Thread: WWE RAW/Smackdown/NXT/Superstars Discussion Thread 2010

Monday Night RAW Review - 8/30/10

Last week's RAW (8/23/10) - It came out okay on TV. Seems like they added in a bunch of stuff because they can edit it.

Last week's Smackdown (8/27/10) - Fun episode. Especially the whole Kane/Undertaker segment for the main event. Alberto Del Rio was great again and he attacked Rey Mysterio one more time.

Now for last night's RAW. Wow. What a terrible show. It goes to show that RAW has ZERO direction and they don't know what the hell they want to do. Smackdown saved the show really with Undertaker/Kane, Alberto Del Rio, and CM Punk w/SES. Nexus finally got to shine, but everyone already knows it... too little too late. They should have really won at Summerslam. I'll get right to it.

Bret Hart/Kane segment

Good opening to the show. I don't know about you guys but I felt old when Bret Hart mentioned that the only ones remaining from the very 1st episode of RAW was himself and The Undertaker. If I felt old hearing that, imagine how they felt!

Kane with another solid promo. I could listen to him talk on the mic all day long. You know something is wrong with RAW when they are promoting a Smackdown feud on that show.

The GM thing is still stupid. Why isn't the crowd booing the hell out of it? They should boo so loud that you can't hear what Michael Cole is saying. The whole, "Let's advertise Bret vs Undertaker" has fail written all over it. I wonder how many people were fooled into actually thinking this will be a match.

Oh yeah, The Hart Dynasty (Tag Team Champions btw) looked silly as they got manhandled by Kane trying to rescue Bret Hart.

Triple Threat Tag Team Match: The Miz (United States Champion) & Alex Riley vs Kofi Kingston & Michael McGillicutty vs Kaval & Daniel Bryan

It's sad when this match is the match of the night.

Daniel Bryan & Kaval though? AWESOME. I'm no "internet geek" since I never seen them wrestle outside of the WWE but this team got me pretty excited. No question though that The Miz was going to win it since he's Mr. RAW Money in the Bank and the US Champ.

Kaval's finisher again looked really sick as he landed the double foot stomp completely on McGillicutty's chest.

Also, it looks like The Miz is getting the upper hand over Daniel Bryan in their little feud. I can see Daniel Bryan winning the US Title at Night of Champions, only to have The Miz cash in his MITB successfully at Night of Champions.

Final Result: The Miz & Alex Riley by pinfall after The Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale on Kaval.

Speaking of which... as you may already know... Chris Jericho's contract is going to run out in a few weeks. He made this "guarentee" that if he doesn't win the WWE Title at Night of Champions, he'll quit. Jericho has openly stated that he still has a few more years in him so I don't see him leaving. I think he'll actually win/ the WWE Title at the PPV only to lose it because The Miz will cash it in.

Melina (Divas Champion) & Eve vs Layla (Women's Champion) & Michelle McCool

Oh look... a Divas match that lasted one minute. Surprise surprise! Michelle McCool and Eve didn't even tag in.

So Layla and Michelle McCool will fight Melina in a Handicap match (I think?) at Night of Champions. Looks like they're getting rid of the Divas Title already since the winner will be the Unified Women's Champion. Melina did say that it'll be Lumberjack match. She should have said Lumberjill but whatever.

Final Result: I don't remember the finish. It barely lasted a minute. Melina rolled up Layla or something.

#1 Contenders Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship: John Morrison & R-Truth vs Dashing Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre

Was this a time filler match? These two teams have nothing to do with each other since they are on different brands. They just brawled and it ended in a Double DQ. Knowing WWE though, they'll probably re-book this match on Smackdown since that's the wrestling show.

Final Result: Double Disqualification.

Undertaker vs Bret Hart

The only COOL thing about this "match" was that we got to see the entrances of Bret Hart and The Undertaker. Wade Barrett said he is going to make an impact tonight. So he goes to the ring and looks weak as hell thanks to The Undertaker, who is still suppose to be suffering the effects of being in a vegetative state.

I must compliment Undertaker, Kane, and Nexus on one thing and that is the coordination they had when the lights kept going out! They could not have pulled that off more perfectly.

