TNA Bound for Glory 2012

Slammiversary is here. 

TNA Title: Austin Aries d. AJ Styles

X Title: Bobby Roode d. Joey Ryan

Tags: Tex Mex d. Aces&Eights

Samoa Joe d. Kurt Angle

Jeff Hardy d. RVD

Chavo Guerrero d. Zema Ion

Magnus d. Al Snow

Styles/Ryan d. Aries/Roode

Let's start from the bottom; this is the TNA version of the parejas increibles match that was a Summer Slam staple for several years - it's Champions v. Challengers.  Aries and Roode, both heels, break down while AJ and newcomer Joey Ryan (not doing the pornstache gimmick, he's veteran indie babyface Joey Ryan getting his big break) work well together and Ryan pins the longtime X division champ.  Magnus is the Magnus character; he beats Al, playing the Al character.  2 Time IC Champ Chavo is respected veteran babyface making his TNA debut - he beats punky junior Ion trying to make his bones.  Jeff turned heel on former partner Van Dam and in the build for BFG his approach was that after all these years he's finally woken up; he doesn't have anything against Van Dam - in fact, he wants him to wake up too.  Here, that's what Jeff keeps yelling at Van Dam during the match - that he needs to wake up; Jeff cheats to win.

Angle, fighting for his career against the Horsemen who have been ending them, beat Joe at Slammiversary but loses here.  It's a feud that must continue.  Aces&Eights are 4 masked guys doing the biker gimmick; they aren't trying to take over the company, they just want the tag belts - Storm/Hernandez keep, but then get beaten down by the group - there's a babyface save by the Dudleys, two of the masked men get away, but the Duds and Tex Mex beat down and unmask Luke Gallows and Mike Knox.  

Roode, with Williams in his corner, beats Ryan - they then beat him down until a face save by Chavo- who the announce notes is a former Horseman himself.  

And Aries keeps the title - beating AJ, the goal is the babyface loses but we still give him a standing ovation postmatch anyway - and he's comforted in the ring by Daniels and Kazarian as the show ends.  

Real World Lockdown will mean Counterfactual Final Resolution to end calendar 2012; Austin Aries taking on Chris Daniels in your main event.  

Road to WWF 100: Royal Rumble 2012

(Outside of our narrative, this is the 7^th anniversary of the Counterfactual; over that time I’ve changed jobs and gotten married – and that was just in 2012.  I’ll be here another year if you will.  Even if you won’t, I’ll still be here.  I got nowhere else to go.)

Survivor Series 2011 was here.

We’re headed to WWF 100, the 100^th PPV in World Wrestling Federation history – Royal Rumble 2012.

And we have a disputed commissionership; Steve Regal, head trainer for Underground, currently possessing each title belt in the WWF was promised by outgoing Commissioner Bret Hart that he would be his replacement, but they had a falling out – and at the close of Survivor Series it was Mick Foley, making his return and bringing with him GDI (with the two newest members, the Kings of Wrestling) who was named Commissioner.

The only resolution – War Games, to be contested on a Fight Night say a month after Survivor Series. 

The stips increase, if GDI wins, whomever gets the submission gets the WWF Title shot against Nemeth at the Rumble.  If Underground wins, whomever submits can’t wrestle anywhere in North America for a year.   

There are pre-tapes where each side is selected.  I want that done away from the ring. 

Regal pretty quickly picks Nemeth, Sheamus, Barrett, and McIntyre.  He then explains why he isn’t picking Gabriel or Riley (Empire has to defend the belts at WWF 100, War Games is a brutal match, they want to make sure at least two members are at full strength). He explains why he isn’t picking any of the Douchebags (sometimes, what happens outside the cage in a War Games can determine the result; Michael Cole will tell them what to do). He doesn’t need to explain why he isn’t picking DiBiase.  

DiBiase’s not there.

Why?

At SSeries, Orton got his mojo back; the Fight Night right after the PPV was he and DiBiase – Orton beat him and then punted him with the Golden Goal. 

Then it gets tougher – that leaves Kidd, Black, Ambrose.

Regal says he can’t pick Kidd and Black, then shows a tape – it’s of another War Games for control of the WWF, this one between Steamboat and the 51% Solution, with Regal turning on Team Steamboat and intentionally throwing the match to the heels. 

No one knows the potential for skullduggery in a War Games like Regal – and it isn’t that he doesn’t trust Kidd and Black, but the risk is too high.  Kidd understands, Black does not – Black’s been with Underground since after Mania – what does he have to do to prove himself?

Regal says maybe they find out at War Games.  But he won’t be the fifth man – that’s going to be Ambrose.

Team Underground is set.

The selection process is similar with GDI, but it starts with Steamboat bringing someone to speak to the crew – Dean Malenko.

He shows the tape of his submitting in another War Games match; that submission ended his career.  Malenko says in the NWA he and Benoit and Eddy and Jericho were in the same spot – all World Champions, all with success around the world – those three came to the WWF and won Triple Crowns, Dean never won a single thing.  War Games ends careers – make sure they’re prepared to be the one who loses before they volunteer for the mission.

Steamboat asks for volunteers – everyone raises his hand.

First two are easy – Punk and Danielson.  Steamboat says he also wants the Kings of Wrestling.  He turns to Sydal/Tatsu says he needs them outside, no one knows Cole and Douchebags like they do. 

But that’s everyone.  No one left.  That means the fifth man will be a mystery.

Fun!

More build – on RAW they do a full face off for a coin flip for who will get the man advantage – it’s Underground. 

And GDI is able to goad Nemeth into saying that he will be the first man in the ring (because he’s not scared of nobody, get it?)

They establish the psychology; will Underground be tight, fearful, no one wanting to be the one to cost Regal control of the WWF?  Will GDI turn on each other – everyone wanting to be the one who wins to get the shot, no one wanting to suffer the penalty of losing.

And then it’s time.

First into the cage is Nemeth, the World Champion.

Next is Punk – who obviously feels cheated given how Nemeth took the belt from him and, one notes, he’s never gotten a rematch.

Next is McIntyre. 

Then Hero.  Hero and Punk working together in late 2011 WWF.

Then Sheamus – reuniting the Hooligans who do some double team stuff. 

Then Claudio – the Kings square off against the Hooligans while Punk fights Nemeth.

That’s when the Douchebags hit the ramp – there are five of them and only Sydal/Tatsu for GDI, which is about right given who is involved, they get in some brawl and then the entire security force moves them all to the back.

Then Barrett.

Then Danielson – but not Danielson, because he’s stomped out on the ramp by Kidd and Black, they leave him laying – medical helps him to the back – meaning when Ambrose comes to the ring next, it’s 5 on 3 for Underground, and just desperate times for GDI, Douchebags cleared security out of the way allowing Kidd and Black to prove their loyalty and now here we are – we don’t know who the fifth man for GDI will be, but we know it’s not Kidd or Black, and it will need to be a game changer, because it’s 5-3.

It is.

It’s Swagger.

Swagger hits the cage and suplexes everyone in the ring on his way to Nemeth, his former partner, who hits his knees to beg off – and that’s enough time for the an Underground recovery, quickly enough they get control again, given the 5-4 advantage – there’s a spot where it looks like Hero will have to submit to Sheamus but Punk saves him - all looks lost until Danielson emerges from the back, limping his way to the ring, he does the superhero thing and soon has McIntyre in the Cattle Mutilation – Punk has the opportunity to break it up (so Danielson isn’t the one who gets the shot) but instead blocks Nemeth from doing the same thing and McIntyre taps. 

