Paid Members air_raid Posted August 8, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 8, 2023 JANUARY 2010 7 shows cancelled early month. Uh oh. We’re on Shawn watch, as suddenly we’re counting down towards his second retirement. But even more change is afoot ; this is the year Triple H also essentially finishes up as a full timer and one more injury basically does the same to Taker, as the “part timer” era descends upon us. Y2J will also call time on his second run and now he’ll be in and out with ever shorter spells, and they’ve not got long left with Edge either. What’s going to come is a worrying split of stuff being too samey, or guys being pushed too hard too soon, because the only new faces they truly made stars of since Edge were Jeff who’s left and Punk who they gave up on. They’re stuck relying on Cena, Orton and Batista - except Dave’s leaving too. Uh oh. What’s weird is that at the time, I looked at the card for the Rumble and especially the field in the Rumble itself, and thought the roster looked stacked, aside from Sheamus holding the belt he wasn’t ready for. Even the Mania card filled me with optimism. MAIN EVENTS - RAW Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs Randy Orton & Big Show is definitely a proper main even if it’s odd that it’s for the tag belts, 8th-10th in Boston, Lincoln and Rochester MN. 15th in Jackson TN it’s HHH vs Show one on one then Trips is challenging Sheamus for the belt 16th in Birmingham and 17th in Chattanooga. We move to Sheamus vs John Cena 22nd-24th in Cape Girardeau, Evansville (HHH v Show underneath) and Champaign, and 30th in Macon which is called a joint card but Raws side is fucking stacked and clearly drew the gate. THE CARDS Sheamus vs Mark Henry for the WWE title continues early month, mid month we move back to Randy Orton vs Kofi Kingston and Big Show vs MVP. US title starts the month with Kofi challenging The Miz, along with MVP vs Jack Swagger, and there’s a welcome return to Chris Masters vs Carlito, mid month it switches to Miz vs Masters vs Swagger with very little consistency for Miz thereafter. The most common opposition on and off for Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr is Henry and Evan Bourne, early month Cody’s in singles with Primo. There’s a sandwich month of Gail Kim & The Bella Twins vs Maryse, Jillian Hall & Alicia Fox (ref by Santino) which shrinks to Bellas vs Maryse & Fox mid month. Otherwise it’s Bourne vs Johnny Curtis early month, Paul Burchill vs Curtis and Santino vs Chavo Guerrero Jr mid month, Masters vs Curtis and Yoshi Tatsu vs Zack Ryder repping ECW month end. VARIATIONS Kofi & DX vs Legacy is our biggest, in Macon, where it’s also Show vs Henry which only goes a few seconds (WMD). Miz defences are vs Masters vs Swagger vs Chavo in Jackson, vs MVP vs Swagger vs Carlito in Cape Girardeau, vs MVP vs Carlito in Evansville, vs MVP vs Carlito vs Primo in Champaign and a big singles grudge match with Montel in Macon. There’s a couple of “over the top rope” challenges for Swagger in Rumble season, in Evansville he loses to Henry and in Champaign to Show. With Henry still with Sheamus in Jackson, MVP partners Bourne against Legacy. With both the Hall of Hurt/Pain Business otherwise engaged in Evansville, Priceless beat Bourne & Primo. Other one offs are Primo vs Curtis in Cape Girardeau, and the Bella twats vs SmackDowns Natalya & Layla which sounds 75% mediocre. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN Rey Mysterio vs Batista (DQ finish) goes in last in lieu of the champ 9th-11th in Fargo, Duluth and LaCrosse. 16th/17th in Augusta and Florence, it’s The Undertaker, Kane and Matt Hardy beating Dave, Chris Jericho and CM Punk. 23rd in Hammond Takers off so it’s Rey & Kane vs Punk & Jericho, next night in Cleveland (9000) there’s help - Triple H beats Y2J on last. SmackDown contributions to Macon are all midcard. THE CARDS Chris Jericho vs Matt Hardy is not what I expected early month. Still Drew McIntyre vs John Morrison for the ICT early month in Hammond and Macon, Drew starts working R-Truth mid month. Sadly Truth vs Dolph Ziggler early month (and, again, in Hammond) is still going the way it has been. It’s Christian vs Ezekiel Jackson for the ECW belt in a sandwich month (including Macon) and back to William Regal challenging mid month. Mickie James vs Beth Phoenix runs first week, winner Mickie challenges Michelle McCool down South, month end Beth tags with Layla to lose to Mickie and Maria.  The ongoing Hart Dynasty vs Slam Master J & Jimmy Wang Yang continues all month. Early month it’s Eric Escobar vs Mike Knox after which Escobars attacked by the Harts leading into their match in an attempt to get sympathy for Eric, plus ECW action from Goldust, Yoshi Tatsu & Vladimir Kozlov vs Regal, Tyler Reks & Zack Ryder. Mid month Knox does jobs to Great Khali (found HIS level at last) and Hurricane vs Vance Archer gets the Harts post match babyface beatdown treatment. Month end we add Goldie vs Tyler in singles. CM Punk has an amazing gig on many shows - he and Luke Gallows come out, he preaches his straight edge schtick, and looks for a volunteer from the crowd to get their head shaved and “join him” - which of course, he always finds. Cheque earned, zero bumps. VARIATIONS Rey Mysterio & Kane beat Punk & Gallows semi main in Cleveland. In LaCrosse Matts added to Drew vs JoMo and Kane pins Ziggler, in Cleveland it’s Drew vs Morrison vs Matt vs Truth. Three outings for Fit Finlay - he loses to Matt in Hammond but beats Ziggler in Cleveland and Reks in Macon. TVs 4th in Dayton Bryan Danielson (hey!) pins Chavo with the bicycle knee kick dark, bet that was smooth. The “Raw to compete with Hogan on Impact” has Bret Hart put the enmity with HBK behind him - but not before teasing violence - before the build towards his inevitable match with Vince begins - plus tons of big matches. Next night in Louisville Reks curtain jerks with Hurricane, and the latest Rey vs Batista contenders match ends in no contest because Taker spooky bollocks. 11th in Minneapolis - I don’t remember this one - Mike Tyson is on Raw, rejoining (I guess) DX 12 years later in a double cross of Y2J. Next night in Green Bay Escobar does one last job dark to Alex Riley, and Rey finally beats Dave in a cage match. 10th in Knoxville Skip Sheffield beats Chavo dark, and guest co-host Jon Heder wrestles in the main teaming with his “good friend” Miz and Show to lose to DX and Hornswoggle - who pins him. Coliseum Video main has Cena beat Sheamus by DQ. Next night in Greenville Curtis jobs dark to - hey, did you forget this guy had a contract? - Sho Funaki, on Superstars Archer loses on TV for the first time to future stablemate Shelton Benjamin, on SmackDown Punk brings Serena “out of the crowd” de-tresses and recruits her, and dark Rey actually pins Dave in a no-DQ match after many run ins. 26th in Cincinnati JTG pins Reks dark, and a fucking loaded SmackDown has two title matches, Y2J doing his semi regular selfless clean pinfall job (to Truth) and two massive singles matches (albeit without finishes) with HHH vs Punk (their first?) and HBK vs Rey - dark, the Coliseum Video Tag Team Mega Match of the Month has Undertaker, Rey and DX defeat Batista, Jericho, Punk and Gallows. Rumble dark match has all the girls - Gail, the Bella bots, Eve Torres & Kelly Kelly beat Maryse, Fox, Hall, Nattie and Katie Lea. The PPV is a triumph, with the right ending to the “Piggy James” drama (Mickie CRUSHES Michelle for the belt then humiliates her), an outstanding Taker vs Rey title match that I watched quite a few times, and an excellent Rumble with several great stories running through it, not least the desperation of HBK to win his right to challenge Taker at Mania, which is won by returning hero (for now) Edge. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month on TV : The Miz (United States champ) by Kofi. DEPARTURES DJ Gabriel, we hardly knew thee. The loss to Kane on TV and culmination of his storyline getting punished by Vickie is the end of Eric Escobar (Perez) after so many years waiting for his shot. I never really formed an opinion one way or another. Charlie Haas wrestles his last matches for TV and is released in February. He'll eventually hook back up with Shelton and have bangers all over the world with all manner of tag teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 9, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 9, 2023 FEBRUARY 2010 Another month where the roster seems to get trapped in Texas, SmackDown have to leave the country to escape then post PPV are right back there! The table is set wonderfully for Mania this month, maybe the last great Mania season I remember this side of Cody. MAIN EVENTS - RAW 6th in Alexandria it’s still Sheamus vs John Cena, next night in Lake Charles several SmackDown guys get booked when Huntsville TX is cancelled - Cena tags with Rey Mysterio to beat Sheamus & Randy Orton. 12th-13th it’s Sheamus vs Cena again in East Lansing and Madison, 19th-20th there are sellouts in Chicago and Springfield for touching distance of 23,000 tickets sold for joint brand shows the weekend of Elimination Chamber with a huge main and spot the two men that REALLY should never be partners ; The Undertaker, John Cena & Edge vs Batista, Randy Orton & Sheamus. 26th-28th in Amarillo, Lubbock and Wichita Falls it’s Cena & Mark Henry vs Orton & Big Show. THE CARDS The Miz vs MVP for the US belt occurs in Alexandria and returns month end through Texas, it’s still Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr vs Mark Henry & Evan Bourne, Miz vs MVP vs Kofi Kingston occurs both mid month shows then in Chicago we resume Henry & MVP challenging for the tag belts against new champs Miz & Big Show - MVPs quest to relieve Miz of either belt won’t yield fruit. Kofi ends up with Carlito by then, month end “Air Boom” (as will be) are beating Cody & Teddy who aren’t getting along. Chris Masters vs Carlito is blighted by some chopping and charging but does at least go down in Alexandria and Madison and month end though Texas. In Louisiana it’s Gail Kim & The Bella Twins vs Maryse, Alicia Fox & Katie Lea, in Illinois cross-brand fun teams Mickie James with Eve Torres and the Bellas to beat Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, Fox & Maryse, month end Nikki & Brie beat Maryse and Fox 2 on 2. It’s Jack Swagger vs Santino in Louisiana, mid month Bourne vs Chavo Guerrero Jr and Yoshi Tatsu vs William Regal, then it’s Primo vs Chavo in Illinois. Month end Christian vs Swagger, Primo vs Regal and Santino vs Chavo are on the menu. VARIATIONS Randy Orton vs Kofi Kingston is unique to Alexandria, in Lake Charles the shuffle to get extra bodies on the show has the UST match become Miz vs MVP vs Kingston vs Carlito leaving Masters with Tyler Reks. Mid month Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs Cody & Ted is supposed to repeat in East Lansing then Madison but DiBiase has transport issues in the former so Cody tags with Swagger instead. In East Lansing it’s shuffled to Henry vs Carlito and Masters vs Santino in a Masterlock Challenge with Eve at stake, in Madison it’s Henry vs Swagger as scheduled. Paul Burchill vs Johnny Curtis is only booked in Alexandria. The six woman has a heel team of Maryse, Katie and Jillian Hall in East Lansing ; in Madison it’s Maryse, Jillian and Fox. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 6th in Waco we’re back to Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk which of course will run to Mania and beyond. Then it’s tour time ; 11th in Quito (Ecuador) The Undertaker & Rey beat Batista & Chris Jericho, 12th-13th in Guayaquil (Ecuador) and San Jose (Costa Rica) Taker retains over Big Dave, 14th in Guadalajara Rey vs Batista goes on last (nice clean pin for Rey) with Taker & Kane vs Y2J & Punk underneath. 