Home Schooling No. 13

G'day everyone, I'm the Aussie Mouthpiece and it's time again to take a look at the week that was in wrestling. This week I will as usual focus on Monday Night Raw, but as an extra added bonus, I've got some things I want to write about regarding TNA and the Lockdown PPV, which I haven't watched in detail, but some of the results got me thinking, and made me realise there's some aspects of TNA's product that have been bugging me for a while.

So sit back, relax, put your reading glasses and your learning eyes on, and let's get down to business.

Raw this week was coming to us from merry old England. I always enjoy when we get an episode of Raw or Smackdown from overseas, the crowds always seem hotter. I guess it's because the WWE comes to their country maybe once a year, and in that one time, people from the entire country flock to see them. At least, that's the way it works here in Australia. But it gives the show a bigger, slightly more epic feel about it, and I think overall, this week's episode did not disappoint, although I'm sure the live audience would have liked to have seen Lesnar in person rather than just on videotape.

Speaking of the crowd, they were right behind CM Punk this week. Don't get me wrong, the crowd is always behind Punk, but this week the cheers seemed louder, and more pronounced. Again it's probably something to do with not seeing the product live as much, but it feels like Punk's character has become.. not watered down, but not quite as edgy as it was a few months ago. So it was good to hear Punk getting the massive cheers. The "yes" chants during Punk's kicking sequences were awesome as well.

What a great match Henry and Punk had. There was one part where Mark Henry caught Punk, and flung him, quite violently, into the guardrail. It looked amazingly brutal.Henry has improved his consistency so much in the last year. He always had this potential, and his size and strength got him over immediately.. but now that he's added in the character development, the "hall of pain" angle, and the consistency of having great matches, he's finally stepped into that spot that the WWE have had set out for him for so many years. And I for one am really happy for him.

Last week I talked about there being a theme to the show. This week's theme seemed to be Extreme. No DQ matches, Extreme Rules matches.. Jericho going to extremes trying to prove CM Punk is an alcoholic.

One thing that I found funny, is that at Extreme Rules, we have CM Punk vs Jericho in a Street Fight, Brock Lesnar vs Cena in an Extreme Rules match, and Randy Orton vs Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere match. .. Now.. maybe it's just me, but aren't those three matches essentially the same thing? I remember a few years ago there was a Ladder match, a Stretcher match.. some kind of street fight match.. It just seems a little weird to have three matches all called different things, yet basically meaning the same thing.

Punk and Jericho's back and forth promo was decent, but it was just more of the same stuff from Jericho especially, and to me, it just seems like they've lost a little momentum in the feud because of that. It's not even in the realm of possibility that CM Punk would become a drunk from one drink, and honestly, this is supposed to be the "reality" era, storylines based more in reality, and in reality, I don't buy that Chris Jericho would believe the things he is saying about Cm Punk. It just feels like some steam has been let out or something.
Hopefully the match at Extreme Rules either changes things up again, the way it did when Jericho first attacked Punk with the Whiskey bottle, or it becomes the end of their rivalry.

So let's talk about the best part of the night. Funnily enough not even a live in-ring segment. The Brock Lesnar interview is of course the segment I'm referring to.
The way they've brought him back, the fact that two weeks in a row he's taken out Cena, he doesn't feel like a WWE superstar. As he said, he feels like an ass kicker. It's made him feel bigger than the WWE, and by referencing his UFC career, instantly making him legitimate.
I get the feeling that they got the idea for this interview from the UFC preview shows that are on before the pay per views where they interview each fighter. Again, making it feel .. "real". It's working really well so far, but the big test comes at Extreme Rules. It's one thing to take a guy down and have a bit of a melee with him, but it's certainly a whole different thing to have a match, especially with the top guy in the company.

Making it a "hardcore" (lets face it, that's what this is) match, I think will actually help, because it relies less on the wrestling and more on the big spots. I'm still hoping for a great match though.

So Cena comes out to "answer" Lesnar's interview essentially, but instead it seems he's focused on John Laurinitis. It's an interesting change, but I don't know if it's the right move. This match really needs to be about Lesnar and Cena. Nothing more. To me it should be about how they started around the same time, and the differences in their characters. I know they did that with The Rock and Cena, but this is a different animal. Lesnar isn't some actor who has a bunch of cool catchphrases. He's a legitimate fighter.

I thought it was good that Tensai got put into the main event, and even though it was a dirty win, he still won. I think his character isn't exactly a long term thing, but it works for now, and it's something different which is always a good thing. Variety can bring in more diverse crowds.


Ok so very quickly let's talk about TNA.

Now I haven't been paying a hell of a lot of attention to TNA lately, but I did see recently on impact that Velvet Sky won a battle royal or some kind of 6 woman match to become the number one contender for the knockouts title. And it's not the first time they've done something like that.
My problem with this is it felt like Velvet accomplished this big thing, like it was a big deal that she overcame all the challenges to become the No.1 Contender, yet at Lockdown, she lost.

My problem isn't exactly that she lost, it's just the way the match was set up, with how much emphasis was put on the fact that she won this huge thing to get the title shot.
And the way that she lost. Gail Kim was half knocked out from the powerbomb from the turnbuckle, yet won with a reversed roll up.. how did she have the strength to do that? It's just bad booking or whatever it's called these days. To me it would have made more sense if she hit her finisher and fell into a cover.

It felt the same with the Motor City Machine Guns. Now I am a huge fan of these guys. I was so happy to see them back together, and that Sabin has recovered from his injury. Yet in their first Pay Per view match back as a team, they lost.

Why not book them in a tag team match, but not for the titles? That way they could win and build momentum and make it feel like their return was a success. Maybe I just think in a weird way though.

Overall it just feels like they book things in advance, or tape things in advance and then change their minds about the results at the pay per views, and then the previous events don't make as much sense.

I also thought it was a little strange that Jeff Hardy won the match with a massive Swanton Bomb. Those spots used to be somewhere in the middle of a match, not the finish. I mean of course it works, but then within a minute, Jeff was up, walking around and congratulating fans, which again, doesn't seem realistic. I know it's a worked sport, but isn't the point to try to get us, as fans, to suspend disbelief? If something generally wouldn't happen if it was real, why would you do it as part of the show?

Overall I didn't mind Lockdown however, some of it was terrible, some of it was great. Kind of like TNA in general. But they need less emphasis on the older guys, and way more on the younger guys and the Tag team division.

Ok that's about it. So as usual, you can follow me on twitter @TheOZMouthpiece , and also leave  me a comment on here to let me know what you think.

Oh and one last thing, thanks to @TherealWB and @VOWLive for making me their guest blogger, which was awesome!

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

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.11

Well.. what a week it's been in the world of wrestling. Wrestlemania, the Hall of Fame, and two epic episodes of Raw. And that was just on the WWE side of things. I think it's safe to say that this week has been one of the best Wrestling weeks for a long time.

Before we get into this weeks' episode of Raw, and the Hall of Fame special, let's talk a little bit more about Wrestlemania.
Having watched it a few more times, I'm even more convinced that Wrestlemania 28 is one of the better Mania's ever. Everyone put in a good performance, all of the matches had some memorable moments (yes, even the Orton/Kane and Cody/Big Show matches) and all the big matches lived up to the hype, and in the case of the Hell in a Cell match, exceeded expectations.

I said last night that out of all the 'Mania matches that Triple H, Undertaker and Shawn have had in this 4 year journey, last night's was easily the second best. I don't think anything could top the first Taker/Shawn match, but this was a close second. The emotion, the story told, the brutality, it was all amazing.

The other thing is that the CM Punk/Jericho match is better the second time you watch it. You're not coming down from watching Taker/HHH for the first time, so you get a better appreciation for what they did with the match. I highly recommend checking it out again if you can.

If you haven't already, check out my full Wrestlemania review on here by viewing the previous post to this one.

