Injury, blood mar Over The Limit

I never thought I'd say this about a wrestling program, but blood and injuries got in the way of a good show.

The best match of the show, C.M. Punk vs. Rey Mysterio, was held up for several minutes as a doctor treated a deep cut in Punk's head, and Rey seemed to have a semi-serious injury to his neck. The match eventually resumed with about four minutes of really hot action, before leading to a Mysterio pinfall. (This was probably just in time as well, as Punk's cut had re-opened and looked pretty bad.) The post-match angle was hot as well, although Kane coming to the aid of Mysterio still seems silly to me.

Randy Orton's match with Edge also went to a double count-out because of injury. As Orton was slapping the mat for the RKO, he suddenly stopped. The Internetz is reporting anything from a broken fist to nerve damage, which is unfortunate, because it clearly threw a monkey wrench into the works of the match. Given the circumstances, I kind of wish they had just let Edge has an opportunistic win. You know, like throwing Orton into an armbar or a figure-four, and just going with the injury angle. Orton was able to stand up and move around for a couple minutes, so I think they could have improved the finish a little bit better.

It's unfortunate that both of these matches were a bit spoiled, because the rest of the card was underwhelming to me. Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston actually had a clean finish, with Kingston going over, which surprised me. The Hart Dynasty also beat The Miz and Jericho clean, so I'm not sure where they go from here. Maybe Jericho wins the U.S. Title from Bret Hart to tease some dissension between the team? And Jack Swagger's match with Show downright sucked because it was so short, and it came on the heels of the Orton injury match.

Grade: C-

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-

Smackdown remains WWE's wildest show

Even though a good portion of their talent has been claimed by Raw yet again, Smackdown keeps humming along. Despite a questionable booking decision, the rest of the card is humming along nicely, with a decent amount of twists and turns along the way.

Let's start with the only objectionable part of Friday night's show - Why did John Morrison job to Cody Rhodes, of all people? I understand that because Morrison is leaving the show for Raw, it doesn't necessarily matter as much if he loses. Also, Rhodes is a newcomer, so it would be nice if he established himself with a victory. However, Morrison just beat your brand's world champion a week ago! Why then have him lose to a guy who hasn't won a singles match in ages? If you want to re-establish Rhodes as a contender, then have him work his way up the card against Chavo and Dolph Ziggler; don't have him beat Morrison off the bat.

Beyond this though, the show was pretty splendid. There were two memes throughout the show - Swagger in taped segments with the belt bragging about his victory, and Big Show punching out various people. The two collided at the end, as Teddy Long named Show as the No. 1 contender for the title. It's certainly an interesting choice, as Show has been playing a heel or tweener for more than a year now. I imagine that a more natural face might get injected into the mix for a triple threat match, but I kind of like the tweener vs. heel idea better.

Some of the shows various angles - the Straight Edge Society picking on Mysterio, Drew McIntyre and Matt Hardy feuding - continued, and Kofi Kingston picked up a good win against Jericho, in the debut and the departure for them.

But the standout segment of the show was an intense verbal confrontation between Christian and Edge. It was the first time they had been paired together since Christian returned to the WWE, and there was a hinting of a future feud. With the exodus of talent from Smackdown and no clear feud for Christian right now, it would be nice to see him eventually get a title shot. While he was a world champion in TNA, and held the rebooted ECW title for several months, he hasn't ever really gotten a good shot at one of the big belts. If properly built, a Christian vs. Swagger (or Big Show) match could do some great business, a la the huge pops Benoit and Eddie Guerrero got when they won titles.

Finally, the guilty pleasure of the show? Lay-cool, or however you spell it. I talked about it the other week, but for some reason, it's a pretty neat gimmick for them. Seeing as the women wrestlers normally get no gimmick, it's nice that the WWE is letting them do anything. Sure, they lost again this week, but it makes sense given that Kelly Kelly was debuting.

Grade: B+

(p.s. As a bonus, check out this cool YouTube compilation of every WWE/F title change since 1990! Although I think the creator is missing a couple, it is pretty god damn thorough.)

TV Review: Weak and strong booking decisions bookend Smackdown

Punk is so great as a cult figure, even if
Gallows' longing is a bit... creepy.

While I praised the hectic nature of Smackdown with my entry last week, I should note that there is a fine line between being surprised and devaluing your product with cluster-eff booking. One reason why I've traditionally preferred the WWE over the WCW and, in present day, the TNA, is that their booking makes a bit more sense. Yeah, it can be boring and predictable at times, but the in-ring action normally makes up for it, and you don't have to worry about constant stipulation matches and screw job finishes in every other match.

Case in point: It sure would be nice if the WWE let its newest champion, Jack Swagger, actually win some matches. Fine, the Undertaker beat him on Monday Night Raw this week; that's a perfectly understandable win against one of the biggest stars of the past 20 years. He managed to pin Edge the other week, but it was only after Jericho hit a Codebreaker against him.

However, while I really enjoy the ring work of John Morrison and think he will be a future champion, it seems silly to let him pin Swagger two nights before a pay per view. It isn't one of the big four, but it still damages Swagger's credibility before the match. If he beats Randy Orton, then it devalues Orton, since Swagger has lost most of his recent matches. If he loses against Orton, it's going to be hard for him to re-establish himself as a threat in the championship chase.

