Smark Out Moment

To an extent, I'm really surprised. To another extent, I'm not surprised in the least.

From day one, Naomi's positioned herself as the best athlete in the bunch, Kaitlyn was the one with the storyline, and AJ was the overall best (having both character and athleticism). I figured Naomi would win, giving her a divas title shot either against Natalya after a heel turn or against whatever heel takes the championship from Natalya down the line. But then, you could argue that she doesn't particularly need it because of that athleticism. She'll probably do fine on her own, just like AJ (though I'd like to think AJ has more job security, if not just because she's so mother fucking cute lol). Kaitlyn doesn't have the ring skills, the mic skills, or the character (seeing as though she's not much beyond a robot impression) but does have the looks, so by sheer mercy, they'd have to give her the win in order to justify keeping her around.

Personally, I'd have just kept Kaitlyn around as a manager of sorts to accompany someone to the ring and instead, give the win to AJ or Naomi, but let's see where they go with this one.

This season gets a lot of bad press, but I personally thought it was entertaining as hell. Were the challenges stupid? Yeah. Were the matches crap? Of course. But the commentary was gold and it made each of these episodes worth watching. If they'd have tried to play this off as being great, it would have sucked, but the fact that they acknowledged that it was ridiculous made it so fun.

With the end of this season, they gave us a sneak peak at the contestants for SEASON 4: Johnny Curtis, Byron Saxton, Brodus Clay, Jacob Novak, Derrick Bateman, Conor O'Brian. I'll be giving my detailed first impressions of them next week live during the episode.

For the record, I'm totally against the idea of the TLC pay-per-view concept. They've only done it once before, but I think it cheapens the gimmick and it was done very poorly the first time. Ladder matches are cool. Tables matches are generally stupid and best served as something for the undercard of the Extreme Rules ppv. But the worst of the bunch is the whole "chairs match" shit. That was just awful.


WWE Championship [Tables Match]: The Miz (c) vs. Randy Orton
The Miz will retain in a fluke fashion, unfortunately. The match probably won't be that fantastic. I like both of these guys a lot, but I'm being realistic. It'll consist of Orton dominating with the Miz somehow cheating to win.

PREDICTION: Look up there. The Miz retains, via fluke win, kind of like how Sheamus won last year.


World Heavyweight Championship [TLC Match]: Kane (c) vs. Edge vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio
The Kane/Edge feud has been shit. At first, it was mildly interesting, but then they got lazy and it turned into roughly 30 solid minutes of Edge carting Paul Bearer and a dummy version around while he goes "KAAAANE!" and Kane, the monster, looks like a pussy. It was boring as hell and I hope to God that it doesn't continue. On that note, even though I haven't been incredibly thrilled with the Mysterio/Alberto feud, it feels like it is too soon for it to end, especially in a multi-man match. I'm expecting Edge to come out of this match with the title and Del Rio to challenge him at the Royal Rumble, because of the standard "push a midcarder for a title match" thing they have going on there...as well as simply putting an end to the Kane/Edge feud. Kane in the meanwhile may start a feud up with Big Show or something, but hopefully not Mysterio. If Mysterio is truly injured like rumored, then they'll keep him from doing anything fun in this match. The same will go for Edge because of his injuries from the past, and Kane for his inability to pull off big stunts. That means this match has a huge potential of flat-lining and being bland. 

PREDICTION: Edge wins the title.


Chairs Match: Wade Barrett vs. John Cena
While I hate the idea of it being a chairs match, at least it is better than just another normal match between the two. Still, something needs to happen here. I'm not particularly excited about it, but they could prove me wrong. They most likely won't...but there's a shot.

PREDICTION: John Cena definitely wins.