So let's talk a little about the expectations of this week's Raw.

The post-wrestlemania Raw.. To me it is the episode with the most chance to be a total let down. What rivalries would continue? What new conflicts would begin? Where would the WWE go? And especially this year, with Wrestlemania's theme being the End of an Era, what would the start of the new era be like?

So let's get down to business and talk about Raw.

The first episode of the new era. The first episode of John Laurinitis' total control of the WWE.  And the start of the new year, at least in terms of wrestling.

Initially I was thinking that all of the rivalries that we saw at Wrestlemania would end, and it would be a clean slate. But I'm glad that this wasn't the case, and we saw the Chris Jericho/CM Punk rivalry continue. It felt like it had a lot more that could be done with it, and now it appears we're going to get at least one more PPV match.

And it also appears that Big Show and Cody will be continuing for a little longer. Cody needs to get his rematch at least. As does Daniel Bryan.

Before I get into the specifics of the events on Raw this week, let's talk about Daniel Bryan. WWE have been building him as a heel, and doing a fairly good job of it. There were still smatterings of cheers for him, which I can understand. The guy went through a lot just to get to the WWE, and you could tell that winning the World title meant a lot to him.

But then, in one moment, everything changed. Well, to be specific, in 18 seconds, everything changed. Maybe this was the WWE's plan all along, but I don't think so. Daniel Bryan, because of being beaten so quickly, and having a simple, catchy catchphrase (that sounds weird), has become a fan favourite again it seems. How many times did a YES! YES! YES! chant break out on Raw this week? And more to the point, how many times did a Daniel Bryan chant break out at Wrestlemania and Raw?

And speaking of the Yes chant, I have to agree with a few people's posts I've seen in forums and on twitter, in that this chant is going to be as big as Stone Cold's "what?". It's so easy to fit into a wide range of situations during matches and promos, and it's catchy. Let's just hope that it doesn't become as over-used as What? is. And let's also hope that Bryan Danielson's biggest legacy is NOT the introduction of this chant. He deserves better. For now though, it's awesome. YES! YES! YES!


Now let's get to the events of RAW.

John Laurinitis continues to portray himself as a fair general manager, while still favouring the heels. It's a really well done and quite tricky thing to do I think. I mean really, it would be much easier for him to not be seemingly staying impartial, and being a flat out heel. I kind of like it. Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with CM Punk, Johnny Ace is a giant toolbox. I mean, last week on Raw he got his own team's name wrong. That can't be done on purpose. Really. It can't. He's just bad.

We got to see the debut of Lord Tensai this week. I'm quite surprised there were no Shave your Back chants (unless I missed something). I was glad that Michael Cole at least referenced the fact that he'd been in the WWE before. It shows that they don't think we're all idiots and have no long term memory.

I'll be honest, I was never a big fan of A-Train back in 2003. It may have been because he was in a feud with the Undertaker and I was a bit of a mark, but something about him just didn't click with me. What's clear though is that he's improved amazingly since then. I haven't seen a lot of his work from Japan, but I was really impressed with his match this week on Raw. He looks great too. I mean, it's hard to make an american guy look japanese, but they've done quite well.

You can tell he's still getting used to the new character, but it was still a really good debut. I'm a big fan of his stalling underhook suplex just quietly as well. All in all it wasn't a let down, and that's the best thing. So welcome back to Prince Albert/A-Train/Giant Bernard/Lord Tensai. Hopefully we get some really good stuff out of it.

I'll get to the other return towards the end of this post. There's still quite a bit to talk about first. Like CM Punk and Jericho.

CM Punk ... he's becoming the guy who can have a great match with anybody. What a great match he had with Mark Henry this week. And what an amazing crowd. At some points, it felt like they were more amped for Raw than the crowd at Wrestlemania was. So many YES! chants. And even a couple of No chants.

But the real story here was after the match. Punk was laid out by Mark Henry, which gave Chris Jericho the opportunity to come out and make their feud even more personal. I wasn't sure it could get more intense, but seeing as how he poured one bottle of .. "alcohol" into his mouth, and broke a second one over the back of his head.. it's safe to say it has.

I was genuinely shocked with that bottle smash. Even though it clearly was designed to break with any kind of impact, it was still a very graphic thing to see. I hope that it wasn't really alcohol in the bottles, I would imagine it was cold tea rather than actual Jack Daniels.. I'm fairly sure that the WWE wouldn't put Cm Punk in that position.

So where is this all heading? To me it's got to be a rematch, with some kind of gimmick or stipulation added to the match at Extreme Rules. Maybe a Street fight, and if Jericho wins, Cm Punk has to drink a shot or something. To me that would be an interesting stipulation. Especially if CM Punk lost.

But well done to the WWE for intensifying this rivalry even more, and keeping it interesting beyond the Wrestlemania match.

Great to see Alberto back.. but you already knew that. Hopefully he gets a slight character change so he's not quite so bland this time.

I found it interesting that Sheamus was getting a few boos as well. Sheamus vs Bryan has a lot of life left in it. Hopefully WWE capitalises on that.

And now, probably for the last time for a while, let's talk about Rock and Cena. Oh and that other guy who came back.. Lesnar I think his name is?

Rocky had the first in-ring segment this week. It was mostly just standard Rock stuff, which is fine. Those people who were chanting "same old shit" to Cena need to realise that most established wrestlers do the "same old shit" because it's what made them who they are, and get off of the anti-Cena bandwagon.

He did make the announcement that he wants to be WWE champ again however. I'm intrigued by this. To do that, he would have to be coming back for a full time spot, at least for a couple of months. Which, let's face it, as long as he remembers how to be The Rock, can only be a good thing.

I'm glad that both Rock and Cena showed respect to each other by thanking each other. It didn't feel scripted either. It felt real. It felt like it was from the heart.

Rocky delivered a great Rock promo. I just hope he sticks to his word, and doesn't stay away for too long, proving those right who said he was lying when he said he was never leaving.

Before i get to Cena, I just have to say.. that crowd was one of the loudest I think I've ever heard for a Monday Night Raw. Absolutely awesome.

Ok let's skip ahead to the end of the show, and John Cena. Cena came out and, just like The Rock, he cut a very "cena" promo.

The greatest thing about this yes chant is it's ability to very simply and very directly tell the WWE exactly what we, the fans, want to see.
It seemed like John wanted to react to the "You're a loser" chant too. Unfortunately it seems like a different plan is in effect.

But as clear as day, take another look at the part of Cena's promo where he says "would this finally be the day where I lash out at the WWE universe?"
The crowd chants louder than ever, YES! Cena's response is "I hate to be the bearer of bad news" etc.. and the crowd erupt in boos.

Why can't the WWE see that this is what we all want to see? I honestly think that Cena would get cheered if he "turned heel".  Based on the crowd's reaction this week, he might get the biggest babyface pop of the night. The one saving grace is that the longer it takes for Cena to turn (he will at some point), the better it's going to be when he finally does make that switch.

I did like that Cena chanted along with the fans at one point during a Yes chant.

But then.. that familiar music hits, and out walks Brock Lesnar! And what a reaction from that amazing crowd. And he looked great too. What we need to remember is that back in 2002/03 Cena and Lesnar were both coming up the ranks. Lesnar made it a little quicker than Cena, but they both started right around the same time. But we never really saw them feud.

So it's two established guys who have never really touched in the ring before. I'm sure they have had a few interactions, but it's basically new. And that's something that, aside from Rock/Cena, hasn't happened a lot lately. All the top guys have wrestled each other. Really think about it, which of the "top guys" at the moment, haven't had some kind of feud with each other. By top guys I mean CM Punk, Orton, Cena, Jericho, Miz and Kane.

