James: It’s the dawning of a new day here at the JT & Seány McPower Hour!! We are embarking on a brand new storyline starting with this here episode! But! Before we get into the thick of things, let me bring up an old proverb: It’s always quietest before the storm. We know a storm is coming, but the WWE Universe had no idea at the time! Instead of June 7th 2010, they had something else to celebrate!
Seán: That’s right, James. Whilst off the back of Season 1 of NXT (the game show-era) and preparing for the genesis of a certain wrestler named Michael, the WWE Universe have been named as, well, basically the general managers of Raw for one night because it’s a Viewer’s Choice edition of Monday Night Raw. The fans will get to vote what matches they want to see or what stipulations they want to see. It’s the good old days where Raw was still two hou- ah shit, this episode of Raw is 3 hours, isn’t it?
JT: Well this arc has the potential to be an interesting one from the standpoint of our entertainment, to put in generously, so it’s only fitting that we start with a trail by fire! It’s 3 whole hours of Viewer’s Choice Raw from June 7th, 2010!! We’re on the road to Fatal 4 Way, and surely nothing notable will happen tonight!
S: No invasions of sort will happen, this is an evening for us fans to enjoy. A lovely, peaceful episode of Raw where nothing will possibly go wrong!
SEASON FOUR OF THE POWER HOUR TIME! LET’S FUCKING DO IIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTT!
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Booting Up
JT: Helloooo!! The Power Hour is open for business once again!! As Seán said, this is the first episode of our new season, and I’m so excited for it! It’s always nice to start a season off, y’know? There are no narratives yet! I mean, I always have expectations for who will be key players and who will be MVP candidates, but at the moment it’s all just guesswork! Who knows what recurring themes, under appreciated matches and forgotten moments we’ll see? It’s a whole new ballgame!
S: Exactly! It’s also an era which we were both consuming on the regular as kids around the ages of 9-10/11. It’s an era which I’m very fond of, but one which I feel I’m going to dig up a lot of memories from, as well as uncover forgotten factoids which completely flew over my head as a child, and there were quite a few on this show. It’s our longest season to date too, which means that this is our homework for the next twelve months!
JT: Exactly! We’ve got plenty of hours of shows that I was fully immersed in as a kid. I’ve mentioned before, I first started watching wrestling in 2009, so I was all excited for 2010 because it was essentially my first full year as a fan! I knew enough to have expectations for the year and I knew what sort of landmarks were on the horizon. So it’s about time that folks like us tackle this era, because god knows there’s not much reason to do so if you don’t have nostalgia for it.
S: Absolutely, this era of 2010 is only really talked about in long form video essays regarding The Nexus or any of the other players I’m 2010 by the likes of Brian Zane with his brilliant video on The Nexus a few years back, and the Attitude Era Podcast reviewing The Rock’s return from Mania 27 to Mania 29. This is now going to be our era, from this moment on, we shall be The Gatekeepers of 2010.
JT: And of course, the main focus of this season is The Nexus, but the things with wrestling is that there’s always loads of people involved. Yeah, the main focus will be on the Nexus, but we’ll be the ones digging through the dumpster and finding loads of other stuff that has gone forgotten. To bring up the Attitude Era Podcast, we all know the stories of McMahon/Austin, The Invasion, The Montreal Screwjob, but in their escapades they found all sorts of stuff like the return of Goldust in 1998, Big Show’s revolving tag partners during the Invasion, the Rise and Fall of the Patriot in 1997, and so on. I’m hoping there’s stuff we’ll be able to find that makes you dear readers go “Oh my god I totally forgot about that!”.
S: There were a few instances on this show which made me react that same way, not on the scale of Big Show’s revolving tag partners, but definitely made me shocked. Something tells me that there will be plenty more where they came from.
JT: Oh absolutely, especially in the way that people really came and went in a flash during this time. I already have someone in mind who I think we’ll see, but I’ll leave you all in suspense for now. I’m also real excited to see what were little things that were tried and eventually gone back on. Again, the story of the Nexus and its members is pretty well documented at this point, but there are other threads to follow that I’m interested in.
S: That’s what makes these story arcs we do so much better! It allows us to see what else was going on in the wider scope of WWE with it’s other storylines aside from the big story which is the theme of whatever season we do. All I wanna know, James, is what is Yoshi Tatsu going to get up to in the Summer of 2010?
JT: We’re gonna get into the happenings of Yoshi Tatsu and the rest of the cast of WWE Superstars as this arc goes on. But before that, you want to get into the pre-show details? Run down the who, what, when and where of this episode of Raw before we get into the actual happenings of the show?
S: Oh you bet I do, James, and on top of that, I have got a pop culture flashback for you too if that’s not a problem?
JT: Not a problem at all!! We’re gonna be here for a while, let’s immerse ourselves in 2010!! And just as a little warning, prepare for this to be a looonnngggg culture flashback. My ability to go “Oh yeah that thing!” grows significantly once we pass the year 2009, since that’s when I gained a higher form of sentience.
S: Yeah this is definitely the time period where I’m refreshed by what was popular and going on in the world, for better and for worse. Shall we kick off our first culture flashback of Season 4?
JT: Let’s do it!! Show me what you’ve got!!
S: It’s back by popular demand from me, and hopefully you too, James. What was the world of pop culture like in the second week of June of 2010? Let’s start off with the world of music, what were the Number One Singles in the UK, the US and my land of Ireland? Well, in the UK it was Dizzee Rascal’s, “Dirtee Disco”, which is a song I cannot remember for the life of me. How familiar are you with the name, Dizzee Rascal, if at all?
JT: Man, I looked up this song on Spotify to see if I can knock some feelings loose…and I’ve got nothing. For all intents and purposes, this is a brand new song to me. It was the #1 across the US, UK and Ireland too?? Wow. Guess that’s just a part of the 2010 culture I was not remotely in synch with.
S: Oh no no, it was only the Number One Single in the UK, I was just starting it off by getting those dang blasted Brits out of the way first. We’ve still got our US and Irish chart toppers to come. Dizzee Rascal was a grime rapper from England who really gained notoriety at such a young age in the early 2000s, then caught huge popularity by the end of the 2000s with songs he did with the likes of Calvin Harris and Armin Van Buuren. Two very popular DJs from around that time. Calvin Harris you may know because he’s the guy who made “Acceptable in the 80s”, the theme song for OSW!
JT: Oh good, I thought I had completely missed out on something huge. And ayyy, Calvin Harris!! Can of Coke for that jam, OSW wouldn’t be the same without you!!
S: Agreed, he had that and some other bangers back in the day. Moving over in the land of freedom, the United States, the Number One, was “OMG (Oh My God)” by Usher and will.i.am. I remember this song constantly being played everywhere I went around this time because of how much it sounded like a football song since it dropped right around the time of the upcoming 2010 World Cup.
JT: Ah yes, now there’s a song I associate with the late 00s/early to mid 2010s. That heavily auto tuned, club dance type pop song with a 2/3s feature by a popular rapper. This hits the exact sort of notes from the “Generic 2007 Music” bit from Bojack Horseman, if you know what I’m referring to. Plus it’s Usher, who was real big during this time and had his fair share of hits. I say most of them are still pretty solid. And on the other hand, you’ve got Will I Am, who is definitely someone who lived in that moment and who I doubt is relevant beyond it. As a dumb kid I liked the Black Eye Peas, but looking back on it, he was really nothing special talent wise. Plus the title of “OMG”, doesn’t get much more late 00s/early 10s than the explosion in popularity of text messaging! Oh and I know exactly what you mean about this being a football song, it’s got that part that was clearly designed to be chanted along with, ohhh ohhhhh ohhhhh ohhhhh.
S: That’s how I feel about the music of the 2000s and most of the early 2010s. So many of the songs just have one catchy part which set it up for success. Like you just know that “ohhh ohhhhh ohhhhh ohhhhh” part of the song was belted out at half time during a really underwhelming match at the World Cup to try and lift the spirits of travelling fans and most probably, to try and drown out the noise of the dreaded vuvuzelas.
JT: I think this era and music can also be pretty hollow, considering the theme of “tonight” was like the most repetitive thing going. So many songs were just about partying tonight because tonight is the night to party, shit like that. But then again, mainstream commercial pop has always been about making money first and making art 2nd. But you can’t deny that they the catchiness was there.
S: Exactly, that was the hook of popular music at the time. Which was to create a catchy few seconds of instrumental bits or a memorable chorus, or even a song title to remember. Finally, we move on to the chart topper in Ireland around this time. In my neck of the woods, what topped the charts was a song called “Stereo Love” by Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina. Which I had no clue what it was until I gave it a re-listen while researching for this segment.
JT: Was it any good? Not labor or memorable in any way?
S: It’s what I would describe as a Euro Dance which is definitely memorable but you’d never be able to pin down the actual name of it. It’s one of those, you know?
JT: Ah yes, one of those. Nothing wrong with being one of those, so long as you stay on radio’s and playlist’s after your peak. Then you can make royalties forever, baby. Like think of how much money “Rock & Roll” by Gary Glitter has made by just being stadium filler. You might also know that song as “that one from Joker”.
S: Hold on a second, why the hell is a Gary Glitter song being made to be stadium filler over in the States?!
JT: Well you know that scene in The Simpsons from Season 7’s A Fish Called Selma, where they ask if anyone should have any reason my Troy McClure and Selma should not marry, and it cuts to Homer humming the main riff from that Gary Glitter song? That’s basically just all of America, every time that song comes on. No thoughts, just Da Da Da Dada HEY!!
S: Ah so that’s a Gary Glitter song? I’m starting a petition after this episode to get that Homer Simpson thought used across stadiums in the US at half time.
JT: So what else is on the agenda, any interesting movies and games out around this time?
S: Good that you ask, James! In the UK movie box-office, it was Sex and the City 2, which would be the number one film over there for three weeks. Why? Was it because the advertising for the movie was plastered all over Magnum ice-creams and Galaxy bars? It must have been the advertising. In the United States, the intellectuals over there chose a real film to reign supreme at the box office, and that was Shrek Forever After, baby! The final movie in the Shrek series and most definitely an improvement over Shrek 3, if you ask me.
JT: You know, for all my great nostalgia for and for Shrek 2 being potentially my favorite representation of 2000s American culture, I haven’t actually seen 3 or 4. But I have heard the same sort of thing, that 3 was a big on mess and a huge blow to the franchise, and that 4 was a nice return to form (although not a return to the peak) and wrapped things up cleaner than they were left after 3.
S: Yeah, that’s generally what the opinions were on the final two Shrek movies really. Maybe soon we can expect to see reviews of them on your Letterboxd?
JT: Maybe at some point! I’ve basically got OG Shrek memorized, it was just one of those movies that got put on whenever it rained at summer camp and all the kids were stuck inside, and I rewatched Shrek 2 last year when I got my first booster. So maybe Shrek 3 & 4 my come at some point, although at the moment I’ve got some other stuff ahead of it in my lineup. I wanna rewatch the Matrix movies for one, and then I wanna see some of Matt Reeves’s stuff around when the new Batman comes out. That means the new Planet of the Apes movies, as well as Cloverfield (and 10 Cloverfield Lane for the hell of it).
S: You’re a real busy boy in terms of your media consumption. Do give James a follow on Letterboxd by the way, readers. There’s some good stuff on there! So we move from movies to video games. The day after this Raw, so June 8th saw a good few game releases. For the handheld consoles, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker dropped for the PSP and Mega Man Zero Collection released for the Nintendo DS. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2011 dropped on all three of the major consoles, as did Green Day: Rock Band. Still in the long ten year period of Green Day selling out to the mainstream like no punk band has ever done before.
JT: And it’s still going from what I know! I don’t think I’ve heard a good thing about a Green Day release, really ever? Like I’m too young for their hay day, and even though I like American Idiot fine enough, it’s clear that their earliest stuff was the cream of the crop and the rest is better left avoided.
S: Yeah like I don’t have too much of a problem with American Idiot, obviously it’s not my favourite album of theirs but fucking hell it really did make them more commercially successful than they probably ever thought they could be, and since they made a shit tonne of money off it, fair play. The albums which followed afterwards were definitely huge steps down from their earlier work but that’s been said to death at this stage.
I just wanna mention one more game before we close the book on the games section, one of the biggest releases of the year happened two weeks before this episode of Raw. Not exactly in the time frame we’re talking about now but I really wanna give it a mention and it’s Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii. What an absolutely beautiful game and hopefully it gets the re-release on Switch like it’s predecessor. Did you ever play Mario Galaxy 2 or the original Mario Galaxy, James?
JT: Honestly, when I was into Nintendo products as a kid, it was always Pokémon and Kirby. I was never really big on platformers, and so i can say that the only Mario games I ever owned was whichever Mario Party came out on the DS and Mario Super Sluggers for the Wii. I know Mario Galaxy is beloved, but I was so into my sports and wrestling games at the time that I just missed the first one, and by the time 2 came out I was on to FPS games.
S: Mario Super Sluggers is a game which I always wanted for my Wii but it never actually got a European release if I remember correctly. Asian and North American exclusive, I think. You mention sports, I think it’s time we round things out with sports baby!
JT: Super Sluggers is definitely an all time childhood game, I’ll say that. Now onto sports!! What will we look at first?
S: I think I’m gonna save our favourite sports for last because there were some happenings in football and baseball around this time. First off, in tennis, Rafael Nadal would win his fifth of thirteen French Open Titles to date. Hence why he is the King of Clay. In one of my new favourite sports in ice hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks would lift their first Stanley Cup since 1961 after edging out the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in Overtime thanks to a Patrick Kane goal to wrap up the series at 4-2. This would be the first of 3 Stanley Cup titles which this Blackhawks dynasty would win in the previous decade, the second coming with a 4-2 series win over the Bruins in 2013. The third Cup would come in 2015 where they beat Tampa Bay 4-2.
JT: First off, shoutout to Nadal’s 21st Grand Slam that he won this year. Dude is my favorite tennis player, he’s just so fun and so good. Him, Federer and Djokovic all playing the same time (plus Serena Williams for the Women) is truly an incredible era for the sport. Then the Blackhawks! That destiny has become harder to look back on considering the sexual assaults against certain players by members of the coaching staff that were alleged to have happened during the 2010 season, but at the time it was really the first major victory for Chicago sports since Jordan left the Bulls. Honestly the 2010s were pretty good for Chicago sports, better than the 00s had been anyways.
S: Oh absolutely, the Blackhawks were probably the first team outside of Boston who I became familiar with in hockey because of how CM Punk was obviously a fan. I knew about their dynasty around this time and yeah, it’s definitely one which is tarnished forever now but hey, at least the Cubs won the World Series in 2016! Speaking of baseball… James, would you like to hear what happened in baseball at this stage?
JT: Oh absolutely! Give me the good stuff, I know by June the dog days would be on their way in, and the season would really be picking up steam.
S: Okay! So the day of when this Raw took place, we had the 2010 MLB draft, which most notably saw the Washington Nationals draft Bryce Harper as the first pick. Alright so I’m not too familiar with baseball as I would be with other sports, even though I am genuinely fascinated by it. I do know who Bryce Harper is and how he is a good player, although does get a fair bit of welly from fans. I know he doesn’t play for the Nationals anymore, I believe he plays for the Phillies now. So could you tell me what other happenings occurred at this draft, if there were any. Or perhaps what business your New York Mets operated in this Draft?
JT: Well I will say this, Baseball draft are normally the least exciting out of all the American sports. Why? Quiet frankly, the road from draft pick to professional player is the longest in baseball. In the NFL & NBA, there will be players every year who get drafted and that become impact players right away. Joe Burrow, who led the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl this year, was picked #1 only 2 years ago. The NHL is not quiet as immediate but you mentioned Patrick Kane, he went #1 in 07 and was leading his team to a cup by 2010.
Meanwhile for baseball, the actual skill gap between the majors and college is huge, professional pitchers speed, movement and control is just something that takes years to work up to for most players…most. It’s funny that Bryce Harper was the #1 pick for our discussion, because he’s one of the best #1 overall picks ever. He was only 18 when he was drafted, and yet he still made to the majors by age 20, winning Rookie of the Year and really being one of the main figures who helped make the Washington Nationals a legitimate franchise (they had only started existing in 05 after the Montreal Expos moved to DC, and had been mediocre to terrible most of those first 5 years). He was just an all time prospect, and he’s had a terrific career in the last decade since being drafted.
S: Yeah, he’s always one of those players who I hear being mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Mike Trout, Shohei Otani, Jacob DeGrom, Nando Tatis Jr. and Ronald Acuna Jr. to name a few as one of the top tier players that I hear baseball fans go on about. I did notice that from doing research on Harper, he had his rookie season two years after he was drafted so that gave me an idea that it does take a while for these drafted prospects to get up to speed with the professionals.
JT: Yeah and again, he flew through the minor leagues. My dearly beloved New York Met Jacob DeGrom didn’t make his debut until 4 years after he was drafted, although injuries had slowed his ascent. And though obviously the pandemic effected minor league baseball in 2020, we have still yet to see 2017’s first overall pick Royce Lewis make his debut. Then you even have instant such as with 2013’s Mark Appel or 2014’s Brady Aiken where they #1 overall pick just doesn’t develop and never makes the majors. You’ll never see that in the NBA or NFL.
S: That’s so crazy that a number 1 pick doesn’t get to make the majors. It just goes to show how massive of a jump in standard it is at all levels of baseball. Shall we wrap this up with our final piece of sport?
JT: Let’s do it. Oh
S: Alrighty! So on the 11th of June, the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup would take place in Johannesburg to a crowd of 84,490 people, which saw hosts South Africa draw 1-1 with Mexico. South Africa would open the scoring through Siphiwe Tshabalala’s absolute stunner in the 55th minute, Mexico would get the equaliser in 79th minute through Rafael Marquez. Uruguay and France would also draw 0-0, in what would be the start of a fucking catastrophic World Cup campaign for France. Honestly, one of the biggest stories of that World Cup was how much the French side were in disarray. No sympathy from me though because that’s what you get when your best player in Thierry Henry resorts to blatantly cheating by handling the ball to beat Ireland with Paul McShane in defence.
JT: Ahh yes the 2010 World Cup, a World Cup I remember for really being my first ever World Cup, and the only World Cup where I actually had a fun time following the US Men’s Team. But aside from that, I have real great memories of being at a sports based summer camp and getting a bunch of days where we got to gather around TVs and watch the action. And for a kid, watching games with loads of other invested kids, on a TV set up under the shade of a tree on a warm summer’s day? An amazing time. And funny you bring up France and how much of a mess they were, considering they would get themselves into shape and win a World Cup later in the decade.
S: France during this century have been such a peculiar case when it comes to international tournaments. Like they win Euro 2000, crash out in the group stages of World Cup 2002, make the finals of the 2006 World Cup, only to lose on penalties where Zidane was also famously sent off for headbutting Matterazzi in the chest. 2010, they’re an absolute disaster and then for the rest of the decade, they rebuild off the back of years of controversies and they win the 2018 World Cup with an amazing squad. There will be more World Cup chatter for the next two shows after this but for now, it’s time to close the book on the second edition of the Pop Culture Flashback.
JT: That was a load of fun, and I suppose all we have left is to run down the little extra details for this show! This special 3 hour Raw came live from Miami, Florida, and less than a month after that last “special” episode of Raw, being a Commercial Free Raw back on May 17th (Guest Hosted by Buzz Aldrin of all people). Tonight’s commentators are Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler, with Matt Stryker at ringside as the special correspondent to the WWE Universe for tonight. This Raw got a 3.1 rating and we don’t even get to chat about the Raw Opening video, because we get the classic “The whole world is watching” signature and then we fade in to a show already kicking right off!!
S: That it was! It was here in it’s 2010 form and I must say, was this WWE signature intro around for the longest time of all of them? Because this one was around from late 2005 until Raw 1000.
JT: That’s a pretty good run honestly, and are you including when they changed the last line to “The Champ is here”? Either way, I think it was a pretty cool signature. I like it more than the current one, but let’s be real if you’re super passionate about which WWE opening Signature is best, you need to calm down.
S: Yeah, I’m including the entire run of this style of WWE intro. It had a long old run, pretty impressive, considering it feels like we get a new intro for WWE every year at this stage.
JT: And that doesn’t include every time they snip somebody out of the intro because WWE doesn’t like them anymore and/or they did something shitty that is only now getting attention.
S: Exactly, it’s the style which matters. Shall we get into this episode of Raw?
JT: I think we’ve said enough. Let’s properly start off this new season!!
S: Let’s a go!
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Opening Door
JT: Immediately out of the signature, we fade in on Raw General Manager Bret Hart and SmackDown’s GM Teddy Long standing in the ring. They welcome us to the 1st ever Viewer’s Choice Raw, where the WWE universe can make their voices heard by determining matches and stipulations by voting on the WWE Website. The fans might even decide the fate of the WWE Title, since all 4 Fatal 4 Way opponents are wrestling, but the fans can choose who they face. Speaking of which, they welcome Title contender Randy Orton to the ring, but when he comes out we don’t get the same Randy Orton as usual. Tonight he’s out here in a sling, although he has the same affliction-ass shirts he always has, with a full length print of a Snake in a Gas Mask. Seconds into the show, we already have wacky 2010 stuff to talk about. First, do you remember Raw GM Bret Hart? And secondly, do you remember what happened to the Apex Predator’s shoulder?
S: First off, yes I do remember Raw GM Bret Hart during his brief few months at the wheel. What I did forget about was his 2010 theme, come on lads, give us the classic Hitman theme song. With Orton’s shoulder, from what I remember, the storyline reason was that Edge slammed a door into it on a previous episode of Raw. Is there a shoot reason for his shoulder being injured?
JT: Oh yes! So during his match against Edge at Over The Limit in May, he separated his shoulder during his comeback. But their initial kayfabe of it was hilarious. And what was that? Only Randy hurting himself while slamming on the mat like he always does before the RKO. I get that it was spur of the moment, but boy did he look like a dumbass. And then of course, they went to a Double Countout and then Edge attacked him with the door.
S: Yeah I figured that he injured the shoulder during that forgotten Over The Limit match before this. What a mess that was.
JT: So despite his injury, Randy wants Edge and he wants him tonight, so Teddy & Bret better make the match or he’ll attack him himself. Then right on schedule, Edge comes out before Bret can say if he’s made the match, saying he’ll give Randy the match if Randy wants it that bad, so he can finish what he started. Then Bret (with whispers in his ear from Teddy, says that since tonight it’s Viewer’s Choice, they’ll let the people in the arena decide what happens. Either Edge and Randy will face off in A) A Debate, B) A Sit Up Contest, or C) A Match with Edge’s arm tied behind his back. And right from the start, we’re gonna run into the big problem with Viewer’s Choice night. Pretty much every time, you’ll have 2 duds and the one obvious pick. And unlike with Cyber Sunday/Taboo Tuesday, they’re not setting this stuff up in advance, these are for tonight only. And that means the options are limited, so you have the 1 thing they clearly prepared for, and the other 2 options they’re begging the fans not to pick.
