The Future of the Silverdome

Well this post has taken longer to get to than I initially thought.  Last week was a lot more busier than I originally perceived.  Next week marks my first week of school at the University of Waterloo and that means a change in priorities.  A lot of the time that I would normally dedicate to writing my blog posts will have to go to school work and studying.  It is just the nature of the beast.  That does not mean I will  not be writing any more blog posts because I love writing and getting my opinions out there.  It means I will no longer be weekly posts as I do not have the time.  I am not promising anything due to how busy things may get, but I will try to put up at least a PPV preview each month.  Thanks to everybody that has helped support the Silverdome in any way from reading one blog post to following every blog post for a year and a half now.  I hope everybody continues to support the Silverdome through these big changes in my life.

The Silver Report: August 19-25

Welcome to the last Silver Report for a long time.  With me going back to school after almost a year and half hiatus, I will not have the time to do weekly blogs and keep up with my studies, projects, tests and work.  I will be addressing the future of The Silverdome next weekend.  There is no way I am going to stop blogging.  It will be much longer between blog posts than the normal one post every weekend.

Last Sunday was the Biggest Party of the Summer and it was met with mixed feelings.  For some, Summerslam was great PPV with a good amount of quality wrestling.  For others, Summerslam did not feel that special to really get excited about.  It really depends how you liked the big matches and angles of the show.  After watching some highlights from Summerslam, I would not mind watching this show when it is released on DVD.  With the Biggest Party of the Summer behind us, the WWE is moving for their annual Night of Champions PPV coming to us from Boston this year. 

The Brock Lesnar Dilemma

The main event of Summerslam saw Brock Lesnar and Triple H beat the holy hell out of one another.  It was a hard hitting brawl that might have not lived up to the hype, but served its purpose.  The match put over Brock Lesnar as the monster he should have been built as from the beginning.  Brock Lesnar left Triple H a broken man both physically and mentally.  As the WWE Universe will have to wait until this coming Raw to hear Triple H’s future as a competitor, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman opened last week’s Raw.  The opening segment of Raw had Paul Heyman recapping the events of Summerslam before anointing Brock Lesnar as the new King of Kings and the Ruler of the WWE.  All this gloating was fine and dandy as long as it led to Lesnar being used a little more often in these coming months.  Well that will not happen.  A little while after that segment, Brock Lesnar put out a Tout (the newest social media app that WWE is trying to push down our throats) that said he has quit the WWE.  What?!  When I first saw this Tout on Raw, I thought nothing about it.  Now after taking some time to really think about it, what the hell is WWE thinking?!  I know Brock Lesnar can only be used a certain amount of times throughout his one year contract, but does he have to quit the WWE every single time you want to keep Lesnar off of TV?  This means that we will have to go through another roundabout way to explain why he is back on TV when time eventually comes to bring Brock Lesnar back.  Usually I like to see storylines through before I pass judgment, but this use of Brock Lesnar has become mind-numbingly stupid and incredibly annoying.  The more that I watch, the more I am convinced that the WWE does not know how to use Lesnar at all.  I would love to give WWE the benefit of the doubt and see if they can salvage this whole situation with Brock Lesnar, but at the moment with the way things are going I believe it would have been better if the WWE did not even sign Lesnar for this year contract.

Here We Go Again

Summerslam continued a trend that I have personally become very annoyed with.  For the umpteenth PPV in a row, the WWE Championship was not defended in the main event.  Personally, it is getting a little frustrating to seeing the WWE shaft CM Punk and the WWE Championship like that, but finally that trend looks to be ending.  With Night of Champions set to be in Boston this year, WWE is avidly looking to have CM Punk vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship as the main event of that show.  It is obvious that WWE Creative worked this shafting into the storyline, but it is nice to finally see the WWE Champion and his title getting the spotlight they so rightfully deserve.  With CM Punk turning into full-on heel mode by kicking Jerry Lawler in the back of the head last week, this clash between Punk and Cena should definitely get people excited and the crowds divided.  As long as CM Punk walks in and out of Boston as the WWE Champion, this wrestling fan will be happy.  Yes, it would be nice for John Cena to win the WWE Title in his hometown, but if the WWE wants to build Punk up as a huge heel for his eventual match with Rock at the Royal Rumble, he cannot drop the WWE Title just willy-nilly to the Face of the Company every other month.  I do not want to go through another game of WWE Championship Hot Potato that we went through last fall.  Another CM Punk vs. John Cena singles match may seem like déjà vu all over again, but if booked right and in front of a lively Boston crowd, this CM Punk vs. John Cena match could easily be one of the best matches of the year.

The Flawed Storm: Quick Preview of WWE Summerslam 2012

This year Summerslam has the tagline, “The Perfect Storm.”  This tagline has been used as hype for what was supposed to be the biggest match on the card, Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar.  Much like the build for this big match, the build for this year’s Summerslam has been flawed in my opinion.  WWE focused too much on hyping the 1000^th episode of Monday Night Raw that they forgot to put anything towards making people care about Summerslam.  Summerslam is suppose to be built as the second biggest PPV of the year behind WrestleMania, but for the last few years it feels like WWE has been treating it like every other PPV, which is not how you build one of the biggest shows of your year.  From top to bottom on paper, the card for Summerslam looks very good, but WWE has not done much of anything to make me or any other wrestling fan care about this card.  Out of all the matches on this card, the only feud that has gotten the proper attention and good build has been the Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler feud.  In all honesty, the Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler is the only match on the card I actually want to watch.  It is the one to watch as I can personally see these two stealing the show.

The Miz (c) vs. Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship

Prediction:  The Miz retains

R-Truth & Kofi Kingston vs. The Primetime Players for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Prediction:  The Primetime Players win the WWE Tag Team Championship

Kane vs. Daniel Bryan

Prediction:  Daniel Bryan wins

Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler

Prediction:  Dolph Ziggler wins

Sheamus (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship

Prediction:  Sheamus retains

Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar

Prediction:  Brock Lesnar wins

CM Punk (c) vs. Big Show vs. John Cena in a Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship

Prediction:  CM Punk retains

Much like last year’s Summerslam, WWE could possibly pull out a great PPV out of absolutely no build.  Right now looking back on the weeks leading up to this event, it has been quite frustrating that even with all the glimpses of greatness we have experienced with Raw’s move to three hours.  Summerslam is supposed to be built as the second biggest PPV of the year and it does not feel like that anymore.  Personally I am more excited for a regular PPV like Extreme Rules or Money in the Bank than I am for Summerslam and that is a huge problem, WWE. 

The Silver Report: August 5-11

It was a mixed week of wrestling in the WWE.  While Raw and Smackdown did have their ups and downs this week, there are a few moments and matches that were good to great that saved this week from being a complete and utter waste in my opinion.  We are a week away from Summerslam and I honestly bared hyped for this PPV whatsoever other than being excited to see Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler, but more on that later.  It seemed like WWE put all their resources into hyping Raw 1000 that they forgot to put any hype towards their second biggest PPV of the year, Summerslam.  With one week left, let us see if WWE can pull out a miracle and make us care about Summerslam this year.

Lesnar Is Coming to Get You

Considering the main WWE Championship storyline repeated what happened last week just with Big Show standing tall at the end of Raw, we will have to look at the Brock Lesnar-Triple H feud for the biggest story of the week.  Seeing as Raw was in San Antonio this past Monday, Shawn Michaels made a special appearance.  The main reason Michaels was at Raw was for Shawn Michaels Appreciation Night, which happened after Raw went off the air, but WWE also decided to inject Michaels into the feud between Triple H and Brock Lesnar.  Shawn Michaels made his way out to the ring and gave his take on the whole situation between his best friend and Brock Lesnar.  Shawn’s opinions got the attention of Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman as they made their way to the ring to confront HBK.  Paul Heyman’s attempts to convince Shawn Michaels was the superior athlete were futile as they only infuriated the Heartbreak Kid.  They infuriated Shawn to the point that he announced that he would be in Triple H’s corner at Summerslam.  This announcement did not sit well with Lesnar as he made his move to attack Shawn Michaels to only be stopped by Triple H.  Hoping to hold off the fighting for another day, Lesnar and Heyman made their retreat.  Before they left, Lesnar told Michaels that he will see him before Summerslam.  While I do think it was a good move for WWE to hold off until the go home Raw before Summerslam for Lesnar destroys Michaels, I personally did not like the execution.  Why would you blurt out your plan to your opponent and the whole world no less and completely destroy the element of surprise?  Now that Shawn and Triple H know what you are going to do this week on Raw, so how does Brock think he will be able to get away with it?  WWE could have easily had Brock make a gesture towards Michaels that insinuated that Michaels would not make it to Summerslam instead of the overly cartoony and unrealistic villain telling the heroes his plan.  Still it is a good hook for the Summerslam go home show, just the whole element of surprise is gone from an angle that could have easily stolen the show.

Y2J is Back, Baby!!

