LIVE Raw thoughts

11:07 - The problem with this match is the reason I don't like when they involve the announcers in storylines. In a couple of weeks, Lawler will be announcing as if he never had any issue with Miz (like how Cody Rhodes gave Striker one of his t-shirts, to Striker's acclaim, despite the fact that they feuded on NXT). And as many have likely already noted, how could Lawler and Cole work together, for the next several weeks, without there being significant tension between them? Further, Cole's interference was a bit peculiar in the first place. He's watched Miz lose countless times. I understand this is a whole new level, but, to quote Miz, really?

Overall a fun show, but they painted themselves in a corner by even making that match.

11:04 - Somebody FINALLY gets their hands on Michael Cole and they waste the moment on Jerry Lawler?

10:59 - I must also wonder, why risk injuring your WWE Champion just weeks before a PPV in a stipulation match that we'll see once again at said PPV?

10:57 - It's strange hearing Cole taking such an anti-Lawler slant in his commentary right now.

10:51 - Odd that Miz still has his briefcase even after cashing in the contract.

10:41 - ya' know, Santino should really do a guy a solid and help out Morrison right now.

10:35 - Is it me or have Punk, Lawler, and Cole all been a little off their game today? Like they're particularly distracted.

10:26 - Wow, so Raw is basically three hours every other week now. Quick predictions, based on the commercials: Match of the Year - HBK vs. Taker (again!), Most Shocking Moment - HBK and Hitman embrace, Diva of the Year - LayCool, Superstar of the Year - Toughest to determine, but I think they'll go with Orton.

10:13 - By the way, I did check the photo gallery from the 2008 King of the Ring, and Punk DID wear different trunks for each match. He did black/white for the first round, black/blue for the semis, and blue/black for the finals:

http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/archive/04212008/kingoftheringtournament/

Another reason why he rules.

10:03 - I loved Cena's Leslie Nielson tribute. Great stuff. And I have to say, his attack on Gabriel was one of the most extreme beatdowns we've seen in quite some time. And I'm glad they acknowledged the elephant in the room regarding Cena's ability to appear backstage without issue.

9:52 - I love how matter-of-factly CM Punk says, "Because he's Rey Mysterio! He steals cars on the side!"

9:47 - I'm disappointed nobody is going the Randy Savage route of wearing a different pair of tights for every match. In fact, didn't CM Punk do that?

9:34 - Did I just spy a beer pong table in the audience? I woulda sworn I saw a long table with red Solo cups on it.

9:31 - Add Justin Gabriel to the list of people who look cooler with a beard.

9:26 - By the way, I'm still pissed about AJ getting voted off NXT last week. What a load of crap.

9:22 - I guess the upside is we get Cole and Punk alone on commentary.

9:12 - So Lawler accuses Miz of being an underserving champion and then issues a challenge for the title when he hasn't wrestled consistently for WWE in over a decade? Further, nobody takes Lawler seriously, so Miz getting a victory over him doesn't mean anything to the casual fan. And why give away a TLC match when you have the PPV coming up in a matter of weeks? Why not sacrifice somebody like R-Truth in a standard match?

9:09 - Punk's facial expressions when King and Cole are bickering over Miz are just priceless.

9:05 - So who interrupts Miz's promo in Orton's absence?

8:49 - "Actually you're a Superstar, not a wrestler."

8:29 - I like the new Nexus t-shirt.

8:23 - Well I'll be damned, CM Punk was right:

http://www.wrestlingattitude.com/kotr.html

8:21 - Bret Hart won the King of the Ring again in 1993?

8:12 - By the way, my predictions based on this graphic:

http://www.wwe.com/content/facebook/kotr2010jpg

Del Rio over Bryan

Morrison over Rhodes

Jackson over McIntyre

Sheamus over Kingston

Next round:

Del Rio over Morrison

Jackson over Sheamus (only because I don't see them going heel/heel for the finals)

Finals:

Del Rio over Jackson to win King of the Ring

Of course, I will alter these predictions after each round.

8:05 - "Looks like he's dressed for court." Now THAT'S awesome.

