Payback Leaves More Questions Than Answers

Most had low expectations heading into WWE Payback and the show was able to over achieve. It’s not to say the show was fantastic but both of the big matches delivered. Cena and Bray Wyatt came out of the last man standing match looking strong. The finish was somewhat cheesy trapping Bray through a box that he was smashed through by another box.

The Shield and Evolution once again delivered with a crazy match in which The Shield got the clean sweep. Daniel Bryan ends up keeping his title as his wife Bri quit and slapped the taste out of her month. For all of my thoughts on Payback as it happened I was covering the event for Between the Ropes.

Coming out of Payback there are far more questions than answers coming out of this show. Both major feuds could be done which makes us wonder what comes next for everyone.

A Luke Harper and Eric Rowan feud with the Usos seems the most obvious after the two battled teams battled during the Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena match. What remains to be seen is who and if Bray Wyatt moves on to someone else would be the major question to be answered. 

The Shield seems to still be united but with Money in the Bank around the corner could we see all three against each other in the Money in the Bank match? One thing is a safe bet that Reigns will be in that match and most likely gets screwed by Triple H. It seemed fairly obvious that we are heading to Triple H vs. Roman Reigns match at some point. It was expected to be at Summerslam but what and when Daniel Bryan reappears might impact on that.

Daniel Bryan based on tonight it seems like he will be back sooner rather than later. This could happen as soon as Money in the Bank is likely to soon. Maybe it isn’t will have a better idea after Raw tonight I am sure.

Where does John Cena go after this long program with Bray Wyatt if it is indeed over? I don’t have any good answers for that important question.

Cesaro seems the betting line favourite to win Money in the Bank. He looked dominate despite not winning the U.S Title against Sheamus. Maybe that is the program for John Cena to pair up with Cesaro and be part of the Money in the Bank Match and feud afterwards. Or perhaps Brock will help Cesaro win and you get another go of John Cena and Brock. I really have no idea at this point.

All this said the show of the week still took place on Thursday night wit NXT Takeover. Oh well at least we have a lot of questions heading into a Monday Night Raw.

Raw Notebook: May 6th 2014

Extreme Rules and Raw are in the books and we take a look back at some Extreme highs and lows coming out of this Special Event. We got it wrong as Daniel Bryan did in fact close the show on Extreme Rules. It was a pretty fun match that had a bit of an attitude era feel too it. That was the good news the bad news was this feud would continue on to Raw and it was terrible.

In fact not much good to say about Raw but before we get to that we need to touch on the PPV/Special Event.

Predictable comes to mind with this card but that doesn’t naturally always mean bad. The least predictable match produced the best match of this card. The Shield against Evolution was not booked as the main event but it did steal the show.  You had three established stars against 3 hungry lions and it showed in this match. It was a fantastic match that went all over the arena and features some crazy spots from Seth Rollins that we have not seen since Jeff Hardy’s days in WWE.

The feud continued on into Raw. Triple H booked Dean Ambrose into a battle royal for his U.S Title which he would lose and Sheamus would become the new U.S Champion. Triple H would come out after and announce that the Shield would face the Wyatt’s in the main event. Evolution would eventually get involved and cost them the match and go after them after the match complete with Batista delivering the triple power bomb with the help of the rest of Evolution.

Daniel Bryan on Raw was booked in a terrible horror movie angle that was briefly interrupted by a match with Alberto Del Rio. How you can book your World Champion as a coward against a performer that stopped being relevant a long time ago.

If the horror movie wasn’t your thing we had the antics of El Torito and Hornswaggle with Los Matadors and 3MB along for the ride. They had the Wee L C match at the PPV and than a Cinco De Mayo celebrations on Raw. 

In short there is a lot of campy stuff going on that isn’t exactly clicking. Speaking of campy we have a Little Wyatt named Johnny. He came out at the end of the PPV match and with a poltergeist type voice spooked John Cena into losing the match to Bray Wyatt. Many hated this finish it didn’t bother me much. Wyatt minus little Johnny cut a tremendous promo on Raw.

A PPV with thumbs in the middle and Raw with thumbs to the ground makes me roll my eyes.  It was a terrible follow up to an average PPV with really one match that kept it from being bad.

I am excited this week to go see ROH Global Wars in Toronto and independent show in Hamilton it comes at a perfect time where I am not exactly in love with the WWE at the moment.