Ever since Dolph Ziggler made the mistake of saying Chris Jericho has lost his touch, the Show-Off has been made to eat his words.  After delivering numerous Code Breakers to the World Heavyweight Money in the Bank winner, Chris Jericho has gotten into Dolph’s head.  Case and point, Dolph Ziggler spent too much time concentrated on Chris Jericho on commentary this past Monday on Raw that Alex Riley rolled Dolph up to pick up his second win of the 2012.  This past Friday on Smackdown, the Highlight Reel, Jericho’s classic interview segment, made its’ return.  Along with the return of the Highlight Reel, came the return of a side of Chris Jericho that everybody has missed for a long time.  Some of Dolph’s insults really home with Chris Jericho as he has not been up to snuff in the big matches, so Jericho has welcomed his Y2J character back with open arms.  It did look like the WWE has been building for this moment for a month or so now considering Jericho’s increased use of his classic catchphrases.  Personally I love the return of Y2J as it gives an established face for the WWE to pull upon as a challenger for Dolph Ziggler’s eventual World Heavyweight Title reign especially with all signs pointing to their current feud ending at Summerslam.  Once Y2J made his return, Dolph Ziggler made his move, attacking Chris Jericho with the Money in the Bank briefcase.  This attack got Dolph some much needed payback on the man that has humiliated him these past few weeks.  With their match finally set in stone for Summerslam and the return of Y2J, this feud is easily the most interesting thing on WWE TV at the moment.

Sheamus vs. Del Rio Cancelled for Summerslam

In all honesty, I have not cared for this feud one bit.  There have been little glimmers of greatness, but things have gotten so drawn out and stop and go that it would be better if Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio went their separate ways.  I thought that until witnessing the events of this past Smackdown.  Back on Monday, Sheamus stole Alberto Del Rio’s car and went on a joy ride throughout San Antonio.  While the fact that Sheamus got away with grand theft auto with little to no repercussions is beyond me (logic is sometimes thrown out the window in the WWE), it lead right into the main event of Smackdown, which was suppose to see Sheamus defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio.  The match did not even start because these policemen came out and surrounded the ring.  At first, Del Rio told the policemen to stop walking towards the ring because he did not file that report with San Antonio police against Sheamus and that he wanted his chance to win the World Title.  As these supposed policemen got closer to ring, Del Rio begged and pleaded them to stop until the Mexican Aristocrat’s look of horror turned into a smile and he told his hired guns to attack Sheamus.  At first, Sheamus beat off the horde, but eventually the numbers became too much for the World Heavyweight Champion.  Sheamus succumbed to the overwhelming odds and Del Rio was left standing over a beaten down World Champion.  As result of what happened at the end of Raw, the Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio World Heavyweight Championship Match has been removed from the Summerslam crowd.  While did like that the WWE has put more heat on Del Rio with this beat down, it might be too late to do a whole cancelation angle seeing that Summerslam is only a week away.  If they go with entire different match, there will be no time to build anything and it would kill almost all the momentum Del Rio gained from this beat down.  The wise decision would be to add a No DQ stipulation to their match at Summerslam to capitalize on the heat generated toward Del Rio by this entire angle and make it that much more satisfying when the fans see Sheamus fight him at Summerslam.  We will have to wait and see what actually happens, but I do have to applaud the WWE for getting me interested in Shemus vs. Del Rio again.  Now hopefully they do not screw it up before Summerslam.

The Silver Report: July 29-August 4

As we enter August, we enter the final month that I will be posting regularly once a week.  Come the second week of September, I start university so I am going to be too busy to write a blog post every single day between two blogs.  I will talk about this situation in more detail when the time comes for the change, but I would like to give a little warning so I do not surprise anybody with the news.  Now with that news out of the way, let us get on with the regular scheduled blogging.

While not a home run, Raw 1001 was a success.  WWE successfully put on a rather good three hour show that had a great balance of promos and wrestling.  While there was a fair share of promos, they all felt like they had a purpose and were all fairly entertaining.  The main focus was on the wrestling as Raw 1001 had three matches that easily went well over the 10 minute mark.  If you can, you should go out of your way to watch the Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler and Miz vs. Christian and Chris Jericho.  Both easily among the best matches I have watched on Raw all year.  Raw 1001 did drag for a little bit thanks to incessant amount of recaps the WWE decided to put us through.  There was a recap for everything that happened on Raw 1000, a recap of the opening promo and recaps of those previously mentioned recaps.  It was overkill and hopefully next week, WWE does not bombard us with all those recaps.

CM Punk Embraces the Cult of Personality

The big question going into Raw 1001 was why CM Punk did what he did at the end of Raw 1000?  WWE made the right choice of kicking off Raw 1001 with Punk’s explanation.  In all honesty, I do believe WWE should have promoted this promo kicking off Raw on last week’s Smackdown instead of mere hours before Raw 1001 because it would have helped establish the new start time for Raw with the people who missed Raw 1000 or just forgot.  Nonetheless, CM Punk started off Raw with one incredible promo.  CM Punk called out Jerry Lawler over his call at the end of Raw 1000 saying Punk turned his back on the WWE Universe saying it was untrue.  Then Punk went on to say that The Rock disrespected Punk at Raw 1000 by making the show all about him and only recognizing Punk to say he has been handed a WWE Championship match at the Royal Rumble.  So Punk took it upon himself to give The Rock a sense of who The Rock will possibly be dealing with at Royal Rumble and ended Raw 1000 the same way every episode of Raw in Punk’s opinion should end with the WWE Champion standing tall.  It was a very effective promo that did not paint CM Punk as either a face or heel.  While CM Punk is leaning toward a darker side of his character, everything he said in that promo was true and to the point.  Maybe we are getting the slow reemergence of the renegade that dropped the Pipe Bomb heard around the World over a year, maybe we are getting a new incarnation of the classic heel Punk we all know and love.  Right now much like CM Punk’s first heel turn in the WWE, we have to patient because it will be a slow burn.  CM Punk will not show his true heel colours right away, it will take weeks, possibly even months before we see CM Punk’s heel turn is complete.  As evidence to the end of Raw where he attacked both Big Show and John Cena and his screaming at AJ, he is showing more and more heel qualities.  We will have to continue to watch Raw in order to see the end result.  So far CM Punk’s embrace of his own Cult of Personality is getting off to a great start.

The New Smackdown GM, Booker T.  Now Can You Dig That, Sucka?

On the 1000^th episode of Raw, AJ was named the new General Manager of Raw by Mr. McMahon.  That left many wrestling fans wondering who would be the General Manager of Smackdown.  Well we did not have to wait too long as Booker T was named the General Manager this past week on Smackdown.  Actually WWE broke the news of Booker T being named GM of Smackdown on their website on Tuesday in order to entice fans to tune into Smackdown and possibly stop the wrestling websites from spoiling the news.  The way things have gone with GMs for the past year, I am hoping Booker T and AJ stay the GMs for a while.  It gets very annoying to have a new authority figure every few months.  You stop to care who actually is in the role of authority figure when it changes at such a rapid rate.  Hopefully WWE starts to build Raw and Smackdown around AJ and Booker T as the authority figures for the coming year or so instead of having them be another set of GMs that last only a few months on the job.  The best thing with Booker T being the GM of Smackdown is that we will longer have to listen to his atrocious colour commentating on a weekly basis.  Rest in Peace Shuckey Duckey Quack Quack, we will not miss you.

Orton’s Return Complicates the World Title Picture

When you thought Heath Slater had no other purpose on Raw and Smackdown after the conclusion of the Raw Legends storyline at Raw 1000, the One Man Rock Band made his way down to the ring this past week on Raw to challenge any superstar in the locker room.  Lo and behold, Rev Theory’s Voices boomed from the speakers and out came Randy Orton.  Returning from his suspension, Orton squashed Heath Slater on Raw.  On Smackdown, Randy Orton faced Alberto Del Rio in the main event.  It was an okay match at best that saw Ricardo Rodriguez get involved, which caused Orton to get the win by DQ.  Following the match, Del Rio ate a RKO thanks to Sheamus throwing the Mexican Aristocrat back into the ring after the match.  Yes, Alberto Del Rio is set to face Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship at Summerslam, but there is one question that is my mind after the Orton’s return this past week.  What is WWE going to do with Randy Orton going into Summerslam?  With the way Smackdown ended, it looks like WWE will find some way to add Randy Orton to the World Heavyweight Championship match at Summerslam.  The only other possible match WWE can add for Summerslam is a No. 1 Contender’s match with possibly Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Kane and Daniel Bryan, which determines who will face Sheamus at Night of Champions.  The fact that Randy Orton is still booked as one of WWE’s most dominant superstars after two strikes against him (one more Wellness Policy infraction and Orton will be fired), I cannot see WWE leaving him off of the biggest PPV of the summer.  While I believe it would have been better to have had Randy Orton return after Summerslam, these are the cards the WWE has dealt all of us.  Let us see if they can get out of this complicated situation without making things more convoluted.

