I've always respected the in ring work of Daniel Bryan, even before he was with the WWE and working as Bryan Danielson in Ring of Honor and on the indy (or is it indie?) scene. I love when he's actually able to get in there and wrestle. To say that Bryan doesn't give 110% each time he's in the ring would be a huge understatement.
The last couple of weeks have been interesting for Bryan and his Team Hell No partner Kane. I really have enjoyed what the WWE has done with these two, painting Bryan as the frustrated loser who can't seem to catch a break. His matches with the Shield have been stellar. Monday night on Raw, I feel like he and Ryback had an amazing match too.
While some think Bryan's best days are behind him, or agree that he is the weak link of his team, I disagree. I think this is clearly the rebranding of one of the most versatile wrestlers (yes, I said wrestlers) in the company. He takes every challenge (gimmick) thrown his way and excels.
It never fails after I upload a YouTube video on a particular topic I always think of other points that I wanted to make. Such is the case with today's submission on tag team wrestling.
Until very recently I was hopeful for the tag team division in the WWE. Just a few short months ago there was a tag team tournament with eight teams to determine who would face the tag team champions.
Hell No vs. Rhodes Scholars Courtesy: WWE
I'm disappointed Team Rhodes Scholars has disbanded. This team had a ton of potential and honestly I was shocked they didn't beat Team Hell No at the Royal Rumble. They held a couple of non-title victories over the champs (I think that's accurate) so to see them be taken out of the scene seems a little silly. Besides Hell No, I think Rhodes Scholars was the top team in the WWE.
It seems Hell No is heading for a breakup soon too. It would make sense from a storyline standpoint, although I hate when teams are constantly being split up. For the time being though, Daniel Bryan and Kane ARE the tag team champions, so I'm really not happy about the fact that Bryan is in the Elimination Chamber match to determine a number one contender to the World Heavyweight title.
The Prime Time Players Photo courtesy: WWE
The Prime Time Players had a lot of potential early on too. But I think after Abraham Washington's departure from the company a lot of the wind was taken out of their sails. Seriously, this duo needs a good manager to help them refocus. The Usos never seemed to catch a break, although I enjoy their work too. Primo and Epico have been jobbers lately not only to other teams, but to singles guys like the Great Khali and Ryback.
Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara are both back, so let's see if they stick it out. If I was a betting man several months ago I would have put my money on a Mysterio-Cara match at Wrestlemania. Now I'd say there's a better chance of a Bryan-Kane match that night.
Unfortunately Tyson Kidd is hurt so his partnership with Justin Gabriel is on the sidelines. They split up Kofi Kingston and RTruth so the stars could pursue singles careers. It worked for Kofi briefly, but now that he's without the Intercontinental title, we've seen very little of him. Then there's Zack Ryder and Santino. Need I say more?
Oliver Gray & Adrian Neville Photo courtesy: WWE
On the horizon there have been hints of a Tensai-Brodus Clay tag team. I'm not sure I love the idea, but again, it's just the online buzz, so I'm not buying into it just yet. Of course on NXT the new tag team champions Adrian Neville and Oliver Gray. Regular readers now I'm high on Neville and can't wait to see him on the main roster. Perhaps it may be as a tag team wrestler in the not-so-distant future.
Only time will tell how the tag team situation shakes out, but I think others would agree there are a lot of issues with the current state of affairs.
The 2013 Royal Rumble is in
the books. Heads up, this blog is going to be full of anger, snark and
stereotypical Internet wrestling fan rage. If you’ve been reading my123cents
for the at least two weeks or listened to last week’s From the Rafter’s radio
show then you know everything we didn’t want to see happen at the Royal Rumble
happened. Before I get into the complaining let me get the positives out of the
way.
For the most part there
wasn’t anything bad on the show from a pure wrestling standpoint. All the
matches were laid out well and the in-ring action was perfectly acceptable. If
I weren’t one to think about the outcomes and how it plays into a bigger
picture, I wouldn’t have any issues with the show. So at least there’s that.
Add in some genuine surprises into the Royal Rumble match (Chris Jericho,
Godfather) and I would definitely think the show was worth the $15 I spent on
food at Buffalo Wild Wings while watching the show. Unfortunately I look at the
bigger picture and that picture resembles that refurbished picture of Jesus the
old lady tried to touch up.
