Jimmy Redman

"Solid B+" was tied with "Check your ego at the door, just like I do" for line of the night for me.

I don't think the 2011 main events were as good as the 2013 main events, I agree. All I'm saying is that if 2013 was a two match card, or even a three match card, then something like 2011 was a six match card, because everything from top to bottom was really good, instead of only 3 matches out of 7, if that makes sense. If we're judging a card by its top 2 or 3 matches, then 2013 does really well. But I'm judging it by all of the matches on the card, and I'm saying 2011 was a more consistently good card. To answer the question, this will sound completely insane to a normal person but I have Beth/Kelly above Alberto/Christian. Even if you want to disregard that, I don't think Henry/Sheamus was much worse than Alberto/Christian, if at all. And Bryan/Barrett, if we can call this the 'fourth' match, isn't far below either, and certainly beats the crap out of the fourth best match from 2013. The trios match was the "worst" match from 2011 and it is also the fourth best match on 2013.

Full disclosure, I am probably THE biggest Cena fan to inhabit these parts of the internet wrestling universe. So this is an excellent topic. I'm going to expand on the above list to create what I think would be a pretty comprehensive "Great John Cena Matches" list, from the start of his main event run, just because I'd have to actually stop and think about stuff pre-2005. _______________________ Cena vs JBL, I Quit - Judgment Day 2005 Cena vs Chris Jericho - Summerslam 2005 (the first "Cena reaction" match) Cena vs Chris Jericho, Loser Leaves Town - Raw 22nd August 2005 Cena vs Angle vs Michaels - Taboo Tuesday 2005 WWE Title Elimination Chamber Match - New Year's Revolution 2006 Cena vs Triple H - Wrestlemania 22 Cena vs Triple H vs Edge - Backlash 2006 Cena vs RVD - One Night Stand 2 Cena vs RVD vs Edge - Raw 3rd July 2006 (title switch) Cena vs Edge - Summerslam 2006 Cena vs Edge, TLC - Unforgiven 2006 Cena vs Edge, Cage Match - Raw 2nd October 2006 Cena vs Finlay - Smackdown 15th December 2006 Cena vs Kevin Federline - Raw 1st January 2007 (outrageously fun sports entertainment style shit) Cena vs Umaga - New Year's Revolution 2007 Cena vs Umaga, Last Man Standing - Royal Rumble 2007 Cena & Michaels vs Undertaker & Batista - No Way Out 2007 Cena vs Shawn Michaels - Wrestlemania 23 Cena vs Shawn Michaels - Raw 23rd April 2007 Cena vs Michaels vs Edge vs Orton - Backlash 2007 Cena vs Great Khali - Judgment Day 2007 Cena vs Great Khali, Falls Count Anywhere - One Night Stand 2007 Cena vs Khali vs Umaga - Raw 4th June 2007 Cena vs Bobby Lashley - Great American Bash 2007 Cena vs Randy Orton - Summerslam 2007 Cena vs Randy Orton - No Way Out 2008 Cena vs Batista - Summerslam 2008 Cena vs Chris Jericho - Survivor Series 2008 (I like this better than Armageddon, and actually all their other matches) Cena vs Chris Jericho - Armageddon 2008 Cena vs Shawn Michaels - Raw 12th January 2009 World Title Elimination Chamber Match - No Way Out 2009 Cena vs Big Show - Smackdown 27th February 2009 Cena vs Edge, Last Man Standing - Backlash 2009 Cena vs Randy Orton, I Quit - Breaking Point 2009 Cena vs Randy Orton, Ironman - Bragging Rights 2009 Cena vs Batista, Wrestlemania 26 Cena vs Batista, Last Man Standing, Extreme Rules 2010 Cena vs Batista, I Quit, Over the Limit 2010 Cena & Bourne vs Edge & Sheamus - Raw 31st May 2010 Cena vs Wade Barrett - Hell in a Cell 2010 Cena vs Dolph Ziggler - Raw 20th December 2010 (the 'Vickie has nuclear heat' match) Raw Elimination Chamber Match - Elimination Chamber 2011 Cena vs CM Punk - Money in the Bank 2011 Cena vs Rey Mysterio - Raw 25th July 2011 Cena vs CM Punk - Summerslam 2011 Cena vs CM Punk - Raw 22nd August 2011 Cena vs Alberto Del Rio, Last Man Standing - Vengeance 2011 (broken ring match) Cena vs The Rock - Wrestlemania 28 (am I the only one who rates it?) Cena vs Brock Lesnar - Extreme Rules 2012 Cena vs Big Show - Raw 30th July 2012 Cena vs CM Punk - Night of Champions 2012 Cena vs Dolph Ziggler, Ladder - TLC 2012 Cena vs Alberto Del Rio, Christmas Street Fight - Raw 24th December 2012 (for the lulz) Cena & Sheamus & Ryback vs The Shield - Elimination Chamber 2013 Cena vs CM Punk - Raw 25th February 2013 Cena & Bryan & Kane vs The Shield - Raw 29th April 2013 (Cena was GREAT in this) Cena & Bryan & Kane vs The Shield, Elimination Rules - Raw 13th May 2013 Cena vs Mark Henry - Money in the Bank 2013 Cena vs Daniel Bryan - Summerslam 2013 Thats all I got off the top of my head. I'd argue all of them are great matches, or at the very least Cena is great in them.

