Raw Meat for 8-13-12

Cant believe the huge drop off Raw had this week. I dont feel like being grumpy, so I may make this short and sweet. Ive avoided writing for a few days, because I dont like to complain a lot, but a lot was wrong with this Raw.

First of all, WWE has three hours of Raw and decided to just stop pushing towards any match that wasnt the WWE Title or Lesnar/Hunter. They've made Jinder Mahal look like a legit threat, they announced Miz vs Rey, and not to mention the non-feud that has been Kane vs Daniel Bryan. For those three matches, the people literally didnt come in contact with one another over the three hours of Raw. Really? You're Kane. You hate Daniel Bryan because....well we still really dont know why. I assume it has something to do with AJ, or maybe Bryan cut him off in traffic. Whatever, you're Kane. You hate Bryan. You don't find the time over the THREE HOURS to sneak out of your weird lair with the red glow to rough up Daniel Bryan a bit? Jinder Mahal? No where to be seen? Rey? Anybody?

But boy, sure am glad we could have that Sin Cara vs Tensai match. Thats gonna be meaningful on Sunday when they're....golfing, or whatever they do when they're no were near the Summerslam card. That match however, was actually a good little match. Kudos to them.

That triple threat was a helluva match too and Im excited to see Jericho and Dolph mix it up at SummerSlam. The two main matches had a nice build of course, with Punk continuing to evolve and Lesnar getting monster heat. This was the first week though that the last hour dragged on a lot. I felt like every segment, from the contract signing, to the Punk interview, to the car crash seen all could've been strong show endings. I kept thinking, okay now its over....holy shit there's still a half hour! We'll see how Summerslam goes down, and how the post-ppv Raw shakes out.

Raw Meat For 8-6-12

Just got done finally finishing this week's Raw and I was impressed. The idea of a three hour Raw sounded down right dreadful but this week more than any it delivered. The segments were entertaining and the matches for the most part mattered going into SummerSlam. Some great matches with Rey/Punk and Bryan/Cena leading the pack. I of course, have a few things I feel I need to touch on so lets get at it.

First thing that comes to mind with this Raw, is the first thing we see, the opening segment. Raw had a great opening segment due to the great performances from two of Raw's most featured and talked about acts: AJ Lee and CM Punk. First off, AJ Lee is doing a great job in the General Manager role and the only downside is she's one of the few women in the company that can work and isn't going to be wrestling anytime soon. What I noticed this week (and this is just as much a compliment to the writers as it is her) is that she is coming off very in control, which is fun to watch. From settling down the ol' "every guy comes down to the ring" chestnut to looking these guys dead in the eyes and not cracking, AJ is being positioned as a very good character and a strong, positive influence for women (if you skip past the fact that she kinda got around the last few months). Its fun to watch this like 5'5 girl have control over all these giants. We'll get to CM Punk later.

Greatness in this business is only handed to a chosen few. People can work their ass off and become great wrestlers in the ring or good talkers on the mic, but it seems that only a chosen few have that aurora about them. Watching Paul Heyman and Shawn Michaels go at it on the mic is a huge moment to me. They can sit on their couch for years or months and not only come back and be entertaining, but be driving forces behind a major angle. This angle is nothing without Heyman and Michaels added a lot with his mic work on Raw and promised presence at SummerSlam. I'm very proud to say I grew up watching these guys and every time they even do a guest appearance I feel like I should write a book about them, but I'll have to settle for a paragraph in a inconsistent blog.

I thought the Zigglar loss to A-Ry was very interesting and didn't see it coming, not to mention it was a very good match. Zigglar can obviously afford the loss while he holds the briefcase, it'd be nice if it goes on to mean a little something for him (though it probably won't). I'm looking forward to Jericho Vs Dolph as it could be Jericho's last match for awhile, or who knows, ever. I feel bad, honestly, as somebody who calls themselves a huge Jericho fan. I don't feel like I've really cherished this latest run, or even paid a whole lot of attention. Maybe it'd because reports kept saying it wouldn't last long, maybe it's because his feud with Punk was largely overshadowed by Lesnar and Rock, whatever the case I've just been sorta...waiting for him to leave. I'm gonna watch that Summerslam match like it could be his last though, because you just never know.

