Welcome to the Weekly Report from the guys here @TheTopRope, if you haven’t already checked out our Audio Shows, you can catch our Weekly and Weekend Podcasts on iTunes and Talkshoe, just search The Top Rope Wrestling Report. Unfortunately this week’s post is without Lee, so enjoy the comments of Simon and James!

Simon Iles – @Simon_TTR

The Rock has been criticised a bit for some of his promos in the Cena feud and, despite being a big Rock fan from back in the day, I must admit that he hasn’t been on his A-game at times. However, the promos he delivered on Monday (crude humour aside) were pretty funny at points. Especially the first one analysing John Cena’s extensive merchandise range. The funniest line was the one about the gnome, although Dwayne should probably check wweshop as he’s got a gnome too… Nonetheless, even I was perplexed by the John Cena cologne – I cant see that one being a top seller! Still, I was again impressed by Cena’s retort, which proves that with a more developed character than the cleancut pseudo-superhero we’ve had to put up with for a while, the leader of the CeNation can be entertaining. I hope Creative is paying attention to Cena as it seems he, like his opponent, is being allowed to shoot from the hip during the run-up to the colossal main event in Miami.

I also thought I would write a little bit about the ‘Mania undercard as it begins to take shape. First off, Cody Rhodes vs Big Show is immediately underwhelming. I appreciate that the long-rumoued Goldust-Cody match may not have been a 5* classic, either, but at least that had the interesting brother vs brother dynamic. And, I think that was the thinking when Dustin got involved in the Booker T situation a little while back, only not to be seen again since. I don’t know the reason why the idea was dropped, but it was a far better idea than putting Cody in there with Show. Now, I can hear some of you saying ‘Big Show’s a popular face, surely that will give Cody a bit of a rub.’ However, the way the feud is going, with the emphasis on Show’s failures at the big dance, I am fearing the worst come April 1 – Big Show walking out with the IC title.

Joining it in the ‘absolutely pointless’ file is burgeoning feud between Randy Orton and Kane. There are so many things broken about this feud that it would be like putting Humpty Dumpty back together again trying to come up with rationale for it. Kane has already lost to Cena, so quite what threat he is supposed to pose for Orton, especially considering how The Viper took him out on Raw this week, is anyone’s guess. I can’t imagine Orton is particualrly happy with being in the midcard for a second year running (although last year he had a really good match with Punk) and I for one would have preferred him to be involved with the Bryan-Sheamus situation to spice that up a bit. I don’t foresee Orton-Kane or Show-Cody being very good matches, which is a shame. Hopefully I’m proven wrong.

In other news, I do find it interesting that, despite seemingly being in the infamous WWE ‘doghouse’, The Miz is still the E’s go-to guy when it comes to promoting tours and PPVs. The Awesome One was in Russia and Poland this week representing the McMahon hype machine, and so I get the feeling he isn’t going anywhere soon – although this sadly includes his on-air escapades at the moment.

Oh, and having listened to James and Lee’s discussion on the subject on this week’s midweek edition of the TTR Report, I am also wondering how they are going to suspend the Hell in a Cell cage in a roofless arena. Answers on a postcard, please…

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James Partridge – @GoofyVillain

The Rock and John Cena were one of the main points of Raw again. I gotta say I liked the first Rock “history lesson”, but the other two, not so much. The ending promo between them both was interesting, seeing roles reversed from last week, of Rock doing the short promo this time. I think it worked, and has made me look forward to the next Raw to see the next installment.

Shawn Michaels appeared to talk to his good buddy, Triple H. While it kinda felt obvious he’d be announcing he’d be involved in the Wrestlemania match between HHH and the Undertaker, this was a good segment. I don’t see it all being HHH’s way at Mania, due to his friendship with Michaels. I actually feel Michaels and HHH may argue at the event, and even see HBK doing one of those “I don’t want to count, but have to do my job” type of counts.

Santino Marella won the US Title on Raw, and I felt like one of the few who wasn’t happy to see this. Two reasons why. First, I’m not, and have never really been keen on Santino. I’ve never found his comedy parts funny, and not enjoyed seeing him on my TV. The other reason is, I feel it was a complete waste of a reign for someone I feel could be used better in Jack Swagger. Maybe they could have had Swagger win the title, beat guys like Kofi and R-Truth, keep him busy till Zack Ryder was over this “injury”, and had him try to challenge Swagger for the title.

Onto Smackdown, and I have to say, I felt this was a poor episode. Partly down to the matches made by Mr Lack of Excitement, John Laurinaitis, and also the Raw Rebounds that appear once a week on Smackdown.

Aside from the main event of the 6 man tag, the rest of the matches were a letdown. I felt it was a waste using the cage on a match like Santino and Swagger, while the Drew McIntyre/Hornswoggle and GMs match weren’t that interesting to me. Even Mark Henry v Ezekiel Jackson, but that’s just cause I feel big Zeke is so useless lately. When did he last win?! As for R-Boom vs Prico, whenever the Champs are on, I just don’t care for them or Rosa.

As for the Raw Rebounds, is there any need to show a whole segment from Raw? Sure, the HBK/HHH segment was good, but I just don’t see the need to take 20 mins of time showing a repeat, when that time could be used for those who we rarely see. Hawkins, Kidd, Barreta, Tatsu, the Usos, Johnny Curtis…just a few guys who could be used on TV, and put on good matches too.

Finally, there’s rumours this GM v GM feud currently will see a 10 man tag at Wrestlemania. I’d guess this is a replacement for Money in the Bank, and a filler to get some guys who don’t have a match yet, onto the card. After the past 2 WWE shows, I’d think this could be the line up: (Team Johnny) Kane, The Miz, David Otunga, Dolph ziggler and Jack Swagger vs (Team Teddy) Randy Orton, R-Truth, Santino Marella, Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne. Kane and Orton added for me, due to the brawl during Long v Laurinaitis, The Miz as he wants to impress Laurinaitis (and what better way than to win this match?), and Bourne seeing as I couldn’t think of anyone else! The others, well because they’ve been involved in this since the whole saga started.

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