We'RAW'll In This Together

RAW 2nd April 2012

To sum up concisely and efficiently...

Punk calls Johnny a 'toolbox' and it has thrown a spanner in the works.

The elusive new beast from the East is Albert with Japanese all over his face. Supposedly, it is important that he has a vice like finisher to match the inevitable threat of Khali's 'Noggin Crusher' or 'Skull Chop' or whatever.

A-Ry go bye-bye.

Brodus Clay is not only the funkiest, but also the funniest thing on television.

Jack Swagger is just one of the many who got new ring attire for Wrestlemania. Though, no-one else's makes them look quite so much like a hammerhead shark.


Eve is eve-il now. And 'Ho-ski' chants may feed into the misogyny of the WWE universe, but they're funny as hell.

Between The Rock and Laurinaitis, some things were mentioned about the importance of people. No-one seems to have realised that this might prove contradictory in the long term.

Roberto Rodriguez has been working on the length of Alberto del Rio's opening. I realise what I just typed could be seen as being very rude, but I'm going to leave it like that anyway.

Jericho is still trying to force feed Punk alcohol and I have yet to see anyone rocking THIS SHIRT.

The love for Daniel Bryan is life-affirming. Oh yes, yes, yes it is.

And finally...BROCK F-5inG LESNAR.

Waiting to Capitalise.

So, that last post was a little lacklustre to say the least. It was a thinly veiled attempt at a post, a lame duck distracting you from my complete failure at being on the ball the last few weeks. BUT, in true Laurinaitis style, I shall win you over by first rasping an apology, offending Mexico and then giving you JR back...




..you are so welcome.

Anyhoops, this is how things are going down right now in my version of the world. Bear in mind, if you please, that as of this exact moment I have not watched Vengeance, but this will be rectified once the grown ups are out and I don't have to explain why the men in pants are fighting again.

Randy Orton teased us a little while ago with a sort of change of tact, going from regularly functioning psycho to happy, 'look what I maimed, Ma' relatable psycho. Not a big change, I know, but a change nonetheless. It was pretty funny actually, and summed up most notably during the Summerslam match with Christian, where he gave a big ol' bloody thumbs up to the camera while grinning like a merry maniac. Bet that went down well with the board. It seemed he worked it like this for a while - even doing a highly uncharacteristic jig during a Smackdown match - and was generally having a jolly rumpus of a time, until a couple of weeks ago where he reverted back to stage 1 psychosis (see above for details) and then went off the chart and into FULL BLOWN SOCIOPATH WITH MURDEROUS INTENT territory. At this point, I'd like to stop talking about Orton, because I fully believe the man might be watching me from the garden and I'm scared.

Did that curtain just twitch? I want my mum.

Now to Raw ruminations. As little fun as it is to discuss guest hosts beyond the inevitable mumbles of inadequacy and 'I think they missed the point'-ness of it all, I would like to congratulate one Mister Huge Ackman on his appearance. I think the man is either a fan or he did his homework. Either way, thanks for not making me want to die with embarrassment for you. Playing him off against Vickie and her harem Zig Swag (you just wait and see) and pairing him with Ryder was inspired. Nailed the tone as accurately as he nailed Ziggler with that *slightly* too realistic looking sock to the jaw. Approved.

How about this COO debacle then? To be perfectly honest, John Laurinaitis bores me and all I really want to do when he appears on the screen is shout his name out in a poorly imitated version of his voice and check my phone to see if he's texting me. He never is. There's a little bit of me that's wondering if this nonsense is going to pan out like the suspiciously AWOL Raw GM angle did, but that would be really idiotic on the company's part wouldn't it? Fool me once, WWE, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame...us o'shaunessy? I never did get the hang of that idiom.

On the upside, CM Punk and Triple H are totally doing that 'respecting each other' thing and teaming up to take on the traitors/ref bullies/corporate moles of R-Truth and The Miz. This pairing is working out really, really well for the older members of the WWE Universe who, I'm pretty sure, as one hive-mind think that it is supremely kick ass. And, they're right. Largely because a) it may lead to some potentially great wrestling matches b) Punk was allowed to commentate again and c) the universe held a shared mental image of Hunter wrestling a broom stick in just his undercrackers and dress shoes. What is more fabulous than that?

'Air Boom' - really kids? Really? You'll have to deal with the shame of inflicting that name upon us in years to come and you'll deserve the anguish it causes you. The hive mind does not forget. And neither will you.

Is it just me, or does every 'One From the Vault' match on Smackdown have Chris Jericho in it? Don't get me wrong, this is great, but I'm starting to read into it in one of two very differing ways depending on what mood I'm in...
Scenario 1: He's never coming back but they don't want us to forget him.
Scenario 2: He's coming back and they don't want us to forget him.
The former makes me want to cry myself to sleep at night, the latter makes me so excited I want to wee. How oddly the body is affected by emotion.

So Kelly Kelly's turning heel, is that right? I'd be interested, but the woman has the personality of a beached Magikarp and the voice of a dial-up connection. In other Diva news, Gail Kim went back to TNA. Read into that what you will.

