WWE Monday Night RAW Review From Chicago 12/26/11

[Editor's Note: No Smackdown Review, Keg Stand, or Random Wrestling Review this week. I'm using the holiday weekend as an excuse. I might not bring back my Smackdown Review. Remember that this site becomes Wrestling Pipe Bombs tomorrow. Save this link: www.wrestlingpipebombs.blogspot.com]

I was at RAW last Monday in Chicago. It was a good show and I took many photos (over 150). I would like to share some of my thoughts and show you several exclusive photos.

The Keg Stand: Top 15 WWE Moments in Chicago

WWE Monday Night RAW is in Chicago this Monday. Chicago is a great WWE city and many great moments have happened in Chicago. I decided to make a list of the top 15 WWE Chicago moments.

Random Chicago Wrestling Match Review (December 24, 2011)

This week, I am doing a review of a random Chicago wrestling match because this is Chicago Week and RAW is in Chicago this Monday. I have some WCW and ECW matches that were in Chicago but the match I will review this week will be a WWE match. I created a list of 33 Chicago matches. Normally, I pick a match a few days early so I can prepare for it but I know these matches so well that I waited until today to pick my random number. Right now, I have no idea which match I will review. I'm hoping for CM Punk vs. Umaga from Judgment Day 2009. That was an underrated CM Punk match. Okay...the number I randomly selected was 9. I have no idea what match that is. The Chicago match I will review is...

WWE Smackdown Results (December 23, 2011)

WWE Friday Night Smackdown was at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia.

Great WWE Chicago Moments: CM Punk Wins the Intercontinental Championship

Believe it or not, CM Punk's WWE Championship win at Money in the Bank this year was not the first time Punk won a WWE title in Chicago. On January 19, 2009, CM Punk became the Intercontinental Champion in Chicago on Monday Night RAW. Before I go any further, I want to mention that I don't think it is a coincidence that RAW is in Chicago on the day after Christmas this year. Chicago was announced at the host for this Monday's RAW on July 17 which was supposed to be CM Punk's last day in the WWE. There are no WWE shows advertised for the rest of this week after Tuesday's Smackdown taping. CM Punk has probably been in Chicago since Wednesday. If RAW was in Cleveland this Monday, Punk would have to leave Chicago early Monday morning to get to Cleveland on time. However, RAW is in Chicago this Monday so Punk can spend more time with his family. I don't think CM Punk requested that the post-Christmas RAW be in Chicago but maybe Vince made the decision to have RAW in Chicago to make it more likely that CM Punk would re-sign with the WWE.

Sorry to get off-topic...back to CM Punk's IC title win. Punk defeated William Regal and he got to celebrate with his hometown fans. Less than three years later, Punk won another championship in Chicago. Many WWE Superstars never win a WWE championship in their hometown. CM Punk has done it twice. 

I also want to mention that this match features my favorite CM Punk entrance. When Punk's music started playing, Punk entered with the Chicago Flag. I remember marking out when I saw that.

Great WWE Chicago Moments: Bob Barker Hosts RAW

The WWE had several RAW guest hosts from the summer of 2009 to the end of 2010. One of those guest hosts was Bob Barker. On September 7, 2009, Bob hosted the Price is RAW in Chicago. I was in the arena that night and Bob was amazing. His mic skills at 85 years old were better than most of the WWE roster. Bob did so well that on December 14, 2009, he won a WWE Slammy for Best RAW Guest Host.

Great WWE Chicago Moments: Randy Orton Becomes the WWE Champion Twice in One Night

The WWE No Mercy Pay Per View in Chicago on October 7, 2007 was one of the most unique WWE PPVs of all-time. Triple H competed in three WWE Championship matches. Randy Orton entered the PPV without any WWE Championship reigns in his career and at the end of the night, he was a two-time WWE Champion. The interesting thing is that none of this would have happened if John Cena didn't get injured. Cena tore his right pectoral muscle during RAW on October 1 and was forced to vacate his WWE Championship. Randy Orton was awarded the WWE Championship at the start of the PPV, lost it to Triple H in the opening match, and won back the title by defeating Triple H in the main event. I think Randy Orton is the only man to win the WWE Championship twice in one night and that historic feat happened in Chicago.

Great WWE Chicago Moments: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho on RAW

On August 18, 2008, Chris Jericho faced the World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk in a non-title match on RAW in Chicago. It wasn't a classic match but I think it's awesome that CM Punk, who is from Chicago, had a match on RAW in Chicago as the World Heavyweight Champion against Chris Jericho. This was the only time CM Punk was in a WWE ring as the World Heavyweight Champion in Chicago. I remember watching this match on TV and being disappointed because Punk lost. I re-watched this match while writing this column and I think this match is as good as a mid-card Pay Per View match. It was nice to see CM Punk make his entrance in Chicago with the World Heavyweight Championship around his waist.

Great WWE Chicago Moments: Daniel Bryan Wins the U.S. Championship

Daniel Bryan is now the World Heavyweight Champion but that is not his first championship in the WWE. On September 19, 2010, Daniel Bryan won the United States Championship at Night of Champions in Chicago by defeating The Miz. I was in the arena during that match and in my opinion, it was the best match of the night. The crowd reaction during the LeBell Lock submission hold and after The Miz tapped was amazing. Winning the World Heavyweight Championship is Daniel Bryan's biggest accomplishment in the WWE, but he will never forget when he became a champion in the WWE for the first time and that happened in Chicago.

