• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • The Muppet Christmas Carol: Michael Caine as Scrooge

      The Muppet’s Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 20, 2022
    • Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 1

      2022’s Christmas Movie Watchlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 18, 2022
    • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Poster

      REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • Troll: Ine Marie Wilmann as Nora

      REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry with The Hendersons

      Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • Fantastic Four Poster

      The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Matrix Keanu Reeves Neo 2

      1999 was a Mt. Vesuvius of pop culture

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 25, 2019
      Movie Blogs, Music
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Big Sky S03e05: Kylie Bunbury, J. Anthony Pena and Katheryn Winnick as Cassie Dewell, Mo Poppernak and Jenny Hoyt

      Big Sky S03E05 Review: Flesh and Blood - Glamping!

      By Salome G
      | October 22, 2022
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Big Sky S03e10: Gang

      Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Rick And Morty: S01e03

      Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e09: Dedee Pfeiffer and Cree as Denise and Emily

      Big Sky S03E09: Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire – Stalling

      By Salome G
      | December 1, 2022
    • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff as Drax and Mantis

      REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S01: The Gang

      The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e08: Reba McEntire as Sunny Barnes

      Big Sky S03E08 Review: Duck Hunting – I love a weirdo.

      By Salome G
      | November 19, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Splatoon 3 Screenshot

      A trio of Nintendo Switch reviews!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 28, 2022
    • Nintendo Switch Logo

      Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 15, 2022
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • AEW All Out 2022: Keith Lee. Anthony Bowens, Max Caster and Billy Gunn

      AEW All Out 2022 - Review and (wild) Speculation!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
      AEW
    Recent
    • WWE WrestleMania 38: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins

      Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 4, 2023
    • AEW Full Gear 2022: Young Bucks and Kenny Omega Elite Entrance

      AEW Full Gear 2022 – A needed reset at the end of a tough year

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 22, 2022
    • WWE Survivor Series 1997: Bret Hart

      The Montreal Screwjob – Twenty Five Years Later

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 8, 2022
    • AEW Grand Slam 2022: Jungle Boy and Rey Fenix

      AEW GRANDSLAM 2022 showcased the present and future of the promotion

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 25, 2022
    • AEW All Out 2022: CM Punk

      AEW All Out Fall Out: All the CM Punk drama that’s fit to print!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
    • AEW Dark: Ricky Starks (22/09/20)

      The future of the AEW World Championship

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 14, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?
    • The Muppet's Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book
    • 2022's Christmas Movie Watchlist!
    • REVIEW: GDT's Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!
    • Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock - Break time...
    • Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

    The Redman Report: WWE Raw 1/8/11: “Return of the C..O..N..Spiracy!”

    By Jimmy Redman
    | August 4, 2011
    The Redman Report

    Its incredible to me how good Raw is these days. I dont think Raw has had this long of a run of being great each week since at least the summer of 2008. So many people to love – Truth, Rey, Beth, JR, Miz, Zack – and thats even before you get to the crazy main event scene, as it is at the mo’. Good times.

    The opening video did an amazingly good job of recapping the major plot points of an incredibly complex angle. Punk went crazy, Vince and Ace tried to Montreal him, Cena is a good guy, Punk ran off with the title, they made a new one that Rey won, Rey lost it to Cena, Punk came back to compare titles. And here we are.

    I have to admit I didnt really hear ‘Cult of Personality’ as an entrance song before, but I take it all back because “BZZZT…do-do do-do do-do do-do” freaking RULES. He totally looks like a big deal coming out now. Loved the reaction, as well as Punk getting in and SITTING DOWN, as the signal that he’s about to speak.

    And amazingly enough, they explained it. Punk created this crazy “Voice of the Voiceless” hardcore-fan character, he was stirring up such a fuss and getting things done inch-by-inch…but he was gone within a month. So he sits at home and sees that it only took them 5 minutes to pretend he never existed, to go back to the “status quo”, and he realises that he cant stay away, he needs to be there to make himself heard, to stop the bullsh*t. Not to mention JOHN CENA winning the new WWE Title after Punk beat the guy at the PPV for the real belt.

