Week in Review (6/17/12) - (6/23/12)

[Chris]

WWE No Way Out (6/17/12)​

Chris's Thoughts: We open the show with the WHC match between Sheamus and Ziggler, not a fan of opening with a big match, but whatever. Very good match here with Ziggler getting the biggest cheers of his life. He drew a much bigger reaction from Sheamus. Both guys excelled in this match and minus a couple botches at one point, this was a great way to open the show. I still say that they should have shocked us by having Ziggler win it, but I'm okay with Sheamus still champion. Next up, we have the Tuxedo match between Ricardo and Santino. This was really just a waste of time, no one was into it, not me or the crowd. "Boring" and "We Want Ryder" chants galore. Even for a comedy match, it wasn't funny at all, which is hard to believe because both guys are hilarious. IC title match between Christian and Cody is up next. From just a match standpoint, this was amazing, both guys looked so good, ending was executed very well with a nice false finish, easily best match of the night so far. It had me puzzled though, I mean, if they really are going to push Cody in the main event, you think they would have done something here to get him there instead of just losing cleanly. I don't know, I guess I just expected something more. Triple H's promo was next and this was the biggest waste of time yet. It took him 10 minutes to say he wanted a match with Brock at SummerSlam. Completely pointless.

4-way tag was next and this was pretty fun to watch, a cool spot by the most underrated guy in wrestling, Tyson Kidd at one point that set up the finish. I'm probably the biggest hater of Titus O'Neil, Young is decent enough, just horrible at promos, but Titus has absolutely nothing to offer at all, I'd rather watch Khali because I mean, at least Khali is tall. With all that said though, I like AW joining them, they definitely need a mouthpiece, and if we actually start to get somewhat of a tag team storyline starting up, I'll be happy. Divas match was next and talk about disappointing, they just made this one into a complete joke the whole first half of it with Layla dancing around and running from Beth outside the ring. What the fuck? Layla retained, I don't even care at this point. Sin Cara beat Hunico in another filler match, this one went almost 6 minutes I believe though. It was nice, I really enjoyed watching it. Hunico seems to have improved a lot, he can fly and do some ground work fairly well. Best filler of the night. The match everyone cared about for the WWE title is next and this one was great. I would have liked it to be just Punk and Bryan for more than it was, but Kane definitely didn't hurt anything when he was involved in anything either. Bryan played the crowd as well as anyone has in forever, he was easily the most over guy in this match and he really should have gotten the belt. Ending was weird with AJ and whatnot, I wasn't too happy with it until AJ smiled back at Punk when Kane was holding her, that part got me to pop pretty good because the storyline seems far from over now. So many possibilities of where they can go with that one little smile.

Ryback squashed two jobbers next in what seemed like a shorter Ryback match than normal. Loud as fuck "Goldberg" chants. Crowd has been so hot all night. Time for the main event...and I don't know if it was my low expectations or what, but I really liked watching this one for the most part, I think it needed more false finishes of Cena almost escaping, but this was a pretty good match. It got real stupid real fast at the end though with Brodus coming down to basically cheat to help Cena win. Doesn't really make too much sense either. A lot of other guys came out too like Kofi and Ryder (huge pop for him). Cena ended up winning, which I didn't expect, and he hit the AA on Johnny after McMahon fired him. Decent ending to the PPV, but that match was just so overbooked towards the end. Decent enough PPV, shocked that there weren't any real swerves though, there were so many opportunities.

Match of the Night: CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan vs Kane

Segment of the Night: Not one, Triple H's was too bad to give this to it.

Overall Rating: 5.5/10

WWE Raw (6/18/12)​

Chris's Thought: We open this show with none other than Long Islands own....Mick Foley! Nice surprise here, he reveals that he'll be in charge of Raw and Smackdown this week, should be fun. Big Johnny came out too and exchanged some words with Foley. Good stuff from Foley here, the usual decent stuff from Johnny. Overall a pretty good segment. First match tonight is Sheamus and Punk vs Kane and Bryan. Very good stuff here, surprised Bryan didn't get more ring time though. Big story was AJ however, she came out wearing a freakin' Kane mask. Holy shit this angle is good. Good enough match to start the show, but it was just storyline advancing mainly. No clue where this is heading. Surprise me, WWE. Ziggler beat Swagger in a pretty good short match here, Ziggler sold the ankle so damn well. Ziggler won, which was obvious, but then he and Vickie shared a very passionate and disgusting kiss that almost made me throw up. I really hope they fix that in the coming weeks, Ziggler needs to go out on his own, he's already one of the most over guys in WWE. Up next we get a Paul Heyman and Triple H segment. Paul E. absolutely freakin' owned Hunter in this one, I loved it. Heyman needs to be on TV every week, he is absolutely gold. He's the only reason I'm giving this HHH/Lesnar feud a possibility of being good.

