For the first time in history, there was an online Pre-Show match before the PPV. At 7:30 on both WWE.com and YouTube, a match for the United States Championship between the Champion Santino Marella and The Miz took place. It was an interesting idea, but honestly I would rather they just kept the PPV together. The match was decent. Santino won and retained his title.
The opening match of the PPV was between Randy Orton and Kane. The match was a Falls Count Anywhere match, which basically just means they fight in the crowd, around the arena, and backstage. I really don't care for these matches because all they do is exchange punches in the crowd and they don't really get to do any wrestling moves because they don't want to take a fall on the concrete floor instead of the ring, which is understandable. When they were backstage they wound up in a room with the wrestlers that were left off the card and who were watching the PPV on the monitors. Kane was winning, and Zack Ryder attacked Kane, not only helping Randy but also getting some much needed payback for himself. After all, it was Kane that put Ryder in a wheelchair. After that they made their way back to the ring. Kane looked like he was going to get the win with a Chokeslam, but Randy kicked out. A furious Kane then attempted to hit Orton with a Tombstone onto a steel-chair that he placed in the center of the ring, only Randy fought out of the Tombstone and hit Kane with the RKO onto the steel-chair. Randy Orton was the winner.
The next match was an embarrassment in my opinion. I don't know what Dolph Ziggler has done behind the scenes to piss off management, but he was sent out as a jobber to get squashed by Brodus Clay. It was embarrassing and I felt sorry for Ziggler. I believe that Dolph Ziggler is the most talented wrestling in the WWE today. I think he should be given the push into the main event and should be the next WWE Champion. However, from what I have read and heard, Wade Barrett is next in line. Barrett is scheduled to make his return at SummerSlam and the Money In The Bank match is going to be moved to SummerSlam so that Wade Barrett can win the match and become the next Champion. Well I think that should be Dolph's spot. Instead, he came out at Extreme Rules and lost to Brodus Clay. Maybe this was just an attempt to finally give Brodus a decent match and make him look like he knew how to wrestle, but the entire crowd was chanting Ziggler and they actually booed Clay. So I think this attempt to use Ziggler to put over Clay backfired.
For the match between The Big Show and Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental Championship they decided to spin the old Raw Roulette Wheel to determine the stipulation. It turned out to be a Tables match. As soon as I heard that I knew exactly what was going to happen. Table matches are strictly used in the WWE now as an out to give the weaker wrestler a chance to upset the favored star. Just as Sheamus used a table to win his first WWE Championship from John Cena and many others have done similarly, the underdog randomly knocks the Champion off balance and through the table. Its an extremely cheap way to win. So I knew Cody would lose for the entire match, but somehow manage to knock The Big Show through a table for a cheap win... and that is exactly what happened. It was actually worse than I expected. In this case, The Big Show was climbing back into the ring, and Cody kicked his foot off the ropes and as The Big Show stepped back down to the floor, he stepped through a table. The dumb look on The Big Show's face was priceless. But Cody was the winner, and new Champion. The real highlight of the match was the aftermath however. An enraged Big Show speared Cody, then Chokeslammed him through a table in the middle of the ring. After that he shocked me and I'm sure everyone watching when The Big Show picked up Cody Rhodes over his head and launched him out of the ring and crashing through a table on the floor. I was sure Cody had broke his shoulder in the crash, but after The Big Show left the ring, Cody got up to a loud cheer and with what I thought was his broken shoulder, raised the title to an even louder cheer. 
