This week on BWF Radio, Joe, Mark, JT, and Joe talk about the week in pro wrestling. We talk about what we can remember from WWE programming, debate about the cheesiness of Lucha Underground, and talk about what could be the second to last episode of TNA IMPACT. We reveal one of the guests for next week’s BWF Radio Anniversary show.
In the news, Grumpy Cat is hosting Monday Night RAW for some reason. We’ve got interesting demographic numbers for the WWE’s television programming. We find out more about Vince McMahon’s suprise off-air appearance at the SmackDown tapings in Liverpool. A couple of releases – maybe – from WWE are discussed. John Morrison talks about bad ass things and eating your lunch. More news on Global Force Wrestling, Billy Corgan leaves Resistance Pro, and we hear about a potential new home for IMPACT. All this and much, much more on BWF Radio!
Because Joe didn’t review RAW, it technically didn’t happen. Impact happened though and despite my better judgement I’m watching it live again. God help me. (more…)
The WWE Network launches in less than three weeks, and there is a wealth of programming available immediately after you pay your first $9.95. Over the next few weeks, I will be giving you my personal picks of things to watch on demand on the Network. Today, I’ll be focusing solely on WWE’s ECW. Many people hated the product, considering it a bastardization of the Extreme Championship Wrestling we all knew and loved. At the time, I had long since given up hope that the magic of the original would be captured full time, so my disappointment wasn’t as deep as it was for some. In fact, the brand produced some great television, if sometimes for the wrong reasons.
(We know that every single PPV on this list will be available. Let’s assume for argument’s sake that the non-PPV stuff listed is on there as well.)
Ahh… Black Friday Night Smackdown. There will be a ton of people not watching, even some that normally would. All six of them. So that just leaves me, the sole viewer of this program to review it for them.
This is day seven of WrestleMania week! We’ll conclude tomorrow afternoon with a review of WrestleMania XXVII and a special pre-game edition of BWF Radio, but for right now, we’re heading to Glendale, Arizona for a look back at WrestleMania XXVI. A bit of disclosure. I’m actually reviewing this immediately after hitting the “schedule” button on the WrestleMania 22 review that you saw on Tuesday. The main reason is because I’m borrowing this BluRay and I’m supposed to be bringing it back to my friend tomorrow morning, so this will probably be my last chance to cover this without having to get it some other way. Anyways, let’s go!
So last week’s Raw took some pretty big steps. I know. I was going through caffeine withdrawal a few weeks ago and decided it was time to go off of it again. Not sure why I did that. Even with everything, there is still a little bit of anticipation tonight. Piper’s Pit. John Morrison’s Future Endeavored Tour ends tonight. Punk-Del Rio.
I liked the build-up to the title match. Cole & Lawler made it sound important.
They introduced a skinny guy named Rowdy Roddy Piper. Piper is one of my top 5 all-time favorites (Double-A, Taker, Terry Funk, Piper & Sting). Piper brought something we haven’t seen in months. Fire and intensity. It took me a while to figure out what was going on with this promo or why it was happening. I think Piper was trying to get the people to cheer him. Cena continued being happy, smiley Cena. So Piper slapped him. Cena stopped smiling and walked off. Did we find some intensity?
Miz was supposed to fight Morrison. Miz attacked John Morrison with a lead pipe. Welcome to the last stop of the Future Endeavored Tour. Morrison got in some offense and had lots of heart. I was actually surprised this match was as good as it was. He wasn’t even pinned. The referee called the fight.
Psycho Miz cut a nice promo. He had good intensity and fire. He’s the one guy who does well with scripted material. The only problem was that I think he sounded just like Cody Rhodes.
The Bellas wrestled Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox, the new love of my life. By the time I was done typing this sentence, Alicia pinned a Bella for… why? Beth and Nattie did a run-through that didn’t involve interfering in the match.
We got a Sheamus package. I love the video packages they do. This needs to happen more. Broadus Clay has to hold off ANOTHER week? Then Punk delivers a killer segment. Loved the Jennifer Hudson reference. Now Punk can’t get intentionally disqualified? Does this make ANY sense?
