Hell on Earth: Preview of WWE Hell in a Cell 2011

Here we are once again.  You might think that this writer seems like a broken record, but in all honesty I have to state what I feel.  Again the WWE has done a horrible job of building a PPV.  It might not be a surprise yet it has to be stated.  We are only two weeks removed from Night of Champions and the WWE has done close to nothing to convince fans to pay another forty to fifty dollars on a PPV. 

The WWE has announced five matches for the event and done little to build their importance on this card.  It would have been so much easier to have a three hour Raw with this exact card than have another PPV.  It would definitely give the WWE more time to build to their next PPV, Vengeance, which will be in three weeks time.  Also the WWE would not have to further tarnish the reputation of the once great Hell in a Cell match.  You cannot throw just any two competitors into that steel structure, the feud between those two superstars has to be worthy of the Cell.  The fans have to believe that these two superstars NEED to settle their differences in Hell in Cell.  Ever since the WWE started the Hell in a Cell PPV back in 2009, no feud has been worthy to be put in the Cell.  Not to say there were any good matches that took place in Hell in a Cell during the last two events, there has, but none of them have felt like they needed to be in Satan’s Structure.  At the moment, there is not much going for this year’s edition of Hell in a Cell.  We will just have to see if WWE can make this Sunday’s event that originates from the New Orleans Arena much more than a throwaway PPV.

Blue Mask Sin Cara vs. Black Mask Sin Cara

There is only room in the WWE for one Sin Cara, so this Sunday at Hell in a Cell both Sin Caras will battle to determine who deserves the right of being the real Sin Cara.  This match should be one great high-flying show, which is perfect for the opening match.  You have to give the WWE credit where credit is due.  The WWE has done a great job in giving each Sin Cara its own colour scheme.  This addition will definitely prevent confusion for all those watching this match.  It looks like this feud has only started so expect the evil Black Mask Sin Cara to triumph over the Blue Mask Sin Cara to continue this feud between luchadors.

Prediction:   Black Mask Sin Cara

Mark Henry (c) vs. Randy Orton in a Hell in a Cell Match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Want to know what feud would have been perfect for Hell in a Cell?  That feud is Randy Orton vs. Christian.   The feud’s intensity got to the point that it deserved to be in the Cell.  All the WWE needed to do was keep Christian off of all WWE programming until the Smackdown after where he would challenge Orton to a final match in Satan’s Structure.  It also would have had plenty of build due to Orton and Christian’s history.  This writer believes it would have been an incredible match, but we are left with Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton for the World Title.  It should be a very physical match.  The only thing is that this match does not even deserve to be a Hell in a Cell match.  It would have been much better to have a No DQ match instead.  Just hope Mark Henry retains because this writer is getting seeing Orton as World Heavyweight Champion.

Prediction:   Mark Henry retains

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

For the third straight PPV we have a match between Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly and for the third straight PPV this writer will hope Beth Phoenix wins the Diva’s Title.  What once inspired so much excitement from the WWE Universe has completely fell flat in the WWE’s attempt to create the Diva’s version of John Cena.  There are only so many times us fans can watch Kelly Kelly beat Beth Phoenix with a sunset flip.  If Beth Phoenix does not win at Hell in a Cell, this writer will officially give up on the Diva’s division until Kharma makes her return next year.

Prediction:   Beth Phoenix wins the Diva’s Championship

Christian vs. Sheamus

The WWE has been hinting at a match between these two for a month now and it has now come to fruition.  Other than both men costing each other a shot at a championship, be it the World Title or Intercontinental Title, there has not been much animosity between Sheamus and Christian.  It feels like WWE Creative just thought, “Hey, Sheamus is a face and not doing anything and Christian is a heel and he’s not anything either.  Let’s throw put them in a feud.”  Even though this match and feud seems like it was thrown together because the WWE could not think of anything better to do with these two superstars, it should be a pretty good match.  Expect Sheamus to get the win in order to push the Celtic Warrior towards an evident World Title match.

Prediction:   Sheamus wins

John Cena (c) vs. CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio in a Triple Threat Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Championship

This match should have been the main event for Night of Champions considering the way Summerslam ended.  Sadly to our displeasure, the WWE decided to jump the gun on CM Punk vs. Triple H and we were left watching Cena bury Alberto Del Rio and his main event status.  Now with no way to build a worthy main event, the WWE decided to keep things quick and easy by announcing this match as the main event for Hell in a Cell.  Like Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton, this match does not need to be in Hell in a Cell.  With the talents of CM Punk and Del Rio carrying Cena, we should be in store for one great main event.  We will just have to see if these three can make this Triple Threat match a great Hell in a Cell match.   Later this month the WWE will be heading to Mexico to tape Raw and Smackdown, so expect the Mexican Aristocrat to win the WWE Title.