I am here for my Raw LIVE thoughts, but as I'm not feeling great and can't really sacrifice taking time off work, I can't promise I'll be around for all three hours. But hell, let's see what happens.

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The Beer Pong Championship Belt!!

So a while back, over on CollegeHumor.com, I found this Beer Pong Championship Belt made using the Spinner WWE Championship belt. I liked it so much, I decided to make my own (shown above). But I made some improvements: Instead of cutting out the beer logo from the six pack, I thought coasters (of which I have a rather large collection) would fit better. I also decided to glue a ping pong ball to the edge of the cup, as if it's moments away from going in.

Now, I just need somebody to arrange a beer pong tournament (used to have an annual one during my college days). I'd even make a second one so that both champions have their own. Anyway, check out all of the photos:

http://s653.photobucket.com/albums/uu256/acaseoftheblog/Beer%20Pong%20Championship%20Belt/

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CM Punk is better than Matt & Jeff Hardy

While I’ve made my feelings on Matt Hardy pretty well known over the past couple of months, I never really had a problem with Jeff. I find him far more charismatic than he’s given credit for, and while his work is sloppy looking, his technical skills aren’t as far behind Matt’s as Matt likes to make people think. However, after watching his “shoot” on CM Punk, I now can’t stand Jeff either. Holy Hell, is there any family less likable than the Hardys right now? Are there any two individuals, in recent memory, that have destroyed the special and unique bond they have with their audience? Here’s the video, if you haven’t seen it yet:



Wow. Just wow. There’s Jeff, slurring his words and rubbing his red nose as he judges CM Punk for POSSIBLY taking Ambien to fall asleep at night. Yeah, and who’s the one who was charged with drug trafficking? And here’s a guy who just brought a kid into the world, and he’s talking about how CM Punk’s drug free lifestyle is “not right.” Mind you, he’s not talking about CM Punk being a jerk or being preachy….he’s talking about going out and having fun (i.e. not drinking or doing drugs). And this idea of Jeff “making” CM Punk is ludicrous. Before Punk feuded with Jeff, he became the first – and ONLY – WWE Superstar to hold the World Championship on all three rosters (he was ECW Champion on ECW, World Heavyweight Champion on Raw, and captured the World Heavyweight Championship on Smackdown against Jeff). He was also a two-time Money in the Bank winner. Clearly the front office had big plans for this guy.

I’m not discounting the important role Jeff played in Punk’s development. Quite frankly, I don’t think Punk’s heel turn would have worked against anybody else, except maybe Shawn Michaels. And even then, it wouldn’t have been as perfect a match. And Punk’s heel turn IS what made everybody open their eyes to the guy. But, to be honest, that had more to do with Punk. Hardy was a perfect foil, but Punk had the goods to make it work. This is like saying that Matt Morgan made Jeff Hardy.

And you’re giving the middle finger…..oh, how edgy!!!

And then you have Matt there stuffing his face with French Fries (but it was those intestinal issues that made you a fat piece of crap, right?) talking about how CM Punk is very dramatic and very emotional. Um, what? Is CM Punk the one who made numerous incoherent and erratic YouTube videos a week repeatedly complaining about everything that’s happened to him in the past year? And when your girlfriend cheats on you with your best friend, you’re a Grade A Chump if you sit there and listen to her when she complains about her new boyfriend. What a tool.

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A Case of the.... Smallville - Episode 10-9

I apologize for the lateness of this column, but the time consuming nature of Thanksgiving preparation has really cut into my free time (which, unfortunately, is the only available time for me to write my reviews). But as the expression goes, better late than never!

I also want to thank comment posters Wally Kovacs, who has provided his fun insight in the past, and Dan Smith, for kick starting the discussion on this most recent episode. I’ll admit that my knowledge of Superman is pretty rudimentary, so these gentlemen seem to know quite a bit more about many of these characters than I do. As such, I’m going to trust their instincts, and if they’d like to elaborate any more on any of their thoughts, I welcome them to do so.

