The King of the Ring is back! I've always been a fan of this tournament. In fact, this is better than MITB. The winner isn't guaranteed a world title which makes the tournament even more special. You get the briefcase, you get a title. The King must take advantage and do something as momentum becomes his. Some men, Austin, Bret and HHH did and others, Billy Gunn and William Regal never did. It's a crap shoot. The WWE should give the matches time and allow the tournament to be the focus of the evening. They did just that. King of the Ring is a concept we need every year. I like it a hell of a lot more than Bragging Rights. Raw had focus, developed more story lines and mixed it all in with some great thrilling in ring action. Finally, a brilliant Raw to blog about for a change.
Riley almost spoiled the opener. Miz later in the night had a special feel and it would have been ruined if he came out first to gloat. The opening contest was very good. Del Rio is being pushed pretty hard since debuting with a submission win over Rey. Bryan and Del Rio showed off great in ring ability. They were given time, developed a story and had several near falls. The set up for the arm bar submission was beautiful. I couldn't have asked for a hotter start to the KOTR tournament.
You can say a lot about Truth and what he lacks. He has great charisma and always gets a good crowd reaction. The new Nexus shirt is much better than the old one. I didn't care for the use of McGillicuty getting beat down by Cena. He could have been used in a match with Truth. However, you saw later in the night nobody from Nexus was used other than Gabriel as a pin cushion.
I couldn't have been the only one to laugh at Cole and the long facial comment regarding Dashing Cody Rhodes. Morrison and Rhodes weren't given as much time but still did a fine job. I really liked the finish and how both men went for their similar moves. Morrison was my Raw favorite and Rhodes was my Smackdown favorite. I had a good feeling by this time that my Raw man might pull through.
The Chosen One hasn't been so dominant in the past few months. I don't get what happened with Drew's push. He started off hot and is colder than ice. He held the tag titles for a minute and a half. From the opening bell, Big Zeke looked like he was headed for another squash victory. I was pleasantly surprised that the match turned into a pure 6 brawl. The only thing I didn't like was the outcome. We see this in nearly every tournament. The outcome made the tourney predictable. If Sheamus wins, Morrison pins Del Rio. If Kofi won against Sheamus, Del Rio would have beat Morrison. The tournament was going nicely until this happened.
The real Raw started with the man who rightfully deserved to gloat, the New WWE Champion, Miz. Miz's two pictures were hilarious. That little girl is evil. Lawler and Miz had a good back and forth. I didn't want to see Lawler wrestle though. I get it, it's his birthday and the WWE did right by giving him a WWE title shot. Jerry is a good commentary man and can still provide a decent promo. A TLC match isn't something the King should partake in. The WWE was brilliant keeping Orton off for a week. Let Miz get his night and have Orton return a week later.
Sheamus and Kofi did another good job in the time they were allotted. They had a solid finish too. The bro kick was brutal. Kofi did a great sell job. I was convinced Morrison and Sheamus was the final. Two heels in the final takes the crowd out of the action.
WWE continues to throw guys together for a tag team. Seriously, find some new true teams. Oh boy, Cena tweeted he had tickets. Twitter and Cena are both lame. Cena made reference to it later on but seriously if a fan jumps the barricade, he's thrown out. Somehow the geniuses of WWE security are pissed off at Nexus. I know wrestling is fake and these are simply stories. How about some realism? No? Fine then have Cena keep doing the same crap so 8 year old and cougars can cheer. I guess I should be use to it by now. I've only hated Cena since...um forever.
I'm not a big fan of cheap victories and Morrison got one on Del Rio. Rey showing up made sense. They have a long history and are heading towards a 2 out of 3 falls. As I said earlier, Morrison was going to the finals. You knew it too. Morrison and Sheamus needed a rubber match to finish their feud and a KOTR crown was on the line. I give some love to the writers for providing the match on Raw instead of holding out for a pay per view.
Barrett's in ring promo was better than expected. I read reports and saw pictures of Cena in a mask at a house show pretending to be Juan Cena. I'm thankful WWE scraped the idea. We saw that years back, Hogan wore a mask and was Mr. America. We see rehashed ideas constantly in wrestling. This one was an idiotic idea. I'd much rather see this "war" on Nexus. The under card is getting used and Nexus have opponents. I just hope they get revenge on everyone and not killed off.
Maryse finally got an opportunity to wrestle. I believe that makes twice in 6 months. She's buried now and won't touch the Diva title. Unfortunate really because unless they continue with LayCool, which looks more than likely, Nattie has no where to go. The other one is Melina. She could turn heel sometime in the months to come and face Natalya. Smackdown is focusing on Beth and LayCool. The winner of that should be Natalya's opponent but before that she needs someone to match up against. I'm seeing plenty of options.
Morrison and Sheamus backstage promo really helped the KOTR feel important. If only the WWE would do that when it comes to belts. They throw IC and U.S. title matches together without so much as a week of preparation. Writing a story for those belts can't be to difficult. We aren't asking for much yet it feels like we are asking for the world.
The finals match was fantastic. Morrison did his best Hitman impression. He played the underdog role nicely. The crowd got behind John during the match. It shows Morrison is starting to gain a bigger fan base. The role gave Morrison sympathy much like Lawler in the TLC. I know Sheamus won and got the crown. I'm not so sure Morrison might have been the bigger winner. For one, the match was pay per view quality, built momentum and got the crowd excited. Two, Morrison gained a lot of respect in his performance. He certainly gained mine. In the loss, he showed heart, guts and good selling. Dare I say Morrison played a role a future Hall of Fame wrestler once held prominently, HBK. Speaking of Hall of Famers, a returning King of Kings will square off against the new King of the Ring. You have to believe Triple H is coming back very soon and had a hand in the outcome.
I thought a lot about Ric Flair and Edge's TLC match on Raw from January 16th, 2006. I believe that might have been the final shot for Flair to win a world belt. The similarities were eerie. Flair and Lawler were the old timers getting one last shot at glory against the young brash kid. The excitement built in the TLC match much like Flair's. Cole's interference brings in a whole new element to the broadcast table. I have no idea how they will explain that one. You knew Miz was going to win and successfully defend but they brought a hint of doubt to many fans. Miz wins and Orton will return next week for vengeance.
Raw was a solid show. It's been a long time since Raw was good back to back weeks. The KOTR tournament was a focal point as was the WWE title. Both were done with precision. I normally harp and whine when the product is bad and I would be no different if I didn't enjoy this show so much. Even Cena didn't ruin the night. He played a role and his story continues with Nexus. He didn't rule the entire episode and overall Raw had balance which is something it lacked for weeks. You can keep up on all the wrestling you need on BBSD and make sure you check out the ShowStoppers podcast. A new episode will be up on BBSD sometime Tuesday afternoon. You can always get a hold of the best damn WWE blogger on the planet by emailing me at jcall@bigbadsportsdaddy.com. I look forward to answering even more mail in my next mailbag right before Christmas.
J Call
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