TLC 2013 preview

One thing we know about Sunday's Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view is that it won't be the regular forgettable second tier event. The unification of the WWE and World Heavyweight championships in the main event will see to that. With a match of genuine historic significance happening there doesn't need to be a particularly noteworthy undercard. Which is good, because there isn't one.

This is assuming the unification happens. WWE avoided the U word when the champ versus champ match was first announced but they've since embraced it. But this means nothing. It's not beyond WWE to say they're combining the belts knowing full well they've got different plans. It's entirely possible this is part of a longer plot that will culminate at the Rumble or perhaps even WrestleMania itself. I don't think this will come to pass. Everything that's been on TV over the last few weeks indicates WWE have gotten into the one world champ idea.

Before I discuss Orton v Cena I'll look at the undercard. As I've already hinted, it looks unimpressive. It's built around two three-on-one handicap matches. Repeating that sort of match on a show people are expected to pay to watch is asking for trouble. Not only are they inherently boring but they're fairly common on TV. Why pay for something that you get for free?

The handicap matches involve CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, The Shield and The Wyatt Family. Specifically Punk will wrestle Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns and Bryan will face Bray and his boys. The union between the two faces didn't really last long, did it? I was hoping for some sort of gimmick outing for the two in a rematch with Harper and Rowan instead if these bouts. The reason that's not happening and the three-on-one outings are is because Punk and Bryan defied The Authority (in some utterly minor way) on an episode of RAW. This is the McMahons' way of teaching them a lesson.

I imagine both matches will be laid out in similar ways. The faces will start with some offence before getting beaten down while managing to stay in the fight by kicking out of increasingly impressive moves. I think one will win and one will lose. Punk seems the better placed to win. 'The Hounds of Justice' have been showing signs of breaking up over the last month or two. A loss would further that thread. I don't expect them all to go their separate ways, but I think TLC will feature a step towards the group's dissolution.

Bryan seems the better option for a loss. The Wyatt Family did the job at Survivor Series last month so it's, if you like, their turn to win here. Not only that but there's Bray's promise that he'll turn Bryan into a monster to consider. Losing would set Bryan up to be taken away by the family, triggering this supposed monstrous transformation. The only wrinkle with that thought is that 'The Eater of Worlds' already abducted Bryan once and let him go without doing anything to him.

Note that Brie Bella is not booked to appear on this show. That could indicate she's going to be used as part of Bryan versus the Wyatts. She and Bryan are kept separate for the most part but WWE have been willing enough to tinker with them as an on-screen union before.

Speaking of Divas, AJ Lee will defend her championship against Natalya. If they get the time they deserve that could be one of the better Divas matches of the year. A title change seems unlikely. I think we've a better chance of seeing Faaaaaan... daaaaaan... goooooo and-or Summer Rae and-or Tyson Kidd intervening to further the Total Divas plot that Fandango is in love with Natty than AJ losing her gold (or pink... but that sounds wrong).

Speaking of Fandango, he'll face Dolph Ziggler on the TLC pre-show stream. I'll be surprised if he wins. 'The Show Off' may have been dropped down the card for no reason but WWE still seem to recognise his popularity.

Back on the main card, Damien Sandow versus Big E Langston is a match I have what is probably too much hope for. Nothing indicates they're going to do anything that's better than average but I like the idea of them facing one another. Character-wise 'The Intellectual Saviour' is the perfect foe for a guy like Big E. If this match stays relatively short I think it will have more impact. Langston is not yet good enough to keep a crowd interested for long. Ideally Sandow would trick the champ into getting disqualified, setting up a rematch and reminding us that he's billed as an intellectual for a reason, but I'm not expecting to see that. We live in an imperfect world, after all.

Cody Rhodes and Goldust will defend their tag team titles against The Real Americans, Big Show and Rey Mysterio and Ryback and Curtis Axel. Going off the last few pay-per-views I think this is the one to earmark as the early contender for match of the night honours. Dusty’s lads do amazing work alongside one another.

The former Paul Heyman guys beat the Rhodes bros in a non-title match on the December 6^th SmackDown. That doesn’t mean they’ll leave with the titles here. In fact I can’t see any of the teams in this match dethroning Cody and Goldy. ‘The Big Guy’ and Axel have just been shoved together to keep them occupied, Show and Mysterio (MysteriShow?) have been paired for novelty value (a large man and a small man, what larks!) and The Real Americans are presented as non-threats most of the time.

