Summerslam Preview!

It’s less than 24 hours now until “The biggest party of the summer” Summerslam and I’m beginning to look forward to it. I don’t think it’s the strongest Pay-Per-View card this year, infact, it’s nowhere near to being, however there are some potentially fantastic matches on that card.

Antonio Cesaro vs Santino Marella – United States Championship

It all kicks off with Antonio Cesaro taking on Santino Marella in for the United States Championship in the pre-show. It will be interesting to see who gets the win, I’m certainly hoping that it is Cesaro though, a loss for him could really harm him. He’s already been given a horrendously dull, generic, stereotypical foreign heel character and I have no idea how he could recover from a loss to Santino. As for the match itself: Santino is a good, sadly restricted, worker and Cesaro is capable of putting on a great match. Obviously they’ll get no more than ten minutes, but still should be a fun match in which hopefully Cesaro will come out on top.

My excitement – 4/10

Titus O’Neil and Derren Young vs Kofi Kingston and R-Truth – Tag Team Championship

I’ve been asking for this for so long now. Not the match itself, but a proper Tag Team Championship fued between two well built teams and that’s what we’ve gotten here. It’s really not hard at all, just a simple fued is enough for me, just anything that isn’t a randomly chucked together match two days before.

Now obviously the WWE and Prime Time Playas have been surrounded in controversy in the last week or so with A.W’s dismissal. Personally I thought it was absolutely pathetic. The guy made one slightly crude remark and that’s enough to get him fired? Honestly, the WWE need to start standing up for their talent and defending them publicly when this sort of thing happens not just fire them; atrocious decision. However that is irrelevant, because Prime Time Playas have show they are capable of being interesting without him so I’m not too worried about them, and when working with Kingston and Truth I’m sure they will be able to put on a decent match, so I am looking forward to this one.

My excitement 5/10

Rey Mysterio vs The Miz – Intercontinental Championship

I really don’t understand why they made this match at all. They seemed to be building towards another Christian/Miz bout but they randomly scrapped that and added Rey. I’ve got no complaints about the guys involved, it’s just that the fued is totally non-existent.

I have to admit though, I’m delighted that two guys with as much credibility as Mysterio and Miz are in the Intercontinental Championship scene. It will boost it’s prestige and I hope the two continue to have a fued beyond Summerslam. People who know me know I’m not a fan of Miz at all, but as a general rule I believe that if someone is over then they deserve at least a midcard push, and Miz is extremely over with the crowd.

Will be a very decent match, just a shame about the lack of build.

My excitement 4/10

Daniel Bryan vs Kane 

What, exactly, is the point in this match? I understand why Daniel Bryan would be in a fued like this if Charlie Sheen was still involved, but, he isn’t. So once again it seems like the guy who most of us agree is the best wrestler in the company, will be wasted in a match with a guy who is totally burn’t out these days. Kane offers absolutely nothing, his character has been booked horribly for years and even the mask returning feels gimmicky and if he doesn’t put over Bryan then that’s just despicable.

Despite all this, I look forward to every Daniel Bryan match, he’ll manage to produce something good out of this I’m sure.

My excitement 3/10

Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio – World Heavyweight Championship

Probably the best booked fued in the entire WWE at the moment, yet I’m still uninterested. The two of them probably have the worst characters in the main event just now. Del Rio has absolutely loads of money, lots of sports cars, he dresses up in his flashy suits but the thing is, the audience have absolutely no reason to boo him. I wish WWE would just show some creativity as to where he got the money from and what he could do with it, there’s so much potential there but it’s not being utilized. Sheamus is just your typical out-of-date, dull, generic face character who doesn’t really offer much. He was quite good as a heel I felt, the role suits him a lot better than the one he is currently playing  anyway. His promos just consist of smiling while giving his opponents unfunny nicknames and saying the word “arse” to get a cheap pop from the crowd. His wrestling style maybe suits being a face slightly more, however that still doesn’t stop the fact he’s really average in the ring. He doesn’t use his strength well enough and needs to become stiffer and become more of a powerhouse in the ring – he did this really well in a match against Tensai on Smackdown but it seems that was just a one off.

The match itself should be of decent quality due to how good Del Rio is in the ring, the fued itself has been booked really well yet I’m not interested and I’m not the only one I imagine.

