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Pro Wrestling

2018 RDTWorldofSport Wrestling Awards

RDTWorldofSport 2018 Wrestling Awards

Honesty time. This is pretty much my opinion with some searching around to see what some respected wrestling forums and writers think. Also this will mostly be WWE (but not all), basically because that’s what I watched 99% of the time. But if something else catches my eye, it could make the awards. 2018 was an interesting year, for sure. Again, if you disagree, fine. But just remember, I don’t watch NJPW or anything else really.

Moment of the Year

Winner: The Man Comes Around RAW

You know what the easiest way to determine if what someone is doing is great? Take an angle that’s been pretty horrible for years (in this case, the forced RAW-Smackdown “invasions” or whatever for Survivor Series) and turn it into a masterpiece. And that’s what Becky Lynch did. In a pretty lame year for WWE angles, this ridiculously stood out.

Second Place: Penta-Jericho at All-In

Third Place: Ronda Rousey Debuts at the Royal Rumble

Fourth Place: Asuka wins the Smackdown Women’s Title at TLC

Fifth Place: The Undertaker Returns to Confront John Cena

Debut of the Year

Winner: Ronda Rousey in WWE

Her actual debut at the Rumble felt like an absolute shock, and then she proceeded to string together good match after good match all year. Has anyone felt so natural in WWE as Ronda (samoan drop and awkward smiling aside).

Second Place: Ricochet in NXT

Third Place: War Raiders in NXT

Fourth Place: Matt Riddle in NXT

Fifth Place: AOP in WWE

Return of the Year

Winner: Daniel Bryan (WWE)

It wasn’t even the strongest return as Bryan was saddled with trying to make something of Big Cass. But like always, he was too good to be kept in the midcard for long. His heel turn is perhaps the 2nd best story in the company at the moment, and winning the world title and having an excellent match with Brock shows Bryan hasn’t lost a step.

Second Place: Drew Mcintyre on RAW

Third Place: Rey Mysterio at the Royal Rumble/Smackdown

Fourth Place: The Undertaker at Wrestlemania

Fifth Place: Nikki Bella at the Royal Rumble/Smackdown

Match of the Year

Winner: NXT Championship: Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Johnny Gargano

I feel like I need to add the “I didn’t watch much NJPW” disclaimer like I did last year. I think it’s also worth mentioning, while great matches, the Gargano vs. Ciampa series didn’t completely do it for me for whatever reason (probably because Ciampa was gone too long). Gargano vs. Almas had a perfect story. Gargano’s focus was on becoming Johnny Wrestling again after a post-DIY slump, while Almas had just recently went through the same thing before Zelina Vega got him back on track. The match itself is incredible. Not only did it give Gargano a legit argument at best in the world, it elevated Almas into something special as well (that’s been wasted on Smackdown, but whatever).

Second Place: WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship – Evolution: Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch

Third Place: WWE Women’s Championship – TLC: Charlotte vs. Asuka vs. Becky Lynch

Fourth Place: WWE Survivor Series – Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan

Fifth Place: NJPW WrestleKingdom 12 – Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega

Feud of the Year

Winner: Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte

Becky Lynch’s heel turn on Charlotte launched one of rare moments of someone getting megaover (the last one I can remember is Daniel Bryan in 2013). Becky and Charlotte’s beef makes a lot of sense from a storyline perspective and while Becky has just absolutely killed it, Charlotte’s done quite well herself. As a result, we’ve had some great matches and launched a megastar in Becky.

Second Place: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Third Place: AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe

Fourth Place: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Fifth Place: Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano

Biggest Disappointment of the Year

Winner: The Roman Empire Crashes

While the very end of Roman’s run wasn’t his fault at all, the rest of it was an unnecessary mess it didn’t have to be. First, Wrestlemania vs. Brock was an embarrassment. Whoever wrote that needed to be fired. The cage match at the Greatest Royal Rumble was there. The Summerslam main event, where Roman FINALLY won the title was bad (and we needed Braun Strowman to be taken out just so people wouldn’t root for a cash-in). Nonetheless, I was all for a fighting champion Roman storyline and perhaps a strong feud with Braun (who he has great chemistry with; it was my 2017 Feud of the Year). Somehow the writing got worse, where Braun turned heel (no one wanted this), wasted his Money in the Bank contract (what) to face Roman in Hell in a Cell…which went to a no contest (sigh). For as strong as Roman gets pushed, he didn’t get a clean run once he won the title. Sadly, Roman was forced to vacate the title due to real life Leukemia returning. Roman’s ridiculously talented and quite frankly I think the WWE Universe would love to cheer for the guy as a top guy. But his booking is atrocious. The way Roman’s been booked not only hurts Roman, it hurt Samoa Joe (Backlash), Brock (the whole thing), Braun (for his forced heel turn that wasn’t needed), Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose (for the botched SHIELD reunion and Ambrose turn). Roman has megastar potential. But not this way.

Second Place: Asuka pre-TLC

Third Place: Sasha Banks and Bayley’s never ending storyline

Fourth Place: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura feud

Fifth Place: Finn Balor doing next to nothing

Best Show of the Year

Winner: All-In

A non-WWE show! I don’t know if All-Elite Wrestling is going to make it or anything, but wow did Cody Rhodes and company make waves for the American wrestling landscape not really seen for a long time. Good matches (Omega vs. Pentagon was considered for my Top 5), good stories (Cody Rhodes’ path to the NWA title), big names (Rey Mysterio was in the main event), good surprises (Jericho as Penta is my #2 moment of the year) and some other fun stuff (the Battle Royal) far exceeded my expectations. It takes a lot for me to watch a non-WWE show. It takes a real lot for me to enjoy one.

Second Place: NXT Takeover: Philadelphia

Third Place: NXT Takeover: New Orleans

Fourth Place: WWE Survivor Series 2018

Fifth Place: WWE Royal Rumble 2018

Non-Wrestler of the Year

Winner: Kurt Angle, RAW

Not a great year for non-wrestlers. Angle did wrestle here and there, so this may be cheating. He did fine with what he had to work with though, especially since his main feud ended up being with Baron Corbin (almost made my disappointments list, what a mess that’s turned out to be). Bringing back the Conquistador though, hard to top that.

Second Place: Zelina Vega, Manager (A stretch I know)

Third Place: William Regal, NXT General Manager

Fourth Place: Paul Heyman, Manager

Fifth Place: Paige, Smackdown General Manager

Best Surprisingly Good Angle

Winner: The Ultimate Deletion

One of the few feel good stories in WWE this year. Br Woken Matt Hardy got to do a WWE-style Ultimate Deletion match…and it was a lot of fun! And while Bray Wyatt is capable of much more, the post-Deletion team, the Eater of Worlds, were fun and a good way for Matt Hardy to go out.

Second Place: Daniel Bryan Turns Heel

Third Place: Kurt Angle as a Conquistador

Woman of the Year

Winner: Becky Lynch (WWE)

Like this was a question. Becky’s the most over act in WWE at the moment and arenas everywhere are chanting her name. I’m begging that WWE doesn’t give her the 2012-2013 CM Punk treatment. To give an idea of how big Becky’s year was, she didn’t even make my Top 5 in this category last year.

Second Place: Ronda Rousey (WWE)

Third Place: Charlotte (WWE)

Fourth Place: Asuka (WWE)

Fifth Place: Shayna Bazsler (NXT)

Tag Team of the Year

Winner: The Undisputed Era (NXT)

It was a rough year in WWE land for tag teams, let me tell you. Thank goodness the Undisputed Era continues to be awesome. New Day, Bar and Usos, good as they all are, are stale. Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel were champions at one point. And so was a 10 year old kid? Thank you Undisputed Era.

