James: The WWE has always been an unpredictable place but as the summer of 2010 has begun, things have gotten out of hand. On Viewer’s Choice Raw only 7 days into June, the fresh faced rookies of NXT not only showed up unannounced, but they showed up with a vengeance. They destroyed everyone in their path, be that the announce team, ringside crew, the ring itself, and especially John Cena. And they weren’t done, as the assaults have continued in the passing weeks. Unfortunately enough for John Cena though, even with this threat looming around every corner, he still has obligations as a Champion he must fulfill. And with all the chaos in his life already, another log has been thrown onto that fire, with not one, not two, but three different former WWE Champions all getting a shot at his Championship tonight.
Seán: Not only that but the mystery surrounding who put The Undertaker into a coma is only starting to escalate further as Kane has been interrogating the four men in the World Heavyweight Championship Fatal 4 Way too! If it wasn’t either one of them, maybe it was all four of them?!?! Detective Kane is on the case.
JT: All that, and much mu—okay well maybe not all that much more. But for the first time ever, we’ve got a showing hinging on unpredictability of the Fatal 4 Way match!! Ya boy was there live in Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum 12 years ago, it’s time to go back one more time, for Fatal 4 Way 2010!!
S: It’s time to pop on our New York Mets caps and take a trip down to the many great beaches which Long Island has. Thanks for that one, Google!
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Booting Up
JT: Helloooo everyone, and a hardy Long Island welcome to you all!! And by a “hardy Long Island welcome” I mean like a disgruntled white guy looking you up and down and saying “What do you want?”. It’s the Power Hour, back again!! We kicked off our Rise and Fall of the Nexus story arc with the very beginning of it all last time. The Nexus hit the scene and went scorched earth and…and that’s about it. We saw the dismal state of affairs of 2010 WWE, we saw why this big shakeup storyline was penned. Now it’s time to see how they capitalize or fail to capitalize on that momentum. I’m James, Long Island mandated Billy Joel fan, excited to be here for another episode!
S: I’m Seán McLoughlin, the resident Sligonian and Long Island Appreciation Club member, who also doesn’t mind a bit of Billy Joel. Always delighted to saddle up and talk wrestling among other things with my pal, James!
JT: So as I mentioned in the intro, this is a show that’s very important to me and I imagine not many other people. The show tonight was only my second ever show, and it was essentially returning the favor to my friend Evan, whose dad had bought him and I tickets to see a show back in November the year before. So this was a big event for little old me!
S: I remember you saying this before around what feels like many moons ago now, and I believe that the big show you went to in November 2009 was the Raw in Madison Square Garden, right?
JT: That’s right, we went to the Raw at MSG, the go home Raw for Survivor Series 2009. We have a Standardized State test the next day, but his dad didn’t know that, and we sure as hell weren’t going to let him know. Since I attended Fatal 4 Way, I’m going to have some stories to tell at the show, and one of them is coming up shortly. But before that, I’ll turn the tables on you Seán! Did you have any notable thoughts and memories heading into this show?
S: Funnily enough, I do actually remember watching this show the morning after it took place with two of my older brothers. It was on Sky Sports at about 1 in the morning so I probably wouldn’t have been allowed to stay up for it since it wasn’t a WrestleMania. I can’t remember if this show took place after I had finished school for the year or not but I definitely remember watching this show.
JT: Alright so before we get into the thick of things, I do remember one little thing about the buildup to this show. I remember thinking “Fatal 4 Way…wait like every match is going to be a 4 Way? That’s a weird idea”. Like even an 11 year old (admittedly probably a smarker 11 year old than most) I wasn’t totally convinced about this show’s gimmick being a good gimmick for a show. But then again, that thought was about 1% of my thoughts, because going to any show at the time was incredibly exciting. Like I didn’t really care what I was going to, only that I was going there. What about you? We can discuss at the end of this review what we think of “Fatal 4 Way” as a branding concept, but what did you think at the time?
S: Oh I thought this was the point where the gimmick PPV ideas had gotten out of control and I was NINE YEARS OLD. I always preferred the classic PPV lineup with No Mercy, Backlash, Judgment Day, Unforgiven, Armageddon. All thought those PPVs had killer names and they shouldn’t be replaced. When my young self looked at the PPV lineup for 2009 and 2010, I was well miffed. Little did I know that this would be my PPV diet for all of my childhood and teen years.
JT: Yeah we’ve got plenty of gimmick shows coming up this arc, and I will say, I was a defender of gimmick shows. I mean I was interested in Bragging Rights and Breaking Point for Pete’s sake. But, the fact that even a 10 year old thought “Hmmm idk” about a gimmick? Odds are it was going to be a tough sell in general. But speaking of which, how did WWE sell this show in its intro? Well, we start off with the phrase “1 Championship, 4 contenders, 25% chance. These are the worst odds ever faced by a champion, no wonder they call it a ‘Fatal 4 Way’”. Tonight, John Cena defends against Edge, Randy Orton and Sheamus, while Jack Swagger defends against Big Show, CM Punk and Rey Myst—KANE INTERROGATION HOUR!! We see a recap of how all WHC 4 Way participants were interrogated, but nobody has confessed. Kane says tonight will be a fatal night for the guilty party, and there will be vengeance! What did you think of our opening video?
S: I really liked the KANE INTERROGATION part of the promo package, in my opinion that match does feel almost like a bigger deal than the WWE Title match if you ask me. The opening line is a load of bollocks though, 1 Champion, 4 contenders and a 25% chance being the worst odds for a Champion? Lies, Sheamus literally defended the belt against FIVE OTHER DUDES for fuck’s sake. Quit bullshitting us.
JT: Yeah I had that written down as well. The Elimination Chamber was like 4 months ago. 3 challengers is tough, but the Elimination Chamber got a gimmick show before 4 ways did, and with a good reason. Clearly the bigger deal and the bigger challenge for a Champion. Hell, it probably would’ve been a good thing to bring up in Sheamus’s case. Have him say he lost it because he never had to deal with that many people but this time he knows what he needs to do. Something like that.
S: They definitely should’ve done that, but ahhhhhh, the fans don’t care, do they? Come onnnnnnn. Tell you what I do care about though! How about some of those facts and figures?
JT: Good idea! We’ve been saying that a show based around 4 Ways seems like it would be a tough sell, so now it’s time to find out! Fill us in on some facts and figures!
S: Alright so let’s face the facts! Fatal 4 Way 2010! Live from the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York. James T’s stomping grounds! This show took place on the 20th June 2010 in front of 10,000 fans. The show generated a live gate of $650,000 and garnered 158,000 PPV buys for the year worldwide, which was the second lowest buy-rate for the year BUT to be fair, this show was on Sky Sports live in the UK and Ireland and probably a few other countries so that’s a consolation. Our commentators tonight are the usual trio for this time period, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Matt Striker! Your boy has arrived at last!
JT: He is!! This whole arc will likely be an evaluation of his boydom. I enjoyed watching him week to week as a kid, and aside from Lucha Underground I haven’t seen him really anywhere else since then. So time to see if I was remembering his work with rose-tint glasses. And Seán, quick question. Is the lowest bought PPV one we will see at some point this arc, or was it one of the one’s from earlier in the year? Don’t tell me which one if it’s still to come though, I wanna stay on my toes and try to figure it out as the arc goes along.
S: The lowest bought PPV is going to be one that we see in this arc, yes. Don’t worry, I will make sure to mention it by the time we get around to it. I will address the runt of the WWE PPV litter for 2010 soon.
JT: So, next on the agenda for us is a little theme song talk. Tonight’s theme song, “Showstopper” by TobyMac. Whatcha think of it? Because honestly? I like it.
S: Yeah this song has got a real WWE PPV feel for this time, this is the last few months of us having our cherished wrestle rock as our PPV themes. I’m interested to see what the PPV theme song game was like at this time going forward.
JT: Also fun-ish fact about TobyMac and this song. Apparently he’s a Christian Rock/Rap artist. You better believe I was confused when I was going through my genres on my iTunes back in the day and saw “Christian” as a label. Especially for this. But honestly, when you think about the lyrics of this song, it honestly fits. Like maybe it’s not an explicit Jesus song, and maybe I’m just doing the English student thing of connecting themes that aren’t there in the frame of “analysis”, but I can buy this as a “Youth Pastor trying to make the J Man sound rad” type of thing.
S: Ohhhh that’s definitely what he is, he’s like the young hip Christian from around this time trying to sell the youth on JC himself. Definitely mad vibes of that going on.
JT: Really, this has gotta be one of the better instances of that. And since you mentioned it before, Over The Limit the month before this? That was one I replayed a bunch of. Crash by Fit For Rivals, probably a little too “late 2010s Nu Metal” for me nowadays, but decent stuff.
S: Now that is one song which I’m not all too familiar with but I will be giving it a check on the Spotify machine later. Speaking of music and all that other stuff, is it time we take our trip back in time with a Pop Culture Flashback of sorts?
JT: Yes, let’s do it!
S: Pop Culture Flashback time, mi amigos! What was popping off in the world of pop culture for the week ahead following this show? For films and music, we are using the 20th of June for reference by the way. In the UK, the Number One film dethroning Sex and the City 2 of its top spot was Killers with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, a 10% score on Rotten Tomatoes so it’s safe to say that these two have been in better movies. In the US, it’s a massive movie and probably the most long-awaited sequel in recent memory. It’s Toy Story 3, baby! James, you guys in the US were very lucky to be getting this one at the time that ye did because we wouldn’t get to see it until July 19th!
JT: First of all, yeesh for that Ashton Kutcher film. That’s why WWE had him guest host, to advertise that piece of shit. And we thought A-Team was a forgettable dud! And Toy Story 3, what a sequel! Admittedly, I haven’t seen the Toy Story films in years, so I’m in need of re-evaluating, but man I remember loving Toy Story 3. The franchise did such a great job aging up with its audience, and that ending was an all timer.
S: Yeah honestly, Toy Story 3 came at such a perfect time if you ask me. The audience which first watched the film back in the 90s were grown up and kids that were the ages we were at this time had obviously seen the movies so we had grown excited for the movie too. Even got nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2011 too, crazy!
JT: Goes to show how big a deal it was. And why it’s still so odd that they decided to make a 4th Toy Story. Like don’t get me wrong, I remember liking the 4th one. But again, weird that they went back to it after such a big send off. Of course, there’s still more Toy Story content coming with the Buzz Lightyear movie, but I’ve got no clue what to think of that.
S: Neither do I really, it is due to be released on June 22nd so I will be intrigued to see how it’s received. Shall we move on to music then, James?
JT: Yes, give me the tunes!
S: What about the number one singles in music at this time? In the US, it was “California Gurls” by Katie Perry and Snoop Dogg. A song which just polluted the airwaves of my summer that year, good god I was sick to the back teeth of that song by July. In the UK, christ above, how the fuck do I explain this one? It’s an England World Cup song, called “Shout for England” by Dizzee Rascal and James Corden. Yes, he was starting to annoyingly be everywhere in the UK before the US, even in 2010! England would have an underwhelming World Cup campaign, which was littered with failure, mishap, injuries and an angry fanbase. Honestly lads, don’t be expecting to win much when you’ve got one of the strangest England squads in history. See here, Emile Heskey, Matthew Upson and STEPHEN WARNOCK?!
JT: First off, California Gurls was definitely a song that clogged the radio stations back in 2010, and 2011, and probably 2012-2014 if we’re being truthful. I don’t hate the song but yeah, it was played over and over and over again. And yeah, you can’t expect to win anything with James Corden at the helm. He’s become a real annoying figure in recent years, I can only imagine it’s been worse for the Brits because he’s been a specter over their entertainment scene for even longer. Although we can both suffer together with Cats (2019).
S: The weird thing with Corden is that he was so damn funny in Gavin and Stacey, a genuinely brilliant and hilarious comedy series which he had a hand in writing if I believe. So he has definitely got talent but man, I cannot fucking stand him anymore. I’ve just seen too damn much of him in the last seven years.
JT: It’s always intriguing to calculate when people get tired of a celebrity. Like, think of Chris Pratt. He went from someone people we rooting for, to someone people are just so tired of.
S: And aside from his weird hunting opinions, I genuinely don’t mind Chris Pratt. It’s just there’s only so many things and franchises you can see the same person pop up in over and over again. I’m looking at you, Nintendo, with your upcoming Super Mario movie.
JT: I’m dreading the inevitable “It’s a Me Mario *cough cough* wow sorry guys my voice cracked!” joke.
S: Don’t you be giving them ideas, James. You know that just like WWE, the big corporations look at blogs and stuff like ours for ideas. Oh, and in Ireland we still have the same Number 1 single from last time. “Stereo Love” by Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina. On to video games! Honestly, the only real notable releases were Young Thor for the PSP and Toy Story 3: The Video Game. Those and Transformers: War for Cybertron too. On June 25th though, the PSP and the DS would get TNA Impact!: Cross the Line!
JT: Oh shit, I didn’t realize Impact released anything other than their TNA Impact game from 2008. I imagine it was sort of a ported version made for the DS and was that worse in every way?
S: Oh yes absolutely but it does have its own Story Mode on it. newLegacy did a video on it a while back and it is very strange.
JT: Oh, better make sure to watch that. Them newLegacy boys do some good work!
S: They sure bloody do, shoutout to nL! Finally, in sport, Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers beat Boston in Game 7 of the NBA Playoffs 83-79 to win the franchise’s 16th NBA Title, their last until 2020. In football, the World Cup in 2010 continued to roll on as France lost 2-0 to Mexico *laughs in Irish*. England continued their torrid campaign by drawing 0-0 to Algeria, being booed by their own fans and Wayne Rooney ranting into the camera. Yeesh. The games for June 19th were as follows; tournament surprise packages Ghana drew 1-1 with Australia in Group D. While in Group E, Netherlands beat Japan 1-0 and Denmark beat perennial jobbers of the group, Cameroon 2-1.
JT: First off, RIP Kobe. Secondly, neat how at the time of writing, the World Cup is right around the corner! And the US might actually make it for the first time since 2010, so we might have converging news stories, the US’s 2010 run in the intros, and their 2022 run in the Recharge. Funny how that works out.
S: Well it would be right around the corner in normal circumstances but this World Cup is soaked in blood as it’s taking place in Qatar, in November. A shameless money grab by FIFA which was done at the height of Sepp Blatter’s reign of corruption as president, fucking prick. As long as the US don’t lose to Costa Rica, you guys won’t have to play the qualification game against New Zealand or Solomon Islands so I reckon you guys are nearly on the plane at this stage.
JT: Funny enough, my buddy Evan who I went to Fatal 4 Way with went to the USMNT vs Panama match! So we’re full circle! And on the topic, I have the first of many in person stories loaded in the chamber.
S: Well let’s get to them as soon as we can because that’s a wrap on the pop culture flashback for now. Are you ready to get into this show?
JT: I’m ready to go! But the night of, I was not! And by that, I mean we were fucking late to the show! Basically, getting into the Coliseum was tough, we were stuck in line for like 40 minutes, slowly inching closer to the venue parking lot. In the process, we missed the intro video, the opening pyro and I think we got in just in time to see the actual action kicking off. I just very distinctly remember starting to get into the building and hearing all the fireworks going off and thinking “AH WE’RE LATE!”.
S: Ohhhh nooooo! That is genuinely one of my worst scenarios when it comes to going to an event, young me would’ve been having the closest thing to an anxiety attack if that happened to me.
JT: Well if memory survives me correctly we didn’t miss much, so why don’t we get into the show!
S: Let’s a go! *Chris Pratt Mario voice*
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The (Teddy) Longest Yard
JT: So the show kicks off with…Vince McMahon?? Not who I expected or remembered coming out, but he’s out here with an announcement. Unfortunately, Raw GM Bret Hart will not be here tonight. After all, last Monday, the Raging Rookies from NXT put Bret Hart into a limo, and rammed that limo repeatedly into other cars. Which by the way, weird beatdown. Like somehow, it’s violent but not violent at all? Like, crashing a limo over and over again? Violent, really violent for 2010 WWE actually! But like, it was weirdly un-impactful too?
S: Yeah this just didn’t have the impact which other WWE angles involving vehicular crashing, bashing and smashing have had in the past. It just felt like the most meh beatdown ever honestly. Them beating the shit out of Bret in his 50s, yeah that’s a proper heel move but for some reason it just didn’t land like they probably hoped for.
JT: Yeah, but I’m sure they had to try something to work around the fact that Bret can’t actually take normal bumps. Also, while Vince is talking, we get some chants for Daniel Bryan!! First off, this just served as a reminder to me that I don’t think I’ve ever been in anything other than a smark crowd. I also think it’s about time to talk about what happened! Why are the people yelling “Daniel Bryan” at Vince?
S: Because there’s only been a case of big old controversy coming out of The Nexus’ debut, hasn’t there?
JT: That’s right, we skipped over it so that we could highlight it on its own, but during the Nexus’s debut, Daniel Bryan upset the censors! He took the necktie of creep ring announcer Justin Roberta and choked him with it, and well the Network decided that was not PG. So WWE had no choice but to release him, already the Nexus has lost a member!
S: We will go more into detail about it later down the line but for now, it’s best to just mention why he isn’t here and leave it at that. When will he return? Who knows, maybe some time in the Summer or something.
