WCW, ECW collections headline future WWE DVD releases

From Wrestling Update Online comes a nice rundown of the upcoming WWE DVD and Blu Ray releases for the next few months. The link also has Amazon pre-order information so be sure to check it out.

I’m most looking forward to The Best of WCW Clash of the Champions, which is to be released on May 22, and The Biggest Matches in ECW History, to be released on June 5. These collections will feature matches not as common on other DVD releases as well as others that have never been released at all.

WrestleMania XXVIII will be available May 8, with a Falls Count Anywhere compilation due June 26 and a new Undertaker DVD chronicling the 20-0 streak out July 24.

Video: Brock Lesnar returns to WWE

In case you somehow hadn’t heard, Brock Lesnar returned to WWE last night during Raw. While Lesnar probably isn’t back for a full time schedule, rumors are that he has signed a one-year deal with the company. It seems likely that he’ll wrestle John Cena on an upcoming pay-per-view (my guess would be SummerSlam) after last night’s events.

One thing that hasn’t been talked about much is what a great job Michael Cole did in framing the moment. He made Lesnar out to be an absolute monster and foreshadowed that things are about to change. For all the bad things we say about Cole, this was an instance where he did a tremendous job.

Video: Footage of crowd going nuts during Raw dark match

The Miami crowd for last night’s post-WrestleMania Raw was absolutely amazing. The whole night the fans in attendance chanted for Daniel Bryan and busted out loud “Yes!” chants reminiscent of the “What!” serenades we’ve heard in the past. When Daniel Bryan wrestled in a six-man tag match after Raw went off the air, the crowd was even hotter. Below is fan video of the match (before WWE inevitably has it removed.)

Video: Peter Rosenberg interviews CM Punk

CM Punk sat down with Hot 97′s Peter Rosenberg, hip hop radio DJ and wrestling enthusiast, on Wednesday. Among the topics discussed are CM Punk’s game-changing promo from last summer, whether or not Punk returned too soon, the current feud with Chris Jericho, Punk’s thoughts on Triple H, and working with John Cena.

The supercut tribute to Ric Flair’s flops

This video was uploaded to YouTube in September of 2010 but yesterday it spread like wildfire through the interwebs. It’s a supercut of all of Ric Flair’s best flops. Wooooooooooooo!

(Via Thomas J. Wagner on Devour)

The WWE Hall of Fame argument for Mike Tyson

As you may have heard, WWE has announced that Mike Tyson will be a member of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2012. The news has Twitter abuzz, with many people decrying the choice and others embracing it. Tyson was an important piece of the Attitude Era storyline between DX and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

While Tyson’s role in the shift of power from WCW to WWE during the Monday Night Wars may be overstated, he played a more significant role in wrestling history than, say, Drew Carey or Bob Uecker, both already members of the WWE’s Hall. “Iron Mike” brought publicity to the industry and his involvement helped WWE to grow to its peak.

All of that isn’t to say I think Mike Tyson deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. My main point is that the Hall has already been so diluted by the celebrity inductions that it really doesn’t matter at all at this point. If you’re one of the many who always argue that WWE’s Hall is meaningless, then you really can’t complain that Tyson is getting in. It’s meaningless, remember?

Be clear: Mike Tyson is not being inducted in the same regard as the Four Horsemen and Edge. He is akin to Pete Rose, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, Uecker and Carey. And if those men are already in the Hall of Fame, why not clear a spot for Mike Tyson?

2012 Royal Rumble results and recap

Photo courtesy WWE.com

Last night’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view was… a pay-per-view. It certainly didn’t have that big time atmosphere we expect from one of WWE’s marquee events. CM Punk and Daniel Bryan retained their titles, John Cena and Kane fought to a double countout, the Funkasaurus won another squash, Sheamus is going to WrestleMania, and some women wrestled.

The night wasn’t without its notable moments, however, as the Royal Rumble match gave us a lot of campy comedy but also some memorable entrants. On the campy comedy side, Mick Foley and Santino had a Cobra v. Socko battle and all three announcers – Booker T, Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole – entered the match. That must have been what WWE was going for by hammering us over the head that anyone on the roster could enter the contest.

