The 1/8th Nelson

Incredible

Masked Marvel — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:49:17 +0000

This is by far the best work/shoot promo I’ve ever heard. CM Punk is incredible and it will be a shame if the WWE lets him get away from them. This is flat out amazing.

And TNA – I know you try to make the “real” things happen. THIS is how it is done.

C.M. Punk’s “Announcement”

codebreaker30 — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:23:03 +0000

The “buzz” throughout the wrestling world is the reaction to the end of the 6/20 Raw, and the “Nexus” of that buzz is C.M. Punk (pun intended). To set it up: Punk, at the top of Raw, came out to the ring and stated that he is now the#1 Contender to John Cena and the WWE Championship, based on his (Punk’s) win over Cena last week and his win over Rey Mysterio at Capitol Punishment. He staged a “sit-in” in the ring until the Raw GM officially made him top contender. Raw GM told him to leave; Punk made Snow Angels in the ring. GM then told Punk that, due to his “slight disrespect”, he would now have to face Alberto del Rio for the spot. Punk mocked del Rio and the GM; GM then added Mysterio to the match.

We now get to the match:

The announcement afterwards:

Annonucement

A couple of sites have also picked up the story, including one back in April:

Sports Entertainment Scoops

Wrestling News Source

What does this mean for the WWE Title (possibly) and Raw? Well, for starters, it may pretty much kill off the (New) Nexus finally. Who, on Raw, has the mic skills, the heat, and the talent, to lead them? Who could replace C.M. Punk, in general, on the Raw roster? He is/was one of the most well-rounded stars in the WWE, much less the Raw brand. His agility, speed, and ruthlessness made him an excellent match for just about any style of offense an opponent could throw at him. Throw him some cunning and a Master mind-gamesman, and you have a very dangerous man on your hands.

With the WWE Title: would Punk win the title only to lose it that night to the MITB winner (it’s very possible)? Would he win, “retire” as Champion, only to come back at next year’s WM as part of the Main Event (doubtful)? Would he lose to Cena and be humiliated on the way out the door (ala Lita vs. Trish Stratus)?

One thing is for sure: if C.M. Punk leaves, it will be a big blow to the WWE Universe.

Chris Benoit shown in new WCW DVD

Masked Marvel — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 23:13:07 +0000

WWE’s recent Very Best of WCW Nitro DVD is a must-see for any fan of WCW from 1995 through its demise in 2001. It features many of the crucial moments of WCW, especially some of the highlights of the nWo (back when it was good) including the backstage attack in which Rey Mysterio got lawn-darted into the production truck.

But what really struck me about it was as I was watching a tag team match between Hollywood Hogan and Randy Savage against Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, suddenly there was someone I hadn’t seen in a WWE production in four years.

The commentary seemed to cut out to avoid his name being used, but there he was right in the ring. Chris Benoit footage was being shown. I nodded approvingly – despite the horrors of his final days I still remember the Chris Benoit I had been such a big fan of for over a decade. It seemed that WWE was finally able to show archive footage of Benoit’s career. (Also of note, his wife Nancy in her ring persona Woman was in Ric Flair’s corner for that match).

But then I saw something that shocked me. The Four Horseman reunion of September 1998 was there, uncut, in its entirety. Arn Anderson saying that Benoit had come to him. No name missing from the audio. Then the introductions were there and out came Benoit, front and center with his music playing and everything. I was amazed and quite pleased.

Benoit will never be in the WWE Hall of Fame. There will never be a retrospective of his life and career because it cannot be separated from the choices he made at the end of it. But wrestling history that he was a part of can be used and can be shown without drawing attention to him. A Wrestlemania box set can have the main event of WrestleMania XX in it. It happened. Maybe cut the celebration at the end, but put the match in. The WrestleMania 2000 match between Benoit, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho? Let the match be shown. Don’t call attention to Benoit – don’t let the focus fall solely on him and it can be brought back into the record books.

This DVD set looks to be the first step on being able to preserve wrestling history without the holes caused by the Benoit tragedy. And I am happy to be able to see that.

Solution?

codebreaker30 — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:01:48 +0000

While having a few weeks off, I’ve had the chance to sit back and watch more of TNA and WWE than in the recent past. I’ve noticed that a few superstars that have struggled in the mid-card and lower, such as R-Truth, have stepped their game up (both in-ring and on the mic). There are a few, however, that have gone/are going in the opposite direction and fast. These are stars with big-time name recognition and hype but have done little in the past year or so. Who are they and what can be done to get them higher up the ladder?

