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The SmarK RAW Rant–11.26.12

The SmarK RAW Rant – 11.26.12

Live from Lafayette, LA

Your hosts are Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler

Ryback v. Titus O’Neil

Titus gets some elbows in the corner, but Ryback slugs away, so Titus clotheslines him and pounds away. Ryback no-sells it and faceplants him, so Titus bails and Ryback beats him up on the floor. Back in, Titus catches him with the powerbomb, but Ryback no-sells it and finishes with the usual at 3:16. This is WWE, where a guy gets himself over on commentary one week and everyone backstage raves about him, so his reward is getting squashed by Ryback the very next week. Afterwards, Ryback declares that he’s staying in the ring until he gets what he wants, and we take a break. Sure enough, he’s still there, and he wants Punk at TLC in the TLC match, or HE WON’T EVER LEAVE THE RING. Vickie comes out and immediately caves to this lame threat.

Meanwhile, Alberto Del Rio stands up for Rosa’s honor against the midget.

Alberto Del Rio v. The Great Khali

We’re joined in progress after a break, with Khali chopping away until Del Rio works on the knee. Khali gets the CHOP OF DOOM, but Ricardo distracts him and ADR finishes with the armbar at 3:40. That felt like it was 10 hours long even at that length. DUD

Meanwhile, Michael Cole interviews THE SHIELD, and as you’d expect Dean Ambrose comes off as a star as soon as he talks. They’re here to defend us from injustice.

Tamina Snuka (Daughter of Hall of Famer Jimmy Snuka) v. Alicia Fox

Tamina squashes the shit out of Alicia with the same stuff she’s been doing all along and finishes with the superfly splash to a quiet crowd at 2:00. Cole makes three mentions of her dad, which might be a new record. DUD

John Cena joins us to talk about the kissing last week, but Vickie quickly interrupts. She gives Cena matching bath robes, and then AJ comes out and puts the moves on him. This brings out Dolph Ziggler, who thinks that AJ was thinking of him when she was kissing Cena, and that all leads to Vickie making Cena v. Ziggler tonight. What is this feud even ABOUT?

Kofi Kingston v.Tensai

Tensai pounds away and goes to a neck vice, then takes him down with an armbar and works on that. Michael Cole tries to stir up trouble between Kofi and commentator Wade Barrett by pointing out that Kofi was ranked higher on the WWE.com “50 Most Beautiful People” list. Is this really a thing? Kofi comes back with the boomdrop and wacky kick, but Tensai blocks it and cuts him off with an elbow in the corner for two. Kofi bails and hits the kick from the floor, and finishes with a springboard bodypress at 3:30. Once again I don’t get it – if the champion is going over, why not make it a title match? Kofi never defends that thing. This was a major style clash. *1/2

Meanwhile, we learn that Kane has won the Twitter poll and will face CM Punk tonight. I’m calling bullshit on that one. We get a very strained “red state/blue state” gag out of it.

Rey Mysterio v. Daniel Bryan

I still don’t get if Bryan is supposed to be a heel or a babyface. Rey goes for the arm and they tumble to the floor, where Rey misses a dive and Bryan follows with a flying knee from the apron. Back in, Bryan works the arm, but Rey takes him into the corner and Bryan rebounds out with a clothesline. Neither guy can hit a dive and we take a break. Back with Bryan missing a charge, but recovering to knock Rey off the top. He goes to work on the arm and holds an armbar, but Rey comes back with the flying senton and low kick for two. Rey misses the 619 and Bryan tries the No-Lock, but Rey makes the ropes. He tries again, but Rey slingshots him into the corner and hits the 619, then finishes with the splash at 13:20. So yeah, Bryan loses AGAIN. There wasn’t really much of a match here, as it was a lot of Bryan yelling at the fans and not much meat to the match. I’m probably underrating it but this show isn’t exactly winning me over in the first place. **1/2

