WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw Review 6/27/11 (aka: The CM Punk Show)

What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw on 6/27/11. Yeah, I am healthy once again and what a perfect time to dive into a full review by talking about this particular episode. I know there is one thing everyone is talking about after this episode, but I have to save the best for last. Without further delay, let's begin the review.

We open the show with HBK. He talks about breaking his promise in making multiple appearances after his retirement. He plugs is new tv show on the Outdoor Network and is interrupted by CM Punk and Nexus. There was no Mason Ryan tonight since Michael Cole informed the audience he was injured during the weekend. Punk mocks the audience and HBK because they cheer their asses off for the HOFamer, but should be begging to keep Punk around. HBK claims he is better than Punk, which makes Punk say that he "was" better than him, but not anymore. HBK hits SCM on David Otunga and Punk says he will regret that. Raw GM email comes through and because of Punk's words, he is going to have a match right now against somebody. Booker T gets on the titantron and spins the wheel. It lands on a question mark space, meaning Punk gets a mystery opponent (Wasn't it already a mystery?) and Book reveals it is Kane. HBK hits SCM on Michael McGillicutty and it appears that match will start after a commercial break. Overall, a decent opening. I like how they let Punk and HBK exchange some words. This is about as close as your gonna get to a confrontation between Punk and HBK and I enjoyed it. I felt the first choice for the Raw Roulette was kinda cheap. Considering that Punk already had a mystery opponent since it was never revealed, it was like making the first spin kinda pointless. That would be like having a tag team and saying you will be competing in a tag team match, well duh? Just a minor thing I had to say about the first Wheel of Wrestling spin.

Match #1: CM Punk vs Kane
The match was nothing special and didn't last too long. Punk eventually walks out on the match and claims he had nothing to gain by defeating Kane. I have to agree with Punk on this one. Punk would make one more epic appearance before the show ends. Like I said, I am saving the best for last.

Winner via countout: Kane

Match #2: Sin Cara vs Evan Bourne in a No Countout Match
Cole claims it was the flooding from the WWE Universe that caused the screwup in the voting last week. I don't really buy that since I think what happened is WWE didn't reset the counter for a new vote. I say that because Kelly Kelly was selection "B" and so was Ryan who ended up being "voted in". Anyway, this was a pretty good match with lots of fast paced, highflying action. Booker is a riot as the host and it almost seemed like he was on some special drug that gave him so much energy. Sin looks like the green ranger with the blue and gold lighting in the ring. It kinda turned the aqua/sky blue color Sin usually wears into a green color. I almost expected Sin to play the dagger flute to summon the Dragon Zord. Anyway, the match ends when Sin hits La Mistica (that is at least what it was called in Mexico since WWE hasn't really given it an official name. It is the Tilt a Whirl going into a DDT or sometimes a Bulldog) and wins cleanly. Well, it was nice to get the matchup despite some of the voting screw ups in last week's show.

Winner via pinfall: Sin Cara

Backstage scene with Booker and Kofi Kingston. He says Kofi gets to spin the wheel, but Vickie comes in and spins it anyway. It ends up landing on Player's Choice, meaning Kofi gets to pick the match. He says he wants to have Vickie banned from ringside and Booker seems ok with it. This was another possible screwup in last week's voting since WWE would say it was supposed to be Vickie banned from ringside, but ended up being 2 out of 3 falls. For being Power to the People, we sure didn't get a whole lot of power based on some of these errors. I am Error.

Match #3: Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler
It was announced by the announce team who will be competing in the Raw MITB Ladder Match at the PPV, but based on everything going around, it is possible this match might change. Again, I will get to that subject at the end of the review. I really wish King would stop the Vickie/overweight jokes. For one, they are not funny and two, she isn't even overweight anymore and is in excellent shape. Yeah I know, faces just poking fun of the heels, but can't King be a little more creative with his insults? This was a decent match, but this also proves the WWE has no immediate plans for Kofi and Ziggler if they are still doing the same thing after the title just changed hands. Both guys really do need new programs. Anyway, Kofi hits TIP and wins the match, meaning this might make the rivalry continue. Well, we only have to have this feud continue for another 8 months until it reaches the Kurt Angle/Jeff Jarrett rivalry level of ridiculousness. Wait, is that even a word? Well, it should be....

Winner via pinfall: Kofi Kingston

Backstage with Booker and Maryse. Alberto Del Rio arrives and says he shouldn't have to face Big Show since he already beat him. Maryse spins the wheel for Del Rio and continues to flirt with him until he sees the results and gets angry. It is revealed it will be a Steel Cage match. Those women are beautiful, yet cold hearted at times.

Match #4: Alberto Del Rio vs Big Show in a Steel Cage Match
Hey, I think Bumblebee is in the house since Del Rio is arriving in a yellow car. Come on, the movie does come out this week, so I couldn't have been the only one to think the same thing, right? This match was rather short, but I am ok with that because the idea of a ten plus minute steel cage match with Show is enough to make me sick. Mark Henry arrived during the match and ripped off the cage door. He then brings the door with him in the cage and attacks Show. Del Rio escapes through the door and wins the match. After the match, Henry tackles Show through one of the caged doors and leaves Show down and out. I gotta admit that I am invested in what Henry is going to do next since he is actually turning some heads with this push. It has been a while since Henry has made himself stand out and even though I am not a Henry guy, I am interested to see where this goes. Needless to say, Show isn't have a good month and that hospital bill must be through the roof.

Winner: Alberto Del Rio

Match #5: Kelly Kelly vs Nikki Bella in a Submissions Match
A submission matchup involving the divas and Natalya is NOT involved is enough to make think about hitting myself with a frying pan. In fact, excuse me a moment...

What's next, Daniel Bryan vs Punk in a Pillow Fight? Anyway, the match didn't last long and Kelly wins with a Boston Crab. It was also announced Kelly would defend the title against Brie at the PPV.

Winner via submission (ugh...): Kelly Kelly

Backstage with Book and Rey Mysterio. I gotta say I am really liking Booker as the host of this and think he did this roll a lot better than what he has been doing on commentary. Anyway, he spins the wheel and it will be a Tornado Tag Match with him and Alex Riley vs Miz and Jack Swagger. I miss Tornado Tag matches, we need to see this more often. After he leaves, Diamond Dallas Page walks in to plug the WCW Nitro DVD. Drew McIntyre walks in complaining about not getting enough screen time until HBK shows up to greet him with a SCM. Booker tries to talk to HBK about the WCW days but HBK has no memories of this because he was in WWF and he had to take some time away from his back troubles. Don't worry HBK, if you want to see WCW at its worst, just watch TNA. Oh wait, the DVD is called the BEST of Nitro, so nevermind. Actually, TNA isn't doing too bad as of right now, but something is bound to screw up when Vince Russo is still there.

Match #6: Rey Mysterio and Alex Riley vs Miz and Jack Swagger
This was a pretty long match, but I thought it was pretty good. Up to this point the action wasn't really anything special, but finally we got a pretty good match out of the evening. This was hands down the best match of the night. The finish comes when Rey hits 619, Riley hits a DDT, and Rey hits a Splash on Swagger and wins the match. Check out the match, wasn't too bad.

Winner via pinfall: Rey Mysterio and Alex Riley

Backstage with R-Truth and Booker. Truth is talking to himself and reveals he is in a Tables Match against John Cena tonight. Truth seems fine with it and continues to talk to himself. Can we get Truth his bi polar medication? It might help....just saying?

Match #7: John Cena vs R-Truth in a Tables Match
Matchup was pretty short. It ended when Cena had the AA set up to send Truth through a table, but Punk arrives and moves the table. Once Cena realizes what happened, he attacks Punk. They are both in the ring and he is about to hit AA on Punk, but he gets out of it and Truth shows up to hit a Spear on Cena through the table to win the matchup (this table was setup at one of the four corners just in case you were wondering). Truth wins the match, but we are not done yet because it appears Punk has something to say. Back in a second.

Winner: R-Truth

Punk now goes to the entrance ramp and cuts a promo. Quite frankly, I would go into detail on what Punk was talking about (and based on my thoughts, I kinda did. I am a lier, so sue me?), but I think youtube can do justice. Please watch Punk's promo if you haven't seen it yet because it is definitely a watcher. If you have seen it, watch it again or continue reading my review....

Wow....just wow. I am going to say this was most likely a worked shoot promo by Punk. Despite that, this was one of the best promos I have heard all year and probably one of the best promos I have heard in all the years I have been watching pro wrestling. I love how he called out Hulk Hogan and Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) for being ass kissers. I also liked how he mention breaking the fourth wall. Yeah, it is without a doubt the crumbling of the fourth wall. In fact, Punk breaks the fourth wall so much in this promo that it seemed like be picked up a bulldozer, smashed the wall, rebuilt the wall, and then repeated the process 20 times to make sure that wall was made his bitch. It was also kind of funny how he plugged in Colt Cabana, NJPW, and ROH and doesn't even mention TNA. I think Punk has made it pretty clear that working in TNA would be onn of the last things he would ever do. That was almost Punk's way of saying TNA isn't it worth coming out of his mouth because of what is going on over there. I know I just pissed off a lot of TNA marks out there, but Punk would never consider working with the Hardys unless it was in a WWE ring, and even then he probably wouldn't be ok with it. I have to agree with Punk in saying he is the best talent out there. He goes out there and makes it all work and it really does feel that Punk doesn't get his due because he is very outspoken or a bit of a rebel with some of the WWE's changes, like the show being PG and the fact they aren't called wrestlers anymore. I also like how he talked about Paul Heyman. I have always said that Heyman was a genius with how to book talent. Heck, he had some pretty awful talent in the original ECW (he had some good talent as well, but some of his talent were broken down or had their limits) and somehow made it last as long as it did. Heyman is a pretty bad business man, but the man really knows how to write an interesting wrestling show and I think is the best booker out there. TNA just wishes they could get Heyman, but Heyman would never go that way unless he has complete creative control because he doesn't want Russo, Eric Bischoff, Hogan, and Dixie to mess with his creation. I also liked how he talked down about the fact the Rock is already in the main event for WM and it should be him. I think there is plenty of talents in the WWE who are just as frustrated about Rock getting the main event slot considering he has been out of the game for 7-8 years and they get passed over for him. Still, I am for the Rock vs Cena match, but I can understand what Punk is saying and I think there are others who feel the same way. This had to have been one of the best endings to Raw this year, and it might even be better than when the Rock made his first appearance this year. It was also reported on the WWE website that Punk has been suspended for what he was saying. I am pretty sure this was a worked shoot. If it was a shoot, I would guarantee that WWE wouldn't have let Punk talk about all the smack he did tonight and would have cut his mic a lot sooner. Plus, they were quick on the button for when he said the word "douchbag", so this has to be a worked shoot. Now, I have a confession. Raw did a double taping tonight, so next week's Raw has already been filmed. I normally try to restrain from the spoilers, but after seeing this promo, I just had to find out what is going on. I won't post any spoilers for next week's show, and I ask that anyone who is reading this that they DO NOT post any spoilers for next week's show in the comments. Please, I beg you, DO NOT talk about next week's show because I hate it when people ruin it for somebody who wants to wait until they have seen it. All I can tell you about next week's Raw is that it is a watcher, but I think you already knew that after tonight's ending. I am also going to say something that is going to get a lot of hate from some people, but this is my opinion and my show and I am going to say it. CM Punk is the best pure talent in all of pro wrestling currently and he is better than John Cena. I know people are going to disagree and get angry with my statement, but Punk makes pro wrestling fun to watch. He cuts brilliant promos, he is funny and cunning, he is charasmatic, has great in ring ability, and he needs to be reckonize for what he brings to the table. I want it to be known that if I had Punk's autograph, I would NOT sell it and I would probably frame it on my wall. You have to admit since this was a work shoot, Punk is one hell of a negotiator to somehow convince McMahon to green light some of the things he had to say. I know most people are aware that I am a pretty big Punk supporter, but even you have to agree that Punk is a valuable character to this company and it would be a mistake to not agree on a new contract.

