Little Jimmy Strikes Back: Review of WWE Capitol Punishment 2011

Finally after supposedly being shafted by the WWE again and again, R-Truth got his shot at John Cena’s WWE Championship in the main event of Capitol Punishment.  The two superstars battled in a back-and-forth affair as the crowd, filled with all the Little Jimmies that fuel R-Truth’s insanity, chanting at the top of their lungs.  The Truth came close to winning the WWE Title from Cena multiple times during the match.  R-Truth hit Cena with all of his finishing moves, but to no avail.  In all his frustration, R-Truth decided to play some mind games on his opponent.  Truth made his way up to a Little Jimmy sitting in the front row wearing a whole set of John Cena merchandise.  R-Truth took the Little Jimmy’s Cena hat and put it on.  Then he took the fans drink and took a slip.  When Truth tried to hand the drink back to Little Jimmy, he threw the drink in R-Truth’s face.  That little incident gave John Cena enough time to hit the Attitude Adjustment on Truth to pick up the victory.  Thus ending the Truth’s one and so far only chance at the WWE Championship.

Well Capitol Punishment was not what anybody would consider an amazing PPV, but it was pretty good show nonetheless.  Compared to the garbage that was last month’s Over the Limit, Capitol Punishment is a considerably better PPV.  Capitol Punishment had its fair share of good and bad moments.  For every horrible fake US President Obama segment, there was a match like CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio to make up for it.  As the official start to the WWE’s summer, Capitol Punishment got the WWE off on the right foot.  As a whole, Capitol Punishment was a mixed bag.  This PPV does not truly excel in one area, but it has enough good to great moments to deserve to be watched at least once.

Dolph Ziggler def. Kofi Kingston by Knockout to win the U.S. Championship

Rating:  8/10

Alex Riley def. The Miz

Rating:  6.5/10

Alberto Del Rio def. Big Show

Rating:  6/10

Ezekiel Jackson def. Wade Barrett by submission to win the Intercontinental Championship

Rating:  5.5/10

CM Punk def. Rey Mysterio

Rating:  9/10

Randy Orton def. Christian to retain the World Heavyweight Championship

Rating:  8.5/10

Evan Bourne def. Jack Swagger

Rating:  7/10

John Cena def. R-Truth to retain the WWE Championship

Rating:  8/10

Overall, WWE Capitol Punishment was a good PPV.  Coming off a PPV like Over the Limit 2011, anything from the WWE could be considered better.  With Capitol Punishment, the WWE gets back on track with putting on quality PPVs.  By no means should you rush out of your way to put down money for Capitol Punishment.  This show is worth watching at least to see the excellent match between CM Punk and Rey Mysterio.  The overall rating for WWE Capitol Punishment 2011 is 7 out of 10.

Blog Post Delayed

Hello my dear readers.  I am deeply sorry for not posting anything today.  This last week has been very hectic for me on both a mental and physical level.  I have been unable to keep up with much wrestling other than Capitol Punishment, Raw and Smackdown.  Sadly for the second week in a row there will be no Silverdome Match of the Week.  I am going to be working on my review of last Sunday's Capitol Punishment PPV.  I am hoping to have it up before the end of the weekend.  Again sorry for the delay.  Thank you for reading this post.  Also thank you to all you that come back each Saturday to read my blog.  Have a great weekend.  Cheers!

Rumble in the Capitol: Preview of WWE Capitol Punishment 2011

Replacing last year’s Fatal 4 Way PPV, Capitol Punishment is the WWE’s newest PPV event which takes place in the capital of the USA, Washington, D.C.  To promote this PPV’s political theme, WWE has gone so far to air commercials that intercut current US president, Barack Obama’s press conference footage with reporters and WWE superstars asking him wrestling related questions.  Even a caricature of the US president can be found on the poster for Capitol Punishment.  In the last four weeks the WWE has pushed this political theme down our throats that it is not far off to wonder if there will be some well-known American politicians and even the president will be at this PPV.

As a whole new PPV, WWE Capitol Punishment has a whole lot to prove.  Last year, WWE Fatal 4 Way did not produce a great amount of PPV buys.  Still Fatal 4 Way was one of the better PPVs in the WWE’s lackluster PPV showing in 2010.  WWE needs to prove that Capitol Punishment is a meaningful PPV.  It cannot be another throwaway PPV like last month’s Over the Limit.  We will have to see if the WWE can pull it off as Capitol Punishment emanates from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. this Sunday June 19^th. 

Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler for the U.S. Championship

After a whole year, Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler are exactly where they were a year ago.  We know they can put on some amazing matches, but these two superstars need to move onto bigger and better feuds especially now that they are on Raw.  The opening match is the perfect place to put these two as Kofi and Dolph have proven that they can put on an exciting opener.  Ziggler will most likely win the U.S. Championship in order to push him to the main event picture on Raw.

Prediction:  Dolph Ziggler wins the U.S. Champioship

Wade Barrett (c) vs. Ezekiel Jackson for the Intercontinental Championship

It is really hard to care for this match when the WWE does not seem to care about it either.  The only thing that has changed since Barrett and Jackson battled each other at Over the Limit is that the Corre has officially disbanded.  Now with nobody to help him, Wade Barrett will succumb to Ezekiel Jackson’s Torture Rack and drop his Intercontinental Championship to the Guyanese Goliath.

Prediction:  Ezekiel Jackson wins the Intercontinental Championship

Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio

Until this week, the feud between Alberto Del Rio and the Big Show has been stagnant.  In one week, the WWE has built an extremely passionate storyline around these superstars.  Del Rio ran over Big Show’s leg with his car and the World’s Largest Athlete is not going to take that lying down.  Big Show has transformed from a loving giant to a destructive force of nature.  This match between Del Rio and Show should be one of the most physical and frantic brawls of the night.  Someway, the conniving Alberto Del Rio will find the way to get the victory over the Giant to extend this feud for another month.

Prediction:  Alberto Del Rio wins

Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk

For months now, both Rey Mysterio and CM Punk have been in a stalling pattern.  The talents of these two superstars are being wasted right now when they can be in meaningful feuds with other up-and-coming superstars such as Drew McIntrye, Dolph Ziggler or Kofi Kingston.  Expect another great match between Punk and Mysterio that pushes one of them towards challenging for the WWE Title in the near future.

Prediction:  CM Punk wins

The Miz vs. Alex Riley

One man can only take so much abuse before he explodes.  For the past eight months, The Miz has used Alex Riley for his own personal gain.  When The Miz would lose, he would blame it all on his protégé.  After being fired by The Miz last month, Riley would let loose one hell of a beating on his former mentor.  Each week, this feud, even though one-sided, has gotten more and more intense.  Riley has gotten the best of The Miz on every occasion so far.  So The Miz will get some revenge this Sunday with an underhanded victory over his former protégé.

Prediction:  The Miz wins

Randy Orton (c) vs. Christian for the World Heavyweight Championship

With one smack of the World Heavyweight Championship against the face of Randy Orton, Christian turned his back on all of the WWE Universe.  After being screwed over by Teddy Long, Randy Orton and the WWE Universe on more than one occasion, Christian has had enough.  He gets one more chance to take the World Heavyweight Championship off of the Viper this Sunday in what should be an intense match-up.  Randy Orton will most likely retain his World Title against Christian yet again.  Do not get down as this match will not be the last between these two.  Christian’s loss will add another dimension to one of the best feuds of 2011 and give some great build for the Smackdown Money in the Bank Ladder match next month.

Prediction:  Randy Orton retains

John Cena (c) vs. R-Truth for the WWE Championship

Ask anybody earlier this year if R-Truth would ever challenge for the WWE Championship and they would probably say, “Hell no!”  Well nobody was expecting R-Truth to lose his mind and become the most entertaining superstar on Raw.  To capitalize on all the craziness R-Truth’s character brings the WWE paired him with the face of the company, John Cena.  So far it has been a success as R-Truth has been made to look like a formidable threat to Cena’s WWE Championship reign and has resulted in some great television.  It would be nice to R-Truth take the title away from Cena, but it is not hard to see Cena retain his title at Capitol Punishment.  A loss for R-Truth will add fuel to his insanity and lead into a feud with the returning John Morrision.

Prediction:  John Cena retains

WWE Capitol Punishment has had much better build than last month’s Over the Limit PPV.  The show still has a lot to prove because you never know what can happen in the WWE.  A great card on paper could be absolutely horrible in reality and vice versa.  We will just have to wait until this Sunday night at 8 to find out.