JT: The cat’s out of the bag, but where has he gone? We’ll just have to find out later. Anyways, as Vince goes to leave, out comes his Chosen One, Drew McIntyre. He shakes his hand and heads to the ring for his Intercontinental Title rematch! We immediately cut to a recap of SmackDown, where Teddy Long faced Drew in a match. Drew said Teddy would be fired if he didn’t comply, and Drew had his own security at ringside to ensure nobody would interfere. After beating Teddy by putting his boot on his chest, he then went for the Future Shock on the SmackDown GM until Kofi Kingston ran out. Kofi managed to save Teddy for now, but he ended up getting the beatdown himself. Even an attempted Matt Hardy run in couldn’t help him, as both of them got Future Shocks. So Kofi won’t be coming into this at 100%, and Hardy? He’s been suspended from all WWE programming. Surely that means he’s gone for good. Of course, Drew isn’t just satisfied to win his title back. He calls Teddy Long down to the ring, he wants Teddy to hand the Intercontinental Title to him once he wins it back. What a nasty fella, that McIntyre.
S: That whole segment I remember watching as a kid and boy oh boy did Drew McIntyre strike a nerve with me to inflict such bullying on the wholesome Teddy Long like that. God, he had some heat with me at this time. I was hoping for Kofi and my boy, Matt Hardy to sort him out, let me tell ya.
JT: I personally think this is a good GM related storyline. Teddy has been around long enough that people actually care about his health and safety. And Drew has a reason to actually have sway over him. I guess the only issue with this is that Drew’s pretty much guaranteed to lose in this setup, Teddy’s going to have to get revenge someday, and that doesn’t bode well for Drew. Other than that, I wish there was more of a relationship between Kofi and Teddy. Kofi is just kind of, lawful good guy in this.
S: Yeah he’s in the proper Kofi pre-New Day role. He’s the lawful good guy who’s typically there to help out a face who needs to get the numbers evened up or there to protect someone from a beat down from a guy who is feuding with Kofi.
JT: Plus, as nice as it is for him to be IC Champ again, I can’t help but feel like it was a step down for him. I mean only 7 months ago, he was feuding with Randy Orton! And now he’s back to where he was before that feud.
S: Oh it totally is a step down for him and unfortunately, this is firmly HIS spot on the card until the New Day forms. He’s just carefully placed in the middle of the card as either IC or US Champion, maybe the odd tag title run here and there but that’s it really. Maybe get popped into a Chamber Match for one of the World Titles but that’s it for him.
JT: Well if he’s stuck down the card, we should at least hope he wins. Also shoutout to his original theme song!! SOS!!
S: I hear them shoutin.
JT: Well, what do you say we get into our first match of the night?
S: Oh definitely, this is actually one of the matches I’m more excited to talk about from this show so let’s get down to business.
JT: The crowd is pretty excited for the action to kick off as Kofi immediately goes after Drew with kicks. He reverses a hip toss into a Monkey Flip and a Dropkick! The fans chant for Kofi as he hits a Suicide Dive! However, his good fortune is cut off as Drew takes Kofi’s leg out from under him on the apron then throws him shoulder first into the post! This sets up the main section of the mat, with Drew attacking the arm at a methodical pace. So Seán, I know commentary was a concern I had coming into this season, but I thought here we got a nice line by King. He put Drew over for having a lot of ability and talent, but he can’t admire him because of the arrogant attitude he has because of it.
S: There were a few times on this show actually which made me notice some nice little lines from commentary, I remember that line from Lawler too and rarer than a hen’s tooth, some genuinely good insight from King.
JT: Clearly, they’re still behind Drew…to an extent. So as he tries to come back, Kofi slides between Drew’s leg but gets knocked back down. They spend some time talking about how Teddy is one of the longest running GMs in WWE, and how it’s tough for him to even run his show with Drew holding Mr McMahon’s authority over his head. Stryker also adds that Teddy has quite the resume but he’s never been an in ring competitor, so it’s not like he can defend himself. All the while, Drew is attacking the arm. We then get some ALOHA MCINTYRE!! Kofi can’t bring Drew down, but Kofi moves out of the way of Drew’s follow up attack! However, he catches Kofi with a kick to the arm and slows things down again. Drew looks to inflict some major damage with a l Short Arm Clothesline, but Kofi reverses it into a Float Over DDT!! Nice move by Kofi!!
S: Agreed. This was very nice of Kofi here. I noted this from the start of the show but as we got further into this one it made me realize that Kofi really does move about the ring like nobody else on the roster, that and how unique his offense is for someone considered to be a flier. He was a very refreshing watch here.
JT: Kofi’s always been unique stylistically. Like he’s not full on luchador like Rey or even someone like Evan Bourne, but he’s clearly not like anything else. I know WWE’s whole “Controlled Frenzy” buzzword is corny but like, I struggled to find other ways to describe it.
S: I think he is the ideal wrestler who can simply be the perfect bridge from flier to main event wrestler if you ask me. I think he wrestles the most appealing version of a “WWE style” if you ask me. For this time, I should add.
JT: Which again, makes the fact that his push stalled out even more confusing. But that was then, and right now, Kofi’s starting to pick up the pace, as he gets a roll up but Drew kicks out! He runs into an elbow in the corner, but then ducks a clothesline and it’s a Springboard Crossbody! 1-2-Kickout! Kofi gets caught with a Neckbreaker to end his hot streak, but he kicks out to keep the match alive! He then hits a Russian Leg Sweep and the Boom Drop! He lines Drew up for Trouble in Paradise, but McIntyre backs up to the corner and sends him over to the apron. He goes to pick Kingston up, but Kofi reverses into a Crossbody for a cover only for Drew to kick out. They rush up to their feet, but Drew connects with a Big Boot!! He thinks he’s got Kofi on the ropes, he looks for the Future Shock, but Kofi spins out, ducks a swing and hits a Springboard Tornado DDT!! Another cool DDT by Kofi!! Drew crawls back to the corner, Kofi leaps at him into the corner and goes for the 10 Punch but Drew reverses into a Powerbomb!! First off, man Kofi is an impressive athlete. Being able to jump like that. And also, that big Powerbomb serves as a reminder of how big and strong Drew is, even at this time when he still has less mass than in his later days.
S: Even at this time, I really did take for granted how fucking tall he was even back in 2010. As you said, he’s not got as much mass as he would have when he returned in 2017 and suddenly grew like two inches in the process but boy, that Powerbomb was sick and Kofi, he’s just brilliant here too. Great stuff from these lads.
JT: So Drew again goes to hit the Future Shock, and again Kofi reverses, this time turning it into the SOS!! That won him the title last month!! 1—2—Kickout!! Drew retreats back to the corner, Kofi ends up wrapping his legs around Drew’s head, squeezing him. Drew throws him off, but in the process, knocks down the referee!! He throws Kofi into the post, he hits the Future Shock!! He covers: 1–2—3—4—5, only there’s nobody to count!! Luckily, he’s got a referee at ringside!! He goes over and gets Teddy in the ring, putting Charles Robinson’s shirt on him and everything. Pretty creative ref bump and a creative way of bringing Teddy into this.
S: Again yeah, another creative and cool looking spot in this match. Far more creative than I was expecting this one to be, and I love how they’ve gotten Teddy involved too, it makes extra sense because as Stryker pointed out on commentary, Teddy Long used to be a referee back in the day! Old Matthew Stryker, he has some clangers here and there but I’ll tell you this much, the man educates ya while watching. That’s his strong suit, always has been.
JT: Drew demands that Teddy count the Pinfall for him, he wants Teddy to hand the belt over to him! Teddy’s got no choice: 1—2——or maybe he does!! He’s put up with enough!! He’s not gonna count!! And the Crowd is behind Teddy big time!! Drew tells Teddy he’s going to count this or he’ll drop him! He sets Long up for the Future Shock again, but Matt Hardy runs in!! Quick hit and run attack as he hits the Twist of Fate and bolts!! Kofi is up now, and he hits McIntyre with Trouble In Paradise!! Teddy will count this time!! 1—2—3!!! Teddy, Matt and Kofi all get their revenge on Drew!! What did you think of this one?
S: I really liked this match! These two lads just worked so damn well with each other throughout, Kofi’s unique style matched up brilliantly with Drew’s power game. I found it to be a very easy watch too in all honesty, this is what you’d want from a PPV opener in 2010 like. A nice fifteen minute opener for a title which has a needed added oomph of a story to it and a crowd that’s up for it, and the crowd you were part of definitely were up for this one. Teddy Long refusing to count the three really did get a reaction out of me too, I can’t lie. It’s pretty awesome seeing the well-mannered GM just go “nah fuck you” to the heel. I would’ve flipped if he went full Rick Knox in PWG and gave Drew the double bird. Matt’s run-in worked too and I must say, Matt Hardy ALWAYS got a pop for whenever he did a run-in, didn’t he? He never fucking failed to get a big reaction doing a run-in as a face. Big thumbs up for this one from me. These two had a great match.
JT: I’ll say it makes his whole “suspension” feel pointless when he can just run out still, but hey, it works every time! He comes out, the fans are excited to see him, lord knows I was hyped to see him run out. All in all it’s a nice moment for Matt and for Teddy. Kofi got to keep his title and honestly, Drew got pretty screwed here. I’m not gonna say they “made him sympathetic” because this was more or less Drew getting all his shit thrown back at him. But regardless, he got screwed. He didn’t mean to knock out the ref, he had Kofi visually beaten on 2 different occasions, and it took all 3 goodies teaming up to beat him. So hey, we may have overreacted to his first 2 minute loss on Raw, maybe they still want to push him after all.
S: Well let’s stay hoping because this match was definitely a more positive portrayal of Drew than the match on Raw, that’s for sure. What did you think of this match, James?
JT: I thought it was fairly slow in the middle of the match, when Drew was working over the arm, but when things picked up this was pretty good. And like you said, they were pretty creative with things, and I like that they managed to juggle the booking of 4 people and have them all come away with a win (to a degree).
S: Yeah, I agree. I’d say all of the lads involved came out smelling of roses following this one. A good win from the booking point of view.
JT: Now I gotta ask, do you think this is the blowoff for all these feuds? Like I think it seems like a pretty clear end to the escalating Teddy/Drew stuff, but what about Matt and Kofi? Think they’re done with him?
S: Well, if my mind serves me correctly, I think we’re coming up close to Drew having to leave the US for a bit so he can sort out his Visa but I know he’s about for the next PPV. As far as Matt and Kofi, I reckon he’s more or less done with those lads if you ask me. Maybe one or two matches on SmackDown with them and off ya pop to the next feud.
JT: Yeah I reckon he’s done with Kofi. I figure he’s got one more match with Matt left, only because they’ve gotta resolve the suspension stuff. Either Matt’s gotta win his job back or have him get reinstated and have Drew get the win back for costing him his title. One of the two should happen, hopefully by next episode.
S: Next thing you know, we’ll be checking Cagematch for the next show and they won’t have wrestled each other at all.
JT: Prepare for that disappointment next episode!
S: My body is ready for the inevitable disappointment of 2010 SmackDown booking.
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Foxy 4 Way
JT: Up next, we’ve got ourselves the first Fatal 4 Way of Fatal 4 Way. This one will be for the Divas’s Championship! It’ll be Alicia Fox vs Gail Kim vs Maryse vs Divas Champion Eve Torres! What’s the story here? So in February, Divas Champ Melina went down with a knee injury, resulting in a 8 Woman Tournament to crown a new Champion. Maryse would ultimately win the tournament, beating Gail Kim in the finals. However, at Raw from London’s 02 Arena in April, Eve Torres had the biggest win of her career, beating Maryse for the Title (after having lost to her in the tournament in February). Since then, tensions between her and Maryse have remained high, while Kim & Fox have had personal differences. And they’re all fighting in a 4 Way because it’s the 4 Way PPV. I couldn’t tell you anything about the actual storylines between them though.
S: Probably because WWE weren’t bothered to give these 4 women actual storylines on TV on a week to week basis, given what we know the creative and the writing teams were like at the time in regards to booking women on the weekly shows.
JT: So Maryse is out first to a decent reaction, looking to win her title back. A more quiet reaction for Gail Kim coming out, which by the way is essentially her doing a stretch pose twice. That’s it, that’s her whole entrance. She beat Alicua on Superstars to gain some momentum for this. Speaking of Fox, she doesn’t get any sort of pop as she comes out, moving her hips to the beat. King drops a stomach churning line, “I know she’s happy to see me, her tail is wagging”. Just shut up. Then Eve comes out and gets a decent pop as the defending champ. So before our match begins, do a run down. These theme songs, best to worst, and then who was your most to least favorite of these ladies when you were watching at the time.
S: I like these questions you’ve laid out for me, James. So the best theme songs, easy number one as Maryse takes the top spot for me. Very much suits her character. The bottom spot I think goes to Gail, just not much going on there. I’d give third to Alicia Fox because it’s just a song with not much going on and Eve gets second by default. Alright so who were my faves? I think my favorite may have been Eve Torres Gracie, shoot badass herself. Second and third could’ve been switched around between Gail and Maryse to be honest, always thought those two were pretty cool and Alicia would’ve been bottom because she was a heel who didn’t have a lot going on for herself at the time.
JT: Pretty much agree across the board with the themes. I don’t think Eve’s theme is good but at least it’s a song? Then as for my favorites, time for some controversy. Not for my favorite, who at the time would also be Eve, just because she was a pretty decent wrestler at the time. She could do some nice moves, as we’ll see. But then I’d say it was probably Alicia, Maryse and then Gail! I know now that Gail is great but at the time, I just didn’t have any interest in her. She barely had matches to show how cool she was, and you know as well as I do that she got no storylines. So though I will say “least favorite” had a more negative connotation than how I actually felt about her, in reality I just had no opinion about her at this time. She was just a face in the crowd.
S: That honestly just sums up Gail’s second run in WWE too unfortunately, doesn’t it? She was firmly placed as a face in a crowd, in the middle of the pack just there to make up the numbers for whatever multi-woman match they need her for and it makes no sense to me because she is far too talented and so much of a total package in wrestling for her to just be a face in a crowd. It’s annoying really.
JT: It’s a shame, but we can see in this match if she can still manage to impress even with what she’s given in these multi-woman matches! Shall we get into this one?
S: Take it away, good sir!
JT: So as the bell rings, Eve goes right after Maryse, Alicia pairs off with Gail. Alicia kicks Gail out of the air and hits her Bridging Northern Light Suplex. We wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t bring up how good her Northern Light Suplex is. I just gotta have a gif of that in our episode.
S: Her and Tazz, and now HOOK. The holy trinity of the Northern Lights Suplex. It’s an unwritten obligation for every person who talks about wrestling, you MUST mention Alicia’s Northern Lights Suplex whenever she gets brought up.
JT: So after that, we get a bunch of near falls of roll ups, move 2 of the Alicia Fox essentials collections as she hits a nice Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker. Gail traps Foxy in an Octopus Stretch, but at the same time, Eve gets an Armbreaker on Maryse, so Gail lets go of his hold to break up Eve’s. The two faces then isolate Alicia and put into a Tandem Camel Clutch with a Boston Crab. Maryse saves the match as she throws Eve and Gail out, now facing off with Alicia. They trash talk each other, Maryse nails a kick, Eve breaks up the pin. Eve tries to hit the Fisherman’s Neckbreaker that won her the Diva’s Title, but Maryse escapes only for both of them to get caught with a Dropkick from Gail! Gail goes up top and scores on both of them again, with a Missile Dropkick. And here, here is where Stryker loses points for me. He opts to call the Missile Dropkick a “Jumping Bomb Angel Double Stomp”. Look, I admire that he puts enthusiasm into calling moves, and having extensive wrestling history knowledge as a commentator is good, but like, this just screams “Look how much obscure wrestling stuff I know!”. All it does is distract Cole & King and lead to a side discussion for like 30 seconds in the middle of the match. For that sort of thing, Stryker is painfully a nerd. Especially because the move has got a pretty standard, universally accepted name.
S: Not only that but fuck me, it wasn’t even a Double Stomp, it was a fucking Dropkick, Matt. Come on now, surely he knows what the difference between a Double Stomp and a Dropkick is. He is most definitely painfully a nerd at times, this was definitely one of his clangers to be honest.
JT: This is one of the few times where I was actually on the side of King & Cole putting him in line. But anyways, back to our title match! Gail runs and gets a Crossbody through the ropes in the corner, but landing on the apron leaves her vulnerable to Fox. Alicia grabbed her off the apron into Powerbomb position, then dropped her back down onto the apron face first. Meanwhile, the for the French Kiss DDT, but Eve twists out and turns it into the Fisherman’s Neckbreaker!! But that’s not all! She wants to put an exclamation point on this match! Eve goes up top, and leaps off, scoring with a Moonsault!! She’s on top for the cover that would certainly retain her title, but Alicia Fox, who had been lying in wait outside, runs into the ring, grabs Eve, and throws her to the floor! Now she makes the cover, and she ends up as the brand new Divas Champion!! First off, Foxy wins the Gold!! Well, err, silver, but still! What did you think of this at the time, and how do you think about this now a decade later, with her career direction as hindsight?
S: I didn’t think much of it at the time to be honest with you, James. I mean, I remember the match pretty well but I did think that Alicia was an out there choice for being Divas Champion but with hindsight, it feels like nearly all the women from this era got at least one crack as the Divas Champion. It’s funny that this is technically the highest point which Alicia reaches throughout her tenure with WWE but it definitely isn’t the most memorable period for her. It’s funny how that works.
