Mr. Bonesaw and Spaceman Frank chat about the recent incidents regarding the Jimmy Snuka murder trial, Zahra Schreiber’s inappropriate photo, and the build to WWE Night of Champions so far in the second installment of this podcast.
Tag Archives: Bray Wyatt
Manopera – Ep. 1: WWE SummerSlam 2015 Extravaganza
Welcome to Manopera – A Wrestling Symposium. Join hosts Chris “Mr. Bonesaw” Butera and “Spaceman” Frank Hickey (aka Frank Lucci) as they discuss professional wrestling with brutal honesty.
In this premiere episode, the boys lay the SmackDown on WWE’s epic SummerSlam weekend in Brooklyn, NY. Witness Butera’s first-hand accounts of NXT Takeover and last week’s Monday Night Raw as well as Lucci’s commentarial thrills, spills and chills.
Bonesaw Podcast – Episode 17: Chris and Frank Shoot on WWE Battleground 2015
In the words of WWE Hall-of-Famer Pat Patterson, Chris and Frank “go banana” on WWE Battleground and the current state of affairs regarding Hulk Hogan and the untimely death of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper (for whom this episode is dedicated to). The boys are also joined briefly by former college roommate Marques “Box” Younger for his thoughts on the subjects in this no-holds-barred podcast.
WWE Battleground Predictions
After a much needed five-week break, WWE starts up the second half of its calendar year this Sunday with Battleground.
Taking place at the Scottrade Center in Saint Louis, MO; the event looks promising. Here are our predictions for the evening.
Kickoff – King Barrett vs. R-Truth: Barrett started the year as Intercontinental Champion and became the first King of the Ring in years. To most people this meant big things were on the horizon for the Bare Knuckle Brawler. Creative on the other hand, had other plans. Barrett has become in a meaningless opening cared feud with R-Truth over R-Truth mocking his kingship. While we think Barrett is going over in a decent match, he deserves better.
WWE Tag Team Championships Match – The Prime Time Players (c) vs. The New Day: The two teams have a decent rivalry going and have the full attention of the WWE Universe. If the two teams get decent time they will put on a clinic. It would have been better to see The New Day lose their titles at SummerSlam, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. The Prime Time Players are a hot commodity and are going to successfully defend at Battleground.
Randy Orton vs. Sheamus: Even though this match comes off as filler, Orton and Sheamus will push each other to the limits. Since winning the Money In The Bank Briefcase Sheamus has not really done a whole lot and a win over The Viper would elevate the Irish brawler. However benficial that may be, we think Orton is still going to walk away with the victory.
WWE United States Championship Match – John Cena (c) vs. Kevin Owens: This is the match we’ve all been waiting for. These two modern day gladiators have put on two classic matches and creative have carefully built this beautiful feud. The only concern everyone has is the payoff. If all this was is another Cena “defying the odds” angle, the Saint Louis crowd could riot. For the love of God, win Owens, win.
Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt: The promo work has been better than expected between these two as the Eater of Worlds has chosen to make this feud personal for Reigns. Threatening family and friends, Wyatt is looking to torture Reigns. It would be interesting to see Wyatt walk away with the three count, but it’s a little more likely he will be doing the job after an exciting encounter.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match – Seth Rollins (c) vs. Brock Lesnar: Why couldn’t WWE wait for SummerSlam to pull the trigger on this one? The build has been incredible. Watching Lesnar destroying J and J Security’s car was priceless. Rollins is playing the excellent ass-kissing heel to a t. Paul Heyman has been visceral in his promos. It would have made more sense for this to take place at WWE’s number two show of the year, but we’re getting it a month early instead. Lesnar is going to dominate, but Rollins is going to pull all the stops a-la Ric Flair and win. It won’t be clean, but we don’t see Lesnar repeating his title reign of last year.
Bonesaw Podcast: Episode 14 – Chris And Frank Shoot On WWE Money In The Bank
Chris and Frank continue to push the envelope as they sound off on this year’s WWE Money In The Bank Pay-Per-View. Our hosts discuss what they enjoyed, question a few angles, and pay tribute to the late, great Dusty Rhodes in this whimsical podcast.
Thoughts on WWE Fastlane
Sunday night, the WWE Universe saw Roman Reigns defeat Daniel Bryan in a clinic, Bray Wyatt call out The Undertaker, Stng and Triple H confirming a Wrestlemania match and Rusev dominating John Cena. Here are our thoughts on Fastlane overall.
The event for the most part was solid although some of the finishes were awkward (Goldust vs. Stardust, Dean Ambrose vs. Wade Barrett) due to some clumsy officiating.
Randy Orton’s return was much needed as it gave Fastlane the much needed jump start to pump the crowd for the rest of the evening. Orton RKOing everyone in sight was a great touch that people sorely missed. Ziggler and Rollins told a great story in the ring with all the big men playing their babyface and hell personas well, ending with a clever heel finish no one saw coming.
