Home Schooling No.12

Hello again faithful readers, it's time again for another class of home schooling, my weekly recap of the best in wrestling action, in my opinion at least.

This week as usual I will be talking about Monday Night Raw, but as an extra added bonus I will also talk about the live Smackdown special episode, as there were some interesting segments that warrant talking about.


It amazes me how fast things can change in wrestling. It's only been two episodes of Raw since Wrestlemania, and in fact only one episode since The Rock left again, but already it feels like a new beginning. I think we have Brock Lesnar's return to thank for that. It was literally in two hours, from the beginning of Raw with Rock thanking everyone, to the end of Raw last week, with Lesnar's return. That's how quick things can happen. And already it feels like a completely different show, even though the bulk of the feuds have been carried on from Wrestlemania.

Before I get into specifics, I want to talk about one other thing. I really like what they've done with Mark Henry in the last couple of weeks. I feel like he's been floundering a bit since he lost the World Heavyweight title. He was still a badass and really impressive, but it felt like he'd moved down a couple of steps. In a way that's a good thing, because it opens the door for new people to step up.
But in the last couple of weeks, with him in title matches against CM Punk, and especially with him getting victories over him, albeit dirty wins, it's really pushed him back into that top spot. I think it's highly possible that Jericho and Henry might form some kind of alliance in the coming weeks, especially if Punk and Jericho's feud is to continue after Extreme Rules.

Ok so let's talk about Raw to start off with.

And we'll start with the beginning. Lesnar and Cena. It just feels.. big. Like the Rock/Cena feud did. But in a way, bigger, because even though Lesnar left, he left for different reasons. And, with his career in the UFC .. he immediately has more legitimacy than just about anyone in wrestling, save maybe Kurt Angle. Broken freakin' necks give you tons of legitimacy.

So Lesnar is in the ring with Johnny Ace. Now it's pretty much solidified that they are trying to bring him in as a heel. Or at least, a heel in the eyes of Cena's fans. To everyone else it seems, Lesnar is definitely a babyface. How could he not be? This massive beast of a dude who has legitimately beaten up people is now back in the WWE? Of course he's going to get massive cheers. And then add into the mix that he's beating up Cena, who a decent portion of the fans love to hate, and there you have it: instant good guy. But a good guy in the same sense that Austin was a good guy. And, for the past 6 months or so, in the same way that Rock was a good guy.

One of my favourite things on Raw this week was that slap. Cena says with no microphone "I never got to thank you for last week" and then slaps Lesnar? Worked or not, the dude has some balls. I don't know if Lesnar was handing Cena a reciept with that shot that busted up Cena's lip, or if it was just an accident or an old habit, but because of the blood, everything was more intense.

I thought having just about the entire locker room come out to hold both guys back was a great touch too. Legitimacy seems to be the theme for my blog this week, but it really added credibility and realism to this situation. I know that wrestling isn't as guarded as it used to be and we see the heels and babyfaces interacting with each other sometimes, but even so, you've got Sheamus and Mark Henry next to each other, trying to hold Lesnar back. And what's more, Goldust was out there as well, but out of character, and in a suit. Realism. That's what's going on right now.

Really quickly, I see good things for Santino and Brodus in the future. Santino needs a storyline that is a bit more serious, to make him (I swear it's the theme this week) more legitimate. And Brodus is that guy. He's not so serious that it would be stupid for him to team with Santino, but he's also a badass. As long as the team isn't just used for a couple of weeks and then disbanded, things could really develop there. And Santino's backstage antics (until he met up with the stooges.. but i'll get to them later) were great. His interaction with Kane... brilliant.

Getting back to Cena for a minute, his backstage segment/promo/whatever we're calling those things these days.. was really good. As much as the WWE seem to be against it, this week was a perfect example of blood enhancing things, and making them bigger, and better. I'm not sure what Cena's promo would have been like, had he not been able to use the fat lip as a part of it. Hopefully the powers that be realise this, and figure out that blood, if used correctly, won't just look like excessive violence.
And.. as much as I don't want to admit it.. Laurinitis' work has gotten a lot better too.  Hopefully it's a consistent improvement. Because bad Johnny Ace can be good tv, but really bad Johnny Ace is almost unwatchable.