GDI wins.  Mick Foley is the new WWF Commissioner.  Bryan Danielson will wrestle Nick Nemeth for the WWF Title at WWF100.  As Danielson realizes what Punk has done, he finally accepts him into the GDI fold – and for the first time the entire group is on the same page.  It is Steamboat and Danielson with the full compliment of GDI behind them challenging for the WWF Championship at WWF100.  Will the "best wrestler in the world" finally grab the top prize in the sport?

Let’s fill out the rest of the card.

Sheamus defends the IC against the Miz.  Miz is the last man standing in the Clique; Sheamus, the Clique Killer, has seemingly ended the careers of Edge, Christian, and now Nitro.  Also gone is Natty, she leaves with Nitro after Survivor Series.

So it’s just Miz, the last man standing, against Sheamus.

At WWF 100, every wrestler/valet/announcer who has ever been a part of the previous 99 PPVs is invited  to return.  That’s going to mean you should expect everyone not dead or with TNA (except for one guy with TNA, who WWF was able to use at an event in 2012, you may recall) to attend.  As we get closer, one of the selling points is a first time ever uniting of the entire Clique.  Do you want to see the whole Clique together for the only time ever?  Do you want to buy the t-shirt? Only on Pay Per View at WWF 100.

With the spirit of WWF history in the air, Foley announces the challengers to Empire for the tag belts.  

Two WWF veterans both with a grudge against Underground – Booker T and Jerry Lawler.

(Both were assaulted by Underground). 

It’s a last ride situation for both guys, and for Lawler his first ever chance at any belt in the WWF.  

With all those WWF veterans in attendance, wouldn’t it be something to see Lawler/Booker take the tag belts.

And that’s the matchup all the way until the go home RAW, when Orton (not booked for 100) angrily confronts Foley in the ring – he’s just another corporate puppet, he’s just another example of a guy Orton’s hated his whole life, a guy who used to be something but now he tells people who are something what to do.

They hash out that what Orton wants is in on the tag match with the current version of Defiance. 

Foley says he didn’t know Orton had a partner. 

Cue the new partner – Cody Rhodes. Rhodes, as you've seen since Mania, feels slighted by the WWF, and that's what's drawn he together with Orton.  

Orton and Rhodes, Defiance, make the tag title match a three way.

4 singles matches.

Punk and Cena rematch – they had a draw at Survivor Series, for Cena it’s the biggest match in his life (essentially the same build as the prior show) not only wrestling a 3 time WWF Champion, but doing so at WWF 100 in front of the legends who built this sport.  Punk doesn’t much care about the legends who built the sport, doesn’t much care about WWF 100 – he cares about himself and GDI.  Punk isn’t there to prove anything to the legends, he’s there to beat John Cena.  Cena drapes himself in the promotion's history and heritage as we get closer to 100, Punk's the guy who threw down the WWF Title belt - and he's made every apology he's ever going to make already.  If that's not good enough for some of the legends returning at 100, then screw 'em.  

McIntyre needs to prove himself after submitting in War Games; he hates that he’s let Regal down – he demands to go into WWF 100 in a not enviable match – against Jack Swagger.  Swagger was only marginally effective at War Games after that initial burst – his obsession with Nemeth his only concern.  

Swagger’s first singles match in over a year will be at WWF 100.  He only promos in pre-tape, because that lisp is hard to manage, ideally he radiates a single minded hatred for Nemeth.  

Following War Games, Sydal/Tatsu began to slowly get some payback against Douchebags – and that culminates in Tatsu’s facing Heath Slater at WWF 100. It's expected that Sydal and Ryder may find their way to become involved - and the match is made No DQ.

Young Money wrestles again; this time in a cage – Foley says he appreciates a man’s need to get to his shift at Ikea, but Killings isn’t escaping this time; it’s Kingston and Killings in a cage at WWF 100.  Foley uses a lot of "once and for all" language, signifying this may be the blow off.  

Finally the opening tag – we’ve added a Colon, Epico – they’re heels, and they poke at Henry having lost his tag title shot enough that we get Henry/Santino against the Colons in the opening tag.

Add in over 200 returning WWF legends - it's WWF100.  It's going to be a happening.

WWF Title: Nick Nemeth (w/Kelly) v. Bryan Danielson

IC Title: Sheamus v. Miz

Tag Titles: Empire v. Booker/Lawler v. Defiance

CM Punk v. John Cena

Jack Swagger v. McIntyre

No DQ: Yoshi Tatsu v. Heath Slater (w/Cole)

Cage Match: @TruthKills v. Ka$h Kingston

Henry/Santino v. Colons

Back in January with the Rumble

A Counterfactual History - The 2010s, Part One

The previous decade is here.

92. Royal Rumble 2010

This was Bret Hart's first WWF appearance since Montreal.  Shawn cut a promo on him to open the night.  Nitro got one last win to finish off Benjamin.  Rey beat Carlito.  Tatsu beat MVP.  D1 kept the straps, beating Defiance.  Sydal won the IC when Bret prevented Nitro from interfering, Nitro responded by superkicking him.  Matt cashed in his title shot and lost, Jericho keeping the belt; and in the main Christian won the blow off to his feud against Punk - and postmatch Edge and Matt, joining together, ended Maria's run in WWF.  

93. Wrestlemania 26 - 2010

Harry and Tyson turned face, beating Hunter and Miz in the opener.  Cena beat his former partner Leviathan in a loser leaves town.  Hooligans beat Defiance and Orton punted Dean out of the group.  Rey went 7-0 at Wrestlemanias; Young Money won the tag titles; Sydal kept the IC over Tatsu; Jericho kept the WWF title over Regal; Bret/MVP beat Shawn/Nitro, the next night, Shawn turned face and got blasted into retirement by the new formation of the Clique - Nitro and Miz; Edge and Matt beat Punk and Christian in the main, and Edge turned on Matt postmatch to be the only man standing at night's end.

94. Summer Slam - 2010

Bret's now WWF Commissioner, Regal is head trainer Underground, and he's targeting GDI.  Sheamus beat Orton; Mysterio beat Nemeth; Nitro took the IC; Danielson beat Punk, incapacitating him from going after Edge, as Bret had hoped; and Edge became WWF Champion, defeating Jericho.

95. Survivor Series - 2010

Dos Caras, Jr.'s first unmasked match was here; Rey beat Nemeth again; Nitro beat MVP; Danielson beat Low Ki in the best match of the decade to that date; Edge kept the belt over Swagger and went nose to nose with Punk at show's end.  

96. Royal Rumble 2011
Rey beat Danielson; Defiance took the tag straps; Underground debuted the "Whose House?" chant on PPV.

97.Wrestlemania 27 - 2011
Bret and Regal engineered a takeover of the WWF that included the students and graduates of Underground joining together to take all the belts and wipe out GDI and the Clique; Empire took the tags, Sheamus the IC, Punk won his third WWF Title, finally gaining his revenge on Edge - but then immediately lost the belt to Nemeth.  Additionally, Rey lost his undefeated Mania streak to Danielson.

98. Summer Slam 2011
-Punk won twice but the rest of GDI got carried from the building as the Underground dominance continued, each title belt was retained - Nemeth keeping over Mysterio.

99. Survivor Series 2011
-The Rock returned, beating Dos Caras, Jr.; all of the Underground champs retained, including Nemeth beating Mysterio - GDI and new WWF Commissioner Mick Foley returned in a post main event angle.

Survivor Series 2011

The build is here.