S: This is definitely the case in terms of the multiple match stipulations, ESPECIALLY in this instance. Why not just make the match instead of giving us two duds before the obvious choice of Edge having his arm tied behind his back? Although, if a debate happened, what topics do you think Orton and Edge would’ve had a debate over at this time?
JT: I’d like to see them resolve their issues and debate who was the better member of Rated RKO! And if we were a month later, they could’ve debated to Miami about the odds the Lebron James led Miami Heat had of winning an NBA Championship! Otherwise I’m short on 2010 debate topics.
S: I think a good 2010 topic would be if Fred: The Movie should have been an idea which saw the light of day because I’d say the trailer dropped around this time, and John Cena would also star in those disasters.
JT: You know what? As dated as it would instantly be, I know Edge could cut a mean promo about how he thought Fred Figglehorn and his internet show sucks. Like I can imagine it with ease.
S: And then he would proceed to give the character of Fred Figglehorn a Conchairto, eradicating his existence. So there we have it, our first match set up for tonight by the fans!
JT: That’s right, it’s Randy Orton and his sling vs Edge and his arm tied behind his back later on tonight! The fan’s voices have been heard! But will it have been the right choice? We’ll find out later…
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Jeri-Showdown
S: Speaking of choices, James. We’ve got our first Viewer’s Choice match and… *sex jazz music plays* JERI-SHOW EXPLODES!!! Tonight, on Raw!
JT: The former Unified Tag Team Champions are facing off for the first time one on one since their breakup! Was it even really a break up now that I think about it? Like, even as someone watching religiously at the time, I don’t remember their breakup being a big deal. If I remember correctly, I think Jericho and Show just had backhanded compliments for each other in a single interview afterwards at most. That was nothing compared to the explosion of ShowMiz, where Big Show emphatically knocked out The Miz and turned face in the process. Do you remember anything about the JeriShow breakup, aside from the fact it was only done to free Jericho up to face Edge at WrestleMania 26?
S: That’s all I really remember about it to be honest, James. Like they were Unified Tag Champs for ages, had a pretty good run for themselves, lost it to DX, broke up, then Jericho was freed up for Mania and ShoMiz was a brief thing. That’s it really, I think Big Show may have delivered a KO Punch to Jericho backstage at the start of his face run too maybe?
JT: Ah yes he did! Forgot about that! And I will say, I got a feeling we’ve got a rather pedestrian season of goody two shoes Big Show coming up, which is a stark contrast to his great 2003 form, but I‘ve got a positive out of this. In 2010, they really started pushing the KO Punch and in my opinion, it was a smart move. He did it a few times in 08, it became a finisher in his JeriShow run, but it became a full on gimmick during 2010. I think it was nice, because even if Big Show has always been a pretty boring and corny good guy, it was pretty much always cathartic to see him just KO heels in one blow.
S: And considering how his knees probably aren’t as good as they used to be, it saves him having to lift guys up for the chokeslam. Big Show’s KO is definitely a move which worked better the longer it was used.
JT: And on the topic of JeriShow, I’m just gonna say they’re one of the greatest makeshift Tag Teams ever. Considering it was originally going to Edge & Jericho and they put Big Show into the picture in less than a month, they worked really well together. They felt like a big deal and did a good job facing teams lower on the card than them like Cryme Tyme, plus they had an amazing mashup theme song. One of the few good ones really. Honestly, I was tempted to call them the greatest makeshift tag team ever, but I think The Bar surpasses them. Sheamus & Cesaro’s run was an all timer, one of the few great WWE Tag Teams of the 2010s.
S: Definitely, they helped those Tag Titles out so much to the point where they were involved in major matches on PPV. Faced The Undertaker in a Triple Threat for the World Heavyweight Championship and main evented the first ever TLC show so fair play to them but now, the good times must end as they both collide!
JT: But how will they collide? Right before we leave for the first commercial break of the night, the First official Viewer’s Choice match of the night goes up on WWE dot com. Will Chris Jericho and Big Show face off in: A) an Over the Top Rope Challenge, B) a Submission Match, or a C) Body Slam Challenge? What did you think of these choices? Because this one felt at least more fair than the live crowd vote for Edge & Orton.
S: I think these are more favourable and balanced out than the options for the Orton vs. Edge showdown. Bodyslam Challenge obviously favours show, Submission Match favours Jericho moreso given that he’s the submission expert and the Over the Top Rope Challenge is more in Big Show’s favour but Jericho could always pull out the upset.
JT: And for the Submission Match, Big Show has historically been portrayed as difficult to make tap out. I mean he and John Cena had a whole storyline leading to a Submission Match the year before! And I will say entertainment wise, these stipulations are all fine. None of them are super exciting but the deck isn’t clearly stacked in one direction.
S: That is until, spoilers folks, when we find out what the fans voted for this match to be stipulated under.
JT: Yeah, the options aren’t weighted towards a specific stipulation, but they are weighted against Chris Jericho. I mean, King just gives the game away as he says “Big Show will like the situation, really no matter what wins”. And which mountain does Y2J have to try and climb? Well go the delight of Big Show, with 48% of the vote, the Body Slam Challenge wins! It edges out the submission challenge which got 41%, and the measly 11% for the Over the Top Rope Challenge.
S: That’s another gripe I have witj the outcomes of these results, there’s always one option which gets a measly amount of votes. Something tells me that this shoot concept could possibly be a work.
JT: What??? Nooo, surely the WWE weren’t stack the deck in their favor!! The WWE Universe has the power after all! But speaking of power, it’ll take a lot of it for Gordon Ramsay haircut Chris Jericho to slam Big Show. Can he make the WWE fans eat crow? Or will Big Show make the fan’s vote worth their while?
S: Let’s find out in this Bodyslam Challenge!
JT: So right at the start, Big Show offers a free Body Slam attempt but Jericho slaps him, which only makes Show angry. He immediately backs Jericho up to the corner and hammers him with his big grizzly bear paws, big chops crack down on the chest of Jericho. He goes to follow up with a Splash in the corner, but Jericho moves and goes for a Body Slam, and The World’s Largest Athlete doesn’t even budge. Show swats him away and dials up the KO Punch, so Jericho rolls to the floor. He tries to clear his head, but Show grabs him by his head and lifts him up to the apron, only for Jericho to yank the arm down across the top rope. Now he’s focusing the arm, but as King points out, it won’t help Jericho lift Show. Jericho, the heel he is, is playing for the tie. Jericho pokes the eyes but gets chopped out of the air as he tries jumping at Tall Paul. He gets back up, tries to soften up Show and then hits the ropes for a Crossbody, but Show catches him out of the air and decides to end Jericho’s suffering as he Slams him down to win. But not to be too kind, Big Show locks in his rare Colossal Clutch to make Jericho tap out, and then for good measure, he throws Jericho out over the top, clearing all 3 stipulations with relative ease! This one doesn’t really require much of a breakdown, so I just sped through it. We’ve got 3 hours of TV to get through after all!! But I did leave my dear co-host out of all the fun, so Seán, give us your thoughts.
S: Ehhhhhhm, not much to say really. Like it’s a real house show match if you ask me, definitely WrestleMania Revenge Tour around Europe type vibes from this match. It was harmless fun to get the crowd happy but at the same time, it felt very beneath Jericho to be a triple loser in this scenario. This seems like the type of role which would’ve fit William Regal to a tee. Very strange for Jericho to be in this spot.
JT: Yeah think about it this way, Chris Jericho was World Champion at WrestleMania. In fact, he retained his World Title too!! So the fact that he got completely chumped out here was definitely weird. In general, his whole 2010 was weird. His 2009 was a step down from his amazing 2008 World Title run, but was still a pretty great year. He was one of the guys who got the most TV time all year, and was booked pretty strongly in general. But after WrestleMania 26, his booking fell off a cliff. He lost his title to Jack Swagger by MITB, he lost the blowoff Cage Match against Edge at Extreme Rules, then at Over the Limit he weirdly teamed with The Miz in a loss to the Hart Dynasty. No clue that was a PPV match. But what happened to his booking??
S: That’s something which has really puzzled me for all these years. I completely forgot that he teamed with The Miz for a PPV until you just mentioned it there, just such a bizarre year it is for him and it’s only going to get more questionable but knowing where he’ll be by the end of this story arc, I think I could gather an opinion as to why his booking is strange.
JT: Well don’t spoil us now, let’s leave this story thread dangling. I’ve got months of content to watch and try to remember where this goes.
S: Well I’ll leave it at that then, no spoilers for James from myself. Gotta be a good partner.
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Hartly Worth Talking About
JT: Up next, we have had our first Viewer’s Choice match where the audience gets to decide who gets a match! We’ve had stipulations already, but not opponents!! Who will the WWE Universe choose to face Hart Dynasty aka Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith with Natalya? Well to that I say, it’s fucking slim pickings. The state of your tag division! First off, is the team of John and Jey Uso…WHAT A FUCKING SECOND!!! JOHN USO???
S: WHO IS THIS MAN?! I honestly had no fucking clue that Jimmy Uso was called by his legitimate first name AT ALL on the main roster. I was STUNNED in all honesty and I even rewound on the Network at least twice to make sure my sight and hearing weren’t deceiving me. I even tweeted about it and everything because of how taken aback I was by Jimmy being called John. I really wanna know when they make the change from John Uso to Jimmy Uso. I’m genuinely intrigued by this case.
JT: Yeah the fact he’s called John isn’t too weird, considering that’s his real name. But what inspired them to change Josh and John into Jimmy and Jey, and why did they sign off on Jey first but let John keep his name? I love dumb, mundane wrestling creative decisions. I just want to know the thought process here.
S: See this doesn’t get a mention at all on their Wikipedia page, like it doesn’t say that Jimmy initially debuted under the name, John. I really would like to know if The Usos were called John and Josh Uso during the first week or two. I’m so curious.
JT: Well either way, the options are the Usos, The Dudebusters aka Trent Barreta and his iconic tag partner Caylen Croft, and the veteran team of The Great Khali and Hornswoggle. They each get promos before the votes are tallied too. The Usos talk about how they laid out the Harts 2 weeks in a row, the Harts better hope the people don’t let it become 3 weeks. “If you want to become a better person in life, vote for the Dudebusters” says Caylen. Trent meanwhile is on his phone, because “Dude I voted for us and I feel better already”. Cue a fist bump and mouth explosion noises. Epic, awesome sauce, and so on. When Swoggle & Khali are shown on screen the crowd actually reacts a little bit, with Khali raising his arms and yelling, and then Swoggle doing the same thing. See it’s funny because he’s smaller than him. Jesus Christ man, the fans were not spoiled for choice here.
S: Yeah the depth in the tag division definitely has taken a huge hit in the last six months or whatever because there’s no Jeri-Show, no Cryme Tyme, no Legacy, Carlito and Primo aren’t a team anymore and probably a few more teams. Crying out for Curt Hawkins and Vance Archer, The Gatecrashers to save this division. Jokes aside though, as much as I loved The Dudebusters and still love Trent Barreta to this day, they were always positioned at a certain level on the card. The Usos have just debuted and are years off being where they would be in terms of legitimacy and Khali and Hornswoggle are essentially the circus show tag team consisting of the tallest and the shortest roster members.
JT: Yeah I like Trent, and though I don’t think anyone has strong feelings about Croft, that certainly means he wasn’t detrimental. But like, this feels like one of their first appearances on Raw. Before that, they were relegated to Superstars and being opening acts on very late stage ECW. Oh and based on their Wikipedia, they’re supposed to be heels here? Nothing about this came across strongly, and I wrote in my notes “I will eat my hat if the Dudebusters break double digits”.
S: I’m pretty sure they had a run on SmackDown after ECW folded for maybe six months? Don’t hold me on that one, it may have been shorter but they definitely had a stint on SmackDown in 2010.
JT: Well regardless, I had to eat my hat. Beretta and Croft got 10% even. Coming in second was the Usos who got 36%, and the winners by complete blowout is Khali and Hornswoggle with 54%. So as if this match itself isn’t weird enough, it gets weirder when Swoggle & Khali come out. First off, Hornswoggle is still in his DX gear, because he was in DX and Shawn retired months ago and they’ve got nothing for him. Meanwhile we get this, which I quoted word for word: “Khali is back from a rousing tour of India. It’s a good thing he got back when he did, so we could get that Putin on the Ritz segment with him and his brother Rajin Singh!” says Michael Cole. “That was unforgettable!” says King….what the fuck are they talking about?? Again, I waited on hand and foot for every new episode of Raw, and I haven’t the faintest clue what he was talking about.
S: This was such a fucking common thing with King and Cole commentating together, later with JBL but I often notice that they just say whatever the fuck is farted through the headsets to him. What exactly was Khali doing on this tour? Was he the only one on this tour? Was he doing PR work for WWE? Was he just going back home for a holiday? Were WWE on tour in India? What the hell has Putin got to do with this? So many questions as to what the fuck the context is behind Khali’s trip back home to India, as well as what the hell Cole is on about.
JT: And of course the most important thing about this match is that young Natalya is looking at the Ghosts of Christmas Future in Hornswoggle & Khali.
S: Oh god, the most iconic trio of 2013! Right off the back of the rousing success which was her fart gimmick was her, Khali and Hornswoggle as a clique. Nattie really has had to crawl through some absolute muck during her time.
JT: She’s got some tough time coming ahead, but it’s still not as tough as Tyson Kidd’s haircut, heyo!! I still miss Tyson by the way.
S: I really miss him too, his career really ended in the most unfortunate of circumstances and it sucks because I felt like he was finally starting to find a permanent place on the main roster. He was so great and it feels like we could’ve gotten to see ten times more than what we did get to see of him. A truly underrated wrestler.
JT: For as good as he would become, could he succeed under these dire circumstances though? Let’s find out. The match begins and smartly Tyson tries to chop down the Punjabi Monster, but Khali quickly knocks him down. Well, as quickly as Khali can move anyways. He hits some chops, with Natty just slapping away on the apron to try and get the crowd behind her guys. Khali picks up Tyson and Slams him down, and then tags in the former Cruiserweight Champ himself. Swoggle goes up top, he leaps off, but TK moves out of the way of the dreaded Tadpole Splash. DH comes running in, he knocks Khali back off the apron, Tyson pins Hornie and 1-2-3 it’s over in what, 4 minutes? The crowd boo this finish immediately, and uh yeah, this stunk.
S: Four minutes? I’d say it was four minutes including the commercial break which was probably before this segment. What was the point in doing this segment? Honestly like, was it just to get the comedy yucks of seeing Khali and Hornswoggle be a tag team? If that’s the reason then ya failed, WWE. Boooooooo! This isn’t even a TV match though, this is a match you’d have with your mates that you have you call off early because your friend got winded doing a splash.
JT: They wrestled this like it was decided at the last minute that this was happening. And yeah in kayfabe this was decided last minute, but from the second Khali & Swoggle, guys who were actually over at a point in WWE’s not too distant past, were put up against the Usos and Dudebusters, it was never in doubt. This doesn’t help the Harts at all either, I doubt the kiddies liked seeing them beat up on Swoggle. But you asked what the purpose of this was, and it was entirely for the post match segment. After barely breaking a sweat, the Harts are attacked for the third straight week as John, Jey and Tamina Snuka rush the ring, with one of the Usos in long pants too! Will the weird debut surprises never cease! Anyways, this time they actually get run off by the Harts, learning from the past 2 weeks. It’s like the saying goes. Fool me once, fool me twice, fool me chicken soup with rice.
S: Alright we gotta know which of the Uso brothers, Jimmy-John or Jey was wearing the long tights because that’s a look which I completely forgot about. Next time we see them, they’re probably going to be wrestling in singlets, given how weird things with them are at this stage.
JT: Well considering that we will have follow up from this storyline at the next Pay Per View, we’ll just have to see what oddities will occur.
S: Maybe John will be called Jimmy Jo-Jo Junior Uso next time? Who knows?
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The A-Plot
JT: So up next, we’ve got a bunch of set dressing. First, Jerry just looks around, says abruptly “we have a problem” and then leaves. Ok? Then we get some SmackDown recap from Cole, but we’ll come back to this later. After the recap, we’re told that the cast of the brand new A-Team movie is here! It’s “The biggest blockbuster of the summer” apparently! So out comes leading man Bradley Cooper, who says that his co-stars were supposed to be here but he’s not sure where they are. So he’s gotta plug the movie on his own! He hocks the movie, says Raw will be a great show, and leaves. Easy payday for Rocket Raccoon. We then cut to King backstage, where he is approached by obviously the A-Team co-stars with fake mustaches. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as B.A. and Sharlto “No cool UFC nickname” Copley as H.M. are on the case! What case? Well, the King’s crown has been stolen! B.A. says he watches Raw all the time, so he thinks he knows who took it, but before they can get on the case, The Bella Twins walk in! They start talking to them but Jackson and Copley are doing the “we’re not actors we’re the characters from the movie” gimmick so they act confused. Nikki even says she loved Copley in District 9 and H.M. says “never saw it but I heard it was an excellently acted, sci-fi parable with a powerful message, and that Copley guy was robbed at the Oscar’s” and then looks in the camera. So we’ve got this running thread to “look forward to”. And again I know I ran through that, but there really isn’t much commentary to give. Anything to say Seán? Want to get into “A-Team 2010 Remake movie” discussion now, or save our discussion of the movie and how it did for the inevitable later segments?
S: Alright, Bradley Cooper. What the hell are you doing here on Raw in 2010? Also, massive lol at Liam Neeson being the only one of the crew not here tonight. Could’ve done with some Neeson if you ask me. Also, Bradley Cooper’s cameo here was so fucking brief, it reminded me of Pele in The Simpsons where the football (soccer) match happens between Mexico and Portugal. I was waiting for Bradley Cooper to endorse some shampoo or something like.
JT: Yeah pretty crazy to see him here. I mean he’d have bigger roles to come and awards like “Sexiest Man Alive” according to People magazine to come, but funny to see WWE kind of ahead of the curve by getting a celeb on the rise instead of a has-been looking for any attention they can get. Like I mean, we saw enough of those guys on Raw the year before during the Guest Host GM era. And boy, Liam Neeson on Raw would’ve been incredible. If he could stomach any of the shit he had to say in Phantom Menace, surely he’d been a good promo on Raw.
S: I think we could’ve had a good Taken reference on Raw with Liam Neeson talking to the abductors of Lawler’s Crown on the phone. That would’ve been awesome!
JT: Well maybe awesome things can happen later with Jerry, BA & HM?? Maybe?? I’m grasping at straws here.
S: Nah, given Jerry’s alleged history, he’d be the guy on the line to Neeson. Amirite lads???
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San-San-Santino, Raw’s Favorite Dynamo
JT: So up next, we’ve got some goofy midcard action! Santino Marella is set to compete, and he’s set to face off against someone he tried to befriend the last couple weeks, Vladimir Kozlov. Now Seán, you and I both know where this is going, long term and short term. But what I don’t know is how did this whole storyline start. Do you know how this whole thing even started?
S: Alright so from what I gathered from the commentators before this whole segment started was that Santino really wanted Kozlov to be his tag team partner because of how tough he is, but Kozlov would repeatedly turn down his offer something like that?
JT: Ok, so from what I can tell, it started when Vlad went back to Raw when ECW closed. Vlad came up to Flava Flav, saying that Santino wouldn’t leave him alone. Which already, out of character for Kozlov. I feel like if he wanted to be left alone, he’d just attack Santino, no? Either way, he came up to Guest Host Flava Flav asking to him to get Santino to leave him alone. This led to William Regal, his partner from ECW, coming in and telling Vlad to ignore Santino and Flav, including dropping some bars of his own (only after Kozlov told him to not back down). Flav proceeded to tell Regal his rap sucked, and that Kozlov should hear Santino out. So now, we’ve got two rival camps, Regal trying to keep Kozlov serious and on his side, and Santino who wants a partner. I just feel like, there’s a more natural way to have this happen, no? Like, some sort of inciting incident as to why Santino thought of Kozlov for a partner, or why he needed a partner in the first place.
S: Flava Flav, of course, the unspoken wise figure that doesn’t get enough recognition. There’s something so funny to me about Flav being the voice of reason, like that’s just such a Guest Host Era of Raw thing to see. I watched that Raw and everything, I do not remember Flava Flav’s involvement at all. Why not just create the greatest comedy trio with Regal, Santino and Kozlov?
JT: Honestly, I don’t know why they didn’t just go for Regal and Santino straight up. Maybe they still felt like Kozlov could still be a star? Maybe they figured Regal didn’t have many years left as an active competitor (he didn’t)? Hell, maybe they figured Regal was just too good as a heel to risk turning? But honestly, I think a Regal/Santino odd couple team could’ve been great, I mean he managed it with Tajiri & Eugene before!
S: Awh man, that’s totally what they should’ve gone with! Seriously, that’s such a good idea and it makes more sense to give Regal something to do in a tag team where he doesn’t have to do as much work as a singles guy, and he can probably do comedic wonders with Santino as well.
JT: That’s not how things would work out though…but that’s later down the road. Tonight, Santino still has some convincing to do, and he’s gotta do it against Kozlov one on one. He needs to prove he’s not a loser, but his chances really depends on the wills of the fans. After all, when he faces Kozlov, it will either be in A) A Match, B) An Arm Wrestling Competition, or C) Dance-Off. Two of those seem pretty clearly in Kozlov’s favor, but the other? Well Santino might just have a fighting chance against as Cole put it “One of the most feared members of the locker room”. Yeah I don’t know about that.
S: This isn’t 2008 anymore Cole, you can stop trying to put him over as a beast after he spent a year on WWECW and being jobbed the fuck out of the main event scene after his stinker with Triple H.
JT: Yeah you can’t be that feared when you lost a chance to face Undertaker at WrestleMania, then spent basically the whole year fighting Christian 3 on 1 and still not winning the ECW Title. I mean, dude was 3rd wheel to William Regal in his 40s and Ezekiel Jackson.
S: Now that’s a swift fall from the SmackDown main event scene if there ever was one, Christ above.
JT: Despite all that though, Vlad is still the kind of big guy that Santino has historically struggled against. Even a dull scissor should cut paper, y’know? But luckily for Santino, the universe has his back. In a complete blowout, it was 7% for Arm Wrestling, 9% for Professional Wrestling, and 84% for the Dance Off. I think this type of vote right here shows why “sports entertainment” is a thing.
