5 Things To Expect on WWE Monday Night Raw

"WELCOME TO MONDAY NIGHT WRAW!"~ Vince McMahon. It's the final Monday Night Raw of the year coming from Washington D.C. for the third straight year. You can expect another quiet crowd tonight because the Washington crowd is not that good whatsoever and if you need example go-ahead look at the go-home show to WrestleMania 29 on the WWE Network. The once in while appearing WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar will bless us with his pressence tonight. Also one of the greatest tag teams in professional wrestling history Edge & Christian will be hosting Monday Night Raw. I think tonight's show is very important for the WWE as a whole and for the build towards the Royal Rumble PPV. Here's five things to expect on the 12/29/14 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw.

1.) Edge & Christian 

You think you me? I always enjoyed that theme song. Here's a idea to start Raw tonight. Edge & Christian do their entrance coming through the crowd or they can go old school and come up through the stage with The Brood music. It's going to be nice to see Edge & Christian especially Edge since he's on of those legends that rarely comes on the show as often as the other contracted WWE Legends. It's been the running trend lately Seth Rollins will come out and interrupt E & C in-ring promo and whine and complain about The Authority no longer being in power. Who knows maybe we'll see some of those silly hats their wore during the Attitude Era or they'll bring back the kazoos. Either way it will nice to see both Edge & Christian and tonight should be a fun night.

2.) The Ascension 

They're coming the fiery and powerful tag team from WWE NXT will make their main roster debuts TONIGHT on RAW. Who will be the first casualty for The Ascension? The video vigentte for The Ascension haven't been earth shattering to be completely honest with you, but I'm really looking forward to seeing The Ascension tonight because I'm a big fan of their tag team. Alot of people are clamoring for NXT Superstars to come up on the main roster and tonight and heading towards 2015 you'll see change in the WWE presentation I totally believe that and it starts with The Ascension tonight.

3.) Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena III 

The anticipated final battle between Brock Lesnar and John Cena will come to a head at the Royal Rumble. Brock Lesnar laid out John Cena during his Steel Cage Match with Seth Rollins a couple weeks ago. There's some storyline question that I have with this pairing heading towards the Royal Rumble. Ok Brock is back. Why? All we knew about Brock Lesnar before he became the WWE Champion is that he was "Plan C" for The Authority to take the title away from John Cena. Cena is the only person that holds the power to bring The Authority back. There needs to be a in-ring promo between John Cena & Paul Heyman tonight and it will be interesting to see if Paul Heyman brings up that very association Lesnar & The Authority had before they lost their power at Survivor Series. How do you bring The Authority back? Brock will come out during the show who knows maybe John & Brock have a full out brawl in the same building they had a bloody fist fight in 2012.

4.) Bad News Barrett 

I think it should be noted that tonight WWE is having a "WWE LIVE" show in Richmond, Virginia. Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt are advertised for this very show. There's star power left out of this show. We have Brock Lesnar, Edge & Christian and The Ascension on the show tonight, but something to really spice things especially with it being the final of Raw of the year we see the return of BNB! Bad News Barrett has been out with a shoulder injury for six months and I think it's the perfect night for him to come back. Dolph Ziggler is the right guy for Barrett to feud with. Alot of people are riding the wave of momentum of Dolph Ziggler, but "I'm afraid I've got some bad news!" Ziggler will have to deal with a dose of reality and a feud between Ziggler & Barrett to start 2015 is the right way to go for the WWE.

5.) Randy Orton? 

It's time! I'm keeping this one short and sweet. Randy Orton will be make his WWE return tonight and will seek his revenge on Seth Rollins & JJ Security. Calling it right now.

Follow Me on Twitter @JoshLopezCSR

10 Canadians We're Thankful For

It is Canadian Thanksgiving so instead of our normal Raw preview I share with all of you my 10 wrestlers that I am thankful for in pro wrestling that are from my country of Canada. There have been many great Canadian's over the years in wrestling. We are keeping this list light and fun so you will not be seeing any Canadian Cripplers on this list. What you will see is a group of talented people that share the same flag and homeland and have had a major impact on wrestling as a whole.

Honorable mention goes out to Canadian Football League that allowed some wrestlers to stay employed in football for years and earn a living. While showing others that football was not their calling like Roman Reigns and The Rock. Many other names like Brian Pillman, Lex Luger and countless others have called the CFL home before hitting a squared circle.

