5/30/12 Raw: Three Up, Three Down

 THREE UP

Brock takes out Triple H
As awkward as the end of last week’s Raw was with the contract signing, Lesnar has been money in show-opening segments since returning. This was no different. Brock initially made me believe he was going to give in to Triple H’s restrictions, conceding all the concessions he demanded from Laurinaitis last week. Plus, I never thought I would see Lesnar making a sad puppy dog face.

Of course, everything changed when Triple H turned his back on Lesnar for just a moment.

4/26/12 Raw: Three Up, Three Down

Raw was a pretty poor show this week. It’s only appropriate that I start with the bad. And there were a lot of bad parts to choose from.

THREE DOWN

Brock Lesnar and John Cena’s contract signing
I imagine Vince and the rest of the WWE brass couldn’t have been too happy with what they saw to close Monday’s three-hour raw. I’m sure they have enough business sense to know when to be patient, and surely this is one of those instances. But they must be at least somewhat troubled by Lesnar’s performance on the mic. It was uninspired and boring, making for a painfully awkward viewing experience. As well all know, Lesnar was never great on the microphone during his first WWE run. Still, it’s fair to expect Brock to put forth material that is more engaging than whatever we saw on Monday.

If something doesn’t change in a hurry,

4/16/12 Raw: Three up, Three down

(Don’t forget to follow No Blogs Barred on Twitter!)
Note: Three up are matches/things/general happenings that were good or went well. Three down are the opposite.

This week’s Raw included a no disqualification match between CM Punk and Mark Henry for the WWE Championship, a UFC-style promo from Brock Lesnar, and Daniel Bryan getting back on the winning track. Which segments were a success, and why?

THREE UP

Mark Henry vs. CM Punk
Never mind that this was the third week in a row these two men met. Henry and Punk once again put on an entertaining match, with this one exceeding three-star quality. In fact, this bout felt like a pay-per-view quality match. Numerous spots were awesome and fairly unique, including:

-Punk’s suicide dive: Punk luring Henry to the outside, only to head back into the ring to spring a dive through the ropes on him, was crafty.

-Punk’s bulldog off the barricade: I couldn’t recall ever seeing this before. Punk’s tightrope act on the barricade into a bulldog was something completely new.

-The finish: Keyed by Henry’s brutal head-first bump with the steel chair in the corner, and finished off with Punk’s chair-assisted elbow drop, the ending was believable. Punk truly had to pull out all the stops to defeat the World’s Strongest Man, and click for more to see the video:

Top five potential WrestleMania 29 matches

(Don’t forget to follow No Blogs Barred on Twitter!)

Here are some of the matches I’d most like to see at WrestleMania 29. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of these matches or which matches you would like to see.

5. Money in the Bank
As someone who attended this year’s WrestleMania, I must say, it was absolutely electric. Since it was my first WrestleMania in-person, I’ll be a little biased and say it’s among the top five of all time. But as cheap as it may sound, you know what was missing the most from this year’s Showcase? A good ‘ole-fashioned spot fest. I think we all would have been in favor of Money in the Bank instead of Team Johnny vs. Team Teddy. This is where you get a payday for all of that mid-card talent and capture the amazing “Holy shit” spots all in one segment. And most importantly, it’s an easy way to elevate younger talent. Have someone like Ziggler or Barrett take the briefcase, that is, if either hasn’t already become World or WWE Champion by next April.

Who should Undertaker’s WrestleMania 29 opponent be? (POLL included)

(Don’t forget to follow No Blogs Barred on Twitter! Seriously. We need followers. It’s sad. But we’ll occasionally make you laugh or say “Hmmm.” Not necessarily at the same time.)

Some people are calling for the Undertaker to put an end to his career following his amazing Hell in a Cell match with Triple H at WrestleMania 28. It makes sense. It was an amazing match, not only already frontrunner for 2012 Match of the Year, but one of the best matches in WrestleMania history. The psychology utilized and the story told truly depicted the “End of an Era,” exactly as the match was billed to be.

The Undertaker won’t be able to have a better wrestling match to go out on. But, I think it’s appropriate that the Undertaker ends his career with a match that we all know, ahead of time, is the end of his career. However that would be conveyed, I’m not sure, but it’s important that Undertaker receives a curtain call that is his and nobody else’s. If anyone in the WWE deserves it, it’s the Undertaker, who has been as dedicated to the company as anyone in its history.

That leaves one question — who should he face at Wrestlemania 29 next April for his final match? Here, I’ll raise some possible opponents and why each would make sense. I’ll start with what I think is the least likely opponent and work my way to the most likely opponent. (Don’t forget to voice your opinion in the poll at the end of this post.)