Dolph Ziggler v John Cena

Cena controls with a headlock, but runs into an elbow in the corner. And we take a break. Back with Ziggler doing situps and dropping elbows. Cena comes back with the backdrop powerbomb, but Ziggler catches him with a leaping DDT for two. Ziggler misses a charge and recovers with a sleeper, but Cena reverses into the STF until Ziggler makes the ropes. A dropkick puts Cena down again and Ziggler goes up, but Cena rolls through a bodypress into the FU, which Ziggler reverses into the Zig Zag for two. That was nice. They slug it out and Ziggler rolls him up for two, but Cena comes back with the Five Knuckle Shuffle, which apparently tweaks his knee and makes him roll out of the ring in pain. This brings out AJ and Vickie for an argument, and Cena hits the FU for the pin at 12:41. So that’s pretty much the end of that feud, isn’t it? Like, they couldn’t even hold it off until the PPV to blow it off? I figured on a goofy finish to set up a ladder match for the briefcase at TLC where Dolph could win, but no, Cena just won. Good chemistry from them, though. ***

Sheamus v. Antonio Cesaro

Sheamus controls with a headlock and they brawl to the floor as we take a break. Back with Cesaro firing away with the uppercuts and a lariat for two. He tosses Sheamus with a gutwrench for two, and they trade knees on the apron before Sheamus gets the forearms. Man, they’re laying in the leather tonight, as JR would say. Back in the ring, Sheamus with the backbreaker for two. Sheamus tries White Noise, but Sheamus wiggles out, so he hits a powerslam for two instead. Cesaro then comes back with a crazy torture rack into a backbreaker for two. They just gotta keep pushing through with Cesaro and letting him toss big guys around. Sheamus goes up for the shoulderblock, but gets PWNED with a forearm on the way down. Sheamus escapes the NEUTRALIZER and hits the Brogue Kick to put him on the floor for the countout win at 13:10. Hmm, they even protected Cesaro there a little bit while jobbing him. This was a fun “tough guys beating the hell out of each other” match. ***1/4

Damien Sandow v. Zack Ryder

Nothing squash for Sandow with a bunch of chinlocks leading to the usual hopeless comeback from Ryder and the Terminus to finish for Sandow at 4:46. This would be setting up Sandow’s job to Cena on The Main Event. *

CM Punk v. Kane

Kane fires away to start and we of course take a break as soon as someone hits the floor. Back with Punk tossing Kane and following with a suicide dive. Back in, Punk with the running knees, but Kane catches him with a punch and comes back with a sideslam for two. Kane goes up with a flying clothesline, but Punk gets the neckbreaker for two. Kane comes back with the chokeslam and goes for the tombstone, but THE SHIELD runs in from the crowd, allowing Punk to finish with the GTS at 11:04. ** And then Kane takes the beatdown from the Bossman squad, as does Daniel Bryan. Ryback makes the save, but now Punk attacks Ryback from behind and they finish the job on him. Man, they are letting these guys get a TON of heat on them. And I like that there’s actually stuff HAPPENING with this storyline, which gives the crowd a reason to get behind Ryback, even if the finish at TLC can be seen coming a mile away.

The Pulse

A fairly dull show but with two good matches, so that’s fine. The booking continues to be ridiculous, though, and the PPV literally has nothing I want to see. But hey, no Miz this week!

Comments

  1. I suggest we start tallying Cole's average Superfly mentions per minute during each Tamina match. For tonight, it's a two minute match with three mentions, meaning he clocks in at 1.5 Superflys per minute or SPM. We'll see if he breaks the record next week!

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  2. Show really picked up in the second half or so. Antonio Cesaro is ready, brother.

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  3. Seemed like they finally figured the 3rd hour out by putting the terrible shit in the first hour. And I'm shocked at how well they are managing to keep Ryback and The Shield both strong at the same time. Fingers crossed the keep getting this angle right because I think it can be pretty big.

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  4. What did Daniel Bryan call himself when he joined Wu-Tang?


    GOATFACE KILLAH!

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  5. 213 points........

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  6. Oh, and 3000th post! I'm Dean Malenko up in this bitch, jobber123, we comin' for you nigga!

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  7. Well, at least RAW pulled itself out of horrible the last two weeks and up to "meh". Baby steps.



