#myguestatthistime: That’s quickly becoming one of Josh Mathew’s catchphrases, but not one that would help him pick up girls at the bar. They would have no idea what he’s talking about and probably laugh at him when his guest turns out to be a drink or himself. Anyways, his in ring guest at this time is Booker T and I’m surprised they’ve giving the opening segment to a midcard title feud. It usually features something to set up the main event of the night or to handle fallout from last week. The fact that so much effort and time is being putting into Cody-Booker is encouraging since it would appear the IC Title is being taken seriously again. Cody has to come out on top in this and Booker can do for him what Orton’s been doing for Barrett; a vet putting over a young, rising star. Of course Rhodes interrupts and cuts yet another excellent promo, this one about how legit he already is and the ‘reality’ of their match at TLC.
#thirdtimesthecharm: Cody faces Daniel Bryan with the stipulation that if Booker interferes for the third time, their match at TLC is off. One can only hope that since Bryan’s match is at the beginning of the show, Cole will get most of his anger and vitriol out in the beginning of the show. He actually steers that rabidness of his at Booker instead, of course not talking about the match, but about how selfish Booker is for wanting the good ole days back. The match is solid, as is to be expected from these two guys. Rapid fire pin reversals and Rhodes turning a side superplex from Bryan into a cross body are just a few of the highlights. Cross Rhodes after another series of reversals gets Cody the win.
#missedopportunities: They’re misses because not only has WWE dropped the ball with the Divas of Doom storyline but they’ve dropped the ball majorly with Natalya. Not does she lose by roll up in like a minute, but it continues a burial of sorts for her since she lost the Divas title. Her talent in the ring is undeniable and she has the mic skills to be a top women’s wrestler. The crowd was behind her in her fued with LayCool and will have no problem doing it again when she inevitably breaks with Beth. Then again, WWE is more interested in putting models out there, so a legitimately trained female wrestler seemingly has no place in this company.
#mexicanamerica: That’s exactly what WWE is trying to do with this stable of Hunico, Epico, Primo and now Rosa Mendes. Just like they created LayCool to counter The Beautiful People, they’re following TNA’s lead when they should be going for the jugular. Break kayfabe, acknowledge how horrible the TNA product is, bash them for pushing geriatrics like Sting and Angle instead of younger talent. Of course Vince likes to think that TNA doesn’t exist at all and aside from a few vague references, I doubt we’ll ever hear them mentioned directly on WWE TV. Speaking of this stable, where has Hunico been the last few weeks?
#failedfeud: So it’s Show-Swagger in the ring tonight and I’m reminded of their feud when Swagger was WHC right after Show’s uber-babyface turn. It wasn’t a very good one, but what’s more concerning is the state of Mark Henry. Earlier in the show, he walked up to Swagger in the back and told him to hurt Show’s ankle and if he did he would be first in line for a WHC shot. Henry has been a monster heel the past few month, tearing through anyone and anything while inducting them into his Hall of Pain. But lately, he’s backed off that, using his injured ankle as an excuse and having Swagger do his dirty work just doesn’t fit with the way he was built up as unstoppable. I’m surprised they showed footage of Swagger injuring Show on a Smackdown episode from 2010, since WWE doesn’t generally acknowledge past history. Henry brings a chair down to ringside to sit and watch, but it doesn’t seem to faze Show as he focuses on Swagger instead. The best moment of the match was Swagger countering a Chokeslam from Show into the Ankle Lock. It looked like Show was going to tap but one glance at Henry gave him all the strength he needed to roll out of the hold and hit the WMD for the win.
#dibiaseposse: They are actually taking this posse thing seriously. Yeah I know it’s been mentioned a number of times by the commentators, but they actually showed footage of one of the pre-show tailgates. If they actually stick with this angle, then it could factor into future storylines, such as Ted being attacked during one of the tailgates or having a confrontation. Of course one way to garner support for something in the WWE is to have Cole ridicule it. Fans then flock to it out of spite. His match against Heath Slater goes on for longer then expected before Ted inevitably gets the win. A post-match attack by Jindar Mahal is enough to bring out Teddy? I thought he just showed up to make tag matches? He makes Mahal face Sheamus, who promptly disposes of him in a few minutes.
#unlikelypairing: That’s exactly what Orton and Ryder are as they take on Barrett and Ziggler in the main event. That was driven home in their earlier backstage segment when Ryder did his WWWYKI line and fist pumped, while Orton just stood there with a ‘What The Hell?’ look on his face. This is the typical tag match before a PPV where WWE throws two singles feuds together in order to get as much TV time as possible for everyone involved. On a side note, in regards to the Barrett Barrage, is it ba-raj or bear-raj? I like the latter since it’s how Barrett pronounces it and it just sounds cooler when said with a British accent. I also like how they’re positioning Barrett as a psychological equal to Orton in the mind games department. Orton has built his career on doing that and to meet his match, so to speak, is an interesting development. The match itself is decent enough with the usual tag team moments in the form of hot tags, near tags, wrestlers in the ring staring at ones on the apron and so on. Orton throws in a move I haven’t seem him use before in what looks like a gutwrench neckbreaker. It doesn’t get him him the win, but the RKO does. Pinning Ziggler while staring straight at Barrett is a nice touch heading into their match on Sunday.
