I don’t remember why this was requested but it’s one of the few times someone has wanted to see a relatively recent Smackdown. On the card tonight we have Punk vs. Batista which should be worth checking out. Other than that I have no idea what to expect (well ok so I do but it sounds better the other way) which is usually fun so let’s get to it.

Let It Roll baby.

Undertaker won the title in the Cell recently so he’s here tonight. Also it’s Rey vs. Jericho which should be good.

Here’s Teddy to open things up. This is just after the HIAC PPV. Teddy congratulates Taker for winning the title and says it proves that Smackdown is the dominant brand. In three weeks it’s Bragging Rights. I think I was at Smackdown the week after this (further review: I was). Teddy talks about the Orton vs. Cena match at the PPV and if Cena loses he’s off Raw forever. They’d love to have him on Smackdown of course.

This brings out Punk for some reason and he’s limping badly. He talks about how Smackdown needs focus rather than John Cena and right now Teddy needs to focus on him. If there’s going to be a #1 contender named, it better be him. The match against Batista tonight isn’t fair after he was in the Cell just five days ago. Punk wants Undertaker in a submission match and he wants Scott Armstrong (semi-crooked referee) at ringside. Teddy says no and Punk says he’s calling the shots.

That brings out Vince in a surprise appearance. Vince talks about how Teddy is still on probation and that’s not good. What Long was about to announce isn’t going to please anyone. Vince informs Teddy that it’ll be Undertaker defending against Punk, Batista and Mysterio. And speaking of Mysterio, let’s have our first match.

Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho

This should be good. Jericho is half of the tag champions here. Jericho and Show beat Mysterio and Batista on Sunday to retain so there’s the story behind the match. They start off fast of course with Mysterio tossing Jericho to the floor where he hits a plancha. The crowd is almost silent for some reason. Back in Jericho takes his head off with a clothesline, followed by kicks to the back.

Mysterio takes him down with a headscissors but gets caught and thrown into the air to put the Canadian right back into control. Jericho throws him under the bottom rope so Mysterio can do his land on his chest landing. Back from a break with Jericho holding a chinlock. Jericho hits an enziguri for two and drapes Mysterio over the top rope. After a quick skirmish on the floor Jericho loads up a belly to back superplex but instead goes for the mask.

Rey knocks him off and hits the seated senton as things speed up. Jericho tries a sunset flip but Rey rolls through and hits a seated dropkick for two. Jericho grabs the feet and tries the Walls but Rey rolls him up for a close two. Backbreaker gets two for Chris. The bulldog is countered and Rey puts him in 619 position but Jericho moves. Rey tries a springboard but jumps into the Walls. He can’t make a rope but he gets underneath Jericho and kicks him into 619 position. That and a slingshot splash are good for the pin.

Rating: B-. Good match here but did you expect anything else? They got to do their usual stuff and the ending was solid on top of that. This would put Rey higher on the totem poll than Jericho which makes sense as Jericho was in the Bragging Rights match instead of the world title match. Good stuff here but not as good as their stuff from earlier in the year.

Back to Raw for a clip from Ben Rothelisberger hosting the show.

WORD UP’s word of the week is Eve. She pops up in the video and that’s about it.

Eve Torres vs. Michelle McCool

Michelle is Women’s Champion. McCool takes her into the corner but Eve fires back. Eve controls for a few seconds but Michelle hits a running knee to take over. Michelle wraps up Eve’s arms and rams the back of Eve’s head into Michelle’s chest. That’s a different one. Eve comes back with dropkicks and a small package for two. And never mind as Michelle kicks her head off for the pin.

Rating: C-. It’s amazing how far this division has fallen in the last two and a half years. Laycool was so ridiculously better than anyone else for a long time and then they both left and the division fell off a cliff. When you go from Michelle and Layla down to Kelly Kelly, the ring quality goes down a lot, which is saying something when Laycool wasn’t great in the ring to begin with.

Vickie is in the back with whatever boyfriend she has this week. Oh it’s Eric Escobar. No wonder I didn’t recognize him. Teddy comes in and Vickie complains about Escobar to not have a match tonight. She complains about Punk not getting a rematch and complains about the Undertaker being treated unfairly. Huh? Teddy says it was Vince’s idea and Vickie is incensed. Eric speaks Spanish and Teddy has no idea what he said. Escobar would be off TV before the end of the year and released in January.

Intercontinental Title: John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler

John is defending. Feeling out process to start and they head to the mat. Dolph winds up on top for a bit until Morrison hooks an armbar. That gets broken up quickly so it’s time for a headlock. Ziggler fights out of that so Morrison hits a backbreaker and Russian legsweep for two. Maria is at ringside because she was dating Ziggler I think. In a cool move, Ziggler grabs Morrison’s leg but Morrison dives forward and swings his other foot over his head to kick Ziggler in the head (called a Pele by JR).

Morrison misses a corner charge and Ziggler grabs a bridging German suplex for two. Stinger Splash hits for two as does a jumping elbow drop. There’s a reverse chinlock and sweet goodness Maria is gorgeous. Ziggler stomps him in the corner and hits a powerslam for two. Back to the chinlock but Morrison stands up and comes out with an electric chair drop to escape.

Slugout goes to the champion and he’s getting all fired up. Leg lariat takes Dolph down and the standing shooting star gets two. John cross bodies him to the floor and they’re both down. Ziggler throws him back in and steals Maria’s chair. Maria takes it back without Dolph seeing her. Dolph hits a dropkick and goes for the chair (without taking care of the referee first) but after yelling at Maria he walks into the Flying Chuck (Disaster Kick) for the pin.

Rating: B-. This was a pretty solid match but the reversals were going slowly for some reason. They were fine and worked well for what they were going for but it wasn’t anything great. Morrison is great in the ring and as long as he can keep his big mouth shut and can stay away from Melina, he’ll be back in WWE someday.

Video on Taker’s seven world title wins. Did we mention he got the belt back?

After a break Ziggler won’t talk to Maria. He winds up yelling at her and says to stay out of his professional life. As for his personal life, they’re done.

Rey is in the back and Batista comes in. Rey hopes Batista isn’t upset about the loss on Sunday but Batista says it’s cool. They both think they’ll win at Bragging Rights.

R-Truth/Matt Hardy vs. Kane/Drew McIntyre

This is when McIntyre was pretty new and unstoppable. That’s quite a strange partner for him. I kind of miss Truth doing his own song. Drew still has a very generic rock song. Matt and Drew start us off and it’s time for arm work. Off to Truth as Drew is in trouble. Drew makes a blind tag and Truth messes up his spinning kick. Kane comes in to run over Truth and hits his low dropkick for two. After a quick exchange, Truth sends Kane into the buckle and it’s off to Matt vs. Drew. Everything breaks down and Drew sends Matt into Kane for an uppercut, followed by the Futureshock for the pin on Hardy.

Rating: D+. Not much here as they didn’t have a ton of time. McIntyre would take the title off Morrison soon enough but it wouldn’t lead anywhere. Hardy would feud with McIntyre eventually while Truth would go on to become crazy in about a year and a half with not much else in between. Kane would float around until the summer when he would FINALLY win the world title again.

Here’s Undertaker for his latest speech. The belt does look good on him. He talks about how the title is so important and that’s why he needs to hold it. He talks about the world title match at the PPV and says Punk won’t be as lucky at Bragging Rights as he was in the Cell. He’ll take out Batista and Rey as well. That’s about it.

Batista vs. CM Punk

There’s a lot of time for this. Punk immediately goes to the floor and it’s time to stall. We finally get some contact and Punk gets sent to the ropes. Batista takes him into the corner and rams him with a clothesline. Punk to the floor again but he manages to guillotine him on the top rope. A springboard clothesline fails but Punk escapes the Batista Bomb as we take a break.

