MagicianCamille

Yeah both Christian/Orton matches were pretty good. I'd argue for them over HHH/Taker just because they didn't have months of hype and two of the biggest names in the history of the business on the grandest stage of them all with the Streak at stake. Christian/Orton had about...an hour and a half between when we knew the match would take place and it actually taking place. The second match had 2-3 weeks of build-up toward a minor PPV.

People also shouldn't forget about the stellar match that John Morrison and the Miz kicked the year off with. That match was great too, and really got me pumped for 2011 in wrestling. Too bad the reality didn't live up to the feeling that match gave.

It also made him think of something, and than you replicate Hogan's birth of NWO speech where Cena says, he did everything for the kids and how he never did anything for himself and how he's tired of pleasing the fans, etc. I know this one is a little odd but it's sort of like putting Truth in the match against Morrison, he loses but because of him losing we got a Truth Heel Turn.

Cena losing to The Rock maybe the answer to Cena going heel.

Won't happen until WWE builds up someone bigger than Cena that all the kids can gravitate to.

The Rock posted pictures of him in Disney Land, and well he couldn't help but take a shot at John Cena. He posted a picture of himself with Goofy with the caption,

"Just bumped into John Cena! I was gonna knock the goofy off his (language), but I'll save that (language) whuppin for Wrestlemania."

Rock doesn't come off too well in this twitter feud, as while he's mocking Cena and posting pictures of himself in various places, John Cena is working WWE live events constantly, doing WWE charity work, traveling with WWE, etc. This is after The Rock said he was "never going to leave" or whatever. Since WM we had a self-glorifying birthday celebration episode of Raw which was arguably one of the worst Raws I've seen in a while. It was more of the same from Wrestlemania, which was a pretty bad PPV, and by Wrestlemania standards was even worse.

I've been much more impressed with Steve Austin, who hosted Tough Enough and has been more involved with WWE recently and I believe has been providing the more entertaining segments on Raw than The Rock did during his brief return.

V - Franny rage goes here

For those wondering if the Orton concussion angle was just a storyline, it wasn't. Orton suffered a legit concussion when he was in Madrid, Spain during a Triple Threat World Title Match that also involved Christian and Sheamus. Right now it is unsure if he will be medically cleared to wrestle at Capitol Punishment as he must pass an Impact Concussion Test before getting back in the ring.

http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/headlines/Randy_Orton_Suffers_Concussion_Might_Not_Wres.php

That's interesting. I imagine if he can't wrestle they might stick us with a Christian/Sheamus #1 contender match.

Btw as wrestling and Ravens fans... Who likes my banner? Its an inspiration from Mavericks title.

That's a cool belt. I'd wear it.

I don't know that WWE *needs* to drop the number of PPVs. The problem is obviously the build-up, but that isn't so much a "not enough time" problem as it is a "WWE creative isn't creative" problem. There is a lot of wasted time on Raw and Smackdown and week-to-week booking that could be put toward building up feuds for PPVs. I don't think simply decreasing the number of PPVs (which won't happen anyway) would fix the fact that there isn't any proper planning in place for the storylines.

While watching WWE 1997/1998, Austin becoming a world champion was a storyline that had been progressing for the better part of a year. Then at the start of 1999 Austin/Rock was being built up weeks before the Royal Rumble, and as we all know they didn't have their WWF title match until that year's mania.

So I wouldn't say it's the number of PPVs that's the problem, but rather the utter lack of planning. Simply, WWE creative has no long term plans.

Actually it was a retweet. Someone else said it. I don't think it's a big deal.

Good news, Miz isn't actually injured. False dirt sheet rumor.

Sigh, 3rd time in as many weeks a face guest referee has cheated to help the faces win. Come on WWE, be creative.

Not sure if its been posted as I dont want to read Raw spoilers (havent watched it yet), but apparently in the dark main event following Raw, Miz injured his leg in a match with John Cena when being thrown outside the ring.