Alberto Del Rio beat Santino is a short, decent match next. Um, yeah, that's about it. Ricardo attacked Santino afterwards, which was nice, I hope they start really letting him wrestle now, the dude is awesome. Up next we have the worst segment in recent memory with Cyndi Lauper, Wendi Richter and Layla (why the hell was she even here?). After a grueling 1 minute promo by the two dinosaurs, Heath "By God" Slater comes out to save us...IT'S SLATER TIME! I never thought I'd say this, but I'm becoming a Slater fan, he was gold here. Piper came out to a huge pop, but he really couldn't even save the segment, his interactions with Slater were pretty funny though. Lauper ended up bashing Slater over the head with a plaque to end this, and damn she knocked him out, Slater even bled some. PissTime Players vs Epico and Primo was next, and this was some decent little action, ending was kinda' weird with PTP taking the count out loss, but hey, maybe we're getting an actual storyline . Ending came with Cena vs Otunga and Ace, Otunga left Ace on his own about have way through, which got a pretty big pop. This match was horrible, but the crowd made it for me, they were so hot. Good way to send Ace out if he truly is gone for a while. Decent Raw, not as good as last week, it had it's moments though.

Match of the Night: CM Punk & Sheamus (3rd Raw MOTN in a row) vs Daniel Bryan & Kane

Segment of the Night: Paul Heyman & Triple H

Overall Rating: 5.9/10

WWE NXT (6/20/12)​

Chris's Thoughts: First off, WWE has removed everything to do with NXT off it's website for some reason, but luckily this show is still shown outside of the US, so I can still watch it. "Welcome Home" by Coheed and Cambria is the theme song, already loving this show. Jr & Regal are commentating, loving it more. Dusty Rhodes is the interim GM, there is not enough love for me to give to this show. First match of the night is Bo Dallas vs Rick Victor, it's obvious Dallas is going to win since he got the promo and the entrance, very short, but pretty good squash. Dallas finished with a nice Spear. Next we get Damien Sandown talking his way out of a match, which was freakin' awesome. He's quickly rising in my list of favorites. The Ascension, which consists of Conor O'Brien & Kenneth Cameron vs Mike Dalton & CJ Parker is next and this was another obvious squash, Ascension looked awesome, but I'm not a fan of the, what has become generic, dark gimmick, maybe they'll change my mind in the coming weeks. Derrick Bateman and Johnny Curtis had a backstage segment which was stupid, and I'm guessing it was supposed to be funny, but I didn't laugh one bit, and I usually found their wacky antics on Season 5 pretty funny, but that was just horrible. Now we're at our main event between two of the most under-appreciated wrestlers in the WWE, Tyson Kidd vs Michael "Don't call him Hennig" McGillicutty. JR and Regal do a great job putting these guys over, Regal even comparing Kidd to a young Owen. This match was one of the best ones you will see all year, I'm not even joking, it was better than any match at No Way Out, and easily the best NXT match of the year, beating the previous best that was also between these two guys a few months ago. If you are any sort of wrestling fan, there is no excuse for not watching this match, I'll even link you to the video if you need me to. Overall, it was a good first episode, but other than the main event, we didn't have any other competitive matches, which was fine really because they have to introduce all the new guys these first few episodes. I think we'll start getting some consistently good matches once the second set of tapings start airing. I have to stress two things though, Kidd vs McGillicutty was awesome, and Regal and JR on commentary together is the greatest thing you'll ever hear.

