– The top two possibilities for matches on the WWE Night Of Champions “Kickoff Show” right now appear to be either Bo Dallas vs. Jack Swagger or Adam Rose and The Bunny vs. Titus O’Neil and Heath Slater.
– As we reported on Tuesday, Diamond Dallas Page noted during a recent interview that he received a text from Chris Jericho where he claimed he broke his toe during a “Lionsault” spot in his steel cage match with Bray Wyatt on this week’s RAW. Apparently that was a simple case of miscommunication, as Jericho reportedly told DDP that he “almost broke his toe” during the match. Jericho himself quipped via Twitter that he “jammed his toe” during the match.
The WWE rolled through midwest tonight, as they set up shop in Des Moines, Iowa. This week’s card featured a total of eight matches, including a life changing six-man tag main event. It’s time to once again take the WWE to school, and I’ll be the one doling out the grades.
As always, matches will be graded based on usual factors such as workrate, in-ring psychology, move variety, crowd reaction, and overall impact on the storyline. Important in-ring promos will also be graded based on factors such as originality, believability, and importance. Without further ado, here is this week’s Raw report card.
Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel
Tonight’s show started with Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel, and featured a shitload of guests, including the Authority, John Cena, and Roman Reigns. There was some entertaining banter during the segment, including Triple H and Jericho hurling corny insults at one another as Jericho dissed Triple H’s pink tie, while the Game chose to attack Y2J’s scarf during a hilarious back and forth. Rollins was extremely over during the promo and got the biggest pop of the night in his home state. Cena threatening to sue the company was pretty lame, however, and held the promo back a bit. It was an overall decent segment, it set up the main event, and the crowd seemed to be into it.
Grade: B
Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro and the Miz
The first match of the night was a tag team match featuring the United States and Intercontinental Champions. The Miz showed up with his body double Damien Mizdow and a personal stylist, complete with chairs and makeup. Miz and Sandow were hilarious throughout the contest and the ending was solid. Ziggler and Cesaro also worked well together during the opening portion of the match, with Cesaro’s fall away slam into a pinning combination being one of the most impressive spots I’ve seen in a long time. Overall, it was an entertaining contest and was a good way to advance both feuds.
Campuses around the country are infested with returning college students this week. In honor of all the alcohol that will be consumed and the knowledge that will hopefully be absorbed, it’s time to take the WWE to school, and I’ll be the one doling out the grades.
Welcome to the first ever WWE Raw Report Card. Matches will be graded based on usual factors such as workrate, in-ring psychology, move variety, crowd reaction, and overall impact on the storyline. Important in-ring promos will also be graded based on factors such as originality, believability, and importance. Without further ado, here are this week’s grades.
Hall of Fame Forum
This week’s Raw started with a roundtable discussion regarding the upcoming rematch between John Cena and Brock Lesnar. First off, I never thought I’d see the day where Shawn Michaels was the worst dressed man in the ring, but his combination of cowboy hat, jacket, and Remington t-shirt didn’t do him any favors.
Overall, it was nice seeing the legends together, even if it did feel a bit scripted at times and offered little insight. One hilarious moment was when Michaels said everyone loves Cena, eliciting massive boos from the audience. Speaking of Cena, his promo was surprisingly compelling, and it was nice to see him own up to the beating he took at SummerSlam.
Grade: B-
Rusev vs. Jack Swagger
This was likely the last contest between Rusev and Swagger, and all I can say is, “Good riddance.” This match featured a lot of downtime that resulted in a poor workrate, and a lot of the match was spent outside of the ring with nothing going on.
The in-ring psychology was pretty good (Swagger sold the rib injury well) and the crowd was into it, so that raised the grade a bit, but it was ultimately a fitting ending to a rather pointless program that saw Swagger dominated at nearly every stage of the feud.
Grade: C
Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro
This was a rather short match, but both superstars worked well together during the time they were given. One criticism is that the ending felt a bit rushed. One moment Cesaro was rolling outside of the ring to avoid the Five Star Frog Splash and only a few seconds later he was hitting the Neutralizer for the win in a sequence that felt a bit off.
The match also served its purpose by building a championship match between Cesaro and Sheamus – a program that looks like it could be entertaining with two of the company’s better workers.
The following matches were taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars prior to WWE RAW on Monday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.
– El Torito & La Bacca (aka Hornswoggle) def. Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil in the opening tag-team bout for this week’s show. This was said to be mostly a comedy match.
– Emma def. Alicia Fox in Divas competition to close out this week’s show. This was said to be your basic Divas type of match, nothing special.
