RAW 1.30.2006 - News & Notes

For a brief moment I thought that the ruthless Shawn Michaels was starting to emerge during his in-ring confrontation with Vince, but I guess I thought wrong. Same old face Shawn Michaels.

Vince was trying to get Shawn to punch him so that he could fire Shawn, but it was only a decoy so Shane could sneak up behind him and hit him with a chair. Vince looked absolutely ridiculous as he was taunting Shawn. Also, Vince was doing a mix of dancing and swaggering as he was walking back up the aisle. It looked ridiculous as well.

RVD looks to be a little rusty after having so much time off. He missed a few spots in his match versus Snitsky.

Maybe it's just me, but I think that Shelton's Mama is pretty funny. Especially when she interacts with other people backstage. Notably Viscera, Val Venis, Vince, and Goldust. Also, when she yells and screams at Shelton during his matches.

If they are going to keep Goldust around (and I doubt it) they should give him the tourettes gimmick again. I would rather see him doing that than hearing him tell Shelton's Mama about how he has the 'Golden Power to give Golden Showers'.

Before Triple H's match with Chavo he said that he was going to get revenge on Eddie Guererro for helping Rey win the Rumble. This revenge was going to come in the form of beating down Chavo.

Chavo got a lot more offense in during his match versus Triple H. Maybe Triple H is becoming more generous due to his upcoming fatherhood.

I've had enough of all of the constant looking and pointing towards the sky by Chavo and Rey. It's becoming a little cheesy.

In what seemed like a month at least, Kane and Big Show finally defended the tag titles. They retained the belts after taking on Carlito and Chris Masters.

Mickie James said that she thinks that Joan of Arc and Queen Elizabeth are 'dime store hookers' compared to Trish.

Mickie threw a celebration in honor of Trish. They whole segment proved to be pointless in that it once again showed Mickie's obsession with Trish and hatred of Ashley.

Looks like the WWE has hooked up with another supplement company. That name escapes me though, but Triple H is in the commercial.

Shelton appears to be gearing up for a IC Title feud with Ric Flair.

I wonder if the Spirit Squad will ever wrestle. I've read that they are all pretty talented prospects. I hope they have a match or two on RAW and not just have them only wrestle on Heat.

I was surpised that no TNA chants by the crowd seeing as how RAW was in Orlando (TNA tapes all their shows and PPVs in Orlando). I guess the Internet reports were wrong when they said that Orlando fans are bigger fans of TNA than they are of WWE. Maybe those fans only go to wrestling when they get free tickets.

A bit of a bizzarre ending to RAW with Lita hitting Edge with Cena's belt to give Edge the DQ victory. Lita didn't turn on Edge and seemed to only do it because Cena was about to hit the F-U and pick up the victory.

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WWE Royal Rumble 2006 Revisted

The 2006 WWE Royal Rumble has drawn to a close. Let's recap and go through the predictions.

JBL v. Boogeyman
The match was much shorter that I was expecting. As I predicted, Boogeyman defeated JBL. Boogeyman showed that he isn't just a spectacle, but has a little ways to go in order to prove that he's got the in-ring skills to be taken seriously.
Me: 1/1
David: 0/1

Ashley v. Mickie James w/Trish Stratus as Guest Referee
Mickie defeated Ashley to pick up the win. I was surprised at how much better this match was compared to all of the other women's matches as of late. I not only predicted the outcome correctly in this one, but I also predicted correctly that Trish would hesitate after the 2 count and before the 3 count.
Me: 2/2
David: 0/2

30-Man Royal Rumble Match
Sunday afternoon I read a spoiler that said that there is a lot of talk backstage that Rey was going to win the Rumble. The talk was right. He started the match at number 2 with Triple H who was number 1. The final three left in the ring were Triple H, Rey, and Randy Orton. Rey used a head scissors on Triple H to eliminate him only to have Triple H pull Rey out of the ring (under the ropes) and pummel him. Triple H then threw Rey back in to a waiting Randy Orton. Orton then just stared at Rey thinking to himself that eliminating Rey would be simple. Of course, as Orton tried to throw Rey (who was obviously playing possum) out of the ring Rey eliminated Orton with head scissors. The bar where I watched the PPV erupted when Rey won the match. You would have thought that the Indians had just won the World Series. While this may not be the right thing to say, I believe 100% that Rey would not have won the match if Eddie Guererro had not died a few months ago. In my eyes Rey did not win the match because he deserved it (and that has nothing to do with the fact that I'm not a fan of his). He won it because the bookers thought that Rey dedicating the match to Eddie and winning it would be a good story. Bottom line - in a round-about way they have turned Eddie's death into an angle. On a brighter note though, in the same report that I read stating that Rey would win the match it also stated that the planned Wrestlemania main events are scheduled to be Cena defending his WWE title against Triple H and Kurt Angle defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Randy Orton. This means that at some point between now and Wrestlemania (likely No Way Out) Rey will lose his title shot to Randy Orton. Perhaps the favor that Booker T owes Orton will somehow come into play in the whole situation.