I think the only way the WWE can salvage something from this is if they use it to launch a program between Morrison and Swagger. With Shawn Michaels being forced to retire, Morrison is the closest thing to a "new" HBK, so it might make sense to push him up the card a bit quick. Let me put on my Imaginary Booker hat for a second - I would have Swagger retain against Orton, and Morrison would challenge him to a match on the next Smackdown. Have Swagger cheap shot him and leave, but the match is made anyway by GM Teddy Long. And sometime between that show and the title shot, have Morrison beat the Undertaker in a long match, as a sort of "pass the torch" moment.

Do I think this will actually happen? No. But, it should!

Anyway, outside of the Swagger booking, the worst part of Friday's show was the inexplicable pairing of Kane and Rey Mysterio vs. the Straight Edge Society, consisting of CM Punk and Luke Gallows. Punk was at his cult leader best for the majority of the show, which is why I used his image to lead off this entry.

However, there was absolutely no mention on the show why Kane felt capable of teaming with Mysterio. I mean, it was only about 18 months ago that Kane, in storyline, tried to kill Mysterio. But hey, maybe he bought Rey a Fresco or something while they hung out backstage, and patched things up all nice-nice.

There were some good moments on the show though, some of them surprisingly so. It's not surprising that Jericho and Edge had another great verbal exchange, but who knew that Layla could slowly get over as the tag team partner of Michelle McCool in their blatant rip-off of TNA's Beautiful People? While neither McCool or Layla is as attractive as any of the Beautiful People, they play the characters a bit better to me, and the presence of Vickie Guerrero as their valet of sorts makes them more solidly heel-ish.

With some better booking, this could have been a much stronger episode. However, as is, this week's Smackdown was still light years ahead of a thrown together Raw with MacGruber guest hosting.

Grade: B-

The picture of Kane holding Rey's mask is from this site.

DON'T READ THIS: Spoiling WWE's Elimination Chamber PPV

I managed to catch the final two matches of the WWE PPV Elimination Chamber tonight, so I'll give my thoughts on them, plus another segment that they showed. Typical warning for this type of post: Massive spoilers follow! If you want to watch it, then don't read this!

- Smackdown Elimination Chamber: I thought this was a great match, with some sick spots and solid booking throughout. First, CM Punk is ridiculously over with his current "straight edge" cult gimmick. He plays the character PERFECTLY, and if he isn't a world champion within the next year while this plays out, I'd be really shocked.

Off the wall idea on my part - Why not have HBK join the straight edge cult? It's clear that he is on the outs with Triple H, and given his well known born again status, it seems like he might fit in with the group's mantra of no drugs and clean living. It would be simple enough for him to cut a promo badmouthing the fans for encouraging him to sin again, or something to that effect.

Anywho, back to the actual match. Punk eliminates R-Truth in about four minutes, giving him an entire minute of mic time to rant about the other competitors. Unfortunately though, the next one out is Rey, and he eliminates Punk shortly before the fourth competitor, Chris Jericho, got into the match.

Rey and Jericho fight for a bit, and surprisingly, the WWE let Morrison stay in the match, as the Internet speculation beforehand was rampant that he would get superkicked by HBK and taken out. Luckily though, he stayed in as the fifth entrant, and definitely showed that he deserved to be in the main event picture. He managed to eliminate Rey with Starship Pain, a nice feather in his cap, and he hung in tough with Jericho and The Undertaker (the final entrant).

If I had one problem with the booking in the match, it was that Morrison got eliminated kind of easily. After absorbing a good amount of pain, he was pinned after a somewhat-benign looking chokeslam to the metal floor, after a somewhat-long delay. At least give the guy the courtesy of a proper finisher, WWE! However, this is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, the final two are Jericho and Taker, who have about five minute of solo action. They manage to trade finishers - Jericho gets him in the Walls for a minute, and hits a Codebreaker, while Taker slaps Hell's Gate on for a bit and hits the Last Ride - but neither can manage a victory.

That leads to the final spot of the match, as HBK finally materializes at the PPV; I believe he was hiding underneath the ring. He gives Taker a Superkick to cost the match, while Jericho gives him an "ohmygod" look. Good reaction on Jericho's part, since he and HBK just got off a brutal feud (Jerishow vs. DX) and had a really brutal feud last year that involved him punching HBK's wife. After the kick, Jericho wins the title win a pin and easy 1-2-3.

- The match preceding the Smackdown chamber wasn't on the card to start the night: The Miz vs. MVP for the United States championship. To be honest, I was hoping for something different, since it feels like these two have wrestled each other about 500 times in the past couple of years. However, as expected, they both had a decent match, with The Miz earning some tough-guy points for wrestling with a busted-open forehead from a headbutt. While it wasn't Ric Flair-level blood, the doctor still came out immediately after the match to patch him up.