Prediction:   Alberto Del Rio wins the WWE Championship

Personally, I have not seen a successful wrestling PPV with only two weeks of build, so it is extremely hard to get excited for Hell in a Cell.  When talking wrestling, never say never because you will never know how things turn out.  The WWE could possibly pull it off, but chances are slim.  Unless you really enjoyed Night of Champions, there is not much reason to pay another 50 dollars to watch WWE Hell in a Cell 2011.

Top 10 Pissed Off Moments in Wrestling

Anger is defined in the dictionary as a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong.  In all our years of enjoying any sort of entertainment, be it watching a movie, reading a book or playing a video game, there are moments that just piss us off so much that steam almost blows out of our ears like in cartoons.  In honour of Super Cena’s 10^th WWE Championship win this past Sunday at Night of Champions, this writer is going to look at his personal list of the top moments in wrestling that pissed him off a lot.

10.  King Booker vs. Batista on Smackdown

All the way back in 2006, this writer had only watched wrestling for two full years and was a little naïve.  Naïve enough to believe anything the WWE promoted as being great.  He cheered for all the faces and booed all the heels no matter what.  So when WWE pushed this Summerslam rematch between Batista and King Booker as the biggest match ever on Smackdown, he believed it.  To his dismay, the match floundered to point it was hard to watch.  Batista was pushed to the point that it seemed like Booker had no chance, so when the King pulled out the cheap victory it sucked the life out of the match and pissed this writer off to no extent. 

9.  3/3/11

TNA has had a tendency to rip-off the WWE quite a bit.  So this act might not have surprised most people.  But when TNA promotes it as “The Most Shocking Surprise of the Year” (TNA’s words not mine), no one expected TNA to blatantly copy a big angle from the WWE.  Yes, people speculated that Sting was involved the WWE’s 2/21/11, so TNA probably wanted to capitalize on the extra publicity Sting was getting.  The video was very similar to the WWE’s initial 2/21/11 video, but with horrible TNA production values.  Instead of hyping people, such as this writer, for Sting’s return (which actually was spoiled before the Impact broadcast was over), it ticked a lot of them off that TNA would sink so low to blatantly copy the WWE’s original idea rather than giving their fans an actual surprise.

8.  Ric Flair Wrestles on Impact

Back in March of 2008, the WWE gave one of the greatest wrestlers in the business Ric Flair a beautiful retirement.  When Shawn Michaels beat Flair to end the Nature Boy’s wrestling career, Flair said that he would never wrestle again.  As a fan of wrestling, you figure out quickly that there really is no retirement in professional wrestling, but when a wrestler says he will never wrestle again, some people like yours truly believe that.  Personally I believe Shawn Michaels will never wrestle again, but that is another story.  So the fact that Flair would go to TNA and wrestle not one, but a good number of matches felt like a slap in the face to all those who believed what the Nature Boy said those few years ago.  Retirement in pro wrestling may not be final, but a man even the Dirtiest Player in the Game should stick by whatever he says no matter when or where he said it.

7.  The Great Khali Wins the World Heavyweight Championship

Here we get to the good stuff.  Back in the summer of 2007 when Edge went down with an injury, the WWE thought of the ingenious idea to put the World Heavyweight Championship on this lumbering idiot.  Smackdown was not in the best shape.  Many of the big superstars on Smackdown like Rey Mysterio, Mark Henry and Undertaker were all out with an injury.  So you might think to yourself that they did not have much of choice, but in reality they actually did.  The WWE could and SHOULD have put the title on either Batista or Kane.  No, the WWE decided to put one of their major titles on a giant who had zero charisma and would not know how to put on a good match even if it bit him on the ass.  This title change was one of the many reasons why the summer of 2007 will go down as one of the worst summers in wrestling history.

6.  Sheamus Wins 1^st WWE Championship

Timing, it is such a huge thing in professional wrestling.  It can make or break any storyline, push or even wrestling match.  So who in the hell thought that Sheamus was even ready to hold the WWE Championship after less than a year in the WWE?!  Sheamus was supposed to be built as a monster yet all he did was beat up guys like Jamie Noble and Santino Marella.  So WWE tell me why should the fans even believe this green rookie could beat or even deserved facing the Face of the WWE for the WWE Championship?!  To make things worse, Sheamus beat John Cena for the WWE Title by shoving him off the top rope causing Cena to fall through a table.  What an awesome way to put over a supposed monster, WWE.  Yes, now Sheamus is an excellent superstar and deserves the main event status he has earned.  But back in 2009, we wrestling fans did not like seeing the Celtic Warrior shoved down our collective throats the way the WWE did.

