House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[air_raid]

OCTOBER 2011

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st in Mobile we've already arrived at another cross-brand show before a PPV even though it only feels like a week since Night Of Champions - in fact, it's been two - it's John Cena vs Alberto Del Rio vs CM Punk for the WWE title. 7th-9th in Denver, Loveland and Colorado Springs the belt is back on Del Rio and Cena's back to beating him by DQ. Then we're off to Mexico for the same main 12th-14th in Monterrey, Merida (11,000) and Puebla. 22nd in Corpus Christi we have ANOTHER cross brand show before ANOTHER pay per view - Bertie vs Cena opens and goes to a non finish then Cena & Big Show beat ADR & Mark Henry impromptu with the old double pin.

THE CARDS

Consistent cards through Colorado - Dolph Ziggler vs John Morrison for the US title goes on and Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston vs David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty for the tag belts is a waste of a good pair of hands - however in Mexico, this sounds far better - JoMo tags with CM Punk against The Awesome Truth and Air Boom defend against Ziggler & Jack Swagger (repeated from Mobile). Alex Riley vs Swagger in Colorado is cutting the balls off Riley and trying to rejuvenate Swagger - unfortunately parity booking has killed both of them. In Mexico, A-Ri pins Otunga. Zack Ryder vs Drew McIntyre continues (woo woo woo) for two weeks. Beth Phoenix vs Eve Torres rematches roll through Colorado and Texas either side of Beth vs Kelly Kelly in Mexico. It's still Mason Ryan vs Primo in both Colorado and south of the border.

VARIATIONS

In Mobile we have Ryder vs JTG and Kelly & Eve vs Phoenix & Natalya. Some fascinating ones in Corpus Christi - Sheamus & Air Boom vs Christian & The Awesome Truth goes on last, there's Primo & Tito Colon (Epico) vs The Usos and Cody Rhodes vs Ryder for the Intercontinental title.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

In Mobile the biggest SmackDown match has Sheamus & Daniel Bryan vs Christian & Mark Henry for the second joint-brand go home show in a row. 9th in Bossier City Henry vs Randy Orton in a streetfight goes to a non-finish with Sheamus and Christian jumping in for the impromptu tag. 13th-14th in Monterrey and San Luis Potosi, sadly, it's Mark Henry vs Big Show for the belt. Corpus Christi we've covered, and that's all the road gigs this month.

THE CARDS

Still Cody Rhodes vs Ted DiBiase Jr in Mobile and Bossier City then into Mexico Randy Orton & Sheamus vs Cody and Christian sounds like a main event, but isn't. Ezekiel Jackson vs Heath Slater continues in Mobile and San Luis, Justin Gabriel vs Jinder Mahal goes 1-1 in Mexico. In Bossier City & Monterrey its AJ Lee & Kaitlyn vs Natalya & Tamina - doesn't that feel like a team of rubbish that should be binned, a mere 10 years before they got their tag title shot at Mania??

VARIATIONS - TONS

In Bossier City its Big Show vs Wade Barrett, Bryan vs Slater, Sin Cara vs Tyson Kidd, Brodus Clay vs Gabriel and Jackson vs Johnny Curtis. In Monterrey only it's Jackson vs Cara. In San Luis, Bryan vs Cara, DiBiase vs Barrett (big win for Ted there), Clay vs Kidd and AJ, Kait & Alicia Fox vs Nattie, Tamina & Rosa Mendes. In Corpus Christi there's another round of Barrett vs Bryan and a dry run of Sin Cara vs Fake Sin Cara.

TVs

Bryan beats JTG dark at Hell In A Cell - a chaotic show on which ADR regains the belt thanks to Awesome Truth. Raw in Lafayette is notable only for them acknowledging JoMo's birthday shortly before he jobs to Henry in two minutes. Hmm. 10th Raw in Oklahoma City JoMo loses to Christian in 70 seconds after which he's battered by Ziggler, Swagger and Cody. Hmm. Next night in Dallas Cena vs Del Rio is a dark main, no doubt hoping to shift tickets that "SmackDown" won't. 15th in Mexico City some good news - their usual 15,800+ sellout, Cena beats Bertie by DQ dark. Next night there's only 10,500 - Sin Cara beats the imposter in a mask vs mask match revealing who we know call Hunico, and Henry beats Morrison again during which he kicks out after Starship Pain. Hmm. Dark, Del Rio beats Orton. Only 8000 turn up for Vengeance, before which Barrett pins Bryan, and PPV proper has more non-progression - Punk & Triple H lose to The Awesome Truth when Kevin Nash interferes, Cena loses to Del Rio when Miz & Truth intefere, and Henry vs Show do a lame non-finish when they recycle the exploding ring superplex from Lesnar vs Show which really should have stayed unique. Raw in Austin has Cara beat Perfect's kid before shows are taped, and Del Rio beat Cena in a cage match after. Next night in Houston Drew finally wins a match, beating Curtis before NXT, and after SmackDown there's a ton of dark stuff - Sheamus wins a battle royal apparently with 41 guys in it (not 40? OK) then Cena vs Del Rio breaks down into Cena & Show vs Del Rio and Henry again. Incidentally, faith in the SmackDown crew to have a watchable TV show on their own is through the floor - this episode has Punk vs Christian with Del Rio involving himself to build ADR vs Punk for Survivors, Ziggler showing his face to lose to Orton, plus Air Boom vs Awesome Truth. 31st in Atlanta the Colons lose to the Usos before Raw, and Punk & Cena beat Awesome Truth after it. This is the worst episode of all time for non-title whining - Del Rio, Ziggler and Air Boom are all beaten. Fuckwits.

NON-TITLE WHINING

Beaten this month : Bourne & Kingston (tag team champions) by Swagger & Ziggler and again by Awesome Truth and AGAIN by Barrett & Cody, Cody (Intercontinental champ) by Orton, Ziggler (US champ) by Orton and again by Ryder, Del Rio (WWE CHAMPION) by Show.

DEPARTURE

After two months out following a hernia operation, Maryse is cut, which shocks me considering some of the rubbish they'll keep around compared to her charisma and abillity to get heel heat. She'll marry long-term fella Miz in 2013 and FINALLY reappear in 2016 leading eventually to a big mixed-tag return to the ring at Mania 33 and other feuds since.

Here's Bertie vs Cena ;

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

NOVEMBER 2011

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

We're back on another European tour and it's Alberto Del Rio vs CM Punk (DQ finish) for the WWE title 2nd-6th in Dublin, Nantes, Amneville, Manchester and Sheffield then again 8th-12th in Newcastle, Nottingham, Glasgow, London (15,000+ sellout at the O2) and Minehead. 30th, the first night in Yokohama sneaks in - new WWE Champ CM Punk vs Alberto Del Rio on last. 

THE CARDS

John Cena & John Morrison vs The Awesome Truth is a very good semi-main early tour, interchanging with Cena & Zack Ryder, and it's also Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston vs the spare babyface ; after Liverpool TV it's usually Ziggler vs Morrison and a huge tag of Cena, Ryder & Kofi vs Miz, Truth and... Kevin Nash?? Why did I not know about this. It's Mason Ryan vs Jack Swagger in the old "heel undone by their own open challenge" drama before TVs, thereafter Ryan flattens Curt Hawkins. We have Beth Phoenix vs Eve Torres for the belt throughout plus Santino vs Drew McIntyre and Alex Riley & Primo vs David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty.

Mick Foley is a ref presence in many Cena tags. Evan Bourne is off on Wellness suspension.

VARIATIONS

In Newcastle  only its Ziggler vs Morrison vs McIntyre so JoMo gets to be in the ring with old rival Drew one last time, plus Riley beats McGillicutty, Santino beats Otunga and Primo has a night off. As well as a few repeats from Europe, in Yokohama it's John Cena vs The Miz, Riley vs Primo, Phoenix vs Kelly Kelly... and Big Show & Ryder vs Kev & Ziggler.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

On tour it's usually Mark Henry vs Big Show for the belt, still, 3rd in Bilbao, 5th in Vienna, 7th in Birmingham then 9th-12th in Brussels, Zurich, Gdansk (10,500) and Frankfurt, otherwise 6th in Cardiff its Show & Randy Orton vs Henry & Christian, 4th in Graz it's Randy, Show and Sheamus beating Henry, Christian & Cody Rhodes.

THE CARDS

It's usually Randy Orton & Ted DiBiase Jr vs Wade Barrett & Cody Rhodes plus Sheamus vs Christian which doesn't sound terrible even if the main event is - Christian sprains his ankle in Brussels so thereafter it's Sheamus vs Barrett and Orton beating Cody in a non-title streetfight. It's Daniel Bryan vs William Regal before TVs and Bryan vs Tyson Kidd vs Justin Gabriel thereafter ; the shuffle is cruel to Ted who's suddenly doing jobs to Brodus Clay. Undercards switch from Clay vs Trent Beretta, Kidd & Gabriel vs Johnny Curtis & Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox & AJ Lee vs Natalya & Tamina before TV, to Fox vs Nattie (ref'd by Aksana) and Ezekiel Jackson vs Jinder, plus Hunico vs Yoshi Tatsu throughout.

VARIATIONS

In Vienna there's a swap - Clay beats Tatsu and Hunico beats Beretta. In Birmingham only AJ beats Tamina in singles. In Brussels only its Bryan vs Kidd in singles and Gabriel loses to Clay before Christian's injury necessitates the shuffle. In Graz Barrett beats Ted in singles, in Cardiff its Cody vs Ted vs Wade and Sheamus simply has the night off.

TVs

1st in Greenville after the SmackDown show Sheamus & Show vs Christian and Henry is refereed by Booker T. 7th in Liverpool The Usos beat Beretta & Derrick Bateman before Raw and on the show, oddly, Morrison pins Ziggler after the commentators tell the audience what a slump he's been on. Next night, Gabriel pins "Matthew Kaye" who is the wrestler better known as Lionheart, on SmackDown Show beats 3 Brits, one of whom is Zak Zodiac a/k/a Zak Knight (Paige's brother - topical). After the taping Orton, Sheamus & Show beat Henry, Christian & Cody - again ref'd by Booker. 14th in Boston (12,000+ sellout, somehow) McGillicutty pins JTG dark, after the show Cena, Orton and Punk beat Mizark & The Awesome Truth when - WCW booking alert - they respond to the fans chanting "We want Ryder" by sending him out and he wins the match for the babyfaces. Next night in Bridgeport Kenny Dykstra does a job for Gabriel before the show and after it Show beats Henry by DQ... zzzzzz. Santino beats Jinder dark before Survivor Series, which is remembered best for Zack getting a monster pop for attacking Ziggler after the US title match, a tremendous reaction to The Fink introducing Punk who promptly wins the belt from Del Rio to kick off his neverending title reign, and The Rock and Cena beating the Awesome Truth, who might as well have been The Beverly Brothers for all the chance they had of winning. Next night in Hershey Primo & Epico beat Percy Watson & Titus O'Neil before cameras - if you were wondering how quickly Riley's push has fallen off, he's losing to McGillicutty for Superstars, on Raw Miz divorces himself violently from Truth and dark Cena, Orton & Show beat Miz, Ziggler & Swagger. Next night in Wilkes-Barre an utterly awful piece of business has Bryan successfully cash in on Henry after help from Show but then Teddy Long declare it's not valid because Mark was not medically cleared to compete - umm, that's bollocks. Bryan wins a four-way over Orton, Barrett and Cody when he elicits a tap from the Intercontinental champ (fuck sake...) then after show's off the air Booker refs Bryan & Orton beating Cody & Barrett in a tag. 28th in Columbia Riley beats McIntyre in the curtain jerker, Miz beats Morrison by stoppage in a falls anywhere match where JoMo needs to leave on a stretcher, and after cameras stop rolling Show beats Henry by DQ yet again leading to an impromptu Cena, Punk & Show beating Henry, Miz & ADR, finally 29th in Charlotte after the Henry vs Bryan cage match on the SmackDown taping, dark Henry beats Orton inside the same cage with help from Barrett.

