Archive for category: WTF

Welcome to the Weekly Top Five (WTF) for the February 25 episode of Monday Night Raw. Before ranking the best moments of the show, allow me to remind you that the second edition of WWE Encyclopedia is available on Amazon.

5. RYBACK vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Superstars should be lining up in the back to wrestle Dolph Ziggler. The man is a star and he continually makes his opponents look great. Example: Ryback on Monday.

4. MIZ TV
Politics aside, the level of attention Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger have received for WWE has to be admired. And just like Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter before it, the Swagger vs. Alberto Del Rio rivalry has managed to strike a nerve, which is exactly what a good angle should do.

I was a little shocked by the lukewarm level of heat Colter received from the live crowd. I’m willing to bet if Raw wasn’t in Texas, the WWE Universe would’ve been all over him even more than they were. Nonetheless, the segment was very effective in getting Colter over as an ignorant heel and Del Rio as the classic hero.

3. JACK SWAGGER
After Jack Swagger’s run-in with the law last week, there was a very real chance that Alberto Del Rio would be facing a different challenger at WrestleMania. But WWE stayed the course with Swagger and continued to make him look strong in his match against The Miz.

WWE could have very easily suspended or fired Swagger, but that would be akin to cutting off one’s nose to spite the face. WWE is a business and the best thing for business at this point, in my opinion, is to finish what they started. Imagine if they plugged somebody like Mark Henry into the match instead. That would destroy the credibility of the Elimination Chamber. People paid their hard-earned money to see which Superstar would win and go on to WrestleMania. To throw that all away now would be to severely damage the Chamber event now and in the future.

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2. BROCK LESNAR/TRIPLE H
I’m sure everybody reading this assumed Brock Lesnar and/or Triple H would play some role in Monday’s fight between Mr. McMahon and Brock Lesnar, but there’s no way anybody anticipated the chaos and intensity shown by Lesnar and The Game. Their battle was as physical as it gets, and Lesnar’s bloodied head was proof of that. Like many I’m sure, I figured the two Superstars would engage in a war of words, saving the physicality for WrestleMania. I was wrong, and I’m pretty happy about it.

1. JOHN CENA vs. CM PUNK
WWE did a great job reminding viewers throughout the night that Cena vs. Punk had huge consequences. And Cena and Punk clearly got the message and delivered an epic main event. More often than not, there’s nothing better in this business than to watch two of the generation’s greatest battle it out one-on-one in the ring. No gimmicks, just good old-fashioned action.

Welcome to the Weekly Top Five (WTF) for the February 4 episode of Monday Night Raw. Before ranking the best moments of the show, allow me to remind you that the second edition of WWE Encyclopedia is available on Amazon.

5. MARK HENRY
Longtime readers know that I prefer easy-to-digest storylines. Well, it doesn’t get much simpler than this. Plain and simple, Mark Henry had something to prove on Monday night … you could see it in his eyes. When he hit the ring, he proved his dominance by completely destroying Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara. And just when you thought it was over, Henry screamed, “That ain’t enough” before destroying Mysterio a little more. Plain and simple.

After Monday night, I’m expecting a Henry-Del Rio WrestleMania match. Although, many on Twitter are predicting Henry vs. Ryback.

4. WWE ACTIVE
Normally, I’m not a huge supporter of fans choosing matches. To me, it’s like a baseball team allowing its fans to vote for which pitcher should come out of the bullpen. Or a television show’s conclusion being decided by its viewers. As a fan, I’d rather get lost in the moment … get caught up in the athleticism. I’m not skilled enough to manage an MLB bullpen or write a television show. With that in mind, I shouldn’t be skilled enough to choose a matchup on Raw, in my opinion.

BUT … on this night, it worked. And it worked in a big way. Leading up to the match, all three future Hall of Famers gave their case for why they should face CM Punk. They essentially begged for votes so that they could be in the same ring as CM Punk. More than anything else, this made Punk an even bigger star than he already is. He may have even reached that “he doesn’t need the title” status … you know, the one that Undertaker and John Cena have.

3. MIZ TV
I’m a sucker for talk show sets getting destroyed, especially when chairs are thrown directly on top of Superstars, such as The Miz. Plus, I’ll never tire of Paul Heyman begging Brock Lesnar to stop destroying the likes of Mr. McMahon and The Miz. Of course, we all saw it coming. But just because something is predictable doesn’t mean it’s bad.

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2. CM PUNK VS. CHRIS JERICHO
The fans said it best: “This is awesome!”

1. BRUNO SAMMARTINO
I long felt that the WWE Hall of Fame would be incomplete if Bruno Sammartino never accepted induction. And I truly believe that WWE shared the same feelings. Luckily, we no longer have to worry about that, as the Italian strongman was announced on Monday as the latest name to be called to the Hall. According to reports, we all have Triple H’s persuading powers to thank. Job well done, Game. Also, kudos to WWE’s production team for that amazing video package. For 10 years, I spent approximately 70 hours a week in the WWE studio and never found any footage of Vince McMahon Sr. speaking. That was epic.

Honorable Mention: JACK SWAGGER
Clad in all black, it was clear that the old Jack Swagger had died, and the new one was no joke. Get on board now, cuz this man is going to be a star! I would’ve liked to seen that intensity months ago, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

Paul Heyman and CM Punk (WWE.com)

Welcome to the Weekly Top Five (WTF) for the January 28 episode of Monday Night Raw. Before ranking the best moments of the show, allow me to remind you that the second edition of WWE Encyclopedia is available on Amazon.