Back with Batista suplexing Punk for two. The high kick is countered into an ankle lock of all things. Punk runs to the floor again and catches Batista coming in with a kick to the head and then a knee lift. Off to the chinlock and into a headscissors as JR makes the alays stupid statement of the two being the same size on the mat.

Batista comes up and hits the Bossman Slam to put both guys down. Now Grisham tries to be witty by saying that Batista knocked the air out of the man from the windy city. Cross body is countered into a powerslam for two. Punk gets a quick comeback but walks into a spinebuster. He bails to the floor and Batista tries the Bomb out there. Punk grabs the top rope and kicks Batista away before sliding back in for the countout win.

Rating: C. See, now that was a clever ending. Why is that such a rare thing to come by nowadays? It played into the idea that Punk was trying to stay away from Batista as well as giving us a nice surprise instead of making Batista look unbeatable. That gives you another challenger in the PPV Title match instead of just the obvious Big Dave. The match wasn’t great up until the ending though.

Batista powerbombs Punk anyway post match.

Overall Rating: C+. This show flew by and in a mostly good way. They set up the PPV title match and on the next show we would start setting up the big tag match. Since there were only five matches on the card, the PPV wouldn’t take much more than that to build it up. The show tonight was good and certainly entertaining enough. Good stuff.

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After last week we have our two biggest matches for Superbrawl and we have this plus one more Nitro before we get to the PPV. It’s hard to say what’s going to happen here as they have a lot set for the PPV so it’ll likely just be promos for that. I say it’s hard to say because there would be a very strange set of promos by Piper before it, which I’m sure will get a few comments out of me. Let’s get to it.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko

Before the match Dean talks (?!?!) to Syxx, challenging him to a match anywhere anytime. This is non-title I believe. Eddie wraps him up to start after a quick headscissors. Dean takes the arm but gets headscissored back down. Dean comes back with a powerslam for two and takes over. Eddie tilt-a-whirls him down for two.

Time for the chinlock and then they hit the mat for a move that no one is sure as to what it was. It might have been a submission but I have no idea who it was on. Dean hits a release German for two and a tombstone as Syxx comes out. He clocks Penzer and steals the US Title. Eddie chases and gets counted out.

Rating: C+. It’s Eddie vs. Dean. Were you expecting anything other than a good match here? They were flying all over the place and put on a clinic out there while they could, but the ending really brought it down. Then again it’s advancing an angle so I can’t complain as much as I do when it’s the same things over and over.

Here’s DDT with a chair. He sits down in the middle of the ring and says that there’s a bullseye on his forehead. Here’s here to make a statement: he’s tired of running and if something is going to happen, let it happen right now. Here come Sting and Savage to the ring and they circle him. Savage hits the chair with the bat and Page jumps up. They shove him back with the bat and Sting pulls his back to swing it but stops. Page doesn’t leave and Sting hands him his bat. Savage and Sting turn their backs but Page doesn’t move. Savage and Sting leave.

Konnan vs. Bobby Eaton

Konnan hits a quick dropkick and shrugs off Eaton’s right hands. Seated dropkick sets up the 187 for a very quick pin.

We get a clip of Luger getting attacked last week.

Lex Luger vs. Ron Powers

Eric comes out and says not so fast because Luger isn’t medically cleared to wrestle because of a big cast on his left hand. Lex has the rest of the show to get him a medical release or he’s out of SuperBrawl. Lex leaves and Giant comes up behind Bischoff.

The Giant vs. Ron Powers

Giant throws him around and hits the chokeslam for the pin at about a minute and a half.

Giant says he’ll have a partner at SuperBrawl in the form of Lex Luger because Luger is the only one that would trust him. Luger comes out and says nothing will stop him from going for the titles.

The rest of the NWO gets here. Actually it’s just the Outsiders and Bubba. Bubba wants DDP at SuperBrawl.

High Voltage vs. Steiner Brothers

Scott and Rage get us going as Tony talks about a fatal fourway match which would never take place. Harlem Heat, another team that is scheduled for that match, is out watching. Rage clips Scott’s knee but gets caught in a powerslam coming off the top. Gorilla press brings in Rick and the Faces of Fear are watching too. Kaos is in to face Rick and the Public Enemy is here too. Malenko vs. Syxx will happen at the PPV as well. Rick works the arm for a bit and it’s back to Scott. High Voltage cheats to take over but Scott won’t sell any of that. Rage’s springboard is caught in a Rick powerbomb and the Bulldog gets the pin.

Rating: C-. Just a step above a squash here but it was fine to give the Steiners some momentum going into the PPV. High Voltage was a good jobbing team like they were used as here so I can’t complain much in that regard. Having the other teams come out was a nice touch as well.

Here’s the NWO for their regular takeover of the broadcast desk. It’s Hall, Nash and Eric on commentary with Syxx and Nick Patrick behind them. Eric brings out Randy Anderson with his kids to beg for his job. Bischoff gets in one of his greatest lines ever with “Kids, will you please tell your daddy…..THAT HE’S STILL FIRED!” Next week Anderson can wrestle Patrick for his job. Anderson’s wife says no because that’s against what his doctors said. His doctors told a referee that he can’t wrestle?

Outsiders vs. The Extreme

This is the same team that the Outsiders killed a few weeks ago. The Outsiders jump them in the aisle and this lasts about a minute and a half. A Torture Rack (in a fireman’s carry position) by Nash gets the submission.

Syxx interviews the Outsiders post match with Nash talking about how a giant is a goon according to the dictionary. Hall says Nash is a cool giant, not a dorky giant.

Hour #2 begins with the usual announcers.

TV Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Steven Regal

Regal takes the arm to start and it’s time for some chain wrestling. They both fight over the arm but Regal casually picks him up and hits a backbreaker to take over. Rey comes back with a springboard missile dropkick and Regal is in trouble. Steven gets in a quick thumb to the eye and a European Uppercut to take over. There are the knees to the face and Regal is dominating. Rey manages a dropkick to put him on the floor but walks into a guillotine to keep the advantage with the champion. They trade some very fast rollups for two each and Rey has him cradled as the bell rings at 6:54 for the time limit draw.

Rating: C. I know wrestling isn’t great at keeping time, but less than seven minutes? That has to be a botch of some sort because that was off by about three minutes if Tony’s statement of a ten minute time limit is correct. They were starting to click at the end too which makes the ending all the stranger.

Kevin Sullivan vs. Maverick Wild

Wild has what would become Mongo’s music. Sullivan jumps him immediately and knocks him to the floor, where Jackie beats him up. Wild gets thrown out there again and beaten up one more time with Heenan freaking out. Tenay actually mentions the Women’s Title. Tree of Woe and double stomp end the squash quick. This was more about Jackie than the match.

Sullivan cuts off the interview post match and talks to Nancy and Chris. He talks about being in bed last night and getting a call from someone named Paulie and saying that the deal is falling through. A bunch of people have told him to do his job which makes Sullivan talk about the difference between a community and a neighborhood. He implies that if Woman tries to use a weapon on Jackie, there will be punishment. The girls are going to be strapped together at the PPV. Jackie says the same thing.

Some Jacksonville Jaguar is here.

LONG recap of the ending of Nitro last week, and by that I mean they SHOW THE WHOLE THING, with Tony doing a voiceover. There are no cuts in this and it eats up like 8 minutes. I guess we’ve just found the rest of the TV Title match.

Hugh Morrus vs. Alex Wright

Morrus pounds him down in the corner and Wright comes back with kicks and punches. Wright’s spinwheel kick takes Morrus to the floor and Wright hits a big dive to take him down. A charge misses for Hugh and they botch a missile dropkick spot badly. Morrus powerbombs him and the moonsault gets the pin. I think this was cut short.

