I never thought I’d see the day but that’s very impressive. No this doesn’t change everything in Saudi Arabia but it’s cool to see WWE actually make something like this happen. I have no idea if Lacey Evans and Natalya will have any form of restrictions, but they’re on the show and that’s something.
IMG Credit: WWE
Survivor Series 1993
Date: November 24, 1993
Location: Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Attendance: 15,509
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan
Team IRS vs. Team Razor Ramon
IRS, Adam Bomb, Diesel, Rick Martel
Razor Ramon, 1-2-3 Kid, Marty Jannetty, Mr. Perfect
Heenan apparently called Perfect no showing this and Vince says Heenan was right for once. Bobby: “FOR ONCE???” Ramon and Martel start things off with Rick working on the arm. They fight for the arm and hit the mat for a bit before popping back up. Razor slaps him in the face and rolls through a cross body for two. Martel gets caught in the fall away slam (BIG pop for that) for two.
Razor hits a pair of atomic drops and a clothesline for two. Off to Adam Bomb who shoves Ramon into the corner with ease. They collide and Razor is knocked down in a bit of a surprise. They have a test of strength with Bomb controlling again before Ramon fights up and suplexes Bomb down.
Jannetty and Kid celebrate with Ramon. Savage is off chasing Crush.
Hart Family vs. Shawn Michaels/Knights
Bret Hart, Keith Hart, Bruce Hart, Owen Hart
Shawn Michaels, Blue Knight, Black Knight, Red Knight
Blue stays on the arm including dropping a leg, followed by a hammerlock slam. Off to Shawn who misses a Rocket Launcher, allowing the tag to Bret, prompting Shawn to tag out to Red. Red immediately gets caught in a spinebuster and the Sharpshooter to make it 4-2. Blue comes in to clothesline Bret and both he and Keith are now hurt. Bret is thrown back in and suplexed down for two.
Bruce comes in and drops an elbow on Shawn for two. Bret is still getting up after the crash he took into the barricade. Bruce and Shawn hit head to head twice in a row to really stretch this thing out. Keith comes in with an abdominal stretch (including the toe around the ankle) but Shawn hip tosses out of it with ease. Back to Bret who pounds away and crotches Shawn on the top rope. Bret picks the leg but Shawn escapes the Sharpshooter and walks out for the countout.
Smokey Mountain Wrestling Tag Titles: Heavenly Bodies vs. Rock N Roll Express
Team Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Four Doinks
Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger, Headshrinkers
Bushwhackers, Men on a Mission
As Bigelow is leaving, Doink (whose performer has recently changed) pops up on screen to laugh at Bam Bam. The next step in this feud: a midget named Dink of course.
Before the match, we get a history lesson about Boston. No seriously, this happens. Thankfully it turns into some promos from the All Americans.
Foreign Fanatics vs. All Americans
Foreign Fanatics: Yokozuna, Crush, Ludvig Borga, Jacques
All Americans: Lex Luger, Undertaker, Steiner Brothers
Ludvig pounds on the ribs and whips Scott in the corner so he can clothesline Steiner down. Borga goes up top but gets suplexed back down for two. Yokozuna comes in and pounds away, but Scott gets in some offense. He tries the freaking Frankensteiner which goes about as well as you would expect it to, resulting in a legdrop from Yokozuna eliminating Scott to get us down to two on two.
Santa comes out to celebrate with Luger just like last year.
Ratings Comparison
Team Razor Ramon vs. Team IRS
Original: B
Redo: B
Hart Family vs. Team Shawn Michaels
Original: D+
Redo: D
Rock N Roll Express vs. Heavenly Bodies
Original: B
Redo: B-
Four Doinks vs. Team Bam Bam Bigelow
Original: N/A
Redo: Awe
All-Americans vs. Foreign Fanatics
Original: C-
Redo: D+
Overall Rating:
Original: C+
Redo: D
It was almost the same until the overall rating. I don’t get how it jumps up that high off just a few better grades.
Here’s the original review if you’re interested:
http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/11/12/history-of-survivor-series-count-up-1993-usa-usa-usa/
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:
IMG Credit: WWE
Survivor Series 1993
Date: November 24, 1993
Location: Boston Gardens, Boston, Massachusetts
Attendance: 15,509
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan
So it’s a year later now and there are indeed a few changes. For one thing, Hogan is completely gone. He would appear in WCW in a few months time. Other than that, the evil Yokozuna is now world champion with Lex Luger being his main adversary. That’s your main event here tonight, as it’s the Foreign Fanatics vs. the All Americans. It’s a five match card that I remember very fondly for some reason.
There are some very good moments here along with some rather stupid ones. It’s an odd time for the company as they’re definitely in a transitional period here, with Yoko and Luger being the two main guys and Bret not far behind them. None of those three are incredibly huge stars at the moment, so this is a weird time for them. We’re back to the traditional Survivor Series formula though, so this should be a bit better than what we had in the very early 90s I guess. Let’s find out.
Before we get the standard intro, we see Vince and Bobby getting ready backstage. Vince says he smells bananas, which scares Bobby because it means Monsoon is around. He and Ross are doing Radio WWF tonight, which is either brilliant or very stupid and I’m not sure which. This would be Bobby’s last PPV before heading to WCW as well. The intro was an odd one with the skeleton of a building and the logo hanging from a crane. I have no idea what this was supposed to be.
Team IRS vs. Team Razor
Razor Ramon, Marty Jannetty, 1-2-3 Kid, Mr. Perfect
IRS, Adam Bomb, Diesel, Rick Martel
So the fourth man was supposed to be Mr. Perfect, but for some reason he’s gone. There are numerous reasons as to why he’s gone, but we’re not sure either way. Some say he was in rehab, some say he left due to steroid issues, some say he was hurt. We’re not sure either way, but he wouldn’t be seen again until Wrestlemania where he was supposed to start a feud with Luger, but he was gone after one appearance.
Anyway, Ramon says he has a substitute that has as much machismo as he does. Heenan says it’s some other punk, but as the music hits Heenan freaks out since it’s Randy Savage. The deal with Savage was that his friend Crush had gotten hurt by Yoko so he turned heel on Savage and beat the living heck out of him. Savage was TICKED and would do anything to get at Crush.
They would eventually have a last man standing match (kind of) at Mania. Crush was supposed to get a massive singles push but for some reason it never came. In the end that was a good thing because he was arrested and went to jail for a few years on weapons charges. Apparently Heenan called this sometime before and Vince says ok, ok you were right for once. FOR ONCE? Dag Heenan was great.
Oh yeah why are these people in this match. Shawn Michaels had been IC Champion but was suspended for failing a steroids test (which he to this day denies). To fill the void we had a battle royal with the last two people in it having a match and the winner of that won the IC belt.
Razor and Martel were your winners and then Razor won the title. Shawn kept his belt though so there were two belts. They were hung above the ring at Wrestlemania 10. You know the rest. As for the other guys, there’s no point to them being there. IRS and Razor had a mini feud that was blown off at the Rumble but that’s it.
Anyway, we start with Razor and Martel and Razor beats the tar out of him. Are you surprised? He tags out to Adam Bomb who I was always a mark for. He and Crush would later become Kronik in WCW. They do a test of strength and since he’s a heel, Bomb cheats. Oddly the bad guy is the face here. Anyway, Razor goes for a cover on Bomb but Martel runs in for a save with an elbow.
It hits Bomb and Harvey is kind of annoyed, so Martel hits him. Now we’ve got a big team brawl and for once, the faces let them fight. I’ve never gotten why they didn’t do that more often. When another team is fighting, why not let them do it and get a breather? Savage, being the only true big star on his team at that point, gets on the ropes and plays to the crowd here. And that is why Savage is better than anyone else in this match and better than most in history.
Old guys know how to get things done like that. See, today, most people have a chance like this and they just stand there. Savage, already getting hugs pops no matter what he does, plays to the crowd to try to get a bigger one. That sticks in people’s heads.
Instead of just sitting around doing nothing, he’s talking to the crowd, and there is nothing a crowd loves more than being acknowledged and being considered a small part of the match. It makes them feel special and the more a wrestler does that for them, the bigger star they’ll become.
Anyway, even Heenan acknowledges that this team might not work. Oh great it’s the 1-2-3 Kid against Adam Bomb. He might kill him. GO BOMB! Now Diesel gets to beat on him a bit. I’ve always liked Diesel. Savage gets tagged in to a huge pop. Heenan dubs him Captain Schizo. That’s just humorous. He beats up the heel team by himself, capping it off by slamming Diesel and hitting the elbow to pin him for the first elimination.
Vince says that this match has been confusing. Why is that? It’s been very simple to me at least. In a weird sequence, Savage uses a bunch of left handed clotheslines. That just looked odd. Heenan asks if Vince has ever cheated anybody. Vince says of course not. That needs no jokes whatsoever. At this point, Marty still hasn’t been in yet. Must be a bad coke attack or something. IRS and Martel switch while the referee is with Savage. Of course it is allowed.
Heenan asks if Vince wants to be WWF President. Why take the second best job? This has been pretty solid so far. As Savage is beating the tar out of IRS, Crush comes out. Savage hits the floor immediately and goes after him. While he’s distracted, IRS rolls up Savage to pin him. Crush leaves and Savage chases him off. He goes into the back and we stay with Savage for THIRTY SECONDS.
Dude, you know there is that pesky little match going on out in the ring? You might want to take a look at it. I guess not. I know it doesn’t sound long, but missing thirty seconds of a match is a long time. Think about it like this: Hogan picked up Andre and pinned him inside of 30 seconds. Yeah that’s not important though. We’re back now with Bomb against Jannetty. A Razor’s Edge takes out IRS. For those of you keeping score, it’s Jannetty, Kid and Razor against Martel and Bomb.
We get a big brawl as Razor goes for another Edge, but IRS hits Razor in the ribs with the briefcase. He gets counted out as a result. We now get Kid against Martel, and naturally Kid gets a lot better against a smaller guy. Apparently you beat him by putting out some cookies and milk. He’ll run out and you beat him. Heenan is so brilliant it’s unbelievable. Now it’s standard heel dominance with the faces looking for the hot tag.
