Canton’s Corner: The Wrestling Week in Review – November 12


Canton’s Corner: The Wrestling Week in Review – November 12
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport

 


 

Welcome to Canton’s Corner. This week we’re rolling with the traditional Canton’s Corner column where I share my likes & dislikes for this week’s editions of Raw & Smackdown while also previewing Sunday’s TNA PPV called Turning Point. Yes, the same PPV where they announced the main event in the last ten seconds of Impact this week. That’s not a joke. It actually happened like that. More on that later. As always it’s poll time.

Last Week’s Poll Results
The poll question was: Who will beat Mark Henry for the World Title? The result after 2000+ votes:
Daniel Bryan – 27.06%
Sheamus – 27.01%
Randy Orton – 19.46%
Big Show – 6.23%

There were others in the poll too, but none of them got over 5% of the vote. The difference between Bryan and Sheamus was literally one vote. I voted for Orton with the idea that he’d get the World Title back at the Royal Rumble before dropping it to Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 28. Obviously a lot of you are thinking it’s a long run for Henry, who would drop it to DB while others are in support of Sheamus. He has unfinished business with Henry, so it does make sense. I like that there are a lot of options. The World Title picture on Smackdown has been pretty good this year although there have been a lot of title changes too.

This Week’s Poll Question: What will be the best match at Survivor Series?
There are four matches that are official as of this writing. It’s expected that the Ziggler/Ryder match will be added. The question is what one will be the best? That can mean different things to different people. It’s up to you to decide.

What will be the best match at Survivor Series?

I voted for Punk/Del Rio. I expect them to get 15-20 minutes and for it to be the best match of Del Rio’s career while Punk has the best PPV match like he always seems to do. It looks like a really good lineup this year. I’m excited.


I already wrote about Raw on Tuesday, so here are a few additional thoughts on this week’s show as well as Monday’s three hour Raw.

LIKE – Zack Ryder in the main event
I was very happy to see that. Whether you like him or not, there’s no denying that the guy is getting over with the fans. He’s getting a big reaction, he’s hard working, he’s good in the ring and he’s somebody that appeals to all types of fans from kids to women to the overly critical fans too. Ryder’s somebody that grew up wanting to be a wrestler. He’s living the dream. The US Title is in his near future I think and I hope there’s more to come down the road. Take care, spike your hair and reach for the stars. I added that last part. I think you knew that, though.

DISLIKE – The finish to the main event
I complained about it in the Raw Deal. After having watched it again, I see no reason to retract the statement. The reason for the complaint is that after The Miz & R-Truth cheated to beat John Cena, my fellow JC reacted by laughing at it. He didn’t express anger. He laughed it off. Wrong reaction. It’s already enough of a problem that fans don’t think Miz & Truth are on Cena’s level. Laughing at them sends the wrong impression. He should sell anger towards them. Maybe I’m overreacting, but it’s important to end the show with the right reaction because that’s the lasting image you are leaving the fans with. The other thing I disliked about the finish was that it wasn’t strong enough. Cena lost to a boot to the face while Truth was holding onto his leg without the ref seeing. Lame. It should have been stronger than that.

LIKE – The Rock on Raw this Monday in Boston
I’m excited. He’s in the same category as Austin, Michaels or Hart for me. If he’s on the show as a special guest I’m going to care more. Those are the guys that made me the fan I am. Without them I’m probably not watching wrestling anymore. This column wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t be reading it. And the bonus? Another special legend for me is Mick Foley, who is heavily rumored to be on “Raw Gets Rocked” as well. Put them in the ring, let them talk, let them reminisce and watch me as I mark out.

DISLIKE – Three hour editions of Raw
I’m sure some people like three hour editions of Raw. I am not one of those people. Instead of being a show where you can have two or three great 15 minute matches, they are usually filled with even longer promos or segments to get everybody on the show. It’s also not fun reviewing a three hour show because they feel like they are never going to end. The Slammy Award one in December will be worse, though. I dread that one more than this one. If the booking was better than a three hour show would be fine once in a while. Since the booking is not consistently good I am strongly opposed to three hour Raw’s.

LIKE – “Don’t make me take off my jacket!”
It happened on Raw when Del Rio was brawling with Punk. This phrase uttered by John Laurinaitis is almost as good as his other one: “You’re out of line!” I don’t know if he’s intentionally coming up with goofy phrases or if that’s what he is really like. Either way, “don’t make me take off my jacket” is a Johnny Award contender for “best phrase” uttered in WWE this year. It’s going to be a tough category, folks.


