My Power 25- Week of 9/2/12-9/8/12

This week a champion decided to take a personal day, a dancer gets suspended, and two superstars with anger problems must hug it out. How do these affect the power 25? Since this is my second week I will include the last weeks ranking with a LW=?.

#25 Epico and Primo (LW=23)

 

Epico and Primo did not have a very successful week.  They lost to the tag team champions, Kofi Kingston and R-Truth on Superstars and then the lost a number one contender match against the Prime Time Players and the Usos where they were the team that took the pinfall. The only reason that they are still on the Power 25 is the lack of other unranked superstars getting a win. 

#24 Jinder Mahal (LW=22)

Jinder Mahal lost to Ryback on RAW this week. With another loss he may be off the Power 25. 

#23 Eve Torres (LW=Unranked)

Eve beat Kaitlyn, the number one contender to the Diva's championship on RAW this week. The rumor is that Eve was originally suppose to win the battle royal two weeks ago, but the ending was botched. If Eve can get herself into the title match she may be able to go up even farther.

#22 Wade Barrett (LW=Unranked)

Wade Barrett returned on Smackdown and squashed Yoshi Tatsu. He will  be looking forward to regaining his momentum in the WWE.

#21 Kaitlyn (LW=17)

Kaitlyn lost to Eve Torres on this week's RAW. She is not showing any improvement since winning the number one contender's battle royal. She better hope for a win next week to get some momentum going into Night of Champions. 

#20 Kofi Kingston and R-Truth (LW=21)

Kingston and R-Truth beat Epico and Primo on this week's Superstars. Due to Kofi showing up this week he was added into R-Truth's spot. 

#19 The Miz (LW=19)

 

The Miz showed off his many talents on RAW when he took Jerry Lawler's spot at the announcing table. He did lose a tag team match against Sin Cara and  Rey Mysterio. His partner was Cody Rhodes.

#18 Prime Time Players (LW=21)

With one of the biggest jumps in the week, Darren Young and Titus O'Neil come in at number 18. They became the number one contenders to the tag team titles after beating Epico and Primo and The Usos in a triple threat tag team match.

#17 Santino Marella (LW=14)

After putting up a valiant effort, Santino cannot get it done against Antonio Cesaro and regain his United States Championship.

#16 Layla (LW=16)

 

Layla beat Natalya on Monday Night RAW. Could this momentum help her to defeat Kaitlyn at Night of Champions next Sunday?

#15 Antonio Cesaro (LW=18)

Antonio Cesaro retained his United States championship against Santino Marella. Who will be the person that will be able to dethrone him?

#14 Zack Ryder (LW=15)

 

Zack Ryder defeated Heath Slater on RAW. On Smackdown he was originally beaten by Daniel Bryan until the official reversed the decision because Daniel could not control his anger problems. 

#13 Brodus Clay (LW=11)

  

Brodus Clay did not compete in any matches this week. Cameron getting suspended could ultimately affect his spot on the Power 25. 

#12 Ryback (LW=13)

Ryback continues his winning streak this week by beating Jinder Mahal. If Ryback can compete against better opponents and still win, he could find himself at the top of the Power 25. 

#11 Daniel Bryan (LW=9)

Daniel Bryan could have been moving up in the Power 25, but he let his anger problems get the better of him. After he defeated Zack Ryder with the no lock he would not let go, so the referee had no choice but to disqualify him resulting in him losing the match.

#10 Damien Sandow (LW=10)

Damien Sandow had an up-and-down week. He started off the week by beating Alex Riley on Superstars, but he got beaten by Randy Orton on Smackdown. 

#9 Kane (LW=8)

 

Kane did not compete in a match this week, but he did compete in a hug. Since Daniel Bryan was the first to hug, that could be considered a loss to Kane and drops one spot. 

#8 Sin Cara (LW=12)

Sin Cara can be considered this week's MVP. He teamed with Rey Mysterio on  RAW and Smackdown beaten Cody Rhodes and Tensai and Cody Rhodes and Miz. He then defeated Michael McGillicutty on the Saturday Morning Slam. 