That’s very basic but very good at the same time. Jannetty comes in finally and beats up Martel for awhile and then tags in Kid, which makes limited sense but I’m no drug addled professional. Kid pins Martel with a sunset flip and then Marty gets Bomb with one as well about 12 seconds later to win it. That was a fun finish.
Rating: B. This was a fun match. It’s not great, but it’s entertaining and it made sense. The faces won with quickness over the power team and Savage dominated. Also Razor, the singles champion in there, saved face and set up a bigger feud with IRS. That is what these things are supposed to do. Overall, this was fun and it worked quite well, making it a very good opener and a good sign for this show.
Todd is with Shawn, who says he’s the real IC Champion and then he insults Bret and his family. This is miles better than last year as he’s finally got the Heart Break Kid character down. We go to an interview with the Harts from earlier in the day. Ray Combs, a game show host, is the special celebrity here doing the interview.
He’s far less annoying than the majority of these people. For some reason Stu is wearing a Detroit Pistons jacket for no apparent reason here as the show is in Boston. That’s just odd. Shawn says he’ll take out Stu if he gets in the way. Remember that line.
Before we go to the ring, we have a short interview with the winners of the previous match, minus Macho.
Hart Family vs. Shawn/Knights
Bret, Keith, Bruce, Owen
Shawn Michaels, Blue Knight (Greg Valentine), Red Knight (Barry Horowitz), Black Knight (Jeff Gaylord/Glenn Jacobs)
We’re actually not sure who the Black Knight is. If it’s Jacobs, that’s Kane. If it’s not, then this is his career highlight. This was supposed to be Jerry Lawler, but he was up on rape charges (the girl admitted she made the whole thing up), so they threw Shawn in and tried to make it based on the match from last year, which is at least an attempt at a story. Combs does the introductions here, and is ok I guess.
He does some standard jokes about HBK, but this goes on WAY too long and the fans just aren’t interested. It’s not as bad as Kid Rock at Mania, but it’s pretty bad. It goes on about 5 minutes, which is FAR too long for this. We’re at 10 minutes for the intros alone. This is just stupid. Bret is wearing pink. Only he can pull that off. Combs does commentary for the match as well. Heenan is in top form here insulting the Harts.
Monsoon reminds me of my uncle for some reason. We start out with Bruce, so you can tell what this is going to be. He’s a history teacher. Oh dear. Keith, the fireman, comes in. This cracks Heenan up. We see the problem here very easily: the two unknown Hart aren’t very good. All they know how to do is an armbar here and there. It’s just rather boring. Seriously, were Neidhart and Bulldog not available? They would be about a million times better here.
Heenan keeps talking about how Owen is in the shadow of Bret. That would turn into one of the best heel turns I can ever remember. Black Knight in now and Owen kicks his teeth in too. Now we have Bret against the Blue Guy. Heenan keeps teasing that he knows who the Knights are. When asked about the Blue Knight, he says that he’s either the Blue Knight or Bob Barker. This is being written two days after Barker hosted Raw, so that cracked me.
Why are the two unknown brothers wrestling most of this match? Seriously, that’s just stupid. The commentary is by far and away the best part of this match. Combs is pretty good actually. Granted he has no clue what’s going on, but his timing and enthusiasm are there. That’s all I ask: at least pretend you want to be there. Check out Pamela Anderson at the 95 Rumble. She hates the whole thing and is there for a paycheck. I have no interest in celebrities like that, no matter what they look like.
We get a big brawl and the Black Knight is pinned by a top rope dropkick from Owen. Ray thinks it’s over, and I have no issue with that because he’s energetic. He genuinely seems like he wants to be there, and I’m fine with him being a bit off if that’s the case. I’ve never gotten the point of them mentioning that a show is live when we’re watching it. It’s like a commercial for the show you’re watching. You’ve already hooked us, so we don’t need it again.
Vince: Bobby Heenan, you’re a bad man. That sums it up perfectly I’d say. Heenan reminds Vince that this is Survivor Series and Vince says he knows what it is. I wonder if he wanted to say “I know what it is, I invented it you fat blowhard!” Ok, now Keith has been in there forever, and we’re back to the stupid part. He’s been in there like 5 minutes and it’s been all arm work. Why not instead use one of the best sellers of all time?
Oh yeah because it would make SENSE! Heenan makes another great point: the Harts don’t look alike. He’s very right actually. Make that seven minutes. FINALLY a missed Rocket Launcher and Bret gets in to breathe some life into this thing. Red Knight is tapping in about 10 seconds and it’s 4-2. Bret is knocked to the floor and Keith goes over to check him. That makes sense since he’s been beaten on for about 8 minutes and is more or less one armed at this point.
I guess Owen and Bruce were busy? On the floor Stu is trying to rub his arm back into socket, which for once makes sense from a manager. Heenan gets in my favorite line of the match: “Hey, you wanna know who the Blue Knight is?” Vince says he would like to. “He’s the guy in the ring that just dropped an elbow on Bret Hart.” Vince walked right into that one.
FINALLY we have Bret vs. Shawn, 18 minutes into the freaking match. Yep this just makes so much sense. That’s the theme of this match: how much sense can we make? Heenan makes an America’s Most Wanted reference. Combs says Bobby could star on America’s Most Unwanted. We have a rival for Heenan. Shawn does indeed go after Stu, and he gets POPPED. I don’t mean some love tap, I mean Stu smacks the taste out of Shawn and the crowd is into this all of a sudden.
That was awesome and makes up for the rest of this match. Shawn sells it at an amazing level of course since that’s what he does. That was great. Even Heenan kisses up to Stu for a bit. That’s all the proof you need right there. Owen Sharpshooter ends the Knights and it’s 4-1. Immediately, Shawn hits a big kick on Bruce, which is now known as Sweet Chin Music. However, here it doesn’t work.
Wow, Bruce has a tougher chin than Bret. Maybe we had the wrong Hart all along. Bret comes in and beats on him but gets poked in the eye. He tags Owen but walks on the apron for no apparent reason. Shawn sends Owen into the ropes and therefore into Bret who knocks down the railing. Owen is concerned and rolls Shawn up to make it 3-1. The Harts beat on Shawn for awhile after Owen is FREAKING out on him.
They beat Shawn up really badly as Stu tries to calm him down. I have never gotten what Owen’s problem was here. He got pinned. His team still won, and it was his fault that he hit Bret. He didn’t have to look down at him. Anyway, Shawn bails and the celebration is on. Owen comes back and yells at the Harts who leave without them.
This was the beginning of the Owen heel turn, which was excellent on so many levels, with the biggest one ever being Owen pinning Bret clean in the best opening match of all time at Wrestlemania 10. The feud would continue at the Rumble, with Bret trying to get Owen his first championship by teaming up with him to fight for the tag titles.
Bret wrestled with a knee injury and they actually stopped the match for it. Owen was mad and beat Bret up for it, which was the first time I agreed with a heel. It was Bret’s fault, not Owen’s. Oh yeah this match is over by the way. I’m just rambling on.
Rating: D+. This was just flat out BORING. It’s about 75% armbar. It’s a Chris Jericho joke apparently. Keith and Bruce were just flat out boring out there with no real offense at all, which is fine in that they hadn’t wrestled in years. That brings the question: WHY HAVE THEM? Seriously, all of the Harts are wrestlers. Were they all retired? Honestly, Neidhart at least would have made sense here. He’s a half brother and more importantly: HE WAS PASSABLE IN THE RING.
There’s history with him and Bret, and while he would play a role later in the angle, that wasn’t for almost a year. Seriously, they could have fit him in with him siding with Owen over this part of the feud. I don’t get it at all. Anyway, the match was just boring and it didn’t work that well. Shawn vs. Bret was good, but that’s all there was worth watching.
Gorilla and Ross are on commentary now.
We now get a random recap of the main event, despite there being two matches before that. Tatanka, who was undefeated for about two years got beaten up by Borga and Yoko to knock him out. He got replaced by a certain someone that I’ll get to at the time of the match.
To retaliate, Luger eliminated Pierre, which is somehow dumber than Luger is, so there we are. Pierre got replaced by Crush, which makes even less sense since he’s an American and was injured by the heels in the first place, but then again I’m no professional.
Smokey Mountain Tag Titles: Rock N Roll Express vs. Heavenly Bodies
Now this is a real headscratcher for about 10 reasons. Where to begin? Let’s see. For one thing, the Smokey Mountains are nowhere NEAR Boston. Second, what is Vince getting out of this? Cornette I suppose. Third, why aren’t we seeing the WWF Tag Titles defended here? Fourth, it’s freaking SMW. That just makes no sense. Fifth, why are Ross and Gorilla doing the commentary here?
Anyway, this is a very old school style match with the standard Midnights vs. RNRE formula: faces dominate early, heels take over and beat on Morton FOREVER until the hot tag and the very fast paced stuff from the Express and then the finish. Yeah I know that’s not much to go on, but it’s the generic yet great formula from the RNRE that made them and the Midnights the best act in the world. If you like modern tag wrestling, those four are who you have to thank for it.
It’s a very solid match of course, but it would have been perfect if it was Lane and Condrey or Eaton over there instead. The Bodies were a team that the WWF tried to make cool but they just never could pull it off. SMW was Cornette’s big attempt at running his own company and he did pretty well considering what he was up against. For one thing, wrestling was just bad when he tried to do it, but it ran nearly five years and he did pretty well with what he had.
Heck he’s got matches on Survivor Series. Anyway, this was the big feud in SMW, and while there it was the feud of the promotion, here’s it’s four guys that no one knows wrestling, and that’s the problem. No one knows these people and for the most part, no one cares. Boston has always been a WWF town, so this old school mentality and style is lost on them.
It’s a great match, but they just don’t get it and a big part of that is due to the wrestlers. It’s like Japanese wrestlers in America. If the people don’t get it, they’re not going to care. Anyway, after about 15 minutes, Cornette hits Gibson with the racket to give the Bodies the belts. Yeah that’s about it.
Rating: B. This was good, but like I said, the lack of anything close to recognition really hurt this one. The match is great, but most people that aren’t old school fans won’t like it. That hurt here too as the crowd only popped for big spots, which is fine for the most part, but they just sounded bored. That’s not fine.
