Summer Shame 2012

Summer Slam just didn't feel like Summer Slam this year. Like a Christmas with no snow or something. It is not that show was all that bad. We saw Santino finally lose his U.S Championship on the pre show and with the exception of the Ziggler match and tag team title match I was fine with how the show was booked in terms of winners and losers. It just lacked any sort of really drama or excitement.

Pre Show saw Santino lose the U.S Title to Antino whatever his name is. The story of the match itself was quite stupid with Santino trying to chase after the Cobra sock puppet. only to have the Heel destroy it. But some how in this struggle to get the original Cobra Sock Puppet Santino forgets he has a second one?  Whatever point is he lost. If anyone can explain to me why he gets a title run from March till now and Zack Ryder only got the same belt for a few weeks I would love to here it. Personally would have like to see Sandow with this title and have a long run to build it back to some kind of importance. But anyone but Santino is an improvement.

On to the main show. Is there some reason the WWE likes to mess with Ziggler that I am not aware of? I mean they do an angle on Smackdown in which Ziggler has Y2J injured coming into this match and he comes out tonight selling large with taped ribs and still comes out on top? Really this how you build your money in the bank guy? Sure the plan looks to be to have Ziggler get the win back on Raw tomorrow night but still. Jericho is off to play Rock Star again touring with Fozzy. I have to say and hurts me to say this but don't hurry back anytime soon Chris. His return at the start of this year really had me excited. The prospect of him working a match with Punk had all kinds of potential. In the end it was good but not great. This latest Jericho run was by far his worst in the WWE and the fact by the end he was back to his babyface character of like 10 years ago was a fitting but terrible end. It is clear to me Jericho is far more interested in other things and wrestling is just a fun thing to do now and then. It works better when The Rock does it. I just felt this entire run from the start in which he never spoke to the end where he spoke like it was 2002 was just terrible. I don't like Fozzy so I will be happy to have a Chris Jericho Vacation.

Daniel Bryan vs Kane was as good as a match with Kane can be. Which isn't saying much. I just don't get why we needed this match at all. I suppose their was some plan to do something with Charlie Sheen that was scrapped. Still they need to get Bryan in a decent program if they want to keep his momentum strong. He might be the most over person on the roster at the present time. As for Kane I would be happy if he became a roddie on the Fozzy tour. He snaps after losing to Bryan and beats up an announcer just for trying to do his job. Whatever. Kane is about as scary as the Big Show. But will get to him later.

Sheamas vs Alberto Del Rio in the feud that no one cares about that refuses to die. We have a screwjob finish in which the supposed babyface corks the heel with a shoe and then gets a pin with the heels foot on the ropes. Oh great the feud continues. I suspect were heading for a three way with Orton, Sheamas and Del Rio although nothing on this show indicated that. But Del Rio will have a legit claim for a re-match. Orton now back would also want a shot at the champion you would logical figure. Not like the WWE punishes guys that are suspended unless they are mid carders.

Moving on. Prime Time Players lose yet again. Why are Kofi and R-Truth the best tag team since Demolition? I have no idea but with the title run they are having you would think they were. This match meant nothing and only thing that was good about it was the crowd chanting Kobe Bryant during the match for obvious reasons given the recent AW firing and fact we were in the home of the Lakers to boot. None of whom bothered to come out for Summer Slam not even Ron Artest. I mean have Artest Manage the Prime Time Players it would have been funny. Artest is considered by some a modern version of Dennis Rodman and it would have fit nicely. Oh well. Little Jimmy is clearly the best manager in the WWE at this point with run Truth and Kofi have been on.

WWE Title match was dominated by Big Show for the first 10-15 minutes it seemed. This lead to a dead crowd for most of it. Which when you have Cena and Punk in the match is really saying something. Show did a good job for him and since this latest heel turn has really been selling himself well as an angry giant. Problem is we have seen this like 10 X over at this point and could careless. In the cool spot of the night Punk applied a new submission face lock that I have never seen him do before. This was followed by a Cena STF. But have no fear they will not be forced to share the WWE Title. Instead A.J just ordered the match to continue and there was a quick F-U from Cena and a Punk push out of the ring of Cena and the Pin. Get ready for another Cena vs Punk showdown in Boston at the next PPV. Should be good. Punk was sporting the Bret Hart colours tonight as he was the Pink and Black attack and he hangs on to his WWE Title. Punk clearly did this a tribute to Hart as there was mention of it on Twitter post facto. WWE seems to be afraid to go full heel with Punk and that might be based on him being the cover boy for WWE 13 and fact he moves a ton of product. Hey Randy Savage as heel sold lots of stuff too and could have pulled off being a heel and promoting a video game. So can Punk.

