2. The exchange between Black and Roderick Strong was pretty painful. I initially thought Roderick was so bad that it made Tyler look good, but they were both equally shaky. And the only guy in the ring who can talk (Cornette) understandably stayed out of it.

3. Steve Corino looks even worse physically than I thought he would. A singlet would probably be a much better idea than regular trunks for him. Again, I hope he is in ROH to mostly manage Kevin Steen, and maybe wrestle the occasional tag match with him (but not too often, as it wouldn’t make too much sense to break Steen out of a tag team only to put him in another one).

4. Corino and Steen’s match against Dempsey and Payne was little more than an extended squash, but an entertaining one, thanks mostly to Payne. I was worried when he blew a couple of spots to start, but he got some good “hope” offense in and sold the beating he received like a complete champ. Now that was some fine jobber work.

5. Amazing promo by the Wolves to hype their match with the Young Bucks. No one uses the popularity of MMA to build their character like the Wolves do. Their aura, their intensity, and their focus on kicking a**, not because of some contrived storyline, but because it’s their job and they love to do it (you know, like real fighters) . . . it works perfectly.

6. The Dark City Fight Club’s promo, on the hand, wasn’t nearly as good. Just generic angry yelling into the microphone. They’re a good piece of the puzzle in the ROH tag team scene as the “powerhouse team”, and better teams can look good by beating them if they continue to be booked as a threat, but I have no interest in seeing them hold the tag titles.

7. Aries pointed out something I noticed during the opening segment: it almost seemed like Cornette was coaching Black – trying to get him to stay focused on this weekend’s title match. This is a subtle way to add some intrigue to the match. Why wouldn’t Cornette, as the show’s Executive Producer (and therefore motivated by ratings and, ultimately, the bottom line), want the belt around the waist of the fan favorite?

8. I liked the tease of the same finish as the previous match between the Wolves and the Bucks, only to see the Bucks counter out of it this time. One of my favorite bits of storytelling in wrestling is when wrestlers demonstrate evolution by countering out of something they’ve fallen for in the past, or learning to prevent a counter to a move that’s been countered in the past (See Stone Cold’s use to the Million Dollar Dream, from Hart to Rock to Angle).

9. The tease to a Wolves breakup may have begun tonight, as Richards and Edwards seemed displeased with each other post-match (Hogewood teased it as well). With the Briscoes busy with the Kings of Wrestling, it may be as good a time as any to at least test the waters. I wouldn’t go as far as to predict a Richards vs. Edwards final to the TV Tite tournament, but I do think one of the two will win it.

10. Solid show overall this week. The main event wasn’t going to be as good as the last time these two teams fought on HDNet (which was awesome), but it was still a damn good match. The main event to this weekend’s big show received the proper amount of hype. The tag title division was once again put over as something important, and a couple of storylines were advanced. Most importantly, none of this was accomplished in a way that made me want to throw a brick through my TV screen (a feeling I get occasionally while watching WWE or TNA – mostly TNA).
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9. The lights going off used to signify Suicide, apparently now it’s the lead in for Mr Anderson. Makes me miss them using Suicide actually.

8. Every single time I see Bischoff I literally get the urge to either hit the fast forward button, or throw the remote through the TV. Both seem like appropriate responses.

7. I loved this when Foley said it, “Power should be limited to those who are not in love with it”.

6. So, this seems like the newest thing to do. Throw random people who’d finally given the in-ring career stuff a well deserved break, into a match that they aren’t going to be able to win. Great.

5. JB came back briefly to put yet another comparison there between WCW and TNA. Please stop writing reminders of WCW into the TNA shows. We all know how WCW died, and it smelled very similar to the stink leaving TNA at the moment.

4. Samoa Joe manages to make every match he is in interesting to watch.

3. Styles / Dinero was actually a really good match. Proof of what TNA talent is capable if given the chance.

2. I was left cringing for poor Tara and that little “wardrobe malfunction” at the end of the match. Mostly because it came at the end of what was a great match, and really overshadowed the work both women put into the match.

1. So, Foley needs just the one barbed wire bat, and Nash needs an entire shopping trolley of goods. Do you get the feeling that one party is much more confident in this type of match?
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9. I’m not against Alicia Fox, but I am against whoever made that horrific yellow-green outfit that she keeps wearing. Does she not look at herself before she walks out to a match?

8. Not sure why we keep getting Raw divas matches on Superstars, when the SmackDown divas are generally better in the ring. I know which brand I’d rather be watching on Superstars.

7. Wow, Katie Lea was on the winning team, it’s some sort of miracle. It was nice to see the heels go over for a change in this one.

6. Finally, Evan Bourne in a match that isn’t a total squash fest.

5. Evan Bourne vs. Carlito was really impressive, if you missed this week’s Superstars, go and find this match. It’s worth the effort.

4. It would also be great if we got matches like the Bourne / Carlito match during the actual Raw broadcasts. It’ll never happen, but it’d make a nice change.

3. At least Khali was used sparingly here, not giving him much time in a match is always a good idea.

2. The Hart Foundation were impressive as always, and they really should be winning the tag belts at some stage in 2010.

1. Don’t dance. Never dance. Especially never dance if all you’re doing is waving your arms around and bobbing up and down. No one looks good going the horrible Khali dance move.
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Opening Witty Banter
Real life and Super Sunday intervened. Apologies for the abbreviated column this week…

Let’s take some ‘E…

The News of the Week
WWE’s version of the Extreme Championship Wrestling brand will cease to be in three weeks.

Vince McMahon appeared on the February 2 edition of ECW to announce that ECW will go off the air in three weeks and will be replaced by the “next evolution” of WWE programming. According to PWInsider, the new program, which will be ECW’s current timeslot on the SyFy network, will be called WWE NXT, with NXT representing “Next Generation.” The final episode of ECW will be taped and air on Tuesday, February 23 from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. WWE NXT will debut on Tuesday, March 2 from Wichita, Kansas.

SyFy had become unhappy with ECW’s ratings for some time now, as when the program debuted in June 2006 it was getting high 2.0 Nielson ratings and was the network’s highest rated show. In the past year or so the program’s ratings have bottomed out to about a 1.0 weekly rating.

It is expected this type of formula will be employed by NXT, with young stars getting their first crack at television exposure. However there is no news yet on the fate of the ECW Championship, currently held by Christian.

WWE WrestleMania XXVII will be coming to Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday, April 3, 2011. The event will be held in the Georgia Dome.

A press conference was held yesterday, February 1, inside the Georgia Dome to announce the event. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Atlanta Sports Council President Gary Stokan, Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner, Ken Stewart and Atlanta Falcons President Rich McKay were on hand alongside WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon to make the announcement. WWE stars including John Cena, Big Show, Batista, Rey Mysterio, Mark Henry, Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres were also in attendance to hype up the announcement.

In addition to the actual WrestleMania event, a variety of events over “WrestleMania week,” including a Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a fan Axxess convention, an art auction, a golf tournament and a live Monday Night RAW taping will make Atlanta the wrestling capital of the world during that time.

The Georgia Dome has hosted other wrestling events in the past, most notably was the July 6, 1998 edition of WCW Monday Nitro that saw Bill Goldberg defeat Hulk Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. ATL has traditionally been a hotbed for rasslin’ and is the perfect spot WrestleMania.

Legendary pro wrestler Jack Brisco passed away early in the morning of February 1 from complications from a recent heart surgery. He was 68. Brisco (real name Freddie Joe Brisco) underwent a triple heart bypass several weeks ago and had been in a rehab center ever since to recover.

Brisco was a two time NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He was Champion for nearly the entire two and a half year period from July 1973 until December 1975. In addition to his success as NWA Champion, he held numerous regional titles throughout Georgia, Florida and around the country. He also formed a highly successful team with his younger brother Gerry Brisco, who is currently a road agent for World Wrestling Entertainment.

He was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2005 and alongside his brother was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.

The Road to…Elimination Chamber
Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship
Sheamus (c) v. Triple H v. Randy Orton v. John Cena v. Kofi Kingston v. Ted DiBiase

Elimination Chamber for the World Heavyweight Championship
The Undertaker v. John Morrison v. R-Truth v. CM Punk v. Rey Mysterio v. Chris Jericho

expected matches
Mickie James v. Beth Phoenix v. Michelle McCool for the Women’s Championship
MVP v. The Miz for the US Championship

Wrestler of the Week
Week of February 1 – 7: Edge
For the second week ago I have to give some love to Edge. While he didn’t wrestle this past week he still made his presence felt on both RAW and SmackDown. On RAW he solidified his new found “good guy” status by going toe-to-toe with Sheamus and putting the Irishman on his ass. Then on SmackDown he brought back The Cutting Edge, addressed Chris Jericho and found himself on the same side as his old “friend” The Undertaker.

RAW’s On Tonight! (actually last nite…)
NASCAR driver Carl Edwards will guest host RAW tonight from Lafayette, Louisiana. Edwards is apparently one of NASCAR’s top drivers of the day and is hugely successful in the circuit. He will be there to promote the start of NASCAR’s 2010 Sprint Cup season, which starts on February 14 with the famous Daytona 500. He has worked with WWE golden boy John Cena in the past. In 2007 Edwards was the driver who worked with Cena and taught him how to drive a NASCAR stock car on the reality show Fast Cars and Superstars – The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race. Months later, Cena starred in a Gillette Young Guns commercial with Edwards and other NASCAR drivers. Plus the show will chalked full of goodness including a triple threat Tag Title match between DX, The Straight Edge Society and The Miz & The Big Show (MizShow? Biz? The Reality Show?). In addition the finals of the Divas Championship tournament should transpire between Gail Kim and Maryse. And will Bret Hart make another appearance?

On Last Week’s Episode…
Eison brings the love for a super fun SmackDown that set the upcoming World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber.

Eison also covered Superstars, including a surprisingly fun Evan Bourne-Carlito match. What’s with these Colon boys and having good matches on the D-show?

