Canton’s Corner: The Wrestling Week in Review – February 25
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport
Welcome to Canton’s Corner. It’s officially WrestleMania season and I’m as excited as I’ve ever been. We’ve got five weeks of shows to get there, though, so as usual in Canton’s Corner we’ll focus on some key things from Raw & Smackdown this past week. No TNA for me. I haven’t seen it the last two weeks. It’s on my DVR, but I never got around to watching it. I doubt I’ll be upsetting too many people by not writing about TNA. There’s still plenty to discuss and it’s the triumphant return of the Twitter Ten feature. Let’s get to it.
Last Week’s Poll Results
The poll question was: Will we see CM Punk vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 29? The results after 1,800+ votes:
Yes – 55.55%
No – 44.45%
That’s very close. I voted for yes. I think after 10 years of being away, Austin has the itch again, he’s in tremendous shape and he feels that Punk is the right opponent for him. Let the speculation begin!
This Week’s Poll Question: What “main event” match at WrestleMania 28 are you most looking forward to?
I put “main event” in quotes because WWE likes to refer to these four matches as main event matches even though most fans only consider a main event to be the match that goes on last. Below I’ve given you the choice of picking the one match that you are most looking forward to at WrestleMania. I’m really interested in the results. I realize to the majority of fans, Rock/Cena will likely win, but I’m wondering what it’s like for TJR readers.
What “main event” match at WrestleMania 28 are you most looking forward to?
It’s really hard to pick just one, but I’m going with Rock vs. Cena. I’ve seen the others before. That doesn’t make me want to see them any less. It’s just that Rock vs. Cena truly a first time ever match on the grandest stage and I think it will be an incredible atmosphere to be in Miami’s Sun Life Stadium that night. I think Taker/Hunter and Punk/Jericho may top it in terms of match quality, but in terms of atmosphere the Rock/Cena match is going to be on another level.
Speaking of WrestleMania, are you checking out my reviews of every WrestleMania ever that are exclusive to TJR? This past week I posted reviews of WrestleMania 9 (the worst one so far), 10 (the best one so far) and 11 (a very average one). It’s been fun to be able to relive these shows, even the bad ones, because
I wrote about Raw on Tuesday, so here are some more thoughts.
The Undertaker vs. Triple H match becomes Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania 28
The segment they had on Raw was fantastic. Undertaker seemed a bit rusty in the beginning, but he got better when Hunter came out. I like the Hell in a Cell gimmick. I also understand the haters that may be out there saying how these two having another 30+ minute match doesn’t do much for the future of the company. That’s a valid point, but WrestleMania is about legendary performers too. It’s not like it will be a bad match either. People that disliked their match last year probably felt that way because of personal feelings about one of them or both. If you look at it objectively, the match last year was great and most could see that. I think this year’s match will be great too. Also, if you’re wondering if you can have a classic HIAC match in PG WWE I point you in the direction of Edge vs. Undertaker at Summerslam 2008. It was an awesome brawl using weapons all while fitting under the PG umbrella. If Shawn Michaels is added as the special ref that will only add to it.
Eve’s downward spiral
I think they rushed it a bit because they could have done those angles over the course of a few weeks before the revelation of her “master plan” to go after Cena. It was done because they wanted the Cena/Kane story to be done at Elimination Chamber so that he could concentrate solely on The Rock. That’s fine with me. They could have paced it a bit better, though. What does it say about me that I found Eve to be more attractive in the last two weeks than I did at any time in the past few years? I guess it means I like whores? That was truer ten years ago in my college days, but from a wrestling character standpoint heel women are much more entertaining. Babyface women are boring, especially her.
The Wade Barrett injury is not as bad as most feared
The main event of Raw saw Wade break his arm or if you want to use a technical term, he partially dislocated his left elbow. The initial diagnosis was 8-12 weeks, but it got upgraded to 6-8 weeks meaning there’s an outside chance that he can wrestle at WrestleMania. I hope he does. Perhaps they can stick him in a multi-man match to protect him from having to do too much. I’m sure he’ll do everything he can to get his arm healed so he can get back into action. I’ll be rooting for him.
John Cena says “I’m back” to the camera
This was a subtle thing that Cena did after he was ripping on Eve. He looked into the camera, said “I’m back” and had the kind of edge to his character that has been sorely lacking for many years. I liked it. His promo on Eve was great even though verbally degrading a woman may be considered bullying to some, but at least it can be justified a bit by saying she was a heel character after all. Later in the show when he was addressing The Rock, Cena showed the kind of fire that you want to see out of him. It’s not a question of if he can be that way all the time. We know he has the talent to do it. The question is can they book him that way all the time? I hope so. It will be better for him, as well as the fans, if that continues to be the case.
