2015 Extreme Rules Match Card And Predictions

I wrote the following article for FaceToHeel.com prior to finding out that Daniel Bryan was out. He was unfortunately not medically cleared for competition due to a shoulder injury. Bryan overcame all odds at WrestleMania XXX to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Triple Threat match. His WrestleMania moment was without a doubt a once in a lifetime experience. WWE tried to replicate it in a smaller fashion this year by having him win the Intercontinental Title, but it didn’t come close.
Now, thanks to Bryan pushing himself past his limits, his career may be over. We don’t know the extent of the original injuries and we don’t know if he was truly ready to come back. Once he was back, he acted recklessly and obviously put his body on the line just so we were entertained. I hope that this new injury is just a minor setback, but my gut tells me that our days of Bryan as our hero are over and done with.

Hell In A Cell. Kind Of.

Hell In A Cell aired last night, WWE’s second Pay Per View of the month of October.  After two previous lackluster events, I had high hopes for this PPV and expected to be blown away.  WWE owed the fans that much after giving us two of the worst PPV events that I’ve ever seen.  The scheduled preshow was going to be Big E Langston against Curtis Axel for the Intercontinental Championship, but was changed due to an injury suffered by Axel; unsure if this is legit or storyline.  Instead, we got Damien Sandow versus Kofi Kingston.  The match was about ten minutes long and was pretty solid, giving fans high hopes for a great PPV.  Sandow won over Kofi and made me expect to see him cash in his Money In The Bank contract later on in the night.  (All photos are courtesy of Bleacher Report)

The PPV began with a triple threat match for the Tag Team Championship.  Reigning champs Cody Rhodes and Goldust went up against The Usos and two members of the Shield, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.  As a triple threat match, I had expected to see three men in the ring at all times.  Instead, it was one on one with competitors able to tag in members of other teams if they so chose.  I was let down by that, but the six men put on a hell of a show.  I was jumping off the couch at some points when it looked like the Shield and the Usos were close to victory.  At the end, Cody hit Rollins with a beautiful Cross Rhodes and scored a victory.  This was without a doubt my favorite match of the evening.

Next up, The Miz came out to run a promo regarding the attack on him by the Wyatt Family.  Miz dared Bray Wyatt to come at him and Wyatt responded by sending Luke Harper and Eric Rowan out into the ring.  I was a bit confused as to why this made the PPV until Kane’s music hit, fire flared, and the big red monster made his return.  Kane threw the two Wyatt family giants out of the ring to save Miz, but then surprised Miz with a chokeslam.  Kane is back with a vengeance and it seems that he is returning to his heel status.  Very happy to see him back.

Following Kane’s return, we get a tag team match between The Great Khali and Natalya versus Fandango and Summer Rae.  On a PPV.  Fantastic.  This match belongs on Smackdown, or as a preshow match; it is ridiculous to put this on a PPV, although it is great for Summer to have her in-ring debut on Hell In A Cell.  Other than the silver lining for Summer, this match was garbage.  Natalya was the only redeeming part of this, as she is an incredible talent and put Summer through the ringer.  However, in spite of her efforts, the scrawny Summer pinned her for the win.  What.  A.  Waste.  I’m incredibly tired of seeing these kind of matches, where a tiny girl does the impossible for a win.  It takes credibility out of an already weak Diva’s division.

After that nonsense match, Big E Langston got a match against United States Champion Dean Ambrose in a championship match.  This was a pretty solid match and I’m really starting to get behind Big E.  The competitors got very physical and Big E suffered a cut underneath his eye.  Ambrose definitely made him work during this match, but it was clear that there was no way he could cleanly defeat the big man.  Unfortunately, in what is becoming a typical Shield move, Ambrose allowed himself to be counted out and Big E picked up the victory, but not the title.  I would like to see this revisited and have Big E get a second swing at the title.  He’d make a great champ, especially with his recent face turn, and it’s high time that Ambrose drops the title to someone else.

Finally, it is time for our first Hell In A Cell match; CM Punk versus Ryback and Paul Heyman.  Heyman was carried to the ring on a left, driven by someone who must have never driven a left in his life.  Heyman was placed on top of the cell, making the handicap match into a one on one between Ryback and Punk.  The match started out strong, but quickly became very tedious and almost boring, which is unusual for a match involving Punk.  We had tables, we had kendo sticks, and we had an abrupt ending with Punk picking up the victory.  Punk then got on top of the cage to seek revenge on Heyman.  My husband and I were waiting for Heyman to be slammed through the cage (wishful thinking), but it was a solid beat down even without that little extra.  Overall, it was weak and very disappointing.

