The opening segment should’ve been right up my alley. CM Punk? Count me in… except, unfortunately, this feud with The Shield seems completely superfluous. Put Punk one-on-one with ANY of these three men (yes, even Seth Rollins) and my interested might be perked. But the idea of a 3-on-1 handicap matching being the attraction on a major PPV really grinds my gears. [Read more...]
Last night’s RAW opened right where Survivor Series left off – with the tease of champion vs. champion. This segment was a great way to re-establish The Authority, Randy Orton, and John Cena. And while I question the booking direction going forward (a match “eleven years in the making” only gets a three-week build? really?), at least this feud feels like something fresh. [Read more...]
You know how WWE always seems a little bit… different when it’s overseas? Well, last night’s show opening had to be one of the most bizarre segments ever. Not only did we find out that The Authority was on vacation (really?), we had Brad Maddox and suited-up Kane arguing about Randy Orton’s opponent. The Result? Orton got stuck in a 2-on-1 match against the tag-team champions. Huh? Because, really, WWE, it makes the MOST sense if your HEEL AUTHORITY FIGURES put the HEEL CHAMPION in a handicap match against the BABYFACE CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM…. [Read more...]
For a second time this week, WWE kicked off the show with CM Punk. And while his promo here against The Wyatts was decent, the follow-up match with Curtis Axel was nothing to write home about. We’ve seen these guys do this exact same thing almost every week. Furthermore, Axel continues to look like a tool for coming out and essentially sacrificing himself at the altar of Paul Heyman every week. The IC title is in bad, bad shape, folks. [Read more...]
Raw opened with, surprisingly enough, an actual wrestling match – CM Punk defeated Luke Harper in a good enough segment. I’m still not sold on Luke Harper as a future singles star (size doesn’t necessarily equal success), but I think he stepped up his game quite a bit here. Then again, CM Punk can make pretty much anybody look like a star… that is, anybody except for Ryback. It’s nice to see The Wyatt Family matter again. It’s also nice to see WWE mix in some lower-to-mid card talent with the main event boys. [Read more...]
The most recent edition of Monday Night Draw sent the internet into a fury over a closing angle involving Daniel Bryan and Triple H. During the segment, Triple H told Bryan that he isn’t the one, and while he might be very talented and very popular, so were people like Chris Jericho, Edge, and Rob Van Dam. He went on to say that if any of those guys had been “the one,” they’d all be working for Ted Turner right now. [Read more...]
Since its inception in 1998, the Hell in a Cell match gimmick has seen some incredible battles… and some not-so-incredible ones. But which one is the greatest of all time? Let us know what you think by voting in the poll below. And be sure to watch the next ‘Between the Ropes’ video podcast where we here at Between the Ropes discuss the results of the poll, and give our own favorite Hell in a Cell memories. [Read more...]
Anytime a show opening includes Shawn Michaels, you know you’re in for a treat. Still, this should’ve been so much more. Randy Orton deserves the most credit here for delivering the angriest face and most gravely voice he could muster – his intensity was fantastic. Unfortunately, Shawn Michaels no-sold him for most of the promo. On top of that, the logic here made little-to-no sense.
Hold on to your cowboy hats, folks – last night’s WWE RAW stoked up the hype train in a big way. The show opening, with Big Show getting “fired” by Stephanie McMahon, left me with mixed feelings. I liked the idea here (especially since it set the tone for Show’s re-emergence later in the evening). Unfortunately, Stephanie and Show both had their best Brendan Frasier acting hat on. There are ways to sell moments as believable without being over the top, but that subtlety was overlooked here. [Read more...]
Just announced on Monday Night Raw – John Cena will be returning at Hell in the Cell to challenge Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Cena has been out since SummerSlam with a pretty serious elbow injury. Early reports suggested he might return around Royal Rumble. When rumors popped up that he might return earlier, he quickly shot them down on Twitter.
Does this indicate a panic within WWE over lackluster ratings, or has “superman” John Cena proven once again that injuries simply can’t keep him down?
What do you think about John Cena’s early return? Discuss in the comments below! And be sure to follow Between the Ropes on Facebook and Twitter!
WWE.com is reporting that AJ Lee will not be at Raw tonight due to a concussion suffered at Battleground. She is suffering from “concussion-like symptoms” and is having “headaches and some difficulty remembering her match.”
Last night on Pay-Per-View she defended her Divas Championship against Brie Bella. During the course of the match, she apparently struck her head against the turnbuckle. AJ eventually emerged victorious after help from Tamina.
