Thursday Headlines: WWE on YouTube
By Thomas and Aaron Briggs
The WWE hasn’t been shy about fully buying into new social media as a means to increase viewership. Their use of Twitter has become a real point of contention with fans over the last year. Fans want their favorite superstars to be accessible on the service, but they’ve begun to resent the way WWE pushes Twitter down their throats on television. Well get ready WWE Universe! Here comes the WWE and YouTube.
The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal 01/30/12
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport
Live from Kansas City, Missouri this is the Raw Deal…
WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Preview
By John Canton, Andrew Johnson & Christian Michael
John Canton: I’ve always loved the Royal Rumble pay per view. I showed that love last year when I recapped every Royal Rumble match. The concept of the match is wonderful. Even if you think you know what might happen, there’s always a very good chance that something crazy will happen. I didn’t think Cena would win in 2008 or Edge in 2010 because they both made surprise returns. Could there be a surprise winner this year? You never know. The sad thing about the Rumble is that the winner doesn’t really get to “main event” WrestleMania anymore (especially this year), but it’s still one of my favorite matches and I know I’m going to enjoy it like I do every year. Right now there are only four announced matches. I’d expect some kind of midcard match to be added as a buffer to some of the big ones on the card, but I’m not going to guess what they will be.
The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal 01/23/12
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport
Live from Phoenix, Arizona this is the Raw Deal…
We get the usual intro. Isn’t it time to get a new theme song? I’m so sick of Nickelback. I’m sure a lot of people are, but in Canada it’s even worse since they come from this country. I’ve had people write me about a lack of pyro at WWE shows. I’ve read that they made an internal decision to cut back on the amount of pyro they use. It’s a money thing.
chris jericho, cm punk, Dolph Ziggler, john cena, john report, kane, raw, raw deal, royal rumble, world title, wwe, wwe title, Zack Ryder
Is the WWE Ruining Zack Ryder?
Being loyal WWE fans, it isn’t very often that we get exactly what we want. The wrestling business is designed to withhold complete satisfaction. We may want our favorites to win championships, and hold onto those titles for an indefinite amount of time, but that would be a foolish business practice. No, the real money is in the chase. We pay to see our favorite superstars fight for the opportunity to earn a title. Why is Ric Flair one of the all time great draws? Because people paid to see him to lose to their territorial favorites. Fortunately the NWA had the foresight to (mostly) keep the title on him.
cena, cm punk, daniel bryan, Dolph Ziggler, eve, kane, The Raw Deal, wwe, Zack Ryder
Foley Is Good
By Mike Aires
Even after all of these years, it still entertains my brain that a guy who looks like Mick Foley not only competed in mainstream Pro Wrestling, but had a Hall of Fame-type career. In a land where guys tower over normal sized guys, and have more muscle on one limb than most of us do in our whole body, Foley just went about his business looking like a normal homeless guy…chubby, flannel, and sweatpants. I think so many people, myself included, connected with Foley for these reasons. He didn’t seem like some jacked up monster. He was one of us. That’s just one of many reasons I was extremely happy with Mick’s “real” debut on Monday Night Raw this week.
Dolph Ziggler, john laurinaitis, mick foley, royal rumble, wrestlemania, wwe
How Vital is Originality?
by Laurence Salford
It seems to me that every time a new character debuts, the first reaction is to compare them to someone in the past, and relate them to someone who has wrestled before they did, generally with a similar gimmick to their own. It’s always made me curious, as the gimmick side of wrestling is one of the things I find the most interesting, mainly as it can help diversify the stores that are told.
Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Gimmicks, hunico
The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal 01/16/12
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport
Live from Anaheim, California this is the Raw Deal…
They started the show with a video tribute of Martin Luther King Jr. in honor of this day that we honor him. It’s a video they air every year. On a lesser note, the Nickelback Raw intro song started up from there. When are they going to change that song?
cm punk, Dolph Ziggler, john cena, john laurinaitis, raw, smackdown, wrestlemania, wwe
The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal 01/02/12
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport
I wrote it live this week. Live from Memphis, Tennessee this is the Raw Deal…
The beginning of the show had Michael Cole narrate over a graphic that promoted CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Title later in the show. Then they had a video package for the Kane/Cena segment from last week. It was really well done as usual.
cm punk, Dolph Ziggler, it begins, john cena, kane, raw, wwe
The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal for 12/26/11
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport
Live from Chicago, Illinois this is the Raw Deal…
I was excited for this one. Chicago is one of WWE’s best crowds. I figured they would start with the hometown hero CM Punk. They did…sort of. It was CM Punk’s music except instead of the Punk man himself it was interim Raw GM John Laurinaitis wearing Punk’s shirt over his suit. He even did Punk’s routine at the top of the ramp except with his own saying: “It’s Dynamic Dude time!” I’m making that part up. He said he was there to honor CM Punk in his hometown.
cm punk, Dolph Ziggler, john cena, kane, raw, wwe
The Christmas Sharpshooter
By Thomas Avb Briggs
Merry Christmas everyone! While most of you are probably spending the day with loved ones, opening gifts, and eating plenty of good food, there’s a chance you’ve wandered over to The John Report for some good old wrestling writing! Unfortunately for you, or fortunately, depending on your opinion of my writing, today is going to be a little different for the Sunday Sharpshooter. Consider this a clip show compared to a standard episode. A clip show of great WWE moments from 2011.
booker t, christian, christmas, cm punk, Cody Rhodes, daniel bryan, Dolph Ziggler, john laurinaitis, raw, smackdown, vince mcmahon, wwe
A few things before we begin:
- Thank you guys so much for the overwhelmingly positive feedback last week. It was you guys that convinced me to take up the Smackdown reviewer mantle, and I hope to do you all proud.
- I haven’t totally settled on the permanent title for this review yet. If you have a suggestion that’s better then “The Smacking Of WWE Smackdown” I’d love to hear it, so please leave any suggestions you have in the comment section.
- While you’re at it, please feel free to comment in the comment section. It’s the only way for you to tell me what you liked or didn’t like about the review, and how best to improve it.
- Since I hate star rating systems with the passion of a million exploding suns, I ignore them in lieu of telling you whether I like something or not. If something is Smacked Up that means it’s good, Smacked Down it’s bad. Although last week a gracious commenter pointed out that in England getting Smacked Up means getting high on heroin, so I’ll probably change that too once I think of something better.
Enjoy getting Smacked Around! (Okay, I said I was working on this last week, but obviously I’m not very good at this whole catchphrase thing. I’m working on it, please be patient.)
air boom, aksana, big show, booker t, Cody Rhodes, daniel bryan, Dolph Ziggler, epico, Evan Bourne, jack swagger, kofi kingston, Mark Henry, primo, randy orton, santino, sheamus, smackdown, Teddy Long, the miz, vickie guerrero, wade barrett, wwe, Zack Ryder