My Excitement – 4/10

John Cena vs CM Punk vs The Big Show – WWE Championship

Another match that I just don’t understand at all. I understand why John Cena and CM Punk are involved, that makes sense, however, I’m totally perplexed as to why they decided to add Big Show in as well? He really doesn’t offer anything to the fued whatsoever. John Cena vs CM Punk in a singles match would have worked completely fine, they still could’ve had Punk being jealous over Cena getting the spotlight etc, it would have had better promos and the match itself would be a lot more entertaining I reckon. Alternatively, if they wanted to avoid another Cena vs Punk match, they could’ve added Daniel Bryan? He’s a lot more popular at the moment, he’s better on the microphone in my opinion and I think we can all agree that his in ring skills aren’t even comparable with Big Show’s! The fued would’ve worked made complete sense after Bryan’s fued with Punk, Cena and Bryan could easily have started their own little fued as well, factoring in the whole Punk jealousy thing. It would’ve worked perfectly. I just don’t understand WWE’s logic at all sometimes.

Still, the match should be fun enough and I’m loving everything that Punk is doing at the moment, I’m sure this will be enjoyable enough.

My excitement 6/10

Brock Lesnar vs Triple H

The build up for this one has been pretty average besides last week’s Raw I think. The issue for me is that it has struggled to gather any momentum with Brock only having limited appearances. Still, I think they did make up for it last week on Raw. Heyman’s promo was incredible. His voice always sounds so unbalanced, almost like he could crumble at any point in the promo, but at the same time his delivery is so crisp, so impactful, it feels so natural and it just works beautifully. He’s one of the best microphone workers ever and he sold Brock brilliantly on Raw. The Shawn Michaels assault really added to the fued as well, I’m glad they decided to utilize him.

What really irks me though is the fact that Lesnar could well have made his massive return to WWE, only to lose twice. They way the fued has gone I just cannot see Lesnar coming out on top at Summerslam. They’ve booked Triple H as the underdog and it would seem weird if he didn’t win it, still though, I’m behind Lesnar all the way as I think he would benefit so much more.

Will be a really good match, and Heyman back at ringside will be nice to see.

My excitement 8/10

Don’t worry I didn’t forget! Dolph Ziggler vs Chris Jericho

Will be the match of the night if they get over fifteen minutes. I’m certain of that. The fued has been booked to perfection so far and it’s finally gotten Dolph some heel heat. If Dolph Ziggler wins at Summerslam then this fued has been booked to absolute perfection. Jericho will leave, and then when he comes back another heel can tell him he’s lost his touch and should go away etc. Ziggler will go on from Summerslam to progress to the World Heavyweight Championship hopefully, so everyone’s a winner basically. The match will be a technical masterpiece, Jericho and Ziggler are both incredible athletes and incredible workers, no way this match will disappoint.

My Excitement 10/10

The Pay-Per-View as a whole has a decent card. The undercard isn’t too weak, decent tag team and Intercontinental title matches, potential for more to be added as well with Cody Rhodes vs Sin Cara and Brodus Clay although I would personally leave them out as seven matches is more than enough I reckon. There are a few matches with potential to be absolutely outstanding, Ziggler vs Jericho, Lesnar vs Triple H, Kane vs Daniel Bryan, even Cesaro and Marella could put on a pretty good match.

I’m looking forward to this Pay-Per-View and believe it will be better than recent Summerslams, as usual though, the card could’ve been a lot better in  my opinion and would’ve been much improved even just by adding Randy Orton to one of the matches – preferably the World Heavyweight Championship match or as a replacement for Kane – he just would’ve added so much more starpower. The Big Show is nowhere near good enough to be in a WWE championship match these days. He’s slow, poor on the microphone, has absolutely no charisma and overall is just a massive burden on what could’ve been a great match. It was set up so perfectly for them to add Daniel Bryan, he’s one of the most talked about guys on the roster and one of the best wrestlers in the world and yet he’s overlooked for one of the least talked about guys in the main event scene and possibly the most limited wrestler on the roster: The Big Show.

Those issues aside though it’s a very promising Pay-Per-View and I’m looking forward to it.

Finally……

R’Albin’s blog has come back! 

 

It’s been a few months thanks to Laptop issues, but I will be back and writing on a fairly regular basis here. I plan on doing a Summerslam preview in a few days once I watch Smackdown and the matches are finalised. 

Thanks for reading, R’Albin.

CM Punk’s reign – Success or Failure?

