Usually I’d say this is the second week after Night Of Champions, but it’s probably more appropriate to say that this is the last RAW before the Hell In A Cell pay per view.
I’m coming into this an hour late, so the first part of my article is going to be a bit different. Bare with me.
Apparently the show started with a segment between Daniel Bryan (Danielson) and The Miz regarding their differences, and then evolved into a tag match involving the folks from the United States Championship Match for the upcoming pay per view – The Miz & Alex Riley vs American Dragon & John Morrison.
Why would American Dragon, a guy who is admittedly not flashy, nor does he care for televised entertainment, pick a guy like John Morrison to be his tag team partner for the evening? Wouldn’t he pick someone who is as no-nonsense as he is?
After the match, John Morrison and The Miz fight, and American Dragon decides a great idea is to hit a suicide dive on them? Not the smartest idea for a guy who might need to find another tag team partner at some point, as he ends up pissing off John Morrison, starting a fight between the two of them, and ultimately lessens his chances of retaining the United States Championship at Hell In A Cell as John Morrison is added to the match. Talk about unintended consequences from unfortunate decisions.
From a backstage standpoint, aside from the match they clearly wanted to expand for the pay per view, I’m not sure why they would’ve picked John Morrison for this match, aside from possibly his history with The Miz. The fact that he’s almost a random choice for American Dragon’s tag team partner and the fact that he’s growing a beard makes me wonder if John Morrison is going to be turning heel and screwing over Daniel Bryan (Danielson) tonight or in the near future.
I’m actually not upset at all that I missed the Diva’s Battle Royal to determine the #1 contendership. The fact that Natalya Neidhart is now the #1 contender is a good thing, as she can actually wrestle, although I fear we’re going to once again get the same angle with LayCool where they’re forced to decide who is going to defend the championship at the pay per view. Until those belts change hands or the division switches over to focus on tag teams, I’m not really going to care what’s going on there.
Apparently they’re still moving forward with the mystery stalker angle involving Ted DiBiase and Maryse being targeted by someone, and although we still don’t know which one it is, supposedly we’ll find out next week. The last thing WWE needs is another DIVA on the roster, so I hope it’s Maryse who is being targeted. Does anyone have any guesses for who it might be?
Sheamus fought The Great Khali in a match which I can’t believe was all that entertaining, aside from Sheamus showing that he’s still hardcore and can get himself disqualified. There was no chance the outcome would be different than Sheamus coming out looking strong, though the way in which he won was decent, I suppose. Why not have Sheamus pick someone who is more known for being hardcore? Are there any guys like that left on the roster?
I also heard that Michael Cole mentioned Mick Foley’s new book. Does anyone else think that seems a bit odd? What are the chances that maybe Foley is the General Manager (a concept suggested to me by another author from GuysNation)?
Speaking of the General Manager, Edge apparently continued his “feud” with the disembodied anonymous authority figure, only this week, the GM gets a computerized voice? I realize that an alternative would’ve been more “And I quote…” stuff from Michael Cole, but couldn’t they have done better than this? I didn’t see this segment, but I heard the voice after the match between Edge and Cena, and I was happy with how Edge dealt with the situation.
Why is it that Edge keeps feuding with people who have vocal distortions (Great Khali before this)?
Apparently the GM decides it’s a great idea for Edge to face John Cena right then and there. Good thing Edge was already dressed in his wrestling gear, right? Providence.
So Edge taps out to the STFU as WWE decides it’s completely acceptable to waste a pay per view match for a mid-show main event just to get Cena ready for his Hell In A Cell match with Wade Barrett… and the General Manager’s laptop now has real-time voice-over, even when the laptop is broken?
At least now the WWE will have to do something different if they want to continue the anonymous GM storyline. If they get another laptop, I hope Edge destroys it too.
We are reminded that at Hell In A Cell, if John Cena beats Wade Barrett, then Nexus disbands. If Wade Barrett wins, John Cena must join Nexus. Does anyone else get the sinking feeling that John Cena is going to win that match and the WWE is going to put an end to one of the more entertaining portions of their shows from the past 4 months?