Cesaro and Tyson Kidd taking the Tag Team titles from The Usos was a pleasant surprise as the story was built to look like The Usos would come out on top as they usually do. Hopefully a promising run will follow for the new team as they delivered some solid in-ring action with the flying Samoans. With the way things went on Raw, this angle is definitely not over.
Nikki Bella succeeded in defending her Divas Championship against Paige which was the right way to go. Paige needs to pull off the big win at Wrestlemania for the true payoff.
Goldust and Stardust put on a solid encounter relying heavily on psychology. The match had an old look to it as it was slow paced with short bursts of action thrown in. The finish however, was very awkward as the referee not only hesitated the final count but may not have actually hit the three before he called the match. If Fastlane was the warm-up, Wrestlemania had better contain round two for the Dust brothers.
Dean Ambrose and Wade Barrett also had a decent showdown built around psychology, but it too suffered an odd finish due to officiating. While the disqualification rule was accurate, no five count was given by the referee which may have had many scratching their heads. Ambrose stealing the Intercontinental title was a nice touch and a slick reference to Stone Cold and The Rock’s 1997/1998 feud over the coveted championship. The Fatal Four Way (teased on Raw) would be a great addition to the title hunt scenario.
Rusev asserted dominance and brute force in his victory over John Cena in his United States Championship defense. Cena sold well for Rusev and made him look like a million bucks. The two told a great story though it was slightly soured with the low blow. It looked like there would be more to Lana’s involvement but the right man went over in this case. Cena defeating Rusev at Wrestlemania would not damage the Bulgarian Brute because its purpose would be to give the crowd one of the many “feel good moments” Wrestlemania is known for.
Before we get to Bryan and Reigns, there were two excellent segments between Bray Wyatt, Sting and Triple H.
Wyatt mimicking The Undertaker’s classic entrance was perfect and completely unexpected. Having The Eater of Worlds deliver the best promo of his career in the casket was one of the smartest things WWE could have done to build this angle. Wyatt is on the road to a bright future with WWE if they continue to push him as a supernatural monster. Having said that, Wyatt should not defeat Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Leave the one in 21-1 alone.
Triple H cut a scathing promo on Sting, shooting on how WCW did because of people like him. This needed to be a worked shoot and it definitely was as H dug his proverbial claws into the soul of Sting, who watched with fire in his eyes. Just as it looked that the Cerebral Assassin would annihilate Sting with his trusty sledgehammer, The Vigilante had him dead to rights with the baseball bat. Utilizing his master’s degree in (in-ring) psychology, Sting issued his challenge without words in what was surely one of the finest moments in WWE history.
Finally, the main event.
Reigns and Bryan delivered a stunning performance that had the WWE Universe on the edge of their seats for the entire ride. The finish was unpredictable as the tide could have turned either way on the contenders. Bryan looks more and more like Shawn Michaels every time he laces up those boots. Reigns was pushed to the limit and looked great in what was easily the best match of his career so far. The right man won the battle with a good, clean win. Reigns will challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 31, and we can’t wait.
WWE TLC 2014 Thoughts
As usual, WWE ended 2014 with a bang. Unfortunately, that bang was in the form of an exploding TV that cost Dean Ambrose his TLC match against Bray Wyatt.
Ambrose gave Wyatt the beating of his life, elbow dropping his opponent through a table from a ladder multiple times before finding a TV under the ring. The TV was not only plugged in, but it also gave Ambrose the idea to go for the biggest ladder he could carry. He then dropped the big elbow off that giant ladder onto Wyatt through the Spanish announcer’s table.
Dragging Wyatt into the ring, Ambrose readied to finish him off with the TV, but it was plugged in and prevented the blow. Then it exploded after Ambrose tried again. Wyatt then hit Sister Abigail and that was all she wrote.
Two things can be said of this. One: who leaves a TV under the ring? And two: there is no way any of us are to believe someone can be that stupid.
The Kickoff match was well done with Goldust and Stardust really delivering their offense and executing their heel tactics beautifully. They get better every night. The New Day predictably got the win, but the match was solid. Hats off to these teams for getting the crowd pumped up.
Dolph Ziggler and Luke Harper put on the match of the night in an excellent Ladder match with Ziggler stealing the show and the Intercontinental Championship in his home city.
The Miz and Damien Mizdow had a decent encounter with the Uso’s for the Tag Team Championship with a logical DQ finish. The inclusion of Jimmy Uso’s real life wife Naomi into the storyline is interesting and will add real life situations into play if done right. Mizdow is slowly becoming a fan favorite with his antics and will hopefully get his shining moment down the road.
The Divas Championship match was also a decent match with a logical conclusion of Brie Bella’s interference and Nikki Bella taking advantage of a referee’s blind spot with a foreign object.