#1 Contender's [Ladder Match]: Sheamus vs. John Morrison
YES! I commend them so much for putting this match on the card. It is the type of booking they should be doing on a regular basis. Why? Because all realms of it make perfect sense. Sheamus and Morrison are in a feud, so make sure to put them on the card. They both have a win, so you make it the rubber match. Morrison is great with ladders, so that also makes sense. What do you have hanging up? A contract, which makes it so the win actually has consequences and MEANS something. And then on top of it, when John Morrison wins (and if he doesn't, it's fucking ridiculous), he'll be facing the Miz at the Royal Rumble. I've talked about this before, that Morrison is the perfect opponent for the Miz at the RR because it gives JoMo some main event experience, gives the Miz someone he can beat, and they don't have to worry about buyrates.

PREDICTION: John Morrison BETTER win.


Intercontinental Championship [Ladder Match]: Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger
Very good addition to the card. All three of these guys could pull off some fun with a ladder. Kofi's the high-flyer, Swagger is the power, and Ziggler balances them out. Plus, they've built on this feud a little bit. It should be a good match, even though they'll DEFINITELY tell them not to do much with the ladders because as we all know, they don't want them to upstage the other matches later on in the card. So if you go into this expecting it to be a masterpiece, you'll be let down, but it should still be a good match. Now the question here is, who wins? The IC title gains nothing if Kofi wins. He's proven himself to be worthy of title reigns, but his reigns are always boring. Swagger could win it, but I don't know, I'm not seeing it. Ziggler's been doing such a great job that I think and hope that he retains.

PREDICTION: Dolph Ziggler squeaks out a victory.


Tag Team Tables Match: Natalya & Beth Phoenix vs. Lay-Cool
God knows why they think these women can pull off a tables match without getting hurt, but hey, maybe they'll twist the rules like they do with everything else. A battle royal for the men involves being thrown over the top rope, but for the divas, they just need to leave the ring. Maybe instead of having to be thrown through a table, the rules for this match will be that they just need to be within the vicinity of a table? Hahaha. I'm expecting this to be a sloppy mess.

PREDICTION: Natalya and Beth Phoenix put Layla through a table.

This card is stacked. The tag team championship doesn't need to be defended, especially since nobody is built up as potential challengers. The US title isn't getting much focus, but they have enough going on here that DBD can take a night off. Therefore, no more matches.

Tonight, the WWE crowns a new King of the Ring! I've always been a big fan of this tournament and I think it works extremely well as a 3-hour-Raw special edition, more so than a ppv like it used to be.

As of right now, the playing field isn't complete officially, but we have four participants revealed (Sheamus, Ezekiel Jackson, Daniel Bryan, and John Morrison) and according to Smackdown spoilers, the other four are Kofi Kingston, Alberto Del Rio, Drew McIntyre, and Cody Rhodes. I figured I'd give my initial predictions before the results and review.

SHEAMUS: He definitely is the person to watch out for, and I'm expecting him to make it to the finals, if not win it. I hope he doesn't, though, as I'm not a fan of Sheamus, and I think he's totally undeserving of even one world title win, let alone two, so the last thing I want is for him to be given yet another major victory like this.

EZEKIEL JACKSON: I'm not expecting him to win, but I wouldn't be too surprised if he did win. He doesn't exactly have a ton of character, so giving him the king gimmick could help him out. But really...can you see Big Zeke coming out to the ring dressed in royal cloth? Sure, it worked for Mabel, but c'mon.

DANIEL BRYAN: No way does he win it. Sorry guys, but nope, it isn't going to happen. He's already the United States champion and feuding with a guy that could easily come down and cost him the match. Not a chance.

JOHN MORRISON: I'd love to see Morrison win this as I want him to be a main eventer so badly. Granted, I'd love to see him take some acting classes, so they'd be confident enough to give him a world title on his own, but this could work as a catapult, so if he wins, I'd be very happy. That being said, I don't expect him to win. The King of the Ring designation works much better with heels than faces.

ALBERTO DEL RIO: Del Rio doesn't need it, and I hope they don't give it to him. He already has the rich guy gimmick and it would basically be the same thing, but doubled over, so why bother?

KOFI KINGSTON: Kofi could win this thing if they want him to turn heel, but I don't know, I don't have much of a gut feeling that we'll be seeing King Kingston lol.