#7 Rey Mysterio (LW=7)

Rey Mysterio teamed with Sin Cara to beat two formidable opponents on RAW and Smackdown. Due to the circumstance of who is above him, he is not able to move up in the rankings. 

#6 Randy Orton (LW=5)

Randy Orton unfortunately lost to Dolph Ziggler on RAW, but he was able to defeat Damien Sandow on Smackdown. Randy now needs to watch out for his old nemesis Wade Barrett, who made his return this week. 

#5 John Cena (LW=4)

 It may have been because of CM Punk's interference, but a loss is a loss and John Cena loss to Alberto Del Rio on RAW this week in their falls count anywhere match. 

#4 Dolph Ziggler (LW=6)

Dolph Ziggler, Mr. Money in the Bank, had a huge win this week against Randy Orton on RAW. Can Ziggler have another huge win this upcoming week?

#3 CM Punk (LW=2)

You read that correctly, CM Punk dropped a spot. This week he decided to take a personal day on RAW to celebrate Labor Day and it cost him in the Power 25 rankings. After not fulfilling his duties to wrestle against Sheamus, he then got the help of Paul Heyman to cost John Cena his match against Alberto Del Rio. 

#2 Alberto Del Rio (LW=3)

Alberto managed to defeat John Cena in a falls count anywhere match that was sanctioned by AJ Lee due to the help of CM Punk. Even with the shaky win, it is enough to put him at number 2 in the rankings.

#1 Sheamus (LW=1)

 

Sheamus finds himself on top of the Power 25 for the second week in a row.  After he was suppose to challenge CM Punk, he ended up beating Jack Swagger instead. Then on Smackdown he was able to defeat David Otunga. His Brogue Kick may be banned, but that does not look like it will be stopping Sheamus any time soon. 

Goodbye: These superstars were unable to retain their positions on the list

AJ Lee (25): AJ did not compete in a match or slap anyone this week. The only thing she did that was worth a note was that she had a meltdown in the middle of the ring. 

Jerry Lawler (24): He got beat up by CM Punk at the beginning of RAW and was not cleared to be able to announce. His not showing up cost him his spot on the Power 25.

  

 

  

WWE Championship: Bruno Sammartino

Today I am going to continue the series on WWE Championship title reigns. The next title reign on the list involves the longest title reign to date for the WWE Championship and it is held by Bruno Sammartino. I am changing my formula for this time and all future posts in this series. I will instead give the history of their title reign and then I will give my thoughts at the end on the score and then I will score them.

Bruno Sammartino: May 17, 1963-January 18, 1971

Bruno Sammartino beat Buddy Rogers on May 17, 1963 in a match that lasted 48 seconds. The rumor was that Buddy Rogers was tricked into the match and did not know he was going to lose until he was already in the ring. This started a real feud between Sammartino and Rogers. The next time the two were in a ring together was two months later in a tag team match. This match pitted Bruno Sammartino and Bobo Brazil against Buddy Rogers and Handsome Johnny Barend. Rogers and Barend won the match, but Sammartino and Rogers were not in the ring very much because of their grudge against each other. 

Sammartino eventually was suppose to have a rematch against Buddy Rogers on October 4, 1963, but Rogers retired before the match could take place. Instead he faced the new #1 contender, Gorilla Monsoon. Monsoon ended up winning the match due to a disqualification. 

In 1965, Sammartino was picked to be in a match against Lou Thesz that would put both the WWWF title and NWA title on the line. Sammartino, who already had a hectic schedule decided to opt out of the match. On September 28, 1965 he had a match with Tarzan Tyler. When he went back to his car that night he found his window smashed and somebody stole his championship belt. 

Bruno Sammartino defended his belt all over the world in Australia, United States, Spain, and Japan. He defeated such opponents as Killer Kowalski, Gene Kiniski, Gorilla Monsoon, George "The Animal" Steele, and many others. He was even presented with a private audience with the Pope. 