Next up we have Los Matadores versus The Real Americans; Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro with Zeb Colter.  The second match in the PPV that belonged on Raw, Smackdown, or in the preshow.  The Matadores and their little Torito are a cute gimmick, but I hardly see how they are PPV worthy.  I found it very difficult to get into this match at all because I was so annoyed that creative decided to put this in the PPV.  The Matadores picked up a win and no one really cared either way.  I’m glad that Primo and Epico have found success in their new bullfighting characters, but this was just a silly match to have.  No one cares about this rivalry and the most interesting thing is seeing how racist Colter can get.  At least the Matadores finally got rid of those horrible bright pink masks.

Following the bullfighters, we have the return of John Cena in a match against Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship.  To borrow words from my husband, these are the two most boring people in the WWE right now.  Del Rio’s character has become stale and Cena is… well, it’s Cena.  This match was exactly what you would expect; Del Rio attacked Cena’s recently healed arm and Cena did the five moves of doom while acting like a child.  And yes, Cena won and got the title, because the WWE loves to hand things over to their golden boy.  I expected Cena to win, but I had hoped that Sandow would swoop in on an exhausted Cena and steal the title from him.  Of course, that did not happen.

After Cena cleared out, AJ Lee arrived to defend her title against Brie Bella.  I adore AJ and I love that she is now paired with the powerhouse Tamina Snuka.  It was clear that Brie didn’t have a chance in this match, but it was still fun to watch.  With both Tamina and Nikki ringside, there was a lot going on and quite a few distractions for the competitors.  Brie dominated early on, but having to keep an eye on Tamina proved to be her downfall.  She attempted to attack her but ended up hitting her sister instead, allowing AJ to get her in the Black Widow submission and forcing a tap.  AJ has proven to be unstoppable as of late and I’m eager to see who she goes up against next, as the feud with Brie should end now.

The final match is our second Hell In A Cell match between Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton for the WWE Championship.  The title has belonged to no one because of very questionable creative choices.  Triple H wants Orton as champ, the fans want Bryan.  With Shawn Michaels as special guest referee, it’s hard to tell how this match will go.  The pair got very physical, using the cage to their advantage and pushing each other to their limits.  Triple H made an appearance to argue the Heartbreak Kid’s techniques, possibly because he feared that HBK would favor Bryan.  This resulted in Michaels accidentally getting knocked out by the competitors as he was distracted.  When HBK came to, he hit Bryan with Sweet Chin Music and basically handed the title back to Orton.  Yes it was a good match, but they failed with the ending.  When the fans know what is coming weeks before it happens, you have failed.

I haven’t a clue what WWE creative is thinking right now, or if they’re thinking at all.  This PPV should have been about redemption and should have been phenomenal to make up for two very lackluster PPVs previously.  It wasn’t.  Cody Rhodes and Goldust were once again the only redeeming part of a very expensive three hour event.  I could not be more annoyed with Cena and Orton winning the titles; we saw this coming from miles away and we all know that there were better ways to do this.  Stale doesn’t being to describe what the WWE has become, and it boggles my mind that they aren’t even trying to fix things anymore.  I hope tonight’s Raw does something dramatic to put a positive spin on last night’s disastrous PPV, but given what has been going on lately, I am a fan without hope.

Monday Night RAWWWWWW

Tuesday morning gifted me with a sore throat, a throbbing headache, and a fatigue I haven’t felt in a long while thanks to the lack of sleep after spending hours jumping and screaming until my voice gave out.  Monday, March 11th, my husband and I were four rows back from the ring for Monday Night Raw!  We’ve been to Smackdown, had a blast at the Survivor Series Pay Per View, but this was our first Raw experience.  After buying the tickets, my first priority became what to wear.  For the last two shows we attended, I went on sites and designed my own shirts because the selection for women in the WWE shop is somewhat lacking.  This time, I wanted to go authentic.  The pink Dolph Ziggler shirt that I had ordered my husband for Christmas came in the wrong size, so he gave it to me and I decided to go AJ Lee on the thing.

Not quite AJ, but it’s as close as I can get with my skill set.  It was fun to do and since WWE’s shop doesn’t have the variety that I want in women’s tops, I may choose to go this route again in the future.  I was proud of it and it was nice to be able to represent Ziggler along with my husband, who went with his new blue “Stealing The Show … And Your Girlfriend” tee.  Since we went signless to this event, we wanted to make sure we were still representing.  It paid off:

The night was amazing and jam packed with Superstars, surprises, and plenty of smiles from this girl.  Rather than recap the entire thing, here are some photos from my favorite moments:

The return of Undertaker!!  It was incredible to see the man in person, and I loved the tribute to Paul Bearer with the urn.  Sad and spectacular all at once.  The crowd went absolutely insane.

Brock Lesnar and the New Age Outlaws!  My only complaint here was that Triple H did not make an appearance as well to address Lesnar’s acceptance of his Wrestlemania challenge.