5.  Undertaker vs. Kane in Hell in a Cell

This match is a prime example that the ending of a match can make or break it.  In the Hell in a Cell’s bloody history, there have been some horrible matches, but this one takes the cake and it was all thanks to its craptacular ending.  So let me explain it to you in detail, so you can feel the same anger that I felt after watching this crap.  Undertaker went for the Tombstone Piledriver on Kane and as Taker went for the move the lights dimmed and pyro started going off on the stage.  If you think that was stupid, just wait it got worse.  Kane fought out of Taker’s Tombstone, which was followed by Paul Bearer opening Taker’s urn and seemingly “blinding” the Undertaker.  After that Kane and the Undertaker stood in the ring dumbfounded as Bearer made his painfully slow trek to hand Kane the urn, in order for Kane to use the urn to bash Taker over the head with it and get the win.  Who in their right mind thought this would be a good ending!?  This ending was unacceptable as a finish to a match and this match was unacceptable to be a main event of a PPV.  The ending for this match was not even close to believable and it left a sour taste in my mouth that I probably will never get over.

4.  WWE Releases Daniel Bryan

The WWE has released many great superstars that have made many wrestling fans pissed off.  The fact that The Great Khali is still employed by the WWE and wrestlers like Low Ki, MVP and Gail Kim are not, really ticks this writer off.  Out of all the releases, there is only one that reigns as the dumbest release the WWE has done, so dumb in fact that the WWE rehired that wrestler two months after being released.  That wrestler was the “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson or otherwise known as Daniel Bryan in the WWE.  Supposedly somebody at Mattel, who works on WWE’s action figures, got angry at Bryan choking WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts with his own tie during the Nexus invasion on Raw, so to avoid Mattel from ceasing production on the WWE’s “beloved” action figures, the WWE fired Daniel Bryan.  The uproar this release caused was nothing short of legendary with fans chanting Daniel Bryan’s name at WWE events across the US.  A Daniel Bryan chant can be heard crystal clear at the very end of the WWE’s Fatal 4 Way PPV during the June of last year.  So hopefully the WWE has learned from this incident and will listen to us Daniel Bryan fans.  So WWE, you should start letting him win before we get vocal again.

3.  John Cena Wins 10^th WWE Championship

Well here we are.  The very moment that inspired this very article.  John Cena’s win over Alberto Del Rio this past Sunday for his record setting 10^th WWE Championship win and 12^th World Championship win in total.   This one moment sent yours truly into a complete fit to the point that I took to Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to stress my complete and utter anger.  In the last month, John Cena along with WWE Creative made Del Rio look pathetic.  He was buried week after week to the point that Alberto had to beat Cena or risk being buried to the point his career might never recover from.  Guess WWE did not think about that because they gave the WWE Title to Cena anyway.  The WWE and Super Cena crushed the credibility of Del Rio and the credibility of the WWE Championship.  Now how can any fan consider Alberto Del Rio as a worthy main eventer?  How can any fan care about the WWE Championship after it has been devalued this much?  John Cena as WWE Champion may help ratings, but thanks for alienating some of your most devoted fans yet again.

2.  Christian Drops the World Heavyweight Championship Two Days after Winning It

Many hardcore wrestling fans and Canadians have waited what seems like ages for Christian to get what he rightful has deserved for years.  That moment came at Extreme Rule this past May when Captiain Charisma beat Alberto Del Rio in a Ladder Match for the WWE Championship.  It was a beautiful and glorious moment for all wrestling fans, but as a Canadian it was a little more special to see a countryman win the Big One.  Two days later, the Cinderella Story came to its tragic end as Randy Orton beat Christian for the World Heavyweight Championship.  It felt much worse than a slap in the face to Christian and his Peeps, it felt like the WWE punted us right in the family jewels with steel-toe boots.  So after we all recovered from the shock, we made our voices heard and complained about the WWE’s stupid decision to put the title right on Orton without giving Christian a chance to run with it.  Even after the excellent feud that resulted from this one event, personally I am still angry at the WWE for giving Christian not one, but two short abysmal reigns as World Heavyweight Champion.

1.  TNA Victory Road 2011

PPVs like this one kill promotions; they incredibly decrease the fan base and stain a promotion’s reputation.  There is no doubt that TNA’s Victory Road PPV event this last March will never be forgotten, but for all the wrong reasons.  If Christian dropping the World Title to Randy Orton two days after winning it felt like a kick in the manhood, it felt like TNA stabbed us all right in the heart and left us for dead.  Even if the product has been on a steady decline, people trusted TNA to put on a good to decent show, but they betrayed their fans trust and put on a show that was a defeat in every sense of the word.  The backlash to this PPV has been huge even to the point that TNA gave anybody who bought Victory Road three free months of TNA on Demand.  A noble effort, but TNA should have done more for the crap they put their fans through.  If Victory Road was not the final nail in TNA’s coffin, it will sure be start of the eventual collapse of this wrestling promotion.

Six Titles, One Show: Preview of WWE Night of Champions 2011

A Night of Victories, a Night of Dreams, a Night of Change, the one night of the year where ever single championship in the WWE will be defended.  It is Night of Champions.

