My WWE Hell in a Cell 2012 Recap

Photo credit: WWE.com

Randy Orton defeated Alberto Del Rio in an enjoyable opener to the show. Smart choice to get the event going with with this largely solid match up. As standard Del Rio targeted Orton's left arm for most of the bout, but 'The Viper' managed to battle back and applied an impressive RKO as Del Rio came over the ropes after his signature head kick for the one-two-three. Unfortunately there were a few sloppy moments here and there but on the whole I enjoyed the match.

Team Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow) won via disqualification versus Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) (c) with the WWE Tag Team Titles on the line in a decent tag bout. I was expecting more here to be honest, with the nice build up and talent involved. I'm certainly not saying it was bad by any means, just not outstanding. All four men gave worthy displays throughout. The DQ came when Kane refused to stop beating on Sandow and Rhodes after he lost his temper with his team mate Bryan when he accidentally applied a flying knee to him on the outside. Bit of a poor ending, and the crowd in Atlanta agreed.

Kofi Kingston (c) bested The Miz to retain the Intercontinental Championship in a fair contest, with decent efforts from both men. Kofi was the right choice to win here, loosing the strap that quickly would've set him back big time. Although it wasn't as exciting as their title bout on Main Event it's still worth a watch.

Antonio Cesaro (c) best Justin Gabriel to retain the United States Championship in a passable match up. Unfortunately just like on Raw the fans in attendance seemed to be largely indifferent to the two wrestler's efforts here. I felt this was harsh treatment as Gabriel and especially Cesaro looked solid here, the US strap holder has been on great consistent form lately.

Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara defeated The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil) in a mostly solid tag contest. If I'm honest I wasn't going into this one expecting anything that special, but once it got past the first initial few minutes it was actually quite fun to watch. Sin Cara and Mysterio gave good efforts (Sin Cara has proven to be better suited to a tag team environment for me) while Young and O'Neil were okay, you don't normally get much more than pedestrian displays from them anyway. Pleasant surprise.

Big Show defeated Sheamus (c) to obtain the World Heavyweight Title in a match that started off quite slow but had an edge of your seat ending. Show dominated for the majority of the contest, slowly taking the Irishman out and even hurling him over the announce desk. Of course as any good face does Sheamus managed to battled back, and in the final few minutes both men exchanged their signature finishers for great near falls. But it wasn't to be for 'The Great White' as Big Show applied a nice looking WMD as he came running in for a second Brogue Kick for the winning pinfall. Well this certainly turned out better than I'd predicted, with respective efforts from both men. 

Eve (c) bested Layla and Kaitlyn to retain the WWE Divas Title in a surprisingly okay Triple Threat contest. Compared to most women's bouts we witness in WWE this one was above standard, with some real effort by the competitors to make it feel a bit different. Kaitlyn also gave her best performance to date here (although she still needs work) and pleasantly surprised me with some of her work. Eve grabbed the win after an overhit swanton onto Layla and Kaitlyn. Eve was the top choice to win here as the most interesting female performer in the company right now.

CM Punk (c) defeated Ryback to retain the WWE Championship in a Hell in a Cell match. The bout itself was dramatic and enjoyable at parts, and I'd say successful and memorable on the whole. As expected Ryback used his strength for some nice moments, especially after the match (but we'll get to that soon) and Punk worked hard as usual as he attempted to thwart his dominant foe. For the surprise finish, which certainly got a healthy response from the fans, the referee low blowed Ryback as he attempted a Shell Shock on Punk and then made a very fast three count. 

As CM Punk and the referee attempted to make a quick getaway Ryback managed to recover and began taking out his frustration on the crooked official, which included a very nice military press slam from inside the ring into the outside cage. It looked awesome. The champ almost made it out but Ryback pounced on him too, which led to a chase up to the top of the cell structure. Once at the top Ryback applied a Shell Shock to Punk as rightful retribution. It was an exciting end to the event, and one I won't forget anytime soon. The end of the match also makes sense for their feud (give me a chance) people will still claim that Punk has to prove himself and Ryback will surely receive a rematch of some kind at next month's Survivor Series. 

Overall it was a decent pay-per-view, with most matches above average and providing worthy action, although unfortunately the crowd in attendance were apparently asleep for most of the night. The World Heavyweight Championship contest was pleasantly better than expected, with an exciting and well executed finishing sequence. The HIAC match was also enjoyable enough, with Punk's hard work and playing to Ryback's strengths. Still split on the finish but it at least makes sense for the Ryback/Punk feud to continue. Now on to Raw tomorrow, wooo... 