Anyway, the match featured one sick spot, and it wasn't even in the ring between the match participants. The Big Show attempted to interfere on Miz's behalf, and he was stopped by Mark Henry, MVP's tag team partner. Henry then charged after Show, but he sidestepped and tossed Henry through one of the black pads at ringside - It was a very cool spot, and I wasn't sure after if Henry was legit hurt or simply milking the injury for the match's purpose. With Henry knocked down, Miz distracted the ref, and Show landed the knockout right on MVP, leading to a Miz pinfall.

- I didn't catch the Raw elimination chamber, but I saw the results, and it sounds like a doozy. Apparently, Cena made HHH tap to win the title... Only to have Vince McMahon come to ringside, with Batista, for an impromptu title match! Batista easily pinned Cena, and he's the new champion. (Maybe Cena should just stay home on chamber nights, given his past history with the event.) Also in the match, Orton got pinned by Ted Jr., which surely sets the stage for their angle.

Elsewhere on the card, the women's title match for the vacant Diva's belt was stupidly changed to a tag team match between Maryse and Gail Kim vs. Michelle McCool and Layla. Maryse gave Gail Kim the Sid Justice treatment, refusing to tag in and letting her get beaten by the two heels. The whole thing sounds pretty miserable, and the WWE probably should have just had the scheduled match. Likewise, Drew McIntyre beat Kane, in a match that nobody was really salivating over.

Finally, William Regal got on the mic to hype up the WWE's newest program, in which established stars mentor up-and-comers, and to also bemoan that he wasn't on it. Edge came out and speared him, much to the crowd's delight. Also, Edge announced that he would, uh, announce, his Wrestlemania opponent on Monday Night Raw. So, you have that to look forward to, which is nice.

Switching gears and going over the top with WWE's Royal Rumble

To change directions completely in terms of the LOST posts... The Royal Rumble was this past weekend, and it remains my favorite WWE pay-per-view each year, and the one I make sure to catch. By its very nature – 30 entrants, 29 going over the top rope, a title shot at stake – there is normally lots of chaos, betrayals and action. (If that sounds a bit like a soap opera, well, it is professional wrestling we're talking about here.) This year's edition was both surprising and a bit by the book. NOTE: MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW!

- The actual Rumble match itself was won by Edge, as the 29th entrant and returning from a major injury. Unfortunately, he threw out my favorite wrestler, Chris Jericho, who had derided him on the microphone for several weeks after he was forced out of action. Surprisingly, Edge then went on to win the Rumble, as he managed to evade an attack by John Cena and then threw him out.

Excluding Edge's entrance, there were two standout moments of the Rumble. First, CM Punk was the third entrant and managed to eliminate the two men in the ring – Dolph Ziggler and Evan Bourne – with relative ease. While I would have liked to see Ziggler and Bourne, two talented wrestlers buried on Smackdown and Raw respectively, go a bit further, there is no shame in them getting eliminated by Punk, one of the best all-around performers around right now. After their elimination, Punk brought a microphone into the ring and kept up with his righteous preaching schtick of recent weeks. Good stuff!

Second, Shawn Michaels continued to show why he is one of the best performers around still. It surprised me that he was the one to turn on Triple H, and not vice versa. However, they were teasing this on previous episodes of Raw, so it wasn't a huge deal. I was shocked though when he was eliminated for real and then had a tantrum, superkicking several refs.

I'm not sure where the WWE goes from here though; normally attacking an official is a sure-fire way to draw heat from the crowd but HBK was still getting cheered. Unless they're prepared to go to another Attitude era, they need to think of another way to get him over as a heel. The only thing that immediately came to my mind was having his squash an unquestionably popular babyface (Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne?) in a brutal way. Any kind of confrontation with, say, Cena or HHH, will lead to a mixed reaction because of their love-hate relationship with casual fans and "smarks" in the crowd.

- As far as the undercard goes, I was disappointed that Orton didn't win against Seamus, who is the worst champion since Smackdown was forced to give Khali the belt for a few months after injuries to the Undertaker. To me, Seamus gets a lot of go-away heat from the crowd, as opposed to heat for being a heel.

And on the contrary, because of all the crap with Legacy / Priceless and Seamus, Orton is now a subtle face. It seems crazy, since a year ago he was punting the Vince McMahon in the head and essentially molesting Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. However, the crowd keeps cheering him in a variety of matches. I'm hoping the WWE nurtures this a bit, waiting for the perfect moment to unleash him on another heel. Maybe HBK, if his turn does take? It's hard to pinpoint an exact moment.

- Of the other matches on the undercard, none of them really caught my eye. Mysterio vs. Undertaker was solid, but I never got the feeling that Mysterio could win, making the result a foregone conclusion despite some decent action.

The Miz vs. MVP had a somewhat surprising ending. Not the fact that the Miz won, but that MVP attacked him after the bell. Much like Orton, the Miz has been getting over a face despite his cocky attitude. At this point, he reminds me of a rawer version of Chris Jericho, and it wouldn't surprise me if he turned full-face as well eventually. I thought that's what they were setting up at the Rumble, but they reversed course a bit on Raw. MVP has flip-flopped between both at this point, and while I don't think he'll ever elevate himself out of the midcard now, he does do better as a cocky heel to me then a face.

All photos from WWE.com.