Originally starting as an extension of the Vengeance PPV at the end of June, Night of Champions has always been a phenomenal concept for a PPV.  It is a rarity to see all of the championships in the WWE defended all on the same show.  Sadly the WWE has failed to give this PPV the hype it deserves.  Night of Champions could be as big as Royal Rumble, Summerslam or Survivor Series if WWE took the time on Raw and Smackdown to stress the importance of this special occasion in the WWE calendar.  This year’s event seems like more of the same.  The PPV and many of the matches on the card have gotten little to no hype.  Night of Champions has been built around CM Punk vs. Triple H, which is not even for a title!  Like last month with Summerslam, WWE has not given many wrestling fans much confidence that this PPV will be at the quality we have seen this summer.  Guess we will all have to see if WWE can pull it another great PPV this Sunday evening at the First Niagara Center for WWE Night of Champions.

Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley vs. John Morrison in a Fatal 4 Way for the U.S. Championship

It has been quite a few months since there has been a Fatal 4 Way on a PPV.  The WWE needs to put a few more multi-man matches on PPVs.  They spice things up and after a while singles matches just get a little stale.  Well other than the Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger fighting over Vickie Guerrero’s management skills, there has been no build or hype for this match whatsoever.  It was just thrown together this past week on Raw.  With the men involved and the type of match, this bout would make one exciting opener.  Hopefully the dust clears, we will see the Monday Night Delight, John Morrison emerge the new U.S. Championship.  It will definitely boost the prestige of the U.S. Title as Ziggler has done more to hurt the titles’ stock than help it and give Morrison something to do.

Prediction:  John Morrison wins the U.S. Championship

Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Ted DiBiase for the Intercontinental Championship

Other than being thrown together at the last moment, this match has a little more going for it since both Rhodes and DiBiase have a history.  Rhodes and DiBiase became friends and great tag team partners while apart of Legacy.  When Legacy imploded early last year, Rhodes career soared while DiBiase plummeted to the bottom of the WWE.  Ted was drafted to Smackdown this spring and Cody took Ted under his wing.  Eventually the Undashing One grew tired of DIBiase’s constant failure and took his former friend and ally out.  Ted returned to Smackdown this past Friday to get some payback.  Now we have this match set for Night of Champions.  Expect Cody to get the win in the first match of this new feud.

Prediction:  Cody Rhodes retains

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

Kelly Kelly just scraped by at Summerslam.  Now we go to Buffalo, Beth Phoenix’s hometown, to see if the Glamazon can destroy the pretty model trying to pose as a wrestler and bring legitimacy to the Diva’s Championship.  Ever since Summerslam, the whole storyline surrounding the Divas of Doom has been stagnant.  By having Beth win the Diva’s Title, the WWE opens up plenty of great possibilities for the Divas division as the Divas of Doom begin their reign of terror, shaping the Divas division in their image.

Prediction:  Beth Phoenix wins the Diva’s Championship

Air Boom (c) vs. The Miz & R-Truth for the WWE Tag Team Championship

When the WWE had Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston won the Tag Team Championships back at the end of August, they wanted to rebuild the once-great Tag Team Division.  This Sunday at Night of Champions will be the first test.  These four superstars have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to kick-start this tag team renaissance.  To do just that, these superstars need to steal the show.  They need to put on the best series of tag team matches the WWE has seen in years.  It will be a huge task, but with the talent I personally believe they could do it.

Prediction:  Air Boom retains

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

Aside from CM Punk vs. Triple H, this match has had the best build.  Ever since Mark Henry took out the Big Show at Money in the Bank, the World’s Strongest Man has been on one hell of roll inducting superstars into his Hall of Pain left, right and center.  There was no doubt that Henry would be the next No.1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, but at first many did not believe Mark would walk out of Buffalo with the title.  How opinions can change as the WWE has done an incredible job of building the threat Henry poses to Orton’s title reign.  They have built it to the point that it has been hard to see Orton retain.  Sunday night in Buffalo will be the World’s Strongest Man’s best shot of ever winning the World Title, but Orton will not go done without a fight.  A classic take on the Unstoppable Force vs. the Immovable Object, which should make an excellent championship bout.

Prediction:  Mark Henry wins the World Heavyweight Championship

Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship

While the WWE has done an incredible job of building the World Heavyweight Championship match, they have completely dropped the ball with this match.  John Cena has been in squash mode for the last month.  He and the WWE have done nothing to make Del Rio look like he has a remote chance of beating Super Cena.   We, wrestling fans have lived with enough title changes to last the rest of the year.  The thought of Cena winning the WWE Title for umpteenth time is one unsettling feeling.  Alberto Del Rio HAS to beat John Cena at Night of Champions or the time and money the WWE invested to build the Mexican Aristocrat as the Next Big Thing will all be a waste.