The Silver Report: July 22-28

The 1000^th episode of Raw has come and gone.  In the end, it was a very entertaining show that had incredible ups and very few lows.  It was a celebration of both Raw’s past, present and future.  It was nice to see the WWE take some time to make fun of themselves like the return of Mae Young and Mark Henry’s son all-grown up.  The 1000^th episode of Raw was easily the best 3 hour Raw the WWE has put on in years.  Now the question is if the WWE can keep each Raw from dragging each and every week now that it is permanently three hours long?  This next month will be the real test and I hope the WWE either brings the same passion and excitement they brought for this 1000^th episode that they do for the next 1000 or change the Raw back to a two hour show before the three hours damages the overall quality of WWE’s product.  For all wrestling fans, the 1000^th episode of Raw is a must-watch show.  Also make sure to watch this week’s Smackdown, it has some quality matches that deserve your viewing.

The Rock, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk Steal the Show

A lot of focus might have been on Daniel Bryan and AJ’s wedding on Monday, but it was what followed that wedding that really stole the show in my opinion.  After being stood up at the altar by AJ, who is now the new General Manager of Raw, Daniel Bryan was livid.  He would not leave the ring until AJ came back to the ring to apologize.  Instead CM Punk made his way down to the ring to rub salt into Bryan’s wound.  It did not turn out as Punk had expected as Bryan’s tirade on being the greatest wrestler of all-time brought out The Rock.  The Rock did his normal shtick, but added in one important detail.  The Rock will be challenging whoever the WWE Champion is come the Royal Rumble in Phoenix.  Then Rock went on to wish CM Punk good luck in his match against John Cena later on last Monday’s Raw.  Feeling a bit left out of the proceedings, Daniel Bryan interrupted Punk and Rock’s talk, which lead right into The Rock making of fun and laying out the American Dragon to end this incredible segment.  Seeing Daniel Bryan and CM Punk hold their own on the microphone with the Great One was an excellent moment.  It was easily the best segment of the night and the most fun I had while watching Raw 1000.

Triple H and Brock Lesnar, Summerslam

The 1000^th episode of Raw began with the full reunion of D-Generation X sans Chyna.  It was very fun and light-hearted segment that had some of the best superstars from the Attitude Era giving one hell of a rub to the up-and-coming Damien Sandow.  While Triple H did get to have some fun with old friends at the top of the show, things got serious when he came out to find out Brock Lesnar’s answer to his challenge for a match at Summerslam.  Triple H called out Brock Lesnar once again only to have Paul Heyman make his way to the ring.  Heyman reiterated yet again that Brock Lesnar would not accept Triple H’s challenge to a match at Summerslam.  Before Heyman could waddle backstage, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H’s wife and daughter of Vince McMahon, made her first appearance on Raw in a few years.  Stephanie got on the microphone and just torn into Paul Heyman.  At first, Heyman went back-and-forth with Stephanie in an incredible war of words, but eventually Vince McMahon’s little girl got under Paul Heyman’s skin.  Paul Heyman, in Brock Lesnar’s name, accepted Triple H’s challenge for a one-on-one match at Summerslam.  Once Heyman made the announcement and a few derogatory comments towards Triple H’s children, all hell broke loose.  Stephanie started beating the crap out of Heyman and Brock Lesnar made a mad sprint to the ring to fight Triple H.  At the end of segment, Triple H stood tall in the ring as Lesnar and Heyman would retreat backstage, but this is just the start of a feud that should escalate nicely in the next few weeks leading up to Summerslam.

Long Live Heel Punk

You knew WWE had something big planned for the very end of Raw 1000.  They needed a huge hook like the debut of the Nexus or CM Punk’s pipe bomb to get everybody excited to tune into episode 1001 of Raw.  There was a ton of speculation, but what we actually happened got caught many including me completely off guard.  Like expected the main event had CM Punk and John Cena put on a fairly entertaining one-on-one contest for the WWE Championship.  The only thing I personally did not enjoy was the disqualification ending to the match.  Personally I would of preferred a screw job finish with the Big Show costing John Cena the match, much like the false finish we had earlier in the match.  While the ref was knocked out, Big Show hit Cena with a huge spear, which gave Punk the opening to pick up the victory.  CM Punk, being a face, was conflicted over taking the easy way to victory or winning fair and square.  The time Punk spent reflecting gave Cena enough energy to kick out of the eventually pinfall attempt.  I can see why they went with the DQ ending because they want to extend CM Punk vs. John Cena until Summerslam.  I just believe things could have done differently to get the same great end result.  The ending I am talking about happens immediately after Big Show breaks the STF.  Big Show continues to beat down John Cena while CM Punk walks away with the WWE Championship in hand.  Seeing that nobody is coming to John Cena’s aid, The Rock sprints to the ring to plant the Big Show with a huge spinebuster.  When Rock goes for the People’s Elbow, CM Punk intercepts the People’s Champ with a thunderous clothesline.  With John Cena, Big Show and the Rock all laid out in the ring, Punk turns his back and walks down the ramp with a serious look on his face.  At first, I did not fully enjoy the ending of Raw 1000 as I thought WWE would put a bigger, more in your face cliffhanger than what actually happened much like the debut of Nexus.  It was very surreal and more thought-provoking cliffhanger ending that took a while for me personally to see it’s brilliance much like Shawn Michaels’ turn on Hulk Hogan way back in 2005.  I was surprised that WWE would turn CM Punk heel just a year after turning him face even though Punk works much better as a heel than he does as a face.  CM Punk’s heel turn was an excellent way to end the 1000^th episode of Raw off and it keeps fans wanting to see Punk’s explanation this coming week on Raw.  Great job WWE and long live heel Punk!!

The Silver Report: July 15-21

After months of hype, counting down each and every leading up to it, the 1000^th episode is finally upon us.  This momentous occasion has plenty of fans including yours truly excited to the point that WWE NEEDS to deliver with this show.  Not only to kick off the next 1000 episodes off with a bang, but to convince every wrestling fan that Raw’s move to three hours is really worth it.  In all honesty, I am quite skeptical that WWE can put on a consistently watchable product with Raw being three hours each and every week.  They have a hard time keeping many interested through the two hour shows.  Things can easily drag when you have three whole hours to fill with content.  Hopefully that does not happen, but I am still worried.  With the DX Reunion, Brock Lesnar’s answer, the naming of the new GM, AJ & Daniel Bryan’s wedding, the Rock’s message, the Intercontinental Title match and CM Punk vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship, the 1000^th episode of Raw is definitely stacked.  We will just have to see how everything turns out come Monday night.  While a little worried, I personally cannot wait to see what happens.

CM Punk vs. John Cena, WWE Championship, Raw 1000

To nobodies’ surprise, John Cena won the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match last Sunday at Money of the Bank.  That left one question that lingered throughout last Monday’s Raw.  When and where will John Cena cash in his Money in the Bank contract?  We would not find out until the very end of the show.  After Big Show got disqualified from his very good match against CM Punk, John Cena made his way to ringside with the Money in the Bank briefcase in tow.  We got a nice little exchange between Cena and Big Show where the Giant played devil’s advocate.  He kept on trying to convince John Cena to throwaway all his morals and cash in the Money in the Bank contract right then and there.  Eventually Cena got fed up and announced he will be cashing in his Money in the Bank contract this coming Monday at the 1000^th episode of Raw before cracking Big Show in the head with the Money in the Bank briefcase.  CM Punk and John Cena have incredible chemistry.  No matter what outside force gets involved in the match, it should be a very entertaining contest.  While I would personally like if the match went on without a hitch, the plans are to have John Cena vs. CM Punk for the WWE Championship at Summerslam.  To get us to that point, something big has to happen at some point during this match to start us on the road to the WWE Championship rematch at Summerslam.  The Rock, Big Show, whoever it may be, whatever happens at the conclusion of this match should be big and hopefully send us to Summerslam in style.

Can You Smell What the Rock Has Cooking?

About two weeks ago, it was announced that the Rock would be on the 1000^th episode of Raw.  This announcement led to lots of speculation.  The last time the Rock was on Monday Night Raw, he promised to become the WWE Champion once again.  Most people, me included, believe that Rock will announce when and where he will be challenging for the WWE Championship because WWE would most likely want to promote the holy hell out of that match like they did for Rock vs. Cena.  My prediction is that the People’s Champ will announce that he will challenge for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29.  That could set up Cena vs. Rock II, Brock Lesnar vs. Rock or even CM Punk vs. Rock depending on who is holding the WWE Championship come WrestleMania.  Other possible events where Rock could challenge for the WWE Title are either Summerslam or Survivor Series.  One of the Big Four PPVs other than Royal Rumble (as the actual Royal Rumble match would overshadow this WWE Title match) would be perfect for a match of this caliber.  Maybe the Great One has something else completely different to talk about this coming Monday.  No doubt the whole wrestling world will be listening to what the Rock has to say the 1000^th episode of Raw.

