The WWEekly Wrap-Up - Week ending November 26, 2011

Hey folks, sorry it took me so long to post this this week.  As you can tell, my Thanksgiving weekend got me a little on the busy side, so please forgive me.  I'll try to be on time this up coming Saturday.

I was also thuroughly enjoying the Michigan vs. Ohio State game where my Wolverines finally got it right against the team to the south. To my Ohio readers... yes, I'm a Michigan fan, but I still hope we can get along. ^_^

Also, as you could tell, my NES review of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends didn't go up because of the Thanksgiving weekend.  I AM still working on the first few parts of the Zelda retrospective too... as well as working on Skyward Sword, which is friggin' awesome... so expect those soon.  In the meantime, let's talk about the WWE's week!

I gotta say, this was a WONDERFUL step up from the previous week.  No, it wasn't perfect and there were some really stupid story bits that happened for various reasons, but it was still enjoyable, compounded only by an awesome Survivor Series, which we'll cover first, so let's get to it!

Survivor Series from New York City, NY - November 20, 2011

Survivor Series was an AWESOME show.  No, I didn't care one bit about the return of The Rock.  I cared about it because it was Survivor Series, the first pay-per-view I vividly remember, and I was actually there too.  1991, Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, MI, The Undertaker topples Hulk Hogan, the lingering feud between Randy Savage and Jake Roberts (stemming from one of the most horrifying moments in my young wrestling fandom), and the massive Survivor Series-style tag matches including all-time greats like the Legion of Doom, Ric Flair, Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Rockers, The Million-Doller Man, The Big Boss Man... I friggin' loved that show and it's the standard I use for all wrestling shows today.

That having been said, this Survivor Series wasn't nearly as good as that one was, but considering some of the garbage the WWE's put out in recent years, it was still a treat.  The thing is, with this past WrestleMania, WrestleMania XXVII, I was venomously disappointed and told myself I woudln't invest in another WWE Pay-Per-View until they improved their product.  No, I didn't buy this event because they improved their product, I'm just a sucker for the Survivor Series.  No, I don't plan on ordering WrestleMania XXVII in April, Rock vs. Cena or no Rock vs. Cena.  I MIGHT order the Royal Rumble because that's another event close to my heart, but that's to be determined.  Maybe the undercard will settle things for me.

Onto Survivor Series and our first event is... Raw General Manager and Executive Vice President of Tallent Relations John Laurinitus telling us it's his 10th anniversary in the WWE.  Okay, fine.  Maybe he'll have a hellish night or he'll play a big part in the events tonight.  Well, I'll tell you right now, he does aproximately jack squat.  Okay, for real, onto the first match.  I'll try to keep this shorter than I did my first WWEekly Wrap-Up.

United States Championship:  Champion Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero def. John Morrison

This was a damn fine match.  Dolph Ziggler continues to prove why he's so awesome and John Morrison is entertaining as always.  What ruins this though, and I'm sorry to say this, are the New York fans.  Yeah, I know, we all wanted it to be Zack Ryder in the match instead of John Morrison, but hey, the WWE rarely favors people wrestling in or relatively close to their hometowns.  Just look at Jim Ross.  Heck, if Ryder was in this match, he probably woudln't have won.  This tells me a few things.  One, with John Morrison's WWE career wrapping up (reportedly not renewing his contract that expires soon), the WWE wanted to push other Superstars who are going to be with the company for the long haul like a Dolph Ziggler... and possibly Brodus Clay tomorrow.  Two, the WWE eventually would like someone as popular as Zack Ryder to be the next United States Champion so that they could push his merchandise and let Dolph Ziggler move onto bigger things, like a meaningful World Heavyweight or WWE Championship reign.  So, yeah.  Great match, shame about the fans.

Diva's Championship Match:  Champion Beth Phoenix w/Natalya def. Eve Torres in a Lumberjill match

This was a very sloppy match and it goes to prove my point about today's Diva's Division.  It's boring.  It's the beer run match of the night.  Sure, some like Beth Phoenix, Natalya, A.J., and Maxine do seem like they honestly try, but who is the WWE kidding trying to sell people like The Bella Twins, Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox, Kaitlyn, or Eve Torres as the successors to the greats like Trish Stratus, Lita, Chyna, Melina, Gail Kim, Victoria, Jazz, Molly Holly, and the like?  Yes, I know, Eve Torres said on her Twitter that they try really hard to put together a strong match for the fans.  Fair enough, Miss. Torres, but effort does not make for quality matches.  Actual in-ring skill does and, with the exception of the four I mentioned, the Diva's on the roster today do not.  I am not counting Kharma, formerly Awesome Kong, in that because she's sidelined with a real life pregnancy and, well, I honestly don't expect her to come back once she's given birth.

Anyway, Beth Phoenix manages to save this debacle of a match with a Glam Slam from the top rope on Eve Torres which, admittedly, looked pretty sick.  Splat!  But, yes, this was definately the low spot of he show.  Wherever the Fabulous Moolah is up there in Heaven right now, she must simply be facepalming...

5-On-5 Survivor Series Match:  Team Barrett (Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Hunico, Jack Swagger, and Dolph Ziggler) def. Team Orton (Randy Orton, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan, and Sin Cara)

Before I get into this, let me talk about two things.  One, Dolph Ziggler is pulling double duty tonight.  While I appriciate getting to see him strut his stuff, I just need to ask one thing.  Why?  Was Drew McIntyre busy?  Do you really have something about not using Curt Hawkins or Tyler Reks?  What about Primo?  Or William Regal?  Heck, tell Matt Striker to throw on the tights again!  I get it, you don't want to use those guys at all, but for as long as Ziggler was in this match, you could have put them in and there would have been no harm, no foul.  I know Christian got injured, but you didn't need to use Ziggler like this and hurt his push.  It just makes him look silly after he boasted about being that good.

Also, on a more serious note, the Sin Cara injury.  This really sucks.  There's no other way around it.  Some people are claiming that he botched his jump outside the ring and that's what injured him, but it was also reported that his tendon just snapped as he made the jump, leading to the botch.  Whatever is true, I need to say that, towards someone who just injured himself, the "You f*ck*d up" chants were really tasteless.  I complained about the fans with the Ziggler/Morrison match, but this was just aweful and I'm really embarassed for those who did those chants.  Reports are saying Sin Cara is going to be out around nine months, which means he'll not only miss WrestleMania this year (which sucks in itself), but he may not even be good to go by SummerSlam if his rehab has complications.

One last thing.  The term "classic Survivor Series match."  Ummm... no it isn't.  The old Survivor Series matches had teams of four, just like WCW's War Games matches (which so need to be brought back).  Just a nitpick.

Anyway, this match did a lot of things right.  First, Hunico.  I was really afraid that he was the one who was going to get the shaft in this match.  For a newer superstar like him, he didn't need it.  In fact, I gotta say, I was really impressed with him overall.  I hope the WWE writers don't get bored with him and write him off like they did with people like Reks, McIntyre, Yoshi Tatsu, and Ted DiBiase Jr..  He was the second to last man eliminated in the match entirely, which should tell you all you need to know about how much time he got to shine.

As for the final result, it ended the way it should have.  Team Barrett wins and nobody really looked weak, save for Dolph Ziggler.  Unfortunate injury aside, everyone really got a chance to shine in this match.  Barrett and Rhodes survive for their team, last eliminating Randy Orton, with Hunico more or less sacrificing himself for the end distraction that would lead to the end.  I feel it was the best case scenario and the match ended up being much better than I anticipated, hiccups at the begining aside.  it was a pretty sizable match at 22 minutes... though nothing compared to Survivor Series matches of old that went around 30-40 minutes.

World Heavyweight Championship:  The Big Show def. Champion Mark Henry via disqualification.