NON-TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Cody (Intercontinental champ) by Orton, Ziggler (US Champ) by Morrison, again in a four-way with Orton, Barrett and (winner) Bryan.

DEPARTURE

John Morrison lets his contract expire despite a renewal offer (understandably) on the table, because he's hurt, he's knackered, and he wants more (his words) control over his time - his stretcher job for Miz is his last booking. Not the first wrestler to bemoan the schedule and not the first or last time a talented wrestler with all the tools never had the stars align to go as far as he could. After that match with Rey did wonders for both him AND the ICT, and he was natural first challenger for Miz, he felt like a "can't miss" for future legitimate main event superstar. But there were only room for so many heroes at the top, so it wasn't to be. He'll be back, eventually.

Here's a heart-warming "Nash cut" of that six man from the O2 condensed into only the times Big Kev was in the ring, including the finish ;

 

If thats not enough Kev, here's the ending to his match in Yokohama where he bumps like a nutter for Long Island Iced Z ;

 

 

 

[air_raid]

DECEMBER 2011

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st in Yokohama at the second of two nights it’s CM Punk vs Alberto Del Rio for the WWE title and they’re still at it 3rd in Sunrise FL, 10th in North Charleston it’s Punk vs Del Rio vs John Cena before back to Punk vs ADR 16th in Fort Myers and 17th at Nassau Coliseum refereed by Mick Foley (just 7000). Night after TLC Bertie does his groin - 27th at MSG (14,000, 11,000 paid) and 28th-30th in Pittsburgh, Washington and Hartford it’s Punk vs The Miz in a cage match. The Fink announces in Pittsburgh!

THE CARDS

John Cena vs The Miz in a streetfight is Cena’s early month distraction, month end it’s Kane with a DQ finish. Mid month Dolph Ziggler vs Zack Ryder for the US title has a DQ finish then after TLC Zigglers chasing - he usually has to win a battle royal to earn his shot. Many bigger midcard players do cross brand stuff mid month, after Christmas The King vs Jack Swagger is not a run I expected. Beth Phoenix vs Eve Torres both starts and finishes the month. It’s Alex Riley vs Leo Kruger at MSG and in Pittsburgh, Riley & Mason Ryan vs Tyler Reks & Curt Hawkins in Washington and Hartford, plus Santino vs Michael McGillicutty at MSG and in Hartford and vs David Otunga in Pittsburgh and Washington.

VARIATIONS 

John Cena & Big Show vs Miz & Kevin Nash in Yokohama is the biggest exception on a show full of them - Beth loses non title to Kelly Kelly, Santino pins William Regal, A-Ri pins Primo again, Ziggler retains over Ryan and Drew McIntyre and Ryder pins Swagger. In Sunrise Ryan beats Swagger again, Santino beats Drew, it’s The Usos vs Primo & Epico, Riley does a surprising job to (back from long term injury) Skip Sheffield, and Ziggler retains over (back from suspension) Evan Bourne. In North Charleston Bourne & Kofi Kingston retain the tag belts against Otunga & McGillicutty, and Riley beats Ziggler by DQ leading to impromptu Riley & Ryan vs Ziggler & Swagger. In Hartford only there's R-Truth vs Otunga.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

2nd-4th in Chattanooga, Augusta and Columbus (GA) it’s Mark Henry vs Randy Orton in a cage match, 10th in North Charleston Randy beats Wade Barrett in a streetfight on the cross brand show, nothing SmackDown contributes mid month is worthy of note as the “biggest match.” 28th-30th in Detroit (10,000), Buffalo and the former Meadowlands (9500) it’s - yes, he cashed in - Daniel Bryan vs Mark Henry vs Big Show in cage matches, and while those sound OK gates post Christmas, refunds were offered over the advertised-but-injured Orton.

THE CARDS

Sheamus vs Wade Barrett in a streetfight goes most of the month including a good fallback when Ortons hurt, likewise Cody Rhodes vs Booker T for the ICT. Big Show vs Jack Swagger is a cross brand addition mid month in Shows break from main event, and Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston vs Primo & Epico for the tag belts sticks around on SmackDown shows after starting on the same mid month supershows and at MSG. Daniel Bryan vs Hunico starts the month then his last matches mid month before winning the belt are with - ho ho! - Dean Ambrose. All month it’s Ted DiBiase Jr vs Jinder Mahal, early month there’s Tyson Kidd vs Damien Sandow, Justin Gabriel vs Heath Slater (including North Charleston) and AJ Lee & Alicia Fox vs Natalya & Rosa Mendes, mid month it’s Fox & Eve Torres vs Nattie & Beth Phoenix, month end Alicia & AJ best Nattie & Tamina, it’s Gabriel vs Hunico and Kidd losing to - ho ho! - Seth Rollins.

VARIATION

In North Charleston there’s one revival of Cody vs Ted for the ICT.

TVs

5th in Tampa The Usos beat Reks & JTG dark, for Superstars Bourne does a job to Epico (feels like punishment), BIG KEV WRESTLES and pins Santino, Cena costs Henry a pinfall loss against Ryder even though Cena and Henry are "on different shows" and Henry vs Ryder is not a feud (so what's the point?) and dark Ziggler wins a battle royal (41 man, just like the one last month... why 41??) to get an immediate title shot at Punk- Richie Steamboat is one of the men in it, you may be interested to know. Next night in Jacksonville Sandow loses to Yoshi Tatsu before Superstars/NXT, there's one of those fuck-awful Beat The Clock episodes of SmackDown, and dark - this is novel - Henry vs Show vs Orton goes to a no-contest when guest ref Booker is attacked by Cody. 11th in Fayetteville they tape Tribute to The Troops - Santino beats Jinder dark, and of note Ryder has Sgt Slaughter in his corner for his win over Swagger. Next night in Norfolk Kidd beats Sandow before cameras, during the 3 hour Slammys Punk tags with Orton and gets pinned by Miz in a tag (Miz partnering Del Rio) and at the end of Cena vs Henry there's a really memorable return for Kane in two new masks with a return to his original entrance melody, leaving behind what I always think of as an awful WCW-like version that was his theme, but wasn't really his theme. At this point - and I open myself up for ridicule here - I was quite pleased, and thought this refresh for Kane looked like he was going to be taken seriously again as a heel threat. Next night in Raleigh Bourne curtain jerks with Kidd. Dark at TLC Drew drops A-Ri, then on the PPV Ryder actually wins the US belt from Ziggler (hooray!), Show beats a legitimately injured Henry to win the belt then immediately gets cashed in on by Bryan, and Triple H beats Big Kev after lamping him with a sledgehammer retrieved from its dangling spot - because somebody decided the only way their 2003 feud could be improved upon would be with a ladder. Fun fact - this is the first PPV for years where Cena didn't have a match, and while it drew quite a few buys less than Survivors, it got significantly MORE buys than the last B level PPV, Vengeance. Read into that what you will, I reckon it was Kev. Next night in Philadelphia, Ambrose does a job for Ted Jr before the shows, the first vignettes for something scary start to air (turns out it's Y2J) and a ludicrously popular trio of Punk, Bryan and Ryder beat Del Rio, Miz and Ziggler - dark, Cena beats Kane by DQ. Next night in Richmond DiBiase pins Deano again, you can see how quickly they’ve given up on former Intercontinental champ Jackson, he’s losing to Hunico for Superstars, and after SmackDown Orton pins (Raws) Miz which is refereed by Booker. I should note with this taping being the 20th, this feels like the shortest Christmas break for many years. Boxing Day Raw in Chicago (OBVIOUSLY a sellout, near 15,000) dark Sheffield pins McGillicutty, on Raw Booker pins Cody, and after the show Punk beats Miz in a cage match. Finally 28th in Indianapolis Sheffield curtain jerks with future enemy Rollins, on TV Hunico introduces new buddy Camacho (Haku’s lad, far better known today as Tanga Loa), Barrett is credited with injuring Orton, Dustin Rhodes reappears disappointed with his brother, and after the show Booker refs a three way where Danny Bry retains over Show and Wade.

NON-TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Mark Henry (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Ryder, Ziggler (US Champ) by Sheamus and AGAIN by Orton, Cody (Intercontinental champ) by Bryan, AGAIN in a four way with Bryan, Ryder and (winner) Ziggler, AGAIN by Ryder, FUCKING AGAIN by Booker, Kofi & Bourne (tag team champions) TWICE by Primo & Epico, Phoenix (Womens champ) by Fox, Punk (WWE CHAMPION) by Ziggler. Yes, that’s ALL of them.

DEPARTURE

As you probably already knew, TLC is the big time swan song for Kevin Nash, who wisely got himself a few more paydays for strolling in, costing CM Punk the WWE title again, then strolling out after doing the favour not for Punk, but for his old mate Hunter - who’d also managed to pin Punk on a PPV on the way. And people ask why he’s bitter or didn’t want to wrestle Trips at Mania 30.

Enjoy.

 

[air_raid]

Hi guys,

In an effort to restore some of the "catch all" nature of the thread, to both read about what was going on in house shows and dark matches AND see some of it, I've gone back through and added some more video content (and deleted one or two that have been purged from the source) - relevant posts here if you want to have a look (the two that are bold are from house shows rather than dark matches before/after TVs if you want to be selective);

November 2001 - Orton vs Lesnar 
January 2002 - AJ Styles vs Rico
March 2002 - Lesnar vs Spike Dudley
June 2002 - Shelton vs Prototype
March 2008 - Taker/Batista/Flair vs Edge/Show/MVP
December 2008 - HBK vs Kane
April 2009 - Cena/Rey/Batista vs Orton/Edge/Jericho
March 2010 - Edge vs Y2J
May 2010 - Cena vs Edge
June 2010 - Sheamus vs Cena
August 2010 - Sheamus vs Cena vs Taker CAGE MATCH, post SummerSlam taping dark battle royal, Kane vs Rey vs Swagger CAGE MATCH
October 2010 - Orton vs Sheamus CAGE MATCH
August 2011 - Cena vs Punk
October 2011 - Del Rio vs Cena CAGE MATCH

[air_raid]

JANUARY 2012

Fucking hell, was this the worst Rumble field of all time? I think 1993 has nothing on this.

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

6th-8th in (hot damn) Jackson MS, Tyler and San Angelo it’s CM Punk vs The Miz for the WWE title. 13th-15th in Yakima, Sacramento and Oakland Punks pinning Dolph Ziggler. 20th-22nd in Winnipeg, Fargo and an afternoon in Las Cruces it's back to Miz (the first two are cage matches) on three cross brand shows. 28th in Evansville (7000) on the cross-brand show (another) the night before the Rumble, Punk FINALLY has "big star night off" privilege - John Cena vs Kane with a DQ finish goes on last.

THE CARDS

John Cena vs Kane with a DQ finish continues for two weeks and again in Las Cruces and Evansville. R-Truth vs The Miz as a grudge match starts in California and of course because it’s house shows, Truth wins. Zack Ryder vs Jack Swagger early month for the US title almost sounds promising for both, Truth pins Swagger in Yakima when Miz has a night off, and in week 3/Evansville in non-title matches (grr) after the title change. Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston vs Primo & Epico rolls on for two weeks - in Oakland, the Colons relieve "Air Boom" of the tag belts which surely makes Kofi the only wrestler of post-Hulkamania to lose a title on house shows twice. On the cross-brand shows whe Bourne's off on another Wellness holiday - this one's terminal - Kofi tags with Mason Ryan to chase the champs. Beth Phoenix vs Eve Torres runs two more weeks (reprises in Evansville) then in week 3 Eve & Kelly Kelly are beating Beth and "Pinup Strong" buddy Natalya. Early month it’s still Truth vs David Otunga plus  Alex Riley & Ryan beat Michael McGillicutty and… Antonio Cesaro. Yes, he had a first name, if you’d forgotten. Mid-month - new characters alert! Ryback (between settled finishers) pins Riley after a spear - they go 50/50 in week 3 - and Brodus Clay (Funkasaurus version) pins Tyler Reks.