I was also correct in predicting that Vince would somehow play a role in eliminating Shawn Michaels. In the middle of the match Vince came down to ringside and distracted Shawn while Shane came out of the crowd, entered the ring, and threw Shawn over the top rope from behind.

Going into the event there were 3 vacant spots in the Rumble. They were filled by the returning Eugene, Tatanka, and Goldust.

Me: 2/3
David: 0/3

WWE Championship
Edge (C) v. John Cena
A quality match, but certainly nothing all that memorable. Cena regained the WWE Championship by finishing off Edge with the F-U and an STFU. Going into this match I thought that there was an outside shot that I would be wrong and that Edge would retain the title, but as soon as the entrances for this match began it was painfully obvious that Cena would regain the title- Right before Cena's music started playing a giant steel walkway was lowered down from the ceiling and came to rest about 10 feet above the aisle. John Cena proceeded to come walking out onto the walkway and shoot confetti into the crowd (similar to Johnny B. Badd's 'Badd Blasters' in WCW). Edge then came out in his usual way. Why would the Challenger enter in such a 'spectacular' way if he wasn't getting the title back?
Me:3/4
David: 1/4

World Heavyweight Championship
Kurt Angle (C) v. Mark Henry
While the match wasn't anything close to being a classic match, Kurt Angle once again showed why he is among the best in the business today. He carried Mark Henry to a decent match. In fact, Mark Henry's career peaked at the Rumble with all of the credit going to Angle. Angle retained the title with a roll-up. After the match (this match was the last of the PPV) A spilt second after Angle's music started playing, Undertaker's music started playing and the lights went off (except for that stupid purple light they use for him). A group of Druids then came out followed by the Undertaker on some sort of wagon. Taker then walked halfway down the aisle, stood there for a few seconds, and then raised both arms. At that point pyrotechnics started going off on the lighting structure above the ring. Kurt Angle just stood in the middle of the ring in awe. Taker then lowerd his arms as cartoon-like lightning bolts struck the ring posts (they looked superimposed on the TV screen so I doubt the live crowd at the arena saw them). This was followed by all of the ring ropes falling down and the ring collapsing with Angle standing there in shock. The PPV ended at the point.
Me: 4/5
David: 2/5

There was a late edition to the card: Kid Kash defended his Cruiserweight Title against Paul London, Jamie Noble, Funaki, Nunzio, and Gregory Helms in a Tornado match. Helms won. I don't know if this means that the Cruiserweight title is going to RAW or if Helms will now be on Smackdown.

Total
I picked 4/5 matches correctly, while David picked 2/5 correctly. Just like David won last time, I have won this time. The Rubber match is on for the No Way Out PPV.

By The Way: 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan appeared on the PPV. As Todd Grisham was interviewing Lita backstage about Edge's loss, Duggan appeared and said "I've got one thing to say to you....HOOOOO!". Pretty Stupid isn't it.

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WWE Royal Rumble Predictions

I'm once again joined by David here at Wrestleblogger World Headquarters to provide our predictions for this weekend's WWE Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View. On to the picks...

WWE Championship
Edge (C) v. John Cena
I Say: The day after NYR, I came to the conclusion that Edge's title win was done for two reasons. The first reason being for the surprise factor. The second being that they wanted to test the waters and see what the fan reaction would be with Edge as WWE Champion to see if they had a potential long-tern main-eventer - Just like they did with Chris Jericho and Randy Orton. Now that the experiment is done I think that they will put the belt back on Cena at the Royal Rumble. Edge is using Cena's spinner belt so it's pretty obvious that Edge isn't going to keep the belt. I also don't see the WWE having Edge in the main event at Wrestlemania as WWE Champion. It's just not going to happen. Cena's main-evented Wrestlemania as the challenger once before and this year he's going to main-event again...This time as champion. Ric Flair's involvement is pretty much guaranteed.
David Says: John Cena

World Heavyweight Championship
Kurt Angle (C) v. Mark Henry
I Say: I don't see any possible way for Mark Henry to win the title. Even though Henry has been in the WWE for almost 10 years, I still consider him to relatively 'green'. He really hasn't had as much experience as a 10 year WWE veteran should have. While I am just throwing out a ballpark figure, I would say that he has been out of action for around 60% of his WWE contract. I could be wrong. While Henry could beat Angle, it'll probably be by DQ or something. Henry is not getting the title. I'm picking Angle though. I'm also expecting to see Kurt Angle get legitimately injured during the match due to Mark Henry's sloppy in-ring style. By the way, I hate the fact that they are turning Angle face. Guys like Angle are best as heels.
David Says: Kurt Angle

JBL v. Boogeyman
I Say: This could in fact be the hardest match to predict. They need to keep JBL somewhere around main-event status, but on the other hand they need to start establishing Boogeyman as a wrestler and not just a spectacle. Therefore, I'm going out on a limb and picking the Boogeyman to win. Most likely by countout when JBL runs away from the Boogeyman or something like that to get counted out on purpose.
David Says: JBL

Ashley v. Mickie James w/Trish Stratus as Guest Referee
I Say: I wouldn't be surprised to see Trish turn heel and help Mickie win, but that would leave Ashley's character in the middle of nowhere all alone so I don't see this happening. I would say that Mickie goes to pin Ashley and Trish makes the 3 count after some hesitation (which Mickie notices and later questions Trish about). That way they can continue with the whole tension between Mickie and Trish & Ashley. Either way, I see Mickie winning.
David Says: Ashley

*It should be noted that David hasn't heard of or seen either Ashley or Mickie ever.