So here is my list of great Canadians to be thankful for and it is only based on my personal opinion and nothing else. Not ranking on ability or looks although you have to admit Trish Stratus does look good in red and white. So with that said here we go with the list.


1. Kevin Steen
2. Trish Stratus
3. Owen Hart
4. Sami Zayn
5. Chris Jericho
6. Edge
7. Bret Hart
8. Tyler Breeze
9. Tyson Kidd
10. Christian

I am sure many will debate the order and it is not based on accomplishments. I just wanted a mix of the past present and future. I am not a huge Bret Hart fan to be honest. I also don't like hockey so Canadians might not all fit your stereotypes to the letter. Who is your top 5 Canadians in wrestling let us know @Condoonthemoon. Send them to us and give us a follow there.

To all my fellow Canadians enjoy the holiday and if your having turkey it will make a boring episode of Raw easier to fall asleep too. 

Chris Jericho Not The Same Old Y2J

Chris Jericho had one mission when he returned to the WWE and like it or not he failed at it in a major way. That mission was to get over Bray Wyatt and instead the leader of the Wyatt clan is in a worse place from where he started. Now he too has to take part of the blame for this program failing after all it takes two to tango right Fandango. Where is he these days?  Another guy that worked with Jericho and that feud worked and Jericho took the debuting star and gave him a major launching pad. I blame Jericho for nothing that happened after he left. Still at the end of this run, it was by far, the least entertaining and worst run in the WWE for Chris Jericho.

Why it was is probably a number of reasons that we can point to as explanations. Jericho is getting older and that may seem odd to say in a sport that has dinosaurs like Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and Jerry Lawler all pressing their luck jumping in rings in their 50’s and beyond. Jericho has a style that relies on speed and motion so it isn’t exactly easy to keep that going for as long. Jericho did jump off the top of a cage that he is bragging about at his age. While I applaud the effort, I think that was nothing more than fool hardy as opposed something to be praised or encouraged for me.  Matt Hardy speaking of daredevils just turned 40 and we saw Christian doing a half-hearted version of the Peep Show on Sunday. Edge was forced to retire while the Dudley Boys and Jeff Hardy are on that sinking ship that is TNA Wrestling. Well technically so is Matt although Ring of Honor claims he is coming back there. That might be a swerve but that is a different matter for another day.

Those six that I mentioned took the most chances perhaps of anyone in the attitude era. They all are suffering for it now to varying degrees. Edge can never wrestle again and Christian is partner likely never should as well. It makes you wonder where some of these guys doing high spots on the independents will be at 40. It is not easy and that was a bit of a sidetrack from the point that the style of Y2J while he can still perform it has to take a bigger toll on him.

In addition, his once vanity project, or so it seemed, in his rock band Fozzy has become a legitimate success now. The new album is doing very well and it might just be time for Chris Jericho to turn off the light bright jacket and call it a day.

I can’t exactly explain it but Chris Jericho just did not feel the same, but for a brief moment in this comeback where he took some nostalgic shots at Stephanie and Triple H. Aside from that, it was nothing that in the end compelled me to be interested in him. Perhaps the fact it was made very clear both why he was here and when he would be leaving likely did not help.

Still another superstar roughly in the same age bracket slightly younger I think Rob Van Damn leaves much of the same feelings for me. At one time, he was won of the most innovative high tempo exciting acts in wrestling. These days he is jobbing out on a nightly basis looking like, he is a step or a step and half slow. Blame it on 4:20 if you care too, but it is more about his birth certificate and abuse his body has endured that any time on a clock or green stuff in a joint.

Jericho also like Stone Cold, Jim Ross and others has found success podcasting over on PodcastOne. I felt the times he interviewed wrestlers while back with exception to the ones that were not active in the company were not as good. Take his interview with Triple H, which isn’t the easiest guy to book to sit down and talk unless you’re Michael Cole in a kayfabe setting each week. The interview was fine but it has no real edge to it and seemed a very raw-raw pro WWE interview and a pro Triple H interview. Another was with three of the Total Divas and two being terrible wrestlers in Cameron and Eva Marie. It rather turned my stomach as Jericho gave these women this platform to try to garner sympathy. They suck and can’t wrestle while Jericho once claimed to be "The Man of 1004 Holds," these two ding-dongs would be lucky to know and be able to execute ten combined. It was shameful to have Jericho associated with that mess. Not to mention Brie Bella who has proven to have the acting skills of someone that can’t act. Contrast that with his interviews with Batista and the Hardy’s just last week it is night and day.

