Raw Thoughts.

Raw kicked off with the entrance of one Triple H who was coming out to give his reasons for wanting to face The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Triple H looked jacked, nothing like the flabby man we saw defeat Alberto Del Rio at the WWE Fan Appreciation show back in October. Triple H stated that he wanted to face The Undertaker because that's all he and Taker have left to do - in writing that sounds validated but the way Hunter put it across seemed to bury the entire WWE locker room, he later stated that when they meet at Wrestlemania nothing else matters. Again he was obviously trying to state how important this match was, but maybe it somehow managed to put down every other match at Wrestlemania. After he put his point across Sheamus came out, now in my opinion this was a great thing at least WWE wasn't going to ignore the situation like they seemed to do last Monday, yet for some reason Sheamus got destroyed by the jacked up Triple H. The angle didn't look good, Triple H has lost a lot of pace and seemed to move awkwardly very similar to the way he was back in 2002 when he was too jacked. Unless Triple H can get some decent time in the ring on the build up to Wrestlemania I think the Undertaker match could be a repeat of the King Of The Ring disaster in 2002.

After the break Sheamus was still trying to recover from his beat down when the General Manager said he was booked for a match and was then slated to face the returning Evan Bourne who won in about two minutes. It was good to see Bourne back, hopefully he will get a Wrestlemania match this April.

Lawler vs Michael Cole was made for Wrestlemania as long as Cole got to have a guest referee of his choosing and also have his trainer at ringside, his trainer was revealed to be Jack Swagger yet the guest referee is yet to be revealed. Swagger beat down Lawler. At this point any affiliation Swagger can have with Cole is good for him, I never thought I'd say this but Michael Cole could have more heat than anyone on the Raw roster and Swagger desperately needs heat and an elevated status at a Pay Per View.

Punk versus Orton was also made for Mania, the weeks leading up to the event will see Orton face off against the other members of Nexus and if he wins the individual matches said Nexus member will be banned from ringside. He faced Michael McGillicutty and won the bout afterwards he punted him much to the chagrin of CM Punk. Now something I found funny after the match was Orton ran into the fans and away from Nexus who were charging down the ramp however the camera angle WWE used showed Punk running down yet failed to get the rest of the Nexus members in the shot so it made Orton look like he was running from Punk.

The Rock replied to Cena's rap last week and seemed to completely undermine anything Cena can say back by claiming he went into movies to help other wrestlers, which is complete crap but still what are the kids to do, right? He then rapped a bit and called Cena a bitch, how very PG. One could be led to believe that after Linda's failed campaign they have slightly (and I mean slightly) loosened the the choke hold at least for this angle, and Punks busted nose the other week.

The main event pitted Cena against Riley in a Cage match if Cena wins Riley gets fired as being Miz's right hand man and if Riley wins Cena must proclaim Miz as AWESOME!... Cena won. What I did find entertaining was Miz tweeting pictures of Cena as the match took place, that was rather cool.

The Rock set for Raw?

The Rock posted the following picture earlier stating that he'll respond to Cena tonight.. Will he be on Raw? I think he will make a video package but you never know he could be there in person.

Week In Review: Triple H and Undertaker Return!

This week has saw some very interesting and foolish things from both TNA and WWE, first topic on the agenda is Monday Night Raw and the return of the Undertaker, Triple H and a very non PG John Cena.

Monday night saw John Cena reply to the tongue in cheek promo by The Rock last week, which managed to bury Cena, The Miz and anyone who has attempted to impress with the microphone in the last seven years since we last saw The Rock. Yet that was last week this is this week. My thoughts on the promo are only going to be positive, after last week Cena needed to reply and if he kept to his cookie cutter image it would have made him look weak compared to the giant The Rock is/was. So the return of the rapper side of Cena really helped make him look Bad-Ass as well as give him the aura of an Attitude Era superstar which will be much needed if he has to compete with The Rock on the micro-phone again. My only problem with this was that it made me want to see more of it and that just isn't going to happen while the company stays PG, yet you have to remember back in 1996/97 time WCW was PG as well and they never seemed childish. By the way there is no chance in hell this back and forth between The Rock and John Cena will build up into a match, The Rock has even said he will never wrestle again.

Next up is the fact that Triple H vs The Undertaker has been officially made for Wrestlemania 27. Its not Michaels/Taker 3 but in a way it could be. This is going to be the third part of a trilogy, put it this way Triple H will want vengeance for the death of Michaels in ring career and also want to prove for himself that he can beat the streak. We can pretty much accept that Michaels will have some involvement in the match whether it will be as a referee or outside enforcer. The problem I have is that there is unfinished business for 'Taker and Triple H. Undertaker has the Nexus well Wade Barret anyway, and also Kane. I want to see Kane/Taker as much as I want to see Michael Cole have an interview segment (that actually sounds like fun). However I can forgive the lack of continuous on the Undertaker side of things as Triple H kick started this thing before The Undertaker could say anything. My big problem is that are we supposed to completely forget about the Sheamus feud? The man who has been credited to ending Hunters career came out the segment after in his stupid King costume which makes him look like some sort of Conan reject and never acknowledged anything to do with HHH nor did any of the commentators.