The Steel Stairs match between Big Show and Erick Rowan was much better than expected with good use of the stairs. This was a tough match to work but the two superstars did a great job with what they had.
Kane and Ryback’s Chairs match on the other hand, was pretty boring and predictable. Ryback was dominant, lots of chair shots and way too long.
Jack Swagger and Rusev’s United States Championship encounter also was very predictable. It’s clear that there are big plans for Rusev, but the “foreign oppressor vs. patriot” angle is getting old. We need to see more layers to the Rusev character.
Last but not least, John Cena once again overcame the odds and defeated Seth Rollins in a Tables match – securing his number one contender spot to face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship yet again.
You didn’t have to watch WWE programming since SummerSlam to figure that out.
It is nice to see Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury playing the parts of Rollin’s lackey’s perfectly. These guys were the best part of the match.
It was also nice to see Roman Reigns back in action as he saved the day for Cena and is moving into a nice feud with Big Show for the time being. Having said that, Reigns returning at the pay-per-view before the Royal Rumble was a mistake as he would have had a much better reaction at the Rumble en-route to victory.
Perhaps WWE is saving that reaction for the return of Daniel Bryan.
WWE TLC 2014 Predictions
Another year has come and gone which means Wrestlemania season is just around the corner. As is tradition, WWE will make sure 2014 goes out with a bang in this year’s installment of their annual TLC pay-per-view. Below are our predictions for the winners of each match.
The New Day vs. Goldust and Stardust (TLC Kickoff)– While the cosmic duo sets its sights on the darkening of The New Day, we at The Bonesaw feel that since The New Day has debuted very recently, it is likely that they will prevail against the brothers Dust. Expect a good back and forth with plenty of tag team twists and turns as both teams have great chemistry with their partners and deliver unique offenses. The one variable is which two members of The New Day will be doing the brawling. Our money’s on Big E and Kofi Kingston due to their more direct confrontations with Gold and Stardust.
Nikki Bella (c) vs. AJ Lee (Divas Championship Match) – A re-match for the championship that should (hopefully) last longer than their Survivor Series encounter. These two young women will make the match as interesting as they can with the time they are given but it a tough call due to the constant flip-flopping of the title. History tells us Lee will regain her championship, but we predict Bella. One thing’s for sure: sister Brie will have some involvement in the outcome.
The Miz and Damien Mizdow (c) vs. The Uso’s (WWE Tag Team Championships Match) – A tag match that will be entertaining due to The Uso’s hybrid style and Mizdow’s hilarious antics. Chances are the champions will retain, but just barely as The Uso’s will outmaneuver the self proclaimed “A-lister” and his goofy “stunt double.”
Luke Harper (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler (Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship) – Ladder matches are notorious for death-defying spots and hard hitting action. Harper and Ziggler will put their bodies on the line with an intense showing of instestinal fortitude. The two rising stars will put on a heart-stopping clinic that will culminate in Ziggler winning back his championship.
Rusev (c) vs. Jack Swagger (United States Championship Match) – Aside from their characters being natural enemies, Rusev and Swagger have shown great chemistry in their feud. TLC will be no different when stars, stripes and sickles clash again for the United States championship. The Bonesaw believes Rusev will again conquer the good ol’ U.S. of A. – but would enjoy seeing Swagger knock off the Bulgarian Brute as it would greatly benefit his career.
Ryback vs. Kane (Chairs Match) – The inclusion of a Chairs Match is very unnecessary in any circumstance. The feud of Ryback and Kane is probably a short placeholder that would fare better with a regular match or a no-disqualification stipulation. The match will be decent if it is not given too much time. If we see more than 10 minutes, this could turn into a stinker. It is very likely that Ryback will continue his rampage.
Erick Rowan vs. Big Show (Steel Stairs Match) – Similar to Ryback vs. Kane, this very shoehorned in match with a steel stars stipulation rather than chairs might be decent if given a short length. Fans would much rather see Rowan battle his former tag team partner Harper, but it is what it is. The Big Show is almost a lock to win this one.
Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt (Tables Ladders & Chairs Match) – This match will steal the show. It will be as violent as PG programming will allow and the in-ring psychology will tell a fantastic story. Wyatt will endure the beating of his life, but The Eater of Worlds will defeat the unstable one in order for the feud to continue. The promos alone are too good to stop this freight train now.
John Cena vs. Seth Rollins (Tables Match) – It should be noted that should Cena lose, he also loses his no. 1 contender spot against Brock Lesnar for the WWE title. Not to Rollins, but to an unknown challenger to be announced at a later date. Seeing as Rollins is in possession of the Money in the Bank briefcase, the match is more about a notch on his belt as he will get his championship match whenever and wherever he likes until the next Money in the Bank pay-per-view. It will be a hard fought battle and a great main event, but chances are Cena will find his can of spinach and emerge victorious yet again. Having said that, we really hope Rollins wins.
The Bonesaw 