Just a few notes to keep in mind while reading this article:
- Don't expect FULL results/spoilers here. I'm just talking about notable events and matches that caught my interest over the course of the month.
- I'm not covering EVERY show and event over the course of the month. Seriously, I would go insane over trying doing that. I can barely keep up with everything WWE puts out in one week.
- I apologize that I can't post FULL matches here, but I'll provide videos to notable matches from throughout the month with and where I can in these articles.
Monday Night RAW (7/1/13) started the month off with nothing really new to bring to the table for WWE fans, but Impact Wrestling on the 4th of July really pulled out all of the stops as the X-Division stars graced the main event as Chris Sabin, Manik (TJ Perkins' new name after regaining the guise of Suicide), and Austin Aries fought for the X-Division Championship, where the winner could trade in the gold for a shot at TNA World Heavyweight Champion at Destination X later this month.
If you haven't had a chance to see this match, do yourself a favor and check it out. It saddens me that there's not many luchadors and high flyers get as much exposure as they used to in mainstream wrestling, but TNA manages to give them a platform to shine in their company. Out of all of the blunders that Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff have introduced into this company since joining, their decision to make the X-Division matter again really means a lot to me as a fan of this style of wrestling. I would not be doing this article justice if I didn't mention how Mickie James has pretty much brought in her heel attitude in full blossom. You can even sense the vibes of vintage heel Trish Stratus as she taunts both Gail Kim and Taryn Terrell for their pending ladder match.
TNA One Night Only - Hardcore Justice 2 (7/5/13)
Superb show from start to finish. If you can find a replay of the show online or hold out for the DVD release, I highly recommend giving this a look. This isn't the full card, but the three matches that stood out the most for me.
Hardcore Match - Jacqueline Moore vs. ODB - Jacqueline may be old but she can still work like the best of 'em. Definitely one of the best Knockouts to never win the Knockouts Championship in my book. ODB and Jacqueline prove that the Knockouts can play rough too.Generation Me vs. Bad Influence - Ladder Match for $20,000 - This match literally stole the show. I still say that one of TNA's biggest blows to their once great tag team division was not keeping the Young Bucks (Generation Me) on the roster. Their feud with the Motor City Machineguns was a great start to what could have propelled those guys into even bigger stars in TNA. Fortunately, they agreed to compete on this PPV as guest stars on the card.
Joseph Park vs. Judias Mesias (w/ Father James Mitchell) - Monsters' Ball - Park does the usual mind-mannered gimmick until getting busted open when he goes into full "Abyss" mode. Good to see El Mesias and James Mitchell had the time to spare to come out for this event.
Monday Night RAW (7/8/13)
This episode of RAW started what I am going to dub the "Rise of the American Dragon" for Daniel Bryan this summer. Daniel Bryan worked what looked like the best match I have seen come out of Sheamus in ages period. I remember reading an interview with Kevin Nash this month saying that "I wish Daniel Bryan could carry me through a match and make me look that good..."
When Daniel Bryan first joined WWE after ending his long-time career as part of the Ring of Honor roster, I feared he would get lost in their political bullshit and never aspire to be anything - much like many stellar talents from the independent scene that find themselves black balled by mainstream wrestling, but fortunately for him, WWE is constantly changing as Vince McMahon is slowly grooming both Stephanie McMahon and Triple H to take over when he finally steps down. Fortunately, HHH and Steph see money in this man.
The Wyatt Family finally debuts on RAW attacking Kane. For weeks, we have seen these video packages that ranged from bizarre and freaky to borderline laughable. I have heard people compare them to the cast of Duck Dynasty, but I don't watch that show. So to me, this group looks like a bunch of outcasts inspired by the likes of the murderous family found in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. If these guys want to roll with the "Redneck America" gimmick, then more power to them. Their spin on it is unique and with Bray Wyatt as their mouthpiece, the sky is the limit for this stable. People tend to forget that you need more strange and weird stuff in wrestling. That's how you get noticed and how people remember your character, especially in a sea of generic and cookie-cutter Superstars and Divas which makes up the bulk of the current WWE roster.
My only concern is that this addition to the WWE Tag Team division continues to own up to the "race war" archetype that they are portraying.
