Photo courtesy of WWE.com
Ring Rust Radio is the best wrestling show on the airwaves,
and this week was no different. With strong opinions on CM Punk, Triple
H, Night of Champions and more, this is where you need to get all of
your weekly WWE nuggets.
Bleacher Report featured columnists
Michael Cahill, Brandon Galvin, Mike Chiari and Donald Wood give the
lowdown on all things going on in the wrestling world. The Ring Rust Radio crew gets down to the crux of the wrestling business with the professionals.
With another unpredictable episode of Ring Rust Radio in the books, you can't afford to miss another second of the action. Catch us LIVE every Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET (some language NSFW) or follow us on Twitter @RingRustRadio.
We may just read your questions and comments LIVE on the air. Visit our new website at RingRustRadio.com and you can also email us here: RingRustRadio@Yahoo.com.
Upcoming Guests/Events
Sept. 4 - WWE legend Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Sept. 11 - Former ECW and current ROH star Steve Corino
Late September - Former WWE star Matt Hardy
WWE Analysis
The WWE turned in one of its better editions of RAW in
quite some time this week and there is no question that the main thing
that everyone has been talking about is CM Punk. Triple H's wishy-washy
retirement speech and the hilarious anger management skit featuring
Daniel Bryan and Kane were certainly topics of conversation, but Punk appeared to cement his heel turn by beating down Jerry "The King" Lawler.
Question on Everybody's Mind: Was CM Punk's Heel Turn Effective?
Punk's heel turn essentially started on the 1,000th episode of RAW when he clotheslined The Rock and followed that up with a GTS, but I'm not sure it became set in stone until this week. Punk moved the meter a little closer toward the heel realm last week when he kicked Lawler in the head, but he was far more vicious on Monday.
Punk challenged Lawler to a match since Lawler was looking for an apology and The King reluctantly accepted. It ended up being a steel cage match and Punk took advantage of the environment as he defeated Lawler with an Anaconda Vise and then locked the cage door. He proceeded to elbow Lawler in the head and tried to force him to admit he was the best in the world. Lawler wouldn't, but John Cena finally made the save as Punk escaped.
Ring Rust Radio's Take
There were a number of different routes that could have been taken with regards to Punk's heel turn, but it seems like the writers did the correct thing. If Punk had mercilessly beat down someone like Cena, it wouldn't have had the same effect. Half of the crowd dislikes Cena anyway, so I'm not sure he would have gotten a negative reaction.
Lawler isn't anywhere near as good of an announcer as he used to be, but he's a Hall of Famer and a legend in the business. Because of that, he is universally beloved by the fans and Punk embarrassing him did a lot more for his heel persona. There is something about attacking an announcer that seems pretty sinister, so it was a great move from Punk's perspective.
Bleacher Report Insider Scoop: Analyzing CM Punk's New Direction
Night of Champions Fantasy Cards
Night of Champions is a couple weeks away and a pair of
matches has already been announced, but there is still plenty of
uncertainty with regards to how the card might take shape.
CM Punk vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship and Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship are already certainties, but since Night of Champions is the only event at which every title must be defended, there is much more to come.
Question on Everybody's Mind: How Could the World Title Picture Have Been Improved?
The vast majority of fans were hoping that the feud between Sheamus and Del Rio over the world title would come to an end after SummerSlam, but based on the way that their match ended with Del Rio's foot being on the ropes during the pinfall, it seemed clear that there was still more to come from one of the most boring feuds in recent memory.
Del Rio regained his No. 1 contendership last week by beating Randy Orton clean and making him submit to the Cross Armbreaker. Even so, nobody believes that Del Rio is a true threat to win the belt, so it would be a shock if Sheamus didn't retain at Night of Champions. This entire rivalry has just been far too predictable and vanilla as a whole.