The entry of Michael Cole did lead to the return of Kharma, who eliminated Cole and Hunico before being tossed by Dolph Ziggler. First ever Royal Rumble winner Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the Road Dogg were surprise legends entrants.

Below is a match-by-match breakdown of the 2012 Royal Rumble:

Triple Threat Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Bryan (C) defeated Big Show and Mark Henry

Mark Henry was very limited in this match, which basically turned into a one-on-one Show v. Bryan contest. It was okay for what it was and the ending made sense, with Show grabbing Bryan as he tried to escape the cage, then finally losing his grip on the champion. One thing that distracted me during the match was Michael Cole’s wishy washy commentary, changing from praising Daniel Bryan for his heel antics but then remembering he is supposed to hate Daniel Bryan and bashing him again.

Beth Phoenix, Natalya and the Bella Twins defeated Kelly Kelly, Tamina, Eve and Alicia Fox

Typical divas fare, although we did see a top rope dive from Kelly Kelly onto all the divas on the floor. As you would guess, there was “twin magic,” an Eve booty pop, Kelly Kelly handspring elbow, and not enough Beth Phoenix and Tamina ring time. Hopefully with the return of Kharma, the women’s division will focus more on wrestling, but it doesn’t seem promising.

John Cena and Kane fought to a Double Countout

The match itself was pretty good, with Cena getting his typical shtick in but Kane always having an answer. The double countout was predictable since it protects both men. I really didn’t mind Kane wheeling Zack Ryder out to the arena and then demolishing the Long Island Broski and John Cena, logic of him not just taking care of business in the back aside. There was some continuation of Eve’s feeling that Cena is responsible for Ryder’s injuries and I’m assuming that will play out a little more on Raw.

Brodus Clay defeated Drew McIntyre

Basic Funkasaurus match… Dance, squash, dance. The demise of Drew McIntyre continues.

WWE Championship Match
CM Punk defeated Dolph Ziggler

There was just way too much John Laurinaitis in this match. The in-ring action was great, as you would expect from Ziggler and Punk. With Triple H coming back on Raw to rule on whether or not Johnny Ace keeps his job, the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim Raw General Manager couldn’t screw Punk as planned. Even though he teased it, you knew it wasn’t happening.

I have no problem with that, really. What was worse was how much all those shenanigans took away from Dolph Ziggler. He became a sidecar to the Punk-Laurinaitis motorcycle. Hopefully Ziggler stays in the title chase because the guy is one of the best in the business right now.

Sheamus wins the Royal Rumble match

The final four came down to Big Show, Randy Orton, Sheamus and Chris Jericho. Show and Orton quickly were eliminated, which took a little steam out of the crowd. While I’ll admit I thought Jericho was an obvious choice to win, Sheamus is deserving of a title run once again. It just doesn’t feel that special since he’s been buried in his beef with Jinder “please hate this man” Mahal. Sheamus was well down my list of potential Rumble winners heading in but we’ll see how WWE builds this heading into WrestleMania. I would guess that Sheamus challenges for the Big Gold Belt since CM Punk v. Chris Jericho at ‘Mania makes so much sense it would be hard to pass up.

As I mentioned before there was too much campy comedy in this Rumble. Did we really need to see Michael Cole in the match? I didn’t mind Lawler and Booker T, in fact I mostly suspected it, but Cole? The Foley-Santino stuff was cute at first but got old fast, as mostly everything WWE thinks is funny does.

Ricardo Rodriguez appearing in full Alberto Del Rio mode was pretty good and was one of the minor hits in an otherwise underwhelming Rumble match. Kharma returning was a welcomed surprise but it would have made more sense for her to come out after Kelly Kelly hit all the divas with the dive off the top rope during the women’s match.