My WWE Hell in a Cell Predictions

Photo credit: WWE.com

Randy Orton versus Alberto Del Rio:

My prediction for the opening match of the night, and one that should be pretty solid. I can't really see past Orton here, I reckon 'The Viper' has the win in the bag. Considering they're also both booked in a tag match on Main Event next week I can see an attack from Del Rio afterwards to extend their feud. Hopefully it doesn't go on too much longer though, I'm already tiring of Del Rio's same old lame promos on Orton every week.

Winner: Randy Orton

Triple Threat Divas Championship Match - Eve Torres (c) versus Layla versus Kaitlyn:

Not expecting anything that special here. Eve to grab a cheeky win over Kaitlyn somehow I'm guessing.

Winner: Eve

Intercontinental Championship Match - Kofi Kingston (c) versus The Miz:

I'd personally be disappointed to see Kofi's title reign end already, and I can't see that happening tonight. I'm expecting a good match here, hopefully it'll be up to the standard of their very entertaining title bout on Main Event. Kofi to retain cleanly.

Winner: Kofi Kingston

Tag Team Championship Match - Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) (c) versus Team Rhodes Scholars (Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes):

In one of the most well built up pay-per-view tag team matches in a long, long time in WWE I'm expecting good things. Both teams have been working well together and I hope stick around for a while to come. With the exceptional roll they're on I expect Team Hell No to retain, with Bryan grabbing the win to shut up his nay sayers. I'm the tag team champions!

Winners: Team Hell No

World Heavyweight Championship Match - Sheamus (c) versus The Big Show

As I said with the Divas contest, I'm not expecting much here to be honest. I have failed to be drawn into their feud at all, and although I don't normally like too many gimmick matches on a card, I feel this would have really benefitted from being another Hell in a Cell match to gain some much needed interest. While I've been quite split on who I think will win, I'm going with Sheamus to retain with a Brogue Kick after bringing the giant to his knees. I originally also thought that Dolph Ziggler would cash in here, but after clearly announcing it on more than one occasion I predict that he'll attempt to but somehow fail. Which would be a shame because the World Heavyweight Championship scene really needs a shake up at the moment. I think a WrestleMania cash in would be a nice move for 'The Show Off'.

Winner: Sheamus

WWE Championship Hell in a Cell Match - CM Punk (c) VS Ryback

And finally the main event of the evening. And what a lot of interest this bout has been building up, eh? More evidence that the Cena character has grown stale, since Extreme Rules when has one of his PPV matches built up intrigue like this? I've seen a lot of fans split on the possible result here, but personally I can only see CM Punk retaining his title. I actually think this will be an entertaining HIAC contest, remember they'll be very carefully planning it out considering Ryback's limitations (I'm not having a dig at him, it's true). I also believe we're going to see someone come to Punk's aid and help take out the always-hungry Ryback. And I wouldn't rule out Lesnar being that very man. How exciting would that be? Either way I'm looking forward to this.

Winner: CM Punk 

My WWE Raw, 16th July 2012 Recap

WWE Champion CM Punk started off the show by reminding the fans in Las Vegas that it was in that very city last year on June 27th on Raw that he gave that momentous promo where he simply spoke his mind that changed his career. He also reminded us that it has now been eighth months since he became WWE Champion, which is really quite incredible considering how long title reigns tend to last in pro wrestling nowadays. It certainly makes a refreshing change to have a World title holder with a significantly long and meaningful reign. 

Big Show then interrupted Punk and warned him that if he'd won the Money in the Bank contract the following night he would've cashed it in already and won the title. But Punk told Show that he'll always come close but loose out like he always does. Show retorted by cautioning the WWE Champion that Cena could very well cash in his MITB contract after their match later on, which pretty much confirmed that Cena would not be cashing in that night. It was quite an average segment to start the show.

Kofi Kingston and R-Truth (c) defeated Titus O'Neil and Darren Young to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship. The bout ranged from fair to quite drab, with a result that wasn't exactly shocking considering O'Neil and Young weren't even allowed to beat Primo and Epico at Money in the Bank.

Alberto Del Rio beat Zack Ryder in a short squash match. As Del Rio continued the attack on Ryder after the bell had rung Rey Mysterio made his return and applied the 619 to his rival. It's good to see the consistent performer Mysterio back.

