My Thoughts On RAW Last Night And The Current Main Event Picture In WWE

Y’know, I haven’t really talked much about wrestling on here in a LONG time, but there’s something I gotta get off my chest about last night’s show, and the WWE main event picture. If you didn’t see last night’s RAW, here’s what happened: It was revealed that Seth Rollins passed along the idea to Triple H to make John Cena vs. Randy Orton (or as Spoony likes to call it, “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”) at Hell In A Cell a #1 Contender Match. In other words, the winner takes on Brock Lesnar, presumably at Survivor Series, for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Of course, the reason is obvious: Rollins wants Lesnar and his opponent to beat the hell outta each other and so he can cash in his Money In The Bank contract and win the belt the easy way.

Regardless, at the end of the night, we had John Cena and Dean Ambrose vs. Randy Orton, Kane, and Seth Rollins in a Handicap Tag Team Street Fight. I don’t know why there’s tagging in a Street Fight, but whatever. The point is, about two thirds of the way into the match, Kane ordered the Hell In A Cell, which had been hung in the air all night, to be lowered, effectively making it a Handicap Tag Team Hell In A Cell Match. The end result is that these five guys beat the piss outta each other with chairs, tables, and Singapore Canes, and the match ended with Orton hitting the RKO on Ambrose for the win, only to get Curb Stomped by Rollins before he had a chance to celebrate. Hell, he got hit before the announcer could even say his name. And so, the show ended with Rollins on top of the Hell In A Cell celebrating atop the bodies laying in the ring.

So, a couple of thoughts. First off, I’m kinda confused as to why we’re getting two Hell In A Cell matches at the show on Sunday, when we coulda just thrown Brock Lesnar in with these five guys and make it a 6-Man Hell In A Cell Match for the title. Heck, one of those matches scheduled for Sunday is one we’ve already seen before, and is a match including two men that have literally wrestled each other at LEAST a hundred times on live TV (not sure about non-televised shows, so the number could actually be several times that amount). Now, my guess is that Brock’s agreed-upon schedule keeps him from being used every show. And I KNEW that was gonna happen. In fact, it was my one concern with putting the belt on him. Now, I understand that Brock is still not used to a regular schedule, and I of course can accept him not showing up every week on RAW…But when you are the WWE Heavyweight Champion of the World, when you are the face of said company, you have a certain responsibility to represent it at every Pay-Per-View! This is why Daniel Bryan was stripped of the belt: He couldn’t uphold said responsibilities and obligations due to injury, so he had to forfeit the title. And by the way, if this match DOES in fact take place at Survivor Series? Guess how long that is since his last title defense at Night of Champions? Almost exactly two months! So I don’t wanna hear the ’30 day mandatory title defense clause’ EVER brought up again!

…*sighs* Okay, better now. Anyway, the other thought that occurs to me after checking out the aforementioned Spoony One’s Twitter today is…why is John Cena being rewarded with the possibility of becoming #1 Contender, when he lost the Contract On A Pole Match against Ambrose to determine which of them fought Seth Rollins at Hell In A Cell? Why isn’t Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins to determine the #1 Contender? Now, I already gave the in-story explanation, which fits the character Seth Rollins is portraying currently: He’s the clever coward, always looking to take the easy way out of situations. However, the problem is that the audience now needs to sit through Cena vs. Orton Part God-Knows-What to determine who takes on Brock, and that match will either be Brock vs. Cena for the third time this year, or a Hell vs. Heel match for the championship. And unless the plan is to turn Randy Orton face, which has been historically proven to be a bad idea at least twice that I know of, and have him win the belt, only for Rollins to come in and steal it from him, it’s probably gonna be Cena beating Brock to win the title for the 16th time (which means he ties Ric Flair, which should just not happen, but you know they’ll do it), only to have the belt taken from him by Rollins.