Prediction:  Alberto Del Rio retains

CM Punk vs. Triple H in a No DQ Match; If CM Punk wins, Triple H must resign as COO of the WWE

This match has been on the forefront of Raw for the past month, there should be no doubt that it will be the match to end Night of Champions.  It might seem a little too soon for a match of this magnitude to happen between Punk and Triple H.  Considering how Nash was not cleared to compete and how the WWE royally screwed up the build for Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena, what choice did the WWE have.  Given the incredible amount of talent in this match, it should not disappoint.  As much as I would love to see Punk beat the Cerebral Assassin, it would be too early for the WWE to pull the plug on Triple H as the COO of the WWE and every good story needs some adversity for the hero or anti-hero in this case.  Expect the match to end in some sort of controversy in order to set up a cliffhanger for Monday’s Raw.

Prediction:  Triple H wins

As the final PPV of the summer season, there is a lot riding on WWE Night of Champions 2011 to deliver much like Money in the Bank and Summerslam did before it.  One paper the card looks great, but when you take a closer look you definitely see the cracks in the armour.  The WWE needs to stop hyping one match to the stratosphere and rather hype up the PPV as a whole.  Come Sunday evening we will just have to see if lightning will strike for the WWE a third time.

The Road to Bound for Glory Begins: Quick Preview of TNA No Surrender 2011

At the beginning of the Bound for Glory Series, 12 men were standing.  Now after the months of hard work and serious competition, only 4 men remain.  They will fight this Sunday at No Surrender to determine who will compete for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Total Non-Stop Action’s biggest PPV of the year, Bound for Glory.  These 4 men are Bully Ray, Gunner, James Storm and Bobby Roode.  This Sunday at No Surrender the stakes are high as by the end of this PPV, we will all know the main event of Bound for Glory.  So hopefully we will see the best from these 4 athletes have to offer as an opportunity like this one only happens once a career.

Surprisingly with the stakes this high, TNA has done a horrible job of hyping No Surrender.  All of the matches on the card were only announced until two weeks before the show, the big match between Sting and Ric Flair, which should have been on this show, has been booked for this week’s Impact Wrestling and why are Matt Morgan, Devon and D’Angelo Dinero wrestling on this show when they are all supposed to be injured?  Every wrestling promotion can learn from TNA how not to hype a PPV, especially the PPV that leads right into their biggest PPV of the year.  Other than the Bound for Glory Series matches and Brian Kendrick vs. Austin Aries, most of these matches seem better suited for Impact Wrestling.  Like every PPV before this one, TNA please prove me wrong.  Put on an enjoyable wrestling PPV because you are running out of opportunities to keep wrestling fans like myself interested in your product.

Kid Kash vs. Jesse Sorensen in a No. 1 Contender’s Match for the X Division Championship

Prediction:   Jesse Sorensen becomes the No. 1 Contender for the X Division Championship

Bobby Roode vs. Gunner in a Bound for Glory Series Semi-Final Match

Prediction:   Bobby Roode wins

Bully Ray vs. James Storm in a Bound for Glory Series Semi-Final Match

Prediction:   Bully Ray wins

Brian Kendrick (c) vs. Austin Aries for the X Division Championship

Prediction:  Austin Aries win the X Division Championship

Matt Morgan vs. Samoa Joe

Prediction:   Samoa Joe wins

Mickie James (c) vs. Winter for the TNA Knockouts Championship

Prediction:  Mickie James retains

Mexican America (c) vs. Devon & D’Angelo Dinero for the TNA World Tag Team Championship

Prediction:   Mexican America retains

Bobby Roode vs. Bully Ray in the Bound for Glory Series Finals

Prediction:   Boddy Roode wins the Bound for Glory Series

Kurt Angle (c) vs. Sting vs. Mr. Anderson in a 3-Way Match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Prediction:   Kurt Angle retains

Like most of the TNA PPVs this year not including Destination X, No Surrender has a lot to prove.  TNA needs to prove to us wrestling fans that we can trust them to put on a consistently good product.  At the moment, the only thing special about a TNA PPV is the matches are given more time than on Impact Wrestling.  That does not mean much when these matches share the same nonsensical booking that happens consistently on Impact Wrestling.  Hopefully TNA No Surrender 2011 will change that.