Survivor Series – 2011

(Dark – Black/Ambrose d. Usos)

McIntyre/Kidd d. Colons)

Joey and JR is your announce – we are live from Madison Square Garden. 

The show opens with a shot of Bret’s empty chair, Bret was run off in the build by Underground.  Regal, by himself, but loaded down with every title belt in the promotion, enters.

Regal puts over that at the end of the night Bret’s chair will be filled by the next WWF Commissioner, Regal himself, and he then previews what that might mean for the much discussed WWF 100, the 100^th WWF PPV, Rumble 2012 – Nemeth defending against McIntrye, Sheamus defending against DiBiase, Empire defending against Douchebags – a whole night dedicated to the greatness of Underground.

And we’re off.

1.      

#1Contenders: Mark Henry/Santino d. Hunico/Mase

-Winners get the tag shots later in the evening; Henry is the late period mean, powerhouse Henry character, Santino plays a cowardly foreign man right up until the bell rings when he is preposterously overconfident – Hunico and Mase are masked, they are part of Mistico’s large posse, there’s a concern that having them lose will dampen the crowd, which should have a hot, nationalistic bent given the top card program – but I just can’t put Mason Ryan in a title match.  Clean win, Henry gets the fall on Mase with whatever level of “look how strong he is” power move that makes sense.

2.       Randy Orton d. Cody Rhodes

-For years, Randy Orton led Defiance, a stable carved from his own persona – but after being swerved by partner DiBiase at Mania, Orton seems to have given up.  Cody has been young, green babyfac e, once punked out long ago by Orton when Randy was making his bones – but after climbing through the ranks Rhodes felt swerved himself at Money in the Bank at Mania and has a more anti authoritarian view.  In this build he’s been poking at Orton’s disinterest – and the story of the match is Rhodes trying to get a rise out of Orton, slapping, taunting, going low – finally Orton shows an out of nowhere flash and lays Cody out with an RKO and a pinfall.

Orton leaves – but Cody, still on his knees calls him back – still taunting – and Orton returns to the ring – Cody is yelling at Orton to kick him in the head, to hit him with the Golden Goal – to be a man – to be Def…

And then Orton punts him.

Orton hits his turnbuckle pose and the announce says he is back.

3.       #IkeaDeathMatch: @TruthKills d. Ka$h Kingston

Kingston and Killings were longtime babyface tag champs, Killings went nuts, and now he works at Ikea.  This is largely just to break furniture all over MSG to satisfy the garbage match jones; Kingston can take crazy bumps – Killings has to be a garbage wrestler to stay on the roster, and this is really a transition for him.  Killings leaves quickly postmatch because he has to make his shift. 

4.       The Rock d. Dos Caras, Jr. (w/Ricardo/Vickie/Atlas)

-The return of the Rock – Dos Caras’s shtick has been killing the other second/third generation guys, all building to the Rock coming back to WWF; Rock hits his spots in a match not too long as to expose him.  This wraps Atlas, so he takes whatever bump he can take – Ricardo can take him a big bump so he will – something embarrassing that pops the crowd happens to Vickie - Caras is going away for awhile, so Rock goes over super strong – this was billed as the only match he was doing and not any kind of return, so he gets the postmatch crowd reaction you’d expect.

And then it’s stopped.

By the entrance of Nemeth.  Sheamus.  Barrett.

An element of the build was a seeming throwaway joke Rock told at Nemeth’s expense on Kimmel; that’s the guts of this- Nemeth cuts the “go back to Hollywood, leave the wrestling to the men”  on the Rock – this place belongs to Underground, go back and shoot Tooth Fairy 2; and when Rock attempts to respond, they beat the hell of him. 

Rock’s got to bleed, even if it isn’t real to avoid marking his head – it’s a full vicious gang attack that leaves him for dead.

5.       CM Punk draw John Cena

-I almost did the real world double pin finish, but I’ll save that for a title I want held up; this is a time limit draw.  Punk’s a 3 time WWF Champ (tied for the record) trying to escape the coming Age of Underground; Cena’s been fighting from beneath his whole career – he got Die Rocky Die heat when he and Orton were baby tag champs and never has gotten away from the label that he was undeserving; for a couple of years now he’s won over some percentage of the fanbase by reinventing himself as Tommy Dreamer, a garbage wrestler who makes the promotion his priority – and here he gets as close to a moral victory as occurs in wrestling, fighting Punk to a 20 minute standstill, the time running out during the nearfall sequence. 

A win and Punk terminated his contract; a win and Cena took his biggest step up the ladder – neither of those things happened here, both exit frustrated.

6.       WWF Tag Titles: Empire (w/DiBiase) d. Henry/Santino

-It’s Barrett and Gabriel (under the mask) but it’s not actually Gabriel, it’s actually real world Jinder,  but that’s kayfabed; the masked members of Empire pull switches that go unnoticed by the official, who is distracted by DiBiase, who began to work with Empire in this build since the mask switch has become the key element of Empire’s gimmick.  He can also taunt the Latino fans who have come to support Mistico, as it’s time to rev the engines for the main event. 

Barrett gets the fall and Empire keeps their straps.

7.       IC Title: Sheamus (w/McIntyre) d. Johnny Nitro (w/Miz/Natty)

-Sheamus took Nitro’s IC at Mania and has established himself as the Clique Killer; he appears to have ended both Edge’s and Christian’s careers by hurling them shoulder first into the ringpost.  Nitro has always been all swag, and ideally, given what’s coming, he leaves it all on the floor at MSG in this one - Sheamus  brawls, Nitro flies – Sheamus gets the clean win to keep his belt and then seemingly ends Nitro’s career by throwing him shoulder first into the ringpost.  Miz and Natty look in horror as Nitro lies crumpled. 

8.       WWF Title: Nick Nemeth d. Mistico

-I’m unabashedly playing on nationalism here; Nemeth’s going to hump the Mexican flag on his entrance; Mistico is announced both in English and Spanish, Underground and Mistico’s crew are all in the ring at introductions and they surround the ring during the match, getting into skirmishes if needed to juice the match (Mistico v. Averno in Mexico=awesome, Mistico in real world WWE…not so much; I am not confident in the ringwork for this match, I’d put Steamboat’s kid under a mask, call him a luchadore, and have he and Tyson Kidd fall off a ladder on the outside if it was needed to up the value of this main event) whatever’s going on outside can increase in intensity as we get to the fall – a clean win by Nemeth.

That leads to Underground immediately attacking the beaten Mistico – picture 18 guys jumping into the ring right at the three count – Mistico’s group comes in after, but they are on the losing end here – Mistico takes a good beating and the full on brawl is only stopped with Bret Hart’s music.

Bret had been morphing into the corporate heel, but now again looks like the Hit Man – he hits the top of the ramp and says that he took Underground’s advice, he spent the past couple of months at home, and he made a couple of phone calls – and tonight, as promised, he’s prepared to officially transition the power of the WWF Commissionership to his successor….

Mick Foley.

Regal and Underground react the way you’d expect as Foley, a Triple Crown winner back from exile in Orlando, emerges onto the ramp.

Bret and Foley shake hands, Bret departs, Foley takes the mic – he puts over that there’s no better place for him to make his return than at Madison Square Garden – he says he knows there are about 20 guys standing in the ring (the Mexicans have all done the wrestling disappearing act) unhappy to see him, but there are 18,000 New Yorkers who are on his side.

Nemeth takes the mic – says when Foley walks down to the ring not a single one of those fans will be able to stop Underground from kicking his ass back to TNA.

