The John Report: The Raw Deal for 03/01/10 (DX/Showmiz)

Welcome to the Raw Deal. Check out the column I wrote about Triple H earlier on Monday. I’ve received a lot of great feedback on it. It’s a look at his career through the years while also looking at other aspects of his history in the business as well as some questions for the future.

Live from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma this is the Raw Deal…

I miss Jim Ross. That’s what I think of when I see Raw’s in OKC. Oh, and Kevin Durant is absolutely disgusting. He’s one of the five best players in the NBA at the age of 21. Filthy.

Shawn & Hunter begin PromoMania
We start out Promomania with a promo from Shawn Michaels talking about WrestleMania. You have to love how the guy still gets these ridiculously huge pops even though he blatantly cost The Undertaker the World Title just eight days earlier. Goes to show how much people want to see Shawn/Undertaker and don’t really care about Undertaker losing the shiny belt. Shawn said Undertaker’s 17-0, but that nobody gave Taker a run for his money like Shawn did last year. He also talked about how the locker room (what, no catchy name for them Universe for the fans?) was full of people that doubted he could beat Undertaker at WM. He wanted somebody to meet him face to face to talk about it. Out came Triple H. Hey, I read a column about him today. Did you? Shawn was pissed off thinking that HHH doubted him. No Shawn, HHH loves you. He believes in you. He gave a nice pep talk saying that the fans and cameras don’t matter, he’s speaking to Shawn only. Shawn’s the best ever. This is true. I liked this. They got around to the point of the whole thing being that after HBK beats Undertaker he’ll still be in WWE, so the night after WM they can defend the tag titles they will win back as they get their rematch. That’s a clever way of saying they don’t really want to win the tag titles, but they might as well milk the DX thing for one more night. I liked the segment. Best part of the show. If it ended here 9/10. Too bad there was more to come.

The John Report: Respecting The Game

“It’s not an easy life. Careers are short, careers are fast. I’m not that tough, I’m no tougher than anybody else in our business, but I respect our business. I love our business. I put my life on the line every day for our business and I gladly do it. And I will continue to do it until I can do it no longer. You have to earn respect in the business. It’s not given to you. You earn it.” – Triple H talking about the wrestling business to Tough Enough students during season one.

When you think about World Wrestling Entertainment over the last 15 years one of the first names that will pop in your mind is that of Hunter Hearst Helmsley or Triple H. The Game. The Cerebral Assassin. The King of Kings. Pick a name, you know who it is. There’s a good chance you have a strong opinion on him too. He’s been in WWE’s main event for over ten years now. At the past ten WrestleMania’s, he’s wrestled in the WWE or World Title match eight times and one of those times was due to injury. Some think he’s a great company guy while others think he’s selfish. Some think he’s still got it while others think he’s overrated. Either way, HHH is the kind of guy that draws attention good or bad among fans of all kind. In my decade of writing online, there’s no person in WWE that can either be as loved as he is by one side or as criticized as he is by the other side.

The John Report: Talking Smack for 02/26/10 (Edge/Miz)

Welcome to the Talking Smack column where I offer up a quick rundown of WWE’s Friday broadcast, Smackdown. I’ll do the blog plugs at the bottom. Among the posts this week were thoughts on the NXT debut as well as the releases of Helms, Maria & Burchill on Friday. As for this column, it’s going to be a bit shorter than my usual. I was out partying on Friday night, got home really late, had a few too many drinks (hi Straight Edge people) and I’m not in the mood to write that much. I’ll cover the show, but it won’t be nearly as detailed as my usual. Hope you understand. Let’s get to it.

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Taped from Milwaukee, Wisconsin let’s talk some smack…

The new WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION Chris Jericho comes out with the title bragging about how after over a year of fighting he’s back on top as champion. I love this man. I loved this promo. Asking the camera to zoom in on the title to see his name and “World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion” on it was great. Hey, he said wrestling. That should say sports entertainment. Quick, call the belt maker guy. We need a new one. Edge came out talking about how Jericho may have won, but he also gets speared by Edge a lot. They even got the crowd into chanting “spear” which is good because I’ve never heard that before. Jericho got pissed, attacked him with the mic and then went for the Codebreaker only to receive a spear from Edge. Good opening segment. Love this feud already. Looking forward to the next month of build.

GC: The K Files – Top Performers of Wrestlemania

Welcome Canton Universe to another edition of the K Files, I’m your host, Doctor David K., and today we talk Wrestlemania.  The Granddaddy of Them All is arguably the highlight of every year, bringing us new stars, and creating legends.  Over 250 competitors have stepped into the ring to take their claim at glory, and while numerous superstars have had their hand raised … only a few can truly say they became stars.  On today’s list, we look at 15 competitors that made their names at the Spring Classic, and what made them stand out from the crowd.  Along with the superstars, you’ll find their records, which Wrestlemania you’ll find them at, and the match you need to see to understand why they’re the best of the best.