30-Man Royal Rumble Match
I Say: The likely main-event at Wrestlemania for the WWE Title is going to be Cena defending the title versus Triple H. Therefore I am picking Triple H to win the Rumble. It's been a long, long time since Triple H has main evented a PPV and I don't see that streak continuing past Wrestlemania. Also, Pat Patterson as always is booking the Royal Rumble and he has publicly 'predicted' that Triple H would win and it's a little hard to disagree with the guy thats actually laying out the match. However, if Triple H doesn't win I see Randy Orton possibly winning. I also could imagine a scenario where Booker T wins the Rumble only to have Randy Orton cash in his favor and take the title shot away from Booker, but if the favor that Booker T owes Orton does in fact come into play it could be something as trivial as the two of them trading entry numbers enabling Orton to enter later or Booker T eliminating himself on purpose at Orton's request. Look for Vince to cause Shawn Michaels to lose the match somehow. There is also rumoured to be a surprise entrant this year, so it should be interesting who it turns out being - I hope it's a good choice and not someone like the returning Charlie Haas (nothing against Haas, I'm actually a big fan of his).
David Says: Big Show

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RAW 1.23.2006 - News & Notes

Same old promo from Cena. This time the running theme was that he was calling Lita a ho - Saying that she liked to go to Lake TaHOe, liked potatoes from IdaHO, etc... The whole segment was pretty pointless.

During the promos it seems like Joey Styles is uninterested. He doesn't say a word during them and leaves all if the remarks to Lawler and the Coach.

It's been weeks since Kane and Big Show have tagged together. It seems strange seeing as how they are the Tag Champions, but on the other hand there are only 2 other tag teams on the RAW roster and they are only on Heat. They should have kept Cade and Murdoch together.

What was up with Lawler's jacket last night? It looked like a cross between a suit jacket and a trench coat. He looked like a flasher.

The women on RAW desperately need more training. Specifically, Ashley, Torrie, and Candice. Their matches look way too rehearsed and their timing is horrible.

The Internet has been full of rumors of Cena turning heel. In fact, they even teased it on WWE.com. What they really need to do instead is turn Shawn Michaels heel. That's when he's at his best. It would also take him out of that angle they're running with him and Vince which seems to be progressing at a snail's pace.

Lawler mentioned that the match between Edge and Cena at Royal Rumble will be great because of 'everything' that has happened between them. It's only been 2 weeks. What exactly constitutes 'everything'?

Was it true when Vince said that he has more money than God?

Another one of Vince's New Year's resolution is to bring back the glory days of the WWE. He's vowing to bring back the days of 'sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll'. He also asked Shawn Michaels to join him and asked him if he wanted to start popping pills again. I don't recall Shawn having a drug problem, but maybe he did. Who knows?

Looks like Gregory Helms has returned to being a nobody again since he lost to Lawler at New Year's Revolution.

Triple H has promised to stop creating stars. When did he ever put over younger talent? If he really has put over younger talent in the past it was only so he could build them up and squash them.

A 5 person all-male cheerleading group named the Spirit Squad (consisting of Johnny Jeter, Ken Doane, Mike Mondo, Nick Mitchell, and Nick Nemeth) debuted on RAW and distracted Lawler enough for the Coach to roll him up for the pin. After the match they performed a cheer praising the Coach. They even spelled out 'Coach' with their arms and legs (kind of like people spell out YMCA). The gimmick looks a little foolish, but I said the same things about the Boogeyman and look at him now.

Since when does the champion come to the ring before the challenger? That's what happened with the Cena v. Edge mystery partner tag match on RAW.

The Mystery partners were so obvious that I guessed who they were going to be as soon as the announced the match. Cena was obviously going to choose Flair since he still has a bit of a feud going with Edge and the fact that they were in Charlotte. They had Edge announce at the top of the show that Flair wasn't going to be there, but it was obvious that he would. Edge's partner was Chris Masters. This was predictable as well judging by last week's events.

Again, no new GM announced.

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RAW 1.16.2006 - News & Notes

It looks like they are trying to turn Kurt Angle face since he's going to Smackdown. I understand that they need faces on Smackdown, but I think Kurt Angle's character is at its best when he's heel.

Angle mentioned that his Raw contract expired on Jan. 1 and that he was negotiating an extension with Eric Bischoff until he heard about Batista's torn tricep. Batista's injury only happened about a week ago. Bischoff's been off of Raw for about a month. Angle made a mistake.

Is a feud with Vince McMahon the best thing for Shawn Michaels at this point? Couldn't he feud with someone else until Wrestlemania first?

Cena looked like he was actually going to pass out during the Masterlock Challenge. His head was completely purple.

I was surprised to hear that Lawler is still a Cleveland Browns fan.