The Silverdome Match of the Week: The Final Encounter

Other than SuperSmackdown, there was not a lot of anticipation for the week that we just finished.  It was our faults for doubting that WWE would not bring the excitement as Raw trumped the rather lackluster SuperSmackdown.  WWE dropped two big bombs on Monday Night Raw… sorry the Raw Supershow.  The first announcement on Raw was that from this point forward the superstars of Smackdown will be joining the superstars of Raw for the newly christened Raw Supershow.  From the way Triple H announced the news, it sounded like the official end of the brand split, but that was never specifically stated by the COO.  So there has been a lot of confusion surrounding this announcement that will hopefully be put to rest this coming Monday.  The second big announcement was that Triple H cancelled CM Punk vs. Kevin Nash for Night of Champions and in its’ place will be CM Punk vs. Triple H!  It was a big surprise as I personally thought the WWE would slowly build-up to a match between CM Punk and Triple H.  With the news that Kevin Nash was not cleared to wrestle at Night of Champions, the decision to have CM Punk vs. Triple H at Night of Champions makes sense.  Aside from the big news, there were a lot of great matches on TV.  Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler and CM Punk vs. Miz from Raw was a pair of phenomenal wrestling contests while AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels was the best wrestling this writer has seen on Impact Wrestling in over a month other than the horrible ending.  None of these matches could touch the excellent chemistry and action that took place in the Steel Cage on SuperSmackdown as Randy Orton vs. Christian for the World Heavyweight Championship takes home the Silverdome Match of the Week.

For the past four months, Christian and Randy Orton have battled over the World Heavyweight Championship.  Last Tuesday, the two met for what was considered their final encounter for the prestigious World Heavyweight Title in the battle-tested Steel Cage.  Once the bell rang, Christian went right for the win by escaping the cage.  Christian took down Randy Orton with a big punch and immediately went for the cage door.  Orton would not be taken out that easily as he quickly recovered from Christian’s initial attack.  Orton would stop Christian from exiting the door, so the Instant Classic would try to scale the steel structure.  Halfway up the steel cage, Christian would change his mind and try to hit Orton with a cross body, but the Viper countered Christian’s cross body with a dropkick.  With the wind knocked out of Christian, the momentum swung right into Orton’s corner.  The WWE’s Apex Predator would use the swing in momentum to damage his opponent as Orton would hit Christian with some stiff clotheslines, an impactful back body drop and one vicious knee drop before going for a pin.  Christian kicked out at the count of two.  After kicking out of Orton’s pin, Christian would take the advantage and try to climb the cage yet again, but Orton would stop Captain Charisma.  Orton and Christian would battle back and forth until Christian hit a spinebuster and a neckbreaker.  With Orton down, Christian went straight for the door, only for Orton to pull him back into the ring.  Orton would start firing away right hands at the Pontiff of the Peepulation.  Christian countered one of Orton’s punches and sent the Viper right into the corner before scaling the steel cage.  Yet again, Orton would stop Christian from climbing the cage.  The two superstars battled on the top turnbuckle before Orton caught Christian with a thunderous superplex.  The superplex signaled desperation time for both competitors.  From that point, the pace of this match hit a fever pace. Orton and Christian went for everything.  From spears, inverted DDTs and frog splashes to powerslams, neckbreakers and second rope DDTs, Orton and Christian could not get the win.  Randy Orton would go for the RKO, only for Captian Charisma to dodge Orton’s devastating finisher and start to climb the cage.  Christian almost made it out of the cage when Orton caught up to him.  The two superstars would end up sitting on the top of the steel cage trading punches.  In a last ditch effort, Christian tried to fall off the cage to the floor, but Orton would pull the Instant Classic back into the confines of the cage and onto the top rope.  Orton and Christian would continue to trade punches while standing on the top turnbuckle until Orton would smash Christian’s face against the steel cage.  Orton’s desperation move gave him enough time to set Christian up for a RKO off the top turnbuckle in order to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.  With that incredible RKO off the top rope, the final chapter in this somewhat one-sided yet unbelievable feud has come to a close.  For the last four months, Randy Orton and Christian have given us wrestling fans some of the best World Heavyweight Title matches in a long time and brought back the prestige that belt lost in a few mismanaged title reigns.  No doubt, Randy Orton vs. Christian is the feud of the year.

The WWE has not announced anything for this week’s editions of Raw and Smackdown.  On the flip side, almost everything has been announced for this week’s Impact Wrestling.  This week will see the return of Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson for the TNA World Heavyweight Title, James Storm vs. Robert Roode vs. Gunner vs. Bully Ray, Eric Young vs. Robbie E for the TV Title and the British Invasion vs. Devon and the Pope.  Another big week for TNA leading into next Sunday’s No Surrender PPV event.  Hopefully they can make the best of it, but I personally have my doubts.  Until next weekend readers, have a good week ahead.  Cheers.