    Hunter, for his part, sends out feelers when he comes into power, they work out the contract part but while Punk still isnt re-signing he needs to keep the wheels turning and go ahead with the tourney and Cena’s rematch, before BAM, Punk. Now I have two champions on my hands. It also develops further the “regime change” angle; whereas Vince would have and did (in kayfabe) let personal feelings get in the way of business, at the expense of the Universe, Hunter is putting feelings aside to do the right business and give the Universe what they want. And it happened that the little “personal feelings” aside lead to the big personal confrontation.

    Which was awesome, might I add. I said last week and I’ll say again, they just cant be going forward with Hunter Speaking for 20 Minutes as a show idea every week, but in the beginning you sort of have to, and this was good as the revealing, ‘Hunter and Punk have it out in public now they have the opportunity’ moment. We already heard a month ago that Punk hates Hunter, and hey, Hunter hates Punk right back. The way Punk said “..or what?” was just about the most gloriously smug thing anyone has ever said on TV. Plus interrupting Hunter leaving on his own terms with “I do love Motorhead” to do more bitching was great, another nice little touch of “Punk doesnt play by the normal rules”. This was an epic douche-off here, and somehow at the end of it, both these guys are babyfaces. Pro wrestling.

    BETH PHOENIX MOTHERF*CKERS!

    So much love. I enjoyed the Battle Royal for a number of reasons; Melina getting tossed the second the bell rang. Gail Kim leaving just for the lulz which is the wackiest thing I’ve seen on TV in forever. Kelly freaking Kelly, for a girl who cannot speak or Act in any way she acquitted herself astonishingly well on commentary, which is the hardest form of promo known to man. Eve’s amazing jump over the baseball slide to eliminate Alicia was cool as hell. And BETH lifting up both Bellas and tossing them like nothing ruled. When she turned on Kelly I was legitimately shocked. I am so right back into the women if I get Beth throwing Kelly around and calling her a bimbo. Awesome stuff.

    I liked the wackiness of the Miz/Truth conversation  Truth explaining to Miz that they’re both victims of a C..O..N..Spiracy, and Miz ending up talking to himself and getting mad about it. I dont think I will ever, ever hate Truth busting out “C..O..N..Spiracy”, ever. I’m going to header that sh*t any time he says it until the end of time.

    And hey, Miz/Truth vs Rey/Morrison was an awesome TV tag match. Just a hell of a lot of fun. Miz and Morrison got to work together to start, then some good ol’ fashioned heels beating on Rey forever. The point where Rey scurried under one of them frantically only to be denied was a great tease. Rey also got to REY Miz off the top rope which I always love. And finally Morrison comes in with some actual fire, busting out the standing C4 right away was cool, and we get the stretch with everyone interfering until Miz throws Rey INTO THE CROWD (not something you see every day) and the heels sneak out the win.

    The one, the ONE AND ONLY good thing about Cole all night is that at the end of this match he was crying about Miz “selflessly sacrificing himself for his partner!” and IMMEDIATELY after the pin Miz comes in and steals back the spotlight by giving Morrison the SCF, exposing himself as selfish and Cole as a completely wrong douche. That I liked.

    Apart from that, of course, he was insufferable, but I’ve wasted enough ink on that already. GO AWAY.

    Anyway, Truth’s water bottle as a dastardly attack is great and needs to be sold as much as possible.

    I love how Vickie started out all subdued and shy, like she was thinking “I havent been on TV for a while, maybe they wont boo me so much..excuse me?” and being booed and ending up with “Ah f*ck you, EXCUSE ME!” Vickie is a great woman. Dolph is good too and is actually one of the better undercard guys on the mic. Riley’s entrance intro is still so much money. This was good from him too, I was always worried about how a guy that naturally heelish could cut face promos right out of the gate, but he did here. I loved the way Dolph gave his title to Vickie, gave her his jacket, loosened his tie, and…walked away. I laughed. As a random midcard angle this was good, and Dolph should work well with Riley.