As always, TJR’s Christian Michael has a full recap of Smackdown with his thoughts on the show.

LIKE – I actually care about Mark Henry vs. Big Show
WHAT DA HAYELL? I actually want to see another Henry vs. Show match? Yes it’s true. I don’t want to see more than one match between them, but the one match at Survivor Series should suffice. They are not my typical favorites or guys that I would want to see wrestle eachother. However, the booking has told a story good enough that I want to see the match one more time. Crazy huh? Good booking can carry anybody. There’s no better example of that than Mark Henry in 2011.

DISLIKE – The Long/Aksana storyline
Lame. Enough already. She’s fairly good looking, but what’s the point of these segments? I guess the writers enjoy double entendres, which is how Aksana speaks although she is clueless to it. It reminds me of the dumb girl gimmick they gave Maria. In this case it’s a dumb foreigner girl. It’s time for the Teddy Long character to move on. They need somebody new in that spot.

LIKE – Sheamus vs. Christian is awesome again
I think 2011 Christian has become the 2009/2010 version of Chris Jericho. He can lose pretty much all the time, but he’s able to stay over because of how good he is. He makes everybody around him better. How many times has he lost to Sheamus clean in the last few months? It’s been at least three. It is probably more. It doesn’t hurt Christian’s status. That’s talent. I’m glad he’s reached this point in his career because he’s had the tools for a long time. As for Sheamus, he needs a new feud. Perhaps Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett or Mark Henry will be in his near future.

DISLIKE – Christian hurts his ankle
While on tour in Europe, Christian hurt his ankle enough that they sent him home to get tests done on it. We don’t know yet if it’s just a sprain or if it’s broken. If it’s a sprain then he’s out a few weeks. If it’s broken then it could be months. I really hope it’s nothing too serious.

LIKE – The trio of Hunico, Primo & Epico
I like them. Hunico is of Mexican descent while Primo (son of Carlos Colon, brother of Carlito) and Epico (cousin of Primo) are of Puerto Rican descent. They should do a gimmick where any two of the three can team up. They’d help the tag division that is in need of teams. I liked how they got a showcase win against the Usos, who are a hardworking babyface team that can make opponents look good. The group needs a name. I don’t think “Team Wifebeater Shirts” is going to work. Also “The Stereotypes” was taken in that bowling episode of the Simpsons too.

Quick Thoughts:
– Good match with Barrett and Orton in the main event although not great. The finish was different with Barrett poking Orton directly in the eye and then rolling him up. I remember they did that finish with Drew McIntyre a few times back when he actually won matches. It’s a relatively clean win over Orton, which is rare, but it could have been booked better in terms of giving a memorable finish.

– I missed Cody Rhodes. I assume he was off to sell the loss to Randy Orton from the week before. He’s one of my favorite characters on the show. It will be interesting to see if he returns without his mask on. I think it’s time for the mask to go.

Before we go on, I need to put over this match from WWE Superstars this past week in Liverpool. It was Daniel Bryan vs. William Regal. They got about 12 minutes to tell a great story. To nobody’s surprise, it was an excellent match that I’d rate at ***1/4 and it was a clinic in technical wrestling. Give it a look if you haven’t seen it yet. One of the highlights was how they “edited” Regal’s sing a bit as he made his way to the ring. This match is a major LIKE by me. It’s a shame it wasn’t on Raw or Smackdown.

He’s a maaaaaaaaaaan, such a maaaaaaaaaaaaan!


I watched Impact this week, mostly on fast forward. There were eight matches. It was decent and they did a good job of putting over the new heel World Champion Bobby Roode. The problem is that they didn’t announce the PPV main event until about ten seconds were left in the show: Roode vs. Styles. That’s what you get when you rush three months worth of angles in two weeks. With TNA holding its annual November PPV Turning Point this Sunday, here are my predictions for the nine matches advertised for the event. Personally, I think seven or eight matches is the way to go. I think nine is too many. To TNA’s credit, at least they book most of their champions for PPVs. As we know, WWE doesn’t always do that. See, I don’t think TNA does everything wrong. At least they remember they have titles.