Match of the Night: Michael McGillicutty (2nd NXT MOTN in a row) vs Tyson Kidd

Segment of the Night: Damien Sandow promo & Bray Wyatt Vignette

Overall Ratings: 6.7/10

WWE Superstars (6/21/12)​

Chris's Thoughts: We start Superstars this week with Hunico vs Ezekiel Jackson. My expectations for this match were really low, so it was a pleasant surprise. Hunico was on offense most of the time, and Camacho got involved a few times, which was good. Decent first match, snapped Hunico's strand of Superstars MOTNs though. Second match was between my two favorite tag teams in WWE today, Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel vs Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks. This match didn't get near enough time in my eyes, I wanted to see it go at 10-15, but it only went about 8. Either way, it was still great, and Kidd continues to prove why he is one of the best wrestlers WWE has, yet refuses to utilize. The main event tonight is Zack Ryder vs Drew McIntyre (talk about a guy that needs a push.) The crowd goes absolutely nuts when Ryder comes out, I doubt WWE piped in any of that even though this was taped Monday. The fact that the crowd was THAT loud during his entrance makes me that much more pissed he wasn't used even a little on Raw, it's despicable. McIntyre got a decent amount of heat as well, probably just because he was against Ryder though. Crowd stayed hot the whole match and Drew looked great when he was in control, he's so innovative with his offense, it's amazing. Ryder was a tad sloppy, but I have no problem with him winning in his hometown, even if it's against McIntyre. Decent Superstars this week, though not as good as the one last week.

Match of the Night: Justin Gabriel (2nd Superstars MOTN in a row) & Tyson Kidd vs Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks

Segment of the Night: N/A

Overall Rating: 5.8/10

Impact Wrestling (6/7/12)​

Chris's Thoughts: We open this show up with a Hogan/Aries confrontation. Aries is absolute gold on the mic here. He tells Hogan he'll give up the X Division belt only if every year, whoever's the X Champ gets the option to trade it in for a title shot at Destination X good luck with that TNA. Pretty good segment though, with some excellent mic work, Roode came out at the end and him and Aries brawled, it was great. Anderson called out Daniels for the first match of the night, it's part of the BFG series as well. Short and decent at best match, wish Daniels would have won. Brooke Hogan gets to decide which KO gets to challenge Tessmacher for the title tonight, these segments are crap, that's all you need to know. Kurt Angle vs Robbie E lasted about 20 seconds with Angle getting the submission win, pretty fun to watch actually, and Angle gets 10 points in the BFG Series out of it. Magnus calls out AJ Styles next for a BFG match, this one was great for the little time it was given, and Magnus getting the shocking win was awesome, who cares if it's clean? It's Gut Check time, and this week, Taeler Hendrix, the one-girl revolution from OVW gets her shot at a TNA contract against Tara. This was a decent match, Taeler looked pretty good, but I've seen better from her, Widow's Peak at the end was weak looking. I can't wait for Bruce Prichard's "expert" analysis of Taeler next week .

James Storm vs Samoa Joe was next in the BFG Series, and it was pretty good, another real short match just like all of them tonight, nothing more to say really, they tried to squeeze in too much to this episode and it showed real early. Abyss costed Bully Ray a match against D'Angelo Dinero, so it seems we still get this horrible feud. Bully deserves so much better. Tessmacher defends her KOs title against Mickie next and this was another decent, short match with a heel turn for Mickie imminent. RVD vs Jeff Hardy is the main event tonight, and in another real short match, Hardy got the win. I cared so little about the match, but it wasn't so bad, RVD almost broke his neck trying to sell the Twist of Fate. Okay, time for the closing segment. Like I said in the live discussion thread, this has got the be the most unintentionally hilarious thing I have ever seen in wrestling. You have got to see this segment for the sheer horribleness of it, I'm not even going to say anything about it other than it's about the Dixie/AJ storyline because if you've seen it, you know how bad it was, and if you haven't, there's no way I can accurately describe to you how bad this segment was. Overall, Impact was decent tonight, I expected more. There was hardly a mention about the guys that attacked Sting last week too, and Sting was nowhere to be seen, which was odd because I was really looking forward to seeing more of that tonight. Talk about a letdown.