The faces say that they’ll win tonight.
Four Doinks vs. Headshrinkers/Bastian Booger/Bam Bam Bigelow
Oh this isn’t going to be pleasant is it? The Four Doinks are Men on a Mission and the Bushwakers instead of you know, Doink and three other guys. Yeah that’s what we’re dealing with here. Doink is injured so we get these four. I have no idea which one is the most talented. Actually I don’t think any of them have talent so we’ll skip that part. Oh boy this is going to suck badly. Oh look it’s a comedy match. The Bushwackers have balloons.
Ooo good boy Samu bite them! Wait, what? He bit a balloon with water in it and it surprised him, leading to him getting rolled up. Ok, reasons why this is stupid. He’s a freaking savage and he’s scared of water? Second, couldn’t he see the water or feel the balloon actually weighing something? Booger comes in and beats on the faces for awhile and….there’s a banana peel in the ring. I’m pausing now to take some deep breaths.
There is no way that could happen is there? They couldn’t actually be planning on doing what I think they’re planning on doing could they? Someone tell me that’s not what they’re planning to do. I need to hear someone say it. Ok thank goodness: Booger just got pinned by a big splash instead.
That’s at least reasonable coming from the big fat tub of goo known as Mable. And Fatu just slipped on the banana and got pinned. That does it. Screw this. I have better things to do with my time than review a circus. Keep laughing Vince. I won’t be able to hear you.
Rating: N/A. I review wrestling. This wasn’t wrestling.
Cornette and the heel team have something to say. Cornette cuts perhaps the best promo I’ve ever heard him cut as he talks about the Foreign Fanatics’ strategy for tonight. He says that they see the face team as one man because they’re a unit. The Steiners are the heart of the team. If you take away a man’s heart, he has no energy or desire to do anything. The Undertaker is the mind of the team.
If you take away a man’s mind, he’s dazed and confused. Luger is the soul of the team. And if you take away a man’s soul, then you’ve defeated him. And that my friends, is why Jim Cornette is one of the best talkers of all time. Oh and Johnny “Raven” Polo is in the background. Dang talk about a character change. He would be Raven in less than a year.
Vince decides to give a clichéd history themed intro to this match. Yeah this is dumb.
Foreign Fanatics vs. All Americans
All Americans: Luger, Steiners, Undertaker
Foreign Fanatics: Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, Crush, Jacques Quebecer (yes that’s what they call him)
First of all, since I love it so much, here’s the way the All Americans replaced Tatanka.
No real reason for that. I just really like it. Anyway, onto the match itself. After about 8 minutes of introductions (my least favorite part of these shows), we’re ready to go. Borga comes out to Nikolai Volkoff’s music. That might be the other way around. I’m not sure. In case I haven’t explained, the feuds were supposed to be Luger vs. Yoko, Tatanka vs. Borga and Steiners vs. Quebecers, which at least makes sense.
Due to either injuries or Vince being really high one night, this is what we’ve got instead. Heenan sees a sign that says Yokotuna. I’ve been calling him that for years and have never been able to figure out where I got it from. Now I have my answer. I knew there was a point to me watching this all over again. We start with more stalling as no two want to start. Scott and Pierre finally start us off. The heels have Fuji, Polo and Cornette at ringside.
In other words we have WWF, NWA and ECW out there. Well no one can say they didn’t incorporate everyone. Pierre offers a handshake and Scott gives the screw you sign. Yep Scott is a great role model. Yoko is world champion here which is pointed out as he comes in. Rick manages to knock him to the floor which is actually surprising. Ludvig comes in now and Rick manages to beat him up. Naturally since Rick is doing well, he gets eliminated about 20 seconds later.
Upon further review though, I think this was a legit injury. He hits a top rope shoulder block and Borga just kind of flips him over and pins him. You can tell Vince is surprised too. Yeah he’s limping out after nothing was done to his lower body so I’m thinking he pulled something.
In the main event with a guy dominating even the WWF isn’t dumb enough to get rid of him after just five minutes. Yeah that was a legit injury. It was WAY too fast to have been planned that way. Given the stalling now to buy time for Rick to get out of there, yeah I’m convinced this is an injury. Just to reiterate: I think it was a legit injury.
Scott hits a pretty nice double underhook suplex on Crush. We get word that Savage is back in the building. Is that really surprising? He was there earlier, so why would it be odd that he’s back? Yep here he comes. While this is happening, Crush picks up Scott and just drops him over the top rope. That was sick. They get Savage out and say he’s out of the building. I’ll be checking my watch now to see how long it takes him to get back. My bet is three minutes.
Heenan talks about how Fuji has turned Crush into a heel and that he can see some gold in his future. That likely would have happened had it not been for…some unknown reason. Initially he was supposed to have Luger’s role but I guess they thought Crush wasn’t ready or something and this is what you got instead. Dang it was only two minutes. Scott (called the Steiner) sends him to the floor and Crush goes after Savage.
This gets him counted out as the crowd is completely insane for this. This was begging for a big time cage match. Why in the world Savage was turned into a big bunch of nothing instead of the top face is beyond me. He clearly was still able to go as he would be winning world titles nearly seven years after this and he was WAY over, but I guess he was hanging out with Stephanie too much around this time and if you don’t get that reference, look it up.
Now it’s Pierre vs. Scott as Luger or Taker haven’t been in yet. Pierre gets a three by mistake but they say it was a two which anyone that can see or hear could tell you was incorrect. Vince keeps calling them the Quebecer and the Steiner. Luger finally comes in and an elbow from the second rope puts Pierre out. It’s 3-2 now if you’re keeping score. We get word that Savage has been throw out again and just as I’m getting ready to type it, Heenan asks how he keeps getting in. Is he Batman?
He suggests that Savage hangs out in the rafters. No Bobby that wouldn’t be for about 4 more years. Steiner and Borga have a decent battle as there is still no Taker in this match, which I guess makes something close to sense: save your big gun for the end. Steiner wants to try the Frankensteiner. Yeah that was just freaking stupid. He gets hit by a massive leg drop to end him and make it 2-2.
Luger and Yoko start with the rematch from Summerslam. The idea is that Luger isn’t allowed to have a rematch no matter what. Eventually he gets a rematch if he can win the Rumble, which he ties in. That could have been a great story if he ever actually won the title. It became like Jeff Hardy for awhile, but the difference was that Jeff finally won the freaking belt and gave us the awesome moment.
Luger never had that moment and it made the rest look bad by comparison. Heenan is asked where he gets his material and he says open your eyes. That’s just odd. After Yoko misses a splash, Luger makes the big tag to Taker and the fans are FREAKING OUT. A swinging DDT nearly kills Yoko and Borga nails him to try to break the momentum. Taker turns and just smacks him as if to say boy please I’m the dead man.
The big belly to belly gets nothing as Taker sits up to another huge pop. If you want to know one of the biggest reasons for why Taker got over, it’s called Bobby Heenan. He was awesome with putting him over. Yoko hits the Banzai then goes for a second and Taker sits up again. It’s just awesome all around as even Heenan can’t talk. Think about that for a second.
They fight to the floor, which is to say Taker beats on him for a bit longer as we get the inevitable double count out and we have our Royal Rumble main event. So it’s now one on one and I think you know the drill. It’s more or less a six minute match with the usual interference and the forearm ends it.
Yeah there’s nothing more to say about this. Just like last year, it starts to snow and freaking Santa Claus comes out. I have never gotten what they were going for with this and I think this was the last time that they did it which is likely a good thing.
Rating: C-. It was long and rather dull, but it did what it was supposed to do in advancing the stories. Luger beats Borga clean and Taker vs. Yoko is set. Also the fans went home happy and Luger looks big and invincible again so I can’t really complain. It could have been better but it certainly could have been worse so we’ll say it’s just below average.
Overall Rating: C+. There’s some good and some awful on here, so we’ll say it balances out. Some people would love this and some would hate it. I thought it was ok, but the comedy match was just a disgrace and the main event was just ok. The first match and the tag match were solid enough though.
There are definitely moments here where you’ll be bored out of your mind but there are moments where you’ll be entertained, which I think slightly outweigh the bad. That’s good enough for a mild recommendation I guess. It’s nothing special and it’s not horrible I suppose, but don’t expect to be blown away.
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:
IMG Credit: WWE
Survivor Series 1992
Date: November 25, 1992
Location: Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, Ohio
Attendance: 17,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan
Vince and Bobby run down the card. There are multiple gimmick matches tonight.
Headshrinkers vs. High Energy
Big Boss Man vs. Nailz
Nailz chokes Mooney and says that was injustice.
Tatanka, a Native American, is chanting to get ready for his match with Martel, which is over some stolen feathers. It was a different time.
Razor, still in his original persona of Al Pacino from Scarface (funny story about that: Vince is known for not seeing almost any big time movies. When Ramon was interviewing with Vince, McMahon asked him to come up with a character on the spot. Ramon went into a Tony Montana imitation from the movie Scarface without knowing Vince had never seen the move. Vince immediately thought Ramon was a genius and push him), makes generic threats. Flair was AWESOME here.
Tatanka vs. Rick Martel
Razor Ramon/Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage/Mr. Perfect
Post match Flair puts Hennig in the Figure Four and Razor gets a chair, but Savage makes a save and chases both guys off.
Flair and Ramon rant in the back.
Yokozuna vs. Virgil
Yokozuna is listed as being from the Polynesian Islands here. This is when Yokozuna is only 505lbs and he had padding in his outfit to make him look fatter. Yokozuna immediately shoves Virgil away and chops him down. Some dropkicks do some good for Virgil but Yokozuna superkicks him (and gets his foot higher than Virgil did on his dropkicks) to take over.
Savage and Perfect brag a lot.
Nasty Boys/Natural Disasters vs. Beverly Brothers/Money Inc
Rating: C. Not bad here but the ending kind of sucked. What was the point in having the Nasty Boys beat Money Inc that fast when the majority of the match was about the Disasters vs. Money Inc? The Nasty Boys were basically there to fill in a spot instead of being the focus of the match for their team. Odd indeed but it was entertaining enough.
