We had to get through this one sooner or later. WWE can only do so many things at once and that has not been so clear in a long time. Just ten days ago, they were trying to build towards three shows at the same time and since one of them was in Saudi Arabia and the other one was Wrestlemania, Elimination Chamber was lost in the shuffle. Throw in the fact that the likely main event is designed to crown a pretty obvious #1 contender for the Raw Women’s Title and this show might not be the most appealing. Let’s get to it.

Smackdown Tag Team Titles: Elimination Chamber

Miz and John Morrison are defending and in this case, that’s not a great thing for them. They won the titles a mere nine days ago and have already lost twice, because in WWE’s mind, that makes them tougher or something. Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler won a gauntlet match (because we can’t say Tag Team Turmoil anymore for whatever reason) to earn the right to enter last, as the best way to build up a six team elimination match is with a six team elimination match.

I’ll go with something I’d like to see more than what I think will happen and go with the Usos to win here, setting up one more big match against New Day for the titles at Wrestlemania. Now odds are Miz and Morrison retain or they put the titles on Roode and Ziggler (because reasons) but I have to have some hope for the future, and while New Day vs. Usos may have been done to death already, it’s better than any other option these titles have at Wrestlemania (assuming they’re even defended, which they don’t need to be).

Raw Tag Team Titles: Street Profits(c) vs. Seth Rollins/Buddy Murphy

Rematch from this week’s Raw where the Profits won the titles in a pretty surprising twist. It also makes me wonder where things are going from here, as if the Profits retain it makes the title change seem a little unnecessary (in storyline terms at least) but if Rollins and Murphy retain, it ties Rollins down a bit for Wrestlemania. In other words, it depends on where you think things are going next.

Therefore, I’ll take the Profits to retain, as it’s hard to imagine Rollins in a nothing Raw Tag Team Title match at Wrestlemania. He has bigger things to do, like fight Kevin Owens in a big singles match, which is where I think they’re going. Murphy can be in his corner or something, but for not, the logical move is to keep the titles on the Profits and give the fans something to cheer about on Monday.

United States Title: Andrade(c) vs. Humberto Carrillo

This is a match that we’ve seen multiple times already and I’m not sure how much I want to see it again. The question is whether the story ends here or if we go on to Wrestlemania for a four way match for the title also involving Angel Garza and Rey Mysterio. Either way, you can tell that WWE wants to do something with Carrillo, and after his previous failed attempts to win the title, I don’t know how many more times he can come up short

I’ll take a shot here and say Carrillo wins the title, as I just can’t picture him losing another title match to Andrade. I do expect the four way at Wrestlemania as it could be a cool match, but these matches haven’t exactly done much to make me care about the buildup. Odds are the match will be entertaining, but sweet goodness Carrillo wouldn’t be able to find charisma if he fell into it. That isn’t going to get him very far, but I think he gets the title here.

Drew Gulak vs. Daniel Bryan

This match was set up last night on Smackdown and it’s one of the more interesting matches on the show actually. Bryan has been feuding with a few different people as of late, and that makes things a little different. I’m not sure if it’s going to mean anything, but it’s great to see someone helping out some of the talent who can’t get a breathe otherwise. Not many people would do that and it doesn’t surprise me that Bryan is one of them who will.

Of course Bryan wins here because as nice as he is, I can’t picture him losing to Gulak in a major match. Bryan giving his friends a hand is a big deal and it’s something that helps everything out here. I’m not sure where this is leading to (maybe Bryan stands up to Sheamus as the resident top small guy) but for now, he can make Gulak look great and hopefully give him a chance to do something else, albeit with Bryan winning.

Intercontinental Title: Braun Strowman(c) vs. Sami Zayn/Cesaro/Shinsuke Nakamura

Then there’s this and I’m not sure what to make of it. Strowman has already beaten Nakamura for the title and now he has to overcome even more odds. Part of the problem here is that Nakamura already held the title for about seven months and didn’t do anything with it, because that’s how midcard titles work these days. It’s not clear if only Nakamura can win the title, but if he’s the only option, it’s a lot less interesting in a hurry.

Either way, I’m going with Strowman retaining, if nothing else because he needs to keep the title for a little while to build him back up. There are only so many times you can have him lose and we have long surpassed that number for Strowman. Let him overcome the odds and crush Zayn like a bug, which is the right way to go in something like this. I’m not sure where this is going for everyone but Strowman retaining is the only way to go here.

Aleister Black vs. AJ Styles

If there is one match that can steal the show, this is it. It’s officially a rematch from Monday where Styles gave Black his first pinfall loss, albeit with so many asterisks involved that it doesn’t really mean much. This one comes down to whether or not Undertaker gets involved, as Styles vs. Undertaker is all but a lot for Wrestlemania. That’s going to mean something for the match here and I think I know what it is.

I’ll go with Styles to win here, likely with interference from the Good Brothers and capped off with Undertaker giving one of those “signs” of his. Black losing to interference is a lot different than taking a clean loss so hopefully we get somewhere else for him at Wrestlemania. I have no clue where that is but as long as it’ snot the battle royal, he should be fine. But yeah, Styles wins here.

Raw Women’s Elimination Chamber

I think I’ve made my thoughts on this one about as clear as possible, as has WWE. The Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler match has been teased since November and now we’re at the point where it can be set up for Wrestlemania itself. For some reason we need to do that inside the Elimination Chamber rather than just having Baszler beat Asuka in a battle of the best NXT Women’s Champions ever, but then again that doesn’t make for the best show name.

In the least surprising result in years for WWE, Baszler wins here, hopefully by eliminating everyone in the match. Baszler vs. Lynch has all but been announced and that has made this match feel completely unimportant as it has been built up. I’m not sure what we are going to be seeing otherwise, but seeing Natalya, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan treated as serious contenders to the biggest women’s match of the year is going to be a lot to take.

Overall Thoughts

What else is there to say about this show? It’s one of the least interesting and least important shows that WWE has put on in what feels like forever and the build hasn’t changed any of that. The World Champions aren’t going to be in the house because their Wrestlemania matches are already set and we have a seven match card (with Bayley/Sasha Banks vs. Naomi/Lacey Evans possibly being added in some form) that doesn’t have much on the line. In short, this is a completely lame pay per view that might wind up being watchable due to the work, but that’s about all it has to offer.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: March 3, 2020
Location: Sam’s Town Live, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Don Callis, Josh Matthews

Things are moving around here as of late with Taya Valkyrie coming after Tessa Blanchard and the World Title. That’s a different way to go and I’m not sure how it is going to go. Other than that, we have the continuation of the bizarre feud between Su Yung and the forces of….the real world? Maybe? Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a Nashville Strong graphic. That’s rather nice.

Opening recap, entirely on Taya vs. Tessa.

Opening sequence.

The North vs. TJP/Fallah Bahh

Non-title. Alexander and Bahh start things off but Page comes in as well, only to have Bahh clothesline both champs down. Page rocks Bahh with a right hand but he’s fine enough to slam Alexander anyway. A cheap shot from behind puts TJP in trouble though and Alexander rakes the eyes to really take over. Page runs him over again and goes to yell at Bahh, followed by the delayed vertical suplex, with the handoff.

We hit the double arm crank on TJP but he slips out and grabs a tornado DDT. That’s enough for the hot tag to Bahh and house is cleaned in a hurry. Alexander’s shots to the head have no effect but it’s quickly back to TJP, who kicks his way out of the corner. The North slams him out of the corner for two though as everything breaks down. Alexander can’t German suplex Bahh but Page can give him a springboard cutter. Not that it matters as TJP comes off the top with a sunset flip to pin Alexander at 9:13.

Rating: C+. The pace picked up near the end and it should set up a good title match at Rebellion. That being said, it’s still annoying to see the champs lose to set up a title match. Just have Bahh/TJP beat the Desi Hit Squad or name them as #1 contenders for winning the singles matches. Or have the champs lose because there’s almost no other way to set up title matches these days.

Tessa isn’t worried about facing Taya, because she’s a different woman from last year. Eddie Edwards comes in to say that it will be an honor to face her at Rebellion after he beats Michael Elgin next week.

Moose vs. Petey Williams

Moose misses a charge into the corner to start but he’s right back up with right hands to the head. The chokebomb out of the corner is countered into a hurricanrana but Williams runs into a pump kick as we take a break. Back with Williams hitting two suicide dives which don’t even knock Moose down.

The slingshot hurricanrana works a bit better, only to have Moose blast him off the apron for a big knockdown. Back in and Williams’ ribs are banged up but Moose calls him a clown to start the comeback. A flipping DDT drops Moose and a short Downward Spiral puts him down again. The Canadian Destroyer is countered and Moose plants him, setting up No Jackhammer Needed for the pin at 10:18.

Rating: C. Williams is fine for something like this, even though he still feels like the guy you have to include in a show like this even if you don’t want him. He’s been around on and off for the better part of twenty years now and to be fair, it’s not like he’s bad in the ring or anything. I just don’t think he means as much to most fans as Impact seems to think he does.

Flashback Moment of the Week: Amazing Red wins the X-Division Title in 2003.

Madison Rayne is coaching the new Knockouts but gets rid of some of them (though tells one to leave the dress because she wants to wear it). Kiera Hogan comes in to call her out for being ridiculous. One of the rookies gets in Kiera’s face, likely setting up something for later.

Acey Romero vs. Joey Ryan

Ryan pulls out the lollipop and then puts it back down his trunks. There’s no oil this time though and Romero runs him over for trying to get him to touch it. A dropkick puts Ryan down he gets in a shot to the head, making Acey fall face first onto, uh, it. Romero hurts himself on an atomic drop attempt but is fine enough to hit a crossbody. We go old school with a Ho Train to Ryan, who pops up and puts the lollipop into Ryan’s mouth. Acey bites it off but Ryan makes him touch it. For some reason Ryan won’t do the flip, allowing Acey to run him over and drop an elbow for the pin at 5:12.

Rating: D. So that happened and now we seem to be moving towards Ryan as a heel. Normally I would say that it would be an improvement, but I’m not sure if that is going to be the case. If Ryan drops all of the sleaze, what exactly does he have left? Maybe he can surprise me, but I don’t have much of a reason to believe in him.

Glenn Gilbertti and Johnny Swinger take credit for selling the place out and tell Willie Mack to find a partner. He’ll fight them on his own.

Chris Bey is coming.

Ryan talks to Katie Forbes, who tells Rob Van Dam that Ryan gets it.

Jessika Havoc vs. Su Yung

No DQ and Su jumps her in the corner as Josh gets the fun task of trying to recap the story. Havok gets knocked to the floor for a Cannonball from the apron but Old School across the barricade is countered into a slam onto the ramp. The weapons are tossed inside and Yung gets dropped face first onto the steps. Back in and they have a chair duel, setting up stereo big boots to put both of them down.

Yung grabs the rope but Havok drives her into the corner to avoid the whole strangulation deal. A super Tombstone is broken up (because it’s a super Tombstone) and Yung puts a trashcan over Havok’s head. That means a missile dropkick to the can for two and Yung gets the noose. Havok isn’t having that again as she ties Yung to the rope, only to get misted. Yung slips out (Havok must never have been a Girl Scout) and ties the noose around Havok’s neck, setting up the Mandible Claw for the win at 9:27.

Rating: C-. It’s a hardcore/weapons match and that’s what these two should be doing. That’s all these people should be having at this point and it was a violent enough effort from both. The story is so wild and all over the place that it makes things fun to watch week to week. I’m not sure how big the blowoff is going to be, but the wackiness could be off the charts.