X-Division Title: Austin Aries (c) vs. Jesse Sorensen vs. Kid Kash
This should be the opener because it’s a fast paced match. It is nice to have a veteran like Kash mix with a younger guy like Sorensen though. That’s the basis of the feud. Aries is involved because he’s holding the title, so they might as well mix them up to make it a title match. He’s also one of my favorites in the company. Like I’ve said before, he reminds me of Chris Jericho about a decade ago. I hope they move on to Aries vs. Alex Shelley soon because Shelley’s one of the most underused guys on the roster. I’m looking for Aries to retain here. My Pick: Austin Aries.

Television Title: Eric Young (c) vs. Robbie E
On the ImpactWrestling.com site for the PPV, it says “(champ)” beside Young’s name while some of the others have just a “(c)” by their name. I guess they have to write out a word for him because it’s hard to understand. You can’t make this stuff up. Anyway, it’s nice of them to remember that this title exists after either ignoring it or treating it like a joke for months. I’ll go with Robbie E winning the title here. Just guessing. I figure it’s better than trying to use logic by this point. My Pick: Robbie E.

Tag Team Titles: Mexican America and Sarita (c) vs. Ink Inc and Toxxin
I hate when wrestling companies do this. Instead of a regular tag match, they add the valets to it so it’s a 3 on 3 match with the tag titles on the line. It should be noted that on TNA’s website for the PPV it doesn’t list have the (c) by the names of the champs. Toxxin’s an awful name, by the way. Even worse than Crimson. Maybe they can name somebody Bison in the future. I’m expecting a title change here with Ink Inc. winning the gold. The greatness of TNA’s tag division is no more. It’s just average right now. My Pick: Ink Inc.

No Disqualification Match: Rob Van Dam vs. Christopher Daniels
In most cases, No DQ matches are the result of months of build. Not here. This is a few weeks old. For some reason, Daniels is obsessed with screwdrivers to the point that when he has a match he has to seek them out from a toolbox under the ring. It’s Tool Time with Chris “The Tool Man” Daniels. Kids, Google “Home Improvement” and you’ll get it. I’m going with Daniels to win because he needs one. My Pick: Christopher Daniels.

Knockouts Title: Velvet Sky (c) vs. Gail Kim
How genius is it that they put a Hooters ad up during the Knockouts tag team match on Impact? That marketing department is so intelligent! Hooters Matters! I can’t remember the last time a Knockouts match was booked without interference or a ref bump. They are the most overbooked matches in the company. Since Velvet won the title just last month I’d expect her to retain with her Pedigree-like finisher. By the way, once again it doesn’t have a (c) by the champion’s name on the Turning Point page. I added that. My Pick: Velvet Sky.

Crimson vs. Matt Morgan
I like both guys. I’m not sure how well they will work together since it’s a big man match although Morgan is what you’d call a giant while Crimson is a bit smaller. The story is that Crimson is undefeated. Will he continue to be? Yes. My Pick: Crimson.

Mr. Anderson & Abyss vs. Bully Ray & Scott Steiner
Bully Ray & Steiner are still a part of the group known as Immortal even though the reason they were called Immortal (Hulk Hogan), is not a part of it. Abyss was in the group too, so was Anderson. Lots of people on this card were in the group at one point in the last couple of years. That’s why it was a crappy angle. Instead of being elite, it had way too much turnover and didn’t get over as a result. I don’t think winning matters here very much, but I’ll go with the faces going over with Abyss getting the win. My Pick: Mr. Anderson & Abyss.

Jeff Hardy vs. Jeff Jarrett
This is the match that’s had the best build on the card because they’ve gone two months before giving away the first singles match. They’ve had a lot of brawls too, which helps the intensity of it. I think Jarrett was a good choice of an opponent for Hardy on his road back as a babyface. It won’t be too long until Hardy is in the World Title picture, but I think this will be a two or three month feud. They should book Jarrett to win here in some kind of cheap manner to warrant a rematch next month. Either that or a DQ finish will work. My Pick: Jeff Jarrett (not clean).

TNA World Title: Bobby Roode (c) vs. AJ Styles
It’s a great match for a main event. They did this match prior to Bound For Glory, but now there’s more animosity since Roode turned heel on his boys. Styles has come to the defense of his buddy James Storm, who Roode took out. As previously mentioned, Styles challenged Roode for the World Title within the last ten seconds of this week’s Impact. And you wonder why this company doesn’t grow more. They did the Roode heel turn so fast that they didn’t have time to properly advertise the PPV main event. Usually a company would announce a PPV main at least two weeks of TV before. Not in this case. They will likely have a very good 15 minute match that Roode ends up winning through heel tactics or a ref bump because in TNA they can’t book PPV main events without heel shenanigans. At least two TNA Originals are headlining a PPV. That’s a good sign. Styles is there to make Roode look great. He will do that. It should also be noted that Styles has a sprained ankle. He’s expected to work through it as far as I know. Tough guy. Very admirable. My Pick: Bobby Roode.

