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The SmarK RAW Rant–12.17.12

The SmarK RAW Rant – 12.17.12

Live from Philly.

Your hosts are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler & JBL

Rey Mysterio v. Damien Sandow

Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler explaining how to download the WWE app as if talking to a four-year old is your first highlight of the evening. Sandow quickly tosses Rey and drops the ELBOW OF DISDAIN and works him over with shoulders in the corner. Rey fights him off with the seated senton and a low dropkick for two. Sandow comes back with a nice somersault neckbreaker, but Rey dropkicks him into the 619 and drops the dime at 3:10. Nothing much to this. *1/2

First award of the night is for Most Shocking Moment. Booker T is out to present it, but for some ridiculous reason this brings out the Boogeyman and we take a break. I guess they needed the time for people to vote. Kofi Kingston’s handstand at the Rumble wins because this is all fixed anyway.

Eve v. Kaitlyn

This is non-title I suppose. Eve runs away, but catches Kaitlyn with a cheapshot on the way in and stomps away in the corner because she just hates Kaitlyn so much despite already beating her decisively several times in a row. Kaitlyn comes back with a gutbuster for the pin at 2:05. Great, now we’re going back to this again, I guess. ½*

The New Age Outlaws are next, presenting Comeback of the Year. So this of course lets us again watch the glorious video of Lawler getting CPR, since we haven’t seen that enough. And duh, Lawler wins the award.

Kofi Kingston v. Tensai

Tensai quickly pounds him down and drops an elbow, then beats him down with headbutts and follows with a pump splash for two. Kofi finishes with the kick out of nowhere at 1:05. This is quite the briskly paced show. ½* Wade Barrett attacks because THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE.

Vickie Guerrero presents Kiss of the Year, and the gag is that all the nominees are AJ kissing guys. What about Eve and Ryder? Vickie wants an explanation, and of course AJ gives the stupidest one in all of sports entertainment: “I don’t owe anyone an explanation.” I fucking hate that line. Can you imagine if Paul Orndorff had turned on Hulk Hogan and then come out the next week and just said “I don’t owe anyone an explanation.” Do you think anyone would have given a shit about that feud? That’s the laziest “motivation” that these writers can do, because they don’t have any real character motivation to draw from and just did a turn to be shocking. Anyway, Dolph Ziggler comes out to make peace between the women, and AJ dives into his arms to the horror of Vickie. Vickie’s shriek of horror is pretty awesome.

The Great Khali v. David Otunga

Natalya has been reduced to standing at ringside for Khali and smiling. Khali pounds away to start, but Otunga works on the knee. Khali boots him and finishes with the CHOP OF DOOM at 1:55. That was roughly twice as long as I would have ideally wanted from this particular matchup. Maybe three times as long. DUD

Ric Flair returns to present Superstar of the Year. That’s how they bring him back? And then John Cena wins and gets booed off the stage. He gives the award to Flair out of respect, and that draws out Punk and Heyman to a mammoth babyface reaction. Punk calls everyone in Philly stupid enough times to finally draw boos, and threatens to kick Flair’s ass with one leg, which brings us to the ring after the break so that Punk can apparently do just that. Punk breaks a crutch on him, but Flair pokes Punk in the eyes to get rid of him, and puts Heyman in the figure-four. And then we take ANOTHER break as now the Shield comes out, and we return with Daniel Bryan and Kane now out there brawling with them. They need to put the tag titles on Rollins & Ambrose TOMORROW, by the way. I guess they could literally do that, in fact. A powerbomb seems imminent for Flair, but Ryback makes the save now and chase them. That was quite the segment.

Brodus Clay v. JTG

JTG actually gets a buff blockbuster, which Brodus doesn’t seem to know how to sell, but Clay comes back and finishes with the usual at 1:46. DUD

Santino and Tensai are out to present LOL Moment of the Year. The Rock wins, but of course isn’t there to accept.

Cody Rhodes v. Sin Cara

The yellow lights are back, sadly. Cody bails quickly and Sin Cara follows with a dive, but Cody takes over with a delayed front suplex as apparently the Kane-Cody match on Main Event has been changed to a tag title match instead. Cody works on the arm and stomps him down for two. Sin Cara comes back, but walks into Crossroads at 4:12. Even the yellow lights couldn’t help him. **

Zack Ryder presents Hashtag of the Year to Ryback, although Ryback doesn’t show up. OK then.

Big Show and his comically oversized chair are out to shovel the last dirt on Sheamus, but Sheamus comes out to be the bigger man and shake his hand. And then Show has to go and call him a potato-eating Irishman, so Sheamus snaps and beats the crap out of him, leaving him unconscious. You’d think that would be Ziggler’s cue, but John Cena runs out and robs him of his chance by beating him up, which makes Cena into the biggest heel in Philly. And this is supposed to be getting Cena over as a FACE? What kind of a sore loser is this jerk?

3 Man Band v. Alberto Del Rio, The Miz & Tommy Dreamer

So yeah, Del Rio is a babyface now, for some reason. Dreamer is of course the only one on the babyface side that the fans actually want to see, as he slugs away on Slater and faceplants him. This leads to a big brawl where all the heels get dumped and Dreamer hits them with a dive from the top. And we take a break. Back with Miz getting worked over as you can practically watch the ratings bottoming out. Like, this goes on FOREVER with the most boring heat segment I’ve ever seen. Finally, THIRTEEN MINUTES into this, Del Rio gets the hot tag and hits Slater with the enzuigiri, then brings in Dreamer for the DDT to finish at 15:00. Who the FUCK decided to give this that much time? *1/2

Sheamus presents Newcomer of the Year to Ryback, the guy that’s been around since the Nexus. OK then.