Pulse was full of great RAW coverage, including Marshall’s live coverage, Innarelli’s 10 thoughts and Wheeler’s kick ass Judicial Review.

How They Rated
SmackDown! (1.22.10) –

Superstars (1.28.10) – 1.0

A.M. RAW (1.31.10) – .6

RAW (2.1.10) – 3.6

ECW (2.2.10) – 1.05

This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Perillo brings some great love to CHIKARA…
The always thought-provoking Skvarla has a great piece up about the infamous Bruno Sammartino.

Follow me on Twitter here.

For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.

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credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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Really? Another NASCAR host? What the hell did we do to deserve this?

Ugh, well I’ll make the best of it if you will. This is the penance we have to pay for having the awesome Shatner stint last week. If that’s the case, then bring on Ricky Bobby!

But, before we begin, I have some housecleaning to attend to. First, you can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/awheeler316 or you can friend me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000654073648. To paraphrase Bart Simpsons, “Ugh, I suddenly feel so dirty.” Speaking of lascivious behavior, I’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do. See, I received several responses last week based on some comments I made in “RAW is TekWar”, and I figured I would take a moment to address them.

First, someone took me to task for pointing out that I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t when it came to commenting on the Divas matches. I hate to disappoint this reader who believed I simply bend in whichever direction the fans want me to go, but I always print my personal opinions regarding the wrestling content without being swayed by the masses. Several months ago, I lambasted the WWE for allowing Mickie James to parade out to the ring dressed in provocative outfits despite the fact that she was getting noticeably rounder. It was not a full-on criticism of women looking “fat”, but it was something that was becoming ever more noticeable by not only me but my fiancé and my friends who all watch with varying degrees of a discerning eye. The fact that a Diva was being portrayed in such an unflattering light let me to call her Pudgy James. This unleashed the floodgates from fans who called me insensitive, rude and misogynistic. While their criticisms might have been valid (opinions are like assholes, everyone’s got ‘em), I felt that I was still entitled to mine. Flash forward to a few weeks ago and apparently the WWE had the same thoughts I had, hence the borderline tasteless Piggy James skits (I say borderline tasteless because there have been rumors that apparently she had an eating disorder, but rumors on the ‘Net tend to be about as accurate as notes scrawled on Sarah Palin’s hand).

Anyway, two weeks I actually put over a Divas match for not being that bad. Was it a technical marvel? Not even close. But what I have noticed is that the women are making an effort to get marginally better in the ring. No one is going to confuse them with Lou Thez (unless they start getting wicked cauliflower ears), but they are slowly but steadily improving beyond complete embarrassment. So, I said last week that I thought it was funny that I get called out for burying the Divas as much as I do for praising them, which was my only point. Nothing more, nothing less. I have no real fear in offending you all (though unlike some incendiary writers on the Internet, I don’t go out of my way to piss people off just for the sake of doing so and getting “clicks”), but I do tend to formulate my thoughts in a fairly logical manner. On this issue, however, I failed to spell out my point, so I figured I’d articulate it now. And believe me, if I didn’t wanna piss people off, I never would have mentioned…

Matt freakin’ Hardy. Holy shit did the floodgates bust open when I spoke ill of Matt Hardy last week. In burying MVP (someone, by the way, that few people were willing to stand up for), I mentioned that the only time Porter was truly over was when he was feuding with Matt Hardy because the fans would have rather cheered for Chris Masters than Matt. This led to all sorts of responses, from polite and well thought out e-mails (thanks to those folks who took the time to write them to awheeler316@yahoo.com, I assure you I read every word) to the comments down below (though one or two of you just figured that you’d call me an idiot for not liking Matt Hardy…coughmarkscough).

So I figured I would articulate my point a little further on why the ‘Net seems to have such a big problem with Matt Hardy. I will start this out by saying that I have no true ill will towards Matt Hardy, but at the same time I am baffled at the amount of people willing to jump to his support. I’m thrilled that there are still wrestling fans willing to stick up for their Superstar when they are being attacked, but still baffled.

First, there is a misconception that I have never been a Matt Hardy fan; to the contrary. In fact, in a Best of wrap up a few years back I was the guy who wrote about the MVP/Hardy feud and I put over the fact that it was very well done. I nominated it for feud of the year, and was thrilled to do the write-up for it. I thought that both guys did well in the feud and showed the WWE that there is merit to a midcard feud that elevates both guys. They became the template for the Miz/Morrison feud a few months back, and everyone pretty much agrees that the two of them did a great job as well.

My issue with Matt Hardy is the fact that he seems to carry himself with this sense of entitlement that just isn’t warranted. Matt has been given several chances to carry the ball, and at no point in time did he show that he could be “the man”. And that’s fine. There is a major market out there in the WWE for a capable midcarder who can pop the fans and do his job, and if Matt wanted to, he could fill that role for years to come. Unfortunately, Matt has constantly taken the opportunity to not only bite the hand that feeds him but to consistently break the top rule in the industry, which is to not be a mark for yourself. Yes, I know several wrestlers tend to do that, but Matt is the most egregious.

It is true that Matt Hardy gets a decent pop, but just how much of that pop comes from Jeff Hardy fans? Hell, he’s had the same theme song for so many years that the audience is conditioned to just pop for him regardless. Besides, if you wanna get in a pissing contest over pops, then listen to the ovation for R-Truth or for comedy acts like Santino and Khali get. Matt gets an initial pop but that doesn’t translate into much else. Trust me, if the WWE thought they could make more money with him, there’d be a plethora of Matt t-shirts and merchandise. At best, he sells because he was the Marty to Jeff’s Shawn.

In the ring, Matt has shown that he isn’t anything too special, and due to a combination of his injury and his lack of motivation, he hasn’t had a blockbuster match in quite some time. Again, I know there are several other stars you could make that argument for, but the evidence against Matt seems to pile up.

No one on this site had been a bigger supporter of Matt than myself. Hell, I included his return from being fired in my Best of the Decade column. I wanted to see Matt succeed because I wanted to show that the brother who stayed clean, kept his word and worked hard would be the successful one. Matt has shown that he can handle being a midcard guy and wasn’t bad as the ECW Champion, but for me to say that his act has grown stale (yes, others like Cena and DX have grown stale but more people buy a ticket to see them than those that go to see Jeff’s brother) or that he gives himself way too much credit despite not being a top draw isn’t an unfair criticism. He knows how to work the ‘Net, which is smart, but that alone doesn’t warrant the love that he gets.

This is the last I’m saying on the Matt Hardy issue. Are people going to disagree with me? Sure. But my disdain for him comes from a fairly justifiable place. Matt is terrible on the mic, he’s passable and borderline dull in the ring when he’s unmotivated, and he thinks way too highly of himself. As long as Jeff is a viable talent, Matt will have a job, but people need to kinda notice that they’re rooting for Rick Steiner with a pop.

Whew, enough of that, it’s time for…

The Judicial Review: RAW 2/8/2010

“If ya smell…”

We open with a replay of the Bret/Vince situation, and I think it’s odd that they went with the Cena run-in after the show went off the air. I’m not sure if it was due to a lack of time or a concentrated effort to make fans believe that action happens even after the show goes off the air, but having John Cena make the save and then get beaten down by Batista felt like a bigger moment than a simple Smackdown video recap package. I will give it to them, at least it was different.

Nickelback’s silverware in the garbage disposal theme song leads us to pyro and ballyhoo and we are LIVE from Louisiana. Tonight, it’s Straight Edge Society versus DX versus The Biz for the Undisputed Tag Titles. Also, the Smackdown package that showed us what happened on RAW will be shown tonight on RAW.

But first, Carl Edwards does donuts in the parking lot to show us that global warming is a myth and that there’s no such thing as a gas shortage. Wanna know why we pay around $3.00 a gallon? Because while people are trying to carpool, this guy is making circles on pavement.

The car pulls into the arena and it’s…oh come on…the fucking midget. The fucking midget is driving the car. Wacky, wacky shenanigans. For some reason Kelly Kelly is in the ring to introduce our guest star, and she’s dressed like a black and white cookie. Look to the cookie, Elaine.

Carl Edwards comes out with the Bella Twins, and I wouldn’t have picked this guy out of a lineup. He comes out to a Cypress Hill song because the WWE is on the cutting edge with the African American community. Carl climbs to the top rope and does a backflip, which looked impressive but would have made this an interesting show if he broke his neck.

Carl sucks up to the fans by talking about the Saints winning the Super Bowl before saying that the Super Bowl/Wrestlemania of NASCAR is the Daytona 500 on Sunday. My guess is the WWE tried to get Danica Patrick and she turned them down. Carl buries the other NASCAR guys who hosted (and rightfully so) before saying he’s friends with John Cena. Tis draws out de Doubya Doubya Eey Champun Sheamus.

“Muh Supah Bowl is in seven weeks ut Wrestlemania.” He says he has to win the Elimination Chamber and Sheamus demands that he be made the last participant in the RANDOM draw. Wait, this isn’t fixed, is it? Nah.

“Curl, I’m da champun, so yer a gust en mah show.” Sheamus then commits assault by saying that Edwards won’t make it to the show. This gets interrupted by…Christiain? Zuh? Did I just time travel to Tuesday? Great Scott!

Christian introduces himself and says that NASCAR is blowing up in Canada. He then makes a lame WNBA reference before saying Edge’s name, which gave me some crazy flashbacks. Christian is pissed that Edge didn’t namedrop him last week, but he then says that because ECW is vanishing and being replaced by NXT, the pieces fell into place. Sheamus calls him a lame duck champun before Christian dubs him snaggletooth for some reason. Christian makes fun of his hair and beard and lack of a tan, which gets a pop. Take THAT Matt Hardy (okay, I’ll stop now). Sheamus says the only thing funny is that Christian will be unemployed.

