The Mike Check – Weekly Retrospective

Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to the Return of The Mike Check! I am proud to be back here at PWMania.com and I would like to add a new feature to the site. I present to all of you, the 1st Edition of the Weekly Retrospective. It is a review of the Best and the Worst from the World of Professional Wrestling for the week. WWE continued to build towards the Night of Champions Pay Per View while TNA finished up the Bound for Glory series and will present a Free to View No Surrender next week on Impact.

The Best:
The Helmsley’s Are Evil
HHH and Stephanie’s reign of evil continued this week and cemented the WWE’s ultimate power couple as the dominate heels that need to be stopped going into the fall and winter months. Stephanie McMahon really upped her game this week doing her promo with The Big Show in the ring during RAW. It was not just evil, it was damn near sociopaths. Bringing up fictions problems about The Big Show losing his money is one thing but bringing up the fact that people with gigantism due live shorter lives than ever men and women was an extreme low blow that got the appropriate reaction for the crowd. We now see that not only is The Big Show begin blackmail because of his financial situation but he is also being emotionally blackmailed by the little girl that he used to help out. HHH on the other hand played up the “good for business” card and put those that disagreed with him in matches with stacked decks. Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, and Cody Rhodes all felt the wraith of the Corporate Cerebral Assassin.

Cody Rhodes Falls And Rises
Cody Rhodes was put in a match with WWE Champions Randy Orton for speaking up against the HHH regime with the stipulation the if he were to lose, he would be fired on the spot. Cody lost and was fired. The way Cody left WWE was what left a lasting impression. He went toe to toe with the WWE Champion and showed that he is a superstar worth investing in. He was able to get the fans behind him and because of his ability in the ring, something not a lot of WWE Superstars can do. Before he left Cody cut an extremely well done promo about The McMahons treating the Rhodes family poorly, bring up Dusty in polka dots and Dustin as Goldust. Enjoy your honeymoon Cody, I am counting the days til you come back and continue your story.

The Middle:
Back With Styles
Last week AJ Styles cut a good promo in front of a crowd that just couldn’t have given a damn, which is extremely sad considering the talent that AJ is. He tried to cut a Punk-esque shoot promo but it just did not work for Styles. The point that he tried to get across was that he was the go-to guy for TNA and he enjoyed being so. This week AJ Styles won 20 points in a gauntlet match to win the Bound for Glory series and he choose to face Austin Aries next week. AJ Styles NEEDS to win at No Surrender. He must face Bully Ray at Bound for Glory. There is no money in any of the other options. Austin Aries vs Bully Ray would be decent but nothing spectacular, No one would pay money for Bobby Roode vs Bully Ray, and Magnus is not a big enough star to main event a PPV.

RVD and ADR: The Three Letters War
Although he may feel like Chuck Cunningham of feuds right now, RVD and Alberto del Rio are setting up nicely towards their match at Night of Champions. RVD and Alberto del Rio played a game of one-upsmanship with either other this week where RVD beat Mr. Money in the Bank Damien Sandow on RAW while Alberto del Rio attacked a down RVD after his match with Orton on Smackdown. Their match at the PPV is expected to be the sleeper hit on the Night of Champions card. One night before the PPV, a Teddy Long tag team match featuring RVD and Bryan vs Orton and Del Rio could be a nice way to advertise the World Title Match on RAW.

The Worst:
AJ’s Pipebomb Blows Up In Her Face
A week after AJ cut her great promo about how the Total Divas where taking the spotlight but not taking her title, how does the WWE follow it up? They have the Total Divas beat the crap out of AJ on RAW. AJ got her revenge on Smackdown by having the other Divas that are not on the E! show beat up on the Divas that are. The line for the Divas is no longer about who is good and who is bad, it is now, Total Divas vs WWE Divas. As someone that does not watch E! other than for the delightful Joel McMale, this storyline is just treading water.

Oh God Not Again!
Mr. Anderson has the worst case of bi-polar disorder in the history of professional wrestling. He has switched from heel to face and back again more times than I can count. He just cannot seem to find his niche with either side. This week Anderson announced that he would be facing Bully Ray next week at No Surrender and I just hope for story sake that Anderson takes a dive and chooses to continue to side with Ace’s and Eight’s. A continuation of the solidarity of the the Club is a better story going into Bound for Glory than another Anderson turn towards a push to no where.

Is That Curtis Axel or Michael McGillicutty?
Does anyone remember when this name change and alliance with Paul Heyman was supposed to make Curtis Axel the next big thing? Anyone? Instread Curtis Axel was handed the Intercontinental Championship and has done nothing for it while he has it. In fact, there has been no focus on the championship he holds while CM Punk feud with Paul Heyman, not Axel. Curtis is the third man in this story and is not even seen as an obsticale for Punk before he gets his hands on Paul Heyman at Night of Champions. Curtis’ focus this week has been on Kofi Kingston and not CM Punk. Who he beat on Superstars, a show that no one watches, and lost to on Smackdown, a show that people do watch. I hope this means they either have Kofi win the championship on RAW due to CM Punk interfering so at least Kofi can defend the title at Night of Champions, a PPV that was centered around the fact that all titles were on the line.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and opinions about this week in wrestling. If you would like to comment on them, please do so in the comment section below.

Peace!

Michael Grooms