I’ve read a lot of posts on-line about CM Punk’s title reign being “stale”. I’ve also read a lot that say it’s “a breath of fresh air”. So how do I feel his title reign has gone?

His first fued was with Mexican aristocat Alberto Del Rio. I personally found this fued a little flat to be honest. Punk was involved in an on-going fued with John Laurinaitis at the time which kind of made Del Rio feel irrelevant, and it totally overshadowed the fued as a whole.

The match at Survivor Series was a little disappointing I thought. Both superstars are good workers but the match lacked something. The two seemed to lack chemistry and it took away from the match quality I felt. The crowd were fantastic throughout and they went berserk when Punk won it, was a nice ending as well with it looking like Alberto was going to win via grabbing the tights, but then Punk reversing into the Anaconda vise.

Post match was great with Punk celebrating with the MSG fans, with Howard Finkel announcing him as the new champion. It was a great start to his reign and a very good match as well despite the lack of chemistry.

***1/2 (MOTN)

After retaining the night afterwards in a match against Del Rio, there was next week a series of matches where if the competitors – John Cena, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio – won their matches against their respective opponents, they would get a shot at Punk in a TLC match at the TLC Pay-Per-View. Miz and Del Rio won making it a triple threat match. John Cena gave his title shot away to Zack Ryder who wanted a US title shot against Ziggler.

The match was highly entertaining. they did a lot of original spots and a lot of the time spent was outside the ring, which is a lot different to the usual TLC match. Punk gets handcuffed to the second rin rope near the end and ends up having to unscrew the entire rope to release himself. He does and eventually climbs the ladder for the victory.

Spot of the night has to go to Ricardo Rodriguez. He gets pushed of a tall ladder and out side the ring into a table, which appeared to offer very little protection. Also it could very easily have gone wrong because there was only a small area between where he landed and the barricade.

Exciting match and made it look as though Punk was actually going to lose at some points.

***3/4 for me.

The Raw prior to TLC was a very entertaining one. The show was solely based around the new US Champion Zack Ryder, the new World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan and of course the WWE Champion CM Punk. I personally enjoyed this show a lot, it was great to see that WWE was creating new stars besides Cena and Orton. The show finished up with a 6 man tag team match where Bryan forced Alberto Del Rio to tap.

The week afterwards Dolph Ziggler defeats CM Punk in a gauntlet match to become the number one contender for the WWE championship at Royal Rumble. I’m sure myself and a lot of other fans would have been a hell of a lot more enthusiastic about these two facing off at Royal Rumble if they hadn’t already given the match away numerous times on free TV. Don’t get me wrong, they were fantastic matchups – the first one was probably one of the best TV matches in years infact – but I still found it utterly illogical that they waste this match on free TV weeks before they expect us to delve into our pockets so that we can pay to see this match again.

This fued replicated the others in the fact that Punk was locked in a fued with Laurinaitis throughout. Once again this totally overshadowed the fued with Ziggler. Well I say fued – there wasn’t really one, they just had matches and one or two promos and that was it basically.

May I add though that Punk cut an outstanding promo on Laurinaitis after a tag team match on Raw, claiming that Laurinaitis was jealous of him.

The match itself at the Royal Rumble was great, but was ruined by the complete burial of Ziggler. Punk essentially beat him four times in the one match, only three of them went unnoticed because Laurinaitis was distracting the referee.

Still was a good technical battle and the two work really well together, shame the fued went the way it did.

***1/4

The weeks after the fued with Laurinaitis simmered down and Punk had a series of matches with Daniel Bryan. These were fantastic bouts with neither man getting the upper hand, making both of them come out looking strong. The one from Smackdown was a particularly good match I thought, and a really exciting ending.

Coming up was Elimination Chamber and it was in the build up to this where his fued with Chris Jericho really started. It was a fued that was much anticipated by a lot of the Internet wrestling fans including myself. Nothing much happened between the two before Elimination chamber except Jericho claiming Punk was guilty of plagiarism mor stealing his “Best in the World” moniker.

Elimination Chamber match – The Miz vs R-Truth vs Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler vs Chris Jericho vs CM Punk

Was an average match. Probably the worst in Punk’s reign. There was hardly any exciting spots really. The match did start off with a nice exchange between Punk and Kingston, but after that it got a bit flat.

