The Wrestling Examiner

It's money time! One of the most exciting pay-per-views of the year, Money in the Bank , is back. It's one of the most entertaining and anticipated events of the year, for the simple reason that the event can create new stars. Remember how excited people were when Dolph Ziggler won the briefcase in 2012? Fans were sure that his place as a main event star would be solidified. I'm sure you remember last year, when Damien Sandow won the briefcase and etched his name into the history books. This year, we could see a new star being made. Because there are so many superstars involved, this is one of the hardest pay-per-views to predict. Nonetheless, I'm going to give it my best shot. So far, I am 14 for 15 in my pay-per-view predictions this year (I should have known Cena would beat Wyatt). The goal for tonight is to call five out of the seven matches correctly. Also, I've made it more clear as to who I'm calling, as it was a little hard to figure out in the past. ...

On Raw two weeks ago, The Authority officially stripped Daniel Bryan of his WWE World Heavyweight Championship. They did so after it was announced that Bryan would be missing Money in the Bank , the second-straight pay-per-view he would miss. Hopefully, his neck will heal and he will be able to get back into the ring soon. The vacant championship is up for grabs in a ladder match at Money in a Bank . While fans are disappointed that the reign has come to an end, I believe it was for the better. Her are five reasons why. 5. He's Better as an Underdog- It's a classic wrestling story: heel champion versus underdog challenger loved by the crowd. When the challenger does overcome the champion, it provides for a feel-good moment and a sense of satisfaction. But what then? The new champion cannot stay on top of the mountain forever, he must come down eventually. Bryan's time at the mountain was much too short, but it can't be helped. However, he now has the opportunity to re...

It's time for my second ever Stock Check. Honestly, I'm a little surprised tbat I remembered to do it. This post is a couple of days late,  but here it is nonetheless. Since the last Stock Check took place after the last pay-per-view, this article will cover everything that has happened since then. For a refresher, the format is as follows: five superstars/teams are up, three are even, and five are down. Also, for the first time, TNA and NXT stars can be featured on this. Up: Bo Dallas- Dallas was thrown over the top rope in the Battle Royal last week on Raw, but he is still undefeated in singles matches.  Not only that, his antics and mic work have become increasingly entertaining. Go back to last week's SmackDown for proof of that. He's started gaining some serious traction and has managed to establish himself as a presence every week. That's not easy to do. The only problem: he's currently not on the  Money in the Bank  card, but that could change. Roma...

Two weeks ago, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair passed his medical testing in Pittsburgh. As a result, he is now expected to make a full-time return to WWE television. The last time Flair was on Raw, he appeared in a segment with The Shield and Evolution. This was on the Raw that aired on April 28th. Flair also appeared at NXT Takeover , where he was in the corner of Charlotte (his daughter) in her match against Natalya for the vacant NXT Women's Championship. Flair is one of the greatest WWE superstars ever, so expect him to play an important role. Of course, he is no condition to compete, but he can still be featured. Let's look at five options for Flair once he makes his return. 5. Join The Shield- The last time Flair was on Raw, he endorsed The Shield. Not only that, he said they exemplified power, style, and grace. The whole segment was pretty bad, but it certainly opened the door for Flair to help the Hounds out. Fans may be doubting The Shield's ability to hold out agai...

I know I just started a new series of articles, but I just had to start this one. I've always felt a little constricted by my series. For example, in my Raw review, I can only talk about what happened on that episode. In Stars of the Night, I talk about that specific event. On Talking Points, I can address whatever issue I so please. The articles may be a little long, so bear with me. Yesterday, the WWE released eleven people, including nine superstars, a diva, and a referee.The releases came seemingly out of nowhere. It was expected that a few people would be let go this summer, but twelve at one time? Needless to say, it's big news. In this article, we're going to look at everything dealing with the releases, including who should have gotten released and if anyone else will be released recently. When eleven people leave, things are going to get shaken up. Let's first look at who was released. The only diva who was released was Aksana. If they had to release a ...

Kofi Kingston has been with the WWE since his 2008 debut with ECW. He's won ten championships, competed in two Elimination Chamber matches, feuded with top guys like Alberto Del Rio and Randy Orton, been the sole survivor of the traditional Survivor Series ten-man elimination tag match, and performed some of the best spots in Royal Rumble history. He's also been involved in the world title picture and cleanly pinned Randy Orton in February (Orton was still WWE World Heavyweight Champion at the time). Still, he's never been in the main event picture. Instead, he's been a solid midcarder. This is unfair, but the right guys don't always get pushed. For proof of that, take a gander at Dolph Ziggler. At 32 years old, he's still got at least seven great years left in him. That's more than enough time to build him up and give him a solid main event push. Here are ten reasons why Kingston deserves to be a main eventer. 10. His Athleticism- Like I said before, Ki...

In this blog, I've started quite a bit of series, including Best of the Week, Worst of the Month, Raw Review, Stars of the Night, and Predictions. While I will be continuing those, I felt the need to start a new segment. So, allow me to present: the very first Stock Check. It's a simple concept, rather like the wwe.com's Power Rankings. I basically chart the trends of some superstars, teams, stables, etc. Five go up, three stay even, and five go down. Now, our first ever Stock Check. Up: RybAxel- At the beginning of the year, RybAxel was considered a very lowly tag team. No one expected them to go anywhere. In the last number of weeks though, things have started looking up for them, however. They beat the Rhodes brothers at Payback , beat Goldust and Sin Cara the next day, and beat Goldust and R-Truth yesterday. It's still unlikely that they will win the tag team titles this year, but it's more likely now. John Cena- Cena looked very impressive in his match at...

For the WWE, their biggest events are pay-per-views. On average, they have one a month and about 13 a year. They spend a lot of time promoting and hyping up these pay-per-views, especially the big ones. For example, the location of next year's 'Mania was announced more than a year in advance. One of the ways to promote the pay-per-view is by the poster. These are released weeks in advance. Promotional posters vary in their appearance. Most of them feature superstars who will compete at the pay-per-view, but not necessarily. In this article, we'll look at five bad posters and five great ones. Sorry for not including pictures, but copyright issues can be a... well, you know. But you should Google the posters to see what I'm talking about. Bad: 1. Badd Blood: In Your House  1997- My first though when looking at this poster: what the hell is this? The Undertaker is holding his own head in his hand. He isn't even looking at it, he's just looking straight ahead. O...

On Raw this week, we saw the unthinkable happen: Seth Rollins turned on The Shield. This was a day after the Hounds of Justice went to war with Evolution. No one saw this coming, I repeat: no one. This was a guy who called his fellow stablemates brothers. Nonetheless, in one of the most shocking Raw endings of the year, Rollins attacked Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose with a steel chair. Many fans hated the turn. Why build The Shield up so high and then tear them down? It seems like a total waste. I on the other hand, believe it was the right call. As much as I hate to see the leather-clad trio break up, it's the right move, and here are five reasons why: 5. Furthers Rivalry Between The Shield and Evolution- For about three months now, The Shield has been battling The Authority. First the Hounds took on Kane and New Age Outlaws, then they fought Evolution twice. After Payback , it really seemed that the rivalry might be ending, but that changed when Rollins betrayed The Shield. T...

Every year, the best of the best are inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. In recent years, we've seen legends like Shawn Michaels, Edge, Booker T, The Ultimate Warrior, and Bruno Sammartino. However, not every inductee is a legend. So, when I say that Santino Marella deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, I actually mean it. He may not seem like a worthy candidate, but the impact he's made on the roster deserves to be recognized. Let's now look at ten reasons Santino deserves to make the Hall. 10. His Debut- While it's not necessary to have a great debut to make the Hall, Santino's debut is definitely noteworthy. In Milan, he came out of the crowd (kayfabe) and pinned Umaga (with the help of Lashley) to win the Intercontinental Championship. It's easily one of the best debuts in WWE history. 9. Solid Midcarder- Throughout his career, Santino has been in the midcard. Sure, he never made the main event level, but at least he never stooped to the jobber level. He...

The Divas division has been struggling for a few years now. Fans don't really care about them, even with the success of Total Divas . Long gone are the days of Trish Stratus and Lita, divas who truly made an impact on the WWE and are still regarded highly favorably. Some people are calling for the Divas title to be disbanded but that would completely destroy the division. At least the title gives them a storyline. Instead, we'll look at 10 ways to improve the division. 10. Mixed Tag Matches- At SummerSlam 2013, we saw Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn team up to take on Big E Langston and AJ Lee. The match wasn't particularly good but at least it happened. It gave some nice exposure to the divas. If the WWE wants to make the division more prominent, they should book more mixed tag matches. I'm not talking about Fandango and Layla vs. Santino and Emma, I'm talking more along the lines of Paige and Sheamus vs. Emma and Ziggler.  9. Have Matches with Stipulations- Thin...