Second Place: The New Day (WWE)

Third Place: The Bar (WWE)

Fourth Place: The Deleter of Worlds (WWE)

Fifth Place: The Bludgeon Brothers (WWE)

Wrestler of the Year

Winner: Becky Lynch (WWE)

This one was a tough one for me between three people – Becky, AJ Styles and Kenny Omega. Each had pros and cons. Omega did a lot for wrestling that isn’t non-WWE, was called the most important World Champion by Sports Illustrated and won Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s #1 spot on the PWI 500. He had a lot of great matches and I would guess would be the top draw not named Jericho for All Elite Wrestling if it happens. But the truth is, I don’t watch enough to comfortably judge Omega and his influence. If it wasn’t Jericho I wouldn’t have even watched his match at Wrestle Kingdom. If he came to WWE would he even start on the main roster? Tons of people would say of course not. Others would call me stupid for even suggesting it. So I don’t feel he’s #1. AJ Styles’ year is quite strange, but as WWE does whatever around him, he’s a constant top guy where no one else can be consistent. He would have easily won this year (for the third straight time in three WWE years), but unfortunately a lot of his dream feuds fell a little flat. The feud with Nakamura wasn’t bad at all, but it was built as this dream feud and we got…a string of good to very good matches. Samoa Joe, same thing. The feud with Bryan has some potential and I think could be the dream match in the right situation. Still, AJ still put together a very good year (and I don’t even think any of this was his fault). The knock against Becky is she didn’t get a chance to do anything notable before Summerslam. So basically, can she win a year-long award for a strong four-five months. But wow what a four-five months it was. As I wrote earlier, this is the first time since Daniel Bryan in 2013 where the fans are all-in and WWE has a transcendent star in their hands. Becky has delivered ever since. And, it’s not like Becky’s pre-Summerslam was bad. Had AJ had a stronger year or had I saw more of Omega, I would have given one of them the nod most likely, but Becky stole 2018 with a super strong finish.

Second Place: AJ Styles (WWE)

Third Place: Kenny Omega (NJPW)

Fourth Place: Johnny Gargano (NXT)

Fifth Place: Aleister Black (NXT)

Pro Wrestling

RDTWorldofSport 2017 Wrestling Awards

RDTWorldofSport 2017 Wrestling Awards 

I don’t have a real basis for this to be perfectly honest. It’s mostly my opinion with some searching around to see what some respected wrestling forums and writers think. Also this will mostly be WWE (but not all), basically because that’s what I watched 99% of the time. But if something else catches my eye, it could make the awards. With that being said, here goes. (Yes, I wrote the same thing last year).

Moment of the Year

Winner: The Undertaker Loses to Roman Reigns and Gets a Standing Ovation

 

Can’t say he retired, because we don’t know that yet, but it was one heck of a moment after he lost to Reigns. He sure looked like he was retiring, that’s for sure.

Second Place: The Festival of Friendship – Kevin Owens Turns on Chris Jericho

Third Place: Kurt Angle returns as RAW GM

Fourth Place: Chris Jericho challenges Kenny Omega for Wrestle Kingdom 12

Fifth Place: The Hardy Boyz return at Wrestlemania 33

Debut of the Year

Winner: Samoa Joe in WWE

 

WWE has already seemingly screwed up some NXT talent debuts, but one they haven’t messed up at all has been Samoa Joe. He came in as Triple H’s heavy to take out Seth Rollins, and has been near the top of the card ever since. He could be that big match killer that Brock Lesnar is sooner than later.

Second Place: Shinsuke Nakamura in WWE

Third Place: Tye Dillinger in WWE

Fourth Place: Aleister Black in NXT

Fifth Place: Asuka in WWE

Return of the Year

Winner: Kurt Angle on RAW

 

It feels so right to see Kurt Angle back in WWE. He got an insane reaction when announced as Raw GM. His in-ring return was I guess a bit underwhelming, but it was also refreshing to see him come back in the flow as opposed to a massive big built match. He also was pretty good in the TLC match. It’s great to see Kurt home.

Second Place: Chris Jericho to NJPW to challenge Kenny Omega

Third Place: The Hardyz at Wrestlemania

Fourth Place: Paige in WWE

Fifth Place: Drew McIntyre in NXT

Match of the Year

Winner: WWE Championship: A.J. Styles vs. John Cena – WWE Royal Rumble 2017

I didn’t watch any NJPW, so I can’t speak on anything Okada and Omega did, but there still was a strong WWE selection. It may have been weaker than the Summerslam 2016 match, but AJ and Cena delivered once again it what seemed to almost be a greatest hits version of their match. Those were some pretty great hits.

Second Place: Brock Lesnar vs. A.J. Styles – Survivor Series 2017

Third Place: WWE U.K. Championship: Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate – NXT Takeover Chicago

Fourth Place: War Games: Undisputed Era vs. Sanity vs. Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong – NXT Takeover War Games

Fifth Place: WWE Championship – Elimination Chamber: John Cena vs. A.J. Styles vs. Bray Wyatt vs. The Miz vs. Baron Corbin

Feud of the Year

Winner: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

 

Say what you want about Roman, him and Strowman had some great matches and this feud elevated Strowman into a top guy. The Last Man Standing match at Great Balls of Fire almost made my top five. It also gave us an edge to Roman’s character that’s been missing since he was elevated to top guy status. Great stuff all around.

Second Place: Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens

Third Place: The Usos vs. The New Day

Fourth Place: Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens

Fifth Place: Asuka vs. Ember Moon

Biggest Disappointment of the Year

Winner: Former NXT Talents Get Buried

 

Man where to start. Finn Balor went from the first ever Universal Champion to doing a whole lot of nothing. After his feud with Bray Wyatt eroded into a joke, he was saved with a great match with A.J. Styles at TLC only to just get jobbed out the next night to Kane. Word is Vince doesn’t see what’s so special about him. I mean come on. He even has a marketable Demon gimmick and everything! We had fans booing Bayley at one point, which is incredible really. Talk about a lost year. Shinsuke Nakamura debuted on Smackdown during a Miz promo and that ended up being the highlight of his entire run in 2017. Too bad he couldn’t just feud with Miz. Feud with Ziggler was okay at best. Wrestling Jinder for the WWE Championship and not winning it only hurt him. Bobby Roode has also done a whole lot of nothing since debuting on Smackdown and also had an okay feud with Ziggler. There’s already worry about Asuka’s booking. At least Samoa Joe looked great I suppose.

Second Place: Bray Wyatt

Third Place: Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion

Fourth Place: Survivor Series 2017 Main Event

Fifth Place: Jason Jordan as Kurt Angle’s son

Best Show of the Year

Winner: NXT Takeover: War Games

Everything ranged from good to great here. Lars Sullivan vs. Kassius Ohno? Good start for Sullivan. Aleister Black and Velveteen Dream told a great story in their match and could be near the top of some match of the year lists. The four way for the vacant NXT Women’s title was solid. Drew McIntyre and Andrade Almas had a surprisingly good match with a shocking outcome. War Games is 4th on my match of the year and really put over the Undisputed Era as an up and coming great faction.

Second Place: NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III

Third Place: NXT Takeover: Orlando

Fourth Place: NXT Takeover: Chicago

Fifth Place: WWE Royal Rumble 2017

Non-Wrestler of the Year

Winner: Paul Heyman, Manager

Got to give it to Heyman. He made every match against Lesnar this year a really special feel. From the Goldberg match to the Samoa Joe match to even the A.J. Styles match, he put over everyone. He even put over Finn Balor. All while Brock ran through all of them.

