The first order of business this week is to shill a podcast appearance I did on Thursday night. I spent 40 minutes talking about wrestling with three other knowledgeable fans. We covered a lot of topics such as Bryan Danielson, Nexus, this week’s Raw, my history of writing on the internet, Christian, Money in the Bank, and much more. For more info on the appearance check it out RIGHT HERE right now. I had a blast. I’m looking to do more podcasts in the future, so if you’re interested in having me shoot me an email at [email protected] so we can set something up. I can do it over the phone or via Skype if you prefer it that way. Let me know! As an aside, I’ll have my own podcast going soon. I’ll let ya know.
Taped from Louisville, Kentucky let’s talk some smack.
We get a video package from last week focusing on the Big Show/Swagger match as well as Kane beating the crap out of Swagger and threatening him for beating up his brother. Then he told him to eat his vegetables. Maybe not that part, but the rest was true. Oh, and the room he held Swagger in had a red hue to it. Kane is a lighting master isn’t he?
Kofi Kingston vs. Cody Rhodes ended in a No Contest (**1/4)
This was a theme of the show where they had MITB guys wrestling eachother in TV matches that were a decent length of time. Kingston was selling injuries from NXT Tuesday when he got beat up by The Nexus. I think Rhodes’ entrance where he looks himself in a mirror, which is on the giant video wall, is ridiculous, yet it’s great in terms of garnering heel heat. People will hate that the more he does it. The “Dashing” gimmick is better than having nothing. The match went about 10 minutes with a commercial break in it. At one point Matt Striker’s analysis involved pointing out that Cody didn’t wear kneepads, which could hurt him in MITB if he has a big fall. That’s why Matt gets the big bucks, I guess. Neither guy was able to hit a finisher. Kofi hit the crossbody off the top, which was a huge spot, and also the cue for Kane to come out. He chokeslammed both guys. He got on the microphone and promised a beating of Swagger tonight. Thrilling. I’m very tired of the veggie angle. I don’t know if kids like it. I don’t like it. One more month, I guess.
Backstage, Josh talked to Rey after the doctor put a splint to help support his ankle. Rey said he would forfeit the title tonight and then when Josh asked if he was serious Rey said “of course not!” Oh what a swerve. He said injured or not he’ll continue to live his dream as champion.
Backstage, Swagger was talking on the phone with somebody we don’t know about how they had to get there. I wonder if they’ll get there by the end of the show? Gee, I wonder.
They showed clips of Edge’s MITB win to help promote the match.
Drew McIntyre d. Christian (**3/4)
This was another MITB preview with two guys from the match on Sunday. Loved this. I’m such a huge Christian fan and he was on his game here. Great offense by him while also putting over McIntyre strongly in the end. To Drew’s credit, he kept up with him. Christian’s one of the better workers in the company. McIntyre’s inconsistent at times, but he really kept up with him. I also thought Striker did a good job in pointing out Christian was doing all this high risk offense, which I’m a big supporter of the blatant eye poke that McIntyre does to set up his finish. It’s a cheap move, but it works for a heel. Christian sold it great, Drew stunned him a second time by draping him over the middle rope and then hit the Future Shock DDT for the decisive win. I loved this match. A feud from these two would be pretty awesome because I think Christian would help McIntyre’s in ring performance from a consistency standpoint. It was 12 minutes of TV wrestling goodness.
Alberto Del Rio segment. I hit FF. I’m sure he talked slowly, though. Very slowly.
Did you read my Money in the Bank preview yet? It was posted on Friday right here with previews of every match, polls for every match and plenty of discussion in the feedback section as well. For some reason 12 people (out of over 1,000 votes so far) voted for Mark Henry to win Money in the Bank. That would be hilarious, wouldn’t it? Anyway, check it out and vote for yourself.
The SES were in the ring with Punk, who was wearing his sling, talking about how they were a strong unit. Out comes Big Show. He has a regular ladder with him and a step ladder. Punk questions why he’s out there. Show says he came out to entertain because Punk was boring. Punk wonders how he can climb a ladder to win MITB. Show tries to demonstrate. He breaks the regular ladder. He realizes the step ladder isn’t big enough. What a genius. As a result of that, they had a crew bring out a huge reinforced black ladder that was double wide and extra strong apparently. Punk distracted him, so Gallows and Masked Dude (it’s Joey Mercury) attacked. That allowed Punk to climb the ladder to say that Straight Edge means he’s better than you. Show fought the guys off, then climbed up behind Punk and ripped his mask off. CM Punk is so ashamed of his bald head that he keeps shaving his head apparently. Only in wrestling, right? The image of Show’s giant bald head behind Punk’s normal sized bald head was hilarious. Striker had a great line about how it looked like Punk’s head was shrunk in a dryer compared to Show. I thought they should have taken Punk’s mask off down the road during a match or something. It was a bit anticlimactic here. I guess that’s it for him wearing the SES mask, though.
