|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Nov 18, 2015 19:56:39 GMT -5
Taboo Tuesday 2005
November 1st, 2005 | iPayOne Center in San Diego, California | Attendance: 6,000
After the failure of This Tuesday in Texas, the WWE did away with the idea of a Tuesday night Pay-Per-View. That changed in 2004, when they brought in Taboo Tuesday. Considering the time period, the concept of the show made sense. Fans voted for various things like competitors, match types, etc. and their choices played out on screen. This would be the last of two Taboo Tuesday events before it was moved to Sundays as Cyber Sunday.
Right after the opening video, this goes straight to the opening match without much introduction from commentary. It is Joey Styles and Jerry Lawler on it though.
For the opener, the fans were choosing the Smackdown guys to face Chris Masters and Edge. Their options were Christian, Matt Hardy, Hardcore Holly, JBL and Rey Mysterio. This is also coming off of the heels of the personal Hardy/Edge rivalry. Lita and Edge get on the mic and say there’s no reason to compete because he doesn’t care about Matt, Raw or the fans. He brings out Snitsky as a replacement, so that’s extremely disappointing.
Interpromotional Match
Chris Masters and Snitsky vs. Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio
There are two referees in the ring, one from each brand. The heels attack quickly but Rey and Matt don’t stay down for long since they are resilient faces. It’s so odd watching both refs trying to do their jobs. Matt gets two on the Side Effect and then hits a damn second rope DDT on Snitsky. Surprisingly, it seems like Matt is going to take the heat here. Snitsky and Masters do well as the powerful heel combination for a bit. The hot tag eventually comes to Rey, but his hot streak can’t last long against his larger opponents. Masters gets Rey in the Masterlock, which nobody had broken at this point. Rey kicks off and lands on top of Masters, pinning his shoulders. The Smackdown ref counts but the Raw ref stops him. This leads to Rey and Matt diving out onto both opponents. Shortly after, Masters takes the 619, Twist of Fate and a springboard splash to lose.
Winners: Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio in 13:46
Decent little opener here. Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio made for a good team and Chris Masters and Snitsky worked better than expected. The two ref stuff was odd and I think it would have been better off with Rey taking the heat since he’s a better sympathetic babyface. This also screamed TV and not PPV match. **½
Eugene and Jimmy Snuka vs. Rob Conway and Tyson Tomko
What kind of hell is this? The fans had to choose between Jim Duggan, Jimmy Snuka and Kamala as Eugene’s partner. Eugene is in for the entire match, taking heat after a slightly hot start. Nothing that Rob Conway and Tyson Tomko do is really interesting in any way. Jimmy Snuka gets the mild tag, though Eugene still handles most of the work. He hits a rock bottom on Conway before Snuka nails the Superfly Splash and gets the 1-2-3.
Winners: Eugene and Jimmy Snuka in 6:21
This was pretty bad Jimmy Snuka clearly couldn’t do much and the other three guys in the match weren’t really good enough to overcome that. ¾*
Tyson Tomko tries to attack Jimmy Snuka after the bell, but Kalama and Jim Duggan show up to make the save and give the fans a nice little moment of nostalgia.
Carlito vs. Mankind
The fans got to vote on which of Mick Foley’s personalities would face Carlito tonight. Commentary puts over Mankind like he’s Cactus Jack, making me think they expected Cactus to win the vote. Mankind overwhelms Carlito early and often until he gets a steel chair. Carlito avoids it with a drop toe hold that sends Mankind and the chair into the steel steps. That turns the tide for Carlito, who ends up trying to choke Mankind out. Mankind fights out and pulls his hair out, to show how much he likes pain. To show that there’s still some Cactus in him, Mankind hits the Cactus apron elbow. Joey Styles pulls a Michael Cole and calls it VINTAGE MANKIND! Mankind pulls out Mr. Socko, complete with a Carlito like afro, and wins with the Mandible Claw.
Winner: Mankind in 7:22
I wouldn’t call this a really bad match but I wouldn’t call it good either. It was kind of just there. The fans got a nice little nostalgia moment again from Mankind but this didn’t really do anything for Carlito and was completely forgettable. **
Backstage, Vince McMahon shows up and is disappointed in Eric Bischoff for losing to Smackdown on his own Pay-Per-View.
Todd Grisham now shows us who the fans voted to join John Cena and Kurt Angle in the main event. Shawn Michaels obviously beats out Kane and Big Show for the slot. That means Show and Kane will now team up.
World Tag Team Championship
Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch (c) vs. Big Show and Kane
The challengers go after the champions outside. Lance Cade throws a fit to hype himself up, trying to overcome his fear, but it fails. Cade and Murdoch try to get the upper hand, but Big Show and Kane seem to be too much. Each time it seems like they may have an opening, Show or Kane shrug off their offense and kick their asses. The champions finally do something of note after knocking Kane off the top and hitting Sweet and Sour outside. They work a very short heat segment on Kane before Show gets the tag and dominates. Kane and Show double Chokeslam Cade to give us new champions.
Winners and New World Tag Team Champions: Big Show and Kane in 7:59
Oh man, this was not very good. I get that Kane and Big Show are big men but this did nothing but make Cade and Murdoch look like chumps. There wasn’t really any structure to this match, as they seemed to just kill time until the end. *
For some reason, Trevor Murdoch yells at Kane that he didn’t get chokeslammed. You know, because that’s more important than being upset about losing the belts. He eats a double Chokeslam himself.
Todd Grisham brings out the Divas because the fans are about to choose what they wear for the upcoming battle royal. The fans choose lingerie over cheerleaders and leather and lace.
Non-Title Street Fight
World Heavyweight Champion Batista vs. Jonathan Coachman w/ Goldust and Vader
For this match, the fans choose between arm wrestling match, debate or street fight. Yea, that was an obvious outcome. Coach was supposed to face Steve Austin but that couldn’t happen and instead, Austin couldn’t make it and Batista replaced him. Yes, the two men with Coach are super random. Due to there being no real rules in this, Coach sends his henchmen in to pound on Batista. Goldust even brings a kendo stick into play. Coach whips Batista with a belt until the “Animal” comes back and starts whipping everyone. He then plants Coach with the Batista Bomb to end it.
Winner: Batista in 4:22
Not much to really discuss here. Batista took a short beating, came back and won like the World Champion should. It wasn’t very fun though, despite seeing guys like Goldust and Vader. Matches like this really showed why the brand exclusive PPVs had issues a lot of the time. ½*
Shawn Michaels is interviewed about getting voted into the main event for the second straight Taboo Tuesday. HBK says it’s good to be the popular kid. Kurt Angle interrupts to say he doesn’t like Shawn but wants to put their differences aside to take out John Cena. Shawn responds by saying that he’ll think about.
WWE Women’s Championship Fulfill Your Fantasy Battle Royal
Trish Stratus (c) vs. Ashley Massaro vs. Candice Michelle vs. Maria Kanellis vs. Mickie James vs. Victoria
Because I’m this kind of guy, I’m going to rank the girls based on how they look tonight. Trish, Mickie, Ashley, Maria, Candice and Victoria. This starts as a standard women’s battle royal but there is added intrigue here because of the Trish and Mickie story. Mickie saves Trish from elimination a few times. Maria, the interviewer, is first out courtesy of Mickie and Trish. Like an idiot, Candice showboats after a move on the apron and is knocked out. Victoria hits the best move of the match with a big tilt-a-whirl slam on Trish. Victoria eliminates Ashley next. Victoria and Trish go at it, with Trish nearly getting eliminated but Mickie saves her. Victoria again nearly eliminates Trish, but Mickie again saves her, before brawling Victoria to the outside and sacrificing herself so Trish can retain.
Winner and Still WWE Women’s Champion: Trish Stratus in 5:23
The actual wrestling in the match wasn’t the greatest, but the story told in this made it lightyears better than other women’s battle royals. Mickie saving her idol Trish so many times was part of the bigger story that led to Mickie and Trish having a great WrestleMania match in my favorite women’s storyline of all time. The outfits worn helped the enjoyment factor too. **¼
WWE Intercontinental Championship Steel Cage Match
Ric Flair (c) vs. Triple H
The rivalry between these two guys was pretty well done. The fans voted the Steel Cage match over a straight up match and submission match since Ric Flair basically begged for it on TV leading up to this. There is certainly tension in the air as they trade blows in the early stages. HHH is the first to send his opponent into the steel and Flair is instantly gushing blood. He continues the assault, grating Flair’s’ face across the cage for a gruesome visual. He tries to leave but Flair catches up and they both get crotched. Triple H gets a chain and uses it to pulverize Flair some more. Flair’s loud selling is good here as he sounds like he’s in absolute agony. To add insult to injury, HHH locks in the Figure Four. Flair is able to counter and send HHH into the steel. Triple H is now bleeding and Flair pounces, even biting him. Flair lays into Triple H and takes him down with the chop block. Joey Styles does a great job in pointing to the leg as a weak point for the Game after his quad injury. HHH survives the Figure Four but gets hit with a low blow. A chair gets brought into play and Flair stops HHH from using it with the TESTICULAR CLAW! Flair then levels Triple H with the chair and escapes the cage.
Winner and Still WWE Intercontinental Champion: Ric Flair in 23:45
An absolutely gruesome match. There were buckets of blood spilled and it was certainly brutal. They told a good story and had the match I expected from these two. Their next encounter later in the month was better, but this was still pretty damn good and our match of the night so far. ***½
WWE Championship
John Cena (c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels
Within five seconds, Kurt Angle already takes out Shawn Michaels to squander any ides of them teaming up. The guys go through the classic “two guys in the ring while one is thrown outside” scenarios. When everybody is in together, the match it at its best. Angle starts suplexing the world with Germans and overhead belly-to-belly suplexes for everyone. Michaels counters the Ankle Lock, sending Angle right into the FU. Angle blocks and Cena almost gets hit Sweet Chin Music, but he blocks it too. That was a pretty cool sequence. Shawn and Kurt end up working together to take out Cena. Not content with just tossing him outside, they double front suplex him through the Spanish announce table. Now Angle and Michaels start going at each other, which makes sense given their rivalry during 2005. They were tied at one and then the rubber match was a draw, so this a treat. After some great back and forth, Angle hits a top rope Angle Slam but Shawn kicks out. THE STRAPS ARE DOWN! Cena is back though and takes out Angle. Shawn survives Cena’s attacks and somersaults onto Angle outside. Inside, Shawn goes into some of his trademark comeback offense on both guys. Angle stops him in his tracks with a belly to belly that sends him outside. He turns into Cena, who does his Five Knuckle Shuffle stuff. Angle avoids the FU and applies the ankle lock. Just a few months into Cena’s reign and the fans are very mixed already. Cena struggles to avoid tapping and Michaels breaks it with an elbow on Angle. My only issue with that is that Shawn took his time climbing, which made sense because he’s selling, but was a dumb move overall because Cena may have tapped. Sweet Chin Music to Angle and then Cena hits the FU on Michaels to retain.
Winner and still WWE Champion: John Cena in 16:42
A great capper to a pretty lackluster show. While John Cena would go on to become significantly better in the ring, he was clearly a step behind his opponents at this point. Despite that, the work between Angle and Michaels was spectacular, and the closing minutes of this were pretty damn awesome. Paint by numbers finish, but still a great match that probably would have been an all-time classic with a more polished Cena. ***¾
Overall: 3.5/10; Not good. Honestly, this was on the way to being one of the worst Pay-Per-Views I have ever seen. Nothing during the first two hours was worth watching. The Divas Battle Royal was okay and then the final two matches saved this from being abysmal. Those two matches are worth checking out but other than that, skip this show. Next up on “Random Network Reviews” will be SummerSlam 2009! |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Nov 20, 2015 20:46:48 GMT -5
Raw History
Episode #88
November 28th, 1994 | Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York
The Survivor Series has come and gone. To open the show, we see Bob Backlund dethrone Bret Hart for the WWF Championship when Helen Hart threw the towel in. Shawn Michaels also tried to hog the spotlight after Diesel dominated their Survivor Series match. HBK hit Diesel with a superkick by mistake and Diesel chased Shawn out of the arena. Then, this past Saturday, Diesel faced Backlund for the WWF Title and beat him for the belt in eight seconds. Talk about an eventful week.
Your hosts tonight are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler.
Owen Hart vs. John Paul
Vince reminds us that Owen is despicable for his actions at Survivor Series. I still say that Owen should have gotten Backlund’s title reign. Yes, even if it lasted only a few days. Bret Hart calls in while Owen works over the jobber. Bret talks about how he’s licking his wounds and that he’s going to watch the Survivor Series encore tomorrow to see what went wrong. Owen wins via Sharpshooter.
Winner: Owen Hart in 4:01
Not bad. Owen Hart was fine here and the Bret talk was alright.
Adam Bomb vs. IRS w/ Druid and Ted Dibiase
I guess this is our marquee match for the week. IRS is still cutting the same tired promo on the Undertaker. Adam Bomb is clearly the more impressive performer here and gets a near fall on the slingshot shoulder block. IRS comes back by snapping Adam’s neck on the top rope. IRS starts to work his dull offense to wear down Adam Bomb. As Adam Bomb hits a cross body, we go to commercial in the midst of a near fall. Terrible timing. The one thing IRS does well is the little underhanded tactics like putting his feet on the ropes. Adam nearly rallies but the druid knocks him off the top rope. IRS hits a weak leg drop and wins.
Winner: IRS in 6:49
While I enjoy Adam Bomb for the most part, I strongly dislike everything that IRS does. This was kind of just there and, while I know he is about to be fed to the Undertaker, I still think the wrong guy won. *
We are taken to a recap of the Undertaker/Yokozuna Casket match.
Bob Holly vs. Tony DeVito
During this match, commentary just focuses on the WWF racing team. Why was that even a thing? Was it purely for the Holly character? DeVito gets in some offense and even scores a near fall. Holly still wins with a top rope diving clothesline.
Winner: Bob Holly in 2:51
DeVito got in a surprising amount of offense here. Still, this was pretty standard.
A vignette airs to hype Henry Godwin. Vince McMahon had a weird love for Hillbillies.
Lex Luger vs. Bert Centino
Vince McMahon spends this match hyping the Royal Rumble. That’s much better than the racing team. Bert does next to nothing and Luger wins with the rack.
Winner: Lex Luger in 2:11
Typical Luger squash. Nothing to write home about.
Vince McMahon is now in the ring to bring out the new WWF Champion, Diesel! Vince puts over the fact that the issues with Diesel and Shawn Michaels led to Michaels throwing the Tag Team Titles in the garbage. The titles are now vacant. With Bret Hart hurt, Diesel was named the number one contender. He then cuts a cheesy and generic promo about getting good luck from the fans and winning the gold. Vince brings up Bret and Diesel puts him over as a tough competitor, saying that if we waited for Bret to give up on his own, Survivor Series would still be going on now. He wants to be a fighting champion like Bret and says that whenever Bret wants a shot, he’ll give it to him.
Next week, Jeff Jarrett goes one on one with the British Bulldog!
The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette vs. Buck Quartermaine and Gary Scott
At the start, Bob Backlund comes down and joins commentary. He promises to overcome the adversity like no one else ever has. The Heavenly Bodies work some solid double team offense. The Death Sentence gets them the W.
Winners: The Heavenly Bodies in 3:43
The Heavenly Bodies were, as always, crisp throughout this one.
With Bob Backlund still on commentary, Vince sends us to see the entire Diesel/Bob Backlund WWF Title match. Backlund promises to put the Chicken Wing on Diesel soon and wants to lock it in on Vince before he leaves the WWF. That would certainly be a sight to see.
Overall: 3/10. Obviously this wasn’t one of the best episodes but it did flow pretty well. Time flew by and the live atmosphere is always a plus. The Diesel promo wasn’t as good as it could have been but it got the point across and most of the squashes were decent.
Raw History
Episode #89
December 5th, 1994 | Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York
The broadcast opens with the entrance of Shawn Michaels, who will join Vince McMahon at the broadcast booth tonight.
British Bulldog vs. Jeff Jarrett w/ Roadie
Hey, it’s the debut of the Roadie. Vince mistakes him for a ringside worker which is about right considering the shape Road Dogg was always in. Jarrett has tinsel hanging from his outfit. He gets the upper hand early but taunts too much to take full advantage. Bulldog turns it around and does his own awkward looking strut. Vince finally realizes that the Roadie is with Jarrett. Bulldog does the stalling vertical suplex, causing Jarrett to regroup outside. A second rope suplex from Jarrett gets him a near fall. Vince has found a way to shoehorn Diesel into commentary every minute or so. After a commercial, both guys collide. Jarrett wears down Bulldog with a chinlock. Bulldog comes back with a damn Perfectplex for two. I guess if it’s a near fall it’s just a fisherman suplex though. Jarrett goes back to a chinlock that Bulldog has to rally out of. He starts getting hot, hammering Jarrett all over the ring. Jarrett tries to leave but Bulldog gets him and holds him up for a press slam. He carries him to the ring and throws him in. Bulldog can’t get in because the Roadie holds his foot, resulting in a countout.
Winner via countout: Jeff Jarrett in 12:04
Decent match here. Both guys got their chances to shine, though some of Jarrett’s offense was pretty dull at times. Usually, that finish isn’t great, but it was a good way to have the Roadie already pay off. **¾
Highlights are shown of the American Sportscasters Association dinner which featured some WWF Superstars, including Diesel.
1-2-3 Kid vs. Barry Horowitz
Over the weekend, 1-2-3 Kid and Aldo Montoya teamed up and beat the Heavenly Bodies. There’s potential for irony if Kid is upset by a jobber. As usual, Kid does a good job in making his opponent look like he can win as Horowitz gets in some decent offense. Still, Kid wins with a spinning heel kick.
Winner: 1-2-3 Kid in 2:54
Solid little squash match here.
Next week’s marquee match pits Bob Backlund against Doink.
Kwang w/ Harvey Wippleman vs. Scott Taylor
Kwang is billed from the Orient. I wonder where in Cuba that is. During the match, Harvey Wippleman badmouths Howard Finkel at ringside. Kwang gets in all of the offense and wins with a spinning heel kick. Really Kwang? You couldn’t do a different finish than the last match?
Winner: Kwang in 2:57
Not as fun as the 1-2-3 Kid squash and kind of just there.
This week on the Action Zone, Lex Luger takes on Owen Hart. The promo for this is beyond cheesy.
It’s time for the King’s Court with a special guest. This is supposed to be the greatest guest in King’s Court history. He introduces the “guiding light” and the man who is the reason that Diesel is WWF Champion, Shawn Michaels. Michaels gets up and dances from the announce table. Lawler tells some bad jokes about Diesel before Shawn saves things. He says that he guided Diesel to become the most successful man in the WWF by winning all three major belts. He says that he made Diesel and he can disassemble him.
This weekend, the 100th episode of WWF Mania airs.
A vignette airs to promote the upcoming debut of Hakushi. Shawn Michaels thinks Vince sneezes when he says the name.
The Bushwhackers vs. Well Dunn w/ Harvey Wippleman
Harvey again bashes the Fink. I never understood why Well Dunn insisted on wearing attire that made it look like they were wearing thongs. Vince McMahon announces a Tag Team Championship Tournament for the vacant belts. Well Dunn beat up Luke with some assistance from Harvey. According to Vince, the brackets for the tournament will be revealed on Superstars and the finals happen at the Royal Rumble. They work to the Butch hot tag but he doesn’t really do anything interesting. Harvey gets involved, distracting Butch and allowing Dunn to beat him.
Winners: Well Dunn in 5:06
Not as bad as I expected considering it involved the Bushwhackers. Standard stuff at best. ¾*
Howard Finkel tries to get the decision overturned but can’t.
Overall: 5/10. I’d give this a middle of the pack score. Bulldog and Jarrett had a solid match and we even had a second non-squash match. The two squashes weren’t bad and even the King’s Court was solid with Shawn Michaels doing fine work.
Raw History
Episode #90
December 12th, 1994 | Liberty Central in Liberty, New York
For the first time in a long time, we start with Doink and Bob Backlund both cutting short promos on each other in a dark room. Again our hosts tonight are Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon.
Bob Backlund vs. Doink w/ Dink
Doink comes from behind to start as Dink came out first and seemed to be filling in. Backlund doesn’t like that the fans are firmly behind Doink. Backlund gets in control but then it turns into a good old fashioned rasslin’ match. Both men do some solid work on the mat. It’s all fine stuff but it’s kind of dull if you aren’t into that style. There are a fair amount of near falls from both guys throughout this. Bob Backlund eventually locks in the Crossface Chicken Wing and Doink submits.
Winner: Bob Backlund in 12:35
Really fine mat wrestling here but because of that, some of this was boring. Still, it was solid work and that deserves some credit. **½
The brackets for the WWF Tag Team Title Tournament are shown. In the first round, Bigelow and Tatanka take on Men on a Mission. Then, Anvil and Owen face the Headshrinkers. Third, the Bushwhackers go up against the Heavenly Bodies. Lastly, the Smoking Guns face Well Dunn.
We get a look at Jeff Jarrett. It’s similar to his pre-debut vignettes.
Non-Title Match
WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs. Mark Starr
From the start, Razor sells a problem with his knee. This allows Starr to actually get in some leg work after Razor falls on a fallaway slam. Razor shakes it off and hits the Razor’s Edge. I wonder if the knee stuff ended up going anywhere.
Winner: Razor Ramon in 3:18
I appreciated seeing something different here. The jobber got offense and it made sense because of the bad knee. Solid.
Time for the King’s Court. Oh lord, his guest is IRS. This might be the worst edition in history. IRS comes out with two druids. The Undertaker didn’t pay his taxes. Stop me if you’re heard this before. Whatever. Next week we get a Luger/IRS match. Oh joy.
Another Hakushi vignette is shown.
Aldo Montoya vs. Nick Barberry
Shawn Michaels is outraged that Aldo gets pyro but he doesn’t. Montoya does some basic high flying offense while Vince tells us that next week, we get the highly anticipated rematch between the Bushwhackers and Well Dunn, expect this time, the Fink will be in the corner of the Bushwhackers. That sounds awful. Montoya wins with a bulldog.
Winner: Aldo Montoya in 2:39
Pretty generic, like Aldo Montya’s offense.
Harvey Wippleman shows up to yell at Howard Finkel. He then shoves him down.
This past weekend on WWF Mania, the 100th episode was celebrated by Todd Pettengill getting a co-host. Stephanie Waind.
King Kong Bundy w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Bob Knight
Have you ever seen a King Kong Bundy squash match? If yes, then you’ve seen this. The only exception is that Bundy teases a top rope move but Knight rolls out of the ring. He stretches this out a bit but wins. He demands a five count but the referee declines.
Winner: King Kong Bundy in 4:10
As always, King Kong Bundy doesn’t entertain.
Santa Clause comes out and Shawn Michaels is excite for his gift. Santa gives him a toy Women’s Championship.
Overall: 4/10. Again, not the greatest episode but again, a rather easy watch. Nothing on the show was offensive outside of the dreadful King’s Court segment. I just can’t get interested in either Lawler or IRS. |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Nov 23, 2015 16:32:49 GMT -5
Death Before Dishonor V: Night One
August 10th, 2007 | Roxbury Community College in Boston, Massachusetts
I’ve had this show for years but have honestly never seen the entire thing from start to finish. Ring of Honor was in the midst of a pretty great 2007 and Claudio Castagnoli, the future Cesaro, had just won the first ever Race to the Top Tournament. Due to that, he earned a shot at the ROH World Title on this show. This was also in the midst of the red hot rivalry between the Briscoes and Kevin Steen and El Generico, which would be a focal point of this show. Obviously, this is the fifth Death Before Dishonor event. Night two would be 24 hours later in Philadelphia.
Things open with the Briscoes cutting a promo backstage on their Street Fight tonight. It’s funny to see them get on crutches saying that’s how Kevin Steen and El Generico will look after the match.
Davey Richards vs. Jack Evans
Three of the members of Generation Next are in a feud here and Davey Richards was chosen to represent Roderick Strong in the No Remorse Corps. Richard attacks Jack Evans during his breakdancing entrance and is aggressive. He applies an early stretch muffler, but Evans reaches the ropes. They brawl outside for a bit and Evans hits a corkscrew splash inside for two. A double stomp right into a moonsault also gets him two. Evans takes Davey outside with a headscissors and then goes for a dive but Davey is ready and kicks him in the head. This allows Richards to get in control and pick apart his smaller opponent. Between their attires and the ring, there is tons of black and red in this match. Evans comes back with his speed and hits a sick dive to the outside at one point. However, he misses the 630. He blocks the DR Driver and gets a very close near fall on a small package. Davey hits a vicious German for two but holds on for a straightjacket suplex, again getting two. Davey argues with the official, opening the door for a reverse rana for two. Jack gets Davey set up in the tree of woe and flies off the top with double knees. He looks for the 630 but Roderick Strong shows up and shoves him off the top.
Winner via disqualification: Jack Evans in 11:18
A solid opening contest here. It was getting really good before the disqualification finish. Both guys played to their strengths and made this work about as well as possible. ***¼
Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero continue the attack and Roddy promises to end things in a Steel Cage in a few weeks in Hartford. Austin Aries and his Resilience stable of Matt Cross and Erick Stevens rush out to make the save. Jack Evans says he doesn’t need the Resilience because he has his own crew coming.
SHIMMER Championship Number One Contender’s Match
Daizee Haze vs. Lacey
I’ve mentioned it before but I was and still am absolutely in love with Lacey. Seeing these two makes me want to bust out my old SHIMMER DVDs and do some reviews. Both girls adhere to the Code of Honor but Daizee attacks. She’s the face but their rivalry was going on for about two years at this point. The girls spill outside where Daizee continues the assault. The SHIMMER Champion, Sara Del Rey, watches from the entrance. Lacey is forced to regroup and then drops Daizee throat first on the top rope. Lacey now takes control for a bit. She hits the Bubba Bomb, holding it for a submission. Lacey then puts Haze in the Butterfly Lock, which is Del Rey’s finish. Her trash talks allows Haze to rally. They go into strikes before Lacey pokes Haze in the eye. Haze comes back with a bridging German for two. Daizee looks for her finish but Lacey blocks and hits a lungblower. She follows with the Implant DDT to earn a title shot.
Winner: Lacey in 8:09
I’ve seen them have better matches, but I’ll admit that this was solid. Their chemistry was always good so this isn’t surprising. Some fine work from both girls as this show is off to a good start. **¾
Pure Wrestling Rules Match
Chris Hero w/ Sweet n’ Sour Inc. vs. Nigel McGuinness
The people at ringside with Chris Hero are Larry Sweeney, Bobby Dempsey, Sara Del Rey and Tank Toland. Pure Wrestling Rules are something from the days of the Pure Title in ROH. Each guy gets only three rope breaks, there is a twenty count on the floor, and no closed fists are allowed. To draw more heat, Sweeney runs through some “commandments” while Hero does some athletic stuff. After Hero kills time they lock up the lights go out. A voice is heard saying something about “Project 161” repeatedly. It was planting the seeds for the eventual Age of the Fall debut. Hero claims that Nigel used all three rope breaks during the blackout. They finally go through an exchange that ends with Hero putting Nigel in a slight submission. Toland puts Nigel’s foot on the ropes, using one of his rope breaks. Nigel gets mad and locks Hero in a submission, making him use a rope break. Thanks to a distraction, Hero uses a closed fist. That angers Nigel, who fires back with two of his own. He gets caught and one is just a warning, but the second costs him a rope break. The guys go back and forth for a while, with neither gaining an advantage. Nigel ends up taking care of some of Sweet n’ Sour on the outside but gets in trouble inside. One more time, the guys at ringside cheat to waste Nigel’s final rope break. Hero locks in a submission and Nigel reaches the ropes but it doesn’t matter and he’s forced to give.
Winner: Chris Hero in 20:00
Usually, a match under Pure Wrestling Rules isn’t this much fun. Chris Hero and the antics of his cohorts at ringside added to the enjoyment of this. It wasn’t the best match they’d have, but they made good use of the stipulation and Hero did everything he could to draw more heat. ***¼
Tank Toland sends Bobby Dempsey to attack Nigel McGuinness, but it ends with Bobby eating a rebound lariat. We then hear from Kevin Steen and El Generico backstage. He’s hype for the match tonight even though the titles aren’t on the line tonight because he’s going to hurt the Briscoes.
Six Man Mayhem
Brent Albright vs. Delirious vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Jigsaw vs. Matt Cross vs. Pelle Primeau
In a match like this, only two men are legal at once. Delirious does his gimmick where he’s completely still until the bell rings and he goes nuts. Eddie Edwards starts quickly with Pelle Primeau before both guys tag out. This was back when Edwards had his ridiculous braids. Each guy gets a chance to do their thing early on, with everyone getting some of their usual spots in. There’s a funny spot where Delirious wants to have a test of strength with Albright. When everyone battles outside, Cross flies out with a somersault onto three guys. Inside, Delirious hits the Panic Attack and Shadows over Hell on Edwards, but the pin is broken up. Jigsaw then dives out onto Delirious. Albright does well with his power but it’s fun to see everyone use their speed against him. Primeau even gets an advantage on him until he is suplexed into the corner. Albright and Delirious end up brawling to the back. That opens the door for Cross to hit a shooting star leg drop on Edwards for the 1-2-3.
Winner: Matt Cross in 10:41
This was fine for what it was. A six man match that was, as the name implied, mayhem. Everybody got a chance to do their thing and it worked well. Brent Albright had a title shot the next night so I’m glad they didn’t go with the obvious route of him winning here. **¾
No Remorse Corps vs. The Resilience
For the NRC, it is Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero, while for the Resilience it is Austin Aries and Erick Stevens. I was at the show in February of 2007 when Roderick turned on Aries and Aries has wanted revenge ever since. Strong wants no part of Aries to start things, sending Romero in instead. After some back and forth, Aries nails Strong and fights with him on the outside. All four guys brawl there until order is restored. The No Remorse Corps start to work the heat on Austin Aries. Stevens gets a relatively hot tag and does some okay stuff. He gets into a loud slap exchange with Rocky. We now get a second heat segment where Stevens plays the face in peril. Aries gets the second hot tag and gets his hands on Strong. Both teams end up inside at one point and Romero gets two on a tornado DDT on Stevens. Aries’ leg was taken out and he can barely stand on the apron. Rocky takes Aries off the top with the Diablo armbar, but Aries rolls through into a pin for two. He kicks Rocky in the head and nails the Brainbuster. Despite the bad leg, Aries hits the 450 and wins.
Winners: The Resilience in 18:05
Unfortunately, this was my least favorite match of the evening. It wasn’t really worked bad or anything, it just was kind of there. Aries being desperate to get his hands on Strong was a fine story but things just seemed to drag on at times. **¼
Davey Richards hits the ring and so does Matt Cross. FACTION WARDRAFE! Jack Evans is the one to show up and clean out the No Remorse Corps, even though he didn’t want any part of them earlier.
Backstage, Shane Hagadorn continues to be absolute worst and cuts a promo about how Adam Pearce is watching tonight and something big is coming.
Bryan Danielson vs. Matt Sydal w/ Larry Sweeney
Matt Sydal and his theme seem very out of place with Larry Sweeney. Sweeney haggles with Danielson over money because Sydal teamed with Danielson in a $10,000 tag match last month. They want the money now even though Bryan invested it. So now, if Sydal wins, he gets his share after the show but if Bryan wins, he keeps it. They have a feeling out process that sees Danielson have the upper hand on the mat, while Sydal uses his agility and speed to knock him outside. Sydal hits a big dropkick into the corner, before trying one of the worst looking pins I’ve ever seen. Danielson gets in the driver’s seat and starts to toy with Sydal, stretching him more than he usually would because of how flexible Sydal is. Danielson uses multiple kick variations to send Sydal outside, where Sweeney fans him with a towel. Sydal starts to come back, but his showboating ways fail him. He does finally dive out onto Danielson shortly after. It doesn’t matter much as Danielson locks in Cattle Mutilation inside, but Sydal reaches the ropes. Sydal gets a near fall but ends up caught in the Triangle Choke. Bryan delivers elbows while the hold is applied and the referee calls for a stoppage.
