Saturday Morning Slam 10/06/12
Rey Mysterio goes one on one with Michael McGillicutty. Santino and Josh Mathews are on commentary. Mysterio wins the match with the splash from the top rope.
Santino Marella is in the spotlight this week: A Santino video package is shown, highlighting his use of the cobra.
Daniel Bryan is in the hotseat answering questions this week: Do you dream of hamburgers? No. Have you ever made a mistake? No. Do you know the taste of defeat? No. Do you believe in unicorns? No. Do you play video games? No. Do you like magic? No. Do you like ice cream? Yes, especially ice cream made with almond milk. Do you need a tag team partner? No. Do you like goats? No. No. No. No. No. No. You get the picture. A hug it out clip is shown between Bryan and Kane.
Did you know? Fourteen years ago to this exact day, Mr. Socko was born when Mick Foley visited Vince McMahon in the hospital.
Superstars are asked to decide which sock is the greatest of all time, socko or the cobra? Miz says Socko. Alicia Fox says Cobra. Ziggler says socko. Truth calls it a toss up. Foley says “are you serious?” and calls Socko the better of the two ridiculous gimmicks. Santino wants to call it a tie even though he believes the cobra is more devastating and scary.
Thoughts: More Michael McGillicutty on TV? Yes, please! His match with Mysterio was really good, and I’m still puzzled as to why he isn’t a regular on the main roster. The Dbry question and answer segment was funny, and the Socko/Cobra comparison was enjoyable. Another fun week of Saturday Morning Slam!
WWE NXT 10/10/12
CM Punk opens the show and talks about watching NXT tonight. He hopes he will get the respect he deserves being the WWE Champion in the NXT roster’s presence.
Bo Dallas goes one on one with Johnny Curtis and defeats him using the spear.
Paige and Audrey Marie take on Alicia Fox and Kaitlyn. Paige pins Alicia Fox with a rollup after knocking Kaitlyn off the apron.
Jake Carter is shown flirting with a random girl backstage. Trent Barreta makes fun of him and they talk about their match next week.
Ziggler’s little brother interviews Seth Rollins. He asks Rollins if he’s nervous about defending the title against Michael McGillicutty tonight. CM Punk interrupts him. Punk tells Rollins to beat the respect out of McGillicutty.
Leo Kruger defeats Dante Dash using the modified face first neckbreaker. Kruger cuts a creepy promo after the match about not letting his prey suffer long and asks who his next trophy will be.
Ziggler’s brother interviews McGillicutty and asks him if it’s more about respect or the championship. McGillicutty says Rollins can have his respect once he wins the NXT Title. McGillicutty says he will next go after CM Punk and capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship(yes, he actually said THAT in THOSE words).
CM Punk joins William Regal and Jim Ross on commentary for the main event. Michael McGillicutty challenges Seth Rollins for the NXT Championship. Rollins wins the match out of nowhere with a modified death drop coming backwards off the top rope. Punk gives Rollins a standing ovation after the match.
Thoughts: Punk on NXT even in the smallest role makes the show that much better. Dallas looked good in his match with Curtis; I expect Dallas to be challenging for the NXT Championship in the near future. The divas tag match was decent, but the best female wrestling match on television this week was on Impact. The hype for Barreta and Carter next week is decent; I like the idea of seeing what these two smaller competitors can do in the ring together. Kruger looked impressive as usual, but I’m not sold on the African gimmick. Rollins and McGillicutty wrestled an impressive match, but the style wasn’t what I was expecting from these two. The match was somewhat slow paced with a few high spots, but the overall story came across a lot better than I was picturing it. I liked seeing Punk clap for Rollins once it was over. Awesome show!
WWE Main Event 10/10/12
Miz and Cole open the show in the ring and hype Big Show vs Randy Orton tonight.
A video package is shown for Big Show highlighting his dominance.
Josh Mathews interviews Big Show about his match tonight. Show says his win over Orton on Smackdown was not a fluke, and tonight he will prove it.
