Steve and the City II: The Return

Once again, like a couple months ago, I’m on a train. Or as T-Pain might say, “I’m on a train trick!”

As always, like the South County yokel that I am, the mix of people on the train is fascinating to me. Thankfully, unlike last time, there isn’t someone trying to make a baby right near me. Unfortunately, there aren’t two humorous teenage girls either. You take the good with the bad – I’m listening to Eddie Money instead. (I agree with my friend Michael that “Baby Hold On” is seriously an incredibly good song. Check it out on YouTube here.)

Today, the excitement is more muted. It is the little things amazing me. For example, half this train is asleep, draped across two seats, with their shoes off. This was definitely gross when I first got on the train, because it smelled like feet. I can understand sleeping on the train, but it seems rude to me to drape across two seats like it is your goddamn bed. And that goes doubly for putting your stinky metatarsals all over the seats.

Luckily though, my ticket is for business class, where there were far less people comatose. It doesn’t take much to impress, and Amtrak knows the way to my heart – free (non-alcoholic) drinks. Mmm, Diet Pepsi. I only drank two small cans though, because I’m classy. (Also, I had a can of soda before the train ride. If only I had known it would be free! Sigh.)

The reason for the trip to New York City is a work-related conference. I think it’s mostly to meet some of the other people involved in the company on the East Coast, and to learn about some new developments in the field and what not. I’d reveal more, except that’s probably frowned upon. Suffice to say, it’s really cool. As John Morrison and The Miz would say, be jealous.

Typed from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday morning. Because I will be busy the next two days at conferences, there is a good chance that Tuesday’s entry will be delayed. Then again, I might be able to squeeze one out quickly and get it posted…

The picture of John Morrison and The Miz is from this site.

NXT doesn't suck just yet! And Fatal Four-Way thoughts.

At the end of last night's Raw, it looked like the three-week NXT angle was in danger of jumping the shark. Vince McMahon was laughing in the ring with the seven wrestlers, triumphant in orchestrating yet another double-cross on one of his long-time enemies, Bret Hart. Frankly, McMahon as the ringleader of the group would have been trite and expected for his character.

Luckily though, the angle didn't end there. McMahon's laughter faded into nervous energy, and then, he was flattened by the crew he thought he controlled. I loved this part, as it established that the NXT wrestlers were going to play by their own rules, as opposed to McMahon's. They are currently being portrayed as a rogue faction in the WWE, one that can't be trusted, which I think is the right role for them to play. The next step will be getting them involved in some actual matches, as opposed to just eight-on-one beatdowns of wrestlers and ring personnel.

Raw saved what was a pretty lackluster fatal fourway PPV on Sunday night. While most of the undercard matches were good, the two main events left a lot to be desired. The Smackdown fatal four ended with Rey Mysterio as champion, which is a pretty lackluster result. I don't think most people take him seriously as a champion, not in a match that also had Big Show and CM Punk, both better choices for the belt.

I actually liked the ending of the Raw fatal four, with Sheamus getting a lucky victory out of the match. It would have been better booking for Edge to win that way, but hey, Sheamus has shown himself to be an opportunist in the past, and willing to cheat to get ahead. The match itself ran too short though, considering there wasn't a match over 15 minutes on the entire card, if I recall correctly.

Touching again on the undercard, The Miz was incredible with his rap slamming R-Truth, and his mannerisms throughout the match. He then got into it with Randy Orton the next night, which was awesome, although it only seemed to serve as a way to further the angle between Orton and Edge. Drew McIntyre also had a good match with Kofi Kingston, even if it was a rare reverse screw job on a heel.

A star is "Bourne" on Raw - ha ha ha!

In what I hope is a good omen for the future, Evan Bourne got his best push yet on Monday's edition of Raw. The show started without any pyro intro, with a fight between Edge and Bourne. While the announcers explained that Bourne had challenged Edge for his spot in the Fatal Fourway match shortly before the show began, it looked like it was going to be the typical squash match, as Edge got in some quick offense. However, Bourne recovered, and managed to turn the table a bit before Edge moved out of the way of his finishers, the Shooting Star Press. Edge then cut a good promo on Seamus, Cena and Orton, before Orton came out and gave him an RKO.