Last Man Standing Del Rio retains Photo courtesy: WWE
I don’t get why Big Show and
Alberto Del Rio had another Last Man Standing match instead of a different
gimmick, or straight up match. The match was perfectly fine as long as you
overlook the logical gap of every Big Show match in which you wonder why he
doesn’t punch his opponents in the face right from the beginning. While the
match was fine, I didn’t like the ending. Ricardo Rodriguez duct tapes Big
Show’s feet to the bottom rope preventing Show from getting back to his feet
before the 10 count is administered. Yes, Big Show didn’t get back to his feet,
however he was clearly trying to get up. To me the referee should have realized
there was no way for Big Show to stand while his feet were taped and thus
remove the tape before making a 10 count. Guessing we’ll get a rematch on RAW
or Smackdown and then Big Show will be one of the competitors in the
Elimination Chamber match at the next pay per view.
I was surprised to see Team
Hell No defeat Team Rhodes Scholars. I don’t know where Kane and Daniel Bryan
go from here. The Primetime Players have fallen down to non-serious contenders.
The Usos and Primo/Epico haven’t been presented as potential contenders for the
past couple of months. Hunico and Camacho’s bicycle must have gotten a flat tire,
as they haven’t been seen in some time. Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara returned
during the Royal Rumble but if the rumors of the two of them squaring off at
Wrestlemania are true, then there’s really no reason for them to get a
tag-title shot. Maybe Hell No will renew their feud with the Shield. Or maybe
we’ll get more Dr. Shelby and wacky skits and hope fans don’t realize the tag
titles aren’t being defended.
Y2J Returns Royal Rumble 2013 Photo courtesy: WWE
The Royal Rumble match was
well laid out. As mentioned before, the return of Chris Jericho was a surprise
and actually played into a storyline from more than a month ago. I don’t know
if Y2J is back or if this was just a one-time event. I hope he’s not back just
through Wrestlemania as I don’t like part-time guys taking Wrestlemania slots.
The return of Goldust was a
nice surprise and I would really like to see a Goldust vs. Cody Rhodes match at
Wrestlemania. Maybe throw in Dusty Rhodes as special guest referee. For the second year in a row, Kofi
Kingston wins the award for most creative way to avoid elimination.
Cena wins Royal Rumble 2013 Photo courtesy: WWE
As exciting as the Royal
Rumble match was, the ending killed not only the match but was the first step
in making me dislike the show as a whole. John Cena winning his second Rumble
foreshadowed a Rock victory and made me not interested in Wrestlemania 29. Cena
is the holder of the “Being John Cena” title, which allows him a title match
whenever he wants one. Instead of having Cena win, whoever is going to
challenge for the World title should have won the Rumble. Though I suspect that
Cena winning the guaranteed title shot at Wrestlemania is a way for WWE to
claim last year’s promotion of Rock/Cena as “once in a lifetime” wasn’t a lie.
“Cena just happened to win a title show and Rock is champion, it’s not like we
set up that way.”
During the Punk Rock match,
I thought they might have Punk retain the title because a Rock victory seemed
too obvious. If Punk retained, Rock could still win the title at Elimination
Chamber and go on to face Cena at Wrestlemania. Because I had this thought,
when Punk pinned Rock, I wasn’t too shocked. However my spirits were deflated
and every bad thought I had came to a head once Vince McMahon came out to
address CM Punk.
Punk wins...for a minute Royal Rumble 2013 Photo courtesy: WWE
Due to the lights going out
during the match and Rock apparently being attacked, I think maybe he just
slipped, Vince claimed The Shield had helped CM Punk and pre-match stipulation
declared if this happened Punk would be stripped of the title. The Rock grabbed
a mic and said they weren’t going to end that way and demanded the match be
restarted. One People’s Elbow later, the Rock ended CM Punk’s 400-day title
reign.
This ending was pure dreck
on many levels. First off, Vince
had no proof the Shield interfered. Who’s to say Rock didn’t arrange for the
lights to be turned off so he could get Punk stripped of the title? Rock
beating Punk with one of the weakest wrestling moves in the history of
wrestling was also frustrating. Here’s a guy who has been champion for over 400
days, has defeated some of the best wrestlers on the roster and he gets beat
after a movie star who’s wrestled two matches in ten years hits him with an
elbow drop. Could they have made Punk’s title reign look any more pointless?
Now unless there’s some
major shake up at Elimination Chamber, The Rock will defend the WWE title at
Wrestlemania against John Cena. I have not heard one person who has said they
want to see this rematch. Had I taken a survey at Buffalo Wild Wings, I may
have gotten a handful of people who were excited for the match. In my opinion,
Rock/Cena was the laziest booking decision that could have been made.
Seventy days until
Wrestlemania and I have very little interest in the show. WWE really needs to
build a strong undercard to make Wrestlemania 29 not be the weakest show on a
weekend full of shows. Right now, I don’t have high hopes.
I'll admit when Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes first started teaming up, I wasn't impressed. I was afraid they were just another flash in the pan team paired together because they're two singles stars with nothing better to do. It reminded me of the way Cody was thrown together with Drew McIntyre, only to split a few months later.
