In Your House

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Hell in a Cell 2011.

Sheamus Vs Christian: R-Truth and Miz have purchased tickets to the event, but are still ejected by security. This is a high quality opening match. I can't imagine these two getting any sort of time to have a match and it not being good. They just seem to compliment each other so well in the ring. Definitely two of the best offensive wrestlers in WWE history. Such variety, and everything looks great. I like how Sheamus made you work for everything, but he's a bit ridick with his kick-outs here, sometimes kicking out before a one-count even. It's a nice touch if used sparingly though. Sheamus's face turn has completely caught on with the fans yet it seems. It seems about 50/50. Sheamus wins with the Brogue Kick. 

Sin Cara Azul Vs Sin Cara Negro: Completely forgot about this storyline. This is as good as the original Cara has looked. Must have been nice to work with someone who knew the lucha style. Sloppily creeps in a bit, but this is a fun little match, and a good showcase for Cara. Azul wins.

Air Boom Vs Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler: Another fun match. Bourne is the best performer in the match, but everyone looks good. Dolph and Swag could have been a good long-term team. Nice finish with Swagger going for a powerbomb off the top, but Bourne reversing into a super hurricanrana.

Mark Henry Vs Randy Orton: The story of this match is that Orton hit the RKO on Henry for the first time in the build-up, so now he knows he can hit it. This is really, really good. Just a great beatdown and dominant heel display from Henry. If Orton was even mid-range as a sympathetic face, I might even call this a great match. Orton hit the RKO on Henry, but Henry kicked out. So Orton goes for the "Patented Punt" (hate that that's the actual name for it), but Henry cuts him off with the World's Strongest Slam to retain. They don't do a tonne with the cell, but I think do enough to justify the gimmick. Henry tries to cripple Orton after the match, but Orton fights back and ends up beating Henry down with a chair, and Henry runs away. Ugh to that, but the match was sweet.

Cody Rhodes comes out next to reveal the new (old) Intercontinental championship belt, which gets a huge pop. Laurinaitis comes out and says Triple H is ordering him to defend the IC belt right now against John Morrison. Cole uses this advance the story of Triple H's failings as COO. Quite rightly, in this instance, I should add.

Cody Rhodes Vs John Morrison: Rhodes is wrestling in his suit and "Gucci shoes" (as the commentators keep saying), which is always a fun visual. Pretty good match with Cody in survival mode and pulling out a quick roll-up win. Big fan of Cody here.

Kelly Kelly Vs Beth Phoenix: Third time is the charm here for Beth as she finally knocks off Kelly for the divas title. Does Beth cry every time she wins the belt. I don't mind it. It's just funny. Okay match for what it is. Nattie waffles Kelly with a mic to set her up for the Glam Slam. Nattie and Beth are a fun team.

John Cena Vs CM Punk Vs Alberto Del Rio: Triple threat HIAC for Cena's WWE title. I enjoyed this quite a bit. They used the triple threat rules pretty effectively. Instead of just two guys wrestling and the third coming in to break up a pinfall, you got stuff like Cena whiping Punk into the steps, Punk countering by jumping onto the steps and mocking Cena, but ADR coming out of nowhere to push Punk off the steps and into the cell wall. ADR puts in a strong performance, and I forget how good he could be when motivated. The finish is really smart, with Roberto Rodriguez seizing the key to open the cell door, but Cena cutting him off and giving him an AA. That leads to ADR hitting Cena with a pipe and locking him out of the cell, making it one on one between him and Punk. Then Cena has to watch as Del Rio lays Punk out with the pipe and wins the belt. Not a fan of Punk taking the fall, but it was a creative finish. Then, when the cell raises, Cena runs in and attacks Del Rio, but Truth and Miz sneak in and lay a beating on all three, with someone lowering the cell back down (was it ever revealed who did that?) All of the roster come down to try to get into the cell and finally they get the door opened, at which point Miz and Truth kneel with their hands behind their backs, surrendering to the police. I've been critical of the Miz/Truth team, and stand by those criticisms, but this was a really great angle, which effectively conveyed a sense of chaos and unpredictability. As Truth and Miz were escorted away, of course Triple H had to get his shots in, beating them both down. It would have been better if he'd have been held back, left impotent as it were. 

Match of the night: Henry/Orton at 3 3/4 stars. Christian/Sheamus and the main event were 3.5. Tag titles 3 1/4.

