. Payday is kind of like the Kofi Kingston of MPX. He’s always right and good. In this match, I was a little confused. Who do I go for? I like Jiggle-O and Payday.

The story was that they were both friends and just trying to win the belt. Jiggle-O faked an injury. He rolled up $Payday$ for the win.

Winner: Jiggle-O

Payday, being the great human being he is, raised Jiggle-O’s hand and was a good sport about it. Jiggle-O then took the mic and began to cut MPX’s version of “The Promo.” He channeled CM Punk very well. He didn’t give a damn about anybody or anything. He had never had a chance for a title shot. And he called Kate a “skank.” To describe this for anybody who’s never seen MPX, that would be like calling Miss Elizabeth a skank. I think it is the best heel promo I’ve heard in MPX (with respect to Kyle Davis).

Second match: Carrion Arcane w/Claudia vs. Danny Saint

It was nice to see Danny Saint again. He looks like he belongs in a WWE ring (hint, hint, Johnny Ace). He’s got the size and has a certain look about him. The two wrestled a very nice match. Claudia got a little too involved for my taste. As part of their feud, Kris Haiden walked out and abducted Claudia. Claudia is very over with the crowd as a heel. She is probably the number one heel in the company. The match was a little shorter than I would have like to have seen, but we got to see Saint get a nice win.

Winner: Saint

Third match: Cash & Carry (c) vs. Jinn & Lucha Lucha

As Cash & Carry develop more, the more they remind me of the Road Warriors. Now I’m not saying that they are on that level yet. But you have a strong, silent type (Animal) in Zach T and a charismatic, larger-than-life talker (Hawk) in BC. I see them emerging as a top tag team in Texas in the next few years are so. Jinn and Lucha have come so far in their ring work. Jinn is a big student of the game. You can tell he spends a lot of time perfecting his in-ring craft. We had a few “Holy s***” moments (in a good way) just from him. During the match, Kyle Valo walked to the ring and convinced Lucha to join Team Kyle.

Winner: Cash & Carry

After the match, Cash & Carry continued to beat on Jinn and wanted to unmask Jinn. But Lucha got to do it and it was revealed as Seph Annunaki. I understand they used the unmasking to cement a heel turn, but I was kind of hoping for a mask vs. mask match. Maybe I can hope for mask vs. hair?

After that match, Frankie Fisher and Daniel came out to the ring. Daniel had gotten Frankie a birthday present to make up for Frankie losing last month to James Hawke. His birthday present was a match with Lance Hoyt. Note to self: Don’t befriend Daniel. Daniel is pretty good on the mic.

Fourth match: Frankie Fisher w/Daniel vs. Lance Hoyt

Lance Hoyt took the mic and cut a very nice promo getting the crowd up. The crowd was really in to this match.

Hoyt led the crowd in “Happy Birthday to You” while he beat Frankie down. Kudos to Hoyt for being able to go on before the intermission. Of course nobody could have ever followed the main event. You can tell Hoyt has lots of fun coming to MPX and doesn’t phone in anything. I also give props to MPX for being able to involve him in a storyline. He was very well-booked, and I think the crowd really loved this match. One highlight was Frankie hitting Hoyt with the yardstick. Hoyt turned around and no-sold it. Another highlight was Frankie going to the back and Hoyt going back to get him. Daniel held onto Hoyt’s leg and cost Hoyt the match.

Winner: Fisher (by countout)

This was brilliant. So now Frankie can say he has a victory over former WWE/TNA star Lance Hoyt. Ben Wylde debuted a new look with his longer hair (I liked) and Kyle Davis was channeling the Chris Jericho look. It was a good moment. At the intermission, Lance Hoyt signed some autographs and worked the merchandise table. Also, they are now having a fund to bring in Colt Cabana. I did not give because I don’t know if he’ll still be taking bookings in the near future (like, he might be WWE-bound). MPX, you bring him in, I’ll make my donations. If you don’t, there’s always Sunny. (hint, hint)

After the intermission, Mike Dolenz announced there would be a Tag Team Turmoil event in August.

Fifth match: Kenny Steele vs. Matt Palmer

I really enjoyed this match. Kenny seemed like he was focused on this match and didn’t do as much jaw-jacking with the crowd.