Finally, let me get to CM Punk and his Raw performance. As a huge fan of Punk and his work let me say...Thank God CM Punk is interesting once again! Punk was very much lossing my interest and to an extent, getting on my nerves. Punk's fight the system attitude and "Pipe bomb" routine was becoming just that, routine. Everything you say is not a biting pipe bomb, to say the least. For Punk to have that bite that he had in the "Summer of Punk 2", he's got to have something to fired up about and I think this storyline is perfect. He has been overshadowed by Rock, Lesnar, and even AJ (I'd like to think WWE forshadowed this with the Eve segment a few weeks ago) and he's sick of being overlooked by not only WWE, but the fans he fought so hard for only a year ago. It's entertaining and more than anything the thing I love about it, it makes sense. I'm not hard to please, just make it all make sense.

To sum it up simple, that's why I loved Raw this week. Kofi and Truth's beef with the Prime Time Players, Sheamus messing with Del Rio, HHH and Lesnar's feud, Jericho and Dolph's story, and CM Punk's turn are all realistic, well thought out storylines. Raw was at it's best this week the more I think about it, and yet, I'm sure most probably still complained. That's why you read my blog, and not the other's.

Wrestling Round Up 8-3-12

Once again Ive missed a few weeks. Had some crazy stuff going on in the ol personal life, but its all good. I'll try to wrap up my major thoughts on the last couple weeks in wrestling, Raw and otherwise.

First off all, I'll give some sweeping thoughts on Raw 1000. I was lucky enough to attend Raw 1000 with my close friends and family and I loved it. It was not the best wrestling show Ive ever witnessed, but anyone who expected three hours of Steamboat/Flair is out of touch. The show was going to be based around nostalgia, and with that in mind, I had a few major goosebump moments. The opening video package was brilliant, and my friend Jason and I looked at each other about halfway through thinking "Thats our entire lives!". It was awesome to see the full DX reunion, and its always special to see Shawn for me. Other than my father, I dont know theres a man on this planet that has had a bigger affect on me than ol HBK. My entire idea of cool is based around 1997 Shawn Michaels. I will say,  even though I also enjoyed the Lesnar segment, I didnt see the need to seperate these segments. You could've had DX crush Sandow, only for Heyman to come out and draw Triple H away from the ring....with Lesnar sneaking in and tearing apart DX and accepting the challenge. That would've opened up another slot for a match.

The main event came off well and I loved Punk's attack on Rock. Notice I will not call this a heel turn. I dont know if Punk is a "good guy" or a "bad guy" because of this one moment. Punk has been the antagonist going way back before last year's money in the bank. I think they're just going to turn up the heat and yes, eventually the crowd will turn. Hopefully, as his "face" shtick was growing old quickly.

This week's Raw I think came off better than I expected. Hard to go into details because nothing really blew me away or turned my stomache. I did really enjoy AJ and Daniel Bryan's work not only this week, but the week before. And let me take a second to call out all you internet jackasses that think the WWE is ran by misguided idiots and question every little thing. Everyone seems to enjoy all this success AJ Lee is having. I am a huge fan of hers and have been since NXT. She's talented, charismatic, and cute which is the makeup of a star female worker. With that said though, all her talent and cuteness was getting her nowere. She was drowning before she became Daniel Bryan's girlfriend and even then, I didnt hear anyone raving about her. Im going to go ahead and point out something I havent seen anyone say...

None of this would have happend if Daniel Bryan wasn't squashed in 18 second by Sheamus at Wrestlemania.

That is the stone cold truth folks. That was the event that ignited the switch in AJ's character that has gotten her more over than Jesus. This is proof we all need shut up and see where a story goes before we get outraged. Not only is Daniel Bryan doing just fine, that "mistake" at Mania launched AJ to the moon. So WWE Creative, consider this my formal apology for doubting you on that match.

While Im ranting, a big "Hahahahaha!" is due to anyone who said "Well golly, TNA sure is awesome now that Austin Aries is champion". Ive watched the past two weeks (which btw, how much TNA did you all REALLY watch after your messiah won the title? I doubt you made it through more than a week) and guess what? About 75% of the show is devoted to 8 guys running around in masks assaulting people and a bad actress yelling about having sex with AJ Styles. The other quarter is spent tallying points for some tournament and trying to make Chavo Guerrero look like a star.