Winner: Bryan Danielson in 16:39
This was a pretty interesting clash of styles. You had the ultimate mat technician in Bryan Danielson and one of the better high fliers in Matt Sydal. They wisely worked that angle with Danielson just stretching Sydal and toying with him at times. Sydal seemed off as a heel though and didn’t seem to know how to work that style. Solid but unspectacular. ***
Commentary says that Bryan Danielson will get a shot at the ROH World Title shot at Manhattan Mayhem II in about two weeks. Matt Sydal and Larry Sweeney argue on the way to back.
ROH World Championship
Takeshi Morishima (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Right from the start they get into a battle of power. Takeishi Morishima is clearly the bigger man, but Claudio Castagnoli is honestly the most powerful man I’ve ever seen in a ring. Claudio tries a powerbomb from the apron but Morishima goes to sit on him. Claudio moves to avoid it and then hits an uppercut to the back. Inside, Claudio does the giant swing, which brings the fans to their feet. He looks for the Ricola Bomb, but can’t get Morishima up. This leads to Morishima turning things around and beating Claudio up around the ringside area. He gets two on a rolling ass attack. I guess that’s what I’d call it. Claudio manages to send Morishima outside and follow with a suicide dive. Claudio shows off his power by getting Morishima up for the Alpamare Waterslide though it’s only enough for two. Morishima gets pissed and just pounds on Claudio with right hands. Claudio comes back with the springboard European and tries the Ricola Bomb again but Morishima falls on him for two. Claudio grabs the ropes to block the Backdrop Driver. Commentary does a good job in putting over the tough schedule of the champion, since he goes back and forth to Japan a lot. Claudio catches him up top and hits a second rope suplex. This time he nails the Ricola Bomb and earns one of the closest near falls I’ve ever seen. The fans lose their minds for it. Morishima now takes Claudio down with some shots. A German suplex from Claudio connects but Morishima pops right up, only to eat a European uppercut for another near fall. Claudio kicks out of a lariat but a Backdrop Driver proves to be too much.
Winner and Still ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima in 15:30
Great match here. It showed that Claudio Castagnoli could deliver in a big match and kept Takeshi Morishima as the dominant World Champion. The fans totally bought into the possibility of Claudio winning the belt and his impressive feats of power were fantastic to watch. ****
Brent Albright cuts a promo in the back about his ROH World Title match the next night.
Boston Street Fight
ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes (c) vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico
I can instantly appreciate this as everyone is in street gear. The fight starts during the entrance of the champions and they just go to war. Adding to the feel of this, commentary actually gets up and leaves during the first minute because it is “unsanctioned”. Mark hits the first big spot by diving onto Generico before getting hit with a chair from Steen. Steen powerbombs him through a table and then gets hit with a chair from Jay. All four men just spend the next few minutes beating the hell out of each other with chairs. All of this happens in the crowd and at ringside. Jay is the first man to bleed though I’m not sure from what. They both throw Generico into the guardrail a few times, knocking it over. Steen gets back suplexed through a ringside table shortly before Generico DDTs Mark on the guardrail. They finally enter the ring, where Jay and Kevin trade blows. All four guys bring chairs into the ring and go to town on each other, with each man ending up laid out. The Briscoes get the next huge spot with a double flapjack onto Generico onto two open chairs. Steen gets put through a table, but Generico is up and hits Jay with the corner big boot. He looks for the Brainbuster but the Briscoes break it up and hit an assisted second rope Razor’s Edge. Steen saves the match by pulling out the referee, causing Mark to dive on him. They hit the Springboard Doomsday Device but again, the pin is broken. Steen brings a ladder into play, which foreshadows the Ladder War these teams would have about a month later. It backfires as Steen is back dropped into it. Mark climbs it but Generico springboards in with a cutter from the top. Jay and Steen go at it now, with Steen hitting a Package Piledriver onto the ladder, ending this.
Winners: Kevin Steen and El Generico in 22:13
A really good brawl between two teams that hated each other at the time. Having them in street clothes and little things like commentary leaving the table added to really make this feel unsanctioned. The action itself was non-stop and pretty brutal. ***¾
Overall: 7/10; Good. This was an enjoyable show. Nothing on the card is what I would consider bad, and the final two matches are standouts, especially the World Title match. The rest of the show features solid matches, making for a show that is worth the three hour watch. |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Nov 25, 2015 22:13:02 GMT -5
SummerSlam 2009
August 23rd, 2009 | Staples Center in Los Angeles, California | Attendance: 14,116
SummerSlam is usually a big event and gets hyped as the second most important show of the year most of the time. The card for this year is actually pretty stacked, so it makes sense. This show is rather noteworthy because it would prove to be the last Pay-Per-View appearance that Jeff Hardy made for the WWE. This also started the trend of holding SummerSlam in Los Angeles, which lasted about five years. It is the 22nd SummerSlam even in history.
As the intro video starts running down the card, shadow puppets interrupt. It’s just DX parodying the Gremlins 2 movie theatre scene. Commentary is different for each brand. We start with Jim Ross and Todd Grisham for Smackdown.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
These two had a match for the belt at the previous month’s Night of Champions, which I cite as the match that showed me how good Dolph Ziggler could be. Dolph is aggressive at the start, picking up some quick near falls. Mysterio uses that over aggressiveness against Ziggler like you’d expect a wily veteran to do. Rey leaps into Dolph, who barely catches him, but then powerbombs him into the turnbuckle. Ziggler starts targeting the neck and midsection while using his size advantage. Each time Mysterio seems to rally, Dolph is prepared. He continually goes for pin attempts too, which I really like. Mysterio finally is able to rally and scores a close near fall. He goes for a springboard cross body, but Dolph has it scouted and dropkicks him in midair. Dolph comes very close on a rollup counter and then nearly decapitates Rey on a clothesline. An enziguri sets Dolph up in 619 position, but he dodges it and nails a Fameasser for two. JR calls it a “running leg drop.” Rey hits a big DDT for what has to be at least the 15th near fall of the match. He dropkicks Dolph into position and connects with the 619. He tries the springboard splash but Dolph sits up to avoid it and pulls Rey into an amateur like rollup for a seriously close call. The fans have now gotten behind Dolph. Looking to find something to earn the win, Dolph puts Rey on his shoulders up top. Rey reverses it into a top rope rana to retain.
Winner and Still WWE Intercontinental Champion: Rey Mysterio in 12:26
If the match these two had at Night of Champions showed me Dolph Ziggler had potential, this solidified that. They built on a really good match from the previous month and made it better. Dolph was the desperate challenger who tried everything he could, while Rey was the resilient veteran who had just enough in his bag of tricks to retain. A thrilling opener. ****
Josh Matthews interview upcoming opponents, Jack Swagger and MVP. He calls the match a culture clash. Both guys talk about the difference in their upbringing. Swagger played arrogant so well here. Of course though, when he won the World Title less than a year later, he was stripped of all personality.
Jack Swagger vs. MVP
Apparently, Jack Swagger called MVP the MVP of the Prison Hoops League. They get right into the action and MVP looks for the Ballin’ elbow but Swagger rolls outside. MVP follows with a plancha. Inside, Swagger starts to wear down MVP. It’s all very uninspired work. MVP starts to rally and hits the Ballin’ elbow this time. MVP follows with the Player’s Boot and Playmaker, one of my least favorite finishers ever, for the win.
Winner: MVP in 6:22
Well that was…there. The crowd was beyond dead for this and there was nothing about the match to get them involved. It’s like they had time to fill on the show and said, go out and there and just do moves for six minutes. All the hype the crowd had from the opener is gone. *¾
A video package airs to show some of the “highlights” of the celebrity guest host era of Raw, which was going on at this time. Freddie Prinze Jr., who was a host that got attacked by Randy Orton, is interviewed at ringside.
WWE Unified Tag Team Championship
JeriShow (c) vs. Cryme Tyme
JeriShow cut a pre-match promo to draw some heat until Cryme Tyme interrupted. Chris Jericho and JTG trade some early stuff. Big Show comes in and JTG starts to take a beating. Shad gets a relatively hot tag, cleaning house until Big Show spears him in half. Surprisingly, this now leads to some heat on Shad. I kind of like it because it shows that the plan is to cut the ring in half no matter who is the legal man. The champions use quick tags to wear down Shad. JTG gets the hot tag and hits Jericho with some offense. He even nails Big Show on the apron, though that might not be the best move. JTG gets two on a rollup that the crowd completely buys. Jericho manages to turn things around though and gets JTG in the Walls of Jericho. JTG fights it and muscles to the ropes. Unfortunately for him, Big Show instantly hits the WMD to knock him out, opening the door for Jericho to get the pin.
Winners and Still WWE Unified Tag Team Champions: JeriShow in 9:42
That was better than I expected. Cryme Tyme was one of the most over tag teams in recent memory and JeriShow were great heels, so the crowd was into this. The hot tag to the smaller guy was different in a good way and the finish was creative. I didn’t think JTG would survive the Walls, but to do so, only to get knocked out was great false hope for the fans. ***
CM Punk is interviewed about the main event. He brings up a screenplay for the “Jeff Hardy Story” and puts down the fans for their lifestyle.
The Great Khali w/ Ranjin Singh vs. Kane
I remember these two wrestle at WrestleMania, though the face/heel roles were reversed. This gets the Jim Ross “bowling shoe ugly” treatment. They hammer away at each other in the early stages. Khali gets in some corner shots as he’s supposed to be mad because Kane attacked his brother, Ranjin, on Smackdown. Kane hits the first big spot with a flying clothesline for two. Khali starts his comeback and nails the brain chop but Kane kicks out. Kane eventually pulls Ranjin into the ring and chokes him. He throws him into Kahli and then dropkicks the knee. He hits a running DDT to win.
Winner: Kane in 5:56
Man that was incredibly dull. I give them props for keeping it short and trying to play the Ranjin angle into the finish but nothing about this was interesting at all. I’ve seen worse, but not by much. ½*
D-Generation X vs. Legacy
DX gets a very over the top entrance that takes a while. Triple H begins with Ted Dibiase and takes him to school for a bit. There is a tag to Cody Rhodes who blatantly slaps Shawn Michaels on the apron. Shawn comes in and goes back and forth until Cody slaps him again. This pisses off HBK, who kicks Cody’s ass until he regroups. Dibiase turns the tide and Legacy start to beat on Michaels. DX works as a great team because Shawn takes a beating better than almost anyone and Triple H is great for the hot tag. Commentary does a good job in pointing out the fact that Michaels has had some time off and it could be affecting him here. Oh, they do a mild tag to HHH already. He back drops Shawn out onto Cody in a cool spot. Again it’s Dibiase who takes down HHH and they start to wear him down in the corner. Triple H comes close to the tag but Dibiase has him in a tight sleeper hold. They tease the hot tag until Triple H finally sends Dibiase outside and makes it. Shawn does his thing but when he does the kip up, Dibiase takes him out with a clothesline. Triple H gets pissed and tosses Dibiase into the crowd. Cody takes a risk by trying Shawn’s flying elbow and misses. Shawn then goes for his own but Cody gets the knees up. He goes to tag but realizes that his partner is gone. Dibiase shows back up to save Cody from the figure four. Cody then hits Cross Rhodes but HHH breaks the pin in an incredibly close call. Both Triple H and Dibiase come in and hit Rhodes and Michaels with their finishers behind the official’s back, one after the other. Ted and HHH take each other out on the outside. Cody and Shawn struggle to their feet, actually leaning on each other to get up. Then, from out of nowhere, Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music and gets the three.
Winners: D-Generation X in 19:59
That is how you book veteran faces to beat young heels. Legacy came off looking like they absolutely belonged with two of the best ever. They got a bit too cocky at times, which cost them. The finish kept them strong too as Shawn and Cody were both in trouble and it took a desperation superkick for the vets to win. Just a really well done tag team match. ***¾
ECW Championship
Christian (c) vs. William Regal w/ the Ruthless Roundtable
So far, Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole did commentary for Raw, while Jim Ross and Todd Grisham handled Smackdown. They throw it to Matt Striker and Josh Matthews for this, which is funny given the match length. William Regal turns to his guys outside once the bell rings. Christian hits the Killswitch and wins.
Winner and Still ECW Champion: Christian in 0:08
I loved ECW at this time and was so excited for this match. Instead of giving me what would have been a really good match, they did this. Really? You couldn’t have had Swagger/MVP go this long or just be completely cut? NO RATING
Ezekiel Jackson and Vladimir Kozlov enter the ring and beat up Christian. William Regal puts him in the Regal Stretch.
WWE Championship
Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena
Coming into this match, these two had met a few times in 2007. This was the start of the program that absolutely DESTRYOED this feud as they just had countless matches that never seemed to end. Wow, both guys were only on their fifth World Titles at this point. Randy Orton is in the driver’s seat early, working a calculated attack on John Cena. The crowd is split as Orton hits his signature backbreaker. Cena starts to make the babyface comeback with the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM but Orton stops him in his tracks. Orton hits some more offense and starts to “Viper” up. He looks for the Punt but Cena avoids it and hits the throwback. Cena’s AA is blocked right before a double clothesline spot. When they get up, Cena goes into a series of offense so Orton just shoves the referee to get himself disqualified. Lillian Garcia botches the announcement, saying Orton won. Then she tells us that Mr. McMahon ordered the match to restart and if Orton gets DQed, he loses the belt. Cena starts to kick Orton’s ass on the outside. Orton turns things around a bit and gets his belt. He walks out to get counted out. Guess what happens next? Mr. McMahon restarts it again and if Orton is counted out, he loses the belt. You know Vince was salivating over this match considering how is involved. He just HAD to see more. Orton escapes the STF and rolls Cena up with his feet on the ropes, scoring the three count! Now, a second referee shows up to point out what happened so we restart again. Oh good lord, this restarts again. STF is applied until a fan runs in to attack the referee. Things stall until the official regroups and tells them to start again. Orton catches Cena on the bottom rope before hitting an RKO to retain.
Winner and Still WWE Champion: Randy Orton in 20:44
As usual, the chemistry between these two just isn’t there. The WWE wants you to believe this is a legendary rivalry but it just never clicked. The restarts were terrible television. You kept adding on to a match that was already not very good. It was a giant cluster of stuff I didn’t care to see. *¾
World Heavyweight Championship TLC Match
Jeff Hardy (c) vs. CM Punk
This was a damn near perfect rivalry. Their styles just complemented each other so well. Punk just beats the hell out of Hardy to start the match. He gets a ladder first, but Hardy cuts him off and starts hitting some of his trademark offense. Punk catches a Poetry in Motion attempt and just slams Hardy onto the open steel chair. Punk sends Hardy outside and hits a suicide dive, in complete control. The fight continues outside until a series of reversals results in Punk jumping off the steps right into a steel chair shot from Hardy. Jeff lays Punk on a table outside and climbs up top. However, Punk moves and Hardy splashes through the table. Punk uses this time to climb up but Hardy is able to get up and stop him. He ends up ahead of Punk on the ladder. Punk teases a major GTS but Hardy slips free with a sunset flip bomb off the ladder. Hardy comes close but Punk tilts the ladder over. In a ridiculous spot, Punk hits a superplex onto one of the ladders. Like, that takes some balls. From out of nowhere, Hardy nails a Twist of Fate. The Swanton Bomb fails though as Punk gets his knees up. He doesn’t take control for long as she’s soon thrown outside through a table. He’s up quick enough to springboard in and stop Hardy’s ascent. During the build up to this match, Punk put Hardy’s head in a chair and rammed him into the turnbuckle. He tries it here but Jeff blocks and wails on him with the chair. He gets a really big ladder and sets Punk up on the announce table before climbing. The insane Jeff flies off, connecting with a swanton through the table. Officials and medics come down to check on both men. Punk gets back in and Jeff refuses medical attention when he sees this. They both struggle to climb up and get their fingertips o the belt. Punk gets a kick to the ribs, knocking Hardy off the ladder. He retrieves the gold to become champ.
Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: CM Punk in 19:40
A great main event that would have been a fitting end to such a great rivalry. They would have one more match on Smackdown, but if this was it, that would have been fine. They brought past things from their feud into the match which is appreciated. Punk was vicious and Hardy reached down deep to match him, making for a pretty great war. There were big spots but not as many as some other high level TLC matches, though the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. ****½
CM Punk celebrates over Jeff Hardy’s body when a gong is heard. The lights go out and when they come back on, Undertaker is under Punk where Jeff’s body was. He Chokeslams Punk to close the show.
Overall: 7/10; Good. At first glance, this show is a mixed bag. The good stuff (TLC, DX/Legacy and IC Title) is really good, but the bad stuff (WWE Title, Kane/Khali and Swagger/MVP) are pretty bad. However, I enjoyed the overall event because the bad stuff is mostly kept short. The highs on the show certainly outweigh the lows, making this a recommended show. My next “Random Network Review” will be none other than Spring Stampede 1997! |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Nov 28, 2015 11:52:27 GMT -5
Raw History
Episode #91
December 19th, 1994 | Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York
Once again, Shawn Michaels is co-hosting with Vince McMahon. They’re wearing Santa hats.
IRS w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Lex Luger
A druid shows up to stand at ringside with Ted Dibiase. Luger is on offense to start, causing IRS to catch a breather outside. Luger gets two on a clothesline, though he surprisingly doesn’t scream with it. Consider me disappointed. As they head to commercial, the camera zooms in on the druid’s ring, which looks familiar according to Vince. IRS hits a backbreaker for two. IRS takes control and Luger starts to rally with a knee lift. He goes after the druid because he is easily distracted. The druid is revealed to be Tatanka. SHOCKER! Luger again comes off looking like a buffoon as he gets counted out.
Winner via countout: IRS in 7:01
As expected with these two, this wasn’t the most exciting of matches. They went through the motions until the finish with nothing of note happening. *¼
A recap is shown of the start of the Tag Team Championship Tournament from Superstars. Tatanka and Bigelow defeated Men on a Mission. Mo got pinned by one finger.
Another Jeff Jarrett in Las Vegas promo is shown. He runs into Rip Taylor, who happens to be a Jarrett fan.
The Smoking Gunns vs. Chris Avery and Roy Raymond
Shawn Michaels decides that the Smoking Gunns are going to be his verbal whipping boys tonight. He disses them throughout the entire match. As expected, the Smoking Gunns get in pretty much all of the offense. They work a few double team moves highlighted by a jumping leg drop/side slam combo. They win with one I haven’t really seen yet. It looked very sloppy and it seems like they have a new finisher each time out. They haven’t quite figured it out yet.
Winners: The Smoking Gunns in 4:07
Fine little squash here. It flew by because they busted out some okay double teams.
Next week, the British Bulldog faces Tatanka and Henry Godwin makes his Raw debut.
King’s Court time, with Jerry Lawler’s guest, Bob Backlund. Lawler talks about Backlund realizing his dream only for Diesel to ruin it. Backlund badmouths the fans, Vince McMahon and Bret Hart. He rambles on for far longer than he should. He even calls Diesel by his real name. Michaels takes credit for telling Backlund that Diesel’s name is Kevin Nash. He then just walks away.
Bob Holly vs. Chris Kanyon
Remember a few weeks ago when Kanyon was much better than the guy squashing him? Well that’s actually not really the case here. Kanyon’s attire is pretty ridiculous, but he actually bumps rather well again. He also gets in some offense this time. Holly wins with a flying elbow though.
Winner: Bob Holly in 3:36
Another solid little squash here. Bob Holly and Chris Kanyon were both pretty game tonight and it made for an alright bout.
Time for our first Royal Rumble Report, which is a little over a month away from Tampa, Florida. Since it is a beach theme, the host of the Rumble will be Baywatch’s Pamela Anderson. This was huge at the time because she was a massive star. Also, the main event is announce as Diesel defends the WWF Title against Bret Hart! Diesel cuts a promo on the match, putting over Bret, but himself even more. It’s not bad but isn’t really good either. Also, ten names have been announced for the Royal Rumble match itself. Lex Luger, Bob Backlund, King Kong Bundy, Doink, Kwang, Henry Godwin, Duke Droese, Aldo Montoya, Adam Bomb and Dick Murdoch.
The Bushwhackers w/ Howard Finkel vs. Well Dunn w/ Harvey Wippleman
Howard Finkel is in Bushwhackers gear and does their trademark walk with them. They start hot and send Well Dunn outside before celebrating with the Fink. Well Dunn ends up in the driver’s seat for a bit, beating on Luke. None of this is really well done, pun intended. Steven Dunn comes off the top with the awful spot where he goes for no move but leaps right into Luke’s boot. I’ve always hated that spot. Butch comes in hot after a tag. Harvey tries to cheat but Fink pulls him off the apron, removing his pants in the process. Butch sits on Dunn, I think, and gets the win.
Winners: The Bushwhackers in 5:20
This wasn’t as bad as a lot of Bushwhackers matches that I see from this era. That being said, it still wasn’t something I’d classify as good. At least it wasn’t offensively bad. ¾*
Jim Neidhart vs. Nick Barberry
Surprisingly, there is no Owen Hart with Jim Neidhart tonight. Before the match, Neidhart shouts at the Spanish announce team for some reason. Poor guys never catch a break. Neidhart bullies and dominates the ham and egger here, finishing him with the camel clutch.
Winner: Jim Neidhart in 2:16
The usual squash from Jim Neidhart.
Overall: 2.5/10. It’s not a good thing when the best part of the show are the squash matches. The two actual competitive matches are pretty bad and the King’s Court is just Bob Backlund rambling for far too long. Not a good episode, but at least we got Royal Rumble news.
Raw History
Episode #92
December 26th, 1994 | Liberty Central in Liberty, New York
Here we go with the final Monday Night Raw of 1994. I can’t believe I’ve covered two full years already. Things start with Vince McMahon doing a voiceover hyping the Raw return of the Undertaker and Diesel being on the King’s Court. Shawn Michaels is Vince’s co-host.
British Bulldog vs. Tatanka w/ Ted Dibiase
Like a lot of WWF matches in this era, the babyface starts very hot and causes the heel to regroup. I feel like Tatanka’s heel turn made him give up. He’s packed on a fair amount of pounds in recent months. Tatanka gets a near fall just as we go to commercial. There goes that poor timing again. Bulldog gets two on a cross body and Tatanka kicks out so hard he sends him outside. You don’t see that happen to a powerhouse very often. Tatanka comes off the top with a chop but Bulldog hits him in the stomach and rallies. Dibiase pulls the top rope down, causing Bulldog to fall outside. Lex Luger runs out to check on Bulldog. A pissed Luger gets in and brawls with Tatanka, causing a DQ.
Double disqualification in 6:41
Not a bad match but it didn’t really ever get going. It was kind of just there and neither guy seemed to really bring their “A” or even “B” games. *½
Todd Pettengill brings us the Royal Rumble Report. Six more participants have been added to the Royal Rumble match itself and they include Mabel, Mo, Bob Holly, the 1-2-3 Kid, the British Bulldog and Shawn Michaels. Two more matches are also added. Jeff Jarrett gets a shot at Razor Ramon’s Intercontinental Title and Undertaker gets to face IRS in what was most likely a dull affair.
Henry Godwin vs. Mike Khoury
Raw debut alert! It’s just Henry Godwin, but still. It seems like they were trying to really make Henry seem gross. He has stains all over his ripped shirt and he scratches his back on the entrance. I’m glad they went away from that a bit over time. Godwin dominates, just pounding on his opponent. HOG takes the win with the Slop Drop.
Winner: Henry Godwin in 3:46
Perfectly acceptable debut here. Henry Godwin got to have a dominating win and looked alright in doing so.
HAKUSHI IS COMING TO THE WWF! I loved his look. It is kind of funny how his hype video shows him wrestling in a WWF ring.
Jerry Lawler introduces his guest for the King’s Court, the WWF Champion Diesel. Lawler congratulates Diesel on his success and offers a handshake. Diesel squeezes his hand until Lawler begs for mercy. Lawler now runs down Diesel and puts over Shawn Michaels as the guy that knows Diesel well enough to beat him. He then says that Diesel bit off more than he can chew by offering an open challenge to Bret Hart. Diesel gets tired of this, steals Lawler’s crown and tosses him outside.
Footage is shown from Superstars, where the Heavenly Bodies beat the Bushwhackers to advance in the tournament.
Kwang w/ Harvey Wippleman vs. Rich Myers
While Kwang squashes Rich Myers, Howard Finkel appears on a split screen to apologize for pulling Harvey’s pants down last week. Kwang is just tossing Myers around. Tonight has not been the night for jobbers to get in offense. Kwang uses a spinning heel kick for the 1-2-3.
Winner: Kwang in 2:43
Typical Kwang squash. Nothing special.
We now devote some time to hype an upcoming boxing match. Vinny Pazienza talks while working out about an upcoming fight that I give no  s about.
HE’S TOUGHER THAN TYSON! MORE MENACING THAN SEGAL! FASTER THAN VAN DAMME! HE’S KAMA! THE SUPREME FIGHTING MACHINE! Oh boy.
Backstage, Stephanie Waind and her weird face interviews Ted Dibiase. Lex Luger and British Bulldog challenged Bigelow and Tatanka. Dibiase is pissed, but accepts.
The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer vs. The Brooklyn Brawler
It’s one of the most legendary Superstars in history and one of the most legendary jobbers in history. THE IRRESISTIBLE FORCE MEETS THE IMMOVABLE OBJECT! The Brawler charges but runs right into a big boot. Shawn Michaels does the weekly USA movie plug while Undertaker throws the Brawler around. We also get told that Jeff Jarrett will finally make his singing debut next Monday. Undertaker is tired of kicking ass and hits the Tombstone.
Winner: The Undertaker in 3:12
Completely one-sided, but it gets some cool points because Undertaker was a rare treat on Raw even then.
IRS shows up after the match with some druids. Nothing happens.
Overall: 4.5/10. Not the ideal way to end the year, but actually not a bad episode. While the Bulldog/Tatanka match wasn’t anything special, the squash matches did their job. Henry Godwin looked alright and the Undertaker is always cool to see. The King’s Court was kind of just there, but this episode actually kind of flew by.
As a special treat, here are my top ten matches in Raw history so far!
WWF Championship: Bret Hart (c) vs. 1-2-3 Kid – 7/11/94 - ****½
2 Out of 3 Falls: Doink vs. Marty Jannetty – 6/21/93 - ****
Loser Leaves WWF: Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair – 1/25/93 - ****
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Marty Jannetty – 5/17/93 - ***¾
Bret Hart and British Bulldog vs. Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart – 11/7/94 - ***½
Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels – 8/1/94 - ***½
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Marty Jannetty – 7/19/93 - ***½
Doink vs. Mr. Perfect – 5/24/93 - ***½
WWF Championship: Bret Hart (c) vs. Fatu – 3/1/93 - ***½
WWF Championship: Yokozuna (c) vs. Macho Man – 2/28/94 - ***¼
Raw History
Episode #93
January 2nd, 1995 | Liberty Central in Liberty, New York
The first Raw of 1995 seems to have been recorded at the end of 1994. Jeff Jarrett cuts a promo about his singing debut. Gorilla Monsoon and Shawn Michaels are the hosts, standing in front of a horrid green screen.
Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka w/ Ted Dibiase vs. British Bulldog and Lex Luger
The tandem of Lex Luger and British Bulldog don’t quite have the “Allied Powers” name yet. The heels attack Luger as he enters the ring before Bulldog arrives. HBK correctly points out that Luger again looks like a moron. He has to be setting a record for that since his face turn. Bulldog makes the save and this breaks down into a standard tag match. Shawn Michaels actually says “you gotta wonder what Lex Luger would do if he couldn’t use the clothesline”, basically calling out the SCREAMING CLOTHESLINES like I have. Luger ends up taking the heat, while Tatanka applies the lazy bearhug. The heels cut the ring in half on him. Dueling tags to Bulldog and Tatanka, who have a better encounter here than their match last week. Because he’s on fire, Dibiase pulls Bulldog outside. This leads to a big brawl that results in a double countout.
Double countout in 8:44
About as basic and average as you can get. The things they did were solid in theory, but the execution was lacking, making for a match that I didn’t really enjoy. *¾
Todd Pettengill brings us the Royal Rumble Report. It doesn’t seem like he has anything new to tell us.
Duke Droese vs. Mike Bell
Gorilla Monsoon tells us that Duke Droese has entered himself into the Royal Rumble. Umm, does he have the power to do that? Also, he was announced weeks ago. Duke gets in almost all of the offense and wins with the Trash Compactor. We also find out that William Shatner will be on the second anniversary of Raw special next week.
Winner: Duke Droese in 1:35
They kept it short. That’s what I’m talking about.
Another Kama vignette airs. I’m sure he’s going to light the WWF on fire.
King’s Court time with Owen Hart. Jerry Lawler loves what Owen did to Bret at the Survivor Series to get the belt off of him. He even says that Stu and Helen may put him up for adoption. Owen laughs about it but then says that he’s going to do what Bret did, only better. He’s going to win the Tag Team, Intercontinental and WWF Titles, but he promises he won’t give them up and that he’ll retire as champ.
We find out that Owen Hart has been added to the Royal Rumble.
Next week, on Raw’s 2nd Anniversary, Owen Hart meets Razor Ramon in an Intercontinental Title match. Also, Harvey Wippleman takes on the Fink in a Tuxedo Match.
Jeff Jarrett w/ the Roadie vs. Buck Quartermaine
Jarrett hits all of the offense while HBK talks about partying with him. Before Jarrett applies the Figure Four, he sends Roadie to get the guitar. Quartermaine submits.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett in 2:43
This was just there. Nothing to write home about.
It’s time for Jeff Jarrett’s musical performance but he stalls through it. He has sound issues and spotlight issues, so he declines singing. Monsoon highlights this by asking “WHERE’S KEVIN DUNN?”
Gorilla Monsoon interviews SUPER DAVE, who is just gonna have an upcoming TV show. It’s just a plug.
Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka w/ Ted Dibiase vs. British Bulldog and Lex Luger
Since this match had the non-finish earlier, they’re finishing it now and we join it in progress. I wasn’t exactly clamoring for more. Shawn Michaels again destroys Luger on commentary, saying he’s been exposed for his lack of talent. He also throws in, “Luger’s bad, not good.” Wow. Luger is again taking the heat. Shawn says this match feels like it has been going all night. I mean, he’s not wrong. Hot tag to the Bulldog. DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER! After some slams, Bulldog whips Tatanka into Bigelow, knocking him off the apron. Then Bulldog just covers him.
Winners: British Bulldog and Lex Luger in 4:59
Why didn’t they just do this earlier? Having it extend later into the show accomplished nothing. I’ll just include the earlier portion with this for an overall score that gets lowered by the dumb decision to split it. *½
Overall: 2/10. The first Raw of 1995 doesn’t do much to improve on a very lackluster 1994. I’ll slightly excuse it since it was recorded in 1994. We’ll start officially getting into ’95 with next week’s second anniversary show. Anyway, this show featured a pretty bad marquee match and they basically did it twice, while the rest of the show was blah. |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 5, 2015 14:39:58 GMT -5
Spring Stampede 1997
April 6th, 1997 | Tupelo Coliseum in Tupelo, Mississippi | Attendance: 8,356
1997 will forever be remembered as one of the hottest and most important years in wrestling history. The WCW was riding high as, thanks to the nWo angle, and beating the WWF in the ratings war. Interestingly enough, this card seems to be something of a “B” show. Hulk Hogan and a few other main event guys are missing, while the Macho Man/DDP feud is thrust into the main event spotlight. This is the second Spring Stampede Pay-Per-View.
The show opens with a video that runs down the card. Honestly, it doesn’t sound too bad. Commentary is Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes.