HHH vs Brock was some mix between an MMA Fight and Wrestling match. I just thought this style never really suited Hunter and while the match was good it still to me was a confused mess of pro wrestling mixed with MMA. In terms of wrestling it was as basic as both guys working an injury. Brock the injured arm of HHH and HHH the injured stomach or ab region of Brook Lesnar. In the end HHH tapped out to Brock which was the right finish and HHH again puts someone over. Something people claim he never does but he actually does a lot. After the match they teased a retirement angle for HHH. Had this been the case it would have been much more interesting to have Steph run down and throw in a towel and do an angle of HHH questioning his career in and out of the ring. In a world of 3 hour Raws those could be compelling segments. Looks like we head towards a Taker vs Brock match at Mania which many will love and I will really not give a damn about.

Oh and The Miz defending the I-C Title against Batman...or Rey Mesterio dressed like Batman. In the end could not have cared less although both worked a decent match. If anyone can get a decent match out of The Miz they should be commended.

Tonight was a far cry from the Mega Powers vs the Mega Bucks, From the first ever TLC match, From Mr. Perfect vs Bret Hart. In fact Randy Savage's Wedding to Elizabeth was more entertaining. This just was a Summer Slam that just didn't really do much of anything for me. I think this having it in L.A ever year kind of blows as well. It was the 25th Summer Slam and it was likely not even in the Top 10 of all time. It just was an average WWE PPV and really didn't do anything wrong but it failed to sell me on it doing anything that was REALLY REALLY Right that made me want to get excited. HBK had the right idea of not going to this one in person and just tweeting about it. 

Raw Is Never Making It to 2000 Like This

I use to stay up late into the night to watch Raw back when I was in college. In the old days back when Raw was on TSN in Canada it came on the air at Midnight. I would faithful stay awake each week at the expense of feeling awful on Tuesday. Speed ahead to modern times and Raw on just a one hour delay ending at midnight instead of starting at midnight. I feel asleep last night watching Raw. That was what a great job they did selling SummerSlam to me. They put me to sleep. Well done WWE.

I just can not remember a show in which I honestly cared about nothing on the show at all. It was meaningless and pointless. It did not make me want to see any match more at Summerslam than I did going into the show. The bunch of lousy matches they have added have done little to do so either. A pointless Rey vs Miz I-C Title match, Tag Match for titles we have already seen on free t.v with Prime Time Players minus AW who has been fired from WWE vs R-Truth & Kofi with imaginary friend of R-Truth in Little Jimmy. Oh and Santino is going to defend his U.S Title on the pre-show and please to God hopefully lose to Antino what ever his name is.

Where to begin with this awful show. I guess we start at the beginning. We had a match with C.M Punk and one of his opponents at SummerSlam in the The Big Show. This match would all be a pointless shame to lead to an even more pointless tag match with Big Show and Daniel Bryan (Who did the run in to cause the match to end in DQ finish as he attacked Punk) vs Punk and John Cena (Who also came out and got involved). I had been enjoying Punk's slow turn from Face to Heel but it has taken a turn that has made it less enjoyable. Perhaps the fact it is being buried by the Brock vs HHH match is a big reason why. I really don't need to see a pointless back stage piece with Eve. I just am tired of this whole thing. Would Punk just smash Cena in the face with title belt already? Oh wait can we do that in this crappy PG Era of the WWE? Bryan might be over but he is pretty directionless at this point. Still hanging around the title picture like an uninvited guest. Much like the Big Show is just more entertaining.