Curtis Axel (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Chris Jericho gets an honorable mention on this episode as well. After taking the time to read Jericho's autobiography earlier this year, I can understand why he came back to WWE. It's not about garnering attention to himself, but it's more about helping put some of these newer talents over (Fandango really deserved and needed it, but CM Punk, not so much...). I don't mind the veterans returning if it's put over the next generation, but when you start hogging the spotlight, that's when I can't stand the veterans coming back. Jericho is literally giving these younger Superstars the best matches of their careers, while managing not to tarnish his own legacy in the process. While I'm not totally behind Curtis Axel like everyone else who seems to be all over his nuts since he won the Intercontinental Championship and being tied to Paul Heyman, I can give credit to this young Superstar when and where it's due though. The guy has talent, but I feel like he could have gotten over better on his own without being tied to Paul Heyman.
The funniest thing to come out of this episode of RAW was that Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Vince McMahon all called out Vickie Guerrero to the ring for an on-air job evaluation that ended with her getting fired, thanks to the votes from the WWE app. (Rolls eyes) Then Vince McMahon names Brad Maddox as the new RAW General Manager, which just seemed like a knee-jerk reaction.
NXT (7/10/13)
The Wyatt Family vs. Adrian Neville (PAC), Corey Graves, and William Regal as the main event. I personally consider William Regal as the oldest veteran on the WWE roster to never capture main event gold. While I will admit that I don't watch NXT as consistently as I should, but these individuals really brought it together in this match and impressed me.
Impact Wrestling (7/11/13)
This week's show used the Joker's Wild Tournament format that is unique to one of their previous One Night Only PPVs. I'm not really too fond of that concept as it makes for a lot of boring and lackluster matches. TNA's roster isn't as diverse as it was a few years ago and not everyone on their current roster meshes well together in tag teams. If it wasn't for my pending anticipation for the Ladder Match I would have not even watched this episode from start to finish.
Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell - Ladder Match for #1 Contender Spot to the TNA Knockouts Championship is a match that fans of women's wrestling are going to be talking about for a long-time. Despite that Gail Kim was obviously carrying Taryn through this match, Taryn has shown a lot of grown in her craft since leaving WWE. There were lots of creative spots and an unique finish that deserves a standing ovation from both women in this match. If you don't watch any other women's wrestling match this month, watch this. TNA is definitely setting the bar high in terms of standards for women's wrestling in the mainstream product.
Rampage Jackson joins the Main Event Mafia... Seriously, WTF? I guess they are completely ignoring that requirement that you had to be a former champion to get in. Oh well, at least it gives the guy something to do unlike King Mo, who we have only seen on TNA programming ONCE since "signing" onto the roster. Still, both of these guys are better than Pacman Jones...
Yeah... I went there.
WWE Money In The Bank PPV (7/14/13)
If you ask me, this was a mediocre PPV from top to bottom.
AJ Lee retains Divas Championship successfully against Kaitlyn. If you have seen their other million bouts over the last month or two, then you have seen the same thing here. I still don't see how people are acting like these matches are the best the WWE Divas have done in a while. Obviously, not enough people aren't watching NXT...
AJ Lee manages to cost Dolph Ziggler the match for the World Heavyweight Championship against Albert Del Rio when she snapped and randomly attacked ADR with the Divas Championship. It's a damn shame that Ziggler had to lose like that. ADR bores me a lot in terms of his ring work, but him and Ziggler managed to hold my interest throughout this encounter with solid ring psychology and dynamics in this match from start to finish.
John Cena retains the WWE Championship after forcing Mark Henry to tap out to the STF-U. Again, no surprise there. I personally would not have minded seeing Super Cena lose to Mark Henry, but at the same time, I didn't get my hopes up.
Monday Night RAW (7/15/13)
After CM Punk confronts Paul Heyman concerning his actions at Money In The Bank, Brock Lesnar destroys CM Punk. I was literally in tears laughing when Heyman shouted "It's Clobberin' Time!!" and Lesnar literally did that - clobbered Punk. As a comic book fan, I can see that they are literally modeling this storyline almost page for page as Wolverine versus the Weapon X program. I guess Vince is allowing CM Punk to play out his comic book geekdom on WWE programming while The Wolverine is fresh in theaters. I wonder how long it's going to take 20th Century Fox and Marvel Comics to realize what they are doing here?