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon
Ah, I love these cruiserweight opening contests on WCW shows. Mike Tenay joins commentary for this and discusses that they have split two PPV matches (both in 1996). They start with some mat work, playing off of the fact that they know each other well. Dragon hits the first big spots with a spinning rack drop, followed by a powerbomb right into an alley oop tat drops Rey on the top rope. He hits a SICK Liger Bomb an then a jumping tombstone. How are people later in the show supposed to do any offense later? Dragon continues to pick up Rey from pins, wanting to prove some sort of point. Commentary has no idea what the point is though. Dragon continues to stretch Rey. Rey finally knocks Dragon outside and somersaults out onto him. While this great action is going on, we go to a damn split screen of Lee Marshall trying to interview Kevin Nash, only to get Syxx instead. Seriously? You couldn’t do this after the match? Rey does the babyface comeback work during this until he gets dropkicked off the top and outside. Back inside though, Rey tries an Asai moonsault but Dragon dropkicks him in midair. Then he swings like him Cesaro. Dragon hits a top rope rana but Rey gets his foot on the bottom rope. There are some really close near falls until Rey springboards off the second rope with a rana for the win.
Winner: Rey Mysterio Jr. in 14:55
Great opener. I’ve seen all of their PPV matches and this was about on par with Hog Wild. The only issues I had with it was that no explanation was given for Ultimo not wanting to pin Rey early and the split screen stuff. A fast paced match between two guys with great chemistry. ***¾
Lee Marshall tries to interviews Kevin Nash again but gets held back. Then the Steiners show up and want to fight so badly that Scott has to be maced.
WCW Women’s Championship
Akira Hokuto (c) w/ Sonny Ono vs. Madusa
Instant “USA” chants. Madusa starts jabbing Hokuto in the corner like she’s the Undertaker or something. Hokuto quickly turns it around and goes for a pin after a body slam. Madusa bridges out of it impressively and goes into some of her offense. Hokuto kicks out of a cross body by just choking Madusa. HEEL! Sonny Ono gets involved by slapping Madusa while she’s in a submission. Madusa again nearly wins with a German. Ono gets on the apron and Madusa kicks him off. Madusa goes for a powerbomb but Luna Vachon runs out and kicks Madusa in the knee. This allows Hokuto to fall on top of Madusa and retain.
Winner and Still WCW Women’s Champion: Akira Hokuto in 5:13
Solidly worked match. Madusa was doing things that weren’t really the norm for any other American women in the era. I wish we got to see Akira do a bit more though. **¾
WCW Television Championship
Prince Iaukea (c) vs. Lord Steven Regal
Prince Iaukea gets close to ZERO reaction from the crowd. Both guys go through some exchanges of holds but none of it is particularly interesting. Usually, I can get into Regal’s style even if some people can’t, but it’s not working here. Commentary also seems to be focusing on everything but the match. I can’t blame them. Regal is stretching the champion, who is sloppy with most of his attempted offense. After Regal continues to twist Iaukea, he then randomly scores on a rollup.
Winner and Still WCW Television Champion: Prince Iaukea in 10:01
Whoever decided to give this ten minutes must not have known how the match would go down. I like Regal’s style, but nobody cared for Prince Iaukea and they sucked the energy out of the building. Just very dull. *¼
A pissed Steven Regal attacks Prince Iaukea after the match. Cutting to Mean Gene, he teases a Kliq coming to WCW. I’m pretty sure all Kliq members that would ever be in WCW were already there. Ric Flair is interviewed about his upcoming return.
Jeff Jarrett and Steve “Mongo” McMichael w/ Debra McMichael vs. Public Enemy
Kind of funny to think that Debra would again manage Jeff Jarrett in the WWF. They give us no backstory for this match so it seems very random. Mongo and Jarrett clean house within the first few minutes and both strut to a pop. Public Enemy regroup and work over Jarrett, causing him to take a breather outside. Commentary plays up the fact that Jarrett nearly walked out and is barely communicating with Mongo. They give us the terrible split screen effect again as Debra slaps Johnny Grunge a few times while Mongo tosses Rocco Rock around by the stage. Things calm down a bit and end up back in the ring, where Debra trips Rocco. Jarrett starts hitting dropkicks before Mongo breaks up a piledriver with an ugly clothesline. Rocco comes in with a briefcase and nails Jarrett in the back as he tries the Figure Four. Grunge lays in Figure Four position so his leg is on Jarrett’s and they count the three.
Winners: Public Enemy in 10:42
I have no idea what this match was. Almost nothing that happened made any sense and I came out more confused than I went in. The only thing I understood was that they wanted to show friction within the Horsemen, but the match was just so bad. ½*
As is usually the case with WCW, we got to Mean Gene once again. He interviews Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri about the Four Corners Match later. Sherri basically says that even if they end up facing each other, there is a plan for it. This is the infamous promo where Booker drops the N bomb. Classic.
WCW United States Championship
Dean Malenko (c) vs. Chris Benoit w/ Woman
Okay, this should pick things back up. They start with a feeling out process, with both men jockeying for position. Nothing they’re doing is groundbreaking, but it’s all very crisply done. Both guy are masters on the mat and it shows here. Things start to pick up when Benoit just lays into Dean with some loud chops. Benoit hits a big back suplex for two as things are starting to hit second gear. He stays in the driver’s seat, even stopping anything Dean tried. Dean tries a suplex but Benoit counters into an inverted one of his own. With both men down, Jacqueline shows up and starts laying into Woman. Jimmy Hart rushes out and past the catfight. Benoit hits the diving headbutt for two. Hart takes the US Title and goes to leave with it when Eddie Guerrero stops him. Eddie’s arm is in a sling. Dean gets on the apron and suplexes Benoit to the outside. With the referee looking at the ladies brawl, Arn Anderson shows up and levels Malenko. Now comes Kevin Sullivan who hits Benoit in the back with a kendo stick of some sort, finally resulting in a DQ.
Match ends in a No Contest at 17:56
I’ve seen these two do far better. The action was just starting to get really good when we got the overbooking galore. I mean, five different people running in is seriously too much. Disappointing, but a solid showing. ***
Kevin Sullivan, Jacqueline and Jimmy Hart now steal the US Title and put is on Eddie Guerrero’s shoulder while dragging him out. What the hell just happened?
WCW World Tag Team Championship
Kevin Nash (c) w/ Ted Dibiase and Syxx vs. Rick Steiner
Leave it to WCW to have the Tag Team Titles defended in a singles match. I feel like this happened more than once in the company. Nash clobbers on Rick while commentary talks about how unheard of this kind of match is. Rick gets two on a powerslam. Schiavone complains that Nick Patrick gave a slow count, since he’s with the nWo but it was actually a fair count. He does show how crooked he is when he turns his back to Syxx putting the boots to Rick. Nash connects on the Jackknife but Rick manages to kick out. He goes for it again but Rick just hits a low blow. Surprised that Patrick didn’t call for the bell. Bulldog by Rick though Patrick gives a slightly slow count so Nash kicks out. STEINERLINES! Syxx exposes the turnbuckle and Nash hits snake eyes. He continues the beating and Ted Dibiase gets in to say that’s enough. They argue and Ted leaves while Nash continues hitting snake eyes. Nash then pins him and it’s over, but even Nick Patrick wasn’t pleased with this.
Winner and Still WCW World Tag Team Champion: Kevin Nash in 10:20
The angle they were going for to cause dissension in the nWo made sense but it didn’t really come off well until the end. Everything leading up to the finish was relatively dull. *
The Giant and Lex Luger are interviewed about the upcoming match. Nothing they say is intriguing since neither is goo on the mic, though Giant would get much better as Big Show. Also, I feel like he joined the nWo a few months before but he’s already face again.
Number One Contender’s Four Corners Match
Booker T vs. The Giant vs. Lex Luger vs. Stevie Ray w/ Sister Sherri
Sherri comes out with both Harlem Heat members but I only wanted to list her once. Two men are allowed to be legal at once while the other two are on the apron. They work it like a normal tag match for the most part until Luger and Giant end up against each other. They fight for a bit before tagging in Harlem Heat to fight. Surprisingly, the crowd goes WILD for this. Unfortunately, the actual interaction is way less exciting. Outside of that interaction, it goes back to being a tag match of sorts, with Harlem Heat tagging each other and the same goes for the Giant and Luger. Schiavone talks about Luger drawing power from the fans more than anyone in the sport, which is laughable considering how badly miscast he always is as a babyface. They basically end up doing a hot tag to the Giant. He cleans house, then tags in Luger and steps aside so Luger can put Stevie Ray in the Torture Rack and get the title shot.
Winner: Lex Luger in 18:18
As noted several times, this was pretty much just a tag team match with only slight interaction of the teams facing each other. Neither team was lighting the world on fire with their matches at this time, so this was about as basic as it would get. By the way, Luger didn’t get the shot until August. **
No Disqualification Match
Diamond Dallas Page w/ Kimberly vs. Randy Savage w/ Miss Elizabeth
They show Macho Man and Elizabeth walking backstage towards the ring. Savage kills it here, talking about a party later where he will invite 14-22 women. Elizabeth has no problem with this, causing Savage to get excited and say “SLIM JIMS FOR EVERYONE!” I can’t make this up. This happens to be DDP’s first foray into the main event and, judging by the buyrate for the show, it showed he was a legit player. They brawl from the start, which is what I like from this kind of match. It goes through the crowd and spills to the back. Back to the ringside area and Savage hides behind Kimberly before getting in a cheap shot. Savage throws DDP around outside and into the steel steps. Savage continues to stay in control until DDP rallies inside. He gets in some right hands and a big spinning clothesline. Savage hits a slam and looks to fly off the top with a ring bell. Kimberly snatches it from him but Savage is just like “I’ll just do the elbow anyway” though DDP gets his foot up to block. Even so, he still can’t officially get in the driver’s seat. When DDP kicks out again, Savage just piledrives the referee. The fans chant that they want Sting. Savage connects on the elbow and covers but he looks like an idiot since he just threw the referee out. Oh wait, here comes Nick Patrick. DDP busts out the Diamond Cutter from out of nowhere! He struggles to cover and Patrick takes a bit but counts the three.
Winner: Diamond Dallas Page in 15:37
Solid but unspectacular. They would go on to continue the feud and have better matches, but this was a good start. It came off as a personal battle and gave DDP a relatively big win in his first PPV main event. ***
Kevin Nash and the nWo show up. Nash plants Nick Patrick with the Jackknife. Savage tries to go after Kimberly but Eric Bischoff calms him down. OR SO WE THINK! The fans chant for Sting and Savage looks at the rafters but he’s not here. Savage shoves Bischoff leading to a pull apart brawl. The dissension of the nWo overshadows DDP’s big win.
Overall: 3.5/10; Not good. Well, this got off to a good start but really fell for the most part. After a strong opening contest, the rest of the show was below average. Even the solid matches, like Savage/DDP and Benoit/Malenko, were much less than I usually come to expect from those performers. There was some bad stuff outside of that, bringing the overall score even further down. Not a recommended event. Next time on “Random Network Reviews” will be The Wrestling Classic! |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 12, 2015 14:48:56 GMT -5
Raw History
Episode #94
January 9th, 1995 | The Summit in Houston, Texas
It’s Raw’s second birthday celebration! We are live and the hosts are Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels. Cut to William Shatner, Jerry Lawler’s King’s Court guest, who says that he’s not here to fight, he’s here to promote his new show.
WWF Intercontinental Championship
Razor Ramon (c) vs. Owen Hart
Owen takes the belt from the referee and poses with it, causing Razor to attack. He goes to hit Owen with the belt but the official stops him. The champion beats Owen from pillar to post, using his power advantage. Owen takes the trademark Hart sternum corner bump. Razor goes after the arm a bit, continuing to hold serve until he attempts the Razor’s Edge by the ropes. You know what that means. Owen backdrops him over the top before following with a suicide dive. A commercial break comes and now Owen is in charge, wearing down the champion. The roar of the crowd rallies Razor. Razor starts to slug it out, knowing he has the upper hand in that situation. He busts out a Chokeslam, but can’t cover. He looks for a super back suplex but falls first. Owen nails a missile dropkick and tries the Sharpshooter, but Bret Hart runs in and whacks Owen.
Winner via disqualification: Owen Hart in 11:12
Up until that finish, this was going very well. Two of the better guys in the WWF at the time, going back and forth and working a smart match. That’s about all I can ask for in terms of the marquee match on Raw. ***¼
Well, Bret Hart looks like a total dick here. Jeff Jarrett and the Roadie come out to attack Razor Ramon, but Bret and Razor team up to send them packing. The crowd is red hot for all of this. Next week, it’s Bret vs. Double J.
Royal Rumble Report time! I don’t think we get any new information, but it has been a few weeks since I’ve watched Raw and I may have forgotten.
Jerry Lawler cuts a short promo on William Shatner, making Star Trek references with his threats.
Hakushi w/ Shinja vs. Matt Hardy
This is the Raw debut of Hakushi, taking on a rather tubby Matt Hardy. Looking at him, with his crew cut, and you would never think he’d be part of a heartthrob team. Hakushi kicks his ass and quickly wins with a slingshot splash.
Winner: Hakushi in 1:07
Damn that was fast. I would have liked to see it go a bit longer but it worked as a debut.
Jerry Lawler is in the ring for the King’s Court. Lawler brings out William Shatner and puts over his new show. He then tries to say that this is the greatest moment in Shatner’s career, which William declines. Lawler jaws with him and threatens him, causing Shatner to put him in a hammerlock. Lawler goes after him again but Shatner just takes him over with a goddamn monkey flip. Bret Hart makes his second appearance and raises William’s hand. Shatner stares into the camera with a pretty great look on his face. Jeff Jarrett and the Roadie are out again to hold Jerry back. Not the greatest of segments but it did the job of getting a TV star to appear on Raw and promote a USA Network show.
The Royal Rumble commercial with Pamela Anderson is pretty funny, with everyone in the Rumble leaving her messages on her answering machine.
King Kong Bundy w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Gary Sabaugh
If you thought the Hakushi match was quick, you haven’t seen anything yet. Bundy hits an avalanche and wins.
Winner: King Kong Bundy in 0:13
The shorter the Bundy match, the better.
On Superstars, Bob Holly and the 1-2-3 Kid advance in the Tag Team Title Tournament over Well Dunn. They replaced the Smoking Gunns and will face the Heavenly Bodies in the Semi-Finals. The other Semi-Final match is Bigelow and Tatanka against the Headshrinkers.
A Kama vignette airs. It’s pretty absurd in trying to make him look like a badass.
Tuxedo Match
Harvey Wippleman w/ Well Dunn vs. Howard Finkel w/ the Bushwhackers
What did I do to deserve this? Fink attacks quickly and they roll around, removing pieces of each tux. This has next to no crowd reaction and for good reason. They get down to their underwear and Howard wins.
Winner: Howard Finkel in 2:37
Absolute hot garbage. A terrible non-wrestler match with no heat from the crowd and too much man ass. DUD
The celebration with the Bushwhackers and Howard Finkel goes on for too long.
Overall: 6/10. Not a bad episode here. The opening contest was a really solid outing. The King’s Court, while not the most entertaining episode, was made to be a pretty big deal on the anniversary episode. The two squashes were kept short and I liked seeing Hakushi. The only real bad part about this episode was the god awful Tuxedo match.
Raw History
Episode #95
January 16th, 1995 | The Summit in Houston, Texas
The intro this week continues to play off the Star Trek and William Shatner stuff, hyping the Bret Hart/Jeff Jarrett main event. Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels are your hosts in front of a horrible green screen.
1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly vs. The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette
This is a rematch from the Tag Team Title Tournament, where Kid and Holly eliminated the Heavenly Bodies. The Bodies attack before the bell, sending the Kid outside, leaving Holly alone to take a beating. They work him over for a while until he finally makes the hot tag. Bigelow, Dibiase and Tatanka walk out to the aisle to watch since they’re facing Kid and Holly at the Rumble. Kid scores on a fisherman suplex for the win.
Winners: 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly in 4:36
Too short to really get going, but it was fine tag formula. I’ll take this over a lot of what we got in 1994. **
Bret Hart and William Shatner are interviewed about Bret’s potential ring rust. They say there won’t be any ring rust and, if Roadie gets involved, Shatner will make him roadkill.
Mantaur w/ Jim Cornette vs. Jason Ahrndt
Oh goodness. It’s Mantaur. Poor Jim Cornette. Mantaur isn’t wearing his signature big ass headdress, so he’s just a guy with paint on his face. He slams the jobber around before winning with a body attack.
Winner: Mantaur in 1:44
Basic squash for a lame wrestler and terrible character.
The final Royal Rumble Report comes to us as the show is this Sunday. We learn nothing new as he runs down the card. I’ll post the results during the next episode of Raw. After the report, Jeff Jarrett cuts a promo backstage about how he’s going to beat Bret Hart and that it won’t affect his Royal Rumble performance.
Bret Hart w/ William Shatner vs. Jeff Jarrett w/ the Roadie
Vince McMahon makes a point to discuss Bret working more aggressively, which he does by getting in an eye rake. Bret goes to work on the arm after a Russian leg sweep. Roadie argues that Bret is pulling the tights. After a commercial, Bret gives the fans a bit of a full moon by trying to rollup Jarrett and pulling his pants down in the process. Jarrett sends Bret in for a big corner bump, but can’t take full advantage because he misses a top rope move. Bret starts to go into the five moves of doom, scoring two on the second rope elbow. Jarrett rakes the eyes to block the Sharpshooter. Bret then misses a cross body with help from the Roadie. Shatner did nothing about this. Figure Four applied by Jarrett but Bret reaches the ropes. Bret counters a Jarrett rollup into one of his own for the victory.
Winner: Bret Hart in 9:01
Fine standard match here from the two top title contenders. It was nothing special but worked as a TV main event. I do wish this would have ended by DQ, so Jarrett didn’t eat a pin before his title shot. **½
Roadie tries to hit Bret, so William Shatner comes in and levels him, sending him outside.
We go to Superstars for a recap of Bigelow and Tatanka beating the Headshrinkers and Holly and Kid beating the Heavenly Bodies to make the Tag Team Title Tournament Finals.
The Million Dollar Corporation are the guests on the King’s Court. Ted Dibiase, IRS, Bigelow, Tatanka, Bundy and two druids are there. Dibiase talks about how they will run the Rumble. IRS will beat Undertaker, Bigelow and Tatanka will win the Tag Titles and Bundy will win the Royal Rumble itself. He also says that Bigelow and Tatanka will defend their new belts against the Smoking Gunns next Monday. If memory serves me right, his crew went 0-3 on the night.
Mabel w/ Oscar vs. Lee Toblin
Similar to the recent Bundy squashes or the Mantaur one earlier, it’s your typical big man showcase. Mabel gets a bit more time though. His opponent looks like someone fused Jerry Lawler with Danny McBride. Mabel wins with a piss poor leg drop.
Winner: Mabel in 2:35
Standard stuff.
King Kong Bundy lumbers out to interrupt a Mabel interview, arguing about who will win the Royal Rumble. Mabel issues a challenge right now but Ted Dibiase advises him not to.
A hype video for Diesel closes the show.
Overall: 5/10. Middle of the pack episode here. It did a decent job in building towards the PPV with the Rumble stuff at the end, Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett being involved, the Million Dollar Corporation segment and even the Tag Title situation being touched upon.
Royal Rumble 1995 Results
Jeff Jarrett defeated Razor Ramon to win the Intercontinental Title
The Undertaker beat IRS
Bret Hart and Diesel wrestled to a no contest after a bunch of interference
1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly beat Bigelow and Tatanka to win the Tag Titles
Bigelow got into it with Lawrence Taylor at ringside
Shawn Michaels entered at #1 and won the shortest Royal Rumble in history
Raw History
Episode #96
January 23rd, 1995 | Manatee Civic Center in Palmetto, Florida
The show opens with Vince McMahon at ringside, apologizing for the actions of “Scott Bam Bam Bigelow” for his actions against Lawrence Taylor. After the intro, he brings out his co-host and winner of the Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels.
WWF Tag Team Championship
1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly (c) vs. The Smoking Gunns
Vince is already selling up the fact that the Kid and Holly took a beating despite winning 24 hours earlier. In about three to four years, all of these guys would go on to have very different characters. Bob and Billy start, with Bob getting the upper hand thanks to a quickness advantage. Bart gets the tag and backs away from the Kid, knowing he can’t handle that speed. The Smoking Gunns were supposed to be in the tournament, but an unfortunate “rodeo” accident kept them out. HBK straight up asks which Gunn took a “steer in the rear”. The Gunns start to take control over Holly, working some quick tags and double team moves, including a team up press slam. The Champions hit the rarely seen double second rope suplex for two. After a commercial, they also nail a double dropkick. There have been a lot of double team moves in this. Kid takes a page out of his old partner, Marty Jannetty’s book with the Rocker Dropper on Billy. Kid dropkicks Bart off the apron, showing the champions are willing to do whatever it takes. Billy scores on the Fameasser and makes the mild tag. Billy shows off his hops again with the Sidewinder, but they surprisingly don’t go for the cover. We go to the second commercial break of the contest. Future DX members Billy and Kid just start laying into each other with some loud shots. Kid is out on his feet as the Gunns try a double team. Holly gets a knee in the back of Billy though, again doing something slightly underhanded. Holly gets the tag, coming in rather hot. He leaps from the top, but goes right into the boot of Billy. The Gunns then hit a double team where Bart basically does a Dominator as Billy comes off the top with an elbow, winning them the gold.
Winners and New WWF Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns in 15:20
Easily the best Smoking Gunns match up to this point and possibly ever. It was fast paced and filled with some fun double team moves. The 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly realized they weren’t as polished as the Gunns as a unit and had to dig deep, busting out some dirty tricks. Really fun match. ***½
The former champions are interviewed and basically imply they want their rematch next week.
Todd Pettengil brings us the Royal Rumble Report supposedly done in Tampa, right after it ended. He just recaps what went down.
Shawn Michaels is pissed that Todd didn’t even mention him in the Royal Rumble Report. He also gets upset at the fans chanting for Diesel before announcing that he’s looking for a new bodyguard.
IRS w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Buck Quartermaine
IRS stole Undertaker’s urn and has it with him. Does that mean that terrible feud continues? Roddy Piper calls in during the match, instantly becoming the best part of this. He hypes an upcoming interview that he’ll conduct with Shawn Michaels. The crowd is dead silent for this IRS match. He wins with the Write-Off.
Winner: IRS in 2:19
Blah. As boring and sweaty as every IRS match.
A vignette airs to hype the upcoming debut of Man Mountain Rock!
King’s Court time with the brand new Intercontinental Champion, Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett brags about the win for a bit. Jerry Lawler wants to know what to expect on the 1995 “Ain’t I great?” tour. Jarret says that he’s been champion quite a while, and wants to add to his collection. He challenges Diesel to a future WWF Title match.
British Bulldog vs. The Black Phantom
Bulldog was the runner-up in the Royal Rumble, coming very close to winning. Vince announces that a two man Rumble will occur next week when Mabel faces King Kong Bundy and we also get word that the Smoking Gunns accepted the Tag Team Title challenge for next week. Bulldog is pissed about how he lost the Rumble and Vince thinks he was robbed. Clearly that wasn’t the case. Bulldog dominates, before going all IRS and applying a chinlock. He hits the powerslam for the 1-2-3.
Winner: British Bulldog in 3:12
This could have been more interesting. Outside of the interaction with Shawn Michaels, I was bored.
They try to get a word with Bam Bam Bigelow, who is supposed to apologize for the LT incident, but audio issues stop it from happening.
Overall: 5.5/10. The two squash matches weren’t anything worth watching but the opening match was damn good. It was honestly one of the better matches in Raw history up to this point. The King’s Court was fine as well, which should set up an interesting champion vs. champion match. 1995 is off to a much better start than 1994.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 21, 2015 12:52:18 GMT -5
The Wrestling Classic
November 7th, 1985 | Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois | Attendance: 14,000
The inaugural WrestleMania is the first Pay-Per-View listed on the WWE Network but it was actually on closed-circuit television. This show, over seven months later, was actually the first WWE Pay-Per-View in history. It features a one night tournament, though not much is on the line. No title shots or anything like that, just a Cadillac goes to the victor. I don’t know if the show will be great, but it is certainly historic.
Vince McMahon introduces the show before walking over to a big board. The board has the 16 competitors in the tournament. Lord Alfred Hayes and some random blonde lady are there. They run down the brackets, though the blonde woman does more pointing than anything else. They cut to clips of Mean Gene hosting the drawings earlier. Ricky Steamboat pulls British Bulldog, Miss Elizabeth pulls Ivan Putski for Macho Man and Mr. Fuji takes Tito Santana for Don Muraco. Commentary consists of Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura.
First Round Match
Adrian Adonis w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Corporal Kirchner
It always amuses me to see Adrian Adonis in this gimmick, knowing that he was also “Adorable.” Gorilla instantly puts this over as the “most prestigious wrestling tournament in the world.” Kirchner gets the early upper hand and the ring sounds pretty weird. Adonis nails a suplex to turn it around, slowing down the Corporal. Kirchner goes for a suplex of his own, but Adonis lands on him with a strange DDT variation and scores the win.
Winner: Adrian Adonis in 3:20
Too short to really be anything of note. I expect that will be the theme of the night. It wasn’t a good start though. ½*
First Round Match
Dynamite Kid vs. Nikolai Volkoff
Nikolai does the Russian national anthem gimmick to the disdain of the crowd. Dynamite Kid climbs to the top and hits a missile dropkick right at the bell. He pins and nearly instantly wins.
Winner: Dynamite Kid in 0:08
I honestly wonder how many times that happened to Nikolai Volkoff in his career. The crowd popped hard. NR
There are a fair amount of interviews in between the matches. I won’t be recapping them all. So far, Adrian Adonis had a decent one and Macho Man was…well, the Macho Man.
First Round Match
Ivan Putski vs. Randy Savage w/ Miss Elizabeth
Savage gets taken down by Putski a few times due to the power disadvantage. Ventura keeps calling Ivan “Pudusky” or something like that. Putski puts the boots to Savage in the corner until Savage trips him up. He rolls him up with feet on the ropes to advance.
Winner: Randy Savage in 2:46
I came away disappointed with this. Randy Savage is at the top of the list of guys I wanted to see in this tournament, so to see him almost do nothing here was a shame. *
First Round Match
Davey Boy Smith vs. Ricky Steamboat
They get right into the action, countering each other and jockeying for position. Steamboat impressively bridges up and gets two on a backslide. Smith shows off the power with a gorilla press slam. Davey choose to wear Ricky down before trying a suplex. Steamboat counters into a stalling vertical of his own. Smith comes back with some dropkicks but then misses a charge and gets crotched on the top rope. He seems hurt, causing the official to call for the bell.
Winner: Ricky Steamboat in 2:53
That was easily the most fun of the night. There was loads of potential for a really good match with more time. The finish was odd but it was most likely a work considering it ended around the time that all other matches were ending. Still, one of the better short matches you’ll find. **¾
First Round Match
The Iron Sheik vs. Junkyard Dog
They start fast, exchanging right hands but JYD wins out, causing Sheki to beg for mercy. JYD misses a headbutt and ends up in the Accolade…er, Camel Clutch. JYD plays possum and goes limp so Sheik lets go. He gets up and headbutts him in the back, scoring the victory.
Winner: Junkyard Dog in 3:26
This was here. Nothing of note really happened and neither guy is among my favorite to watch. ½*
First Round Match
Moondog Spot vs. Terry Funk w/ Jimmy Hart
Before the match, Terry Funk cuts a promo and says he doesn’t want to wrestle Moondog Spot. Moondog doesn’t want to wrestle him either, so Funk says they should both walk out and take a draw. They go to leave and Funk attacks Spot in the aisle. However, Spot comes back and beats him into the ring, stealing this via countout.
Winner via countout: Moondog Spot in 0:24
I figured we’d get another super quick match. Fun moment for the crowd, but can’t really be rated. NR
First Round Match
Don Muraco w/ Mr. Fuji vs. WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana
Gorilla Monsoon claims this match would be a main event anywhere in the world. Don Muraco beats on Tito with some power stuff in the early stages. Tito gets the first near fall with a flying cross body, but has his momentum stopped quickly. He quickly swings that and starts working the arm to wear down his powerful opponent. It’s always fun to hear Jesse call Tito “Chico”. Muraco hits a powerslam for three and the bell rings. Then, all of a sudden, Tito pulls Muraco into a small package to win.
Winner: Tito Santana in 4:13
That was a fine little match until that awful finish. I’m okay with Tito getting his feet on the ropes, but they gave no warning to Muraco and the bell rang, so it came off as very unfair. **
First Round Match
Bob Orton vs. Paul Orndorff
These two were on the same side at WrestleMania earlier in the year. Orndorff instantly goes after the injured arm and the crowd is pumped. Orndorff really focuses on it, while commentary debates the legitimacy of the injury. Orton gets his foot up and gets in the driver’s seat. He clubs away on Orndorff in the corner. Orton works a headscissors to wear down Orndorff. Orndorff rallies, causing Orton to take a breather outside. Back inside, Orton levels him with the cast. He goes for a pin but the bell rings.
Winner via disqualification: Paul Orndorff in 6:29
Another fine match that had a hot crowd. This was enjoyable and protected both guys, while being relatively fun. The finish wasn’t exciting but it was still good fun. **¾
Lord Alfred Hayes hits on the blonde as Vince McMahon goes up to discuss the tournament so far with him. Terry Funk shows up to complain about getting robbed.
Quarter-Final Match
Adrian Adonis w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Dynamite Kid
Dynamite Kid has an obvious speed advantage. Add in his first match only going about six seconds and he is clearly in better positioning here. He starts hot, sending Adonis to regroup outside. Once back in, Adonis starts using his strength. When Ventura realizes what the next match is, he leaves to go talk strategy with Macho Man. Adonis keeps the pace slow until Dynamite Kid nails an impressive gutwrench suplex. Adonis then applies an ugly Sharpshooter. Dynamite Kid gets free and goes into a flurry, ending with a second rope knee for two. Jimmy Hart distracts the Kid, allowing Adonis to roll him up for two. Dynamite Kid kicks out, sending Adonis into Hart. He just then pins Adonis to advance.
Winner: Dynamite Kid in 5:22
A solid match here. This was a good mix of Kid’s speed and Adonis’ strength. Dynamite Kid was doing things that wouldn’t become the norm for a long time. **½
Quarter-Final Match
Randy Savage w/ Miss Elizabeth vs. Ricky Steamboat
Oh, snap. In less than two years, these two would go on to have arguably the greatest Intercontinental Title match in history. Savage gets in Ricky’s face, hides behind Elizabeth and then attacks. Steamboat kicks his ass and sends him outside. They fight out there for a second before Savage goes on the offensive inside. Steamboat turns the tide only to eat a back suplex. Savage goes up top for a double axe handle but Steamboat catches him with a right hand on the gut. He hits a suplex and signals that he’s going up top. Savage avoids Steamboat before getting a mysterious weapon out of his tights and nails Steamboat with it to steal this.
Winner: Randy Savage in 3:22
You could tell that there was something great with more time between these two. This was a good back and forth despite being short and was my favorite thing on the show so far. ***
Quarter-Final Match
Junkyard Dog vs. Moondog Spot
JYD attacks quickly and nails a big headbutt before the referee even gets in the ring. JYD counts his own win and walks out. Somehow, that’s considered official.
Winner: Junkyard Dog in 0:27
Well that was something. NR
Quarter-Final Match
Paul Orndorff vs. Tito Santana
The commentators are very excited at the prospect of this encounter. With both men being faces, they start with a lengthy feeling out process, avoiding striking each other. Ventura and Monsoon discuss the possibility of either guy going to underhanded tactics. Orndorff because he’s done it in his past and Tito because Bobby Heenan has a $50,000 bounty on Paul’s head. Tito has a bad leg that starts to affect him. Orndorff hangs back to give him a breather, but then goes after the leg. They continue to work the mat until they fall outside. Out there, things get more physical, leading to a double countout.