On January 18, 1971 he lost the championship to Ivan Koloff. After he was pinned the crowd was so shocked that they stayed perfectly silent. Fearing a riot, the referee did not even hand Koloff the belt. Sammartino stayed in the ring to try and draw the attention from Koloff. People were crying as Bruno Sammartino left the ring. 

Scores:

Strength: He retained the title all around the world and against the greatest wrestlers of that time period. 10/10 

Length: He held the title for seven years, eight months, and one day. 10/10

Opponents: Bruno Sammartino defeated some of the greatest wrestlers of that day. 10/10

Matches: He performed great in his matches while he was the champion. 10/10

Final Score: 40/40=100% A+

Royal Rumble Profile: Tito Santana

Since I have a lot of extra free time due to no job right now, I have been able to update more than I usually do. So here is another Royal Rumble profile. This time the person being profiled is El Matador, Tito Santana.

All time
Number of Appearances: 6
Best Performance: 8th
Worst Performance: 22nd
Highest Draw:25
Lowest Draw: 2
Longest Time: 30:23
Shortest Time: 5:09
Total Time: 1:23:56
Most Eliminations: 1
Total Eliminations: 2

1988 Royal Rumble
Entry Number:2
Time: 10:41
Performance:19th
Eliminations: None
Eliminated By: Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart

Tito Santana did not make much of an impact in his Royal Rumble debut. He starts off the match getting beat up by Bret Hart and Butch Reed until Jake Roberts comes to save the day. He is eventually eliminated by the Hart Foundation.

1989 Royal Rumble
Entry Number: 12
Time: 12:47
Performance: 19th
Eliminations: Honky Tonk Man
Eliminated By: Randy Savage and Arn Anderson

Tito Santana again, has a lackluster showing in the Royal Rumble. He lasted a little bit longer than his first attempt and even managed to help eliminate the Honky Tonk Man, After all is said and done, Tito Santana got 19th for the second year in a row.

1990 Royal Rumble
Entry Number: 23
Time: 5:09
Performance: 10th
Eliminations: None
Eliminated By: Ultimate Warrior

Tito Santana manages to get his first draw in the top half of the Royal Rumble, unfortunately for him, he does not fair well and is tossed out by the Ultimate Warrior in just over five minutes.

1991 Royal Rumble
Entry Number: 11
Time: 30:23
Performance: 15th
Eliminations: None
Eliminated By: Earthquake

Tito may be good at lasting for a while in a Royal Rumble, but he just can't manage to get an elimination. After lasting around half an hour he is tossed out mercilessly by Earthquake.

1992 Royal Rumble
Entry Number: 7
Time: 13:55
Performance: 22nd
Eliminations: Shawn Michaels
Eliminated By: Shawn Michaels

Tito does not do much here besides help to even up the face side of the members in the Rumble. Shawn Michaels and Tito Santana end up eliminating each other, which sets up their match at Wrestlemania VIII.

1993 Royal Rumble
Entry Number: 25 
Time: 11:01
Performance: 8th
Eliminations: None
Eliminated By: Yokozuna

Tito Santana appears in his sixth consecutive Royal Rumble. In this rumble he has his highest draw at 25 and his best performance at 8th. Tito gets revenge on his former Strikeforce teammate, Rick Martel. After six entries in the Royal Rumble Santana managed to only eliminate two competitors. That means four of his six Rumble matches has resulted in him not getting an elimination.

WWE Championship: Buddy Rogers

Again, I am going to be testing a new feature here at Smarking Out. Yesterday I brought you the Royal Rumble profile and now I am going to be ranking title reigns of the WWE wrestlers. I will be starting with the WWE Championship. Earlier title reigns will not have as much information because it is more difficult to find. I will rank their title reigns on the following criteria:

Strength: Was the wrestler shown to look strong during their title reign, or were they merely a transitional champion.

Length: Did the title reign last a significant amount of time?

Opponents: Were the challengers for the championship worthwhile or were they people that you
knew the champion was going to beat the challenger?

