Monday Nitro #105
Date: September 15, 1997
Location: Independence Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone

It’s the night after Fall Brawl and to the shock of no one paying attention, the NWO beat up WCW again last night. This time though they did it with the help of Curt Hennig, who turned on the Horsemen last night and slammed the cage door on Flair’s head. The NWO won WarGames after Mongo submitted to make the NWO stop beating on Flair, which of course they did anyway. Halloween Havoc is in about six weeks. Let’s get to it.

We open with a shot of Flair in the emergency room and Tony says he can’t do the show tonight. Apparently Flair got him into the business and he’s too disturbed to do this. Well if that’s what we get from Flair having his head crushed, I can’t say I’m that upset.

Dean Malenko vs. Disco Inferno

Dean has a bad knee from last night thanks to Jarrett. Disco arm drags him down but walks into a clothesline like the idiot that he is. Malenko pounds away which isn’t exactly his norm. A leg lariat puts Disco down but he rakes the eyes to break up the Cloverleaf. Inferno tries a double ax off the middle rope but jumps into a punch to the ribs. Back to the stomping for Dean which is something you almost never get to say.

Disco gets up an elbow in the corner to slow Dean down but charges into a powerslam. Dean hammers away but can’t get into it because A, he’s Dean Malenko and B, his knee is messed up. Disco, FINALLY having a brain, goes after the big bandage on the knee. Malenko can barely even run the ropes but he’s pulling a Bret Hart as he grabs Disco in the double underhook powerbomb and Cloverleafs him for the win.

Rating: C-. Disco was just a foil here but Dean was selling the knee very well. Note the difference here between his selling and most regular selling: Dean actually changed up his style because of an injury rather than doing his regular stuff and holding his knee. That’s a BIG difference and it makes an injury that much more believable.

Eddie is on WCW.com.

Faces of Fear vs. Harlem Heat

Mike runs down the card for the rest of the card and it’s rather refreshing over hearing Tony’s same stuff over and over. Stevie and Meng start things off and Meng be clubberin. Barbarian comes in illegally and Stevie clears the ring. Off to Booker but the monsters double team him down and take over. A double headbutt keeps Booker down in the corner and it’s off to Barbarian.

Raven is sitting in the crowd. Back to Stevie who gets choked down by Meng as things slow down. Back to Barbie for more slow chops and strikes and an even slower choke. Ray comes back with a falling suplex and there’s the hot tag to Booker. He cleans house as everything breaks down but Meng gets Booker in the Tongan Death Grip for the win.

Rating: D+. This was a pretty slow paced match that didn’t really work all that well. As I’ve talked about before, there’s no reason for these teams to be fighting when no one ever gets a title shot at the Outsiders other than the Steiners on occasion. The Faces of Fear were fine for what they were but they never went anywhere.

Gene talks to Page (and even fires off a Diamond Cutter sign) and apparently it’s going to be Page vs. Savage III at Halloween Havoc.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera

Rey takes off his mask to reveal another one before giving the original to the crowd. Not only is this cool, but Mike’s panicking when Rey unhooked the match was hilarious. Mysterio immediately takes him down for two but Juvy escapes into a headlock. A flying headscissors puts Guerrera down again but Rey gets draped over the top. With Rey on the apron, Juvy hits a running sunset bomb out to the floor in a SICK looking bump.

A suplex back in sets up a slingshot legdrop from Juvy for two. Rey counters a powerbomb into a seated senton for no count as Juvy is in the ropes and things start speeding up. A kind of Sky High from Rey gets two as does a top rope rana. Juvy comes right back with a falling back powerbomb to put both guys down. This is starting to get pretty awesome. Juvy misses a charge into the corner and winds up on the floor so Rey can hit a BIG flip dive over the corner into a seated senton to take both guys out. Back in and Juvy springboards into a powerbomb and a perfectly smooth West Coast Pop gets the pin.

Rating: B. Take two cruiserweights, give them seven minutes and let them wow the crowd. It worked time after time and it worked here again. This was nothing but a spot fest and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s WCW sticking with the idea of something for everyone again and it works here again. Really good stuff here.

Rey says he’s coming for Konnan.

TV Title: Alex Wright vs. Steven Regal

Regal is challenging. Wright immediately takes him down with an armdrag and it’s time to dance! They trade arm control until Regal takes him down to the mat with an arm hold of his own. Nice job of trading the same moves there. A big slap to the face staggers Wright so he comes back with European uppercuts from one European to the other.

The crowd actually cheers for Regal which isn’t something you often hear. That’s a good sign for Wright as a heel if nothing else. Alex dances a bit and Regal dropkicks him down to a face pop. Both guys collide and hit the mat to give them a breather. The challenger wins a slugout but can’t get the Regal Stretch on before Alex makes the rope. They trade rollups until Regal is sent into the corner and staggers into a German suplex to retain the title.

Rating: C+. Wright is definitely getting over as a heel and Regal is as solid as ever. This title would bounce around more than any other in the company which made for exciting periods, but the feuds never really went anywhere. At the end of the day, there weren’t a ton of feuds going on and that’s why the title didn’t mean much for a good while.

Ray Traylor will fight any member of the NWO if they’re man enough to face him.

Konnan vs. The Giant

Apparently Tony can’t bring himself out to do commentary. Still a sweet show so far. Giant tosses Konnan to the floor to start and the beating begins. Konnan tries to fire off some shots but they have no effect. We head to the floor again with Konnan trying to run but getting a headbutt for his efforts. Back in and Konnan is in BIG trouble as he gets slammed down. We head to the floor yet again and Konnan gets in some shots as they come back in, only to jump into the chokeslam for the pin. Total squash.

Hour #2 begins and STILL NO TONY!

Nitro Girls do their thing.

The announcers discuss if the Horsemen are dead or not. Larry is SURE that Curt was in the NWO since he got here.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Stevie Richards

Stevie tunes up the band before getting in the Crane stance from Karate Kid. Page gives him the Diamond sign before starting to pound on the shoulder. A gutwrench gutbuster puts Richards down but Richards manages to guillotine him on the top rope. Raven is watching intently. Richards hits a running elbow in the corner before getting punched in the face for his efforts. TKO ends this easily for Page.

Rating: D. This was just to do more stuff with Raven vs. Stevie, even though Richards wouldn’t be around much longer at all. Page was just killing time before the next match with Savage before he could head towards the rest of his feud with the NWO. Actually I think he would be fighting Raven soon too.

Raven slaps Richards and sends him to the floor post match before leaving through the crowd.

Tag Titles: Outsiders vs. Wrath/Mortis

Hall and Mortis start things off with the Outsiders making fun of how over the top the challengers are. Scott cranks on the arm before pounding away but Mortis comes back with a big kick. He then spits on Hall’s body, despite wearing am ask meaning the spit would go nowhere. Hall comes right back with the fallaway slam and it’s off to Wrath vs. Nash.

Big Kev pounds him into the corner but Wrath throws him into the opposite corner and beats the TAR out of Nash, including getting two off a bicycle kick. Off to Mortis for a Russian legsweep and a middle rope legdrop for two each. A Syxx distraction lets Nash get in the big boot to both guys. The Jackknife ends Mortis.

Rating: C+. WAY better than I was expecting here, which is what I’ve wound up saying about every Mortis/Wrath match I’ve seen so far. Wrath had potential if he never had to talk, but since it was WCW he wound up being fed to people like Nash and Rick Steiner for the sake of making the old guys look good. The fans were getting into this when the Outsiders were in trouble. Naturally Hall and Nash wouldn’t be beaten for the titles until January.

Here are Bischoff and Hogan flanked by the rest of the NWO. Flair’s music plays and here’s Hennig in Flair’s red robe. Just getting everyone into the ring took SEVEN MINUTES. Hennig is welcomed into the team and gets hit in the head with a drink. Curt talks about how good it felt to slam the door on Ric’s head last night and join the greatest wrestling organization in wrestling history. He gives the robe to Hogan and we get an evil laugh.

Savage says he’ll beat DDP at Havoc. Hogan talks about how Piper was President of the WWF and tried to boss him around. I’ll leave it to you all as an exercise to figure out how stupid that line is. Now Piper has lied about going home to his family. Hall and Hogan tell Piper to come visit him “down here” (basically the NWO version of Suck It) and say Sting won’t be a problem after that. This was nearly 14 minutes of NOTHING.

Video on Piper vs. Hogan.

Cruiserweight Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Ultimo Dragon

Eddie won the title last night. They immediately head to the mat but it’s a standoff. With no one being able to get an advantage, Dragon offers a test of strength. Apparently Eddie isn’t interested as he kicks Dragon down and then dropkicks him in the mask. Eddie cranks on the arm for a bit and even throws in an old fashioned hammerlock slam ala Arn Anderson. A few European uppercuts stagger Dragon but Eddie charges into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to reset things a bit.

Eddie sends Dragon into the corner and there’s the headstand in the corner. Its hypnotic powers continue to astound and Eddie gets kicked in the face. A BIG running Liger Bomb gets a near fall for Dragon so it’s time for a freaking giant swing. Dragon’s arm goes out before he can really get going, but he still manages to counter an Eddie powerbomb.

Guerrero tries to send him into the corner but gets caught in a regular sleeper that grows a tail and breathes enough fire to turn into the Dragon Sleeper. Eddie somehow kicks Dragon in the head to escape, followed by a shoulder breaker (psychology!) and the Frog Splash retains. Nice to see the arm work earlier coming back more than once.

Rating: B-. Even more good stuff from the cruiserweights here as Eddie begins his reign on top. Dragon was a good guy to put in a spot like this as he’s been established as solid already but isn’t going to get the title off Eddie yet. Good stuff here too with both guys flying around but not so much to make it a spot fest. Eddie was on fire back then.

Nitro Girls.

US Title: Steve McMichael vs. Curt Hennig

Mongo is both defending and out for revenge at the same time. He sprints to the ring and the fight is on fast. Hennig decks him fast but Mongo stares him down. He throws Hennig down but McMichael can’t even hit a double ax handle right. Hennig takes the knee out and wraps it around the post before cannonballing down onto it ala Flair. Off to a reverse Figure Four but Mongo pokes him in the eye to break out. Hennig takes Mongo right back down and works on the knee even more.

Mongo comes back with some kicks (remember what I said about psychology earlier?) but Curt pounds him down and works on the leg even more. Steve throws Curt into the corner and yells at him a lot before throwing Hennig into the corner for the crotching. Mongo hits some clotheslines and an atomic drop to REALLY emphasize that he isn’t selling the leg. Hennig gets rammed into three buckles but avoids the three point stance charge. Mongo hits the bottom buckle (not really but close enough) and the PerfectPlex gives the NWO the title.

Rating: D. To clarify, anything bad about this is ALL on Mongo. He couldn’t sell, he couldn’t hit a buckle, and he couldn’t even hit a freaking DOUBLE AX HANDLE properly. You put your hands together and whack a guy in the back. Thankfully they kept this short and it was clear that there was no way Mongo was winning here. This was pretty much it for Mongo as far as anything important. Also, how weird is it to see the title change completely clean like that?

