Today is someone who could have been huge had it not been for some injuries and insanity: Scott Steiner.

We’ll open things up with a rare match from before Scott came to WCW. This is from the WWA promotion out of Indianapolis and Scott is the WWA World Champion, putting this at some point between August of 1986 and March of 1987.

Scott Rextiener/Rex Bodie vs. Sheik Saad/Chris Carter

Steiner is the only one I know. Scott armdrags Carter down to start and it’s quickly off to Bodie for some arm work of his own. The evil foreigner Saad comes in and drops an ax handle to Bodie before putting on a nerve hold. The heel manager Dark Angel comes out for a distraction as Carter takes over on the nerve hold. Back to Saad for the third nerve hold in a row, only to have Rex tag in Steiner to clean house.

Everything breaks down and Scott powerslams Saad for no cover. The heels cheat again and Saad puts on yet another nerve hold. Scott pretty casually gets up and tags in Bodie, who is quickly sent to the floor. Steiner comes in sans tag and gets sent into the Dark Angel, drawing commentator Jerry Graham up to beat up the Angel. Graham lays out Saad and Steiner gets the pin.

Rating: D. This was pretty horrible as there was no flow or chemistry to be seen and the heels didn’t know anything but shoulders to the ribs and nerve holds. Steiner didn’t get to show off much here and I’m not really surprised that I haven’t seen much from this promotion, which actually dates back to the 60s.

It was soon off to the NWA where Scott joined his brother Rick to form the Steiner Brothers. This is one of their first major matches, from Clash of the Champions VII.

Mike Rotunda/Kevin Sullivan vs. Steiner Brothers

The Varsity Club name has been dropped by this point and the team would be split very soon. Rotunda is already being called Captain Mike which would be his next gimmick. This is also the first major appearance for the Steiners as a team, with Scott joining his older brother Rick. The Steiners are part of Eddie Gilbert’s stable, meaning they have Missy Hyatt in their corner.

Scott and Kevin get things going with the powerful Scott sending Sullivan into the corner and taking him down with a clothesline. Rick and Mike come in and Rotunda tastes some hard right hands. Things settle down and Scott scores with a powerslam, sending Sullivan to the corner for a tag to Rotunda. Rick comes in as well to the delight of the crowd and takes Mike’s head off with a clothesline. Back to the headlock but Mike grabs a few rollups for two each.

A suplex finally breaks the hold and it’s back to Sullivan who gets clotheslined as well. Rick drops to all fours and barks a lot before it’s back to Scott vs. Rotunda. Scott gets two off a cross body but the heels get a quick double team to drop Scott ribs first on the top rope. He falls out to the floor and cuts open his back, so Sullivan rams it into the post. Back in and Scott runs into a boot in the corner followed by a nice dropkick from Rotunda.

Sullivan comes in again as the back injury is being ignored for some reason. A butterfly suplex gets two for Mike so he takes Scott down with another hard clothesline. Scott powers out of a front facelock and makes the tag but the referee doesn’t see it due to a distraction by Sullivan. Mike misses another dropkick and now the hot tag to Rick counts, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Rick hammers away on Rotunda and everything breaks down. Sullivan brings in a chair but gets knocked to the floor by Rick, only to have Mike suplex Scott onto the chair for the pin.

Rating: B-. That’s a strange booking decision given that the Varsity Club was on its last legs and the Steiners would be pushed to the moon in just a few months. The most interesting and important story here though was Scott Steiner. For a guy who hadn’t been in the ring at this level for very long, he looked like a future star.

Here’s another big match for the team, from Halloween Havoc 1990.

US Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Nasty Boys

This is a BIG feud and the Steiners are defending. The Nasties had beaten down the Steiners and left them bloodied after the match was made, which was unheard of at this point. It’s a brawl to start and Scott gets hit with a chair. He and Sags go into the ring with Scott escaping the superplex. He runs up the corner and hits a belly to belly superplex to take Jerry down. The crowd is going NUTS for this whole thing.

Knobbs interferes and it’s Jerry in control as he starts with Scott. Scott comes back with a Tiger Driver and Rick comes in to clean the ring. The Steiner Bulldog KILLS Sags but Knobbs breaks it up with a chair shot as the referee is getting Rick out. Knobbs, the illegal man, gets two off that. A side slam puts Scott down and the Steiners are in trouble. Powerslam gets two.

They go to the floor and Sags drops a knee on Scott, who is in big trouble. Sags comes in legally and hits a pumphandle slam for no cover. Side salto gets two with Rick making the save. The Nasties switch without a tag again so it’s back to Knobbs for more beating. Abdominal stretch goes on and the cheating draws in Rick again so the Nasties can switch again. Sags puts on a bearhug to stay on the bad back.

Scott comes out of it with the natural counter: a belly to belly suplex. The tag brings in Rick who cleans house with the Steiner Line. Rick gets knocked over the top to the floor and the Nasties hit a spike piledriver on Scott. Rick is like screw that and pops Sags with the chair. The referee is really lax about these tags. Jerry is busted open but he brings in Brian to prevent the tag to Rick.

Knobbs puts the bearhug on again and rams Scott’s back into the buckle a few times. Sags puts on a Boston Crab but Scott does a pushup to break it up, but Knobbs breaks up the tag again. A reverse chinlock goes on but Scott breaks out of that too. The Nasties try to cheat again but Scott avoids a charge and hits the Steiner Line on Jerry. Hot tag to Rick and everything breaks down.

The Steiners start pounding on the Nasties but they both get thrown to the floor. Rick comes back in with a double top rope clothesline to send the Nasties to the floor, but it lets them beat up Scott while they’re out there. Scott pulls Sags to the floor again and Rick KILLS Knobbs with a Steiner Line. There’s the Frankensteiner and I don’t care who you are, in 1990 that means it’s over.

Rating: B. What a great brawl this was. If you cut about three minutes out of this it’s a classic. This is the match that made the Nasty Boys, but since this is WCW, the idea of signing them up was unheard of so they were in the Royal Rumble less than three months after this and winning the tag titles from the Hart Foundation in about six months. The match was good, but the Steiners were so far and away better than any other team in the world at this point that it didn’t matter who they were facing.

Scott would get his occasional singles match, such as a World Title shot at Clash XIV.

WCW World Title: Scott Steiner vs. Ric Flair

Scott is challenging of course. Hiro Matsuda is a guest at ringside and representing New Japan Pro Wrestling. The winner of this goes to Tokyo to face Tatsumi Fujinami. El Gigante is here for no apparent reason as well but Flair (having hacked off his hair to the look that he would mostly have for the rest of his career) won’t shake his hands. Scott easily wins a pose down before powering Flair into the corner and taking him down with a fireman’s carry.

A top wristlock puts Flair down and he tries to bail, only to run into Rick Steiner. Back in and a tilt-a-whirl slam gets two for the challenger and Flair is terrified of the strength. Ric takes him into the corner but gets caught in some armdrags and an armbar. Flair tries to take him to the mat with some amateur stuff but is easily flipped over by Steiner. The champion hides on the floor yet again but heads back in for a Steiner Line from Scott, sending Flair outside again.

Scott suplexes him back in and offers Flair a disturbing smile. Ric comes back with an atomic drop but has to punch his way out of a sunset flip. A rollup with feet on the ropes gets two for Flair and we take a break. Back with Scott putting Ric in the Figure Four but the champ quickly makes the ropes. Flair tries a cross body against the ropes but Scott doesn’t quite make it over so he stops, gets his balance, and then jumps over the ropes to crash to the floor.

Ric immediately goes after the leg and Scott is in trouble. A cannonball down onto Scott’s leg and it’s already time for the Figure Four. Rick Steiner knocks Flair’s hands off the ropes but the referee breaks the hold anyway. That’s fine with Flair as he suplexes Scott down and slaps the hold on again in the middle of the ring. Steiner turns it over but Ric quickly makes the ropes for the break. A neckbreaker puts Flair down and Scott whips him over the corner and out to the floor.

We’re suddenly under six minutes to go in the time limit and you can see the ending coming from here. A Steiner Line on the floor puts Ric down again and the other Steiner throws him back inside. Five minutes left now as Flair sends him into the corner but gets caught in a small package for a close two. Four minutes to go as Scott puts on a standing chinlock which is called a sleeper.

That goes nowhere so Scott Steiner Lines him out to the floor with three minutes left. Back in again and Flair snapmares him down and drops a knee for two. They hit the mat and Scott bridges up into a backslide but stops halfway and tiger bombs Flair down. Ric rolls outside again and Scott doesn’t follow up in a rookie mistake. There’s a minute left and Flair is back inside for a belly to belly but the bell rings at two and a half.

Rating: B. Good but not excellent match here as the time limit came up out of nowhere and really hurt the match at the end. The finish was clear with just six minutes to go and it’s very rare that they switch it up for a pin to end the match when time is expiring. This was supposed to set up Scott’s singles push but he didn’t want to break up the Steiners and declined the title change.

We’ll head forward to Wrestlewar 1992 for some more Steiner Brothers awesomeness.

Steiner Brothers vs. Tatsumi Fujiname/Takayuki Iizuka

The winners are #1 contenders to the IWGP Tag Titles, held by a team called Big Bad and Dangerous, more commonly known as IC’s wet dream: Vader and Bam Bam Bigelow. Why the WCW Tag Champions would want to get the New Japan Tag Titles is beyond me but soon enough the NWA would screw up everything by taking everyone in WCW that meant anything and some NJPW guys and putting them in a tag title tournament which just HAD to be held at Great American Bash.

Back in the day, WCW was all that the NWA had. They just didn’t want to admit that without WCW, the NWA was dead. The WCW tag titles meant more than the NWA Titles and everyone knew it except the NWA. So of course they hijacked the PPV for their own stuff and it bombed but whatever. That’s another review for another day.

For those of you that have never heard of him, Fujinami is absolutely awesome in every sense of the word. Iizuka didn’t mean anything at this point but he would becomes a fairly big deal in tag wrestling in Japan over the 90s. Nothing huge though. Jesse goes into a small rant about Japan taking all the jobs and you can hear the politics in his voice already. Scott breaks out the Blockbuster which is even rarer than the Screwdriver. It’s a fallaway slam with a floatover. It’s very hard to hit and he mostly botches the first. Second is great though.

Iizuka is a high flier that would be decent today but back then was insane. This is the Scott Steiner that was completely awesome and everyone knew it. He’s a one man wrecking crew here and takes down Iizuka with a combination powerbomb and elbow drop with help from Rick. Ok so maybe he’s a one and a second man wrecking crew. Rick does one of my favorite spots ever as the Japanese guys have him up for a Doomsday Device but Rick pulls Fujinami out of the air while he’s going for the clothesline and lands in a belly to belly suplex. It just looks amazing every time he did it which was rare.

They I guess heels work on Rick’s leg which doesn’t work that well at all. Basically this is the Steiners getting to show off and then let the other guys beat on them for a bit. Fujinami goes WAY old school by hooking an abdominal stretch and rolling back into a pin with it for two. The xenophobic crowd chants USA. Iizuka kicks the heck out of Scott who just tackles him and beats the tar out of him for his trouble.

Ok, I had to stop the tape for a second there because that might have been the coolest spot I’ve ever seen. The Japanese guys both have top wristlocks on Scott and he lifts himself up and does a standing backflip to slingshot them into the corner and then misses a double clothesline to send them into the corner where Rick comes off with a double clothesline from the top rope. Keep in mind that Scott weighs about 270 and he did that with ease. This is getting a higher grade for that spot alone.

Dragon Sleeper (Fujinami invented it) is kind of on but Scott gets the rope. Rick gets the hot tag and everything goes crazy for a bit. Crowd is way into this. Rick gets him up on top and hits one heck of a belly to belly for the pin. Iizuka was in free fall for a little bit and it looked awesome.

Rating: A-. Better than the previous match but not by much. This had some of the coolest spots I can ever remember as Scott was just absolutely amazing at this time and he was showing off here. That backflip spot was incredible to say the least. The Steiners were gone in November when they went to the WWF, but if this is their last great match it was a freaking awesome one to say the least. Great match but never really any doubt as to the winners, which hurts it a bit.

Now here’s one that you might not know exists. From Worldwide on October 17, 1992.

TV Title: Ricky Steamboat vs. Scott Steiner

Steamboat is defending and is quickly slammed down a few times to start. The champion comes right back with some dropkicks and we get a standoff. Steiner takes him down to the mat and Steamboat is in over his head. Back up and Ricky accidentally sends Scott out to the floor but doesn’t follow up, angering Jesse Ventura on commentary. They lock up again as this is still off to a slow but not boring start.

Now they get in each others’ faces with Steamboat claiming a hair pull. Ricky takes him to the mat for an armbar and Scott is a bit freaked out that the champion took him down that easily. Steiner fights up with a backdrop and puts on a weak looking half crab. That goes nowhere so it’s off to a bearhug instead with Steamboat in trouble. He fights out, only to miss a cross body and crash out to the floor. Back in and a quick small package gives Scott the title. That was a VERY sudden ending.

Rating: D+. The match was starting to heat up but I’m thinking they screwed up the time, leading to fast the finish. Literally, Steamboat came back in and got rolled up for the pin and the title. This is backed up as the show went off the air seconds after the match ended. That being said, the match wasn’t all that great anyway with neither guy being very emotional as they’re both faces, which makes for some lame matches at times.

Steiner didn’t hold the title long as he and his brother jumped to the WWF over a contract dispute. The Steiners would become big deals in a hurry with Scott getting a featured match on Raw, November 8, 1993.

Scott Steiner vs. Ludvig Borga

Borga jumps Scott during his entrance and Steiner is in early trouble. Steiner gets slammed down but comes back with a butterfly powerbomb to take over. A pumphandle slam sends Ludvig out to the floor and stalls for awhile as Randy Savage rants about Crush on commentary. Back in and an overhead belly to belly suplex gets two for Scott. Borga heads outside again as the Quebecers, Borga’s partner in the Survivor Series, come out to watch.

We take a break and come back with Steiner suplexing Borga over the ropes for no cover. Instead it’s off to a Boston crab as Rick Steiner comes out to bark at the Quebecers. Borga finally makes the ropes and gets put in a bad looking armbar. A few dropkicks get two for Scott but the Quebecers offer a distraction, drawing in Rick to suplex Borga. Everything breaks down and the match is thrown out.

Rating: D+. Not much to see here as Borga was much more about the character than the wrestling. Steiner really didn’t work that well as a singles guy because he felt like half of a team instead of a wrestler on his own. This was just setup for Survivor Series anyway and there’s nothing wrong with that.

We’ll skip over the brief Steiners run in ECW and hit Kollision in Korea on August 5, 1996.

Steiner Brothers vs. Kensuke Sasaki/Hiroshi Hase

The Steiners of course you know and Sasaki would actually win the US Title later in the year. Here the Steiners are actually NJPW guys. That’s a weird thing to see. These teams had a GREAT match at the first New Japan/WCW Supershow. We’ll get to that one soon. So far this is intense if nothing else. No one can accuse any of these guys of not working out there. Well they could but they would be incorrect.

Scott busts out an STF. And yes he knows more than 5 moves. I could watch this Scott Steiner throw suplexes all day. Oddly enough the Steiners are dominating here and are beating the tar out of Hase. Onoo of course says this isn’t important. Hase comes back and hooks a Giant Swing on Rick.

Apparently he’s famous for spinning people around a lot and his record is 44 spins. Ok then. Sasaki might have been in this for 30 seconds. He and Rick fight on the floor and in the ring, Scott hits the Steiner Screwdriver for the pin. For those of you that haven’t seen the Screwdriver, picture a vertical suplex but Scott turns the guy around in mid air so their chests are touching and drops him down into a sitout piledriver. You only see it a handful of times in history because it’s so insane.

Rating: B-. We got to see the Steiners look awesome, but this was almost a glorified squash. The Steiners as heels makes for a very odd showing but it pretty much works. The key thing to it is that they’re really good wrestlers and can bust out a lot of stuff when they want to. This is one of those moments. The lack of competition hurt it for me though.

Here’s Scott on Nitro from June 10, 1996.

Scott Steiner vs. Booker T

This would be huge about four years later. Basic anything you can do I can do greater match to start as I think this is face vs. heel but I’m not sure. Both escape belly to back suplexes but Scott gets a double underhook suplex for no cover. Booker manages to get a boot up in the corner kind of like a superkick to put Scott down. Scissors kick gets two.

Off to a front facelock and Booker controls. Spinning cross body off the top gets two. Larry Z giving wrestling advice to Booker is really weird for some reason. Scott gets something like a DDT to break the momentum though and here comes Steiner. We speed things up and Scott gets a belly to belly to put Booker down. Frankensteiner is avoided which gets two for Booker. A top rope splash misses and Scott hits another belly to belly to end it.

Rating: B-. Not bad at all here with two guys that were still (kind of) young and motivated and could give you a good match at this point. Also nice to see some young guys out there having some time to show off. Booker wouldn’t mean much of anything for like two years though and Steiner would be about 18 months away, so call this a very early preview.

And again at the 1997 Great American Bash.