In two weeks, all the ECW stars are free agents so Christian decides to challenge Sheamus…tonight. Christian says that they should make history and have the ECW Champion against the WWE Champion. Yeah, call Taz and he’ll let you know how this is gonna work out. Christian gets a nice joke about how neither guy has a last name before a ref runs in and I guess this match is on.

Sheamus muscles Christian down to start and I hope they don’t just job Christian out like a Canadian Evan Bourne. Sheamus hits the Razor Ramon throwaway slam and clotheslines Christian into a…

Commercial.

We’re back and Sheamus charges Christian but he pulls down the ropes and Sheamus crashes to the outside. Christian leaps off the top rope to the outside and takes down the champun. Sheamus slams Christian’s arm into the steel steps before pausing to do his retard arm raise.

Later on tonight, we will find out who the first Hall of Fame inductee will be. My guess? Barry Horowitz. Come on, no love for the best Jewish jobber of all time?

Christiain springs off the second rope with a missile dropkick and unloads with punches. Sheamus dumps Christian over the top rope but Christian catches him and gets an elbow off the second rope. Christian leaps off the second rope but gets caught. He ducks the bicycle kick but gets caught with a clothesline. Cole calls Christian “spirited”, which is like saying your date has a nice personality.

Christian gets the spinning DDT for two and begins the clap to summon the Hail Mary. Cole asks how embarrassing it would be for Christian to beat him, which made me smack myself in the forehead involuntarily. Sheamus blocks it and hits the bicycle kick (after tossing Christian over the top rope for a THIRD time in the match). Sheamus hits the Razor’s Edge for the pin. Well I guess Creative didn’t completely forget how to make Sheamus look strong in a match. Too bad it had to come at Christian’s expense. Welcome back to RAW Christian, hope you like counting the lights.

DX is in the back watching RAW. Shawn says that he’s been a little distracted, but in 24 hours his world imploded. Thankfully he had his DX brand Prozac. I’m not proud of that joke. Hunter says that he did qualify for the Elimination Chamber and while going to DX sounds good, Hunter is going to do what he does in that Chamber. He’s going to hold down younger talent and then go to Wrestlemania. Shawn gets all pouty, channels Own Hart and says it’s all about Hunter.

Commercial.

Jerry “Generic RAW Shirt” Lawler and Michael “Casual Male” Cole throw us to the disturbing footage from last week, complete with a little Spanish guitar. Oh, and apparently the footage was from after the Cena/Sheamus dark match.

Teddy and Cody are in the back and Teddy says he’s proud of being in the Elimination Chamber. Cody says that while he had to face Cena, all Teddy had to do was beat Mark Henry. Teddy says that unlike Cody, he could beat Cena. Cody asks if the movie makes him better, and I think that no one can agree with that. Randy shows up and asks if Teddy thinks he’s better than him. Orton got word from the Guest Host and tonight Teddy is facing John Cena. Randy then finally questions Cody over his actions at the Rumble before saying he appreciates the effort…lip smack…but…lip smack…he’ll be facing…lip smack…Randy Orton.

Straight Edge Society is in the back with evil red backlighting, and they are strolling toward a…

Commercial.

We’re back and we’re getting the Unified Tag Team Championship Match. Sweet.

Out first is Luke Gallows and CM Punk, along with Serena. Much like action figures, each one comes out with his own accessory. Teddy Long is sitting ringside because he has a vested interest in what happens. In other words, something controversial is going to happen and the WWE doesn’t trust Carl Edwards to clear things up.

Punk has the microphone, and already this is a great RAW. CM Punk says that this region turns to drugs and alcohol in hard times. He says that it makes it sadder that when they celebrate little football game wins, they turns to drugs and alcohol. They are all weak and they don’t know another way. I guarantee.

Punk says that he will win the tag titles and show the fans why Straight Edge means he’s better than them. He is pure gold and a license for Vince to print money. The fans will pay good money to see him get his comeuppance.

CM Punk says that they have a celebrity in the stands. Unfortunately, that celebrity is Jared from Subway. Punk compares himself to Jared because they both preach life choices, and Punk nominates him to be the Ministry of Propaganda for him. Jared turns him down, and Punk delivers the most menacing line read ever of “Bring me Jared from Subway.”

Jared gets saved by DX’s theme music, as apparently the mere sound of their song freezes heels in their tracks. Cole says that everyone wants to be part of their society. Yeah, maybe fourteen years ago. Sorry Jeff Jarrett, Shane Douglas, and Chris Candido.

DX throws glowsticks out but Shawn appears to be phoning it in to sell his Psycho Sid turn. I guess this means DX is winding down. Again.

Awesome, here comes The Biz. Each guy gets his own entrance, and I’m glad to see that Big Show has gone back to his black outfit instead of the purple one he’s been sporting. Before the bell rings, DX clears out everyone, including us as we go to…

Commercial.

We’re back and CM Punk and Shawn Michaels are in the ring. Just based on the fact that if Punk wins we’d get him on RAW every week gives me enough reason to root for them. My guess, however, is that Biz is going to win because they have nothing else to do at Elimination Chamber.

Hunter, Gallows and Big Show are now all in the ring and the fans acquiesce and cheer for Triple H. Show headbutts everyone and then does his standard big guy offense. Hunter goes for a Pedigree but he gets launched over the top rope. Really? That spot again? Really? I need a…

Commercial.

We’re back and it’s now Miz, Hunter and Punk. Punk now hits a dropkick on Miz for two before Miz gets a jawbreaker. Miz then hits his running clothesline in the corner but Serena pulls him out of the ring and he runs into a Spinebuster outside the ring. Show goes to console his partner as Hunter tags in Shawn. Michaels goes after Punk in what would probably be one of the few dream matches the WWE could effectively pull off.

Michaels goes for the elbow and almost blows the spot entirely before connecting. He goes for the Superkick but Gallows comes into the ring and stops Shawn. Hunter takes him out and Shawn hits the Superkick to eliminate Punk and Gallows. Yep, Biz is winning this one.

Big Show clotheslines DX before working over Shawn. Michaels gets walloped for a while before beginning another comeback. Big Show hits a sideslam to stop that but it only gets two. Show tags in Miz who locks in a resthold. Miz goes for the SCF but Shawn counters and goes again for the hot tag. Big Show gets tagged and stops him before eating a Superkick. Shawn finally makes the tag and Hunter gets to wallop Miz. Hunter hits the high knee and the Spinebuster but Shawn tags himself in. Miz rolls Shawn up and it’s over. Miz and Show celebrate as DX is in the ring pouting. Shawn throws off his sweatbands again (look how durable that merchandise is, it withstands a hissyfit) and he storms off to go find his smile. No, I didn’t just make that hackneyed joke.

Tonight it’s Marine versus Marine and Cody versus Randy.

Commercial.

We’re back and Cypress Hill is the official theme song for Elimination Chamber. Unfortunately, they aren’t performing with the London Philharmonic.

Replays abound as The Biz are your new tag champions and DX continues down the Ike/Tine Turner path.

Biz is in the back with Tiny Orton and Big Show is gloating about having beaten DX on their first chance. Miz promises to win all the gold. He calls them the Miz-Show but Big Show says it should be Show-Miz, and I still like The Biz.

Shawn is in the back and he asks Carl Ito and Alicia Jackson where “he” is. Shawn then grabs Teddy and asks to be traded to Smackdown. He says that he should be in the Smackdown Elimination Chamber but that match is set. R-Truth earned that spot, damnit.

Hunter says that Shawn is throwing his career away and Shawn says that it’s already over before Superkicking Teddy Long. Happy Black History Month, folks.

Commercial.

We’re back with a replay of last week’s Fox/Kim match. We then go to a replay of Shawn killing Teddy Long, in case our memory doesn’t extend past five minutes. I’m looking at you, stoners.

Cole and Lawler say that Shawn’s obsession has taken him to a place he’s never been. Maryse is ringside as apparently Gail Kim and Jillian Hall get no entrances. Maryse calls Cole a Vintage Nerd. Meh. Jillian hall rams Gail’s head into the mat as Maryse talks about how reprehensible the Smackdown heels have been. Gail then out of nowhere hits that boot jawbreaker thing for the pin. Maryse then congratulates her before saying she’s a big fan and looks forward to their match in two weeks. She then starts talking in French, so my guess is she is burying Gail to her face.

The first inductee to the 2010 Hall of Fame is…Ted DiBiase. Awesome. I could not agree with that pick any more. We get several snippets of Ted’s greatness, including him buying a public pool and costing a kid money in a basketball contest. We then see Ted getting his Million Dollar Belt before seeing him lock in the Million Dollar Dream onto a bunch of random jobbers. The package then mentions how Ted has led to his son Teddy’s success.

Tonight: Cena versus Teddy. But first, Cody Rhodes versus Randy Orton.

Commercial.

Did You Know? A fuckton of people watched RAW last week.

In the back, Carl Edwards and Jared have a MENSA meeting before Santino shows up. He sings the Subway song in his boss new shirt. Apparently now you can get any footlong for five dollars. Speaking of lukewarm ideas, Carl Edwards books Santino/Swagger for Superstars. Kofi shows up and Carl apologizes for not booking him this week. Kofi says that next week all the Elimination Chamber contestants should face off in random matches to be decided by…Jerry Springer. Wow, he’s gotten old.

The guys are in the back and apparently the audio screwed up so we uncomfortably fade to Cody Rhodes, who after months of living the high life, has finally lost his full entrance privileges. Randy Orton, on the other hand, gets his full entrance. I like how he’s kinda sorta growing out the hair, because I’m sure he’s sick of being mistaken for Josh Matthews.

The battle of the baby oil starts with a shoving match. Randy berates Cody so Cody slaps him. Randy punches him but Cody dropkicks him for two. The fans have no clue what to do here, since Cody has clearly become the more heelish of the Priceless duo.

Cody leaps off the top rope but Randy ducks out of the way and he starts pounding the mat like a…hmm…Cole, help me out here. Ah yes, a Viper. Sheamus out of nowhere slides into the ring (which he botches), and as he slides out Randy turns around and gets hit with Crossrhodes for the pin.