Overall Rating: B-. More good wrestling here but it’s getting annoying seeing WCW get strong one week and then get crushed even harder a week later. Unfortunately once the time came for WCW to get their big win, that got screwed up too. There’s some good wrestling here though and the shows were really getting into a groove at this point.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown (700^th Episode)
Date: January 18, 2013
Location: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re getting very close to the Rumble and there’s a new world champion that the winner could challenge. Tonight is Del Rio’s fiesta for winning the title which is likely to open the show. Big Show is going to get his rematch at the Rumble so look for the interruption from him. There isn’t much else to talk about here so let’s get to it.

Apparently the Rock Concert is on Smackdown tonight. That sounds like a replay to me.

I was right as we open with a mariachi band and a dancing girl in the ring. Ricardo handles the introductions of course and I can’t help but like Del Rio a lot now. I don’t know if it’s the white suit or what but this face turn is perfect for him. Del Rio says we haven’t always seen eye to eye but we can celebrate that Big Show isn’t world champion anymore. They seem to really be cranking up the fake pops tonight.

Cue Ziggler who is here to crash the party. Del Rio says this is his party and apparently doesn’t want them here. Ziggler says that Alberto doesn’t have the world title but rather a target on his head. Dolph introduces Del Rio and Ricardo to Langston so Del Rio says get out of here. Ziggler says how about I have Langston drop you right here and I leave with the title. Del Rio says try it and here’s Big Show. Dolph says Del Rio is outnumbered so here’s Sheamus.

The pale one talks about his history with Del Rio, including stealing his car in San Antonio. Del Rio deserves to be champion though and Sheamus shakes his hand. Sheamus offers to be the bouncer for the fiesta and the fight is about to begin when Booker come out. Yep, it’s another tag match. I wouldn’t mind these as much if they didn’t spend ten minutes setting up something that should take 30 seconds. The heels leave and Booker gives us a Spinarooni to mariachi music. Sheamus does the Irish version of the Mexican hat dance.

Kofi Kingston vs. Antonio Cesaro

Non-title and no entrance for the champion anyway. Kofi cartwheels away to start before firing off some forearms. Cesaro grabs the gutwrench suplex to take Kofi down but Kingston starts jumping around and hitting some more forearms to take over. JBL throws in that this is episode 700 like an afterthought. That’s certainly a change of pace. The SOS gets two for Kofi so he goes up, only to dive into the Neutralizer (Switzerland, neutral. Oh I get it.) for the pin at 2:59. Not much above a squash here. Who did Kofi tick off lately?

Cesaro waves an American flag post match.

Miz shakes his head in the back when Epico, Primo and Rosa come in to laugh at him. They talk about Flair and Miz’s segment on Raw and suggest a match tonight. Miz doesn’t care which it is, which is appropriate as no one cares about Miz as a face.

Great Khali vs. Tensai

They circle each other to start as the announcers talk about monster movies. Khali fires off the chops as Josh desperately tries to make Tensai seem like a threat to anything more than a buffet. Tensai charges into a boot in the corner and the big chop gets the pin at 1:28.

Natalya and Khali dance a bit. JBL: “Does the Anvil know his daughter is a Punjabi princess?”

HELL NO is in the back and wonders why Dr. Shelby thought bringing in the Rhodes Scholars was a good idea. Bryan makes fun of Cody’s facial hair and Kane stares at him. This develops into an argument until Orton glares them down. They have a six man tonight. Bryan points out that Orton isn’t a champion at the moment which ticks him off a bit. After they win their match tonight, GROUP HUG! Randy: “I’m not much of a hugger.” Bryan: “Not yet you’re not.” That came off a little bit creepy.

HELL NO/Randy Orton vs. Rhodes Scholars/Wade Barrett

Randy wants Barrett to start but gets Cody instead. Off to Kane for his low dropkick which gets two before it’s off to Bryan. A double ax to the arm slows Cody down even more and it’s time to crank on it a bit. Daniel fires off his kicks to Cody’s chest before it’s off to Sandow who has to run away from the NO Lock. The heels regroup on the floor as we take a break.

Back with Sandow working over Kane before it’s off to Cody. He’s worried about hurting his mustache I guess because it’s off to Damien again for the Wind-Up Elbow. Kane slugs Barrett down for a bit but walks into Winds of Change for two. Cody’s Disaster Kick jumps into an uppercut though and it’s a double tag off to Sandow and Orton. Randy starts cleaning house but gets caught in Cross Rhodes for two. Rhodes gets shoved to the floor by Kane and it’s the RKO for the pin on Damien at 4:21 shown of 7:51.

Rating: C-. This was another short match in a series of them tonight. There’s just not enough time to really develop anything here but combining feuds is always a good idea. Then again that’s assuming Barrett and Orton are really feuding, because they only had one match and I don’t think they had more than about three seconds of contact here tonight. Still though, nothing terrible here.

Orton gets hugged and looks annoyed.

Here’s the ENTIRE Rock Concert from Raw and the post concert brawl.

The Miz vs. Primo

Dang that’s kind of a drop isn’t it? Miz starts by doing the Flair slick back of his hair. Primo gets annoyed by yet another Flair tribute character (please don’t let that be the case) and pounds away. A low dropkick to the face gets two for Primo and it’s off to a chinlock with a bodyscissors. Miz fights up from his knees as JBL talks about Heath Slater’s mom. Josh defends her and the deadpan voice JBL responds with is hilarious. “Do you consider Heath Slater’s mom a wrestling analyst?”

Primo keeps pounding away but Miz comes back with left hands of his own. They’re both left handed here which is a pretty odd thing to see. JBL takes a shot at TNA by saying that teams like the LOD, the Killer Bees and the Dudleys never made it as singles wrestlers. Miz rolls through a sunset flip and kicks Primo in the face to take over. JBL says very few people are like him and very few people are like Josh “thank God.” Epico distracts Miz to let Primo get in a chop block before being rammed into his cousin. Miz finishes him with the Figure Four at 5:44.

Rating: D+. Boring match but hilarious commentary here. I don’t know what they’re shooting for with Miz, but pairing him with Flair isn’t the answer. Miz’s main problem is that he’s still the same jerk he was beforehand, and Flair isn’t exactly going to humble him. Having Miz use the Figure Four is going to get annoying fast, just like it did when AJ used it in TNA.

The Divas celebrate Katilyn’s title win and Layla is admiring the belt a little too much. Booker and Teddy come up to congratulate her as well.

Kaitlyn vs. Aksana

They lock up to start and Kaitlyn takes her to the mat with a front facelock. A not very snappy suplex gets two for the champion (this is non-title) and Aksana shoves her to the floor. Aksana hooks a chinlock before I think trying to work on the shoulder. They start brawling on the mat with Aksana keeping control. Out of absolutely NOWHERE Kaitlyn hits a bad spear for the win at 3:30.

Rating: D-. This started off bland and got even worse. Aksana is just horrible in the ring and can’t do anything right. You could tell they ran out of stuff to do at about two minutes in and it turned into a sloppy brawl with a bad spear ending it. This division is dying for someone like Finlay to actually teach them how to wrestle a four minute match.

Mick Foley Hall of Fame video. Cool stuff. This is where it helps when WWE owns basically every piece of video ever and can put almost every highlight Foley has ever had into this.

We recap Ryback and Shield from Monday.

Shield does their usual thing and calls out Ryback, Sheamus and Orton. The reason they attacked Foley was because Foley set an example that led to a lot of people trying to be hardcore and injuring themselves in the process. That’s not a terrible explanation and makes as much sense as anything else.

Orton and Sheamus are watching the promo and say bring it on Shield. Sheamus apologizes for not being there to help Orton at Main Event when Shield attacked. Orton says he didn’t need help and talk turns to the Rumble, which both guys say they’ll win.

Big Show/Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus/Alberto Del Rio

Ziggy and Del Rio get things going here. After escaping a quick wristlock, Del Rio takes Dolph down and tries a middle rope moonsault. That goes nowhere so Alberto launches him into the air for two. Off to Sheamus to pound away on Ziggler as is his custom. A delayed vertical gets two but White Noise is escaped. Show comes in and pounds away on him in the corner before sending Sheamus to the outside. Langston gets involved and a fight nearly breaks out but the referee ejects Big E before it can go too far. AJ is tossed too.

We take a break and come back with Ziggler holding a chinlock on Del Rio but the champion comes out of it with a German suplex. The hot tag brings in Sheamus and as usual, Ziggler gets beaten up. Show interferes to send Sheamus off the top and out to the floor and actually give Ziggler a chance. Off to Show officially to stand on Sheamus’ back and lay on his leg. From his back, Sheamus manages to fire off the forearms to the chest to escape the hold but Show drops an elbow on his back to stop the tag.

A side slam gets two for Show and Show hits his Vader Bomb. He goes up for another one and you know that move isn’t hitting twice in one night. There’s the hot tag to Del Rio who cleans house on Ziggler. A low superkick to Dolph gets two followed by the cross armbreaker but Show makes the save. Sheamus pops back in for White Noise on Show to send him to the apron. Del Rio kicks the big man to the floor before throwing a bucket of water in his face (remember what happened on Raw) and Show walks out instead of fighting for the countout at 11:35 show of 15:05.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t bad here and it gives us some more friction between Show and Del Rio. Sheamus and Ziggler were just there to fill in two spots in the ring which is fine. This was about setting up stuff for later and there’s nothing wrong with that when the card for the Rumble is already set. Good little main event here.

Red, white and green balloons fall to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This is a hard show to grade. The first hour or so of the show is just there and most of the stuff is too short to grade. On the other hand nothing is really bad (other than the Divas but who cares about them anyway) and the main event was fun. This is WAY below what we had last week but a show being ok and having nothing of note being terrible is a step up for Smackdown anymore.

Results

Antonio Cesaro b. Kofi Kingston – Neutralizer

Great Khali b. Tensai – Chop to the head

HELL NO/Randy Orton b. Rhodes Scholars/Wade Barrett – RKO to Sandow

The Miz b. Primo – Figure Four Leg Lock

Kaitlyn b. Aksana – Spear

Sheamus/Alberto Del Rio b. Big Show/Dolph Ziggler via countout

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

This is something I’ve gotten asked a good deal recently and I want to clarify it.My favorite baseball team is the Cleveland Indians.  That means I like them better than all other teams.  That does NOT mean I think they’re the best.  Anyone who follows baseball can tell that there are many better teams.  The same is true in wrestling.  My favorite wrestler is Mick Foley, but I certainly don’t think he’s the best ever.  There’s a very big difference between best and favorite, which needs to be remembered.

Royal Rumble 2004
Date: January 25, 2004
Location: Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 17,289
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz, Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

This is the show where you can really see the next generation rising up. The main events other than the Rumble are Lesnar vs. Holly and HBK vs. HHH. Ok so maybe the next generation only comes up in the Rumble. Other than that we don’t have much going on here but this show is all about Benoit in the Rumble. Let’s get to it.

The opening video talks about Shawn vs. HHH because that’s what people are watching the ROYAL RUMBLE for right? The theme of the video is that things can change in the blink of an eye.