The following are highlights of a new Turnbuckle Weekly interview with Titus O’Neil:
Darren Young injury update: “It’s coming along excellent… I talked to him last week because a couple of my friends went to a concert with him and his partner, Nicky. It was a Maxwell concert. He’s doing well and he’ll comeback, I’m sure, very motivated. Hell, he may even come try to beat me and Heath’s (butt) for partnering up. We might have to have the Prime Time Players rejoin.”
Daniel Bryan chasing down a burglar: “I have a lot respect for him anyway. He is, obviously, dealing with some neck issues. So, my first concern would be are there any ramifications or health issues coming from that? I want him back just like the rest of the WWE Universe wants him back. He’s a very fun person to watch and he’s a really really good person and performer. He’s different. And unless you get a chance to be around him on a daily basis, you won’t understand and be able to appreciate how great his differences are to most people.”
Best wrestlers ever on the mic: “My favorites would probably be Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson… They come from a football atmosphere so there’s an attitude that comes with that. But there’s also an understanding of chemistry and being able to be who you are and knowing how to have swagger and confidence. Those things will always come out at the end of the day regardless of lack of experience in certain fields.”
The dog days of summer are winding down and the biggest wrestling event of the season is just around the corner. With the card for SummerSlam essentially finalized, it’s time to look at the possibilities.
In recent years, the WWE has saved its biggest surprises for the most important pay-per-views of the year, and with SummerSlam being the last special event for the first cycle of WWE Network subscribers, the company will undoubtedly be pulling out all stops in an attempt to entice fans to renew. With that said, here are five potential SummerSlam shockers.
At one point, the plan for the WWE SummerSlam “Kickoff Show” match was a four-way tag-team match for the WWE Tag-Team Championships, with The Usos defending against Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, Ryback and Curtis Axel and Goldust and Stardust.
As things stand now, the pre-show match for the pay-per-view is being discussed and a decision is expected to be made at some point during the next week.
It’s worth noting that the new “Slater Gator” duo (Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil) may end up being involved if they go the tag-team route, which is expected, as the new tag-combination recently picked up a notable win over Goldust and Stardust on WWE Main Event.
Last night’s Raw was held in the supposedly great state of Texas. Fans in attendance were treated to the return of Mark Henry, as well as an entertaining contest between Dean Ambrose and Alberto Del Rio.
Although John Cena and Brock Lesnar were both notably absent on Sunday, the WWE did their best to promote the SummerSlam main event. As always, a few questions were answered on Monday, but many still remain. Here are five questions that need to be answered following Monday’s Raw.
5. Did Fans Witness the Burial of Cesaro?
It is no secret that the WWE has no idea what to do with Cesaro right now. Once one of the most over superstars in the company, Cesaro has been relegated to minor roles since the return of Brock Lesnar. After failing to join the Authority a few weeks back, Cesaro has been in a slump, once again losing to Dolph Ziggler in a short match on Monday.
There are rumors that Cesaro’s push is being limited because the company wants to focus on pushing Roman Reigns. It makes sense to want to promote a young superstar, but others who got over on their own should not be punished as a result. Let us hope that the company soon finds something for Cesaro instead of wasting his talent.
4. Which Stipulation Will Dean Ambrose Choose?
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins competed in a beat the clock challenge last night, with the winner having the ability to choose the stipulation for their match at SummerSlam. Ambrose won after a long battle with Alberto Del Rio, and also assured Seth Rollins would not win his match with Heath Slater.
The Lunatic Fringe now gets to choose the stipulation at tonight’s SmackDown taping (check in tonight for spoilers if you’re too eager to wait until Friday). He will probably choose something typical like a no-holds barred match, but here’s to hoping he chooses a ladder match for the contract. Which stipulation do you think Ambrose will choose?
– Several wrestling legends, as well as current talent have been praising Paul Heyman and John Cena for their promo work in the opening segment of this past Monday’s RAW. WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, for example, tweeted the following:
@HeymanHustle serves up a tremendous promo for @JohnCena on #RAW. Cena returns fire with an A-1 promo. Great work by both guys. #wwe
The following matches were taped prior to Monday’s RAW for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Alberto Del Rio def. Justin Gabriel via Submission after applying his Cross Armbreaker, forcing the tap out from Gabriel.
– Heath Slater & Titus O’Neil def. Sin Cara & Zack Ryder in tag-team action via pinfall. Ryder ended up being the man on his team who had to look up at the lights, as you would expect.