I know I said that the Diva's Title Match was the worst match of the night.  This one almost took that crown, if not for one thing.  The Big Show, a 7' tall, 450+ lb man, does a flying elbow drop from the top rope.  That is 450+ kinds of awesomeness.  Seriously, no big man does stuff like that even for spot situations.  Big props.

Anyway, Mark Henry kicks Big Show in the boys, gets disqualified, keeps his title because of it... and gets destroyed by an angry giant.  Whoops.

WWE Championship:  C.M. Punk def. Champion Alberto Del Rio

THIS was the match of the night for me.  Lots of wonderful action between two people who know their way around in the ring.  I won't say it was one of the best I've ever seen, because it wasn't, but it was a damn fine match that I thouroughly enjoyed.  Even better, Howard Finkel, legendary announcer for the WWE for over 30 years, did the introduction for Punk, in Punk's slight against Del Rio's personal announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, as well as announcing him as the eventual winner.  A fantastic WWE Championship match.

There was only one downside and that this wasn't the main event.  Again, the world-tier championships are the pinnicle of the industry and should be treated as such.  I don't care if The Rock was making his comeback and I don't care if the main event featured John Cena.  They're not the champions.  Mark Henry and Alberto Del Rio, now C.M. Puk, are.  That just bugs me.

Speaking of... let's get to it.  The final match of the night.

The Rock & John Cena def. The Awesome Truth

Yeah, we all probably saw it coming, but it was entirely the wrong direction for this match, I think.  I think this match should have pushed the rivalry between Cena and Rock leading to the end of their year-long build-up at WrestleMania.  Instead, we get a match made as a showcase for these two.  I don't understand why we COULDN'T have a showcase of Cena and Rock and still have them lose to get them ready to get at each other's throats.  They don't need the push.  It's John Cena and The Rock.  The Miz and R-Truth, however, do.  I've never been sold on The Miz as a main eventer, let alone WWE Champion, and while I do believe R-Truth IS a main eventer, not many other people do.  THEY needed this match more than Cena and The Rock.  And heck, a loss for Cena and Rock would have done wonders to push their anamosity towards each other in building up the hype for their WrestleMania match, which I think the WWE's done a poor job of building up, which isn't to say they haven't tried to hype it.

Anyway, the match itself was good, though.  Whereas the fans hurt two matches earlier in the night, they added to this one.  With the Rock showing that he hasn't lost a step in being gone for seven-some years, the fans chanted, rightfully so, "you still got it!"  When Cena came in and tried busting out some ugly-looking new moves (for him, anyway), the fans fired back, rightfully so, "you still suck!"  That had me laughing my rear-end off.  Anayway, yes, decent match, not happy with the direction, but we'll talk more about that when we talk about Raw.

Overall, Survivor Series was a great show and I'm happy with this show.  Mind you, I'm not sold on buying other pay-per-views just yet.  The WWE needs to step it's weekly show quality up considerably for me to commit to that.

I give Survivor Series 2011... four out of five stars.  Great show.

Monday Night Raw from Hershey, PA - November 21, 2011

Someone asked me why I'm not refering to this as "Raw SuperShow" like it's supposed to.  Why?  Because it's stupid.  With as shallow of a roster as the WWE has today, it's a wonder the brand exteniton still exists.  And besides, SmackDown has Raw superstars on it every so often too, so why isn't that "SmackDown SuperShow"?

Anyway, Raw... it wasn't bad.  Much better than last week.  Not much to say until towards the end, so let's get started.

C.M. Punk came out and cut a promo with John Laurinitis to help put over Zack Ryder and set his new status quo.  His and Ryder's matches for the night are set and the WWE Title rematch between him and Del Rio is set for next week.  Standard stuff.

Alberto Del Rio def. Zack Ryder

This was a little confusing and short.  I can't say it was a good match, though there were some okay spots.  With them trying to push Ryder, it was also unnecessary because he didn't exactly look strong in this match, nor did Del Rio for that matter.  It felt like filler to me.

Sheamus def. Jack Swagger

Nothing special, but nothing bad either.  It was solid for TV, but I can't hep but feel that Sheamus recovers into a victory way too fast.  When he's on the cusp of defeat, he quickly pulls out a victory in the end.  It's a little lazy, if you ask me, but I don't really want to call him lazy since he does put on quality matches.  It's alsoa shame how far Jack Swagger continues to fall.  He was once thought of highly enough to become World Heavyweight Champion, but even then was considered a jobber.  It felt not only like a wasted reign, but a waste of a Money in the Bank briefcase.  I expected more at this point in his career because he's definately a lot more talented than this.

Kevin Nash came out and cut a promo on Triple H, who should be returning soon if storyline holds true.  Not much to say here, but I would like to see Nash in a match with other people before he climbs in the ring with Triple H eventually.

Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes def. Santino Marella

I'm not as harsh on this match for it's shortness as I am on the Ryder/Del Rio match from earlier because it dida lot in the short time it had... although the length of this match probably made some recent Divas matches feel proud by comparison in terms of length.  Anyway, for as short of a time we had, it was okay and nobody really got hurt by it.  I still hate Cody Rhodes's new theme though.  Who cares if he doesn't have the mask anymore?  Bring back the hoodie, bring back the creepy promos, and bring back the baggers.  THAT was good character stuff.

WWE Champion C.M. Punk def. United States Champion Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero

Hot damn was this an awesome match!  Two of WWE's most talented and did it deliver.  And on Monday Night Raw of all places!  This is the type of match we need to have on Raw more often.  In this era defined by the likes of John Cena and Randy Orton, it's great to see two peole in the title picture who can actually make the matches exciting.  Both men proved why they're two of the absolute best today.

Agian, the only thing hurting this is it wasn't the closer to end the show strong.  After all... WWE Champion.  Just saying.

Big Show talks about his mauling of Mark Henry.  ...next!

Wade Barrett def. Kofi Kingston

This was a good match too, but SO unnecessary.  What was unnecessary was Randy Orton, coming out and spooking Barrett at the end of the match.  Why?  Barrett outwrestled and outshined Orton the night before at Survivor Series.  Why does Wade Freakin' Barrett have to sweat Randy Orton AT ALL?  Oh, wait, he's part of the CenOrton Circle.  Nobody gets to truly go over those two.  Sorry Wade.  I predict your jobbing out to Orton at the TLC pay-per-view, and you don't deserve it.

John Cena, The Miz, and R-Truth had a promo to close us out.  Cena came out to talk about Survivor Series... which begs the question... WHY?!  Let's say that the kayfabe (pretend) WWE DOESN'T take interferance into account when scheduling the show.  So, in their infinate knowledge, they decide to have the last for segments be as follows:  WWE Champion vs. United States Champion, Big Show promo, Barrett vs. Kingston, Cena promo.  Look, I don't care how big they try to buff Cena for this generation, him speaking nowadays is about as boring as paint drying in Death Valley.  It's just aweful.  If anything, this whole thing should have been entirely reversed, maybe switching the promos around.  End with the champion vs. champion match to build up to next week's main event, start with the Big Show promo.

Anyway, Cena gets Miz and Truth to turn on each other, resulting in The Miz hitting the Skull Crushing finale on R-Truth on the stage after leading him to believe that they're going to go after Cena.  The real reason this happened was revealed later as R-Truth was found in violation ofthe WWE's welfare policy.  I'm going to ignore some of the other controversies coming out about this and just say that if the wellfare violation was the reason Truth and Miz lost the Survivor Series match, it's still doing a disservice to the Rock and Cena's build-up towards WrestleMania.  And yes, you COULD have done this even with Awesome Truth winning.  And no, WWE, The Rock hitting the Rock Bottom on Cena after the match doesn't have the same effect, either.