He’s Here to Show the World

While John Cena won the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match, Dolph Ziggler won the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match to the pleasure of yours truly.  Dolph finally has the one thing that could launch him to superstardom.  Now we just have to wait to see when WWE pulls the trigger, but until then we should see Mr. Ziggler hanging in upper card feuds.  One possible feud could be against Chris Jericho, who interrupted Ziggler’s victory speech last Monday on Raw.  Jericho came out and before he even got to speak, Ziggler jumped all over him.  Asking when was the last time Jericho won anything important and going on about how Jericho says he is the Best in the World and has done nothing in his latest run in WWE to prove it.  Dolph would continue to berate Jericho until the Liontamer shut the Show-Off up with a Codebreaker.  It was an excellent segment that planted the seeds for a match at Summerslam or even the 1000^th episode of Raw.  WWE could also put Ziggler into the World Title picture with Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio and the returning Rey Mysterio for a Fatal 4 Way match at Summerslam, but that would not be preferred.  I personally think that Dolph Ziggler should stay as far away from the World Title picture for the time being so he has the element of surprise when he actually cashes in the briefcase and he can have time to establish himself as a main eventer before being handed the title.  At this point and time, it is key to have Dolph Ziggler in meaningful feuds with upper mid-carders to main eventers like Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio and Christian which raise Dolph’s stock with the fans and in the WWE locker room.  It is Dolph Ziggler’s time to show the world what he can do.  WWE, it is on you not to screw this up.

Battle for the Briefcase: Preview of WWE Money in the Bank 2012

It has been a long while since I have been able to do a full preview of a WWE PPV.  It seemed for the longest time that every Sunday that there was a PPV, I would either be working or have some kind of family function.  I never would have the time to sit down a write an entire PPV preview.  It comes at the right time as my first PPV preview in the longest time is one of my personal favourite PPVs of the year, Money in the Bank.

This year, Money in the Bank has a lot to live up to.  Money in the Bank 2011 was easily the best PPV of 2011 and one of the most memorable shows in WWE history.  In order to solidify this PPV as a big player outside the Big Four PPVs (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Summerslam and Survivor Series), WWE needs to put on a good to great show this year.  While the four matches that have been announced are enough to sell any PPV, WWE needs to carefully balance the other matches they throw on the card.  Honestly nobody wants to see a Ryback squash match or a throwaway Diva’s Title match on any PPV.  If the WWE needs something that might fill some time, put on Epico & Primo vs. the Prime Time Players because they at least have a little feud going on or a return promo for Rey Mysterio and/or Randy Orton.  Just put on something that will be worth our time instead of completely wasting it like they have done at the last few PPVs.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Tensai vs. Damien Sandow vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Christian vs. Santino Marella vs. Sin Cara in the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Out of the Money in the Bank Ladder matches at this year’s Money in the Bank, this one is the most exciting.  While the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match is restricted to only former WWE Champions, the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match is open to any superstar.  That meant we got a very diverse level of talent in this contest.  Young talent like Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes, underappreciated talents like Dolph Ziggler and Tyson Kidd, high-flyers like Sin Cara comedy acts like Santino Marella and veterans like Christian and Tensai.  This match has all the bases covered and should be an exciting showcase for these superstars’ incredible wrestling abilities.  Unless Wade Barrett gets added to the match at the last minute, it is time for Dolph Ziggler shine in the main event.  The first step is winning this Money in the Bank Ladder match.  WWE, give Ziggler a chance to hold the ball because he will run with it.

Prediction:  Dolph Ziggler wins the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Briefcase

Sheamus (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship

It has take about three months to finally get a singles match between Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship.  Every time WWE booked the match for previous PPVs, the match would get changed at the last minute due to outside circumstances.  It is finally time to see these two heavyweights collide this Sunday with the World Heavyweight Championship in the balance.  With all the time this match has been changed previously, I personally believe Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio have out an added pressure on themselves to put on one amazing singles match.  Added Alberto Del Rio’s budding mean streak, which in my opinion he should have had since he debuted, this match should be a very competitive and equally intense title match.  So keep an eye on this match, it could easily steal the show.

Prediction:  Sheamus retains

John Cena vs. Big Show vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match

While I am excited to see the result for the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match, I do not care much for the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match.  Out of all the superstars in this match, who honestly thinks that John Cena will not walk out of Phoenix with the WWE Championship Money in the Bank briefcase?  It is a sad, but true.  With that big elephant in the room, my interest for this match has completely faded.  Do not get me wrong, this should be an incredible Fatal 4 Way Ladder match, but it is not what I would ever consider a Money in the Bank Ladder match other than the briefcase hanging above the ring.  If the WWE added two more former WWE Champions to the match, say Randy Orton and/or Rey Mysterio, I would personally be more interested because there would be that slight chance Cena would not win.  With the match in its current state, Super Cena will be holding that Money in the Bank briefcase at the end of the night and I will not care.

Prediction:  John Cena wins the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Briefcase

CM Punk (c) vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship with AJ as Special Guest Referee

One year after launching himself to superstardom with one incredible match in Chicago, CM Punk is in yet another Money in the Bank main event.  This year, CM Punk defends his WWE Championship against rival Daniel Bryan.  These two wrestlers colliding in a one-one-one match for the biggest prize in the biggest wrestling promotion in the world is a dream for any self-respecting wrestling fan.  We will no doubt be in for one amazing treat come the main event at Money in the Bank as these two will do everything in their power to put on a show that no wrestling fan will ever forget.  Add in the unpredictable element in the special guest referee, the mentally unstable diva AJ and we got one interesting bout that should provide an overbooked yet climactic conclusion to this storyline.  While I would not mind Punk retaining, I would love it if AJ’s madness was just a ploy to help Daniel Bryan win the WWE Championship from CM Punk and we get the Bryan-AJ power couple that we all want and would love.

Prediction:  Daniel Bryan wins the WWE Championship

If WWE can resist from adding anything stupid to Money in the Bank, this year’s event could possibly reach the greatness of last year’s show.  Smart booking, quality matches with the right amount of time and zero to no filler are the keys to keeping Money in the Bank from entering No Way Out 2012 territory.  On paper, this card is incredible.  We will have to wait until later this evening to see if this card is just as incredible in reality as it is on paper.

The Silver Report: July 1-7

I will admit this past week was the most fun I had watching WWE in a long while.  Raw was highly entertaining and left my brother laughing at the good and incredibly cheesy moments.  Even the No Holds Barred ad was so hilariously bad that we could not help but laugh.  While I did not watch the entirety of Super Smackdown, what I watched was great.  Easily the best live Smackdown WWE has put on in ages.  A very good thing considering Money in the Bank is only a week away.  We will just have to see how WWE brings it this week for the go-home shows to both Money in the Bank and the 1000^th episode of Raw. 

In the Hands of a Crazy Chick

By now everybody should that AJ is absolutely crazy.  Ever since Daniel Bryan dumped her back in April, there has been a screw loose in this young lady.  No more was that true than this week as the focus was clearly on the special guest referee for the WWE Championship.  A good thing in my opinion because this storyline is the most entertaining out of all of WWE’s programming.  Also the WWE Championship has got shafted for whatever John Cena was doing for the past few months; it did deserve all of the limelight it got this week.   AJ went through a lot on Monday from turning down Bryan’s sad attempt at tricking her to completely freaking out on Punk for not watching her match.  An unhinged AJ did not result in anything good for CM Punk and Daniel Bryan as both men ended Monday night by going through a table.  Everybody was looking for answers from AJ come Tuesday for Super Smackdown on why she put Punk and Bryan through a table on Raw, but nothing was answered.  Instead we were left with more questions as AJ played more mind games with Punk and Bryan by making out with both wrestlers before leaving Smackdown.  As long as all these questions are answered in a satisfying way at Money in the Bank, I am completely fine with WWE pulling us along a little longer.

More for Money in the Bank

As we move closer to the Money in the Bank PPV, the more anticipation there is for the Money in the Bank Ladder matches.  While WWE did tease that there may be more superstars added to the WWE Championship Money in the Bank, nothing came of the little tease.  It is sad because that match is lacking some star power that a returning Randy Orton and/or Rey Mysterio could easily fill.  While I do hope either one or both are added this coming week.  It does feel far little too late to add them to the match, but you never know.  The qualifying matches for the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match rolled on this past week on Super Smackdown.  Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler both qualified for the World Title Money in the Bank thus bringing the number of participants to seven.  We do not know for sure if there will be more qualifying matches this week on Smackdown.  Seeing as Zack Ryder is the General Manager this week, it is easy to believe that he will add himself to the match one way or another.  So far these matches should be exciting nonetheless.

Del Rio More Dangerous Than Ever

After months of teasing a one-on-one match between Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship, it will finally happen next Sunday at Money in the Bank.  Some wrestling fans might be not care anymore, but I do believe Sheamus and Del Rio will surprise us with a great singles match.  Now that he is back in the title picture, Del Rio has a drive many have not seen in a while.  The Mexican Aristocrat is more dangerous than ever as he hungers for the World Heavyweight Championship.  First on Raw, he completely demolished Sin Cara by attacking the luchador and hooking in the Cross Arm Breaker before the bell rang.  Then on Smackdown, Del Rio took Sheamus for a ride as he slammed the hood of his car down on Sheamus quite a few times.  Del Rio’s attack on Sheamus caused the World Heavyweight Champion to withdraw from the Great American Bash Battle Royal that was held later that night.  We will have to see how this injury plays into their title match next Sunday.  The attack showed the champion that Alberto Del Rio is not a challenger that you take kindly.  He is a vicious and sneaky competitor that will try to win at all costs.  It should make for a highly entertaining title match at Money in the Bank.