Overall Impression:
Prior to Punk's last promo, I would say this was a skippable Raw, but Punk totally changed that. It is amazing how one sceen in a wrestling show can immediately change my perspectative of the show. I highly recommend checking out this show, and if you don't want to watch the full show, just watch Punk's promo and I am sure you will enjoy it. Raw had some pretty good matches brought to the table in the Sin match and the Tornado match, but clearly what stole the show was Punk. This is very compelling television and I really want to see what happens next week. Definitely one of the groundbreaking moments we will be talking about when we recap 2011 later in the year. Say what you will about McMahon, but ending the show liked this is genius and I am sure we will see Punk back in the ring and the "suspension" is all a work. WWE should be bending backwords in trying to make Punk stay with the company because he is in his prime. If Punk leaves, who becomes the best heel on the show? Del Rio? Please, he isn't even close to Punk and is drawing basic heat at the moment. Christian is doing ok with the heel roll, but it doesn't hold a candlestick to Punk. Miz is close, but he still needs work. Unless Chris Jericho isn't set to show up once Punk leaves, we might have an issue here. That is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. Also, please tell me what you thought of the Running Diary concept I did last week. I would like to continue that and I might even review SD in that format, but I am still debating. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and prepared to be Punk'd.

WrestlingNerd's Quick Thoughts/Running Diary for TNA Impact Wrestling 6/23/11

Ok, so I am feeling a little better today, but I still feeling a little ill. So, for a second straight time (two times in a row, man), I will be doing some quick thoughts/running diary for this week's edition of Impact Wrestling on 6/23/11. Don't worry, I have no intentions of making this the common format for how I do reviews. Although, I really would like your honest feedback in how you feel about this concept and if you seem to want it, I can try to do a running diary here and there, but will still do the normal full reviews I am customed to bringing you on a weekly basis. Well, let's begin.

-Backstage scene #1: Seconds into the show and Jeff Jarrett is on screen. I thought he was supposed to be in Mexico via last week's stipulation.

-If Eric Bischoff valued Jarrett so much, wouldn't you fight "The Network" to keep him in the States as opposed to sending him to Mexico?

-Bischoff wants Jeff to do to Mexico as he did in TNA. Great, I guess AAA is going out of business then. Well.....they had a good run. Joking aside, he really is in Mexico and I think he is already the world champion there. No joke

-Bischoff is calling out Sting and Sting continues to freak me out. He is crazier than Joker, Carnage, and Deadpool combined.

-It's Batman, starring Sting as the Joker.

-Sting vs Abyss tonight. Sting thanks Bischoff by covering him in the red face paint and beating him up. Is making your opponent look like a red Kirby, Sting's new calling card?

-What? They did some of the BFG Series matches in various house shows? Well, it didn't take long for TNA to screw up a creative idea. This concept should be on free tv or PPV, not in some suburb of Jersey or wherever the hell TNA is doing a house show. I hated when WWE did it, and I don't like it now. In other words, storylines should appear on tv or the main show, end of discussion.

-Vince Russo, the creative killer

-Scott Steiner vs Bully Ray is about what you expect. With a ref distracted, Bully uses the chain on Steiner's neck (Yeah, I know he should have done a head strike, just go with it) and picks the bones to win

-Backstage scene #3: Bischoff "Anderson is a SOB.....ADVIL!!!" No joke, he seriously yelled for some pain reliever. I guess as a Producer, your allowed to scream random words for the hell of it.

-PIKACHU!!! See, I can yell random words too.

-Velvet Sky and Miss Tessmacher vs ODB and Miss Jacki coming up next. I would make a joke here, but I think I am above that.

-I found out WWE is making up to the fans on Raw next week by giving them the Evan Bourne/Sin Cara match we originally wanted. So, if WWE is finding a way to make it up to the fans, what is TNA's plan to make it up to people who watch Impact?

-Sky totally ripping off the Miz's T-shirt idea with that "Hello" name tag deal.

-The two models are beating up the two trained ladies? The KO Division is turning into the WWE Diva Division more and more every week, and that is NOT a complement.

-What a horrible ending to this match. OBD tried to distract the ref, but she she screwed it up or it was horribly choreographed. The ref just basically fell to the floor on purpose to allow Jacki to kick Sky in to groin and steal this match.  Did Sky magically grow testicals to take a fall like this, or does this creative staff just doesn't care anymore?

-Backstage scene #5: Tara vs Madison Rayne on July 14 edition of Impact. Why not now? Plus, this feud is like a light switch, on and off.

-Backstage scene #12: Steiner confronts Immortal members and Bully tells him to think about joining Immortal and says he will think about it. Wrestling logic, Steiner was working against Immortal earlier in the year, but months later he might join the group for no real reason.

-Matt Morgan and Crimson vs Beer Money up next. A BFG Series match

-I guess "The Network" doesn't care if you have a separated shoulder or not since they didn't force Roode to sit this match out. More wrestling logic.

-This matchup wasn't too bad. Robert Roode was selling the shoulder injury and because of some miscommunication from the tag champs, Roode eats a Carbon Footprint and wins the match.

-What is strange here is only Morgan wins the points because he pinned someone. So, you mean to tell me even though Crimson was on the winning team, he gets no points? My question is what is the point of having tag team matches for this series if only one person is going to get points? The answer, because it's TNA.

-A free trial for the Impact Wrestling Fantasy Game? Does that mean you have to pay to play the full game? What a ripoff and a joke. I understand some fantasy games are either free or you have to pay to play, but on a wrestling show is just insane. Who would want to play this?

-Eric Young is on a beach talking to some guy about Popeye. I am not making this up. In fact, I wish I was.

-AJ Styles wants back in the X Division for the upcoming Dest X PPV and says the six sided ring will make a return for one night. Even though I have expressed my thoughts on the six sided ring (and got slammed by what seemed like the entire world), I am fine with it making a comeback for one night. Plus, the majority of the people involved are lightweights or X Division talent and extra turnbuckles suits them better.

-Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels each make an argument for a match at the PPV. For now, it is Styles vs Daniels and Joe was unhappy about it. This is possible foreshadowing since Joe would have to be involved in this match since their triple threat was a pretty good contest back in the day.

-Backstage scene #28: Joe confronts Kaz and cheap shots him. Why? Better question, do you even care?

-Speaking of X Division, did Brian Kendrick just decide to give up his conquest?

-Dakota Darsow vs Federico Palacios vs Zema Xion in progress. Every Indy fanboy/IWC members wet dream.

-I have to be honest. I don't really pay attention to the Indys that much and I have never heard of these guys. And now I am going to be slammed by the IWC thinking I am not a legit wrestling fan. Hey, at least I enjoy wrestling as opposed to complain about wrestling 99% of the time.

-The match was ok, but I wasn't totally blown away from either of them. I think Austin Aries last week really raised the bar.

-Zema wins with a 450 Splash. The odd thing here is Dakota got the on screen entrance walk while the other two got it off screen. I guess that is what happens when you have so many backstage scenes on a show.

-Backstage scene #????: RVD is talking X Division until Jerry Lynn shows up and says he agrees with Rob. Second time Lynn has just shown up on TNA to say like four words and then walk away. Is it a joke or does Lynn think the Impact Zone taste bad?

-Winter and Mickie James fighting backstage. At first, I thought this was a brawl, but it turns out it was a match. Either I am feeling lightheaded or something is wrong because I never heard a bell ring to make this match official. T H A N K S.......

-It turns out it was a Street Fight, but based on how the ref was acting, I almost thought it was an I Quit match because he keeps asking them how they are doing. Do the referees even know the rules to the matches anymore?

-The match was nothing special, but had a conclusion that made no sense. Winter distracts the ref and Angelina Love attacks Mickie from behind and Winter picks the bones. Here is my question. What the f*** is the point of doing a ref distraction or hidding the interference in a Street Fight? I thought a Street Fight had no rules, thus run-ins are fair play. Come on Russo, try better. Heck, just TRY!!!

-Impact Wrestling on Twitter. Yes, because THIS is what was missing in my life.

-I just realized no Hulk Hogan this week. I guess he had his pudding early tonight.

-Sting vs Abyss set to begin.

-Do we have to do the Michael Buffer thing for every single IW main event? Besides, this main event is nothing to brag home about.

-Where Wrestling Matters and where we pad out the time so you get less wrestling.

-Sting continues to lose his damn mind. He must be on some sort of illegal substance to make him this bats*** insane.

-Taz's logic for agreeing with the heels makes no sense half the time and notice he never has a legit reason for going to their side. I think Taz is happy that is still gets paid. Taz was never great on commentary, but he was at least funny. It almost feels like he doesn't care anymore since the comedy is really lacking with his commentary.

-A barbed wired glove? Was that found in OJ's house?

-Sting intercepts the glove and uses it on Abyss. Ref calls for the bell. Match was boring.

-Anderson stares into Sting's eyes and wonders to himself....."Why so serious?"

Overall, this week's episode was nothing to brag home about and I found it quite boring. There was some ok matches with the Morgan match and the X Division match, but it was nothing that was a watcher or something you just had to see. One of the more disappointing things about this week's Impact was their BFG Series. I thought it was an interesting concept and I would be interested to see how it goes, but there are flaws that are starting to show up. I think my main issue with it is some of these matches aren't being shown to us and are instead going on during a house show, which is bs because it literally means TNA is going to overload this concept and it might end up turning into something we can't stand when September comes. Not to mention the scoring for this is going to get ridiculous. Also, I think some of these guys have already performed in 2-3 matches while some of them haven't even competed yet. I know it's wrestling, but if they are going to make a tournament and say it will be fair, they can at least follow their own rules and not give someone extra matches. Also, you would think there would be a story or confrontation involving Anderson and Gunner since that happened last week, but this week it almost seems like TNA is trying to forget that ever happened since no one ever talked about it again. I am also not too fond of Sting's crazy gimmick at the moment. I think it is because pro wrestling has been going overboard with this lately when you have Cody Rhodes and R-Truth doing some variations of a disturbed character. Also, there is no possible way to take Sting seriously right now, but maybe that is the point. You can say the same about Truth at the moment, so I guess they got me there. In a lot of ways, Sting is almost pulling a Tim Curry/Clown from IT deal with this current character, and nobody could take that performance seriously. It was just too funny and it seems Sting is doing the same. Also, these shows have so many backstage scenes. Do we really need a ton of backstage scenes at every moment? Some people think the WWE goes overboard with backstage scenes, but I think TNA is doing 2 or 3 times as many backstage scenes as an episode of Raw. This show also featured two KO matches, which is going overboard with the fanservice. Plus, neither one of them were that good and both had questionable or botched endings. Again, this show is taped. Why can't they just do a second take? That almost proves they just don't care anymore since they don't do second takes nor do some fancy editing. I really want TNA to do well and challenge the WWE, but this isn't gonna get the job done. When you have concussion guys talking about cartoon characters, rivalries going and coming, faces fighting faces, heels fighting heels, and a bunch of other things that make no sense, this isn't gonna work. This wasn't a terrible episode of Impact and I will say it was tolerable, but nothing worth checking out and the whole show almost felt like a filler show. Filler shows are generally shows you pass up on, so maybe that is the case for Impact this week. Well, that is going to do it for the running diary and I hope you enjoyed it. Please, tell me what you thought of the running diary concept and it might inspire me to try this more often, but I will still do the full reviews. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.