Lights going out, Kane is in the ring.
Lights go out, Kane disappears with Bret.
Nexus comes out and ambush Undertaker.
Lights go out as Undertaker tries to fight them off.
Lights come on and Wade Barrett has Undertaker set up on his shoulders w/Kane at the stage.

Wade Barrett & Justin Gabriel hitting their finishers on Undertaker was cool to see. Undertaker actually sold it and was unable to sit up because he remembered that he was still suffering the effects of the vegetative state Kane put him in.

Final Result: No Contest.

Jack Swagger vs Evan Bourne. Alberto Del Rio comes out for no reason.

Evan Bourne is back in full jobber mode. Jack Swagger, who have been buried on Smackdown got the win. What REALLY made this episode of RAW fun was when Alberto Del Rio came out. It was just so stupid that I loved it. It was a silly kind of stupid if you know what I mean.

He was honking his horn and even had his pyro entrance all while the match was happening. The fact that they went split screen really made the entrance what it was.

Michael Cole got a little excited though. I thought he only did that for The Miz and Alex Riley... but since he did it for Alberto Del Rio, it caught me off guard.

Alberto Del Rio then attacked Evan Bourne which was fine by me since he's suppose to be a heel. Mark Henry making the "save" was stupid since he just punched a chair and did nothing afterwards.

Final Result: Jack Swagger by submission with the Ankle Lock.

Straight Edge Society & Big Show segment

This segment went long. I'm talking 15-20 minutes long with no commercial break. Again, it just goes to show you that they have nothing going on with RAW. CM Punk was on the mic, who can complain?

Pretty funny segment with lots of jokes. No point to this though... Probably a Big Show vs CM Punk 1 on 1 match down the line. Also, no mention of Serena.

They should have totally had Luke Gallows come out to Stone Cold's music though. Thta would have been funnier.

Nexus vs Sheamus (WWE Champion), John Cena, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, and Edge

Again... Nexus should have won at Summerslam. Their win tonight was meaningless, especially when you consider the fact that it was 5 on 3.

Jericho walks out on the team. Okay...
Edge shoves the ref to get DQed. Whatever...

What REALLY surprised me is that Sheamus got pinned CLEANLY by Heath Slater! Nexus worked him over, tagging in and out often. Heath Slater got his finisher in and got a clean pin. Amazing.

Cena did his Super Cena crap for a bit. I believe he eliminated Otunga and Tarver with ease. Not sure why he rolled into position for Gabriel to hit the 450 finisher after the STF. But wow. Cena losing to Justin Gabriel was a surprise too!

Orton finally comes in at the end (who is injured btw). His only two moves? Two RKOs. Wade Barrett quickly came in at the end and won cleanly as well after he hit the finisher on Orton and pinned him.

Final Result: Nexus wins.

Too bad the win felt weak and meaningless. I don't care what anyone says, this doesn't restore the heel heat of Nexus at all and I'm mad about that. Oh yeah, Otunga mentioned something about "trimming the fat" with Skip Sheffield now injured. Does this mean he's cut from Nexus?

Smackdown stole the show tonight with Nexus getting their bits in.

KaVal won season two of NXT and was attacked by the eliminated cast? Oh dear.

Eli Cottonwood, Lucky Cannon, and Titus O'Neil suck, but I like the rest. Kaval definitely deserved the win, though. Husky Harris and Alex Riley have bright futures ahead of them, and are really good heels. McGillicutty obviously didn't inherit any of his father's promo skills, but give him a manager to talk for him, and he can more than handle himself in the ring. Percy Watson's act grew stale over the weeks, but he's still pretty entertaining as a midcarder who could team with Darren Young (they tagged in FCW), MVP, or JTG. Not because they're black, in case it comes across like that... like I said, he has a history with Young and obviously with MVP (and all 3 are billed from South Beach) and JTG is a good wrestler who's going nowhere right now. Besides, the more tag teams, the better.

In awesome news, SummerSlam will be only the 2nd WWE PPV that's not a WrestleMania (Royal Rumble 2010 being the other) to be released on Blu-ray. It will be a Best Buy exclusive, and comes out a week from today for $19.99. Great price.