Post match the Undead Bridesmaids come out with a coffin but Havok fights out of it and gets away.

Rosemary says this was supposed to bring the Bunny back but it didn’t work. She should be happy but isn’t.

Johnny Swinger/Glenn Gilbertti vs. Deaners

Oh dang I had forgotten about the Deaners. Why do I have to remember them? The threat of Cody’s right hand sends Gilbertti running so it’s time to work on Swinger’s arm. What looks to be a roll of quarters goes into Cody’s throat and Swinger drops a headbutt to the lower abdomen. Gilbertti misses the YMCA elbow though and it’s Jake coming in to wreck things. The quarters are brought back in but Gilbertti hits Swinger by mistake, setting up a DDT to give Cody the pin at 4:55.

Rating: D+. That’s as good of a way to use Swinger and Gilbertti as you’re going to find. It’s a short match and they did the 80s tropes perfectly well before losing in the end. In a word, it’s harmless like this and as long as they don’t go too far with it or take them away from the low level comedy stuff, they’re a nice little addition to the show.

Realityislost/ICU video.

Video on Tenille Dashwood.

Gut Check video and apparently all of the contestants are terrible. One of them spat in the ring and then took a picture in front of the Impact logo to make himself look better. Scott D’Amore says he isn’t signing any of them. I know this is supposed to make us want to watch the series, but didn’t we just get the majority of the plot here?

We recap Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie. Taya beat Tessa for the Knockouts Title so now Taya wants a World Title shot.

Taya says Tessa’s dream is over and the bad guy wins. Eh chico?

Impact Wrestling World Title: Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie

Tessa is defending and Taya has John E. Bravo with her. They stare each other down to start until Tessa chops her into the corner. A discus forearm rocks Tessa but she’s back with a running knee between the shoulders. Bravo’s distraction lets Taya get in a cheap shot though and we take a break.

Back with Tessa getting kicked in the head in the corner, setting up the running knees for two. They head outside with Tessa posting her, followed by the suicide dive into the barricade. Back in and Tessa slips out of a piledriver attempt and grabs a cutter for the double knockdown.

Taya gets kicked down in the corner, setting up a Backstabber for two. Something like a Boss Man Slam gives Taya her own two but Tessa powerbombs her out of the corner. Road to Valhalla is broken up and Tessa hits a neckbreaker. Magnum misses and Bravo’s interference backfires, allowing Tessa to hurricanrana her into the corner. The Buzzsaw DDT retains Tessa’s title at 15:15.

Rating: B-. The ending wasn’t in doubt but they had a good, mostly serious match, which is what you need from something like this. There was a logical story to having the title match and it made sense for Taya to challenge for the title. Tessa getting another title win over someone as established as Taya is going to help without requiring reality to be stretched that far.

Overall Rating: C. This was an up and down show but the good things were good and the bad things, which were limited, were only so bad. You can see a lot of what’s coming at Rebellion and we could be in for a nice pay per view if they build it up well. That build is already in the planning stages and it should be started in full next week. Nice enough show here and a perfectly fine use of two hours.

Results

TJP/Fallah Bahh b. The North – Top rope sunset flip to Alexander

Moose b. Petey Williams – No Jackhammer Needed

Acey Romero b. Joey Ryan – Elbow drop

Su Yung b. Havok – Mandible Claw

Deaners b. Johnny Swinger/Glenn Gilbertti – DDT to Swinger

Tessa Blanchard b. Taya Valkyrie – Buzzsaw DDT

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

Smackdown
Date: October 7, 2005
Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz

It’s the go home show for No Mercy and that means the show needs one more push towards the pay per view. Last week Eddie Guerrero may or may not have hit Batista in the back with a chair on purpose. That’s the kind of thing that could go either way for Eddie and that is making the story more interesting. We also need to deal with the fallout from Monday, when Smackdown and Raw got in a big brawl at Homecoming. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the Raw vs. Smackdown brawl.

Opening sequence.

Here are Teddy Long and Palmer Cannon in the ring. Teddy announces that tonight, it’s the six man tag that Eric Bischoff wouldn’t let you see last night: JBL/Christian/Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio/Chris Benoit/Batista. Cannon grabs the mic to say Smackdown can fight Raw again anytime with the network’s full report. Teddy knows Bischoff is going to want some revenge so the Raw wrestlers can come to No Mercy and start something that Smackdown will finish.

Cue the Ortons with Randy asking Long and Cannon to leave. Teddy has something to say but Cannon says they’ll leave the ring for the future of Smackdown. Randy is hoping Undertaker is watching, because tonight another legend is being destroyed. The Ortons are going to destroy the legend of Roddy Piper in a handicap match. Bob talks about his time with Piper and they were friends, but this is family. Why did Piper get all the glory when Bob did all the work? Cue Roddy Piper, with a pipe, to take both of them out without much trouble.

Booker T. vs. Orlando Jordan

Sharmell introduces Booker. They lock up to start and the fans go straight to the YOU TAPPED OUT chants for Jordan. Some cheap shots in the corner put Booker down as I’m just waiting for Jordan to screw something up. A running elbow gives Jordan a delayed one and Booker strikes away without much trouble. Jordan is right back with a knee to the ribs and the chinlock goes on.

Back up and Jordan elbows him in the face before turning Booker inside out with a clothesline for two. They head outside and Booker kicks a chair out of Jordan’s hands and it’s time to go back inside. Jordan tries to suplex him back in from the apron but Sharmell trips him up (Booker couldn’t see it) so Booker can land on top for the pin.

Rating: D+. That might be the best one on one match I’ve ever seen Jordan have and I’m not sure how much of that is due to Booker being able to make anyone look at least passable. At the same time though, Sharmell continues to be annoying and drags Booker down more and more every time. What does it say when you need help to beat Orlando Jordan?

Post match Booker sees what happened on the Titantron and isn’t happy with Sharmell.

Hardcore Holly vs. Sylvan

Mr. Kennedy, in a suit, comes out to introduce himself as a guest commentator. Sylvan starts fast and hammers away in the corner as Kennedy makes Sparkplug references. Holly is back with chops and the dropkick, followed by a clothesline to the floor. Back in and Holly hits his kick to the rather low abdomen but as the referee checks on Sylvan, allowing Kennedy to hit Holly with a microphone. Sylvan is up with a vertical suplex into a DDT for the pin.

Post match, Kennedy announces Holly as the loser. In a match involving Sylvain, he’s always the loser.

Piper talks about his history with Bob Orton. See, Bob isn’t quite the sharpest guy in the world and complained about the light being in his eyes so Piper bought him his hat. Then he complained about being called Jr. so Piper called him ace instead. Then Orton broke his hand, but who really had the handicap? This was one of those Piper promos where he goes in one direction and then says something where you’re kind of left scratching your head. In other words, it was more coherent than almost anything he has said in fifteen fifteen years.

Animal/Heidenreich vs. Paul Burchill/William Regal

Non-title and Animal and Heidenreich have Christy Hemme in their corner. Burchill gets thrown around to start so it’s off to Regal, who sends Animal shoulder first into the buckle. The arm gets posted twice in a row but Animal uses the good arm for a backdrop. Heidenreich comes in and everything breaks down. Christy gets on the apron to call for the Doomsday Device but Melina comes out to pull her down as MNM comes in to jump the champs for the DQ.

Post match Animal and Heidenreich are sent outside, leaving Christy to take the Snapshot. That might make the six person tag a little unfair. I mean to MNM and Melina, as Christy being out can only help Animal and Smackdown.

Eddie Guerrero, in a Batista shirt, says he showed he had Batista’s back last week because they’re close.

Here’s Eddie for a chat. He’s the #1 contender and that means he has the privilege of facing someone he admires in Batista. Eddie shows us some footage from after Raw went off the air of….the Smackdown wrestlers slowly backing up the ramp. This proves that Eddie had his back so on Sunday, the two of them will still be friends after the match. With that faulty logic out of the way, here’s Batista, in the same shirt, with Eddie playing cheerleader.

Batista shows us a clip of the chair shot from last week and he’d like an explanation. He’d also like a chair from ringside, which has Eddie a bit nervous. Batista hands it to Eddie and turns around, saying we should bring it out into the open. Eddie throws the chair down and says he was wrong about Batista. He thought Batista was just like him, but if the roles were reversed last week, it couldn’t have been Batista hitting him?

Eddie goes to leave but Batista says he wants to believe he has changed. Batista has eyes in the back of his head and if Eddie tries to screw him, it’s going to mean pain. That’s what Eddie wants, because the Batista he knows could hurt someone. Eddie promises to prove himself on Sunday and he’ll show it tonight too. I’m getting into this more and more every week as the mind games have been pretty awesome.

Raw Rebound.

Randy Orton/Bob Orton vs. Roddy Piper

Piper bites Randy to start and pokes him in the eye so it’s off to Bob for the old man slugout. It’s back to Randy for a dropkick and some right hands but Bob begs his son to let him get the pin. Bob loads up an elbow and there’s the gong strike. No one comes out so Bob hits the elbow anyway….and the gong goes off again, this time with the lights flickering. The distraction lets Piper small package Bob for the pin.

Rating: D. This had a bit of history to it but mainly felt like Piper was brought in because he was around for Homecoming. They were very smart to keep this short as you don’t want these guys trying to have a long match. There’s nothing wrong with Piper pinning Bob so while the match was bad, it was all you could have asked for in this situation.

Post match the druids are here to bring out a casket built for two. Undertaker pops up on screen to dare the Ortons to look inside. The lid pops up and Orton mannequins are inside to freak out Bob and Randy. Then the lights go out again and Undertaker is in the ring to scare them off.

Bobby Lashley vs. Eddie Craven

Hold on though as here’s Simon Dean, with his hand in a cast, to interrupt. Lashley broke his hand last week because he needed to take away the strength advantage. On Sunday, Simon is going to win because of advanced cardiovascular conditioning. Therefore, he’s going to do squats during the match. Lashley sends Craven into the corner to start and puts Craven in a fireman’s carry for some more impressive squats. A clothesline sets up an overhead suplex but Simon grabs Lashley’s leg. That goes nowhere so Lashley finishes with the Dominator in a hurry.

Eddie Guerrero/Christian/John Bradshaw Layfield vs. Rey Mysterio/Chris Benoit/Batista

The match that would have been on Monday and Jillian Hall is here with the villains. Joined in progress with Benoit and Christian fighting over a lockup in the corner to no avail. Benoit gets serious and tries a Crossface but Christian goes straight to the ropes in a smart move. It’s off to Eddie for another version of a match that never gets old.

Neither can get anywhere with the technical stuff so they go to a test of strength with Eddie headbutting and kicking away. Eventually he flips forward into a hurricanrana for a rather unique way out. It’s off to Batista and Eddie isn’t sure what to do. A quick takedown attempt doesn’t get Eddie very far as Batista kicks him away and hits a gorilla press. JBL comes in and gets his knee dropkicked out by Rey, only to come back with a hard shoulder.

Rey goes to the apron but an Eddie distraction lets JBL knock him to the floor. Back from a break with Christian putting Rey in an abdominal stretch to keep him in trouble. Rey slips out and misses a springboard crossbody, allowing JBL to come in with a swinging neckbreaker. Eddie charges into an elbow in the corner though and Rey hits the sitout bulldog. The hot tag brings in Batista and it’s house cleaning time in a hurry. Eddie low bridges JBL to save Batista, allowing the spinebuster to finish Christian.

