This Week in WWE TV- April 4-10, 2011

This week: The Mania of Wrestlemania becomes a year-long epidemic, a spring-loaded saboteur almost takes out the WWE’s international star, plus Superstars says goodbye to America and Maryse is left with a decision so momentous it makes Sophie’s Choice look like choosing between chocolate ice cream or vanilla.
RAW
– JR was back to call the show with the King. The Cole Mine was there, patched up with tape.
– Triple H, in sunglasses, opened the show with a promo essentially putting over The Undertaker for his performance last night at Wrestlemania. Fair amount of respect for HHH from the crowd, with some scattered “You Tapped Out” chants. Along the way he mentioned that he’d wrestled The Undertaker before at Wrestlemania, in a tone that seemed to say “yup, we’re allowed to mention that again”. I laughed. After putting Undertaker over huge, HHH insinuated that rumour was, The Undertaker might not be back and, “just incase”, thanked him. But, he was sure that Taker would be back and that when Taker did return, he’d be waiting. This was really understated. Nothing over the top, no vibe of a guy ‘cutting a wrestling promo’. Just one man showing respect for another after a hard-fought match and teasing that he was ready for a rematch down the road. Worked well.
– Michael Cole interrupted Lawler and JR, in his wrestling singlet. I have to give Cole credit. Sometimes as a heel you have to look like an ass and… well, he’s a great heel, put it that way. I still want to know if the singlet colour is a rib on Tazz. Assuming yes. Cole boasted over his ‘victory’ at Wrestlemania. He claimed he was undefeated at Wrestlemania and pronounced himself Mr. Wrestlemania. Lawler reminded Cole that he made him tap out and cry like a girl, saying win or no win he was still a worthless jackass. This lead to a defiant and deluded Cole challenging Lawler to a rematch, tonight… but not a Wrestlemania rematch, a rematch from last week, against Jack Swagger.
– Jerry Lawler d. Jack Swagger via DQ, in 3:50. Lawler managed to stick and move on Swagger early, fending him off with punches. Weird to see the 60 year old veteran using his speed and quickness to out-fox the All American. Swagger missed the Vader Bomb and Lawler fought back with punches, before connecting with the big dropkick. Before the strap could come down Cole got on the apron, goading Lawler into a cat and mouse race. Lawler caught Cole, but the distraction allowed Swagger to put on the anklelock for the ‘win’. However Swagger refused to break the hold and the referee reversed the decision. Poetic justice!
– After the match Cole went in to his Cole Mine and found a bottle of barbecue sauce left in there. And asked “what is this!?” To which the only possible JR response could be, and was, “what does it look like, you idiot!?” Cole sprayed JR with the barbecue sauce and then ran away. From Jim Ross. Yes. This was better than it probably reads. The match wasn’t exactly a Jack Swagger showcase, but he got the visual win in the end and the match itself was fine.
– Cole ranted and raved after the break as Booker T and Josh, replacing King and JR, looked on in despair.
– Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio d. CM Punk and Cody Rhodes (Orton pinned Cody) in 10:05. I was sad they couldn’t do this match before Wrestlemania, since Cody couldn’t really wrestle a real match against Rey yet. This was the next best thing. Sidenote: I love Cody’s new newspaper headlines entrance. A good match that got plenty of time and went through two commercial breaks. Cody and Punk worked Orton’s knee and he was fine as a face in peril. They then got heat on Rey as well. Orton made his usual comeback, including the stolen(!) Angle Slam. A 619 into an RKO finished Cody off, which was perhaps a bit of a backwards step considering he just won the biggest match of his career the night before.
– Stone Cold bumped into Triple H backstage and told him if there was an Undertaker/HHH rematch, he’d be there and shook his hand.
– Austin came out to introduce the Tough Enough cast. Cole actually suggested streak versus streak, him versus Undertaker next year, on commentary during Austin’s entrance. This must happen. Austin let the ‘kids’ introduce themselves. This wasn’t a disaster. Booker T really likes Miss USA. The big african american with the afro being called Eric Watts amused me far too much. After they were done the crowd chanted “Stun Them All”. Which would have been a great ending.
– Instead The Miz came out and Austin mouthed a word he shouldn’t have. Naughty Steve. Miz reminded everyone he came through Tough Enough and showed everyone how he got a concussion at Wrestlemania. Crowd were pretty pro-Miz here. After cutting a promo on the Tough Enough guys, they teased a Miz/Austin match. Miz gave him a cheapshot and left Riley, in his tux, to take all of Austin’s signature moves. All the Tough Enough kids got a beer. Oh, and Cole got drenched again. This segment was pretty fun and actually made me more interested in watching Tough Enough. I can’t see them really doing Miz versus Austin. But, who knows?