The tag team division seems to be forgotten. I don't even think that there are any tag teams on RAW anymore besides Kane & Big Show. Well, maybe the Heart Throbs, but that's it.

I may not be a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that you need to wear a cast for longer than 3 weeks when your hand gets shattered. Someone tell Big Show that.

Did anyone actually believe that Ric Flair had any chance of becoming WWE Champion for the 17th time last night in the TLC match?

I was impressed with Ric Flair's performance in the TLC match. Maybe he was doing his best because his daughter was sitting ringside. Flair was super-plexed off of a 10 foot ladder and Edge jumped off of the turnbuckle and put Ric Flair through a table at ringside. It's been a long time since I've seen him take 2 big bumps like that.

Again, no mention of the GM position was made. It looks like they put the cart before the horse again just like they did when they 'fired' Jim Ross without securing a replacement. I wonder if they even know who the next GM is going to be.

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My Review Of Bret Hart's DVD

Most people would consider Bret 'Hitman' Hart to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of the last 25 years if not of all time. I know that I would. He was the perfect balance of charisma, attitude, and in-ring ability. This 3-DVD set attempts to chronicle the Hitman’s career from his childhood up until the kick that ended his career in WCW. I found this DVD thoroughly entertaining but thought that they spent too much time talking about Bret's upbringing and days in Stampede Wrestling. By no means am I suggesting that I think they should have skimmed over it, but I think that they spent more time than they needed to on it. That time could have been better spent in my opinion. That's all. I was also a little disappointed at how they didn't really explain the whole backstory leading up to the 'Montreal Screwjob' at the 1997 Survivor Series. Things such as how Vince offered Bret a 20-year contract and then backed out if it only to try to honor it again. I think that Bret's A&E documentary 'Wrestling With Shadows' did a much better job providing the events leading up to the match in Montreal.

Other than the things I mentioned, I felt that the biography protion of the DVD was very well done and was glad that Bret opted to participate. It would have been unfortunate if Bret had declined the invitation to do the set and instead the WWE released an 'unauthorized' version much like they did with the Ultimate Warrior after he decline to participate in his own WWE release. I was glad to hear Bret's thoughts on some of the most memorable parts of his career. Parts such the whole Team Canada/Hart Foundation storyline, his feud (and Wrestlemania 13 match) with Steve Austin, the events leading to his departure from WWE and entry into WCW, and his brother Owen's death. Until watching this DVD I had forgotten how hated Bret Hart was by the American fans while he was heading Team Canada/Hart Foundation and how beloved he was by the Canadian fans during that same time period. I was also very curious to hear Bret's thoughts on his run in WCW. Much like most of his fans, he felt that his days in WCW were disappointing to say the least. I was a little surprised to hear Bret's thoughts surrounding the kick that he received from Bill Goldberg that ended his career (and later caused him to suffer a stroke). While he openly states that he is convinced that his career would have continued for a long time if the kick had never taken place, Hart admits to having no hard feelings towards Goldberg. I give Bret a lot of credit for moving on with his life if he has truly forgiven Goldberg. I find that very surprising considering the fact that Bret makes it a point to mention how he has never injured an opponent at any point in his career. I'm not so sure that I would be willing to do the same if I were in his shoes.

Besides the biography portion of the set, there are tons of bonus features. The first of which includes Bret's tribute to his brothers Dean and Owen as well as other wrestlers that have passed away. This set also includes Bret talking about various aspects of his character such as the 'Dungeon', his trademark sunglasses, and how he felt being a villain. Bret also tells stories about learning the Sharpshooter and about when Owen crank-called their father Stu pretending to be Reg Park. To be honest the only segments of these extras that I found enjoyable were his tribute to his brothers and deceased wrestlers along with the story about the crank-call. I found the others a little boring..

Included as part of the extras are 18 matches chronicling the Hitman's WWE career from the beginning. While I haven't watched all 18 matches yet, the ones that I have had a chance to see have been enjoyable. Strangely, a lot of the matches that I have seen so far have ended in a draw of some sort or a loss for the Hitman (or Hart Foundation). I look forward though to seeing the rest of the matches soon - Especially the one versus Diesel at Survivor Series 1995. Unfortunately, probably due to Bret's animosity towards Shawn Michaels, neither of his two most memorable matches versus Michaels are included on the set. It would have been great to see the 'Montreal Screwjob' match from 1997 and his 60-minute Iron Man Match from Wrestlemania (or at least highlights of it). They claim that they didn't include them due to time constraints, but I know better. It would have also been nice to see the match where he defeated Ric Flair to capture the WWE Championship for the first time or the 1994 match where he defeated Bob Backlund only to have Backlund go crazy, put Hart into the Crossface-Chicken Wing (or is it called the Crosswing-Chickenface?), and refuse to release the hold. I was especially surprised about the Flair match being omitted seing as how it was Hart's first WWE World Title. However, the matches that they did are excellent.

Overall I would give the 3-DVD set an 8½ out of 10. Like I said earlier - I would have liked to hear more of the backstory leading up to Survivor Series 1997 as well as at least one of his matches versus Shawn Michaels.