The best actual match of show was set up by one of the worst Piper's Pits ever. I like Piper and he was great in his day but honestly he is out of shape and his work on the mic is just nothing like what it once was. It makes me sad to see the state of Piper and makes me wonder if he actually needs to do this stuff for the money or to hang on to the idea of hearing people cheer. Not that many were tonight. They did this as one of their Raw Active segments. In which people on Twitter that are brainless are tricked into thinking they are impacting on Raw. In this latest shame the audience was going to pick Pipers guest. The winner was Y2J but we also saw both losers in the poll in this segment. So in reality the audience decided nothing. The match that this segment was done to set up was the best thing on Raw. Ziggler and Jericho carried the match and actually made The  Miz seem less awful than normal. If given the time to have a good match Ziggler vs Jericho which was also announced for SummerSlam should be fantastic.

What are some matches we could book that would mean nothing at all. Sin Cara vs Tensai yes that is great let's take two guys that no one gives a damn about and put them in a match. Great move. If you want to get Sin Cara over at this point turn him heel and have him screw Rey out of the I-C Title. At least that would explain why he was on this show seeing as he is not ever booked on Summer Slam. In other pointless matches we had Ryback squash JTG who complained in reality about not being on T.V. Now he was and we still don't care about JTG. Dallas brought back the Goldberg chants which is about only thing interesting about Ryback. A totally pointless Divas tag with Eve and Beth Phoenix vs That Girl that use to tag team with A.J and the Divas Champion that no one gives a damn about. This was an awful match in the ring. Kelly Kelly could not have been worse. We also had Damien Sandow squash Christian who a year ago was in the World Title pitcher and now is barely ahead of Zack Ryder on the food chain. Sandow would win as he actually used a distraction that was suppose to screw him and turned it into a win. We saw Clay come out selling a knee injury from last week come out which led to the end would lead to win. Oh and what would be a Raw without a Heath Slater Squash match. When you are getting squashed by R-Truth it is time to get off T.V. This was all to set up an attack from Prime Time Players with no AW.

This show more than any of the previous three hour shows was painfully long. There was also useless filler with touts, Mark Henry touting from the Olympics and some stupid guy that was on that show Jersey Shore doing tweets. Like honestly.

Ironically I feel asleep for the big finish of the show. Which was suppose to be a contract signing between HHH and Brock. However as we were told through a bunch of segments feature HBK there was no HHH as he was delayed from a flight. HBK would eventually get lured into the Ring by Paul and Brock. HHH would come in and save HBK from a beating that looked to be coming. The contract was signed and nothing more happened in the ring. HBK would talk with Hunter in the back and suggest that Brock was a different kind of animal from Undertaker or even HHH. He walks away and heads towards the parking lot. He would be cut off in the next segment by Paul as both seemed to be driving cheap rental cars which seems a little off but whatever. Brock would grab HBK out of the Car knocked over the Camera man and screen was black with audio smashing and thumping. Next we see a crowd gathers and HBK's rental a smashed mess. Hope Shawn got insurance. Anyway HHH arrives on the Scene and ask A.J where is Shawn? She says Brock took him off. A.J can apparently boss around the Big Show but has no control over Brock and Heyman. next we see Brock caring a Shawn Micheal roughed up but not bleeding (PG Police) and he would take him to ring F-5 him and go to put on the kimura lock and HHH would arrive on scene and came running down the ramp. Heyman would tell him to stop or Brock would break HBK's arm. HHH did stop but Brock broke the arm anyway and HHH would hit ring and Brock would leave as medical personal would tend to HBK.

That was it even as HHH and HBK fan I could care less. This was so poorly done and ultimately predictable I just didn't care. HHH had this same injury and never sold it to go to Mayweather fight which was covered by WWE the fact he was at the event. This pretty much killed this angle before it ever started. The 25th SummerSlam is a long way from the Mega Powers vs Mega Bucks in terms of my interest. I still likely will but I would not be shocked if I had a nap like I did tonight during Raw. 

Random Raw Thoughts

I'll be honest last night's Raw did not inspire me much in terms of writing about it. So how about some point form thoughts and notes on what we saw?

