RAW Recap 5/30/11

Last night, WWE seemed to be swinging for the fences with RAW. Long, solid matches. Decent story building. Not a lot of extra fluff. Does that give RAW the power to topple SmackDown as number one in my WWE fortified heart?

No. But it tried its darnedest. To the recap!

• R-Truth Rant: People on the East Coast and other places may have got "technical difficulties", but here on the West Coast of the US, we got the full effect of R-Truth's insanity. And, as most things he does lately, it was AMAZING. Truth has become such an effective heel over such a short time. This segment also set up our main event (Cena vs. Truth) so it was top to bottom solid. A good start to a decent show.

• Ziggler vs. Kofi: This match has only barely been built up in recent weeks, but that didn't stop this from being a good opening match. Despite a few segments where the two's styles didn't gel (leading to some awkwardness), both Kofi and Ziggler were great. The finish relied on Dolph staying evasive and using his brain, and yet again Kofi loses due to his reckless style. I'm not sure WHY the WWE powers that be put the belt on Kingston if they're going to continue to make him look this weak, but that's neither here nor there. This was just a solid opener. ALSO; it stands mentioning that Vickie Guerrero... lookin' pretty good lately. She can "Excuse Me" any time. That... that doesn't make sense...

• Another Pointless Divas Match: Yep, another Divas match that ends as quickly as it starts. I'm hoping that, seeing as what's going on with the Divas roster (revealed later in the show), WWE starts developing the Divas more, or putting the belt on more talented Divas that can carry actual matches. As it stands now, the Divas are barely worth mentioning.

• CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio: The match of the night. When you get two guys with such stellar in-ring ability together, the match can't help but be entertaining, and this was no exception. Mysterio still has that ability to sell just about any move, and Punk has such great ring psychology (working his heel persona the entire time). A couple of big false climaxes ramp up to Punk finishing this one with a kick (kinda cool to see). I'm sure this will lead to an underdeveloped feud between these two, but when they can put on matches like this, I couldn't care less.

• Kharma Says Goodbye: Surprise! The biggest news of last week is confirmed to be true by the woman herself. I gotta admit, I was pretty touched by what Kharma had to say, but I think the segment was handled poorly overall. As I've said before, the Divas are so underdeveloped and useless right now, what was the point of making the Bellas have a heel moment? What could have been an extremely sincere moment, instead turned ugly.

• Bourne vs. Swagger: Bourne and Swagger have a small feud currently going on, and they go at it again tonight. I think Swagger actually works particularly well against smaller guys, and he carries the match here as he shows off a lot of his strength and physicality. They give the win to Bourne with a roll-up, and keep the feud going. It's not much, but both these guys are good and it's good to see some mid-card feuds outside of the usual five or so "main" guys.

• ZACK RYDER!!!: Internet Champion sighting! I really don't know where they're headed with him showing up with Cena all the time, but I'm not complaining. WWWYKI.

• The Main Event: Surprisingly, the main event with Truth and Cena isn't a long drawn out war. Rather, the E uses this opportunity to further R-Truth in his heel status, having him steal a quick one against Cena via count-out. While this isn't exactly "wrestling", it's still good story-telling.

RAW was solid. Solid in terms of RAW, solid in terms of WWE, and solid in terms of wrestling. Period. Does it eclipse SmackDown? Not quite. I'm still feel like SmackDown's production value and booking beats RAW, but I think this is a step in the right direction. With all the stupid Michael Cole nonsense out of the way, I look forward to seeing where an unfettered RAW can go. As for Monday, it gets 4 out of 5 stars.

Be on the lookout for more Pro Wrestling fun and analysis later this week.

Until then check out some of my more recent postings...

Last Week's Wrestling Showcase

My Adventure in Reseda, California at PWG's All-Star Weekend

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla All-Star Weekend 8: NIGHT TWO

For as much as I despise the use of such vulgar terminology, I was, for all intents and purposes, a virgin to the world of indy pro wrestling. I'd seen videos, sure. I'd followed wrestlers and done my research. But, like anything beautiful in this world, one truly cannot understand or appreciate that majesty until experienced first hand. Last night, I spent a wild night with PWG, and it's a night that I'll never forget.

It's true, the American Legion Hall is not the prettiest girl in the world, nor is Reseda the ideal city I'd like to spend copious amounts of time in. I waited out in the cold, then was packed into a humid building literally rubbing shoulders with fellow wrestling fans mere feet away from a weathered ring. This was something new to me. Yet, mere minutes into the opening bell, I felt right at home.

Let me attempt to take you on a journey down the card with me.

• It Begins: Excalibur opens up the show. He tells the crowd that there have been changes to the card, but the crowd's biggest concern, that Low Ki was scratched, is addressed when Excalibur announces that Ki is in the building. It probably goes without saying that the audience approved.

• Brian Cage vs. Kenny King: Chuck Taylor accompanies Cage to the ring. Apparently, old Chucky T's the man who was scratched from the card as he pulled his groin at Night One. Did this prevent Chuck from regularly interfering with his "brother's" match against Kenny King? Hell no, and Chuck was as much fun to watch as the match itself. This was a solid opener which brought the humor, and some good technical spots. It didn't have the same big spots as matches later in the card, but King and Cage both got great responses. Cage got either his nose or mouth busted open at some point near the finish, as when King hit his finish and Cage hit the canvas, he was bleeding a good amount. Awesome opener.

• Nightmare Violence Connection vs. RockNES Monsters: It's Akira Tozawa's last night on the west coast before he heads back to Dragon Gate, and him and Kevin Steen are ready to kick in some skulls. Unfortunately, so are RockNES and they get the jump on the NVC. This match, only two into the card, set the bar RIDICULOUSLY high. In short, all four dudes beat the shit out of one another. Tozawa showed off his trademark tenacity and intensity, and the crowd was loving it.