S: “We make movies” – Vince McMahon in “Beyond the Mat” (1998). Jokes aside though, as soon as I saw these two and I saw the options on display, I knew what was coming. I was prepared. Do you think the majority vote was actually a Dance Off? Or do you think we had all the diehards voting for a strict wrestling match between The Milan Miracle and The Moscow Mauler?
JT: Well I said “this is why sports entertainment is a thing” because this was just a situation where having a straight up wrestling match wasn’t the most entertaining way to handle this storyline. I mean, in a pure wrestling company you probably don’t book this storyline, but since this story was happening, I think you had to have Kozlov face Santino on Santino’s terms.
S: And what better way for Santino to prove his worth, and his toughness through the formal art of dance. I love how Santino celebrates the Dance Contest being chosen as the stipulation too. He’s so great.
JT: He’s such a card. Kozlov meanwhile, like everything, faced this challenge with a stone faced expression. Shall we get to our dance off then?
S: Absotootely!
JT: Cole is already laughing before this even starts, and just before it all begins, Santino warns Kozlov that he was the 6th Backstreet Boy before their first album, so this one is pretty much “in the banks”. This song plays and I don’t know how to describe it, I guess like a Eurodance song?? How do I take notes for a fucking dance contest anyways?? So uhh Santino’s dancing, it’s silly, as you might expect. It’s essentially right out of Borat, with Santino being sort of prancy and let’s be real, he’s effeminate on purpose. He does a pretty decent Carlton though. What did you think of Santino cutting a rug?
S: I think his Carlton dance was pretty good, aside from that, it was alright. I feel like Santino has got more to offer as a dancer.
JT: Yeah I feel like he’s holding back isn’t he? But of course, you and I both know why.
S: It really did feel like he was holding back alright, definite case of complacency from Santino here.
JT: Oh yeah you know what in kayfabe, dude didn’t put 100% in. He underestimated his opponent, and as you’ll see, he paid for it. So before he dances, Stryker asks for thoughts and comments and Kozlov responds with “what a serious contender, *Russian*”. Crowd what’s, Stryker what’s at Kozlov, so Vlad says in English that he’s stronger and faster. So for a pretty mean guy, he actually gives Santino props for his dancing, but still believes in himself. But I mean, nobody else really does. Yet when the music hits, he proves everyone wrong. First, he pulls out the robot and a moonwalk, and the crowd immediately perks up. Kozlov keeps going, and bless Santino’s heart, he knows immediately that he messed up. He’s absolutely devastated as Kozlov does actual dance moves pretty decently. Cole says this is “vintage Kozlov”, and Vlad finishes to pretty big cheers, as Santino yells “Where did he learn this???”. So now, it’s up to the crowd. Who did they think won? Was it Santino, or Kozlov? And Santino actually gets some boos as the crowd overwhelmingly choses Kozlov as the winner. And like I said, I think Santino held back in reality, so that Kozlov’s effort looked better. But hey, Kozlov isn’t bad!!
S: This was honestly one of the biggest reactions I gave towards this show. I was just so pleased watching Kozlov, who bless him, isn’t the most skilled wrestler but my word did he put a great shift in for this dance. I thought he was pretty awesome, no lie. He made me laugh and genuinely impressed me with his moves. This is obviously a meme moment in WWE with Kozlov being a surprisingly good dancer but I thought it was great. I like to make shit jokes but I’m not lying here, I genuinely liked this.
JT: Kozlov being a good dancer honestly does make me think he had potential as a wrestler. I think the two things are pretty comparable art forms, and he’s clearly got rhythm and coordination! And as silly as this sort of segment is, I think this was genuinely a nice little surprise that gave everyone what they would’ve hoped for. And we’re not done! Afterwards, the two actually shake hands, and Kozlov takes this chance to twirl and dip Santino, then sends him spinning away. Santino reads into this and thinks this is they’re dirty dancing moment, running and jumping into the arms of Kozlov, yelling “catch me Kozlov” only to fly directly into the Battering Ram. Kozlov dances one last time and leaves him laying, in what was honestly one of the most memorable moments of his whole career.
S: One of the most memorable moments for Kozlov? Oh definitely, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing because when comedy in wrestling is done right, it’s enjoyable and this was an example of comedy in wrestling working for 2010 WWE. Thumbs up from me, I can’t lie.
JT: Gotta agree. As far as what the fans voted for compared to the entertainment they got out of it, this is easily the biggest win from the Viewer’s Choice concept thus far.
S: And there’s only bigger wins to come, James! I can feel it in the air!
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Zero Di-votion
JT: So after “WWE’s version of the odd couple” as Cole would put it, we’ve got another match coming up, and it’s one Cole hopes Jerry makes it back in time for. I hope the opposite actually, because it’s time for some Divas action! On the docket for the vote is either a 6 on 6 Tag Match, a Battle Royal, or cutting down the field by 10 for a Champion vs Champion match with Divas Champ Eve Torres facing off against one of the Co-Women’s Champions LayCool (Michelle McCool and Layla). And for the second time tonight, I think this is a pretty even choice for the fans. If you ask me, this one really is open to any of three choices.
S: Three perfectly serviceable choices in my opinion. I don’t exactly see what the stakes are in there being a battle royal for the Divas? Does one of them get a picture with Bradley Cooper afterwards? What are the stakes, James?!
JT: Let’s see what is says here in my notes. The winner of the Battle Royal gets….oh ho ho!! Look at that! Now that, that is HUGE!! If the Battle Royal wins the vote, the winner of that match will get…BRAGGING RIGHTS!! No not like a title match at the show Bragging Rights, they get bragging rights itself! And would you believe it! The winners of the tag match and the Champion vs Champion match would get the same exact thing! So yeah the options are pretty equal here, but that’s because there’s pretty much nothing on the line, and this segment is here because “We gotta get the women on the show somehow”. At least it’s not the “which sexy outfit will they dress up in” vote like they’ve had at past voting based shows?
S: Yeah true, we aren’t getting a Fulfil Your Fantasy Match, or which Diiiiiiiivaaaa has the best Halloween costume at Cyber Sunday. Mickie James won that two years in a row from 2007-2008, another accolade for my GOAT.
JT: Speaking of Mickie, she is nowhere to be seen! In fact, she was released only 2 months prior to this because WWE was “going in a new direction with the women’s division” (according to Mickie’s report on her release). Heresy I tell you!! So who will be in the Battle Royal or tag match if those win the vote? Well, Eve will certainly be involved, considering they all come out to her song! Tough days to be a Women in WWE I tell ya, like can you think of any instances where all the unaligned guys come out to one specific person’s theme like this?
S: Surely there’s gotta be a few instances where this has happened in WWE among the male wrestlers. Did that happen with the multi-man tag containing Cena’s Lakers and Orton’s Denver Nuggets?
JT: Maybe? But even then, I find that usually they come out to like, the Raw or SmackDown theme song? Like the infamous Cena & Orton vs Everyone match saw the Raw locker room come out to the Raw theme song. Just feels like they should have a “The Divas Theme Song” if they’re gonna do this to them, y’know? Either that or they really, really like Eve Torres.
S: I’m pretty sure they do, in fact have a Divas theme song from around this time, don’t they? Like, didn’t we hear it when we saw the Divas backstage?
JT: I mean, maybe? But I figure if I can’t remember it for good or bad, they need to change it. Anywho, who are all these ladies? Well I’ll tell you! Our field is: Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly, Nikki and Brie Bella, Diva’s Champ Eve Torres, Women’s Champ LayCool, Alicia Fox, Maryse, Jillian Hall and…Seán!! I’m testing your knowledge early this episode! Who am I leaving out?
S: Tiffany, aka Taryn Terrell, former Impact (TNA) Knockouts Champion, General Manager of ECW and wife of Drew McIntyre!
JT: Oh shit I forgot to add Tiffany in my notes. Soooo correct! But also, not who I meant! I should’ve counted up the names and realized I had 10 not 11!!
S: Oh shit, so I’m missing one more name? Fucking hell, you’ve me putting on my thinking cap before the Recharge so ya do. Was Katie Lea Burchill in this match? Or is she gone at this stage?
JT: It was not in fact Katie Lea Burchill. The woman is question was: Rosa Mendes!! I thought I’d just single her out because when I saw her in the graphic and figure out who she was, I had a moment of just surprise. Like holy shit, she is someone who absolutely dropped completely out of my memory the second she wasn’t on screen. Can you believe she was in WWE for 11 years!!
S: It will always be a mystery to me and I’ve gotta respect her for being able to keep her spot on the roster for that long. In the words of Ron Burgundy, I’m not even mad, that’s amazing. As you said though, James, as soon as she was done with WWE, I completely forgot about her existence entirely. It’s quite impressive to be around for so long, yet not leave any sort of an impression at all.
JT: No impression? How dare you! It’s time for a new segment on the Power Hour call JT’s Top 10!! It’s time for my Top 10 Favorite Rosa Mendes moments!!
Number 10!! Uhh…ummm, being Fandango’s dance partner?
Number 9!! Being with Primo and Epico, I suppose?
Number 8…didn’t she have a pregnancy storyline or something???
Number…ahh forget it. You have called my bluff. I really don’t mean to rag on Rosa that much, because there have been hundreds of totally forgettable guys on WWE’s roster, but there are few who have managed what Rosa did, and stick around for as long as she did. If anything, she deserves a round of applause for squeezing money out of Vince McMahon’s pockets for over a decade!
S: Anyone who does that deserves a round of applause from all of us at Power Hour HQ. I smell a potential Power Hour Hall of Famer on the horizon. I salute you, Rosa Mendes!
JT: So how did the WWE universe answer the question “How do you want the Divas” (ewww). Well once again, it’s a total stomp! The Tag Match gets 11%, the Champ vs Champ gets a measly 16% and the Battle Royal dominates with 73% of the votes. Again I hate to just shit talk the women, but this does not reflect strongly on our champions if you ask me. I expected this to be closer.
S: Yeah, I sure as shit thought we were actually getting Eve vs. Michelle, or at least it’d be a close vote between the Battle Royal and the Champ vs. Champ match. It does kinda show that the Women’s Champs, aren’t particularly over to the point where the fans want to see them tussle.
JT: Although I will say, this is not the only time we’ll level this criticism at a top champion at this point. And I will say, WWE definitely wasn’t giving Eve, Layla & Michelle great material to work with that’s for sure. I mean for context, LayCool started this year with the “Piggie James” storyline.
S: Oh joy to the world, what a way to ring in the second decade of the millennium than to start that whole pile of shit. Between that whole thing and getting her stuff sent back to her in a black bin bag, I’m surprised Mickie is so forgiving to the point where she showed up at the Women’s Rumble this year. You’re too sound, Mickie. Although, her appearance at this year’s Rumble was probably one of the few positives of that show.
JT: That was a real fun moment, and it’ll age so very strangely. I mean it’s weird enough now! But enough 2022 talk, let’s get back to 2010! Ready to speed through this Battle Royal with all the pomp and circumstance of a 2010 Divas Battle Royal on Raw with nothing at stake?
S: I mean there’s nothing at stake, should we just press simulate result and move on? Sure there’s no stakes to be fair.
JT: Well I won’t go that far but I’ll be quick. Unfortunately, King is back and hasn’t found his crown, though he says he wrote in himself to be the referee but it didn’t get traction. Funny enough, Cole says he didn’t get to plug that. Match begins and Rosa is the first one out, as she gets thrown through the middle rope. And I said I’d make this quick but man, I forgot about this shit.
S: The wonders of what the Women’s Royal Rumble have done towards people’s memories of Women’s Battle Royals. It’s just proper shit, isn’t it? Women getting through the middle rope, sometimes bumbling out underneath the ropes too, just makes no sense. I was ready for this shit because I knew it was pre-first Women’s Rumble. I do not miss it one fucking bit.
JT: Bless anyone who has nostalgia to the Divas era (if this is what they qualify as that) because lord knows I’ve got very few positive things to say. So Tiffany gets tossed out by LayCool out of the corner, with their numbers advantage helping out. Next out is Kelly Kelly, who gets sent over the top and knocks Layla back, but Michelle boots her out. Gail & Alicia are next to go as both go out from a Gail Hurricanrana, with Cole plugging their match on Superstars coming up later this week. LayCool knocks the Bellas proving they’re the real dynamic duo of this division, only to catch a Clothesline from Eve. The Divas Champ manages to throw Layla into Michelle, sending them both out through the ropes. And just like that, we’re down to 3: Eve, the woman she beat for the Divas Championship Maryse, and mean spirited Britney Spears parody Jillian Hall. Why the shit were they still laying into poor Britney in 2010? Is this just another example of WWE not knowing when a ship has long since sailed?
S: Yeah, this is WWE just using a joke long past its use-by date, continuing to marinade it for another two years and leaving it out on the worktop for it to stench. Like come on lads, fucking cut it out, as if she hadn’t been through enough by 2010. She’s still got 11 years of a conservatorship left, maybe just leave the Britney jokes at the door.
JT: So it’s all set up, the two heels against the conquering face. So what happens? Well, Maryse & Jillian team up, and just throw Eve out. Trope subverted, I guess? Jillian high fives Maryse and says that they’re both the winners, because the “See isn’t Britney Spears dumb?” character is obviously dumb. Maryse kicks her, tosses her out, and wins the Battle Royal. She’s got them bragging rights alright, Eve better watch out, Maryse is coming back for her title. Anything to add really? I think it’s pretty obvious that this is clearly bad content that’s just got nothing to really pick apart more than we already have.
S: What do I have to add to this? Just the absolute depths of despair for the Wome- sorry, Divas Division at this time. The weird thing is that there are actually some decent wrestlers in here. How you don’t build your entire division around Gail Kim, I’ll never know. We’ve discussed Gail and WWE before with our TakeOver: Brooklyn II review, I believe so if we see Gail again, we know what we’ll be talking about. Nothing match, no stakes and probably no consequences too.
JT: Yeah really the only thing I have to note is that I, for a second, thought this was the infamous Battle Royal where she eliminated herself midway through, walking out of the match and her job. But it’s not even that. So aside from that I look forward to more Divas segments the same way you look forward to new Simpsons episodes nowadays. You hope that it’ll get better at some point, and on rare occasions it is, but it always returns to the depressing status quo not long after that.
S: Maybe Season 35 will be the time where it returns to form? Ah, who am I kidding? We aren’t in for an easy journey with these women. It’s a shame really because there are a few really solid wrestlers on this roster, just unfortunately ambling through the longest of creative droughts.
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The Devil’s Favorite Detective
JT: Well over Memorial Day weekend, Kane found Undertaker in a “Vegatative State”. And first let me say, we’ve all been there, am I right lads? I’m in a Vegatative State after a nice meal and an exciting weekend too. But first and foremost, let’s talk about the stupid wrestling terminology of this all. It’s a coma. That’s how real people would refer to it. Real people outside of medical practitioners don’t say “vegatative state”.
S: I’m so glad we get to talk about this storyline because OH BOY, this one goes on for a while and will go on for some time during this season. I love how they mention that Kane found him in a coma during memorial day weekend, cheers for pointing out that detail guys. “Vegetative state”, that term is going to be thrown about so damn much during this storyline and it’s going to either make me laugh hysterically, or drive me up the wall. It’s such a WWE, overly controlling term if there ever was one. I’m hoping they go whole hog with their terminology and say something along the lines of “Undertaker is currently in a vegetative state in a Texan local medical facility”. Come on, Michael Cole or Todd Grisham! I know you have it in ye!
JT: Yeah so basically, Undertaker was found hurt and Kane wants to find answers. On SD, Druids bring out an empty casket, with Kane essentially holding a funeral for Undertaker, he talks about him like he died and is never coming back. Like for example, he says that Undertaker doesn’t walk among us anymore and that the bonds of brother are gone forever. And boy is Kane not happy about that, vowing to commit whoever is responsible to a torturous existence, there will be vengeance. To close out the promo saying he should have been there for Undertaker. And honestly? Aside from “vegetative state”, this seemed like a pretty damn good promo by Kane. He had a lot of energy behind him, sparks of the old angry like 2003 unmasked Kane.
S: I remember watching this promo when it aired all those years ago and it’s a very good promo from Kane from what I remember. Bald Kane is at his best with promos when he’s fully allowed to unleash his angry voice. I was almost hoping when he did the kneel at the coffin, that the camera would do a mega zoom out from the rafters like when Okada does the Rainmaker pose to emphasise the drama of all this.
JT: If only. But now, we’ve got an angry Kane roaming around, pointing the finger at anyone in his path who he thinks is responsible. And the first man accused during our arc, it’s Sheamus. As the Irishman is walking backstage, he encounters Kane giving him the old stink eye. Kane says Sheamus not being on SmackDown doesn’t exonerate him, and he reminds everyone that Sheamus took out Triple H earlier this year. If he can do that to one legend, can’t he do that to another? Well Sheamus, he’s got a good counter argument. He says if he took out the Undertaker, everyone would know about it. He wouldn’t resort to sneak attacks, and he’d make sure everyone knew that he ended the Undertaker’s career. Kane doesn’t buy this though, saying he doesn’t like liars and he hopes to see him later. And why is that? Well Kane, Mark Henry & Evan Bourne are opponents to face Sheamus later tonight!
But before we get to that, I say it’s time to introduce what I expect will be a running theme for this arc. Let’s rate the suspect! In this game I want to talk about who was accused of taking out Undertaker, and how they grade out. Are they a believable suspect? Did they have a believable counter argument to Kane’s accusation? And would you be interested in a feud where it turns out they actually committed the crime! Sheamus is first up, how do you think he grades out?
S: I think Sheamus has a good case to be made against him if you ask me, he did take out Triple H at Extreme Rules and let everyone know about it. He very well could have taken out Taker just to make even more of a statement. Kane makes a good point, but the fact that Sheamus’ counter argument makes him less of an obvious case, that and the fact that he’s not a SmackDown guy, so what would his motivation be? I’d say he’s a solid C grade.
JT: I think I agree with your grade. He definitely is high enough on the card to potentially fight Undertaker, but he makes a real solid point why it’s not him, and like you said, the fact he’s on SmackDown makes it seem pretty unlikely. But man, a feud between heel Sheamus and Undertaker? I feel like that would’ve been pretty great. Shall we just do Sheamus talk now? Give you a chance to gush over Ireland’s Champion?
S: Oh with pleasure! Where do I begin with Sheamus? I suppose an easy place to start with would be wrestling in Ireland before he debuted. We didn’t get much wrestling, maybe three WWE shows a year, four if you include Northern Ireland where they’d run shows in Belfast. When he debuted in 2009, the only Irish wrestler I knew was Finlay, I hadn’t discovered Prince Devitt (Finn Balor) yet, and wrestling in Ireland never got any attention in the media aside from the Benoit tragedy. I remember distinctly when Sheamus debuted, I was over at my friend’s house after school, we would watch all the wrestling he had recorded on his Sky box. We watched WWECW and all of a sudden this pale, tall ginger bloke came out and we’d never seen him. We then hear him being billed from Dublin and our jaws dropped. I couldn’t believe that there was an Irish wrestler in WWE. So instantly he became a guy I liked. Thankfully him speaking in Irish didn’t last. I think another good discussion point with him would be how quickly WWE pushed him as a main event guy and would win the WWE Title in six months.
JT: Yeah it’s crazy how quickly he climbed up the ladder. Now mind you, he won the Title in a pretty fluke-y manner, and lost it without having any real notable defenses (both of his defenses were by DQ) and then he lost it clean as a whistle in the Elimination Chamber. But hey, he was thrust into a WrestleMania feud with Triple H and even though he lost the actual match between them at Elimination Chamber, he demolished him at Extreme Rules to write him off. So though he’s not quite a full blown main event type guy just yet, he’s in a pretty prominent position for a guy who has been on the main roster as long as he has.
S: Yeah, his first title reign wasn’t particularly booked well. He’s only been on the main roster for a year at this point and he’s already in a role which can see him in the upper mid-card and main event, so it’s not bad for a first year on the roster.
JT: And hey, maybe he did attack Undertaker! That’d be huge for him! But regardless of if he did or didn’t, Kane will treat him like he did, which could be trouble for him, if the WWE universe decides they want that trouble for him. Will he face Mark Henry? Will he face Evan Bourne, who pinned him in last week’s main event with Air Bourne after a John Cena AA? Or will it be Kane?
S: Three men. Three different shades of red in their gear tonight. One of which will face a red headed brute in the form of Sheamus.
JT: So who will it be? Well it’s another landslide, Kane with 88%, poor Mark Henry with only 3%, and despite the push Evan Bourne couldn’t even crack 9%. But hey, Kane vs Sheamus is a pretty exciting match for 2010, he never really stood a chance. So Kane comes out, and I just want to say, we are in the worst period for Kane theme songs, the absolute dirt worst if you ask. He just comes out to this slow, weird ambient music, and I hate it.
S: Thank you! This theme song is fucking terrible! It just always sucked the life out of me whenever I’d hear it, why not just keep Slow Chemical? Or at least just revert to an updated version of his original theme? I know they changed it because he turned heel in 2008 but still, surely they could’ve given him something better than this?
JT: And the sad thing is, they’d change his theme song up a few times in the next couple like 5-6 years in minor sort of ways and it was still just boring every single time. If you ask me, Kane didn’t get another decent theme again until late 2017. Like finally it had some oomph behind it again, and even then it was just a worse replica of his original theme song.
S: But at least that theme song which CFO$ did had a bit of energy and aggression to it. This song honestly sounds like it would fit in well in the Chop Shop in the movie, Robots!
JT: I just hate these theme so much because the second the intro bit comes, there’s just no excitement. No “OH MY GOD ITS KANE”, just kind of waiting around for Kane to walk slowly down to the ring, and hoping maybe he’ll do his corner pyro.
S: The most low energy theme for an awesome big man you ever did hear. It’d be like if Keith Lee debuted in AEW with Rob Conway’s theme song. Just wouldn’t work.
JT: So we’ve got Kane against Sheamus here tonight, and Sheamus, for all his talk earlier, does not look happy to be facing off with the Big Red Monster. The bell rings, Sheamus tries to charge Kane and quickly gets a knee to the gut, a classic Kane uppercut, and then Kane throws him to the floor. They fight around out there for a while, he sends Sheamus in, then tries to go up top, but Sheamus trips him up. With ease, Sheamus picks him up off the top and hits a Powerslam, as we go to commercials. When we come back, Sheamus is still in control, but Kane sends him into the ropes and hits a big boot. From there, it’s all vintage Kane stuff. Clothesline in the corner, Sidewalk Slam, Low Dropkick, Flying Clothesline, Sheamus is in trouble! Kane signals for the Chokeslam, but Sheamus with a boot to break free! He then runs for a swinging Axe Handle, but Kane ducks it and grabs for a Chokeslam attempt, but Sheamus goes behind and gets a Backbreaker! Sheamus really is putting up a good fight so far honestly!