Ryback v. Antonio Cesaro

Cesaro actually gets some offense with an uppercut to the back of the neck, and a pretty impressive double-leg takedown. Ryback backdrops out of the Neutralizer and goes to finish, but Cesaro takes his belt and walks out at 2:30. Why even book the match? *

Mean Gene, Ricky Steamboat and Jim Ross present Match of the Year to Undertaker v. HHH, and HHH accepts on their behalf. And the haircut is still CORPORATE, so you know there’s no rematch with Brock coming.

John Cena & Vickie Guerrero v. AJ & Dolph Ziggler

This came about because of a Ziggler-Vickie breakup that happened after a random commercial break earlier in the show. Cena quickly hits Ziggler with a backdrop suplex and the women tag in and then walk out of the match completely. So we’re down to Ziggler v. Cena and Cena quickly gets the STF, but AJ brings out NXT champion Big E Langston for the DQ at 4:23.

The Pulse

I’m sure this will be a polarizing show because it reminded me a lot of those 1999 RAWs where a million things happened that were all forgotten about a week later and a lot of people watched and loved those shows. I, however, fucking hated those shows so, SO much. For me this dragged something awful, although the Flair-Punk-Shield craziness was tremendous. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Comments

  1. I thought the show was hot garbage but hey, Cena vs. Ice Train is coming up!

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  2. They need to put the tag titles on Rollins & Ambrose TOMORROW, by the way. I guess they could literally do that, in fact.


    Technically, yeah, but they've already booked Rhodes Scholars/Hell No for Wednesday, so unless they want to book Cody & Damien against the Shield -- which I'm not opposed to, mind -- it probably won't happen this week.

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  3. Seems like this always happens. Something happens to get me juiced to watch Raw so I tune in and it's a terrible show. I forgive that because it's the slammy's. The Shield did much of the same that they've done for a few weeks and we didn't hear anything new from them. I do hope they win the tag titles. Hell No retained against Rhodes Scholars on the Main Event taping so it could happen live tomorrow. Cena winning Superstar of the year was dumb and Punk came out and said exactly why Cena shouldn't have been Superstar of the Year.


    Oh and John Cena's grin is by FAR the most annoying thing I've ever seen in wrestling. That grin has killed more angles than Triple H's ego!

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  4. I like that they are acknowledging that these new guys come from NXT. Gives them a little more credibility instead of pretending they never existed prior to randomly showing up on Raw. It feels like a poor man's version of someone jumping from WCW to WWE.

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  5. Cena winning and Punk being shut out just shows how fucking retarded things are at the moment with the WWE not giving a shit about what the fans want.

    Also, where is the Rock? I would think they would want to kick start the road to WM ASAP even if it's to just show a pre-recorded video of him addressing CM Punk.

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  6. How awesome is JBL. "How does losing one match fair and square make this a grudge match?"

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  7. "...it's clobberin' time that's what time it is" stole the show.

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  8. What did John Cena say when someone tried to re-program him?


    You can't C me!

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  9. I have a feeling these next few weeks are going to be terrible because they're going to be in a holding pattern until Rock shows up and the build to the Rumble starts.

    I figure it's a lock that the main events at WM will be some combination of Rock/Cena/HHH/Punk/Taker/Lesnar but I have no idea what the undercard might look like. My stab at it:

    Rock/Cena for the WWE title
    Taker/Punk
    HHH/Brock
    ADR/Miz/Orton vs The Shield
    Ziggler/Sheamus for the World title
    Bryan/Kane
    Big Show/Henry
    Ryback/Big E
    Sin Cara/Rey
    PTP vs Rhodes Scholars for the tag titles

    That's 10 matches already and without guys like Kofi, Barrett, and Cesaro on there. Maybe bring back MITB and put Kofi/Barrett/Cesaro/Christian/R-Truth/Kidd/Gabriel/Clay. That makes 11 matches but that is probably stretching it. Kinda sad that you can't put 11 matches and give them enough time on a 4 hour PPV.

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  10. The Shield can't win the belts live tomorrow if Hell No is defending them on a taped show on Wednesday, what is this WCW circa 1994?

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  11. Didn't Austin pulling the "I don't owe the fans an explanation" card play a big part in killing the last boom period? You'd think WWE would've learned from that.

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  12. Also, they already filmed Main Event. The matches, anyway.

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  13. Has there ever been a Slammy show that wasn't hot garbage?


    And someone PLEASE tell me AJ's new beau can wrestle. The WWE has too many fat black guys that can't wrestle. (Yes, I'm only counting Mark Henry, but one is too many.)

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  14. It plays into Punk's character that he didn't win any Slammys... but I think with the way the segment with Flair came off, if Punk won the award they would've done the same thing but without the Cena part.

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  15. I'm watching some of his NXT stuff on youtube now. He seems decent enough that Cena should be able to get a good match out of him.

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  16. But then Shield could drop the titles back to Hell No at a House Show on Wednesday so we can swerve the internet fans!!!!! - 1993 Eric Bischoff

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  17. I may get my "Smark Card" revoked, but I was not at all thrilled to see Flair at all. I mean, I know it's all in the gimmick, but him straying to act like a rich millionaire these days is pathetic. That and the fact I've seen enough Flair wankfests to last two lifetimes.

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  18. Ezekiel Jackson!