Other thoughts:
– Good for CM Punk ripping on Chris Brown. I don’t think I can name one Chris Brown song, but I know who he is and I think any hate spewed towards him is justified for what he did to Rihanna. It’s no surprise that WWE is jumping all over the media attention they’re getting from it because that’s what they love to do. It’s free advertising. They like to capitalize on that.
– I think Vince McMahon spouted a lot of bullshit on Thursday when WWE had their conference call about the company’s current financial state. Basically the films division has been a money loser from the beginning, but he thinks that the new direction will help. It’s gone in a new direction three times. Time to cut your losses. The future of WWE Network looks bleak. They jumped the gun in mentioning it publicly and by doing those video packages promoting it. It may launch toward the end of the year, but they don’t really know. He also claimed that the NXT & Superstars shows are hot commodities, yet both were removed from television in the US. The company is doing well, but there are probably some things that Vince is worried about.
– I’m excited about Raw this week. I’m a huge Rock fan, so it will be great to see him in the building again for the first time since Survivor Series. I’m also hoping that Kharma shows up to set up the WrestleMania match with Beth Phoenix. That showdown could be a lot of fun.
You can read about the ups and downs of Smackdown by TJR’s Andrew Johnson. Great stuff as always.
LIKE – CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan
Of course I loved this! This was their second match in the last month and both times they wrestled they got over 15 minutes of in-ring time. Thank you WWE for doing that. I’m of the opinion that they’re in the discussion for top three in-ring performers in the company with Dolph Ziggler being the other name I’d throw out there. There are others that are great too, but they don’t always get the time to show it. Anyway, initially I didn’t love the booking with the two false finishes that were over turned by the GMs, but then I liked the ending with the double pin. I thought for sure Punk would win because they are always making Smackdown look inferior, but I’m glad we got the draw finish. I think I gave the Raw match last month a rating of 4* out of five. This one I’d put at ***1/2. It was very good too, but I liked that one better. Here’s to hoping we get a long drawn out feud with these two later in the year.
By the way, I’ve had people ask me about the finish of the match when Laurinaitis raised the hand of Bryan (a Smackdown guy) while Long raised the hand of Punk (a Raw guy). Confused? The reason they did that is because the idea is that both guys will be battling as the GM of both shows. More on that in a bit, but that’s why they raised the hands of who they did. It was more about the face/heel dynamic rather than the Raw/Smackdown issue.
DISLIKE – The Miz sucks up to Daniel Bryan now
Nobody in WWE needs a character change more than The Miz right now. Maybe Jack Swagger, who is stuck in limbo with his goofy athlete gimmick for many years now, but Miz might be a bigger priority. Basically, Miz sucked up to Bryan on Smackdown. I understand that they didn’t want to have him oppose DB because then Miz may get cheered, but is that so wrong? Miz should turn face. It’s better than talking about main eventing a show a year ago when most people look down on last year’s WrestleMania main event…with good reason I might add. As a heel, he’ll add nothing to his storylines because he’s in the doghouse apparently and it’s a tough place to fight out of. Miz would work as a babyface. Plus, it’s better than whatever his gimmick is now, which is nothing more than a time waster on any show he is on.
LIKE – The end of Teddy Long’s reign as GM may be near
Thank you! Two people on WWE TV that need to go are Teddy Long and Jerry Lawler. It’s nothing personal against either guy. I respect both for what they’ve done in their careers. It’s just that when you’re in the same role for so long you can get stale. In Long’s case, his role as the babyface GM that usually wants to have sex with a diva is very boring. I guess Vince finds it funny to have Long interact with these women who are half his age, but to the average fan it’s silly. The Long/Laurinaitis angle is likely leading to a 6 man or 8 man tag match at WrestleMania where the job of Raw & Smackdown GM will be on the line. The Laurinaitis team will win. He’s the better character and the fresher one too. It should be a no brainer. If it means the end of Teddy Long as an on screen character I’m all for it.
DISLIKE – David Otunga over Ezekiel Jackson twice in a week
I’m okay with Otunga winning twice in a week, I guess. I understand why he’s on TV and why WWE would want to push him because he’s a good talker with a famous wife or fiancée, whatever Jennifer Hudson is to him. I don’t think beating Jackson, who loses all the time, is the right way to put Otunga over. Fans don’t see Zeke as this impressive physical specimen. He’s a jobber now. It’s not a big deal to beat him anymore. Maybe Zeke should be repackaged too.
LIKE – No farting segment by Natalya
Yep this earns a like from me. It’s nice that they didn’t do a farting segment with my favorite diva on this show. I realize they did it on Sunday and last week she farted during a match to cost her team the win, but at least they avoided it here. I really hope there’s a happy ending to this gimmick. I don’t know, though.