• I'm just getting into the NWA Hollywood, and despite being regulars of that promotion, I've not seen RockNES wrestle until last night. And I must admit, I was impressed by both their ability to deal out exciting offense and to take ridiculously hard strikes and bumps. Highlight of the match had Steen Package Piledrive-ing Johnny Yuma onto the apron for the finish. Yes... he dropped a man on his head onto the apron. It was pretty gnarly-looking. Anyway, after some good sportsmanship, Steen is attempting to thank Tozawa for his awesome-ness, the Young Bucks do a run-in and attack Steen and Tozawa, but are saved by Hero. Again, thanks to the card shuffling, Hero challenges Tozawa to a singles match later in the show. The audience loved that they would get to see one more match from Tozawa.

• Willie Mack vs. Ricochet: With Chris Hero taking on Ricochet, he unfortunately couldn't take on Willie Mack (which admittedly made me a sad panda). However, Ricochet didn't have someone to wrestle with Chuck Taylor's groin and whatnot, so HEY, let's have these two go at it. This was just an extremely solid match. Obviously, with the last match what it was, this had a lot to try and top which it didn't quite do. However, Willie Mack is super over with the crowd, and there were a couple super surprising spots here. Two that stick out are a standing shooting star press by Mack and (almost unbelievably) a standing 630 senton by Ricochet. Both these dudes are bound for greatness, and I will keep being a huge Willie Mack fan as his skills just keep improving.

• Dynasty vs. The Cutlers: This was another big "HEY, NWA DUDES! SWEET!" match for me, as Joey Ryan (one of my favorites) teams up with Scorpio Sky to take on the Cutler brothers. Now, I don't know much about the Cutlers, but I think their heel gimmick really is great. To an audience that regularly engages in profanity, dudes who don't take condone that behavior are great. Even so, the audience was pretty well split on who they were rooting for. This was a more traditionally paced tag match than the NVC/RockNES match, but it was tons of fun. The Cutlers are as athletic as they come, Sky is exciting as all hell, and Ryan is so sound in just about everything he does. He even speared the Cutlers off the apron and into the front row not once, but twice during the match, not to mention delivering something that can only be described as the "Fuck-plex". Just some more fun stuff here.

• El Generico vs. Eddie Edwards: Another contender for match of the night (aren't they all?). Generico and Edwards both have similar styles, but different mentalities in the ring. Comedy came early in the match when an audience member yelled to Generico that Edwards hated orphans, sending Generico into an enraged frenzy. However, before too long, Edwards started working Generico's knee, which eventually became the focal point of the match and Generico's downfall. A lot of back and forth made this one super unpredictable, and although it was about as long as any other match, it was so fast paced that it seemed to go by in an instant. The audience was begging Edwards to come back at match's end.

• INTERMISSION: Huffing and puffing from the heat of American Legion, not to mention the awesome in-ring action, I actually looked forward to intermission time. But first, it was time for the merch table, and who should be manning it but...

• Yep, Claudio Castagnoli was selling his merch (Generico was selling his before the show), so I snatched up on of the new glow in the dark Kings of Wrestling shirts from him (and also managed to stammer out how awesome I thought he was while I shook the man's hand). I also, literally, ran into Eddie Edwards as I was heading outside. I made sure to tell him how amazing his match was. One bottle of water later and it was time for more wrestling!

• Young Bucks vs. Aries/Strong (Tag Team Championship): As good of heels the Cutlers were earlier, you just can't beat the Jacksons for antagonizing a crowd. Coming out in full "Impact Wrestling" garb, they make sure to get the audience firmly against them. Aries and Strong turn this one goofy right away as they chase the Bucks into the bathroom and come running out shoving toilet paper down their throats. This match also featured the most impressive use of back and chest rakes I've ever seen in a wrestling bout (and were pretty damn real if the evidence on Nick Jackson's back was any indication as he writhed around a couple feet from me). The Bucks actually steal a win with a crucifix pin, leading to the only "THAT WAS BULLSHIT" chant of the night. I'm guessing that's the reaction they wanted.

• Akira Tozawa vs. Chris Hero: Quite probably the match of the night (again, debatable), this was a classic David vs. Goliath match amped up to 11. Hero plays it stiff with the strikes and keeps knocking Tozawa down, but he keeps coming back. Just when it looks like Hero's got it wrapped up, Tozawa hulks up and delivers an amazing series of suplexes to Hero. I'm impressed at Tozawa's strength AND Hero's ability to take an obscene series of bumps to the back of his head and neck. Tozawa takes it (as could be expected), and what followed was a genuinely touching/hilarious show of affection between Tozawa and the PWG crowd. Never before have I heard a "Fuck You" chant be directed as a term of endearment. I may not have really followed him super closely while he was here, but I've become a Tozawa fan forever after his showing this night. Truly spectacular.

• Claudio Castagnoli vs. Low Ki (Heavyweight Championship): Finally, it was main event time. I think everybody was still doubting that Low Ki was actually in the building because he got a pretty huge pop when he came in. Of course everybody loves Claudio (I sure do). This match is definitely more deliberate and slow-paced, typically building up to bigger spots, where other matches on the card typically had a GO GO GO attitude once the match got properly underway. That didn't stop the match from having some of the night's most memorable spots, including some of the stiffest strikes of the night (kicks and uppercuts galore). Ki had a great counter to Claudio's pop-up uppercut with a double stomp, but Claudio ended up landing it for the victory.

And thus concluded an amazing night. I quickly got outta there following the main event as, it being about midnight and me having an hour+ of driving ahead of me, I couldn't dilly dally. But still, my initial experience on the indy circuit (PWG in-particular) was overwhelmingly positive. I cannot wait to get to another show in the coming months, not to mention picking up both nights of All-Star Weekend 8 when they're released on DVD. I'm officially hooked. 10 stars out of 5!