JT: Yeah, it’s funny how there are plenty of wrestlers who had their best work when they weren’t at the top of the card. At the time I was kind of surprised that she won because she really wasn’t booked like anyone special before this. Real low on the card heel but hey, they took a shot on her. They decided now was the time to see if she could take the ball and run with it. Just see if she was someone who could stick at the top of the card, like they did with the likes of AJ Lee or The Bella Twins. And I suppose in this arc we’ll get to see if she should’ve gotten another chance down the line, or perhaps we’ll see why she hasn’t had a second reign as Champ.
S: Yeah honestly, I was in the same boat as you in the sense that I was surprised that she was given a run as champ, given that she wasn’t portrayed as someone who was close to being at that level, but as you said, we’ll see if she was someone who was worth taking a second punt on as we go on throughout her reign.
JT: So aside from that, as Alicia celebrates with her title, King mentioned that she’s been paying attention and preparing for this match because she won the title the same way Miz won his United States Championship. So that’s how we’re gonna do this Jerry? You’re just gonna up and remind people that the booking is lazy? Kinda takes away from the “ohhh fatal 4 ways are sooooo unpredictable” when you had the exact same “heel steals the title” finish.
S: I do find it funny that Lawler of all people managed to pick up on the laziness of the booking though, not gonna lie, because anyone with two working ears would be the first to notice that King was the guy on commentary who was totally phoning it in and would churp in about ten times per hour of programming. So for him to pick up on the lack of originality of the booking is quite the impressive feat, if you ask me.
JT: Ok final question to you: What did you think of this match? I thought it was fine. Absolutely nothing to write home about in my opinion.
S: The same as you really, I thought it was a fine match too, nothing special but there were a few things I took out of it. First of which being that Eve Torres is a lot more impressive than I remember her being, the second thing I took out of it was that I’d really like to see what a full fifteen minute match between Eve and Gail would be like, given that they’re allowed to go all out in it, of course.
JT: I feel like Eve is definitely someone who could have really taken a step forward if she had stuck around till the NXT Women got called up and more effort started getting put into the women’s division. Similarly to like Nikki Bella, I feel like if you put her in a better environment, she would have thrived.
S: Oh definitely but at the same time, she would’ve had to go through quite a few more years of shit to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.
JT: While the woman’s wrestling portion of this arc hasn’t gotten off to a great start, we’ve still got plenty of time to see it improve.
S: Well said, my friend. Well said.
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The Crumbling Walls of Jericho
JT: So up next, Chris Jericho is coming out! And as we saw on our first episode this season, he’s not doing well lately. He is in a slump, it seems like things he was doing before, they’re just not working the same way they were just months before. Case in point, on Raw, he faced Evan Bourne in a one on one match. Despite being the grizzled veteran who was World Heavyweight Champion only two and a half months ago, he couldn’t beat Bourne. In fact, he hit the Codebreaker, but Bourne still kicked out! And out of frustration, he got himself disqualified. Despite that, Jericho gets a strong pop coming out. Immediately, Jericho gets on the microphone and says that everyone under the age of 25 realizes Y2J is the reason they’re watching WWE now, and everyone older realizes he’s why he keeps watching. He says he’s hooked us with his brilliance, but now Chris Jericho is no longer the hot topic. Hell, even Wade Barrett is getting more attention and rightfully so! Barrett is making an impact and Jericho isn’t anymore. Jericho thinks he knows why he’s in a rut though, because he has always fought uphill in his estimation but now he’s at the top of the mountain and everyone is trying to knock him off. Bourne is another in a list of long people targeting him, as seen by his deliberate use of the Shooting Star Press after the match was over. He’s an honest man, he faces his challenge head on unlike Bourne. Like a shooting star, Bourne’s career started with a bright light, but will be snuffed out tonight at his hands. So, opinions on this promo and the idea of running a “slump” storyline for Jericho at this time?
S: I thought this was a good promo from Jericho, good verbiage and it was logical on Jericho’s end. The “slump” storyline which he has going on here. Definitely the next best thing after the losing streak gimmick, if you ask me. To be serious though, I’d rather see someone like Jericho, who’s been around for as long as he had been at this stage be run through this type of storyline rather than a losing streak on paper but honestly, aren’t they just the same thing but with a different name attached to it?
JT: Yeah I think the only difference is that a “losing streak” implies you’re kind of a loser, whereas “slump” has the implication that you’re surely going to get back on a winning track soon. And I agree, I think it’s as good a time as any to have this storyline. Like they just had him retain the World Title at WrestleMania, doing not well now won’t really hurt his standing too much. Plus it gives him at least some sort of overarching storyline, rather than thrown together midcard feuds month after month.
S: Yeah definitely and the overarching storyline while he tussles with wrestlers lower down the card than him definitely makes those matches more interesting because of the storyline.
JT: Yeah then there are actually stakes to this PPV rematch with Evan Bourne and it’s not over “bragging rights” or other vague Wrestling hierarchy stuff. Bourne is someone WWE is pushing as a real top prospect, on the verge of breaking out. So him winning while Jericho keeps losing could be big for both of them, and vice versa.
S: Exactly, let’s not forget that Bourne pinned Sheamus clean as a whistle during a tag match nearly three weeks before this too. He’s been quietly built up well. Shall we get into chatting about this one?
JT: Let’s do it! Immediate Y2J chants as the match begins, which is funny considering at the time I was treating Jericho like he was a legend on his retirement run, not a guy who would be wrestling just about every week for the next 12 years. Good Stryker moment as he cites Jericho’s matches against Malenko & Mysterio as examples of his experience against faster guys. Early Hurricanrana by Bourne, followed by a Low Dropkick, but he gets cut off by a Clothesline. The crowd is pretty split here, with a loud male Jericho chant, and children chanting for Bourne. It’s me, I’m children, I was with my buddy Evan watching EVAN Bourne. I had to cheer for him. Fast pace action as Bourne dodges Jericho’s splash into the corner. Jericho rolls to the floor, but Bourne goes up top and leaps off with a Crossbody onto Jericho to the floor!! Only his second PPV singles match, and Bourne is trying to make a big impression! Kinda funny when I think about it, with the emphasis on running dives in today’s style, we don’t get a lot of jumps off the top to the floor anymore, don’t we?
S: We definitely don’t, they very much come few and far between does the standard Plancha from the top turnbuckle. I think the only guy who consistently does them nowadays would be Christian Cage in AEW whenever he’s wrestling. I always think they look good when performed right and can be less risk inducing too.
JT: Honestly I’d rather someone jump off the top than do a mediocre Suicide Dive. Like, even if you have all the grace of a sack of shit, the visual of the big leap off the top looks better than the old running push.
S: Not only does the visual look better though, the impact of it is always going to look better once it’s executed over about 50% of Suicide Dives.
JT: So after the big dive to the floor, Bourne sends Jericho back in, but as he goes to re-enter himself, Jericho catches Bourne and hits the Springboard Dropkick! That knocks him to the floor again, and Jericho brings him back in, where Bourne tries to get momentum going again but gets caught with a Dropkick. Really the whole story here is “does Bourne belong in the ring with Jericho?”. Stryker says he wouldn’t be on Raw if he wasn’t, but in Jericho’s mind nobody stacks up to him, and Cole says the pressure is on Bourne to seize this big opportunity. Chris Jericho in a slump is still treated as a big challenge for Bourne. Evan starts to mount a comeback as he hits kicks to the side of Jericho’s leg, then a spinning heel kick and a sliding kick in the corner by Bourne, but Jericho kicks out at 2. Bourne tries to hit him with a kick to the head, but Jericho ducks out of the way and hits a German Suplex!! This was nice to see, like a real classic Classic 90s Jericho Suplex. It felt like a throwback to his ECW, WCW and even early WWF days, before he was facing heavyweights every night.
S: Yeah fucking hell, this German Suplex was GORGEOUS from Jericho, holy shit. I always love watching Jericho wrestle smaller guys during his WWE run because it’s always fascinating to see him being portrayed as the bigger man. His series of matches with Rey in 2009 are evidence of that and some of the stuff with Bourne here is also of that ilk.
JT: I’ve hyped the stuff up before, and I’ll do it again because it was the first really well wrestled feud of my childhood. Rey vs Jericho in 2009 was some of the best stuff in the company that year. And just as we’re talking about how impressive Jeircho is, he climbs to the second rope and Bourne leaps from the mat to the second rope with a Rana!! Great vertical leap, great technique by both wrestlers, and good selling by Jericho/Stryker, who points out that Jericho looked unsure climbing the ropes, since he doesn’t have the natural aerial instincts like Bourne has.
S: Every single time someone does that Leaping Rana to the opponent sitting on the top turnbuckle, it never ceases to amaze me. Whether it be Rich Swann, Evan Bourne, Ricochet or Andrew Everett. It’s always a move which looks so damn pretty in execution. Also, great call by Stryker too. Making up for the clanger in the last match with his calls during this one.
JT: After the Hurricanrana, Jericho sends Bourne across and Botune goes for a Meteora, but Jericho rolls to the mat and rolls over in the Walls of Jericho!! Jericho’s signature hold is in deep, but Bourne manages to get the rope to an initial pop but some lingering boos by the older fans. Like has happened in previous weeks, Jericho’s usual stuff is not winning him matches like they used to. As such, Jericho is irate, and he shoves Bourne off the apron into the announce desk. He aggressively slams Bourne off the table, then lines him up against the stairs but Bourne counters and sends him into them isneatd! Bourne sends Jericho in and leaps off with a Meteora but Jericho kicks out at 2. Bourne now has to dig deep to try and put Jericho away, leading to a slug fest, where Bourne tries to punch Jericho but Y2J blocks and turns it into a beautiful Butterfly Backbreaker! Again, another old school WCW Jericho move!
S: He sure was busting out the old Cruiserweight Lionheart Jericho repertoire, wasn’t he? Another beautiful move from Jericho, another benefit of Jericho working with a smaller guy like Bourne is that he can always reach into the bag of tricks and bust out one of his 1004 holds. All I’m saying is, if you hear James mention the Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Credenza, don’t be surprised.
JT: And you know if that happened, Stryker would make sure to call the moves as such too. So, after the Backbreaker, Jericho goes for the Lionsault, but Bourne moves out of the way and catches Y2J with a kick! Bourne looks to hit Air Bourne, but he’s too slow getting up, allowing Jericho to roll out of the way, sneak up on Bourne from behind, and hit the Codebreaker as Evan turns around!! Jericho has hit his biggest shot, but Jericho is in such a deep slump that this match has taken a lot out of him already. He takes a long time to cover, and when he does he only hooks near the leg, allowing Bourne to get his leg on the ropes before the 3 count!! Jericho is really starting to get frustrated, beating up on Bourne until the ref admonishes him, yelling at Bourne to stay down too. He sends the high flier across, but Bourne moves out of the way in the corner and nearly rolls him up! Bourne goes to pick him up but Bourne takes him down for the Walls, but Bourne hooks him around the head, eventually turning it into a DDT!! What a creative counter!! We’ve seen plenty of roll through/roll over counters to the walls, but I can’t recall many times someone has scaled up Jericho to counter the Walls.
S: Yeah it’s definitely not something which I’ve seen done a whole lot actually. Usually you’d get someone escaping whilst in the Walls by doing the old rolling over and then escaping from that roll-over but this here was very unique by Bourne. Definitely a way of escaping which can only be done by people with insane core strength and someone very flexible. People like Bourne basically, and there aren’t many like him.
JT: Agreed. Plus, you need a good ring general like Jericho to be able to make sure someone as athletic as Bourne can pull it off safely. He’s a steady hand who will make sure Bourne can do what only he can do, with a safe base.
S: Jericho has just always been one of those wrestlers who makes sure that their opponents are safe while working with them, he’s like Bret Hart in that sense. Two wrestlers, who, to my knowledge have supposedly never injured another man whilst working with them.
JT: So, off the DDT, Bourne goes for the SSP but like Jericho on the ropes earlier, he takes too long getting up there. Jericho cuts Bourne off and goes for a Superplex, but Bourne knocks him off, only for Jericho to trip his legs out from under him! Again, Jericho goes for the Superplex, but again Bourne counters, lifting Jericho and dropping him out of the Suplex face first to the mat!! Bourne stands up top, he leaps off and hits the Shooting Star Press to the back!! He rolls Jericho over, hooks the leg: 1—2—3!! A big upset and the biggest win of Bourne’s career!!
S: Man, I really enjoyed this match, I can’t lie. I thought these two lads had really good chemistry and it certainly showed with how this match was executed. I’ve discussed the spots we both liked at length at this stage so it wouldn’t mean much to talk at length about them again so what I will add is this, Evan Bourne has one of the most gorgeous Shooting Star Presses ever. The way he flies while doing it is what I’d describe as Spider-Man form. Beautiful stuff and man, even though Jericho is in a slump of sorts, they’ve really been putting Bourne over lately. So fair fucks for WWE doing that. This match also gets a thumbs up from me.
JT: I gotta agree. It was a nice quick, snappy match if not something with much story going for it. When I left Nassau Coliseum that night 12 years ago, this was my favorite match of the show. We’ll have to see if that stands, but as of now it’s definitely in the running.
S: Totally agree that this match is in the running for sure, which is funny because when I watched this first the morning after the show took place, I just remembered it as that match where Evan Bourne went over Chris Jericho for some reason but now, it’s a lot more than that.
JT: As I’ve said before (and will inevitably say again), we’ll have to check up on this again later. Evan Bourne seems to be on the rise, while Chris Jericho is circling the drain. Will this continue throughout the arc? What sort of twists and turns will each guy encounter as we head deeper into the Summer of 2010? We’ll just have to keep watching to find out.
S: It’ll definitely be interesting to see what the fate of these two lads will be as this continues on, that’s for sure.
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Kane’s Quartet
JT: Up next, I’m gonna bring us to a segment that aired earlier in the night, in preparation for our next match. Backstage, we see Rey Mysterio praying as Big Show walks in. Coming face to face, Rey cuts an underdog promo on Big Show, saying he’s a 20 year vet who has been an underdog his whole career, and that he’s going to become World Champion again. To that Show quips that there are some obstacles that are too big to overcome, and says that they’re friends but he’s not going to hesitate to knock him out if he can become champion. And Rey fires back, saying as big as big as Show’s hand is, his heart is even bigger. Rey I don’t think that’s healthy for you buddy. Jokes aside, that sets up our next match, Rey Mysterio vs Big Show vs CM Punk vs Jack Swagger for the World Heavyweight Championship!!
S: Fatal 4 Way #2! Interrogation looming because the Big Red Machine has been on a mission from the devil to find out who done did put Taker in a vegetative state. If it’s not one of them, could it be, all four men?!
JT: Fatal 4 Way #2! Interrogation looming because the Big Red Machine has been on a mission from the devil to find out who done did put Taker in a vegetative state. If it’s not one of them, could it be, all four men?! Yeah this whole match is pretty much framed around the Undertaker’s attack. The promo package is basically Kane’s promo we covered last episode but with dramatic music over it and interspersed clips of the people in this match in it. Punk says they didn’t do it, Mysterio says he had nothing to do with it, Swagger can only shake his head and say no and Show says he has nothing to do with it. Like you said, Kane thinks maybe it was an Julius Caesar style effort by the SmackDown Senate, and as such, he has delivered Chokeslams to everyone in the build and on the final SmackDown he hit everyone with a Chokeslam and a Tombstone to Rey. Now let’s go through his thought process here. Let’s just rank from most likely to least likely, the members of this match to have attacked Undertaker. Which suspects are the worst, and which are the best. Seán, you can do it in kayfabe or not, your choice. I’ll take whatever you don’t.
S: Alright so who would I say is the least likely out of all of them? Rey Mysterio, even though he faced Taker in that initial qualifying match, he’s not got the evil streak in him to put a man in a coma. Jack Swagger or Big Show are pretty much one in the same if you ask me, they’re equally as unlikely but I’ll give Big Show the edge at second place because he does tend to turn his heel if you know what I mean? Most likely, would probably be Punk if you ask me, simply because he has himself a group and the fact he has a group means they all easily could’ve taken Undertaker out and he has beef with him from their feud in late 2009.
JT: I think that seems pretty close to how I’d have it. As far as intrigue goes, Rey turning heel and attacking Undertaker would be crazy, like a little too crazy to actually happen. Like you said, Show has the means to do that, but I feel like in 2010, Big Show vs Undertaker is not the most interesting thing to do back to back. They feuded in late 2008 and a portion of 2009 at the beginning and end of the year. Punk has the means to and reasoning if you ask me, although I imagine a Straight Edge Society vs Brothers of Destruction feud would probably require the SES to get beefed up. Like Punk & Gallows are getting beat in 6 minutes flat by Kane & Taker. Finally is Swagger, who I think as a character could be interesting. I mean he shook his head no, but I feel like there’s an easy route where you could frame that as having been caught and being scared of the consequences coming after him. But that said, not a great look for the Champ to be the only one scared of Kane. And not great that he hasn’t even gotten an interview on this show. All we’ve seen of Jack in this episode is him being scared of Kane, not even any bit of a promo from weeks past!
S: Where has his literal Swagger gone as well? The pun most definitely intended because fuck me, I was expecting the full cocky entrance from Jack here but he comes out all stoic, series and brooding. Why are they trying to make him a bigger version of 2009 Jericho like? It just doesn’t fit him at all.