DREW MCINTYRE: I can see Drew getting this, as he's supposed to be "the chosen one" and all, but it seems like they've soured a bit on him lately. Maybe they just realized that they were pushing him too far, too fast, similar to Sheamus. If he won, it wouldn't shock me, and I'd put him towards the top of potential winners, but I think it isn't his time.

CODY RHODES: Cody's whole "dashing" gimmick makes it impossible for him to win this. Like Del Rio, it would overlap and the two gimmicks would argue with one another, making it pointless.

I was hoping that Jack Swagger would win this, but seeing as how he isn't a participant, he obviously can't. Thus, I think if you want to split your vote 50/50, the four choices you should pick as potential winners are Sheamus, Ezekiel, John Morrison, and Drew McIntyre. Part of me says that Del Rio has an obvious better chance at winning it than McIntyre does, but at the same time, I can't see past the point of view that he really, really doesn't need it, and that he gains nothing out of being King of the Ring whereas McIntyre gets a shot of adrenaline. As for who I'm rooting for, its definitely Morrison, and I'd love to see him beat Kofi in the finals so Kofi gets a rub in the process.

For the third season of NXT, the fourth elimination is AJ.

My take on the situation? I don't see why..especially when she won a competition and a match on this episode. I'm assuming that they plan on giving the win to Naomi because she doesn't have any personality, but is good in the ring. I was rooting for AJ, so that sucks, but I'm sure she'll be on Raw or Smackdown soon enough anyway.

YOUR NEW WWE CHAMPION...THE MIZ!

Randy Orton was attacked by Nexus before his title defense against Wade Barrett. He defended and retained said title after interference from John Cena, but the Miz took advantage of a weakened champion and cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, successfully defeating Randy Orton and winning his first WWE Championship!

Back when the Miz first won the Money in the Bank briefcase at the MITB ppv, I put a poll up on Smark Out Moment asking whether people were happy with the result. Things seemed to be split down the middle, but as you can see below, the final result was pro-Miz.




I'm a HUGE fan of this! The Miz has been the best thing going in the WWE for months and months on end and I've been waiting for this back even when he and Morrison were a tag team. The Miz definitely deserves it, and even though this episode of Raw was completely stacked already, this was the cherry on top. Fantastic episode, great outcome, great new champ. 

One word sums it up: AWESOME!

They've done a pretty bad job building this ppv, as they've really only focused on the "money match", the WWE championship. Everything else was set up so poorly you couldn't even classify it as second-fiddle. The card isn't bad, though, so there's potential, but going into this, I wouldn't be shocked if a lot of us were let down and the buyrate was low.

United States Championship: Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Ted DiBiase
Right off the bat, the lights go out during the match. Maryse is kind of spunky tonight. Bryan Suicide Dives out and acts like he's hurt his shoulder, which may be true as it looked a little awkward. Lots of close calls for DiBiase which naturally makes him mad. Bryan hooks up the LeBell Lock and DiBiase taps out.

WINNER: Daniel Bryan via submission.
Not bad for a curtain jerker.

The Miz comes out and ambushes Daniel Bryan, hitting him with the Money in the Bank briefcase while Bryan is celebrating on the ramp. The Miz gets in the ring and the lights dim again. Once they come up, the Miz says "that's better". He cuts a promo about the Miami Heat for some, well, heat. Right during the "I'm the Miz and I'm awesome" section, the lights go out again, and he plays along with it.

Backstage with Sheamus
Sheamus (who is banged up quite a bit) says Morrison is just jealous because he'll never be a world champion and Sheamus already has been.

Sheamus vs. John Morrison
Sign guy has a sign that says "Morrison's ab trainer" pointing to himself. Sheamus for the most part is dominating the match. Every time Morrison gets some offense, it doesn't last long. Flying Chuck puts Sheamus down for a little bit, but naturally, a minute later, its all Sheamus again. Sheamus starts slapping Morrison, so Morrison responds with a kick, setting up the Starship Pain but, naturally, not getting it. Sheamus goes for the pump-kick and misses, so Morrison hits the Flying Chuck. Morrison then hits another quick kick and scores the pinfall.