Vintage Column- Cena Sucks: The History of John Cena and Chicago

[Welcome to Chicago Week. There is now only one WWE RAW show left in 2011 and it is in Chicago this Monday. Chicago is my city and to get you excited about RAW, I am devoting an entire week to Chicago-related blog posts. I am planning to do a daily column this week called Great WWE Chicago Moments. I will do a Top 15 WWE moments in Chicago column this weekend so the Great WWE Chicago Moments columns will feature some of the honorable mentions. I am planning on doing four of them and there should be one for every day before Christmas. That starts tomorrow.  Today, I am posting a column that first appeared on THE INFAMOUS JCITY. I have never posted it here and this is a good time to post it. This vintage column will have an updated ending.]

Random Wrestling Match Review (December 17, 2011)

Welcome to another random wrestling match review. All of my wrestling reviews will be matches that are randomly selected from my DVD collection. The number I randomly selected for this review was 267. The match I will review is...

WWE Smackdown Review (December 16, 2011)

WWE Friday Night Smackdown was at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina this week.

The Keg Stand: Can Kevin Nash and Triple H have a good match at TLC

Welcome to another edition of The Keg Stand. I am posting this Keg Stand a few days early because I had an opportunity to get it finished today and this will give me more time to work on my other columns this weekend. I was surprised to find out that this is my 10th Keg Stand. I'm glad that the WWE continues to give me something worth discussing each week. This week, I decided to use my original format which was discussing five current topics in the WWE. One of those topics is the upcoming match between Triple H and Kevin Nash.

This blog will be renamed to "Wrestling Pipe Bombs" in 2012

"It's funny to me that Vince is bending over backward to give me everything I've ever wanted, when all I've ever wanted is this little microphone. See, this, this is power. This voice...this is power. In anybody else's hands, this is a microphone. In my hands, it's a pipe bomb."-CM Punk on WWE Monday Night RAW (July 11, 2011)

I had a really hard time thinking of a new name for my blog but I finally thought of a decent name. In 2012, this blog will be known as Wrestling Pipe Bombs. I thought it would be cool if I could think of a blog name with a CM Punk reference so I like this name. CM Punk's "pipe bomb" is his microphone and he uses that pipe bomb to express his opinions about the WWE. My "pipe bomb" is my computer keyboard and my opinions aren't as strong as Punk but I do have strong opinions about the WWE. I'm not afraid to criticize them. It's not a perfect comparison and it's probably not the best blog name but it's good enough.

The new web address will be www.wrestlingpipebombs.blogspot.com (I already claimed the name) and I plan on making the change on January 1, 2012. Consider this post to be your two week's notice. The only change I'm making is the web address and the blog name. That's it. It will be the same location with the same design.

Here's what to expect on this blog later this week (subject to change):

Friday- WWE Smackdown Review
Saturday- Random Wrestling Match Review
Sunday- The Keg Stand: Can Kevin Nash and Triple H have a good match at TLC

Random Wrestling Match Review (December 10, 2011)

Welcome to my first Random Wrestling Match Review. I have 379 WWE/WCW/ECW matches on DVD. I know that because I made a list and numbered all of the matches individually. All of the matches I will review for this column will be a match I own on DVD. I don't want to be biased and pick matches based on my wrestling style so I decided to randomly pick a number using a random number generator and then review the match that is attached to that number. The number I randomly picked was 59. The match I will review is...

WWE Smackdown Review (December 9, 2011)

WWE Friday Night Smackdown was at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida this week.

What If...Part 5

“What If” is back! I wrote part four almost four months ago and here is part five. Click HERE if you want to read part one, part two, part three, and part four.

The Keg Stand: My thoughts on the December 5 episode of RAW

Wow...WWE Monday Night RAW was interesting this week but not in a good way. It wasn't a bad RAW but I didn't like it either. RAW mainly focused on one man and that man is...

The Keg Stand: Five Things I Want to See on RAW Every Week

In my opinion, WWE Monday Night RAW (I don't care that it's called "RAW Supershow" now) has not been very enjoyable lately. I rarely watch the entire show without turning the channel and a lot of the main events are not worth watching live. I was thinking about what I want to see on RAW and I thought of five things that RAW needs to try to do every week.

WWE Smackdown Review (November 29, 2011)

Smackdown was LIVE on Tuesday night in Charlotte, North Carolina this week. After this week, I will no longer review Smackdown matches. I will still post a review every week with match photos and match ratings but there will be no match review. I might write a short review for the best match and worst match. Next week, I will begin a new weekly column in which I will review a random WWE/WCW/ECW match from my DVD collection.

Blog Update: 2,500 Views in November

Today is the first day of December and November is over. According to Blogger, this blog had 2,500 views in November which is 551 more views than last month. According to StatCounter.com, I had 1,196 unique visitors (794 first time visitors and 402 returning visitors) in November. These are all increases from last month so it means this blog is still growing. I'm glad to see that this blog has not peaked yet and thanks to everyone who has visited this blog.

I plan to re-name this blog in early 2012. When I change the blog name, I will also change the web address so I will announce the name change several weeks in advance before I make the change. If anyone has any suggestions for a new blog name, please leave them in the comments.