Sheamus now enters the ring successfully before hitting the bicycle kick and the retard yelp. Cody shows up with a chair to save Orton from Sheamus.

Cole doesn’t oversell it at all, but here is that disturbing, disgusting, awful footage that will make you lose your belief in a higher power. You know the footage. We hear Spanish Guitar but then BATISTA runs out and by gawd he beats down John Cena.

Cena somehow survived that heinous and unconscionable assault and he’s in the back with orange backlighting and he’s heading to the ring right towards a…

Commercial.

Josh Matthews is in the back with Carl Edwards who says that next week all six participants will meet up. First, Sheamus will face Randy Orton. Next, Ted DiBiase will face Kofi Kingston. Finally, it’ll be Triple H versus John Cena.

Ted DiBiase gets a full entrance, so take that Cody. Cena runs out and he just wails on Teddy. DiBiase is on the outside and there is a POOL of baby oil from where he landed. Seriously, Moses has less liquid to part.

Cena is roiding out as he locks in the STFU on the outside (yes, I know Cena’s clean) and the ref says that’ll do pig. John gets the microphone and says he ain’t wasting and he ain’t missin’ Batista at all. Cena challenges Batista to come and finish him off, and I defy anyone to say that wrestling is even slightly homoerotic.

We then fade to an awkward…

Commercial.

So there’s a video game based on “Dante’s Inferno” that uses “Ain’t No Sunshine”? That is WAY too classy.

We’re back and Cena says that Batista should be scared for his life. Cena then thinks that maybe this was a business decision. John then adds it all up and thinks that Vince McMahon did this, because he doesn’t take kindly to people who don’t take kindly.

Cena then calls out Vince McMahon. Vince comes out with the full Austin treatment of random security guys. John says that he’s disappointed that Vince thinks they’ll stop him. He says that next time Vince should bring a tank. I wonder if he can get the same rate he did for DX.

Vince admits that it was him, it was him all along. He screwed Bret again and he paid Batista to attack Hart, but he says he had nothing to do with Batista attacking Cena. Vince says that maybe it happened because Cena eliminated Batista, or maybe it’s because Batista doesn’t like him. He doesn’t like you. I don’t like you. Cena then chops off Vince’s hand. Oh wait, wrong program.

Cena says that Vince only cares about the all ighty ollar. John says that everyone has to make a living but Cena doesn’t do it for the money but rather for his love of the game. Sure. So does this mean he’s donating his paycheck to Haiti?

John says you can’t put a price tag on the fans chanting for him. I’m pretty sure you can. It’s called an admission ticket. Cena says that this is what guys like future Hall of Famers like Ted DiBiase do this for. Um…didn’t you just kill his kid? Apparently Cena got a call from Bret Hart and Bret wants to wrestle one more match. He wants to wrestle at Wrestlemania against…Vince McMahon.

Vince says that Bret wants none of that. Cena asks if Vince is about the money or the moment. McMahon says he’s about both but that Bret wants none of him. What’s it gonna be, yes or no? Anyone else having Meatloaf flashbacks?

Vince accepts the match. John says thanks for answering but Vince has one more person left to tell. Vince says that Bret doesn’t wanna be embarrassed again. We see this video package AGAIN. Jesus, just throw this video package over the top rope and get it over with.

Bret runs out from the crowd and he starts throwing awkward punches at Vince before stomping on security awkwardly. He then launches one of them out of the ring, and at least that looked good. Hart grabs a chair and Vince says that he won’t face Bret at Mania, because he deserves to be screwed. Bret chases everyone out and then starts breaking stuff because he’s angry. Hart then trashes the announce position.

Hart stands in the center of the ring looking confused and angry as his music plays. He mouths that he’s right there and that’ll do it.

This has been for your consideration.

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1. Hornswoggle coming out in the race car was actually pretty cool.  It definitely surprised me.  Who do you think was driving?  He couldn’t reach the pedals, could he?
2. Carl Edwards is much better on the mic than his NASCAR counterparts were a few months back.  His opening segment was pretty good.  Then Christian comes out and I cheered like a 4 year old.  Seriously, I cheered out loud.  I haven’t done that in a while.  “Snaggletooth”.  HA!  Now the opening segment is great.
3. Christian vs. Sheamus was decent.  Probably the best match Sheamus has been involved in.  I understand that Sheamus needs to look strong and the WWE title is “bigger” than the ECW one, but I hated to see Christian jobbing there.  At least he was on RAW.
4. I’m surprised that the Batista beat down of John Cena wasn’t on live TV.  Would’ve been great to be a part of the crowd at the event though.
5. It would’ve been great if the Straight Edge Society beat up Jared from Subway.  Just saying.
6. The Triple Threat match for the tag titles was pretty good.  It did it’s job of creating further tension within DX and it’s going to be fun to watch the Miz walk down the aisle with 3 belts.  I still think the straps should’ve gone on Punk and Gallows though.  Michaels going crazy later on and superkicking Teddy Long and proclaiming “My career is over” is genius.
7. I thought ShowMiz’ interview after winning the belts was hilarious.  First, Big Show addresses Chris Jericho and states that Miz treats him as an equal.  Then, when the Miz tries to name the team MizShow, Big Show sets him straight and Miz agrees in an “okay, whatever you say” kinda way.  This is going to be a fun team to watch.
8. I’m shocked that Cody Rhodes beat Randy Orton even if it’s with help from Sheamus.  It looks like we really are going to get an Orton face turn.
9. John Cena going crazy and beating up DiBiase was kinda dumb.  If you’re trying to get DiBiase over as a legitimate main eventer by putting him in the Elimination Chamber match,  you can’t have him be punked by Cena.  It makes him look too weak.  Where’s Evan Bourne when you need him?  Isn’t that the whole reason he’s on RAW?
10. I love full-on heel Vince McMahon.  His strut gets better week in and week out.  And then screaming “you deserve to be screwed” while running away from Bret Hart is perfect heel behavior.

Another good RAW this week.  I can’t wait for next week with Jerry Springer as guest host!
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Will the Diva’s Championship also be on the line tonight? It’s the one match everyone wants to see (not really) as Maryse and Gail Kim battle it out for the right to be called the Diva’s Champion. Does it happen tonight? Keep it to the Pulse to find out!

One week after Bret Hart and John Cena found themselves on the wrong side of “The Animal”, will John Cena address Mr. McMahon’s muscle after exclusive footage seen Cena get powerbombed onto the steel steps last week? Is revenge on Cena’s mind and what part will Bret Hart play in this new twist?

Sheamus has five hungry challengers wanting to end his title reign. Will he show the WWE Universe just why he deserves to be the WWE Champion?

All that and MORE as Inside Pulse Wrestling has your live coverage of MONDAY NIGHT RAW in a matter of minutes!

Opening recap from last week: Bret Hart deserves to be screwed.

TIME…TO…GET…RAW!

Tonight’s main event is now an ELIMINATION MATCH! AWESOME!

We also have exclusive footage on Batista’s attack on John Cena.

We go back a few months ago…oh wait, that’s a new car. You’re saying that we gotta have the same entrance as a few weeks ago? Wow. No cheesy music for Ca….WAIT A MOMENT. Hornswoggle is your driver and I ask HOW DOES HE REACH THE PEDALS! Kelly Kelly must be your guest ring announcer tonight or something. She introduces Carl Edwards and he comes out to “Rise Up” by Cypress Hill and is accompanied by the Bella Twins. He does the flip off the top rope. We get our Super Bowl plug in tonight. WHO DAT? We also get our plug for the Daytona 500. The crowd is silent for that one. Supposedly when Carl Edwards wins next week, John Cena will be with him in Victory Lane. That wakes the crowd up and brings Sheamus out.

Sheamus demands to be named the last participant in the Chamber match. He gets mouthy with our guest host and we get a surprising entrance from our ECW Champion, Christian! Christian introduces himself and says he is a huge NASCAR fan. Sheamus is pissed off at Christian’s appearance. At first, Christian was pissed off that Edge never mentioned Christian or the ECW Title. But it made sense when ECW would go down the crapper. That makes him a lame duck champion. We get the jokes on Sheamus and Sheamus claims that in two weeks, Christian would be unemployed. Not so fast…in two weeks, the ECW stars will be free agents. Christian laids out a challenge to the WWE Champion. What better time than right now?

WWE Champion v. ECW Champion: Sheamus v. Christian

The bell rings and here we go! They lock up and Sheamus hits an armdrag on Christian. Another lockup and Sheamus tees off on Christian. At the ropes, Christian looks for a crossbody, but Christian gets caught and is subjected to a fallaway slam. He gets sent out of the ring and we go to commercials!

Commercials.

We’re back as Sheamus is still in control of Christian. Christian telegraphs Sheamus in the ring and he follows with a shoulder takedown. Christian blocks the Irish Whip and Christian allows Sheamus to take himself out of the ring. SPRINGBOARD PLANCHA OFF THE TOP CONNECTS ON SHEAMUS! Sheamus catches Christian at the ring post and he snaps the arm in place. The count gets broke up and Sheamus rams Christian into the retaining wall. Back in the ring, Sheamus works on the injured arm. Cover gets two. Christian is on his stomach and Sheamus works on the arm some more. They work in the corner a bit and Christian scores a missile dropkick! HE IS FEELING IT! He goes after Sheamus and he scores a slap to the face. Christian hangs on the apron and he drops Sheamus on the ropes. Elbow drop connects and Sheamus catches Christian off the ropes. The backbreaker attempt is blocked. They miss each other, but Sheamus finds a clothesline. PELE KICK! TORNADO DDT CONNECTS! PIN! TWO COUNT ONLY! He looks for the Killswitch…Sheamus counters, but Christian hangs on. Christian misses the missile dropkick and Sheamus hits the Pump Kick! The Razor’s Edge (seriously, can we get a finisher name for this? I heard the Celtic Cross among other things) finishes.