Well, it sucked so why buy it?

I didn't think it sucked at all. The finishes to a couple matches were disappointing, but most of the matches were at least decent, and a couple were very good. It wasn't as good as last year's SummerSlam overall, but it's worth the price for me.

Speaking of which, is anyone else here ordering the Ring of Honor Glory By Honor IX internet PPV? Hell, does anyone here but me watch ROH on HDNet weekly? GBHIX looks like a damn good card, but it's either $15 for the PPV or $20 for the SummerSlam Blu-ray, so I won't be ordering.

Regarding SummerSlam, it sucks that the only way to get a program (didn't want to pay full price at the show; only had a limited amount of money for food) is to buy the program/DVD package from WWEShop. No individual programs, and the Blu-ray is Best Buy exclusive, so no dice on that.

For those who read my reviews, I have been extremely lazy with school starting and NHL 11 being out. >_< I'll make sure to do a RAW and Smackdown Review this week since the Night of Champions PPV is this Sunday!

Quick notes I want to mention...

Alberto Del Rio - My new favorite wrestler! I laughed when Christian called him Juan Bradshaw Layfield 2 weeks ago. So far Alberto Del Rio has defeated Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy. It does look like he will soon feud with Christian.

Undertaker/Kane - The vegetative state storyline to begin with was dumb, but I like the feud. Kane hasn't done anything significant in over 5+ years and this storyline has pushed him to the top. I'm very happy for him.

Kaval on Smackdown - The winner of NXT Season 2 is on Smackdown. Not sure I liked seeing him booked to lose against 'The Chosen One' Drew McIntyre but it was a really fun match. Kaval has a ton of unique moves and Drew McIntyre had a new move where he would suplex the opponent on the ring apron. It looks painful!

Chris Jericho - He had a promo 2 weeks ago and said if he doesn't win at Night of Champions, he'll "quit". Of course, we know his contract is expiring soon. Then last Monday night, he lost to John Morrison which took him out of the Six Pack Challenge. I wonder if they'll put him back in the match somehow or have him leave for awhile. I've read in other forums and they said he's booked to be with Fozzy the next few months. So maybe he's leaving after all and will return during the Royal Rumble or something.

Nexus - Darren Young returned to super generic music (like Daniel Bryan) and I wonder what role he will play on RAW. He caused enough of a distraction to get Wade Barrett to lose to Orton. Then Orton invited him in the ring only to give him an RKO. Way to make Darren Young look good Orton.

Monday Night RAW Review - 9/13/10

RAW was a mixed bag last night. Few parts were good , some parts were bad , and most parts was just plain terrible .

RAW Roulette SUCKS. Why bring it back?

Guest Host Chad Ochocinco & The Miz segment

Oh look, another guest host. I don't care for football but this Ochocinco guy seems like a pretty big deal in Cincinnati. Pretty much what you would expect from this segment. The Miz getting heat for dissing Cincinnati and so forth. All this back and forth banter eventually led to The Miz participating in the first Roulette match of the night. It's a submission match and Ochocinco said its against "My boy" Daniel Bryan.

Submission Match: The Miz (United States Champion) w/Alex Riley vs Daniel Bryan

Ochocinco called Daniel Bryan "his boy" but they had ZERO interaction when they crossed paths.

With the PPV this Sunday, there was no way they're giving away this match for free. The Miz didn't get much offense here and he withdrew from the match because of a "hernia". The Miz had Alex Riley wrestle in his place and boy did they make Riley look bad.

I thought it was funny when Alex Riley handed the ref his wallet before the match. Anyway, Daniel Bryan got the LeBell Lock submission on Alex Riley and he tapped. The Miz then came in and attacked Daniel Bryan for a bit until he got the upper hand and put The Miz in the LeBell Lock.

Going by WWE Logic, that means The Miz is most likely retaining his US Title this Sunday since Daniel Bryan got the upper hand going into the PPV.

Final Result: Daniel Bryan defeat Alex Riley by submission.

Body Slam Challenge: Edge vs Evan Bourne

See what I mean by RAW Roulette? It has stupid matches like this. Edge easily bodyslams Evan Bourne.