Sloppyversary: Review of TNA Slammiversary IX

TNA’s ninth anniversary is over and done.  Rather than a celebration of TNA’s longevity in pro wrestling, it was a celebration of what TNA has been like for the past few years, sloppy.  Sloppy booking, sloppy storytelling and the worst of them all, sloppy wrestling have all plagued TNA these past few years.  It clearly showed at Slammiversary.  Other than three really good matches and one okay match, the rest of the card was definitely hurt by overall sloppy performances by all members involved.  Some of the sloppiest performances of the night belonged to Mickie James, Abyss, Kazarian, Brian Kendrick, Samoa Joe and Sting.  Out of all these equally abysmal performances, only one took the cake.  That was from the referees.  The ending of the Styles and Bully Ray match saw Brian Hebner continue the count on Styles even though he got to his feet before Ray pushed him head first into the stage.  It was worse in the TNA Title match as Jackson James barely called anything.  He decided not to count out Sting and Anderson who brawled in the crowd for over five minutes and watched Anderson give Sting a low blow, which should have been an instant disqualification.  Yes, it serves the storyline so to say, but it makes TNA look bush league.  Good bookers could find a way to make the storyline work without changing the basic rules of a wrestling match.

With all of its shortcomings, Slammiversary IX was an average showing from TNA.  Like many TNA PPVs, there were a few good matches mixed in with a lot of pretty bad to okay matches.  The opener between the team of Shelley & Storm and the British Invasion was quite entertaining.  It got everybody watching in the crowd and at home excited for the show that was ahead.  Bully Ray and AJ Styles put on the best match of the night.  It was brutal and very fulfilling.  There were two things wrong with it though.  The first being the poorly executed ending and the result of the match.  This feud between Ray and Styles has reached its climax to extend longer will dilute the eventual payoff, Style’s revenge on Bully Ray.  The final battle between Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett ended the PPV with a really good match.  Not their best match they have had against one another, but a much better way to end the PPV than the atrocious TNA Title match that came before it.  Even with these good matches, it is not enough to warrant anybody to go out of their way to watch Slammiversary IX unless you are an avid fan of the TNA product.

Alex Shelley & James Storm def. British Invasion to retain the TNA Tag Team Championship

Rating:  8/10

Matt Morgan def. Scott Steiner

Rating:  6.5/10

Abyss def. Kazarian and Brian Kendrick in a 3-Way Match to retain the X Division Championship

Rating:  6/10

Crimson def. Samoa Joe

Rating:  5.5/10

Mickie James def. Angelina Love to retain the Knockouts Championship

Rating:  4/10

Bully Ray def. AJ Styles in a Last Man Standing Match

Rating:  8/10

Mr. Anderson def. Sting to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Rating:  3/10

Kurt Angle def. Jeff Jarrett by submission to become the No. 1 Contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Rating:  8/10

Overall, TNA Slammiversary IX is yet another disappointing PPV from Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling.  You would think they would pull all the stops for an event as big as their company’s anniversary.  Guess not.  Even with all the lower than average matches, there were still a few good matches that made this PPV at least watchable.  Not watchable enough to spend any sort of money on this PPV.  The overall rating for TNA Slammiversary IX is 6 out of 10.

The Silverdome Match of the Week: Brutal Battle

Well it was another normal week of wrestling.  There were only a couple of great matches this week, but we got see more character development from guys like Christian, R-Truth and Alex Riley.  The biggest news this week was Andy Levine won the first Tough Enough in about six years.  A great end to what has been a really good season for the show.  Hopefully WWE brings back Tough Enough for another season sooner rather than later.  Also this week, WWE announced The Miz vs. Alex Riley, Christian vs. Randy Orton and Wade Barrett vs. Ezekiel Jackson for next Sunday’s Capitol Punishment PPV.  Well my prediction from last week was wrong and R-Truth did apologize for his actions on the Raw from two weeks ago therefore R-Truth will get his chance at the WWE Title at Capitol Punishment.  As mentioned earlier, it was rather slow week for matches.  Randy Orton vs. Sheamus in a No DQ Match from Smackdown beat out CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio from Raw to win the Silverdome Match of the Week.