Once again this week.. Lord Tensai proves that even if you have a really silly name, you can still be a badass. I mean even if they took the "Lord" part of the name away, and just called him Tensai.. that would be better. I don't really get what the point of ending the match without a pinfall is, other than giving Albert a chance to put that mist into his mouth.
Overall though, he's a different character type that we haven't really seen for a while in WWE.. he reminds me a bit of Hakushi, but I get the feeling he'll have more success than Hakushi did. I think we need to give him a few more weeks to grow and get comfortable in the character. Then we'll see some unique qualities come out, other than the moves and words he yells, that have already been figured out.


I've talked about Mark Henry, but let's talk about CM Punk. We all know that his character has become slightly less volatile, less of a cheered heel and more of a straight up babyface with an attitude, but this week CM Punk delivered a promo that was, to me, probably the best he's done this year. I don't know if the storyline stuff about his father is true in real life as well (my feeling is that it is), but when he talks about his father, and especially when he talked about the smell of the alcohol on him reminded him of his dad, it became real, worked or not. That kind of true emotion, that kind of real feeling.. that's what makes a good promo great. That's what pushes a wrestler to a top spot.

I actually kind of liked what Jericho did with his promo this week. It's a bit silly, saying Punk needed to start the 12 step program.. but he's a heel. Heels can get away with saying things that are completely stupid, but because they believe them, they seem credible. I liked his line about unleashing the "demon alcohol genes".
CM "drunk" is a little hokey though. It fits sure, but it's just feels a little.. off.

What I do like about this feud, is they're not having Punk and Jericho in matches involving each other every week. It makes the times that they do actually get in the ring together for a match special. It's the way it used to be done.

Now.. once again after the match with Mark Henry, Jericho attacks a hurt CM Punk and pours alcohol all over him. This is the second week in a row we've seen this, and to me, we don't need to see it any more. I did like Jericho's one line "Drink it in ya stupid idiot".. I love how he uses really childish insults like that, and still makes them seem really .. well really insulting.

What I did not like is that they used real beer to pour on CM Punk. I know that Punk would have been told about it before hand, and I know that they wouldn't have done it without Punk saying he was ok with it, but still, the guy is legitimately straight edge, and yet he's had beer poured into his mouth this week. I'm also sure that Jericho would have done his best to not be excessive with the beer around Punk's face, which is why most of it went on his shoulder and back/stomach as well. But really, in a more general sense, it's the WWE not caring about CM Punk's lifestyle choice.

Yes, this is the realism era, it's all about legitimacy, but surely they could have used non-alcoholic beer. Or just used the whiskey again. In the end though, it seems fairly obvious that CM Punk will get his revenge, and I'm starting to get the feeling that it might be some kind of I quit match that it happens in, where if Jericho loses, he has to leave WWE. Could be a good way to end things.

Just quickly before I finish up the Raw section, I said I'd mention the Three Stooges. Will Sasso delivered an amazing impersonation of Hogan. The crowd seemed a bit shocked more than anything.. and I was with them the first time I watched it. Hogan is working for TNA, so why would they want to do anything that promotes him? The only thing I can think of is that Will Sasso is a massive wrestling, and more specifically Hogan fan, so they let him do that bit. And let's face it, he nailed Hogan. Not just the voice, the body movements. And, even better, he took Kane's chokeslam amazingly well. I love that guy's work.


Ok let's talk about the main event. I'm impressed with Otunga more and more every week. He's finally gotten a decent character happening with some signature kind of movments and mannerisms, and his work in the ring has improved immensely since he was in NXT and the nexus.

And once again this week's episode ends with Lesnar getting the better of Cena. This time with a Low blow before the F-5. I've noticed though that Lesnar is executing his finisher differently these days. He's not doing the rotation part of the move that he used to. If you go back and watch an F-5 from 2003, it looks quite different to the 2012 version. In the 2012 version, he lifts his opponent over his head to get him in position for the "ddt" part, whereas back in 2003 he would turn him at the same time. Check it out. I prefer the 2003 version.


