In contrast to last week, which featured a World Title Steel Cage match and other marquee battles, this week in WWE was a little less eventful. That being said, some notable occurences still, er, occured.
Raw began with Triple H and CM Punk again exchanging words, and were again interrupted by Kevin Nash. However, HHH soon revealed that Nash himself had sent the text which prompted him to interfere at SummerSlam (he commandeered H3's phone, or something like that). In retailiation, HHH fired Big Kev, meaning that Nash's tenure under contract to WWE lasted for a week (which is less time than his period as an unemployed ex-star between SummerSlam and the August 29 Raw). Big Sexy mysteriously left with John Laurinitis.
The rest of Raw revolved around Alberto Del Rio rounding up a few wrestlers (Christian, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler and Wade Barrett) to attack John Cena. But, coming to Cena's aid were John Morrison, Alex Riley and Sheamus, which led to Teddy Long announcing an impromptu 8-man elimination tag match, with Cena (unsurprisingly) being the sole survivor. (By the way, has the anonymous Raw General Manager been on holiday for two months, or does that person no longer have power? And, if not, why is the computer still set up at ringside?)
Elsewhere on the apparently renamed Raw SuperShow (featuring Raw and SmackDown talent): Randy Orton popped in to pin Heath Slater; R-Truth and The Miz accepted their own challenge to Tag Champs Air Boom, before Truth lost to Punk; Jerry Lawler found a partner in Zach Ryder to beat Otunga and McGillicutty; and Beth Phoenix pinned Eve Torres, during which Natalya and Kelly Kelly bickered on commentary.
Over on SmackDown, Randy Orton was successful in beating fellow champion Cody Rhodes, but received another attack afterwards by Mark Henry, who had earlier pounded Teddy Long's assistant Zach Ryder. Also, Christian had a to-do with Sheamus, which may lead to some sort of match between those two. In addition, Sin Cara mysteriously spoke English before attacking Daniel Bryan again. That I can't remember much else from SD probably means the rest of the show this week was uneventful.
NXT returned in its usual format, and Darren Young's chastising of Matt Striker saw William Regal come to his aid, and beat Young in the main event, although Striker prevented JTG from interfering on DYoung's behalf. Also, Maxine and Derrick Bateman decided (on camera, strangely) to plan the kidnapping of Hornswoggle, and Todd Grisham was replaced on commentary by Jack Korpela. Oh, and Yoshi Tatsu did turn out to be Tyson Kidd's mystery stalker, and returned to Tuesday nights with a new look. He then beat Kidd in a match which started a bit awry but ended up being a good one.
Superstars went back to its roots this week, as Daniel Bryan was the only true Superstar on it (and beat Heath Slater). Other matches saw Brodus Clay continue dismantling no-marks, Titus O Neill and Percy Watson lost to Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks; and Mason Ryan returned to destroy JTG.
Finally, Vintage Collection's month of champions focused on those greats who were never WWE Champ. This included a WCW clash between Ricky Steamboat and Mr Wonderful, an In Your House 3 battle between Bam Bam Bigelow and the British Bulldog, an Intercontinental Title collision between Mr Perfect and Rowdy Roddy Piper, and a main event match between the Million Dollar Man and Jake Roberts from MSG. That Mean Gene missed the show due to another "well-earned rest" added to the prevailing thought that this was a B- or C-level week.
So, overall, a disappointing series of shows as very little happened and few memorable matches or moments occured. It wasn't terrible; just not very exciting. In retrospect, the Nash firing should have ended Raw, as nothing else afterwards really mattered, nor on the other shows. But, then again, not every week will be a great one, and these are the weeks that move the plot along as opposed to delivering incredible twists and turns. So, it served its purpose, although if you had to miss a week's worth of WWE for 2011, this would probably be the one to choose.
Mind you, there were still a few choice quotes. Again, nothing totally funny, but some stuff that made me smile, for different reasons:
"It'd good to see you're back, it's better than seeing your front." - Jerry Lawler to Michael Cole, Raw.
"JTG's so fly that he's become one of the Wright Brothers." - Scott Stanford, Superstars.
"Everyone in the world will be watching WrestleMania." - Matt Striker, who may have been slightly exaggerating, Superstars.
Now for some awards for the past seven days.
Wrestler Of The Week: Not very much happened this week, so just for some funny comments on Raw (that aren't listed above), I'll go with R-Truth.
Match Of The Week: Tyson Kidd vs Yoshi Tatsu from NXT.
Show Of The Week: In terms of different stuff happening, NXT was actually more eventful than Raw and SmackDown this week, so NXT gets the nod this week.
Lastly, some predictions concerning next week's shows and next Sunday's Night Of Champions. The fact that Alberto Del Rio continues running away from John Cena suggests a beating for him at NOC, but something tells me a hidden twist will keep the title with ADR. As for Punk-HHH: I don't think we've seen the last of Kevin Nash, which could hinder Punk's chances of victory at NOC.
Oh, I forgot to mention . . .
After Punk beat R-Truth on Raw, HHH came out and made his match at NOC a No Disqualification match. Punk said that was okay, but if HHH lost, he would have to resign as WWE COO. HHH agreed to the new stipulation.
Which makes me think HHH will win, since there isn't anybody else at this point who hasn't already been fired that could replace him. Or is there?
By the way, did you know HHH hasn't won a Pay-Per-View match, as of this writing, since WrestleMania XXVI nearly 18 months ago (which I was on hand to see)? That, to me, is another reason to expect a win for The Game, who never used to lose on PPV.
The Orton-Henry match, I'm unsure about. Originally, I didn't think that Henry would lose, at least not by a pinfall, so he could earn a rematch at Hell In A Cell. However, Henry's continuing domination of the Viper, and the repeated claims by announcers that Orton simply can't beat Henry, not only suggests a swerve in that a new champion won't be crowned, but that an RKO may be awaiting the World's Strongest Man. Or maybe not. We'll have to wait and see.
That's all for this installment, until next time, goodnight everybody!
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