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11:08 - That was a satisfying ending to an overall strong Raw. However, I continue to find WWE's self awareness, but unwillingness to change, extremely strange. They seem fully aware that fans don't care for Michael Cole and want Jim Ross back. They'll tease us with the possibility of giving us that, but they won't. They make outward reference to Johnny Ace being boring, but they won't replace him. They know most people don't care for the WWE Championship -- to the extent that performers, on the air, will promise to change it -- but they won't give us a new design. It's very unusual.
11:03 - "If you say 'it's your destiny' I'm going to start drinking." Even better than the last line.
11:02 - "That was a lot of information."
10:51 - Bravo, Mr. Ryder, for appearing in three separate segments.
10:44 - Didn't Cole already use the "looking to play spoiler" line earlier tonight?
10:40 - Really? That's how they're reintroducing Evan Bourne?
10:36 - Alright, let's see how this goes...
10:28 - The booking for this Zack Ryder/US storyline is pretty brilliant. The secret, though, is having Zack Ryder actually win the title. This is the perfect example of why I disagree with people who say that wins and titles don't matter. The difference between Ryder winning the match and the title, and Ryder losing and failing to win the title are worlds apart.
10:24 - Gotta love the World Heavyweight Champion being a pawn in the US Title story.
10:18 - Johnny Ace is only MODERATELY interesting when he's acting heelish. Why not just have him be an out-and-out heel? The guy doesn't have the presence to pull off ambiguous.
Also, I love these Kane videos. It would look utterly awesome to have him bring back the towel and mask. I do hope for the full mask, though, not that crappy half one.
10:07 - I love the poetic nature of this match. John Cena has been the one pushing for Ryder to get his US title shot, and now he's the one who crushes those dreams.
10:02 - Did King just claim that Zack Ryder tried to use him to get the rub?
9:55 - I've enjoyed the these viral videos -- rumored to be Chris Jericho. I'm inclined to believe that, because they're so much in the style of Jericho's past two debut videos. Plus the narration of this video included those big words he loves to use.
9:47 - What also didn't help was having Cole point out that Bryan was unable to beat the injured Henry, and then for Lawler to use Bryan's injuries as an excuse for losing.
9:44 - And after Cole ripped him apart and called him a loser, WWE has Alberto Del Rio escape one of Bryan's submission moves, and then makes Bryan tap in a match that lasted about two minutes. So incredibly odd how they can do such a great job building him up, but then tear him down.
9:42 - Remember that highly competitive match that Daniel Bryan had with Mark Henry, where he looked great even in losing? Yeah, Michael Cole just did everything he could to destroy that for anybody who didn't see the show.
9:38 - I actually liked the announcement and implications of Cena vs. Ryder. Very clever, where two friends are forced to fight while both have something to lose. Plus I think Cena will go out of his way to make Ryder look good.
Oh, and that Ladder match is absolutely ridiculous. In a ladder match, both guys are legally allowed to use the ladder as a weapon. If you can just beat the crap out of somebody with a ladder, why even bother with the sledgehammer?
9:26 - That ending made Orton look like a real doofus. I didn't mind him running off and chasing Barrett, thus losing the match, because Orton didn't have anything to win. But why throw Miz back in the ring, allowing him to win?
Oh, and it looks like that WWE Network logo was legit.
9:23 - By the way, WWEShop.com released another line of Limited Edition t-shirts. This is one of my favorite collections, I wish they did them more:
Orton's is probably the coolest looking (unfortunately, since I'm not a huge fan), but Punk's is pretty sweet also.
9:17 - I have to wonder, when numerous Superstars come out and say they deserve a title shot, the result is always an opportunity to get said title shot. So why doesn't everybody just come down?
And just once I'd love to see the General Manager single somebody out and be like, "Not you. You're completely unqualified."
9:11 - For some reason I thought the line "Who has the most entertaining match of the night......on purpose!" hilarious.
9:01 - And thank the Lord, it looks like CM Punk was FINALLY added to the signature at the opening of the program. About time.
