RSS Feed
Oct 22

Vengeance 2011

Posted on Saturday, October 22, 2011 by Paul in Wrestling

No, not the eccentric Joe Casey miniseries – the unwanted second October WWE pay-per-view.  Mercifully, the next show is Survivor Series in late November.  That’s supposed to be the main show of the fourth quarter, and the Rock’s supposedly going to be wrestling this year.  So chances are it’s going get some proper attention from the writers.  Vengeance, by contrast, is very much the next level down.

The company has had three weeks to build to this show, and the general consensus is that those three weeks of television have been pretty abject.  In one of their occasional forays into outright soap opera, Raw is being built around a storyline where John Laurinitis (a long-serving backstage guy who’s inexplicably been shoved in front of the camera despite his acting being at decidedly sub-amdram levels) is trying to undermine Triple H’s authority so that he can usurp power.  This is fine in theory, but dreadful in reality.  Not only have they been rushing through the story, but the plot demands that everyone – including the lower card babyfaces –  turns on Triple H due to the supposed chaos into which the show has descended.  Of course, the WWE operates at a baseline level of ridiculousness so high that it would take a lot to make that story work, and they haven’t even come close.

The result of this was a ludicrous show which culminated in everyone going on strike aside from a handful of main eventers.  Then the company belatedly realised that logically that would mean cancelling Smackdown and all the weekend house shows, so some extraordinarily contrived excuses were used to get around that.  Then the next episode of Raw was an utterly chaotic exercise in trying to write their way out of the corner – nobody having actually bothered to figure that bit out in advance – in which ratings started high but crashed, and which was generally agreed to be a contender for the worst episode in the show’s history.

Somewhere along the line, we are also having a PPV, but nobody’s paying much attention to that.

1.  WWE Title, Last Man Standing match: Alberto Del Rio v John Cena.  Del Rio is the champion again, having regained the title in a three-way match on the last show, when he pinned CM Punk.  This is Cena’s obligatory rematch.  The idea here is supposed to be that Del Rio has never actually beaten Cena, so in theory he’s the underdog.

Several problems there.  Pushing Del Rio as the underdog makes sense if the idea is to tease a title change, but since the title has been changing hands with absurd frequency anyway, that’s hardly a draw.  Del Rio needs a longer run with the title before anyone can be expected to care about him losing it.  Without that, you’re left with a lame duck underdog heel champion, which is hardly a draw.

This might explain the last minute addition of a Last Man Standing stipulation, right at the end of Monday’s show.  At least it stops this from being a straight repeat of their previous title match, but it comes far too late in the day to make any difference.  I’ve never been fond of the stipulation (by its nature, it results in matches that slow to a crawl, since every “near fall” becomes a count to 9), and in storytelling terms, it’s something that only works as the climax of a story – which this feud is nowhere near approaching.

As a match, it’ll probably be fine within the limitations of the gimmick.  Unless they’ve completely lost their minds (or given up on him), Del Rio really needs to win here for the sake of his own credibility.  Cena will be in a tag match with the Rock on the next show, so he certainly doesn’t need the title for that.

2.  World Heavyweight Title: Mark Henry v Big Show.  Over on Smackdown, Mark Henry’s reign as world champion has been surprisingly well received.  He’s never going to be the best wrestler in the world, but he’s a decent promo with the powerlifter’s build required to carry off a “world’s strongest man” gimmick.  If his matches are kept short and built around his strengths, it can work.

But he is also short of challengers.  He can’t keep beating Randy Orton, and evidently it’s been determined that Sheamus isn’t ready, so we’re getting the returning Big Show, the WWE’s longest serving giant.  This doesn’t strike me as a good choice of opponent.  Henry works best when there’s a clear contrast between him and his opponent; the last thing you need is another big hulk in there with him.  Perhaps if they’re smart they can contrive a match around some power spots, but this doesn’t strike me as the best use of either guy.

Henry should retain – he’s working in this role, and there’s no obvious advantage to putting the title on the Big Show again.  As for the match quality, I’m not holding my breath.

3.  Triple H & CM Punk v Miz & R-Truth.  Miz and R-Truth are heels aligned with Laurinitis, based on their (actually fairly reasonable) complaint that when Triple H took over running Raw, he gave them nothing to do.  Since Triple H isn’t in management any more, he will be wrestling them instead – along with CM Punk, simply because CM Punk doesn’t have anything better to do on this show.