The potential behind John Cena having to join Nexus is far greater than the alternative, just as it was when Rey Mysterio nearly had to join the Straight Edge Society… but WWE went the wrong route with Rey beating CM Punk in the decisive match and now they’ve lost out on a few other things S.E.S. could’ve done. I’m not feeling good about the possibilities for Sunday…
Match – Evan Bourne & Mark Henry vs Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater
If you’re going to pair up two guys from Nexus, why not have it be David Otunga and Justin Gabriel? They’re very different competitors and could match up nicely against Mark Henry & Evan Bourne. There’s no way you’re going to want David Otunga to be a singles competitor, and there’s no way you’re going to want Justin Gabriel to try to hold his own on the mic… so for now, why not put them together as more of a partnership, or at least replace Justin Gabriel with Heath Slater (who also isn’t great on the mic)?
Smackdown is live this Friday from Oklahoma City, and as a throw-away comment, Michael Cole mentions that Jim Ross will be in attendance. He probably should’ve mentioned that a little more emphatically, shouldn’t he? That’s a fairly big deal, in my opinion.
How tiny does Mark Henry make Evan Bourne and Justin Gabriel look? Also, I originally thought Heath Slater was a smaller guy, and while he doesn’t seem as big as most of the other guys in Nexus, when he stands next to Mark Henry you really get an idea that he’s average sized.
Outcome: Justin Gabriel scores the pinfall for his team after Heath Slater helps him reverse the pinfall attempt following an Evan Bourne shooting star press.
After all the losses Evan Bourne has suffered over the past few months, making his win on pay per view over Chris Jericho all but nullified, wouldn’t it have hurt Justin Gabriel’s stock if he would’ve been pinned by Evan Bourne?
If John Cena is at such odds with Nexus, why doesn’t he rush the ring to put a stop to Nexus beating the hell out of Evan Bourne? Maybe he’s happy about joining Nexus.
Why is it that Nexus has been around for months and this is the first time they’re going to Smackdown? Why was that never on their plan? Is it just because the people of SyFy want all the top guys to show up on their debut show and Nexus is a big angle? For those of you who watched Smackdown, you’ve already heard that John Cena will be there.
So apparently McIntyre & Rhodes – the tag team champions (for those of you who don’t watch Smackdown) – are in the house tonight and they’re scheduled to face Hart Dynasty once again? I was happy with the outcome of their match on Smackdown because it gave McIntyre & Rhodes a victory while giving Hart Dynasty a reason to deserve a rematch (you can read the details in my article on Friday’s Smackdown), but couldn’t they have waited a little longer before having the rematch? They could’ve just hyped it tonight and held it next week… or at least during Friday’s Smackdown.
I’m very happy to hear the announcement about Johnny Knoxville being on RAW next week – not because I’m a fan of Jackass, but because they listed him as a “Guest Star”, not a “Guest Host”. Having people show up and get involved somehow while hyping an upcoming project is fine with me so long as they don’t get TOO involved, but most of the time when a person was a guest “HOST” or a guest “General Manager” for the evening, they detracted from the product. Don’t ask me what the difference is, as I realize that there’s no actual authority vested in them, but the way things usually worked out was unfortunate.
World Tag Team Championship Match – Hart Dynasty vs McIntyre & Rhodes (c)
After burying the Hart Dynasty on commentary last week when Tyson Kidd and D.H. Smith were visiting the announce table, now Michael Cole is putting over Tyson Kidd and burying D.H. Smith? Not a great way to help put over the former tag team champions, since they’re one of the only teams in WWE cohesive enough to actually have a team name (The Dudebusters being the only other ones… as I don’t really count “The Usos” as a team name).
Outcome: McIntyre & Rhodes win cleanly, albeit with a little bit of confusion betwixt the Hart Dynasty as Tyson Kidd accidentally connects with D.H. Smith.
D.H. Smith is upset with Tyson Kidd over messing up… and he walks out on them? Hopefully he gets over it.
I’m being optimistic about it so I don’t cry myself to sleep over the fact that the nephews of my favorite wrestler of all time might not be a team anymore, so I might not get the chance to be fooled by the opening of their theme music every week.
Did John Cena not get the memo about the fact that it was announced on Friday that he’d be at Smackdown? This sounds like he JUST made the decision to show up during his conversation with R-Truth.
Is it just me or did Chris Jericho just ask the crowd “do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?” Does anyone else remember that recent classic movie line?
If Chris Jericho is the Viper Killer, could that make him The Mongoose?
Does anyone else remember the other wrestler who used to call himself The Mongoose?
Wow, does anyone else remember when Chris Jericho beat Villano 3? That was a great match. Glad to hear him mention it.