I fucking win!

See ya next time.

Authors Note: I realize after saying "wait and see where things go" I immediately criticized TNA for their two major, in progress storylines. Let me be a bit more clear on what I was saying, to avoid smartass-ery. Im not saying you shouldnt have an opinion on things as they happen. You either enjoy something or you dont. If you didnt enjoy the Daniel Bryan/Sheamus match, that's fine, I didnt either. I also didnt get on here and claim the WWE had lost their minds and they were going to cut Bryan's balls off and they have no idea what they are doing, ect. It'd be like me coming on here and saying the Clair Lynch story is going to ruin AJ Styles career. It's bad, but he'll survive. Just like Bryan might not have gotten his Mania moment, but he survived. In short, love or hate what you see, just don't play Chicken Little and tell me the sky is falling before you see where it heads.

Raw Meat For 7-9-12

Lets all stop the fucking Madness please!

I take a week off and the whole damn world goes crazy. Im back again this week and I'm going to go ahead and be the one to drop some truth on the internet. So, all of the sudden, Austin Aries wins the World Title for TNA and magically, Impact is this revolutionary new program and Raw is once again in the toilet. All the good that Raw has done lately, apparently has been undone by a midget being crowned Heavyweight champion.

I will be the first to admit Raw was far from perfect last night. But its clear people are overlooking the positives in the wake of the Austin Aries shit storm. Whats been the biggest complaint towards WWE? That Punk and the title are not the focal point. Well last night, outside of the MitB tag match, pretty much all of Raw was focused on Punk, Bryan, and AJ. They even addressed the issue of Punk being over looked in the segment with Eve. It was all compelling television. Another complaint is the Divas aren't taken seriously. Sure seemed like WWE paid attention, since AJ and Eve basically Main Evented Raw. WWE even gave you a solid, 3 segment long tag team match with their top guy in the middle of the damn show (even if it did have a goofy DQ ending).

Was it a perfect show? No. But I see a lot of smart asses out there basically saying it was terrible and its time to pay attention to Impact.

I got news for you people, go ahead and watch Impact. Because I can promise you, TNA isnt going to change over night because Aries is the champion. God bless Aries and I wish him success, even if he is a giant prick, but I dont imagine this lasts long.  Even if it does, Impact is still going to be ridiculous. We seem to have lost in all this Aries hype that this company still is running a crazy pregnancy angle with Dixie Carter. They still had Sting get jumped by three masked dudes. Hell, theyre still featuring Sting, isnt that enough? For every indy guy theyve made (Aries) there are tons they've ruined or let slip away (Punk, Joe, Homicide, Daniels, Kong, ect). This company's face (Hogan) still refers to guys like AJ Styles as youngsters looking to breakthrough! Im pretty sure the only triple crown TNA guy has broken through already, and I think that youngster might have grandchildren.

And I wonder were TNA got the idea to put the belt on a guy like Aries. Maybe from the biggest company in the entire World, who has had an indy guy as their champion for SEVEN MONTHS! Whose top feud involves two "indy guys" and a former indy girl who is far from the stereotypical "Diva". WWE has been on this for quite some time, you are all just looking for a reason to hate. End of story.

Raw Meat For June 25th, 2012

I actually thought Raw was pretty fantastic this week. Lots of entertaining segments and good matches. It wasn't perfect but when is it? Hopefully, since we've sorta washed away the whole Big Johnny era, the show will trend up. Im no mark, Im not anti-Ace, but the story was a dead end angle that was absorbing the whole show. It was nice to see the focus on Punk, Bryan, Jericho, and Cena.

Lets kick off the blog were WWE did, with a strong triple threat match. That match was a PPV Main Event quality match and really set the tone for the show. With all the criticism on WWE for not putting Punk in the Main Event, I understand their strategy. If you kick off the show with a Cena promo, people (myself included) tune out. You kick it off with a quality match, it gives critics like myself hope and sets a good tone for the 2 hours.  Rather than go on and on about Punk and Bryan's ability though, lets focus on something less obvious...the staying power of Kane.