Anyway, where does this leave us for the main event picture? Well, we know that Seth Rollins will eventually gain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. That’s a given. The question is, where do we go from there? The theory is that Daniel Bryan, body willing, will get his shot to get the belt back at Wrestlemania. And really, Rollins vs. Bryan? AWESOME main event. Otherwise, the other major contenders are Dean Ambrose, John Cena, and Roman Reigns. And my guess is that Brock Lesnar will probably fight one of the men not chosen to fight Seth Rollins, which is another reason why I hope Daniel Bryan is the man to take on the champ, because he’s NOT beating Brock. I’m sorry, I like Daniel Bryan a lot, but look at what both he and Brock bring to the ring. They both have a very similar style, except Brock is a LOT bigger, and Daniel Bryan is maybe a LITTLE faster. Also, I would NOT want to put a guy fresh off a career-threatening-injury against Brock Lesnar first thing, ‘cuz Lesnar might just fucking kill him. O_O

So yeah, those are my thoughts on RAW last night, and the current title picture for the foreseeable future. Leave a comment below what you think about this, as well as your own conclusions, and we’ll see what becomes of the title picture by Survivor Series.

Jyger’s Favourite 5 – 5 Favourite John Cena Matches

Poor John Cena. And I really mean that. Here’s a guy that I honestly believe loves the wrestling business, loves to entertain people, and never wants to take a break from doing so. Problem is, his overall ability in the ring is lacking, and while he’s plenty charismatic and one hell of a brawler, his matches often-times leave something to be desired…And yet, people tend to forget that, if called upon to give fans an extremely entertaining roller-coaster ride of a match, more often than not, he can do it. Now, this is not me trying to say he’s the best in the world, because he isn’t. I don’t wanna start a fight with anybody, even though I know just doing this article is opening the floodgates. Still, I feel the need to point out that, while he’s not the greatest wrestler in the world, he’s also not as bad as people think sometimes. So, here’s my 5 Favourite John Cena Matches. Criteria for this one: Singles matches only, different opponent for each one, and he does not need to win. These might not necessarily be his BEST matches, either, they’re just my personal favourites. So, what better way to start than…

#1 – vs. Kurt Angle, Smackdown!, 6/27/2002

Could you ever ask for a better way to make your début match? Kurt Angle had just come off a victory over Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring, making Hogan tap out, and was issuing an open challenge to anyone he’d never wrestled before. After a few seconds of nobody answering the challenge, a kid by the name of John Cena came out and got in the ring, and when Angle asked what quality Cena thought he had that gave him a shot against him, Cena answered “Ruthless Aggression!” before punching Angle out. The match was VERY back and forth, which was VERY impressive for the rookie Cena, but in the end, Angle used his experience and superior mat wrestling style to get the pin. Still, Cena’s position was cemented, and it would NOT be the last time these two would meet face-to-face. I think what I like most about this match, though, is looking back on it after seeing Cena use the same 4-5 moves every match nowadays, and getting to see him actually wrestle here, and wrestle a damned good match against Kurt Angle.

#2 – vs. Rob Van Dam in an Extreme Rules Match, ECW One Night Stand, 6/11/2006

John Cena was the WWE Champion for the better part of a little over a year, and was now walking into an arena of die-hard ECW fans at an ECW Pay-Per-View, going up against Rob Van Dam in a match where ANYTHING goes, and there was that one fan in the audience that had the sign that said “IF CENA WINS, WE RIOT”. So, you pretty much knew, going into the show, that Cena was dropping the belt to RVD. What you didn’t really take into account was how hard Cena was gonna make it for Mr. Monday Night. Not to take away from RVD’s performance, in fact far from it, just saying that Cena pretty much brought it to the Whole Fuckin’ Show and the ECW audience at One Night Stand and made Rob Van Dam earn the belt. My one complaint is that the involvement of Edge and Paul Heyman kind of tainted to Rob’s win a little bit. Didn’t need it.

#3 – vs. Umaga in a Last Man Standing Match, Royal Rumble, 1/28/2007

I always look at this match as redemption through pain for John Cena. Cena had been WWE Champion on and off for the better part of two years, winning most of his matches with the same 4-5 moves chained together, and people were getting pretty sick of it. Then came the 350 pound Samoan Bulldozer, the late Edward Fatu, known then as Umaga. Up until their match at New Year’s Revolution, Umaga had never been pinned. However, after a roll-up victory out of nowhere in their match that night, Umaga’s winning streak was ended, leading to Umaga seeking revenge against the WWE Champion at the Royal Rumble in a Last Man Standing Match. And I’m just gonna say this here, these two pretty much beat the shit out of each other. Cena was bleeding all over the place, Umaga was smacked around in ways he’d never had done to him before, they went crashing through tables and steel stairs, it was just BRUTAL, and the finish to the match, while it might be considered somewhat cheap by some, I felt was a decent end that made both Cena and Umaga look strong.