    I thought there were at least some legit funny moments on the show (Tensai in a head bandage and being Japanese for Fat Albert was a great line), and Flair was a nice surprise... the cameos were better than the usual Duggans, Slaughters and Pipers of the world.

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  19. I think MITB is going to be it's own ppv now and forever since it's become on par with the Rumble. It's sad though, I miss having a crazy spot-fest time match at Mania every year.

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  20. Definitely a boring show, although the Flair stuff was great. I zoned out for most of it. Another drastic Cena overreaction over something not that bad...Ziggler hasn't done anything to him to warrant Captain respect for everyone attacking him like that. Reminded me of the night after Summerslam 2011, when Cena went off on Del Rio for cashing in on PUNK, making him out to be the biggest piece of garbage/fluke ever.

    I guess Langston is the "killing time" feud for Cena now.

    Also, again smart booking for The Shield. All three are brawling with Flair/Kane/Bryan, and as soon as Ambrose knocked Flair down, he immediately bailed to help with the other two, so they could regain the two or three on one advantage. It seems an obvious way to do it but WWE practically never does, so it stands out. I hope they continue treating these guys as "intelligent heels"...they're obviously not going to book Ambrose and Rollins as monster heels, but I'm hoping they don't eventually make them "chickenshit heels" like they do nearly everyone else in the entire company.

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  21. So do I, but I can't think of any other way to get those guys on the card.

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  22. They'll come up with something like the Johnny/Teddy match last year.

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  23. Yes! Punk was on fire with Flair, especially when he rattled off the facts that showed Cena had probably the worst kayfabe year since he's been a main eventer, last having won a PPV match in July.

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  24. I caught the last two hours, first Raw I've actually watched since roughly May or June. It wasn't that bad! Maybe because I just saw 2 hours as opposed to 3.

    "Loved" the ending where they did the TNA "WELL WE KNOW WHO THAT IS!" ending. No, we don't! It's just a black guy who will receive a monster push for a month, job to Cena, and then job to Santino the week before Wrestlemania. Big whoop.

    Miz as a face is quite possibly the worst character in WWE history, and that's saying something

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  25. I actually wouldn't be surprised if they did the same thing as last year and just replaced those guys with Vickie and Flair.

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  26. Probably shouldn't be complaining about not knowing who people are when you haven't watched since June.

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  27. You mean you haven't seen enough of Flair WOOing or crying in the middle of the ring? I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE MORE EVERY WEEK!


    Although I'm being harsh since I actually liked seeing him interact with Punk.

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  28. That should be the damn Wrestlemania tag title match

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  29. Well this was the first time this guy was on one of the main shows, so I'd wager 95% of fans have never seen him before.

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  30. I know. Just thought it was funny that some guy who hasn't watched since June would bitch about it.

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  31. They've booked Shield to seem so smart, I can't wait to see them in the Rumble. I could see them having a long Austin in 97-esque segment where they eliminate everyone and wait for new entrants one by one.

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  32. I haven't watched since 2001, who the hell is this Cena guy and why are they acting like I should know who he is?

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  33. What's the over-under on how long until Flair sneaks a blade job in on PG WWE TV?

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  34. Early prediction for the Rumble: The Shield last until the final 4 with Cena. Cena does the Superman routine and eliminates them all by himself. Internet explodes.

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  35. Ryback and Ryblack: Fire and Ice 2012! Book it, please.

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  36. That sounds right.


    I could also see Ryback and the Shield eliminating each other halfway through.

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  37. My dream scenario:

    Ryback gets all three members of Shield on his shoulders and starts stomping around the ring. Santino pops up from out of nowhere, hits the Cobra and all four go tumbling out.

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  38. Or replace Ryback in the above scenario. He wins the Rumble, finally gets his revenge on The Shield and beats Big Show for the World title at WM.


    I think Ryback and Cena are the top two choices to win it this year.

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  39. I liked this joke when I made it 4 hours ago in the live thread.

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  40. I really can't see Ryback winning it unless the plan is for him to challenge Big Show at Wrestlemania. And with the company establishing harder than ever that the WHC is a secondary championship, I can't see it happening.

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  41. I think it's the easiest way to keep him over and for him to stop coming off as a choker. He can carry that title for awhile and WWE can bid their time until they think he is ready for the big belt.

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  42. I didn't read the live thread (500 comments is a bit much)


    Great minds think alike!

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  43. I enjoyed the Punk bits, but the rest of it did nothing for me.

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  44. I don't blame you. It's a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

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  45. With a lot of the NXT folks getting called up, are we in for a round of roster cuts soon?

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  46. They did at least say he was from NXT. Whether that means anything to anyone besides Tommy Hall is another thing.

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  47. I hope so. Seeing how well most of the new guys are doing, guys like R-Truth and Miz seem obsolete.

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  48. Zeke isn't fat.

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  49. Or an ass crack *shudders*

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  50. That seems like the kind of thing he'd use a time machine for, too.

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  51. If Miz gets cut, I hope he and Morrison reunite and go nuts on the indy scene. I'd like to see if they can have a revival without the WWE filter holding them back.

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  52. And that's a nice way of putting it!

    I live on the West Coast, so by the time I'm starting Raw, the live thread is already filled up with spoilers, so I almost always avoid.

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  53. I'm not bitching at all dude

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  54. It IS possible to not watch and keep up, FYI

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  55. That's right had the days mixed up in my head. Then again, wouldn't be the weirdest thing they've done all year.

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  56. Well, they did do something like that when Punk was running the New Nexus. That was pretty fun until they got Super Cena'd. So I could see them doing something similar with the Shield, even if I think it's more likely they'll be fighting Team Hell No for the tag titles.

