Paid Members air_raid Posted August 18, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 18, 2023 56 minutes ago, BomberPat said: 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. Ha! You want to talk about wrestling all sorts, I once saw Kana wrestling Gran Hamada in Shinjuku Face where the match mostly consisted of the old man trying to grope her. He still won. Weird match to have on Ayako's anniversary show, portraying her dad as a sexpest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 19, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 19, 2023 DECEMBER 2010 No idea what's going on here but they're going fast and loose with the brand split a little. Of course, they'll have it straightened out by Mania where the top three matches are naturally Raw vs Raw, Raw vs Raw and two part timers for whom brand is basically irrelevant anyway. MAIN EVENTS - RAW So.... judging by the majority of the roster on the cards rather than necessarily the main or the sizes of buildings, 4th/5th in Jackson TN and Bowling Green KY are the Raw shows, headlined by... Kane vs Juan Cena, DQ finish. 12th in Biloxi its The Miz vs Wade Barrett vs Juan who naturally unmasks after the match. Boxing Day at MSG (still 14,500 in a fierce snowstorm) and 28th in Wilkes-Barre its The Miz vs Randy Orton for the belt then John Cena vs Wade Barrett in a cage. 29th-30th in Baltimore and DC Cena's injured so Big Show is borrowed from the blue brand to knock off Barrett inside the cage, and thus ends a bizarre month to end a year of rapid change. THE CARDS Randy Orton vs Alex Riley as a (short) no DQ match often happens as a fun add on enforced by the GM laptop after A-Ri helps Miz retain every night. Most of the month both John Morrison vs Sheamus (JoMo getting some wins back in streetfights) and Daniel Bryan vs Ted DiBiase Jr for the US belt continue. A couple of those are the result of Ted winning battle royals which will yield other winners elsewhere. Mark Henry vs Jack Swagger is back on early month thanks to the muddling between brands. Most of the month tag title rematches occur of Santino & Vladimir Kozlov vs Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel. Early month it’s Melina & Beth Phoenix vs Maryse & Alicia Fox ; by month end Melons has turned heel and is tagging with her opponents to lose to Gail Kim & The Bella Twins. We round off early month with William Regal vs Mason Ryan (not to be confused with former Spurs interim manager Ryan Mason) Tyson Kidd vs Yoshi Tatsu and Jackson Andrews vs JTG. From Biloxi to month end DH Smith vs Kidd goes 50/50 and after the match Harry sometimes does his dads powerslam on Andrews too. VARIATIONS In Biloxi it’s Henry vs Primo and Ezekiel Jackson vs Zack Ryder. At MSG Ryder wins the battle royal and falls to Bryan later. In Wilkes-Barre it’s A-Ri who doesn’t wrestle Orton later as usual but still receives an RKO - moments before his match with Bryan. At MSG the Bellas beat Maryse & Melina, in Wilkes-Barre, Melly & Fox. Slater has Boxing Day off so it’s Husky Harris tagging with Gabriel in NYC. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 4th/5th in Vegas and in Ontario CA - see above - SmackDown's shows are actually headlined by The Miz vs Wade Barrett vs Edge for the WWE title. 12th in Monroe LA it's a far more logical Kane vs Edge with a shit DQ finish. Boxing Day in Chicago (8500) and 27th in Pittsburgh (9000) Edge has won the belt, and he's beating Kane in a cage. 29th in Cleveland and 30th at the IZOD (9500) it's Edge vs Kane vs CM Punk, still inside a cage. THE CARDS Month end things take shape - it’s Rey Mysterio vs Alberto Del Rio in Cleveland and the former Meadowlands as well as four nights of (naturally) Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston for the ICT after Kofi wins a battle royal, early month has Rey & Kofi vs Del Rio & Cody Rhodes while Ziggler vs Kaval as a non-title match (so Ki can beat him) is a bizarre choice. Drew McIntyre vs Chavo Guerrero Jr shows how far Drew has fallen early month, month end Broken Mirrors are reunited to beat a rather random JTG & Trent Beretta. We have Jack Swagger vs Chris Masters for four nights, Masters is winning and some of them are short. They sure gave up quickly on Jack. Womens title match is back early month - Natalya vs Layla has Layla still losing, then we move to “Pinup Strong” as they’ll call themselves, Nattie & Beth Phoenix beating Layla and a very green Naomi. Early month wraps up with Masters vs Tyler Reks and Raws Alex Riley vs Primo, plus Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel vs Santino & Vladimir Kozlov for the belts is proof the tag division is dying a slow painful death. From Boxing Day onwards Chavo loses to Mason Ryan with “Welshtista” announced as being from whatever town they’re in for the cheap pop. VARIATIONS In Monroe Big Show pins Del Rio, Ziggler beats Kaval and McIntyre, Kofi pins Swagger, Masters upsets Cody, its Reks vs JTG and Hornswoggle beats Chavo by DQ. Huge tags have Rey & Show beat Del Rio and CM Punk in Chicago (of course) and Bertie & Cody in Pittsburgh. Otherwise in Chicago Drew pins JTG and Chavo upsets Cody, in Pittsburgh Drew pins Beretta and it’s Kelly Kelly tagging with Beth instead of Nat. TVs 6th in Louisville, their first gig at the delightfully named KFC Yum! Arena, Percy Watson off NXT beats Primo in a curtain jerker, on Raw a "life imitates art" situation will emerge as romance between Brie Bella and Danny Bry seems to start, with Nikki getting jealous, Santino & Kozlov win the tag belts in an eliminator, and dark Miz retains over Orton and Barrett. Next night in Dayton Tyler Black gets a try out, losing to eventual Mania opponent Cody and Kofi vs Ziggler (LOL) ends in a DQ. 11th they're at Fort Hood in Texas to tape Tribute To The Troops but there are no important developments or dark matches. 13th in New Orleans they tape the Slammys which has one of my absolute favourite forgotten segments of post-Attitude, where they give Angry Miz Girl a Slammy then Miz interrupts it to nuclear heat, and later Orton wins a handicap match over A-Ri and former WCW World Heavyweight Champion David Arquette who sportingly takes a powerbomb through a table from Randy. Next night in Lafayette Abraham Washington wrestles a dark match losing to Beretta, Miz pins Rey for a second night in a row then later Edge & Rey go to a DQ over Miz and Del Rio when Kane waddles in - yes, Raw's WWE Champion wrestled two matches on SmackDown. Dark, Edge beats Kane by DQ. 19th in Houston its TLC (11,500), US Champion Daniel Bryan slums it in a dark match with Ted, Dolph beats Kofi and Swagger in a ladder match, "Pinup Strong" beat LayCool in a tables match, JoMo seems to win promotion in a ladder match vs Sheamus earning a title shot, Edge relieves Kane of the big belt in ANOTHER ladder match also involving ADR and Rey, and Cena puts Barrett away for good. Next night in Austin Melons becomes top contender to Nattie then slaps her in the face, apparently turning heel (though not in my book), Orton, JoMo and The King beat Miz, A-Ri and Sheamus when Lawler (not Morrison? OK) pins Miz after he sustains the RKO, and Punk attacks Cena after John beats (SmackDowns) Ziggler, which I mistakenly believe will start a built towards them wrestling at Mania. Dark, Cena & JoMo beat Miz & Sheamus. Which is a crap dark match considering three quarters of it wrestled each other earlier. Next night in San Antonio Kaval is CRUSHED by McIntyre, Cena turns up on SmackDown to beat Ziggler & Vickie in a handicap then get attacked by Punk. Yes, the big story on SmackDown is Raw's Punk keeping up the aggression on Raw's John Cena. Dark, Edge pins Kane. 27th in Albany Primo pins Washington, Lawler beats Miz by count-out on Raw and dark, Cena & Orton beat Miz & Sheamus, refereed by Michael Cole. Finally 28th in Rochester, fuck all happens except Dolph wins another match with Kofi and Swagger, keeping up the run of Dolph wrestling Kofi nearly every week. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month : Ziggler (Intercontinental Champion) by Cena DEPARTURE Low Ki or Kaval as they called him, requests and receives his release no time at all after being the second NXT winner. He'll later declare he considered the environment toxic, and that his experiences all over the world were considered a mark against him rather than a positive. Of course, as one of the biggest burners of bridges in the history of the industry, you might take what he says with a pinch of salt. But it's still pretty crazy that a guy with his talent couldn't get to the top when his peers like Bryan, Punk and AJ all did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 20, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 20, 2023 JANUARY 2011 MAIN EVENTS - RAW 7th-9th in Augusta, Montgomery and Memphis we continue The Miz vs Randy Orton for the belt with impromptu no DQ matches for Orton to squash Alex Riley straight after. 