I thought this would be the end of Bourne's involvement on the show, but shockingly, the WWE seemed to listen to fan response to the open and inserted him into the main event when Orton got hurt. Heck, he even managed to shine in the match, with some sick spots and the eventual pinful on Seamus. I've consistently advocated for Bourne - While he is a small guy, like Mysterio, his offensive arsenal looks really awesome and effective. I think he is a believable contender if booked properly, and frankly, the WWE is relying less on immovable monsters like Khali, Kane and the Undertaker anyway.

Outside of Bourne's participation in the main event, the best match was Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz, in a continuation of their feud started on NXT. The only downside of this match was that The Miz had to be involved. He is a heel on the rise, so while I'm glad to see Daniel Bryan got the pinfall with a surprise counter, I wish it could have come at the expense of someone besides The Miz. Also, the end of this match was a bit rough, as it seemed like the ref or someone else was out of position for the pinfall.

In other Raw business, the only other angle of interest involved an on-screen confrontation between general manager Bret Hart and company owner Vince McMahon. It was an odd promo - He cautioned Hart against relying too much on public opinion, cautioning him that as GM, he sometimes had to do things that the people wouldn't like. The promo had an ominous feel to it, which I liked.

Speaking of the promo, it was the setup for a viewer's choice three-hour Raw next week, where voters can chose all the matches and stipulations. Checking it out on www.com, you can't vote until next Monday - I'm guessing this is to prevent coordinated bot attacks on the voting, like when some Stern listeners tried to get Val Venis a title match a couple years ago. I like the idea on paper, but like Cyber Sunday, the WWE could make things lame by making most of the potential match-ups lame.

Grade for Raw: B+

Toronto crowd elevates Raw while Buzz keeps it earthbound

Although I've been consistent in proclaiming Smackdown the best weekly WWE show, this week's Raw is a step in the right direction. It could be because the broadcast had no commercials, but there was an emphasis on in-ring action and hot promos.

The fun started right off the bat, as Jericho ran down Bret Hart on the mic. The entire promo provided justification for why Jericho is my favorite promo guy of all-time, given how much longer his career has been as compared to The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. He and Bret Hart had an intense confrontation, leading to the match between The Miz and Hart later that night being turned into a "No DQ" match.

This immediately worried me, and later that night, my fears came true as Hart actually won the U.S. Title from The Miz with the Hart Dynasty's help. Yikes. Hart can barely move around the ring - he stumbled as he tried to climb the turnbuckle following the match. And before the match, The Miz cut one of his best promos ever. While it was kind of neat to see Bret Hart get a great reaction from the Canadian crowd, I can't see how this creates a good long-term storyline.

Touching on the only other negative portion of the show: The Buzz Aldrin promo near the end of the show was excruciating. Frankly, I fast forwarded through most of it, and the crowd seemed to hate it. At least it led to a good mixed tag match, and Evan Bourne got another chance to shine in the ring. I'm hoping the WWE eventually pushes him up the card, because he's too talented and gets too much of a response from the crowd to just be a low-card wrestler and jobber.

However, outside of these two things, I thought Raw was really good. There was an intense 20-minute match between Christian and Edge, a brutal beat-down of Mark Henry by Batista, a cameo by Virgil in the match between Ted DiBiase Jr. and Yoshi Tatsu, and another good 20-minute match between Swagger and Orton.

And, maybe I'm just getting soft in my old age, but the women's wrestling division has been quite appealing to me lately. Laycool are apparently going to be working a sort of split-championship gimmick, as Layla and Michelle McCool both came to the ring with belts tonight. Also, because the show was in Canada, Maryse got a great face reaction from the crowd, which isn't that surprising to me. I think her combination of snotty behavior and incredible looks will eventually get her over with the crowd, similar to The Beautiful People in TNA and, back in the day, Trish Stratus.

If Raw can keep pumping out shows like this, then they might be able to challenge Smackdown for the crown as the best weekly wrestling show. However, I'd like to see them string together a couple shows before I anoint them as so.

Grade: A-

The Miz and Jericho together? Holy heck!

Last night's Raw was one of the best of the year so far, and by far the best post-draft edition. You might be asking, “Wasn't the draft last week?” Well, yeah, but still. Several factors made Monday's Raw worth catching.

The foremost of these you can surmise from my picture selection, as my two favorite performers, The Miz and Chris Jericho, seem to be forming some sort of alliance. Both of them ranted about how horrible the WWE crowds are, and about the lack of respect they got from the Big Show. Given that both are the best guys the WWE has on the mic right now, a partnership – whether it be for the tag team belts or just a mutual admiration society – could give The Miz the proper rub he needs to challenge for the world title.