Heath Slater once again challenged, and lost to, a famous face from Raw's past. This week it was Rikishi. Afterwards Rikishi danced similar to his Too Cool days with his two sons Jimmy and Jay Uso. The crowd seemed to appreciate the nostalgia act.

AJ and Daniel Bryan defeated Eve and The Miz in a decent enough mixed tag contest. AJ's time with Eve was fortunately kept rather brief in the ring, I'm enjoying her character but she still has some work to do in between the ropes. Daniel Bryan told AJ after that he loved her and then proposed. She answered "Yes".

Before Ryback versus Jack Swagger could even begin Swagger started the attack on his opponent, until Ryback made a comeback and powerbombed Swagger three times in a row. Ryback received more positive reaction here from the fans than I've ever heard, with them even chanting along to his "Feed me more!". Good sign for him. 

MITB winner Dolph Ziggler came out and stated that he will be the next and greatest World Heavyweight Champion of all-time. Chris Jericho then joined him, so Ziggler asked Jericho when the last time was that he actually won anything and called him a loser. Ziggler went on to call Y2J "all hype," claiming that he'd been coasting along for so long now that he had everybody fooled. It was brilliant mic work from the MITB winner. Jericho retaliated by applying a Codebreaker to 'The Show Off'. It was a great segment, with great work from Ziggler and Jericho receiving a better reaction then he has since his return last year. I'm definitely all for a rivalry between these two.

Brodus Clay beat JTG in a pretty nothing contest. Where can they go with Clay now? I'm just growing tired of the persona to be honest, I'd love to see a heel turn out of him in the near future.

CM Punk won via disqualification versus Big Show in a decent main event. The first third of the bout was a bit slow and did drag a little as Show had most of the offense. But when Punk started to make a comeback the match gained a bit of life back and the fans started to get into it. After refusing to halt an attack on the WWE Champion in the corner and pushing the referee aside, Big Show was DQ'd. John Cena's music then hit and Show backed off as it looked as though Cena might cash in his MITB contract, but it was just too obvious to happen.

Show tried to convince Cena to cash in now while Punk was down, but Cena instead announced that he would cash in the MITB next week on the 1000th Raw. Should be a decent title match, and a great show.

My WWE SmackDown, May 25th 2012 Recap

Eve came to the ring and announced that John Laurinaitis will not be in attendance due to an international matter elsewhere and that she was also in charge for the night. So she demanded that Sheamus issue a public apology for bumping into Laurinaitis on Monday later on. Eve was then interrupted by Alberto Del Rio who asked to be the new number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship at No Way Out. Randy Orton and Kane also followed in trying to convince Eve for the chance at the 'Great White', so predictably she decided to have a Triple Threat to determine the challenger at No Way Out.

Christian defeated Hunico in a decent match up. It wasn't anything particularly outstanding but as usual the new Intercontinental Champion Christian was solid in the ring and provided a good bout. It's great having him back. Afterwards Cody Rhodes claimed that no one cares about Christian and therefore no one cares about the IC Championship now, but he'll apparently be winning it back soon. Sorry Cody but I can't see that happening. 

Titus O'Neil and Darren Young defeated Jimmy & Jay Uso in another fair match between the two teams. It's a smart move finally having some new teams being promoted on the blue brand, hopefully we'll see O'Neil and Young challenging for the titles in the fairly near future. Although I still feel they have some work to do in the ring.

We were then shown a VT promoting the return of Sin Cara next week on SmackDown. Not too sure how I feel about that, can't say I'm overly excited really. 

Ryback defeated nobodies Brian Edwards and Kevin Bendl in a, what? That's right! Another squash match. Don't get me wrong I like the guy, and to be fair he performed his regular finisher with both men on his back which looked pretty impressive. I just feel like it's maybe time for his level of competition to take a step up. Or perhaps the booking team are planning something big for him, who knows?  

Santino Marella defeated Ricardo Rodriguez in a rather amusing comedy match. The entertaining Rodriguez was as funny as ever.

Sheamus came to the ring to apologise for what he stated was an accidental push into Laurinaitis on this weeks Raw, but instead said sorry "for John Laurinaitis being a massive arse!" 'The Great White' went on to claim that given the choice he'd like to face Randy Orton for his title, he was then interrupted by Vickie Guerrero who informed him that he'll be facing Jack Swagger. 