JT: Yeah the way they book Swagger seems to show that WWE doesn’t fully understand why Suit Jericho worked so well. It was the antithesis of everything Jericho was before. Sure, the slow, serious promos still captured new fans like me, but Jericho also had the experience to understand how to get those sorts of promos to work. Especially with Jericho slumping in kayfabe, it really feels like they tried to Control C Jericho out of the top of the card and Control V Swagger into his place.
S: Yeah it just doesn’t work for Swagger at all, he used to have real Biff Tannen energy, his entrance is almost the only type of charisma he has and he doesn’t even do it!
JT: Exactly! Having rewatched a bunch of 2009 WWE (because of nostalgia) I can tell you that ECW Champion Jack Swagger worked because he was that sort of “high school jock” stereotype. He was loud, he was proud, and he had the natural athletic talent that made it hard for anyone to make him eat his words. This version of Jack just isn’t the same. Not like 2009 Jack Swagger in ECW was like a groundbreaking, all time great run, but it was a model for a better Jack Swagger run.
S: Like could you imagine if that 2009 version of Jack Swagger was our World Champion and was constantly gloating about being World Champion? It would’ve been a bit more memorable of a reign and it probably wouldn’t have soured WWE on him too.
JT: I definitely think we should back around to this discussion as this arc goes on, because I have plenty to say, although right now isn’t the best time for it. But on the topic, as Swagger comes out, Cole says “Jack Swagger has had an incredible 3 months as World Champ”. Cap. Just, absurdly not true. As for everyone else, we get smiley, waving Big Show, Punk in his mask, sending the SES to the back, and Rey Mysterio in Lakers Purple & Yellow. Kind of a subdued reaction for Rey, don’t you think? Like, am I crazy for thinking Big Show got more of a reaction coming out?
S: Dude! I totally thought that too, I thought he got some boos when he came out as well. I definitely think you make a valid case for Big Show getting a bigger reaction than Rey. Smiley wavey giant > smiley wavey Luchador in Long Island, it seems.
JT: Hey, don’t include me in that! Rey was probably my favorite wrestler at the time, either him or Edge in all honesty. So I was cheering for him, but I can’t say the same for the building as a whole. The last thing reaction-wise is that I thought Swagger got a decent reaction coming out. Not a superstar reaction, mind you, but a decent one. Also he’s dedicating this match to his Dad, who was last seen getting knocked out by the Big Show in the lead up to Over The Limit.
S: Ahhh yes, his “dad” who was played by a former WCW Tag Team Champion…. Or should I save this for a Recharge question? Or do you already know?
JT: I don’t know! Save it, I had no clue! I figured he wasn’t Jack’s real dad, but I didn’t know he was someone!
S: Oh baby! I know my question of choice for the impending Recharge!
JT: Folks, we’ll get to that soon enough, but for now Jack Swagger’s got a title to defend! And his odds don’t look good!! It’s Big Show’s strength vs Rey’s Speed vs Punk’s manipulation vs Swagger’s grappling (according to Stryker). And here we go! As the match begins, the heels go after Rey, then Show comes over and starts battering them with Headbutts and chops. Rey gets a Springboard into a Hurricanrana, sending Punk out to the floors as Swagger gets thrown out by Show, leaving only Rey & Show in the ring. Rey punches and kicks him, sliding under a boot, but then runs away to the floor as Show cocks up the WMD. Still, as he tries to game plan outside, Show palms Rey’s head, picking him up and lifting over the top rope back into the ring. As much as the current generation of fans has become more accepting of smaller wrestlers, this sort of spot is why big men will always find a way into the ring, no matter how inexperienced or unpolished they are. You just cannot replicate the spectacle of a guy just being huge.
S: There’s always something special about when Big Show would face off Rey too. As you said, it really is such a spectacle to see someone in wrestling square up to someone almost two full feet taller than they are.
JT: From there, Show throws Rey into Swagger (who got back up on the apron) and then hits a clothesline. He goes for a Pinfall, but Punk breaks it up. Unfortunately for Punk, that gets him a chop right to the chest. Show tries to cover him, Swagger breaks it up this time. Now he knocks down Swagger, goes for the cover, and then Rey breaks it up with a Springboard Splash. All 3 of Show’s opponents are trying and failing to take advantage of him in this anything goes match. Show has Rey over his shoulder like a child, manages to knock Swagger over with a shoulder tackle with his free arm, then catches Punk out of the air by the throat and pushes him back to the corner, only for him to finally go down with Rey managing to reverse into a DDT!! Rey covers him off that move, and Show kicks out with authority! Punk comes over and hits a Punk hits a kick to Show’s head, trying to cover himself only for Swagger to pull him off. Rey then tries to sneak his way in and cover, but Swagger pulls him off too. With Show still down near the corner, Swagger runs, bounds off the ropes, and come down on the giant’s chest with the Swagger Bomb!! He tries to pin Big Show, but then both Rey & Punk pull him off together! They both kick Swagger, then as it looks like their old hatred is going to renew itself again, they hit tandem sliding dropkicks to Show to knock him out of the ring. Seán, I just gotta say that this match, to this point anyways, does not feel like a serious main event match. Certainly not one of the biggest prizes on SmackDown.
S: No definitely not, you’re right there. This match definitely lacked some form of seriousness to it, for sure, it gives off massive SmackDown match vibes to me. What was the live reaction like to the match as it was happening when you were there in the Coliseum?
JT: Reaction really was a non reaction, from what I remember. Just generally people were sitting around, not necessarily having a bad time, but it was hardly an exciting PPV crowd. It had a real house show energy, although I do remember it ramping up towards the end, in part because unlike most house shows, there were stakes in this. I really feel like what left everyone disconnected was the fact we all felt like Kane would be coming out at some point, and that the ending wouldn’t happen until Kane had come out.
S: Okay so you’ve brought up Kane there and that’s exactly how I felt about the match many years ago, I was pretty much just sitting around waiting for the big man to saunter out with his shit theme. The question I’ll raise to you about Kane is this, do you think he should have been in this match instead of someone?
JT: That’s an interesting question honestly. Because clearly, in terms of storyline, he’s one of the most important people on SmackDown. Like, top 3 at worst. But at the same time, it feels like given his whole “vengeance” storyline, it doesn’t feel like him qualifying for this match would make sense, y’know? Like “Grrrr I’m gonna get revenge for my brother…by facing Vance Archer up next on SmackDown!”. Although, I will say, Kane did compete in the Battle Royal Rey won to get in this match. Also there’s the question of who you replace. Do you replace Rey, the fastest and slowest member of the match, leaving us with Kane & Big Show against 2 heels? Do you have him replace Show, who was already involved with Swagger and fairly over? Do you have him replace Punk, essentially leaving Swagger as the only heel? And obviously, you can’t replace Swagger, he’s the champ this whole match is about!
S: That was the exact same roadblock I ran into when I was thinking about the other booking possibilities in my head. I’ve got it, James. Kane as special guest ref, get me Kane in a red and black referee’s shirt to be honest.
JT: Oh lord that sounds like an absolute joke. I can definitely imagine a funny storyline where Kane was a guest ref but definitely not here and now.
S: Sounds like a thing that Corporate Kane definitely would’ve done but now, there’s more important matters at hand, like this lukewarm Four Way.
JT: Sounds to me like something that should’ve happened during the Team Hell No period. Kane as referee for one of those Bryan/Punk matches.
S: Oh you just know that would contain something like Bryan wanting Kane to do a fast count in his favor and shit just totally backfiring against all of them.
JT: Well either way, Kane will be messing with a match shortly. So, Rey sets up the 619 on Swagger, but Punk catches him with a Springboard Crossbody. He hits his signature Running Knee in the corner on Swagger, but then he goes for it on the other side, and Rey gets a boot up. Rey goes for a Casadora, Punk blocks and goes for a German Suplex, only for Swagger to get behind both of them and hit a Double German!! Finally something that highlights Jack, and it’s a nice spot whenever they pull this out.
S: It’s a Rey Mysterio multi-man special so it is, he always takes that bump in Three Way and Four Way matches. Always looks sick and surprisingly safe considering the distance which Rey is flying backwards.
JT: Off that, Swagger wants to go for the kill as he goes for the Gutwrench Powerbomb, but Punk blocks and hits a high kick. Meanwhile, Rey runs in and gets a Headscissor to put Punk on the ropes. He runs and swings through the ropes for the 619, but Big Show catches him out of the air out of nowhere!! He picks Rey up and dumps him face first on the desk! Now Show is up and running wild, stacking up the heels in the corner, hitting a splash on both of them, and then connecting with a shoulder tackle on both of them. Both Swagger and Punk escape to the floor, Show goes after Punk, but Swagger kicks the stairs into Show’s legs!! Then Rey with a 619 around the post!! And Punk with a Springboard Crossbody to take Show out!! Again, Rey has done the 619 around the post before, but it’s such a nice spot and I like that he only busts it out every once in a while when it makes sense to do so, he doesn’t try to shoehorn it in.
S: It comes around every once in a blue moon really and thankfully he didn’t botch it like he did at WrestleMania 22 in the Triple Threat with Orton and Angle. That match and this match have three similarities, what are they? Stick around and find out!
JT: With Show out on the floor, Rey flies in with a Seated Senton to Swagger! He hits the ropes and leaps at him, but gets caught with a Big Boot!! And then all of a sudden, Punk slides the ring from behind, GTS to Swagger!! Swagger flops to the floor before Punk can cover, and all of sudden, that’s Kane’s music!! Here comes the pissed off Big Red Monster, and he’s got a Casket with him!! He stares everyone down, and he points at Punk!! He grabs Punk around the throat and drags him towards the casket. He throws him in and looks to close the door, but here comes Gallows! He boots Kane, helps Punk out and they hoof it to the back, away from Kane and the match! So I guess Kane found his man, and now there’s one less man to worry about in this match.
S: Is Kane a mountie? Because he sure got his man tonight! I’ll see myself out. Also, his theme here is still rubbish. Never going to not mention that.
JT: No, you know what’s major rubbish? So, everyone and their dog knew Kane was coming about. So a couple minutes before he actually came up, my whole group and I were preparing our ears. Here we were, waiting for the boom and the heat, we were not gonna get caught by that jump scare!! And then no pyro!! I remember clear as day that feeling of “…oh I guess it’s not gonna happen”.
S: Oh yeah! Sure Kane doesn’t even get proper trademark pyro, does he? Just his theme song hitting and out he wheels the casket.
JT: And just as soon as he shows up, he’s gone. But we’ve still got a match going on! Back in the ring, Rey knocks Swagger onto the ropes, swings in and connects with a 619 to Swagger!! He follows up with a Big Splash, and it hits!! He hooks the leg, 1—2——3!!! Rey Mysterio is the world champion again, out of nowhere!! This surprised the upset hell out of me and the rest of the crowd, but I know I was sure as hell happy to see my guy win the World Heavyweight Championship again!! I mean, I don’t think it would ever happen again let alone that I’d get to see it!!
S: Yeah same here, at the time I definitely was not expecting Rey Rey to pull out the win in this match. I thought he’d come close but for me, I thought it was going to be either Swagger retaining or the Big Wavey Giant winning the World Title. I think we should touch on that finish for a second because christ above, I did not remember the finish being that sudden and coming so soon after the Kane run-in. It was just a bit of a shock really.
JT: First, I’ll just agree. Back at the time, I was doing prediction videos on YouTube!! Like just, predicting the results of the show. It was bad. Very bad. As in, I didn’t even put my face in the video (for security reasons I suppose?) so I just filmed a bean bag chair. No wonder it didn’t take off. So in my videos as a baby smark, I figured Swagger would steal the win to keep his reign going. But that didn’t happen, and like you said, Rey won, and won quickly. Looking over my notes, I thought I had skipped something. But nope! It was just that quick. Punk ran away, Kane ran away, Swagger got the 619 and lost!
S: I honestly thought that there was a botch or something cut out from the Network because it really was Kane run in, chase Punk and Gallows to the back and then Mysterio wins in the blink of an eye. Not a good look for Swagger if you ask me.
JT: That’s another part of the 4 way match that we already saw tonight. When Eve Torres lost her title, she did not take the pin. These matches allow for that sort of thing, in order to keep a big match an option for a future show or to progress a storyline. They could’ve had Rey beat Big Show to follow up on the segment from earlier but nope, WWE felt no need to protect Swagger, he lost his title as clean as a whistle. All the world saw as Jack lost his title cleanly, not even with an excuse for later.
S: He’s just a big old loser so he is, and one more thing I alluded to earlier was that this match and the Triple Threat from WrestleMania 22 have three similar moments. Would you like to hear what they are?
JT: I think I have a clue as to what it is, but I’d like to have my suspicions confirmed. What is it that connects this and the WM22 3 way?
S: Alright so the first two similarities are actually spots wise. The double German Suplex where Rey goes flying is one, while the 619 around the ring post is the other. Both of those exact spots were used in that Triple Threat. The third and final similarity is that the outcome was the same, Rey would win his first and second World Heavyweight Championships at the end of them. Pretty interesting stuff that I only gathered whilst we were chatting about this.
JT: Boy, they really played the hits huh? Honestly, my hunch had to do with how long this match went, because it didn’t feel very long and neither was the WM22 match. And guess what? Our match here tonight was a whole minute and ten seconds longer than the one at WrestleMania, with the 4 way clocking in at 10:28 to the 9:18 long 3 way. Barely scraping by 10 minutes is ROUGH for a world title match though.
S: Fucking hell, that is dog rough for your WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH. I mean, come on now, that’s the length of time you’d give to a Raw match which may run through an ad break like. That is simply not good enough, there were definitely some bits I liked but all in all, this really wouldn’t be considered a totally memorable match in my opinion. Less memorable than Rey’s crowning moment at WrestleMania 22 because at least that match had a big story going into it and P.O.D. performed live.
JT: And that was his first big win!! Plus it’s off Kurt Angle at WrestleMania with Randy Orton, not Jack Swagger with Big Show hanging at ringside and CM Punk backstage on a B PPV. Hell, even in terms of importance, there were only 2 matches left after the WM22 match. One was the Bathroom/Snacks/Horny break of the snow, Torrie Wilson vs Candace Michelle in a Playboy Pillow Fight, and then the main event of Triple H vs John Cena. This match is smack dab in the middle of the show, with 3 more matches left to go.
S: This match could’ve been positioned as a Number One Contender’s Four Way for the World Title Match and you probably could’ve confused a good few people into thinking that was the case. What’d you make of the match anyways, James? Did it dazzle you back then and even more so now?
JT: Not really, in either case. I remember thinking the Double German was cool, I remember being underwhelmed for no Kane pyro, I remember being happy Rey won, but nothing else from that match stuck out. This was basically a TV match as you said, one you’d expect Cole to close out with “Can Rey Mysterio keep his momentum up and win the World Title this Sunday?” rather than being that major title win. Did you know I can’t even find an individual clip of this title change on YouTube? What was actually done in the match was passable, but this match fails because of what the stakes were and when it took place. You gotta do more than that on PPV!! Maybe if this was for the US or IC Title then fine, but not for the World Title!!
S: Exactly, you mention that there needed to be more put into this match on PPV and I’ve a strange feeling that what you said there could be a recurring talking point on the show as we review more of these shows. I sure as hell hope I’m wrong in my doubts though.
JT: So since I brought up how many matches in the show, that brings me around to the point that we’re at pretty much the halfway point of the show! So why don’t we do a little recharging?
S: You know, I am in need of some sort of caffeine boost in the form of a coffee so I’m going to agree to your suggestion!
JT: Alright then let’s get to it!!
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The Recharge
JT: Welcome back to the Recharge!! It’s time for our little halfway break in the episode, where we can talk about this, that and the other thing related to wrestling, or not! It’s a big world out there, no need to hyper focus on just one thing! We’re unique guys, we have other interests!
S: It’s essentially the part in the show where we shift our focus away from what the review and essentially riff about anything from what series are we each currently watching? To discussing our thoughts on the current wrestling landscape as a whole, to maybe even other sports in this virtual café we’ve created for ourselves.
JT: So despite all that talk about variety, there’s an elephant in the room! As we are writing this, we are just coming off the heels of WrestleMania 38!! So though we’ll get to non-wrestling stuff in this segment usually, we just gotta talk about Mania! It’s literally one of the biggest days of the wrestling year! What kind of self respecting wrestling talking heads would we be if we didn’t talk about it?
S: WrestleMania 38, the most stupendous one out of all of them as they were telling us. I don’t know about you but I thought this year’s iteration was the best one we got in years, probably the best since 31 in all honesty. There were a lot of matches which stood out in my mind upon viewing. I think this is what WWE are always capable of pulling out of their bag, a really good or memorable PPV as opposed to an interesting or enjoyable weekly product.
JT: Definitely have to agree, best since 31 was my big takeaway. Don’t get me wrong, the mid 30s had some good matches. I remember WM35 having a good output for the most part, but a lot of those mid 30s were just too long. So you might have a good match, but 5 hours in the crowd would be toast. So even though combined WM38 was longer than 32-37 as shows, it felt like an easier watch.
S: It definitely was an easier watch and I put that down to the fact these WrestleMania shows have been two night affairs since 36. It’s made them so much more palatable and easier to digest. It doesn’t give us reason for a bloated pre-show either! We didn’t even need matches on the pre-show. Obviously as a live viewer living in Ireland, I don’t think the 1am start time is necessary but hey, the shows are four hours like a classic Mania so I’ll take it over a five and a half hour Mania like 35.
