Any WWE fans in the audience? (Part 1)

OK I’m just gonna say it… GROWTH HORMONE maybe?

If that’s the case, I’d say his pills are defective.

Emma has now launched her own cooking show, “Taste of Tenille”, on Youtube.

(Insert “I’d sure like to get a Taste of Tenille” joke here)

Seriously, though, her first recipe does look tasty.

Count me as another person who wasn’t aware that Hornswoggle was still employed by WWE. That begs the question of “Why?”

It’s likely that he wasn’t going to appear on television for the next 30 days anyway, but I assume the suspension also means he’s not getting paid for those 30 days.

Hornswoggle’s been on a few episodes of Swerved, as well as seldom seen stars like Heath Slater, so he’s working for WWE in some fashion or another.

I’m digging the HR Evaluation of Kane angle. He and Daniel Bryan had some hilarious moments from their Anger Management storyline, and he and Seth are showing the same chemistry. I love the way he played all innocent and charming while Seth kept digging himself into his own grave. I was yawning over the yet-another-ambulance scene, but didn’t expect the demon Kane transformation. Kane’s still got his moments.

I also don’t mind that the Wyatts and 2/3 Shield feud is continuing. Lengthy feuds become legendary, like the Four Horsemen vs Sting.

So, this Saturday evening, the house show from Madison Square Garden will be airing live on the WWE Network, marking the first time in years that WWE has taped a show out of the Garden. (MSG charges its clients extra for shows that are going to be taped, and they can’t sell as many seats because they have to put the production equipment inside the arena instead of parking it on the street). Much like the Tokyo show, this is just a house show that decided to be taped, but MSG shows even in this day and age are special; the Garden was the WWF’s homebase back in the day, and they tend to go the extra mile for these shows to a degree that they wouldn’t for a typical house show.

We have a full announced card for this show, so here’s this week’s edition of Smapti’s Probably-Correct-Unless-They-Aren’t Match Predictions;

  • John Cena vs. Seth Rollins, steel cage match for the US title. CENAWINSLOL… but hopefully in a way that makes Seth look like less of a goober than he has been lately. They’re moving Rollins away from the Authority and into more of a babyface role, and since WWE only knows one way to book a babyface in a championship feud, that means they have to lose over and over and get beaten down at the end of every single show. Rollins obviously isn’t going to win here, since he’s got the match with Kane coming up at HIAC and there’s no point in doing another dual-championship run for him, but he should at least lose in a way that still leaves him looking strong - maybe his feet hit the floor just a few seconds before Cena’s do. My prediction at this point is that Rollins is going to hold the world title until WrestleMania, so he needs to at least look like a credible champion in the meantime.

  • Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show. BRAWK SMASH. Are we supposed to have forgotten that they did this same match at the Royal Rumble last year? I can’t see this one going any differently - Brock no-sells everything and then proceeds to murderkill Show to death for ten minutes.

  • New Day vs. Dudley Boyz for the tag titles. I’m going to give the Dudleyz the win here, so that when the New Day demand their rematch at Hell in a Cell, the Dudleyz can agree to give it to them on one condition - that it be a tables match.

  • Randy Orton vs. Sheamus. UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH. Who won the last one in this best-of-500 series? Sheamus, right? That means it’s Orton’s turn.

  • Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev. Same question as above, therefore Ziggler wins.

  • Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho for the IC title. Owens wins, but they’ll tell a great story on their way to that inevitability.

Kane, Stardust, Mark Henry, and the Bellas are also listed as scheduled to attend, though they don’t have matches announced. A women’s title rematch with Charlotte wouldn’t be out of order, and Stardust/Henry would make a good match. Kane, if he shows up, will likely get involved in the main event in some way. We definitely won’t be seeing the Wyatts since they’re playing the other house show tour that same night, so at least we can be assured there won’t be any antics on their part.

Apparently the HR lady really is a WWE HR person, not just a random local actor. She did pretty well considering that.

I’ve read that that’s not actually the case - there is an Ashley who works for WWE HR, but the Ashley that appeared on Raw isn’t that person.

I thought she might have been one of the new NXT trainees, or a local actress they signed up for the night. All she really had to do was read the report live. I noticed one of the technicians was guiding her away.

