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Welcome to the Silverdome. A place where one man looks at the wonderful and intricate world of Professional Wrestling.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The End of the World: Preview of WWE Royal Rumble 2012

The biggest and most anticipated match of the year is finally upon us.  In mere hours, the wrestling world will be captivated the WWE’s grandest of battle royals.  Who will be the one superstar to outlast 29 other men and possibly women to main event WrestleMania in the WWE or World Title Match?  Will the world as we know it come to an end as Chris Jericho predicted or will the hometown hero be victorious?  All those questions will be answered along with incredible surprise entrants and returning legends as the 2012 Royal Rumble will emanate from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis later this Sunday evening. 

John Cena vs. Kane

It is time to put up or shut up.  Will John Cena embrace the hate or rise above it?  Over the past month, Kane has done everything in his power to make John Cena’s life a living hell from mentally abusing the Leader of the Cenation to physically abusing the people he cares about.  Expect a full-on brawl between these two heavy-hitters with John Cena blowing a gasket and getting himself disqualified.  Even though everyone wants to see Cena turn heel, I personally believe it will slowly develop over the next year or so, but there is no doubt this will be the start of this inevitable turn.

Prediction:  Kane wins by DQ

Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Big Show vs. Mark Henry in a Triple Threat Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Considering he was such a great underdog character, it seemed odd when Daniel Bryan turned heel a few weeks ago.  Over the past few weeks, Bryan has really grown into his new skin and has made for one of the more unique and interesting heels on the WWE roster.  Being a fighting champion, Bryan has defended the World Title against Mark Henry and the Big Show quite a few times over the past month escaping from defeat from the skin of his teeth.  Now locked in a steel cage with two gigantic monsters, it will be fun to see how this new Daniel Bryan escapes from this match with his World Heavyweight Championship still around his waist.

Prediction:  Daniel Bryan retains

CM Punk (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship with John Laurinaitus as Special Guest Referee

It started out very slow, but these last few weeks have seen this CM Punk vs. John Laurinaitus feud hit its boiling and has it ever been great.  The WWE is building to the moment when CM Punk just clocks the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw.  It could possibly happen during Punk’s match-up with Dolph Ziggler at the Rumble as Johnny Ace serves as the special guest referee.  Speaking of Dolph Ziggler, he has really been put on the backburner by most wrestling fans.  It might not seem like Ziggler can win the title without the help of Laurinaitus, but do not count this showoff out.  Ziggler is on the verge of breaking the glass ceiling to the main event and a great showing against Punk could be his big chance to do so.  With all the talent and story, this match could possibly steal the show.

Prediction:  CM Punk retains

30-Man Royal Rumble Match

Going into this years’ Royal Rumble, there are two names that standout as potential winners of the Royal Rumble.  The first potential winner being Randy Orton as WWE rushed back from injury to make the Royal Rumble in his hometown of St. Louis.  The second potential winner is Chris Jericho because the WWE has put such emphasis on Jericho’s return and the payoff for Jericho’s mysterious actions.  Like every year, anything can happen during the Royal Rumble so expect a lot of surprises.  Personally I think that Jericho will win the Rumble and onto face CM Punk for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 28.

Prediction:  Chris Jericho wins

The Royal Rumble is the very first road stop of one of the best seasons of the year, the Road to WrestleMania.  Pressure is on the WWE to start the Road to WrestleMania 28 with a bang.  Looking at the card, the WWE can possibly do it given that each match is given the proper amount of time.  As with every year, whatever happens at the Royal Rumble with set in motion the feuds and rivalries that will take centre stage for the next two months.  So wrestling fans fasten your seatbelts, it will be a bumpy, but exciting, road to the goal. 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Top 5 Royal Rumble Matches

Out of all the gimmick matches in all of wrestling, one stands above them all as the most consistently great.  That match is the annual Royal Rumble match that WWE puts on at their annual Royal Rumble Pay-Per View.  30 men enter, only one man leaves with a WWE/World title shot at WrestleMania.  It is a match like no other and has delivered some of the best moments in wrestling history.  Upon the 25th anniversary of this spectacular match, this writer would love to share with all of you his Top 5 Royal Rumble Matches of all-time.

5.  2010 Royal Rumble Match
Each year the Royal Rumble leaves wrestling fans with incredible moments that get their blood pumping and heart beating and this Rumble was full with them.  CM Punk’s early dominance and preaching of his Straight-Edge lifestyle, Beth Phoenix eliminating the Great Khali by using her womanly ways and the one that made me jump out of chair in absolute amazement, Shawn Michaels superkicking Triple H right out of the Royal Rumble.  Those moments were all great, but one stood above them all as the one that will forever define the 2010 Royal Rumble in the minds of wrestling fans around the globe.  That moment was when Edge returned to the WWE as the 29th entrant in the Royal Rumble and would eliminate Chris Jericho and John Cena to win the Royal Rumble.  The return of the Rated R Superstar made for one amazing Rumble that just breaks the Top 5.