    Also, a record 213 pts in the FFLoD. Even my waiver-wire pickups of emergency RBs are working out wonderfully. Keyshawn Michaels, THE MOST ULTRAVIOLENT FORCE ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH!


    BTW, I'm watching "Dick Tracy" on HBO; damn, still a fucking awesome movie. I want dat Blu-Ray.

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  8. I've always wondered: what the hell was Mean Gene showing Stevie Ray?

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  9. In other news, the Eagles lost again.

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  10. He's always been ready. All those poor steps he's Euro uppercutted can attest to that.

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  11. After watching the Sheamus/Cesaro match again (that uppercut doesn't cease to be AWESOME!), there's one thing that really bothered me about the ending. You see Sheamus barely hit on the Brogue Kick with Cole going out of his way to note that Sheamus barely brushed him on the move...and there's Cesaro selling it like he got shot, staying down and not moving at all until the 10 count. I'm thinking there was some miscommunication there.

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  12. Ain't nuthin' to fuck wit.

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  13. Tom Jackson defended Andy Reid today, saying that he didn't forget how to coach. His awful gameplans week after week say otherwise. It's like he's using the Ask Madden option for every offensive playcall. Oh, and their defense has gone to shit since that panic move of firing Castillo.


    Still, at least they didn't lose by not getting a stop on 4th-and-29 like my fucking team. I couldn't believe that shit, yet at the same time, I totally believed it.

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  14. Shield promo was pretty neat. Ambrose, as you noted, sounded like a star. Reigns played the role of the heavy fine enough. Rollins...sounds like Punk on helium. He has the same smooth way of talking but sounds like an unbelievable dweeb overall, and he had the same problem in ROH. Still, I'm glad the promo wasn't a huge slam dunk and instead just a little teaser that piques our curiosity I'd rather blow my load an hour down the line and not 30 seconds down the line.

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  15. That could be something for Santino to do. "Unleash the Snuka meter!"

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  16. "I'd rather blow my load an hour down the line and not 30 seconds down the line."


    I keep telling my girlfriend that, but she's impatient. Yep yep yep, what it do.

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  17. What did Big Show call himself when he joined Wu-Tang?


    Mamma said your Ole' Dirty Nasty Bastard.

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  18. Anyone else notice how big the crowd popped when Roman Reigns said his line? That was pretty crazy.

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  19. "Once again I don’t get it – if the champion is going over, why not make it a title match?"

    Because then everyone would bitch about Tensai getting a title shot over Random Indy Darling?

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  20. "as you’d expect Dean Ambrose comes off as a star as soon as he talks."

    This. A thousand times this.

    You know, for all the times that people talk about how bad most of these guys are at delivering scripted lines, etc, it was so refreshing to hear a guy inject confidence without arrogance, all the while coming off as actually reacting and making a point versus waiting for his cue. This dude's a STAR, and he showed it tonight. It's such a small thing, but he looked totally comfortable as his character, as opposed to being a wrestler reading lines designed for an actor. Just this small snippet sold me completely on him. Rollins and Reigns were a little stiffer, but Ambrose was outstanding.

    Also, I fear we're heading for heel Cole again, which just pales after weeks of JBL just being awesome.

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  21. He never knew how to coach to begin with.

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  22. So because Ambrose looked liked a million bucks tonight, WWE logic says he's getting over too quickly and they have to do something about that, right?

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  23. the reason for Cena losing might be their usual 50/50 booking. Ziggler might actually get the win at the ppv, so they "obviously" can't have Cena lose to him in the buildup. *sigh*

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  24. I like the Shield angle, but that's about it. Everything else is D.O.A with the WWE right now... Looks like that's the end of the Dolph/Cena feud right there, no idea what they're doing with having that match for free on RAW? Bizzare. It was a really good match too. Wish they could've been more creative with the stable name than "Shield" as it sounds pretty goofy... "Evolution" "Degeneration X" "New World Order" ..."Shield" Ugh... Has Stephanie written all over it...

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  25. For some reason today I've come to the conclusion that Reid won't get sacked because A. Lurie is an idiot B. I'm sure the excuse of his son's death distracted him will come up and probably the one C. his accomplishments that he achieved nearly a decade ago will outweigh the negative.




