Botched!: Kalisto’s Short Jump, Bad Officiating, More

Hi, hello & welcome to the column that nobody in wrestling wants to be featured in, Botched! Am I the only one getting tired of every comedy spot on house shows getting referred to as “botches” now? Yes, Alexa Bliss didn’t do a kip-up on a house show. She wasn’t supposed to. Quit telling me it’s a botch, all right? Yeesh. Anyway, we had some Extreme Rules this week and lots of other things going on, so let’s get to it.

1. Referee Goes Ham

Oh, how this whole thing pissed me off during my Extreme Rules Report Card. Miz & Dean Ambrose were out there having a great match even with a kind of lame stipulation for a show titled “Extreme Rules”. I was digging it. The people were digging it. Then the referee had to make things all about himself, and he did it in a way that I would describe as fitting this column.

Towards the end of the match, Miz was grasping for straws to get Dean disqualified, so he told Maryse to slap him. She did, but the referee was too smart for fall for that and Maryse was ejected! Good, right? The referee is intelligent! But wait, no he’s not because then Maryse distracted him, Miz shoved Ambrose into him, and he went Full Dumb Person.

I’m ok with the referee being smart or dumb. I’m not ok with him being both within 30 seconds of each other. Either have him be in on the Miz’s plan or not. What they did took all of the heat away from Miz and put it on John Cone, who I don’t think is defending the Intercontinental Championship anytime soon.

2. Finn Kicks Roman’s Head Off

Finn Balor has had a rough time of it in this column. Mostly it’s been people hitting him way too hard. So it’s about time he returned the favor, right? The unlucky recipient at Extreme Rules was none other than THE BIG DOG, Roman Reigns.

Right to the face! I don’t think Roman got the concussion that the videomaker said, but he did get a little juice going. Which is always appreciated at an extreme show like Extreme Rules.

3. Disqualification Outside The Ring?

More referee stuff? Yup! The lack of consistency to rules is really grinding my gears. Alexa Bliss got booked in a Raw Women’s Championship match against Nia Jax on Monday night and needed a way out. So she provoked Mickie James & Dana Brooke into coming to ringside, and you’ll see the fallout around 1:26 into the video.

Alexa starts a fight with them outside the ring…and Nia Jax gets disqualified? How? What? There could have been any number of ways to make it work, but they went with the dumbest one. At least Bayley isn’t the only woman getting booked into the ground on Raw.

4. Kalisto Comes Up A Little Short

I’ve never been a big fan of the entrance Kalisto does now that Sin Cara debuted in 2011. Running down to the ring, jumping over the ropes from the floor and rolling into the center of the ring? I mean, it kinda looks cool, but it’s 100% unrealistic and doesn’t have any impression of being real. You could kinda buy Rey Mysterio’s entrance where he shot up from under the stage, but I don’t think anybody ever denied what was going on there. With this, you’re jumping on a trampoline in front of God and everybody, and if you mess it up you really look like a dope.

Like this week, for instance:

Not good. It could have been worse, at least he didn’t land on his head or get tangled in the ropes or something like that, but it still wasn’t something that would make people excited that Kalisto would be wrestling next.

5. Mojo Gets Shane Choked Up

I think SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon was honestly surprised to see Mojo Rawley on the show this week. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen ol’ Mojo, it seemed like Shane and the WWE brass had forgotten about his existence WrestleMania. So it’s not surprising that Shane wouldn’t be the most well-spoken individual during a conversation with Mojo.

Hey, any time a McMahon makes a verbal flub, you have to call them on it! That’s a rule around these parts.

Thanks for reading! If you see (or hear) anything wrong in the world of wrestling, let me know via Twitter or e-mail at [email protected]. Have a good weekend!