WrestlingNerd's Quick Thoughts/Running Diary for WWE Raw 6/20/11

This is going to be different to how I normally do things. I am feeling under the weather and can't do a full review of the show. Instead, what I am going to do is give my quick thoughts on the show. It will be kind of a running diary. This will be different to how I do things, so please bare with me.

-CM Punk's promo to open the show was brilliant. I really liked the snow angels bit. Seriously, this guy is a character and WWE better realize what they have in Punk.

-Did the WWE Universe already screw up the first vote of the night?

-Kelly Kelly is your new Divas Champ and the Fabulous Moolah is spinning in her grave. If your gonna make her the Divas Champ, the least you can do is have her win with something a little mroe impressive than a rollup.

-Kelly Kelly is the Megan Fox of the WWE. She is pretty and attractive, but can't act worth s***.

-Damn, who's Corn Flakes did Evan Bourne piss in to get a match against Mason Ryan? The voting has to be off with this one considering that Sin Cara was one of the choices.

-Is there a Batista chant going on during this match?

-It is funny how King is sticking up for Big Show on the Mark Henry attack on SD. It makes no sense because Show is totally at fault for all of this. Wrestling logic, faces stick up for the faces, no matter how stupid their motives are.

-Fans voted for an Arm Wrestling Match? I am starting to think these metrics are bulls***.

-Three votes in so far and "B" is the winner everytime? I am thinking the WWE isn't resetting the results for a new vote.

-I think I hear a "This is stupid" with the live audience.

-Power to the People? More like Power to the Creative Staff.

-I guess a Henry push is on the way or a rivalry between Henry/Show. Yeah.....

-Another themed Raw for next week with Raw Roulette? Can we space out these themed shows since it is starting to become overkill.

-The heels in the WWE are starting to lose their minds...."Really, Really, Randy, Randy, Jimmy, Jimmy".

-Interesting promo by R-Truth, Christian, and Miz to say the least.

-How does Teddy Long get the power to make matches on Raw? Maybe the internet was done wherever the Raw GM is at?

-Another Kofi/Ziggler match? Well, hopefully this one won't end in a botch or screwup like at CP.

-Ziggler retains his title by getting DQed. I kinda hope this ends things between the two because they both need fresh opponents.

-CM Punk vs Alberto Del Rio vs Rey Mysterio was a pretty good match, but it looked pretty brutal as well. Gotta give it up for all three guys. My personal favorite match of the evening.

-Man, Punk will say anything the WWE doesn't like. Pisses all over the concept of "Sports Entertainment" and referred to himself as a wrestler earlier. Gotta give him props, but he could be swimming with sharks for saying things like that, but I am sure he is well aware of that.

-July 17th will definitely be a historic day. Lots of reports are going on with this one to figure out if it's true or if he is doing the same storyline he did in ROH, but eitherway, I am very invested into what goes on. Sometimes when pro wrestling isn't predictable, that is the best time to tune in. I think even most people would be saying they would be disappointed if Cena still wins the match at MITB.

-A Paper bag match? I don't know what is sadder, the fact this was a choice or the fact that it almost won.

-Daniel Bryan needs a new entrance theme. Anyone on board with the Guile Theme?

-I like how Cole argues against King and Booker when they make mistakes on commentary, but Cole tends to make about as many mistakes as them on the headset.

-It is funny how depressed Cody Rhodes acts, but his paper bags are always smiling.

-A dance contest? If this really was Power to the People, we should get the option if we want to see this or not.

-If Peaches was Vickie's stage name, does that mean Eddie Guerrero met his wife there? Sometimes, kayfabe and wrestling logic can be funny, yet strange.

-I think John Travolta is going to sue somebody?

-A 20 minute time limit. I think the WWE just took a shot at TNA.

-This is a fun little game for you to play at home? How many times can Cole sneak a "vintage" for one match?

-Main even match wasn't too bad, but I almost expected a Punk run in during this match.

Overall, this was a better showing than the one from last week. I would assume this week featured more wrestling than last week. Kofi/Ziggler, the Triple Threat and the main event were all fun matches to watch. Yeah, there is some strange moments like Ryan getting voted in and the fact Kelly is now a champion, but no show is perfect these days. I was a little surprised about Punk's annoucement, but this is a big oppourtunity for Punk to make some things happen. He is pretty much the focus for the whole MITB PPV and depending on the PPV buys, it could determine if the casual fans view Punk as a big asset and thus the WWE should pay him the money or if they don't care and thus will let him walk away. I think Punk has picked up quite a fanbase during his time in the WWE, and it would be a damn shame to see him leave. Even if he is just taking some time off like Chris Jericho, it would still be a big blow to the WWE because he is arguably the best heel in this era of pro wrestling. I wasn't really big on the whole voting concept during the night and can't shake that something was off about the voting. Either the WWE wasn't resetting the votes, the fans went insane, or the voting was rigged. To be fair, some of the choices and outcomes during the last few votes went a lot better and I think the fans did make a couple of good choices with a 2 out of 3 falls for Kofi/Ziggler, a Falls Count Anywhere Match for the Triple Threat, and a Elimination Match for the main event. I think this was a Raw worth checking out, but I think it is because Punk got more screen time and I think more Punk equals a better show. I think this week's Raw is a watcher and I had fun watching it, no matter how ill I was feeling. That is going to do it for the review......er, I mean running diary and I hope you enjoyed it. I don't want to make this a staple for how I do reviews, but I had to work with what I was limited on because I still feel sick. Hopefully, I will feel better when it comes time to check out Impact Wrestling, but I could get nausea for a different reason. Tell me what you thought of this little concept and how you felt with tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and I need to take a nap.

WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Capitol Punishment Review

What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another review. Today, we take a look at WWE Capitol Punishment. An iffy card going into the show, but the build up was a lot better than the last PPV WWE did. So, how did it fair out? Well, let's find out and start the review.

Match #1: Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler for the US Championship
This was not a bad opening match by Kofi and Ziggler, but I think the reason I wasn't overly excited about this match is because I have seen it so many times in a span of a year. I would like to find a track record of every match in the last year and I wouldn't be surprised if Kofi/Ziggler have had the most matches. Still, this was a decent contest. Does anyone else Booker T on commentary is like John Madden on commentary? The reason I bring that up is because Madden usually points out the obvious things, and Booker has been doing the same as well. Oh well, I am pretty sure it doesn't matter. Anyway, the finish to this match was strange to say the least. Kofi holds the ropes when Ziggler misses Zig Zag. While the ref is dealing with Ziggler, Vickie did an eye gouge to Kofi. With him blinded, Ziggler locks in the Sleeper Hold. During the submission hold, Ziggler had his feet on the ropes, thus the ref should have broken the hold but didn't. Instead, the ref checks up on Kofi and rings the bell. After a bit of a debate, he awards Ziggler the victory and the title. Yeah, so something was off about the finish. I am not sure if something got lost in the script or there was miscommunication, but whatever the case is, Ziggler is your new US champ. I kinda hope this mini-rivalry between these two is over because they both need fresh opponents. They do put on good matches, but they need to test their abilities on new opponents. Both guys have been trading midcard titles for the last year so much that a title change here is almost irrelevantt. Yeah....when you have questionable finishes in the opening match, it generally isn't the best start to a PPV. Decent match, but a weird finish.

Winner via submission and NEW US Champ: Dolph Ziggler

Backstage where R-Truth arrives in a limo holding the WWE Championship (How nice of John Cena to lend out the title). He comes across Eve and she tells him he doesn't even know who Truth is anymore. Truth responds by saying nobody knew the real Truth and dedicates his future title win to all the Little Jimmys. Truth must be doing pretty well for himself since he came in a limo and considering at the last PPV, he complained about parking where the fans park. Also a backstage scene where Miz says Alex Riley is nothing. Yeah, the typical stuff.

Match #2: Alex Riley vs Miz
I prefer a heel Michael Cole as opposed to being a face, but don't you wish he would shut up sometimes? Seriously, take the Miz cock out of your mouth and just call the freaking match. Miz was pretty much schooling Riley in the match. I think what the WWE was trying to get across was Riley having heart and toughing it out even though he is still the new guy. Apparently, Riley ate his Super Cena Wheaties (Now available at major retails this Tuesday) and survives the Miz's beatdown. He takes charge and pushes him against the annoucer's table. Cole gets in his face, but he tosses him to the ground. Miz takes control for a second. A slight ref distract allows the Miz to attempt to blindside Riley with the briefcase, but he dodges it and hits a DDT for the win. You would think after having the Miz drop the title that you still need him to win some matches to keep his stock up, but losing to Riley isn't really doing him any favors. Then again, I don't think it was ever intended for this rivalry to last long and the best way to go about it is have Riley win and put them both in separate programs afterwords. I also wasn't overly impressed with Riley's in ring ability, but when your on defense the majority of the match, I suppose you don't get much of a chance to show what you can do. If the WWE is having Riley beat the Miz at a PPV, they are definitely preping him for some big things. We will wait and see what he can do. I hope the DDT isn't Riley's permanent finisher because its too basic.

Winner via pinfall: Alex Riley

Backstage scene of Sgt. Slaughter talking with "President Obama" and a buch of Agent Smith look alikes. Vickie Guerrero comes in wanting to sing and secret service attacks her. Mindless comedy for the win?

Alberto Del Rio is making his way for his upcoming match, but Big Show attacks him from behind. Show is still on the attack until Mark Henry shows up for revenge. Henry hit WSS through the Spanish announce table (Remember, it isn't a wrestling PPV until the spanish table is destroyed) and attacks the knee of Show. Once Henry leaves, Del Rio orders the ref to do a ten count. The ref warns Show if he can't get in the ring, he will forfeit the match. Show stupidly accepts and the match finally begins. I always feel bad for the spanish announcers. One of these days, they are just going to open the PPV with the table already broken, and that's not fair.