Foley says the Champ is right – none of the fans will be able to stop it.

But he’s brought some men who might.

And then onto the ramp steps Ricky Steamboat.

And then Sydal and Tatsu.

And then the Kings of Wrestling – Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli.

And then CM Punk

And then Bryan Danielson.

Foley and GDI head to the ring – a full scale brawl breaks out, and that’s how the show ends.

Next month – the build for WWF 100: Royal Rumble 2012 (and the 7 year anniversary of the Counterfactual)

The pivotal moment – a War Games match to determine who is the rightful Commissioner of the WWF and who will face Nick Nemeth for the WWF Championship at WWF 100.  

TNA Slammiversary 2012

Lockdown was here. 

 

TNA Title: Austin Aries d. AJ Styles

X: Bobby Roode d. RVD

Tags: Tex Mex d. Dudleys

Kurt Angle d. Samoa Joe

Chris Daniels d. Frankie Kazarian

Ken Kennedy (w/Burke) d. Abyss

Jeff Hardy d. Kid Kash

Crimson/Garrett Bischoff d. Robby E/Robby T

Slammiversary is the big event on Counterfactual TNA's calendar; let's start at the bottom - Crimson and Matt Morgan are in an endless, awful feud; after Crimson/Bischoff win here, they are stomped out by Morgan/Magnus - that is broken up by the agents, DLo and Al Snow, Snow and Magnus wind up in a shoving match.  The defining element of Counterfactual Jeff Hardy's character is he's never won a singles belt, spending the past several years coming up painfully short - and now he's finally snapped; Kash comes in as old friend of RVD (Van Dam gets him the job) Jeff and Van Dam were tag champs but they fell apart at the last show; Jeff takes incredible insult at Kash, who gives off a real down and out vibe, comparing the two of them - just two old high flyers trying to get by - and Jeff goes full heel here, beating Kash, flipping off the fans - and then, in the next match, he assists Ken Kennedy (of the heel tag team Future Endeavors) in beating Abyss.  That loss causes Abyss to disappear, and he will eventually be searched for by a man purporting to be his brother Joseph.  Daniels and Kazarian are veteran babyfaces doing a 50/50 program; Joe is a Horseman (Roode/Williams) and they end careers (Jarrett, Sting, Flair, the Machine Guns) Angle has just lost a feud to Aries and appears ripe for the picking; Joe says he's going to put Angle's pelt up on his wall - but he doesn't, Angle goes over.  Tex Mex takes the tag title from the Dudleys, this is a babyface match - Bubba just turned face from his real life Bully Ray character to rejoin old partner Devon in a last ride sort of a program - they're challenged by Storm/Hernandez with the idea being that Bubba and Storm are competing to see who is the greatest tag wrestler who ever lived (Bubba's been champ with a total of 3 partners across all promotions, Storm's a 5 time TNA Tag Champ). Tex Mex goes over.  When Roode keeps his X belt over RVD that means he'll go into BFG as champ for a year; no one has ever held the X belt for more than a year, so that's the built in angle to come - Future Endeavors, now led by Jeff, attack RVD postmatch.  And in the main - dickish heel Aries who has been telling everyone that it was his time in TNA; his time to claim his spot as World Champion - does just that.  

Real World Final Resolution will mean Counterfactual BFG - your main event is (most likely) an Aries/Styles rematch.  

Road to Survivor Series 2011 - Part 2

Part 1 is here.

CM Punk v. John Cena

The Rock v. Dos Caras, Jr.

Ikea Death Match: @TruthKills v. Ka$h Kingston

Randy Orton v. Cody Rhodes

Punk’s the only GDI standing after Summer Slam, but he’s nowhere to be seen; Cena lost to Danielson, but he returns about a month or so after Summer Slam to resume cutting promos on the now missing group.  Cena admits to losing the battle, but says GDI lost the war; the guys with Underground are now running WWF, Cena will be wrestling someone at Survivor Series and the 3 time WWF Champion CM Punk is nowhere to be found. Cena cuts a second similar promo the following week.

That leads to Punk’s showing up the following week in what is still Bret’s office, but is now occupied by Regal.

Punk’s wary – Regal’s got 4-5 members of Underground surrounding him.

Regal thanks Punk for coming to the meeting,

Regal says at Survivor Series he will officially become WWF Commissioner and he thinks there might be a place for Punk in the new WWF. 

Punk tells him to go to hell.

Regal offers him a slot at Survivor Series against Cena.  On one one.  No interference.  No postmatch attacks.  No double cross. 

Punk asks why he should believe Regal.  Regal says he’s sick of Cena.  Cena’s not Underground but he walks around like he somehow carries the WWF flag.  There is no WWF standardbearer who isn't Underground; Cena was useful for awhile, but now its time to dispose of him. In the new WWF he wouldn’t mind if Cena wasn’t around – and Punk’s the guy to get rid of him.  And if after that, Punk wants out of his contract, so be it.  Unlike Bret, Regal isn’t interested in keeping him against his will. 

Punk pauses – and extends his hand to Regal.

Regal seems a little surprised – but he takes it.

As it develops, the match isn’t going to be a garbage match, and that’s Cena’s idea – Punk brings a light tube to the ring to hand to Cena and Cena turns it down.  Cena says he’s worked every day in the WWF for this one moment, a straight wrestling match at Madison Square Garden against a former WWF Champion.  

Cena says it’s the biggest moment of his life. 

Punk says it’s not the biggest moment in his, he’s main evented Wrestlemania, he’s won the WWF title, the reason Cena was able to get away with running down GDI for so long was because that nobody ever thought he was particularly important.

Punk says its just another day at the office, he goes to MSG, beats Cena, gets out his contract and moves on. That allows Cena to push the "you don't care about these fans, this place, you're the same guy who threw down the title belt" button - and Punk to respond that the fans aren't children, they know why he's leaving and they know where they will be able to find him next.  

The Rock returns to the WWF for one night only at Survivor Series 2011.

The Rock, recall, clowned Caras at Mania and since then Caras has been calling him out, including bringing in Tony Atlas as his driver at Summer Slam. 

After Summer Slam Caras continues to go at Rock – the Usos were introduced as Rock’s cousins on WWF Underground, this summer’s version of Tough Enough, and they got bullied off the competition – they come back in the build to get embarrassed by Caras.  Ideally, they get Rocky Johnson to come back and get stomped out, but he’s not on the payroll, so I can’t count on that.

I’d like the announcement of the match to be part of a talkshow appearance, Rock’s promoting a movie on whatever show he’s on (Kimmel would do it) and announces that he’s returning to the WWF for one more match.  That he started his career in New York City at Survivor Series in 1996 and 15 years later he’s going to come back for one last match.  He briefly explains there’s a guy named Dos Caras (he can make fun of his name) who has an ass whipping coming, and so the Rock’s going to give him one.

In what is apparently a throwaway, I like Kimmel showing some silly clip of Nemeth, and then saying something like “I guess that’s the champ now– what is that guy’s name?”  The Rock can hit his “it doesn’t matter…” line. 

It’s not full kayfabe, it’s Rock being Rock largely joking around– ideally getting some mainstream rub for his return to the ring.

He doesn’t enter even one arena one time before Survivor Series; he can cut a couple/three satellite promos to show he’s serious about the match, but it’s Caras/Vickie/Ricardo/Atlas doing their shtick that keeps the momentum going.  

Crazy ass Killings walked out on the match against former tag partner Kingston at Summer Slam because he had a shift at Ikea – he cuts a promo where he brings furniture into the ring to show the good deals they have; Kingston comes out to basically ask him what the hell has happened, and it winds up with Killings putting Kingston through a bookcase. 

