Extreme Rules and Raw last night

Quick note off the top: In This Very Ring would like to extend its condolences to the family and friends of 'Mr. Hito', best known as a wrestler in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling and as one of Bret Hart's trainers. Hito passed away today in his 80s.

Hi guys. So just some quick hits as I've got a lot of real-life stuff to take care of tonight. But we've had a couple major WWE happenings so I wanted to address them before movin' on (apologies to TNA - we were draft-hungry last night but we'll catch back up with you next week).

In no particular order then ...

EXTREME RULES

• A good pay per view with some definite bright spots. I'm a bit sorry they needed to make so many excuses for Triple H losing to Sheamus on the one hand, starting with the attack on him early in the show - but as Trips has some injuries for which the WWE is looking to write him out, and Sheamus was the best pick to go over anyway, etc. it all worked out for the best. Kudos to Trips for selling the arm injury and allowing himself to get beaten down so badly/look so vulnerable by evening's end.
• I wish they'd at least hinted at the WWE tag titles being defended, but it was a fun enough gauntlet match and I loved that Bret came out to support his niece/nephew/quasi-nephew (although Bret honey, with your daughter's due date imminent, are you sure you want to be on the road as consistently as you have been?).
• The matches were predictable in a sense (I don't think Ari and I got one prediction wrong this time around, except maybe Cryme Tyme), but well-done. Orton-Swagger, Edge-Jericho, Trips-Sheamus, Beth-Michelle McCool, heck even Cryme Tyme were all at least passable for what they were meant to do, and were all very different. A good PPV overall.
• Oh and I have to throw this out there - kudos to Pro Wrestling Torch's PPV predictor dude (name escapes me at the moment), who not only predicted John Cena's world title retention, but that he'd tie Batista up to do so. Wow man, that's like, spooky.
  

RAW

• Let's start with the draft: this draft left Raw incredibly powerful as Smackdown lost such players as Edge and Chris Jericho, John Morrison and R Truth; but Smackdown also gained Kofi Kingston, as well as MVP (through the supplemental draft), and let's not downplay the importance of their acquisition of Kelly Kelly and Hornswoggle and Chavo Guerrero ... (tumbleweed). And yes, the Hart Dynasty heading on over to Raw is a loss in a sense too, but remember as tag champs they'll be fighting on both brands, and the stronger women's division is on Raw, so this will give Natalya a chance to get back into wrestling as well if they so choose (not that she and Beth Phoenix, or she and Michelle McCool couldn't have danced well either ...). And let's look at the logic; Smackdown is switching networks to SyFy in October, so perhaps loading their brand would have been logical; the flipside of that is, that's still a long ways away. No saying they can't do some deck shuffling come the fall if need-be. Meanwhile, Smackdown runs unopposed while Raw faces competition from TNA (although admittedly not much, from a ratings standpoint). Keep the flagship strong for the time being, and bolster SD when it has its big SyFy rollout in the fall.
• Some fun matches, with the reappearance of CM Punk's mystery man (oh right ... didn't mention that a guy from under the ring helped CM Punk win his match against Rey Mysterio Jr.), the three-way for the #1 contendership (and yes John Cena was back in 'cute' mode arranging this, but it worked this time as he hasn't pulled that in awhile), and the tag title match delivering the belts to the Hart Dynasty was also good. Promos were entertaining as well, at least mildly so - particular shouts out to Ted Dibiase Jr. and R Truth on their 'looking for a new Virgil' skit. Check it out if you missed it. SO funny.

So basically, good shows on both fronts - not necessarily ones I remember every last detail of every last promo and match from, but some, and they still left me entertained. They flowed well, and Raw definitely didn't hurt for taking a week off from the guest host concept. They will welcome Whose Line is it Anyway? alumnus Wayne Brady to host next week - this has potential. Be sure and check it out. And be sure and check out our podcast Thursday night. :) Have a good night and we'll see you again soon ... In This Very Ring.