15. Andre The Giant – (2-3), (I, II, III, V, VI)

Match You Need To See: Wrestlemania III – Andre The Giant vs. Hulk Hogan

There was an aura that Andre had that had never been seen before.  It was more than his size that made him the character he became.  It was the way he moved, the way he talked, hell, he even glared like a Giant.  While he was much more agile and athletic before the Wrestlemania days came around, the slow, lumbering way that he moved around the ring would add to his persona of an unbeatable force to be reckoned with. Before his match with Hogan at Wrestlemania III, he had yet to be pinned or forced to submit in fifteen years.  That build up is what made the match between him and Hogan so epic.  It was the classic tale of unstoppable force meeting immovable object.  In the end, Hogan body-slammed the 525lb giant, and made an iconic moment that still is etched into the minds of the WWE Universe.  Andre would serve as one of the foundations on which Wrestlemania stood for, the larger than life personalities.  With his hands around Bob Uecker, and Big John Studd looking up from the mat after a body slam, or Ted DiBiase buying the WWE Championship from him, we’ll always remember Andre for his Wrestlemania moments more than anything else.

WWE NXT Review for 2/23/10 by Doctor Money

Note from John: Even though I wrote a blog post on NXT last night (it can be read here: https://johnreport.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/the-john-report-quick-thoughts-on-wwe-nxt/) I’m not going to be doing that every week. I might write quick notes some weeks, but never a full review. I’ve enlisted the help of a regular blog reader to give you the details of WWE NXT on a weekly basis. Every Wednesday this review will get posted right here on the blog. Enjoy it.

Hello, John Report readers. I am Doctor Money and I will be covering WWE NXT for The John Report. No, Doctor Money is not my real name; that would be Christian. Don’t ask me how I got the name Doctor Money because I don’t really know. It’s something my friends came up with and I like it as a pen name. Just to tell you a little about myself, I am 26 years old and I live in NJ. I’m a huge Yankee and New York Giants fan. As you probably figured out already, I’m also a huge WWE fan. I have been hooked on wrestling since I was 5 years old. It happened right after WrestleMania V when WWF held a Saturday Night’s Main Event. My dad woke me up to watch Hulk Hogan defend the WWF Championship inside a Steel Cage versus The Big Bossman. It’s still one of my favorite matches as it’s the one that got me hooked.  The Hulkster was my favorite as a kid, and then when I grew out of him it was Shawn Michaels, then during the Attitude Era, Stone Cold was my man. As I’ve gotten older I wouldn’t say I have a favorite anymore, more as I’m a fan of guys that have good matches, but I especially like Randy Orton, Christian and John Morrison. Of course my old favorite HBK is still around. I have my own blog set up at www.doctormoney.wordpress.com, where I write daily about WWE, sports and whatever else is on my mind. I want to thank John for this wonderful opportunity and I hope that you guys enjoy my writing. I’ve often called John the Godfather of internet wrestling bloggers and it’s truly an honor to write for him. Well, that takes care of the introductions, let’s get to the premier episode of WWE NXT!

The Raw Commentfest for 02/22/10

Welcome to Commentfest. I wrote the Raw Deal last night, posted it at 1am and you’ve hopefully read that. The link is RIGHT HERE on the blog. Commentfest, featuring Facebook and Twitter, is going to be a Tuesday evening posting now. I would say that anywhere between 5-8pm ET is when I’ll be posting Commentfest from this point forward. This week it’s getting posted at 8pmET

Thoughts from the Facebook friends aka CommentFest
Here are some random thoughts from some of my facebook friends (just head to Facebook.com/thejohnreport) after I asked for some comments about the show. The comments in green are from the commentfesters while the comments in the brackets are from me. We got over 2000 comments this week, which is a new record for a two hour show. I think I’ve created a monster.

Welcome, one and all, to the festival of comments.
Allow me to introduce your host. He is:
The smack talking, raw dealing, WWE blogging, he finds MJC appealing.
With Creative stealing, he should trademark, but when it comes to Canadians, he’s a true mark.
A huge fan of Jericho, though he also loves Punk; knows 1 punch from Show leaves you KTFO~ punch drunk…
Ain’t a supporter of King, even less of Cole; to meet MJC is his number one goal
Ladies and Gentlemen….. John Canton! (I enjoyed this.)

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages! WWE proudly brings to you: one half of the WWEs only two remaining shows! The water spitting, glowstick selling, now defunct, two members down to one, Trips sans HBK, is there still a mascot? Wait…nevermind, wrong intro… Live! From facebook.com, it’s Commentfest!

I’m a commentfest virgin, so I need to make my debut! Mickie James-Canton! (Cheap heat for the debut. Classy.)

The John Report: The Raw Deal for 02/22/10 (Three WM26 Matches Announced)

Welcome to the Raw Deal. Before we start, you can read my Elimination Chamber recap here that I posted late Sunday night and then you can click here to read some thoughts from Monday about the Undertaker’s jacket being caught on fire among other things.

Note: If you’re looking for Commentfest you can find it by clicking RIGHT HERE. I posted it as of Tuesday at 8pmET.