We recap Kamala vs. Undertaker. Undertaker beat him at Summerslam so Kamala crushed him with a bunch of splashes to a very limited effect. This set up the Coffin Match tonight, which is a regular match but the winner gets to put the loser in a coffin.
Undertaker is building a special coffin.
Undertaker vs. Kamala
Kamala immediately runs from Undertaker and they head to the floor for more not fighting. Back in and Kamala pounds away with almost no effect. Undertaker hits the yet to be named Old School and Kamala is in trouble again. A clothesline sets up some choking by the Dead Man but Kamala chops him to the floor. This is really dull so far. Kamala rams Undertaker head first into the steps and hits him in the back before we head inside. A kick to the chest puts Undertaker down for all of a second. Kamala slams him a bunch of times and three splashes. The urn is knocked into the ring and Undertaker sits up, followed by an urn shot to the head for the pin.
Undertaker nails the coffin shut.
Bret is ready for Shawn. Gene lists off all of the micarders Bret has defended the title against with the idea being that Bret will fight anyone.
WWF World Title: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
Post ending of the show, Bret asks Santa for better competition. Ok then.
Ratings Comparison
Headshrinkers vs. High Energy
Original: C+
Redo: C+
Big Boss Man vs. Nailz
Original: D+
Redo: D
Tatanka vs. Rick Martel
Original: C-
Redo: D
Randy Savage/Mr. Perfect vs. Razor Ramon/Ric Flair
Original: B
Redo: B-
Yokozuna vs. Virgil
Original: C
Redo: C-
Nasty Boys/Natural Disasters vs. Money Inc./Beverly Brothers
Original: D
Redo: C
Undertaker vs. Kamala
Original: C+
Redo: F
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels:
Original: A-
Redo: A
Overall Rating:
Original: C+
Redo: B-
Dang I must have really grown to hate Kamala since then. Overall it’s roughly the same though.
Here’s the original review if you’re interested:
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:
IMG Credit: WWE
Survivor Series 1992
Date: November 25, 1992
Location: Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, Ohio
Attendance: 17,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan
Ok so for once we really do have a ton of changes here. For one thing, this is far closer to a standard PPV. There’s one Survivor Series match which is kind of one I guess, but it’s two tag teams and if one member is eliminated both members are gone so it’s kind of a Survivor Series match but not really. The other huge difference here is that there’s no Hogan or Warrior. Warrior is on the box of the tape, but he wasn’t on the show.
He was supposed to be in half of the double main event, a tag match with Savage against Razor Ramon and Flair. However, he bailed a week before the show and the WWF had to use Mr. Perfect in what I thought was a great angle that I’ll get to later. Other than that, your main event is Bret vs. Shawn. This was a real gamble for Vince as we had never tried having two standard wrestlers go at it in a major show’s main event.
There’s no big muscle head to go out and have a match, but Vince put his faith in what he had left and to me, it worked. Other than that, this isn’t going to look like the Survivor Series. With what’s been happening lately at this show, it can’t be worse, so let’s see how this is.
We open with the Reverend Slick saying…ummm…I have no idea what he’s talking about. I think it was something about spreading light. Yeah this was a strange character but he was very energetic so I can’t complain. Vince and Bobby go over the double main event and we’re ready to go.
Headshrinkers vs. High Energy
High Energy is Koko B. Ware and Owen Hart in really bright and baggy neon pants and suspenders. Headshrinkers are two Samoans that are monsters. Guess what this is. Yep, it’s a squash, however, oddly enough the Headshrinkers are in the ring before High Energy is introduced so they look like the jobbers. That’s just odd. I’ve always been a mark for the Headshrinkers so if nothing else I’ll probably like this match.
Fatu is more commonly known as Rikishi. Vince is needling Bobby about Perfect’s face turn which is just great. How in the world is Koko a Hall of Fame member? That just boggles my mind every time I think about it. Vince says that High Energy has been very successful so far. That’s nonsense but oh well. Heenan asks Vince if the Headshrinkers will be at his house for Thanksgiving. That’s an amusing thought and oddly enough I think Vince would have fun with it.
After Koko gets the tar beaten out of him for a good while, he makes the hot tag to the most talented guy in the match, Owen. Owen comes in and beats up the Headshrinkers for a bit, but the overall mass of the fat one is too much for Owen and he’s pinned after a big splash from the top.
This was fairly long at about seven and a half minutes but it was really just an extended squash. Post match Heenan uses his Brain Scan, a telestrator, the white pen thing on the screen, to show how Owen is a turkey. In other words, he draws pictures with it.
Rating: C+. It wasn’t bad, but it was a nice breath of air compared to most Survivor Series matches. It was a standard tag team squash, which isn’t something that you see very often anymore, mainly because the tag team division sucks. Anyway, this was at least ok. It’s not great but it’s not bad. It’s certainly acceptable and a fine choice to open the show.
Alfred Hayes is with Boss Man who says he’s going to beat Nailz.
Sean Mooney says that viewer discretion is advised for the following match. Now there’s something you don’t see every day. Nailz implies Boss Man was abusive and that he’s been waiting for this. He says he’s a good climber, so does that mean he’s an escaped convict? Yeah that’s just kind of stupid.
Boss Man cuts a promo…again. He says the exact same thing. I think only one was shown on the live broadcast, but I really don’t get why they did two in a row like this. The second is better.
Nightstick on a Pole: Big Boss Man vs. Nailz
During that second promo, Boss Man runs off mid sentence to catch Nailz who is trying to get the stick early. That at least makes sense. Yep it’s a big brawl. That’s all this was supposed to be. Boss Man was more or less worthless at this point, but Nailz was going to be given the Undertaker of all people next, as he had several house show matches followed by being on the cover of the WWF Magazine. However, after nearly murdering Vince McMahon (literally) he was fired.
As you would expect, both guys go for the post but neither can get it. The pole is too short though and all you have to do is stand on the top rope. Of course since this is a pole match and all they have to do is standard climbing, it takes 20 seconds to get up there. Nailz at least has the psychology of it right as he uses mainly chokes and punches. He’s not supposed to be a polished wrestler and he’s not wrestling like one.
He’s a street fighter and he’s acting like one. At least he’s smart enough to do that. This is just a sloppy match all around. They’re worn out after about three minutes with no big bumps yet. The way Bobby and Vince are talking about it you would think this was a Hell in a Cell match or something. See, if I were in this match, I’d let the other guy get the stick and then jump him on the way down, but then again I’m not a professional.
Boss Man gets the stick and beats Nailz with it, but a shot to the head isn’t enough to keep him down apparently. Nailz gets it and hits Boss Man in the side with it. He then waits for him to get up, misses a shot, gets punched twice, whipped in and the Boss Man Slam ends it. Yep that’s it. This was a waste of time.
Rating: D+. This was just awful. There was no point at all to it and it should have been a standard match instead of this mess. The nightstick served next to no purpose but of course it looked like it was awesome. It just wasn’t entertaining at all and ended without the stick being a factor. Just make it a one on one next time people.
Nailz, while choking Mooney, says that was more injustice.
Tatanka is in the back with Alfred Hayes. He says that tonight he’ll get back his eagle feathers and honor his people. Well at least it’s borderline original.
Gene is with Flair and Razor. Gene talks about how there was a big swerve going on and how Perfect is the new partner. We go to the tape of Prime Time Wrestling where Perfect turned. This was just after Warrior had left and Savage was on satellite from Florida. He says that his partner could be perfect for him.
The design of the show was a round table with Vince, Hillbilly Jim, Jim Duggan, Heenan and Perfect there discussing various things in the company and talking about matches that were shown. That’s actually a pretty cool idea when you think about it. Anyway, Vince says do you mean Mr. Perfect and Savage says he does. Heenan speaks for Perfect, saying that they both take orders from Flair and that Perfect isn’t wrestling anywhere.
Perfect takes offense to this and says that he’s tired of being ordered around before accepting. Heenan slaps him which causes Perfect to grab him by the tie and pour water over him, saying that Flair is afraid of him. We cut back to Flair, who is TICKED over this. He talks to Perfect, saying that he had it all and is throwing it away.
There’s a hint of fear in his voice which is just great as this is a heck of a promo. Ramon says that his team will win. He really wasn’t that good yet and it showed in his promos. He would get a lot better. The partnership here was always kind of a weird one as it was never really explained.
Tatanka vs. Rick Martel
This is happening because Martel stole some feathers from Tatanka which were important. Well it’s better than nothing I guess. This is a bit of a departure from the Survivor Series idea wouldn’t you say? Heenan goes on a huge rant about life in general, mainly focused on Perfect. Martel chokes and Heenan shouts out that HE HAS TIL FIVE!
Sgt. Slaughter is now an enforcer of rules or something like that. A front facelock by Martel gets him nowhere. Scratch that as it gets him suplexed. Ok so it failed him once so now we go right back to it. Doink is here now as he has only been here for about five weeks now. Amazingly enough the facelock leads to ANOTHER suplex. That’s just appropriate.
Doink makes a balloon animal for a kid and steals it. That’s straight up awesome. Martel uses the hold AGAIN. Dude three times with the same hold in 3 minutes? Seriously? Are you that bored? A cop shows up in the front row and takes a sign as we cut away. It probably said WCW or something like that, making that person EVIL!
Martel hits the post with his shoulder so the stereotype goes after it, showing some intelligence. Backslide gets two which of course Vince swears is a pin. Doink continues to be a big focus here but I don’t think anything ever came of his involvement here. How weird is it to think that Vince has been WWF Champion but neither of these guys were?
Martel works on the back now as Tatanka is in trouble. Decent little match so far if nothing else. Double axe off the middle rope eats fist though and here comes the warpath thing. Top rope chop hits Martel and he’s in big trouble. Samoan drop ends it and Tatanka gets the feathers back. Doink pops the kids’ balloons just to be evil.
Rating: C-. This was fine for what it was: a midcard match that nothing ever really came of. It was the end to this mini-feud and nothing else ever came of it. Both guys were at least ok in the ring and it went fine I guess. Nothing ever came of the Doink thing though, which means it was indeed, completely pointless, for him to be out there at the end.