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  57. Well it seemed like it. Would you rather Cole not tell the audience who that was?

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  58. You always need guys like Truth to job to the new guys. If you get rid of Truth, Tensai, Miz you'll keep getting 50/50 booking.

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  59. We keep getting it now.

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  60. For some reason that just reminded me of my all time favorite Rumble spot from last year. When Foley and Santino had a stand off/duel type thing and both rushed to put on their respective sock puppets. It was so silly and really ludicrous but I thought it was so funny.

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  61. I doubt the Shield even makes it in the Rumble match. They'll probably assault a random guy like Orton, setting up a Mania feud

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  62. I would be unbelievably mad if that were to happen. I'm sure they'll tease something like that. I actually have a feeling it'll come down to Cena, Ryback, The Shield and another person. The Shield gets rid of Cena and Ryback revealing they've been working for this wrestler all along! But who?!

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  63. See, I thought everyone had turned on Flair since his TNA run and all of the stuff about his finances had come out. I really need to see if there's been an update in the Smark Card terms of service about that.

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  64. Punk also did that for a while in the 2010 Rumble. And he cut a promo during the down time. Awesome.

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  65. Yeah, I loved that Foley/Santino showdown. I also loved it a few years ago when Santino almost eliminated ADR at the end after hiding under the ring for most of the match. My group of 10-12 dudes all jumped out of our seats when Santino popped up and started loading up the Cobra.

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  66. You bite your tongue! Mark Henry is awesome if you only count 2011. The Hall of Pain was the mad shit yo!

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  67. I think turning Austin heel and having him feud with the Undertaker again while the Rock was off filming a movie did the heavy lifting there, but that didn't help, no.

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  68. True. As much as his smirk irks the ever loving jesus out of me, is there a Wrestler on the roster who Cena couldn't have at least a decent match with?

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  69. He got one out of Khali, so no.

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  70. For as god awful as Cena's boyscout character can be, I don't think anyone outside of Punk is better in the ring.

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  71. CoughBryanCesarocouch


    But yeah, Cena's one of the best wrestlers they have.

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  72. He big, he strong, but he ain't got no cuts.

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  73. Flair was pretty speechless the whole time, trying not to laugh, but his "...my ex wives" comment shows the guy is still pretty quick, because you know Punk was lining that one up next. Punk is just wasted by Vince, Millionaire who should be a Billionaire indeed.

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  74. I do like how it's "balls-the-wall" debut time for these NXT guys, basically WWE admitting defeat on not being able to create stars out of their current Roster, so pre-their biggest show of the year (Wrestlemania) it's SINK OR SWIM time, newbies. Otherwise we "Zack Ryder" your asses...

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  75. Yeah, as long as Flair says outta the ring and just talks and/or GM's a RAW or something, I'm fine with him around. But I don't wanna see his broke, bloated ass rolling around a ring. A figure four on Heyman-esque guy is fine... or blow my mind and do something smart like have him manage Ziggler.

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  76. ...because that's exactly what it is.

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  77. Yup, I doubt any of the wrestlers (outside of Zack Ryder) give a shit about winning a "slammy" ...the fan vote thing was "rigged" obviously, and Punk not winning gave us the Flair/Punk angle, so it's all a set-up. I doubt Cena really would care about "winning" - and given that he just gave the thing to fucking Flair who hasn't been in the WWE the whole year, pretty much just spells out the "fan vote" had nothing to do with it.

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  78. What's the over/under on Cena going after the WHC, and facing Rock for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania, title v title type thing? Is that where they're going with this Ziggler/Cena angle? I just don't get it... Ziggler is crazy over, and he goes two steps forward in the PPV, then one back on a RAW every other month. If they're not turning Cena Heel by Wrestlemania, that's the only logical assumption I can make with his program with Ziggler at the moment, that's he's stopping Zig from cashing in his briefcase cause he [Cena] wants the shot? I think this paragraph has already got more thought to this than WWE Creative...

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  79. Was browsing youtube watching Big E matches(because I am insane) and stumbled on this match. Dean Ambrose vs William Regal from back in June. Damn good match with a pretty crazy post match angle.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yJ_2nU6w9c

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  80. That's where I thought they were going a month ago but if that was the case, Cena would have won the briefcase last night.

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  81. The one where the Divas wore bikinis was pretty good. If only because it had Sable & Sunny showing it off before there were nudie pics of either of them, and I was about 14 years old.

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  82. It's their whole booking philosophy. But I think having a few extra guys who are over could always help. For every new guy you always need a Koko B. Ware for him to beat.

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  83. they said "ass" a couple of times tonight. i think with linda's political game a thing of the past they might ease up on the PG thing. no drastic changes but maybe the occasional curse and blood will be allowed.

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  84. I may despise "The Smirk" and his character but if you look at his PPV matches since 2005 I think you'd be hard pressed to find very many that weren't ***+ He is consistent and can have his type of match with nearly anyone on the roster.


    Though I will amend I think The Miz is one guy he can't have a good match with. Their Bash 09 match was a squash, Mania main event was pretty bad, and their I Quit rematch was brutal.

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  85. http://adambrennan.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/raw-tapedblog-171211/. A strnge fucking show. I'm still laughing that they had Flair do a voiceover before his surprise appearance.