Hell I'd argue that Summerslam 2011 was a better card than this show. Punk/Brock and Bryan/Cena beat everything on that card, but as far as an entire show goes, 2011 was much more consistent, with every match being at least really good and most of them being great. For this show, the Fire match kind of sucked, and the other undercard matches (girls, Cody/Sandow, mixed tag) were good at best and completely unmemorable. Whereas the undercard of 2011 was a lot stronger with things like Henry/Sheamus, Bryan/Barrett and Beth/Kelly being wildly better than Nattie/Brie. And I think Cena/Punk II and Orton/Christian LXVIII were excellent main events as well. For other recent cards that were better, Extreme Rules 2012, Money in the Bank 2011 and Extreme Rules 2011 are also there.

vs RVD in the ECW Arena. Agreed, although that was a very different scenario. That was more about what Cena represented to a very specific, small part of the fan base. Last night was a broader cross-section of fans. And its not like LA is a smark crowd. Yes it is. At least at Summerslam. They've been very smarky, going all the way back to cheering for Dolph over Rey in 2009. I do think that this might be the most that a crowd has been overwhelmingly FOR the other guy, instead of just overwhelmingly anti-Cena for smarky reasons or because he's wrestling a guy in his hometown. This time it was purely because the people liked Bryan more.

Cena didn't botch a Styles Clash off the top. He countered the Frankensteiner by dropping down into the Boston Crab position and then transitioned into the STF. It just so happened that Bryan's head almost bounced off the mat. Tyson Kidd has used the same counter many times and I'm sure he isn't the only one.