Match of the Night: Magnus vs AJ Styles

Segment of the Night: Hulk Hogan (3nd Impact SOTN in a Row) & Austin Aries (2nd Impact SOTN in a row)

Overall Rating: 5.6/10

WWE Smackdown (6/8/12)​

Chris's Thoughts: We open this show with a Big Show promo, and first off, I've really liked his promos so far every since his heel turn, but this one was just boring. It didn't really do much, he didn't work the crowd so well. He did announce that he'd be in the MITB ladder match though . Brodus Clay ended up coming out and we got a cool big man brawl before Otunga quickly came in and went for Clay's knee. Otunga awesomely set back and watch Show kill Otunga. Crowd was all over Show here, chanting "You Can't Wrestle" and this really got him worked up. Otunga attacked Clay more after Show left and did a hilarious dance. Pretty good segment, other than the Show promo. We got a Ryback squash, same old, same old. Feed him three already. Alberto Del Rio vs Christian is next and damn, you guys need to check out this one. This is one of the best matches you'll see this week, almost as good as Kidd/McGillicutty. Christian sold the arm masterfully. Afterwards, Cody attacked Christian. I have no clue why they're still feuding, thought it was over.

AJ cost Daniel Bryan a match against Kane next, pretty good match and the ending was awesome with AJ ringing the bell so Bryan released the hold since he thought he won. This feud gets better eve when I don't think it could get any better. Foley came out and after a very short promo, the one, the only HEATH SLATTER interrupts him! I love Heath Slater. Anyway, this sets up a match between Zack "Not on Raw, ratings getting Lowski" Ryder. Very short match here with Ryder getting the win. Man, he's still over as hell. We get an absolutely horrible and unneeded Santino segment with some fan here, to quote Randy Orton, Stupid, stupid, stupid! After the commercial in a backstage segment, they foreshadowed a possible Ryder/Sandow feud. I personally think that could be a great first feud for Sandow. Up next, the Piss Time Playaz (thanks Fab) beat the Usos in a good tag match, O'Neil still sucks, but I'm slowly starting to tolerate them as a team. Backstage, afterwards, Epico and Primo attacked them. HOLY SHIT WE HAVE A TAG TEAM STORYLINE! Dolph Ziggler jobbing to Sheamus for the fourth time this month closed the show. Ziggler looked great here again, but lost clean, again. According to the spoilers, the crowd were behind Ziggler, but on the actual broadcast, they weren't loud at all. WWE probably edited it out or something.

Match of the Night: Alberto Del Rio vs Christian

Segment of the Night: I guess the opener with Show, Otunga, and Clay, but there really wasn't a good segment tonight

Overall Rating: 5.4/10

Ring of Honor Wrestling (6/23/12)​

Chris's Thoughts: We start the show with Brutal Bob wrestling his first ROH match against Eddie Edwards. This one was real good, sloppy at times, but a great way to start the show and it was fun seeing Bob actually wrestle. Chris Silvio vs Jay Lethal was next. This was decent at best, but the main story was the three way for the title, Strong and Ciampa both came out, it was pretty cool to watch and they've booked this one fairly well with the managers. Should be great. Steen and Jacobs absolutely owned the Inside ROH segment today. Great promo by both guys. In the main event tonight, Steen and Jacobs fought O'Reilly and Richards. This was a great match, crazy stuff, and a very good way to close the show and the last episode of TV before the PPV tomorrow. I don't think I could be anymore hyped for Best in the World than I already am. Some great matches, definitely a must-see iPPV.

Match of the Night: Kevin Steen & Jimmy Jacobs vs Davey Richards & Kyle O'Reilly

Segment of the Night: Steen/Jacobs promo (2nd ROH SOTN in a row for both men)

Overall Rating: 6.6/10

The Week's Best​

Match of the Week: Tyson Kidd vs Michael McGillicutty (WATCH THIS NOW!)

Segment of the Week: Paul Heyman & Triple H
HONORABLE MENTION: Bray Wyatt Vignette

Top Shows of the Week: 1. WWE NXT (5) 2. Ring of Honor Wrestling (6) 3. WWE Raw (1) 4. WWE Superstars (3) 5. Impact Wrestling (2) 6. WWE Smackdown (4)

 

[PHX]

Heard a handful of people give praise to Kidd vs Mike which somewhat surprises me so I'll probably youtube it and check it out. Seems like Tyson has been ripping shit up on NXT and Superstars lately period.

 

[Chris]

Mainly NXT, but yes, I'd go as far as saying Kidd has had the most consistently good matches this year at least on NXT, not the couple squashes he's had on Smackdown.