We get more Swagger on the phone telling the person on the other end to get there now with the evidence. Oh the intrigue.
Kelly Kelly & Chris Masters d. Layla & Trent Barrett (DUD)
Hey, Chris Masters is still employed! Who knew? The guys did nothing except react when Rosa Mendes came out doing jumping jacks because Laycool told her to get in shape. Kelly pinned Layla with the K2 aka the Rocker Dropper in about two minutes. That’s about as long as I expect Kelly vs. Layla to be at the PPV. This was such a rushed match and angle. The Women’s division is about as bad as ever right now.
Matt Hardy came out to say if he wins MITB he’s cashing it in on Sunday night. Why would you say that before the match? Oh right, because babyfaces are stupid. I forgot.
They went to commercial and when they came back it was another Alberto Del Rio promo. Do people sit through these whole things or are they bored as hell like me? Thankfully I use the FF to my full advantage.
Dolph Ziggler d. Matt Hardy (**)
Matt’s wrestling in a black shirt because I guess he’s still not in wrestling shape? I dunno. Dolph’s out with Vickie and she’s showing more cleavage than most divas are allowed to show. That’s not really right. No offense to Vickie. Like the other two MITB preview matches it was a back and forth match. Based on the announcing, you can tell they’re really high on Ziggler now. I can see him winning MITB while I doubt Hardy will although he’s still over with the crowd to a fair degree. The finish booking was pretty lazy with Vickie getting on the apron, Dolph shoving Matt into her, Matt stopped and then walked backwards right into the Zig Zag for the win for Dolph. Vickie celebrated like he won something huge instead of simply beating a guy like Matt Hardy, who loses quite a bit. A win’s a win, I guess.
Backstage, the limo arrived and Jack was happy about it. We didn’t know who it was yet.
Jack Swagger came to the ring with the old dude. Turns out it’s his father, who is actually former WCW wrestler Bunkhouse Buck. You might remember him from the mid 90s in WCW. Swagger presented evidence that he was with his dad at various competitions the day the Undertaker was attacked. They even included cheesy photos from things like doing pushups, a fishing tourney and a chicken wing eating contest. Kane came out. Jack said they were in a race that day also that Jack won with his dad in second. Kane choked Jack. Swagger got out thanks to his dad, then Rey made the save and hit him with a 619. There was a chokeslam for Jack’s dad while Jack was out on the floor. Jack never went back in, so Kane gave his dad a Tombstone. Nobody does that to Bunkhouse Buck! Nobody!
Swagger left as the show went off the air. That’s it? I just want the vegetative angle to end. I don’t care who did it. It’s a silly angle. A weak ending to what was mostly a good wrestling show.
Three Stars of the Show
1. Christian
2. Drew McIntyre
3. CM Punk
6 out of 10
This show did an incredible job of hyping up the Money in the Bank ladder match. They really showcased all of the eight guys in a productive way with six of the eight guys squaring off while Show & Kane looked impressive in promos. It felt like long infomercial for that one much, really. Yes, they gave some time to Swagger/Mysterio and the women’s match, but it was mostly all about MITB. I don’t know if that means more people will buy the PPV now. They certainly tried though, didn’t they? That’s what I like to see. Effort made towards garnering interest to the PPV. That’s how it should be all the time. It isn’t always.
The facial expression of Punk unmasked with Big Show behind him was the highlight of the show.
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Keep checking out thejohnreport.net for exclusive articles that are only posted on my blog. My buddy Andrew Johnson wrote a piece called Paul Heyman and the TNA Messiah Complex that you should go out of your way to read. It’s a really well written piece. Check it out.
I’m not sure if I’m doing live coverage of Money in the Bank on Sunday. I want to, but things happen on Sundays and sometimes I don’t have the free time. If it’s not Sunday then I will have a recap up Monday morning for sure.
Thanks for reading.
John Canton – [email protected]
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