4.  2009 Royal Rumble Match
You know when a Royal Rumble match is among the best of all-time when the close to 60 minute bout seems to fly by.  That was exactly what happened with the 2009 Royal Rumble Match.  For the first Rumble this writer saw, the ring was filled to capacity with superstars fighting for the illustrious prize of main-eventing WrestleMania.  The 2009 Rumble saw some of the funniest moments in Rumble history with Santino’s record breaking elimination from the Rumble (he lasted less than a second before getting eliminated), Ziggler’s elimination after introducing himself to Kane and Rey Mysterio using the Miz and Morrison’s backs to avoid elimination.  When the dust settled at the end of a hectic Royal Rumble, Randy Orton stood tall as the sole survivor and the man who would main event WrestleMania 25.

3.  2005 Royal Rumble Match
15 Raw superstars, 15 Smackdown superstars battled it out in one of the most brutal Rumble matches in recent memory.  2005 was the beginning of a new era for the WWE as the Post-Attitude Era was coming to a close and the Modern Era was just starting.  The two heralds of this new era were the men who by a twist of fate or just coincidence were the last two superstars in the 2005 Royal Rumble.  Decapitating clotheslines, fearsome punches and devastating finishers all lead to “The Animal” Batista going nose-to-nose with the “Doctor of Thuganomics” John Cena.  After a furious battle between the two future main eventers and a double elimination, Batista overpowered a young John Cena and won the Royal Rumble.  What an incredible Royal Rumble to go with the best Royal Rumble PPV event in years.

2.  2011 Royal Rumble Match
Literally the Biggest Royal Rumble in WWE history, last year the WWE added 10 more superstars to make an incredible 40-Man Royal Rumble Match.  Many wrestling fans worried that that changing the Rumble from 30 to 40 superstars would hurt the quality of the annual spectacle.  It did not hurt it in the least; actually adding 10 more superstars made for a much more exciting match with quite a few surprises such as the returns of Booker T and Kevin Nash and amazing moments such as John Morrison’s incredible near elimination spot.  WWE definitely saved the best for last as it looked like Alberto Del Rio won the Royal Rumble by eliminating Randy Orton only for the referee to tell him that there was another competitor left in the match.   As Del Rio argued with the ref, Santino Marella, who was knocked through the bottom rope thus avoiding elimination, set up for the Cobra, which he would hit when Del Rio turned around.  Craziness ensued as the crowd in Boston went nuts as Santino celebrated hit the Cobra.  Santino would then try to throw Del Rio over the top rope only for the Mexican Aristocrat to use Santino’s momentum to send Santino flying over the rope.  What an ending for a superb Royal Rumble Match.

1.  2007 Royal Rumble Match
All these matches listed before are amazing matches in their own right, but none of them hold a candle to, in this writer’s opinion, the greatest Royal Rumble of all-time.  It was built as the most star-studded Royal Rumble in WWE history and they were not kidding.  From top to bottom, the 2007 Royal Rumble was stacked with superstars from Raw, Smackdown and the newly revived ECW.  This Rumble had everything from great wrestling to extreme weapon and table spots to hilarious moments such as Gregory Helms throwing his towel right in the face of Matt Hardy upon entering the Royal Rumble Match.  No Royal Rumble moment past or present will ever be better than the pure excellence of wrestling that took place in the last five minutes of this match, which this writer likes to call “5 Minutes in Heaven.”  With everyone else eliminated, Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker were only two competitors left in the Royal Rumble Match.  The Deadman and HBK showed that they were two of the greatest wrestlers to step into a ring as they put on a wrestling clinic in those last five minutes.  HBK and Taker traded finishers until Undertaker would avoid Michaels’ superkick thus sending the Heartbreak Kid over the top rope to the floor below.  It was a beautiful ending for one unforgettable Royal Rumble Match.  No doubt that the 2007 Royal Rumble deserves the top spot on this list.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Holy Cow Batman, It's John Cena!!: Review of WWE Royal Rumble 2008

With the Royal Rumble only a few weeks away, I want to take the next few weeks to build up to the big event.  The Royal Rumble match is one of my favourite matches of the year, making the Royal Rumble PPV usually one of my favourite PPVs of the year.  So for this week, I will put up my review of the 2008 Royal Rumble PPV with a few edits.  Make sure to come back next week as I will countdown my Top 10 Royal Rumble matches of all-time.