Friday Means Podcast and Preview of Extreme Rules

We go from the board rooms to the ring this week on the Podcast. WWE Business to the next PPV and if it will be BEST FOR BUSINESS. An old favourite WWE Show coming back to WWE Network but should we really be that excited about it? Speaking of the Network still no way to LEGALLY get on board with the network outside of U.S till late 2014 or early 2015. We may not have the WHOLE WORLD IN OUR HANDS but we do have a twitter account @Condoonthemoon and facebook page. What we don't have is a guest this week but that is ok because James Borbath and Chris Walder had lots to talk about.



Thanks to all of you that already have followed us on Twitter please spread the word and let folks know about the Condo on The Moon. If your new to the Condo on the Moon welcome aboard. Our Podcast drops every Friday evening and great articles all week long. So freak out cause we are here and looking to build our own wrestling family with all of you.

Daniel Bryan Can Only Be As Strong A Champion As He Is Allowed To Be

I did not live in fear that Daniel Bryan would not get his much deserved moment at Wrestlemania 30. The simple fact was the WWE didn’t really have much choice given all the things that led up to that event. C.M Punk decision to go home to Chicago was one of those things. Mentioning him is where my concerns for Daniel Bryan begin. Before I go further about that it was also a direct result of fans passionate reaction to Bryan’s exclusion from the Royal Rumble match.  In the end the planned Batista vs. Randy Orton match for the WWE World Championship was doomed. The WWE over estimated the popularity of a returning Batista against the popularity of the incumbent wrestler on the roster Daniel Bryan.

So it was a bumpy and winding road from when Daniel Bryan first entered the title picture going against John Cena at Summerslam. The fact is the WWE got to the destination their audience demanded. This for me is all that matters to some extent. That is only half of the problem solved though at the end of the day. In traditional pro sports they say winning a championship is one thing but to defend that title is a whole different ballgame. In wrestling the company booking you to become the champion is one thing but how you are booked once you are the champion is another. This is where my fear for Daniel Bryan begins.

I was concerned that the WWE would not be as invested in the Daniel Bryan title run as this was not their idea to begin with. I also had a lot of concern with the lack of true heels on the roster to challenge him as the champion. A champion is only as good as the contenders that challenge him for that title. It is safe to say that Kane as his first challenger to the title is under whelming would be more than a fair statement. Let's face it, on the first PPV/Special Event it seems highly likely this match-up will be the main event.

That leads us back to the man now currently enjoying being Blackhawks and Cubs fan in Chicago. C.M Punk even as part of historic title run was not booked as being the main event all the time. The idea of the champion and not going on last is just not the way traditional fans have become accustom to seeing a champion treated. The only way Punk found his way to the main event was when he faced John Cena. He was the guy that went on last and not Punk. While Punk fans look at his 434 title reign as a great achievement, and it really was, for a majority of that he was not treated as he should be.

Bryan at least for the start of his title reign is starting off on that path. He is by far the most popular and loved WWE Superstar much in the same way C.M Punk was. This goes back further in history though and the first person to be treated in this fashion was Randy Savage. His match with Ric Flair at Wrestlemania 8 was not booked as the main event. Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice was the main event on that show. It set a wrong precedent that has lived on to today. I have said this many times in writing in this blog but for myself the title of a promotion is the most valuable resource your company has. I understand you still need stars for a company to be successful that is no secret. Still you can have someone get injured and if you have made that person bigger than the title you suddenly have a problem. That belt shows up for every show and is never going on the injured reserve list.

When you treat your title as not the most important this your company has it makes not just your champion lesser but his challenger as well. I think in a landscape where you live in a world with the legit combat sport of the UFC where titles mean everything you must follow suit in pro wrestling. When you choose not too it makes that "believability factor" that is vital for wrestling to work suffer.

What also makes it suffer is that someone is some how bigger than the title. The goal of every wrestler should always be to want to be the champion. In pro sports would you ever respect an athlete that doesn’t still have that desire to win another championship? You don’t want guys like that in your locker room. John Cena should want to beat the record of Ric Flair and become the greatest champion of all time. Cena has even had points where with in the context of the storyline he has flat of said he doesn’t need the title and once gave away a title match to someone else. That destroys the value of the championship and its importance.

Daniel Bryan and his journey did restore a lot of value in a title that suffered with a weakly booked heel champion Randy Orton. If you don’t build him legitimate challengers and treat those matches as the most important thing on these shows that becomes a real problem and takes the steam out of Bryan’s run as champion.

Cena in his promo on Raw this week talked about being excited about the future for when he eventually leaves. If he truly means that he should be the one pushing for that champion and championship to be treated as the biggest thing on a show and company he has helped build.