Harlem Heat vs. Steiner Brothers

The winners are #1 contenders which makes me laugh. Stevie and Scott get us going and it’s power vs. power. They collide off the ropes and no one moves, so Scott hits him in the face with a forearm. When all else fails, HIT HIM IN THE HEAD. Stevie kicks him in the face to take over. Another boot misses so Scott throws him over in a suplex. The Steiners clear the ring for a bit and Stevie wants Rick.

Ray pounds him down and it’s off to Booker, but he wants Scott. Rick won’t leave so Booker doesn’t get what he wants. Ok now he does and Scott shoves him into the corner. Booker breaks up a test of strength and tries a headlock. That gets him nowhere so he tries a full nelson. Scott easily breaks it but takes a knee to the ribs to slow him right back down. Butterfuly powerbomb gets one for Steiner.

Off to Rick again who wants to brawl. The brawling doesn’t work so he goes to the Steiner bread and butter of a suplex. Scott comes in for a gorilla press but he jumps into a boot. Spinarooni sets up the Harlem Side Kick and Booker clotheslines Scott and himself to the floor. Scott sends him into the barricade to take over and they head back inside. Rick comes in again and goes outside also, but this time Stevie powerslams him on the floor to give Harlem Heat the advantage.

Rick is in trouble now as Harlem Heat lulls Scott in. They hit a modified Hart Attack (Harlem Side Kick instead of a clothesline) called the Big Apple for a delayed two. Rick catches a kick into a powerbomb/suplex kind of move to put both guys down. Hot tag brings in Scott and the ring is cleared quickly. A top rope Frankensteiner puts Stevie down…and here’s Vincent to hit Stevie so that the Steiners lose and the Outsiders don’t have to face them.

Rating: D+. This was pretty much a long TV match with a bad finish. It makes sense on paper, but there wouldn’t be a tag title match, at least not on PPV that I can remember. It was around this time that the titles became a prop as without anyone defending them, the Outsiders being called the best team made no sense. You had a bunch of teams that wanted them which helped, but with the titles never being defended they stopped meaning anything.

Back to Nitro on July 28, 1997.

Randy Savage vs. Scott Steiner

Savage slaps him in the face to start before shoving referee Randy Anderson into Scott to take him down. Steiner comes back with a gorilla press slam to send Savage to the floor. Savage throws a chair into the ring and we take a break. Back with Steiner hitting a belly to belly suplex, sending Savage to the floor. Just like old times, Randy hides behind Liz and sends Scott knees first into the steps.

They fight into the crowd with Scott in trouble. Back to ringside and Steiner is rammed into the barricade to keep Randy in control. We head back inside and Scott catches Savage off the top in another belly to belly. Rick and Liz get in an argument, allowing Steiner to backdrop Savage over the top and out to the floor, which should be a DQ. Now Steiner throws Savage into the crowd, possibly injuring Randy’s shoulder.

Back to ringside and they brawl a bit more with Scott maintaining control. Steiner gets two on a small package followed by a butterfly powerbomb for no cover. A Super Frankensteiner puts Savage down but Liz throws in her shoe. Cue the Outsiders for the SHOCKING, yes SHOCKING I SAY, run-in DQ.

Rating: C. This wasn’t bad but it was mainly brawling. Scott didn’t know how to wrestle a main event style match at this point but his singles push was coming. Granted it was years before it actually worked but they were trying at least. The ending was obvious because the announcers were so sure that the Outsiders weren’t there that they had to be there. As usual, not much to see here.

And another on April 6, 1998. By this point Scott had turned heel and joined the NWO.

Scott Steiner vs. Sick Boy

They had said Steiner was facing Giant later tonight. Vincent brings in a trophy for some reason. Steiner takes Sick Boy down with ease and chokes on the ropes a bit. Sick Boy is caught in the Tree of Woe for more choking followed by the elbow drop into the pushups. The Recliner ends this squash.

We finally got the showdown between the brothers at Fall Brawl 1998.

Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner

Scott stalls on the floor for a few minutes before coming back inside for a slugout with Rick getting the better of it. A right hand from Scott has no effect and he bails to the floor. Rick chases him into the crowd and drags him back into the ring but Scott hits him low to escape a belly to belly suplex.

After more stalling Rick blocks a butterfly suplex and hits a DDT before going up for the bulldog. Buff Bagwell interferes but gets rammed into the buckle, knocking him out cold and dropping him to the mat. Rick’s bad shoulder is sent into the post but he comes right back with right hands. The referee is with Bagwell and the match is stopped due to his injury, further ticking off the crowd.

Rating: D-. This was getting better but of course we have a false finish because waiting seven months for a full match just isn’t long enough. I can’t blame the crowd for getting even angrier after sitting through this as they were getting their first interesting match of the night but it didn’t even break six minutes.

Bagwell is awake and talking to Scott as the crowd shouts what they think of this nonsense. Trainers come out to check on Bagwell as the announcers talk about how serious this is. A stretcher is brought out as the show grinds to another halt. We go all the way to the back to see Bagwell loaded into a stretcher with Rick saying someone needs to call Buff’s mom. The ambulance doors are closed, Rick is distraught, and of course Scott and Buff come back out and beat him down. Nearly ten minutes were spent on this after the match ended.

Steiner would start his singles push in early 1999, including this match for the TV Title at SuperBrawl.

TV Title: Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Scott is defending and has been after Page’s wife Kimberly, including throwing her out of a car. Assuming this stipulation isn’t dropped, it’s title vs. 30 days with Kimberly here. Scott, sans Buff here, brings a girl in from the audience and gently kisses her after talking trash about Page. It’s a serious Page this time and the champion stalls on the floor to start. Page will have none of that and sends him into the barricade before they head inside.

Punches and choking have Steiner in early trouble but the referee drags Page off of him, allowing Scott to get in a rake to the eyes. They head outside again and both guys are sent into the barricade. Back in and Page scores with a top rope clothesline and a neckbreaker sends Scott back to the floor. Buff Bagwell runs out to give Steiner a pep talk but Page tells them both to come on. Both guys get atomic drops but the numbers game catches up to him as Steiner nails a clothesline.

Steiner chokes on the ropes and Buff gets in a few chokes of his own. Page gets tied in the Tree of Woe for even more choking. The fans are far quieter than they were about an hour ago. Interesting how having heels win matches they didn’t need to win over underdogs will do that to you. More punching in the corner has Page in trouble but he comes back with right hands of his own. A belly to belly gets two for Steiner but Page pulls the champions trunks halfway down on a rollup for two.

Steiner nails a backbreaker as Buff has put a chair in the corner. A big chair shot to the back (even Tony says the referee should have heard that) puts Page down and Bagwell uses some wire cutters to unhook the turnbuckle pads. Page hits a very low headbutt to escape the Recliner but the referee ejects Buff. A discus lariat puts Steiner on the floor and Page follows him out with a plancha.

That’s fine with Scott as he whips Page into the steps but takes too long going after the steps, allowing Page to nail Steiner with a clothesline. Back in and Page gets crotched on the top, setting up a top rope Frankensteiner for two. The Diamond Dream (jumping spinning DDT) drops Steiner but Page can’t follow up. Instead Steiner sends Page into the exposed buckle and GOOD GRIEF WHY DO WE HAVE REFEREES IF THEY JUST WATCH PEOPLE CHEAT??? Robinson ejected Bagwell for taking off the pad, saw Steiner move the middle pad, and then saw Page go into the buckle and is totally fine with it. Of course he is.

Steiner rams Page back first into the exposed buckle three times because there’s nothing wrong with that apparently. Page passes out in the Recliner. There’s no mention made of the 30 days with Kimberly, meaning that Thunder is even more useless now because the stipulations made on that show are completely forgotten three days later.

Rating: D. This would be the third straight match where the fan favorite and logical winner has been completely destroyed and at least the second match where the referee doesn’t seem to mind cheating at all. The fans are getting quieter and quieter every single match and I can’t blame them one bit.

Here’s a defense against Buff Bagwell, after the two split in the spring. From Slamboree 1999.

US Title: Buff Bagwell vs. Scott Steiner

Since Bagwell never won a singles title, I think you know who is champion coming in. Buff jumps him before the bell and Steiner still has the belt on. Swinging neckbreaker gets two. Scott hits him low and there’s the Push-Up elbow. Buff gets thrown to the floor and Steiner yells at some fans. Things slow WAY down with Steiner on offense. It was a running theme with the Steiners at this point.

Scott chokes away and yells at another fan. Much like in the Rick match, you may be noticing a pattern emerging here. They go to the mat and Steiner elbows him a lot. He runs to the floor and brings in a chair. If that shot had hit Steiner would have been facing 10-15 years. Bagwell fights back but there goes the referee. Buff gets the chair and here’s Rick to turn heel on Buff and whack him with the chair. The Recliner keeps the title on Scott.

Rating: D-. I can’t take many more of these bad matches. I mean the people in them are just SO lazy with them laying around and doing nothing of note. Scott and Rick are back together as the Steiners and both have singles titles. You know, because that’s what the people wanted to see and would light the world on fire. Benoit and Jericho and Malenko? Who are they?

Steiner would have to take the rest of the year off due to a back injury but he would be back in the title scene at Spring Stampede 2000.

US Title: Sting vs. Scott Steiner

Tournament final. Steiner hammers away to start but Sting gets a drop….he gets a kick…we’ll call it a leg attack to take over. They go to the floor for a bit but Sting gets caught coming in off the top rope. We get into a nice rhythm here: Steiner hits Sting to knock him down then yells at the fans then hits Sting to knock him down then yells at the fans. Repeat that for about 2 minutes and you have the middle of this match.

Sting starts his comeback and hits the Stinger Splash. The second one results in the referee getting crushed so Sting goes for two more of them. The first one hits but the second is stopped as Vampiro pulls him under the ring through the mat and Sting is gone. He comes back and is busted open and out cold. Steiner puts on the Recliner and wins the title by TKO.

Rating: D-. Well this was worthless. Sting was more or less waiting around for the Vampy thing which wasn’t needed as he beat Vampiro cleanly earlier on in the night. Steiner gets the title after beating three guys despite being a terror in the back at this point. Steiner would hold the title for a few months until getting suspended for using a banned hold. Not bad for about 12 minutes combined in three matches.

Steiner’s rise would conclude at Mayhem 2000.

WCW World Title: Scott Steiner vs. Booker T

This is a straightjacket cage match. I think the straightjacket is on the corner of the cage or something. It’s a Hell in a Cell style cage. Steiner jumps him as he gets into the cage and Buffer just keeps talking anyway. Booker is all aggressive to start and it gets him nowhere. I was right: it’s a straightjacket on a poll match in a cage. Russo lives!!! Steiner takes over and hammers away on Booker for a good while. Booker gets in some shots here and there but can’t get anything going long term.

Spinning belly to belly gets two. Steiner does more or less an Angle Slam from the middle rope and it also gets two. No movement towards the straightjacket yet or anything like that at all. We get a bearhug and Booker escapes to get a missile dropkick for two. And that’s the end of Booker’s offense at the moment. Steiner gets the straightjacket but Booker puts him down. Scott of course gets up first because he’s old.

Booker is able to get the jacket on for the most part. Stevie gets in the best line of his career: IF HE CAN PUT THE STRAIGHTJACKET ON HIM WHY CAN’T HE PIN HIM??? Because that would make sense Stevie. Booker gets the jacket on and doesn’t bother to tie it or anything so he’s really just insulated Steiner against some upper body offense at this point. Nice job champ. The champ hits the floor and grabs a chair. The lead pipe he passed up wasn’t to his liking I guess.

Steiner more or less no sells chair shots and then rips the arms off the jacket. There’s the Recliner which has about NO pressure on it as he’s on his knees and there’s no crank on it at all. Booker makes the ropes which breaks the hold in a cage match of course. Bookend gets two and there’s the end of Booker’s reign for all intents and purposes. Steiner pops up from EVERYTHING, including the Axe Kick. A chair shot sets up the passing out in the Recliner to make Steiner champion and end the show.

Rating: D+. Boring match for the most part with Steiner beating the living tar out of Booker and winning with a bad finisher and making the beginning of the title reign that was going on when the company was bought. Stevie yelling about Booker losing is kind of amusing as I type this. Decent enough match I guess but sweet goodness was he going to be uninteresting. The guy brought in to fight him next month: Sid. Well of course he is. At least the show is over.

Steiner would lose the title on the final episode of Nitro and spend a long time sitting out his contract. He would however appear with the WWA promotion and challenge for the World Title at Eruption.

WWA World Title: Nathan Jones vs. Scott Steiner

Scott is challenging here and punches Jones in the corner. Oh and Sid is outside enforcer. Jones beals Scott down and they collide a few times. Steiner flips Jones off which earns him another shoulder from the champion. Jones knocks Steiner to the floor so Steiner knocks Jones to the floor. The champion hits a slingshot clothesline back in for two before pounding away in the corner.

Steiner immediately comes back by shoving Jones over the top and out to the floor. Jones is whipped HARD through a barricade as we continue to hide the severe limitations of both guys. Back inside and Steiner hits a backbreaker to put Nathan down again. There are the pushups followed by some yelling at the fans by the challenger. Off to a lame bow and arrow hold by Steiner and a low blow to keep Jones down. A northern lights suplex (why is that so popular tonight?) keeps Jones in trouble so Steiner can put on…..a Sharpshooter? It’s horrible as you would expect but it’s more strange to see than bad.

We hit a bearhug from Steiner which he ends himself with an overhead belly to belly to put Jones down. Scott pounds away but Jones comes back with a side slam to get himself a breather. A clothesline sets up a very awkward looking elbow drop by the champion who follows that up by literally falling off the top rope on a clothesline attempt. Literally, he fell forward with no vertical leap at all. Jones loads up the chokeslam but Midajah jumps on his back.

Steiner stops to yell at Sid for a bit, causing Jones to try a pair of quick rollups for two. Scott pokes the champion in the eye and slams him down, only to jump into the chokeslam. Midajah makes the save so Sid loads up Midajah for the powerslam. Another referee stops him and in the melee Steiner hits Jones with a belt shot. The Steiner Recliner gives Scott via arm drops.

Rating: D. This wasn’t that good at all. At the end of the day, Jones was all look and almost no substance whatsoever. As bad as he looked beforehand, the falling off the top rope turned the whole thing into an even bigger joke than it already was. Sid was only there as a means to the end of the match and added nothing else. The whole match was a clash of styles and neither guy was good enough to carry the other to anything above terrible.

Steiner would finally make it to the WWE, for one of the most entertaining matches of all time at Royal Rumble 2003.

Raw World Title: HHH vs. Scott Steiner

HHH has red trunks on here for some reason. He mixed them up every now and then and rarely did the other colors work. Stick with basic black Game. Hebner brings them to the middle for instructions which is ultra rare stuff. Steiner wins an early slugout and pounds on the champion in the corner. A gorilla press sends HHH to the floor and Steiner pounds away with those weird looking overhand punches of his.

Steiner suplexes him back in for two and works on the back some more. An elbow to the face puts HHH down and there’s an appropriate Boston Crab. HHH powers out of it and hits the facebuster but Steiner no sells it. There’s a bear hug which is quickly broken but Steiner snaps off an overhead belly to belly (1) for two. Flair saves HHH from being put in the Steiner Recliner and Steiner charges into a boot in the corner to finally change the momentum.

We head to the floor again where Scott goes into the steps. The fans aren’t exactly thrilled with this so far but they’ve still got time to crank it up a bit. Flair chokes away with his jacket and HHH hits his second neckbreaker in about 30 seconds for two. Since we didn’t allido it properly the first time, Flair chokes away even more. A Pedigree attempt is countered into a slingshot into the buckle. Steiner looks like he’s going through labor.

An overhead suplex (2) puts HHH down and I kid you not: Steiner FALLS DOWN due to exhaustion. He’s clearly sucking wind and HHH didn’t touch him at all. Speaking of HHH, he counters a tombstone attempt into a….I think it was supposed to be the third neckbreaker in about 90 seconds but Steiner took it wrong, causing it to look like a cutter where he fell backwards instead of forwards. That gets two and the fans are starting to boo.

HHH is loudly calling spots to try to salvage this before he hits a vertical suplex. For no apparent reason he goes up and jumps into a belly to belly (3). Steiner can barely punch so he settles for some clotheslines. There’s an overhead belly to belly (4) and an overhead belly to belly (5) and an overhead belly to belly (6). The fans are openly booing Steiner now. His response? To hold HHH’s hair while HHH rams his own head into the buckles (seriously, Steiner clearly isn’t even pushing) and to hit a spinning belly to belly (7) for two and even more booing.

Steiner tries a butterfly powerbomb and literally falls backwards as he does it, causing HHH to land on Steiner’s knees. The fans groan at the sight of this so HHH goes up top to get superplexed down. He’s handing these spots to Steiner. THANKFULLY HHH tries to walk out but Steiner won’t have it, because WE HAVE TO KEEP GOING. Steiner blasts HHH with the belt to bust him open to try to get the fans to care but the match is long past salvageable at this point.