Standing in Cinema 1 trying to decide whether I should buy this PPV or not.  I already bought Backlash 2009 and The Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin for a grand total of 20 dollars (got to love 2 for 20 dollar sales at HMV) and Pokemon SoulSilver the day before for 40 dollars.  I was a little worried that I might have spent too much money on things that I wanted, but did not need.  Well after sitting down and spending close to 3 continuous hours watching Royal Rumble 2008, I am glad to say that was 15 dollars well spent.  I might have said this statement before, but I will say it again.  The Royal Rumble is one of my favourite PPVs of the year, mostly because I am a sucker for the annual Royal Rumble match (they are always very fun matches to watch).   Even though there were a couple of moments that were not up to snuff in my opinion, I really enjoyed this PPV and believe every wrestling fan should watch it at least for John Cena’s incredible return as the 30th entrant in the Royal Rumble match.

Ric Flair def. MVP in a Career Threatening Match
Rating:  6.5/10

JBL def. Chris Jericho by DQ
Rating:  7.5/10

Edge def. Rey Mysterio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship
Rating:  9/10

Randy Orton def. Jeff Hardy to retain the WWE Championship
Rating:  8.5/10

John Cena last eliminated Triple H to win the 2008 Royal Rumble Match
Rating:  10/10

Overall, Royal Rumble 2008 is a really good, enjoyable PPV.  The opener was just okay and the stupid Raw-like segment with Ashley, Maria and Santino should not have been on the show.  Though these two moments were sour points on this PPV, the greatness of the other matches on the card made up for those blemishes.   My rating for WWE Royal Rumble 2008 is 8 out of 10.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

It Begins: Chris Jericho Returns 1-2-12

For the past month leading up to last Monday’s Raw, the WWE had been showing these cryptic vignettes that focused on 2012, the end of days.  These vignettes had a little school boy prophesying the return of a wrestler, who would be the harbinger of the apocalypse.  First, these vignettes were only found through links that showed up on the WWE’s ever so annoying “Trending Now” graphic and then they started appearing on Raw interrupting other promos or segments.  Speculation about who was behind these vignettes ran rampant.  Chris Jericho, Undertaker and even Brock Lesnar were all speculated at one point or another to be returning on the second day of 2012.  So last Monday when the last vignette played on to the Titantron and lights went out in Memphis, fans in the crowd and at home got on their feet in anticipation of who would emerge at the top of the stage.

Then out of the darkness came a figure of a person with their arms stretched out and their back turned towards the rings.  Pyro would then go off and the familiar lyrics of “Break Down the Walls” rang through the arena as the figure turned around to reveal Chris Jericho as the man behind the It Begins vignettes.  Chris Jericho had come back to the WWE and everyone was excited.  For the next ten minutes or so, Chris Jericho would celebrate his return with the fans.  High fiving fans around ringside, playing to the crowd, listening to their chants and having a lot of fun.  Whenever it came to speaking on the microphone, Jericho would stop for one moment then go back to celebrating with the crowd.  After a little while, Jericho would make his way up the ramp, pose to the crowd and leave as some fans starting booing him.  It was a very unique segment to say the least.  Honestly at first, I was quite disappointed with Chris Jericho’s return, but after a little bit of thinking I am going to reserve judgment on this segment until I see how everything comes together in the coming weeks.  This segment could be complete genius or stupidity; it all depends on how things go with Jericho’s return in the coming weeks, possibly months.  At least this segment provided the WWE a hook to keep fans tuning in, in order to see Jericho’s true intentions.  It has been rumoured for a while now that Chris Jericho will be facing CM Punk at WrestleMania for the WWE Championship.  How we get to that point, this writer does not know, but it will be interesting to see nonetheless.  Considering how dark the It Begins vignettes were, it would look like this nice Jericho we all saw this past Monday on Raw was just a façade to hide his true intentions.  Also Jericho has said that he would not return to the WWE retreading the same gimmicks he used in the past, so expect this Y2J-like character to not last long.  Another note about Jericho’s possible new character, in the later It Begins vignettes the young boy speaks of she who holds the mystery of his rebirth, the one when he beckons her he will return to claim what is his.  The question is who or what is this mysterious temptress?  Honestly I think the boy is speaking of the WWE Championship calling Jericho to reclaim it for himself and could possibly lead to Jericho’s feud with Punk in the near future.

Jericho’s return left more questions than answers for the WWE Universe.  While I personally do not think all will be answered tomorrow on Raw, I am looking forward to see how this storyline develops over the next little while.  No matter what is going on, it is great to have a phenomenal talent in Chris Jericho back in the WWE to entertain us whatever way he can.  Heel or face, we can all agree that this incarnation of Chris Jericho will be like no other we have ever seen before.  