Show rating: This is a sneaky great show. Obviously not as memorable a show as Money in the Bank, but very nearly as good. The highs are almost as good as the highs on that show, and the lows aren't as low. Another 4 star show.

[Brian Fowler]

The problem with Miz/Truth is that it was an awesome angle given to two guys that just could never be taken seriously enough as being that dangerous.

[kafkonia]

Dangerous R-Truth could have been legit. But Miz as dangerous ass-kicker has never been, and will never be, credible.

[cwoy2j]

On 9/1/2017 at 6:22 PM, kafkonia said:

Dangerous R-Truth could have been legit. But Miz as dangerous ass-kicker has never been, and will never be, credible.

Miz could probably pull off an unhinged Pillman like character. Someone who was a nutjob but would sneak attack you rather than straight up kick your ass. Miz and R-Truth as a low rent version of The Outsiders was laughable.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Vengeance 2011.

Air Boom Vs Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger: Another fun match between these two teams. Better than the last one actually. Air Boom retain again, and once again it's Bourne that stands out as the best worker in the match.

Dolph Ziggler Vs ZacK Ryder: And now Dolph must turn around and defend his US belt against Ryder. We're in full on "Ryder or riot" mode now. Just a quick match with Dolph trying to survive Ryder's onslaught, and using a distraction by Swagger to hit a superkick and retain. Fun stuff.

Beth Phoenix Vs Eve Torres: I'm starting to think Beth is a way better worker than she's generally given credit for. She had good matches with Candice, good matches with Kelly, and now this good match with Eve. Not to take anything away from any of the opposition in these match-ups, or to suggest they were Beth carry-jobs, but that definitely speaks well to her abilities. She had that awesome submission match with Melina too. Yeah, I'm on the Beth bandwagon now. She's great using her power advantage here, and selling for Eve's offence. Beth retains the Divas title with the Glam Slam.

Sheamus Vs Christian: Another rematch from HIAC, and another good match from these two. Not quite at the level of the last one they had, but still solid enough. Sheamus wins once again.

Triple H and CM Punk Vs The Miz and R-Truth: So, Awesome Truth have been reinstated by interim Raw GM, John Laurinaitis, and now Punk and Hunter must put their differences aside to take them on. If I didn't know any better I'd swear they're having fun working 80's NWA heel tag team tactics on Miz in the early going of this. The match breaks down, and Kevin Nash ends up attacking Triple H, leaving Punk at the mercy of Miz and Truth. Third straight ppv where Punk drops a fall. Anyone who was saying Punk's booking wasn't an issue back then wants their head reading. But these are big matches! Please. He should have been well above this nonsense. An afterthought as we build to the big Nash/Hunter match that nobody wanted to see 8 fucking years ago. Nash gives Trips a nasty ass Jacknife. Could have crippled him. With friends like these...

Cody Rhodes Vs Randy Orton: A feud with Randy Orton- where entertaining midcard acts go to die. To be fair, for as much as I enjoy Cody's character work, he isn't exactly a dynamic in-ring worker. I do like the more old-school elements of his work though, and he has a heck of a moonsault. This match felt longer than it was, and of course Orton went over.

Mark Henry Vs The Big Show: And once again it's left to Mark Henry to kick some life into a dying ppv. This is, appropriately, king-sized, just super-fun big man wrestling. Both guys get to look super-strong throughout- Henry kicks out of a chokeslam from the top rope, Show kicks out of the World's Strongest Slam. Henry's selling is really great too. Then the exclamation point is the ring imploding off the superplex. Even my wife, who when she watches does so in a perpetual state of eye-rolling, popped for that. Great spot that the crowd lost their shit for.

Alberto Del Rio Vs John Cena: And that left us with the great visual of Del Rio and Cena having to wrestle this last man standing match in the broken ring. Good match. I've been impressed with Del Rio these last few matches of his. Terrible finish though, as the fucking Awesome Truth run in and attack Cena. Meanwhile, ADR has been laid out for ages after being put through a table at ringside, but the ref is too distracted to count. I'm sure they could have come up with a more creative way to give ADR the win than that. Whereas the way he won the title made him look smart, this just makes him look totally undeserving. Enough with Miz and Truth already.

Match of the night: It has to be Henry and Show, which I give 3 1/2 stars. Cena/Del Rio and the tag titles get 3 1/4. Sheamus/Christian is 3 stars.