Adam Rose suffered a bad cut above his right eye during his match with Heath Slater on the show. As soon as the cut happened, the match was temporarily stopped. The referee of the match put on rubber gloves to tend to Rose while trainers rushed to the ring with towels to clean up the blood, which there was apparently a lot of.
Check out this photo of Rose after being stitched up:
– Back in December, we reported that Heath Slater was given time off to deal with a personal issue. Mick Foley on Monday that it was actually a back injury that kept Slater out of action:
The following are highlights of a new Digital Spy interview with Drew McIntyre:
And how long will you, Jinder Mahal and Heath Slater be sticking together before the inevitable break-up? “Maybe for us personally we’ll try and get one song out before we have the break up. We’ve been talking about bringing out an album for the last year and a half. With Guns N’ Roses and Chinese Democracy it took Axl ten years – maybe we’ll try and break that record.”
Do you think that CM Punk will make a return to the WWE in the foreseeable future? “Personally I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know what’s going to happen. You can never tell what’s going to happen in sports entertainment, that’s what the boss always says.”
And what do you think about the rumors of Sting finally making his debut with the WWE? “He’s somebody who’s never been in the company, if that was to happen it would obviously be a very big thing, but as I always say – don’t believe everything you read on the internet until it actually happens!”
After WrestleMania and that incredible promo, we had the sad death of Warrior – do you have any favorite memories of the Ultimate Warrior? “The first ever VHS I ever owned, my brother and I, was WrestleMania VII. We watched that thing to bits – I think the tape chewed itself up. It was Warrior vs Macho Man [Randy Savage], the Retirement Match. The one time he didn’t run to the ring! The match lasted 40 minutes, so it was probably a good idea!
“That was a fond memory of my childhood… I can probably recite that entire Retirement Match. It was one of his greatest matches and he was such an incredible character. It was crazy, such an unbelievable character that’ll be around forever. He’s immortal now.”
It was so great that he got that Hall of Fame induction… “You could see how much it meant to him – how much it meant to have his family there. You can never say that it’s a good time for something like that to happen. He had an incredible weekend, with his daughters there. It’s such a shame, but he’s going to live forever like all the great Superstars do.”
The following are results of the match taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars. The match was taped on Monday night in Washington, D.C. prior to WWE RAW:
– Heath Slater (with Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal) def. Kofi Kingston in singles action. The crowd was pretty into Kingston in this one. This was a mostly back-and-forth type of match, which ended with the 3MB member getting the victory.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown. For complete spoiler results, click ahead to page two.
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
– Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara
– Goldust vs. Fandango
– Batista vs. Sheamus
– The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee & Tamina Snuka
– Jack Swagger vs. Jimmy Uso
– The Miz vs. Mark Henry
– Bray Wyatt vs. Big Show
For complete spoiler results for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …
The following are highlights from a recent Journey Of A Frontman interview with Diamond Dallas Page:
On his appearance on ABC”s “Shark Tank” reality show: “Well you know, there was parts where there was tension. I thought they did such an amazing job on the edit. I was just like, “Wow!” I was blown away. It was what it should be, an inspirational piece. It didn’t matter whether we got a deal or not, it was amazing all the way around. That’s the way I see it.”
On wrestlers using DDP Yoga: “Well, the best example I can give you is the guy who really gave me the credibility, Chris Jericho. He had herniated his L4 when he was doing Dancing with the Stars. Even though the show was really physical, it wasn’t that. It was the twenty years of wrestling he had prior to that. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. I heard he was out and the doctor said he was done, the same thing happened to me at forty two, and now he’s forty. They’re saying he’s done, so I sent him the video of Arthur’s transformation, a disabled veteran (that was told that he would never be able to walk on his own ever again) who with DDP Yoga, lost one hundred and forty pounds in ten months and was able to walk and run on his own, gaining tremendous balance and flexibility along the way. The video has over ten million views.”
“I sent it to Jericho about two and a half years ago. When he saw the video, he said, ”Send me whatever he did and I will do whatever you want me to do.” And he followed the plan exactly the way I taught him. In five weeks, he was eighty five percent pain free. In three months, he was a hundred percent pain free. He headlined Wrestlemania two years ago in Miami, then he worked for a couple more months, then he took off and went touring with his band Fozzy for six months. And then he showed up at the Royal Rumble in January of 2013. If you’re not wrestling all the time, you fly out there in the first five minutes, you’ll be blown sky high. But because DDP YOGA is a kickass cardiovascular workout that dramatically increases your flexibility and strengthens your core with minimal joint impact, he was able to come back and wrestle a match because of my workout and the level that he does it. He was the number two spot in the Royal Rumble, he wrestled for forty seven minutes and fifty three seconds. He only does one workout, DDP YOGA. That’s the greatest testimony I can give to you.”