NXT Season 1, Week 4 20th April 2010 from Uncasville, CT "Wild and Young", opening video, fireworks, etc. The semi-invisible cameraman is with Daniel Bryan, who is looking bemused. He explains that the Raw crew is still stuck in Belfast as a result of the volcanic eruption in Iceland, so with The Miz absent, his second NXT match has been postponed until next week. He says it is frustrating, but he can't do much about a volcano and appears to see the humour in it. He is asked if The Miz had got in contact with him, and Bryan says they're not really a team to hang out and be best buddies and talk all the time. Bryan is told that they're trying to get a satellite interview with Miz tonight from Belfast, and he asks the guy to let him know if they do. Tarver and Carlito walk right past Bryan and again head towards gorilla looking ready to fight, only to be stopped by the same crew guy as last time. From a distance we see him try to explain the situation, and he points to Bryan still standing nearby, dressed in street clothes, and Bryan gives them a wave. Carlito cottons on and starts remonstrating, while Tarver freaks out and the crew guy flinches in anticipation. Carlito holds Tarver back, they begin to walk away and the crew guy relaxes, only for Tarver to swing around and deck him anyway. Bryan cackles in the background. Back from the break, The Miz comes to us via satellite. He sarcastically apologises for not being there, and says he has a million other things to worry about other than Daniel Bryan and this stupid show. He is the United States Champion, and one-half of the Unified Tag Team Champions, "and for some ridiculous reason, the Big Show and I, not only do we have to defend our tag team titles against the Hart Dynasty this Sunday at Extreme Rules, but it is going to be a Submission Match." He complains about this for a minute, and then says that while they are stuck in Europe, he and the Big Show are training in submissions, so by this Sunday he will be a submissions expert and he will prove everybody wrong, including Bret 'The Hitman' Hart, by making his precious Hart family members tap out. As The Miz finishes ranting we pan out to see Bryan watching the interview on a monitor. He is asked for his thoughts and chuckles. "Let me tell you something. If The Miz thinks he can become a 'submissions expert' in a few days holed up in a hotel room, he's got another thing coming. It takes years, years of training, years of getting your ass handed to you night in, night out in a gym, a basement, a dungeon, before you become a submission wrestler." Bryan says he has wrestled both Tyson Kidd and DH Smith in the past, and they are the real deal. "The Hart Dynasty will tie The Miz in knots, I guarantee it. The Miz is no 'submissions expert'." A Skip Sheffield promo video airs. CM Punk is interviewed somewhere else backstage about Darren Young now that they are 2-0. Punk says that he doesn't care about Darren Young, his future or this show, but he's fine with doing NXT as long as Darren Young doesn't embarrass him. The more shows he (Punk) appears on, the more people will be exposed to the healing power of Straight Edge. On that note, Punk is asked about how he is handling working with the 'South Beach Party Boy', at which Punk is bewildered. "What do you mean 'South Beach Party Boy'?" and it is explained to Punk that Young has gone by that nickname in the past. Punk abruptly leaves the interview and starts walking the halls looking for D. Young, and the camera follows. Back from the break, Punk has located Young with the SES. Punk calmly questions Darren on his nickname. "What does it mean? Well bro I'm from South Beach, you know, and, well-" "And you like to party. Right? You go out to the clubs, get drunk, maybe smoke a little something, take a little something, sleep with anything in a skirt, huh? Am I RIGHT Darren?!" Darren sees where this is headed and Gallows gleefully chimes in, "I TOLD you there was something wrong with this guy!" Punk shushes him and stares a hole through D. Young. "What you're saying is, you're not Straight Edge." Young guiltily nods and braces for the fallout as Punk keeps repeating himself, "You're not Straight Edge. You...aren't...Straight Edge." But for some reason Punk is looking more and more excited, not angry, and he finally grasps Young and exclaims "You're not Straight Edge!" with wild happiness. "This is it! This is what I have been searching for, a reason why I'm here. This is my purpose now, YOU are my purpose Darren. It is so clear to me now, my path has been laid before me, and yours too Darren. I have been sent to NXT...to save you, through the power of Straight Edge. Darren Young, I am going to save you." Gallows looks furious. In the locker room, Truth is pacing around as Otunga walks in with earphones in. "Where you been dog?" Otunga asks Truth if he saw his Access Hollywood piece last week. Truth tries to talk about their match tonight, but Otunga blows him off again. "Look at this body Truth. (flexes) I mean, I'm wearing Versace trunks right here. I got this." A Wade Barrett promo video airs to lead into the main event. Wade Barrett & Chris Jericho vs David Otunga & R-Truth Before the match Jericho cuts a short promo hyping his cage match with Edge for the World Title at Extreme Rules. Truth and Otunga still appear to be on two separate pages, even arguing about who starts the match. They eventually settle down into a back-and-forth match. Otunga uses some power moves. Barrett muscles Truth around and throws hands. Jericho and Truth trade moves. Jericho and Barrett work as a team better and pick up the win with a Codebreaker on Truth. > Jericho pins Truth Wade Barrett 2-0 : David Otunga 0-2 Next week on NXT, Daniel Bryan's much-anticipated second match, and much more.

Agreed, and I also just really, really, really don't like that MITB has become a WWE institution. It's a way for WWE to half-invest in midcarders who they aren't willing to build around as champion or give a victory in a real match, where they can hide behind the "We gave them an opportunity" excuse when the push inevitably fails. That's a bit of a harsh critique. Punk, Bryan, and Edge all broke through this way. It sent Miz on his way to a Mania main event until that went wrong, but they went all-in with Miz for a while. Its true though. The first time with Edge it worked fine. But since 2008 when they started using it largely as a way to be lazy and give some random midcarder a "world title reign" without actually building him up to that level in any way, only Punk and Bryan have got out of it. Punk had to do it twice, and both times they got out of it by working really compelling heel turns into the angle which kept them on top in the end. Without them, they are the same inadequate champions that everyone else was - Swagger, Miz, Alberto, Dolph. They have a guy win the briefcase and then continually job for months afterward, because apparently "it doesnt matter because he'll be world champion soon". Then we are left with paper champions with zero credibility. I always love MITB as a match, and the briefcase thing worked for a while, but after so many years, the overload of cases and the constant refusal of WWE to do anything to protect the guys who win it, MITB as a concept has only watered down significantly what it means to be a world champion in WWE, and to its detriment. Anyone can be champion now, they only have to cash in at the right time. It kills the title on-screen, and it kills guys' careers because WWE have replaced an actual main event push with a MITB non-push.