That’s the essential build for this match; there’s going to be Ikea furniture, and the guys are going to smash into it.  Killings is the crazy guy; Kingston is now pissed off at the craziness, and they’re gonna hit each other with end tables at MSG.

Finally, a listless Orton lost at Summer Slam and he gets put on blast by Cody.  Cody says Orton’s become a little bitch – here we are, with this Underground group having taken over, stepping on the throat of every wrestler in the WWF who wasn’t trained there, and the guy who was supposed to be Defiant, the guy who told every boss he ever had to go screw himself, the guy who  kicked Cody’s own dad in the head – he’s just given up.  Cody says if Orton doesn’t want to be Defiant – then he’ll be Defiant. 

Cody slaps Orton across the face, Orton just exits. 

And that’s the last match.  All of that plus Bret returns to officially hand off the commissionership. Once again, the card.

WWF Title: Nick Nemeth (w/Kelly) v. Mistico

IC Title: Sheamus (w/McIntyre) v. Johnny Nitro (w/Miz/Natty)

Tags: Empire v. Opening Tag Winners

CM Punk v. John Cena (if Punk wins, he’s released from his contract)

The Rock v. Dos Caras, Jr. (w/Vickie/Ricardo/Atlas)

#IkeaDeathMatch: @TruthKills v. Ka$h Kiingston

Randy Orton v. Cody Rhodes

Number One Contender: Mark Henry/Santino v. Hunico/Mase

Unrelated, since part I of the build - your friendly Counterfactual author got married.  True story!

The next TNA show comes up later this month; Survivor Series in November.  

Road to Survivor Series 2011, Part 1

Summer Slam is here.

The RAW after Summer Slam begins with the Spanish announce team walking out during Joey’s opening desk piece; they’re leaving in protest of Underground attacking Rey Mysterio the night before.  Underground then comes to the ring to spike the football – they’ve got all the belts, they wiped out the locker room last night, GDI is gone and at Survivor Series in MSG, Steve Regal will officially be named the new Commissioner of the WWF.  Underground is establishing a permanent control over the entire sport. 

They’re interrupted by Bret – he’s pissed.  He’s been betrayed – he and Regal were in this together, they were doing what was best for the WWF.  But what Underground did last night wasn’t best for the WWF, Rey Mysterio will not be wrestling at Madison Square Garden, he will not be wrestling at WWF 100; he will not be wrestling at Wrestlemania 28. 

Regal says they don’t need him; they don’t need anybody from the back – once Regal takes over WWF will become all Underground; the men in this ring will show they are the best wrestlers in the world.

Nemeth tells Bret he needs to go home – take the next couple of months off, come back at Survivor Series to hand over the job to Regal and then sail off into permanent retirement.  Sheamus and Barrett then surround Bret – Nemeth saying that he really should think very carefully about his next move.

Surrounded by 18 men, Bret exits the ring, goes up the ramp, and we don’t see him again in this build.

Who we do see are the Spanish announcers, as they become the mouthpiece for Mistico and his crew in the build. 

WWF Championship: Nick Nemeth v. Mistico

The primary elements of this program (1) whenever you see Mistico he’s in a suit wearing the mask and he’s surrounded by another dozen luchadores, all similarly attired.  Underground’s got a ton of guys, Mistico needs as many.  Ideally they are actual workers, but since they’re masked, they can basically be anyone.  Two of Mistico’s guys actually wind up on the card, we’ll get to that in a second (2) we’re going to hit the Hispanic button hard; in the build to Summer Slam was a lot of discussion about how Rey v. Mistico at MSG was a dream match for entire nations of people – and when Rey got curbstomped by Underground it’s Mistico (with the heretofore not utilized in an angle Spanish announce team as his voice) representing all of lucha libre against the affront.  Nemeth can do his best sneer and Regal can, pretty hypocritically, talk about how Senator McMahon’s support of the Dream Act has resulted in all of these undocumented wrestlers.  Border control, Regal says, should be our nation’s most important priority. Regal waves an American flag, tries to start a U-S-A chant.  

Mistico’s only going to wrestle once in the build, against Tyson Kidd, just enough to get in his stuff and get out of the ring. 

Opening Tag: Mark Henry/Santino v. Hunico/Mase

Tag Titles: Empire v. Opening Tag Winners

Two other matches come out of this program; two of Mistico’s guys are a tag act, Hunico and Mase (Mase is, unfortunately, Mason Ryan, both guys are masked) they get programmed over Douchebags – and also programmed over Douchebags (it’s a big group) are two of the guys from the back who Underground beat up at the close of Summer Slam – Mark Henry and Santino.  They become united in their new common enemy, and when both teams go over the bottom end of Underground – the match is made to open the PPV (there’s a size similarity among the guys that maybe makes some sense, the match won’t be good, but you could see the obvious spots).

The winners will then go on to meet Empire for the straps later in the evening; Empire pulled the Killer Bees mask switch at Summer Slam and continue to do that as we get to Survivor Series.  The takeaway from that is Empire are undeserving champs, only succeeding due to numbers and chicanery – and it plugs a hole we have for this show, when the only member of Empire who actually works is Barrett.  Meaning the actual body under the second mask is going to be Jinder Mahal, who doesn’t otherwise exist, but he’ll be pretending to be Gabriel or Riley. 

IC Title: Sheamus v. Nitro

The other title match is the IC; Sheamus is now nicknamed the CliqueKiller; he ended Edge’s career at Mania, and has apparently ended Christian’s career at Summer Slam, both with the toss into the ringpost.  So this is Nitro, getting his rematch from the Mania loss – Nitro and Miz do the angry version of the Clique for this program; they’ve been disrespected, they’ve been attacked – and now it’s time to crack some skulls.  Sheamus, backed by McIntyre in the build, couldn’t be cockier – they are ending careers now, and Nitro’s is next.  They have a mock funeral for Edge and Christian, goofing on the other former Clique members “here lies Diesel, died in the ring, no one noticed for five minutes” “here lies Razor, wait, he might really be dead, let’s skip that one” – let’s say it ends with Nitro and Miz popping out of coffins and getting the upper hand. 

That’s half the card.  4 singles matches left.

CM Punk v. John Cena

The Rock v. Dos Caras, Jr.

Ikea Death Match: @TruthKills v. Ka$h Kingston

Randy Orton v. Cody Rhodes

I'll be back soon with part 2  

A Counterfactual History - The 2000s, Part II

Part One is here.

72. Royal Rumble - 2005

-Remember when I was pushing Paul London?  He beat Mysterio here.  Christian beat Flair in what appeared to be Flair's last match.  Edge took the IC from Jericho; after which it was announced that Steamboat would be returning to become the new WWF general manager.  Benoit beat Michaels with the sharpshooter in the main event.

73. Wrestlemania XXI - 2005

-Mysterio worked twice, beating the Taker in the legends match and getting revenge on London.  The Michaels heel turn began in his program with Jericho.  The Clique had been feuding with Team Angle, Kurt beat Christian here.  Edge kept the IC over Regal; Eddy took the title in a 60 Minute Iron Man Match with an overtime against Benoit, the best match of this half of the decade.