Matches: Were the matches fun to watch and lasted a significant amount of time.

Buddy Rogers: April 25, 1963-May 17, 1963

Strength: Buddy Rogers did not have a very strong title reign for being the first ever WWWF Champion. His reign was cut short because of a mild heart attack. Score: 2/10

Length: His reign only lasted a total of 22 days before he lost the belt to Bruno Sammartino. Score: 1/10

Opponents: Buddy Rogers "won" the belt from Antonio Rocca, but that match never actually took place and was just announced from Washington D.C. He did face off against Bruno  Sammartino, but the match did not last very long. Score: 2/10

Matches: His title win was fictional and his match against Sammartino only lasted 48 seconds.  Score: 1/10

Overall: Sammartino did not have a very strong title reign for being the first ever WWWF Champion. This could all fall back on the reasoning that at the start of his reign he did have a mild heart attack. Final Score: 6/40=15% F

Royal Rumble Profile: Bret Hart

Since the Royal Rumble is my favorite match and PPV of all time a new feature I am going to try and do at least once a week is a Royal Rumble profile. I will talk about each Royal Rumble the wrestler was in and their stats. I will be doing this in a specific order. I am starting with the earliest Royal Rumble participant and working my way forward. So today's Rumble feature is the Excellence of Execution, Bret Hart. I would like to thank the Royal Rumble History blog for the idea.

All time
Number of Appearances: 5
Best Performance: 1st
Worst Performance: 26th
Highest Draw:27
Lowest Draw: 1 (Twice)
Longest Time: 25:42
Shortest Time: 15:08
Total Time: 1:39:21
Most Eliminations: 3
Total Eliminations: 6

1988 Royal Rumble
Entry Number: 1
Time: 25:42
Performance: 13th
Eliminations: Tito Santana
Eliminated By: Don Muraco

Bret Hart was the first person to ever enter the Royal Rumble match. He didn't do much during the match besides help get Tito Santana out with Jim Neidhart. He does set the record for longest time in a rumble match at 25:42.

1990 Royal rumble
Entry Number: 8 
Time: 16:16
Performance: 22nd
Eliminations: None
Eliminated By: Dusty Rhodes

You can say that Bret Hart did not fare as well in his second ever Royal Rumble. He entered at a later number than last time and did not last as long. He also was not able to eliminate anyone during the match. For most of the match he is just thought as an afterthought.

1991 Royal Rumble
Entry Number: 1
Time: 20:33
Performance: 26th
Eliminations: None
Eliminated By: Undertaker

Again, Bret Hart has a lackluster performance in a Royal Rumble Match. This is also the second time he has drawn the number 1 spot. Somehow he is the 4th person eliminated but manages to last 20 minutes. Still, nothing to spectacular in his Royal Rumble match.

1994 Royal Rumble
Entry Number: 27
Time: 15:08
Performance: Won (Tied with Lex Luger)
Eliminations: Fatu, Genichiro Tenryu, Sparky Plugg
Eliminated By: None (Won)

Bret Hart took a leave of absence from the 1992 and 1993 Royal Rumble and came back to win the 1994 Royal Rumble. He was also the first person to enter at the coveted number 27 spot. When Hart enters almost half of the participants in the match are still in the ring. Hart makes it to the final four which are Lex Luger, Shawn Michaels, Fatu, and himself. Hart and Luger fight to the ropes and they both end up toppling over. The referees disagree and after a short while both wrestlers are announced as co-winners of the Royal Rumble.

1997 Royal Rumble
Entry Number: 21
Time: 21:42
Performance: 2nd
Eliminations: "Diesel", Jerry Lawler
Eliminated By: Steve Austin

Bret Hart again, managed to go more than 20 minutes in the Royal Rumble. He actually won this rumble, but when Steve Austin was thrown over the officials didn't see it and he entered the match again and eliminated Undertaker, Vader, and Bret Hart. Those men, along with Austin, made up the final four of the 1997 Royal Rumble. 