Raw Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. Evolution

Flair and Batista are defending here and this is a tables match. Coach is ticked off at the Dudleys for putting him through a table six nights ago on Raw, because if there’s one man you need to give a reason to be a heel, it’s COACH. Batista makes fun of the Eagles because he hasn’t broken through to the other side of the glass ceiling yet. The fight starts in the aisle as you would expect. This is one table to a finish, meaning only one guy has to go through to end it.

Bubba slides in a table but shoves it hard enough that it slides across the ring and hits Batista in the ribs on the other side of the floor. Flair gets double teamed to start and caught in a powerslam by D-Von. There’s a table set up in the ring but Batista moves it before Flair gets suplexed through it. D-Von hits a Cactus Clothesline on Batista as Flair chops Bubba against a table in the corner.

Big Dave comes back in with some clotheslines to clean house but misses a charge into the post. The belly to back neckbreaker from the Dudleys puts him down and it’s Flair getting double teamed again. According to JR, the Dudleys are the only team to win the (non-vacant) world tag team titles at the Rumble. Coach heads to the ring to distract the Dudleys and prevent a 3D to Flair. Flair saves Coach and Batista hits a spinebuster to put D-Von through a table to retain.

Rating: D. This match fell into the same trap that all bad tables matches fall into: the dull set of spots that fail until one works for the win. You rarely get something that gets around this through sheer carnage such as the match at the 2000 Rumble, but this was just terrible. I have no idea what they were going for here as the fans were disappointed and they only had four and a half minutes to get into it. Also: real smart WWE. This is the right way to start a show in Philadelphia: have some of the most famous ECW guys ever lose.

Cena raps about winning the Rumble when RVD comes in to steal the joke. Weed jokes are made. Josh Matthews looks like the king of all tools here.

There’s an empty seat for Mick Foley in the front row.

Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Jamie Noble

Rey is defending. This is during the Nidia is Blind phase which didn’t do anything for anyone. They speed things WAY up to start with Jamie avoiding the 619 and launching Rey into the air to take over. The champ gets draped over the top rope for two and a hard kick to the back gets the same.

Jamie hooks a chinlock which shifts into a seated abdominal stretch. Rey fights up and hits a dropkick and a springboard rana followed by the sitout bulldog for two. He springboards into a gutbuster from Noble for two though and momentum shifts again. Nidia accidentally grabs Noble’s foot, allowing Rey to hit the 619 and springboard legdrop…..for the pin? Huh?

Rating: D+. This was fast paced while it lasted, but those three words are the key: while it lasted. This barely broke three minutes which simply isn’t enough for a PPV title match. Unless I was missing it there was no sign of an injury or anything like that, but the match ends that fast. I have no idea what they were going for here but it didn’t work in any way at all. That’s a shame too because they were going well while it lasted.

Noble yells at Nidia post match.

We recap the battle of the Guerreros. Eddie was clearly the bigger star which was fine while they were champions, but once they lost the belts to the Bashams, Chavo blamed Eddie and turned on his uncle for losing his title. The Guerreros almost made up but they lost the rematch, after which Chavo let Eddie get double teamed by the Bashams. This was actually a pretty solid story despite how basic it was. Sometimes less is more. Oh and Kurt Angle was playing peacemaker and Chavo Guerrero Senior is in his son’s corner.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero

Chavo bails to the floor before the bell and the fans are totally behind Eddie here. They fight over a lockup to start with no one being able to get an advantage. Chavo slaps Eddie in the face and now we’re ready to go. We hit the mat for a bit before Eddie starts snapping off chops in the corner. Chavo shoulders him down and we have a standoff. They chop it out again and Eddie goes to the eye like a true Guerrero.

Back to the mat with Eddie working on the arm before Chavo nips up and hooks a rana to send them both to the floor. Chavo sends Eddie into the announce table to finally take over and get some of the aggression going. Back in and they get into a kind of MMA style brawl on the mat until Eddie hooks a cross armbreaker of all things. That goes nowhere so Chavo suplexes Eddie down for two, followed by the Three Amigos. Eddie counters a tornado DDT and hits Three Amigos of his own. Chavo is down so Eddie goes up and hits the Frog Splash for the pin. ANOTHER quick ending tonight.

Rating: C+. This was way better than the other matches, but this felt like it was missing fifteen minutes or so. Three matches so far have combined to be about fifteen minutes long which is pretty lame for a modern PPV, even for the Rumble. This could have been a lot more, but the feud was completely done after tonight. Eddie would become #1 contender on the following Smackdown.

Eddie destroys Chavo post match in a pretty heelish display. Chavo gets busted open.

Ad for Mick Foley’s Greatest Hits and Misses. That’s the most entertaining part of the show so far.

Benoit likes his odds even though he’s #1 in the Rumble. Evolution comes up and says Orton is going to win the Rumble. Flair says Benoit may be great, but this is about Evolution tonight.

We recap Hardcore Holly vs. Lesnar. Brock broke Holly’s neck (legit) and Holly gets a world title shot out of it a year later. This is the textbook definition of the Rumble title shot where no one buys the champion as being in any danger whatsoever.

Smackdown World Title: Brock Lesnar vs. Hardcore Holly

Holly jumps Lesnar in the aisle and sends him into the post because he wants to break Lesnar’s neck. We get a bell and Holly misses an elbow off the top to give Brock control. They head to the floor where Holly’s back is rammed into the apron and Lesnar hooks a reverse body vice back inside. That goes nowhere so Brock hits a Shell Shock for two and it’s right back to the hold.

We shift to a bearhug and then one of the most wicked overhead belly to belly suplexes you’ll ever see. Off to a kind of rear naked choke by Lesnar to keep things dull. Holly makes his comeback with the dropkick and hits the Alabama Slam but goes for a full nelson and revenge instead of the title. Holly hooks the hold and goes to the floor with it but has to break the count. The F5 hits a few seconds later to complete the inevitable.

Rating: D. This was Brock Lesnar defending the world title against Hardcore Holly on pay per view. If you can’t figure out why this got the rating it got, I can’t help you.

We recap HHH vs. HBK which is allegedly seven years in the making. I’m guessing THIS is supposed to be the FINAL blowoff to their feud instead of the classic in 2002.

Raw World Title: Shawn Michaels vs. HHH

HHH is defending and this is a last man standing match. They chop it out to start and punch each other in the corner a lot. Shawn tries a backslide before realizing that makes no sense here, so it’s back to the chops. Michaels gets caught in a facebuster as things slow down a bit. A HARD whip into the corner has Shawn’s back in trouble and a backbreaker makes it even worse.

Out of nowhere Shawn takes out the leg and hooks a Figure Four, because where would we be without a Flair tribute? That gets a five count so Shawn hits a chop block for a four. HHH low bridges Shawn and we head to the floor for a bit. HHH loads up the announce table but Shawn blocks a Pedigree attempt. They slug it out on the table with HHH getting knocked to the floor, drawing a bunch of booing from the bloodthirsty Philadelphia fans.

Back in and Shawn counters a Pedigree with a backdrop to the floor but he injures his back in the process. Shawn tries a springboard cross body to the floor but crashes through the table instead as only he can. Instead of letting the now busted open Shawn get counted out, HHH throws him back in for the count, which reaches seven. The champ pounds Shawn down a few times for a few counts, most of which don’t get that far.

A fast spinebuster (literally, as Shawn was flying at HHH and it almost looked like a belly to belly instead of a spinebuster) gets about six. That’s the problem with most last man standing matches: it’s a big move then standing around for the count. That makes it very hard to get any kind of flow going to the match. HHH cracks Shawn in the back with a chair but Shawn gets up again. A Pedigree onto the chair is countered into a slingshot into the post, busting HHH open as well.

Now Shawn cracks HHH in the head with a chair, allowing HHH to do his weird “my head hurts and I’m not sure where I am” face. There’s the forearm followed by the nipup from Shawn, followed by an atomic drop and the top rope elbow. That gets about seven so Shawn tunes up the band, only to walk into a low blow to put both guys down. Shawn hooks a sleeper which eventually gets an eight count before walking into a DDT to put both guys down.

That gets a double eight count before we head to the corner. HHH tries a belly to back superplex but Shawn counters into a cross body for another double eight count. The Pedigree hits but it’s only good for a nine. Shawn pops up out of nowhere with some more Sweet Chin Music, putting both guys down for ten which keeps the title on HHH.

Rating: C-. The problem here is exactly what I said earlier: this was a lot of laying around. The last seven minutes or so had about five moves combined, as most of the match was “move, lay down, move, lay down, move, lay down.” The idea is supposed to be a ton of drama, but that didn’t happen here. Shawn would turn into a jerk in the next few weeks and insert himself in the Mania main event because of this ending.

Rumble video with a focus on Benoit.

The Fink is ready to start the Rumble but here’s Bischoff to run his mouth. He says that a Raw guy is going to win the Rumble because he’s respected as a GM. He runs down ECW, which brings out Heyman for a brawl. Cue Austin on his ATV to say that these two are both in violation of the law (he was called Sheriff Austin at this point) and wants to know who started it. Heyman and Bischoff: “HE DID!” Both guys get Stunners and the fans love it.

Goldberg, #30 in the Rumble, doesn’t get to talk because Lesnar comes in to interrupt him. Lesnar is called a coward, which will come into play later.

JR has to admit Foley is a coward because he isn’t here yet.

Royal Rumble

Benoit is #1 and the Intercontinental Champion Randy Orton is #2. Two minute intervals here again. They pound away on each other to start with Benoit taking him to the mat to stomp away. Mark Henry is #3 when he was a fat power guy with no direction at all. Allow me to be more specific: he’s still with Teddy Long. Benoit gets double teamed for awhile until Tajiri is #4. These intervals don’t seem to be two minutes or anywhere close to it.

The handspring elbow takes Orton down but Benoit rolls some Germans on Tajiri to take him down. Tajiri only gets two as I guess Benoit is conserving strength. Henry throws Orton to the apron but stops looking like an idiot. Bradshaw is #5 and he immediately clotheslines down everyone not named Benoit. Benoit takes offense to being left out and puts Bradshaw in the Crossface before pulling Bradshaw out. Eh he would get a nine month title reign stating in the summer so I feel no sympathy for him.

Rhyno is #6 as we’re flying through this so far. He goes after the two starters as Tajiri fires off kicks on Henry. Tajiri gets a half Tarantula on Henry but Henry gets Gored, knocking Tajiri out in the process. Benoit clotheslines Henry out and we’re down to three again. Matt Hardy is #7 and Benoit throws him to the apron almost immediately. In FAR less than two minutes, here’s Scott Steiner at #8. Oh dear it’s Scott Steiner at the Royal Rumble. This could be a disaster.

He starts firing off suplexes immediately but at least this time there are some t-bones to go with the belly to bellies. Benoit rolls some Germans on him as if to say THIS IS HOW YOU SUPLEX SOMEBODY. Things slow down a bit and here’s Matt Morgan at #9. He takes Benoit down with a Batista Bomb takes Benoit down and pounds away on Orton in the corner.