But lately, Team Rhodes Scholars has grown on me. The only real complaint is the way the WWE insists on adding the word "team" in front of tag team names. Imagine Team Hart Foundation or Team Demolition or Team Bushwhackers. It doesn't sound right.
Anyway, on the 12/10/12 episode of Raw, Cody Rhodes returned after being seriously injured early in November, and Team Rhodes Scholars defeated the Usos (who really impressed me too by the way), The Prime Time Players, and The Colons. By winning the four way elimination match, Sandow and Rhodes now face Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio at TLC for the right to face the champions, Team Hell No at a later date.
I have no doubt this match Sunday will be a good one. These four guys know how to do it in the ring, and even with the weakness Sin Cara brings to the mix, I think the other three will help carry him into an excellent tag team contest.
Courtesy: WWE.com
So my wish for Team Rhodes Scholars is to win the match against Rey-Sin (I don't know if that works or not) and go on to face Daniel Bryan and Kane again. I do think in the not so distant future, the duo of Sandow and Rhodes will be the tag team champions. I love the fact that the WWE has been working to rebuild the tag team ranks. Sure there are things I could nit pick and be critical of, but I'm going to keep this positive. Team Rhodes Scholars continues to prove themselves in the ring and on the mic and I look forward to seeing more of this tandem in the months ahead. I'm also curious to see where the mustache is going for Cody.
Ryback stands tall, but Punk wins Hell in a Cell 2012 Photo courtesy: WWE
By Chad Smart @chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter As I start to type this,
WWE’s Hell In A Cell pay per view has been over for about 12 hours.I debated on writing because I found
the show to be the perfect example of why monthly PPVs and themed PPVs shouldn’t
exist and I didn’t want to spread more negativity around the My 1-2-3 Cents offices.With that said, I don’t
think HIAC was a bad show. It was just a show that had it not happened, no one
would have missed it.
Normally I would start with
the things I didn’t like about the show and end with the positives of the show.
Unfortunately, I think the negatives outweigh the positives for HIAC so we’re
going to start with the good stuff.
Overall the wrestling was
good. The problem I had though was there was no match that had me interested in
the outcome other than the WWE and World title matches.With the exception of the Diva’s title,
all of the outcomes were fairly predictable. Though I do take exception at Team
Rhode Scholars winning by DQ, as I picked Team Hell No in the Rafter’s Radio
pick ‘em contest since I didn’t see them losing the tag titles.
Kaitlyn shines in the Divas match Hell in a Cell 2012 Photo courtesy: WWE
The World Title match
between Sheamus and Big Show was the match of the night in my opinion and was a
near perfect example of two power wrestlers beating the tar out of each
other.While the match was good,
there’s one aspect that has me scratching my head. I’ll get to that in the
negatives section.I also thought
the Divas title match was much better than expected.Eve and Kaitlyn busted out some innovative moves and
submission holds. If WWE ever gave the fans a reason to care about the Divas
the talent is there for a solid division.Those two matches and the lack of anything terrible are really the only
positives I have for the show.
In addition to the announced
matches, in what is becoming a monthly fixture, there were two unadvertised
matches on the show. The U.S. Title match between Antonio Cessaro and Justin
Gabriel made sense given the events on RAW. The Prime Time Players vs. the
ReySins served no purpose other than to put a popular wrestler (Rey Mysterio)
on the show.
Gabriel misses the 450 Splash Hell in a Cell 2012 Photo courtesy: WWE
Due to these
additional matches, which were not short matches, they clocked in at a combined
total of 20 minutes not including entrance times; the main event of the show
only went 12 minutes.I’m not
saying had those matches not been on the show CM Punk and Ryback would have
went longer. But I am hinting at poor time management on the show.
I have not missed Jerry
Lawler since he’s been gone. In fact, when I heard his voice in one of the preview
packages, I was reminded how irritating his voice is to me. JBL and Jim Ross
have done a good job of filling in in the King’s absence along with a toned
down Michael Cole. At HIAC though, I wanted to hit the mute button several
times.It sounded as if the three
guys had gotten into an argument before the show and were determined not to
work together.Several times one
of the commentators would say something and then another would repeat what was
said. Then the original speaker would ridicule the repeater for saying what had
just been said. If I didn’t know any better, I would also think someone had
made a bet with JBL to see how many Notre Dame references and Oklahoma insults
he could fit into the broadcast. Maybe it was an off night, or their minds were
focused more on Hurricane Sandy. Whatever the reason, the commentary pulled the
show down a notch or two.