Final Result: Edge defeats Evan Bourne.

He gave him a Spear after the match for fun and because of that the GM punishes Edge by putting him in another Body Slam Challenge. The ever so predictable Mark Henry comes out laughing.

Body Slam Challenge: Edge vs Mark Henry

Mark Henry with little to no effort gives Edge the World's Strongest Slam to win.

Final Result: Mark Henry defeats Edge.

Song and Dance Match: R-Truth & Eve vs Ted DiBiase & Maryse

DUMB!!!

What a waste of almost 10 minutes. R-Truth sings his new entrance music and Eve dances to it. Ted DiBiase sings "My Way" and Maryse was being creepy with her weird dance moves.

The sad thing was that the crowd was into this crap.

Final Result: R-Truth & Eve "wins".

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Sheamus (WWE Champion) vs John Morrison. If Morrison wins, he's in the Six Pack Challenge.

Match of the Night here. Falls Count Anywhere? Fight ringside. Fight in the crowd. Fight at the stage. It works. Sheamus did a good job in making John Morrison look good. Morrison had some sick moves including that flip off the stage. What if he didn't land on his feet? That would have been scary to see.

It was a really good back and forth match with lots of near falls. The match came to an end when Chris Jericho came out and gave Morrison a chair shot. Sheamus pinned Morrison on the stage to win.

Final Result: Sheamus pinned John Morrison.

Chris Jericho heads to the ring as we go to commercial break.

Chris Jericho & RAW GM Segment.

It made sense for Jericho to hit Morrison with the chair and cost him the match since he wants his spot back. Jericho "threatened" the GM by saying he'll sit in the ring until he gets his spot back in the Six Pack Challenge.

You know how when the stupid GM sound chimes and Michael Cole likes to say, "May I have your attention please? I have received an e-mail from the GM."?

It was funny when Chris Jericho screamed at Cole and told him to just read the damn "e-mail."

So the GM says Jericho needs to win his next match if he wants back in the Six Pack Challenge... and wow... was it stupid.

Steel Cage Handicapped Match: The Hart Dynasty (WWE Tag Team Champions) vs Chris Jericho

Looking at that match, what do you expect? Handicap match INSIDE a Steel Cage right? That means Jericho (from a booking standpoint) has no chance of winning.

How do you win a Steel Cage Match? Pinfall, Submission, and Escaping the cage. What did David Hart Smith do? He escaped the cage... but wait! Cole and Lawler said Tyson Kidd needs to escape the cage too! How is this fair for The Hart Dynasty?

So this match turned into a 1 on 1 match... Jericho vs Tyson Kidd? The advantage clearly goes to Y2J. What was sad was that the crowd didn't give a rat's ass about The Hart Dynasty either. Without Bret Hart, no one cares about The Hart Dynasty. Also, the Tag Champs don't even have an opponent at Night of Champions.

One thing I have to point out is end of the match. A very dangerous move when both superstars were on the ropes. Jericho put Tyson Kidd in the Walls of Jericho but if Tyson Kidd didn't protect his head with his hands, I think he would have broke his neck or something.

Final Result: Chris Jericho wins by submission with the Walls of Jericho.

Trading Places Match: Goldust as William Regal vs William Regal as Goldust

Lame.

I feel for Regal... seriously.

Final Result: Goldust pinned Regal after he hit him with the Brass Knuckles. Match lasted like 2 seconds.

Tables Match: Randy Orton vs John Cena

Nexus still hasn't shown up yet on RAW so you know they're going to interfere in this match. The downside? They looked weak yet again.

Michael Tarver ate an RKO. He played dead for 10 minutes. 10 minutes from ONE RKO!!! David Otunga got hit with an Attitude Adjustment. He too, died from it apparently.

Heath Slater took a legit bump onto a table at ringside and it looked brutal. Justin Gabriel got shoved off the top rope onto a table too. Now if they "died" from going through a table, that's understandable.

Wade Barrett then got shoved into a table. He broke the table but didn't really go through it. He sold it like he died too. =\

Then Edge and Jericho came out... and Edge speared Jericho through a table by accident as Randy Orton dodged them. This table spot looked extremely weak and Edge and Jericho acted like they died too.