The idea, presumably, is that Triple H and Punk have only recently completed their own feud, and so while they’re an unlikely and probably fractious tag team.  Miz and Truth are further down the card, but they’re on the same page and should work better together.  This can work as a subplot, though I don’t expect either of the babyfaces to turn.

Given the utterly haywire booking of Triple H’s storyline, I expect this to descend into some sort of storyline-driven chaos (perhaps involving some of the other Laurinitis-aligned heels).  On the other hand, given that Triple H is well known for insisting on having decent, lengthy matches, I suspect we’ll get a proper match for 15 minutes or so before we get to that point.  And with these four, it ought to be a good match.  Predicting the result is tricky because the writing really is so dire on this arc that there’s unlikely to be any logic to it, but if you forced me to place a bet, I’d go for a heel win with CM Punk getting pinned, just to make sure everyone knows he’s a little bit further down the pecking order than Triple H.  Sending that message would serve no purpose whatsoever, which is precisely why it’s likely to happen.

4.  US Title: Dolph Ziggler v Zack Ryder.  It’s been quite a while since Zack Ryder was on pay-per-view.  He used to be one of the lookalikes who hung around with Edge in his heel days, but after that act split up, he was turned into a comedy undercard heel with a ridiculous costume, and more or less banished to minor shows like Superstars.  Which doesn’t even air on American television.

Unlike most wrestlers in that position, though, Ryder set about building his own fanbase online, launching a homemade YouTube show that (embarrassingly) soon had more viewers than the WWE’s official channel.  Now able to claim with some legitimacy that he had a cult following, Ryder proclaimed himself the Internet Champion and even commissioned a proper belt to carry around (it’s basically a title belt where the side plates have Facebook, YouTube and Twitter logos instead of wrestling symbols, but it can’t have been cheap).  After months of this, the WWE finally figured that maybe they could actually do something with this guy, and brought him back onto regular TV as a comedy figure.

Ryder gets very uneven audience reactions, depending on the proportion of hardcore to casual fans in the arena.  The former have heard of him.  The latter have no clue who he is.  But he’s got something, and now he’s been tentatively programmed in a feud with US Champion Dolph Ziggler, where the idea seems to be that Ryder keeps taking a beating in their matches but somehow flukes his way to hitting his finisher and winning.  The logical conclusion of that is that Ryder gets a shot at Raw’s secondary title.

Since Ziggler is being shunted into a tag team feud, of which more below, and he’s arguably being freed up for use as a possible main eventer, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Ryder win here.  With eight matches on the show, and Ziggler working double duty in a tag match, I expect this to be short.  It’s important for Ryder that it should also be good.

5.  Randy Orton v Cody Rhodes.  Since he can’t face Mark Henry every month, Smackdown’s top babyface is turning his attention to upper midcard heel Cody Rhodes.  Rhodes is the Intercontinental Champion, but secondary belts are beneath Randy Orton, so this is a non-title match.  This is standard WWE policy when main eventers face secondary champions, but I really wish they wouldn’t do it; it devalues the title even further, and leaves the champion a lame duck.

Rhodes used to be one of Orton’s lackeys when Orton was a heel, and has now been repackaged with a curious gimmick of claiming to be hideously deformed, despite the fact that by all appearances there’s nothing wrong with him beyond the distorting effect of his own protective mask.  I think that works fine as long as you read the character as being crazy, though the company has been rather vague about that point.  A wildly misguided addition to the gimmick was to give him sidekicks to hand out paper bags for fans to put over their heads, which is so fundamentally stupid that even Rhodes has been lamenting it in out-of-character interviews.  It would be one thing if it got a heel reaction, but it just comes across as a bit of wacky audience participation.

Orton and Rhodes wrestled on Smackdown a month ago in a match that inadvertently turned into something of a bloodbath when Rhodes caught his head on the ring bell.  The WWE doesn’t intentionally do blood any more, but they’re not above taking advantage of it for added drama when it happens by mistake, and so this mini-feud has been launched on the back of the incident.  Frankly, Smackdown is so short of credible main eventers that they really need to do something with Rhodes, but I just can’t imagine Orton losing on yet another pay per view when he’s supposed to be the big star on the brand.  If Rhodes is lucky, he’ll get to go down fighting.  The match quality should be good.

6.  Sheamus v Christian.  This is a rematch from the last show, where Sheamus already won clean.  So god knows why we’re getting it again, particularly on an eight-match card that doesn’t need any filler.  If they keep the Smackdown title on Mark Henry (as they should), then Sheamus needs to be kept strong as a potential babyface challenger, so he ought to win again.  Technically, these two are almost bound to have a good match.