Brock Lesnar coming back to the WWE is massive. It's bigger than massive. There will be a slew of people who discovered Brock when he started fighting in the UFC and became massive Lesnar fans. And now that he's back on TV, you would have to imagine they will start tuning in. It gives the WWE more credibility as well. A legitimate fighter coming back to Pro Wrestling. We've seen wrestlers go to the UFC, but I'm certain we've never seen it the other way around. Maybe that Daniel Puder, but he doesn't really count.

You could tell Brock was happy to be back as well. Sure, he left under.. interesting circumstances, but all that is in the past, and everyone has forgotten and forgiven. I think it will take a little time for the character to come back out in him, he seemed a little subdued this week. I would imagine that's just from being in the UFC for that long, and also it's been 8 years since he was in the WWE. He's matured a lot since then. But give it a couple of weeks for him to get back into the swing of things, to get comfortable, and I'm sure we'll get more of a character out of Brock Lesnar.

I'm excited about the potential this has. Listen to the crowd during his entrance. It was almost like they were chanting holy shit to say "the wwe actually gave us what we wanted? Holy shit!" .. Maybe this is a turning point.  Whatever the case, Lesnar is going to give the WWE a big injection of big name star-power that's definitely going to be welcomed with open arms.

Just quickly on the hall of fame special, I really enjoyed the whole thing, even though it was so cut down and shortened. Hopefully the DVD/Bluray release of Wrestlmania will have the entire show on it. But the parts that were shown were great. It was awesome to see Ric Flair on WWE programming again, Shawn and Triple H were really funny, and Edge's speech (at least the parts shown) was wonderful. He deserved to be the main guy.

Speaking of Edge (I swear this is the last thing) I watched Bending the Rules today as well. I actually didn't mind it. It's no classic by any means, but it didn't suck. If you like action comedies, it's worth watching. Edge gives a really good performance, even if the story is slightly hard to follow at some points.

Ok that's about all I have to say this week. Oh, no it's not. I've started writing articles for We Want Wrestling, which can be found at http://pwjournal.wordpress.com/ and my first article can be found at http://pwjournal.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/the-aussie-mouthpiece-is-here-2/ Check them both out!

Until next time you can follow me on twitter if you don't already @TheOZMouthpiece and you should leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Business is over.

Once In a lifetime at the end of an era.

Wow.

If someone asked me to describe Wrestlemania 28 in one word, it would be exactly that. Wow. In every sense of the word.

From the opening joke of a match, to the epic Hell in a Cell, to the somewhat subpar main event, Wow seems to sum it up perfectly.

It had everything. So it seems right to talk about everything.

Lets start with the dark match. I didn't see much of it, but I know that Epico and Primo retained their titles. I guess that's a good thing right?

I have to say, I was quietly very excited about this Wrestlemania. Maybe it was the 3 main events, but I just had this feeling it was going to be one of the best, at least of the last 10 years. For me, my favourite Wrestlemania is 19, probably because it was the first one I saw, but there were so many big feel matches. Angle/Lesnar, McMahon/Hogan, Rock/Austin, Michaels/Jericho. Wrestlemania 28 had the same feel.

And for the most part, it really didn't disappoint. Yes, there were bad parts, which we'll get to when I run through the matches and segments, but the good definitely outweighed the bad.

And from a personal point of view, I picked 7 out of the 8 matches correctly. Not a bad effort.

Ok so let's get down to business and go through the card.

So first up we had the World Heavyweight Title match between Sheamus and Daniel Bryan, with AJ at ringside. And, in less time than it takes for Undertaker to walk out of the entranceway, the match is over.
I literally looked away for 3 seconds, and I missed the finish.

My first reaction, like a lot of people I would imagine, was just .. "what?" And from there, it morphed into a "what the f**k?" .. I mean come on. Apparently the WWE wanted to break the record set by Chavo and Kane back at Wrestlemania 24. And failed. So instead of being able to use the "record" angle as part of the story to soften the blow, we got an 18 second title match. Way to make the World Heavyweight Championship seem about as important as the Tag titles.

It was a joke. Plain and simple. We got commercials for next year's Wrestlemania, a Diva's commercial, a spot promoting deadliest catch that were longer than the first match. Couldn't we have done without the mimed musical performances, and had an actual match instead? It is called WRESTLEmania after all.

 However, I don't think it made Daniel Bryan look as bad as most people think. It's the Honky Tonk Man principle. Ultimate Warrior defeated Honky in 30 seconds or so to win the Intercontinental title, and it didn't hurt Honky, because it was a surprise. He could claim he wasn't ready, wasn't prepared etc.

In the same vein, Daniel Bryan can now say that Sheamus took advantage of him while his back was turned. Not 100% true, but as a heel he can get away with bending the truth. So if there's one saving grace, at least the storyline in the next month or so will be a little interesting.

I'm not really sure how to score this match out of 10.. on one hand we got ripped off because we didn't get to see a good match, but for what it was, and what it could be, it's not the worst thing ever.

So, for what it was, i'll give it 7/10, but for what it could have been, it's a 2/10.

After a quick backstage segment with Team Johnny, next up was Randy Orton vs Kane. I really wasn't sure about this match, I felt like it had no reason to be happening, and there wasn't really any reason that I should care about it.
They talked about how Kane was trying to shake of the last of his humanity I guess? And Orton was responsible for some of that humanity? I'm not sure.

It was however, a really solid match. Not amazing, but it definitely didn't suck. I think on first viewing it looked worse than it was, because of what happened with the opening match. People were still shocked. I know I was.

The problem was though, this match lacked any kind of "big fight" feel. It may have had to do with it still being daylight. Seeing wrestling in natural light is still a little strange. But I think really it was just the lack of story behind the match.

We got the usual spots from Orton and Kane, but the finish was at least a little special, with Kane hitting a chokeslam from the ropes.

A decent match, but could have been better with more build up. 5.5/10

Next up was another backstage segment with Santino, Mick Foley, and eventually Ron Simmons. Very funny stuff, especially Mick's pirate voice. Oh and there was some guy from some discovery channel show they were trying to pimp.. I mean advertise. And of course, we got Ron Simmons delivering a perfect "damn".

Following on from that we got the Intercontinental Title match between Cody Rhodes and Big Show.
I had a feeling this might have been one of those "dark horse" matches that could end up being really, really good. And Show and Rhodes did not disappoint.
Great action to start off, and Big Show's chops to the chest sounded extra brutal. In fact, a lot of the impacts sounded more violent tonight. Maybe it was that everyone was working a little stiffer, maybe the WWE used different microphones because it was an outdoor event. Either way it was great.

The only thing was that the match to me was a little short. But it worked.

I originally thought that Show needed to win, but Cody should retain his title. I was going with this line of thinking because I had figured Cody was going to be an IC champion with a long title reign, as in a record setting title reign. That way, Big Show got his revenge, but Cody could still stay champion.

But that wasn't to be. Big Show loaded up his KO punch and nailed Cody, pinning him for the 1, 2, 3, and becoming the new Intercontinental Champion. And also a grand slam champion. Which is an awesome effort.
You could tell that it really did mean something to Big Show. I've always liked that about him, he shows real emotion when he wins titles. It happened for that 45 seconds at TLC when he won the world title, and again at Mania. It makes it feel real, and it shows that he's not just there to be there.

So I've been thinking about what happens to Cody Rhodes now. I would imagine he has a rematch at Extreme Rules, but over the next few months I would expect to see him starting to get into the World Title hunt, whether it be on Smackdown, or RAW.

So overall I think that this match was right up there in the top few of the night, and Big Show deserved the win. 7/10

This tag line that has been used this year.. the "end of an era".. It's not only about the Hell in a Cell match, which i'll get to in just a minute. It feels like that was the overriding theme of the night. Not "Once in a lifetime". That was strictly for The Rock and Cena. (And possibly a TNA contracted wrestler appearing on camera at Wrestlemania as well, but hey.. it's Naitch!).