I found it to be rather fucked up that WWE took the time to have a black man, namely R-Truth, being attacked and mauled by The Wyatt Family -- in Brooklyn, New York of all places. For those who are not aware, over the course of the last week in the United States, there is a lot of controversy and drama concerning the Zimmerman case and I'm sure WWE booked this as some sort of sick indirect symbolism. Before people open their mouth in the comments defending WWE on this matter, think about this - how many times has WWE made fun of or made parodies of real world events? Yeah, it's not much of a stretch if you think about it. Am I the only one who thinks that Kane is going to give up the ghost and end up joining the Wyatt Family as their mock version of Leatherface? It's not that much of a stretch given that he's played a similar role in See No Evil...
This RAW ends with Daniel Bryan being selected as John Cena's next opponent to challenge him at Summerslam. I feel like this decision will - without a shadow of a doubt - lead into the Bella Twins being involved somehow in the match at Summerslam or in the wake of the match's aftermath, especially with their ties to both Superstars that was revealed in the premiere of Total Divas. To be honest, I really hope Daniel Bryan ends up ending the reign of John Cena. I just don't want Randy Orton to steal this moment of glory prematurely like how Sheamus beat him in mere seconds at WrestleMania. WWE, if you give this man the gold, let him hold it long enough for everyone to enjoy it.
NXT (7/17/13)
Charlotte (Ric Flair's daughter) debuts vs. Bailey - Pretty standard match, but Charlotte's gymnastics background could benefit her in the long run as her flexibility gave her some pretty unique pins. Boy, Ric Flair is looking more and more like Skeletor from He-Man. He looks like he has one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel. I hope the old boy is still in good health because he was not looking too hot at ringside.
Neville and Graves win NXT Tag Team Championships from The Wyatt Family - With The Wyatt Family looking to make short work of the WWE Tag Team division they have drop the NXT Tag titles before they move onto bigger and better things. This win makes Neville a two-time NXT champion, and I hope these boys will continue to have success. That goes double for both Neville and Graves and the Wyatt Family.
Impact Wrestling (7/18/13)
SpikeTV broadcasts Destination X for FREE as the replacement to Impact Wrestling this week.Stellar performances by X-Division and special guests, including Homicide, Petey Williams, Sonjay Dutt, and Rubix. I was surprised Rockstar Spud was even in the matches for this. We haven't seen that guy since back when TNA was touring the UK earlier this year. I think the biggest surprise out of these X-Division bouts was the TNA debut of Greg Marasciulo, otherwise known as Trent Beretta!
Gail Kim and Mickie James' heated head-to-head encounter. You have to love how Gail Kim went hood-rich and threw her high heels into the crowd as she got ready for this brawl. I swear, I'm loving heel Mickie James the more I see of her like this.
Chris Sabin becomes the NEW World Heavyweight Champion! I was legatimately shocked that TNA didn't pull a bullshit ending or weird ass swerve from out of left field to finish this. Thanks to some support from MEM, Sabin turned Aces & Eights usual tactics against them and pulled off the biggest win of his career. The sky is the limit, Sabin, and I'm not talking about your hot ass girlfriend either.
Jim Ross' blog (7/21/13)
A fan brought up the topic of Paige and whether or not she's ready for being on the main roster. His answer is literally that anyone under the age of 21 should not be on the main roster yet. So... why is Jo-Jo Offerman on the main roster with the Funkadactyls on Main Event? And why did Kelly Kelly work on ECW when she was barely 19 when she debuted? Hell, she didn't even have training yet! While I have already dealt with the fact that Paige will not be on the main roster anytime soon after she was crowned the first NXT Women's Champion, I really can't forgive JR's comment here. To put it bluntly, it sounds like JR is talking out of his ass.Misc. TNA News
Several talent releases across the board, including Doc (Luke Gallows), Joey Ryan, Matt Morgan, Madison Rayne, D'Lo Brown, Tara, Taeler Hendrix, Bruce Prichard, Jesse Sorenson, and more to come.While I was personally pissed off that Tara was let go, I can understand that they are cutting corners now that they are on the road and facing some financial issues. For those who don't know, Tara's set to appear as a regular in an upcoming soap opera, so I'm sure she left to get ready for that. Madison Rayne was lucky that she was still getting paid period for all of her time off while pregnant, but at the same time, her boyfriend is in the military and I would guess that she asked for her release to figure out how she is going to juggle being a full-time mom and his schedule. I have seen both Taeler Hendrix and Jesse Sorenson make sob stories about getting released in various interviews and I'm going to say this. Taeler Hendrix still has a job on OVW so she shouldn't be complaining at all. I feel sorry about Sorenson's injury - I really do. TNA went the extra mile and did give him a desk job at the salary of if he was an active wrestler when they really didn't have to when he got injured. But here's the reality check, folks. Getting hurt is always a risk in this business, you should know that the second you make up your mind about becoming a wrestler.