    I could say the same for San Diego too, every time I think this is it for Norv he magically keeps his job, I think this year is the same unless Rivers throws a big bitch fit.


    As for me, my team is pretty much balancing between 2 awesome QB's and are pretty much sitting pretty right now. In Harbaugh I trust.

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  26. Somehow there will be a rematch at the PPV.


    I can't imagine Cena sitting this one out.

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  27. Remember when Santino and Tamina were a couple? And then Tamina got sent to Smackdown and everyone acted like they never happened?


    What was up with that?

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  28. Damn I would like to see some of these matches. Rey/Danielson was no good? Guess it needed to happen 6 years ago for it to be a MOTYC.

    Sucks my 3 favorite midcarders jobbed in the same night(Cesaro, Zigs, Danielson). Danielson can take it cuz he is perpetually over(well so *was* Ryder)...But Cesaro is really the star of the future. He has the body, the strength, the skills. God I wanna see him and Punk go 30 minutes on PPV. Imagine Punk with the springboard clothesline and BAM he gets the euro-uppercut.

    I don't mind Cena beating someone every Monday but why do the Ziggler job when you got a big PPV coming up? They need to really solidify the Superkick for Zigs like they did for Shawn.

    But overall even if the format and style of the show sucks, you gotta love Punk, Black, Ambrose, Ziggler, Danielson and Cesaro all over the biggest(longest running epis...nevermind) wrestling show in the world.

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  29. I enjoyed this weeks Raw, probably (imo) the best of the three hour raws so far (not that it's saying too much). The matches were good, and they are building nicely to the ppv, now i wanna see a Ziggler/Cena rematch knowing they have the chemistry to pull it off better at the PPV, and clearly they are building towards rey/cara vs team hell no (with a possible rhodes scolars mixed in there) for tlc. I like how strong they continue to make Cesaro look, and i could swear they could build towards an awesome team hell no vs shield match up at WM. Think of all the rollins vs dbry set up matches on raw.

    Overall I'm liking the direction some of these guys are going,but they absolutely need to stop it with this Cena/AJ shit. Kings commentary was horrendous to, his constant brown nosing over cena really makes me wish he went back to retirement.

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  30. "Sheamus tries White Noise, but Sheamus wiggles out"

    They finally perfect human cloning and they waste it on SHEAMUS?!?!?!?

    (See what I did there?!?!)

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  31. Caliber_Winfield_69420BoobiesNovember 27, 2012 at 5:29 AM

    What did James Storm say to Doc Brown when he traveled back to 1955 and didn't have more plutonium?

    Sorry...about your damn Flux

    I don't give a shit if we're on Daniel Bryan now

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  32. Ambrose came off amazing during the Shield's interview. Reigns came off pretty good as the "silent" muscle, but Rollins, the less he says the better he'll come off. Seth Rollins just came off as a whinny brat who is just going to get on the fans nerves in a bad way if he stays too long on the stick. They should let Ambrose do most of the talking, let Reigns look menacing and tough, and Rollins should just stick to wrestling.

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  33. Because besides from this they have such an established record of continuity.

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  34. Why would you pay to see a Ziggler/Cena rematch, when Cena is already like 25-0 lifetime against Ziggler?

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  35. Anyone else notice Vickie stumped when listing all 3 members of the Shield? And when she went "tonight you will face Daniel! ... Bryan."

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  36. Anyone else think that the name "The SHIELD" is DOA? I bet Disney's already sent the cease and desist. Paramilitary guys protecting the Universe from injustice? The Mouse is planning a SHIELD tv series. No way they let this stand. (The upside is when VKM changes the name to THE SITH just to be a dick/get sued again).

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  37. It will be over with by time ABC has S.H.I.E.L.D. on TV in Jan 2014. So no Disney worries...

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  38. Am I the only one who thinks that instead of Rollins and Reigns they should have used Cesaro and Ohno?

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  39. Ambrose reminds me of Matt Bourne. I've heard lots of Piper/Pillman comparisons, but something about the guy screams the Maniac. Just to clarify, that is high praise.