It seems like the initial angle will be Jericho and The Miz going after the tag belts, which are currently held by the Hart Foundation. It was hinted that the pair would use this to gain access to Smackdown, in an attempt to lure the Big Show into a fight. The exact details weren't revealed yet though.

However, there was plenty of other good stuff going on in the show. There were two Beat the Clock matches, featuring John Cena vs. Wade Barrett and Batista vs. Daniel Bryan. For once, the WWE let Bryan actually go for a bit, as he managed to score a near-submission on Batista with a submission hold. Batista broke it and won in about five minutes, but Cena won the overall challenge in 4:30, and thus gets to pick the stipulation for his PPV match with Batista. The seeds for a triple threat already seemed to be planted though, as Sheamus kicked Cena in the face before he could pick the stipulation.

Although it got absolutely no reaction from the crowd, Maryse had a decent win against one of the Bella twins. Similar to Randy Orton and The Miz and Jericho though, I think her heelish behavior (and ridiculously hot looks) will eventually get her over with the crowd. Unfortunately, the only decent competition for her is either buried in the division (Gail Kim) or on Smackdown (Beth Phoenix, Layla and Michelle McCool) or released (Mickie James).


Wayne Brady was decent as co-host, in that he wasn't a detriment to the proceedings. He even had a funny backstage skit with Santino, William Regal, Goldust and Vladimir Kozlov, of all people. A Santino-Kozlov pairing was teased, which is so odd that I definitely think it could work, similar to the old pairing of “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and Nikali Volkoff.

However, the highlight of Brady's night was probably receiving an RKO from Randy Orton in the final, intense segment of Raw. Edge was hosting a segment of The Cutting Edge, and Brady invited himself to it because he wanted to meet Edge's guest, Randy Orton. Orton came down and RKOed Brady, and refused Edge's offer of teaming up again. The two fought for a bit, setting up a feud between the two for a bit, it seems.

All in all, there was a good amount of action on the show, and the cheese was kept to a minimum. If Raw can keep stringing together episodes like this one, it might be able to challenge Smackdown as the WWE's best show.

Grade: A-

Rocky roads for Miz, Morrison and Smackdown

On Friday's Smackdown, John Morrison got a clean win against Jack Swagger right before Swagger successfully defended his title at the Extreme Rules PPV. Since then, he lost in a tag team match against the Miz and the Big Show on Sunday, got beat clean by Swagger in a rematch on Raw, and then got drafted to Raw, which also picked up two former world champions - Chris Jericho and Edge - ensuring that it'll be easy for him to get lost in the shuffle.

So, yeah, I think the WWE's booking is still suspect for its main show. While the show opened up with a great tag team match, ShowMiz sure did dissolve quickly after they lost, with Show knocking the Miz out. I kind of wish they teased the break-up more, and with Show getting drafted to Smackdown, there is little chance that they'll feud now. I don't really know where this leaves the Miz either - While I'd like to see him drop the U.S. Belt and get involved in the world title picture, I doubt that the WWE will have Cena drop the belt to him.

Speaking of the title chase, despite Internet rumors, Batista is still seemingly employed by the WWE. There was talk that Extreme Rules would be his final show with the company, but in a minor upset, he came out on top in a triple threat match with Sheamus and Randy Orton for the No. 1 contender spot. I'm really, really hoping that there is a swerve coming before the next PPV, because Cena and Batista have fought about 500 times in the past two years, it seems.

Regarding the actual draft itself, the yearly hosing of Smackdown in terms of name performers continued. They lost Jericho, Edge, Morrison and R-Truth to Raw, and only got back Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Christian and Kelly Kelly. Smackdown at least got some good talent back in return, but Christian and Kingston aren't nearly as established with fans as Jericho and Edge; they're closer to the mid-card in the WWE hierarchy than serious title contenders.

R-Truth already provided the best moment of Monday's show in a backstage confrontation with Ted Jr. He noted that the current champion was looking for a "new Virgil", like his daddy had, and slapped Ted across the face.

And hey, brace yourself fool! Who's hosting next week? It's Wayne Brady bitch! Hopefully he won't have to choke a bitch.