Ring Rust Radio's Take
On the show we discussed our fantasy card and one thing that all of us wanted to change was the World Heavyweight Championship match. A popular change was to simply eliminate Del Rio from the picture completely and make the match Sheamus vs. Orton. The WWE had the opportunity to do that last week, but chose not to, so that tells me that Orton is still being punished to some degree for his 60-day drug suspension.
Another option was to make it a multi-man match such as a championship scramble featuring Sheamus, Del Rio, Orton, Big Show and a returning Wade Barrett. This would allow the Sheamus vs. Del Rio feud to take its course as Sheamus could pin him and then possibly begin a new feud with a guy like Barrett if he is impressive in the match. The fact of the matter is no matter what change is made, it would almost certainly be better than Sheamus vs. Del Rio again.
Bleacher Report Insider Scoop: Why Sheamus Isn't a Credible World Champion
TNA Tidbits
Despite many TNA fans calling last week's episode of
Impact the best they had seen in ages, it was an embarrassing show that
every Ring Rust Radio panelist disliked. There were plenty of problems
from the Aces and Eights Storyline to the ending of the horrible A.J.
Styles storyline and everything in between, but one of the biggest
issues was the way the Bound For Glory Series was handled.
Question on Everybody's Mind: Is the Bound For Glory Series Booked Poorly?
The Bound For Glory Series is a good idea in theory as it is TNA's answer to the Royal Rumble, but I just don't feel like it has been executed well to this point. It was a total waste of time last year as Bobby Roode was given the win only to lose to an injured Kurt Angle at Bound For Glory. With that in mind, I'm not confident things will be any different this time around.
It almost feels like the creative team uses the Bound For Glory Series as an excuse to not create storylines for essentially every top guy in the company. Instead we have Aces and Eights, an uncertain world title picture with Austin Aries and Roode and pretty much nothing else after that. Additionally, I haven't liked the way that things have been booked in the BFG Series as of late.
Ring Rust Radio's Take
Last week's Impact exposed some real issues with the Bound For Glory Series. Having Robbie E win a triple threat against A.J. Styles and Rob Van Dam was a cop out since Robbie has absolutely no chance to qualify for the playoffs. The worst offense came in the form of Mr. Anderson's final Bound For Glory Series match against Bully Ray, however.
Anderson entered the match 10 points behind the final playoff spot, so he obviously should have been going for a submission since anything else would eliminate him for all intents and purposes.
Despite that, Anderson constantly went for pinfalls against Bully Ray before finally beating him and earning seven points. It made absolutely no sense and tells me that the booking for the Bound For Glory Series is extremely sloppy and not well thought out at all.
Did you enjoy Punk's heel turn?
With another unpredictable episode of Ring Rust Radio in the books, you can't afford to miss another second of the action. Catch us LIVE every Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET (some language NSFW) or follow us on Twitter @RingRustRadio.
We may just read your questions and comments LIVE on the air. Visit our new website at RingRustRadio.com and you can also email us here: RingRustRadio@Yahoo.com.
Listen to internet radio with RingRustRadio on Blog Talk Radio
(Some language NSFW)Upcoming Guests/Events
Sept. 4 - WWE legend Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Sept. 11 - Former ECW and current ROH star Steve Corino
Late September - Former WWE star Matt Hardy
WWE Analysis
Question on Everybody's Mind: Was CM Punk's Heel Turn Effective?
Punk's heel turn essentially started on the 1,000th episode of RAW when he clotheslined The Rock and followed that up with a GTS, but I'm not sure it became set in stone until this week. Punk moved the meter a little closer toward the heel realm last week when he kicked Lawler in the head, but he was far more vicious on Monday.
Punk challenged Lawler to a match since Lawler was looking for an apology and The King reluctantly accepted. It ended up being a steel cage match and Punk took advantage of the environment as he defeated Lawler with an Anaconda Vise and then locked the cage door. He proceeded to elbow Lawler in the head and tried to force him to admit he was the best in the world. Lawler wouldn't, but John Cena finally made the save as Punk escaped.
