Posts Tagged ‘Mark Henry’

The WWE returned to the Covelli Centre in Youngstown Saturday night, unveiling their Raw and Smackdown Super Show, where members of both rosters were present.  A very loud and appreciative crowd actively participated all evening and the show was filled with a couple of surprises.

The card kicked off at 7:30 p.m. with a tag-team match featuring Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne defending the tag-team championships against R Truth and The Miz.  The fast paced match went about 25 minutes and was filled with acrobatics from Bourne, audience harassment from Truth and Miz, and went the champions’ way as Bourne and Kofi picked up the win via pinfall.

Dolph Ziggler and Alex Riley were next.  Ziggler used his underhanded tactics to finish Riley off via pinfall.

Cody Rhodes and his betraying understudy and former tag-team partner, Ted Dibiase, did battle.  Rhodes did a good job creating heat before the match when he went on a five minute rant about everything from ugly people, to The Rock, to Dibiase.  Unfortunately for Dibiase, Rhodes got the win via pinfall.

Next up was Alberto Del Rio (above), accompanied by his Mexican ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez, squaring off against CM Punk.  Del Rio got a lot of heat and booed in both of his appearances on the evening.  Punk continued to be the new ‘heelish-babyface’ mix and got a good pop entering to his new ‘Cult of Personality’ music.

The match was pretty predictable and featured good action, a lot of static from Rodriguez, and ended with Del Rio getting the pinfall using the second rope for leverage without getting caught.  Love or hate Rodriguez, he is highly entertaining and gets reaction. He has been more active in Del Rio’s matches than he had been a year ago and I like the character.

After a brief intermission, Kelly Kelly defeated Beth Phoenix.  Phoenix dominated most of the match, but Kelly was able to roll the Glamazon up for the win.  After the decision was announced, Phoenix attacked Kelly and got decent heat from the crowd.

Sheamus (above), the new babyface version, tagged with Daniel Bryan to face Christian and Mark Henry.  I still can’t figure out why the WWE is so enamored with Daniel Bryan.  He is boring, his music is boring, even when he smiles or celebrates a victory, it looks very unnatural and forced.  Put the clock on him, he will be released within a year unless they come up with a big gimmick for him soon.  Sheamus and Bryan picked up the win via pinfall.

In the main event, John Cena (top photo) faced Alberto Del Rio who was making his second appearance of the night.  The whole Rodriguez introduction was used to full-length, again.  Cena entered to the biggest pop from the crowd, as expected.  Before the match started, Cena did a little work on the microphone.

Del Rio started the match running and jumping in and out of the ring.  Cena eventually caught him and the actual ten minutes of wrestling in the forty-minute segment were very good.  Rodriguez was sent back to the dressing room by the ref for tripping Cena and distracting one too many times.  The ref was knocked down in a coincidental collision allowing Rodriguez to run back out with a steel chair.  Before things got too out of hand, CM Punk ran to the defense of Cena.  Cena had Del Rio in the air and Punk had Rodriguez in the air simultaneously delivering an ‘Attitude Adjustment’, and a ‘Go To Sleep’ at the same time.

Cena and Punk shared the ring and worked the crowd a bit after the match.  Admirably, Punk signed autographs for nearly fifteen minutes on his way back to the locker room.  He was very good with the fans and talked to nearly every member of the audience on the rail all the way down the main entrance ramp.

Above average house show.  The active audience was a plus.  Randy Orton did not show up and was scheduled to, so keep an ear open on injury news or personal matters on RAW this week.

I respect the work of the great Neil Diamond.  He was already a legend in the 1970’s and kept gaining popularity.  He is what every artist wishes to be, both authentic and original.  The best compliment you can pay to any singer is that he has his own sound.  Kudos Neil Diamond, nothing but respect.

Sweet Caroline is one of the big Diamond tunes.  It’s a catchy song with a cool melody and has one of those easy to sing with tones.  The song was released in 1969 and I can still remember the hit from my elementary school days.  The origin of Sweet Caroline came from Diamond’s affection for Caroline Kennedy after seeing her in an equestrian outfit on the cover of Life Magazine.  He wrote and composed the song in about an hour in a Memphis hotel room.