7.  Tag Team Titles: Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne v Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger.  Yes, Ziggler is wrestling twice in one night.  No, I don’t know why somebody thought it would be a good idea to do a storyline where the heel is at an unfair disadvantage.

Ziggler and Swagger seem to be doing a break-up angle in reverse.  Initially Ziggler protested furiously about his manager Vicky Guerrero taking on Swagger as a second wrestler, but now they’re settling into a functioning tag team.  Conventional wrestling wisdom says this is all backwards, but I guess there’s nothing wrong with sowing the eventual seeds for the break-up right at the outset.  Besides, the company could really do with some strong tag teams.

The heels should get the titles at some point, but I can’t help feeling it’s too early to take the belts off Kingston and Bourne, who are a perfectly decent babyface team and have only had the titles for two months.  Then again, the titles are of more use to the heels’ storyline.  I’d give it another month, though, which means a screwjob finish here to justify a rematch.  Otherwise, the heels should probably win.  Again, it’s a decent match on paper.

8.  Divas Title: Beth Phoenix v Eve Torres.  Phoenix is the heel champion, and she’s still aligned with Natalya in an increasingly hazy defined act apparently based on the notion that they’re the “proper” athletes in a division of Barbie dolls.  Having been through every possible match involving former champion Kelly Kelly (who really is about as Barbie as you can get), we’re now apparently going to do the same thing with Kelly’s de facto partner Eve.  If this is an exercise in feeding an opponent to Beth Phoenix, then fair enough.  I don’t expect much from it, but it’ll be okay by the (uninspiring) standards of the WWE women’s division, and on an eight match card, it’s bound to be kept short.

Worth getting?  Despite the lousy writing, there’s actually a fair amount on this show which looks good on paper.  But it’s hard to shake the nagging feeling that, on current form, the writing will screw it up somehow.

Bring on the comments

  1. Alex says:

    Cody’s gimmick is a lot more tolerable if you pretend he’s dr doom- arrogant villain hiding behind a mask he may or may not need, the scars being psychological more than physical.

  2. Paul C says:

    Yeah this is a blatant filler show, and the TV programs have been gawd awful as of late.

    It would be totally stupid for Del Rio to drop the title again, but it’s hard to have *any* faith in WWE at the minute. They practically gave away the match on TV this past week too. The problem is that there will have to be some convoluted ending in order to protect Cena, which as per usual, does more harm than good. I guess something absurd like Cena getting locked in the boot of Del Rio’s gorgeous car.

    It’s nearly 2012 and Triple H is the main storyline. Just let that sink in a moment. Plus too here is a guy who will be taking over the company in the future, and never misses a chance to bury the roster. His “a broom could give me a better match than some of the guys in the back” was not totally shocking given past form, but he essentially told the viewers that the people they pay to see are a pile of rubbish. I imagine this will be the main event too (unless Cena is winning to make for a ‘happy’ ending). Your prediction makes sense but I think Triple H will get the win just to show that a part-time 40+ year-old is better than these guys in their prime. (“Sending that message would serve no purpose whatsoever, which is precisely why it’s likely to happen” – that’s a brilliant line right there.)

    Show/Henry will be terrible, and the Divas probably dull, but the other 4 matches should be quite good. They seem high on Ziggler so it wouldn’t surprise me if he won both matches come the end of the night.

  3. Mike P says:

    Also of not on the Ziggler/Ryder US title match is that on Ryder’s Youtube show, one of Ryder’s friends was attacked by a masked man that is obviously Dolph Ziggler. Not that I expect any of that to mentioned on the PPV, of course.

  4. Henry says:

    I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Rhodes gets the win here. Not as conclusively as he should, of course, but to further Orton’s losing streak and let him continue spiraling down the card for another feud. Presumably they can’t have him challenge Mark Henry again just yet, so giving him a longer feud with Cody Rhodes wouldn’t be a bad idea at all. Hell, even a run as Intercontinental Champion again wouldn’t be a bad idea.

    As for Triple H and Punk vs R-Truth and Miz, I actually suspect Punk will turn on H and let him take the loss for their team, to justify yet another match between Punk and Triple H where Punk is treated as the heel. That would be a far more efficient way to bury Punk than have him take a screwy loss.