Alberto Del Rio is still injured.

Of all the signs of failing mental capacity for Vince that crept in over the years, the idea that certain wrestlers shouldn’t have first names is one that I find most stupid. Imagine the boom period if it was populated with simply Roberts, Duggan, Rude and so on? I don’t think simply “Michaels” “Austin” “Cena” or “Reigns” looks great on a Mania marquee either. And yet, here we are, with grown men calling themselves Theory or Riddle.

VARIATION

In Evansville only, Ryback pins Santino. Tight month.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

7th/8th in Montgomery and Baton Rouge it’s Daniel Bryan vs Big Show in a cage match, 14th/15th in Vancouver and Prince George it's a standard match with a shite DQ finish because - Christ knows, we can't pin Big Show in Prince George, British Columbia in front of 4000 people, they might tell others that Show isn't invincible. Same shit in week 3 and Evansville on the cross-brand shows - on the latter, that's two DQ finishes in a row on last. Shite. But at least there are lots of shows and there's a World title match wherever possible... in January this year there were just 6 house shows with no Roman to be found. If only there was a solution like having two titles. But not having one bloke hold them both.

THE CARDS

Sheamus vs Wade Barrett no DQ is the highlight of some of the weakest undercards I’ve seen - does Cody Rhodes vs Justin Gabriel for two weeks (and Evansville) scream “Intercontinental title” to you? It’s Ted DiBiase Jr vs Jinder Mahal (at least Ted wins these), early month Hunico vs Tyson Kidd was probably a decent match, it’s AJ Lee vs Natalya and Ezekiel Jackson & Trent Beretta vs Drew McIntyre & Husky Harris - wow, two guys they’ve given up on (for now) tagged with two guys they’ve barely tried with (for now). Mid month Jackson's losing to Hunico (Jesus wept), Nattie's losing to Alicia Fox and Beretta & Yoshi Tatsu beat Drew & Heath Slater. They're paying the price for moving stars to Raw every time they get over - SmackDown's fucking awful.

Note - Jackson gets attacked by Cody after losing to Hunico right before Rhodes vs Gabriel, but that’s about getting heat on Cody, not building to anything between them.

VARIATIONS

Week 3 has some juggling - in Winnipeg Cody retains over Ted Jr as planned but Ted hurts his wrist. Next night in Fargo Alex Riley does double duty and loses to Cody. Next afternoon in New Mexico Sheamus wins a battle royal to get a crack at Cody which he loses by DQ, and they move Ted to wrestle Barrett - but that goes to a non-start when the injured Randy Orton is fit enough to attack Barrett after his entrance - and do the RKO on several wrestlers that try and break it up. They finally wrestle in Evansville, where Jinder opens the card jobbing for Sheamus.

TVs

2nd in Memphis Skip Sheffield still uses that name curtain jerking against McGillicutty, spooky vignettes are paid off with the return of not-spooky-at-all Chris Jericho, and after the show The King pins Michael Cole in a streetfight to the delight of locals. Next night in Little Rock we’re trying out “Ryback” as the Big Guy pins Jimmy Uso and the slide for Jackson continues as he jobs to the rudderless Jinder on Superstars. 9th Raw in Corpus Christi A-Ri opens with Cesaro, Clay makes his debut in the “Funkasaurus” guise with (we now know as) Naomi & Cameron as his “Funkadactyls” and pins Curt Hawkins - for one night, it was a resounding success, and the Cena/Ryder/Eve/Kane love square story accelerates - US champ he may be but it’s telling that Ryder isn’t allowed to be the hero of his own story for the damsel in distress. Next night in Laredo Sheffield pins Percy Watson dark, Tamina returns to TV (zzzz) and aside from a World title match it’s one of the most star-starved broadcasts ever. 16th at Anaheim Raw AJ wrestles Cali native Buggy Nova dark, Priom & Epico beat Kofi & Bourne in their lone rematch and Swagger terminates Ryder's US title reign after one month, then after the show Cena beats Kane by DQ. Next night in Vegas Ryback opens with Kidd, there's a bunch of random stip matches akin to "Raw Roulette" including Ted Jr vs Hunico in a flag match that goes 2 minutes (just...why...) and dark Bryan beats Show in another cage match. 23rd Raw in Phoenix (9700) Punk & Cena lose to Ziggler & Swagger when Ziggler pins Punk again, Kane sends Ryder to hospital and dark, Punk retains over Ziggler. Next night in Tucson Ryback beats three uncredited lads before camera, on SmackDown Orton vs Barrett goes to a pull-apart non start, Ted loses to Hunico in 31 seconds (what the fuck) and dark, Orton is back having real matches, beating Wade in a streetfight. Dark at the Rumble Yoshi pins Slater, and what a shitshow this is. Yes, Punk vs Ziggler delivers as a match, but the popular Ryder is treated like garbage, Cena vs Kane doesn't even get a finish (ummmm..... WHY can't Cena pin Kane if we're building him for The Rock??), neither return for the Rumble, and what a field this is - The King, Michael Cole and Ricardo Rodriguez, virtually retired Mick Foley and Booker T, nostalgia pops Hacksaw Jim Duggan and everyone's favourite moron Road Dog, the eternally useless Great Khali, a randomly returned Kharma, Ziggler and Show have to do double duty, and there's a ton of no-hopers - Truth, A-Ri, Otunga, Jackson, Primo, Epico, Hunico, Jinder, Jey Uso. Of the announced participants only Orton, Jericho and Sheamus stood any chance of being considered for winning so it was very little surprise when Sheamus and Y2J were the last two and even less when Sheamus won. Next night in Kansas City the dark opener has Riley jobbing for Hunico, build for Punk vs Y2J starts and dark Cena beats Kane by DQ yet again. Finally 31st in Omaha The Usos beat Reks & Hawkins before shows are taped, a Clay vs McIntyre match is taped then not used, Duggan tags with Santino to lose to the Colons and dark... Show beats Bryan by DQ yet again.

NON TITLE-WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Cody (Intercontinental champion) by Bryan, Air Boom (tag team champions) by Primo & Epico, Swagger (US champ) by Truth.

DEPARTURES

Kharma returns for one night at the Rumble. What's it worth saying? She was on telly a month before going on mat leaving - timing's a bitch. They brought her back for this Rumble and never used her again. I'm not sure when she was released without looking it up and I can't be bothered since, apropos to this thread, she never went on the road. Don't get me wrong, loved her as a performer, got to see her live multiple times in TNA, but the stars didn't align for her in WWE.

OK, here's one of the most drawn out departures of all time. Evan Bourne loses the tag belts on a house show because he's going to go off on a 60 day Wellness suspension (second strike in short order). In March, before that expires, he's in a serious motorbike accident. When he's finally recovered in June 2013 he'll have a grand total on one match back, beating Sami Zayn (oof) on an NXT house show in Tampa. For reasons unknown, they don't have him wrestle again but for further reasons unknown don't actually release him for a full year. In July '14 having wrestled one match in the last 18 months, Matt Sydal jumps straight back in the deep end with Dragon Gate and will continue to wrestle all over the world, including for Rev Pro over here where I was fortunate enough to see him more than once including against new darling of the high flyers, Will Ospreay. He was great.

Some fun footage from Winnipeg including finishes to the two title matches;

Do you want to see the Colons' big win? Of course you do.

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

FEBRUARY 2012

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

3rd-5th in Topeka, Wichita and Wichita Falls TX it’s still CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler for the WWE title. 9th-11th we’re off to bank the blood money with three nights in Abu Dhabi - third of which Punks swapping into the semi main tag and John Cena vs Kane as a tables match goes on last. 24th at the Staples Center 9000 is mildly disappointing for both those big matches but 25th in Ontario (CA) the same 9000 is a sellout for Punk vs Ziggler vs Kane which repeats the afternoon after in Eugene OR.

THE CARDS

Two feuds combine into John Cena & R-Truth vs Kane & The Miz then it's Cena vs Kane in singles is all three nights in the UAE and again at the Staples Center in a Last Man Standing match, while Truth vs Miz goes on the second night of the tour and again month end. It’s Jack Swagger vs Kofi Kingston for the US belt then a far bigger engagement in Abu Dhabi for Kofi - he’s swapping wins with former frequent opponent Chris Jericho which continues to the end of the month though Y2J wins all of them domestically. Swagger also retains in two three ways with Miz and Truth both first night in Abu Dhabi and in LA, and the third night over there and two month end nights Jack's with Santino (who wins a battle royal in Abu Dhabi to earn the right). Primo & Epico vs Santino & Mason Ryan is yet another pathetic excuse for a tag title match out in the Arabs and LA, one night in Abu Dhabi and the rest of week 4 it's Ryan & Alex Riley. Still Beth Phoenix vs Eve Torres early month, no Women’s matches in the Emirates obviously, month end Beth's with Nikki Bella. Early month it's Brodus Clay vs Michael McGillicutty, Ryback vs Riley and Santino vs Kenneth Cameron (a/k/a Bram). In Abu Dhabi the Nexus job squad explodes - twice McGillicutty pins David Otunga, and month end it's "The Big Guy" vs JTG and "The Funkasaurus" squashing Otunga.

VARIATIONS 

In Wichita Falls Santinos off so Cameron loses to Otunga. Night one in Abu Dhabi Riley beats SmackDown's Drew McIntyre. Night two McGillicutty beats McIntyre (poor lad) and Swagger beats Riley. Night three CM Punk & R-Truth beating Jericho & Miz is the big name semi, and Kofi beats..... Ziggler, obviously.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

Still Daniel Bryan vs Big Show with a DQ finish 4th in Spokane and 5th in West Valley City UT. 11th/12th in San Francisco and Bakersfield it’s the same title match but on top it’s Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett in a cage. We're then back out on tour in Central America for fairly modest gates 23rd-25th in Tegucigalpa, Honduras (2500), Panama City (4000) and Guatemala City (2000) for the same shit World title non finish without Randy.

THE CARDS

Still Sheamus vs Wade Barrett in a streetfight (voted by fans) early month, in California third from last the Celtic Warrior is actually doing amusing arm wrestling angles with Alberto Del Rio - jealous of Sheamus winning the Rumble though not medically cleared to wrestle yet. Sheamus finishes his big time month on tour beating Mark Henry in streetfights. Cody Rhodes vs Booker T for the ICT in a sandwich early month and on tour either side of the utterly random Cody vs Justin Gabriel in Cali. Fuck awful undercards. Early month Yoshi Tatsu vs Drew McIntyre is another series of losses that serves to underscore how far Drew has fallen. Alicia Fox vs Natalya and Great Khali vs Jinder Mahal go all month, and early month it's The Usos vs Tyson Kidd & Heath Slater and Ezekiel Jackson vs Hunico still with Jackson losing then being attacked by Cody afterwards which is a bizarre gig for the last Intercontinental champ - he gets revenge in Cali winning the impromptu tag that breaks out with partners Ted DiBiase Jr and Camacho, while Slater loses to new face Big E Langston. On the tour it's DiBiase and Gabriel beating Hunico & Camacho, and Jackson back in the winners circle beating the even MORE foresaken McIntyre.

