Brodus Clay and Lord Tensai are both riding the wave of success in the WWE. Since finally debuting after weeks (maybe even months) of promises, Funkasaurus has been undefeated on WWE television. The same goes for the artist formerly known as A-Train.
While each man shares that in common, that's about the end of the similarities. Tensai is a brutal, raw wrestler who holds impressive pinfall victories over current WWE champion CM Punk, former champ John Cena, and now tag team champion coholder R-Truth. I like the fact that the WWE has a dominant heel to push, but I'm still not sold on it being Lord Tensai. I've talked about it before, and I'll say it again he just doesn't impress me. I was never a fan of his when he was Prince Albert or A-Train, and I'm still not today.
Pinning Punk (WWE)
That's not taking anything away from him, as I do believe he has improved since his last run with the company. Obviously going to Japan did help. And as I mentioned, the WWE lacks character development in my view and Tensai could end up being a good one to push. I do worry though that with two really big wins on Raw and the other squash matches in the course of just over a month, we may be on a Tensai overload. I hope it doesn't end up coming back to bite him.
As for Brodus Clay, I enjoyed him on NXT and in the weeks that followed. He seemed lost though and I'm not even sure how much he actually wrestled once being brought to the main roster. I think the time he spent off TV and being repackaged was brilliant. I (like many fans) thought Clay would come back as a monster too, dominating his opponents. Instead, he's the Funkasaurus who enjoys dancing in the ring and keeping the fans entertained. So far, I'd say it's working for him, but arguably his resume isn't as impressive as Tensai's in terms of victories. The Lord has pinned two top WWE superstars. Clay has beaten the Miz (who seems to be on a slide) and Dolph Ziggler. Of course there have been a lot of squash matches for him too, but the wins over Miz and Ziggler mark an important step in Clay's development too.
Splashing Miz (WWE)
I think many people viewed him as a joke and destined to fail, especially after he disappeared briefly from TV earlier this year. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say fans enjoy the character and he's going to be around for a while. Man I hope I didn't just jinx him, because the truth of the matter is I really like Funkasaurus. He's entertaining as hell. Plus he (like Tensai) don't fall into that cookie-cutter image that many of the other WWE superstars have.
Kudos to the WWE for their pushing of these two men. I hope it continues as it will bring new blood to the main event and championship pictures this year. I like where things have been going in recent months with guys like Punk, Daniel Bryan, and Cody Rhodes in more of the spotlight. I don't necessarily see a Tensai or Clay world title run in the near future, but I think either man is capable of holding the Intercontinental or U.S championships.
The November 21, 2011 episode of Raw ended with somewhat of a surprise, in my opinion. The team of R-Truth and the Miz came to a skull crashing halt. Early the next morning, it was revealed that R Truth has been suspended for 30 days due to his first Wellness Policy violation.
Of course I'm all for the suspension. If Truth violated the rules of the company, he should have to pay the consequences for that. What I don't understand is what is the point of splitting up yet another WWE tag team. While I doubt Awesome Truth was ever going to win the tag team gold, it was nice to have a heel unit working together. They could have at least been contenders for the titles and helped beef up a still understaffed division.
Guess it's over. (WWE.com)
Instead now, the Miz has attacked his partner. Even though the WWE has reported the suspension online, I would guess that the storyline will play out that R-Truth is MIA due to the SCF on the entranceway. And I know I should wait the 30 days before speculating, but one would assume with the manner he was taken out, that R-Truth will come back as a face and/or feud with the Miz. Ugh. I think the smartest thing the WWE ever did with Ron Killings was turn him heel. He plays that role much better. The singing, dancing, jolly R-Truth was lame and made me change the channel. But the paranoid, egocentric, "Lil' Jimmy" hatin' heel was excellent in my view. He may never be world champ, but I could see the heel Truth as more of an upper card guy than the face version.
What's up? (WWE.com)
But again, we don't know what's going to happen so I don't want to complain too much. However, why not just have John Cena take him out? Or the Rock could have done the honors Sunday night at Survivor Series. Now I feel like the company has painted themselves in a corner with an assumed face turn for Truth. I know they could just bring him back as a heel and not aligned with the Miz anymore. But I really enjoy these two together and loved their "You Suck" song.