This is a pretty hot feud. Both guys have such a magnetic charisma, both Steele as a heel and Palmer in whatever he does. Steele is about 2-3 years from being one of the most talked-about talents in Texas. Palmer is already one of the top names in Anarchy Championship Wrestling in Austin. ROH, Chikara, Dragon Gate USA, go find yourself some Matt Palmer matches on Youtube or www.smartmarkvideo.com. It’s time to see him on a larger platform. Steele hit the referee Tony (who worked 6 of 7 matches last night) who disqualified him.

Winner: Palmer by DQ

After the match, security had to hold them back from each other. Matt Palmer did a plancha on the security guys and Steele earning the first “That was awesome” chant of the night. After that, we were treated to a special Hot Topics featuring Kyle Valo and his new members Regrub and Lucha. Regrub had a nice, sleek-looking outfit, and apparently, of all things, hair. They invited James Hawke to the ring and to become a new member of Team Kyle. This segment got “real” very quickly. They used people’s “real” names without giving away their secret identities. John Cena James Hawke said over his dead body. A match was made between Regrub and Hawke.

Sixth match: Regrub vs. James Hawke w/Ryan Gauge as special guest referee

Regrub at one point took off his straps and that drew out the biggest reaction of the crowd that night. I really liked the finish of this match. Hawke had him in the STFU and Valo went up to the ring apron and distracted Gauge. Hawke went over to talk to Gauge and Regrub held Hawke’s tights. Gauge counted two, noticed he had a hold on his tights and counted to three anyway. He took off his shirt and sure enough, Gauge was wearing a Team Kyle t-shirt. So now Team Kyle is officially a faction. I know I tease James Hawke about being John Cena, but this was definitely not Cena. Really nicely-done angle.

Winner: Regrub

Seventh match: Kris Haiden vs. Viktor Tadlock

This was a very intense stiff match between these two. Any other night, this would have been match of the night. The bell didn’t ring until about 2 minutes into the match. They didn’t get in the ring. Tadlock had a red, “I’ve-Just-Faced-an-Angry-Scott-Murdoch” chest. The two had such a nice intensity and energy. Tadlock took the mic and offered to quit wrestling if he would just tell him where Claudia was. Haiden gave him a Clothesline From Hell that would make JBL impressed.

I’m going to be honest. I don’t remember who won this. I’ll say it was Haiden. There was a fireball from Arcane. They sold this like Arcane had just done a fireball in Haiden’s face. Kyle Davis was angry and ready to take on all of them at once. They helped Haiden to the back and Nemesis (Arcane & Tadlock) went in search of Claudia.

Main event: “Headbanger” Gregory James (c) vs. WASP w/Kyle Valo

Right now, this is MPX’s Match of the Year. This is an example of how a hot crowd can make a match. There was a chairshot from Hell from Headbanger on WASP. (I hope WASP is ok.) The two did their part of brawling in the crowd, but there was also a lot of really good in-ring action. WASP is so big that any move he does that involves agility looks like a Holy s*** moment. During the match, Gregory climbed on the bars that hold the weights up and did a dive onto WASP. This evoked the SECOND “That was awesome” chant of the night. A major highlight of the match was the guitar/mandolin. They kept on building up the drama of who was going to get it. It ended up being WASP who took it and was busted up. We also saw Kyle Valo take a Van Terminator from Headbanger. Headbanger is about a year or two away from being noticed by a Chikara or ROH. Both these guys abused their bodies and I do not think I’ve seen a crowd this much into a match. Headbanger won after using a washcloth soaked in chloroform.

Winner: Headbanger

Top to bottom, I think this is MPX’s best show. Every match meant something and led to something else. Now MPX has left lots of questions open: Will Jiggle-O finally get his chance to win a championship? Where’s Claudia? Do we get to see Seph again? Why did he quit? And why did he come back as Seph? Will Fisher be able to take on Colt Cabana? What about this Tag Team Turmoil?

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I did a live Raw blog last night. I’m not sure how it was received or if anybody thought it was nice. Looking over Raw I wanted to point out some things I really liked.

