Cubed Circle Newsletter Issue

Cubed Circle Newsletter

Following the huge Mania issue last week, this week we cover the first two rounds of the New Japan Cup, the Raw Rating, Raw and more! This issue may not be as big as last week, but it is still bigger than average and with that I hope you enjoy the newsletter this week.

Monday Night RAW April 9 th 2012

Overall Show Thoughts

This was a good show, the Lesnar stuff worked, although I can’t help but think that it should have been split over two weeks. The Jericho/ Punk stuff was also good, but it didn’t get over to a large extent. I didn’t like the way that the Extreme Rules match was just nonchalantly announced, I wouldn’t say it did direct damage to Extreme Rules, but it definitely made it feel less important. All in all a good show, but it certainly had its flaws

Out came Laurinaitis with David Otunga to awesome new theme music. He introduced what he said was the new face of the WWE, this man was not there to entertain and he will carry the banner for years to come. At this point I thought it was going to be a swerve, but no. Out came Lesnar as clear as day in the opening of the show. Having Laurinaitis bring him out made no sense whatsoever.

As Lesnar made his way to the ring Cole mentioned that he was a former UFC champion, which was surprising. Lesnar thanked Laurinaitis for bringing legitimacy back to the WWE, out came Cena. He smiled and slapped Lesnar, who took Cena down with a double leg takedown. He landed one potato and missed all of the other punches, out came a million men, the locker room emptied. Lesnar broke through again, but was pulled back at this point the mouth of Cena was bleeding which was a great visual. Cena dove at Lesnar, the reaction was

1 good, but nothing even remotely close to that of Miami. Lesnar was dragged out of the ring as they showed a replay of the punch.

Laurinaitis was backstage, he shouted at Long who apparently was supposed to keep Cena away. He said that he wanted an explanation from Cena and that Long go get the explanation from Cena.

1. Dolf Ziggler & Jack Swagger vs. Brodus Clay & Santino Marella

The heel team got the heat on Marella for a while, before Ziggler took the splash from Clay for the win, suffice to say he shouldn’t have been the man that was pinned.

Laurinaitis confronted Long, he wanted to know where Cena was, Long brought Cena in. Cena said that Laurinaitis wanted legitimacy and that Laurinaitis wanted to put Cena out of business. But, Cena wanted and opponent, he said that he could give him an opponent any day any time. So Laurinaitis gave him a match with Otunga for later that night.

Marella plugged the Three Stooges movie with a bunch of geeks looking on. He asked everyone backstage if they were going to watch the movie, until he got to Kane who forced him to retreat.

2. R-Truth vs. Cody Rhodes

Big Show came out and showed the exact same clip from last week, only with footage added in from last week. Rhodes was distracted and predictably walked into a finisher from Truth.

Marella sniffed a fragile container, with the “e” facing the wrong direction, using his analytical prowess to assess this clue on the crate; Marella made the deduction that it was from Italy. The Three Stooges were in the container and they did some slapstick comedy, until they realized that they needed material for the show and they needed to think outside of the box, stepping out of the crate, which was a funny line.

3. Lord Tensai vs. Yoshi Tatsu

The story was that Tatsu was offended that Tensai was calling himself Japanese, despite this it was just a squash, a squash that didn’t really work all that well. The crowd chanted “Albert” at Tensai as he landed some chops, he hit the big back senton as the crowd continued to chant “Albert”, Tensai landed a splash in the corner and some elbow strikes. He finished Tatsu with a slam followed by a referee stoppage, he then applied a claw after the match. From this match, the crowd reaction and the uninspired direction of the Tensai character it is clear that this is not going to work.

Punk came out and said that he wanted to break the silence. He said that many people don’t understand straight edge and that he didn’t do it to be trendy or cool, it is way of life for him. The reason for him being straight edge is something that he has always kept close to himself he said. He didn’t want people to feel sorry for him and that he wanted to make it to the top because he is the best in the world. He said that Jericho tried to destroy his privacy, but he couldn’t get to him. When Jericho’s plans didn’t

2 work and when he made him tap out Jericho went one step to far he said. And when he lay there last week drenched in alcohol, the one thought that stuck in his mind was that he smelt just like his father.