S: Yeah there’s some decent big man action between these two guys, Kane is probably at the stage where he’s in his latter stages and is starting to slow a bit down but he’s still got the usual Kane spots in him and man, he always does such good Uppercuts and punches, him and Dustin Rhodes are just the best at that.
JT: Absolutely, love home a good uppercut, European or otherwise. But despite his uppercuts, Sheamus looks to have Kane on the ropes. He sets up for the “Big Boot” (aka Brogue Kick) but Kane moves and Kane shoves him to the floor. Sheamus rushes back in, only to go right into the grasp of the Chokeslam from Kane!! He hits hard off the mat, but manages to roll to the floor. And now for the second straight show, the heel decides to call it quits on the match, as Sheamus pulls a Test at the Royal Rumble 2007. He takes the countout, and Kane wins but is still angry, as his investigation continues. What did you think of this finish and this match as a whole?
S: The match was your standard, low-level Raw affair. I know I said there was some decent big man action, but that’s the only positive I’d say about it. This match did remind me of Test and Lashley from the last show we did, especially with that bullshit countout finish. Why even bother booking the match when this thing with Kane and Sheamus doesn’t go beyond this point?
JT: Gotta keep both guys looking strong I guess? Can’t have Kane get beat right at the start of his righteous quest of vengeance, but Sheamus will be in the WWE Championship match at Fatal 4 Way so he can’t lose?
S: Then don’t book the match, have Sheamus face Evan Bourne, he beats him, attacks him after the match and then Kane comes out and wellies Sheamus, leaving him scurrying. Problem solved, I refuse to believe that the WWE fans would’ve rathered seen Sheamus vs. 2010 Bald Kane, rather than one of the most exciting wrestlers on the roster in Evan Bourne.
JT: Well that begs the question Seán, who would you slot in to the vote instead of Kane? Who is your go to “They’re surely not gonna vote for this guy” choice to replace Kane and make sure Evan gets his match against Sheamus?
S: Alright, so I’m going to have to pick someone who is, A: a face. B: not a big man. C: not really involved with Sheamus in the slightest at this time and D: definitely less over than Bourne and Mark Henry. I’d probably say someone like Chris Masters, who falls under all of those categories. Yes folks, he did have a face run for most of this tenure.
JT: Well Chris was on this show…in the dark match, squashing the Dudebusters. But the Masterpiece is a pretty good pick, but I will say this, I do worry that the fans might want to see Sheamus get put in the Masterlock. I still think Evan would be the winner of the vote, but I think it’d be closer than expected. I’d say if you really wanted to make sure Evan won, put like Primo or Yoshi Tatsu or JTG in there. That’s a easy win for Evan if you ask me.
S: Yeah honestly, JTG isn’t a bad shout, as is Primo. JTG definitely was over to a point because of Cryme Tyme and probably would’ve garnered very few votes. So are you telling me that Chris Masters beat The Dudebusters in a handicap match?!
JT: Yep! The crowd some then get whooped 2 on 1 before the show, and then had a chance to vote for them later on! And we wonder why they got no votes!
S: Well, I guess we have a very valid reason now! I will raise this question to you in response to an earlier point you brought up. Will fans want to see a Masterlock more than a Shooting Star Press?
JT: I don’t think every fan would, but I think there would be like 1 out of every 4 would want the Masterlock, at least for WWE’s overall fandom. And it’d be higher if we were back a few years earlier. I think people just like the idea of seeing a heel squeal and tap out, and having an unbreakable hold to do that is tempting.
S: If this is Masters in 2005 or 2006, then yes, I totally think they’d vote that but 2010, going nowhere babyface, the King of WWE Superstars (the TV show, not the tag used for wrestlers) is not someone who I think the fans would’ve wanted to see face Sheamus. Like he was someone who CM Punk and probably a few other wrestlers said worked his ass off for two years to improve himself in ring but I’d say fans would rather see Evan Bourne.
JT: Oh yeah, I’d say it’d be like 60% votes for Evan, then the last 40 split maybe 25-15 between Henry and Masters. It’s not a not lot but it’s not nothing and it would have spared us from that nothing finish. But in reality that finish happened, and we just gotta live with it, and hope for better things down the road for Sheamus and Kane.
S: I sure do hope so, and whatever they’re doing is the farthest thing from them feuding.
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Calm Before the Storm
JT: So after that last match, we gotta plug NXT Season 2!! WWE’s newest brand has an all new season starting tomorrow night!! All new rookies paired are entering the game and they’re gonna get paired with a mix of old pros and new ones! It’ll be so much fun, you better tune in tomorrow! And speaking of NXT, here’s what you can expect from it, here’s the S1 winner Wade Barrett!! He’s physically impressive, he’s cocky and brash like his mentor Chris Jericho, and he is impressive in the ring. He said he’d win and he only did the thing! In fact, tonight is his first night as a full fledged WWE superstar. Now before we get into his thoughts on being WWE’s next breakout star, I gotta ask you some questions Seán. First of all, as a fan at the time, what did you think of Wade Barrett? Did you watch NXT at all to form that impression, or did you just sort of know him through osmosis from showing up on Raw with Chris Jericho every once in a while?
S: Yeah, so I kept up with what was going on with NXT Season 1 and I would watch it whenever I would get the chance to. Wade Barrett was honestly the guy who I thought would win when I was a 9 year old chap. I think my two personal faves from NXT were Justin Gabriel and Daniel Bryan but I had the feeling that Barrett would win because my semi-mark mind just thought, “he’s paired up with Jericho and he’s a big lad so he probably beats all of these other guys”. I had a feeling he would amount to something because of that fact, and the fact he could challenge for any title of his choosing, so clearly he’s being geared up for something soon.
JT: I was actually in the same sort of boat as a kid. My favorites were Daniel Bryan (because he was fighting The Miz) and Justin Gabriel (because he did the 450), but I thought it was between Wade (because he was with Jericho) and David Otunga (because he got to host Raw). But unlike you, I never actually watched any NXT. It was on too late at night for me! But you better believe on Wednesdays I’d check WWE’s website for the picture highlights of the show.
S: They’d usually show replays of it on Sky Sports and I’d watch bits of it really, I knew fully what was going on in the show. My reason for liking Justin Gabriel is the exact same as your reason too, funnily enough.
JT: Hey we were kids, what else do you need other than a 450? I mean, that’s why Evan Bourne got popular isn’t it? Aside from personal connection of having a really good friend named Evan as a kid, Air Bourne was just the coolest shit ever.
S: Yeah I remember being blown away when I saw Evan Bourne bust that out for the first time. I feel like we had this discussion way back in Season 1 but does Bourne have the best Shooting Star Press?
JT: Yeah pretty sure we had this back when talking about Billy Kidman, and I think I still gotta agree that Evan Bourne/Matt Sydal’s is the best ever. He’s got such perfect form, and yet it still feels like he’s leaping with a purpose. And what I mean by that is that there are some guys who almost get too much air, where it feels like they land kind of softly. Like it feels like they’re trampoline wrestling when you think of like, Ricochet’s Shooting Star Press.
S: I always liked Ricochet’s Shooting Star but I definitely see where you’re coming from, I think he does a better 450 than he does a SSP. I think Matt Sydal has the best one in wrestling, up there with “M Dogg” Matt Cross and a special shoutout to who I believe is one of the most underrated wrestlers in the world, that being Andrew Everett. He has one of the most amazing Shooting Stars I’ve ever seen.
JT: Good old Son of Havoc and Big Dog Andrew Everett!! But from those Indy guys to WWE’s next breakout star!! What does he think about winning NXT? Well Wade says: “You don’t ask a genius what it’s like to pass a school test, you don’t askWade Barrett what it was like to win NXT, the results of that show were never in question”. He says this is just the start of something much much greater. The winds of change are blowing, he says the interviewer lady (no clue what her name is) should ask him this question again next week, after he does something that’s never been accomplished before in the history of the WWE. I think he stumbles a bit at the end but short and sweet promo form Wade, and it’s very ominous with the power of hindsight.
S: Yeah it is very much a promo heavy with foreshadowing and is very much a Wade Barrett promo. The interviewer lady you are wondering about though is Savannah, she had a run for about three years. The large majority spent in FCW, she was in WWECW during it’s final weeks as it’s ring announcer, she would be the ring announcer for NXT Season 1 and believe it or not, she’s released two weeks after this episode of Raw.
JT: Oof, sorry about that Savanah! I didn’t mean to kick a gal what she was down, but man it felt like 2010-2013 especially was a real revolving door for backstage interviewers up until Renee Young and Eden/Brandi Rhodes showed up.
S: God I’m just trying to remember who the hell was even a backstage interviewer before Renee came along. Matt Stryker? Todd Grisham? Luckily enough for Savannah though, she did go on to have a bit of notoriety elsewhere in the world of wrestling. This is a fact I completely forgot about her but Savannah was part of Lucha Underground! She played the character of Black Lotus! She was Dario Cueto’s bodyguard and she had that awesome feud with Pentagon Dark with The Black Lotus triad, which had Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo and Mayu Iwatani! What a fucking stable that was for it’s short spell.
JT: Wait holy shit that was her!! That’s incredible I didn’t even recognize her! She was a nice little part of Lucha Underground, and that Pentagon vs Joshis episode of LU was one of my favorites of the whole show. Not only was it great tv, but it was just great for intergender wrestling gaining acceptability. Pentagon was one of (if not) the face of LU and to have him go up against and struggle against dangerous women wrestlers was sick.
S: That’s one of my favourite episodes of Lucha Underground too! That episode of TV was brilliant and the gauntlet match with Penta vs Black Lotus and the Joshi wrestlers is probably one of LU’s greatest matches.
JT: So before we got ourselves off course, I just wanted to ask you this final question about the Wade Barrett promo: Does this promo actually feel like a big deal or have we just come to think of it that way because we know what happens? Like at the time, do you think anyone would’ve thought much about this promo? Because I honestly think that if it didn’t have the immediate follow up it had, it’d feel like a rather generic if not well delivered heel promo.
S: Yeah I totally agree with you there, if what happens later didn’t happen until maybe a week or two after this promo, I doubt people wouldn’t have thought much of it really. Its a well delivered promo, helped by the events which transpire later on. Its a better promo with the power of hindsight basically.
JT: Honestly I think the fact it’s so unremarkable that the moment later hits so hard. Like, “yeah yeah, the new hot shit heel comes out and says the usual sort of thing about changing WWE and the world, nothing we haven’t seen before, moving on”. It’s because everyone moved on immediately that the shock later is so shocking.
S: That too, it does do a good job of deceiving the audience with what happens at the end of this episode.
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Olivson Square Garden
JT: Up next is more A-Team stuff, whoopty do. We see Ted DiBiase Jr with Virgil backstage as the A-Team goofs pretend to be FBI agents.. Rampage/his character says Ted would take the crown because he’s always doing not so nice things, but Ted deflects saying if he can buy anything he wants, why steal a useless old crown? Ted tells Virgil to get them to leave, but the goofs bring up the FBI badge, saying he’ll bring out a lie detector test. Then we get one of the oddest stare down in wrestling history, between Rampage Jackson playing BA from The A-Team, and Mr Olive Garden himself Virgil.
S: “You think you’re special. You do….”
An unprecedented moment in wrestling history. A match we were truly robbed of. Also, I totally forgot about Virgil and Ted Jr as a pairing, holy shit.
JT: Ted’s whole run with Virgil and even the Million Dollar Title as a whole was just such uninspired “Well it worked for his dad 20 years ago why can’t it work now?” booking.
S: Man they did the bare bones minimum to elevate Ted but they forgot the core ingredient, he has to win dammit. Not being given things and expecting him to be elevated because of said things.
JT: Maybe if they had worked his gimmick to be spoiled in a way, like losing a match but having the finish reversed so he keeps the title, that would’ve worked somewhat better but yeah. Ted’s not doing great, and I think that gimmick i just said is being used elsewhere on this show. More on that later.
S: Stick around to find who’s spoiled on the WWE roster.
JT: So BA says he will use a lie detector on them, with his lie detector will be punching him in the face till he says the truth. But meanwhile, “Uncle Irwin” IRS comes in with the crown, saying that King didn’t pay his back taxes so the crown is his. And while the A-Team argue the validity of that, the heels admit this was just bait to get the A-Team here, as fucking knockout gas gets used, and the A-Team goes down!! What kinda Saturday morning cartoon shit is this?!?
S: I’ve no fucking idea, James. I just can’t answer that question for ya. I am as puzzled as you were watching this, I watched this shit on a Tuesday morning 11 years ago and it baffled me even then. I was expecting them to wake up in Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated at this stage.
JT: How will our heroes recover from this gas attack? And why has Ted Jr and company done this? We’ll find out later in the third and final act of our A-Team saga! Only then will we actually talk about how the actual movie did…
S: We’re not reviewing it by the way, sorry to disappoint.
JT: Look we don’t value our own time much, but we value it enough to not actively do harm to ourselves for free. We’d need a Patreon with some extra funds coming in to make it worth our while.
S: Or if any mysterious benefactors would like to slip a couple of bucks into the Power Hour HQ. Then we’ll review A-Team (2010).
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Long Island Iced Team
JT: Alright back to our regularly scheduled Viewer’s Choice content. Tonight we’re gonna get The Miz facing off against the newly minted United States Champion R-Truth!! 2009 was a pretty big year for The Miz, which saw him actually become a serious character with credibility after being mostly a comedy jobber and a step above that as an annoying tag team heel. He got his long term finisher in the Skull Crushing Finale, he got his “I’m The Miz and I’m Awesome” catchphrase, and he entered 2010 holding 3 belts! He was US Champ and Unified Tag Champ with Big Show, and held all 3 titles through WrestleMania. But lately he’s cut more checks than his ass could cash. First he lost the Unified Tag Titles to the Hart Dynasty, which saw Big Show KO him to break up the team for good. Then 3 weeks later, still bitter about losing his tag belts, he picked a fight with Bret Hart himself. Despite paying off William Regal and Vlad Kozlov to help and having one time tag partner Chris Jericho to help him, he still lost the No DQ No Countout match to Bret thanks to DH, TK, and Natty, making Bret the new US Champ! Of course, Bret would vacate the title upon becoming GM the next week, so it was put up for grabs in a match between R-Truth and The Miz, and Truth beat Miz clean a whistle!! So after having it all, Miz has lost it all!!
S: Oh how the mighty do fall, eh? I actually got to see Miz live with all three belts at a house show in Belfast a few weeks after Mania 26. It was pretty cool to see. I have noted down here that R-Truth is in the midst of his first of two forgotten US Title reigns as well.
JT: I’ll always maintain that Miz holding 3 titles at once (even if it was only 2) really went a long way towards making him a serious character. It visually made him stand out from all the other loudmouth heels over the years. And we’ll have more of a chance to talk about US Champ R-Truth next time. But tonight, the vote is all about who will their partners be? For R-Truth, the options are Captain Charisma and ECW refugee Christian, former US Champ and the enemy of The Miz for December through February MVP, or Truth’s WrestleMania 26 tag partner and former BFF turned enemy of Miz, John Morrison. And for Miz, his partners are as follows: Fellow cocky loudmouth but with less success (thus far) and from the Blue Brand Dolph Ziggler, esteemed veteran and noted villain William Regal, or obnoxious Long Island Broski Zack Ryder. Seán, again I say this is a pretty nice field of options. Who do you think would win these votes?
S: Knowing its 2010, I would’ve said that either Christian or JoMo win the face vote for Truth’s tag partner. No offence to MVP but he was definitely on the downward slope down the card at this stage and wasn’t as over as he used to be. For the heels, you’d think it would be Ziggler given his standing in the midcard on SmackDown so a tag match between these four lads would actually make sense, right?
JT: So my thought process was this: John Morrison would win because of his recent history both against Miz and teaming with Truth. The moment of (truth) revealed to us that Christian got 29%, MVP got 17%, and John Morrison got 54% of the vote to reunite Vinny Verehi’s favorite all-time tag team. Old Bryan and Vinny listeners get it. And while we’re here, I’ll just add I have a fun story about R-Truth! Did you know R-Truth was one of the first wrestlers I ever saw! I swear one of (if not the first) ever live segment I watched was him teaming up with MVP against heels, but Truth got attacked coming out of the crowd. I can’t find proof of this segment but I swear I saw it!
S: Oh shit! Now that’s something I’ve never heard about. Was this a house show or was this an actual televised show that you attended?
JT: It was on an episode of SmackDown that I watched on TV! I swear it happened but I’ve never been able to actually find footage of it somehow.
S: Oh so this was on SmackDown! Now that’s something which could’ve happened, if I’m thinking about the SmackDown midcard at the time, I reckon that they were facing Shelton Benjamin and someone else, maybe Mark Henry perhaps? I’m not really sure but maybe that got cut from future feeds off the Network?
JT: I’m pretty sure Shelton was involved too! Someday I will find this segment! But back to the topic at hand, for the heels I also thought Dolph Ziggler was going to be the pick that would win. I don’t know why, I just assumed he was the most popular of the bunch. But as I say that, Jerry makes the rather enlightened pick of William Regal. As Miz comes out, he says the fans don’t know what they want since they picked Swoggle/Khali, the Dance Off and John Morrison and that he’ll take back his title the first chance he gets. So who is his partner to take on the US Champ and JoMo? Well it’s actually close with Dolph Ziggler 38%, William Regal 17%, and surprise surprise, Zack Ryder with 45%!! You recon Zack won because he’s a goof and fans wanted to see Miz lose, or do you think he was actually popular?
S: I don’t really know to be honest with you, James. I guess maybe you could say that they wanted to see Miz lose, but I do think that Zack Ryder was starting to become someone who had a small snowball of a cult following. I know he doesn’t get proper over until a year after this but at this stage, I can definitely see there being some fanfare behind Zack.
JT: I mean from what I remember hearing, his run in ECW in 09-10 really was pretty decent, so maybe it was actual popularity. On the other hand, I refuse to believe anyone can get behind him and his hideous half tights half pants. All time terrible ring gear right there.
S: Yeah it’s a proper wrestling gear shocker if there ever was one. Those halfy halfy trunks/tights would make it into SvR 2011 too. How come Ruby Soho makes that look work and Ryder couldn’t?
JT: Well first of all, I think Ruby’s got her color scheme down. I don’t mind Zack’s purple, orange and silver colors, but the simple red and black divide that Ruby has fits a lot better. Then I think it just comes down to personality and style. Ruby’s got that alternative, edgy tattoo look that allows her to get away with rougher cuts, but Zack’s silly and goofy character makes his just come off looking like a doofus. Like there’s a difference between someone like Zack, whose character at this time feels like a dumb frat bro, going “this is the look of the future bro” and underground cool girl Ruby going “this is the look of the future, man”.
S: Agreed, the fact that she’s got like one of the coolest looks in wrestling today goes a long way with her pulling off that ring gear. The colour scheme which Zack has is fine for a pair of tights, or even a pair of trunks but not with this gear and his extremely fake tanned, hot doggish legs on him.
JT: And while we’re ragging on Zack, now would be a good time to mention that last week, Zack got embarrassed by a celebrity! So before Ashton Kutcher of That 70s Show, Dude Where’s My Car and later Two & Half Men Fame hosted Raw, Zack called him out on Twitter. As a result, once Kutcher showed up on Raw, Kutcher put a hit on Zack (to tie into his action-comedy movie where he plays an assassin). Zack then came out to confront Ashton directly, looking to prevent himself from getting attacked, only to get swerved when his main lady Alicia Fox hit him with a Scissors Kick!! She was the one who got paid for the hit! And Zack was no left outsmarted by Kelso and with, as the kids would say today, no bitches.
S: Luckily he’d get Eve in storyline and that turned out fine for hi- ah shit, that didn’t turn out for him. Well, at least he’s settled down and married now but in 2010, Kelso totally outsmarted him. Groovy! *That 70s Show Theme Plays*
JT: So to get down to the business at hand, Truth and Miz start things off. And let me just say, Truth looks literally the exact same as he does 12 years later as he nails a Hip Toss. It’s just crazy, he’s ageless.
S: He looks the exact same as he did in 2001, the man looks the exact same, wrestles the same, is still in phenomenal shape. A true specimen.
JT: So as if one hip toss wasn’t bad enough, JoMo comes in so they can hit a Double Hip Toss on Miz, followed by a Double Suplex. On commentary, they note that Miz will be returning as a pro on the next season of NXT. That’s some foreshadowing for later this season. Ryder will also be a pro, but that’s more of a fun fact than foreshadowing. Meanwhile, Miz with a big boot on Truth to turn the tide for the heels, who work over Truth for a while until he hits a Back Suplex and The Shaman of Sexy tags in. Clothesline, Clothesline, Leg Lariat, Big Knee to the face! He covers Miz, but Ryder breaks it up. Truth fights Zack, takes a second to punch Miz in his smug face, but that allows Ryder to dump him out of the ring. Morrison then takes out Ryder with the Flying Chuck! This leaves Morrison and Miz all alone, Morrison charges at him into the corner, but Miz has had all that time to recover, allowing Miz to send John into turnbuckle. From there he goes behind, gets the Full Nelson, sweeps the leg out, Skull Crushing Finale, 1-2-3!! Miz carries Ryder to a rare TV victory, which Zack will surely be tweeting to his Zack Pack about. What did you think of this, pretty standard midcard TV tag, no?
S: Yeah pretty standard TV tag affair if there ever was one. I know it’s a 3 hour edition of Raw and all that but fucking hell, these matches are well bloody short, like they’re Final Nitro in 2001 levels of short, like there’s just not enough time for these guys to make an impression on the crowd. Just to go back to NXT Pros for Season 2 for a second there now. You forgot to mention that John Morrison is going to be a Pro for Season 2! Do you remember who his rookie was?
JT: Hey not my fault they didn’t mention it!! But yes I know exactly who Johnny NXT’s Rookie is, it was Mr Mustache himself, Eli Cottonwood!!
S: Some say that he’s still in that furnace of a warehouse in Tampa, Florida to this day. Still trying to figure out what exactly a moustache is, if you go down there you will most likely see a very tall man trying to figure out the burning question he asked himself 12 years ago.
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Cold Shoulder
JT: So moving on, we’re about to get Edge vs Randy Orton, with Edge’s arm tied behind his back! But first, we get Edge complaining to Bret about the match, but Bret says it’s gonna happen no matter what. Of course, this is all a setup to get Bret on screen, so he can get ACCUSED BY KANE OF ATTACKING THE UNDERTAKER. 52 year old, post retirement, post stroke Bret Hart is accused by Kane of attacking Undertaker because Bret said he “came back for closure”, and he and Taker have quiet the history. In fact, he might even be jealous that Taker’s legacy has surpassed Bret’s own! Kane promises that if he finds out it was Bret who did it, he’ll put him in a vegetative state just like Taker is in right now. Kane my man, what are you smoking??