Back in and Steiner hits ANOTHER belly to belly (8), causing the fans to get MAD. They’re not annoyed, they’re not wanting a new champion, they want Steiner to get out of their ring now. HHH tries to get counted out but Steiner goes after him AGAIN. Back in and Steiner does the pushups to tick off the fans even more as Flair is BEGGING the referee to stop the match.

Now HHH throws the referee to the floor but HEBNER WON’T STOP IT. I mean he pulls his arm up to ring the bell but stops and says keep it going. Steiner hits the NINTH belly to belly suplex (9) of the match for two so HHH hits him low and grabs a fast rollup for two. HHH finally gives up and hits Steiner with the sledgehammer for the DQ.

Rating: H. As in HHH, who I feel sorry for here. Now everyone knows I’m no fan of the guy in 2003, but he was in a HORRIBLE situation here. HHH was trying to keep this a coherent match, but Steiner was beyond worthless here, causing the match to sink to levels far below what any other main event “talent” would be capable of. After about seven minutes (out of eighteen), Steiner stopped doing anything resembling trying to have a match and was just doing suplexes.

Remember that back stuff he did at the beginning? Completely forgotten. Did you see him try his finisher? Not even once. He somehow managed a belly to belly suplex every two minutes, despite being on defense for a good third of the match. This was absolutely horrible and quite possibly the worst world title match I can EVER remember, which is covering a lot of ground.

Post match, Steiner beats up HHH and Flair with the hammer, which gets SYMPATHY from the fans. HHH is getting SYMPATHY from a crowd. Think about that for a minute. And what’s worse: THEY HAD A REMATCH! Oh and there’s the Steiner Recliner to absolutely nothing positive from the crowd at all. Bischoff has to come get Steiner off HHH.

I’ll skip the far better (yet still awful) rematch and jump ahead to 2006 as Steiner hit TNA after several years on the independent circuit/in Europe. From Victory Road 2006.

Samoa Joe vs. Christian Cage vs. Scott Steiner vs. Sting

#1 contender’s match. Steiner is Jarrett’s hired gun. Everyone gets the long walk to the ring from the back to waste even more time. Joe is undefeated here which would last until that bald Olympic dude got here. Cage has never been pinned or tapped in TNA either. I did like Christian’s entrance in TNA. That was always cool. Sting thinks Jarrett is a cancer because cancer is a word that it’s perfectly fine to throw around in wrestling.

The fans are completely behind Joe so Tenay says it’s Sting’s crowd. I think that’s what he said at least as the JOE’S GONNA KILL YOU chant is drowning it out. Steiner vs. Christian and Sting vs. Joe to start. Sting vs. Joe in the ring with Joe’s knee being Sting’s target. Scorpion goes on quickly but Steiner breaks it up. Belly to belly puts Sting on the floor. Something tells me we’re going to be going into the formula here quickly.

Joe vs. Christian in the ring which was a big rivalry for awhile. Sting and Steiner fight up around the entrance which we really don’t need to watch as the match can’t end there. See, why don’t they use a split screen here where it would actually make sense? Facewash by Joe and Sting cracks Steiner with a chair a few times. The pairs switch places and Sting remains in control of Steiner.

Steiner tries a backslide of all things but a cameraman pops in and sprays Sting in the eyes with alleged gasoline to blind him. I love how in a huge open area like this you can smell gasoline like 20 feet away according to West. Sting is taken out as the fans chant TNA. Oh the cameraman was Jarrett in disguise. I knew I forgot to mention something. Jarrett is thrown out in the back.

It’s a triple threat for all intents and purposes here as Christian gets two on Joe. Steiner is on the floor at the moment. Joe tries the Musclebuster which doesn’t connect and the Unprettier doesn’t either. Christian gets a facewash to Joe in a nice touch. He tries something else but Steiner pulls him to the floor. Joe dives through the ropes to take everyone down at once.

Joe busts out a table for no apparent reason at all. He tries to suplex Steiner onto it but Scott reverses into a DDT onto the apron. As per the laws of wrestling, Joe is put through it via an elbow drop from Steiner. Points to Steiner for trying something like that which most older guys wouldn’t do ever. Christian vs. Steiner in the ring at the moment with Steiner catching him in a powerslam.

Steiner gets something like an Angle Slam off the middle rope and Joe pops in for a pair of twos. Frog Splash by Christian misses and here comes Joe. He beats Christian down in the corner and knocks him into Steiner. Christian rolls Scotty up for two in a bit of a contrived spot. By contrived I mean that looked fake as all goodness. Belly to belly by Steiner gets no cover but does set up the Recliner. Oh my that hold is pathetic looking.

Joe grabs the Koquina Clutch and Christian has to make the save. Christian and Joe go up and Steiner drills both of them. Here’s Sting back with a bandage around his head of course. Frog Splash to Steiner by Christian gets two. Steiner dumps Joe and Christian so that the Death Drop and send Sting to Hard Justice.

Rating: C. Totally average main event here that is nothing to remember at all. The Sting injury seemed rather pointless as he was out there for a good while in the first place and then comes back later on so the injury wasn’t that serious it would seem. Not much of a match at all but it wasn’t that bad I guess.

When all else fails, put Scott in a tag team. From Sacrifice 2007.

Tag Titles: Team 3D vs. Scott Steiner/Tomko vs. LAX

So Tomko and Steiner don’t get along and are here….because I guess, and LAX are the guys Team 3D beat to get the titles. After almost a minute of arguing we get Homicide vs. Steiner to start us off. Power vs. speed obviously and Homicide can only run so long before he gets caught. Ray tags himself in and sneaks up on Steiner for a pretty awesome German release.

Homicide comes back in and hits half a dropkick to both Immortal members. He and Steiner team up to beat on Ray which is about as odd of a pairing as you’ll find this side of Alex Shelly and Abyss. Ray kicks Homicide’s head off and it’s off to D-Von vs. Tomko. D-Von powerslams him down and SuperMex comes in via the slingshot shoulder. A Thesz Press by D-Von gets the fans behind the champions.

And never mind as LAX double teams him right back down to take over again. Steiner comes in and drops the elbow and the push-ups. Ray breaks up the cover and does push-ups of his own in a funny bit. He and Homicide get into it as D-Von keeps getting beaten down, in this case by Hernandez. Henandez does that always cool backflip to the top rope and seemingly botches a top rope splash to D-Von for two. His leg kind of landed on D-Von’s head which has to freaking hurt.

In a smart move, Tomko breaks up the pin and pulls Hernandez, not D-Von, back to his corner so that Tomko can tag himself in and get a piece of the weakened D-Von. Man, when did Tomko get so smart? It doesn’t really work though as D-Von hits a tornado DDT to break the momentum. I see why Tomko rarely used logic. LAX comes in to stop the tag but D-Von rolls under then and tags Bubba in a nice move.

Ray throws Hernandez out and brings Homicide in. Go after the smaller guys I guess. That’s very bullyish of him. Everything breaks down as is customary in these matches. Steiner suplexes D-Von so Hernandez destroys Steiner with a backbreaker. Ray cleans house and What’s Up Homicide? The fans want tables but Hernandez dives over the top to take out D-Von. Steiner and Tomko beat up Homicide but Homicide rolls through a Doomsday Device for two. Tomko and Steiner get into it but beat up Bubba a bit. Double teaming fails though and a 3D from 3D beats Tomko.

Rating: C+. Pretty basic triple threat here but it worked well enough. The Dudleys needed a win to establish themselves (for some reason) so this did that well enough. The Steiner/Tomko issue will be made clear in a bit. Tomko I think would go on to team with AJ and hold the tag titles for about six months after this so he did well enough. Also they would be the TNA Tag Titles here before to long.

Steiner eventually got a protege in Petey Williams. Here’s their required showdown from Against All Odds 2008.

Petey Williams vs. Scott Steiner

Petey likes to copy Scott which he was told not to do pre-match. They pose for a bit which is a bit more disturbing than it should be. Steiner easily overpowers him of course so Petey tries to speed things up a bit which doesn’t work either. Some strikes work a bit for Petey but it’s hard to fight against a big overhead belly to belly. Elbow and pushups follow.

Another belly to belly off the top gets two but Steiner pulls him up. Steiner gets an Angle Slam off the top but again pulls Williams up. He goes to the floor and gets the two cases, wedging them between the ropes as you often see done with chairs. The referee stops him but Williams manages to shove Steiner into the case. Rana takes Steiner down for two. Canadian Destroyer is countered into an Alabama Slam for a long two.

Steiner Recliner can’t get on though as Williams rolls him up instead for two. Williams hits a dropkick and a slingshot Codebreaker to set up a top rope crossbody for two. Williams puts on the Steiner Recliner which is as miserable of a chinlock as I’ve ever seen. Tornado DDT gets two for Williams. Steiner gets sent into the other case and a missile dropkick puts down Steiner. Rhaka Khan debuts and distracts Petey so that a Last Ride can end Petey.

Rating: C-. Better match than you would expect but Steiner was never in any real danger here. I never got the appeal of mini Steiner in the form of Williams. Steiner never really went anywhere until the Mafia came up. This was watchable but at the same time it wasn’t anything great at all.

One more TNA match from Turning Point 2009.

Bobby Lashley vs. Scott Steiner

I was right about the Rude/Roberts thing as Scott has Krystal’s face on his tights ala Ravishing Rick. Hey he has alliteration in his name too. This is rather interesting. The fight starts in the middle of the aisle with Lashley throwing him all over the place. Into the ring now with Lashley in full control. A clothesline and shoulder in the corner has Scott in trouble. Suplex gets two.

Spinebuster gets no cover as Bobby sets for a spear. Steiner gets a boot up but walks into a T-Bone suplex for a long two. Clothesline puts Steiner right back onto the floor. Scott FINALLY breaks the momentum with a pair of shots to the Little Boss. Make that three of them. That set of them gets two as maybe Krystal will like Scott more now. Chair goes across the back of Bobby for two.

Back in and the spinning belly to belly by Steiner gets two. Overhead belly to belly nearly breaks Bobby’s neck as is Scott’s custom. A third suplex gets two. Steiner does what he now calls the Frankensteiner but for some reason Bobby drops down to the bottom rope so it looked a bit awkward. That gets two. Steiner goes up but gets caught. Lashley drops him onto the top rope instead of slamming him down. Nice change of pace there I guess.

To the floor again and Lashley throws him into the table and pounds away. Chair to the back of Steiner and they go into the back where it’s really dark. Like Boiler Room Brawl at Summerslam 96 dark. Also we don’t have a camera there. It does make it look a bit more realistic I guess though. Apparently the camera was off so Scott could blade as he’s busted open now.

Lashley puts him through a table for two. He goes off and gets a 2×4, prompting the entire crowd to shout HO! Well they’re smart at least. Lashley charges into a well placed piece of wood. Taz asks why the wood was there and is promptly ignored. Scott chokes away with a cord and gets two off that. They fight back to what is apparently behind the set. Up to the Spanish Announce Table and Steiner rips the scaffolding apart. A piece of the pipe winds up going around the head of Lashley and we’re done. No idea what the point is of giving Steiner the win here but whatever.

Rating: C+. Pretty decent brawl here with both big monsters hammering away on each other pretty well. The ending doesn’t work for the most part as it says monster MMA fighter loses to implied attempted rapist. Not a classic or anything but it wasn’t supposed to be. Fine for what it was which I’ve been trying to cut back on saying but it fits here.

We’ll wrap things up in India, with Steiner participating in TNA’s Ring Ka King promotion in 2012.

Ring Ka King Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Scott Steiner vs. Mahabali Veera

From what I can tell, Steiner is a big time heel and a member of the heel stable. Veera is a good sized guy and we start with a posedown. The announcers crack up when Veera gets kicked in the ribs. Veera takes him down with some shoulders and a clothesline to send Scott outside. Back in and Steiner takes over with some kicks but charges into a boot in the corner. The fans get behind Veera as he botches a side slam for two. Back up and Steiner avoids a clothesline and they seem to mess up some communication before Steiner nails a Downward Spiral to advance to the finals.

Rating: D. It was clear that Veera didn’t know what he was doing out there. He knew some basics but their timing was WAY off with Steiner seeming to be fine for the most part. Veera would be the feel good story of the promotion and would win the title on the show’s final episode. Bad match but Steiner was trying.

Scott Steiner is a guy that has found out a formula that works and used it to give himself a very fine career. He’s far better known for his tag team work but he won the World Title and a bunch of other singles titles to give him a solid singles career of his own. That being said, when he got bad, it was VERY bad with the HHH match in particular being horrible. If you throw in his INSANE promos though, Steiner is more than worth a look, especially in the old days.

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Here’s a guy that spent WAY too much time on the top of ECW: Justin Credible.

P.J. Walker vs. Lex Luger

Luger is still the Narcissist. A hard whip sends Walker into the buckle and we hear from Bobby Heenan on the phone, bragging about how awesome Luger is. The squashing continues as we get into a bizarre bit about commentator Rob Bartlett pretending to be Elvis as Heenan says that Bartlett is George Steinbrenner before Priscilla Pressley is serving Heenan drinks by his pool. Luger pins Walker with his pinkie after the loaded forearm. It was long enough to rate but I think Heenan’s call sums up the match just fine.

Another year, this time from November 14, 1994 on Raw. Credible is debuting his most infamous gimmick here: the Portuguese Man O War, Aldo Montoya. Why Portuguese? Why a Man O War? Why does he wear a jock strap for a mask? Answer: it’s 1994 so no one noticed.

Brooklyn Brawler vs. Aldo Montoya

The Brawler chops away to start but gets dropkicked to the floor, setting up a bad looking plancha from Aldo. Back in and Brawler gets two off a backbreaker but walks into an even worse looking hurricanrana. Montoya nails a top rope cross body for the pin out of nowhere.

We’ll skip 1995 and head to Raw, August 5, 1996.

Jerry Lawler vs. Aldo Montoya

This is a rematch from Superstars where Aldo beat Lawler in a match dedicated to Jake Roberts with a DDT. Lawler talks A LOT of trash about Jake Roberts before the match. He keeps talking after the bell and offers Montoya a chance to speak, only to kick him in the face to take over. Montoya fights back in the corner and nails a dropkick but Lawler runs from another DDT. Some LOUD right hands have Lawler in trouble but Aldo walks into a piledriver to stop him cold. Another piledriver is enough to give Jerry the pin.

One final WWF match, from Thursday Raw Thursday on February 13, 1997. Again, I have no idea why they called it that.

Headbangers vs. Bob Holly/Aldo Montoya

Montoya is more famous as Justin Credible. We see some clips of some WWF guys on a country music show. Road Dogg got to sing his song on there and Hillbilly Jim played some guitar. Also there was a “match” with the Godwinns vs. Jarrett/the host. Who thought this was a good idea for a match? Mosh vs. Holly to start us off. Holly doesn’t so much do things well as much as he doesn’t do things well.

In case you can’t get it, this is a terribly boring match. It’s not that it’s bad but there’s no point to having it and yet it’s here anyway. We’re talking about Shawn Michaels anyway which is far more interesting so that helps. I mean really, does anyone want to watch these four guys have a match? The announcers aren’t paying a bit of attention to this which I can’t blame them for at all.

The Headbangers hit a double Gordbuster on Holly as they take over. Yeah I don’t care about this match at all either. The idea is that Shawn might have to have reconstructive surgery. In reality the knee was slightly injured but he could have gone without the surgery but that would have meant losing the title at Mania which he just wasn’t going to do.

We might have talked about this match for 20 seconds combined of four and a half minutes. Thrasher misses a moonsault and it’s off to Montoya. We’re talking about Brett Favre now. I can’t escape this guy. Finally the Headbangers win with a powerbomb/leg drop combination. Sunny says Mosh and Thrash just won. Even she wasn’t paying attention.

Rating: D. The match was ok I guess but at the same time this was one of those times where no one cared in the slightest and everyone knew it. WWF in 97 was just bad at some points and this is one of them. Who in the world thought this was something people would want to see? Bad match, but now let’s get to something that matters.

We’ll head over to ECW now, with Credible becoming his most successful character: a jerk who doesn’t like tradition or authority. We’ll start at November to Remember 1997.

Justin Credible vs. Mikey Whipwreck

Credible is a guy that rose up the ECW ranks over the years despite not being the most interesting wrestler on the roster. He’s managed by an annoying guy named Jason. They slug it out to start until Mikey sends him to the floor for a big dive. A hurricanrana on the floor has Justin in trouble and a whip into the barricade doesn’t help things. Back in and Justin goes for the eyes to take over before a missile dropkick gets two.

Credible kicks him in the back of the head for two more and gets the same off a sunset bomb. We hit the chinlock into a sleeper but Whipwreck comes back with a superkick and powerbomb for a pair of near falls. Whipwreck has to deal with Jason via a low blow but Justin nails a reverse DDT. Justin goes up but Mikey whips Jason into the ropes to crotch him down, setting up a Whippersnapper (middle rope Stunner) for the pin.

Rating: C-. This was better than the opener due to how much shorter it was than the first match. Mikey was kind of a feel good story and another character that embodied the idea of ECW by having success when no one thought he had a chance. We’ll see a lot more of Justin in the upcoming shows.

Off to Cyberslam 1998 for a rival that we’ll be seeing more of later.