Kane getting a good shot in on CM Punk.  Punk is on my nerves right now, but I am excited to see him go against the streak in April.

Ryback, one of my new favorites, destroying a member of The Shield.  (Sidenote:  I promised not to get excited when Roman Reigns walked down the steps and through the crowd, but I failed and I touched him on the arm as he passed right by me.  He is greasy and angry and smells like Old Spice, in case you were curious)

Daniel Bryan vs. The Show Off, Dolph Ziggler.  Ziggler always puts on a great show!  Bryan has definitely grown on me since growing the beard, changing his chant to NO! and teaming with Kane.

I love the Rhodes Scholars, but I love a good RKO even more!  Poor Cody.

The Miz and Wade Barrett, two of my favorites, along with a human flashlight with fluffy unicorn hair and a big mouth.

Ryback vs. Mark Henry?!??  We got a preview of things to come, and I can’t wait to see these two go at it on Smackdown!  I’m excited to see who will come out on top.

RIP Paul Bearer.  What an awesome tribute.

Royal Rumble 2013

Finally…. The Rock HAS COME BACK…. home.  Last night, the Royal Rumble Pay Per View dominated our television screen and kept my husband and I on the edge of our seats.  The preshow, which aired on WWE’s Youtube channel, was a bit of a let down.  The site experienced a bit of lag which may have been from the amount of people tuning in, but thankfully all we seemed to have missed was The Big Show going on a rant about losing the Heavyweight title to the much smaller Alberto Del Rio.  The preshow featured Antonio Cesaro versus Mike “The Miz” in a match for the United States Championship.  While I appreciate the WWE’s attempt to give something to those who can’t afford or are otherwise unable to watch the Pay Per View, I don’t think championship matches should be thrown to the preshow.  They deserve better.

Much to my dismay, Cesaro held onto the belt and remained champion.  He is a solid wrestler and has a nice set of moves that set him apart from the competition, but he annoys me.  I’m not a fan of the type of heel that he is.  I feel that there are better ways to be hated than going for the easy route of insulting whatever city you are in and calling Americans fat and lazy.  He’s also gotten a bit obnoxious with waving the American flag around during his entrances.  The Miz has definitely grown on me, especially lately.  He’s gone from being that dude from the Real World to being someone I can get behind.  I enjoy him on the mic and in the ring, so it was a let down to see the title slip away from him.

The Pay Per View opened with the Heavyweight Title match; the champion Alberto Del Rio had to again take on The Big Show in a last man standing match.  Since Show turned heel, he has been an unstoppable force.  Del Rio was only able to win the title from him by pinning him underneath the announce table, so his chances weren’t exactly looking good for this match.  This was a hell of a way to open the Royal Rumble; Del Rio was thrown through a table from atop the light fixtures at the entrance and later countered with a fire extinguisher and some chairs.  The victory came when Del Rio was able to get Show in a cross armbreaker, allowing his ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez to duct tape Show’s ankles to the ring’s rope so he couldn’t get to his feet.  Since there were no disqualifications, Del Rio retained his title.  I’m not always a fan of sneaky ways to obtain a victory, but what else can you do when faced with an opponent who is seven feet tall and weighing in at almost 450 pounds?

Following that brutal match, we had the battle for the Tag Team titles.  The champions going in were Daniel Bryan and Kane of Team Hell No.  They were set to face Team Rhodes Scholars, the pairing of Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow.  I was excited for this match, but didn’t expect the titles to change hands due to the popularity of Team Hell No.  The pairing of Bryan and Kane makes absolutely no sense and that is why it works.  Their anger management issues and their inability to see eye to eye gives them a very unique chemistry.  Unfortunately, this was a match we have seen a few times before; they didn’t add enough to it to make it special for the Pay Per View.  Team Hell No was able to retain their titles after Bryan put Sandow in the No Lock and caused him to tap out.

Oddly enough, the Royal Rumble match was next.  Typically this match is the final event of the Pay Per View, but I suspect they moved it up in order to be able to close out with The Rock.  Dolph Ziggler was the first in the ring, followed by Chris Jericho and his lite brite jacket.  Jericho, in storyline, lost his contract after losing a match to Ziggler a few months back, so it made sense to start with these two who definitely still have bad blood between them.  The only real surprise entrant was Golddust, who was eventually eliminated by his brother, Cody Rhodes.  It was great to see him, but I was hoping for the return of Mark Henry and was obviously let down.  Kofi Kingston topped last year’s handstand by using a chair to get back into the ring without allowing his feet to hit the floor.  The coveted last entry was saved for Ryback, who managed to eliminate five people and leave himself alone with John Cena.  I was pulling for a Ryback win but unfortunately he was eliminated and Cena stole the victory.  Now, I like Cena but I’m beyond exhausted with him constantly getting title shot after title shot.  I understand that he is the bread and butter of the company, but he’s not the only superstar they’ve got at their disposal.  Perhaps Ryback isn’t ready for another title shot at a big event, but he would have been a better choice for a winner than Cena.  Sorry, John.