TNA unveils new X-Division belt. Yes, it looks like both the WWE Intercontinental Championship and X-Division title did the DBZ Fusion dance, but in all honesty, it makes sense. This is a title about no limits - despite weight limits nor nationality. So it should have an "intercontinental" appeal to it. If I'm honest, the old X-Division belt always rubbed me as one of those belts some random backyard wrestling mark would cook up in one of the creation modes of the older WWE games...
The sad truth that most wrestling fans don't realize is that the reigning champions RARELY carry around the actual championship. While I have seen people bitch, moan, and joke about how dumb it is to make a new belt when they are cutting talent to save money, here's the reality of the matter. It's a LOT cheaper for most wrestling promotions to commission and make copies of those replica championship belts that you can buy online for about $300-500 a pop, rather than forcing their talent to carry the real deal around to each and every city that they travel to. I'm sure everyone has heard at least one horror story or another where wrestlers go through all of this drama at airports carrying the championships around. On television, it looks real enough to fool all of us watching at home and it explains why they rarely show close up shots of the name plates on the championships. As much as we know, they possibly had this thing made like months ago and just now getting the finished product.
TNA drops Television Championship, claiming to focus on just the three main titles (World Heavyweight, X-Division, and Knockouts). I can respect this decision as TNA only has 2 hours to work with on SpikeTV. They could really benefit having an additional hour or another show (preferably over the weekend if you ask me...) that would help flesh out their mid-carders, but with them condensing the size of their roster, it's better for the company to just focus on the titles that are drawing them the most interest.
Talent could not perform at 7/20/13 House Show. Bruce Prichard used to handle all of that before he got fired, so the paperwork never got done. Sucks for the fans who showed up at that event since Miss Tessmacher rarely wrestles nowadays to begin with.
The last thing I'm going to comment on is all of these comments that I have seen so-called fans of wrestling make concerning TNA's financial status. I have seen people openly state that they cannot wait until TNA dies for WWE can be the only wrestling company again. I only have one thing to say to those people with this mindset - FUCK YOU. If WWE becomes the solo dominant promotion in mainstream wrestling, it's going to go back to how things where after the WCW and ECW buyouts - STALE. Mainstream wrestling will be stale and boring as WWE will not do anything to change or alter their product because they know you don't have any alternatives to their product. The average WWE mark is too jaded and too lazy to look for alternatives, yet call themselves fans of professional wrestling. If those individuals would take 10 minutes from their time and do a bit of research, they will realize that 85% of the rising stars or main draws currently in WWE (that aren't John Cena and Randy Orton) were homegrown from independent promotions.
Monday Night RAW (7/22/13)
Total Divas "Preview" on MizTV - This was a rather pointless segment to garner interest in the premiere of the Total Divas reality show. While Eva Marie slapping Jerry "The King" Lawler to got no reaction from the live crowd - everyone knew King liked it anyway, people are still buzzing over the nip slip wardrobe malfunction from Brie Bella. I honestly think that she did that on purpose since Nikki's freshly-installed (read: implants) boobs were drawing the most attention from everyone else during this segment.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Darren Young - I was shocked that Cena's resident stunt double could work this good, but it shouldn't be that much of a surprise coming from who he was working with in this match. Still this was the best performance for Young. Afterwards, Ziggler narrowly escapes ambush from AJ and Big E while eats another spear from Kaitlyn. Someone needs to check and see if AJ has a "Spear Me Please!" sign on her back.