14th/15th in Chattanooga and Beaumont we move to Miz vs John Cena vs CM Punk - hmmm. 16th in Shreveport Miz takes on battle royal winner John Morrison (knocking on the door) half way up a joint brand show. 21st-23rd in Trenton, State College and Youngstown it's a fairly impressive double (triple?) main event where the Miz/Orton/Riley shenanigans is supported by Cena vs Punk. 29th in Springfield the night before the Rumble the cross-brand show is headlined by Cena & Orton vs Miz & Punk. THE CARDS John Morrison vs Sheamus (sometimes in a streetfight) continues giving JoMo a big win for three solid weeks. CM Punk vs Mark Henry likewise gets a decent W for Raws new villain early month, and repeats in Shreveport when Cena’s got a knock. In Texas, Mark pins William Regal. It’s Daniel Bryan vs Ted DiBiase Jr vs Primo for the US belt - really?? Mid month Primo drops out, the week after it becomes a four way involving Tyson Kidd and Regal. Santino & Vladimir Kozlov vs The Usos for the tag belts and is our early month filler, mid month - I can't fucking believe this - Husky Harris & Michael McGillicutty are getting tag title shots. Who did they beat, Barry Horowitz & Reno Riggins?? Third weeks of the month big Mark, Yoshi Tatsu and the tag champs are losing an 8-man to David Otunga, Mason Ryan, Harris and Hennig Jr. It's Tatsu vs Zack Ryder (reprises in Springfield, Corre-related no contest) and DH Smith vs Kidd for two weeks. In Montgomery and Texas The Bella Twins beat Maryse & Alicia Fox, in week 3 there's a six-woman where Gail Kim, Eve Torres & Tamina beat Maryse, Fox & Melina. VARIATIONS Local flavour for Memphis ; Henry teams with The King to beat Punk & Husky Harris. Bryan is off on the 8th so it’s just Ted vs Primo. Rotation in the women’s match sees Maryse & Fox lose to Gail & Tamina (umm) in Augusta, then in Memphis they team with Gail (umm) to lose to Nikki, Brie and Kaitlyn. In Shreveport Otunga is in the tag title match instead of Perfect's kid. In Trenton Henry vs Ryan, Mason starts as a singles then everyone else jumps in for the "impromptu" 8-man. Henry and Ryan get a night off at State College, so it's a six man. In Springfield the "champs" are back with The Usos. Danny Bry beats Alex Riley by DQ then a really odd situation has Maryse berate Bryan, the Bellas come out, Gail attacks the Bellas leading to a tag - in which Maryse walks out, making Gail look like an idiot. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 8th-9th in Lexington and Knoxville and 16th in Shreveport it’s Edge vs Kane in a streetfight, 15th in Wichita Falls it’s Wade Barrett added to the mix as they continue with Wade as a threat ; that’s about to come to a crashing halt. 22nd/23rd in Kalamazoo and Hammond, it's Edge vs Kane vs Dolph Ziggler (in Kalamazoo this is impromptu after Edge beats Kane no DQ), in Springfield anyone you could call main event is off so the top SmackDown matches are Show/Barrett and Kingston/Ziggler. THE CARDS Big Show vs Wade Barrett continues a run that started last month due to Cena being injured, even before Wade actually arrives on the B show.  It’s R-Truth vs Alberto Del Rio and since Reys injured early month Truth wins to cheer them up - Bertie avenges those for the next two weeks. It’s OBVIOUSLY Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler for the ICT which are jobs I don’t think Ziggler should be doing if he's got Edge at the Rumble but they continue right up to Springfield. There’s a reprisal of Cody Rhodes vs Chris Masters and also Drew McIntyre vs JTG, you’d think at some point they’d start following up properly with moving either Dashing or The Chosen One up to the next level but they’re both stuck going nowhere in the middle like so many - Drew especially hasn’t stopped going backwards since Kane stepped on his face to end his unbeaten record, and it gets worse in week 3 as McIntyre does more upset losses to Trent Beretta and Cody vs Percy Watson isn't even worth a finish before the group we'll call The Corre attack both. Jack Swagger is back on the road same week, and he's losing to Masters. Everyone they've tried to elevate in the last year are now being booked like shit. It’s Natalya vs Layla for the belt, Percy vs Chavo Guerrero Jr and Ezekiel Jackson vs Tyler Reks early month, third week of the month Michelle McCool finally comes to work - her and Layla lose to Beth Phoenix & Nattie - and JTG pins Reks. VARIATIONS In Wichita Falls Chavo works face and pins Reks, Drew tags with Swagger vs Beretta & JTG, and Curt Hawkins vs Percy Watson has no finish when they're attacked by ex-Nexus. Plus womens match is Nattie & Phoenix vs Layla & Rosa Mendes, whereas in Shreveport the cross brand match has Pinup Strong, Kelly Kelly & Eve Torres beat Layla, Mendes, Maryse & Alicia Fox. In Springfield Drew jobs to Truth. TVs 3rd in Phoenix Ryan beats Primo before Raw, Del Rio wrestles on the show, Punk becomes new Nexus leader, Miz retains against JoMo in an impressive falls anywhere match and dark, Orton beats Barrett and Sheamus in a cage match even though they JUST had that match on the live broadcast. Next night in Tucson - this reads odd - Ziggler wins a dark battle royal. On SmackDown Ziggler loses the ICT to (who else?) Kofi, then loses a 45 second rematch, then later becomes top contender to the big belt even though we’ve just seen him lose twice. SmackDolph! 10th in Nashville Lawler & Orton beat Miz and A-Ri - based on the past couple of months you’d be forgiven for thinking The King was going to win the Rumble - Del Rio shows up again and dark, Cena & Orton beat Miz & Punk. I’ll stop mentioning the dissipation of the brand split here, you can see what’s happening. Next night in Birmingham Drew is upset by Beretta (!), Barrett forms his new alliance by adding Jackson to Nexus outcasts Slater & Gabriel, and dark Edge & Rey beat ADR & Kane. 17th in Little Rock Regal beats Curtis dark, Ziggler turns up on Raw and jobs to Orton, dark, Cena & Orton beat Miz & Punk again. 24th in Detroit Watson pins Regal and Edge appears on Raw to wrestle Miz. Next night in Cincinnati on SmackDown Edge & Orton beat Miz & Ziggler when Edge pins Ziggler, who can't stop losing. At the Rumble Truth pins Hawkins dark, Nattie hilariously loses the belt to fellow babyface Eve in a four way, the transition to Punk vs Orton and Cena vs Miz begins and Del Rio wins an interminable 40 man Rumble notable for Booker T and Kevin Nash returning, fucking over TNAs plans to reunite The Main Event Mafia. Night after in Providence Regal pins Curtis, Edge pins Miz and Lawler wins a mini Rumble. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Santino & Kozlov (tag team champions) by The Usos, Bryan (US champion) by Morrison, Edge (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Justin Gabriel (fuck me), Miz (WWE CHAMPION) by Edge. DEPARTURES None, I don’t think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 21, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 21, 2023 FEBRUARY 2011 MAIN EVENTS - RAW 4th-5th in Minneapolis and Rochester and again with a Raw presence 6th in Philly (Madison rescheduled) its still The Miz vs Randy Orton with the occasional A-Ri bolt-on and occasional support from John Cena vs CM Punk - it continues 11th/12th in Victoria and Vancouver, 13th in Bakersfield its back to Cena & Orton vs Miz & Punk then its monster business for the same two singles mains 23rd-26th in Santiago (7000) Guayaquil (7000) Quito (14,500) and San Jose, Costa Rica (10,000). THE CARDS In Rochester and Canada its CM Punk vs Mark Henry again. John Morrison vs Sheamus in street-fights continues. It's a sandwich month for Daniel Bryan vs Ted DiBiase Jr ; in Canada and Bakersfield Bryan's with Tyson Kidd and DiBiase is with DH Smith which in Canada, of course, he loses. Santino & Vladimir Kozlov defend the worthless tag belts against Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga early month and McGillicutty & Ryan, Mason in Canada (and later in Guayaquil). Once they've dumped the belts to the Corre they're usually losing to Mike & Dave on tour. In Canada its Eve & Natalya vs Melina & Alicia Fox followed by Eve vs Fox every night for the belt on tour. We have Yoshi Tatsu vs Primo early month, Primo vs Zack Ryder in Canada, and Henry and R-Truth work two matches each with Primo and Kidd on the central America tour. VARIATIONS It's Henry vs Ryder as scheduled in Minneapolis, Eve & Tamina vs Melons & Fox, Truth vs Ryder in Rochester plus Eve, Tamina & Gail Kim vs Maryse, Melly & Foxy. In Bakersfield Santino vs McGillicutty as a singles gives way to an impromptu six man of Primo and the champs vs Mike, Otunga & Ryan, and Ted vs Harry goes to a no-contest when DiBiase attacks Smith before the match, so he wrestles (and loses to) Truth instead. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 5th in Toronto and 6th in Philly (just 7300 even with help from Raw) it's Edge vs Dolph Ziggler in streetfights, 12th/13th in Lubbock and Canyon its Edge & Rey Mysterio vs Ziggler & Alberto Del Rio and again 26th/27th in Fort Wayne and Toledo. THE CARDS Big Show vs Wade Barrett is still going. Kofi Kingston vs Kane is a great win for Kofi ; Kane sometimes wins a battle royal to earn the shot. Chris Masters vs Jack Swagger goes all month and its Drew McIntyre vs Chavo Guerrero Jr then later, Trent Beretta - I'm relieved to say Drew wins all of them. Early month Beth Phoenix & Natalya beat Layla & Kaitlyn then there's a run of Beth vs Layla. In Texas, Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel beat Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks and JTG & Percy Watson with a risible "top contenders" stipulation - as if the belts haven't been soiled enough. Month end Chavo vs Reks and Watson vs Hawkins are giving the undercard a real sub-Superstars feel. VARIATIONS No Show early month so in Toronto - Rey Mysterio pins Barrett, Del Rio beats Masters, Swagger beats Chavo. In Philly Rey beats Del Rio. TVs 1st at Nassau Coliseum (a sparse 6500) Edge & Kelly Kelly beat Ziggler, Layla & Michelle McCool in a stip loaded handicap and dark Edge & Rey beat Kane & Del Rio. 7th in Milwaukee Watson pins Ryder before the broadcast, after it Cena & Orton beat Miz & Punk. I'm not typing that tag again, it happens after EVERY Raw this month - suddenly only four guys like genuinely main event, down from six or seven in summer. 8th in Green Bay Edge pins Ziggler yet again in another stip heavy match. 