For me Jericho should’ve won this match, I was relieved that he never got beaten by Punk, instead he just got kicked out the chamber from him. Even so, it would’ve been a lot more interesting if Punk had to chase the title and win it back at ‘Mania.

Half decent match. ***

After the Elimination Chamber is where the Punk/Jericho fued really sparked into life. It began with a great back and forth mic battle with Punk claiming that Jericho is jealous of him because he was never a top guy like he was. Jericho though made it personal the week after. He revealed that Punk’s Dad was an alcoholic and claimed that alcohol was in Punk’s genes and that it was inevitable that he’d start drinking eventually. he continued to bash other members of his family in the weeks afterwards.

The Wrestlemania match was a bit of a let down I thought. There was a disappointing lack of technical wrestling – it obviously made sense due to the rivalry being so intense – it was just disappointing because both men are good at it.

The match was still really fun though and there was some great back and forth action between the two. The submission flurry towards the end was great and really exciting, especially when Jericho reversed Punk’s super hurricarana into a walls, I thought it was over.

A match that was sadly overshadowed by the Hell in a Cell and Rock vs Cena due to the superstars involved, but it was still a good match, not quite as good as expected though.

***3/4

After Wrestlemania the fued raged on, but at the same time Punk had a mini-fued with Mark Henry. There was a couple of matches between the two, one where Punk retained via getting himself counted out and the other where he got himself disqualified. They then had a no DQ match the week after which Punk won cleanly.

They did a very good job of portraying the David vs Golliath style in their matches, I would say they were all at least *** plus.

Whilst this was all going on Jericho was hitting Punk with some more scathing personal attacks and he began assaulting him with alcohol. He started pouring all sorts of drink onto him. He then tried to set him up and persuade him to drink, so he would lose the title as apparently a superstar is not permitted to drink within 12 hours of a WWE event. Which in my opinion was painfully stupid. Surely McMahon would’ve used this against Austin back in the day? Anyway Punk ended up outfoxing Jericho by acting drunk, then assaulting him proving he was sober.

Their match at Extreme Rules was very good, I thought. It fitted the fued a lot better having a street fight as it meant they could do what they wanted to each other.

Punk’s family were in the first row watching the match, and as the match progressed Jericho started beating the hell out of Punk right in front of them. This resulted in Punk’s sister slapping Jericho across the face, much to CM Punk’s hometown crowd Chicago’s delight.

It was a really brutal and enjoyable match. It got a little flat at one point but it recovered with an exciting end again. Jericho goes for the GTS only for Punk to reverse and hit a GTS of his own for the pin. The end would’ve been a lot more fitting had it ended with Punk locking in the Walls of Jericho in and forcing Jericho to tap while facing Punk’s family.

Anyway was a great match ***3/4

Punk’s reign has had some unbelievable matches and I’ve really enjoyed it. The fued have been a little disappointing in my opinion but that was due to poor booking from the WWE I feel.

I think the main issue with it is that Punk has let people down by becoming a babyface. They expect him to be like he was in the summer. As much as I enjoyed him in the summer, I don’t really feel that it would be sustainable to have him do that all the time as the crowd would eventually get tired of it and turn against him. Though I would like to see more of that edgy side he displayed back then, it would make him a lot more interesting.

I feel that Punk’s reign could be coming to an end very shortly. Possibly even at Over the Limit. If there is one person it makes sense for him to drop the title to it is Daniel Bryan, as he is probably the most over with the crowd in the WWE besides John Cena at the moment – so there is no better time to put a title on him. The WWE know that he’s not going to let them down match wise, and he can get heat when he wants. For me the title should and will be going to Daniel Bryan within the next two Pay-Per-Views.

As for Punk’s reign as a whole – Some fantastic matches and is such a refreshing break from Cena holding the title for months. It is getting a little tedious now though, so as I said above, I think it’s time for him to drop the WWE title.

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Please take a second to view my links at the bottom – for quality Wrestling discussion.

Extreme Rules – Potentially the best PPV of 2012

Obviously we are only 5 months into the year 2012 – so this may seem like a rather bold statement – but I feel that Extreme Rules will be the best Pay-Per-View of 2012.

Even though CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan has been announced for Over the Limit and we may potentially see Brock Lesnar vs Triple H,  I don’t think it or any other Pay-Per-View this annum will have many matches as good as the trio of main events from Extreme Rules: Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus, CM Punk vs Chris Jericho and of course John Cena vs Brock Lesnar.