So, Sunday night, I watched a Raw from 1998. Guess who was in the WWE title picture on that show, on the show last night, just under 14 years later. BY GAWD ITS KANE! Yup, 14 years ago Kane and Undertaker were feuding with Austin for the WWF title, and last night on Monday Night Raw, there Kane was in the main WWE title storyline. I do a lot of dissing on the Kane character, but there is no denying that it has taken talent, charisma, and at times patients on the part of Glen Jacobs to stay at the top of his game for over a decade. He must be one of the most underrated, safest, smartest workers of all time to stay healthy and good for this long.

I have hope for Brodus Clay (I dont do transitions anymore, fuck'em). The match was handled well, and Show won without burrying Brodus which I feared. The question is, were do they go from here? With Show in the MITB I hope they dont just forget about this.

So its time for my weekly dissection of this AJ buisness. They had some entertaining stuff last night. The segment with Kane was nice. It seems for once, I know were I personally want it to go. I would personally like for all of them to just get fed up with her. Just be like, "Yeah youre smokin hot, but this isnt worth it." Just have AJ lose it and be a psycho for awhile. Its the only logical end point anymore, nobody would put up with this mess.

Lets all just pause and applaud Santino shall we? A couple of times, the character has seemed dead in the water, but the guy is so charismatic that he just keeps bringing him back. This latest run, dating back to December or January has been the modt remarkable. Im constantly saying, okay this is the night Santino gets the axe, and they keep putting him over. As they should. If you ask me, Santino is what wrestling is all about. He's fun to watch in and out if the ring. He's the perfect underdog. What do you have bad to say about him? The only legitimate criticism Ive heard is his finisher is silly, and I can even defend that. At the end of the day, its a punch right in the damn nose. A punch in the face should be a damn finisher! It hurts, a lot! They shouldn't be thrown around all willy nilly. Play on Santino, I'll defend you to the end.

Sid looked like fucking George W Bush. I popped, dont get me wrong, but not as hard as Vader. I think every week, with these old timers performances, the "Give Vader all the belts" party's argument is getting stronger. He's gotten the biggest pop and gave the best performance. Vote Vader In 2012!

Speaking of Vader (Hey, a transition!), lastly lets tackle the meat of Raw: the coming together of the Money In The Bank match for Raw. The Cena promo actually made me giggle. We all know that Jericho and Cena can create magic on the mic and on the mat, and they showed flashes of why. Other than his haircut, I liked Jericho's return. I like Show's new attitude, he's turned a predictable, silly angle into a positive. What I really want to dig into though, is the pros and cons of this Money In The Bank setup.

First, the positives. Jericho, Kane, Cena, and Big Show are all vets capable of putting together a PPV quality match, which is the most important thing I suppose. If these indeed are the only four, its unpredictable, I could see a reason for all of them to win it. For once, a Cena win would actually be compelling. How would the great white hope Cena handle holding the case? Seems like it would be out of character for him to cash it in when somebody is down.

The negatives....I can already tell Kane is an after thought. He's gonna be inbetween the two storylines. Of course, apparently he'll bounce back and continue to wrestle forever. Only four people certainly changes the giant ladder match element. The biggest thing that bothers me is career wise, none of these guys need this. Look what the MITB did for Daniel Bryan. Look how far he's come in just one year, all because of that one win. Hopefully atleast Smackdown will be setup differently, or nobody will get that rub.

Raw Meat For 6-18-12

I'll drop some quick thoughts even though I mistakenly didn't really analyze Raw with the intent to write on it. I'll throw out some quick bullet points that rush at me...

First of all, I thought it was interesting that Brodus Clay seems to be the next feud for Big Show, judging from No Way Out, Raw, and Smackdown spoilers. Clay may finally be getting set to show us if he can really hang. Love him or hate him, he's over. He needs to prove to us now that he can tell a story. This is a nice jumping point, with Show being the first one to beat him down, and The Funkasaurus looking for revenge. The story has potential, and it is on Brodus to knock it out of the part in the roll of the protagonist. Its his first test.