Match #3: Alberto Del Rio vs Big Show
Del Rio is mainly targeting the knee of Show. He does well for a while, but Show continues to fight back. He hits a CS on Del Rio, but rolls under the ring. Eventually, Del Rio locked in the CAB on Show's injured leg, so I guess it would be the Cross Legbreaker. Show grabs the ropes and Del Rio breaks the hold. Show is having a difficult time standing up and the ref tells him if he can't stand, he is calling for the bell. Show tries to get up, but he finally falls down and the match is over. I personally wasn't a big fan of how this entire segment was designed. I just think the WWE was making Show look too strong by dealing with all this punishment and still not losing via pinfall or submission. I get the fact he is a giant of a man, but Del Rio needs something to get himself over and a "win" like this isn't going to do him any favors. I would have liked for Del Rio to be more jerkish here by getting the ref distracted and maybe using a weapon on Show to KO him. I think it would have made Del Rio get more boos, but this kind of finish will give him the same heat he is normally getting. Overall, not a big fan of how this match was booked.

Winner: Alberto Del Rio

After we see Truth continue to lose his damn mind, we cut to Wade Barrett with a promo. He talks about how Americans suck and DC is a disgrace because of the National Debt and the US education system (In a lot of ways, he actually has a point here). He is now ready for his match. Barrett's promo quickly reminded me what made Barrett great last year. It seems like ever since the Corre, his stock has fallen pretty fast and you almost forget that he was chasing the world title and was making Cena his slave late last year.

Match #4: Wade Barrett vs Ezekiel Jackson for the IC Championship
It is always funny when the USA chants start to happen and yet people forget that BOTH competators aren't from the states. In a way, its almost like the fans are booing both guys. Sometimes, you kinda wish the audience would think of more creative chants insead of asking a same stupid question to heels since 2000. Thanks SCSA.....Anyway, this match was nothing too special, but Barrett was trying to make this fun. I am sorry, but Zeke is really boring. If it weren't for all the muscles, he would already be out of a job. Barrett hit Wasteland, but can only get a two count. The finish comes when 14,325 Scoop Slams by Zeke later, he locks in the Torture Rack and wins the match. I think the WWE is trying to get Wade out of the midcard and thus decided to take the belt off of him tonight. I think the WWE didn't really do their homework when they created the Corre or else Barrett's stock wouldn't have fallen so far. He was getting a lot of heat when he was going up against Cena last year, but lose after lose, the guy is barely doing better than X Pac heat these days. In fact, tonight's promo by Barrett was the most heat he has drawn in a long time. Oh well, sometimes a guy has to have lots of ups and downs in their careers. I agree with Barrett dropping the title, but Zeke would not be my first choice to give the title. I don't really think Zeke is ready for a title like this because there isn't a whole lot engaging about him. Come on dude, grow a personality and maybe I can start caring about you. After the match, King conducted an quick interview with Zeke. The big guy cut this promo as if he had no idea what just happened five seconds ago. Our IC Champion Ladies and Gentlemen....

Winner via submission and NEW IC Champ: Ezekiel Jackson

Backstage of the Obama look alike talking to some divas and Santino. The comic relief wants to show him the Cobra, but the Secret Service attack him and make the President run away. Funny and stupid at the same time. There was a backstage promo with CM Punk. He says he is like a politican, except for the fact they always lie and such. He promises victory over Rey and says he will do something nobody has ever seen before. What would that be, Cena losing to a heel cleanly? Anway, joking aside, good promo by Punk. It is amazing how a little promo by Punk adds so much to the show. I also think Punk took a shot at the WWE during the promo by mocking the phrase "sports entertainment". I think Punk really tries to go out of his way to address himself as a wrestler and not a superstar. I like this guy, he burns politicans and the business he works for at the same time.

Match #5: CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio
A good overall match. I know people have been complaining about how many Punk/Rey matches have been going on lately, but this one was pretty good. The two work very well together and usually find a way to make a match fun. This was almost my vote for Match of the Night, but this is definitely my second favorite. Lots of submission holds during the match. I like it when the Bow and Arrow submission makes an appearance since it looks cool. There was a moment where Punk seemed to be favoring one of his arms. He might have gotten a stinger, but he eventually started using it towards the end so I would hope he is ok. The finish comes when after a ton of counters by both guys, Rey is going for the 619, but Punk ducks and grabs Rey onto his shoulders. He then hits the GTS for the win. I really liked the finish to this match since it was pretty creative. Yeah, definitely more exciting than seen an RKO out of nowhere, don't you think? Anyway, with Punk getting the win, I think it shows the WWE is trying their hardest to keep Punk around. I would make a prediction as to what will happen with Punk, but I need to save that for later in the review.

Winner via pinfall: CM Punk

Match #6: Randy Orton vs Christian for the WHC
Randy's concussion has been cleared, so the match is a go. Also, its wrestling logic how a concussion turns one guy into a flapping idiot in TNA while the other concussion makes the guy remain the same. Orton was selling the head shots in certain spots while the commentators were taking it a little too far. Booker was stuttering like a madman while on commentary during this match. It is like he chewed up like 4-5 different sentences all at once....just like Madden. Hey, as long as he doesn't start talking about Brett Favre, I am fine with it. This was a pretty damn good match. This wasn't as great as their OtL match, but still pretty good. This was my vote for Match of the Night. Lots of counters and in ring action, definitely a match worth checking out. I really liked the spot where Orton dodged the Spear and attempted an RKO, but Christian counters and hits a Spear, but only gets a two count. My God, not even the Light Arrows can defeat Orton based on this performance. The finish comes when Orton hits an RKO out of nowhere (see what I mean?) and he wins the match....BUT WAIT!!! Christian's foot was clearly underneath the rope, but the ref didn't see it and still gives Orton the win. Christian is still complaining towards the ref and Orton greets him with hitting him in the face with the title. First thing I want to address is the wrestling logic. The referees where like Sherlock Holmes during those Miz/Cena matches, but here they don't seem to care or even bother to look at the instant replay, which also happened during the Miz/Cena feud. I am not complaining about the logic here, but it is just something I like to point out since I have been watching wrestling a long time. So, I guess WWE found a loop hole to make this feud continue, but still have Orton as champion. I still feel with Christian's current turn, he needs to cheat to get the title and I was surprised he didn't try a heelish trick AT ALL during this match. I guess what happens now is Christian completely snaps and starts cheating in order to win and become a full fledged heel, or steal a page of out Edge's playbook.

Winner via pinfall and still WHC: Randy Orton

Match #7: Jack Swagger vs Evan Bourne
This was announced as a bonus match.....or a match to fill out the three hours. What is funny here is the PPV ended about 10 minutes early anyway. The Bellas were shown to be at ringside with Keith Stone. Who the f*** is Keith Stone? Oh, he is that guy who does those stupid commercials for Keystone Light or whatever. I guess alcoholics would care about this character more than myself. Also, this part served no purpose because they did nothing with it. It's like they were saying "Here are the Bellas and product placement........what more do you want?". Anyway, after a Michael Bay experiment gone horribly wrong, let's get back to the match. The match was nothing special and a carbon copy of the Miz/Riley match. Swagger was schooling Bourne while the little guy was on defense for the majority of the contest. I like the crowd reaction to this match since they literally didn't seem to give a s***. I think this was as close to a bathroom break match as you were gonna get this evening. The finish comes when Bourne counters the Ankle Lock and gets a rollup victory. Interesting that Bourne ended up winning the match. Maybe they are trying something with him? Then again, this was mainly a filler match, so I wouldn't make anything out of it.

Winner via pinfall: Evan Bourne

Time for "Obama" to speak. He talks about how great it is to be here while the crowd doesn't seem to care about him, Cena, or Truth. In fact, this audience might have been more interested in Truth than Cena. Just as he is about to leave, Booker calls him to the ring and wants him to do a Barack-o-roonie. Booker does one while the Obama character actually pulled off something decent to a spin-a-roonie. This was just more comedy being thrown at you, but it was decent comedy since I have seen the WWE do much worse with comedy (Hornswoggle doing....just about anything if you think about it).

Match #8: John Cena vs R-Truth for the WWE Championship
There was definitely some interesting crowd response for this match. The match wasn't anything too special, but it is amazing how a crowd reaction can get you invested in a match. Of course, Truth hits the Scissors Kick and the Facebuster, but still can get only two counts. You can rip Cena's heart out of his chest in the middle of the ring and he will STILL find a way to win a match. The finish comes when Truth comes over to a "little Jimmy" and takes his hat and drinks water or something. The kid then splashes Truth in the face with the beverage (Maybe it is the actual water that is the ultimate weapon as opposed to the bottle that holds the water?). Cena takes advantage of this. He gets a couple of strikes on him, hits AA, and he retains the title. I like the Truth character, but he is not ready for the title. He has really grown on me and he is making tremendous strides, but he needs to do some other things before getting the world title. In fact, another way to pursue the whole "conspiracy" thing would be for Truth to win the match, but then the Raw GM restarts the match based on some bs and then Cena scores the win. Back to what I was saying earlier with Punk, I think the WWE was using Truth for this mini-feud/deal thing with Cena so they can start something again with Punk and Cena. The feud they had at the beginning of the year never had a conclusion and with Punk out the door, now is the time to restart that and I think the WWE gives the title to Punk to try to persuade him to resign a contract. Not really sure where Truth goes after this. He can keep talking about conspiracy until John Morrison is ready to go again to restart that feud. I think that is the best possible route since there are no others faces for the heel to go up against. I just don't want to see Truth fade away after tonight, because his heel character is insane, but funny at the same time. He is so crazy to the point where you just got to see what he does next, so hopefully they give him something after this.

Winner via pinfall and still WWE Champ: John Cena

Overall Impression:
Definitely a better performance than OtL. This was a decent performance with some good in ring action and some title changes to go around, but there was some flaws. This was by no stretch of the imagination a great PPV, but I think it was at least a good PPV and not the worst way to spend an evening. This PPV is not worth the cost of the full amount, but I think all the PPVs are overpriced these days. I would basically hold out watching this showing on something like Netflix or a DVD rental. I am not sure if this is worth a purchase on DVD, but only time will tell. There was some silly comedy bits, but they weren't overly terrible and at least tolerable. Christian/Orton and Punk/Rey made it a worthwhile evening, but I also felt the main flaw with this PPV is how memoriable it will end up being. We had title changes, but the major titles still remain in place and not sure if we are going to be thinking of this PPV when looking back on Ziggler or Jackson's championship wins. Also, there wasn't much in terms of a shocking moment or a plot twist, so that hurts the score as well. Then again, there wasn't any gimmick matches and based on the fact all of these matches were just one fall matches, this was enjoyable and watchable. If I were to give this PPV a score on a scale of 1-10 and 5 being average, I would have to give this a 5 out of 10. That means this was right around an average PPV, but I was split between giving it a 5 or a 6, and I don't do decimal points on this show. There was some decent wrestling to watch, but nothing overly exciting and you can end up getting bored with this one. I enjoyed it for what it was worth, but realize others will not like either the matches or the outcomes, so take of that what you will. I thought for being one of those lower end PPVs, this was ok. If you are looking for some decent in ring action from the WWE but without something completely leaping out at you, this is not a bad show to pass up, but it is also a pretty skippable evening. It will be interesting to see where things go now. I would like to see Barrett do bigger things, and I would like to see how much more they can pad out the Christian/Orton deal. I am also interested to see what Truth does after tonight and what Punk meant by his promo earlier tonight. That is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. I can also be seen on blogspot/blogger, which is titled the WrestlingNerd Show. Anyway, I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.

WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Smackdown Review 6/17/11 & Capitol Punishment picks

What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Smackdown on 6/17/11. I didn't want to review this show since nothing really happened, but I haven't reviewed SD in a while and just figured I would get this one out there. Well, let's begin the review.