Chavo Guerrero/Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Benoit/Steve McMichael

That’s an odd pairing. Benoit and Chavo start things off with Chavo speeding things way up. Off to Jarrett and they take Benoit down pretty quickly. Benoit hits the buckle chest first and Jarrett puts him down with a belly to back suplex. Mongo hits him in the back to a BIG reaction and gets the tag to an even bigger one. Weird crowd man. Powerslam gets two and it’s back to Benoit. Jeff hits a picture perfect dropkick and tags Chavo back in. Chavo erupts and beats up the Horsemen by himself, hitting a moonsault for two on Benoit. Debra won’t let Jarrett get back in and Mongo kills Chavo with a tombstone for the pin.

Rating: B-. For a three and a half minute match this was pretty fun stuff. Jarrett can throw a mean dropkick and Chavo’s were good as well. Also Mongo killed him dead with that tombstone, which was pretty much the only move Mongo could do competently. Good little match here, which is what happens with talented people.

All of the Horsemen come to the ring post match for their meeting of the week. Anderson talks about everyone getting weapons and Flair steals a foam Horsemen hand from a fan. Arn warns Sullivan and Jarrett to stay away from the ladies. Flair says the Horsemen are united. Benoit is ready for Sullivan.

Mongo insults the fans after everyone else seems to be a face. Mongo gets on Debra about the Jarrett thing and Debra thinks Jeff should be a Horseman. She’s so upset she hasn’t been able to shop for a week. Mongo says they’ll have a match and if Jarrett wins he’s a Horseman. Debra says she’s not a gossip and you didn’t hear this from her, but Sullivan and Jackie aren’t good people. Debra is reaching Michael Cole levels of annoying at this point.

Time for Hogan and Piper to close the show. It’s Piper first and he talks about his family. Hogan pops up and it’s split screen time. Hogan hasn’t said anything yet as Piper goes on about how he was supposed to be going home to his family. He’s seen Hogan on the screen now and starts to ramble. Piper talks about how he’s having to break his promise to his son and Hogan says he doesn’t care. He talks about how the footage from Starrcade was doctored and Piper goes off, talking about OJ Simpson or something. That’s enough to make Hogan mad and Piper storms off to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Good wrestling, they added a lot of stuff to the show and they hyped up what they already had. What more can you ask for from a show? Well less Debra and someone that can tell time would be a start but still this show worked pretty well. These shows have been getting a lot better lately and hopefully that sticks better than I remember it doing. Good show this week.

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It’s my 9th birthday and the best they can give me is freaking Memphis? Anyway we’re getting close to SuperBrawl which means it’s close to Piper’s return which I’m sure dozens are clamoring for. Giant and Luger have seemingly formed a bond to fend off the NWO which would result in a tag title shot for them at the PPV. The card looks ok at best so let’s get to it.

Here’s the NWO to open things up which shouldn’t shock you in the slightest. It’s Hogan too so this must be something important, like the announcement of a new wacky family adventure motion picture. I mean, we could be talking Mr. Nanny 2 levels here. Roddy is going to be here tonight and is going to be offered the title shot if he wants it. Gee, I wonder what the announcers are going to talk about all night. Coffee prices in Columbia?

Hogan says the NWO is on a mission from God. Oh no. They’ve recruited the Blues Brothers now? He talks about all of the big business and entertainment deals that he’s working on, like one in Germany and a huge one in June. His movies might be funnier in German. Not that I speak German but it might be funnier to make up my own dialogue. Hogan says he’ll put the title on the line tonight if Piper wants a shot here. Is this supposed to make me want to keep watching? Did they see Starrcade? Piper isn’t here yet.

The announcers debate this breaking news.

Ray Mendoza Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon

They trade flipping counters to wristlocks and Dragon speeds things up enough to send Mendoza to the floor. Dragon hits a dive to send Mendoza into the railing. Back inside and a legdrop gets two for Dragon. The announcers are going on about that Gaelic stuff Piper said a few weeks ago, which they finally got a translation of: “The battle is not over until you get home.” Mendoza hits a clothesline and back elbow to take over. Dragon comes back with a quick rana and then the super rana off the top which gets a big reaction. The tiger suplex gets the pin.

Rating: C. This is something that WCW was really good at during this time: pulling in guys for one off appearances and keeping the big matches from happening on free TV. Mendoza is a guy that I don’t remember seeing before but he had a decent match here and Dragon gets to look good. This is something that could fix a lot of WWE’s headaches today.

Billy Kidman vs. Glacier

Kidman is still just a jobber at this point. We’re told that Luger/Giant get a title shot at SuperBrawl. I wonder if they’ll let them keep the titles this time. I for one know that after seeing the champions lose two weeks ago that I can’t wait to pay to see the Outsiders face WCW’s latest super team. Kidman dropkicks him but Glacier nips up and hits a standing leg sweep. It works in No Mercy so it can work here. Tilt-a-whirl slam puts Kidman down and Glacier hits a bunch of strikes to knock Kidman to the floor. Kidman comes back in with a slingshot headscissors but he jumps off the top into a superkick for the quick pin.

NWO denim jacket: $90.

Eddie is defending against Dean on Saturday Night. Why is that not on Nitro???

Ice Train vs. La Parka

Tony says Ice Train is on fire. Wouldn’t that be a bad thing in his case? Teddy is still in his chubby phase here. It’s really impressive how much more healthy he looks today. Was he ever out of work in wrestling? He’s been around almost continuously for almost 25 years now. La Parka is the heel here which is strange as it’s usually the speed guy who is the face. Train hits a chinlock as Larry says that being run over by Ice Train is like being run over by a truck.

La Parka fights out of the chinlock and hits a top rope spinwheel kick to send Train to the floor. A flip dive takes Train out and they head back inside. Ice Train looks totally lost when he’s not on offense. A clothesline puts La Parka down but he pops back to his feet and runs up the ropes for a spinning cross body. Train mostly catches him into a World’s Strongest Slam and puts on a headscissors on the mat. We cut to the back and see the Outsiders standing over an unconscious Luger and holding pipes. Belly to belly suplex gets two for Train and it’s back to the chinlock. Another Strongest Slam and a splash get the pin for Train.

Rating: C-. You know this wasn’t the worst match in the world. When I was a kid Ice Train was always a favorite of mine and for a generic power guy he wasn’t terrible. This was a peculiar choice for a match as they sounded like they were pushing La Parka as a somewhat big deal but from what I can tell this was his second straight loss after debuting. Not too bad here, but it was more of a backdrop for the Luger attack which is ok, as it was only on screen for a few seconds.

Here are the Horsemen for the weekly soap opera to further their split. Benoit is here tonight but there’s no AA. Woman is looking quite good here. Benoit talks about how the Horsemen have been going through adversity through injuries and a lack of unity. That’s not a total loss though as it’s taught him who he can trust. He knows he can count on Mongo, Anderson and Flair and the girls. Woman likes things too but doesn’t like Jackie that much. Just remember that Jackie is getting her leftovers. Mongo draws a ton of booing and says that he’s got Benoit and Flair’s back any time they need it.

He asks the fans if they’d like to see him take the place against Jarrett tonight and the fans aren’t that thrilled. Debra has to talk about beauty pageants and how great she is. Can we get Fifi back instead? Apparently Jackie has a leather face because when they were handing them out, Jackie thought they said cases. Flair gets a HUGE ovation and says that the Horsemen are reunited and Anderson is healing up. Sullivan, Benoit had to take over for Flair because Woman wore him out so you don’t want to take on the Crippler. That’s uh….good Naitch.

We get a clip from last week of the Steiners having their newly won titles stripped from them. We also see the Steiners beating the Faces of Fear.

Harlem Heat vs. Steiner Brothers

The Faces of Fear and Public Enemy are sitting in the crowd to watch. Were they really not allowed to be in the back to watch on a monitor? Booker and Scott get things going with Scott taking him to the mat. Booker nips up and kicks his head off but Steiner comes back, brings in Rick and the Steiners clear the ring. Larry gets in a line to make up for the train/truck line earlier. Tony: “We need to fight fire with fire.” Larry: “You fight a fire with water.”