Sunday, January 1, 2012

2011 Silverdome Match of the Year

Happy New Year everyone!  With another year over, it is time to look back at the year that was and pick what was the best of 2011.  For professional wrestling, 2011 was an improvement over a lackluster 2010, but it was an up-and-down year nonetheless.  2011 started with a lot of quality wrestling leading into WrestleMania then things seemed to level off until WWE started the Punk Leaving angle during the summer then things leveled off again in September and that lasted for the rest of the year.  Since I started this blog last January I had my Silverdome Match of the Week articles highlighting the best match of the week.  With 2011 over, it is time to give out the Silverdome Match of the Year award to the best match of 2011.  As with every year, there is a lot of stiff competition, but only one match will come out on top.  The nominees are Austin Aries vs. Zema Ion vs. Jack Evans vs. Low Ki from Destination X, Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio in a Ladder Match from Extreme Rules, the 40-Man Royal Rumble Match from Royal Rumble, the Smackdown Elimination Chamber Match from Elimination Chamber and CM Punk vs. John Cena from Money in the Bank.  And the winner of the 2011 Silverdome Match of the Year is… CM Punk vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank!!  To celebrate this match, let us take a trip back in time and look back at this phenomenal match.

After a full month of build, the match every fan eagerly anticipated happened July 17th at Money in the Bank in Chicago.  The crowd in Chicago was on their feet as their hometown hero; CM Punk battled the defending WWE Champion, John Cena for the illustrious title.  The atmosphere in the Allstate Arena was just electric as the crowd was completely engrossed in this match.  The match started out quite slow with both Punk and Cena trying to get a feel for one another.  These early moments of the match consisted of quite a few holds and lock-ups and many series of reversals between Punk and Cena.  About halfway through the match things started to pick up when Punk and Cena started to pull out their big hitters.  CM Punk and John Cena started throwing everything and the kitchen sink at each other.  Punk hit not one, but two stiff knees while Cena was leaning against the ring ropes before hitting his signature knee into a bulldog combination.  That was later followed by Cena pulling out his top rope leg drop on two separate attempts, which he connected on the second attempt.  We got some excellent back-and-forth action that kept everyone in the audience and at home on the edge of their seats.  CM Punk would later get Cena back by hitting the GTS.  Unfortunately for Punk, his knee connected with Cena’s ribs instead of his head, which caused Cena to fall out of the ring.  Trying to get the win, CM Punk would try to connect with the GTS yet again.  This time Cena would reverse the move into the STF.  With the Chicago crowd cheering him on, Punk used every ounce of strength in his body to pull himself towards the bottom rope.  Cena would thwart Punk’s attempt to break the hold by dragging the Straight-Edge Superstar to the middle of the ring and locking in the STF again.  When it looked like Punk ran out of luck, he reversed the STF into the Anacoda Vice, but Cena would escape the hold.  Eventually Cena hit Punk with the Attitude Adjustment that caused the Punk fans around the world to cringe.  As the refs hand went down for the three count, Punk’s arm shot up and with that the Punk faithful in Chicago cheered at the top of their lungs.  The loudest cheers I have personally heard since Shawn Michaels kicked out of that thunderous Tombstone back at WrestleMania 25 (when J.R. had his out-of-body experience).  In an effort to put Punk away, Cena hit a second AA on a tired CM Punk and again Punk would kick out.  After about 30 exhausting minutes, Mr. McMahon and John Laurinaitis made their way down the ramp.  As soon as John Cena locked in the STF, Vince called for the WWE belt and the bell to be rung.  He sent Laurinaitis to make sure of it.  Laurinaitis was making the turn around the ring when John Cena intercepted the Vice President of Talent Relations with a thunderous clothesline.  Before getting back in the ring, Cena gave one disappointing glance McMahon’s way.  Once Cena made it back into the ring, CM Punk was there to hit a glorious GTS to put an end to this classic.  With a CM Punk win and a chaotic ending along with some excellent wrestling and storytelling, CM Punk vs. John Cena will always be remembered as the best match of 2011 and one of the best moments of the decade.  It capped off on incredible Money in the Bank PPV event, which personally is my PPV of the Year, and showed why we all love wrestling.  In the last 365 days there was not another match with this much great wrestling, storytelling and emotion, John Cena vs. CM Punk is no doubt the 2011 Match of the Year.

Well it has been a fun 2011.  I like to thank everybody who has supported the Silverdome over the past year.  I have been busy as of late with work and my video game blog so I have not been able to been able to give my full attention to the Silverdome.  When everything settles down, I hope I can really start putting together some big posts considering my favourite season of the year is coming up very very soon.  So hope everybody had a happy and safe New Year and let us have a fun 2012 together.