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A New World Heavyweight Champion Is Crowned. It's True!

Following on the heels of Edge's surprise title victory on Sunday night against John Cena, there was another surprise title change on Smackdown this week (to air 1.13.2006). This time by Olympic Champion Kurt Angle. At the beginning of the Smackdown tapings it was announced that Batista had been injured his tricep this past Sunday and therefore had no choice but to forfeit the World Heavyweight Championship. Smackdown GM Teddy Long then announced that a battle royale would be held with the winner becoming the new champion. When the match took place later in the night it was announced that Kurt Angle was the surprise 20th entrant in the match. Kurt Angle then went on to eliminate Mark Henry to end the match and become the new World Heavyweight Champion.

While I was surprised by Edge's impromptu match and victory at New Year's Revolution, Kurt Angle appearing on Smackdown and winning the WHC comes as more of a surprise. Edge was actually a member of the brand that the PPV was running under. Angle isn't even part of the Smackdown roster. It should be interesting to see what happens with Angle from here seeing as how he is scheduled to wrestle Shawn Michaels on RAW next week. Will that match now be for the World Heavyweight Championship? I wonder if after RAW if Angle will move permanently to the Smackdown roster and if so, what does RAW get in return if anything. Perhaps this is why Angle had such a bad showing in the Elimination Chamber match this past Sunday. Maybe they wanted to showcase the wrestlers that they knew would be staying with the RAW brand. This decision to put the WHC on Angle was obviously made within the past 48 hours since it was done for the simple fact that Batista sustained the injury mentioned above at this past Sunday's Smackdown house show.

To be honest, I'm not sure quite what to think of this. While, I understand that they are trying to keep the product unpredictable, I think that they should have perhaps put the belt on an existing member of the Smackdown roster instead. Don't get me wrong - I am a huge Kurt Angle fan. In fact he is probably currently my favorite wrestler. It's just that I think that JBL or Randy Orton maybe should have been given the title instead. I recall reading that Orton was supposed to win the title from Batista until Batista decided to work through his lat tear. Why not put the strap on him now? Why bring in an outsider to win the title? This could send a bad message to the Smackdown roster. They could feel that management doesn't put much faith in anyone but Batista to hold the title. Maybe they just brought Angle in for the element of surprise and are just going to give him a short title run. It's possible that since Orton and JBL are already involved in feuds management wanted to put the title on someone who wasn't currently involved in an ongoing Smackdown storyline. It's probably just to add some unpredictablility to Smackdown just like they are doing to the RAW. In addition, I really liked Angle on RAW and would rather see him there rather than Smackdown. We'll have to wait and see what happens next.

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RAW 1.9.2006 - News & Notes

Cena is finally acknowledging that his once loyal fanbase is shrinking week by week and he now appears to be adding a little bit of an edge to his character. Also, at one point during RAW he actually looked like he was going to start crying - I guess the boos are really getting to him.

Edge looks like he will be using Cena's spinner belt. He should go back to the belt that JBL had before Cena beat him for it. The spinner belt doesn't fit Edge's gimmick. Plus it looks stupid.

Lita really needs to practice her mic skills. She comes off sounding really poorly rehearsed.

One of the worst matches that I have seen in a while was RAW's women's title match between Trish and Ashley. The pace was so slow and looked like they were having a practice match. It looked like one of those training matches that they had during Tough Enough (the series, not the Smackdown segments). Very poorly done.

I've been watching wrestling for a long, long time now and had never seen the ring announcer mess up and announce that the wrong person won the match. That's what happened last night though. Lillian announced Trish as the winner of her match with Ashley when in fact Ashley won the match (via DQ). After the mess-up Trish was yelling at Lillian that Ashley had won prompting Lillian to correct herself and make the right announcement.

Looks like RVD is coming back at the Royal Rumble. It seems like 2 years since he's wrestled on TV.

Why is the WWE using a 20+ year old song as the theme to Wrestlemania 22? Peter Gabriel's 'Big Time' may fit the PPV's slogan, but couldn't they find a more current song?

Since when can you say 'twat' on TV? I understand that it's cable, but I thought that there was an unwritten code for basic cable.

Shawn Michaels gave Daivari one of the worst superkicks I have ever seen. Shawn's foot barely grazed Daivari's ear, let alone his face.

I hope that the Angle / Michaels feud ends next week. It's been done too many times.

Triple H promises that he'll win the Royal Rumble. He may be right. Don't be surprised if he faces Cena for the WWE title at Wrestlemania because Edge is not getting that great of a reaction as champ. When Edge came out on RAW half the crowd was booing him and the rest of the crowd was just sitting there. Edge's title reign will likely end at the hands of Cena at the Royal Rumble. I get the feeling that Edge's title run is just a test to see how the crowd reacts to him as champ. Just like what was done with Jericho and Orton's short title runs.

Did I see Shelton's Mama stab Val Venis in the ass with a knitting needle?

The 'Live Sex' segment on RAW was kinda stupid. It was done for little more than shock value and there wasn't anything all that shocking about it. It was hyped heavily all night & I found the event a little stupid. At one point they showed Lita's breast for a fraction of a second, but then they quickly blacked out the screen.