Live from Indianapolis, Indiana this is the Raw Deal…

After the typical videos, we found out there was a mechanical bull in the arena for our guest hosts singer Jewel and her bull riding champion husband Ty Murray. I’m so excited I could eat some beef.

The NEW World Heavyweight Champion…Chris Jericho!
Yes! Best in the world. 10 out of 10 already. End the show right now. It’s perfect with Jericho holding that belt while bragging about it. “I’m going to WrestleMania!” He said it few times. Mentioned beating the Undertaker two times in a row, both of which happened with interference, but let’s not let facts get in the way of a celebration! He said he was the World Heavyweight Champion and right on cue Edge’s music started up. He came in through the crowd (old school) and hit a spear on Jericho. He grabbed the microphone to say Jericho’s going to WrestleMania “against me!” Crowd popped huge for it. Good way to start the show. I look forward to the verbal confrontations that are sure to come.

Guest Column: The Modern Viewpoint on WWE NXT

Note from John: I lost a bet on the Canada/USA hockey game. As a result, one of the people I bet against chose to write a column for my blog. It’s a one time thing although if the response is good I may keep him on. Let him (and me) know what you think. It’s not a long column, but I think he gets his point across well.

The Modern Viewpoint on WWE NXT
By The Modern Native

Hi everybody, and welcome to a little column I like to call The Modern Viewpoint. I’m The Modern Native, and I am a retired pro wrestler, and a lifelong fan. I have opinions on wrestling both as a fan, and as someone who’s been there. I’m working on getting together a blog of my own at themodernviewpoint.wordpress.com, and this will be the inaugural column. If you like what you read, check me out sometime.

First off, I’d like to thank the US Olympic team for winning the hockey game last night. John, your fellow Canadians had a rough night last night, but at least Jericho is champ again. Seriously though, thanks for the column John. My first column will be about WWE NXT, because for as basic as the idea seems, the show already has a pretty decent amount of buzz. Some say it will be a cheap reality TV knockoff, some say it will be WWE’s third brand, and some just think it’ll be FCW. Here’s how I see things, and this is The Modern Viewpoint.

Monday Thoughts: Undertaker, Potential WWE Title Match, More…

– If you missed my Elimination Chamber recap the link to that is here. I liked the show. The two big matches were pretty good and newsworthy. The rest? Not so much.

– The big news coming from the show was that the Undertaker’s jacket got caught on fire during his entrance in the main event. In case you missed it, when Undertaker came out for the Elimination Chamber match the jacket was on fire, he ripped it off quickly and walked into the ring at a much quicker pace than normal. The announcers tried to put it over as him being anxious to get the match going, but it was a lot more serious than that. There’s an article in a blog for the St. Louis Riverfront Times that covered it. They got a statement from a WWE spokesman, Robert Zimmerman, who said it was “a mistiming with the pyrotechnics” and the Undertaker was only allowed to perform after being cleared by a ringside physician. Zimmerman added: “”Thank God he was fine. It basically amounted to a sunburn. It wasn’t over a large area of his body, just a short area, just a little bit on his chest.”

The John Report: WWE Elimination Chamber Recap

This won’t be a full play by play recap. It’s more of an extended thoughts type of deal. I watched my fellow Canadians lose to the US in hockey first, then I saw the main event of the PPV in full. The game ended at 10pmET, so it was perfect time because I caught the full SD Chamber match at that time. I’ve gone back to re-watch the first two hours of the show and I’m posting it now after 1am. Here we go.

John Cena won the WWE Title in the Raw Elimination Chamber Match (***1/4)
I thought it was well booked for the most part, but nothing amazing. The spots with Kofi showing his athleticism were really good because they could have just buried the guy. Instead, he got some good spots in there. I think they also did a good job of making a big deal out of the big bumps on the steel. The match picked up with Dibiase being the fifth guy in there. He worked together with Orton for a bit. It was interesting to see no eliminations in all that time. Kofi’s head getting squeezed through the cage was pretty gruesome, yet awesome at the same time. There was a big KO spot as Orton did his through the ropes DDT on Triple H onto the steel. That was pretty sick (in the good way). It even led to SERIOUS VOICES~! from Lawler. They really booked Orton strong for the match. It wasn’t really as a babyface or a heel, it was just as the dominant guy in the match. Cody Rhodes came out with a steel pipe, which he put through the Chamber. Dibiase hit Orton with it in the head first. Then he hit Cena in the gut. He pinned Orton and the crowd went nuts. They played it up as a huge moment. Great spot. A couple of minutes later, Kofi woke up and pinned Dibiase. Moments after that, Sheamus pinned Kofi with the move that they don’t call the Celtic Cross anymore. Sheamus was about to finish off Cena when HHH saved him with a low blow. He pinned Sheamus with a Pedigree leaving it to Cena and HHH. I thought for sure HHH was winning here to set up the rematch with Sheamus at WM26. I was wrong. Cena put the STF on HHH, Hunter tried his best to fight it off, but he couldn’t do it and he tapped out clean. Cena enjoyed the moment. It didn’t last long. The match went about 31 minutes.