JT: Plus I think this year’s shows were helped out by having some not done serious stuff on them. Stuff that didn’t try to be a “WrestleMania classic” or a “Show Stealer”, just stuff that was fun and crowd pleasing. When everyone tries to steal the show, sometimes the show can just get overwhelming. Though I’m sure you and I could’ve used more people trying to steal the show on Fatal 4 Way.
S: Oh yeah definitely, don’t get me wrong, I love a good show stealing match as much as the next person but having stuff on this year’s WrestleMania which was batshit insane definitely made for a good watch. One of the things I always used to reminisce about as a wrestling fan was the fact we never got a Jackass style match in 2007 when it was originally planned. As a huge Jackass and wrestling fan, all I can say is that I was absolutely over the moon to see that happen. I was delighted to see Kevin Owens face his childhood fave in STONE COLD Steve Austin! How mental is that?! Jim Cornette is forever in the mud now, he can’t say shit about Kevin anymore, you’re forever done Jim. Seeing Bianca and Becky have an absolute Mania classic was so satisfying to see as well.
JT: Yeah those 3 were easily my biggest matches of the weekend. Bianca Belair this weekend proved to me that she is a Top 10 performer in the company, period. Regardless of gender. She’s such an absolute star, and as much of a misfire as the Summerslam booking still is, it didn’t take away from how great her match was. She’s 2 for 2 with classics. And that’s not to take away from Becky, who did a wonderful job over the course of the year of playing the heel and getting the fans to boo her. She really made Bianca look like a million bucks and I’m excited to see where they go with these two in the future.
As for Johnny Knoxville vs Sami Zayn, it was everything I could’ve asked for. I told you this as the show was happening but I’ll share it with everyone, but this was better than the Umaga match would’ve ever been. Nothing against Umaga, but Sami is such a ham that he made this whole feud. He is such a little slime ball, but enough of a goofy guy for it all to not feel belittling to him. He clearly put his all into this storyline, and I’m so glad it got the flowers it deserved.
Finally, so happy for Kevin. I’m sure working with Austin meant the absolute world to him. Also WTF STEVE?!? DON’T TAKE A SUPLEX ON THE CONCRETE YOU MANIAC!!! Absolute high of sports entertainment as far as a brawl could go. Just a perfect way to cap off night 1.
S: It really was the perfect way to cap off night 1, just great stuff all around. I’m pretty sure the last time we were here, we discussed Roman vs. Brock being the main event for WrestleMania for the third time in seven years and how we didn’t feel as if it’s the generational feud WWE wants it to be. I still stand by that but what did you think of their main event last night?
JT: I feel like I’m still waiting for the whole story to come out about the main event. Because I definitely saw people talking about Roman’s shoulder being legit hurt, and that would explain the abruptness of the ending. On the other hand, Roman is great and this wouldn’t be the first time people confused selling for a real injury. Regardless though, I don’t think their feud has the output of the “feud of the generation” that WWE really wanted, much like Cena vs Orton. As far as atmosphere though? I think it actually felt that way last night, at least at the start. The crowd was buzzing for the match, which by the way, shoutout to the Dallas crowd!! They were loud and excitable all weekend, and it only helped make the show better. But back to my main point, I think I felt like their match had that prescience of a huge main event, even though it didn’t end like one. I’m glad they put Roman over clean though, now we can finally put that story to bed. Hopefully. God willing. It’s been nearly 8 years.
S: It definitely should be the end of the feud, yes. It did actually feel like a big match unlike their match at Mania 34, but I was surprised with how abrupt the ending was. I knew it wouldn’t have gone long but it did go just over 12 minutes, which is pretty damn short but I’m not really surprised. It should be the end of all this Roman vs. Brock stuff, but I don’t think it will be. If we get this match again at SummerSlam in Nashville, I won’t be shocked.
JT: I would shrug my shoulders if that happened, because it’s WWE and you never know. But since he’s now the Unified World Champion, he’s got a bigger field to work with (at least until they add a new belt again). And to me, it’s pretty clear who is going to be at the top of the list to face him. A man who arguably got the biggest pop of the weekend, the returning Stardust himself, Cody Rhodes. Even as someone who has been sour lately on Cody’s output, what a moment both inside and outside of kayfabe.
S: Yeah that was such a great moment for Cody, getting a big return, unannounced at WrestleMania, with all the pomp and circumstance in your entrance and all of your branding on display which he created while away for six years and defeating Seth Rollins. That must feel like such a moment of vindication for him, he left as an undercard gimmick in Stardust, he comes back and it’s almost night and day for him. Obviously, I have my doubts over whether they will use him properly, but after that match with Rollins, there’s no way they can go backwards on it. They have another main eventer ready-made with him now, they have to do it right.
JT: Agreed, they’ve got a main event ready guy on a silver platter with Cody. Him coming over getting the type of response he got was also huge proof of AEW’s impact on the scene as a whole. Sure, not every WWE crowd will be as hardcore as the WrestleMania fans, but that reaction was no fluke, and it wouldn’t have happened if AEW weren’t casting a shadow over the scene as a whole. Also, on the topic, shoutout to Cody for being a grade a hustler. Dude bet on himself, cemented his legacy outside of WWE, and then got a dump truck full of money at his door when WWE wanted him back. Even if WWE don’t use him right, he’ll have plenty going for him. And I bet that the Forbidden Door will always be open for him should he decide his time in Connecticut ain’t cutting it.
S: He is truly Dusty’s son in every way, isn’t he? It’s an amazing hustle job that he’s done in all honesty, and I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him in AEW either. One day, I do think he will make an appearance in AEW again.
JT: Oh I definitely feel that’s possible. Of course, there’s no way of knowing if it’ll be more “Sting returns to TNT” or more “Christian Cage returns to TNA” type of thing. No way of knowing what the landscape will be like.
I’d also like to circle back around to Stone Cold Steve Austin again. Because he didn’t just show up on Night 1, but Night 2 too!! Seán, where do you want to start with that whole chaotic half an hour block of Night 2?
S: Oh boy, where do I start? I guess a good place to start is that Vince fully looks like a zombie now and I’m convinced he’s close to being animated. The real story though, Pat fucking McAfee, I remember not thinking much of him when he was an NXT pre-show panelist but now, getting to know more about him, his NFL career, his broadcasting career and his general character. I’m definitely a big fan of the guy, he has enthusiasm for days, he clearly loves wrestling and he just oozes cool. The fact WWE licensed Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes for Pat tells us a lot in terms of what WWE see in him.
JT: Oh man, was I happy to hear Seven Nation Army! I know he’s come out to that as a commentator, but I figured that was a little pre-show “we don’t have to pay to broadcast this” bit. It was awesome to hear it, and he did awesome. He’s just so athletic and so charismatic, he was just a joy to watch. Speaking of which, he took a damn good Stunner too!! As did, regrettably, Austin Theory too. And of course, the cherry on top of it all, was Vince McMahon at 76 years old, taking one of the worst Stunners of all time. Hilarious stuff. Was it all necessary? Not really, the whole McAfee/McMahon bit did feel like it dragged on a tad longer than I would’ve liked, but by the end I was just having such a good time I didn’t really care. Good weekend for Stunners all in all.
S: The most Stunnerpendous Mania ever is what this show’s legacy will be and I’m all here for it. Congratulations Vince, you’ve managed to defeat your water bottle bump from 1997, your own wife and Donald Trump for taking the worst Stunner in history. A winner is you, you strange old man.
JT: I’m sure if anyone is a believer in “If you can’t be first, be last” it’s Vince McMahon. Nothing he does is allowed to be middle of the pack, go big or go home god dammit!! Anything else you think is worth bringing up? Because for the most part everything else was pretty good, I just don’t think there’s a ton to say about it. Wanna chat about the potential Ministry of Darkness reboot with Edge and Damien Priest?
S: Yeah definitely because I think with Edge’s wordy promos in the build up to this, they were hit and miss in terms of the material but I honestly do appreciate Edge wanting to do a major change to his character when he’s probably in the tail end of his career. I really liked the match with AJ too, I thought they told a good story and there were plenty of cool spots in it. They’re two of my all time favorites so it was always going to sit well with me. I like the idea of Edge building a stable around him, just needs that one last title run to validate it.
JT: I like it as well, especially if we’re going back to one World Champ for the time being. There needs to be another big heel threat, and they’re short otherwise. Roman is untouchable, Lashley turned face, Brock turned face a while ago, Seth is good but has come up on the losing end a bunch lately, as can be said about Kevin Owens. Omos lost and seems like he’ll always be held up by his athletic limitations. So I can see Edge with Priest and maybe a tag team as a top group controlling Raw. Who would recon would join them? Because I have a shout that I think would be interesting.
S: So do you have a proper tag team in mind from the main roster? Or are you thinking from the leagues of NXT 2.0?
JT: Admittedly, this idea popped into my head before I realized they were on the wrong brand, but I don’t think anyone cares too much about that. My thought process is this: Give the Viking Raiders a direction. We know they have plenty of talent and plenty of prescience, so throwing them into the mix could work out well. I say maybe you rename them to something more fitting with whatever the Edge/Priest group name is, swap their colors to be more purple, black and red and less blues and greens, and you’ve got two useful and talented henchmen for Edge and Priest.
S: Fuck! That’s a really good idea actually, honestly, a heel turn for those lads and a sense of direction in a new faction led by Edge would definitely help them out. Not only that but aesthetically, they definitely fit the bill of the look that would fit that faction.
JT: Exactly! I think they could fit the AOP role from that Seth Rollins/Murphy/AOP group from late 2019-2020. Just two big guys who help make sure the singles stars stay protected, who are also quite useful themselves. Although I will say, I could foresee Edge & Priest just being a duo and being the pair to win the titles off RKBro (and do it for good this time). Though I’m seeing people excited at a potential AJ/Finn Balor vs Edge/Priest program, which sounds fun too.
S: Yes, now that was the program which I thought would be the direction following the formation of Priest and Edge’s alliance. Probably for Backlash if I were to guess but we shall see.
JT: Anything else you want to mention about the “show of shows” before we conclude the wrestling portion of our recharge discussion?
S: I think we’ve just about covered all the real major talking points, unless you want to add something, of course.
JT: I’ll just bookend this section by saying wrestling as a whole is better when WrestleMania is good.
Now, in other news, the US has punched their ticket to the World Cup, and draws have been announced! And as only a casual fan, I think the US’s group is quite intriguing, if not for just personal entertainment reasons.
S: That it most definitely is, the USA vs. England, two countries whose fans have extreme cases of divisive patriotism. I’ll obviously root for the US over England. It should make for an interesting clash, as should the match against Iran for obvious reasons and whoever the fourth team will be, whether it’s Wales, Scotland or Ukraine. It should make for an interesting group but this World Cup will have to do a lot in order to get me hyped in any capacity since it’s a blood money World Cup in Qatar.
JT: Yeah for me, what excites me a lot about the England/American match is the ego both sides have. As an American, I know we’re a bunch who will not shut up. We love to boast and brag about literally everything, including our soccer team, even though we are far from a worldwide powerhouse. I’d say we’re effectively a 2010s WWE Cody Rhodes, in that we have name value but we’re not actually at the top of the card. England meanwhile, football is THE sport in England compared to being 4th banana in the States. So while bragging rights in wrestling are pretty lame stakes, in international sports? Huge in this case. Either England gets to lord over America like it’s the 1700s again as the USMNT disappoints again, or the English have to see it fail to come home again and at the hands of one of the most obnoxious opponents possible. There’s also a chance for that happening in a similar but different way, if Wales or Scotland makes it through, or if the US fails to advance because of Iran.
S: Yeah I’m definitely intrigued by the prospect of England vs. The US and England vs Scotland or Wales in the World Cup. They’ve drawn Wales and Scotland in the last two Euros group stages but the last time they drew a neighboring country in the World Cup must have been Ireland in 1990, so getting to see a possible blood feud game at the World Cup this year is very tantalizing.
JT: So aside from the national, historical sense of things, I’d say I’m out of my depth with national team knowledge. I knew a bit more in years past but that’s mostly because I learned as I went along. So tell me, who are the real favorites heading into this? Again, my knowledge mostly extends to “Who went far last time”.
S: Alright so if I were to go off who I think are the favorites. The first of which would be England, I don’t think they’re out and out favorites but they’ll definitely have a very good squad in this tournament, they’ve actually done really well in the past two tournaments under Gareth Southgate. I’d expect them to make it far, probably semi-finals at best but that’s the farthest they’ll make it. France are the defending champions, they have a good manager and they’ll have a brilliant squad so they’re probably the top favorites if you ask me. The two other favorites alongside those two would probably be Argentina and Brazil in my opinion, they’ll be desperate to win this year’s World Cup, it’ll probably be Messi’s last World Cup so you bet he’ll be wanting to bring the best game he can. The two dark horses I’d name would be Portugal and Spain. Much like Messi, I expect this to be Ronaldo’s last World Cup, they’ll definitely have a good squad but I think they’ll just lack that something which has hindered them from going far in most of the tournaments in this century. Spain, although they’ve underwhelmed at the last two World Cups, they’ve got a brilliant manager in Luis Enrique and they’ll definitely have a great squad mixed with talented youngsters like Pedri, Gavi, Dani Olmo and Mikel Oyarzabal and a squad with experienced senior players. The last team I’ll name drop would be Germany, they’re in a new era under a new coach in former Champions League Winner, Hansi Flick and the Germans just always have a good squad. They were massively disappointed at the last World Cup but that won’t happen twice in a row for them.
JT: That all makes sense, they’re the same sort of teams I’ve seen as favorites before, but it’s hard to reach that sort of level anyways. It’s not like in regional sports where teams can rise to high heights based on a few good seasons. National pedigree takes careful sculpting of culture and training talent. Plus it compounds itself, like a good team will inspire more players to play for the national team, and so on. But as you mentioned, a few of those favorites have floundered lately, so I can’t wait to see who gets upset and by whom.
S: Well there’s always going to be a shock exit early in the World Cup, that’s definitely going to happen. Whether it’s in the Groups or in the Last 16, it’s surely bound to happen. A crazy fact for you but the defending Champions in four of the last five World Cups have gone out in the Group Stages. France (1998 Champions) in 2002, Italy (2006 Champions) in 2010, Spain (2010 Champions) in 2014 and Germany (2014 Champions) in 2018. It’s a crazy curse which I think France will overcome this year.
JT: Well, we’ll just have to wait and see! Do you want to talk about anything else, or should we get into the Recharge Recall you teased earlier?
S: I’ve got not much else to add to this discussion so I think it’s about time we get into our Recharge Recall!
JT: Well then let’s do the Recall, since I know you’ve got a question in mind already, and I knew what I wanted to make my question before I even finished watching Fatal 4 Way. So let’s get to it! Do you want to ask the first question or answer the first question?
S: I think I’ll save my question for last so James, the floor is yours. What is your question de jour?
JT: Well you had to know a local area question was gonna come your way this episode. So in our opening contest, as Drew McIntyre was trying to win his title back, Matt Stryker mentioned that the Intercontinental Title has changed hands 4 times at the Nassau Coliseum. Now, I was going to ask you what the most recent time was, but I think that would be a bit too easy given your vast knowledge. So the question for you will be: What was the first IC Title change in Nassau Coliseum? I just want you to name who won it, and I’ll give you three guesses and hints to get it. And maybe an additional hint just so you can get in the area code and aren’t totally shooting in the dark.
S: Oh fucking hell, the first time the title changed hands in the Nassau Coliseum? Christ above, that could be in any year. Alright, there is one that springs to mind off the bat, SummerSlam 2002, Rob Van Dam beats Chris Benoit for the IC Title. That’s my first guess.
JT: See, that right there is why I didn’t ask you to name the most recent change. So that is one of the title changes, but not the first. So would you like another shot or would you like your hint?
S: I think I will take my hint on this one, James. This could prove to be a tricky one.
JT: Alright I’m gonna give you a big hint for this one. So this title change happened in the finals of a tournament, after the previous Champion went down to injury. So it’s before 2002, and was won by someone winning a tournament for a vacant title.
S: Ahhhh, was it Kenneth Shamrock by any chance?
JT: Seán, your knowledge impresses me again! Raw, October 12th 1998, Ken Shamrock defeated X-Pac in the tournament finals to win a vacant IC Title after Triple H vacated it due to injury. This was Ken’s first and only reign as Champ, despite all his run-ins with The Rock over the Title earlier in the year. The other title changes from the Coliseum were the May 8th 2000 Raw where Chris Benoit defeated Chris Jericho to become IC Champ for the second time, and the Invasion Era Raw of November 15th 2001, where nasty alliance member Test won his only IC Title by defeating Edge.
S: Boy, all those title wins in the Nassau Coliseum came in the space of four years??? That’s crazy but also a reminder of how frequently that belt switched hands during those four years.
JT: Exactly! It was just a matter of visiting the NY market a lot, especially with WCW making the southern US a bit less accessible back in those days, plus swapping titles a lot more. I mean outside of that period, the IC Title has only changed hands twice in New York State…with the caveat that it’s changed hands 4 separate times in East Rutherford, NJ, aka where WrestleManias 29 & 35 happened, which are treated as basically NY because the New York Jets & Giants play there.