The Silver Report: June 24-30

We are right into the summer months and things look to be kicking into gear.  As WWE moves closer to Money in the Bank, the more interesting the WWE seems to get.  Last year, Money in the Bank solidified its spot in WWE’s PPV schedule with possibly the best PPV in years.  This year the wrestling world is hoping for another great show and so far things are looking good.  When a PPV has not one, but two multi-man ladder matches, there just needs to be a few great singles or tag team matches to wrap everything together.  Depending what the card is, I am seriously debating going to see Money in the Bank.  Two ladder matches, solid singles matches for the WWE and World Championships, a good Diva’s Title match and a decent tag team title match and I will be sold.

Former Champions Only

The biggest news from Raw this past week was the announcement of the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match.  There will no longer be a ladder match for each brand, now there will be a ladder match for each title.  The WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match is only open to former WWE Champions and this year only four superstars will compete in it.  John Cena, Big Show, Kane and Chris Jericho are the participants in this year’s match for the WWE Championship briefcase.  While it is neat and concept, the main purpose of the Money in the Bank Ladder match is to get up-and-coming talent over in the main event scene.  Some excellent examples are Edge, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan.  With all former champions in the mix, it does not give a chance for a younger guy such as Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston or Brodus Clay a chance to shine.  The talent in this match should be able to put on an excellent ladder match, but there is no real reason to have this match be for the Money in the Bank briefcase.  From the looks of things, this match will serve as an excuse to get John Cena back into the WWE Title hunt as he will most definitely be winning.  Well there is no way Chris Jericho, Kane or the Big Show are winning if Super Cena is in the match.  Another gripe I have with the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match is that it is more or less a glorified Fatal 4 Way Ladder match.  Every Money in the Bank Ladder match before this match had at least six wrestlers in the match.  It should be hectic, but nothing as crazy as past Money in the Bank Ladder matches.  Hopefully WWE adds at least two more former WWE Champions to the mix, say Rey Mysterio or Randy Orton, to make this match a little more interesting.

All for the World Heavyweight Money in the Bank

While the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match is only for former WWE Champions, the World Heavyweight Money in the Bank Ladder match is open to everyone.  This past Friday on Smackdown saw five superstars qualify for the World Heavyweight Money in the Bank Ladder match.  The five lucky superstars were Damien Sandow, Tyson Kidd, Santino Marella, Christian and Tensai.  So far a good mix of superstars in this match, but I cannot wait to see who will qualify this coming Tuesday on the special Great American Bash live Smackdown.  The rumour is that there will be four more qualifying matches this Tuesday on Smackdown, which will bring the number of participants to nine.  Add one more surprise entrant say in the return of Wade Barrett and you got an even ten men in what should be an incredible showcase of talent.  Personally I do hope that Dolph Ziggler will qualify and win the World Heavyweight Money in the Bank briefcase.  Dolph is just on the precipice of the main event and that Money in the Bank briefcase just may be exactly what Dolph needs to break that glass ceiling.  All-in-all, the World Heavyweight Money in the Bank Ladder match looks much more promising than the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match. 

CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan II at Money in the Bank

Well, I guess WWE creative reads the Silver Report.  Just last week, I hoped that we would get CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship over another Triple Threat Match between Punk, Bryan and Kane at Money in the Bank.  After pinning CM Punk in a Triple Threat Elimination Match this past Monday on Raw, Daniel Bryan has been granted one more singles match for the WWE Championship in a few weeks at Money in the Bank.  All WWE has to do now is make CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan II for the WWE Championship the main event of Money in the Bank and I will be in heaven.  CM Punk and Daniel Bryan have incredible chemistry from their times in Ring of Honor and given the spotlight and time of the main event, they could produce something just as or more incredible as my current Match of the Year, Undertaker vs. Triple H from WrestleMania.  With the addition of AJ as the special guest referee, this match looks like the climax of this Punk vs. Bryan feud.  Come Money in the Bank, we will know who AJ sides with, who will leave Phoenix with the WWE Championship and who is the better wrestler between CM Punk and Daniel Bryan?  All these questions should be answered in an incredibly climactic showdown in the desert that all wrestling fans should go out of their way to watch.

The Silver Report: June 17-23

One week removed from No Way Out, one week closer to Money in the Bank.  It is the first week of summer.  It is scorching hot, very humid and wrestling has hit a crucial part of the year.  The summer months can either make or break how fans feel about said year.  Case in point, 2010 was a mediocre year for WWE and a lot of it was due to the mishandled Nexus storyline that permeated the summer of 2010.  On the flip side, last year the WWE had a phenomenal summer headlined by one the best storylines in years as Punk held the WWE for ransom.  While 2011 had its ups and downs, it was very good year altogether mainly thanks to WWE’s own Summer of Punk.  Summer 2012 has not started that great for the WWE with a lackluster No Way Out PPV and a Raw that started off great, but ended horribly.  We still got two more PPVs and the 1000^th episode of Raw to go before this summer is over.  We will have to see if things get better from here.

Where Does WWE Go From Here?

With John Laurinaitis fired and Big Show demonsterfied, honestly where can the WWE go from here?  Going into No Way Out, we were at the point where Laurinaitis’ reign over Raw and Smackdown was looking to take off.  For the past few months, Laurinaitis seemed to have been coming into his own and becoming a character you love to hate almost on the level of Vickie Guerrero.  Every time he got close to taking that next step, there would be Triple H, Vince McMahon or John Cena to knock him down a peg.  If you want a heel General Manager takeoff, you have to give him full reign to be a complete utter ass to everyone and everything.  Abusing power, making the every faces’ life a living hell, benefitting the heels these are things that a heel General Manager needs to do every single week.  We did get some of it, but it seemed like things were about to get going when WWE decided that John Laurinaitis will not be the GM of Raw and Smackdown anymore.  He just got all this power two and a half months ago and now it is all flushed down the toilet due to McMahon’s short-sided booking.  Yes, this development is supposedly leading into Laurinaitis being in Brock Lesnar’s corner at Summerslam.  Honestly why should John Laurinaitis be in Lesnar’s corner when Paul Heyman should be in Brock Lesnar’s corner?  The question is where WWE goes next.  Big Show is set to be in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match and feud with Brodus Clay, but nobody really cares about the Big Show after losing the Steel Cage match anyway.  John Cena is rumoured to face CM Punk for the WWE Championship at Summerslam and go onto be a big part of the WWE Title picture for the next part of the year (something this writer is not excited about at all).  Right now all I can really say is that I am sick and tired of the WWE and World Heavyweight feuds being overshadowed by all these stupid bloody storylines involving Cena and hope this summer these feuds get a chance in the main event limelight.

WWE Championship Love Quadrangle

Speaking of the WWE Championship feud, this weird yet highly entertaining feud is the best thing on WWE television lately and it has not ceased to entertain.  At No Way Out, CM Punk got the better of Daniel Bryan and Kane thanks to a big distraction for WWE’s resident crazy chick AJ to retain his WWE Championship.  No Way Out was not the end of it as we got even weirder moments from AJ this past week.  On Raw, she skipped her way down to the ring in a full-on Kane costume, which distracted the Big Red Monster and Daniel Bryan enough for CM Punk and Sheamus to pick up the victory.  Then on Smackdown, AJ tricked Bryan into thinking he caused Kane to submit to the Yes Lock by hitting the ring bell while he had the hold locked on Kane.  AJ’s trick would cost Bryan the match as Kane hit the chokeslam for the win.  With Money in the Bank coming up fast, it makes this writer wonder if WWE will have another Triple Threat Match between these three superstars or see a straightforward one-on-one match for the WWE Championship.  While I am personally hoping for CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan to main event Money in the Bank, it will most likely be the former.  The key to this feud and crazy love quadrangle is Little Miss Crazy AJ Lee.  Who she finally allies with will be the key to how this feud is remembered for the years to come. 

Ziggler’s Time

He is here to the show the world and he is here to show you now.  For the past few years, Dolph Ziggler has been caught up in as many stop-and-start pushed as Kofi Kingston has tag team partners.  Everytime it looks like the Zig Zag Man looks to be on the cusp of breaking the glass ceiling, Dolph gets dropped right back to mid-card purgatory.  He has the charisma, he has the look and he definitely has the wrestling talent to be a star in the WWE, but this company just cannot see it.  Well hopefully no more.  After Alberto Del Rio supposedly went down with a concussion last week, Ziggler won a Fatal 4 Way Elimination Match to get the honours of challenging Sheamus for the World Title at No Way Out.  Even in defeat, it was said Dolph put on one incredible match with the Great White at last Sunday’s PPV event.  This Monday saw Dolph Ziggler drop the extra baggage that was Jack Swagger as he beat the All American American for the right to have Vickie Guerrero as his manager.  While I personally would have liked if he dropped Vickie too and went solo, it is a step in the right direction nonetheless.  Finally on Smackdown, Dolph Ziggler got a non-title rematch against Sheamus.  The match was absolutely incredible as both superstars traded moves for a good 12 minutes (it felt longer than that when I watched it).  The match did end with Dolph’s shoulders pinned to the mat after one insane Brogue Kick that came from absolutely no where.  In the end, Dolph Ziggler came out of this week looking like a million bucks in that ring with the World Heavyweight Champion.  Hopefully this week is a sign of great things to come for Dolph Ziggler this summer.  We will have to see as Vickie Guerrero will be the Guest General Manager of Raw and Smackdown this coming week.