Justin Credible vs. Tommy Dreamer

First blood here. Dreamer in a gimmick match that makes things more violent? Who would have seen that coming? Justin has been talking about Tommy’s family apparently. Oh and they’re having a regular match Sunday. Of course they are. One great thing about these old ECW shows: Beaulah. She is freaking gorgeous on all levels. Dreamer brings a trashcan lid with him because that’s how he rolls.

Out to the floor almost immediately as the fans make fun of Nicole Bass. She’s Justin’s bodyguard if that clears anything up. Dreamer hits a slingshot into a chair into the post. So what was the point of the chair if the post was already back there? Cactus Clothesline over the railing by Dreamer puts them both into the crowd. Time to walk around the arena like in every big ECW brawl.

We’re already on our third chant that implies Bass is a male. Jason, Justin’s uh…..friend I guess, interferes and a reverse DDT puts Dreamer down. The chair gets wedged between the top two ropes and Dreamer goes head first into it. Justin suplexes him onto the chair which doesn’t really hurt the head. Then again no one accused Justin of being all that intelligent.

A second suplex is countered and here comes Dreamer. Neckbreaker out of the corner still doesn’t work on the head at all. Beaulah and Jason have a quick argument in the ring which results in the referee taking a road sign shot to the head. Death Valley Driver puts Justin down as the fans chant Louie. DDT onto the chair but still no blood.

Time for the barbed wire and Tommy wraps it around himself. Seriously, does no one in ECW think these things through? A splash off the top hits Justin and Dreamer is in agony. And here’s RVD with a top rope kick to put a trashcan into the head of Dreamer. Barbed wire into his head plus a trashcan to the barbed wire wrapped around Dreamer’s head busts him open. A tombstone kills Beaulah and the referee wakes up in time to see Dreamer’s blood to end this.

Rating: D+. Just a weak match here that for the most part had no psychology at all. The run in made no sense but I guess it’s something that you need to watch the TV show to get. Also, what’s the point in having a gimmick match a week before a regular match? Either way, nothing of note here and just your usual brawl in ECW.

Back to another guy we’ve seen before at Wrestlepalooza 1998.

Mikey Whipwreck vs. Justin Credible

Credible has his new girl Chastity and Jason with him. Mikey tries a Whippersnapper a few seconds in but has to settle for a spear. Justin is sent to the floor and nailed by some left hands to the face. A hard whip sends Justin into the crowd and a Russian legsweep puts him into the barricade. Mikey pulls the barricade closer to the ring but gets shoved off the apron and goes back first into the steel.

Back in and Justin rams Mikey into a chair before stomping him down in the corner. Jason holds the chair in front of Mikey in the corner so Justin can drive the steel into Mikey’s head with a running knee. A powerbomb onto the chair gets two and the fans chant Aldo, referencing a character that Justin played in the WWF. Mikey tries a Whippersnapper but gets countered into a reverse DDT for two.

They head outside again and Mikey suplexes him off the barricade and through a table. Mikey brings a second chair inside as Justin picks up the first. Whipwreck’s chair blasts Justin’s into his face before a catapulut into a chair in the corner gets two. The Whippersnapper puts Justin down but Mikey has to hit one on Jason as well. Chastity gets a super Whippersnapper from the middle rope but Justin hits That’s Incredible on the chair for the pin.

Rating: D+. The match was ok but it’s becoming clear that Justin really doesn’t have anything interesting to offer. He’s not terrible but he’s such a generic heel that it’s really hard to care about him or get angry at him. Mikey was trying but he needs a better villain to work off. Also you would think there would have been more leg work in the match.

Here’s the finale of a Best of 21 series held over the summer of 1998 at Heat Wave 1998.

Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn

Credible’s entourage continues to grow as he now has Nicole Bass, Chastity and Jason with him. These two wrestled twenty one times over the summer so they’re certainly familiar with each other. This is billed as the final match in their series so whoever wins here wins the feud. The referees are back to the half red and half black shirts instead of the stripes.

Jerry grabs a quick armdrag to start and the fans are all over Justin. A second armdrag puts Credible down before Jerry lands some loud chops in the corner. Jerry nails a cross body for two and clotheslines Justin out to the floor for a big dive onto the concrete. We hit the headlock but Justin spins out of a slam into a reverse DDT to take over. Credible stomps away in the corner, setting up a running knee to drive a chair into Jerry’s face.

A powerbomb onto the chair gets two and they head outside again with Jerry being sent into the barricade. Back in and Justin poses after every move as he is known to do. Credible goes up top but dives into a flapjack to get us back to even. Justin grabs a swinging Boss Man Slam for two and we hit the chinlock. The camera looks to be laying on its side to film the hold.

Back up and Lynn gets two of his own off a sitout powerbomb and a hurricanrana. Jery goes up top but dives into a powerbomb to give Credible a near fall of his own. We get a chair brought in by Chastity, though it’s Jerry DDTing Justin onto the steel for two. Justin is sent to the apron and Jerry loads up a table at ringside. He puts Credible on the ropes for a top rope hurricanrana off the top and down through the table for the big spot of the match.

Back in again and Jerry has to fight off the entourage, including kicking Bass low and hitting her in the back with a chair. Chastity kicks Justin low by mistake so Jerry tombstones her, much to Joey’s delight. Lynn takes Justin up top for a hurricanrana, only to have Justin counter into That’s Incredible off the ropes for the pin and the win in the series.

Rating: B-. This was the best opener at an ECW pay per view since Hardcore Heaven. They kept the insanity under control here and let the guys wrestle until the big finish. It’s also nice to see someone sell a move or two and do some basic wrestling in between all the high spots. Good match here and the interference actually made sense for a change. Justin getting a pin off his own move rather than someone helping him directly made things better too.

Back to Dreamer at Guilty As Charged 1999.

Justin Credible vs. Tommy Dreamer

A tough fighting woman named Jasmyn (later to be known as Jazz and that’s how his name is spelled on her jacket) has replaced Chastity in Justin’s entourage. Dreamer drags out a ladder with him. There’s no Terry Funk in sight. They chop it out to start until Dreamer kicks Justin low and plants him with a spinebuster. A running clothesline puts them out on the floor but Dreamer is whipped into the barricade. Justin gets dropped throat first onto the barricade for his efforts and we get our first chair thrown in.

Back in and Dreamer gets caught in a reverse DDT onto the chair. Justin throws him onto the ramp and sets up the chair next to Dreamer. The drop toehold sends Tommy throat first into the chair before they head back inside, only to have Tommy ram him into the chair as well. The Dreamer Driver plants Justin and the ladder is brought into play. Dreamer avoids a double baseball slide and nails Justin and Jason with the ladder before bridging it between the ring and the barricade.

Justin gets dropped face first onto the ladder before it’s taken inside. A catapult sends Justin into the ladder in the corner but he’s able to slam the ladder into Dreamer’s arm. He crushes the arm between the ladder and smashes it with a chair as Bass yells trash from the floor. Tommy somehow sends him into the ladder for a breather before countering a superplex. Jason comes in and gets caught in a DDT attempt, only to have Jasmyn come in with a low blow and snap suplex.

Credible can’t capitalize as his baseball slide gets himself crotched against the post. A death valley driver puts Justin down again and Tommy knocks one end of the ladder into Justin’s face for good measure. The ladder is finally set up in the middle of the ring but Justin takes over again and puts Dreamer on top of it before dumping him over the top and through a ladder at ringside.

Dreamer makes a save and sends Justin face first into a chair conveniently laid across the top rope. The ladder is then laid across the middle rope in the corner but Justin drives him into it instead. He wraps the ladder around Tommy’s head and drives the top of it into the buckle for a painful looking spot. Dreamer is busted open as Justin brings the ladder back in. Credible climbs but Tommy pulls out another ladder which he stands next to Justin’s.

In a clearly cooperative spot, Dreamer gets Justin with one foot on each ladder before pulling him down with a cutter. Tommy climbs up and gets the cane before diving off a lower rung into a DDT on Credible. Justin gets tied to the ropes and it’s time for revenge. This brings out Funk with a garbage can to knock Dreamer senseless, setting up That’s Incredible (more like a slam) on the ladder to give Justin the pin.

Rating: D. Justin never even touched the cane in the entire match, pretty much making the whole thing complete pointless. This was WAY too long at nearly twenty minutes and continues to show that Justin is nothing all that special. He’s ok, but that’s his biggest problem: he’s so ok that there’s no justification for putting him in a spot this high on a pay per view card.

Justin would hook up with Lance Storm to form the Impact Players. They would main event Heat Wave 1999 against a dream team.

Impact Players vs. Rob Van Dam/Jerry Lynn

All four guys get individual entrances and only Dawn is with the Impact Players. Rob stops at ringside and smiles at a sign that says Get Well Soon Sonya. Sonya is Van Dam’s wife and was in a bad Jet Ski accident around this time. Rob blows a kiss at the camera in a sweet moment. Lynn has a broken nose, though Joey doesn’t bring it up until about twelve minutes into the match. Jerry gets started with Credible and the stalling is on in a hurry. Lynn chops away in the corner and they fight over a tombstone with neither guy getting it. Justin backdrops out of the cradle piledriver but gets taken down with a bulldog.

Lance takes a dropkick to send him to the floor and Jerry catapults Justin down onto his partner. Back in and Van Dam gets the tag, sending Justin running to the corner to bring in Storm. Rob takes him down to the mat in a nice amateur move before getting two off a small package. They get up and flip over each other a few times before Rob monkey flips Lance down. More flips lead to Storm’s half crab but Van Dam rolls out and kicks Storm in the face.

Jerry comes back in and chops everyone in sight before putting Storm in an abdominal stretch. The hold is broken in less than five seconds so Jerry snaps Storm’s throat over the top rope. Credible hits a knee from the apron before nailing Jerry in the head with the Singapore cane. Now Justin is willing to come back in and stomps away in the corner before putting a chair over Lynn’s face for a dropkick.

A sitout powerbomb out of the corner gets two for Justin before it’s back to Lance for a good looking dropkick. They trade rollups for two each until Storm kicks Jerry’s head off for two. Back to Justn for an Outsider’s Edge before he brings Lance back in after only a few moments of ring time. Storm tries to bring in a chair but Jerry dropkicks it back into his face. Credible breaks up a hot tag attempt but gets DDTed down onto the chair.

Rob comes in off the tag and hammers away on Storm including the top rope kick to the face. Alfonso sends in a chair which Van Dam dropkicks into Storm’s face, sending him outside. Rob hits the spinning kick to the back onto a chair onto Storm’s back and both guys are down. Everything breaks down and Rob misses the slingshot legdrop to Storm back inside. Justin gets in a single kick to the back of Rob’s head before he runs back to the floor. Alfonso bridges a table between the ring and barricade for later.

Storm shoves Van Dam off the top rope and onto a chair, setting up the top rope spinwheel kick for two. Rob nails his own spinwheel kick to put Lance down and Rolling Thunder onto a chair crushes Storm again. Justin comes in to go after the downed Van Dam before running away when Rob gets up. Credible is sent to the table on the floor but Sabu runs in and splashes Justin through the table before Rob can jump. Storm hits Jerry with a chair and covers but avoids the Five Star, which hits Lynn by mistake. Jerry kicks out at two, right before a Van Daminator nails Storm. The cradle piledriver is enough to give Jerry the pin.

Rating: B-. This wasn’t great but it followed the tag team formula, making things far easier to sit through. I’m not sure on the booking though as the Impact Players are supposed to be a big deal but they lose in their first major match together. Lynn’s path to the top of the company continues, while Rob continues to not get to the main event for reasons that still don’t make sense, no matter how many times I hear about the TV Title being just as important as the World Title.

The team would lose the titles soon after, only to get a rematch at Living Dangerously 2000.

Tag Team Titles: Impact Players vs. Mike Awesome/Raven vs. Masato Tanaka/Tommy Dreamer

Awesome and Raven are defending and this is elimination rules. Tanaka and Dreamer aren’t here yet as the brawl gets going. Awesome counters a Storm hurricanrana into a sitout powerbomb before diving over the top onto Justin and Jason. Raven hits the drop toehold onto Storm onto the chair as Dreamer and Tanaka hit the ring. Tommy immediately DDTs Raven for two before Tanaka clotheslines Credible down.

Storm gets two on Tanaka off a nice dropkick as everyone but Awesome is in the ring. Dreamer bulldogs Raven before heading to the floor for a massive brawl. Awesome nails Storm with a chair as Raven drop toeholds Dreamer face first into the edge of a table for two. The broken table is put up in the corner but Tanaka escapes a running Awesome Bomb and belly to back suplexes Mike through the table. Tanaka hits the Roaring Elbow for the pin on Awesome, guaranteeing us new champions. This is the last time we’ll see Awesome and Raven. More on that later.

Storm stomps on the bleeding Tommy before Justin hits the running release DDT for two. Back to Storm for another great looking dropkick before a sitout powerbomb gets two for Justin. Everything breaks down and Tanaka hits a double Stunner to Lance and Jason. Tanaka and Dreamer hammer away in the corner at the Players but Justin nails Dreamer with a Singapore cane, knocking him into a reverse DDT from Storm. Diamond Dust lays out Justin but Tanaka gets piledriven. A spike piledriver to Dreamer gives the Impact Players the belts back.

Rating: D+. So to recap, Tanaka/Dreamer and Raven/Awesome both won and lost the Tag Team Titles in the span of fifteen days, meaning this match put us right back where we were three weeks ago. The Impact Players were the only option to win here, but the match was such a mess that you could barely tell what was going on.

At Cyberslam 2000, Tommy Dreamer would beat Taz to become World Champion. Justin would attack him a few seconds later and an impromptu title defense broke out.

ECW World Title: Justin Credible vs. Tommy Dreamer

Dreamer’s eye is busted open but he takes both guys to the floor with a Cactus Clothesline. Justin is rammed into the barricade a few times and they head into the crowd as is ECW’s custom. All Dreamer so far as he whips Justin into the barricade and rings the bell on Justin’s crotch. Back in and Justin reverses a Death Valley Driver into a reverse DDT onto a chair for two. Credible hammers away in the corner and hits his running DDT which isn’t a DDT because he lands on his knees for two.

Dreamer comes back with a bad looking Tommyhawk (reverse Razor’s Edge into a cutter, though it looked more like a Stunner here) for two. Francine, who already screwed Tommy over once recently, helps Dreamer set up a table on the floor. A HORRIBLE looking Death Valley Driver (looked more like a botched TKO) puts Credible through the table but he comes right back with That’s Incredible for two. Jason yells PLAN B and Credible goes after Francine. The delay lets Dreamer hit a DDT on Credible, but Francine turns on Dreamer (SHOCKING!), allowing Justin to get the pin for the title.

Rating: D. Why do heroes always have to be stupid? The chick is famous for turning on everyone and she already turned on you once, so why in the world would you believe her here? Nothing match for the most part as Dreamer becomes one of the most transitional champions of all time. I still have no idea what Heyman saw in Credible.

Credible would drop the title after a few months but had a chance to get it back at November To Remember 2000.

ECW World Title: Steve Corino vs. Sandman/Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn

Jerry is defending. There’s no Sandman to start so Corino sits on the buckle while the other two fight. Lynn backslides Credible for two but has to stop a superkick from Corino. The champion gets double teamed but Corino starts swinging at Justin. Jerry bulldogs both of them down but Corino comes back up to pound on both of them.

The fans all see something in the audience and then Sandman’s music kicks on. Now the match COMPLETELY stops for his entrance. After about two minutes, Credible beats on Lynn but keeps stopping to look at Sandman. Credible accidentally nails Corino to give Lynn an opening. Jerry has been busted somewhere in there. Sandman FINALLY makes it to the ring after a nearly four minute entrance.

Sandman nails everyone with the cane and Jack Victory gets a shot as well. Corino gets draped over the barricade for a legdrop from Sandman as the matches have paired off. Credible hits a Boss Man Slam on Jerry for two but Sandman sends him into a ladder in the corner. Jerry gets whipped into it as well and a Swanton onto the ladder onto Corino gets two. Justin is busted as well as the partners switch off again.

Sandman bulldogs Credible onto the ladder before sending in a bent piece of barricade. Corino is busted open and Lynn sends Sandman into the barricade at ringside. Someone has set up the piece of barricade on four chairs and Sandman suplexes Corino through all of it. Lynn and Credible fight over a tombston with the champion finally nailing it but Francine breaks up the pin. Dawn comes in for the catfight but Corino breaks it up. Sandman uses the distraction to blast Corino in the head. Steve and Justin superkick Lynn down, setting up Old School Expulsion to Sandman and That’s Incredible to Lynn for a double elimination.

So it’s Corino vs. Credible for the title, meaning there will be a new World Champion. The fans are LIVID at Sandman being eliminated so Corino makes a sudden face turn to try to get them on his side. Sandman and Lynn are staying at ringside. A pair of Bionic Elbows get two on Credible as the fans want RVD to come out. Lynn offers to help Corino to his feet but beats the tar out of his in a rather evil move. Justin is sent to the floor so Sandman legsweeps him into the barricade.