That smell would punch him in the face when he got back from school, he continued, but Jericho interrupted. He said that something is wrong with Punk, he asked if he was hung over. He said that Punk will get used to the taste, because it was easy to trigger his father’s gene. He said that Punk is in denial and he needs to follow the twelve steps to recovery. He finished by saying that the people don’t see the best in the world, they see a looser, he didn’t just force his first taste of alcohol he taught Punk what it was like to be CM Drunk.

Punk said that the only thing that Jericho did was break a bottle over his head and he is going to use his emotions from a dark place on Jericho, it won’t be about being the best in the world it will be about kicking Jericho’s ass he said. Both Jericho and Punk performed well in this segment, but this angle doesn’t seem to be working very well.

4. WWE Championship Match CM Punk vs. Mark Henry

Punk took out his frustrations on Henry hitting Henry on the leg and using the monitor on Henry for the DQ. He went on the apron and almost delivered a monitor shot to Henry, but Jericho came out with cases of alcohol and Punk was attacked from behind by Henry. Punk then took a World’s Strongest Slam in the ring

Jericho opened up a can of beer and poured it on Punk, Punk landed some kicks and unloaded on Jericho, but Jericho landed a code breaker on Punk. Jericho poured beer all over Punk, he screamed “drink it in you son of a bitch!” as the referees came out to stop him. He hit another code breaker on Punk, lifted the world title over his head and left.

5. Alberto Del Rio vs. Zach Ryder

Del Rio finished Ryder with an armbar in a very short match. I found this finish interesting given the fact that Lesnar was on the show and people within the WWE were very interested in the Rousey/Tate fight from a month or two ago. The idea is to give that sort of finish to Del Rio which could be what we were seeing here.

Two of the Three Stooges came out, they were wondering were the third was, out he came dressed as Hogan, doing a perfect Hogan voice. He plugged there movie, there were light boos out came Kane who delivered a chokeslam in a nothing segment.

There was an interview with Henry, he said that he has beaten Punk two weeks in a row and he has a no DQ no count-out match next week with Punk. He said he would be the new World Heavyweight Champion, instead of WWE champion and walked off.

We had another interview segment this time with Lesnar, Matthews asked him if he was proud to be back in the WWE. He said that he left the WWE, a company that he had taken to heights it had never achieved before and went to the UFC and did the

3 same there. He said that Cena couldn’t even hold his jock strap and he was a war machine and an ass kicker and walked off. This was a great mean man, big monster promo.

There was a promo with different wrestlers talking about Undertaker vs. Triple H, Big Show called it the greatest match of all time! Everything may not have been true, but it was a great segment putting over the match well.

6. John Cena vs. David Otunga

The crowd was surprisingly into the match with duelling “let’s go Cena” “Cena sucks” chants. Otunga posed in the ring, but Cena hit the shoulder blocks into the spinout powerbomb, the five knuckle shuffle and finally locked in the STF which Otunga tapped to. Lesnar came out and landed a low blow on Cena from behind, with a very convincing kick. Lesnar got this awesome heelish smirk on his face and landed an F5 on Cena, taunting him with the you can’t see me hand movement to close off the show.

Extremely Disappointing RAW Rating

After the follow up to the Brock Lesnar return on the April 9 th edition of RAW, the expectations for the RAW rating were high. He is a big star, he got a big reaction in Miami and his return was expected to be big and don’t get me wrong it was, in some ways. However the RAW ratings for the RAW following WrestleMania, as well as the RAW the week after the return of Lesnar have been extremely disappointing. And it could be blamed on a number of things.