We open up the show with Randy Orton. He claims the concussion rumors are indeed true, but he doesn't care and wants to beat up Christian tonight. Teddy Long comes out and says he hasn't gotten a medical clearance from Orton or his doctors, so he cannot allow it. Christian interrupts and says he will win the championship this Sunday. He also claims if Orton is a good guy, he will give him a rematch in five days. Christian is also mocking the audience in the process. Sheamus comes out next (damn, how many people are going to show up in the opening?) and says he deserves a title shot more than Christian because he actually beat Orton last week. Long says Sheamus does bring up a valid point. He says it will be Sheamus vs Christian and if Sheamus wins, he will get added to the title match. If he loses, the match remains the same. Long also says Orton is allowed to observe this match, but cannot touch anyone or else there will be consequence. Overall, a pretty basic opening. This furture adds fuel for Christian and Orton. The thing that is perplexing is the match between Sheamus and Christian. Christian is still fresh into this heelish character while Sheamus is a full fledged heel. I like to consider Christian a tweener for the time being since even though he is doing a lot of the stuff a heel would do, the audience understands why he is angry and feels he got a raw deal, no matter how much the audience wants to root for Orton. Even though you should feel sorry for Christian more than Orton. Still, this does feel like a heel vs heel match, and that is kinda strange. Did Russo show up to write this show? Anyway, I like how Michael Cole is blaming Long for Christian losing the title, but a few months back he was blaming Christian for losing the title. Wrestling logic since heels have to side with heels. I also watched this segment, and it really felt like the boos on Christian were edited in. I am sure he is getting more boos than before, but these felt edited in by the WWE. At least, that is what I think?

Match #1: Ezekiel Jackson, Daniel Bryan, and Sin Cara vs Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase
This match was longer than the one they had on Raw this past week, but I cannot say it was any better. Okay, I can't be THAT harsh since the in ring quality was there, but the finish ruins the match. The finish was strange and most likely a botched finish. Daniel Bryan hit a drop kick and pinned DiBiase, but DiBiase didn't kick out in time and the ref hit the three count and the faces won the match. Some people would blame the referee for making a mistake, while others can blame DiBiase for not realizing the count. See, it's these screwups by DiBiase that keep WWE from using him more. I know the IWC loves this guy, but he is still making these simple in ring mistakes that he should have been cleaned up on a while back. What was interesting is SD didn't do a second take of this match. I guess they figured embarrassing DiBiase like that was the best method? Then again, I am bring harsh against DiBlandess since the ref was clearly at fault here based on the replay. Maybe the WWE wanted to embarrass the ref instead? Who really knows?

Winner via "pinfall": Ezekiel Jackson, Daniel Bryan, and Sin Cara

Match #2: Jinder Mahal vs Kozlov
There was a Sheamus interview backstage, but it was generic stuff. Is Kozlov a SD Superstar now or not? Eh, who really cares, right? Also, did Mahal kill Ranjin Singh? I remember in a past episode where Singh just disappeared and Jinder slapped Khali and thus the giant started taking orders from him. I bring this up since nobody is saying where Singh is and nobody seems to care. This is the first match I have seen of Mahal, and I have to be honest....I am not impressed. It just feels like his in ring ability isn't there yet and he doesn't really seem marketable at the moment. I am also not impressed with his mic skills. He is ok on the mic, but that's the problem. He is so "okay" and average that he isn't even worth paying attention or acknowledging. I just found out he is only 24, and that could be the reason he isn't turning any heads. I will give him some more time, but if he is going to be in the big time, he better step up his game. Anyway, a short match and it ended when Khali chopped Kozlov in the skull while the ref was distracted. Mahal follows up with a Full Nelson Slam for the clean win. If that is going to be his main finishing move, they will probably give it a Punjab pun at somepoint.

Winner via pinfall: Jinder Mahal

Josh Matthews is in the ring and wants to ask the Big Show some questions. Show comes out and claims the only reason he showed up is because he heard Alberto Del Rio would be on SD tonight. Show gets a little choked up when seeing the video of him getting hit by the car. Again, I know the video was intended for dramatic effect, but everytime I hear Show growling, I just laugh. Anyway, Long comes out and says he cannot allow Show to lay his hands on Del Rio. He says because Ricardo Rodriguez's representives or Del Rio himself put a restraint on Show and if he does another attack, he goes to jail and is fired from WWE. Long says he will give Show an opponent since he can't fight Del Rio, and it turns out it is Mark Henry. Show is once again sporting the yellow deal on his fist. I thought it was a glove, but a close up shows it to be yellow tape. Still, I am distracted by the bright color. I guess it is true what they say, bright and shiny is awesome. Anyway, so Henry is making his way to the ring. Before Henry can get his whole body in the ring, Show goes apes*** and attacks Henry. The bell never rang, so the match was never official. He is literally punching Henry to death...

Damn, you gotta admit pro wrestling has been going a little too far lately with attempted murder. Anyway, Show leaves while the medics attend to Henry and carry him out on a stretcher. Damn, you almost feel sorry for Henry considering he didn't do anything to Show.

Match #3: Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendes, and Tamina vs Natalya, AJ, and Kaitlyn
This was a very short match. Tamina and Natalya were the ones that shined in this match. The finish came when Tamina hit the Samoan Drop on AJ for the clean win. It is still pretty clear the WWE doesn't really know what to do with the diva division and I think Booker T said it best, this division is wide open now that Kharma isn't around. I think I heard one of the commentators mention something about the Green Lantern movie. Oh yeah, because the best way to wash out the bad taste of a diva match is by watching a bad film. Well....there is a chance the movie can turn out good, but who knows?

Winner via pinfall: Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendes, and Tamina

Johnny Curtis cuts another promo backstage. Yeah, I have been hearing about these promos by Curtis. Anyway, he says he is the ace in a hole for SD. During this promo, he is playing golf and pulls an Ace card out of the golf hole, get it? I think I just figured out Curtis' gimmick in the WWE. He will be the Master of Bad Puns. What's next week, reaching for the stars and he literally climbs a ladder to touch a star? Or maybe he will say go the distance and watch Rocky go the distance against Apollo Creed? Besides, don't people get enough bad puns on my show?

Match #4: Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel vs Uso Twins
Wow, Usos in a match for two straight weeks? This match wasn't too bad. It was short, but I think the all the guys put on a decent performance with the time they were given. The finish comes when one of the Usos hits the Snuka Splash for the clean win. Usos WINNING for two straight weeks now? They might be trying something with them? It is a positive that the Usos finally got a crowd reaction after the match. It only took a year for them to get a reaction.

Winner via pinfall: Usos

Del Rio has come out to cut a promo. He talks about how he is NOT afraid of Show and says bad things happen to bad people. He then says Ricardo was a good friend and he will get Ricardo's revenge by dealing with Show. Show comes out, but Del Rio runs through the audience. This is when we get more dramatic tension with Show as he realizes he cannot lay his hand on Del Rio. He decides to do the next best thing. He destroyes the announcers table, the railing, and everything around him.....

Man, another wrestler off the deep end now? You know, with Truth off his bipolor medication, Rhodes needing therapy, Sting being batsh** insane, and Show punching people like a madman, you have to wonder what is going on with these wrestlers? Seriously, I am concerned about the mindset of our entertainers.

Match #5: Christian vs Sheamus
It is kinda difficult to figure out who the audience was pulling for in this match, but I think they were pulling for Christian. This was a pretty good match and probably the best match of the evening. The finish comes when Christian headbutts Sheamus' skull off the steel post and pins him for the clean win. I kinda like Christian winning the match like this, because it shows he is willing to cheat or try anything in order to win a match. After the match, Orton immediatley charges for Christian, but he retreats. Orton stares for a while and decides to skull kick Sheamus. The show ends with a staredown between Christian and Orton from a distance. I would really like to see Christian get the title back. The reason I say that is because if Christian wins, it will let this feud continue. This is probably one of the best feuds going on in pro wrestling right now and the two are putting one some great matches. I personally want to see more Christian/Orton and want to see them do some sort of a gimmick match. I am calling for Christian cheating to win the title at CP and some gimmick match happens between the two, maybe a TLC match or something? Now, THAT would be kinda cool.

Winner via pinfall: Christian

Overall Impression:
This week's SD was basically on the average side of things. Nothing about the show really stood out, but it wasn't overly terrible and at least watchable. There was a couple of decent matches, but also some boring spots. Really, the purpose for this showing was the buildup CP one more time, and I think they did that. They didn't do it in the best way possible, but I think they got the word out when they did the All Star edition of Raw this past week. The overall card for CP is a decent one, but almost nothing is leaping out at you. The Truth/Cena match will be interesting to watch, but I think Truth is just doing filler for the world title scenery since he isn't ready for a world title and they may be preping for CM Punk to be the next world title contender once Cena beats Truth this week. I am not opposed to Truth getting the world title, but I think it's a little soon. If he keeps this up, I can see him getting the title towards the end of the year, but right now it would feel rushed. The IC Championship buildup really hasn't been there and you almost forget it is on the card. I wish they would have built up the match a little more with SD, but they didn't. Ok, time to rank the shows. In terms of wrestling quality, I have to rank it Impact, SD, and Raw. Ok, ok, ok.....before you give me the third degree, TNA did actually put forth some good in ring action for this week. WWE was lacking in this department, so give TNA their due.....at least for now. In terms of the promos/segments, I would rank it Raw, SD, and Impact. Raw really stood out in the promos department this week, while the other two shows were lacking in this category. Really, it's thanks to Christian and Show's insanity that doesn't send it into last place for this week. Since I couldn't do a CP Rundown, here is a quick prediction list of what I think will happen at the PPV, here we go....

Big Show vs Alberto Del Rio: Del Rio doesn't have much going after this, so I can see this going into another PPV. I am picking Del Rio
CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio: WWE is trying their hardest to make sure Punk stays with the company. A win here and a world title might get Punk thinking about staying. I am picking Punk.
Miz vs Alex Riley: Kinda odd to see Riley win a match against a former world champion so soon. I am picking the Miz to steal this one.
Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler for the US Title: Can go eitherway....I am picking Kofi for now.
Wade Barrett vs Ezekiel Jackson for the IC Title: I still don't think Zeke is ready for the title, but I think WWE wants to get the title off of Wade and maybe put him back in the main event. Zeke takes the title, but I can change my mind on this one.
Randy Orton vs Christian for the WHC: Christian needs to pull an Eddie Guerrero and cheat to win. I want to see a gimmick match between these two and hopefully it happens.
John Cena vs R-Truth: Truth is impressing me, but he still isn't ready for the title. Cena retains the title.

Ok, so there was a quick pick list for you folks. That is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it....even if this was one of my weaker reviews. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.

WrestlingNerd Presents: TNA Impact Wrestling Review 6/16/11

What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at TNA Impact Wrestling on 6/16/11. I know TNA's track record dictates this to be a terrible evening since this is the first show after a PPV, but Slam wasn't too bad so it can't be that bad, right? Well, let's get this over with and find out.

