(12/12-12/18) Week Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Gobbledy

The Good – WWE Champions; Punk, Bryan, Ryder, Rhodes, Air Boom, and Beth Phoenix

After last night the WWE has a set of champions that are all solid in my eyes. We have yet to see how Bryan and Ryder handle being champs, but they definitely have momentum and the fans on their side to succeed. In 2011, Punk skyrocketed to being the promotions second biggest commodity, behind Cena and just ahead of Orton, with his anti-establishment gimmick shining through. Rhodes has turned into one of the top heels the WWE has right now with his old-school comic book villain style. Air Boom has breathed some life into the tag division; now they just need some opponents. Finally, Beth Phoenix has given some legitimacy to the Diva’s title and should get a long run into 2012. Congrats WWE, I think you have satisfied the masses ... for now.

Honorable Mentions:

• On Raw, Big Show smashing a table with both fists, chopping the hell out of Wade Barrett into the ring, and punching a chair shot.
• Christian’s promos on Raw and Tribute to the Troops (Tribute to the Canadian Army!). He’s gold on the mic.
• Primo and Epico beating Air Boom twice this week then winning against another actual tag team in the Usos.
• On Smackdown, the first 15 minutes is worth watching with Cody, Booker, and Bryan. Mark Henry laying out Swagger and a camera man. The shot on the camera man was vicious. Finally, I’m glad WWE is turning Dibiase Jr. face, and he’s spending money to make friends. His heel run didn’t work at all, even with the lovely Maryse by his side.

The Bad and the Gobbledy after the jump.

The Bad – This year’s Tribute to the Troops

Remember when the WWE would travel to Iraq or Afghanistan to entertain the troops? Yeah they stopped doing that last year. How about the show was held outdoors? Nope, not anymore, that too was changed this year. Yes it probably costs a ton to get everything overseas and in a down economy it’s understandable if the WWE wants to save where they can. This was something they shouldn’t have changed though. I thoroughly enjoyed how this show was run for so many years. It felt different, only troops in the crowd with helicopters or tanks surrounding them. Plus it’s outside, something that doesn’t occur much in wrestling. This year’s tribute felt like any other show and has lost its uniqueness.

Honorable Mentions:

• On Superstars, Justin Gabriel does Sabu’s taunt, oh, no, no, no, no. Hunico stands on bike pegs and Haku’s son walk the bike down the ramp, both mean muggin'; this was too funny and almost got the bad of the week.
• On Smackdown, Alicia Fox beats Natalya and then punks her out right after the match. Isn’t Natalya suppose to be a force?
• TNA Impact and ROH’s weekly show were both boring. Nothing jumped out at me at all this week, aside from ROH having three matches.

The Gobbledy – First Hour of Raw

After watching this poor excuse for entertainment, I knew nothing would top it this week. They get an extra hour of TV time to showcase more talent, and it’s just one throw away segment after another. In the first hour we saw J.R try to rap and forget his lines, pointless Slammy Award segments, and Tony Atlas laughing non-stop (what the hell?!). It's crystal clear when creative actually tries and when they just throw something together to fill time. It’s becoming a trend with the three hour shows that the first is straight garbage. I think I’ll just tune at the normal start time in the future.

That's it for the week in review, Cagesiders. What stood out to you from all the shows this past week?