Match – Randy Orton vs Chris Jericho
Why is it that you have to announce that a person becomes the future #1 contender to the world title if they beat the World Champion in a non-title match? Shouldn’t that be a given? If they prove they can beat the champion, shouldn’t they get a title shot? Smackdown missed that logic a couple months ago when booking Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler, and probably countless other times over the years. Make fake fighting illogical and people slowly lose interest.
Randy Orton is conniving… and Jericho isn’t? and Sheamus isn’t? Don’t they basically play up all the wrestlers as being crafty schemers these days?
Is it possible that Chris Jericho’s reversal / evasion from the rope-assisted DDT is the first time anyone has ever avoided that move on Randy Orton? And into the Walls of Jericho nevertheless.
Given the way Randy Orton has been booked over the past month (or even 6 weeks), is there any surprise that he not only avoided tapping out, but he eventually hit Jericho with the rope-assisted DDT?
Outcome: Randy Orton gets himself disqualified, so Chris Jericho has a future title shot… if he can come back from being punted in the skull by Orton after the match. No one should be surprised that Orton got the upperhand on Jericho, not only hitting him with the RKO after the match (and after avoiding a chairshot), but that he also gets the ultimate upperhand on Jericho with the punt which could likely put Jericho on the shelf for a while.
Gotta be honest Rob – the answers – or possible answers to nearly all of your questions don’t take rocket science to figure out.
Why would Miz pick John Morrison? 1) He’s a good guy, just like Daniel Bryan and 2) Who knows The Miz better than John Morrison?
From a backstage standpoint, you’ve had John Morrison treading water for a really long time, but you need to do more to get him featured if he’s ever going to step up to be able to main event cards. Teaming with R-Truth doesn’t feature Morrison. Putting him against Jericho and Sheamus features Morrison. Shoehorning Morrison into the PPV match gets Morrison featured on PPV. He’ll do some crazy spots around the arena and flex himself and his opponents into odd positions and draw attention to himself that way. It beats him sitting in the back unfeatured.
Where are you getting this “hardcore” stuff from in relation to Sheamus. Sheamus is a brawler – and often brawling involves foreign objects – and that’s exactly what he delivered to Khali. I used the word “hardcore” in my own column as another way of saying Sheamus was acting like a tough guy or a bad ass by continuing to beat up the monstrous Khali to prove how tough he really was. Why would you want a real “hardcore guy” – as if any still exist in WWE – to face Sheamus? This isn’t about hitting each other with weapons because they love the thrill of that. Its about doing whatever it takes to get back the WWE title. And if Sheamus can beat down the great Khali like that, he’s going to try to do the same to Orton if it’ll win him the title back.
As for Foley being the GM – he’s still under contract to TNA. He was just on TNA Impact a few weeks ago. There is no way WWE is keeping this GM spot warm for Foley even if he theoretically could rejoin the company soon. WWE has no idea who the GM is. They’re going to milk the computer angle until they find someone who will actually fit the role. And failing that, Triple H will be the GM.
WWE switched to calling the celebrities Guest Stars instead of Guest Hosts a while ago. Ever since the Guest Host role has been stripped of booking power, they’ve all essentially just been featured in a couple of segments as Guest Stars.
If you’re complaining about Evan Bourne losing that tag match you’re missing the point of that tag match. Nexus is about being a cohesive unit. They’re stronger together than as individuals. And together as a team, Slater and Gabriel found a way to scratch and claw their way to a win. After how incompetent Nexus has looked recently, it was nice to see them get a victory.
Bourne will continue to be Bourne – a highly effective enhancement talent. He goes out, gets cheered regardless, does flashy moves that pop the crowd, makes other people look good, and helps to further other people’s story lines. Should Bourne be used better than that? Arguably. But last night wasn’t about Bourne, it was about Nexus. It may be Wade vs. Cena at the PPV, but the Nexus will be there, so Cena better have a game plan to deal with all of them if he wants to beat Wade.
Why is Nexus only NOW going to Smackdown? 1) Smackdown is moving networks. The big debut will have big exposure. Nexus just stated on RAW that they want Cena in Nexus because it cripples and brings fear not just to RAW but to the entire WWE as a whole. What better way to chip away at the WWE as a whole by making an impact by ruining Smackdown’s debut? 2) Cena will be there, and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but they have a problem with Cena. Why not attack Cena two nights before HIAC to help Wade’s odds of winning? 3) The playing field for Smackdown has changed. Just as Smackdown superstars come over to RAW from time to time for big episodes, the same will now be true with Smackdown since Smackdown is back in the NBC-Universal universe where cross promotion will be extremely important.