We open up the show with some quick reactions by Bully Ray and Jeff Jarrett after the Slam PPV. Bully says he has grown to respect AJ Styles to taking him to the limit, while Jarrett is claiming this isn't over until he says it is over. The second I heard this come out of Jarrett's mouth made me cringe. Damn, they ought to change the name of the show to the Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett Show if they still want to keep rolling with this. After that, Mr. Anderson is in the ring to celebrate becoming the world champion. He has a pinball table, various food, a stripper pole (I would assume this would be for Tessmacher), and a keg. He says he invited everyone from the back, but no one showed up because he claims he doesn't need the fans or friends. Gunner comes out to interrupt (Yeah, I know it makes no sense. Just roll with it) and says he wants a reward for helping out Anderson last week. Gunner wants a world title shot, which makes Anderson say he is not ready for a world title. Anderson proceeds to drink a beer and then splash it in the face of Gunner. This makes Gunner attack Anderson and the segment ends with Gunner hitting a move on Anderson through a table. Ok, so a lot to discuss right off the bat. Why in the world is Gunner of all people confronting Anderson? I will admit Gunner makes a point in helping him out last week, but who is the audience supposed to cheer for? Last I checked, both Gunner and Anderson are heels. Does that mean Gunner is making a face turn? This seriously blows my mind on so many levels. It's basic wrestling where you have good guys fight the bad guys, not have the bad guys fight other bad guys. I would address this a little more, but there is a lot more here that would happen later in the show, so I will save that for later.

Match #1: Hernandez vs Devon
Seconds into the match, Mexican American cause a distraction, which allows Hernandez to take control. I know it is common for heel stables to cheat or get involved, but you can at least wait until the very end of the match, or else it just makes it pointless. At some point, the Pope shows up and is talking with Devon's family, whom are sitting in the audience. The match was boring and nothing special. The finish comes when Mex American interfere for the 200th time in this match and the ref calls for the bell. After the match, Mex Am continue the attack on Devon, but Pope comes in for the save. Ok, I guess I should explain what the storyline is here since TNA only told the TNA marks since they are the ones who watch Xplosion. The deal here is Devon's kids and wife seem to like the Pope, while Devon doesn't really like Pope because of his background and doesn't trust him. The Pope in the meantime is trying to get on the good side of Devon, but with little to no progress. This is another strange storyline in the works. So, are we to assume Pope made a face turn? There is something wrong here since TNA has heels fighting other heels and now faces fighting other faces and no explanation anywhere to be seen. Why.....why can't this company explain their storylines? In fact, I don't even think TNA knows what they are doing anymore. I want this company to succeed, but it isn't going to work when casual audiences are confused as to what is going on.

Winner via DQ: Devon

Backstage with Eric Bischoff and Anderson. Anderson demands for Bischoff to call off Gunner. Bischoff says it will be Anderson vs Gunner tonight. I like to thank Bischoff and Anderson for NOT telling the audience if this was a non-title or title match. This creative staff has the brain power of Bebop and Rocksteady from Ninja Turtles. No, in fact I would bet that Bebop and Rocksteady can make a better wrestling show than Russo.

We are back in the ring with Angle. He talks about "ending" things with Jarrett (I REALLY want you to pay close attention to that word) and trying to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. Seconds later, Jarrett comes out and says he wants to end this with a parking lot brawl later tonight and demands for Angle to give him another chance. Angle starts talking about honoring the wrestling business and how Jarrett isn't because he won't let these issues go (Based on that statement by Angle, wouldn't that mean Russo is pissing all over the wrestling business since he probably wrote this into the show?). Jarrett then adds a stipluation in saying if he loses, he will move his entire family to Mexico if he loses....

Anyway, Angle says if actual lawyers can create this contract and include the Mexico stipulation, he will agree to the match. Excuse me for one moment...

I can't believe they are doing this again. TNA literally wants this feud to go into the year 3000. Why did I have this strange feeling they weren't going to hold true to their words of the Slam match being the "final battle"? There is no way to suger coat it so I will be straight forwards, TNA basically just lied to your face. Plain and simple. Ok, TNA announced what they are calling the Bound for Glory Series. The deal here is 12 guys are going to be competing in a series of matches for the next 3-4 months until BFG (which is in October). Based on how they perform in these matches, points will be given. Basically, whoever has the most amount of points will become the winner and will be the #1 Contender for the world title at BFG. The point system works like this...

Win via submission- 10 points
win via pinfall- 7points
win via countout- 5 points
win via DQ- 3 points
Draw- 2 points
lose via DQ- minus 10 points

I will say that this is a definite improvement over that stupid Top Ten deal TNA did last year, which was a complete epic fail. Even though this is something different, I kinda like the idea of having a number of guys competing for a title equally and the best overall performer gets the title shot, and they would actually have to earn it via the point system. For the most part, I don't seem to have an issue with this and I am curious to see how this plays out. I just hope TNA doesn't make this too stupid like the Top Ten deal. The 12 guys competing for this are RVD, Samoa Joe, Styles, Matt Morgan, Crimson, Scott Steiner, Bully, Pope, Gunner, Devon, Robert Roode, and James Storm. I think 12 guys is a little much for this kind of concept since you probably could have done well with just 8 guys and some of these guys clearly don't have a shot or are not ready. One of the flaws for this concept is it seems to be overtaking the next 3-4 months, which is a rather long time. I know WWE starts their WM hype at around the RR so I guess it is no different since BFG is TNA's WM. Can TNA keep the interest of this concept decent up until the PPV? Well, I guess we will wait and see. Oh, and a backstage scene where Eric Young is again forcing comedy on the audience and wants to defend the title against Morgan because he is a "tv star". Morgan tells him no, but pitches to him another guy who works within the company that Young should challenge. These Young scenes are getting difficult to watch these days because all he is doing is talking as if he were a madman who just snorted a pile of crack.

Match #2: Kid Kash vs Jimmy Rave vs Austin Aries X Division Tournament Match
What was odd is TNA explained how the BFG tourny worked, but barely explained the X Divison tournament. Damn, are the KOs going to be having a tournament as well? Anyway, the concept here is TNA is bringing back 12 former X Division stars and they will be competing in a match. If they win that match, they will move on to the best of four at Destination X. The winner of that PPV match will get a contract with Impact Wrestling. TNA claims that Destination X will be an all X Division PPV, and I am not sure if they will hold true to that concept and how it will end up turning out. Ok, time to get into the actual match. It is amazing how Kash looks the same no matter how old he gets. Rave was still sporting that stupid Guitar Hero guitar controller. This was a pretty good match, but Aries was the main attraction. He was pretty damn good out there and I was impressed. I almost wonder if he took a bunch of caffine before the match, because he was bouncing off the walls like a pinball machine. The finish comes when Aries hits the Brainbuster on Rave and pins him. I think we can assume Aries is the early favorite for this tournament.

Winner via pinfall: Austin Aries

Match #3: Sarita and Rosita vs Velvet Sky and Miss Tessmacher for the KO Tag Titles
This match seemed to go on for an eternity. It was long, drawn out, and boring. The finish comes when Sky gets distracted by seeing OBD in the audience and she completey abandons her partner. The Latina Connection double team on Stripperella and they retain the titles. Ladies and Gentelmen, your fan service match of the evening....how do you feel now?

Winner via pinfall and still KO tag champs: Sarita and Rosita

After the match, ODB attacks and then Jacqueline shows up and joins up with ODB to attack Sky. Once again TNA shows off the worst secuirty staff ever when 4-5 security guys show up only for ODB and Jacki to take them all out. Seriously, how can these security guys still have jobs when they can't even handle pissed off women? Yep, more wrestling logic. Eventually, the security finds a way to separete the ladies and there you go. I would give my thoughts about this, but this would be addressed later in the show so I will wait until then. Backstage scene with Hulk Hogan and Jarrett. Hogan says "The Network" loves the idea of the Mexico stipulation and are green lighting the match (Wow, "The Network" gets impressed pretty easily). Once Jarrett leaves, Sting shows up. Hogan tells Sting he will get his rematch for the world title down the road (I think Hogan said a date, but I didn't quite hear it so I missed it. Sorry). Sting starts to think Hogan is changing his ways, but Hogan tells him he is only doing it so "The Network" will get off his back. Sting and Hogan start to argue about the old days and such. This scene took a dark turn when Sting snapped, started screaming his head off and proceeded to push Hogan into a corner and use the red face paint on the Hulkster. Umm.....did we just jump into a Wes Craven movie here? Seriously, this was......very different. Sting is almost overloaded on the psycho pills with how he has been going about lately. I felt disturbed while watching this scene. I guess we will wait and see what happens afterwords, but with how Sting is acting, I almost expect him to start running around with a chainsaw any second now. Fear for your life TNA employees.

Backstage with ODB and Jacki who are talking about getting rid of the eye candy until Sky attacks them from behind. It didn't go anywhere because OBD and Jacki took her out once again. This scene was pointless if you think about it since they already had the two take out Sky, so why did we need to see it again? I guess this means the rivalry will continue....yeah? Honestly, do you even care about this storyline? Another backstage interview with Aries. He starts to talk about the concept of Wrestling Matters when Young shows up and challenges the interview guy to a match. The guy, who they are calling Wayne, has no idea what Young is talking about. Young then proceeds to attack him and pin him and claims he has successfully defended his title, but this isn't over and walks away. I like how we are going to talk to Aries about how wrestling matters when comic relief shows up and has this pointless "match" that serves no purpose on the show. The only way we can take TNA even less serious is having another one of their workers talk about how wrestling matters, but then show somebody riding around on a unicycle and juggeling at the same time. I know I keep poking fun of TNA's slogan, but when you put your company out and have various talent cut youtube videos in how wrestling matters and then you have concussion guys who don't know what they are talking about and keeping trying for Dane Cook comedy, your kinda putting yourself out there in the line of fire. In other words, expect to be made fun of it you cannot hold true to your own words.

Match #4: RVD vs Samoa Joe BFG Series Match
First matchup for the BFG tournament. Overall, this was a pretty decent match and worth checking out. The finish came when RVD hit the Five Star Frogsplash for the clean win, meaning he has won 7 points and currently leads the standings. Oh, and why is Devon is this tournament? Seriously, he does not belong in the mix.

Winner via pinfall: RVD

Match #5: Gunner vs Mr. Anderson in a non-title match
It sure would have been nice for SOMEONE to say if this was for the title or not. I guessed that portion got lost in the script? Anderson was pretty much schooling Gunner during the match. Anderson decides to gloat by having the mic drop come down during the match. He talks about how he is the champion and such. Gunner gets back up to hit his Flapjack/F5 like finisher for the clean win. So, Gunner can beat Sting and Anderson, but was never able to figure out Young? Just checking. Anyway, the interesting thing here was the audience was accepting Gunner as a face. Still, it is kinda hard to accept him as a good guy when Bischoff runs out there seconds later and they both celebrate together. It isn't really clear what they are doing here. It could be TNA starting the push of Gunner, but I don't think that is a good idea. Don't get me wrong, the guy has skill and a good look...for the midcard division. He is not ready for the main event. He went out there in the beginning of the show and cut his first promo. Needless to say, it was very shaky and was pretty bland with his words. It is amazing he has been in TNA for around a year and this was his FIRST promo with the company. I just feel they are pushing Gunner too fast, and that can lead to some disastrous results (Jack Swagger ring any bells?). I would hope they would take this slow for the sakes of Gunner's career. Plus, I still can't get passed the part where it seems Anderson, the heel, is having issues with other heels and is now having to deal with them. Face vs heel, that has been the common formula for pro wrestling since God knows when. I thought that was ok, but here is TNA just trying to confuse the hell out of you when face and heel turns come out of the blue and they have heel vs heel matches. It's enough to make your head spin.