Second Place: Daniel Bryan, Smackdown GM

Third Place: Kurt Angle, RAW GM

Fourth Place: Shane McMahon, Smackdown Commissioner

Fifth Place: William Regal, NXT Commissioner

Best Surprisingly Good Angle

Winner: The Festival of Friendship

Sometimes those type angle miss (see “This is Your Life” for Bayley this year) and sometimes they hit. I guess when Chris Jericho is doing it, it hits. There was a painting, a Gillberg, a new list…and a truly great heel turn. I think Owens vs. Jericho should have been the Universal title match at Mania, to be honest.

Second Place: Enzo Amore becomes the face of 205 Live

Third Place: Aliester Black vs. Velveteen Dream

Woman of the Year

Winner: Asuka (NXT/WWE)

Asuka carried the NXT Women’s division in the post Charlotte-Becky-Bayley-Sasha world. She had great matches with Ember Moon, and has yet to be screwed up in WWE yet, although the start hasn’t been all great either. After the “women’s revolution”, it hasn’t been a super strong year for women. Asuka at least had a strong year.

Second Place: Alexa Bliss (WWE)

Third Place: Sasha Banks (WWE)

Fourth Place: Charlotte (WWE)

Fifth Place: Ember Moon (NXT)

Tag Team of the Year

Winner: The Bar (WWE)

 

What amazing chemistry Cesaro and Sheamus have! What began as a best of 7 series between two guys who had nothing to do turned into an amazing tag team that complement one another well. They had good matches with the Hardyz this year and also were a good team to put together with the Miz in the feud with the Shield.

Second Place: The Usos (WWE)

Third Place: Authors of Pain (NXT)

Fourth Place: The New Day (WWE)

Fifth Place: The Hardy Boyz (IMPACT/ROH/WWE)

Wrestler of the Year

Winner: A.J. Styles (WWE)

 

How can it not be Styles? I asked that last year. He came in as WWE Champ. Participated in my 2017 Match of the Year at the Royal Rumble and another contender for it at Elimination Chamber. Carried Shane McMahon to the best or second best match at Wrestlemania. Had a good, if not too long feud with Kevin Owens over the US Title in the summer. Surprisingly won the US Title at a MSG house show. Had to save the TLC show and Finn Balor’s early career by replacing Bray Wyatt and having a great match. Even Vince realized he was too good to not be WWE Champ, so the Jinder experiment ended with AJ winning another WWE Title. As a result he saved Survivor Series and had a Match of the Year contender with Brock Lesnar. Pretty good year for AJ. That’s 2/2 when it comes to WWE years too. Hope he main events Wrestlemania.

Second Place: Brock Lesnar (WWE)

Third Place: The Miz (WWE)

Fourth Place: Samoa Joe (WWE)

Fifth Place: Kevin Owens (WWE)

Pro Wrestling

Wrestlemania XXXIII Preview

It is the biggest show of the year. Unfortunately, WWE treats it that way. Now you may say “isn’t that a good thing” but in this case it’s not. WWE manufactured every single “moment” at Wrestlemania XXXII, somehow failing to realize that the best part about Wrestlemania moments are when they are organically created. I mean The Rock basically came out with a neon sign that said “Wrestlemania moment coming now”.  It was a terrible show.

Has WWE learned from that? Wrestlemania XXXI was basically the opposite, with fans not entirely being excited about the card and instead getting an amazing show filled with great moments (The DX and NWO run-ins and Seth Rollins’ shocking title win, for two examples). What Wrestlemania will we get tonight? Let’s go through each match, pre-show and all, and throw in some potential appearances that could turn into real, organic moments.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Neville© vs. Austin Aries

Should be a really fun match on the pre-show and definitely the highest profile match for the division possible without Brian Kendrick. I expect Neville to retain the title though, he hasn’t held it long enough for the credible reign he needs. Potential moment? Some crazy high flying move from Neville probably.

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

It’s kind of a shame that this is on the pre-show. Last year it was moved to the main card and rumors ran rampant that John Cena was going to win it…only for that move to mean Shaq was in it. Baron Corbin winning was pretty good though and WWE did capitalize it. Braun Strowman seems like the obvious winner, but I kinda think they are going to give it to Big Show again as a token of appreciation, especially with the Shaq match falling apart. Moment potential is Show’s win if it turns out to be his last match, or perhaps someone slamming him out like Cesaro back at Mania XXX.

Smackdown’s Women’s Title: Alexa Bliss © vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natayla vs. Naomi vs. Mickie James vs. Carmella

I was a bit surprised to find that Naomi made her return on Smackdown and was announced for the match. That could have been a cool Wrestlemania moment unless WWE thought she would be a disappointing surprise entrant. Also, I’m not sure if other Women can still be in this match or if it’s an official six-pack challenge. I’m not sure who’s winning here, but I am guessing the title will go back to Naomi here.

Raw World Tag Team Title: Gallows and Anderson © vs. Enzo and Cass vs. Cesaro and Sheamus

Throwing a ladder into the mix seemingly made this match feel more important. It should be a bit of a real old school ladder match though, as there isn’t a high flyer in this thing and that’ll be interesting. Seems about the right time for Enzo and Cass to win the titles, which would be a moment in itself.

Intercontinental Title: Dean Ambrose © vs. Baron Corbin

It’s been a rough year for Ambrose. He finally got a crack at the top and was completely exposed at that level. Now he’s in the IC title picture and should be dropping the title to Corbin. And I think he will. Not sure what moments can come from this really other than Corbin’s win. Making Corbin a clutch Wrestlemania type guy (he won the Andre Battle Royal last year) would be a great thing for him.

WWE Hall Of Fame

 

I don’t really know when this is going to happen on the card. But seeing Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania would be something. Maybe Angle will get involved in something?

John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse

Kudos to The Miz to getting himself into a high profile match at Wrestlemania. It’s a shame he’s not winning but really it’s what WWE does with Miz over the next year that really matters. The potential moment here is obvious, John Cena proposing to Nikki Bella. Get ready for that wedding at Summerslam.

United States Title: Chris Jericho © vs. Kevin Owens

JERIKO EXPLODES. It’s a bit of a shame this isn’t for the Universal title, but it should be a good one nonetheless. I also have a sneaky suspicion Chris Jericho is going over here, only for him to lose to Owens at Extreme Rules or whatever the next PPV is. Moment here could be something involving Jericho emotionally being upset about their Friendship being destroyed.

RAW Women’s Title: Bayley © vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax

I really don’t buy Nia Jax in this match. She’s just not ready. I expect her to get Big Show at Wrestlemania 2000’d and be out quickly after a triple team. From there, it could be anyone and I think it’ll be Charlotte. It’s not like WWE suddenly pulled the plug on making Charlotte important. Potential moment: Sasha gets eliminated 2nd and turns on Bayley, leading to the Charlotte title win.

Shane McMahon vs. A.J. Styles

While I was hoping for a different match for Styles, putting him with a McMahon is still the highest profile match he’s ever had. And if anyone can get an amazing match out of Shane, it’s Styles. I’m pulling expecting some crazy jump from Shane that he’ll miss and AJ will win as a result. That’ll be your moment obviously.

Legends Segment

The Rock? Stone Cold? HBK? Mick Foley? I kinda expect Foley since it would be a shame he’d miss Mania after being around most of the year. As long as it isn’t the mess the Rock did last year it could be entertaining. Maybe Ronda will show up?!

Seth Rollins vs. Triple H

Can’t fault HHH for putting over Reigns then Rollins back to back. This match should be quite good, and frankly I am surprised it isn’t main eventing. It’s the only match other than Styles vs. Shane that guaranteed to be good and has big match appeal. Rollins will then sink or swim as a top guy afterwards. I expect Samoa Joe to be involved…and if somehow HHH wins a Summerslam rematch will take place too. Then again Finn Balor could show up to fight off Joe.