What this is all leading to is I am not excited nor need to see Chris Jericho comeback again. Each return seems to be less and less significant.

There is no doubt one day Chris Jericho will be in the WWE Hall of Fame and rightfully so. I just do not care to see too much more of what we saw from Jericho in this latest run. Reality is Jericho does not need to come back in the same way a C.M Punk does not need to do so. The simple fact is Jericho likes to comeback on his terms to do what he wants and than go back to doing the other things he enjoys.

I as a Jericholic from back in the day, saying that it is time to hang it up and go be a rock star full time. You have more than proven your legacy and I personally don’t want to see it slide into an abyss of irrelevance.

Jericho after teasing a retirement promised to be back and even sooner than we think. All the injuries mounting that could be a very true statement. Fozzy is touring though so likely not in cards short term.

Jericho can still go in the ring, but you see the signals that time is catching up with him. That clock that always was counting down is now father time slowly pointing his way to the exit. Jericho has nothing left to prove and if he couldn’t get over Bray Wyatt perhaps anything left to do in the WWE and in wrestling overall.

Never EVER Again could be coming soon for Chris Jericho getting in a WWE ring. If it is not it should be.

As one Canadian we think might be coming to near the end of is time another is just getting started as announcer with former member of The Score Arda Ocal being transferred into Kyle Edwards to be taking a job in the WWE.  Congrats to him on making his dream come through. Chris Jericho has made both his childhood dreams come true as he has been a wrestling world champion and a rock star. The odds on anyone Canadian or otherwise doing that have to be staggering.

That is why I would rather see him go out on the top of his wrestling game.

Does Smackdown Even Matter Anymore?

Smackdown is making the move to Thursday night in October, which probably is a good thing, but day of the week is not the major issue with Smackdown. Honestly no matter what day of the week you put it on there needs to be more compelling television and it really is not. When you have already endured 3 hours of Monday Night Raw it makes investing two more hours in Smackdown quite the commitment for the average fan. Add in the fact that Smackdown is a taped show and many sites (Not This One) offer fans spoilers for Smackdown that is taped on Tuesday. Which is a problem that is faced to greater extent by both TNA and Ring of Honor that tape weeks of shows at a time. They face those challenges of spoilers to an even greater extent. The odd time spoilers can be helpful if they offer insight to a great match or angle. However most times they give people the option to seek out the information and decide to skip the show. That is why at least for this site, we have made the decision not to use them to allow you the chance to not have your viewing experience impacted on by us.

The WWE somewhere around 2010 or 11 ended the brand split that they had done in since splitting the brands somewhere around a year or two after WWE bought out WCW in effect ending the promotion and the competition. So the WWE roster became whole again with all of the talent in theory able to perform on Raw or Smackdown. Therefore, the uniqueness of the shows was lost to some extent. Even though it has been well documented that even during the brand split Smackdown was treated as the “B” brand in the WWE.

That had its downside and upside depending on how you looked at it. The major downside was the top people rarely if ever ended up on Smackdown. If a person got hot enough, they would find his way to Raw eventually. The upside was because Smackdown was more or less an after thought in comparison to Raw. It allowed things to happen that likely never would have flown on Raw. One example of that was C.M Punk’s Straight Edge Society. A highly edgy angle was the brainchild of Punk himself. Prior to that, there was the famed “Smackdown 6,” and the brilliant booking and mind of Paul Heyman writing the show. As discussed in the Heyman DVD as far as Heyman was concerned he was competing with Raw and looking to beat it on weekly basis. Something that was the same was the influence of Kevin Dunn in terms of the production of the show. This is something various people had tried to change with no success. They wanted to do this to give Smackdown its own unique look and feel to it. This is something that clearly would have been interesting to see and made the show stand out as something unique. 

On a complete side note when Paul Levesque and Stephanie McMahon truly take over, it is expected one of the first moves they will make is replacing Dunn. That will be an interesting time for WWE as Dunn has been the head of production of WWE television for pretty much the entire history of Raw first going to air followed by Smackdown years later.

The point to all of this is there is truly nothing unique about the Smackdown show to any degree. It does tend to be the more wrestling based show and always has been for the most part. The problem being many of the matches we see on Smackdown will tend make their way to Raw the following week. They rarely want to do angles on Smackdown and any that they do happen to do will be highlighted on Raw to catch the audience of the true flagship program up with what they missed on Smackdown. There is no real punishment to fans for not watching Smackdown at all.