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  86. Twitter and Nielson are establishing "social ratings" for TV. This is great news for Raw's ratings!

    http://ca.news.yahoo.com/twitter-nielsen-pair-publish-social-tv-ratings-224735486--sector.html

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  87. I think a lot of it is that he's given the tools and time to have good matches. It's hard to bring the house down with 6 minutes. But he is a great worker, probably the best out of all the "Top Guys" they've had. And I'm talking while they were the top guy, 91 Austin is probably better than Cena, but 99 Austin? Giving the edge to the Doctor of Thuganomics.

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  88. True. Though if were picking a year I'd give 2001 Austin the edge over Cena. But overall yeah a lot of Austin's matches when he was at the top don't appeal to me because they consisted of a lot of "all over the arena brawling" Gotta cut him some slack because of the whole broken neck but yeah, Cena is great in ring. If he's in there with a good worker you'll probably get a good match. If he's in there with a great worker you'll probably get a great match. If he's in there with a top flight worker you could see a classic.

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  89. "@Maffewgregg: John Cena Superstar of the Year and a big Flair fan...stays in the back while Flair is triple-teamed."

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  90. Yes, he is. I was thinking that last night when he just kind of powdered out of the Flair segment and was never seen again. And not even one CM Punk was nominated. It just justifies Punk's recen actions even more, making him an even bigger babyface, despite him acting like he's got tourette's calling everyone ,"stupid". The entire dynamic of the company is wrong. AJ should be a babyface, i.e. Lita 2.0. Dolph Ziggler should be the bright young babyface.. Cena should be heel, and basically WAS last night. CM Punk should be the hero, although I'm loving this heel run. He's like Justice Pain, "I'm a babyface who acts like a heel."

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  91. I think Cena is a great wrestler but that's a tough call. I'd still put Austin/Angle and Austin's last match with Rock over anything Cena has ever done, including his matches with Punk.

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  92. Is that because of the ring-work or because of your investment to the Austin/Rock character?


    Cause for pure ringwork, I'd put Cena up there with the best of them, he just fails at building an "epic-fight" atmosphere, IMO.

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  93. Watching it now? Just ring work. I have zero investment in those characters re-watching their matches years later.

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  94. I think it is the reverse and most folks have no idea what C is...

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  95. I thought that was a production fuck up...

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  96. Look who he worked with in 01.


    Angle
    on FIYAH HHH
    Benoit
    Jericho
    En Fuego Rock
    Motivated RVD

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  97. This. Cena's character is a complete and utter dickbag... especially on this particular "episode"

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  98. Cena fails at the epic fight atmosphere?!?!


    Cena/RVD
    Cena/Punk
    Cena/HHH
    Cena/Lesnar
    Cena/HBK
    Cena/Rock


    Cena IS THE BIG FIGHT

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  99. Typical smark


    "I HAVENT WATCHED SINCE JUNE, WHO THE FUCK IS THIS GUY!?!"

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  100. spoilers like
    -Cole saying vintage
    -recaps touts and more recaps
    -Aj skipping and tilting her head
    -Cena smirking
    -Bryan being awesome
    -Kofi doing a job but not losing the title.

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  101. Youve seen the best that Miz has to offer... Sorry...

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  102. well the voiceover was definitely recorded. i think it was to create hype/boost ratings.

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  103. That was the most overt heel thing he has ever done.

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  104. AJ and Big E remind me of Sunny managing Faarooq back in the day. I expect this alliance will be just as short-lived.

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  105. It was Lesnar, RVD, Punk, and Rock who created and were responsible for the big fight atmosphere. You might be right with HHH and HBK examples though. I wasn't watching then.

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  106. I stopped watching Raw about two months ago, figuring I could keep current on reading recaps like Scott's. Last night was the first time that I wished I had watched at least some of the show to see the introduction of Big E Langston and the Flair segments.


    It still seems like the WWE is trying to prove to the fans that they're not cramming Cena down our throats by not giving him the title - instead they keep putting him in side feuds with guys like Kane, Ziggler, and now Big E (probably). That way, they can say "See? He's not in the title hunt! We're not forcing him onto you!"

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  107. If Big E comes out next week in a tinfoil gladiator helmet, I will mark the fuck out.

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  108. Cena was at his absolute worst last night. I've never seen a top babyface hero booked to act like such a douchey heel in all my life.

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  109. I disagree.


    It was Cena going to ECW-land and bringing the heat.
    MITB was a perfect storm.
    Ill give you Lesnar, but Cena had his fans during the Rock program (I was one of them and Ill be one this year.)

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  110. One Night Stand was all about the rabid fans finally seeing their guy, RVD, win the title. Didn't matter who he was facing. Same with Punk. Nothing changes if you substitute Randy Orton in either of those matches(aside from probably match quality). Cena just happened to be champion at the time, those matches were all about Punk and RVD.

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  111. yet still have him occupy the main event slots of both Raw and the PPVs

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  112. Holy shit this show sounds like...well, shit. Although the Flair/Punk/Shield segment admittedly sounds awesome. Gotta love their track record, manage to pull off a nice little PPV & follow it up with a godawful trainwreck. The Slammy's sucking balls is no excuse, since no one ever wants to see them, and what drugs are they all on that they thought Makin' A Diffference Cena wouldn't get eviscerated in PHILLY? Thank Christ I didn't go.

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  113. If they'd held off for a week and done the heel turn ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY BUT TEXAS they might've had a shot.

    But I guess Rock couldn't stick around for an extra week.