We go to Mooney who is with Savage and Perfect, who say that they’re a strange team but they respect each other. In some weird way, this match actually looks decent enough I guess. Perfect gives a WOO at the end which ticks Bobby off during the intros.
Razor Ramon/Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect/Randy Savage
The faces get a HUGE pop, especially Savage. How in the world did Vince not push him as top face once Hulk left? I’ll never get that for the life of me. He had everything: the look, the ability, the resume, yet for no apparent reason he was put behind the announce desk. That just doesn’t make sense to me. Heenan is so angry about this match that it’s hilarious. We start with Perfect against Ramon which gets yet another pop.
This AWA reunion begins with Perfect being all over the place and outmaneuvering Razor. The forgotten aspect is that these two are former AWA World Tag Team Champions. Perfect nails Flair and we get the big showdown. Savage and Flair is one of the best feuds ever. Both guys can go in the ring and it offered proof that the company could work without the big orange man to help them out. The heels take over now as Ramon puts on an abdominal stretch.
Vince has apparently been hanging out with Monsoon too much as he criticizes it for a lack of the hook of the toe. Has anyone ever done that hold properly? The heels are dominating Savage now, which makes sense as Perfect hasn’t been around for about a year now so it makes sense that he’s on the apron for a lot of the match. As Savage is being beaten on, Perfect turns to walk away. This makes limited sense as there’s no point to it really.
The heels do the smart thing and point Savage’s face at Perfect leaving, which would I guess work to break his spirit a bit. See, that’s why Flair is better than most wrestlers: he had the mental aspect of wrestling down. That’s a critical key to a wrestler that most people don’t have. Heenan ranting about Perfect is flat out awesome. This has been a pretty good match so far. It’s not great, but it’s what you would expect from a main event level tag match I suppose.
Razor hits a chokeslam which doesn’t have a name yet. Heenan says that he’s seen Ramon do that to the people on the streets of Miami. What area of Miami is Ramon from? I’ve never been there but apparently 6’6 men chokeslam you on the cement there. That’s fairly cool. Also, as Ramon goes for the cover and Perfect looks for the save, Bobby yells “GET OUT OF THE RING YOU LOWLIFE!”
That’s just an awesome line if there ever was one. He sounds so ticked off which is all you can ask for here. Flair goes to the top, and I’ll give you two guesses as to what happens. Actually you would be wrong because Savage does something different here. He climbs to the middle rope before going back to the bottom rope to slam him. That wouldn’t really add anything to the move I don’t think, but whatever, it looked cool.
This lets Savage get the hot tag to Perfect who proceeds to clean house. It’s chair time as Savage gets taken out by a shot from Flair. The referee gets bumped and apparently the other one was just behind the curtain because he’s out there in like 4 seconds. Perfect and Ramon are going at it and Razor sets for the Edge. Perfect gets a sweet counter by kicking off the top rope and backdropping Ramon.
He hits the Perfectplex but only gets two because of Flair. He hits another on Flair but no pin again with Razor making the save. Since both guys are in the ring forever, we get the DQ in a cheap ending. Flair puts him in the figure four and eventually Savage makes the save with a chair as the faces win. The face celebration takes way too long as they’re channeling Hogan I guess.
Rating: B. The ending hurts it a bit, but this was solid. It was a good tag match and while it didn’t have a definitive ending, it might be better that it didn’t here. Perfect looked good while Ramon looked pretty good as well. This was what you would expect from these four in this kind of a match. It went fine though, and I can’t really complain about anything other than the ending I guess. Bobby’s rants are great here.
Flair and Ramon are angry of course and they vow revenge.
Yokozuna vs. Virgil
This was the not incredibly fat Yoko, as he’s only 505 at this point and the monster that we know him as. He’s billed from Polynesia here which is just odd in all respects. We get a segment from earlier in the day where Hayes goes to Yoko’s room for an interview but Yoko is getting a massage. Fuji offers to let Alfred get a massage. He’s liking it as Fuji throws him out. Vince tries to make this match sound good. That’s just funny.
Despite being Polynesian apparently, Fuji has the Japanese flag. Vince says he hasn’t been tested yet. Apparently that’s going to be the case after this match too. Naturally, Virgil really can’t do much here. It’s basic jobber offense with punches and dropkicks that fail more and more every time. Yoko hits a sweet kick to the face that knocks him down with ease. He crushes him with a sweet spinning rock bottom suplex.
The squashing continues as Virgil tries to out move him. Vince says he’s trying to stay away from him as he’s running right at him. I love that classic Vince commentary. In a spot I’ve always wanted to see, Virgil goes for a school boy and Yoko just sits on him. That’s as simple as you could get and it worked perfectly. Within a few seconds the Banzai ends this one.
Rating: C. It’s a squash so I guess we’ll call it average. Virgil of course stood no chance here and it was nothing more than a way to get Yoko over and there’s nothing at all wrong with doing that here. It gave him a win over a somewhat big name and Virgil gets to eat tonight, so things are fine here. It was short, under four minutes that is, so what can I really complain about?
We go to the back with Savage and Perfect who say that was great. They say Ramon and Flair are the turkeys.
Nasty Boys/Natural Disasters vs. Money Inc./Beverly Brothers
This is the elimination tag I was talking about earlier. Money Inc. are the tag champions here and are in the middle of a feud with the Nastys that I don’t remember in the slightest. DiBiase is wearing the stupid white attire again which if you’ve read my thoughts on Summerslam 92, you know my take on. The other two teams had fought at Summerslam so I guess that constitutes a feud, despite it being a squash. Yeah that makes sense.
The Nastys are WAY over. That’s quite surprising to me. Again, this is a very boring match indeed. I don’t get the point in having these kinds of things, although I guess in this case only having one works fine. This is even a switch from the normal stuff and it’s still rather pointless. Vince asks if Heenan will be on an upcoming European tour. Heenan says he might but it’s really none of Vince’s business.
I love lines like that where given what we know now the meanings are far different. Yep, this match sucks as well. Why can’t there just be interesting matches on a show? I don’t get how hard that is to accomplish. Anyway, after about five minutes of people just beating on each other with the freaking Nasty Boys being the most over out there (I will never get wrestling fans at times), we get to what we knew was coming: the wild brawl.
Out of this, the Beverlies go down to the Earthquake from Earthquake. He really needed a better name for that move. My goodness Typhoon was worthless. Actually that’s not true. He was good for comedy, as he’s more commonly known as the legendary Shockmaster. Good grief this will just not end.
The heels dominate for a few minutes until Typhoon comes in to clean house a bit. This works for awhile until IRS rolls him up to eliminate the Disasters. Within five seconds, Knobbs rolls him up for the win. I kind of like that ending I think.
Rating: D. Oy this was another horrible match. There’s just no point to this match other than to further Nasties vs. Money Inc., which begs the question of why not just have them go at it by themselves? Wouldn’t that make things a lot easier? I’d certainly think so. Either way, this was nothing special and for the most part was just flat out boring. That seems to be a trend here.
We recap Taker vs. Kamala with the main thing being Kamala is scared of caskets. Why does that not surprise me? We see Taker building a massive casket before we go to the arena for the match.
Undertaker vs. Kamala
This is different than the traditional casket match with the rules here being that you have to get the pinfall and THEN put them in the box. Yeah that’s just redundant. The intros here are long but not modern day Taker long as it only takes about five minutes for both guys to come out. Taker and Bearer have the massive coffin with them which is always cool looking, but this one is way too bright for my liking.
Immediately we see the two major issues in this match. First of all, Kamala sucks, badly. Even for a monster he sucks. Second, the coffin aspect is just stupid since it’s pinfall first. Due to that, there’s really no point to the box aspect. They should have made it one or the other, but granted this was a first so they were really in the dark at this point. So far this is your standard monster vs. monster match. Taker beats on both managers but gets chopped by Kamala. This was a very odd time in Taker’s career.
They knew that he was a huge asset and talent, but they had absolutely no clue what to do with him. Since they didn’t know all they did was throw him against monster after monster whom Taker would usually beat after losing an initial encounter. This feud in particular since after this at the Rumble, Whippleman would bring in Giant Gonzalez who would destroy Taker for a bit before Taker put him away at Summerslam.
About 12 years later, the feud was completely recycled but with Muhammad Hassan and Mark Henry combining to play the role of Kamala and Great Khali being Gonzalez. The IWC HATED this feud because we were literally calling every single thing that was going to happen and we were right. Now to be fair, they waited over 10 years so I guess it’s ok, but still it was a very boring 8 months as far as we were concerned when it came to Taker.
Kamala starts taking over and hits some of the worst splashes ever. Like I’ve said, unless it’s from the top rope, for the most part if you use a splash for a finisher, odds are you’re not a very good wrestler. With Taker down, Kim Chee and Kamala literally play hot potato with the urn. Taker sits up and nails Kamala with it for the pin. See, after that they ring the bell, which shows how stupid this is. They roll Kamala into the coffin and literally nail it shut. Yep that’s it.
Rating: C+. Eh, given what they had this was about as good as it was going to get I suppose. Taker winning was never in doubt at all, but it was ok. It certainly could have been worse but they kept it short and that was a big plus for these guys. There’s really not a lot that they’ll be able to do, so I’m happy with this overall. The gimmick was a bit stupid, but they didn’t know what they were doing, so this is slightly above average.
Shawn cuts a pretty bad promo, talking about how he beat Bulldog for the IC belt, who beat Hart for the belt at Summerslam. Apparently Bret has defended the title the most times in history, which is impressive since I think he won it about 6 weeks before this. He was brand new to the big time and you could see he was very nervous.
We get a pointless bit about Kim Chee and Harvey opening the casket and Kamala not being able to move. And that’s about it.
WWF Title: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
After Shawn’s intro, we go to the back for an interview with Bret. Since winning the belt he’s defended against Mountie, Berzerker, Rick Martel, Papa Shango and Virgil. And people have the nerve to ask why his first reign wasn’t taken seriously. Bret talks about how thankful he is for what he’s done and how he’s gotten this far. This had the potential to be a great promo, but Bret just wasn’t that good on the mic yet, which is understandable.
