Internet issues kept me from writing the blog last week and from doing pretty much anything remotely web-related all last week. Thankfully, everything was resolved by Thursday. Those were the worst four days of my life. How did people live without the internet? How could you possibly function? Thank goodness those ridiculous SOPA & PIPA bills didn't pass.
WHAT I LIKED:
Opening Segment/Match: I like it when the opening segments go from promos to a match. It makes it seem like less of a waste of time. Waste of time, I say, because everyone seemed to be off their game tonight. Ziggler & Swagger aren't known as great promo delivery guys, but Punk & Cena are. Neither of them seemed to know exactly how to navigate that segment. There were a lot of awkward pauses. It's a shame when you have to rely on John Laurinaitis to bail you out of a promo. As for the match, I couldn't help but think of the sing-song diddy, "One of these things is not like the other" for so many reasons. Technically speaking, all of these wrestlers are former World Champions, but Ziggler's title reign just barely counts. As far as current standing goes, Jack Swagger is the odd man out. But the most glaring difference was that of John Cena. I wonder if in matches like these, he looks around and wishes he had even a smidgen of wrestling ability that the other three wrestlers in the match have. Knowing Cena, he probably thinks he's already on their level. He's not.
Chris Jericho: I would say that I'm disappointed that I missed Jericho last week, but I guess I didn't really miss anything because he's yet to do (or say) anything. Personally, I would love it if he kept this up for a while longer, but for the sake of the blog and the sanity of wrestling fans everywhere, he's gotta do something eventually. Well, at least he spoke this time. If you ask me, this is leading up to something great - I just don't know what it is. I doubt Chris Jericho would come back and agree to this storyline unless it was something amazing. If nothing else, it just shows how fickle we are as fans. We want the Jericho we know and love or love to hate. This entire storyline so far has shown me (and hopefully everyone in WWE) not only how polarizing Chris Jericho is in the world or professional wresting, but exactly how much he holds us all in the palm of his hands.
Punk vs Laurinaitis: I honestly didn't think they have Punk do it, but I am so glad he did. I almost marked out. He had to do it, though. Since they are currently trying to build Punk as the anti-authority, voice of the people's champion (ala Steve Austin), he has to take his shots when they're available. He has to adopt the mentality of 'act now, deal with the consequences later'. After all, Austin never passed up an opportunity to stun Vince McMahon. I'm sure there will be consequences from this GTS. If those consequences just happen to be that Punk loses to Dolph Ziggler at Royal Rumble, then so be it. I won't be happy about it, but I won't be sad either. I win either way!
WHAT I HATED:
Ryder vs Kane: Man, do they want to push John Cena using Zack Ryder or what? It's ridiculous. I mean it is actually ridiculous. Based on the amount of jeers Cena received tonight, it's obviously an abject failure and therefore it is laughable. It is worthy of ridicule. Ergo, ridiculous. You know what else was ridiculous? THIS ENTIRE MATCH! Seriously, they could have done this exact same thing in a regular match with the same stipulations. Why make it a Falls Count Anywhere match if there is no fall in the end? Perhaps the most ridiculous thing about the whole match was the after Kane dispatched of Ryder and began stalking Eve, you see a cameraman walking pace for pace with Eve down the ramp and two of 'em sitting next to the bannister - none of them moved a muscle to help the damsel in distress. I know, I know. Kayfabe. But still. WWE's cameramen are worse then their security. Nope, I was wrong. John Cena's 'angry orgasm face' was much more ridiculous than anything else that transpired around this match.
Sheamus vs Mahal: I was all set to call this a boring squash match but thankfully Wade Barrett entered the fray. The match itself was still pretty much a squash what with Sheamus being basically a SUPERFACE now. But having Wade Barrett at ringside spruced it up a little bit. Just a little bit. I have Sheamus as a statistical favorite to win the Royal Rumble. But I'm not going to release my numbers just yet. I will have my official 'Odds of Winning' blog up by the end of the week.
Clay vs Slater: It was only amusing the first time. Even then it was absurd.
Miz vs Truth: I don't think anyone has said this just yet, but this is a weak rivalry. I love The Miz and I think he's a superstar, but this is just below him. No disrespect to R-Truth because I like him as well. Miz was on a roll before R-Truth made his triumphant return and its only gone downhill from there. I don't understand why Miz has to suffer, when it was R-Truth who got suspended and forced the breakup of The Awesome Truth. But then again, this could all just be a smokescreen. King & Cole talked a lot about winning the Royal Rumble after entering #1. It's possible, if not improbable, that Miz could be the third wrestler to do so. I don't think he will, but I'm tossing that out as a possibility. Regardless, they need to do something to start Miz's motor as they head down the road to Wrestlemania.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: "When it comes to this year's Royal Rumble, it might be the biggest ever." - Jerry Lawler
Don't start this bullshit. Last year's Royal Rumble was literally the biggest ever. 40 is mathematically more than 30. I will not argue semantics here. Revisionist history is not history at all.
I was glad to see the return and updated Royal Rumble 'numbers' video. Being a numbers man myself, I love that video. Of course, there is one glaring omission... a rabid one. However, while the video does not show Chris Benoit as a winner and #1 entrant, it does reference his win by including him in the number of wrestlers who won the match after entering at #1. I can live with that. It's the best we will ever get. I just wonder how WWE will respond to the new Crippler movie currently in production. Personally, I just want to know who will be playing the wrestlers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment