The Redman Report: WWE TV Week of 28/5/12: “Two is better than one!”By Jimmy Redman| June 1, 2012 The Redman Report As we watch Raw and Smackdown this week there is one important lesson I need to impart to you all… THE BIG SHOW IS THE GREATEST MAN IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. What a guy. His promo on Raw was legit amazing for any number of reasons. The trashing of the fans, the way his heel self has…whats the word? Evolved out of his babyface self. He didnt turn around and say “I never liked you people! Rargh I’m a heel now, this character bears no relation to the last one!” He enjoyed his job, he liked putting smiles on kids’ faces. But being fired snapped something within him – what was the use of being Smiling Babyface Show all these years if thats how he ended up? It made him bitter and he’s taking it out on anyone – the fans included. Its not reasonable to expect the fans to be able to do anything about it, but he’s not acting reasonably. He’s angry at them, for taking it so easily, for not rising up in arms and rioting, for laughing and cheering at the next segment and forgetting all about him. Forgetting THE BIG SHOW? After two decades? F*ck ’em. And speaking of which, the way they used the Brodus and Cena segments as fuel was the smartest thing you ever saw. The best thing is that its something that everyone picked up on at the time – how weird was it to have Brodus out there dancing right after the crying segment? And Show noticed it too. He also noticed Cena having an audience with Ace the same night and choosing to act like a doofus instead of going to bat for him. Like he didnt even give a sh*t! F*ck him. It wasnt personal when he hit Cena at OTL, he was just in the spot, but the more he thinks about how things went down, the more angry he gets at the world, the more he comes up with new reasons to be angry. And an Angry Show is going to WRECK SH*T. It should be noted that Brodus standing up to Show backstage and then being all “Come at me bro!” in the aisle was great stuff, it showed him stepping up and he’ll only be all the more over for it when he returns. But Show SPEARS the hell out of him on the floor and just straight up DESTROYS. Tossing around all three guys like nothing was so badass, so…Mark Henry, and it was awesome. And then more of the same on Smackdown, beating the sh*t out of Santino and Zack. The KO Punch to the back of Santino’s head was GNARLY. Loved every second of Big Show, the man is on fire. Speaking of that Smackdown segment, Titus and D-Young: The Primetime Playas. They are so named. Millions o’ Dollars. Dont you just LOVE the Smackdown undercard? So much great sh*t happening. Like DAMIAN SANDOW. Holy Moses. He was AMAZING in his match. Trying to do the thing where he leaves only to get accosted by the huge Zeke. Taking his offense and then giving it back just as good – his clinched knees are awesome. His fancy twirling elbow drop. And CHILLING WITH HIS HEAD ON HIS FIST DURING THE PIN LIKE BETH PHOENIX WAS THE GREATEST THING OF ALL TIME. Needs to be seen. Also, a cartwheel and a Groucho Marx eyebrow wiggle. An awesome man, and I am so glad he is backing the character work up in the ring. He’s a keeper. In other news, SIN CARA RETURNS! And survives! He’s in red now, and has lost the trampoline entrance, but sadly has not lost the blue mood lighting. Really needs to go. Anyway, this was a fun Sin Cara match. Also, look out for Booker T explaining YouTube to Cole and Josh. And of course, the Smackdown undercard report cannot be complete without RYBACK. His jobbers cut a hilariously inept promo, poor kids. And then DESTRUCTION. Loved him saying “Two is better than one” before doing the DOUBLE FISHERMAN BUSTER. That is a great spot to keep using. Next challenge: three jobbers. I could easily watch him do this for months yet. And its not just the undercard that gets work done on SD. I was YESing when Dolph challenged Sheamus and I was not disappointed. This was a really great TV semi. Dolph is the master of it, and Sheamus has been working like a trooper since winning the belt. He’s really got the hang of working as a dominant babyface; using power moves and looking really impressive while selling just enough to appear vulnerable. Its not an easy task, but its one he does really well. And Dolph, of course, is the world’s greatest pinball for a main event babyface. His top rope facebuster ruled. The finish where Swagger interrupted, Dolph went for the Fameasser only to bonk into Swagger and EAT A BROGUE KICK was brilliant stuff. I dont know about anyone else, but for a Kane angle, I am enjoying the hell out of the WWE Title feud. The way he was introduced into their angle and continues to insert himself into the picture has been flawless. Bryan uses the chair trick to get Punk beaten up in some Heel Genius. Kane proves smarter than every wrestler ever and WATCHES THE REPLAY and beats Bryan up for using him. Punk uses Babyface Genius to entrap Bryan with Kane and get revenge on Bryan for setting Kane on him. Bryan comes back to get HIS revenge on Kane and costs Kane a World Title shot. Kane returns the favour by attacking them after their Raw match, Bryan dies, Punk escapes thanks to AJ (hmm!). And then Punk faces Kane, Bryan interferes but Kane leaves with revenge on both this time. The maneuvering and shifts in momentum from seeking revenge to paying for it later has been fascinating. And then of course, there’s also AJ in the mix. Fresh from being a Psycho Biatch over Bryan, she is now cosying up to Punk. Or is she? The thread of subtle intrigue building has been brilliantly done – AJ seems to be supporting Punk, but her actions always seem to inadvertantly lead to Bryan gaining an advantage or escaping danger. Is it just a coincidence? We will find out! Really love the angle. And the matches too! Punk vs Bryan on Raw was a TV version of their match and was really, really great fun. More good work and some cool counters playing off the PPV match. I’m so glad they’re getting a long feud together. Liked the exposed turnbuckle finish too, we havent seen that one in a while and it was something different. And even more impressively, Punk vs Kane on SD was really good too. Those two together are hit and miss, but this definitely hit. Punk took some nasty bumps early on. The final minutes got really great, loved the running knee and then Kane counters the bulldog by TOSSING Punk, and then Punk completes with a DIVING BULLDOG. The dueling spots were really cool as well – Punk’s High Kick vs Kane’s Big Boot, and then Kane going for the Flying Clothesline, getting REY’D, and Punk hitting the Flying Elbow (despite Bryan’s interference). And then Bryan comes off the top with his own Flying Double Dropkick to ruin the match. And we leave with Kane on top after he Chokeslams them both. AJ sits in the ring between the two men looking CONFLICTED~! Again, this has been a really intriguing angle that they’ve done a good job building upon show after show. Somehow, I look forward to this triple threat match.