S: The fact the Jets and the Giants play in MetLife, in New Jersey is still so damn funny to me. It’d be like if Sligo Rovers played in a neighboring county like Mayo or Leitrim.
JT: Yeah it’s basically a branding thing at this point, as is if they named themselves “the New Jersey Jets/Giants” not only would that piss off their original NY fans (they moved to NJ after each teams stadium deals ended in NY), but it adds prestige and it makes them more money that way. Also in another funny piece, in the process of googling “Why do the Jets play in New Jersey” the first autofill was “Why do the Jets suck”. I don’t miss football season.
S: Ah don’t be so down, James, Google could be referring to the Winnipeg Jets. You know they’ve got a bone to pick with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, do the boys at Google.
JT: Well since he lost tonight against Evan Bourne, Jericho’s slide down the card will continue with his Handicap match against the Google Interns. So, ready to throw a question my way?
S: I most definitely am, so earlier in the episode, we stumbled across the short-lived on-screen character of Jack Swagger’s Dad. Now I alluded to the fact that Jack Swagger’s father was a former WCW Tag Team Champion, so James! Which former WCW Tag Team Champion portrayed the role of Jack Swagger Sr.? To make it easier for you, this man was a Tag Champion pre-nWo but during the Hogan era.
JT: Hmmm so during that 94-96 period? Let me think a little, because initially after you brought up this question, my mind automatically went “Dr Death” just because he’s also from Oklahoma. And that’s clearly not the answer.
I’m gonna make a guess based on people who may have been typically backstage in WWE at the time. Is Mr Swagger actually Terry Taylor?
S: It is not Terry Taylor, although I reckon he would’ve given it socks under the role. Would you like your proper hint for this one or do you want a second guess first?
JT: Yes I’d like my guess now. I had a couple names in mind, such as Bobby Eaton & Ricky Morton for some reason, but I figured they’re too well known to get stuck at that gig, even for a laugh. Like actually can you imagine a one off goof character like that played by someone who is obviously another wrestler, like the whole Elias/Ezekiel joke? That’d be funny. But since it’s most likely not that, I’d like my hint please.
S: I think they’re definitely known for being someone else as opposed to Mr. Swagger but I wouldn’t say they’re well known either. Your hint is this, this man is a former WCW Tag Team Champion, managed by Colonel Robert Parker, or Tennessee Lee as he was known during his WWF run.
JT: See, that’s why I was guessing Terry Taylor. I figured it would be someone from one of those midcard tag teams plus a manager types. I figured Terry Taylor because he was an agent and he was in the York Foundation, although that may have been pre-Hogan now that I think about it. But I figured it would be someone on the Colonel’s wavelength. So, since Jack Swagger’s Pappy surely isn’t Booker T or Stevie Ray, I’m gonna have to dig into the obscure trenches and guess that his Dad was played by Bunkhouse Buck!
S: James, that answer is… ONLY BLOODY CORRECT! The pal of Dirty Dingus Slater and winner of the Worst Tag Team award for the Wrestling Observer Awards in 1995, old Bunkhouse Buck himself played Jack Swagger Sr. Who would’ve thought it, eh?
JT: I’d like to thank Brian Zane of Wrestling With Wreget Fame and the OSW Lads for whatever crevice of my brain I dragged that name from. Legit, the only two teams that came to mind were Harlem Heat (who I believe weren’t even managed by him for that long) and “Bunkhouse Buck & ????”. Couldn’t have even told you Slater was Buck’s partner. Seriously, no clue how I got that. But I mean, that makes sense! Big southern guy, wrestling training but not enough of a name for everyone to go “Hey isn’t that _____”. Fun stuff!!
S: Although I don’t think we’ll ever get to see him on PPV, it was fun to bring up the little nugget of forgotten wrestling characters that was Jack Swagger’s dad. Mentioning Jack Swagger in 2010 has reminded me of another character he was associated with in 2010 but that may be a story for another day.
JT: Oh that brings someone to mind, somewhere I’m not sure we’ll see this season or not. I can’t say I’m excited, but it would be a talking point.
S: If this someone or something does show up on PPV or not, we’ll make sure to mention them on The Power Hour, you can count on us for that!
JT: With that all said, we have a show to finish don’t we?
S: That we certainly do, and looking at the running order, this next match, its a fucking doozie.
JT: Well there’s no point in wasting any more time, let’s continue with the show!!
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Awesome Rap Battles of History
JT: Okay, I may have lied when I said “there’s no point in wasting any more time”. Because our next match is more or less a time waster. It’s a rematch for the United States Championship!! The Miz defends the title he just won back after losing it a few weeks ago in the first place, against former champ R-Truth. On PPV, for some reason!
S: This poor old US Title has been flipping and flopping in the last month so it has. So we went from Miz having three belts, to him having just the US Title. He then loses it to Bret Hart, who then vacates it, R-Truth beats Miz and later on, Truth loses it in a Fatal 4 Way which had the exact same finish as the Diva’s 4 Way earlier on. God dammit!
JT: I mean Miz needed to have some comeuppance against him, but they damn near had him falling into the same losing streak stuff as Jericho. But, now he’s champ again, and he’s gotta defend his belt. I know everyone talks about his Capital Punishment 2011 main event as a real outlier in his career, but at least that had a whole story build. It’s almost weirder to see R-Truth in this sort of generic midcard title chase stuff, what would be reserved for the likes of Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, and like Ricochet in recent years.
S: This is more or less all that he was doing during his first two years in the company though, wasn’t it? Chasing the mid-card belt on whatever brand he was on, or the Tag Titles with John Morrison, maybe get into a Chamber match or a multi-man number one contenders match.
JT: Even then, it felt kind of rare to see him on PPV though. In multi-man stuff yes, but rarely one on one.
S: Oh it definitely was rare to see him on PPV in a one on one so it was. You could probably count on one hand the amount of singles matches he had on PPV from 2008-2010.
JT: So the actual circumstances of this match, I was pretty hazy on until we came back to this. But I remembered this happening for a very specific reason. After a solid reaction for The Miz coming out, he gets on the mic and does something…unique? You want to tell the readers who may not know about this?
S: Oh god. I might as well remind them. Straight from the files of Botchamania, Miz comes out, he tells us, and the folks in Long Island that he’s going to do a little rap for us to the tune of R-Truth’s theme song as his backing track. So he makes his re-entrance, he starts to rap a little bit, aaaaand then he forgets his fucking lines.
JT: All me to read from the scripture for you: “You come out here, dancing all around, you won’t be so happy when I pin you to the ground/The Miz, The Miz, The Miz, The Miz/Listen up now, pay attention to this rhyme, I’m the United States Champ for the 2nd time/The Miz x4”. Notice how that’s only about 2 lines. The face commentators actually call him out on his shit, but Cole compares him to DJ Jazzy Jeff and says he loves the Miz. The worst is yet to come I fear. Also, DJ Jazzy Jeff? That’s the name you land on? In 2010??? Nobody else comes to mind, not a single other rapper?
S: This was such a common trend with the commentators for this five or six year span until the brand split happened. Cole, Lawler and JBL, those three gobshites would give us some of the most fucking random references you ever heard for a product in the 2010s. People gave out about Mauro Ranallo’s pop culture references, and I agree that he would overdo it to a point but at least he knew what was culturally relevant or would have been relevant to wrestling fans. Also, I’m pretty sure Jazzy Jeff was a DJ and a producer and not much of a rapper, Will Smith was the rapper of that group. So your reference is a bit shit, Cole.
JT: Yeah it begs the question, is Cole at this time just totally out of touch with pop culture, or is it Vince’s lack of knowledge being shot through Cole like a glorified microphone? Either way, it made for some rough listening. I doubt this will be our last instance of something like this.
S: That’s a tough question because Vince is so stuck within his own bubble that he assumed System of a Down weren’t as popular as Limp Bizkit in 2003 and he assumed nobody knew what a burrito was, so him knowing who Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith are would be very impressive. I feel like Cole might be culturally out of the loop at this stage but that’s probably due to the fact that Cole probably isn’t much of a rap guy so he’s going off who was mainstream popular while he was still a journalist and not in WWE. It could be either or.
JT: And of course, we can’t rule out the third option, that someone unknown fed it to Cole or Vince. Maybe a Kevin Dunn or a Michael PS Hayes type. Who’s to say really. What did you think of his like, 2 verses?
S: I mean it was dreadful, let’s be honest here, he forgot his lines halfway through and a good 40% of the words were his own ring name so I can’t give it any praise. Wouldn’t be the last time he did a shit rap too.
JT: Oh yeah, I know for a fact he’d come out with a rap on Monday as well. I suppose it was a “make good” on forgetting his lines here, in the sense that someone who ran over your foot with their car might make good for you by promptly backing right back over your foot. And would you believe, after all the shit talking I just did now, I actually LOVED this as a kid?
S: I have several questions, one of those being why did you love this as a kid? Was it because it was a parody and parody was becoming popular on YouTube at the time?
JT: That definitely had to do with it. You know I was gobbling up all the song parodies I could find, be that by The Key of Awesome, Ryan Higa, and even regrettably Shane Dawson. If you took some song and used lyrics that came close at all to being in rhythm with the original, you can bet I’d be laughing my head off. Number 2, I was a 12 year old white boy from Long Island. The closest I’d been to rap music were the lyrical geniuses The Black Eyed Peas, and like Eminem playing through someone’s mic on Xbox live. Finally, of course, I was a big Miz fan. Many of the heels in WWE at the time were guys who were already established by the time I started watching. Edge, Orton, Jericho, Big Show, all already big deals. But Miz was this rising star, climbing up the ranks with a big attitude and strong delivery. I hitched my wagon to him by the end of 2009, and I was ready to see him doing big things. And that means believing in things I had 0 reason to believe in. Like this rap.
S: God almighty, you’re just after smacking me in the face with a hard dose of what kids our age thought was extremely cool in 2010. I, however, NEVER liked Shane Dawson. Even as a kid, he never appealed to me and I found him to be a giant edgelord, even judging from YouTube thumbnails.
JT: He was never my favorite either, but I’m not gonna lie and act like he wasn’t there. So as you could tell, my tastes at the time were not always great. Including in the wrestling world. Part of this season will be seeing how well one of my favorite wrestlers at the time holds in The Miz, as the phase was mostly over by this time next year. So was I just seeing a mirage? In this case, yes, definitely. That includes his sterling final line: “Don’t leave your seats, something’s about to blossom, I’m the Miz, and I’m awesommmeeee”. We’ll see if that applies as a whole as the season goes on. Now, can R-Truth win the US Belt back, just like Matt Hardy won it at the Great American Bash 2008? Or will the Miz’s new reign continue? Shall we find out?
S: Hate to be THAT guy, James, but Matt Hardy actually lost the belt at the Great American Bash in 2008. Or is this some joke that I’m not aware of?
JT: No, you’re right, I’m just misremembering things. So I’ll reframe it this way, which half of “Awesome Truth” is the Awesome part? We’re going to find out, right now! Right from the start, there are some Miz is Awesome/Awful chants. I’m pretty it’s just “awful”, but I might’ve been the only one saying Boo-urns. So, Truth was in control till Miz catches him with a boot after Truth tried a leapfrog out of the corner. We get a rest hold and a Daniel Bryan chant. As the pace is slow, King says Miz has started to find more aggression and more success lately, which Cole credits Do you remember that feud at all?
S: Which feud are we referring to here? The feud with Bryan on NXT? Or the feud with John Cena in 2009?
JT: Sorry, let me clarify, the 2009 John Cena feud that culminated at The Bash 2009.
S: Ah yes, the famous first Cena vs. Miz feud. What do I remember from that feud? Basically everything from it, where Miz would strangely call out Cena on episodes of Raw, claiming victories since Cena wasn’t bothered with him. Then Cena beat his ass at The Bash, Jeremy Piven then happened on Raw, then Cena beat Miz again and that was that.
JT: Funny that his “turning point” was essentially a more serious version of the Jericho/Goldberg storyline huh?
S: It really is, but I’d also reckon that the feud with Cena and then winning his contract back on Raw under the disguise of The Calgary Kid, only to reveal himself and then start to wrestle in trunks. I do reckon that once he started wrestling in the trunks, that was a complete reset for The Miz and gradually, he’d build from there.
JT: I agree. Ditching the fedora and cargo shorts for the short tights look he has still to this day definitely marked the end of his first era, where he was a douche but a douche who always got what was coming to him. The gear change really put him on the track where he was actually a serious midcard wrestler rather than just an obstacle to be overcome.
S: Exactly, the gear he had during his first three years, as boyriffic as it was and how it totally caught my attention, he was definitely only viewed at a certain level whereas with the gear and look change, completely different guy who could possibly break above that upper mid-card level.
JT: So Cole and King are discussing this, Miz shoves Truth into the post and Truth struggles to get back in the ring, barely beating the count at 9. Miz continues to just pummel him, attacking him in the corner and hitting what’s become a real signature move, the jumping corner clothesline. Truth manages to kick out at 2, but Miz is still controlling the pace by going after the ribs. After a while, Truth finally hits a major move as he hits Suplex Facebuster, only for Miz to immediately sling him face first into the Turnbuckle. Still from there, Truth manages to fight to his feet before getting a Missile Dropkick off the top. He’s starting to get on that title winning roll with clotheslines and a flapjack, followed by a Flatliner, but Miz kicks out at 2. He follows it up by lifting him from a Suplex into a Stunner, but Miz kicks out at 2 again. Neat little move that is, isn’t it?
S: Yeah it was a nice wee move from Truth, kind of reminds of that Suplex into a Cutter which I’m pretty sure Johnny Devine used to do in TNA back when he was in the X-Division. It’s a cool looking move, one of the few in this match which grabbed my attention.
JT: As neat as that move was, sadly it was not enough to win back his title. So he has to try and drag Miz back to the center of the ring, but Miz holds the ropes and Truth is forced to break. He runs at Miz and Miz drops him onto the ropes ribs-first, following up with the Reverse DDT on the knee then the Neckbreaker, but Truth kicks out! Miz lines him up for the corner clothesline again, but this time Truth moves and Miz gets caught up, allowing Truth to hit a Scissor Kick, but again Miz kicks out. Truth goes up top, leaps with a Crossbody, but Miz moves out of the way! Miz goes to grab him, and out of nowhere Truth rolls him up!! 1–2–Kickout!! Truth rolls him up again, 1-2–Kickout!! Truth tries for a Body Scissor into a Roll Up, Miz blocks and pins instead, 1–2–3! Miz out of nowhere beats Truth to retain. And aside from the Stunner and the Scissors Kick, this was a really dull match.
S: This match really bored the arse off me, and that’s saying something considering how I consider myself to be easier to impress than others when it comes to the actual action in the ring but man, this match was as fucking dull as dish water. This match really just showed how limiting the “WWE Style” of 2010 could have been towards the likes of R-Truth. Which is frustrating because we all know how talented he is from watching TNA, like this man has some of the most unique athleticism I’ve ever seen in wrestling. I talked about how different Kofi’s movement around the ring was, Truth honestly moves about how a gymnast would, except he’s a heavyweight and it comes across even more impressive. This match was really boring and was made more frustrating because of the fact that I know Truth could be capable of so much more if he were allowed.
JT: On top of that, I know Miz is capable of more. He’s not a world beating working by any means, but he knows how to at least put a story into a match. This was a Raw TV match stretched out to 15 minutes. That makes the fact that the World Title match was so short worse too. Like there’s no reason this had to go 15 minutes if the World Heavyweight Championship was only going 10. Flip those two around and we could just throw this match out while probably getting a better Fatal 4 Way than we got.
S: Yeah exactly, I can’t believe that these two lads got fifteen minutes given what the material of the match entailed. Definitely should be swapping the run times with this and the World Title match, for sure.
JT: This was arguably not even worth putting on PPV. Like I get that they probably had this so Miz could get his win back on Truth on PPV after losing at the last 3, but he didn’t even win convincingly! It’s like they booked this with half a mind to do a rematch with them on Raw, which defeats the purpose of putting this match on this show in the first place!
S: Yeah I know, this match was merely just there to get Miz on this show and get his win back but the way this match was booked made it feel like we may be getting a rematch on the following Raw, but that makes even less sense because Miz won clean as a whistle. Also won like a face if you get me. Just weird, honestly.
JT: Just as a whole, a very uninspiring match up, pretty much across the board. Honestly as much as we trashed his rap and his ability to rap, at least there it felt like somebody was trying to do something, tell some sort of story, add some kind of life to this whole program.
S: I mean, I preferred the rap to the match because at least it was memorable as opposed to the match. Definitely the weakest match on this show by a mile, for sure.
JT: Let’s just toss this one in the trash heap and move on.
S: Agreed, let’s forget this match ever happened. What’s up next anyways?
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Family Matters
JT: Up next, we have a 6 Person Intergender Tag Team Match for the Unified Tag Team Championships! But before we get to the match, I’m going to cut back to a promo from earlier in the show. Backstage, the reigning champs the Hart Dynasty have a lot on their mind with Uncle Bret gone. Can they really compete so soon? Well, Natalya says they’re used to adversity, they’ll make Bret proud. Tyson says that Usos said it was “wrong place, wrong time” since they just wanted to make a name for themselves, but tonight they get the Usos where they make their name, the ring. DH Smith closes it out by saying Bret signed the Usos so that they could earn everything, and tonight they’re going to fight for him. Any thoughts at all about this interview? Because frankly, I have none other than “Wow Natalya has aged well”.