Double countout in 8:03
Most of the match was worked on the mat, which isn’t the most exciting style, but it made sense here. They slowly built to them getting more physical before the finish. Fine stuff overall. **½
WWF Championship
Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Roddy Piper
Piper is quick to attack and the crowd is pretty hot for this. This was basically the money match in the company at the time. Seeing Hogan in white trunks is still odd. Hogan turns it around with some offense but Piper is quick to move back to the driver’s seat. Hogan’s selling is pretty odd. He catches Piper in a bearhug but Piper pokes him in the eye to break it. He tries a sleeper but both men fall outside to break it. Some fans throw garbage at Piper. Hogan starts to Hulk up outside. The ref takes a bump so Piper grabs a steel chair and delivers a WEAK shot. They fight over the chair until Bob Orton runs in for the DQ.
Winner via disqualification: Hulk Hogan in 7:16
The crowd was very hot for that, making it better than it actually was. I expected the unclean finish because of the era. Like a lot of things tonight, this was fine until the finish. **¼
Paul Orndorff runs in to help Hulk Hogan and they run off Roddy Piper and Bob Orton.
Semi-Final Match
Dynamite Kid vs. Randy Savage w/ Miss Elizabeth
Well this is interesting. Kid frustrates Savage by outworking him on the mat, causing Savage to take a powder. They lock up and Savage uses a dirty right hand to take control. Their back and forth sees them get stuck in the ropes. Kid tries a sunset flip, but Savage uses the staple of all fat wrestlers and just sits on him. They do the classic double clothesline spot and both men are down. Dynamite Kid hits a top rope superplex, but the wise Randy Savage pulls him into a small package to make the finals.
Winner: Randy Savage in 4:50
I really wish we’d gotten a legit match between these two that lasted longer. This was still a blast for the time it lasted and actually featured a straight finish. ***
They waste a ton of time discussing a contest to win a Rolls Royce. They have like four or five different guys talk about it but they all basically say the same thing.
Finals
Junkyard Dog vs. Randy Savage w/ Miss Elizabeth
They’re selling how worn out and hurt Macho Man is right from his entrance. When the match begins he stalls a ton. He gets back inside, is overpowered a few times and looks overmatched. JYD does a bearhug to give us more downtime, then continues to focus on the back. Savage hits a clothesline and then a double axe handle to the outside. Savage continues the attack outside but misses his next axe handle attempt. JYD starts doing his signature headbutts, which Savage oversells hard. JYD backdrops Savage over the top to win by countout.
Winner via countout: Junkyard Dog in 9:42
What a lackluster way to end a tournament. Randy Savage should have won. If they wanted to send the fans home happy, they could have had Hogan/Piper close things. Anyway, this was one of the weaker matches of the tournament for sure. *
Jesse Ventura hops in the ring to protest the win since Savage wrestled an extra match. It goes nowhere.
Overall: 5.5/10; Decent. At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a show that I would recommend. A ton of matches, some of which were either bad or too short to rate, doesn’t usually equate to a decent rating. However, the fact that there were so many matches allowed the show to move along quickly and most things didn’t overstay their welcome. There were some good ones in there, mainly involving Steamboat, Dynamite Kid and Savage. Add in the fact that this is the first PPV ever and the history factor makes this a welcome watch. Up next for “Random Network Reviews” will be WrestleMania XX! |
|
Deleted
Joined on: Dec 2, 2024 8:17:23 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2015 15:51:31 GMT -5
Spring Stampede 1997
April 6th, 1997 | Tupelo Coliseum in Tupelo, Mississippi | Attendance: 8,356
1997 will forever be remembered as one of the hottest and most important years in wrestling history. The WCW was riding high as, thanks to the nWo angle, and beating the WWF in the ratings war. Interestingly enough, this card seems to be something of a “B” show. Hulk Hogan and a few other main event guys are missing, while the Macho Man/DDP feud is thrust into the main event spotlight. This is the second Spring Stampede Pay-Per-View.
The show opens with a video that runs down the card. Honestly, it doesn’t sound too bad. Commentary is Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes.
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon
Ah, I love these cruiserweight opening contests on WCW shows. Mike Tenay joins commentary for this and discusses that they have split two PPV matches (both in 1996). They start with some mat work, playing off of the fact that they know each other well. Dragon hits the first big spots with a spinning rack drop, followed by a powerbomb right into an alley oop tat drops Rey on the top rope. He hits a SICK Liger Bomb an then a jumping tombstone. How are people later in the show supposed to do any offense later? Dragon continues to pick up Rey from pins, wanting to prove some sort of point. Commentary has no idea what the point is though. Dragon continues to stretch Rey. Rey finally knocks Dragon outside and somersaults out onto him. While this great action is going on, we go to a damn split screen of Lee Marshall trying to interview Kevin Nash, only to get Syxx instead. Seriously? You couldn’t do this after the match? Rey does the babyface comeback work during this until he gets dropkicked off the top and outside. Back inside though, Rey tries an Asai moonsault but Dragon dropkicks him in midair. Then he swings like him Cesaro. Dragon hits a top rope rana but Rey gets his foot on the bottom rope. There are some really close near falls until Rey springboards off the second rope with a rana for the win.
Winner: Rey Mysterio Jr. in 14:55
Great opener. I’ve seen all of their PPV matches and this was about on par with Hog Wild. The only issues I had with it was that no explanation was given for Ultimo not wanting to pin Rey early and the split screen stuff. A fast paced match between two guys with great chemistry. ***¾
Lee Marshall tries to interviews Kevin Nash again but gets held back. Then the Steiners show up and want to fight so badly that Scott has to be maced.
WCW Women’s Championship
Akira Hokuto (c) w/ Sonny Ono vs. Madusa
Instant “USA” chants. Madusa starts jabbing Hokuto in the corner like she’s the Undertaker or something. Hokuto quickly turns it around and goes for a pin after a body slam. Madusa bridges out of it impressively and goes into some of her offense. Hokuto kicks out of a cross body by just choking Madusa. HEEL! Sonny Ono gets involved by slapping Madusa while she’s in a submission. Madusa again nearly wins with a German. Ono gets on the apron and Madusa kicks him off. Madusa goes for a powerbomb but Luna Vachon runs out and kicks Madusa in the knee. This allows Hokuto to fall on top of Madusa and retain.
Winner and Still WCW Women’s Champion: Akira Hokuto in 5:13
Solidly worked match. Madusa was doing things that weren’t really the norm for any other American women in the era. I wish we got to see Akira do a bit more though. **¾
WCW Television Championship
Prince Iaukea (c) vs. Lord Steven Regal
Prince Iaukea gets close to ZERO reaction from the crowd. Both guys go through some exchanges of holds but none of it is particularly interesting. Usually, I can get into Regal’s style even if some people can’t, but it’s not working here. Commentary also seems to be focusing on everything but the match. I can’t blame them. Regal is stretching the champion, who is sloppy with most of his attempted offense. After Regal continues to twist Iaukea, he then randomly scores on a rollup.
Winner and Still WCW Television Champion: Prince Iaukea in 10:01
Whoever decided to give this ten minutes must not have known how the match would go down. I like Regal’s style, but nobody cared for Prince Iaukea and they sucked the energy out of the building. Just very dull. *¼
A pissed Steven Regal attacks Prince Iaukea after the match. Cutting to Mean Gene, he teases a Kliq coming to WCW. I’m pretty sure all Kliq members that would ever be in WCW were already there. Ric Flair is interviewed about his upcoming return.
Jeff Jarrett and Steve “Mongo” McMichael w/ Debra McMichael vs. Public Enemy
Kind of funny to think that Debra would again manage Jeff Jarrett in the WWF. They give us no backstory for this match so it seems very random. Mongo and Jarrett clean house within the first few minutes and both strut to a pop. Public Enemy regroup and work over Jarrett, causing him to take a breather outside. Commentary plays up the fact that Jarrett nearly walked out and is barely communicating with Mongo. They give us the terrible split screen effect again as Debra slaps Johnny Grunge a few times while Mongo tosses Rocco Rock around by the stage. Things calm down a bit and end up back in the ring, where Debra trips Rocco. Jarrett starts hitting dropkicks before Mongo breaks up a piledriver with an ugly clothesline. Rocco comes in with a briefcase and nails Jarrett in the back as he tries the Figure Four. Grunge lays in Figure Four position so his leg is on Jarrett’s and they count the three.
Winners: Public Enemy in 10:42
I have no idea what this match was. Almost nothing that happened made any sense and I came out more confused than I went in. The only thing I understood was that they wanted to show friction within the Horsemen, but the match was just so bad. ½*
As is usually the case with WCW, we got to Mean Gene once again. He interviews Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri about the Four Corners Match later. Sherri basically says that even if they end up facing each other, there is a plan for it. This is the infamous promo where Booker drops the N bomb. Classic.
WCW United States Championship
Dean Malenko (c) vs. Chris Benoit w/ Woman
Okay, this should pick things back up. They start with a feeling out process, with both men jockeying for position. Nothing they’re doing is groundbreaking, but it’s all very crisply done. Both guy are masters on the mat and it shows here. Things start to pick up when Benoit just lays into Dean with some loud chops. Benoit hits a big back suplex for two as things are starting to hit second gear. He stays in the driver’s seat, even stopping anything Dean tried. Dean tries a suplex but Benoit counters into an inverted one of his own. With both men down, Jacqueline shows up and starts laying into Woman. Jimmy Hart rushes out and past the catfight. Benoit hits the diving headbutt for two. Hart takes the US Title and goes to leave with it when Eddie Guerrero stops him. Eddie’s arm is in a sling. Dean gets on the apron and suplexes Benoit to the outside. With the referee looking at the ladies brawl, Arn Anderson shows up and levels Malenko. Now comes Kevin Sullivan who hits Benoit in the back with a kendo stick of some sort, finally resulting in a DQ.
Match ends in a No Contest at 17:56
I’ve seen these two do far better. The action was just starting to get really good when we got the overbooking galore. I mean, five different people running in is seriously too much. Disappointing, but a solid showing. ***
Kevin Sullivan, Jacqueline and Jimmy Hart now steal the US Title and put is on Eddie Guerrero’s shoulder while dragging him out. What the hell just happened?
WCW World Tag Team Championship
Kevin Nash (c) w/ Ted Dibiase and Syxx vs. Rick Steiner
Leave it to WCW to have the Tag Team Titles defended in a singles match. I feel like this happened more than once in the company. Nash clobbers on Rick while commentary talks about how unheard of this kind of match is. Rick gets two on a powerslam. Schiavone complains that Nick Patrick gave a slow count, since he’s with the nWo but it was actually a fair count. He does show how crooked he is when he turns his back to Syxx putting the boots to Rick. Nash connects on the Jackknife but Rick manages to kick out. He goes for it again but Rick just hits a low blow. Surprised that Patrick didn’t call for the bell. Bulldog by Rick though Patrick gives a slightly slow count so Nash kicks out. STEINERLINES! Syxx exposes the turnbuckle and Nash hits snake eyes. He continues the beating and Ted Dibiase gets in to say that’s enough. They argue and Ted leaves while Nash continues hitting snake eyes. Nash then pins him and it’s over, but even Nick Patrick wasn’t pleased with this.
Winner and Still WCW World Tag Team Champion: Kevin Nash in 10:20
The angle they were going for to cause dissension in the nWo made sense but it didn’t really come off well until the end. Everything leading up to the finish was relatively dull. *
The Giant and Lex Luger are interviewed about the upcoming match. Nothing they say is intriguing since neither is goo on the mic, though Giant would get much better as Big Show. Also, I feel like he joined the nWo a few months before but he’s already face again.
Number One Contender’s Four Corners Match
Booker T vs. The Giant vs. Lex Luger vs. Stevie Ray w/ Sister Sherri
Sherri comes out with both Harlem Heat members but I only wanted to list her once. Two men are allowed to be legal at once while the other two are on the apron. They work it like a normal tag match for the most part until Luger and Giant end up against each other. They fight for a bit before tagging in Harlem Heat to fight. Surprisingly, the crowd goes WILD for this. Unfortunately, the actual interaction is way less exciting. Outside of that interaction, it goes back to being a tag match of sorts, with Harlem Heat tagging each other and the same goes for the Giant and Luger. Schiavone talks about Luger drawing power from the fans more than anyone in the sport, which is laughable considering how badly miscast he always is as a babyface. They basically end up doing a hot tag to the Giant. He cleans house, then tags in Luger and steps aside so Luger can put Stevie Ray in the Torture Rack and get the title shot.
Winner: Lex Luger in 18:18
As noted several times, this was pretty much just a tag team match with only slight interaction of the teams facing each other. Neither team was lighting the world on fire with their matches at this time, so this was about as basic as it would get. By the way, Luger didn’t get the shot until August. **
No Disqualification Match
Diamond Dallas Page w/ Kimberly vs. Randy Savage w/ Miss Elizabeth
They show Macho Man and Elizabeth walking backstage towards the ring. Savage kills it here, talking about a party later where he will invite 14-22 women. Elizabeth has no problem with this, causing Savage to get excited and say “SLIM JIMS FOR EVERYONE!” I can’t make this up. This happens to be DDP’s first foray into the main event and, judging by the buyrate for the show, it showed he was a legit player. They brawl from the start, which is what I like from this kind of match. It goes through the crowd and spills to the back. Back to the ringside area and Savage hides behind Kimberly before getting in a cheap shot. Savage throws DDP around outside and into the steel steps. Savage continues to stay in control until DDP rallies inside. He gets in some right hands and a big spinning clothesline. Savage hits a slam and looks to fly off the top with a ring bell. Kimberly snatches it from him but Savage is just like “I’ll just do the elbow anyway” though DDP gets his foot up to block. Even so, he still can’t officially get in the driver’s seat. When DDP kicks out again, Savage just piledrives the referee. The fans chant that they want Sting. Savage connects on the elbow and covers but he looks like an idiot since he just threw the referee out. Oh wait, here comes Nick Patrick. DDP busts out the Diamond Cutter from out of nowhere! He struggles to cover and Patrick takes a bit but counts the three.
Winner: Diamond Dallas Page in 15:37
Solid but unspectacular. They would go on to continue the feud and have better matches, but this was a good start. It came off as a personal battle and gave DDP a relatively big win in his first PPV main event. ***
Kevin Nash and the nWo show up. Nash plants Nick Patrick with the Jackknife. Savage tries to go after Kimberly but Eric Bischoff calms him down. OR SO WE THINK! The fans chant for Sting and Savage looks at the rafters but he’s not here. Savage shoves Bischoff leading to a pull apart brawl. The dissension of the nWo overshadows DDP’s big win.
Overall: 3.5/10; Not good. Well, this got off to a good start but really fell for the most part. After a strong opening contest, the rest of the show was below average. Even the solid matches, like Savage/DDP and Benoit/Malenko, were much less than I usually come to expect from those performers. There was some bad stuff outside of that, bringing the overall score even further down. Not a recommended event. Next time on “Random Network Reviews” will be The Wrestling Classic!You're really not giving this show enough credit. Although, in order to really enjoy it you would need to watch all of the nitro episodes leading up to it. It's a very solid time in wcw and we'll worth a relook. |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 22, 2015 17:55:56 GMT -5
Raw History
Episode #97
January 30th, 1995 | Manatee Civic Center in Palmetto, Florida
Our hosts are once again Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon, in front of another terrible green screen.
Over the Top Rope Match
King Kong Bundy w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Mabel w/ Oscar
Yes, these are Royal Rumble rules. Despite these rules being so easy, Ted Dibiase gets on the microphone to explain them. Vince McMahon just completely talks over him on commentary. This match goes exactly as you’d expect. It’s just two big guys trying to eliminate each other. They throw in a boy avalanche here and there at least. Since anything goes, IRS and Tatanka run in to help Bundy get Mabel over and out.
Winner: Mabel in 3:12
This was like the worst parts of a battle royal, but non-stop between two behemoths. At least it was short. ¼*
Lex Luger, because he’s awful at everything when it comes to being a babyface, shows up late to make the save, along with Mo.
We go to the interview with the suspended Bam Bam Bigelow. Vince totally puts him down for losing to the 1-2-3 Ki, continually saying it was embarrassing. Bigelow refuses to apologize for shoving Lawrence Taylor because it doesn’t feel right. Bigelow then gets fed up and issues a challenge to Taylor, any time and any place.
Hakushi w/ Shinja vs. Ricky Santana
Hakushi just kicks ass here, while commentary discusses the Super Bowl and Steve Young. Santana actually gets in one kick but it just ends up with him getting back suplexed. Hakushi wins with a cartwheel moonsault.
Winner: Hakushi in 4:01
Completely dominant performance by Hakushi.
Aldo Montoya vs. David Sierra
Shawn Michaels instantly disses Aldo Montoya, saying that wearing an “athletic supporter” on your head isn’t cool. Vince tries to get it over as a new look, but it doesn’t work. Montoya hits a plancha to the outside early on. He hits a flying bulldog to win.
Winner: Aldo Montoya in 1:58
Short and filled with some fun commentary. I don’t hate it.
We go to the locker room of the Super Bowl winning San Francisco 49ers. Ken Norton Jr. says that he’s going to WrestleMania.
Time for the King’s Court. Mr. Backlund is the guest tonight. They discuss the fact that anyone who is put into the Crossface Chicken Wing will say “I quit” instantly. Jerry Lawler agrees, but mentions that anyone would quit except for him. Backlund takes offense to those little remarks and puts the hold on Lawler, who quits immediately. Backlund lets go and Lawler says that all he meant was that he was quitting the interview before running off.
WWF Tag Team Championship
The Smoking Gunns (c) vs. 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly
This is our rematch from last week’s really good Tag Team Title match. It starts just about as quickly as that one, with Kid and Holly working fast. They light up the Gunns with multiple kicks. Both teams show off some pretty good double team moves, just not on the level of last week. The Gunns get in control and slow things down, isolating Holly. Kid gets the tag and, to quote Vince, is a “HOUSE OF FIRE”! Kid delivers a bunch of kicks and tries a somersault from the top, but seems injured. He’s pretty knocked out and his eyes are rolling back like he’s the Undertaker. Referee Bill Alfonso stops the match.
Winners and Still WWF Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns in 8:36
This was going pretty well up until the finish. It seemed like a test run for an excellent angle they would run later in the year. **¾
Vince McMahon then tells us that the 1-2-3 Kid just simply got up and walked away. Wow. Good thing the match was stopped.
Kama vs. Jumbo Barreta
Kama has the Too Much theme and I can’t help but laugh. I will never be able to take him seriously. While Kama kicks the ass of his jumbo opponent, Vince tells us that next week, Lex Luger teams with Men on a Mission to face King Kong Bundy, IRS and Tatanka. Wow, that sounds terrible. He makes Jumbo submit to the STF.
Winner: Kama in 3:40
About as good as one could expect considering Kama’s skill set.
Overall: 4.5/10. Not a terrible episode. The Tag Team Title match was solid, while the Hakushi and Kama squashes accomplished what they needed to. The Mabel/Bundy stuff was lame and the King’s Court was kind of just there though. I’ve seen better and worse.
Raw History
Episode #98
February 6th, 1995 | Manatee Civic Center in Palmetto, Florida
The final show in a three taping block from Palmetto, Florida. Things start with a recap of the Over the Top match between King Kong Bundy and Mabel. Once was enough thank you. Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon are your hosts.
Lex Luger and Men on a Mission w/ Oscar vs. IRS, King Kong Bundy and Tatanka w/ Ted Dibiase
King Kong Bundy begins with Mabel, which just doesn’t make me happy at all. Mabel scores a few near falls before tagging in Mo. Why did he tag in Mo? There is no strategical purpose, he just did so because Mo has to take the heat. Mo shuts me up by beating up IRS a bit actually. After a break, Mabel is whopping on Tatanka a bit. Tatanka is competing with Mabel for biggest gut in the match. Tag comes to Luger but Tatanka runs away. Oh lord, is their awful feud still going? He tags out to Mo as now it’s time for him to officially take the heat. Shawn Michaels: “They need a little Mo than Mo in the ring.” Mo takes a beating for a bit until they do the hot tag to Luger. He comes in and does some stuff. The crowd sounds a lot louder than they look to be honest. Things break down into a brawl and during the chaos, Tatanka hits a DDT on Luger, allowing Bundy to score the pin.
Winners: The Million Dollar Corporation in 11:29
They id about as good as can be expected from them. They worked the tag formula how you’d expect, but the problem was that the guy taking the heat, Mo, isn’t the most sympathetic face and the heels working the heat are all boring. *
A vignette runs for Man Mountain Rock as he plays some word association with the names of WWE Superstars. He debuts tonight!
Lawrence Taylor’s lawyer, Bobby Cupo, speaks from his office. LT accepts the WWF’s apology for the Royal Rumble, but obviously, not Bigelow’s. He doesn’t accept the challenge either, instead threatening legal action.
Man Mountain Rock vs. Charlie Hunter
Man Mountain Rock performs a little guitar solo before his match. He was formerly known as Maxx Payne in WCW. His attire here isn’t that of a grunge performer at all, but instead, he just wears a weird tie dye outfit. The ECW Dudleys and Dude Love would be envious. Commentary discusses his outside and his legit wrestling background while he beats up Hunter. He wins via front suplex.
Winner: Man Mountain Rock in 2:47
Oh, Man Mountain Rock’s theme is the same that Droz would end up using. Match was a fine squash.
Footage is shown from the Action Zone, where Diesel faced Owen Hart. Shawn Michaels nearly got into the ring but decided against it. This leads into a sit down interview between Diesel and Vince McMahon. They talk about Diesel’s history of knee operations, the differences between the Hart brothers, Shawn Michaels and the grind of being WWF Champion. None of this is groundbreaking, but it’s not the worst way to get your champion some TV time. In two weeks, Raw returns and Diesel defends the WWF Title against Jeff Jarrett.
Mantaur w/ Jim Cornette vs. Leroy Howard
Leroy Howard actually gets in some offense, hitting a few elbows. He leaps off the top right into the arms of Mantaur though, getting slammed. Mantaur is in control the rest of the way, but this goes on for far too long. He finally ends it with a belly to belly suplex.
Winner: Mantaur in 3:49
Too long for a Mantaur match.
Razor Ramon vs. Frankie Lancaster
This goes exactly how it should. Razor gets in almost all of the offense and I like that, even though he’s a face, he still does things like slapping his opponents around. Razor hits the fallaway slam, back superplex and Razor’s Edge, getting in his stuff, before winning.
Winner: Razor Ramon in 3:48
Standard stuff. Razor was always a solid guy to watch in squashes.
Henry O. Godwin vs. Bill Weaver
Well, we are just moving from match to match aren’t we? We get a look inside the slop bucket, which Shawn Michaels claims works like Undertaker’s urn. He ends it with the Slop Drop.
Winner: Henry O. Godwin in 2:24
Short and sweet.
Shawn Michaels informs us that he is done on commentary because he’s too hot of a commodity.
Overall: 2/10. This episode was rough. The marquee match was dull and dragged on, while the squash matches didn’t make things any better. Even the Diesel interview wasn’t a home run. Not one of the better showings of a 1995 that was off to a pretty good start.
Raw History
Episode #99
February 20th, 1995 | Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia
Vince McMahon runs down the important stuff on the show tonight. One sees Jeff Jarrett, the Intercontinental Champion, challenging Diesel for the WWF Title. The other is Shawn Michaels unveiling his new bodyguard. Jim Cornette joins Vince in the booth.
Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Gary Sabaugh
It looks like Bigelow’s suspension is over. While he kicks ass, we see recaps of the comments from both Bigelow and Lawrence Taylor’s lawyers. Bigelow busts out an enziguri to highlight this. “LT” chants annoy Bigelow, who wins with a diving headbutt.
Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow in 3:54
Went a bit long but not terrible.
Bigelow gets on the microphone afterwards to call out Lawrence Taylor again, even though the lawyers called for a cease and desist.
Adam Bomb vs. Rip Rogers
The “Creation of Devastation” Adam Bomb is the leader of the “Bomb Squad”. Again, I still don’t get why he wasn’t used better. Jim Cornette does a good job of trying to trying to get Rip Rogers over, even though he’s clearly going to lose. Adam Bomb gets in most of the offense, winning with the flying clothesline.
Winner: Adam Bomb in 3:25
Similar to the Bigelow squash to be honest.
We go back to Superstars, where Bret Hart won the “Award of the People” from WWF magazine. No clue what that actually means.
Jerry Lawler comes out for the King’s Court. Lawler runs down Bret Hart, saying that the WWF magazine must have left off the Japanese vote, because Bret apparently made some negative comments about them. Lawler calls him a racist before Shawn Michaels comes out for the interview. Before introducing his new bodyguard, Shawn puts himself over for a while. He finally introduces him and it is revealed to be Sid, who gets a decent pop. Sid cuts a very Sid like promo, shouting and talking at a low voice at random. His promo even continues past his theme music playing.
Jacob and Eli Blu w/ Uncle Zebekiah vs. Leroy Howard and Mark Starr
Commentary goes through the whole “which one is which” stuff with the twins. Then, while nothing interesting happens in the match, Todd Pettengil cuts in to say that Lawrence Taylor will be at Raw next Monday night. The future Harris Brothers do some generic powerful offense. A spinebuster and leg drop finish this one.
Winners: Jacob and Eli Blu in 4:20
Too long for this unimpressive duo.
WWF Championship
Diesel (c) vs. WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett w/ The Roadie
Crazy to think that this is the first time Diesel has wrestled on free TV since winning the WWF Title back in November. Oh, times have certainly changed. Diesel starts hot, overwhelming Jarrett with shots and even a Bossman slam. He dominates until trying Snake Eyes, only for Jarrett to avoid it. Jarrett tries the corner ten punch but Earl Hebner pulls him off by the hair. I believe that’s a bit unfair. Roadie tries to help Jarrett by pulling him away from Diesel’s grasp, but Diesel is too strong and pulls both of them. After a break, Jarrett goes after the leg, making the interview from last week where Diesel discussed the surgeries come into play. Diesel takes a short heat before rallying and getting in his offense, finishing it off with the Jackknife.
Winner and Still WWF Champion: Diesel in 8:07
A bit too one-sided to be really good, though they at least had a decent plan. Diesel pretty much made the Intercontinental Champion look like a chump. **¼
Shawn Michaels and Sid watch from the aisle as Diesel plants the Roadie with a Jackknife. Shawn walks to the commentary booth and gives a short interview with Jim Cornette, where he says that Sid is much better than Diesel.
Overall: 4/10. A disappointing episode. Knowing there would be a WWF Title match and that the show was live gave me some good expectations. Unfortunately, the title match wasn’t very good and the rest of the squash matches were ho-hum at best. It did advance the Lawrence Taylor angle and bring back Sid, so it was somewhat important. |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Jan 1, 2016 22:05:23 GMT -5
WrestleMania XX
March 14th, 2004 | Madison Square Garden in New York, New York | Attendance: 18,000
This is a pretty historic WrestleMania, but due to one obvious thing that happened in 2007, it won’t held in very high esteem when it comes to remembering it. Chris Benoit, before the double murder/suicide, had won the 2004 Royal Rumble and was now set for a WrestleMania main event. In other big news, John Cena was about to have his first WrestleMania and the “Deadman” was returning. As was tradition until WrestleMania XXX, every ten years, Mania was in Madison Square Garden. This is the longest PPV in WWE history, clocking in at 4.5 hours. It is obviously the 20th WrestleMania in history.
As usual with WrestleMania, this opens with America the Beautiful, performed by the Boys Choir of Harlem. It then moves to the usual WrestleMania opening where they talk about the past before having various Superstars talking about the importance of WrestleMania and such. It ends strangely as it sees Vince and Shane holding a baby. I get the “it all begins again” tagline but it’s still a strange image to close a wrestling video package on.
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler do the commentary for the Raw brand matches, while Michael Cole and Tazz handle the Smackdown side of things.
WWE United States Championship
Big Show (c) vs. John Cena
John Cena does a little rap before the bell while sporting a Patrick Ewing jersey. He gets overpowered early as Bi Show throws him out. Cena thinks he finds an opening but makes the mistake of leaping at Show, getting caught in a slam. Has he never watched any match against any big man ever? Commentary does a good job putting over Show’s dominant past few months, including being the runner-up in the Royal Rumble and winning the United States Title. He continues to manhandle Cena with his offense, including two on a vertical suplex. Show’s chops will never not sound vicious. Show hits a big boot and drops a leg on Cena, working a methodical pace. Cena tries a sleeper but Show is again too much for him and ends up applying a cobra clutch. Cena fights out, starting a small rally. He then nails the FU but Show gets a shoulder up. The crowd is pretty hot for this. Cena picks up his chain but the referee stops him. Cena gets his brass knuckles behind the ref’s back and levels Show. A second FU earns Cena his first ever championship.
Winner and New WWE United States Champion: John Cena in 9:14
Not the greatest way to start the show. The crowd was indeed red hot for John Cena, but having Big Show dominate for so long seemed like a weird choice for an opener. At any other place on the card, this match made sense but it wasn’t very exciting. Historic points for Cena’s first WrestleMania match and win. Slight added bonus for the crowd too. **¼
Backstage, Jonathan Coachman shows up and is being arrogant. He sees Eric Bischoff and Johnny Nitro. For some reason, Bischoff wants Coach to find the Undertaker. Cut to Randy Orton, with Batista and Ric Flair at his side, cutting a promo in the staircase of Madison Square Garden. That’s where he kicked Mick Foley down the steps back in June. Orton’s promo talks about how much he’s beaten up Foley over the past few months, as well as the Rock in recent weeks. The visual of them in suits is cool but the promo doesn’t do much.
World Tag Team Championship
Rob Van Dam and Booker T (c) vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak vs. La Resistance
Cade and Jindrak get absolutely no reaction from the fans. Booker and RVD’s mashed up theme music is terrible. RVD starts hot before tagging in Booker. Both guys get to shine to the crowd’s liking until Bubba Ray comes in. The fans want tables. The Dudleys get Booker down but Cade pulls Bubba out as Jindrak tags in. To think, Jindrak was going to be in Evolution. Booker continues to take the heat, but now it’s La Resistance working him over. RVD gets the hot tag and flies around the ring but ends up sent outside. The Dudleys look for 3D on Booker but La Resistance breaks it up. Conway takes it to Booker, only to get hit with the Scissors Kick. RVD is back with the Five Star to retain.
Winners and Still World Tag Team Champions: Booker T and Rob Van Dam in 7:51
This was kind of just there. Nothing about it was very interesting even with so many people being involved. The Dudleys didn’t seem at their best, La Resistance didn’t deliver and Cade and Jindrak were super green. I don’t think this really belonged on the card. *½
Jonathan Coachman is still looking for Kane. He hears strange sounds in a room. Out comes Mean Gene and Bobby Heenan. Coach is weirded out but then Moolah and Mae Young come out, revealing what was really going on. It’s good to see Bobby in better health.
Chris Jericho vs. Christian
I loved this entire angle. From Chris Jericho and Christian making the bet about Trish and Lita, to Jericho having real feelings for Trish to Trish eventually putting him in the friend zone to Christian showing his real dastardly ways. They lock up but it doesn’t last long as they get physical quickly. Jericho talks some trash when he gets Christian in the corner, still angry at everything that has gone down. He backdrops Christian outside and dives onto him. Lawler claims that only a woman could make you take risks like that. Back inside, Christian avoids the Walls and then back suplexes Jericho to the outside in a cool spot. Now, Christian works the wear down role of a good heel. Jericho gets a few chances to swing the momentum but Christian stops him at every turn. In a funny moment, Jericho calls Christian a CLB before getting in some offense including an enziguri for two. They exchange rollups, with Christian using the ropes for leverage. Jericho hits one of my favorite moves, the Northern lights suplex. Christian comes back with a spinning second rope reverse DDT for two. They fight up top where Christian front suplexes Jericho to the mat and follows with a cross body that Jericho rolls through for two. Christian gets a Texas cloverleaf on but Jericho turns it into the Walls. Christian reaches the ropes, but Jericho holds onto it while falling outside. They move back inside and Trish Stratus runs out. The competitors slug it out when Christian hits a beautiful implant DDT for two. A frustrated Christian pulls Trish into the ring and throws her into the corner. Jericho goes to console her but Trish isn’t looking and throws an elbow, leveling Jericho. Christian rolls him up to steal it.