It fit his character really well as he was supposed to be the best pure wrestler in the world and while he couldn’t talk he could go in the ring. That’s what he did, and it worked very well. Like I said, this was a huge gamble for the company as they had no clue how to do a big show without Hogan or Warrior. This could have sunk the company for Vince, but thankfully he stuck to his guns and put two of his best young guys out there.
Bret gets a solid pop but not huge. Vince of course tries to make it sound bigger than Hogan ever got. Heenan gets in a great line. Vince says that Bret is likely the most scientific champion of all time. Heenan in his most condescending and annoyed voice says wrong. Vince asks who. Heenan: Flair. He sounds so snobby and annoyed here that it’s perfect. They start with a lengthy feeling out period, which makes sense here and works well since both of these guys can do just about anything.
Also, at this time Shawn doesn’t use the kick as his finisher, but rather a weird suplex move. The kick is in his arsenal but it’s just a run of the mill move. He’s kind of like a rookie MMA Brock Lesnar. He had everything else but he couldn’t finish people. Bret gets a hammerlock and Shawn actually taps but since it’s 1992 no one gets that. Dang maybe he’s more like Lesnar than I thought. Heenan mentions he gets paid a lot of money to do his job.
Vince’s “I’m sure you do” response is full of sarcasm which again is funnier now given that we know he signs Heenan’s checks. Given that this is a pretty long opening part of the match, the fans are staying into it which is a very good thing. Shawn uses that same rolling counter for a hip toss that he’s used before and it’s still completely awesome. Vince really likes talking about how Bret won the title.
How they evolved into what they became just five years later amazes me. We pick up the pace a bit which makes the match more interesting. Granted it was fine before but now it’s a bit better. Bret takes the standard momentum turning bump of having his shoulder hit the post at full speed.
Shawn shifts into a standard heel offense and this is working pretty well. These two have a natural chemistry between them and it’s never once failed to deliver at least a very good match. Even the Montreal match was at least good before the ending.
They continue the debate over who is stronger which never was answered I don’t think. Heenan, talking about Shawn, says this man is hot. Where’s Becca when I need her? I love how Vince orders the referees around. I wonder if he criticizes them about it later on. They kind of mention that Bret has won the Triple Crown but they don’t call it that. Pedro Morales had already done it so they can’t really say much about Bret.
Bobby goes to some classic insults about Bret’s family, which are likely what he was best at. We’ve been in this chinlock far too long now as Shawn just doesn’t have the variety in his offense to be able to pull off a nearly half hour match like this is. Given another year or two though he easily could, but he just wasn’t there yet. It seems that all he knows are rest holds, which I guess he’s using to just stall for time.
That’s fine I guess, but he needs to do some standard stuff in between them to prevent it from becoming boring. Heenan’s random talk of Razor and Flair is amusing. He played the role perfectly. You can tell Vince just can’t keep up with Heenan on the mic and it’s great to hear. Of course, Vince believed he was ten times the commentator that Gordon Solie was so who cares apparently.
Now that we’re out of the rest holds we’re turning it up a bit and now we’re getting good. Shawn of course gets hit with a sling shot which is one of his standard bumps that always works. Vince mentions that Bret has what a champion is made of. Vince, they’re both champions. Of course that’s not mentioned, so I guess even back then the IC Title was being buried. Dang I love that Russian Leg Sweep that Bret does.
For some reason Vince says what is going on. Well Vinny, it’s called a wrestling match. You might have seen one before but apparently not. The referee gets bumped in the corner but is up about 3 seconds later. I think that was unintentional. There’s just something missing from this match and I can’t put my finger on it. What I guess it is would be that neither of these guys are really huge stars yet.
Yes Bret is world champion, but he’s held it for such a short time that he’s still kind of viewed as a midcard guy. That’s what happened to Eddie during his run with the belt and it’s a hard thing to shake off. It’s a good match, but still there’s just an x factor that isn’t there. I think it’s a combination of Bret not going for the legs and Shawn having no finisher to end things with.
Today he would have the kick that he could hit from nowhere. He it looks like both guys are hoping to hit a rollup or something, and that’s what I think is missing. Shawn gets tied up in the ropes but is out in time for Bret to miss some big move and kind of get crotched. Apparently Bret is running himself too thin and whoever fights him next will beat him.
In the exact same ending to regulation time in the iron man match, Shawn misses a top rope dropkick and Bret gets the Sharpshooter to end this. That’s interesting that they would use the exact same ending sequence for regulation in the Iron Man match. And here comes…Santa Claus? What the heck? Yes, Santa is coming down the aisle, the night before Thanksgiving. What in the world? He puts a Santa hat on Bret’s head as it starts snowing in the arena.
I think I’m in one of X’s trips as this makes zero sense. Maybe it’s not snowing. Vince says it is but I don’t see any of it. Oh there it is. Vince says ho ho ho as we end it. After it ends, Bret is with Santa and he says he wants big and bad opponents for Christmas. That’s kind of cool I guess, but still, WHAT THE HECK?
Rating: A-. The lack of a Shawn finishing move here really hurt things. There was never a moment where you really felt that Shawn could pull it off because even though he sets for the suplex at one point, it’s a freaking belly to back suplex. Why should that be considered special?
It wasn’t and thankfully he changed to the kick…a few years later. Other than that, this was a good match. It’s not great, but it’s certainly worth seeing. These guys would go on to have classic after classic, but this one is really forgotten I think.
Overall Rating: C+. Well it’s better than anything that this show has done since the first one, so it gets a passing grade but not by much. This just flat out wasn’t that great. There’s two very good matches in the double main event, but the rest of the show is just above average at best. It was a gamble and it worked, but it didn’t feel like the Survivor Series at all. It worked, but not great like I said. It’s recommended though, but not very strongly at all.
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
IMG Credit: AEW
AEW Dark
Date: October 29, 2019
Location: Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross
Host: Tony Schiavone
I’m not sure what to expect from this show, even though I know the card coming in. Sometimes you get a huge match on here and sometimes it’s just a bunch of stuff happening. The good part about it though is this is just the wrestling show and it’s not like it has any standard to meet. That takes a lot of the pressure off of things and makes for a pretty easy sit. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Tony Schiavone welcomes us to the show and runs down the card.
QT Marshall/Peter Avalon vs. Dustin Rhodes/Sonny Kiss
Well this could be…..I’m thinking a tag team wrestling match. Hold on though as Avalon and Leva Bates need to insult the Pittsburgh sports teams because that’s the kind of cheap heat he goes for. Avalon and Kiss start things off with Kiss stealing his book. He even beats Peter up and sits on him for a good read. The book gets thrown to the floor (again, not a face move to a lot of people) so Marshall comes in and wants Dustin.
That’s just what he gets and Dustin chops away in the corner before hitting Marshall in the face for daring to mock the Goldust pose. Kiss springboards back in with a clothesline and it’s a dancing moonsault for two. Leva offers a distraction though and Peter kicks Kiss in the face to take over. The beating begins on Kiss with the villains taking turns, including a double suplex.
Kiss tries the splits but Avalon is smart enough to stay with him and grab a chinlock to keep him down. An elbow to the face gets two with Dustin having to make a save. Avalon misses a moonsault though and Marshall misses an elbow as well, allowing the hot tag to Dustin. The snap powerslams set up a double spinning high crossbody for two on Avalon. Kiss adds a Meteora to Avalon but Bates’ high crossbody is pulled out of the air with ease. Dustin shushes her and Avalon is sent into her, setting up the Curtain Call to finish Avalon at 9:10.
Rating: C. Completely run of the mill tag match here with two teams that feel like they came out of a Lethal Lottery. Kiss was someone who had me a bit worried as he is a rather over the top gimmick but they have kept him right where he belongs: opening comedy matches, which is perfectly fine place to be. The Librarians….just go away already, even from a spot like this.
Sadie Gibbs vs. Penelope Ford vs. Allie vs. Emi Sakura
It’s a four way lockup to start and that goes to a four way staredown. Therefore it’s a four way test of strength with Gibbs easily getting the best of it. Allie backflips out and Gibbs is held down so we can get a Kaientai pose. This has been your completely staged moment of the match that is not hiding its nature whatsoever. Ford and Sakura are knocked down so Gibbs takes Allie down for two.
Allie’s backslide gets two of her own but Ford is back up for a kick to Gibbs’ head. Sakura comes in and takes Gibbs’ place….before dancing with the referee. JR: “That’s embarrassing.” I’ll go with the hatted one here. The surfboard goes on with Allie diving in to cover Sakura and force the break. That’s fine with Sakura, who tries a double surfboard on Allie and Gibbs, only to have Ford pulls Sakura back at the same time. Gibbs and Ford send the other two into the corner for stereo handspring elbows and it’s time to fight over the covers.
Some double teaming puts Ford and Sakura down and it’s Gibbs diving onto the two of them on the floor. Allie is knocked down as well and it’s a Samoan driver to give Gibbs two on Ford. More fighting over a suplex ensues with Sakura sitting it out and running over everyone. Sakura stops to clap but is fine enough to send Allie into Gibbs in the corner. All three of them are stacked in the corner but come out to triple team Sakura.
The three of them get crushed in the corner again and a Vader Bomb to all three of them gets a triple two. Allie superkicks Sakura but walks into a short DDT from Ford. Gibbs and Ford kick each other down and everyone is on the mat for a bit. The four way slugout is on with Sakura getting the better of it and hitting a butterfly backbreaker for two on Ford. The tiger driver gives Sakura the pin on Ford at 11:53.
Rating: C. This worked well enough as your weekly “joshi is AWESOME and you need to get used to it” as the three other women were spending a good bit of time fighting each other. Sakura was even beating all three of them up at various points and we heard about what a legend she was more than once. I have no idea if this is going to be a recurring problem, but just because you’re from Japan doesn’t instantly make you more interesting. Couple that with the really annoying parts at the beginning where it looked like they were just going through planned spot after planned spot and I could have gone for some changes here.
Cody sits down with MJF for the weekly interview. He grew up playing football and getting bullied for being Jewish so he grew up and is proud to say that the bully is now a homeless drug addict.
We go to the AEW Control Center for a preview of this week’s Dynamite.
We look at how the finals of the Tag Team Title tournament were set up.
Here’s where the upcoming shows are coming.