Stevie comes in to face Rick and pounds him down but Rick fires off a suplex. Back to Scott for a quick chinlock and it’s Rick time again. Stevie sends him into the ropes and the Side Kick gets two. Rick catches a leapfrog into kind of a powerslam and makes the tag to Scott. Stevie is legal and on the floor as Scott hits a butterfly suplex…..and the Faces of Fear and Public Enemy run in for the double DQ.

Rating: C-. This was getting good when they had the stupid finish. The talent for this division was there for the most part but since the Outsiders never defended the titles other than at the occasional PPV, there’s really nothing to be gained from all of these matches. No one was touching the titles but the Outsiders for a long time so what difference does it make?

Hour #2 begins so it’s time to recap the earlier evening. This makes sense as they probably have some people that are just tuning in. It’s better than airing it again 3 minutes after it happened.

Mike Enos vs. Dean Malenko

Dean takes him to the mat which annoys Enos. Enos kicks him in the ribs and takes him down to the mat with a headlock. Heenan says that if Piper doesn’t take up the challenge from Hogan, he’s just another skirt wearing movie star. Gee that’s such an evil thing of him to say. It’s nothing like every other insult he’s ever thrown at Roddy. Dean works on the arm and hooks a modified Fujiwara Armbar. Syxx comes through the crowd and steals the Cruiserweight Title. Enos hits a powerslam and sets for a regular slam which Dean reverses into a small package for the pin.

Rating: C-. Again this was here for the angle instead of the match but it’s nice to see them having an angle that pertains to the guys in the match. Syxx would win the title soon after this which would result in the same problem the tag titles had: he would never defend the thing so the other matches didn’t mean anything.

Lee Marshall is in Jacksonville.

Here are Sullivan, Jackie and Konnan. Sullivan says his strength comes from her and she came to pick him up when he was crumbling. Jimmy doesn’t like women in wrestling and thinks Jackie has other intentions. Konnan doesn’t care about any of this and says let’s go get the Horsemen. Jackie says she earned her body instead of getting it from a plastic surgeon like Debra.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Renegade

Renegade powers him around to start so Page gives him the Diamond sign. He hits some elbows in the corner and Renegade hits a clothesline in the same place. Renegade goes up but gets crotched and the Cutter ends this quick.

The Outsiders stand on the ramp with pipes. Sting is watching from the crowd and Savage is as well, although on a different side of the arena. Page gets a chair and no one moves for about a minute.

Alex Wright vs. Super Calo

Wright grabs the arm and is quickly countered into one of his own. Wright hits four straight nip-ups to escape and then a jumping side kick with Calo literally just standing there to be kicked in the face. Calo misses a charge in the corner and Wright takes over. Calo comes back with a dropkick to send Alex to the floor and follows with a huge plancha. Back in the ring he tries another but it gets caught by a dropkick. Wright hits a pair of headscissors to send him to the floor followed by an over the top rope dive.

Back in Wright tries to go up but Calo superplexes him down for a close two. Calo puts him up in a superplex position but takes him down with a bad headscissors. A top rope flip dive misses Wright and Heenan is amazed that he doesn’t lose his hat. Wright goes up and hits a missile dropkick for the pin.

Rating: C. This is the kind of match that you don’t get anymore. There wasn’t much of a point to it but it ate up about six minutes and was entertaining. This is much more entertaining than some pointless and unfunny skit in the back which WWE seems to thrive on anymore. Fun match.

Konnan vs. Chris Benoit

They’re moving between matches quickly. Konnan jumps Benoit to start for a cheap advantage. Rolling clothesline puts Benoit down and it’s total dominance. Konnan puts on some kind of strange submission where he sits on Benoit’s head and pulls on the legs. Benoit snaps and fires off some suplexes, setting up the superplex to put both guys down. Konnan comes back with his Powerdrop for two. Benoit hits a release German and calls for the Swan Dive but here’s Jackie for the DQ. She doesn’t hit anyone but Konnan wins by DQ somehow.

Rating: C+. This was short but pretty entertaining while it lasted. That being said the ending ht it and I got really sick watching Benoit feud with the Dungeon for as many months as he did because it never went anywhere. Also it brought in Jacqueline and that’s never a good thing at all.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Steve McMichael

Debra doesn’t want the match to happen so Steve drags her to the ring. Jarrett struts so Mongo hits him and we’re off and running. Jeff tries to use the speed but gets caught in a powerslam for two. An elbow drop misses and Jeff hits an atomic drop and top rope cross body for two. A dropkick puts Mongo on the floor and Debra won’t let him go back in and that’s a countout. At least it was short.

Here’s Piper with one of his kids. Piper says he’s a Rubic’s Cube. He’ll never be Elvis but Hogan will never be Roddy Piper. Piper says he doesn’t get why he should fight Hogan again because he already beat him once. He has his kid say that it’s an honor to be in Memphis. It takes a man to be a father and it’s time for him to grow up. Cue Hogan as Piper declines the title shot because he has nothing to prove.

Piper freaks out because his son is in there and asks Terry to let him go home. Hogan laughs at the idea that Piper is an icon and says he’s never been a world champion. Bischoff and Hogan make Piper say that Hogan beat him like a drum. Now tell the people that Hogan is the icon. Hogan says Piper is hiding behind a kid so Piper needs to get out of his sport. Piper starts walking away but Hogan slaps him in the back of the head and it’s on. He beats down Hogan with ease and takes the belt as Hogan/Bischoff scamper. Piper says ok to the match at SuperBrawl. To their credit, that gets a huge reaction.

Overall Rating: C+. I get what they were going for with the ending but it didn’t quite work. Piper snapping and going against what his initial choice was worked and Hogan still wanting more and more out of Piper worked, but for some reason it didn’t quite click. Either way we have our PPV match which is the point of the show. Throw that in with some decent wrestling and the show is good, but there’s nothing here to make it a great show. Still better than the last several episodes though.

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I’m going with Lesnar over Cena but I think a better pick would be a big brawl that goes to a draw.  You can’t have Lesnar lose immediately coming back but Cena has to win something someday.  Cena hasn’t said anything in this feud for the most part other than in London so it should be interesting to see where it goes.

Sheamus retains.  It’s pretty clear that they’re going from Bryan to Del Rio as the new challenger because he’s the least interesting person they could have feuding with Sheamus and that’s the right choice I guess.  We’ll go with 2-0 on a hunch.

Oh and whatever Bella has the title retains before losing to Kharma on Raw.

Thoughts/picks?

Orton over Kane.  No real reason for it to go the other way.

Show will retain unless they’re really stupid with their booking.

It’s the last show before Extreme Rules and we’re minus a Josh Matthews here due to Lesnar killing him on Monday. We have a main event tonight of Sheamus vs. Mark Henry in a non-title match which is a rematch from Raw where Daniel Bryan cheated Sheamus with a fast count. Other than that I don’t think anything else has been announced. Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is time, as I want it to be next Friday so I can see Avengers.

We see a clip of Josh’s attack from Monday.

Here’s Bryan to open the show. He talks about cutting the cord and finally getting rid of AJ. He’s out here to set the record straight: the Wrestlemania loss to Sheamus doesn’t count and should go against AJ’s record, not his. Then on Monday he was asked to be guest referee in Sheamus vs. Henry. He said he’d call it right down the middle and he did. Some people are saying he fast counted Sheamus but here’s footage showing he didn’t. The count is shown in slow motion. We also get the post match attack and YES Lock.

Bryan says it’s time for a question and answer session. Did Henry beat Sheamus? YES. Did he make Sheamus tap out? YES (not that I remember). Will he get the title back on Sunday? YES. Cue Del Rio who asks a bunch of questions with Ricardo shouting SI after every one in a funny bit. Big Show comes out and wants to know if it’s YES or SI, which starts a chant. Show knocks Bryan to the floor and chokeslams Ricardo. Good chokeslam too.

Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio

This is joined in progress after a break and I’m pretty sure is non-title. Show chops Del Rio in the corner and clubs him down with forearms. Del Rio is knocked to the floor but he drapes the arm over the ropes to take over. Show vs. Cody’s stipulation will be determined by a spin of the wheel. Show shrugs him off and spears him down. He loads up the chokeslam but Cody comes in for the DQ at 1:54.

Cody tries some weapons but Show knocks them away. He steals Cody’s belt and whips Cody with it a few times. Cody hasn’t gotten in a single successful attack or victory over Show at all since Wrestlemania.

Ace and Eve are in the back and he says that Eve can make whatever changes she thinks are good on Smackdown. Just run them by him first. Eve says she doesn’t know any of the crew people so maybe they should make them wear nametags. They run into Teddy who wants to know what his job is. Ace says Teddy reports directly to Eve, who tells him to go get a nametag.

We get a clip from the Divas Title match Monday where Nikki won it from Beth.

Damien Sandow talks about enlightenment. The fans aren’t enlightened as they worship people with nonsensical catchphrases and loud music. He debuts in a week.

Alicia Fox vs. Nikki Bella

Non-title again. The place just goes silent for this as you can hear the girls shouting at each other. Nikki throws Alicia and those hips around with a snapmare and it’s off to a modified chinlock. Alicia comes back with a one footed dropkick and basically falls off the middle rope for a back elbow. Twin Magic lets Brie hit a facejam for the pin at 1:48.

O’Neil and Young come up to Yoshi who I think they’re facing tonight. They make fun of Japanese people that put their hands together and bow while saying hai. They ask about Yoshi’s partner and imply he can’t speak English. Big Zeke comes up and says he’s the partner tonight. They sing a song about how Zeke is big and strong but doesn’t have any cuts. Where were these guys on NXT?

Teddy is now in a maid’s outfit over his suit and has a big nametag on his chest. Aksana comes in and he thanks her for sticking by him. She’s surprised he has grandchildren and here’s Ace who says Aksana’s favor has been granted: Antonio Cesar gets a tryout match tonight. If he wins, he gets a job. Eve had an idea that Aksana should be guest ring announcer. Oh and Teddy will have his own ringside commentary table to make sure we have three commentators and he starts next. Ace will tell him every word he says through a headset.

Ezekiel Jackson/Yoshi Tatsu vs. Darren Young/Titus O’Neil

Teddy is on commentary at a separate table but can’t talk unless Ace gives him the ok and the exact words in his ears. Young and Tatsu start in the corner and Young takes him down with a Hot Shot. Off to Titus as Cole berates Teddy. The heels beat on Tatsu with double teaming and on their own. Young dropkicks the knee out on Jackson while he’s on the apron and a REALLY bad modified Hart Attack out of the corner gets the pin on Yoshi at 1:50. Young missed Tatsu for the most part so it was more like a shove than a chop while Titus powerbombed him.

Here’s Cole in the ring and he brings out Orton for an interview. Cole asks about Orton’s match on Sunday and Orton says he likes to shoot first and ask questions later. He’ll be ready to do whatever it takes to beat Kane on Sunday. We get a video on their feud (long one too, like two minutes) and Orton says he can almost respect what Kane did because it’s something he’d do, but he won’t accept it. On Sunday, there are no rules so he can do whatever he wants. Kane is the devil’s favorite demon, but even the devil couldn’t so what Orton is going to do on Sunda.

Cue….Jinder Mahal? He thinks Orton and Kane will destroy each other and a new breed will emerge. Mahal says he’s better than Orton all around and that he’ll be waiting after Extreme Rules. Orton cuts him off and lays him out with an RKO. Are they really going with Mahal vs. Orton after this? Why? What has Mahal done to make them think he deserves that spot?

Kofi Kingston says don’t try this at home or school.

Tyson Kidd vs. Antonio Cesaro

Kidd doesn’t get an entrance. Cesaro’s music reminds me of Johnny B. Badd’s. Cesaro is of course Claudio Castagnoli. He has what looks like socks wrapped around his thighs. Booker: “Are those kneepads?” Cole: “No Booker. If they were kneepads they would be around his knees.” Cesaro uses a lot of power strikes and a gutwrench suplex to take Kidd over. He throws Kidd in the air and hits a European Uppercut on the way down. Cesaro sets for a cradle piledriver but falls forward ala DDP’s pancake move for the pin at 1:10.

Teddy has to go in and do something he doesn’t want to do post match. He raises Cesaro’s hand and then Cesaro kisses Aksana.

Long video on Lesnar vs. Cena, including clips from the sitdown interview and from Edge’s promo on Monday. Cena hasn’t said much in this.

Great Khali vs. Cody Rhodes

This is as a result of the attack before the six man from last week. Cody is still sore from the whipping Show gave him earlier. Cody goes for the knee which doesn’t work at all. He manages to take Khali down and DDTs the knee before going up top. A missile dropkick puts Khali down for two. Back to the knee but Khali gets up and uses some clotheslines to take Cody down. Disaster Kick is caught in the Plunge….for the clean pin at 1:59. Oh good grief I’m not going to bother explaining how stupid this is.

Washington pitches to the tag champions some more and thinks Rosa should talk some more. He needs a decision by Monday though. Ryback comes up and glares at them and walks away. Washington tries to set up a meeting with him.

The Usos are watching in the back.

Jacob Kaye vs. Ryback

Kaye says that he’s not going to be another no name schnook. I like this guy already. He’s from Grand Rapids and has been trying to escape it for years now. Kaye charges at him and gets thrown down immediately. Ryback kicks his head off and chokes him with the boot. Gorilla press into a powerslam sets up the clothesline and the Muscle Buster gets the pin at 1:08. This guy is so much fun.

Video on AJ going crazy last week. She has no comment on anything but looks very evil. Kaitlyn comes up and tells Striker to leave her alone. Striker leaves and Kaitlyn tries to talk some sense into her so AJ slaps the taste out of her mouth. She immediately seems to regret it but Kaitlyn leaves. This is getting interested.

Mark Henry vs. Sheamus

Henry overpowers him to start so Shemaus slows down a little bit. A headlock doesn’t work and Henry puts him down again. Sheamus goes to the knee and takes Henry down for two. He goes for the arm but Henry shoves him to the floor with ease. Sheamus comes back with the slingshot shoulder for two and we take a break. Back with Henry slamming the champ to take over.

Henry gets knocked to the apron and Sheamus hits the ten forearms which are getting cheered a lot better lately. Henry easily throws Sheamus down though and hits a HARD whip into the barricade. Back in for a quick nerve hold but Sheamus gets out. Henry hits something that looked like a crescent kick to put Sheamus down for two. Sheamus comes back with his double ax handles to the chest and down goes Henry.

A DDT gets two for the champion. He’s getting fired up now and starts to pound his chest and shouting Brogue. Probably due to shouting very loudly, Henry is able to run him over for two. A charge misses and Sheamus goes up but jumps over Henry. Brogue Kick takes Henry’s head off for the pin at 7:26 shown of 10:56.

Rating: C. This was exactly what you would expect from these two. Henry is the perfect foil for a guy like Sheamus as it looks impressive when Sheamus beats him but Henry’s power is good enough to give Sheamus a threat. Also it helps that Sheamus has a finisher that he can hit on anyone instead of a power move.

Bryan comes to the apron and Sheamus invites him down. Sheamus says this Sunday won’t be a fluke and there won’t be an AJ to blame. Will Sheamus kick Bryan’s head off and keep the title? YES! YES! YES! The chant ends the show.

Overall Rating: B. I liked this show for the most part other than the Khali win. For the life of me is it a crime to make him look strong before a rematch? Anyway I liked a lot about this, including the push for the world title match and Ryback’s match, as he’s the more interesting version of someone like Tensai, minus the big win. Good show here and they pushed the PPV strong, which is the right idea.