Ring Rust Radio's Take
There were a number of different routes that could have been taken with regards to Punk's heel turn, but it seems like the writers did the correct thing. If Punk had mercilessly beat down someone like Cena, it wouldn't have had the same effect. Half of the crowd dislikes Cena anyway, so I'm not sure he would have gotten a negative reaction.
Lawler isn't anywhere near as good of an announcer as he used to be, but he's a Hall of Famer and a legend in the business. Because of that, he is universally beloved by the fans and Punk embarrassing him did a lot more for his heel persona. There is something about attacking an announcer that seems pretty sinister, so it was a great move from Punk's perspective.
Bleacher Report Insider Scoop: Analyzing CM Punk's New Direction
Night of Champions Fantasy Cards
CM Punk vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship and Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship are already certainties, but since Night of Champions is the only event at which every title must be defended, there is much more to come.
Question on Everybody's Mind: How Could the World Title Picture Have Been Improved?
The vast majority of fans were hoping that the feud between Sheamus and Del Rio over the world title would come to an end after SummerSlam, but based on the way that their match ended with Del Rio's foot being on the ropes during the pinfall, it seemed clear that there was still more to come from one of the most boring feuds in recent memory.
Del Rio regained his No. 1 contendership last week by beating Randy Orton clean and making him submit to the Cross Armbreaker. Even so, nobody believes that Del Rio is a true threat to win the belt, so it would be a shock if Sheamus didn't retain at Night of Champions. This entire rivalry has just been far too predictable and vanilla as a whole.
Ring Rust Radio's Take
On the show we discussed our fantasy card and one thing that all of us wanted to change was the World Heavyweight Championship match. A popular change was to simply eliminate Del Rio from the picture completely and make the match Sheamus vs. Orton. The WWE had the opportunity to do that last week, but chose not to, so that tells me that Orton is still being punished to some degree for his 60-day drug suspension.
Another option was to make it a multi-man match such as a championship scramble featuring Sheamus, Del Rio, Orton, Big Show and a returning Wade Barrett. This would allow the Sheamus vs. Del Rio feud to take its course as Sheamus could pin him and then possibly begin a new feud with a guy like Barrett if he is impressive in the match. The fact of the matter is no matter what change is made, it would almost certainly be better than Sheamus vs. Del Rio again.
Bleacher Report Insider Scoop: Why Sheamus Isn't a Credible World Champion
TNA Tidbits
Question on Everybody's Mind: Is the Bound For Glory Series Booked Poorly?
The Bound For Glory Series is a good idea in theory as it is TNA's answer to the Royal Rumble, but I just don't feel like it has been executed well to this point. It was a total waste of time last year as Bobby Roode was given the win only to lose to an injured Kurt Angle at Bound For Glory. With that in mind, I'm not confident things will be any different this time around.
It almost feels like the creative team uses the Bound For Glory Series as an excuse to not create storylines for essentially every top guy in the company. Instead we have Aces and Eights, an uncertain world title picture with Austin Aries and Roode and pretty much nothing else after that. Additionally, I haven't liked the way that things have been booked in the BFG Series as of late.
Ring Rust Radio's Take
Last week's Impact exposed some real issues with the Bound For Glory Series. Having Robbie E win a triple threat against A.J. Styles and Rob Van Dam was a cop out since Robbie has absolutely no chance to qualify for the playoffs. The worst offense came in the form of Mr. Anderson's final Bound For Glory Series match against Bully Ray, however.
Anderson entered the match 10 points behind the final playoff spot, so he obviously should have been going for a submission since anything else would eliminate him for all intents and purposes.
Despite that, Anderson constantly went for pinfalls against Bully Ray before finally beating him and earning seven points. It made absolutely no sense and tells me that the booking for the Bound For Glory Series is extremely sloppy and not well thought out at all.
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