Winner: Sheamus
Grade: C+

Backstage, Triple H watches with no emotion and Shawn waltzes in the room. Shawn is looking for DX to be a part of Wrestlemania. However, Triple H has other plans and he intends on winning the WWE Title. Shawn replies “So it’s all about you now?”.

Up next: EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE!

Commercials.

WWE Slam of the Week: Stu Hart won’t be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame. That almost earned Vince McMahon a Sharpshooter. Then Batista gets involved. Vince then spits in Bret’s face.

Jerry Lawler goes to heel mode and says that Vince found closure by spitting in Bret’s face.

We get the exclusive footage of John Cena helping Bret Hart. This brings Batista back out in the ring and HE DESTROYS CENA! BATISTA BOMB ON THE STEEL STEPS!

Backstage, Cody talks to Ted and Ted is proud that he is in the Elimination Chamber. Cody claims that he had the harder match and is jealous of Ted’s success. Ted then says that he is better than Cody Rhodes and in comes Randy Orton and he asks if Ted is better than him. So tonight, Ted gets John Cena and Cody Rhodes gets him tonight. Interesting.

The Unified Tag Team Titles are line…NEXT!

Commercials.

We’re back and the Straightedge Society makes their way to the ring. Mic time for CM Punk and he tries to save the crowd. He vows that the sXs will win the Unified Tag Team Titles. We have a celebrity in the house…The Subway Guy! Punk wants Jared to be the Spokesperson for the sXs. Jared wants no part of this. Too bad as Luke and Serena decide to take matters into their own hands.

Not so fast…ARE YOU READY?

Unified World Tag Team Championships: CM Punk & Luke Gallows v. DX v. The Miz & Big Show

Balls to the Wall from the get go and DX throws everyone out of the ring. The match hasn’t officially started, but it will after these messages!

Commercials.

We’re back and Punk has Michaels in dire straits. Big Show crushes both of them and he finds himself in the ring with Trips and Luke Gallows. Trips and Gallows team up, but Big Show no-sells them both and he takes it to Gallows. Chop in the corner for Gallows and one for Trips. Here comes the Game and he hits the knee smash. Pedigree attempt, but he takes an over-the-top-rope bump and Punk gets tagged into the fray. Break time again.

Commercials.

Back from break, CM Punk is owning both Triple H and the Miz. The Miz finds himself giving the punishment until the Game takes their heads off! Dropkick by Punk and he covers for two. Miz charges at Punk in the corner and Serena DROPS MIZ LIKE A BAD HABIT! Miz chases after her and he gets PLANTED BY TRIPLE H! Punk keeps Trips away, but HERE COMES SHAWN! Kip up by Shawn and he goes for the Atomic Drop! Scoop slam connects and he goes up top. Elbow Drop connects! He tunes the band and LUKE GALLOWS LEVELS SHAWN! GTS Attempt…COUNTERED TO SWEET CHIN MUSIC! Punk is eliminated!

Eliminated: CM Punk & Luke Gallows

Big Show levels DX and he stalks Shawn. He says Shawn is weak and he gives a headbutt. Gut punch connects and the Miz scores a cheap shot. Show steps on Shawn and he stalks him. Shawn tries to battle back, but with Big Show it’s impossible. Show eats a kick twice on a corner charge. Shawn walks into a side slam and that gets a two count. Tag to the Miz and he takes it to Shawn. Boot to the face connects and that gets another two count. Headlock applied. Shawn gets the second coming of Christ, but Miz plants him with a neckbreaker. Skull Crushing Finale attempt is…blocked. Miz tags Big Show and he pulls Michaels away. SWEET CHIN MUSIC CONNECTS! TAGS ALL AROUND! Trips takes it to the Miz! High knee connects and the Miz eats another knee. SPINEBUSTER CONNECTS! Michaels tags himself in?! Miz shoves Michaels into Triple H…SCHOOLBOY! NEW CHAMPIONS!

Winners: The Big Show & The Miz
Grade: B+

The Miz is now walking around with about 30 pounds of gold now. In the ring, Triple H is giving Shawn a deathly stare. Shawn takes off the DX grub and he leaves the ring disgusted. Triple H is all “WTF”?

Commercials.

We’re back and we recap our last match. Josh Matthews are with the new champions and Big Show mouths Chris Jericho. They are The MizShow and they are awesome. Actually, Big Show likes the name ShowMiz better. Miz won’t argue with that.

We recap the two main events for WWE Elimination Chamber.

Backstage, Shawn Michaels is pissed off and he finds Teddy Long. He wants traded to SmackDown. What about DX? Shawn doesn’t care. His mind is back on the Elimination Chamber. Carlito wants in the segment so bad that he tries to get closer and he smiles as if he is like “LOOK MOM, I’M ON TV!” Triple H asks Shawn if he wants to throw his career away. It’s already over and he kicks T-Lo in the teeth. Shawn’s crazy!

Commercials.

We’re back and Shawn’s obsession with the Undertaker is taking him to a place of no return. Joining the commentary is Maryse and we get news that the Divas Title match promised on RAW last week and thought to be on tonight…will take place at the Elimination Chamber Pay-Per-View because the WWE wants us to pay for the match. Maryse calls Michael her favorite Vintage Nerd. HAHA! Michael Cole redeems himself for the past few years by taking the name and saying that it’s her pet name for him. Oh. My. God. We have a match and no one told me?

Jillian Hall v. Gail Kim

In progress, Jillian takes it to Gail. SHE SWEEPS THE LEG and scores a two count. Maryse was OFFENDED at the Mickie James/Michelle McCool angle. Feet to the face by Gail and the match is already over.

Winner: Gail Kim
Grade: FTS

Maryse gets on the mic and she continues the respect angle and she wants the best match of her life with her. She speaks French and Gail should actually understand this. They shake hands and we get no confrontation.

WWE Hall of Fame Inductee: Ted DiBiase, Sr.

Commercials.

Our weekly Santino segment. He messes up the $5 Footlong commercials. Jared plugs the current Subway special. He hands Santino a Subway gift card. Santino wants Jack Swagger and we’ll get that Thursday on Superstars! Kofi Kingston is here and he is not worried about not being booked tonight. Next week, he wants all six members of the Elimination Chamber in random matches. So next week, Jerry Springer makes those matches.

Weird.

Cody Rhodes v. Randy Orton

The bell rings and they stare each other down. Orton shoves to start and they mouth each other. Cody acts like the b*tch until Cody raises his voice. BITCH SLAP BY RHODES and Orton kicks him in the gut. Dropkick by Rhodes gets a two count. They lock up and Cody is the aggressor. Orton tees off on Rhodes until Rhodes gets a side Russian leg sweep for two. Orton hangs Rhodes off the ropes to take back control. Orton tees off on Rhodes again in the corner and he picks Rhodes up on top of another corner. Superplex attempt is blocked and Rhodes looks for the crossbody…but misses. Orton looks for the RKO…Sheamus gets involved. Rhodes capitalizes and hits the CrossRhodes for the win! Shocking!

Winner: Cody Rhodes
Grade: C-

Sheamus isn’t done as he hits the pump kick on Orton. He looks for more punishment, but Rhodes has a steel chair and Sheamus thinks discretion is the better part of valor.

We get shown the devastating attack on John Cena last week once again.

Commercials.

Josh Matthews is with Carl Edwards, who has a major announcement. Next week on RAW, the six Elimination Chamber opponents will face off in singles matches. We get Sheamus/Orton; Kingston/DiBiase; and Triple H/John Cena.

Ted DiBiase v. John Cena

CENA BEATS THE HELL OUT OF TED DIBIASE! He tosses DiBiase out of the ring and he THROWS DiBiase against the retaining wall. CENA HAS SNAPPED! STF applied on the outside and DiBiase taps out. The referee wants Cena to let him go and we get more referees out on the scene.

Result: No Contest

Cena isn’t here for a match and he isn’t going to waste anymore time. He wants Dave Batista and he wants him NOW! Batista was ordered to take Cena out and he didn’t succeed. He wants Batista to come out and face the JOB. Batista doesn’t answer and we go to break.

Commercials.

We’re back and John Cena is still in the ring talking to the fans. Cena says that Batista is afraid of showing up for Monday Night RAW. He should be. Cena talks about a business decision and it dawns on him that Vince had to be in on this. If Cena can’t fight Batista, then he wants to talk to Vince McMahon. Vince obliges. He comes out with a swagger, but he stays on the stage and he brings out a team of security detail. Vince wants Cena to say what is on his mind. Cena pokes fun that it takes a tank to stop Cena. He gives Vince two choices. Talk like men or send the security detail in and watch them get mowed down. Vince says that he is man enough. We go into the Adam and Eve story. He admits that he brought Batista out just so he could screw Bret Hart again. Vince denies having anything to do with Batista attacking him. It could have been Cena eliminating Batista from the Rumble. Vince admits that he does not like John Cena. He doesn’t like the orange colors, the Louisiana Hastings. He hates Cena personally, but he LOVES Cena on a business sense. Cena gets unglued and it’s all about the damned dollar. Cena says that Vince does it for the money and he does it because he loves it. He vows that he will leave the Elimination Chamber as the WWE Champion. He says that he talked to Bret Hart and he wants another moment. He wants to wrestle another match! He wants to wrestle another match at Wrestlemania and he wants that opponent to be Vince McMahon! Vince says that is the one thing Bret doesn’t want. Cena says that is what he wants and the spotlight is now on Vince. Is he about the money or is he about the moment. He says that Bret doesn’t want any of him. Cena asks him “Yes or No”? Vince tells Cena to shut up and he says that he’ll do it! Cena thanks him and says that he has one more person to say yes to. Vince talks to Bret, who has to be at home just why he doesn’t want a piece of Vince McMahon. Cue the recap from last week.