74. Summer Slam - 2005

-Hunter announces his name change.  The Summer Slam tradition, kinda/sorta, parejas increibles begins, so the show opens with a Angle/Michaels v. Benoit/Jericho tag.  The IC is vacant, Edge gave it up in the "You screwed Matt" angle which was underway - Angle beat Michaels and Benoit beat Jericho to determine a title matchup.  Rey takes Eddys title in a 2 of 3 falls match.  The main is an unsanctioned fight between Edge and Matt, Edge goes over when Lita shows up and chooses him.  

75. Survivor Series - 2005

-The 75th PPV in WWF history ended 2005.  Flair and Arn turned heel on Leviathan; Hunter beat Shawn with Edge interference in a match that saw Kendrick return and turn on London, Arn and Flair beat up Steamboat, and Matt Hardy lay everyone out with twists of fate, as his monster face push was on.  Benoit won the IC and the Triple Crown, beating Angle for the vacant belt, and Rey kept the title over Juvie, the final two matches done in tribute to Eddy.

76. Royal Rumble - 2006

-Matt beats Edge in an empty arena match after jabbing him in the eye with a fork.  The 51% Solution is now in control of the WWF; Hunter beats Benjamin.  There was an ECW angle, RVD as a babyface up against the ECW heel contingent beat Kid Kash, but was then turned on by Cactus Jack.  CM Punk debuted in the crowd to watch a Kendrick/Noble/London 3 way, with the program being that he had manipulated each to turn on the others.  Michaels went over Angle in the blowoff to the Clique/Team Angle program; Fit Finlay, managed by Dean Malenko, took Benoit's IC.  Rey went over Super Crazy and Psychosis in the main - and the 51% Solution cleaned house in the postmatch, joined by their enforcer, the newcomer Lashley.  

77. Wrestlemania 22 - 2006

-Cactus beats Van Dam in the legends match, but a debuting Sabu helps the babyfaces postmatch.  Benjamin sends Kurt out of the WWF; Edge beats Shawn; Matt beats Flair - and Steamboat announces the main for WM23 will be Matt and Edge Hell in a Cell.  Fit kept the IC over Regal but then dropped to Hunter.  Rey kept the title over Benoit, who Lashley destroyed postmatch.  

78. Summer Slam - 2006

-GDI was underway as a shadow promotion led by Punk that represented indie wrestling in general and ROH in particular.  Sabu/Cactus beat Edge/HBK in the incredible partner match.  Sabu then beat Cactus in a glass light tube match; Shawn beat Edge in a ladder match when Jeff Hardy returned.  MVP debuted as a protegee of Booker - Flair took Rey's WWF Title belt to give the Solution both singles titles.  

79. Survivor Series - 2006

-CM Punk's the pivotal figure of the back five years of the first decade of the millennium, and that's because of Survivor Series 2006.  Edge beat Jeff Hardy; Matt beat HBK; RVD/Sabu took the tag straps; Shane Helms took the IC from Hunter as the Solution fell apart - and then CM Punk (who had won the number one contender's battle royal and emerged as a babyface) beat Flair to smash the Solution's grip on control of the company -- but Punk went into business for himself, throwing down both the NWA and WWF belts and proclaiming himself the GDI World Heavyweight Champion.  Chaos ensued.  

80. Royal Rumble - 2007

-Michaels and Jeff had a time limit draw; the NWA was relaunched and given the Friday Night TV spot; Fit and Flair won the semifinal matches to crown a champion; the WWF belt was vacated - Booker and Lashley winning the semifinal matches for the vacant belt.  Sandman and Dreamer took the tag titles; Punk kept the GDI Title by beating Matt when Edge interfered.  

81. Wrestlemania 23 - 2007 

-Undertaker won his 6th legends match, beating the heel turning Michaels.  Finlay ended Flair's career and became the NWA Champion.  Punk kept the ECW/GDI Title by beating both Van Dam and Sabu; Booker became the first ever African-American WWF Champion; Matt won the Hell in a Cell over Edge, after which Punk and the GDI crew beat the hell out of both of them and Jeff Hardy.  

82. Summer Slam - 2007

-Orton beat Kendrick to keep the IC; Fit kept the NWA over Nitro who walked out of the match; Rey regained the WWF Title and MVP turned on Booker postmatch.  Punk kept the ECW/GDI title over London.

83. Survivor Series - 2007

-MVP took the IC from Orton; Michaels and Hunter were on a heel jihad against the young Harts, they won the tag titles here and were then attacked by a returning Edge.  Rey went over the Undertaker to keep his belt; Punk kept his belt after a time limit draw with The Blood Dragon Jeff Hardy; and Johnny Nitro won the main event, taking the NWA belt from Fit.

84. Royal Rumble 2008

-An ECW angle popped up that involved announcers brawling; the secondary titles split to match the heavyweight titles; Nitro kept the NWA belt; Punk kept the ECW/GDI belt; Edge swerved Jericho out of the Hart Foundation hockey jersey and renewed his allegiance to the Clique; and Shelton Benjamin became WWF Champion

85. Wrestlemania XXIV

-The ECW matches were underneath; note developmental had begun, Taz was head trainer Underground; Defiance got put together here - with Dean swerving Fit to join Orton and the Juggernaut.  Edge beat Jericho; and the belts all got unified and then once again the company, under the leadership of Steamboat, was whole -  MVP the IC Champ and Punk the WWF Champ.  

86. Summer Slam 2008

-The Hardys both lost singles title matches; Jeff, who seemed increasingly fragile in the Blood Dragon gimmick, lost to Porter and Matt couldn't get by Punk.  

87. Survivor Series - 2008

-Nitro and Benjamin were in the middle of the best of 7 series; Kendrick beat Matt; Orton beat Regal in a parking lot brawl; Edge and the Blood Dragon became tag champs - we all (including Matt) thought it was Jeff under the mask (it wasn't).  MVP was in a program against Rey, and he kept the IC here.  And Jericho took the WWF title from Punk.

88. Royal Rumble 2009

-Underground made its way to PPV; Swagger beating DiBiase.  Matt beat Kendrick in a cage.  The Best of 7 continued.  Orton beat Van Dam and DiBiase joined Defiance.  MVP beat Rey again; Christian revealed himself to be the Blood Dragon; Jericho kept the belt over Hunter as Shawn returned in the Messiah gimmick.

89. Wrestlemania Silver 2009

-Orton beat Finlay in a match where Swagger got the housecleaning babyface spot.  Nitro won the blowoff against Benjamin and then stomped out Ric Flair; Punk and Steamboat had been in a feud spanning 3 separate promotions and half a dozen years and they actually wrestled here.  Rey kept his mask and took MVPs IC belt. Matt won the Montreal Match and sent his brother out of the company with a heel turn.  And Jericho kept his title over Shawn in the main event.  

90. Summer Slam - 2009

-Division One beat Defiance in the opener to get a title shot and won the straps at night's end, Regal beat Orton - Christian inadvertently punched Maria when Punk pulled her in front of him; Shawn took Rey's IC; Jericho kept the big belt over Porter.  

91. Survivor Series - 2009

The decade ended here; Steamboat returned as the new owner of GDI with Danielson and Low Ki as his aces; MVP beat Nitro; Rey beat Sydal; Punk and Christian were both knocked out by Matt Hardy; D1 kept their belts over Finlay and Regal; Michaels, with his Flock - Nitro/Tyson/Harry/Natty, beat Shelton Benjamin.  and Jericho kept his belt over Chavo.  

Summer Slam 2011

The build is here.

Summer Slam 2011 –Los Angeles

Joey/JR is your announce team.  Josh does interviews. 