You could say that because Lesnar was brought out by Laurinaitis on RAW interest automatically dropped, because he was being made into just another guy. Another point that you could make could be the complete nothing announcement for the match at Extreme Rules or that the show was just dull. All of these points could be made, but it seems that this is the result of an underlying problem, one that has been covered extensively in this newsletter and that is the gradual decline in the ratings and PPV buys, probably caused by long term booking.

RAW did a 3.10 rating this week, with a total viewership of 4.29 million viewers. It was down 21% from last year’s show the week after Mania and not only that, but the overrun segment with the Lesnar run in only gained 301,000 viewers with a 3.42 rating, which couldn’t be anything but disappointing. Last year’s RAW overrun segment featured the finals of a gauntlet match with a run-in from Alex Riley and the Miz gained 1,021,000 viewers, which when viewed in contrast with this week’s RAW is an extreme disappointment.

Another disappointing note on the RAW rating was that the Jericho run-in segment lost viewers, which is bad for Punk, Jericho and the program as a whole. The Lesnar takedown and pull apart definitely felt believable and the fact that that didn’t bleed into the rest of the show surprised me. The segment could have been better, suffering some of the same underlying problems as some other segment, but all in all the segment was great.

4 Another problem facing the segment and the show as a whole was the fact that Lesnar and Cena just didn’t feel like the big deal that it should feel like. It opened with Laurinaitis like just any other segment, to Cena smiling after being punched in the face just made it feel like another thing on the show, where it should feel like something really special.

WWE has been trying to spark someone who will catch the business on fire, it happened with Punk for a while, it happened with Nexus, but I am afraid that Lesnar might not even get to that level and even if he does I doubt that it could be sustained. Lesnar does have an aura that practically no one else on the roster has, but that just in the second week is being eroded away.

The Punk and Jericho segment proved another thing, that just about everybody knows and has been proven time and time again, the title doesn’t mean a thing. The fact that the Rock wants the title and Lesnar will probably hold the title during his run, puts a light at the end of the tunnel, but how long that light will last and how bright it will burn are two completely different questions.

The crux of the matter is this, Lesnar is earning a lot of money, money that he doesn’t really “need”, but still he will be earning a lot of money. But, as past events have shown Lesnar doesn’t seem to be fully invested in the business, which could cause problems. But, at the end of the day this is the biggest thing WWE has going for it right now in relation to everything else, but as far as how far they can take it, especially after the match at Extreme Rules. A match that could turn out to be a critical rushed mistake, nobody knows.

RAW Ratings Statistics

I have compiled these stats into a table just to show the decline in the RAW rating:

RAW Night After Mania

Year Rating Overrun Opening Rating Segment 2010 3.67/ 5.53 534,000 Batista and million viewers gained Cena promos viewers Shawn with an Michaels attempted cash Promo in from Swagger (3.75) 2011 3.84/ 5.62 1,504,000 million viewers gained Triple H viewers when Cena promo (3.75 challenged Rock followed by the subsequent Corre run in and beat down (4.55)

5 2012 3.42/ 5.02 1,035,000 Rock promo million viewers gained (3.6) viewers when Brock Lesnar ran in during a Cena promo. (3.9)

RAW Week After Mania

Year Rating Overrun Highest Rated Opening Rating Segment Segment 2010 3.17/ 4.62 3.60/ 613,000 The Miz & Big Jack Swagger/ million viewers gained Show vs. Cena John Cena viewers (facing Miz & Big & David Promo moderate Show vs. Cena Otunga/ 3.60 competition) & David Otunga 2011 3.45/ 5.46 3.91/ Edge Cena/ Orton/ million 1,021,000 Retirement Ziggler/ Truth/ viewers viewers gained following Morrison John Cena vs. Lawler vs. promo segment R-Truth in the Swagger/ 3.67 finals of a gauntlet with a post match run-in from Miz & Riley 2012 3.10/4.29 3.42/ 301,000 Brock Lesnar/ Brock Lesnar million viewers John Cena John Cena pull viewers gained. David apart Otunga vs. John Cena with a Brock Lesnar run-in