S: I think the Devil’s Favourite Demon has been smoking the Devil’s Favourite Lettuce if you ask me. RVD has hooked him up with a fresh 50 bag all the way from Orlando, Florida! Even after being annihilated by him in 2003, he still hooks his big pal up with some jazz cigarettes.
JT: So of course I gotta ask you, how would you grade out Bret Hart as a potential attacker? Obviously this doesn’t make any sense, but do you think it would be at least interesting for him to have done it? What’s your grade?
S: Oh Bret is a fucking F grade from me. Come on now, as if Bret in his 50s on his journey of becoming at peace with himself would attack The Undertaker, he’s the GM of Raw and he’s just trying to get back to normality. Final grade, definitive F.
JT: Literally the only positive of this is that it establishes that Kane will accuse absolutely anyone. Nobody is off the table for the paranoid and vengeful monster Kane.
S: I think what would make for great comedy skits where Kane is in an interrogation room and they send in any auld fucker from the roster, I mean absolutely anyone. Have him interview Hawkins and Archer, The Dudebusters, JTG, Tyler Reks, Primo, Teddy Long, Charles Robinson, Tony Chimel. THAT would’ve made for great TV.
JT: Well sooner or later he’d get it right, right? If he accuses everyone, he’s bound to guess the actual attacker, even if it’s by accident. But let’s file that away for now. Because now it’s time for our semi-main of the night. Edge comes out here, and man he doesn’t have his big coat. I just gotta ask you Seán, are you as befuddled by this Edge run as I am? Because I vividly remember watching as a kid and being so behind Edge as he won the Rumble and chases Jericho for the World Title. Of course there was a little trouble in paradise when Jack Swagger Money in the Bank’d his way into the World Title, but then Edge beat Jericho and was right back on track. And then suddenly, he got drafted to Raw and he turned heel! I remember being so confused about all of this, how he had been a guy I was so excited for only a few months ago, and now everyone was meant to boo him?? If I remember correctly too, his turn wasn’t even good, he just kind of decided “Fuck Randy Orton, I don’t like Randy Orton”. It just feels so poorly planned and out of nowhere and unnecessary.
S: Oh James, how similarly we think both then and now because, I feel the exact same way about this fecking Edge run for most of 2010!!! Like what the actual hell was going on here? He had a decent run from Rumble until Extreme Rules, he had a really stellar match with Jericho at Mania 26, the World Title scene gets all jumbled up and then a damp fart of a heel turn and I know what’s coming for the next few months and for the rest of this arc. It’s, something to say the least and that’s all I’ll say. I just don’t get why you’d turn him when Raw already has two top heels and two top faces. Just keep him on SmackDown if it’s such a problem, he didn’t need to be moved over to Raw. SmackDown desperately needs babyfaces on that brand at the moment because all they’ve got is Big Show and Rey Rey holding down the fort while Booger Red is in a coma.
JT: That’s what I was about to say! Why draft Edge to Raw and turn him heel if your best idea for Jack Swagger is to face Big Show?? You’re telling me having Big Show out over Swagger would really be that much better than Edge?? It just doesn’t make sense, and I don’t think this turn was that effective. I’ll get to talk about this more next episode, but I got to see Edge in person shortly into this heel run and I just cheered. Even at 11, 2 year in to being a fan, and I said “Nah Edge is my guy, I’m still cheering him” and I feel like I wasn’t the only one. But we’ll have to wait and see.
S: That’s exactly what I was like too, I rooted for Edge ever since he cashed in on The Undertaker in 2007. I wanted him to beat the streak at WrestleMania 24, I cheered when he won TLC against Booger Red. Edge was always my guy when I started watching and I wasn’t gonna boo him off the back of returning from his achilles injury.
JT: I will say, I only really became a fan of him once he came back but I definitely cheered him over Randy Orton, who at this time still really hadn’t found his stride as a face. I mean, I think Randy has always been better as a heel than a face, what with his initial time in Evolution, his Legend Killer run and his Skinhead Legacy run. But still, I think he’s had periods of time where he was a pretty good face, but at this point in 2010, he’s not there yet. That’s not entirely his fault, considering he hadn’t been a face in like 5 years, but still.
S: I think he was definitely liked as a face at this stage, but he really needs another year as a face before he finds his stride. I think 2011 when he feuded with Christian is when he was really on form as a face.
JT: Exactly, he’s always been popular because he’s Randy Orton, but he’s not quite hit his form yet. Still it’s him and his bum shoulder against Edge, with Edge’s arm tied behind his back! So the match begins and Edge is already abandoning trying to use his single arm as he goes for a boot, but Randy is able to avoid it and hit a Clothesline with his good arm. From there, Randy does his typical stomp thing, with commentary pointing out that Randy’s good arm is the one that’s hurt, but Edge’s dominant arm is not the one tied up. Randy tries for an early RKO, but Edge blocks and hits a shoulder knockdown. And just as it looks like Edge is figuring out how to actually attack with one arm, the shoulder tackle loosened the ropes a bit, so he just unties himself and goes after Orton. The referee tries pulling him off so he can tie him back up, but Edge is blatantly ignoring the rules, so it’s a DQ and the match is over already. Mannnn come on. So far on this show, we had a non match in Harts vs Khaliswoggle, we had Sheamus vs Kane end inconclusively, and now we have the biggest match on this show end inconclusively while being a non match.
S: That’s a 2010 3 hour special of Raw for ya, James. Just a means to try and continue stories from all brands, with a side dressing of quite a few non matches or matches which go really short. I must say that I was expecting Edge vs. Orton to end in a DQ, but I wasn’t expecting this many matches to go for barely any fucking time at all. That has surprised me with this show.
JT: It’s frustrating because they spent so much time on this show setting up this match and doing replays of Edge using the door to hurt Randy’s shoulder, and then those segments ended up being longer than the actual match. I get saving something for the PPV but man barely anything happened in this.
S: Yeah this was just the definition of a nothing match, it was a pretty frustrating watch and James, I don’t even think we get a PPV blowoff between these two either.
JT: Well luckily we still have more happening here tonight! So after beating Orton down, The Rated R Superstar looks to put the exclamation point on his assault with a Spear. He speeds at The Viper, but Orton catches him with a kick and then boots him out of the ring. Now Randy is the one looking to inflict more punishment, but Edge beats him to the punch as he catches Orton with a chair shot right to the shoulder out of nowhere. Orton crumples to the ground in pain, and Edge leaves Miami smiling a devious grin.
S: And the cosmic ballet, goes on. Pretty fucking rubbish this was, huh?
JT: Yeah for an angle that has been the main focus of the show up to this point, they really just kicked the cab down the road without even adding new wrinkles to the story. Coming into this week, Randy had a bum shoulder because Edge attacked him and he wants revenge. Next week though, he’ll still have a bum shoulder because edge attacked it and he’ll want revenge. They more or less did the same thing, although I will say, hitting someone with a chair is definitely a more effective story beat than “Edge closed a door hard into the side of Randy Orton’s shoulder”. Like he didn’t even slam the door on his shoulder, he slammed the door into him, like Randy didn’t realize his buddy Edge was closing the door and he happened to be a little too close.
S: Yeah I actually thought the chairshot to the shoulder was a pretty good way of targeting the bum shoulder of Randy. It’s very much an Edge tactic too since he’s the master of the steel chair. That I will agree was cool.
JT: It’s almost like they should’ve started with this, but I digress.
S: It would’ve made sense alright but sure look, isn’t that it?
JT: Let’s just let sleeping dogs lay for now. In fact, let’s move on to something much more enjoyable! We’ve finished up our first big storyline of the night, why don’t we head into the Recharge for a little mid episode siesta?
S: You know what, James? I really like the sound of that. I think it’s time we pop on down to that old faithful Recharge Café and take our minds off of this Raw for a bit. I’m just too worried about Randy’s shoulder.
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The Recharge
JT: So welcome everyone to the Recharge! If you’re just joining us for the first time for this new season, first of all, welcome! Second of all, let me explain to you what the Recharge is. The Recharge is just a little segment we have at about the half or 2/3s point of the episode where Seán and I can just take our minds off the main story arc and talk about other stuff in wrestling, pop culture and whatever comes to mind. It’s a little break, because god knows we got tired of talking about how shit Abyss’s run in 2011 TNA was. We just had to do something!
S: Those were tiring times for us so they were. On top of that and Mr. Mayor Matt Morgan being the biggest main event chump you ever did see, we had to just take a breather from it all.
JT: So today I’ll let you start things off, how are you doing today buddy? Anything interesting and/or exciting happening for ya? Any pressing topic you think we should discuss?
S: Nothing too interesting happening with me lately to be honest with ya, James. I’ve just been tipping on with my second semester of college at the moment, working away, watching wrestling whenever I feel like it and football too. I think in terms of pressing topics, there’s two in mind which I think we have to chat about, one involving a departure and a potential return and the other being the plans for WrestleMania.
JT: Well since Elimination Chamber was just this past weekend, why don’t we just talk about how the WrestleMania card is shaping up? Because I’ve gotta give it a big old shrug, even though I think some of the biggest names on the show are doing some pretty good work.
S: I’m in the same camp as you really, there are some matches which on paper should be really great but man I just find it hard to get behind some of the matches this year.
JT: Like case and point: Brock vs Roman. I really enjoy both guys, especially lately. I think their storyline together has been probably the best storyline they’ve had against each other. And yet…I’m not all that hyped. It feels to me like WWE sees Brock vs Roman as this sort of generational rivalry, and I just don’t really see it? Like their match output in my opinion peaked in their first match at WrestleMania 31. Their last match is closer to that then the bunch of stinkers they had around WrestleMania 34 but it’s still not as good as their first match. And I just don’t feel like this feud really needs both titles involved in it. They had a fine enough story and I appreciate that they’ve been building it for a while but this pairing as “The Big Match” has really not felt the same since Brock beat Roman at WM34. It took the spark away when Roman lost since we all knew he should’ve won that night.
S: It is quite hilarious of WWE to think that Brock vs Roman is this modern day epic rivalry which has spanned nearly a full decade at this stage even though three of the five or six matches they’ve had quite honestly were shit. That 2018 feud between them really damaged a lot of fans’ opinions on both guys for a few years. It was just not a good period for either of them, I’d say. The match at Mania 34 where I believe Brock hit six F5s to win and he kicked out of maybe three or four Spears. Just not a good main event at all and the wrong man went over. I do think both guys are some of the only few positives about WWE at the moment though but seeing them fight for both belts, whatever I guess. Hopefully it’s a good match but does this mean that the brand split is nearly over? Surely not, right?
JT: I don’t think so? I just think it’s WWE’s way of consolidating their main event. Especially with Bobby Lashley hurt, I think they don’t see any alternative WWE Title match without Brock and/or Roman that would feel like a big enough deal. Like with Bobby out (probably even if Bobby was still healthy honestly) they’re easily 4th banana behind Brock/Roman, Becky/Bianca and Ronda/Charlotte.
S: Yeah definitely, it does feel like that this match is just going to be another accolade to add to either man’s legacy because holding both World Titles in WWE is obviously a big deal in their eyes. I see this match turning out with Roman holding both belts at the end of Mania 38 to further add to his reign on top. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see Roman hold the Universal Title until Mania 39 where he’ll probably face The Rock.
JT: Well I don’t know if he can face The Rock in 2023, because Dwayne’s gotta gear up for his 2024 Presidential Campaign! But jokes aside, I hope they at least have who defeats him figured out. Or at least that they’re narrowing down candidates, because I think as good as Roman is, modern wrestling or just entertainment in general has a hard time keeping everyone’s short attention spans. I worry that if they drag things out all the way till WrestleMania 39, you’re just gonna have lost a sizable chunk of audience. I mean WWE already has the issue, I just feel like a Bruno Sammartino type reign wouldn’t fly with modern fans. Roman/Rock is obviously the biggest money match, I just hope that they aren’t just kicking the can down the road for that with hopes that everyone will hang on the whole time. I think even losing the title for like 3 months would keep things fresh, but we’ll have to see. I mean if he holds both belts, he’s gotta face the Money in the Bank winner somehow, right?
S: That’s the thing, I just feel like him having a modern-day multi-year title reign is the direction they’re heading in. I was certain of that when he beat Cena at SummerSlam because at that stage, I was thinking that nobody on the roster is up to Reigns’ level of possibly beating him. I think when he holds both belts though, they’ve definitely gotta do the proper match with Rollins and he can afford to lose the WWE Title to him because it doesn’t end his Universal Title run. He will definitely be facing the MITB if he holds both belts up to that point. What do you make of the other matches that are on the card and even rumoured to be on the card?
JT: Well I’m fairly happy with the Women’s Title matches. Ronda is someone I don’t like as a person, but she’s a big star so I get why she’s fighting for the title. I was scared for a second they’d do her vs Becky, and I’m glad they didn’t go that direction because I really want to see Bianca get her win over Becky. That’ll be a great match and it should be a big moment if they pull the trigger with Bianca. Edge vs AJ Styles is fun, no complaints there. The less said about Logan Paul having a WrestleMania match the better. Then as per usual there’s a couple things still up in the air. It looks like we’ll get some sort of RK-Bro vs Owens & Rollins vs maybe Alpha Academy, which is fine I guess? Don’t ask me about the SD Tag Titles or Women’s Tag Titles, I’ve got no clue. I’m sad Drew McIntyre is probably stuck facing Corbin at Mania, but hopefully he can win there and put an end to that. And then the midcard title matches will be what, Sami Zayn vs Johnny Knoxville and Damien Priest vs Finn Balor? Can’t get more polar opposites than that…
S: Yeah there’s a lot of matches that have been confirmed, but there’s also a lot of spaces that need to be filled up. I’m not sure if we’re getting Priest vs Balor, I think that may be happening on Raw next week but I think that is something which should be done at Mania with Finn going over. Oh and it just hit me, I think we may actually be getting Demon Finn vs “THE DAMIAN SIDE” of Priest at Mania. To touch on Bianca for a second, I’m so fucking glad they’re doing her and Becky and not Ronda and Becky because man alive, I don’t think I could deal with hearing about the build, the promos and all the shit barbs online between the two. I think Bianca should win but we’ll see. Johnny Knoxville and Sami? I am interested in that because Sami is brilliant and Knoxville is a legend in every sense of the word. Do check out Jackass Forever if you haven’t yet, it’s a joyful, hilarious movie which really couldn’t have come at a better time.
JT: Yeah I don’t know if Sami vs Knoxville is actually the plan, but now that Sami is champ again, I don’t really know who they can pair him with, and he’s made the most out of working with Johnny on the Rumble and social media. Although who knows, maybe he’ll face a member of wrestling’s royal family at WrestleMania!
S: All we have to do is wait and see! It’ll be interesting to see Mania back in Dallas in the AT&T Stadium, I always thought that stadium was such an awesome visual sight watching on TV for WrestleMania 32 SIX YEARS ago.
JT: It freaks me out that we’re closer to WrestleMania 40 than we are WrestleMania 30. But yeah, at least AT&T will look great. And oh my god I almost forgot! Maybe we’ll get the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania! That would be INSANE.
S: I really don’t know how I’d react to him coming back for another match. It’d be so surreal to see but at the same time, I loved his retirement at Mania 19 (which we have reviewed during Season 1 by the way). I felt like it was the perfect send-off, finally The Rock beat him at WrestleMania and Austin walked off into the sunset. I’m in two minds about it really but I do know that I would freak out if this were to happen.
JT: I gotta ask, would it also feel surreal to see Cody Rhodes back in WWE? Because it’s looking more and more likely like that’s going to actually happen.
S: It would really feel fucking mental to see him return to WWE, simply because he’s been gone for so long to the point where I couldn’t imagine him ever going back there. I am fascinated by the way he left though. I haven’t read much into the possible reasons behind his departure behind his departure but like, he was an EVP in AEW, he was working alongside close friends and family, including his brother. It felt like he was about to enter a storyline involving Dan Lambert. He had his own training school which helped train a few of the young wrestlers who have smaller roles in AEW and have appeared on Dark, including Hook and he had two shows on TNT, a reality show involving him and Brandi (Rhodes to the Top) and that talent show he was doing (Go Big Show). It just feels so weird to me because it’s almost as if he’s leaving so much behind him to go back to a company, which I personally don’t think will see the true value in him if he is to return there.
JT: I think in actuality, he’s probably gonna sit out of wrestling for a bit and work on his other projects, but if he does go to WWE, he must have been asking for the Scrooge McDuck Money Vault type of contract. Otherwise I can’t see why he’d leave AEW, it’s not like they don’t value his ideas there.
S: Yeah supposedly one of the reasons why he and TK couldn’t come to an agreement on a new contract was supposedly due to, as you said, him asking for a lot of money. I don’t know how true that is but it does seem likely if I’m to guess.
JT: I mean, Cody could just be a generational hustler right now. He made himself popular (even more than he already was in WWE) by pairing himself up with the most beloved acts on the indies, cemented his own legacy in wrestling history by creating an opposition company to WWE on national tv, and then spun that into getting a mega deal from WWE to secure his children’s future. If that’s what happened, he’s got every goal covered. He seemed pretty fulfilled creatively in AEW and on the indies before that, he did something bigger than the scope of himself. and then he got lots of money. If he is going to WWE, it’ll be weird but it’s a hustle I respect.
S: I mean if he’s getting a shit load of money and he’s set for life from this contract then man, I gotta respect his hustle here in this case. He really is Dusty’s son.
JT: I am curious to see if he actually does show up though, because again I still don’t totally believe it. And if he does show up, do you think they’re gonna try and have American Nightmare Cody on Raw/SD, or do you think he’ll try and go back to an old WWE gimmick like Stardust?
S: I mean, I think he’ll probably be American Nightmare Cody if you ask me. I think if he ever did Stardust again, he’d do it as almost a tongue in cheek type gag for a comedy match or just as a wacky Rumble appearance.
JT: Yeah that’s what I think will happen to, unless they really REALLY paid him well. Imagine him getting some ludicrous amounts of millions per year to ham it up as Stardust, and he’s just totally out to lunch cashing a paycheck. Actually, that doesn’t sound too far off the last couple months of his WWE run.
S: Hey look, it could happen and knowing that Wade Barrett is employed too. I think it’s about time THE COSMIC KING returns.
JT: Oh my god Seán, you’ve cracked the code!! He’s signing with WWE to take no bumps and COMMENTATE NXT 2.0 WITH WADE BARRETT!!
S: You heard it here first, folks. No need to bother with my fellow Sean, of the Ross Sapp variety. Or Big Dave Meltzer, or Mike Johnson or Wade Keller or Bryan Alvarez. I’ve cracked the code. We’re about to get the COSMIC COMMENTARY TEAM on the NXT V2.0!
JT: Meanwhile back in AEW, we’ve got a big old show coming up!! Any match or matches you want discuss first? I don’t have a ton of hot takes, but I’m pretty excited for everything, AEW is always interesting.
S: I’ve got a lot of matches which I’m really looking forward to! AEW have really done a good job of putting this card together for Revolution. There’s quite a few matches on here that I think will be brilliant. CM Punk and MJF in the Dog Collar Match seems to get more interesting with each passing week since their first match. The Face of the Revolution Ladder Match is already class when it’s loaded with 50% big boys. Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley, just yes and the prospect of them teaming together and taking the likes of Lee Moriarty, Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia under their wing sounds so damn cool. Jericho vs. Eddie Kingston in what could possibly be the start of Eddie Kingston climbing his way to winning a major title. Battle of the Adams with Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole. I’m so excited for this show
JT: Yeah with Punk & MJF, I’m glad that they’ve really worked to make it more interesting than the initial interactions made it appeared to be. Like, MJF is a character who has gotten a little stale for me, like he had 1 trick and he did that trick well but that was it. Now though, they’re actually pulling back some layers on him. Bringing up the photo he took with Punk as a kid was really unique. And then the promo he just cut last night about looking up to Punk, it really humanized him in a way they haven’t done before. He was pretty much a cartoon character, but adding that layer to his spite towards Punk really hit for me. Especially with him walking out on Punk at the end. It added a layer to his character that hadn’t previously been there.
S: I really enjoyed that promo he cut last night too because I think peeling a little bit back behind MJF to give some new layers for his character is what I think he’s needed since his feud with Jericho. That promo last night is exactly what he needed, I don’t know exactly where it goes from here. Is this the only bit of humanising MJF is going to have? I’m really intrigued by it.
JT: Yeah it’s very interesting, especially considering I think the big breakup with Wardlow is right on the horizon. I think it’s the next PPV feud he has, with maybe something in between the end of the Punk feud and the next PPV. Maybe they’ll use the new layers to make him evolve into a new version of his character so that the Wardlow feud is even bigger and better.
S: I also think that the layers finally being added to his character could be used as a way to make him a vengeful type character and also give reason to why he’s an asshole to everyone. I must say too, Eddie Kingston and Jericho’s confrontation. So enjoyable and having someone like Kingston on national TV is just a win for anyone because fuck me, he is one of the best promos in the world.
JT: Kingston getting to be on national tv is one of the biggest success AEW has ever had. He’s been this level of good for more than a decade, but rarely on a stage where he gets lots of recognition. He deserves it so much and he’s done well with everything he’s been given. I hope he takes Santana and Ortiz away from Jericho, I’m tired of the Inner Circle and they deserve to be with someone cool. And just to circle back to MJF for a quick second, maybe they’re adding these extra layers so that he feels different leading when he leads The Pinnacle into battle again. Perhaps against Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson’s super group? The whole Moxley/Danielson story is honestly the one I’m most excited for, both guys have done incredible things the last 2 years and I’d love to see what they’d do together and how they could benefit younger talent if they do team up.
S: Santana, Ortiz and Eddie Kingston is just the trio which needs to happen at this stage, as well as Santana and Ortiz becoming AEW Tag Team Champions. I don’t know when it will be but it’s got to happen by the end of the year. I’m in total agreement with you as well with the Danielson and Moxley story. The idea of it just has so much freaking potential and so much intrigue to the point where it feels like it’s destined to be amazing and possibly an all-time faction in modern wrestling.