By the way, if you haven’t read Matt Waters’ review of the premiere of Tough Enough yet, you can do so here: https://pwponderings.com/2011/04/05/tough-enough-recap-review-4411/
– Alberto Del Rio w/Brodus Clay d. Evan Bourne by submission in 2:43. No car for Alberto. No entrance for Evan, period. He just magically appeared from ringside. To be fair, Evan got some offense here. Del Rio caught him going for Air Bourne with an awesome rope walk enziguri and finished him off with the Armbreaker. Decisive win for Alberto. Sucks for Evan but this was what it needed to be.
– Vickie and Dolph ran down John Morrison, claiming Snooki was the reason his team won at Wrestlemania. Well, he had a point.
– John Morrison and Trish Stratus d. Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero (Morrison pinned Dolph) in 3:22. Match of two parts. Well, three. Morrison and Dolph had their match. Sandwiched in between, Vickie did some comedy with Trish, including a failed cartwheel. Trish broke up a Dolph pin and then slapped him, leading to a springboard kick and Starship Pain. Little to this.
– WWE United States Championship: Sheamus (c) d. Daniel Bryan in 3:53. Sheamus wore a red, white and blue version of his ring attire. A Pre-Wrestlemania Rematch, here. Sheamus beat Bryan up. Then he beat him up some more. Bryan made his comeback and the crowd were surprisingly into it with duelling chants. Then Sheamus just hit the Brogue Kick and beat him. Nothing wrong with it, but really disappointing nonetheless. Maybe next year, guys.
– Post match was the big debut of Sin Cara. It was almost a disaster, as Sin Cara made the save and tried to trampoline (yes, the exciting international high-flier needs a trampoline for some reason) in over the top and almost gutted himself. Luckily, he made it over without it being too noticeable. Crisis averted. Cara proceeded to clean house on Sheamus, ending with a far more impressive physical feat by hitting a huge dive to the floor. In-ring aside Cara, obviously, has good presence as well and he certainly didn’t look out of place on WWE TV. At the risk of doing the obvious and comparing him to Rey Mysterio, I think he’ll be able to connect with the crowd at least as well as Rey has.
– Main event segment was John Cena calling out The Rock. I don’t hate John Cena. Infact, I don’t even really dislike him. And I understand why he is the way he is, the happy-go-lucky babyface who the fans can pay their money to see and know what to expect from. But if there was ever a time for Cena to come out hot (and there’s been a few in the past), this was it. Instead, he was the John Cena people pay their money to see and know what to expect from. Just, red instead of purple. He cut a promo, in that voice, doing some comedy. Cena congratulated Miz on winning and walking out champion. And said Miz had earned everyone’s respect. Cena then addressed Rock not respecting him, saying they had business to take care of.
– Rock came out, eventually. And the crowd chanted “Fruity Pebbles”. Ughh. Rock told Cena that he should have known payback was coming. He explained why he trash talked Cena, saying it’s what the people wanted, but he does respect Cena. Boos for that. Rock put Cena over as one of the greatest superstars and champions of all time. He just doesn’t like him, because they’re complete opposites. Their one similarity is they both want to be the best at what they do. Somewhere in here, Rock decided to do some comedy as well and told Cena he shops at Baby Gap. Cena told Rock the crowd didn’t want to hear them talk, they wanted to see a match. So Cena challenged Rock to “bring it” and Rock challenged Cena to do it at Wrestlemania 28. They shook hands and did the staredown. Then from out of nowhere, The Corre hit the ring. There was no Santino around to hit them with the Cobra, so Cena and Rock were forced to fight them off themselves.
So the idea is the Wrestlemania main event has been made 12 months before the show for the first time ever. I’ll say this much, it’s something different. Whether it works or not remains to be seen. Rock and Cena being a respect match already seems abrupt. How hard they push this match in the next 9 months, how often Rock is around, how soon The Rock’s appeal begins to diminish, will all be interesting to see in the coming months.
NXT: REDEMPTION!
Incase you haven’t been watching, your rookie/pro line-up this season is:
Darren Young (Chavo Guerrero)
Lucky Cannon (Tyson Kidd)
Byron Saxton (Yoshi Tatsu)
Conor O’Brien (Vladimir Kozlov)
Jacob Novak (JTG)
Titus O’Neill (Hornswaggle)
In the immortal words of Christian Cage, if you don’t know, now you know.
– They did a Hotseat Trivia contest to start. Striker first asked them to name someone who won at Wrestlemania 27. Darren Young immediately said Bret Hart. Off to a roaring start. Lucky Cannon decided to ask Striker if he knew where his girlfriend was last night, which eliminated him. Eventually, Saxton won and earned 4 immunity points. Taking him to 4. Titus leads with 9.