One thing I think they did well in the mid-00s with the show was actually make the Survivor Series match the focal point and giving it an extra meaning. In 2003, it was Austin vs Bischoff with "Austin's career on the line", and Bischoff granting favours to the winning team which fed into Raw angles for the next couple months. In 2004, it was Orton vs HHH and the winning team got to be GMs for the night (remember Maven as Raw GM? Actually this sounds less ridiculous in the post-Guest Host age.) In 2005, it was Raw vs Smackdown when that hadn't been done in a major way since 2002. Even when there was still one or two world title matches on the card, the elimination match was still important and the result mattered in some way. After that it just became a normal PPV with elimination matches to get all of the midcarders on the show, with no rhyme or reason.

As an Australian and a Survivor Series fan, I do not like this in any way.

NXT Season 1, Week 3 13th April 2010 from London, England "Wild and Young", opening video, fireworks, etc. We begin backstage with the semi-invisible cameraman (Hervey in TNA style) knocking on a door. William Regal comes out in his fanciest robe. He talks about being happy to be back in England where the fans appreciate a true wrestling master like himself. Tonight it is his honour to present the next generation of WWE Superstar, who will win NXT under his expert tutelage, learning only the most refined techniques in the art of wrestling...but at this point Regal trails off as Skip Sheffield comes within earshot and drowns him out speaking in Skip Sheffield-ese. "Hey there Mr. Regal! I hope you went home and kissed your momma today! I swear I nearly caused so many God-dang pile ups coming here, you people drive on the wrong side of the dang road! Anyway, its time for my big debut! I'm ready to put the pedal to the metal and roll right through everybody! Hey - after I win maybe the Queen can wave that sword and make me a prince, or whatever it is you people do here in Ireland! (Regal flinches) Come on Mr. Regal, lets kick some butt! Yep yep yep, what it do!" Regal is horrified and shakes his head sadly as they head off to the ring. Skip Sheffield & William Regal vs Michael Tarver & Carlito Regal comes out to a big pop, and basically works babyface during this match. Regal bemusedly allows a giddy Skip to start, while Carlito convinces a pumped up Tarver to stand on the apron to begin with, but as the match begins and Skip bumps him around for fun with his power, Carlito reconsiders and tags Tarver in for the lulz. They soon build to Regal tagging into the match, and he gets some shine bamboozling the heels with his Regal-ness. The heels soon take over with Tarver targeting Regal’s ribs with punches, and Carlito hits the Backcracker for a nearfall. Regal finally tags out, Skip runs wild with big man stuff, the heels bump into each other like goofs, and Skip Lariats Tarver to death. > Skip pins Tarver Skip Sheffield 1-0 : Michael Tarver 0-1 Backstage, we see Darren Young entering the building trying to carry what looks like 13 bags at once. Luke Gallows and Serena yell at him to hurry up. D. Young hurriedly says he doesn't have time for an interview, he has to get the bags in and then get Punk his pre-match meal. He is asked why he's doing all this, and replies that Gallows told him that is what a Rookie does. As Young stumbles off, Wade Barrett saunters into view. "Am I disappointed to not have a match tonight in England? Of course not!" He talks about fighting his way all over England and Europe for years just so that he could finally make it to the US where the big money is. Coming back to wrestle in England again would be a step backward, and Wade Barrett is moving onward and upward, ready to dominate NXT with Chris Jericho. "I hope I never have to wrestle in England ever again. Hey, there he is! The World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho!" as Jericho joins him for the interview. "Was I impressed by Wade Barrett last week? Did you actually watch the match? Of course I was impressed, Wade Barrett is very impressive." Jericho puts Barrett over, and says that with the World Champion, the Best in the World at What I Do by his side, he's going straight to the top. Cut away to an interview where Christian is asked the same question - was he impressed by Wade Barrett? He was, but also says that he thought Heath Slater was impressive as well, going toe to toe with the World Champion and holding his own. He feels that despite the loss, they worked well together and it is something to build upon and they will hopefully start picking up wins. In a separate interview Slater echoes Christian's sentiments, disappointed that he lost his first match, but was happy to be out there and "the fans went CRAZY for the One Man Band Bay-bay!" A video is shown of David Otunga on Access Hollywood being interviewed by Maria Menounos. (US-only link to the real video HERE ) In the SES locker room, Punk is giving instructions to D. Young, and still looks a little disinterested. "I didn't ask to be put on this show Darren. I prefer to only be around people who deserve to be in my presence, so what I ask of you is that you do not embarrass me. As long as you go out there and win, we do not have a problem, got it?" Punk leaves first but Gallows blocks D. Young from following. "I don't like you. You're not one of us (as he points to his bald head) so don't get too comfortable hanging around." D. Young is unfazed and nonchalantly says he always wondered why they all have to shave their heads while Punk gets to keep all the hair on his body. A Justin Gabriel video package airs. He and Darren Young are both after their second win next. Justin Gabriel & Matt Hardy vs Darren Young & CM Punk When the SES enters Gallows walks as far away from Young as possible, and Punk subtly puts himself between D. Young and Serena. Matt and Gabes continue to work really well together as a tag team and get some shine. Gallows and Serena don't care when Young is in the ring, but do interfere to give Punk the upper hand. Turns into a good, long match between two evenly-matched teams. In the end the SES cause a slight distraction to Matt at the crucial moment for Punk to hit the GTS. > Punk pins Matt Darren Young 2-0 : Justin Gabriel 1-1 Next week on NXT three Rookies, including Daniel Bryan, aim to secure their first win on NXT, plus much more.