So overall a decent episode of RAW. I think the pattern needs to change for next week though, mainly with Punk and Jericho. No more alcohol baths. I do think that Lesnar is going to keep being booked as an unstoppable machine though. Which as long as it's done right, will work well.


Now let's talk quickly about smackdown before this turns into a short novel.

Daniel Bryan delivered a great promo last week, breaking up with his "girlfriend" AJ. And this week we were going to be treated to a very special Piper's Pit. Now, normally when I write my blog, I've watched everything I'm going to write about. I haven't watched Piper's pit yet, so I'm going to write the following part of this post as I watch for the first time. And then I'll get into a couple of other parts of Smackdown.

It's always great to see a Piper's pit. Rowdy is one of my favourite talkers out of anyone. His Piper's Pit from Wrestlemania 5 is one of my favourite non-wrestling wrestling segments ever.

I really hope this Yes chant catches on heaps more. It's such a simple thing, but works so well with just about everything.

I don't really like that they're portraying AJ as someone who seems to be completely clueless. I mean yeah, they can portray her as in love with him, but I don't really understand why she wouldn't have figured out that Bryan is using her. The rest of her character doesn't seem that dumb.

Piper got really intense talking about the "no's". I love Roddy. All in all it was a pretty good segment. Probably not right up there as one of the best Piper's pit episodes ever, but it was good. And we learned that it's going to be a 2 out of 3 falls match between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus, which should be a really good match. Hopefully they don't just squash Bryan again .. only this time in 36 seconds.

The last thing I'm going to talk about, and it's just a quick one, is Ryback. This character is so much better than the Skip Sheffield character. It's more believable, yet still larger than life. From what I've read about the way Ryback was originally, it's a slightly different version in 2012, but it's still impressive, and again something slightly different. Like a combination of Goldberg and Rhyno or something. I'm definitely interested to see where it goes.

Ok that's about all for this week. Until next time, you can follow me on twitter at @TheOZMouthpiece , leave me a comment on here to let me know what you think, and also, check out my articles on http://pwjournal.wordpress.com There's only two on there for now, but check it out nonetheless.

I'm the Aussie Mouthpiece, and now, my business is concluded.

Home Schooling no.4

Welcome to another edition of Home schooling, my weekly blog about the goings on in this funny little thing we call professional wrestling. Or maybe that should be this funny massive thing. Anyway, I am The Aussie Mouthpiece, and hopefully you like what I have to say, and that's why you're here reading this.

Topics covered this week will include RAW, TNA's bound for glory (which I haven't seen, but I did read about and have some thoughts), Secrets of the Ring with Raven (all 5 volumes), and Mick Foley. I'm also in the process of writing a more specific blog about great promos, so that should also be up in the next few days.

I'm going to start with Bound for Glory. Now as I've said in the past, I haven't watched TNA for a long time. since around Destination X i'm talking about. I've been keeping up to date on what's been happening mostly through news sites, reading the results of the iMPACT shows, and then more recently today, the Bound For Glory results.

I don't have a lot to talk about, just a few things that intrigued me. Firstly, Hogan did the job. I assume you all know what I mean. I was kind of shocked when I saw that result. Hogan lost? Really? .. Wow. Maybe the 5th back surgery removed a part of his ego as well as fixing his back.

All i really have to say about Hogan losing is.. GOOD. Sting is still wrestling full time, and especially because Hogan said he wouldn't take bumps, if he had won it would have crapped all over Sting, and TNA in general.

While i'm talking about Hogan I want to mention Robert Roode not winning the title. Now, this whole Bound for Glory series was a tournament and the payoff was getting a match against the champion at Bound for glory right? Sounds kind of similar to the Royal Rumble concept, in the sense that it's pushing a new face up to the World title picture.

So why did the guy who won this *really* long tournament (only thing longer has been NXT.. week 142 i think we're up to now right?).. why did he not win? That just completely takes all the momentum out of his push. Bad decision. I read maybe they're thinking of having him win at Impact or the next ppv?.. How is that going to mean anywhere near as much as winning at TNA's "wrestlemania"? Dropping the ball.. well i guess in TNA's case it's more like.. "still not picking up the ball and it fell down a drain into the sewer".