But, overall, I think the three of us seem to be in agreement that we wanna see Darkseid in the flesh – and not at the last possible moment. And we want to see him looking like a monstrous bad ass, not an EMT working Abercrombie model. I actually am pretty optimistic that we’ll see this, to tell you the truth. It’s the last season, and I think the powers that be realize that this is the time to lay it all out on the table. While they have been showing an admirable amount of restraint with certain things, they’ve actually delivered, big time, with a number of cool developments and introductions over these first several episodes. We probably won’t physically see Darkseid the first half of the season, but I don’t think it’ll be the final few episodes, either.

Anyway, in my review for last week’s episode, I noted that I’m eager and intrigued to see how the three main story arcs (Lex’s return, the Suicide Squad, and Darkseid) come together and intersect. We began to see that with this latest episode, as it turned out that Slade Wilson, leader of the Vigilante Registration Act, had actually been possessed by the darkness that has been unleashed by Darkseid. I was actually quite pleased with this revelation, because near the end, when Slade had Clark trapped, I couldn’t help but feel like they went over the top with his anti-hero stance. While his stance had always been a bit strong willed, it was at least based in something believable. By the end, he was willing to blow up entire compounds in order to eliminate a handful of individuals with special abilities. Even though one of them was fully human. But once we discovered that he was actually under Darkseid’s influence, his behavior became much easier to accept. And in the final moments of the episode, we also learned that Slade had survived the explosion (was it ever explained how Clark survived as well?) and was being reborn as Deathstroke.

Oh, and as a side note, there’s something about Clark and everybody referring to “the darkness” that sounds really hokey and cartoony. That’s another reason why I don’t want them to go all out with the possession route. When the characters verbalize it, they just sound so silly.

“Patriot” also brought the return of Aquaman. I’m sure this won’t be the last we saw of him, since I do fully expect a full out Justice League appearance sometime within the final episodes (that means we see Green Arrow, Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Flash/Impulse, Hawkman, Star Girl, Cyborg, Black Canary, and any other heroes they introduce between then and now, fighting side by side), but this is the first time in a while that we’ve seen him for any extended period of time. And is it me, or was he a lot darker and generally less likable? I know that’s what they were going for, but considering that Aquaman doesn’t appear at the frequency of, say, Green Arrow, it’s tough to be forgiving when the hero is acting like a complete ass. And I know they tried to soften her up in the final minutes of the episode, but was Aquaman’s wife a bitch or what? Then again, I do love that somebody FINALLY brought up the fact that Lois has dated, like, every single superhero on the show.

I’m having a little fun at Aquaman’s expense, but truth be told I didn’t mind his appearance. Although it is a bit rough seeing him in a variation of the classic costume, when there’ a much cooler look to go with. C’mon, how awesome would it be seeing a long haired, bushy bearded, hooked hand Aquaman?

One side story that I found myself really enjoying is the way Clark and Lois are beginning to realize that just because his secret is out in the open doesn’t mean that they have a completely open relationship. There is still plenty that Clark hides from her – of course, under the motivation of protecting her – and until he’s ready to fully trust her, they’ll never reach that level of openness that Clark experienced when he went into the future. I also really, really loved the elevator scene between Lois and Tess, where they were both kinda testing the waters to see how much the other knows about Clark. That being said, I thought their final scene together, where Tess welcomed Lois to Watchtower with open arms, was a tad on the heavy side. It was just a little too….friendly. Even when neither of them knew Clark’s secret, they didn’t particularly like each other. And even before Clark and Lois had a relationship, and Lois was none the wiser about Clark’s abilities, these two actually brawled with each other.

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Watch Miz's WWE Championship Win

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LIVE Raw thoughts

11:02 - WWE Champion The Miz! Who woulda thunk it two years ago? Honestly, aside from Rob Van Damm's title win at One Night Stand, this was probably the cleanest Money in the Bank cash in we've ever seen.

10:59 - Loved Punk's "Well this looks very familiar." Although I feel like Miz won't succeed.

10:58 - Orton RKO's Barrett, retains, Miz cashes in.

10:55 - The irony of the announcers' discussion: Didn't CM Punk's first World Title reign end because he couldn't make it to the ring to defend the title? Further coincidence: Wasn't it because of an Orton punt?