Corino sets up a table in the corner but gets into a chop off with Justin. Both guys are getting rubber legged until Justin cheats with a low blow. They hit heads to put both guys down so Sandman and Lynn act as cheerleaders. Corino suplexes Justin through the table for two so Francine gets in the ring, only to take the superkick from Corino, thanks to Justin pulling her in the way. Old School Expulsion gets two and a superkick gets the same for Justin. Dawn goes after Jack Victory and abandons Steve, but he superkicks Credible down for the pin and the title.

Rating: D+. The match was a mess but that’s the nature of something like this. There was absolutely no reason for this to not be a four way dance as that’s more or less what it already was. The problem is it doesn’t mean much as Corino didn’t beat Lynn for the title. A pin over Justin means something but not as much as pinning Jerry would have.

After the demise of ECW, it was off to the WWF where Justin was part of the X Factor stable. Here they are at Backlash 2001.

Dudley Boys vs. X-Factor

Six man tag here with all three Dudleyz vs. X-Pac, Credible and Albert. Dang they go from one of the most famous tag matches ever to a six man opening a PPV four weeks later. Brawl to start with the Dudleys clearing the ring. They launch Spike onto Pac and Credible on the floor which is always fun. Spike and Credible start us off with Spike getting a crucifix for two.

Off to Albert who counters the Dudley Dog to take over. Back to Justin and the white socks of fear. Powerbomb out of the corner gets two as this crowd is red hot. Double tags bring in D-Von and Pac and Albert cheats, allowing Pac to kick D-Von’s head off to take over again. X-Factor minus Pac puts D-Von’s balls against the post as this is a rather fast paced match.

Pac gets two off a legdrop and we hit the chinlock. D-Von tries a comeback but walks into a Boss Man Slam to keep him down. Off to Albert who hits a pretty sweet delayed butterfly suplex for two. After a double clothesline it’s hot tag Bubba who cleans house on all three guys. What’s Up to Justin and it’s table time. Albert kills D-Von though and the distraction allows Credible and Pac to hit a double superkick on Bubba for the pin.

Rating: B-. Pretty solid opener here with some fast paced stuff. They got the crowd into the show (ok so this is Chicago so it’s not like it was that hard) and the ending worked. Nothing wrong with having heels win the opener as the match was good enough to get the fans over it. Also the lack of feud prevents the whole emotional damage.

Justin wouldn’t do much during the InVasion and would be out of the company with few accomplishments. After a few years on the indies, we’ll pick things up at an ECW reunion show called Hardcore Homecoming.

Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn

Justin is wearing a wifebeater so he looks like a bald and less interesting Billy Kidman. Apparently they had a best of 21 series in the ECW Arena in the summer of 2000. That’s not overkill at all. Jerry is in great shape which I type at the same time Joey says it.

They do a technical style here and Lynn does an awesome move where he’s on the apron and teases a sunset flip but turns in the air and hits a Famerasser instead. I love that. They slow it down a lot and we get a good wrestling match out of these two. Justin argues with Hat Guy which is just fun. It’s saying a lot when you have one fan that gets over just because he’s there a lot. That’s very cool.

In a surprising spot, Jason pops Jerry with a chair and Justin gets the tombstone for a long two. This is actually pretty good. The Cradle piledriver only gets two. Jason shoves Jerry off the top rope for general heelish purposes. Lynn comes back to hit a hurricanrana through a table to the floor, which Joey for some reason calls a reverse victory roll. What the heck?

Jason pulls the referee out. Can someone exterminate him? Jazz breaks up the interference and beats up Jason. You think that’s enough J’s in this match??? The referee is named John also. Lynn hits a Cradle Tombstone Piledriver to get the pin. Lynn says that since his birthday is Sunday (This was a Friday), that wasn’t bad for a 42 year old. The fans actually chant for Justin which will never happen again.

Rating: B-. This was pretty good stuff. Had Jason not been so annoying and had you factored out the tables and the chair and given a hotter crowd, this would have easily been a higher grade. Even still, as Lynn said, not bad for a 42 year old. To say he carried Justin through the match is an understatement though.

Like almost everyone else, Justin had a cup of coffee in TNA. From Genesis 2005.

Raven vs. ???

This is more of Raven vs. Larry Z in a feud that no one cared about. Larry is in the ring and offers him a release again, which Raven can sign or face the opponent. Bird Boy gives him a double bird. Again we hear about some girl that might be controlling Raven, which I think would wind up being Daffney. The mystery opponent is P.J. Polaco, more commonly known as Justin Credible.

They have to call him the former Justin Credible because of legal issues. You get that a lot in TNA. Justin takes him into the corner to start and hits some forearms. Raven gets him down and pounds him down as we hear about Raven holding Justin down or something. I guess they mean in ECW, where Justin was pushed as a huge deal for YEARS. Justin (screw this PJ nonsense) comes back with a knee to the ribs and another one to take Raven down. He stomps on Raven in the ribs as Mike tries to tell us about a rivalry these two had for the Hardcore Title.

A baseball slide dropkick gets two for Credible. Out to the floor and Raven goes into the barricade. Off to a chinlock back in the ring as we hear about Raven’s history of having people fall under his control. Now it’s a dragon sleeper. A knee sends Raven to the floor and Justin finds a kendo stick. Cassidy Riley, a Raven follower/tribute guy, comes out but gets caned for his efforts. Raven takes over in the ring and catches a superkick into an ankle lock. Justin escapes and hits a bad DDT for two but walks into the Raven Effect for the pin.

Rating: D. Not much here but I’m no fan of Justin. Raven was hot in 2005 but man this Larry feud pulled him down through the floor. At the end of the day, it’s Larry Zbyszko, the man who can suck the life out of a crypt. Also, Justin and Raven really just worked together in ECW and had a brief feud in late 1999/early 2000 that not many people likely remember. Not the best opener to say the least.

Back to the WWE for another ECW reunion, this time on Sci-Fi. From June 13, 2006.

Kurt Angle vs. Justin Credible

Angle would be in TNA later this year so what does that tell you about their luck? He had been the big guy sent to ECW to make them credible which to be fair is a good idea since he was in ECW before he was in WWE if you squint really hard when you look at it. Also his personality fits for ECW so it’s not that much of a stretch.

Angle of course destroys Justin by throwing him all over the place and treating him like a video game character. Justin shoves him and Angle hits something close to the Tazmission to make him tap in maybe 90 seconds, which is somehow the longest match of the night, tripling the second place offering so far. No rating again obviously. He calls out Orton for a rematch at Vengeance.

We’ll wrap it up with, say it with me, another ECW reunion, this time under the TNA banner at Hardcore Justice 2010.

PJ Polaco vs. Stevie Richards

Richards has the BWO with them despite not being Big Stevie Cool here. The fans chant Polaco’s name (Justin Credible which I’ll be referring to him as) and then Stevie Richards. The fans want blood and an hour (almost) into it we haven’t had any. Justin hits a jumping spinning DDT which was one of his signature moves back in the day at least.

The fake Meanie is one of the Phi Delta Slam guys if anyone remembers them. He’s a security guard at times too. The matches here aren’t completely awful but this comes off as so low rent that it just can’t be taken seriously. And remember, this is TNA’s PPV offering this month. It’s not like the real PPV is next week or anything. This is it for August.

And That’s Incredible ends….nothing as Nova jumps up. Stevie Kick ends this in something that would NEVER have happened in the original company. The lights go out and Sandman is here to no music at all. White Russian Leg Sweep and Justin is back up before like a second. Cane shots put him down again.

Rating: D+. Not too bad here but the booking was just bad. I know Justin is crap but he was world champion for five months in the old days while Stevie was billed as a clueless putz. This didn’t work that well but it could have been FAR worse. Keep in mind that these grades are on an adjusted scale here as most of these would be fails or worse.

Justin Credible is a case where I just don’t get it. He never did anything for me in ECW and he never did anything for me anywhere else either. Justin’s entire style came down to flip a middle finger, do a bad looking move, yell at the crowd then start it again. I have no idea why that makes him a top star in the company, but that’s ECW for you. It’s also very telling that he did almost nothing of note but ECW reunions after the company folded.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of ECW Pay Per Views at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Today is a guy who I don’t think is nearly as bad as people say he is: Great Khali.

Funaki vs. Great Khali

Chop, big boot, Plunge and we’re done.

Here’s Khali’s showdown with Undertaker from Judgment Day 2006.

Great Khali vs. Undertaker

The gong gets a very solid pop as you would expect. Taker hammers away to start but gets nowhere at all. Scratch that as he gets sent to the floor. Khali tries the chop so Taker hammers away. And once again that gets him stuck on the floor. Nice job there dude. Cole turns into an Undertaker cheerleader as Taker gets a Stunner over the top.

You can tell this is a big match because Old School is countered. And of course, NO ONE has ever countered that before. I love revisionist history at time. Khali hammers away as well as he can, meaning this is really rather boring. Out to the floor again and Taker goes knees first into the steps. That looked painful beyond belief and people wonder why he wrestles like once a year anymore.

Back in and there’s the chop that killed Taker deader than dead before. Khali puts the foot on his chest and Taker kicks out. Of course he sits up and here comes Taker. Old School hits and Khali is staggering. Taker pounds away and hits the jumping clothesline to tie Khali up in the ropes. Fans are rapidly getting into this. Daivari gets up on the apron but the referee saves him. Khali gets untied and the chokeslam doesn’t work. A pair of chops sets up a boot to the head, allowing Khali to put his foot on Taker’s chest and get the clean pin. Now THAT is putting someone over.

Rating: D-. And the match sucked. Did you really expect anything else? The crowd is legit shocked as they probably should be. Khali was supposed to have various PPV matches with Taker but one time he was wellnessed and the second the company flat out said he wasn’t good enough to be on live PPV in a last man standing match so they had it on Smackdown with Taker of course winning. After that, he wound up as world champion so there we are.

And the slightly less worse rematch from August 18, 2006 on Smackdown. This was supposed to be at Summerslam but Khali was too horrible to be put on live TV.

Undertaker vs. Great Khali

Last man standing. Khali knocks him down to start but Undertaker wisely goes for the leg. A big boot knocks Undertaker out to the floor but he fights up with uppercuts from the floor. Undertaker comes back with a kick to the head of his own, followed by the apron legdrop and a triangle choke. Daivari goes after Undertaker with a chair, only to get chased up the set (in the days of the BIG FIST), allowing Khali to nail Undertaker from behind. Undertaker is sent into the set a few times before being tossed off the stage and through a table. He’s up at nine though and we take a break.

Back with Khali still in control and they head to ringside again. Undertaker gets hammered but says bring it on, only to be tied up in the ropes by the bigger giant. Khali fires off chops to the head to finally knock Undertaker down for another nine. Back up and Undertaker wins a slugout before clotheslining Khali out to the floor. They whip each other into the steps with Undertaker getting the better of it. He takes the chair from Daivari and pops him in the back with it as the monster is busted. Khali is up at eight so Undertaker blasts him in the ehad with the chair a few times and nails a chokeslam for the ten count.

Rating: C+. Thank goodness for editing. The match was much better than I remember it, even though it wasn’t really anything special. Khali looked like a monster that had to be slayed and Undertaker was always a good choice for it. The chokeslam at the end looked decent enough and the match worked better than it had any right to.

Next up, a match with Shawn Michaels because he can make anyone look good. From Raw, May 7, 2007.

Shawn Michaels vs. Great Khali

No DQ and the winner gets a title shot at Judgment Day. Shawn hammers away to start and gets Khali tied up in the ropes to a HUGE ovation. Not that it matters though as Khali kicks him in the face to take over. Lawler rightly points out that the referee shouldn’t have broken it up because it’s No DQ but no one cares about logic in WWE. Shawn finds a chair from ringside and nails Khali a few times to take over.

A top rope elbow drop looks to set up Sweet Chin Music but Khali catches it somewhere around his stomach. There’s the big chop and Khali chokes in the corner, followed by a very heavy clothesline. Shawn fights out of the Plunge and chokes a lot before nailing a baseball slide to knock Khali down. A DDT through the table is easily blocked and Khali throws Shawn through the table for the stoppage.

Rating: C-. There’s only so much Shawn can do when his big superkick can only hit Khali in the mid chest. Khali was a great choice for Cena to slay, even though the match here was nothing special. I’ll give them this though: they tried to do something and it worked about as well as it possibly could have.

Khali would face Cena twice in 48 hours, starting at SNME XXXIV.

John Cena vs. Great Khali

Cena is in his one year reign with the belt here and is obviously feuding with Khali. So they’re having this at One Night Stand…which is the next night apparently…so we’re having it here too. Even TNA isn’t this bad about repeating matches. Why did they even have these shows anymore? Khali is completely dominating here. We’re a minute in and Cena has had nothing.

Make that three minutes. Khali dominates even more and all of a sudden Cena has him up for the FU. It doesn’t work and then the chop and chokeslam…gets the pin with one foot? The idiocy of this astonishes me. The world champion just got freaking SQUASHED 24 hours before a PPV. Let that sink in for a bit. Ashley is ring announcer for no apparent reason.

Rating: F. THE WORLD CHAMPION just got SQUASHED in five minutes a DAY before the PPV. Why watch it now??? Why should I buy the PPV now? I know Cena is going to win, but why should I buy Cena as champion now? Apparently Khali needs 5 minutes to beat Cena, and while Cena won the next night, this was freaking stupid. I can’t defend this at all.

And now the second match, for the title, at One Night Stand 2007.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. Great Khali

Falls Count Anywhere and a very pro-Cena crowd here. Cena fires off some kicks to the leg but finally gets caught and the power gets going. This is pin only which is kind of weird. Khali uses his basic offense and that’s not meant as a criticism. I mean, he’s Great Khali and a giant. There’s no reason to not have him just do basic stuff to win is there? Big boot puts Cena down again as we haven’t left the ring yet.

Cena tries to speed things up again but Khali raises his leg like a leg lariat to take him down one more time. One arm slam and Khali walks around a bit. Cena avoids a leg drop and manages to get the Throwback out of nowhere. The top rope Fameasser is blocked by the chop though and Cena falls to the floor. That gets two in the first cover of the match. Cena gets in some punches but a low dropkick misses and it’s back to Khali.

In something you won’t often see, Cena’s head goes through a monitor but avoids the big chop. He does however get thrown into the crowd as the beating continues. Out near the production area Cena gets a monitor shot to the head but can’t FU Khali. The big dude gets a bunch of forearm shots to the back as Cena stumbles around a lot. Khali misses a charge and Cena throws a boom camera at him for a two count.

Cena actually gets him up for the FU but the elbows to the head slow it down almost immediately. And hey here’s a crane for no apparent reason. Khali throws him onto the thing and tries the Punjabi Plunge. Cena manages to rake the eyes though and there’s the FU on a crane. FLY FAT BOY FLY as Khali goes to the ground and the pin follows, keeping the title on Cena.

Rating: C+. All things considered, this was rather solid. Keeping Khali out of the ring and just letting him pound on people is always the best thing you can do and this was no exception. They had about as basic of a match as you can ask for here and that’s probably a good thing. Khali as the monster isn’t terrible at times and this was one of them. all this one a pleasant surprise.

Later in the month, Khali would enter a battle royal for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. From Smackdown on June 20, 2007.

Smackdown World Title: Battle Royal

Batista, Brett Major, Brian Major, Chavo Guerrero, Dave Taylor, Chris Masters, Deuce, Domino, Eugene, Finlay, Great Khali, Jimmy Wang Yang, Jamie Knoble, Kane, Kenny Dykstra, Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, MVP, Shannon Moore, Funaki

It’s a brawl to start with various people fighting each other. Henry throws out the Major Brothers by himself and Khali sends Moore out a few seconds later. There goes Funaki at Khali’s hands as well and we take a break. Back with no extra eliminations until it’s Khali vs. Henry for the big showdown. Nothing happens though as Kane and Batista break it up, allowing the rest of the entrants to dump Henry.

Things slow down as the fans try to get behind Matt Hardy. MVP goes after Khali and walks into a big chop. Batista wakes up and dumps Deuce and Domino (the Smackdown Tag Team Champions) before Kane tosses Dave Taylor. Kane and Batista square off but Noble gets in between them, only to have both big men launch him out. Eugene gets the same treatment and the ring is rapidly clearing out.

We’re down to Kane, Batista, Khali, Hardy, MVP, Finlay, Yang, Guerrero, Masters and Dykstra. Kane NAILS Yang with a right hand to knock him down as Chavo takes Batista down with a cross body. The camera angles start getting all weird with closeups before Batista saves himself from elimination by Finlay. We take another break and come back to see Dykstra eliminated.

Guerrero goes to the apron and comes back in for no apparent reason as Matt eliminates MVP (his opponent on Sunday) to get us down to eight. Masters puts Yang in the Masterlock but Chavo makes the save for no apparent reason. The cruiserweights team up to put out Masters but Yang eliminates Chavo a few seconds later. We’re down to six as Kane and Batista go after Khali, only to get kicked away. Cue Hornswoggle for a distraction, allowing Finlay to eliminate Yang. Really? Yang warranted interference?