Show rating: Another pretty strong show actually, albeit with a bit of a slump in the middle, and an ending that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. 3 1/4 stars.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE TLC; Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2011.

Dolph Ziggler Vs Zack Ryder: Another very enthusiastic crowd for Ryder, and you feel it was now or never for them to put the belt on him. And it was now. Enjoyable match. A hot crowd always helps. Ziggler is starting to feel like a bigger and bigger deal and a better and better worker. You kinda forget how fun his bump-freak style was back then. He's got an air of 2010 Miz about him where you feel his trajectory to the top of the card is clearly mapped out. And so, like Miz lost the US title to one internet darling en route to the top, so too here does Ziggler. Nice reaction shot of Ryder's dad in the crowd, who looks genuinely thrilled for his son.

Air Boom Vs Primo and Epico: Hey, it's a Primo sighting! Air Boom have a shitty theme song to go with their shitty name, even as they have become a reliable team. This is a step down from the series with Vickie's charges. Primo and Epico not quite presented on that level. It's actually Epico who stands out more for the challengers, showing some nice high-end offence, while Primo plays the fall guy. Decent little match.

Randy Orton Vs Wade Barrett: It's the Barrett Barrage. Tables match, which are rarely good, and this is no exception. Orton and Barrett didn't have good matches on Raw for the WWE title, and they don't seem to have any better chemistry on the Smackdown midcard. Orton goes over via RKO through the table.

Beth Phoenix Vs Kelly Kelly: Rehashing this feud for some reason. Don't suppose they had much else they could do. Natalya and Eve are banned from ringside. This was okay.

Triple H Vs Kevin Nash: Sledgehammer ladder match. Build-up vid for this just makes me angry all over again that they sacrificed Punk's heat for this match. I remember this getting a lot of praise at the time for being surprisingly good. I'd more call it surprisingly not terrible. I mean, it's logically worked at least, with Hunter working on Nash's leg, but it still isn't very interesting. Nash looks completely shot actually, and Hunter may call Punk skinny fat, but I'd take skinny fat over HGH fat, which is what the Game is. The worst thing about the sledgehammer as a weapon of course, is that you can't really actually hit people with it- you just have to do those hand over the hammer part jabs. Which look stupid. Nash throwing up the Wolf Pac sign and Hunter responding with a DX and hammer shot is just the kind of visual WWE likes.

Sheamus Vs Jack Swagger: This was thrown together in the back based on some nonsense with Teddy Long dressed as Santa. Completely forgettable.

Mark Henry Vs The Big Show: Such a shame for Henry's title reign to end in this fashion. I believe he picked up an injury, so this ended up being a very short chairs match, with Show winning with the KO punch. Henry then attacked Show after the match which led to Daniel Bryan cashing in the briefcase.

The Big Show Vs Daniel Bryan: My thing about this was, yes, I was glad Bryan became the champ, but the anally retentive side of me was irritated that he could just come in and pin an unconscious Show, when it had always been that the champ had to at least be standing before the match started. I enjoyed Cole's reaction though. I should say, Cole hasn't been nearly as bad on these ppvs as I remember him being during the week-to-week TV at the time. He mostly calls them straight, although leaning to the heels, and having his favourites like Miz and Vickie. It only gets annoying when he goes off on a rant about something, and neither Lawler nor Booker are strong enough personalities to shut him down.

Cody Rhodes Vs Booker T: So Cody had already attacked Booker in the back, and then again earlier in the night when Booker was coming down the aisle for this match. This time the match finally starts, and it's pretty decent action. A match where both guys came out of it looking pretty good.

CM Punk Vs The Miz Vs Alberto Del Rio: Punk defending the WWE title in a TLC match. Pretty entertaining stuff here. I liked everything they did with the handcuffs. Ricardo Rodriguez takes a ridiculous bump from the ladder through a table at ringside that looked painful as hell. Del Rio looked really great in this, dominating the other two and showing great intensity. Miz taunting Punk after cuffing him to the ringpost, only to cop a kick to the side of the head, was fun. Del Rio absolutely nailed Punk with his step-up enziguri. Looked great. And then the creative finish with Punk unscrewing the turnbuckle to get free.

Match of the night: The main event for me, at 3 1/4 stars. The Ziggler/Ryder match is 3 stars.

Show rating: Apart from the bookends, not too much to get excited about, but nothing really bad either. 2 stars.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Elimination Chamber 2012.