Miz says he’s been hit by the KO before and says it feels like a sledgehammer against your skull. Cole compares Big Show’s fist size to Josh Mathews’ skull.
A video is shown hyping Randy Orton’s talent.
Matt Striker asks Orton what we can expect from him now that he’s completely healthy. Orton says lightning doesn’t strike twice, but he knows that a viper can.
Big Show defeats Randy Orton using the chokeslam.
Striker interviews Show after the match. Show says in two weeks he becomes the World’s Largest Champion.
Sheamus is interviewed by Josh Mathews and says there is no bigger fight in WWE than the Big Show. He says the win will be that much sweeter at HIAC because of that.
Kofi Kingston defeats Michael McGillicutty using the SOS. Miz interviews Kofi after the match. Kofi calls the match he just had fun. Miz mocks him. Kofi challenges him to a match next week on Main Event. Miz accepts and agrees to put the title on the line after Kofi taunts him.
Thoughts: Orton/Show was a good match, and Show going over as the top guy gives him much needed momentum headed into HIAC. I love the setup for the big match each week on this new show. Also, how cool is it to see Michael McGillicutty AGAIN on TV for the week? Kofi and McGillicutty worked a good match, and I’m really happy to see Kofi getting this singles push once again; it feels long overdue.
WWE Superstars 10/11/12
Wade Barrett defeats Tyson Kidd using the souvenir elbow.
Antonio Cesaro defeats Justin Gabriel using the neutralizer.
Thoughts: Two matches instead of three or four? I find it interesting how many top heels there are more than faces. Both were good matches this week, and guys like Barrett and Cesaro continue to show that WWE is ultimately more in favor of putting over the guys with larger body sizes.
WWE Smackdown 10/12/12
Booker T opens Smackdown and says we are going to find out right now which move is more powerful, the WMD or the brogue kick. Sheamus kicks the balloon and it’s 1322 pounds per square inch of force. Show is hesitant and says it’s a setup. Sheamus taunts Show into doing it. Show punches the balloon and it’s 1809 pounds per square inch of force. Show wins and tells Sheamus he’ll see him at HIAC. Sheamus points out that Show hit a machine that’s standing still, but he gets hit in the head from behind by Tensai.
^I liked this opening and the comparison of the brogue kick vs the WMD. I like how WWE keeps finding reasons to make us doubt that Sheamus can beat the Big Show. Superman gimmick much?
Booker T has booked Sheamus in a match with Tensai right now. Sheamus defeats Tensai using white noise followed by the brogue kick.
^Tensai is awful, but like I said before, WWE appears to be going for continuity in terms of Tensai staying angry with the World Champion. This match was nothing special, but it’s good momentum for the World Champ.
Ricardo and Del Rio are shown backstage. Ricardo is worried about Orton showing up. Del Rio sends him to find Orton if he’s so worried about it.
^I love when a heel orders his manager around without caring what happens to him.
Ricardo is shown scared and looking for Orton. He hears hissing around a corner and is jumped by Santino with his cobra. Santino tells Ricardo an equally deadly snake is called a viper.
^Love the comedy between Santino and Ricardo. I wish Ricardo would wrestle more in the ring; I can imagine his popularity would be huge compared to ADR.
The Band(Slater, Mahal, and McIntyre) cut a promo in the ring. Slater and Mahal take on Santino and Ryder. Slater pins Ryder to win the match.
^The Band is the new name according to twitter for this trio. I read that management was puzzled by the decision to put these guys together on TV, but I have to wonder why they wouldn’t want to make lower mid card guys relevant on their show. Isn’t it all about doing everything you can to make a character seem important to the fans? This grouping happens to work for this set of heels.
Kane goes one on one with Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler uses his briefcase on Kane and gets himself disqualified. Daniel Bryan comes to the rescue for Kane after the match. Kane and Dbry argue and Matt Striker tries to interview them. He asks if this bickering is going to cost them the tag titles at HIAC. Striker asks Bryan how he responds to being called the weak link of the team. Dbry puts Striker in a no-lock. Kane pulls Dbry off and then chokeslams Striker himself.
