So here’s an event that hasn’t occurred in YEARS: a title change off the air.
WWE normally reserves the title updates for Pay-Per-Views and the occasional surprise Raw/Smackdown! taping, but during an event this evening in Oakland, CA, Primo and Epico captured the Tag Team Championship, ending the reign of “Air Boom” which started back in August.
It’s Epico’s first title since his debut in November. Primo, alongside Carlito, previously held the World Tag Team, and later Unified WWE Tag Team Championship.
To my memory, the last time a title changed hands at a house show would have been at least 3 or 4 years ago, but I’m likely mistaken.
Don’t read too much in to it, but bear in mind this is coming hot off the heels of Evan Bourne’s recent suspension for the use of synthetic marijuana.
You can tell the WWE is kind of a goofy place to work at just by reading reports and watching YouTube videos of dark matches or house shows, where you get crazy nonsense like 5 man Hell In A Cell matches or tag matches utilizing the entire roster, all in the name of sending the audience home happy. But sometimes, you get things that you just have to see to believe. Continue reading →
Is there a bigger screw up in wrestling than Matt Hardy? Yes, his brother Jeff. Okay, and probably many more, but The Hardy Boys have quickly become infamous for all the wrong reasons with their constant whining and very public battles with substance abuse. But while Jeff (currently still waiting to go to trial on drug trafficking charges, a case which has received nearly two years of extensions) has been fairly quiet since he lost the TNA Heavyweight Championship in the now infamous 30 second match a few months ago at Victory Road, it’s Matt who’s making the news.
According to the North Carolina Highway Patrol, a trooper arrested Matt after he drove his car off the road and struck a tree. Matt wasn’t injured, but the officer noted he was “observing signs of impairment”. Many sources are reporting a blood test is pending, but TNA is having none of it; the company has already FIRED Hardy from the company.
Matt had only been with TNA since January 9th and only had one title shot against Sting, but failed to capture. On June 20th Hardy announced he was taking a few weeks off, but in actuality he was suspended by TNA because he was constantly late to events. As mentioned before, Jeff has been off TV since he appeared in a match against Sting at Victory Road 2011 and appeared to be under the influence. I hate to see them fall this far; I remember being a big fan of The Hardy Boyz back in the WWE, and they had a lot of really great tag matches…but both have fallen far into complete jackass territory, be it whining about old girlfriends and co-workers or ranting about what fans say about them online, so it is hard for me to feel sorry for them. Hopefully we’ll see the duo rebound, but that’s years away if even possible.
It’s worth noting that despite being off TV since March and his on-going drug trafficking court case, Jeff Hardy remains in the employ of TNA/Impact Wrestling, and is still listed on their roster page.
So, SummerSlam happened. And it was actually kind of great. I dug the matches for the most part. Even Orton vs. Christian. Cesar hated it because he hates Christian, but I think he put on a good show, and sold getting his ass handed to him like a champ. Their feud appears to be over (for now), and if recent pictures are any indication we know Orton’s next feud. Continue reading →
We’re back! We took a month off, but Cesar and I returned fully rejuvenated. Well, mostly rejuvenated, Cesar did nearly die; you’ll have to listen to the podcast to hear about that.
And boy, what a month off it was. CM Punk won the title and fled the company for two weeks, only to return and pick up right where he left off. Vince McMahon is gone; his son-in-law, Triple H now runs the company. And now, with Cena having won the WWE title just as CM Punk returned, we have TWO WWE Champions, and they square off this Sunday at SummerSlam to see who has the rights to the new title.
Note that this is the first podcast released under our new banner, Turnbuckle Talk Entertainment. There’s an explanation of that at the end of the podcast. More details as they come.
There’s a lot of catching up, some discussion on releases, and we read some random tweets that aired during the show. Want your tweets read on the air? Send ‘em to http://www.twitter.com/therawreactor, or you can always post on our Facebook wall, and we might read your thoughts on the air next time!
Christ, we love CM Punk. And now we love him even more than usual. CM Punk ended Raw with a mind blowing promo, already being called the best since Stone Cold Steve Austin’s infamous “Austin 3:16″ promo, if not the best in the business.
You obviously can’t hear it when you’re listening to the podcast, so here you go.
Remember, The RAW Reactor is intended for mature audiences only and is meant to be an alternative commentary to Monday Night RAW; for the full effect, start the podcast while you’re re-watching Monday Night Raw, though you can still enjoy us as a traditional podcast. If you like what you here, tell your friends and be sure to like us on Facebook.
For past episodes of The RAW Reactor, or to get the latest episodes as soon as they’re available, make sure you subscribe to us on iTunes.
Lanny Poffo has confirmed to TMZ that his brother, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, died in a car wreck early this morning after suffering a heart attack behind the wheel.
Savage, who was 58 at the time of his death, was one of the biggest names in the WWF in the late 80s and early 90s before jumping ship to WCW, and even spending a brief period of time in TNA Wrestling. Mostly retired, he was about to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of his marriage to his wife, Lynn.
Early reports from the Florida Highway Patrol say Savage was driving the vehicle and his wife was a passenger. Savage veered across into oncoming traffic, and collided head-on with a tree. Savage died later in the hospital; Lynn survived with only minor injuries. At this time, it is unclear if Savage’s death was caused by injuries from the accident, the heart attack, or a combination. They have confirmed both were wearing seatbelts, and alcohol was not a factor in the wreck.
Savage, w/ Miss Elizabeth and WWF Championship
While remembered fondly for his loud and vibrant in ring style and his memorable theme song, “Pomp and Circumstance”, Savage is perhaps best remembered outside of wrestling for his outrageous Slim Jim commercials, and for his role as “Bonesaw” McGraw in 2000′s Spider-Man. Controversially, Savage has been consistently snubbed by the WWE for entrance into the Hall of Fame, and only recently had begun to reunite with the company to promote the game WWE All-Stars.
Savage was a 2 time WWF Champion and 4 time WCW Champion, and won the 1987 King of the Ring tournament, after which he began to call himself the “Macho King”. He was typically accompanied to the ring in the WWF by his first wife Elizabeth Hulette, who was known in the WWF as “Miss Elizabeth”. Savage and Hulette divorced in 1992; Hulette herself died in 2003 at the age of 42.
We’ve mentioned doing this one numerous times during the podcast, but up until now we never got around to it. We had a Friday night free however, and finally decided to give commentaries a shot. If you own a copy of Legendary, just pop it in your DVD player; we’ll tell you when the film is starting on our end.
We had a lot of fun with this one, which was helped a lot by the fact that Legendary is a really, really bad movie, a blatant rip off in most places of The Karate Kid. We hope you guys enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it, and if you’d like to see more commentaries in the future, leave us a comment.