27th in Tyler and 28th in Abilene it’s Edge & John Morrison vs Punk & Y2J. THE CARDS Rey Mysterio vs Chris Jericho is an obvious highlights on tour, CM Punk loses to John Morrison and Kane does double count outs with Drew McIntyre in Lake Charles and through Illinois, the latter repeats in the second loop through Texas as well as one draw and one loss to Drew on tour ; naturally nights of without Kane, it’s Morrison for McIntyre. On tour Punk beats R-Truth twice, and whichever of Truth or JoMo not in singles on any given night is tagging with Matt Hardy to beat the Hart Dynasty. Truth’s ludicrous run of good form over Dolph Ziggler continues both early and late month. Christian vs Ezekiel Jackson as the final ECW title defences on the road go down in Waco, Lake Charles and on tour and Goldust vs Zack Ryder occurs three nights off the tour, then in Illinois Goldie loses to Jackson and Christian beats Tyler Reks. Month end Goldust is losing to Luke Gallows and Jackson is beating - good form over - Matt. In women’s matches Beth Phoenix vs Michelle McCool happens on tour, Beth winning 75%. Month end, the Harts resume their run with Cryme Tyme and… they say everything is bigger in Texas? Is Great Khali vs Mike Knox big enough?? VARIATIONS Punk losing to Kane in Guayaquil is the big one. In Waco Drew vs JoMo vs Truth is unique and there’s also Kane vs Knox, Goldust & Vladimir Kozlov vs William Regal & Tyler Reks, Mickie vs Michelle, Cryme Tyme & Maria vs the Harts & Natalya and Hardy vs Fit Finlay. In San Jose the Christian & Goldust vs Jackson & Ryder issues are combined into a tag. In Tyler it’s Mickie & Savannah vs Beth & Layla, in Abilene Savannah partners former ECW GM Tiffany. TVs 1st Raw in Nashville has the Elimination Chamber qualifiers (HBK gets himself beaten by Orton) and Bret Hart returns to kick Vinces ass until Dave saves - dark Cena beats Sheamus by DQ when Batista interferes. Next night in Memphis SmackDown do their Chamber qualifiers and dark Dave’s pinned by Taker. 8th in Lafayette DX lose the tag belts to ShowMiz in a three way vs Punk & Gallows when HBK gets pinned by Miz (hehe). Next night in Baton Rouge Jimmy Wang Yang & Slam Master J beat Reks & Curtis dark, Kane vs Drew goes double count out, a story between Matt and Maria starts where they mention Celebrity Apprentice (what a false dawn this is), and dark Taker pins Dave again after losing earlier (see below). 15th in Des Moines fuck all really happens, Katie Lea debuts new music on Superstars but is going nowhere. Next night in Kansas City Jackson relieves Captain Charisma of the ECW belt - somewhat pointlessly - on the final episode of the show. Dark at Elimination Chamber, Christian avenges his loss. This being another great PPV (17,000+ in the building is St Louis, good hometown noise for Randy too) where both belts change to set the table for Mania. Next night in Indianapolis (a healthy 13,000+) Kozlov pins Silas Young dark, depressingly in the match bumped from the PPV Maryse pins Kim in 3 minutes to become the new Women’s champ, promos air featuring NXT rookies, the superb Placebo “Running Up That Hill” video airs re: Taker vs HBK and dark Edge & HHH beat Y2J & Batista. Next night in Milwaukee Yang & J beat Reks & Vance Archer dark, the first NXT episode gets the show off to a great start with Y2J making Daniel Bryan look a star before beating him, on SmackDown sadly Michelle wins the belt back from Mickie, even worse Kane puts the first TV pinfall on Drew with a crap finish that makes McIntyre look a proper loser, and dark, Edge beats Batista by DQ. It might be worth mentioning here that the “chosen one” push for McIntyre originally would have involved him wrestling The Undertaker at Mania 26 before HBK decided to retire. A brief note on Shawn costing Taker the belt to Jericho so Taker would have a reason to finally accept his challenge and then Rumble winner Edge could challenge Y2J as the story had been clearly pointing towards ; it’s proof in the execution here, even if we all saw it coming, that the long standing Vince/writer’s’ insistence in veering away from anything “too obvious” is bullshit if the obvious story is the RIGHT story to tell. They could learn from that and maybe stop Lugering their bright new hopes in Mania main events. Quick note on ECW ; it had become a proto-NXT by this point where they tested out new talent and guys like Chavo or Matt Hardy could be champion. With FCW doing dev and the actual NXT show about to premiere, it became redundant. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month ; Undertaker (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Y2J, McIntyre (Intercontinental champ) in a three way with Kane and (winner) Morrison, McIntyre AGAIN by Kane, ShowMiz (tag team champs) by MVP & Henry. DEPARTURES Scott Armstrong is let go despite having had a featured storyline recently. They finally decide it’s not happening for Paul Burchill and Alexandria is his last match- he could never look the monster he did over her, crushing guys smaller than him. He wasn’t really a big guy by WWE standards, and after trying him as a Blueblood, a pirate, umm, a fan of incest and a “ripper”, they run out of ideas. Hurricane is let go likely stemming from an incident the month before when he and Jericho were arrested in Kentucky for what we’d probably call drunk and disorderly. He’d become dispensable by now and realistically was always too outspoken for some. Maria's on screen appearances conclude and she’s released on 26th. I'm stunned the company decided they couldn't find anything for a girl with her obvious attractiveness and charisma. Like Stacy before her they disregard her crossover appeal, maybe even seem to resent it. On a personal level, I've met Maria and over the course of about a ten minute conversation learned she's really intelligent to many of the production aspects of the industry, as well as being charming and chatty. Definitely one of the best things to ever happen to me in a Premier Inn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 10, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 10, 2023 (edited) MARCH 2010 One of the greats calls it a day. MAIN EVENTS - RAW 6th/7th in Salt Lake City and Boise its John Cena, Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs Sheamus, Randy Orton & Batista. 12th-14th in Denver, Fresno and Bakersfield Orton's out and Jack Swagger is in - really conspicuous given his losing streak on TV, but they've turned Randy babyface and they've got plans for Jack. And let it be known, Bakersfield is HBKs last night on the road. 19th in El Paso Cena & Mark Henry beat Sheamus & Big Show, 20th/21st in Tucson & Reno its Sheamus & Batista. THE CARDS Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr as a handicap is a big one mid month, early month its Kofi Kingston vs Big Show, mid month its The Miz vs MVP vs Kofi for the US title, month end we settle on Show vs MVP, Kofi & new partner Evan Bourne vs Cody & Ted, and Miz defends against Christian. We start with Gail Kim & Kelly Kelly vs Maryse & Alicia Fox early and mid month, in week 3 Eve Torres and Jillian Hall make it up to a six-woman. Early month it's Christian vs Cody as a singles, Bourne vs Chavo Guerrero Jr has run-ins causing an impromptu Bourne & Mark Henry vs Chavo & Jack Swagger, and it's Yoshi Tatsu vs Carlito and Chris Masters vs Zack Ryder. Mid month, we have Bourne vs William Regal, Christian vs Carlito, Santino upsets Masters and it's Yoshi vs Chavo. Month end, it's Masters vs Regal and Santino & Primo vs Carlito & Chavo - what a latin explosion that match is. VARIATIONS There's a shuffle in El Paso with Show in the main instead of Dave so Kofi beats Ted by DQ then impromptu, he and Chavo beat DiBiase & Rhodes, the US title becomes Miz vs MVP vs Christian vs Bourne, plus Carlito vs Primo in singles. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 6th in Pullman WA its Chris Jericho vs Edge vs Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk, next night in Yakima its a tag with former champs Edge & Rey beating Y2J & Punk. 13th in Stockton (10,000 is great) 14th at the Cow Palace (6000 is terrible) and 21st in Sacramento, The Undertaker, Edge and Rey beat Y2J, Punk and Luke Gallows. THE CARDS Drew McIntyre vs Kane for the ICT without a finish continues for two weeks. Dolph Ziggler vs R-Truth early month continues then when those jobs finally end for Dolph, more bad news - he loses to Goldust in home state California. John Morrison vs Luke Gallows is not what I expected first week. The Hart Dynasty vs Jimmy Wang Yang & Slam Master J feels like it will never end, but mercifully second week Harry & Tyson are losing to Truth & JoMo. Matt Hardy vs Ezekiel Jackson is two depressing weeks, Great Khali vs Mike Knox and Goldust vs Tyler Reks don't fill me with joy early month either, then in Cali its Reks losing to Yang and Knox losing to Shad Gaspard in rare singles outings. Beth Phoenix & Tiffany vs Natalya & Layla feels like they just threw out whoever was there early month, replaced later by Michelle McCool vs Phoenix for the belt. VARIATIONS Sacramento is different from the other Cali shows - JoMo is back with Ziggler, Kane pins Jackson, Matt pins Fit Finlay, Truth pins Knox, Goldust pins Vance Archer and when Goldie is then attacked by the Harts, JTG and Shad make the save - Dynasty straight back with Cryme Tyme and straight back to losing. TVs 1st in Oklahoma City ShowMiz retain over DX when Miz pins HBK again, next night in Wichita Edge beats Y2J by DQ in the dark main. 8th in Portland OR Cena & HHH beat Batista & Sheamus dark with the old double pin, next night in Seattle Yang pins Reks in an opener, after the shows Edge beats Jericho by DQ again. 15th at San Diego Sports Cena does another job to Show and HBK beats Y2J by count-out in their last big match thanks to Edge, dark - who else? - Rey wins the main event pinning Punk. Next night in at the Staples Center (15,000+ sellout) Yang & J beat Archer & Reks before the shows, on NXT Daniel Bryan does the worst of his losing streak matches against Khali, Taker beats Drew champion vs champion and dark, Cena, Edge, HHH and Rey beat Jericho, Punk, Batista and Sheamus. 22nd in San Jose a huge double taping occurs ; Knox pins Sho Funaki dark and Shawn pins Kane in his final big TV match. Dark at Mania Yoshi Tatsu wins the battle royal. Next night in Phoenix Edge again beats Y2J by DQ after which Triple H makes the save and gives Y2J a superkick in tribute to HBK. Next night in Vegas Knox jobs to Funaki in his last match for the company, on SmackDown Swagger smashes Edge with his briefcase then cashes in, dark, Taker pins Punk. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : McIntyre (Intercontinental champ) by Matt. DEPARTURE Shawn Michaels has left the building.  Edited August 31, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 11, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 11, 2023 APRIL 2010 Shawn Michaels is gone, Undertaker is about to need time off, Triple H is about to go off, Batistas leaving…. Jack Swagger is one of the World champions. Still, nothing like a spring clean. MAIN EVENTS - RAW As ever, a post Mania tour. It’s John Cena vs Sheamus for the WWE title 7th-11th in Vienna, Newcastle, Glasgow, Dublin and Liverpool and again while 13th-15th in Sheffield, Strasbourg and Lievin it’s Cena & Randy Orton vs Batista and Big Show, 16th in Belfast it’s Cena vs Sheamus vs Batista. 30th in Huntsville domestic shows start again and after a PPV, a draft and a split/turn, Cena, Show and Kofi Kingston face Sheamus, The Miz and Ted DiBiase Jr… which has nothing in common with any matches for Over The Limit. Odd. Bret Hart is a ringside enforcer for several Cena main events, making his first appearances for the company on our shores since One Night Only. THE CARDS Depending on main event there’s either Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase or Sheamus vs Mark Henry. It’s The Miz & Big Show vs Kofi Kingston & Henry for the tag belts “impromptu” after Miz vs Kofi DQ before TVs and a couple of instances of Miz vs Kofi vs DiBiase after. It’s MVP vs William Regal and Christian vs Dos Caras Jr (soon to be known forever as Alberrrrrtoooo Del Rrrrrioooooo) before TVs and In Strasbourg, MVP vs ADR otherwise and Evan Bourne vs Chavo Guerrero Jr on and off throughout (repeating in Huntsville) - or thrice, it’s Bourne vs Caras, and it’s Christian vs Regal in Dublin and Lievin, and vs Chavo in Glasgow and Belfast. It’s Maryse vs Eve Torres vs Kelly Kelly for the belt before the change and Eve giving Maryse the rematch after it, which also continues into Huntsville. Hornswoggle is doing the Masterlock Challenge too with my mate and yours, Chris Masters. VARIATIONS Not a full complement in Vienna so it’s Orton vs Show, Miz vs MVP, “Air Boom” vs Simply Priceless, Henry vs Chavo and Masters vs Regal. In Dublin a three way shuffle lands MVP with Chavo. Miz has Sheffield off so it’s Kofi vs Ted one on one. Finally in Belfast a reduced crew again sees Orton pin Teddy and ShowMiz give one last title shot to a reunited MVP & Mizark. Huntsville obviously has fresh matches ; Christian with Carlito, Henry pins Vladimir Kozlov,  MVP vs Zack Ryder, Regal losing to Yoshi Tatsu, Caras putting over Primo. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN Tour! 8th-10th it’s Jack Swagger vs Edge (DQ finish) for the belt in Berlin, Glasgow and Dublin, 11th in Manchester (and at 9500 the MEN is NOT sold out) it’s Swagger vs Edge vs Chris Jericho, 12th in Nottingham Swagger opens with Kane, the Edge vs Y2J streetfight goes on last. The triangle is back on 13th-15th in Oberhausen, Hannover and Zurich. On a couple of nights where Bret Hart is with the blue crew rather than Raw, Swagger ends up in the Sharpshooter. THE CARDS Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk continues as the obvious highlight throughout the tour. Otherwise game of two halves - early month it’s Drew McIntyre vs Matt Hardy for the ICT, R-Truth vs Dolph Ziggler which just refuses to go away most nights, John Morrison vs Luke Gallows and Kane vs Ezekiel Jackson (hopelessly out of his depth) - these hit a wall when Jackson gets a knock. Kane works emergency call Shad Gaspard in Manchester and Oberhausen then Gallows in Hannover and Zurich - Truth works Shad in Nottingham and Hannover, in Hannover and Zurich Drew is back defending against former champ JoMo, It’s Beth Phoenix vs Layla before TVs and Beth & Mickie James beating Layla and Michelle McCool thereafter. Hart Dynasty vs Trent Beretta & Caylen Croft is every night. VARIATIONS Manchester is shuffled due to Jackson being hurt and JoMo being off - Gallows loses to Fit Finlay, who sticks around for Nottingham to pin Ziggler. The only shuffled matches not to repeat are Matt pinning Ziggler in Hannover and Shad in Zurich. TVs 5th in Moline, you have to laugh - Cena “tags” with future tag team championship “partner” NXT rookie David Otunga (who refuses to tag in) for the first time against ShowMiz, dark hen beats Batista with the STFU in about a minute. Next night in Chicago Jimmy Wang Yang opens pinning Tyler Reks. 12th at the O2 (sold out) Regal beats Dos Caras Jr dark, Eve pins Maryse to win the Women's title (not Gail Kim, as you’ve been building for? OK) and dark Cena beats Batista again. Next night Swagger finally gets some shine beating Edge and Jericho in a three way then dark, Rey pins Punk. 19th at a sold out IZOD is a well remembered episode of Raw where the roster is grounded due to volcanic activity so the SmackDown wrestlers and anyone who didn’t fly turn up to help - The Undertaker turns up, Lilian Garcia is dusted off, Triple H, Edge and Rey beat Y2J, Punk & Gallows, dark Hunter vs Taker goes no contest when both are attacked by heels. Next night in Uncasville the curtain jerker has Shelton Benjamin (on his way out) beat Joey Mercury (on his way back in), NXT has Y2J job for a Heath Slater small package then throw a wobbler as only he can, SmackDown has both the end of Mike Knox jobbing for JTG and then the end of Cryme Tyme as Shad turns, and Beth & Mickie lose to LayCool when Layla pins James. At Extreme Rules Mercury joins the Straight Edge Society and Beth relieves McCool of SmackDowns Women’s title plus Sheamus sends Hunter on holiday. The three hour Raw has a draft and the previously beige Hart Dynasty wins the tag belts because Bret Hart is knocking around and everyone loves him. Then Show clocks Miz. Next night in Hershey Y2J does ANOTHER TV job for Kofi. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Swagger (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Orton, AGAIN by Taker, AGAIN by Morrison - JESUS TITTYFUCKING CHRIST, give the bloke a chance??? USELESS CUNTS!! MizShow (tag team champions) to the Hart Dynasty. DEPARTURES Mike Knox, who I never perceived as anything but colourless, is spring cleaned away, leaving only really the memory of DX humiliating him at Survivors 2006 in what Michael Hayes sold Knox on as "a moment people will remember" as opposed to doing 4 minutes of offence and getting pinned with nobody remembering it. They remembered it, I'll give him that. Shelton Benjamin follows long-term partner Haas out the door - odd, as his final face turn in a humble manner on ECW was quite well done and he'd had a long US title reign, but I guess they ran out of ideas and want to make room for new faces. Ray Gordy finishes doing the Slam Master J run and is released. Despite his pedigree, he ended up more Curtis than Cody. Jimmy Yang, recently Gordy's tag partner, is let go a second time. Great hand but only so many uses for a Cruiserweight in a company without a Cruiserweight division. Compatriot Sho Funaki is finally let go post Mania battle royal after 12 years on the books. Save a trip to Zero One, he's settled in the States, opens a dojo in Texas and is brought back on and off by the company in various presenter/commentator roles. Katie Lea follows "brother" Paul Burchill out the door - an undoubtedly talented performer that never found her niche, she later has two decent years in TNA. Decent in terms of success, if you ignore the spooky bollocks. Finally, a big one. Mickie James is let go and told by WWE it's because the Womens division is going in a "different direction" which is similar bollocks to what they told Gail Kim years earlier ; the new direction is going to be a worse one. Truth of the matter is that James apparently liked a night out and it was a little more than they liked on the European tour (Hardcore Country indeed), and while that alone may not have justified letting her go, her contract is coming up in August and she lets it slip in an interview that she won't be renewing, so they save a few months of her wages and release her early, much as they did with Candice the year before. She'll be back, eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 12, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 12, 2023 (edited) MAY 2010 Welcome to a really fishy month where between fallout from Mania, tours and a draft, I don’t think they give a shit who wrestles where. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 1st in Mobile it’s still John Cena, Big Show & Kofi Kingston vs Sheamus, The Miz & Ted DiBiase Jr. We’re off to make bank in Mexico! 5th in Monterrey (14,000 sellout) Cena & Randy Orton beat Sheamus & Batista then 6th in Aguascalientes (10,000 sellout) 7th in Puebla (10,000) and 8th in Mexico City (20,000 sellout) it’s a six man with Show and Miz on opposite sides. South to North, 14th-16th we’re in Ontario, it’s Cena & Orton vs Sheamus & Ted in Barrie, Kingston and London. 22nd there’s a 10,000 gate in Cincinnati for a cross brand show, again Cena & Orton beat Big Dave & Sheamus. 28th-30th in New Orleans, Monroe and Memphis it’s a new (old) main event - John Cena vs Chris Jericho for the WWE title. OK, they’ve lost HBK, HHH and Dave’s leaving. But after the draft they’ve got Cena, Orton, Edge and Jericho all 100% credible to contest main events (though admittedly very few fresh ones), Sheamus we know wasn’t really ready but you sense he’ll get there, Miz is rapidly on his way to becoming the top heat magnet in the company and they’ve just drafted back Morrison, a can’t-miss prospect. The future seems bright. THE CARDS In Louisiana we’re going to add Edge vs Mark Henry (in for the injured Orton) which is a big match for newly drafted and heel again Edge. Yes, the annual pillaging of SmackDown by big brother was brutal again. Also after the PPV it’s R-Truth vs The Miz for the US belt - no idea why a Truth diversion was necessary for Miz who’s made huge strides as a hated baddie. In Mexico Ted DiBiase Jr swaps wins with Christian or beats Kofi Kingston on nights that Christian pins Carlito (which also happens in Mobile). Into Canada new faces have arrived in the draft - The Hart Dynasty defend against a reunited Carlito & Primo plus John Morrison is back but saddled with Vladimir Kozlov. Month end Dynasty defend against Kozlov and friend-again William Regal - don’t let the Miz/Y2J superteam or Edges attempt to solicit a Rated-RKO reunion fool you, the division is on its arse. A masked Dos Caras Jr vs Regal and vs Chavo Guerrero Jr plus Evan Bourne vs Zack Ryder both happen twice or more in Mexico, it’s Bourne vs Chavo again in Mobile, Monterrey and Cincinnati, Bourne and Zack will work together month end too. In Canada Ryder’s with Santino (LOL) and Caras with Goldust plus NXT has guys on the road! It’s Justin Gabriel vs Wade Barrett. New runs heading into June have Caras with Santino and Goldie putting over Wade. Gail Kim & Eve Torres vs Maryse & Rosa Mendes is our women’s tag on tour, in Canada Eve tags with The Bella Twins to beat Maryse, Alicia Fox and Jillian Hall which sounds awful. Eve vs Maryse for the belt starts up in Mobile and continues in Cincinnati and Louisiana. VARIATIONS Can we start at the end, in Memphis? It has the most fun exception - Edges open challenge for an opponent with Randy injured is answered not by Henry like in Louisiana but by The King. Mark pins Barrett, Goldust goes over Caras, Santino is off. In Mobile old runs wrapped up have Henry pin Kozlov, the outbound MVP pin Regal, Caras go over Primo and Ryder put over Yoshi Tatsu. Other one offs are Henry v Carlito and Kofi v Ryder in Monterrey, Regal v Santino in Aguascalientes, Santino v Chavo in Puebla and Bourne v Regal, Henry v Ryder and Kofi v Carlito in Mexico City. Cincinnati has an NXT tag of Barrett and David Otunga vs future multiple time tag team champions (FUCKING LOL) Gabriel and Heath Slater. As an aside my non-fan flatmate had such an opinion of Slaters face that whenever I’d watch s1 NXT at the time he’d shout “Girlman” whenever Heath was on screen. In New Orleans only Maryse beats Gail before she starts chasing Eve again and for reasons unknown SmackDown feud Truth vs Drew McIntyre is transplanted to Raw for one night only for a different belt and a different winner. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 1st/2nd in Knoxville and Johnson City it’s Jack Swagger vs Randy Orton (yes, of Raw) then 3rd in Aiken SC it’s Swagger vs Big Show. Like Raw, we’re then off chasing Pesetas. 6th in Mexico City (20,000 sellout) it’s Swagger vs The Undertaker, 7th-9th in Queretaro, Leon and Monterrey (14,000 sellout) it’s Jack and Rey Mysterio. Like Raw we then head to Canada, 15th in Halifax then 16th for an old fashioned double shot in Moncton then St John where it’s back to Show challenging. In Cincinnati, it’s Kane, 29th/30th in Las Cruces and Rio Rancho it’s back to Show. All these defences end with Swagger losing on a DQ. Every single one - why are we protecting Show or Kane on fucking house shows at this point? They can get pinned by the new heel champion surely?? Is this another Vince edict to have a “lucky” champion? Fucking bullshit. Brands on its arse now. The stars have all left, the champ is a massive loser. After the peak of “Running Up That Hill,” the Big Gold Belt has plunged into its twilight, reaching a level that won’t really be higher than what the ICT should be, right up until unification. THE CARDS The Undertaker & Kane vs Chris Jericho & Edge is an obvious starting point in semi main position in Mexico - Kane vs Y2J having been a singles run early month. Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk is still going first week and a streetfight in Monterrey before Reys back to main event. Punks quest for gold for the SES leads to him and Luke Gallows challenging The Hart Dynasty through Mexico. In Canada Punk doesn’t wrestle but Rey and new mate Christian beat Gallows and the masked bloke who we know to be Joey Mercury - at least it’s a story. Month end, Gallows and secretly-Joey lose to two blokes who were setting each other on fire not long ago - Kane & MVP. Still Drew McIntyre vs R-Truth for the ICT and John Morrison vs Dolph Ziggler in our early month matches, into Mexico we return to the near constant Truth vs Ziggler while new blood on the blue brand has Drew mix it up defending against MVP and JoMo swap wins with Cody Rhodes though MVP vs Ziggler also repeats. In Canada, Drew loses non title (fucking boooo) to new enemy Kofi Kingston to add to the debacle playing out on TV (see below) then defends and pins him in Cincinnati - rematches to follow after the PPV and switch. At least Kofi and Dolph are back on the same show. Cody meanwhile beats my good buddy Chris Masters north of the border. The JTG vs Shad Gaspard grudge match finishes early month then Shad does jobs to MVP in Canada - they let Porter in?? - month end JTG gets surprising wins over Cody, Ziggler is losing to Christian, as he did early month in Aiken. For a guy who seems to emulate Mr Perfect, he sure loses a lot. Beth Phoenix vs Layla starts the month, in Mexico the eternal rivalry Michelle McCool vs Natalya is refereed by Vickie Guerrero, in Canada and until the end of the month new champ Layla defends against Kelly Kelly. Early month, Hart Dynasty vs Caylen Croft & Trent Beretta is the most underwhelming tag title match imaginable plus it’s Goldust vs Tyler Reks, Canada has an NXT match for SmackDown too, Darren Young vs David Otunga. Month end, the returning Chavo Guerrero Jr beats Otunga by DQ then in the old “now a tag match playa” trick, Chavo and the Masterpiece beat Otunga and Heath Slater. VARIATIONS In Aiken there’s a shake up - MVP & Kofi vs will be Dudebusters, Chavo v Reks, Drew v Kane in another shitty double count out. In Monterrey the Dynasty remarkably retain over Edge & Jericho - I don’t need to tell you Y2J did the job, submitting to Kidds Sharpshooter. Kane vs Shad, Drew vs future partner Cody vs MVP and JoMo v Gallows are other exceptions. In Cincinnati the Harts defend against Gallows and Mercury (still masked) and MVP pins Cody. TVs 3rd in Jacksonville Daniel Bryan acquits himself admirably in a loss to Batista that’s a forgotten 5 minute classic, the Colons reunite on Superstars and dark, Cena pins Batista no DQ. Next night in North Charleston Teddy suspends Drew and strips him of the ICT (awful) and dark Swagger goes to a non finish (of course) with Big Show. 10th in Pittsburgh (14,000+) little of note except Cena pins Dave again. Next night in Buffalo they eliminate Bryan from NXT and he does his “Bryan Danielson, what’s up for him” line which created buzz at the time but meant nothing long term, Kofi wins the pointless tournament to become “new Intercontinental champ” before Drew walks back in with a note from teacher (Vince) that he’s still champ - awful again, and Layla and Michelle beat Beth in a handicap so Layla wins the title. 17th in Toronto is the best Raw there was, the best Raw there is and the best Raw there ever will be. A star packed Raw has Taker beat Edge by count out when Edge runs away without contact, Dave annihilate Mark Henry for the second week in a row, Ted Jr dusts off Virgil, and Bret Hart wins the US title for the first time in 11 years by making Miz submit to the Sharpshooter. Next night in Ottawa SmackDown sounds awful and concludes with Show beating Drew by DQ in a non title match when Swagger interferes. How beige. MVP beats Chavo dark at the PPV - on which Rey takes Punks hair, Kofi legit wins the ICT from McIntyre, Edge and Orton both manage to get knocks wrestling each other, Show beats Swagger by DQ (zzzzz) and Cena decisively beats Batista then gets attacked by Sheamus. Next night in Toledo Goldust curtain jerks with Caras, Bret gives up the US belt which is promptly won by Truth over Miz (what’s up, indeed), and Dave quits. Next night in Cleveland Caras loses to Masters, Michael Cole continues a slow burn heel turn by announcing he’s suing DBry for roughing him up the week before, and Taker pins Rey in their usual great match during which part time Mark suffers an orbital bone injury which scuppers both his participation in Fatal Four Way and Mysterios planned month on holiday. Finally 31st in Austin (Texas again already!) Caras beats Yoshi, Jericho’s regular nice clean pinfall job is to Truth, Danny Bry brilliantly upsets Miz with a sneaky crucifix pin in hilariously brief fashion, and after a Cena/Bourne vs Edge/Sheamus Raw main where Evan pins Sheamus, Cena beats Edge dark by submission then allows Bourne to hit Air Bourne on Rated-R too. As stacked as Raw already is, they’re opening the door for him too. Can I say it? Chris Jericho might be the most selfless main event player in company history. A made man between his run with HBK and recent Mania title match with Edge, his run of losing clean to lower ranking babyfaces on TV while seeming to never lose credibility as a top baddie is truly remarkable. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month : John Cena (WWE CHAMPION) in a three way with Edge (winner) and Y2J, Swagger (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Kane, AGAIN by Kingston. What. The. Fuck. DEPARTURES Batista actually quits and actually leaves after losing to Cena again at Over The Limit. He’s got multiple reasons - he’s banged up (that last match really doesn’t help), WWE are blocking him making serious inroads into acting, he’s not keen on the PG direction. He’ll flounce in spectacular fashion to eventually return in 2014 which they’ll fuck up terribly. Carlito violates the Wellness policy by showing up to Toronto seemingly wasted and amidst allegations of addictions to painkillers refuses to go to rehab, so they let him go. Which is fair enough. Shad Gaspard is sent back to FCW as they have big hopes for JTG in singles (never realised) and will get released in November. When JTG gets released too Cryme Tyme will naturally reform on the indies, and Shad will also lend his skills to other industries such as TV and video games - most notably doing the motion capture for Kratos in God Of War. But it’s outside the ring that he left the biggest legacy, in 2016 foiling an attempted robbery of a petrol station at gunpoint, disarming and restraining the crook until cops arrived, and sadly the heroic manner of his death, drowned in a riptide while trying to save son AG, who survived. We could all do with being a little more like Shad.  Edited August 31, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 13, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 13, 2023 (edited) JUNE 2010 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 4th-5th in Asheville and Greenville its John Cena & Evan Bourne vs Sheamus & Edge (riding the wave of last months Raw where Bourne stepped up) - in Greenville this is "impromptu" after Cena vs Sheamus for the belt. 6th in Columbia for reasons unknown Cena's off and its Edge vs Chris Jericho with Rated-R playing face for one night only (err, for now). 11th-13th in Charleston, Roanoke and Greensboro its similar Cena shenanigans but in Charleston only he pins Sheamus and there's no tag. 19th the semi-regular cross-brand show is a sellout at MSG for Cena vs Sheamus with the Nexus lads attacking Cena until he's saved by a few guys including Orton and Edge (even though he's a heel). 25th in Erie (cage match) and 26th in Youngstown Cena & Randy Orton vs Edge & Sheamus goes to a no contest (Nexus) then 27th its Sheamus vs Cena for the belt inside the cage which Sheamus wins after the same interference. THE CARDS We start with two weeks of R-Truth vs The Miz vs John Morrison, really making the most of Truth's brief spell with the United States title. Month end JoMo beats Ted DiBiase Jr. Early month the Hart Dynasty vs The Usos (now THERE'S your dynasty) kicks off for the tag belts before the Harts fuck off back to SmackDown's schedule. Eve Torres vs Maryse continues for the Womens title then after the PPV Eve chases Alicia Fox - LOL. As if that happened. For two weeks it's Mark Henry vs Ted Jr and Goldust vs Dos Caras Jr, early month Wade Barrett vs Yoshi Tatsu. Second week its Yoshi beating Zack Ryder and Great Khali pinning William Regal. Month end it's usually Evan Bourne vs Ryder, Goldust vs Regal and Tatsu slumming it doing jobs to Vladimir Kozlov. VARIATIONS Y2J is in Greenville too and he's putting over Truth ; it's JoMo pinning Miz in singles. In Charleston the tag doesn't happen but there's still Bourne/Edge interaction in a singles... which Bourne wins! As if this wasn't enough in Erie Jericho also puts Bourne over. At MSG the Randy Orton vs Edge grudge match finally happens, won by Orton. Miz gets back in the US title groove beating Truth, Bourne AND Henry in a four way, and Eve & The Bella Twins beat Maryse, Michelle McCool & Layla in cross brand fun. In Columbia Sheamus pins big Mark, Bourne pins DiBiase, Goldie's back with Barrett and Caras beats Yoshi. Miz has a month end spell of one offs - beating Truth in Erie, Henry in Wheeling when he attacks Truth before the match, and both in Youngstown. Otherwise its Henry vs Kozlov and Goldie & Tatsu vs Regal & Ryder in Erie. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 5th-6th in St Louis and Indiannapolis its (PPV title match) Jack Swagger vs Big Show vs Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk - wow, a match Swagger can't lose by DQ. 12th/13th in Upper Marlboro and Hampton and at MSG, Swagger ACTUALLY pins Show in no DQ matches. 26th in Portland ME new champ Rey pins Swagger, 27th-28th in Worcester and Syracuse its Rey vs Swagger vs Show - the champ's winning every night again. Which is weird after the last few months of Swagger being a loser. THE CARDS Some of these cards are fucking awful. Kane vs Luke Gallows & Joey Mercury (still masked) as a handicap match is legitimately challenging for semi main in terms of star power early month. Mid month (including MSG) its at least Kane vs CM Punk and then Punk's lieutenants are back trying to wrest the tag straps from the Hart Dynasty who are jumping back and forth between brands. Depressingly month end Kidd and Harry are with Curt Hawkins & Vance Archer which is the worst C show level title match we'll discuss for years. Kofi Kingston vs Drew McIntyre rematches for the ICT go most of the month. Christian vs Dolph Ziggler goes all month and MVP vs Cody Rhodes sounds decent early month. Mid month Cody's back with Chris Masters. Womens title has Layla vs Tiffany for two weeks which at least sounds easy on the eye, then month end its Kelly Kelly challenging. Early month Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Justin Gabriel and Fit Finlay swapping wins with Heath Slater is one more NXT match than I'd like at this stage. Matt Hardy has been attacking McIntyre after his matches most of the month. VARIATIONS At MSG Gallows & Mercury lose to MVP & Christian. Title defences month end for Kofi are vs Cody vs Matt in Portland and one on one with Cody in Worcester. It's MVP vs Tyler Reks in Upper Marlboro ; in Hampton MVP vs Ziggler and Christian vs Reks. In Portland, JTG vs Reks which goes no time at all and a rechristened Alberto Del Rio vs Finlay, in Worcester Hardy vs Reks and ADR vs JTG. TVs 1st in Dallas nothing too noteworthy except Kane tells everyone Taker's been left hurt by unknown assailant ("vegetative state" being the buzz phrase - surely there must be some cahoots!) and then is the last out to Rey in the battle royal to replace him in Fatal Four Way. 7th in Miami (10,000 gate) the 3 hour Raw has little of note except the Cena vs Punk main event descends into chaos when the group we'll call Nexus attacks both, in one of the best incidents on Raw in years - there's a stunning bit of production where they catch Tarver stood in the crowd ominously in his mask looking every bit a killer in waiting. Next night in Tampa JTG beats Caras Jr dark, they start the new NXT series - fun fact, Bray Wyatt as Husky Harris has his first televised WWE match tagging with Cody. Dark - Coliseum Video Exclusive! - Show & Rey beat Swagger & Punk in a cage match. 