Rating: C+. Pretty standard main event six man tag but the talent involved is more than enough to carry it. Eddie vs. Batista has some potential on Sunday but a good build doesn’t necessarily mean a good match. The other matches were barely touched on but they have been set up well enough already. I can always go for mixing up a bunch of feuds into one match so this was as good of a main event as you could have had.

Post match Eddie hugs Batista but JBL and company jump both of them. Eddie and Batista clear the ring to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. No Mercy isn’t looking great and this show didn’t do much to make me think otherwise. I like Eddie vs. Batista but the rest of the card is really showcasing just how weak the Smackdown roster is at the moment. The top talent is doing what they can but when you have Orlando Jordan, Hardcore Holly, Sylvan and Heidenreich getting pay per view matches, it might be time to rethink things a bit.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

Wrestlemania V
Date: April 2, 1989
Location: Trump Plaza, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Attendance: 18,946
Commentators: Jesse Ventura, Gorilla Monsoon

King Haku vs. Hercules

Rating: D+. Not the worst match here but this was a strange choice for an opener. I mean did they really think that it made sense to push Hercules as something special? At the time they were actually pushing him as a third Mega Power, which meant “the guy that would take a fall in a six man” but it was really just in name only. This was a pretty pedestrian power match but that superkick to stop Hercules was a nice touch. Haku always had a good superkick and it was cool to see him use it, even in a nothing match like this.

Rockers vs. Twin Towers

Rating: C+. This was fun for how well the Rockers bumped for the monsters here. That clothesline and the powerbomb to Shawn were particularly awesome as Shawn looked dead off both moves. The Twin Towers had just come off feuding with Hogan/Savage but for some reason it never led to the Tag Team Titles or even a serious shot at them.

Ted DiBiase vs. Brutus Beefcake

Back in and even more right hands stagger Ted until Virgil trips Brutus to give the boss an opening. A middle rope elbow gets two for DiBiase and a suplex sets up the Million Dollar Dream. Brutus grabs the rope and makes his comeback, sending Ted face first into the buckle ten straight times. DiBiase finally knocks Brutus to the floor where Virgil gets in a few shots. Ted follows and they brawl to a double countout at 9:57.

Post match Brutus cleans house with the hedge clippers to claim a moral victory. As usual, Jesse is on point by calling that assault with a deadly weapon.

Fabulous Rougeau Brothers vs. Bushwhackers

Mr. Perfect vs. Blue Blazer

Jesse is presented to the crowd for the third year in a row. For some reason Gorilla is surprised and says he was set up for this one.

Run-DMC performs the Wrestlemania Rap. Was Gladys Knight busy this year?

Demolition is ready to beat up Fuj the Stooge.

Tag Team Titles: Demolition vs. Powers of Pain/Mr. Fuji

Dino Bravo vs. Ronnie Garvin

Bravo attacks from behind and forearms Garvin in the back as Gorilla and Jesse argue over how strong Bravo really is. A kick to the chest gets two for Dino and even Jesse rips on Bravo for thinking that would get the pin. Garvin suddenly starts his comeback with a bunch of right hands (his finisher back in the NWA) and a sleeper but Bravo is right in the corner. A sunset flip gets two for Ronnie but he walks into the side suplex for the pin at 3:55.

Brainbusters vs. Strike Force

The Brainbusters (Gorilla: “Two really tough dudes!”) are Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard with Heenan in their corner. Strike Force has been inactive for a long time due to Martel being injured but he begged Tito to reform the team. Blanchard starts with Martel and Arn is cheating just a few seconds in with a knee to the back. Everything breaks down and stereo dropkicks put the Busters on the floor.

Donald Trump thinks this has been a great event for the Trump Organization and that the casinos have been doing very well. Sean Mooney sounds incredibly nervous here.

Long recap of the Mega Powers forming and splitting to get us to the main event. Like I said, Hogan was taking a bit too much of the spotlight, including getting the win at Survivor Series after Savage did most of the work. It was finally too much for Savage and he snapped to set up the Mega Powers exploding.

Jake Roberts vs. Andre the Giant

Jake catches DiBiase and brings in the snake to clear the ring.

Sean Mooney gives us a worthless report from the cheap seats.

Honky Tonk Man/Greg Valentine vs. Hart Foundation

Intercontinental Title: Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude

Warrior comes right back with another bearhug and the referee is even nice enough to stop Rude from poking the eyes again. Rude gets out off something we missed because the camera was on Heenan and a piledriver gets a very delayed cover. The kickout is a lot weaker this time and Rude follows up with a jawbreaker.

Rating: B. This was a pairing that never made sense as neither guy was known as the best in ring performer on their own but they meshed together very well and produced some good stuff. Rude was still goofy and Warrior was still insane so this was a major upset and big surprise all around. Good match too.

Bad News Brown vs. Jim Duggan

Red Rooster vs. Bobby Heenan

Heenan can barely walk after the beating from Warrior. Right hands, Heenan misses a charge and hits the post, Rooster pins him in 30 seconds.

Post match the Brooklyn Brawler comes in but gets beaten up by Rooster. This is really the last match before the main event at WRESTLEMANIA.

Tony Schiavone says the locker room has all gone into the arena to watch the match.

Sean Mooney polls fans on who is going to win. My goodness ENOUGH FILLER ALREADY.

WWF World Title: Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan

We hit the armbar from the champ but Hogan fights up and uses the trunks to pull Savage to the floor. Back in and Hogan drops a bunch of elbows for two but Savage pulls him into a chinlock. Hulk has a cut over his eye and Savage knees him into the buckle for two, even with a handful of trunks. Hogan fights up again and just slams Savage over the top to the floor.

A lot of posing and raving from Jesse take us out.

Ratings Comparison

Hercules vs. King Haku

Original: C-

2013 Redo: C-

2015 Redo: D+

Twin Towers vs. Rockers

Original: C

2013 Redo: C

2015 Redo: C+

Brutus Beefcake vs. Ted DiBiase

Original: D+

2013 Redo: C-

2015 Redo: D+

Bushwhackers vs. Fabulous Rougeau Brothers

Original: D-

2013 Redo: D

2015 Redo: D-

Mr. Perfect vs. Blue Blazer

Original: B-

2013 Redo: C+

2015 Redo: C+

Demolition vs. Powers of Pain/Mr. Fuji

Original: C-

2013 Redo: D

2015 Redo: D

Dino Bravo vs. Ronnie Garvin

Original: F

2013 Redo: D

2015 Redo: D

Brain Busters vs. Strike Force

Original: B-

2013 Redo: B-

2015 Redo: C+

Jake Roberts vs. Andre the Giant

Original: D

2013 Redo: D

2015 Redo: D

Hart Foundation vs. Honky Tonk Man/Greg Valentine

Original: D+

2013 Redo: D+

2015 Redo: C

Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior

Original: B

2013 Redo: B

2015 Redo: B

Jim Duggan vs. Bad News Brown

Original: F

2013 Redo: D-

2015 Redo: D

Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler

Original: N/A

2013 Redo: N/A

2015 Redo: N/A

Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage

Original: C+

2013 Redo: B-

2015 Redo: B

Overall Rating

Original: D+

2013 Redo: D

2015 Redo: D-

It just keeps getting worse.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/03/12/history-of-wrestlemania-with-kb-wrestlemania-5-hogan-vs-savage-and-thats-about-it/

And the 2013 Redo:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2013/03/14/wrestlemania-count-up-wrestlemania-v-the-first-wrestlemania-sequel/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

Wrestlemania V
Date: April 2, 1989
Location: Trump Plaza, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Attendance: 18,946
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura

Hercules vs. King Haku

The Rockers say they can handle the Twin Towers.

Rockers vs. Twin Towers

Akeem KILLS HIM with a clothesline (Jesse: “I think he irritated Akeem!”) but Boss Man misses a top rope splash. The Rockers hit some double dropkicks (one of which sees Shawn completely missing Bossman) but a top rope rana is countered into a wicked powerbomb by Boss Man. Akeem crushes Shawn with a splash for the pin.

Ted DiBiase talks about hanging out with Donald Trump and having them here to see him beat up Beefcake.

Ted DiBiase vs. Brutus Beefcake

Brutus gets to the rope so they slug it out some more with the barber taking over. Now Beefcake throws on his own sleeper but gets sent out to the floor in a counter. Virgil interferes a bit to distract Beefcake but DiBiase stupidly goes out to the floor as well. They brawl to a double countout to a big boo from the crowd.

Rating: C-. This was mainly a punching match as well as a pretty big fall for DiBiase. To go from the main event to the third match on the card in a year is a pretty big fall, which is saying a lot as DiBiase was still a very evil heel. Brutus was getting very popular very fast and would be paired with Hogan soon after this for a BIG rub.

Brutus beats up Virgil post match and chases them off with the hedge clippers. You know, assault with a deadly weapon as Jesse calls it.

We go to the Wrestlemania brunch with the Bushwhackers eating a lot and trying to talk about their match with the Rougeaus.

Bushwhackers vs. Fabulous Rougeau Brothers

Anyway Ray puts on an abdominal stretch as a fan or two chants USA. In theory that would be for the Rougeaus here who are the All American Boys facing the guys from New Zealand. The Rougeaus prematurely hug and get caught by the Battering Ram and a double gutbuster is good for the pin on Ray out of nowhere.

Mr. Perfect vs. Blue Blazer

They slightly botch a flip out of a hiptoss and Blazer dropkicks Perfect to the floor. Blazer hits a quick hiptoss (why is that so popular here?) of his own and a dropkick for no cover. A modified northern lights suplex gets two for Blue but a top rope splash hits knees. Off to a reverse chinlock for a few moments by Perfect but Blazer fights up and hits a standing powerslam and a belly to belly for two each. A crucifix gets two more but Blazer spends too long arguing with the referee and the PerfectPlex ends this clean.

Jesse is presented to the crowd again like last year.

Mr. Fuji allegedly runs a 5K run in a tuxedo.

We recap the double tag team turn at Survivor Series 1988 with Fuji leaving Demolition to hook up with the Powers of Pain.

Tag Titles: Demolition vs. Powers of Pain/Mr. Fuji

Ronnie Garvin vs. Dino Bravo

Brain Busters vs. Strike Force

This is the return of Strike Force after Martel had a bad injury. Blanchard and Martel start things off and Rick almost immediately has to punch out of the wrong corner. Off to Anderson who gets rammed face first into the mat before being put in his own test of strength on the mat. Arn catches Martel in a body scissors but Rick turns it over into his signature Boston Crab.

Blanchard makes the save but Tito immediately comes in to put him in the Figure Four. Martel puts one on Anderson as well as things break down. We get some near falls by Tito but he accidentally hits the forearm on Martel to take him out. Rick gets ticked off as Tito is basically in a handicap match. The Busters get to take over on Tito but you know Santana can hang with either guy.

Rating: B-. Best match of the night so far as all four guys were moving out there. Tito could go with the best of them and he had some of the best of them to do that with in this one. Martel and Santana would feud on and off for about a year until they just stopped fighting out of nowhere.

Donald Trump likes hosting Wrestlemania.

Ventura goes into a hilarious rant against Hogan for invading Hollywood because Hogan needs a job after Savage beats him tonight. Jesse shouts that Hulk can drive his limo and storms off.