Dark: Ambrose d. Black

DiBiase/McIntyre d. Tatsu/Sydal

Both dark matches further storylines; Black, you may recall, finished second to Ambrose on WWF Underground; he then moved to training in developmental, and has been having his will bent to Regal’s.  So postmatch, Ambrose extends his hand – and Black takes it.  That’s a spot they’ve been doing for a few weeks by this point.

The show opens with the results of the end of the second match, a postmatch beatdown of the two GDI members by Underground – Sydal and Tatsu are helped from the ring on the first shot of the live telecast.

They’re immediately replaced in the ring by WWF Commissioner Bret Hart – Bret welcomes us to the 98^th WWF PPV and reminds us that his contract was originally set to expire at WM 27.  But with all of the planning for WWF100, the biggest WWF show of all time, Bret agreed to stay on until Survivor Series.

But at Survivor Series – in the WWF’s historic home – MSG – Bret will give up control to the new Commissioner of the WWF – a man who always puts the best interest of the WWF first – the Head Trainer of WWFU – Steve Regal.

Regal enters, he and Bret raise their arms above their heads and wave at each side of the crowd as if they were running for office, and they’re encountered by CM Punk – as its match time.

1

.       CM Punk d. Wade Barrett (DQ)

Barrett is positioned in this inner circle in Underground with Nemeth/Sheamus; the story of this match is how he hangs with the 3 time WWF Champion Punk – until he doesn’t, Punk gets control, has him ready for the GTS, and then he’s attacked by Underground (not the beltholders), they have a quick beatdown, enough that Punk is laying as Bret has Howard Finkel announce the next match.

2.       CM Punk d. Alex Riley

With Punk laid out, this looks like any easy, cheap win for Riley, but in a matter of seconds, Punk rolls him up, gets the fall, rolls out of the ring and escapes through the crowd.  Underground fumes in that way you’d expect.  Following the next match there’s a shot on the video wall of Punk, shielded from security by a wall of fans, escaping the arena, getting into a car and driving away.  As Bret watches that – we see that he turns to Regal and says “lock the gates.”

3.       Dos Caras, Jr. (w/Ricardo/Vicki/Atlas) d. Randy Orton

Dos Caras promised a surprise for the Rock when he came to his “hometown” of Los Angeles, that surprise is a new limo driver – Tony Atlas.  The story here is that Atlas, as Rock’s dad’s longtime tag partner, is Rock’s godfather – but, he’s down on his luck enough, apparently, that he’s now under Caras’s employ.  Atlas does the typical reasonably degrading stuff to serve Caras; Orton remains as listless as he’s been all summer and submits. 

4.       Ka$h Kingston d. @TruthKills (countout)

Killings plays the crazy man, leading to him walking out of the match – not because it seems like he is losing, to the contrary – he just hits a highspot – but because he is late for his part time job at Ikea.  He puts on his vest, apologizes to Kingston, and makes his way up the ramp.

5.       No DQ: Bryan Danielson d. John Cena

Cena’s got a receipt coming; ideally this is a fairly intense brawl, much of it taking place outside the ring, the type of things you’d expect to see used get used, Danielson goes over strong and then is absolutely mauled by Underground; everyone but the beltholders.  There are no GDI members left – Punk roars back to the building but is blockaded by security from re-entering the arena – Tyler Black stands in the ring with Underground – and eventually lays in some shots to the defenseless Dragon himself.  Danielson’s spent the summer looking to get over as the best wrestler in the world from the outside of the company – and that ends here. 

6.       Tags: Empire (Barrett/Riley) d. Clique (Nitro/Miz with Natty)

With Empire having wrestled earlier tonight and now facing the Clique, they could be expected to go in as underdogs; the finish comes when Riley pulls a mask out of his trunks, puts it on, and falls to the outside, rolling under the ring, when he emerges, still with the mask, it’s to quicky tag in as he’s going to the top rope to hit Gabriel’s signature highspot and get the fall on Nitro.  He immediately disappears back under the ring – and emerges quickly again, Riley removing his mask to the confusion of the officials, protests from the Clique – but still holding the belts. 

7.       IC: Sheamus d. Christian

Christian’s unable to win his first singles belt in WWF as Underground’s big night continues; Sheamus goes over clean in the best match they can have and ends it the way he ended Edge’s career, by tossing him shoulder first into the ringpost.

8.       WWF Championship: Nick Nemeth (w/Kelly) d. Rey Mysterio

So, this is designed to give Nemeth credibility; Rey’s been talked about in reverential terms for the past year; he really moved to transcendent status; partially because of the failures of young wrestlers like Nemeth to beat him, Rey not losing all year until his career unbeaten streak at Mania fell to Danielson.

He loses clean here, it’s an enormous win for Nemeth – his immediate response is to scream up at the skybox where Mistico and his crew have been all night – for weeks, the potential of a Mysterio/Mistico title match at MSG had been almost impossible not to foresee – Nemeth, constantly feeling slighted, really came into this match with a chip on his shoulder and he taunts the Mistico box postmatch – grabbing at his genitals and pointing at Mistico – and then, with the full adrenaline of the moment raging, he begins to stomp out the defeated Mysterio.

It takes the rest of the Underground crew, all of them who emerged to celebrate postmatch, a beat to go along “really, this is okay, to stomp out Rey Mysterio” – but then they do.

Everyone here has to go bananas – the announcers – ideally the Latino fans, Bret Hart – who begins yelling at Regal in the front row – and then the WWF locker room (guys who weren’t on the card) runs in, some faces, some heels.

Colons.

DMW.

Mark Henry

Santino – there’s a spot where Henry and Santino work together briefly

Lawler - the color announce on Fight Night

Booker - last seen as one of the trainers on WWE Underground, beaten up by the Underground vets

The Undertaker

HHH-M

And that makes it a good brawl – but Underground still has the numbers:

Nemeth

Sheamus

Barrett

Gabriel/Riley

McIntyre/Ted

Tyson Kidd

Black/Ambrose

Douchebags: Ryder/Slater/Hawkins/Reks/Barretta…

…and they leave the WWF locker room laid out. 

They do the Whose House….Our House call and response chant….and the show ends.  Underground controls the World Wrestling Federation.

I’ve got two more entries in my series of recaps of every WWF PPV; there will be another TNA show when real world Bound for Glory occurs; October, I’d guess, we’ll see the build to Survivor Series – and then November will the the 99^th WWF PPV, Survivor Series from MSG, where Nick Nemeth will defend the WWF Championship against Mistico.  It’s going to be a happening. 

Build.

Road to SummerSlam 2011 - Part 2

Part one is here.

Here are the 3 matches set up so far.

CM Punk v. Wade Barrett

CM Punk v. Alex Riley

No DQ: Bryan Danielson v. John Cena

In part 2, we get the 3 title matches:

WWF Title: Nick Nemeth v. Rey Mysterio

IC:  Sheamus v. Christian

Tags: Empire (Barrett/Riley) v. Clique (Nitro/Miz)

So, of course Nemeth’s wrestling Mysterio – Rey is this world’s HBK, he’s got enough credibility in the bank to get guys over as he’s beating them.  Mysterio was Nemeth’s transition feud last year; Rey beat him in consecutive PPVs, Nemeth growing more frustrated, more heelish, but at the same time more certain of his own abilities as a singles wrestler in constantly losing to Mysterio (Low Ki also lost to Mysterio, Danielson also lost to Mysterio).  Rey’s deification reached its height going into Mania, where he was unbeaten in his career, the only man ever with at least 5 Mania decisions never to lose. 