That is why Bret doesn’t want Vince. HERE COMES BRET! He attacks Vince and he attacks the security detail as well. Vince changes his mind and he says no because Bret deserves to be screwed. He runs away and Bret destroys the equipment in the process. He returns ringside to destroy more equipment. He stands inside the ring and he surrounds himself with the fans as his music plays.

Show Over.

The Final Pulse

This week’s show scored a C if you count the abortion of the Diva’s match or a B- if you pretend it didn’t happen. Once again, the main event segment was awesome even though I was more intrigued for an actual match with Cena and DiBiase. Overall, Carl Edwards was the better guest host than the other two NASCAR punks we had a while back. Not a bad week this week. Wrestlemania season has officially begun!

I won’t be around next week, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy the replacement I have lined up for you. Enjoy Jerry Springer next week and have a great week!
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The dark match between Sheamus and John Cena, which ended with Batista running in to attack Cena and powerbomb him on the ring steps, led to Cena directing Sheamus in the aftermath. Sheamus was standing over the fallen Cena with the title belt but it was evident to the live crowd sitting nearby that Cena instructed Sheamus, telling him “Put the fucking mic down, start to pick me up and drag me to the middle of the ring… OK, stand above me and hold the belt in the air… Go around the ring when you’re facing the announcers both with the belt in the air, I am going to get up and FU you.” This then led to Cena recovering and giving Sheamus the Attitude Adjustment to send the crowd home happy.

credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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My personally opinion – and I think the opinion of a lot of fans – is that Vince McMahon simply wanted to stop fans from chanting “ECW” when they saw someone they either didn’t like or they did like and one of the most difficult things to sanitize on tape is crowd sound. So if you see the crowd chanting “ECW” and their fist is pounding three times and they try to sanitize that with crowd cheers, it’s very obvious. So, from a production standpoint, I think Vince McMahon thought he had an agenda that he had to adhere to.

He also talks about the state of wrestling (he considers TNA a company that’s done nothing with all of Dixie Carter’s investment in it), the genesis of the original ECW, what Vince could have done with ECW as a separate promotion in 2001, and more.
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Below are results from CHIKARA’s “A Touch of Class” event that took place on the thirty-first of January, as well as the Dragon Gate USA pay-per-view taping of “Fearless”, which featured several CHIKARA stars across the card.

“Fearless” results; Chicago, IL (1.23.2010)

- To start the show, Brian Kendrick and Jon Moxley called out recently released WWE superstar, Tommy Dreamer, to the ring, but Dreamer did not bother responding to them.

● TJP defeated Gran Akuma via submission with the Figure Four Deathlock.

● Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw beat CIMA and Super Crazy via pinfall after Jigsaw nailed the two of them with a double DDT.

● Brian Kendrick defeated Jimmy Jacobs via pinfall with a roll-up. Lacey acted as a major distraction for Jacobs, as she kissed him, which led to the eventual finish.

- Following the match, Jimmy Jacobs insulted Brian Kendrick’s wife. Seconds after making this comment, Jon Moxley took Jacobs out with a clothesline. Tommy Dreamer made the save for Jimmy Jacobs, which eventually resulted in a DDT.

● FIP World Heavyweight Championship: Davey Richards defeated Masaaki Machizuki via submission with a Kimura to win the title.

● Elimination tag team match: Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino [WORLD-1] beat Shingo and YAMATO [KAMIKAZE], as well as Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson [The Young Bucks] via submission when Yoshino forced YAMATO to tap to the Sol Naciente.

● Open The Freedom Gate Championship: BxB Hulk defeated Dragon Kid via pinfall with the EVO to retain his belt.

- Davey Richards, Gran Akuma, and YAMATO attacked BxB Hulk afterwards. Arik Cannon and Shiima Xion tried  helping out Hulk, but they got brushed aside rather easily. The tandem of Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Hallowicked, Lince Dorado, and CIMA are enough to clear the ring of the heels. CIMA then turned on everyone by cleaning the house, as he posed alone to end the pay-per-view taping.

“A Touch of Class” results; Philadelphia, PA (1.31.2010)

● Pinkie “Pink Ant” Sanchez defeated Green Ant (12:49) via pinfall with the Burning Hammer.

● Dasher Hatfield, Sugar Dunkerton [The Throwbacks], and Player Uno beat Vin Gerard, STIGMA, and Colin Delaney [The UnStable] (10:01) after Dasher nailed Colin with the Grand Slam. Throughout the course of the match, Create-A-Wrestler transformed into Ultimo Breakfast and finally, Dasher Hatfield, which is the gimmick he will have permanently from this point forward.

● Daizee Haze and Sara Del Rey [Bruderschaft des Kreuzes] beat Ophidian and Amasis [The Osirian Portal] (7:21) via pinfall after Haze hit a German suplex on Ophidian. One point for the females of the Bruderschaft.

● Hallowicked defeated Brodie Lee (8:14) via pinfall with the Rydeen Bomb.

● UltraMantis Black, Delirious, and Crossbones [The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple] beat Pelle Primeau, Grizzly Redwood, and Andy “Right Leg” Ridge (9:48) via pinfall when UltraMantis nailed Ridge with the Praying Mantis Bomb.

● Young Lions Cup match: Tim Donst defeated Player Dos (13:36) via submission with the inverted CHIKARA Special to win the title.

- Lince Dorado turned his back on his former tecnico friends by revealing himself to be the newest member of the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes before the match began. Of all people in the locker room, Eddie Kingston took Lince Dorado’s spot on the tecnico side.

● Ares, Claudio Castagnoli, Tursas, and Lince Dorado [Bruderschaft des Kreuzes] beat Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen, and Eddie Kingston (14:32) via pinfall after Castagnoli caught Kingston with a schoolboy.

● Campeonatos de Parejas match; 2/3 falls – Fire Ant and Soldier Ant [The Colony] beat Gran Akuma and Icarus [F.I.S.T.] (22:46) via pinfall by the score of 2 falls to 1 after Fire locked Akuma into a prawn hold.

CHIKARA has been on a roll this year by slowly, but noticeably updating their event schedule for 2010. Many returning and new locations have already been revealed, including returns to Easton, Philadelphia, Reading, Pottsville, and Cleveland. 2010 will also see CHIKARA debut in towns such as Fairfield, Tyngsboro, Union City, and Taylor.

“The Mint Condition” card; Reading, PA (2.27.2010)

Fire Ant, Soldier Ant, and Green Ant of the Colony will certainly have their hands full come “The Mint Condition”, as they take on the Bruderschaft trio of Pinkie “Pink Ant” Sanchez, Daizee Haze, and Lince Dorado. When it comes to trios matches, there may not be a team on the CHIKARA roster that has a better win-loss record than the Colony. As the newest member of the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes, Lince Dorado will certainly be looking to prove that he’s worthy of hanging with the baddest group in all of CHIKARA. Will the Bruderschaft continue to dominate or will the Colony manage to mark down BDK’s first loss of 2010?

Straight after teaming up at “A Touch of Class” in Philly, the team of “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush, the “Wrestling Riddle” Jigsaw, Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen, and Helios will take on the also somewhat experienced quartet of Vin Gerard, STIGMA, Colin Delaney, and Brodie Lee. The UnStable and Brodie Lee wound up pounding the Throwbacks and the Colony in an eight-man tag match at “Three-Fisted Tales” and will be looking to continue that recent success against Quack and the Future Is Now. Will tecnicos or rudos walk out of this eight-man tag match victoriously in Reading at “The Mint Condition”?

You may call him the “King of Diamonds” or maybe even the “Last of a Dying Breed”. However, in a recent special update, Kingston referred to himself as the man that built CHIKARA on his own shoulders. Tursas is the newest member of the CHIKARA roster, clearly trying to prove that he is a threat to everyone in the locker room. Unfortunately for Tursas, Kingston has faired fairly well against rookies in the past. If you don’t believe me, ask Tim Donst or Lince Dorado. The exception with Tursas, though, is that Lince and Donst are not even close to being four hundred pounds. Will Kingston plow through Tursas or will the big man of the Bruderschaft prove that he’s much more than just a new guy in the CHIKARA locker room?

“A World of Comforting Illusions” card; Pottsville, PA (2.28.2010)

How could the CHIKARA office be so cruel to booking such a match? Green Ant is one of the newest members of the CHIKARA roster, but in Pottsville, he’ll be taking on one of the biggest men the company has in “Big Rig” Brodie Lee. Over a year ago at “Face With a View” in Easton, the 2009 Wrestling Observer Rookie of the Year, Frightmare, fell to Mr. Lee in his debut match in under five minutes. This time, Green Ant will certainly be looking to make a name for himself, but he’s got one tall task in front of him come the twenty-eighth of February.

Hallowicked and Frightmare of Incoherence lost their coveted two points to UltraMantis Black and Delirious at “Three-Fisted Tales”. With that said, the “Orange and Black Attack” will attempt to gain three points, as they take on Daizee Haze and Sara Del Rey of the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes. Del Rey targeted some of CHIKARA’s smaller wrestlers towards the end of 2009 in a backstage promo, so Frightmare will definitely be a target. However, Hallowicked is one of CHIKARA’s bigger men, so it will undeniably be interesting to see how the Bruderschaft fairs against Incoherence in Pottsville.

Four-corner elimination tag team matches often result in some of CHIKARA’s finest work. The last time one of these bouts took place, Ophidian and Amasis of the Osirian Portal managed to work their way into the three point department. With those three points, they found themselves in the main event of “Three-Fisted Tales” against the Colony for the Campeonatos de Parejas. In Pottsville, four teams will collide once again with hopes of gaining three points and a shot at the Campeonatos de Parejas. Thus far, only Brad and Chad Badd, the Badd Boys, have been announced for the match. Regardless of who’s included in the four-corner elimination tag team bout, it is undeniable that the CHIKARMY are in for one fun match.