AJ Lee’s future availability is up in the air depending on how her symptoms progress. Doctors want to see improvement before issuing an impact test.
Stay tuned to Between the Ropes for full coverage.
Hot opening to last night’s WWE, with Damien Sandow and Dolph Ziggler squaring off in a ‘battle of the dog house’ match. Both men have been on an incredible losing streak – that is, incredible in the “I can’t believe these two men are getting buried like this” way. But credit to both Ziggler and Sandow here. They took a terrible slot and made it entertaining, and did their duty by selling a few more Pay-Per-Views along the way. I’m also happy Ziggler walked away with the much deserved win. This might not have been the match of the night, but it was at least in the top three. [Read more...]
Refresh this page throughout the night for LIVE results as they happen! Also, be sure to check back with Between the Ropes immediately after tonight’s show for post-PPV coverage. [Read more...]
Let’s go ahead get this out of the way: the overall show last night was a giant mess. Incoherency reigned supreme. If you tuned in to catch final build for WWE Battleground this coming Sunday, or even just to catch a little bit of wrestling, you undoubtedly left disappointed. So what happened?
CM Punk opened the show with a decent match against Big E Langston. My issue here is that Big E has been off screen for weeks (almost two months?), and having him lose his first match sets a bad tone moving forward. You could make the argument he was at least competitive. What you can’t argue is that nobody else, perhaps somebody NOT returning from an extended absence, would have filled this role just as easily.
Unfortunately, things only got worse for the CM Punk/Paul Heyman storyline. Curtis Axel looked like a complete fool in his loss against R Truth. Then, Paul Heyman came out and “proposed” to Ryback that he be a Paul Heyman guy. That segment was as terrible as you could envision. Heyman and Ryback were both hamming it up, just not quite enough for the audience to feel okay laughing at it, but more than enough for it to feel completely surreal. I’m not really sure why Heyman signed off on this. I also can’t figure out how this is supposed to make fans feel more hatred against Heyman and Ryback. This feud has stumbled to a crawl since Night of Champions, and it needs something to remind us why things were so incredible right before SummerSlam. Last night was just another huge misstep.
There was also something weird going on with the mid-card. Kofi Kingston won a match against Fandango, but when Bray Wyatt came out afterwards, he didn’t attack – he just sat in his rocking chair and said some stuff about Sister Abigail. Huh? In another head scratching moment, WWE gave Santino Marella a victory over Antonio Cesaro… at 10:55pm. With only five minutes left in the show. On the go-home show before a Pay-Per-View. Keep in mind that, at this point, Daniel Bryan (one of the two men in this Sunday’s main-event) had failed to even make an appearance on the show.
And perhaps that’s the biggest issue with last night’s show. WWE has failed to make Battleground an even remotely interesting Pay-Per-View purchase, in spite of the fact that Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton are both incredibly hot right now. When the last show before a pay-per-view is dedicated to as much filler as there was last night, including a time-consuming debut to creative’s new favorite “gimmick” tag-team, you have to re-think the storyline build. You should probably rethink the “pay-per-view every three weeks” mentality, too.
And what was up with Big Show? I’ve praised his work over the last few weeks, but he deserves a “vintage Big Show” bad acting award for his delivery last night. Bah.
Ending on a good note, I really liked the interaction between the Rhodes family and the power-couple. It was my favorite ten minutes of the entire show. Cody Rhodes is getting the biggest bump from this story-line, looking like an absolute star being in the ring with Triple H, Dusty, Stephanie, and Goldust. I’m looking forward to seeing him and Goldust face Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns this Sunday – even if the logic behind having your tag-team champions in action against somebody OTHER than the number-one contenders still boggles my mind. I’m really hoping bigger and brighter things are in Cody Rhodes future. Unfortunately, WWE has erased any confidence I once had in the creative direction of the company.
What did you think about last night’s show? Was it as bad as it seemed, or am I just being “internet critical”? Let me know in the comments below! And be sure to follow Between the Ropes on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with the latest wrestling conversation.
Refresh this page throughout the night for LIVE ongoing results and analysis! Coverage starts at 8 p.m. ET!
With less than one week until WWE’s newest Pay-Per-View ‘Battleground,’ the flagship show should be on high alert tonight. Expect Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton to kick into high gear as these two sell their match-up this coming Sunday. Also, CM Punk looks to get revenge after his beat-down on last week’s show, and Rob Van Dam vs. Alberto Del Rio look to promote their No DQ World Heavyweight Championship match. Plus, Dusty Rhodes is being advertised. [Read more...]