Winner: Christian in 14:54
One of my favorite WrestleMania undercard matches. It started a bit slow but really picked up as it went on. The little things like Jericho being so mad that he held onto the Walls of Jericho was just so great. Trish played her role perfectly and the Christian win was the right way to put a heel over on the big stage. ***¾
Trish goes to apologize to Jericho when Christian comes back. Trish grabs Jericho and lets off a few slaps in a row. Christian hits the Unprettier and leaves with the girl. They make out aggressively on the stage.
Backstage, Lillian Garcia goes to interview Mick Foley. The Rock shows up to steal the promo, even showing us where Grimace and the Hamburglar (Hurricane and Rosey). He hypes Mick up for the upcoming match.
Evolution vs. The Rock n’ Sock Connection
Rock n’ Sock hit the ring quickly, taking down their opponents. When things break down, we get Rock and Ric Flair. Rock shoulder blocks him down and struts. Outside, Rock backdrops Flair, who was in the mood to take some bumps during this time. Foley drops an elbow on him for good measure. Orton gets tagged and Foley wants in. They go at it with Foley tying Orton up in the tree of woe. He hits an elbow and tags Rock who gets in a low right hand. The heels turn things around and Flair lights Rock up with chops in the corner. Rock clotheslines Batista, getting a mild tag to Foley. His hot work is cut off by a massive clothesline from Batista. Foley now starts to take the real heat. I figured the real hot tag would go to the Rock and not Foley. Rock does get the hot tag and hits everything moving, even bringing Batista into the ring. That backfires when Batista lays him out with a spinebuster. Flair begs Batista to finish it, choosing to do a People’s Elbow. Rock stops it and goes for his own, complete with a strut, but Flair kicks out. Rock ends up in trouble and has to make another relatively hot tag to Foley, who this Orton with a double arm DDT. Foley brings out Mr. Socko and hits Batista. He goes to use it on Orton but walks right into the RKO.
Winners: Evolution in 17:03
Pretty solid match here. The crowd was into it considering the names involved. They did better than most probably expected since Foley and Rock weren’t full time, Flair was past his prime and Orton and Batista hadn’t reached theirs yet. It was relatively fun and the right guys went over, giving Evolution the rub. This would be the Rock’s last match for about eight years. ***¼
They spend some time going over the Hall of Fame inductees. I grabbed some food during this but I heard Bobby Heenan, Tito Santana, Don Muraco, Jimmy Snuka, Greg Valentine and Pete Rose.
Playboy Evening Gown Match
Miss Jackie and Stacy Keibler vs. Sable and Torrie Wilson
Sable and Torrie were on the cover of Playboy together. Stacy and Jackie were jealous, saying they should have been on the cover. Before the bell, Sable decides they should all strip off their gowns and wrestle in their underwear. Torrie looks the best here. Miss Jackie decides against stripping, making her the biggest heel in the arena. Sable brings her in the hard way and they strip her. The girls do nothing that would be considered good wrestling but Stacy entering the ring gets a huge pop. They do typical Divas stuff for this era and it ends when Torrie counters a Jackie rollup for three.
Winners: Sable and Torrie Wilson in 2:33
Too short and too hot to be offensive. The wrestling was horrible and it didn’t really belong on a WrestleMania but at least it was somewhat enjoyable. ½*
In the back, Eddie Guerrero says that Chris Benoit is family. He then says that nobody really believes that Benoit will win the World Title tonight. Benoit gets fired up, which is what Eddie wanted.
WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Chavo Guerrero (c) w/ Chavo Classic vs. Akio vs. Billy Kidman vs. Funaki vs. Jamie Noble vs. Nunzio vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Shannon Moore vs. Tajiri vs. Ultimo Dragon
Ultimo Dragon tripped in his entrance live but it is cut from this version. Rey Mysterio is dressed like the Flash. Two men start and the rest wait outside, joining in when it’s their turn after an elimination. Shannon Moore and Ultimo Dragon start. They go into a fast paced exchange until Dragon hits a Shiranui and eliminates him. Jamie Noble is next, attacking from behind. The fans seem a bit confused by the rules, but seem to be picking up. Dragon unleashes a flurry of kicks but Noble makes him tap out quickly after. Funaki leaps in with a cross body. Noble rolls through and instantly eliminates him. Commentary contemplates if that was the quickest loss in Mania history. I mean, if we’re counting each match individually then most likely it was. Nunzio jumps in quickly, hitting a missile dropkick but Noble gets his foot on the ropes. Nunzio gets sent outside hard and Noble follows with a senton. That wakes the crowd up for the first time in the match outside of Funaki coming in. Nunzio is pulled off the apron and gets counted out. Kidman comes in next and baseball slides Nunzio into Noble. He then does a damn springboard shooting star press. Back inside, Noble tries a guillotine but Kidman breaks it. He hits an enziguri and goes up top. Noble stops him but gets hit with a top rope BK Bomb for three. Mysterio springboards in with a senton but runs into a big dropkick. The exchange between these two is pretty fun. Given their history as opponents and partners, their chemistry is good. They fight up top and Mysterio hits a super sunset flip bomb to advance. Tajiri is in, kicking away. He does the tarantula but his handspring elbow is stopped. 619 connects but Tajiri tries the mist. He catches Akio by mistake and Rey rolls him up for three. Akio can’t participate due to the mist so he came out for no real reason. It’s down to Chavo and Rey. Tajiri got a cheap kick in before leaving, giving Chavo the advantage. Rey fights back but Chavo Classic gets involved. He ends up holding Chavo down on a pin attempt, stealing the win.
Winner and Still WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Chavo Guerrero in 10:48
While this was an interesting idea, it was way too fast for anything to really matter. The idea to cram everything into ten minutes made for non-stop work, but it all felt incredibly rushed. There were some cool spots but it was all too forgettable. This would have probably worked better as a Rey/Chavo singles match. **¼
Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg
Steve Austin is the special guest referee. This match is pretty infamous for the fact that the crowd craps all over everything since both Goldberg and Lesnar were on their way out of the company. Instant “you sold out” chants, followed by the fans singing goodbye. They plod through some early things while the fans give them nothing. They chant “this match sucks”. They bump into each other and it looks cool but the crowd couldn’t care less. They move to wearing each other down which fits the style of the fans right now. It’s at a point where nothing they o would get the crowd interested, so why even bother trying? Goldberg gets the first signature/finishing move with a spear for two. This causes him to get in Austin’s face. Man, imagine if that faceoff would have happened in 1998. Brock hits the F5 but Goldberg gets the shoulder up. Goldberg comes back with a second spear and the Jackhammer for the 1-2-3.
Winner: Goldberg in 13:42
Well that was certainly something. The crowd took a huge dump on this match from the start and then the effort of both men wasn’t there. It was a really boring match outside of the fans. One of the most disappointing matches in history. It is something you should see purely for the reaction though. ½*
Brock flips off the fans and Austin after the match. Austin hits him with the Stunner and starts to drink beer. Goldberg comes in and nearly joins in, but eats a Stunner as well. Both men are sent off for good, or at least until Brock returned eight years later.
WWE Tag Team Championship
Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty (c) vs. APA vs. Basham Brothers vs. The World’s Greatest Tag Team
Like the earlier tag match, this is first pinfall wins. Shelton Benjamin starts with Bradshaw and slaps him. This causes Bradshaw to kick his ass. It’s crazy to think that Bradshaw was a few months away from a lengthy WWE Title run. There are multiple blind tags, allowing most of the guys to get their stuff in. Some are much more enjoyable than others. Haas and Benjamin hit their double team finisher that never got a name on Scotty for two. The one guy that doesn’t get shine is Rikishi because he is saved for a hot tag. He hits everything moving and gets in a stinkface. Bradshaw gets some good stuff, hitting a fallaway slam that sends his opponent onto Haas and Benjamin outside. He nails Danny Basham with the Clothesline from Hell but fails to take down Rikishi. Rikishi then just sits on Danny to retain.
Winners and Still WWE Tag Team Champions: Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty in 6:01
I appreciate that this was kept short. It allowed for everyone to get their stuff in and it didn’t overstay its welcome. Some of the stuff they did was cool and the six minutes flew by for the most part. **
A vignette aired to hype the return of Edge.
WWE Women’s Championship Hair vs. Title Match
Victoria (c) vs. Molly Holly
If Molly wins, she gets the belt. If she loses, she gets her head shaved. According to “Table for 3” on the WWE Network, Molly offered up the idea for this match to make sure the Women’s Title got on the show. Without it, there were only plans for the evening gown match. Molly takes an early powder outside, lulling Victoria into a clothesline. She tries a few pins inside, with some elbows, a dropkick and a suplex thrown in. She wears down Victoria until she’s caught in a powerslam for two. It’s funny to hear JR say “it caused a little wedgie.” Molly tries a sunset flip bomb from the top, but comes down on her knees first, lessening the impact. It gets two. Molly now looks for the Widow’s Peak but her arrogance costs her when Victoria counters with a backslide, scoring the victory.
Winner and Still WWE Women’s Champion: Victoria in 4:53
Similar to the last match, I came away rather disappointed here. Both women are more than capable of doing more but they didn’t’ get much time to strut their stuff. Still, they told a fine story with what they were given, so kudos there. **
Molly runs away, not wanting to get her head shaved. She ends up putting Victoria in the barber’s chair, nearly cutting her hair. She can’t get the machine to work though, allowing Victoria to turn the tide. She straps Molly in and proceeds to shave her bald.
WWE Championship
Eddie Guerrero (c) vs. Kurt Angle
The two greats go through a feeling out process, trying to gain any sort of advantage. Eddie wins out, taking Angle down with a shoulder block, making him regroup outside. Angle comes back in, going back and forth with Eddie. Eddie takes him over and gets some arm drags, further frustrating the challenger. They go back to wrestling but Eddie gets a suplex. He tries for Three Amigos but Angle is ready, blocking and hitting a German. Angle ends up trying a German off the apron but Eddie hangs on for dear life. I don’t think Angle had done that a bunch yet, so it was shocking to see at the time. Eddie makes the crucial first mistake, missing a high risk move to the outside. He hurts his ribs, which Angle has focused on so far. Angle chooses to wear down Eddie, still working the ribs. He hits two big belly to belly suplexes for two. Eddie continually gets his shoulder up, frustrating Angle. Out of desperation and seeing an opening, Eddie tries the Frog Splash but Angle moves out of the way. Angle resorts to straight punches to the face, which commentary sells very well as Angle moving away from wrestling and into a fight. Eddie fires up, screaming for more right hands. This leads to the babyface rally. Angle wants none of that, laying out Eddie with a clothesline. Eddie counters an Angle slam into an arm drag. After a headscissors, he taunts because he’s feeling it. Three Amigos follows but before the third suplex, Angle reverse into the Ankle Lock because he’s a beast. Eddie fights out, only to get belly to belly suplexed off the top for two. THE STRAPS ARE DOWN! Ankle Lock again, but Eddie counters into a rollup for two. The champion is also ready for the Angle Slam, reversing it into a tornado DDT. The Frog Splash hits but only for a near fall. Angle plays possum and is back to the Ankle Lock for a third time. Eddie counters again, sending Angle outside. He unties his boot to lessen the pressure on it. Angle gets back in, applying a fourth Ankle Lock. Eddie’s loose boot comes off, tricking Angle. Eddie pulls him into a small package, with his feet on the ropes for good measure, and scores the pinfall.
Winner and Still WWE Champion: Eddie Guerrero in 21:32
Just a brilliantly worked match. They made sure to have Kurt Angle look like the beast that he is, while having the new champion look a bit overmatched at times. However, Eddie used his mantra, outsmarting Angle and then cheating to keep the belt. He realized Angle would keep going after the ankle and figured out a way to overcome that. The chain wrestling, counters, storytelling, false finishes, atmosphere and everything was on point. Maybe I loved it more than some but I don’t care. This is my kind of pro wrestling. ****¾
Kane vs. The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer
This is the big return of the “Deadman.” His entrance takes forever but the fans eat it up. Kane is in shock because he buried Undertaker at Survivor Series. Undertaker dominates from the start. When Kane does get some offense, he shouts at Undertaker that he shouldn’t have come back. Undertaker turns it around on him quickly though. He goes for Old School but Kane is ready with a counter, grabbing him by the throat. Undertaker shrugs it off and nearly hits a Chokeslam but Kane blocks and hits one of his own. Kane talks trash to Bearer and his brother just sits up. Undertaker goes into some signature stuff before winning with the Tombstone.
Winner: The Undertaker in 7:45
The spectacle of the Deadman returning was cool. Other than that, this match was garbage. Undertaker dominated and wasn’t at his best. In fact, the first year or so of his second Deadman run was pretty bad. He’d wait until Mania the following year to start stepping up before reaching new heights around 2007. *
At the Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels and Triple H wrestled to a draw. Chris Benoit won the Royal Rumble from the number one spot and was a Smackdown guy. He came out and joined Raw, going after Triple H’s World Title. Michaels wasn’t done with HHH and managed to make it a Triple Threat match.
World Heavyweight Championship
Triple H (c) vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels
Judging by the chants, the fans are firmly in the corner of Chris Benoit. Both he and Michaels want Triple H. They take turns beating him up, but hitting each other too. Benoit tries the Cripple Crossface early but HBK rolls out. They fight for a bit before going back to Triple H. Benoit ends up outside and Triple H goes on the offensive out there. Shawn decides to take them both out with a baseball slide and huge moonsault. With everyone inside, Benoit clubs away on Shawn’s back before tossing him into the ring post. HHH starts to pick apart Benoit and throws Michaels into Benoit in the corner. It works on two levels because not only does it hurt Benoit, but he threw Shawn shoulder first. Shawn is incapacitated leaving Benoit to hit the hat trick of Germans on HHH. Benoit gets stopped by a shot from Shawn. Each time someone seems to have the upper hand, someone else is there to get in the way. Michaels tries for Sweet Chin Music but HHH ducks and DDTs him. Benoit and HHH go at it, with the fans all the way in Benoit’s corner. He counters the Pedigree into the Crossface. HHH fights it desperately though Shawn is there to break it up. Benoit takes down Michaels too and does the throat cut signal. He hits the diving headbutt but can’t cover instantly. HHH sends Benoit outside and Shawn nips up. He starts hitting some basic offense before climbing to the top. He scores with the elbow and is hyped up. The crowd is slightly booing. He tunes up the band and hits the kick but Benoit pulls HHH out of the ring in the middle of the pin. Shawn takes his corner bump and Benoit tries the Sharpshooter. Shawn fights it and gets slingshot into the corner. He is busted open instantly. I didn’t see him have time to blade. Crossface gets locked in and, in a great moment, HHH slides in to grab Michaels’ arm in the middle of a possible tap out. The fight spills outside where Benoit and HHH get on the announce table. Benoit looks for a German but HHH fights it off. He blocks a Pedigree before Shawn gets involved. Shawn and HHH have a DX moment, looking each other in the eye and coming to an agreement. They hoist Benoit up and double suplex throw him through the neighboring table. Michaels, with his crimson mask, slides in the ring and points at HHH saying it’s between them now. They do battle and HHH takes a big corner bump, falling outside. HHH is now busted open after some fighting outside. He nails the Pedigree inside but both men are down. Triple H drapes his arm over only for Benoit to return and break it up. HHH tries a Pedigree on Benoit, who counters and applies a Sharpshooter. Could you imagine if he won with that move against HHH and HBK of all people? Shawn breaks it up with Sweet Chin Music but his pin only gets two. A bloody Shawn tunes up the band again. Benoit avoids it, sending him outside. HHH is up behind him and you can hear the fans getting nervous. He attempts a Pedigree but Benoit spins out and locks in the Crippler Crossface. HHH is close to the ropes, but starts to fade. He fights only for Benoit to roll over, moving things to the middle of the ring. Triple H has no choice but to tap out, milking it just enough for the fans to believe he might not give in.
Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: Chris Benoit in 24:47
The greatest Triple Threat match that I have ever seen. Just a fantastic effort from all three men. The crowd played a major factor as well, cheering Benoit hard and popping for all the right things. Every little thing about this match is great. The exchanges between all three men, Shawn and HHH renewing their rivalry and Benoit coming from behind and having his triumphant moment. Jim Ross was another added bonus, selling the match and moment like no one else can. Making HHH tap was the perfect ending too. *****
Chris Benoit is in tears as he is handed the World Title. He celebrates with confetti and Eddie Guerrero shows up. They embrace, closing the show in one of the coolest ways imaginable. Easily one of my favorite moments in history.
Overall: 7/10; Good. This show is certainly a mixed bag at times. It features two spectacular matches, two good matches and a whole lot of filler. The runtime doesn’t help things as it is a lot of wrestling to consume. Still, when a show has two all-time classics on it, I can’t give it a low score. Add in the historic moments like the Deadman returning and Cena’s first title win and the good ends up outweighing the bad. If they cut a few matches, this would have been one of the absolute best Manias ever. Next up on “Random Network Reviews” will be Survivor Series 2011! |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Jan 2, 2016 22:38:45 GMT -5
Raw History
Episode #100
February 27th, 1995 | Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia
It’s the historic 100th episode of Raw! Vince McMahon hypes that we will hear from Lawrence Taylor. His co-host tonight is Jim Cornette.
We go to pre-taped words from Lex Luger about his match tonight and entire feud with Tatanka. It’s been such a drag.
Lex Luger w/ Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Tatanka w/ Ted Dibiase
Chief Jay Strongbow is with Luger because Tatanka attacked him recently. “He’s three days older than dirt” – Cornette on Strongbow. Luger is aggressive, attacking quickly. SCREAMING CLOTHESLINE! Tatanka retreats and gets on the offensive inside. Luger no sells some stuff and starts the rally. Tatanka pulls him by the tights, sending him to the outside. Tatanka starts to put the boots to Luger, dominating him through a commercial break. Cornette says he was doing a war dance on Luger. He’s on fire tonight so far. Tatanka works a bearhug, which I thought was only reserved for the bigger heels. Luger breaks out and they exchange some shots. Luger sells chops, but walks away from them like they don’t hurt. Luger applies the sleeper hold, which is a Chief Jay Strongbow special. Tatanka gets out though, showing Luger didn’t learn the move properly. Tatanka goes after Strongbow outside, taking off his headdress. Strongbow chops him, but the referee doesn’t see. Back inside, Luger starts to take it to Tatanka. Tatanka gets pissed and chooses to walk out. Luger, like all babyfaces, meets him in the aisle and pummels him. Luger brings him back in and nails a powerslam. He continues to beat Tatanka from pillar to post. Dibiase distracts Luger, allowing Tatanka to leave for real this time.
Winner via countout: Lex Luger in 12:54
Better than I expected, but still nothing to write home about. It was strange to see them do the fake countout spot only to end with a countout anyway. Certainly odd. **
Footage from Superstars is shown. There was a twenty man battle royal. Jerry Lawler went over, but landed on one foot. He hopped around the ring until Bret Hart messed with him and stepped on his foot. We did not see who the winner was.
Owen Hart vs. Larry Santo
Commentary talks about Owen looking for a partner to get a Tag Team Title shot against the Smoking Gunns. Jim Cornette continues to ace the show tonight, saying Larry Santo is related to El Santo. He does get in some offense, but it’s mostly Owen. A missile dropkick and Sharpshooter put away Santo.
Winner: Owen Hart in 3:47
Fine squash match from Owen Hart here.
Vince McMahon tells us that there have been rumors that Lawrence Taylor will face Bam Bam Bigelow at WrestleMania. They interview LT and remind us what happened at the Royal Rumble. LT admits that he wasn’t there to badmouth Bigelow. He says that if he was ready for it, he would have reacted differently. He never got pushed around like that in the NFL and seeing the video over and over bothers him. Cornette insinuates that Taylor is scared. They cut to Bigelow, who is also on the hookup. He puts over the New Generation, which is odd being a heel. He also makes a weird I Dream of Genie reference before challenging Taylor. Taylor promises to be at the Harley Davidson Café for the Mania press conference tomorrow.
Doink the Clown w/ Dink vs. Bob Cook
Doink works the arm a bit before Dink comes in and steps on Cook. For some reason this isn’t a disqualification. He continues to focus on the arm and wins with the Whoopee Cushion.
Winner: Doink in 3:31
Nothing of real note here. Typical Doink stuff at this point.
A recap of the Royal Rumble is shown where Shawn Michaels and British Bulldog entered at numbers one and two. They lasted until the end, where Shawn surprised the world and eliminated Bulldog to win. That battle royal on Superstars that I mentioned earlier was won by the Bulldog. Next Monday, Michaels meets Bulldog one on one.
Kama vs. Ken Raper
Oh my god, his name is Raper. Kama kicks ass while I continue laughing at his Too Much theme. Cornette suggests that competition for Kama would be Mantaur. Kama shouts to the camera that he wants more competition. He hits a belly-to-belly before winning with the STF.
Winner: Kama in 3:38
Like his debut squash, this wasn’t anything special. I’ve seen nothing impressive from Kama.
Vince gets a word with British Bulldog who says that it will take more than both Shawn Michaels and Sid to overcome him next week.
Overall: 3/10. With them making a somewhat big deal about the 2nd anniversary episode, they decided not to do anything for episode 100. The Luger/Tatanka match is decent at best, while the rest of the show is kind of filler. At least there was some forward movement with the LT angle.
Raw History
Episode #101
March 6th, 1995 | Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia
Damn these big tapings blocks. We’ll be hearing some stuff from the WrestleMania press conference at some point tonight. There’s a new opening video but it’s the same tired theme song.
British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels w/ Sid
Vince McMahon continues to try and convince us that Bulldog is somehow the rightful Royal Rumble winner. Bulldog gets the quick upper hand, causing Michaels to take a powder. Once back in, he starts to get in offense until he misses a corner splash. Bulldog unleashes arm drags and clotheslines him over the top. Inside again, Bulldog works over Michaels. Shawn targets the arm of Bulldog, working a submission on it. They go to commercial while the hold is applied and when they return, Bulldog powers out by lifting Shawn high in the air. Shawn starts takin big corner bumps now. Bulldog just kicks Shawn’s ass with a bunch of moves, including a big suplex. Shawn desperately sends Bulldog to the mat outside, catching a breather and helping to turn the tide. Shawn is in the driver’s seat. He ends up applying a sleeper hold and Sid pulls the ropes away from Bulldog’s reach. He breaks free with a back suplex leading into the second commercial break. Returning, Bulldog gets close to winning with some clotheslines and a big gorilla press slam that crotches Shawn on the top rope. Shawn ducks a move, causing Bulldog to fall outside where Sid gets in a cheap shot. Bulldog rolls back in, survives a small package but falls victim to Sweet Chin Music.
Winner: Shawn Michaels in 15:44
They were given time and made sure to use it correctly. It was slow at times, but I came out mostly entertained. Even though he cheated, I was glad to see a definitive finish to the match. Shawn was absolutely a fast rising star while Bulldog was a reliable act but not going anywhere at the moment. ***¼
WrestleMania Report time! We get some recaps from the press conference and words from both HBK and Diesel. They also hype the now official Bigelow/LT match.
Bob Backlund vs. Buck Quartermaine
We get informed that Bret Hart and Bob Backlund will meet in a Survivor Series rematch at WrestleMania. It’ll be an I Quit match. This feud was reborn out of nowhere and really showed that Bret was going to waste most of 1995 in the mid-card. Backlund toys with Buck, making this last way too long. Backlund wins with the chicken wing.
Winner: Bob Backlund in 5:16
Far too long for this kind of match. Shave off two or three minutes and it would have been an easier watch.
In the previous match, Vince also announces the epic King Kong Bundy/Undertaker match at WrestleMania. Yuck. Next week though, we get the renewal of the Bret Hart/Jerry Lawler rivalry as they meet one on one.
Duke Droese vs. Steven Dunn w/ Harvey Wippleman
Duke’s nameplate just says “the Dumpster”. Jerry Lawler calls in during the match, calling Bret Hart a racist. This is seriously a dumb angle. Duke wins a boring affair with the Trash Compactor.
Winner: Duke Droese in 3:55
Nothing Duke Droese does ever interests me. Maybe with a better gimmick I would have liked him more. Probably not though.
Steven Dunn tries to attack Duke with the trash can after the match, but continues to get his ass kicked. In the trash that fell out of the garbage, Duke finds a $100 bill.
A weird NYPD Blue parody with Paul Bearer and Mr. Fuji is shown to promote Nick Turturro’s appearance at WrestleMania.
Overall: 5/10. I can’t give the show a bad score when almost the entire first half is spent on a pretty good match. It was a pretty big win for Shawn Michaels heading into his Mania match. They hyped Mania pretty well even though the squash matches were boring. Not a terrible way to spend 45 minutes.
Raw History
Episode #102
March 13th, 1995 | Memorial Auditorium in Stockton, California
Hey, a live show! The Bret Hart/Jerry Lawler feud is recapped, going back to King of the Ring 1993.
The Headshrinkers vs. Jacob and Eli Blu w/ Uncle Zebekiah
How did the Headshrinkers go from two managers and the Tag Team Titles to no belts or managers? As a reminder, this is Fatu and Sionne. The Headshrinkers should be done soon, leading to “Make a Difference” Fatu. They start hot though, but Sionne gets tagged and gets beat up. The Blu brothers get in some cheap shots on the outside. Sionne takes the heat for a while, though nothing the heels do is any good. They go to commercial in the middle of a pin attempt too. They were terrible at timing these things back then. Jacob and Eli Blu do some Twin Magic to stay in control. Sionne snaps off a powerslam and its hot tag to Fatu time. He comes in hitting everything and even dances after no selling some stuff. It’s a precursor to Rikishi. All four men end up fighting outside, leading to a double countout.
Double countout in 7:08
Absolutely basic. It was a paint by numbers tag team match with nothing really interesting outside of Fatu’s work happening. *
Lawrence Taylor is going to bring multiple NFL players with him to WrestleMania. Steve “Mongo” McMichael cuts a promo about Kama, who is now apparently in the Million Dollar Corporation. Mongo will be there next week. Then the Million Dollar Corporation cut a promo on the NFL players, making terrible football related puns. Ernie Ladd is also interviewed about the match.
Non-Title Match
WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett w/ The Roadie vs. Barry Horowitz
Oh yea, it’s 1995, the year of the Horowitz push. He even gets a pre-match interview about his winless record. He uses some flash pins to try and get a win, causing Jarrett to take a breather. Even when Jarrett gets back in, Horowitz shows some life, hitting a hip toss and leg drop. Jarrett goes after the knee and works it until he makes Barry submit to the Figure Four.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett in 4:38
More competitive than I thought it would be. You could see them planting the seeds for the small Barry push.
Todd Pettengill brings us the WrestleMania Report. The only real noteworthy news is that Salt n’ Pepa will be at WrestleMania and the two new matches announced. The Smoking Gunns will face Owen Hart and a mystery partner for the Tag Team Titles, while Razor Ramon gets his rematch at Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Title. Also, yesterday on Action Zone, Men on a Mission lost to the Gunns and turned heel.
Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler w/ WWF Women’s Champion Bull Nakano
Bull Nakano is with Jerry Lawler because Bret is racist against Asians apparently. Lawler attacks before Bret can get his jacket off, but Bret quickly turns it around on him. Bob Backlund is in the crowd watching things. Then Hakushi shows up in the aisle. It’s like, a rogue of midcard baddies. Lawler gets in some offense but then Bret stars the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM. Lawler ends up outside and Nakano grabs Bret. Somehow, that isn’t a DQ. She accidentally hits Lawler too, with no bell called. Lawler slides in the ring while Nakano holds Bret’s leg, causing the countout.
Winner via countout: Jerry Lawler in 6:36
This whole thing feels very unfocused. Bret is involved in like, five feuds and this match seemed like two veterans going through the motions. *¾
Bret Hart beats up Jerry Lawler and sent him packing after the match.
Barry Horowitz wants a rematch. Jeff Jarrett agrees and offers an Intercontinental Title shot because he’s so confident. Jeff signs but before Barry can do so, Bob Backlund runs out and puts him in the Crossface Chicken Wing. He then signs it, meaning we get Jarrett/Backlund for some reason.
Overall: 2.5/10. Another pretty dull episode of Raw. I’m trying to focus on the match quality and the overall build towards something else. Match quality wise, this wasn’t very good, with the two big matches both being pretty bad. In the scheme of building things, it set up Bret’s eventual feud with Hakushi and Lawler, but did nothing for Backlund/Hart. Most of this was filler. |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Jan 7, 2016 20:04:22 GMT -5
Survivor Series 2011
November 20th, 2011 | Madison Square Garden in New York, New York | Attendance: 16,749
2011 was not the best year for the WWE. The product was, for the most part, very disappointing and in a strange time period. The best thing about the year was the infamous “pipebomb” from CM Punk. He would win the WWE Title and lose it within a month, setting up some frustrating months but he would get his first one on one shot at the belt again here in the world’s most famous arena. This show was also a few months before WrestleMania 28 featuring the first ever battle between the Rock and John Cena. They would team up here, giving us our first Rock match since 2004. It is the 25th Survivor Series, taking place in the arena where the best two Survivor Series events took place.
Commentary is Michael Cole, Booker T and Jerry Lawler. John Laurinaitis comes out first to say it’s the 10th anniversary of him working for the WWE.
WWE United States Championship
Dolph Ziggler (c) w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. John Morrison
The crowd wants no part of this match because at this time, they were ALL IN on the Zack Ryder “revolution”. Not giving him the obvious title shot in his hometown is still baffling. At least commentary doesn’t try to ignore the chants. Dolph takes Morrison down to the mat, knowing he has the upper hand there. Morrison sends him outside and hits a corkscrew plancha, using his advantage. Vickie pays dividends, distracting Morrison and allowing Dolph to strike with a neckbreaker. Commentary argues about Dolph’s arrogance while he taunts and works over Morrison. Dolph nails a nice reverse body slam for two. Vickie’s voice is one of the worst things ever. Ziggler also gets two on a rollup with tights. Morrison hits a springboard kick, which I’m sure doesn’t make Cody Rhodes too happy in the back. Vickie saves Dolph from a sleeper and is ejected to the crowd’s liking. Both gets rack up the near falls now ending with Dolph getting one on a Fameasser. Morrison tries the Starship Pain but Dolph gets his knees up and ends up hitting the Zig Zag to retain.
Winner and Still WWE United States Champion: Dolph Ziggler in 10:37
Despite the crowd not being into this early on, they worked hard to overcome the Ryder chants. Dolph Ziggler is scheduled to compete again later but held nothing back here. This was a good choice to open as they didn’t overdo anything, got the crowd going and worked well together. ***¼
After the match, Vickie Guerrero returns and Dolph Ziggler cuts a promo about people having to follow that. Zack Ryder shows up to a major pop but gets jumped before he can do anything. He turns it around and sends Ziggler packing. The fans kind of get what they want.
WWE Divas Championship Lumberjill Match
Beth Phoenix (c) w/ Natalya vs. Eve Torres
There are a bunch of Lumberjills around the ring including future Divas Champions Nikki Bella, AJ Lee and Kaitlyn as well as Maxine, who would find success in Lucha Underground. Eve won a battle royal to earn this shot. Like most Beth Phoenix matches, this quickly follows the power vs. speed battle. Eve does her booty pop but Beth escapes before the moonsault. She gets rolled back in like nothing and Eve finishes off the moonsault. Cole calls Eve a ju-jitsu expert, which seems untrue. They do some stuff where Eve hits some quick offense. Lawler says that he thinks Beth and Natalya are jealous of the Barbie looks of the other Divas. What a dick. Cole correctly says that’s not the case. Eve avoids the Glam Slam and puts on a triangle head scissors that I never expected from her. They go into some pin exchanges before fighting to the top. Beth hooks Eve and plants her with a top rope Glam Slam and wins.