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  114. I really felt like they were going for a heel turn tonight... the way he acted when the crowd booed him during the award presentation, not helping Flair, attacking Ziggler for no reason, and just his general mannerisms... I was pretty excited... for like an hour then he came out for his match smiling and talking to the camera and my heel balloon got busted by SuperCena.:(

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  115. With the absolute inane booking involved here, i constantly wonder why i continue to watch the product, but with them pushing ryback to the moon, and the shield, daniel bryan and antonio cesaro in strong top positions on the roster, and now them introducing big e. I don't think anyone can accuse WWE for not trying to build new guys, and it's interesting and somewhat exciting to see where they go (to me at least) They just really REALLY need to put ziggler on top right now though.

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  116. Good call on the Cena as Sore Loser notion. Last night, I don't believe he even acknowledged the fact that he lost, he interrupted one of our favorite moments of the year (the MitB cash in) while taking out someone who didn't cheat to win last night (technically, he should be pissed at AJ), and he was in a team with Vicki, the most hated heel of the last 4 years. The announcers and Cena's douche asides to the camera do not mention these facts. Apparently there are no consequences to any of John Cena's actions.



    You know who else is a sore loser? Sheamus. In kayfabe terms, he has lost definitively to Big Show three straight times and still attacks him like he was on bath salts just because Big Show called him a name.


    I still liked the show for the good parts in it, but the fact that many of the so-called faces are unlikeable and hypocritical is annoying. I root for the heel 3/4 of the matches, in part, because of this. Give me an anti-hero like Batista or Austin, or a true face like Shawn or Bret.

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  117. If anyone doesn't need a manager now, It's ziggler. The guy is good enough on the mic to be his own star, he got rid of vickie last night all he needs is the strap and they could have him do promos every week in the #heel fashion he does on zack ryders show.

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  118. lol. Just awesome. Start a twitter feed or blog or something already, will ya?

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  119. Is that what's happening on Smackdown tonight? Screw you, Fuj, for ruining things again.

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  120. Yeah, that makes sense. The only catch is that Cena's already pencilled in for the match with Rock, so you'd have to figure out a way to get him there that's hopefully more than "I beat you last year, so I don't mind giving you a shot at this title I just won!"


    I guess you could go the old way of having the Raw Elimination Chamber be for the title shot, rather than the title.

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  121. Yeah, how the hell can you expect Cena to get a babyface reaction when you act like sore loser. The man can wrestle his ass off given the right wrestlers to work with, but he's not what they want him to be nor will he ever be that. This is getting to the point where Cena is basically Hogan in 92 where no one wants to see him get shoved down our throats anymore. The only difference is that there doesn't seem to be any heat between McMahon and Cena that there was with Hogan which finally led him getting out of WWF and going to WCW.

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  122. CM Punk has a Manager and he's not too shabby on the stick

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  123. yeah but the sole reason he needs heyman is because without him, fans would cheer for him way too much. Heyman is the heel anchor for marks so to speak...and even then, when he's faced with smark crowd he needs to try and pepper in some cheap heat to get people to truly boo him.

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  124. No way in hell that the Miz gets cut

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  125. This. I've seen a few people here use the response to the Anti-Cena folks of "Well, Austin did stuff like this all the time." The difference is that Austin made it clear exactly what he was going to do. He was a rattlesnake that couldn't be trusted, and never pretended to be anything different. He portrayed himself as an anti-hero, and backed up that reputation in the ring. Cena's character tells everyone he's a great guy and a smiling babyface hero, but in reality acts like a hypocrite, a sore loser, and an egomaniac.

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  126. We need to take bets on which awestruck youngster ended up saddled with Flair's bar tab after being charmed into paying for 14 Dewars. I'm guessing Tyson Kidd.

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  127. Flair giving Cena an award? Wait a minute...So they had Gene Okerlund, Ric Flair, and Ricky Steamboat in the same building for the purpose of giving awards, yet I got neither a "Meeeeeeeaan bygawd Gene" moment nor Flair/Steamboat giving Match of the Year award? Punk laying out Flair & Steamboat might have gotten him some legit heat, because everyone loves the Steamer

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  128. Since Miz is a babyface now, they can bring The Dragon out of retirement for one night, and team em as Cleveland Steamer.

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  129. Keep the reviews coming man, they're a fun read alongside Scott's seething disinterest.

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  130. At least, super face Hogan would try to defend himself, his actions, or inaction. Even if you felt sympathy for guys like Orndorff, Andre, and Macho when they turned on him, Hogan would present his side of the story.


    Cena acts like nothing happened to any of his pals. He could give an exasperated speech like, "I can't be there all the time for everyone in trouble," and probably get some sympathy. But... he doesn't. In most cases, he comes off as a one-dimensional heel (while being pushed onto the audience as a super face who is sometimes booed).

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  131. Hey man that doesn't change the fact that Austin had more classic matches in 2001 than a lot of guys have in their entire careers. One of the perks of having a deep roster I guess.

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  132. I generally agree with your statement, the only thing about Sheamus which gives him a reason, the Big Show was basically reeling off ethnic slurs at him so as a "hot headed Irishman" of course he would react. But otherwise totally spot on, it's like they have a template of a face can only be X and Y and a heel can only be X and Y and there's nothing in between.

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  133. Although I enjoyed the show, the WWE kayfabe-verse is a mess as usual.

    Flair is a legend, so Cena panders to the crowd and gives him the trophy. Then leaves him out there to get beat down. I understand Cena and Shield are kept apart since Cena is feuding with Ziggler right now, but really? I hate Cena, but I swear the writers do him no favors at all. Punk went off on Cena, and that was great how right Punk was (as usual). Flair was trying to keep up with Punk, or trying not to laugh, not sure which. If Shield got off that powerbomb on the table, that would have been huge for them. Beating up Dreamer and Ricardo isn't quite the same.