– Conor O’Brien d. Jacob Novak in 4:11. Kozlov wore a sling selling his Axxess injury. Basic match. It was fine. Novak missed a yakuza kick in the corner and Conor schoolboyed him. Regal is settling in on commentary.
– Lucky apologised to Yoshi backstage for being disrespectful. The angle is, they’ve both been chasing Maryse. So Yoshi finally asked Maryse to go out with him… but before she could answer, Ted Dibiase showed up and beat him up. Yes, they’re still together. And they’re still fighting. Maryse was mad, but ran after Ted instead of helping Yoshi.
– JTG and Kozlov made a bet backstage about their rookies. I’ll be honest, I have no idea what I watched here. All I know is Kozlov said “fo’ chizzle”.
– Titus O’Neill and Hornswoggle d. Darren Young and Chavo Guerrero (Titus pinned Young) in 4:30. Chavo is playing a supportive babyface pro this season. Say what you want about Hornswoggle, the crowd love the guy. And I happen to think he’s deceptively good at what he does. I don’t really need to see him wrestling though. Hornswaggle tagged himself in and did some brief comedy with Young. Titus has improved to the point that his offence looks good. Defence, not so much maybe. He won with the Sky High. If you can stand Hornswoggle this was inoffensive fun. If you think he’s everything wrong with the world, probably best you don’t watch. Titus is still undefeated with ‘Swoggle as a pro.
– Yoshi Tatsu d. Ted Dibiase via DQ in 1:56. Maryse sat ringside. They came back from commercial with Ted’s music playing and the rarely heard middle part is apparently even worse than the part we usually hear. Yoshi came out all business. Regal talked about a tattooed dwarf he used to date. Apparently he lost her to his best friend, who was a hunchback. That’s the carnival for you. Anyway, Ted got DQed for kicking Yoshi’s ass too much.
– After the match Ted gave Maryse an ultimatum. “It’s either NXT, or me” he said. Never has a third option sounded so appealing. That’s your tease for next week, what will Maryse choose, Ted or co-hosting the internet show? This season isn’t doing it for me.
SUPERSTARS
– Drew McIntyre d. JTG in 4:38. Matt Striker’s Absurd Claim Of The Week: JTG ‘chartered a bus’ and brought, quote, “the entire community, all the school children from Brooklyn” to Wrestlemania. That’s a big bus. And a long journey. Even Korpela flagged him on this. Drew used an inverted suplex across the top rope to gain the advantage. JTG almost got the win from a running DDT but Drew got a foot on the ropes, then went on to win with the Future Shock DDT. Decent opener. Drew has quietly gotten really good at the little things and, I think, is a lot better than he gets credit for now. JTG as a singles hasn’t set my world on fire. Really needs to be in a tag team.
– Yoshi Tatsu d. Tyson Kidd in 6:35. Tyson is a lot more charismatic as a heel. On the B-shows Josh seems more snarky. Remember where you came from, pal. Yoshi blocked the Sharpshooter and ducked a springboard, leading to the roundhouse kick for the pin. Good match, probably worth a look if you’re a fan of these two.
– Santino Marella d. Ted Dibiase in 6:47. No Maryse. Mat wrestling early and after coming up even, Dibiase refused a handshake. “This is supposed to be an exhibition!” yelled Santino. They grappled some more and this time Ted offered the handshake, only to give Santino a cheapshot. Dibiase mocked the cobra during the break, which showed more personality than he has in recent memory. Santino avoided a corner splash by collapsing, then ATE boot on his saluting headbutt. However, Santino still countered Dreamstreet and finished Ted off with the Cobra. Which should make Maryse’s decision easier, at least. A bit more than your typical Santino match. But boy does it suck to be Ted nowadays. By the way, if you were in Atlanta and cheered Santino, I don’t hate you.
I like Superstars and this week was a decent way to spend 30 minutes if you have the time (and skip the Rock/Cena replay) and you want a simple wrestling show. This was the last episode that’ll air on WGN America. It’s international and online only from this point on, which will hopefully keep a few Superstars regulars from cuts.
SMACKDOWN
– Alberto and crew came out, again sans car, to open. I could have sworn Alberto had more than one car before Wrestlemania. Del Rio claimed destiny can be delayed, but not stopped. He promised to make Edge and Christian pay, because his cars are like his children. Edge interrupted, bringing out Del Rio’s beaten up Rolls Royce, on a Brisco Bros Body Shop truck. Edge claimed if the car was like his child Del Rio should love it unconditionally, no matter the damage. Cue the spray paint. No idea what he wrote. Del Rio demanded a rematch, but Edge said there were more worthy contenders… at which point Christian started beeping the horn from the truck. They brought up Christian’s two wins over Alberto before Teddy Long came out to book Alberto versus Christian, #1 Contendership in the main event. With the winner meeting Edge at Extreme Rules in a Ladder Match.
