For the first time in ages im looking forward to RAW and watching Smackdown each week again. Since I am from Ireland, I can fast forward stuff if needed, rarely would but usually skip most Diva matches. There’s a lot wrong with the product but it is pretty interesting as of late, it may just be the build up to WM28 but its got me hooked to levels not seen since WM21!
John Cena STORYLINE- before the hate, its the storyline, every week I tune in thinking that it will be this week we finally see Cena turn heel. No doubt it will be him ‘rising above hate’ but every week I hope he AA’s someone and turns heel. However, I still get the sense or vibe that he could just turn on the fans, he just had Piper telling him to say what he really feels, a legend told him that, he’s taking that in and maybe eventually it will get through to him.
Not as much brand extension. Lately, as in the last couple of weeks, we haven’t really seen many wrestlers on the opposite brand, there is just usually one or two, Orton, Sheamus, Ziggler and a few others. But they are focusing on the titles and there not just pure random matches, so that’s a good thing.
CM Punk. One thing that I noticed about CM Punk this past couple of months is that he is pushed for life, or at least a very long time. We seen a couple of matches when he was de-pushed in a couple of matches, but the following week he would win and the crowd could be even louder than previous weeks, he’s now the WWE Champion and has had some great quality matches so far, hopefully he’ll have a long title run. His MIC skills are phenomenal too. He his a joy to listen too, you just can’t wait to listen to what he has to say. He is a champion that wants to fight no matter what.
Triple H vs Nash- Great throwback feud, they’ve done it poorly but its good none the less. I know Nash isn’t the greatest in the ring and especially at this stage of his career but I still find the storyline interesting. It’s good to see two legends going at it every now and again.
Using legends in the right way- Nash, Piper, Rock being used sparingly with great impact and relevent. A far cry form the painful Y2J vs Rouke, Flair, Steamboat etc. Where the majority don’t know who they are and dont care. OR SCSA coming back, stunning a few then back off etc.
Heels are moving onto the next level:
Cody Rhodes – He gathered everybody’s attention when he put that mask, created his demented character, and reign as the Intercontinental Champion. He generated so much heat like never before that he is easily recognized as the most improved superstar of 2011. Now he changed the appearance of the title, removed that mask off, added a few gears on his look. It seems like he will be a much badder heel at this point while winning ‘clean’ matches.
Wade Barrett – Easily placed his name as one of the top heels on the moment he stepped foot on the WWE ring by leading the Nexus and the Corre. One of the greatest stable leaders ever seen. Now, he is winning impressive matches and is on his way to a future title reign. His ‘Barrett Barrage’ signals his new and improved domination as a singles competitor.
Dolph Ziggler – Generated a lot of heat by the time he was partnered with Vickie Guerrero. He was introduced by Vickie as the ‘new and improved’ Dolph Ziggler by the time he got a new haircut. By that time, he dominated and won the US title. Currently, he is promoting his ‘show-off’ persona removing his “I am perfection” entrance theme and adding a few antics to his arsenal.
The Miz – Main-evented this year’s wrestlemania as the WWE champion and wreaking havoc on the WWE together with R-Truth. After smashing R-Truth’s and John Morrison’s face on the steel floor for two consecutive weeks, this might be the signal that sends him back to the title picture with even a meaner persona. Notice the look on his eyes and the way he speaked.
We’ve got lots of things to look forward too:
– Kane returning
– Possible Big name Return (Jericho, Taker, Kharma)
– Royal Rumble
– Wrestlemania 28
To finish it all off, Lillian Garcia is back! http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/lilian-garcia-returns , better yet, she will be on Smackdown!
So I see WWE as interesting at the moment, do you?
Send me your feedback to ray@ineedwrestling.com
Check out my website http://wrestlingrambles.com/
Ringsidehustle.com 
I actually love how the younger heels are becoming “cool” to root for. Throws me back to the nWo days when people couldn’t help but cheer the bad guys because they were damn impressive/entertaining.
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That’s a good point, I should have put something like that in there. It’s possibly due to the fact we are appreciating them a lot more as we have to other mid carders in recent years.
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I just don’t get what is so “cool” about cheering for people who do the wrong thing.
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Yeah, there’s so much going on right now.
Cena: Will he turn? Won’t he? How does it affect Ryder’s story?
Ryder: Might he win the title? Could he turn heel?
Brodus: Monster heel or does he get tired of John L. and go after him?
Hornswoggle: I’m just glad to see that he can talk and not just grunt. We may get to see if he has some wit.
Ziggler: The guy has it. Future champion.
Cody: He got kneepads! He needs to chill with the voice. It’s distracting.
DB: H ow might his character cgange before WM?
Henry: Great second half of the year. Might he have his face turn with the title? His time is running out and I do like to see wrestlers go out loved.
It begins: Mantaur returns!
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The only think I dislike about Cody is his voice alright, I don’t think he really needs to talk like that any more.
DB, I think he’ll be more of a main eventer leading up to WM, possibly do pretty well in the Rumble, I think he’ll be entry 1 or 2 and last most of the match.