14th in Anaheim is the absolute most loaded show they’ve done for months, they throw EVERYTHING at it - “2 21 11” / Ain’t No Grave vignettes start, which despite the fairly obvious symbolism have this place clutching at straws for anything BUT the Undertaker that could be in the cabin, from Sting to Chris Jericho to Shawn Michaels’ chin to Sables fanny. The matches are the biggest they have too - a Miz/Bryan blowoff, Orton vs Sheamus and Cena vs Punk, all with pinfall finishes. Best of all The Rock returns to declare himself host of WrestleMania and fire the first shots at John Cena - which at the time was the most excited I’d been about anything that happened on Raw for years, though Rocky would of course come to overshadow the WWE title in the forthcoming weeks, which isn’t ideal. Next night at San Diego Sports Arena (<5000) the bastard stepchild show gets ludicrous help from big brother - a 10 man tag has Cena, Orton, JoMo, Truth and Edge go over Punk, Sheamus, Barrett, Drew and Ziggler, and Miz wrestles Kofi. An absolutely mind-blowingly crap scenario unfolds where Vickie fires Edge and gives the belt to Ziggler because he used the “banned” Spear in multiple stip matches, then Teddy returns and reinstates Edge before announcing a rematch which Edge wins in about 3 minutes then fires Ziggler. Even disregarding the transparent “fired” horseshit, after a chase where he’s been pinned on TV at least half a dozen times, Ziggler is given the belt on a Dusty finish after a weeks delay then immediately loses it in a short match making him look a total joke and pathetic loser. Is this the worst title reign of all time? Did anyone in their right mind actually consider Ziggler a “former World Heavyweight Champion” for the next two years? I’ll understand if you can’t remember what he ends up doing at Mania. I think it’s the Snooki match. At Elimination Chamber DBry vs Ted is the dark match for the second month out of three, the Corre win the tag belts and Miz wins his protracted feud with The King. Next night in Fesno Santino pins Kidd and Bryan beats Ted AGAIN in dark matches, The Undertaker stops wanking long enough to finally come out of his shed and is immediately confronted by Triple H to then wordlessly but effectively set up their match at Mania (I loved it) and there’s a fuck awful title hot potato between Slater & Gabriel and the “odd couple” of Cena & Miz (zzzz) meaning the belts changed 3 times in 2 nights. Next night in Sacramento Dusty Rhodes AGAIN fakes being disappointed in Cody to fool a babyface and betray him, this time Mysterio. Do they think nobody is still watching from when they did it to Cena??? Finally 28th in Buffalo Watson pins Kidd, on Raw there’s one of the segments that annoyed me the most, ever. Hunter comes out to talk Taker and is confronted by Sheamus, the man who had been talking like he’d ended Triple H’s career and who until the previous week I assumed would be wrestling him at Mania. Hunter proceeds to annihilate the Celtic Warrior like he’s a dispensable jobber - this being a 2-time WWE Champion who’s meant to be one of the new stars and who’s about to win the US title. To conclude, Evan Bourne then returns to TV and pins Sheamus in seconds, doing precisely nothing for him either except proving he can beat someone that’s already taken a kicking. Awful. Dark..... Cena & Orton beat Miz & Punk for the fourth week in a row. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month : Santino & Kozlov (tag team champions) by Slater & Gabriel, Kofi (Intercontinental champion) by McIntyre, AGAIN by Del Rio (fucking TWICE), AGAIN by Miz, FUCKING AGAIN by Swagger, Bryan (US champ) by Miz. Intercontinental Champion? Kofi Kingston has been pinned or made to submit five times in singles matches on TV this month. Intercontinental Champion? That's a bad month for the Brooklyn Brawler, mate. DEPARTURES Again, none. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted August 21, 2023 Share Posted August 21, 2023 Thanks for always making my commute more enjoyable 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonworden Posted August 21, 2023 Share Posted August 21, 2023 Always interesting to read your notes and realize how things get mixed up in our heads. I could have sword Punk didn't wrestle until the Rumble as he was out injured late 2010 but he was back in the mix mostly off TV from the start of the year. This really was the heart of the 50/50 era too wasn't it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 21, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 21, 2023 2 hours ago, simonworden said: This really was the heart of the 50/50 era too wasn't it Yes. The reason people take the piss about Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler so much becomes obvious shortly - after lengthy spells where they defend the ICT against each other on SmackDown, a draft will enable a short run between Kofi and Sheamus where Kingston picks up the US title and immediately its straight back to Kofi vs Ziggler on Raw for the UST. Different belt, different show, same midcard title feud, neither going anywhere, as though Kingston's run with Orton and Ziggler's awful attempted elevation against Edge hadn't happened. It speaks volumes that during 2010-2013 they unify the tag belts, womens belts and eventually even the top titles over lack of depth, but never bother to unify the two midcard titles because there's never a shortage of suitable challengers for either. In other words EVERYONE'S fucking midcard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 22, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 22, 2023 MARCH 2011 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 4th-6th it’s still The Miz vs John Cena vs CM Punk in Baton Rouge, Alexandria and College Station TX. 11th in Springfield MO it’s Miz vs Cena vs Randy Orton, next night in Wichita Cena & Orton beat Miz & Alex Riley, 13th in Oklahoma City it’s back to Miz vs Orton for the belt then Cena vs Punk. 18th/19th in Hartford and at MSG (15,000 paid, 18,500 inside) it’s Miz vs Orton on first with Punk interfering then Cena & Orton vs Punk & Miz on last, afternoon of 21st in Newark it’s Miz vs Orton in a cage match then Cena & Triple H vs Punk & Sheamus. 25th-27th in Champaign, Evansville and Indianapolis its back to Miz vs Orton on first and Cena & Orton vs Punk & Miz on last. THE CARDS Daniel Bryan vs Ted DiBiase Jr is the early UST match (and they meet again without the belt at MSG) with Sheamus vs Evan Bourne, mid month Bryan beats (battle royal winner) Sheamus a couple of times then after the switch it's rematches all the way. John Morrison vs Alex Riley goes down in Louisiana, College Station and Oklahoma then for the last two weeks JoMo is with old rival (SmackDowns) Dolph Ziggler. Womens champ Eve Torres vs Nikki Bella for the belt involves twin magic but Eve retains anyway, it continues mid month though reports vary as to which Bella actually started the match - it doesn’t matter. Month end Raw cards have Eve & Natalya beating Melina & Alicia Fox. It's Santino & Vladimir Kozlov vs The Usos for two weeks plus Great Khali vs William Regal and R-Truth vs Zack Ryder early month, then two rounds of Mark Henry & Truth vs Tyson Kidd & Regal. In the North East Bourne slums it teaming with Santino & Kozlov to beat Kidd, Primo and Ryder, and Khali squashes A-Ri. Month end it's Bourne, Santino & Kozlov vs Kidd & the Usos, Khali squashing Ryder and Primo being the "safe pair of hands" to do jobs for new signing Sin Cara. VARIATIONS The big one is at MSG : underneath the tag main Triple H beats Sheamus in a 20 minute streetfight. In Springfield Bourne pins DiBiase, Riley pins Yoshi Tatsu. In Wichita Bourne pins Kidd, Truth pins Regal. In Oklahoma Sheamus goes to a non start with Tatsu when he attacks him before the bell, Bryan beats Bourne and Ted in a three way, and Eve, Tamina and Gail Kim beat Maryse & the Bellas. I lose track of who’s meant to be face or heel apart from Maryse who’s clearly never been booked babyface. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 5th/6th in Albuquerque and Waco it's Edge & Rey Mysterio vs Alberto Del Rio & Cody Rhodes. 12th/13th in Cedar Rapids and Moline then 19th in Roanoke it's Edge vs Del Rio vs Cody, 20th in Charleston WV it’s Edge & Christian (ahhh) vs Bertie & Brodus Clay, 26th and 27th in Grand Rapids and East Lansing, it's again Rey and Cody as the partners, for Edge's last house show matches for near 10 years. THE CARDS Big Show vs Wade Barrett continues. Kofi Kingston vs Drew McIntyre for the ICT might be a rerun but at least it’s a change from Ziggler. Month end new champ Barrett is giving (battle royal winner) Kofi the rematch. Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel vs Kane & Christian is a welcome higher profile tag title match than usual though it comes with an unsatisfying DQ finish. In Charleston it becomes Show & Kane, until the end of the month. Month end Christian vs Brodus Clay continues in singles. Jack Swagger vs Chris Masters carries on all month but Swaggers finally winning now, and we have Beth Phoenix & Rosa Mendes vs Layla & Kaitlyn in week 1 and Layla pinning Kelly Kelly mid month, month end KayLay (ha!) beat Phoenix & AJ Lee. Both Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Tyler Reks and Percy Watson vs Curt Hawkins continue for two weeks, month end, in another baffling turn of events, Watson is pinning former Intercontinental champ and alleged "Chosen One" Drew McIntyre. What the actual fuck. VARIATION Rey's missing mid month, in Charleston its Kofi vs Drew vs Cody, Barrett has a night off. TVs 7th in Dallas Bourne pins Ted dark, after the show there is no end to Cena & Orton vs Miz & Punk. Next night in Houston they give Shelton Benjamin another try against Hawkins,  dark main has Cena trying to sell more tickets (7600 only) as he tags with Rey, Show and E&C to beat Bertie and The Corre. 