NO VARIATIONS

TVs

6th in Oklahoma City Clay pins Damien Sandow before tapings and Cena beats Kane by DQ for the hundredth time after them. Next night in Tulsa Clay drops Sandow again. 13th in San Diego Cena saves Eve from Kane and she promptly friendzones Ryder, and dark Punk retains over Ziggler. Next night in Fresno they reveal Orton's "concussed" (he's just aggravated his bad shoulder) and Santino wins a battle royal to replace him ; the plan originally was Mark Henry but he wasn't really ready to return from HIS injury. Dark at Elimination Chamber (15,000+ sellout in Milwaukee) Hunico wins a cross-brand dark match over A-Ri who's falling fast, and the show is largely inconsequential, all champions retaining and Cena beating Kane in a pointless Ambulance match. Next night in Minneapolis Ryback beats JTG before the show, on Raw Jackson loses clean to permanent loser Otunga in about 90 seconds, Jericho wins a battle royal (that includes Show and other SmackDown guys - brand split increasingly pointless) to get the title shot at Punk at Mania during which Barrett sustains the elbow injury that will keep him out of Mania and cancel Money In The Bank, and dark there's both Punk vs Ziggler AND Cena vs Kane. 27th in Portland Cena beats Kane after Raw again, finally next night in Seattle Hunico pins Ted Jr dark, Bryan goes to a non-finish with Orton when Kane shows up (at the time) for no apparent reason and after the show Big Show beats Bryan by DQ YET AGAIN. Who fucking cares.

NON-TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Primo & Epico (tag team champions) by Kofi & Truth

NO DEPARTURES

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

MARCH 2012

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

2nd-4th it’s still CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler in Cornwall, Ottawa and Bangor ME. 9th in Toronto (just 7600) and 11th in Buffalo (a healthy 10,000) it’s 2/3 falls while in between in London there’s a DQ followed by an impromptu tag where Punk & Kofi Kingston beat Ziggler & Chris Jericho. It’s still Punk vs Ziggler on cross brand shows 16th in Montreal (just 8000) and 17th in Providence (they claim 8500 is a sellout but for that building I call bullshit) however 18th at MSG (13,500 paid, 17,000 inside) it’s cross brand nuttiness with Punk, Triple H & Randy Orton vs Ziggler, Y2J and Cody Rhodes. Though Cena goes on last. Back to Punk vs Ziggler 23rd in Lakeland, then 24th and 25th in San Juan and Charlotte it’s again 2/3 falls.

THE CARDS

Yes, we still have John Cena vs Kane in no DQ, falls anywhere or Last Man Standing matches all the way through. It’s still Kofi Kingston vs Chris Jericho most of the month. R-Truth vs The Miz is back on in weeks 2 and 3 then right before Mania - dare I say "new talent initiative?" Truth beats Leo Kruger a couple of times and teflon Miz is LOSING to Brodus Clay. I imagine him selling for the Funkasaurus was quite funny. US title has Jack Swagger vs Mason Ryan twice and having defended against him once in Cornwall, after the switch Jack chases Santino. Tag title is Primo & Epico vs Truth & Santino in week 1 then Ryan & Alex Riley in week 2 and against Ryan & Zack Ryder in Montreal, Providence and Charlotte, and with Y2J/Miz used otherwise or off, the Colons beat Kofi & Truth at MSG and lose non title (boo) to them in Lakeland. It’s Eve Torres & Kelly Kelly vs The Bella Twins twice with new heel Eve walking off but Kelly winning anyway, and having wrestled each other in Cornwall it’s back to Eve vs Kelly in weeks 2 and 4. Mid month it’s cross brand - Beth Phoenix & Natalya beat Eve & Tamina when Eve abandons her too. We have Clay vs Michael McGillicutty still and Xavier Woods vs Curt Hawkins - you’d be surprised how long Woods would just be “whatever they’ve called Consequences Creed” to me. Week after, Ryback vs JTG is back on, and before Mania it's back to Ryback vs Riley.

There's some decent star power about in general, the cross brand shows and especially MSG look fairly good.

VARIATIONS 

Missing a few bodies in Cornwall - Santino does double duty teaming with Ryan to lose to the Colons. A swap at MSG FINALLY has some shine back on Ryder, he pins Miz in a building that loves him. Ryan meanwhile does a brief loss to - easing back in from injury - Alberto Del Rio. Also it’s Pinup Strong beating Kelly & Tamina when beat magnet Eve interferes on Kelly. In Lakeland Kruger jobs to Ryder and Ryan has a night off. In San Juan the tag title is - imagine this - Epico & Primo vs Ryan & Ryder vs... Del Rio & Ricardo Rodriguez.

MAIN EVENTS SMACKDOWN 

3rd/4th in Albany (GA) and Macon and 10th/11th in East Lansing and Kalamazoo there’s a new title match - Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton vs Big Show - of course the rules mean there has to be a finish in Bryan’s favour and he actually makes Show submit or pins him. It’s still the three way in Montreal, at the Dunkin Donuts Center Randys off so Show beats Bryan by DQ (zzzz) but at MSG it’s Bryan vs Show vs Mark Henry - Daniel pins the Worlds Strongest Man. 24th/25th in Bowling Green KY and Nashville, it’s back to Bryan vs Orton vs Show.

THE CARDS 

Sheamus vs Mark Henry in a streetfight is a big one in Macon and the weeks thereafter. Still contrasting fortunes early month for the Legacy lads - Cody Rhodes vs Justin Gabriel for the ICT (which repeats in East Lansing and month end) and Ted DiBiase Jr vs Hunico have wins for the bad guys, Ted and Cody are attacking each other after their matches. Teddy doesn’t even wrestle in Michigan - Hunico & Camacho beat The Usos and THEY get attacked by Cody. Drew McIntyre vs Dean Ambrose early month has McIntyre claim he’ll secure his job back with a win so naturally he’s losing, but right before Mania he picks up a couple of wind against fellow fallen star Ezekiel Jackson. It’s Beth Phoenix & Natalya vs Alicia Fox & Tamina as a sandwich month - I’ll need explanation as to who were meant to be babyface there. Great Khali vs Jinder Mahal continues most of the month and before Mania Hunico swaps a couple of wins with Tyson Kidd.

Compared to Raw, it looks awful.

VARIATIONS 

In Albany Sheamus pins Alberto Del Rio as a great one off. In East Lansing McIntyre loses to future WWE title rival Seth Rollins, in Kalamazoo Rollins loses to future Mania opponent Cody and Drew to Gabriel. In Nashville The King beats Michael Cole in a streetfight with mystifying interference from Hunico & Camacho in Cole's favour, countered by Khali for Lawler.

TVs.

5th in Boston Khali beats Curt Hawkins dark and you'll be amused to hear its Kofi vs Ziggler for Superstars, Santino wins the US title from Swagger then after the show Cena & Punk beat Jericho & Kane. Next night in Uncasville Woods pins Hunico dark and on the show McIntyre beats Hornswoggle to "get his job back." 12th in Cleveland, Rollins beats McGillicutty before the show and after it Cena pins Kane. 13th in Columbus Clay pins Epico for a curtain jerker then after SmackDown Orton, Sheamus & Show beat Bryan, Cody and Henry. 19th in Philly (15,000 paid, 18,000+ sellout) Clay beats McGillicutty again. Next night in Newark Riley jobs for Jinder and Cena beats Kane in a cage match. Finally 26th in Atlanta before a double taping Hunico beats Derrick Bateman and Titus O'Neil beats Jey Uso, and very little else of note. Of the numerous matches that happen on the Axxess shows between midcarders and FCW guys, there's the first Rollins vs Ambrose match under a WWE banner.

NON-TITLE WHINING

Beaten this month : Primo & Epico (tag team champions) by Truth & Kofi, Santino (US Champ) by David fucking Otunga, 

DEPARTURES

I don't think so.

Here’s the finish to that six man from MSG. I won’t spoil it, you should just watch it, because it’s pretty unique.

 

[air_raid]

APRIL 2012

He was good in Japan. Well, so would I be if I was getting carried by Tanahashi. Also Lesnar, who was actually good in Japan, even when he had to wrestle Bernard/Tensai.

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

YES, it's a post-Mania tour. CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler is STILL our title match, 11th-13th in Moscow, Gdansk and Stuttgart then 14th/15th in Berlin and Nottingham its Chris Jericho in no DQ matches and again 17th-21st in Rome, Milan, Toulouse, Paris and Antwerp.

THE CARDS

There’s a couple more rounds of John Cena vs Kane in a last man standing match plus Zack Ryder vs The Miz where selfless Miz is doing the job - a couple of nights where Cena & Ryder beat Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger, then the rest of the tour Cena’s with Miz and Ryder with Ziggler - Zack wins THE LOT. Anyone would think he was getting pushed! Before TVs it’s usually Santino vs Swagger vs David Otunga for the US title - yes, Jack does double duty in Berlin and Nottingham - and singles between Santino and Swagger thereafter. Primo & Epico vs Kofi Kingston & R-Truth is usually non title. It’s Beth Phoenix vs Kelly Kelly for the belt with Eve Torres as the ref before the TVs and Beth & Eve vs The Bella Twins thereafter. Early tour it’s continuation of Brodus Clay vs JTG plus Alex Riley vs Lord Tensai, Albert beats Tyson Kidd after London.

VARIATIONS 

No Tensai in Moscow so Riley jobs to Otunga, Ryder pins Swagger and unbelievably Santino retains over Miz.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

No shocks here - it’s Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan rematches 12th-15th in Dublin, Belfast, Manchester and Geneva and 18th-21st in Sheffield, Cardiff, Newcastle and Glasgow.

THE CARDS

Rematches all round - it’s Randy Orton vs Kane in no DQ matches and Big Show vs Cody Rhodes for the ICT. Alberto Del Rio vs Ezekiel Jackson has Bertie back to winning ways and it’s Mark Henry vs Yoshi Tatsu. There is some shuffling post TV but matches happening twice are Del Rio beating Great Khali and the weird team of Booker T & Brodus Clay beating Henry and Christian, back from his latest injury. It’s AJ Lee vs Natalya before London and Nattie loses to Alicia Fox thereafter, there are some “welcome home” gigs for William Regal tagging with Tyson Kidd against Hunico & Camacho, and Khali vs Jinder Mahal continues before TV and in Cardiff and Sheffield. Post TV a rotating six man does at least have two instances of Mason Ryan & The Usos vs Drew McIntyre, Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks, and when Mahal isn’t with Khali he’s losing to Clay.

VARIATIONS 

In Dublin only there’s no Kane (he’s in Gdańsk against Cena) so Orton beats Henry and spare man Tatsu loses to Del Rio who then immediately beats Jackson too. Yes, Kane loses to Cena in Stuttgart then Orton in Belfast on the same day. In Cardiff Del Rio squashes Percy Watson. In Sheffield Del Rio beats Ryan and Watson goes into the six man. In Newcastle Percy gets to tag with Booker, in Glasgow he works heel for the night in the six man as (understandably) they let Drew work face and tag with Booker.