After Christian screwed Sheamus out of the World Title last week, Sheamus told Teddy Long that he deserves a match against Christian.  Instead of a match with Christian, Teddy put Sheamus in a No Disqualification Match with an equally irritated Randy Orton.  The result was a match that could main event a major PPV.  The match started off a little slow-paced with Sheamus and Orton trading blows.  The match would slowly build from an ordinary match to a match worthy of the No Disqualification stipulation.  Orton and Sheamus would go onto to battle on the arena floor.  They were throwing one another into the ringside barrier and smacking each other’s heads against the ring steps while they were on the arena floor.  That intensity would continue when Sheamus and Orton would make their way back into the ring.  Randy Orton and Sheamus began to trade ferocious punches, kicks and even head butts in order to get the advantage, but to no avail.  After Orton hit Sheamus with a powerslam, Sheamus would roll out to the ring apron to try and escape.  Orton followed Sheamus and went for his signature rope hung DDT, but Sheamus countered the DDT by sending Orton over the top rope with a back body drop.  On the arena floor, Sheamus took advantage of Orton’s hurt back and send the Viper back-first into the steel steps.  The force of Orton hitting the steps knocked the steps ajar.  Sheamus would then take the top half of the ring steps and target Orton’s back yet again before sending the injured World Champion back into the ring.  Sheamus would follow with the bottom half of the ring steps in tow.  Sheamus tried to use the ring steps on Orton again, but the Viper hit Sheamus with his signature backbreaker.  That set Orton up to powerslam Sheamus onto the ring steps.  The match looked like it was over when Orton went for the pin, only Sheamus had enough intestinal fortitude to kick out of Orton’s pin attempt.  With the clear advantage, Orton would try to send Sheamus head-first into the ring steps, but Sheamus blocked it only to hit his patented Irish Curse backbreaker.  Sheamus took the time he had after hitting that impactful backbreaker to grab a kendo stick from under the ring.  For a good minute, Orton played the part of a punching bag as Sheamus beat the holy hell out of him with the kendo stick.  With Orton dazed, Sheamus went for the Brogue Kick, but Orton dodged the move.  Sheamus got his foot caught up in the ropes.  Orton used this opportunity to use the kendo stick to get some revenge.  After Seamus got his foot loose, Orton hit him with a rope hung DDT and immediately got ready to hit a RKO.  Right when Orton went for the RKO, Christian ran in and tried to hit the Killswitch on Orton, but to no avail as Orton tried to reverse it into an RKO.  Christian would roll out of the ring as Randy Orton dodged Sheamus’ Brogue Kick and finally connected with the RKO.  Immediately after the RKO, Christian smacked Orton in the back of the head with the World Title thus knocking him out cold.  Sheamus used the opportunity to pin the downed Orton for the win.  As Sheamus made the pin, Christian would pose over Randy Orton with the World Heavyweight Title hoisted over his head.  That would end one of the most brutal and entertaining matches on WWE television this year so far. 

Well for the umpteenth time this year, a Smackdown match wins the Silverdome Match of the Week.  Tomorrow night, TNA Slammiversary IX will be live from the Impact Wrestling Zone in Orlando, FL at 8 pm.  Check out the preview posted earlier today up on the Silverdome and see if you want to watch TNA’s Ninth Anniversary Show.  This Monday marks the first of two 3-hour Raws in the month of June.  It will be WWE All-Star Night with Stone Cold Steve Austin taking the reins of General Manager for one night only.  That is all for this Saturday evening.  Have a wonderful week and see you here next Saturday.  Cheers.

Nine Years of TNA: Preview of TNA Slammiversary IX

It is hard to believe that it has been nine years of Total Non-Stop Action.  There have been good times and bad, great compelling storylines and total utter nonsense.  It is time to put that all aside a celebrate TNA’s ninth anniversary with Slammiversary.

 As a long time TNA fan, Slammiversary has been synonymous with the excellent and unique reverse ladder match, the King of the Mountain match.  On paper it was one convoluted and confusing gimmick match, but in action it was nothing short of phenomenal as five men putting their bodies on the line in a death-defying effort to hang the TNA Championship belt.  The King of the Mountain match, in my opinion, is one of the greatest gimmick matches of all time and truly made TNA that much more different from the WWE.  The omission of this great match from Slammiversary ever since Hogan and Bischoff have taken over booking TNA is nothing more than absurd.  Now there is nothing to separate Slammiversary from TNA’s other PPVs.  This year’s Slammiversary event will originate from the newly crowned Impact Wrestling Zone this Sunday, June 12^th.  Get ready for the festivities.