Overall, Raw was good.  A little mind-bending, but good.  Cena and Orton being so spotlight to the WWE really hurts C.M. Punk the most tonight in terms of his standing in the company, but it isn't worth crying over too much.

I give Monday Night Raw for November 21, 2011... three out of five stars.

Friday Night SmackDown from Wilkes-Barre, PA. - November 25, 2011

The show tonight was another mix of good and bad.  I'd say it was definately more solid than Raw, but I still say Punk and Ziggler on Raw trumps anything done tonight.

The show begins with Mark Henry talking about Survivor Series, coming out in crutches, selling the nearly-broken ankle he suffered at Survivor Series at the hands of The Big Show.  Big Show comes out and runs him down, Mark Henry responds, and Big Show punches out Mark Henry with the W.M.D. for his troubles.  Fun stuff, basic stuff, Big Show leaves.  And then, with Mark Henry still unconcious in the ring...

MONEY IN THE BANK CASH-IN FOR THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP:  Daniel Bryan def. Champion Mark Henry

Daniel Bryan rushes down the ring, cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase, slowly... slowly... slowly rolls over Mark Henry and gets the pinfall victory!  The man is really milking the celebration after, even taking time to rub it in Michael Cole's face, who has criticized him from day one in the WWE.  It's just a great celebration in the end and awesome to see a well-liked, TALLENTED WRESTLER get to win the...

Yeah, okay, we know what happened.  SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long comes down and nullifies the match on the grounds that Mark Henry wasn't cleared to compete.  He gives Daniel Bryan back his Money in the Bank briefcase and puts him in a fatal four-way for the #1 contendership later tonight.

Are you kidding me, WWE?  No, it isn't the fact that you did this fake out, it's the disregard for what the Money in the Bank briefcase is.  It's meant to be used anytime, anyplace, anywhere.  By doing this, it pretty much disregards that clause in the contract.  It shouldn't matter if Mark Henry was deemed "not cleared to compete."  the whole thing is just boggling.  Even worse was Theodore Long's promo about it, acting like he's giving Daniel Bryan an even trade-off.  Are you high, WWE?

That rant out of the way, let's continue.

Hunico def. Justin Gabriel

A decent match, all things considered.  While I'm glad Hunico isn't quite being forgotten about yet, I can't help but feel that Justin Gabriel is.  It's just sad the standing some once promising wrestlers are at nowadays.

Diva's Champion Beth Phoenix & Natalya def. A.J. & Kaitlyn

This was just a squash match and not even an entertaining one.  Really, the only one who didn't belong in this match was Kaitlyn, but the other three are very talented in-ring competitors.  Then again, so was Savannah and she was fired before having an actual match in the WWE.  Anyway, after the match, we get the makings of an A.J. and Kaitlyn split... and I normally woudln't care, except... A.J. is a tallented wrestler.  Kaitlyn is not.  Knowing the WWE, they'll push Kaitlyn and poor A.J. will be future endevored (fired) within a year.  I mean, heck, they put her over A.J. and Naomi on season three of NXT.

Also, it looks like Alicia Fox will get the next shot at Beth Phoenix, even though I think she was technically supposed to get it at Survivor Series.  And seriously, there are three Divas in the WWE today whom I think can go toe-to-toe with Beth Phoenix.  First is A.J., who just got squashed.  Second is Natalya, who is Beth's running buddy.  Third is Kharma, who is currently sidelined due to real life pregnancy.  Yeah... the WWE's Diva's Division is a mess.

Daniel Bryan and A.J. were seen talking backstage about the missed opportunity Bryan had earlier.  Wade Barrett, also in the Fatal Four-Way tonight, comes up and mocks the two, calling A.J. a 14-year-old girl to boot.  So wonderfully evil you just love to hate him, that Wade Barrett.  Anyway, the promo ends with Bryan telling Barrett off and A.J. kissing him on the cheek for good luck.  Oh goodie, another spontanious romance angle for Daniel Bryan.  Careful, A.J.  The last three didn't work out so well.  Gail Kim got buried in the company and was driven to quit and the Bella Twins are still the Bella Twins.  Careful now.

Sheamus & Zack Ryder def. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger w/Vickie Guerrero

Pretty strong tag match here and everyone got the chance to look good.  Not much to say, really, except I think this helped balance out Ryder's showing on Raw... which admittedly wasn't his fault, it was WWE's stupid booking practices.

Ted DiBiase def. Heath Slater

Oh, lookie!  Fresh off his suspension, Heath Slater is back!  I did not care.  Oh, lookie!  Ted DiBiase's son, Ted DiBiase, is tryingto become a face and he apparently has DiBiase Possie gatherings in parking lots before the show!  I do not care.  Oh, lookie!  Jinder Mahal is yelling on the Titantron in supposedly Punjabi!  I REALLY do not care.  The match was just basic, too.  Nothing special, but I won't call it bad either.

World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender's Match:  Daniel Bryan def. Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Wade Barrett

This match... bugged me.  It seemed really slow to me and I wouldn't accuse either of these superstars of being slow wrestlers, because they're not.  Sure, Orton's BORING in the ring, but he at least has a good pace to his matches, as do the others.  And heck, sometimes, Daniel Bryan can be downright speedy.  Yeah, this one was a bit of a let-down considering three of the four are superb in-ring competitors (Orton being the odd man out), but it did it's job.

I know I nitpicked, but I think SmackDown this week was actually somewhat stronger with high points and low points.  While the story wasn't as coherent this time around in terms of figuring out what's coming up, there were some enjoyable moments tonight.

I give SmackDown for November 25, 2011... three out of five stars.

Next week, SmackDown will be live on Tuesday.  No, I'm not going to do the WWEekly Wrap-Up on Wednesday in response, because I want to keep a schedulehere.  Tuesda for the Back Stack, Thursday (finally!) for Grave Issues, and Saturday for the WWEekly Wrap-Up.  It'll also give me time to add in any news stories that happen during the week.

So thank you for reading this week!  This has been the WWEekly Wrap-Up.  I'm Master Graveheart, tagging out.

The Back Stack – November 16, 2011 Pulls

And welcome to The Back Stack.  In the spirit of Linkara’s “That’s All I’m Saying,” I’m going to review my pulls from the previous week and share my thoughts.  Hopefully, when you all go out to the comic shop for your next pulls, you’ll think about something I talked about and pick them up… or if you see me rag on something, you’ll think twice.  My philosophy on comics is that regardless of who the headline character is, a good book should thrive and a bad book should be either overhauled with a new creative team or be scrapped altogether.  I’ll end each one with the note of whether or not I recommend it or if I’d take a pass on it if you’re not a collector (like myself) or an avid fan of the series who’ll buy it no matter what.

Also, while I DO read a lot of DC, I’m primarily a Marvel guy, even more so with the shift of the New 52.  While the DC re-launch HAS made me a fan of Batman, seeing him be a more compassionate and caring superhero, it’s sadly soured me on Wonder Woman and partially soured me on Superman (at least in Action Comics… the only thing bugging me about present-day Supes is that stupid “armor” he’s wearing.  Comic companies, NEVER LET JIM LEE RE-DESIGN ICONIC HEROES AGAIN!).

That said, let’s begin.  A note, though.  There WILL be spoilers where I see fit, which goes against my “two-year rule,” in which I won’t publically talk about spoilers with anyone without asking them first or unless it’s been two years passed since the subject in question.  Also, for this week, I wasn’t able to buy everything I normally pick up (and I pick up a lot, mind you) nor have I been able to read everything I did pick up because I had a little game called The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword to buy this week.  And yes, the Zelda retrospective reviews are coming… they just won’t be every other day like I mentioned.  Life and all.

Okay, let’s start.