We also now have a brand in NXT that has become what Smackdown use to be to some extent. In the past Smackdown was a proving ground for talent to build up their skills in the ring and on the microphone to a lesser extent. John Cena is perhaps the best example of this it is hard to imagine that the centerpiece that now currently is the face of the company for well over a decade started on what was classed as the “B” show. However, that is what happened and we watched Cena go from being a babyface at first, to transition into his heel rapper persona, only to be so good to become a babyface using that same character. Quickly he would be shifted over to the main show but the foundation that made John Cena what he is today was built on Smackdown. There were other examples of guys that built their career on that show like Edge, Kurt Angle and a list that could go on quite long.  The talent that is learning, growing, and developing their characters are doing that on NXT in Florida now.

The goal needs to be or at least should be is to give some compelling reason to make Smackdown must see television. It is not and has not been for sometime currently.  As we have laid out here that is far from the easiest thing to do because of the evolution of the WWE product in a number of ways. Some might say that Smackdown’s time has come and gone. However, it is not as if the WWE is going to bring an end to Smackdown because it makes money.

I use a pro sports analogy to explain it further to drive this point home. Many older fans of professional sports will say that expansion has watered down the game and there are too many teams. So are professional sports leagues contracting or ever have contracted a franchise in their history? The answer is of course no and in fact a league like the NHL that currently has franchises that are struggling finically are talking about expansion. You see here is that evil thing about all sports and pro wrestling as well it is at the end of the day more about greed and business over the quality of the product you are producing. Quantity that creates cash will always trump the quality of the product that is being produced.

I hate to write things without offering solutions but in terms for this one, I really do not have the answers for this it. In my mind, less is more and the need for Smackdown has really gone away. The reason it was created was a high demand for wrestling content at the absolute peak of its popularity. It was also at a time when Raw was only two hours and there was no NXT let alone a show called Main Event. The WWE is never going to subscribe to the less is more philosophy anymore than the NBA, NHL, NFL or MLB is unless they were forced to do so. Look at what happened to WCW when they created Thunder it became a poor quality show that nobody watched. Only reason it survived was the company that owned WCW also owned the network it was broadcast on.

Ironic that the show named based on one of the most famous names to ever be in wrestling in The Rock has become some what of an after thought which is something it’s namesake never was to this day. If you can’t get enough wrestling in your life it is another two hours to enjoy it, but in the grand scheme of things it is not offering anything that is compelling to people that are casual fans or gives reason for new or former fans of the product to get invested into it. If I wanted to get someone to be invested in wrestling today and could not use a Raw broadcast or a pay per view, I would show them an episode of NXT that has a bunch of hungry people trying to make their way to the bright lights of Raw and the main roster. No one ever has the dream of main eventing Smackdown do they? Of course they don’t, the same way every professional wrestlers ultimate dream is to be on a Wrestlemania or main eventing one, the same is true with television. Raw is the major leagues and everything else is secondary.

FYI there is a chance we may not have our weekly Podcast this week do to some circumstances beyond our control. If there is no Podcast tonight will have one for you next Friday as we normally do. 

 

Condo on the Moon is on Twitter and Facebook and check out our weekly podcasts Every Friday! 

If you have questions/comments for our NEW Weekly Google+ Show Live Thursday's 7:30 pm EST use hashtag #AskMachoMoon. You can find us now at Condoonthemoon.com. 

History of Summerslam Memories

Summerslam got started way back in 1988 which for an old guy like me don’t seem all that long ago but it really is. That event was headlined by one of the most unique tag-team matches in the history of the WWF at the time. Randy Savage the World Champion was challenged to a tag-team match by Million Dollar Man and his Partner Andre the Giant. Savage would team for the first time with Hulk Hogan who had been dubbed as the Mega-Powers in the fall of 1987 and would end up working together to help Savage secure the World Title at Wrestlemania 4. It would be the first time that the Madness and the Mania would team up officially in the ring. Just to add a little more doubt to the match we had special guest Referee Jessie the Body Ventura. A role that Ventura would reprise years later as the current Governor of Minnesota in a World Championship Match 11 years later in the “Attitude Era” in 1999.