I am confused, however, on when Sweet Caroline became a sports anthem.  There is no mention of sport whatsoever in the song about a girl named Caroline.  Maybe Caroline was a good right fielder in the forties when Diamond was growing up.  So good they called her Sweet Caroline.  Maybe not.

I can accept that maybe in the Carolinas, the song would be better understood as a timeout filler and the kids could go nuts.  Is it that big of a deal to go Ba-Ba-Ba while shaking your arm in the air three times?  I am lost on this whole movement.

Maybe Neil Diamond can issue his whole catalog to sports usage.  Here are some examples of better suited songs and where they might be used.

•  He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother – WWE’s Mark Henry can use this as his new entrance song.
• Song Sung Blue – Even sounds like Sweet Caroline a bit if you lift the lyrics.  Duke could use it.
• You Don’t Bring Me Flowers – Would be a heck of a backround song while showing Tiger Woods putting in slow motion to promote the Masters.

I could go on and on.  The Mets, Red Sox, New York Rangers, Boston College, and Pitt are all using the song.  Diamond performed it live at the Red Sox home opener against the Yankees Sunday night.  Mitch Miller would have been proud, but Simon Cowell would have ribbed Diamond and said his performance was pitchy and self-indulgent.

Probably the most racist thing WWE (WWF at that time) ever released.  Ironically, the WWE released Tony Atlas from his role as Mark Henry’s manager on ECW in June.  Atlas has been down and out in a classic story of a wrestler that went from the headlines to the bread lines in record time. 

Wrestlemania XXV was a spectacle, nothing short of that.  The night provided many highlights and a couple of lowlights as well.  Having watched the card and charted all of the results, here is how things went down Sunday night:

Carlito & Primo Colon vs The Miz & John Morrison – This match actually took place before the pay-per-view began.  The Bella Twins, split by their allegiances to each team were no factor in the match.  Primo made the winning pin after he delivered a back cracker to unify the tag team belts.  I stated in my predictions that John Morrison is ready for a big singles push, look for that to happen real soon.

The Money In The Bank Ladder Match – The match is always loaded with dangerous spills.  Kofi Kingston did some really athletic stuff jumping vertically over a ladder held sideways charging at him.  Mark Henry got about halfway up a ladder once.  Other than that, his role was simply to inflict punishment on the ground before laying outside for the last several minutes of the match.  Christian Cage got close a couple of different times, but couldn’t seal the victory.  Finley, as expected, was basically used as comedy relief with his son Hornswaggle.  Hornswaggle went under the ring and pulled out a little two-step ladder for a good chuckle.  In the end, CM Punk repeated his ladder match victory from Wrestlemania XXIV last year by kicking Kane off of a ladder as they both neared the case.  I always thought this match was to give someone a push and was suprised MVP or Christian Cage didn’t get that push.  I guess we can probably expect Punk to lose the briefcase somehow because I really can’t see WWE brass giving him the strap again.  Shelton Benjamin took a nasty dive from the top of a ladder outside the ring and may have injured his neck.

Chris Jericho vs Hall of Famers Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, & Jimmy Snuka – Steamboat was impressive and even did some high-flying.  Piper bullied Jericho around for the first few minutes.  The legends lost their momentum when Piper tagged in Jimmy Snuka.  Superfly looked horrible, no other way to say it.  He looked old, a step behind everything going on, and played to the crowd more in ten minutes then he did for ten years.  He was eliminated first, tapping out to The Walls of Jericho.  Next out was Piper, leaving Steamboat.  The dragon looked strong scoring several two counts and showing great heart throughout.  Eventually though, Jericho prevailed.  The obvious jump-in by Ric Flair after the match was predictable.  Flair beat Jericho around for a moment, then Jericho threw him out of the ring.  Jericho then grabbed the microphone and taunted Mickey Rourke to come in to the ring.  Rourke entered and delivered the traditional celebrity roundhouse knockout punch flooring Jericho.