The Amazing Spider-Man #674 was… meh.  It’s the first issue off of the very fun Spider-Island event comic in the Spidey Universe and it really disappoints.  We get the return of The Vulture, which was good.  It seems like he’s going to have a new air about him which I applaud since some of Marvel’s lower villains, particularly Spidey’s Rogues Gallery, seem to be relegated to jokes.  I remember in the prelude to Spider-Island, Firestar, Gravity, and the insanely awesome Spider-Girl, members of the sadly unapriciated Young Allies, were getting overwhelmed by Hydro-Man.  What happens?  One page later, Spidey swings by, throws an ice capsule at him, and saves the day interesting.  Not only is that NOT how you show a hero being a strong superhero, it’s not how you treat newer or sparingly-used superheroes who you want to push to the public, and it’s not how you handle a villain whose been a tough opponent for Spidey before.

Anyway, the other problem with this issue was that, once again, the city is turning on Spider-Man.  Spidey gets seen with a dead body and the police open fire… this on the heels of Spider-Man saving everybody from the effects of Spider-Island.  Yeah, we get a celebratory rave of some Spidey fans, including Mary Jane who recently confessed her love for him again (albeit under her breath), but I swear, New York City in the Spider-Man Universe is so bi-polar towards him it isn’t even funny anymore.

Verdict – Pass

Avengers #19… another meh book.  This one, however, didn’t feel as weird.  There were some humorous bits of newscasters pimping or trying to demonize Captain America forming a new Avengers team in the wake of the Fear Itself event (which I have mixed opinions on, but we’ll get to that later).  Spoiler alert, the cover.  It will spoil most of the new team for you.  There is one red herring on the cover, but I expect that individual to join later.  I am glad to see Ms. Marvel on the main Avengers team for no other reason then to see one of Marvel’s best female characters getting more spotlight time.  I’m sorry, but I don’t consider Spider-Woman one of Marvel’s best female characters.  Rogue?  Yes.  Storm?  Definitely.  Spider-Girl?  Absolutely.  Spider-Woman?  Eh… This one wasn’t bad and we get a neat cliffhanger at the end, as well as an interesting mystery.  While it isn’t that much better than Spider-Man was, it does give you a solid story with elements that make you interested in the next few issues.  I still prefer New Avengers over this Avengers title, but this one can be good too.

Verdict – Recommended

Avengers Academy #22 continues to be one of Marvel’s best titles and a personal favorite of mine.  In the wake of last issue’s apparent death of Jocasta, Magneto has been brought in and, naturally, the students of Avengers Academy are freaking out over it.  I won’t go too much into it but we get some good bits here.  I think Finesse steals the show with this one, coming to Quicksilver’s defense when he’s confronted by his father in a genuine display of emotion, something she’s not done a lot as a part of her character… then again, a couple issues ago she made out with Reptil before they were preparing for their own deaths in the Fear Itself tie-ins.  Strong book, fun bits, still love it.

Verdict – Highly Recommended

Deadpool #46 continues a VERY funny arc where Deadpool fights an evil version of himself made up of pieces of him that have bonded together.  Not a lot to go into, but it is entirely enjoyable, especially after the mess that was the last story arc.  By the way, in the  last issue, Evil Deadpool threw some jackass out of plane in mid-air while he was on fire.  That got me gut-bustingly laughing, but something else stuck out at me about that.  The preview section of the issue advertised “Flying on Fire Man #1” which ripped a panel from that same issue as the cover art.  If that comic actually came out, I would SO buy it just for the laugh.

Verdict – Recommended

Next up is the merciful end of Fear Itself with Fear Itself #7.3.  Yes, I know that there is still The Fearless, which I didn’t pick up this week because of money constraints, but this is the last one in what is supposedly the main story.  This one focuses on Iron Man having a meeting with the supposedly late Thor’s father, Odin.  This one I expected more out of only because it seems that Iron Man had really been stroking his man of science-ness when the subject of God or gods came up.  But, no, it’s fairly clean cut.  The issue ends with its third straight “take back” of the 7.whatever issues.  In #7.1, Bucky didn’t really die.  In #7.2, Thor is seen opening his eyes in wherever he was.  In this issue, the genocide of Paris at the hands of the super powered Grey Gargoyle was undone.  This one is still the best of the three issues… but that’s not saying much.  We do get a bit that I hope gets expanded upon with the Grey Gargoyle in a containment chamber.  He apparently begins to pray in the wake of what he did during the events of Fear Itself.  I’m kind of hoping this gets expanded upon.  A villain’s remorse at the wake of what he did when he was more or less turned into a demonic berserker.  Sadly, it’s not enough to tell you that you should pick it up and it’ll probably be collected with the initial hardcover and possibly trade paperback.  Especially since the revival of Paris really does feel like a cop-out.  That’s what these 7.whatever issues have been.

Verdict – Pass

Ghostbusters #4 continues the team’s comeback.  I’m not sure if the events of the recent video game are entirely cannon with this comic, but I’m not going to assume that they are, especially with rumors of Ghostbusters 3 being in the works.  The book deals with Ray and his premonitions of the return of Zuul.  Other ghostly activity begins to grip New York and it ends with the prophecy showing the death of the Ghostbusters.  It’s a fun book that in my opinion nails the personalities of all the characters involved.  If you’re a fan of the Ghostbusters movies, I say you should give this a shot.  If you don’t know who the Ghostbusters are, this series doesn’t really leave you in the dark on too many things… but I highly suggest watching at least the first movie just to know some of the homages and details more thoroughly.

Verdict - Recommended

Green Lantern Corps #3 was good… and there isn’t much else to say about it.  The battle against the enemies in this issue, who can also seemingly control the green energy of willpower, leads to a rescue attempt going bad.  There’s not much else to say about it.  It’s got some good character moments and it makes you wanna see what happens in the next issue.

Verdict – Recommended

The Incredible Hulk #2… I think I’m abraisive towards this comic simply because I absolutely loved Greg Pak’s run on the book.  It turned The Incredible Hulk into one of my absolute favorite characters and I was so disappointed to see it go… not to mention to see ANOTHER series get a stupid re-numbering.  Seriously, comic writers, re-numberings DO NOT HELP!  And they’re damn sure not going to change the stigma that has been established for comics that you’ve buried yourself in by making events of the past a “must read to understand” situation.  That ranting aside, this was decent.  We still don’t know exactly how The Incredible Hulk and Bruce Banner got separated, but it seems that Banner is the one who isn’t happy with it.  He can’t reconcile with his wife, the Red She-Hulk, and he’s obsessively trying to re-create the moment he became The Incredible Hulk and has had varied success… just not with himself.  There wasn’t anything in terms of action here, but we get some good story development.  I still recommend it, just not if you’re looking for a lot of Hulk smashing this month.

Verdict – Recommended

Justice League #3 continues the made for trade origin story of the new Justice League.  Wonder Woman shows up here and is a bit thoughtless as to the world around her as she openly hunts for harpies in Washington DC.  There is a cute moment between her and a little girl with ice cream though.  Also, we see Victor Stone begin to become Cyborg, which I’m guessing will be completed next issue.  This was a very action-centric book so there isn’t much to go on, other than groaning at Green Lantern calling “dibs” on Wonder Woman.  I’m just not sold on this yet, but am willing to see this origin story out.