Kip Sabian has the best record in AEW without appearing on Dynamite so he’s ready to debut this week.
Darby Allin vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Jack Evans
Falls Count Anywhere. Evans starts fast with the flips, the kicks, and the flipping kicks. Havoc cuts him off with a Death Valley Driver out of the corner and a basement dropkick to send Evans outside. Allin gets two off a Code Red but Havoc is back up with a shot to the face as the brawling continues. The flipping Stunner drops Havoc and Allin hits the suicide dive onto Evans.
Another dive is cut off by Havoc raising a chair, which is then pelted at Evans’ head. Allin dives over the barricade to take Evans down again but Havoc flip dives onto both of them at once. They fight into the crowd until Evans suplexes Havoc for two on the ramp. A moonsault off the stage is caught and Havoc hits a reverse suplex for a good crash. Allin gets back up so Havoc hits a big flip dive off the stage onto both of them.
They go back to the ring with Evans throwing in a ton of chairs but spending WAY too much time yelling at the fans, allowing Havoc to move away from a legdrop. Havoc Death Valley Drivers Allin into a chair into Evans, only to have Allin and Evans play Moustache Mountain for two on Havoc instead. Havoc is right back up with a double underhook piledriver onto a chair for two on Allin with Evans making a save.
A chair shot drops Evans so Havoc lays two chairs onto their sides, only to get backbreakered onto them. Evans adds a frog splash onto Havoc onto the chairs for two, so it’s time to put a table over the middle rope. That earns Evans a super piledriver through said table, only to have Allin comes back in with the Coffin Drop, including a chair, to Havoc. That’s enough to steal the pin on Evans at 13:13.
Rating: C. This was another hardcore match which didn’t have anywhere near the charm as the Cracker Barrel match from a few months ago. It wasn’t bad or anything but some of the spots felt like they were there to fill in time and move the match closer to the ending. People popping up after big moves is rather annoying when it’s done this often and it became rather distracting. At least Allin won though.
Tony says goodbye.
Overall Rating: C-. I wasn’t feeling this one as it was a bunch of matches that I didn’t need to see and didn’t particularly care about. I’m sure there were a lot of fans who liked a good bit of this and there is nothing wrong with that. The matches were all completely watchable but nothing jumped off of the page at me. That being said, this show not being a great one is hardly a major problem as it’s nothing more than a supplement to Dynamite. It has a pretty low bar to clear so for what it was, this was completely acceptable.
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:
IMG Credit: National Wrestling Alliance
NWA Powerrr
Date: October 29, 2019
Location: GPB Studios, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Joe Galli, Jim Cornette
We’re rolling along with this series, which has yet to have a really bad show. Things can be a little bit up and down but what matters most is they’re having the shows and doing some good things. They need to establish themselves as anything beyond the joke that they have been for the better part of twenty years and these shows have been some nice first steps. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
We open with a recap of last week with Tim Storm teasing retirement but getting talked into a tag team with Eli Drake. The Dawsons beat them but there seems to be more to this one.
Opening sequence.
The announcers welcome us to the show but here’s James Storm in a hurry. He’s tired of having to prove himself while Nick Aldis ducks him all the time. Then he has Colt Cabana running around talking about the National Title. Cue Cabana to say the title belongs to him but now he’s healthy and ready to go. Eli Drake comes out to say Cabana is disrespecting him so here’s Aldis to say Storm’s complaints are alcohol fueled.
Drake on the other hand has no vices, except for wanting to be Nick Aldis of course. A six man tag is set for later, with the four of them finding another partner. The stipulations are on too: if Aldis’ team wins, Cabana gets a National Title shot. If Storm’s team wins though, he gets a World Title shot, providing that he vacates the National Title. Storm insults Aldis’ Jaguar and it’s on.
We recap the Kamille doesn’t talk deal.
Trevor Murdoch says he has worked for everything in this business and the NWA is no different. He doesn’t think Jocephus should be banned for forty five days for throwing powder in Cabana’s face. Instead, Jocephus should have to face Murdoch here. Jocephus comes out to say that his spiritual advisor has allowed a beating on Murdoch Trevor (what he said) tonight.
Jocephus vs. Trevor Murdoch
Jocephus gets in a posting to start so Trevor hits a few early clotheslines. Trevor gets dropped onto the buckle so Jocephus pulls out some powder. That’s kicked into his face though and Trevor finishes with a middle rope bulldog at 1:08.
Thunder Rosa is coming.
Here’s Aron Stevens for a chat. We get a Tropical Pirates reference but here’s Ricky Starks to interrupt. Stevens: “You want to be my stunt double?” Stevens says he looks ridiculous so Starks slaps him in the face and says Stevens talks too much.
We recap the Dawsons interfering in Eddie Kingston/Homicide vs. the Wild Cards, sending Kingston over the edge.
Austin Idol thinks you need a kayfabe cocktail.
The Rock N Roll Express is coming. Works for me.
Dawsons vs. Eddie Kingston/Homicide
No DQ. It’s a brawl on the floor to start with Kingston chopping the post as Homicide and Dave fight in the ring. The two of them head back outside so Homicide can choke with a camera cord. Cue the Wild Cards to watch as the Dawsons take over on the floor and throw some chairs inside. Homicide is up in the ring though and wedges one in the corner. Dave gets sent into it and a cutter gives Homicide two.
Some chairs are stacked up in the ring and Kingston gets slammed down onto the bridged chair for two. Homicide gets back up and takes a chairing of his own as the champs are getting more interested. The chairs are stacked on top of Homicide but the Wild Cards come in and knock Zane silly with the title. An AA onto the chairs knock Homicide silly and Dave is dragged on top for the pin at 5:50.
Rating: C. If you can do it right, a three way feud can be quite interesting and that’s more or less what they’re doing here. Give the champs a reason to explain their actions and they could be in business. The No DQ part made sense here and it’s a lot better than having the referee get bumped or something goofy like that. Telling logical stories can get you rather far and they’re on the right path.
Who is the Question Mark?
Marti Belle is Allysin Kay’s friend but she’s coming for the title.
Marti Belle vs. Ashley Vox
Allysin comes out to wish them both luck because she’s beaten both of them before. Marti takes her down to start and grabs a seated Blockbuster. Ashley can’t get anywhere on the arm as the announcers talk about Aron Stevens. Back up and Marti rolls some suplexes into a Russian legsweep for two but Ashley sweeps the leg. Allysin doesn’t seem to have a favorite here as Ashley misses a springboard headscissors and gets sent into the corner. Ashley’s chickenwing is broken up but she’s fine enough to jackknife cradle Belle for the pin at 3:34.
Rating: D+. I don’t think it’s any secret that Kay is the star of the division and the best woman going around here today. Marti and Ashley aren’t much in the ring but they’re passable enough and haven’t been completely overexposed on TV. Marti was in Impact for a bit but she was never a star. Vox is pretty much new to the national scene so it’s not like she has anything to lose.
Come to Tony Falk’s house of waffles and tire irons. This week: buy three pancakes, get four tire irons free. Sounds like a good deal, assuming I can find a use for three waffles.
Ricky Starks vs. Aron Stevens
Stevens snapmares him down to start but misses an early elbow drops. That lets Starks send him face first into the buckle a few times and a dropkick gets two. Starks gets in a dropkick and goes to the ropes, only to have said rope kicked low. Stevens hammers away and hits the Russian legsweep into the wind up elbow. A lot of trash talk and a slap to the face cause Starks to hammer away. Starks teases his own slap and scares Stevens, setting up a rollup to give Starks the pin at 3:23.
Rating: C-. Stevens continues to be much more about character than anything else and that’s fine. The actor deal is actually working for him and I’m curious to see where he can take it. Then you have Starks, who isn’t the biggest guy but he has the athleticism to make everything work for him. Good enough match here, though it felt more like angle advancement than anything else.
Stevens sits on the mat and gets into a NO/YES argument with the fans.
Nick Aldis/Colt Cabana/Mr. Anderson vs. James Storm/Wild Cards
I thought they announced Eli Drake as Storm’s partner. If Storm’s team wins, he gets a World Title shot, provided he vacates the National Title. If Aldis’ team wins, Cabana gets a National Title shot. Storm stalls to start as Team Aldis decides who should go first. It’s Aldis himself but Latimer tags himself in to go after a wristlock on the World Champ.
You don’t do that to Aldis, who hits some clotheslines into an armbar before handing it off to Latimer. It’s off to Cabana for a double clothesline on the Wild Cards, plus a Bionic elbow for a bonus. Storm comes back in and hammers away on Cabana with Isaacs getting in his own shots to the face. Cabana blocks a middle rope dive with a raised boot and the hot tag brings in Anderson to clean house.
A neckbreaker gets two on Latimer as Storm has been knocked to the floor. Everything breaks down and it’s a double clothesline to put Storm and Aldis down. Cabana gets the tag and runs over Latimer in the corner, leaving Storm to superkick Isaacs by mistake. Storm plants Latimer and the Superman cover gives Cabana the pin at 6:54.
Rating: C. This was exactly what it needed to be with the action based match that didn’t come close to overstaying its welcome. You don’t need a five minute shine, another five minute heat segment and then a five minute match to tell the same story. They didn’t do too much here and we got a perfectly watchable tag match that served its purpose perfectly well and set up the next title match.
Roll credits.
Overall Rating: C+. The best thing that the NWA has going for it is its accessibility. You can jump straight into any episode and instantly get everything that is going on. That was on full display here as the recaps, promos and matches all explained who people were and what was going on every time. You don’t need to do that forever, but for these early shows, it’s the best thing you can do. This isn’t a show where the wrestling is the top priority and that isn’t a bad thing. Good show here and the most watchable hour of wrestling going today.
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:
IMG Credit: WWE
Main Event
Date: October 24, 2019
Location: Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Dio Maddin, Mickie James
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Mojo Rawley vs. No Way Jose
Hold on though as Mojo grabs a mic (on THIS show?) to insult the members of the Conga Line. There is a grown man in a cheeseburger costume and they’re following Jose? They need a real athlete and someone who earned his MBA at 21 years old. They slug it out to start until Mojo gets hiptossed to the floor. Back in and a high crossbody gives Jose two….but Mojo is right back with the running right hand in the corner for the pin at 1:28. What the heck was that? You’re cutting a MAIN EVENT match short? Normally I would have some hope for a story around here but I’ve moved on from something like that.