DISLIKE – Cody interrupts a Big Show match by throwing to a video package
Big Show was wrestling Mark Henry. He was setting him up for the chokeslam. All of a sudden, Cody Rhodes came out with a video package showcasing Big Show’s loss to Akebono at WrestleMania. Between his promo and the video it took about two minutes. Once that was done, Mark Henry attacked because I guess he was busy watching the video like the rest of us were forced to. Then he hit the big splash that Show kicked out of. Then Show knocked him out and left. They didn’t say if Henry won via countout or not. It just ended like that. I’m fine with the Cody/Show feud because I think it will be fun, but if you’re not going to book a finish to a match or even try to book a finish why even have a match? They could have done this another way. I guess they did it because they didn’t want to book either guy to lose. I just think it’s dumb to end matches without a finish. The matches should matter more.
Other thoughts:
– The rating for the live Tuesday Smackdown was a 1.7, down from the usual 2.2 or 2.3 rating that the show gets on Fridays for the taped show. It did re-air on Friday although we don’t know the ratings yet. I’m sure that if you added the numbers up it would be a good number. Still, though, I doubt WWE or Syfy is too happy with a 1.7 rating and it might not mean good things for Punk or Bryan either since they advertised it as the main event.
– It’s time for the Great Khali to retire. With all due respect to him, there’s no other way to say it.
Random Clip of the Week
When I wrote about WrestleMania 8, I mentioned that The Ultimate Warrior got one of the biggest pops I have ever heard when he returned to save Hulk Hogan. It ended up leading to a discussion about some of the other big ovations in wrestling history. I decided to share one of my favorite “huge pops” of all time from a great Raw match back in 2000 between Chris Jericho and the World Champion Triple H. I’m sure a lot of you have seen this and you probably like it as much as I do. If you haven’t, give it a look below.
That was an amazing moment. The title change didn’t last long as Hunter got it reversed due to Hebner counting fast. I still love it, though.
I haven’t done this in a while. People send me questions on Twitter @johnreport and I answer them. Usually I answer only ten for this feature. Since it’s been a while we’ll go with 20 this time.
@midge_19 This years WM gonna be the best ever? The card looks awesome!!!
I think it’s a great card. WM17 is the best ever in my opinion and I don’t know if it can be topped. We’ll see though!
@RNAVAS7 how likely is rvd returning to wwe?
As far as I know his TNA deal is up in March, so he could be back soon. I think it will happen although could be summer.
@Matthew_Wishart What are your predictions for WrestleMania and what other matches do you think will be added? Thanks.
Opinions change, but I think Cena, Taker, Punk & Sheamus all win. Cody/Show seems likely. Either elim tag or MITB too. Beth/Kharma I hope.
@t9eej Is there another wrestler, other than Foley, who could go on to do stand-up comedy??
Maybe Shane Helms. He’s funny on Twitter. I think Edge could be good at it. Christian & Jericho would be funny too. Maybe Hunter Hearst Suit McMahon Helmsley.
@jatorres_nbsa Do you think Chris Brown will be involved in a program in the WWE? Personally I hope not because then he’ll get a paycheck.
I don’t think so. A lot of the guys on the roster would love to kick his ass and he’d be stupid to risk his health like that.
@iTzDerekBox Do you see Dolph Ziggler or Cody Rhodes in the main event spotlight within the next 5 years? If so, why?
Yes of course. Ziggler is pretty much there and Rhodes is on the brink. They’re both great workers and talkers. All the tools.
@Mr_Davies2012 Which match do you think will steal the show at this years Mania?
If Punk/Jericho gets 20 minutes then it’s them, but it will be hard to top Hunter/Taker. Rock/Cena will get the biggest reactions of them all. I think Rock/Cena will be an old school type of big match. Undertaker/HHH is a brawl. Punk/Jericho technical. All unique!
@JeffPParker With Russo gone from TNA, do you think this will be the ‘put up or shut up’ era of the company,now that there’s no more excuses?
I think the ratings will stay the same and PPV buyrates will too. Russo’s damage was done over 10 years. It’s not like Bischoff or Hogan are good bookers. Yes Brother Love too, but he’s a Hogan buddy. Same shit.
@NickMoney07 Who do you think will face Undertaker at Wrestlemania 29, Sheamus, Cena or someone else?
I think Cena. Rock would be a good choice too. It’s a little early to be forecasting this though.
@RatedR_SDMF It’s rumored that there might be some backstage heat on The Rock for headlining WM28. Is it really unfair to up and comers?
They’re dumb. More people will watch because of him. More people means more money. If they don’t see that they need to open their eyes.
@GDinc2010 Which Wrestlemania main event is most favorite?
I’d go with Rock/Austin at WM17. Looking forward to writing about that event.
@MikeGallagherUK What match do you think will go last at mania?