Source: http://www.wrestling-edge.com/wwe-news-rumors/miz-suffers-leg-injury-postraw-dark-match.html

(Link may be NSFW as for some reason this site has a woman in a suggestive pose beneath every article)

I will admit Cena did put over Miz as a legit Main Event Guy, sure The Rock basically helped Miz win at Wrestlemania but still they solidified Miz as a legit main eventer until Over the Limit where they killed all the momentum he had and the time they spent making him legit by having Miz quit within 3 seconds when he was fully healthy.

That was such a terrible main event, I kind of wish Miz and some of these other guys would take a page from the guys who came before and get involved in some backstage politicking. "Wait, you want me to, after taking no damage, immediately tap out while crying to Cena's STF? Lol no, lets work out a more realistic finish that doesn't bury my character".

Miz just got done being paraded around the media world as the WWE Champion, and just beat Cena at WM. Absolutely no reason he should lay down and let Cena destroy his career like that. Be a Steve Austin, be a Triple H if you have to, these guys need to protect their characters from WWE's abhorrent creative team. That's how the aforementioned guys got to the top and stayed on top. True facts.

I think you guys are overthinking it. Mick Foley having worked for TNA doesn't need to be explained at all, TNA doesn't matter. It would make no difference if he was simply unemployed during that time, either way there'd need to be the same amount of explanation: none. Mick Foley could be Raw GM and there's no real inconsistencies there in terms of storyline (which is all that matters).

Yes that would expose the fact they had no idea who the anonymous Raw GM was going to be this entire time, but if it means Mick Foley being back on WWE TV, I'm more than okay with that. But as I said, from a storyline perspective its irrelevant that the writers weren't sure who it was going to be. It's no big secret that plans change backstage all the time and things can be booked completely differently at the last minute.

So yeah, Foley as Raw GM, no problem.

I have watched the ending of SD a couple times and I don't think it's a heel turn. I don't even see a reason for either Orton or Christian going heel, this is just a battle for the title between two men who respect each other but are showing that they want the title.

He sneak attacked Randy with the belt after pretending to celebrate with him, and then walked off with a belt that wasn't his. Heel turn.

Mick Foley coming back in an on-screen capacity would be awesome. Mick Foley as Raw GM would be much better than this anonymous laptop business. Also Mick could get involved in the Cena/Rock feud and do some promos with The Rock. I would mark hard.

It's funny how on Smackdown, a taped show they can edit the audio on, we still heard a fairly loud Christian chant as he walked away with the title.

I don't know, I thought it was a pretty good Smackdown, but I'm not sure how we're going to proceed from here. Who's the #2 babyface on Smackdown? Sin Cara and Daniel Bryan are in a midcard feud with Rhodes/Dibiase (which I'm excited for, hoping they continue this as a 2v2 feud), there's nobody else...on Raw John Cena has Rey Mysterio. Maybe Ezekiel Jackson is going to get pushed to the top? Seems unlikely. I would like to see it personally, but I'm just a big Zeke mark and I don't know if he's really ready for that.

Orton turning heel wasn't going to happen, let's not kid ourselves. He's WWE's #2 guy, gets the second loudest pop, I think face Orton is here to stay just like face Cena. In fact I don't think anyone BUT Cena could turn Orton heel successfully. People cheered Randy Orton saying he'd RKO his own grandmother after all.

So who thinks they're going to bring in Edge and have Christian get over as a heel by beating him up?

How can anyone take Ryder seriously? The guy's a complete joke and has no place on RAW or Smackdown. This is just one man's opinion.

His gimmick is a joke and should never be an upper card act, definitely. However the man himself is a good performer and very entertaining. He DOES belong on one of the main shows because he can entertain. There's enough people on both shows who aren't entertaining at all, why not someone who actually is.

Now, I think if they were to give him a serious push they would have to change his gimmick. That's the one reason I might prefer he stay a jobber, to be honest. Could Ryder entertain me with a more serious gimmick? I'm not sure. But I think he definitely has proven he should be given the chance.