1) Ted DiBiase. Think back to the days of Legacy… of the 3, who did you think would be the one who would do very little after the breakup of the group. Raise your hands if you thought it would be Cody Rhodes (*hand is raised*). Instead, it’s been DiBiase. He had a little thing going with Maryse and the Million Dollar Title but has done crap since. The son of the “Million Dollar Man” should be AT LEAST in serious contention for the U.S. Title, if not on the outside of the WWE/World Title pictures, not having the very rare backstage appearance before a commercial break.

2) Drew McIntyre. For nearly a year, he ruled the mid/upper-mid card as the IC Champion, with some VERY good matches against Kofi Kingston and John Morrison, among others. After losing the title, he basically became an afterthought (I still can’t believe he lost CLEANLY to Chris Masters on Superstars a few weeks ago). There is simply TOO MUCH TALENT in McIntyre to not have him causing havoc in the Title pictures.

3) Samoa Joe. He had a nearly 2 year unbeaten streak in ROH. He had another 18-month unbeaten streak in TNA. He (along with AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels) was not only the best thing going in the X-Division at the time, but perhaps all of TNA. So what’s happened in the last 6-8 months? Losing to Crimson in under 3 minutes? Walking away from potential fights? Not being mentioned in the TNA World Title picture? Or the X-Division Title picture? Even the TV Title chase??

What can these 3 do to get out of their slides? Well, in Joe’s case, I think one of 2 things can help:

a) He can go completely bad-a$$ heel. I talking about loose-cannon, destroy anything that moves, heel. His target(s) should start with Fourtune and Styles and/or Daniels (re-capturing the “magic”, unless TNA screws it up). If/when that ends, he should turn his rage on the X-Division until he gets the title. Have him hold the belt until someone can finally step up and end his reign of terror. It gets him a belt, gets his “name” back, and he can actually DO something other than lose.

b) He could become the “franchise” of TNA by going after Immortal and taking them out, one by one. Again, this depends on TNA’s writers not screwing things up.

In DiBiase and McIntyre’s case, it may involve Arn Anderson, a few months, and a stable.

Arn could be sitting ringside, watching matches and “taking notes”. Whenever he see DiBiase and McIntyre lose, he gets increasingly frustrated. After a few weeks (say, 3-5), he gets fed up and rips them a new one publically. He decides to take them under his wing to get them to reach “their potential”. As they wrestle with Arn in their corner, the wins start coming… as does a newly found cunning (DiBiase) and ruthlessness (McIntyre). Arn also adds a 3rd star to this stable, based on his notes, to help them along (Daniel Bryan? Justin Gabriel?). Arn, after a while, decides that they “are ready”… and reveals the leader and 4th member (see where this is going now…?). Yes, reviving the 4 Horsemen through McIntyre and DiBiase, while not likely, is not a bad way to jumpstart their careers.

Whatever solution is out there, Samoa Joe, Drew McIntyre, and Ted DiBiase really need to get going.

Chyna coming to TNA?

Masked Marvel — Thu, 05 May 2011 17:20:22 +0000

I was perusing Slam! Sports’ ‘News and Rumors’ section for wrestling (far less gossip and pop-ups than your run-of-the-mill dirt sheet site) when suddenly I came upon it. Just sitting there with all the other news, as if they were unaware of how awful it could potentially be.

Joanie Laurer, the former Chyna in the WWE, will debuting with TNA in the next few weeks.

Chyna is a spectacular example of the rise and fall of a wrestler fast forwarded. Her mainstream career in the WWE lasted just four years, going from 1997 to 2001. Beginning as the bodyguard of Triple H and gaining fame with D-Generation X, Chyna broke off on her own as Triple H began his rise to stardom. Chyna’s biggest attraction at the time was her ability to wrestle the men of the company and she became the first (~~and only~~) woman to win a men’s title in the WWE when she captured the Intercontinental title. But eventually she would be phased out of that role and pushed into the women’s division before ultimately vanishing in mid-2001 before the WCW invasion began.