Chris Jericho isn’t a Mongoose because Orton would have to be a Cobra for that analogy to work.
You totally missed the result of the Jericho/Orton match. It initially looked like Orton won because the referee disqualified Jericho when Sheamus ran in after Orton, and then there was no official announcement from Justin Roberts. I don’t know how you got Jericho WINNING by DQ. Alas the official result from WWE.Com is “WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho ended in a No Contest” which makes sense because Sheamus never touched anyone before the ref threw out the match.
My questions aren’t meant to be the type of thing which keep you up at night thinking about it. I’m not sure there’s really anything like that involved in wrestling. Rocket science be damned.
Those are valid points on Morrison. He does seem to be floating a little bit. He might actually do better on Smackdown. I agree that the Falls Count Anywhere match suits him well.
Why would I think that Sheamus should’ve faced a “hardcore” guy? Because he’s going into Hell In A Cell against Randy Orton and wants to prove how tough he is. Sounds kinda simple to me. And by “hardcore” I don’t necessarily mean a “weapons” guy. I just meant a tough guy who brawls. Someone like Finlay or Mark Henry.
As for Foley being the GM – yes, he’s still under contract to TNA. I’m not saying that WWE is keeping the GM spot warm for Foley. I agree that they likely have no idea who the GM is, and if they don’t find a better option than Foley prior to Mick’s TNA contractual situation runs up (if he even has a contract, he could be on a per-appearance), Mick could be the GM in a similar situation to how Triple H could end up being the GM.
I know they haven’t had Guest Hosts in a while, but this is the first time I actually heard/saw WWE calling the celebrities Guest Stars instead of Guest Hosts. Writing these articles makes it a little more difficult to catch every little nuance, so I’m not surprised that I missed that minutiae. Regardless of what sort of fictional “booking power” they’ve had, some of those celebrities had been called “Guest Hosts” from what I recall, not just “guest stars”.
I’m not totally complaining about Evan Bourne losing that tag match, I’m just saying that his losing streak continues, and a victory for him could’ve been nice, though I do agree that the match continues to show the Nexus cohesion… not that it matters how strong they are as a unit anymore, as they’ve dialed back on the gang warfare stuff as of late, unless you mean to say that this is all helping them build up towards Bragging Rights, which I guess could be a possibility – though they only stay together if Cena joins their team, which inherently breaks down some of their cohesion, doesn’t it?
Wasn’t there an announcement that Nexus can’t get involved in Wade vs. Cena at the PPV? If that’s the case, then it doesn’t matter if Nexus will be there.
I’m not an idiot, as I realize that Nexus is going to Smackdown because of the network change / big debut / big exposure, but I still maintain that they should’ve shown up there before now – which is the actual question I was trying to pose. Also, when Nexus announced they’d be at Smackdown, the in-character decision for Cena to be there hadn’t been made yet. If you noticed when he was talking with R-Truth, THAT is when Cena “decided” to go to Smackdown.
Good catch on the “Viper isn’t a Cobra” thing. I still bet that a mongoose could kill a viper, but I don’t know whether their habitats overlap or not because frankly I don’t actually care.
You’re right, I did totally miss the result of the Jericho/Orton match. I’d have to go back and watch it again to see how I got it so confused in my head because from the way I remember it, something happened with outside interference and I remember thinking that was a crafty way to have Jericho become a future #1 contender. I think it’s because Orton never got touched in the attack by Sheamus and the referee called for the bell when Orton nailed Sheamus, and Orton looked distraught when he looked at the referee as the bell was ringing. All that combined, I figured the referee had made an anti-Orton decision.
Re-watching it, I guess Orton wouldn’t have been disqualified.
Well someone took this piece way too seriously.
The other pieces Rob puts up are hilarious overall, and he points out a lot of things the average viewer might miss. He also points out obvious contradictions in promos. I didn’t find this installment as funny as the past ones, but before you judge so harshly, you should at least get to speed with where it started and read up on how far it’s come.
Rob has always said from day one that this is part satire, part criticism, part review. I think he’s done a great job of it over the last two months that he’s been doing “Questions Stemming From…” considering the WWE hasn’t given anyone much to work with lately.
Thanks Jamie I appreciate the kind words.
Some people just take things way too seriously, and while I contacted Davester privately about his latest overly-critical comment, I decided it wasn’t necessarily conducive to good discussion, so I went ahead and trashed it.