Okay, enough complaining. Let's see where we end up in the 30 days. I hope Truth gets the help he may need (if he does) while he's suspended and fixes whatever it was that caused him to get into trouble. What do you think about the suspension and the attack by the Miz? Weigh in here or head over to Facebook or Twitter and let us know.
Instead of writing up a negative review of the Survivor Series (which I find myself writing more about the negative things in wrestling), I've decided to write some of the things about the show I enjoyed. And I'm only going to include the things I really enjoyed. Afterall, I love wrestling and the original intent of this blog was to share my love for it with you and generate a dialogue.
Still the champ (from WWE.com)
I enjoyed the opening match up between Dolph Ziggler and John Morrison. I know there was some people anger that Zack Ryder wasn't in the title match, and that's something I address briefly in my video wrap up (the link is at the bottom of this blog). Dolph and JoMo are two of the best workers in the company right now. The action was fast paced and well done. I was glad to see Dolph retain, however, I would not have been opposed to a U.S. title run for Morrison either.
Awesome move! (from WWE.com)
One of my favorite moves of the night came in the Divas title match. Props to both Beth Phoenix and Eve for the Off the Top Rope GlamSlam (I think that's the name of the move). Beth looked dominant in this match, just as she should. I like her as Divas champion. I really do hope she gets a bit of a run with the belt this time around. And I still maintain a match between she and Kharma would be epic. I'm hoping that happens at Wrestlemania (assuming Kharma is back by then.) Although some are hoping for a Natalya-Beth matchup. I prefer these two working together as heels.
Out of action (from WWE.com)
Ouch to Sin Cara. Hope he recovers quickly, although the estimates I've seen have him on the shelf for up to nine months. I wonder if they'll go back to having Hunico under the mask and have his character disappear, or will they get another luchador to work the gimmick. I would imagine Sin Cara is a pretty marketable character among children.
Survivors! (from WWE.com)
Thank goodness Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett survived. My original picks here were Cody and Dolph, but it appears that Barrett may be getting a decent push finally. Barrett impressed me in the early days of NXT and even when the Nexus first formed. But things quickly went south for the superstar. I hope now they're going to move him to the next level. I always like to see fresh talent being used at the top, so this is a good thing (or so it appears). And of course Cody is the Intercontinental champion, and looks pretty impressive so far.
Up, up, and away (from WWE.com)
Big Show took a big risk climbing the top rope. I must admit, I was quite impressed. I don't ever recall seeing him do something like that before. I'm not going to lie, I was nervous as well while he gingerly climbed up to the top rope. I think the entire room stopped talking to see what was going to happen next. Thankfully, he didn't meet the same fate as Sin Cara. I'm glad to see Mark Henry is still the champion, but with the indecisive nature of the outcome, I'm guessing these two will wrap things up at TLC next month.
New champ! (from WWE.com)
CM Punk is the new WWE champion and all is right with the world. This is not just a good thing, it's a great thing. Although he's not the original renegade character he was back in the summer, I still enjoy the work Punk does. Here's to hoping for a long, uninterrupted title reign. Also, I have to note the awesomeness of bringing Howard Finkel back too. I miss the Fink.
Early Wrestlemania? (from WWE.com)
The Rock is back. At least for now. Or at least for Survivor Series, and then again at Wrestlemania. However, I imagine we'll see him again between here and there. Some criticized the Rock's return. I thought he looked great, probably in the best shape of his life. He more than held his own with the Miz and R-Truth. While I'm glad he's back, I also am leery about too much praise, as I've said before, where will we be in one year? Will Rock be competing still? Doubtful. But R-Truth and the Miz will, so I worry about the effects on them. I also liked the reaction John Cena received from the crowd. I hate to jump on the bandwagon, but I think it's time to turn the guy heel, at least for a bit. It would be a natural evolution of his character. And I believe Cena can make it work.