Since that point, Chyna has been a mess. She appeared on the reality series where she drank heavily had the world learned of her train wreck relationship with Sean Waltman (the former X-Pac), complete with a commercially released sex tape. Anything public from Chyna since that point has involved domestic abuse, drugs or alcohol. She appeared on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, which probably isn’t too good of a sign. Last year, she was hospitalized after ODing on sleeping meds. This year, she debuts for TNA.

The more I think about it, the more I believe that there simply is no benefit to TNA for bringing in Chyna. Her name recognition by this point holds about as much excitement as other notable gimmicks of the late ’90s (Gangrel, the Godfather, Val Venis, “Hole in One” Barry Darsow) and she won’t add any kind of anything to whatever storyline she goes into. She hasn’t wrestled in nearly a decade, has lost most of the muscletone that made her stand out to begin with, and honestly wasn’t that good to begin with. But she’s someone who was popular at one point, and by TNA logic, that’s all someone needs to secure at least some employment.

I wonder what Jay Lethal’s doing right now.

EDIT: Upon some research, I learned that Jacqueline captured the WWE Cruiserweight Title at one point, so Chyna wasn’t the ONLY one to do it. Of course, with a title history also featuring Hornswoggle, Oklahoma and Chavo Classic, you could see why I’d have forgotten. Jacqueline also won the Television title in WCW and Madusa won the Cruiserweight as well, just not in WWE.

The errs of Sting, the fighting champion

Masked Marvel — Thu, 05 May 2011 13:11:36 +0000

TNA is really making it hard for themselves with this one. My self-imposed exile from TNA programming ended last week and, as I had predicted, I returned to a far different place than I had left from. But one thing had stayed well in place during my absence and it was the thing that had initially turned me from TNA to begin with – Sting as the TNA champion.

As I put together the state of TNA, I learned that Sting had become something of a fighting champion, willingly putting his title on the line against all comers anywhere, anytime. So last week on Impact, he had defeated Matt Hardy (who apparently is still carrying around the Jeff Hardy belt) and this week it was a triple threat between him, Mr. Anderson and Bully Ray (who apparently is now in Immortal).

But this plot for Sting is not only over-utilizing the star (and will likely lead to him getting injured) but is also a rare example of giving too much to the fans. The role for Sting that would not only make him a bigger attraction but also even heap some much-needed prestige on the nearly ridiculous TNA Championship is far simpler than anyone might consider.

Icon or not, it’s a harsh fact that Sting is 52 years old. He’s been wrestling for over two decades now. Even the most talented of wrestlers are eventually slowed and even hampered by aging bodies. Hulk Hogan has a terrible back. Undertaker can’t go two months without getting injured in the ring. Sting was brought back to TNA and tossed directly into the most important role of the company (or at least it should be) on the rather misguided thought that fans desperately wanted to see him anywhere, rather than just the WWE. And with Jeff Hardy drugging himself out of the picture, TNA has had to improvise since Victory Road and that meant more Sting.

But what TNA doesn’t realize is that they don’t actually have to deliver Sting defending his title week after week. In fact, the LESS they offer of Sting defending his title, the more exciting it becomes when it actually does happen. For example, TNA currently has Sting taking on any comers for his title. That means that there is no set #1 contender for the title, nor is there any way to determine how one would become the champion. Thus anyone can walk up to Sting and say “Hey, I want a shot” and depending on Sting’s respect/hate for the person, it’s a pretty good chance that he’ll give it to him. But that means that in two weeks (I haven’t gone further back than that) you’ve knocked out Matt Hardy, Mr. Anderson and Bully Ray from title contention for a possible PPV match. After all, why would fans pay to see the match again after you gave it away for free? (Yes, I’m aware they’ll probably do it anyway.)

With less than two weeks away from Sacrifice, the build up should be between Sting and Rob Van Dam. They should be working on giving fans a storyline that would make them want to see the match on PPV - that’s the point of having them. But instead, Sting’s busy messing around with all these other contenders, and thus once RVD’s scheduled match comes around it feels like just another match – and certainly not one worth shilling out 40 bucks on.

TNA’s right about one thing – Sting is a big deal in wrestling. But unfortunately they have no idea of how to utilize that popularity aside from “toss him out there as much as possible”. His popularity soared back in late ’90s WCW because fans WANTED to see him so much and WCW gave infrequent tastes. When Sting did appear, it was so special that fans would keep coming back in the hopes that they might see him do something again. But had Sting showed up at Uncensored 1997, challenged Hollywood Hogan for the WCW title, defeated him and gone on as a fighting champion week in and week out for anyone from Kevin Nash to Kenny Kaos, he would have lost his intrigue – what made him special.