Bits & Pieces

New Japan Cup 2012

New Japan Cup Day One 2012/04/01 Amagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium

1. La Sombra vs. YOSHI-HASHI

La Sombra pinned HASHI in 09:41 with the Paquera Tapatio in a pretty nothing match and you know what? It shouldn’t have gone long in the first round. Sombra needed to save his stuff for the next round and it was fine. ** ½

2. Karl Anderson vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Anderson won with a cutter when Tenzan came off of the top rope in 8:00. Again this was another average match, but it still aided Anderson as a singles star. ** ½

3. Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi

Goto won with the Shouten Kai in 09:55 in a competitive and well received match. *** ¼

4. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. MVP

The match was clipped, MVP hit the playmaker for the three count, but Nakamura kicked out late and the match continued in a terrible mess up. Nakamura won with the running knee to MVP on the ground in 09:45, but after that major botch I felt that the match didn’t do much for either man. ** ¼

5. Togi Makabe vs. Lance Archer

Both men brawled on the outside, later on in the match Archer hit a chokeslam, but Makabe nailed the powerslam. Makabe landed a spider German suplex and the gorilla knee for the win in 08:47. ** ½

6. Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata

They brawled on the outside, Taichi who was on the outside hit Nagata with a chair. Taichi was then removed from ringside, they exchanged strikes, but Suzuki landed strikes on Nagata, he slapped Nagata and then laughed. Nagata got angry and landed an elbow on Suzuki, but Suzuki still smirked as both men began to trade strikes. Nagata got super hot and began to trade strikes with Suzuki again. Taichi was back on the apron, but he was knocked off by Nagata. Nagata locked in the crucifix armbar, but Suzuki locked in the sleeper, but Nagata escaped. They exchanged holds, Suzuki went for the Gotch piledriver, but he was body dropped by Nagata. Suzuki went back to the sleeper and hit the Gotch piledriver for the win in 15:31. *** ½

7. Tetsuya Naito vs. Satoshi Kojima

Towards the end of the match Kojima moved out of the way of the star dust splash and landed a lariat to the back of the head. Naito hit a bridging O’Conner roll, but Kojima got out and hit a lariat for two. Naito then got the hammerlock cradle for the win in 17:53. *** ¾

8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano

7 Tanahashi was worked on basically the whole match by Yano, but finally won with the high fly flow in 17:25. It wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but it was fine for day one, plus it told a fun story. *** ¼

New Japan Cup Day Two 2012/04/05 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

All matches in italics were not apart of the New Japan Cup.

1. Jado, Gedo & Tomohiro Ishii vs. KUSHIDA, Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe

There was some comedy selling from Gedo and Jado, the heels proceeded to work over Takahashi. Takahashi made his comeback, KUSHIDA got the hot tag and landed a double handspring back elbow, but Jado kicked out. Takashi and Watanabe were taken out by Ishii, Ishii and Watanabe then began to exchange elbows leading up to a big lariat by Ishii on Watanabe for the win in 08:52. ** ½

2. Yuji Nagata, Wataru Inoue, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, Lance Archer, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi

Nagata and Takayama exchanged strikes, the heel team worked on Liger, the tag was made to Tiger mask, but he was worked on by the heel team of Takayama, Archer, Michinoku and Taichi. Inoue and Nagata were in, Inoue hit a spear and pescado onto Archer on the outside. Liger took Michinoku out, Tiger then hit a tombstone piledriver and tiger suplex on Taichi for the win in 08:18. ** ½

3. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi

They brawled on the outside right off of the bat, Iizuka used chairs on Tenzan on the outside. Tenzan sold and was worked on by HASH, Iizuka and Yano. Tenzan finally made the hot tag to Kojima who unloaded on Iizuka with a million Kobashi chops. The crowd was super into the match at this point. Kojima landed an elbow on Iizuka for two. Taguchi and Yano went at it, Yano went for a spinebuster, but it was countered into a rollup by Taguchi for two. Taguchi came off of the top with a springboard, he was caught by Yano, but he got a roll up. Yano lost his balance as both men went shuffling backwards in a fun, all be it botched spot. Yano landed a low blow and roll up on Taguchi for the win in 10:34. ** ½

After the match Tenzan landed an accidental lariat on Kojima going for Yano. Yano then landed a low blow on both men and left with the IWGP tag team championships.