Looks like the Flair / Edge feud may not be finished yet. I suspect that Flair will cost Edge the title at the Royal Rumble and then the two will face each other at a future PPV - maybe Wrestlemania. That way Triple H can face Cena for the WWE title.

Once again there was no mention of the vacant GM position. What the hell are they waiting for?

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New Year's Revolution Revisted - A New Champion Is Crowned

Let's review the picks...

Elimination Chamber
In a shocking move, Angle was the first eliminated. For the first 5-6 minutes after he entered the match he was totally dominant. He was suplexing people, throwing them into the chains, reversing every move that he was put in, giving ankle locks, and all that stuff. Then out of nowhere he gets superkicked and pinned just like that. The kick was the only move that was done to him. An excellent match overall. Cena ended up winning the chamber match...but wait there's more. I'll get to that later though.
Me: 0/1
David: 1/1

Flair v. Edge
A decent match, but nothing out of the ordinary. Edge got DQ'd when he slammed Flair with the briefcase.
Me: 0/2
David: 1/2

Big Show v. Triple H
In the middle of the match Triple H busted the cast off of Show's arm. He later used a sledgehammer and followed it up with a pedigree for the win.
Me:1/3
David:2/3

Trish v. Mickie James
Average match. Trish won with a Chick Kick.
Me:2/4
David:3/4

Lawler v. Helms
A boring match which saw Lawler win.
Me:2/5
David:4/5

Bra & Panties Gauntlet Match
Maria dominated for most of it until Victoria eliminated her. Then Mae & Moolah came down and stripped most of Victoria's clothes off. Ashley later finished what Mae & Moolah started and won. At one point Mae stripped down to her bra and panties...or should I say bra and bloomers.
Me:3/6
David:4/6

Total
I picked 3/6 matches correctly. David picked 4/6. Congrats to David. It should be noted that David has barely watched Raw since mid-2001 and the only wrestling that he has watched has been Smackdown during the time between mid-2001 and Sept. 2005.

There was also an impromptu match between Shelton and Viscera that was instigated when 'Big Vis' tried to get freaky with Shelton's Mama's ass when she was bending over in the room where they served the food. Shelton won.

Here's the interesting part - The Elimination Chamber match ended at 10:35. That should have thrown up a red flag that something was going on. As Cena was laying bloodied in the ring Vince came out, congratulated Cena on his win, and ordered that the chamber be raised because the show wasn't over and that there was one match left. At that point Vince announced that Edge was cashing in his 'Money In The Bank' title shot right then on the spot which entitled him to a Title match at any point up until Wrestlemania. Edge's music then hit and he proceeded to pummel Cena and spear him. Cena would kick out though. Edge then went for another spear and easily got the pinfall to become the new WWE champion. This was certainly a huge surprise ending. I was expecting the title shot to be wasted on a meaningless Raw and not on a PPV. I was wrong. Normally I would have rather seen some sort of build-up to Edge's title shot, but I thought having Edge win the title out of nowhere brought back a bit of the old WWE days where the viewer never knew what was going to happen next.

I think that it's a great move taking the title off of Cena, but I would have rather seen Angle get the belt. I am a big fan of Edge too so I guess there's not much for me to complain about. Cena was getting real stale real quick. They needed to give someone else a title run. I get the sneaking suspicion that Edge's title reign will be short-lived though. I would imagine that whomever the new Raw GM is going to be is going to claim that the 'Money In The Bank' title shot was for the World Title (the one Batista took to Smackdown when he was drafted) and not the WWE title (the one that Cena brought over from Smackdown). This is pure speculation though. Edge has worked hard for the title and deserves a title run and I'm happy to see him finally get it. No matter what happens on Raw, I don't see him getting an extended title reign. This may in fact only be a test to see how the crowd reacts to Edge as champ - Just like they did with Jericho and just like they did with Randy Orton.

I was really disappointed that Angle lasted so little time in the Elimination Chamber. He was in for only about 6 minutes, when everyone else spent at least 15 minutes each in the match. It was like a 6 minute flurry of awesome moves by Angle and then all of a sudden he was gone from the match. It just struck me odd that he would be in and out so quickly. I hope that having Kurt only be in the match for 6 minutes is part of some larger storyline and not just some dumb booking decision. I also hope that it's not part of some build-up where they re-ignite the Angle-HBK feud of early 2005. That would be very poor idea.

Overall I would give the PPV a C rating up until the end which I would give a rating of B.

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The Cruiserweight Division

I would like to once again welcome a guest poster to WrestleBlogger. His name is Fernando and he's going to be talking about the Cruiserweight Division.