^Awesome segment here from the tag team champs. Kane and Dbry continue to have the best segment on any show, and the one upping of one another continues to make for entertaining TV.
Ricardo is shown looking for Orton. He hears Orton talking behind a door and bursts in. He finds Hornswoggle using a brawling buddy Randy Orton. Ricardo attacks the brawling buddy toy.
^How ya been, Hornswoggle?
Miz is on commentary while Kofi goes one on one with the Big Show. Show defeats Kofi using the WMD. Miz gets in the ring and taunts Kofi after the match. He tells Kofi he always comes up short.
^So the Big Show gets more momentum, and Kofi gets destroyed. I’m expecting a great match on Main Event next week; I’m hoping WWE doesn’t disappoint.
Dbry and Del Rio exchange words backstage. Dbry says GOAT stands for greatest of all time. Dbry tells ADR that they have a one on one match tonight. Bryan reminds them that he is the tag team champions.
^Dbry is just the best talker in WWE right now. I can’t believe WWE didn’t realize what they had in this guy and fired him once upon a time.
Layla and Kaitlyn are shown telling Booker T that Aksana found a blonde wig in Eve’s bag. Eve says she found a blonde wig in Teddy Long’s bag. Booker takes Layla and Kaitlyn for coffee to talk. Teddy and Eve both deny having anything to do with the attack to one another.
^And the drama continues to unfold. Can we move past this, please?
Sin Cara goes one on one with Damien Sandow. Cody Rhodes is thrown out of ringside during the match. Sin Cara wins the match after Sandow is distracted by Cody being tossed from ringside and Sin Cara rolls him up.
^Solid match. I like when Sin Cara doesn’t botch left and right.
Kane and Dbry are shown backstage. Dbry tells Kane he doesn’t want him to come out and help him tonight.
^Irony? Hypocritical much? Oh well. Dbry and Del Rio sounds like a good main event to me. I’m sure Dbry will complain next week that Kane didn’t help him out.
ADR goes one on one with Dbry in the main event. ADR defeats Dbry using the cross armbreaker. ADR gets on the mic and says Orton is not here tonight. Del Rio begins mocking Orton until Orton shows up and attacks him. ADR escapes and Orton delivers an RKO to Ricardo on the announce table.
^Solid ending to a solid show. Yeah, I say that a lot, but it’s okay. The show was really good again this week. Orton and Del Rio, though not officially inked, will have a potentially show stealing match at the HIAC ppv. I like that Orton is able to work around filming Twelve Rounds: Reloaded and still make appearances every week on TV. Dbry losing clean is something that I feel like should bother me more, but it doesn’t and I think it’s mostly because ADR is really solidifying himself as a top heel in WWE and winning me over in that role.
News Items:
Ryback: Ryback gathered 69% of the votes against John Cena for who the WWE Universe wants to face CM Punk at Hell In A Cell. Wow. Anyone think this might be a sign to WWE writers of how sick and tired fans are of seeing Cena challenge for the title?
Punk/Fan: It’s unlikely that Punk will be punished because WWE feels they can’t afford to keep him off the road. I wonder what the severity of the crime would have to be for WWE to take some action. I recall a certain Rob Van Dam incident where the former Mr. Monday Night dropped the WWE Title and ECW Title in the same week after being caught by authorities in possession of marijuana. Hypocrisy much?
Linda/Attitude: The Attitude Era dvd is being released November 20 with little advertisement because of the Linda McMahon Senate campaign. I don’t quite understand the logic of Linda running for Senate, but to each his own. The dvd would sell far better if WWE were allowed to advertise it, and it could actually be one of the biggest sellers of the year simply because of the title.
That’s all for the rundown! We’ll have our Bound For Glory predictions up tomorrow night. Thanks for reading!
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