    Very happy they protected Cesaro, but making that match in the first place was a bad idea.

    WWE seems desperate to get Miz and Del Rio over as faces. Teaming them with Brawler and now Dreamer? Flair is next I bet, and Steamboat, maybe Duggan, Arn, etc. I guess they should let them try to get over a bit more.

    Ryder was wasted again. Ryder made himself a star (mid-card star, but still). WWE is looking for stars. WWE buries Ryder because he got over when others didn't. Ridiculous. Ryder, Santino, and Tensai should team up and do a comedy act since Tensai is clearly going that direction. Have them feud with 3MB or something. Let them have a few good matches and chew up 3 hours of Raw.

    AJ is pointless. They wasted her face moments, turned her into GM, then dumped her for Vicki as GM (actually not terrible choice, but it should have been Vicki in the first place or no GM at all). Now what are we supposed to do? Boo her or cheer her? She brings out a big dude from NXT and have him destroy Cena...that's great except half the crowd WANTS to destroy Cena.


    What's worse is that I hate the show, but I can't quite turn away. Maybe bashing it is fun enough to keep me interested. Ugh.

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  134. Caliber_Winfield_69420BoobiesDecember 18, 2012 at 8:32 AM

    Am I the only one who's surprised Flair didn't blade after getting hit in the stomach with Punk's crutch?

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  135. Ziggler has to be thrilled that his feud has been supplanted by some dude from NXT.

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  136. I'm starting to see Dolph Ziggler the way I used to see Chris Benoit in the WCW days. If you're not going to give him a serious main event push, just keep him matched with guys he can steal the show with. If Zig isn't getting a legit main event run yet, why can't he have good matches with Cesaro or Barrett or someone for a while? Not this mixed-tag nonsense

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  137. To me he almost seems like Mitt Romney, or at least my perception of Mitt Romney. His character (because by all accounts he is a swell guy IRL) has always gotten his way, has always been in control and been the center of attention but is completely out of touch with the majority of Americans (Fans) and just doesn't get why everyone doesn't like him and automatically see things his way etc... the unfortunate part of this analogy is that it kind of makes the new guy that showed up last night into President Obama...

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  138. Ryblack attacking Cena was pretty anticlimatic

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  139. I'm aware... but it seemed like they were teasing it last night, and I took the bate sadly.

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  140. Ha! I"m glad you caught the Mean Gene gimmick, I thought about that too and it made me smile. I think these are the small things that keep me from completely not watching wrestling anymore, and small subtle nods to longtime fans who will catch things like that.

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  141. Cena/Miz seem to have some sort of jinx when it comes to PPV, because they've had a number of good matches on free TV.

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  142. I think it had more to do with them wanting to do the turn at WrestleMania.

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  143. I know he himself would probably dislike it, but at any show I'd attend I would cheer for Punk (even if his tried his hardest by using every cheap heel heat method in the book).

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  144. once in a lifetime. *cough*

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  145. Would those matches have been as big if Lesnar/RVD/Punk/Rock had been fighting someone else? Slot Orton or Sheamus into the more recent ones, and tell me it would have been as exciting.

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  146. the problem is they are afraid to create another star,thay hsve this line of thought "oh Cena is the main guy so we can't have another on his level"just look at Punk,sure he in a better situation now,but if they had given the chance he could have been a bigger superstar and passed Cena.

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  147. I suppose it has been well over seven years since Sunny brought out Farooq to attack Ahmed Johnson.

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  148. Me too, but i do admire (aside from the cheap heat method) how heelish he can be.

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  149. I hope Big E. hasn't gone to Mason Ryan for advice on how to effectively establish yourself as the new 'roidy guy.

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  150. I've heard nothing but good things about Big E thus far.

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  151. Anything is better? Really?

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  152. What makes you think Vinny Mac isn't pushing BOTH to the moon contemporaneously? The "Wellness Era" is over my friend. Get ready for more and more of these juiced to the gills monsters at the top of the card.

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  153. I'm sure Tyson was warned about Flair by Bret.

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  154. This show was the very definition of CrashTV. I actually thought it was a fun show giving the gimmicky-ness off it, since things kept moving along and you didn't have to devote too much attention to following things. But it only works in cases like this week's version of the show.

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  155. I wonder if he's still sitting in that luxury box Abraham Washington rented out, hoarding leftovers from the catering platter and crying himself to sleep.

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  156. I hear ya. I gave up on that hope a long time ago. Even if Vinny Mac were to suddenly croak, Stephanie would still refuse to budge either. It's my understanding that It was she that decided to neuter his character back in 2005ish.

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  157. Anyone notice the decided lack of reaction to when Flair's intro was piped right before the video package? He got a great reception when his music hit and he actually walked out, but that little moment before the video package was crickets.

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  158. Cena hasn't had that kind of heel reaction in a while (since MitB 2011... I don't even recall him getting booed out of the building like that at WM this year in Miami), and it made me wonder: does he *really* pull in enough merch to justify punishing the rest of us? I know there were figures blah blah blah maybe a year or so ago, but c'mon, can they really justify this BS with him?

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  159. Yeah, that was weird. But the crowd did pop huge when he decided to hit the ring. Flair still has "it". I would love to see an Evolution reunion or rebranding with him as the manager.

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  160. So AJ didn't get a chance to actually really explain why she did things. She said it was obvious, and the she got interrupted.