Khali chops Matt out and Finlay has disappeared. Batista and Kane get chopped as Khali stands tall. He poses too long though, allowing Finlay to come in with that club that I can’t spell. Kane loads up a chokeslam on Finlay but Batista spears both guys down and dumps Finlay. It’s Kane, Batista and Khali remaining with the biggest man quickly being knocked down. Batista and Kane fight near the ropes, allowing Khali to dump them both and win the title.

Rating: D+. This was long and the space between the eliminations got really annoying. Did we really need to have Jimmy Wang Yang in the final six guys? There was no one else you could put in that spot? Khali winning was a logical choice as he didn’t win the Raw Title but was still a big enough deal that the guy beating him would look like a conquering hero. Not the worst ever and I can forgive the length due to what was on the line.

Khali would hold the title for a few months before dropping it to Batista. Here’s their rematch at No Mercy 2007, in one of the truly unique gimmick ideas WWE ever had.

Smackdown World Title: Batista vs. Great Khali

Batista is defending and this is inside the Punjabi Prison. Ok so there’s a big round cage around the ring that goes down to the floor. It comes up to a circle at the top with sharp sticks on top. There’s another cage (all made of bamboo mind you) with four gates on it. You can request to open one at any time and at that point you have sixty seconds to go through it. If you don’t get out, it’s closed and that gate can’t be used again. You have to get out of both cages to win. It’s WAY too complicated which is why there were only two of these matches ever.

Batista gets in a quick shot to knock Khali into the ropes and tie him up. He hammers away instead of leaving like an intelligent person would. Well he’s an animal so maybe that explains it. Khali comes back with a chop to the head and opens a gate, but Batista stops him enough for the clock to go down. The Plunge is countered but Khali kicks him down. Leg drop misses and Batista spears him down.

The second gate is opened but Khali grabs the leg. He chokes him against the cage until the clock runs out and the door is shut. Khali pulls a rope off the wall of the cage to tie Batista to the cage. There’s a strap attached to the cage for some reason so Khali pulls it down and it’s whipping time. Batista wasn’t tied up so I guess it was just choking. The third gate is opened but Khali walks into a spinebuster. Big Dave goes for the door but Khali stops him again, leaving us with only one door.

Batista grabs the strap and gives Khali a beating. Now Batista tries to climb over the top for some reason but Khali pounds him down, right into position for Batista to Bomb him out of the corner. Khali blocks it with punches though and the champion is down. Vice Grip goes on and Batista is in trouble. Khali asks for the fourth gate to be opened but Batista hits him low to put both guys down.

The last door closes so Khali beats up the referee through the cage. Khali tries to climb as JBL says this is something out of Jurassic Park. Uh….not exactly Jibbles. Khali tries to climb out but gets knocked down. JBL: “When big men fall down off the top rope like that it hurts.” Batista climbs as well but gets pulled down with a big crash. Khali climbs up and over the top of the first cage while Batista is still down. Both guys climb a cage and in a very cool looking ending, Batista jumps from the outside of the inner cage to the inside of the outer cage and gets up and out faster than Khali can to retain.

Rating: C-. I don’t think anyone would say this was good. I don’t think anyone would argue that a regular cage match wouldn’t have been better. I do however think this wasn’t half bad. The ending was really cool with that jump being something almost out of an action movie. It was an interesting experiment but thankfully they didn’t try it after this.

Khali wouldn’t do much for the next year, but would get a title shot at Summerslam 2008.

Smackdown World Title: HHH vs. Great Khali

The Game is defending. HHH is a very tall man in his own right and is probably a foot shorter than Khali. The champion pounds away but has to stick and move to not get killed. That doesn’t blow HHH’s skirt up though so he tries the Pedigree. Khali easily grabs HHH and hits his Punjabi Plunge (two handed chokeslam finisher) but doesn’t cover. Instead he loads up his Vice (head squeeze) but HHH kicks at the long legs to escape. A chop block puts Khali down and out to the floor where his manager Runjin Singh tries to calm him down.

HHH, ever the bright guy, charges at Khali again and is chopped down with ease. Back inside and Khali pounds away with some elbows in the corner to drop the champion. The fans tell Khali that he can’t wrestle as he puts one foot on HHH for a cover. Off to a nerve hold by the challenger followed by a slam and legdrop. Back to the nerve hold for a bit before HHH fights up and hits the facebuster. It doesn’t put Khali on the mat but it does tie him up in the ropes.

Khali will have none of this being in trouble though as he lifts up his boot to kick HHH down before freeing himself from the ropes. Back up and HHH tries the Pedigree again, only to be backdropped out to the floor. A hard chop puts HHH down again and as they come back in there’s the vice grip again. HHH almost breaks the hold but Khali gets it back on for a few more seconds. A charge misses the champion in the corner and he FINALLY hits the Pedigree to retain the title.

Rating: C+. This match, while slow, was a great example of psychology in a wrestling match. HHH knew that there was only one move he could use to hurt Khali and give him a chance for the win so it was the only thing he tried for most of the match. This was HHH working around someone and it worked quite well as HHH is a very talented wrestler, which unfortunately is often forgotten. Easily Khali’s best match ever.

Khali would turn face soon after this and be on Shawn Michaels’ Survivor Series team in 2008.

Team HBK vs. Team JBL

Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, Cryme Tyme, Great Khali
John Bradshaw Layfield, The Miz, John Morrison, Kane, MVP

I think you can figure out the feuds yourself here. MVP and Mysterio get things going as all of the commentators are talking at once here. MVP is in the middle of a massive losing streak that would result in a face turn and I believe the US Title. Rey hits a quick rana and a clothesline for two before it’s off to JTG for a double dropkick. JTG hits a HARD right hand but MVP gets in a shot to the ribs and hits the Drive-By (running kick to the side of the head) for the elimination. Khali immediately comes in and chops MVP in the head for the elimination to tie things up.

Kane comes in for the staredown of the giants and Khali clotheslines him down with ease. Khali slugs him down and easily breaks up a chokeslam attempt. There’s the chop to the head and Rey climbs on Khali’s shoulders for the splash and another elimination. Off to Morrison who speeds things up. We hear about how great Morrison is from Striker, but unfortunately that chick Melina screwed up his future. Mysterio hits a quick kick to the head and it’s off to Shad.

Now Cryme Tyme vs. Miz/Morrison was a feud ahead of its time: their internet shows got in an argument and a wrestling feud followed. Shad misses a charge into the corner and it’s off to Miz. Since Miz isn’t quite the worker he is at this point, it’s back to Morrison very quickly. Shad runs over both members of the tag team and powerslams Miz down before hitting another overhyped elbow. Miz pops back up and hits the Reality Check (backbreaker/neckbreaker combo) to eliminate Shad.

It’s off to Shawn who comes in via a slow, dramatic step. He gets to face the Miz, meaning that entrance was wasted. To the shock of almost everyone, Miz takes over and double teams with Morrison to work over Shawn’s back. JBL, the slimmed down version, comes in to pound away and drop an elbow for two. Back to Miz who pounds away at Shawn’s bad eye, busting it open again.

Morrison comes in again to crank on a headlock and send Shawn over the top. Why would you turn your back when you throw Shawn over the top rope? At least Morrison jumps him when Shawn skins the cat. A forearm puts Shawn down and Morrison nips up in a little jab at HBK. Morrison misses the top rope elbow and it’s a double tag to bring in Miz vs. Mysterio. Rey hits a springboard rana into the 619 and the top rope splash puts Miz out.

JBL comes in and hits a hard shoulder to take Mysterio down. The crowd is WAY into Rey here. The fans think JBL can’t wrestle. The correct chant would be “You can’t work a style we like because we think that flying around and using a lot of moves is how a wrestler’s talents are determined because we don’t know what we’re talking about!” Off to Morrison with a European uppercut followed by a backbreaker.

Rey gets in a kick to the face but it’s off to JBL to hook an abdominal stretch with the leg being cranked on at the same time. Once Rey escapes, JBL uses something you don’t often see: a big boot to the back of the head. Rey blocks a belly to back superplex and hits a moonsault press to put JBL down and bust open his lip. There’s the tag to Shawn who hits the forearm and nip up of his own (take that Morrison) to send Bradshaw to the floor.

Shawn dives out to take Bradshaw out and loads up the superkick to send JBL running away. With JBL running away from the kick, Shawn slides back in and beats the count by one second, meaning JBL is gone via a countout. Morrison tries to superkick Shawn but Shawn is like boy these boots are older than you and kicks Morrison’s head off for the final pin and 3-0 final score for lack of a better term.

Rating: C. This was fine but the ending was kind of anti-climatic. They were trying to save the Shawn pin over JBL which was a good idea as they would have a solid feud in the next few months which resulted in Shawn being JBL’s lackey because Shawn was poor. The guys other than the captains in this didn’t do much of note but that’s kind of the idea behind a match like this. Not bad but nothing great either.

2009 would be a pretty bad year for Khali but he did have this match at The Bash.

Great Khali vs. Dolph Ziggler

This is a street fight for all intents and purposes. I love Runjin Singh. His sideburns have powers I think. Ziggler’s music is perfect. Actually make that perfection. Also he’s apparently moved from Hollywood, Florida to Hollywood, California. His look is great until his hair gets all puffy and then he looks like Curt Hennig which is a compliment.

Of course Ziggler gets beaten down early, including taking the chop that pinned Cena back in 07 or so but since Khali is a jobber to the stars now it’s just a regular move. Khali is just scary huge. I’ve seen him live and he’s massive. And then he chops the post to get himself in trouble. Dolph grabs a chair which is fine here and he wisely goes for the knee. At least he’s thinking.

We get the bowling shoe analogy about Khali and I roll my eyes. He’s 7’4 and 450lbs. What the heck are you expecting him to do? And here comes Kane for no adequately explained reason. Ziggler beats the tar out of Khali’s knee as Kane is coming and then Kane goes semi-Austin at Mania 17 on Khali. And then Ziggler gets the pin. This went nowhere.

Rating: D+. It’s your standard David vs. Goliath here and that’s all it was supposed to be. The key thing here is that Ziggler has a huge win by pinfall that in this match is perfectly legal. He’s never really gotten a big push, but he started feuding with Rey just after this so that’s something I guess.

We’ll jump way ahead to Raw on September 6, 2010 as Khali’s career is starting to fall quickly.

Edge vs. Great Khali

Edge goes outside to break the computer but the referee stops him. He makes fun of Khali like Hall used to make fun of Show. Edge wins by count out in about a minute. Total waste of time, but we have an e-mail. The GM doesn’t care so the match continues as an over the top rope challenge.

Back from a break and Edge sells the overhand chop really well. Khali steps over the top rope to the floor and nothing happens. Lawler tries to cover by saying you have to be thrown over. I love rule changes for the sake of rule changes. He steps over again but Edge grabs his leg, so this one counts.

Rating: N/A. Total waste of time here as it was just to give Edge what seemed like a difficult match. This went nowhere at all and wasn’t interesting as everyone knew Edge would pull it off somehow.

Another year off now as we hit Raw on September 5, 2011. Khali actually had a story at this point as his brother in law Jinder Mahal was forcing him to be evil to prevent him from shaming Khali’s sister.

Evan Bourne/Kofi Kingston vs. Jinder Mahal/Great Khali

They’re officially Air Boom. Justin Roberts told me so. This is non-title. Mahal vs. Bourne to start us off and Bourne tries to speed things up but gets caught in the face by a jumping knee. Lawler has to fight either Otunga or McGillicutty later tonight. Khali comes in and beats up Bourne for a bit and it’s back to Jinder. Bourne gets in a shot and there’s the hot tag to Kofi. He beats up Mahal but is sent to the floor by Khali. Khali sends Kofi back in but misses a chop, hitting Mahal instead. That sets up the Shooting Star for the pin at 3:15.

Rating: C. This match made perfect sense. The champions couldn’t hang against the two bigger guys physically so they used teamwork to escape with the win. I liked this and it’s cool to see a team thrown together actually working as a unit and having some chemistry. You can get good teams out of that and it’s working here.

Khali would be called upon to be a monster at Elimination Chamber 2012.

Smackdown World Title: Big Show vs. Great Khali vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Santino Marella vs. Wade Barrett

Barrett and Big Show start in the ring. Show runs Barrett over to start but Barrett gets him down for one. They go outside and Show gets rammed into the cage door twice. Wade goes after the knee but Show kicks him off. We get a statement from Lawler saying that if you’re knocked out (like Jericho was) that counts as a submission. Why do I have a feeling this won’t be enforced later? Show wants Bryan as the buzzer goes off but gets Cody instead. Show is standing there waiting on him and things slow down a lot.

Cody gets thrown to the outside while Barrett is thrown back inside. Chokeslam to Barrett is countered and Wade chop blocks Show down. Cody and Barrett team up on Show and start fighting a few seconds later. Santino comes in fourth and after he hits his usual stuff, Show runs him over. Cody takes Show down by the knee though as the fans chant for Santino.

Barrett and Cody double suplex Show onto the steel to put him down. Cody hits the moonsault to Barrett and goes after Santino. No one is out yet. Rhodes rams the Cobra hand into the cage and Khali is in fifth. Chops and clotheslines for both heels and the Punjabi Plunge to Rhodes. One to Barrett as well and a chop to Santino. The giants face off and Show spears Khali for an elimination about 40 seconds after Khali entered.

Show keeps staring at Bryan and then even tries to reach in and grab him. He breaks the chains on the pod and has broken through. Bryan demands the door be opened but Show has broken in and climbed through the top. The place ERUPTS for this. The clock goes off to release Bryan but they’re both inside the pod. Bryan manages to get out but Show does the required breaking the plexiglass spot. You know, THE SAME THING THAT HAPPENS EVERY YEAR.

Into the ring now and Show loads up the right hand. Oh wait it’s the chokeslam instead but Barrett kicks Show in the face before there’s a cover. Santino pops up for a quick rollup for two on Barrett but is then thrown to the outside. Cody hits two Beautiful Disasters to Show followed by a DDT. Barrett hits a middle rope DDT and Big Show is gone to a big reaction. So it’s Cody, Barrett, Bryan and Santino to go.

Make that three as Santino rolls up Cody to pin him. Cody hits Cross Rhodes to Santino. There’s Cody’s next feud I guess. Barrett covers Santino but it only gets two. Barrett hammers on him and ties Santino’s arms in the Chamber wall. The beating continues on Santino for awhile until Bryan gets back up with a flying knee to Barrett. Bryan goes up but Barrett knocks him part of the way into it again by the back of the head.

Barrett loads up Wasteland off the middle rope but Santino breaks it up because he’s an idiot. Santino tries a superplex but gets shoved off. He avoids an elbow and Bryan hits a top rope headbutt, allowing Santino to steal the pin, meaning he’s eliminated Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett. Bryan is very happy to see what he’s up against as it’s one on one now. It turns into a cat and mouse game and Santino even gets the Cobra for two. The LeBell Lock goes on and Santino taps at 33:57.

Rating: B-. Better match with better drama, but at the end of the day this wasn’t that great. Khali being out quick was fine but I have some real issues with them jobbing out their heels AGAIN for the sake of a one off thing. Barrett was this evil violent and cunning man and he loses to Santino. The same for the longest reigning IC Champion in 8 years. And for what? A pop because they can’t put the freaking US Champion in there? Ok I’m shutting up before I go too long with this. Match was ok, but nothing great.

Another one off match from the live Great American Bash Smackdown.

Great Khali/Layla vs. Aksana/Antonio Cesaro

This is punishment from Teddy because he’s a sore loser. The guys start and it’s time for a chop in the corner to Cesaro. Khali misses a big boot and Antonio takes him down in the corner. Khali throws him aruond some more and it’s off to the girls. Layla isn’t exactly Trish or Lita but she’s by far the better in ring worker of the two here. Cesaro breaks up a cover and is thrown to the floor. Layout gets the pin at 1:45, and that means Layla pinned Aksana in case you can’t figure out that LAYla uses the LAYout and you can’t check the results below if you’re not sure.

Khali’s matches would start getting a lot shorter due to injuries. Here’s an example from Smackdown on February 8, 2013.

Great Khali vs. Titus O’Neal

Josh calls Khali a Hall of Famer, sending JBL into a huge rant about how we follow Bruno Sammartino with this guy. Khali chops him into the corner as Teddy and Booker are watching in the back. Titus pounds Khali down and hits a big boot to the head for two. Off to a front facelock but Khali shrugs it off and the big chop ends Titus at 1:34.

We’ll wrap it up with Raw, June 30, 2014.

Great Khali vs. Damien Sandow

Chop, pin, four seconds.

Great Khali is a guy who gets more flack than he deserves. No he isn’t great in the ring or anything like that, but what do you expect from a guy 7’3 and 420lbs? He’s a power giant and that’s all he should try to do. Just like every other giant in history, a lot of the mystique went away once he got beat and that’s to be expected. He’s never going to win the Lou Thesz Award, but people calling him the worst wrestler in the world completely miss the point.