Kid Rock, who I didn’t even know was going to be around, played about a fifteen minute medley set and sounded pretty good.  On his last number, the WWE Divas started entering walking past Kid Rock while still performing.  This too, was a predictable outcome.  Santino Marella wins the battle royal dressed as a woman.  When the trophy and sash to be given to Miss Wrestlemania are brought into the ring, Marella says his name is “Santina“, the twin sister of Santino.  I predicted an end to Beth Phoenix and Marella to happen at WM XXV, and he eliminated Phoenix last to win.  Too hard to believe the announcers acted like they didn’t know who it was.  Marella has a pretty large tattoo on his back. Duh.

Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy – This was a good match.  The Hardy Brothers worked better against each other than I first thought they would.  There were some pretty rough bumps.  Jeff had Matt in trouble and set up two ladders, one two steps taller than the other.  He then climbed the shorter of the two ladders and leapfrogged the larger flying down about 10 feet only to miss Matt.  Matt then took a chair, put Jeff’s head in between the backrest and seat and delivered a wicked Twist Of Fate for the pinfall.

JBL vs Rey Mysterio – I hope Rey Mysterio doesn’t continue to wear the ugly mask he had on.  It was something new, kind of looked like The Joker Heath Ledger portrayed in the last Batman movie – just awful and ugly.  Anyhow, Rey scores the win and is the new Intercontinental Champion.  At the end of the match, JBL grabbed the microphone, paused for a long time, looked around, and yelled, “I QUIT“.  He then dropped the mic and slowly walked confusingly up the ramp.  Not sure if it is an angle or if JBL has actually had enough.

The Undertaker vs Shaun Michaels – Match of the night.  Both wrestlers really sold each others stuff well and proved to live up to all of the hype of 17-0 vs Mr. Wrestlemania.  In the end of a long and suspense filled thriller, Undertaker wins with a second Tombstone Piledriver.  Michaels connected on Sweet Chin Music but could not score a pin as Taker kicked out.  Match was an instant classic, look for Michaels, who does not take losing big matches well (ask Bret Hart) to congratulate Undertaker on one of WWE’s shows this week.  The top video clip was a nasty spill Taker took diving outside the ring, poor cameraman took the worst of it.

Edge vs Cena vs Big Show – Sort of predictable.  Neat intro for cena as several Cena clones with jean shorts, UCSM tee-shirts, and hats pulled over their eyes lined the ramp.  There were not too many instances where all three guys were in the ring.  Most of the time two guys would fight for a bit, one would get thrown out, and the guy who was laying at ringside for five minutes reentered to start back up.  Cena scores the win in this match.  Should be interesting to see what happens with Vickie Guerrerro now as neither guy won the title or her heart.  I am thinking Edge may be turning face soon.

Triple H vs Randy Orton – Pretty good match, similar to Michaels vs Undertaker except Orton and Triple H have predictable arsenals.  RKO’s and Pedigrees get old.  The only neat swerve was that Triple H used Orton’s “Punt” tactic on Orton.  The sledgehammer made an appearance as well with Orton digging it up under the ring.  Triple H scores a clean pinfall to retain his championship.  Not sure where this goes from her, should be an interesting RAW this week.

Not bad but it seemed to me that Wrestlemania 25 dragged at times.  It needed a couple of more matches.  I give the card a B+ and really have newfound respect for Jeff and Matt Hardy.  The Michaels – Undertaker match will be a classic match down the road. 

With Wrestlemania XXV just a week away, I am going to attempt to predict the results of the big card.  It gets tricky trying to follow the storyline and thought patterns of Vince McMahon.  Wrestlemania is in Houston, Texas this year.  Keep in mind, I stand by my predictions if there are no huge swerves in stoylines leading up to Wrestlemania on next weeks Monday Night Raw or Smackdown shows.

Chris Jericho vs WWE Legends : The WWE legends are Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Ricky Steamboat, and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.  Jericho should destroy the three legends as he has been for the past several weeks on Raw.  I see Stone Cold Steve Austin getting involved somehow, perhaps as “guest enforcer”.  I also see Ric Flair attacking Jericho after the match.  My prediction for the match is that Jericho will be rolling along, the ref gets squished in the corner “accidentally” as Jericho continues to control things.  When he feels he is ready to win officially, he starts screaming for a ref to come out and count, look for this to be Stone Cold Steve Austin.  The legends will get the tainted upset victory after Chris Jericho gets punked.  Look for Mickey Rourke to be at ringside or in the legends corner.