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  40. Regardless of who wins, I think they have great ring chemistry, if they are going to go 20 minutes on ppv, I'd buy it. Ultimately I'm always going to be in it for the matches. That's just me though.

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  41. ....just to be an asshole, Ambrose should wear an eyepatch and change his last name to Fury.

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  42. I know everyone is jumping on Ambrose's dick, and some feel compelled to retort, but so far I'm buying the hype...for all three guys. Reigns is clearly the odd man out, but he's big, he's silent and he looks badass. Rollins looks like Punk 2.0 and Ambrose could go REAL far....colour me excited.

    I'd love for them to be some sort of Punk promo inspired revolution stable. It brings back importance to Punk's promo, and continues with the theme of revolution, I like the idea of three guys lumbering around in developmental or at home and they watch punks promo and decide to take matters in their own hands working their way up to to change the WWE and hiding behind some sort of faux enforcer schtick....It's got some real legs, especially if they team with punk and become some new form of "evolution" because it did wonders for orton and batista.

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  43. I find it so weird that they deliberately ignore the heritage of everyone else on the roster to the point of changing names and looks, but then pick TAMINA to be the one who has the same point hammered home about her father over and over and over and over in every match. It's just such a random choice.

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  44. Imo Scott short changed db vs rey a full star. This was a really good raw

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  45. Kofi Kingston has actually defended the Intercontinental Title three times on TV and PPV - against The Miz at Hell in a Cell, against the Miz on SmackDown on 11/6, and just the other night against Damien Sandow on SmackDown. That's more than once every 30 days.

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  46. She's awful!! I usually get told I'm wrong though since everyone loves her on this site.

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  47. I think that McMahon and Co. have given up on Daniel Bryan as a serious main event-level player, instead content to bury him in the undercard as a comedy worker ala Santino Marella. Despite wrestling circles around 3/4ths of the roster, he's too small to fit in Vince's mold of a top superstar, so they intentionally cooled him off to keep his fan reactions from overshadowing the people that they wanted on top. As his heat diminishes, they'll continue to pluck him into the undercard for a few years running the Santino career path before he becomes disillusioned and quits.

    In other news, same old, same old.

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  48. The "news" was that he was getting a push after Mania. So until mid April he's on the J.O.B. Squad

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  49. But why have the match at all? And if you're GOING to have the match, why have a clean finish? These guys could both go in a high-profile match at TLC, they're building Ziggler to be a main event player (at least he has some wins over Orton, right?), so why not save the pinfall for the Pay Per View?


    I don't complain about the WWE very often, but that match last night really annoyed me.

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  50. Vince will just have Ziggler job clean to Mickey Mouse on Saturday Morning Slam to smooth things over.

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  51. "Mr. Ambrose, meet Mr. Khali...you'll be working with him tonight."

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  52. One of the better 3 hour shows. Why am I just now learning that hall of famer Jimmy Snuka had a daughter in wrestling? I wonder if he has any other kids who have been in the WWE, co held the tag belts and has since been forgotten about... Cena beats Ziggler to set up Cena getting another shot at the briefcase. Of course he wins that and turns the rumble punk/rock match into a triple threat. Ryback is actually getting more over each week to the live crowd, but he's going to need quite a few big wins next year to make up for jobs to Punk. I prefer the tag champs jobbing in singles matches than the IC and US champ jobbing (and squashed) in non title matches.

    "If you're looking for the nWo, go buy the dvd." This guy gets it.

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  53. Bourne as Evil Doink was a work of art. Those facial expressions were something else.

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  54. Roman Reigns looks like a superstar. The other two, not so much.

    Very cool look and gimmick, though.

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  55. I would assume something like Shield is considered public domain.

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  56. Really enjoyed the show. Yeah, there's a million little things to bitch about (3 hours is still too long), but the big thing for me right now is that the main event storyline is really clicking. Punk & Heyman are hitting their zenith, Ryback is a good foil, and Ambrose & co. are getting pushed as monsters. If Punk & his Shield stay this strong through TLC, the build for Punk vs Rock should be off the charts.