Whether we like it or not, the fact that Ohno is already having body image issues before he even gets out of development does not say a lot to how much WWE upper management would trust him in a big role right now, and not just a big role but THE biggest possible role they could ever give anyone. If we go along with the idea of Taker putting over a young guy, I'd go with a guy like Ambrose, Wyatt, etc. who has a lot more potential to make it long term in WWE. Personally I'd 100% prefer it if the Streak never ended. The Cena heel turn scenario is the ONLY idea that I find remotely palatable as an alternative.

So it IS true. He always starts off with a bang.

My point in bringing up ratings is that his ECW ace run was mentioned as seemingly a point in his favour, when in reality while his work during that run was awesome, it didn't mean anything to the company, nor has he ever when put in a featured position since 2009. There is no evidence that the fans see him as a top guy, or that he is over beyond the level of his push, or that there is any reason why WWE should use him as a main eventer. Christian is right where he should be. Upper midcard veteran who is credible against top guys and able to put anyone over who needs putting over. He's "championship material" in terms of the World Title, because that belt it right where he is. But he isnt in the sense that makes him a real main eventer. Not everyone who's work we like is a WWE main eventer.

At the conclusion of which the show in question was cancelled for low ratings. I'm not necessarily laying all the blame at his door, but it's also worth noting that Smackdown ratings went down in 2011 when he was on top, and ratings and houses went up when they moved to Henry. The evidence suggests that the fan base does not see him as a top guy. I will say again, I love Christian for his work and he was great as WWECW ace in terms of work. But having great babyfaces matches on top of the C show or B show and not positively affecting business in any way does not make him main event material. It makes him a guy who has great babyfaces matches. And I love great babyfaces matches as much as the next guy, but they mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I don't think Bryan has been built properly though. He was in a tag team role for a year and boom... #1 contender. I agree Christian was there in 2011 but as we have seen with Mark Henry, a guy can be repackaged and voila, championship material. Christians look has zero to do with if he is championship material. Hornswaggle could be built to be championship material. It would take some genius booking but I think it's doable. Wrestling is fiction. You can tell just about any story if you do it well enough. Also, Christian was the best babyface in the company in 2009 and is one of the best babyfaces in the history of the company. He was so good at putting together matches, building on the previous matches, working heat segments and getting the crowd behind him. Jimmy Redman is nuts. I love Christian as far as work goes. He was a fantastic babyface in 2009, hell he's always a good babyface and always has good matches. That bears little resemblance to actually being over on the level of a WWE main eventer or credible in that specific role. He's the perfect kind of guy to carry ECW for a year or have a run on top of Smackdown. And as far as the OP goes, he's not a ridiculous choice as World Champion, but that is because the WHC is now an upper-midcard belt at best. If we are talking legitimate WWE Champion, top of the company levels guys, especially in comparing him to Punk and Bryan, Christian isn't it. He's a great in-ring worker, a great babyface worker. No shit. But he's not a WWE main eventer.

In the specific context of Christian vs the smaller dudes of the world, the problem with Christian isn't that he's small or doesn't have the right 'look'. It's that he doesn't have the right 'look' nor does he have the special level of overness and charisma that he'd need to overcome it. Punk and Bryan do. Christian doesn't. Not to the level of being a serious world champion level guy. Bryan is the most over guy in the company. It's pretty clear to see the difference between him and Christian as far as potential to be on top in 2013 goes.