WINNER: John Morrison via pinfall.
Not too bad, but it could've been better.

Knucklehead promo....in case you've not heard of it...because apparently they think that this will help. It doesn't matter that they've had at least 4 ads per week for months now, this one will apparently gain them all that money they're missing on this terrible WWE Studios project.

Backstage with Cena and R-Truth
Cena says that R-Truth is butting in and this isn't his business. R-Truth suggests that he should cost the match for Randy Orton since he's not banned from the ring like Nexus is. Cena says no. Truth says he doesn't believe him.

Intercontinental Championship: Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Kaval
Vickie comes out to introduce Ziggler. Lots of quick pins on Kaval's part. Sprinboard moonsault from Kaval looked nice. There's some confusion between Ziggler and Kaval but it ends up with a stiff kick to the face that Ziggler didn't seem ready for. Ziggler locks in the Sleeper on the top ropes but Kaval pushes him down. Kaval then follows it up with a twist of some sort but lands on his feet. A backslide for the 2. Ziggler hits a legdrop (which Cole incorrectly calls the Zig-Zag, AGAIN...but Striker corrects him). Two-count. Ziggler throws Kaval into the ropes but Kaval uses it as a springboard kick and gets another two-count. There's a triple reversal rollup which ends with Ziggler getting the pin after holding Kaval's tights.

WINNER: Dolph Ziggler via pinfall.
Stiff match which might have resulted in a broken nose for Ziggler. Best match so far and hopefully this feud doesn't end here.

Backstage with Jack Swagger
Swagger says that it should be his team. He then says Miami is "little Cuba" and not really America. Cody comes up and insults Swagger's shoes from last night. Del Rio shows up with Reks and Drew and says he knew once Swagger started talking, everyone would interrupt. Del Rio says they're there to destroy Mysterio and his friends and watch little kids cry. Cody says "I hate to admit it, but he's good."

Elimination Match: Team Mysterio vs. Team Del Rio
Masters looks like he put enough baby oil on to last a year...probably because he figures he won't be on another ppv. MVP gets a huge reaction, naturally, as the hometown boy. No reaction of course to Tyler Reks. Team Mysterio is all in blue. Unity is important lol. Del Rio backs away from Mysterio and tags in Cody to start the match. MVP almost eliminates Del Rio but Alberto gets his hand on the ropes. Despite being the hometown boy, MVP is the first elimination after Del Rio holds his legs and McIntyre falls on top of him. Del Rio eliminates Chris Masters with a quick submission. Big Show comes in, so Del Rio tags Swagger. Del Rio is tagged in again, but tags McIntyre. Big Show punches Del Rio and knocks him out anyway. Rhodes gets pissed after being hit in the face and starts flipping out. He then grabs his jacket to check the mirror. As soon as he gets back in, Kofi smacks him in the face again. Big Show punches him in the face and after a three-count, Cody Rhodes is eliminated. Reks takes down Big Show and teams up with Swagger to attack him. Swagger puts Big Show in the ankle lock. Once Mysterio is in, Swagger puts him in an ankle lock as well, but Mysterio reverses it by swinging around. Kofi and Reks are now the legal men. Kofi pins and eliminates Tyler Reks with a rollup. Kofi goes for the Trouble in Paradise but Swagger catches in, puts him in an ankle lock, and Kofi submits and is eliminated. Big Show picks up Mysterio and puts him on his shoulders, but McIntyre knocks him down. Big Show and Rey go for a second attempt after the 619 and Rey pins and eliminates Jack Swagger. McIntyre then gets set up for the 619, and Big Show chokeslams McIntyre to win the match. Del Rio must have just been filed under "forfeit" and no doubt will say that he wasn't really eliminated.

WINNERS: Rey Mysterio and the Big Show are the survivors.
It didn't live up to its potential. Granted, I didn't expect it to be amazing, but it could've been better. For this being the only elimination match on the card, its a let down.

TLC advertisement is in animation style and quite interesting. I'd watch that for 10 minutes rather than the divas match if I had a choice.