There’s still enough room for another match or two on the show. With Alberto Del Rio not announced to wrestle I think it’s likely he’ll appear. A third match in his current series with Sin Cara would seem likely. So what if we've seen the masked man cleanly defeat 'The Essence of Excellence' two Mondays in a row? These days that passes for a gripping storyline. Sin Cara beating ADR again would further convince people he's becoming a major star. I think that's a priority for WWE because I suspect they want to do Sin Cara v Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania.

The other filler match I wouldn't be surprised to see would be Kofi Kingston v The Miz. As with Del Rio and Sin Cara they've wrestled one another almost exclusively since Survivor Series. Another match we've already seen for free being added to TLC wouldn't make it a worthwhile buy but that won't stop WWE. They're clearly expecting Orton v Cena to be the only reason people watch this show.

Which just leaves the main event. WWE champion Randy Orton versus John Cena for all the gold. It may be a tired rivalry between arguably the two most overexposed men on the roster but it has two good points. The first is that while Orton and Cena have faced each other several times before they've never done so in a TLC match. They have the opportunity to do something new. They may not take it but the chance is there.

The other thing they have going for them is that their storyline has involved a load of other guys. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Triple H, The Shield, Kane and Shawn Michaels have all been around the edges or a direct part of the main event over the last several months. All but Michaels could interfere directly in the match because of their feelings on one or both competitors, while it would take no more than a Daniel Bryan run-in to bring out HBK. WWE has loads of options with this match, so much so that I'll be disappointed if it's not booked like one of Raven's ECW title defences or, if you prefer, an Attitude Era classic.

There are reasons for both to win. 'The Apex Predator' could do it to continue rebuilding him as a big name and to stop the WWE championship reverting being a distinguished prop, a status it held until around 2011 or so. Building up is something Cena doesn't need of course, but it's standard practice for WWE to heap accolades on him when they can. And there are few accolades greater than unifying championships, especially when you consider how rarely that happens. I could see Cena winning for no other reason than for WWE to be able to say he's won.

In order to pick a winner for this match you have to think about what WWE's got planned for WrestleMania XXX. Right now I think it's more likely that Cena will be facing Hulk Hogan or challenging Undertaker's Streak than doing anything with the WWE championship. He doesn't need the title for his 'Mania match to be important. Orton's last several years at the show have told us that he does. While I think the most interesting and meaningful WWE title match 'Mania could host is Cena defending against Bryan again I somehow think we're going to get Orton defending against Punk instead. Which means I'm surprising myself and picking Randy Orton to unify the titles.

Predictions summary:

Randy Orton to defeat John Cena
CM Punk to defeat The Shield
The Wyatt Family to defeat Daniel Bryan
Cody Rhodes and Goldust to retain the tag team championship
Big E Langston to defeat Damien Sandow
AJ Lee to defeat Natalya
Dolph Ziggler to defeat Fandango

That RAW Recap 09.12.13

A tweet on Monday afternoon revealed that the Slammy Award episode of Monday Night RAW is one of Vince McMahon’s favourite nights of the year. With that in mind we could have reasonably expected Monday’s RAW to be a belter. It was not. Excellent closing segment aside the show was firmly in average territory.

 

Bret Hart gives this line-up of former champions 4/10

The closing segment was WWE’s final push (Main Event and SmackDown don’t count) at convincing people that the title unification match happening at TLC really means something. It saw Triple H and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley joined in the ring by numerous former WWE and World Heavyweight champions. This led to a situation where genuine greats such as Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley and Booker T were, on some level, presented as the equals of The Great Khali and Jack Swagger.

 

‘The Game’ kicked things off by talking up the importance of world championships in wrestling, to ever increasing chants of “Daniel Bryan!” from the Washington (Bryan’s home state) crowd. Triple H waited it out, allowing the crowd to have their fun. Mark Henry raised Bryan’s hand, hoping that that would provide a culmination point for the fans. But it didn’t, they just carried on.  Home state crowd or not, this was a perfect illustration of how popular Bryan remains with the people who buy tickets to WWE events, an excellent reason for his push to continue.

 

Eventually Tripper resumed his speech and brought Randy Orton and John Cena to the ring. The idea was that both men would, to use wrestling parlance, talk people into the building. Each would cut a promo about the importance of the match, the concept of title unification and their dislike for each other so that punters would be convinced they’d be missing out on something if they fail to order this pay-per-view. If that’s what WWE were going for, and the approach taken as well as Triple H’s proclivity for old school antics makes me think it was, then they failed. I don’t think a significant number of people will have been convinced to order TLC based on the performances on RAW alone. But I do think both Orton and Cena did a great job.