I’m glad people enjoy my articles, though I realize it’s not for everyone.
The past two weeks haven’t been great for the quality of my articles, probably because I’ve been sick the entire month of September (almost anyway), but as I’m almost all better, I hope that Friday’s Smackdown provides enough fodder to help make for a fun read on Saturday for anyone who might be checking it out.
When things get closer and closer to a pay per view, there’s often less to talk about, as paths are clear and reasonings are typically straight-forward, but I’ll give it my best shot.
@Davester: Miz didnt pick JoMo, Bryan did.
Really Bryan hasn’t been seen friendly with anyone in the back outside Cena bringing him into the 7on7 match, so any random face makes about as much sense as another. JoMo’s past with Miz makes it sensible enough. The triple threat match at HIAC sounds awesome. Bryan and JoMo can put on an awesome match (Miz has really picked his game up his NoC match was great) so I’m pumped. Actual mid-card matches worth watching? They must have a new writer.
Edge is finally allowed to shine with the GM storyline all to himself. Splitting the story with Jericho was hurting him because Jericho is so good. Foley would be one of the few ppl that would be not a let down but I think he’s still under TNA contract. My prefered pick is still JR, but thinking about it I think JBL could come in and it will be good. Will Edge’s quest to expose the GM lead him to being traded to Smackdown?
If Rhodes or McIntyre hurt themselves on Smackdown last week what would they have done with this weeks RAW being filmed before that?
Tyson Kidd isn’t a Hart nephew, he’s just dating Natalya. If the break up the group Smith wont survive in the WWE, and as talented as Kidd is he has a horrible look to be a star. Natalya is severly underused as just an escort/manager and hopefully she will win the title. Seeing her wrestle someone like Beth Phoenix when she returns would be the first Diva match worth watching in a long time.
Keep up the good work.
Edge being traded to Smackdown by the GM would be great.
I think Tyson Kidd could do alright as an enhancement talent. I don’t think he or Evan Bourne will ever get a huge push up into the main event.
“@Davester: Miz didnt pick JoMo, Bryan did.”
I realize that. It was a typo in writing my comment. Obviously the rest of the comment is reasons why DanBry would pick Morrison, not what Miz would pick Morrison.
Yeah that triple threat match sounds amazing, I think since Morrison coming out with workout DVD, I have liked them showing his stuff in the back to get ready for match and this match should be fun, because we can Morrison around the arena. I do agree with you, I think Morrison is turning heel, he has been changing and so something must be coming with that.
I hope they don’t let go of the Hart Dynasty, it is the only true good tag team they have on the show, they fit as a tag team. I don’t see them being well as single. I think they should also add a Nexus tag team.
So nobody wants to take a guess on who is stalking Mariyse, well I call Eli Cottonwood, his character is crazy and so I think I saw letter and it looked written by a kid, and so Eli Cottonwood would be good, since he is a crazy character.
Also good way to have Jericho out for a bit, since he is going on tour with Fozzy.
I was surprised that Orton landed the punt on Jericho, loved that purely diabolical expression on Orton’s face though right after he kicked Y2J’s skull in.
I see parallels between Stone Cold & Orton, but it seems like they’re veering Orton into more of a psychopath anti-hero direction, which I fully approve of!
Bryan and Morrison and Miz nice match. I think that Miz needs morrison to look strong at the ppv. Miz disables bryan, then turns to morrison wins something and then bryan can pull off a miracle win or something like that 😀
Still dont care for the divas 😛
Sheamus – my opinion is that its impossible to show him as a strong, hardcore or something like that when he get s beaten every time he meets orton. I wonder what does sheamus think about the upcoming match because all hes managed to do with orton is to loose and look like afraid child?
Edge – did you notice that they changed the laptop during the show. I guess the normal one was too expensive. Match was good.
nexus in tagteam match – good skills but VERY unimaginative and short. But barret needed some time on the air.
tagteam championships – really enjoyable. Fast interesting and so on.
I wonder who is going to be the leader of nexus if cena would join them?
jericho vs orton was really good and everything until the walls of jericho. After that it was naah.
About vipers. One really common viper killer is hedgehog 😛 Jericho looks a little like a hedgehog with his haircut.
btw
love the ironic, satirical articles 😀
Morrison was added to the triple threat with Daniels and Miz for one reason….Miz can avoid being part of the decision and thereby not lose steam as the MITB holder.