CM Punk Vs The Miz Vs Chris Jericho Vs R-Truth Vs Kofi Kingston Vs Dolph Ziggler: Pretty entertaining chamber match, without anything really memorable happening. Truth is a babyface again now, and continues his run of lasting less than 5 mins in chamber matches. Jericho's elimination was a bit anticlimactic (he's kicked in the head by Punk and can't continue). I know they didn't want to have him eliminated properly because they were doing the Mania match, but they could have done something a bit more creative. Not pleased with Miz being the last one in, but this is a bit light on star power compared to previous years. I'd say they should have gone with Ziggler in that spot, but I think Punk had just beaten him at the Rumble.

Loads of filler here. These Santino training videos are the fucking worst. A video of Cena training in his gym, with appearances from development talent such as Seth Rollins, Big E Langston, and Leakee! Reigns is all praising Cena- they should use this for the current feud. This is a waste of ppv time.

Beth Phoenix Vs Tamina Snuka: Tamina looks really green. This is the worst Beth match I've seen for a while. Beth gets to kick out of a superfly splash, and wins with the Glam Slam. They're really booking Beth strong. I can't remember who ends this title reign (don't spoil it!).

Daniel Bryan Vs The Big Show Vs The Great Khali Vs Santino Marella Vs Wade Barrett Vs Cody Rhodes: There're two too many jobbers in this match. I hated beanie-wearing era Big Show. A big loser. Bryan is a great undeserving champion. This match is really plodding for a long time, but then picks up from the moment Show breaks into Bryan's pod, which is a really great spot. Bryan's reaction to Show being eliminated is great too, as is his reaction to him realising that it's come down to him and Santino. Crowd is really into Santino, and the finishing stretch between the two is decent enough. After the match Sheamus attacks Bryan to set up their WrestleMania match.

Jack Swagger Vs Justin Gabriel: This is for Swagger's US title, a match with the dubious distinction of being set up by one of the worst backstage segments I've ever seen. This ppv has been so shoddily thrown together. Crap filler match.

John Cena Vs Kane: Ambulance match. Why is this garbage main eventing the show? Seriously boring match, with nothing to redeem it. Cena wins after AA'ing Kane off the top of the ambulance onto probably a crash mat, but of course they don't show the landing. Ugh.

Match of the night: The Raw chamber match is the only match that gets to 3 stars for me. The SD match had a fun last quarter, but was pretty boring leading up to that.

Show rating: A bit of a disaster this one. Watching this show paints a seriously worrying picture of where the company was creatively at this point in time. 1 star.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Extreme Rules 2012.

Randy Orton Vs Kane: This is a falls count anywhere match. I was dreading this a bit, especially after the last match I watched for this being the boring Kane/Cena match. This was actually not that bad though. Nothing terribly memorable but a decent garbage match. I like Ryder attacking Kane in the back. Orton goes over.

Brodus Clay Vs Dolph Ziggler: Brodus comes out with Hornswoggle. How long did this fucker have a job for, just being thrown randomly with different people? The Funkadactyls are pretty fly though. Basically a squash for Clay.

Cody Rhodes Vs The Big Show: So Show finally got his 'WrestleMania moment' by beating Cody for the IC belt, and now this is the rematch, tables stylie. Just a short match with the smart/flukey finish of Show losing his footing on the apron and stepping through the table. I liked it. Show was really crap during this run though, character-wise.

Sheamus Vs Daniel Bryan: High quality 2/3 falls match. Man, it looks like the two of them sat down and watched some Finlay/Regal matches together beforehand and just decided to do that, because this is really stiff and nasty, and not at all like a standard big WWE title match. At one point Bryan gives Sheamus a really nasty kick to the side of the head that had me and Lawler wincing. Bryan is great at working on top against bigger guys, and coming off like a legit threat, just because his stuff looks so painful. This could have been an all-time WWE classic match if there'd have been an extra layer to the finish. I think they could have done something more with Sheamus's injured arm to play into that, or maybe if Sheamus's selling in general was better. Still, a high end match and a feather in both guys' caps.

Ryback Vs Aaron Relic and Jay Hatton: Jobber names courtesy of wiki. Santino and Khali watching in the back like giddy schoolgirls. BIg Goldberg chants for Ryback, who really doesn't look very good.