Refining a Title
But the TNA Championship has problems of its own, even without Sting’s overexposure. Something that American professional wrestling seems to have lost in the past 15 or so years is the sense of prestige and importance in its championships. In theory, every single competitor on the roster should be looking to pick up one (or more) of the available championships. TNA in particular seems to avoid this by having its competitors seek out more “real life” goals. For example, Hulk Hogan wanted control of TNA. Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle are fighting about their love lives, both involving Jeff’s wife Karen and her jealously over her ex-husband. Matt Morgan and Hernandez were fighting over a beat down that happened months ago (I don’t know if they still are), which itself led to them losing their tag team titles (which neither particularly cared about).

But another rather strange matter is that TNA has three people running around with world titles. Months ago, someone thought it was a good idea to present Jeff Hardy with a title based on his face. So the old TNA championship eventually came to gag-character Eric Young. Once Jeff Hardy managed to dope himself out of his star role in the company, TNA quickly put a new title belt on Sting, but the old one eventually came to Jeff’s brother Matt, who’s gimmick apparently is him happily living in his brother’s shadow. Now why would either Eric Young or Matt Hardy go after Sting’s title belt? They have their own. Basically, it’s more about not letting Sting have a belt rather than actually winning one for themselves.

The Attitude Era of wrestling was certainly the biggest boom and had a lot of enjoyable moments in it. But a lot of the bad things for the business that came with it are the things that TNA seems to be willing to repeat in a quixotic attempt to recapture the former glory. Rather, they should look back into the older days of wrestling and relearn how to build up championship belts. Learn what would make fans excited to see them defended. And perhaps even try to add some prestige to their histories.

And in Other News
Was I the only one watching Raw waiting for some kind of storyline pay-off to the Rock’s birthday party? I kept sitting there, desperately awaiting the sneak attack that never came.

Dissecting the Wrestlemania XXVII Corpse

codebreaker30 — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:51:12 +0000

…because the 2011 version of Wrestlemania was just like a corpse: dead. Lifeless, semi-dull, bloated- it was not a pretty site to behold, at times. Let’s take this mass of matches apart and see what we find, shall we?