“There’s at least thirty guys who are doing it, whether it’s Dustin Rhodes or Ryback or Sandow, there’s a bunch of ‘em that are doing the workout. All the young kids are doing it, the guys that are coming up trying to get their break in the WWE Performance Center down there. So it’s pretty much across the board right now.”
On working with Heath Slater for the 1,000th episode of RAW: “I thought it was awesome. I love the kid. He was having the time of his life because he was a fan of all of us. So he couldn’t wait for the Vader Bomb or the Diamond Cutter. I mean he loved it. And he’s a good kid, he’s a damn good worker. I hope at some point he actually gets the push. He could back it up because he can talk and he can work.”
On fans hijacking shows with random chants: “I love it. (laughs) In a very different way, that’s what happened for me. The bookers weren’t doing shit with me. If you look at 1996, I work with Eddy, we had amazing matches together. But I also worked enhancement matches because that was most of the shit they gave me. The crowd though, watch a video called Diamond Cutters on Everyone. Just watch that video. It’s about four minutes long. And watch the people pop when I hit the Diamond Cutter and they pop a little more, a little more, and then a lot more, then a really lot more, then a fuckin’ crazy lot more. Ten thousand people in the building would jump to their feet because of all the ways I did the move, it came out of nowhere. You watch that video all the way through, go back and watch it, watch and see who I hit that on. Sting or Hogan or Nash? No, none of ‘em. It was all enhancement guys. So the crowd was with me crazy. WCW had to do something with me. And Daniel Bryan, a couple weeks back where he ended up on top of the cage doing the “Yes!”, holy shit. To me, that’s as over as I’ve ever seen anybody. It may be the most.”
– WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre, Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal spent some time with the members of the rock band “Tool” prior to Monday’s RAW. McIntyre noted on Twitter that the band performed a private concert for 3MB, tweeting the following message (and photo):
– Apparently Heath Slater has been given some time off from WWE to deal with some personal issues. As of right now, there’s no official word as to when he’ll be coming back. As a result, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal have been keeping the 3MB gimmick alive by themselves.
– WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler recently spoke to The Washington Times about Arn Anderson helping him backstage in WWE. Ziggler stated:
“Absolutely Arn. He’s taken a liking to me because of my work ethic. I’m the guy who doesn’t necessarily win all the time, always out there giving a great match, [and] making someone else look better. He crushed for so many years like that, so I feel like he relates to me sometimes. He pulls me aside and gives me a lot of pointers. [WWE Hall of Famer] Pat Paterson is another one. Guys who are so good and so smart with the business, loving the business, and [when] they see someone else loving it, they try to pass on their wisdom.”
The following are highlights from a recent WOIO-TV CBS-19 Cleveland interview with WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler:
On the most underutilized Superstar in WWE: “Tyson Kidd, Heath Slater, Alex Riley I’m a big fan of his work. There’s a million guys that don’t always get the spotlight… I’ve worked 100 jobs in my life and I’ve never been with more hard working people that aren’t just in it for themselves, they’re in it for the fans and for the respect of their peers. There’s one or two probably that got under my radar that aren’t the hardest workers in the world, everybody else wants what’s best for the company. They want what’s best for themselves. We’re there to help the company and there’s so many other names on that list, Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder those guys that have been fans since they were 5-years old.”
On Nicky of The Spirit Squad or Kerwin White’s caddy was a better gimmick: “It depends, because they both kinda sucked. Let’s see, which one was more heartbreaking to hear about? Actually, the Kerwin White caddy thing was pretty cool… you’re going off with Chavo Guerrero, this name that’s synonymous with awesome history for years. We don’t have too many Attitude era guys that are still around, or before that, who can take people under their wing, and I got that chance. That was amazing. But also in the Spirit Squad, losing every night – which is kinda my thing anyway – but sharing the spotlight with 5 guys… I had a blast with those guys by the way, working with DX, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, everybody you could possibly name and we had a blast. So both ended up being pretty cool.”