Results
Big Show b. Albert Del Rio via DQ when Cody Rhodes interfered
Nikki Bella b. Alicia Fox – Brie Bella pinned Fox after a facejam
Darren Young/Titus O’Neil b. Yoshi Tatsu/Ezekiel Jackson – Double Team Powerbomb
Antonio Cesaro b. Tyson Kidd – Cradle Pancake
Great Khali b. Cody Rhodes – Punjabi Plunge
Ryback b. Jacob Kaye – Muscle Buster
Sheamus b. Mark Henry – Brogue Kick

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This is the first of the Open Fight Nights, which means that anyone that challenges anyone else will automatically get their match. There’s a guaranteed title match as well as a guaranteed TV Title match which will be the case every week. Other than that we’ll continue the build towards Sacrifice and the main event between RVD and Roode. Let’s get to it.

We open with Hogan talking to the champions (minus ODB and Young) and saying they could be challenged tonight too. Tonight Joe and Magnus will be defending against….some team that Hogan will announce just before the match. He might even tell them as the opponents are on the way to the ring.

D-Von comes out and says that since he has to defend against someone every week, tonight it’s going to be against the guy that everyone wants to see get beaten up: Bubba. Yes Bubba, not Bully. He has to accept because it’s a challenge on Open Fight Night. Ray comes out and runs his mouth first, saying that he doesn’t want to be in a ring with D-Von. Ray says no, so D-Von chases after him and throws him into the ring

TV Title: D-Von vs. Bully Ray

D-Von throws him into the ring and Ray begs off like a true bully. Thesz Press puts Ray down and D-Von goes up, only to get crotched as we take a break. Back with Ray dropping elbows and we get a clip of him holding up the belt during the break. D-Von comes back with right hands but Bubba clotheslines him down for two. Bubba sets for a charge but runs into the spinebuster for the completely clean pin at 9:45, most of which was in a commercial.

Rating: D+. The match was nothing interesting and for the life of me I don’t get the idea of pushing D-Von this hard. He hasn’t been bad, but man alive there are a lot more people that could be pushed besides him. Nothing to see here for the most part and if this is what open fight night is going to be like, it doesn’t seem like something that’s going to be all that interesting. It’s early yet though.

Flair is going to have a party for Eric (uncensored) Bischoff later tonight.

Kaz and Daniels come in to talk to Angle and ask for a thank you for the AJ victory last week. Angle yells at them and says stay out of his matches. Daniels also mentioned that AJ’s world will come crashing down in a few weeks.

Here’s JB who says that since it’s Open Fight Night, he wants to call out Eric Bischoff for being a jerk to JB, who has more seniority than anyone in the company. Eric went on a rant on Facebook or Twitter about JB recently and this is the payoff. Here’s Eric, marking his time away from Impact at one full week. Eric takes a picture of JB and Borash goes into a rant about Eric getting drunk and talking about employees behind his back.

As Eric talks, Ray comes in with a low blow to JB. Eric says he’s going to post something on his Twitter, and demands that a referee come in. he rolls up JB and has the bell rung. You know for a guy that isn’t on the show anymore, he’s around a lot anymore.

Anderson remembers Bischoff and talks about how he’s a hypocrite. Mexican America’s music is loudly playing during most of this. Pay no attention to the graphic saying “earlier today”.

Here’s Mexican America who says they can beat anyone.

Anarquia vs. Kurt Angle

Anarquia tries to have Hernandez do this and jumps Angle from behind. Angle Slam, Ankle Lock, 49 seconds.

We get a profile on the guy that is getting the Gut Check Challenge for a contract. It’s former OVW TV Champion Alex Silva. One of the judges (out of three plus Hogan) is Al Snow.

Alex Silva vs. Robbie E

Remember it’s not win and you’re in. Silva has to impress the judges, of which we only know two. Silva starts fast but gets caught by Robbie pretty fast. Powerslam gets one for Silva and then they cut to the crowd in probably a botch edit, followed by an implant DDT by Robbie for the pin at 2:18. Way to push these new guys right off the bat guys.

Dixie remembers the lies Eric told her.

Hogan has all of the potential tag team contenders in his office (Kaz/Daniels, Guns, Anderson/Hardy, ODB/Young) and wants to hear why each should get a title shot. The Guns say they’re dedicated more than anyone else and Hogan respects that. Hogan wants Hardy and Anderson to get along so Anderson kisses Hardy on the cheek. As for the Knockout Champions, Eric gives a speech of his own. Hogan can’t make a pick now but he eliminates the Guns from the running.

Here’s Tessmacher with something to say. She says last week she beat Gail and it’s being called a fluke. Brooke is here to prove it wasn’t just a fluke and she wants a match with Gail right now.

Gail Kim vs. Brooke Tessmacher

Brooke keeps trying to jump her but Hebner keeps stopping her. Gail jumps Tessmacher and we’re ready to go. This is non-title by the way, as I guess you can’t challenge for titles, which I thought they said you could last week but whatever. Tessmacher sends her into the corner but gets clotheslined down immediately. Tessmacher makes her comeback with some dropkicks but misses a charge and hits her throat on the ropes. Gail holds the belt in front of Brooke’s face and says she’s nothing. Kim goes up but misses a missile dropkick, allowing Brooke to hit a mat slam out of a belly to back suplex position for the pin at 3:57.

Rating: C-. Considering the great shots we got of both of these two, there’s no way you can really call this a failure. Tessmacher is out there because she looks great in a swimsuit and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Gail needs some new challengers and Brooke is fine for that role.

Daniels and Kaz say they’ll get the title match tonight. Also if AJ doesn’t show up next week, they’re going to let the cat out of the bag.

Video on Rob getting the title shot last week and Roode has a quick response to him.

Silva and Snow are in the back and we’ll get the decision next week from Snow and the judges. Roode comes in and says he doesn’t need to introduce himself and Silva agrees. Roode doesn’t like the idea of the Gut Check deal because he had to work so hard to get the contract here. He says always be ready and hits Silva in the stomach.

Back to Hogan’s office for another elimination as this is a freaking reality show now. He throws out Eric and ODB for not being serious enough. He tells both remaining teams to go to the ring.

Garrett isn’t sorry his dad is getting fired.

Ray is on the phone with some chick when Joseph Park comes up to see him. It only took him about three months to find him too. Ray doesn’t like to be touched. He has nothing to say to Park but gets a business card, which he says to shove. Park laughs and needs a good dentist.

Tag Titles: Samoa Joe/Magnus vs. ???/???

The contenders are Hardy/Anderson and Kaz/Daniels. Hogan picks Hardy/Anderson because Kaz/Daniels aren’t legit or something.

Tag Titles: Samoa Joe/Magnus vs. Jeff Hardy/Mr. Anderson

Joe and Anderson start us off and it’s a stalemate. Anderson slaps Hardy on the chest for a tag and it’s Magnus on the other side. They have about the same result so it’s time for more communication issues with Hardy and Anderson. Back with Joe pounding on Anderson and tagging in Magnus. Anderson takes Magnus down and begrudgingly tags in Hardy. The champs double team Jeff and Joe gets two off a Magnus boot. Hardy hits the Whisper in the Wind and makes the hot tag to Anderson. He cleans house but gets caught in the Clutch as Jeff is on the floor, good for the tap at 10:53.

Rating: C+. Well this was a waste of buildup from a show. They spent the whole show building this title match up and while it was ok, there was nothing great about it and nothing happened. That’s the issue with the whole show: nothing is really happening on it and it’s getting annoying.

Here’s Flair, Gunner, Kaz, Ray and Daniels for the Bischoff party. The fans chant goodbye and Flair tells them he’ll move the party. He says if you know wrestling, you know Eric Bischoff. He asks Eric to come out and praises him for awhile. Gunner gets to thank him for a lot of stuff, Ray calls Eric the wind beneath his wings, and Flair gives him a Rolex.

