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| Solidarity, brothers Photo Credit: WWE.com |
I'm not going to lie; the replay of Mark Henry giving John Cena the VIP season pass to the Hall of Pain was the best part about this show. Of course, it's one of the best things ever and totally worth watching and rewatching
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| REAL MEN WEAR SALMON (credit: Punchsport Pagoda) |
(or in my case rererererewatching MAKE HIM THE SHERIFF FOR WWE BLAZING SADDLES CROMDAMNIT). Fortunately, however, it wasn't the only good thing about the centerpiece of Ion television.
The Spin the Wheel, Make the Announce Table that they break out once a week this time landed on Josh, Miz and Cody Rhodes, and while I would've liked to see a little more rancor between Miz and Rhodes the latter held his own and contributed immensely to the show. Whether he was looking forward to RVD's return by saying "Can't wait to beat him", talking about the hopeless futility of trying to rip off Sin Cara's mask, or semi-sarcastically noting that he was "27 and I've won the tag titles like 33 times with 45 different partners," he was on point as he was in the Payback pre-game show. If he can't be dashing, then let him commentate if Miz is going to keep doing this awesome thing where other people get in words edgewise. It's better than getting kicked in the face by an anthropomorphic gallon of whole milk, I gotta figure.
About the only part about Cody taking the third chair I didn't like was the fact that in the evening's final match he treated Kaitlyn like he didn't need her though and now she's just somebody that he used to know. Kaitlyn eventually speared Aksana out of verticality, but it came at a price. She almost got DQed by Lil' Naitch a couple of times and went after Aksana when she could get her hands on her. When she lost her temper it lead to openings for Aksana to exploit and drop her. AJ's shadow is still hanging over her head, and it's nice to see her treat losing the butterfly on Sunday like the major plot point in her character development that it is.
Antonio Cesaro's figured out two things this month: stay the eff away from Randy Orton and when little guys fly at you, make them go squish. Three if you count let Yosemite Sam say some stuff I generally agree with before I do the second thing. Tonight, Sin Cara and his mood lighting got Neutralized, and it was the same Cesaro that gives me all the mancrushy tingles. The Lift, the double stomp, Swiss Death, the giant swinging chinlock that he and maybe Mark Henry could get over as a legitimate debiliatator, and a biel into the guardrail on the luchador who's the face of the faceless. Cara pulled off some nice looking stuff - of course there was one horrifying rana into a pinfall because he's not Hunico (weep) - but as Mr. Rae likes to say, Cesaro is trending in a positive direction. Oui the People?
Per usual, three man stepped to the Shield. Since none of them was the World's Toughest Vegan, Justin Gabriel and the Usos went down. Not without a fight, and not without a brief glimmer of hope as the brothers had thrown caution to the wind in taking out the tag team champions. But the time it took them to do it opened the window to Dean Ambrose crotching the Darewolf before introducing him to the mat with the bulldog driver. The Usos could hang, but couldn't pull it off. Justin Gabriel got caught up in the periphery and didn't get selfish for the greater good.
Here on Main Event you can believe in the Shield, or believe right-wing fanaticism, or believe somebody can work through their mental issues with dishing out some punishment. Hell, you might even believe Mark was going to retire.
But that's the fun of playing for Main Event's small beer sometimes: when it's done well - not even perfectly - it's easy to lose yourself and believe.
The Spin the Wheel, Make the Announce Table that they break out once a week this time landed on Josh, Miz and Cody Rhodes, and while I would've liked to see a little more rancor between Miz and Rhodes the latter held his own and contributed immensely to the show. Whether he was looking forward to RVD's return by saying "Can't wait to beat him", talking about the hopeless futility of trying to rip off Sin Cara's mask, or semi-sarcastically noting that he was "27 and I've won the tag titles like 33 times with 45 different partners," he was on point as he was in the Payback pre-game show. If he can't be dashing, then let him commentate if Miz is going to keep doing this awesome thing where other people get in words edgewise. It's better than getting kicked in the face by an anthropomorphic gallon of whole milk, I gotta figure.
About the only part about Cody taking the third chair I didn't like was the fact that in the evening's final match he treated Kaitlyn like he didn't need her though and now she's just somebody that he used to know. Kaitlyn eventually speared Aksana out of verticality, but it came at a price. She almost got DQed by Lil' Naitch a couple of times and went after Aksana when she could get her hands on her. When she lost her temper it lead to openings for Aksana to exploit and drop her. AJ's shadow is still hanging over her head, and it's nice to see her treat losing the butterfly on Sunday like the major plot point in her character development that it is.
Antonio Cesaro's figured out two things this month: stay the eff away from Randy Orton and when little guys fly at you, make them go squish. Three if you count let Yosemite Sam say some stuff I generally agree with before I do the second thing. Tonight, Sin Cara and his mood lighting got Neutralized, and it was the same Cesaro that gives me all the mancrushy tingles. The Lift, the double stomp, Swiss Death, the giant swinging chinlock that he and maybe Mark Henry could get over as a legitimate debiliatator, and a biel into the guardrail on the luchador who's the face of the faceless. Cara pulled off some nice looking stuff - of course there was one horrifying rana into a pinfall because he's not Hunico (weep) - but as Mr. Rae likes to say, Cesaro is trending in a positive direction. Oui the People?
Per usual, three man stepped to the Shield. Since none of them was the World's Toughest Vegan, Justin Gabriel and the Usos went down. Not without a fight, and not without a brief glimmer of hope as the brothers had thrown caution to the wind in taking out the tag team champions. But the time it took them to do it opened the window to Dean Ambrose crotching the Darewolf before introducing him to the mat with the bulldog driver. The Usos could hang, but couldn't pull it off. Justin Gabriel got caught up in the periphery and didn't get selfish for the greater good.
Here on Main Event you can believe in the Shield, or believe right-wing fanaticism, or believe somebody can work through their mental issues with dishing out some punishment. Hell, you might even believe Mark was going to retire.
But that's the fun of playing for Main Event's small beer sometimes: when it's done well - not even perfectly - it's easy to lose yourself and believe.