So there you have it, a mostly negative-free Survivor Series analysis. I get a little more particular in my video post. Please check it out and subscribe to the YouTube channel.
I have a lot on my mind after finally seeing the end of Monday Night Raw from October 24th. I'm shaking my head and doing a lot of wondering. I'm going to jump around here, so please accept my apology for these ramblings.
I'll start with the main event. I thought it was cool booking Zack Ryder to be John Cena's partner against the Miz and R-Truth. The beatdown even made sense. What I don't understand is why Cena then picked the Rock to be his tag team partner at Survivor Series. There are a couple of things that bother me here. First, it was announced WEEKS ago that Cena and the Rock would be teaming up in a traditional five man Survivor Series tag team matchup. So the choice made by Cena had already been announced, and Jake the Snake Roberts circa Wrestlemania 7 could see it coming. (yes, I've used that one before) Why aren't we getting the 5 on 5 match? Maybe we will. I thought the way they were setting it up previously we could have gotten Cena, Rock, CM Punk, Triple H, and maybe Ryder against Miz, Truth, Kevin Nash, Alberto Del Rio, and someone else. Another question about this match, WHY would the Rock want to team with Cena. Of course, he hasn't responded yet, so I guess we'll have to see how this plays out over the next couple of weeks.
Cole disses JR again
Notice how many times Michael Cole brought up Twitter? Geez, not only did he bring it up non-stop, he failed to talk much about the company's website, WWE.com. Joey Styles pointed that out, ironically enough via Twitter. Plus, I HATE the way they are burying Jim Ross. I don't understand the reasoning behind it. The pictures last night were lame and on the surface this just appears to be another way to jab at the broadcasting legend. My gut tells me JR is going to show up in Atlanta and be humiliated one last time before fading into the sunset. It's not right to treat him like that. I don't blame Cole for this, I question the WWE's motives though.
Shane Douglas & Johnny Ace
Punk and Cena both made cracks to John Laurinaitis riding a skateboard. I have to wonder how many fans actually get the jokes. For those who don't, Laurinaitis was a surfer dude/skaterboy babyface in the late 1980's in WCW. He and Shane Douglas were the Dynamic Dudes. I think the WWE should have put up some pics or done a video or something better to explain this. The target audience now was probably either not born yet or just in diapers when this angle was going on in WCW.
Looks like they're setting up Dolph Ziggler to feud with Mason Ryan. I really hope they don't take the U.S. title from Dolph. He is in my opinion the best heel on the show right now. I hate to see John Morrison slide down the ranks. Good for Wade Barrett though. I know you can't have everyone at the top of the pack. Where the heck is Daniel Bryan? He won Money in the Bank, I figured he'd get a little more TV time at least. The Divas match was fine. I just hope this doesn't end with Natalya Neidhart and Beth Phoenix feuding.
Nash bashes his "best" friend (WWE.com)
Speaking of hoping for things to not come true, please keep Stephanie McMahon out of this angle. I have a feeling she's somehow behind all of this. I thought the beatdown of Triple H with the sledgehammer was pretty good actually. But do we really need or want to see a feud from nearly 10 years ago revived? It's a little Impact Wrestlingish in my opinion. One has to wonder though with all the names they're bringing back (Rock, Mick Foley for Raw in three weeks), will Shawn Michaels somehow get involved here too?
Punk beats down ADR
Alberto Del Rio is the champion, but it doesn't feel like it. It's similar to when the Miz held the title. It seems like the focus of the show is still around John Cena. The company needs to start doing a better job of elevating talent and giving them a chance to run with the ball. I'm still not completely sold on ADR, and the lack of effort coming from creative isn't helping.
So many questions, which I guess is good. We can't have everything solved in 120 minutes, or we'd stop watching each week. I'll be curious to see where things go. But if anyone from WWE happens to read this, my main point today is (I have two actually): Bring back the traditional 5 on 5 (or 4 on 4) tag matches at Survivor Series, and secondly LEAVE JR ALONE! Either bring him back and let him do his job or leave him off TV and stop berating him.
Here's my video review too. Your thoughts? Post them here, on Facebook, or Twitter.