Cue Garrett and some faces including RVD, Aries and the Guns along with JB. They say it’s time to induct Eric into the shed of shame, which is a portable toilet. The guys go to the ramp for a brawl and Garrett grabs Eric, throwing him in the Port-A-Potty. They chain it shut and turn it over to mess Eric up. Eric comes out of it to end the show. Oh and this got more time than any match tonight.

Overall Rating: D. This was just another episode of Impact but a lot more boring than usual. As always, WAY too much camera time for Hogan and Bischoff. If you look at the show, Ray was in I think four segments, Kaz and Daniels were in about five, Hogan was in something like ten, and NOTHING actually changed here. No titles changed hands, we don’t know about Silva (nothing special) and nothing was advanced for the PPV. This didn’t work for me at all.

Results
D-Von b. Bully Ray – Spinebuster
Kurt Angle b. Anarquia – Ankle Lock
Robbie E. b. Alex Silva – Implant DDT
Brooke Tessmacher b. Gail Kim – Face First Mat Slam
Samoa Joe/Magnus b. Jeff Hardy/Mr. Anderson – Coquina Clutch to Anderson

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At the moment this is the last show that I have from this era and this show in particular. There will probably be more but until I get them I obviously can’t review them. We’re past the Rumble now and not a lot has changed. However five days after this, we have the live Main Event which is where for the first time in four years, Hulk Hogan won’t be world champion. Let’s get to it.

We get the usual highlights of the city we’re in and Gorilla opens us up.

Bad News Brown debuts today.

Tiger Chung Lee vs. Junkyard Dog

Dog shoves him to the floor and grabs a hammerlock back inside. The announcers talk about Hogan vs. Andre as the powerslam gets the pin in a quick match.

Craig DeGeorge talks about the card for The Main Event on Friday. We get some clips of the matches that set up Hogan vs. Andre II and Harts vs. Strike Force II. DiBiase and Andre say Hogan is going down and DiBiase will get the title.

Scott Casey vs. Greg Valentine

The fans have the Outshout The Mouth megaphones still. They trade slams and Brutus says that whatever problems Valentine has had before, he’ll have real ones coming up soon. Valentine sends him to the floor where Casey manages to get in a few right hands. Back in Casey misses a top rope splash and the Figure Four ends this quick.

House show ads.

Steve Lombardi vs. Sam Houston

Lombardi isn’t the Brawler yet but is still a jobber. Houston works over the arm and an atomic drop gets two. We hear about the Jumping Bomb Angels winning the Women’s Tag Titles at the Rumble as Lombardi’s offense is stopped very quickly. The armbar takes Steve back to the mat and it’s time for Sam to dance. Belly to belly sets up the bulldog for the pin.

Gene tells us that there actually are other things going on in the company besides Hogan vs. Andre. He brings in Hacksaw who talks about how tough the competition is and how you always have to deal with managers anymore. Hacksaw doesn’t like Harley Race either. They make a “going both ways” joke and it sounds very dirty for some reason.

The fans say who thinks will win some of the bigger matches on Friday.

Hart Foundation vs. Omar Atlas/SD Jones

Bret and Jones start things off. Hart gets sent to the floor so Jimmy yells about a hair pull. Strike Force is looking forward to the match on Friday. Atlas gets caught in the Tree of Woe and Neidhart pounds away. Here’s Bret again with a backbreaker and it’s back to Jim. Brain makes fun of the Bomb Angels as the Hart Attack ends this squash.

Dibiase says that he’s going to collect on the biggest deal of his life on Friday. Andre says he wants to be world champion now and it’s going to be Giantmania.

Randy Savage vs. Terry Gibbs

Gibbs gets in a quick shot and that’s about all he’s got going for him in this match. Savage says he’ll beat Honky on Friday. Slam and elbow get the pin.

With Savage still in the ring, Honky, Jimmy and Peggy Sue come out and say nothing of note before Savage comes to the platform.

Bad News Brown vs. Rex King

Brown jumps Rex during the introduction and the pain begins. Total squash just like any debut, ends in about two minutes with the Ghetto Blaster.

House show ads.

British Bulldogs vs. Dusty Wolfe/Barry Horowitz

Barry pounds away on Davey to start and gets suplexed for his efforts. Off to Dynamite for the snap suplex. Davey powerslams him for no cover as Gorilla talks about the show on Friday. For some reason, they’ve never said what network it’ll be on. More suplexes follow and Davey hits a piledriver. He still won’t cover so Dynamite hits a top rope knee. A middle rope belly to back superplex ends this domination.

Rating: C-. The Bulldogs were near the end of their run here and would be gone by the end of the year. Not a bad match but the jobbers literally didn’t get in a single shot of offense at all. The Bulldogs are still fun to watch though and this was decent enough for a main event I guess.

Butch Reed says that Gene’s questions are none of his business. He has soup bones for fists and is going to take out Muraco like he took out Billy Graham.

Hogan says he wants to break DiBiase’s financial empire and that he’ll prove all the doubts about his first victory this Friday.

Gorilla and Bobby wrap it up.

Overall Rating: C. This made me want to pop in The Main Event which makes this a success. The matches weren’t anything of note but it could have been a lot worse of a show. Either way, Hogan vs. Andre is pushed to the moon and the pushing would work as it holds the record for the highest rated wrestling match ever. Good hype show.

Here’s The Main Event if you’re interested:

Back to Superstars again as we continue what would become the build to Wrestlemania 3 in a few months. If we somehow get to the new year, I’ve already reviewed the January through March shows so I have a lot of this covered. Today we have a big match as the Dream Team faces the Bulldogs in a Wrestlemania rematch. Let’s get to it.

Usual opening jazz.

Dream Team vs. British Bulldogs

This is non-title. We get a quick interview backstage where Matilda the dog debuts. The non-champions jump the Bulldogs before the bell to take over. We start with Valentine vs. Dynamite and there’s the snap suplex. Off to Davey who clotheslines Greg down but walks into a back elbow.

Off to Beefer who suplexes Davey but has it no sold. Greg comes in again and hits a backbreaker on Dynamite but gets slammed off the top. Valentine hits a backbreaker of his own for two. Hot tag brings in Davey and everything breaks down. The referee goes down and comes up to count a pin from Valentine, but since he’s not legal it’s a DQ? Ok then.

Rating: C-. Well it wasn’t exactly their match in Chicago. This was nothing to see for the most part as neither team seemed all that fired up. Then again it wasn’t for the titles and they didn’t even get five minutes so how good can it be? The Bulldogs would drop the titles to the Harts soon enough after this.

The Update this week is about Jake Roberts and Damien. They’re in the shower and Jake talks about fear. The audio is really bad here and you can barely understand what he’s saying.

Don Muraco/Bob Orton Jr. vs. Billy Jack Haynes/Sivi Afi

Muraco and Orton come out to the bagpipe music. Afi and Muraco start. Sivi works on the arm of the bearded wonder before it’s a double tag. Muraco and Orton tag in and out quickly before the superplex pins Afi. Squash.

Savage says Steamboat will be a three time loser in Boston.

Big John Studd/King Kong Bundy vs. Dick Slater/Ricky Hunter

The jobbers actually get an entrance here. This is when Slater was The Rebel and was getting a small midcard push. He and Studd get things going with Slater punching him into the corner and avoiding a splash. The size and power becomes too much though and Slater is carried into the corner. Bundy misses a big elbow and the place gets all fired up. Hunter comes in and the heels take over. Studd hooks a chinlock and the fans want the Machines. Avalanche pins Hunter.

Rating: D. Literally a squash. Slater was in there for about 45 seconds and after that it was all downhill for him and Hunter. Studd and Bundy would challenge the Bulldogs a bit on some house shows but nothing would ever come of it. Studd would be gone fairly soon after this if I remember correctly.