Backstage with Randy Orton
Orton says he's not thinking about Cena, he's thinking about Barrett. He doesn't care about John Cena, he doesn't care about Barrett, he doesn't care about the Miz, he only cares about walking out the champion.

Divas Championship [Handicap Match]: Lay-Cool (c) vs. Natalya
Is it just me or is Layla a bit more "stacked" tonight? No complaints, obviously. Natalya holds her on the whole match against the two of them despite it breakng down on the outside. Natalya locks in the Sharpshooter and holy shit, Michelle submits!

WINNER (and new Divas champion): Natalya via submission.
Wow, I was NOT expecting that to happen. Kudos to them for giving the title to someone who can wrestle. Natalya deserves to have it.

Lay-Cool attacks Natalya and Beth Phoenix comes down to make the save. Then she holds Natalya up on her shoulders.

Time for a Paper Jamez commercial...which, if you purchased the pay-per-view...you thus paid to watch. Ridiculous? Yup. Remember that extra 5 bucks that they upped the price from in comparison to last year? The 5 bucks goes towards watching a commercial lol.

World Heavyweight Championship: Kane (c) vs. Edge
Edge wheels out an empty wheelchair instead of one holding Paul Bearer. The match takes a slow turn and starts to get a little groggy. Kind of even, back and forth action, meaning that they're going fullblown with the derailment of "the unstoppable Kane" and he's now back to normal levels. Nothing seems to work to put Edge down, so Kane goes for a Tombstone but Edge spears him. Edge and Kane have both their hands on each other and the ref counts to three. Chimel announce Edge as the new champ, but the ref corrects him. Its a draw. Kane retains by default.

WINNER: Draw.
Why didn't the match just continue?

Kane attacks Edge post-match, but Edge gets the upperhand. It all ends with Edge putting Kane in the wheelchair and rolling him into the security barricade, breaking it.

Backstage with John Cena and Wade Barrett
Wade mentions that in this arena a few months ago, the Nexus attacked Cena, then reiterates the stipulation of the match for the viewers that don't understand yet...you know...the ones that will probably go to see Knucklehead but need to be reminded about that as well.

Tag Team Championship: Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater (c) vs. Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov
Santino so far puts up a little bit of a fight against them, surprisingly. Despite being a comedy act, Kozlov and Santino are holding their own. That's either good for them or bad for how the WWE views Slater and Gabriel. Santino goes for the Cobra, but the Nexus distracts him and Slater uses the opportunity to score a pinfall.

WINNERS: Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater via pinfall.
Meh. What did you expect?

The Nexus beat down Santino and Kozlov after the match. The anonymous Raw GM sends Cole a message. Nexus is banned from ringside for the WWE title match and if any one of them gets involved, they'll be suspended indefinitely.

WWE Championship: Randy Orton (c) vs. Wade Barrett
Why is it that the special guest referees are the only ones that know to check the turnbuckles but the normal referees never do that? Slow start. They're milking it. That, plus they have over a half hour left in the ppv. Pretty even match, which shows confidence in Barrett's skills.Barrett hits Wasteland but Orton gets his hand on the ropes. Barrett pushes Cena, so Cena retaliates. Orton RKOs Barrett and gets the pin.

WINNER: Randy Orton via pinfall.
Not bad. Surprised at the outcome.

After the match, Cena grabs the WWE title and hands it to Orton. They hug (aww lol).Cena hugs Cole and nobody else, then walks over to the Sign Guy and hugs him.

Not too bad of a pay-per-view, but not as good as it could have been. For a "big four" its a let down, especially since there wasn't a major title change, and none of the matches were terrible, just ok.

I knew it was coming soon, and to no surprises, some talents were just released.

Shad Gaspard
Luke Gallows
Tiffany
Jillian Hall
Caylen Croft
Vance Archer
Big Dick Johnson (who was a writer for Smackdown)
Referee Aaron "Goose" Mahoney

Each of them, save for Mahoney and Johnson, were on my radar, amongst a few others. So here's my pov of the situation:

SHAD GASPARD: Its a shame, as he had more potential than they gave him. This is the second time he's been released (third if you count being eliminated from Tough Enough). Could he come back for a third time? Maybe. I wouldn't put a lot of faith in it, though, and even if he did, they probably wouldn't have the best spot for him on the roster. I was a fan of Shad, so I don't like seeing him go, but to be fair, he probably wouldn't have been a top draw anyway. I'm a bit confused they kept JTG though (at least for now).