Verdict - Recommended

Now it’s time to talk about Wonder Woman #3… I’m not happy with this book in general.  I think I went through a lot of denial these first few issues with Wonder Woman’s characterization.  This issue was a grim reality for me… Brian Azzarello is the absolute wrong person to be writing Wonder Woman, let alone redefining the character.  Wonder Woman was once the compassionate, heroic, peace-loving spirit of truth in the DC Universe.  This Wonder Woman is a battle-happy, over-aggressive, anti-hero-like, generic demi-god.  Yes, folks, Wonder Woman is no longer born from clay and blessed by the Greek pantheon and is now simply Zeus’s daughter.  That stupidity aside, the Amazons and the Greek gods themselves leave so much to be desired.  Since I’m going to go on a long-winded rant for the good with our next comic, I’m going to save you guys the headache here.  Your must watch video is Linkara’s Amazons Attack prologue video.  Compare the original history and characterization of Wonder Woman and the Amazons to this one and you’ll understand just what’s gone wrong here.

But the retcon isn’t the biggest fault with this book and, in fact, this series.  It’s just about everything else.  Wonder Woman has acted unheroic, the Amazons are just plain baffling at times, and it’s just not a fun book.  Since the first trade and hardcover is six issues long, I’m willing to see where this goes and hope this was just another made for trade story.  However, I’m not going to give this series much more of a break because I can see this getting even stupider.

Verdict - Pass

X-Men #21 continues a hopeful revival of the series.  Before, they were one-off X-Men adventures that were either good or just downright stupid.  They also had a habit of crossing over with other heroes a lot.  One thing I don’t like about this series is the title.  We have a book out right now called X-Men Legacy which stars Rogue.  Fine, but it used to be called X-Men too.  I really don’t know why they changed the name of X-Men to X-Men Legacy and came out with this.  How are we supposed to figure chronicle numberings?  Same with Captain America & Bucky and Captain America.  Stuff like this is just downright stupid.

What isn’t stupid, however, is the setup for this book.  The X-Men have learned of foreign powers getting their hands on Sentinels and they send a task force to put an end to it.  The team consists of Storm, Colossus, Domino, Warpath, Psylocke, and Jubilee.  Yes, Jubilee.  For those who don’t know, Jubilee was depowered after the events of House of M and eventually re-powered… with vampire powers from the beginning of this series.  It’s weird, yes, but now hopefully we won’t get any more jokes about her power being “razzle dazzle.”  That was always Dazzler’s M.O.  Besides, I always liked Jubilee.  She was my main on X-Men Legends… but that was also for the sheer fun of seeing her punch-out some of the big bads she has no business competing with.

Anyway, the book is already shaping up to be a lot better than it had been before.  The X-Men had grown to such large sizes that we really do need books like this to give them all their spotlight time.  I mean, let’s face it, we haven’t had an X-Men writer as talented as the former creative team of Justice Society of America (before their own stupid split) that can balance 20-some superheroes in one issue.  This is a nice alternative, though.  The X-Men books have always been favorites of mine and this one is shaping up to be a treat with three of my favorite X-Men (Storm, Psylocke, and Jubilee) in the mix.  If I have one downside to say about this team is that there’s not a lot of personality to this team.  Unless Jubilee’s suddenly going to start being like she was back before she was a vampire and Colossus regains his personality, this one could get real dull.

Also, I need to echo Linkara’s thoughts as to superhero teams.  I like my teams bright and colorful too.  This team is NOT bright and colorful… at least not as much as I’d like.  Yeah, we got Psylocke’s purplish blue, Jubilee has her bright yellow trenchcoat that’s just perfect for sneaking around, and Colossus has his red and yellow ensamble.  However, black is the dominate color with this team.  Besides Colossus and Psylocke (though with her it can be tough to tell sometimes), everyone has predominately black.  Domino is wearing all black, Warpath is wearing black with red trim, Storm is wearing black with gold trim, and Jubilee is wearing all black under her yellow coat.  This may be the Power Rangers fan in me talking, but what’s wrong with each individual having their own dominate color scheme?

That gripe aside, this book is a lot of fun two issues into the new era.  There’s a good twist with the Sentinel project at the end that really makes the situation feel that much more grim and the characters are generally enjoyable.  The only exception is Warpath, who doesn’t exhibit much personality at all, and Domino, who doesn’t exhibit much of anything under suspicion of being dead.  Good book, just hope for some more personality.

Verdict – Recommended

Finally, there’s the last book I want to talk about today.  X-23 #17.  Yes, I’ve recently heard that this, along with another book I like, Herc, is being cancelled along with Iron Man 2.0 (which I didn’t like so much, in spite of me giving it every opportunity to win me over).  This is a huge disappointment for me.  Some people look at X-23 and see her as just “Wolverine with boobs,” but I see her as her own character on her own merits.  A tortured woman who keeps herself distant from the world and who has never known what it’s like to truly be loved by the people around her.  Yes, she had a boyfriend at one point, apparently, but I didn’t read much about her until her Women of Marvel one-shot, so I  hope you’ll forgive me.  Still, this run has been good and this issue was a lot of fun.  Laura is babysitting Reed and Sue Richards’s children and all hell breaks loose.  I think we could have gotten some more comical bits, considering the set-up, but X-23 has rarely been a book focused on humor.  It’s been pretty dramatic at times.  I’ve really enjoyed this series.  As this seems to be the start of its final arc, I hope anyone who’s been intrigued will give it a shot on its final few issues.

Verdict – Recommended

As I’m still recovering from Skyward Sword, I may or may not pick up my entire pull this week either.  I will pick up what I saved from last week though as, well, it’s my shop’s policy to not keep books in the pull boxes for more than a month and I don’t wanna lose track.  Next week is a big reprieve week for me, so I’ll definitely be able to catch up then.  I don’t know if I’ll cover those leftover books on next week’s back stack yet, though, because these things can get pretty long on certain weeks and, as a personal preference, I don’t like long blog posts.  Heck, my first WWEekly Wrap-Up was over 11 pages in its initial draft before I reformatted it for the blog.  Still, I’m finding my blogger legs and I hope you’re all willing to stick with me for this ride.

This has been The Back Stack and… I’ll work on the closing statements.  ^_^;

WWEekly Wrap-Up for the week ending November 19, 2011 + Survivor Series predictions

And here we are.  The inaugural edition of the WWEekly Wrap-Up.  This is fitting for me because Survivor Series is a very personal Pay-Per-View for me.  It was the first live event I ever went to and certainly not the last.

The format of this series will be very rough around the edges.  It’ll primarily be my base thoughts regarding the shows.  I’ll be forward with you, though.  I’m not happy with the current run of the WWE.  Still, though, it’s better than anything rival TNA comes up with on a regular basis.  However, I am not so bias that I won’t aknowledge when TNA does something good… like having a women’s division that tries to be entertaining.  More on my thoughts about the Divas Division later, though.  I didn’t tune into NXT or Superstars this week, so I won’t be covering them this week.  That said, let’s begin.

Monday Night Raw from Boston, Mass.:  November 14, 2011

It’s a three hour special tonight.  This is basically a return to the status quo for me, though, since I watched WCW Monday Nitro for so long and, for a long time, it was regularly three hours.  In spite of this, it seems the WWE still seems to never have as many matches as Nitro did during their three hour time slots.  I know, that the WWE tries to give everything a purpose and I commend them for that… still, would a throwaway fun match be so out of the question?  I mean, heck, what else is your undercard going to do?