Sheamus defeated Jack Swagger in an enjoyable contest. It was also surprisingly competitive considering Swagger's usual record, and because he was allowed to be more competitive he was involved in a much more superior match then his usual one on ones. That being said I must also give Sheamus a lot of credit, not just for this performance but for his big improvement in the ring over the course of this year. He's always been solid enough but he's really earned the main event spot now in my opinion.

Damien Sandow defeated Yoshi Tatsu in a squash match, and gave a solid performance both in the ring and out as he gave another one of his entertaining promos about his superiority over just about everyone around him. If booked correctly I see Sandow being a big name for the company in a years time. 

Big Show came out and explained that he was devastated when he was fired on Raw a week back, and explained that he returned to help Laurinaitis because he genuinely loves what he does. The promo was basically everything we'd already heard him say on Monday, nothing new except that he stated he now doesn't care about the fans after their lack of support for him. It felt like a waste of time to me, not that Show didn't do a decent job of delivering it, it was just all a rehash. They might as well have shown a clip of his promo from Raw. 

Before the main event Daniel Bryan snuck up behind Kane and viciously attacked him with a steel chair. So I'm guessing he will be added to Bryan and CM Punk's inevitable rematch for the WWE Championship, something that just isn't necessary considering how they stole the show at Over The Limit. 

Alberto Del Rio defeated Randy Orton and Kane in a Triple Threat to become number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. It was an enjoyable enough main event, not exactly a classic but still a fun watch. Daniel Bryan distracted Kane a few times during the bout, causing 'The Big Red Monster' to be RKO'd by Orton and then covered by a capitalising Del Rio. Afterwards Sheamus greeted the victor with a clothesline on the ramp. 

My WWE Raw, February 28th 2012 Recap

CM Punk and Chris Jericho started things off. Jericho actually complimented Punk, calling him one of his favourite performers going today, but added that he still wasn't as good as him. Jericho also called himself a "dying breed of performers," which to be fair is true. In WWE today most of their talent come straight form their own developmental system, rather then the rare few like Y2J and Daniel Bryan who have actually travelled to various countries, honing their in-ring craft. And taking what they were given and being grateful for it. It was a good speech form Jericho, whose words were truly believable.    

CM Punk was also again accused by Chris of being a "Chris Jericho wannabe." Punk retorted by saying that he's his own person and that it's not like everything that Jericho says or does is completely original. Jericho answered back with "but I am not just telling you, I am proving to you with all the evidence that's standing right in front of you is the literal, undeserved, undoubtful, best in the World at everything I do."Quite a mouthful, eh?

CM Punk theorised that Jericho's mannerisms suggest that he actually has an inferiority complex, and asked who he was trying to prove to that he's the best in the world. Punk carried on to say that although they both came form the same shadows, he has surpassed Jericho, that he has now become "the man" that he never was. That while Jericho is writing books and participating on game shows, he's still "swimming with the sharks" in the WWE. This was a little reminiscent of Cena's rant towards The Rock last week.

Punk added that they didn't need the bright lights, the pyros, the big stage but simply a wrestling ring on April 1st at WrestleMania to put on what could be the greatest wrestling match in the pay-per-views history. And he simply ended the segment by saying that after he's victorious in the championship match "It won't be the end of theWorld, it'll just be the end of yours." It was an intriguing promo to start the show, and I quite enjoyed it myself. I'm just wondering how long they can keep carrying this 'Best in the World versus Best in the World' slogan before people start getting tired of it.

CM Punk versus Daniel Bryan ended in a no contest after John Laurinaitis' ruling due to Sheamus throwing future opponent Daniel Bryan back into the ring and straight into a GTS from Punk. The match up until the messy finish was a solid and entertaining bout, with crisp back and fourth action between the two. There were unfortunately too many interferences for my liking, which marred it a bit for me. First Laurinaitis distracted Punk on the apron before the bell, then Otunga and Santino Marella also jumped up on the apron to cause distractions. AJ also prevented Punk from performing a diving attack to Bryan on the outside. It was just all a bit much for a match with this talent which could have been even better.

Afterwards Laurinaitis and Punk argued until Teddy Long entered the ring and pushed the Raw Interim GM over. As they continued to argue Chris Jericho attacked Punk form behind and scoop slammed him onto the stage floor, and also applied the Walls of Jericho. CM Punk supposedly had to be helped to the trainers room after the attack.   

