Saturday Morning Slam 09/29/12
Santino goes one on one with Heath Slater. Josh Mathews and the Miz are live on commentary. Santino uses the cobra on Slater’s leg and then wins the match with a school boy rollup.
The spotlight is on Cody Rhodes this week. Cody gives his top five vanity stars:
5. Lex Luger
4. Rick Martel
3. Rick Rude
2. Shawn Michaels
1.Dashing Cody Rhodes
The 3rd degree: What were your favorite sports growing up? John Cena: Football in high school and college. Dbry says he was a jack of all trades(lists every sport known to man). Kofi says he played defense in football because he had small hands and couldn’t be a receiver to catch the ball. Beth Phoenix says she played tennis and Kaitlyn says she played soccer. Dolph Ziggler says he has been wrestling since he was five years old.
Pop Quiz: Which WWE Superstar won the very first WWE Iron-Man Match? Austin, Michaels, or Bret Hart?
Video Vault: Most Unique Athletic Idols: Simon Dean, The Goon, Abe Knuckleball Schwartz, Mr. Perfect.
Pop Quiz Answer: Shawn Michaels.
John Cena discusses health tips: Start with a healthy breakfast, be active, and get a good night’s rest.
Thoughts: Fun match between Slater and Marella. I liked the fun facts and think the target audience(kids) would really enjoy this show. It was enjoyable for me as an adult to watch a half hour youth targeted program. If you guys don’t want me to recap it, just express your opinions below!
WWE Main Event 10/03/12
Michael Cole and the Miz open the show and talk about Champion vs Champion tonight with CM Punk taking on Sheamus.
A controversial CM Punk video package is shown.
Matt Striker interviews CM Punk backstage. Punk says he will beat Sheamus tonight and maybe start getting some of the respect he deserves.
Josh Mathews interviews Sheamus. Sheamus says he is going to shove his foot down Punk’s throat.
A video package for Sheamus is now shown.
Punk defeats Sheamus using the tights for the three count after delivering a drop toe hold on Sheamus into an exposed turnbuckle. The match went about fifteen minutes. Matt Striker interviews Sheamus in the ring after the match. Sheamus says there’s a reason Punk keeps asking for respect and not getting it.
Josh Mathews asks Punk if that’s what he meant by earning respect. Paul Heyman speaks on Punk’s behalf. Mathews talks about the pressure on Punk to face Cena at HIAC. Heyman asks Mathews how he ever got his job before kicking him out.
Striker interviews Big Show. Show says next week on Main Event he will knock Randy Orton out.
Santino and Zack Ryder defeat Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd to advance to the semi finals of the number one contender’s tournament. Marella wins using the cobra on Kidd.
Thoughts: I loved the video packages for Punk and Sheamus and I loved the buildup to their match; the duo could one day have an amazing ppv main event(WrestleMania, perhaps?). Awesome match overall as well. The tag team main event was decent, and I know a lot of people are disappointed with Gabriel and Kidd not advancing in this tournament. The thing you have to remember is that wrestlers in this business all have a designated role. Kidd and Gabriel, while exciting to watch, are mostly on TV to make other people look good; it’s what they do. I’d love to see Tyson Kidd receive a huge push, but what I like even more is knowing that when I do see Tyson Kidd on my screen, he’s going to put on a great show and make somebody look even better than they actually are. I liked the Main Event debut, and I hope WWE keeps it important and doesn’t just turn it into another show like Superstars.
WWE NXT 10/03/12
We open the show with Richie Steamboat attacking Kassius Ohno when he arrives at Full Sail.
Drew McIntyre defeats Richie Steamboat after Kassius Ohno distracts Steamboat.
Big E. Langston squashes Aiden English.
Michael McGillicutty comes out to talk about his match next week with Seth Rollins. He calls Rollins out.
Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd are interviewed by Dolph Ziggler’s brother about their match tonight with the Ascension.
Kassius Ohno defeats Percy Watson with the elbow smash.
The Ascension defeat Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd. Cameron pins Gabriel after the fall of man finisher from the duo when Gabriel misses the 450 splash.
Thoughts: This is by far the best show WWE puts on every week. The action is straight up fresh and entertaining from bell to bell and this is the sort of thing that gets me excited for the future of WWE. McIntyre and Steamboat wrestled a solid match, and Langston looked good in his short squash on English. I like the continuation of the Steamboat/Ohno rivalry and I feel like those two could do the same thing in the future with the US Title on the line. McGillicutty and Rollins is something that I CAN’T WAIT to see; two great talents going one on one is always a treat. I don’t like seeing Percy Watson so sporadically and so often on the losing end of matches, but I suppose it’s better than being future endeavored. Ohno looked great as always. I love the Ascension, and the team of Kidd and Gabriel are perfect to make the young team look even better in the ring. Awesome NXT this week!
WWE Superstars 10/04/12
Wade Barrett defeats Tyson Kidd.
David Otunga defeats Michael McGillicutty.
Tensai squashes Yoshi Tatsu.
The Rhodes Scholars defeat the Usos.
Thoughts: Kidd and Barrett worked a decent match. I’d like to see Kidd have more of a chance to win and maybe start a program that went to a ppv match. David Otunga defeating Michael McGillicutty is a joke and I’d like to slap the writer who booked it. I know Otunga is the main roster guy, but Joe Hennig is a talented athlete that belongs on Raw and Smackdown and should be feuding with top mid card contenders. Tensai is awful, and Tatsu shouldn’t just be a WWE jobber; sad booking WWE. I loved the Rhodes Scholars and Usos match! Once again, WWE gives us GREAT tag team wrestling and it doesn’t fail to entertain. I love the potential in Rhodes and Sandow to hold the gold and work rivalries against other teams besides Kane and Dbry.