Steamboat is ready for his shot at Savage and that he’s waited his 30 days to get his rematch. Savage would only defend when he had to at this point, allegedly.

Rougeau Brothers vs. Hercules/Barry O

Ray and Barry start off and Barry gets thrown around so much that he tags out quickly. Hercules uses his power but the speed frustrates him enough to bring in Barry to face Jacques. The Cannonball gets the quick pin.

We go to Roddy Piper as he builds the set for the new Piper’s Pit. Nothing is said.

We get a clip from SNME with Piper chasing Adonis off with a crutch.

Piper says it hurt when Adonis and company attacked his leg and he’s going to take out Muraco first.

Islanders/Pedro Morales vs. Ken Glover/Hart Foundation

One of these things just doesn’t belong. The Islanders team jump the other guys and clear the ring. We start with Tama vs. Hunter as Jimmy praises the Harts in an inset. Top rope splash ends this quick. The Harts were never in and I don’t think Morales was either.

Post match Hunter takes the Hart Attack.

We see Slick, Volkoff and Sheik arriving in a limo. Jesse greets them and Slick says he wants the tag titles.

Junkyard Dog/George Steele vs. Steve Regal/Terry Gibbs

No not that Regal. Regal jumps the Dog and that goes as well as you would expect it to go. Steele comes in to a nice reaction and then it’s back to Dog for the powerslam and the pin. This didn’t last a minute. Steele throws out Regal post match because he’s a nice animal. Kids get to dance with the winners.

Bob Orton is ready for Billy Jack Haynes and Piper needs to find a new job.

Muraco warns Piper to stay away too.

Vince wraps things up.

Overall Rating: D. This flew by but there wasn’t enough angle building to make the squashes interesting. That’s been one of the things you can get from the previous shows: there have been a lot of angles thrown out there to balance out the weak wrestling, which is a lot more than you can ask for in a lot of these shows. Not much here this week.

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We have an actual changed show this week as we’ve got a bunch of people gone from the show after the great NXT purge last week. I’m not sure what to expect this week but it should be interesting to see who they bring in to replace the guys that have left. Either way it’s a good thing to get some fresh blood in here. Let’s get to it.

Striker is in the ring and says that Josh isn’t able to do commentary tonight because of the beating that Lesnar gave him on Monday. He recaps the firings and hirings of Young/O’Neil, which gets limited responses. That means there are some roster spots open and Regal is going to bring in some new talent. He’s out looking for that talent at the moment, so tonight Horny is the match coordinator. Oh good grief.

He says there are no more redemption points or challenges (duh) and brags about how he can talk. Hasn’t he been able to do that for the last six months or so? Tonight it’s Watson/Kidd vs. Curtis/McGillicutty. First of all though, he calls out Derrick Bateman. Wasn’t that his rookie like 6 months ago? Bateman says something to Horny from the aisle but JTG jumps him. Oh great he’s back. He complains about being off the show and that he has to beg Horny for a match. Bateman jumps him so here we go.

JTG vs. Derrick Bateman

Bateman immediately dropkicks him down and takes over. Clothesline takes JTG down as Horny says Bateman will be on Raw or Smackdown very soon. Out to the floor but Bateman misses a missile dropkick from the apron. JTG takes over back in the ring and hooks a chinlock. The video messes up now but the audio is still good.

JTG gets two off something as Horny is talking about Brodus while Striker corrects his English. The video is back now as Bateman rams JTG into the corner and starts his comeback. JTG speeds around behind him though and hits Jay Lethal’s belly to back suplex into a neckbreaker which is awesome. It only gets two and Bateman hits his falling bulldog for the quick pin at 4:42.

Rating: D+. I’m not wild on either of these guys but JTG getting his head smacked against a mat is always a good thing. I really hope he’s not going to be one of the main heels on this show now but for a one off appearance he’s a breath of bad air after the weeks of Young boring me to death.

Horny leaves commentary. I think there’s going to be someone different with Striker every match.

Maxine and Bateman arrive and a referee handcuffs them together as per Regal’s orders. Maxine tries to flirt her way out of it but it doesn’t work. Horny comes up and laughs at them. There’s a Divas tag later.

A shortened version of Brock/Ace/Cena from Monday is shown.

Watson comes up to Kidd to talk about their match later and Kidd says he hopes Watson isn’t another victim of Kidd’s bad luch with tag teams. Kaitlyn comes up and asks for the name of the new submission hold he used on McGillicutty. He says he’s going to let the fans pick when Natalya comes up and gets in her face about flirting with Tyson. The girls leave and the guys make fun of them but it’s nothing harsh.

Maxine has managed to change her clothes while being handcuffed. Natalya comes up and asks about the tag match which they agree to work together for. Curtis has to go with them.

Natalya/Maxine vs. Tamina Snuka/Kaitlyn

We get a video comparing Tamina to her dad. This is an insult to Jimmy. Kaitlyn and Tamina hit dropkicks at the same time to start the match. We have Natalya vs. Kaitlyn to officially get things going. Natalya throws her around to start and hooks a quick stretch which Curtis can’t explain the pain behind. Kaitlyn comes back with a bad looking cross body which gets two.

Off to maxine who hooks a front chancery with a body scissors. Striker gives a quick explanation of how the move works which Curtis can’t do or doesn’t know. Natalya comes in to break up a tag and hooks a leg lock. Kaitlyn knocks her off and it’s a double tag to Tamina and Maxine. The Samoan destroys her and the Superfly gets the splash at 4:40.

Rating: D+. Another dull match here and that splash really isn’t anything special at all. It’s just a top rope splash rather than a top rope splash that looks awesome, which is what Jimmy’s was. Kaitlyn continues to be all looks and little skill in the ring, but that could apply to almost all of the Divas.

Striker says Maxine has to stay here because Curtis has a match.

Kidd finds Watson in the back holding his knee. He thinks it was Michael McGillicutty.

Johnny Curtis/Michael McGillicutty vs. Tyson Kidd/???

McGillicutty is a surprise partner apparently. Ok then. I could have sworn they announced that earlier but whatever. Horny throws out McGillicutty so it’s a one on one match.

Tyson Kidd vs. Johnny Curtis

Maxine is at the table but doesn’t have a headset. McGillicutty hits on her as Curtis has to keep moving to avoid the technical skill of Kidd. He gets in a shot on Kidd’s arm to take over but Kidd speeds things up, sending Curtis to the floor. Tyson hits a sweet rana off the apron to send Curtis to the floor and we take a break. Back with Curtis putting on an armbar to keep Tyson on the mat.

During the break Kidd’s springboard elbow hit Curtis’ knee to set up the arm work. McGillicutty is quoting country songs for some reason. The arm work continues and the announcers talk about Cena vs. Lesnar to fill time. Kidd comes back with some kicks but goes up and is caught in a superplex for two. Kidd goes up again and hits a Blockbuster for two. I’ve always been a fan of that move. Sharpshooter is countered into a wheelbarrow suplex by Curtis for two. Guillotine legdrop misses and the Hart Lock (which is the name from FCW from what I can tell) gets the submission at 10:23.

Rating: B-. Good match but not a great one. Kidd is one of those guys that can go out there and have a good match with anyone it seems, even someone like Johnny Curtis who is hardly the most interesting person in the world. I’m hoping one of these changes that’s coming in NXT is a singles title for him to compete for.

Overall Rating: C. This show is kind of a placeholder until Regal can come back and bring in some new talent with him. That’s fine as the show wasn’t horrible or anything, but the wrestling wasn’t much to see. Still though, it’s so nice to have some fresh blood coming soon on this show and that’s a rare thing on Wednesdays.

Results
Derrick Bateman b. JTG – Falling Bulldog
Tamina Snuka/Kaitlyn b. Maxine/Natalya – Superfly Splash to Maxine
Tyson Kidd b. Johnny Curtis – Hart Lock

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