    When Langston walked out, I thought, "Well it's obvious why she did it:"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNbM781v7M0

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  161. Yep. We're stuck with it. As a hardcore fan who just can't seem to to stay away from the product, I have now effectively forced myself to do all my fantasy booking and expectations around the inevitability of Cena's eternal place in the company.

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  162. And that's the big problem here, those guys should be getting matches to shine and not clusterfuck multiman matches.

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  163. Anyone else note the irony that right after Comeback of the Year was given, Tensai was in a match? And then he was the butt of Albert jokes.


    He'd definitely win anti-comeback of the year.



    Hope it was worth it, dude.

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  164. I don't even remotely feel bad for him. He was lucky he even got a 2nd chance to begin with. He/they would have been better served if he came back with all his back hair so at least he could have some real "heat" with the "shave your back" chants. In fact, since they are going full comedy gimmick on him now, they may as well do that now!

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  165. He's going to be the new Kozlov with Santino it seems. It should be interesting at least.

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  166. Team Cleveland Steamer*

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  167. The worst character in WWE history is Big Dick Johnson.

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  168. "John Cena ran down to save Big Show from Ziggler cashing in the MITB on him. The same Big Show who interfered in John Cena's cash in earlier this year, causing a DQ and causing Cena to lose his shot."



    One of the RBR co-hosts pointed this out.

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  169. He's like 96/97 Bret Hart.

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  170. HOLY GOOD POINT BATMAN!


    Seriously the more I think about that the more it pisses me off... which would be fine if it hadn't been done by their #1 Protagonist

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  171. Guess who got to eliminate him?

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  172. The Rumble may be the first PPV I have personally ordered for myself in 12 years. If I spend $60 and get THAT finish, I'm throwing in the towel.

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  173. That's a great way to put it.

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  174. Getting paid more than he was in Japan in order to spend more time with his family in the States?


    Not at all.

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  175. It appears John Cena has not only transcended the WWE title, but also morality itself. The compass of good and evil in WWE is defined, not by an implicit understanding of right and wrong, fair play and graciousness in defeat, but by Cena's impetuous impulses.

    Vince Mcmahon can hear those boos, right? Because surely Cena has the
    pull to question the illogic of interrupting Ziggler's cash-in, or is he
    at a Bret Hart-level of delusion regarding his role? Someone needs to point these guys in the direction of Joseph Campbell.

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  176. Cena just needs to say he wants a title match and he gets it. he doesn't need to earn anything. another reason to hate the SOB

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  177. But how long till AJ fucks up her career, tumbles into drugs and shitty nude photos on the internet. It's the Sunny way.

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  178. Knowing the WWE it would be called Team Cleveland and they can bring back Ezekiel Jackson with hair and a mustachio to play Cleveland, use Brodus' dancers as Roberta and the mother, Viscera as Cleveland Jr and put Hornswoggle in blackface to play Rilo! Ratings gold I tell ya!

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  179. Come on none is as delusional as Bret Hart is, the man is the biggest mark for himself. Followed closely by Dwayne and Cena. Three guys I can do without seeing ever again.

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  180. Biggest Mark for himself? If you asked any of those three about that, Matt Hardy would appear from nowhere and shove them out of the way to explain how he's so amazing, but we just don't get it.

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  181. THEY STILL DON'T GET IT! I have Hulu Plus's version of Raw going on in the background as I grade papers (I'm a teacher for a virtual school these days), and I could swear they are muting out many of the boo's for John Cena as he accepts his award. The crowd volume level goes up and down and it just sounds like a tepid reaction instead of him getting booed relentlessly.


    Oy. They honestly think that last night was a face-like performance by John Cena's character.

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  182. I like seeing them debut new guys in meaningful ways, but I'm still disappointed they went with Langston rather than Hero, Pac, Bray Wyatt, or Steamboat. Hopefully it leads to Cena bringing in Sara Del Ray to put AJ in her place.

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  183. Ah you called him Dwayne. How insider!

    What are your thoughts on Mark and Paul?

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  184. Iron Sheilk gave out his own Slammies.

    http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/266974/The-Iron-Sheik-Gives-Out-His-Own-Special-Slammy-Awards.htm

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  185. all good choices...actually has me excited for the future

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  186. PAC is the only one I see them screwing up....but I guess he'll just be their Evan Bourne replacement.

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  187. Which is a great thing about Shield. They've handled the booking well enough for them to have my attention for the duration of the Shield's story, but it's populated with guys I like enough for me to STILL pay attention after they disband.

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  188. I'd love them to bring Luke Harper up. Giant trucker who can do fucking huracanranas.

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  189. Caliber_Winfield_69420BoobiesDecember 18, 2012 at 1:40 PM

    You're right. I mean, Bret, 'Dwayne', or Cena have absolutely no reason to think they're pretty damn good.

    Hell, Bret has only had one decent match his whole career, and probably the worst technical wrestler of all time who injured countless people. Plus, he never drew a dime. Especially over-seas.

    The other two? They never drew a dime, or had countless fantastic matches either. And yeah, let's get Cena out of there. Because Cena or not, the WWE wouldn't just fine some other person to shoot to the moon as their babyface, and hopefully we'd get another run like Hogan, or Diesel, or JBL, or Triple H 2002-2005, where not only do we get sick of the character, BUT we get tons of crappy matches to fall back on!

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  190. Somebody criticized Bret Hart! Captain Cry-Baby to the rescue!

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  191. They should bring him and Hero up as a tag team. Give him a chance to get super over with his flying stuff while Hero does most of the heavy lifting. Then the blow off feud would be great, too.

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  192. There's only one Rock, Don Muraco. Simple as that.

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