In a previous article, I identified five qualities a superstar had to possess in order to be considered the total package: technical ability, charisma, mic skills, the right look, and the "it" factor. I also wrote about ten superstars who mastered the art of technical wrestling. In this article, I'll look at what it means to have the right look and ten superstars who have/had it. So what does it mean to have the right look? Basically, it means a superstar looks like they could be the face of the company and a World champion. This is actually a lot more important than you might think. CM Punk and Daniel Bryan took time to get to the top of the mountain because they were seen as scrawny. Goldberg and Brock Lesnar on the other hand, shot right up the ladder. Sure, there were other factors involved, but you can't deny having the right look was a part of it. In this article, we'll look at ten superstars who personified the right look. 1. Goldberg- Like I stated ear...

For the WWE, this week was mainly about building up for Payback . What stole the week however, was NXT Takeover . The second ever NXT special lived up to and exceeded the hype. There was even a good episode of Impact. In this episode, let's look at the ten best things of the week. 1. Cena's Promo on Raw- Cena isn't always that consistent on the mic but when he delivers he really delivers. His promo on Raw was a great one.  It wasn't very long but it was to the point and actually got the crowd going.  2. Contract Signing on Raw- Whenever the WWE wants to promote a high-profile feud they have a contract signing. That's what they did with the Shield and Evolution on Raw. As it always does, it turned into a full-out brawl involving a sledgehammer, the commentary table, and all six members in the match on Sunday. This time, it was Evolution that was standing tall. It was a great way to build-up for their match at Payback . 3. Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd- Th...

The Payback pay-per-view (yes, we can call them that again), took place two days ago on June 1, 2014. While the previous event, Extreme Rule s, was mainly for tying up 'Mania feuds. Payback  was supposed to have all new feuds but that didn't happen. Instead, we got a lot of repeat matches, such as Paige and Alicia Fox, The Shield and Evolution, and John Cena and Bray Wyatt. Nonetheless, it was a good event that really highlighted some superstars. In a new segment I'm calling Stars of the Night, I'm going to name the top seven stars of a show. In the inaugural article, I name the top seven superstars at Payback . 7. The Bellas- You might be a little surprised to find them on this list, but here they are. We start with Nikki Bella, who was interviewed backstage by Josh Matthews. She was decent in the interview but the main thing was that she actually got some time on the mic, which is rare for a diva. But the real reason they make the list is Brie Bella, who really got ...

I have a Best of the Week article series, but as we know, there are a lot of bad moments in professional wrestling. To commemorate all of these terrible moments, I decided to start a Worst of the Month series. To be optimistic, I decided to focus on the worst of the month, instead of going week by week like I do with the best things. So, here we go with the worst of the month: 10. Arm Wrestling Contest- On an episode of Main Event, Cesaro and Mark Henry were scheduled (kayfabe) to have a match. Instead, they had an arm wrestling contest. Let it be known that arm wrestling is not a main event, let alone a match at all. Arm wrestling contests are never entertaining, though the aftermath may be. 9. Batista's Issues- It may not come as a big surprise to you, but Batista has some issues with the WWE. It stems with the fact that the fans completely rejected his return, even though he was depicted as the returning hero. That led to him losing his shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Cham...

It's special event time again! This time we head to the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois for the second ever Payback  event. As we move on from WrestleMania to SummerSlam, all eyes will be on this event to see what will go down. As of right now, there are seven matches on the card, but another one may be added. Since I predicted all eight matches at Extreme Rules  correctly, I want to call at least six right for this event. El Torito vs. Hornswoggle: For the second pre-show in a row, the two little guys are going at it. Their last match, a WeeLC match, was actually pretty entertaining. This one is just a normal match with a Mask vs. Hair stipulation. It's most likely not going to be as entertaining as the first one, but you never know. My prediction is El Torito, as it's bad for a luchador to lose their mask. John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt- A rivalry of a few months will likely culminate here at Payback , where Cena and Wyatt will clash in a Last Man Standing Match. Since...