    By the way: anyone think there's any chance that we FINALLY get the Lesnar run-in at TLC? I mean, Ryback has to lose, and they can't re-use either of the previous screwjobs (Maddox, Shield). It has to be something that tops those and keeps Ryback looking strong? Possibility, or just wishful thinking on my part? (I'll be there in Brooklyn and really wanna see Lesnar put a dude through a table.)

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  57. So perhaps Ryback, Kane, & Bryan vs. The Shield next week?

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  58. As if any of the people they are marketing to would even know who Jimmy Snuka was, let alone care about his daughter. This company...

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  59. I dunno, man. Just the way he moved his head after Cole's first question reminded me instantly of Pillman.

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  60. Is Roman Haku's son? That guy is probably not one to mess with. He kind of had a Batista vibe, too.

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  61. I get the feeling that at the end of all this Heyman is going to turn on Punk in favor of Brock Lesner.

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  62. I think that DB is too talented that even though he's on a losing streak, they won't be able to keep him down forever.



    And he can wrestle circles around more than 3/4ths of the roster. There's probably only a handful of guys who could keep up with him if he was allowed to cut loose.

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  63. No, he's Sika's son (and Rosey's brother). But yes, tough looking prick.

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  64. Gotta admit, this show's been moving a lot faster lately.

    I also noticed ever since Linda's campaign ended they've scaled WAYYYY back on the Twitter and Tout plugs which can only be a good thing since they're both stupid fad gadgets that will die soon anyway.

    I've only got a couple of gripes about last night's show:

    - Three hours is still far too long and if they got rid of the third hour and aired the show from 8-10:15, it could top Impact as the best wrestling show around.

    - Why did they bring back JBL only to put him on the show that no one watches? That is so backwards. It reminds me of when WCW had Gordon freaking Solie on the payroll yet they demoted him to the D-shows when he should have been calling the Saturday Night show and PPV's with Jim Ross. Just an all-around waste. Just make RAW a three-man team with Cole, Lawler and JBL and pair Josh up with Road Dogg on Smackdown.
    There, commentary woes solved.

    Overall, solid show worth recording, just fast-foward the Divas match and the repetitive recaps.

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  65. Twitter can't die soon enough.

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  66. She's good as a manager, but she needs to remain that and not do the GM crap.

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  67. I'll give you Ohno, but Cesaro needs to be doing his own thing right now.

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  68. Plus there's a huge difference between The Shield and S.H.I.E.L.D.

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  69. She should be on the show more often with more mic time!

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  70. His name is Daniel Bryan. His name is Seth Rollins.

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  71. She's good as a heel manager but her act is kinda stale. However she's awful in these love triangle stories.

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  72. Scott definitely short changed db v rey. I personally thought 3.75, but no way it was under 3.25

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  73. What do you mean? According to cult, he's been established as a legit main eventer. If he's a legit main eventer, what does that make Rhodes and Sandow then? Because he's jobbed clean to both in the last couple months. Are they part-time mega-draws?

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  74. I followed dgusa just for moxley and it's almost surreal seeing him do his thing on raw. The last I saw of him was that regal angle that was fantastic. His debut being so good leaves me hope bray wyatt won't be turned into hillbilly jim 2.0 when he's called up.

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  75. Because they're telling stories?

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  76. I might be 8-4 but you've only scored 13 points more than me for the season. Thats basically one pt a game. I botched the bye week thing when drafting and it cost me two games but now I'm winning out. Tom Brady and the bears d will be waiting next week!

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  77. Two awesome qbs???? How about an exciting and promising 2nd year player and an epic bust who has become a mediocre game manager at best. I'm a life long 9ers fan and fuck alex smith. Drinks on me the day they cut his worthless ass.

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  78. Twitter won't die unfortunately, it has an insanely high user base and doesn't come with the now incredibly stupid "Like this photo so this girl's cancer can be cured and she can get a million dollars from the President" that Facebook does.

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  79. It's our punishment as fans for liking him over Sheamus.

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  80. I'm speculating here, but maybe they didn't want a short-term guy to be one of the hosts of their A Show. He came back due to Lawler's medical issue, and has enough money and other things going on that he could easily tell Vince to screw if he is asked to do something he doesn't want to do, so maybe they prefer to have him on Smackdown. Also a possibility he prefers to work Smackdown. Sucks for the viewer, but maybe there's other reasons besides "WWE is stupid." It very well COULD be because they're stupid, but who knows?