On his diet and workout routines: “I would say 70% of the time I eat moderately healthy and 30% of the time I eat whatever the hell I want because I work out so hard. Because I know that every Monday, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday I have to be in a pair of underwear trying not only to be in OK shape, but I want the boss to say ‘that guy can be my champion’, so I have to look like a million bucks every single day…. Every morning no matter what, six days a week if not seven I force myself up and on that treadmill or elliptical and get your body going… Eat and enjoy yourself, we’ve got too many nerdy people who are weighing turkey slices. Get out of here, you know what’s good and you know what’s bad. Eat what you like and be moderately healthy but go kill it in the gym.”
Here’s the latest installment of “The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” I may have a different perspective than you since I was live at Raw this week at The Nassau Colosseum! Comment below and tell us how you like the column and if you agree with this week’s picks.
Daniel Bryan & CM Punk cut a promo before facing The Wyatts
The obligatory rematch between The Wyatts and Daniel Bryan & CM Punk, took place on Raw. First a promo from “The Beard & The Best” CM Punk discussing team names, and asking questions allowing Daniel Bryan to answer them with a “Yes!”. Daniel Bryan got a chance to say more than just the three letter word that will follow him for the rest of his career.
I love Daniel Bryan, and so does the crowd. In fact you could hear Daniel Bryan chants during the opening segment, proving once again that this demotion was not “Best For Business” But more on that in the “NO!” section.
Any match can be enhanced with the crowd behind you. When you have top stars like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, the two most over Superstars at Raw, it can add just that little more energy to the match.
CM Punk made a comment about Triple H and the authority in the opening promo, and wouldn’t know it after Daniel Bryan was “Kidnapped” by the Wyatts. CM Punk was laid out by The Shield. I wonder if that marks the end of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk together, because I was enjoying that. Time will tell.
Who would have thought Goldust would be having great matches alongside his brother in 2013!
The Shield vs The Rhodes and Rey Mysterio
I have never been a fan of Tag Teams growing up watching the WWE. I must say however, though all the missteps, and bad booking since SummerSlam, The WWE has a great tag team division. This, of course includes The Shield and The Wyatt factions. Day in and day out these teams from The Veteran Golddust, to newer WWE talent in The Shield and The USO’s, are having great matches. I am thoroughly enjoying watching these teams work.
The Kosher Butcher!
The Kosher Butcher Superstars for Sandy Relief Auction winner, ” Charlie Tebele was interviewed by Jerry “The King” Lawler. When asked if he were to be a WWE Superstar, what would his name be. Charlie was prepared, with a blue T-shirt and a great gimmick “The Kosher Butcher” He even went as far to come up with his finisher, The Circumcision! At first the crowd didn’t know what to make of this. Not sure if this was shown on TV, but The Kosher Butcher had at least a dozen of his friends and family at Raw, all wearing their Blue shirts! Great stuff. Half way during the Xavier Woods match, and some further thought, the crowd broke out into chants of both “Kosher Butcher” and “Circumcision”, add that to the list of most bizarre Raw chants.
Great Stuff.
Hit up Page 2 below for the “NO!” of this week’s WWE RAW:
For whatever reason, WWE decided to cut the tag-team match between The Prime Time Players and 3MB that was taped on Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
3MB came out as “The Fabulous 3Birds,” a parody of “The Fabulous Freebirds” gimmick from the 1980s and 1990s. Heath Slater played the role of Michael “P.S.” Hayes, Drew McIntyre played Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy and Jinder Mahal played Buddy Roberts.
You can check out the complete match online at WWE.com.
– Former WWE Superstar Chris Jericho is in Regina and Calgary this weekend with his new cover band, Coverboy. The band features Jericho, Brent and Todd from Slash’s band and Spider from Loverboy. For more information, visit CoverboyRocks.com. (Thanks to reader Brent Donnelly for sending along the info.)
– Former WWE NXT star Xavier Woods made his official WWE main roster debut on RAW Country this past Monday night. Woods debuted as R-Truth’s “new partner” and the two defeated The Rhinestone Cowboys on RAW. The Rhinestone Cowboys, for those who missed it, were 3MB dressed up in country gear.
Woods and R-Truth have teamed together before, wrestling as “Truth & Consequences” in TNA several years ago (when Woods was known as Consequences Creed).
– One of the main angles on this coming Monday’s WWE RAW, the Survivor Series “go-home” edition of the show, will be The Authority (Triple H and Stephanie McMahon) returning from “vacation” to address the performances of Kane, Brad Maddox and Vickie Guerrero on last week’s show.
– There is some speculation that the 3MB group in WWE will be permanently switching to The Union Jacks after debuting the look at last week’s WWE television tapings in England. Additionally, there is speculation that the group will switch up their look for the “RAW Country” edition of RAW this coming Monday night.