 

Orton started things off with what was, by his standards, a great piece of mic work. Gone was the stilted, drawn out delivery of hollow nonsense, replaced by passion and a man who wanted to show that being a world champion means something to him. Perhaps more significantly this was a man ho wanted to show that he’s the equal of John Felix Anthony Cena.

 

Orton commented that Cena had lost the “ruthless aggression” (remember that “era”?) he’d claimed to have when he first debuted in WWE. Then he put himself over as the greatest superstar of this or any other generation and mentioned some of the other men in the ring. He reminded us that he’d taken years off of Mick Foley’s career and life and that he’d embarrassed Shawn Michaels numerous times, before saying that had he been around for Survivor Series ’97 the Montreal Screwjob wouldn’t have needed to happen. Naturally Bret Hart did not look happy at that.

 

Unfortunately Orty let himself down at the last minute. He said that everything Cena’s worked so hard for will come crashing down around him on Sunday. It was a shame that such a passionate speech was closed by such a generic comment.

 

Cena began his response by bringing Daniel Bryan into the centre of the ring to illustrate that people like him because he works hard. In truth he didn’t actually need to involve Bryan at this point. He did so partly to get the audience on side and partly to give them another chance to cheer for Bryan, something they all clearly wanted to do. There was nothing wrong with either reason. It demonstrates how good Cena is at reading situations and crowds.

 

Cena went on to talk about how Orton has had everything handed to him during his WWE career because his father was a wrestler. In fairness to Orton this is rubbish. WWE has hired people based on family names in the past, and probably will in the future, but nobody would get to Orton’s level based purely on their name. Orton, Rock, and Eddie Guerrero, all second or third generation stars, reached the top of WWE because on their hard work. By Cena’s logic Ted DiBiase, Chavo Guerrero (Junior) and Natalya are all major stars.

 

If Cena really has an issue with third generation people in the wrestling business he should have been looking at the only woman in the ring with him. She is the greatest beneficiary of nepotism in WWE history.

 

Cena talked about Orton being bulletproof during their time together in developmental because management liked him. That was a state of affairs that continued when the two moved to the main roster and Orton was sheltered by “the best performer in the business” (Triple H, apparently). Cena’s point was that all Randy does is hide behind the McMahons.

 

The mention of Triple H being the best performer in the business is interesting. It’s yet another tantalising hint that Cena and The Authority are closer than they appear to be. It wouldn’t be the last of the show.

 

Cena reminded us that Orton feels he’s better than WWE in its entirety and that he’s had in-ring behavioural problems in the past. Smashing kayfabe, he also brought up Orton’s behavioural problems outside the ring. Engaging hyperbole mode the World Heavyweight champion said Sunday’s TLC match will be the biggest in company history and that it will change the direction of the organisation.

 

Still not done Cena said he’s always been a fighting champion and gave himself credit for giving Dolph Ziggler, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan chances to main event pay-per-views and wrestle for top titles. Judging by his reaction this infuriated Punk. Understandably so because it’s only part true: Cena did main event pay-per-views against all three men (and others) but the men themselves had earned those opportunities with years of work. They didn’t need Cena’s blessing to succeed, which was how it seemed to presented on RAW.

 

Title unification in WWE was always going to involve these two

Cena ended his promo by saying that the TLC match will be physical and he wants to know that ‘The Apex Predator’ will be at his very best. The last thing that anybody wants, he said, his another Randy Orton excuse. The two shook hands as the belts were raised up to the ceiling. Then Orton cheap shotted Cena and everything kicked off.

 

Cena took Orty down and pummelled him. The more physically able world champions in the ring swarmed around the two and pulled them apart. As the two men were held in separate corners Punk approached Orton , presumably to try talking some sense into him, and got a slap for his trouble. His response was to punch Orton repeatedly.

 

‘The Game’ intervened, easily flooring Punk and then yelling at Orton. He was pulled around to take a retaliatory right from Punk. HBK super kicked Punk. Bryan hit a running knee on HBK. Orton attempted an RKO on Bryan but got shoved off into Stephanie McMahon. Triple H checked on Steph and then dropped a distraught Orton with a Pedigree.

 

Cena and Kane then helped Triple H get Stephanie to her feet as the fans basically ignored the events they’d just witnessed and chanted for Bryan again. The show went off the air with Triple H, Stephanie, Kane and Cena looking down at Orton.