Thanks for showing interest. The real NXT killed my life too, hence...this. NXT Season 1, Week 2 6th April 2010 from Chicago, IL "Wild and Young", opening video, fireworks, etc. Justin Gabriel & Matt Hardy vs David Otunga & R-Truth Otunga shows off his ridiculous body by posing during their entrance. Gabes and Matt soon find a nice rhythm with basic babyface double teams, and even one or two of Matt's greatest hits. Otunga doesn't seem interested in co operating with Truth in the same way. Truth and Matt go at it in a competitive babyface way. Otunga eventually takes over on Gabes using power moves and his size advantage. Hot tag, babyfaces run wild, Truth is tossed, Matt Side Effect on Otunga, then he tags Gabes who goes to the top, takes a breath and hits the 450 Splash to the shock and awe of the crowd. > Gabriel pins Otunga Justin Gabriel 1-0 : David Otunga 0-1 A quick replay of last week's main event finish leads into a series of cut away interviews about the Bryan & Miz team. Miz is asked if he was impressed by Daniel Bryan and he scoffs and denies it, while others (Regal, Matt, whoever) talk about how good Bryan looked in the ring, and note somewhat bemusedly that he out-worked The Miz. Bryan talks about being excited to have his first match in WWE after taking so many years to get to this point, but he's disappointed in the loss and the cheating tactics the SES used. Miz blames Bryan for the loss and says it proves that he's not on the level of the Miz. Bryan is asked about Miz and says that while he's a bit goofy and egotistical, he has no problem with the guy personally and hopes they can work together during the competition because he is determined to win. Other talking heads chime in voicing their doubts that two guys with such opposite personalities can co exist as a team, comparing Bryan as a humble, no-nonsense wrestler's wrestler to The Miz being an arrogant, trash talking, reality show douche. Miz says he hopes Bryan improves for their next match, fearing that he is stuck with a Rookie who is completely useless, as well as boring. Backstage in a hallway, R-Truth finds David Otunga, already dressed, and begins to congratulate him on his effort and offer some advice, but Otunga is on the phone. The phrases "Access Hollywood" and "how much?" are heard from his end of the call. Hanging up, he tells Truth he doesn't have time to talk because he's heading to a party with his friends from his law firm here in Chicago. "Well hey, I like to party!" Truth exclaims hopefully. Otunga looks Truth up and down and dismissively says "You're not on the list" before exiting in a very swish car. In another part of the arena, Michael Tarver is doing some boxing to warm up. Carlito is holding the pads for him and talking him up, telling him he's going to dominate NXT, knock everybody out, etc. Tarver gets progressively more intense and ends up finally hitting the crap out of the pad, Carlito winces in pain and quickly tells him that he's ready. They begin to move towards Gorilla before a crew member stops them. "What do you mean what are we doing? We're going out to the ring!" The guy regretfully tells them that they're scheduled for next week, not tonight, as it would have said in their booking information. Carlito pleads ignorance but looks guilty behind Tarver's back, while Tarver is furious. He screams "You telling me I can't fight tonight?! That's what you're saying to me?!" at the poor crew guy before flooring him with a right hand. Carlito manages to back Tarver away, and mutters "That's not cool" at the unconscious dude before following after him. A Heath Slater profile video airs (like the ones they did on the real NXT), to segue into him being the one to actually make his NXT debut right after the break. Heath Slater & Christian vs Wade Barrett & Chris Jericho Slater comes out One Man Banding all over the place to Christian's amusement. Barrett comes out in his coat with the rose on it, Jericho still as the World Heavyweight Champion (in my alternate WWE universe), all business. Both the babyface and heel teams quickly gel and work well together in the ring, leading to a good, long tag team match. Both Slater and Christian take turns being in peril. In the end, Slater is battling Jericho and holding his own when Barrett makes a blind tag and an oblivious Slater turns right into Wasteland. > Barrett pins Slater Wade Barrett 1-0 : Heath Slater 0-1 Next week NXT heads to Merry Olde England and the last remaining Rookies make their long-awaited debuts.

I definitely think he worked hard and earned his spot on the roster. I still remain to be convinced about how good he is in the ring though. Maybe he's just finding his feet with the gimmick, but almost every match he has had up until the Punk match has been disappointing. Punk match was good though.

