It’s become an annual tradition for the WWE and tonight is the night where it honors its superstars in the most WWE way possible.
WWE will hold the 2013 Slammy Awards tonight on Raw with fans voting on the categories through the WWE App. (Get used to that app, especially if you are going to want to utilize the upcoming WWE Network.)
Here are the categories and predictions for each award:
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...]
The WWE presented two pay-per-views in October as Battleground and Hell In A Cell took place. The company released that the two shows combined did 334,000 buys worldwide, but an exact figure for each show hasn’t been released as of this time.
Battleground featured Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton for the vacant WWE championship and HIAC featured a third bout between the two, with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee inside the cell structure and the return of John Cena. As soon as we get the exact numbers from each show, we will release those numbers to you.
Brian and Steve are back to talk Raw from Monday night including the announced lineup so far for the upcoming WWE TLC pay-per-view, how one person will be crowned the UNIFIED CHAMPION at that show between John Cena and Randy Orton, John Cena promoting the importance of the match and the championships, the overuse of authority figures, what is going on with Sin Cara, handicapped matches and Titus O’Neil has a tendency to puke. They also talk about the upcoming WWE Network, when they think it could be announced and how much money they would spend on it. Plus, WWE DVD talk and even some Manilow!
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Heading into WWE Raw on Monday night, just one match had been announced for the WWE TLC 2013 PPV. Now, there is nearly a complete card for the December 15th show.
It is headlined by the Tables, Ladders and Chairs match to crown a Unified Champion between WWE Champion Randy Orton and World Heavyweight Champion John Cena. On Raw, both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon went out of their way to say this is a unification match and one person will leave the show as the champion.
Brian, Steve and Michael are back for the Between The Ropes Flagship video as they talk about the fallout from the WWE Survivor Series and Raw, the upcoming title unification match at the TLC pay-per-view between John Cena and Randy Orton, who they think will win as it stands right now, the rating for Raw on Monday, the favorite year for wrestling, wrestlers organically becoming stars and more,
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The last time we saw an undisputed WWE champion was Brock Lesnar after he defeated The Rock at Summerslam 2002 to win the title. Right after that event, due to the brand extension the WWE created the World Heavyweight Championship.
The WWE announced on Monday Night Raw this past week that WWE Champion Randy Orton will battle World Heavyweight Champion John Cena in a title vs title match at the TLC pay-per-view on December 15th. As soon as the match was made, people on social media and various wrestling websites were saying the WWE wasn’t stating this was a unification match and there would be a way Orton and Cena would each walk out with a title.
WWE released their weekly Michael Cole and Triple H video interview today. HHH stated that the goal of the match was to have one unified champion coming out of the match and heading into 2014.
Let’s go with what HHH is hoping for and having one unified champion at the end of the TLC event. The question is though, are John Cena and Randy Orton the right guys to have a match to determine this?
A John Cena-Randy Orton unification match in 2008 would have been a dream matchup as they were the two hottest and most over acts in the WWE. Going into ’08, Orton was on a roll as the WWE Champion and Cena made a grand return at the end of the month from a torn pectoral muscle at the Royal Rumble. Orton defeated Jeff Hardy in a very good match and Cena ended up winning the Rumble. Instead of having the match at WrestleMania 24, the match took place at the No Way Out event in February. Cena won the match by disqualification. A triple threat match involving Orton, Cena and HHH took place at WrestleMania 24 with Orton retaining.
Now fast forward to 2013 and both Cena and Orton are champions and no one really cares. Orton comes out to the ring and you could hear a pin drop. When he cuts a promo, you get the same reaction. Cena comes out, gets a moderate reaction, but when he starts talking, the fans don’t buy what he’s saying in a promo and start chanting “boring, boring”.
You watch the opening segment on Raw this past Monday when Orton, HHH and Stephanie are in the ring and the fans are chanting for Daniel Bryan and chanting “YES YES”. Cena came out and at least acknowledged the reaction and that’s what the fans want. But right after Cena did that, he went back to discussing why there should be one unified champion, with the match being made right after that. Fans in the arena weren’t very interested when the announcement was made.
About 90 minutes into the show, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan came out for an interview with Renee Young before their match with The Wyatt Family. Both guys by far got the two best reactions of the night. But that has been the case for most of 2013.
Punk started out the year as a heel and then when he came back in June at the Payback pay-per-view, he turned back to a babyface role facing Chris Jericho. Punk then started a feud with Paul Heyman at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view when Heyman cost him a chance to win the MITB briefcase. Punk faced Brock Lesnar at Summerslam and has had a feud with Heyman through the Hell In A Cell pay-per-view.