CM Punk Vs Chris Jericho: Chicago streetfight. Punk is defending the honour of his family, some of whom are at ringside, which is kind of odd in that that's not something you associate with the Punk character. This is a really good version of a WWE main event streetfight, which to me are characterised  by big set-pieces (Punk elbowdropping Jericho through the announce table), and creative weapon use (Jericho hitting Punk with a chair-assisted Codebreaker). Certainly tighter than a lot of the big Cena gimmick matches, and deserving of being mentioned in the same breath as something like Hunter/Cactus (although I think that match is better). I appreciate both guys coming dressed for a streetfight (though Punk probably could have left the kickpads at home), and both guys' selling of the accumulated damage of the match was on point. Punk breaking the Walls with a fire extinguisher got a big pop- that wasn't the first time that had been done, was it? This match delivered.

Nikki Bella Vs Layla: So, Beth's title reign was ended by Nikki Bella on Raw. A bit disappointing. A lot disappointing actually. Beth is hurt, I guess. Nikki cuts a promo saying that she'll be the longest reigning Divas champ in history. That'll never happen. Eve has a surprise opponent for her. Heel authority figure doing babyface things is why heel authority figures suck. One of the reasons anyway. Layla's return from injury is the surprise. Very short match with Layla winning the belt. Should mention Layla no-selling Nikki's legwork, but her neckbreaker finisher does look good.

Brock Lesnar Vs John Cena: So, this was my first time seeing this show, and this is definitely the match I was most looking forward to, after hearing so many great things about it. I have to say though, I was kinda let down by it. Maybe I just have Brock fatigue, and seeing him dominating Cena, or anyone really, is just not very special anymore. I was hoping for a 5 star match, but it was more like a 4 star match to me. Cena's selling was good, of course, and I liked the finish too, although not the result. Still think it was dumb having Brock lose his first match. Cena's post-match promo was really weird too. What was the point of that?

Match of the night: I think I'm going to go with the Sheamus/Bryan match. To me that was more satisfying than the main event, and felt like just as much of a departure from the usual WWE match. Both those matches are 4 stars. Punk/Jericho is 3 3/4 stars. 

Show rating: The top 3 matches all delivered in spades, which is all you can ask from a ppv really. 3 3/4 stars.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

On 9/3/2017 at 11:49 AM, cwoy2j said:

Miz could probably pull off an unhinged Pillman like character. 

No, no he can't. Unhinged, serious Miz feels like a kid cosplaying as a wrestler.

[BurningBeard]

1 hour ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

 

Brock Lesnar Vs John Cena: So, this was my first time seeing this show, and this is definitely the match I was most looking forward to, after hearing so many great things about it. I have to say though, I was kinda let down by it. Maybe I just have Brock fatigue, and seeing him dominating Cena, or anyone really, is just not very special anymore. I was hoping for a 5 star match, but it was more like a 4 star match to me. Cena's selling was good, of course, and I liked the finish too, although not the result. Still think it was dumb having Brock lose his first match. Cena's post-match promo was really weird too. What was the point of that?

 

If I recall correctly, Cena was supposed to be taking some time off afterwards -selling the beating - which is why Brock agreed to the finish. Then he cut that promo and undid the work and Brock went apeshit backstage

[(BP)]

I think the Cena promo after the Brock match was about Cena wanting to take time off that Vince wouldn't approve and Cena trying to go into business for himself to get it. If I'm not mistaken they immediately followed this up with throwing him into an of out of nowhere feud with Laurenitis just to give him something to do, so they probably planned for him to take time and then panicked about ratings. Or he thought he had an injury from the match that turned out not to be too bad. Or his brains were just scrambled from letting Brock stiff him. 

[(BP)]

4 minutes ago, CreativeControl said:

If I recall correctly, Cena was supposed to be taking some time off afterwards -selling the beating - which is why Brock agreed to the finish. Then he cut that promo and undid the work and Brock went apeshit backstage

I'd forgotten that. That was one of those weird things where they tried to fan the flames on it by acting like they were just working the boys backstage to create controversy. 

[Brian Fowler]

That is probably my favorite match this decade. Just an insane 18 minute blend of WWE main event style, an extended squash, and a day of shootstyle.

Might be my favorite WWE ppv ever too

[cwoy2j]

On 9/29/2017 at 11:02 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

No, no he can't. Unhinged, serious Miz feels like a kid cosplaying as a wrestler.

