Hey guys,
Nice internet show. Wokka watched the whole thing, he loved it. This post will probably be my last for a while. Looking forward to an SCW slumber party sometime! Chikara's season finale iPPV "Under the Hood" takes place on Dec. 2nd, the day I move. That would be fun to watch together at some point, eh?
Smackdown
Was better this week, but still pales in comparison to it's halcyon days of the reign of Mark Henry and rise of the babyface Daniel Bryan. It opened just like Raw this week, with the Impact-style narration, and covered all the Raw storylines as well as the Smackdown ones. There was a heavy Raw presence in general, but it didn't do much to help the show; the opening segment was Miz TV with John Cena and it SUUUUUUUCKed! The best match of the night was Hell No taking on BS in a handicap match (guess who won). Ziggler pinning Orton in the main event was also nice, but the victory was short lived, as Ziggler got trounced by Cena up on the ramp to close the show. Booo!
Thanksgiving Day Impact
Was an Open Fight Night for Gut Check winners. I don't have anything to say about Impact this week, but I didn't want to only post about the WWE.
NXT
Brody Lee made his NXT in-ring debut as Luke Harper while Bray Wyatt watched from the ramp in a rocking chair, how awesome was that? I also liked the renewed rivalry/match between Ohno and Steamboat. Paige and Big E Langston also impressive.
Slam
More El Local... R-Truth commentary... Pie Eating Contest... 3MB. Bizarre. Kind of funny.
Main Event
Was great. The best all-around show of the week, no doubt. Heated promos between Dolph Ziggler and the Miz warmed the crowd up for a really good, long, ppv-quality match. Ziggler got back on the mic afterward and cut an absolutely killer promo on Cena, Miz, and the whole roster. It ruled. Then Wade Barrett and Justin Gabriel had a shorter, decent match. The show closed with Damien Sandow coming out to cut a promo on Cena, hyping their Main Event match next week. It was a great, solid hour of pro wrestling goodness.
Raw
In respectful homage (not to be confused with blatant gimmick infringement) to the Rusty Report, I want to do a good/bad/ugly thing this week. I want to end on a good note though, so I added one more.
THE GOOD
-After the narrative opening (which we'll talk about later) the show started with a wrestling match. Action! I liked it because usually the show starts with lots of talking. It set a different tone, and right away I was wondering if the 3 guys were going to come out and jump Ryback.
-A short backstage segment sets up an impromptu feud/match with ADR and Khali. Obviously, this wasn't the wrestling highlight of the evening, but that minimal storyline was successful in giving the audience a reason to care about the outcome of the match, which made it more fun to watch. I wish there was a LOT more of that throughout the undercard.
-Cole interviews the 3 guys, or The Shield. Good talking from all 3 guys, their motivations were interesting, and we got a sense of their individual characters. I can't believe they kept Roman Reigns' name. He's totally stuck with it now. Maybe he can just be "The Roman" someday, like how Rock was Rocky Maivia at first.
-Alicia Fox was great in her losing effort against Tamina, who was much less impressive.
-Mixed feelings on this one. Kingston taking out Tensai was another big win, and it was a good little match. Wade Barrett was absolutely fantastic on commentary during the match. Still, I'm not into their feud. I really like them both, maybe I just don't want either one to lose. I want them both to be winners. And the Intercontinental belt somehow seems like a step backward for Barrett, who's got main event written all over him.
-WWE Universe voting. Now, I don't for a second think that Kane got more votes than Bryan, but I don't really care. It's just a way of adding relevant context to an otherwise throw-away match. I like that WWE does the twitter voting thing, and I like that they juke the numbers. That's pro wrestling!
THE BAD
-When Raw extended to 3 hours, one cool thing they stuck with for a while was having vignettes throughout that would have their own story and add kind of a theme to the show. The pre-Hell No skits were instant classics, Sheamus stealing ADR's car or meeting with Otunga in a lawyer's office were not classic, but at least they were original content that added to the watchability of the program. It seems like the vignettes have been replaced by long replays of previous Raws, or even replays from an hour before. We all knew it would happen, and it's the pits. They make me feel like I'm wasting time.
THE UGLY
-Worst narration opening ever.
-Cena/Vicki/AJ/Dolph blah blah blah WTF
-Ziggler losing to Cena. After all the time spent building this feud, it ends with a whisper in the middle of a tv show? This should have been a PPV match (and Dolph Ziggler should have won). This was by far the most frustrating thing that happened this week.
THE WONDERFUL
-Sheamus versus Antonio Cesaro. A really good, athletic wrestling match with plenty of time. The announcers put both guys over, and some of the spots in this match proved to be among the most memorable from the entire show. A classy affair all around.
I did an EVOLVE post today in the forums. I have been keeping my EVOLVE posts spoiler-free, in case that matters to anyone.
That's the final word from SCW's Canadian branch. We're boarding up now, soon to join the rest of the SCW Universe down in beautiful Oregon, USA. Hooooooooooo!
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