Wade Barrett walks down to the ring nicely dressed. We get Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler. I’m expecting a lot out of this. This was a really good match. The crowd was really into this. Ziggler won through a little help from Wade Barrett.
Michael Cole introduced Daniel Bryan. Michael Cole was awful during this promo. Daniel Bryan spoke with a lot of passion and fire. This would have been a great segment with Josh Matthews instead of Cole.
We got Swagger (without an entrance) versus Zack Ryder. It was a nice short match. Swagger needs to go to Ring of Honor and feud with Homicide. Or Eddie Edwards. Right now I’d take just about anybody. Ryder won.
The Kane promos are awesome.
Mick Foley is now destroying every happy memory I’ve ever had of him. Then Punk says “ass.”
The main event was really good. Lots of near-falls. They were going to do the “heel pretends to be hit by a chair” and Punk fell down first.
Tonight’s Raw was pretty good. Everything seemed to be a little more serious. There was some good passion and fire here. Please tell me we are going to make John Cena not hated again. I could do without “St. Mick,” but Super Dave was only featured in one scene.
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Wow, today was really long. Getting called back to the night job after getting home made things unnessarily longer, so getting to Smackdown so late is not bode well for my FFW button. Nonetheless, I have been enjoying this program over all other programs (barring ROH), and it is the go home show before Survivor Series… so let’s hop to it, shall we? (more…)
Tonight was a 3-hour Raw with The Rock or something.
It began with the Michael Cole challenge. There was a really awful arm wrestling. Then we got to see JR dance. Is there anything they won’t do to him? At this point, Jim Ross needs to tell the WWE to go f*** themselves. Then the final thing was a weighing contest. Then we are saved by CM Punk who rips into Michael Cole. Finally we have the sanest man in wrestling. Johnny Ace makes a match and Eddie Kingston dies inside. CM Punk is RP McMurphy in the insane asylum.
Mick Foley came out of a limo.
We had a pretty decent tag match. Cody Rhodes and Hunico versus Sin Cara and Kofi Kingston. It was a good solid match. The funniest part was that she had to leave the room because she was on the phone and she got distracted because she likes Sin Cara.
The Rock arrived. My wife’s heart fluttered.
Santino pimped the WWE new video game with Zack Ryder.
Vickie Guerrero walked out. Dolph Ziggler would be the new member of Team Barrett.
The Walking Wellness Violation Mason Ryan took on Dolph Ziggler. Vickie interfered and Dolph was dq’d. As Vickie and Dolph ran, John Morrison threw him back in the ring for some roid rage.
Mick Foley got to do the “Woo woo woo, you know it” thing with Zack Ryder. Then he walked out before the adoring crowd. Foley wants people to cheer John Cena. Then Foley invites John Cena to the ring. They went back to This is Your Life? Foley is one of my favorite all time on the mic. (Punk, Funk, Heyman, Dusty, Flair) Why did they have to have to do something so unoriginal? It was fun seeing Bull Buchanan. Then they brought out John Cena, Sr. I will never complain about Bob Orton Sr. after seeing that travesty.
We got Jack Swagger getting mugged by Sheamus. It wasn’t that bad of a match. Swagger now is my cue to play Civilization IV.
The Bellas would rather have Alberto Del Rio than Zack Ryder.
There was a video package of Kelly Kelly’s photo shoot. Due to me not being 12, I could care less.
Kelly Kelly pinned Nattie Neidhart in record time. Alicia Fox looked really hot in her dress. But don’t worry, AJ, you’re still the center of my Divas universe.
Super Dave and ADR argue about something. Matt Striker is standing by with R-Truth and Miz. I think Miz was just wearing random outfits that didn’t matter whether they matched or not.
As Punk was walking out to the ring, ADR attacked him. Ugh, why is Punk walking around by himself?
Alberto Del Rio walks out and I just gotta say Ricardo Rodriguez is one of my favorite things on WWE TV. We had ADR/Henry vs. Big Show/Punk. Punk apparently had some spinach or something. He came out and wanted ADR. This made me intrigued with this match for the first time ever. I thought they had some pretty decent things going on in this match. Big Show-Henry was no Chikara action, but I am looking forward to this match. ADR won and then put Punk in the arm breaker. Big Show came to his rescue. Decent build-up.