WWE World Title: Bray Wyatt © vs. Randy Orton

I really wanted this story to continue. Orton’s turn came too early for me, and a triple threat with Luke Harper is much more interesting. I really hope we just aren’t going to see Orton pin Wyatt and that’s that, but Vince has reportedly been impressed with Orton, and he kinda owes him one for what Brock did to him at Summerslam. I see the title switch here, unfortunately.

WWE Universal Title: Goldberg © vs. Brock Lesnar

Either there will be tons of smoke and mirrors, or Lesnar is going over in three minutes max. I really hope it’s the latter. The Goldberg thing was interesting for a bit, but the ending needs to be Lesnar squashing him and moving on.

The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns

This is the rumored main event, which makes me think it’s Undertaker’s last match. Sad to say, but Taker looked pretty bad at the Rumble and Roman’s getting booed out the building. Undertaker deserves better than this if this is the end. I’m sure A.J. could have gotten a great match with him. The right decision is for Roman to go over, sadly.

And that’s Mania. I don’t like how it sounds, but WWE has surpassed the hype before and I hope this is one of those times. Enjoy.

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE TLC 2012

Wwetlc2012

WWE Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2012
December 16, 2012
Brooklyn, NY
Reviewed on February 5, 2015

Change is coming.

Ever since the ”Summer of Punk” last year, WWE has focused on bringing in new and popular talent that also happen to be popular on the internet as well. For the first time, it looks as if WWE is listening to the “IWC” and the “smarks”.

Daniel Bryan, the former Bryan Danielson, is a former World Champion at this point. CM Punk is the reigning WWE Champion and has been for the past 13 months. Antonio Cesaro, the former Claudio Castagnoli, is at the US/IC title level. The Shield, who debuted a month prior in the main event, have one “WWE type” in Roman Reigns, but two IWC types as well in Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins (Jon Moxley and Tyler Black). Perhaps most importantly for this show is Dolph Ziggler, in the main event here against John Cena.

Rest assured though, those old school WWE type talents are still around. Ryback went from squashing jobbers to fighting CM Punk for the title. Sheamus held the World title for most of the year. Kane is still ticking in a fun tag team with Bryan.

But the point is there is tons of talent and for once, the IWC, the smarks, are seeing things their way. And to be honest, their way looks pretty damn awesome.

The Card

Tables Match: #1 Contender to the World Tag Team Championship
Team Rhodes Scholars vs. Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara

This was the last gasp attempt to get Sin Cara over, which was to team with Mysterio.

I don’t remember if both men have to go through tables here, but I am assuming that’s the case.

Sandow and Cody run down the crowd. If you are watching on the Network, the crowd shot at the 6:18 mark would feature me in the middle. Yeah, I’m the goof in the black shirt.

Awesome twisting armdrag for Sin Cara. Moves like that was what go Mistico over in the first place.

Innovative move here. Cody traps Sin Cara’s leg between the steel steps and the ringpost, then drives a table into the steps.

Team Rhodes Scholars win in 9:30. Sin Cara goes for a springboard, but Cody Rhodes runs in and pushes him off the top rope and Cara goes flying into the table. Awesome finish and a great opener to start the PPV. Right team went over too. This might have been the original Sin Cara’s best match in the WWE. He just never got it going. Sandow and Rhodes didn’t beat the tag champs for the belts though.

Nice Shield promo. It’s on glitch old security camera footage, which is a nice touch. It’s also a great promo, as they run down Ryback, Daniel Bryan and Kane. Interesting comment about Ryback being reckless and such, I wonder if that was a semi-shoot there.

United States Championship
Antonio Cesaro© vs. R-Truth

Cesaro had the remixed Malenko music here…which to be honest I think he should bring back.

R-Truth does a crazy man comeback. I do like that WWE never ignored his transition to a crazy man in 2011 when he turned heel.

Cesaro pins R-Truth in 6:39. Neutralizer (which I never really liked as a finisher) gets the win. Back and forth standard match here. Good for what it was. Cesaro cuts a post match promo, pointing out that the fans booing the US Champ is like the fans booing the US. Shame he’d basically be in the same spot, if not lower, two years later.

Ziggler promo. He thinks John Cena is getting preferential treatment. He wonders why Cena gets a shot at MITB when he lost his MITB earlier in the year…and he has nothing on the line. Yeah…that’s a good point actually.

Miz TV. 3Mb are his guests, and they end up arguing with the Spanish announcers. That draws out Ricardo Rodriguez, and 3MB threaten him. Alberto Del Rio basically turns face in making the save. A very effective reason to turn, as it’s been shown that the only person Del Rio really cared about was Ricardo. It would pay off until the Mania feud where Jack Swagger’s involvement killed any heat Del Rio had.

Two other things to point out from this: Miz is a pretty terrible face. And 3MB were awesome. While Drew McIntyre should have probably done better, I would have never guessed Jinder Mahal would work out in any way.

Intercontinental Championship
Kofi Kingston© vs. Wade Barrett

Kofi was beyond stale at this point. He had been doing the same thing for 4 years at this point. As a result, Barrett was getting huge cheers.

Amazing side slam by Barrett, but it was really Kofi’s selling by swinging around that made it awesome.

Kofi Kingston retains the title by pin in 8:39. A close Trouble in Paradise wins it for Kingston. Pretty disappointing result, although Barrett would win the title soon enough anyway. Match was solid. That’s never been the problem with Kingston afterall.

A pretty good start to this PPV so far.

We get CM Punk in his own personal skybox! Promo time!

It’s a brilliant promo. Punk states that his 392 day world title reign is just the beginning. Shame that wasn’t true.

Tables, Ladders and Chairs
The Shield vs. Ryback, Kane and Daniel Bryan

This came about as this was to be Punk vs. Ryback for the WWE Title, but as Punk explained, Ryback injured him two weeks ago and he couldn’t compete.

This would be the Shield’s first WWE match.

Action packed from the start. Ryback gets some boos, some cheers and some Goldberg chants.

The beauty of the Shield: everything they did gelled like they were a team. They save one another. They control the ring together. All that stuff. It’s why they ended up being so effective.

Reigns gets propped up against a ladder and receives a dropkick from Daniel Bryan. Imagine how WWE fans would feel about that now!

Ryback had the advantage a bit…but the Shield has taken over. Triple powerbomb through the Spanish announcer’s table to Ryback!

Bryan nearly gets decapitated by a table side that was propped on the top rope. Ouch!

Double superplex off the table that was on the top rope! Kane makes the save!

They try to superplex Kane, but Kane just shoves Rollins off the top to the floor!

Chokeslam to Ambrose on an open chair! My god!

Reigns spears Kane through the barricade. It’s just awesome spot after awesome spot here.

Curb Stomp to Bryan on an open chair! I don’t think that was Rollins’ finish yet though.

Ryback is back!

The Shield get the advantage on Ryback too, and beat him down the entry way. They get Ryback on a table and Rollins climbs a 15 footer. Ryback comes to though and catches Rollins…and sends him flying though a stack of tables!

The Shield win when Roman Reigns pinned Daniel Bryan in 22:46. Roman Reigns hits a top rope powerbomb through a table on Bryan, and Ryback can’t get back in time to make the save. Just wow. Incredible match, incredible debut for the Shield. My 2012 Match of the Year. An action packed 22 minutes for sure. Ryback and The Shield looked great.

Diva’s Championship
Eve© vs. Naomi

Naomi won a pre-show battle royal for this title shot. Kaitlyn and Eve had been feuding, and Eve cost Kaitlyn the battle royal earlier.

Eve retains by pin in 3:07. Spinning neck breaker wins the match for Eve. Better in some ways than the standard Divas match as Naomi did some flippy fake outs, although she also botched a jump to the top rope and a leg lariat in the corner. It was still passable.