I can’t say I hate WWE, but I can’t say I love it either. I’m very disappointed with the Cruiserweight division. Let’s go back to how the Cruiserweight division started in the WWE. When wCw went out of business, there was a huge demand for the Southern feel of wrestling. The original wCw cruiserweight division had the likes of Dean Malenko, Jushin Liger, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Ultimo Dragon, Juventud Gurrera, Chavo Gurrero, Eddie Gurrero, Billy Kidman, Psychosis and the list goes on and on. They put out the best performances. High flying moves that no one has seen with a little mix of international and technical wrestling. Many years past and during the “wCw invasion” they united the light-heavyweight with the cruiserweight title. Ever since then, the WWE has killed their division. They tell the wrestlers to hold back and to wrestle the “WWE” style. Right now Kid Kash is the champ. His move isn’t the “Dead Level”. The WWE told him to use the brainbuster. In ECW and WCW, Kash used the moonsault. In TNA’s great X-Division, he used the “Money Maker” which is a delayed spike pile-driver. He left TNA due to some disputes with management. Look at Jamie Noble. He can wrestle a very “old school” style. When WWE fired him due to steroid use, he got his life back together. He worked for Japan and eventually Ring of Honor. He eventually became the ROH champion. I just find it a shame because the WWE can use the cruiserweight division as a big draw if they put those guys in the mid-card or main event on a smackdown and let them do what ever they want. Don’t let these guys just wrestle on Velocity in 5 minute matches. Not every WWE fan goes on WWE.com and watches Velocity. I just want to know what the WWE is afraid of. Some of the best well-rounded wrestlers in the world aren’t 6’6 or 320 pounds. There was once a match in ROH that Paul London faced AJ styles. They went at each other for about a half hour and the match ended in a double pinfall draw. A man in the audience yelled, “This match is worth the price of admission alone.” My main point is that the cruiserweight division isn’t being used properly and it could be used properly if they just gave them the free mat and say “Here’s your stage, give it all you got”. One last thought. For those who saw the Raw Eddie Gurrero Tribute show and saw the HBK vs. Rey Mysterio match, you guys saw something special. You saw a blend of great speed and basically a “Lucha Libre” Mexican style match. Why can’t they let Rey wrestle that style more often? Lucha Libre means “Wrestle Freely”, but it’s the Mexican style of wrestling. I think if they let him wrestle any way he wants, the fans would love him more.

Thank You Fernando. You made some valid points.

WWE New Year's Revolution Predictions

For this, the New Year's Revolution edition of my Pay Per View picks, I am also including the picks of guest poster David. Once again I would like to thank David for contributing to this blog. Now on to the picks...

Elimination Chamber - John Cena (C) v. Shawn Michaels v. Kane v. Kurt Angle v. Carlito v. Chris Masters
I Say: First off, there is no chance that Carlito, Kane, or Masters are going to win. That leaves the other 3. I really don't think that they would put the title back on Michaels at this point (although I wouldn't be surprised if he has one more title run before he retires). It's down to Angle and Cena. This is where it gets tricky. I've heard that Vince wants to keep the title on Cena for a while so I my brain would say that the title won't change hands at NYR, but I'm going to go out on a limb and pick Angle to win. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be wrong on this since I'm going with who I want to win instead of who I think will win, but I'll pick Angle anyway. Call it wishful thinking. One more thing - I think that Vince may somehow get involved in the match and effect Shawn Michaels' chances.
David Says: John Cena

Flair (C) v. Edge - IC Title
I Say: As much as I am a fan of Flair I think that his current IC title run was nothing short of a novelty; just so Flair can have the title on his resumé. I'm here to say that the novelty has run its course. As far as I know Edge is still nursing the pec tear, but I'm picking him.
David Says: Edge

Big Show v. Triple H
I Say: There is no point in pushing a tag wrestler as a singles wrestler while he still has the tag belt. Triple H is supposed to get into a storyline with Cena (which is why I am probably wrong about the Main Event) so there is no point in him losing to Big Show. It's that simple.
David Says: Triple H

Trish Stratus (C) v. Mickie James
I Say: This match is a total toss-up, but I'll pick Trish to keep the title. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see her lose either. They need to keep James' momentum going and picking up the title can only help.
David Says: Trish

Jerry Lawler v. Gregory Helms
I Say: This match is nothing more than an effort to get Helms over as a heel. I'm picking him to win here, but if he does lose it will be because of a blatant DQ by using a chair, the bell, or something like that which will get him over as a heel.
David Says: Jerry Lawler

Bra & Panties Gauntlet - Ashley v. Maria v. Victoria v. Torrie v. Candice
I Say: Ashley has to win just to keep her character going strong since she hasn't been on TV in a while (except for the trip to Afghanistan, but that wasn't really anything involving storyline).
David Says: Torrie

I would like to once again thank David for submitting his picks for this PPV. I wouldn't be surprised if I picked all of the matches wrong, but we'll see this weekend.

wrestleblogger@yahoo.com

Tim White Is Alive!...Nevermind

I have some good news and some bad news for fans that were distraught about Tim White's apparent suicide during the Armageddon PPV a few weeks back. First, the good news. Tim White (his on-screen character I mean) failed in his attempt to blow his own brains out with a shotgun. In fact, he dropped the shotgun and only shot himself in the foot; he didn't kill himself. Now the bad news. He apparently has killed himself...again. A vignette has been filmed for Smackdown (to be shown as soon as tonight) where Josh Matthews interviews White. The interview also shows Matthews asking if White has a New Years' Resolution and White proceeds to pull out a box of what is supposed to be rat poison, lean back to the point that his chair tips over, and pour the poison down his own throat. I get the suspicion that Tim White ends up failing in this suicide attempt as well. Maybe it will be revealed that the box of rat poison turned out to be a Costco sized box of Kool-Aid mix or some sh*t like that. Who the hell knows? I am however very interested in seeing where this storyline leads to. Perhaps he will end up trying to hang himself only to that the rope break or closet rod break. Or maybe he'll try to slit his own wrists and end up breaking the knife.