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  81. Really? They have the son of a fairly prominent Samoan wrestler playing a Mexican gangbanger?

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  82. It's clear what this is all building to: Snuka-Taker II at WrestleMania. The Circle Closes.

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  83. JBL isn't short term anymore, he signed a new contract.

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  84. Not until after they have BURIED Punk first post his J.O.B. to Rock. Then they'll turn him back face with what they hope is a reduced heat level to Cena's. Burial Mission accomplished.

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  85. I don't know I'm starting to really dislike Ryback...maybe it's the "new star smell" that's wearing off, but he's shown me nothing in the ring department, nothing in the charisma or mic skills area that convinces me he's even deserving to main event a c level ppv like TLC. Maybe they are just hoping he's a grower like sheamus was, or maybe it took WWE introducing the shield to make me see "what potential WWE has" to make me see ryback as "what's going wrong"

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  86. Gotta disagree on Twitter; it's already shown great value in real-time situations for journalists, activists and people just looking for a raw news feed (the Arab Spring and Occupy protests immediately come to mind) and it's pretty handy at conferences, too; I live-tweeted some panels at one I went to a couple of weeks ago and was able to keep up on other sessions. Like any bit of tech, I suppose, it's all in the application.

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  87. maybe they just don't have any clue what else to say about her?

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  88. yeah, because losing to someone is the same as being on the same level. see: The Rock vs. The Hurricane.

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  89. After Mania might as well be like a Cubs fan saying 'wait 'til next year'. Unless Vince suddenly decides that Bryan will become an unstoppable wrecking force, nonstop jobs and piss-poor booking will neutralize any residual heat that he has left by then, and he'll have nowhere to go but around in circles.

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  90. Yeah, that's the ticket. That's it, Bryan's just giving them the rub. And by 'them', I mean everyone on the roster. For months now. Remember all those three month losing streaks Rocky went on after becoming an established main eventer? No? That's okay, it's because they never happened. You guys are un-fucking-believable. Why let reality get in the way of whatever personal narrative you happen to find most comforting?

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  91. I guess there's no improvement with you. Once a bust always a bust.

    By the way that "worthless QB" has a higher QBR than the likes of Eli Manning, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers so far this season.

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  92. They must cash in on Daniel Bryan soon. Its time to move on to new bona fide main eventers. Have Punk end the Streak at Wrestlemania, claim to be the best ever, then have Bryan challenge Punk for an IronMan match at Extreme Rules. Something. We need something different from the tired brawling formula and part timers on top.

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  93. Qb rating is a empty stat and the fact that smith is ranked higher than brees manning and Rodgers only highlights what a pointless stat it is. Think the packers are saying "damn we should have drafted smith instead of rodgers"? This sf team has been stacked for 4 years. If mike singletary wasn't the worst coach ever we would be a perennial play off team by now. We have a great defense, special teams, run game, and o line. And a mediocre game manager as qb. You say he's improved and I agree. He used to so bad he didn't remotely belong on the field and now he's a mediocre game manager. A poormans Trent dilfer maybe. Did you see the nfc title game? Looked like the same shit qb to me. Replace him with say, matt moore and we win the Superbowl last year

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  94. Well technically his name IS Bryan Danielson and his name IS Colby Lopez.

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  95. When you throw around terms like "Bust" and see how far he's come, it's pretty weighty but I digress.

    But you pretty much answered the question why Alex Smith sucked for 5 years : "This sf team has been stacked for 4 years. If mike singletary wasn't the worst coach ever we would be a perennial play off team by now".
    Seeing Kaep play now just makes me more pissed off about that title game. I have no problem believing he would of gotten us an extra TD or at least in FG range.

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  96. No question he had two atrocious coaches in nolan and mike s but he still has the dying duck arm. It just makes me so mad they picked him when he was obviously a system qb at utah. God what a disaster mike nolan was. None of this would happen if the nfl didn't rip the team from Eddie D. Debartalo to jed york is a lot like young to smith.
    Fwiw I still maintain cutting jeff garcia was an epic mistake

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  97. If Eddie D still had the team we'd probably would have been/won a super bowl or two.

