Zeel1

Intriguing, Swagger helps Ziggler retain - and on purpose this time! Yeah, I like this, seem to be an official pairing now; ooh, and out come the tag champs! Yeah, if they're entering the tag scene, I can certainly support that idea.

I find it somewhat amusing that Triple H seems like a more spiteful boss than many of the evil heel bosses we've seen throughout the years... In other news, I feel like atleast one of the two midcard titles will change hands tonight. Not really confident about which one, though. Would love to say Ryder wins the US title and Rhodes has the surprise retain to help put him over - he says he wants to reinstate the prestige of the IC title, some strong retentions would aid that, and also it seems he'll be going against Orton after HiAC - but I'm not entirely confident that we'll be getting that right now. If it's the other way around, then I might pick DiBiase to win the IC Title. Rematch at HiAC to end their feud, so Cody can focus on Orton. Should be interesting, either way.

<p>Rhodes takes off the mask, then Orton directs an attack onto his face...</p><p> </p><p> Why does this remind me of that time where Vickie finally got out of her wheelchair, only to be hit with a 619, and then put DIRECTLY back into it? <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

So WWE.com announced The Miz and Truth's firing with the 'future endeavors' thing... I'm tempted to be a douche and ask if people think this one's legit too, like with Nash, but I'm too nice for that. I wonder if they're just going to do that for every kayfabe firing from now on. Would be interesting. One cool thing would be if they did that but it wasn't part of a current storyline. Like they up and announce that Curt Hawkins or Tyler Reks or somebody that you could see being released were future endeavor'd, only to have them invade a few shows later trying to get back at the company that never gave them a chance. Do that well enough, and people will never be able to tell if someone's actually been released or not... could be kind of fun having that kind of unpredictability.

I believe I might actually know what that's about. Their reasons for attacking Punk and HHH and trying to screw over HHH was because they believed him to be the figurehead of the C-O-N-spiracy that has held them down. However, after they were taken out from the ring, Truth must have seen how Johnny Ace kept the referee from coming into the ring and counting when HHH had Punk pinned with the Pedigree, only to demand that he go in and count when it was the other way around. Seeing that may have told Truth that HHH ISN'T a part of it - in fact, Ace seemed to be conspiring to have HHH forced out of power. So, now seeing HHH as just another victim of the conspiracy, Truth pulled Punk off of him to help fight against it. This is of course just my guess, but looking at it like that, it makes some degree of sense. I can agree that the match was pretty goddamned overbooked, but I actually didn't mind it. It all still made sense to me, atleast, and in my eyes, Punk has a plethora of excuses for losing, I don't think it made him look weak at all, especially considering he kicked out of a Pedigree by himself, whereas Triple H needed help to keep from being pinned by the GTS. I am kind of disappointed that Cena won the title back so quickly. Just makes me wonder what the point of putting so much effort into building Del Rio up and finally giving him the title was if he was just going to lose it a month later anyway. I also feel like it kind of undercuts the Nash/Punk/HHH situation, because it seems this started because for whatever reason, Nash wanted to help Del Rio win the WWE Title. Seems like that'd mean a bit more if he still held it until the situation was resolved. Also didn't think they made the right choice in having Phoenix lose. Was okay with it the first time, but now I don't see her getting many more rematches, so unless Natalya's going to be taking over as the lead woman of the DOD, I don't really see them going much further in their little revolution, which is a shame, 'cause I was liking that. I also thought it'd be cool to let her win it in her hometown, but eh... Aside from those two, though, I thought it was a pretty good night. Didn't think any of the matches were bad, liked the finishes to the Fatal Four Way and Tag Match. Very surprised to see Henry pick up the win, but as it sunk in what the potential is now, to have someone finally stop him and take the title off of him, making them into a megastar, I'm liking the thought of it. I saw one guy fantasy book this as Henry winning and holding it until WrestleMania, destroying everyone in his path until Daniel Bryan challenges him and becomes the hero in taking it off of him. Would be a great way of making him champion, if they really want to go that way. Doesn't really look like that's how they want to go right now, but WrestleMania's still a good ways away, so who knows...

You have to consider the source here. First off, it's twitter. It's not exactly the appropriate place for official announcements. Secondly... it's Nash. He could be saying "I need oxygen to breathe" and people would think he's lying.

Yeah, it's an obvious work. Kinda cool how they're announcing it like it's an actual release, though. From what I've heard, Nash is even trying to tell people it's legit, although no one's buying it. Reality Era at work~

So after the last Raw, Jericho tweeted about Punk stealing one of his moves. I didn't remember him doing that when I saw it live, so out of curiosity, I rewatched it again, looking for the moves that were the most Jerichoesque. For anyone else that might've been wondering, I'm fairly certain it was the Double Underhook Backbreaker...

What, was Gunsmoke not episodic? Really know nothing about the show, to be honest. But if it's not even matching the criteria, why do they keep mentioning it?

Here's a milestone for you - SmackDown! actually has some overrun this week! Usually, it just cuts out really abruptly at 9:00. (By my time.)

Wow, lot of changes to the card. I get why they changed Cara/Del Rio, but why change Punk/Khali?

The "longest running" thing is a little misleading. Gunsmoke went on for twenty years, which is a milestone Raw hasn't quite gotten to yet, and SmackDown! is only a little over halfway there to reaching that. It has more episodes because it's pretty much the only show that has a new episode every damned week of every damned year. ...Oh, actually, after checking, it seems Gunsmoke almost did that too - for the first several seasons, they only had about two months off before the next one started... I guess that would explain why it has so many more episodes than the original Law and Order, despite having as many seasons. Still, dunno why they don't just say they have more episodes than any other show, it's not like that's not impressive itself.

Woah, Sin Cara with a little post-match attack. Didn't see that coming. Maybe they ARE going to reveal him as a fake...

Shame Del Rio didn't make it, but I like this replacement match!

Huh, that didn't last as long as I thought it would...

Finally, some continuity nods.

Was Ricardo trying to do an "All Hail KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING BOOKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER" thing just now?

8/7 CT, just like regular SD!.

"Did you resign? ...No? " Huh, HHH/Punk. Well, that'd certainly be better, workrate-wise. Still kinda expect Punk/Nash to happen at one point.

Can barely even see those bandages when they're on Sheamus...

Boy, Lawler really doesn't like Otunga and McGuillicutty. I hope this doesn't lead to him having some feud with them. Poor Kofi looked dumb as Hell doing his entrance without the pyro.

It's actually Sin Cara #3, from what I've heard...

Ha. Word going around is that Miz and Truth will be called "Awesome Truth". That's funny, that's the name of a stable I had in SVR '11, and it too was Miz/Truth. Morrison was added later. The name still seemed appropriate...

For what it's worth, he claims that he's not face or heel on twitter, and that these terms are outdated and don't exist anymore. They just are who they are. But yeah, a very strong Raw all-around, I think. Morrison/Del Rio was a good opener, Bourne/Kingston winning the tag titles was nice, Miz and Truth are great together, Cena/Punk was great and the main angle is pretty intriguing to me. Not really any bad spots on Raw this week.

I don't think he or really want him to turn heel, I'm just not sure the way he's being booked fits with his words...