Santino Marella came out and cut a cute promo. Then Kevin Nash came out; everybody died inside except Jim Cornette. At least it wasn’t a big name he destroyed.
Michael Cole was doing the video game hard sell and my wife the nurse pointed out he wasn’t even wearing his sling right.
Looks like they’re serious about Wade Barrett again. It was a decent match, but it was SO predictable.
Then The Rock came out and rambled. Fortunately for us, with The Rock, it never seems like rambling. Then Miz and Truth came out and held their own against The Rock, and then John Cena came out. They forgot the TV-PG part for a minute. It was just ok for me.
I didn’t entirely hate this Raw. The first segment made me want to close my eyes and dream of Chikara. But it went better as time went on. I’m thinking “thumbs in the middle.”
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This is probably one of the most tiring weekends of my life. And not only that, Raw is during an Eagles game. We are coming to you delayed from Liverpool. For those of you who don’t mind me going into my life, I am a Liverpool FC fan. (YNWA)
We open up Raw with a really great exchange between Cena and Miz/Truth. Once fisticuffs started flying, Zack Ryder came out to his rescue.
We had Dolph Ziggler take on John Morrison as he continued his Future Endeavored Tour. Vickie looked really nice in her outfit. This was a pretty decent match. My wife was not happy over Morrison wearing a shirt. She also did not like the match. It went on too long and they weren’t really doing anything (according to her). What I thought was awesome was the crowd cheering for Ziggler. Morrison should have walked out with a Suarez jersey. Morrison snapped his losing streak. I was pleased with the match. It looked like they put some effort into it.
Then came the Walking Wellness Violation Mason Ryan against JTG. I’m still more shocked JTG’s on Raw. It was a squash match. Even though I don’t like the guy they’re pushing, I gotta give them credit. They’re trying to make a star. The crowd had no reaction to him whatsoever.
We got a gratuitous “Wrestlemania Will Be Big” package. Then the Bellas supported Zack Ryder. I thought we were supposed to cheer him.
Then we got Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston. These titles are so meaningless. I hate that it was the at the tag champ’s expense, but they made ADR look strong.
Then Punk came out. And ADR delivered the most scripted promo I’ve ever heard. He called ADR one-dimensional. About freakin’ time. And CM Punk wants the belt and to make the title interesting again. (Wow, did he really just say that?) I think the first hour was pretty good overall. The WWE “Creative” Team needs to come up with something else for Del Rio to say other than “This is my destiny.”
Then we watch the Muppets recap. Then we get the ridiculously stale Jack Swagger rematching against Santino Marella. Swagger won. Yawn.
Kelly Kelly is on the cover of Maxim. We all die a little on the inside. Please watchSHIMMER. They have real women’s wrestling. This segment was so awful. Kelly Kelly should never be given a microphone again.
Then we got Super Dave Osborne introducing Kevin Nash. Nash, for everything that’s wrong with him being an active part of the WWE product in 2011, is great on the mic. I still haven’t figured out where this is going.
Super Dave and David Otunga are courting or something. Then Otunga makes fun of Punk, Punk goes after him and then ADR attacks him.
Then we got the Cena/Ryder-Awesome Truth main events. I want to be mad for yet ANOTHER Raw with Cena as the main event. But can I be mad that we Zack Ryder in the main event? They turned this into a good match. Miz pinned John Cena. Yeah, I just typed that.
I will give this show credit. The first hour was very solid and I thought the main event did a great job of building Awesome Truth and Zack Ryder. Yeaaaaaa!!!!!!!!
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The WWE has been plowing through their storylines since the summer… and not much will change tonight. As opposed to marketing one of the biggest gimmick matches in the traditions of Mexico’s wrestling scene, the WWE forgot to mention on RAW that they are having a mask vs mask match on Smackdown. At least they had the common sense to announce it on their website for us so-called 10%’s, the same people who knew about it before they even posted it… Let’s get to it, shall we?
Oh yeah, in case you forgot (you probably did), there’s actually a PPV on Sunday. So this is the go-home show. They couldn’t wait 3 days for the mask vs mask match… with no build… gawd…