The Hurricane is #10 and comes in off the top with a cross body to Hardy. He goes after Morgan for no apparent reason and is thrown out in less than twenty seconds. Morgan throws Hardy to the apron again but can’t get him out. Booker T, complete with the stupid remix of his theme music with Booker singing, is #11. Booker immediately goes after Steiner in a revisiting of their WCW feud that no one was asking for.

Nothing of note happens until Kane is #12. This is after he buried Taker alive. For the first time. Steiner gets dumped by Booker during Kane’s entrance. Kane starts firing off chokeslams and other various power moves for which he is well known. The clock runs down at #13 and there go the lights. A gong goes off and Kane PANICS. Booker uses the distraction to dump Kane and here’s Spike Dudley at #13. He never makes it to the ring as Kane destroys him for setting off the gong.

Everyone tries to throw each other out while laying on the ropes until Rikishi is #14. Benoit dumps Rhyno to keep us at six people (Benoit, Orton, Rikishi, Booker, Morgan, Hardy) in the ring. Morgan gets a Stinkface and nothing else happens for a bit. Renee Dupree with the French Tickler is #15. In a surprising moment, Dupree actually knocks Matt out, only to be superkicked out by Rikishi a second later.

A-Train is #16 and goes right for Rikishi. Benoit avoids the yet to be named Carbon Footprint and dumps Morgan. I love that they’re keeping the ring from getting full. Orton dumps Rikishi and Booker as Shelton Benjamin is #17. Benoit dumps A-Train during his entrance and Orton dumps Shelton a few seconds later to get us back to two. Orton pounds on him a bit but they crack heads to put both guys down.

Lamont, the announcer for Ernest Miller (complete with the music that would go to Brodus Clay eight years later), runs out to introduce the Cat at #18. After some dancing (and singing by Tazz), Orton dumps him out. Miller would be released in like two weeks. Kurt Angle is #19 and he might be a bit harder to get out. He’s fighting for AMERICA here so the fans tell him he sucks.

Benoit and Angle destroy each other with chops and punches as only they can while Orton is content to chill in the corner. Rico, now in his Adrian Street phase, is #20. He fires off some kicks but lasts about as long as you would expect him to in a match with Orton, Angle and Benoit. The RKO takes care of Rico as Benoit rolls a ton of Germans on Angle. Test is #21…..and is nowhere in sight.

Orton RKO’s Angle and we cut to the back to see Test unconscious. Austin sees someone off camera and says they’re #21. The off camera man and presumable attacker: MICK FREAKING FOLEY! Orton, the guy who spat in Foley’s face and called him a coward, PANICS. The place goes nuts and Foley explodes on Orton, beating him half to death and hitting a Cactus Clothesline to put both of them out. This would lead to some AWESOME matches at Mania and Backlash which put Orton up to the world title in August.

Foley keeps beating on Orton as Christian is #22. Mick picks up the steps and BLASTS a security guy who tries to stop him. Orton comes back with two chair shots and fires back at Mick. They brawl up the ramp and Foley pulls out Socko, only to put it on Nunzio who comes in at #23. We haven’t seen anything of the match for awhile but I can live with that for a hot brawl like this. Orton kicks Foley low and runs as we go back to the ring.

Angle is getting double teamed as Nunzio is down on the floor. Big Show is #24 and apparently that’s Tazz’s pick. Thankfully he’s in the singlet and shorts again instead of the one piece swimsuit. Angle immediately goes after him but Show throws everyone around. Jericho is #25 as he’s in a weird phase of his career. He wasn’t a main event guy anymore but he had feuded with everyone in the midcard already so he just kind of hung around and filled in spots on the card.

All four guys go after Big Show (who has a head like a typewriter according to Tazz) but they can’t get him out. Charlie Haas is #26 but gets double teamed by Jericho and Christian. Currently we have Benoit, Angle, Jericho, Christian, Haas, Big Show and Nunzio who is on the floor. Jericho backdrops Christian out for the second year in a row as Billy Gunn is #27. Apparently this is a return for him. It’s Fameassers all around and then things slow down again.

John Cena is #28 and that pop is growing at an alarming rate. Show stares him down so Cena throws Nunzio in to kill some time. Nunzio goes after Show for some reason but Cena takes over for him to make it fair. RVD is #29 to a big pop of his own. It’s spin kicks all around until things settle down a bit. There’s an FU to Angle and Goldberg is #30. The final group: Benoit, Angle, Big Show, Jericho, Nunzio, Haas, Gunn, Cena, RVD and Goldberg. At least the ring didn’t fill up until the end so that’s not too bad.

Goldie spears a lot of people down to start before Nunzio jumps on his back like an idiot. Haas is put out and Nunzio takes a HUGE spear. Gunn is out as is Nunzio to get us down to seven. Goldberg loads up a Jackhammer on Show but Lesnar runs in with an F5 to break it up. Goldberg stares down Brock, allowing Angle to dump him out. All five remaining guys not named Big Show go after the one named Big Show but it still doesn’t work.

Everyone hits their finishers on Show instead with Cena (Show’s feud at the time) hitting the Shuffle instead of the FU, which I’m assuming they were saving for Mania. They try to dead lift Show and realize they screwed up by knocking a giant unconscious. Show shoves them all off and dumps Cena followed by Van Dam a few seconds later.

So it’s Big Show, Benoit, Angle and Jericho as the final four. Jericho gets sent to the apron twice and manages to hang on before bulldogging Show down. The Walls go on Show and he taps but Angle breaks the hold up for no apparent reason. Show chokeslams Benoit down but chokeslams Jericho even further, sending him to the floor to get us to three. A side slam puts Angle down and there’s another chokeslam to Benoit.

Show breaks up a German attempt from Angle but can’t block an Angle Slam. There’s a Slam to Benoit (it was a belly to back suplex but whatever) and the ankle lock to Show. Show taps again, but again it doesn’t mean anything. The big guy rolls through the hold and eliminates Angle in the process, getting us down to two.

Benoit dropkicks Show but knocks him back into the ring by mistake. A chokeslam is countered into the Crossface and Show taps again, but you know the drill by now. Show shrugs it off and picks Benoit up in a chokeslam. Benoit graps a front chancery though and pulls Show to the apron….then has him teetering on the ropes…..AND BENOIT WINS! The crowd kept getting louder as Benoit pulled further and further. Awesome sequence there.

Rating: A. There were some slow spots but this was ALL about Benoit and I can’t complain about that at all. The ending sequence here with all three submission guys making Show tap was a cool idea and different than the ending to any other Rumble. They didn’t throw a stupid curve here and made Benoit look like a star here, which is exactly what he was supposed to do. Great Rumble.

Overall Rating: B-. The Rumble is really REALLY good but the rest is horrible. Don’t watch the rest of the show, but if you’re a Benoit fan and can still sit through a long match of his, this is absolutely required viewing. Things would change a bit more the next year as two REALLY big names would be the stars of the Rumble, but that’s not for another year. For now, this was all about Benoit and he nailed it.

Ratings Comparison

Evolution vs. Dudley Boys

Original: C

Redo: D

Rey Mysterio vs. Jamie Noble

Original: N/A

Redo: D+

Chavo Guerrero vs. Eddie Guerero

Original: C+

Redo: C+

Brock Lesnar vs. Hardcore Holly

Original: D-

Redo: D

HHH vs. Shawn Michaels

Original: C+

Redo: C-

Royal Rumble

Original: A

Redo: A

Overall Rating

Original: C+

Redo: B-

Just as last time, the Rumble is the only thing worth seeing.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/23/royal-rumble-count-up-2004-he-who-must-not-be-named/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

NXT
Date: January 18, 2012
Location: Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

It’s the 100th episode of this accursed show and we’re in Vegas for a wedding. Naturally it’ll be here in the arena in front of an audience because that’s how wrestling works. Also we’re going to have Titus vs. Young for like the 9th time because that’s all we can do on this season. Something big has to happen tonight right? Let’s get to it.

The opening video is a recap of the wedding thing and the love triangle.

Theme song. This is the closest thing to an NXT Supershow we’ll ever have anymore I think.

Cole is on commentary tonight. Oh boy. I think this is just a one night return.

Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young

No DQ match. Young runs to the floor for a bit but back in the ring he gets run over by an elbow. Backbreaker gets two for Titus. Darren gets thrown to the floor an DO THE DOG BARK! A slam of some sort on the floor puts Darren down but he manages a neckbreaker on the apron to take Titus down and we take a break. Back with Darren getting two off something we missed.

Belly to back gets two. Off to a cravate and Young sends him into the corner. The gutbuster gets two. The No DQ aspect of this has meant nothing so far. Young sets for another gutbuster but since he used that already and isn’t a main event guy, Titus counters and sends him in for the Clash of the Titus and the pin at 5:57.

Rating: D. What in the world was the point of the No DQ rule? This was nothing special at all, which is probably due to Young being worthless on almost all counts. Titus is ok but there’s nothing left for him to do here. Hopefully this is the end of this feud because it’s gone on way too long.

Titus gets on the mic afterwards and says he wants to thank the fans. He wants to thank them for absolutely nothing. Titus goes on a rant about how he’s sick of doing everything for 46 weeks and getting stuck with a leprechaun for nothing. He’s the star of this show and the star of every show the WWE has to offer. Cole’s heckling kills this for a bit because he laughs instead of acting like this is something special. Thanks for nothing and now he’ll be making it a win for himself. Cole makes fun of him again, totally diminishing the shock value of the turn.

Heath Slater vs. Percy Watson

Watson takes over with a dropkick to start. Cole lists off his various accomplishments as Slater takes over. Cole asks about the Redemption Points thing and Josh isn’t sure how they work either. Slater takes over and there’s nothing interesting going on here. Josh and Cole argue about Lynyrd Skynyrd and Watson starts his comeback. He jumps around a lot but the fans seem more interested in Slater than Watson. Spinning splash gets two. Persecution ends this at 3:41.

Rating: D. Boring match again and we’re told that this was a rookie upsetting a Superstar. That’s so cute: they think people still care about something like that. Also, Slater qualifies as a Superstar? Isn’t that like 20 losses in a row for him? Boring match and the crowd shockingly didn’t care.

Maxine yells at the Usos. Jey sneezes on her dress.

Maxine yells at more people when Curtis shows up and says calm down. She goes off ranting and Kaitlyn comes up. Curtis hits on her and gets called creepy.

Yoshi Tatsu/Trent Barreta vs. Tyler Reks/Curt Hawkins

This match AGAIN? Wait why am I surprised by that? Trent vs. Curt starts us off but it’s off to Reks quickly. Yoshi jumps in with a top rope chop for two. Was there a tag that I missed? Josh brings up Cole not talking about Superstars enough. Cole says look what he did for Bryan and Hawkins gets two. Cole also says he had a role in keeping the title on Miz. Powerslam gets two for Reks.

Cole blasts the hypocrisy of people praising Bryan’s cash-in but blasting people like Edge. Double tag brings in Trent and Reks as this match is very forgettable. Running boot gets two for Trent. Cole says none of these guys are part of the competition which is true. I love Cole pointing out stupid stuff on here. Whisper in the Wind gets two for Barreta and everything breaks down. Reks loads up Barreta onto a shoulder like for a powerbomb but spins to the side into a DDT and the pin at 5:39.