Paul Heyman was gone for like a decade, and he's already the best part of Raw again. That's why he is my hero, above even Cornette and Hennan. Heyman has built himself an aurora of importance, and when he appears people hush up and listen. I like his interaction with Triple H and I love this story, but Triple H has to back down and lose this match for me to not go completely insane. I was fine with the Cena loss, because Cena needed a huge win after the loss to The Rock, but if we get an even bigger build up and Lesnar losses to a semi-retired Triple H, then the whole Brock Lesnar deal was a fucking waste. We're all wanting this big Lesnar title hunt, and I think it'd be good for buisness. Especially is somebody came along and knocked him off the podium at Wrestlemania. That man by the way, shouldn't be The Rock. Lesnar should win the title, claim he will reign forever since he's a "legit" tough guy, and he should be knocked off by a "wrestler's wrestler", a great defender of the product. My picks would be CM Punk or Undertaker. Punk would make sense, as he would likely lose the title in some controversial fashion, and they could have the big rematch at Mania. Of course, this may have been a waste of time, as it is expected that The Rock will get a title run at some point, and my plan clearly doesn't involve that so...back to the drawing board....

The AJ storyline has officially fallen to the too weird side for me. I'm still into this, but it's becoming a bit silly, and honestly a little sad to watch AJ make out with Kane every God damn Monday.

Laurinitis got a good send off. The whole storyline has made no sense for months, since Big Johnny was a hell of a lot more unfit that Triple H or Vince who both got fired for doing a lot less than using guys like Lesnar and Show for personal vendettas. I have two concerns. The first, where do we go with the GM title from here on? If the shows continue to share wrestlers, the title should just fade away in my opinion. The GM role is useless unless they have a specific roster to manage afterall. If that is the intention, then let's just give the rains back to Vince or Hunter on screen, and have them fade off. The whole idea of somebody running the show on screen has gotten stale anyway and it would be a much bigger deal when the boss made an appearance if they weren't there every damn week. Look at Vince's character right now, that's proof enough.

My other concern is what happens now to the much more compelling characters of David Otunga and Eve. While I didn't care much for Big Johnny, I loved the way Otunga and Eve were used. They fit there roles perfectly as the assistants with Otunga always getting the physical punishment, Eve reinventing herself, and both of them fucking with Teddy Long. It seems that these guys can't survive on their own, they only work as lackey's. I'd like to see Otunga go on to manage somebody who needs him as their "legal consultant". Or possibly even join team Lesnar and assume Heyman's role of Lesnar's mouth piece once Paul fades off again.

Vader should've showed up and killed Cindy Lopper.

...that's about all I got. See y'all next week.

Wrestling 2012 Update

Well, updating after every show didn't quiet go so well, now did it? Let me catch you up to speed...

Dynamo Pro Wrestling has had two shows since my last writing. In April, in front of a packed house, I led the First Church of Karrington to a ultra successful night. Not only did K.C. defend his NWA Missouri State  championship against The Cancun Kid, but we also captured the Tag Team Titles. While, we may not technically be champions, we certainly did capture them. After the Bum Rush Brothers won the farce of a tag tournament, we swooped in and took what was ours. Unfortunately, I was on business during the last card, but I will return to lead my warriors to glory in August.

St. Louis Anarchy has saw similar success for me. In May, at The Mill Skatepark, I stuck it to ol' Mat Fitchett again. I acquired the services of The Submission Squad by helping them defeat Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano. They repaid the debt by helping me take out Fitchett, a situation that quickly led to a locker room brawl. Then, on June 16th we traveled to Cleveland to do a joint card with Beyond Wrestling. I once again partnered with The Submission Squad as we defeated Arik Cannon, Darrin Corbin, and Christian Rose in a trio contest. I return to the St. Louis area July 13 in Alton IL, and I plan to make waves once again, and I do best.

***

On a personal note, I stated in my last update my desire to branch out. While I still hope to do that, I want to do it the right way. I think instead of focusing so much on trying to branch out right now, I want to focus and hone my craft. I want to be the best I possibly can be, I want to grow with my two main promotions right now and most importantly build a library of video to showcase my work. I plan to have somebody video tape every appearance for me, so that I can have something to analyze and show off to potential bookers.