#4 – vs. Shawn Michaels, RAW, 4/23/2007

This one’s actually got a little bit of a funny story behind it. They were overseas for an episode of RAW, and they had two things planned for the second half of the show: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, and something to do with Randy Orton, and I honestly forget what it was, but something happened and Randy Orton couldn’t be there. So what ended up happening was that Shawn Michaels and John Cena went out there and wrestled for an hour. With the exception of Iron Man matches, a one hour match is virtually unheard of in WWE in today’s day and age. And it was actually a REALLY good match. I daresay it may even be better than Michaels’ Iron Man match with Bret Hart. And while Cena didn’t win, he hung with HBK for an hour. You don’t have to win at that point. lol My one complaint about this match: It took place on a live, televised episode of RAW with extremely little build up, while their PPV match at Wrestlemania 23 was kinda lacklustre. And speaking of one hour Iron Man matches…

#5 – vs. Randy Orton in an Iron Man Match, Bragging Rights, 10/25/2009

Randy Orton vs. John Cena, or as The Spoony One likes to it, “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” XD Admittedly, Cena and Orton have wrestled WAY too many times, but I think this is the best one, is when they went one hour in an Iron Man match. The one thing that stands out the most in this match was the fact that Orton tried to BLOW UP John Cena with the pyrotechnics on the stage. And then they tried to turn him face for a few years…I don’t get it. lol The one problem I have with this match is that they had to stop it for a few moments for blood, which was a thing they did sometimes. I’m not sure if they still do that, but it got rather annoying. I would just as soon prefer there be no blood spots in wrestling than to have a blood spot that interrupts a match, you know what I mean?

So, those are my favourite Cena matches. Got one that’s not up here? Feel free to suggest it in the comments sections. All I ask, PLEASE don’t turn the comments section into an argument. I’m not asking you to like John Cena, just please, please, PLEASE do not start flaming each other if you disagree on him. Ja né!

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Jyger’s Rant – Familiarity Breeds Strategy Review

The newest episode of my show!…Hmm, much quicker than usual. Anyway, this is the first of a three-parter that features one of the best bouts in the Pokémon anime’s history: Ash vs Paul. Thankfully, still plenty to have fun with.

Music belongs to Treat, Downstait, and John Cena. Images and clips are from Pokémon and The Dark Knight. And yes, when I’m doing the introductions, I’m channelling Tony Chimel. Not sure why I went with that.

Anyway, A Real Rival Rouser in two weeks.

Jyger The Mark – Elimination Chamber Predictions

Well, time for another WWE PPV, which means time for my predictions. Let’s not waste any time and dive into the first match predictions.

World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match: Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Wade Barrett vs. Santino Marella vs. The Big Show vs. Cody Rhodes vs. The Great Khali

Well, if you saw my previous Jyger The Mark entry, you know how I feel about SOMEBODY in this match. Since I’ve already had my VERY angry rant about him though, I’ll opt not to talk about that again here. Instead, I’d like to point out, obvious that this is, that this is Daniel Bryan’s biggest challenge to date as far as defending his title. Should he win, he’ll move on to WrestleMania as the champion. And frankly, that’s what I’d like to see happen, for him to win this match and face Sheamus at WrestleMania, especially since the last time they were to fight at ‘Mania, it ended up becoming a Dark Match (non-televised match), which I felt was a slap in the face of all their hard work.

Predicted Winner: Daniel Bryan

Divas Championship: Beth Phoenix (c) vs. Tamina Snuka

Surprisingly enough, I am actually kinda interested in this match. I wanna see how these two match up in a one-on-one match where the belt is on the line. I’m thinking what will happen is that Beth wins, continuing the story wherein she claims there are no legit contenders for the title, which will likely lead to a match between her and Kharma when she comes back from maternity leave.

Predicted Winner: Beth Phoenix

Ambulance Match: Kane vs. John Cena

A love triangle blossoming? Has John Cena embraced the hate? Will Kane emerge victorious, or will his own evil deeds be returned in kind? Has Zack Ryder officially become a Jackass stuntman? And can this scenario become any more like a soap opera?…Okay, seriously though, how much you wanna bet that Eve was in on this the whole time, that she was working with Kane? Wouldn’t surprise me one bit. Anyway, much as I don’t wanna go against Kane, Cena needs momentum going into WrestleMania, so I’m gonna say Cena for the win.