JT: What would you ideal lineup for that group be? Because part of me thinks they’re gonna combine the Kingston/Santana/Ortiz contingent with Danielson/Mox because of Mox’s history with Eddie, but I also do think that they’ll be joined by Daniel Garcia, Lee Moriarty and Wheeler Yuta, since those are the last 3 people Bryan & Mox have wrestled. Although maybe they’ll be joined by other people, since Yuta is part of Best Friends and Garcia is with 2.0
S: I think they could pair up the inevitable Kingston/PNP trio considering Mox and Kingston are still very much pals in storyline. I do think that Yuta, Garcia and Moriarty are due to be part of that group. I also think that other wrestlers are probably bound to be part of that group as well, could we possibly see Jonathan Gresham join that group too? Who knows, it’s a faction which has a lot of promise and yet it hasn’t even began yet. I’m very much into it.
JT: Alright now I’ll get on to the one thing I’m negative about, which is the Adam vs Adam World Title match. It’s not that I think they’ll have a bad match, I just feel like the story is lacking unfortunately. Hangman’s momentum has been the same since he actually won his Danielson storyline ended, and Cole’s push has been odd in my opinion. He’s won a bunch, but he hasn’t really beaten any marquee opponents in AEW aside from Orange Cassidy. And here’s the thing, he beat OC once but then he lost to OC in a Lights Out Match, and the week after he just went “Uhhh that doesn’t count”. And I mean technically, yeah. But that’s real lame that he can lose a match and then not win another and still be #1 contender. Especially when AEW is meticulous about their record keeping.
S: I think their Lights Out Match was definitely the weakest example of using the Unsanctioned stip to it’s advantage. I get with Cole that he’s won a bunch and this match was always coming since Full Gear, but he hasn’t really faced anyone near the top of the card aside from Orange Cassidy. It’s very strange because Cole is always one of the most protected wrestlers wherever he goes so are you really losing anything by having him beat some biggish names?
JT: Yeah I was gonna say, looking at the previous matches he’s had since arriving in AEW, you’re telling me they said no to Christian vs Cole? That would’ve been a huge way to put Cole over without burning one of the big main event matches they are protecting. Like I love Christian, but he hasn’t wrestled once in 2022. He could’ve act a loss, unless he’s not medically healthy enough to do so.
S: Yeah I’ve noticed that with Christian Cage too! I feel like he’s not wrestled since Full Gear, he could be nursing a few injuries. Or AEW recognise what WWE have done with Edge and they don’t feel the need to have him wrestling every show. We said this plenty of times when we’ve watched AEW shows together but I feel like the last two PPVs we watched, we were almost certain that Christian and Adam Cole was a certainty.
JT: Exactly, that’s why I’m so surprised it hasn’t happened. Again, I’m sure they’ll deliver in the match, but it’s just surprising that things have been so mediocre. Like I’d say that Page/Cole is like the 3rd if not 4th biggest match on the show. Like I’d argue the Women’s Title match feels like a bigger deal, it’s been a year in the making!
S: And we should’ve mentioned the two Women’s matches, how poor of me not to! Thunder Rosa vs Britt Baker, I think Thunder Rosa should win but will she? I’m not sure. Jade Cargill and Tay Conti I’m really excited for, those are two wrestlers who just seem to improve so much with each match that they have. I’ve also been enjoying Jade whenever she’s wrestled, she’s presented like such a big deal and she feels like a big deal too. What’s your stance on those matches?
JT: Fully agree about Jade. She feels like such a star, and I’m sure her match with Tay will be solid. As for Rosa vs Britt, I’m convinced it’s Rosa’s time. I say this because AEW have really gone out of their way to keep Rosa from facing Britt. She theoretically could have gotten a shot months ago based off her record and history with Britt. I think the only reason they held off on this match was specifically because they knew that when Rosa faces Britt on PPV for the title, she’d win. Otherwise, I don’t know who could possibly beat Britt, who by the way, I think has run her course. Britt is solid but I just don’t think she’s the face of the division like they think she is, and I think some time out of the spotlight will do her some good.
S: Yeah Britt’s title reign is something which I feel peaked with her match with Kris Statlander. She’s had some good matches but her reign as Champion has been one which I think was an instance of the chase being better than the reign itself. I think Thunder Rosa needs to win this as well, I feel as if there needs to be new matchups for that belt. She’s ran through every over face on the roster at this stage so it’s time for a new face of the division.
JT: Exactly, like the only person she could face who she hadn’t faced for the title before is Jade, and that’s not gonna happen while they’re both heels and champions. Or Brandi Rhodes, but that’s no longer on the table.
S: Sadly we won’t be getting Brandi Rhodes vs Paige VanZant either. Speaking of departures, just as we’re doing this segment of course, we have since learned that Cesaro has left WWE after 11 years with the company. He’s a free boy now.
JT: I honestly don’t have much to say. He had a great run with many great matches and moments, but never truly reached the heights people hoped for him. He will be a great addition to wherever he goes guaranteed. And if I could just ask one thing of him, don’t go to that fucking “Control Your Narrative” crap EC3 and Braun Strowman are setting up. AEW, GCW, ROH, Impact, NJPW, NOAH, GLEAT, anywhere else and it’ll be better than there.
S: Yeah there’s no way he’s going to that pile of shit company, no fucking way is Claudio dealing with that drama school/problematic production shit. That promotion is so far beneath him, I personally think he either goes to AEW as the final entrant in the Ladder match. Or he just takes time away and scopes out the landscape to see what suits him.
JT: I mean if he’s available to be in the Ladder Match that feels like a nice spot for him, but I don’t know what the condition of his release is, if it’s immediate or what. Now I’ve gotta ask you this, is AEW signing too many people? Like in the last 6 months, they’ve brought in Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Tony Nese, Malakai Black, Brody King, Andrade El Idolo, Keith Lee, Danhausen, Shane Strickland/Isaiah “Swerve” Scott has signed, Buddy Matthews/Murphy debuted last night, Jeff Hardy has reportedly signed, is it possible that they’re gonna add too many people? Like spots don’t exist in a vacuum, you’re eventually gonna run out of spots.
S: It’s definitely going to get to the point where they run out of spots. It’s awesome seeing all these guys get signed and get big reactions in the last year and the roster is getting very big at this stage. Danielson and Cole are firmly main event guys and they will stay there. Black and Brody King are looking like a tag team for the foreseeable future, and they’re a tag team who help bolster that division, Buddy Matthews is probably going to be their singles/trios fall guy who wrestles primarily on Elevation and Rampage and will be involved in the TNT Title scene.
Andrade is someone who I believe slots in perfectly into the upper mid-card/lower main event and is close to being who doesn’t need to wrestle, he can just be the weirdo of the roster. Keith Lee, is probably going to be feuding with Team Taz so that’s him set up. Jeff Hardy is definitely going to be teaming with Matt and they will help out the tag division. Swerve, I believe is also for the TNT Title scene.
There have been outgoings from the company too and there will probably be more. I know that Joey Janela is not having his contract renewed, as well as Brian Cage and Jake Hager allegedly. Lio Rush’s contract is supposedly up too and he’s gone along with Cody. Upon doing some research, other contracts that are up soon include Marko Stunt, supposedly Lance Archer as well. So there are outgoings happening, they just aren’t getting as much attention as the incoming talent. as well. So there are outgoings happening, they just aren’t getting as much attention as the incoming talent.
JT: That’s very true. I guess it’s nice not to have all these guys leave because of some big dramatic firing.
S: Yeah it is very refreshing for people’s contacts and tenures with companies to end the right way if their contracts are to end at all and with scanning through the roster online, there’s a fair few guys who I do think are not long for AEW as soon as their current deals are up. *cough cough* Kip Sabian, Peter Avalon, Leva Bates, Luther, Serpentico and all of The Factory except maybe QT Marshall.
JT: We’ll just have to see what happens. Alright, we’ve said our piece. The Recharge is supposed to be a nice little break, so let’s not go on too long. Instead, let’s move on to our Recharge Recall!! It’s time for some trivia!!
S: Let’s go, James! It’s our first of the Season, and who knows? We may actually keep score on our records this season.
JT: So for anyone new, let me explain this segment to y’all. This is a trivia segment, where Seán and I ask each other (usually) an open ended question about some obscure factoid in wrestling. We’re not going for easy stuff like “Who was the first ever Intercontinental Champion?” either, we’re trying to test of wrestling knowledge here. Now, of course we each get 3 guesses plus a hint, and maybe a little extra help if we decided a question needs a little more background details to make it answerable. But aside from that, there’s no limit on what we can ask, as long as it’s wrestling related!
S: It’s no holds barred with what can be asked in the world of wrestling but there are rules. Thus making it the most contradictory form of no holds barred!
JT: It’s like a Cage Match where you’re locked inside with your opponent, but also you can escape to win and people can still interfere even though there’s a cage! Now Seán, this time around I’ve got my question already prepared for you. Are you ready to take on my task?
S: I’m ready and prepared to take on this almighty task you have set up for me, James. Bring it on!
JT: Alright! So, this show is called the “first ever” Viewer’s Choice Raw. Now to my knowledge, they never ran another “Viewer’s Choice” Raw. However! June 2011 was a similar show to the one we’re watching tonight, with voting by phone and everything, called “Power to the People” Raw. So my question to you is this! Who was in the main event of Power to the People Raw?
As a little concession, I’ll let you know that it was a 3 on 3 tag match, and you can get an extra point if you can successfully guess what it was that the fans voted for.
S: Alright so I’m thinking if it’s June 2011 then it has to be on the build towards Money in the Bank 2011 and perhaps it involved those in the Money in the Bank match. So were Alberto Del Rio and The Miz involved in some capacity?
JT: Correct about The Miz!! But incorrect about Alberto Del Rio. You’ve filled out 1 of the 6 names in this match.
S: Alright so it didn’t involve Del Rio. Interesting, was Alex Riley in this son of a bitch?
JT: That is correct! One side had Alex Riley and two partners, the other side had The Miz and two partners. Oh and for clarity’s sake, I’ll just say that you can keep guessing until you have incorrectly guess 3 times. It wouldn’t be fair to make you guess the last 4 right now.
S: Yeah that’s fair enough now, I’m going to play the safe card and ask for my hint at this time now.
JT: Ok so you’re on the right track. For the hint, I’ll say that the rest of this match is filled out by major matches from the pay per view that happened the day before this. I’m leaving it up to you to remember which Pay Per View happen June 2011, which matches happened, and from those matches would be in the main event of this particular Raw.
S: Alright, so I know that Capitol Punishment happened in June of that year. Were R-Truth and Rey Mysterio involved too?
JT: R-Truth was involved!! He was teaming with the Miz and his final partner against Alex Riley, but not Rey Mysterio! You’ve got one shot left but you’ve got half the competitors down! It’s R-Truth, The Miz and who vs Alex Riley and which two WWE Superstars?
S: Okay so R-Truth faced Cena at Capitol Punishment so surely Cena was involved, right?
JT: That is correct! Big match John did in fact team up with Alex Riley and a partner to take on The Miz, R-Truth and a partner in the main event of Power to the People Raw!
S: Alright so I’m stuck now with two matches in my head. You said major matches, there are two title matches on that show which I haven’t brought up. That being Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler for the US Title and Randy Orton vs. Christian for the World Heavyweight Title. For some reason, I want to say Orton and Christian were involved in this match but I’m not totally sure because it feels like they’d have just Raw guys.
JT: Well, you were right to trust your gut! After all, just like Viewer’s Choice Raw, Power to the People included members of the Raw AND SmackDown rosters! The match was John Cena, Randy Orton and Alex Riley facing off against R-Truth, Christian and The Miz!!
Now bonus point time, what did the fans vote for? Did they vote to include certain partners? Did they chose to make this a 6 man tag? Or did they add a stipulation to this 6 Man Tag?
S: Oh jesus, now that I have no clue of. If they voted to include certain partners then what the hell were the other options? So that seems like that’s out of the question. The likely option seems like it would be a 6 Man Tag but surely the match was already made official beforehand. I’m gonna guess that there was a stipulation added to this 6 Man Tag
JT: That’s correct. But which stipulation would it be? I’d tell you what the voting options were, but it’s a really obvious “WWE wants you to vote for this one” one. So just take your best shot for a stipulation that can be added to a 6 Man Tag, and I’ll tell you what the voting options are regardless of if you get it right or not.
S: Since you said it’s a real obvious WWE choice, and it’s 2011. Was it, by any chance, a 6 Man Tag No DQ Match or Extreme Rules type deal?
JT: Ahh tough luck. No bonus point for you mister! But It’s impressive that you made it this far though! It was not a No DQ/Extreme Rules tag match. I’ll just give you the option and you will surely know which was the winner. Was it A) A 20 Minute Time Limit Match, B) A One Fall to a Finish Match, or C) An Elimination Tag Match?
S: I know that crowd were proper traditionalists and wanted to beat the traffic so you bet your ass they wanted a 20 Minute Time Lim- ah who the heck am I kidding? It was obviously the Elimination Tag.
JT: Yep, they got a mini Survivor Series match. And what the fuck are those options? They really said “20 Minute Time Limit” as if that’s a good thing. And like, a regular match? Really?? So yeah, the Main Event of Power to the People Raw was John Cena, Randy Orton and Alex Riley defeating R-Truth, Christian and The Miz in a Elimination Tag match (which got 79% of the vote btw).
S: Well, those results don’t surprise me in the least. What a completely lopsided field of three options if there were some.
JT: There were other hilarious voting options from the night too! One was Cody Rhodes vs Daniel Bryan in either “A Paper Bag Match”, a “Collegiate Rules match” or a “No Count Out match”. And the worst was a Dance Contes with Vickie Guerrero vs which opponent: A) Booker T, B) Jerry “The King” Lawler, or C) Michael Cole. We got a No Countout Match and a Dance Contest with Michael Cole against Vickie. The Pipe Bomb couldn’t come soon enough.
S: My God, they really couldn’t help but keep doing dance contests around this time, could they? This just speaks volumes towards what WWE, and I’d argue film and TV as a whole thought younger viewers found funny, because there’s nothing more hilarious than two people you’d neeeeever expect to dance having a DANCE-OFF! Wakka wakka!!!
JT: I’d go check and see who won, but honestly, I do not care. So Seán, do you have my question ready?
S: I most definitely have my question ready for you, James and it relates to your favourite tag team and mine, THE DUDEBUSTERS! James, are you ready to hear what I’ve prepared for you?
JT: Seán, you’re once again playing to my Long Island sensibilities!! How can I not be exciting for my fellow North Shore boy Greg and his obscure partner from Ohio? Hit me with your best shot.
S: Okay so since we pondered over how many matches they had on TV, my question to you is this. How many televised matches did Trent Barreta and Caylen Croft, The Dudebusters have during their run as a tag team? There is a twist though! I am excluding matches on WWE Superstars. So how many matches on the branded shows did they have as a tag team?
JT: Oh boy! You’re robbing Trent of his masterpieces on Superstars? That’s tough. But actually, good for Trent for showing that he was better than being on Superstars. And good on Caylen for seeing how things were going and deciding “Nah I’m gonna do something more fulfilling”. So I’m gonna guess to start things off that they had 12 TV matches! That might not sound like a lot but 12 months is a lot if you think about it, especially with large gaps between. 12 is my first guess.
S: Not a bad first guess, but unfortunately it is the incorrect answer. Would you like to take a stab at your second guess or would you like your hint de jour?
JT: Well I tried cold turkey, but I’m not gonna get it like this. Hook that hint up to my veins!!
S: Okay so the hint is as follows; the amount of televised matches they had on the branded shows is, in fact, within the single digits.
JT: Wow that’s tough. So I’m going to guess from the hint that they just barely missed double digits, with a total of 8 matches on Raw & SD.
S: A very respectful guess but it is incorrect unfortunately. Are you ready to take a stab at your final guess then, James?
JT: Alright, I’m not liking my chances here. So I’m just gonna go with lucky number 7! Is that the number of matches they had on the Red and Blue Brands?
S: Hate to burst your bubble here James but that is three strikes. The total amount of matches they had as a team on the branded TV shows was NINE matches in total. 6 matches during the final few months of the (WW)ECW brand and 3 matches when they moved over to the blue brand of SmackDown where they’d lose all three matches against Cryme Tyme, The Hart Dynasty, and JTG and MVP. In that order. A 0% success rate as Blue Boys.
JT: Drat! I almost guessed 9 with my second guess, but I guess I flicked to the comfort of even numbers. I gotta ask, what was their win percentage on ECW? Did they manage any televised victories at all? Did they beat any WWE contracted wrestlers?
S: Alright so they’re record as a tag team in ECW is 4-1 in tag team action and 0-1 in trios action. They would beat local competitor teams for the first three matches. Then they’d go on to defeat the formidable duo of Yoshi Tatsu and ECW Goldust (remember Goldust on ECW?!), they would then lose their final two matches on the brand. First in a trios match with Trent’s fellow Long Islander, Zack Ryder and they would lose, I shit you not, a Unified Tag Team Championships #1 Contenders Match to Yoshi Tatsu and Goldust.
JT: Once again, the 2009-10 Tag scene was absolutely in the mud. The main eventers of the division were top card guys just buying their time till their next singles storylines came around, and everyone outside of them were waaaaayyy down the card.
S: Just look at the depth of the roster for around this time. The depths of despair if you ask me, and to think that the 40 Man Rumble is to come seven months from this Raw.
JT: I was dumb as a kid, so I didn’t really think anything but “Oh cool” when that 40 Man Rumble was announced, but man I can only wonder about the state of disarray the Internet formula were in at the time thinking about sitting through that bad boy.
S: Nah James, I’d say the fans online were buzzing about the prospect of several lower card losers making up the numbers for the biggest Royal Rumble history. Undertaker, Triple H and Sting will all be there!
JT: Well i say that about does it for the Recharge! Seán leads this season off with a 1-0 shutout, looks like I’m going to have my luck cut out for me this season! Speaking of which, wouldn’t you say it’s time to get back to our main business?
S: It’s time we get back to brass tax, James and see off this suckered of a three hour Raw!
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Mean-ingless Filler
JT: Alright it’s time for a hodgepodge of random time killing segments! Coming back from our break and Raw’s commercial break, first we get some recaps of the Divas Battle Royal from earlier and a recap of the Edge/Orton match that just happened. Then, we go backstage to see John Cena with Evan Bourne! He thanks Evan for teaming up with him last week to win the tag match in the main event of Raw. Hey, if you showed this earlier, maybe that would’ve helped Evan’s polling! Maybe he could’ve gotten the match against Sheamus?
S: Yeah I really don’t get why they showed this AFTER Bourne didn’t get picked by the fans to face Sheamus. Makes him look like a bit of a nobody, but hey, at least he got Cena’s endorsement.
JT: And hey, maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t get picked. You’d hate to have Cena give him the big endorsement and then have Sheamus just straight beat him. You think they would’ve done the same finish as with Kane if Bourne won the vote?
S: Nah, definitely not with Bourne. I know this was the time when Bourne was getting a proper mini-push but I don’t they’d have protected him the same way they did with Kane. I would’ve rathered seen Sheamo and Evan Bourne, I’d imagine those two would have a solid TV match.
JT: I’m sure Evan would’ve back flipped out if his boots for a Brogue Kick too.
S: Exactly! He would’ve bumped like a boss for Sheamus too. Another reason why this segment airing at this stage of the show puzzled me.
JT: Anyways, so after thanking him for showing up, Cena has a promo to cut about tonight’s main event. He’s had a chaotic few months with Last Man Standing and I Quit Matches, plus he picked a partner last second last week, and he’s got 3 challengers at the coming PPV. But, tonight he can rely upon the most able bodied decision makers in Raw History, the WWE Universe. The fans always make decisions that are fair and true, and he feels good tonight because the CeNation is in the building. Boy, Miami would not be this kind to him in future years. But they’re behind him tonight, deciding who he will face in the main event.
S: Oh boy, by the time a certain Dwayne makes his presence felt again, that Miami crowd would want his head on a platter but here, they’re well on board behind Cena. This is definitely a pro-Cena audience we’ve got here.
JT: So it’s a pretty standard Cena promo, don’t think there’s much to say. So I’ll move on to something far from standard. It’s time for more A-Team nonsense!
So we cut back to Sharlto Copley backstage, coming to after the gas attack. And who is there with him? It’s only MEAN FUCKING GENE!! I did NOT expect to Mean Gene Okerlund at all on the Power Hour this season, so I’ll absolutely take it. He says he’s watched it all unfold and Copley has a real problem. Murdock says he’s missing his partner, but Gene says he’s a delusional actor but he’s got a chance to surpass the original A Team. And as he can attest, replacing a legend is not easy. After all, his own replacement sucks. The camera then pans over to show Josh Mathews standing right next to him. Josh goes “Gene I’m right here”, but Gene tells him to “Save It loser” and continues to plug the movie with the implication that we’ll get our big blow off later. Boy that was something huh? Some good, some bad, all unexpected.
S: I must say, I did enjoy seeing Mean Gene here and there’s just something about about Mean Gene being feisty and taking shots at people which feels so unexpected but yet so right! Like him cooking Josh Matthews like a rotisserie chicken in the matter of two lines was really good.
JT: Burying Josh Mathews is always a thumbs up from me.
S: Mean Gene clearly hasn’t lost any of his skills either, he’s easily the most natural interviewer wrestling has ever had. I remember when I’d used to watch WWE Vintage where they’d air vintage wrestling matches, he was always so damn good at presenting that show. Seeing him here was a very pleasant surprise.
JT: Mean Gene is just the greatest backstage interviewer of all time. Plain and simple, nobody has ever done it like he’s done it. A legend in absolutely every sense of the word.
S: Absolutely, he’s so dearly missed in the world of wrestling because he is just the ultimate professional and always has the ability to make every interview he conducts to be interesting.
JT: Miss you Gene, thank you for making this segment actually tolerable.
S: Now all that’s left to ask is will Murdock and BA reclaim Lawler’s crown from The New Money Inc???
JT: We’ll be back later with the exciting finale of our A-Team saga!!
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Chosen V1
JT: Now, remember how earlier this episode, I made an allusion to a “spoiled” WWE superstar? Well their time is now! Up next, in action is SmackDown’s own former Intercontinental Champion, Drew McIntyre!! I know you’re not Scottish, and I know Ireland and Scotland are quite different, but funny how WWE at this time very clearly wanted to build their roster around 2 young wrestlers from places they really hadn’t had much prior history with.
S: It is certainly unusual of them to do so, they must be doing it so that they can rely on that European market or the UK and Ireland to flog out the cash for their home town boys. I mean, they’re even billing Wade Barrett as a future main eventer too! They also have a certain Welshman waiting in the wings down in developmental too. Some say that he loves to break things in half.