Well, cutting through the pre-requisite mouth-running of The Rock, we have Edge v. Alberto del Rio (World Title Match). Hmm, a pretty good opening to WM… a decent match… some really good near-falls to get the crowd’s blood flowing… outside interference (and battles)… SPEAR!!!… a destroyed Rolls-Royce. This wasn’t a cause of the WM 27 death. So, what was? Let’s move this match aside and peer deeper…
……
A lung… annnd… aha. Rey Mysterio v. “Dashing” Cody Rhodes. I thought this would be the match that would do WM in when I looked at the lineup a few days ago; I definitely missed the mark on that. This was arguably the match of the PPV, and not mainly because of Rey’s flying antics. Rhodes and Mysterio put on a heck of a *wrestling* show. Rhodes surprisingly controlled the majority of this match. I esp. liked that Rey tried to use Cody’s mask as a weapon, but it was Rey’s knee brace (to Rey’s face) that ultimately led to “Cross Rhodes” and the win for Rhodes. Rey’s stock is falling fast.
……
Oh HO!! What in the name of Zombie Jack Tunney is that SMELL??!!? Ugh, it’s The Corre vs. Santino Morella/Vladmir Koslov, Big Show, and Kane. This could have killed Wrestlemania, by itself: next to no involvement from the big names (Kane, Show, Barrett), the crowd wasn’t into it at all (despite Santino’s antics), and it ended in under 150 seconds. This match had the look and feel of a bad case of the flu.
……
That last match did more damage than 1st appearance, because the tissue underneath and beside it is bloated, strangely colored, and hard to look at… just like the Michael Cole v. Jerry “The King” Lawler” match, unfortunately. This match was very slow-paced to start- not surprising, considering who was involved- but then it started to drag on and on and on and on and on… kick after Cole kick after Cole pose after Cole kick. Lawler tried to save us with a late flurry; “Stone Cold” gave it a much-needed shot of antibiotics, with a Stunner to Jack Swagger (after Swagger tried to throw in the towel for Cole when he was locked into the Ankle Lock by Lawler). Cole tapped and Lawler finally gets his Wrestlemania moment… then the Raw GM chimed in. Due to “unnecessary physicality by the special referee” (Austin pushed Cole when Cole pushed him after the Swagger Stunner), Lawler was DQ’ed. Cole wins, WM starts to look, smell, AND feel funny. (At least 2 more Stunners happened, post-match: Josh Matthews, for reading the email from the Raw GM and Booker T, for celebrating in the ring with Austin and Lawler).
……
Wooo! Bright red inflammation! Very much alive muscle and tissue! It might have been caused by the intensity of the Randy Orton v. C.M. Punk match. Maybe it was caused by Punk’s facial expressions in this match because he looked totally certifiable more than a few times. This was an extremely physical match, also. Much countering by Punk made it look like Orton was slightly out-matched… until a flying Punk got caught by an RKO. Great ending; maybe there’s more good stuff in here….
……
This is not looking good in here. I think the WM blood is turning green and something just moved. Waiiit a second… the Triple H v. The Undertaker is what moved. Which the phrase “it moved” could accurately describe the match… and not at all in a good way. Actually, a better way to describe that zombie-like match: “Opening few minutes. Big spot. Rest. Big spot. BIG Undertaker WM spots (both stars crashed through the “Cole Mine”, Taker dives over the top rope). Long rest. Period of finishers/kick out/rest.” Taker finally put this match- and us- out of its (our) misery with the “Hell’s Gate” choke out of HHH. Not too much of an exaggeration by saying that this was the worst Taker match at WM since his handicapped match against A-Train and Big Show at WM 17 (I think). One pretty big thing of note: Undertaker laid in the ring for nearly 5 minutes after the match, tried to get out and collapsed outside the ring. He had to be stretchered out of the arena. I don’t think anyone imagined seeing Taker carted out of WM….
……
Here’s a small piece of regular, healthy-looking tissue: Lay-Cool and Dolph Ziggler v. John Morrison, Snooki, and Trish Stratus. It wasn’t anything great but it really wasn’t supposed to be. Trish showed that she still has it and Dolph & John had a pretty small, but good, interaction. Snooki, however, may have provided the 2nd best WM moment of 2011: a carwheel-into-a-double-backflip splash in the corner on Michelle McCool, then a backflip splash/pin for the win. This shouldn’t have been one of the best 3 matches, but it was. Not good.
……
And we are at the end of the corpse, yet I don’t see the heart. Where is the blood-pusher, Money In The Bank? Maybe that’s what killed this WM… however, this last organ didn’t help much. The Miz v. John Cena (WWE Title Match) wasn’t what you expect from a Wrestlemania Title Match. It was a decent match, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t as good as some title matches you would see on Raw (for example). It was 80% Miz, 15% Cena, and 5% Rock. Yessss, The Rock got involved. It started when Cena speared Miz off of the outside barrier, causing both to hit the ground (giving the Miz a concussion) and get counted out. Rocky shows up, says that the WM main event won’t end on a count out, and restarts the match. Cena drags Miz to the ring, gets in the ring… and gets a Rock Bottom. Miz gets the pin and the win. Are you kidding me!??
……
So, after sewing the body back up, and handing it to Paul Bearer for disposal, I couldn’t find one real thing that caused the death of Wrestlemania 27. I did find a few possible causes: the lack of a Money In The Bank Match to get the crowd fired up at the start (even though they tried with Edge/del Rio). Big matches that either didn’t live up to the hype or dragged on too long to hold the attention (Cole/Lawler, HHH/Taker). Wasted talent in a wasted match (8-Man Tag). A relatively weak main event (Miz/Cena). All of these lead to a pretty forgetful WM and a WM that ultimately died a nasty death.

NXT/Smackdown Weekend Review – Mar. 29th & Apr. 1

manof1004gimmicks — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 21:13:13 +0000

Pretty quick review this weekend as we head into Wrestlemania.