Winner via pinfall: Gunner

Backstage interview with Scott Steiner who makes fun of Bully for being overweight. In a separate interview, Bully is saying Steiner should chose his words more carefully because Bully almost took out Steiner for good a few years ago. The reason for these interviews is because it is Bully vs Steiner in the BFG tourny next week. What? Another heel vs heel match? Come on, the casual fans have to cheer for somebody and not the asshole.....unless it's Randy Orton since they eat up everything he has to say these days.

Angle and Jarrett are out in the parking lot and start having a brawl. Various talent are watching this fight. I also want to thank Bischoff for lying to me since he said the Anderson/Gunner match would be the main event and here we are seeing Angle and Jarrett close out the show. This brawl was so stupid and pointless. The whole thing ends when Angle forces Jarrett to say "adios", to which Jarrett says so. Angle walks away and the show ends with Jarrett down on the ground. So, I would hope now this is the legit FINAL encounter. I guess this was done to write Jarrett off of tv for a while. I am not exactly clear as to why he is being written off the show, but I have heard TNA is trying to get some of their talent to appear in Mexico with the wrestling organization known as AAA. They have done work with them in the past. In fact, that is where Hernandez was performing all of those times TNA sent him to Mexico. The only reason I would think that is because of how they mentioned Mexico. It could all be a coinsidence or a series of bs and Jarrett appears on tv next week, but who really knows? Really, they could have written him off of tv at the PPV, but I guess there is nothing wrong with waiting until the following tv taping to do so.

Overall Impression:
If you ignore all of the plotholes or things that didn't add or up or made any sense, this was a pretty decent edition of Impact. There was some decent in ring action for this week and they even showed more wrestling than Raw for this week, and more quality for that matter. Then again, if you take into play all of the stuff that is making no sense, it does hurt the show if you have been watching a while. Still, even with all of that stuff going around, I found this to be a tolerable Impact and they might have done better than Raw for this week. The promos on this week's episode are a bit on the weak side, but having Anderson around does keep things a float. The whole deal with the KOs and the Angle match were things that did drag the show, but at least there was some good parts in between the bad. Sometimes, one of TNA's biggest flaws is going from a bad segment to an even worse segment, but this week it was more cleaned up. See, if TNA can consistently put on shows like this, the company has a bright future and it will bring in more casual fans, because casual fans is where the money is at. The IWC has to face the facts, your the minority and wrestling companies have to appeal to the casual fans because they are the ones who drive up the ratings and bring in all the money. Some IWC folk have grown to accept this, but some can be a little nieve about all of this. Yeah, so am I recommending an episode of Impact? Yeah....I guess I am to a degree. There are some flaws, but some decent entertainment around to keep me interested in what was going around and I like some of these tournament ideas.....at least for now. Well, that is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. I am going to try my hardest to get a SD review for this week since a CP Rundown isn't too likely. Remember, you can also find me on Blogspot/Blogger. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.

WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw Review 6/13/11

What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw on 6/13/11. With CP around the corner and WWE going with an All Stars theme for tonight, how would the show measure up? Well, let's find out and start the review.

We open up the show with the Miz. He claims he is the true All Star and calls Alex Riley an idiot. He then proceeds to call out Stone Cold Steve Austin. Once the Rattlesnake arrives, he tells the Miz even though he has improved since arriving, he still has no guts. He would go further to say Riley has more guts than Miz since he actually stood up to him while Miz just stood there and watched (Austin was referring to their altercation on the episode of Raw that was after WM). Austin says Miz and Riley will be guests tonight on Piper's Pit, meaning that "Rowdy" Roddy Piper is in the house. Finally, Austin orders the Miz to leave since he has something else to address. The Miz has this look as if he is going to attack, but Austin quickly reminds him who he is, and the Miz retreats. SCSA starts to talk, until Alberto Del Rio interrupts. Del Rio is talking about destiny while Austin says his destiny can end up being an ass whooping. He announces Del Rio will go up against Kane, and that match starts immediately. Overall, an interesting way to open up the show. I actually enjoyed some of the verbal debate between Miz and Austin, but you can almost tell that Austin put the Miz in his place with his words. I have to agree with the statement that Austin said about the Miz. While I do agree the Miz has come a long way and has earned his spot, he still needs some areas of improvement. There is being an All Star, then there is being a Legend. Since I am on the subject of Del Rio, something about him isn't quite doing it with me recently. He was doing some good work over on SD when he was dealing with Edge and Christian, but it seems like ever since his move to Raw that Del Rio is more or less bringing in generic heat. He is still doing loads better than X-Pac heat, but isn't quite getting a big enough reaction from the audience. I have been noticing that the audience is booing him, but in a basic way and nothing on the level of a Miz or a CM Punk. I think for Del Rio to make himself a big time player, he needs to do something evil and sinister. Injuring Big Show was a start, but it needs to go further than that. I still think Del Rio has all the tools to make himself a big time player. He has the look, the ability, the mic skills and some charisma. Now, it's time to bring all of that together and really show what Del Rio is all about and why the audience should be paying attention to him. Personally, I think they should have kept Del Rio on SD because he was getting somewhere over there. Oh well, only time will tell to see what Del Rio can do.

Match #1: Alberto Del Rio vs Kane
This was a very short match. Seconds into the match, Del Rio locks in the CAB and the ref wants him to break the hold since Kane has the ropes, but he doesn't do so. This results in calling for the bell, so Kane wins via DQ. After the match, Del Rio still has the submission locked on Kane until Show comes out to the rescue. Show storms into the ring and is heading for Del Rio, but Ricardo Rodriguez gets in the middle of all of this and basically sacrifices himself for Del Rio to get away. Damn, I hope Rodriguez is getting paid big bucks by Del Rio to take a beating from Show. Anyway, Show basically punches Rodriguez to death until Kane tells him to stop or else he would kill him. After a commercial, we see the medics take Rodriguez on a stretcher and it was announced by Austin it will be Del Rio vs Show at CP. You had to figure a match between Del Rio and Show would be happening soon, so this is no surprise. I was kinda amazed in how Show can be running towards the ring when he got hit by a car a few weeks ago. Yes, more wrestling logic. The thing that bothered me the most was Show was wearing this yellow glove on his right hand during this whole time. At first, I thought it was a cast, but it just appeared to be a normal glove. Seriously, what gives? Oh, and how much murder can we have in the world of pro wrestling?

Winner via DQ: Kane

Match #2: Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan, and Ezekiel Jackson vs Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, and Wade Barrett
Aw yes, the SD midcard match for the evening. Time once again for the blue and gold lighting since Sin is in the match. Is anyone else getting distracted by that lighting or is it just me? The matchup didn't last too long, but I suppose it was ok for what it was worth. I just wish this match was given some more time. Once Jackson cleans house, he tags in Sin to hit a crossbody on Barrett and pins him for the win. This type of matchup doesn't really benefit anyone if you think about it. I am sure we will get something a little better this week on SD, but the two storylines in play here really didn't gain or lose anything. Plus, I wonder how much longer Rhodes can continue the Emperor deal with the mask and hood before it feels forced?

Winner via pinfall: Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan, and Ezekiel Jackson

Back in the ring where Hornswoggle is shooting T-shirts towards the audience until no entrance music comes on, meaning it is time for R-Truth to say something. Truth talks about how the Jimmys are having fun and claims he wants to have fun as well. He gets in the ring and tells Hornswoggle he will beat John Cena at CP. Hornswoggle hits Truth with the shirt cannon, which makes Truth snap and he attacks him. He eventually stops his attack for a second, but then he kicks Hornswoggle's head off. Austin gets on the titantron and says he will be going up against John Morrison later tonight, who is "back". Someone has to attend to that bipolar problem that Truth has, since he is a menace to society. Regardless, this adds more to Truth's heel character. I still say that Truth is better off as a heel than a face. I always like it when Truth says "I'm a good R-Truth" and has that creepy smile. This look can give children nightmares.

Match #3: Sheamus vs Santino
Very short match. Santino hit the Cobra, but Sheamus kicks out at two. Sheamus follows up with the Brogue Kick, then locks in the Texas Cloverleaf and wins via submission. Didn't expect to see Sheamus pull off a submission move, but I kinda like it since it adds more to Sheamus' character. It isn't clear what they are doing with Sheamus since he is getting big time matches over on SD and is looking like a big time threat, but is not in the championship discussion since Christian is in the early stages of his heel turn. It was nice to see someone kick out of the Cobra since it's ridiculous how his spazz attack can knock people out. By the way, did anyone else notice a "We want Ryder" chant during this part? In fact, I think I heard it several times tonight. Well, they were in Zack Ryder's hometown, so clearly they are pulling for their hometown hero. Then again, maybe my ears are playing tricks on me, but I swear I heard this chant.

Winner via submission: Sheamus

Promo time with Randy Orton. He talks about how live tv is awesome and is still trying to act like a nice guy. I will say that even though Randy is trying to act more like a face, I can't seem to buy it since he is forcing it on people and it feels awkard at times. I think Orton is just one of those guys who is a natural heel, regardless if the audience wants to cheer for him or not. Anyway, he calls out Christian. Finally, Christian shows up on the titantron. He says that Orton is always angry and also says that Orton was just a guy who was fed a silver spoon because of his last name while he had to bust his ass his entire career to get to where he is at (Christian actually has an argument here, but I can at least be fair and say Orton has worked for his spot. Then again, I realize he was just trying to generate heat). Orton answers by claiming that Christian had to ride Edge's coattails his entire career. This was said to make Christian get in the ring, and it actually works.....well... kinda. Christian is making his way to the ring, but stops at the entrance ramp and retreats in heelish fashion. Orton wants to attack him, but the security staff separates the two. We then get the 14,356th email from the Raw GM. Michael Cole informs us that Orton has a concussion because of all the championship shots to the head he has been taking lately, and he will not have him compete. He also says if Randy fails to comply with this, he will strip him of the title. Randy STILL thinks about attacking Christian, but eventually decides to leave. SCSA is on the titantron and says Christian has a match against Rey Mysterio right now. Ok, I haven't had a chance to talk about Christian's heel turn since I have missed the last couple of SD reviews, but I can give my thoughts. I actually think it is a good idea because Christian is the best heel over on SD. Plus, Christian has normally been a better heel than a face throughout his career. Still, does anyone else feel more sympathy for the heel in Christian as opposed to Orton the face? Yeah, it does feel like that since Christian had all the right reasons to turn on the fans because it was their undoing that made him lose the title so quickly. With the way things are turning up with this storyline, I can actually see Christian get the title back and keep the feud with Orton rolling. This actually might be one of the better feuds going around in pro wrestling these days and it might go into SummerSlam, and I might not have a problem with that if the buildup is being done right. Seriously, Christian vs Orton has a strong argument for rivalry of the year.