We recap the Megapowers feud as intermission continues. Basically Savage won the title at Mania 4 then teamed up with Hogan. Hogan kept getting the pins and finally at Main Event II, Savage accidentally wiped out Elizabeth. Hogan took Liz to the back to get attention but it left Savage alone. Finally Savage slapped Hogan and turned heel again, leading to the heel promo of a lifetime as he ERUPTED on Hogan, letting out every bit of his pent up rage and jealousy before blasting Hogan with the title in the medical room.

Hogan says it was Savage eaten alive by the jealousy and the title is coming home tonight. This somehow turns into a talk about destroying the Trump Plaza, which I think he touched on last year too.

Andre the Giant vs. Jake Roberts

Andre looks so different than he did two years ago. In Detroit he looked like a killing machine but here he looks like a lumbering oaf. Giant steps on Jake a few times but Roberts comes back with some strikes. He knocks Andre into the ropes and chokes away, only to see Andre get his arm loose and choke Jake right back.

Sensational Sherri wants to fight Rockin Robin and hopes Liz gets hurt today.

Greg Valentine/Honky Tonk Man vs. Hart Foundation

We recap Rude vs. Warrior which is basically just because Rude attacked Warrior at the Rumble Super Posedown and the champion wants revenge.

Intercontinental Title: Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude

Warrior is defending but Rude has the belt imprinted on his tights. Rude tries a knee to the ribs but hits the belt by mistake. Warrior immediately takes over with the power game and LAUNCHES Rude into the corner. The champ throws on a bearhug for a bit until Rude finally pokes him in the eyes to escape. Rude busts out a MISSILE DROPKICK for two but gets launched off Warrion on the kickout.

Warrior beats up Heenan post match. Remember that for later.

Bad News Brown vs. Jim Duggan

Red Rooster vs. Bobby Heenan

Just to drag this out EVEN LONGER, the Brawler beats the Rooster up, because WE HAVE TO PUSH BROOKLN FREAKING BRAWLER.

Tony Schiavone and Sean Mooney fill in even MORE time.

WWF World Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage

Savage escapes being posted and sends Hogan in by mistake. After sending Hulk back in, Randy yells at Liz a bit more and shoves her up the aisle. The referee ejects Liz, making the only interesting factor a nonfactor. Back to the floor and Savage drops the ax handle off the top to send Hogan throat first into the barricade. Savage goes after the throat with various evil measures but the elbow only gets two. Hulk Up, big boot, leg drop, new champion.

Hogan celebrates forever to end the show.

Ratings Comparison

Hercules vs. King Haku

Original: C-

Redo: C-

Twin Towers vs. Rockers

Original: C

Redo: C

Brutus Beefcake vs. Ted DiBiase

Original: D+

Redo: C-

Bushwhackers vs. Fabulous Rougeau Brothers

Original: D-

Redo: D

Mr. Perfect vs. Blue Blazer

Original: B-

Redo: C+

Demolition vs. Powers of Pain/Mr. Fuji

Original: C-

Redo: D

Dino Bravo vs. Ronnie Garvin

Original: F

Redo: D

Brain Busters vs. Strike Force

Original: B-

Redo: B-

Jake Roberts vs. Andre the Giant

Original: D

Redo: D

Hart Foundation vs. Honky Tonk Man/Greg Valentine

Original: D+

Redo: D+

Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior

Original: B

Redo: B

Jim Duggan vs. Bad News Brown

Original: F

Redo: D-

Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler

Original: N/A

Redo: N/A

Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage

Original: C+

Redo: B-

Overall Rating

Original: D+

Redo: D

Wow that was a rather boring redo.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/03/12/history-of-wrestlemania-with-kb-wrestlemania-5-hogan-vs-savage-and-thats-about-it/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

Wrestlemania 5
Date: April 2, 1989
Location: Trump Plaza, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Attendance: 18,946
Announcers: Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura
America The Beautiful: Rockin Robin

This show is more or less the WWF waking up and realizing that not announcing your main event until 20 minutes before it happens isn’t really a good idea. The tagline for this show was very simple: The Mega Powers Explode! Simple concept that’s as old as wrestling itself: Hogan helps Savage become champion, Hogan gets the spotlight even without the belt, Savage’s jealousy gets the best of him and he snaps over a certain incident.

In this case, the incident was on my first birthday in a tag match with Akeem and Big Boss Man against the Mega Powers. Savage got tossed through the ropes and landed on Elizabeth. Hogan carried her back to get help and Savage was left all alone. They argue in the back with Savage cutting the best promo of his life as all of the anger he had stored up inside him erupts and he attacks Hogan to set up this showdown for the gold. Liz says she’s going to try to remain neutral in the main event.

The Women’s Champion sings America the Beautiful and does an ok job at it. Kind of a bland voice though.

Haku vs. Hercules

This match is part of a very unnoticed storyline where Hercules was part of the Heenan Family but was then “sold” to Ted DiBiase. This upset him and Hercules said he was a free man. He went on a small war with Heenan’s stable and I guess you’d call this the climax of that. The feud was nothing at all and it went nowhere as Hercules just wasn’t over at all. This is a power vs. power match that pleasantly surprised me as it has a fair amount of solid wrestling on it and not just all power.

The powder blue tights just don’t do it for a guy with the name of Hercules. Donald Trump is in the front row again which makes sense as he owns the place. Haku is really getting outworked here. Hercules’ offense is a lot more diverse as opposed to chops and bearhugs with a kick thrown in here and there. That’s kind of the storyline of this whole match too and you can see that in the ending.

Haku is the King of Wrestling here and for some reason that isn’t on the line in this match. It was an odd kind of semi-title where you would be proclaimed king and get to wear a crown and have a bunch of muscle jobbers bring you out on a throne but other than that it never really went anywhere. Savage got it and held it for like a year or so and it more or less died after that.

This is about as bland as you can get but it’s surprisingly decent. Hercules worked better as a face because here he has something to fight for in his own pride. Back when he was a heel he had nothing special about him and was just a generic henchman. He’s more interesting and well rounded here though which is what a turn is supposed to accomplish.

Hercules lands a belly to back suplex into a bridge but shoots his shoulder up to avoid the double pin, which was exactly the same thing he lost to the year before. That’s a very subtle touch to his character that a lot of people don’t realize. It shows that he’s capable of learning something new and has adapted a new style over the last year.

Rating: C-. There’s a story here and there’s some decent action, but at the end of it all it’s just not that great. Good and not boring, but not great. This wasn’t much at all from a ring work standpoint but it was surprisingly good. I’m not sure why I like this match but I kind of always have and while it’s certainly an odd choice to open Wrestlemania with, it’s not bad.

In the back we see a team called the Rockers. This Marty Jannetty guy is a freaking STUD. I could see this guy winning something like the IC title, maybe some tag titles or something like that. His partner just does nothing for me though as he’s very bland.

Twin Towers vs. The Rockers

Twin Towers are Big Bossman and Akeem, aka the One Man Gang in case you weren’t sure. Rockers had been around for a few months at this point but as they would wind up doing for their whole run they were still trying to find themselves as a team.

This is about as simple of a story as you can get: power vs. speed and it works fairly well here. Akeem seriously may be the greatest gimmick of all time. For those of you that don’t know, One Man Gang and his manager Slick found out that he was of African descent, despite being the palest Caucasian you’ll ever find.

He starts embracing his African roots and doing these weird dances and wearing weird outfits. To see him doing this is just hilarious and something that you should check out for a good laugh and I’d like to give whoever thought it up a ham sandwich.

Cool spot where Bossman has Jannetty up in a bear hug position and Akeem just slams into him. Simple yet effective. Jannetty gets his head handed to him the majority of the match. Slick screaming about how a black referee would count faster and wouldn’t cheat is just such a great touch when his wrestlers are whiter than snow.

Becca shouldn’t watch this match as Akeem just about kills Shawn with one of the best clotheslines I’ve ever seen. Bossman kills him even worse with a spinning powerbomb and then a splash by Akeem and Shawn is finally given a break as the pin goes down.

Rating: C. This was a solid performance by the Rockers but they really didn’t stand much of a chance. Some good spots make this quite passable though. What’s with the back to back generic matches to start off the biggest show of the year though? Is this really the best they could find?

Ted DiBiase is rich and likes to talk about it. He’s also got a new belt that he likes showing off.

Ted DiBiase vs. Brutus Beefcake

Hearing DiBiase having different homes for each season is just a perfect touch to the gimmick that makes him so much more fun to hate. Still say he’s the best heel of all time. Brutus finally has his awesome music here. Jesse describes Brutus’ pants perfectly: it looks like a grenade went off in his pockets. Ted talks to Trump before we start.

What exactly did Brutus expect to do with those huge hedge clippers? This is a balance of the sleepers. According to Gorilla this is one of the reasons the fans are here for. Something tells me that’s not the case. DiBiase cheats almost immediately as the heel he is. What a fall he’s taken in a year. From the main event to this. Wow.

We get a pretty nice back and forth sequence to start as both guys are moving pretty well out there. Jesse drops some names as they slug it out. It’s turned into a standard kick and punch match which isn’t interesting or anything but it fills in time pretty well I suppose.

DiBiase gets a nice shot off the middle rope but doesn’t cover or anything. Why do that anyway? No one gets pins off moves like those anyway. Brutus gets a small package for two. Double clothesline and Ted gets up first. There’s the Million Dollar Dream but Beefcake gets the rope. More kicking and punching sets up Beefcake’s sleeper. Virgil gets Beefcake on the floor and DiBiase follows, leading to a double countout. Gorilla kind of scoffs at the ending.

Rating: D+. They were just kind of there. Pretty boring too. Nothing interesting here at all. I’ve always loved the falling punch DiBiase used. Just something sweet about it. This is power versus technician but it just doesn’t come off that way. Beefcake was supposed to be a power guy I think but he wasn’t that good at it. It’s also not a power move to use a sleeper. Yeah this match was pretty weak.

There used to be a thing called the Bagels and Biceps Brunch. What the point of this was, I’m not sure but it apparently was a tradition. The Bushwackers, one of which licked my face at a house show, are about to face the Rougeaus.

Bushwackers vs. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers

The Rougeau’s music of We’re All American Boys is nothing short of amazing. Just an awesome song and one of Jimmy Hart’s great touches. The Bushwackers are just out there even by today’s standards. How these guys lasted nearly 6 years in a completely different gimmick than they started with is beyond me.

The Battering Ram is one of the dumbest yet most awesome moves I’ve ever seen. Now this is a match that I remember only one thing about. During a scoop slam, Luke of the Bushwackers clearly rubs Ray Rougeau crotch. It’s not on accident either. He puts his hand there and rubs up and down. Just a disturbing sight.

Other than that this is nothing but a comedy match. The 80s were so awesome in the area of tag wrestling that they even managed to have jobber tag teams on a regular basis. There’s nothing going on here with the Bushwackers running around for a minute, the Rougeaus controlling for two minutes and the finish. To end this in a hurry, Bushwackers win with their rib breaker move.

Rating: D-. The crotch rub never fails to surprise me. Just not something I want to think about. The match completely sucked though and just never went anywhere at all. What is with all these fillers? DiBiase vs. Beefcake is by far the biggest matchup so far and even it is nothing special and could have been on any house show that year. Weak show so far and a weak match here.

Sean Mooney, one of my all time favorite broadcasters gets licked by a Bushwacker while talking to some fans in a pointless segment.