– 2 Out Of 3 Falls: Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella and Kofi Kingston d. The Corre, 2 Falls to 1

Kofi Kingston pinned Justin Gabriel in 5:30

Wade Barrett pinned Santino Marella in 1:52

The Corre were DQed in 3:12

It’s like the 10 Man Tag at Wrestlemania X all over again! I swear The Corre’s music gets edited every single week. It’s gotten to the point of comedy to me. They have to be on version 15 by now. By the way, The Corre are a group of equals. Kofi hit a splash off Show’s shoulders on Slater early, forcing The Corre to regroup. They worked over Kane, but Kofi came in off the tag and surprised Gabriel with the crossbody to win the first fall. Second fall was Santino making his comeback on Slater, Barrett booting him off a blind tag as he prepared the Cobra and then hitting Wasteland. In the third, Corre dominated Santino for a while, before Kane got the tag. It soon broke down as The Corre took out the other three, then cut off a Chokeslam on Barrett and the ref threw the match out. Show and Kofi made the save and The Corre got laid out (again). Jackson took a ‘triple’ chokeslam from Show, Kane and Santino. Not sure how much this makes up for Wrestlemania for these guys, but they definitely got time this time.
– Cody Rhodes d. Trent Barreta in 1:32. Squash. Cody posted Barreta’s shoulder and finished him off with Crossrhodes. Good while it lasted.
– Cody continued the attack after the match with headbutts with the facemask. Mysterio made the save and tried to remove the mask but Cody got away. So expect mask versus mask soon, maybe.
– As Christian got ready backstage, Edge wished him luck. Edge left his belt behind and Christian eyed it up, before Edge returned and took it. No tension between them though.
– Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix d. LayCool (Kelly pinned Layla) in 2:39. Cole told Josh he wasn’t wearing his singlet because he wasn’t “entertaining” tonight. He said it in such a way that all three commentators laughed. Early on, Beth whipped Michelle into the ropes and Layla took a bump. They teased dissension as Layla tagged in. Then when Layla tried to tag Michelle, Michelle feigned a back injury and Kelly rolled Layla up for the pin. Michelle claimed she was the one doing all the work and walked out on Layla. Layla was entertaining here.
– They replayed the JR/Cole deal from Raw, before returning with Cole in the ring. “Hey, who shot JR? I did!” Cole brought Jack Swagger out. Swagger touted Cole’s superior intelligence and insatiable desire, plus gifted athletic ability from head to toe. Not sure Swagger as Cole’s hype man is how this team should go, but oh well. Cole claimed no-one in the locker room could beat Jack. Their ‘victory lap’ was interrupted by Sin Cara… who got what seemed like a really good reaction. Cara made his trampoline leap this time and much like Raw, cleaned house. The exclamation point this time was a corkscrew plancha. He also used a handspring elbow that, with the greatest of respect, put Tajiri to shame. So far, so good. Of course, the problem now is, Cole will be ranting about him on Monday.
– Layla told Michelle she’d signed them for couple’s therapy. Those are skits I am not anticipating.
– #1 Contendership: Alberto Del Rio w/Brodus Clay d. Christian in 10:22. Edge came out to do commentary. He claimed Cole was built like a bag of golf balls. Edge was a great guest commentator, purely because he managed to outwit Cole. More faces need to do that, because it’s clear Cole either won’t or isn’t smart enough to give them any openings himself. The way Christian can turn a crowd up with one punch is great. Del Rio hit a scary superplex here. Which led to a great nearfall as Christian cradled Del Rio as he tried to pick him up. They had a hot finish with more close falls and this got really good towards the end. Brodus threatened to interfere and got taken out with a Spear. But Alberto caught Christian with the same rope walk enziguri he hit on Raw and scored the pin. Not quite as good as last week’s match between these two, but still really good.
So, that’s that. Alberto Del Rio is going to Extreme Rules. The Rock is going to Wrestlemania. Again. And Maryse is going to have to make the toughest choice of her entire life on NXT.
I wanted something different to close things out and my first thought was to do a weekly Top 5 of some kind. Then, that seemed a bit underwhelming and I decided to put my week’s efforts and all of my brain power into coming up with something better.
With that in mind, here’s this week’s Top 5!
TOP 5: POTENTIAL WRESTLEMANIA MATCHES OF THE WEEK