JT: That must be why they’re doing it. Now Drew here, he had a strong start to his career but things have been rougher lately. After starting out with a dominant first few months, including being proclaimed “The Chosen One” by Mr McMahon himself and winning the Intercontinental Championship, recently he’s been getting uppity and having loses expunged from his record and overturned by Mr McMahon. And even for Vince, there’s only so much he can manipulate, as Drew lost his Intercontinental Championship the month before this to Kofi Kingston. He’s had a real bee in his bonnet as a result, targeting Teddy Long above everyone else. Honestly this whole storyline, I think it feels kind of fitting yet not at all, y’know? Like, I feel like it makes sense to have the Chosen One get showed as spoiled by having things change for him. Yet, it feels like a real step down for him to all of a sudden be losing more often and frequently being unable to do anything without Vince McMahon’s help.
S: Yeah this was a period of time for Drew where the wheels felt like they were starting to become a little bit loose on the wagon. I do like that his character is being portrayed as spoiled but these losses don’t help anyone, let alone someone in his role at the moment.
JT: Yeah it’s one thing to have them change the rules or undo a lose, but it felt like weekly he was getting beat and then having it turned around. At that point, isn’t he just a loser? But regardless, tonight he has a chance to prove himself. He’s going to get to face someone of the WWE Universe’s choice. Will he face A) Yoshi Tatsu, B) Goldust, or C) A Mystery Opponent! Now before we get to the vote and any predictions you had for the mystery opponent, let me just say that in 2022, a Goldust/Drew McIntyre match would go hard. Like that sounds like an excellent Dynamite main event.
S: Oh definitely, this current Drew McIntyre against the excellent veteran, Dustin Rhodes is a match which I would definitely tune into watching. I reckon those two would have excellent chemistry.
JT: A match between two dudes who make you go “Wait, how big is he??? Since when was he that tall??”.
S: Two men who over time have seem to have grown an inch or two. Especially with Drew. Dustin has always been that guy who was technically tall, but never billed as being a tall lad. Instead of a lot of beef, there would be a lot of height in that ring.
JT: Now, who did you expect to win this vote? Because I was pretty sure it would be the mystery opponent the whole way, I just wasn’t sure who that would actually be.
S: Same as you, James. I was certain that it would be the mystery man, knowing what was happening on SmackDown with Drew at this stage. I had a good idea of who that mystery man would be. That good idea of who it would be came about when the shadow of the mystery man struck their pose, of course.
JT: Oh yeah as soon as I saw that I knew who it was, and memories can rushing back to me. But who is it? Well, we’d find out as the vote came in with Yoshi at 4%, Goldust gets at 8%, and the Mystery Man gets 88%. He’d do his pose as a silhouette, then his music would hit!! It’s Matt Hardy!! Drew’s arch rival!! Drew attacked and hurt Matt a while back and ever since, Matt has wanted to make Drew’s life hell, but Mr McMahon kept doing his damndest to keep Matt from scuffing up his new superstar. In fact, Matt had been suspended from SmackDown, and was only able to confront Drew by buying a front row ticket! Matt rushes down to the ring, and Drew rushes to get a microphone and remind Matt that he is suspended, he can’t touch the Chosen One! This match is off!! That’s when Drew’s good buddy Teddy Long comes out, and tells Drew that Matt is suspended…from SmackDown!! This is Raw!! The match is on!! And before Drew can tear Teddy apart, Matt is all over Drew! Seán, as a big V1 fan yourself, did you remember much of this feud?
S: Yeah, I remember this feud, alright. This was one of Drew’s like three feuds on SmackDown in the late-Spring/early-Summer of 2010, along with Teddy Long and Kofi Kingston. I remember it started with Drew losing a Money in the Bank qualifier against Matt. Then in May, Drew would beat the shit out of Matt, resulting in Teddy suspending him and stripping him of the Intercontinental Championship. Hardy would then return, beating up Mcintyre and Vince would suspend him.
JT: But did you know that Matt Hardy was ahead of the game? Because I remember quite clearly, that Matt Hardy in 2010 had a YouTube show! A YouTube show that was a mix of him just traveling along with the show, and cutting in character promos at Drew McIntyre, telling him he’d get back at him. He even had a series of videos he called “The Stalk” of him waiting to attack Drew McIntyre at Live Shows and what not. And the videos are still up! Kinda sounds like an early Being The Elite, no?
S: I know that Matt Hardy has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to how he uses social media as a platform for himself. Even back in the day, he did his own home video series, The Hardy Show with him, Jeff and Shannon Moore. Which is basically their own version of Viva La Bam really. He was always very YouTube savvy with how he used it during his Ring of Honor run. I did not know that he had his own YouTube travel series though! That is well interesting. Maybe for some bonus viewing, I will give them a watch in the build up to one of the PPVs he’s on.
JT: They’re pretty easy to find too, just go to his YouTube channel, and filter from oldest to newest. They’re all pretty much the first things on his channel. And not every Travel Vlog is kayfabe but still! Anyways, shall we get to our match?
S: Definitely! Take it away, James.
JT: So like I said, Matt starts wailing away on Drew as soon as he can, and then clotheslines McIntyre to the floor and they brawl over the announce table. He throws Drew into the barricade, he throws him into the post, literally a pillar to post beating until Matt rolls him back in the ring and Drew catches him with a boot to the face. Drew tried to end Matt’s career, but tonight it’s just all hard as he charges and Matt moves out of the way! Drew hits into the turnbuckle post, turns around and Matt catches him with the Twist of Fate!! 1-2-3!! Matt wins!! And “gets his revenge” in like 3 minutes flat!!
S: You say 3 minutes flat but I swore this felt way shorter when I watched it. I actually checked up how long this match went as soon as it was over and turns out this match supposedly went a single minute and 25 seconds. I mean, what do you even say about the match’s quality when it lasts less than the amount of time it takes to make microwave popcorn?
JT: Well I can say this is the sort of booking that I was moaning about earlier with McIntyre. How can you prop him up as “the future” and “The Chosen One” when he loses in less than 2 minutes? I mean even after the match, Matt rips hair out of Drew’s head and he is sent running for the hills!! There’s a heel getting his comeuppance and then there’s just getting totally wrecked.
S: He looked like such a fucking chump here. It’s one thing to get beat, it’s another thing to get beat decisively, it’s yet another thing to be beaten decisively and quickly and then it’s a completely different thing in its own category to get beat quickly, decisively and get your ass kicked more after the match. I wonder is this the period where Drew got punished for something which was going on backstage?
JT: I feel like that’s gotta be the case right? Like I mean, they made sure to protect Sheamus, they could’ve had him lose by roll up! It didn’t need to be this decisive! And then for Matt’s sake, having your “big revenge” be a <2 minute match in the middle of Raw probably doesn’t feel great either, does it?
S: No it’s definitely giving off the idea that this is Drew being punished and I’m pretty sure stuff like this continues in the next few weeks of TV too. Do you remember what it was that Drew was being punished for?
JT: Wasn’t it something involving him and his girlfriend Tiffany? I don’t remember the details, but wasn’t there something alleged with their relationship and Vince thought it was “unmanly” or something?
S: Yeah it was something involving Tiffany, who I believe was his wife at this stage. I always forget the details of what the hell was going on but it was something fucking stupid he got punished for alright.
JT: So from some googling, here’s what I found “Company sources claim the incident was a domestic issue between Terrell and husband Drew Galloway (a/k/a Drew McIntyre), which led to police being called to the scene. There are conflicting reports over whether Terrell was arrested by the San Jose PD” which is linked to him being “high maintenance” and “not being over to the degree of his push”. Now, not being over enough? Honestly, I kind of see that. If they wanted to hold off on pushing him as hard, I think that was fair. I was a big McIntyre fan but I’m not gonna act like he was the hottest act in the company. But punishing him because of his spouse is some bs. Like maybe he was actually “high maintenance” but come on man. This is some Grade-A Toxic Masculinity.
S: That was the reason! I remember hearing that his push got fucked over because of Taryn Terrell’s behaviour. You’re right as well, it’s such bullshit masculinity which still exists in wrestling to a certain extent. Drew didn’t deserve to suffer from her actions. Also, I’m pretty sure she’s not long for WWE after this incident too.
JT: Well she gets released in August, so maybe we’ve got our timeline all wrong here and they did genuinely think this angle would get him over. That or they were having smaller, less publicized moments that were grating to management. I don’t want to bag on her too much for this, I mean they were both only 25 and had a lot more growing to do as people. But yeah, let’s just say that with Drew this arc, it’s gonna be a lot more of “Look at how far he’s come” than “Wow look at how good he was!”.
S: Yeah for real. I imagine if we were doing this prior to his WWE return in 2017 then we’d be reminiscing over what could’ve been rather than what was to come with him. I am intrigued to see how he fares in this time period though, because it feels like we’re seeing a completely different person who happens to be called Drew McIntyre.
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A-Team 3: Hot Rod’s Revenge
JT: Alright next on the Power Hour, it’s the epic conclusion to the constant A-Team segments on this show. They really want to make sure you know this movie is coming out! So what happens? Well we see Rampage/BA tied up by the big bad heels of Ted DiBiase Jr, Virgil & IRS, who say they’ll finally reveal their intentions. They’re gonna take him straight to the ring for answers. So why is this happening? Why did Ted steal King’s crown to get the A-Team to come after him, to tie up Rampage? Well he says that this is happening because everyone has a price. But in this case, he means himself! The Million Dollar Heir even has his own price that he cannot resist! He says someone wanted BA from the A-Team on a silver platter, Ted named his price and they delivered, so this is his part of the bargain being upheld. But who exactly is his mystery client! Well it’s none other than ROWDY RODDY PIPER!!! WHAT??? Again, I was not expecting to see Hot Rod on this arc!!
S: We were expecting to see him in Season One, but we never got him or Mr. America. When we least expect him, he just appears! Like the mad fucker he is. He just appears unexpectedly like Captain Lou in Wrestling With Wregret. Although, he’s far more welcome here.
JT: Oh yeah, if you’re gonna do something with celebrities, I hope they just pack in as many good wrestlers around them as possible. And Roddy is an all time great, so I’m happy to see him!
S: As well as that, you just never know what you’re gonna get with Roddy too. So he’s always a pleasant surprise to have.
JT: Crazy things happen when Roddy is around! And that includes on the production side of things, because Roddy tries to talk on his way out to the ring, and his mic dies! He says “BA doesn’t stand for Bachelor of Arts”, which makes me laugh, and then goes on to a bigger point of how nobody would shut up about the A-Team at WrestleMania 1. He silenced Mr T, he’ll silence this guy, because he isn’t seeing the damn A-Team. He’s gonna do the whole world a favor and beat the Mohawk off him because he pities the fool who takes on Hot Rod! What do you think of Roddy’s motivation here?
S: I mean, his motivation makes sense but at the same time, he knows this isn’t Mr. T, right? Like Roddy from 2010, earth to 2010 Roddy, Rampage Jackson is NOT Mr. T. Aside from that though, if we’re in the most 80s of kayfabe here, I think his motivation makes sense but christ alive, the crowd couldn’t have given two fucks about this segment.
JT: Yeah sadly I thought Piper would breath some life into this obvious shill segment, but sadly not. Although, Piper wouldn’t be the only legend in this! Because before Piper can coconut Rampage, out comes Copley, mean Gene and….Dusty Rhodes?? They all rush the ring, Rampage pushes off the goons and breaks out of the Headcuffs in the lamest, fakest way possible!! Spinebuster to Ted, Bionic Elbow to IRS, Roddy feeds Virgil to Rampage and runs! Copley reveals that he called up Dusty because Gene said the words “the dream” and “USA”, thus the American Dream! Get it? Me neither. Anyway Dusty plugs the movie as a “Groovy Movie” and finally this all ends. Was all the time they spent on this segment worth it?
S: Ah, probably not. I loved seeing Mean Gene and several figures from the 80s but it was hard to care when the crowd clearly didn’t. Like the premise of this can definitely be done right but that gas mask bit was just, proper Doofenshmirtz stuff.
JT: I can see what they were trying to do, but ultimately I just don’t think it was thought through enough. Nobody cared about the A-Team guys enough for them to work with the undercard group of the DiBiase Posse, which is a problem because if they had anticipated that maybe they could’ve put some bigger heels with them and it could’ve worked. Sadly though, just like many other celebrity guest hosts before them, the celebs just stank up this show and made it worse.
S: Yeah it was just typical Guest Host Era quality. For every Bob Barker, there’s a Jeremy Piven. For every Shaquille O’Neil, there’s a Charlie Sheen on Raw 100 and for every Hugh Jackman, there’s a Ricky Hatton. This ranked somewhere in the middle.
JT: Yeah I’ll give them some credit for trying to base a storyline around the A Team guy rather than just dumping them out there and going “Look at these famous people, buy their stuff!”. But was it an entertaining storyline? No, not really. So with all that said, should we get on to how the A-Team (2010) actually turned out?
S: Absolutely! I’m intrigued to hear how this movie got on. Did it make a profit and/or bust any blocks?
JT: Well on a 100 million dollar budget and an hour’s worth of plugs on Monday Night Raw, the A-Team only managed to make 177 million. That’s all the day as the 42nd highest gross of the year, just above the likes of Dinner for Schmucks and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and below the likes of the first Percy Jackson movie, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Sex in the City 2, Jackass 3D and The Last Airbender. The top grossing film of the year was of course Avatar, which is not a fair standard for any movie to live up to, but Toy Story 3, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Iron Man 2, and Twilight: Eclipse round out the Top 5. So it didn’t lose money, which is good!! But it did lose a sequel that was apparently planned and then scrapped due to underwhelming returns.
S: Well would you look at that! That’s just about what I’d have expected the movie to make. I knew it ran on such a big budget and that it made enough money to profit, but I didn’t have a clue that there was a planned sequel in the pipelines. I’m surprised it finished 42nd for the year considering how much I remember this movie being promoted across TV when I was a kid. Fair enough grossing less than Jackass 3D but Prince of Persia and The Last Airbender movie? Bit of a howler.
JT: I mean we joke about it now, but TLAB movie was a big deal at the time. That’s what made the terrible quality of the movie so shocking. Prince of Persia is funny though, considering it was a pretty moderately sized game and got a pretty mediocre movie. Like it wasn’t as if it was competing with a Halo movie or Sonic The Hedgehog. To be fair to the A-Train movie though, it wasn’t a totally flop such as all time classics “Gulliver’s Travels” or “Jonah Hex”. Hell, even my beloved Scott Pilgrim vs The World did poorly at the Box Office in 2010.
S: Oh man, I’d say we will get to Scotf Pilgrim vs. The World by August time. Its one of my favourite movies too and one which I definitely think has gotten more popular with time. Would you agree?
JT: I also adore that more, so if I’m feeling really energized, we might just have to do a first ever Power Hour Picture Presentation. I mean I just got the original graphic novels for Christmas!
S: Are you saying that a potential Power Hour MOVIE REVIEW could be on the cards?!
JT: If OSW can do it, why can’t we? Is because they’re “funny” and they “have great chemistry together” and their shows are “well edited” and that OSW is “all together one of the best shows on the internet that we’d be very lucky to be compared to”?
S: Hey look, James isn’t saying we’re just as well produced as OSW. He’s saying that we’re very much like them in terms of quality.
JT: Well speaking of quality, I never actually brought up how the A-Team movie was received! We mentioned Scott Pilgrim, which is proof that box office and fan acclaim do not go hand in hand. So given how much money it’s made and just generally what it is, what about do you think the A-Team movie average on a 1-5 scale?
S: Ehm, I’d say it ranged from about 2.5-3 if you ask me. Somewhere along those lines.
JT: Well, on Rotten Tomatoes, the A-Team scored out at a freshness rating of 49%, so an average of 5.4/10! Metacritic has it at 47/100, audiences polled for CinemaScore gave it a “B+” on an A-F scale, IMDB has it at a 6.7/10, and Letterboxd averages at 2.7 out of 5. So yeah, I’d say your about right. Pretty much just a middle of the road movie, that some liked more than others but nobody seems to have especially strong feelings about.
S: That is until we review it baby! The world will finally know what the hype was not about with this film. Ha ha, just kidding, we aren’t reviewing it.
JT: So long, goodbye A-Team. Stay out of my wrestling, I prefer the B Team thank you very much.
S: Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel would whoop Murdock and BA any day of the week. They’re second generation wrestlers, what are ye? That’s right, NOT former Raw Tag Team Champions.
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It’s Time to Face It
JT: Soooo just like that, we’re on to our final match of the evening! It is time for our main event!! And boy does it not feel that way!! Like they did not put an once of energy into getting everyone to stick around till the end of the show. I mean we had our by the numbers John Cena house show promo earlier in the show, and we do hear from his potential opponents before the final vote comes in, but like jesus we could’ve used some of that buildup earlier!!
S: Fucking hell, right? There was fuck all effort done by WWE to help build up this Viewer’s Choice main event. He could possibly be facing the WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION for fuck’s sake! It’s not like you’ve had THREE HOURS to build this fucking match up or anything!
JT: And it’s not like they had a ton of content on this show either! Like they put more build into Kane vs Sheamus! You’re telling me you couldn’t have had Rey Mysterio cutting a promo from the screen on facing John Cena at the start of the show (maybe after the Edge/Orton or Show/Jericho stuff), have Swagger confront Cena during his promo midway through the show and then have a big CM Punk promo backstage before the last commercial break. It’s pretty easy, and they really didn’t have to be long promos.
S: No not at all, just do 30 to 40 second promos down the camera lens saying to the fans on why they should vote for themselves. Its not that hard to promote like.
JT : And not to toot my own horn, but I really think my format would’ve gone a long way! I think advertising a potential Cena/Mysterio match would’ve gotten some kids to beg their parents to let them stay up late! Now speaking of Rey, we get some time-killing as King shows us he’s voting for Rey Mysterio tonight! But his computer crashes. Serves you right. And of course, we actually get promos from all 3 guys. Rey says in order to make it to the top, you gotta fight the top dog. John is the top dog on Raw, Rey is the top dog on SmackDown, the master of the 619 can beat John Cena. World Champion Jack Swagger says why vote for him? Because it’s World Champion vs World Champion, Raw vs SmackDown, All American American vs Face of the Company, he lives for matches like this. Finally, CM Punk says you (Josh Mathews) always ask the stupidest questions, here’s a better question. Why should John Cena face the Straight Edge Savior? He says only CM Punk can make John Cena a better person, and he will beat Cena and he will join the Straight Edge Society. Then everyone will know Straight Edge means he’s better than you. On second thought, maybe it’s good they didn’t let Rey and Jack cut promos before this.
S: Do you mean that, as in Punk’s promo was so much better than both Rey and Swagger’s promos? Or in that those two promos before Punk’s would’ve been enough to edge out Punk in the polls because of the ideas which they sold?
JT: I thought Rey and Jack’s promos were both pretty bad. Now Rey, Rey’s never been a tremendous promo guy. I think nowadays he has more of a speaking voice than before, but I found his promo to be just phoned in. Just no meat on them bones. But again, Rey’s not a big promo guy, and being a face going against another face is not exactly the easiest short promo to cut. But Jack Swagger, come on man! This is your big chance to show why you’re World Champion! You gotta cut a real strong promo to show why you belong at the top of the card! Instead, he said basically nothing! He just listed off things!!
S: I always heard that Swagger was never deemed a good promo by the higher ups because of his slight lisp and honestly, it’s not even that fucking noticeable for fuck’s sake. It’s just that his c’s and s’s are perhaps a bit overemphasised, that’s really it. Like I’ve gone to school with a bloke who had a far worse lisp, honestly it was on the levels of Sylvester from Looney Tunes level of a lisp. That’s not a pop at him by the way, that’s just genuinely what it was like. What I think Swagger really lacked with his promo was that there was just no intensity on his part, there wasn’t even some of that cockiness which he used to have in 2009. He just sounds like WWE wants him to be the serious top heel who speaks slowly like 2008 Chris Jericho.
JT: I think the fact he came out in big suits really only adds to that comparison. And you’re right, it’s absolutely not the lisp, he just doesn’t say anything! Now would’ve been the perfect time for Swagger to lay into John Cena, call himself a real champion, and say he’s gonna prove it to John and all the WWE Universe. But he didn’t do that, and instead Punk clearly outclassed both of them. Now, I think you and I both know who won this vote for obvious reasons, but at the time, who would you have seen as the favorite?
S: Oh, I would have seen Rey as the favourite for sure, just because it’s Rey and he’s popular with the fans. Those and the reason being that Cena vs. Mysterio would have been a match that I’d think the fans would have wanted to see.
JT: I agree. Though as a kid, I don’t think John Cena was ever my favorite wrestler, I could still tell he was beloved by the audience at large. And Rey, well he actually was my favorite. So I figured that two fan favorite duking it out would definitely win. Either that or we’d get the Champion vs Champion match, because as a kid I drank the Kool-Aid that the brand split was a big deal and that a face off between the two top champions would be as big as a serious main event match!
S: That as well, I figured that if it’s not Rey, then it would be Swagger because Champion vs. Champion matches are important, right? Little did I know how not over, or under Swagger was with the crowd. My young mind just couldn’t see it being that evil Straight Edge baddie who got rid of my favourite, Jeff Hardy. No way could my fellow fans vote for this villain.
JT: Oh boy did I hate CM Punk at this time. I mean, I had cooled off significantly from the summer before where I was 100% kayfabe mode that he ran Jeff Hardy out of the company. I had gotten a bit more experience, but I still didn’t like him. I mean not only did he have a big feud against my favorite Jeff, but then he had a feud with my new favorite Rey in early 2010!! I couldn’t stands the guy!! I thought he was a jerk, I thought he looked smelly, and I absolutely did not want him to save me! I could save myself thank you very much.
S: The funny thing with Punk was that I loved him from when I first started watching in 2007, instantly he became one of my favourites and then when he turned heel against Jeff, I was confused because I didn’t want two of my favourites fighting each other. Then I fully hated him by the end of that feud, slowly but surely I started coming around to him from this time period. James, did you notice anything different about Punk here?
JT: Well, is the thing you’re thinking of his big Lucha Libre mask? Or was it something else? Because I didn’t notice anything else, and either think either discussion would be interesting.
S: It was not his big Lucha mask. This is an interesting little theory which I have gathered in the last year or two. So that question I’ve asked you links to this question. You obviously remember Punk’s tenure in the 2010 Royal Rumble, you remember his sermons but do you remember his mouth was kind of bloodied up? More specifically, around his tongue???
JT: Ah yes, I remember that! That Rumble performance is probably the best thing Punk ever got to do at a Rumble, ever. Like at any part of his career. Aside from giving WWE the old “up yours” and never coming back. So what’s the your theory?
S: Okay so in that match, somewhere in the first few entrants, Punk’s mouth for busted open, more specifically his tongue and it looked a little bit swollen. At this time, and for several years prior, Punk had his tongue pierced for ages. On this show, I noticed that he didn’t have his tongue piercing in at all. So I reckon that because of his mouth getting busted up at the Rumble, that led to Punk permanently removing his tongue piercing.