• A.J as the G.M has been done fairly well. I still can't see how it will last in the long term. That said they have found a fairly good way to keep her short and sweet much like she is in reality? Anyway she has been able to pull it off and in terms of women on the program is far and away the most important by miles. This will remain the case despite the return of Kelly Kelly who continues to make the stereo type of dumb blondes live. She has nothing and I do mean nothing going for her beyond her looks. She fought Eve in a match that was comical in how bad it was.
• C.M Punk is doing the best he can with what is honestly a terrible match for Summer Slam. His slow heel turn has been the one good thing that has been consistent from Raw 1000. I like what Punk is doing and think that he can and should carry the WWE Title till Royal Rumble to face the Rock. Seldom have we seen a title reign of this length in the modern era of wrestling. Punk is one of few performers in this modern age that can pull it off as he is able to re-invent himself as basically the same character. 
• Chris Jericho disappointed as a heel in a feud with Punk on his return to WWE. He continues to disappoint as he turns face. I mean yes I still laugh at some of his standard stuff but ultimately reality and storyline are working together here. Ziggler is right in Jericho now being an after thought in terms of WWE. He is a solid performer and always will be but may never again reach the levels he has had in the past. I just feel that Jericho is only half interested in wrestling and is just as happy to be doing the many other projects he takes on like his band Fozzy. 
• Speaking of past his expiry date. Rey Mesterio really does nothing for me at all. He has suffered many injuries and is not the dynamic in ring performer he once was. Rey has never been a great promo guy and does not really carry a storyline in any feud unless he is being carried by a great performer.
• Wade Barrett is on the verge of a return. WWE did a solid old school type coming soon promo feature. I hope the best for Barrett who had his Wrestlemania taken away by freak incident on Raw just months before the event. Expect him to get a big push when he returns. He deserves it. I would suggest a program with Sheamus and double turn would do the trick. Not that I expect WWE do that. 
• Speaking of  Sheamus could he have any more boring a feud for a World Title? I say NO! NO! NO! It is also funny to see the babyface champion and one of main faces of the Anti-Bullying Be A Star movement of the WWE to be stealing a Ferrari and driving around town with it and trashing it. Yeah don't be a bully just get revenge kids. Del Rio has been pretty awful of late as well. I am tired of him and his gimmick. It has gotten old and stale. 
• Damain Sandow seems like the best hope of new star. Working with Clay is not exactly the fast path to that but it was it is. I like the gimmick. Like the character and think it has real staying power. 
• Daniel Bryan is a great talent and over more than perhaps anyone. That said he seems to be totally wasted at the moment and I just would like to see him doing something on a higher profile level
• I-C and U.S Champs are perhaps worst two ever? The Miz gets mentioned more as Triple Crown Winner that the I-C Champ. What WWE sees in him I have never seen. It is common knowledge that most of the wrestlers don't like him legitimately. He is a waste and I have no use for him. I really didn't miss him when he was away making a movie that will no doubt suck. Then Santino the joke of U.S champion. I can imagine this is Vince having his funny with the legacy of  WCW he owns. It makes no sense seeing as you have ability of making money off that history. Santino for me is barley funny and even if you concede he is funny that still is no excuse to have a belt on him. Did Doink the Clown ever hold a title? No so why is he? 
• A.W keeps his mic gig and continues to bring down his tag team of Prime Time Players. All World Anti Promotion is more like it. I was happy with Dareen and Titus on their own and don't think they needed AW. The WWE is trying to build so semblance of a tag team division but it just stinks. Tag Teams that work have become rare in wrestling these days. They are no longer the star producing vehicle they were in past. They also no longer have the guys content to work as a team for the long haul. Killer Bees, Demolition, LOD and other long term tag teams of the past. 
• I am and always will be a HHH fan. That said I barely cared about his Mania Re-Match with Undertaker that was reffed by HBK. It turned out to be a great match but in the build I really didn't care. That said this Brock vs HHH Match is even less for me. HBK being involved again to try and pull it out of the fire. Perhaps the biggest thing is this whole feud was doomed but Paul himself. Going to a Money Mayweather fight the weekend after he supposedly had his arm broken by Brock. Wrestling at it's core is being able to allow yourself to get invested in matches and storylines even though you understand it is all a work. However when it is made so painfully obvious even to the point of WWE.COM showing the uninjured HHH at the fight was to much. The build since has been just as awful and I really just have no interest in this match at all. Coming from a diehard HHH fan this can't be good news. 
• If there is anything I missed consider it being glazed over from a 3 hour show that is hard to keep interested in for the entire time. I found it amazing that WWE expects to see it's profit increase this year from last. They may in fact be earning more money but they continue to be less and less entertaining and eventually that has to catch up with you right?