The British Invasion vs. James Storm & Alex Shelley (c) for the TNA Tag Team Championship

There is not a lot to talk about here as there has been only a week of build.  There is no reason for the British Invasion to get a tag team title match.  Since the Brits returned in March, they have done absolutely nothing on Impact.  Mexican America or the actual No. 1 Contenders Ink Inc. deserve this title opportunity not the British Invasion.  Even with this big grip, these four wrestlers are well capable of putting on a great opener.

Prediction:  James Storm & Alex Shelley retain

Scott Steiner vs. Matt Morgan

Does anybody really remember what this feud was even about?  It started over a month ago when Steiner attacked Morgan for no apparent reason.  Then this feud was dropped until Steiner cost Morgan a match a few weeks back.  The only purpose of this match is to give Matt Morgan a win over a veteran in order to push Morgan into the TNA World Title picture.

Prediction:  Matt Morgan wins

Abyss (c) vs. Kazarian vs. Brian Kendrick in a 3-Way Match for the X Division Championship

Well the X Division is about no limits, but it is still hard to accept Abyss as its champion.  The sooner TNA gets the title off of Abyss the better because the longer he holds the fewer fans that will care about the X Division.  Even though that one fact, it is hard to see Abyss dropping the title to one of these competitors.  Kazarian, a great X Division competitor, needs to move up the ranks and compete in bigger more meaningful feuds along with Fortune and Brian Kendrick needs to ditch his current gimmick before anybody takes him seriously.

Prediction:  Abyss retains

Mickie James (c) vs. Angelina Love for the Knockouts Championship

Somehow TNA decided to fit Mickie James into Angelina Love and Winter’s intergalactic time travelling storyline.  Yes, Angelina Love and Winter are lovers from another time and possibly another dimension and this connection somehow gives Love the power of invincibility.  It would be wise to vote for Angelina Love, but TNA would not take the title from Mickie James so soon.  So expect Mickie to go Super Mickie and retain Knockouts Title.

Prediction:  Mickie James retains

AJ Styles vs. Bully Ray in a Last Man Standing Match

Ever since Bully Ray powerbombed AJ Styles off the Impact Wrestling Zone stage a few months ago, Styles swore revenge.  Styles and Ray have traded blows with one another, but not yet in a one-on-one match.  At Slammiversary, this heated rivalry will hit its breaking point as these two warriors will battle in a Last Man Standing match.  All the anger and hatred these two have for one another will be left in that ring.  After the dust has settled, AJ Styles will be get his revenge and be the Last Man Standing.

Prediction:  AJ Styles wins

Crimson vs. Samoa Joe

Crimson’s undefeated streak gets put to the test when he battles Samoa Joe, who went undefeated for 17 months, this Sunday.  It is sad to see how far Samoa Joe has fallen in TNA.  He used to be the next big thing and now he will be fodder for another wrestler’s undefeated streak.  Expect this match to be very physical with Crimson going over the Samoan Submission Machine to continue his push to the main event.

Prediction:  Crimson wins

Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett in a No. 1 Contenders Match

TNA’s biggest and most unsettling feud finally comes to an end this Sunday at Slammiversary.  It has been a very one-sided feud with Jarrett getting win after win, but the momentum switched hands at last months’ Sacrifice event.  Angle along with Chyna made both Jeff and Karen Jarrett tap to the ankle lock.  With Karen out of the way, Kurt Angle will put his Olympic Gold Medal on the line to finally get back at Jeff Jarrett for all the pain and turmoil he put him through.  Angle and Jarrett have put on some great matches in the past, so expect this one to be great enough to steal the show.