The Weekly Showcase 5/26/11

Wasn't there a thing I used to do for WWE Monday Night RAW? No? Well then why would you even bring it up?!

Anyway, welcome to the weekly showcase, where I try to hunt down some decent stuff for wrestling fans who may be a little underwhelmed at the weekly professional wrestling offerings from the mainstream promotions.

This week, I'd like to direct attention at a "local" promotion here in Southern California that I believe is just starting to gain traction thanks to some stellar talent. That promotion is NWA Hollywood. Every Saturday at 11 p.m. over here, this division of the greater National Wrestling Alliance puts on the best show possible.

Check out THIS particular episode featuring Colt Cabana taking on Adam Pearce for the heavyweight title. It's a ton of fun.

Head over to their website, find them on Twitter, and support their wrestlers. This is a fun promotion I'd like to see stick around.

Anyway, that's gonna do it for the showcase this week. I'll be at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's All-Star Weekend 8 this Saturday, making it my first indy show I've ever been to. Really looking forward to seeing Claudio Castagnoli, El Generico, Willie Mack, the Young Bucks and others.

Meanwhile check out past weeks' entries, be on the lookout for my SmackDown Sum-up this week, and possible stuff about my experience at the show.

Until next time, stay sexy, wrestling fans, and remember... genital warts DON'T rule.

SmackDown Sum-up 5/20/11

On such a day as this, when a wrestling legend passes away, it's kind of hard to think about the current state of wrestling. No, not because "wrestling sucks now, lol". It's simply that, no matter how good the quality of the wrestling I would see today, it'd serve as a reminder to the loss of one of the industry's greats.

Nevertheless, wrestling did happen. Tonight was SmackDown. And ya know what? As I've said in the past and will continue saying, it was a great show. SmackDown won't ever emerge from the shadow of its Monday night brother, but it consistently proves to be a better show. Here are my full impressions.

• Christian vs. Sheamus: Christian opens the show with a rock solid bout against Sheamus. The match even featured a panel in panel "promo" with Sheamus like it was old school wrestling, just in case you needed more explanation for why Sheamus wants to cave in Christian's head.
• Anyway, it's refreshing to have such a good match open the show, and while Christian takes the win, he also gets jumped by Mark Henry and Sheamus post-match. Randy comes in to save Christian, continuing his sentiment that he wants to fight Christian at his best at Over the Limit, and the two continue their friendly rivalry.

• The Low Point: Brie Bella, Divas Champion, takes on Natalya. Yes, the backwards women's division of WWE has fantastic wrestler (and attractive woman) Natalya JOBBING to a model. Thankfully, Naty's great in-ring ability carries the match, but the unconvincing finish combined with the heinous act of Brie getting an honest win over NATY EFFING NEIDHART made this easily the low point of the night. Thankfully, it happens less than halfway through the show, and we move on.

• 6-man Tag Action: Ezekiel Jackson is next out, and he (despite not being super talented on the mic) manages to rock a pretty good promo, effectively setting up a match between him and Wade Barrett at Over the Limit. I can't help but draw favorable comparisons to guys like Ron Simmons, and even Ahmed Johnson when Zeke is at his best, and he's definitely there now. The Corre, predictably, tries to assault Jackson, but Teddy Long (who I neber like) comes out and instead makes a match with Jackson teaming with Big Show and Kane taking on the Corre.
• What proceeds is a great tag match by any standard. Of course, the veterans of Kane and Big Show never disappoint, and they've been feuding with the Corre long enough that the chemistry is there. I shit on the Corre's booking for a while, as they weren't a credible threat for a good long while following Wrestlemania, but they are good workers. Jackson and Show/Kane take the win. Super match all around.

• Five Minute Challenge: The Chavo/Sin Cara rivalry comes to a head in the next installment. Chavo, again claiming to be the mentor of Sin Cara, jealously spouts on about how the luchador would be nothing without him and that he can beat Daniel Bryan, who Sin Cara defeated in 15 minutes last week, in 5. Bryan and Chavo proceed to put on a solid and suspenseful match.
• The timer is really what made this whole contest, as it gave the contest a sense of urgency and, whenever it would slow down, Chavo frantically was checking the clock. Chavo's a veteran, and his emotion sold the match. Bryan's a fantastic worker, and his physicality anchored it. In the end, Chavo couldn't pin Bryan in five minutes, even after hitting his frog splash. This made him snap, but luckily, like any good technico, Sin Cara swoops in to save the day. I'm not sure if this feud will conclude at Over the Limit, but it's certainly been entertaining thus far.

• Ted and Cody; the new odd couple: Cody Rhodes comes out accompanied by Ted DiBiase come out together, at first puzzling me as the two seemed to be feuding last week. Cody does his usual AMAZING schpeal, and bolstered by some funny stuff with Ted wearing a paper bag, I really enjoyed this segment. And guess what, there was actually wrestling following it! Sure, it was Ted squashing Trent Beretta, but it was still good to see a talky segment actually lead to somewhere. Fun stuff.

• Khali Gets Serious: The Great Khali continues his predicted move back into a monster heel. His new "manager", Jinder Mahal (I finally know his name) interrupts his match with Jey Uso and slaps him. This puts Khali into God mode, and he proceeds to destroy both Uso brothers in the next few minutes. I'm no big fan of Khali, but I do agree this is the correct direction to be taking him in. Let Khali be a monster. Leave the goofy comedy to Zack Ryder.