I’ll start off with my favourite of the three – Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus – Finally Bryan Danielson gets a oppurtunity to show-off his incredible in-ring skills in a 20 minute plus matchup. Last Sunday he showed that he has the ability to have a quality match with pretty much any superstar on the roster if given the time.

Don’t get me wrong – by no means did Bryan carry Sheamus – Sheamus did very well and probably wrestled the best match of his career to date. I do think though that he undersold the arm that Bryan assaulted throughout the match. Which incidentally I found very refreshing, with some original holds like when he stretched the fingers.

I thought the first fall was a good move. It made Bryan look clever and very sneaky, especially when the camera panned to his smug face. The second fall irritated me slightly, it was good that Bryan won it but Sheamus should’ve tapped.(Obviously that was never going to happen since Sheamus is a top babyface and top babyfaces never submit) Bryan then had the crowd going absolutely berserk just by waving his arms repeatedly in the air whilst Sheamus was down. Bryan kicking out of the brogue kick afterwards was also a good move, it made him look a lot stronger.

The end of the match was a little flat, with Sheamus going through his signature moves then proceeding to pin Bryan. It felt like Bryan needed to mount some sort of comeback only to be hit with a Brogue kick, instead of just Sheamus going through the motions.

****1/2

CM Punk vs Jericho – Was a pretty enjoyable match. The emotion that I felt from both competitors throughout was amazing, there was a nice concoction of hardcore and wrestling as well. I really enjoyed Punk’s family having to watch him get beaten down by Jericho and then Punk coming back. The announcer’s table spot was pretty awesome from Punk, when he almost fell of the ropes he inadvertently sold his injuries I thought, even though it seemed accidental.

Just like Bryan vs Sheamus though the ending was a little flat, with Jericho going for Punk’s finisher – The GTS – only for it to be reversed into a GTS from Punk himself and then him winning via pinfall. In my opinion it should have finished with Punk locking in Walls of Jericho and then Jericho having to tap while facing CM Punk’s family, it would have been a lot more appropriate.

***3/4

John Cena vs Brock – Lesnar

One of the most original matches I’ve seen in WWE. It’s the closest I’ve seen to real in the WWE. It started off with Lesnar elbowing Cena repeatedly in the skull,  with Cena getting busted open in the process. Then to the dismay of myself and the fans in attendance the doctors came into the ring and wiped the blood off. The process then repeated itself with the fans getting more agitated.

As the match progressed Lesnar dominated, Cena occasionally got a flurry of moves in but aside from that it was all Lesnar. This really put Lesnar over as a beast, and made him look damn near unbeatable.

Eventually though out of nowhere, after receiving a pummeling throughout the match, Lesnar gets complacent and runs chargers towards Cena who’s out the ring. Cena cheap shots him with a chain then goes in the ring, and gives him an Attitude Adjustment onto the steel ring steps and is victorious via pinfall.

The finish of the match irritated a lot of fans including myself at the time, but after putting some thought into the day after, irritated me a little less.

Cena’s win was not remotely clean. He got pinned for about 7 seconds in the middle of the match and there were points were Brock could have pinned Cena but didn’t – wanting to inflict more punishment first. Cena won the match by a cheap shot and hitting what is a very powerful finishing move (Kayfabe).

Additionally, Brock Lesnar would’ve looked unstoppable if he’d won last night. He would’ve absolutely destroyed the man who’s the number one face of the WWE.  Let’s say a few months down the line they want him to put over somebody like CM Punk, would it look remotely realistic if he beat the man who had destroyed John Cena – who has at one point defeated pretty much everyone on the roster? I don’t think it would.

I do disagree with the decision to have Cena win, however I do not believe it is as disastrous as everyone is making it out to be.

**** 1/2

The PPV was really quality for me and had a fun undercard so for me 9/10.

Please feel free to comment and ask any questions in the comment box below, thank you for taking the time to read.

Introduction

Hello everyone!

Once a week I’m going to give my views on the biggest and most controversial topics in the WWE. I’ll also answer questions aimed at me in the comment box by readers in a Q+A session every week. This is obviously dependant on how many people asks questions in that particular week.

I hope you enjoy my views and take them with a pinch of salt, I don’t claim to be a wrestling guru, I just enjoy putting my views accross and starting discussions on wrestling matters.

R’Albin