And Hogan was talking on Radio or something saying that Roode wasn't ready? and that he isn't a main event guy or something? Before the event? Burying the guy before the pay per view? If the guy in control is saying Roode isn't ready, and you can't tell if it's a work or not.. why would that make anyone want to buy the PPV?

And then Hogan took a shot at AJ Styles because Styles stood up for Roode and TNA in general? Hogan.. just leave. You're only there for a paycheck and to boost your own ego. TNA would do better without you.

Ok onto cheery happy things, Velvet Sky won the Knockouts title. That is awesome! She was a favourite of mine when I watched, both for the obvious reasons, and also because you could see her trying (and succeeding) to improve in the ring, and you could tell she loved wrestling and wasn't there to be a model.
So congratulations to her.

I just quickly watched RAW tonight, didn't see everything, most of it bored me. Most of it felt like stuff i'd already seen.
I have a few comments about the show though.

Why did Laurinitis get so much promo time this week, when he is absolutely terrible, and yet, CM Punk, the guy who really shot to the level he's at right now because of his promo work YET AGAIN have no mic time?

Sure, his reactions to what Miz and Truth said were really good, and really funny, but the guy is known (at the moment) for saying controversial things, for his "pipebombs" .. and he doesn't get a chance to talk?? What is that??

David Otunga on WWE is a waste of time. Stiff as a board, Laurinitis is a better talker than him (yep, i said it), and more importantly, not really talented. I get the feeling he's going to be known as "the guy who sipped out of the tartan cup" ... or whatever the hell that is.

Immigration problems? And yet again Laurinitis stops a match half way through. Abusing power? Yes. Entertaining tv? No. Makes me stop watching? Yes.

At least J.R got a positive send off this time, no colon surgery spoof, or any other embarassing final moment. A match with Cena, and also getting to make Cole tap out. Problem is now we're going to have to hear Cole's whining about it.

One positive to me was Dolph Ziggler. So good on the microphone. And he's been really entertaining doing his little Ask the Heel spots on Zack Ryder's youtube show. Maybe instead of adding heel to the list of names he used this week, the show stealer.. i don't remember the other one, he should keep the gimmick going of finishing an "Ask the heel" by saying "Hashtag Heel". That would work well in this social networking era.

That's about it for RAW, other than it's getting less interesting to me. Hopefully things pick up again before Survivor Series. I really want it to be good. At this stage i'm not ordering Vengeance because again, it's another pay per view what.. 3 weeks after the last one? Space it out more WWE...


Ok onto Secrets of the Ring. For those who don't know or haven't heard of it, the Secrets of the Ring with Raven is a shoot style interview series that Ring Of Honor did I think something like 6 years ago with Raven, and I think also a few other people have done a Secrets of the Ring. I know that Jim Cornette and Al Snow have done an edition.

Anyway, I couldn't talk about everything in Raven's series (5 dvds!) even if i had 3 hours to do so. Basically each dvd covers a different part about wrestling. How to be a Babyface, Star power and Charisma, Odds and Ends (like etiquette), how to be a heel, and how to work angles. Anyone who's seen any of them I'm sure would agree with me that listening to Raven talk about this stuff is amazing. I watched all 5 dvds in one day, so we're talking nearly 10 hours of basically watching someone sit on a chair and talk.

He covers so much stuff, talks about his experiences, even gives a few demonstrations, and it's really just opened my eyes to a new way of looking at matches and what makes them good and what makes them bad.
I will probably even go back and watch them a second, third, maybe fourth time in the near future. They're that good.

I highly, highly recommend them if you can find good copies. (or illegal copies, you dirty pirates.. har har har...)

Last but most certainly not least, Mick Foley. Again wanting to talk about him came about from watching his Straight Shootin dvd, once again also from Ring of Honor. It came out I think maybe 2005, it was before the first ECW one night stand I think. I'm not entirely sure,but I do know that the last match he talks about wrestling in the WWE on this dvd is the amazing match he had at Backlash 2004 with Orton.

