The Russ Says...

I've been working on re-launching my wrestling blog for a while now. I picked a lousy week to do it, right?

Bret Hart / CM Punk Promo
Watching Raw again this morning is surreal after following all the news on the internet last night regarding Jerry Lawler's heart attack during the show. You hear his voice opening the show when Bret Hart walked to the ring and then you think, "In an hour, this guy is literally going to be fighting for his life."

For Bret, his return to Montreal almost 15 years removed from the Screwjob was supposed to be a big moment, but I didn't expect that... those unmanufactured moments in wrestling are the sweetest, because they are few and far between. Last one I remember was last year when Edge retired.

CM Punk's Bret Hart-inspired tights were awesome. The last time a guy worked his ring attire into nearly every situation was John Cena when he was actually over. Maybe it's cheap heat, but I like it.

On the other hand, I don't like CM Punk's heel character. He is too whiny and he's not dropping enough "pipe bombs". Let him be the heel, but let him also tell the hard truths of the business. He will still be a heel to the marks, but keep him cool and edgy enough to the young male demographic that he still moves merch.

I did cringe when Punk peeked around Bret and asked, "How you feeling this week, Jerry?" If Lawler wasn't in a hospital, I might also pick apart Bret's statement that there wasn't one time Jerry Lawler didn't show up, because I can think of a couple of times.



Air Biscuit 2.0 (c) vs. Miz/Antonio Cesaro
Stupid way to put over your tag division: claim on Smackdown that there are 4 teams contending for the titles, and then put the champs in a match against 2 singles champions who have never teamed before and aren't in the division. Oh, and then have the tag champs go over so your singles champs look weak. (Stay tuned later.)

WWE Booking 101: keep everybody at a .500 record and don't build stars too high in case they up and quit one day and leave you out to dry like Stone Cold, Rock, Brock, Batista, and Jericho did.

Keep in mind that they still haven't booked Miz in a match for NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS this Sunday. You know? Because he's a CHAMPION right?

As part of Cesaro's gimmick, they really need to just pull the trigger, have him renounce the U.S. Championship in 5 languages and change it to the European Championship... then maybe jump start Jack Swagger as the All-American American by bringing it back to the U.S.

Then again, 4 of the last 7 champions (Cesaro, Santino Marella, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus) were born outside the U.S., so maybe it doesn't matter? Also, go back to WWE Booking 101 as the reason why guys aren't given a chance to be stars or non-cookie cutter FCW guys.

Sheamus/David Otunga Deposition
First, from the video package, I think it's laughable that Booker T bans the Brogue Kick, considering half of his moves in the ring back in the day involved kicking somebody in the head.

Sheamus is not a comedian. He just doesn't have the chops, even though they try to make him be one over and over again. This sketch was not as good as the anger management sessions of the past couple of weeks.

6-Diva Tag
Kaitlyn always looks like she makes her own ring gear. Beyond that, I guess I can't say much about the match other than it was short and unoffensive. Hopefully the match with Layla on Sunday will be the same. See also WWE Booking 101 and add Trish Stratus and Lita to that list, 'cause neither of these chicks are there yet.

Hey, there's a #PunkBrodus sighting! Where's his drunk girlfriend?

CM Punk (c) vs. #PunkOrton
I like these RawActive matches... at least there's a little bit of mystery to them. Maybe they're rigged like Cyber Sunday was, but it's interesting to see what the options are and what directions they could go.

Punk still is over, even after what he said to Bret Hart in the opening... goes back to prove that he will still be over with a segment of fans if he's still allowed to mouth off and drop pipe bombs. I would argue that he could and should have gone further with Bret in the opening to drag some skeletons out of the closet

Most of the current fan base wasn't born when Vince screwed Bret, so maybe the point is moot. Only the older fans would get it--most of it would go over the heads of the marks. Then again, I guess you also have to work within the confines of what Bret is comfortable with, and he is known to be flaky.

CM Punk & Dolph Ziggler vs. #PunkOrton & #PunkLawler
I was satisfied with just the Punk/Orton match on its own... I didn't really think this one was necessary, and it kind of dragged out the issue. Then again, maybe if this match didn't happen, then events later in the night might turn out differently, good or bad.

The only thing I liked about the match was Vickie Guerrero screaming at Punk and Paul Heyman outside the ring, because yes, there was a match going on right there, but Punk and Heyman no-selling her was hilarious, and even better, discussing where they would go eat.

Kane/Daniel Bryan Promo
I don't know where they're going with this heel/heel thing, because WWE doesn't usually book heel/heel for PPV, but like most things, they're beating the anger management thing now like a dead horse with their therapist continuing to get involved.

It was funny before because they acknowledged a lot of Kane's history (including the taboo subject of Katie Vick). But now, again... dead horse.

Wendy's vs. Ryback
WWE Booking 101: let's take two guys that we've buried and then put them in a feud nobody cares about. The legends respected Heath Slater so much at #Raw1000 that he's mostly been nonexistent since then, and Zack Ryder getting 2 wins over him is only credible because Kane is in another feud.

Am I the only one who's noticed that Ryder's show sucks now that he's on WWE's YouTube channel? Plus, he got over and now he looks washed up... it's more tragic than comedic now. Santino's show is my favorite, by the way.

Prime Time Players (#1 Contenders) vs. Kane & Daniel Bryan

Back to WWE Booking 101, they have 4 existing tag teams in the division, they've built up the PTPs for weeks, they continued to push them even through the Abraham Washington nonsense, and then they jobbed them out to a makeshift "superstar" tag team.

Guaranteed prediction: Kane & Daniel Bryan will win Sunday, because WWE likes these mismatched superstar tag teams that don't like each other. This will eventually set up Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara taking the belts off of them to establish them as a team before their rumored feud.

This is the match where Jerry Lawler suffered his heart attack. Very scary stuff, as you can hear Lawler breathing heavily into the headset. Reports from the live crowd were that he stood and clutched his chest. In the feed that I watched, the first sign was a shot towards the announce table where Michael Cole is bending over behind the table.



Later the crowd chanted "Jerry" and tried to get a look at what happened before quieting down.

Alberto Del Rio vs.Tyson Kidd
Michael Cole continued commentary on his own. After seeing how he looked later in the show, it's a wonder he was able to continue. Then again, I'm reminded that he was embedded during fighting in Yugoslavia, so I guess he's a pro... after Del Rio's promo, he gave the news to the audience at home.

"This is not part of tonight's entertainment." -- was probably ringing in a lot of people's ears last night.

Sheamus vs. David Otunga
Cole remained at ringside, but the match was held without commentary. Personally, I think Vince should have sent the crowd home, offered refunds and run some replays for that remaining half hour or so, but I guess this was the best we could get. It's easier to refund a TV show than it is a PPV, so comparisons to Owen Hart aren't really accurate here.

Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes
Building up to another Miz/Mysterio match on PPV? Yawn... the possible inclusion of Cody Rhodes only ensures that either it becomes a Triple Threat match Sunday and neither of the heels gets pinned or Rhodes screws somebody out of the title.

John Cena / Bret Hart / CM Punk Promo
Maybe this was a little more what I was hoping for earlier... too bad it took 3 hours to get there. They did an excellent job of sending the locals home happy, given what happened.