 

I don’t think Cena’s going to align himself with The Authority at TLC but I do think there’s an argument to be made for it being the long-term plan. And if it is it’s a good one. It could give the Cena character the refresh it needs without being an all-out heel turn. Cena could still be marketed at kids but adult (more specifically hardcore) fans would have more reason than ever to dislike him because he’d be aligned with the promotion’s lead heel group.  

 

As pre-pay-per-view RAWs go this show as a whole was not great. But its main event segment was an absolute classic. It’s set up multiple possibilities for future storylines. In addition to Cena potentially joining The Authority the issues between Bryan and Michaels were revisited and CM Punk was drawn further into conflict with The Authority. It looks like WWE are setting up a very strong WrestleMania Season.

The Men of Many Faces

Sin Cara is gone. Long live Sin Cara.

 

The original Sin Cara, Luis Urive, is unlikely to return to WWE. It's completely unsurprising. When he debuted for the company in 2011 the hope was that he would become the next major masked star for the WWE Merch Machine to get behind (something still needed because Rey Mysterio's body is knackered). In the two and a half years he's been with the company Urive has become synonymous with lengthy injury layoffs and botches. It's the botches for which he'll be most remembered but it's the injuries which did the greatest harm to his WWE career.

 

Urive struggled with the WWE system and a large part of that was due to him never being around long enough to form a lasting connection with fans. There were other reasons obviously: his lack of familiarity with the US (particularly the WWE) style and inability to speak English being two obvious ones. Had he avoided injury he'd have been wrestling more, which would have improved his understanding of the style and exposed him to more English.

 

It became obvious a while ago that he'd leave WWE when his contract expires. That's set to happen early next year, unless an early deal has been reached that’s yet to be acknowledged. The loss of him as a performer is not great, for the reasons given above. The loss of the Sin Cara character, on the other hand, would be a loss. Which is probably why WWE have decided to keep it going.

 

Urive last appeared for WWE on the August 19^th RAW. He wrestled Alberto Del Rio and had the match called off when he dislocated a finger performing a suicide dive (which understandably infuriated ADR). Sin Cara returned to action on the December 2^nd RAW where he again wrestled Del Rio, this time picking up the surprising victory. The difference was that in December it was not Urive under the mask. It was Jorge Arias, more frequently known as Hunico.

 

This was not without precedent, as most will already know. When Urive was suspended in 2011 for violating the Wellness Policy™ he was replaced on TV by Arias. That led to a feud between the two, with Urive working as the original Sin Cara Azul and Arias switching to a black outfit and LOST-inspired entrance music to become Sin Cara Negro. Arias lost a mask versus mask match (receiving the standard announcer comments of how ugly he was when the mask came off, natch) and became Hunico. He's played that character in an enhancement role since.

 

I'm as sure as I can be that this is the man formerly known as Hunico

The December 2^nd RAW made it pretty clear that Urive’s not coming back. While Arias had portrayed the character before he's gotten a prominent shoulder tattoo since last doing so. Unless WWE restarts the Cara v Cara feud or Urive gets identical ink (neither of which is likely, obvs) that prohibits a return of the original. And frankly it's not a loss. Urive had proven himself unreliable and unwilling to improve. Arias may not be as fantastic at running fast or performing flips but he can connect with crowds better and is less prone to injuring himself. The important thing for WWE is keeping the mask on TV. They've ploughed a lot of time into promoting it over the last couple of years and as long as kids keep buying the merch (which they are) there's a point to having the character on TV. It's good for Arias too. He deserves a higher spot than tagging with Camacho on NXT.

 

I expect Urive will head back to CMLL when he's officially done with WWE. That's where he came to prominence, wrestling as the Mistico (ironically Arias had been working outside of CMLL under the same before Urive was given the name). In his absence a new man (real identity unknown: classic Mexico) has worked under the Mistico name. A Mistico v Mistico programme in CMLL would be perfectly natural. And it would be a fitting follow-up to Urive’s confusing time in WWE.

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 25

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 25 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

Cesaro deserved a World Heavyweight title match more than Orton

I had planned to change my habits and start writing substantial entries for the podcast posts, but it's failed to happen. In this episode we discuss Sin Cara leaving WWE and I originally planned to accompany this podcast on a bit of writing on that. But it became lengthy enough to stand on its own, so it will. Tomorrow.

The other main topics discussed are the TLC pay-per-view and Davey Richards' current career direction. I'll (obviously) be posting about TLC nearer the time while I've already posted something about Davey Richards (read that here). As interesting as the possibility of Richards ending his time on the indies in Dragon Gate and-or EVOLVE is one piece of writing and one mention on a podcast is enough.