11 comments:
Fantasy booking scenario that will never happen:
Ziggler interferes in Cena/Ryder, trying to help Cena win so he doesn't have to face Ryder. He accidently takes out Cena and Ryder wins. Later, Cena costs Ziggler his match as well. Or maybe Ziggler loses earlier (so you don't have the problem of Ziggler trying to help Cena win when he still has a chance at entering the title match). This would hurt the match at TLC in terms of workrate, but you'd also get Cena VS Ziggler in a whatever match. Ziggler wins that match (not clean, obviously, no chance at that, but via interference from Vickie/Swagger/etc. with Cena losing his focus). This leads to Cena deciding he needs to focus more, get more of an edge (even if it's not a heel turn yet, if at all). Ryder "cashes in" his shot on Raw and beats Ziggler for the US title, looking stronger since he beat Ziggler coming off Dolph pinning Cena. At the Rumble, Ziggler gets Punk in a title match where Punk wins but Ziggler looks strong throughout. That would give you US champ Ryder, legit main event option Ziggler, and an edgier Cena.
It'll never happen and maybe it's not that reasonable, but I wouldn't mind seeing that.
Kyle,
I do expect at least one person (at this point either Cena or Ziggler) to fail to win their match. Cena seems like the best choice -- as the second to last match in the series, it adds a little drama to the last match, making it not seem like a foregone conclusion. I could actually see your scenario play out.
Viral videos: The immediate thought is it has to be Taker or Jericho. Both guys tend to return with video presentations leading up to it, and it's a "return" so it's presumably not a new guy. Kane already has his own videos so it's not him. And between Taker and Jericho, it seems a little early for Undertaker to return, and while the general idea of a dark video makes sense, the rest of it doesn't seem to fit him at all (the bigger words, the Twitter and Youtube aspect of it, interrupting another promo, etc.), and does fit Jericho. The biblical stuff could go either way.
There are other hints that it could be Chris. Supposedly some of the things said in one of the videos mirror one of Fozzy's songs quite a bit. I really hope it is, but I don't have my hopes up yet.
I mean...Ryder's going to face Nash and get beaten now, right?
Kyle,
They've probably already forgotten that they promised a Nash match.
Haha, I considered that! Speaking of, where's Brodus Clay?
Incidently I agree with you on Ryder and the title. On the other hand, they treat the US and IC titles much better than the World Titles. Look at how badly Ryder wants the US title...when was the last time someone wanted the WWE title that bad? Ziggler's held the title for a long time now...who was the last WWE champ or World Champ to have that long of a reign? Del Rio's already a two time champion.
For the most part I think they do a nice job with the World Heavyweight Championship. It felt important to Christian and Orton. And later on, with Henry.
Yeah, the World Title booking is alright. The WWE title booking has been awful. I also have a theory that whoever is writing for Raw sucks while the Smackdown writers are solid, but that's just me. ;)
I can definitely buy that. Smackdown has always seemed like the superior show. How many times have we seen guys excel on Smackdown but flounder on Raw? The opposite is definitely the exception.
Absolutely. And also, I'm sure you've noticed, but as soon as Orton turned face on Raw, he became a superhuman copy of Cena who dominated most matches, and couldn't lose except by tons of cheating. He goes to Smackdown and it's like night and day. He beat Christian everytime but he gave Christian a lot and made him look really good (something he did not do against Miz, Sheamus, Barrett, or even Punk), and then he lost clean to Henry twice. Rhodes didn't look that bad either. Writers or road agents, someone is doing it right on there. And shocker, Orton is still over despite not looking like Superman.
There are lots of other things. Booking Henry as a monster as opposed to every top heel being a cowardly cheater, for example.
Del Rio won the WWE title twice this year, won the Royal Rumble, won Money in the Bank, and had a World Title match at Wrestlemania. So what does it say about how he's booked that not once did I consider him as an honest contender for "Superstar of the Year"?
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