Chairs Match: World Championship
Big Show© vs. Sheamus

This was a pretty awesome heel run for the Big Show, and to be honest I wasn’t expecting it at this point. At Survivor Series, Sheamus hit Big Show with 30 chair shots, setting up this match.

Slow start, but crowd wakes up when Sheamus begins to beat the crap out of Big Show with a chair…then slams him!

Vader Bomb from the Big Show with a chair on top of Sheamus. Wouldn’t that hurt Show more?

Sheamus his White Noise on two open chairs on Big Show! Ouch. Sick move.

Big Show retains by pin in 14:17. Big Show gets a giant sized chair and the chairshot wins it. Silly, but I think that’s a good creative finish actually. Match wasn’t too bad either, even if it was a bit slow. Definitely was the end of the Sheamus run as an elite-top guy though. Big Show would continue his effective heel run and put over ADR huge on Smackdown…in a match that should have been at Mania.

AJ Lee is apologizing to John Cena for screwing something up. The Barclay’s Center is dying for an AJ heel turn with Dolph winning tonight for sure.

3 Man Band vs. Alberto Del Rio, The Miz and ?

This match was set-up earlier. Miz announces The Brooklyn Brawler as the surprise partner. I mean, it’s fun because we’re in Brooklyn and he gets a good pop.

Del Rio with an awesome suicide dive out of nowhere to McIntyre.

Del Rio, Miz and the Brawler win when Jiner Mahal submitted in 3:24. “Brooklyn” Crab for the win. Just a fun cool down match before the main event.

MITB Briefcase on the Line: Ladder Match
Dolph Ziggler (MITB) vs. John Cena

Storyline here: AJ Lee was the General Manager of RAW, but resigned because of allegations of an affair with John Cena. Even in traditional terms no idea why Cena would be the face here. Ziggler and his girlfriend, GM Supervisor Vickie Guerrero were trying to put the screws to Cena. Vince McMahon got Vickie to make Cena vs. Ziggler in a MITB Ladder match (way to give up Dolph there Vickie). So here we are.

Ziggler just looks like a superstar here.

Cena slightly messes up a monkey flip. Of course the fans are all over him for that.

Ziggler locks Cena in a sleeper, but Cena carries Ziggler up the ladder. Unfortunately for both, Cena passes out, and both go flying off and crash through a table. Cool spot.

Ziggler climbs the ladder…but Cena ends up pressing the ladder AND Ziggler over his head. Ziggler escapes. Another really cool spot there.

One of the worst looking hurricanranas I’ve seen into a table by Cena. Somehow it worked though.

Vickie Guerrero comes out with a chair…but AJ takes out her using all Cena moves, including a Five Knuckle Shuffle.

Dolph Ziggler wins in 23:16. Cena climbs the ladder…but AJ turns and pushes the ladder down! Ziggler runs in with a superkick to finish off Cena. AJ flashes a crazy smile, then skips off as Ziggler wins to a huge reaction. Great main event here with the right result. Ziggler looks like a real superstar here and SURELY WWE would capitalize on him in 2013.

Of course, that didn’t actually happen. Cena actually got his win back on RAW that luckily no one remembers. Ziggler put on a great show in the Rumble, but Cena won that. Big E. Langston got involved in the AJ/Ziggler pairing, and at first was just the muscle. After Ziggler cashed in MITB and won the World Heavyweight Title, the crowd was solidly behind him. Then it all went downhill with an ill-fated double turn with him and Del Rio, then Big E. turned on him as well. That feud went nowhere, and suddenly Ziggler was back in the US Title scene. It was really a shame. Had Ziggler cashed in on new WWE Champ Cena, he’d be cemented today as a top guy (assuming he didn’t lose, of course).

The Ziggler story kind of defines this show overall. TLC 2012, without considering anything else, is a great show. Everything was pretty good, and the big matches were great. But long term…nothing other than the Shield mattered. Ziggler went back to midcard status after a pseudo-top run. Sheamus has been trending downward ever since. They didn’t know what to do with Ryback past the next few months, and an ill-fated heel turn followed. Again, only the Shield really kept going and became big stars.

Big, big stars.

Final Grade: A-

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Money In the Bank 2011

Money_in_the_Bank_(2011)

WWE Money in the Bank 2011
July 17, 2011
Chicago, IL
Reviewed on March 8, 2014

Background: Ever since WCW went bankrupt, American Professional wrestlers didn’t have a whole lot of leverage anymore. There was no real competition. Sure, there was TNA, but a few notable wrestlers…only one who was a sure fire main eventer at the time (and one WWE legend)…ever went there. (Kurt Angle is the main eventer…even though Jeff Hardy, Mick Foley is the legend). Other guys had other non-wrestling ventures they could look at, but usually, they came back (Big Show, Chris Jericho, Batista). In terms of North American pro wrestling, the top is WWE. The money is in WWE. The stardom is in WWE.

The case of Kurt Angle actually showed that Vince McMahon could have all the leverage. Angle…fresh off of main eventing Wrestlemania, went to TNA and ratings hardly moved. Vince had went from a system of having one or two top guys (The Hogan Era, the Austin-Rock Era) to many big guys with only one that was at the very top (an argument Vince used with Hulk Hogan regarding Hogan’s Summerslam 06 payoff). I believe this actually dilutes the product, but that’s another discussion for another time.

Creatively though, WWE had really hit a down point after a solid 2010. That glass ceiling that’s existed for years and years in WWE seemed to be in clear view of the fans. In 2010 guys like Sheamus, Wade Barrett, the Miz and Daniel Bryan were coming on strong. In 2009, the same could be said about CM Punk. All of these guys here had been something ranging from kinda buried to buried. Sheamus went from bad ass heel champion killing Triple H to joke King of the Ring to actually outright missing the Wrestlemania card in favor of a Rock promo. He only recovered in early 2012…only to get buried because of his stupid 18 second World Title win at Mania 28. Barrett was the leader of one of the most creative angles WWE had done in a while in the Nexus. John Cena squashed him and the Nexus at TLC 2010, and Barrett has never reached that level again. The Miz was the WWE World Champion coming into 2011. Maybe he was somewhat average in the ring, but his character was just pure heel heat. Cena buried him at Over the Limit 2011 in one of the worst booked I Quit Matches I can remember (it’s not that Cena won…it was how)…and then losing to Alex Riley. Bryan hadn’t really been buried, but he also missed the Mania card and seemed to just be in that jobber to stars role after a really hot 2010.

That brings us to CM Punk. WWE was still trying to make new stars, but some were not catching on or not quite ready (John Morrison, R-Truth for the former, Alberto Del Rio for the latter.) There was something different with Punk though. The fans were connecting to him. For whatever reason, WWE wasn’t listening. He eventually got a world title shot for MITB though, which was the day his contract expired. Punk delivered a famous worked-shoot promo which ushered in the reality era for WWE. Punk was supposed to be the heel, but there was not a chance in hell that was happening, especially with the PPV in Chicago. The hype was tremendous. It was the most non-Mania anticipated PPV since One Night Stand 2005. Vince got involved in the storyline. It felt real. Someone was so good, they finally had some leverage.

Some other stories for this show: Mark Henry was actually becoming a bad ass. Christian had won his first World Title and lost it to Randy Orton two days later (which was absolutely awful in a lot of ways), leading to a heel turn for Christian.

The Card

They use that awful Donald Trump theme song for the PPV. At least it has to do with the theme.

Smackdown Money in the Bank
Sheamus vs. Heath Slater vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Wade Barrett vs. Sin Cara vs. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan

If I remember correctly, the smart money here was on Wade Barrett. I wonder in retrospect if that was just hope though. To be fair, he wasn’t the obvious favorite, as Sheamus and Bryan def could have won.

Cody was still doing the broken face gimmick…which is what eventually made me a fan.