All of which has resulted in another workmanlike, conversational piece of writing where I have very little to say but feel compelled to say something because, well, there needs to be some writing addressing what's discussed in the podcast. I'm a creature of habit.

Evolution of the Wolf

Davey Richards' future gets more interesting by the day. A few weeks ago it was revealed that he was to be part of an extended WWE tryout, wrestling on NXT and SmackDown, alongside his tag partner Eddie Edwards. This in itself was peculiar as it hinted at a new way for wrestlers to potentially enter the company or, at the very least, that WWE were showing uncharacteristic flexibility.

But WWE's hiring policies have been dwarfed by the news that Davey Richards and Ring of Honor have parted ways. The reason for the split is an interview given by Richards to British wrestling magazine-website Total Wrestling (never 'eard of 'em). 'The Lone Wolf' trashed the current direction of the promotion he's called home for seven years, stating that the tag titles "don't mean anything anymore", that the booking of the world title has been "substandard and screwy" leading to the championship's devaluation, and that he doesn't care about the promotion's much discussed iPPV woes.

I agree with most of this. The booking of the world championship <has> been shoddy for a number of years. I'm not sure how long Richards believes this has been the case but I think the belt's dropped a notch since Gabe Sapolsky left. There have been peaks in that time, such as the shock victory of Edwards and the reigns of Kevin Steen and Tyler Black, but mostly the title doesn't mean as much as it once did. I feel Richards was a little too hard on the tag belts. They've dropped in meaning too, but not to the same extent and reDRagon have done a good job of providing a focal point this year.

But as right as Richards is he remains an employee. Wrestlers in these situations have to able to tow the company line. The can tactfully acknowledge that things have been better or that they'd take a different approach but they still need to remain broadly positive. Openly trashing the promotion that pays your wages isn't a smart move, and if Richards doesn't understand that (and this episode indicates that he doesn't) he's going to have a hard time in WWE.

On Tuesday morning Gabe Sapolsky involved himself. He tacked on the question of whether or not he should call Richards to a Dragon Gate USA newsletter, also whacking it up (because he's a social media guru) on Facebook and Twitter. Amongst those to send a positive reply was Wesley 'Davey' Richards.

Future challenger to the Freedom Gate title?

The relationship between these two is made out to be more complex and fraught than it is by many people, but it's complex and fraught enough to warrant a brief recap. When Sapolsky first set up EVOLVE he intended to build it around Davey Richards. 'The Lone Wolf', not then as big a name as he is now but still highly regarded, wrestled on the first EVOLVE show (defeating Kota Ibushi in the main event) but never went back. There are two reasons for this. The first is that he was contracted to Ring of Honor and they decided, as was their right, that they weren't happy with Richards working for Gabe's outfit. The second is that Sapolsky told Richards that he'd set up EVOLVE (and Dragon Gate USA, presumably) to put ROH out of business. Richards, not liking the negativity or the goal of putting people out of work, decided he'd rather not return.

This scenario led to Sapolsky referring to "trust issues" when he asked if he should contact Richards. I can see his point: he'd wanted to build EVOLVE around Richards and only found that he was unavailable after the promotion was up and running. But ultimately the situation was of his own making. He knew Richards had a contract elsewhere and gave pretty questionable reasons for starting his promotion(s).

Things are, of course, different now. Richards is a free agent with some time available before he heads to WWE. EVOLVE has become a known entity in its own right, without regular input from Richards. While it’s not a promotion he’s linked with its one held in high enough regard by fans to be a fitting place for Richards to wrestle his farewell indy match or matches, assuming he goes to WWE and does well enough that he never leaves of course.

Sapolsky would be spoilt for choice when picking opponents for Richards. The obvious name at the top of the list would be Open the Freedom Gate champion Johnny Gargano. He’s the man that Sapolsky pits against any outside talent that comes his way because he’s not only the roster’s greatest US-based all-rounder but also but also because he’s become the wrestler that shows are constructed around. That second fact would add something to a Richards v Gargano match: the man who was going to be the centrepiece against the man who became it naturally.

Akira Tozawa, Chris Hero, Chuck Taylor, CIMA, and Ricochet would all have great, headline-worthy matches opposite Richards too. How many we’d see would depend on how many matches Davey worked in the company. I’m hopeful that it happens. Outside of ROH EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA are the best option to host Richards’ farewell match(es). In a way it’s a shame that he’s heading to WWE: Richards is just the shot in the arm that Sapolsky’s feds need.