  5. Ultimate Matt says:

    Kelly’s real name is, in fact, Barbie. Short for “Barbara”, but still. Her full real name (if her wikipedia page is to be believed) is Barbie Blank, which is almost a better wrestling name for a vapid blonde than Kelly Kelly.

  6. Billy Bissette says:

    CM Punk will be pinned, because he was in a feud with Triple H. No one’s career survives a feud with Triple H. (Unless you happen to be one of Triple H’s best friends. Even then, you might be portrayed as weak. Just look at HBK whenever he was around Triple H.)

    Heck, CM Punk wasn’t even really in a feud with Triple H. He was in a feud with Cena. But someone noticed Punk had become one of the hottest things the WWE had going in the hottest storyline the WWE has had in quite a while. So suddenly Triple H was inserted into the storyline, and just as quickly the storyline became entirely about Triple H, with Punk being turned into a fifth wheel background character.

  7. Alex says:

    It’s also funny that kelly kelly’s name started as a rib from the early ECW (v2) show and evolved into her gimmick.

  8. Paul says:

    I’m fairly sure that Wrestling Observer has confirmed that Kelly’s real name is indeed Barbie Blank.

  9. Son of Mecha Mummy says:

    “This doesn’t strike me as a good choice of opponent.”

    Honestly, Mark Henry vs. Big Show at Money in the Bank was very fun. Both pulled out moves that they could only have really pulled off against each other.

  10. Dave O'Neill says:

    Mike -thats a pity, I’m dying for the Big O to make his WWE debut

    As for Orton Rhodes, of course Rhodes will win. Orton is his best friend, and he wants his friend to get over

  11. Billy Bissette says:

    Alex, stuff like that happens in wrestling. It only really matters what catches on, not why it started.

  12. gojengo.org says:

    This is very interesting, You are a very skilled
    blogger. I’ve joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your great post.
    Also, I havce shared your site in my social networks!

  13. Currently it sounds like Expression Engine is the top blogging platform available right now.
    (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?

  14. Traci says:

    Amazing! This blog looks just like my օld one! It’s on a entirely diufferent subject Ьut it has pretyy much thе same layout and design.
    Outstanding choice οf colors!

    Feel free tߋ visit my blog: clash of clans astuce –
    Traci

  15. illuminati says:

    This paragraph will help the internet visitors for creating new website or even a blog
    from start to end.

  16. Everyone loves what you guys are usually up too.
    This kind of clever work and reporting! Keep up the very good works
    guys I’ve included you guys to my blogroll.

  17. Včera , keď som bol v práci, moja sestra bratranec mi ukradol iPhone a testované, aby zistil, či to
    môže prežiť dvadsaťpäť foot drop, len aby mohla byť youtube senzáciou.
    My Apple iPaad je teraz zničený a má 83 názory. Viem, že to je úplne úplne mimo tému,
    ale musel som ssa o neho podeliť s niekým!

  18. Teething is most common in a 5 or 6 month old baby, but it can start as early as 3 months or as late as a first birthday.

    Keep a plastic cup nearby to use as safe and practical rinsing tool, especially for
    the hair. So as your baby receives his finishing bedtime tale, allow him to hold his blanket
    or stuffed animal, as well as.

  19. You actually make it seem really easy along with your presentation hhowever I to find this
    matterr tto be actually one thing that I believe I might by no
    meawns understand. It kind of feels too complicated and extrekely huge
    for me. I’m looking forward in your next publish, I’ll trry to get the grasp of it!

  20. Every weekend i used to go to see this web site, because i
    wis for enjoyment, for the reason that this this web page conations actually nice
    funny data too.

  21. Terrific article! That is the type of informatioon that are supposed
    to be shared across the internet. Shame on thhe seek engines for no longer positioning
    this submit higher! Come on over and discuss with my web site .
    Thanks =)

  22. apismedia.pl says:

    You have to overcome tremendous organization inertia.

  23. Right here is the perfect webpage for anyone who
    wishes to understand this topic. You understand a whole lot
    its almost tough to argue with you (not that I actually would want to…HaHa).
    You definitely put a brand new spin on a topic which has been written about for a long time.

    Great stuff, just excellent!

  24. Men like a rough grip and a hard touch so don’t be
    afraid of going fast and going hard. Even though we assume that women are the only ones that enjoy foreplay, which is not the case.
    Once you have confidence, now you can learn some fellatio tips that will really blow his mind.

  25. Niall says:

    The comments make this the greatest HTA article of all time

Leave a Reply