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Hour One:
In case you missed it, the tag titles were defended on the free pre-show, and Kofi and Truth retained. I have no idea how that would get anyone to buy the show, but what do I know?
They did a nice vignette about MITB and its important for those of us that bought the show. John Cena said Big Show will go down and win MITB. It they have a brain in their heads, that is the only thing that should NOT happen in the Raw MITB match.
The show opens with the Smackdown MITB match. Dolph came out first. OK, I get it. Then came Santino. Not feeling that this is legit with him. Or Cody who came out next (though to be fair in his case it's more due to how badly they have booked him than anything Cody has done). Smarty Pants Sandow came out next. In real sports, they make guys tough. In WWE, they make him them Smarty Pants'. Tyson Kidd came out next. So thus far Sandow and Dolph are the only guys that have a legit shot if you follow WWE's booking. And then Sin Cara came out. You know him, he was decimated by Alberto Del Rio two weeks ago and got in by beating that formidable foe, Heath Slater. Yeah, he should not win. Next came Lord Albert/Tensai. You know his story. And finally, here comes Christian, the guy who has the Intercontinental Title and we know what that means. So, if you use logic, Dolph, who has been buried every time he had a title match, or Sandow, who has never had one, are the only legit guys. Why does that make me think that Vickie Guerrero will turn on Dolph and have Tensai win. I have to be wrong, right?
Oh yeah, for those of you wondering, our announcers are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Fave Five T. Let's hope the action just calls itself.
Early on it's every man for himself. The first briefcase spot came when Santino, Christian and Kidd were going for the case. Are you thinking "NO WAY one of them wins"? You are correct. Sandow stopped them. Now it's Ziggler vs. Cody and the WWE Universe thinks Ziggler is a favorite. What does that say about how obviously creative books? ... Ziggler and Cara went to do a spot from the top when, surprisingly, Ziggler lost his footing and f'd it up. Dolph landed really badly. Ouch. ... Speaking of which, Christian missed a splash and got all ladder. These guys are going hard. ... Kidd cleared the ring and went for the case but his ladders weren't agreeable. That gave Tensai time to stop him. Santino went up and LordBerti dumped him rudely when Santino grabbed the ladder. LordBert through Santino to the floor on the other guys, but none of them really caught him. ... Suddenly Sandow was all alone but as he climbed the ring, Cara stopped him. Sandow took care of him and went back up again but Christian stopped him and climbed over him to get the case. Sandow stopped him but it was a cool spot. ... Sandow then decided Christian must die but before he could ram him into the ladder, Christian nailed the Unprettier, but then ran into a Sandow kick when he went for a Spear. Christian tried again and speared Sandow into the ladder in a good spot. As Christian got to the case, Ziggler and Rhodes came in and did their best to assure there would be no more little Christians, if you get my drift. ... As Dolph and Cody were on the ladder, LordBert came in and laid them both out. As Tensai was climbing the ladder, Booker said, "Tensai is going to make a move". Booker is so good at his job. Not. ... Cara, Cara and Santino tried to stop him but they only slowed him down. Santino and Christian used a ladder to stop him. ... Scarily, Santino was in control and hit the Cobra on Dolph. As he went to climb the ladder, he became afraid of heights. But the Cobra isn't. He led the way. I can't make this crap up. .... Santino got ot the top and was scared but the Cobra wasn't. Sandow tried to stop him but ate the Cobra. Thank God Cody finally knocked Santino off of the ladder. That could have been really bad. ... Now Cody is on the ladder but Vickie came in the ring and climbed the ladder too. This gave time for Ziggler to come in and lay out Cody. As he got to the top Christian ran in and stopped him. This gave Kidd time to set up a ladder and do a half sunset flip, which was sick. Crowd chanted holy shiznit. And they were right. ... Now it's Christian and Sandow. Christian splashes him to the floor, which isn't the best move in a match like this. ... LordBert is mad on the floor and set up a ladder on the ring and the announce table. Cars gets killed. LordBert KILLED Ziggler on the floor, into the announcers. SICK. ... Cody and Kid were at the tip of the ladder when Cody took him down. Christian then took out Cody with a spear. ... It's carnage and Christian and Santino come to first. Christian knocks Santino off of the ladder leaving Christian alone but Ziggler comes from nowhere and knocks off Christian. He grabs the case and won the match. ... It was a hell of a lot of fun to watch. There were really only two legit guys who could have won but they picked the right one. It's now time to see what they can do with Ziggler. The guy works his ass off so let's see what he has to offer. I just hope they don't make him the first one to lose when he cashes it in. ... It was an excellent opener given the kind of match it was, which was nonstop action.