Mr. Perfect vs. The Blue Blazer

Yes that’s Owen Hart under the mask. This is another match that is more or less just there for the sake of being there but it should be pretty good. Perfect is still undefeated here. Jesse thinks this is going to be tremendous. Hennig gets a nice hiptoss to start.

He slaps the Blazer and doesn’t get drilled as a result for some reason. Ah there’s the slap and Owen speeds things up a bit. And then we slow them right back down. Baseball slide hits Perfect. Owen was WAY ahead of his time here as he could move like no one else could and was busting out Japanese and European stuff which was unheard of in America at this time.

Blazer is dominating here as Perfect has no idea what to do with him. BIG top rope splash eats knees though. That looked awesome as he got way up in the air and nailed the knees perfectly. Jesse has a surprise for Gorilla.

Powerslam by Blazer gets two and a belly to belly gets two as well. Jesse thinks Perfect has Mania jitters. Crucifix gets two for Blazer. And then a big shot gets Perfect the advantage. Perfectplex gets the easy pin.

Rating: B-. Pretty solid little match here with both guys moving very well. It was speed/flying vs. technical style out there and it worked very well. It helps having two guys that can work a variety of styles. Perfect hit two moves the whole match which hurts this though. Still solid stuff and Owen looked awesome in this.

Yet again, Jesse is introduced to the crowd as a “major Hollywood star” (he had done some supporting roles in some fairly big movies like Predator). There was apparently a 5K run with Mr. Fuji, in tuxedo and bowler hat, running in a decent time. He’s in the handicap tag title match later on if you’re wondering what the heck this is for. He finishes without even breathing hard and Lord Alfred Hayes suspects shenanigans.

Now for something just completely out of place, Run DMC performs the Wrestlemania Rap. This thing goes on and on and on.

Tag Titles: Mr. Fuji and Powers of Pain vs. Demolition

Storyline on this: Demolition was by far and away the most dominant tag team the late 80s had ever seen. They held the titles for about a year and a half which is still the longest amount of time ever. They were brought in as heels around Wrestlemania 3 and won the belts at Wrestlemania 4. Sometime between 3 and 4, they got Mr. Fuji as a manager.

Over the course of the summer, the fans realized how truly awesmoe Demolition was and they began to cheer them. Around the same time, the Powers of Pain, comprised of the Warlord and the Barbarian debuted as faces. The problem was more people liked Demolition than the PoP. So what was the solution you ask? The answer was the incredibly difficult and even rarer double turn.

At the 1988 Survivor Series, the teams had been feuding over the tag belts and were captains of their respective Survivor Series teams. Late in the match, Fuji pulled the top rope down and Smash fell over the ropes and landed on the floor. Ax got in Fuji’s face about it and Fuji answered with I’m The Boss! Demolition beat up Fuji and were counted out. The Powers of Pain helped him up and soon thereafter he was their manager.

So all of that leads us here to the showdown with Fuji and his team in a 3-2 match with Demolition for the tag titles. Fuji does what Heenan did last year with a shot here and a shot there, but at least with Fuji he had a very successful tagging career, including a reign that at the time was the longest in the history of the title. This match is what you would expect from it.

The formula is exactly what you would expect in a match like this. Demolition beats down the Powers, they beat them back, Fuji comes in and beats them up a bit, which is to say he kicks them twice, and then he runs away. This isn’t anything we haven’t seen a thousand times before and it’s not particularly entertaining. Naturally it gets about 9 minutes.

Demolition holds their own but eventually gets beaten up by all three, until Fuji makes a mistake. He misses an elbow from the top rope which is impressive in its own right, then eventually throws salt that was his trademark but misses. He’s then hit with the Demolition Decapitation, which might be the worst double team move of all time, and pinned.

Rating: C-. I liked this match but then again I like Demolition. Fuji actually knew how to wrestle and was only in his early 50s at the time so he still could go in the ring to an extent. Demolition is a simple team at heart: beat the tar out of their opponents. That’s hard to mess up and they did it as well as any team ever did. The lack of drama hurts it a good deal though and it shows.

Tony Schiavone tries to talk to Macho Man but gets thrown out.

Ronny Garvin vs. Dino Bravo

Umm, ok? What the point to this match is I have no idea, but after the introductions, Jimmy Snuka is introduced to the crowd for some reason. Literally, they announce Bravo and Garvin, and then the Fink says there is a special guest tonight. Snuka comes out in full apparel and to his music and gets in the ring and poses. He has absolutely nothing to do with this match and isn’t seen again all night.

Anyway onto the match. I have never liked Ronny Garvin. The man just absolutely bores me to tears in the ring. How he became the NWA Champion and even defended it at Starrcade 87 is beyond me. Bravo was ok in the ring but just never really did it for me either. As I say that, Garvin puts on a sleeper which is perfect because I’m falling asleep watching this.

In a strange ending (Thank God) Garvin is up in the corner punching Bravo but gets caught with an atomic drop and is side suplexed to pin him. Garvin gets up and hits Bravo and then uses what has to be the stupidest finisher of all time on Bravo’s manager, the Garvin Stomp. Randy Orton I believe has used this recently. He starts at the arm and goes around the body stomping the opponent. Just looks bad.

Rating: F. I was bored to tears and don’t like either one. This is a biased rating and I could care less. This is a Ronnie Garvin match and therefore it sucks.

Strike Force vs. The Brainbusters

Strike Force (a breath of fresh air after that awful match that just aired) is teaming together for the first time in a long time. Martel was injured by Demolition and was gone for almost a year. In the time off, Santana wrestled in singles matches. Upon Martel’s return, he asked Tito to reform Strike Force which he eventually did. This is their first match back against Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. After this match, the Busters would go on to feud with Demolition over the tag belts.

It sounds wrong to hear Gorilla talking about a Horsemen match and calling them a couple of really tough dudes. Jesse and Gorilla bickering is always funny. it says a lot when Martel is by far the worst technician in a match. Big brawl to start and surprisingly Strike Force wins it.

Martel gets a very nice counter from a body scissors into the Boston Crab. That was impressive. Everything breaks down and Strike Force gets a pair of Figure Fours which has to be at least a mini-rib on the Horsemen.

And now we get the meat of the match as Tito accidentally drills Martel with his flying forearm and down he goes onto the floor. After about a minute Martel gets back up but he’s all shaken up. The Busters work the referee and the tag rules like the masters that they are.

Santana keeps trying to come back and finally does by slamming Arn off the top. Yeah that has to be a rib. Tito finally gets away and goes for the tag but Martel won’t tag and then leaves, heading to the dressing room.

Arn yells at Santana WHERE’S YOUR PARTNER to just be a jerk. The ramp/aisle is really long here so it takes Martel like two minutes to get back. Tito fights back as well as he can but he’s outnumbered and after a few minutes the spike piledriver ends it.

Rating: B-. Half tag and half handicap so it’s unique if nothing else. I always liked both teams and I like what I see here. The post match promo is solid too so it gets a good grade. Very interesting here as this obviously causes the split between the two. They would feud on and off for nearly two years after this with neither one really winning the feud. What’s forgotten in this is the Brainbusters. They are their usually great selves and but on a solid match.

Martel blames Tito and says it was Tito’s idea to reform the team and all that jazz. This is his heel turn if you didn’t get that. He wouldn’t be a face again for like 8 years until he was in WCW.

Piper’s Pit

This gets one of the biggest pops of the nights. One of the funniest lines I’ve heard in a long time from the Fink: I am pleased to introduce to you a man who needs no introduction. We get a really long intro for Piper and out comes the man that creeped me out more than anyone else as a kid: Brother Love.

Seriously, the guy had a red face. That’s just incredibly scary looking to a two year old. Throw in his voice and it’s just scary. His character was based on high energy Christian televangelists such as Jimmy Swaggert. You all might know him better as Bruce Pritchard who was a creative team member until a few months ago.

Love then says his guest on the Brother Love show is Rodney Piper. He then imitates Piper in something that is either dead on or awful and I can’t tell which. He asks questions as Love and takes his glasses off and changes chairs to be Piper. Then out comes the guest, Morton Downey Jr.

This show aired nearly 20 years ago and until I looked him up just seconds ago, I had no freaking clue who this guy was and I’ve seen this PPV at least 30 times. Turns out he was a talk show host that was the inspiration for Springer, Maury etc. His show was viewed as amazingly Right Wing based and he would often berate anyone that disagreed with him. He was later replaced by Rush Limbaugh.

Anyway, Downey is smoking a cigarette which Gorilla refers to as weed. This made my jaw drop. Gorilla said he was puffing on weed. Gorilla Monsoon isn’t supposed to talk about weed blast it! Downey trash talks with Brother Love until they’re interrupted by the Fink who says Piper really is here. Out comes Piper for his first WWF appearance in 2 years.

Piper talks down to Love because of the kilt that Love is wearing. He asks him questions but keeps pulling the mic away saying he doesn’t want to know that badly. I’d forgotten how funny Piper was in his prime. He turns his attention to Downey who is still smoking and keeps blowing smoke into Piper’s face which Piper doesn’t approve of. Downey keeps using the standard insults.

My favorite line: Piper mentions that Downey used to have warts all over his face. Piper: What did you with the warts? Downey: I gave them to a homeless warthog. Piper: (without missing a beat) I didn’t know your girlfriend was homeless. Downey calls Piper is a transvestite before blowing more smoke in his face.

Piper asks for a cig for himself. Downey turns to light it and for no reason at all, Piper has a fire extinguisher under his chair. In probably his second most famous bit after the coconut, Piper sprays him down and leaves.

About as appropriately as possible, Downey would die of lung cancer in 2001.

BREAKING NEWS-Hulk Hogan is making a movie! It’s called No Holds Barred. That movie truly was nine kinds of awesome.

Sean Mooney is talking to Donald Trump. Apparently WM 4 and 5 have been successes.

Jesse is TICKED OFF. Hogan is invading his territory because after he loses to Macho he needs a job. Jesse says he can drive his limo and storms off. Gorilla plugs the movie again and recaps the show so far. We get a video recapping the Mega Powers rise to glory and their split.

Hogan says he can’t believe how this all came about in just a year. He goes into another of his insane promos about everyone being swallowed up by the Earth when the Trump Towers fall apart. Makes little if any sense. Then he talks about winning the title.

Andre the Giant vs. Jake Roberts

Big John Studd is the referee here for no apparent reason. He comes out to what would become Jim Duggan’s music oddly enough. No real reason is given as to why he’s the referee here. Andre is back with Heenan. The point of this match is Andre is terrified of snakes.

This resulted in a scene on television where Andre had a “heart attack” when Jake put the snake on him, yet he’s wrestling again just a few months later. Remarkable. Around this time, Jake was insanely popular, arguably the third biggest face in the company after only Hogan and Warrior.

Somehow before the match starts one of the turnbuckle pads is off and Roberts gets slammed into it. Gorilla says that Jake is like David against Goliath and Jesse says David had to use a foreign object to beat him which makes me want to write the Bible from a wrestling perspective one day. In a funny bit Andre chokes Jake in the corner and Studd goes to count Andre and you literally can’t see Jake other than his feet. Jake stood 6’5.

It’s your standard Andree match from this era. He just could not move to save his life at this point and was a complete shell of his former self. They do the tied up in the ropes spot and Andre is reeling. More pain and punishment goes in until Heenan gets the arm loose and here comes your unfriendly and not likely from your neighborhood Giant.