When you look at Summerslam it is not an event that is necessarily remembered for his great title matches. Sure it has had some that include the man challenging for the title this year Brock Lesnar defeating The Rock for his first world title. However that match was over shadowed by my personal favourite Summerslam match of all time between Triple H and a returning after a four year absence Shawn Michaels. It had been just over 4 years since HBK had been in a match in the WWF. He returned like he had left last week and had a very memorable match with Triple H. It was suppose to be his only match but would end up being a run that lasted till Wrestlemania 26 where he was retired by the Undertaker. It really was the start of a second career in a sense for Shawn Michaels who already had a hall of fame resume but also had a fairly unflattering reputation. Shawn is known by many names including “Mr. Wrestlemania” if there is a “Mr’ Summerslam” it may well be his greatest rival Bret Hart.

Michaels famously screwed Hart out of title at Summerslam when he refereed a match with Hart and the Undertaker in 1997. It would set in motion all the events that would lead to that infamous match in Montreal later that year in November. Hart had some of his best matches for not the World Title but for the Intercontinental title at Summerslam. It was a match of firsts in which he defended the title against his brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith the British Bulldog. It is the first and I believe only time the I-C title has main evented a pay-per-view. It was first and only time a pay-per-view was held outside of North America in London, England. The match was a wrestling clinic and had the emotion of the real life family element too it. Hart lost the match but was the star of it in many ways. That was in 1992. A year earlier an injured in real life Mr Perfect battling back pain would not let that stop him from putting on a classic and putting over Bret Hard to win the same Intercontinental title. It was at the time considered the best match of Bret’s career. He battled for the WWF Title with his brother Owen in a Steel Cage match too.

Summerslam has had some major mistakes as well. Long before Vince McMahon was calling the match with John Cena and Daniel Bryan “ A Swing and a miss,” in terms of drawing it had some bigger train wrecks in the event’s history. Lex Lugar and his summer on the “Lex Express” ended at Summerslam with a count out victory over Yokozuna to win the match but not the title. Another epic failure was the infamous Undertaker vs. Undertaker feud that just came off as goofy and silly.

Summerslam even has had a wedding with the two people that started this event in the first place. Randy Savage would part ways with Miss Elizabeth in storyline of wrestling for just over two years working with Sherri Martel as the Macho King for most of that time. After losing to the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania 7 and as a result his career he would be reunited with Elizabeth. They two would than tie the knot few months later at Summerslam. It remains the only wrestling wedding that did not end in chaos. Although their reception would have an angle in which the happy couple was given a Cobra and it would lead to Randy getting re-instated to feud with Jake “the Snake” Roberts getting him out of his forced retirement.

Other moments that stick out is a young Randy Orton winning his first WWE Title over Chris Benoit. It is remembered more I think because we never really get to see it based on the tragic situation that Benoit will forever be tied too. That match took place in Toronto. Edge that is from Toronto had his feud with John Cena main event a Summerslam in his hometown of Boston. They two would top that match a month later in a TLC match at Unforgiven in the year of 2006.

The summer of Punk WWE version featured a re-match between him and John Cena from Money in the Bank where Punk left the company with the title. In his absence, John Cena through a series of events would become Champion again in his absence. It led to the re-match with in a sense Champion vs. Champion. In the end the re-match is not nearly as memorable as Punk did win only to have Kevin Nash Powerbomb him and have Alberto Del Rio cash in and take the title.

We could go on forever as I haven’t even mentioned the match with Triple H and Rock in a ladder match for the I-C Title. No mention of Austin and Undertaker on the highway to hell to Summerslam. In addition an infamous match between Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan. The WWE bills this as the biggest event of the summer and some years it has been and others it hasn’t been. It is a unique event that was the part of the big four pay per views that were created in the 1980’s and still exist to this day. 

Those are just some of the many memories that will come to your mind when you think of Summerslam. Will we remember anything from this year, as it becomes part of the legacy of this event as the years go by? It remains to be seen but the history is long and has some of the biggest names in the history of wrestling.

Perhaps the first ever Summerslam of sorts happened prior to 1988. It was “The Big Event” in 1986 that likely inspired the creation of such an event as well as giving the WWE the confidence they could fill the Silverrdome for Wrestlemania 3. Over 50,000 people filled the CNE stadium in late August on a fairly cold night for that time of year. 

Summerslam today is seen as the unofficial mid-season for the WWE where we start to look ahead to the next Wrestlemnia to conclude another wrestling calendar year.

 

Condo on the Moon is on Twitter and Facebook and check out our weekly podcasts Every Friday! 

If you have questions/comments for our NEW Weekly Google+ Show Live Thursday's 7:30 pm EST use hashtag #AskMachoMoon. You can find us now at Condoonthemoon.com.