Think about it. Sheamus decimated Daniel Bryan and became World Heavyweight Champ for the first time. Big Show achieved the honor of becoming a grand slam champion. The fact that he was so emotional.. maybe that was his last Wrestlemania match.
There was the embrace after the Hell in a Cell match, almost like Undertaker, Triple H and Shawn were saying goodbye (I'll get to it in more detail later).
Jericho (the veteran) put Punk over.
Rock one his Once in a Lifetime match.  Everything has this "end of an era" feel about it, like RAW tomorrow (or today depending on where you are in the world) is going to be the start of a new day in the WWE, with a lot of the veterans stepping away. I have a feeling we might see Triple H, Undertaker, Big Show on raw, but we might not see them much after that.

I did notice that the first 3 matches were all done and dusted with only 45 minutes of the pay per view gone,
which did seem a bit fast. But we found out at the end that they needed all that time. I think it ended with only a few minutes to spare. So the timing was well done this year. It certainly didn't look like anything had to be cut down. So well done to the WWE for that.

So next up was a 3 or 4 minute video package about all the Divas. .. I don't know what point that served.

And now it's time for the Diva's tag team match. It was better than I expected, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting much. Beth carried the match (as usual), although Kelly Kelly did surprise me (and in a good way too) hitting a Molly Go Round (you know that's what it's called) on Beth.

What I didn't like is that damn finish. Maria Menounos took longer than a world heavyweight title match (Yup, that's going to become a thing) to climb the turnbuckles, selling the fact that she could hardly move. Yet she had the strength to hold Beth down with her entire body (including her apparently injured ribs) for a 3 count? A wrestler I could buy being able to do that, but a celebrity? She shouldn't have sold so hard. And if it was a legitimate injury and she really couldn't move that fast, she could have kept up the selling when going for the school boy(girl). Also, don't wear white pants when wrestling girls with fake tan on.
Overall it wasn't the worst divas match ever, but it was nowhere near as good as a one on one match with Beth and Natalya would have been. 4/10


Next up, somewhat surprisingly at first, is the End of an Era Hell in a Cell match. Undertaker vs Triple H, with Shawn Michaels as the guest referee. So many expectations. Would Shawn screw over one of the combatants? Would the match live up to the hype? And most importantly.. What would Undertaker's hair look like?

Before I get to the match, let me just say it was great to have Jim Ross call this match. Moreover, it was fitting. This match signified the last act of the attitude era. Jim Ross was the voice of the attitude era. In a perfect world, Cole would have left the commentary table for this match, but at least we got JR.

Shawn makes his entrance, and then that thundering open Eb Chord (yes, i know my music) hits, and Triple H makes his entrance, out of some kind of stage prop, that looked very cool, very metal, and very Triple H. He's been taking on this Viking style King of Kings character for his Mania entrances, and this one was right up there.

And then there's Undertaker. As you all know I'm a bit of an Undertaker mark, so his matches are always a special thing for me. As are his entrances. And this year he did not disappoint. That coat... yes it had a little bit of a Super Shredder vibe about it, but it was amazing. Somewhere between that ministry outfit, and his monk-like hooded robe/jacket.

The "hair reveal" almost had as much hype as the match itself. We'd all read the reports that he would be bald, but, in another surprise, Taker removed his hood and revealed a low mohawk. If you can, watch that part again, but watch the faces of the people in shot behind him. It's priceless.
It's certainly a different look for him, but it worked. Jim Ross's commentary once again made this moment so much more epic. Just a simple.. "My god".. Michael Cole really should pay attention to when the greatest of all time is speaking.

I'm not going to go through the match move by move, because let's face it, this is already long, and I've still got 3 more matches after this one to run through. Favourite parts though included the Spinebuster on the steps, which amazed me. Undertaker doesn't need to take bumps like that, but he still does. Amazing.

The brutal chair shots. All of them. Like I said before with Big Show's chops, the impact of the chair shots sounded different, more brutal.

The "DX finisher combo" on Undertaker had me going. No-one has ever kicked out of that combo of moves. Not that I've seen anyway. It's things like that which remind me how much I love pro wrestling. Even though every fibre of my being knows that Undertaker will win, because of the Streak, I still mark out for those near falls.

I liked the finish as well, but it was really the only part of the match that I felt like had been done before. We'd seen it with Shawn a couple of years earlier, only this year there was a sledgehammer. But it worked. It made sense. It was right.

What made this match so good though, was the story. And you can thank Shawn Michaels for making it as good as it was. Even in a refereeing only capacity, he is Mr Wrestlemania. Watch his reactions to the chair shots, the sledgehammer shots, the kickouts.. That was why Shawn was a part of this match. Look at the final Sledge shot from Taker to Triple H. The camera cuts back and it shows that Shawn can't even look. That says so much. And then after the pinfall.. Shawn looked like he genuinely had tears in his eyes.

All in all this was an amazing match, and an amazing finale to this 4 year journey of Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels/Undertaker vs Triple H, and an amazing final act of the Attitude Era. And the way that Undertaker, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels left the arena was.. it was perfect. Sure, people can say that Taker's character would never have done that, but this wasn't Undertaker the character. Since his return he's basically been I would say, as close to himself as he's ever been, without riding to the ring on a motorcycle. These three men have been a part of something that none of us as fans will ever truly understand. They clearly have a bond that goes beyond their gimmicks, and deserve all the accolades they have, and will ever get.

Before I move on from this match, let me posit a theory. Undertaker, and possibly Triple H, will come out on Raw tomorrow, and retire. Undertaker has reached 20-0. He's beaten every big name over the last 22 years. There's nothing else for him to do. 20-0 seems a fitting time to me, and if you watch the final couple of shots of Taker, Shawn and Hunter, it almost looks like a "goodbye" look from them. And I'm just going to go ahead and say it. That was a beautiful moment.

Ok so overall did this match live up to the hype? I think that yes, it did. It gave us everything we wanted (even accidental blood).. and brought to an end this amazing rivalry. 9.5/10


How does anyone follow that? The easy answer is that they don't, which is why a 12 man tag went on afterwards. That way the responsibility wasn't just on one or two people.

Just quickly, Edge choking up when he was announced in the hall of fame segment, same as Big Show, is one of those things that makes this feel even more special, and more real. It's really weird to see him with short hair though.

Heath Slater got slammed into that wall hard. Somebody tell that Flo Rida dude it's meant to be a work!

So next up is Team Johnny vs Team Teddy.

I really don't have a lot to say about this match, I thought it was as good as it could be. Dolph did indeed steal the spotlight as I thought he would. His sell of that monkey flip was insane. Best spot has to go to the Triple front flip rope dive though. Great timing by everyone, and everyone was caught safely.

It was an interesting finish, with Eve showing her true colours (again). But it was good that Miz got the pinfall. Going from main eventing Wrestlemania to being part of a 12 man tag match mustn't have been easy.

A decent match overall, but really nothing all that special. 6/10

Punk and Jericho came next, with the freshly added stipulation that if Punk got DQ'd, he'd lose the title. This was a really good decision, because it made the story of the match so much more intense. Punk had to keep his cool, and Jericho would try to make Punk snap time after time. A really smart booking decision. Well done.

Jericho's jacket now comes with a 2nd colour. But he still can't get it all to flash at once.

I think this match was going to have a hard time just because of it's place on the card. People were still reeling from the Hell in a Cell match. But I think that if people watch this match on replay, once they've already seen Wrestlemania once, they'll realise just how good this match is. It was what they both said it would be. The best wrestling match on the card.

Punk took a really hard fall from that suplex off of the apron, it looked brutal. But having said that, Jericho took a few fairly stiff looking knees from Punk when he said "how's your father?"

Speaking of those barbs, I thought that was a really original, and really well executed idea. Jericho verbally goading Punk into snapping, and letting us hear it through the camera (i'm not sure if it got picked up for the live crowd) was a great touch. And Jericho's facial expressions were perfect too.