The Silverdome Match of the Week: Punk and Cena III on Live TV

Coming off of the great Summerslam PPV, there were more questions than answers.  Questions that continued as the WWE rolled into Alberta, Canada for both Raw and Smackdown.  Two of those questions were in the forefront last Monday Night.  Who has been pulling the strings?  And who deserves to face Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship?  There will be more on the WWE Title situation later in the article.  We got more fuel for the first question during a segment in the middle of Raw between Triple H, Kevin Nash and CM Punk.  At the beginning of the segment, Triple H told Nash that he did not send Nash the text to stick it to the winner of Punk and Cena at Summerslam.  Then CM Punk came down and started calling the shots.  Punk said he does not believe a word either man is saying just before challenging Nash to a fight.  Triple H took the opportunity to step in and stop a fight, which caused Punk to turn his attention to the COO.  After a few insults from Punk, Nash took his chance to hit Punk with a blatant cheap shot.  Adding a little more fuel to the mystery surrounding Kevin Nash and who texted him at Summerslam.  Along with the great drama, we saw some really good to great matches from Raw, Smackdown and even Impact Wrestling.  Alberto Del Rio vs. John Morrison kicked off Raw with some great in-ring action, while Kurt Angle vs. Crimson was a solid main event for a dull episode of Impact Wrestling and Christian vs. Daniel Bryan from Smackdown was a great match, but just missing a little finesse to make it the best match of the week.  Speaking of the best match of the week, that award goes to the main event of Monday Night Raw, CM Punk vs. John Cena to determine the No. 1 Contender for Alberto Del Rio’s Undisputed WWE Championship.

At the beginning of Raw, John Cena and CM Punk made their way to the ring to debate on who deserved to face Alberto Del Rio at Night of Champions for the Undisputed WWE Championship.  The two argued while also taking shots at Del Rio.  Eventually Triple H made his way out and booked John Cena vs. CM Punk III for the main event.  The match was eagerly anticipated as both the Undisputed WWE Champion and John Laurinaitis were sitting at ringside to watch the main event of Raw.  The crowd in Edmonton was great as they were completely into the match.  The crowd was even a little resistant to John Cena, throwing back the leader of the Cenation’s t-shirt.  Right out of the gates, John Cena and CM Punk went right at one another trading a lot of holds and some mat wrestling.  Punk sent Cena into the ropes in order to knock “The Champ” down with a shoulder blo.  Cena got back up as Punk went for another shoulder block.  Cena leapfrogged the Straight-Edge Superstar with two shoulder blocks and a huge back body drop to set Punk up for the Five Knuckle Shuffle.  Right Cena tried to hit his signature fist drop, Punk caught John with a roll-up for a two count.  Punk took the advantage with a clothesline, a dropkick and his signature knee to the face followed by a bulldog.  Punk tried to keep the momentum on his side by going up to the top turnbuckle, but was distracted by Del Rio sitting at ringside.  That distraction gave Cena enough time to send Punk flying off the top turnbuckle to the unforgiving Rexall Centre floor.  Once the Punk and Cena were back in the ring, like Good Ol’ Jim Ross says business started picking up.  Punk and Cena tried everything in their power to hit their finishers on one another to no avail.  After Punk would fight out of the STF that Cena locked in when he reversed the GTS, Cena would lock in the Crippler Crossface (a hint at a certain wrestler from Edmonton, Alberta) on Punk.  Again Punk would fight out of the submission hold.  Cena tried to catch Punk off guard with a charge, but the Voice of the Voiceless dodged.  The momentum caused Cena run shoulder-first into the ringpost which gave Punk the right opportunity to hit the GTS on a dazed Cena.  Punk would go for the cover only for Cena to kick out at a count of two.  Punk then would go for an elbow drop (his tribute to Randy “Macho Man” Savage), but Cena moved out of the way before Punk could connect with the elbow.  Punk’s crash and burn would set-up Cena to hit an impactful leg drop off the top rope that only got Cena a two count.  Immediately after Punk kicked out, Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment on the self-proclaimed “Best in the World.”  Again Punk kicked out at a two count.  Punk and Cena would continue their incredible back-and-forth wrestling until Kevin Nash would make his presence known.  While Punk had Cena up on his shoulders for the GTS, Nash appeared on the stage with a mic.  Nash distracted Punk long enough for Cena to surprise Punk with another AA to get the win and become No.1 Contender for the Undisputed WWE Championship.  CM Punk and John Cena put on another amazing match; the only thing wrong with it was the ending of the match.  It was such a lackluster way a great wrestling match.

Nothing much has been announced for Raw tomorrow.  On the flip-side an awful lot has been announced for Tuesday’s live Super Smackdown.  Both Raw and Smackdown superstars will be at the special show and two big matches have been announced, Alberto Del Rio vs. Sin Cara and Christian vs. Randy Orton in a Steel Cage for the World Heavyweight Championship.  Super Smackdown should be one exciting event to say the least.  Also this Thursday, Impact Wrestling will leave the confines of the Impact Zone for Sting vs. Kurt Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels and the return of Jeff Hardy.  Sounds like it will be one big week in the World of Wrestling.  So until next weekend dear readers, have a good wrestling filled week.  