But he lost to Danielson, and that serves as part of the fuel for the summer, as long as Danielson’s out there saying he’s the best wrestler in the world, Mysterio is clearly who Nemeth needs to beat to establish himself as a legitimate champion.

To add to the flavor of this match – Bret names the number one contender, the man who will wrestle the winner for the title in the main event of Survivor Series in MSG.

Mistico.

Mistico doesn’t appear at all in a WWF ring in the summer – we get taped pieces from Mexico and that’s it.  The emphasis is that Mistico is the heir to Mysterio in lucha libre, his idol is Rey, he’s Mexico’s biggest star in a decade, and to see Mistico v. Rey for the WWF title is an all time dream for millions – parenthetically its always added that Mistico would also love to wrestle Nemeth, he thinks of Nemeth as where he was a couple of years ago, and has been impressed by him – but he can’t help but cheer for Rey.

Obviously, this gives Nemeth the ability to bristle – people say he didn’t really beat Punk at full strength, Danielson’s poking at him from afar all summer,  he hasn’t beaten Mysterio – Nemeth’s got a giant, giant chip on his shoulder coming into Summer Slam.  Late in the summer we find out that Mistico and his crew will be sitting in a box watching the big event. 

The other guy, of course, missing in the equation is Swagger.  Every significant graduate from developmental is part of the Underground stable – but Nemeth’s tag partner, best friend, his girlfriend’s brother, and the unquestioned star of developmental – Jack Swagger, is nowhere to be found.

About a month, maybe 6 weeks after Mania he shows up.  It’s billed for maybe 3 weeks, Jack Swagger’s return, with Nemeth saying his tag partner will join the group and put on one of the t-shirts and stand behind him to support his championship era.

We do 3 weeks of that type of build.

Swagger, who had really lost most of the year with a knee injury, returns on RAW, beating someone not affiliated with any group (probably PAUL or Kane, given they took out his knee).  And then Underground hits the ring.

It’s the “take the t-shirt, join the NWO” spot, Nemeth and Swagger were once pretty similar in demeanor, much m ore amateur wrestler than professional – Swagger’s still that guy, he’s solid, firm, not a lot of color, he’s all substance, no ga-ga.  He’s the opposite of his name.  And Nemeth now is full on Ziggler. Seeing them together shows how far Nemeth’s come.

Nemeth puts Swagger over while also telling him what his spot is now – says Swagger was the greatest product of the Underground, his poster still hangs at WWFU, every single man in this ring (and it’s a bunch of them, like 18, this is a big group) knows by heart the words, “everybody watch Jack to see how to do the damn drill.”  And now here we are, and Nemeth wants Swagger with the guys watching his back, cheering him on, wearing the Underground colors.

Swagger pauses – quietly says, Nick, you’re the champ, you earned it, but this whole gang thing, that’s just not really for me. 

He hands back the shirt and turns to walk away – Nemeth grabs his arm.  Nemeth says maybe he’s not being clear – this is a war, it’s us against them and us is winning – you need to understand that you have to pick a side.

Swagger tells him to let go of his arm.

Now Nemeth’s hot, says look – these guys all hate you, everyone’s always hated you but me, I stood in your shadow when everyone else wanted to hit you with a pillowcase full of soap – and now it’s time you stood in mine. 

Swagger and Nemeth go toe to toe – Swagger again refuses, tells Nemeth he’s changed.

Nemeth says “and you haven’t” – and then Underground attacks Swagger.

Everyone but Nemeth – he holds up his arms as if to show “look, I’m not doing anything” while Underground tears Swagger apart – Kelly probably doesn’t have the range to pull this off – but she should be torn between her boyfriend and brother – but she chooses the boyfriend, and they exit up the aisle as Underground buries Swagger.

The other two title matches are the Clique matches. 

Christian returned in the big angle at Mania, trying to aid his brother who was taken apart by Underground, specifically Sheamus.  Edge doesn’t make even a single appearance after Mania, his career has ended at the hands of the new IC Champ and Christians here to take his revenge and win the title.

Christian’s never won a singles title in WWF, so that’s part of the program here; Regal and Christian once feuded during the long Clique v. Team Angle program, so that’s here – and Christian takes a place he’s never had before, at the front of the Clique – given that it’s Bret who engineered this entire thing.

Whose title Sheamus took was Nitro’s – but as opposed to a rematch Nitro teams with Miz to go after Empire; these two programs can be mixed over the summer, there are 3 members of Empire and 3 members of the Clique – McIntyre can serve to feed Christian to get him ready for Sheamus – the Hart kids are now heels, so their feud with the Clique can be restoked over the summer – lots of matchups we can hit as we build for Summer Slam.

Two more matches.

Dos Caras, Jr. v. Randy Orton

Ka$h Kingston v. @TruthKills

A fair question to ask would be what is Orton’s summer like?

Orton got swerved by his own partner at Mania, DiBiase left him laying, joining longtime Orton rivals like Regal and Sheamus with Underground – and it was a real swerve, with Orton, a career (probably lifelong) dick, always first to blame everyone else around him, finally giving credit to DiBiase who lifted him out of his post Sheamus funk and helped Orton finally regain the tag straps, his stated goal in creating Defiance.

You’d expect a crazy, out of control Orton – but instead his summer is listless, disengaged, he ignores DiBiase, ignores Underground, its not even that he’s despondent, it’s like he just is no longer there.

Who that contrasts with is Cody – Cody also got screwed by the Underground formation at Mania; he looked to be about to win Money at the Bank (not just from how that match was playing out, but you could construct a narrative of Cody as babyface young boy who had crawled up the ranks, had won before at Mania, had put in his time, and if someone is about to ride that rocketship from way underneath to the top, Cody would have been a good bet) but he was taken out by Tyson Kidd (allowing Cody to be extra angry at Bret) and lost the match.

So – while Orton is listless, Cody is angry at authority.  But he’s not in the match – who is in the match is Dos Caras, coming off his win over the Undertaker in the Legends Match.  Orton, like Caras’s other opponents, is a legacy – so it gives Caras an easy talking point – and to see Caras pick on Orton the way he picked on Cody, for example, with Orton really not fighting back, spotlights where everyone is.

Caras also cuts the occasional promo on the Rock all summer.  

Rock, recall, used his first WWF appearance in years, at Mania, to cut a promo on Caras and rock bottom Ricardo; it was a one off (‘cause the Rock’s obviously too big a star to come back to WWF) Caras, obviously, takes exception, and periodically will use promo time to poke at Dwayne.  As we get closer to the event (in LA recall) Caras says he’s coming to Rock’s home and he’s got a surprise for him at Summer Slam.

Finally – partners explode, Kingston v. Killings; Killings is the heel, but really he’s a crazy person; he’s Ron Artest, he officially changes his name (shows us the papers) to @TruthKills, he gets a part time job at Ikea for the discount, and he starts putting up videos on his own channel, crazy man videos, sort of like real world Matt Hardy – but eventually it will be commentary on the news – conspiracy theories – we didn’t walk on the moon, 9-11 was an inside job, Obama is a scientologist, the Jews are trying to implant thoughts into his brain.  @TruthKills.  I don’t know how much of that is this summer, this is his new character, so it can be spaced out.

That’s the show.

WWF Title: Nick Nemeth v. Rey Mysterio

IC Title: Sheamus v. Christian

Tags: Empire v. Clique

No DQ: Bryan Danielson v. John Cena

Dos Caras, Jr. v. Randy Orton

 Ka$h Kingston v. @TruthKills

CM Punk v. Alex Riley

CM Punk v. Wade Barrett

See you again in August for the show.