Rating: D. I know I’ve used that every time but it’s been the case every time: the matches are ok but they’re nothing I’m going to remember after about five minutes. These are almost all matches we’ve seen before and there isn’t much of a reason to want to see them again. Boring stuff here, but it is interesting that there’s a tag division on NXT alone but the two biggest wrestling companies in the country can barely find a pair of teams for a PPV title defense.

Raw ReBound. Ace’s eruption is still pretty good.

The wedding set is built in the ring. Elvis is performing the ceremony. And it’s Striker as Elvis. He’s been ordained for a full five minutes. The fans aren’t impressed by his accent at all. Curtis is brought out who is in a leather jacket and a tuxedo t-shirt. There’s some guy with him who looks a little drunks. Maxine comes out and to be fair, she does look good in the dress. She yells about the drunk guy (Chad, who says he was promised a chance to meet Hillbilly Jim) but shuts up eventually.

We get to the vows and Curtis says yes. She says yes also but we get to the objection part and the crowd pops in expectation. You would think Bateman would come out there but actually Striker takes off the glasses (it was obvious it was him and not meant to be a secret I don’t think) and says “Really? No one here objects to this?” Funny line. Bateman finally comes out for the big overly dramatic objection and actually rocking a suit.

He says he didn’t send the e-mail, but Curtis did. Bateman shows us footage of Curtis stealing an iPad and sending the e-mail. It took him about 4 seconds to send an e-mail that took 20 seconds to read but whatever. Maxine freaks and Curtis says he wants Maxine to come with him to the top. She slaps him and the brawl between the guys breaks out. Bateman hits his finisher on Curtis and walks off. Maxine says wait and slaps Bateman then kisses him. And that’s it. No seriously, that’s the end of the show.

Overall Rating: F. I can’t believe that they actually ended like that. I come into NXT with no expectations at all anymore and somehow this came off as a disappointment. I think it might be that I’m trying to avoid yelling about how we just wasted 10 or so weeks going around in a circle to get back to Bateman and Maxine being together but I’m not quite sure. Where in the world do they go from here? I’m not sure, but I’ll bet it takes at least 2 months to do it. Just WOW.

Results
Titus O’Neal b. Darren Young – Clash of the Titus
Percy Watson b. Heath Slater – Persecution
Tyler Reks/Curt Hawkins b. Trent Barreta/Yoshi Tatsu

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: January 17, 2013
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Todd Keneley, Tazz, Mike Tenay

Tonight is about the wedding of Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan. For those of you that haven’t followed Impact Wrestling for awhile, you did indeed read that properly. Also we get to deal with the fallout from Genesis as we now have about two months before the next three hour PPV in Lockdown. Odds are we’re not going to really start building up to that for awhile yet. Let’s get to it.

The opening recap opens things up while recapping them.

Ray is getting his tuxedo ready and seems happy. Spike Dudley comes in (complete with taped glasses) and is followed by Tommy Dreamer. Apparently they’re his groomsmen.

Some Knockouts are Brooke’s bridesmaids. It’s not clear if Hulk is going to be there or not.

Here’s Hardy to open the show. He talks about retaining at Genesis and surviving against all odds. Hardy says he does what he does for the people and he’ll keep fighting for them forever. 2013 is going to be the year of Jeff Hardy so bring on the fights. This brings out Daniels and Kaz to talk about Daniels’ title shot next week which he won by beating Storm on Sunday. Daniels does his usual name jokes but Hardy wants to fight right now. Hardy gets beaten down until Storm runs in for the save. If you can’t figure out what this sets up, go read something else.

James Storm/Jeff Hardy vs. Bad Influence

Actually it starts right now. It’s a brawl to start with Jeff diving on both opponents as we take a break. Back with Storm vs. Daniels before it’s quickly off to the champion. Storm comes back in after about half a second to start working on the arm. Daniels rams him into the corner so Kaz can choke away like a good heel would. Bad Influence (I’m really not feeling that name and it’s barely ever used) takes their turns on Storm as we’re waiting on the big hot tag to Jeff.

Storm finally hits a Russian legsweep and makes the aforementioned hot tag, hitting a running clothesline off the apron to take Daniels down. Everything breaks down and Storm hits Closing time on Daniels. He dives over the top at Chris and hurts his own knee in the process. Kaz escapes the Twist and rakes Hardy’s eyes to set up a small package for two. Hardy grabs a VERY sloppy Twist for the pin at 12:00.

Rating: C. Really basic tag match here which didn’t do anything of note. The smart thing to do here would be to have Daniels pin Hardy via cheating of some kind but instead they just had things go like usual. The Twist at the end was pretty sloppy too which didn’t help anything. I’m also not sure what Storm is getting out of this but maybe it’s too early to say.

Daniels blasts Hardy in the back and hits Angel’s Wings on the belt.

The Gut Check guys talk about the match last week.

Joseph Park gives Ray some Cuban cigars that may or may not be legal. He also asks about a prenup and gives a thumbs up or down. Ray: “OUT!” Funny stuff.

Time for Gut Check. Apparently only one guy gets to go to the judges and that’s Jay Bradley (meaning Brian Cage goes home). Tazz says no, so Jay gives a decent speech saying he’s earned this shot. Snow says yes, Bruce says yes, he gets a contract. Why this is supposed to be interesting I’m not sure.

Christian York vs. Kenny King

This is fallout from King’s attack on York that likely cost him the title on Sunday. York dives onto King to start and beats on him on the floor before heading back inside for a clothesline. Christian pounds away in the corner and hits a bunch of kicks to King’s face. This is one sided so far. King fires off a kick but York immediately comes back with a suplex. He loads King into the Rack to do what King did to him on Sunday, but Kenny rakes the eyes and rolls York up with a handful of trunks to win at 2:52. King’s offense consisted of an eye rake, a kick and a rollup.

Ray asks Sting to talk to Hulk for him. Sting says he’ll try.

Aries antagonizes Roode for not winning the title before saying the arguing makes no sense. The slanting isn’t in their favor and Aries is tired of it. Apparently they’re crashing the wedding.

Taz goes to the back to help set up for the wedding.

Hulk is in the parking lot and the cameraman asks him if he’s here for the wedding tonight. Hulk says nothing other than saying get the camera out of his face.

Taz comes in to Bully’s room and they make fun of Heyman a bit. Dreamer asks about Hogan but Ray says he’s marrying Brooke as long as his guys are here with him.

We recap the Ray/Hogans stuff.

Here’s Sting to ask Hogan to come out and talk about the wedding. Hogan says he doesn’t trust Bully because in wrestling, everyone stabs everyone in the back. He wants an explanation from Sting on why he trusts Bully. Sting talks about all of the times that Ray has saved them but Hogan says he has a bad feeling about this and he’ll never trust Bully Ray. Sting says Hulk needs to do this for himself and Brooke. Hulk says he’ll do the right thing. Brother.

Gail Kim talks to Taryn Terrell and explains how she cost Gail the gauntlet match on Sunday. Apparently Brooke has given Gail a rematch against Velvet, making the whole thing on PPV completely pointless.

We get clips of Bully Ray at a strip club for his bachelor party.

Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky

Winner gets a title shot at some point. I’m digging Velvet’s new curly hair. Velvet sends her to the floor to start as we’re not exactly in a fast gear early on. A sunset flip gets two for Velvet so Gail kicks her in the ribs to take over. A neckbreaker gets two for Kim and Velvet gets the same off a snap suplex. Sky can’t hit a bulldog so Gail dropkicks her down. Eat Defeat hits but Velvet gets a foot under the rope at two. Now the bulldog hits as does a headscissors. A kind of spinning X-Factor takes down Gail and In Yo Face gets the pin at 5:54.

Rating: D+. I don’t care. I’ve tried for months now and I just do not care about the Knockouts at all. They’re mostly gorgeous, they have good outfits on, and I do not care anything at all past that. The same girls have been having the same matches and feuds for years now and I do not care at all. The match was the usual stuff.

Dixie and Brooke have a girl moment.

It’s 9:30 and with nothing else to go, it’s time for the wedding???

We recap Daniels and Hardy earlier.

Here are Aries and Roode to complain about life in general. They say there should be a celebration about the two of them because without the two of them, there wouldn’t be a show. They complain about not having respect despite being champion for almost all of last year. Aries points out how all of the champions in TNA used to be big deals….ten years ago. This brings out Chavo and Hernandez, complaints are made, Mexican food jokes are made, a brawl breaks out and the champs clear the ring. Ok so the wedding only gets twenty minutes. That’s WAY better.

Hogan and Sting are STILL talking. Sting suggests that maybe Brooke can see something Hogan can’t.

It’s wedding time. Ray is in a tux which is weird to say the least. The groomsmen come out with the bridesmaids (looking GOOD tonight) and here’s Brooke. Hulk finally comes out (setting a record in getting into a tuxedo) to a big ovation. The fans tell Hulk to shake Bully’s hand. They get through a LONG intro from the minister and saying how much they care about each other. No one objects, they both say I do, and Tazz takes the mic from the minister.

Tazz asks if Bully is sure, then says it’s too hot in here. He takes off his jacket, and reveals an Aces and 8’s vest. The big brawl ends the ceremony and show. Brooke gets kidnapped again as Ray takes a pedestal to the face

Overall Rating: C-. The question coming into this show wasn’t would there be a swerve in the wedding but rather what would the swerve be. As for what we got…..eh. It’s still someone else that doesn’t really change anything, so who cares? Other than that though, there wasn’t much here. They did a good job of hyping up the world title match next week, but other than that there wasn’t much going on here. This was ALL about the wedding, which is ok, but if you’re not into that storyline, go watch something else. TNA has run into that problem before and while it isn’t as bad as it’s been in the past, they’re getting close to it.

Results

James Storm/Jeff Hardy b. Bad Influence – Twist of Fate to Kazarian

Kenny King b. Christian York – Rollup with a handful of trunks

Velvet Sky b. Gail Kim – In Yo Face

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

NXT
Date: January 16, 2013
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: William Regal, Tony Dawson

We’re officially in the Langston Era here and if my memory is right, this was filmed recently which means we’re actually going to be closer to being caught up with the current WWE product. It’s hard to say what to expect here but the word seems to be that something big is going to be announced soon. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week’s main event and the title change.

Welcome Home.

Adrian Neville vs. Sakamoto

Neville is formerly known as Pac. Interestingly enough a guy on the forums that I run used to backyard wrestle with him. Sakamoto is in way better shape than you would expect him to be given the robe he always wore. Neville is apparently an amazing high flier and he spins out of a wristlock and grabs a headlock to start. A headscissors puts Sakamoto down and Adrian flips back to his feet. The fans dig him so far.

Sakamoto gets a boot up in the corner and hooks a chinlock to take over for a little bit. Make that a decent bit as the chinlock continues. Adrian suplexes out of the hold and flips forward a few more times before hitting an enziguri to stagger Sakamoto. Neville goes up and hits a HUGE corkscrew shooting star for the pin at 3:25.