The state of the burial of Sheamus is unforgivable, the fact that this man has built himself up into a decent in ring competitor and now is stuck with this terrible gimmick well and truly a sorry state of affairs. In Sheamus they had a man who was pretty much accepted as a main event level wrestler even though he had beaten anyone of note clean. The only good news is as of Monday Night he seems to have a rivalry going with Daniel Brian.

3.3.11: That's right folks Undertaker is coming to iMPACT!!!! No wait hes not? So TNA ripped off an Undertaker promo to hype Sting? Oh because people thought it was Sting when the 22/2/11 promos started! I get it now TNA just wanted to fuck over the idiots who thought it was Sting back then. Wait a minute? They were mocking WWE? So they mocked WWE for creating a promo that caught peoples attention and created such a buzz on the Internet that it got them thousands maybe millions of more viewers. Despite TNA's efforts to publicly embarrass itself time and time again at least they did manage to sign Sting, maybe they won't blow whatever angle they have planned for him by I don't know giving him the title on his first match back.

Mistico has officially signed a WWE contract to massive hype from WWE itself. Originally it seemed like Mistico would report to FCW shortly, but from the hype WWE are giving the man I can't see how they won't put him straight onto one of the rosters right after Wrestlemania. I have to admit I doubt Mistico now Sin Cara would have handled being treated like everyone else if he went down to FCW. The mexican superstar (literally) has a reputation for being a diva and also has a history with Alberto Del Rio (neither man like each other).

So that pretty much wraps things up for this weekends review few quick notes on Smackdown. Dusty Rhodes turned heel to help Cody against Mysterio and that's about it. Ring Of Honor had its 9th Anniversary Show last night, you have a full review coming soon.

Remember you can follow me on Twitter for updates on the blog at @M_Kondratiuk and now I will leave with the video of the week which features highlights of Mistico from CMLL and his other adventures down in Mexico. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl5tWTpkjI8&playnext=1&list=PL5EF7CA4DB9CDFEBE.

Bragging Rights Preview

Tonight is WWE's second pay-per-view this month Bragging Rights. The card doesn't appear to have anything special up its sleeve and will likely bomb when the buy rates come in, in a few weeks time. The last time I knew there were only five matches announced for tonights super-card so I'll run through them and give you my predictions.

World Heavyweight Championship Match.
Kane Vs The Undertaker
I expect this to be the night that 'Taker will regain the championship, I also suspect that Paul Bearer may turn on Kane tonight (the ties speak for themselves). The fact that this match was pulled up to this month than rather having it at Survivor Series proves that WWE want to finish off the angle. I believe that a Buried Alive match is a good blow off for this feud. There was also talk of having Kane go over tonight so that they will have there final blow off match at WrestleMania, I can't see that happening but the option is there.
Prediction: Undertaker

WWE Championship Match.
Randy Orton Vs Wade Barrett.
I fully expect Randy Orton to retain tonight yet I also believe that maybe giving Barrett the title would be the right thing to do to capitalize on the momentum he has in his Cena angle. There are couple of ways they could take the storyline after the match, one possibility would be for Barrett to get Cena to screw Orton over and eventually Cena would beat Barrett for title and go on to face Orton at a later date or Cena could accidentally screw Barrett meaning the Raw GM would not fire Cena and Barrett would be outraged etc etc. The second option seems more likely.
Prediction: Orton

Divas Championship Match.
LayCool vs Natalya.
I'm guessing LayCool takes the victory no matter who wrestles Natalya.
Prediction: LayCool

Bragging Rights Match.
The thing what really angers me about this match is that there is no reason for it, the two brand are fighting for nothing so therefore there is no justification for the match-up. If both sides had anything to gain besides 'bragging rights' then that would be a different story. I'll go team Raw purely because Smackdown won last year.
Prediction: Team Raw

Non-Title Match.
Dolph Ziggler vs Daniel Bryan.
I'm guessing this is a prelude to a unification match later this year so this is probably a fued creating match. It'll probably go to Dolph unless Bryan wins and gets attacked after the match. I'm very unsure about this bout. Yet I'm predicting match of the night.
Prediction: Daniel Bryan

Night Of Champions Review

Dolph Ziggler bt. Kofi Kingston.
This past Sunday at WWE Night Of Champions saw a few shocks and surprises and a few good matches too. The show kicked off with the Intercontinental title match between Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston. The match was a decent effort and showed that both men are now more than competent when it comes to their in ring work. Dolph was put over quite strong when he pinned Kofi after he (Ziggler) got distracted by Vickie, I'm sure WWE expect big things from the ex spirit squad cheerleader.