I'll never forget the first time I watched that match. Seeing (at the time) "pretty boy" Randy Orton bleeding, and then dropping into those tacks.. my jaw was on the floor. Also at seeing Mick still take that beating. Of course at the time I was upset that Mick didn't win, but of course now I realise he was putting Orton over to help get him over.

So I watched his shoot, he talked about Ric Flair a lot. Which was really interesting to hear parts of that, that I hadn't heard before, not having read Flair's (or Foley's) books. Mick always speaks very well, speaks from the heart, and it's always entertaining to listen to him.

I've since started reading his first book, and really liking it so far. I would imagine once i get through it (i'm not a huge book reader) I'll want to read his other two as well. But once again I definitely recommend getting the Straight Shootin with Mick Foley, and also Mick Foley's Greatest Hits and Misses, especially for the Mick/Vader match where Vader breaks Mick's nose.

While you're at it, get the straight shootin with Jim Cornette and Percy Pringle DVD. The stories are amazing and funny. Especially a gem about Undertaker.

That's about all I have to say for this week, hopefully i'll have my extra blog up in the next couple of days, so keep checking my twitter or just keep checking this page. I'm going to start doing more of them, reviewing old pay per views, talking about specific wrestlers etc. So hopefully I get some positive feedback on this first one.

Until then, don't forget you can follow me on Twitter if you're not already at @TheOZMouthpiece .. leave me a comment if you want, and for now, that's it and that's all!

Totally not-that-good at-anything.. or TNA

Hello again, it is I, the armchair mouthpiece, truthfacts in hand, ready to spill some knowledge, all over this blog.

Ok so TNA... Total Nonstop Action.. Impact Wrestling.. where wrestling matters... I like the wrestling matters thing personally, but .. it almost seems like while wrestling matters, talent doesn't. Sure, there are talented guys on that roster, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe (when he makes an effort), Kazarian, Beer Money etc.. but who is the focus of iMPACT Wrestling on? As usual when he's involved, Hulk Hogan. Everything centres around Hogan, and Immortal.. who.. I mean I haven't been watching a lot of TNA lately, mainly because of this.. but from what i can tell right now.. Immortal is Hogan (who doesn't wrestle), Bischoff (who doesn't wrestle).. Abyss, Anderson, Gunner (did i miss the push or something?), and Bully Ray.. Oh and Jarrett, but he was in mexico or something?

Now it seems like a decent sized group, but .. I mean a couple of months ago wasn't there Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy (...), Murphy, Ric Flair (who i'll get to in a minute).. i'm sure there were more people involved in it. It just feels like as the group has gotten smaller it's lost it's momentum, and the angle is just dragging on to what is apparently going to be a Hulk Hogan face turn. Now, is Bischoff going to turn too? Coz i don't see that happening honestly, but I also know that I wouldn't believe Hogan would turn on Bischoff, being that they've been business partners for what.. 10+ years? No storyline that TNA can come up with will make it believable that Hogan and Bischoff will part ways. Also, I'm not interested in seeing Hogan on TV anymore, like, the gimmick is kinda done.. sure Hulkamania will never die and he'll always get that pop, and always be "Hulk Hogan".. but the business, from what i can see, has changed a lot since he was really "the hulk".. remember that match he had with Shawn Michaels at Summerslam? me either, but what i do remember is Shawn hamming it up like crazy and overselling to the point of it being funny. Great work on that Shawn by the way, absolutely loved it.


So what about isntead of it being the same guys in the title picture for what.. the last ... i don't know 4 or 5 months?... throw someone else up there.. just for kicks if nothing else.. Angle vs Sting could be a good match, lets face it, Angle is the man. But, it kinda feels a little WCW, where are the new stars being pushed into the main event slot?.. Sure, Beer Money have the Tag Team Titles. Tag Team wrestling actually means something in TNA. But it's not on the same level as the World title. Having said that, I'm not sure if there are any new stars who are ready to be pushed into the main event level.. he's not a new star, but a lot of people are mentioning Bobby Roode, I can see that. But what happens to Storm?.. he's too good to be the "janetty".. I just don't know if he can be a single's success.. the other problem with TNA is they don't have a mid-card title.. sure there's the TV title, but it's not exactly being defended or involved in any serious way. I love what Eric Young is doing though. Personally I don't think he needs the TV title, I think it would be funnier if he just used the old world title belt, and "defended" that. If they used the TV title properly, it could be a launching pad, like the Intercontinental or US titles are.