Ultimate Warrior just comes off as a senile and wholly irrelevant man. This is what he is spending his time on? Really?

Hogan is coming off as the mature adult for once and refusing to feed the fire. Good for him.

Here's hoping that CM Punk's Randy Savage tribute attire is an alt for him.

Honestly after thinking about it a little more, I don't think R-Truth should ever be main eventing a PPV. He shouldn't even main event Raw.

His ring work is sloppy. He's old and it shows with his stamina and his (in)ability to pull off athletic moves with any grace. Anyone remember the double spot with him and Morrison propelling themselves over the top rope and R-Truth failing completely?

I get it though. R-Truth is the rebound guy in between Miz and ADR. Honestly I would have much preferred a feud with Jack Swagger and getting him back into the main event. Such an underrated wrestler AND talker. Yeah he has a lisp but so what? He makes it work or him. My point is guys like Jack Swagger should be the future. R-Truth is almost 40 years old. What happened to that youth initiative?

Here's an in-depth discussion with THQ about the new game btw:

http://www.wrestling-edge.com/wwe-news-rumors/wwethq-rep-discusses-wwe-12-gameplay-details.html

IGN article on the new game : http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1171571p1.html

WWE.com http://www.wwe.com/inside/thq/wwe-12/wwe-12-stores-fall

So it sounds like they're going back to an old school controls system and getting away from cutaways for moves. Also moves will be able to be interrupted. All good changes. Also Universe mode is coming back - HOPEFULLY they overhaul it and actually make it more customizable. For something advertised as "Your Universe", it sure was strict. PPVs had to be on the last day of the month, once a month. You couldn't book #1 contender matches. You could only book title matches through use of a bug. Universe mode loved to delete your teams. The computer booking was bizarre (so many times I had guys not on either rankings appearing in main events, JTG Vs William Regal was common). Also would like to not see a guy as both WWE CHampion and the #1 contender for the US title. That'd be nice.

So yeah, game sounds good, but I'm going to wait until I see what changes are in store for Universe mode before I get too excited.

After last night's Raw, the Anonymous GM made a statement saying that R-Truth will face John Cena at the Capitol Punishment PPV, under the condition R-Truth apologizes next Monday on Raw. R-Truth getting another "opportunity" to main event a PPV. Will this one pan out?

Honestly at this point I'd settle for a lame amnesia angle where R-Truth throws Cena off the Titan Tron (the back, kind of like what Droz did to Hawk back in the day) or something and he loses his memory and his "Hustle, Loyalty, Respect" borefest mantra. Soooo tired of Same Old Super Cena. Liked the way R-Truth beat Cena but the match should have gone on a while before that. Just felt like such a non-main event the way it played out. Real anti-climactic and short.

Ziggler beat Kofi Clean! He wasn't able to do that a year ago, so that's progress...right? That was a pretty good match too. I guess we're in for another Kofi/Ziggler feud...wouldn't mind Dolph as US champ but, let's leave it at one rematch after that and move on. Saw enough of Kofi/Ziggler on Smackdown last year.

It looks like Bourne and Swagger are officially in a feud. It's such a clash of different styles - high flying athleticism vs mat wrestling. I'm actually enjoying it though, I like both these guys and Bourne really reminds you just how big Swagger is.

Surprised we didn't see Big Show or Kane tonight...I'd have thought Kane at least would be out for revenge.

Kharma segment was just weird. Didn't like the one last week and didn't care about this one. Being on TV for 3 weeks is not enough time for me to suddenly care about your personal life. Sorry. See you next year Kharma. Best part was her saying "wrestling" about a half dozen times.

So I pretty much called the final two of Tough Enough way back in week one. Jeremiah was my "dark horse if they go for a surprising win" pick, but Andy/Luke were the two I always felt it should come down to. I'm hoping Luke wins. Andy turned me off when he started bawling last week because he had to say harsh things about his girlfriend (with a wife at home watching, lol). How am I supposed to respect Andy after that...