UltraMantis Black and Delirious, the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple, have waited patiently to receive their shot at the Campeonatos de Parejas. At “A World of Comforting Illusions”, in the main event, the Order will finally get their shot at tag team gold. While UltraMantis has never competed in a Campeonatos de Parejas match before, Delirious is a former Campeone de Parejas with Hallowicked. As for the Colony, Fire and Soldier will be looking for their fourth defense. Will the “Hot Property” and “Militant Mat Mite” manage to continue their winning ways or will it be the Order that finally grabs hold of tag team gold in CHIKARA?

“Wit, Verve and a Bit o’ Nerve” card; Easton, PA (3.20.2010)

Ophidian and Amasis of the Osirian Portal have not exactly been on the top of their game lately, as they just recently lost to the Colony in the main event of “Three-Fisted Tales” for the Campeonatos de Parejas. Also, they fell victim to the Bruderschaft duo of Daizee Haze and Sara Del Rey in tag team action at “A Touch of Class”. The UnStable are also coming off of a hard loss to the trios tandem of the Throwbacks and Player Uno. One team will manage to take a step forward off the losing track in Easton. The question, though, is will that team be the Osirian Portal or the UnStable?

With one point under the belts already and having pulled off a tag team victory over former Campeones de Parejas, the Osirian Portal, Daizee Haze and Sara Del Rey are certainly a team to watch out for in the CHIKARA rankings. The dastardly duo of El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream Jr, Los Ice Creams, will be put against the Bruderschaft in Easton. Will Los Ice Creams enter 2010 by making a big bang or will the Bruderschaft prove that 2010 is their year alone?

“Testimony of Evil” card; Fairfield, CT (3.21.2010)

Frankie Arion will make his CHIKARA debut in Fairfield, Connecticut by defending his PGW Championship against Brendan Michael Thomas. You may remember “BMT” from when he eliminated Frightmare in last year’s Young Lions Cup tournament. Thomas has worked hard to earn himself a spot on the CHIKARA roster and by defeating Arion for the PGW Championship on their turf, he could definitely open up some eyes in the locker room and offices. Will Frankie Arion continue his road in his quest to proving that he is the greatest fighting champion in PGW history or will Brendan Michael Thomas wreck his dreams?

Team Frightning of “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush, Hallowicked, and Frightmare will make their first appearance together as a team since EVOLVE’s debut show. The impressive trio is scheduled to go one on one with the dangerous Bruderschaft combination of Ares, Claudio Castagnoli, and Ares. Because “Testimony of Evil” is the final show before King of Trios, Team Frightning are certainly looking to pick up some momentum going into the tournament. It also wouldn’t surprise me if the Bruderschaft are included in the tournament, as well, so they’ll most likely be looking to do make a similar impact.

“King of Trios 2010″ teams; Philadelphia, PA (4.23-25.2010)

Did anyone not expect Gran Akuma, Chuck Taylor, and Icarus of F.I.S.T. to get entered in the “King of Trios 2010″ tournament? They won the tournament in 2009, after all. Even current WWE star, the “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and the legendary Dave Taylor could not put the tandem away in last year’s finals. In my eyes, F.I.S.T. has not lost a step since last year’s tournament and are definitely front-runners to win it all this year, too.

2008 saw the Colony nearly advance to the final round of King of Trios, but interference from Vin Gerard proved to be the difference maker. In a King of Trios qualifying match last year, the Colony was forced out of the tournament after F.I.S.T. beat them and forced Worker Ant into retirement. In 2010, the Colony will return to King of Trios action with a new ant at their side — Green Ant. As the current-reigning Campeones de Parejas already, the Colony are certainly looking to prove that not only are they CHIKARA’s best tag team, but also the best trio.

I try to be as unbiased as possible in the “CHIKARA Chronicles”, but I can’t deny that I will be marking for Team Frightning throughout the entire course of the King of Trios tournament. These three teamed for the first time on the debut show of EVOLVE and were able to defeat Gran Akuma, Icarus, and Brodie Lee — two thirds of last year’s King of Trios winners, F.I.S.T. With twenty-four years of combined wrestling experience altogether, Team Frightning is definitely a threat to win this year’s King of Trios tournament.

Vin Gerard, STIGMA, and Colin Delaney return to the 2010 King of Trios tournament after falling in the semifinals to Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson, and Dave Taylor of Team Uppercut in last year’s tournament. The UnStable recently fell to an unexperienced trios team of Dasher Hatfield, Sugar Dunkerton, and Player Uno. If Gerard, STIGMA, and Delaney want to win this year’s tournament, then they better start picking up their game soon.

The Future Is Now are another team that fell in the semifinals of last year’s King of Trios tournament. Let’s not forget their huge wins over Kota Ibushi, KUDO, and Michael Nakazawa of Team DDT, as well as the Osirian Portal. However, instead of Lince Dorado being included in the Future Is Now trio this year (Lince’s off with the Bruderschaft), Jigsaw is in to replace him. With Jigsaw in, the Future Is Now is now completely stacked with former Young Lions Cup champions. Will 2010 be the Future Is Now’s year?

Links For Looking

Pulse Plugs

● http://wrestling.insidepulse.com/2010/02/01/this-week-in-e-a-canadian-and-a-superhero-walk-into-a-bar/

● http://wrestling.insidepulse.com/2010/02/01/counterfeit-pennies-wwe-royal-rumble-match-analysis-edge-cena-triple-h-hbk-cm-punk-beth-phoenix-more/

● http://wrestling.insidepulse.com/2010/02/02/reflections-wwe-royal-rumble-2010/

● http://wrestling.insidepulse.com/2010/02/05/tcwnn-20-ive-got-nothing-to-say/

● http://wrestling.insidepulse.com/2010/02/04/dvd-review-roh-final-countdown-tour-boston-9-25-09/

That’s all I’ve got for you buggers for now. Make sure to check back on the official website of CHIKARA regularly for special announcements, card updates, as well as new blogs and merchandise. Later, taters.

- Anthony Perillo
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Meanwhile, WWE is likely to not renew a lot of their WWE Legends marketing contracts when they start to expire later this year.

credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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Our first match is between Ivan Putski & Scott Putski and Jerry “The King” Lawler & Brian Christopher. From July 14, 1997. We get straight into things as Lawler & Christopher immediately manage to push Ivan out of the ring and start work on Scott. A double team with a double back body drop kicks this off, and they go for a second double team, but Scott is able to stop Lawler with an uppercut punch, and Christopher goes down with a sitout powerbomb and a backbreaker. Lawler tries to get involved, and they use the chance to have Christopher hold onto Scott. Lawler hits a dropkick but Scott is able to duck and it hits Christopher. Scott gets up and hits his own dropkick on Lawler, he pushes Christopher into the ropes, and into a clothesline. Scott tries again to send Christopher running into the ropes, but he reverses it, and uses the momentum to slingshot Scott into the ropes. A kick and a punch are hit, but Scott is able to stay on top of things with a flying elbow slowing the pace down. As Scott runs the ropes again, Lawler is able to grab his legs and trip him. Scott rolls to the outside, where Lawler and Christopher double team. After being thrown into the steps, Scott is rolled back into the ring, and they stay on top of the match by slamming his head into the canvas before going for the tag. Lawler comes in, and Ivan tries to come in, but the ref stops him. The distraction allows Lawler & Christopher to work on Scott. Christopher hits a suplex, tags in Lawler and he hits a piledriver to a two count. Christopher breaks up the pin screaming “let me”. Christopher goes up high and misses with a leg drop. Scott comes back with a bodyslam, but a double clothesline brings both men down. Lawler gets the tag, but the double team leaves Lawler down on the ground after a punch that missed Scott. Ivan gets the tag here and comes flying in and dominates Lawler. While Scott and Christopher brawl on the outside, Ivan hits a polish hammer and gets the three count on Lawler.

As we come back in from the break, we’re shown a really lovely piece on Cowboy Bob Orton and Randy Orton. Complete with a nice bunch of photos from Orton Jr growing up. Our next match is between Cowboy Bob Orton and Rowdy Roddy Piper, from Nov 15, 1986. As we come in, we see Don Muraco on the outside as he tries to assist Orton. As he gets up onto the apron, the ref gets involved and Muraco is removed from ringside by security. This match finally gets started as the two men exchange punches, Piper gets the initial upper hand with a running bulldog, and Orton tries to gain a break by backing up and pleading to Piper. From here Piper whips Orton into the corner, and after a few punches, Piper pulls him out a little and delivers a massive knee to knock Orton down. Piper throws Orton into the ropes, and he’s able to reverse things, a punch, an elbow and a kick keep Piper down. And another knee gets a two count. Orton goes for a few quick covers, but it ends when he misses an elbow. Piper gets to standing, and Jimmy Hart tries to grab him. When Orton goes to punch him, he ducks, and as Orton spins around, Piper hits a punch that knocks Orton into Hart. A quick roll up and a three count leaves Rowdy Roddy Piper as the winner in this one.

And before we go to an ad break, we get another really short promo on Randy Orton.

Coming back in, our third match is from April 25, 2002 and is between Randy Orton and Hardcore Holly. This is Orton’s WWE debut. Straight into things, Orton gets a nice takedown, but Holly gets straight back into it getting a headlock in and a shoulder knocks Orton down. But as things go, Orton gets an arm drag and hits what looks like an RKO and we get a two count. Holly is able to get back with a massive clothesline straight into a series of punches. Holly then hangs Orton from the ropes and kicks him in the midsection before hitting him on the back and winding him through the ropes before hitting some chops. Orton gets straight back, throwing Holly neck first over the top rope before hitting a dropkick to a two count. A couple of punches and an elbow, then Orton climbs the ropes but Holly is able to stop him and he climbs to the second rope. Orton pushes him off backwards and goes for a cross body. Holly is able to use the momentum to roll the pin over for a two count. Both men get to standing and Orton hits a drop toe hold before he is able to hold Holly down and get the three count and the win.

Before we get into our next match, which will feature The Rock, we go into a promo about his family history. The Rock was the first third generation superstar in the WWE.