Prediction:  Kurt Angle wins

Sting (c) vs. Mr. Anderson for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

It took TNA long enough to give Mr. Anderson a TNA Title shot after months of shafting him for other undeserving talent.  Leading up to this match, Anderson and Sting have been shafted for other supposedly more important storylines such as the Network storyline or Bischoff’s plight against the X Division.  To top that off, TNA had these two main eventers lose to the likes of Eric Young and Gunner these past two weeks, which hurts this main event and both men involved.  Hopefully Anderson wins the title at Slammiversary because Sting cannot wrestle a main event quality match anymore.

Prediction:  Mr. Anderson wins the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Being one of TNA’s biggest PPVs, Slammiversary should be a big celebration of TNA’s inception just nin years ago.  With the omission of the King of the Mountain match and poor booking, this PPV is nothing more than another PPV in TNA’s PPV schedule.  TNA, you say that “Wrestling Matters”.  Well put your money where your mouth is and put on the best wrestling PPV of the year.  As of right now there is a lot that needs to change before wrestling fans start taking you and your product seriously.

The Silverdome Match of the Week: Orton’s Victory Comes At a Cost

It was a rather normal week for WWE, TNA and ROH as they build towards there next PPVs.  The big news this week was the announcements of two main event matches.  WWE announced that the main event of Capitol Punishment will have John Cena defending the WWE Championship against the ever rising heel force on Raw in R-Truth with one catch.  It will only be booked if R-Truth apologizes for his actions on last week’s Raw.  So we could get a little swerve and maybe get CM Punk and Mysterio involved in a Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Title if R-Truth decides not to apologize for his actions, which would make the most sense in my opinion.  The other main event that was announced this week was for ROH’s Best in the World iPPV.  The main event will have former teammates collide for the ROH Championship as Eddie Edwards will face Davey Richards in what should be one amazing match.  Now that we are done with that let us get into the nominees for the Silverdome Match of the Week.  This week’s nominees are Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler and CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio both from Raw, Brian Kendrick vs. Kazarian from Impact Wrestling and Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase from Smackdown.  So it is an honour to present the Silverdome Match of the Week to none other than the World Heavyweight Championship Match, Randy Orton vs. Sheamus with Christian as Special Guest Referee from Smackdown.

On last week’s edition of Smackdown, Sheamus beat the likes of Christian and Mark Henry to earn a World Title match on this week’s Smackdown.  Feeling that Randy Orton cost him the match, Christian would try and coax Teddy Long into adding him to the World Title match.  Christian was added to the match, but not in the way he had expected.  Teddy Long would name Christian as the Special Guest Referee for the World Title match between Randy Orton and Sheamus later in the night.  The match started with a stare down between the Viper and the Celtic Warrior that was immediately followed by the two rivals locking up.  After a few moments, the pace would speed up as Orton and Sheamus would go onto trade a chin lock, a few punches, shoulders, forearms and kicks, a clothesline and a European Uppercut before their battle would spill to the floor.  Orton would take control of the match by throwing Sheamus into the ringside barrier.  Sheamus and Orton made their way back to ring and trade a couple of near falls.  Sheamus had fought back from being sent into the barrier, but he would take full control of the match by sending a retreating Orton into the ring post out on the floor.  Sheamus began to work on Orton’s weakened head a quarter nelson submission and a chin lock.  The Viper would battle out of Sheamus’ attempts at working on his head.  Orton’s escape would turn this match into overdrive.  AS from that point, Sheamus and Orton went at each with everything they got.  These two superstars traded signature moves, finisher move attempts and many reversals and counters.  This action would go until Sheamus accidentally hit Christian with a shoulder block.  Immediately following the shoulder block on Christian, Sheamus hit Orton with his Brogue Kick finisher and a pin attempt.  Christian goes to count the pin attempt, but as Christian goes for the three count, he feels a sudden pain in his right arm.  This pain causes Christian to stop his count.  Filled with rage, Sheamus goes over and yells at Christian for not making the three count.  In Sheamus’ rage, he pushes Christian, which Christian followed by with one haymaker to Sheamus.  The punch rattles Sheamus enough for him the walk right into a RKO from Randy Orton.  Orton pins Sheamus and this time Christian has no trouble making the three count.  The action would not end there as Christian would go onto clock Randy Orton with the World Heavyweight Championship.  Christian’s attack on Orton would cause the cheering crowd in Des Moines, Iowa to go completely silent.  Christian would take Orton’s World Title as Smackdown came to an end.  Personally, I thought the WWE would not have turned Christian heel so soon, but it was still very effective.  Christian’s heel turn topped off on great World Heavyweight Championship.  Cannot wait to see where the Randy Orton vs. Christian goes from here.