I remember when Mick Foley and The Rock did the “This is Your Life” segment, they hired local actors and actresses to be Rock’s childhood teachers. They had no lines and no idea he was going to diss them on the air like that.

I find it interesting that the match that lead off NXT today was actually the last match we saw during the tapings and was called “the main event”.

Also, how dumb is the name "Takeover: Respect? Horrible

NXT seems to have changed the star tracking formula. Instead of having them squash no-name jobbers, they’re finding people with long indie experience like Gargano and Ciampa to put on good matches before jobbing. It does kind of suck when the announcers aren’t aware of their resumes and don’t make them sound like worthy competition, though. Graves called Ciampa ugly, even though he’s got that hideous tattoo on his neck that looks like swamp rot.

Speaking of Gargano, I’m reading that he challenged his main rival in WWN to a “loser leaves town” match at their next event. I wonder if that’s a sign that he might be going full-time?

I certainly hope they sign him and Ciampa and let them keep their names - the whole idea of NXT being a sort of “proving ground” where wrestlers from all over can get a shot at a contract has good storyline potential.

Tommy Rich versus Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer
Tommy Dreamer versus Raven
Rock 'n Roll Express versus Midnight Express

They sure do.

Don’t forget Sheamus versus Randy Orton.

Snark aside, I thought the final segment of Raw was mostly well done. Could have done without the time that Bray and Roman were wandering through the audience, but to my pleasant surprise there were no run-ins, and the way they ended it was a change from the usual formula. Interesting to see where they go from here.

Referees in tag matches never call a DQ if there’s a pin attempt being made and the pin-ee’s partner runs in to break the pin. That’s a loophole that wouldn’t exist in a legitimate sport much along the lines of the “The heel champ doesn’t have to lose the title unless he feels like it” problem I’ve described before, and I hate when it happens.

However, on last night’s NXT, they did a spot in the finish of the Dusty Classic match where Finn went for the pin on Enzo Amore, and Samoa Joe stood guard next to him in case Big Cass ran in to break it up.

In kayfabe, that is an extremely clever bit of genre-savvy on the part of Joe - he knows the ref won’t call it if Cass runs in to break the pin, but he also knows the ref won’t force him out of the ring, so he may as well stay there and make sure the three-count happens. I like when they actually manage to book something clever like that.

Looks like Finn’s been jumping too high for his finishing maneuver. He’s put his head through the ceiling a few times.

Too late for Ciampa. Early in the evening, he appeared on NXT, where people go who want to end up on the main WWE roster, an hour later he showed up on TNA, where people go after they are done with their time on the main WWE roster.

So he had a full WWE career in two hours, without ever being part of the full roster.

Anyone watch the newest Table for 3? Ziggler, Bryan and Ryback.

After watching NXT with no issues, I couldn’t watch this for more than about 5 seconds without it freezing up. Ultimately unwatchable for me. I’ll try again later.

Ryback really is Cryback. He accused DBD of being the biggest bully in the locker room. Why? Because he and Cody Rhodes are the biggest ribbers.

Cryback tells a story about how he refuses to ride with anyone because they were mean to him. They took him to Panera, where he’d never been before. He says they told him they’d help him order. They ordered their stuff and sat down without helping him. :rolleyes: And that’s what he’s angry about. :smack: Bryan tells about how Ryback is going off on the poor cashier and yelling at her. Ryback says he was seeing red, but he wasn’t yelling. Bryan says he yelled out “DO YOU HAVE SALADS???” and points out that the menu board was right behind her. Ryback admits that he’d never been in the place, had a very strict diet and has since ‘expanded my options’, but yeah, big crybaby confused by new place, can’t bother reading menu, having a melt-down. I think he’s the only one who could see Bryan as a “bully” in that situation.

Geez, I was trying to like the guy and was hoping this would help, but no. Lost a lot of respect for the guy.

Some guys just don’t like ribbing and/or being ribbed and, usually, when ribbers hear that they turn it up to 11 versus respecting the person’s opinion…thus making him more mad.

I havent watched wrestling in a long time and was wondering what happened to some of the legends. I so regret reading up on Bobby Heenan:

Its tragic but at least he is still alive,