There are still some remnants of the Corre vs. Nexus storyline…which we see here with Gabriel and Slater. This would be the last time we see anything resembling the Nexus though.

Bryan with a perfect top rope dropkick to knock Rhodes off the ladder. This is going to be good.

Various wrestlers doing over the top and through the rope dives…with Sin Cara finishing with his sky high plancha on Sheamus. This is fun so far and they’ve barely used the ladder!

Forgot Sin Cara had the top rope C4 in his arsenal! This has to be Sin Cara’s peak here.

Powerbomb from Sheamus off the apron through a ladder. Poor Sin Cara. I believe this was used as a storyline to injure him as he had a Wellness Violation. Brutal spot though. Sin Cara was stealing the show before that powerbomb.

Actually it looks like both Gabriel and Slater were members of the Corre. Tells you what I remember.

Cole is still anti-Bryan.

Kane and Sheamus go LOD on Bryan. Nice spot, especially when you remember LOD is from Chicago.

Fans behind Daniel Bryan. When wasn’t he over?

Slater with a nice neckbreaker off the ladder to Bryan.

Sheamus and Barrett use the ladder as a fork and Health Slater’s the meat! They somewhat botch it as they dump him into Kane…but it was cool nonetheless.

Kane chokeslams Sheamus off a ladder into a ladder that was propped on the bottom rope. Ouch!

Rhodes uses a ladder for a Disaster Kick!

450 from Gabriel on a ladder bridge on the top rope…and he nails Kane! Very impressively done!

Daniel Bryan wins in 24:27. Bryan and Rhodes fight on the top of the ladder with Bryan locking him in a front choke. Barrett tries to sneak behind and grab the title, but Bryan sees him and tries to elbow him off. Barrett teases a Wasteland on that propped ladder, but Bryan escapes and kicks Barrett in the head, knocking him off. Bryan grabs the title. By the way, the original Flight of the Valkyries being played for the Money in the Bank winner is pretty awesome. Anyway, match is fantastic. Creative. Only dull point was actually when Cara went out, as fans thought he was really hurt and he was winning over the crowd. Bryan got a good pop when he won as well.

Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis here. Still trying to sign CM Punk.

Diva’s Championship
Kelly Kelly© vs. Brie Bella

Kelly went for a flying headscissors…but didn’t quite scissor the head.

Story here is apparently Kelly Kelly is mad that the Bellas said her Maxim shoot was airbrushed. It probably was.

Kelly Kelly does that leg stand choke that Candace Michelle did at Wrestlemania 22…and Brie counters by escaping and shoving Kelly…who falls face first on the floor! Ouch.

Brie with a leg wrap around waistelock. Not bad.

I don’t remember Brie being a good wrestler. Has this always been the case?

Brie screws up on the bulldog as she drops too early.

Bellas are much better heels than faces.

Kelly Kelly retains by pin at 4:46. Kelly hits a Rocker Dropper (the K2 or K Squared maybe?) for the win. Nikki complains that Kelly doesn’t even eat. Wasn’t there a bullying campaign being touted by WWE at this time? Anyway, pretty solid Women’s Match overall. We’re 2 for 2.

Best of Nitro DVD!

Big Show vs. Mark Henry

If you threw this match out there in 1999, it would have been absolutely horrible.

In 2008 Mark Henry went from looking like an actor playing a scary motherfucker to looking like a scary motherfucker. Why WWE wasted that in 2009-2010 I don’t know…but Henry now is full blown bad ass, and you see the difference everywhere.

Big Show with a flying shoulder tackle!

Love the selling of each other’s strength here. Show shoves Henry into the stairs and Henry actually sells by flying over them. Great.

Henry works on the knee…apparently Show was coming off a knee injury.

Half-Crab! This match is at a faster pace than I ever would have guessed.

Big Show with a shoulder tackle off the 2nd rope…but he hurts the knee!

Flawless World’s Strongest Slam…and a kickout!

Mark Henry pins Big Show in 6:00. Another WSS, and then two Splashes for the win. Henry then traps Show’s leg in a chair and drops a Vader Bomb Knee Drop (Pillmanizing!), injuring Show which would lead to some more Show vs. Henry goodness later in 2011. Exactly the win Henry needed to get him in the main event and continue to get him over as a legit bad ass. Well done. Good match. We’re 3 for 3.

2nd Stretcher of the night. First Cara, now Big Show.

Vince still hasn’t re-signed CM Punk. It’s getting close to the expiration date! Vince says he offered the most lucrative contract he possibly could. This is the man who gave Bret Hart 20 years once!

RAW Money in the Bank
Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Evan Bourne vs. The Miz vs. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley vs. R-Truth

This one’s winner prediction was more clean cut. It was pretty obvious Del Rio was winning.

Booker T talks about Alberto Del Rio’s claim that it was destiny for him to become champion. Sad that he never got passed that mindset.

Even though I was disgusted with the idea of Truth main eventing Capital Punishment, he was a funny heel.

Everyone grabs a ladder to start to defend themselves, and Truth grabs a small step ladder to put over a fear of heights. Pretty funny.

Miz was still over here.

Poor Del Rio. He gets knocked around and put under a ladder on the outside, and everyone just tosses their ladders on him.

The future Awesome Truth have a step ladder duel.

Bourne and Kingston climb up an unopened ladder. You know, Kingston was the reason they were able to cut Shelton Benjamin.

Of course Cole is pro-Miz and anti-Riley.

Bourne with the Air Bourne (Shooting Star Press) from a super high ladder to everyone on the outside! That tops John Morrison’s spot from Mania 27.

Miz is hanging from the title belt and falls badly. It looks like he wrecked his knee and he screams like it. Doctors at ringside and it looks like the kneecap is dislocated. Poor Miz. He avoid stretcher #3…but is helped to the back.

Double falling hurricanrana from Bourne and Rey at the same time, which was cool.

Swagger puts on the Ankle Lock on Kingston when Kingston is hanging on the ladder!

Booker T is critical of Kofi Kingston’s dancing in matches. What a hypocrite. Spinarooni anyone?

R-Truth just botched something. I can’t really explain what.

Kofi Kingston just nails Rey with his legs on the top of the ladder. Rey falls like a dead man. Wow.

It’s the Miz! Was a face turn on the horizon? Got a huge reaction…and when Rey stopped him he got booed.

Alberto Del Rio wins in 15:54. Rey is about to win, but here is Del Rio! Rey hits Del Rio with the briefcase on top of the ladder, and it really looks like Rey is about to win…but Del Rio goes for the mask! Brilliant (if you ignore WCW)! Rey covers up and Del Rio shoves him onto the ladder next to him…which is amazing in itself since he practically can’t see as he’s hiding his face. The ladder does topple over messing up the finish, but it’s still fine as ADR climbs up and wins. Another very good match! People thought Punk was winning tonight, and Del Rio was cashing in. We’re a month early for that!

Anyway, we are 4 for 4 with 2 matches left!

Del Rio interview…he actually originally had the title match at MITB before Punk got it. This foreshadows the MITB cashing…if it happens.

World Heavyweight Championship
Randy Orton© vs. Christian

If Orton is DQed, or if there is a bad referee call, he loses the title to Christian.

Story here: As I wrote earlier, the IWC was spit at with the two days Christian title run, but it did lead to a good story. Orton seemed to feel bad for Christian. In future rematches, Christian would keep getting screwed somehow (like, he had his leg under the rope in the Capital Punishment match). Eventually, Christian turned heel as he thought WWE was protecting their “golden boy” (which fits the theme of this PPV brilliantly). Orton mentioned at first it was all respect, but now he was getting angry. Which leads of course to the DQ stip.

There were Christian’s last good days.