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For the life of me I don’t know why I didn’t go to this show. I remember hearing about it on WCW TV around this time but I never saw an ad for the show life. I went to the other Thunder but not this one for some reason. Anyway, WCW is coming out of a really good Nitro and a big upgrade to this month’s pay per view, even though it wasn’t a great show. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

The announcers talk about Nitro’s tag match and mention Flair walking out on Goldberg. They did a really bad job of explaining that on Monday as Flair was legdropped a few seconds earlier and was down when the show ended.

Kenny Kaos vs. Bobby Duncum Jr.

Kaos grabs a few headlocks on the mat but gets countered into a headscissors every time. A hard shoulder sends Duncum to the floor and back inside a powerslam gets two for Kenny. Bobby comes back with a shoulder block but pulls Kaos up at two. He follows up with a shoulder breaker for two and we hit a quickly broken chinlock. Bobby gets a boot up in the corner but walks into a powerslam for two. Duncum comes right back with a Skull Crushing Finale for the pin.

Rating: D. Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t go to this show. There were a few weeks there where Thunder was trying, but a Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Kenny Kaos match isn’t trying. It’s filling in the TV time with wrestlers who happen to work for WCW. The fact that this is the live show scares me.

We recap the Stevie Ray/Horace/Vince stuff from Monday.

Gene brings out Curt Hennig for a chat. Curt says he’s that certain someone that every promoter is looking for. Flair may be the President of WCW but he’s also the World Champion. Hennig wants to face him for the title tonight and insults short people for some reason. He brings up slamming the cage door on Flair’s head a year and a half ago. Flair has fifteen minutes to respond.

Vampiro vs. Prince Iaukea

This is Vampiro’s return after one match back in June of 1998. A shoulder block and spinning kick to the face drop the Prince but he comes back with a springboard missile dropkick. Prince goes up again but springboards into a clothesline. Iaukea comes back with a dive to the floor and some right hands to the head, followed by a springboard dropkick to knock Vampiro off the apron.

Back in and Vampiro scores with some kicks to the chest as Saturn comes out to watch from the aisle. That goes nowhere and Vampiro nails a Rock Bottom and a legdrop for two. Vampiro flips out of a monkey flip and superkicks the Price down. Nail in the Coffin (Michinoku Driver) gets the pin.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t terrible but history hasn’t been kind to Vampiro. He’s watchable in the ring but time has shown that he’s almost all flash with nothing to back it up in the ring. To be fair to him, dragging an entertaining match out of Iaukea was next to impossible. Not a great debut but there have been worse.

Horace and Brian Adams talk about the events on Monday. Adams isn’t sure what’s going on but Horace cuts him off with a right hand to the jaw.

Gene brings out Flair for a chat. Flair has three things to get straight before he gets to what he needs to talk about. First, whether anyone likes it or not, he’s the World Champion. Before he goes on, he yells at a fat boy in the audience holding a Hogan sign. Second, he’s the President for life. Third, he’s a Florida Gator and has never met a Wildcat that he liked. Flair says he’s tired of walking into these arenas every week and sucking up to the fans, especially when this outfit costs more than an average man makes in Kentucky in a year.

Now on to business. Last night at midnight, Flair had no idea where Scott Hall was, so the US Title is vacant. There’s going to be a tournament for the title, culminating at Spring Stampede. The first match is tonight with Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Meng. That means every title has changed hands in the span of five days.

Flair calls out Hennig and has three things to say to him. One, if he messes up Flair’s suit, he’s fired. Two, he respects Hennig but he doesn’t get a shot tonight. Instead, he can have Hollywood in the main event. Hennig is fine with a warm-up match before he gets to face Flair. Flair’s third point: if Hennig touches Flair, he has three choices: two other wrestling companies or go home. Tony: “There are two other wrestling companies?”

Clips of Mysterio taking the Cruiserweight Title on Monday in a great match.

Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

This works. Juvy chops away to start and takes the champion down with a headscissors. He tries another headscissors out of the corner but gets dropped face first with a reverse powerbomb. Rey follows up with a moonsault but doesn’t cover for some reason. Back in and Juvy’s running powerslam is countered with a whip into the corner. Juvy bails outside and gets nailed with a running flip dive.

We come back from a break with Rey firing off forearms and draping Juvy over the middle rope, setting up a top rope guillotine legdrop. Juvy counters a hurricanrana and plants him with a running Liger Bomb. He can’t follow up though and I have no idea why the referee isn’t counting when both guys are down with Rey’s legs on top of Guerrera.

Back up and they run the ropes with Rey taking him down with a headscissors for two. There’s a Juvy Driver out of nowhere for two and Guerrera is stunned. Rey’s sitout bulldog is countered with a crotching on the top but Rey crotches him right back. A springboard hurricanrana retains Rey’s title.

The Authority opened the show and let’s get this out of the way: they plugged the Network and it’s $9.99 price ALL NIGHT LONG. Yeah it gets annoying, but at the same time, what are you expecting them to do? The company’s future depends a lot on that thing succeeding and the international release is going to help them out a lot. I don’t care for it either, but it’s something I can live with for the sake of the future.

The point of the promo was to set up the night’s festivities: Ambrose vs. Del Rio and Rollins vs. Van Dam in a Beat the Clock Challenge with the winner getting to pick the stipulation at Summerslam, Stephanie and Brie having a contract signing, and Orton being ticked off at Reigns for various reasons. Reigns came out and wanted to fight, but got a match with Kane instead.

Reigns beat Kane in a pretty weak Last Man Standing match. I don’t care for putting these matches together on the fly like this, especially when this would have been a better option for Battleground. Reigns beating another World Champion is a good thing, but Kane has really started to hit rock bottom on these things. He’s just there anymore and it’s getting hard to sit through.

We got the first of two videos on Brock vs. Cena. These were really well done and made Brock sound like a person instead of just a killing machine. That’s a good thing as it adds another level of character to him.

Mark Henry returned and destroyed Damien Sandow, who was playing an Oklahoma Sooner football player this week. I’m guessing this was a shot at JR and I really don’t mind it that much. It’s not like it was that insulting. It was just cheap heat.

Ambrose beat Del Rio in a long and not very good match. Del Rio beat on Ambrose’s bad arm for his usual good psychology but Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds with the other arm (his right arm) for the pin. That didn’t do much for me as it wouldn’t seem to matter which arm he used. This would be Del Rio’s last televised match in WWE and I can’t say I’m going to miss him that much.

Rusev beat Sin Cara on the App in his usual style. I have no idea why I’m supposed to care about that. Colter came out and did the usual back and forth with Lana before Rusev beat up Swagger.

Dolph Ziggler pinned Cesaro in a quick match while Miz talked trash. Nothing to see here.

Paige hopes AJ gets better soon. These segments are all so short that there isn’t much to talk about.

Goldust and Stardust beat Ryback and Curtis Axel because that’s what these teams do.

Kane took off his mask and gave it to the Authority. I really don’t care about this anymore given how many times it’s happened now.

Bray Wyatt got Luke Harper disqualified against Chris Jericho, meaning Harper is barred from ringside at Summerslam. Why this match got five minutes with all the other nonsense we had to sit through is beyond me, as these two seem capable of having a great fifteen or so minute match.

Diego beat Fandango again, but this time Hornswoggle got to dance with Torito and the girls. This is time that could have gone to Harper vs. Jericho.

Orton had very little to say about Roman Reigns.

Bo Dallas beat R-Truth with a quick rollup, making the loss last week seem meaningless.

Bray Wyatt said his usual schtick.

Another Lesnar vs. Cena video with a lot of the same clips from earlier.

Heath Slater replaced RVD (injured) in the match with Rollins. Ambrose came out for a great series of distractions, allowing Slater to get a rollup pin. Dean is so perfect for this role and it works like a charm.

Stephanie and Brie had their contract signing with Stephanie beating up both Bellas. We need the big names back, if nothing else so we don’t have to put up with this closing the shows anymore.

The show was far longer than interesting. There’s about a two hour stretch in there that drags on for so long because everything is so quick and dull that it’s hard to care about it one way or another. Summerslam really needs to get here so we can have something new to watch though. It’s really not working right now and a lot of that is due to the focus on Brie vs. Stephanie. I’m still waiting on an explanation for how this match is historic, but it might be because it’s the least interesting match to close back to back Raws in years.

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So here we are again as Vince tries to turn one match into a whole PPV, this time having three Cell matches. Not overkill at all there, not a bit of it. This has all of the big matches in the Cell other than the ECW Title because that’s not a real world title right? Other than that there’s not much on the card as it’s pretty run of the mill. Again I’m trying to bridge the gap between what’s going on at the moment and the past so getting all of the 2009 shows done helps a lot with that. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is of course about chicken pot pie and the history of q-tips. What else would it be about? The announcers run down the card and we’re ready to go.

We recap Punk vs. Taker which more or less was just their match at Breaking Point and then Taker beating up Teddy Long. I think we all knew Punk was losing here but we didn’t know how.

Smackdown World Title: CM Punk vs. Undertaker

Taker gets a freaking POP. After the big match intros, Taker is beating the tar out of him. That can’t be a good sign. Ross explains that the support beams are supporting the structure. Thanks for that Jimmy Boy. The fans are split with an INSANE Undertaker/CM Punk dueling chant.

Punk goes on offense for about 40 seconds and then that ends. Taker is selling the knee so I can’t complain about him not doing that. A TMNT game is the sponsor for this and it’s weird seeing that logo on every replay they do. Punk throws a suicide dive and slams into the cage where he might have legit hurt his hand. Don’t think he did but it’s close either way.

Taker gets a SWEET big boot and legdrop as he unleashes his internal Hulk Hogan which is kind of creepy. To be fair here: he sells the knee the whole time. That’s what people are talking about with psychology and storytelling. Punk worked on the knee early and now that we’re well into the match, that work is being brought up again.

It ties the match together and gives meaning to the stuff done earlier in the match. After some chair shots, Punk sends Taker into the corner and goes for his running knee/bulldog combo but gets caught in the Last Ride where Taker kind of just throws him which looked great but it only got two.

Old School, the most counterable move in the world, is countered (thank goodness) and Punk is back on offense. A chokeslam with more knee selling ends that though. And the Tombstone starts the title reign that he’s on as of this writing. Dang it sounds weird to say that.

Rating: D. For a regular match this is a solid B, but as a Cell match this is a total joke. The cage was used in ONE spot and other than that it was a one on one match. That’s just dumb and further proof of how dumb of an idea that this is. There was a rumor/story that Punk was punished for not dressing right on the road as champion. Screw that man. With all the shenanigans Shawn used to get away with he never got treated like this.

That’s just dumb. I get giving Taker the belt, but dang it’s stupid if that’s the reason for making Punk look weak here. This wasn’t quite a squash but Punk looked weak as all goodness, which to be fair I think was because he was against Taker in the Cell so there we are.

Ad for Bragging Rights.

Intercontinental Title: John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler

WOW this feud seems like it was years ago when it was like 4 months. Morrison comes out first which is really weird when you think about it. Ziggler’s music is awesome if nothing else. That shinny thing that Dolph does to get out of his vest is nice. This is the day after Morrison turned thirty in case you were interested for some odd stalker based reason. What in the heck is up with Dolph’s hair? And why hasn’t Word heard of the word Dolph?

Didn’t it ever see Rocky IV? It amazes me how Morrison showed so much promise and Miz is flat out better than he is at the moment. They’re using a more mat based thing here which is odd but it’s not terrible I suppose. Just as I say that Morrison goes to the air and misses Starship Pain.

Ziggler is good at being the obnoxious heel but he needs a different name if he’s ever going to be taken seriously. But hey, it’s “realistic” right? Love that corner splash he does too. He’s a lot better technically than I would have guessed him to be. Morrison starts his comeback and the crowd is really hot tonight which makes this a better show as it does in all cases.

That standing Shooting Star Press is either overrated or awesome and either way it’s as all goodness. Not sure which though. They’re hitting some sweet near falls here. Ziggler uses a jawbreaker of some kind but it came off looking really weird. Morrison sells the neck work that Ziggler did. That’s a great sign as so few people do it.

I’m liking this match a good deal indeed. The near falls are getting better and better. Starship Pain is countered again which is good as Ziggler was laying there forever and it would have sucked if it hit. Crowd chants THIS IS AWESOME and they’re right. Morrison counters the ZigZag and hits a much faster Starship Pain to get the pin. Sweet match.

Rating: B+. Probably too high but this was a very fun match. The near falls were great and at times they had me believing Morrison wasn’t a lock to win which is the best thing a match can do: get you to believe something you know it’s true and that’s what they did here. This was very fun though as it was given the time to flesh itself out as it had over 15 minutes to work with. The IC Title hunt was just awesome at this time and this was no exception.

Josh is with Batista and Rey who were about to start the worst feud of the year which I had the luck of being at the first and last matches of. Lucky me. They have Jerishow tonight. Oh joy.

And the TMNT are here, dancing in the balcony. They’re 25 years old now. That’s just freaking scary. They mention the new movie coming out in 2011, which is awesome. We get a clip of their new game which almost made me buy a Wii.

Raw Women’s Title: Alicia Fox vs. Mickie James

For the life of me I have never gotten why Fox was given a push. It made ZERO sense so they did it anyway of course. This is exactly what you would expect it to be as it’s a completely standard Divas match that could be on any television show at all. Fox looks decent at best but she’s just not that impressive.

She’s fabulous apparently though which I just don’t get I guess. Mickie hits a Thesz Press off the top for two as this is very boring indeed. She follows that up with a HORRIBLE botch of the Jumping DDT to keep the title.

Rating: D. Like I said this could have been on any Raw and it would have been just as dreadful. At least they kept it short. That Smart Sexy and Powerful thing is a joke if there’s ever been one. This was really weak though as most Diva matches are to be fair.

Don’t try this at home.

Tag Titles: Chris Jericho/Big Show vs. Batista/Rey Mysterio

This was considered a lock of new champions for some odd reason. Naturally they referenced Eddie at least once in the buildup to this match. Get over it. He’s dead. Were we ever told why Rey and Batista were best friends or whatever? I don’t think we were. Yes they were world tag team champions. So were Eddie and Tajiri.

Why do we need Show and Batista here? Why are either of them associated with Smackdown? Batista was sent there in order to give it star power and since then the quality of the show has gone down quickly. But hey, we have a muscle guy on the show now right?

For zero apparent reason the faces are working over the right arm of Jericho. That’s just odd as all goodness . Oh look Rey vs. Show. This hasn’t been done in at least 5 weeks so it’s a fresh angle. Rey vs. monster is eternally good right? So says Vince at least. He chops the heck out of Rey and knocks him to the floor. That’s sweet if nothing else. Show pulls him from the floor with one hand by his mask. That’s just completely amazing.

We go to a REALLY wide shot of the arena for no apparent reason. Batista gets the hot tag and beats up both guys. This is your standard main event tag to this point which means it’s ok but nothing epic to say the least. The spinebuster gets two on Jericho. Codebreaker does the same but switch the recipient to Joan Crawford then substitute in Batista. Ok so I’m bad at random jokes.

Batista is getting beaten down now so they’re going with Rey for the big save. When Jericho is huge compared to Rey, that’s a really bad sign. Oy it’s Rey vs. Show again. Rey gets a decent springboard DDT and then is launched across the ring on a kickout.

They say that would have been a huge upset, even though Rey is a former world champion. That makes sense right? Show pulls Jericho out of the way of a 619 and Batista spears both of them down at once. Rey hits it on Show and then goes for a springboard something and jumps into the fist. That looked PAINFUL.

Rating: C+. This started off generic and got slightly less generic as it went on. This right here is everything wrong with tag wrestling today: take two teams of guys with nothing in common and throw them together and they’re one of the top tag teams in the world. That makes so little sense I don’t even know where to begin. The match was your standard main event tag match and it worked like they usually do: not bad but nothing epic.

We recap Cena vs. Orton which should only take a few hours. Mainly it’s just the rematch from Breaking Point. The thing is about this match, it actually makes sense to put them in the Cell for a change as it’s a very longstanding feud so there’s nothing wrong with this. We get clips from Raw where Cena FUed Orton on top of it and it bent. That was cool if nothing else.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. Randy Orton

Orton gets a small face pop again. All right I’ll say it: I love Cena’s theme song and I sing along at times. Cena is champion here and this is Orton’s last shot allegedly. This is the first ever Cell match that HHH or Taker weren’t in. That’s saying a lot when you think about it. Orton takes over early and is in control. King offers analysis of what’s going on. Why? He’s never been in one of these things so what kind of knowledge can he have of them?

Crowd is TOTALLY behind Orton here. They’re 3 minutes in and they’ve used the cage FAR more than Taker and Punk did, which isn’t saying much at all really but whatever. They’re using the cage to jump up higher for kicks and getting slammed into it a bit, but the problem is you could use the posts or the apron for everything they’re doing.

The best version ever of the match was Shawn vs. Taker, as Shawn was scared to death of him and couldn’t get out. He was trapped in a nightmare with the devil. That’s the idea of the match. Instead here it’s just a hardcore match in a cage. Now to be fair, just about every match ever in the Cell is like that anymore so it’s hardly a problem that just this match is having.

Cena blocks the elevated DDT onto the steps. No one is keeping control for more than just a little bit which I’m not sure if I like or not. They’re just standing around in a match that’s supposed to be all about violence. What sense does something like that even begin to make? Cena begins his comeback with his usual stuff and I have zero clue why this is in the Cell.

