WWE Saturday Morning Slam TV report

WWE Saturday Morning Slam Report

By: David Parker

Email: ratednitro@gmail.com

Date: 12/22/2012

The Big News:  It’s the first of two Best of Saturday Morning Slam shows, featuring The Miz vs. Justin Gabriel and Rey Mysterio vs. Michael McGillicutty.

Show Analysis:

After the signature and before the intro, the Christmas video that WWE recently did was shown. In it, a cartoon version of CM Punk tries to press a red button to try to light up a Christmas tree, but he is unsuccessful in doing so. The video then cuts to John Cena leading the WWE roster in a wrestling-themed version of Jingle Bells (complete with Daniel Bryan saying, “Yes! No! Yes! No…ok Yes!” and Kane responding, “I’m not going to sing!).

After singing the song, Cena and the rest of the roster wish the watchers happy holidays. The video then cuts to a cartoon version of Cena punching the cartoon Punk and successfully pressing the button. The best part was Punk looking at something on Paul Heyman’s cell phone, rather than singing. It made the whole idea of everyone getting together and singing a little less absurd. If you’re interested in watching it, the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWqhpkAat0E.

After the intro, the host said that today’s show will feature “the best of Saturday Morning Slam.” After hyping Rey Mysterio’s match in the main event, he introduced today’s first match, The Miz vs. Justin Gabriel, which he referred to as a “recent classic.” This match was first shown on the October 13 episode and aired when Miz was still the United States Champion and a heel. Besides an added commercial break that only cut Miz taunting the crowd, the match was the same.

The Miz defeated Justin Gabriel. Santino Marella and Josh Matthews were on commentary. Miz was in control for majority of the match, besides a couple brief comebacks by Gabriel. Near the end of the match, Gabriel missed a moonsault off the top rope, and Miz hit a Skull-Crushing Finale to get the match. Pretty simple match without any comedy, and Miz played to the crowd at a couple points. A couple spots were cut, including an Irish Whip into the turnbuckle and the Skull-Crushing Finale (the latter move was shown on a replay, but Gabriel’s face was obscured, which evidently lets the move get around the TV-G rating).

After the commercial break, this week’s “Saturday Morning Spotlight” focused on Rey Mysterio. It was a quick video that focused on the 619.

The match between Mysterio and Michael McGillicutty was first shown on the October 6 episode. I didn’t check the original airing, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same match (complete with the same “Don’t Try This at Home” segment).

Rey Mysterio defeated McGillicutty. After the mid-match break, a “Do Not Try This At Home” segment featuring Dolph Ziggler aired. The match began with McGillicutty making fun of Mysterio for being short. He was in control in the early part of the match, but then they did a couple comedy spots of McGillicutty running back and forth across the ring while Mysterio moved out of the way and the masked luchador doing jumping jacks to make fun of Mr. Perfect Jr. After the break, Mysterio was still in control, but McGillicutty quickly took over. For some reason, some of his offense was cut, including him driving his shoulder into Mysterio’s abdomen, an elbow that must have landed near Mysterio’s neck, and a sidewalk slam. Earlier in the match, Mysterio dropkicked McGillicutty’s ankles while he was on the apron, and his face hit the apron, but that wasn’t cut. Weird.

Anyway, Mysterio eventually made his comeback, and it became a back-and-forth contest. Mysterio eventually tried to hit the 619, but McGillicutty was able to stop him. Mysterio then improvised and did a variation of the move that hit McGillicutty’s butt instead of his face. Mysterio got the pin after the splash off the turnbuckle. All in all, the match was fine, but it was a textbook example of how the TV-G rating affects WWE wrestling.

After the match, the host said that next week’s episode will also be a “Best of” show and wished everyone happy holidays.

Final Thoughts:

When I first watched this show, I was disappointed Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd wasn’t shown, but I’m hopeful they’ll show it next week.

No ratings data this week.

Also, happy holidays to everyone who reads this report. I’m not sure how many people read this, but I’m thankful for those who do.