After Cena left the stage, it was finally time for CM Punk to defend his title against the returning Rock.  My husband’s wish was for Punk to take the victory, not because he’s a fan, but because it’s too soon for The Rock to grab the title and because it would be nice to see The Rock chase after Punk for a few months.  Since Punk was under watch due to his shady actions in the past, he was in danger of being stripped of his title if The Shield interfered with the match to allow Punk to again cheat his way to a victory.  It was a great match, but as soon as it looked like The Rock was going to take it, the arena went dark for a few moments, only to have the lights come back up to show a beaten and battered Rock lying on the broken announce table.  Punk rolled him into the ring to secure a win, but it was taken away by Vince McMahon.  McMahon attempted to strip Punk of the title, but The Rock would not allow it and instead requested the match be restarted.  McMahon agreed and The Rock was able to elbow his way to a victory, taking the title from Punk.  It was a great match, but is it too soon?  Is it right for The Rock to come back and win it all in his first match?  Will he stick around and be the champ we deserve or will he only wrestle part time due to his demanding film schedule?  There are a lot of questions, some of which I hope will be answered tonight on Raw.  I do hope that this title victory means that The Rock will be back full time for a while and will be at the Raw event in Indianapolis that we have very good tickets to.

As you probably have noticed, a Divas match was absent from this Pay Per View.  I would say noticeably absent, but did anyone really notice?  The Diva matches have sadly become the time when it’s safe to take a bathroom break.  With the loss of Beth Phoenix, the Bella Twins, and Eve, there isn’t much left to play with.  The talent is there, but the storylines aren’t.  There is little to no real effort put into the Diva division and that is a real shame.  These ladies should be allowed to tangle, not just be expected to shake their booties and be eye candy for the audience.

Overall, this was a great Pay Per View and I’m happy with the results.  I’m very excited to see the aftermath tonight on Raw, especially with Punk and The Rock.  I expect Big Show will be furious and that Team Hell No will argue about the Royal Rumble match results and anything else that crosses their minds.  I definitely want some reassurance that The Rock did not come back just to give us part-time attention.  Punk can definitely get on your nerves, but he was a very present champion.  He was there, he was loud, and he ensured that all eyes were on him.  The Rock can definitely get the attention, but will he be present or will we be forced to settle for video promos from afar?  I’m hoping for the former.  The last thing our new champion needs to do is fade away right after getting this moment in the sun.

I Wanna Be On TV

For my husband’s 28th birthday, we scored floor tickets to WWE’s Survivor Series.  Having only been to Smackdown before, we were both beyond thrilled to be able to go to a Pay Per View event and an event that is the second longest running PPV in the history of the WWE, second only to Wrestlemania.  As soon as we received our tickets in the mail, I decided I was going on a mission to get my sign on TV.  There are some seriously crappy signs that get on the air, possibly in part because many fans like the ones below wait until they’re in the parking lot to put ink to paper:

The crazy side of me wanted to dive in right away and make a sign immediately, but I managed to have some self-control and waited until the week prior.  Self control and the fact that none of the matches were set in stone until then.  My idea was to make a Team Foley sign in support of the face team for the traditional Survivor Series match.  Each letter of “TEAM” represented a different member (Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan and Kane of Team Hell No, Randy Orton, and The Miz), with “FOLEY” obviously representing the hard-core legend:

Nearly eight hours of my life spent on this sign.  That’s either dedication or lunacy, but either way, it was done and I was pretty pleased with the results.  It paid off before we even entered the arena, with two people stopping me outside to take photos of it and two people inside asking as well.  When the match was set to begin, this damn thing went in the air and stayed there until the final wrestler had entered the ring and my arms were burning from holding them up.  Thankfully, it paid off!  I got this thing on camera!

I’m a midget, so you can only tell it’s me by the tattoo (and the fact that it’s my sign) but the goal wasn’t ME on TV, it was the sign.  They zoomed in on it and stayed there for a few seconds.  Later on, after the unfortunate fall of Team Foley, you can see me again behind a very sad Randy Orton:

Double win!  I know it’s a small accomplishment, if you can even call it one, but it was awesome nonetheless.  I had my little goal in sight and I reached it.  Something I did is on that PPV tape forever, will hopefully also be on the DVD, and is on a few random fan’s cameras.  Not too shabby.

*Pats self on back*

I DID IT!!!!!