Winner and Still WWE Divas Champion: Beth Phoenix in 4:34
Yea, it’s going to be hard for another match on this show to have a better finish. The match leading up to the finish wasn’t very good though. This was all about getting to the finish, which again, was great and made the crowd pop hard. *¾
There’s a backstage segment between CM Punk and David Otunga. Nothing of real note happens here. It cuts to a promo from the Rock, which is overly long as always. It involved singing and all of that jazz.
Team Barrett (Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Hunico and Jack Swagger) vs. Team Orton (Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan Sheamus and Sin Cara)
Cody Rhodes is pretty much the most over guy on his team. That Intercontinental Title looked damn good on him. For some reason, Kingston’s partner, Evan Bourne, isn’t on the team. Kofi and Ziggler start, which is a pairing I’ve seen more times than I can count. Within a few seconds, Orton gets the tag and lays out Ziggler with the RKO, eliminating him at 1:32. Team Barrett regroup and run in, but end up in trouble. Kofi and Cara go to stereo dives, but Cara barely gets height and botches, injuring himself in the process. “We want Ryder” chants. Due to the injury, he is just announced as eliminated at 3:44. When things get going again, Mason Ryan overpowers Cody for a bit. Kingston ends up working Barrett and they do the double clothesline spot. Dual tags bring in Ryan and Hunico. You know how this goes. Ryan just destroys him until Cody makes a blind tag. Beautiful Disaster and Cross Rhodes sends Ryan packing after 8:52. Sheamus and Cody now go at it, with Sheamus beating the hell out of him at times. Hunico tries his luck but doesn’t fare well. Cole brings up Shawn Michaels for some reason and says he was part of one of the greatest moments in WWE history at Survivor Series 1997. It’s weird to hear that talked about in a positive light. Kingston gets a hot tag and Boom Drops Barrett. The numbers advantage comes into play, leading to Kingston getting hit with the Wasteland and going home at 14:06. Orton and Barrett go at it now, which is the main rivalry coming in.
Booker T calls Hunico the “ace in the hole”. Has he never seen Hunico compete? He does get at least one near fall on Orton. Orton takes the heat from all of the heels before making a hot tag to Sheamus. He cleans house, on the road to a Royal Rumble win in two months. He just obliterates Swagger with knee strikes on the ropes, not listening to the official’s count, resulting in a disqualification at 18:30. Orton is now all alone. A frustrated Sheamus Brogue Kicks Swagger, allowing Orton to pin him for the 1-2-3 at the 19:33 mark. Orton starts doing his FIVE MOVES OF DOOM, planting Rhodes with the rope hung DDT. VINTAGE ORTON! Hunico springboards in right into the RKO, getting rid of him at 21:38. Barrett sneaks in only to get hit with a backbreaker. Orton looks for the RKO on Barrett, but catches Cody with one as he tries to get involved. Barrett uses the opening for the Wasteland and picks up the win.
Winners: Team Barrett (Survivors: Wade Barrett & Cody Rhodes) in 22:09
It’s hard to have a bad Survivor Series match, especially with solid talent like you had in this one. I thought they were going to go the route of the super babyface comeback, but was pleasantly surprised that they went a different way. The match moves along quickly, protects the right people and is enjoyable. Good stuff. ***¼
Alberto Del Rio flirts with the Bella Twins until John Laurinaitis comes in to cock block. He wants to make sure Del Rio is focused and El Patron says that he is.
World Heavyweight Championship
Mark Henry (c) vs. Big Show
At Vengeance, these two broke the ring with a superplex, stealing a Big Show/Brock Lesnar spot from Smackdown nearly a decade earlier. The ring is apparently reinforced here. They do a lot of stalling early on. Show is the first one to take Henry down, leading to a rope break. They start going back and forth but nothing is really happening. It’s a lot of just holding each other and none of it is even slightly interesting. The crowd is very dead for this. They finally wake up but it’s only to chant for Daniel Bryan. Henry hits the World’s Strongest Slam for two. The fight slowly moves outside where Henry spears Show through the guardrail. That spot would mean a lot more if it wasn’t so overused by the WWE. Show barely beats the count and the crowd is sad. He climbs up and gets a pop for hitting a top rope elbow. Henry kicks out and then just low blows Show to retain.
Winner via disqualification: Big Show in 13:04
Okay, who decided to give these two this much time? They had a surprisingly decent encounter at Money in the Bank a few months earlier but this was one of their worst matches. It dragged on, feeling even longer than the actual time it ran and was incredibly dull outside of the elbow. ¼*
After the match, Mark Henry tries to splash a chair on Show’s leg but Big Show avoids it and knocks him out. This set up another rematch. The fans want Daniel Bryan but he doesn’t show. Show then destroys Henry’s leg with a chair.
Miz and R-Truth interrupt a Wade Barrett interview in the back. R-Truth is incredible in this. I absolutely love insane Truth.
WWE Championship
Alberto Del Rio (c) w/ Ricardo Rodriguez vs. CM Punk
Since Alberto Del Rio gets Ricardo Rodriguez as his own personal ring announcer, CM Punk has Howard Finkel do his in a cool moment. “We want ice cream” chants start this. Punk is absurdly over. He looks for the Anaconda Vice early, trying to score a win as quickly as possible. Punk was already in Del Rio’s head with the ring announcer stuff and he causes Del Rio to take a powder but follows with a suicide dive. Ricardo Rodriguez pays off, goading Punk to chase him. Del Rio dropkicks him and takes control. He targets Punk’s arm, which is usually when Del Rio matches are at their best. Punk moves away from the mat work and starts reeling off strikes to turn the tide. He gets two on a swinging neckbreaker. Punk signals for the GTS but Del Rio is ready and avoids it. Del Rio now goes after the arm, trying for the Cross Armbreaker. Punk ends up in a positon on the top rope but Del Rio is ready for the elbow and crotches him, following with a big kick to the left arm. Punk still manages to get him down and hits the elbow for two. That gets a “Randy Savage” chant. Punk tries the GTS but Del Rio slips free and ducks a kick before locking in the Cross Armbreaker. However, Punk reaches the ropes with his feet. He attempts another GTS but is shoved off into Ricardo on the apron, who he kicks. Del Rio rolls him up for two but eats a kick for two. Punk takes the shoulder that went up and locks in the Anaconda Vice leading to Del Rio tapping out.
Winner and New WWE Champion: CM Punk in 17:15
Really solid match between both men. They told a great story of Punk trying to get in Del Rio’s head, only for Del Rio to have an answer for the GTS on every occasion. Finally, Del Rio made a crucial mistake, leaving his arm lingering and forgetting about the Anaconda Vice, leading to his downfall. ***¾
CM Punk gets a nice little celebration with the fans, including jumping into them and enjoying the victory. This would Kickstart his glorious 434 day reign.
The Awesome Truth vs. John Cena and The Rock
Miz and Truth rap their “You Suck” entrance theme, which is always fun. Rock starts with Miz and the crowd is hot. Miz looks to have tanned enough to be darker than the Rock. Right off the bat, Rock shows off some quickness and looks to not have much ring rust. While Awesome Truth regroup outside, Rock glares at Cena. Truth shouts that he wants in and Rock is all like “JUST BRING IT”. Rock does a damn fisherman suplex but the referee misses the pin because Cena ran in to knock Miz off the apron. Cena comes in and takes out Truth, trying to one up Rock. The New York fans chant “you still suck.” Cena goes for the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but does the “you can’t see me” to Rock instead of his opponent. Cena now starts to take the heat. None of the work done is groundbreaking and it’s really hard to get into. Like, nobody buys Awesome Truth as a threat so it’s hard to buy into the heat. He gets some hope spots and they do the typical tag stuff. Rock gets the hot tag and does his awful Sharpshooter. Truth breaks it up with Paydirt (I know he calls it something different but I’ll go with Shelton’s name for it). Cena takes Truth outside and Rock is quickly back up, hitting a spinebuster on Miz. He follows with the People’s Elbow and wins.
Winners: John Cena and The Rock in 21:31
Outside of the appeal of seeing John Cena and the Rock team up, this was a very standard tag team match. Nothing they did was special and it was all very basic. I did enjoy seeing Cena and Rock try to one up each other, but that ended quickly and it just became your typical tag. The heat segment was okay and it could have been better if we could buy the heels as threats. **¾
John Cena is content with letting the Rock celebrate, but Rock calls him back into the ring. They do the dueling poses for the fans thing, which Rock clearly wins. Rock then plants him with a Rock Bottom to close the show.
Overall: 5/10; Mediocre. As with a lot of WWE pay-per-views in recent memory, this was a very middle of the pack event. There were some good things (the opener, WWE Title match and Survivor Series tag), some bad (World Title and Divas Title), while the main event was average. Nothing really stood out about this show. Outside of wanting to see the start of Punk’s incredible title reign or the Rock’s first match in a few years, this is an easy skip. Our next “Random Network Review” is going to be Hardcore Heaven 1995! |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Jan 10, 2016 19:44:27 GMT -5
Raw History
Episode #103
March 20th, 1995 | Memorial Auditorium in Stockton, California
Vince McMahon and Jim Cornette are on commentary again.
Henry O. Godwin vs. Razor Ramon
Razor goes after the arm while Vince McMahon says that Razor is pissed that Bob Backlund is getting an Intercontinental Title shot before him. Backlund’s is this Sunday, while Mania is two Sundays away. Godwin starts with some heavy whips to the corners. Vince shills the WWF Hotline while Godwin wears down Razor with some basic offense. Razor gets two on a backslide heading into a commercial break. The Roadie creeps out for a look only to get laid out by the 1-2-3 Kid. Godwin gets distracted and climbs on the bottom rope to talk smack to Kid. Razor sneaks up, hooks him for the Razor’s Edge and picks up the W.
Winner: Razor Ramon in 5:59
Really basic match. Razor started hot, Henry wore him down and Razor came back to win. It did this while building the IC Title match, so it accomplished the goal. *¾
Vince gets a word with Razor Ramon who is livid that Bob Backlund could win the Intercontinental Title and face Bret Hart at WrestleMania with it, leaving him to fight Jarrett for nothing.
This Sunday is the Sunday Night Slam! Bob Backlund gets his IC Title shot, Lex Luger meets Tatanka in a Steel Cage and Bigelow faces Sionne.
After some hype for WrestleMania, we get a clip from Action Zone where Bigelow laid out Doink with a football style tackle.
Steve McMichael is now brought out to the ring. He gets a big pop, which seems very piped in. He joins Vince on commentary since Cornette has to go manage the Heavenly Bodies later. This is Mongo’s first time on commentary, which he would make his official job later in the year on Nitro.
King Kong Bundy w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Adam Kroomes and Raven Clark
This goes exactly the way you’d expect. Bundy completely dominates while the camera shows that the Million Dollar Corporation has Undertaker’s urn. Bundy wins with the Chris Jericho one foot pin. No flex or “COME ON BABAY” so it doesn’t get that many points from me.
Winner: King Kong Bundy in 2:43
Typical Bundy squash.
Kama comes out to get in Mongo’s face. Mongo keeps calling him coma. Kama is pissed that Mongo chose to enter his profession and threatens him at WrestleMania. Things get heated and leads to a brawl between them. My goodness, that match would have been putrid. Officials break it up.
Todd Pettengil brings us the WrestleMania Report.
WWF Tag Team Championship
The Smoking Gunns (c) vs. The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette
Before things get started, we see footage of Oscar from Men on a Mission apologizing for their attack on the Smoking Gunns. The Gunns no sell some of the offense by the Bodies early on and do some of their key spots. Bart highlights his run with a press slam. Of course, the heel challengers end up working the heat segment on Bart. Good because Billy is better at the hot tag. They do a good job of depriving the tag for a while. Billy gets it and enters hot. They hit their finish but Cornette distracts Bart and Del Ray nails Billy with a spinning DDT. Billy powers up from a jackknife cover into a backslide to retain.
Winners and Still WWF Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns in 11:22
Relatively solid tag team match. They didn’t do anything special, but worked a safe style that made sense and did what it needed to. **
Overall: 2.5/10. Not the ideal episode. With WrestleMania around the corner, this did not entice me to want to see the Pay-Per-View outside of the football players getting involved. The matches on the show were certainly not very good either.
Raw History
Episode #104
March 27th, 1995 | Memorial Auditorium in Stockton, California
Vince McMahon and Todd Pettengil host things from WWF Studios in Stamford, while Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon call the action of the one match we’ll see tonight. This episode is basically a giant infomercial to hype WrestleMania.
The infomercial portion of the show is nauseating at times. The actual recaps of the builds for the matches isn’t bad, but the way some hype is done is off-putting. Vince makes sure to put down Super Bowls as things that never delivers, even though he has an NFL player on his upcoming card. He also says the WWF never fails to deliver which is a chuckle. They recap all of the major feuds before going to the match.
No Holds Barred
Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart
As Owen was accustomed to doing, he attacks his brother while the lights are off during his entrance. Bret turns it around with a flurry of right hands and a DDT. They fight outside where Bret is still in massive control. As expected, while not using a bunch of weapons or things like that, they at least bring the steel steps into play for a bump. Knowing there are no disqualifications, Owen rakes the eyes and turns the tide. Owen being Owen, he talks smack into the camera in between sending Bret into the guardrail a few times. Through a commercial break, Owen still holds serve. He exposes the turnbuckle but it of course backfires on him. Bret starts the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM. He earns two on the diving second rope elbow. Bret also nails a slingshot into the exposed buckle. That leads to the Sharpshooter and Owen submits rather easily.
Winner: Bret Hart in 10:27
These two were pretty much incapable of having anything but really good matches. They clearly had better matches in 1994 on Pay-Per-Views, but this was still high quality. It was a good no holds barred match that didn’t need to overdo it on the violence to seem personal. ***½
Overall: 5/10. I’ll give one a score that’s right in the middle. The recap stuff was pretty bad as it didn’t feel like an episode of Raw. In contrast though, the one match we got was really good. It was one of the better matches on Raw this year and ever to be honest.
WrestleMania XI Results
The Allied Powers (British Bulldog and Lex Luger) def. Jacob and Eli Blu in 6:34.
Razor Ramon def. Jeff Jarrett via disqualification in 13:32. Jarrett retained the Intercontinental Title.
The Undertaker def. King Kong Bundy in 6:36
Owen Hart and Yokozuna def. The Smoking Gunns in 9:42 to win the Tag Team Titles.
Bret Hart def. Bob Backlund in 9:34 in an “I Quit” Match.
Diesel def. Shawn Michaels in 20:35 to retain the WWF Championship.
Lawrence Taylor def. Bam Bam Bigelow in 11:42
Raw History
Episode #105
April 3rd, 1995 | Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York
Oh how I’ve missed Raws in Poughkeepsie. The crowds were always good. Things open with a photo recap of WrestleMania. Vince McMahon and Jim Cornette host the show.
Bob Holly w/ 1-2-3 Kid vs. Hakushi w/ Shinja
This is a fast paced match as both guys exchange things rapidly. Holly wins the first battle with a dropkick. Jim Ross would have been all over creaming himself at the dropkick. He misses a flying cross body as Owen Hart and Yokozuna come out with their new Tag Team Titles. After a break, Hakushi has targeted Holly’s arm for some reason. Owen and the Kid end up going at it outside. Yokozuna slowly plods over and levels him. I mean, slow is an understatement. Meanwhile, Holly nails a top rope diving shoulder block before reeling off some more offense. He hits the BEST DROPKICK IN THE BIZ but then gets tripped up by Yokozuna. That leads to Hakushi using a running senton for the 1-2-3.
Winner: Hakushi in 6:54
A solid little match here. Bob Holly was motivated around this time and usually had some good performances, while Hakushi was always someone I enjoyed. Nothing special though. **½
A bored looking Jim Ross brings us the WrestleMania report. We get words from Bigelow, who seems humbled by the loss to Lawrence Taylor. It seems the face turn is imminent. Ross also hints at a Kama/Undertaker feud, which sounds only slightly better than the Undertaker feuds with IRS and King Kong Bundy.
Vince McMahon stands in the ring for an interview with Diesel. He seems to love Diesel’s theme, bobbing his head to it in hilarious Vince fashion. Diesel admits that if it wasn’t for some botched interference from Sid, Shawn Michaels might have won and says that Michaels deserves a rematch. He’ll only give it to him if Sid isn’t at ringside. He also says that Sid is not Shawn’s friend.
Allied Powers vs. Well Dunn w/ Harvey Wippleman
Man, I love the Allied Powers’ theme music. It’s one of the better mashups the WWF has ever done. The Allied Powers start hot because they’re clearly the favorites here. Luger gets in trouble, eating a spinning heel kick and ending up on the receiving end of a double team. Well Dunn does the World’s Greatest Tag Team finisher that was never given a name. Luger’s heat segment is short as he quickly gets a counter and the hot tag. Bulldog gets in the standard offense including slams and back body drops. The Allied Powers take it with a Hart Attack variation involving Luger’s FOREARM OF DOOM!
Winners: The Allied Powers in 3:44
A bit of an extended squash. Well Dunn got enough in and are enough of a name that this wasn’t exactly a squash, but it was fine for what it was. *¼
WWF Women’s Championship
Bull Nakano (c) vs. Alundra Blayze
Bull Nakano attacks before the bell and just tosses Alundra Blayze around like she’s nothing. Cornette informs us that next week, Yokozuna, Owen Hart and Hakushi take on the 1-2-3 Kid, Bob Holly and Bret Hart. Bull applies a nasty looking leg submission but the challenger reaches the ropes. Blayze starts getting in offense, moving quickly with clotheslines and sunset flips. Bull locks in the damn scorpion cross lock, which Paige now does and calls the PTO. It looks impossible to escape, but Bull lets her go and hits a piledriver. That may have been a mistake. Alundra gets a shoulder up. Blayze knocks her outside and dives off the top onto her. She charges again inside but is met with a powerbomb for two. Bull hits a guillotine leg drop but is knocked off the top right after. Back inside, Blayze hits two bridging German suplex for two near falls. They are making the most of their time. Nakano then tries a damn suicide dive, but misses. Then, to top everything off, Blayze hits a ing bridging German suplex on the outside! Finally, a fourth German secures the gold for Blayze.
Winner and New WWF Women’s Champion: Alundra Blayze in 6:42
Up to this point, I’d say this was the best women’s match in WWF history. They did everything they possibly could, pulling out all of the stops in the time they were given. Some of the spots that we were treated to were things I wouldn’t see the men do. Just really good work. ***¼
As Alundra Blayze celebrates, she is attacked by a mysterious woman. They don’t know it yet, but it is Bertha Faye. She has face paint and comes off like a killer. Unfortunately, she would soon switch gears and go with a ridiculous character.
Men on a Mission vs. Ben Jordan and Tony Roy
This is the new, freshly heel turned Men on a Mission. They dumped Oscar, so at least there will be no more piss poor rapping. This is short and is used as a message to the Smoking Gunns for some reason. Mabel wins with a belly to belly.
Winners: Men on a Mission in 1:56
This was there.
We get our first commercial for the upcoming In Your House Pay-Per-View. The WWF was jumping into the monthly PPV business.
Vince McMahon brings us another in-ring interview, this time with Shawn Michaels and Sid. Shawn says that he is sore after last night. He admits that his focus was a bit off due to his past friendship with Diesel. He graciously accepts the rematch that Diesel offered earlier tonight. Vince asks about Sid and Shawn says that he could live his life fine without a bodyguard and that he doesn’t need one. He brings up the mistake Sid made last night, saying he definitely doesn’t need a bodyguard that does that. Shawn gives Sid the night off for the rematch, causing Sid to shout at him. Sid runs him down, which the crowd seems to enjoy. A commercial break comes and when we return, Shawn is face down with Sid standing over him. Diesel runs out for the save as the show closes.
Overall: 7/10. A strong episode of Raw. As usual, the live shows manage to deliver where the taped episodes can’t. Here, we were treated to a really good Women’s Title match, a fun opener and a solid angle to close things out. The show moves along quickly and is the best episode of 1995 so far. |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Jan 12, 2016 16:59:25 GMT -5
Hardcore Heaven 1995
July 1st, 1995 | ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Attendance: 1,150
For the most part, the shows I watch for this review series are from the Pay-Per-View section of the WWE Network. This one is different. A while back, the Network ran an ECW Exposed special with Joey Styles and Paul Heyman. With that, they uploaded a ton of old ECW clips and three non-PPV events. This is the earliest of those events. It was considered a big show by ECW but they hadn’t reached PPV just quite yet.
As usual with ECW events, Joey Styles is on commentary.
Dudley Dudley and Snot Dudley w/ Big Dick Dudley vs. The Pitbulls w/ Beulah McGillicutty, ECW Champion and ECW Tag Team Champion Raven and ECW Tag Team Champions Stevie Richards
Yes, Raven is a double champion here. This also happens to be the debut of the Dudley family, though no Buh-Buh Ray or D-Von quite yet. Pitbull #1 just beats up on Snot Dudley, showing that is a bit of a lopsided fight. Joey Styles does a good job of selling how badass the Pitbulls are. Stevie Richards is drawing attention to himself by showing off his belt and jawing with the fans. Snot makes the tag to the double named Dudley, which he needed pretty badly. Dudley actually gets in some offense, faring much better than his brother. Snot gets tagged back in for some reason and just gets murdered with some chair shots. Francine is in the front row and ends up making out with Stevie, causing Beulah to get into a catfight with her. Francine was playing a superfan of Stevie. Raven drags both Beulah and Stevie by the hair to the back and the Pitbulls hit a top rope powerbomb on Snot. Dudley comes off the top with a shot to the head of Pitbull #2, puts Snot on top and they steal this one.
Winners: Dudley and Snot Dudley in 5:52
This was more of an angle than a match. It did the job in that sense. It built tension between Raven and the Pitbulls, showed off Francine and introduced the Dudley family. The match itself wasn’t very good however. *½
After the match, the Pitbulls cut a very angry promo about how they are tired of Raven and Stevie Richards. Honestly, they seem more upset at Stevie.
Broad Street Bully and Chad Austin vs. Dino Sendoff and Don E. Allen
JOBBERMANIA! “You all suck” chants. Joey Styles even flat out says “this match isn’t very good.” As they mess up some spots, Styles calls this WCW Slamboree. Ouch. Paul E. Dangerously shows up with 911 and you know what that means. 911 just destroys everyone in the match and lay them all out with Chokeslams.
Match ends in a no contest
There was no official bell, so I can’t give it a time. It was here as an angle, just showing off 911.
Big Malley vs. Hack Myers
Oh, I don’t expect this to be good at all. Big Malley is not at all popular. He weighs 510 pounds though. There are some very unflattering chants towards Malley. They just wail away on each other in slow fashion. The only thing interesting is the crowd’s reactions to all of this. I’ve seen Malley do about six avalanches in the corner, and he has to take plenty of breathers in between. Malley misses an elbow, Myers rolls over onto him and wins.
Winner: Hack Myers in 6:17
Who the hell thought that should go as long as it did? It was absolutely dreadful. I’ll never be able to get those precious minutes of my life back. DUD
2 Cold Scorpio vs. Taz w/ Paul E. Dangerously
Okay, this should be interesting. Styles points out that Scorpio is wearing Taz’s trademark orange and black to get in his head. Scorpio avoids the Tazplexes and Tazmission early on by escaping to the outside. It looks like this is a heel Scorpio, which I don’t think we saw often enough. Scorpio and Taz exchange holds, trying to wear one another down. Scorpio takes control and starts getting in some actual offense while the fans chant “Virgil” at him. That’s cold. Scorpio tries a second rope move but Taz gets his knees up. Taz finally hits a Tazplex, but Scorpio kicks him away as he tries another. Scorpio nails an odd looking Tombstone and climbs to the top. Tumbleweed connects but instead of pinning, he gets up to dance a bit. Taz gets right up, which the crowd loves, and he Tazplexes Scorpio over. Taz gets a three though Scorpio got his foot on the bottom rope. They think it’s over, but Bill Alfonso shows up to call out the foot being on the rope and restarts things. Paul threatens to fight Alfonso, giving Scorpio the opening to hit Taz with a chair. Alfonso cheap shots Heyman right before Scorpio leg drops the chair onto Taz. Alfonso counts the three.
Winner: 2 Cold Scorpio in 10:13
Man, I take back what I said about seeing more heel 2 Cold Scorpio. It’s like, he tried to take out most of his high flying offense to get less pops, but what he was left with was dull. This seemed to have a surprisingly dead crowd just waiting for something to happen. They finally got involved for the last third, but the start was just so boring. **
Joey Styles is in the ring to hype the ECW Hotline for news on Shane Douglas. Douglas shows up and admits to being in negotiations with the WWF because he’s too good for ECW. Man, if only he would be able to see how bad his WWF run as Dean Douglas would turn out to be. To get under Shane’s skin, the fans chant “we want Flair”. Shane runs down the crowd for an absurdly long time. It got the time of a current day Rock promo in the WWE. Woman shows up and offers Shane a proposition to join her and Sandman. Shane calls her a hoe bag…or at least I think he does. It gets bleeped out. Woman slaps him and Douglas seems like he’s going to retaliate but Sandman runs out to hit him. Cactus Jack is out to chase Sandman off. Before leaving, Douglas promises to make Sandman pay.
ECW Tag Team Championship
Raven and Stevie Richards (c) w/ Beulah McGillicutty vs. Luna Vachon and Tommy Dreamer
The challengers make for on strange pairing. This is part of the never-ending Dreamer/Raven rivalry, so they brawl instantly. Raven takes down Luna and Richards looks to take advantage quickly. He gets in offense on Luna, bragging while doing so. Raven eats a DDT on the concrete outside. Dreamer holds Stevie for Luna, who applies the testicular claw and even flips him out of it. Luna and Dreamer take turns beating Stevie up because he’s so weak. Once Raven is able to turn the tide on Dreamer, he can help Stevie and Luna starts to take a bit of a beating. Tommy gets back in and Raven gets tied up in the ropes. Luna nails a superplex but Beulah gets involved and throws powder in Luna’s eyes. Stevie covers her in missionary position, getting the 1-2-3.
Winners and Still ECW Tag Team Champions: Raven and Stevie Richards in 7:26
Fine little brawl here. It was chaotic and frantic. It made Stevie look weak like he should, while also furthering the Raven/Dreamer angle. **¼
Taipei Death Match
Axl Rotten vs. Ian Rotten
For those unaware, a Taipei Death Match means that both men have their fists taped and glue shards of broken glass to them. Bill Alfonso has been trying to enforce all of the rules in ECW, so he has been tasked with handling this match, which has no rules. Axl jabs Ian once and he gets cut above the eye. Alfonso gets on the microphone and stops the match because of Ian’s lost vision. Clearly, both Rotten brothers are pissed. In the entrance, the Gangstas and Public Enemy are brawling before their match later tonight. Alfonso wants those men arrested and heads out of the building with them. Todd Gordon decides to restart the match. The new few minutes sees these men just making each other bleed. Each punch is violent, meaning they don’t have to do much to get the desired result. Ian is absolutely gushing. Thumbtacks get brought into play and Ian is back body dropped onto them. Axl nails a splash and wins.
Winner: Axl Rotten in 9:13
Well almost none of that was even remotely entertaining. This was the kind of unnecessary gore that ECW didn’t need. It was senseless abuse and two guys just basically punching each other for ten minutes. ¾*
We come back to see Tommy Dreamer, Luna Vachon, Raven and Stevie Richards brawling again. The Pitbulls show up and help the Tag Team Champions. Raven and Stevie want them to super powerbomb Luna but they decide against it and attack the champions. The crowd is hot for this. Stevie nearly takes the super bomb but the Dudleys show up and attack the Pitbulls. While they go at it, Tommy and Luna are back at the throats of Raven and Stevie, fighting through the crowd and on the outside.
ECW Championship
The Sandman (c) w/ Woman vs. Cactus Jack
This feud has been going on for a bit. To spice it up, Sandman is allowed to start with his Singapore cane, while Cactus has his forearm wrapped in barbed wire. Sandman gets in the first shot after Woman throws a drink in Cactus’ face, and then just continually abuses him with the cane for a few minutes. Cactus comes back with some chair shots but again falls victim to the cane. The cane seems much more practical than wrapping your arm in barbed wire for so many reasons. Sandman nails a hideous DDT on a chair and starts to clutch his elbow. I guess its fine because he stops holding it shortly after. Sandman hits a flying leg drop before wrapping his entire body in barbed wire and splashing Cactus with it. Cactus lives, and does his signature apron elbow with a chair. He then uses the barbed wire around Sandman’s body against him, which is smart. Cactus is trying to do whatever it takes to win the belt, using a leg drop on a chair and even choking Sandman with the barbed wire. Woman jumps in but Cactus shoves her to the mat. The referee goes down and Shane Douglas appears, dropping an elbow on him. He then piledrives Sandman. He then also goes after Cactus, hitting him in the eye with the cane. Douglas puts Sandman on top of Cactus and the three is counted.
Winner and Still ECW Champion: The Sandman in 13:11
For a match involving canes and barbed wire, it didn’t really hold my interest and even the usually rowdy ECW crowd seemed kind of out of it. Also, why did this need a ref bump? Douglas could have done what he did either way. Disappointing. *¾
Todd Gordon comes out and Shane Douglas says he’ll stay in ECW if Todd gets on his knees and begs him. Todd declines and instead fires Shane. Douglas decks the commissioner and starts to assault him, even ripping up his clothes. Officials try but fail to stop Douglas. 911 comes out to a pop and Chokeslams Douglas out of ECW.
The Gangstas vs. Public Enemy
This is something that is pretty hyped up as the fans are rabid for it. Ugh, the dubbed over themes for these teams are dreadful. They brawl right from the start and I swear, it’s not even two minutes in and everyone is busted open. Like most New Jack matches, this involves some strange weapons. Johnny Grunge hits him with an open umbrella. That’s bad luck sir. Rocco Rock nails the Drive-By off the stage and through a table on Mustafa. They continue to brawl until it become Grunge’s turn to put someone through a table, leg dropping New Jack through one. Neither team is really even trying to pin the other because of the hatred between them. New Jack does some flying now, coming off the top with a flying shoulder block. Another big spot comes as Rocco does a moonsault through a table on New Jack and Grunge covers, but Mustafa breaks it up. The Gangstas start pounding away on Grunge until Rocco comes off the top with a croquet mallet to the back of Mustafa’s head. That is enough for the duo to win the first match in this rivalry.
Winners: Public Enemy in 11:31
I’d say that was the best thing on this show but it isn’t for everyone. To me, it was the kind of brawl that I like to see in ECW. It was violent, while not being over the top like the Taipei Death Match. The style of match worked too because this was billed as such a personal and serious rivalry. Insane brawl to close things out. ***
Overall: 2.5/10. On the whole, the show itself isn’t very good. Only two matches are pretty good and the rest is pretty much absolute garbage. Then there’s the overly long Shane Douglas promo that kind of kills the mood. I was also disappointed at the ECW crowd, which was less excited than expected. Up next on “Random Network Reviews” will be Spring Stampede 1998! |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Jan 13, 2016 19:53:13 GMT -5
Raw History
Episode #106
April 10th, 1995 | Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York
Following last week’s cliff hanger ending, we with some quick clips of what we missed last week. We will see the full footage later tonight. Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are on commentary, standing in front of some more awful green screen effects.
Adam Bomb vs. Tatanka w/ Ted Dibiase
Okay, Tatanka’s run with the company should be over soon right? Vince tries to hype the fact that Adam Bomb was popular during the WrestleMania festivities but he never really took off. Tatanka’s offense is mostly just chops throughout this match. They go to a commercial after Bomb gets a flying clothesline in. Like this really needed to go two segments. After the break, Tatanka is back in control and scores two on a DDT. Commentary continues to try and get the “Bomb Squad” (Adam Bomb fans) over. He starts to rally and the match moves outside where Adam slams Tatanka’s face into the steel steps as the referee counts to ten.