Between NXT and the Nexus, 2010 drove me a little fantasy-booking insane. I've had this rattling around in my head since...2010, so now that there's a place for it I may as well try to flesh it out into a coherent whole and see what it looks like outside my head. The challenge I gave myself was to re-do NXT, under much of the same conditions as it was at the time, and try to make it an effective pro wrestling program to introduce new talent with, instead of the self-burying joke of a show it turned out to be. As you can already tell, this was and is me fantasy booking in a very reactive way, so I will probably be dropping a lot of "I'm not doing X like they did in real life because its stupid for reasons Y and Z", which I will try to keep to a minimum. Aspects of the real NXT I retain: - Runs for an hour every Tuesday night on SyFy (I forget when it was replaced by SD, but if that fell during my timeline I'm ignoring it) - Same basic idea of pairing a Rookie with a Pro, with the same pairings as the real one - A Pros Poll where the Pros evaluate the Rookies as talents which determines (partly) their future - Win-Loss records are kept on the Rookies which determine (partly) their future - Bryan & Miz conflict as the major storyline, including a Bryan "losing streak" (the other half of the challenge to myself was trying to find a way to make the losing streak gimmick actually work, so bear with me) - "Wild and Young" Broad changes I am making: - The season is run as a wrestling tournament with matches used to eliminate Rookies, not voting. Eliminations happen until there is a final four, at which point we go into semi finals and a final. - Pros Poll votes and Win-Loss Records combine to create a measurable ranking of Rookies periodically (to determine who fights in elimination matches, i.e. the bottom two) - Elimination matches are singles matches. All other NXT matches are Rookies teaming with their Pros in tag team matches. - Promos/backstage skits are not done in the usual overproduced/scripted WWE style, but borrow more heavily from TUF-style cut-away interviews and even TNA-style "realistic" backstage interaction. Just create something that feels more organic and has more of the dreaded "pure sports build" feel. I want to set it apart aesthetically from other WWE programming. - Keep it in kayfabe. Even at it's good points the real NXT had way too much "this guy is a good wrestler because hes entertaining on the mic, because the goal of a wrestler is not to win matches, but to entertain the WWE Universe" type nonsense. No fourth wall breaking, treat everything as in kayfabe. And it goes without saying, no Cole heel turn and no mocking, self-destructive announcing. - Keep ECW running for another month, so Season 1 can begin two nights after Wrestlemania and run until the Tuesday before Summerslam. ________________________________________________ Before the show starts airing I'd do much the same as they did in real life, just talk about a brand new concept and drop the names of the Pros that will be on the show. My thing is that by debuting after Mania, you can put a 30-second ad for it on the Mania show, and especially promote it heavily on the post-Mania Raw with tonnes of people watching, just to get as many eyeballs on it as possible. NXT Season 1, Week 1 30th March 2010 from Las Vegas, NV "Some people say...that I am the best wrestler in the world." Fancy pants WWE Production video opens the show, beginning with those words from Bryan. We see footage of the Rookies wrestling, the Pros wrestling, and the stock posing footage as well, while the Rookies in voiceover talk about who they are, where they're from, how long they've been trying to get here, how determined they are to win, total soundbites all layered over one another, before ending again with Bryan's words, "Some people say that I am the best wrestler in the world. And I've come to NXT to prove it." "Wild and Young", opening video, fireworks, etc. Vince McMahon* is in the yellow-roped NXT ring to explain the concept of the new show. Eight Rookies pair up with eight Pros, they will compete together to try to win matches and the Rookies will try to impress the WWE Universe and the WWE Superstars that make up the Pros. After a certain period of time, the Pros will evaluate the Rookies and rank them in a Pros Poll. This rank plus the Rookies' win-loss record during the competition will determine the Rookie Rankings. After each Ranking, the bottom two Rookies will fight for their right to stay in the competition, and the loser will be eliminated. The final four Rookies will go into sudden-death semi-finals, and the winner of the grand final will be crowned the winner of the inaugural season of NXT. What is in it for them? The winning Rookie earns a WWE contract, a spot on the Raw roster, and a guaranteed shot at any title of their choosing. The Pros also have an incentive to help their guy to victory, as the Pro of the winning Rookie will walk away with a cool $100,000. Vince goes on to say that you will be introduced to the Rookies and their Pros tonight, and you will get your first taste of NXT in-ring action as well. * Assuming things in non-NXT WWE stay the same, it might be too soon after Mania and Bret Hart for Vince to go back to the non-cartoony, neutral, Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon he would need to be to do this segment. If he doesn't feel right here, just replace him with Stephanie or something. From there, each Rookie is introduced by their Pro in short promos shot in various locations around the arena. Jericho and Barrett are happy together and smug assholes. Christian is happy, Slater is excited and One Man Banding. Carlito is cocky and Tarver is an insane terrorist. Matt Hardy and Gabriel are happy together and babyface-like. Regal is trying to be serious while Skip is all "Yip yip yip" beside him. Truth is happy Truth but Otunga is aloof and pompous. Punk is slightly bored and quite bewildered by D. Young and his hair. Miz announces that he wants to do his introduction in the ring. Back from the break, Miz is in the ring and brings out Bryan, whom he is unimpressed with. Instead of the real life segment where Miz is a Vince socko and says Bryan isn't entertaining enough to be a WWE Superstar, play it more like Miz is personally upset that he got stuck with who he sees as a boring, vanilla midget, technical wrestler kind of dude. Miz wanted someone who he could party on the A List with, and so forth. So Miz challenges Bryan to impress him on the spot, entertain him, come up with a catchphrase, and Bryan responds with "Tap or Snap", which he gets the crowd to chant. Bryan tells Miz that he has to work with him whether he likes it or not, and he better get on board because they are about to have their first match. There is simmering tension there, but nothing too major. The Miz & Daniel Bryan vs CM Punk & Darren Young w/ Luke Gallows and Serena Bryan and Miz do the Angle/Benoit tag team thing where they try to one-up each other and show off in the ring. Bryan shows off his wrestling skill, Miz ends up showing ass and getting flustered at being shown up by Bryan. D. Young is a goofy but fiery babyface. Punk tags in periodically but only starts showing interest when Young looks good on offense. Finish comes when Bryan gets on a roll until the SES interferes and Bryan is blindsided by a Gallows boot and GTS'd. The Miz is disappointed with Bryan for losing even though he did the heavy lifting and was cheated out of a win. > Punk pins Bryan Darren Young 1-0 : Daniel Bryan 0-1 Next week on NXT you will see Matt Hardy and the World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho in action, more Rookies make their NXT debuts, and much, much more.