Something happens in this match that I’ve never been sure of. Andre is throwing shoulders to Jake’s ribs in the corner and falls backwards and down to one knee. He doesn’t hit his head on anything that I can see. Always thought that was just odd. Andre and Studd finally fight while DiBiase of all people runs out and steals the bag with the snake in it. Roberts catches him and throws the snake in the ring to get rid of Andre. Jake wins via DQ.

Rating: D. This is just a strange combination. Andre just didn’t mesh well with most because he was too big. Roberts tried his best but it didn’t go that well. Studd served no real purpose here at all either. They tried but it didn’t work that well.

Sherri will get the title back apparently and doesn’t like Liz at all.

Rhythm and Blues vs. The Hart Foundation

The newly face Harts face off with their old manager’s new team of Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine. To me this was just before Bret’s prime. He’s so smooth in the ring that I’m gaining a new respect for him. The announcers refer to Pat Patterson as a relic. That’s just amusing.

This is the most basic of basic tag matches I can remember in a long time. I mean NOTHING happens here. The faces start in control, the heels take over and dominate for a bit, then we get a hot tag and the finish begins.

Honky hits the Shake Rattle and Roll on Bret but he tags in Hammer for the figure four which clearly is a mistake. Back and forth and Jimmy tosses in the Megaphone which is intercepted. After a solid shot to Honky’s shoulder Neidhart pins him.

Rating: D+. Bret makes this one pretty good for a glorified squash. This went nowhere at all and it’s MORE FILLER. We’ve had ONE match break ten minutes tonight: the Beefcake match got up to 10:01. That’s saying a lot. Just another match that went absolutely nowhere at all.

We get a recap of the Warrior/Rude feud. It involves a posedown and a lot of talking.

Intercontinental Title: Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior

The idea of this is the two competed for who had the best body. They had a pose off at the Royal Rumble and Rude attacked the Warrior with a steel exercise bar. Not much of a story but this was the second biggest match on the card.

For some reason that God alone knows, these two had freaks chemistry together. It’s rare to ever see a bad match between them. I have no idea why this is the case but that’s how it always was with them. To have one of the worst workers ever and another who’s character was great but in the ring wasn’t great but wasn’t bad either be able to put on such solid matches really is a strange thing.

Warrior beats the tar out of Rude early on. This is a solid beating and Rude sells it like there’s no tomorrow. Warrior works the back with some very powerful whip ins and a BIG bearhug. It looks like it’s going to be a quick little match but a piledriver slows Warrior down and it’s Rude in control.

Rude’s back is injured but he stays in the game as long as he can. Rude beats on him for nearly four or five minutes as he becomes one of the only people to actually beat down the Warrior and have success at it.

And so much for that as Warrior makes his comeback but as he’s trying to suplex Rude back in Heenan hooks his leg and holds it for the pin and the huge upset. Heenan gets beaten up by Warrior afterwards and because Warrior was so bad in the ring he legitimately hurt Bobby in this.

Rating: B. While not the best workers and a weak story, they again manage to put on a good match. I didn’t give it the description it deserves but that’s really all there was to it. Very well done though. The freaky chemistry these two had continue and I have never gotten it at all.

Jim Duggan vs. Bad News Brown

This is the epitome of a filler. Nothing of note happens here at all as it’s a brawl that the announcers don’t care about at all. It’s about 3 minutes long and ends in a chair vs. 2×4 duel that Duggan wins.

Rating: F. No one cared and they knew it.

Red Rooster vs. Bobby Heenan

Backstory: Rooster, who has what to me is the worst gimmick of all time, (he literally acted like a rooster, complete with going cock-a-doodle-doo and strutting like one. He passed up the Mr. Perfect gimmick and got this instead) used to work for Heenan but Heenan said he wasn’t that good. This is the Rooster trying to get revenge.

Heenan comes out with the Brooklyn Brawler. This match literally doesn’t last a minute. Heenan jumps the Rooster and whips him into the corner. Rooster gets out of the way and Heenan hits the post and is covered for the pin. Brawler comes in and beats up Rooster who fights back and wins. Wow.

Rating: N/A. This was a total waste of time. But hey, the Brooklyn Brawler got PPV time!

We recap the WWF Title match. Hogan helped Savage win it a year ago and then more or less stole the spotlight for the next year. Liz got involved and Savage thought she was sleeping with Hogan. He went off on him on February 3 (I was turning 1) and turned heel, setting this up.

Hogan says Savage went crazy. That’s just amusing. This is the promo where Hogan absolutely loses his mind and goes on a rant about the building being swallowed up by the Earth or something and Donald Trump being worried about falling into the ocean.

WWF Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage

They were trying to make this the second coming of Hogan/Andre but there was far less mystery of who was going to win. Liz is at ringside as an independent observer and she actually does just that: nothing. This match has the big match feel to it but looking back it was obvious which way it was going. Savage comes out first if that tells you anything.

Liz gets her own entrance and Jesse says she’ll leave with whoever wins. Gorilla says that sounds smart to him. To say this match is huge is a dramatic understatement. Jesse: this is what the term main event is used for. This is the main event. He’s absolutely right too as this drew INSANE money as they had built up the mega match between these two forever.

Hogan shoves Savage with ease and there he goes. The announcers argue about managers which is kind of funny. Savage keeps running in fear from Hogan and it’s basic stuff so far. He throws Liz in front of a Hogan punch but Hulk stops in time.

There’s Hogan’s wrestling quota for the year as he uses a four move combination to break down Savage and get a front facelock. Savage overpowers him in a surprise by backdropping him. Savage takes over a bit by getting a top rope double axe in. The champion works the arm for some reason. LONG sequence with the arm and then a headlock as we fill in time.

Hogan gets an atomic drop to counter but misses an elbow drop. Hogan’s eye was cut earlier on and it gets rammed into the buckle to open it up even worse. Savage slaps him and here comes Hulk. He slams Savage to the floor and Liz helps him up. They fight on the floor and Hogan gets rammed into the post.

Now Liz helps Hogan up. I guess she wants a double team later on. Hebner, the cock blocker that he is, throws Liz out. Savage hits the double axe off the top to send Hogan’s throat into the railing. Steamboat was out for three months because of that. It doesn’t even get two on Hogan. Savage slams him and there’s the big elbow. Hogan shoves him off, three punches, big boot, big leg, you know the drill I think. Lots of posing ends the show.

Rating: C+. Well it’s not bad, but the problem here is that it is completely underwhelming. This was supposed to be the biggest match ever and it’s just pretty standard fort he most part. Hogan wins the title again and shrugs off Savage’s best move. Not a fan of that at all but it’s the 80s so what are you going to do?

Overall Rating: D+. This is the first of the second era of Wrestlemanias that follows the now traditional Wrestlemania formula. There’s some ok stuff on here and it probably has the oddestok card yet. Pretty much every big star is here, the titles have good matches, the midcard matches are bad, and you have the WM main event.

This show also has the first instance of setting the stage for the future. 1989 was the first year of the big four PPVs so there were other feuds that would be needing to be closed at big shows. Feuds like Hogan and Perfect which sparked Hogan and Warrior, Roberts against DiBiase, and the continuation of Warrior and Rude which led to Warrior against the Heenan Family all spawned from this.

You could arguably call this the first standard Wrestlemania, and I would just barely give it that name over WM 3. Overall this is pretty weak show and the problem with it is mainly the match lengths. TWO matches broke ten minutes and one went past 10:01. I used to really like this one but it doesn’t hold up at all. Pretty bad show but it’s watchable I suppose. That’s about it.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

Smackdown
Date: March 6, 2020
Location: Keybank Center, Buffalo, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the go home show for the Elimination Chamber and we have the two Chamber matches set up. One of them will be a tag team edition, so this week we get to see the six teams fight in another form of an elimination match. This time it’s a gauntlet match with the winners getting to enter the Chamber last. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of John Cena’s return last week, with the Fiend appearing to set up their Wrestlemania match.

Opening sequence.

Here are Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross in the ring to talk about the Hall of Fame. We hear about this year’s class and, after calling out the Kabuki Warriors for a Women’s Tag Team Title match, bring out the NWO (Sean Waltman, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall this time) for a chat. Nikki says that she’s been a big NWO fan for life and takes a picture with the three of them. Bliss what they should call Waltman, who says “Hall of Famer”.

We get around to Nash ending Goldberg’s winning streak and Nash talks about talking to Roman Reigns. Nash told Roman that he needs Scott Hall and a cattle prod to defeat Goldberg. Hall: “That was a shocking finish.” Cue Sami Zayn, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura in an interruption I didn’t expect. Sami says 1997 was a great time but it’s time for the future. We get some praise for Hall and Nash as former Intercontinental Champions. Sami: “And Sean Waltman….you know exactly how much the Intercontinental Title weighs because you carried their bags for years.”

Waltman is ready to fight but Nash says Sami looks like Seth Rogen after two weeks of stomach flu. The fight is teased and the fans are WAY into this. Sami backs off though, saying their objective is to destroy Braun Strowman at Elimination Chamber. Cue Strowman so Cesaro goes after him, only to be thrown into the set. Nakamura gets dropped as well and it’s Sami being caught between Strowman and the NWO. Sami hides behind Alexa (oh yeah the women are here) and bails so Strowman throws a chair and promises violence on Sunday. It’ll even be too sweet.

The NWO looked like stars, the women were there because someone had to set this up and the modern guys looked like they were trying to be on the legends’ level. They were trying, but it wasn’t clicking in the way they were shooting for. Usually I don’t find that to be the case but it certainly felt like it here.

Sasha Banks/Bayley vs. Naomi/Lacey Evans

Rematch from last week. Bayley and Sasha take Lacey into the corner to start and the stomping is on in a hurry. Naomi gets pulled off the apron and send into the barricade as we take a break just over a minute in. Back with Bayley working on Evans’ leg and the feed being interrupted for the circle of lights that has been popping up in recent weeks.

Evans gets over for the tag to Naomi as house is cleaned in a hurry. Back in and Naomi kicks Banks in the head, followed by a bulldog into the middle buckle. Bayley has to break up a sunset flip at two but the split legged moonsault is broken up. Banks gives Naomi two knees in the corner for the pin at 7:07.

Rating: D+. They almost have to be setting up Banks vs. Bayley for the title at Wrestlemania, as it’s not like there’s anything else going on. Either that or some big multi-woman match that they certainly seem to love doing. The match wasn’t anything to see, but maybe that’s because they did it last week.

New Day talks about trying to recreate Kofimania, but this isn’t Polk High and Kofi isn’t Al Bundy. They can go all night long like a moose in mating season, with Big E. hitting on Kayla Braxton before breaking into New Day Rocks.

Bayley and Banks are so awesome and can’t believe the Bellas are getting into the Hall of Fame before them. No one can touch them from the past, present and future and Bayley might even skip Wrestlemania and go straight to the Hall of Fame.

In one of those perfectly natural segments that you see on WWE TV, Shorty G. tells Apollo Crews that he has his back. Crews isn’t interested.

Sheamus vs. Apollo Crews

Crews gets sent to the apron to start but manages to snap Sheamus’ throat across the top. A high crossbody into the standing moonsault gives Crews two but Sheamus drives him into the corner. The Brogue Kick gives Sheamus the pin at 1:07.

Drake Maverick returns from whatever hole he fell into to ask Drew Gulak for a match against Daniel Bryan. Gulak says he knows all 163 of Bryan’s weaknesses but here’s Bryan to interrupt. If Gulak is so confident, how about he come fight Bryan on Sunday?