Sheamus came out and John Cena gave him an Attitude Adjustment on the ringside floor. Now THAT hurts.

Keep in mind that all this time... neither Cena nor Orton has gone through a table yet so this match is still on. Cena then set up Orton for the Attitude Adjustment onto a table but in midair, Orton countered it into an RKO.

I'll admit, it was a good move but Orton technically went through the table more than Cena. Orton popped up immediately anyway and won the match to end the show.

Final Result: Randy Orton wins by RKOing Cena through the table.

So everyone in the Six Pack Challenge including Nexus came out to get hit with a table or finisher. It made Nexus look weak because Tarver and Otunga (to be specific) sold the finisher like it they got a gunshot to the head.

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I really want to like RAW, but it gives an extremely pathetic effort week after week compared to Smackdown. I would strangle the RAW writers if I could... just saying.

So with this being the final RAW leading up to the PPV... there is nothing going on with the Tag Team Champions. There is also nothing going on with Melina who is going to have a Divas/Women's Unification Title's match. Isn't that suppose to be a big deal?

Once again, WWE fails to promote the PPV properly and they wonder why their buyrates are so terrible. With that said... I can't wait for Smackdown because they will easily put on a better show than RAW.

NHL 2010-11 Season Preview: Wrestling with Los Angeles Kings - Puck Daddy - NHL - Yahoo! Sports

WWE Night of Champions PPV Predictions

The buildup for this PPV is much better compared to Summerslam but still lacking. They have complete ignored the Tag Team Titles along with the Divas/Women's Unification Title Match. Very unfortunate, but WWE does that crap all the time.

Let's get on with the predictions. This time... I'll include match preview pictures courtesy of WWE.com!

WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The Hart Dynasty - David Hart Smith & Tyson Kidd (WWE Tag Team Champions) vs ???

This match isn't even on the card.

But it does say that "All WWE Titles have to be defended."

I would imagine the opponents are Drew McIntyre & Dashing Cody Rhodes just because they beat The Hart Dynasty in a non-title match on Smackdown.

With Smackdown moving to Syfy on Oct 1st, they're going to want to make that brand look good. What better way to make it look good than have the Dashing and Chosen One become the new WWE Tag Team Champs?

My Prediction: Dashing Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre


Big Show vs CM Punk

You're not mistaken. This is a regular match on a PPV that says, "Night of Champions". I am a little confused as to why they couldn't wait 3 more weeks for the Hell in a Cell PPV to book this match. Big Show has had the upper hand so far, since he pretty much dismantled the SES. It looks like CM Punk will be going at this alone. CM Punk is obviously capable of handling himself in this one.

This probably won't happen, but I think it would be cool if Big Show joined the SES. Think of a Punk/Big Show tag team.

Anyway, I see Punk winning this to show that he is perfectly capable of defeating Big Show and that he doesn't need the SES by his side.

My Prediction: CM Punk by Submission with the Anaconda Vice.


WWE Divas and Women's Unification Lumberjill Championship Match: Melina (Divas Champion) vs Michelle McCool (Co-Women's Champion)

Wow what a title for the match. With something so important, WWE hardly promoted this match. Way to go!

This past Smackdown, they teased a breakup of LayCool when Michelle McCool gave Kaval a hat to draw a name to see who would wrestle as the Women's Champion. After Kaval drew Michelle's name, he told Layla that all the pieces of paper in the hat was Michelle McCool.

Layla was upset and said that she won't accompany Michelle McCool at Night of Champions.

The thought of having LayCool break up is stupid because they're great together. Hopefully they're just teasing it so the audience thinks Melina is going to win. It's a Lumberjill Match for a reason and that alone is probably enough to distract the refs enough for Layla to help Michelle McCool win.

My Prediction: Michelle McCool wins by pinfall with the Faith Breaker.


Intercontinental Championship Match: Dolph Ziggler (Intercontinental Champion) w/Vickie Guerrero vs Kofi Kingston

The stipulation for this match is that if Dolph Ziggler loses by DQ or Countout, Kofi Kingston will win the Intercontinental Title.

