The John Report Wrestling Blog

Canton’s Corner: The Wrestling Week in Review – February 4
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport

Welcome to Canton’s Corner. It was a good week of wrestling on TV this week. I thought Raw was excellent while both Smackdown and TNA Impact Wrestling were above average this week too. I’ll cover all three of those, plus the usual polls, video, Melo Out and other things you’ve come to expect from Canton’s Corner. It’s the Super Bowl on Sunday. If you follow me on Twitter you know I’m a huge NFL fan, even more than I am a wrestling fan. Before I get to the wrestling part of the column, I need to share my pick.

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And no, it’s not Tony Chimel’s. (I know, I know, it’s a “he’s gay” joke. Trust me, I’m already ashamed. I am so sorry.)

Easy/lame/horrible jokes aside…

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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…

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A Matter of Character – Richie Steamboat
By Matty J. Douglas

Happy Monday all, and welcome to yet another FCW Edition of A Matter of Character. This will likely be one of the last FCW editions of AMOC for a while, as I’ve taken an in depth look at all my personal favorites and standouts in FCW over the last several weeks, including last week’s piece Replenishing the Tag Team Division.

This week I will be analyzing the talented second-generation grappler known in FCW as Richie Steamboat. The 24-year-old son of WWE Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat is one of FCW’s brightest young talents. It is only a matter of time before the WWE decides to call him up to the main roster and let him showcase his talent to a worldwide audience. Read more…

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.

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Thursday Headlines: John Cena’s Angry Face

This week’s episode of Raw was a good one. We got some great CM Punk/John Laurinaitis interaction, another fantastic Chris Jericho segment in which he finally spoke, and an excellent video package promoting the Royal Rumble. All in all, it was a very good go-home show (a show that promotes an upcoming pay-per-view, for all you non-wrestling nerds). But there was one segment that stood out for all the wrong reasons, and ended up being a disappointment. Of course, I’m talking about John Cena’s “angry face” segment.

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Andrew had something come up, so I’m stepping in to do Headlines today. I don’t normally complain about wrestling, because it’s wrestling. It’s going to be silly, you’re going to scratch your head sometimes, and that’s fine. Again, it’s wrestling, and it’s always been that way. What bothers me, though, is that 30 years ago–before the internet ruined our lives–storyline injuries worked better because they were believable. Someone was piledriver’d on the cold, hard concrete and their neck was broken. Randy Savage smashed Ricky Steamboat with a ring bell and his trachea was permanently destroyed forever. Then these guys would come back from career-threatening injuries, because they’re superhuman, and they would seek revenge on their attackers. That was then. Now it’s usually ridiculous.

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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.

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This is a discussion post for tonight’s edition of WWE Raw. It’s the last Raw before the Royal Rumble. I’ll have the Raw Deal posted on Tuesday morning or early afternoon. On Friday we’ll have a Royal Rumble preview, on Sunday I’ll be doing live coverage of the Royal Rumble and next Monday I’ll write about Raw live.

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Canton’s Corner: The Wrestling Week in Review – January 21
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport

Welcome to Canton’s Corner. I have some news that will likely interest you, the reader. Starting February 1st, I will be posting recaps of all 27 WWE WrestleMania events. They will feature recaps of all the matches and segments, plus analysis as well as star ratings. I’ll also give the show a grade, list the stars of the show and add whatever other tidbits I can. I’m excited about writing it as it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve already written the first three. The last one will be posted one week before this year’s WrestleMania 28 event. They will be exclusive to thejohnreport.net, except for a select few that I will post at other sites as well. Basically what this means is in February & March you’ll get a lot of my writing. With that out of the way, let’s get rolling with this week’s column.

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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?

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A Matter of Character – Antonio Cesaro
By Matty J. Douglas

Happy Monday to all, and welcome again to another edition of “A Matter of Character” where I will focus on a stand out from the WWE’s developmental territory FCW. So far I have analyzed three of my favorite FCW competitors and future WWE stars: Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Damien Sandow. This week I have decided to analyze another Superstar with unlimited potential. I will be delving into the Internet darling and FCW prospect formerly known as Claudio Castagnoli, none other than Mr. Antonio Cesaro.

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