    I’m sitting here amazed at how much I didnt hate the tag match. Firstly, Santino. Secondly, Zack. Thirdly, Zack was over in the building with the chants and his hot tag brought a huge pop, which is nice. Fourthly, the tag champs were at their most bearable to me so far in this match. Developing double team moves is a good idea, since they literally have nothing else at all going for them. Last week I would have said that I never needed to see Zack wrestle again if he got a good gig as a GM, but I enjoyed him working here just fine. Maybe he works better as half of a tag team.

    Alberto vs Bourne was a fun little semi-squash. But KOFI KINGSTON BITCHES! “KOFI!” chants! See! See how easy it is with this guy if you give him a chance? He’s incredibly easy to love and gets over whenever he has something interesting to do. The Draft was in April. Its taken them four months to give him something even as interesting as “face makes the save for another face”, and the first time he makes the save, chants. Drives me nuts. Anyway, Kofi and Alberto work really well together so this looks good.

    I just love it how they’re trying to build up this whole suspense thing around “What will Hunter do?” and talking about stripping belts and stuff, when the obvious answer is a unification match and nobody can possibly be in any doubt about the outcome. But I liked them trying their darnedest anyway. Good on ’em.

    Johnny Ace as a regular TV character playing Vince by Proxy I am not a fan of, I hope his role is extremely short term. But I liked Cena ripping into him with the promo impression and stuff, it continues on the idea that Cena has been accused by Punk as being the corporate puppet, so he’s like “F*ck that, I’m not anybody’s puppet” and suddenly has to justify on TV the fact that he’s his own man; firstly by his go-home promo on Vince, then preventing the Montreal at MITB, and here now ripping into Ace as the evil corporate enemy. Cena and Punk are just both the babyface; they have different character traits, different fanbases and different perspectives, but really underlying all that is that both are fighting for the right thing, and for their fans.

    I also saw the fact that Ace (as Vince Proxy) wanted Cena stripped of his title and Cena then accusing him of wanting that because he was embarrassed about being KO’d at the PPV, that was a continuation of the Cena/Vince segment where Cena exposed Vince’s decision making before the PPV as being based on personal feelings and a bruised ego, rather than business. Here, Vince’s right-hand man is again using his hurt ego to try and get even with Cena to the detriment of business, i.e. stripping Cena instead of doing the logical rematch. This is in juxtaposition to Hunter, who has said that he’s putting aside personal feelings in order to do business and give the fans what they want, and he’s delivered on that so far. Whether that is the Hunter Philosophy going forward or the prelude for him to turn heel down the line, who knows.

    In general I liked that they tried to get everything out, even using the idea that Punk resigned at the last second as Raw was in progress to explain the tourney and the Rey/Cena match as well as Punk coming out immediately after the latter ended. Plus, lets be real, Cena vs Punk was incredible, who really cares how they got there as long as we get the Rematch. That is going to rule. And above all, the best news is that I still have no idea whats going to happen next week. Raw is good.

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    WWE Raw 2011

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest

    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest

    0 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments

    You might also like

    • The Redman Report: Flashback to February 2006: In praise of Kurt Angle.

      By Jimmy Redman
      | May 18, 2012
    • The Redman Report: John Cena vs CM Punk – WWE Raw 25/02/2013

      By Jimmy Redman
      | February 27, 2013
    • The Redman Report: Top 10 WWE Hidden Gems of 2011 Part 1

      By Jimmy Redman
      | January 1, 2012

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    Wrestling Topics

    Recommended for you

    • Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 4, 2023
    • The future of the AEW World Championship

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 14, 2022
    • Vince McMahon is out as WWE chief. First reactions here…

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 22, 2022
    • Getting AEW to the next level…

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 29, 2022
    • Your WAY TOO EARLY predictions for WWE WrestleMania 39!

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 20, 2022
    • The Curse of the WWE Royal Rumble

      By John Hancock
      | January 27, 2012
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz