CM Punk; WWE Has Me Hooked Again (2012 Official Pro Wrestling Thread)

[thablingster]

Overall, I think the PPV was pretty good last night. The RAW chamber match had higher spots with Kofi and Ziggler bumping all over, while Miz put in a good showing being the last guy with Punk.

 

The Smackdown chamber was actually well done. They worked within the limitations of the guys in the ring to tell a good story. I don't think I'm ever going to understand why Santino is so over, but him being in the chamber actually worked. It was the first legitimate win for Bryan in a while, so it helped to put him over, too. Cody and Barrett both had good showings, picking up some of the momentum lost from them putting over Khali in recent weeks.

 

The Tamina-Beth match was really slow, but I actually enjoy watching Beth work, she's kind of a throwback to the era when the divas actually could wrestle.

[BrewCrewForever]

I did not see the show, sounds like both chamber matches were good. But really Vince? Cena vs Kane as the main event over the Raw chamber match? That is garbage.

[brettac1]

It's the "Elimination Chamber" PPV, and they don't main event the show with one of those matches. Doesn't make a lot of sense, especially when they knew as well as everyone that Cena/Kane would be a two-star match.

[BradWI]

I was at the show as well. Loved the "you can't wrestle" chants when Khali entered the Rumble and the subsequent "thank you big show" chants when Show eliminated Khali. The guy is just hobbling around and had no business being in the match.

 

From where I was sitting (1st row, lower level), the Santino Rocky bits got virtually no reaction, so I thought the crowd might not be behind him during the Chamber match, but they surprised me. For a second or two I thought they'd made the horrible mistake of going with the shock finish and having Santino win, but luckily Bryan gets his well deserved WM title match.

 

The main event was just brutal. Crowd was dead, finish was anticlimatic. I left right after Cena dumped Kane in the padded box thing as I knew that was it and I wanted to beat the traffic out, and it looks like I didn't miss anything.

[patrickgpe]

i was there too. was surprised to see the show lead off with the raw elimination chamber match. the 2 EC matches were really good, but the rest of the card was brutal. i hear the diva match was good but i used that time to get a beer and some food.

 

Santino put on a good show. i was glad they let him get down to the final 2 and bryan still won. Figured Rhodes or Bryan would win so they can face Sheamus at wrestlemania.

 

I found it curious that Y2J was never pinned.

 

Also i am not sure what was the point of Johnny Ace's big announcement, there really wasn't one, minus setting up an angle with Teddy Long

 

I saw them putting up that padded box thing so i knew that someone was getting thrown into from the ambulance. crowd wasn't that in to it.

 

The swagger gabriel match was pretty pointless too. seems like they just needed to kill 10 minutes.

[radman12484]

I don't say this very much but, it was a well put together show for only have 4 matches advertised.

 

RAW Chamber: Punk winning to me was no shocker. Everyone in that match did there part to entertain and put on a good show. I was curious as to if WWE/Vince would do something to keep from Jericho and Punk getting pinned. I guess Jericho getting hurt while getting tossed out of the cage was a good way to do it. Let's just hope they find something good for Ziggler to do at Wrestlemania this year.

 

Diva's Match: Well it was a Diva's match, so I missed it. Went to the bathroom, got a soda, etc. Beth won, no shocker. Could of used Kharma coming out or something.

 

SD Chamber: Santino was probably the most over wrestler of the night. I found myself getting caught up in the moment and cheering for him to win. Bryan put on a solid showing finally actually getting a clean win. The spot in the pod was pretty creative and was kind of shocked Big Show and Bryan were able to put something together inside there. Khali is just awful and enjoyed the "you can't wrestle" chant.

 

US Title: Something to kill time. Not a chance Gabriel of winning the US Title. Probably also used Hornswoggle to get out in front of his hometown crowd.

 

Ambulance Match: Why this was on last has me baffled. I was thinking maybe we'd get to see Rock or Ryder or something at the end to make it worth being the main event. There was some spots during the match. Didn't see the point of having the ref in the ring and following both guys around during the match.

 

Overall: It was a lot better then the Royal Rumble in my mind. Good send off leading into Wrestlemania and RAW tonight.

[brettac1]

It was definitely better than the Rumble. I mostly hated that show. This one had some good stuff. After the first two matches, I was really liking the show, but the momentum of it got killed by starting the Smackdown Chamber match with two big stiffs. I thought they would have Rhodes start it off and be the workhorse of the match to help get him over. Instead, he got pinned by Santino. Santino almost has to get a push in order to make that worth it, because it sucks for Rhodes, otherwise.

 

I was really glad to see Bryan get a clean win for once. I don't understand why they put such a superior wrestler/worker in a gimmick where he doesn't show it. I like seeing heels go even steven with their opponent until they have to cheat at the end to win the match. That's a way better way to get heel heat than doing the running away with the belt stuff.

 

As far as why they didn't pin Jericho, it's a way to get to Punk vs Jericho at Mania with neither of them owning a win over the other or being beaten by anyone. It's good booking. The Jericho return has pretty much fallen flat to this point, but it should be a good match.

 

I liked the Divas match, but I have become a Beth Phoenix mark in the past month or two. I think she's awesome.

[PrinceEatMeat]

As much as some people are against HHH/Taker 3, everyone has to admit that it being a Hell in a Cell match is pretty epic.

[Vgmastr]

Wow was that battle royal an absolute train wreck. Thanks to the Big Show's screw up, Barrett breaks his arm and Ziggler is almost decapitated, then Kofi slips and takes a nasty spill, and Santino gets eliminated and almost lands right on Barrett's broken arm. You can count Barrett out of WM for sure. Wonder what they do with Shaq now, as it looked like they were building towards a Cody/Barrett vs. Show/Shaq tag.

[radman12484]

RAW was very good tonight. From top to bottom. Wrestlemania is shaping up to be one of the better ones in the last couple years.

 

John Cena vs. The Rock

 

WWE Title

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho

 

World Title

Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus

 

Hell In the Cell

HHH vs. Undertaker

 

Those 4 matches have me sold pretty much. With the rumors of Shaq vs. Big Show, and MitB (World Champions Edition) in the works. I say this will be a buy easily.

[JimH5]

I thought Ziggler was going on the stretcher, but it was Barrett.

 

That's too bad. I really like Barrett as the haughty Brit. William Regal plays that role really well. I think Billy Robinson took a turn at that way way back. I hope Barrett gets back soon. He can use his cast as a weapon. That's always fun.

 

With the spills they take, I'm surprised more guys don't rip up their knees.

 

Tonight was a good show, injuries not withstanding.

[BradWI]

I still think Orton gets in the WHC match if he's healthy.

 

The show looks great on paper. I just hope they don't give the title matches only 7-8 minutes so they can fit in more video packages, unfunny "comedy" skits and musical performances.

 

You know the way they position the current guys as inferior to the Attitude Era guys that the HHH/Taker and Rock/Cena matches will go on last and get top billing.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Just saw a report. Barrett dislocated his elbow, a la Andrew Bogut. He's likely out for a very long time. Everyone else who got hurt in that match came out ok, and will be fine. Overall, I thought Raw was pretty good this week.

[PrinceEatMeat]

It really does suck though. I like Wade. Feel bad for him that he'll miss WrestleMania. He's worked all year for a spot there, and now he get's it taken from him. Rough business. That's a big paycheck he'll be missing too, and to make it worse it's gonna be a long and hard recovery for him.

[BrewCrewForever]

I think HHH/Taker will be good, but making it a HIAC match does not get me more excited. No HIAC has or ever will come close to the first two. In the first ever you had HBK/Taker in an epic 5 star match then in the second you had Foley/Taker with Mick taking the biggest bumps probably in wrestling history. You just can't top those two.

 

But yeah, Wrestlemania is shaping up to be an epic card.

[patrickgpe]

pretty good raw. only thing i could take issue with was that they did the 10 man battle royal when everyone knew who was going to win, but oh well.

 

Not sure what they are going to do with Shaq now as they are definitely building towards a show / rhodes match. if reports are right that shaq has signed on, maybe it will be a tag team match, but now sure who would team up for rhodes now.

[Mass Haas]

Again the lack of depth on the overall roster is just appalling. It's a "Supershow" featuring Smackdown stars if needed, yet Kofi, Truth, and in particular Santino have to wrestle in matches prior to their "lifetime opportunities" to make a Wrestlemania championship match in the battle royal! Of course, everyone knew Jericho was going to win, but who wrestles the same night prior to that type of match?

 

What an utter embarassment the tag belts have become, as noted previously in this thread (which I've thoroughly enjoyed from the start, big closet fan here who enjoys watching from a storyline-development writer's point of view). Epico and Primo are talented guys and actually could be featured for personalities also, that was just painful booking in losing clean to Truth and Kingston.

 

I really think the tag division (well, the tag team presence) was doomed once Vince and the writers went away from the "gimmick" identities, having all newcomers known basically by their "real" names. If there's one place for gimmicks, it's the tag division, as those relationships need the cohesiveness of wrestlers with the same styles / heat. God, what I wouldn't do to see the Bushwackers or such return. A super-team needs to be recruited to place the lustre back on those belts, much as Cody has done with the IC belt.

 

Thanks for letting me chip in, carry on....

[radman12484]

There is a "super" team in there system. However, they are bringing them in individually. I am talking about none other then Chris Hero and Claudio (Kings Of Wrestling). The problem is, WWE is too busy trying to make the next Rock or Stone Cold that they don't care about making the next Legion of Doom, New Age Outlaws, Hart Foundation, etc. There is a lot of pairings the WWE could put together of singles wrestlers who are not being used on RAW or Smackdown every week. Guys like Tyson Kidd, Curt Hawkins, Justin Gabriel, etc are decent enough workers were they could shine in the tag team scene. I know all 3 guys I mentioned were tag champions at one point and why the broke up Gabriel and Slater is beyond me. Air Boom was a tag team that was over until Bourne was stupid and failed 2 drug tests.

[patrickgpe]

i am looking forward to the bryan - punk fight tonight. both are the breed of wrestlers that i enjoy watching. i love the guys that rose up from the indie ranks to make it. While I personally find bryan a bad heel, you can't argue with his in ring ability. I understand that they had atleast add another major heel to the smackdown brand, but he doesn't come right as a heel for me.

[brettac1]

I think Hero/Castagnoli are good enough as singles performers that they don't need to do a tag team with them unless it gets to the point that they have nothing for them. When it comes down to it, Vince has never cared about workrate or quality of work (which is why I don't buy that as an excuse for Funkasaurus being shelved). The only times they really pushed top workers were when there were steroid scandals surrounding the company and it looked better to have smaller, less jacked-looking guys on top. This is why I tend to look at FCW as the next crop of under-pushed good workers. I just had to look at Ezekiel Jackson on my TV last night during Raw, and Khali at the Chamber. I would love it if they decided that tag teams (real tag teams that do double-team moves and stuff) were something they wanted to invest in, but I'll believe it when I see it.

 

As far as Raw last night, it was OK. I didn't think a battle royal was necessary to get to Punk/Jericho at Mania. Promo work would have done far more to get that feud over, and you wouldn't have had one of the guys on the rise badly injure himself, either. Jericho needs something to get him going, and I would have liked to see five of those boring slow-talking minutes that HHH got on the mic given to him instead. That would have made the feud more personal than winning a battle royal.

 

As for Taker/Trips, I'm not any more excited by the HIAC stipulation. I cringe at the thought of either of them trying to climb the cell, after seeing how Taker moved last time he wrestled, and how much Trips struggled in the Nash match at SS. It does help them to be able to take some shortcuts in a match of that style, though. I would expect blood. On a side note, eliminating blading has a really negative effect on guys who take bumps. If they would have added some color to the Chamber matches, I probably wouldn't have had to watch some of my favorite guys take back bumps on a steel grate.

 

Cena cut a good promo at the end of the show, but I hate when he puts on the stupid "I'm hard" voice. It's much more believable when he talks like a normal person. Also, he should give up on telling jokes. I should also say that I HATED the opening promo and Eve segment. Awful.

 

BradWI summed up my worries about Mania perfectly. It's a four hour show, but they'll waste a bunch of it on pointless garbage and likely have rushed matches again like they did last year. And I hate that part-time performers come in and take away the top spots on the top show of the year from the guys who work hard for the company and try to make them money the other 11 months of the year.

[patrickgpe]

i agree that the KOW could be fine by themselves, but the tag team division is so weak, they may be forced to compete in it. How sad is in that WWE has 1 freaking tag team. I know it will never be the late 80's and early 90's again with all of the larger than live tag teams, but jeez give us 4 decent ones, where you don't have to put together singles wrestlers to compete against them.

[brettac1]

They do have the Usos, so I think they have two teams. I suppose Hunico and Camacho will work tag matches on the TV Smackdown soon, probably feuding with Epico/Primo when Rosa being over ends up making them a babyface team. Otherwise, that's about it off the top of my head. Ideally, guys like the KOW would come into the mid card and work their way up and eventually they can have some guys who can actually work to put in the ring with guys like Punk and Bryan. But like I said, I don't think they care all that much about "wrestling" at this point.

[radman12484]

Maybe someone can answer this for me. What was the point of having Great Khali beating Drew McIntyre? Khali is so awful and what did McIntyre do to get on Vince's bad side? He was pretty good in the ring from what I remember when he was actually getting time.

[brettac1]

I have no idea... I was thinking the Khali thing would be done now.

 

On a positive note, Mark Henry is AWESOME.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I love Mark Henry. I'm glad others share that opinion with me. I was pissed when his push basically ended. Hopefully he gets another shot. He was really over as a monster heel. I enjoy it when he plays that character. Also, Khali is pointless and needs to go away again. They proved he was pointless by eliminating him from the Chamber and Battle Royal in about a minute. Why does he then get more tv time? Lame.