Dolph Ziggler is here with Mandy and Sonya. Mandy drives Carmella into the corner to start but Carmella reverses and shuffles away. Sonya comes in and runs Carmella over but Dana comes in to dropkick Sonya in the hand. A blind tag brings Mandy in though and a running knee finishes Dana at 2:55. Just a way to get Mandy, Sonya and Ziggler on TV.

We look at Cena vs. Fiend being set up again.

It’s time for the Firefly Fun House with a wall full of John Cena pictures. Bray Wyatt calls it magnifico and thinks the fans must be asking why Cena. Ramblin Rabbit pops in to say it’s because Cena beat him six years ago at Wrestlemania, sending Bray into a depression and starting his downward spiral of negativity. Bray, sounding a bit nervous: “Yeah Yowie Wowie.” Bray says there would be no Firefly Fun House without Cena. He forgives Cena, but a being built on pain and fueled by vengeance is waiting at Wrestlemania. That being is not so forgiving and around and around we go. Let him in.

Video on Roman Reigns vs. Goldberg.

King Corbin interrupts a question because he doesn’t want to hear about Roman Reigns. Elias interrupts with some guitar, much to Corbin’s annoyance. Corbin calls Elias a gimmick and says shut up or answer to the king.

Heavy Machinery is getting ready for the gauntlet match but Otis walks over to Mandy, who was all of three feet away. Otis talks about getting a text from her on Valentine’s Day but Mandy says it’s too late because a woman doesn’t like being stood up.

This week in WWE History: Occupy Raw in 2014.

Tag Team Gauntlet Match

Non-title with six teams and the winners enter the Elimination Chamber last. New Day is in at #1 and Heavy Machinery is in at #2 with Tucker shouldering the rather popular Kofi down to start. They both try dropkicks but it’s a standoff, meaning Big E. and Otis come in. A battle of the shoulders goes to Otis and stereo delayed vertical suplexes put New Day on the floor. Otis clotheslines them both and we take a break. Back with Big E. getting over for a tag to Kofi so the pace can pick up. Kofi gets launched over the top onto Tucker, who suplexes him down HARD. A dropkick cuts off a charging Big E. and it’s the Compactor for the clean pin at 8:20.

The Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado/Gran Metalik) is in at #3 and start the high flying, including a springboard crossbody to Tucker. That doesn’t seem to matter though as he takes Dorado down in an armbar. Dorado gets Tucker into the corner but the hot tag brings Otis in a few seconds later. Otis starts shrugging off the chops and strikes with the power of jiggling. Everything breaks down and the House Party hits stereo springboard dives as we take a break.

Back with Tucker putting Dorado in a quickly escaped half crab. Otis bearhugs him instead but the Golden Rewind puts Otis down to one knee. Tucker and Metalik come back in with Metalik hitting a reverse Sling Blade. The rope walk dropkick puts Tucker down and the chinlock goes on. An enziguri into a good looking top rope splash gets two on Tucker, who is right back up with his own splash for two more. Otis splashes Dorado in the corner and hits the Caterpillar for the pin at 20:33.

The Usos are in at #4 and we’re joined in progress after another break with Jey armbarring Tucker. Jimmy kicks Otis off the apron but Tucker kicks Jimmy down as well. Jey superkicks Tucker for two….and gets rolled up to get rid of the Usos at 25:08. Miz and John Morrison are in at #5 and it’s a quick spinebuster/Flying Chuck combination for two on Tucker.

Post fall, Miz and Morrison destroy Otis and Tucker. We cut to Mandy watching Otis get beaten up when Dolph Ziggler comes up and says watch this. Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler are in at #6 as we take another break. Back with Roode chinlocking Tucker as Otis is still down on the floor. Tucker suplexes his way out of trouble but has to trade some kicks to the ribs with Ziggler. A dropkick puts Tucker down for two and a Stinger Splash into the neckbreaker is good for the same.

Rating: C-. Let me make sure I’ve got this straight: we just spent 40+ minutes completely recreating the Kofi Kingston gauntlet match from last year but with Heavy Machinery pinning the already weak Tag Team Champions and then losing to Dolph Ziggler in the end? The Kofi story worked because A, it was Kofi Kingston and B, it felt different. This was almost a copy of the same story and while the fans were getting into Otis, it was hard to believe that he would win in the end. Why? Dolph Ziggler was in the match, and Dolph Ziggler must squash any fun that can be had.

Overall Rating: D. I keep thinking that they couldn’t take my interest away from Elimination Chamber even more but then they do something like this and we’re at a new low. What headlines that show? The #1 contenders match as we count down to Shayna vs. Becky? The match we’ve known was coming for about a month now? It feels like they’re not trying and that is as frustrating as you can get with WWE. Just get the show out of the way as soon as possible so they can actually make an effort on the way to Wrestlemania. Please. They need it.

Results

Bayley/Sasha Banks b. Naomi/Lacey Evans – Double knees to Naomi

Sheamus b. Apollo Crews – Brogue Kick

Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler won a gauntlet match last eliminating Heavy Machinery

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

Believe it or not, they like these AEW and New Japan guys.

It’s that time of year again. Dave Meltzer and his minions have voted on their End of Year Awards for 2019 (which makes me feel better for only getting mine done the day after the Rumble). I’m sure there are going to be a lot of AEW/New Japan stuff in here and that’s fine enough. I’ll throw in a few thoughts on each but some of them aren’t going to have much need. I’ll so be skipping the MMA awards because they’re not wrestling and I still have no idea why they’re included here.

Wrestler of the Year – Chris Jericho

Jericho was a nominee for me so it’s far from out there. I’m not sure I could go with him as he only wrestled a dozen times last year, but he carried AEW on his back for the first three months of Dynamite so I can see where this would make sense.

Outstanding Wrestler of the Year – Will Ospreay

I’m still not sure why this needs to be two awards (I’ve had it explained to me every year, still don’t see the need) but Ospreay had a heck of a year and some outstanding matches so I can see this. There are a lot of people with some great matches this year so you could pick from a bunch here. Ospreay is fine enough though.

Tag Team Of The Year – Lucha Bros

That breaks a six year run for the Young Bucks and it should. The Bucks are good but the Bros are on another level every time they’re out there. WWE’s tag teams are nothing for the most part so it’s not like there was much competition. I went with Undisputed Era but I consider stables as well.

Best on Interviews – Chris Jericho

The only person in his league is Maxwell Jacob Friedman but Jericho’s stuff has had me cracking up multiple times. I can’t bring myself to argue against Jericho’s talking so no complaints here.

Promotion of the Year – New Japan Pro Wrestling

They had a down year but there isn’t anything that jumps off the page for this one. It kind of amazes me that WWE has won this award twice in the nearly forty years they’ve been running. I’m not saying they should win it, but you would think they would sneak in a win here or there.

Best Weekly TV Series – Dynamite

I couldn’t go with a show that was on the air for a fourth of the year. NXT was its usual self for most of the year and better than Dynamite most weeks, but you knew AEW was going to get some major accolades this year.

Match of the Year – Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi (Best of the Super Juniors)

Didn’t see the match so can’t comment on it, though I did hear great things.

US/Canadian MVP – Chris Jericho

Japan MVP – Kazuchika Okada

Mexico MVP – Rey Fenix

Europe MVP – Walter

Non-Heavyweight MVP – Will Ospreay

Women’s Wrestling MVP – Becky Lynch

I’m going with a collective “uh, sure” on these as I’m not sure how much need there was for individual MVP awards by continent and weight class. Lynch winning was as much of a layup as you can get, as it should be.

Best Box Office Draw – Chris Jericho

I’m assuming there are numbers to back this up so sure.

Feud of the Year – Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano

Same for me.

Most Improved of the Year – Lance Archer

I didn’t see much of him this year but I heard this over and over so fair enough.

Most Charismatic – Chris Jericho

One question: how in the world has he never won this before???

Best Technical Wrestling – Zack Sabre Jr.

Six in a row and like it could be anyone else.

Best Brawler – Tomohiro Ishii

Six years in a row as well.

Best High Flying Wrestling – Will Ospreay

Only four years in a row for him. Pick up the pace man.

Most Overrated – King Corbin

I’m torn here. On the one hand, yeah. On the other hand, anything involving Corbin receiving praise is too much for me.

Most Underrated – Shorty G

I think you can call this “Wrestler We Feel Most Sorry For” and it would apply just as well.

Rookie of the Year – Jungle Boy

Normally I would say I don’t know how you can be a rookie in 2019 when you started in 2018 but I gave it to Ricochet as newcomer of the year so I can’t complain much. And yeah Jungle Boy has been rather good.

Non-Wrestler of the Year – Paul Heyman

This is your safe default pick and I didn’t have anyone jump out in front so that’s fine.

Best Television Announcer – Kevin Kelly

It was him or Mauro Ranallo and I can see why Mauro isn’t the biggest favorite.

Worst Television Announcer – Corey Graves

It’s going to be whomever has the most Vince McMahonisms in their ear but Graves can get especially annoying in a hurry. As long a she doesn’t have Renee Young there to bicker with, things are at least looking up a bit.

Best Major Wrestling Show of the Year – Double Or Nothing

I’m not sure if Takeovers are eligible in this one (they very well may be) but I had Double Or Nothing nominated so it’s not a big stretch.

Worst Major Wrestling Show Of The Year – Super ShowDown

This was one of my three nominees but WOW that’s an upset over Hell in a Cell. My goodness I’m actually surprised by this one.

Best Wrestling Maneuver – Storm Breaker (Will Ospreay)

Really? I mean….it’s fine but…..really? There’s nothing better? Not a 630 or anything else?

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic – WWE’s Relationship With Saudi Arabia

Could it be anything else?

Worst Television Show – Monday Night Raw

Not only is it not even the worst WWE show, but am I really the only person who watches Ring of Honor? This feels like a bunch of people who don’t watch Raw voting for it as the worst show because they don’t watch it. It’s bad, but there are multiple worse shows out there.

Worst Match of the Year – Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend – Hell In A Cell

That’s going to be an all timer so it was going to run away with this one.

Worst Feud of the Year – Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend

Like it could have been anything else.

Worst Promotion of the Year – WWE

Ring of Honor was literally drawing a few hundred fans a year and had people falling asleep during a World Title match at a major show, with the year capped off by PCO winning the World Title. But yeah, it’s WWE, because WWE SUCKS AND IT ALWAYS WILL! Give me a break.

Best Booker of the Year – Gedo (New Japan)

They might as well name it after him anymore.

Promoter of the Year – Tony Khan (AEW)

Again: you might want to wait until they’re running for the full year before calling it the best thing around. But that’s not fair to AEW or something I’m assuming.

Best Gimmick – The Fiend

Like it could have been anything else.

Worst Gimmick – Shorty G

It takes something special to actually make me mad in wrestling and that’s what they did here. Easy win.

Best Pro Wrestling Book – 100 Things A WWE Fan Should Know Before They Die – Bryan Alvarez

I’m sure the author has nothing to do with this.

Best Pro Wrestling DVD/Streaming Documentary – Dark Side of the Ring

Given how much people have been drooling over the second season trailer, this was a pretty easy pick.