Christian starts by throwing a chair into the ring and sliding it to Orton. Nice.

This is a solid match, but nothing exciting is really happening, if that makes sense. It’s actually the standard for Christian.

Orton does bust out a nice dodge and roll-up from the corner.

Orton has one of the best dropkicks in wrestling.

Top rope headbutt from Christian.

Orton survives the Kill Switch.

Christian wins the title when Orton gets DQed at 12:20. Christian spits at Orton, and Orton low blows him for the DQ. Crowd pops. Orton beats the hell out of Christian and RKOs him on the announcer’s table. Table doesn’t break. You can kinda tell the refs want him to come back to try again. Table holds on the 2nd time as well. In all seriousness, it’s a basic solid match. Christian was the master of those. While the ending was stupid, it does make sense within the story. You know how HHH tells Daniel Bryan that’s he’s a B+ wrestler. That’s what Christian really was. Still though, a solid match is a solid match. We are 5 for 5. Will Cena-Punk deliver?

WWE Championship
John Cena© vs. CM Punk

Get ready for the spiritual successor to RVD vs. Cena at One Night Stand 06.

The one thing that made little sense that they had to fix in this match build-up was that there’s no good reason Vince would ever give Punk a title shot if he could leave. So, that’s how the if Cena loses he’s fired bit was added, as Cena was the one who wanted this match.

CM Punk’s entrance here is one of the greatest of all time. The crowd reaction is amazing. Punk absolutely owns the arena. Michael Jordan could show up and I think the focus would be on Punk.

It’s a shame that Punk didn’t keep “This Fire Burns” longer. The line “even through these darkest days, this first still burns” fit perfectly here.

The heat for Cena is immense.

Snapmare by Cena. BOOOOOOOO!

“You Can’t Wrestle” chants…and Punk clarifies that they are talking about Cena. Haha.

Great wrestling early. Cena really gets high on a hip toss…he has his selling shoes on for Punk, that’s for sure.

Every move Punk makes just works. The crowd is absolutely white hot here.

Punk with a leg sleeper. Punk busted out everything for this match.

Punk with a low-five to Colt Cabana!

Cena is hung on the apron…and Punk comes off the top with a knee to the back of the head!

Small botch…Punk hits a twisting crossbody, but he’s a bit too low and hits Cena’s knee.

Cena suplexes Punk to the floor from the apron!

There are a lot of finisher teases here, which really works the crowd.

Cena with a new move, a slam into a reverse DDT type move. Pretty cool.

You Can’t See Me…blocked with a kick to the head!

Suicide Dive from Punk! He hit it good too! Match is practically perfect so far.

You Can’t See Me hits! AA…but Punk almost lands on his feet. Punk then hits a sweet kick combo with a sweep! Awesome!

GTS blocked into a gutwrench slam.

Stiff knees to the face from Punk and a bulldog! That 2nd one clearly hit Cena in the face hard.

Match has steadily built up to the point where it’s concievable anyone can win.

Punk in the STF! Huge cheers when Punk gets the rope.

Punk off the top, but Cena rolls through and gets the AA. No, AA countered. GTS…amazingly countered into a STF. Incredible sequence!

Punk counters the STF into the Vise!

AA….1…2……….NO! I remember thinking that was the finish.

Cena hits a huge legdrop from the top, but Punk gets out at 2!

Another AA, I really thought this was it, but no, another kick out!

Cena goes for a top rope AA….but Punk counters into a hurricanrana!

GTS hits….but Cena falls to the outside!

Punk gets Cena back into the ring…but Vince and Big Johnny are here! Huge boos.

STF! STF! Vince sends Johnny to ring the bell!

CM Punk wins the WWE Title when he pinned John Cena 33:44. Cena knocks out Big Johnny and tells McMahon that a man is gonna win this fight. Cena goes back in and walks into the GTS, 1…2…3! Crowd ERUPTS!

Vince panics, then in an interesting move goes to the announcer’s desk and calls for Alberto Del Rio to cash in MITB. Del Rio comes, but Punk kicks him in the head and leaves through the crowd. Vince looks like he’s crying in the ring. This ending is a very weird (in an interesting way) moment, as you are mixing shoot with work elements there.

I don’t know what the greatest wrestling match of all time is, but this is without a doubt a contender. The story. The build. The layout of the match. The two characters in the ring. The two men in the ring. The moves. The false finishes. Everything. Everything hit. When WWE said that the Mania 27 Undertaker vs. HHH match was the Match of the Year, they slapped Punk and Cena in the face (that’s coming from someone who likes that match a hell of a lot). It won every other match of the year award out there.

The WWE had a goldmine waiting with CM Punk after this. But even with his eventually super long World Title reign, he was still never the man. True change never happened. The sad thing is that it fulfilled what CM Punk said in the famous shoot: Vince McMahon will make money in spite of himself.

There are six matches here and at a minimum, all six are good. That combined with the fact that you have an arguable Match of All Time candidate, well, how is this not one of the greatest PPVs of all time?

Final Grade: A+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Summerslam ’10

SummerSlam_(2010)

WWE Summerslam 2010
August 15, 2010
Los Angeles, CA
Reviewed on June 22, 2014

2010 was an interesting time for WWE as they had shockingly tried something new: The Nexus. The Nexus were a string of rookies from the newly formed NXT that came in and just began destroying everything NWO style, and it was very fresh and interesting. And after some Triple H, John Cena, Batista and Randy Orton title reigns, WWE needed interesting.

Also of note was that one of those rookies, Daniel Bryan, was released new the beginning of the angle when he choked out Justin Roberts with his tie. We were still too close to the Chris Benoit tragedy for anything like that to happen…although maybe it was a worked shoot the whole time? (I mean, HHH and HBK had used Crossfaces in the past).

In theory, Summerslam should have made some stars within the Nexus. Did it do that? Let’s find out.

The Card

Intercontinental Championship
Dolph Ziggler© vs. Kofi Kingston

I’m not sure about the story here, but I know Dolph and Kofi wrestled each other a billion times (not an estimate) from 2009 through 2012, so I doubt this has a serious story attached to it.

Kofi misses a pretty awesome looking suicide dive. What a start.

I haven’t noticed since Kofi has been stale for years, but there is a difference between 2010 Kofi and 2014 Kofi. 2010 Kofi was better.

Draw in 7:05. Nexus comes in and beats the crap out of both. I guess I’d rather them not do that in a title match, but it serves a good purpose I guess. We do get a Barrett promo out of it, and Barrett owned on the mic then too. Good match for 7 minutes.

Team WWE needs a 7th teammate. Jericho and Edge try to convince The Miz to join the team. Miz isn’t sure Nexus should be his priority though.

Diva’s Championship
Alicia Fox© vs. Melina

Is this the famous Fox vs. Melina match?!

Yikes, Melina comes out dressed like a cross of Pocohahantas and a Las Vegas showgirl.

I never got Melina as a face. And until very recently I didn’t understand how Alicia Fox had a job.

Michael Cole calls Melina one of the all time greats. Yeah I’m sure.

There’s some leg psychology here. That’s always fun.

Melina wins the title in 5:22. Melina hits that cutter facebuster for the win. You know, it really wasn’t that bad. It was a Melina squash basically. Alicia Fox’s offense looked horrible but she was barely on offense so it didn’t matter. Melina’s scream is the worst though. Melina cries because she won the title in her hometown or something. Here come the Co-WWE Women Champs Laycool! Laycool owned has heels here. This led to the unification match at some PPV in the future. They take out Melina.

The Big Show vs. CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Joseph Mercury

Ugh. No wonder Punk wanted to leave in a year.

Punk was the main event of Summerslam 2009 and is now regulated to the joke handicap match.

The story here began when Punk lost his hair to Rey. Then he got involved with Big Show, who unmasked Punk and revealed his bald head.