No matter what he does, Miz comes off as a kid cosplaying a wrestler in my opinion. 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

3 hours ago, cwoy2j said:

No matter what he does, Miz comes off as a kid cosplaying a wrestler in my opinion. 

Exactly, I just don't see what others see in him.

[cwoy2j]

18 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Exactly, I just don't see what others see in him.

I guess it's his mic skills but even then, he's just reading shit people wrote for him. And they usually tend to write him to win verbal battles and always have the high ground when it comes to the truth. But even then, at the end of the day, the bell has to ring and he has to do stuff and I just can't be bothered to be interested about him in the ring. What I was saying earlier is that an unhinged but sort of chicken shit character might work for him and at least shake things up for him. 

[Brian Fowler]

On 10/1/2017 at 12:20 PM, cwoy2j said:

I guess it's his mic skills but even then, he's just reading shit people wrote for him. And they usually tend to write him to win verbal battles and always have the high ground when it comes to the truth. But even then, at the end of the day, the bell has to ring and he has to do stuff and I just can't be bothered to be interested about him in the ring. What I was saying earlier is that an unhinged but sort of chicken shit character might work for him and at least shake things up for him. 

He had the only good Ziggler match in the last like three years. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Over the Limit 2012.

20-man Battle Royale: This match is already going on when the show starts. Cody Rhodes and Santino are sat at ringside watching, as the winner gets a shot at either the IC or US title. This reminds me of those big battle royals you used to get on Coliseum Home Videos, where it was a lot of jobbers and lower card guys, and you could tell who the last couple of guys were gonna be. Here it was Miz and Christian. This is Christian's return from injury, and he's positioned as a babyface in the match, which is weird because they do the tease where he says he wants to face Santino, but later changes his mind to face Cody, which I guess would be the official babyface turn. 

Kofi Kingston and R-Truth Vs Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger: This is a big drop-off from the Air Boom/Swaggler matches. Bourne really was the MVP of those matches. Truth is a poor substitute, and he and Kofi look a poor team. Truth is doing the comedy shtick now with the invisible friend. Dolph and Swag probably should have got a run.

Layla Vs Beth Phoenix: Beth looks good again here, dominating Layla. Layla's neckbreaker really does look great. She retains the title.

Sheamus Vs Randy Orton Vs Chris Jericho Vs Alberto Del Rio: This is a very boring match, that does pick up for the finishing stretch. Sheamus pins Jericho to retain the title.

Brodus Clay Vs The Miz: Clay is terrible. I remember how over he was on this board at the time, but he's just bad. I don't know if having him be a monster heel would have been better for him or not. It always made me laugh how they kept adding bits to his entrance. First the Funkadactyls introduce him, then he introduces the Funkadactyls. It's all nonsense. Miz is on a downward spiral too. This match is nothing.

Cody Rhodes Vs Christian: Pretty good match. As good as Cody has looked in-ring in a while, which I credit Christian for. Finish was a bit out of nowhere, as Christian wins the IC title. It was probably a good thing that they had Christian return as a babyface, since he's so good at it.

CM Punk Vs Daniel Bryan: It still stands out now how big of a deal this seemed to have these two distinctly none-WWE-type guys wrestling for the top title on pay-per-view (even if it wasn't the main event). Sometimes the cream really does rise to the top, which is reassuring to me. Bryan is proper getting over now. Yes chants in full effect, lots of signs and shirts too. Punk is still more over, but it's a spirited crowd. Bryan is a great heel, but he smiles too much. He can't quite hide how happy he is to be doing this. Sasha Banks is kinda the same, I find. This is a great match. I prefer this to anything on Extreme Rules. Thought it would be really workrate-y, but it isn't. Grounded in solid psychology, and snugness. Bryan lays his shit in so well. Punk attacks Bryan's leg from the opening bell, and Bryan sells it right to the end. Ditto Punk selling his ribs. Progresses and escalates really nicely. Not super keen on the finish but it was done to somewhat protect Bryan (Punk pins Bryan while he's in the Yes-Lock, tapping after the bell). Punk's title reign continues to deliver.

Ryback Vs Camacho: Hunico's entrance, getting a backy from his mate, has to be the worst heel entrance ever. Oh, but this is a $2000 bike, according to Cole. Ryback looked better than in the last match. Camacho looks green. 

