Pre-show notes:

- Comments, shares, likes, and anything else that gets people to come here are appreciated, as always. The more you show this to your friends and fellow wrestling fans, the more coverage we can do on the site. Share it enough, and hell, we’ll just have to split off into a dedicated wrestling blog. Wink wink, nudge nudge, and so on.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- Be sure you’re reading With Leather’s This Week In Horrible-Looking People every Monday. This week I talked about embarrassing candid 8x10s, and you get to see Andre the Giant dressed like Zach Braff. Good times.

- In horrible wrestling news, WWE decided to let our good friend Derrick Bateman go. These are the guys who decided to write THIS episode of Raw, in case you need a reference for how good their decision-making skills are. Anyway, if you’re a wrestling promoter type who reads this column and wants to book an awesome wrestler who is hilarious and was also on Internet TV for a long time, contact him for bookings here.

- This week’s report is up a little early, because I’ll be spending the majority of the day in a church with video cameras and Goldust. If you aren’t following Meet Me There on Facebook, do that. It’s going to be special.

Please click through to enjoy the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for May 20, 2013. Things get a little sick at the end.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pre-show notes:

- Comments, shares, likes, what-have-you are greatly appreciated. It takes less than one second from your day and helps me continue to get paid for writing hacky Watchmen references and John Carter jokes in a wrestling column on a sports blog. I love you, and if you don’t want to hit me in the head with a brick, this is your best way to show me.

- As always, thank you to Casey/THESTINGER of Hammerlock Dialectic for GIFs.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- If you missed out interview with Eve Torres, be sure to check that out here. Or, you know, find the 411 Wrestling post that copied in paragraphs from it and reported it as exclusive news. Part of it is about punching Doink The Clown in the face, it’s pretty great.

- Repost: My trip to WrestleMania XXIX is officially being planned, so if you’re anywhere near the New York/New Jersey area and want to be Wrestling Bros In The Snow with me next April, start scheduling it now.

And now, please click through to enjoy the Best And Worst Of WWE Raw for October 22, 2012.

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for September 13, 2011. Before we begin:

- Be sure to leave a comment if you read the report. If Vince McMahon is ever on his word processor and accidentally stumbles upon the site, it’ll make me look cooler to have 200 comments than it would to have 8. Also, these things take about three and a half hours to build from start to finish, not counting the two hours of wrestling I have to sit through, so your feedback and thoughts are my payment. Money is my payment, too, but I get these four times a month.

- That being said, allow me to pull a Zack Ryder and invite you to like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, buy the t-shirt and the headband and the sunglasses (I don’t have those things).

- As previously mentioned, I’m headed to Los Angeles on Thursday, so both The Best And Worst Of Night Of Champions and the next night’s Best and Worst Of Raw will feature guest writers. Handling the Night of Champions report will be Andrew Johnson of the popular The John Report, which I think is a blog about bathrooms. Covering next week’s Raw will be writer Diego McCafferty, a man shockingly important to my pro wrestling fandom. Be kind to them and give them the same kind of response you’d give me, only with more curse words. Burnsy will be in charge of With Leather while I’m off taking mark photos with Maleficent (or Andre Ethier, or whoever), so if they do a terrible job, blame him.

- A.J. image unrelated, but important.

Enjoy the report. See you in two weeks.

Read the rest of this entry »

A few notes before the process begins anew:

- I’ve spent the last few days in rural Tennessee visiting my parents and going to Minor League Baseball games to have my picture taken with wandering miscellanea, so I’ve been a little out of the loop and apologize for any errant e-mail responses or the slight shortness of this week’s report.

- In case you were wondering, yes, tomorrow’s With Leather updates will feature the Best And Worst Of Super Smackdown, because for once I’ll get to write about the show on a Wednesday. edit: Here’s the Best and Worst of Smackdown, in case you missed it (or didn’t know it existed).

- If you read this week’s show report, LEAVE A COMMENT! I don’t want to have to get Jerry at UPROXX to create huge DROP A COMMENT graphics to put at the bottom of every page. Your voice is appreciated, and eventually I’m gonna get these things up to 200 comments on the reg. Also, click that little “like” button and share this jazz with your Facebook friends. Also, bake and mail me vegan cookies.

I will try to get through this report without namedropping my beautiful In Real Life girlfriend. I know how much that bothers you! Please enjoy this week’s Best and Worst of Raw, after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

A few things to go over before we begin.

- Normally the fine folks at WWEFanNation upload clips of Raw throughout the day on Tuesday, and by the time I’m done slaving away writing paragraphs about Kelly Kelly’s boobs I can plug in the appropriate videos. For some reason those videos never showed up today, so I’m going to chalk it up to WWE’s tour of Canada creating YouTube issues and/or somebody at the WWE front office finding out about Best and Worst and not wanting you to see their show without the correct number of “Royal Pains” commercials. I’m bound by doctor-patient confidentiality! I’m your brother!!!

- Comments on this post, be it feedback or just your thoughts on Raw, are appreciated. As funny as it is, I do ask that we move away from the “john cena gay” gag, as “john cena gay” has started popping up on everything on Uproxx and makes us look like a weird niche hate site. If Best and Worst has to have a running gag, let it be something that doesn’t confuse and dissuade the new people.

- Sheamus vs. Mark Henry is the main event of Smackdown this week, so if there was ever a week for me to start doing Best and Worsts of that, it’s this one. I’m also considering doing a live blog of next week’s Super Duper Live Smackdown, if that sounds like a thing you’d like.

- I’m going to be in Los Angeles next month enjoying the Dodgers, Van Gogh and the Matterhorn (in that order) so I’m looking for someone notable and accomplished to fill in for Best and Worst of Night of Champions and/or the next night’s Best and Worst of Raw. Shoot me an e-mail if you possess these qualities: 1) you are funny, and can send me something funny you wrote as proof, 2) you are able to write about wrestling in a somewhat positive way and don’t ever use the phrase “came out to a big pop”, 3) you are interested.

Anyway, enjoy the recap, and thank you for your patronage. Vote Bateman, in case this season of NXT ever decides to end.

Read the rest of this entry »

Like Max Payne, it’s bullet time.

- Before you read this week’s column, please make sure you’ve read The Best and Worst of Summerslam 2011. It contains important, mostly-positive information necessary to understanding last night’s Raw. I’m just kidding, a mentally handicapped child could tune in to Raw and know what was going on in the first five minutes, I just want you to read and enjoy my stuff. Also, you have to know Kevin Nash is there.

- As always, comments are appreciated. My self-deprecating approach to asking for comments has gone around to being worthy of deprecation, so I’ll try not to beg. I’m trying to form the column around what’s most palatable for everyone, so if it ends up as just pictures of Maryse and a bunch of nerd references you’ll know who won. I’m going to toss a picture of Maryse on the side here, because she never shows up on Raw. Likes, Facebook shares, Plus-ones and Twitter re-Twitters are also appreciated.

- Don’t forget to watch NXT. Maryse shows up there, and I have insider information that Maxine will return as a surprise contestant. MAXINE, people. The show is in week 77 of its 280 week run, so now’s the time to jump on board. Vote Bateman. I can’t write “the big guy barks like a dog” as a worst every week.

Read the rest of this entry »