25 Diva Battle Royal:  I didn’t know there were 25 divas in the WWE.  I can only come up with about 18, so it will be interesting to see someone like Mae Young get tossed over the top rope.  The only other possibilities I can see are Gail Kim making a WWE debut, Lillian Garcia competing, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley competing, and possibly bringing back Wendy Richter for nostalgic purposes.  Santino Marella is supposedly trying to get into this match as a diva participant.  Look for the entertaining Santino to get his wish but cost his girlfriend the Glamazon her chance at winning.  I see that relationship ending in this match.  My prediction is that Gail Kim will show up and be the last eliminated by winner and suprise entrant Trish Stratus.

Money In The Bank Ladder Match: First of all, I don’t think Mark Henry can climb a ladder without breaking it, so we will eliminate him now and focus on the other seven combatants.  Kane, Kofi Kingston, CM Punk, Finley, Shelton Benjaman, Christian Cage, and MVP will be participating in this years ladder match.  These have been the most exciting matches for me over the past few WM’s.  I do not think that Kane or Finley will win.  Kane is no good in a high risk match like this one and Finley will employ his dwarf son Hornswaggle at some capacity.  Usually the WWE will make the winner of this match someone who is ready for a big push to main event status.  Last year CM Punk won, so I don’t think he will repeat.  It comes down to two guys in my opinion – Christian Cage and MVP.  My official prediction is that MVP will win as the WWE is really trying to push him as a babyface. 

Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker:  This should be interesting.  16-0 is the Undertakers unblemished Wrestlemania record and Shawn Michaels has had the nickname Mr. Wrestlemania for years.  Something has to give here.  I am going to say that Undertaker wins and keeps his perfect record at Wrestlemania in a long and tough match.  I would guess this match will go over a half hour which is epic, especially from two 40+ year old veterans.  The Undertaker will use questionable tactics to win.

Primo and Carlito vs Miz and Morrison:  The big tag team unification match.  I am kind of sick of this angle and am hoping for Carlito and Primo to win to end the Miz and Morrison run.  I think John Morrison is the WWE star in waiting as a singles wrestler.  Unfortunately, I feel that Miz and Morrison will win this match.  The newly divided Bella Twins will start on opposite ends of the ring but end up walking out with unified champions Morrison and The Miz at the end of the match.

JBL vs Rey Mysterio:  This match has received the least amount of promotion on WWE programming.  It is another weird matchup as big, bulky, and powerful faces off against, fast, risky, and high-flying.  I hope WWE lets JBL keep the belt because he is such a great heel.  However, the WWE loves to give Mysterio gold he should not have.  I predict that Rey Mysterio wins the Intercontinental Title.

Edge vs Cena vs Big Show:  I’m sure if everyone voted on this that Cena would have about 90% of the votes to win the match.  I don’t see it that way.  I am sticking by my gut instinct here and saying that Christian will be out to give Edge the assist.  Look for the Big Show to land outside somehow and lay there for most of the match.  Cena will have the match pretty well in control and just when it looks like he is going to win, I am calling for Christian Cage to come out and help his lifelong pal, Edge, retain the title.  When Big Show comes to his senses, he will swear off Vicki Guerrerro, as will Edge, leaving her broken hearted in this contest to win not only the belt, but Vicki’s love.  Edge retains the belt here!

Jeff Hardy vs Matt Hardy :  This is the hardest matchup to predict.  Either Jeff is going to dominate and win or Matt will do something underhanded to win.  Saying that Jeff will win is just too easy, so I am going to call for Matt Hardy to win this match.  Something really goofy is going to shock Jeff before he gets pinned.  Momma Hardy yelling for her boys to stop fighting each other, drug relapse, car wreck footage, firework mishap, or the reappearance of the dog Jeff thought died in the fire.  Somehow, Matt is gonna win.

Triple H vs Randy Orton:  This is the match getting the most WM 25 hype.  Pretty good storyline that Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase have been a part of from the word go.  I am sure they will appear at some point in the match.  Someone will come to the aid of Triple H, and I am guessing it will be Vince and Shane McMahon.  Look for the McMahons to prevent Rhodes and DiBiase to interfere allowing Triple H to get the win here.