14th in St Louis is better - 14,000 paid, near 17,000 sellout inside, Truth pins Kidd to open, Michael Cole wheels out Brian Christopher to have a pop at his dad, Vickie beats Trish Stratus with interference from LayCool, Bryan loses the US belt to Sheamus and Del Rio again turns up and wrestles Cena. 15th in Kansas City Drew jobs to Watson before TV tapings and on the show Christian actually beats Del Rio in a cage match. 21st Raw in Pittsburgh (16,000+) also sells out, Truth pins Ryder dark, Trish wrestles again tagging with JoMo to lose to Ziggler, Vickie and LayCool, and Rey turns up to wrestle Orton to a non finish. There’s a change after the show - Cena & Triple H beat Miz & Punk. 22nd in Columbus Kofi gets pinned on TV for the seventh time in two months and this time actually loses the ICT to Barrett - hopefully he can start winning again now! Remarkably Christian is permitted to pin Del Rio in the TV main then dark Rey, Christian, Kane and Show beat ADR and the Corre in a handicap. Finally 28th in Chicago (15,000+ sellout) they tape both go-home episodes of TV, Kofi stops losing and beats Wade by DQ, and dark the Survivor Series dream team of Cena, Orton, Edge & Rey beat Miz, Punk, Del Rio and Cody. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Kofi (of course) (Intercontinental champion) by Sheamus. DEPARTURE With the spirit of the thread being house shows, we've reached the end of the line for Edge for many, many years. Depending on who you ask out of him or the writing staff, he was either going to eventually lose the belt to Del Rio prompting a long title reign for Bertie, or lose to Christian after another betrayal and a neck injury angle - how ironic. He says it would lead to the CLB retiring him at Mania 28. He's told to retire immediately for his own good so while he does do Mania and one more dark match (yes), they let him retire unbeaten champion instead of observing the "time honoured tradition" of going out on his back. Hmm. Of course, eventually, he’ll be back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 23, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 23, 2023 APRIL 2011 MAIN EVENTS - RAW It’s a tour after Mania, of course it is. 13th/14th in Glasgow and Belfast it’s The Miz vs John Cena (DQ finish) then 15th in Dublin Miz vs Cena vs John Morrison goes no contest and is immediately followed by Cena & JoMo beating Miz & Alex Riley. 16th/17th in Birmingham and Nottingham it’s again Miz vs Cena but in Brum only - random - a tag follows where Big Match John and Sin Cara beat Miz & A-Ri. 19th-22nd it’s Cena & Randy Orton vs Miz & CM Punk in Cardiff, Salzburg, Bucharest and - here comes the (blood) money!! - Doha (Qatar) then 23rd second night at Sports Club Stadium it’s back to Miz vs Cena. THE CARDS Randy Orton vs CM Punk is an undercard highlight, usually a streetfight until the two big matches are combined into a tag later in the tour. It’s usually Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan rematches for the US title and John Morrison vs Dolph Ziggler with a couple of defences for Sheamus against Morrison. Fun - Bryan plays heel in Belfast. Evan Bourne beats Alex Riley a couple of times before TVs and various shuffles has him with Ziggler too, post London he’s usually beating William Regal. Before London it’s either Brie Bella vs Eve Torres for the belt or Eve & Gail Kim beating Nikki Bella and the new champ, thereafter it’s Eve & Natalya vs Maryse & Alicia Fox, apart from in Qatar where there’s OBVIOUSLY no women’s match. There’s usually Sin Cara vs Tyson Kidd or Percy Watson vs Primo or vice versa, plus Cara occasionally wrestles A-Ri either side of TVs, and it’s Santino & Vladimir Kozlov vs The Usos. After TVs there’s some swapping, Mark Henry vs Ted DiBiase Jr is most common though both have some exceptions. VARIATIONS In Birmingham only it’s Bourne, Santino & Kozlov vs Kidd and the Usos. In Cardiff Bourne beats Ted, Mizark tags with Santino against the Usos and Kozlov has a night off. First night in Doha, a non-finish in Sheamus vs Morrison leads to Sheamus vs JoMo vs Bryan vs Ziggler. Plus Bourne works Primo, Santino pins Regal, Kozlov beats Ted and big Mark beats the Usos in a handicap. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 14th and 16th it’s Kane vs Alberto Del Rio in a streetfight in Munich & Kiel, 15th in Dortmund in between Rey Mysterio beats ADR, it’s then Christian beating Del Rio 17th/18th in Newcastle and Liverpool, then 20th-23rd in Brussels, Strasbourg, Lievin and Lyon before a second night in Lyon 24th, Christian & Rey beat Bertie & Brodus Clay. THE CARDS We start with regular fare of Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes, ICT of Wade Barrett vs Kofi Kingston (who wins a battle royal) plus Big Show vs Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel in a handicap match is pretty shameful treatment of the tag belts. We do eventually move to a tag title match either side of the belts switching to Kane & Show. Jack Swagger vs Chris Masters goes on, it’s Beth Phoenix & Kelly Kelly vs Layla & Kaitlyn or later Layla & Rosa Mendes. Extra bodies later add Drew McIntyre vs Chavo Guerrero Jr and Brodus Clay vs Trent Beretta, moving later still to either Chavo or Beretta vs Tyler Reks. VARIATIONS In Dortmund it’s Show that wins the battle royal to challenge Barrett, Kofi that wrestles Cody and Kane that beats the tag champs by himself. In Liverpool Kane wins the battle royal and fails to Wade. Unique to the second night in Lyon, Barrett pins Masters, Kofi pins McIntyre, Rhodes vs Beretta goes to a no contest for reasons unspecified, Swagger pins JTG and Phoenix pins Layla in a singles match refereed by Kelly. TVs 4th in Atlanta (15,000+ sellout) Henry pins Zack Ryder to open, JoMo & Trish Stratus beat Ziggler & Vickie and Sin Cara makes his debut diving onto Sheamus. Next night in Charlotte Watkins pins Curt Hawkins dark, Del Rio pins Christian to earn his rematch with Edge that will never happen and dark - did you know this one? - Edge, Triple H, Christian, Rey and Show beat Del Rio and The Corre, in Edges actual last match before retiring. 11th in Bridgeport Yoshi Tatsu pins Ted Jr dark, Brie wins the belt from Eve, Cara debuts pinning Primo with Shiranui Kai which was a hell of a shock to see on Raw, Swagger continues his downward spiral by getting pinned by The King with a rematch with Michael Cole at stake, and Edge announces his retirement. Next night in Albany Beretta pins Johnny Curtis, and on SmackDown Christian wins a battle royal to fill in for Edge and fight Del Rio for the vacant belt at Extreme Rules. 18th at the O2 (11,000 for Raw) Watson pins Primo in the curtain jerker, R-Truth turns heel on Morrison in a nonsensical story based on Ron smoking, Ziggler comes out with short dark hair looking generic as fuck, and dark - can I shock you? - Cena & Orton beat Miz & Punk. Next night (just 7000 for SmackDown) Beth pins Layla before tapings, and Kane & Show liberate the tag belts from Slater & Gabriel. 25th in Raleigh the near-forgotten JTG pins the equally invisible Kidd in an opener, the 3 hour draft has Mark Henry turn heel on Cena during a six man, LayCool break up, and a DH Smith sighting is taped for Superstars as he gets 10 minutes in defeat to Ryder. Next night in Greensboro A-Ri jobs for Curtis dark, Kharma vignettes start and Swagger loses to Sin Cara. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month : Sheamus (US Champ) by Kofi, Barrett (Intercontinental champ) by Rey DEPARTURES I don’t think any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 24, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 24, 2023 (edited) MAY 2011 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 6th-8th in Dothan, Macon and Greenville it’s John Cena vs The Miz and the same 10th in (new one on me) Highland Heights KY. Then we’re off to Mexico! 11th in Hermosillo (10,300), 12th in Guadalajara (6500), 13th in Mexico City (near 20,000) and 14th in Monterrey (13,800) all sell out. 21st in Yakima the night before the PPV it’s cross brand wacky tag time - Cena, Randy Orton, Christian and Big Show beat Miz, CM Punk, Mark Henry and Alberto Del Rio. 27th-29th in Winnipeg, Sioux City IA and Sioux Falls SD it’s Cena vs Miz vs R-Truth. THE CARDS Lots of consistency this month. And a little conspiracy. Early month and the Mexico tour have Kofi Kingston & Big Show vs Alberto Del Rio & CM Punk, plus Evan Bourne vs Dolph Ziggler, in Highland Heights and Yakima thereon you'll be pleased to know we move to Kofi vs Ziggler for the US belt. Rey Mysterio vs R-Truth is also on a couple of times goes on early month too and Rey vs Del Rio picks back up domestically month end - on tour (Rey conspicuously absent) Truth pins Bourne (also Yakima) and Ziggler continues losing, this time to Sin Cara. Luckless fuck. Jack Swagger vs Chris Masters continues some awful form for Jack for most of the month. Brie Bella vs Eve Torres for the Woman's title continues most of the month then month end Nikki Bella & the champ lose to Beth Phoenix & Kelly Kelly. Percy Watson vs Zack Ryder and Mason Ryan vs Primo both go virtually all month. Month end the latest crap tag champs and crap title match kick in - David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty vs Santino & Vladimir Kozlov. Jesus tittyfucking Christ, it's time to unify the tag belts with all the discontinued belts and put them in the bin at this point. If you think Cena, Miz, Punk, Rey and Del Rio all on the same show is crazy, it's because they just did the draft and SmackDown's been severely weakened for the hundredth year in a row. They've sent Orton to save SmackDown but he's got virtually nobody to work with at main event level. VARIATIONS Neither Show or Truth are booked for Dothan so Rey & Kofi beat Del Rio & Punk. In Macon Masters beats Ryder and Swagger beats Watson. Highland Heights has no Rey or Punk - Del Rio is with Bourne, Truth beats Primo, Show pins Ryan. In Yakima only the Bellas lose to Gail Kim & Eve. Both Kofi and Watson have transport issues to Winnipeg so Primo upsets Ziggler and Ryan pins Ryder. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 7th and 9th in Pensacola and Birmingham Randy Orton vs Christian vs Sheamus is a completely new main event, 8th in Tupelo its Orton vs Christian vs Raw's Jack Swagger as an exception, for some reason Orton isn’t booked 14th in Lake Charles so Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes goes on last but the main is back next night in Austin and it continues 28th in Madison, 29th in LaCrosse and 30th in Cedar Rapids. THE CARDS Wade Barrett vs Daniel Bryan (who late month wins a battle royal) for the ICT is a sandwich month either side of three matches Wade has with (sometimes battle royal winner) Ezekiel Jackson and Bryan with Tyson Kidd. It's Cody Rhodes vs Yoshi Tatsu as another sandwich (Cody's losing month end thanks to Bryan), mid month Cody is losing twice to Rey Mysterio who bizarrely isn't booked on Raw's tour of Mexico for once. With his partner on Raw shows, Kane tags with Corre deserter Jackson to beat Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel early month. Kane isn't in Birmingham so Jackson beats the Corre by himself, which resumes in Cedar Falls. Sin Cara vs Chavo Guerrero Jr also goes on early month and in Yakima despite Cara being on Raw. Early month its Natalya vs Rosa Mendes, rest of the month its Nattie & AJ Lee vs Mendes & Alicia Fox. Otherwise Trent Beretta vs Brodus Clay and Great Khali vs Ted DiBiase Jr are early month additions, in Wisconsin Beretta loses to future WWE Champion (ugh) Jinder Mahal. Fun fact : month end shows are hosted by Ted DiBiase Sr. VARIATIONS Biggest is probably in Lake Charles where Orton isn't there so Christian vs Sheamus happens as a "top contenders" match. In Lake Charles, Kane & Khali and Slater & Gabriel are interference-runners in Barrett vs Jackson leading to a six man, in Austin it's a standalone tag. In Yakima the otherwise invisible Drew McIntyre & Jack Swagger lose to Santino & Vladimir Kozlov. TVs Sin Cara vs Kidd is dark at Extreme Rules, a show on which Kingston wins the US title from Sheamus, Kharma debuts, Christian wins the big Gold beating Del Rio in a ladder match and Cena wins the WWE title back. In Orlando just two nights later Christian loses the belt to Orton which will be the impetus for his eventual heel turn. 9th in Knoxville Raw has loads of dark matches - Bourne beats Trevor Murdoch, Ryder pins Kozlov and Drew does a job for Masters, after the show Cena pins Miz again. next night in Nashville Murdoch loses to Jey Uso (on the way back from injury), and after SmackDown Orton and Christian beat all four of the Corre. 16th in San Antonio McIntyre actually wins a match, dark over Bourne, plus Ryder renuites with Curt Hawkins to lose to Santino & Kozlov, and Cena pins Miz again after Raw. Next night in Corpus Christi Orton vs Christian goes to a non-finish when Henry and Sheamus attack both - definitely a Coliseum finish. Bryan beats Drew dark before Over The Limit - the PPV is notable only for Bret Hart helping The King against Michael Cole in the aftermath of their Kiss My Foot match. Next night in Portland Ryder loses to Santino but Hawkins beats JTG, the Nexus B team somehow win the tag belts, Riley gets fed up of Miz, Bourne loses momentum essentially forever by losing to the equally aimless Swagger, Kharma cries instead of attacking any gals at the start of an 8-woman, and dark, Cena pins Miz yet again. 30th in Omaha - OH LOL - its Kofi vs Ziggler non title with Ziggler finally back to blonde, Kharma announces her pregnancy and dark, Cena pins Miz. Next night in Des Moines Mahal debuts on SmackDown beating Tatsu, and Christian turns heel on Orton. And then, after the show... fucking hell, imagine enduring this..... "After the taping, Mark Henry and referee Scott Armstrong came out for a dark match. After several minutes, no opponent appeared. Eventually, Hornswoggle’s music, the Great Khali’s music, and Vince McMahon’s music played consecutively but no one appeared; the segment lasted about 20 minutes, with Henry eventually walking out, thanking the ringside fans and apologizing for there not being a match." NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Brie (Womens champ) by Kelly, Kane & Show (tag team champions) by Otunga & McGillicutty (FUCK SAKE), Kofi (US Champ) by Ziggler. DEPARTURE Losing the Loser Leaves WWE match to Layla at Extreme Rules, this is actually it for Michelle McCool. Citing injuries and internal grief she was getting (from the writers, if you can imagine) for getting pushed on account of being with Taker, she decides being a wife and soon a mother is more important to her than being a "WWE Superstar." Good for her. She was shit. Kharma goes on mat leave. Technically, she’ll return. Also Extreme Rules is the last use (as a lumberjack) for Harry Smith. It’s something of an indictment of how the company booked at the time that the Hart Dynasty could have such a celebrated title win with all the Bret endorsement and going over a hated twat like Miz, that they could end up marginalised, beaten and broken up so soon, and one of them on the scrapheap within a year. Harry gets released in August and goes on to achieve some success as “Davey Boy Smith Jr” in Killer Elite Squad with Lance/Vance Archer in New Japan and elsewhere, before a brief return in 2021 where he’s under contract but never gets used on TV. Edited August 24, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 25, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 25, 2023 (edited) JUNE 2011 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 3rd in Huntsville its John Cena vs CM Punk vs R-Truth before we settle into Cena vs Truth 4th-5th in Fayetteville and Charlottesville then its back to the triple threat 10th-12th in Syracuse, Rochester and Bethlehem, 17th in Lowell the rosters combine and there's a tag of Cena & Kofi Kingston vs Punk & Truth, 18th another triple thread on another joint card at the former Meadowlands the night before the PPV which only 8000 attend. 25th/26th in the big markets of Dallas (7500) and Houston (7800) Cena vs Truth in a streetfight doesn't prove a draw. THE CARDS Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk is a sandwich month and its still Alberto Del Rio vs Chris Masters plus we have three weeks of The Miz vs Alex Riley and two of Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler for the US title, and two rounds of Evan Bourne vs Sheamus in cross-brand action in Lowell and East Rutherford, before it freshens up to Kofi vs Ziggler vs Bourne in Texas where we also get Del Rio vs Big Show added. The month starts with Jack Swagger vs Percy Watson and - spot the guy who doesn't belong in this match - Bourne, Santino & Vladimir Kozlov vs Mason Ryan, David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty. Mid-month Masters goes into the six man and it becomes Watson beating Zack Ryder and Bourne vs Swagger. From Lowell onwards its the worthless tag champs vs Otunga & McGillicutty, in Texas Swagger vs Masters is back on. It's Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres vs The Bella Twins early month then Beth & Kelly Kelly mid month, in Lowell and at the IZOD Beth beats Brie non-title (oh do fuck off). VARIATIONS A one-off in Lowell, with Kofi main event, has Ziggler giving the rub to A-Ri. In Dallas Eve & Beth beat Maryse & the Bellas in a handicap, in Houston its a six-woman with Beth, Kelly and Eve as a trio. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN We're on tour! 9th in Turin its Randy Orton vs Christian, then its a three way with Sheamus 11th in Badalona and 12th in Madrid, then back to Orton vs Christian 25th-26th in Hidalgo and Laredo. THE CARDS Daniel Bryan vs Mark Henry gives way to Bryan vs Christian on the cross brand shows. Cody Rhodes vs Sin Cara runs on six consecutive shows then in Texas it's Bryan vs Cody plus we add Henry losing tables matches to Kane. We've got Big Show vs Alberto Del Rio - hang on, who's on what show?? - on tour and at the IZOD. Wade Barrett vs Ezekiel Jackson for the ICT goes all month either side of the change at the PPV. It's Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Jinder Mahal and Natalya vs Alicia Fox on tour, in Texas it's Cara vs Ted DiBiase Jr, Jinder vs Yoshi Tatsu and Nattie & AJ Lee vs Rosa Mendes & Fox. VARIATIONS In Turin Bryan beats Sheamus, Henry beats Chavo and the extra body is Trent Beretta losing to Jinder. In Hildalgo Tyson Kidd beats Heath Slater, next night in Laredo he pins Justin Gabriel. TVs 6th in Richmond on Raw Booker T actually wrestles, beating Swagger by count-out, and the Awesome Truth beat Cena & A-Ri by GM laptop DQ Dusty finish after a match refereed by not-exactly-impartial Steve Austin. 7th in Roanoke Nattie beats Mendes dark and AJ gets on SmackDown upsetting Tamina. 