Predicted Winner: John Cena

WWE Championship Elimination Chamber Match: CM Punk (c) vs. Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz vs. R-Truth vs. Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler

…I find myself in an odd position with this match in that, honestly, I don’t really care so much as how this match goes as how the fallout goes. Basically, regardless of who wins this match, I see four of the six going back to business as usual, while the other two BETTER be having a match at WrestleMania. But since I HAVE to make a prediction, I’m gonna say Chris Jericho to somehow take the belt away from CM Punk, leading to a match between them at WrestleMania. Either way though, if WWE has any sense at all, and I feel that this is what they are going for anyway, they will set up CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho at WrestleMania, which would in my opinion steal the f-ing show. So why Jericho to win instead of Punk? Well, basically because I think if the belt is involved in their feud, Punk would operate better going into ‘Mania as the hunter, not the hunted.

Predicted Winner: Chris Jericho

Well, that’s all from me. Enjoy the show tonight, and hopefully I’ll be able to cover the results tomorrow. Ja ne!

Jyger The Mark’s Ramblings – The Royal Rumble

So, I’m going to the Royal Rumble tonight. I generally don’t go to PPVs that often because they’re flipping expensive, but I generally try to go to the Royal Rumble because it’s my favourite since the Royal Rumble match itself pretty much stands for everything that I like about wrestling: Chaotic entertainment that is VERY hard to predict the outcome of. While I’m likely gonna be doing another blog entry where I talk about the results tomorrow (hopefully), I just wanted to make a few predictions on the show first.

WWE Championship: CM Punk (c) vs Dolph Ziggler

I feel really, really bad for Dolph Ziggler going into this match, and I will tell you why: Because the plot going into this match, the main story arc that this match is a part of, has NOTHING to do with Dolph Ziggler. This story is about CM Punk and John Laurinaitis. Ziggler is basically there to be the challenger, nothing more, nothing less. And it’s sad because I think him and Punk could have a great rivalry, but this is not about a rivalry between the two of them. They’ve even gone so far as to eliminate the possibility of Ziggler beating Punk for the title, it’s more a question of whether or not Laurinaitis will screw Punk out of the championship, and that’s kinda sad. Still, I expect these two to put on a hell of a match, and really, that’s the most important part, right?

Predicted Winner: CM Punk

Kane vs. John Cena

No, you know what, before I get to the match, I need to address something that I think a lot of people have been ragging on: Kane’s new attire. Watching videos on YouTube of Kane’s return, I’ve seen commenters (which spell checker says is not a real word btw) say that his new look is ridiculous. I have the following reply to such: WHY DO YOU CARE?! Have you actually been watching what he’s been doing since coming back?! He coulda come back dressed like Doink The Clown and I wouldn’t have cared, because the only thing that matters is that when you are standing across the ring from this Kane, you better fight for your life or he might just take it from you. PERIOD!

Anyway, as far as the match goes, I suspect that Kane will win via DQ, with Cena finally snapping as a result of Kane breaking his friend Zack Ryder’s back and will finally embrace the hate. The hate for Kane. What happens afterwards is anyone’s guess.

Predicted Winner: Kane via DQ

World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Match: Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show

I find what they’re doing with Daniel Bryan to be kind of intriguing. He hasn’t REALLY turned full heel YET, but you kinda feel like he’s going to. Surprisingly though, I actually find Mark Henry’s current persona going into this match as being the one I like most: The one that doesn’t care about the girl in the hospital and if she really forgives Big Show for accidentally tackling her or not, and not caring about who is on the level about what they say. He’s just coming to kick some ass and get his belt back. So between the animosity between Big Show and Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry’s intent to get his belt back, EXPECT EXTREME BRUTALITY.

Predicted Winner: Daniel Bryan via Escape

The Royal Rumble Match

This is one where I simply do not have one predicted winner, but that’s good because this is a match where I just like to sit back and see what happens and make predictions on the fly. The only thing I know for certain is that The Miz will be entering at #1, making him the least likely individual to win, but then stranger things have happened at the Rumble, which is what makes it so fun. Oh, and I know this much too: If Santino Marella wins the Rumble (because he came very close last year), I will protest. BIG TIME.

Possible Winners: Chris Jericho, Sheamus, Randy Orton, Wade Barret

…Anyway, that’s all from me, and I guess I’ll see what happens in a few hours.