Michael Cole Challenge:  Michael Cole vs. Jim Ross

This is the opening segment of Monday Night Raw and it doesn’t start off strong.  The Michael Cle Challenge that we’ve been having pimped before us for the weeks prior basically ended up being a redux of “let’s humiliate JR to piss off the fans again.”  The Challenge was that if JR could beat Cole in all three events, then he could have his job back and Cole would supposedly quit the WWE for good.  Honestly, I thought this would be where Cole evolves from the announce desk and become either a general manager later down the line or a manager of superstars.  I know there are some people who enjoy Cole’s commentary, but I’m not one of them and was NEVER one of them.  He was just passable back when he was pairing up with Tazz on SmackDown, but I think I began losing patience with him when he teamed up with JBL and became Rey Mysterio’s cheer leader.  In fact, it actually made me get irritated with Mysterio when I was originally such a big fan of his.  Granted, I’ve leveled it back off since then.  Still, Cole just doesn’t seem to hit the right chords with me.  Here’s my thing about being a good heel.  If you want your fans to get hot over the actions of your heels, it still needs to be entertaining.  Bobby “The Brain” Heenan was possibly the single greatest example of a heel commentator.  He was funny, he could play the bad guy, and he was good at commentating.  Paul Haymen was another fine example.  You just loved to hate his character.  Michael Cole, on the other hand, is a chore to listen to week in and week out and I find myself plugging in my iPod for the non-promo portions of the show more often than not.  Cole just doesn’t do it for me and the fact that he’s being shoved down our throats so much makes me really question WWE management’s sanity in keeping this charade up.

Anyway, the first challenge was an arm-wrestling contest, which JR won in under a second.  Heck, you could have run this a hundred times in the time it took Cole to finish strutting… which was funny.  Next, was the dance competition which was example #1of “let’s embarrass JR again” on the part of the WWE.  Oh, sure, JR’s dancing was funny as hell and damn entertaining… but it also shows us why we’ll never be rid of these things.  JR keeps going along with it and will let himself have too much fun with it.  This was a prime example as he really seemed to get into… what I guess people will call dancing today.  The third challenge was the one that he was supposed to lose.  “Who weighs less.”  Now, granted, I thought something funny was going to happen, like, JR setting the scales back so he weighed, like, 70lbs, but that’d probably get nixed by the Interim Raw GM, former wrestler Johnny Ace.

But, no, JR outweighed Cole by 40lbs and lost the challenge.  Now comes to where the segment really lost its merit.  CM Punk comes out to talk about the segment being a waste of everyone’s time, implying that there was more to do with JR coming soon.  Instead, he talks for a bit, Johnny Ace comes out and sets up the main event of the evening, and Punk puts Cole in the Anaconda Vice submission maneuver.  It really seemed like Punk forgot what he was initially going to do… or he just implied he had more in mind than making Cole hurt a lot.  We’ll get JR for all of ONE segment at commentary as a result.

I am not a fan of the idea of managers, announcers, or non-combative personnel having major air time.  The WWE doesn’t use their entire roster as it is and this only makes their situation worse.   Hey, kids!  Remember Drew McIntyre?  How about Tyler Reks?  No?  Well gee whiz!

Anyway, Punk and Big Show vs. Mark Henry and Alberto Del Rio is set for later tonight as a result.  Great.  Weeks of build-up amounts to a match leading up to Survivor Series that isn’t even the main event of the evening.  Not only is the whole premise stupid, not only will the match only be generic, not only do we get to see JR get shown up for no good reason later in the evening.  Is a sizable time of us having a good strong commentary team too much to ask?

Hey!  Mick Foley is here!  If you don’t read the wrestling Internet dirt sheets, this’d been a pleasant surprise!  If you did, well, this was just pleasant.  Foley’s been one of the most entertaining performers for years and he generally only adds to the shows he’s on, be it commentary or a promo made only for the cheep pop.

 

Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes and Hunico vs. Kofi Kingston and Sin Cara

Oh dear Lord do I hate Cody Rhodes’s new music.  If you wanted a male strip club remix of his Dashing theme, Smoke & Mirrors, here you go.  The only problem is that nobody wanted this remix.  Also, Rhodes’s mask is gone.  Kind of an uncerimonial way to get rid of one of the WWE’s best gimmicks, don’t you think?  Anyway, Rhodes and Hunico win in an average match.  Not bad, but nothing really special.  Rhodes and Hunico get the win, leading up to their participation in the classic Survivor Series-style match… more on my thoughts on that when I reach the predction.

Before the next match, JR gets booted from the announce table.  Great.  Now we can’t even get good commentary for a whole hour.

 

Mason Ryan vs. United States Champion Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero

For the record, I like Vickie Guerrero.  She does SUCH a great job of getting under people’s skin by doing so little.  How does she do it?  I have no idea.  Maybe it’s prejudices, maybe it’s long standing love for Eddie Guerrero, I dunno.  Anyway, another match to preview the Survivor Series-style match and boy does Mason look green.  I don’t know his wrestling background, but he’s either a WWE lifer or fairly new to the craft.  I don’t buy the argument of “The WWE Style.”  For me, the WWE style is only shorter matches made for TV.  That’s all.  Ziggler, on the other hand, has superstar written all over him.  The man is consistently in command with whatever he does and I don’t remember a bad performance on his part.  Not bad for someone who used to be a member of the Spirit Squad, eh?  Anyway, Mason Ryan wins by DQ, Ziggler makes a break for it, and John Morrison comes out, throws Ziggler back in, and Ryan has at him.  The match was also just okay, made no better by Ryan’s inability to put together a match.  Ziggler, of course, saves it.

Top of the hour, Mick Foley comes out, calls out John Cena for a stupid “This Is Your Life” segment.  They run a montage on Cena as a kid, like we haven’t seen THAT done before, then we get to a dude impersonating John Cena’s little league coach.  I’m… pretty sure Cena was a football player, but hey, he could have played multiple sports.  It’s a dull segment that basically has the impersonator calling Cena a former crybaby and a loser, which the Cena haters should appreciate.  Next, we get BULL BUCHANNAN!  Buchannan talks about being Cena’s old running buddy, B2 (that’s B Squared).  He thumped up how great Cena was… then talked about how his life basically went to hell since the WWE fired him including losing his money in some kind of racquet scam and getting rabies.  Yeah, he concluded John Cena ruined his life.  Fun stuff.  Finally, John Cena’s real life father came out and ragged on all of the Cena’s haters, saying they suck and acting like he tapped out the open bar at his hotel.  Generally funny stuff.  Foley’s end goal was to get Cena and The Rock to be buddy-buddy for the long haul, even after their match against Awesome Truth at Survivor Series.  Instead, The Rock walks in, Rock Bottoms Mick Foley, and walks out.  Simple as that, funny as that… pointless as that.  Just a diversion that we, quite frankly, didn’t need.  Hopefully something comes of this with Foley in the coming weeks so this won’t just feel like it was filler for a three-hour Raw.

Sheamus vs. Jack Swagger

Another match in light of the Survivor Series-style match.  This wasn’t a bad match until the ending.  It felt horribly rushed and almost “Super Cena”-esque in how quickly Sheamus recovered for the victory.  Now, Sheamus is a hell of a breath of fresh air compared to the repetitive nature of Cena and Randy Orton that we’ve had for the past few years, but I can’t help but feel he’s going to fall into the same trap.  However, he can at least mutually put on an entertaining match with his opponent and he works better when not strapped for time.  His matches where he picked up where Randy Orton left off in unnecessarily burying Christian in recent months are proof of this.  As for Swagger… I can’t help but feel like nobody really knows what to do with him.  They thought high enough of him to be a World Heavyweight Champion, but didn’t think high enough of him to do anything with that reign.  Not to mention he often loses the gag matches nowadays

Kelly Kelly vs. Natalya

And now we’ve come to arguably the most painful part of WWE broadcasting lately.  The Divas matches, or as I like to call them, the Beer Run Match.  With this ritual, the Divas bounce out to the ring, the horny males of the audience ooh, ahhh… then they go with the wrestling fans to go grab refreshments or souveniers for the kids.  Why?  Because the Divas Division has fallen.  Once upon a time, Raw was main evented and closed out by the Women’s Championship grudge match between Trish Stratus and Lita, two of the three women I primarily credit with pioneering women’s wrestling on a mainstream level (the third being Chyna).  Now… we get a match that’s won in under a minute mid-show with a roll-up after maybe three moves of dubious origin.  This is especially frustrating in Divas tag team matches where not everyone slated for the match actually gets to participate.  I think the most outgregeous offendor was a couple years ago when it was a 14-Diva Tag Team match… something as epically set up as a 14-person tag team match… ends within two minutes with only three Divas actually participating in the match… yeah, the Divas Division has been brown beaten by the WWE and putting women who evidently CAN’T put on a match like the Bella Twins, Eve Torres, Alicia Fox, and Kelly Kelly in the spotlight doesn’t help matters one bit.  I’ll vent about the Diva’s Division more another day, but  needless to say, this one’s just more crap.  Kelly wins with a roll-up in about 50 seconds.

WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio and World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry vs. C.M. Punk and The Big Show

This match covers a total of THREE of my pet peeves in the WWE today.  First, two world champions.  The World Championship tier should be one man alone who is considered the best of them all.  With two of these titles, both of them are insanely de-valued.  When history looks back at this, nobody will know who truly was top dog during this time.  Sure, it’s implied that the WWE Championship is held to a higher regard than the World Heavyweight Championship, but the World Heavyweight Title picture ends up being not only more entertaining in my book, but holds a less “for the sake of publicity” air about it.  The second pet peeve?  The World Champion, whomever it may be, billed under another match.  No matter what, if you have the top prize in the industry, you should be one of the two main events with the other world tier championship as the other.  I don’t care if you have The President of the United States and the World Series MVP against the Prime Minister of Canada and Jackie Chan.  The declared best in the world gets top billing.  The third pet peeve?  One of the superstars billed ahead is either John Cena or Randy Orton.  I can forgive it if it were Triple H since he married into the family for such a reason (if you believe such tales), or The Undertaker as the longest tenured superstar on the roster and inarguably the most celebrated, but for the world champions to be undercarded for the WWE’s poster boys really rubs me the wrong way.  I’d be more forgiving if it were a grudge match with a special stipulation or something like that, but for more of the CenOrton Circle really bugs me.  Anyway, Del Rio and Henry win a pretty decent match.  Glad to see they don’t make the champions look like total chumps.

Santino Marella comes out and talks about how he almost won the Royal Rumble in this very building earlier in the year.  Nash comes out, plays nice, and power bombs Santino.  He talks about how he’s still here and Triple H isn’t, referring to his attack on The Game a couple weeks ago.  Basically, build-up for their eventual match.  Not bad, but it still felt pretty weird.  Still cool to hear the old New World Order theme again, though I still prefer the Wolfpac’s entrance music by comparison.

Jonah Hill will be the guest star next week.  I do not care and it’ll probably be more of the same.  Advertisement for stuff typical WWE fans don’t care about and stupid comedy skits.

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

Since Wade Barrett won the previous SmackDown on Friday, it stood to reason that Orton would win tonight.  In a surprising twist though, Orton won by Disqualification.  This was a good thing as it keeps Barrett up as a legitimate threat to Team Orton.  The match was pretty good, particularly on Barrett’s part.  Orton, however, has begun to fall into the Cena trap.  Predictable moves and a predictable pattern.  On the up side, at least he tries to use other moves, even if they are generally rest holds.  The two teams brawl, ending our main event.

The final segment was The Rock FINALLY showing up after two hours and 48 minutes of a Raw that was themed just for him.  What does he do?  He cuts a decent promo and joins with Cena to take on The Awesome Truth.  He Rock Bottoms both of them and… that’s pretty much it.  He shows Cena up and leaves.  Great.  Way to build up Awesome Truth as a legitimate threat to Cena and Rock.  Well, Miz beat Cena the other week, so I guess it isn’t so bad for this week.  But this really speaks to the weakness of the double brand.  Now instead of having ten shows to build up a match, you get five shows for new content with five for recaps.  This match just didn’t have enough support story and The Rock was here for too little leading up.

Also, WWE, will you STOP WITH THE TWITTER PIMPING?!  I don’t care what’s trending worldwide on Twitter for 30 seconds before the new cult movie that’s airing on some obscure channel or whatever is happening on Monday Night Football overtakes it.  Although, I will admit, “Cena’s Lady Parts” trending is pretty funny.

Raw was a huge disappointment and being three hours, it felt like it dragged.  The matches ranged from average to aweful made no better by the fact that the theme of “Raw Gets Rocked” amounted to one promo and one Rock Bottom.  The best thing about the night was the return of Mick Foley.  The worst thing was a tie between another terrible Diva’s match and an entirely worthless opening that made weeks worth of buildup feel like a waste of time made simply to either piss off the fans or stroke Cole’s ego.  Or, maybe JR just has a secret fettish for being made a joke out of on national television.  Then again, tonight in particular, he seems to have fun with it more times than not so, why fault a man for doing what he loves, right?

I give Monday Night Raw for November 14, 2011… one and a half out of five stars.

Now onto what I believe to be the better show between the two, Friday Night SmackDown!

Friday Night SmackDown from Bridgeport, Conn.:  November 18, 2011

This SmackDown was much better than Raw by comparison.  I don’t know if it’s because SmackDown has better performers in general or if it’s because, being edited, they can make it look better in post-recording.  Yeah, for those who don’t know, SmackDown is actually recorded on Tuesdays, typically.  It can be pretty funny to hear someone talk about what happened “during the week” or “on Wednesday” during the Tuesday recording.  I find it very amusing when I go to SmackDown tapings.

Anyway, we begin off with a bang.  Mark Henry delivering a massive beat down on Internet favorite Daniel Bryan, Mr. Money in the Bank and one of the single most talented wrestlers in the world today.  Mark Henry talks about his blood feud with The Big Show, beats down Daniel Bryan some more, and leaves.  What was most amusing to me was that SmackDown commentator Josh Mathews talks about how no SmakDown has ever began like that.  Not only can I think of at least one other SmackDown that began like that, I can think of at least FIVE WCW Nitros and Thunders that began like that.

Yeah, in case you haven’t figured it out, I miss WCW… Even in the worst of times towards the end.

Speaking of the commentating crew, by the way… Michael Cole on SmackDown… first, I don’t understand why you need him on both shows if the goal ISN’T to irritate the fans.  Second… am I the only one who detects a little bit of a racist vibe from him towards Booker T?  I know Booker’s goofy sometimes, but it really seems like that Cole goes out of his way to run down and mess with him.  I get being a heel towards the face, Jesse Ventura did that with Gorilla Monson all the time (and was actually entertaining too), but… I don’t really feel comfortable half the time he does so.  I dunno, this one’s probably just me and I won’t touch on this again unless someone shares my sentiments.  Nothing particularly racial is said, but Cole’s antics really do seem less humorously evil and just more mean spirited to me here.

Anywho, first match!

United States Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. Sin Cara

Two super-talented superstars kicking off SmackDown.  Good stuff here.  Ziggler is on top of his game as usual and Sin Cara seems to be getting more accustomed to facing WWE Superstars.  Ziggler wins and then Swagger comes to help beat down their Survivor Series match opponent down some more.  Mason Ryan makes the save, delivering monster air to Dolph Ziggler in one of the cooler spots in recent weeks.  I swear, he could have gotten thrown over a ladder in a ladder match with the kind of hang time he got.  This all leads to…
 

Mason Ryan vs. Jack Swagger

Mason’s green as usual, but Swagger does enough to make this match better than what it probably should be.  Yes, Ryan’s in-ring skills leave a lot to be desired, but I’m willing to let him work out his kinks.  I just hope he gets a lot of in-ring time during house shows to figure himself out and that he’s picking the brains of other big men in the company like Sheamus.  Ryan gets the win.