Our next match is from January 13, 1997 and it features The Rock (Rocky Maivia) up against The British Bulldog with Bret Hart on guest commentary. Getting into the match, Rock has Bulldog in an arm wringer, and the camera cuts to Owen Hart walking down to the ring. In-ring, Bulldog breaks the hold and manages to send Rock to the outside. Again we cut to watch Owen stand infront of the announce table staring down at Bret. Outside the ring, Bulldog sends Rock into the steel steps. And we go again to look at Owen staring at Bret. In-ring again, Bulldog is working away at Rock, and yet again Bulldog sends Rock to the outside of the ring. Back at the announce table again, Owen hasn’t moved. Cutting back to the in-ring action, Rock is able to jump back into the ring and get a two count on Bulldog. A clothesline knocks Rock back down again, and Owen still hasn’t moved. Bulldog throws Rock and is able to get in a side headlock. A split screen shows the submission move in one side, and Owen still staring down Bret in the other. Rock gets back to standing, a couple of elbows break the hold, and he hits a cross body to a two count. Bulldog goes straight into setting up Rock with a standing suplex. In-ring Bulldog hits a leg drop and goes back into a side headlock again. Getting back to standing, again the elbows from the Rock break the hold, but both men clash when they both go for flying shoulders at the same time. Getting back to standing, Rock hits a series of punches and a couple of clotheslines before sending Bulldog over the top rope with a clothesline. On the outside, Bulldog sends Rock flying into the railing, and out of nowhere, Stone Cold Steve Austin shows up and knocks Bulldog down with a punch to the back of the knee and we cut back to Bret trying to run after Stone Cold with Owen following them. In-ring, the official is up to a 9 count before Rock is able to slide back into the ring and get the win. Bulldog is counted out.

Our next match is hyped up with a package featuring the events leading up to a match at Summerslam 1990, where Mr Perfect held the IC belt. A few highlights from the match show how the Texas Tornado Kerry von Erich won the belt. And the reaction from Mr Perfect to that. As we get into the match, we see the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase pay off Howard Finkle to be able to do the ring announcing for this match.

This match comes from December 15, 1990 and is between Mr Perfect and the Texas Tornado, Kerry von Erich for the Intercontinental Championship. The men lock up, and Perfect ends up being thrown into the turnbuckle. The second time they lock up, Perfect hits an arm drag, and the third time they lock up, Tornado is picked up and bodyslammed. Tornado is pushed into the turnbuckle and given a chop, but he comes straight back, bodyslamming Perfect before throwing him out of the ring over the top rope. We go to an ad break here.

Coming back in, Tornado starts to work on Perfect’s arm, winding his arm around. Perfect grabs his hair and breaks the hold, but Tornado manages to hit a massive spinning punch to knock Perfect down. A kick and a series of punches in the corner, and Tornado tries to throw Perfect into the other corner and comes running after him. Perfect gets the upper hand here by kicking Tornado as he runs into the corner, and then delivers some punches. Tornado goes for a reversal, but ends up getting thrown into the turnbuckles. While he’s hanging there, Ted DiBiase hits him with a punch. Perfect stomps on Tornado, and then hits a dropkick that knocks him out of the ring. As Tornado is on the outside, the ref is distracted by Bobby Heenan and DiBiase sends Tornado flying into the ring post. Perfect comes out of the ring to throw Tornado back in. Perfect starts punching Tornado in the corner, but the ref is trapped behind him. Perfect tries to send Tornado to the opposite ring post, but he reverses and sends Perfect flying backwards into the ref, knocking the ref down. Tornado is able to smack Perfect’s head into the corner, and then deliver a massive punch that knocks Perfect down and out. He goes for the cover, but there is no ref, and DiBiase climbs into the ring with the title belt and hits Tornado over the head with it. DiBiase starts to rouse Perfect, and Heenan is trying to wake the ref. Perfect finds it hard, but he eventually able to get the limp body of Tornado up and into a Perfectplex. The ref comes around, and makes the three count. Mr Perfect gets the win, and the title.

That’s all she wrote for this week, and next week we’ll be looking back on events that somehow relate to Valentines Day. Should be interesting to see how they pull that off.
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There was a running joke backstage at the Royal Rumble last week on how all wrestlers were to avoid taxis.

Tyson Kidd wrote about not being in the Royal Rumble match – “Guess they found 30 guys better. Either that or I drew No. 31.” WWE did not finalise the 30 person line-up for the Rumble until the last minute, which led to several people not knowing whether or not they were involved until the day of the show.

credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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It’s thought of as a shoot within TNA, although they believe most fans believes it’s a work.

Awesome Kong is still with the company but has asked for her release. It’s thought that no news/update on that means she has not yet left the company.

Bubba has since continued to appear on TNA TV with Jeff Jarrett in an on-going storyline.

credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

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HHH replaced Undertaker on some of the shows, moved from the Raw house shows, which already had John Cena to fulfill the “megastar” quotient.

credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

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Meanwhile, there has been no update on Awesome Kong’s status with TNA. The belief is that no news means that she is staying with the company but nothing has been confirmed yet.

credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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He plans on having reconstructive knee surgery in April, after Wrestlemania 26, and will see from there how the rehab goes.

There is a chance that he would leave WWE within the next few years and return to Mexico for a superstar push and a lighter schedule, provided the money could be worth his while.

credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

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ROH World Champion – Austin Aries (since 6.13.09)
1. Claudio Castagnoli (1)
2. Kevin Steen (2)
3. Chris Hero (3)
4. Kenny King (4)
5. Tyler Black (5)
6. Roderick Strong (7)
7. Kenny Omega (6)
8. Davey Richards (NR)
9. Eddie Edwards (NR)
10. “Skullcrusher” Rasche Brown (NR)

ROH Tag Team Champions – The Briscoe Brothers (1) (since 12.19.09)
1. The Dark City Fight Club (4)
2. The Kings of Wrestling (3)
3. The American Wolves (1)
4. The Young Bucks (2)
5. El Generico & Colt Cabana (NR)

Unranked Wrestlers/Personalities
- Alex Payne
- Andy “Right Leg” Ridge
- Bison Smith
- Bobby Cruise (Ring Announcer)
- Bobby Dempsey
- Daizee Haze
- Dave Prazak (DVD/PPV Announcer)
- Delirious
- Eddie Kingston
- Erick Stevens
- Giuseppe di Lorento (Official Timekeeper)
- Grizzly Redwood
- Jerry Lynn
- Jim Cornette (Executive Producer – ROH on HDNet)
- Joey Ryan
- Kyle Durden (Backstage Correspondent/Interviewer)
- Mr. Ernesto Osiris
- MsChif
- Necro Butcher
- Paul Turner (Referee)
- Prince Nana
- Rhett Titus
- Sami Callihan
- Sara Del Rey
- Shane Hagadorn
- Silas Young
- Sonjay Dutt
- Steve Corino
- Todd Sinclair (Senior Referee)

These rankings take into account (in order):

-Current title status
-Declared and presumed storyline rankings
-Recent victories and quality of opponents
-Quality of matches (psychology, workrate, and entertainment value)
-Quality of TV exposure (length, placement during show, and crowd response)

Agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts below!
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TNA Champion – AJ Styles (since 9.20.09)
TNA Global Champion – Rob Terry (since 1.27.10)
1. Samoa Joe (2)
2. Kurt Angle (3)
3. Desmond Wolfe (5)
4. Mr. Anderson (NR)
5. Hernandez (7)
6. Daniels (4)
7. Matt Morgan (9)
8. D’Angelo Dinero (10)
9. Jeff Jarrett (NR)
10. Abyss (6)

TNA Tag Team Champions – Hernandez & Matt Morgan (since 1.17.10)
1. Team 3D (3)
2. Motor City Machineguns (2)
3. Beer Money, Inc (1)
4. Generation Me (NR)
5. Nasty Boys (NR)

TNA X Division Champion – Doug Williams (since 1.28.10)
1. Amazing Red (X Champ)
2. Brian Kendrick (NR)
3. Suicide (3)
4. Jay Lethal (4)
5. Homicide (2)

TNA Knockouts Champion – Tara (since 1.17.10)
1. Angelina Love (NR)
2. ODB (1)
3. Lacy Von Erich (5)
4. Daffney (NR)
5. Traci Brooks (NR)

TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions – Awesome Kong & Hamada (since 1.4.10)
1. Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne (2)
2. Sarita & Taylor Wilde (Champs)

Inactive Wrestlers/Personalities
-Roxxi (Injured since January 2010)
-Shark Boy (Inactive since February 2009)
-Sting (Inactive since October 2009)

Unranked Wrestlers/Personalities
-Bobby Lashley
-Bubba the Love Sponge
-Christy Hemme
-Consequences Creed
-Don West
-Dr. Stevie
-Eric Bischoff
-Eric Young
-Hector Guerrero
-Hulk Hogan
-Jeremy Borash
-Jesse Neal
-Kevin Nash
-Kiyoshi
-Mick Foley
-Mike Tenay
-Orlando Jordan
-Raven
-Rhino
-Ric Flair
-SoCal Val
-Taz
-Tomko
-Willie Urbina

No longer appearing on TV and/or TNAwrestling.com
-Alissa Flash (Released, Non-Kayfabe)
-Scott Steiner (Released, Non-Kayfabe)

In this monthly feature, the Inside Pulse Wrestling editorial board ranks the Heavyweight, Tag Team, and X Divisions within TNA. Rankings include the top ten Heavyweights, along with the top five Tag Teams, Knockouts & X Division competitors listed on TNAwrestling.com, plus regular, unlisted competitors.

These rankings take into account (in order):

-Current title status
-Declared and presumed storyline rankings
-Recent victories and quality of opponents
-Quality of matches (psychology, workrate, and entertainment value)
-Quality of TV exposure (length, placement during show, and crowd response)

Agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts below!

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