• Orton vs. Henry: The main event has Randy Orton taking on Mark Henry. I've been fairly skeptical about Orton being the "face" of SmackDown now, as I've seen his move set and personality homogenized to a John Cena-like level in recent weeks. However, this actually proves to be a good match, and Orton pulls out some more of his arsenal while Henry is actually shown to be dominating portions of the match.
• Sheamus, perhaps unsurprisingly, comes out and attacks Randy, making the match a no contest. Christian comes out to make the save, but actually stalls to let Randy get a bit beaten up showing that, although "cool" with each other, these two are still rivals. Orton and Christian clean house, and the curtain falls on SmackDown as we head into Over the Limit.

Momentum. Great matches. Good storytelling. Despite a slight hiccup here or there, SmackDown is, without a doubt, the best regularly televised wrestling show. Tonight's episode gets a 5 out of 5. This is where WWE needs to be heading.

To see how WWE DOESN'T need to be heading, check out my recap of this week's RAW HERE.

For my brief words on the death of the great Randy Savage, look HERE.

And for my weekly wrestling showcase, check HERE.

Like my stuff? Tell your rasslin' buddies. Until next time, I'm out...

"One Million Percent..." Macho Man: (1952-2011)

I feel that, since I've started this little blog up because of a life-long love of professional wrestling, I'd be remiss if I didn't say SOMETHING about today's events.

Today is a sad day. Plain and simple. The Macho Man is one of those larger than life persons that, if you were alive at any point in his long and storied wrestling careers, you know who he is. Personally, Macho Man has always been one of my favorites since I was a kid. His rivalries with some of greats of the WWF era are among my favorites, and Savage persisted well into my adolescence as the constant pinnacle of wrestling prowess both inside and outside of the ring.

The Macho Man so persisted in my life that, only a few years ago, when my Public Speaking class at Mt. San Antonio College required that we do a dramatic reading, I chose to recite a classic Macho Man promo to the class.

Whether he was wearing neon, black and white, red and black, or whatever, Macho Man was always amazing. Rest in peace, Mach. May you forever drop atomic elbows in the afterlife.

The Weekly Showcase 5/19/11

What I consider to be the weekly palette cleanser to any and all sub-par wrestling programming each week, it's the Weekly Showcase.

This week, I bring you the fast-paced fun and lunacy of Chikara. This match is from 2009, at the Philadelphia-based promotion's biggest show of the year King of Trios. It's a four-way elimination match featuring Chikara main-stay, Jigsaw, Indy favorite, El Generico, Nick Jackson of the Young Bucks, and Japanese superstar Kota Ibushi. I could tell you to enjoy, but I think that'd be redudant.

The best thing about Chikara, too, is that unlike many independent circuits, they regularly feature complete matches of their's each week in their "Podcast-a-go-go". This really lets people get a feel for the Chikara brand and entices people to get their event DVDs.

To check out the past Podcasts-a-go-go and all the other madness, check out their Youtube channel HERE.

Tomorrow's Friday, so SmackDown will be on (thankfully). My summation will be up Saturday.

Until then...

RAW Recap 5/17/11 (Cole Phelps Edition)

As I emerged from a haze of playing L.A. Noire and some extremely light "studying" for finals, I realized something... I hadn't fulfilled my obligation to the two faithful readers of the Rotunda and hadn't done a RAW recap.

So, now thirty minutes to 12 pm here on the west-coast, I'm just going to wrap this up in a nice tidy package, one that's probably much more efficient than my normal schtick. So without further ado... what was good and what sucked with last night's RAW!!!

WHAT WAS GOOD?!?!

• CM PUNK WRESTLES A MATCH! BEATS KOFI!
• KHARMA AGAIN! SHE'S COOL!
• REY MYSTERIO AND ALBERTO DEL RIO ACTUALLY HAVE A GOOD MATCH!
• R-TRUTH IS CRAZY! HE SHOULD NEVER CHANGE!
• ZACK RYDER MAKES AN APPEARANCE!

WHAT SUCKED?!?!

• DIVAS MATCH WAS NEEDED TO TRIGGER KHARMA APPEARANCE! WAS NOT GOOD!
• ANOTHER LONG LAWLER AND COLE SEGMENT! DEAR LORD, MAKE IT STOP!
• TAG CHAMPS LOSE TO TWO NEXUS MEMBERS WHO NEVER WRESTLE!
• SWAGGER VS. CENA MATCH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE NO-HOLDS-BARRED! WAS VERY HOLDS-BARRED!

Whew.

Now, if I may type normally again, I will sum up RAW as thus; it's a show that often has just as much, if not more wrestling and genuine talent as its counterpart on Friday nights. The problem is, RAW is still bogged down in stupid storylines and tired rivalries, and thus it seems like a much worse show. I'd give Monday's episode a 3 star rating out of 5. There's something good here, but it's surrounded by a crispy "stupid" shell.

And with that, I apologize to anybody who actually enjoys the RAW recap for the lack of quality/timeliness of this installment. Hopefully, I'll be at a stable point in L.A. Noire by Friday to make good on the SmackDown sum-up.

Until then, check out last week's installment, HERE.

And have a look at my new weekly feature, the Wrestling Showcase, HERE

SmackDown Sum-up 5/13/11

As weeks continue to go by in WWE television programming, I become more and more certain of a couple of things.

1. Zack Ryder deserves much more screen time than half these schmucks, and
2. SmackDown is a superior show to RAW.

This Friday was no exception, as although Friday's show didn't have the volume of matches Monday's had, the quality of them (along with the storytelling) vastly outstripped RAW. Let's head to the recap.

• "Nah guys, really. It's 'kay...": Christian opens up SmackDown, essentially trying to cool the ire of the crowd for him losing the belt last Friday. Christian's natural charisma aided in what could have been an extremely awkward attempt at appeasement, and before too long we were into the show and setting up matches. Mark Henry interrupts Christian, followed by Sheamus, both wanting a piece of the former champion. Before they can beat up on him too bad, Randy Orton, in true "face" fashion, rescues him. The main event is then set up later as a tag match featuring the four of them.

