(I want to have this up by Tuesday usually, but because of WWE NXT, I decided to push it back one day. And then it became two days. Sorry ’bout that.)

After Smackdown, WWE Elimination Chamber, and now Raw, we have three pretty big matches for WrestleMania XXVI. I know some of you will disagree with what I’m going to say next and it’s probably going to be unpopular, but I truly believe it.

Raw on Monday was the perfect wrestling show. I know, I know. There wasn’t any good matches. It was chock full of angles. There was more talking than anything else. There was very little wrestling. I get that, you get that, everyone gets that.

But it begs the question – what should Raw, Smackdown, and Impact be? Should they be stand alone episodes which is what TNA seems to want Impact to be? Or should they be marketing vehicles in order to get us to pay for the actual wrestling? Here comes Mr. Unpopular. I say the second.

I honestly don’t care about great wrestling on weekly television. It’s nice to have, but I’m rarely paying attention close enough and there’s already too much wrestling on TV to begin with. I don’t miss the in ring work. That’s why I buy the PPV shows. If the PPV shows don’t deliver the wrestling that I want to see, then fine, that’s a good gripe to have.
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ESPN are reporting that Golden Boy promotions have signed US amateur standout Frankie Gomez to a multi year contract. Gomez, who is just 18, won a silver medal in last years World Amateur Championship. I truly believe that the World Championships are the tougher competition in boxing to medal in. Gomez was one of the youngest boxers in the tournament, and he made a serious statement in going all the way to the final. I viewed him as Team USA’s best prospect for 2012, and losing him at this stage has to be considered a huge blow to American amateur boxing.
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We all generally liked the former No Way Out. If Elimination Chamber was a two hour show, it might’ve been one of the great PPVs of our time. Sadly, there was a middle hour that dropped it down a notch.

Here’s what we had to say about the show:

Big D
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Smackdown Chamber
Worst Match: Maryse and Gail Kim vs. Michelle McCool and Layla

We talked about it in detail on the last edition of FGB Radio. Show had an awesome opener and closer with the chambers and successfully set up a multitude of matches for Wrestlemania without sacrificing match-quality. I liked the surprise of Batista and HBK (even I predicted it verbatim on our Rumble postgame) and it’s good to see Jericho with the belt again.

Duan
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Smackdown Chamber
Worst Match: Drew McIntyre vs. KaneContinue Reading »

I wanted to give a few thoughts on the new WWE NXT show. It’s very unpolished. I’m not sure they even have an idea for what they want to do. It seems like it was decided to go this route very late in the game and it’s just all over the place.

I have a some quick thoughts:
- It took Daniel Bryan a little while to get going, but I thought he out-promoed The Miz, and I love The Miz’s work. I think The Miz overdid it a bit simply to highlight their differences in personalities. But yikes, Miz looked like a giant next to Bryan.
- Why would you have a mentor even wrestle a rookie? Do you get these guys over by just beating them quickly and easily? When has that ever worked?
- When David Otunga said that he was going to win NXT, what the heck did he mean? And Otunga needs a bra badly. But I did like his catchphrase, “Come on man, Google me.” It should be, “Thanks to my fiance Jennifer Hudson, I’m not on bad reality television trying to win the love of someone Flavor Flav said no to anymore.”
- Darren Young looks like Orlando Jordan. Has to be a rib right?
- Is there any more proof that they had no content for this show than going to commercial three times before Bryan and Jericho finally wrestled?
- Matt Striker as the sideline reporter comes off as a complete joke, but then again, maybe that’s what it’s supposed to be.
- Why did they have Michael Cole take the heel role and not Striker when it came to shooting down wrestling fans?
- If Bryan is a rookie, then what does that make generic guys on Raw and Smackdown who get pinned quickly on TV?

Overall, I was very unimpressed with the show. On the positive tip, we got to see about 10% of Bryan Danielson’s work, but it was still better than any match on Raw yesterday thanks to both he and Jericho.

Also, if this is an introductory show, why were all the guys not introduced? It just seems that they really don’t know what they want to do with the concept and I would’ve rather seen either a reality show like Tough Enough or just a spruced up version of FCW.

UFC’s first trek down under was a huge success as the Ultimate Fighting Championship held UFC 110 before a sold out crowd of 20,000 in Sydney, Australia at the Acer Arena. It was the second fastest international sellout in UFC history behind UFC 83 in Montreal. PRIDE went 2-1 on the show, as we saw Wanderlei and Crocop earn victories, but Nogueira ultimate fell to the hands of the younger, faster, stronger Cain Velasquez.

So today, for the first time ever, all five core members of FightGameBlog will comment on the event.

Cactus Jim
Thumbs up.
Best Fight – George S. versus Joe S.
Worst Fight – Cro Cop versus Perosh

I’m still a little pissed that we’ve only seen one title fight in the last 8 events spanning 4 months. I certainly appreciate a good fight, title or not, but there just seems to be something missing for me when I’m paying $45 and not even getting a title fight. Let’s hope nothing causes delays to the title fights scheduled for the next 3 PPV’s. Now that I’m off my soapbox, I really enjoyed UFC 110. While there wasn’t really anything I’d consider a classic, all the fights were entertaining, even the fight I picked as worst of the night.

Alan
Thumbs up
Best Fight: George vs. Joe
Worst Fight: CroCop vs. Perosh
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Big D and I are back to discuss two big shows this past weekend. WWE Elimination Chamber ended with both big belts being switched and the Undertaker now having a reason to face Shawn Michaels. We’ll talk about the matches that look to be set up for WrestleMania XXVI.

UFC 110 was a good show and we talk about all the fights. We also discuss the heavyweights in detail.

Listen below.

Right click to download.