Kelly Kelly defeated Nikki Bella in a forgettable and mediocre Divas bout. Not much else to add, except why isn't the Divas Champion (and one of the few standout and capable female wrestlers in the company) Beth Phoenix not in regular action instead? 

Before he faced Cena, The Miz had to get a few grievances off his chest, including the fact that he is tired of the way he's been treated recently, which I totally agree with. Miz worked damn hard to improve his overall abilities in pro wrestling, which should prove an inspiration to the average wrestlers appearing on Superstars and NXT every week who moan about getting underutilised when they can't be asked to even work to improve themselves. Since his title reign he's been treated as a joke, rather then pushed still like he should've been. He carried on "In the past year, no one has worked harder then me!" Which is actually a pretty fair comment when you think about it.

He finished the speech by adding that he would prove his WrestleMania-worthy by defeating the man he beat at last years. It was a well performed promo and one that spoke a lot of truth, The Miz does deserve better treatment then he's received. All the while it was going on Cena just had a goofy grin on his face, treating Miz as a joke. Which only served to diminish the promo.

John Cena defeated The Miz in an average bout, which was actually better then I was expecting. Despite a strong enough start it went downhill a bit after Cena performed his signature finishing routine and forced Miz to tap to the STF. Just too predictable and boring. 

Epico and Primo (c) defeated the team of Kofi Kingston and R-Truth and the team of Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler in a triple threat tag team match to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles. It was an action packed and exciting match up, and definitely one of the best tag team title matches I've seen in WWE for a long while. All men gave a good effort in the well-constructed tag bout. Epico grabbed the win after throwing Kingston out of the ring and pinning Swagger.   

After the match Kane came out and took out all the participants, it was only R-Truth who put up a bit of a fight.  This is the Kane that I enjoy, the one who just wreaks havoc on everyone.

Teddy Long stormed into John Laurinatis's office and they began arguing once again, this time though it was revealed that there was a rumour that Laurinaitis wouldn't be in charge of Raw next week by Long. And Laurinatis revealed another rumour that Teddy wouldn't be in charge of the blue brand any longer. Long ended the argument by calling Laurinaitis a "horse's ass."

Eve tried to explain her actions (using Zack Ryder to get noticed in the company and then Cena) by saying how hard it is for a woman to live in a "man's world." She added that she couldn't help that men fall prey to her good looks, and that they should blame themselves for their weaknesses. In this promo she showed more character and gained more reaction from the crowd then she ever has before. This was a smart move turning her heel in this fashion. 

Before the following tag team match, Cody Rhodes once again presented a VT of another embarrassing WrestleMania moment for Big Show. This time from his contest with Floyd Mayweather at WrestleMania XXIV. 

Sheamus and Big Show defeated Mark Henry and Cody Rhodes in a short and simple match which only served to build up the Big Show and Rhodes feud and Royal Rumble winner Sheamus.

Finally The Rock entered the ring to a huge ovation. After a fair share of chanting The Rock admitted that he doesn't appear ever week, and also that without WWE and the fans "The Rock would never exist." He explained that when he said he was never leaving the company he didn't mean that he would literally be on every Raw and actually stick around. Erm, okay. He carried on to explain that what he meant was that the WWE would always be a part of him.

Rocky then said that he no longer sees Cena as a phoney, the guy who graduated from private school and became the 'Doctor of Thuganomics', but the real deal. He went on to say that he now sees him as a "kung pow bitch." Catchy line, and one that I'm sure achieved the desired reaction from the audience.

The Rock also claimed that last week when Cena said that he was fighting for everyone in the locker room in their upcoming match, it resided with 'The Great One'. He said that no one has fought for the biggest wrestlers such as Austin and Triple H, but the wrestlers themselves. He added that he instead was fighting for the people, the same people who are "so sick and tired of having a kung pow bitch shoved down their throats every single night." He went on to take credit for actually making Cena more interesting this year, saying that the only interesting thing he's done on his own is change his 1990's jean shorts to camo shorts.

This was when Mr. Cena joined Rocky. Cena explained that he was also once a fan of The Rock too, until he met Dwayne Johnson, who according to him is egotistical and self centred, he then left. The Rock told Cena that The Rock and Dwayne Johnson are one and the same person, and that at WrestleMania he will kick Cena's ass. 

It was a charismatic, confident and memorable promo, which is pretty much what you expect from 'The People's Champ'. Overall Raw ranged from average to very entertaining. With the highlights being the Tag Team Title match, Bryan versus CM Punk and The Rock's promo.