• Sin Cara vs. Daniel Bryan: I genuinely look forward to Sin Cara's weekly appearance, but when I saw he would be taking on Daniel Bryan, I nearly flipped my shit. This match was great. Lots of exciting spots, great technical wrestling going on, it was just a lot of fun.
• Of course, if this was just going to be a "card filler", the quality of wrestling would easily push it up. However, this match actually furthered the Sin Cara/Chavo angle, as Chavo not only introduced Sin Cara, but commentated the match AND interfered; giving Sin Cara an opening to land his finisher. Sin Cara, despite wearing a match, sells his emotions both during and after the match extremely well, and you could tell he was more than a little hot at Chavo for giving him the win in this dishonest fashion. I can foresee a real Rudo vs. Technico rivalry building between these two, and it should be fun to watch.

• Kharma Strikes Again: Layla's next to come out, and attempts to work the crowd. Sadly, I don't think she was succeeding very well, and I actually relished Michael Cole's interruption. Cole rants a little about his own feud with Jerry Lawler, but before he can get too far, Kharma comes out. She does her usual schtick on Layla, but in a surprise move, she actually goes after Cole. While I would have loved to have seen Kharma actually destroy Cole, and I think it would have gone further in showing how much of a threat she is (this whole "Diva destruction" angle is getting somewhat tired). It's good to consistently see Kharma, and I'm glad that WWE had the wisdom to NOT put a pointless Diva match to bring her out. I just hope we see her get an official match some time soon.

• The Corrrrre Comes Together: Kane is scheduled to have a match with Wade Barrett. Though I question their continually splitting them up, I understand Kane and Big Show are big singles draws that can hold good matches separately. Case in point, this is a solid match. Both wrestlers are in their element here in what turns out to be a back and forth brawl. Despite it being one of the night's longer matches, the pace was so high that it didn't drag in the least.
• The match ends in disqualification when the Corre interfere and beat up Kane. Ezekiel Jackson attempts to take on his old team, but in a surprisingly competent move, the Corre overpowers Zeke and takes him out as well. Not only was the match solid, but these post-match shenanigans all served great purpose as well. The Corre is looking to be a genuine threat again (after several months of looking just plain stupid) and the Corre and Zeke feud is furthered with the odds being continually stacked against Zeke. I expect it to come to a head in time for Over the Limit, but it may drag into Summer Slam as well.

• Khali's Reality Check: The Great Khali comes out for a "Kiss Cam" segment. Honestly, this was the point I felt SmackDown was going to lose momentum, but even this seemingly stupid segment served a purpose. As Khali has pretty much become a joke under the management of Ranjin Singh, a new player (who, not knowing his name, I can only identify as Khali's potential new handler), has seemingly appeared to whip Khali back into shape. I can foresee this leading to Khali becoming a "monster" heel again. Although I'm not a Khali fan in the slightest, I certainly would appreciate having him taken more seriously. We'll see where this goes.

• Only Smoke and Mirrors...: Cody Rhodes comes out to face his former partner, Ted DiBiase. As you might expect, Cody gives another silly/crazy rant. The match itself is somewhat forgettable, but it wasn't bad. Predictably, Rhodes takes it, but I can see this building him up to be more relevant in some kind of title picture. Also, Cody's gimmick, though silly, is lots of fun. It's good to see him getting a lot of appearances on LIVE shows.

• The Main event: Lastly, we have our main event. As most main events seem to be, we get a bit of a slower paced match, with the strongest segments being those that involved Christian vs. Sheamus. However, the pace eventually quickened halfway through the match, resulting in a very fun contest overall. The contrasting styles of all the dudes involved certainly helped with this. The finish was great, and ended the show on the highest of notes, leaving Orton staring down Christian and building up their rivalry for their match at Over the Limit.

SmackDown knows how a wrestling show is run. Build up a good main event? Check. Use your talented wrestlers to handle the mid card while building up intriguing plot lines? Check and Check. Use even dumb segments to build up towards future payoff? Triple check. When all that comes together, you get a 5 star show. That's what SmackDown was this Friday, and I for one can't wait for next week.

Monday is RAW, and with it will come my recap.

For last week's installment, click the link HERE.

For the first two installments of the Wrestling Showcase, my spotlight on Youtube's wrestling goodness, click the links HERE and HERE.

Until next time, stay sexy, peeps...

The Weekly Showcase 5/13/11

A day late, and multiple dollars short, it's the Weekly Showcase! To make it up to my three readers for being a day late, I've included other wrasslin' tidbits on top of the featured match. Heck, I'll probably do that each week from now on.

But anyway, today's match is from a 2010 Pro Wrestling NOAH match for the GHC Tag Title Belts. The match features champions Yoshihiro Takayama and Takuma Sano taking on the Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli.

Claudio has become one of my favorite wrestling personalities, and not just because of his wrestling. Here's him reviewing coffee in Japan.

Anyway, to the match! Check out the 20 minute epic below, with some great spots by the KOW, and some actual "sportsmanship" shown by the winners. Good stuff.

Stay tuned for my recap of tonight's SmackDown. Until then... stay sexy wrestling fans.

RAW Recap 5/9/11

The growing battle cry for wrestling fans is the simple "I Want Wrestling" mantra. This is definitely something I subscribe to as, although the simple act of "wrestling" has never been what the business was about, the ratio of wrestling to utter stupidity has reached dangerous levels in many promotions. WWE itself, the biggest wrestling promotion on the planet has, for many years, been more about working the mic than running the ropes.

But last night's RAW actually had wrestling. 6 matches in total filled out the show's two hours. However, even after that, I found myself relatively bored with the whole thing. The reason? Let's hit the recap and try to discern that...