Yeah, just looking at the WWE names on the list, I don't see how Punk should be above any of them. There are even guys below him on Dylan's list who I would consider ranking higher (Henry, Dolph, Orton). To me Punk has the Cena match. It is still my MOTY at this point. I liked Punk/Taker a lot, probably more than most people on this board, but since the explosion of TV wrestling post-Mania I don't know that it makes my Top 25 or so for WWE. And I cannot think of a single other match of his that even approaches great. So we're talking about one high-end match for the year. And unlike Dylan ranking Regal high on the strength of one match, I don't think Punk in particular gave a transcendentally great performance that made the match, enough to push him above a group of guys who have been consistently having good and great matches and being consistently good and great in them.

I'm not sure how you reconcile "Strengthen Titles" with a guy who has barely been on the main roster winning a title shot at Wrestlemania and then saying that neither world title is important enough to bother challenging for. Bryan/Lesnar is an idea I can get behind though. The minute Bryan caught fire it basically became my dream match. Seriously just re-do Eddie/Lesnar without the Goldberg run-in, it would be magic.

Falling out of favor is a form of ill will: people don't give a shit about it any more. We had a wave of Frozen Yogurt stores in the US in the late 80s or early 90s. It was the next big thing. If I gave a shit enough about the product, I could probably remember the 1-2 major chains that everyone was trying to get a franchise from. I'm sure there are still some out there, but it's long since passed it's "Hot Niche Store" days, and a lot of guys who got franchises went bust because... far fewer people give a shit about it. Did anything come to take its place? Not really. It's not like Ice Cream made a huge comeback. Did people loath hate-Hate-HATE the concept? Not really. The masses just stopped giving a shit about it in terms of going regularly. Again, there are still stores out there, and someone is probably doing decent business here and there. But at it's peak, it was a hot as freaking Starbucks and Coffee joints. To complete the "doesn't necessarily stay dead forever" narrative, Frozen Yoghurt joints are popping up EVERYWHERE around here (Sydney). They are now the new *in" franchise again, at least here, and I am young enough to not have realised that it was a huge thing 20 years ago.

I really like the (first) Shelton vs Hunter "upset" match on Raw quite a bit. It's one of the more tolerable Hunter performances I've seen, and it was one of the few times that Shelton looked like the future star he was always supposed to be. And I think WGTT vs Rey and Kidman was the best WGTT match.