WWE King of the Ring 2010

King of the Ring opened with US champ Daniel Bryan, on quite a roll as of late coming off two big victories over Ted Dibiase and three over Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler , against Alberto Del Rio( who the WWE creative team seem to adore). I was puzzled as to why the US champion would enter the KotR tournament, but here he is and Bryan doesn't fare too well against Alberto who seems to be on his game, dominating Daniel. A running head butt outside the ring by Bryan with Del Rio capitalizing on the mistake by sending Daniel crushing shoulder first into the wall seals his fate. Del Rio used mostly a mat attack against the much smaller Bryan who himself favored small packages and kicks, only once able to even attempt the LaBelle Lock. Del Rio didn't wait long after Bryan's injured shoulder to lock on the arm wrenching finisher, moving on via tap-out. To be honest I knew right from the get-go that Del Rio would win due to the love he's constantly given. Big Show, who has been absent from the World Title scene for far too long, was robbed thanks to Del Rio on Smackdown a few days ago, so we can see that Alberto is destined to be a WWE darling for quite some time. I'm a big fan of Bryan and definitely believe he's part of a sparkling future, but the whole dweebish persona(come on, I know he wouldn't turn down the Bella twins in real life, but, alas..)has got to go.

The second match of the KotR tournament features Dashing Cody Rhodes and rising star John Morrison(although, for some reason, the fans haven't quite fully embraced him despite all his attributes)for which I'm sure the result was of no surprise. Rhodes dominated the early going, but Morrison's ability to use the ropes in an explosive manner with his fearsome kick to the torso(and sometimes face)took Cody down..with a second fearsome kick to the temple of the Dashing one's head, it was light's out. I hope Morrison can send Del Rio packing early tonight, but I'll have to see it to believe. You'd think Morrison was a strong candidate to win and move into the World title picture eventually. Seeing him beat Sheamus or Ezekial Jackson, if he can get past Del Rio, would definately catapult him into superstardom no doubt.

The third bout between Drew McEntire and Ezekial Jackson was a joke. Kind of two blokes swapping body blows with the end result a double countout(or cop-out, whichever you prefer). It doesn't even leave a blip on the screen..more or less, this match(if that's what you call it)paves the way for Sheamus to have an easier path to the finals as I have a hard time believing the creative team is gonna allow Kofi Kingston to defeat the Celtic Warrior.

I don't think anyone was flabbergasted when Sheamus pinned Kingston with a Celtic cross as Kofi flew off the top turnbuckle to his doom. Before this Kofi landed the "trouble in paradise" spinning face kick, he seemed to hold his own, but when Sheamus rolled underneath the ropes, I imagine everyone knew it was only a matter of time. I'm really disappointed with the direction of Kingston's career. He has so much wonderful talent, so flexible and agile, that you'd think he would have progressed instead of become a jobber. Too bad. This means Sheamus slides easily into the finals without much problem thanks to the previous double countout. It seems he has the red carpet already rolled out for him, but Del Rio is also a candidate for such an honor.

Del Rio pays the price for costing Rey Mysterio an opportunity to be in the KotR on Smackdown a few days ago and this will come back to haunt him in his match against John Morrison. While in command working over Morrison's arm, it was the honking of the horn of Del Rio's car that drew Alberto's attention. He would take a serious shot to the chops by a kick off the ropes and Morrison heads to the finals with a chance to further embarrass Sheamus(JM defeated Sheamus in a shocker at the last pay-per-view, SURVIVOR SERIES), but I figure the Celtic Warrior will probably get some pay back.

The matches of this particular King of the Ring are short Raw type of programs which wouldn't hold up well against even some of the weaker tournaments of the past(how King Mabel won this thing is anyone's guess).

I just hate when commercials interrupt the finals of a tournament, but right in the middle, Sheamus and Morrison's match was indeed disturbed. No shock and awe to the result. Sheamus was the obvious frontrunner and as soon as I noticed the call to the attention towards Morrison's bad shoulder at the hands of Del Rio, it was solidified. WWE just isn't ready to make Morrison a headliner yet. Sheamus has already been a WWE champion twice and Morrison is only a WWE Tag Team and Intercontinental holder, so how this win helps the Celtic Warrior is anybody's guess. Anyway, nothing against Morrison, I love watching him perform, but I am not sure he's in the same league as Sheamus as of this time. His win against Sheamus at Survivor Series was a step in the right direction, though.

King of the Ring was actually overshadowed by John Cena's attacks on Nexus members and the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match featuring newly crowned champ The Miz against the aging Jerry Lawler who would've made mincemeat out of this kid back in the day(The Miz calling out of Ricky The Dragon Steamboat was a joke; this kid's just lucky he never had to go toe to toe with Da Man back in the day when he was wrestling The Nature Boy in hour classics).

I'm anxious to see how the Cole/Lawler dynamic changes since it took that sniveling weasel to pretty much lay in Miz's lap the WWE championship. I think Lawler, who will never be able to add the WWE championship in his list of championships, earned the respect of the wrestling community anew with his work against not only a much younger competitor in The Miz, but had to contend with Alex Riley and Michael Cole. Cole became the single reason why Lawler wasn't the champion..if not for that Miz cheerleader(what a piece of shit), Michael Cole, this could've been the most embarrassing loss since David Arquette won the WCW heavyweight championship many years ago. Lawler, oh so close, was poised(after sending Miz through a table)to pull the belt from it's harness, but this interference was just enough to distract the King. We do get to see Lawler pummel Cole which was worth waiting three hours to see, but he also sent Riley crashing through a table as well. He didn't win, but this was a fine moment for Lawler who may've wrestled his best match in decades. The chair shots he withstood, not to mention, the Riley clothesline and Miz's handiwork, Lawler comes out of Raw smelling like a rose. But his work with Cole is forever tarnished.I imagine this may be Lawler's send off..it felt that way.