WWE SummerSlam Recap and Review

Image courtesy of WWE

The “biggest event of the summer” may not have felt like that tagline would suggest but it was a pretty good show that featured good wrestling and a surprise ending. I already gave you my thoughts on that, so this post will focus on the remainder of the show from last night.

In some ways the pay-per-view felt more like an extended episode of Raw, especially with the commercials from sponsors and backstage skits. It was all kept to a minimum, though, and they were necessary since SummerSlam only had five advertised matches. Furthering the Raw feeling was the opening match of the night, a hastily thrown together six man tag team match that began with mic time from The Miz and R-Truth.

The match itself – which featured Miz, Truth and Alberto Del Rio against John Morrison, Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston – was very good and got the crowd going. Mysterio scoring the winning pinfall was necessary for him to have some build heading into his WWE Championship match on Raw.

The Sheamus v. Mark Henry matchup was better than I had expected and Henry is really thriving in his role as a monstrous big man. I thought they would go with a double countout ending, but Sheamus losing by countout still allows this feud to continue.

You know a PPV is good when even the Divas Championship match is passable. As much as I think Beth Phoenix should be the champ and the focus needs to be on women who can wrestle, I think Kelly Kelly retaining the title with a rollup pin was the smart call. It allows the program to continue and Phoenix looked very strong throughout the match. K2 showed she can have a decent match when put in the ring with a good worker.

The Wade Barrett v. Daniel Bryan match was my pick for Snoozer of the Night. I don’t mean that to seem as bad as it sounds, because the match was still good enough, it just lost the crowd. And I’ll probably catch hell for saying this on the internet, but Daniel Bryan just doesn’t seem as entertaining as I remember him in ROH and the other independents. His matches lately seem to be all kicks and a few moves and then a submission. Him losing doesn’t hurt too much and Barrett needed a good win to get some momentum back following what has been an awful year for him.

Randy Orton and Christian had the match of the night. Edge got a huge reaction when he was introduced before the match and WWE made the right call by not having him stay at ringside to support Christian. I thought it was a little too soon to take the belt off Christian and they instead should have had him score a decisive win, but the match was great. The crowd was hot for all of it and these two guys have great chemistry in the ring. Sadly, I think it’s the end of Christian’s time at the top of the card for the moment.

John Cena v. CM Punk wasn’t close to their Money in the Bank contest but that surely was not to be expected. I didn’t like the finish of CM Punk winning with Cena’s leg on the rope but the aftermath of Nash attacking and ADR cashing in made it make a little more sense. We’ll see how it all plays out on Raw.

Video: WWE 12 Gameplay, John Cena v. CM Punk

In case you didn’t catch it, THQ has released a video of a full match between John Cena and CM Punk, featuring commentary from the developers showcasing some of the new stuff.

Looks very promising. The graphics look smoother and the gameplay looks less robotic. The controls are switching from being dominated by the analog stick back to buttons, which will be a welcomed change for many.

Thoughts on the SummerSlam ending

I don’t love or hate the way WWE SummerSlam ended. I’m willing to let it play out a little further before I pass too much judgment.

On one hand, I’m not sure I want to see another retread of the same old “McMahon family drama” storyline, even though it seems we’re headed that way. Kevin Nash’s appearance at the end of the show, powerbombing newly crowned undisputed WWE Champion CM Punk, and then Alberto Del Rio cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase leaves open a lot of possibilities.

Was Kevin Nash instructed to take out the champ by Triple H, his longtime friend and former Kliq companion? Or did Stephanie McMahon, who appeared on the show several times, have a hand in the matter? Perhaps Alberto Del Rio paid off Big Sexy to do the hit?

The likely scenario is that Stephanie and the old regime do not want CM Punk to have the title and are behind the whole thing. If it’s done right, the story could be very interesting and continue to build CM Punk as a huge star in the eyes of the casual fans.

If not done right, and we know how WWE can drop the ball with a good story, it could lead us right back to the same old status quo.

But I’m willing to see how it plays out and I’m certainly interested to see what happens on tonight’s Raw. Building a continued investment in the storyline and the product, after all, is the point.