While it is great for The Shield to be in a main event program with Evolution it should not be bigger than the title and the champion. In a way it spits in the face of the 31 titles reigns that the three members of Evolution has. Not to mention every other man that has held that belt.

So let’s hope that things go a different route for Daniel Bryan. The reason I worry is unlike CM Punk it is not in Daniel Bryan’s nature is not to rock the boat. Maybe Bri will fight for him behind the scenes now that she has a vested interest as his wife. In any case the Bryan Title run is not off to a huge start heading into Extreme Rules this Sunday.

IWC Podcast 7: WWE To Down Your Street

This week on the IWC Podcast we talk from the Indie scene in Ontario to WWE this week. We run the gambit including a lot of talk about a big week for ROH. Ethan Page an independent wrestler featured on the Future of Honor show going down tonight in the U.S is our guest. Like me from Hamilton,Ontario Canada which we talk about our pride in that and a lot more.


Thanks to Ethan Page for joining us this week you can keep up with him on You-Tube and Twitter. You want to check out his moves here is a look via his You Tube Channel:



As for us like us on Facebook on The Condo on the Moon Page. If you enjoy the show tell a friend and spread the word.  

Raw Notebook: April 14th, 2014

Back to reality that another Wrestlemania has come and gone. Add in the fact the WWE wanted to do a tribute to the Ultimate Warrior and your New Word Champion is on his honeymoon it was a lot to deal with. It led to a show that tried but pretty much failed for the most part.

The one thing they didn’t fail at was the tribute to the Warrior that I felt that was not as over the top as I feared it could be. A nice tribute off the top of the show and a nice tribute by the Uso’s both wearing half of Warrior face paint in their match. Some video packages sprinkled through the show and a bit of some tacky promotion for “Warrior Week” on the WWE Network. I was a little uncomfortable personally with the use of the Warrior's speech from last week. I understand using it but I think for a lot of folks it had to be a little disturbing.

The other takeaways from the show included the most unique exchanges between two wrestlers in a long time. I thought the build to Bray Wyatt and John Cena was one of the best heading into Wrestlemania. The match itself did not get the live reaction that you would have thought. I still felt the match was good however despite that. Clearly this feud was set to continue and we got confirmation of that tonight.

Bray Wyatt would call out John Cena to the ring claiming to want to have fun. This came after proclaiming that John Cena was still lying to us all. Cena would come out and cut the most awful promo with terrible photo shopped props on the big screen. John Cena is not funny and when he tries to be funny it leads to some of the worst he has ever cut in his life. When he was the heel and cool rapper gimmick his humour was somewhat tolerable but in his current role it is just jokes that are made to make kids pop and I don’t even think the kids do. But Bray Wyatt to his credit called John out for his terrible comedy routine and this all would lead to the announcement of Steel Cage match between the two at Extreme Rules.

Daniel Bryan was not around so this show would focus around The Shield. Triple H said to Orton and Batista that they needed to focus on The Shield and take care of that problem. Orton and Batista failed to agree and later in the night would get swarm attacked by the Shield during a match with Usos. Triple H and Steph greeted the two backstage and basically Triple H said simply I told you so. Later in the night it would be announced against mystery opponents in the main event.  It turned into some sort of 11 on 3 farce of a match that would lead to Evolution reformed minus Ric Flair down to the ring to beat down The Shield. The Crowd reaction was for the most part muted and unimpressed by the return of Evolution. Reaction online seemed much more positive than the live audience.

Stephanie also did her best impression of dad and laid into Kane. The end result of this Corporate Kane is dead and masked Kane is coming back and looking to take out the New World Champion Daniel Bryan. This apparently is the first program for Daniel Bryan which if this is case is pretty damn brutal start for the Daniel Bryan title reign.

This Raw was a major step backwards and not something that gets fans all that encouraged for the post mania stretch .Will see if the return of Bryan can save this whole thing returning next week.

Oh I  forgot one major thing the WWE’s latest attempt to make you think the Intercontinental Title means something with #1 contenders tournament with 8 participants.  It produced the match of the night with Ziggler against Barrett with Barrett getting the win. Other winners were Cesaro over Mark Henry, Sheamus over  Swagger and RVD over Del Rio.  I don’t think this tournament along will get over the I-C belt or the Champion Big-E (Langston) so I would think winner of this will become the champion. If they want to really get that person over they should challenge Dean Ambrose and unify the U.S and I-C Title.

Other things that happened of little note….Paige had a match with Alicia Fox and we had more promos for both Bo Dallas and Adam Rose. I love men in bunny suits losing at hungry hippos. It is awesome…this edition of Raw was not.