14th in Charlotte both Primo vs Tatsu and The Usos vs Goldust & Mark Henry are dark matches - Mark's on the slide again. On Raw, on the eve of Fatal Four Way, Miz wins the US title back by beating Truth, JoMo and Ryder in a four way, Virgil actually wrestles, tagging with Ted to lose to Show and guest Mark Feuerstein, Nexus kidnap GM Bret Hart and dark Cena pins Sheamus. 15th in Raleigh on NXT Kaval gets pinned by Alex Riley which is hilarious and sad in equal measures, and on SmackDown Swagger is pinned by Rey AGAIN in a tag. Ryder pins MVP dark at the PPV (Jesus) - its an eventful one with both the big belts changing in an exciting match won by Rey and CHAOS overshadowing Sheamus getting the title back from Cena, plus Fox wins the Womens belt (Gail gets overlooked yet again), Y2J puts Bourne over and tragically there’s the in-ring debut of Tamina - in a six-person where she's fittingly opposite her colleague in mediocrity, Natalya. Next night in Bridgeport Vince fires Bret as GM, DiBiase Jr fires Virgil and Y2J gets his win back. Next night in Manchester Finlay pins Reks dark, and Matt pins McIntyre after which Teddy Long declares McIntyre's Visa has expired and has him thrown out as an illegal immigrant or something. 28th in Philadelphia (14,000+) fuck all interesting happens on telly but Sheamus vs Cena dark goes no contest when Nexus run in again. Finally next night in Wilkes-Barre, dark matches have Masters beat Reks and (Raws) Miz beat (Raws) Morrison, on SmackDown Kofi vs Ziggler happens (LOL) and dark Rey beats Swagger in a cage match. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month : Swagger (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Rey, Layla (SmackDown Womens Champion) by Kelly DEPARTURES Daniel Bryan is shitcanned as there's uproar from some losers, somewhere, about how he choked Justin Roberts with his own tie, or something. He'll do some real cool indy matches to pay the bills including against Eddie Kingston for Chikara, Bobby Fish for Evolve, Shingo Takagi for Dragon Gate USA and challenging Adam Pearce for the NWA World Heavyweight title at NWA Legends Fanfest, before returning once it's blown over, just in time for the SummerSlam build. Bridgeport Raw is the end for Virgil. It was fun while it lasted, and at least he didn't outshine Ted Jr like Maryse did. Savannah, we hardly knew ye.  Edited August 31, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 14, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 14, 2023 JULY 2010 MAIN EVENTS - RAW 9th-11th in Peoria, Rockford and Huntington it’s Sheamus vs John Cena in a lumberjack match which goes to a non finish when Cena is attacked by the lumberjacks who just happen to be the Nexus ; hijinx aplenty as the anonymous GM announces during The Cutting Edge on the night (guest : Sheamus) that it’s been made a lumberjack match - announced through the medium of a Bella twin. 17th in Omaha the night before Money In The Bank the usual cross brand main has Cena, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio & Big Show vs Sheamus, Chris Jericho, Edge & Jack Swagger go to a non finish for the same reason. 23rd-25th it’s more lumberjack shenanigans over the WWE title in Houston, Shreveport and Beaumont, 30th/31st in Tallahassee and Dayton Beach it’s the slightly mish-mashed Cena, Y2J and John Morrison beating Nexus reps Wade Barrett, Skip Sheffield & David Otunga (is that the three you’d pick?) atop Sheamus turning back challenges from the man that will dethrone him, Orton, albeit via DQ losses. Happy to book Sheamus as a lame duck champ for a second time, clearly. THE CARDS By the third week Randy Orton vs Edge is finally getting a proper run, in streetfights. Edge vs Evan Bourne early month gives Bourne, no doubt, stature-enhancing “looks good in defeat” matches, in Huntington and week 3 he’s back with Chris Jericho who of course, loses to him every night. The Miz vs John Morrison vs Ted DiBiase Jr is our early US title match, by Texas Miz is back with Mark Henry. Month end the two guys with the form, Miz and Bourne, are wrestling each other. Hart Dynasty vs The Usos and Alicia Fox vs Eve Torres are title matches that run and run, month end the Harts are back on SmackDown while Eve tags with the forgotten woman Gail Kim to beat Fox and Jillian Hall. Henry vs Zack Ryder and Great Khali vs William Regal start the month, in Texas/Shreveport it’s Santino & Vladimir Kozlov (umm, did Kozlov turn AGAIN?) vs Regal & Ryder, and DiBiase Jr pinning Goldust which is more his speed. Month end Goldust beats Regal, there’s Yoshi Tatsu vs Primo, and Ted loses to Khali, which is a very bad sign indeed. VARIATIONS In Huntington Jericho is an extra body causing a domino effect of changes - Edge beats Henry instead of Bourne, Ryder loses to Khali instead of Henry, thus does Regal lose to Santino who on the other shows just referees the women’s title match. Unique to Omaha Ryder loses to Santino and JoMo pins Ted. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN Amidst the cancellations 5th in Savannah still goes ahead ; Rey Mysterio vs Kane vs Big Show vs Jack Swagger for the belt in a cage! 10th-11th in Grand Rapids and Evansville it’s Rey vs Kane vs Swagger with no cage. Omaha you know about. Nothing going on road wise until first night of the new international tour 31st to a good 12,000 gate in Sydney, after the cash in the champion and dynamic have changed but it’s still Kane vs Rey vs Swagger. THE CARDS Ok, with just five shows (well, four and a half) we need to dig deep for consistency. So, what repeated? Oh, you’re gonna laugh. Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler repeats for the Intercontinental title in Savannah and Sydney either side of the switch, and in Grand Rapids, Evansville and Omaha they contest four ways with former champ Drew McIntyre and Matt Hardy. I thought McIntyre had been deported…? Mid month it’s Big Show vs Luke Gallows & Joey Mercury (still masked), Alberto Del Rio vs Fit Finlay and Christian & MVP vs Vance Archer & Curt Hawkins. It’s still Cody Rhodes vs Chris Masters on all the early month shows, Layla vs Kelly Kelly for the belt happens both mid month and Sydney. VARIATIONS In Savannah, logically, Matt beats Drew in their grudge match, Christian & MVP beat Gallows & Mercury, it’s JTG vs Chavo Guerrero Jr and Kelly & Tiffany vs Layla & Michelle McCool. Unique to Omaha is Christian vs Cody. In Sydney the crew get back the Hart Dynasty vs Gallows & Mercury (now unmasked), it’s MVP vs Cody, Show vs McIntyre, Matt vs Christian and Alberto Del Rio vs Chavo. TVs 5th in Nashville Orton & Bourne beat Edge & Y2J when CJ gets pinned by Bourne AGAIN. There’s a really crass moment where the message from the anonymous GM says “And that’s the bottom line cause the GM said so” designed to make the fans think it’s Stone Cold - if only that was the plan. Or that there was a plan. For Superstars Tatsu & Gail beat Primo & Jillian when Gail - the babyface - pins Jill via a fast count from vengeful refs The Bella Twins. Hopeless. Next night in Atlanta Miz pins Kaval in a cool forgotten competitive match on NXT, on SmackDown Drew returns after the awful “Visa” storyline gave him a two week break from TV and the “Oh no, Serena likes a drink” story plays out on TV (art imitates life) with Punk forgiving her for now. 12th in Lexington has the well remembered brawl where Evan takes an RKO out of an Air Bourne attempt and there’s an implication that the GM is Roddy Piper, there’s a Doink usage in a Santino comedy 8-man, and Cena loses to 6 of Nexus in a handicap. Oh - Jericho gives Tatsu a competitive 13 minutes before beating him on Superstars. Santino pins Regal dark at Money In The Bank, another hugely eventful PPV where Miz wins Raw MITB to continue his ascent to the top, Kane wins SmackDowns briefcase, Rey makes Swagger look like a star player at last before beating him then Kane cashes in which amounts to a heel turn ; it was thought at the time that the belt may have lead to a continuation of Rey vs Punk with a belt vs mask match at SummerSlam - even though they just did hair vs mask a couple of months back - plus the start of Undertaker vs Kane, but clearly Taker won’t be ready so here’s a Show-shaped booby prize for Punk. And that was the second draft, with the original finish for Fatal Four Way planned to lead to a Swagger v Taker one on one. Still, says how high they were on Rey that he could accidentally hurt Taker then actually win the belt when they’re in a corner. Also Sheamus beats Cena in a cage match with an outcome so predictable that to this day I never bothered watching it. Night after in Tulsa ADR curtain jerks with Goldust, Truth steps up his campaign to be crowned “raids most annoying wrestler” by foiling a Miz cash in, Barrett pins Henry with an impressive Wastelands, and the WWE team is confirmed for SummerSlam and it includes Bret Hart. Next night in Little Rock Del Rio beats Kaval dark, Mercury is FINALLY unmasked by Show, and Rey beats Swagger 2/3 falls in another excellent match after which Kane saves Rey from Swagger again as though they’re still mates then tries to attack him, confirming his heel status. 26th in San Antonio Cena is forced to tag with Y2J against Edge & Sheamus and - this is going to shock you - Jericho betrays him. Finally 28th in Laredo Tiffany loses to Layla for Superstars, and after beating him by pin and by DQ in two previous matches Ziggler wins the ICT off Kofi (yes, they wrestle a lot this month). NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month : The Miz (United States Champion) by Truth, Miz AGAIN by Orton, Kofi (Intercontinental champ) by McIntyre, Kofi AGAIN by Ziggler DEPARTURE This is the last you’ll hear of Tiffany - in August there’s a row in a hotel with then-husband Drew which gets her arrested for misdemeanour domestic disturbance. WWE suspends her and wary of a volatile backstage atmosphere, releases her in November. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 15, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 15, 2023 (edited) AUGUST 2010 It’s comforting to know that whatever is going on, you’re never long from Kane fighting Big Show. Or teaming with him. MAIN EVENTS - RAW 1st in Estero its still John Cena, Chris Jericho & John Morrison vs Wade Barrett, Skip Sheffield & David Otunga, 7th in San Diego Rey Mysterio is back in the country just in time to sub in for Y2J in his hometown, and Justin Gabriel cycles in for Sheffield. Next night in San Bernardino Cena has a night off so Jericho, Edge and JoMo beat Barrett, Heath Slater and Michael Tarver. 18th we're in Honolulu for Cena vs Barrett no DQ, 20th at Sumo Hall (6500 is not much more than half full) there's a lot of SmackDown help, Cena & Big Show beat Barrett & Otunga. Every one of these is supported by Sheamus vs Randy Orton with the DQ finish. Miz tries to cash in in Hawaii, foiled by an RKO. The second night at Ryogoku it's Cena & Yoshi Tatsu beating Sheamus & Y2J - 8100, company claims sell out - that's bollocks, I've been in that building when it's sold out and you can fit near 12,000 inside. Next night they have 8000 apparently free tickets to their debut show in Shanghai, five match card only with Sheamus vs Orton then Cena vs Show. 28th in Wildwood - this is new - Sheamus vs Orton in a lumberjack match (and I bet I know who the lumberjacks were) is then followed by Cena, Jericho and Daniel Bryan beating Gabriel, Otunga & Slater, and next night in Newark Bryan, Jericho & Orton beat Barrett, Gabriel & Tarver followed by Sheamus vs Cena in the cage. THE CARDS With not much consistency on tour Chris Jericho vs Yoshi Tatsu stands out in Honolulu and first night at Ryogoku Kokukigan ; the latter goes 25 competitive minutes. The Miz vs Evan Bourne continues early month and late month, Miz beats Mark Henry in between. Month end John Morrison vs Ted DiBiase Jr is back on, even when it’s on SmackDown, and the Hart Dynasty vs The Usos is back on for the tag belts. Eve Torres & The Bella Twins vs Maryse, Alicia Fox & Jillian Hall continues including through Honolulu and one night in Tokyo, it’s Melina vs Fox for the belt month end. Early month repeats are Great Khali vs Ted Jr, Goldust vs Primo and Vladimir Kozlov & Santino beating The Usos (what a waste). Finally month end it’s Tatsu vs Zack Ryder and Henry vs William Regal. VARIATIONS Let’s start at the top with three big collisions second night in Tokyo - Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett goes on for the first time, Big Show renews his mammoth rivalry with the Worlds Strongest Man, and Bourne has another reputation-enhancing clash with a top player in Rey Mysterio. Sticking with Rey, he beats Miz non title the first night in Nip then in Shanghai drops his enemy eternal, Y2J. Bourne also gets another whirl with Edge in San Diego, where Miz defends in a three way with Henry and Ted Jr. Otherwise in Estero - who's this? - AJ Lee tags with Eve to beat Aksana & Alicia. Plus Tatsu vs Primo and Goldust vs Regal. In San Diego it’s Khali vs Ryder, Henry vs Ryder in San Bernardino. Honolulu has Bourne vs DiBiase plus the Harts lose non title to Otunga & Sheffield (FUCK SAKE), during which Ryback does his ankle in. Sumo Hall night 1 has the Harts vs Henry & Bourne and Goldust v Ted, next night the Harts beat Miz & DiBiase which feels a bit thrown together and already beneath Miz, the Bellas beat Fox & Hall (refd by Eve) and Otunga pins Goldust. In Shanghai Eve pins Fox as a singles match. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 1st in Melbourne (10,000) and 3rd in Adelaide it's Kane vs Rey Mysterio, but spare a thought for Brisbane on the 2nd ; Big Show wins an opening battle royal to earn the crack. 4th in Perth its a three way of Kane vs Rey vs Jack Swagger, 5th in Auckland it's back to Kane vs Rey. Guys from both rosters are on the Australasian tour, 21st in Lubbock it's Kane vs Swagger heel vs heel, 22nd in Odessa its inside a cage with the bizarre sight of Nexus (from Raw) trying to stop Swagger escaping, until the SmackDown babyfaces make a save. Extraordinary. 27th-29th some talents are borrowed from Raw in small venues - they've managed to book two shows per night, whoops! At Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, South Shore Music Circus and Cape Cod Melody Tent, it's Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston vs Drew McIntyre vs Matt Hardy for the ICT while 28th/29th in Bethlehem and Springfield MA, Kane beats Show inside a cage with an assist from CM Punk. THE CARDS CM Punk vs MVP is booked from Texas to month end, getting Punk valuable time back in the ring. In Melbourne and Adelaide its Big Show vs Jack Swagger as Jack comes back from a title reign where he mostly lost by DQ, to go back to losing properly. Month end in the music halls Swagger finally finds joy beating Chris Masters in submission matches. Can I shock you? It's Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston for the ICT when it's not a multi-man cluster. MVP vs Cody Rhodes goes 50/50 on tour, month end Cody loses to loanee R-Truth on the B shows. An inconsistent month for Christian ends up with Tyler Reks in Bethlehem and Springfield. In Oz and Auckland the Hart Dynasty usually defend against Luke Gallows & Joey Mercury. It's Layla vs Kelly Kelly for the belt in a sandwich month or sometimes Kelly & Natalya beating Layla & Serena early month. Month end, Gail Kim & The Bella Twins vs Maryse, Rosa Mendes & Jillian Hall in the music halls... I give up on who's borrowed and who isn’t. All month Alberto Del Rio beating Chavo Guerrero Jr goes on virtually every night. Mid month in Texas the Nexus incursion spreads to SmackDown as Michael Tarver, Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel beat Masters, JTG & Vladimir Kozlov. A whole slew of matches get added to the month end cards when they’re desperate for numbers, not all of them scream “marquee” : Goldust vs Gallows, Santino & Kozlov vs Curt Gawkins & Vance Archer, JTG vs Primo, Great Khali vs Caylen Croft & Trent Beretta, and Kaval vs Michael McGillicutty. VARIATIONS Christian and Matt are all over the place on the tour. In Melbourne McIntyre pins Matt, its Ziggler vs Kofi vs Christian. In Brisbane Rey pins Swagger, ADR beats MVP, Cody and Chavo are in the battle royal but don't have a second match In Adelaide Matt pins Christian, its Ziggler vs Kofi vs Drew. In Perth Show pins McIntyre and former tag champs Matt & MVP beat Cody & Christian. In Auckland Swagger loses to MVP. Project over or what?? Show beats Gallows & Mercury in a handicap, the Harts beat Broken Mirrors, and its Ziggler vs Kofi vs Hardy vs Christian. In Lubbock it’s Kofi vs Cody and Ziggler vs (battle royal winner) Matt ; in Odessa Kofi wins the battle royal (like he needs a reason to wrestle Dolph) and Cody pins Hardy. Matts getting attacked most nights by Broken Mirrors like on TV - for reasons I can’t explain, while most of the crew works the battle royal AND a second match, Drew doesn’t, nor Reks. Layla pins Mendes in Lubbock and AJ Lee in Odessa. In Hyannis only Kelly & Gail beat Jillian & Rosa, same night in Springfield only the Bellas beat Layla & Michelle McCool. TVs 8th in Sacramento is notable for Sheamus making reference to ending Triple H’s career which plays up to The Games eventual revenge (oh boy) and at the time of speaking, planned Mania 27 rematch that never happens. Plus the non-wrestling return to wrestling for Bret Hart continues as he and Cena do a non finish with Edge & Y2J when Nexus interferes. SummerSlam features cross brand shenanigans teasing a Kane/Sheamus feud (zzz), The Undertaker returns, Sheamus vs Randy Orton, for the second time on a "Big 4" PPV this year, has a shite DQ finish, and left alone with Barrett & Gabriel, Cena famously goes from being DDTd on the floor to having his hand raised in about 90 seconds. Next night on Raw Jericho puts Barrett over and Cena wins a dark battle royal main which as well as Nexus features SmackDowns Punk and Show for some reason. Next night in Bakersfield (keeping score?) Kofi beats Ziggler by DQ, Serena wrestles, tagging with Gallows to beat Show & Kelly, Matt and Christian get another kicking from Broken Mirrors, Del Rio makes as strong a debut as you could imagine beating Rey, and dark Kane beats Rey and Swagger inside a cage. 18th in Fresno they round off four solid days of TV, Kofi beats Ziggler by count-out (LOL) and Kane beats Show and Swagger dark. 30th in Boston has the stupidest promotion of a match everybody knows isn’t going to happen since Bischoff vs Vince at Slamboree 98 - insurance-restricted Bret vs The Undertaker of course never happens because Nexus, which starts the Taker/Nexus enmity and slow crawl to Taker vs Barrett at Mania 27, which doesn’t happen either. Dark is an incredibly novel Coliseum Exclusive - Sheamus retains the belt in a cage match over Cena and Taker which is short and laden with interference but interesting nonetheless. Next night in Albany JoMo beats Reks before cameras, the show has Christian refer to Del Rio as “Juan Bradshaw Layfield” which tickled me just right, Cody has started doing his grooming tips stuff and tells Matt he’s fat before pinning him (do you sense Hardy is on the way out?) and dark, Taker vs Kane has no finish. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Fox (Raw Women’s Champion) by Melons. DEPARTURE Serena Deeb is let go in the middle of the Straight Edge Society storyline ; WWE cites the reason as "not living the Straight Edge gimmick in public" or words to that effect. In other words, she liked a night out on the lash and they were fed up that she'd been seen doing it in public repeatedly by fans. Kayfabe is alive!!... imagine an actor losing their gig because they behaved differently in real life to their character on your favourite Netflix show. Contemptible bullshit. Here's that cage match ; Here's that battle royal from LA, if you like that sort of thing ; Here's Rey vs Swagger vs Kane ;  Edited August 31, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 16, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 16, 2023 SEPTEMBER 2010 The exodus continues. But at least MSG gives us one last dose of the real Excellence Of Execution. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW We’re back off to Puerto Rico again! 2nd in Arecibo it’s Sheamus vs John Cena, 3rd in Ponce Cena teams with John Morrison, Mark Henry and Primo vs Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel & David Otunga, next night in San Juan Cena JoMo and Henry beat Barrett, Slater and Michael Tarver. Yes, it’s still Sheamus and Randy Orton with a DQ finish underneath those two. 10th in Toronto (<7500) the title match is on last featuring another failed Miz cash in but 11th/12th in Hamilton and Peterborough there’s a Canadian flavoured main - Edge, Chris Jericho & The Hart Dynasty beat Barrett, Otunga, Tarver & Slater in an eliminator. St Louis on the 18th as usual it’s co-branded the night before a PPV ; Cena, Orton, Evan Bourne and Big Show beat Barrett, Tarver, Otunga, Slater and Gabriel in a 4v5 handicap eliminator with hometown hero Randy the last man standing. 22nd-25th we’re over to Europe for decent gates in St Etienne, Luxembourg City and two nights in Paris where it’s new champ Orton pinning Sheamus 3 nights in a row then a first edition for Randy Orton vs Sheamus vs Edge ; two nights of which are supported by John Cena vs Wade Barrett. THE CARDS The Miz vs Evan Bourne is the big US title match for the big city in San Juan and Toronto, in Arecibo, Hamilton, Peterborough and second night in Paris (by which he’s lost the belt) it’s natural rival John Morrison for Miz, in Ontario Bourne’s trying to drag Ted DiBiase Jr up from his slump. Huge nights on the tour for both big time Bourne - he’s tagging twice with John Cena to beat Wade Barrett & David Otunga and beating William Regal the other nights - and Morrison, who has three nights wrestling Edge. Meanwhile Miz loses two top contenders three ways against R-Truth (winner) and Ted. He needn’t be bothered about that belt any more anyway. It’s Hart Dynasty vs The Usos nearly every night until the Harts lose the straps, then on tour - explain this - Jimmy & Jey lose to Santino & Vladimir Kozlov. A womens title match of Melina vs Alicia Fox goes most of the month - the last run before the belts are mercifully unified. When Alicia gets a turn, you know the depth just isn’t there. The Bella Twins vs Maryse & Tamina sounds quite the waste of time in Europe. It’s Goldust vs Zack Ryder twice in Puerto Rico, I absolutely cannot be fucked listing Goldie & Gail Kim vs Tamina and one Uso twin or the other as separate variations in Ontario, where Ryder loses to Primo as he had in Arecibo. Dust beats Regal twice in France and the fading DiBiase in Arecibo and Luxembourg. VARIATIONS Randy Orton captains a WWE team of Henry and Bourne in Arecibo against Barrett, Otunga and Gabriel. Chris Jericho has to be unique, of course - he beats Bryan in Arecibo and native hero Primo in San Juan but loses (yet again) to Bourne in Ponce. Miz beats Bryan and Ted Jr in Ponce where Natalya and Tamina join their crews for a mixed six person tag, Danny Bry beats DiBiase as a singles in San Juan. In Toronto only it’s Edge & Y2J beating Barrett & Tarver, Melons vs Kim vs Fox, Santino vs Ryder and Goldust vs Primo. In St Louis it’s JoMo vs Ted and Miz vs Bryan, in Luxembourg only Miz beats Truth one on one. Second night in Paris Goldust pins Otunga and Great Khali turns up to beat DiBiase yet again. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 4th/5th in Binghamton and White Plains it’s Kane vs Big Show for the belt - aren’t there just some matches you wish would just fuck off and stop happening? On the flip side, Kane defending against Ayr’s Drew McIntyre 10th in Aberdeen is unique - Drew played babyface! 11th/12th it’s back to Kane and Show, a glamour main for glamour towns, Minehead and Skegness. In St Louis however The Undertaker is challenging little brother (DQ finish), shaking rust off for the PPV. 24th in Newark it’s again Kane vs Show, next night at MSG something’s terribly wrong with the marketing team for a Bret Hart Appreciation Night to only draw 13,500 - either that or New Yorkers simply can’t be arsed to part with their dollar for Kane vs Taker as their headliner in 2010 even if it is a streetfight and I can’t fault them for that. Next night in Reading it’s back to plain rules and it’s back to a DQ finish - even half fit and part time, Taker isn’t doing the job EVERY night, that would be crazy. THE CARDS CM Punk vs Big Show goes down in wonky Aberdeen and resumes month end. Christian vs Cody Rhodes kicks off the month in New York and Aberdeen but by the English riviera Christian’s losing to Punk and for reasons I can’t fathom Cody is losing to Drew McIntyre even though they’re tag partners. Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston vs McIntyre is our ICT match in New York, in England Fit Finlay gets called up to challenge Dolph when they’re a body light (see below). Month end for reasons unknown Ziggler vs Kofi is twice non title so Kingston wins them. Jack Swagger vs Chris Masters in a submission match continues, in Britain however Swagger loses to MVP which is definitely him on the slide rather than Montel coming up. Masters submission woes continue on tour and in Reading, he’s losing to Alberto Del Rio, the next big thing, month end Swaggers back to losing to Mark Henry, suddenly arrived inexplicably from Raw. Also arrived are both the tag belts and the ex champs - the Hart Dynasty are suddenly losing to Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel while new champions Broken Mirrors are beating Masters & MVP. Kelly Kelly & The Bella Twins vs Layla, Jillian Hall & Rosa Mendes is our women’s match in New York in a “bathing suit match” - Jesus wept. Worse, on tour Layla loses to Kelly non title (zzzzz), though beats her in a title match in St Louis, post unification Layla & Michelle McCool are losing a tag to Kelly & Melina. Del Rio vs Chavo Guerrero Jr is a sandwich month and it’s JTG vs Tyler Reks in New York. Rey Mysterio is on holiday at last. VARIATIONS Start where we need to - at MSG there's the best exception there was, the best exception there is, and the best exception there ever will be - as Bret Hart tags with Kidd & Smith to beat Slater, Gabriel and Tarver. Fittingly for Bret Hart Appreciation Night this is far, far closer to a match than anything Bret did on TV - he actually gives Slater the pendulum backbreaker and middle rope elbow combination, before, obviously, applying the Sharpshooter in the end to win the match. In Binghamton R-Truth & Matt Hardy beat Punk and Luke Gallows but next night in White Plains Phil does a job to Truth in singles - what’s up? - then teflon Punk loses to Kofi in St Louis. It’s Ziggler vs Hardy in Aberdeen. In Newark only Punk beats Masters, MVP beats McIntyre in singles and it’s Ziggler vs Kofi vs Cody - the missing body is Taker. Also Melons beats Layla non title because she needs protecting, right? In Reading only, Swagger beats Chavo. TVs 6th in Washington the taping must be loaded if Bourne is curtain jerking dark with Ryder! The show has Y2J do a nice job for JoMo, dark Sheamus retains over Cena, Orton and Barrett. Next night in Baltimore JTG pins Reks before the taping, new NXT starts with AJ Lee, Naomi and Kaitlyn making their TV debuts along with various rubbish, ADR beats and attempts to injure Matt until Christian makes the save, Kaval makes a main roster debut losing to Drew, and Taker beats Punk in a near 15 minute match you forgot. 13th in Cincinnati Ezekiel Jackson is on the recovery trail beating Ryder dark, next night in Detroit Reks pins Trent Beretta before the show and after it Taker beats Kane by the old walk-off count-out in about 4 minutes. Dark at Night of Champions JoMo beats Ted Jr dark (why is Morrison not on the card??), the PPV is chock full of happenings - Dolph vs Kofi happens yet again for the ICT, Layla beats Melon to unify the Womens belts, Broken Mirrors rescue the tag belts from the Hart Blandesty in a gauntlet which is a shocking waste of Big Match Bourne, and Randy wins the WWE title in a six-way dance. Next night two episodes of Raw taped in Indianapolis have Jericho on his back for Morrison AGAIN, Natalya bores her way to top contender by winning a battle royal, the Harts lose their rematch to Broken Mirrors and massively prematurely seem to start the breakup process, and Y2J delivers MASSIVELY on his last night onboard for now, paying homage to his brilliant "1004 holds" skit from back in the day by rattling off the list of men he's beaten, name dropping such luminaries as Buff Bagwell, Flash Flanagan and all five of the Villano family, before dropping a DQ to Orton then receiving a punt to the head and doing a stretcher job. Next night in Bloomington Drew & Cody beat the Harts again, Kaval loses to Chavo, Punk pins Gallows to bring an end to the Straight Edge Society, Paul Bearer returns with the Undertaker (for now) and dark, Taker beats Kane by count-out again.  NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month ; the Harts (tag team champions) by Broken Mirrors. DEPARTURES Matt Hardy has been unhappy with his spot for a while - in the midst of a run where he and fellow "partner left in the dust" Christian are constantly putting over Drew and Cody - and hastens his own exit via social media videos, except this time on purpose! After complaining publicly about being creatively unsatisfied he’s sent home from Europe after Aberdeen and released this month to go wrestle elsewhere, which is fine, and TNA even end up making him champion, which is not fine. He’ll be back. Chris Jericho leaves WWE the second time, as he feels he's dropped down the card a lot and wants to concentrate on Fozzy. He'll return, and leave, again and again, to diminishing returns. ENJOY.    Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted August 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted August 16, 2023 The best part of that Jericho promo is him claiming to have beaten Kevin Nash, Diesel, Vinnie Vegas, and The Great And Powerful Oz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 Bret hitting that middle rope elbow sharp as a tack is lovely to see. Even in his condition, MSG mate, working boots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 16, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 16, 2023 44 minutes ago, Chili said: Bret hitting that middle rope elbow sharp as a tack is lovely to see. Even in his condition, MSG mate, working boots. Of course, the biggest issue with his condition being not his actual condition, but how Lloyds perceived his condition, given they’d been forced by court to pay him a wedge five years earlier on account of him being permanently disabled and unable to ever do his job again. (Cough) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 17, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 17, 2023 (edited) OCTOBER 2010 What a fucking mess this is. Maybe it’s because Bragging Rights necessitates cross-brand shenanigans (right before Survivor Series, hmmmK), maybe it’s because the plans for the Big Gold had to suddenly change, maybe too many guys lost their focus because of the Nexus stuff, but fucking hell, there’s suddenly hardly any consistent cards and a whole bunch of change. And not all of it good. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 2nd in Tyler we're already at the pre-PPV cross brand show - John Cena, Edge, Evan Bourne & R-Truth vs Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater & David Otunga is Raw's main with Randy Orton vs Sheamus for the belt earlier. We're then off and running 8th/9th in Anaheim (just 5000) and Stockton with the Orton vs Sheamus cage match, 10th in Yakima Wade Barrett is in the cage too. 15th in Spokane its back to Orton vs Sheamus in the cage, 16th we're cross brand again in Denver and its Orton vs Barrett in a standard match, while half the roster is still in Washington - Kennewick to be exact, with B Show vibes - CM Punk vs Kofi Kingston followed by Big Show vs The Miz. We're still cross-brand next night in Salt Lake City where Orton vs Barrett for the belt is Raw's biggest match. 23rd in Winnipeg its cross brand before another PPV again and its Orton vs Sheamus again. 30th in Hartford they get an 11,000 gate with cheap tickets for three big matches - Cena beats SmackDown champ Kane by DQ and Orton beats Barrett in two of them, next night in Montreal Orton beats Barrett inside a cage. THE CARDS Daniel Bryan vs The Miz for the US title continues in Tyler, Spokane, Hartford and Montreal ; it's John Morrison in California, it's Dolph Ziggler in cross brand shows in Kennewick and Winnipeg. Sheamus takes a break from main event to beat JoMo in Denver, Hartford and Montreal. It’s Mark Henry vs Wade Barrett in Cali and CM Punk vs R-Truth even before Punks trade happens on TV. Melina & Eve Torres vs Alicia Fox & Maryse is the most consistent women’s match. Early month cards are very beige underneath - Goldust vs Ted DiBiase Jr which goes most of the month, Ezekiel Jackson vs William Regal, Mason Ryan vs Zack Ryder, Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel vs Santino & Vladimir Kozlov. Mid month Jackson moves on to Ryder, and its Chris Masters vs Alex Riley including in Spokane even though Masters is SmackDown. Evan Bourne, a real success story in recent months, has gone off after shoulder surgery. VARIATIONS The Miz vs Morrison always feels a big deal at this stage and they reprise the feud in Winnipeg although after Cena, Orton and Bryan, Morrison is starting to feel like an afterthought. A pretty big one is Sheamus knocking off Henry in Salt Lake City, the Worlds Strongest Man features in two Nexus handicaps, teaming with Kofi in Winnipeg to (understandably) fall in an eliminator to Barrett, Otunga, Slater & Gabriel, then facing Otunga & Michael McGillicutty in Montreal. Truth & Morrison have two Nexus tags, facing Barrett & Gabriel in Spokane and Slater & Otunga in Salt Lake, either side of Truth pinning Gabriel in Denver. The fluid women’s tag has ever-present baddies Maryse & Alicia face Melons & Natalya in Spokane, Eve & Gail Kim in Kennewick and Melly & Gail in Montreal, plus champ Layla defends against Mels Bells in Salt Lake, in Winnipeg it’s Eve vs Fox. Finally in Montreal, Jackson goes over Primo. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN Kane vs Big Show for the belt (ZZZZ) is top contribution to Tyler, then Kane's beating Rey Mysterio 6th in Hidalgo and 7th in Monterrey , next night in Mexico City he's losing by DQ to brother The Undertaker, then next night and 9th in Guadalajara Taker & Rey are beating Kane and Alberto Del Rio. 16th in Denver Edge vs Jack Swagger is the biggest actual SmackDown match on the card - Taker attacks Swagger afterwards, then Kane attacks HIM - could neither be bothered to wrestle then?? Next night in Salt Lake however they're in a cage. In Winnipeg its Kane vs Show again (ZZZZZZZZZZ). That 30th show in Hartford, this deserves a SmackDown mention - ADR does a job for Triple H (!). Next night at the Boston Garden, it's again Kane vs Show (ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ). THE CARDS Big Show vs Jack Swagger continues to send Swagger backwards in Texas and Mexico then mid-month as you've read Swagger's losing to Edge - revenge at last! Dolph Ziggler vs MVP repeats for the ICT early month, Alberto Del Rio vs Chris Masters goes every night in Texas.It's constantly the Broken Mirrors team of Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre vs Hart Dynasty for the tag belts, mid month Dynasty are back with The Usos. Ridiculously Kelly Kelly beats Layla in non title matches, and Layla will also lose to Natalya once in Mexico City and month end in Boston (fucking WHY??) and Husky Harris vs Primo goes a few times. Christian is out for a good few months with a torn pec. VARIATIONS - FUCKING HELL Probably start with the big guns. Del Rio works Kofi Kingston in Monterrey while his nemesis is on top, first night in Mexico City it's Rey Mysterio vs ADR with Del Rio's dad Dos Caras refereeing it - but Rey still wins. In Winnipeg former tag champs Edge & Rey find yet another excuse to team up against Del Rio & Swagger, and the seamless transition of the "Rated-R Superstar" from Raw heel to SmackDown hero continues in Boston, he beats eventual Mania opponent Alberto in singles. In Hartford at the Fan Appreciation Day, Ziggler defends