Kostka

Post come back Rock is awful. He's been both Cena and Punks, who are generally two of the better guys in the company, worst matches in a while.

Brock Lesnar.

Does she bake good cookies though?

I say Team Hell No vs Ziggler/Big E

I disagree completely. Shelley may have "charisma", but he never was afraid to indulge into his masturbatory cooperative dance routines. Aries stuff from 04 onward with Danielson, Joe, Nigel, Noble, Punk, etc blows Shelley's cutesy mat work fetish stuff out of the water. Aries has also improved drastically on the mic and as a character since. For the record I don't hate Shelley and I think he's capable of good stuff when he doesn't "indulge", but Aries never had a low as low as Sabin vs Shelley on TNA PPV.

Great review. I love how a theme in their matches are how well they know each others shit, to the point where down the home stretch when shit gets desperate, they bust out crazy random moves to throw each other off guard. I lost my shit on the piledriver, and the crowd audibly gasping was amazing. the Rana -> AA was one of the best finishes I've seen in a while.

No. Mark Henry.

Wow Swagger is a fucking moron. Enter: Mark Henry. Easy fix.

Because it's not that simple. If it were that simple, beating Big Show itself would mean nothing. Everybody's beaten Big Show. Big Show spent a whole summer in 2002 doing clean jobs for Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley and Jeff Hardy, and still marched into Survivor Series to knock off an unbeaten Brock Lesnar to win the World title. Bradshaw was nobody for eight years and magically was good enough to be World Champion after two months as JBL. Mark Henry lay down for everyone for 15 years before pinning Randy Orton cleanly for the Big Gold Belt. Swagger's chances of beating Del Rio have got fuck all to do with who he was jobbing to on TV five months before he adopted his current persona. In storyline terms, he's come back aggressive and focused, has had no problems beating the JTTS types (including said same Santino) in less than three minutes and has just won an Elimination Chamber. He's in red hot form. He's a completely different animal to the "All-American American", blue singlet and press ups. I'm not saying he'll beat Bertie, I think if Del Rio doesn't leave 'Mania with the belt then Ziggler will, but Swagger winning in the Chamber marks him as a threat. Don't worry about Santino. If you think you measure a man's calibre by who he gets pinned by, Ric Flair once did a clean job for Rico. Think about that. For the record, I'm actually a fan of this feud. My issue isn't so much the hotshotting aspect of it, as sometimes it can work. My problem with it is timing. JBL and Henry, as best I recall, got their respective main event pushes in the spring. Spring is always a "safe" time of the year to do experimental type of pushes, where if it doesn't matter so much if it sinks or swims. Henry and JBL were both spring pushes. I think what makes this different, mainly, is the fact that Del Rio is a freshly turned babyface who to get him to that next level, needs a profile type match/win on the biggest show of the year. I like Swagger, but I think this kind of push works better post-Mania, spring/summertime. And for what it's worth, I think Big Show is WAY more protected now than he was in 2002.

It's the best of the C shows right now.

Me too, but in a fed where every possible combination of a singles match happens multiple times a month, sometimes a week, by the time Mania comes around, no intrigue is built up between two rivals because they've already been around the loop, so they just mash together whoever is in the main event picture in three ways. I'm shocked Swagger and Del Rio is a singles match.

I agree with Dylan about Swagger. It's definate hotshotting WWE booking where the guy always ends up flat on his face. Building a star is a process. Swagger winning the Chamber felt very flukey, and he's not a guy who's secured himself any big wins otherwise. Del Rio just beat the Big Show clean. Why should I think he should have any trouble beating a guy who not too long ago regularly lost to Santino every week? And at WM? Many WWE PPVs feel like episodes of Raw and Smackdown these days, in terms of booking finishes and of star power, so I guess WM wouldnt' be an exception. Still, I'll probably enjoy the feud for what it is. Feels more like an experimental spring/summer program, though. I actually thought they were going to turn Orton and program him against Del Rio, which I also probably wouldn't care to see.

Who would be the WWE top 10 workers at the moment? I'd go 1. Antonio Cesaro 2. Sheamus 3. Mark Henry 4. The Shield (as a unit) 5. Big Show 6. CM Punk 7. John Cena 8. Alberto Del Rio 9. Rey Mysterio 10. Dolph Ziggler You could switch Cena and Punk easily without much complaint. Cena was better in that six man than any Punk performance in a long time IMO.

Hes always been good in that role.

Pretty epic Henry performance though. He even came back and wrecked some fools.

Henry as the last entrant. My prediction? Pain.

Glad I'm not alone in thinking Miz/Cesaro was shockingly great. Del Rio/Show was awfully good too. Del Rio was excellent fighting from underneath, and had great crisp and urgent flurries of offense. His suicide dive was amazing and he almost felt Rey-ish at times. I loved the storytelling with the enzuigiri/grounded crossarmbreaker. Great struggle in the finish too.

Henry was amazing in that match. He didn't leave his feet until it counted, and what a monster pop when he did!

Henry vs Punk from Raw was the best babyface Punk match ever. Unless you count MITB 2011. I want to see Henry vs Ryback. I remember loving Henry vs Goldberg.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people will spend endless amounts of time bitching about a wrestling product, but because it's wrestling on TV they can't stay away. What they CAN do, however, is decide not buy PPVs. See: TNA. May be funnier than the cartoon: At least it wasn't one of Will's comps that he broke in anger. Wow. I think it's time for a new boyfriend. That shit is pathetic.

Really? Maybe I'm misremembering, but the People's Elbow seems as regular a finisher as the Rock Bottom. I just don't see the problem, I guess. To me it's like saying "Andre lost to....a fucking leg drop?"

Jeez Dylan...it's going to be okay... :-) I agree that Punk/Rock/Cena seems likely at this point. I dont particularly care for triple threats as a rule, but i think its an okay idea. Does this mean Taker/Lesnar for Takers match? That has a more special attraction feel which is needed for Takers once-a-year epics. I can't imagine them still thinking about Taker/Punk after last night. I'm more curious how the world title match will be booked for mania. Some combination of Sheamus, Del Rio, Orton and Big Show? I'm guessing Ziggler beats Jericho early in the card, then cashes in after the World title match.

I don't see the problem with that lay out. Punk worked the mid section. Punk tweaked his leg a bit and Rock targeted it, home stretch, dusty finish, restart, face hits finisher, wins title. WWE with strong face vs weaker heel is nothing new. The People's Elbow put down a fuck ton of guys.

Rock winning clean would ignore the Shield denial stuff. Punk paid off the Shield to help him in title matches, Vince tells him if they interfere, he's stripped. Punk has the lights shut off so that they can help him without being "caught", Vince comes out to strip him, Rock demands to beat Punk like a man. I think it sounds better in theory than execution, but like jdw said, it got us where we need to be for the next step, while tying the angle together with the Shield. I never like "the lights shut off" angles, but it made sense here even if I wasn't in love with its execution. The match itself was pretty underwhelming. Rocks rust was glaring and Punk seemed disinterested. The Rumble had some great shit (Goldust; Team Hell No friendship test spot), and Show/ADR was MOTN. Good show.

Dropping a guy off your shoulders and catching him in the head/jaw on his way down with your knee sounds like a pretty hurty idea to me. Is it really more or less "logical" than a Rock Bottom, Attitude Adjustment. 619, etc? I don't have a problem with it personally. It works and it's over. Speaking of Punk, though, his flying elbow definitely isn't pretty. Not that I care about the "beauty" of a move, but he just looks awkward coming off the top with it, unlike say, Savage. Even Tests was way better. It just doesn't fit his arsenal, so it always feels like a poorly executed tribute move, which always stinks.