Rating: C-. The ending was great but until then, Neville didn’t really show off a ton of flying otherwise. It’s a very flashy looking move and the rest of his stuff looked fine so I can’t say it’s a bad debut or anything. Sakamoto has some potential in him too now that he’s away form the black hole known as Tensai. The match was pretty dull until the ending though.

Leo Kruger vs. Trent Barreta

Ohno sits in on commentary. This is as a result of Trent getting beaten up and injured by Kruger a month ago. Trent takes over with a fast clothesline and a knee drop for two. A bridging northern lights suplex gets two for Barreta and it’s off to a headlock. That goes nowhere as Kruger fights up and hits a hard knee to the ribs to take over. Trent gets draped ribs first over the top rope for two as we take a break.

Back with Kruger working over the ribs with a knee drop and a half crab. A gutbuster gets two for Leo as Kassius and Regal continue to argue. Regal threatens Ohno so Kassius acts as if nothing has ever been wrong between them. Kruger misses a charge in the corner so Trent comes back with chops and a clothesline. The running jumping elbow in the corner puts Leo down again and a missile dropkick gets two for Trent.

The tornado DDT is countered into another half crab with a knee in the back but Trent finally makes a rope. An enziguri sends Kruger down to the floor, followed by a BIG flip dive from Trent to take him down again. Kassius runs down and decks Trent though, allowing for Kruger to hit the Kruger End back inside for the pin at 7:53 shown of 11:23.

Rating: C+. Why Barreta is released while Ohno gets to keep a job is beyond me. Trent continues to be as smooth as ever in the ring and Kruger is starting to get things working well too. I’d assume we were supposed to get a tag match out of this but with Barreta being released that isn’t very likely.

A second referee informs the first one of Ohno’s interference and the decision is reversed.

Here’s the NEW NXT Champion Big E. Langston with something to say. He welcomes us to the Era of Five but here’s Camacho to interrupt him. Hasn’t Langston already beaten this guy? A referee comes out and we get a match which I think is non-title.

Camacho vs. Big E. Langston

Camacho pounds away in the corner to start but Langston no sells it and clotheslines Camacho down. The Big Ending finishes Camacho in 1:15.

Langston does his usual stuff post match. This takes longer than the match itself.

Damien Sandow/Antonio Cesaro vs. Justin Gabriel/Tyson Kidd

Before the match, Sandow says that the people here will learn to appreciate him. Sandow and Kidd start things off but it’s quickly off to Justin. Damien gets his arm cranked on a bit so it’s off to Cesaro. Gabriel dropkicks him to the floor and we take a break. Back with Justin getting two off a sunset flip on Sandow. He cranks on Damien’s arm and messes with his hair to really get on Sandow’s nerves.

Off to Cesaro for a hard headlock for a few seconds before Gabriel fights back with chops and right hands. Cesaro elbows him down before it’s back to Sandow for some knee drops. The Wind-Up Elbow gets two and it’s back to Antonio. Off to a front facelock before Justin fights up and backdrops Cesaro to the floor. That’s about the extent of his offense though as Cesaro comes back in with the gutwrench suplex for two.

Back to the chinlock but Gabriel escapes for the third time, with this one being followed by a hot tag to Tyson. Everything breaks down as Sandow comes in again with Damien getting two off a rollup. Back to Gabriel as Kidd dives onto Cesaro. A Lionsault and the springboard elbow to Sandow get the clean pin at 8:00 shown of 11:30.

Rating: C+. Basic tag match here with the smaller guys getting to hang with the more established guys with no real problems at all. Unfortunately Kidd is gone for the next eight months or so due to destroying his knee. Cesaro again gets to look strong here by not getting pinned, which is a nice touch from WWE.

Overall Rating: B-. Another good show tonight as we transition to the next stretch of shows. Langston gets to close out an old issue he had while at the same time getting to look dominant over a WWE guy. This wasn’t a blow away show or anything and unfortunately two guys here aren’t going to be around for a very long time anymore after this show. Good show here with no time wasted, which is the standard procedure on NXT.

Results

Adrian Neville b. Sakamoto – Corkscrew Shooting Star Press

Trent Barreta b. Leo Kruger via disqualification when Kassius Ohno interfered

Big E. Langston b. Camacho – Big Ending

Tyson Kidd/Justin Gabriel b. Antonio Cesaro/Damien Sandow – Springboard Elbow Drop to Sandow

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #104
Date: September 8, 1997
Location: Wisconsin Center Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Attendance: 8,596
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

It’s the go home show for Fall Brawl which I don’t think we have much of a confirmed card for. It’s pretty clear that Luger, Page, Hall and Savage will be in WarGames but other than that we don’t have much confirmed. This week’s show has to be better than last week’s or at least less dull. Hopefully this won’t be a bunch of whining from the announcers for two hours again. Let’s get to it.

We open with the Nitro Girls dancing in the ring with Tony running down the card for tonight.

Tony tells us that Flair is on Team WCW along with Luger and Page for WarGames. He starts to talk about the Horsemen parody last week but gets cut off by Eric Bischoff. Eric says run the tape but after a few moments, the tape cuts off and we see the Horsemen at the desk instead. Mongo (booed because he used to be a Bear (and a Packer) and we’re in Packer country) wants to fight right now and the Horsemen march to the ring.

They want the NWO right now so of course no one comes out. Hennig says that since he’s the enforcer of the Horsemen, it’s his job to get revenge. Flair says that last year was the first time that he was embarrassed to be a pro wrestler. Oh just wait Slick Ric. Just wait. Flair says that he’s not leaving until he gets his hands on Bagwell, Syxx, Konnan and Nash.

Post break the Horsemen are being escorted out of the ring.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero

During the entrances, Tony says that the new commissioner might be named tonight. Eddie grabs Rey’s arm to start but gets tossed around to break the hold. Guerrero comes back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker before cranking on the arm some more before we go to break. Back with Eddie cranking on the arm some more until Rey breaks out and pounds on Eddie, only to get slammed back down.

Guerrero slides to the floor for no apparent reason, allowing Rey to dive down onto him to take over. Tony of course talks about the NWO and basically ignore the match while Tenay tries to keep the focus in place. Back in and a moonsault press gets two on Eddie but Guerrero catches a top rope cross body in a slam for two of his own. A BIG powerbomb takes Rey down again for two more, as does a butterfly powerbomb. Eddie busts out the Gory Special, but Rey rolls off his back to escape. Rey escapes powerbomb attempt #2 and heads to the apron, hitting West Coast Pop out of nowhere for the win.

Rating: B-. These two are guys that you always expect a good match out of. They would have a masterpiece at Halloween Havoc and while this is nowhere near that one, it’s still a solid back and forth match and a good choice for an opener. Also, can anyone take a powerbomb as well as Rey Mysterio? He sells them really well.

DDP says he wants respect and thinks both he and Luger have earned said respect. Tonight it’s Luger vs. Page so Team WCW can get along on Sunday. Luger says ok but don’t hold anything back.

Hugh Morrus vs. Disco Inferno

This is fallout from last week. Hugh pounds him down to start with clotheslines and headbutts, followed by a good looking spinwheel kick. The future Tough Enough trainer misses a corner splash though and crashes out to the floor for a bit. Back in and Disco slaps him because Disco isn’t that bright. Cue Alex Wright for some dancing as Morrus loads up No Laughing Matter (moonsault). Wright slides in the belt, but Disco puts it face down on his chest to injure himself. Like I said, he’s not that bright. Morrus gets the pin over the idiot.

Wright and Disco argue post match.

The NWO makes fun of the Horsemen again and apparently it’s Konnan/Bagwell vs. two Horsemen tonight.

Cruiserweight Title: Brad Armstrong vs. Chris Jericho

Before the match here’s Eddie to say that last week he should have gotten a shot. He asks Brad to step aside here but Brad basically ignores him and jumps the champ to start things off. Apparently the winner of this has to defend against Guerrero on Sunday anyway. Dang Eddie is greedy isn’t he? And didn’t he lose earlier tonight anyway?

Jericho blocks a monkey flip to send Brad to the floor, followed by a suicide dive from the champ. Back in and Jericho charges into a boot followed by a tornado DDT from Armstrong for two. Jericho comes back with a standing Lionsault for two followed by the missile dropkick to send Armstrong to the floor. Not that it matters as Eddie runs in for the DQ.

Rating: C+. These two were working well together with some solid back and forth stuff. Unfortunately it didn’t get to go anywhere because Armstrong was there to fill in a spot, but he could fill in a spot quite well. With Mysterio back and Eddie going after the title, the Cruiserweights are about to come back with a vengeance. Good stuff here and I wouldn’t mind seeing more from these two.

Hour #2 begins and it’s time to dance.

We recap Hogan beating up JJ from last week, which brings out Bischoff and Hogan. Eric introduces him as the champion of the universe before handing the mic to Hogan. Hollywood says everyone is here to see the NWO. Yeah that’s pretty much true. Flair isn’t the man apparently. I don’t remember him saying that lately but ok then. Hollywood says no one is going to touch Bischoff again. He’s kind of all over the place here. The Horsemen are going down tonight apparently. Finally, Hogan says he’ll put the title on the line RIGHT NOW against Sting.

Hogan poses…..AND HERE’S STING! He falls REALLY fast and hits the barricade….and it’s a mannequin. This causes Tony to have to act concerned and he makes Stephanie McMahon look Oscar worthy. Hogan freaks out and says that’s not what is supposed to happen and a stretcher comes out. The NWO picks Sting up and puts him limp body in the ring as Tony gets what’s going on. Hogan drops a pair of legs and Bischoff, now in a referee’s shirt, counts the pin.

Lee Marshall does his schtick.

Faces of Fear vs. Steiner Brothers

Scott starts and immediately walks into a powerslam from Barbarian. That’s not something you see that often. A double tag brings in Rick to face Meng and the Steiners clear the ring for their signature running around the ring pose. Of all teams that face the Steiners, the Faces of Fear actually are the ones smart enough to rush the Steiners when they’re posing and get the advantage.

We wind up with Meng vs. Rick with Meng hitting the dropkick which always impressed Jesse Ventura. Off to Barbarian for another powerslam for two as Rick is in trouble. Back to Meng who gets caught in a sunset flip of all things. That goes nowhere so it’s back to the Barbarian for a double headbutt from the monsters. Off to a chinlock by the Tongan which doesn’t last long as Rick fights up and hits a Steiner Line. The third slam of the match by Barbarian looks to set up the diving headbutt but Rick dodges.

The hot tag brings in Scott who cleans house until everything breaks down. Barbarian gets caught in a belly to belly superplex from Scott but Meng puts Rick in the Tongan Death Grip. Cue Harlem Heat along with Mortis/Wrath for the double DQ. Heenan: “Why do the NWO guys never fight each other like this?” Oh don’t worry Bobby. They will, and in different color shirts!

Rating: C+. The Faces of Fear were on a mini roll at this point and would have a surprisingly good match with Mortis and Wrath on Sunday. The Steiners would continue to spin their wheels against Harlem Heat while they waited to be able to win the titles they should have won about five times already. Another decent little match here.