4. Kazuchika Okada, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi vs. MVP, Captain New Japan & Tama Tonga

8 I found it strange that Okada the IWGP heavyweight champion was in this match, but it worked fine as the face team worked on Yujiro. New Japan actually landed some offense on Okada which I found very strange. New Japan got way too much offense in, Tonga got an Alabama slam on Takahashi, but it was broken up by Tanaka who hit a brainbuster for two. Tanaka pinned Tonga in 11:18 with a sliding elbow. ** ¼

5. Hirooki Goto vs. La Sombra Sombra landed a topé con giro off of the apron. Later on in the match Sombra attempted a couple of rollups in a series of great near falls. Sombra landed a top rope moonsault to the outside. Goto and Sombra exchanged near falls, Sombra landed a few more great roll ups. Goto got a lariat for two, followed by the Shouten Kai for the win in 09:51. *** ¼

6. Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

This match really solidified Anderson as a singles competitor. Anderson looked great in the match, they exchanged a million near falls, the crowd was into every spot leading up to the crescendo where Anderson hit the gun stun in 15:22. ****

7. Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki

Suzuki and Makabe exchanged slaps; Suzuki took out the leg of Makabe in the ropes with a dragon screw and then began to work on Makabe on the outside. Taichi interfered, pressing a chair up against the throat of Makabe, but he was removed from ringside by the referee. Suzuki landed a knee on Makabe, Makabe got worked up, but he sold the leg and was worked on still. Makabe hit a modified Death Valley driver. Suzuki hung Makabe on the top rope with a front facelock. Suzuki locked in a sleeper, Makabe escaped, but collapsed enabling a near fall. Suzuki and Makabe exchanged strikes and Makabe landed a lariat followed by a second huge one for two. Makabe placed Suzuki on the top rope and landed the spider German suplex and gorilla knee for the win in 13:44 in a very fun match. *** ½

8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito

This was obviously a rematch of the great Naito/ Tanahashi match from last year for the IWGP title. Tanahashi got a schoolboy right out of the gate, but Naito kicked out at two and rolled to the outside. The crowd chanted for Tanahashi and Naito. Tanahashi rolled out to the outside and slammed Naito’s leg against the turnbuckle. Tanahashi locked in a submission on Naito, who got to the ropes, but Tanahashi held on. Naito landed a dropkick to the leg of Tanahashi, followed by another dropkick

9 and one from the top rope. Naito locked in a figure four, but the referee was force to break the hold. Tanahashi landed a dragon screw and a high fly flow to the outside. Naito went for a superplex, but they exchanged elbows and Naito was headbutted off of the top rope. Tanahashi went for the high fly flow, but Naito got the knees up and locked in a figure four. Tanahashi willed himself to the ropes, Naito went up to the top and landed a dropkick to the back of Tanahashi and hit a bridging German suplex for two. Naito went for the stardust splash, but Tanahashi moved out of the way. Naito landed a big crossbody and a frankensteiner, but Tanahashi rolled through into a rollup for two. Tanahashi went for a German suplex, but Naito landed on his feet and got a rollup for two. Naito went for a German suplex of his own, but Tanahashi rolled him up for two. Naito and Tanahashi were back to their feet, Naito landed an enzuigiri and Tanahashi slapped Naito as both men went down. They exchanged strikes on their knees and they worked to their feet while Tanahashi hit elbows. Naito landed some strikes in his exchange, but Tanahashi rolled Naito up for the win in 18:21. In a great match, it wasn’t as good as the first, but in its defence this was a New Japan cup match and not an IWGP championship match. Still, this is a highly recommended match. **** ¼