Brodus, I am actually just not interested at this point tbh, his début is way over due.
Henry needs to stay heel imo, but a face turn whilst champion shouldn’t hurt him.
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Yeah, no, still not interesting to me. Ziggler has become the most interesting thing on either show for me. Even Punk has slighlty lost my interest over the last few weeks, due to Johnny Ace.
Cody vs Booker isn’t good, Show/Henry has been pure drudgery, Bryan bounces around from person to person, and neither Orton or Barrett interest me. And don’t get me started on the match booking, especially for TLC.
Nash/HHH hasn’t been ant good. Still no improvement for the tag division, and Divas have been doing the same schitck for months. Miz and ADR have lost my interest over the year. Cena, though, has gained some back. The pushing of the Network is incredibly annoying to me, considering I’m fully against it, because…it’s terrible in every way, and will almost certainly flop. I haven’t even been paying attention to the “It Begins” stuff, because it feels the same as last year, and there’s only a handful of people it could be. A possible Masked Kane return is interesting though.
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Johnny Ace has been growing on me as a character. He’s the guy who is clueless about type of person he is. I work with one of those.
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CM Punk still has my attention, I think he’s just amazing in the ring and on the mic, It’s almost as if he’s telling these guys what we want to tell them, Johnny Ace is terrible, Del Rio spews the same garbage over and over again.
The divas, sadly don’t get the time they need until It’s PPV and the fans don’t care because you haven’t built them up. They have shown that given some time they aren’t half bad in the ring.
I cannot wait for masked Kane to come back.
The It Begins stuff is narrowed down to 2 people, Jericho and Taker. I don’t care if It’s either one to be honest, those videos don’t seem like Jerichos persona and if it is Taker, eh, It’s just basically the same thing they did last year.
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That’s the thing I dislike about ADR, it’s the same shit over and over again, he needs to move away from ”it’s my destiny’ crap.
That’s a good point about the divas but most fans at the weekly episodes just don’t care for them, the crowd is practically dead after 3 minutes.
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@ J: Yea, Ziggler is very interesting thus far. Cody and Booker has really only just begun. I’m not sure if you replied to this before or after SD last night but things are picking up in that ‘feud’.
I know you despise the network thing but for a cheap price, can you hate it that much? 😛
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If something were to come very close to ruining the WWE (or at least becoming another point of mockery in the history book), I don’t care if it’s free, I’m going to dislike it. After SD…I think. Not that it matters, because “surprise” attacking is so over-done, and by that, I mean uncreative has used it repeatedly for dang near every feud in the last however long.
@Joe Yeah, most likely Jericho or Taker is behind the “It Begins” promos. However, was thinking it could also by Skip Sheffield (I know, big disappointment), under his repackaged “Ry-Back” character. The promos refer to the “end of the World” and “destroying the weak” (or something like that), and the character is some sort of terminator gimmick.
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”I just don’t get what is so “cool” about cheering for people who do the wrong thing.”
– I get what you’re saying capt. but it’s just been so long since we seen proper mid card ‘division’ so to speak with so much potential so it;s ”cool”.
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A good mid-card division is nice and “cool” worthy, but I’m not going to cheer for the heels to win the storyline. I will cheer a good performance, though.
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People have been cheering heels for a long time because “It’s the cool thing to do” It’s the same reason most people boo Cena now, it has nothing to do with him, it has to do with everyone else booing him, most people follow the lead of everyone else. If you don’t like something, fine but have a valid reason for it. I LOVE the fact that I can take a train to MSG and the best fans in the world are there, but when I hear an MSG crowd chanting “You can’t wrestle” at John Cena, It’s stupid because one of the best matches of the year and arguably one of the best of all time was John Cena VS CM Punk at MITB.
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It’s that hipster mentality.
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By the way that was my comment, I’m on a new browser lol
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Liar!!! (kidding)
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It’s the second match of the year out of all promotions I seen this year. Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards was the only match better IMO.
But yea, Cena proved he can wrestle and that fans can just ”go with the flow”.
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I haven’t seen the entire Richard/Edwards match, some people think Cena and Punk was better though, I’ll have to take a look at it. But John Cena proved he could wrestle in that match against CM Punk. I don’t like John Cena, but he proved that he can wrestle.
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Well you can question which was better, Punk/Cena felt more serious but Edwards/Richards felt more serious, if that makes sense.
Iv’e never hated Cena for more than a few months really, in that 08 period I was just sick of him as champion but IDK, I just see things differently now 🙂
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During the recent Cena/Piper promo, it was about how Cena needed to put down his critics. I don’t think Cena has to. Their behavior speaks for itself. Think about one thing Cena mentioned. The 2006 HOF ceremony: At an event designed to honor legends(including the late Eddie), his haters felt the need to chant “FUCK YOU, CENA!!!” at him. Things like that just goes to show what type of fucked priorities they have in life.
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I think The Rock was at that one making a speech about his father/grandfather that year? So probably due to that that fans were hating on him but it is ridicules.
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It was also in Chicago.
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@J: About surprise attacking, yea it’s way over used. However, it got Booker a pretty big pop later when he came out.
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