Match #4: Christian vs Rey Mysterio
Booker T joins King and Cole on commentary. I guess he thought Tough Enough was still being filmed since he is an hour late? Something about this match seemed off, but first let me talk about it. The match didn't last too long and it ended when Christian didn't listen to the ref's count in the corner for fighting dirty and calls for the bell. The strange thing is once the ref called for the bell, Christian and Mysterio acted as if the bell didn't ring and continued with the match. It almost made me believe the ref was NOT suppose to do the full count and ended up calling for the bell. Sometimes, the WWE doesn't tell the refs about the outcome so it gets more of a natural feel. The only reason I bring this up is because both Christian and Mysterio acted as if the match was still in progress, and so did the run ins that would happen afterwords. Then again, maybe I am just nerding the hell out of all of this? Punk showed up and Rey hits a crossbody on him. This forces the rest of Nexus to help out their leader. Mason Ryan gets Rey and slams him in the ring post. He tosses him back in the ring for Christian to hit the Killswitch. See, it almost seemed like it was designed for this match to end in a DQ, but I think it was supposed to end at the point Punk and Nexus showed up. It is possible that Christian and Mysterio didn't hear the ref's count and thus there was miscommunication. I think this because they went to a commercial in the middle of this match, and seconds after coming back in the air, the DQ happens. Based on WWE's past work, the match would have gone on a little longer before doing the DQ because of the commercial. Plus, Christian took his knee off of Rey's head at the last second. In the past where the wrestler is trying to get a DQ, Christian would have kept up the knee choking like what Del Rio did earlier in the night with the CAB. Overall, it doesn't come off too bad on tv, but since I have been watching wrestling a long time, something about this part seemed as if somebody missed a cue or some miscommunication was going on. Then again, maybe I am over analyzing the entire thing? Oh, and it was announced at CP, it would be Punk vs Mysterio.

Winner via DQ: Rey Mysterio

Backstage where Austin is on the phone and gets interrupted by Miss Excuse Me (.....Princess) in Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler. Vickie requested for his client in Ziggler to get a US Championship match against Kofi Kingston at CP. Austin says he will make the match under one condition, Ziggler must dump Vickie as his manager. Austin proceeds to give him a pep talk and tells him he will benefit a lot more if Ziggler gets rid of Vickie. Ziggler thinks about it and finally agrees to get rid of Vickie. She is going apes*** while Austin is laughing and says he was just fu***** with them and says Vickie is still his manager. He leaves the scene, which starts an argument between Vickie and Dolph. I gotta admit, this scene was pretty funny. Austin is sure active tonight as the GM, and I kinda like it. I wish the GMs were more active and aware of what is going on with certain WWE storylines and it was something we hadn't see on Raw in a long time since the GM is a computer these days. In other words, an actual face for the GM role is a lot better than an imaginary one.

It appears we are getting ready for the Truth/Morrison match. The man who is bats*** insane in Truth is out there, but Morrison's entrance theme plays twice and there is no Morrison. Truth decides to look for Morrison because he doesn't want to disappoint the little Jimmys. He walks backstage and see what is going on. He finds Morrison being attended to by the medics and walks over to Morrison. He pushes a dresser box towards him to smash him against the corner and the segment ends with the refs telling Truth to leave. Yeah, so the early guess is to assume that Truth did the attack on Morrison. I guess this was written into the show to make Truth generate more heel heat. In fact, by the end of the show, Truth was definitely getting a response by the audience. I know I am going to piss off a lot of people with what I am about to say, but I think Truth is closer to a world title than Morrison and deserves it more. Truth is just a lot more interesting with his words than Morrison is. Morrison is a better in ring talent, but you need other qualifications to be a wrestler and Truth is just shining a lot more. The match never happened as you would have guessed.

Match #5: Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger vs Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne
Pretty short match without much really standing out. The match ended when the ref is dealing with Ziggler. This allows Kofi to sneak a TIP on Swagger, only to be greeted by Air Bourne for the clean win. Maybe they are trying something with Bourne? I still think this is mainly a feud for Swagger, but it is possible Bourne goes somewhere after this mini-rivalry.

Winner via pinfall: Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne

It's time for Piper's Pit. Piper talks about the old days of beating up Clubber Lang until Miz interrupts. Miz compared himself to Piper with his mic skills, but Piper says Miz is a wannabe and there is only ONE Piper (He is definitely correct about that statement). Miz tries to provoke him since he was a world champion, while the same can't be said for Piper. Piper finally invites Riley to the ring. Piper ask Riley why he turned on the Miz? Riley responds by saying he respected the Miz, but at somepoint the Miz became about himself and thus starting mistreating him. Piper also ask some questions towards the Miz, and Piper starts to change the questions to just piss him off and claims Riley will beat the Miz at CP. Miz starts talking about betting until Riley says Piper can beat the Miz tonight. It seems like Piper isn't up for the match when Miz purposes $1000, but says he will do the match for $5000 (damn, maybe the retired life isn't quite going well for Piper?). Austin jumps on the titantron (that titantron was really active tonight) and says the match is a go and it starts right now. He also appoints Riley as the special referee. I thought this was a fun edition of Piper's Pit, and it reminded me why Piper will be one of the best talkers in the business.

Match #6: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs Miz for $5000
Seconds into the match, Riley attacks Miz and Piper sneaks a backside rollup for the pinfall victory. After the match, Miz tries to attack, but it fails and it ends with Riley and Piper celebrating. I know most people would complain about how this makes Miz look weak, but the deck was stack against him and it was designed for him to lose. This little rivalry between Miz and Riley isn't too shabby for the most part.

Winner via pinfall: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper

Match #7: Bella Twins, Maryse, Alica Fox, Tamina, Rosa Mendes, and Melina vs Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Eve, Gail Kim, Kaitlyn, and AJ
Good Lord, can you possibly put anymore people in one match? AJ seems to be going for the Link or Saria look with her color scheme. Then again, I think I recall on an episode of NXT where she says she likes video games. The match was a joke and it really only involved two people. It starts off with Kelly and Melina for a few seconds, then it breaks down with the face divas taking out the heel divas. Kelly and Melina are still in the ring and hits the Infamassour on Melina for the win. Hands down the worst match of the night. And I guess to celebrate their misfortune, Eve reminds the audience the Tony Awards were last night and wants to dance as if it were Broadway. Bad wrestling, bad acting, and bad dancing. Just what everyone wanted on a Monday night, right? It was dreadful to say the least.

Winner via pinfall: the face divas

Backstage with SCSA and Andy (winner of Tough Enough). They both crack open a beer and Austin wishes Andy good luck. Punk arrives to interrupt the party. Punk wishes Andy and his friends for winning TE (Some people wonder what this statement means. Most of these TE guys ended up getting a WWE developmental deal, which is why Punk states all of them win since they are at least still with the company...for now). Austin offers him a beer, which makes Punk say "what". This goes back and forth for a while which makes Punk say "its annoying, isn't it" (I really love this little reference by Punk since that "what" chant is really getting old). Punk takes another jab at Austin by asking him if he can say the alphabet backwords, which makes Austin say if he can whoop his ass backwords. Anyway, Punk thanks Austin for the match against Cena later tonight. Austin adds Nexus is banned from ringside, but Punk doesn't seem to care. I really loved this segment and I think it was one of the segments that helped the show. I realize these two have had a fun little war over Twitter since the WWE All Stars video game came out and it was nice to bring that to the show. It made me think outloud to myself.....Punk vs Austin.....WM 28? It really depends if Punk resigns a deal and if Austin can compete in a match, but if Austin can have one more match, I would totally be asking for his opponent to be Punk. The mic war can literally write itself since Austin loves beer and Punk is Straight Edge. If Austin can go, this match NEEDS to happen. Who's with me? On an off note, did anyone else think of that Chappelle Show skit with Rick James when Vince McMahon slapped Andy? I'm Vince McMahon, bitch!!!

Austin arrives in a four wheeler to the ring and thanks everyone for a fun night. The Raw GM interrupts, and I think it was during this scene where Cole just s*** himself. He says the Raw GM will be back next week and in charge. Austin says he is still in charge and says since there is a three hour Raw set for next week, it will be the Power to the People, where the fans will make the matches (based on how this normally works in WWE, fans aren't really making the tough decisions and WWE intentially makes the fans swerve the obvious route). For some reason, the Raw GM email sound starts going bats*** crazy. Austin gets pissed off and is making his way towards the labtop. Cole immediatley runs towards the audience while the email sound is still going off. Austin takes the computer and throws it on the ground. He then pours beer all over it and runs over the computer with the four wheeler. I am not sure if this was a shot at the Raw GM or Bill Gates.....eh, who cares. The segment ends with Austin enjoying some more beer. Pretty funny segment. Oh, and more CP buildup with various SD superstars. Not as funny as the one with Truth last week.

Match #8: CM Punk vs John Cena
This was hands down the best match of the night. This one actually went on longer while the other matches were really short. This match also featured some good back and forth action by Punk and Cena. The crowd seemed split between Punk and Cena. The crowd was giving Cena a lot of heat. In fact, I think I heard a "Let's go Cena/CM Punk" chant during the match. I think there was also some "Cena sucks" chants going around. I liked how in one spot of the match, Cena looked to be powering up with the positive Cena chants, but with the negative chants he was losing strength. The finish comes when Cena has just started his five moves of doom until we hear Truth is in the audience and is wanting to give a kid some water. Cena is distracted by this, which allows Punk to hit the GTS and Punk pins Cena for the win. This was the best way to book the match since you didn't want Punk going into his match at CP with a lose since they are trying something with Punk and Nexus. This also adds more tension between Truth and Cena. After the match, Truth gets in the ring and uses the ultimate weapon in a water bottle to KO Cena and the show ends with Truth posing with the WWE Championship. Yeah, you can use your barb-wire bats, tables, chairs, but a water bottle? Now THAT'S hardcore.

Winner via pinfall: CM Punk

Overall Impression:
I definitely have to agree that this week's Raw was lacking in the action department. Most of the matches were very short and nothing really stands out except for the main event. Still, there is still hope since promos/segments can make a show stand out as well. Well, this show definitely did deliver in that category. I really enjoyed this week's promos. If you don't mind a mic battle, then this is the show for you. Chances are if you are the IWC, you aren't going to dislike this showing because the action was indeed lacking. I really liked the Punk/Austin segment and I hope it actually goes somewhere down the road. Even if it was for one night, it was the moment that made this show shine. I also enjoyed Truth's segments this week. I am really liking his facial expressions to when he does good and bad things. I also enjoyed Piper's Pit and shows how Piper still has the voice even if he doesn't compete anymore. I will say there was some moments where Raw was dragging a bit and I understand completely how people might dislike this showing. Not great in ring action for this week, but promos can get the job done and make this week's Raw watchable. Casual fans will probably enjoy this show, and even old school wrestling fans might enjoy the Austin segments since this episode did feature a lot of SC. The goal for this show was to hype up CP, and I think they did that. With Truth's actions, it makes me curious to see what will happen with the Cena/Truth match. I also liked the development between Orton and Christian. Again, the action is lacking with this one, but it did have some of its moments. Well, that is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. I apologize for the review being so long, but I did have another hour to cover. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. I am in a debate on if I should do a CP Rundown or a SD review, what do YOU folks think? I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and be cautious around water bottles.