Right, dinner's ready and Vengeance is on at nine. I'm going to write some notes while I'm watching so I can ignore them in time for the next post. Enjoy your evening wrestle hounds. Your new mission, if you choose to accept it, is to be astounded by as many ordinary things as you can and shout 'OH...MY...GOODNESS' a la Booker T at every possible everyday occurrence.

Have a nice day.

Coming Clean

Firstly, I've been a lazy ass. I could blame lack of content, but that's simply not true, so I'm going to blame Chavo getting let go instead. Now...back to the action.

Things have been hotting up in a serious way. I think it all started when Dolph Ziggler changed his hair to a moody black. Things got a little strained for a while, only to pop back with a big bang and hoo-hah, of which I believe everyone is a fan. Now he's back to his gloriously blonde bonce, promo-ing like a pro with Vickie in tow (yo) and summer is in full swing.

Now, I'm not sure if HQ hired some new creative, but something tasty has been injected into the writing of late. A syringe full of old school fan-friendliness perhaps. I'm imagining the team sitting round the table all with squirrelly cheeks stuffed full of the nuts they've been saving all throughout Winter and Spring, and now we're finally getting a chance to gnaw on the goodies. Convoluted metaphor? Why yes, captain. Seems that someone up there appreciates the classics though.

I'm referring mostly, of course, to the CM Punk angle that is quote/unquote ''so hot right now''. There's so much planning gone into this storyline, it's easy to see why the last couple of months have been a bit lacking. I can't even begin to describe all of the brilliance that's helped make this happen, but in essence, it's taken Punk from almost repugnant heel to the saviour he always said he'd be. Amen. I love that Vince has okayed this angle, and opened up this juicy can of worms for all of us to see. His direct involvement seems to further cement his belief in it. Breaking kayfabe just got promoted to prime time. Boom baby.

Decent tag team action has been in abundance lately. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase being back together makes me a rather happy chappy and this, coupled with their winning of things makes for swell televisual treats. Cody is still rocking the nutso persona, though I think his paper bag handling cronies could look a little more 'into it' when dishing out those lovingly crafted masks. Maybe they've had to spend hours making them...sweat shop style. And think about all those trees that had to be cut down. Man, this post just got political. Pah...wrestling and politics. What a silly thought.

Another merry psycho we've noticed a lot of lately has been the charming young R-Truth. Personally, I'm quite glad they've chosen to forego the seriously deranged in favour of the comedic crazy. It works better for him and he looks like he's very much enjoying it. It allows him to fluff his lines and get away with it too. Y'know, cause he's all insane and stuff. Just not AS insane as Mark Henry (who, I'm pretty sure, is a Titan). Oddly, now that R-Truth has foregone his music, Vladimir Kozlov seems to have inherited some.

There's been so much actual real-life, gosh-darn decent wrestling recently it's hard to pick out just a few matches to talk about. So I won't. But, credit where credits due, I think the surge in new talent makes the veterans think about upping their game and pushing for spots that remind us why they're there. It's not just for the specials or move sets, but for their in-ring savvy and mat psychology. The stuff that makes us go 'ooh' and 'ahh'. Sadly, I no longer 'ooh' at a 619 or an AA or an RKO. These new energetic matches however, they make me go 'ooh'. Some of them even make me go 'woo woo woo'.

And finally:

Sgt. Slaughter and Evan Bourne aren't natural tag team buddies.

Mike McGillicutty's back!

Chris Jericho is appearing in an awful lot of the Money in the Bank trailers.

Alex Riley is actually quite good.

Sheamus is on fire (...not a ginger joke...).

Tamina looks largely pissed that she's been made to dress like a Diva and lose to AJ. But AJ plays the XBox and only boys play the XBox so it's ok to lose to her because she's like, totally a tom boy. Bite me.

I love you WWE.

Showdowns and Rawhides

Top eleven-ish things we've learnt this week...

1. Trish Stratus wears teeny tiny undercrackers (nice work cameraman #3) and her and JoMo are probably doing it (WILD SPECULATION AFOOT).
2. Dolph Ziggler continues to be absolutely hilarious and brilliant (see right --->)
3. It is important to always have the mute button ready whenever Michael Cole appears on screen, let alone when he repeats what he's saying several thousand times. In a row. Loudly.
4. Sheamus seems to think it's awfully amusing that an Irish man has ownership of the United States championship. Daniel Bryan doesn't.
5. Sin Cara is going to be super fantastic and everyone thinks so because he's got a very nice, newly emblazoned name promo.
6. Ted DiBiase doesn't deserve to be used as a punching bag.
7. Cody Rhodes doesn't bother with tights anymore, because he's got towelie for company.
8. Randy Orton has a very large tour bus and a very tiny wife.
9. Punk gives great skit.
10. Josh Matthews was afflicted with laryngitis and/or asleep for all of Smackdown apart from the steel cage match where he woke up and gave 110% like the little trooper he is.
11. Everyone seems to have forgotten a) what brand they are assigned to and b) that Undertaker already beat Triple H ten years ago. But a little hell up near Mania time is okay I expect.

12 days kids. Hope you've got your parties planned.