1. John Cena. I liked this John Cena. Let’s be honest. John Cena is not going to be Ric Flair or The Rock or Macho Man. He is a charismatic larger-than-life star, but he’s not on the level of some of those great talkers. I won’t say that he never will be, but right now he’s built like the Pied Piper of Hamlin leading the kids away. He has recently sounded like he was trying to get all the other kids to gang up on Little Jimmy (See what I did there?) in the schoolyard. But last night he was different. He seemed honest, transparent, self-depricating. He championed free speech. He sounded like John the guy you would find in the bar, rather than Captain Kangaroo gathering up the rest of the Children of the Corn.

2. Sgt. Slaughter. I enjoyed seeing Sgt. Slaughter last night. Done that way, it was perfect. We got to see our legend, our villain got to crush our hero and then a new hero came out to save the old one. I was going to rip them a new one, but it was fun and it gave Swagger and Bourne a nice rub.

3. Vicky/Lawler. I preferred Jerry Lawler calling Vicky an “old bag” rather than fat. Vicky has worked really hard to lose a lot of weight. Matter of fact, I think she looks a lot better than Lawler. It’s one thing for the Bellas to bully Kharma. They’re heels. It’s another thing for a babyface commentator to make fun of somebody for being fat, especially when they make David Otunga’s soulmate look like an underachiever (Jennifer Hudson reference).

4. Commentary. The commentary was very good last night. Jerry Lawler told us what “Rey Misterio” means, like he was Jim Ross or WCW Mike Tenay. The commentators were summarizing Miz’ losing streak. Michael Cole was fine in his heel role. Commentators should not be involved in matches because they spend all their time putting over their own storylines other than what is going on in the ring (and outside of it).

5. Questions. Raw answered some questions. But it also left a lot of questions unanswered, but in a good way. What will CM Punk say the next time he gets a mic? Why did Zack Ryder come out at the end of the tag match? Since Alberto del Rio won the triple threat, what does he get? Can Dolph beat Kofi alone? How will Riley react with Miz’ beatdown.

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Yeah, I know. Everybody is going to be talking about the CM Punk promo from last night. Any why shouldn’t we? I can count on my hand the number of times wrestling has gotten “real.” Montreal Screw Job was one. Bash at the Beach (Russo’s promo) was at best what we still think was one. Edge’s retirement promo was one. And last night on Raw was a real moment. Or at least we think it was.

It was reminiscent of Paddy Chayefsky’s “Network” (which if you have never seen, is one of the best movies of ALL TIME). Another scene it reminded me of was the opening scene on the short-lived show “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” which had Judd Hirsch cutting a very Punk-like promo on the state of his television show.

Was it a work or a shoot? I still can’t decide. My Twitter timeline was filled with person after person calling this the greatest promo ever, the greatest moment in the history of Raw, CM Punk is a god, etc. Stone Cold Steve Austin called the promo one of the best he’s ever seen. My wife (who is usually asleep by 8:15 central time) was on the edge of her seat asking “What is going on?” She asked me to update her tomorrow morning. She made us go talk to my sister-in-law (who is temporarily living with us) to try to describe it to her. I LOST SLEEP thinking about this because I was so excited! Do you know the last time pro wrestling made me lose sleep?

I’ve watched wrestling since 1996. It’s hard for me to believe that anything that happens on WWE’s television isn’t a work. First of all, if Punk grabbed the mic and they didn’t want him to talk, it would have never turned on. And if he veered off the topic, he would have been cut off the moment he mentioned the fourth wall. Random stuff DOES NOT come on the WWE’s television. Second of all, notice that when he was cut off, he was talking about Vince McMahon. Now the only question is did Vince McMahon suspend Punk or did Mr. McMahon suspend Punk? Third, they mentioned New Japan and Ring of Honor and Colt Cabana. This is not the first time Ring of Honor has been mentioned on WWE TV (Matt Hardy, anyone?). And what money is the WWE going to lose by New Japan being mentioned? Notice he didn’t say anything about TNA? (And yes, I know. He was already there once and they didn’t know what to do with him. I doubt he will be going back there.)

Have we seen something new here? Is Triple-H (who we have heard is beginning to run things) trying something that will work? Did Trips give him the microphone and say “Shoot. I’ll cut you off when you start talking about Vince and Bullying”? For the first time in a LONG time, I am on the edge of my seat. Raw is must-see, can’t-miss. I have one million questions and reasons to turn into Raw. Whomever let this happen, I give you full credit. This is the best thing I’ve seen on Raw in a long time and possibly, ever.

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