Christian cut a promo at this point where he basically continued this “complainer” gimmick he’s been shafted with.  It’s sad because it seems like he’s become a straw man for himself for what the WWE Universe’s “smart” fans (smart being a term used to describe fans who think they’re in the know with the inner workings of the business).  It seems he’s existed for putting over superstars who are already over, like Randy Orton and Sheamus, who have repeatedly beaten him in admittedly good matches over the course of the summer.  Funny that the WWE would pull something like that with one of their more popular superstars, eh?  Anyway, he’s in a leg brace for a legit injury he suffered in Europe and a kayfabe (fake) neckbrace from what the Big Show did to him a while back.  He yells at the WWE Universe and left.  Good heel promo.  I hope his feud with SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long goes into something big.  Honestly?  I’m ready for some change at the SmackDown healm.

 

Ted DiBiase vs. Derrick Bateman w/Maxine

Derrick Bateman was a face on NXT Season 4 and was generally pretty funny who subtly turned heel and began an engagement angle with Maxine.  Ted DiBiase was a heel in years past who used to be the “rich kid” who subtly turned face and began hanging out with fans in the parking lot.  A stretch of a parallel, I know, but still… anyway, an average match, an abrupt end, not much to say.  Have I mentioned I haven’t cared much for NXT since they brought Bateman in and it became painfully clear they had no idea what they were going to do with this season?

The Big Show was prowling around backstage.  We see him visit Daniel Bryan in the trainer’s room… who was being attended to by A.J. Lee, rookie Diva and geek goddess.  Y’know, I’d totally let myself get beaten to a pulp by Mark Henry if it meant a bedside visit by A.J. later.  Damn, WWE Superstars have a good medical plan.  All kidding aside, we also get Big Show running into stock heels Tyson Kidd and Jinder Mihal, leading to the latter being punched out by Big Show in a genuinely humorous moment.  I don’t know if the sound the hit made was piped in later, but it really made it for me.  Fun stuff.  Big Show predicts he’ll win at Survivor Series in a cliché promo, next scene.

Kofi Kingston vs. Hunico

I really hope we haven’t seen the last of Epico, because a deeper roster is what the WWE needs.  Yes, they have other Superstars in waiting, but seeing new guys, or someone who hasn’t been in the spotlight for a while, is always welcome.  Anyway, solid outing, Kofi wins, and we get some referee controversy again.  Since it screws over the heel, the typical fan won’t care as much.  This’ll probably come back to haunt Theodore Long later, though.

Diva’s Champion Beth Phoenix and Natalya vs. AJ and Kaitlyn

Pretty much a squash match, but it goes to show why I prefer SmackDown over Raw most of the time.  Even though it was a squash, they really put some effort into this one and it was infinitely better than the quickie beer run match we had on Raw.  Natalya puts a nasty Sharpshooter on AJ for the win.  After the match, it looks like we’re getting our first signs of an AJ and Kaitlyn split… and nobody will care.
 

Randy Orton and Sheamus vs. Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett

A solid main event to SmackDown to preview the 5-on-5 Survivor Series-style match for Sunday.  We had interference by Christian, who was supposed to be on Team Barrett originally, but was scratched from it due to his ankle injury.  Orton and Sheamus get the win by Disqualification wen Christian cold-clocks Sheamus with his crutch.  All hell breaks loose, Orton and Sheamus make a comeback, beat down the heels, Christian runs off, and the fans go home happy for the night.

SmackDown was solid as usual.  The matches get the benefit of not worrying as much about time constraints from not being live.  Therefore, the matches bad spots can be edited out, partially thanks to some clever directing in the ring, and everyone can cut loose for the most part.  Even the Divas tend to get marginally more respect here than they would on Raw.  The only down side is that some of the stupid things that happen in the WWE in general DO affect SmackDown too, including generally bad Divas matches, dumb angles, and poster boy-thumping.  Still, it’s the lesser of two evils.

I give Friday Night Smackdown for November 18, 2011… Two and a half out of five stars.  Solid stuff, but not as good as a show leading into one of the four big pay-per-views of the year should be.

Now, when we have a pay-per-view coming up, I like to make predictions for the show.  These are my own dumb thoughts and I hope you have fun counting how many I get wrong.

 

Graveheart’s Predictions for Survivor Series on November 20, 2011

Diva’s Championship Lumberjill Match:  Champion Beth Phoenix vs. Eve Torres
This match was made to supposedly give the impression that Beth Phoenix will lose her championship thanks to the numbers being on Eve’s side… which is stupid.  Beth Phoenix has Natalya on her side, but Eve has Kelly Kelly and Alicia on her’s.  The numbers game is taken care of, even if Natalya and Beth have more in-ring ability than TEN sets of Kelly/Alicia/Eve alliances.  Anyway, I’m picking Beth Phoenix to retain in this one.  It seems like they’re trying to push Alicia and I can’t help but feel the recent #1 Contender’s battle royal had her fall out of the ring on accident and they just improvised with Eve.  Maybe it’s a groundless theory, but I’m going with it.  Besides, if Beth loses… who challenges next?  Natalya’s been billed as incompetent lately and the Bellas can’t wrestle worth a lick.  So, I think Beth retains.

Classic Survivor Series Match:  Team Barrett (Wade Barrett, Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes, Hunico, Jack Swagger, and United States Champion Dolph Ziggler) vs. Team Orton (Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, Mason Ryan, and Sin Cara)

I think Team Barrett goes over in this one based on the push Barrett’s getting.  Mind you, the push could only be so Orton gets his annual ego-boost, so, who knows, really.  This one can go either way, but I’ll go on a whim and go Team Barrett.  Either way, this leads to…
 

United States Championship Match:  Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison

I have no idea of any justification for John Morrison to get a title shot over Zach Ryder wen whatever Morrison’s done, Ryder’s done at least twice.  Probably used to get John Laurinitus over as a heel (Johnny Ace from earlier), but yeah.  With rumors of Morrison’s eventual departure, there is the opening for a swerve in this match with Morrison going over.  However, as sudden as this match came about, I’m not counting on it.  I’m picking Ziggler.
 

WWE Championship Match:  Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk

This is not the end of this rivalry by any stretch.  This one still has a lot of mileage to go and that’s why I’m picking CM Punk to win this match… just not the title.  It’ll probably be a disqualification so we can have these two in a ladder match or a TLC match at the next pay-per-view.  That way, the WWE Championship doesn’t get overshadowed by The Rock and Cena again… though knowing the WWE, that may happen anyway.  Heck, Cena could end up in the match and we’ll have another Triple Threat match between these three again.  Still, CM Punk for the win, just not for the title… yet.
 

World Heavyweight Championship Match:  Champion Mark Henry vs. The Big Show

This is another close one in my opinion, but I think Mark Henry goes over.  I have no real basis for it and no real idea why he’d go over in this match.  It’s just a straight guess on my part.
 

The Rock and John Cena vs. The Awesome Truth

I’m going to predict that R-Truth and The Miz get the victory in this one to pump up the one-on-one match Rock and Cena will have at WrestleMania.  I predict that these two will implode and we’ll get our first glimpse of these two competing in the ring against one another… and boy will it be painful.  Listen, here’s the Truth, no pun intended.  I’m not looking forward to John Cena vs. The Rock.  Neither one can really wrestle.  Rock can put on a show… but that’s all these two have.  Unless we get instances of “The People’s Water,” and consistent high spots… I think this match between these two is going to be a huge bust and a massive blow to the WWE, even though WrestleMania will be a financial success.  But, I’m getting off track.  Yeah, I’m picking Awesome Truth for the sake of pushing the feud between The Rock and John Cena.

So, that’s it for the WWEekly Wrap-Up.  I’ll try to make these better in the future.  If you have any suggestions, please share them with me.

Until next time, this has been Master Graveheart, tagging out…