CM Punk and Paul Heyman agree to Punk vs. Lesnar at Summerslam. I see this ending like Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine in the comics. For those who don't know, Hulk ripped Logan in half and threw his torso down to the bottom of a mountain while he threw Logan's upper half to the top. If I were CM Punk, I would come to that match with a gun. Triple H and John Cena got roughed up pretty bad by this bruiser, CM Punk must have a death wish challenging this guy after coming back from injury.
RVD vs Wade Barrett - WWE really wants to dig Wade Barrett so far down the hole into midcard hell that he won't ever see sunlight much like Kofi Kingston. RVD is doing exactly the opposite of Chris Jericho at this stage. He's not putting anyone over, he's just regaining his so-called lost popularity that he bitched about on shoots after leaving TNA.
NXT (7/24/13)
Paige vs. Emma for NXT Women's Championship - This was a great back and forth match between both of these women that forces the fans to be split on who did they want to win this most. As much as I loved what both of these girls brought to the table here, I really didn't care for the finish. It was like the referee told them to wrap it up for time constraints and they just half-assed the ending.
Impact Wrestling (7/25/13)
One thing you have to love about this episode of Impact. There were several subtle messages throughout the show that Dixie Carter has to make the tough decisions on a regular basis. My guess is that they are trying to cover their asses in a sense, concerning the recent talent releases and financial cuts across the board.
Hulk Hogan named Bully Ray's rematch at Hardcore Justice in 3 weeks. Hold up, wait a second. Didn't we JUST have Hardcore Justice on One Night Only earlier this month?? Got to love that TNA logic.
Monday Night RAW (7/29/13)
The Shield vs. Mark Henry & The Usos - I know I'm in the minority but Jesus H. Christ, I'm starting to get bored with The Shield. Sure, they still do that gang mentality assault on everyone, while the Wyatt Family is starting to do the same thing, making it look even less impressive as a result. You can't have to two factions that function nearly the same way and hope for them to both succeed. It's going to boil down to survival of the fittest. I know the Wyatt Family aren't going anywhere with Bray Wyatt leading the victory charge and The Shield's days could be numbered with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns showing little to no improvement from the day they stepped onto the main roster.
Can someone go outside and teach that Magikarp known as Reigns more than one move? His spear would be more impressive when we were not in an age in wrestling where roughly every other guy in mainstream wrestling uses it. Off the top of my head... Taryn Terrell, Devon, Christian, Roman Reigns, Kaitlyn, The Big Show... the list goes on. Their feud with Usos is even worse with Reigns in the mix as he looks like he's on the wrong team.
It's good to see that WWE is capitalizing on Mark Henry being over after his retirement swerve back in June and even more so after he owned the live crowd after his loss at MITB by stating, "All of y'all would have tapped to John Cena too!"
AJ Lee vs. Kaitlyn - Non-Title Match - Decent back and forth match, but ends the same way, with Kaitlyn spearing the fuck out of AJ and she sells it like Jerry Lynn. I was more entertained at the segment before this match than the actual match itself. AJ seems to be losing it about those spears always hitting her and Big E does nothing. Hell, I don't blame Big E. I'm not taking that shit for AJ. She was the one who said she was the best woman in this company so that's her problem if she can't put Kaitlyn down once and for all.
This episode of RAW was hot off the buzz from the premiere of Total Divas and managed to sneak in two Diva matches on the card. The second one featured Brie Bella defeating Natalya after a distraction from Nikki. Yeah... that shit was weak.
The Tables Match between Ryback and John Cena that ended the show had a lot of interesting spots, but at the end of the day, we all knew Cena was going to win that one. I'm still not too fond of Ryback's heel turn as it would have made more sense to just keep him face, but after feuding and losing against Cena, you are predestined to become heel to get your "street cred" back. The aftermath between Daniel Bryan and John Cena was interesting though. It seemed like that WWE is teasing a possible heel turn for Cena, but I don't know. They have been trolling us with this for the last year, so forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical to get my hopes up. At this stage, it doesn't make much sense to turn Vince's cash cow into a heel. He's already being booed out of the building by most fans, save for the fangirls and the kids. What are they going to do to make them boo him? Make him cheat on Nikki Bella? Again, most people will cheer for that, especially the fangirls as they will think they will have a better chance at taking Super Cena home with them.
Whew... that's a wrap folks. I hope you guys enjoyed the write-up for the month of July. Feel free to leave comments below or respond on Facebook.
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