So who else on the roster is ready? What about Matt Morgan? I like him, but I don't really buy him as "that guy".. something doesn't click, but it could work because of his size. What about Kazarian?.. that, i think, could also work. I also think that Sabin has the potential to be in that main event level. I can hear the arguments .. he's a smaller guy.. Shawn Michaels is a smaller guy. Sting isn't a big guy.. AJ isn't a big guy. Now what about Ric Flair?
You read that right.. I saw an article today with Ric Flair saying he's going to be challenging for the World Heavyweight title after Hardcore Justice (i hate that they're using that name by the way). To quote Zack Ryder.. Are you serious bro? .... Ric Flair is challenging for the Title? What the hell is going on? I really hope it's not going to happen, because A: No-one has seen him on tv for a while... B: He doesn't need it, and it would do nothing for the company.. and C: you're too damn old Ric! Seriously, I love Ric Flair, I respect the hell out of him and what he's done. But it's a dumb move to make this Ric Flair your champion. His matches these days aren't lets say.. up to the standard of even 10 years ago.. he doesn't look like a champion anymore, he looks like a manager.. and I personally only understand about 50% of what he says on the mic nowadays.
I agree with what a lot of people are saying, Ric has damaged his legacy by going to TNA, and damaged it further by actually wrestling again. That match at Wrestlemania 24 with Shawn, was amazing. It was the greatest way to end a career you could ever imagine... and that next night on Raw.. amazing. Hell, Undertaker came out and BROKE CHARACTER! That never happens! And then just a short while later, he's back on worldwide Tv wrestling again like it never happened? Not cool. So please TNA... don't put the belt on Flair.

The other thing I want to mention is the Women's division.. the Knockouts. Much better name than Divas first of all. Implies much less attitude, yet the knockouts have more of a right to have an attitude, because... well they can wrestle. Angelina Love, Velvet Skye, Mickie James, Tara, Sarita, Winter (i think she can wrestle, I haven't seen her in a match for a while).. All these women are amazing athletes. I actually enjoy watching the women's matches on Impact, wheras on Raw or smackdown I do something more interesting like trim my fingernails, sometimes my nose hair on a longer match. There are exceptions of course with WWE, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim (if she's ever used).. umm.. Oh that AJ girl from NXT was pretty good i think.. But TNA's knockouts are far and away the best womens division going. My only problem is since Bishcoff and Hogan came along, we're seeing less diversity in the division. Remember a few years ago...Roxxi, Awesome Kong, Taylor Wilde, ODB, Alissa Flash, Hamada... I know ODB has been on Tv recently, but they're going with the "no contract" angle so that's why I included her. Now that was a strong womens division. Now it's still good, but a little ... eh...seen it already. Except Velvet, i never get tired of seeing her!

So I think that's about all I wanted to say... I'm not going to go off on a rant and say "they should get rid of hogan and bischoff" or "fire russo"..... Personally i think their product was better before Hogan.. I still remember watching that first Impact, he and Bischoff are standing in a 4 sided ring getting booed, and Hogan said something about that 6-sided ring not being any good ( can't remember the exact words).. but that right there was the first clue that this wasn't really all about TNA, it was about making TNA TNHogAn.. Also the X division was a lot more prevalent before Hogan and Bischoff.. I just hope that Destination X this year wasn't their way of saying "ok we gave you this whole pay per view of X division, now you fans can't complain when we don't do any x division stuff".. that would be terrible, but also not unexpected. Bischoff...

And while i think of it.. losing Jay Lethal is a massive blow to them, that guy is awesome! And if they don't sign Low-Ki, there is definitely something wrong in the "office"...
So lets hope that TNA can become true competition, because that would make everything better.
That's it, that's all i've got for now, hope you enjoyed it, leave a comment if you've got something to say, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece, and keep reading!


What's it like to be me? You.. will never, ever know.