That ends another week in the ever changing World of Wrestling.  Make sure you take some time this Monday to check out the WWE Tough Enough Season Finale.  The return of Tough Enough has been great week-in-week out and the Season Finale looks to be epic with Luke and Andy battling for a WWE contract.  That is all for this late Saturday evening.  Have a wonderful and safe week.  Cheers.

The Show That Was WrestleMania 27

Welcome to the first edition of “The Show That Was”.  This new article will take a look back at PPV and other big events from WWE, TNA or ROH past.  This article will not be a review as it will look at the effect and the impact the show has had or will possibly have on the respective wrestling company.  This article looks at what will these events be remembered for months, years, decades from now.  For the inaugural edition of “The Show That Was” we will be taking a look at the Biggest Show of the Year, WrestleMania 27.

It has only been two months since WrestleMania 27 emanated from the Georgia Dome.  The WWE’s attempt to put on the most memorable WrestleMania of All-Time fell to mixed reviews from wrestling fans and critics around the world.  In all the mixed feelings, WrestleMania 27 became the WWE’s second highest grossing event only behind WrestleMania 25.  As a standalone product, WrestleMania 27 was a very anti-climactic PPV that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.  After re-watching the show on DVD, it got me thinking.  Maybe the WWE never planned WrestleMania 27 to stand alone.  The reason why WrestleMania 27 felt so anti-climactic could have been due to the fact that the WWE wanted to use the show as the set-up or exposition for WrestleMania 28.  Looking at the two big feuds going into WrestleMania, The Rock vs. John Cena and the Undertaker vs. Triple H, they did not reach a climax at the Show of Shows.  The events at WrestleMania 27 were just a catalyst for the real climax that will happen about a year from now at WrestleMania 28.  For the last two months, we wrestling fans have been hearing that the WWE wants to truly make WrestleMania 28 the biggest WrestleMania of All-Time.  What a way to subliminally promote next year’s show then to plant the seeds for the two main events at this year’s event.  The first main event has already been announced and it is the ever-anticipated Rock vs. John Cena match and the second main event is heavily rumoured Undertaker vs. Triple H III.  For the first time in WWE history, the Road to WrestleMania begins immediately after the following WrestleMania.  It has been one of the very rare times that two WrestleManias have been connected in such a way.  The only other time that comes to mind was how WrestleMania IV tournament planted the seeds for the main event of WrestleMania V.  So all-in-all, WrestleMania 27 could most likely be among the most memorable WrestleManias of All-Time only if WrestleMania 28 is huge critical success.  Even if we get one amazing WrestleMania in the 28^th edition of the grand annual show, will that make up for the disappointment the WWE put us all through with this show?  No, it will not.  The WWE looked too far ahead that they forgot to focus on putting on a show that would live up to all the hype and build-up they did for this year’s event.  The pair of WrestleMania 27 and 28 could be most remembered events in this company’s history, but if they were both great shows that have these strong connections, they could be even more memorable in the minds of the WWE faithful.  Instead of standing on its own, WrestleMania 27 will most likely be living under the shadow of its superior successor.  WrestleMania 27 will be known less for Edge’s final match, Undertaker and Triple H’s show stealer, Cody Rhodes’ breakout match or Punk & Orton’s barn-burner.  It will be known as the set-up for WrestleMania 28.

This is just one man’s opinion on how WrestleMania 27 will be remembered in the minds of the WWE faithful and wrestling fans for the years to come.  It is now time to open up the discussion to you, the dear readers.  How do think we will remember WrestleMania 27 years down the road?  Please leave your comments below.  Also as the inaugural edition of “The Show That Was”, what other events or PPVs would you like me to write about here?  WWE, TNA, ROH, anything you can think of, the more the merrier.  As it gets closer to WrestleMania 28, I will be revisiting this article to see if my opinions were correct or not.  Hope you enjoyed this article and go pick up the WrestleMania 27 Collector’s Edition DVD or Blu-Ray.  WrestleMania itself was not that great of a show, but the extras and the Hall of Fame ceremony make the DVD/Blu-Ray well worth the money.