S: I know right? Natalya has really looked the exact same for the last twelve years and pretty much during her entire WWE career, it’s crazy. I thought it was a grand but nothing to write home about promo, hate to correct you again James but this match wasn’t actually for the Unified Tag Titles, it’s just a straight up 6 Person Tag.
S: Goldust AND Mark Henry around this time just got paired up with fucking every babyface on the roster, holy god. This era of Mark Henry too, the do nothing, smiling babyface Mark Henry. Just doesn’t work for him at all. Great call by Cole saying The Usos have unlimited potential as well, he knew what their ceiling would be.
JT: Will they flash that potential with a big win here tonight? Let’s find out as Tamina & Natalya start this off, sadly with a lot of Murderfly mentions at the start. Fuck Jimmy Snuka. So Natalya does a lot of chain wrestling, and she’s so good that she forces Tamina to quickly run and tag out. Jey Uso is in now (he’s got the shorts) with DH Smith. Arm drag takedown, belly to belly by DH. Jey gets hung up, Smith whips Kidd across with a Dropkick into Jey. The Harts were doing well, until Jey backed Tyson into the Uso corner, allowing Jimmy tk take control of the match off the tag. Little Stryker nitpicks here as he tries to put Jimmy & Jey over by saying “The Usos are taking Raw by storm”, but like the NXT guys are quite literally storming Raw and being a big deal. You can’t really act like they’re a big deal right now when Barrett and co exist.
S: In that case, your boy Mr. Stryker should be telling us that The Usos are taking the TAG Division by storm. Little bit of a lesson for the teacher, from a college student.
JT: Astute observation. I also have to ask now about a bit of commentary that comes shortly afterwards. I didn’t note who said this (I believe it was Stryker) who said “Usos are new generation, they’ve got college degrees, they don’t wear grass skirts”. And what do you think of this? Because I’m of half a mind here.
S: Well on one hand, it can totally be taken in the context that Stryker is saying that other Samoans are the stereotype that wrestling has portrayed them as for the last 25 or so years. On the other hand, he’s also saying that The Usos are changing people’s perceptions on what American Samoans are actually like. It’s a really weird one.
JT: Yeah I think it goes weird because it’s in kayfabe, so like in kayfabe, that’s what their family is genuinely like. They are those stereotypes that we now all know are racist and weird. So like, you can’t erase the history of that shit. But on the other hand, they’re using the Usos as shorthand for Samoans being like, normal people. So yay Usos for being like normal people, but boo that it’s like an exception for Samoans.
S: Yeah it’s just a strange line from Stryker really because it just gives off mixed messages. There’s probably about five other ways he could say it where it would’ve came across miles better. Not much mention towards who their auld fella is until Stryker drops a brief mention of him too.
JT: Yeah I mean he was (relatively) normal back during his day. Anyways, back to the match! Kidd hops on the ropes for a Lucha Libre style arm drag. Jimmy goes for a dive, Tyson cuts him off with a kick. He sends himself to the apron with another kick shortly thereafter, he knocks Jey back away to the floor, he leaps over a sliding tackle attempt Jimmy, who is now on the floor. He goes for some high risk offense onto Jimmy to the floor, only to get caught with a Samoan Drop into the barricade!! This was the spot of the match, this was pretty sick, Tyson just crunched against the barricade.
S: Yeah that was a real gnarly looking bump which Kidd took against the barricade alright. Definite spot of the match, and for good reason, it looked great!
JT: It’s essentially the “move out of the way and let them hit the barricade” on steroids, essentially doing the same thing, but with all of Jimmy’s weight behind it. Plus it’s a lot more creative. It’s probably the spot I’ve been thinking about the most since watching the show. Just a great “crunch”.
S: The way Kidd just slips down the barricade too was awesome, like throwing a raw egg at a wall and watching the yolk slip down the wall.
JT: So they bring Tyson back in and really lay into him, as Jimmy whips Jey into the corner with a Hip Attack to the face. Kidd kicks out, but there’s more beatdown by the heels. TK manages to move out of the way of a Hip Attack in the corner, but Jey tags in and knocks DH off the apron. He runs back at Tyson, but Tyson with a back body drop and tags in Natalya! She and Tamina go at it, with a big pair of Suplex by Natty. She hits a Michinoku Driver, she covers, but Jimmy pulls Natalya off the cover. Davey comes in and clotheslines Jimmy over the ropes, sending him with his brother. As they try to recuperate, Tyson leaps from the heavens with a Springboard Senton to the floor, taking out both of them!!
S: There were a lot of nice moves in the exchanges you just mentioned there, I always like seeing a good Michinoku Driver and that Springboard Senton from Kidd too. Surely that’s the safest that move has ever been done before, right?
JT: Cole mentioned how much potential they had, and we see this from a behind the scenes perspective here too. Perfectly caught Tyson, much improved from Tamina’s other relative Sim Snuka.
S: Oh you just know if Sim were there, the number of injuries due to mis-caught dives would skyrocket.
JT: Back in the ring, Natalya misses the Discus Clothesline, and gets caught with a Samoan Drop by Tamina!! Tamina now goes up top, and leaps off the top!! She’s going to murder Natalya!! No, Natalya moved out of the way!! She gets back up, and this time scores with the Discus Clothesline!! She hooks the leg, 1–2–3!! The Hart Dynasty prevails!!
S: Was not expecting Nattie to win with the Discus Clothesline, let me tell ya that much. I didn’t think the match was out of this world or anything but for what it was, I really liked it. Already you can see that The Usos do look like a team for the future and that Tyson Kidd is a very stellar talent on the roster. I thought it was a step up from Miz vs. Truth and probably better than the Diva’s 4 Way earlier on, I thought that the two tag teams worked well together. Would love to be seeing these lads in a PPV tag match soon enough. Also, the air which Tamina got on that Splash was really impressive, clearly this was the point where she hadn’t sustained lots of injuries in her career. Overall though, a thumbs up from me.
JT: Well this is gonna show how much of a super fan I was at the time, but I actually knew that was her like, not submission finisher. So I knew it was academic when she hit Natty by Nature (idk if it was called that yet)! As for the match itself, honestly I was pretty bored honestly. That said, it was a step up from the Divas and US Title matches because it had those flashes of greatness with the Springboard, the Samoan Drop to the barricade, and generally the Usos offense as a whole. Like those running hip attacks in the corner are a fun move that I wish weren’t confined to like, exclusively Samoans. You just get all that steam, you get the sound of them hitting the corner hard, and it seems pretty safe since you can just hit the post or slump out of the way.
S: You know who wasn’t a Samoan who used that move though? Justin Credible, he busted out the old Running Bum Tackle a few times during his ECW days.
JT: Well for all that can be said about old Aldo Montoya, he knew which moves looked cool. Even if he gave them silly names. I’m looking at you, That’s Incredible.
S: That was just the style of the time in ECW, everyone had funny names for their moves. For every FrankenMikey, Nutcracker Suite and Kryptonite Krunch, there’s an Evenflow DDT. Write in what YOUR favorite funny move name is to our email. Which doesn’t exist yet…
JT: Regardless, this was something that at least makes me interested to see if we get any more of the Usos this season.
S: Which will probably be in like three PPVs time or something sad like that because I don’t remember there being Tag Title matches at SummerSlam or Money in the Bank.
JT: Even as an avid watcher, I did not remember much of any of the tag division stuff at the time, so I can’t say things are looking up for the Harts unfortunately.
S: First Bret gets taken out by The Nexus and now the probability of Davey and Tyson not being on PPV increasing? *Bret voice* Pffft, some story arc.
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Luck of the Irish
JT: Alright ladies and gentlemen it’s now time for our MAIN EVENT!! It’s John Cena defending his WWE Championship in, wouldn’t you guess it, a Fatal 4 Way match!! It’s Cena against Edge against Randy Orton against Sheamus!! And before we get to that, we’ve got some setting dressing in the forms of promos from earlier in the show. First up is The Champ himself. So the question posed at Big Match John Is this: are you worried about if the NXT S1 rookies will interfere? Well Cena says they’ve made enemies of everyone while trying to be a part of WWE, and they’ve solidified the lines of us vs them. He likes to think that everyone will stand united against the rookies. The next question is just as tough, does he expect to leave as Champion, after all the first 2 champs lost their title in the first two 4 Ways? Well, he’s not going out to go out to win, but he’s not gonna go out to lose (??) and he assures the audience that whoever walks out as champ will have to earn it. The next promo is by Edge, who could win his 10th world title tonight. As suchX Edge says it’s time for a pop psychology lesson. He says Cena’s going to be thinking about how every other Champion has lost their title in the 4 way tonight, Randy Orton claims to be fully healed but Edge says that’s not the truth, and he then adds that Sheamus knows he doesn’t belong in the ring with the 3 of them. Edge says the only thing going through his mind is walking out as Champion. Any thoughts about our promos tonight?
S: Cena’s promo was very much the style he would cut at this time, serious and to the point but that line about not going out to win but going out not to lose is definitely contradictory. Edge’s promo, very good as you’d typically expect from him at this time, he’s really great at this sort of promo. The line about Cena going in thinking about how every other Champion in the 4 Ways have lost their titles was a cool line. Not enough mountain chat though, more mountains of omnipotence needed.
JT: And let me add something, regarding Edge’s promo. He said “Sheamus doesn’t really belong” highlighting he’ll be in the ring with Edge, Cena and Orton. Now, I think it’s fair to say this show has some real B, if not C PPV material on it. But this match, I think it’s more than main event worthy.
S: Definitely, I do think that this is definitely a PPV main event worthy match because you’ve got three of the established top guys of the last six years to this point and having Sheamus in there with three experienced heads does nothing but good for him. Fun fact, this main event is the exact same as the 4 Way main event from Backlash 2007, except with Sheamus in there instead of Shawn Michaels!
JT: And I will say, that was a damn good match. So this is a promising match. As the promo highlights, everyone in this main event are former WWE Champions. Cena puts over how big a deal it is to win the title and how hard it is to keep it. It goes to highlight Edge’s career accomplishments, as the Ultimate Opportunist in a match where the odds aren’t in the Champ’s favor. Still, he ate an RKO from Randy Orton for saying Randy’s not 100%. This will be scary for everyone, in a match this unpredictable, the RKO out of nowhere could change everyone’s fortunes in a second. He is violent and dangerous and nobody will stand in his way, but Sheamus comes from a long line of Celtic warriors. He is just as dangerous, and he’s dominant in just a short year, but Cena is not intimidated. Overall I’d say this was a nice little video package, cutting from competitor to competitor by showing when they beat up each other. It gives everyone a reason to be a threat to win the Title.
S: Definitely, this promo package put over everyone who’s in the match, highlighted their prior accomplishments and put over the fact that they all have a believable chance of winning. You can tell that they’re all the focal points of the match, as opposed to the World Title match which was essentially built around “When’s Kane showing up then?”.
JT: And unlike earlier in the show, these guys are all pretty damn popular. Randy Orton got the biggest pop of the show to that point when he came out, Edge got a pretty loud pop too. I’ll also say, it was super cool to see his pyro in person. Sheamus doesn’t get as big a reaction as Edge & Orton but he gets a decent reaction, and he’s got something that everyone else doesn’t. Seán, are you ready to have a talk about Sheamus’s original theme song?
S: I’m ready to talk about it, James because let’s face it, it’s a glorious piece of music. Do I know what’s being said in it half of the time? Not really. Is he actually saying “lobster head”? Who knows, all I know is that it’s a great theme song and very fitting for old Sheamo.
JT: I also love this song. First off, because of the memes. Lobster head and too many limes were good memes. But it’s also one of the last full original songs that have been made for WWE. That it and of itself is special. And finally, it’s just good. I don’t know if it’s really my place to call it this, but it feels distinctly Irish, or at least American stereotype Irish. But it’s just unique and catchy and there’s actual care and effort put into it. I honestly didn’t mind when it essentially was changed, and I think his 2nd theme is pretty solid on its own merits, but the more time that’s passed, the more I miss this song.
S: I’d say it’s more American-Irish than anything if you ask me, like a way less in your face Dropkick Murphys. It does feel Irish in terms of whoever the vocalist is though, he’s probably from Massachusetts or Boston but sure look, I wish Sheamus could’ve came out to an Irish Rebel song too. All I’m saying is, Sheamus coming out to The Pogues or The Wolfe Tones would’ve made for a cracking entrance. This will definitely do though. Not enough limes.
JT: Well considering his current tag partners Ridge Holland and Butch (Butch!), odds are Sheamus (the character) is no Irish Rebel.
S: Yeah he’s more peaky blinders or Brad Pitt in Snatch more than an Irish Rebel these days. Although, I do love his Brad Pitt in Snatch look, it’s very cool and he rocks it very well.
JT: Expect plenty of Sheamus love in this season folks. One last little thing I thought was funny was commentary talking about how “We might never see Triple H again” after Sheamus beat him down at Extreme Rules. Imagine the last decade without Triple H, things would be so different. Of course, the biggest reaction of the show goes to Cena, who gets a huge pop. It’s noted that Cena has only 25% odds in this, but King doesn’t know if mathematics work out when it comes to the intangibles of Cena. It’s “Cena’s psyche vs Randy’s shoulder vs Sheamus’s rage vs Edge’s experience”. Are you ready to go?
S: Let’s go, James! It’s about time to take this one home.
JT: Bell rings, Edge goes after Orton, Sheamus goes after Cena. Cena throws out Sheamus, Orton throws out Edge, leaving us with a showdown between Cena & Orton. John lifts him and goes for the Attitude Adjustment, but Randy escapes and goes for the RKO, but it gets blocked, and then the heels come in and end the moment. Edge grabs Orton, brings him to the floor, and throws him into the announce table, allowing the heels team up on Cena. We get the typical “Let’s Go Cena/Cena sucks” chant, as well as the “Cena gets so much emotion out of the fans” talk. Sheamus goes to pose, Edge rolls him up, leading to the two of them fighting as we cut back to the Hart Dynasty, Evan Bourne and R-Truth watching backstage for our reason in particular. Edge goes up top, but Orton hangs him up on the top, allowing him to go for a Superplex, only for Sheamus to attack and cut that off. Sheamus then goes to lift for a Powerbomb but Orton fights him off, as Edge gets back up and leaps off the top at Orton but hits Sheamus. Edge ducks a clothesline and hits a Dropkick to push Sheamus out of the ring, Orton then clotheslines Edge out, it’s Cena & Orton again. And I’ll just stop here and say so far, this match has done a good job of cycling through everyone, using the multi-man set up to its advantage. Everyone is going after everyone, while also playing off their rivalries and treating the action like what would happen if you had 4 different people fighting at once rather than splitting it into singles matches.
S: Yeah definitely, I agree with you there. This is an example of multi-man match booking and match layout done right, not to perfection, but done the right way because how many times have we watched a Triple Threat or a Four Way and the match becomes one or two lads laid out on the floor and a singles match is happening? Far too many.
JT: Of course as we say this, the match is brought down to a one on one, but it’s so they can have the big Cena/Orton face off, so I’m okay with it honestly. Orton gets the best of Cena, as he brings Cena back in the ring from the apron with a Suplex, then does his methodical stomp beatdown on Cena. He goes for his signature knee drop, but Cena moves, and Sheamus comes back in to break up the party. Cena starts to come back on Sheamus with punches, a Suplex, and he goes for the AA, but Sheamus escapes and hits the Irish Curse Backbreaker! He covers, but Cena kicks out at 2. Sheamus goes to put the match away with the High Cross, but he lets go of his own finisher because he has to side step an Edge spear, with the Canadian hitting the post instead. Meanwhile, Orton is back in, knocking down Cena and then Sheamus, sending them both to the apron so he can hit a Double Hangman DDT on both of them!! This may just be me being on Year 2 of Fandom and recognizing all his moves, but I feel like this face run Orton is on really is when the “Vintage Orton” of it all starts becoming fully realized. Like this is when his signature sequences really become the full on signature stuff that he does for years, if that makes sense? You’re the longer tenured fan, you tell me if you got that feeling as well.
S: The same as you honestly, this is basically the offense which Orton had been getting over since he had started becoming the proper psychotic heel in 2007 and ever since he turned face in time for WrestleMania 26, this just became THE Randy Orton signature moveset which became very popular with me, I must say. So I would agree with you that this is when the “Vintage Orton” became solidified.
JT: Makes sense if we think about it, he’s been a heel since 2005, and heels don’t have comeback sequences the same way faces do. But once you have the comeback sequence and signature moves, they’re gonna stick around. Like that 5 year heel run was followed by 3.5 years as a face, setting his signature stuff in stone for the rest of his career.
S: It’s also set him up for whether he wants to be a face or a heel as well. It was eight years of establishing the offense but it’s been 9 years of being set up for the rest of his career in either disposition, in terms of his character.
JT: And since we’re here, might as well talk about the “Vintage Orton” stuff we’ll get plenty of. Gotta say, most of his signature stuff, it’s pretty good if you ask me! I mean it definitely felt played out at certain periods in his career but the big Backbreaker, the Scoop Powerslam, the DDT, they’re all pretty money if you ask me.