13th at Nassau they at least draw 10,000 for a 3 hour "all stars" show featuring the first of many prick-teases for Austin vs Punk, Miz jobs to Roddy Piper thanks to ref A-Ri, and dark Cena pins Miz - shitty night for our Mike! Next night in Providence McGillicutty jobs to Johnny Curtis before the tapings. Dark before Capital Punishment former champs (ew) Santino & Kozlov beat former champs (ew) Slater & Gabriel - on the show proper they fuck up Riley's push by having him pin Miz in their first match, leaving nowhere to go, Ziggler wins the US title from (who else???) Kingston, Barrett jobs the ICT to Jackson and Punk kills time pinning Rey. Next night in Baltimore Raw is 3 hours again with fans voting for various things - Kelly wins the belt from Brie, Bourne jobs to Ryan, Ziggler and Kofi have a two out of three falls match as if they haven't wrestled to a thousand decisions already, and Punk becomes top contender to the belt and tells the world his contract's coming up. Next night in Hershey Christian & Henry beat Orton & Kane with the Worlds Strongest Man pinning Orton to start his slow waddle towards the belt, dark Orton beats Christian in a streetfight despite interference by Henry and Sheamus. 27th in Vegas is Raw Roulette as they're throwing everything at it every week, Shawn Michaels turns up to plug his new TV show, there's a myriad of cage, submission and tables matches, but the only thing you'll remember is Punk sitting on his backside slagging off everyone from Cena to Hogan to Rock to Vince himself and name dropping Paul Heyman and then-buddy Colt Cabana before they finally cut him off. They tape another show straight after where they pretend Punk's suspended and Del Rio becomes top contender, and Sgt Slaughter comes out for his latest random job - to Swagger. Nothing of note happens next night in Phoenix, 29th in Tucson they're taping the week after's SmackDown too, Curtis pins Derrick Neikirk dark. NON-TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Orton (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Sheamus, Cena (WWE CHAMPION) by Punk, AGAIN by Truth in a tables match, Ziggler (US champ) by Kofi (FUCKING TWICE, one of which is 2/3 falls!!!!!), Jackson (Intercontinental Champion) by Cody DEPARTURE After spending quite a few months mostly only appearing on NXT in his mentor role to Darren Young, Chavo Guerrero Jr requests and is granted his release. Not for the first time and not for the last, the vibe is very much that as a professional wrestler, Chavo wants to wrestle, and WWE has been paying him to not do that. So he leaves. During Chavo's subsequent years wrestling elsewhere he's part of one of my favourite live wrestling memories, as part of LAX with Shawn Hernandez, dropping the TNA tag belts to future WWE alumni Austin Aries & Bobby Roode in a molten atmosphere in the Manchester Evening News Arena - subsequently butchered by TNA's post-production team messing with the sound, making a red hot audience sound like a listless SmackDown crowd with fake rhubarbing dubbed over. LOLTNA. Also, Chavo effectively played his uncle Mando in GLOW. Always great comic timing, those Guerrero lads. Edited August 25, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theringmaster Posted August 25, 2023 Share Posted August 25, 2023 On 8/24/2023 at 5:04 AM, air_raid said:  Also Extreme Rules is the last use (as a lumberjack) for Harry Smith. It’s something of an indictment of how the company booked at the time that the Hart Dynasty could have such a celebrated title win with all the Bret endorsement and going over a hated twat like Miz, that they could end up marginalised, beaten and broken up so soon, and one of them on the scrapheap within a year. Harry gets released in August and goes on to achieve some success as “Davey Boy Smith Jr” in Killer Elite Squad with Lance/Vance Archer in New Japan and elsewhere, before a brief return in 2021 where he’s under contract but never gets used on TV. To this day I can't work out why he never got a decent run, he's clearly a very gifted athlete with a brilliant family legacy. I used to think it was some sort of 'hangover' from old political feuds but from all accounts he played a big part of Bret and Shawn making up and has a good relationship with HBK so it can't be that. He just looked like everything wwe would want-Tall, muscular, lean, obsessed with wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 26, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 26, 2023 (edited) JULY 2011 FUCKING HELLFIRE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 1st-4th in Sydney (12,000), Melbourne (12,000), Perth and Adelaide it's still John Cena vs R-Truth, 5th in Brisbane it's finally John vs CM Punk - winner of a battle royal and the Brisbane Cup - 6th in Auckland it's Ron again. 16th in Milwaukee for the joint-brand show (only 5200 turn up) The Miz wins a battle royal for the honour of losing to Cena. 22nd-24th the WWE Champion is on a holiday turning up on indy shows, at comic cons, taking the belt to baseball matches or leaving it his fridge, so its Alberto Del Rio vs John Cena in Springfield MA, Wildwood and Upper Marlboro where Bertie defends the briefcase but loses by DQ - ridiculously they claim the briefcase can only change hands by pinfall or submission, like a belt, despite it not being won by pinfall or submission, and even more ludicrous they declared Cena would be drafted to SmackDown if HE lost by pinfall or submission which would have given away to the house that they weren't getting a finish. 29th-31st in Peoria, Rockford and the OTHER Springfield (IL), the (other) champ is back!!.. already. CM Punk vs John Cena goes to a no contest with interference from either Bertie, hell bent on cashing in, or The Awesome Truth. It was a fun ride while it lasted. THE CARDS It's Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk all over again in Oceania, except in Brisbane Rey's with The Miz which reprises straight after the PPV building to their forgotten WWE title match. Alex Riley vs Miz continues otherwise on tour in a streetfight, won by A-Ri. There's Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston (obviously) for the US title, and Evan Bourne vs Jack Swagger. Swagger losing to Chris Masters is back on for the last two weeks of the month, Ziggler vs Riley should really have been a bigger deal if they'd got Alex' push right, and somehow Bourne & Kofi are losing to crap tag champs David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty. Ziggler vs Bourne kicks off in Wildwood and continues month end, plus Alberto Del Rio vs Kofi looks good on the marquee. Brilliantly we also add The Awesome Truth (best use of R-Truth yet) beating enemies Riley and Zack Ryder. Beth Phoenix & Kelly Kelly vs The Bella Twins goes on as an impromptu tag after Kelly vs Brie doesn't finish. After the PPV its Beth pinning Brie in week 3 and Kelly retaining against her in week 4. Tour undercard has Ryder vs Primo and the depressing tag title match of Otunga & McGillicutty vs Santino & Vladimir Kozlov - which is back on as a depressing non title match month end. Post MITB its Tyler Reks vs Primo for two weeks and Truth vs Ryder as a pre-cursor to the tag run in week 3. VARIATIONS In Milwaukee Beth instead tags with Eve Torres to beat the Bellas and its Ziggler vs Kofi vs Bourne. A shuffle in Wildwood has Kofi pinning Truth, A-Ri pinning Reks, and - what the fuck kind of tag title match is this?? - Nexus beat Primo & Ryder. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 6th in Cape Town and 9th in Johannesburg its Randy Orton vs Christian for the belt, 7th on the second night in Cape Town, 8th in Durban and 10th back in Johannesburg it's Orton, Big Show and Justin Gabriel (babyface in the local market) vs the CLB, Alberto Del Rio and Mark Henry. We have Bret Hart as the ringside enforcer which ends up with Christian in the Sharpshooter. 16th in Milwaukee Orton vs Christian is again SmackDown's top match, 23rd/24th in Pittsburgh and White Plains its the same but now Christian's walking in with the belt and just like the PPV he's winning by DQ - Bret's there, too. 30th/31st in Louisville and Terre Haute, Captain Charisma retains over The Viper in streetfights with unexpected help from Orton's former lieutenants, Simply Priceless. THE CARDS Big Show vs Alberto Del Rio occurs on nights that the pair aren't in the six man plus Mark Heny beating Yoshi Tatsu and Justin Gabriel tags with Sin Cara to beat former Legacy buddies Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr. Otherwise its Cara vs Cody one on one. It's Kane vs Sheamus & Ezekiel Jackson vs Wade Barrett for the ICT which reprises in Terre Haute when Wade wins a battle royal first. In White Plains and Louisville Heath Slater wins the battle royal and right to lose to former stablemate Jackson. Usually on tour it's Daniel Bryan vs Jinder Mahal and I'm sick over the result. After the PPV Jinder beats Tyson Kidd (they'll also meet in Louisville) who then gets attacked by Barrett, who's then confronted and beaten by Sheamus. After MITB Bryan loses to Henry but he's winning month end (see below) when we get big lads colliding - new babyface Sheamus vs Mizark. The only consistent match we add month end is The Usos beating Cody & Ted. Natalya vs Alicia Fox is every night abroad but otherwise the women are a mess, so to speak. VARIATIONS First night in Cape Town Kane & Jackson beat Barrett & Sheamus as a tag. On night 2 Jinder beats Tatsu and Bryan beats Ted. In Durban Yoshi pins DiBiase. First night in Johannesburg Kane pins Barrett, next night Ted beats occasional partner Cody, and Sin Cara beats fellow goodie Tatsu. In Milwaukee its Jackson vs Cody, and Show & Kane vs Slater & Gabriel. In Pittsburgh Ted wins a battle royal to lose to Jackson later plus Nattie tags with AJ Lee to beat Melina & Tamina ; Gabriel pins Ted (I'm lost as to who's the face there) and it's Nattie & Kaitlyn vs Tamina & Rosa Mendes. In Louisville Bryan beats Barrett and Nattie & AJ beat Alicia & Rosa, in Terre Haute Bryan beats Kidd, Jinder beats Trent Beretta and Nattie & Kaitlyn beat Fox & Mendes. TVs 11th at the TD Garden in Boston (just 8000) they job the tag champs to Cena in a handicap (worthless, FUCKING worthless) and dark John beats Punk in a streetfight. Next night in Uncasville Jinder beats Johnny Curtis before the shows and the chumps lose to the Usos on Superstars - they lose again to Santino & Kozlov before Money In The Bank. FUCKING WORTHLESS. Money In The Bank (14,815 in Chicago - SELL OUT) is one of the best shows in years, with Bryan and Bertie winning briefcases, Henry getting a powerful win over Show, Christian beating Orton on a special DQ stip to take the big gold (brilliantly executed) and the best remembered title match of the decade as CM Punk wins the belt against all odds "on his last night in the company" with Vince playing every joker he could - including himself - to deliver the best story possible, and it worked. Next night in Green Bay Masters beats Curt Hawkins dark, and on Raw they start the WWE title tournament but instead of finishing the final they move onto the important stuff ; Vince fires Cena before Triple H debuts his new COO character and relieves Vince ; it doesn’t stick. Oh, the “tag team champions” tape another defeat for Superstars. Next night in Minneapolis they announce Sin Cara “broke a rib” in the ladder match (he’s got a Wellness suspension), Michael Cole is forced to wrestle Ryder (by HHH) and dark, Christian pins Orton. 