• Number One Contender: Alberto Del Rio opens the show with a monologue about why he should be given a shot at the title. Before he gets too far, however, Rey comes out and says basically the same thing. Then the Miz. Then R-Truth. In fact, this opening segment is something that WWE just recently did when setting up the cage match for Extreme Rules. While this sort of thing works on occasion, it all just felt so tired as the opening this week. Don't get me wrong, with Rey and ADR just arriving on RAW, it's good to see them getting in the title picture already, but couldn't this be done another way?
• Anyway, the GM rings in and decides to make a triple threat match for the main event to determine the number one contender. That means that R-Truth ends up getting left out, allowing for him to continue his tirades about not getting a shot at the "big one". Again, this opening did one thing, and that was to set up the main event. Yet it took up a good chunk of show, and only POSSIBLY advanced one storyline. It just wasn't what the show needed to open up.

• Just Put her in a match, already!: A Divas tag match takes place, but really the only notable thing is that, as is the norm now, Kharma comes out during the post-match to attack somebody. This time, it's Eve Torres (who we miss get decked by Kong because of some shoddy camera work). I don't deny this has been an entertaining string of appearances by Kharma, but at some point, I think the audience GETS IT. Just put her in a match already so Kharma can show off some more of her repertoire!

• So Much for Mason Ryan...: So Mason Ryan actually gets a legitimate shot at Kane, which I figure is going to be used to further set up his big MONSTER persona. It doesn't. A mediocre match that ends in a disqualification as Kane was on the verge of victory. Kane and Big Show then clear out Nexus. I don't know if it's because they want Kane and Show to be in a collective feud against Nexus, but then what the heck was the random Mason Ryan thing last week? I didn't get it, and there just wasn't a good match to attach to it.

• Ziggler vs. Santino: Santino takes on the "new look" Ziggler in a bit of a squash. I'm glad that they're actually BUILDING up Ziggler as a legitimate threat again, likely to take on Kofi Kingston, but a squash is a squash. Just another "meh" installment.

• Zack FUCKIN' Ryder!!!: He makes an appearance... I was excited.

• Cena vs. Riley: Alex Riley, who for some reason is not on SmackDown despite being drafted there, takes on John Cena for the "honor" of his master, the Miz. This was actually not a bad match. The problem, however, is that I don't think anybody believed Riley had a chance in this match. At all. It was fine, sure, and I liked Cena's taunting of Miz by doing multiple AA's on Riley, but it just wasn't terribly exciting. Decent, though.

• This is the angle that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends...: Cole and Lawler are feuding! Isn't that so great that this dumb announcer vs. announcer feud has been going on for a good three months or more now? I know I sure am. More of this nonsense ensues, and Swagger hits Lawler from behind. Awesome.

• Kingston vs. Swagger: Out of nowhere, Kofi defends his belt against Swagger. I'm kind of getting fed up with this lack of build up for these secondary titles, but WHATEVER! A MATCH! And heck, this was a good one, which is probably to be expected with the quality of performers both these dudes are. Kofi takes the victory in the match of the night.

• The Main Event: Rey, Del Rio, and Miz square off in the main event. This was another great match (yeah, surprising I know), but the problem was, despite the stakes and the people involved, the audience gave no reaction! I don't understand what their problem was, but despite their being some pretty good three-person spots in this match, nobody seemed to care. Still, there were some really cool moments here in a good match. Still, I feel like it's silly that Miz took the victory, and the number one contender spot. I woulda liked to see somebody else take on Cena, but oh well. Cena makes the match for Over the Limit as an "I Quit" match, and R-Truth attacks Rey as the show ends. Weird...

In the end, Monday's episode of RAW has me torn. On the one hand, it had a lot of wrestling for an episode of RAW. On the other, very little of that wrestling was either quality or worthwhile. There was some good stuff, but the pacing was so off that it made it difficult to enjoy. If I had to give it a score, I'd give it 3 out of 5 for sheer volume and for the pair of quality matches included.

SmackDown sum-up coming up later this week, as is the showcase, so stay tuned all five of my loyal readers.

Until next time...

SmackDown Sum-up 5/6/11 (Awkward Edition)

If you're reading this, then you probably know what happened this week on WWE SmackDown. I'd love to say that this dire error in judgement was just further evidence to WWE's losing touch with its fans etc. etc... I just can't.

That's because this week's episode of SmackDown was a really fun wrestling show. It had great matches, it didn't mess around with too much bullshit.

Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with WWE's decision to have Christian drop the belt less than a week after winning it, and the main event was by far the worst match of the show (and just not a very good match in general), but should it really reflect on the show as a whole? Well let's hit the recap, trying to IGNORE that awkward knowledge of what's coming at the end, and see how it holds up.

• I STILL Neber Like You, Teddie!: Christian opens the show, as new champ, and works the crowd up. Unfortunately, before too long, competitors start coming out of the woodwork, including Mark Henry, Great Khali, and Randy Orton, all wanting a shot at Captain Charisma's belt. Teddie Long comes out and decides to make a match between Christian and whoever the "WWE Universe" chooses.
• I really wonder who they'd choose!!! Of course, Randy gets the largest crowd response (and unfortunately, seemed to get a bigger response than the champ...), and the match is set. What I found odd about this opening was the fact that it seems to set Khali and Henry as the SmackDown stable's biggest competitors? What? I guess this was so there'd be no doubt the people would want Orton v. Christian, but it still seemed odd. There was also some strange foreshadowing of Khali perhaps going through a big heel change again, as there's... some guy (sorry, I forget his name) who keeps questioning how Khali is being trained, and looks like he's gonna take over managing duties of him soon. I... really don't care.