S: Oh they’re all so damn good and they always get a big reaction. As I was the resident wrestling move recipient on the trampoline in my family, I will say that I was on the receiving end of like all of Randy Orton’s moveset from my older brother. He was a huge Randy Orton fan by the way.
JT: Shoutout to my poor brother who tapped out to the Orton Backbreaker. I hadn’t considered it before then, but then sort of bent over headlock is a nasty submission, which is probably why he doesn’t do it that way. Easier to do a fake little snap than actually hold them and actually choke them (sorry Joe!).
S: The Orton Backbreaker, I will say, is a move I was not expecting to be as sore as it actually was. It was definitely a move which gave my body a bit of a shock so Joe T, I can relate with you.
JT: Audience for reference, that move managed to make the ban list! As in the “I’m not gonna use that one on him because it’s too sore” alongside the likes of the Liontamer (but not the Walls of Jericho mind you) and shoot punches and kicks to the face. It’s scary stuff. Tread lightly with that one.
S: We always made sure to be extra careful with our strikes, we were the masters of the fake punches. Kicks on the other hand, I did take my fair share of Brogue Kicks, Big Boots and Orton Punts (don’t worry about that last one, we worked it and knew the dangers of a kick to the head).
JT: So with all those moves, Randy is in the driver’s seat in this match! However, his nemesis Edge comes back in with a boot to Orton to shut him down. Then the Ultimate Opportunist looked to pick his spot with a Spear to John Cena, but Cena dodged out of the way and hit Y on Xbox or Triangle on PlayStation to get the Super Cena Comeback, complete with the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Like Edge before him, he wanted to hit his finisher and put the match away, but Orton came in from behind with the Backbreaker. Then as Edge makes his way up, the Apex Predator gets his comeback sequence with clothesline, clothesline, Scoop Powerslam. The Viper got coiled to strike with the RKO, but in came Sheamus and tossed him out of the ring. He’d charge at Cena, but Cena would send him up and out, leaving just him and Edge in the ring. Cena manages to make his way up top, with Sheamus in hot pursuit from the floor, but Orton pulls Sheamus off the apron and he pulls Cena down on the ropes, only to get a Spear from Edge that knocks him off the apron into the barricade!! Before he can really capitalize though, Cena grabs Edge and pulls him down into the STFU, locking it in right smack dab in the middle of the ring. Sheamus & Orton are both down, and Edge claws for the ropes, can he hold out?? Well Cena won’t give him a chance to get the break, because he pulls Edge back to the middle!! Edge won’t be able to hang on much longer!! And luckily for him, and everyone but Cena really, Sheamus comes in and breaks up the hold. Just as quickly as he broke it up, he grabs Edge and tries to cover, but Edge kicks out at 2! If I had to describe this match in one word so far, I’d call it frenetic. I feel like at this point, it’s living up to the hype and build.
S: Definitely, this match is definitely living up to the promo package before this. No offense to the World Title scene on SmackDown but my god, these lads just feel like such bigger deals than the four in the World Title match earlier. The Long Island crowd just cares for these guys far more than the four guys earlier. The WWE Title as well just feels like it’s a far bigger deal too. It was quite relieving to see that this match felt PPV caliber too compared to a lot of the matches on this card. Up to this point, definitely a buzz about the match.
JT: I mentioned it before each match, but Edge, Cena, Orton got the 3 biggest reactions of the show coming out. And Sheamus would’ve at least been in the top half, and is probably only beat out by Big Show from the WHC match. It’s night and day between the two. Now the question will be this: Are the World Title matches short because nobody cares or does nobody care because the matches are short? Hopefully in this arc, we’ll be able to figure out this chicken/egg conundrum if more of a pattern emerges. And if not, we’ll surely have reasoning as to why not.
S: Yeah it’s going to be interesting to discuss the World Heavyweight belt throughout these PPVs because that belt sure had some ups and downs during its last few years of existence as the “Second World Title” in WWE.
JT: But anyways, back to the top belt in the company. Sheamus lifts Edge up for a Powerslam, but Edge slips behind and hits the Edge-O-Matic for a nearfall. Out of nowhere, Cena comes in from behind and goes for the AA, and Edge escapes, this time shoving him right into an RKO!! Orton covers Cena, 1—2—Sheamus pushes the ref over!! Before Orton can get over to Sheamus, he gets up and gets hit with a Spear!! And then Edge gets hit with a Brogue Kick that knocks him out of the ring!! Is this his moment, can he prove he belongs at the top with his second WWE Championship win? Well not this time, because thanks to inexperience Sheamus panics for half a second with Edge falling out of the ring, meaning he’s a second or too late when he covers Orton, who kicks out at 2! Maybe a second or two earlier and he could’ve reaped the benefits of the Spear. After this, Edge is back up and pulls Orton out of the ring, with Sheamus coming out after them. In a brief moment of cooperation, Edge & Orton grab Sheamus and into the laps of the commentary team! Orton then goes for the RKO to Edge, but Edge pushes him off and hits the Spear into the barricade!! Both men go down, and we cut to the guy watching the match from earlier, when suddenly the NXT Rookies attack the midcard!! They wreck the set, and now they’re coming down to the ring!! To harp again on the difference between the WHC and World Title matches, this was almost a certainty to happen given how involved they had been the past few weeks, but guess what? They didn’t beat that horse to death in the promo package, and they essentially caught everyone napping! Lord knows I had a “Oh my god I forgot about them” moment as they stormed to the ring, with the commentators running for the hills.
S: I really like that, the commentary team remember what happened to them the last time they stormed to the ring so they’re getting the fuck out of dodge. Great way to get across that these lads are major threats to the company and everyone around the ring. Another thing the promo package did was not mentioning the possible threat of the Nexus. Total opposite to what Kane’s role was to the World Title match and it worked to perfection.
JT: Once again the eerie vibe of no commentary comes over the broadcast as the NXT Rookies beat up stage hands and prepare to rush the ring. Darren Young is the first to hit the ring, and this time Cena is ready as he scoops him up and nails the AA!! But it’s not nearly enough and he gets mobbed again!! Yet, as Cena predicted, there’s a united front!! Edge pulls Barrett out of the ring, but it’s all for naught as he too gets mobbed and battered!! WAIT SHEAMUS IN THE RING!! 1—2—3!! SHEAMUS WINS THE TITLE OUT OF NOWHERE!! He grabs the title and runs through the crowd, he’s WWE Champion again!! His first win was a shock, and he’s somehow managed it again!! The Rookies seem to notice for a second and look to go after him, but then again turn their attention to Cena, with a Superman Punch from Tarver, Big Lariat from Sheffield, Wasteland from Barrett and the 450 Splash from Gabriel!! Sheamus is now at the top of the ramp and celebrates, only for the rookies to chase him up the ramp and to the back, leaving us with Cena, Orton and Edge all selling to Daniel Bryan chants as the show ends. I don’t think this title change gets the props it deserves. We all remember the shocking first win he had, but I’d say this one is nearly up there in terms of surprise factor, it totally caught me off guard at the time.
S: I actually prefer the way he won the title the second time as opposed to the first time he won it back at TLC in 2009, because when he beat Cena then, it was a Tables Match so Cena didn’t have to eat the pin and the way Sheamus won was always treated as “Cena slipped up, that is why Sheamus won the title”. This title win, however, was such a brilliant shock victory and it wasn’t as if he won because Cena slipped on a banana peel. No, he saw the opportunity while Cena was down and amidst all the chaos, he snuck in the backdoor and won the title. Right man, right place, right time and his music didn’t even hit as soon as he won either! He just won and then we hear nothing, no announcement, no commentary, no music. It was really cool.
JT: Another thing about this is the timing of it all. I mean that both in regard to the match and just overall timing. As far as overall timing, I hadn’t given up on Sheamus being a World Champion again, but for him to win it again so soon really cemented to me that he was a guy WWE cared about. I didn’t expect him to win it again so soon, and yet he did, so bravo Sheamus! As for the match, I love how quickly it happens. Sometimes these have a big, long period where everyone is done and the audience can figure out what’s about to happen. We’ve seen this sort of thing happen before with Money in the Bank Cash Ins. But I like how it’s almost the second they go after Edge, he runs in and gets the pin. Everyone barely has time to process Sheamus winning before it happens. So big, dramatic, slow 1—2—3, it’s like everyone realized what happened only halfway through the count that there was even a cover.
S: Exactly, I think it’s so fucking good as well because everyone’s focus is shifted toward what’s going on with the Nexus that it just comes out of nowhere when everyone least expected it. Very good job done here with the finish.
JT: So what are your final thoughts on this match as a whole and this closing storyline for the show?
S: Definitely the best 4 Way of the night, by a long old marhon, I thought it was a grand main event but nothing that would’ve made it a true classic PPV main event, if you get me? There were definitely a lot of positives about it, which is why I’d give it a thumbs up. Love seeing Sheamus win the WWE Title for the second time too, doing it for the lads back home. As an angle, I thought it was booked very well and it did its job in making the Nexus out to be chaotic, as well as the finish being a shock to the audience. Thumbs up!
JT: Yeah I agree. I think it did what was expected of it well, I think it managed to feel like a big match on a show with a lot of small matches, and I think it managed to connect with the finish in a pretty exciting way. That said though, it didn’t exactly light the world on fire. I think a sign of a great show is when you have a match with this sort of strong booking and fun action in the middle of a show, y’know? Like you look at some of the all time great shows, and you’ve got this sort of stuff added on top of a great main event. But as a main event itself on a show with, as we’ve discussed, not overwhelming match quality to be kind, it’s not some match of the year.
S: It definitely isn’t a match of the year candidate in 2010, or probably WWE for that matter, but on this show it stands head and shoulders above like 80% of the stuff we saw.
JT: Yeah I’ll say, at least we ended this show on something of a high note, even if as fans this was a “low point” because the rookies had run roughshod again and now John Cena has lost his title and to Sheamus of all people!
S: The Irish reign supreme yet again in WWE, we’re back on top and it felt so good. The only time wrestling ever got mainstream coverage in Ireland around this time was basically because of Shambo himself was so good on him because he’s a great spokesperson to promote wrestling. Listen to an interview with Sheamus and he’s always well spoken.
JT: I sure do hope so because I think it’s about time Sheamus got his due from around this time and by god, James and Seán are going to be those guys dammit!
S: I sure do hope so because I think it’s about time Sheamus got his due from around this time and by god, James and Seán are going to be those guys dammit!
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Powering Down
JT: Alright, so that’ll close the book on Fatal 4 Way!! Now before we go to our usual closing proceedings, mind indulging me in one last story time from the show?
S: Definitely! Do tell me another one of your tales from your live experience at Fatal 4 Way!
JT: So remember how I was saying on my way into the show, there was a big line for the parking lot with guys walking up and down trying to sell shirts? Well guess what? We snagged some on the way out at a lower price! I don’t even know if it still fits me, but it’s always nice to have some show specific merch to remember the fun times by.
S: Oh wowwww, an official Fatal 4 Way PPV t-shirt? Fabulous. Look at the lads there folding their arms, Sheamus biting his celtic pendant and everything. How many people do you think have that same t-shirt you’ve just sent me?
JT: Not many I suspect, considering this is not some beloved show with a really excellent shirt. That means it’s likely limited to the people who went to this show, the people who cared enough to buy a shirt (so you can likely rule out a lot of the parents who took their kids to this). So I’d probably suspect it’s only in the hundreds. Which may not sound like only a few, but consider that as a total next time you go to a show and see like, a dozen people just at your particular show in the same exact shirt, be that for Bullet Club, John Cena merchandise, etc.
S: Yeah I’d expect the number to be pretty low alright. Honestly, if that shirt still fits you, I think that shirt would make for such great ironic wearing in public or at a random wrestling show. I think it’d be perfect for that sort of thing to totally confuse people.
JT: Oh yeah, I gotta wear that to like a GCW show or something of that ilk. Maybe I should’ve worn it to the AEW show I went to, oh well. Anyways, back to business as usual! Seán, what’s your Match of the Night, and who is your MVP for tonight?
S: Ooh boy, this show really is slim pickings in terms of who I think is a worthy MVP because not many people stand out on this show and it’s very weird. For Match of the Night, I really liked Drew vs. Kofi and Bourne vs. Jericho but like the match which felt like the biggest deal and had the bigger angle was the main event, but was it better than those two matches? I’m not so sure. If I were to say who came across as MVPs, the only two who came to my mind tonight were Kofi Kingston and Randy Orton. I did appreciate what Sheamus did but I don’t think he stood out like those two previously mentioned. For my Match of the Night, I’m going to say the opener between Kofi and Drew was the Match of the Night and Kofi is also my MVP. What about you, James?
JT: Yeah this was a tough pick for me, we’ve been starved for choice in back to back episodes really. I was really between the main event and Bourne vs Jericho for my match of the night, and though I initially left the show thinking Bourne vs Jericho was easily my match of the night, I’m really not as sure now. I think I’ll still pick it for sentimental reasons, but I don’t really think of it as the barn burner I thought it was at the time. As for my MVP, I debated giving it to Sheamus for his good psychology in the main event, but honestly I don’t think he was really the main focus of the match. Like he had nice moments but I didn’t come away from this amazed by him. So I’ll probably go for Chris Jericho. His character work as the egotist with a bruised ego was pretty solid, and it was nice to see him bust out some old moves. So Jericho is my MVP, even though I don’t really think he overwhelmed me like past Power Hour MVPs.
S: No, definitely not. Like one thing which I kept asking myself at the end of this show was basically “who the hell am I going to give MVP to?”, because it’s not like our first few seasons where we had Angle, Lesnar and Jericho as our favorites in Season 1. In Season 2, we obviously had MCMG and Jarrett as well, and then last season we had Kota Ibushi, Metalik and Brian Kendrick. This season, I feel like it’s going to be a struggle to muster up MVPs for each show. I have my doubts but we will power on as we always do.
JT: We’re likely going to have to be generous and look towards unexpected places, but so be it. Now before we close things out, I’d just like to have one final discussion now with you. Now that we’ve seen Fatal 4 Way from start to finish, do you think this is a concept that necessitates its own gimmick Pay Per View? And has your opinion changed at all from when you first heard of this show?
S: No it hasn’t changed at all, not one bit. Now I don’t think this show is technically bad, it just doesn’t have a lot of stuff I’d recommend seeing. It was a proper C level PPV if you ask me, it’s on that same level which WWE Breaking Point was on. Not in terms of the quality of the shows but gimmick PPVs which were carried out in a trial but definitely weren’t strong enough to warrant a sequel. Of all the gimmick PPV shows they came up with, I think this is definitely one of, if not, the weakest.
JT: Gotta agree there. Like I said, even as a kid my thought was “A whole show of Fatal 4 Ways? That’s an…interesting choice”. Now to try and give some credit, I think having all three championship 4 Ways result in new champions was a smart way of putting over this show as unpredictable. But the problem is, 4 Ways are just kind of the norm. Even with Breaking Point, you get the idea that submission matches aren’t the norm. But over the years, how many 4 ways have been trotted out for Elimination Chamber, Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank qualifiers? How many number one contenders spots have been obtained through a 4 way? I think you could reasonably build a B PPV like a Judgement Day or something by having a few 4 ways as a special thing, like Unforgiven 2008 having the Championship Scramble matches. But it’s not a sustainable concept for one show, even from the start. Breaking Point is at least one where you come out of it afterwards going “Ok, submission focus puts everyone in a box, this is a no go for next year”. This one was pretty much destined to flop, especially with the Royal Rumble or even the Las Vegas Raw Roulette shows being more unpredictable than this show based around unpredictability. Honestly it kind of feels like they had 11 PPVs planned and were stumped on what to do for the last show, and nobody had any better ideas so they just went with what they had. Like really, it feels almost like Marvel announcing a fake name for one of their planned projects, so as not to give away what the show will actually be about. Like they had Captain America “Snake Society” or something like that before eventually revealing okay, we’ll actually be doing Captain America. Civil War and we wanted it to be a surprise. We’re expecting Fatal 4 Way to be revealed as something else more tantalizing when the time aligned, but nope. That’s all it is, just 4 Ways.
S: We were expecting the return of Fully Loaded and all we got was F4W, Fatal 4 Wa- WAIT A MINUTE?!?! F4W? That’s the exact same acronym as Figure 4 Weekly. Were Bryan Alvarez and Big Vinny Verhei the ones behind the making of this show? Who slipped them the cheque, brother?!
JT: Well I mean they put Bryan Danielson in their new group of fresh faced talent who beat up John Cena, they’re surely on the payroll!! But as lackluster as we can say this show definitely was, I think there’s a real chance things swing the exact opposite direction next time! After all, we go from one of the worst gimmick shows to one of the best! We felt like nobody really stood out much tonight, but stars are made at Money in the Bank!! Next time is the very first Money in the Bank PPV, and all the fun that comes with that!! We’ve already seen Jack Swagger cash in the case and become World Champion, will someone else follow suit next episode?
S: I think we’ll see what the fate of the Money in the Bank briefcases will be next episode because we’ve got not one, but two bloody Money in the Bank matches on our menu next time on the Power Hour! We’ve also got two World Title matches, who will be in them? Here’s a hint, the guys who won the World Titles on this show vs. the guys who lost the titles. We’ll leave the rest up to you.
JT: But until then, this is goodbye from me James!
S: And a namaste from me, Seán!
JT: See you next time! Just watch out at that four way intersection for the Big Train, rolling down the line!!
The JT & Seány Mc Power Hour 