What else can I say about this match? It was great. Pure pro wrestling. Back and forth pinfall attemps and submission attempts, reversals, and most importantly, a great story was told. I think it was right that Cm Punk won this match, and it solidifies him as a top guy. He defended the title, at Wrestlemania. That's a big deal.
8.5/10

We got a dance number instead of a world heavyweight title match. But.. plus side is we saw the Dactyl! .. I'm happy for Brodus getting a fairly unique Wrestlemania moment to say the least, but I think the time could have been better used for the opening match.

And last but not least, the main event. The once in a lifetime match. John Cena vs The Rock. Would it live up to the hype? Would The Rock become the best ever? Or would Cena finally shut Rocky up?

First of all, I'm just going to say one thing about the musical "performances". Lip-Syncing. Terrible.

One saving grace, I thought that Machine Gun Kelly guy performed really well. And I liked his little speech too. It seemed like he was really grateful to get the opportunity. Too bad whoever the female "singer" was performed so badly. But the dude was like a heat magnet. Cleveland jersey in Miami, and saying Cena would beat Rock. Well done.

But let's forget about all that, and focus on what's important. Which is the match.

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed with this match. There seemed to be a lack of chemistry and timing between the two. Rock looked like he was half a step slower than Cena, and there were at least 2 times I saw Cena having to wait for Rock to get in the right position for the next move.
And Rock seemed less .. well less like "The Rock".

Also from a Cena fan point of view, I was a little disappointed that he went back to the jean shorts and coloured shirts. The black was a little more aggressive, but maybe with Rocky being associated with wearing the black tights and shirts, they wanted to give a visual indication of how different the two guys are.

The match reminded me a lot of Rock/Hogan from Wrestlemania 18. I mean the difference here is that both guys were still in their prime, but still it had the same feeling. Both guys hitting their big moves only to have the guy kick out at 2.

I'll admit, I was almost sure that Cena was going to win when he finally hit the AA. Rocky kicked out so late it was almost 3 for real. And then Cena kind of changed a little, got a bit of an attitude.. got a little angry, and disrespectful. It was kind of interesting. Trying to hit a people's elbow on The Rock, in Miami, at Wrestlemania. Very ballsy.

Now I've been sure of a Cena heel turn before and it's not happened, so I'm not going to sit here and say "Cena's turning heel on Raw!" But it felt .. interesting. I can't wait to see what happens. Maybe there will be a Rock/Cena II, maybe at Summerslam. If there is Cena has to win that one. But a heel Cena vs a Babyface Rock would make the rematch more appealing, because it would be different.

If you read my Wrestlemania predictions, you'd know that I picked Cena to win. In retrospect, that was .. stupid.  It's The Rock's hometown, he talked about wanting to be the best ever, and honestly, it makes sense. And Cena is a stand up guy to be good with that and do the job.

So Rock wins, and it's fitting. It made sense. Overall this match wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it really had a lot of hype to live up to. John Cena and The Rock did a really good job though, and it was a great way to finish the night. 8/10

So overall what did I think of the show? I thought that it was one of the best Wrestlemania's in recent memory. I'm trying to think of what I'd thought the best was before today. Possibly Wrestlmania 23. Undertaker/batista.. Shawn/Cena, That epic MiTB match with both Hardy boys. And the battle of the billionaires. This card had a similar amount of epic matches, and overall, it lived up to the hype.

Yes, the WHC match was ridiculous, but it opens up an interesting storyline moving forward. Yes, the Rock and Cena wasn't as good as it could have been, but it was still great. And we got a better Cell match than I think a lot of people were expecting.

So overall I would give Wrestlemania 28 a 7 out of 10.

So that's all for now, I'll be back in a few days with the next edition of Home Schooling, talking about the fallout from Wrestlemania and Monday Night Raw. Until then, follow me on twitter if you're not already @TheOZMouthpiece and leave me a comment on here or twitter to let me know what you think.

Business concluded.

The calm before the (grandest) Storm

Hi folks, your friendly neighbourhood Aussie Mouthpiece here, back with a special pre-Wrestlemania post.

What's that you say? I already did a Wrestlemania prediction? Well yes, but I've been thinking about it for the past couple of days, and with Wrestlemania less than a day away now, I thought it would be worth re-thinking, and making a new post with my thoughts and predictions, and that way I could elaborate, in the way I normally do without the post becoming 15 pages long.

Also, it gives me a chance to comment on a couple of the newest rumours and news bites that have come out in the last couple of days.

So let's start with the sightings of ex-WWE stars in Miami. Batista, Lita, and also Brock Lesnar. Well, let's get the easiest (no pun intended) one out of the way, Lita is there for Axxess, and also probably to see Edge get inducted into the Hall of fame. I highly doubt that we'll see her doing any kind of in-ring stuff, maybe something backstage, but I really don't think so.

Batista is a little interesting, but again I have a feeling he might just be there to support Ric Flair and the Horsemen and see them be inducted. Again, I don't really think that we'll see him interfere in any matches or anything, but we may see him in some kind of backstage segment, maybe in reference to Triple H and 'Taker's match, because he's been in a Hell in A Cell against both guys. I doubt he's coming back though, and also on a personal note I'm kind of hoping he doesn't. I was never a big fan of his work, it always looked like he wasn't putting all the effort he could in, and looked quite lazy. But that's just me.

Brock Lesnar.. now this is interesting. There's reports he's been seen in Miami, and even reports that he's signed a new deal with WWE. Now.. it is april 1st remember.. but really, it makes sense for Brock to come back. Enough time has passed that most people will have forgotten the way he left in the first place, and even more people have seen him now because of his MMA career.

The UFC has been kicking WWE's ass in pay per views as we all know, people have been gravitating towards the MMA stuff for a long time now, so if one of the bigger MMA stars now starts wrestling again, surely there will be some Brock Lesnar fans tuning into WWE who wouldn't have before right? Makes sense from a business standpoint, and it's also good for Brock because he can still perform in an athletic way.

So if this is true, and Brock Lesnar is back in the WWE, will we see him tomorrow? I think we shouldn't, but I think we might. My opinion is that it would be better for Brock to re-debut on RAW with no prior announcements, and (depending on how they want him to come back) destroy either Cena, or Rock.
And if the rumour of a Rock/Brock feud is true, then that would make the most sense. But, knowing WWE, they'll announce it or Michael Cole will talk about it and try to get it trending on twitter or something.

What do you think? Will we see Brock at mania? Or RAW? Or not at all because it's a prank?

Ok so with that done, let's talk about the matches.

As I said in my last post, I think that the World Heavyweight Championship match will open the show. I can't really think of anything else that would work. There's no Money in the Bank this year, and even though there is  the Intercontinental title match, it doesn't feel like an opening match. Maybe the Team Johnny/Team Teddy match could open it up, but again, it doesn't feel right.

So let's talk about the World Heavyweight Title match.

Daniel Bryan Vs Sheamus
It's been a few years since the Royal Rumble winner actually won the title at Wrestlemania, so I think even for that reason alone it's gotta be Sheamus winning. But there's more to it than that. To me Wrestlemania is about the culmination of storylines, and for the most part, the bad guys to get their just desserts, and for the good guy to finally triumph. Now, the Bryan/Sheamus match isn't the most personal rivalry, but in a general sense Daniel Bryan needs to get what's coming to him. Expect AJ to be involved in the finish somehow, and maybe even finally "realise" that she is being treated badly.

My prediction: Sheamus wins.

Randy Orton vs Kane
This match is basically the result of two big name guys not having a storyline coming into Wrestlemani. I have a feeling they would have both been in the Money in the Bank match, had Wade Barrett not been injured. I'm sure it will be a decent match, but there's just a lack of any real reason to care about the match. I'd like to see Kane win, mainly because since his return, we really haven't seen him win a lot of matches. He's been dominant yes, destructive yes, but when it came to the actual matches, Cena came out on top.
So my prediction, is that Kane wins.