JT: You know, once you mentioned the tongue (smellelelelele lookathetongue lookathetongue lookathetongue) I figured that’s what it was. Surprised it took longer honestly. Props to Punk for even going for that look, but I get why he gave it up. I will say though, shame piercing just are generally not advisable for wrestling. Because I’ll say, if any art form could use piercing as a real character feature, I’d be wrestling. I guarantee that we would’ve gotten so many sick looking pierced up characters in ECW if it wasn’t such a safety hazard (and if coming out with piercings and then very safely removing those piercings wasn’t so underwhelming).
S: I used to always wonder why wrestlers would wear their piercings in promos and during interviews and not during matches. Then you hear of this and Jeff Hardy’s lip ring removing during a match on Raw and you know why. Like I’ve a fair few piercings and I can safely say that I probably wouldn’t wanna wrestle with them in, just in case I’d lose them. There’s been plenty of wrestlers with earrings and all that, but the more unusual piercings are the ones that get used more seldomly. Shoutout to the time when Sheamus had his septum pierced just for his role in the second Michael Bay Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.
JT: Yeah, hey! Sheamus never gets a shoutout for being getting that gig, not like John or Dwayne or Dave or even Terry. Go Sheamus! Also just to circle back around to the Lucha Mask for those of you not in the know. As part of his Straight Edge Savior gimmick, Punk grew out his hair and started going for a Jesus thing, even talking about how his hair was sacred and it represented purity. So as the big blowoff for the months long storyline he had with Rey Mysterio, we got Mask vs Hair!! You get why I’ve brought that gimmick up so much? Because this was good, it had stakes!! And when Punk lost and got his head shaved, like a total heel he started coming out in a Lucha Mask so we couldn’t see him bald. Plus I think Punk’s always wanted to wrestle under a mask (at least once as a bucket list thing) and this was the best chance he had to do that.
S: It’s such a good heel move to be doing after you’ve had your head shaved, isn’t it? I loved Kurt Angle wearing his amateur wrestling headgear with the wig built in but that was silly, this is just properly petty on Punk’s end. Denying the people to see your bald head so you wear the one thing you hated your rival of three months for. Mwah! So good.
JT: So with all that said, John Cena comes out to a big old pop and it’s Main Event time. He’s got a chance to face off against one of the remaining 3 participants in the World Heavyweight Championship Fatal 4 Way. But who will it be? Survey says…Jack Swagger 23%, Rey Mysterio 32%, and CM Punk winning with 45%. Now you and I with all our biases, we thought Punk would be the least likely to win! How do you think he managed to pull it off?
S: I think he managed to pull this poll win out of the bag simply because I reckon that people just wanted to see CM Punk wrestle John Cena. This vote here definitely feels like it has the most smart fan heavy vote. It is tricky to think about how he actually pulled it off, because I don’t think we’ve seen many results go in the favour of any heels, or any votes give us a result in which the heel is the chosen opponent.
JT: Maybe all or most of the kids have gone to bed and the Internet hoped for at least one good match on the show, so they tried their damndest and actually got Punk the match. And now, Cena’s gonna have to deal with not just Punk, but the whole might of the Straight Edge Society, with Luke Gallows and Serena coming out with him.
S: Can Big Match John overcome the numbers game? Or will the odds be just too much for Johnny boy?
JT: Let’s find out! So the match begins and Cena immediately goes for the mask much to Punk’s dismay, as he bails out to the floor. Punk eventually goes back in, they grapple some, Cena again goes for the mask, but Punk gets the first really offense in as he hits Shoulders in the corner and then a Dropkick to the back of Cena’s head. Cena comes back with a Bulldog, but then goes to follow up and gets tripped by Gallows, as we go to the commercial break. As we come back from it, Cena goes for the AA, but Punk reverses it and plants him in the DDT!! It’s not enough to put Cena away and Punk can’t keep Big Match John grounded, as he starts to make his usual comeback. You know the deal. Buncha punches, Shoulder Block, Shoulder Tackle, Protobomb, Five Knuckle Shuffle…hold on he’s distracted because out comes that guy from before! Wade Barrett is walking down the ramp. That’s weird. Anyways, Cena hits Five Knuckle Shuffle, Cena picks up Punk for the AA, but Barrett keeps walking to the ring, Sk Cena drops Punk as he engages Barrett. What does this dude want? What’s his deal? What’s with that armband he’s got on? Oh shit, there are more NXT rookies in the crowd!! Oh shit they just attacked Punk and Gallows!! OH SHIT THEY’RE SURROUNDING THE RING!! ONE OF THEM HAS HIT THE REF!! Seán, this match is over before it can even begin!! Do you have anything to say about it, or do you think we have bigger fish to fry?
S: It was so fucking awesome to see again, I forgot how cathartic these beatdowns used to look from The Nexus. Getting to see Cena just get sucked in and swallowed up by a literal octave of men. It’s something you’d see in a zombie movie where its just too many of them to come out unscathed. It’s a class visual.
JT: That’s exactly what this is! It’s like watching Superman getting mobbed by Zombies!! Only it’s not just mindless monsters, it’s 8 bitter and highly motivated rookies.
S: What would’ve made this an 11/10 beatdown would be if they all covered Cena’s body and when they came back up, Cena’s body had disappeared and all that was left were his jean shorts and sneakers. Then you could have Cole go, “OHHHHHH MYYYYYY…. *dramatic pause* GOD THEY VAPORISED HIM!
JT: I also would’ve enjoyed if they had left him steaming in a crater like Yamcha during the Seiyan Saga of Dragon Ball Z.
S: That also would’ve been brilliant, he should’ve been left steaming in a crater doing the A-OK sign.
JT: So with Cena dead on the mat, you figure things are done, but they’ve only just begun!! Half of the guys leave the ring, and then they start battering Stryker, then King!! One of the bigger ones then pushes the announce table over onto King!! They start tearing apart the set as we hear some quiet NXT chants, maybe the first of those to ever happen. Nobody is safe, as the time keeper gets attacked, stage hands get attacked, they beat up agents, they’re beating up everyone! They’re just tearing the ring apart and pulling up the mats, and this as a kid was when I really started to get freaked out. Seeing the ring canvas get ripped off and the set getting ripped up, it felt like I was watching something I shouldn’t be watching.
S: Another reason why this stunned me so much, at this point in watching wrestling, I don’t think I’d seen the canvas get ripped up ever. It really felt that this ripping up of the canvas made this even more chaotic and why this made the Nexus 8 even more like a rebel group.
JT: What made it feel even more real was a spot that I guess WWE thought was “too real”. That was of course, Daniel Bryan choking that creep ass Justin Roberts with his own necktie. That’s some extreme, gritty violence, and it got cut off the Peacock version.
S: Okay so yours was cut, I don’t know if my Network cut it out or not. I think what happened was that they just cut to a different camera in the version I watched.
JT: Yeah that’s a better way to phrase it. Like, it still happened but rather than having the camera directly on it, they went to a far away shot to avoid showing it.
S: Yeah, when that happened, my version had the wide shot which kind of scoped out the entire ring.
JT: It’s actually kinda nice that they went to the wide shot, because you can see all of the destruction. They’re tearing up the mats, throwing the chairs, unhooking the ropes, at this point the crowd is booing with just confusion. Meanwhile John Cena starts to actually get back up! But sometimes being brave is not the wisest choice, because Michael Tarver runs, jumps and hits him with essentially a Superman Punch!! He gets picked up, and driven back down by a David Otunga Spinebuster!! They help Cena back to his feet, and whip him into a Clothesline by Darren Young!! Then Young picks him up and sends him across into a Clothesline by Heath Slater!! Now CM Punk is back up and trying to get some modicum of revenge, only to get swarmed and beat down again!! Once again the focus goes back to Cena, as he is picked up again and thrown into a big Clothesline by Skip Sheffield!! Cena is barely conscious sitting on his knees as Daniel Bryan yells “YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN ME” and then hits a big kick to the head!! The crowd chants “You Suck” at them, but they don’t care as they all pick up Cena to get him onto Barrett’s shoulders so he can slam Cena down to the mat one more time. And as the final exclamation point? Justin Gabrielstands up top, and then leaps off and hits a 450 Splash right to the chest of Cena. After absolutely decimating anyone who moves, the rookies finally disperse, leaving Cena down completely, in a totally torn up ring, to a shocked crowd. What a moment.
S: This moment is definitely an all timer Raw moment in the PG Era. This was a shocking sight to see, in the best way possible 12 years ago and now in 2022, this is still a brilliant segment in WWE and wrestling as a whole. What makes this a complete segment, along with the brutality of it, is all the surrounding dressing to it. The setting which they completely destroyed and made it looks as if an actual riot took place in the arena. I’m so glad that they had the finishing blow be the 450 Splash rather than the Wasteland though, what a relief that was.
JT: Yeah we’ll get multiple chances to bring it up, but the Wasteland just never looked as impactful as it needed to be. I’d also like to just now bring up one of the most memorable parts of this segment: No commentary!! They took out King and Cole must’ve ran for the hills, and so we got the whole beatdown to the stunned silence of the crowd, which just adds to the eerie and unique feeling this segment had.
S: Yeah, Cole just ran away to the fortress of solitude, or to the concessions stand. I’m glad you brought up the no commentary because that’s another element of this which made it so fucking great. All the noise we get is just the wrestlers, the sounds of the moves and the crowd being stunned.
JT: I’ve gotta say, with the no commentary and the big beatdown, this feels like a reverse go home dark segment. Instead of having a group of good guys all beat up a baddy to a happy crowd, instead a bunch of bad guys relentlessly beat up the good guy. And what adds to thing feeling, when those segments happen you have a nice big “that’s the end of the show, take care, goodbye everyone!” type moment. Instead, the last 5ish moments of the show are just quiet groaning and eventually medical care for Cena as he does a full on stretcher job. Like as a kid, I kept waiting for something else to happen, something that would be an “it’s okay, the good guys will recover” moment and it just never came. Just the silence and the wake leftover from the debut of The Nexus.
S: Yeah this was the moment in the show where you’re expecting One Punch Man to show up and save the day, but alas, it just wasn’t to be. Seeing all of this unfold made 9 year old me very concerned for the safety of John Cena and the safety of the Double Double E.
JT: Yeah this was a crazy, crazy segment. Like I said, one sided beatdown by a few guys going after one guy are a normal occurrence, but rarely if ever has there been a group that just showed up united and took down everyone. I mean even the nWo took a while to really grow in numbers. Like, rarely are their even groups that grow this big, and rarely are there showings of dominance in this type of way. Even since then, the closest we’ve gotten is the great Under Siege segment in the build to Survivor Series 2017. And not in WWE but maybe there was a segment like this where The Main Event Mafia at full strength swept through the TNA locker room.
S: James, you’re forgetting one group that wreaked havoc on WWE for a matter of weeks. What about RETRIBUTION when they tore up the ring in an empty arena, blew out a generator and so many more bastardly things???
JT: I literally forgot Retribution did that. But that group hmmm…I’ll have to remember to keep them in mind this season. Seán, make sure to remind me that they existed at some point late this season.
S: Oh god, I’ll try my best to. I honestly forgot they existed until you brought up big groups causing chaos.
JT: So I’ve gotta say, is that one of the best endings to a Raw, just ever?
S: It has to be, right? Like it does what Raw failed to do so much of around this time, get viewers interested for the next week of television. Leave them with more questions than answers, shock the audience and shoot a big angle. For this time period, it’s up there with Punk’s pipebomb in terms of good Raw endings from around this time.
JT: I’d also like to give a shoutout to the Championship Ascension Ceremony from 2013. Not only was the segment before that real funny because the crowd wouldn’t shut up about Daniel Bryan, but then when the chaos actually broke out!! Cena and Randy brawl!! Randy pushes CM Punk!! Punk fights Orton!! Triple H pulls him back, Punk hits Triple H!! Shawn Michaels kicks Punk!! Daniel Bryan knees Shawn!! Randy tries to RKO Bryan but gets shoved into Stephanie!! Triple H pedigrees Orton, and he stands tall with John Cena of all people!! Now that was an actual gem from 2013.
S: Ohhhh yes! What a fucking segment that was! Taking me back in time here, James. I really loved that as well. For the same reasons you did, Mark Henry and Rey Mysterio raising Bryan’s arm because they probably know he’s the true Champion. Punk laughing while Triple H is cutting his promo, and as you said, the sheer chaos of it all made it magnificent.
JT: But all in all, I’d say that this was the most iconic moment on Raw all year, and it’s pretty easy to see why. As far as debuts go, this is one of if not the all time best. Like Seán, can you think of any better debuts in WWE?
S: Now that’s a good question. Kane is one that comes to mind as simply a freaking excellent debut. AJ Styles’ debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble was pretty awesome just for how surreal it was to see him finally in WWE. Chris Jericho in 1999, just so damn cool helped by the entrance video prior to his arrival and the ovation he got when his name appeared in the entrance video. Awh James, fucking lightning in a bottle that was.
JT: Yeah honestly, those are probably the only 3 that come close, just because of the sheer scale of the Nexus debut. Like yeah, technically they had all been on TV before, but this was a moment that established 8 fresh faced guys collectively as the top force in the company. Like, it’s hard enough to debut someone in a way that makes them instantly credible, but this did that for 8 guys of varying builds. Just incredible stuff.
S: Absolutely. Amen to that, well said there, James. I always liked how diverse The Nexus was as well, lots of guys of different looks, shapes and sizes. As well as being of different nationalities, ethnicities and walks of life.
JT: Agreed. Now, one last question from me to you before we wrap this section up, do you think this angle was planned from the very start of NXT? Like, as in like they made NXT with the plan of introducing a bunch of new talent and then immediately having them come onto to Raw for this angle. Do you think that was always the plan or do you think this was decided at some point down the line?
S: I think this was something which was probably decided at some stage in the latter stages of NXT Season 1. I’d be very surprised to hear that the plan from day one of that first season was to do a faction with all the cast members.
JT: I will say, considering their reason as to why the Nexus joined together, I imagine whoever came up with this storyline was not one of the people who signed off on NXT, if that makes sense. Like, their booking of the Nexus angle came in response to NXT and not vice versa.
S: Yeah I totally agree with you there, the decision definitely came about because of all 8 of them being together for weeks on NXT. I’d also reckon that the decision to form the Nexus was done just so all eight of them could get on to the main roster and not be sent back down to FCW in Tampa.
JT: Why create a storyline for all 8 individually when you can do one storyline with all 8 of them? Sounds like a way to work smarter not harder.
S: It definitely is on their part, it honestly would’ve been tough to come up with storylines on Raw or SmackDown for the likes of Skip Sheffield, Michael Tarver and Darren Young but having these guys affiliated with each other is just the right thing to do. They’re all going after the main eventers from day one and it works. At this point, everyone must be thinking that there’s eight future solidified mid-carders to main event level wrestlers made because of this beatdown.
JT: At the moment, the sky’s the limit for the former 8 NXT rookies. They are rookies no longer, they sent their message tonight, loud and clear.
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Powering Down
S: And just like that, we’re done with our first part of Season 4! James, I’ve gotta say that I had a good time with this one. What were your thoughts on this episode of Raw?
JT: Well boy, I’d say there’s only one reason to ever watch this show, and that’s to do what we’re doing tonight. Otherwise, literally just watch the Nexus segment on YouTube. There is pretty much no other reason to watch this show if you ask me, I think the majority of this show honestly stunk. Pretty much everything was boilerplate standard Raw action, without much storyline progression across the board. And then on top of that, you had a lot of time devoted to promoting a lackluster A-Team movie with mediocre segments all night. Pretty much nothing on this show had any hype around it, which honestly makes the fact that this show had one of the best endings to a Raw ever so surprising. Without Nexus’s debut, this show is a total wash.
S: Yeah I’d have to agree with you there, James. There were some things that we liked about this show, but they were miniscule in comparison to the bigger, three hour picture that was this Raw. It was a Raw which had nothing going on with the wrestling side of things, not much else with the promos and the backstage segments. The Divas and Tag Divisions are so neglected that its really sad. Proper 2010, Guest Host era Raw with a product which was not over with anyone but probably you and I to be honest.
JT: Aside from Nexus, this was a proper “there’s a few weeks till the B PPV people don’t really care about, let’s just kick the can down the road till the go home show”. Like obviously the Nexus are very important and would drastically change up future Raws, but aside from that? What’s the biggest thing to happen, the Edge/Orton storyline still going the same direction as before?
S: I guess you could mention Detective Kane on the case, trying to figure out who left his brother in a vegetative state. The mystery begins for Detective Kane! Apart from that, absolutely nothing of note to take from this.
JT: Ok now that we’re done with everything I gotta ask, do you think this show was light on content on purpose? Like to make the Nexus the main talking point and to make sure it was the biggest thing on the show, they purposefully made sure not to load anything important onto this show?
S: I think there’s a case to be made for that theory. I just think that they had one outstanding idea out of the mostly crap ideas they booked for this episode of Raw in all honesty. That’s not knocking the value of this angle in any way, I just think someone struck gold with this pitch while everyone else got a C grade with their ideas.
JT: Yeah like said earlier, this feels like a low effort middle of the build show, but just because of when NXT ended, they’ve got a big angle happening this week. Otherwise this feels very “The paper happened yesterday, let’s start a hot new angle tonight” type of move rather than “The PPV is 2 weeks away, add some gas to the fire!”.
S: And add gas to the fire they did, they’ve added not only a bit of spice to a future PPV, but spice up the entire company in the process. Very well done in doing that to be fair.
JT: Agreed, it was the kick up the ass the company needed for a big summer blockbuster storyline! And now I suppose, really all that’s left are our end of the episode awards! Tonight, considering it’s an episode of TV and not PPV, our MOTY will stand for “Moment of the Night” rather than “Match of the Night”. Because personally? None of this matches deserves an award. And of course, as usual, we need to crown an MVP.
S: The Moment of the Night for this episode of Raw just has to be Vladimir Kozlov dancing, hasn’t it? Ahhhhhh, I’m just kidding, it’s clearly the debut of the Nexus. They hit it out of the park with the angle and that’s why it gets Moment of the Night, for me. For my MVP, I’m not going to give it to the Nexus as a whole because that would be too easy, but I am going to give it to a Nexus member. Special mention to The Miz, who I think was really stellar with his promo and I think we’re going to be saying that a lot about him. My MVP is between Wade Barrett and Daniel Bryan, Bryan sold the angle so fucking well. His screaming at John Cena, his ruthless nature in the attacks and being a vicious little fucker. Barrett, in the middle of the show he was wearing a suit cutting his usual style of promo, by the end of the night he was leading seven men behind him in an attack on the biggest star in the company. They both have a right to be MVP in my eyes, but for me it is Wade Barrett. Congrats, big man!
JT: You know, for a period of time I was considering giving Vlad Kozlov’s Dance Off MOTY and Vlad MVP himself, but I think that would be me reaching for no point other than to try and be different. Clearly, my MOTY is going to go to the fantastic Nexus debut segment. And though as much as I’d like to give Bradley Cooper or Mean Gene the MVP, it’s clearly going to come down to someone from the Nexus segment. Like you said, Bryan put some real intensity into it, but I think the necktie choke ultimately prevents him from really getting that. For a while too, I considered Barrett would be my MVP too. But as good as the debut was, I still think he could’ve shined a little brighter than he did. His promo wasn’t all that, and I feel like he came off as a big deal not because of his actions as much as he was just setup to be the leader. Like if someone else had been the one to cut the promo and come out first, arguably they could’ve came off as just as big a deal. So therefore, I’m actually going to give my MVP for tonight to John Cena. I think if Cena doesn’t sell his socks off for this segment, it would have still been big but it wouldn’t have felt like the biggest angle of the year. The Nexus coming out was a big deal, in part because the second they showed up, John Cena treated it like a big deal. He was immediately distracted, his body language as the surrounded him was great, and he just did a great job selling the beatdown. I can’t think of many other times when John has looked flat dead like he was after this. John Cena made sure everyone in the arena knew that the Nexus are a threat like the WWE has never seen before.
S: That’s always been such a strong suit of John Cena’s, he sold Punk as being a dangerous wrestler who has a very good chance of taking the belt off him and leaving WWE in the build up to their match at Money in the Bank. He did the same for Kevin Owens in his first match on the main roster and most importantly, the way he sold AJ Styles kicking out of his big moves at SummerSlam were just brilliant.
JT: Yeah I think his emotional selling has always been better than his physical selling, if that makes sense. His worst SuperCena matches show a demonstrable lack of selling on his part, but he’s always been great with body language and facial expressions. I mean there’s a reason the guy’s succeeding in Hollywood. For example, take his role as Peacemaker in Suicide Squad (2021). Dude felt like a super soldier because it felt like he was always at attention, ready to be ordered at a moment’s notice, never relaxed. He was very clear not chill in the same way that other members of the squad were. And if we’re not talking about Hollywood, there’s a reason he’s in a thousand different reaction gifs. He knows how to make a face and sell a feeling.
S: He’s a man who can pull a face, but yet we still cannot see. A true marvel of a man, is John Felix Anthony Cena. Yes that is his full name.
JT: Alright so just like that, we’ve completed Episode 1 of the Nexus Arc!! They’re here, they’re united and nobody is safe!! Next time up, we dive headfirst into the gimmick PPV era; with Fatal 4 Way!! It’s a show about, you guessed it Fatal 4 Way matches!! But just to make sure that show is actually interesting for you (because lord now 4 way matches aren’t enough to carry a show), I sent myself back in time to watch it live myself! And of course by that I mean that Fatal 4 Way was broadcast live from the Nassau Coliseum, with yours truly attending live for my second ever show! I promise I don’t book our schedule around stuff I’ve seen personally, but if this show hits any lulls, I’ll have personal stories to add!
S: I do remember you telling me that you attended this show way back in the day and man, what a unique show to be live and in attendance for! It’s sure going to be an interesting review for the both of us, that’s for sure.
JT: It’s a show that’s not often discussed, but one that will help set the stage for the storm in the WWE. We’ll see Fatal 4 Ways where the WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship and Divas Championships on the line!! All that and more next time on the Power Hour!!
S: Not to forget The Miz’s terrible parody rap of R-Truth’s song and Detective Kane continuing his investigations as well! We’re in for a humdinger.
JT: But until then, this James & Seán signing off!! Oh, and keep on rolling down the line, every through that 4 way intersection. Just make sure you follow the laws of traffic. We’re not trying to get the fuzz on our tails.
S: Au revoir, people! Obey the rules of the road, and the rails. Cue that big old train!
The JT & Seány Mc Power Hour 