So yeah, not as many annoying ones but it was the AEW/New Japan love fest that you knew it would be. The Worst Promotion of the Year award though is rather ridiculous

NXT UK
Date: March 5, 2020
Location: York Barbican, York, England
Commentators: Aiden English, Tom Phillips

It’s time to get serious around here again with Walter defending the United Kingdom Title against Dave Mastiff. This might not be the most suspenseful title match in the world but they have done a good job of making Mastiff into a big deal where a win over him will mean a little something for Walter. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

The opening video looks at Walter vs. Mastiff, including Mastiff dropping the champ with one right hand because Walter’s power advantage won’t be here this time.

Opening sequence.

Travis Banks vs. Alexander Wolfe

Banks hits a running knee to the floor and a suicide dive takes Wolfe down in the first ten seconds. Back in and the Slice of Heaven is elbowed out of the air, allowing Wolfe to take his jacket off. A dropkick gives Wolfe two and we’re onto the chinlock to keep Banks in trouble. Banks fights up and dropkicks him into the corner, setting up a hard kick to the chest from the apron.

More kicks to the chest have Wolfe in trouble but he’s right back with a swinging suplex. Wolfe’s German suplex gets two more but Banks gets in his own suplex. They fight to the apron and Banks gets to the middle rope for a kick to the chest, knocking both of them outside. Wolfe is fine enough to hit a hanging DDT onto the floor for two back inside, followed by a sitout powerbomb for the pin at 9:00.

Rating: C+. Banks is a weird case as he never seems to get as high up as he should be going. I’m not sure what is slowing him down but it’s kind of disappointing to see someone like him not be able to get over the hump. Then there’s Wolfe, who is proving to be a bit more than the lower singles member of Imperium, which is a bit surprising.

Eddie Dennis talks about how he went from being a principal to a wrestler. He has a mathematics degree and it takes a certain intellect to manipulate the mind.

Video on the tag team division.

Ridge Holland vs. Saxon Huxley

Huxley pounds away in the corner but gets caught in an early suplex. Back to back Northern Grits finish Huxley at 1:18. Holland looked awesome.

Jordan Devlin says he’ll be back next week.

Aoife Valkyrie vs. Isla Dawn

They fight over a wristlock to start and Valkyrie gets a few near falls off some rollups. A monkey flip lets Valkyrie put her down for two and they go into the pinfall reversal sequence. Valkyrie misses the big kick though as Dawn drops into the splits. Dawn powers her into the corner to get out of something like a Kimura, setting up a Meteora for two. Valkyrie gets in a kick to the face though and the top rope ax kick is good for the pin at 4:30.

Rating: C-. This didn’t have much time and while Valkyrie continues to look dominant, she isn’t looking like a star most of the time. Maybe she needs some adjustments, but I haven’t seen the big moment from here that makes me think there’s something special there. Then again she has had a handful of matches around here so maybe she just needs some more time.

Ligero is annoyed that Noam Dar has been talking about him on social media. People need to come to him face to face and Dar will have the chance next week. Maybe it would help if you took the mask off dude.

United Kingdom Title: Walter vs. Dave Mastiff

Walter is defending and takes Mastiff into the corner, only to have the chop blocked. Mastiff gets two off a running crossbody and we hit the quickly broken chinlock. The sleeper doesn’t work on Mastiff so Walter kicks him in the face. A powerbomb doesn’t work either so Mastiff sits on his chest. Walter gets German suplexed into the corner but he cuts off the Into The Void attempt with a dropkick.

Another big boot has less effect as Mastiff is up for the big slugout, with Walter getting the better of things. The top rope splash misses though and Mastiff hits a rebound German suplex. A Regal Roll gets two and Into The Void connects for the same. Mastiff gets knocked off the top but is fine enough to hit a big forearm. Walter goes to the throat though and finally manages a powerbomb to retain at 7:59.

Rating: B. The ending wasn’t in doubt and that was cemented as soon as Into The Void got two but I have a great time with this. They didn’t both with anything more than having two big guys trade hard shots until one of them couldn’t get up. It wasn’t supposed to be some long, drawn out classic with a bunch of drama and they didn’t go anywhere near something like that.

Overall Rating: B-. Another good episode this week with the big main event (big for between Takeovers that is) and some other nice stuff underneath. Walter vs. Finn Balor is going to be awesome in Ireland though and a title change isn’t completely out of the question. You can see the card coming together from here and after the most recent Takeover around here, that’s rather appealing.

Results

Alexander Wolfe b. Travis Banks – Sitout powerbomb

Ridge Holland b. Saxon Huxley – Northern Grit

Aoife Valkyrie b. Isla Dawn – Top rope ax kick

Walter b. Dave Mastiff – Powerbomb

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

Fusion #99
Date: February 29, 2020
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: AJ Kirsch, Rich Bocchini

We’re off to a new taping cycle and that means some big things are in store. This time around that means we have the return of LA Park, who is teaming up with his son to face Contra. I know Park isn’t the biggest deal to a lot of fans but he has a strong reputation around here and that could help things. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Contra is ready to take things worldwide and tonight they’re conquering the Parks.

Opening sequence.

AJ Kirsch tries to bring Mance Warner to the ring but it’s the Dynasty (minus Maxwell Jacob Friedman) instead. Richard Holliday, with the Caribbean Title, says that Kirsch failed to entertain the fans but they need to be educated instead. Therefore, it’s time for Rich Talk, so Holliday makes it clear that the fans are breathing rarefied air. He puts over Alexander Hammerstone as the most dominant champion in MLW, allowing Hammerstone to call the fans fat.

Hammerstone brags about Gino Medina and says he’s ready to crush Konnan, who comes out to interrupt. Konnan talks about how great the fans are in Philadelphia before starting with the insults. He only offered Gino a spot because of Gino’s father so violence is threatened, only to have Mance Warner, Savio Vega and Logan Creed cut them off. Warner sees a problem in the Dynasty stepping to Konnan like this so let’s have a six man tag instead. The fight is on and ring the bell.

Savio Vega/Mance Warner/Logan Creed vs. Dynasty

Konnan is on commentary and it’s a big brawl to start. With everyone else on the floor, Creed chokes on Holliday, who manages to knock him down to one knee. Hammerstone and Medina take Holliday’s place but can’t beat him down. We settle down to Hammerstone and Creed starting things off, with Creed getting choked in the corner to slow him down for the first time. Hammerstone pulls him into the corner again so Medina can choke this time.

A heck of a release German suplex drops Creed but he pops back up with a clothesline. The hotish tag brings in Vega for the spinwheel kick but the Dynasty is back in to take over. Everything breaks down and Creed hits a double chokeslam on Hammerstone and Medina. Vega is sent into the post but Creed dives onto Medina and Hammerstone, with Warner being smart enough to step to the side. In the melee, Holliday hits Vega with the Caribbean Title and steals the pin at 5:59.

Rating: D+. I’m not sure what they were going for here as Warner would seem to be the one that they wanted to push, but this was far more about Creed than anyone else. It wasn’t much of a match either, but the Dynasty winning is fine, especially with Vega taking the fall. The Dynasty vs. Warner/Creed is good, though they’re going to need someone other than Vega if they want it to work.

Post match Konnan sneaks in and hits Medina with the slap jack. The losers and Konnan consume beer.

Post break Konnan is still in the ring but here’s Injustice to interrupt him. Jordan Oliver says it’s awesome that Konnan is almost as old as the building and you can see the dust falling off of his face. These people like Konnan but they like trash too so that doesn’t mean much. Konnan laughs it off and says Oliver would be traded around prison for some Cinnabons. Cue Brian Pillman Jr. with a chair to chase off Injustice.

Injustice vs. Zenshi/Laredo Kid

Pillman is on commentary and it’s Oliver/Kotto Brazil for Injustice with Myron Reed at ringside. Hold on though as Injustice has to undergo an extensive check for weapons. Kid and Zenshi jump them to start with Zenshi and Oliver officially starting. Oliver gets launched over the top so Zenshi can dive onto both Oliver and Myron Reed. Back in and Kid hits a Michinoku Driver for two but Reed pulls Kid down for a crotching against the post. Kid gets taken into the corner and sent head first into the middle buckle.

A German suplex out of the corner gets two but Kid pops Oliver upside the head so Zenshi can come in with a backflip kick to Brazil’s head. Kotto is right back with a Code Red out of the corner with Zenshi having to make a save. Zenshi tornado DDTs Oliver to the floor but Brazil is right back with a baseball slide to Zenshi’s face. Back in and a slingshot Stunner sets up a crucifix bomb to finish Kid at 6:38 (with a double pin, which the referee doesn’t mind).

Rating: C+. It was rather fast paced throughout and that’s what you want out of something like this. Jordan is one of the most unintentionally entertaining performers outside of the ring but he can back it up in the ring. They didn’t bother with anything but flying around the ring like crazy here and that’s what they should have done.

Post match Injustice goes after Pillman but Kid and Zenshi get up for the save without Pillman having to do a thing. Kid even counts the pin on Reed and holds up the title.

Tom Lawlor and Team Filthy can’t believe that people in Texas are so annoyed at the Texas flag being used in various ways. They don’t like anything Texas related, including Texas toast or Walker Texas Ranger. If the Von Erichs love Texas so much, why do they have Hawaii on their trunks? Lawlor agrees that Erick Stevens is a mercenary but they have formed a bond. The Von Erichs are more hat than cattle so Team Filthy is taking them out.

Video on LA Park vs. Jacob Fatu from Superfight.

Killer Kross is still coming. The interesting thing at this point is which promotion he debuts for first.

Injustice isn’t happy with Pillman interfering when he can’t even make 205 Live. Reed: “You’re fat bro.” They have their own crazy white boy and they’ll be watching Pillman vs. Jimmy Havoc next week.

Jimmy Havoc is ready to give Pillman a lethal dose of acid rain.

The Von Erichs swear revenge against Team Filthy.

Intimidation Games is coming, with AAA’s Pagano making his debut.

King Mo doesn’t like Low Ki.

Los Parks vs. Contra Unit

Lumberjack match and it’s Simon Gotch/Josef Samael for Contra. The Parks do their chair dance but Contra jumps them from behind to start. Some chair shots to the back keep the Parks down and it’s time to choke in the corner. The Parks are back with a double dropkick to the floor so the lumberjacks can blow off some steam. Back in and the Parks use the chairs to take over but Samael and Park clothesline each other down. Hijo tells Gotch to hit him so the slugout is on.

A hurricanrana puts Gotch into the corner and it’s a charge from Park. That lets Hijo swivel his hips a bit but Samael pulls out the spike to stab Hijo down. Now they bother to settle down to a regular tag match with Samael stomping at Hijo and yelling at Park. Hijo is sent outside and this time the lumberjacks just throw him back inside. A Backstabber gets Hijo out of trouble and the hot tag brings in Park to beat up both of them. The spear hits Samael and Hijo gets Gotch’s spike. Gotch is knocked cold and Hijo moonsaults onto the lumberjacks, leaving Park to flip dive onto Gotch for the pin at 9:04.

Rating: C. The lumberjacks didn’t change much here and that’s always a possibility in a match like this. The Parks still don’t keep my attention most of the time but they kept it short and chaotic enough to make it better. It’s fine to have them back, but they’re not exactly a thrilling team in the first place.

Overall Rating: C+. They’re setting up some things for the future and I’m looking forward to seeing what that is going to mean in the future. The wrestling was hit and miss here and as can be the case, that’s not the most important thing on an MLW show. I’m curious to see where things go from here and Intimidation Games could be good, depending on what they put together for it.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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