Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio

- Really great back and forth match but both guys are treading water right now. Really wished Del Rio would have won but he seems to be in Dolph Ziggler mode right now. Both guys need remakes now.

Agree with Will here. I couldn't possibly care less about either guy and yet the match really sucked me in so that is a big win. Some very interesting and unique spots and while it was somewhat counter heavy at times they made since and were worked in well. The spot with Del Rio coming off the top was clearly flubbed and bizarre but they recovered well and the finish worked well. Both guys REALLY do need to be rebranded though. Even after a quality match I still don't give a fuck about either guy.

Kane & Bryan vs. Rhodes & Sandow

- I understand they are trying to build a tag team division which they spent a month doing a tournament for to face the champs only to have that finish? I thought the Bryan Daniel stuff was pretty great early on. The Kane stuff was inoffensive and you could have had any two guys take the place of Rhodes Scholars and it would not have mattered. What a vanilla wrestling team.

I think Sandow is awesome, but Rhodes is a guy who shifts from interesting to boring all the time. The match was a lot of fun up until the finish which was just idiotic. Were they really trying to protect both teams? Bizarre.

"you don't see Johnny Banana's becoming world champion" is the greatest thing ever uttered on a ppv broadcast.

Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz

- I don't give a shit about either guy but Kofi did deliver a pretty stiff clothesline early on. I was about to give Kofi props after a neat roll up and nice body press but then they did that convoluted set-up for the SOS. Christ. I am digging this attack on the leg by the Miz including the leg draped on the shoulder drop and taking off the boot and applying the half crab. Decent set-up to set up the finish and I am ok with this. I sorta hate both guys but did not hate this match.

Stream problems towards the end of Kofi v. Miz which is too bad because it was the best possible match I could have expected from those guys up until that point. The stairs spot was cool and Miz was shockingly believable as the aggressive guy targeting the injury. Finish looked okay on the replay I saw.

Gabriel v. Cesaro was a fun title defense for Cesaro, but it makes the decision to have him lose clean on Raw even stupider. That uppercut spot was great and I liked Claudio's grappling spots even if they were mainly just ragdolling. Would love to see him work a program against a healthy Rey

Cesaro vs. Gabriel

- The big problem with this match is the same problem with most WWE matches. Good, solid match that means nothing in even-Steven booking. I like Antonio but what is the difference between his character and Sandow's except that he is a foreigner?

The difference between God and Steve Spurrier is that God never thought he was Steve Spurrier. JBL is awesome.

Jesus Christ, JBL, shut the fuck up about college football. Although he almost made up for it with "I was sick that day...both days."

The difference between God and Steve Spurrier is that God never thought he was Steve Spurrier. JBL is awesome.

As a Carolina fan, FUCK Steve Spurrier.

Sin Cara & Rey Mysterio vs. Prime Time Players

- This took way too much time. This should have been a non-stop spotfest but they played it like a TV tag match with commercial breaks. Plus, I feel bad for Rey but he isn't nearly as over as he was before the injury last year. I am genuinely bummed that one of my favorites is on the downside and it feels like his run is coming to the end. I heard Antonio had a good match with Sin Cara so maybe Antonio can torture little Mexicans and have good matches as a result.

Man I loved PTP v. Rey/Cara. Cara has been doing the impossible and dragging the best tv match worker in history to boring matches, but this was good stuff. PTP were really great in this match. I've been high on them from the jump, but there heeling was really good stuff here. Cara was kind of the Tanahashi to their Suzuki (on a lesser scale of course) as a guy who was there and did fine for what he was asked to do, while the other guys did the bulk of interesting stuff. Young was fun on the apron, Titus shit talking and throwing around Cara like a piece of trash and little things like the sunset flip spot/double suplex step over were really cool. Rey looked really sharp to when he was in there. You could quibble with the the way Rey got up on the shoulders of Young in the lead to the finish, but other than that and Cara almost spiking himself on that reversal I thought this was really well executed.

I enjoyed Prime Time Players vs. Epico/Hunico more a few weeks ago on RAW before Abe Washington got fired.

That was a few months ago

 

Hunico/Epico are actually a very good team.

 

I thought that last match was the best match on the show bell-to-bell so far. I could see an argument for Orton/Del Rio but that weird top rope spot was....weird.

I had no clue this match was not in a cell

Random thought - what if Dolph runs in to cash in his title shot during the cell match during a point where both Punk and Ryback are "out." Then he ends up eating the fall from Punk. Would be idiotic, but it's an out

That was a few months ago

 

Hunico/Epico are actually a very good team.

 

I thought that last match was the best match on the show bell-to-bell so far. I could see an argument for Orton/Del Rio but that weird top rope spot was....weird.

I'll rewatch the match when not feeding a baby. For my money, Orton-Del Rio is the top match so far despite that spot.

The Big Show vs. Sheamus

- Holy shit, what a big time fight. The big kickouts at the end were completely unexpected in my book as all of them felt like match endings. The final KO was fucking awesome. I have a feeling this is the type of match that me and Dylan will rave over and the Meltzers will shit on. All the talk of Mark Henry makes me want to see the Big Show/Sheamus/Henry 3 way. This match felt like it kept building and building until the big finishers. Having seen Mark Henry-Big Show live, I think Big Show may be the best wrestler in trading off big finishers to make the crowd go nuts.

Kind of figured it was Sheamus time to drop the belt as they had started hyping how long he has held it and I figured with the Punk angle that wasn't a good sign for him. That match started off really slow and took a while to suck me in, but by the end they absolutely succeeded. Loved little things like the clover leaf spot, the post shots on the floor with Show, and Show actually hitting the Vader Bomb. Hell of a finishing run. Every single big spot looked big and Sheamus deadlifting Show was fucking insane. Finish also looked really great. Ideally Sheamus will turn heel in the aftermath, though I doubt it.

That match was AWESOME

I missed the first 8 minutes of the Show-Sheamus bout, but the rest was awesome. Agreed with Will, the KO punch at the end was beautiful. Great rough action, felt like a heavyweight title fight, really hard hitting. Sheamus looked like a total badass, even though Sheamus lost, he came away looking like one of the toughest guys around. Great match.

Best part about it was that it was not entirely bomb throwing and instead built to the big bombs. If Meltzer shits on that match he's fucking insane. It even got the crowd back into the show.

He will say it was good... for a big Show match but bitch about the slow start. Calling it now.

 

Seriously, I will say it again... when it comes to breaking out of finishers, no body builds them better than Big Show. I bought like the last 5 finishers. Same thing happened in the Mark Henry match where the ring fell apart.