No Escape: Quick Preview of WWE No Way Out 2012

It seems like there is a new WWE PPV in June each and every year as the WWE tests the water for another PPV in the first month of summer with the return of No Way Out.  Back in 2009, WWE got rid of the classic PPVs including No Way Out, Blacklash and Vengeance for generic gimmick PPVs such as Fatal 4 Way, Hell in a Cell and Elimination Chamber.  Only a few of these gimmick PPVs were actually successful to keep around each year.  Quite a few were scrapped on a yearly basis.  Now here we are a few years after WWE made the stupid decision of getting rid of the No Way Out name for the ever generic and incredibly boring new title Elimination Chamber, No Way Out is back and a shell of its former self.

You have to feel a little sorry for WWE considering all the suspensions and injuries that have fallen upon them this last month.  Right after Over the Limit, No Way Out looked to have some great potential with some great feuds like Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton, Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan that would definitely be highlighted on the card.  Now we are left with a card that is completely underwhelming.  Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler should be good as the WWE needs to use this match as the point to launch Dolph Ziggler into the main event finally and the Triple Threat Match for the WWE Title should be interesting match which should extend the Punk vs. Bryan feud into the coming months.  Big Show vs. John Cena looks to be interesting as the WWE has done everything to make people want to watch by adding stipulations on top of stipulations.  Personally I am hoping the WWE has some sense not to put Cena over as it would make the last month they spent building the Big Show to be a monster a complete waste.  The rest of the card is okay.  Other than the Tuxedo Match between Santino and Ricardo, a match that should not even be on the card.

Christian (c) vs. Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental Championship

Prediction:  Christian retains

Layla (c) vs. Beth Phoenix for the Diva’s Championship

Prediction:  Layla retains

Sheamus (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler for the World Heavyweight Championship

Prediction:  Sheamus retains

Santino Marella vs. Ricardo Rodriguez in a Tuxedo Match

Prediction:  Santino Marella wins

CM Punk (c) vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane in a Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship

Prediction:  Daniel Bryan wins the WWE Championship

John Cena vs. Big Show in a Steel Cage Match; If Show loses, John Laurinaitis is fired and if Cena loses, he is fired

Prediction:  Big Show wins thus John Cena is fired

In short, WWE No Way Out 2012 looks to be a definition of a throwaway PPV.  None of the matches jump out and excite you, this card could perfectly fill a three hour Raw and WWE has done nothing to truly build the PPV to be anything special or even different than the other dozen PPVs they put on in the year.  Unless you really want to see one of the big championship matches or the Steel Cage main event, it is easier to just save your money for Money in the Bank or Summerslam than watch this Sunday’s No Way Out PPV.

No Post This Week

It has been one busy week for yours truly more than usual.  With a whole lot of hours at both jobs, watching the big E3 trade show and posting articles on E3 for my video game blog, I have had absolutely no time to watch wrestling this week.  I only got to see the last 45 minutes of Raw and only highlights of Smackdown, so I do not have enough knowledge of the week's events to really write my thoughts on this week in the world of wrestling.  The CM Punk vs. Kane match, which I only saw a fraction of, from Raw was the only thing I found fun out of my little time watching wrestling.  It did not seem like a noteworthy week and from the looks of things, No Way Out does not look like a noteworthy PPV.  We will have to see what this week brings as we will be getting a 3 Hour Raw as the go-home show for No Way Out.  While I like to post something every week, I do not feel up to it or really have the time to invest in writing a new edition of the Silver Report.  To make up for not posting an actual wrestling article this week, I will  post two articles one upcoming weekend when I have more time.  It maybe a review or even a preview alongside a new edition of the Silver Report.  Thank for reading this update and I hope you understand.  If you have an interest in video games, take a look at all my posts about E3 2012 over at silvergamebit.blogspot.ca.

The Silver Report: May 27-June 2

Hope everybody enjoyed my review of WrestleMania 28.  Now we are back to regular scheduled programming.  Two Sundays ago, WWE put on what has been said to be the best Over the Limit event out them all.  While not perfect, the show was said to offer a good amount of quality wrestling especially the World Title Fatal 4 Way and Punk vs. Bryan.  Those are two of the reasons I will most likely be picking Over the Limit up when it releases on DVD next month.  Since Over the Limit it has been an eventful couple of weeks as WWE builds towards the return of No Way Out in two weeks.

Big Show’s Path of Destruction

Only two weeks ago, Big Show was out of a job thanks to John Laurinaitis.  Only two weeks ago, Big Show turned heel as he helped Mr. Laurinaitis beat John Cena in the main event of Over the Limit.  While a predictable turn of events, I was honestly surprised that WWE would go this direction with Big Show.  I thought he would stay the jolly giant character he has played the last two years until he inevitably retired.  At first, I did not care about Big Show’s turn, but it has grown on me considering how the WWE is building him like the monster he should be.  This week, Big Show was booked in a match with the Funkasaurus Brodus Clay.  It was an intriguing match as it looked like Brodus would get some actual competition for once, but that never happened as Big Show hit Brodus with a huge spear before the match.  What followed was an incredible beatdown as Big Show continually hit Brodus with the side of the announce table, bounced R-Truth off the wires of the ring ropes and threw Kofi Kingston through the ringside barricade.  Big Show’s path of destruction continued on Smackdown as well.  Big Show attacked Santino Marella and Zack Ryder after their match against Darren Young and Titus O’Neil.  The devastation Big Show left was a message to his opponent at No Way Out, John Cena that Big Show means business this time around.  While it is yet another feud between Big Show and John Cena, it will be interesting to see how their Steel Cage Match at No Way Out turns out.  Are they building Big Show only to get squashed under the weight of Super Cena or are they going to continue to build Big Show as Mr. Laurinaitis’ monster?  Only time will tell.

The Big Red Monster Joins the WWE Title Picture

A few weeks ago, Daniel Bryan introduced Kane into his feud with CM Punk when he tricked the Big Red Monster into attacking CM Punk as Kane thought Punk hit him with a steel chair, where in reality it was Bryan that hit Kane.  The following week on Raw, Punk got even with Bryan as he tricked Kane into attacking Bryan by handing the American Dragon a steel chair while Kane was not looking.  These events led to Mr. Laurinaitis booking CM Punk vs. Kane for the WWE Championship this past Friday on Smackdown.  The match was a back-and-forth affair that saw CM Punk and Kane give it their all.  The match seemed to be going without a hitch until Daniel Bryan showed up.  First Bryan tried to distract Punk while he was on the top rope, but that did not work out for the American Dragon.  His second attempt to interfere in the match did work as Bryan hit an impressive missile dropkick on both Punk and Kane (one leg for each superstar) causing the ref to stop the match as a result of a no contest.  The brawl did not stop though as Punk and Bryan went at it before Kane came in and hit them with a double chokeslam.  This crazy series of events would come to an end when Mr. Laurinaitis would roll on out in his People Power scooter and announce that the WWE Championship match at No Way Out will be a Triple Threat Match between CM Punk, Kane and Daniel Bryan.  While I and many others would have loved to see another CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan singles match, this Triple Threat Match should be a very fun affair considering how great these three have been the last few weeks on both Raw and Smackdown.  Also this Triple Threat Match will draw out the CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan feud even longer and could possibly set-up for another singles match at Money in the Bank or even Summerslam. 

Once in a Lifetime: Review of WWE WrestleMania 28

When something is hyped up so much, it is extremely hard for it to live up all the hype.  John Cena vs. The Rock along with WrestleMania 28 had close to a whole year of hype, the only question was could it live up to this incredible amount of hype.  Built as the greatest WrestleMania of all-time, WrestleMania 28 was supposed to blow every wrestling fan’s expectations.  If you were hoping for WrestleMania 28 to be the greatest WrestleMania, you would have been incredibly disappointed.  If you kept your expectations realistic like yours truly, WrestleMania 28 was an entertaining show that was a little better than last years’ anticlimactic event. 