LUKE GALLOWS: Now he is someone I can see them rehiring at some point, possibly. I'm a bit confused as to why they kept Joey Mercury (at least for now) and released Luke.

TIFFANY: No surprises, with her backstage problems. She was hot, and not a bad ECW GM, and not atrocious in the ring or on the mic, but if she's going to give them bad publicity, its no shocker that they fired her. Or, hell, for all we know, maybe she decided that while being married to Galloway, she didn't want to be a part of the business as well anymore. More than likely, she was fired though lol.

JILLIAN HALL: No surprises there, either. She's jobbed for the longest time. I do think they'll put her in some kind of training role for FCW like previously discussed, eventually.

CAYLEN CROFT: Again, I'm surprised that they released one half and not the other (being Trent Barreta). Maybe they will, but there's some kind of contract thing that is preventing them from doing it right now. The Dude Busters weren't really going to be much, so...again...not a surprise.

VANCE ARCHER: Good. I've been wanting Lance Hoyt to be released since he first showed up. He just did not fit and didn't entertain me. And...AGAIN...I'm surprised that they didn't release Curt Hawkins to go along with him.

BIG DICK JOHNSON: Can't be sure what he was responsible for when it comes to what stuff was written, but if releasing him is why this past episode of Smackdown sucked so much, then bad move. If he wrote this past week's episode, then good riddance.

AARON MAHONEY: He's a ref. Nuff said. Unless you get rid of Chioda or Robinson, I could care less.

So with that being said, its time for me to adjust my WWE Hierarchy and remove 4 of the names from the "about to be released" section.

For the third season of NXT, the third elimination is AKSANA.

My take on the situation? Good. They've followed a pretty easy pattern with the eliminations this season, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as the order makes the most sense, and it was Aksana's time. After this whole Goldust thing has been done with, there wasn't anything else left for her to do. The other three have a reason to stick around, but she doesn't. Naomi is the athletic one, Kaitlyn has her back-and-forth with Vickie, and AJ is the winner in the making.

With the whole "Immortal" storyline (God I hate that name) going on now in TNA, are they going to keep things moving smoothly, or is this the...TURNING POINT.........ok, I'm not particularly proud of that one, but hey, I haven't had much sleep. Here's hoping TNA doesn't put on a snoozefest of a ppv as today, I might not be able to stay awake for 3 hours of Taz stuttering, as much as I love it. None of the storylines going into the ppv particularly intrigue me, though I'm curious to see what they do about the firing stipulation.

BLIND PREDICTIONS: It's much too early to end Jeff Hardy's title reign. If they have a single brain in TNA, they'll know this, and keep the title on Jeff. There have been rumblings that possibly the match will go down like Nash/Hogan where Big Kev just laid down, but I hope if they do go that route, they somehow give the audience a followup title defense that makes it worth their while. I don't expect that to happen, though, as more than likely Morgan will just get screwed somehow. Either way, Jeff retains in heelish fashion, or at least he should. If Team 3D is no more, they clearly can't win the tag titles, especially not from the Motor City Machine Guns. The X-Division title is tossed around like its a cheap hooker, so if Lethal drops the title, don't be surprised. Fortune won't be firing anyone, so EV 2.0 has to lose that match. Who gets fired...I don't know. Mickie James probably beats Tara. No clue about RVD/Dreamer. The Joe/Jarrett and Abyss/Dinero matches I think are dependent upon one another. You can't have all heels win on the ppv, so at least one of Jarrett/Abyss should lose, probably Jarrett, to keep Abyss and Joe looking strong.