TVs

Mania happened and it’s worth remembering that on top of what you already remember, the Women’s champ Phoenix dropped a fall to Maria Menounos in their match tagging with respective sides of the Eve vs Kelly enmity, but later in the show the hottest heel in the company gets her heat back by again playing Ryder for a fool during the Team Teddy vs Team Johnny match. And speaking of, what a kerfuffle this is. A Bella on each side (funny) most of Team Johnny could feel hard done by with four of them (technically) being former World champions, and you might even argue one or two of the heroes might have had better than the forgettable multi man filling the void left by Money In The Bank. Either way - it’s Miz, Ziggler, Henry, Swagger, Drew and ummm Otunga going over Booker, Truth, Kofi, Ryder, Santino and Khali. Feels like the part timer problem really kicked in here and it’s going to get worse. Next nights Raw in Miami (a huge 13,000+ sellout) Dean Ambrose vs JTG goes down before Superstars, the awful Tensai character debuts squashing Riley (the worst ever example of bringing someone back, giving them a new name and hoping nobody notices), and Brock Lesnar returns and immediately attacks Cena. Oh and dark, Sheamus/Show/Orton beat Bryan/Kane/Cody. Fans, of course, cheer loudest for Bryan. Next night in Orlando Deano beats rapidly fading Jackson, Ryback makes his TV debut on SmackDown and dark, Cena/Sheamus/Orton/Show beat Bryan/Kane/Henry/Cody. 9th in DC Damien Sandow beats JTG and 10th in Hampton Tatsu dark, little of note happens on TV except another legends show featuring among others Jimmy Hart, Sgt Slaughter, Hacksaw Jim Duggan who loses to Hunico by DQ and Dusty Rhodes who for once doesn’t do a swerve heel turn. 16th at the O2 (10,000) Ambrose beats Riley and while they continue to try and make Laurinaitis the new Vince, Tensai pins former tag partner Cena. Next night still in London just 7500 of the same fans bother with the SmackDown taping - Antonio Cesaro pins The UK Kid before telly, and they compensate live fans after another terrible show with two dark matches - Orton vs Kane and Sheamus vs Bryan. 23rd in Detroit (16,000 sellout) Cesaro pins JTG, Nikki Bella actually wins the Women’s title from Beth, guest ref Bryan counts Sheamus down fast against Henry, and dark Cena & Punk beat Jericho & Kane. Next night in Grand Rapids Ambrose beats Josh Shields dark, Cesaro makes his TV debut beating future tag partner Kidd, and after TVs Orton & Show beat Bryan & Cody. At Extreme Rules Santino retains over Miz (!) dark and the PPV has some excellent wrestling between two title matches and Cena vs Lesnar plus Bella drops the belt to Layla and Ziggler does a job for Brodus. Plus the first finish to a table match of all time where Show loses the ICT to Cody by stepping on a table. Finally 30th Raw in Dayton, Ambrose beats Riley again, the show is another awful Beat The Clock show, Kofi and Truth win the tag belts and Layla beats both Bellas in a three way. Oh and Brock “breaks Triple H’s arm” and gets suspended.

If you feel like Mark Henry lost a bit of his aura this month and was lost in the shuffle at Mania, here’s why - before they realised Del Rio might not be back in time to properly promote his planned Mania match with Orton, they’d asked Henry to turn face to be programmed with Kane (who he’d injured in the first place in the story) and Mark flat out refused to turn face, landing himself somewhat on the back burner as a consequence - and when they weren’t sure Del Rio would be ready, they threw Orton and Kane together and Henry landed on Team Johnny. Incidentally ADR was considered for Team Johnny but they decided to keep “serious” Del Rio away from a match with so much shenanigans as they wanted his eventual feud with Orton to be taken seriously. Team was cursed really, Christian was meant to be on it but did his ankle. Last word on Del Rio - he was meant to go straight into the Sheamus feud after Mania but the office decided they needed to extend Sheamus vs Bryan because - can you imagine? - the live crowd responses were so good. Daniel Bryan, eh?

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Primo & Epico (tag team champions) by Show & Khali and AGAIN by Santino & Ryder,  Show (Intercontinental champ) by Del Rio, Sheamus (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Henry, Santino (US champ) by Miz.

DEPARTURES

The Bella Twins finish up (for now) and weirdly their release is announced during Dayton Raw on the website in kayfabe, that they've been fired by Eve. Whatever. They were always shit.

Dustin Rhodes has been working as a producer for the best part of 18 months, and after appearing on Raw on 9th, he's back wrestling on independents as quickly as the 11th, and his release is agreed. As ever, he'll be back.

Here’s Moscow

And here's some of Newcastle including a big chunk of Sheamus vs Bryan including the finish... hell of a match.

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

MAY 2012

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

4th in Huntsville it’s CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler for the belt in (fans voted for) a streetfight then 5th/6th in Knoxville and Chattanooga it’s Punk vs Chris Jericho on the road domestically at last. 11th in Glens Falls (5500 sellout, ahhh) its Ziggler challenging again, 12th/13th in Syracuse and Rochester Y2J comes to work again. 19th in Florence the night before Over The Limit on the cross brand show Punk stays on his bus - John Cena vs The Miz goes on last, how fitting. 24th we're in Sao Paulo (yes, Brazil) for Punk vs Jericho again, 25th-26th in Guayaquil and Quito its Punk vs Miz.

Mick Foley referees some of these.

THE CARDS

John Cena vs Dolph Ziggler is the highlight of some dog rough early month cards and for the rest of the month, Cena also works The Miz in Glens Falls and Florence as you read above, when there's no Ziggler. Early month there’s R-Truth & Santino vs Primo & Epico before week after (and for the tour) Kofi Kingston returns to defend the tag belts and Santino defends the US title in three ways vs Miz vs Jack Swagger or just vs Swagger in Glens Falls and Florence when Miz is with Big Match John, plus Brazil and Ecuador. Layla vs Beth Phoenix for the belt runs when Layla and the belt return from the SmackDown loop, it's Beth vs Kelly Kelly abroad. Zack Ryder vs Bray Wyatt, Brodus Clay vs Swagger, Kelly vs Rosa Mendes, Lord Tensai vs JTG & Tyson Kidd…. fuck, what an awful mix of the underutilised, underpushed and unestablished. Week two, it's back to Clay vs JTG and Tensai vs Kidd, and interestingly Ryder vs Dean Ambrose with either pinfall or DQ wins for Ryder after which he's attacked by old rival Ziggler. Good for Ryder - bad for Ryder, he's jobbing to David Otunga in Florence and again on the shuffled cards in Ecuador - where we add Mason Ryan vs Alex Riley and Michael McGillicutty vs Curt Hawkins.

So... they have to suspend Chris Jericho after he kicks around the Brazilian flag, unaware he's committing a criminal offence. Hence, Punk vs Miz in Ecuador.

VARIATIONS 

Huntsville has no Jericho and Ziggler on last so Cena beats Tensai by DQ and Kidd pins JTG. Sao Paulo has another great win for Ryder over Miz (who actually cuts a promo in Portuguese on the natives) before he's cursed with Otunga again. Same night Otunga pins Riley - Dave's the big winner in the shuffle, apart from Ryan who wasn't originally booked.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

5th/6th in Asheville and North Charleston it’s Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan vs Alberto Del Rio, 12th/13th in Newark and Youngstown (3500, "smallest town here in years" according to a report) its straight Sheamus/Bryan rematches, likewise Florence. 23rd in Poughkeepsie its again Sheamus vs ADR vs Danny Bry (ref'd by Mick Foley) before they fuck off to Mexico -24th-26th in Hermosillo, Aguascalientes and Guadalajara, then 27th in Lake Charles.

THE CARDS

Randy Orton vs Kane as a no DQ match continues for three weeks, it's Cody Rhodes vs Big Show for the ICT with a shite DQ finish and Christian vs Yoshi Tatsu is a good way to ease Christian back after injury, then second week it's Show & Great Khali vs Cody & Christian. Month end new heel Show beats either Khali or Ezekiel Jackson and Christian (apparent babyface?) is defending his newly won belt against Cody. The tour also borrows Santino vs Jack Swagger for the US title from Raw - Mick Foley refs those. Layla vs Natalya for the belt is a sandwich month before Layla is moved back to Beth, week two Nattie is beating AJ Lee by DQ when fruitcake AJ refuses to break on 5. She has til 5, referee... oops. In week one Bo Rotundo vs Drew McIntyre continues a long run of Drew looking like a loser, then in week two he loses to Tatsu - we also get The Usos beating David Young & Titus O'Neil (future Prime Time Players) and Jinder Mahal vs Ezekiel - sadly, Jinder's winning - which repeats a couple of times in Mexico. Month end Jackson wins a couple against McIntyre which is more about Drew losing than him winning, and Jinder beats Tatsu... or, Drew is avenging those losses to Yoshi. Plus Khali vs Jinder is back on, and Sin Cara & Tyson Kidd vs Hunico & Camacho is every night month end.

VARIATIONS

In Asheville the Usos beat Hunico & Camacho, Heath Slater plays babyface and does a job to Mahal, and Drew throughs a tantrum after losing to Bo so demands another match, which he then loses to Great Khali. In North Charleston its Usos & Khali vs Jinder, Hunico & Camacho, and Heath jobs for Ryback. In Florence Hunico jobs to Cara, and Khali beats Cody & Christian in a handicap match because Eve says Show's "been fired" - which is only marginally more hackneyed than another heel turn.

TVs

1st in Toledo Ambrose beats Jackson before tapings, Clay beats Swagger by DQ in a match that doesnt air (they also film one with a count-out which does), and Damien Sandow makes his TV debut and refuses to wrestle Derrick Bateman because he's beneath him... good stuff. 7th in Greensboro Riley loses to Bray Wyatt dark, there's another entry for Ziggler vs Kingston and after the show Cena pins Kane. 8th in Roanoke Bo beats Bateman before cameras and Orton beats Kane no DQ after them. 14th in Pittsburgh Ambrose beats Ryder as the curtain jerker then after the show Punk beats Jericho in a streetfight AND Cena/Sheamus/Orton beat Kane/Ziggler/Tensai. 15th in Hershey Ambrose beats Jeff Lucas and after the taping Sheamus beats Bryan AND Punk beats Jericho again. 17th at Full Sail - yes, we've arrived here already!! - we're taping several episodes of new NXT which is FCW rebranded. Xavier Woods beats Ambrose dark, and of note getting matches for broadcast are Richie Steamboat, first version of The Ascension who are Kenneth Cameron (a/k/a Bram) & Conor O'Brian (Konner), Rick Victor (who's going to be Viktor in the final version), Aiden English, Jason Jordan, CJ Parker, Jake Carter (Jesse White/baby Vader), Kassius Ohno, Mike Dalton (Tyler Breeze), Antonio Cesaro, Corey Graves, Wyatt, and our Paige does a job to Sofia Cortez (Ivelisse), then dark, Sheamus retains the belt over Del Rio as a further bonus. 20th we have the Over The Limit PPV in Raleigh, one of the smarkiest/worst crowds of all time, who chant for "Lionheart" during Sheamus vs Del Rio vs Orton vs Y2J (a match I forgot happened), for Goldberg during Ryback's match and for Kharma or Colt Cabana during Layla vs Beth... though they loved Punk vs Bryan. Of course all good work in the ring is negated when the utterly pointless Cena vs Laurinaitis match ends with a pointless win for Johnny after another pointless heel turn by pointless Big Show. Next night in Richmond Ambrose beats Riley again, they start to move into the Punk/AJ/Bryan love triangle story, and another smarky crowd gets a Punk vs Bryan Coliseum Exclusive main. Next night in Wilkes-Barre Bertie becomes top contender to Sheamus for the next PPV then loses to him by DQ after the show. 28th in New Orleans Deano continues his monopoly on openers by beating Kidd, then Cena wins a dark handicap over Show, Tensai and our pal Johnny Ace, next night in Baton Rouge Ambrose beats Luke Hawx then Cena beats Laurinaitis, Show and Otunga.

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten this month on TV : Cody (Intercontinental champion) by Santino, Punk (WWE CHAMPION) by Bryan.