This may be the least viewed TNA PPV of the year, which is saying something. With such poor promotion of the matches, especially the main event, and a huge NFL game on Sunday night between the Jets & Patriots it’s likely going to do under their usual amount of about 10,000 PPVs, which is a low number to begin with. Why should fans care about their PPVs when the booking & marketing team obviously cares more about Impact? It’s the same old story with TNA. It’s not an issue of talent. They have talent. It’s the people that are in charge of talent that are the inept ones.

Random Clip of the Week
Six years ago on November 13th, Eddie Guerrero passed away. He was one of my favorite wrestlers ever. I’m not just saying that. It’s the truth. I loved watching him because he was somebody that lived for the business. Sadly, he would end up dying for the business too because the day after his death he was scheduled to win the World Title for a second time. I’m glad that his wife Vickie and daughter Shaul are both working for WWE (Shaul performs as Raquel Diaz in FCW) because they can carry on his legacy. Below is the video that WWE aired on Smackdown in 2009 on the decade of Smackdown show as a way to honor him because Smackdown was his show in a lot of ways.

Later on Sunday I’ll re-post some Eddie Guerrero articles that I’ve written over the years in one tribute post at thejohnreport.net, so look out for those.

Melo Out with Steve Melo

What’s up Broskis? It was nice to see Zack Ryder get an opportunity to be in the main event this past Monday night on RAW with John Cena. It felt different even though it was still Cena in the main event yet again. I think in order for Ryder to be taken more seriously by the fans he needs to start acting like it from time to time. I understand the whole goofball gimmick is what got him over in the first place, but is it just me or does it feel like other wrestlers are nice to him because they think he is mentally challenged? Him and Eugene would make a great team. It wouldn’t hurt for him to get a new theme song too. Personally, I would go with “Ghosts N Stuff” by Deadmau5. This isn’t the first time I mentioned this, but I am mentioning it again because I think he is in need of it now more than ever given his recent push. Daniel Bryan could also needs one, even though they keep trying and fail. Just give him “The Final Countdown” like he used to have when he was in the indies. That song was badass when I was 4 and it still is. It’s cool to me dammit! Or at least some type of variation of it. Now that he is back to “Flight of The Valkyries” again, it still does not do it for me, even though they remixed it with some rock guitars now.

Since I am on the topic of wrestling theme songs this week, how sweet was it to see Regal come out on WWE Superstars only to have is current theme music stop playing and his old “He’s A Man!” theme start playing? That was a great rib. Kudos to whoever came up with that one. I doubt it was Vince since he hasn’t come up with a great idea since the attitude era. By the way, Regal faced Daniel Bryan. This was hands down the match of the week. Why in the blue hell was it on a show that sadly not many people watch? Quality matches like this should be on RAW, their so-called “Flagship” program. I don’t know about you but if you can make time for Michael Cole, Vickie Guerrero and Twitter, you should certainly be able to make time for quality wrestling matches on a wrestling show. It seems like a no brainer but you shouldn’t be surprised with the lack of common sense when it pertains to this entertainment company. I think I just answered my own question.

Also this week, it would seem that WWE has released their logo for the new WWE Network. I don’t know about you but I think it looks like something a little kid came up with. If I did not know any better I could swear they are trying to target a PG audience or something. I can do better. How about this?

Until next week, sit back, relax and Melo Out…because that’s what wrestling is all about.

Steve “The Melo Man” Melo
Twitter: @MeloOutTJR

—————

I like Steve’s logo much better. Thanks for that as always buddy. In case you don’t already know, Steve does all the banners you see in my columns. His graphic design skills are top notch.

I’ll be back on Tuesday for the Raw Deal on the big three hour edition of Raw from Boston. On Wednesday or Thursday (likely) will be my historical piece about Survivor Series. On Friday the TJR will join me in previewing Survivor Series, on Saturday it will be Canton’s Corner and on Sunday night I’ll write about Survivor Series live. It’s a PPV week, my friends. That means it’s a busy one for me. I hope you can enjoy it with me.

Thanks for reading.

John Canton – [email protected]
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Visit my 10+ year column archive at the Wrestling Oratory right HERE.

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