Big Show bt. CM Punk
The second match of the night was Big Show vs CM Punk, as the event was held in Chicago (Punks hometown) Punk came out to a great reception, he then went on to slaughter the fans and get himself heat, I'm sure the WWE didn't want Punk getting cheered tonight. Big Show won in a normal crappy Big Show match.

Daniel Bryan bt. The Miz to become the new U.S Champion.
Next up was the U.S Title match, the match was a very edge of the seat affair mainly because I really wanted Bryan to win and I expected Bryan to win up until the prior Raw. The match, as solid as it was could have gone on for a bit longer but this match was arguably match of the night which proves two things 1. Daniel Bryan can get a WWE crowd behind him and get a good match from nearly anyone.... But I don't mean to put the Miz down as my second point is that probably more than anyone wants to admit The Miz is now a good worker and without his role in this entire angle I doubt Daniel Bryan would have got over as quick as he did. Don't get me wrong I'm sure WWE will screw it up somehow.


Michelle McCool bt. Melina to become the Unified Womens Champion.
To be honest theres not much I can say about this match as not much happened McCool won with the aid of Layla... 'Nuff said.

Kane bt. The Undetaker
Interesting fact I can't remember Kane ever beating The Underaker at a PPV... Until now. This match was probably the best match these two men have had against each other since the WrestleMania 14 original which is a compliment to both of these men. Undertaker sold his condition well and Kane put on probably the best match he can these days I was very impressed with this match and look forward to their inevitable clash at Hell In A Cell, I just wish they would get Paul Bearer aboard for this final angle between these two men.

Tag Team Turmoil
The Uso's eliminated the Hart Dynasty in about 3 minutes to guarantee new Champions tonight. High points from the bout would have been Santino being more over than mos t the roster was on the night, and probably Cody Rhodes music hitting after him and McIntyre won the belts.

Randy Orton wins the 6 pack challenge to become the WWE Champion.
The main event saw Randy Orton raise the WWE title as a babyface for the first time since his first time. The match was good, Jericho got pinned early leaving for a humorous exit were no one could believe it, Wade Barret has the polar opposite quality punches to John Cena and it is now officially true... Edge is irrelevant. It took all of Nexus to eliminate John Cena then it took Cena two minutes to beat the crap out of all of Nexus, this left Orton to finish of Sheamus for the win and the biggest pop I have heard in the WWE for a long time.

Raw Review

I have to give WWE credit for putting one of the best editions of Raw in quite some time, tonight saw many entertaining angles as well as some great steps forward in the story lines.

The opening segment set the pace for the rest of the night, WWE put Nexus over strong with last weeks accomplishments which given the accomplishments were not that great WWE made a big deal over it. Definately the right thing to do, Nexus lost quite a bit of momentum after the SummerSlam disaster so tonight was a good night to right that wrong.

Jericho and Edge had to protect there spots in the 6 pack challenge match at Night Of Champions in separate single matches, both of which were entertaining for different reason. Jericho lost to John Morrison in a good match which will probably lead to one of two things. 1. Jericho going on a break or 2. Jerichos' return to being a babyface. The Edge match was entertaining also for 2 two reason his mocking of his opponent The Great Khali and the scramble to protect Khali's botch when he eliminated himslef from the over the top rope match by accident.... yes the match continued.

The Miz vs Daniel Bryan for the US Title has been made in decent angle featuring a great Miz promo, where Michael Cole added some great commentary. Bryan went over strong taking on Miz and Riley in a after promo brawl. Strangely during this period Miz's MITB briefcase popped open to reveal there is in fact no contract in it.

Gabriel vs Cena was a decent match which is surprising for Cena. The match featured some great spots by Gabriel. He was booked to actually pose a challenge to Cena. The main event saw Wade Barret vs Randy Orton the match was not great and the fact that Darren Young returned to cost Barret the match was just irritating and doesn't really bode well for The Nexus to continue feuding with the 'WWE'.

The night ended with Orton and Cena staring off after Orton RKO'd all the other 5 pack challengers. Next week the main event will be Randy Orton vs John Cena in a one on one match its a decent main event which I doubt WWE will actually go ahead with as it would be wrong to give this match away for free with the buy rates down for their PPV's.

Overall it was a very good Raw with some annoyances but thats to be expected. To separate all the in ring action was some quite funny backstage skits.