NO DEPARTURES

It's wobbly and blurry but Sao Paulo is up in full ;

 

 

[air_raid]

JUNE 2012

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st and 3rd in Alexandria and Birmingham it’s CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan for the WWE title but no Punk 2nd in Mobile so John Cena vs Big Show & Tensai goes on last. Then we’re off to Spain! 6th-9th it’s Punk vs Bryan streetfights in Madrid, Seville, Valencia and Barcelona. 15th/16th in Augusta (ME) and Lowell it’s cross-brand shows alternating what goes on last, and Raws main is still Punk vs Bryan. 22nd in Bethlehem, 23rd in Wheeling and 24th in Huntington Punks off - look who’s on the road! - Cena beats Show, Tensai and John Laurinaitis, 29th/30th in Monroe and Lafayette there are absolutely stacked joint brand shows - on Raw's side its Punk vs Bryan streetfights followed by Cena vs Show inside a cage.

THE CARDS

John Cena vs Big Show & Tensai domestically gives way to the 3 on 1 featuring John Laurinaitis when they head to España - Cena still wins - and on the cross brand shows it’s Show & David Otunga ; in Augusta only it’s inside a cage that’s going up anyway for SmackDowns title match. Zack Ryder vs Dolph Ziggler both at home and good wins for Zack in Spain and month end in fan voted streetfights. After an unsettled US title match week 1, on the Euro vacation it’s Santino vs Jack Swagger vs Otunga and Santino vs Swagger month end. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs Primo & Epico starts the month for the tag belts but Truth doesn’t make it to Spain so Brodus Clay fills in for three nights, in Madrid before Clay arrives Ryder does double duty and it’s Kofi & Zack again mid month and in Bethlehem - Ron’s got a knock - Wheeling and Huntington Justin Gabriel comes in from the cold, then month end Kofi & Ryder defend against the Prime Time Players. It’s Layla vs Natalya as a sandwich month, for the rest of the month while Nat is back on the B show the muffin defends against the indomitable Beth Phoenix. It’s Clay vs Swagger and Seth Rollins vs Michael McGillicutty down South, Mason Ryan vs McGillicutty and Alex Riley vs Curt Hawkins in Spain - holy shit, Riley wins some matches! Mid month it’s back to Clay vs JTG and A-Ri loses to Dean Ambrose, mid month Clay beats Otunga and Riley pins Bray Wyatt.

VARIATIONS 

No Ziggler in Alexandria so it’s Santino vs Otunga vs Ryder, with no Punk in Mobile it’s Santino vs Otunga vs Bryan, it’s Santino vs Otunga in Birmingham. With Kofi and Ryder tagging in Bethlehem, Gabriel pins Swagger

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

2nd/3rd it’s Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio in Augusta (GA) and Savannah. Bertie’s injured so 9th/10th Sheamus is with Kane in a cage match in Salisbury and Binghamton and again 15th and 16th in Augusta (ME) and Lowell. 23rd in Springfield IL it’s Sheamus vs Del Rio in a streetfight but that’s before intermission - to shift tickets to locals on last it’s CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan vs Kane for the WWE title. In Louisiana Sheamus vs Del Rio for the belt is SmackDown's biggest match, still.

THE CARDS

Kane vs Great Khali is back alive down South and in Salisbury - what did we do to deserve this?? Month end in Louisiana - I think this is a SmackDown match - Kane's pinning Chris Jericho, back from suspension. It's Christian vs Cody Rhodes 2/3 falls for the ICT in Georgia (randomly refereed by Jinder Mahal at the apparent say so of Laurinaitis) and a regular match mid month and in Louisiana. It’s Mahal vs Ezekiel Jackson, Ryback vs Heath Slater, AJ Lee vs Kaitlyn, Sin Cara & Tyson Kidd vs Hunico & Camacho and Damien Sandow vs Richie Steamboat in week 1, week 2 Ryback squashes Johnny Curtis, Slater loses to Big E Langston, it’s Natalya vs Tamina, Cara vs Hunico (which repeats in Louisiana) and Kidd upsetting Drew McIntyre (a slide that never ends).

We're really going to have to wait for the Del Rio vs Randy Orton feud - The Viper is off all month on a whopping 60 day suspension for his second Wellness violation.

VARIATION

While it’s still Khali vs Kane as planned in Salisbury (yes, Kane works twice) in Binghamton Khali is back squashing Jinder.

TVs 

4th in Greenville Dragon Jr beats JTG before Raw and Cena beats Laurinaitis, Show and Otunga after it. Next night in Columbia Rollins beats Ambrose (heh) and the Coliseum main has Sheamus beat Kane in a cage match. 11th in Hartford Riley beats McIntyre before the 3 hour Raw on which amazingly Vince makes reference to Johnny Ace hiring the wrong one-legged wrestler, Vader makes a fun cameo to squash Slater and after the show Cena beats Laurinaitis, Show and Otunga again. Next night in Manchester NH Big E beats Deano before tapings, the same 3 on 1 happens after them. 14th at Full Sail unused openers and bonus matches are Xavier Woods vs Corey Graves, Cara vs Hunico and on last, Sheamus vs McIntyre. In addition to talent mentioned last post, there’s a Gabriel sighting (pinning old mate Slater) and our Paige loses to Raquel Diaz (Shaul Guerrero). As you’ve spotted with Joe Hennig (McGillicutty) the company at this point would rather make up a name they can own rather than celebrate a family legacy, even one as revered internally as the Guerrero family name. Hmm. No Way Out is another largely forgettable PPV, the main being an eminently forgettable cage match between Cena and Show which made me wonder what they thought was the ceiling for Brodus as he helps Cena with a post match drubbing for Laurinaitis (which looks really odd in hindsight) after which Vince fires Johnny. Next night at the Nassau Coliseum Ambrose beats Chris Kincaid, Raw has Roddy Piper host Pipers Pit with, incredibly, Cyndi Lauper. Next night in Baltimore two open ending dark matches have Sandow vs Percy Watson and Cara vs Antonio Cesaro (could have been awesome), and dark (because SmackDown can’t draw on its own) Cena beats Show & Otunga. 25th in Fort Wayne Riley loses to Wyatt, on Raw Show beats Brodus in less than 3 minutes to bring his push to a crashing halt, Slater jobs to Psycho Sid (hehe) and dark Cena beats Show & Tensai yet again. Finally next night in Evansville Clay beats McIntyre before the show and after it.... Cena beats Show & Tensai yet again. 

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Punk (WWE CHAMPION) by Kane AGAIN in a three way dance vs Kane and (winner) Bryan, Christian (Intercontinental champ) in a four way with Swagger, Khali and (winner) Ziggler, again by Del Rio, Santino (US champion) by Del Rio

DEPARTURES

Eli Cottonwood requests his release. Did you know he was still there? Maxine also gets fed up of waiting for an opportunity and requests a release - she'll be Catrina in Lucha Underground, eventually.

Edited September 6, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

JULY 2012

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st in Hidalgo it’s another supershow with CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan for the belt then John Cena vs Big Show in a cage, Punks off 6th and with SmackDown 7th so in Amarillo and Lubbock it’s only Cena vs Show, 8th in Rio Rancho (Rancho Relaxo!) it’s another co branded effort and the cage match is atop Punk vs Bryan vs Kane vs Chris Jericho, 14th in Tucson the night before Money In The Bank it’s a similar setup with Punk vs Bryan vs Kane. 20th/21st in Jackson MS and Springfield MO and again 27th-29th in Charleston, Lexington and Louisville Punks on loan again, still Cena vs Show in the cage (yawn).

THE CARDS

On fairly slapdash cards it’s only week 3 Zack Ryder vs Dolph Ziggler returns as a decent midcard match, likewise Brodus Clay vs Jack Swagger are welcome bookings for Jack even if he’s losing. It’s Santino vs William Regal for the UST as a sandwich month then (also) in Jackson and Springfield The Miz adds some star power as Santinos challenger even in defeat. Did the baddies all go on a lads holiday or something?? By month end when Santinos back with Regal, Miz has picked up the ICT and defends against Ryder in streetfights. Because I guess Raw hadn’t stolen enough from SmackDown by this point, it needed that belt back too. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs Primo & Epico for the tag belts is back on in Texas then down by the Mississippi river it’s the Prime Time Players challenging. Month end in something of a hallmark for the division it will be a three way between the champs, the Players and the Colons… Christ, sub in Woods or Big E for Truth, and that match is going to reoccur quite often in later years. Layla vs Natalya continues in the Commonwealth battle for the Women’s title then it’s back to Beth Phoenix challenging month end. There’s Ryder vs Michael McGillicutty, Tensai vs Alex Riley, Clay vs JTG (which reprises month end) and Bo Dallas vs Curt Hawkins in Texas. Week 3 Tensai beats Tyson Kidd (started in Tucson and continues month end) and… Hawkins loses to Roman Leakee. Heh. Finally in week 4, Riley jobs for Antonio Cesaro.

VARIATIONS 

Still Santino vs Swagger and Kofi & Ryder vs the Players in Hidalgo. In Rio Rancho it’s Kofi, Truth & Sin Cara vs Primo, Epico & Hunico plus Regal wins a battle royal to earn his shot at Santino later. In Tucson Kofi & Truth beat Swagger & Ziggler and Riley loses to Damien Sandow.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio is still SmackDowns title match in Hidalgo, and again 7th in El Paso (the borrowed CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan goes on last) and again at Rio Rancho (in a streetfight) and Tucson. 21st-22nd in Sioux City and Omaha then 28th/29th in Johnson City TN and Pikeville KY Sheamus v Bertie has graduated to a Last Man Standing match but on last is Punk vs Bryan vs Kane - let it be known, TWO World Champions = one John Cena.

THE CARDS

Kane vs Chris Jericho repeats on supershows and it’s still Christian vs Cody Rhodes for the ICT for three weeks, month end we get a C-Squared reunion as Christian and Y2J beat Cody & Dolph Ziggler. It’s still Sin Cara vs Hunico early month, Cara & Justin Gabriel vs Hunico & Camacho in week 3 and results in Ryback vs Drew McIntyre throughout tell you everything about the direction of both. Also in week 3 Ted DiBiase Jr is back on the cards and back among the wins vs Jinder Mahal, it’s Damien Sandow vs Xavier Woods and Natalya vs Kaitlyn - that one continues into week 4 where we add Gabriel vs Leo Kruger.

Randy Orton is still off on Wellness suspension.

VARIATIONS 

Great Khali vs Jinder endures in El Paso plus - are you ready for this? - local heroine (I guess) Vickie Guerrero pins Kaitlyn no doubt due to ref AJ Lee. In Tucson Kaitlyn refs Natalya vs Tamina - zzzz. Extra bodies in Johnson City, Teddy vs Hunico breaks down leading to impromptu Ted & McIntyre (playing babyface?) vs Hunico & Camacho plus Jinder beats Percy Watson - of those wrestlers only DiBiase vs McIntyre features any of them next night in Pikeville.