Next was the World Championship match between the Champion Sheamus and the challenger and former Champion Daniel Bryan. This was a 2 out of 3 falls match. If someone told me before this match that after the first 2 falls the referee would want to stop the match because one wrestler was not able to continue, I would have assumed it would be Daniel Bryan that was injured, but it was actually Sheamus that was badly hurt. The first fall went to Sheamus because Daniel Bryan got himself disqualified for repeatedly kicking Sheamus in the shoulder. It was stupid, but clearly worth it since Sheamus clearly had an inured shoulder afterwards. For the next fall, Bryan immediately locked in the "Yes Lock" and took advantage of the injured shoulder. So the second fall was award to Bryan by way of submission, even though I don't think Sheamus actually tapped out, I just think he was passing out from the pain and the referee wanted to stop the match. But Sheamus refused to stop the match, and when Bryan charged across the ring at him, Sheamus managed a weak Brogue-Kick. Sheamus won the third and final fall and retained his Championship. But that is not how I would have had the match go. I would have had Sheamus win one fall with his Brogue-Kick and another with his High-Cross, which he never seems to use anymore. There are so many possibilities for moves Sheamus could use, since they have given him more finishing moves than any other wrestler. He uses Finley's old moves, plus his own. He has a submission hold, the Cloverleaf, that Dean Malenko used to use. Basically, there were a lot of options that Sheamus could have used. Unfortunately, Daniel Bryan only has the one finish, his submission hold. So I was sure Bryan would only get the one fall, and I was just curious which two finishers Sheamus would use for his two falls. I did not expect Bryan to take a disqualification. I was actually hoping Bryan would find a way to win and became Champion again. He is more over than ever now and his "Yes" chant is the new "What" chant in the WWE. They should take advantage of this instead of trying to ruin it. Regardless, it looks like Bryan is being moved to Raw to challenge CM Punk (his best friend) for the WWE Championship now, since he won the Beat The Clock Challenge on Raw the following night!
After this match, Ryback came out to squash not one but two jobbers. They were supposed to tag, but Ryback just crushed one, then the other. He tried to drag the first one over to the corner so his partner could tag in, but his partner refused. So Ryback just pulled him in the ring and crushed him too, reintroducing his original finisher - a form of a stunner that smashes his opponent's jaw and tailbone simultaneously. In the end, Ryback laid one over the other and pinned them both at the same time. WCW used this same idea for Goldberg when they wanted to increase his undefeated streak. Instead of just counting the win as one they would count each wrestler in the match as one, thus Ryback's total would go to 6-0 instead of 5-0. I love watching Ryback crush these jobbers, but I can't wait to see what he does to real superstars. Ultimately, my dream match would be to see Ryback vs Brock Lesnar, but I have a feeling that is never going to happen. Brock is booked for the rest of his year in the WWE in main event PPV matches with main event superstars such as Kane, Randy Orton, and Sheamus. I even think they are building an angle with Triple H. Though, he should be fired for what he did to Triple H on Raw. 
The WWE Championship match between Champion CM Punk and challenger Chris Jericho in a Chicago Street Fight, which is basically just a Hardcore match but they both wore jeans lol. They only used a kendo stick and a steel chair as far as weapons. But when Jericho had Punk locked in the Walls Of Jericho and Punk grabbed the ropes, but that did not cause the hold to be broken, Punk reached under the ring and grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed Jericho in the face in order to break the hold. At one point, Punk had Jericho laid out on the announce table and delivered a flying elbow from the top rope through the announce table. Later, Punk had Jericho locked in the Anaconda Vise, but Jericho was able to reach the kendo stick and use it to break the hold but striking Punk repeatedly. After that, Punk tried to use the steel chair, but Jericho managed to hit the Code Breaker on Punk through the steel chair. That was the highlight of the match. I love how Jericho finds new ways to use the Code Breaker. I thought Punk would be out for sure and Jericho was the new Champion. But I couldn't believe they would have Jericho beat Punk in Chicago. But of course they didn't. Punk kicked out. So Jericho tried to use the GTS on Punk, but Punk fought out of it and launched Jericho into an exposed Turnbuckle. Then Punk picked up a dazed Jericho and hit him with the GTS for the win retaining the WWE Championship. Honestly, I'm really disappointed that the WWE would bring Chris Jericho back with all that build up just to lose both matches to Punk and then have the WWE name a new Challenger the next night on Raw. They misused Chris Jericho and disappointed all of Jericho's fans. It's too bad.
Beth Phoenix was supposed to get a rematch to regain her Divas Championship. But Eve informed her that she was not cleared to wrestle and a replacement would be chosen. The Bellas panicked thinking that it would be Kharma, but Eve said it would not be. So The Bellas went to the ring and awaited their opponent. To everyone's shock it was the return of Layla! She had been gone for the past year with a bad knee injury, but was back and better than ever. The Bellas tried to use "Twin Magic" which is when they switch places behind the referees back. But in this case it backfired on them. Layla used a painful looking Neck-Breaker (much like Ravishing Rick Rude's "Rude Awakening") and got the win, but on the wrong Bella lol. Anyways, the next night on Raw The Bellas were given a rematch in a Triple Threat Match that was basically a 2 on 1 Handicap match. Only, The Bellas could not work together and the match ended very quickly. Layla hit one Bella with a drop kick, causing her to fall into her twin sister sending her sister falling out of the ring. Then Layla rolled up the remaining Bella for the win. It was later announced that the Bella's were fired. (More on that to follow). 