NXT

Titus O’Neil wins Arm Wrestling Challenge ( redemption points)

Titus O’Neil, Byron Saxton & Conor O’Brian def. Jacob Novak, Darren Young & Lucky Cannon

A lot of cheating in the Arm Wrestling Challenge
William Regal doesn’t seem to like JTG. It’s very entertaining.
Titus O’Neil picked up the pinfall in the 6-Man Tag Match

Smackdown

Kofi Kingston def. (c) Wade Barrett by DQ

Cody Rhodes def. Chris Masters

Corre interfered in the Intercontinental Championship rematch and ganged up on Kofi afterward
Santino Marella, Vladimir Kozlov, Kane & The Big Show came down to make the save
Matt Striker interviewed Cody Rhodes, who was channeling his inner Heath Ledger’s Joker
Rey Mysterio came out after Rhodes’ victory with “an intentionally exposed knee braced” 619 in mind
During Wrestlmania Axxess this weekend Corre attacked Kozlov injuring him
Theodore Long announced that Kofi Kingston will be taking his place in the 8-Man Tag Match

And that’s it! Enjoy Wrestlemania. We here at The 1/8th Nelson will be.

Raw 3/28/11

From Parts Unknown — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:47:32 +0000

This episode was full of final confrontations of Wrestlemania opponents before Wrestlemania. Match results are directly below, details after the break. I’m holding off on my “Last Word” for now, and saving it for the Wrestlemania preview.

Match Results
Edge & Christian def. Brodus Clay & Alberto Del Rio by pinfall
Santino Marella def. Justin Gabriel by pinfall
Jack Swagger def. Jerry Lawler by DQ
KIng Sheamus & Dolph Ziggler def. Daniel Bryan & John Morrison by pinfall

CM Punk opening.
The show started with CM Punk sitting in the ring. Punk started off by playing to the crowd, but went on to say that he didn’t really care what happened to them or the members of the Nexus. They weren’t his problem. His problem is Randal Keith Orton. Punk goes on to say that Orton’s journey in taking out the Nexus had given him a false sense of security. Punk continues by saying that Orton should have never punted him, and he will hurt him at Wrestlemania. Orton then comes out as Punk was starting to leave. When Orton got to the ring, Punk attacked him, but Orton got the better of him. Orton tried to punt Punk, but his knee that Punk injured last week. Punk got up and attacked Orton’s injured knee, and then hit him with the GTS.

Edge & Christian def. Brodus Clay & Alberto Del Rio by pinfall.
Del Rio tried to distract Edge by tripping him up, but that didn’t work as Edge was able to hit Clay with a Spear and got the pinfall. After the match, Del Rio put Christian into a Cross Armbreaker. Edge chased Del Rio up the ramp, but as Edge came back to check on Christian, Del Rio attacked him and put Edge in the Cross Armbreaker.

Santino Marella def. Justin Gabriel by pinfall.
Vladmir Koslov, Kane, and The Big Show were at ringside to support Marella. The rest of The Corre was also at ringside. Chaos broke out, as one would expect, and Santino hit Gabriel with The Cobra to get the pinfall. To celebrate, everyone, yes everyone, did Santino’s “trombone” celebration.

Undertaker and Triple H face to face.
As Undertaker and Triple H were staring each other down, Shawn Michaels comes out. Michaels spends some time hyping the match, then asks Triple H why he thinks he can do what he himself couldn’t. Triple H told Michaels that he got soft. He told Michaels that at some point Michaels learned he could be the showstopper while still not winning. Triple H said that he had to win. Triple H then expressed how much respect he had for the Undertaker. Triple H then tells Undertaker that it’s time for him to retire. Undertaker expressed his respect for Triple H, but told him that he was going to be like Shawn Michaels after the match. A man that he has humbled. Michaels decided he had heard enough, and tried to hit him with Sweet Chin Music, but Undertaker blocked it. Triple H got between them. Triple H told Michaels to tell Undertaker why he was going to beat Undertaker at Wrestlemania, but instead, Michaels walked off. Undertaker smirked at Triple H, tipped his hat, and walked away.

Jack Swagger def. Jerry “The King” Lawler by DQ.
Swagger had tossed Lawler into the timekeeper’s area. Lawler had had enough and beat Swagger with a chair. Lawler went after Cole but was restrained.

KIng Sheamus & Dolph Ziggler def. Daniel Bryan & John Morrison by pinfall.
Vicki came out and talked some smack to Snooki, who wasn’t there. After chaos broke out, Sheamus was able to hit Bryan with the High Cross and got the pinfall.

Hall of Fame inductees.
The Road Warriors with their manager Paul Ellering were announced as the final inductees for this year’s WWE Hall of Fame class.