The Silverdome Match of the Week: Destiny Rolls On

After the excellent show that was July’s Money in the Bank PPV, everybody seemed to be prepared to be disappointed by Summerslam.  To our pleasure, it looks like WWE hit another home run with Summerslam.  I personally did not watch last Sunday’s PPV extravaganza, but there I am eagerly anticipating buying it on DVD when it comes out.  The big news that came out of the Biggest Party of the Summer was all about the WWE Championship match and what happened after that match.  In the main event of Summerslam, John Cena and CM Punk went hold-for-hold, move-for-move until CM Punk would get the controversial pinfall following the GTS in order to become the Undisputed WWE Champion.  Controversial pinfall, you may be thinking.  In the heat of the moment, special guest referee Triple H did not see that John Cena’s foot was on the bottom rope.  CM Punk won the match, but he did not leave Los Angeles with the WWE Championship.  No thanks to Kevin Nash.  Big Sexy jumped the guardrail and hit Punk with his signature Jackknife Powerbomb before being cashed out by Triple H.  In all the chaos, Alberto Del Rio ran down to the ring and cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on a dazed CM Punk.  Like the many who have cashed in Money in the Bank before him, Del Rio walked away with WWE Title and his destiny fulfilled.  It was an action-packed cliffhanger ending that did an excellent job of getting fans to tune into the following Monday Night Raw from San Diego.  The WWE proved yet again that they are must-watch television.  Along with the great storylines captivating us wrestling fans at the moment, the WWE has continued to put on some the best wrestling matches you can find on TV.  This week was no different as we saw two great matches on Raw in John Morrison vs. R-Truth in a Falls Count Anywhere Match and Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio for the Undisputed WWE Championship and a really good 20-Man Battle Royal on Smackdown.  Even with all those quality matches, Alberto Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan for Smackdown takes home the Silverdome Match of Week.

On last weeks’ Smackdown, Smackdown Money in the Bank winner Daniel Bryan faced off with Raw Money in the Bank winner Alberto Del Rio in a valiant, but nonetheless losing effort.  A week later, Del Rio returned to Smackdown with his newly won Undisputed WWE Championship.  During his address to the Smackdown crowd, the Mexican Aristocrat challenged anybody backstage to face him one-on-one in the ring.  Wanting some redemption for losing to Del Rio the week prior, Daniel Bryan answered the WWE Champions challenge.  Del Rio and Bryan start their match with a lock-up.  From the lock-up, these two superstars exchange some punches, forearms, headbutts and kicks while jockeying for position and the advantage.  After the back-and-forth offense at the beginning of the match, Del Rio started to attack his favourite body part, the arm.  The Mexican Aristocrat started his dissection of Daniel Bryan’s arm with an impactful armbreaker from the top rope.  Del Rio would continue his dissection of Bryan’s arm with an arm bar followed by a series of kicks and elbows to the damaged arm.  Throughout the rest of the match all of Del Rio’s offense was directed towards Bryan’s arm in order to soften it up for his signature cross armbreaker submission.  Even with an injured arm, Bryan would not go down without a fight.  The American Dragon would catch Del Rio off guard with an elbow and boot while in the corner.  Daniel Bryan would take advantage of the surprised WWE Champion and unleash a huge amount of offense.  From a thunderous series of kicks to a big flying clothesline, Bryan was finally in control.  Del Rio would try to target the arm, but Bryan would reverse the move and send Del Rio to the floor.  With Del Rio on the floor, Bryan would jump out onto the ring apron and hit the Mexican Aristocrat with a flying knee.  After the flying knee, Bryan would send the WWE Champion back into the ring.  With the match completely in his corner, Bryan took a few liberties and try to hit a few moves off the top rope.  After a couple failed attempts, Bryan would hit the Mexican Aristocrat with a perfectly placed missile dropkick, which only got the American Dragon a two count.  Del Rio and Bryan would trade a few kicks and suplex attempts until Daniel Bryan turned Del Rio’s tilt-a-whirl into his Guillotine submission hold.  Del Rio looked to be fading, but eventually pulled together enough strength to ram Bryan into the corner thus breaking the hold.  That would signal the end for Bryan as the WWE Champion would lock in the cross armbreaker submission on the injured arm.  Bryan could not fight the pain as he was forced to tap out to the WWE Champion.  Even in defeat, it was an excellent effort by Daniel Bryan as he pushed the new WWE Champion, Alberto Del Rio to his limit.  Del Rio has been on the roll of a lifetime.  In one year, this superstar has won the Royal Rumble, claimed the Money in the Bank briefcase and won the WWE Championship.  The question now is who can stop this phenom?

Not much has been announced for the coming week other than Kurt Angle vs. Crimson and Fortune vs. Immortal for Impact Wrestling.  It should be another set of exciting episodes of Raw and Smackdown as the WWE moves ever so closer to Night of Champions.  Until next Saturday dear readers, have a wonderful pro wrestling packed week ahead.  Cheers.