Rock/Cena. Has to be. Hard to follow that.
@TheCarg I used to think @WWE paid no mind to the IWC, but the progression of Chris Jericho’s character changed my mind. Thoughts?
Jericho is in tune with what fans want. He’s been that way since the 90s when he was one of the first wrestlers to go online.
@mimo8989 why do you think the IC and US titles arent pushed like they used to be?
Because there are two major world titles that are of more importance. It’s hard to push everything. Cody has had a long run though.
@Bigsexi Do you think it’s time for the Big Show to retire? ….he’s been awful lately and hurting people from his mistakes.
He’s getting near the end of his career for sure. Probably another 2-3 years left. He’s been a bit sloppy of late. I agree.
@JohnTirpak do you think shaq is gonna be at wrestlemania? wwe says he isnt but then he said he was going to be there again on a radio show.
I think a match is unlikely at this point, but an appearance is very possible.
@alley_babba83 Will wrestlemania be triple h’s and undertakers last match???
I don’t think so. Working once a year for Undertaker is probably something he likes. Hunter is a part timer.
@MarkRigney1979 1) Do you think Kurt Angle will qualify for the 2012 Olympics? 2) Hottest diva in WWE at the moment in your opinion?
I don’t think Kurt will make it. Hottest diva is probably Eve if they all dressed up. Doesn’t make her my favorite.
@greyo what’s your favourite finisher?
I’ll give 3 different kinds: Stone Cold Stunner, the Sharpshooter & Randy Savage’s Flying Elbow.
Melo Out with Steve Melo
Are you ready to Melo Out? Here’s a question for you. Hypothetically, what if you were a current WWE wrestler (or superstar as they like to call them) and you wanted to headline Wrestlemania? Well then the only way you are going to guarantee that assuming you are not already a World Champion or WWE Champion is if you could somehow win the Royal Rumble. Right? Well that used to be the case. But apparently if you don’t succeed, then you have another opportunity to not only go to Wrestlemania but also beat whichever champion you are facing in the brutal match know as the Elimination Chamber. Sure it’s a lot more brutal than a Royal Rumble match, but hey, at least it is a second and final opportunity right? Wrong. It turns out that if at first you don’t succeed and if at second you don’t prevail, a Battle Royal match on a regular RAW weekly television show will get you there.
I apologize in advance to those who get offended rather easily with wrestling negativity, and as happy as I am that we are still getting CM Punk versus Chris Jericho as Wrestlemania 28 as predicted, I can’t help but look at the return of Y2J from a logical standpoint. When he returned on January 2nd, needless to say most of us knew it was going to be him. Did he surprise me with his whole trolling act? Yes he did. Was I entertained? Of course. Then he spoke before the Royal Rumble and then lost because the WWE wanted to surprise us with a Sheamus win. So no Wrestlemania for Jericho right? Nope. All he had to do was win a Battle Royal on RAW. Not the Royal Rumble and not an Elimination Chamber match. The problem I have with this is simple. Back when we only had one undisputed champion, the Royal Rumble was very important because since 1993, it has served as a match that gave the winner the right to face the champion on the biggest show of the year, Wrestlemania. That had meaning. It served as a stepping stone for guys like Michaels, Austin, Batista, Mysterio, Benoit and so many others as a road to their first major world title victory. The momentum they had going into Wrestlemania officially elevated them to the next level, even if they were already there. Today, it has very little meaning. Last year, Alberto Del Rio won and then lost in the first match on the Wrestlemania card. And Cena ended up facing Miz because he won the Elimination Chamber. Long story short, in my opinion there should only be one major world title. If they continue to have both then there should only be one Elimination Chamber match to where the current champion isn’t involved. Having someone go to Wrestlemania because they won a Battle Royal on RAW makes the Royal Rumble seem less important as well as the Elimination Chamber for that matter. It’s insulting when you choose to think about it. But oh well. At least we are still getting the match right?
Until next time, shut your mouth and Melo Out!
Steve “The Melo Man” Melo
Facebook: MeloOutTJR
Twitter: @MeloOutTJR
* Click here to see what I think would happen between a match with CM Punk vs. Chris Brown.
* Click here to see what these two guys think about this whole CM Punk & Chris Brown situation.
* Click here to see how The Rock feels about John Cena’s latest shoot promo on him.
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That’s all for this week. My writing insanity continues this week as I’ll post an abbreviated delayed recap of Elimination Chamber (not play by play style), I’ll likely write about Raw live on Monday after I post the WM12 recap (Ironman!), then Tuesday I may actually sleep for a few hours before coming back on Wednesday with the WM13 recap (Bret vs. Austin!) and more throughout the weeks building to WrestleMania 28 on April 1. Needless to say, I’m writing a lot and I appreciate all the support.
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