Trish Stratus & Snooki at a bar.
Trish and Snooki spent the night at a bar, and in an interview with Josh Matthews. After briefly talking about their match at Wrestlemania. Laycool showed up, and started a brawl.

The Rock, John Cena, and The Miz.
The Rock came out and repeated everything he’s been saying about Cena since he came back. Cena then came out and passionately defended himself to The Rock. As they were staring each other down, The Miz and Alex Riley came out. Miz said some things, and then Riley punched The Rock. The Rock got the better of both Miz and Riley, but Cena then surprised The Rock with an Attitude Adjustment and left the ring.

Weekend NXT/Smackdown Review – Mar. 22nd & 25th

manof1004gimmicks — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 22:09:07 +0000

NXT

Darren Young wins Mic Battle Challenge (4 redemption points)

Titus O’Neil def. Darren Young

Vladimir Kozlov & Conor O’Brian def. JTG & Jacob Novak in Dance Off

Lucky Cannon def. Byron Saxton

Maryse had no idea who was leading in redemption points at the top of the show confusing Jacob Novak (0 points) for Titus O’Neil (5 points)
Mic Battle Challenges never go well and this one didn’t disappoint in that regard. Hornswoggle look embarrassed for them.
Both Pros, Chavo Guerrero & Hornswoggle got involved in their Rookies match but it Titus O’Neil who benefited hitting Darren Young with his Clash of the Titus. (Side Note To Masked Marvel: It’s a lifting sit-out spinebuster otherwise known as a Sky High)
The Dance Off was entertaining but that’s about all to say about it.
Lucky Cannon & Yoshi Tatsu both received slaps to the face from Maryse early in the night and Cannon received a second from Tatsu afterward.
Cannon came out the lucky one (see what I did there) by the end of the night defeating Byron Saxton with a Lucky Break then hitting Tatsu with one to close out the show.

Smackdown

The show opened with Edge arguing with General Manager Theodore Long about a recent decree regarding Smackdown’s Wrestlemania Main Event. If either Edge or Alberto Del Rio physically interact with one another they will both be pulled from Wrestlemania. Later in the night Del Rio challenged Teddy Long’s authority but was put in his place when Long stated there were 26 Wrestlemania’s without Del Rio so one more wouldn’t be that big a deal.

Each superstar had their own matches starting with Edge vs. Drew McIntyre. Despite questioning of the decision from Christian, Edge said he needed to show he was 100% for Wrestlemania. While struggling throughout the match with his injured arm, Edge prevailed with an Edgecator submission which doesn’t require the use of his injured arm.

Alberto Del Rio faced off against Christian in the main event. Brodus Clay accompanied Del Rio ringside while Edge was in Christian’s. Christian picked up another win over Del Rio thanks to Edge’s distraction outside (he beat Brodus Clay with a chair). After the match Edge struggled to control himself in keeping with the GM’s decree but Christian was there to keep him in check…and hit Del Rio with the chair instead to close out the show.

Rey Mysterio & CM Punks match ended when Cody Rhodes interfered and assaulted Mysterio with his protective mask then struck him in the corner with an exposed knee brace.
Layla looked good defeating Rosa Mendes in their tag match.
Wade Barrett became the new Intercontinental Champion by countering Kofi Kingston’s Trouble In Paradise into his Wasteland. It was kinda awesome.
Taker responded to HHH’s comments on RAW promising to reduce The Game down to nothing more than a number– 19.
Michael Cole degraded R-Truth (in rap form) as Swagger held his match winning Anklelock for an extended time.
According to WWE.com: For more insults from Cole, be sure to check out his comments on Twitter @MichaelCole.

After this weeks Smackdown I’m curious about what role Corre will have at Wrestlemania. They have 2 titles and easy feuds with Big Show, Kane & now Kofi Kingston. Maybe a Six Man Tag with all the titles on the line? Whatever it is I doubt they’ll leave Show, Kane & Kingston off the card.

Rey Mysterio def. CM Punk via DQ

(c) Edge def. Drew McIntyre by submission

Mcichelle McCool & Layla def. Kelly Kelly & Rosa Mendes

Wade Barrett def. (c) Kofi Kingston to become new Intercontinental Champion

Jack Swagger def. R-Truth by submission

Christian def. Alberto Del Rio