Where most of the big matches at WrestleMania 27 did not live to the hype, the top matches at WrestleMania 28 sure did other than Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus, which was only given 18 seconds.  John Cena vs. The Rock was great though the wrong guy went over, CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho started out a little slow then built into an incredible technical match with one incredible ending and last, but not least Undertaker vs. Triple H was just legendary, easily the Match of the Night and possibly the Match of the Year.  Undertaker vs. Triple H is well worth the price to buy this PPV on iTunes or on DVD, it is that amazing.  The rest of the card is hit or miss.  Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus was disappointing only because WWE gave them 18 seconds, Kane vs. Randy Orton was a good back-and-forth match, Big Show vs. Cody Rhodes was just plain boring, the Divas Tag Match was the definition of sloppy wrestling and Team Johnny vs. Team Teddy was a highly entertaining match that could have been a bit better if it went a little longer.  From top to bottom, WrestleMania 28 was a mixed bag, but overall an entertaining four hour wrestling PPV.  It is by no ways the greatest WrestleMania of all-time; also in no ways is it the worst. 

Sheamus def. Daniel Bryan to win the World Heavyweight Championship

Rating:  5/10

Kane def. Randy Orton

Rating:  7/10

Big Show def. Cody Rhodes to win the Intercontinental Championship

Rating:  5.5/10

Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos def. Beth Phoenix & Eve

Rating:  2.5/10

Undertaker def. Triple H in Hell in a Cell

Rating:  10/10

Team Johnny def. Team Teddy

Rating:  7.5/10

CM Punk def. Chris Jericho by submission to retain the WWE Championship

Rating:  9/10

The Rock def. John Cena

Rating:  9/10

Overall, WrestleMania 28 is a good entertaining PPV.  It did not live up to the massive hype that WWE put on it, but still pulled out to be a better show than my least favourite WrestleMania, WrestleMania 27.  The top three matches on the card all delivered in spades and should not be missed by any wrestling fan.  At the end of the day, WrestleMania 28 is worth watching or even owning on DVD or iTunes.  My rating for WWE WrestleMania 28 is 7.5 out of 10.

The Silver Report: May 13-19

Due to the fact that I am running late on a lot of things, I am going to merge my Over the Limit preview with this week’s edition of the Silver Report and postpone my review of WrestleMania 28 until next weekend.  Also with all the humongous news that was announced earlier this week, there was no way that I would not do a Silver Report to give my two cents about these big news stories in the pro wrestling industry.  Before I get to the huge news, let us run down my predictions for WWE Over the Limit that is live right now.

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Prediction:  Kofi Kingston & R-Truth retain

Layla (c) vs. Beth Phoenix for the Diva’s Championship

Prediction:  Layla retains

Sheamus (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton in a Fatal 4 Way Match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Prediction:  Sheamus retains

John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis

Prediction:  John Laurinaitis wins

CM Punk (c) vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship

Prediction:  CM Punk retains in what should easily be Match of the Night

TNA Impact Goes Live This Summer

It has been a long time since I have talked about anything TNA related on this blog due to the fact I stopped watching back last November when I got fed up with the product.  I still follow PPV reports and such so I do have a rough idea what goes on in TNA, but not enough to really talk about anything.  Well I got something to talk about today.  To celebrate this coming summer, TNA is making some more changes to Impact.  Starting May 31^st, TNA Impact is moving to an 8 o’clock start time and going live every single week.  That might sound pretty cool, but there is one catch Impact will be live from the Impact each and every week and also all further PPVs including Bound for Glory will be held in the Impact Zone.  For longtime TNA fans or off-and-on fans such as yours truly, limiting TNA to just the Impact Zone is a horrible decision.  The fans in the Impact Zone are so long past burnt out of TNA’s product that they do not offer the best and most honest crowd response.  If TNA decided to drop some PPVs and go live and in a different location each and every week, I believe that would draw the crowds that would produce an excellent atmosphere for the show.  Remember when TNA got out of the Impact Zone last year to do tapings for TNA Impact?  That was awesome as it felt like a breath of fresh air.  Going live might be the next step for TNA, but they also need to get out of the Impact Zone just as bad.  If they don’t, it will most likely become evident very quick that the fans there are not into TNA’s product, so why should we tune in to watch?

Raw Goes Three Hours Come July 23^rd

We got even bigger news this week as WWE announced Monday Night Raw’s 1000^th show this July 23^rd (one day after my birthday).  It was obvious that for this huge celebration that this Raw would be three hours long, but no one saw the next announcement coming as John Cena tweeted that Raw will be three hours long permanently starting July 23^rd.  For any wrestling fan, Raw going three hours is huge news and is extremely polarizing.  Some are saying it will be a great addition to the show and give more exposure to underutilized wrestlers and more time for matches while others are saying it will cause the complete destruction of professional wrestling.  I can see why people fall into the latter seeing WCW Nitro did that over a decade ago and it was one of the reasons WCW is no longer around today, but I can see why some are hopeful.  I personally fall on the side that thinks that making Raw three hours long is a bad idea.  When Raw is bad or mediocre, the show does drag on even at the regular two hours.  Also the recent three hour Raws have been nothing short of atrocious for the past year.  None of them have delivered since the three hour Raw WWE had back in November 2010 for King of the Ring.  What makes people think WWE can book a three hour show every single week if they cannot do it every once and a while?  We can speculate all we want right now, but we will all have to wait until the three hour Raw takes its’ course to see if it is a success or utter failure.

The Silver Report: May 6-12

Border Wars this weekend and Over the Limit this coming weekend.  It is a busy week in wrestling.  Also WrestleMania 28 finally comes out on DVD here in Canada tomorrow so there will be no Silver Report for next week.  In the place of the Silver Report will be my review of WrestleMania 28 along with a quick preview for Over the Limit.  It has been a busy week so this week’s Silver Report will be a little shorter than usual.

Don’t Cross the Boss

With John Cena not at Raw this past week, John Laurinaitus focused his attention on putting the rest of the WWE roster on notice.  The GM of both Raw and Smackdown made it clear that whoever does not respect him and also makes fun of his voice will face severe consequences.  First, Big Show made fun of Laurinaitus’ voice and was humiliated in front of the entire WWE Universe by Eve.  Next was CM Punk, who Laurinaitus booked in a Handicap Match against Lord Tensai and Daniel Bryan in the main event.  Punk fought valiantly against the No.1 Contender to the WWE Championship and Laurinaitus’ hired wrecking ball, but ultimately came up short as he fell to Tensai’s claw.  In preparing to face Cena at Over the Limit, Laurinaitus has sent a message to the entire locker room.  Don’t cross him or face the consequences.  We will just have to see what happens tonight on Raw.

Heyman is Back, Lesnar Quits

Ever since Lesnar came back to the WWE, many fans have been anticipating the return of Brock’s longtime manager, Paul Heyman.  These fans finally found out as Paul Heyman made his surprise return to WWE last week to read a statement from his client, Brock Lesnar.  To sum things up, Brock Lesnar has “quit” the WWE.  In order to keep Lesnar off of WWE programming for a while and not use up all his dates, WWE has decided to go this route with the story.  I have no doubt that is building towards Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H at Summerslam, but how we get there is up in the air.  I do believe that Paul Heyman will play an integral part as he will be Brock’s voice while Lesnar is kept off of TV and PPV.

Everybody Wants a Shot at the Great White

On this past Raw, there was a tag match with Sheamus and Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio and Chris Jericho.  It was a heated contest that saw Jericho getting the pinfall victory over the World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus.  After the match, everything broke down Laurinaitus’ office as Jericho, Orton and Del Rio all were bickering over who deserved a shot at the World Title.  Laurinaitus solved the problem by making the World Title match at Over the Limit a Fatal 4 Way.  While feeling just thrown together just for the sake of it, this Fatal 4 Way match should be excited considering the talent in the match.

The Silver Report: April 29-May 5

One week removed from what has been considered the best WWE PPV since last year’s Money in the Bank.  Chicago seems to bring out the best in the WWE.  Every PPV should be in Chicago at this rate.  Last Sunday’s Extreme Rules was one eventful night that saw both CM Punk and Sheamus defend their titles in two highly praised matches and Cena nearly beat Brock Lesnar in a bloody confrontation.  While I was a little disappointed that Cena went over Lesnar, I am going to make sure to pick up Extreme Rules on DVD when it comes out to see this great PPV for myself.  The fallout from Extreme Rules dominated WWE programming this week as we move closer to Over the Limit, which is just two weeks away.

Johnny Cracks

Raw opened with one heated segment involving John Laurinaitus, Triple H and Brock Lesnar.  Triple H was at Raw to address Brock’s unreasonable terms that Laurinaitus agreed to the week before.  The COO of the WWE put his foot down and that did not satisfy Brock.  Brock and Triple H came to blows which ended when Lesnar hooked in the Kimura and broke Triple H’s arm.  Just like that after all of Laurinaitus’ hard work in building Lesnar to be the face of the WWE, Brock blew a gasket and seemingly got himself fired.  Left in a state of shock and panic, Laurinaitus turned his attention to John Cena as he would announce Cena’s opponent at Over the Limit at the end of the show.  John Cena came out to the ring in a sling as his arm was hurt during his match with Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules.  Immediately following that Laurinaitus came to the ring to announce Cena’s opponent.  At first everybody thought Lord Tensai would be Cena’s opponent because the wrestler formerly known as A-Train made his way to ring after Laurinaitus came to the ring.  WWE tricked us all as Laurinaitus hit Cena over the head with the microphone before announcing that he would face John Cena at Over the Limit.  While I know that this match will be far from a technical masterpiece, I have been waiting for somebody to finally get their hands on Laurinaitus since Cena hit Mr. People Power one of the stiffest clotheslines during his match with Punk at last years’ Money in the Bank PPV.  It will most likely be an overbooked mess, but I personally believe it will be a very entertaining overbooked mess.

CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, WWE Championship, Over the Limit, the Internet Has Exploded

If the title does not make the Internet Wrestling Community collectively mark out, I don’t know what will.  Many hardcore wrestling fans have been waiting to see CM Punk and Daniel Bryan face-off on WWE PPV ever since the WWE signed Bryan back in 2009.  While I personally would really love to see this match main event WrestleMania someday, WWE did the smart thing of putting this match on what is mostly considered a throwaway PPV in the minds of many wrestling fans including yours truly.  It gets wrestling fans that would usually skip Over the Limit to keep watching Raw to see the build and possibly order the PPV to see this one match.  We will have to see how WWE builds this match in the next two weeks, but CM Punk and Daniel Bryan have a long history from their time in ROH to their matches from earlier this year that WWE can pull material from to perfectly build this match as the main event of Over the Limit even in such a short time. 

A War Is Coming Across the Border

It has been a long time since I have mentioned anything about Ring of Honor on the Silver Report.  With how busy I was these last six months, I stopped watching ROH because I never really had much time to watch ROH on my computer.  About a month ago, I found out that Fox 29 (channel 28 on my TV) had ROH on Sunday nights at 11.  So I have gotten back into the swing of things with this great wrestling promotion just in time for their biggest iPPV of the year, Border Wars.  Next Saturday at the Ben Reeves Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ROH will bring one of their biggest cards of 2012.  Roderick Strong vs. Fit Finlay, The Briscoes vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team in a Fight Without Honor for the ROH Tag Titles, Lance Storm vs. Mike Bennett, Eddie Edwards vs. Rhino, Michael Elgin vs. Adam Cole and Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa fill out the incredible undercard.  The main event goes to possibly the most anticipated ROH World Championship Match of 2012 in Davey Richards vs. “Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare” Kevin Steen.  Being that this match is Kevin Steen’s only chance at the ROH Title, this match should be off the charts and see the Canadian Kevin Steen walking away with the ROH Title around his waist.  I am personally cheering for Kevin Steen because I can see ROH becoming a lot more interesting with Steen as World Champion.

WrestleMania Hangover: Quick Preview of WWE Extreme Rules 2012

No matter what happens at the biggest show of the year, there is always some sort of fallout.  Each year the PPV immediately after WrestleMania is used as the place to blow-off to many of the feuds that hangover from WrestleMania in order to make way for new feuds and storylines for the months to come.  This blow-off makes the PPV immediately after WrestleMania be it Backlash or Extreme Rules as exciting as WrestleMania itself.

Much like WrestleMania, most of the excitement for Extreme Rules comes down to one match, John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar.  WWE has done a pretty good job of building this budding feud between the Face of the WWE and Laurinaitus’ handpicked Face of the WWE.  Considering how big this match is, this writer thinks WWE will find a way to keep it going for the next few months than have a definitive winner this Sunday at Extreme Rules.  Along with Cena vs. Lesnar, WWE has packed Extreme Rules with what looks like some great bouts.  With the amazing Chicago crowd, there is a high probability that Extreme Rules will turn out to be one of the best PPVs of 2012.

Randy Orton vs. Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere Match

Prediction:  Randy Orton wins

Nikki Bella (c) vs. Beth Phoenix for the Divas Championship

Prediction:  Nikki Bella retains

Big Show (c) vs. Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental Championship

Prediction:  Cody Rhodes wins the Intercontinental Championship

Sheamus (c) vs. Daniel Bryan in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match for the World Championship

Prediction:  Sheamus retains

John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar in an Extreme Rules Match

Prediction:  Match goes to a No Contest

CM Punk (c) vs. Chris Jericho in a Chicago Street Fight for the WWE Championship

Prediction:  CM Punk retains

Great build, solid six match card and one of the hottest wrestling crowds in North America, WWE Extreme Rules has everything going for it.  We will just have to wait this Sunday evening to see if the WWE executes on this incredible situation.  Personally my hopes are high for this PPV considering the conditions and the top three matches on the card.  Nonetheless it should be an exciting night of wrestling to say the least. 

The Silver Report: April 15- 21

I have been a very busy week for yours truly with working two jobs and writing for two blogs.  Did not even get to watch Smackdown due to how busy I am.  This week saw the WWE go to Europe for their annual tour that always takes place after WrestleMania.  Raw was a really good show and I don’t know how Smackdown was, but I believe it was much better than Super Smackdown from the week before.  This coming week is the last week before next Sunday’s Extreme Rules PPV so hopefully we get two good go-home shows that properly build this great card.

Just Not Cena’s Month

April just has not been John Cena’s month.  He lost to The Rock on the Biggest Stage of Them All and Brock Lesnar and his signature F-5 have laid him out for two straight weeks now.  What could have gone wrong for the Face of the WWE this week?  To prepare for his match against Lesnar at Extreme Rules, John Cena was put into an Extreme Rules Match with an opponent of John Laurinaitus’ choosing.  To John’s dismay, Mr. People Power chose Lord Tensai, who has ran through his opponents the last two weeks on Raw, to face John Cena.  It was a highly competitive back-and-forth match as Lord Tensai and Cena traded moves.  Not much of an Extreme Rules Match as we say no weapons enter the match at all, but a really good main event nonetheless.  Right when John locked in the STF on Tensai, David Otunga hit the ring to break the hold.  Otunga did break the hold, but was on the receiving end of a big Attitude Adjustment.  With Cena pre-occupied with Otunga, Lord Tensai got some time to catch his breath before spitting green mist right into Cena’s eyes.  The green mist stunned Cena long enough for Tensai to hit his devastating sit-down powerbomb finisher for the win.  While it was another devastating loss for Cena, Lord Tensai needed the win much more than the self-proclaimed Champ as WWE tries to build him as their newest monster.  Now things get interesting for Cena as this month has been the most vulnerable he has been in about a decade.  It is strange; Cena no longer feels like the superhero the WWE has built him up to be.  He feels like a normal human being and it is the most interesting he has been in years.  We will have to tune into Raw this week to see if John Cena’s luck turns around or if his bad luck continues.

Punk Vanquishes the World’s Strongest Man, Moves Onto Y2J

After weeks of losing to Mark Henry via count-out and disqualification, CM Punk had to put-up or shut-up this Monday on Raw as he faced off with Henry in a No DQ, No Count-Out Match for the WWE Championship.  Personally, I was quite surprised this match kicked off Raw because I thought WWE would have saved it until later in the show, but it came as a nice change of pace as Raw starts with a promo most weeks.  With Chris Jericho as a distraction, Punk focused at the task at hand, taking down the World’s Strongest Man and retaining his WWE Championship.  Punk and Henry fought back-and-forth trading blows, holds and chair shots.  This match was not one of the most extreme No DQ Matches in the world, but Punk and Henry used enough chairs to justify putting the stipulation on the match.  Seeing as Mark Henry is a hefty fellow, there was no way Punk was going to lift him up for the GTS.  Neither did they follow the trope some these big man, little man matches have when the smaller guy tries to lift the bigger guy early in the match, but fails then miraculously is able to lift them in the ending moments to hit their finisher for the win.  Instead Punk went to his tribute to the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage to finish Mark Henry with a little bit of a twist.  Punk went to the top rope after hitting his signature high knee bulldog combo with a chair in hand.  Punk hit a variation of the flying elbow while holding onto the chair on Henry for the 3 count.  CM Punk vs. Mark Henry was another highly entertaining match from this past Raw that those who missed it should check out.  After Punk’s victory, Chris Jericho appeared on the Titantron to announce Cm Punk vs. Chris Jericho in a Chicago Street Fight for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules and to try and get under Punk’s skin yet again.  Considering that Extreme Rules is in Chicago, this match should blow off the roof next Sunday.  I am really hoping Punk vs. Jericho will be the main event over Cena vs. Lesnar because this match could be one of the best of the year.

3 Hour Raw, But For What Occasion?

Well tomorrow’s Raw is going to be a 3 hour extravaganza.  Usually WWE has themes for their 3 hour Raws to make them seem more special than a normal 2 hour show, but nothing has been announced for this 3 Hour Raw and it seems a little weird.  Normally after WrestleMania, WWE likes to shake-up the roster with the annual draft, which usually takes right before or right after Extreme Rules.  Yet nothing has been even mentioned about the draft.  Making me think it might happen a little later this year, as I do not think WWE will have two 3 Hour Raws in a row.  They have done it before so it will not surprise me if they announce the draft will be the Raw after Extreme Rules.  The only thing announced for the show is a contract signing for John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules.  It will be interesting to see how WWE fills the rest of the show.  Hopefully it will be as good as the last few Raws have been because this is the best Raw has been all year.