They are trying to sell me No Holds Barred. Sorry guys, I didn't watch that crap when it came out the first time. I am not doing it now. ... Josh interviews Sheamus. He is ragging on Alberto for being Alberto. Sheamus likes his old clunker because it's like him, it gets the job done. He will leave the scraps of Alberto in the ring.
The Miz is back, after two months. Some fans chant that Miz is awesome and he took it all in. He asked if the fans if fans missed him and he said he was off filming a movie, and he is now a bonafide movie star. Yeah, being in the Marine series screams movie star Miz.....straight to DVD movie star. ... He announced that he is a former WWE champion and he is there to make an impact, and he will beat the other four guys in the Raw MITB match. And he will be champion again. Well, we will see how they book you pal. If you get a push in this match, maybe you will be. If you are fodder, go try and book more movies.
Jesus, they are showing Raw 1000 moments. On PPV. Pay shows push TV now, they have lost their minds. Uh WWE, people that BOUGHT this show will watch Raw for free. Sheesh. Anyway, it's the night Bischoff had Toady Schiavone blow the Mick Foley-asses in the seats Nitro. Vince McMahon then said, "We didn't put WCW out of business, Eric Bischoff did". Well, he didn't say that but let's be real, EB's spending and inability to follow up the success of the nWo were huge in the company's end.
World Title match time, Alberto vs. Sheamus. Ricardo does his thing. The fans were eh. Sheamus got into'd and got a better reaction, but not deafening. ... They told a story about Alberto tearing up some classic comic book at ComicCon last week. I am sure that means he is a heel to some people but to me, that makes him a face. I kid comic book fans. ... ADR is in control early. Interesting spot came when Sheamus tried to hit ADR with a sledge and missed and ADR didn't sell it, as he shouldn't. ... The story thus far is that ADR is working on Sheamus' injured arm. ... Sheamus started to make a comeback but he ran his shoulder into ADR. ... OK, Alberto is still dominating. This is starting to feel like Sheamus somehow wins and Ziggler comes right down to cash in MITB. ... Sheamus puts ADR over the ropes and pounds him with ten brutal shots to the chest but Sheamus did one too many and ADR hurt the arm. That didn't stop Sheamus from getting a two count with the Irish Curse. ... Sheamus missed a Brogue Kick and ADR got a two and a half. ... ADR kicked Sheamus once and then missed a kick to the back of the head, badly. Sheamus hit White Noise and, with his arm pinned to his side, set himself up for the Brogue Kick. 1-2-3. It was a good, solid, not great match. Now, will Ziggler run down? And if he does, will he lose right now because Sheamus is not out. ... Ricardo ran down and jumped on Sheamus. Before Sheamus could kill him, ADR came in and the two began beating him up as the fans chanted "We Want Ziggler". Well, they got him. Down he came with the briefcase. He went to cash it in when ADR tried to stop him. ADR ate the briefcase. Ziggler cashed in and as he turned around, Sheamus nailed him with a Brogue Kick. Cole right away made it clear that since the bell didn't ring Ziggler didn't cash in the contract, which made no sense at all to me since the intention was there. What made even less sense was that Ziggler had Sheamus vulnerable and they STILL had Ziggler get laid out. I feel for the guy, they book him like dog crap. And they wonder why guys don't get over. Sheesh.
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