5. CM PUNK
I’ll never understand why so many people are so up in arms over Punk’s loss last night. From a business standpoint–and yes, this is still a business–The Rock defeating Punk for the WWE Title was the best way to go. The sole reason why you build a heel champion as well as WWE has done with Punk is to have him fall in epic fashion to a top babyface. That’s exactly what happened Sunday night. In the big picture, there were only two other options: 1) Cena eventually takes the title from Punk instead of Rock, which I’m sure the Internet would’ve hated. 2) Punk keeps the title, which again, makes little sense considering WWE had The Rock on its roster. It was like all the stars were aligned; you can’t pass on an opportunity to have one of the biggest movie stars around represent your company as its champion. It just makes sense … and money.

Furthermore, Punk’s loss Sunday night will actually prove to do more good for his career than a win would’ve done. A mere minutes into Monday’s Raw, he already began to show signs of great character advancement. I’m convinced that the new, angry, and irate CM Punk–the one we saw Monday on Raw–will take his character to even greater heights. Punk’s delusional claims were particularly well done. Saying that he didn’t need anybody to help him win when he was champion was perfect.

4. JOHN CENA-FRED FLINTSTONE TALE OF THE TAPE
Fred Flintstone actually trended on Twitter Monday night. The Post cereal company has to be elated with their WWE partnership. I’m willing to bet that was the first time anybody from Bedrock trended on Twitter.

3. BIG SHOW
WWE will need a dominant Big Show as they continue down the road to WrestleMania. Allowing himself to be taped to the bottom rope at the Royal Rumble could’ve been seen as a moment of weakness for Show. But he quickly put the Rumble loss behind him on Monday night and reestablished himself as one of the roster’s preeminent heels when he taped Alberto Del Rio to the ring rope and delivered a vicious beatdown to both the champ and Ricardo Rodriguez.

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2. TOP OF THE 10 PM HOUR
We all know The Rock is a great actor, but I think the emotion the new WWE Champion displayed when he walked to the ring with the title in tow was very real. Fans can feel when a Superstar is being genuine. The Rock was genuine.

The new and angrier CM Punk was great, as well. Wasting absolutely no time in destroying the crowd was a nice touch. While watching, I was trying to figure out how the best heel in the business keeps getting better. It’s almost unbelievable, especially when you take into account Punk’s ability to somehow still have the segment’s “cool lines” … something you don’t usually see from a heel. Example: “I’m gonna stand up here like a punk-ass bitch because it’s cool to swear.”

1. PAUL HEYMAN
Wow, is it possible that Paul Heyman is a better actor than The Rock? After watching wrestling for so many decades, I sometimes find it hard to get sucked into the moment. But not tonight. Like a true mark (that’s not always a bad thing), I found myself engulfed in the entire moment, wondering how Heyman could lie straight to McMahon’s face. Then when Heyman finally got caught out, watching him turn on a dime and claim the person in the video wasn’t him was amazing. I truly believe Monday’s final segment should be made regular viewing in NXT’s promo classes.

And all that was before Brock Lesnar ever showed up.

CM Punk (credit: WWE.com)

Welcome to the Weekly Top Five (WTF) for the January 21 episode of Monday Night Raw. Before ranking the best moments of the show, allow me to remind you that the second edition of WWE Encyclopedia is available on Amazon.

5. RANDY ORTON VS. ANTONIO CESARO
Proof that the fast-paced shenanigans often found on indy cards aren’t always needed to be entertaining. The clock’s importance was established early in the evening when Cesaro became distracted by the time, which was a perfect way to sell the Beat the Clock concept to the viewers. I also found it funny that Cesaro employed the “Randy Orton headlock” on Orton himself.

4. THE ROCK
The Rock delivered a little something for everybody this week. As usual, he performed his comedy show, focused mainly on Vickie Guerrero and Paul Heyman. But when his attention turned to CM Punk, The Rock brought out his serious side. He told Punk that it was his dream to be WWE Champion again, thus adding even more importance to the gold, and in turn, selling their match at the Rumble. Perhaps his most serious moment: Telling CM Punk he would rip his face off this Sunday.

3. ZACK RYDER’S TIGHTS
I assume that was the Internet Championship on there.

2. MR. McMAHON
For the past few weeks, I feared that some fans would not buy the Royal Rumble because they assumed that The Shield would simply interfere in the CM Punk-Rock WWE Championship Match. Well, it looks like I have nothing to fear anymore now that Mr. McMahon added the stipulation that Punk will be stripped of the gold if The Shield interferes. It was a short segment, but one of the night’s most important.

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1. CM PUNK
Only a select few can stand motionless in the middle of the ring and sell a match with his words. CM Punk is one of those few Superstars. And unlike most heels, Punk mainly told the truth. The truth is that the WWE Championship is important because he made it important … it’s prestigious because he made it prestigious. And he made it important and prestigious by saying things like:

• “This is my life work.”
• “I hold this closer than most men hold their families.”
• “I am here to hurt people and be the champion.”
• “I have earned the right to be the man.”

Consider me sold on this Sunday’s Royal Rumble, thanks in large part to CM Punk.