Smackdown really has been the better show this year.

No way is Christian out of the main event picture. First of all, the Orton/Sheamus match is NOT scheduled for the next PPV. It's scheduled for next Friday on Smackdown. Secondly, Orton indirectly cost Christian the match, and they made a big deal out of making sure we heard the ref tell Christian he was getting Randy out of the ring. Orton/Christian feud will continue, and I think Christian will be the one turning heel after all.

I liked Smackdown tonight and I liked that Sheamus won. The Orton/Christian feud shouldn't be "every month Christian wins a #1 contender match and a PPV match is booked". They're shaking things up and giving Sheamus a push back into world title contendership after banishing him from it back in October or so. Meanwhile beneath the surface Christian/Orton is continuing to boil. Christian/Orton is still the main event program on Smackdown. He will be involved in some capacity in the world title match next week, I can guarantee it.

Rhodes and Daniel Bryan put on a great match, but I was disappointed that Ted Dibiase wasn't there. I thought he was finally going to be involved in a program. I was also shocked that Daniel Bryan won, but it made sense. Cody tapped out IMMEDIATELY so that he could hit DB from behind after the match. Pretty good storytelling IMO.

Kane/Khali was an abomination with a terrible finish, but I'm glad Khali is heel again. I REALLY hope Kane isn't going to be his feud though. That would be bad. Then again...who else do they have....

Vince McMahon has apparently wrote an article about the late Randy Savage.

From http://www.wrestling-edge.com/wwe-news-rumors/vince-mcmahon-writes-randy-savage-calls-building-block-wwe.html

“It’s important in sports and it’s important in entertainment to stand out. Randy knew that. Right away, he wanted to leave his mark, and to do that he was aware he had to make himself different from everyone else. One way he did this was concentrating on his outfits, those brightly colored costumes with foot-long fringe that became his trademark. He brought to wrestling a unique look and style.

“Randy, who died in a car crash May 20 at age 58, was one of the building blocks of what is now WWE (previously known as the World Wrestling Federation). He had…”

I find this interesting. It seems more likely to me now that Vince just had so much adoration for Randy Savage that his betrayal simply hurt him a lot more than anyone elses. Now it appears he is letting go of the grudge, which is a good thing. It's a shame it is a little late though.

I find the Steph rumor even more unlikely now...

According to several reports, last night's angle with Kharma was meant to sideline her for the rest of the year.

At first, my reaction was that it was such BS. HOWEVER...interesting theory I'm reading is that she may be pregnant. In which case, all of this would make perfect sense. Otherwise, there's really no reason for her push to suddenly be derailed in such a manner.

Just read about this right after my last post and didn't see yours go through. I am completely shocked. Such a shame, Kharma gave me a reason to sit through Diva segments. My girlfriend will be devastated at this news.

I think we may have got our answer to why Drew McIntyre hasn't been used in a long time. Apparently Drew and his real life girlfriend Taryn(AKA Tiffany) got a divorce.

So I guess Drew was busy handling all the divorce stuff and now will be able to focus on being The Chosen One again.

That is a shocker. I recall during that very brief Kelly Kelly angle he had she gave an interview saying that they had pitched that angle idea for the two of them, but it never materialized. I wonder if that played a role in their eventual separation.

This doesn't really change the fact that Raw is heel heavy and Drew is lost in the shuffle though. He's obviously lower than ADR, Miz, CM Punk, Truth, and probably Swagger on the totem pole of heels. I think even Ziggler would give him a run for his money. I am quite convinced that very little planning or thought went into the draft this year. Everyone just seems in an awkward position. It's like the two shows are funnels, all of the heels being funneled into either a John Cena cup or a Randy Orton cup.

Well Nexus would have 3 titles if Punk were to win WWE title. Give US to Maosn Ryan or maybe husky harris?

Husky's back in FCW. I would like to see Mason Ryan get the US title, but I don't see CM Punk getting the WWE title this year with his contract situation and his utter lack of momentum.