The elevated DDT hits after Orton takes over. The FU gets two and we’re in the kicking out of finishers segment already. Shockingly, an Orton match is going VERY slowly. Orton hits Cena in the neck with a chair! Hey kids! Hit someone in the neck with a chair! It’s on a PG show so it’s all good. Orton has demons? Cool.

I wonder if Vince tells the camera guys to focus on Orton when he’s in crazy mode as it looks like he’s orgasming or something like that. Cena works the knee for like two seconds and Orton tries to get out of the STFU. He gets it again for the tap but the referee was knocked down. What a shame!

RKO gets two. Orton ties Cena up in the ropes for no adequately explored reason. In something that I laughed out loud at, he uses a chinlock while Cena is tied in the ropes. Seriously, why am I not surprised? Orton lets go for no adequately explored reason. He punts Cena and wins the title. The 4 seconds of knee work Cena did earlier was the explanation of why Orton’s punt didn’t put Cena on the shelf. That’s just freaking stupid but whatever.

Rating: D. Again, for a Cell match, this was awful but for a regular match this would have been ok. The Cell use here was better than in the Taker match, but at the same time there just isn’t enough here to validate having the Cell being in play here.

Also having seen it earlier in the night it makes it seem FAR less interesting. The psychology was more or less nonexistent here too. Overall just not good. Keep in mind: had this been a street fight or whatever, it’s probably a B. As for a Cell match though which it was, this was awful.

Ad for Allied Powers which I really need to finish as I’ve been stuck in the middle of it for like 4 months now.

R-Truth of all people gets interview time. He’s had issues with Drew McIntyre lately. They recap that and I truly couldn’t care less. This might be the picture in the dictionary under pointless filler.

Drew McIntyre vs. R-Truth

McIntyre is just flat out boring, no matter how you look at him. But hey, Vince apparently likes him so get ready to be stuck with him. Wow. I think the crowd here is certifiably dead. The scissors kick misses and so does Drew’s finisher. That DDT of his ends it. Seriously those were the highlights of a 5 minute match. Nothing here at all.

Rating: F+. Seriously, this would have sucked on television or even on a house show. Ross says he could be greater than Piper. I give up.

Legacy congratulates Orton on his title win. Orton tries to do the whole Cell changes you thing. It’s stupid after that match to say the least. The seeds are planted for the Legacy breakup which I don’t think has happened yet.

Ad for Bragging Rights.

US Title: Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz vs. Jack Swagger

Who would have dreamed that at this point, the by far biggest deal of these three would be Miz? And that Swagger hasn’t actually won anything yet. This is the night before Big Ben hosted Raw. Can we PLEASE get some new material for the triple threat matches?

This is your standard stuff for the triple threat match as the heels work together and then fight over who gets a pin so Kofi can get back up. Miz is running this match actually. Yes I’m a Miz mark. Get over it. Fans like Swagger apparently. This is another match that could have been on television but it’s still ahead of McIntyre and Truth.

I’d prefer a one on one match but that’s just me. Kofi kicks the heck out of Swagger and Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale on Kofi but Swagger kind of makes the save. The powerbomb hits on Miz but ANOTHER kick to Swagger lets Kofi pin Miz instead. Picked up A LOT at the end.

Rating: C. This would have been far lower but the last two minutes were way better than the first five so it gets pulled up to ok. Still though, this could have been on any Raw and it would have done just fine. Miz would take the title the next night clean. Why couldn’t they do that here instead?

We recap Legacy vs. DX. New vs. Old. There’s your recap.

D-Generation X vs. Legacy

Seriously, THIS goes on last? The fight starts on the floor and it’s DX beating on Rhodes. Oh the match hasn’t started yet. Oh joy indeed. Keep in mind: DX is CONTROVERSIAL. Keep that in mind. HHH is in the crowd. We haven’t been in the Cell yet. Legacy and HHH are up by the freaking entrance and Shawn is down at ringside. WHAT IS THE POINT OF THE CAGE???

HEY Ted went into the cage. And now he’s back out and I didn’t even get to finish typing that sentence. Cody is mostly in it now. HHH is down on the ramp by the way. Shawn’s foot is in. Ok, so now everyone but HHH is in the cage now. So in other words, the match hasn’t actually started yet still because it’s supposed to be the two teams IN a HIAC match. This is a handicap in a Cell even though the bell rings. My head hurts.

Aww Shawn looks like a sad puppy. HHH is laying on the ramp with his arms at his sides, likely saying he can be a better messiah than anyone else can. So in case the first 40 times didn’t make it clear, IT’S TWO ON ONE! Naturally Legacy isn’t capable of the idea of you hold I’ll hit. Oh the Cell makes it 3-1 apparently. Keep that in mind: Shawn is against INSANE odds.

Shawn finds a chair and pelts it at Cody. That looked painful. HHH is back up again. Shawn, on a bad knee, does the RVD Spider Man thing. Sure why not. HHH still can’t get in. Shawn kicks DiBiase and I hate this match quite a bit. This would be THE GREATEST WIN OF SHAWN’S CAREER. Cole do you even think before you talk? Shawn takes the crucified position for awhile now. HHH tries using a chair to get in. WHY NOT JUST USE BOLT CUTTERS!

He’s stood there like ten minutes just trying to get in while Ted yells at him. The idiocy here astounds me. Hey, let’s just stand here talking while the most resilient wrestler ever is down. That won’t be a bad idea at all will it? HHH finally grows a brain and leaves. Legacy, FREAKING DO SOMETHING. Seriously, they hit him like twice and then stand around more.

This is another match like Mania 25’s main event where they tried to do something cool and it failed miserably. The do kind of a Van Terminator. How interesting. They use the double submission that they won with at Breaking Point which of course they let go of after about 4 seconds. Oh and look: HHH is back WITH BOLT CUTTERS!

He gets in and you know the rest. Only took 20 minutes to actually start the match. Apparently he had to go to an equipment truck to get them because you know, there weren’t any around in case they needed to get into the Cell or anything like that right? The Cell isn’t locked anyway so the match isn’t as advertised anyway. OK!

Now it’s locked with all four in, so the advertised main event begins with five and a half minutes to go in the show. Halloween Havoc 98 anyone? In a stupid as cheese spot, they wrap the chair around Ted’s NECK and Shawn drops a top rope elbow on it. Yep he should be dead. Sledgehammer time. Ted is outside now as I guess they threw him out. He’s back up 8 seconds after something that in storyline terms should have broken his neck. They easily pin Cody. Big old celebration ends the show.

Rating: C-. Ok, here the cage actually came into play so BIG points for that. Even still though, a Cell match should be at least a B-/B simply due to it being in the Cell and it being so RARE. More on that later. This was an actual 2-2 match in the Cell for about 2 minutes. They tries here so I can give them that, but still this was just not that good and really underwhelming for a Cell match.

Overall Rating: D-. Now I know a lot of you will say that it wasn’t that bad. That’s the point. For a normal PPV, this indeed would have been decent. However, THREE Cell matches in one night? There were times where we didn’t see it for a freaking year and we get three in one night? What sense does that even begin to make? With three Cell matches, it’s just too much overall. Two of them were just flat out not needing the cage.

The first match was really bad about this. Also, ZERO BLOOD. It’s HELL in a Cell. Not slight discomfort in a Cell. HELL in a Cell. These matches weren’t brutal or anything like that. They were regular matches other than arguably the main event in a cage. This completely missed for me on just about all levels. Really bad show but some people might like it I guess. Take a pass in my mind. Oh yeah: Morrison and Ziggler was good so this doesn’t fail.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of ECW Pay Per Views at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Date: August 20, 2006
Location: TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Attendance: 16,168
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, Tazz, Joey Styles, John Bradshaw Layfield

The opening video is about DX taking over the company with their sophomoric jokes. The other matches get some lip service as well.

Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero

Chavo puts him on the top rope and tries to powerbomb Rey to the floor but Rey fights out to avoid death. They facejam each other down to the mat and both guys are in trouble. Back up and Rey gets two off a springboard cross body. A hard kick to the head gets the same for Rey before he hurricanranas Chavo into the 619. The seated senton misses and Mysterio hurricanranas both guys out to the floor.

ECW Title: Big Show vs. Sabu

Sabu finally knocks him through the table off a springboard from the chair but Show pops up and electric chairs Sabu down. A Vader Bomb crushes Sabu and Show brings in two sets of steps. He bridges a table across them but his chokeslam is countered into a DDT through the table. Sabu sets up another table but charges into a chokeslam through it for the pin.

Layla won the Diva Search earlier this week.

We recap Hogan vs. Orton. Hogan is a legend, Orton is the legend killer, I think you can do the math. There was a stupid bit with Orton hitting on Brooke thrown in which went nowhere.

Randy Orton vs. Hulk Hogan

We look at a big party yesterday which is exactly what you would think it was. This was also the announcement for WWE 24/7, which was nowhere near as cool as it sounded.

Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley

Smackdown World Title: Batista vs. King Booker

Post match Batista “destroys” Booker, which translates to him not being able to get him up for a Batista Bomb until Booker clearly pulls himself up. Again, this feud went on for three more months.

Jeff Hardy is coming back tomorrow. Why bother announcing it when you can have a big surprise like that?

D-Generation X vs. Vince McMahon/Shane McMahon

Vince and Shane head back to the entrance and send out the Spirit Squad as the first line of defense. Superkicks, backdrops and Pedigrees abound, getting rid of the Raw Tag Champions (the cheerleaders) in less than fifteen seconds. DX beat the Spirit Squad about five times in this whole thing but never won the tag titles. I never quite got why.

Wrestlemania 23 is in Detroit.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. Edge

We hit the chinlock for a good while until Cena breaks the hold with pure power. Cena hits a knee to the chest but walks into a big boot for two. Edge goes up top and fights off Cena so he can hit a top rope clothesline for two. Off to a camel clutch but Cena again powers out of it. Both guys are down so Lita sends in a chair. Edge picks it up before throwing it down out of fear in a cute bit. Cena initiates his finishing sequence but the FU is countered into the Impaler for two.

Edge goes up again but has to escape the FU off the ropes into an electric chair but Cena gets two off a victory roll. A middle rope cross body is rolled through into the FU but a Lita distraction makes Cena drop Edge. The champion is sent into his chick and Cena gets a close two off a rollup. A double clothesline puts both guys down until Edge rolls over for two.

Ratings Comparison

Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero

Original: C+

Redo: C+

Big Show vs. Sabu

Original: C

Redo: D

Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Orton

Original: B

Redo: D

Mick Foley vs. Ric Flair

Original: B-

Redo: B

Batista vs. King Booker

Original: D

Redo: D

Vince McMahon/Shane McMahon vs. D-Generation X

Original: C-

Redo: B-

Edge vs. John Cena

Original: C+

Redo: B-

Overall Rating

Original: C+

Redo: C

Other than Hogan, not a lot changes here. This show pretty much is what it is.

Things have been oddly dull in NXT lately but we’ve got a #1 contenders tournament starting up tonight whichs hould liven things up a bit. If nothing else there’s going to be a new set of challengers for the Ascension, which is exactly what the division needs. We might even get some Vaudevillains tonight. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Tag Team Tournament First Round: Tye Dillinger/Jason Jordan vs. Colin Cassady/Enzo Amore

HUGE pop for Enzo and Cass. Dillinger grabs a wristlock on Cass to start and is quickly sent to the corner by the throat. Cass: “How YOU doin?” Jordan comes in with a belly to back suplex for two and the pretty boys take over on Big Cass. We hit a reverse chinlock from Jordan as the fans are wanting Enzo.

Cass gets caught in a top wristlock from Tye but Cass blocks a stomp. The hot tag brings in Amore who gets his head superkicked into the third row. Tye doesn’t cover for some reason though and brings Jordan back in. Cass dives into the corner to block a charge aimed at at Enzo, followed by a big boot to Jordan’s face, giving Enzo the pin at 5:23.

Rating: D+. Did the pretty boys turn heel and no one told me? They certainly were wrestling like heels in this one and it really didn’t work for them. Cass and Amore are a solid oddball tag team though and Cass is finding his niche as the guy who gets the hot tag and cleans house.

We see the tournament brackets.

Amore/Cassady

Mojo Rawley/Bull Dempsey
Vaudevillains

Sami Zayn/???
Tyson Kidd/Justin Gabriel

Sin Cara/Kalisto
Wesley Blake/Buddy Murphy

Sami Zayn is in the back and says his assigned tag partner isn’t medically cleared (no name is given) when Gabriel and Kidd come in to remind him of the time Kidd walked out on Sami in a tag match against Ascension. Zayn offers to beat them both tonight when Adam Rose comes up and offers to be Sami’s partner. The fact that Sami is wearing an Axl Rose shirt is purely a coincidence I’m sure. Sami sucks Rose’s lollipop.

CJ Parker vs. Xavier Woods

Parker says that the signs he carries are a social movement. Woods is in his traditional clothes and hasn’t put on the white suit yet. It’s a brawl to start and a clothesline puts Parker on the floor. Back in and Parker avoids a charge, sending Woods shoulder first into the post. We come back from a quick break with Parker getting two off a senton backsplash.

A running double knee in the corner sets up a top rope ax handle for two on Woods. We hit the chinlock on Xavier but he blocks a second backsplash with some knees. Woods comes back with some strikes and a high cross body. A running low Downward Spiral gets two on Parker and the Honor Roll clothesline gets the same.

Woods goes to the top rope and walks down a bit before diving four fifths of the way across the ring for a splash. Parker was so far across the ring that he could have put his foot on the opposite ropes. For some reason that only gets two and Parker comes back with a kind of Death Valley Driver for the pin at 8:12.

Rating: C+. I can’t believe it but there are a few things to talk about here. First and foremost, why would you have Woods bust out a big move like that and have it only get two? It looked awesome but instead the match ends a few seconds later. Second, why did the announcers keep calling it an elbow? This isn’t one that you can really call anything other than a splash but Riley insisted it was an elbow. The match was good, but at the end of the day I have no interest in either of these guys.

Tyler Breeze is going to cash in his title shot against Adrian Neville. No date is specified but this sounded like an announcement.

Bayley vs. Eva Marie

Eva comes out on a podium like a sculpture. Makes sense for her. Cue the You Can’t Wrestle chants as they circle each other to start. We get the far better “BAYLEY’S GONNA HUG YOU” chant a few seconds later as Bayley takes Eva down to the mat and rides her for a bit before they roll around for some cradles. Eva gets two off a snap suplex but Bayley takes her down and hammers away. A running elbow in the corner sets up the Belly To Bayley for the pin on Eva at 3:18.

Rating: D. Eva looks good in the outfits but it’s clear that she isn’t anything in the ring. Like, she’s making Nikki Bella look like a master right now. To be fair though, ring time is the only thing that’s going to help her at this point so even a quick match like this one is going to help her.

Tag Team Tournament First Round: Sami Zayn/Adam Rose vs. Tyson Kidd/Justin Gabriel

Even the announcers dance during Rose’s entrance in a funny bit. Kidd grabs a headlock on Sami to start but Zayn comes back with some very fast armdrags. Rose comes in for a staredown with Kidd and a little spank to Tyson. Kidd heads outside for a meeting with Gabriel, earning Justin a spank of his own. Things finally get serious as Rose gets beaten down in the corner.

Gabriel kicks him in the back for two but Rose comes back with a spinebuster for a near fall of his own. Kidd helps put Rose in the Tree of Woe for a stomping and we take a break. Back with Kidd holding a chinlock on Rose and tagging in Justin to stomp away. The double teaming continues, including a low dropkick from Gabriel for two.

A belly to back suplex gets the same but Kidd’s springboard elbow drop hits knees. I still think that would do more damage to Rose than Tyson but whatever. The hot tag brings in Sami to clean house, including the big flip dive to take out both villains. Rose goes up and hits a flip dive of his own. Back in and the Helluva Kick nails Gabriel for the pin at 9:48.

Rating: C-. That was….long. It was a lot of Rose getting beaten on before we hit the tag to Sami for the interesting part. Zayn really needs to get back to the underdog blood feuds that made him so popular here in NXT, but that might be where they’re going with him in the tournament.

Overall Rating: D+. What the heck has happened to NXT? They went from the can’t miss show of the week to a pretty dull hour of TV. Having so much time between the big shows is killing it as Breeze has been #1 contender for ten weeks now and we still haven’t heard a date for his title shot. The matches were mostly decent but the stories just aren’t doing it for me as it’s basically Neville waiting for Breeze and Ascension beating up everyone in sight while laughing at the pathetic challengers. This show needs a shot in the arm, but all the stars they have waiting to debut could be the answer they need.

Results
Colin Cassady/Enzo Amore b. Jason Jordan/Tye Dillinger – Amore pinned Jordan after a big boot from Cassady
CJ Parker b. Xavier Woods – Death Valley Driver
Bayley b. Eva Marie – Belly To Bayley
Adam Rose/Sami Zayn b. Tyson Kidd/Justin Gabriel – Helluva Kick to Gabriel

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