John Cena Vs John Laurinaitis: Cena is a really shitty prop comic. This would have been fine as one of those '5 mins with the manager if you win this match'-type deals, but as a ppv main event, it's an insult. That's not even going into the fact that this was Punk's feud in the first place, and shoehorning Cena in there didn't really work. The longer this went on, the more Cena looks like a sadistic piece of shit. Classic American hero- He basically waterboards Johnny at one point. And then to top it all off, we get a swerve finish that surely swerved absolutely nobody. Big Show comes out, having just been fired by Johnny (and with no active roster members being able to interfere), to bring a fleeing Laurinaitis back to the ring, only to knockout Cena so Johnny can win. The commentators acting shocked at Show's betrayal, like this isn't the millionth time the guy has done something like this, is pathetic. 

Match of the night: Obviously Bryan/Punk. 4 1/4 stars. Cody/Christian 3 stars.

Show rating: One great match, one good one, and a whole lot of nothing else, with a shitty main event leaving a bad taste in the mouth. 2.5 stars. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE No Way Out 2012.

Sheamus Vs Dolph Ziggler: Kicking off with the world heavyweight title. This was supposed to be Del Rio's shot but he got injured. Dolph is a pretty big fan favourite here. Another strong Sheamus title defence. The match suffers when Ziggler is in control, due to his weak offence, but otherwise this is good stuff, and the hot crowd adds to it. Dolph continues to feel like a player, and Sheamus is a good dominant champion. 

Santino Marella Vs Ricardo Rodriguez: Tuxedo match. Get out of here with this bullshit. WWE humour in a nutshell: "he should have Del Rio's face on his underpants". 

Christian Vs Cody Rhodes: IC title rematch. Better than the match they had at Over the Limit. Cody is really hanging with Christian here, one of his better performances. Christian retains.

Primo and Epico Vs The Prime Time Players Vs The Usos Vs Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel: The story here is Abraham Washington turning on Primo and Epico to align with the PTP. Fun match. Titus O'Neill stands out quite a bit as the worst guy in the match. Apart from he and Gabriel, everyone else looks good, and I'm just happy for another Primo sighting. The big spot is Kidd getting hurricanrana'd onto everybody on the floor. PTP and AW beat down Primo and Epico after the match.

Layla Vs Beth Phoenix: They pretty much work their standard match, ending with another Layla win via neckbreaker.

Sin Cara Vs Hunico: So is this Sin Cara's reboot after injury? Put him in there with the one guy who was able to have somewhat entertaining matches with him. Hunico looks good. Cara gets dominated pretty much all match but then wins.

CM Punk Vs Daniel Bryan Vs Kane: Ugh, that period when AJ Lee was all over TV. Hard to watch. This is an almighty step down from the Punk/Bryan match on the last show. It just never really gels. It's kinda fun seeing Punk and Bryan working together to try to take Kane out, but that's about it. AJ gets involved in the finish of course, getting knocked off the apron and causing a distraction for Punk to hit the GTS on Kane and retain.

Ryback Vs Dan Delaney and Rob Grymes: They really ran these squashes for a long time. Now he's asking for 3 opponents.

John Cena Vs The Big Show: Another shitty Cena main event. Another shitty Cena/Show match. This time in a steel cage- if Cena wins, Laurinaitis is fired. Johnny and Vince McMahon are watching at ringside. I will say that Show doing a flying elbowdrop from the top rope, and taking the bump full on his back, is fucking crazy. This is another match with Show just dominating, but it's really boring. There's no urgency, and no real sense of danger. Big time shenanigans at the end, with Johnny pushing Vince into the cage door, knocking it into Cena's face, then Show knocking Cena out. Then Brodus Clay comes out with a chair and won't let Show out. Then Alex Riley, Santino, Zack Ryder (who gets instantly knocked out because he's a jobber who never should have gotten over), and finally Kofi Kingston (all of whom were attacked by Show in the lead-up) come out, and it's Kingston who kicks Show from the top of the cage back into the ring, allowing Cena to heroically take advantage and win. Cena then AA's Laurinaitis through the announce table as Vince fires him.

Match of the night: It can only be Sheamus and Ziggler really. 3 1/4 stars. Christian/Cody and the 4-way tag are both 3 stars.

Show rating: Another really nothing show with a bad main event. I'd put this on the 2 star level. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Money in the Bank 2012.