TVs

2nd in Laredo Dean Ambrose pins McGillicutty dark, Tensai is upset by Kidd and beats up follower (Kazma) Sakamoto afterwards, which is going to be a trend, Slater actually beats Doink (Lombardi) but after his win absorbs a Diamond Cutter from Dallas Page, after after the show Cena beats Show & Tensai again. Next night in Corpus Christi Primo pins O'Neil dark then on the show Santino teams with (what) Hacksaw Jim Duggan & Sgt Slaughter to beat Drew, Hunico & Camacho. 9th in Denver they tape both Raw and SmackDown, of note Slater falls victim to Bob Backlund and dark after the shows Punk retains against Y2J. 12th at Full Sail Riley beats Cesaro before TV matches, among the notable matches taped there's a Scotty Too Hotty booking going over Slater, the penultimate wrestling match (and last on the company books) for Cayley Turner, real name Christina Crawford, sister of Tori a/k/a Alicia Fox, famously maligned for stating "Melina vs Alicia Fox" as an example of match that inspired her, and Seth Rollins and Jinder both make the finals of the Gold Rush final. After cameras, Kane pins Cody. Money In The Bank is a PPV where I won’t dwell on what you probably remember, but on a last PPV piece of business for Tyler Reks, teaming with Hawkins to get squashed by Ryback, and the first draft for the Raw briefcase - with no (or clearly defined, more on that later) plan to take the title off Punk, the original plan was for Chris Jericho, who ultimately has never won the match he virtually created, to win the briefcase then at shows end try to cash in after Punk vs Bryan and LOSE - but Vince decided that would be an anticlimactic ending to a PPV and what everyone really wanted was John Cena standing tall at the end. Like most months. Ho hum. Next night in Paradise NV, Rey Mysterio returns from HIS 60 day Wellness holiday and attacks long term rival Del Rio, Rikishi shows up to beat Slater and dark… Cena beats Show & Tensai. Next night in San Diego Santino & Layla beat Cesaro & Aksana  between Superstars and SmackDown, Animal is the latest to beat Slater and then Cena beats Show & Cody dark for a change. 23rd in St Louis (10,000+ sellout) is the 1000th episode of Raw and the switch for good to 3 hours - featuring everyone you can name apart from Austin - all the legends involved with Slater, Sean Mooney, Trish Stratus, DX, The Undertaker and The Rock. Dark, Gabriel & Kid bear Reks & Hawkins, Miz wins the ICT from Christian, Slater does a job to Lita and Cena cashes in by calling his match up front which ends in a DQ when Show ruins it, after which Punk hits Rock with Go To Sleep, turning himself heel. Next night in Kansas City Ryder pins Slater before SmackDown and Sheamus pins Del Rio after it. 26th at Full Sail Dallas pins Ambrose dark, Rollins pins Jinder to become the first NXT champ, and after the tapins Show pins Riley. 30th in Cincinnati Cody pins Ryder dark and on Raw Orton finally returns to beat Slater, finally 31st in Indianapolis Cena beats Show & Cody again after the taping.

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Christian (Intercontinental Champion) by Cody, Santino (US champion) by Del Rio, again by Cesaro.

DEPARTURE

Abraham Washington, who’s been managing the Prime Time Players, makes a joke on a live Raw referencing Kobe Bryant’s previous sexual assault as a means of describing Titus as “unstoppable.” To cut a long story short, it costs him his job.

Edited September 8, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

AUGUST 2012

MAIN EVENTS - RAW 
4th/5th in Albany (GA) and Dothan it’s CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan 2/3 falls beneath the never ending John Cena vs Big Show cage match. 10th-12th in Tupelo, Biloxi and Texarkana.. umm, it ends, and without a title match we move to Cena vs Tensai in a Last Man Standing match. Why is nobody doing a pinfall job to Big Match John?? 24th-26th we’re in Punk territory and it’s CM Punk vs John Cena vs Big Show for the title in Cape Girardeau, Peoria and Rockford. We’re then off to Australia - 30th in Brisbane it’s still Punk vs Cena vs Show, next next in Sydney (15,000) it’s Punk vs Bryan for the title followed by Cena vs Show and John Laurinaitis.
THE CARDS
It's Chris Jericho & Zack Ryder vs The Miz & Dolph Ziggler in week 1, the week after Miz is giving the rematch to Christian in streetfights over the ICT and amazingly Ziggler is doing the job to Sin Cara. Santino vs Jack Swagger for the US title happens week 1 before both join the SmackDown lot in Japan then in week 3 a switch has happened and the feud for that gold is Antonio Cesaro vs Zack Ryder - in Oz Swaggers back losing to Brodus Clay while in a nice revisit, Miz defends against Alex Riley, and Santino beats David Otunga. Tag title match Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs The Prime Time Players occurs weeks 1 and 3 then in Australia it’s again Primo & Epico chasing. I have no idea why in week 3 Wade Barrett vs Curt Hawkins (a) happens on Raw shows and (b) merits a streetfight stip but there we go. It's Layla vs Alicia Fox for the belt first week, Aksana is challenging for two weeks, then its Rosa Mendes in Australia. It's Riley vs Dean Ambrose and Clay vs Heath Slater week 1, Riley beating Hawkins, Clay beating Damien Sandow and Slater losing to Ryback in week 2 plus The Usos vs Johnny Curtis & Michael McGillicutty. In week 3 Riley beats Otunga, and poor Tensai sees a shocking reversal of fortunes - demoted from main event to opener, he actually loses to Tyson Kidd then demands another match, losing AGAIN to fellow tank Big E Langston.
VARIATIONS 
In Brisbane, the already untouchable Daniel Bryan loses to Ryder and spare man Tensai does an open challenge where he’s beaten up and given finishers by several babyfaces. Umm, OK. In Sydney Tensai loses to Ryder.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 
9th at Sumo Hall (<7000) it’s Sheamus vs Big Show & John Laurinaitis which isn’t something I remember being a thing on TV, next night it’s Sheamus vs Show vs Alberto Del Rio vs Kane for the belt, 11th in Shanghai the same, 12th in Taipei it’s Sheamus vs ADR vs Kane. 25th/26th in Sioux Falls and Rochester MN we’re back to Sheamus v Bertie in Last Man Standing matches.
THE CARDS
I’m at a loss as to who’s jumped brands and who’s only moved because of the tour but fuck it. A rotating six man at least has two instances of Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio & Zack Ryder vs Primo, Epico & John Laurinaitis (what??), and there’s a 50/50 for Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Bryan. Month end having met night 1 in Tokyo Bryan vs Kane resumes month end in streetfights or tables matches and Orton vs Dolph Ziggler is a big addition. In Asia they also get a UST match of Santino vs Cody Rhodes which probably isn’t a job Cody needs right now, month end he’s losing to Sin Cara as well. In the Far East Wade Barrett vs Ted DiBiase Jr is a welcome return for Wade, Justin Gabriel vs Jack Swagger is another entry into Swaggers book entitled “going nowhere.” There’s also a couple of Yoshi Tatsu vs Jinder Mahal and Natalya vs Kelly Kelly every night in Asia. Month end we move Brodus Clay vs Damien Sandow and The Usos vs Johnny Curtis & Michael McGillicutty over from Raw cards plus Jinder starts jobbing to Ryback.
VARIATIONS 
Randy Orton vs Alberto Del Rio is a huge exception night 1 in Tokyo, it’s Santino vs Cody vs Kofi, Ted pins Jinder, Barrett pins Gabriel and Rey/Ryder/Yoshi beat Swagger and the Colons. Night after Ryder beats Swagger, Gabriel drops Jinder, Tatsu steps up to teaming with Orton and Rey against Johnny Ace and the Colons. In Taiwan only Cody wins a battle royal to get his crack at Santino, and Bryan and Barrett are already on their way home so Kofi pins Ted. In Sioux Falls Nattie loses to Naomi, next night in Rochester to Kaitlyn.
TVs
6th in San Antonio Santino beats McGillicutty AND Tensai pins Ryder before the show, Kelly (zzz) returns and pins Eve Torres, and Riley upsets Ziggler via distraction from Y2J. 7th in Houston Barrett pins Ryder for a dark opener, and Cena beats Show & Ziggler in the Coliseum main. 9th at Full Sail a short NXT taping gets a Coliseum main of Cesaro vs Sin Cara - of note for TV our Paige beats Alicia Fox and Joel Pettyfer (Joel Redman under his real name) does a job for Kassius Ohno. 13th in Dallas Brock Lesnar shows up and “breaks Shawn Michaels’ arm” to build for his match with Triple H and in an interview with Punk there’s an unfortunate bit of worked-shoot bollocks where heel Punk accuses babyface Cena of going “into business for himself” by not shaking his hand after their tag match. Oh dear. 14th in Austin A-Ri pins Jinder before tapings, they squeeze in a Y2J vs Del Rio match before Jerichos latest break and after SmackDown Cena pins Show. On SummerSlams pre show Cesaro wins the US title from Santino and the show itself is decent if not spectacular barring a powerful win for Lesnar over HHH which short term builds to a Mania rematch but long term goes quite a way to building Lesnar's invincible aura. Next night in Fresno Santino pins Swagger and Slater upsets Riley in dark matches, Ziggler pins Y2J to get him "fired" and Cena pins Show no DQ after Raw. 21st in Bakersfield Ted Jr beats Swagger before TVs and Cena beats Show yet again after them. 23rd at Full Sail Ambrose pins CJ Parker and Punk goes to a DQ finish with Cesaro then - this MUST be fan service to the wrestlers themselves? Punk & Seth Rollins beat Cesaro & Ohno. 27th in Milwaukee Punk beats The King in a cage match on a memorable Raw, next night in Ashwaubenon Jinder pins Tatsu before TVs and Sheamus wins a three way over Orton and Del Rio after them.
NON TITLE WHINING 
Beaten on TV this month : Miz (Intercontinental champ) by Kane, again by Rey, fucking AGAIN in a three way with Jericho and (winner) Ziggler, JESUS CUNTING CHRIST AGAIN by Cena. Mike, you're Barry Horowitz.
DEPARTURES
Tyler Reks, after getting squashed by Ryback in conjunction with partner Hawkins, requests and receives a release this month to spend less time wrestling and more time with family. In one of the more unique stories for a departure, Tyler later transitions and now goes by Gabi. Good for her.
The big fish of course is Chris Jericho who puts Ziggler over then fucks off until the Rumble because Fozzy. This is the time I think of most when I think of that "diminishing returns" comment previous about Y2J's repeated comings and goings. It simply doesn't feel like that much of a big deal when he returns, because we've become too accustomed to him leaving.

https://youtu.be/Ch0i0-URBGg?si=Ul3_CjsGUzD3BNbZ

Edited September 9, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

SEPTEMBER 2012 

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st in Melbourne it’s CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan for the belt then John Cena vs Big Show in front of 14,000 to cap off another successful tour. Surprisingly zero Raw exclusive shows for two weeks and 15th in Portland ME is the cross brand show the night before the PPV - Punk vs Cena, DQ finish. 21st-23rd shows resume in State College, White Plains and Worcester, Cena’s off but surely we could do better than Punk vs Show in a lumberjack match with a DQ ending??? Hit him with the belt and pin him, it’s only Big Show!!! Same pairing 28th in St Joseph (DQ), 29th in Topeka (cage match) and 30th in Wichita (lumberjack but won by Punk).

THE CARDS

Rey Mysterio vs The Miz (non title) is back on when shows restart as an impromptu fallout from Rey & Sin Cara beating Miz & Tensai. Month end the tag belts return with Daniel Bryan & Kane vs Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (rematches from Portland). There’s also Antonio Cesaro vs Zack Ryder for the US title for the last two weeks. Dean Ambrose vs Michael McGillicutty goes for the last two weeks. Layla vs Aksana resumes in State College albeit without the belt now, and it’s Justin Gabriel vs Damien Sandow and Brodus Clay vs Heath Slater. Week after Layla chases Eve Torres (also rematches from Portland) and it’s Clay vs Sandow and Santino vs Tensai.

VARIATIONS 

Melbourne has one last round for Miz vs Alex Riley, Kofi & Truth vs Primo & Epico and Layla vs Rosa Mendes as title matches plus Clay vs Jack Swagger, Ryder vs Tensai and Santino vs David Otunga. Unique to Portland is Cesaro vs Santino.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

It’s still Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio 1st in Des Moines (2/3 falls) and 2nd in Madison then 8th/9th in Hamilton and Kingston (streetfights) 15th in Portland (cage match) and 22nd/23rd in Sarnia and London then 29th/30th in Abilene and Wichita Falls (more streetfights).