X-Division Championship: Jay Lethal (c) vs. Robbie E
Subtlety, thy name is not "Cookie". Starting off kind of slow (which isn't necessarily bad; if you start off too fast, then slow down, its worse than speeding up). Suicide dive naturally brings about a "TNA!" chant. Guess we've got one of those crowds tonight that will be pleased by anything above a punch. Still a slow match and they don't look like they have amazing chemistry together. One thing I'll give them credit for is that twice when it looked like they were doing a "distraction = heel gets the win", Lethal still ended up getting the better. Of course, the third time is the charm, and with some help from Cookie and the overused oblivious ref scenario, Robbie E becomes the new champ, complete with a totally monotone delivery by Taz and Tenay.

WINNER (and new X-Division champion): Robbie E via pinfall.
I wasn't impressed, and I hope the ppv gets better from here. Key word "hope", not "expect".

Backstage with Mickie James
I still like Mickie a lot. I still also think that Tara is overrated (though not massively) and has never had an interesting character that I can remember.

Mickie James vs. Tara
Tara comes out first, announced as being accompanied by Madison Rayne, who is absolutely nowhere to be seen. Announcer fuck up, Rayne fuck up, or writer fuck up? Crowd seems split. Mickie's looking good tonight. Now the crowd seems to be primarily pro-Mickie. I guess half of them decided not to cheer for Tara anymore. They fight to the outside and despite being well over a count of ten, the match hasn't ended yet. After the equivalent of maybe 2 minutes, the ref finally calls for the bell, but they keep fighting. Nothing special at all...but of course, the fans do another "TNA!" chant.

WINNER: No contest.
I wasn't impressed...but I'd much rather watch that again than listen to some dreadful LayCool promo.

Tag Team Championship: Motor City Machine Guns (c) vs. Team 3D
I'm not expecting this to be that great, as even though the Guns are very entertaining, I don't think 3D are, nor do I think these two teams work well together. So far, its been slow and uneventful (kind of see a pattern forming with this ppv). Just as its apparently ok to go past a 10-count in the Tara/Mickie match, in this match, apparently its ok to have all four competitors in the ring at the same time. TNA loves to ignore rules. Tables are allowed too despite this not being a no-dq match. Sabin kicks out of the 3D. The Guns hit their neckbreaker/crossbody combo and win (accompanied by Tenay delivering a horribly monotone response, again...whatever happened to being excited?)

WINNERS: The Motor City Machine Guns via pinfall.
I wasn't impressed....and I never gave a shit about the Dudleys so the whole retirement thing doesn't resonate with me either. I'm sure it does for some, but not for me.

Backstage with Tommy Dreamer
Dreamer says RVD will find out who his true friends are. I guess he means himself, otherwise known as the guy who is going to attempt to beat him up in a minute. But then again, Raven and Dreamer were supposedly in a damn near blood feud at Hardcore Justice and then started tagging up in the same stable...so...that whole senseless idea isn't unexpected.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Rob Van Dam
Nothing interesting to really report on here. Slow...bland...you know how it goes. What's the point of advertising special no-DQ matches when every single time someone that used to be on ECW comes out, they're allowed to use chairs, ladders, tables, etc? It renders it moot, and as said earlier, ignores the rules. The match kind of comes to a halt and they're claiming that Dreamer broke his wrist or something. I'm inclined to believe its fake as it seems to work with the storyline. If its real, then thumbs up to Dreamer for continuing to wrestle with an injury...but I doubt it. After a frog splash on Dreamer on top of a chair, RVD gets the win.

WINNER: RVD via pinfall.
Should I say whether or not I was impressed?

Backstage with Fortune
Flair says thank God that match is over and nobody cares about two EV 2.0 guys taking each other out. I agree. Styles claims he wants to keep all of Fortune together so they can keep beating up on them. Yep, all of Fortune, he said. Basically the whole promo is "we're gonna beat them, they're losers, we're awesome"...you know, heel stuff.

Fortune vs. EV 2.0
Ok, so I guess this 10-man-tag match has no rules for multiple people in at the same time either. No count outs, no disqualifications...what's the next match on the ppv, no submissions, pinfalls, turnbuckles? Kendrick leaves with the trainers supposedly from some sort of injury. EV2 gets beaten down most of the match. Now they're at the typical "everyone hits their finishing moves on each other" situation. Styles Clash, Sabu gets pinned, Fortune wins.