WWE Smackdown 10/05/12
Big Show comes out and talks about punching Sheamus in the mouth. Sheamus interrupts. Sheamus says may the best man win and offers to shake Show’s hand. Show walks away instead and Sheamus airs the footage of Show losing to Dbry at TLC last year. Show comes back to the ring and offers to shake Sheamus’ hand. Sheamus walks away laughing.
^I’m a bit confused by this whole thing, but maybe I’m missing something obvious. What sense does it make for Big Show to shake Sheamus’ hand after he makes fun of him? Regardless, I’m intrigued to see what sort of match these two give us at HIAC.
The Prime Time Players defeat R-Truth and Kofi Kingston to advance in the tag team tournament. Young hits the gutbuster on Kofi for the win.
^ Good win for the PTP. It’s funny that the PTP couldn’t get the job done and win the titles from Kofi and Truth, but now somehow it’s easy when they are no longer the champions. Good tag team contest here.
Ryback destroys Epico.
^Feed him more. This was just another momentum builder for big R. I can see big things in his future, but I expect he’ll be booked against the Miz at Hell in a Cell in a non-title match or win by DQ if the match is for the belt.
Paul Heyman and CM Punk are shown asking the backstage crew where Dolph Ziggler is.
Layla defeats Alicia Fox. Matt Striker interviews her after the match and she talks about beating Eve in the future.
^Nobody cared. It was short and not well played out. Layla looks a lot older than I remembered.
Dolph Ziggler and CM Punk argue backstage. Booker T interrupts and books them in a one on one match tonight.
^A Royal Rumble rematch of two ridiculously talented performers? Insert Daniel Bryan original catchphrase here!
Wade Barrett squashes a jobber(they literally don’t tell us his name).
^It was like an old school edition of WWF Superstars here. Barrett was hyped the entire time by the announcers and no one could care less about the jobber. Good continued push for Barrett, but Michael Cole calling Barrett “the next World Champion in the future” sounded a bit odd.
The Miz defeats Sheamus by DQ when Big Show comes out and hits the WMD on Miz.
^Nice work by Show. It seems as though it’s been awhile since Show-Miz was a tag team(2010).
David Otunga comes out to thank Alberto Del Rio for attacking Randy Orton. Orton’s music hits and out comes Alberto Del Rio instead. Del Rio talks about Orton being afraid of him. Booker T comes out and puts ADR and Otunga in a match right now with Team Hell No. Dbry wins the match after tagging himself in and hitting the diving headbutt on Otunga.
^This was a fun tag team match, but I still don’t like David Otunga. Del Rio coming out to Orton’s music was pretty clever; it doesn’t feel like we’ve seen that too recently with any other characters for ADR to do it now. Good segment overall for everyone involved. I love the continuation of the Team Hell No storyline.
Teddy and Eve are shown arguing backstage. Long tells Eve if he was in charge, she would be…and Booker T walks in and says Teddy is not in charge. Booker tells them he won’t have them bickering.
^This is pretty typical and growing old, and we know where it’s headed.
Tensai defeats Big Show by DQ when Sheamus comes out and hits the brogue kick on Tensai.
^Now this is how Tensai should be booked, if he has to be booked at all. Sheamus and Show one upping each other takes the time to show that WWE cares about this rivalry and they want the fans to be into it. Luckily for Show and Sheamus, the real fans watch Smackdown because they love the wrestling aspect of WWE more than the entertainment and will appreciate the effort put into booking their rivalry.
Punk defeats Ziggler in the main event using the GTS.
^Solid main event from two awesome performers. What more can you ask for? Smackdown rocked the house this week and was at the top of the B-Shows alongside NXT. I love a week filled with great wrestling!
News Items:
Batista: Batista says Dana White is a modern day Vince McMahon in the sense that he knew the business needed to change and made a ton of money off it. I agree with him. UFC is insanely popular and has far more money invested into it by its biggest followers. Batista also has his first fight coming up tonight against Vince Lucero.
Sunny: Sunny wants to write a “tell all” book. Who cares? Someone that’s been out of the business as long as she has is clearly just seeking attention and going about it all the wrong way. Sunny, no one cares about you and no one will want to read a book full of garbage and “scandal.” Get a life and move on!
Hercules: Brett Ratner is directing a new Hercules film starring Dwayne Johnson. First of all, I’m happy for the Rock and all the money and success that he’s gotten from Hollywood. Second of all, I’m furious that all his attention is on movies and that WWE wants him to carry the WWE Title for a three month run during that time. It’s garbage to me that WWE is going to spit on the WWE Title by taking it out of relevance for three months. I’d guess that the winner of the Rumble will challenge for the World Title and that the winner of the Raw Elimination Chamber match(Cena) will challenge for the WWE Title at WrestleMania. Regardless, good for the Rock and I’m looking forward to seeing him in Hercules.
Hulk Hogan: Parts of the Hogan sextape have been released. Everything about the material that’s been released is just a huge invasion of Hulk Hogan’s privacy and gives the viewer an insight of the real Hulk Hogan. Unfortunately for Hulk, being famous has its price and this is one of those times where you have to really know who you can and can’t trust.
That’s all for the Rundown! I’ll be back with Raw early in the week and Bound For Glory predictions with the Smarks next Saturday! Thanks for reading!
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