Dolph Ziggler Vs Tyson Kidd Vs Sin Cara Vs Cody Rhodes Vs Damien Sandow Vs Tensai Vs Christian Vs Santino Marella: Smackdown's MITB match looks like a nailed on win for Ziggler, and proves to be the case. He really is the guy who seems on the cusp on breaking out right now, and has a lot of fan support in the match (behind Santino and maybe Christian). This match is worked at a really fast pace, and with a real sense of urgency, which makes it stand out from other MITB matches. Also nice to see some different faces in there, especially Tyson Kidd. The highlight of the match is probably Tensai going on a rampage, particularly the famous spot where he beals Ziggler into the announcer chairs. An all-time great bump. Fun match.

Sheamus Vs Alberto Del Rio: The thought of this match fills me with dread due to how this match-up was run into the ground during that time period. But, Sheamus's title reign has been excellent from an in-ring perspective, and Del Rio has held up very well in this project, so perhaps my reservations are unfounded. And yes, this is a strong match. Somewhere between the Bryan and Ziggler matches. Lots of armwork and aggression from Del Rio, which are his forte. Looks like they're giving Ricardo a bit more agency on the outside now too. Like a lot of Sheamus matches, the finish doesn't quite live up to the previous work, but that's a minor complaint. After the match Ziggler comes out to tease a cash-in, but gets into it with Del Rio, and that allows Sheamus to hit him with a Brogue Kick.

The Prime Time Players Vs Primo and Epico: Two Primo ppv appearances in a row. I'm being spoilt. Pretty good tag match, and Primo wins!

CM Punk Vs Daniel Bryan: No DQ match, with AJ as the guest ref. Another excellent match between these two, although AJ does her best to drag it down. Thankfully she's taken out of the match early, and we get a straight match between the two, before she returns and starts getting involved. Match gets a tonne of time. Nearly half an hour. Punk really raises his game against Bryan I think. Enjoys the added snugness. The weapon stuff is really well done. They don't overdo it, and make it just like a standard WWE garbage match. The emphasis is more on nastiness. Nice to see a match finish on a big spot that wasn't a finisher- in this instance, Punk back suplexing Bryan off the top rope through a table. AJ looks unhappy that Punk won. I don't care.

Ryback Vs Tyler Rex and Curt Hawkins: Ryback is really spinning his wheels. Seems like he went from beating up jobbers to challenging for the world title with no inbetween.

Layla, Kaitlyn and Tamina Snuka Vs Beth Phoenix, Natalya and Eve Torres: Layla is using Tiffany's old music now. Not sure if "I'm insatiable" is better than "You're not enough for me" or not. Neither really work for her. This is given an insulting amount of time. Not that what we get is good, but give them a chance or just don't do the match. Layla looked the best in the match, to her credit. Beth jobbing to that neckbreaker like a champ on her way out of the company.

John Cena Vs The Miz Vs Kane Vs The Big Show Vs Chris Jericho: I'm not sure if this is the worst MITB match ever, but it's probably the most boring. The best spots in the match, Show being teamed up on and buried by ladders, and Show busting out a giant ladder, are both lifted from a previous match too. It is always impressive seeing the ease at which Cena can pick up Show though. And the giant ladder here was really huge. Seems like the finish with Cena using the case to conk Show in the head, with the case popping off the hook, wasn't how it was supposed to go. I think Show winning the case would have been more interesting actually, but there you go.

Match of the night: Bryan/Punk- 4 1/4 stars. ADR/Sheamus- 3 1/4. SD ladder match- 3 stars.

Show rating: Some really good stuff on this show. You can pretty much stop watching after the WWE title match though. 3 1/4 stars.

[BurningBeard]

Tyler Rex was another one of those guys who I thought had a phenomenal look but never seemed to get much of a push

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

Yeah, Rex was an okay worker. 

[PetrolCB]

Was he the guy who Cena chewed out/got fired for stealing his move? 

(If he reads this thread, cue @Nice Guy Eddie for the obligatory Seinfeld clip).

[Nice Guy Eddie]

34 minutes ago, PetrolCB said:

Was he the guy who Cena chewed out/got fired for stealing his move? 

(If he reads this thread, cue @Nice Guy Eddie for the obligatory Seinfeld clip).

 

[John from Cincinnati]

I believe I stopped by here a while back to thank Yo-Yo for the strong recommendation on the Edge-Hardy cage match. If not, thanks.

Just stopping by again to commend your positive reviews of the Air Boom-Ziggler/Swagger matches. Good stuff and I continue to love your posts in this thread.