10:43 - I'm not sure if Daniel Bryan will win the King of the Ring, but I do think he'll make it to the finals. In looking at a list of the competitors, how awesome would a Mysterio/Bryan finals be?

10:42 - Unrelated, but I kinda love this shirt:

http://www.80stees.com/products/Rather-Be-Playing-Pac-Man-T-Shirt.asp

10:30 - So does anybody get the sense that they're actually going to do what everybody was predicting last night? Between Cena laying on his face act REALLY thick, to Orton repeatedly complimenting Cena, to Orton guaranteeing that Barrett doesn't leave the building with the title, to Miz no-showing his match....it's got all the makings.

10:27 - Wow, are they finally doing what I suggested, like, over a year ago and reuniting John Morrison and Melina as an on-screen pair? It's about friggin' time! Although I have to say, for an ACTUAL couple, they just displayed some very awkward chemistry.

10:24 - FOUND THE SECOND TABLE LEAF!!

10:18 - "Now Nikki Bella" - Michael Cole. "UGH!" - CM Punk.

10:10 - I wouldn't have said this last night, but the dude is totally turning heel tonight.

10:07 - Ways you can tell WWE has been PG for a long time: Hearing Cena say "Sucks," "Bitch," and "Hell" are actually a bit edgy.

9:59 - How long before people read into the fact that Cena didn't mention Rock?

9:47 - I love the teases that Miz might cash in the briefcase. Remember when Edge finally cashed in his contract? He gave up a victory over Flair and purposely got himself disqualified. His logic? Why exhaust himself when he's cashing in his contract later? I see the same thing going on here. They want us to be thinking, "Maybe Miz is conserving his energy so that he can cash in his briefcase in the main event."

And Punk continues to be commentary gold. His remarks about Riley being under the influence were great.

9:40 - Maria, Beth, Rosa, and now Tamina....how many times are we going to do this Santino/romance angle? And what is with the numerous backstage pretapes in a row? And Randy needs to shave his head.

9:35 - Oh, in addition to Thanksgiving stress (I can't find the damn second table leaf!), I'm also going to be working on my Smallville column. A lot on the plate tonight!

9:30 - CM Punk's facial expressions during the commentary is worth the price of admission. And man, didn't we just have a 3 hour Raw last week?

9:15 - CM Punk as announcer = the greatest thing ever. That is all.

9:10 - In regards to Kyle's comments last night, I didn't see the PPV, but I heard both title matches failed to deliver. This is disappointing because: (a) Edge is really catching fire as a face, and this match would have gone a long way for him if he and Kane hit a home run and (b) the John Cena/Wade Barrett/Randy Orton angle has been on such an incredible roll -- especially after last week -- that it REALLY needed to be lackluster to get almost universal panning. As I said in my prior post, there were a lot of directions that the angle could have gone, and I don't think most people expected this. I am intrigued about where they're going to take this tonight, but a lot of people don't have that sort of patience.

One thing I do hope they do is follow up on this R-Truth thing. If nothing else, this could be Randy Orton's next feud. I don't particularly like Truth, but I am interested in his actions. He goes from trying to talk sense into Cena, to stirring the pot with Orton, to offering to do a hit on Orton in order to assist Cena. There's certainly something to that, and I hope they follow up.

9:02 - Yes, I am doing my Raw thoughts this week, and I'll provide my thoughts on last night's booking. Oh, I'll reply to Kyle's insightful comments in my prior post as well. Just off to a late start due to some Thanksgiving preparation stress.

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What's in store for Cena at Survivor Series?

So Sunday is Survivor Series, which will likely feature the climax of the John Cena/Nexus storyline – one of the better written feuds of recent memory. They have a lot of intriguing possibilities. One sees Cena helping Wade Barrett win the title, only to beat him to oblivion, allowing Miz to come in and win the championship. This could continue the Cena/Barrett storyline, or lead to another Cena/Orton storyline – albeit with a different dynamic than their past feuds – or a full blown Cena/Barrett/Orton/Miz blow out for the championship.