My Power 25- Week of 8/26/12-9/1/12

It has been a while since I last blogged here because I had a very busy summer. I am starting a weekly edition that will be my own power 25 rankings. Since this is the first week, these are my rankings based on only the last week, but I have included some past weeks with important storylines. After this week I will base my rankings depending on the week before hand. I'm also going to try a ranking system that will go until the end of the year. For example 1 point for #25, 25 points for #1. Then that will help determine my superstar of the year. based on the last four months. I will then figure out my own  So, without further adieu...

#25 AJ Lee

Aj is getting notice on this list  because of her slap to Vickie Guerrero. So you can count this as a sort of honorable mention.

#24 Jerry Lawler

Jerry gets a spot here because of the standing up he did to CM Punk. He may have lost his match on RAW, but it takes a true man to stand up to someone. I just wanted to give Lawler props for his dealing with CM Punk. 

#23 Epico and Primo

Epico and Primo beat The Usos on Superstars this week. 

#22 Jinder Mahal

 

Jinder Mahal got a win over Alex Riley on Superstars this week. 

  

#21 Darren Young and Titus O'Neil

They beat Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd on Smackdown this week.  

#20 R-Truth 

R-Truth may be tag team champion, but Kofi did not show himself this week, so Truth is on the Power 25 alone. He has a win over Daniel Bryan, but it was a count out when in a match that didn't even last one minute. 

#19 The Miz 

The Miz lost to John Cena this week on RAW. Since he is the Intercontinental Champion he is still on the list.

#18 Antonio Cesaro

Antonio did not appear on any show this week. I put him on the list because he is the United States 

 Champion.

#17 Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn did the unthinkable last week when she won the Diva's battle royal for the number one contender spot. She then beat Natalya on Smackdown this week. 

#16 Layla

Layla is the Diva's Champion and also beat Natalya on RAW this week. 

#15 Zack Ryder

Zack Ryder beat David Otunga on RAW this week and managed to escape from a chokeslam from Kane. 

#14 Santino Marella

Santino beat Heath Slater on RAW this week. He is also not allowing the lost of his United States Championship to bring down his morale. 

#13 Ryback

Ryback continues his winning streak by beating Jack Swagger on RAW and Johnny Curtis on Superstars. If he keeps this up he could find himself in the top ten in a few weeks.

  #12 Sin Cara    

Sin Cara teamed with Brodus Clay to beat Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes. 

#11 Brodus Clay

Brodus Clay teames with Sin Cara and beat Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes. Clay even picked up the pin for his team over Rhodes.  

#10 Damien Sandow

Even though Sandow lost both his matches, he is up this high because of the recognition he is getting. Mainly because he got a match with the World Heavyweight Champion.

 

#9 Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan had a very short match with R-Truth that he lost. 

#8 Kane  

Kane lost to Alberto Del Rio on Smackdown, but is a little bit higher because of the chokeslam he did to David Otunga and his comedic gold in the anger management sketches. 

#7 Rey Mysterio

Rey Mysterio has done nothing but good things since his return. This week he beat Cody Rhodes on Smackdown. 

 #6 Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler lost both of his matches this week, but he has shown he has what it takes to remain with the big dogs. The question is: When will he cash in his Money in the Bank?

#5 Randy Orton     

Orton beat Ziggler on Smackdown and was also on the winning side during RAW.  

#4 John Cena

John Cena beat The Miz on RAW and tried to help Jerry Lawler during his beat down by CM Punk. He was also announced as the number one contender to the WWE Championship. 

#3 Alberto Del Rio

Alberto Del Rio may have lost on RAW, but he showed why he is the number one contender when he beat Kane in a matter of minutes on Smackdown. Sheamus better watch out. 

#2 CM Punk

Punk may be having a strong championship reign, but he needs to do more than beat up 60-year-old-men. It did help him prove a point by beating up Jerry Lawler, but he's going to have to do more than that if he wants to secure the number one spot. 

#1 Sheamus

Sheamus had a very successful week. He teamed with Randy Orton on RAW and beat Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio. He then beat Damien Sandow without having any time to prepare for the match.