25th in Hampton VA Bo Rotundo (Dallas) beats Primo before the show, and it’s one of my most hated Raw shows ever - on top of Kelly & Eve beating Maryse & Melina, Rey beats Miz to win the WWE title then foils a Del Rio cash in, and is “congratulated” by his “friend” Cena who then challenges Rey for a title shot which he grants for show end - which Cena wins, the whole fiasco making (a) babyface Rey look stupid, (b) Rey look a loser and (c) babyface Cena look like a cunt who doesn’t deserve to have any friends. Thus ends a convoluted 8 day journey to get the belt back onto Cena and pretend Money In The Bank didn’t happen. To complete the circle, CM Punk then walks back out. To the shock of everyone who knew what it was, Cult Of Personality is what plays to preface his appearance. Thus ends one of the most interesting stories they ever told with the belt and with the champion… for 8 days. Next night in Philadelphia Hunico beats Gabriel dark - he’ll be on TV soon as fake Sin Cara - and after the show Christian pins Orton again. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month : McGillicutty & Otunga (tag champs) by The Usos, again by Ryder & Santino (Jesus fucking wept), Ziggler (US champ) by Rey, Jackson (Intercontinental champ) by Christian DEPARTURES Chris Masters, despite having beaten Jack Swagger on the road many times during their long run including most of July, is released a second time after losing to the All-American American on Superstars on the August 1st taping in Indianapolis. Over the next ten years and beyond he’ll continue doing his thing all over the world, including a spell working Preston regularly where I’ll become convinced he’s one of the finest fiery babyfaces on the planet, though he’ll revert to smug heel in becoming World Heavyweight Champion of Preston twice. As of 2023 he’s been plying his trade for the NWA though ridiculously been unable to win the belt from Tyrus a/k/a Brodus Clay. This is also the end of the road (on the road) for Melina, apart from an appearance in a battle royal at Indianapolis Raw - she’s released early August too. Already wary that somethings amiss and somebody wants her gone, she’s given the dreaded “creative has nothing for you” which is a cop out. Like a few tenured wrestlers with history and past title reigns, she’s simply been moved aside to make room for shite like the Bellas and Kelly. She claims later to be relieved and that she needed time away. There will be contact about a return but it’s been limited to nostalgia one offs and a Rumble thus far. That week of TVs and even that battle royal specifically are the death knell for a couple more but I’ll leave them until next time.   Edited September 11, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 27, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 27, 2023 (edited) AUGUST 2011 Sexy time! THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 5th in Salt Lake City (<3500) and 6th in Fresno it’s once again John Cena vs CM Punk for the belt(s) which goes no contest when a varying combination of Del Rio, Truth and/or Ziggler interfere. 7th in Stockton a strong Raw contribution to the SmackDown show has Punk vs Alberto Del Rio as their top match, then 19th/20th in Regina and Saskatoon there's double duty for Del Rio - he has to defeat Punk half way through the card, then on last he's losing to Cena by DQ. 26th-28th is Jackson MS (too hot, hot damn), Memphis and Little Rock ADR is off so John Cena vs The Miz goes on last. THE CARDS Month end we add CM Punk vs R-Truth as the two top babyfaces vs Awesome Truth take centre stage. Otherwise there's stunning consistency - early month and mid month in Canada, the undercards are close to 100% identical. It’s Dolph Ziggler vs Alex Riley for the US title all month plus former partners collide in John Morrison vs Truth, month end JoMo moves to forgotten man Drew McIntyre. We have Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga vs Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne all month too - 75/25 for Air Boom before the switch as it’s usually non title (ugh) then successful defences for them month end. Santino vs Jack Swagger and Zack Ryder vs McIntyre both end badly for two of 2010s most promising heels, month end we move to Ryder putting over Mason Ryan and former World Heavyweight Champion Swagger losing to Santino - What. The. Fuck. Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix for the belt also gets two runs, month end Kelly & Eve Torres beat The Bella Twins. Which sounds shite. Little Rock has a terrible prick tease - Ziggler comes out dressed like HBK and does a promo declaring that Shawn's a quitter and HE'S the new showstopper. Which is bizarre as a one off (in a building that 97 HBK caused a riot) and isn't leading to anything. VARIATIONS An injury scuppers one run early month - in Salt Lake it’s Rey Mysterio vs Del Rio as planned, in Fresno Kofi does double duty and tags with JoMo to beat Bertie and Truth. In Stockton Ziggler defends against Bourne, Phoenix tags with Pinup Strong buddy Natalya to lose to Kelly & Eve, and JoMo & Kofi beat Truth & Swagger. In sold out (9000+) Jackson there's an extra body - local Ted DiBiase Jr gets a cheque playing babyface in defeat to JoMo, displacing Drew into a three way with Ziggler and A-Ri. A cracking shuffle in Memphis has Ryan;Mason pin Santino and Swagger attacks Ryder before their match then claims there are no real men in Memphis - an obvious setup for him to do a job for The King. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 6th-7th in Boise and Stockton it’s still Christian vs Randy Orton in a streetfight. There's cancellations all over the shop, 20th in Tacoma only 4000 come to the Dome for another streetfight, Orton's champ by then. 27th in Cape Girardeau several talents including Christian have transport trouble so the planned ICT match is scrapped and Orton beats Cody Rhodes - saved from a beatdown afterwards by a just-arrived Christian, by sudden babyface Ted Jr. Next night in Springfield MO its back to Orton vs Christian with Ted again negating Cody - I thought they were mates again?? THE CARDS It’s still Sheamus vs Mark Henry all month, ICT has Ezekiel Jackson vs Cody Rhodes (battle royal winner early month) either side of the title change on TV, month end Jackson's beating Heath Slater after Cody moves on. Daniel Bryan vs Wade Barrett most of the month is good rehab for briefcase-wielding Bryan. Sin Cara vs Tyson Kidd repeats in Tacoma and Springfield as (genuine) Cara returns from suspension, month end Johnny Curtis vs Brodus Clay go 50/50. Cards are getting smaller, consistency is starting to ebb away as well. Although it makes you reflect on how much value they still put on running 20 dates a month with a World Champion on hand whenever possible - in January 2023 we’ll cover 6 house shows, four of which have the US title on last. Both Missouri shows have special appearances from Harley Race. VARIATIONS In Boise AJ Lee upsets Natalya and Jinder Mahal & Great Khali beat The Usos which is offensive. In Tacoma Jinder beats Yoshi Tatsu, AJ & Kaitlyn beat newly heeled Nattie & Rosa Mendes and new babyface Justin Gabriel pins former partner Slater. In Cape Girardeau with Kidd having transport problems and Cody bumped to main, Sin Cara beats Ted DiBiase Jr, and AJ pins Tamina with no Nattie. Next night Cody retains over Teddy and AJ & Kaitlyn beat Nattie & Tamina as planned. TVs 1st in Indianapolis a pivotal battle royal has Melina (see last post) out in 5 seconds, Gail Kim (see below) out in 14 seconds, and winner Phoenix turn heel (finally) on Kelly. Dark, Cena vs Punk goes to a non contest when the Awesome Truth interfere. 2nd in Lexington Colt Cabana does a job to Barrett before NXT, on SmackDown Henry destroys Vladimir Kozlov and Nattie turns heel on AJ mirroring (and explicitly referencing) Beth’s actions on Raw ; dark, Christian pins Orton in a streetfight for about the third or fourth week in a row. 9th in Sacramento on SmackDown "Sin Cara" beats Kidd - it’s Hunico under the mask though - and Cody wins the ICT. Dark at SummerSlam “former World Heavyweight Champion” Dolph beats A-Ri, Orton pins Christian no DQ to win his belt back, Punk pins Cena to regain the (legitimate) WWE title but then is lamped by Kevin Nash allowing Del Rio to cash in - the title has now changed hands five times in a month and will continue to change until we usher in a lengthy period of stability year end. Next night in San Diego only 6000 turn up for Raw, probably because they expect favourite son Rey will get jobber out again, and lose he does, to ADR. Next night in Bakersfield Bo Rotundo beats Joey Ryan dark then on SmackDown Del Rio turns up to beat Bryan, big Mark wins a battle royal to become top contender and after the show Orton & Sheamus beat Del Rio & Christian. 