Here’s another idea: Barrett cheats to win, however Cena doesn’t see it. Cena counts the pin, allowing Barrett to win the title. This effectively ends the Cena/Nexus feud without turning Cena heel and without creating a significant rift between him and Orton. Then who does Cena feud with next? How about R-Truth, who has rather needlessly and harshly stirred the pot between Orton and Cena. At first Truth’s intervention made sense. But over time his comments have become increasingly antagonistic, almost as if he’s instigating problems that aren’t necessarily there.

The endgame most people are asking for, however, is a Cena heel turn. I’m not necessarily against this move, but I feel like the story didn’t reach that point yet. If Cena turns heel, what sense will it make? The only logical explanation is that he did it to save his job, which isn’t evil as much as it is selfish, and that isn’t necessarily a strong enough reason to hate the guy (not to mention that this would also leave Randy Orton the undisputed top face, despite being awfully self centered himself). In order for this heel turn to truly work, it needs to be monstrous and heartbreaking. And in order for that to happen, Cena has to have a sensible reason to turn against his beliefs. And that’s just not the story they’ve been telling.

Preferably, they would have had Cena put in precarious situations, only for him to slowly but surely realize that there’s a great benefit to having six or so people watching your back. But we’ve actually gotten the opposite story. On his own, Cena won the WWE Tag Team Championship. And due to Nexus politics, he lost that championship. A greater story would have been if Cena won the championship BECAUSE the gang is fighting on his side. And through it all, Otunga could be buttering Cena up in an attempt to overthrow Barrett as leader. In fact, Cena and Otunga can actually develop a bit of a friendship. Initially Otunga is using Cena for the reasons above, while Cena is manipulating Otunga in order to create a rift within the faction (which was his initial intention). But through time, they’ll actually start working together and relying on one another. This alliance could be the catalyst to him turning full blown heel.

I’d say there’s about a 50/50 chance that Cena turns heel on Sunday. If this does happen, I can’t help but feel like they missed out on telling a great story. A story that, in many ways, can only be told once.

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WWE Releases Six Superstars & Divas

This afternoon WWE.com announced that six Superstars and Divas were being released from their contracts. Many of them weren't surprising, per se, but they were probably avoidable.

Shad and Vance Archer, for example, were part of a tag team that were regularly featured on television. Yet once the teams split, each of the competitors were featured less than before -- and in this case, two of them were let go. With the tag team division already struggling, what was the point of breaking Cryme Tyme and the Gatebusters up? And I suppose the same can be said for the Dudebusters (one of which was released), although I'm under the impression they were still competing together.

Jillian isn't particularly surprising, since she won a grand total of two matches since her WWE debut five or so years ago, but I'm assuming this is just the end of her talent contract. I do believe she is now a trainer in one of the developmental territories.

Tiffany's release was expected, given that she was immediately taken off television following her arrest, and was never brought back when the charges were cleared. I'm disappointed, because I thought she was hot (and she has better mic skills than most Divas), but I guess I should be glad that she was paired up with my other favorite, Kelly Kelly (who remembers when I used to beg WWE to put these two together?) Hell, they even did a photoshoot together!

Luke Gallows, in my mind, is the most tragic figure in this list. He had a good thing going as Punk's right hand man in the Straight Edge Society. He slimmed down A LOT and really looked great. He even had an impressive and marketable look. Yet the team was split, seemingly for no reason (this was before there was any talk of moving Punk to Raw), and the writing was on the wall for him.

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Top Ten Cases: Favorite Jack & Kate Moments

FINALLY! Nothing earth shattering, but a fun trip down memory lane.

Yep, better late than never. Please ignore the brief silent moment during Moment #9. It passes.

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A Case of the.... Smallville - Episode 10-8

So after taking a reprieve for several weeks, Smallville is finally back on track with its Darkseid story arc. And hell, they actually took a huge step forward this past episode by actually dropping his name (having only seen him in print, I’d actually always thought his name was pronounced “Dark-Seed” instead of the appropriate “Dark-Side”). But even though this was a highly enjoyable episode with a great appearance from the detestable Granny Goodness, to me the hour was highlighted by the two emotional parent-child moments.

Continue reading "A Case of the.... Smallville - Episode 10-8"....