THE CARDS

Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler gets your attention and Antonio Cesaro vs Sin Cara vs Cody Rhodes for the US belt is a bit out there, both run for two weeks. In week 3 Ziggler loses to Tyson Kidd to gratify the Canadians, in Texas Cara tags with Rey Mysterio to beat Cody & The Miz. Decent name additions in week 3 - Daniel Bryan & Kane vs The Prime Time Players for the tag belts plus Kofi Kingston vs Ted DiBiase Jr arrive. Wade Barrett vs Kidd as a sandwich month feels low profile for Barrett, in week 2 he beats Ted Jr and week 3 Yoshi Tatsu. We have Ryback vs Jinder Mahal literally every night. It’s Natalya vs Alicia Fox going 50/50 for two weeks, during the third Nattie beats Rosa Mendes and in Texas she loses to Kaitlyn. Also Justin Gabriel vs Heath Slater as a sandwich month and The Usos vs Michael McGillicutty & Johnny Curtis first week with the winners you expect. In week 2 McGillicutty & Curtis lose to “International Airstrike” of Gabriel & Kidd, and Slater loses to Roman Reigns, in Texas DiBiase pins Leo Kruger.

VARIATION

In Portland there’s a one off of Sin Cara pinning Cody in singles.

TVs

4th in Moline Ted beats Ambrose in the curtain jerker and Orton beats Del Rio no holds barred in the Coliseum Exclusive. 10th in Montreal no dark action but Punk falls out with Bret Hart who had previously endorsed him then Orton and The King beat Punk & Ziggler during which Paul Heyman makes it clear Punks with him. Next night in Ottawa Reigns beats Slater to open and Sheamus beats Del Rio to close. Night of Champions at a sold out TD Garden in Boston has “a mystery assailant” take out Kaitlyn so Eve can book herself to replace her and thus win the Women’s title, “Team Hell No” as will be win the tag belts, and for the second straight PPV Punk continues his impressive reign without being allowed to actually beat Cena. Hmm. Next night in Bridgeport - Drew McIntyre klaxon! He beats Jinder for Superstars. Eve needs less than two minutes to beat Beth Phoenix on Raw (huh?) and after the show Punk beats Cena “inside the fifteenth foot high steel cage!!!” Next night in Philadelphia Kofi beats Ambrose in the opener and on SmackDown Kane and Bryan arguing cause each to lose in singles to Sandow and Cody. 20th at Full Sail Cesaro both defends the US title against Kidd for broadcast then falls to Sheamus on last just for the fine folk in attendance. Plus Reigns pins CJ Parker in his TV debut. 24th in Albany Mick Foley is on Raw talking up the Cena vs Punk match for Hell In A Cell which they even acknowledge on TV may not happen due to Cena’s bad elbow - as if they know they need a plan B the Ryback push intensifies, he goes over Miz. And there’s yet another of Kofi vs Ziggler. Finally next night in Buffalo Curtis beats oft-times tag partner McGillicutty dark, Sin Cara beats El Local (Ricardo Rodriguez in a mask) and after the show  Sheamus beats Del Rio yet again. 

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten this month on TV : The Miz, obviously (Intercontinental champ) by Sin Cara, FUCKING AGAIN by Ryback. 6 losses on TV in two months while recognised as “a champion.”

DEPARTURE 

Kelly Kelly needs time off with a neck injury, so they let her out of her contract. Mercifully, she doesn't bother coming back. She was always pointless in my eyes and utterly forgettable, except how quickly the start of her music made me hit the FF button.

Edited September 9, 2023 by air_raid

[HarmonicGenerator]

Not long before The Shield start to turn up together! Fascinated to see what they did away from televised shows.

[air_raid]

OCTOBER 2012

A month where plans for the belt change significantly. Twice.

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

It’s CM Punk vs Big Show in a cage 5th-7th in Everett, Yakima and Spokane (yes, Show is about to become top contender to SmackDowns belt, the brand split is now meaningless). 12th-14th in Jonesboro, Jackson TN and Knoxville on cross brand shows with Cena injured we embark on Punk vs Ryback and again 19th-21st in Trenton, Reading and Hartford in lumberjack matches all with various DQ finishes - low blow, using a chair, Heyman. It’s then only two TVs either side of the PPV until a European tour kicks off 31st in Strasbourg - still Punk vs Ryback but with the bonus of new feud John Cena vs Dolph Ziggler.

THE CARDS

Still Daniel Bryan & Kane vs Kofi Kingston & R-Truth for tag straps early then mid month The Prime Time Players are back at it. Kofi meanwhile wrestles Justin Gabriel. Week 3, Team Hell No beat Primo & Epico. US title with Antonio Cesaro vs Zack Ryder is suddenly a lumberjack match early month (will resume abroad) and week 3 Sin Cara challenges. Eve Torres vs Layla vs Kaitlyn for the belt is a logical play off the TV story then mid month it’s Layla vs Kaitlyn one on one, week after Eve vs Layla. Brodus Clay vs Damien Sandow, Tensai vs Xavier Woods and Santino vs Dean Ambrose complete early month cards. Week three it’s Santino upsetting Tensai, Clay pins Jack Swagger, Sandow beats the rarely seen JTG and former partners collide - Michael McGillicutty vs David Otunga.

VARIATIONS 

Strasbourg starts new runs - Kane & Bryan vs Sandow & Cody Rhodes, Eve vs AJ Lee, Clay & Santino vs the Colons and McGillicutty upsets Tensai.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

It’s still Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio 6th/7th in Anaheim (<4000) and Reno, mid month down South it’s Sheamus beating Big Show in Last Man Standing matches. 19th/20th they actually do two nights in Cairo - the first is the better attended (9000) for another Last Man Standing match, night after (6500) it’s Sheamus vs Show vs Alberto Del Rio.

THE CARDS

Still Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs The Miz & Cody Rhodes early month, mid month the fun is cross brand as Cara tags with Brodus Clay against Cody and new partner Damien Sandow - Miz defending the ICT against Santino. Wade Barrett vs Ted DiBiase Jr is still on early month plus one more meetIng in Cairo. Ryback vs Jinder Mahal continues early month but now it’s gimmick match du jour - a lumberjack match. Still Natalya vs Aksana week one plus Tyson Kidd vs Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel & The Usos vs Yoshi Tatsu & The Prime Time Players - hey, what happened to International Airstrike? In Cairo Nattie vs Kaitlyn goes 1-1.

We’ll get onto plans gone awry shortly but can I pause on the woefully ill-fated team of Rey & Cara? Originally planned to either wrestle each other or challenge for the tag belts at Mania, the story will be first delayed by Rey asking for time off then further knackered by a ridiculous three injuries between the two wrestlers between December and Mania, so neither will end up wrestling at the MetLife at all.

VARIATIONS 

Night one in Cairo some unique matches have Kofi vs Miz for the ICT for old times sake, an eclectic Del Rio vs Barrett vs Ryder, on the eve of a historic NXT title defence abroad Seth Rollins tags with R-Truth to beat Jinder & Dolph Ziggler and the Players contest singles with - coincidence I’m sure - the former Legacy partners as Ted pins Young and Cody pins Titus. Next night Ryder upsets Miz, Kofi & Truth beat the Players, Rollins retains over Mahal, and Ziggler beats Cody heel vs heel.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

YES, we’re already here! NXT run their own non-televised cards, initially only in Florida. One feud takes centre stage - 18th in Tampa it’s Richie Steamboat & Trent Beretta vs Kassius Ohno & Leo Kruger leading to 24th in Orlando/25th back in Tampa, Steamboat vs Ohno in what turns out to be Dragon Jr's last matches. Oh and really fun,  26th in West Palm a meet and greet at the Armory has Ohno and Kruger tag with Corey Graves to lose to star signee Alberto Del Rio, Ricardo Rodriguez & Memo Montenegro.

THE CARDS

There’s no consistency and a lot more of relative no-names but some interesting names to see are Erick Rowan, Aiden English, Ryan Nemeth, Ben Satterly (Pac/Neville), Mercedes (Mone/Sasha Banks), Summer Rae, both Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy (though not yet tagging) Baron Corbin and Judas Devlin (Luchasaurus). Most interesting match for who makes it big is Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper 25th.

TVs

1st in Oklahoma City Punk gets himself pinned by Kane as him and Ziggler lose to Team Hell No then dark he loses to Sheamus by DQ. Next night in Tulsa, incredible as this sounds today, Punk beats Sheamus in the debut of Main Event on Ion Television. 8th Raw in Sacramento Woods pins McGillicutty before the show, which concludes with Vince McMahon (babyface when it suits him) going to a wild no contest with Punk during which Punk brilliantly puts a headset on and declares “What a manoeuvre!” - dark, he does another DQ with Sheamus. Next night in San Jose no dark action but Show pins Orton in another match that with ten years hindsight feels far too big for Main Event. 11th at Full Sail fully three dark matches happen - Ambrose vs Dante Dash, Sandow vs Kidd and the Usos vs PTP. Notable appearances I may not have mentioned before include Emma, Oliver Grey (Joel Redman under his new name), Luke Harper (with Bray Wyatt) and Memo Montenegro - known in the wider bubble as El Hijo de Dos Caras, not to be confused with brother Del Rio who previously wrestled as Dos Caras Jr. Also Bryan and Kane defend the belts for TV against McGillicutty and Johnny Curtis. 15th in Nashville dark Punk vs Sheamus goes to another non finish, next night in Memphis Curtis beats a Drew Haskins for the opener, Miz loses a televised match yet again - for Main Event - but thankfully for Kofi the ICT actually IS at stake and on SmackDown “International Airstrike” come back together to lose to “Team Rhodes Scholars” (always thought that sounded crap). 23rd at the IZOD Curtis beats Sami Callihan (who they will ultimately sign and rename Solomon Crowe), and after cameras Sheamus beats Show in a last man standing match. Next night in Providence Rhodes & Sandow beat Rey & Sin Cara to win the contenders tournament. At Hell In A Cell Show beats Sheamus in a match far better than it had any right to be, and Punk weasels out against Ryback with Brad Maddox crooked ref shenanigans. Next night in Charlotte they put a lot of build into the Team Foley vs Team Punk match at Survivor Series which isn’t going to happen and Beth Phoenix beats AJ in a match restarted by Vickie. Finally in Fayetteville nothing dark but Orton/Rey/Sin Cara vs Del Rio/PTB is another big match for Main Event - when it was on TV, they took it seriously.

SO, the plan. Without Cena they book themselves into somewhat of a corner with long-reigning champ Punk vs unbeaten Ryback inside Hell In A Cell which precludes them from doing an easy DQ or count out escape. The nearly-final plan is for Ryback to ride his wave of momentum, to actually win the belt, retain through Survivors then lose it back to Punk at TLC in a multi-man match in which he doesn’t need to get pinned. Then they can move towards Rock’s involvement in the scene which he will later state was pitched to him to win the belt at Elimination Chamber and defend at Mania in a three way with ex champ Punk and Rumble winner Cena. However, on just the Thursday before the PPV Vince has one of his trademark changes of heart and decides Punk having a longer reign will make it a bigger deal and - amidst rumours of Brock Lesnar returning to rip the door off the Cell and save Punk - they concoct the weak Maddox stuff instead. Sucks to be Ryback, ultimately as just the bad guy that loses the title so the REAL players can take centre stage for WrestleMania, it didn’t really matter if Punk held the belt 434 days or 43 days at the point Rock pinned him.

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Sheamus (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) TWICE by Punk, Miz, obviously (Intercontinental champ) by Kofi, Cesaro (US Champ) by Gabriel.

DEPARTURE 

Burned out and creatively unsatisfied, Beth Phoenix retires to spend more time at home with then boyfriend now husband Edge. Both will be back.

Cairo night 1 is up in parts ;

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by air_raid