Ha, Punk comes out with a “I broke Big Show’s hand” t-shirt (which the S.E.S. did in an angle). Punk is always great.

Big Show owns Mercury and Gallows. On the Show-Punk face off, there are huge CM Punk chants. Way to be a top face Show.

Big Show wins when he pins Mercury and Gallows in 6:45. Show chokeslams Mercury on Gallows for the win. Punk was pretty good and you can tell Mercury was wrestling to keep his job, but I mean, this is pretty much a waste on a Summerslam card. I forgot if this actually led to a Big Show vs. Punk match.

Kane cuts a promo with a casket. He runs into WWE Champ Sheamus. A little bit about Kane here. The whole Undertaker in a vegetative state angle was pretty fucking stupid. And then it got worse when Kane blamed Rey Mysterio of all people of going it. Like I’m supposed to remotely believe that Rey Mysterio took out the Undertaker. We all knew it was gonna be Kane.

Sheamus tells Kane to stay out of his way. Was Kane in his way in the first place?

Miz joins the team after pointing how they begged him.

WWE Championship
Sheamus© vs. Randy Orton

We actually did this match at the Royal Rumble in the whole Legacy implosion. In this case, Sheamus won the title at Fatal Four Way on a kinda fluke.

There’s definitely improvement from the Sheamus who was in the World Title match at the Rumble and this Sheamus…but this match is still pretty boring.

Sheamus counters a RKO late and Michael Cole blows the call. Nice.

To be fair this match has picked up towards the end. I think Orton just turned face a few months prior…and the crowd is super hot for him.

Orton wins by DQ in 18:55. Sheamus brings a chair in. When the ref tries to take the chair from him, Sheamus sends the ref out for the DQ. Awful finish. Sheamus doesn’t even get a chair shot in as Orton RKOs him on the table. So not only did Sheamus not beat Orton, he got beaten down by him. No wonder no one cared about him until he won the Rumble 16 months later. Horrible horrible ending. This is Summerslam?

World Heavyweight Championship
Kane© vs. Rey Mysterio

Somewhere smack in the middle of this strange Kane-Undertaker vegetative state angle was Kane winning MITB and the World Title from Rey, and blaming Rey for taking out Undertaker. Did anyone buy Rey being the man to take out Undertaker? Anyone?

Kane and Rey had some mask feud not that long ago either. These two have never had good chemistry in the ring.

A lot of early bearhugs.

Rey’s in the casket! He fights out though.

Kane retains by pin in 13:32. Chokeslam for the win. Match was pretty bad. Kane just isn’t the guy for Rey to have good matches with. There was a good spot at the end where Kane put his feet up too early to counter the West Coast Pop Splash…but Rey seemed to improvise and counter that instead of looking like an idiot.

Kane is gonna stuff Rey in the casket now…and when Kane opens it it’s empty, leading to an audible groan from the crowd. Rey tries to fight it, but Kane chokeslams him again. Rey even gets Tombstoned this time. Kane opens the casket again…and it’s THE UNDERTAKER! Huge reaction! He looks pretty damn old here though (he somehow aged like 10 years from the Mania match with Shawn). Taker turns to Rey and asks him why he did it before beating the crap out of the obvious culprit, Kane. Shockingly, Kane gets the upper hand and lays out Taker (and Taker put him over on three straight PPVs). Good pop, even for the obvious here. This would lead to Taker’s last long non-Mania program.

Elimination Match
Nexus vs. Team WWE

Miz shows up, but Cena says they already have a partner…Daniel Bryan! Big pop for Bryan.

So it’s Otunga, Sheffield, Tarver, Barrett, Gabriel, Young and Slater vs. Cena, Edge, Jericho, Morrison, Bryan, Bret Hart and R-Truth.

Note: this is Bret Hart’s last PPV match, and interestingly wrestled his last WWE PPV main event after HBK did. Even as late as December 2009, what were the odds of that? 10,000 to 1?
Bret Hart actually looks pretty good here. It’s a shame he couldn’t get hit in the head, he probably could have had a solid run otherwise.

Bryan makes Darren Young submit in a minute. I guess that continues the tradition of a submission wrestler taking out the exotic haired black guy in 45 seconds at Summerslam with a Crossface (reference to Benoit vs. Orlando Jordan…and that reference could have went further).

Lawler calls Bryan Bryan Danielson on air. Ha.

Morrison eliminates Tarver with Sharship Pain at the 4 minute mark. 7-5 WWE advantage.

Sheffield is the first Nexus guy in this match to look like a threat as he kicks the crap out of Morrison.

Gabriel cheap shots Morrison and Sheffield takes him out with a clothesline to take him out. Sheffield then takes out R-Truth with another clothesline and suddenly it’s tied. I’ll complain about Truth being in this later.

Michael Cole says that if Bret could lead team WWE to victory it would be his greatest Summerslam moment of his career. Screw that winning the WWF title from Undertaker in 1997 or having one of the greatest matches ever at Summerslam ’92.

Bret locks Slater in the Sharpshooter, and Barrett tosses a chair in. Bret smacks Sheffield with the chair for the DQ…then blames Barrett for bringing it in. I can’t think of a time that didn’t work. Anyway, Bret’s gone in the only way he could be.

Edge spears Sheffield and we are down to 4 vs. 4. Cena, Bryan, Jericho and Edge vs. Gabriel, Otunga, Barrett and Slater.

Otunga taps to a botched Walls.

Jericho accidentally runs into Cena, and then gets hit with a rear naked choke drop by Slater and Slater eliminates him.

Edge and Cena argue, then Slater shoved Edge into Cena and rolls him up to take him out! Nexus with the 3-2 lead!

Bryan owns everyone and makes Slater tap (amazingly, Bryan’s moveset is exactly the same three years later). Miz comes back and takes Bryan out with the briefcase. Barrett pins Bryan.

Cena vs. Barrett and Gabriel.

DDT on the concrete! Cena’s out cold! CAN HE COME BACK?! Even Lawler and Cole thinks its hopeless.

Team WWE wins when Cena makes Barrett submit in 35:18. Gabriel misses the 450, and Cena pins him. Barrett then just runs into the STF and that’s that. Very disappointing and a lot worse than I remember it. This match buried Nexus as any kind of threat. The only people they beat legit were Morrison and Truth. Bret got DQed. Jericho ran into Cena and got fluke pinned. Edge argued with Cena and got fluke pinned. Miz attacked Bryan. Cena of course OVERCAME the odds. Ugh. No idea how Barrett dragged this to December.

The debate of how significant this match was is Daniel Bryan’s comeback. I think it’s a good moment and it gave Bryan a good push out of the gate…but once he won the US title WWE did nothing with him for a good 10 months. He did wrestle a bunch of pre-PPV matches (Wrestlemania, Over the Limit, surely there is more) so there is that. So this all turned out to be meaningless.

Here’s my problem with the idea of the match as well. The commentators were selling it as the most important match in WWE history and all of that. So why then is R-Truth on the team? Shouldn’t Randy Orton or I don’t know, the WWE Champion Sheamus be on it instead. To an extent that thinking applies to Morrison and even Bret Hart.

This PPV is full of bullshit finishes and is pretty forgettable. All Summerslam 2010 got was the further development of The Miz as a main event star. Most of Nexus became nothing significant from their run in Nexus. Even Barrett…practically a sure thing, got lost in the shuffle with the Corre later. For a match with a lot of young guys the lack of historical significance is surprising.

I guess you can also say its Bret Hart’s last WWE PPV match, but no one remembers it for that.

Nexus should have been so much better. There was so much potential here.

Forgettable and overall too many weak finishes. Could have been worse but there was decent wrestling scattered around this show.

Final Grade: C