Bryan has been the hottest act in the WWE in 2013. The Washington state native started out the year stuck in a tag team with Kane and then got back into singles starting at the MITB. Bryan then headlined Summerslam winning the WWe championship from John Cena, but after the match HHH pedigreed Bryan, with Orton cashing in his MITB and winning the title at the Hell In A Cell event.
Bryan and Punk teamed at Survivor Series on Sunday and defeated Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. It looks like after Raw on Monday that Bryan will face Brey Wyatt and Punk will be facing Roman Reigns.
Those matches are fine, but do nothing in the grand scheme of things for Bryan and Punk.
The WWE has always gone by the mantra of saying that they listen to the fans and they give the fans what they want. In this instance this isn’t the case whatsoever. You have the two hottest acts in all of wrestling feuding with guys who we aren’t sure are going to even reach a main event level.
The time we should see a unification match should be at Wrestlemania 30 with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan battling out to see who is the best wrestler in the world and the right to be called undisputed champion. Lets give the fans what they really want to see because at the end of the day, it is all about the fans.
WWE.com is reporting that Big Show is suffering from concussion like symptoms and isn’t allowed to compete at this time. Show suffered the symptoms when he faced Randy Orton for the WWE title this past Sunday at Survivor Series. He was allowed to compete on Monday’s WWE Raw when Show got kicked in the head a few times by Orton and Alberto Del Rio in a tag team match in which he teamed with John Cena.
“The trauma Big Show sustained Monday at Raw did, in fact, cause concussive symptoms,” said WWE ringside physician Dr. Amann. “At this point, we are doing further testing, and he is currently not cleared to participate in any in-ring competition.”
This week’s version of WWE Monday Night Raw was widely panned across social media and various platforms. The rating is in and the fans were interested for most of the show as Raw did a 2.93 rating with an average of 4.14 million viewers. That is up from last week’s 2.73 rating with an average of 3.80 million viewers.
Hour one averaged 4.32 million viewers, which was highlighted by the opening segment featuring Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Randy Orton and John Cena, with the title vs title match being made with Orton and Cena for the TLC pay-per-view on December 15th. Hour two averaged 4.29 million viewers and was highlighted by CM Punk and Daniel Bryan vs The Wyatt Family, which started in the middle of the hour and went into the third and final hour.
The final hour averaged 3.80 million viewers and was highlighted by the main event featuring Big Show and John Cena vs Alberto Del Rio and Randy Orton. That has to be a cause of concern for the WWE as the fans were interested in the first two hours and slid to under four million viewers in the final hour.
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...]
Brian and Steve talk WWE Raw from Monday night which was another lackluster show, Michael Strahan handing out hip tosses to The Miz and Titus O’Neil, the Survivor Series rematch of the Divas elimination match, the upcoming match between John Cena and Randy Orton at the TLC pay-per-view and if it will be a unification match, other possible matches on that show, what has happened in the WWE since the summer, Jake Roberts dream of buying TNA and more.
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Photo from WWE.com
It was announced on WWE Monday Night Raw that WWE Champion Randy Orton will battle World Heavyweight Champion John Cena in the main event of the TLC pay-per-view in a tables, ladders and chairs title vs title match.
The match was made at the beginning of Raw when Orton, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were in the ring. Orton stated that he was the face of the WWE and the biggest star in the history of the company. Cena then came out and stated that he believes there should be one world champion and wanted to face Orton in a unification bout.
McMahon said that her and HHH have been discussing something like this for awhile and Orton got hot thinking Cena and The Authority were cohoots. HHH then announced the match for the TLC event.
TLC takes place on Sunday, December 15th from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
WWE Survivor Series took place last night from the TD Garden Arena in Boston, Massachusetts. In the main event, Randy Orton retained the WWE championship over Big Show. In the co-feature, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan defeated Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. Also, John Cena beat Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
Yes, I did it. I watched the WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view.
And I survived.
Barely.
And you have to be a pretty big wrestling — make that sports entertainment — fan to have shelled out some bucks to have watched that show.
That’s because the Survivor Series was just dull.
No pop. No fizzle. Just dull.
After the main event of Survivor Series in which Randy Orton defeated Big Show to retain the WWE championship, WWE chairman Vince McMahon returned. After the event had ended, World Heavyweight Champion John Cena was trying to goat Orton to come into the ring, but was held back by Triple H. Kane tried to enter on a few occasions, but HHH held him back. At one point Kane choked HHH, but Orton talked him into not doing it.
HHH then charged the ring and McMahon came out and held him back. McMahon then charged the ring and HHH and Stephanie MacMahon held him back. Finally Stephanie charged the ring with HHH and Vince holding her back.
Vince ready to take on Cena pic.twitter.com/t5OdobOBHe
— WCW (@WCWToday) November 25, 2013
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