Match ends in a double countout in 5:50
Oh man, this was painfully boring. I like Adam Bomb, but Tatanka led the way and he’s pretty horrible as a heel. The finish did nothing to help this out either. It’s like this was booked to simply fill time on the card. ¾*
The Headshrinkers w/ Capt. Lou Albano and Afa vs. Mike Bell and Tony DeVito
So wait, the Headshrinkers got their managers back? Did I miss something? Like all Headshrinkers squashes, they pretty much dominate the jobbers. I haven’t seen Tony DeVito job in a while. Fatu wins it with a splash.
Winners: The Headshrinkers in 2:55
Standard squash stuff from the Headshrinkers.
A vignette airs to hype Jean-Pierre Lafitte. Translation, they repackaged Pierre from the Quebecers as a pirate. He will already be debuting next week.
Now it’s time for the unaired stuff from last week to be shown. Sid freaked out because Shawn Michaels said that he didn’t need him. He snaps and delivers not one, not two, but THREE powerbombs to Shawn. They were pretty sloppy in all honesty. Judging by the crowd reaction, Sid came off like a babyface. As Vince tells the story though, he really hammers home that Shawn is the sympathetic babyface here. Vince’s update on Shawn is that he will be out for “some time”. He’ll only miss one PPV.
Kama w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Scott Taylor
It’s Scotty 2 Hotty and the Godfather! Two of the most over acts in the Attitude Era. Obviously, this isn’t competitive. Taylor is too small to do anything to the character that Kama is supposed to be right now. Kama wins with a pump splash.
Winner: Kama in 2:43
Meh.
In something much better than Kama, we see a recap of the really good Blayze/Nakano match from last week. Blayze won back the WWF Women’s Championship, only to get attacked by a mysterious woman.
The 1-2-3 Kid, Bob Holly and Bret Hart vs. Hakushi and the WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and Yokozuna w/ Jim Cornette, Mr. Fuji and Shinja
Man, Vince loves pumping the “Modern Day Kamikaze” nickname for Hakushi. I swear he’s said it a dozen times tonight. Holly lights up Hakushi with dropkicks and arm drags before a commercial. Kid gets tagged to battle with Hakushi. They would go on to have a pretty fun match a few months down the line. Tag to Owen who has a fast paced exchange with the Kid. When Yokozuna gets the tag, things obviously reach a standstill. He wears down the 1-2-3 Kid. I don’t mind him slowing the match though since Kid is great at taking the heat. Kid gets beat up for a while before tagging Bret. Bret is still the only man besides the Undertaker and Hulk Hogan to defeat Yokozuna, so he takes it to him for a while. We get our first interaction between Hakushi and Bret until Yokozuna interrupts with a shot to the back. Owen works over Bret, who slips out of a slam and gets a blind tag to Holly. Holly rolls up Owen to sneak out with a victory.
Winners: 1-2-3 Kid, Bob Holly and Bret Hart in 8:38
This was a pretty fun sprint. It didn’t go overly long and the Yokozuna work was kept to a minimum, maximizing the potential. Fun stuff. ***
Vince McMahon continues his obsession with the football players that were at WrestleMania, sending us to the entrances, in full, of all of them at WrestleMania. After that, we get informed that Owen Hart and Yokozuna will defend the gold against Bob Holly and the 1-2-3 Ki next Monday.
Overall: 4.5/10. Well, there was certainly at least one good thing about the show, which was the fun main event. I also liked that we got to see the Sid/Michaels angle, which was a huge move in turning HBK face, leading to his title win in 1996. The rest of the show was very skippable and not anything that needed to be seen.
Raw History
Episode #107
April 17th, 1995 | Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York
The first thing we see is that, this past weekend on Superstars, Ted Dibiase introduced Sycho Sid as the newest member of the Million Dollar Corporation. Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler host the show tonight.
Duke Droese vs. Jean Pierre Lafitte
This is the official re-debut of Pierre from the Quebecers. Duke has already moved into high-end jobber territory. He starts by getting his ass hand to him but then he sends Pierre over and out. Pierre hits the first big move with a diving leg drop but it isn’t enough. Commentary sells it like the match should have ended for sure there. Pierre ties up Duke in the ropes and then starts hitting cross body blocks. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that strategy before. Duke fires up and starts a comeback but Pierre puts a quick end to that. Pierre misses a second rope move, leading to an actual rally for Duke. He hits a powerslam and climbs to the top, but misses a headbutt. He legit just went SPLAT. Pierre goes up top and hits a top rope somersault to win.
Winner: Jean Pierre Lafitte in 8:31
Surprisingly, this wasn’t terrible. It got off to a slow start, but they were given a decent amount of time and did their best with it. Jean Pierre Lafitte was pretty underrated in my eyes. **
Bob Backlund cuts a promo on the beach somewhere while the cameraman continues to try and check out ladies.
Doink vs. Roy Raymond
If you’ve seen once Doink squash in the post Matt Osburne era, you’ve seen them all. Whoopee Cushion and Dink interaction ends it.
Winner: Doink in 3:21
Too long for the quality of the match.
Todd Pettengil brings us the first ever In Your House Report! These shows were two hour Pay-Per-Views for half the price of the big five events. He announces that the main event will be Diesel taking on Sid. Diesel has to defend the WWF Title against Bigelow next week, but if he retains, the belt will be on the line at the PPV. Todd also hypes that they are giving away a home.
WWF Tag Team Championship
Owen Hart and Yokozuna (c) w/ Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji vs. 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly
Kid starts against Owen, getting this off on the right foot. Kid wins their exchange before he and Holly nail a double back body drop. Holly starts hot but Owen turns things around and the tag comes to Yokozuna. It’s time for things to slow to a crawl. Holly surprises me by yanking Yokozuna down by the hair, but can’t capitalize as Owen pulls the top rope down on him, sending him to the mat. Yokozuna is already blown up. Bob takes the heat for a while, with mostly Owen handling the heavy lifting for his team. When Yokozuna does come in, he applies his trademark NERVE HOLD! It’s like, the laziest move on the planet. Cornette directs traffic as his guys just dominate. Kid finally gets the tag and comes in hot, hitting everything in sight. He makes one crucial mistake when Yokozuna catches him on a dive and plants him with a belly to belly suplex.
Winners and Still WWF Tag Team Champions: Owen Hart and Yokozuna in 13:44
Solidly worked tag team match. Some of the heat was rather dull, especially the stuff by Yokozuna. However, the finish was lovely. Just when you bought into Kid doing it, he gets flattened. ***
Henry Godwin vs. Rich Myers
While Henry Godwin goes through his stuff, they got a call in from a character named Cornfed from the Duckman show that aired on the USA Network. Godwin wins after a Slop Drop.
Winner: Henry Godwin in 2:00
Typical stuff from HOG.
Overall: 5.5/10. A pretty solid episode here. The main event was a rather enjoyable match and the Lafitte debut was one of the better debuts so far on Raw. Everything else was pretty lackluster, holding this back from being a really good episode.
Raw History
Episode #108
April 24th, 1995 | Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska
It’s one of those good old live episodes. We get a video package that discusses the fall from grace of Bam Bam Bigelow. Why he gets a title shot tonight after a fall from grace is beyond me. Anyway, he’s kind of become a pariah within the Million Dollar Corporation.
The Smoking Gunns vs. Barry Horowitz and the Brooklyn Brawler
It’s an all-star jobber tag team. One of the reasons why they are high status ham and eggers is because they can bump pretty well and make the stars look good. Vince hypes the Smoking Gunns getting their Tag Team Title rematch at In Your House, as well as the Bret Hart/Hakushi clash. Brawler is in for the entire match and loses to a double team back suplex.
Winners: The Smoking Gunns in 2:17
This was a rather fun squash. The Smoking Gunns worked quickly and did some alright moves.
Backstage, Ted Dibiase and Bigelow discuss the main event tonight. Bigelow is sporting a huge black eye. Vince seems to insinuate that it is courtesy of the Million Dollar Corporation.
After a commercial, Diesel is in the back and gets interviewed. He says that he is following in the footsteps of Bret Hart by being a fighting champion. Oh, so that explains why Bigelow gets a shot despite the struggles.
Bertha Faye w/ Harvey Wippleman vs. La Pantera Serena
It’s only her second appearance but Bertha is already completely different. She has a manager/boyfriend and is wearing polka dots, bright colors and skips. She mostly throws Serena around and none of it really looks any good. McMahon and Lawler just spend time making fat jokes and references to Bertha’s weight throughout the match. She wins with a gorilla press slam.
Winner: Bertha Faye in 3:56
Yea, this was pretty awful.
In Your House Report time, brought to you by Todd Pettengill and his mullet. New additions to the card include Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid taking on Jeff Jarrett and the Roadie, Bret Hart facing the undefeated Hakushi and the Smoking Gunns against Yokozuna and Owen Hart for the Tag Team Titles.
WWF Championship
Diesel (c) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Ted Dibiase
Despite his struggles, Vince and King both think Bigelow will be the new champion. They play into his lack of success early, as Diesel basically kicks his ass for the entire first third or so of the match. It does kind of paint Bigelow in a bit of a resilient light. He survives most of Diesel’s offense before getting into his own. He wears down Diesel for a bit. Diesel reverses a suplex with one of his own for a near fall. Commentary is really playing up the “Bigelow won’t quit” stuff. While Bigelow works a chinlock, the human charisma vacuum Tatanka walks out to the ring. Tatanka gets in some cheap shots behind the official’s back, drawing some actual boos in the direction of Bigelow. Tatanka’s dastardly ways backfire when he trips Bigelow by mistake leading to the Jackknife.
Winner and Still WWF Champion: Diesel in 12:58
This did the job of furthering the issues between Bigelow and the Million Dollar Corporation, while setting up the Bigelow face turn. The match itself was honestly pretty full for the most part though. *¾
Ted Dibiase gets on the microphone and starts badmouthing Bigelow. He’s had it with Bigelow, calling this his third strike and firing him. Tatanka attacks from behind, but Bigelow turns it around and sends that scrub over the top rope. He’s alone with Dibiase, who does the classic heel beg. Bigelow picks up the microphone and quits to a pop. IRS is back for the first time in a while, attacking from behind. They all gang up on him, joined by Sid. Sid nearly breaks Bigelow’s neck with a bad powerbomb. Diesel finally makes it out and cleans house while Sid and Dibiase calmly exit the ring.
Aldo Montoya vs. The Black Phantom
Yes, it’s Justin Credible vs. Gangrel. While they do stuff, Vince plugs the hotline for a word with Bam Bam Bigelow. He then also tells us that Shawn Michaels should be back in about a month. Montoya wins after a second rope cross body.
Winner: Aldo Montoya in 2:43
Fine little squash match to fill time.
A Hunter-Hearst Helmsley vignette airs but he doesn’t say anything. He just looks at the camera with his smug face. To think, this guy would be a Hall of Famer and pretty much be running things twenty years later.
Overall: 2.5/10. Man, I usually prefer the live shows but this one just didn’t cut it. The big WWF Title match was mostly bad and the rest of the show was throwaway. Outside of Bigelow’s face turn, nothing about this show meant a damn thing. |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Jan 19, 2016 19:59:52 GMT -5
Spring Stampede 1998
April 19th, 1998 | Denver Coliseum in Denver, Colorado | Attendance: 7,428
It was around this time that the WWF finally overtook WCW in the Monday Night Wars, breaking a streak of 84 straight losses. Actually, they had the lead for two straight weeks coming into this event. WCW was feeling the pressure. Obviously Steve Austin and the WWF itself was a big reason for this, but WCW ended 1997 in a terrible way, crapping on what should have been the ultimate good guy moment as Sting defeated Hulk Hogan.
The opening video package focuses on the power struggle within the nWo between Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Kevin Nash. Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay are on commentary and they bring us breaking news that Savage’s cast is coming off tonight and the main event will be No DQ.
Goldberg vs. Saturn w/ Kidman
We are seven months into the run of Goldberg, who is 73-0. He also has a US Title shot the next night apparently. The crowd loves him. Saturn tries to wrestle but Goldberg is basically against that and just tosses him around. Kidman tries to intervene but gets press slammed outside. I see why Saturn shaved his head. His hair is pretty bad looking here. They continue the trend of Saturn doing some stuff only for Goldberg to just kick his ass. Saturn tries a springboard back elbow or something, but slips and just falls on his ass. Goldberg gets his shoulder worked on a bit though he completely ignores it as he makes the comeback. When he hits the Spear, the places explodes. Kidman distracts the referee, allowing Saturn to use a low blow that counters the Jackhammer. Goldberg then hits the rarely seen second rope press slam before kicking the ass of the entire Flock, who jumped the guardrail. Saturn does get the Rings of Saturn applied, but Goldberg powers out right into a Jackhammer to remain unbeaten.
Winner: Goldberg in 8:10
One of the better early Goldberg matches I can remember. It wasn’t great by any means, but there were some cool moments. The second rope press slam and finish were really good. The early portions were a bit sloppy though. **½
Chavo Guerrero w/ Eddie Guerrero vs. Ultimo Dragon
The commentary team puts over how Eddie Guerrero is kind of riding Chavo to be better. They work a quick back and forth to start. The fans chant “Eddie sucks”, showing they care more about him than either guy in the ring. Dragon goes all Doink all works a stump puller. Chavo creatively gets out before going into a bit of a flurry. They continue to go back and forth, with neither guy gaining a real advantage. Dragon has been more impressive. Also, his gear is pretty sick tonight. He does what Saturn couldn’t earlier and hits a sweet Asai moonsault. Eddie uses this opening to shout at Chavo. This motivates Chavo, who gets up first and hits a corkscrew dive of his own outside. Back inside, Dragon seems to get hurt, so Chavo looks worried. Eddie shouts that this is Chavo’s chance. Chavo is reluctant but goes on the offensive, only to have a suplex reversed into a small package for two. He nails Eddie’s trademark Brainbuster, but chooses to tell Eddie instead of winning. He tries a tornado DDT, but Dragon blocks and locks in the Dragon Sleeper. Chavo taps.
Winner: Ultimo Dragon in 11:49
That was much better than I expected. They did a really great job of playing up the fact that both men even. Another highlight of the match was the story between Eddie and Chavo. It’s simple stuff but Chavo trying to remain good while failing to impress his uncle and having it cost him was the right move. Really well done. ***½
WCW Television Championship
Booker T (c) vs. Chris Benoit
It’s interesting to see one of these matches that isn’t part of their classic Best of Seven Series. There is no time limit here. The commentators discuss the fact that Benoit has never held a title in WCW. Early on, Booker nearly gets a countout but doesn’t want it. They want to prove who the best is after having two time limit draws on WCW television. Benoit seems very pumped, which costs him at times as Booker takes advantage. Booker hits a nice backbreaker and goes to work on the arm. Benoit gets back in the driver’s seat and ends up hitting the diving headbutt. He’s too hurt to cover instantly though. Booker, like a veteran, rolls to the corner and gets his foot on the ropes. Time for Benoit to go with the Germans, hitting three on Booker. Benoit brings him up top and hits a super back suplex. He lands hard on the back of his head, which always looks extra worse to me considering what would happen to Benoit. Booker comes back with a spinebuster that, as always, Schiavone calls a sidewalk slam. How can one man be so wrong so often? Booker’s axe kick catches the official when Benoit pulls him in the way, so when Benoit puts him in the Crossface, nobody is there to call it. Booker reaches for the ropes and hits the mat, seeming like a tap out but there’s no way to tell. Benoit helps the official up, but Booker hits a big kick over the ref to retain.
Winner and Still WCW Television Champion: Booker T in 14:11
This match was here, with no time limit, to settle the score that couldn’t be done on TV. I would normally be upset that it was given the classic WCW ref bump and such, but it did lead to the eventual Best of Seven Series so maybe they had bigger plans on the horizon. I’d call this a solid match that would lead to bigger things. ***¼
British Bulldog w/ Jim Neidhart vs. Curt Hennig w/ Rick Rude
It looks like Rude and Neidhart are going to be handcuffed at ringside. For some reason, Neidhart has to be topless for this. Bulldog attacks quickly once they are handcuffed and stomps away on Hennig. In their primes, both of these guys were pretty damn good, but here they just keep hitting each other with no real purpose. Rude attempts to get involved but Neidhart pulls him back. Why would he even try? Bulldog works a lazy looking submission on Hennig’s bad knee. The crowd is silent. They finally make noise to count as Bulldog smashes Hennig’s head into the buckles. Bulldog applies a Sharpshooter and Neidhart starts choking Vincent, who is dressed as a cop at ringside. Rude uses the keys to get free, which Neidhart somehow doesn’t notice. Bulldog lets go of the Sharpshooter for some reason, is thrown into the post and loses.
Winner: Curt Hennig in 4:48
What the hell was this? It was two guys doing next to nothing and then giving us a lazy, poorly executed finish. ¼*
After the match, the assault continues on both Neidhart and Bulldog.
WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Prince Iaukea
I had a WCW figure of Chris Jericho in this attire. He cuts a short pre-match promo that includes his classis “I want you to want me” line, while he also badmouths Dean Malenko. Iaukea does some early stuff though the crowd isn’t really behind him. Jericho is a dick at every turn though, helping to get the heat that this needs. He tries to skin the cat but Iaukea dropkicks him before somersaulting off the apron. Back inside, Jericho and his tiny headband take over, complete with smack talk in between moves. Iaukea comes off the ropes and is caught in the Lion Tamer, but he reaches the bottom rope. They go up top and just simply fall off the top and to the floor. They get in together, where Jericho counters a rollup into the Lion Tamer, only for Iaukea to counter that into a rollup of his own. Iaukea hits a Northern lights suplex that looks awkward but Jericho grabs the rope to break the pin. They do another rollup spot where Jericho reverses into the Lion Tamer and retains.
Winner and Still WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho in 9:56
Better than I thought it would be. I’ve never been into Prince Iaukea though this was one of his better showings. They certainly had some awkward moments, but they managed to get a dead crowd somewhat into it. Jericho was his usual great self. **½
Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner vs. Lex Luger and Rick Steiner w/ Ted Dibiase
Buff Bagwell shows up with a fake cast and says that his hand is injured so the match can’t happen. This was during the drawn out Rick/Scott feud. JJ Dillon comes out and wants to bring a doctor to prove it. They trick Buff into showing that his hand is fine and the match is on. This starts as a brawl because Rick wants to get his hands on Scott badly. It backfires and he ends up on the receiving end of a beating. Scott slips on an Irish whip and looks uncomfortable throughout for some reason. Rick takes the heat for a dull while and Luger gets the hot tag. SCREAMING CLOTHESLINES FOR EVERYONE! When it ends up nearly being Rick vs. Scott, Scott just runs away like a coward. Rick chases but returns. With Buff being alone, Luger racks him and he gives.
Winner: Lex Luger and Rick Steiner in 5:58
This screamed Thunder match. Nothing about this felt like it belonged on a Pay-Per-View. The match was completely filler only here to further an angle between the Steiners. The efforts from everyone involved tells you how much they cared. *
La Parka vs. Psychosis
According to Tony Schiavone, this is a special, unadvertised bonus match between partners. Psychosis still has his mask here. As La Parka starts with offense, he chooses to dance. I love that guy. Psychosis quickens the pace, hitting some high flying stuff and La Parka looks to slow things down. They trade stuff but the crowd isn’t really into it outside of La Parka’s dancing. Psychosis hits a Frankensteiner off the top, leading commentary to wanting to change the name so Scott gets no credit. Heenan says they call it “El Frankensteiner”. Gotta love the Brain. Psychosis also hits a nice twisting corkscrew move on the outside. Inside, La Parka gets some pinfalls but he keeps picking up Psychosis. It costs him as he eats a guillotine leg drop and loses.
Winner: Psychosis in 6:59
A fine little match here. The biggest issues were the lack of heat from the crowd and reasoning behind it. It was just two guys wrestling. There was nothing on the line, so the fans really couldn’t get into it. **
Baseball Bat on a Pole Match
Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash vs. The Giant and Roddy Piper
Roddy Piper instantly climbs and tries to retrieve the bat, so Hogan slams his face into the pole a few times. There is tension between Hogan and Nash, but they work well as a team to start. This goes on for a while until Giant gets the tag and stars whipping Hogan. Literally, he does it with Hogan’s weight belt. The poor fans had to see Hogan’s ass even. The crowd is pretty wild for this. Later on, Nash wants the Giant, telling Piper to tag back out. About four months earlier, Nash dropped Giant on his neck when trying a powerbomb. Giant gets in most of the offense, kicking Nash’s ass. They run and hit each other with big boots. It’s like the double clothesline spot but with boots. Tags go to both old timers and Piper takes down Hogan. Things break down and Giant gets the crowd to their feet with a dropkick. Piper get the sleeper on Hogan, who reaches the ropes. Piper gets the bat but Hogan tosses it away. The Disciple is out with a second bat. Hogan accidentally ends up hitting Nash with one of the bats before striking Piper with the other and winning.
Winners: Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash in 13:23
I kind of expected this to be dreadful. It wasn’t though that doesn’t mean it was really any good either. They did about as well as one could have hoped for. The Disciple involvement and two bat stuff wasn’t needed either. *½
Kevin Nash isn’t happy with Hulk Hogan but quickly decides to forgive and powerbomb the Giant. As he preps for it, Hogan whacks Nash in the back with the bat. THE NWO EXPLODES! The Giant runs Hogan off.
They hype Slamboree 1998, saying it is an event so big it will change wrestling history forever. It didn’t.
WCW United States Championship Raven’s Rules Match
Diamond Dallas Page (c) vs. Raven
DDP is champion but Raven has the belt here. Raven rakes a while in his entrance, only choosing to attack when a Flock member jumps the rail and holds DDP. It fails as DDP starts beating on him. DDP’s ribs are taped, which they were for pretty much his whole career. Sickboy of the Flock gets beat up after DDP hits a plancha. The fight moves up to the ramp where DDP dives off of a weird wagon set up by the stage into bales of hay. DDP uses a trash can and even throws Raven through some stuff by the stage. Raven turns things around and hits his own dive off a railing onto a table. It doesn’t break, making it look like it hurts more. As Raven grabs a cowbell, Tony delivers a great line of “THERE’S A BULL HERE”. His delivery on it is so unintentionally hilarious. They fight back to the ring where Sickboy gives Raven the kitchen sink. Yup, he’s going to use everything including that. DDP drop toe holds Raven onto the sink and both men are down. Kidman interferes but splashes Raven by mistake. DDP dumps him out and covers for two. Van Hammer runs in and gets hit with the sink. Raven continues to kick out of everything. A STOP sign comes into play, reminding me of the Revenge video game. DDP nails every Flock member with it and ends Kidman with a Diamond Cutter. Some random dude is in and he whacks DDP with the STOP sign. Raven nails the Evenflow and wins.
Winner and New WCW United States Champion: Raven in 11:52
There you have your match of the night. This was pretty much what I wanted it to be. They made very good use of the Raven’s Rules stipulation, creating something different than everything else on the card. DDP was usually someone that could be counted on for a good match and that’s what we got here. ***¾
WCW World Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification Match
Sting (c) vs. Randy Savage w/ Miss Elizabeth
Savage attacks as Sting gets in the ring and the fight is on. Like the last match, they brawl up by the entrance and Sting tosses Savage onto a wheel. Schiavone acts like this is some extreme moment. Tossing Savage into the stage stuff is not bad for this match, but we literally just saw it in the previous match. Back by the ring, Sting misses a Stinger Splash outside and eats rail. They just continue battling outside. Sting hits a suplex out there while Heenan talks about how resilient Savage is. They finally enter the ring, where Savage crotches Sting on the top rope. Even though it’s no DQ, it’s WCW so we get a ref bump. Lizabeth hits Sting in the back with a chair but he doesn’t feel it. He tries the Stinger Splash but Savage pulls Elizabeth in the way. Sting, ever the good guy, is sad about it, opening the door for Savage to hit him with the chair. Savage goes up for the elbow but Hogan comes out and shoves him off the top. Sting hits the Scorpion Death Drop and now Nash is here. Why didn’t he just go after Hogan? They had to have crossed paths. Nash Jackknifes Sting and puts Savage over Sting. The referee counts and there is a new champion.
Winner and New WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Randy Savage in 10:08
I honestly think that having the Raven’s Rules match on right before this hurt it. Most of what they did lacked drama because we had just seen a lot of it. Then, in typical WCW fashion, we got a bunch of overbooking in the end, which hurt what was already not a great match. **
Overall: 4.5/10; Below average. There was certainly some potential on this show. The Television Title, United States Title and Chavo/Ultimo Dragon matches were good stuff. Most of the event was filled with the classic WCW overbooking and referee bumps. There were a few matches that were absolutely dreadful, but there are some things worth a look. Check out the matches I mentioned and skip the rest. Next on “Random Network Reviews” is TLC 2012! |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Jan 20, 2016 22:41:00 GMT -5
Raw History
Episode #109
May 1st, 1995 | Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska
According to the opening recap, last week’s Raw featured a record number of viewers. Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are on commentary.
The Allied Powers vs. George Anderson and Ron Hagan
Before the match, we get informed that Jeff Jarrett was stripped of the Intercontinental thanks to a controversial finish to his match with Bob Holly. They’ll have a rematch for the belt on the weekend. The Bulldog and Luger both get in pretty much all of the offense. Their opponents look like the definition of jobber. Anderson nearly gets in some stuff, but it looks awkward and he just ends up losing to the Bulldog’s powerslam.
Winners: The Allied Powers in 2:41
Fine enough squash match.
Now we get footage of the Jarrett/Holly controversy. Both guys won the match in odd ways. Jarrett had his feet on the ropes, then the match was restarted and Holly won but Jarrett’s foot was on the bottom rope.
Bob Holly vs. Butler Stevens
This dude has two last names. His shirt looks like a garbage bag to be honest. Holly obviously does most of the work here and the crowd seems somewhat into him. He hits the BEST DROPKICK IN THE BIZ before a flying cross body gets the win.
Winner: Bob Holly in 2:53
Not the best squash match. I’m supposed to believe Holly is a threat to a title?
Todd Pettengil brings us the In Your House Report! The 1-2-3 Kid is injured again and out of the PPV. Razor Ramon won’t get a new partner and is instead facing Jarrett and the Roadie in a handicap match. That’s the only new information we’re given.
Mantaur w/ Jim Cornette vs. Sonny Rogers
Why is the Mantaur experiment not over yet? He splashes Rogers quickly and then tosses him around. Rogers surprises me when he gets a rollup though it clearly doesn’t do the job. Mantaur ends up winning with a slam.
Winner: Mantaur in 2:23
Blah. I completely dislike Mantaur.
They show us a vignette that sees Man Mountain Rock in the NYPD Blue universe. Yes, it’s odd.
We’re supposed to get the advertised Sycho Sid/Razor Ramon marquee matchup now. As Razor’s in the ring and his pyro goes off, Sid steps through it long before Goldberg did stuff like that, and attacks Razor. Sid plants him with two powerbombs until Diesel runs out to make the save. Sid really doesn’t like the Kliq huh?
Adam Bomb vs. Dave Sigfrid
We didn’t hear about it during the In Your House Report, but Vince seems to say that Adam Bomb will face Mabel at the Pay-Per-View. This one is all Adam Bomb. He takes it home with a flying clothesline.
Winner: Adam Bomb in 3:41
Too many squash matches tonight. This one dragged a bit.
Time for our second Hunter Hearst-Helmsley vignette. He actually speaks this time. He doesn’t say much, but he’s clearly a smug bastard.
Men on a Mission vs. Bill Duke and Kevin Krueger
Who the hell booked tonight’s show? Krueger does a dropkick that stagger Mabel. He tags his Duke and they try a double dropkick but Mabel just swats them down like flies. This goes on for far too long. After some dull stuff, Mabel wins it with a belly to belly.
Winners: Men on a Mission in 4:37
Seriously, who the hell booked this show? Awful stuff.
Jerry Lawler has been talking trash about Bret Hart all night long. He has a contract for a match with Bret at In Your House, but says that Bret ducked the challenge and accepted the match with Hakushi instead. Vince says that Brer is coming but Lawler says he’s too scared. Once Bret’s theme plays, Lawler pretty much pisses his pants. Bret admits to taking the Hakushi match. Lawler interjects but Bret shouts for him to shut up and says that after he beats Hakushi, he’ll wrestle Lawler too.
Overall: 1.5/10. They’re hyping next week’s show as some sort of “Double Header”, but it will need to be more than that to make up for this atrocity. Nothing but boring squash matches, not really any interesting build for the Pay-Per-View and the one potential match doesn’t end up happening.
Raw History
Episode #110
May 8th, 1995 | Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska
The first ever In Your House is just six days away. Let’s see how the go home show goes. Our same commentary team handles things tonight.
WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett w/ The Roadie vs. Doink w/ Dink
I thought their mini-feud was the last I’d see of this pairing. They even flash us back to it before the bell rings. Doink starts hot so the Roadie gets involved, only to get his hand stepped on. Doink stays in control for the most part and continues to do damage to the Roadie too. Jarrett swings the momentum and starts to work his generic offense through a commercial break. Doink hits a DDT and actually sells some of the leg work. He also hits a powerslam but only gets two. Doink is nearing the win until Roadie gets in a cheap shot behind the official’s back. Jarrett locks in the Figure Four, causing Doink to submit right as Vince said he would never do that.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett in 7:24
This was your typical house show match. There was nothing special about this at all. Ho-hum. At least the work was decent, though uninspired. *½
We get our first ever Bodydonnas vignette. Sunny and Skip look into the camera and diss fat people.
Next, Bam Bam Bigelow speaks in a dark room. He talks about his rough start to 1995, but comes across as a babyface, putting over Lawrence Taylor and Diesel in the process.
Vince McMahon is in the ring and brings out Sycho Sid and Ted Dibiase for an interview. Dibiase admits that it was him who suggested to Shawn Michaels that he get Sid as a bodyguard. That’s the only real news he gives us. Other than that he just claims that Sid will end Diesel and his run as WWF Champion. Then Sid speaks and everything becomes amazing. He talks about a lion from Africa, while stumbling over his words. It’s Sid at his finest. The gist of it all is that he’s going to win Sunday.
Next Monday, newly face turned Bigelow takes on IRS.
Hakushi w/ Shinja vs. Gary Scott
Hakushi dominates Gary Scott and his stupid pants. Scott does get in a cross body for pretty much his only offense. Vince informs us that Hart/Hakushi will open the PPV this Sunday. Hakushi nails an impressive springboard splash, remaining undefeated.
Winner: Hakushi in 2:49
Better than your average squash.
In Your House Report! Diesel cuts a serious promo about Sid. He wants him to bring the fight and says that he’s not scared.
Bart Gunn w/ Billy Gunn vs. WWF Tag Team Champion Owen Hart w/ Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji
The Smoking Gunns get their rematch at the Tag Team Titles at the Pay-Per-View. Owen Hart stalls at the start before exchanging some WRESTLING with Bart. Bart gets in a fair amount of the early stuff. Owen speeds thing sup but runs into a sidewalk slam. Bart gets tripped up by Mr. Fuji, so Owen takes over. He rams Bart’s back into the ring post. Billy, being a complete doofus, is distracting the referee during this. Even so, Owen doesn’t stay in the driver’s seat for long. Bart wants a second rope suplex but Cornette grabs his leg and he falls. Billy then crotches Owen on top to even the score. Bart schoolboys Owen and steals it.
Winner: Bart Gunn in 6:30
A rather disappointing match. Owen Hart was great but Bart never seemed to click in singles matches. Plus, he was a charisma vacuum. *¾
Footage from WWF Mania airs. Todd Pettengill and Stephanie Waind check out the house you can win at In Your House. Todd is a dick, sitting and standing on the counter. Why would I want to live there?