Scott Hall vs. Super Calo

Hall wants Calo to take his glasses off, even though I believe they’re painted onto his face. Calo gets a shot in on Hall in the corner and that’s about the extent of his offense. Hall sends him to the floor before going back inside and cranking away on both arms. The fallaway slam from the middle rope sets up the Outsider’s Edge to end this squash.

Post match Big Bubba comes in to face off with Hall and lay him out with a spinebuster. Vincent comes out and takes a Boss Man Slam before Hogan himself comes out. Boss Man stares him down but poses in the corner, allowing Hall to hit the Outsider’s Edge and lay him down. Total time for Traylor to stand tall: about 83 seconds. Hogan calls him the Big Loss Man.

Dean Malenko vs. Psychosis

Apparently the winner of Malenko vs. Jarrett on Sunday gets a shot at the US Title at Halloween Havoc. They head to the mat quickly and why would you ever do that against Dean Malenko? Psychosis breaks a headscissors and gets up, only to get caught in a standing armbar. Psychosis tries a leg lock but Dean is in the ropes before it can be on full. A dropkick puts the masked dude on the floor and as they come back in, a fan tries to come in. Referee Mark Curtis, who might weigh 110lbs soaking wet, KNEES HIM IN THE HEAD and chokes him down until security takes him out.

After that’s settled down, Psychosis kicks Dean to the floor where Sonny Onoo can get in a few shots. Psychosis has to save Sonny from getting killed and we head inside again. Scratch that as we go right back to the floor where Psychosis hits a good looking suicide dive. That and a victory roll get two for Psychosis back inside but Dean takes him down with a leg lariat. Psychosis slams him down and loads up the guillotine legdrop but it only gets two. Sonny argues with the referee, which winds up meaning nothing as Dean counters a rana attempt into the Cloverleaf for the tap out.

Rating: C. Not bad again here as Dean can barely do anything wrong in 1997. Sonny Onoo as a manager was about as worthless as you could get as a manager around this time as he just kind of stood around and yelled at people while throwing kicks that didn’t do much damage. Also it’s interesting to see the cruiserweights being pushed more and more lately. It isn’t likely to last but it’s cool while it lasts.

Jarrett comes out and wants to fight right now but immediately runs away.

WE get the reveal of the new commissioner and it’s Roddy Piper. He says this is like putting John Belushi in charge of the frat house. Well Bluto became a Senator (and President if you got the anniversary edition) so that might not be a bad idea. Piper says he used to be President of the WWF so tonight he’s going to do three things. First of all he guarantees Sting vs. Hogan by the end of the year (BIG pop). Then he says he’s facing Hogan at Halloween Havoc in a cage (not as big of a pop). Finally he’s putting the Horsemen in WarGames (moderate pop). Not a terrible start I guess.

Ric Flair/Curt Hennig vs. Buff Bagwell/Konnan

The Horsemen clear the ring to start before we get down to Bagwell vs. Flair. Flair chops away to start but gets clotheslined and backdropped down. I’ll give Flair this: he never had an issue with making any kid look good. Off to Konnan for some choking before it’s back to Buff. Nice to see the Cuban contingent contributing so much here.

A dropkick puts Flair down again and it’s off to the corner for a Flair Flip. Naturally he runs the apron to go up top, but surprisingly enough he isn’t slammed down. Instead Buff crotches and superplexes him down for no cover. Buff poses as even Konnan is yelling at him to do something. A top rope elbow misses and it’s hot tag to Hennig who cleans house. The NWO is sent to the floor and Bagwell sneaks back in to take out Hennig’s knee.

Konnan drops Curt on the steps before getting tagged back in to work on the knee. A kick to the face misses though and it’s another hot tag to Flair to face Buff. Tony of course is going nuts about how THIS is how you work together. Flair fires off chops but walks into a powerslam because Heaven help us if WCW gets to look strong over Buff freaking Bagwell. Hennig jumps Buff and Flair locks on the Figure Four but Konnan makes a fast save. A quick PerfectPlex on Konnan gets the win despite neither guy being legal.

Rating: C. Basic tag match here to set up WarGames a bit more which is fine. Hennig looked good and Bagwell continued to look goofy as he always did. Flair wasn’t exactly furious here like he said he would be earlier, which makes the match seem like it doesn’t mean all that much. Still though, not bad.

Lex Luger vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Luger shoves him down to start as Tony says let them go at it. This coming from the same “STOP FIGHTING AND WORK TOGETHER” guy. Lex cranks on the arm and grabs a headlock before running Page over with a clothesline. Cue the NWO as Page throws Luger to the floor. Page didn’t seem to know the NWO was there.

Luger gets beaten up and thrown back in as now DDP sees the NWO. A neckbreaker gets two on Lex and there’s the Pancake for two more. Lex comes back with a belly to back suplex and his string of clotheslines. The third one misses though and Lex falls to the floor. Page follows and brawls with the NWO for the DQ.

Rating: D+. This was storyline advancement rather than a match. Page and Luger’s issues are pretty much done now as they threw up their hands and said forget about it. Well why bother having a conclusion to a storyline when you can just stop working on it at all? They would face Hall/Savage again on Sunday.

Page and Luger beat up the NWO as the Giant comes down to help. WCW stands tall to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. For a go home show, this was a pretty solid edition with a lot of at least decent matches. The main issue here is that the Horsemen didn’t close the show despite being the Team WCW for Sunday’s WarGames. Still though, good stuff here overall with some solid cruiserweight stuff. I don’t know what’s gotten into WCW lately with them but it’s working well.

Here’s Fall Brawl if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2013/01/16/fall-brawl-1997-wcw-gets-beaten-up-again/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

The whole thing about WWE stealing information to find out what talent they could steal from TNA finally comes to a close.  While not confirmed, it looks like a settlement was reached.  I never really got why this was such a big deal in the first place.

Genesis 2010
Date: January 17, 2010
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

So we’re in the Hogan Era on PPV, three months after he was announced. We’ve been over the stupidity of that so I’ll ignore it for now. The main event tonight is Angle vs. Styles, but we also have EPIC encounters like THE BAND vs. Beer Money.  The idiocy of this astounds me. Also, we have two matches that are straight from the last PPV or January 4th and no one has a problem with that. This is hopefully going to be a live review so this is kind of a one man LD so let’s get to it.

The video is your standard thing about everyone saying it’s their destiny to be a champion. Not sure what that has to do with a new beginning or a Genesis but whatever.

Oh and we have a four sided ring now. Nothing says being an alternative to WWE than looking even more and more like them. And my life is made complete as we have the fans with an epic WE WANT SIX SIDES chant at Hogan and Bischoff as they come out to open the show.

I would bet that they’ll keep it as they decide that they know more about the wrestling the fans want than the fans. Of course they mention Vince because it’s a law or whatever. This made my night though, as Hogan and Bischoff show that they don’t know everything the fans know.

Also, it shows me that the fans aren’t just brainwashed. Also, it amuses me that they keep saying that the ring is pro wrestling. Strange, I’ve always thought pro wrestling was what went on in the ring. You can wrestle on the floor or in the back. ECW made a company out of it. So wait. According to TNA, when a match goes outside the ring, it ceases being a match? Is it interpretive dance or something? Either way, that made me smile.

X–Division Title: Amazing Red vs. ???

There was no opponent announced and without saying it’s a mystery opponent, it’s Brian Kendrick coming out to some weird violin music. This isn’t bad, but it’s better than some other options I suppose. This should be good I guess though if they just let them go. The name helps a lot also as it’s his real name so it’s not something awful like Junior Fatu.

If nothing else this is the best choice for the opener as it’s almost certain to be high flying and interesting looking. It worked in WCW and it should work here. That’s the point of openers: get the crowd alive. These two should be able to do that pretty well and they are so far. And we’re in a leg lock. Why are we using psychology in a match like this? And my stream is out so the rest of this is being written on Monday other than the intro to the Knockouts match.

Oh there’s also a ramp leading to the ring. Think of ECW or old school WCW. Hogan’s changes are already viewable. The fans chanting WE WANT SIX SIDES truly made my night. Hogan’s daughter is here. Kendrick sticks to the knee for no apparent reason. Actually that’s not fair as there’s a point to it, but this is supposed to be a high flying match and it’s a mat based thing instead.

Oh and Lashley isn’t going to wrestle tonight, which is false advertising but whatever. Ah there we go. NOW we get to the air and the match picks up A LOT. For one thing the fans are into it which is the whole point of this. We get our second shot of Brooke Hogan and I still don’t care at all.

Well at least Kendrick is working on the knee a lot so he’s being consistent and it takes away Red’s best offense so he’s thinking which is a big way of scoring points to me. The fans are split here which is interesting. Red hits a HOKEY SMOKE move to get the win. More or less he goes for a sunset flip but jumps to the top rope so he hits a very fast and fluid sunset flip that looks awesome. I was genuinely impressed by that ending.

Rating: C+. This was designed to get the crowd going and while it could have been much better it did its job well enough, especially the ending. I’m not entirely sure on the idea of having your big surprise losing here, but at the same time it might not be a long term thing. Either way, this was certainly ok, although the leg work might not have been the best idea.

Bischoff, Hogan and the Band are in the back and the Band is told this is their only shot so make it count. Hall and Pac play Rock Paper Scissors to determine who is Nash’s partner. Hall loses and won’t wrestle, as he looks awful in tights apparently. False advertising number 2.

Sean Morely vs. Christopher Daniels

Remember, even though Morely is wearing a towel and coming out to something similar to his old music, HE ISN’T VAL VENIS! Brooke gets Morely’s towel. Three times the camera has been on her in less than 30 minutes now. Daniels is the heel here and cuts a bland heel promo before the match which doesn’t work well at all since the fans aren’t buying it. Fourth shot of Brooke.

Daniels in the long tights works much better. Has that thing on his shoulder ever been explained? I don’t think it has been. I’ve always liked Morely. He’s a guy you can almost guarantee a good match out of which is so rare in modern wrestling. Daniels hooks a triangle choke to appeal to the MMA fans out there.

Apparently Morely is a true pro. I thought they were all pros. You can wrestle in TNA as an amateur? They’ve never heard of Mass Transit have they? Morely hits a Blue Thunder Bomb which is one of my favorites in No Mercy so I’m liking this more and more every second. I’m still not sold on a match being made for no apparent reason and then having a PPV match of it 3 days later but then again I’m no professional.

A clothesline is called an STO. That’s expected I guess but still, that wasn’t even close. The Best Moonsault Ever misses and Sean goes for the splash. Since that’s too easy though it doesn’t work, although he hits it a few seconds later which draws Brooke Hogan shot #5.

Rating: C+. Again, not bad at all. Morely is a guy that you can certainly depend on for a good match and it worked well here. Again though, why is this on PPV? Why were they even fighting? That was never explained which is a common theme on this show I think. Also, Morely hasn’t wrestled on the main stage in years and he can beat last month’s world title challenger? That makes perfect sense right?