Beth Phoenix & Eve vs Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos
It's sad that you have the two best female wrestlers in the WWE in such bad spots. Well, I mean one in this match, and the other not even being used, and has been given a gimmick where she .. farts a lot? It's just another sign that WWE really doesn't care enough about the Diva's division. Beth vs Natalya would have been a great match for Wrestlemania. But instead we get this tag match where there will be cartwheels and stinkfaces and i'm guessing at least 3 botches.
Having a celebrity in the match basically leaves the result in no doubt. So really no need for a prediction. I will be shocked if the result is different, but as far as I'm concerned, Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos will win this match.

Cody Rhodes vs Big Show (Intercontinental Title)
I've really enjoyed the last few weeks of this feud. Cody has delivered some really great promos, the best of which being last week, talking about Big Show, and how he will be the Biggest fool of all (referencing April Fool's Day). The Big Show vignettes have been a little silly, but helped make the feud what it is. Show is going to come out strong trying to knock Cody's head off, with Cody backing off and slipping away. It should be a really good match, but I really don't see Cody losing his title. I also don't see Cody winning. It's the kind of situation where if Cody does lose his title, it might, and probably will kill a lot of his momentum.

So here's what I see happening. It's simple really. The Big Show wins by either countout or disqualification. OR, on the flipside, Cody incites Big Show so much, that he gets himself disqualified by using a chair/the belt/the ring bell. But I think that second idea would hurt the Big Show rather than keep him at that same level.
So my prediction is that Big Show wins, but Cody retains the Intercontinental Title.

Team Johnny vs Team Teddy
This is a match that I'm a little ambivalent about. I think a 6 man tag match doesn't really give any of the guys in the match any decent amount of time to do anything all that memorable (with the exception of Dolph Ziggler who will be the star of this match).

I'm glad that Booker T is getting a chance to perform at Wrestlemania again though. I don't see it as being a full-time return to the ring, but it's nice that he gets a chance to get back into the ring. Especially on the biggest stage of them all.

So my prediction? Unfortunately, Team Johnny wins and we have to put up with Laurinitis even longer.

CM Punk vs Chris Jericho (WWE Title)

The best in the world, versus the best in the world at what he does. Up until a few weeks ago, this rivalry was just so-so to me. But then Jericho brought up CM Punk's family. And this feud got that injection of intensity it needed. It became personal, and much more than just another "who's the best?" kind of deal. Now we know that Punk is invested emotionally, and it's more than just about proving he's the man. It's also shown that Punk can be "gotten to", based on his reactions and promos over the last couple of weeks.

There's no doubt that this match is going to be the best technical wrestling match on the card, and possibly the best match on the card overall. But I think that CM Punk needs to win. It will cement him as one of the top guys, coming into Wrestlemania as champion, and leaving Wrestlemania as champion. If he loses, it will deflate things a little, and at least to me, make the promos he cut over the summer, and that whole storyline that happened during june/july/august mean less. Jericho doesn't need to win, and with the way it's gone over the last couple of weeks with Jericho seemingly getting the upper hand, it's only fitting that Punk wins.

So, not surprisingly, my prediction is that CM Punk retains the title, and therefore wins the match.

Undertaker vs Triple H w/Shawn Michaels as Guest Referee (Hell in A Cell)
The end of an era. 20 - 0. 19-1. So much hype surrounding this match, even though the build has been somewhat lackluster. I think that was just because there's not much left to say between these three guys. We've heard it all already, we know they respect each other, and we know that they want to win. Hell in A Cell is a fitting way to finish this series of matches involving Undertaker, Michaels and Triple H. All three are heavily associated with the Hell in a Cell match, so it makes a lot of sense.

So here's my first predictions. One: There will be no falls off the top of the cell. That really is a bit obvious but I'm sure there are people around who think each Cell match should have big moves off of the top. But come on.. Undertaker's not going to do that, and neither is Triple H.

Two: There WILL be blood. Triple H and Undertaker have shown last year that they have some extra lee-way when it comes to their matches, with the chair shot to the head. I don't think we'll see another one of those this year, but something is going to happen that causes one, or both guys to bleed. Barbed wire maybe, or even just using the walls of the cell. But there will be some kind of blood. If you were paying close attention to the video package shown on RAW, there were shots of both Undertaker and Triple H bloody inside the Cell. ... Just saying..

I'm positive Shawn will involve himself phyiscally in the match, and will be part of the finish. There have been reports saying that the WWE are talking about having Shawn and Triple H wrestle next year at Wrestlemania 29, and that they want to announce the main event for next year, on RAW this week. Shawn and Triple H won't be the main event, but who says that the WWE can't announce 2 matches a year in advance?

So here's how I see the finish, as concise as possible.Throughout the match, there's going to be tension between Shawn and Triple H, because of Taker's comments last week on RAW. So towards the end Shawn goes for a superkick on Undertaker, but Taker moves and he hits Triple H. While Shawn looks on .. "shocked".. Taker hits a tombstone, and covers Triple H. Shawn hesitates, but counts the pin. So obviously my prediction is that Undertaker wins, and the streak goes to 20 and 0.

John Cena vs The Rock.
Once in a lifetime. This match will surely close out the show. It's the main event. The final 3 matches will be Undertaker/Triple H, then the divas tag match so that people can relax after the Cell match, and then Rock/Cena.

This match is a hard one to call. To me it's quite similar to ten years ago, when it was The Rock vs Hulk Hogan. The crowd was divided that night, some cheering Rock, some cheering Hogan. In the end, Hogan put over the current star, The Rock. And that's how I think this should play out as well. John Cena should win this match. He's the full time wrestler. He's the guy who's there every week. However, Cena has also been getting the better of The Rock in the verbal battles they've been having.

I don't see anyone interfering in the match. I really hope that is the case as well. This match is too big to be interefered with. It needs to be a clean finish. So the only way I would even want to see it happen is if whoever it was that ran in, let's say it's Miz for example, Miz runs in, but gets cut off and thrown out of the ring by both Rock and Cena. Something like that where the run-in is unsuccessful.

The way I see it though, this will be a great match. It might not live up to the year long hype, but it will still be a great way to end Wrestlemania.
My prediction is that Cena wins, but then he and Rock earn each other's respect and the show ends with them both posing.

So there you go. That's my revised and updated Wrestlemania predictions. Follow me on twitter if you're not already, i'm @TheOZMouthpiece and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

I'll be on twitter tomorrow for Wrestlemania like a lot of you, and I'm looking forward to the discussions and reactions to whatever it is that happens tomorrow.

I have a feeling that Wrestlemania 28 is going to be quite special.
But that's just me, and that's just my opinion.

Home Schooling No.9

It's that time again, another week has come and gone, another episode of RAW, and that means it's time for another installment of Home Schooling. This week is going to be a little different. The first half of this post will be about Raw, and the second will be my regular "pre pay-per-view" blog, The Calm Before the Storm, which will be my rundown and predictions for the Wrestlemania card. I'll try to keep everything nice and concise so this doesn't turn into a short novel.

So let's get down to business.

I thought this week's RAW was a decent episode, but I was a bit disappointed with it, seeing as though it was the "go home" show for Wrestlemania. To me, this show is meant to be the one that "talks people into the building". I know that with Wrestlemania it's obviously different, because you have people who will be buying it no matter what, and also that most people will have already made up their minds about buying it or not, but still, it lacked that extra something for me.

Maybe it was that Chris Jericho wasn't "live" in the arena. Maybe because we just got a video package for one of the top 3 matches for Wrestlemania. Maybe it was because the last 25 minutes of the show were set aside for Rock and Cena. Probably not that last one. I really enjoyed that whole segment. Especially once Cena came out. But I'll get to that later.