I may have some of the details of the video incorrect, but the general idea is about the same.

IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE, NOBODY CALL POISON CONTROL OR THE POLICE WHEN TIM WHITE EATS THE RAT POISON! HE'S NOT GOING TO DIE! HE'S GOING TO GO ON TO LIVE AND ATTEMPT SUICIDE MANY MORE TIMES!

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Finally, A Plan For Jillian's Wart!

I have thought for a long time that having Jillian Hall have that giant mole/wart on her face was a very stupid idea. It wasn't part of some angle or storyline ; It was just kind of there and looking really phony. Sure, maybe they zoomed into it with the camera, but for the most part it served little or no purpose...Until now! I wrote not too long ago that I wished that it would just fall off or something in hopes that they would have no choice but to acknowledge that the idea of her having a giant mole was pretty stupid. Finally they decided to get rid of it though. Is it going to just fall off? No. Will it be knocked off? Not a chance. You may be asking yourself ‘Then what’s going to happen to it?'. It's going to be bitten off and eaten! Who's man enough to do that? The Boogeyman is! I for one think that this is a great idea. While I doubt that this was the original plan when they decided to give her the mole/wart, I think that they once again took a stupid idea (like Boogeyman's character) and turned it into something great. I would expect the Boogeyman to bite it off sometime between next week's Smackdown (1.13.2006) and Royal Rumble. A feud seems to be building between Boogeyman and JBL so it should happen once these two actually have a match. When that will be has not been determined to the best of my knowledge.

On a semi-related note, the following is an excerpt from Wikipedia's entry for Jillian Hall (listed under the name of Mecaela Mercedes): "Jillian made her first appearance on RAW on November 14, participating in a special divas battle royal, dedicated to the late Eddie Guerrero. She won the battle and went on to beat John Cena for the World's title."

If only it was true. This is obviously erroneous information, but I think that whoever wrote that on Wikipedia should be hired by the WWE Booking Committee immediately.

Update: The final sentence of the Wikipedia entry has been corrected. It was obviously corrected in the time between when I originally wrote this blog entry and when I posted it. I figured that I would just include it in this post anyways.

Update: It has been announced that on the January 13 edition of Smackdown The Boogeyman will be a guest on 'Piper's Pit'. Look for the angle discussed above to possibly happen at that point.

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First RAW Of 2006 - News & Notes

Looks like the WWE noticed how small Joey Styles looked last week and decided to raise him up a little bit. It looks a lot better.

Gregory Helms is claiming that he is being held down because of Jerry Lawler. How does he come to that conclusion?

Why are they taking so long to announce the new GM? Hopefully, they will announce him/her next week.

I can't figure out if Maria is a really great actress or a really horrible one. She looks totally clueless when she's on RAW and I can't tell if she truly is or if she's doing a really good job of playing the role.

On wrestling I have seen people get an ass shoved in their face and people being forced to kiss someone else's ass, but I've never seen somebody get a dog's ass shoved into their face like Torrie did to Maria using her dog Chloe.

Whenever they do those little skits/videos on wrestling where they are showing 'exclusive footage' of another wrestler (i.e. Triple H as Kane at Katie Vick's funeral and Vince performing colon surgery on J.R.) it always come off being totally stupid and a complete disaster. This held up last night when Edge re-enacted Ric Flair’s road rage incident.

There seemed to be a lot of premature selling of moves on RAW this week. A few notable instances - Lawler turning his head way too soon when Helms slapped him and Masters pulling his head back too soon a few times when he was being punched and clotheslined.

Big Show looked ridiculous with that giant cast on his right hand. It looked way too big. Even for somebody of his size. Actually, it shouldn't really be considered a cast. It looked more like a club.

That angle with Shelton and his mom looks like it should be funny at first, but will get old really quick. I hope it works out for him though. He is too talented to be a mid-carder for life.
Update: Several online sites are reporting that Shelton's Mama is being played by actress/comedienne Thea Vidale (I personally see some resemblance, but am not 100% convinced). Whether these reports are accurate remains to be be seen, I think that if they are in fact true it is a foolish move by WWE to not hire an unknown actress for the role and instead go with an actress that a large number of fans may already be familiar with from her work outside of wrestling. Particularly her sitcom on ABC in the mid-1990's as well as her various appearances in sitcoms since then.

I think that John Cena bladed way too deep during his match. The blood was pouring out of his head. When he had Angle in the STFU it was literally raining blood on Angle's head.

Why the hell was John Cena convulsing so much after the match? It looked so stupid. That happens to be another aspect of wrestling that Cena needs to get a grasp onto - trying to avoid overselling.

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