WINNERS: Fortune via pinfall.
I was really impressed. Nah, just kidding.

Backstage with The Pope
Dinero yells a lot. Tara and Mickie are apparently still fighting as they interrupt. Madison Rayne attacks her, yells that she doesn't belong there, and then they leave.

Lumberjack Match: Abyss vs. The Pope D'angelo Dinero
I'd write something down, but all the results I can give you so far are "this match is boring, nothing is happening, and I'm struggling very hard to continue watching it". It isn't the worst match I've ever seen, but its just not the slightest bit interesting to me. The previous tiresome matches certainly didn't help this one's chances. It is at best a generic TV match...certainly not a "wake you up from this boring ppv" match. Bischoff comes out, does the money gesture (you know, rubbing fingers together), and the congregation attacks the Pope. Black Hole Slam, match is over.

WINNER: Abyss via pinfall.
Snooze.

Backstage with EV2
Hemme tries to talk to Sabu but Richards comes out of the locker room. Richards challenges Styles to a match on Impact.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Samoa Joe
Jarrett gets on the mic and claims he never sold out and if everyone doesn't shut up, he'll have Bischoff cancel the main event. Joe comes out and goes after him. Now in this match, when Jeff goes for a steel chair, the ref stops him. Why not in the other matches? If anything, wouldn't Jarrett be allowed and the others not, considering Jarrett is supposed to be one of the ones with power over the company? Jarrett hits a Stroke from the top rope but Joe kicks out. There's no surprise from the crowd, nor the commentators (though judging from earlier, Taz and Tenay don't have any excitement about any of the matches....can't really blame them). Since they need to do it in every ppv now, the ref is taken out. Security comes down to attack Joe but he takes care of them. Jarrett hits Joe with a nightstick. He chokes Joe out. One of the security members literally throws the ref into the ring, which is apparently the cure for being knocked out, as he's perfectly fine after that. Jarrett wins by a rear choke after having used the nightstick to do most of the damage.

WINNER: Jeff Jarrett via submission.
Match of the year. Lol. What do you think?

Backstage with Bischoff
Eric spits a bunch of 90s catch phrases and the congregation basically says "rabble rabble rabble" around him.

TNA Championship: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Matt Morgan
I like Morgan overall, and I used to like Hardy. I don't like this Immortal storyline though, and I don't think the way this ppv is going that this will be anything special. Morgan isn't playing the "big man" role really as Jeff is kind of being booked as his equal. I'd rather see that than the typical "heel is a weak coward" crap, so that's good. Following up with another theme of the night, where everyone kicks out of finishing moves, Jeff kicks out of a chokeslam and Morgan kicks out of a Twist of Fate/Hate. Morgan gets a three-count on Jeff, who has his shoulders down, and for some reason kind of half-assed taps the ref on the head with his foot, but the ref claims its a 2-count. Why? I have no fucking clue. I guess Jeff was too high to realize that he was supposed to kick out. It takes them a good 45 seconds before they figure out what they want to do next, which includes a very easily foretold Whisper in the Wind, followed by a Twist of Fate, and Jeff retaining.

WINNER: Jeff Hardy via pinfall.
Strictly on paper, these two had potential to have a good match. They didn't.

Immortal celebrates in the ring. I celebrate at home, because this ppv is finally over.

Bottom line, I loved this pay-per-view. Hahaha. No, seriously, I found it very, very boring, and I wanted so badly to just turn it off. I'm sure there are those that will disagree with me on it, and to each his own, but I just didn't find really any bit of this ppv to be entertaining.

For the third season of NXT, the second elimination is MAXINE.

My take on the situation? Good. Naomi is the best in the ring, AJ is the cutest, Kaitlyn is the hottest, and at least Aksana has a storyline going on. Thus, Maxine, who doesn't impress me on the mic, in the ring, or in any way in terms of character, needed to go.