The other thing that bothered me, is that we seem to have lost a lot of that "Pay per view" feel. Take the opening match. Sheamus and Orton vs Daniel Bryan and Kane. I would have thought the way to have this match work, would be to tease Orton and Kane (and Bryan and Sheamus) being in the ring together, not have the two sets of opponents spend a good majority of the match wrestling each other. To me it's now kind of like (especially with Orton and Kane) I've seen a lot of the match I'm going to see at Wrestlemania already, and I didn't have to pay for it. So why do I care about this match now?

One quick thing about Team Johnny/Team Teddy.. Laurinitis can't even deliver a one line promo correctly. That says just about everything that needs to be said about this match.

Part of me thinks that there's a little too much emphasis on the Rock and Cena. Yes, it's a huge match. Yes, it's "once in a lifetime". But the WWE Title should be just as important I think. So why wasn't Chris Jericho wrestling a singles match this week? All we've seen is Jericho talk for the last few weeks. Why is that? Do we not need to see that Jericho is a great wrestler? Something doesn't quite feel right in that sense, and I can't really figure out why they wouldn't have him wrestling, or at least interfering in a match or something.

Unless Jericho is slightly injured. Hopefully that's not the case.

Jericho's promos have been entertaining, and edgy. They have made the feud personal. Now I don't really see that the whole "bastard" thing is a big deal, or why that's a bigger deal than saying things about CM Punk's family. But that's neither here nor there.

Punk taking his anger out on Christian was the right move. It shows us that Punk IS angry about this, and also that Jericho has gotten to him, which in turn adds a little bit of doubt into whether Punk will retain the title. And also, apparently Christian isn't 100%, so it was a good way to write him out of the Tag match.

Incidentally, I really like the way Punk delivers those kicks to the head.

Did anyone else notice that this week's Jericho promo looked exactly the same as last weeks? As in, it was recorded the same time as last weeks? Lazy bit of TV right there.

Now, about this "End of an Era" video package. I understand that Triple H and Undertaker have basically said everything they could possibly say, but I think we, the viewers, and more importantly the people who paid to be at the show deserved to see these guys. Originally I was thinking the way it should have been done, would have been to show the video package last week, and then have the in ring segment from last week, on this week's show. But I've come up with a second theory.

What if this week, Triple H came down to the ring, and called out Shawn? They have some kind of heated words about Shawn's ego, about what Undertaker said, and maybe it gets a little phyiscal, maybe they push each other, get in each other's face? And then, the lights go out. When they come back on, Undertaker is at the top of the stage, looking at the ring, and all he does is smile. I don't know, it just felt like only having a video package detracted from how big this match is.

Cody Rhodes delivered probably the second best moment of the episode for me this week. His promo was great. And the best part, it actually got me interested in the Intercontinental title match. Well done to Cody. Hopefully this continues after Wrestlemania, and we see him getting a shot at the World title/WWE Title soon.

Ok onto The Rock, and John Cena. Rock spends way too much time standing there with a cheesy grin on his face. So let's just get that out of the way right now. Rock talks about all the young starlets throwing themselves at him. That's only a little bit creepy Rocky. But let's move on.
Yes. Rock delivered a great promo. It was the same stuff though. My biggest problem with all this though, is yes, The Rock will be on RAW next week. But after that, he's gone again right? So really, regardless of the result, John Cena will be proven right (at least temporarily if Rock is going to be part of WM 29).

So let's talk about Cena for a minute here. His promo was the best part of the night. He talked about how the fans boo him. He talked about it not bothering him. That was expected. But after a few minutes it got real good, real quick. It got into that weird area of "is this a shoot?" for a little bit there as well. But once again, as has happened in the last few weeks, John Cena basically owned The Rock on the microphone.

He talked about how he's been the only guy who's gotten booed and never turned heel. And then antagonised the booing crowd, saying that he always wins. That part to me was the most interesting, because if you think about it from a non-kayfabe perspective, he's saying "The office knows that I'm the man, and that's why I always win". Very interesting. Of course, kayfabe wise, it was just saying "you can hate me all you want, but i'll still find a way". I think that may have been my favourite part of Cena's promo.

He talked about how The Rock was there when it was "cool" to be a WWE Superstar, but Cena has been the face of the company when it's been going through harder times. This is why Cena has been better than The Rock in these promos. Rock has insulted everything Cena wears, cares about, says, his family, and basically been a schoolyard bully.
Cena, has been saying things that are fact, yet things that show the Rock in a poor light, like the notes on the wrist, like Rock being there when it was "cool". Not insulting what makes the Rock, The Rock.

Ok scratch what I said about my favourite part. Cena calling the Rock a visitor, and then Rock's response. That is my favourite part of the night, and this entire feud. Because Rock delivered his response with passion. Not trying to get things trending, not trying to say new cool catchphrases, just speaking from the heart. Also, Cena's response to Rock's response was just as good. All in all a brilliant final segment, and thinking about it, definitely worth giving them the 20 minutes at the end of RAW.

One last thing about Rock/Cena, I think they should have made a slightly bigger deal about Rock wanting to be the greatest of all time by being the first guy to beat Hogan, Austin and Cena, instead of the ladyparts/transvestite wonder woman/barney's turd crap that we had to put up with. I would have been much more interested, and, now that I think about it, probably have been wanting The Rock to win if it had gone that way. Oh what could have been....



Ok so that's all for this week, I'll be on twitter during Wrestlemania so I'll be joining in with the crazy tweet barrage that happens. Until next week's blog, follow me on twitter if you're not already @TheOZMouthpiece and leave me a comment on here if you like, or dislike, or have something interesting to say.

Business.. is concluded.

Home Schooling no.8

It's that time again, another week has come and gone, we're one step closer to Wrestlemania, and I am back to talk about the goings on in the last week, in the world of Spor.. I mean Professional Wrestling.

It's been an interesting week. The main focus for me this week has been RAW, and the WWE in general, so that's what I'll be focusing on, and I may just touch on TNA's Victory Road pay per view as well. And possibly on this discussion about Sting, and if he is an "icon" or not.

So let's get down to business.

Last week the CM Punk/Chris Jericho feud finally got a little bit of personal tension about it. I've always thought the best feuds were the ones that had "real" pieces alongside the dramatic storylines, like Austin/McMahon, Shawn/Bret, Edge/Matt Hardy, and even Austin/Bischoff's GM feud in 2003. They stand out because they feel different. They feel well, real.

Punk/Jericho has been good at times, a bit off at times, but last week we finally got the injection of realism that has been lacking. Also, why have the "it begins" videos not been explained? But, let's get back on track.

So this week was CM Punk's response to Jericho's promo about his alcoholic father. From what i've read, this is apparently similar to a feud Punk had with Raven in 2005 (correct me if i'm wrong on the year). It makes sense for Raven to use mind games, psychological games etc to get inside his opponent's head, but it doesn't seem like a Jericho thing as much.

Having said that, Chris is making it work really well. Punk is great, as always. I really liked the line "if there's a devil in my DNA, it's now your problem". The only thing that bothers me about this, is while CM Punk is still being edgy, and being himself, a couple of the other lines, such as the "there isn't a person on this planet who should let a past nightmare dictate or cloud their future dreams", while it's an awesome line, and I agree with it, it's very... babyface. CM Punk to me is at his best when he's still saying things he would say if he was a heel. The switch to babyface took a little of the edge off. But having said that, he still delivered a brilliant promo.

Jericho's "via satellite" response was even better. I was going back and forth as to whether or not going down the "sister" road was too much, but I'm of the mindset that it isn't. It works. It makes it even more personal. I did find it quite funny that in one sentence Jericho said "I'll never talk about your father again" and within 1 minute, he mentioned Punk's father. I guess that's all part of being a heel, being completely disingenuous with everything you say.

