WWE TV - Week of Sept. 20 2010

Hi all - yes no ITVR this week, time just got away from us. We'll be back next week for sure - in the meantime though lots going on in the world of wrestling and I wanted to take a moment to recap this week.

After a decent pay-per-view which was actually somewhat unpredictable, with at least a few decent matches (and a few others that could have been better, or at least better promoted), we followed up with a Raw that jumped right into promoting WWE's next pay-per-view, Hell in a Cell. Which is a good thing - until you want to get into the rant that this particular PPV is FOURTEEN DAYS, two weeks, after the one just past, Night of Champions. A run of close PPVs used to mean 4 weeks apart; now of late it's been 3 with bigger gaps between No Way Out and Wrestlemania, and over the summer. Now we have two weeks between pay per views (and 'off brand' ones at that - not Rumble, Mania or Summerslam, which traditionally tend to be bigger - although Night of Champions, with every title defended, lends itself to a big show feel), at $45 a pop. And Vince McMahon wonders where on Earth his PPV buys have gone.

Either way though, we set up for next week's Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho match (which actually taped Monday night - so spoilers are out there if you want to find them), and began building towards Randy Orton vs. Sheamus in a Hell in a Cell. We also have John Cena facing Wade Barrett, with the stipulation that Nexus disbands if Cena wins, but Cena joins Nexus if Barrett wins. With one Nexus member kicked out and another out injured, the disbanding of the group is a distinct possibility; however, with more serious talk than ever behind the scenes of a Cena heel turn (now that the cat-calls for it have died down somewhat), that's an intriguing direction in which to go as well. Again, two unpredictable matches at card-top, announced fairly close to the top of the show. Add that to some quality wrestling from Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, the new tag champs Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes, and you had a fairly decent Raw.

On the other end of the spectrum you have Smackdown - which was a pretty lackadaisacle show with the final breakup of the Straight Edge Society as CM Punk and Luke Gallows parted ways (Gallows suggesting he'd celebrate a victory over punk with a beer), and a whole bunch of dejected EmoTaker (thanks Prowrestling.net) shots, thrown in with some further good matches (Dolph Ziggler rarely disappoints, the tag champs were in action again, MVP is always strong), but they weren't enough to make the show compelling or pull us through the last night of Smackdown on MyNetworkTV before jumping to SyFy in the US next week (expect a quality show, as John Cena and the Nexus are expected to make appearances, as well as follow up from Friday's show).

But all of that - both Smackdown and Raw - paled to the interruption of Kane's final promo of the night, as Undertaker's druids wheel out a casket - which we expect to be holding the Undertaker (at least that's how I read it - admittedly, I missed Friday's show in terms of its entirety, but was able to catch up on this and some of the above highlights after hearing about it). When Kane opens the casket, behold ... PAUL BEARER after a 6 year hiatus (a great guy by the way who's been through a lot in the last two years, having lost his wife of 3 decades to cancer - check out his blog by googling Percy Pringle blog). He distracts Kane with the urn while Undertaker sneaks up behind him and beats him ... the 'Father of Destruction', as he is referred to, has reunited with his charge, and all of a sudden this longstanding and not-terribly unique feud has gotten fascinating again. :D

So while really it's only been a one- or two-standout moment week ... they were absolutely standout and if the point was to sell us on next week's broadcasts generally, and next Sunday's PPV in particular (Hell in a Cell? Featuring UT and Kane, with Paul Bearer ringside? I'm there) - it did its job.

One last programming note for US fans - Smackdown has switched, starting next week to the SyFy network. I don't think this will affect us here in Canada as it remains on the Score, but you might want to double-check. Looking forward to seeing you all at the matches - and be sure to check back next Friday-ish as we run down next Sunday's (!) Hell in a Cell show, such as it is at this point.