The only match that remained was the main event between John Cena and Brock Lesnar. Lesnar came to the ring wearing his UFC gear rather than his old wrestling gear. This should have been an indication of what was to come, that Brock was not planning on wrestling at all. Instead, Brock attacked Cena as if this was a UFC match. Brock was wearing padded gloves, I assume so that he could not bust open Cena's mouth like he did on Raw with one punch. But Brock proved to be smarter than the WWE must have thought, because instead of using his fists, once he had Cena down on the mat he delivered 3 elbow shots to Cena's head. The third of which seemed to crack open the top of Cena's head. After a clothesline, Cena lay motionless on the mat with blood pouring from his head. The referee stopped the match and a train ran in the ring to cover Cena's head with a towel and superglue his would closed so he could continue the match. The crowd booed this of course, they all wanted to see the blood just as I did. But you have to remember, despite claims that the WWE wants to be legitimate again, they are still just a PG show, which is pathetic. How is any form of violence of fighting considered PG? How can they make wrestling a blood-free kids show? The wrestlers should be allowed to bleed and swear, this is a mature audience type of show. Fans do not spend money to order a PPV just to see a match stopped every time a wrestler gets cut because the WWE does not want to show blood on TV anymore. It's lame, and not legit. 
Well once the match was finally restarted Brock went back to destroying Cena. More shots to the head in an attempt to reopen the wound, which did not happen. So Brock moved on to Cena's ribs. Brock delivered knee shots down onto Cena's ribs. They must have hurt pretty bad because Cena hid on the ringside floor. When Cena finally returned to the ring, bloody head, and bad ribs, Brock moved onto attacking Cena's left arm. Luckily the referee had been knocked out otherwise I'm sure Cena would have submitted. Cena had brought his infamous chain to the ring, clearly so he could use it to knock out Brock. But every time he tried to use it Brock stopped him. Eventually, Brock took the chain himself to use it on Cena. Instead of striking him with it, Brock used it to shackle Cena's feet together and leave him helpless. Brock then hung Cena upside-down from the ring-post on the outside of the ring. From there Brock used Cena like a punching bag, and even smashed his left arm off the ring apron. Brock then threw Cena and the referee back into the ring and used the F5 to go for the win. Unfortunately, the F5 caused Cena's feet to strike the referee and knock him out again. A second referee came to make the count, but was too late and Cena kicked out. An enraged Brock attacked the second referee.
Brock then brought the steel steps into the ring. Brock tried to use the arm submission hold on Cena on top of the steel steps, but Cena picked up Brock and dropped him on the steps. Cena foolishly tried to do his top rope leg drop onto Brock but missed and rolled out of the ring. Brock waited for Cena to climb back up onto the ring apron before running off the ropes and leaping off the steel steps to collide with Cena and both flew out of the ring and onto the floor below. I thought Brock injured his knee, but he walked it off and looked happy about it. Brock waiting back in the ring again for Cena to climb to the ring apron so he could do it again. Only this time Cena had the chain in his hand and struck a flying Lesnar in the head and knocked him out. Cena climbed back in the ring and delivered the Attitude Adjustment onto the steel steps and pinned Lesnar on top of the steel steps for the win.
I was extremely disappointed that they let Cena defeat Brock Lesnar. I am sure this is part of the WWE trying to ruin Brock Lesnar and punish him for leaving, but it isn't fair to the fans that want to see him destroy everyone just as he used to 8 years ago... especially John Cena! After the PPV was over, John Cena delivered what seemed like his farewell speech to the WWE universe. Cena said that he had no left arm and he was tasting his own blood. He then added that he was being forced to take a vacation and wanted to say good-bye before he left. So what he was saying was that he was injured and he needed to take time off, but that it was management's decision and not his. But overall, from the tone of the speech, it sounded like he was retiring (one can only hope lol). However, to further ruin the legitimacy of the show, Cena returned on Raw the very next night, where he announced that his arm was actually not broken and that he would be competing on the next PPV (Over The Limit). Therefore everything he said in his speech was a lie and nothing from his match with Lesnar was legitimate at all. Sadly, by the end of Raw it looked as though Cena would be competing on the next PPV and Brock Lesnar would be the one that's gone. For shame WWE, for shame.
No comments:
Post a Comment