That stipulation alone makes Kofi Kingston the favorite entering the match. It would make ZERO sense for Dolph Ziggler to drop the title to Kofi Kingston at Night of Champions. The way they build this match up made Dolph look weak as a champion because he can't pin Kofi Kingston cleanly.

The best thing to do at the PPV is for Dolph Ziggler to get a clean win over Kofi Kingston. Nothing good will come out of this if Kofi wins the Intercontinental Championship.

I still think WWE will some how make this a cop out. Perhaps Dolph will put Kofi in a sleeper hold submission and Vickie Guerrero will ring the bell or something.

My Prediction: Dolph Ziggler with the sleeper hold submission.


WWE United States Championship Match: Daniel Bryan vs The Miz (United States Champion) w/Alex Riley

This match has potential to steal the show if they're given at least 20 minutes. The Miz is on the rise and I'm not sure if losing the US Title now hurts him one bit. I would not be surprised if he retained though just to prove to the "world" the Daniel Bryan isn't all that great.

If The Miz wasn't holding the RAW MITB, he could easily retain the title. But since he does, I'm not so sure. I can totally picture him cashing in the MITB at the end of the Six Pack Challenge. It would make more sense for him to cash it in after the Hell in a Cell Match in the next PPV though since that "structure" is billed as dangerous.

I'm really excited for this match. I really do think that Daniel Bryan is going to win the United States title though. If he did win it, and defended it on a weekly basis, that would totally bring back some credibility to the title.

My Prediction: Daniel Bryan by submission with the LeBell Lock.


No Holds Barred - World Heavyweight Championship Match: Kane (World Heavyweight Champion) vs The Undertaker

The Undertaker is still feeling the effects of being put in a vegetative state. After Summerslam, Kane has played a lot of mind games with The Undertaker. Kane has gotten the upper hand each and every time. Including this past Smackdown where he gave The Undertaker the Snake Eyes and the boot. He even followed up with a Chokeslam and the Tombstone Piledriver for good measure.

With everything leading up to the Night of Champions PPV, you would think that The Undertaker is going to defeat Kane to show that he is still the stronger brother. I really don't see Kane losing the World Heavyweight Title. Kane is getting a monster push right now and they need to keep it rolling.

My Prediction: Kane by pinfall after a Tombstone.


WWE Championship Six Pack Elimination Match: John Cena vs Randy Orton vs Sheamus (WWE Champion) vs Edge vs Chris Jericho vs Wade Barrett

Wade Barrett's reward for winning NXT Season 1 was a title match at a PPV. He wanted it against Sheamus. The RAW GM made it a Six Pack Challenge. That sucks for Wade Barrett.

Sheamus defended his title against Zack Ryder and wanted to take Night of Champions off and the GM punishes him by putting him in the Six Pack Challenge Match. Sheamus only has a 1/6 chance of retaining? That's terrible odds.

Chris Jericho has been screwed with by the GM. At first he said if he doesn't win the WWE Title in this match, he'll "quit". His contract is up so we'll see if he does quit. At the same time, they have teased a Chris Jericho/GM storyline and Chris is vowing to find out who is behind the "stupid computer".

Edge. I don't know where to begin with him. Unfortunately, he is the weakest one in this match and I expect him to be eliminated first.

Randy Orton has been built up as the strongest going into this match. He has pretty much RKOed everyone and has gotten the upper hand every time. I can see him eating a bunch of finishers to get eliminated in this match though.

John Cena has also been built up as very strong, but then again... when is he not? I really don't want to see another Orton/Cena feud but I'm not sure what they can do here. Hopefully Cena somehow puts over Barrett or something for once.

Nexus will likely interfere and help Wade Barrett. I'm not sure if he can get disqualified or not. This is a tough choice. There *will* be a new champion.

Also, The Miz can cash in the MITB and he most likely will if he loses to Daniel Bryan. Since they buried Nexus at Summerslam, I think there is only one thing left to do and that is to have Wade Barrett win the WWE Championship. One can argue that Wade Barrett isn't ready for it, but Sheamus wasn't ready either and he won the title a year ago.

My Predction: Wade Barrett.

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I hope the PPV is good. I can't wait!