22nd in Edmonton Vickie starts managing Swagger (no memory of that) and Air Boom relieve the Nexus job squad of the tag belts. Next night in the Calgary Saddledome I imagine 9000 was celebrated as a triumph for a SmackDown taping - it's not 12,000 for Canadian Stampede but this is hardly Canadian Stampede era with Bret Hart on top, is it? Although Bret does appear! Barrett beats Bo dark and Trent Beretta beats Kidd plus AJ does a job for the forgotten Maxine. It should be stressed that on SmackDown Jackson elicits a submission from Khali with the torture rack which is quite a sight, dark Orton beats Christian in another streetfight after which Captain Charisma ends up in the Sharpshooter again. 29th in Topeka they clock that Nash can't pass a medical and switch the scheduled match at the PPV to Punk vs Triple H, next night in Wichita a live "Super SmackDown" (3500 attend) we see Sin Cara act dick heel against Bryan (I suspect this is the fake one) and Orton beat Christian inside a cage to effectively end Christian's dance as a main eventer, after which Orton is again attacked by Henry. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Ziggler (US champ) by Orton, Kelly (Womens champ) by Brie Bella DEPARTURES So, a four minute battle royal on Raw features Gail Kim hit the deck shortly after it starts and purposely roll to the outside - an elimination in this particular battle royal - and just walk to the back without wasting any time. She didn't see the point in hanging around. The office is livid. Depending on who you ask, she either quits or her contract expires in September. I honestly can't say I blame her, getting out of a short battle royal full of absolute scrubs, battling for the right to challenge the simply awful Kelly Kelly, watching on comms. AGAIN, the company had no idea what to do with Gail, despite her being better than virtually every woman they pushed for the better part of ten years. In a relatively rare example of WWE using someone really effectively to write them out for good, Vladimir Kozlov loses to Henry on SmackDown and thereafter Henry "breaks his leg" before Sheamus interjects, reinforcing that he's a babyface now by standing up to the World's Strongest Man. I have little to add about Kozlov who was always utter dogshit and often pushed far beyond his meagre ability, but at least his exit was memorable, which is more than most get. Here's Cena vs Punk from after Raw in San Jose ;  Edited August 31, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 28, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 28, 2023 SEPTEMBER 2011 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 2nd they’re back in San Juan for a one off - 10,600+ paid is another good gate (11,000 inside) for the same double main as last month - Alberto Del Rio vs CM Punk for the WWE title mid way then winner Del Rio vs John Cena on last - the three way conflict will run and run. It’s the same setup in Trenton and Wheeling. 9th-11th in Barrie, London and Kingston Punks off so it’s direct to ADR vs Cena - still a DQ finish then 16th/17th in Huntington and Youngstown it’s the title match one-two on the joint brand show. After Night of Champions it’s Cena getting nights off so 23rd-25th it’s Punk pinning Del Rio for revenge in Albuquerque, El Paso and atop a little four match joint brand show in Lubbock. THE CARDS Early month, in Ontario and month end Dolph Ziggler vs John Morrison is back on for the US belt and it’s Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston vs The Miz & R-Truth for the tag belts which stretches to the cross brand gigs - shows suddenly look worth seeing again. Though “Air Boom” have to defend month end against awful ex champions David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty with the “fired” Awesome Truth attacking them before the match then getting thrown out. Alex Riley vs Jack Swagger as a sandwich month restores some momentum for A-Ri early month but goes 50/50 month end, mid month A-Ri is back with Ziggler. In Ontario and El Paso, Zack Ryder vs Drew McIntyre looks like an upset at first glance but the chants of “we want Ryder” are getting louder and for now they’re listening. On and off it’s Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix for the Women’s title including opening in Lubbock. It’s Kelly & Eve Torres vs The Bella Twins in Canada. It’s Ryder swapping wins with Mason Ryan early month plus Percy Watson vs Primo, in Ontario Ryan plays babyface beating Swagger and Tyler Reks & Curt Hawkins beat Yoshi Tatsu & Primo. Mid month Ryan’s back with Primo. VARIATIONS Nikki doesn’t make it to Barrie so Kelly beats Brie in singles. In Albuquerque Ryder pins Primo and Ryan pins McIntyre, in El Paso the card is padded out by JoMo winning a battle royal to earn his crack at Ziggler. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN We’re on tour again - it’s still Randy Orton vs Christian 1st in Nimes and 3rd in Paris, 2nd in Geneva and 4th the second night in Paris it’s Orton & Sheamus vs Christian & Mark Henry (though you won’t believe what went on last in the 4th). 10th in Halifax (just 3000) and 11th in Moncton it’s Orton vs Christian vs Henry, on the joint brand shows Sheamus and Daniel Bryan beat Christian & Henry between two WWE title matches. After the PPV and switch, Marks giving Orton the rematch 24th in Amarillo (God rest Terrys soul), In Lubbock it’s Henry vs Orton vs Sheamus. THE CARDS On tour Sheamus vs Wade Barrett goes down two nights otherwise Barrett loses to Daniel Bryan, Sheamus vs Barrett continues into Canada as a streetfight and Bryan vs Brodus Clay is great experience for the big lad. Month long an ICT match of Cody Rhodes vs Ted DiBiase Jr ends in a DQ including the third fall of a 2/3 in Paris which goes on last - Ted wins but because he wins the final fall by DQ he doesn’t win the belt, a rule I never understood. Mid month Cody finally wins a couple. Sin Cara vs Tyson Kidd is every night in Europe and Canada and there are two rounds of Ezekiel Jackson vs Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal & Great Khali vs The Usos which also continue in the Great White North. Mid month it’s Cara vs Slater. Natalya vs Alicia Fox is every night in Europe and in Amarillo ; in between Nattie is upset by AJ Lee in Canada (lol). VARIATIONS Matches that only occur in Amarillo are Sheamus vs Clay and Bryan vs Slater vs Justin Gabriel ; Cody vs Bryan is the second match in Lubbock, after the Women’s title and before the World title match and Punk. TVs 5th in Columbus OH Drew pins Primo dark, on Raw huge rub for Ryder as he’s verbally endorsed by The King before the pair beat the ex Nexus ex tag champs. Survivor Series fans like me are treated to an impromptu eliminator - Cena, JoMo, Sheamus & A-Ri beat Ziggler, Christian, Swagger & Barrett. You’d be forgiven for thinking there’s faith back in Swagger, he earns two eliminations with the Patriot Lock - Morrison is first man out. Hmm. Next night in Toledo Trent Beretta pins Johnny Curtis in the opener. 12th in Ottawa Ryan pins Primo to curtain jerk, Cena & Bret Hart beat Del Rio & Ricardo Rodriguez in Bret’s last official match when Rodriguez submits to the Sharpshooter, and dark after the taping Del Rio vs Cena vs Punk goes to a no contest when Awesome Truth attack both challengers - the match is refereed by Bret and in the post match brawl, Miz ends up in the Sharpshooter too. Next night at the Air Canada (8500 isn’t good enough in Toronto really) Fox pins Tamina before NXT, and Bryan beats Fake Sin Cara by DQ on TV then gets saved by real Sin Cara. Bryan beats Slater dark at Night of Champions, a show that depressed the hell out of me at the time - Awesome Truth got DQd in their shot at the tag belts when being champions would have furthered their progression as top baddies and been a boost to the title, Mark Henry who I still considered crap won SmackDowns big belt from Orton, hot new main event babyface Punk got pinned by fading part timer Triple H and generally was presented as less important than the hostilities between the COO and yesterday’s news Kevin Nash, and worst of all Bertie coughed up the WWE title in a paint-by-numbers match to Cena - the long awaited Del Rio title run over and status quo restored after a month. Next night in Cleveland there’s three dark matches early - Riley over Primo, Mason over Drew and Watson & Titus O’Neil vs Hawkins & Reks. On Raw Hugh Jackman memorably gives Ryder an assist against Ziggler and Del Rio drops JoMo in under a minute. Hmm. Dark after Raw Cena wins a triangle match over Punk and Del Rio. Next night in Dayton some interesting faces on the minor shows - Leo Kruger (destined be repackaged as Adam Rose) loses to Beretta, Tatsu pins Derrick Bateman who I haven’t mentioned yet and I’ll forgive you for forgetting becomes EC3, and JTG sighting - he tags with Darren Young to beat future PTP partner Titus and Watson. After SmackDown Orton beats Henry by DQ in a lumberjack match, and 26th in Kansas City there’s a nutty dark match inside a Cell where Cena defends against Punk, Del Rio, Swagger and Ziggler. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Cody (Intercontinental champ) by Orton, Orton (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Cody, Ziggler (US Champ) by Ryder NO DEPARTURES Here’s the finish to that Cell match ;    Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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