Worldwide Wrasslin’ Focus: Extreme Rules and Raw

Best WWF broadcast team ever!

Warning: Spoilers follow for Extreme Rules and the May 23 edition of Raw.

While Extreme Rules didn’t really feature any surprising results or title changes, it was a solid show of good wrestling with an awesome post-main event angle, thanks to the return of Seth Rollins. It came after yet another cluster-eff match between Reigns and Styles, with interruptions from the Usos and “For Legal Reasons Definitely Not The Bullet Club.”

Speaking of, it’s amusing to me how horrible the reaction still is for Reigns. The WWE seems intent on going down the John Cena path with him though, since they had chances to turn him heel during the Styles feud, and by the promo that Rollins gave. However, Rollins basically did his absolute best to be the heel, even as the crowd booed Reigns out of the building. (For the record – I’m of the mindset that Reigns is an OK wrestler, but he’s not sympathetic or an underdog in the slightest, and I have no idea why the WWE is so insistent on keeping him face.)

By the way, Kevin Owens is a great, big bright shinin’ star. He would be my pick for the Money in the Bank ladder match. I always think the briefcase works better when a heel or tweener has it, and he’s probably the best one on the WWE roster right now. While his matches and confrontations with Zayn have been really good, I think it’s time for the WWE to move on from that.

Regarding the rest of the MitB field, in order from least likely to most likely in my mind…

5) Cesaro just feels like filler, assuming that they don’t remove him from the match for a feud with The Miz. I’d give him zero chance to win the briefcase, since he’s mostly been winning and losing in equal doses with his current James Bond Stripper gimmick.

4) Chris Jericho has a non-zero chance of winning, because he’s an experienced veteran in the ring. And hey, he’s also my favorite wrestler! But it’s hard to see how him with the briefcase would make a lot of sense, since he’s mostly a part-time wrestler now.

3) Sami Zayn. While he’s had some incredible matches, especially with Kevin Owens, I just don’t feel like the WWE has enough faith in him to win the briefcase. He hasn’t even been a serious contender for the IC belt, as he’s mostly been used in multi-man matches for that with Owens.

2) Dean Ambrose really needs a proper push, and this could be a way to do it. Unfortunately though, they already mentioned the most obvious angle for him to win on Raw – that he could use the briefcase to setup a Shield triple threat for the belt. Since they mentioned it on TV, I don’t think it’ll happen. Still though, I think it’s more likely that he wins than the other guys on the list.

1) Kevin Owens. He’s the best heel on the roster, and he’s been kept pretty strong, as he hasn’t been beat cleanly all that often. He would be the strong favorite to me, as long as someone with a stronger C.V. isn’t in the match (Lesnar, Cena, Orton).

The only other significant thing to happen on Raw was Charlotte kicking Ric Flair to the curb, which I honestly thought should have been done much earlier. Still, the angle had a decent amount of punch to it, plus it managed to shut up the Baltimore crowd from chanting “What?” for a little bit. I’m intrigued to see what happens next in the division, since Sasha Banks has been off TV, nursing an injury, if I recall correctly.

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TV Review: LOST + shirtless Sawyer = happy women

This week on LOST... We get to see a lot of Sawyer without a shirt in the first five minutes, which surely made all of my female friends happy. In Bizarro LAX, he is now working as a cop with Miles, and they are kind of buddy-buddy. It is a weird but welcome development for me, since I've always liked Miles.

To add to the oddness, Miles sets up Sawyer on a date with Charlotte in Bizarro LAX, who we last saw on the Island making sweet with Daniel Farraday. Their date goes really well seemingly, as Sawyer (James, in this timeline) admits that there was a fine line between becoming a cop and becoming a criminal in his past life. However, he freaks out and throws Charlotte out of his place when she stumbles upon the folder detailing his childhood, which has apparently not changed. Later, Sawyer covers up his trip to Australia, causing Miles to ask for a different partner.

Also in Bizarro LAX, Charlie's brother is haunting around the police station, asking where he is. Sawyer tries to make amends with Charlotte, but she rejects him despite this. However, this spurs him into talking to Miles about his past. In this timeline, Sawyer doesn't find Anthony Cooper in Australia. Then, in a jarring moment, a car smashes into Sawyer and Miles as they're sitting and chatting – It is, of course, Kate on the run. Sawyer catches her.

Back on the Island, Fake Locke sends Sawyer on a recognizance mission to the Hydra station. There, he finds the sole survivor of the second plane crash, a woman in glasses named Zoe. Of course, she's not actually alone, and eventually springs a trap on Sawyer when she calls his bluff. This new group is apparently financed by Widmore, since she brings Sawyer to his submarine. Sawyer proposes double-crossing Fake Locke with Widmore. They shake on this, but with Sawyer and Widmore, who the heck knows if either is being honest? For what its worth, Sawyer seems to double-cross Widmore, telling Fake Locke about his plan with Widmore. He then tells Kate that he and her should escape on the submarine as Widmore and Fake Locke fight it out.

In other Island business, Claire attacks Kate for the whole Aaron thing. Sayid just sits and watches it go down, which lends credence to the idea that he and Claire are “evil” and controlled by Fake Locke. He tells Kate that he gave Claire something to hate – The Others – in order to keep her alive. He reveals that like everyone else, he had a Mother, who he had some problems with. He talks to Claire, who laters apologizes to Kate and hugs her.

All in all, this was another strong episode of LOST. “The Lighthouse” still remains my favorite of the season, probably because of its heavy reliance on Jack, but this is among the better episodes so far.

Grade: A-