Big Show beats Sheamus Hell in a Cell 2012 Photo courtesy: WWE
During the Big Show/Sheamus
match, the announcers made mention of Dolph Ziggler guaranteeing cashing in the
Money In The Bank briefcase. They showed Dolph backstage watching the match.
There were several references to Big Show’s 45-second title reign in December
when Daniel Bryan cashed in the MITB case to become champion. After Show won
the match, there was no Ziggler. There was no mention of Ziggler cashing in to
try and become champion.Maybe
they should bring in Scooby Doo and the Mystery Gang tonight to solve the case
of the Missing Zig. Seriously, what happened to Dolph cashing in during the
show?
The backstage segments
involving Paul Heyman and CM Punk trying to get the match with Ryback cancelled
made little sense. First Heyman went to Vickie Guerrero to get the match
cancelled and she said no. After a few matches, Heyman was shown going up to
Vickie and thanking her for cancelling the match. She said the match was still
on and Paul slinked off. Who told Paul the match was cancelled? Why did he go
to Vickie a second time when she already said the match was happening?It’s the little logic gaps or
unexplained issues in WWE storytelling that brings down the entire story.
Punk with the kendo stick Hell in a Cell 2012 Photo courtesy: WWE
Now, the main event, or “how
to tell your fans you just wasted fifty dollars.”Ryback losing was the right call. He’s not ready to be
champion and ending the streak is a positive step.Looking back at Goldberg’s streak, and how The Giant was
unstoppable and quickly won the WCW title history will show you the longer one
goes undefeated, the bigger and faster the fall is when they eventually lose.
When a wrestler gets to the top of the mountain with little resistance it is harder
to logically keep them of the perch after they get knocked off the top.So Ryback losing will, in theory, help
make him a bigger star in the long run if used properly.
Punk wins...with some help Hell in a Cell 2012 Photo courtesy: WWE
That said, the cheating
referee angle was not the way to end the unbeaten streak. Granted, it was
better than Heyman using a cattle prod. Either because knowing the match wasn’t
going to go long due to what time it started, or because the match was more a
one sided affair with CM Punk getting in some offense but mostly being on the
run for the match, the match just didn’t click with me. Yes, the visual of
Ryback delivering the Shell Shock to Punk on top of the Cell will be a visual
used in highlight packages for years to come, but the ten minutes preceding
that moment weren’t good.
As I said, overall there’s
nothing bad on the show and there are worse shows to spend your time watching.
On the flip side, there’s nothing on the show that is must see. I’m guessing
between the next 4 Raws and Survivor Series; we’ll see at least 90% of rematches
from this show. What did you think of the show? Weigh in here or like us on Facebook and share your thoughts.
Daniel Bryan and Kane are wrestling's new "big thing." Monday night the WWE Universe spoke and gave this duo the name of Team Hell No. It's a wonderful play on words and I must admit I (for the most part) find the whole anger management angle to be entertaining.
I think pairing these two has helped to give a shot in the arm to the tag team division as well. Slowly it seems the WWE is growing the ranks. We still have Boom-Truth, the Usos, the Colons, the Prime Time Players, and the new make shift combos of Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara as well as the brand new team of Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow. That unit is known as Rhodes Scholars, another play on words.
Rhodes Scholars attacks Team Hell No Photo from: WWE
While I like Hell No, I'm not sure yet how I feel about Rhodes Scholars. This seems like an odd pairing to me, and quite honestly I think both men would do better in the singles ranks. I know in this era of wrestling, it'll never be the way it once was with tag teams. Even in the late 90's when guys like Road Dog and Billy Gunn and Faarooq and Bradshaw were thrown together and enjoyed great success in the tag team ranks. Can it work for Rhodes Scholars, time will tell. But in the five years Cody has been with the WWE, he's held the tag team titles with three different partners: Hardcore Holly, Ted DiBiase, and Drew McIntyre.
I think what the tag team division in the WWE needs now is stability and long term players. Guys like Rhodes and Sandow (and even Kane and Bryan) are great individual wrestlers. I don't think they're in it for a long term team. They don't need to be in my opinion either. I still firmly believe that Cody is future WWE champion material. Sandow has a TON of potential as well. I think ultimately too many of these make shift teams will hurt the division again in the long run. It also just seems like an easy way to do something with guys they have no plans or ideas for.
I can see guys like Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Justin Gabriel, and Tyson Kidd staying in the tag team division and actually excelling and growing as superstars. Years ago, it was tag team wrestlers coming in as a unit and eventually splitting into singles stars (ala The Rockers, Hart Foundation, and in TNA the Dudleys) Now it seems we're taking established singles guys and turning them in to teams. Don't get me wrong, I like the love the division is being shown, I'm just not 100% sold on the idea of some of these teams.
As always, we want your thoughts. Post here or on Facebook or Twitter.