The first featured a fun guest stint from Teri Hatcher. Most of you know her from her gig on Desperate Housewives, but she truly came into prominence playing Lois Lane on the short-lived Lois & Clark. I have to say, the fact that Hatcher appeared on this little old CW series speaks volumes about the respect it has garnered over the past decade. Sure, she’s not Julia Roberts-level famous, but I truly believe she may be one of the biggest names that has ever appeared on this show, while still being regularly active in the entertainment industry (as in, currently starring on a highly rated drama on a top network). And while her appearance was brief, it was rather powerful. It also set the tone of how parents try to protect their children from seeing them when they’re vulnerable and weak, which ultimately creates a rift that the child must overcome. Granny Goodness believes that children should forget this heartache. Lois, Clark, and even Tess decide to confront it. And by overcoming this emotional obstacle, they each found a degree of strength and comfort.

Truthfully, Lois’ mother/daughter scene probably wasn’t my favorite of the three, but it did a fantastic job of setting the tone and framing the episode as a whole. And Teri Hatcher’s performance was pretty heart wrenching – I actually got a little teary eyed. The way she talked about how big, bad, tough Sam Lane was in denial and the realization that she wouldn’t be there for her girls during all of their significant life moments. It was quite touching. And, unsurprisingly, Erica Durance nailed her subdued part out of the park. And, as I already said, it shaped the rest of the episode with the message that our parents aren’t perfect. They make mistakes. The important thing, though, is that we accept them for their flaws and we don’t allow their insecurities to dictate who we become. Once we are able to do that, we can find peace with ourselves and our departed guardians.

The highlight for me, as one might expect, was Clark’s brief scene with Jor-El and Lara. The past few years I’ve noted how much more I enjoy Jor-El as the supportive father, opposed to his early portrayal as a borderline abusive and evil overseer. There was no real reason for Jor-El to be viewed in such a villainous manner, and I just thought the show worked so much better when he was seen in a more positive light. I remember smiling when he told Martha Kent that he made the right choice in leaving Clark with her and her husband. And I was happy when, at the beginning of last season, Jor-El reminded Clark that he didn’t need to deprive himself from his humanity in order to complete his training. And how could you forget about Clark’s touching scene with Jor-El’s clone? This is why I was so disappointed when he seemingly reverted back to his mean spirited ways at the beginning of this season. And so it was nice seeing a young Jor-El confess to his wife, with such candor, that so many of his own mistakes were based on his insecurities and ego, and that he knows Clark has the potential to be so much better than he is. While Jor-El’s actions may have contributed to the end of one civilization, Clark can grow up to save another one. It certainly brings new light to Jor-El’s current harsh behavior. And I truly do hope that this marks the end of any sort of hostility we see between Clark and his birth father.

It was also great seeing Helen Slater reprise her role as Clark’s Kryptonian mother, although her apparent ignorance of earth was confusing. Didn’t she visit the planet a few times during her lifetime? I seem to recall her and Kara visiting earth at the same time.

The final example of some repressed parenting issues revolves around the revelation that Tess is actually part of the Luthor family. When Granny Goodness revealed that Tess came from a very powerful family, you had to know this was going to happen. During the flashback scene, I actually thought we’d get a surprise guest appearance from the ultra talented John Glover, who portrayed Lionel Luthor. Although, this sheds an extremely creepy light on Tess’ infatuation, which was most certainly based on an intense sexual interest, with Lex.

I’m not going to completely overlook Granny Goodness, because she was great. There’s something so incredibly unsettling about an evil old lady. The way they deliver their lines with such composure, while acting all prim and proper, is just so incredibly devilsh – and Granny Goodness was no exception. And I loved the way she completely “no sold” (to use a wrestling term) the other two parts of Darkseid’s unholy trio (while they completely sung her, and each other’s, praises). More than anything, this episode made me really, really want to see Darkseid in the flesh. And I remain hopeful that they won’t take the Davis Bloom “Let’s make him some ordinary human before showing you brief glimpses of him as Doomsday” route. Nor do I really want them to take the “Let’s wait as long as humanly possible for Clark to fly” approach. I kinda wanna see Darkseid throughout the rest of the season. This is the end, folks, so there’s no need to hold back.

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