Jerry Lawler announces that he will bring his mother to the PPV.
Overall: 3.5/10. Better than last week but not by much. The two actual matches were both pretty bad, though I like the Hakushi squash. Also, Sid’s promo was easily the highlight as it was just so damn insane.
In Your House Results
Bret Hart def. Hakushi
Razor Ramon def. Jeff Jarrett and the Roadie
KOTR Qualifier: Mabel def. Adam Bomb
Yokozuna and Owen Hart def. the Smoking Gunns to retain the WWF Tag Team Titles
Jerry Lawler def. Bret Hart
Diesel def. Sycho Sid via disqualification, retaining the WWF Championship
Raw History
Episode #111
May 15th, 1995 | Broome County Arena in Binghamton, New York
IRS and Bigelow get quick promos to open the show. IRS wants Bigelow to pay his taxes. Shocking right? Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler run things and we are live.
WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and Yokozuna w/ Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji vs. Bill Weaver and Nick Barberry
Yokozuna starts for his team and tosses the scrubs around. Cornette gets in some venomous disses shouting at Vince. Owen Hart comes in and does some actual work. As usual, Owen gives the jobbers something, though it isn’t much. Vince brags about Yokozuna being over 600 pounds like it’s a good thing. He hits the uranage for the victory.
Winners: Owen Hart and Yokozuna in 3:06
Your basic squash from the Tag Team Champions.
Still images are shown of the Lawler/Hart stuff from last night. Lawler is giddy about beating Bret.
An odd “WWF Saves the World” commercial runs, featuring aliens. 1995 was a strange time.
Man Mountain Rock vs. “Iron” Mike Sharpe
I’m actually writing this a day after the unfortunate passing of Mike Sharper. Rest in peace. He does his typical loud selling. It’s so great. Looking it up, this is his last ever match on Raw. It ends quickly with the whammy bar submission.
Winner: Man Mountain Rock in 1:25
Too short to really be anything.
They show the house giveaway from the Pay-Per-View last night. They tell us that the guy who won it is a big Shawn Michaels fan, leading to Vince saying that HBK returns next week against King Kong Bundy.
Now we get still images from the Jarrett and Roadie/Razor match, focusing on the debut of Savio Vega. We then hear from Savio, who cuts his promo in Spanish. He fixes it to English for a bit, saying that Razor is his friend, but then goes back to Spanish.
King of the Ring Qualifying Match
Bob Holly vs. Mantaur w/ Jim Cornette
Oh man, we’re coming up on the absolutely dreadful 1995 King of the Ring. The start of this match is totally one-sided. Mantaur just gets in everything. He hits a suplex but Holly continues to kick out of pretty much everything. Maybe it’s because he didn’t fully cover, instead choosing to just lay his hands on Holly. Holly starts making his rally, coring a few near falls. Finally, he gets the flying cross body and scores the three.
Winner: Bob Holly in 5:29
Why is Mantaur still a thing? How did it last so long? Bob Holly was fine as the babyface underdog but this wasn’t very entertaining. *
Vince McMahon is now in the ring to bring out Bob Backlund to make an announcement. Backlund uses a lot of big words as always. He shouts random historic moments but totally butchers all of the dates. I have no idea if he did that on purpose. This is drawn out far longer than it needs to be, just so he can announce that he’s running for president.
Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Diesel vs. IRS w/ Ted Dibiase
This is the debut of Bigelow’s new entrance gear and pyro. Diesel is brought out to be in Bigelow’s corner and he chases Dibiase away. They do some dull work before a commercial break. Returning, Bigelow misses a headbutt, so IRS comes back with shoulder blocks to take him down. The crowd doesn’t seem very into this. None of the stuff being done is interesting at all. That’s most likely because IRS is in control and he’s incredibly boring. He removes the turnbuckle pad, Bigelow charges and IRS moves, so he hits it. IRS tries a pin with his foot on the ropes but Diesel shoves it off. This turns it around for Bigelow, who wins with the diving headbutt.
Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow in 5:12
Someone needs to stop booking IRS. His run has to be coming to an end soon. This was painfully boring. ½*
A Shawn Michaels video package airs, set to his theme song. It turns ugly at the end when King Kong Bundy appears to say Shawn’s return will be short lived.
Overall: 2/10. What the hell happened? 1995 was going pretty well and then they put out these three Raws in a row. This one featured a crapmain event, a lame KOTR qualifying match and an overdrawn Bob Backlund promo. Ugh. |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Jan 27, 2016 23:59:00 GMT -5
TLC 2012
December 16th, 2012 | Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York | Attendance: 15,748
This is one of the few shows that I owned on DVD before the arrival of the WWE Network, simply for the fact that it features the first ever match of the trio known as the Shield. It’s also a noteworthy show because WWE Champion CM Punk was injured and had to miss this event, in the midst of his 434 day reign as WWE Champion. Punk was gearing up for a match with the Rock, but the rest of the card managed to look pretty great without him. This was the final Pay-Per-View of 2012 and the fourth TLC in history.
The WWE Network version starts with a video package focusing on the big matches on the card. However, my original DVD version started with a 26 bell salute to honor the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. Commentary is Michael Cole, JBL and Jerry Lawler, as always.
Number One Contender’s Tag Team Tables Match
Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara vs. Team Rhodes Scholars
Cody Rhodes can really make anything work as evidenced by the fact that he got a mustache over. He and Sandow run down Brooklyn during their entrance. Since it’s a Tables match, the match is tornado style. The Luchadores send the heels outside before nailing stereo baseball slides. Lawler makes some lame joke about the show being broadcast in Manila, home of the envelopes. A table is brought into play but Rey is sent outside before they can do anything. Kudos to JBL who actually does a good job in putting over Cody Rhodes. They isolate Sin Cara. They fail to put him through a table with a double front suplex though. Cody does hit him with the Disaster Kick while Sandow tosses Rey around outside. Two tables get set up outside and the faces are laid on them. Sandow wants to launch Cody onto them but Rey trips him up to stop it. Now, Rey and Cara unload on both opponents. Original Sin Cara actually looks good here and hits a corkscrew dive outside. Rey hits Cody with the 619 and lays him on a table. Team Rhodes Scholars is back up to avoid losing. Sin Cara takes out Cody and looks to springboard in onto Sandow. Cody sneaks back in and shoves him back and through the table outside.
Winners: Team Rhodes Scholars in 9:29
Hey, that’s exactly what I want from my opening contest. It was fun, fast paced and they didn’t overdo anything, leaving room for the later matches. The right team got the win in one of the better tables matches in recent years. The seemingly out of nowhere finish was a nice touch too. ***¼
We hear from the Shield in one of their awesome old handheld camera promos. They talk about CM Punk not being able to defend the WWE Title and that it’s an injustice. They then focus on their opponents. Roman Reigns gets to keep his stuff short and sweet, which is how he works best.
WWE United States Championship
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs. R-Truth
These two met a month prior at Survivor Series in a really lame match. Why they decided to continue this feud is beyond me. This seems to be about R-Truth representing USA in the face of Cesaro’s anti-American rants. Truth is using his quickness, while Cesaro has the clear power advantage. Truth gets multiple flash pin near falls so Cesaro slows it down and works the mat. Commentary is so bored they are just making jokes about Lawler being old. Truth starts to fire up but the fans really don’t care. They do get loud when he asks “WHAT’S UP”, so there’s that. Truth goes all Booker T and hits a Scissors Kick for two. A “Lil Jimmy” chant breaks out. Cesaro nearly shoves him into the referee and hits an uppercut. He retains with the Neutralizer.
Winner and Still WWE United States Champion: Antonio Cesaro in 6:38
Why was this on Pay-Per-View? They didn’t anyone last month and they didn’t here either. The crowd was mostly not really feeling this and the work felt like something you’d see at a house show or on Superstars/Main Event. At least it was relatively short. *½
Matt Striker, who I forgot was employed at this time, tries to interview Antonio Cesaro but gets shoved away. Cesaro just puts himself over as the greatest US Champion in history. He says that if you boo him, you’re booing your own country.
Dolph Ziggler gets interviewed about the main event tonight, saying that he is putting everything on the line tonight, while John Cena has everything to gain. It’s an okay promo.
The ring is set up for Miz TV and the Miz shows up. Lawler calls Cleveland, Miz’s hometown, the “Mistake by the Lake”. Miz’s guests are Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal, collectively known as 3MB. Poor Drew McIntyre. It quickly becomes a situation where Miz trades insults with 3MB. For some reason, 3MB target the Spanish announce team, saying they were talking crap. McIntyre shoves one of them and Ricardo Rodriguez shows up to try and calm them down. They start to bully him, causing Alberto Del Rio to show up and make the save. When the numbers game becomes too much, Miz jumps in to help clean house. This completed one of the most random and odd face turns ever. However, I think Del Rio is lightyears better as a babyface. 3MB challenges Del Rio and Miz to find a partner and face them later tonight, which is accepted.
Continuing the string of no matches, there is a rather funny Team Hell No segment in the back, hyping their match later. This leads into an interview with Wade Barrett about his upcoming match with Kofi Kingston. He says he’s confident and that’s about it. This was when they were trying to get the “Wildcat” nickname over for Kofi. It never stuck.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Wade Barrett
According to Wade’s interview, these two have met multiple times in the weeks leading up to this. Makes sense considering WWE’s typical midcard booking tropes. Barrett tries to beat up Kofi outside, but when he throws him to the apron, Kofi leaps through the ropes. He instantly turns around and connects with a suicide dive. Inside, Barrett basically gets pissed and starts the beating again. Each time Kofi nearly gets something going, Barrett is there to stop him. Kofi starts his typical rally, complete with Boom Drop and SOS. Commentary again gives zero s about this match, instead focusing on how many Slammy awards each of them has won. Great job guys. Barrett nearly wins by rolling through a cross body. Barrett tries for the Bull Hammer but Kofi instead hits Trouble in Paradise for the win.
Winner and Still WWE Intercontinental Champion: Kofi Kingston in 8:12
A pretty solid outing from both guys involved. Their clash of styles worked well. Barrett looked like a bit of a beast, while Kofi used his athleticism to overcome that. Fine stuff. ***
This show continues to be filled with promos because we now go to WWE Champion CM Punk in a skybox up in the arena. He takes a giant dump on the city of Brooklyn before turning his attention to the man that injured him, Ryback. Punk was so good on the microphone. He came across as legitimately angry, while also captivating the audience and still managing to get in a note about not being affiliated with the Shield.
TLC Match
The Shield vs. Team Hell No and Ryback
Here we go, the long awaited in-ring debut of the Shield. Thank god the Shield ditched those terrible turtlenecks from their first appearance. Once they make it to ringside, the war begins and all six men brawl outside. Ambrose and Ryback go at it in the ring, where Ryback no sells his stuff. Kane is firs to bring out a ladder, but gets it baseball slid into his ribs. The Shield start doing what they do best, using the numbers game. Ryback doesn’t care and starts slamming a ladder onto Seth and Dean. Reigns stops him with some vicious chair shots. Kane stops him and Bryan dropkicks a ladder into Reigns. Ambrose hits Kane with a DDT on a chair. They are not holding anything back with the big spots. Ryback nearly gets double hip tossed into a ladder but blocks and then splashes Dean and Seth into the ladder. He suplexes both of them onto the same ladder and Ambrose’s facial expression is classic. The poor Spanish announce team continues to have a bad night as Reigns clears off their table. The Shield lay out Ryback with their signature triple powerbomb. No time is wasted though as Bryan instantly dives onto all three. The numbers game is too much but Kane is there to help. Still, the Shield is too much and they are in firm control. They set a table up in the corner on the top turnbuckle. Seth and Dean superplex Bryan off of it but only get two. They try to do the same to Kane but he fights them off and leaps from the table with a clothesline on Ambrose. Adding to it, Kane Chokeslams Dean onto an open chair only for Reigns to break up the pin. Bryan puts Ambrose in the No Lock and Seth runs in to save him, but Bryan just puts it on him. Reigns comes in and gets the same treatment. Bryan ends up lighting up Seth and Dena with kicks but he then gets curb stomped onto an open chair! That’s gotta be one of the best curb stomps ever. Ryback is alive again and starts cleaning house. It’s like a hot tag. He does all of his key stuff and plants Ambrose with Shell Shock only for the rest of the Shield to break it up. Things start moving up to the entrance, with the Shield beating up on Ryback. They use that gang mentality to get him on a table. Dean and Roman hold Ryback in place while Seth climbs way high on a tall ladder. Seth sends them to go after Bryan though and Ryback gets up. Ryback climbs with Seth and sends him through about three tables nearby. Back in the ring, Ambrose hoists Bryan up to take a second rope powerbomb from Reigns through a table. Ryback can’t make it back in time to save the match.
Winners: The Shield in 22:44
An absolutely brilliant match. That is how you make your official debut and make an impact. First of all, the match was incredible. They did some sick spots, the pace never slowed and the action was non-stop from beginning to end. The crowd was red hot for everything. Everybody played their part and contributed to the quality. Ryback was booked to look strong, Bryan and Kane were both great and the Shield played up that numbers advantage, working like such a well-oiled machine. Easily my WWE match of the year for 2012. ****¾
WWE Divas Championship
Eve Torres (c) vs. Naomi
There was a Santa’s Little Helper battle royal on the pre-show that Naomi won to earn this shot. Eve cost Kaitlyn the match because they had beef and Naomi is apparently much less of a threat. Good way to build intrigue for this match. Eve mocks her from the start but gets taken down by a leg drop and REAR VIEW! If this was 2014 Naomi would have won with that. Naomi just does a fair amount of athletic stuff because that’s really all that he is. Athletic. She misses a cross body, opening the door for Eve to hit a spinning neckbreaker and retain.
Winner and Still WWE Divas Champion: Eve Torres in 3:05
Well that was completely pointless. I actually really like Eve in this period as she was nailing the heel champion character better than almost any other Divas Champion I can remember. However, this was three minutes of Naomi doing fancy things only to lose. ½*
World Heavyweight Championship Chairs Match
Big Show (c) vs. Sheamus
No, I still have never gotten clarification of what a Chairs match is exactly. There is hope here since they had a great match at Hell in a Cell, but their Survivor Series match left a lot to be desired. They’ve built Big Show up as this unstoppable monster (again) but Sheamus just beats the hell out of him to start. They’re outside when the first chair is brought into play as Show kicks one into Sheamus. Show clubs him for a bit but when Sheamus gets a chair again, Show goes running scared. Like at Survivor Series, Sheamus lays into him with the chair. He hits an interesting shoulder block with the chair off the top. Don’t think I’ve seen that one before. The fans seem to be entertaining themselves with an “Ole” chant. Is Sami Zayn in the crowd? They continue to do mostly uninteresting stuff until Show nails a Chokeslam for two. Show seems to want to wake the crowd up, so he does a corner Vader Bomb onto a chair for two. In an impressive feat of strength, Sheamus gets Show up for White Noise through two chairs, though Show kicks out. Sheamus ends up missing a Brogue Kick and eating the WMD but again kicks out. Now they’re just doing the false finish barrage that big WWE matches have come to rely on. Show exits and pulls out the biggest steel chair in history. Show uses it once and Sheamus dies.
Winner and Still World Heavyweight Champion: Big Show in 14:15
I’ve seen some pretty good praise for this match but I just couldn’t get into it. Some of the things they pulled off were quite brutal and bringing out the giant chair was certainly different at least. Still, not much to write home about. **½
John Cena is preparing for the main event and AJ Lee shows up in Cena gear. This was during her phase of having a new boy toy every few months. Daniel Bryan, Kane, CM Punk, John Cena and finally, one more person to close out the year.
Alberto Del Rio, Brooklyn Brawler and The Miz w/ Ricardo Rodriguez vs. 3MB
Yup, they chose the Brooklyn Brawler. He not only gets a theme song but he also has tron graphics. Wow. Brawler gets worked on for a bit, Miz does some decent offense and then Del Rio gets the tag to do more with his face turn. He hits a nice suicide dive and then Rodriguez pulls Slater out of the ring. Miz plants Mahal with the Skull Crushing Finale but doesn’t pin, instead tagging the Brawler. Brawler applies a HIDEOUS Brooklyn Crab and Mahal submits.
Winners: Alberto Del Rio, Brooklyn Brawler and Miz in 3:23
Between this and the earlier segment, were they just low on time since Punk couldn’t compete? This was just there and I didn’t care for it. *
Money in the Bank Contract Ladder Match
Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. John Cena
This all started because of Vickie’s obsession with outing the Cena/AJ relationship. Ziggler is in the midst of easily the best run of his career. The crowd is heavily in his corner. They trade some basic stuff early on before bringing any weapons into play. Cena uses the ladder first but also brings steel steps into play, wiping out Dolph with them. He’s two years early for the EPIC Steel Stairs match. The fans go back and forth as they trade blows in the middle of the ring. Dolph starts losing out, so he goes to a sleeper hold. Cena is inhuman though, climbing the ladder with Dolph still holding on. He does fade out while on top, even looking purple, and then crash through a table. Dolph is up first and climbs but Cena closes the ladder and then lifts it up like a goddamn press slam. Ziggler gets free but runs into the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM. Ziggler fights him off, avoiding the AA and nails the Zig Zag. They are both slow to get up, with Cena finishing the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM this time. Ziggler again avoids the AA and plants him with a big DDT. He gets his hands on the briefcase but Cena won’t die. He knocks Ziggler off and is alone with the briefcase. Ziggler is up to stop him though. From out of nowhere, Cena does a damn hurricanrana that sends Ziggler through a table in the corner. It was ugly, but still. A “Ziggler’s awesome” chant starts as he gets up but Cena just fires up and kicks his ass. Ziggler escapes the AA again and nails Cena with a chair. He misses a superkick and finally takes an AA, rolling outside. Vickie Guerrero shows up to hit Cena with a chair. A Lee runs out and ducks an incredibly telegraphed chair shot before going into Cena’s FIVE MOVES OF DOOM. It’s a lot more adorable when she does it. Cena brings up a ladder and sets it up while AJ skips around the ring. As he gets high up, AJ shoves over the ladder in a completely obvious heel turn. Cena hits the ropes and bounces right into a superkick from Ziggler. AJ smiles and skips off, leaving Dolph to retrieve the briefcase to a monster pop.
Winner and Still Mr. Money in the Bank: Dolph Ziggler in 23:16
A really good main event, though I think the six man tag should have closed things out. This bordered on great but will settle for very good. Dolph Ziggler was allowed to look like someone that belonged in the ring with Cena for the most part. The involvement of Vickie and AJ wasn’t great, though it at least made sense. ***¾
Overall: 7.5/10; Very good. Clearly, not everything on this Pay-Per-View is very good. The Divas Title, US Title and random six man tag all stunk for the most part. I thought the World Title and Intercontinental Title matches were both pretty enjoyable. It’s the main event and six man TLC that really elevate this show. The Shield debut match was masterfully done and is my WWE match of the year for 2012. This flowed nicely outside of the mid-show promos and is an easy watch. My randomizer has chosen my next “Random Network Review” as World War 3 1997! |
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Jan 28, 2016 23:52:09 GMT -5
Raw History
Episode #112
May 22nd, 1995 | Broome County Arena in Binghamton, New York
Things open with a recap of Sid destroying Shawn Michaels seven weeks ago with three powerbombs. HBK returns tonight, LIVE…AND IN YO FACE.
Razor Ramon w/ Savio Vega vs. Mike Bell
They actually announce Savio Vega as the “Caribbean Legend”. Commentary informs us that over the weekend, Razor and Jarrett traded the Intercontinental Title, making both men the first three time champions. Razor lights up Bell with chops. Bell looks like what Bull Dempsey would look like if Bull-Fit actually worked. Razor goes through his usual stuff. Razor hits the second rope back suplex and calls for the end. He picks up Bell but shows mercy and just shoves him down and covers him with his foot.
Winner: Razor Ramon in 4:17
Fine little squash here. It went a bit long but at least Razor is more fun to watch than when someone like IRS or Mabel does this.
As Razor Ramon and Savio Vega exit, Bret Hart walks out to confront Jerry Lawler. Bret is wearing his leather jacket, but no shirt for some reason. Bret gets on the microphone and runs down Lawler. It’s fantastic. He basically says that he’s ashamed of losing to someone like Lawler. He can’t live with that, saying he let everybody, including his family down. Bret challenges Lawler to a rematch, saying he’ll do it under any stipulation or any kind of match that Lawler wants. He does the “one more match” thing almost as good as Christian. Lawler declines so Bret roughs him up and even calls him lower than shit. Officials pull Bret away. I was never a fan of this feud but this was EASILY the best thing they ever did together.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. John Crystal
Hey look. It’s the future COO of the WWE. Who would have called that? The commentators don’t care for this match, focusing on the Bret angle and the upcoming week on USA Network. It’s okay because Hunter isn’t really interesting yet. Just as I type that, he does a spinning heel kick. What the ? It’s such an out of place when A) you know the rest of his career and B) most of the rest of his offense is slow paced. He wins with the Diamond Cutter, which he would drop soon after a friendly request from DDP.
Winner: Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 3:10
Not the most impressive debut for the future Triple H.
A “Bob Backlund for President” campaign ad is shown. It’s pretty funny but is still all he’s around for now? He does say that he wants to abolish spell check and calculators so the plebeians can learn the correct way. The best line, hands down, is “WE ARE ILLITERATE. THE JAPANESE HAVE 100% LITERACY!”
We get clips of ugly ass Stephanie Waind showing the house that was won at In Your House. She’s with the kid that won. For some reasons, the Bushwhackers were hiding in the closet. They literally just stand in there when it’s opened and don’t show up again.
The Allied Powers vs. Bill Payne and Tony DeVito
This goes exactly how you’d expect. The Allied Powers completely dominate and get all of their key stuff in. Commentary is more excited that on Action Zone, Bulldog gave Mabel a damn electric chair drop. Yea, that’s impressive. Bulldog hits the running powerslam for the 1-2-3.
Winners: The Allied Powers in 2:56
Completely inoffensive squash match.
Next week, Jeff Jarrett faces the Undertaker in a King of the Ring Qualifying match.
Kama w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Barry Horowitz
Is it strange that I think Barry is the better worker here? They talk about how Barry is still winless for his career, while Kama throws him around. In between this, he puts his fists up like he’s an actual fighter. A half crab makes Barry submit.
Winner: Kama in 2:25
Well these matches are flying by. I’m okay with that.
King of the Ring Qualifying Match
King Kong Bundy w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Shawn Michaels
Vince pretty much orgasms at the sight of Shawn Michaels. He oversells the crowd reaction. Granted, Michaels got a positive pop, but you’d think there were 50,000+ cheering in unison. Bundy tries to attack before the bell but Shawn avoids it and sends him outside while his music still plays. Shawn then leaps from the top onto Bundy. One thing I liked about babyface Shawn is that he was still very arrogant. He didn’t have to change much. Shawn is messing around, avoiding Bundy at every turn and even toying with Dibiase outside. Bundy sends him into the corner where we get the classic HBK bump. Bundy takes over, doing his dull offense. Bigelow and Diesel are watching on the tiniest monitor backstage. After a commercial, Michaels just hits the superkick and qualifies.
Winner: Shawn Michaels in 6:03
About as good as one could expect from a King Kong Bundy match. Shawn was energetic and did the best he could with his opponent. Still, that doesn’t make it very good. *
Bam Bam Bigelow and Diesel come out during Shawn’s celebration. There is obvious tension between Diesel and HBK. Diesel offers the handshake but Shawn backs away. He tells Diesel to put the hand up so he can run, jump and high five him. Bigelow looks VERY out of place here.
Overall: 3/10. While the matches obviously were mostly squashes and the one match that was competitive wasn’t very good, I thought this episode moved along pretty nicely. HHH made his debut in an unimpressive match, but the Diesel/HBK friendship was back on. Forward movement but not very exciting. The Bret segment ruled at least.
Raw History
Episode #113
May 29th, 1995 | Broome County Arena in Binghamton, New York
The show opens in progress with Jeff Jarrett cutting a promo. The gong goes off and the lights go out. Our intro plays and when it’s over, that match isn’t happening. Odd start for sure.
Sycho Sid w/ Ted Dibiase and Tatanka vs. Mike Khoury
Why does Tatanka have to be out here? We are told that Diesel is recovering from some elbow surgery. It allows Vince to give a shout out to unsung hero Dr. James Andrews. Sid is a monster, winning with the powerbomb.
Winner: Sycho Sid in 1:20
Hot damn that was how I like my Sid. He’s so great in things like this.
This leads into a lengthy look at Diesel and Dr. James Andrews.
Adam Bomb vs. Bob Cook
Vince McMahon uses this time to hype the one hour special airing of WrestleMania XI on NBC. That was a big deal since NBC was a massive network at the time and they hadn’t been on that channel for almost five years. Bomb clearly wins this with the flying clothesline.
Winner: Adam Bomb in 2:04
Yea, this just killed time.
King of the Ring Report time! Todd Pettengill shows us footage from Superstars where Bigelow and Diesel accepted Tatanka and Sid’s challenge for the Pay-Per-View. Bigelow’s promo is terrible. “I’m not going to quit being your friend.” Who thought he’d work as a face?
Hakushi w/ Shinja vs. John Snakowski
This is the infamous episode where Hakushi pulls out the mannequin Bret Hart head. It’s a pretty gruesome sight. Hakushi gets in all of the offense since this guy is a true ham and egger.
Winner: Hakushi in 2:36
This was fine. The pre-match stuff was better.
Vince McMahon interviews Alundra Blayze. Ugh, this should be riveting. He puts over her match with Bull Nakano. Alundra pokes fun at Bertha Faye for having a boyfriend like Harvey Wippleman. She then just says that she will be the champion for a long, long time. At least it was short.
Next Monday, the British Bulldog faces Owen Hart in a qualifying match.
Men on a Mission vs. Aaron Ferguson and Gary Scott
I don’t even want to go into this. Men on a Mission dominate and it’s not very good.
Winners: Men on a Mission in 3:39
This took far too long.
Todd Pettengill is back to tell us who has qualified for the King of the Ring so far. Razor Ramon, Bob Holly, Mabel, Shawn Michaels and Kama are in.
King of the Ring Qualifying Match
WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett w/ the Roadie vs. The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer
Poor Jarrett got a pretty terrible draw here. Undertaker is quickly on offense, hitting Old School. It was just school at this point. Roadie trips up Undertaker but he mostly no sells it and slams Jarrett. Taker misses an elbow, giving Jarrett a slight opening. He clotheslines Undertaker over, but he lands on his feet and chokes the Roadie. Jarrett attacks from behind. Jarrett takes over, getting in some really basic offense. For some reason, this Raw on the Network has some technical issues. After a commercial, Jarrett applies the Figure Four, with an assist from Roadie until Bearer chases him away. Jarrett grabs the ropes, so the referee breaks the hold. Undertaker comes back but Jarrett stops it with a neckbreaker. He chooses to strut and Taker sits up. Now the real comeback is on, cemented by a Tombstone.
Winner: The Undertaker in 8:55
Pretty good actually. Jeff Jarrett’s offense was nothing really special but seeing the Undertaker compete on Raw is usually fun. The “Purple Gloves” era is certainly his worst era, making this, sadly, one of his better showings. **¼
Before the show ends, we get more stuff from Bob Backlund.
Overall: 4.5/10. A better marquee matchup this week as Jarrett and Undertaker had a pretty decent showing. Sid was fun in his short appearance and I really liked the Hakushi pre-match segment. It did have Men on a Mission, which is usually a drag.
Raw History
Episode #114
June 5th, 1995 | Struthers Auditorium in Struthers, Ohio
A shot of the WWF Blimp opens things before we see Bob Backlund campaigning outside. Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler hype things as we are LIVE in Ohio! There will be two debuts tonight. Lawler hypes Jean Pierre Lafitte as a debut but he’s clearly been on the show before.
“The Caribbean Legend” Savio Vega vs. Kenny Kendall
It’s the official debut of Razor Ramon’s buddy. I can’t help but put his nickname there. Kendall actually gets in some early offense. There is a ton of smoke around the ring from pyro. These live shows just have a different feel to them. Surprisingly, Savio wins with the octopus stretch.
Winner: Savio Vega in 2:01
Like Hunter Hearst Helmsley last week, this wasn’t the best start for Savio. It came off as awkward at times.
A Diesel video package airs, just set to his theme. Then the Million Dollar Corporation cut a promo about the pain they are going to make them feel.
We hear from Sunny and Skip because the Bodydonnas debut next. Man, Sunny has fallen far.
Skip w/ Sunny vs. Barry Horowitz
Hey, it’s the feud that revolutionized pro wrestling. Not really. Sunny cuts a promo for the fatties in the crowd. Skip’s attire is very unflattering. Horowitz gets some hope spots and near falls but Skip wins with a guillotine leg drop. Sunny is already looking like the bigger star.
Winner: Skip in 2:41
Decent enough debut.
Todd Pettengill runs down the King of the Ring card. Mabel faces the Undertaker in the first round. Yawn. Kama goes up against Shawn Michaels and Bob Holly faces the Roadie. Todd calls him the Road Dogg. Razor Ramon will face the winner of the Bulldog/Owen match tonight.
King of the Ring Qualifying Match
British Bulldog vs. Owen Hart w/ Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji
So, for some odd reason, this was pre-taped before the In Your House Pay-Per-View so it’s taking place in Syracuse. Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon are in the booth. They avoid showing the IYH logos but have admitted that this isn’t taking place in Ohio. The feeling out process sees Bulldog focusing on the arm and then overpowering Owen. Focusing on the shoulder is different from the Bulldog, though that’s not a bad thing. He shows off the great stalling vertical. Mr. Fuji uses this time to wave the Japanese flag a bunch for some reason. Owen starts swinging the momentum and picks up the pace. After a commercial break, Owen nails a spinning heel kick. Gorilla talks about the time limit, making me think they’ll do a draw. Owen applies a sleeper but Bulldog survives. Owen kicks out of a rollup and nails the ENZIGURI OF DOOM! Gorilla says only three minutes remain. Bulldog comes back with a nice fisherman suplex for two. You see, if it was a Perfectplex that would have been it. With the clock winding down, they do about ten near falls on multiple pins. The clock expires as Owen does a backslide.
Time limit draw in 15:00
We only saw about 13 of the 15 minutes. This was a really solid match but the finish was dumb. Neither guy makes it in even though when the same thing happened two years earlier, Doink and Mr. Perfect were given multiple rematches. Also, with the roster in shambles, the tournament could have used one or both of these guys. This is the best thing to come from the tournament. ***½
A pre-taped video from Jerry Lawler airs. He shows off his dirty feet, saying he hasn’t washed them in two months. His match with Bret Hart at King of the Ring will be a “Kiss my Foot” match. Poor Bret Hart was stuck in midcard hell in 1995.
Bret Hart is out for an in-ring interview with Vince McMahon. Bret talks about how he never thought he would compete in a match like this. While talking, we get a split screen as Lawler takes off his shoe and shows off his gross feet. This is nowhere near as good as the one from two weeks ago. He talks about embarrassing his family again and dedicates the match to them. He ends it by saying that he doesn’t want Jerry’s lips on his feet, so when he wins he’ll make Jerry kiss his own feet.
Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. Jerry Flynn
Yes, this is the same Jerry Flynn that you can find on bad WCW shows in 2000. Lafitte wins quickly with the cannonball.
Winner: Jean Pierre Lafitte in 1:33
Too short to really be anything.
So, instead of giving Bulldog and Owen another chance, next week we get Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger in a qualifying match. But why? It sucked so hard at SummerSlam two years earlier. We get a damn recap of the entire Lex Express angle. Don’t remind us of how terrible it was please.
Overall: 6/10. Hey, we got a pretty episode here. The Bulldog/Owen match was one of the better ones all year long on Raw, but the finish and booking was pretty dumb. Skip and Savio had decent at best debuts and the Bret promo was alright. Still, a rather easy watch. |
|