• Sheamus vs. Bryan: And just like that, SmackDown comes strong out of the gate with this match up. Sheamus is a guy who I think is vastly improving as time goes by, and Daniel Bryan is among my absolute favorites. As such, this was a good match. There were some really cool spots, including Bryan hitting his big missile dropkick, and the finish which had Sheamus hitting two Brogue Kicks (including one on Bryan as he tried to dive outside). I like the physicality these two show in their matches, and hope this becomes a regular feud. However, with Sheamus likely entering the title picture, a place I'm not sure Daniel Bryan will ever get the chance to go, I'm not sure if it'll continue. Still. Awesome match to start out.

• Cody Rhodes is still Crazy: Yes he is.

• Zeke vs. Show: The Corrrrrrrre's in-fighting continue as Ezekiel Jackson takes on Big Show. A really entertaining match with a dumb finish. Big Show showed some surprising athletic acumen and some mat wrestling skills. Zeke REALLY impressed me (as someone who doesn't really like him) with his sheer strength. Sadly, the match is finished with a "big clothesline", one which Show didn't sell nearly good enough to have him lose to it convincingly. After his victory, Zeke leaves his Corre members at ringside, setting up a confrontation later in the show.

• *Divas Match* BOO! *Kharma* YAY!: Layla and Alicia Fox have a Divas match. It's bad. Luckily, much like she did on Monday, Kharma comes out and attacks the loser. Alicia actually tries to "attack" Kharma, which leads to more hilarity from Kharma's attack. I really can't wait until we actually get to see her in an actual match. Also, people were chanting for her to give Alicia ANOTHER Implant Buster after the first one. Now that's funny.
  

• Zeke gets Corrrrrred: The Corre question Zeke's actions backstage. Zeke, not havin' none of it, attacks Barrett, Gabriel, and Slater. Of course, he's outnumbered, and soon succumbs to blows, chairs, and laundry carts. I really liked this portion of the show 1.) because it means that the Corre is now leaner without its most problem-causing member, perhaps salvaging the team as a big heel stable and 2.) it means Zeke can perhaps start a feud with Barrett and lead to a IC championship match. Also, it was just good to see an actual vicious-looking backstage attack on a wrestling show again, one that involved foreign objects and some genuine intensity.

• Cara vs. Kidd: Sin Cara gets some more exposure on SmackDown, taking on Tyson Kidd this week. A really good match-up, both wrestler's athleticism and wrestling style made this match a lot of fun to watch. It also served dual purpose of starting a new feud, as Chavo Guerrero was guest-commentating, and pretty much trashed Sin Cara the whole time. I think this could be a fun feud, if a bit predictable, as there's no way that Chavo isn't being used just to put Sin Cara up further. Oh yeah, and Sin Cara won the match by hitting his finisher. No botches!!

• This is the Moment...: And here it is. The main event, and boy did it suck. Ok, it wasn't a TERRIBLE match by any stretch of the imagination, but the fact of the matter is is that it wasn't anything special. Orton pretty much dominated the offense the entire match (puzzling as he was the fucking challenger!), and his style and spots are getting so predictable that he's not even that entertaining to watch.
• Heck, even the finish, an RKO from a leaping opponent, was done at least two separate times in Orton's feud with CM Punk. The fact of the matter is that, after the match at Extreme Rules and the reaction that followed, Christian deserved to lose his title working a match that was SPECIAL. There was nothing special about this match, and it only served to "make Randy look good". Christian did his job, and one has to think at least some of his reaction at the end of the match was somewhat genuine. It was just a deflating finish to a really great show.

But despite that, my recaps attempt to give a rating to the show as a whole. The fact of the matter is that last night's SmackDown was great. It had great match ups and set up some involving storylines. The Orton situation is unfortunate, but hopefully WWE sees the numerous fan reactions and uses this opportunity to tell even better stories. I give last night's SmackDown gets a solid 4 stars out of 5.

Stay tuned to the Rotunda next week for recaps of next week shows, and another installment of the Wrestling Showcase.

Until next time...

The Weekly Showcase 5/5/11

As a way to give the old Rotunda here a bit more weekly muscle, I've decided to go ahead and include another feature I'd like to call the showcase. It will be where I showcase the best match I've found on Youtube that week.

Because I'm just that big of a pro wrestling nerd. I spend time watching old matches on Youtube.

This week's showcase will feature a match from 2004 with Bryan Danielson (AKA American Dragon, AKA WWE's Daniel Bryan) taking on Koji Kanemoto. Do I know the promotion they're wrestling for? No. Is it awesome? Yes. Enjoy.

Stay tuned in the next couple of days for my response to this week's, let's say, CONTROVERSIAL episode of SmackDown.

Until then...

Rix RAW recap 5/2/11

Well, it's post-Extreme Rules, post-WWE Draft. It's time to get down to some wrestling, right?

*The Rock's Birthday Celebration*

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...

Okay yes, I understand that in the world of professional wrestling you're going to be seeing a lot more talking than the name of the "sport" might imply, heck South Park did a whole episode essentially parodying that very notion. And I'm overall okay with that.

The problem is that, typically, the talking and the other assorted nonsense furthers the overall "plot" of the show, setting up and perpetuating the "reasons" for why two grown men (or women) would climb into a ring in their underpants, in front of thousands of people and pretend to fight.

So it greatly troubles me when, in what should be the most important show in a while for WWE, we instead shift focus on the Rock, who won't even be wrestling for another year or so! Don't get me wrong, much of Rock's antics here, and it was fun to see other wrestlers in the back
ground and such just being goofy. Still, to steal a schtick from Doctor Ian Malcom, "You do plan to have WRESTLING... on your WRESTLING SHOW? Hello? Yes?"

But this rant has gone on for too long without context, so let's just get to the recap proper.

• AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!: The show opens with a recap of the events of 9/11 and the WWE's response to that fateful day. Personally, I have no problem with this, and not just because WWE video packages are usually fantastically done. Nah, the fact is that when something huge happens here in America, I expect WWE to comment on it in some way, and this was completely enjoyable. Not to mention, we get an appearance from Lilian Garcia, and she wasn't looking half bad at all.

• The Celebration Begins: The Rock is next to hit the ring and, in true Rock fashion, milks the intro for all its worth. The Rock is never NOT entertaining, sure, but this "party" of his just takes way too long to get started. It also stands to mention that, who should interrupt Rock, but Michael Cole. Sure, he gets the Rock Bottom and the People's Elbow, but he just needs to stop consistently getting in the ring! Also, can anybody tell me what the hell that new "sign" Rock kept using? By the end of the night, it seemed obvious that he was trying to make it his new "symbol". I think DDP is going to have to keep an eye on this one.

• The Truth/Morrison Situation: Now 30 minutes into the show, we FINALLY get some wrestling. OR DO WE?!
• No we don't. In what seems to prove that they have nowhere to go with this storyline, R-Truth attacks Morrison on the ramp before their match can get underway. Truth spikes Morrison, then leaves, then returns to spike him again. I didn't see the point of any of this. What are they trying to get across? That R-Truth is bad? I think we got it after the ten minutes they gave him to talk last week. That him and Morrison don't like each other? WE GOT IT! Now lets see these two actually wrestle!

• A Turning Point in the Divas Division?: Another "match" occurs, this time with Kelly Kelly and Maryse. Literally a minute into the match (after Kelly has landed a "devastating" series of moves), we get the second appearance of Kharma (AKA Awesome Kong). I was hoping Kong would just jump in and destroy everybody, but sadly she just stalks down to the ring (and Maryse has to sell being "stunned" this whole time), and performs and Implant Buster on Maryse. It's somewhat satisfying, and I really do look forward to Kong's stint in WWE, but sadly I feel like she could have made a bigger impact here. I guess they're building her up slowly.

• Wrestlemania Rematch: FINALLY after about an hour into the show, the first actual match happens. It's the Miz vs. John Cena in what, by all accounts to me, should have been how the Main Event for Wrestlemania REALLY went down (yes, I know Miz had the belt at Wrestlemania, but still). This match was either pretty darn good, or the lack of wrestling thus far on the show made it look better than it was, but either way I was entertained. Cena actually showed a couple of moves he doesn't normally do, including a standing dropkick, and both wrestlers showed resiliency by kicking out of one another's finish. There weren't a ton of big spots, and the match had a slower more deliberate pace, but at least it felt like these guys were trying unlike when they fought at Wrestlemania.
• Heck, I even thought the finish was pretty good. Miz nails Cena with the belt, but doesn't have anywhere to hide it so, when he does get the 3-count, the ref actually sees Miz with the belt and disqualifies him. It had a bit of a swerve with Miz actually being declared champion again for about a second, and then giving the belt back to Cena. I still think they need to let Miz win matches without cheating if they really want to build him as a credible heel, but whatever. Good match.

• Mysterio and Kingston take on Swagger and McIntyre: Two wrestling matches in a row?! What is this madness? Anyway, Rey and Kofi take on Jack Swagger and Drew McIntyre. This was another fun match, and that's mainly due to the talent involved. Rey and Kingston had some nice double-team spots, and McIntyre and Swagger worked well at getting heat as the heels in this match. Overall, just a solid match, and with Alberto Del Rio sitting ringside, I wouldn't be surprised to see him involved in a rivalry with Mysterio (given he bad-mouthed him throughout the match, a not-so-subtle hint at future WWE storylines).

• Can't Stop the Dumb: I should mention now that, inter-cutting the whole show were skits with the Rock and various other superstars at his birthday party. These were hit and miss, most of which being throwaway gags that Rock manages to save from being completely worthless. However, after the long intro and the giant lull that followed without wrestling, I just couldn't get excited for any of them. They weren't bad, but again, this whole event just seemed somewhat out of place in a show that A.) Followed a PPV, and B.) Followed the effing WWE Draft! I mean, it's been a week and I still don't really feel like all that much has changed.

• Where Did that Come From?: What turned out to be the last match of the night (so I guess the default main event?!) was Kane vs. Mason Ryan of the New Nexus. This puzzled me, because quite frankly, shouldn't this be where Miz v. Cena should have taken place? As it was, the match was essentially an attempt to put Ryan over as this big powerhouse, as he ends up overpowering Kane a few times until Nexus jumps in and interferes. Heck, when the Big Show comes in for the save, Ryan spears him, and this is AFTER he blocks a Kane chokeslam! I may just be repeating my bullet-point title here, but honestly, WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? Also, it's weird that Kane and Show are already going to have a rivalry with the whole of Nexus after they JUST dismantled the Corre. This whole finale just felt... weird.

• Annnnnd we're out: Naturally, the real finale of the show had Rock back in the ring. Vince comes out (which was surprising), and he introduces a video package of Rock's legacy, including his childhood, college years, and career. It's well done, as should be expected, and then Maya comes out to sing happy birthday to him (marking the second useless cameo by a musical artist, and about the twentieth cameo overall). Rock says his famous line, the pyro goes off, confetti drops, and that's it.

Therein lies the problem last night's RAW. It's fine if WWE wants to celebrate Rock's birthday, but it utterly dominated the entire show. It was fun in spots, sure, and frequently entertaining, but I watch wrestling shows to watch wrestling.



And it's not just me, that seems to be the common consensus of fans of professional wrestling. For those reasons, I can't give last night's RAW higher than a 2 star rating.

Now that that nonsense is over, it's time for their to be actual wrestling, right SmackDown? RIGHT?!

Until then...