Now I didn’t see this, but allegedly during this match, a group of fans turned their back on the match. This is allegedly a “stable” of fans that are collectively going against this because they don’t want Val in the company. Are you kidding me? It’s one thing to boo faces and cheer heels or something, but to become the focus of a match isn’t being a fan. It’s being a selfish jerk. Get over yourselves people. That’s just pathetic as all goodness.

We recap ODB vs. Tara, which is they’ve feuded over the title so tonight they’re doing it again because they have nothing else. It’s 2/3 falls if nothing else though.

Knockouts Title: Tara vs. ODB

This is 2/3 falls which makes sense as they’ve had a match or two before and you can’t have the same match again as we had a few weeks ago and then ask people to pay for it. THAT WOULD MAKE NO SENSE! That Broken song is AWESOME. There’s not a ton going on in the first few minutes here as it’s just them going back and forth.

This is the problem with 2/3 falls matches: you don’t have to really pay attention until the second fall, which is starting right now as Tara hooks a small package for the first fall. Tara hooks the tarantula. Not a lot is going on here at all. We get a great shot of Tara’s back to make this match much better. Brooke shot number 6. This time she’s with Joey Fatone.

If TNA insists on the celebrity thing, get celebrities that have mattered this millennium. ODB uses the Tumbleweed. Are we in the mid 70s all of a sudden? She pulls something out of her cleavage to be odd before hitting a powerslam for two. This is kind of meandering along and needs to end soon.

ODB keeps touching herself and checking her pulse. It’s freaking stupid looking. And the Widow’s Peak ends it. The timing was pretty good if nothing else. What is up with the freaking spider???

Rating: C-. Not great here as the 2/3 falls thing felt way too much like a gimmick for the sake of having a gimmick which I can If never advocate. Tara winning the title is fine, but she didn’t need to get two straight wins to do it. That was overkill which is never a good thing.

Pope cuts a promo where I have no clue what he’s talking about. Oh it’s about Desmond Wolfe, who he already beat clean, making this match completely pointless. Christy reminds me of Lois Lane from Smallville.

Tag Titles: British Invasion vs. Hernandez/Matt Morgan

The stupidity of just putting two big names like these guys into a team astounds me but whatever. If nothing else they’re most likely getting the tag titles off of the worthless British Invasion, although putting them on two guys thrown together and called a tag team? That’s nothing WWE would ever do, nope.

Hernandez is wearing a shirt here so it looks like he’s wrestling in a one piece swimsuit. It’s fairly obvious that we’re getting new champions here but at least they’re giving us a bit of drama first and letting the Invasion have some credibility. The problem here is that other than Williams we have three power guys and Williams isn’t in the match much either.

Oh and Nick Hogan is here too. This is idiotic at this point. They make fun of the vintage joke, because no one has ever done that before. Williams gets a jumping back elbow from the top which makes this a much better match already. Morgan FINALLY hits the chokeslam that he’s been trying to get all match.

The problem with this match is apparent as either face is able to beat up both champions on his own. What’s the point of something like that? The bicycle kick from Morgan hits and it’s so hard that Magnus jumped before it connected. That’s very impressive.

Rating: C. This was average. The title change was more or less a given and there’s nothing at all wrong with that. Sometimes you have to have it go one way or the other and that’s what this did here. It’s not bad but it was more of a formality than anything else and it came off pretty well.

Lashley jumps Bischoff for no apparent reason and Abyss knocks him the heck out. Dress rehearsal for Strikeforce I guess. Hogan and Bischoff come in and Abyss as the childish character is something I’m not sure of yet. It’s just odd. He sucks up to Hogan which at least fits with his character as of late. Yeah he’s not channeling Foley from 98-99 at all here.

Desmond Wolfe vs. D’Angelo Dinero

Yet another match that was on Impact and we’re getting it again here, but this time we get to PAY FOR IT! WOO HOO! Wolfe has some hot chick with him that needs to be on camera more. Slick 2.0 comes out second. He’s dropping money on the crowd. Completely original there. Dang that girl is hot indeed. I have never once gotten the appeal of Elijah Burke. I just don’t get it at all.

Wolfe is good but I’m not sold either way on him yet. Thankfully Pope gets stretched all over the place which makes me smile quite a bit. If nothing else Pope gets a NICE STO to put him down, which Tenay screws up the call on again by calling that a clothesline. Come on Mikey. You know the history of the Villiano family yet you don’t know what a freaking clothesline is?

I’m digging Wolfe here as he’s showing off a lot of submission work in there which is more of a staple of TNA. The fans like Pope if nothing else, although these fans will cheer anything you ask them to. The fans say this is awesome. I would disagree but it’s been decent. Pope tries to get a big knee but Wolfe just takes his head off with a lariat. NICE.

Rating: B-. Not bad at all here. The fans were into it so I can’t ask for much more than that. Wolfe winning is definitely the right thing, although I’m not sure I get the point in having the same match on Impact and then the same match on PPV but whatever. This wasn’t terrible at all though with some nice stuff in there.

JB is thrown off of TV by Bischoff. More room for Bubba I guess. Hemme interviews Flair who says nothing important.

We recap the Band jumping Beer Money. That’s about it, and we have a tag match because of it.

Kevin Nash/Syxx–Pac vs. Beer Money

Penzer’s mic cuts up a lot during the announcement of the Band. Hall and Pac need to leave soon. They’re just not worth anything anymore, not when there are so many young guys that can do their thing just as well. THANK GOODNESS there’s no beer wagon there or whatever for Storm to ride on. I hate that thing.

Still not entirely sold on Beer Money but they’re not terrible at all. Pac and Storm, who looks a bit like Shane Douglas in the eyes to me, start us off. Nash comes in and thankfully he manages to not get injured yet. Pac isn’t bad, which I think is because they’re keeping him away from the bigger guys. I’ve never been able to get into him vs. a big man. It just never worked at all for me.

I freaking hate the Bronco Buster. Have I made that clear over the years? Hall eventually stumbles out, having lost the rock paper scissors game that they keep bringing up. And Hall randomly pulls a fan over the railing and kicks his head in. In the ring Nash gets caught by presumably a superkick although we can’t see it and Roode pins him. Thank goodness there as I really thought they would have it go the other way.

Rating: C+. Not bad at all here, but again it was nothing special. Beer Money winning was a HUGE positive here and really does relieve a lot of my worries here. The match wasn’t terrible but it’s nothing great. The whole show has just been ok from a wrestling standpoint, which isn’t good as this is supposed to be all top level matches right?

Hogan and Bischoff talk about the Band and Hogan is going to call them out on Thursday. They hint at something Hogan did but don’t say what. Where’s that ominous music when I need it?

Abyss vs. ???

This was supposed to be Lashley but they’re changing everything around as usual so we don’t know who he’s fighting here. And it’s Mr. Kennedy now called Mr. Anderson. This is a very interesting pick up to me as he’s incredibly polarizing. He’s a guy that could be a huge deal or he could stay as unimportant and boring as some see him.

There were a few times that I loved this guy and a few times that I wanted to change the channel as I was sick to death of him. Either way, I like the signing even though it was a bit lackluster. He starts saying Kennedy and cuts himself off to say Anderson before telling the audience to wait for it and do it again.

This is a good acquisition I think though, although the issue I have here is simple: they’re rapidly running out of signings to make. Also, they don’t have room for a midcard champion to be on the card, yet they’re bringing in more talent. Some guys have to go soon or they’re going to run out of room. Anderson looks great and hopefully won’t get hurt.

That’s the other bad side of him: can he stay healthy? If he can, then the sky could be the limit for him. The emphasis there is on could though. Anderson works on the arm but that gets him nowhere. The fans chant overrated at Anderson. The fans are vocal if nothing else.

Back to the arm so at least we have some flow to it. I have no idea who the faces and heels here are supposed to be but what the heck, who cares? Abyss makes a small comeback but Anderson hits a botched neckbreaker to stop that. A chokeslam gets two. I keep expecting Anderson to break.

Why does Taz always use the term pin cover? I’ve never heard anyone else say that. It’s chair time now. And Anderson pulls out brass knuckles to hit Abyss and knock him out for the pin. Yeah he hit the guy in the leather mask with knuckles for the pin. That would in theory not work that well but it’s TNA so there we go.

Rating: C-. This ran a bit long but it wasn’t that bad. It was a way to give Anderson credibility and nothing more which there’s nothing wrong with. This worked fine though and got a decent reaction from the crowd. Anderson is a big deal potentially so this was the only real outcome.

We recap Angle and Styles, which was more or less about them wanting to be champion and be the best in the world. This is Angle’s last shot which I don’t buy for a second but there we go.

TNA World Title: AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle

This is one of those matchups where all you have to do is just throw them out there and it’s more or less a guaranteed near classic. Flair comes down soon after we start and I’m not thrilled at all. Why do they need to have Flair get involved and likely have him interfere? These two are going to have a great match no matter what, so why mess with it?

To be fair though that could be the title for all of TNA at the moment so there we are. Styles has been teasing a heel turn as of late which really scares me. For one thing, the only other face is Sting, and what’s the point in that as they JUST had their feud at BFG. This is another match that’s hard to comment on as it’s very solid. They keep countering finishers and Angle finally hooks the ankle lock.

AJ just kicks him off. I don’t think I ever remember that before. AJ isn’t limping blast it. Angle gets a Styles Clash which never gets old. There’s a tiny A for effort chant. We’ll see about that. The Angle Slam gets two as we’re running low on time. Angle goes Olympic and puts Styles in the ankle lock with the grapevine.

AJ taps but Flair pulled the referee out. And of course his ankle is ok now. Flair throws the belt to AJ and he clocks Angle with it to go heel and gets the easy pin. I guess the pair of heels celebrate to take us out.

Rating: B+. This was a great match, but two things keep it from being a classic. First of all, the no selling of the ankle by AJ. He’s tapping out one minute and the next he’s perfectly fine? That doesn’t work for me, not when Angle had been working on it all match.

Second, the unclean ending, but that’s a way of life in all wrestling so I can let that slide a bit. This wasn’t as good as their Impact match a few weeks ago but it was still pretty solid. Easily the match of the night but they’ve had far better ones.

Overall Rating: D+. Aside from the main event and MAYBE Anderson’s debut, this felt like a long Impact. Morely vs. Daniels, Kendrick vs. Red, ODB vs. Tara, the tag title match (to a lesser degree) and Pope vs. Wolfe all could have been on any free TV show and in many cases were on free TV less than two weeks ago.

Also, not only did AJ and Angle have the same match on free TV, they had a BETTER match on free TV. Again I ask: why should I pay for something that may or may not be better that I could have seen for free a mere thirteen days earlier? Two of the big matches didn’t happen and while we got perfectly suitable replacements, it’s kind of a screw you to the fans that might have paid to see those matches.

I’m sure a lot of people paid to see the Outsiders and some paid to see Lashley, but they didn’t see either of those. To the good aspect here, among other things: every match was perfectly watchable. However, that’s just it: other than the main event, they were all just watchable.

There was nothing here I would go out of my way to see at all, and that’s the point of a PPV. The main event kept this from being a borderline failure. Check it out if you’re a big TNA fan, but other than that, not so much.

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