Grade: C-

Extreme Rules plays it by the book, but still entertaining

Catching up on recent WWE programming, starting with last night's Extreme Rules pay-per-view, before moving on to the three-hour Raw draft in a second post at 7 p.m tonight...

I thought the start of the PPV was great, with Sheamus beating the crap out of Triple H with a metal pipe. It was savage and brutal, which is a good idea for a PPV built upon the idea of all "extreme" matches. Of course, it wasn't surprising that Triple H was able to compete later in the show, but I was surprised they let Sheamus go over. I read after the show that Triple H has some neck damage and needs time off, so that was an effective way to get him off television for a while.

After the opening beatdown came the Miz and the Big Show, taunting the other wrestlers in the back. Teddy Long came out to argue with him, and once again, the Miz looked like a million bucks and a future champion. As a result of the Miz claiming he and Show were the greatest tag team of all-time, Long setup a three-tiered gauntlet for them.

The first team of R-Truth and John Morrison lasted the longest, although it was disappointing to see them lose after about seven minutes; both are guys who should be pushed at this point. MVP and Mark Henry were next, and not surprisingly, they lasted about two minutes. ShowMiz has beat them about 40 times the past couple months. And finally, the New Hart Foundation came out, with Bret Hart, and pinned the Miz after about 30 seconds. This earned them a title shot on Raw.

Outside of the tag matches, which were pretty solid, there were two highlights. First, CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio was a great technical match. It was a quick pace and had a slew of near falls, before Punk finally got the upper hand with the help of an unknown assailant from under the ring. And the other strong match, not surprisingly, featured Edge beating Jericho in a steel cage match that felt like the blow-off to their feud. While I liked their Wrestlemania match a bit more, this was still a good match.

The rest of the card was kind of meh to me. Jack Swagger vs. Randy Orton featured some utterly sick usage of some trash cans - I have no idea how Swagger softened that blow, if at all. However, the finish had him going over clean, and although Orton hit an RKO after the match, I don't think the match really helped either wrestler that much.

Finally, the last man standing match between Batista and Cena was just OK. It wasn't actively putrid or anything, like a Great Khali match, but they have fought so many times now that anything they do seems like a rehash. The ending was sort of innovative, as Cena used duct tape to fasten Batista's legs around the ring post, preventing him from getting up. However, this wasn't entirely convincing to me, as it seemed like he could have gotten up.

Overall though, I thought this was a solid showing for the WWE. While there was no "oh my god!" moment on the show, none of the matches were complete wrestlecrap either. Even the "piss break" matches, like the women's championship and the strap match, were kept short and relatively brisk.

Grade: B+

All pictures from the photo galleries at WWE.com.

TV Review: The Miz layeth the Smackdown

The Miz puts his U.S. Championship
and tag team belts on display.

As Bill Simmons has pointed out, it is odd to think that of all the Real World and MTV casts, the only one who has kind of made it big in television amongst the scores of wannabe actresses and actors is Mike Mizanin, who wrestles as The Miz in the WWE.

The progress he has made in the ring and on the mic is simply shocking. When he first debuted with the company, he was an annoying and cocky host of stupid segments, like the Diva search and bikini competitions. He was clearly raw in the ring as well, but a little less than four years later, he is a legitimate heavyweight champion competitor. Of all the wrestlers in the midcard, The Miz is the one I want to see as champion, and I think he is the heir-apparent to Chris Jericho as the smarmy heel who gets over with the crowd anyway.

A good example of his new prowess was on display on Smackdown last night. He sat in on commentator with Matt Striker and Todd Grisham, and overshadowed both of them. And I'm normally a guy who loves Striker's obscure references. However, The Miz's bombast and forcefulness makes him an interesting character.

From top to bottom, not much has changed since the last couple times I talked about Smackdown - It is still by far the best weekly program that the WWE does. While I'm still not crazy about the booking of Jack Swagger as the world heavyweight champion, he at least got the pin in a triple threat match with Jericho and Edge. From top-to-bottom, the show featured a lot of good wrestling, with the highlights being the triple threat championship match and a six man tag (CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Darren Young vs. Tyson Kidd, David Hart Smith and Rey Mysterio).

It was a brisk 90 minutes to watch, and hopefully when the show moves to SyFy this November, it will allow for some even better, more mature angles.

Grade: A+

The picture is from WWE.com.