    Can you imagine us with Eddie D, Harbaugh, and Aaron Rodgers? I'm getting a football hard on just thinking about it.

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  98. Here's my personal narrative: I happen to support one of the most talented and entertaining performers in the business. I'm treated like a fool by the company for wanting to see Bryan and instead get Del Rio, Sheamus et. all shoved on television ad nauseum. Thus, I refuse to watch and/or give money to said company, and use this blog as an outlet for whimsical discussions on why wrestling sucks, when wrestling ruled, and occasional dick references when no one's looking.

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  99. And that would still be anticlimactic considering that George Lucas just jobbed to the Mouse.

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  100. Those kind of tweets I really don't have a beef with, it's the constant stream of stupid tweets from stupid alleged celebs that I can't stand.

    Especially Miley Cyrus, her "stream of conscience" tweets are so idiotic that it makes Kurt Angle's drunk rambling tweets look intelligent. I think the only reason she even posts those tweets is to give "The Soup" and "Chelsea Lately" new material to rip on.

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  101. Point taken, especially now that I've stopped following some feeds that really weren't giving me much good reading. But I'm glad it's an opt-in thing all the same. I prefer to leave celeb kayfabe alone.

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  102. I could be completely naive, but I really think that there's absolutely no problem with jobbing Bryan right now - he's over as Hell, and his whole gimmick is that he has a Napoleon Complex and desperately tries to convince everybody (including himself) that he is not the weak-link in his team. Every time he jobs, Kane and the audience can heckle him more.

    If he's still in the same position three months after "WrestleMania 29", then I'll admit that I was wrong, but he's just too hot to deny - I have no doubt that he'll headline "WM30" as a major face, but considering how unexpected his popularity has been and that there just isn't room on the "WM29" card for a seventh main-eventer (the three big matches will be some combination of Cena, Rock, Brock, Punk, Sheamus, and Taker), there's no reason to think that Bryan will be positioned as a main-event face around next Summer.

    Punk, in many ways, still has not been completely elevated to the level of Cena or Rock; no reason to think that Bryan's journey won't take a similar route, just two years later.

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  103. Look, it's OK for things like Bryan getting screwed on the Twitter poll to happen if it's all part of a master plan to do the final bit of erasing of He Who Must Not Be Named from history, by having Benoit's replacement as IWC God do a massive face turn, win the Rumble, and end Punk's reign a mere 10 miles from where Benoit had his moment that we no longer talk about.


    And while I'm fantasizing, I'd like a massage from AJ.

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  104. Word, Tensai has done nothing to deserve a shot. If you beat the champ, you get a shot, otherwise...no go.

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  105. Haku isn't Samoan, he's Tongan.

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  106. Maybe he prefers not being around Vince?

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  107. Ziggler's briefcase isn't for the WWE belt...

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  108. Ah, but 3.25 for a tv match is pretty good, no?

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  109. Call me crazy, but did Cesaro bust out the Alpamare Waterslide against Sheamus?

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  110. But if Cena beats Ziggler, he can only challenge for his(raw) brand's title~~~wwe logic (it gets cena in a title match and it ignores past storylines)

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  111. Hey, I'm sure Vince and company have lots of cheap, groan inducing, heat draining wins to get Bryan to the "next level". If the fans don't buy into his push, then it must be Bryan's fault...

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  112. I'm watching the Hulu Plus replay right now, and I think I would watch Ambrose do just about anything. Kind of enthralling.

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  113. That is definitely the only reason. All the tabloid/TMZ/E! network stuff, even when they mock the celebrities in question, is as big of a work as Raw. I highly doubt Miley is even tweeting herself.

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  114. "I'll say somethin' when I wanna say somethin'. [30 second pause] I wanna say somethin'. We've said enough."

    lame. Ambrose is cool though.

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  115. Actually they've kept pretty solid continuity with MiTB. There's enough actual problems with the show you don't have to make shit up.

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