against battle royal winner Show and wins by count out. Otherwise - in Tyler Ziggler vs Kofi happens for the only time as a singles on the road THIS month, in Hildalgo it's Kofi vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. In Monterrey Ziggler jobs for Chavo and MVP beats Masters. Night one in Mexico City its Dolph v Kofi v MVP. Night two, Chavo beats Primo, Harris beats Fit Finlay, Show beats Masters. In Guadalajara Chavo upsets Cody, Kelly beats Rosa Mendes, Masters beats Drew by DQ. In Denver it's ADR vs Finlay and Broken Mirrors & Layla vs Melina, Santino & Vladimir Kozlov. In Salt Lake Broken Mirrors vs Santino & Kozlov and Del Rio vs MVP. In Boston we get Dolph vs Kofi vs Cody vs Drew, a randomly-back R-Truth pins Swagger, and extra bodies have Tyler Reks vs Kaval, Masters vs Curt Hawkins and Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel vs Santino & Kozlov. TVs 1st in Oklahoma City Kofi pins Reks dark, really odd moment on the live broadcast where they plug Mick Foley's "Countdown To Lockdown" even though (there's a clue in the title) it's largely about his time in TNA. It's the first broadcast on SyFy and so there's help from Raw wrestlers Orton and Cena, dark Taker goes double count-out with his bro and Orton pins Sheamus. The Hell In A Cell PPV has Edge continue his slow burn face turn, Cena loses to Barrett and is forced to join Nexus, and Paul Bearer wastes no time at all turning on Taker for Kane. He never could make his mind up, could he? 5th in Topeka Edge jumps to SmackDown and Rey returns to avenge his loss to Del Rio. 11th in Seattle Punk is traded to Raw and puts the brakes on Big Match Bourne. Next night in Portland OR Kaval goes to a creditable 5 minute draw with Show in one of those "last 5 minutes to win" gigs to earn a place on Team SmackDown for Bragging Rights, then they make him look a moron by losing it in seconds to Reks. 18th in Calgary (fucking CALGARY) the Harts lose to Broken Mirrors again and argue afterwards again. Next night in Edmonton Orton pins Kane champion vs champion because of Taker spooky bollocks. Bragging Rights is utterly forgettable apart from Broken Mirrors senselessly dropping the tag belts to Cena & Otunga and Nexus burying Taker so he can fuck off with his latest injury, thinking about Taker vs Barrett for Mania... which isn't going to happen. Next night in Green Bay Tatsu pins Primo dark, Cena & Otunga lose the suddenly-worthless tag belts to Slater & Gabriel and they start to tease Bryan vs Punk. Next night in Milwaukee - hey, remember these guys? Caylen Croft & Trent Beretta beat Luke Gallows & Vance Archer in the curtain jerker, and Edge becomes top contender to Kane. Coliseum Video main has Edge, Rey and Show beat Kane, Swagger and Del Rio. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Bryan (US Champion) by Sheamus, Layla (Womens Champion) by Kelly, Ziggler (Intercontinental Champion) by Edge and again THREE FUCKING TIMES by Bryan, Kane (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Orton DEPARTURE Michael Tarver is both battered by Cena and kicked out of the Nexus on Raw because he has a groin injury. After recovery they’ll consider repackaging him but in June he’s released. Here's the cage match from Anaheim ;  Edited August 31, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 18, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 18, 2023 NOVEMBER 2010 We crown a new WWE Champion and I'll be honest ; at the time, I thought it was Awesome. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW Fucking hell, it's another tour - John Cena vs The Miz and Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett for the belt with Cena as the ref in conflict, 3rd-7th in Nice, Montpellier, Cardiff, Birmingham and Nottingham. 9th-11th it's a similar deal except Orton against Barrett, interference results in various "impromptu" tags in London, Innsbruck and Nantes - 12th in Geneva they've lost Cena to SmackDown for reasons unknown so - fucking hell - Orton & R-Truth beating Barrett & Michael McGillicutty actually closes the show. Thankfully for Assago (Italy) on 13th, Cena vs Miz is back. 28th in Salisbury MD we have a new WWE Champion - The Miz vs Wade Barrett vs Juan Cena is one of the most unique main events yet! THE CARDS Randy Orton & R-Truth vs Wade Barrett & Michael McGillicutty is the impromptu tag four nights out of five on the European tour. John Morrison vs Sheamus continues abroad and in Salisbury, US title usually has Daniel Bryan vs William Regal. It's Gail Kim & The Bella Twins vs Maryse, Alicia Fox & Tamina before Manchester TVs then after them it's a rotating tag with any two of Melina, Gail or Eve Torres beating Maryse & Fox in a tag with the other babyface refereeing it. Up to Manchester it's usually Santino & Vladimir Kozlov vs The Usos, Ezekiel Jackson vs Zack Ryder and R-Truth vs Alex Riley, then after TVs it moves to Mark Henry vs Ryder, Jackson vs Primo and Yoshi Tatsu vs A-Ri, with Goldust vs Ted DiBiase Jr throughout. VARIATIONS At the O2 the impromptu tag is Orton & Morrison vs Barrett & Sheamus (at the cost of JoMo vs Sheamus in singles), Bryan beats Regal and Truth in a three way, it's DiBiase vs Tatsu, Goldust gets the night off, and Melons & Eve beat Maryse & Tamina. In Assago its Melons vs Eve vs Maryse vs Fox with Gail as the ref. Big Show flew to Geneva in exchange for Cena to flatten former tag partner Miz. With Sheamus in Cologne too the UST match is Bryan vs Regal vs Morrison. Salisbury is our only domestic show of the month and features several new runs - Bryan vs Ted Jr is back on, the tag champs Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel vs Santino & Kozlov, they transfer the womens title over with Natalya defending against Fox, Henry drops A-Ri, R-Truth beats Ryder, and Goldust beats Jackson Andrews who's going to be Tyson Kidd's backup, who I don't remember in the slightest. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN I'm so depressed writing this - Kane vs Big Show for the World title without a finish 4th-8th in Belfast, Amneville (France), Liverpool, Glasgow and Newcastle. 10th-11th it continues in Brussels and Nuremburg, 12th in Cologne for some reason they're more important than Geneva so it's Kane vs John Cena. 13th/14th in Mannheim and Istanbul its Kane/Show again, although something more Excellent goes on last in Turkey. THE CARDS There's only one place I can start - Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel vs The Hart Dynasty for the tag belts goes on until Manchester then in Brussels and Germany, Slater, David Otunga and Husky Harris are doing the honour of losing to Smith, Kidd and Bret Hart in some of the last house show matches ever for the Hitman for WWE. After Manchester we add a couple of nights worth of Edge & Rey Mysterio vs Alberto Del Rio & Jack Swagger - it's been Kofi Kingston vs Del Rio before, which is a good win for Kofi, plus Swagger vs Chris Masters. Though shuffles do have Kofi pinning Swagger in Newcastle and Instanbul. ICT is usually Dolph Ziggler vs MVP vs Cody Rhodes vs Drew McIntyre - Broken Mirrors are cracked! - and after TV Ziggler vs Kofi vs Cody vs Kaval does happen twice. Layla is losing MORE non title matches to Natalya with Kelly Kelly as the ref though twice Kelly does the wrestling - if you can call it that. We have Fit Finlay vs Tyler Reks and Mason Ryan vs Chavo Guerrero Jr before Manchester TVs, thereafter its usually MVP vs Reks, Masters vs Chavo and Finlay vs McIntyre. VARIATIONS We have to start in Istanbul where on last, Hitman teams with Edge & Rey to beat Del Rio and Broken Mirrors. It’s his last house show match. Newcastle has former tag champs (no, it's not a recurring joke) Edge & Rey knock off Del Rio & Cody, Dolph vs Kaval vs MVP, Masters does a job to Drew. In Nuremberg Kaval wins (!) over Reks, Cody pins Finlay, Ziggler beats MVP and Kofi/Drew are added to Edge/Rey vs Del Rio/Swagger to make a six man. Sheamus also turns up in Cologne to tag with Del Rio against Edge and Rey, Swagger loses to Masters instead, Chavo goes into the ICT four way, Kaval loses to McIntyre, Finlay has a night off. It's Ziggler vs Kaval in Istanbul. TVs 2nd in Bridgeport Nexus minus Barrett show up and get turned back by SmackDown's top guys and dark, Edge beats Kane by DQ. 8th at the MEN Regal beats A-Ri before the taping, and on Raw the Harts lose to the Usos and are right on the edge of a split. Next night Mason pins Chavo dark, NXT has Nikki Bella upset by AJ Lee (foreshadowing!) and Kaval loses to Drew for Superstars. 15th in Hershey the Harts split right in the middle of their title shot, there's some baffling "comedy" involving legends and Sgt Slaughter is dusted off to job to Del Rio, and Mae Young beats Layla and Michelle McCool in a handicap. Next night in Richmond Luke Gallows jobs to Caylen Croft dark, Kaval actually wins on TV (against Dolph) and dark, Show beats Kane by DQ (ZZZZZ). Survivors has Nattie win the belt by beating LayCool in a brief handicap, Kane vs Edge goes to an awful draw, and by virtue of Orton beating Barrett, Cena gets "fired." Next night in Orlando Miz cashes in on Orton which may have had more impact if the Orton vs Barrett match had gone longer than 4 minutes and thus wasn't believable as "gruelling." 29th in Philadelphia the gate is awful (8000) but the show is a 3 hour special with a King of the Ring tournament (all hail, King Sheamus) and Miz beating The King in a ladder match is a bit of an odd start to Miz' reign, and starts the real build towards the fucking abysmal match Lawler will have with Michael Cole at Mania. next night in Norfolk Dolph & Drew beat MVP in his last SmackDown match, tagging with the equally short-term still employed Kaval. For reasons unknown Bryan vs DiBiase Jr happens after the show. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Layla (Womens Champion) by Natalya, Kane (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Show, and AGAIN by Edge, Ziggler (Intercontinental Champ) by Kaval, Bryan (US Champion) by Del Rio. DEPARTURES Vance Archer, Caylen Croft and Luke Gallows all get cut. Fit Finlay wrestles his last matches as a regular on the tour and goes back to being an agent full time although that won’t last - a truly bizarre story plays out in March. On a house show on Dave’s watch, The Miz interrupts the playing of the national anthem to cut a heel promo. Ridiculously, this draws complaints from WWE sponsor the National Guard - fucking hell, imagine a bad guy character in a work of entertainment doing something reprehensible? Wait until you turn HBO on, guys!! Incredibly, they let Finlay go for allowing this to happen. He returns, of course. Just like all the office staff fired for far worse over the years only to be brought back once it all blows over (cough). Going nowhere, MVP asks for and is granted his release, citing at the time that he needs to recharge his batteries and wants to wrestle internationally. In the New Year despite initial challenges getting a work visa due to his previous convictions, he nets a deal with New Japan, where he'll work for a couple of years, along with TNA and various other places, until eventually landing a new deal of the back of an appearance by request brokered through Paul Heyman in the 2020 Rumble and (at Heymans insistence) the night after on Raw. ENJOY THE EXCELLENCE   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted August 18, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted August 18, 2023 That Miz/Lawler ladder match was fantastic. If any agent should have been fired, it should have been Dean Malenko for producing a Michael Cole/Lawler match that featured an extended period of Cole getting heat on King, rather than either rehashing the first Andy Kaufman match or having Jack Swagger do all the work before the bell. Finlay's independent run after that release was bonkers, though. Fit in some dates for All-Star, ROH, Tajiri's promotion in Japan, WXW and PWG, wrestled WALTER, Asuka, Dick Togo, Colt Cabana, Dave Taylor, Tajiri and Johnny Kidd, then went back to the office job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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