People seem to be making a big deal about whatever it was that CM Punk said that got censored. Apparently he repeated himself, saying "you're bullsh*t" both times, the second one you can clearly see. To me this is really good. Think about it. If someone was digging up your family's personal issues in a public forum, how would you react? You'd lose it, you'd say things you wouldn't normally say in a public setting. It does nothing but help this feud. Bit annoying that it was censored, especially considering all the things that The Rock is allowed to say and get away with. But I'll get to him later.

I'm not sure why Big Show was made to look so weak this week. Yes I know he was handcuffed, but that match was so quick as well. The only reason I can think of is to give the fans the impression that Cody has a chance to beat him. Which if you think about it, makes Show a great guy.  I get the feeling that it's going to end up with Show getting the big payoff at Wrestlemania, while making Cody look good at the same time.

Kane... so much for the dominant monster returning. Maybe it's a case of all the big matches already being set in stone. I think Kane vs Orton will be good, but I could be wrong. Randy Orton's promo this week was just ok, and really didn't make a lot of sense. Yes. Your name is Randy Orton. Well done. Why do I care about your match?

I have to say, I was probably the opposite of a fan of David Otunga, but that's changed a bit in the last few weeks. He's come into his own lately, probably just because he's had time to develop more of a character, he's not getting ridiculed every week by the good guys, or the cool guys. He's still not great in the ring, and that finishing move is pretty bad, but give it time. Johnny/Teddy however, I'm not sure. I said last week I was hoping Dolph Ziggler wouldn't get put into this match, because he deserved a bigger spot on the card. But it seems to be happening now, so hopefully he'll get a chance to do something memorable at least. Unless the match is really short. Which is likely.

Something that seems to never get cut short is the amount of time given to The Rock, and to a lesser extent, John Cena. And this week we got yet another pre-recorded promo from The Rock, talking about the city he's in, looking all intense, and flashing that hollywood smile.

Funnily enough however, this week Rock started by saying that Cena is on the same level as Austin and Hogan. That was interesting to me. He then talked about how beating Cena would make Rock the greatest of all time. What he did not do this week, is pick on Cena's clothes, or hair, or friends, or family, or his fans. I get the feeling that there might have been some kind of heat for all the constant bullying tactics in Rock's promos of late, and really, since april last year.

I really liked The Rock's promo this week. THAT is the kind of thing that Rock can do. That's why he's so good, why he's one of the best ever. He doesn't need to be a bully. And it was really awesome to hear Randy Savage mentioned. The only thing that I didn't like is it seemed a little like The Rock was playing to the crowd with the whole Philadelphia and Rocky Balboa thing. But overall it was a great promo, and a lot better than the last few weeks.

Which brings me to one other point about the Rock/Cena feud. It seems that this week was meant to be Rock's week. Cena didn't have any promo time or anything, he had the match with Mark Henry, which he did win, but the win was kinda negated by The Rock coming out and hitting the Rock Bottom on Henry afterwards, kind of sending the message of "I can do anything you can do". The difference is though (if we suspend disbelief for a minute here), The Rock did hit a Rock Bottom on Mark Henry. Impressive. But he hit the Rock Bottom on a Mark Henry who'd just been in a match with Cena, and in that match Cena hit his own finisher in that match. So Rock's finisher, not so impressive.

Also, I think having Cena come out this week as the smiling, camo-short wearing, rise above hate Cena has kind of hurt him, after last week's RAW. I think it would have been better for him to keep that "character" going, at least until the Raw after Wrestlemania. Rock has basically said he's fake, and that is also part of the problem people who boo Cena has. And by having that "rapper" Cena only around for one week, it felt like it was just something he did for the show, and not something he believes in.


Now, with that done, that really only leaves one thing to talk about from RAW this week, that being the "end of an era" match.

Now i'm a massive Undertaker fan, as I'm sure I've said before. But that doesn't mean I'm going to say everything that happens with him is great. Undertaker vs Kahli? Not great. Undertaker vs Undertaker? Interesting, not great. And this week's promo segment on Raw? Not great.

The problem is that there's nothing left to say. Where can it go? We already had the promos last year about how much Undertaker and HHH respect each other. We've already had the promos about Shawn and Undertaker and how much they respect each other. And we know that Triple H and HBK are best friends.

So what's left to say?

The focus is still not where it should be. What would have been better this week, is to show video packages of Triple H's Hell in a Cell matches, Undertaker's Hell In A Cell matches (with special attention paid to the Undertaker/HBK cell match), and maybe even a package of Shawn Michaels' appearances as Special referee. Save the 3 person in ring promo for the RAW before Mania, not two weeks before.  Who knows though, they're probably going to show a Cell package (unless they already have and I missed it) next week.

But what happens with this feud next week?

My guess is it's going to be Shawn and HHH talking about the last thing that Undertaker said, which i'll get to in a minute. But basically it was that Shawn is better. So HHH and HBK will argue about that, Undertaker will interrupt, and then we might get Shawn hitting a Sweet Chin Music on one of them. Or at least feigning one. But which guy? Maybe he goes to hit it on Undertaker but Taker moves, and it hits HHH. Or the reverse of that.


But that ending.. Undertaker's last words this week. "You remember when I said Shawn is better? .... He is!"
Umm.. Sorry did I miss something? Were you not serious the first time you said it Undertaker? That really, was an awful way to end it. With how long of a pause he took between the two lines, I was sure he was going to say something like "Remember when I said Shawn is better? Well I'm better than Shawn". I get that the idea would be to cause tension between HHH and HBK, but really, there must be some other way to have said that. Maybe Taker forgot what he wanted to say and improvised. Maybe he didn't deliver it the way he wanted to. But it was really sub-par. Even an extra line.. "He is. And he couldn't beat me. What chance do you have?" ANYTHING would have been better. Not saying "he is" would have been better.



Just quickly, why has there been no mention of Taker's videos that were shown a bunch of weeks ago, especially when he cut his hair? That to me was a big deal. Why would Taker cut his hair off? But, once again, like Chris Jericho's "it begins" videos, it's been forgotten about apparently.

So next week, to build to Wrestlemania, I would have Shawn kick Undertaker after HHH moves out of the way, which knocks him down and also knocks the hood off so his baldness is revealed. Which would then (feasibly) make Undertaker even more angry, give the impression that Shawn will screw over Taker (not going to happen), and then if Shawn and HHH share a smile, it wouldn't do anything to Triple H either.

But that's just me. I highly doubt the WWE thinks the same way I do. But if they did, it wouldn't be the worst way to head into Wrestlemania would it?


So that's all I've got to say about Raw this week, I think it was a fairly good episode, but it could have been better. Hopefully next week changes that.

Onto other business now, TNA's Victory Road, which I only saw a little of, had quite an interesting main event, or at least finish to the main event. I guess they're really trying hard to push Bobby Roode as the biggest heel in wrestling, duct-taping Sting to the ropes and threatening Dixie Carter. It was a little unsettling, which is good, makes people question how "worked" things are when that happens. But honestly, I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to TNA lately, but I do think their product is a lot better than it was say, 6 months ago.

Speaking of Sting, there's a big debate about whether Sting is an icon going on right now. One argument is that without going to the WWE, he can't be an Icon. But what does the term icon mean? He's a legend, he's one of the best ever, but does that make him an icon? An Icon to me is someone like Hogan. Like Flair. Someone that everyone, even if they're not a fan, would know as a wrestler. For example, I'm not a fan of Baseball let's say, but I know exactly who Babe Ruth is, because he's an Icon. If I asked my non-wrestling fan friends who Sting was, I would say all of them would talk about the guy who plays bass guitar.

But, within the wrestling business, I think Sting IS an icon. He is WCW's icon. He was the only guy who never left WCW. And he's never left TNA either. I think that makes him iconic for those companies.

So that's about all I have to say for this week, next week I'll give my Wrestlemania predictions, and give a rundown of the full card. Until then, if you're not already, follow me @TheOZMouthpiece on twitter, and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

Business is concluded.