Post match Mojo says the Conga Line needs a real leader but he beats up the cheeseburger man for not following him. Mojo orders everyone else to leave and they eventually go. Dude did they just do an angle on this show???
Video on Bayley’s heel turn.
From Smackdown.
It’s time for MizTV with special guest Bayley, flanked by Sasha Banks, the latter of whom surprises Miz. Bayley and Sasha brag about the title change last week and we see a clip of Bayley’s new attitude, setting up the win over Charlotte. Thankfully the viral clip of the child crying is included. Miz asks Bayley what was up with that but she doesn’t owe anyone an explanation. Miz: “Are you Brock Lesnar? Is this your Paul Heyman?”
Banks brings up Miz being a fifth rounds draft pick, which Miz laughs off because he’s always relevant. Bayley talks about crying after losing the title to Charlotte but no one was there to hug her. She has put herself second for years to be a role model but they weren’t there when he needed them. The reality is that Bayley has outgrown these people so here’s some reality: life sucks and then you die.
Video on Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman.
We look at the OC jumping the Street Profits.
From Raw.
Street Profits/??? vs. OC
The Profits do their big, high energy entrance and the fans….don’t seem to care. It gets a bit better but this thing was tailor made for a small place like Full Sail and it doesn’t work here. There’s no mystery partner so the OC mocks them, suggesting that he’s invisible or imaginary. We see a clip of the brawl that set up the match and take a break. Back with….no one as a partner so AJ is on the floor to start.
The Profits waste no time in clearing the ring so it’s gallows coming in for a big boot. Everything breaks down and Ford comes in to clean house, only to get thrown over the top for a crash. Anderson hits a running knee from the apron to take him down again and we take a break. Back with Ford not being able to dive over and get the tag to Dawkins so the beating can continue. The chinlock goes on but Ford fights up and hits a double clothesline. Anderson gets a blind tag but gets sent outside, allowing the hot tag to Dawkins.
House is cleaned but Gallows pulls Anderson out of a Doomsday Device. Anderson’s spinebuster gets two on Ford but AJ gets yelled at for interfering. That means an ejection…..and here’s Kevin Owens to fight AJ, presumably being the third man. Anderson is so stunned that he backdrops Ford to the floor, with Dawkins making the tag on the way through the air. The big frog splash finishes Anderson at 13:03.
Rating: C-. They put WAY too much into this at once as you had a crowd who didn’t know the Profits and then the focus was taken off of them twice. This was spent looking to see who the partner was going to be, wondering why it was then a regular tag match and then having Owens come out to get the attention off of the Profits again. Giving them the win was the right call and the match wasn’t bad, but it was too much going on to showcase them properly.
Crown Jewel rundown.
Natalya vs. Sarah Logan
Natalya is no Dana Brooke. They take turns going to the mat for some early grappling until Natalya gets in an armdrag and strikes a pose. A rollup gives us an early standoff so Natalya grabs a quick abdominal stretch. Sarah smiles so the leg is picked up to make it even worse. The basement dropkick gives Natalya two but Logan kicks her to the floor and we take a break.
Back with Natalya fighting out of the chinlock but getting choked on the ropes for her efforts. The chinlock goes on again so Natalya fights out again for a double clothesline. The belly to back faceplant sends Logan to the apron and she gets in a kick to the face. Natalya blocks the Cloverleaf and kicks her away, setting up the Sharpshooter for the tap at 9:48.
Rating: D+. This is one of those matches that was technically fine but still not something that was going to be anything beyond a standard match. Logan has had nothing to do since the Riott Squad broke up while Natalya will be around WWE until the end of time. She’s going to be on and off of Raw every week and while that is acceptable, it may not be the most thrilling thing.
Video on Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend, starting in the Cell and moving on to Rollins lighting the Firefly Fun House on fire.
Here’s Rey Mysterio, still with his arm in a sling, for a chat. Rey thanks everyone for the love and support he and his family have received since Brock Lesnar took him out. He was thinking about retiring but now he has a new way of thinking because he wants to see Cain Velasquez take the WWE Championship and put another scar on Brock Lesnar. Paul Heyman pops up on screen to ask if Mysterio would say the same things if Lesnar was there in person.
Mysterio thought he had the perfect choice to go after Lesnar but Brock has spent nine years waiting for that day. Rey yells in Spanish but here’s Shelton Benjamin to ask how Cain got a title shot. Just for defending Rey’s kid when Rey couldn’t do it? Shelton and Brock are friends too because they roomed together at the University of Minnesota. Rey says Shelton has it all wrong but Shelton wants to know what happens if he shoves Rey around. Maybe one shove is a US Title shot and two is an Intercontinental Title shot.
Shelton asks where Cain Velasquez is….and here he comes, with Shelton realizing that he’s screwed up. Shelton can’t take him down so Cain tosses him to the mat a few times and hammers away, eventually choking Shelton for a quick tap. That….wasn’t very impressive and the fans don’t seem to care all that much.
Overall Rating: D. I can understand the idea of recapping a lot of the stuff from Raw and Smackdown but this show did little more than to remind you just how uninteresting Raw and Smackdown have been as of late. The stories haven’t worked and it’s like there is nothing to get excited about. Putting big wrestlers against outside athletes isn’t something that is going to get me fired up and the rest of the main stuff is looking towards Crown Jewel, which has a set of problems all its own. Bad show here, as somehow the Mojo Rawley thing interests me more than anything else.
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:
IMG Credit: WWE
Monday Night Raw
Date: October 28, 2019
Location: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Dio Maddin, Jerry Lawler
It’s the second go home show for Crown Jewel and most of the card seems to be set in stone already. This time around we’ll be seeing some of the final touches put on, including Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt’s old friend Erick Rowan in a falls count anywhere match. The show’s audience is just miserably bad at the moment but maybe they can turn it around a bit tonight. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Here’s Paige to open things up. She’s so proud to have advised the Kabuki Warriors and to have been a small part of their success. Cue the Warriors, with Paige introducing them, only to have Asuka mist her in the face. As Paige begs for water for her eyes, here’s Becky Lynch to beat up both Warriors and set up her announced match against Kairi Sane.
Becky Lynch vs. Kairi Sane
Non-title. Sane’s ribs are banged up before the bell but she’s fine enough to strike Becky down into the corner. Becky fights back with a bulldog into an Oklahoma roll for two. An armdrag is blocked and Becky takes her down into something like Tommaso Ciampa’s former flipping armbar.
Back up and Becky can’t get the Disarm-Her as Sane bails out to the floor for a breather. That means a dive to take Sane down again but Becky goes after Asuka, allowing Sane to kick her into the steps as we take a break. Back with Becky spinning out of a bow and arrow hold but getting kneed in the face. Becky kicks away, with Lawler wondering if her snapping like this can be classified as a ginger snap.
Sane pulls her down into something like a cross legged Boston crab, which is pulled back so hard that their heads are almost touching. That has to be let go and a double knockdown gives Becky a breather. Sane kicks her down again but the Insane Elbow is broken up. The middle rope legdrop gives Lynch two and she kicks Sane in the head. Asuka gets kicked away as well but Sane hits a spinning backfist for two. Becky is fine enough to pull Kairi straight down into the Disarm-Her for the tap at 14:47.
Rating: B. This was the kind of hard hitting match that it needed to be and you can pencil in Becky vs. Asuka from here. That’s one of the money matches they have in the division and I’m really not sure how it would go. Lynch continues to be one of the biggest names on the roster and under the right circumstances, she could be the big star that Raw needs. I mean, it’s not like they have anyone else in that spot at the moment, do they?
Here’s R-Truth for a match with Buddy Murphy, but he isn’t sure Murphy is his buddy. As for the Singh Brothers, he was sure there were more than one of them so he got some glasses. Now he can have both eyes on the prize of becoming a 52 time champion. Murphy comes out and says Truth is remembering everyone, except Australia’s finest.
Buddy Murphy vs. R-Truth
Murphy hammers away to start and gets up a boot in the corner. The twisting forearm gives Truth two and he hits the side kick for two. Cue the Singh Brothers with the 24/7 Title and the mob gives chase. Truth joins in, running in front of the champ for a bit before coming back in and eating a knee to the face to give Murphy the pin at 2:46. And that’s how Murphy gets his big Raw win: beating a comedy guy and needing seven people to help him do it.
Here are the Street Profits for a chat. They’re proud of their first win last week and are so thankful for Stun Owens Stun. Ford liked kissing the baby last week but Dawkins remembers kissing some woman at the after party. If anyone wants to fight them, they can come on because they want the smoke. That gives us a WE WANT THE SMOKE chant and they head into the crowd again. The fans are starting to get into them and that’s a good sign after last week’s not so warm reception.
Back from a break with Ric Flair already in the ring and Hulk Hogan/Jimmy Hart in mid-entrance. What is with Hogan and Flair not getting full entrances lately? Are they that desperate to get past this stuff? Anyway they’re here for a preview of Thursday’s match.
Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre
Ricochet dives onto McIntyre before the bell and then does it again after the bell, though the second one aggravates Ricochet’s taped up ribs. Drew drops him ribs first onto the top and kicks said bad ribs to make it worse. An overhead suplex drops Ricochet on the ribs again, setting up the big boot and legdrop. McIntyre goes outside to get in Hogan’s face, possibly offering him a nice Shirley Temple.
Back in and the abdominal stretch goes on, followed by the release suplex to drop Ricochet on his back again. One heck of a backdrop (with Ricochet doing his crawling through the sky motion) and a Razor’s Edge buckle bomb lets McIntyre mock Hogan’s pose. Drew charges into two boots in the corner and a kick to the face gives Ricochet two as we take a break.
Back with Ricochet making the comeback with strikes to the face and an enziguri for the double knockdown. The springboard clothesline into the Lionsault gets two but Ricochet can’t get him in a fireman’s carry. Instead it’s the reverse Alabama Slam to give Drew his own two and the Glasgow Kiss drops Ricochet again. Drew throws him off the top but the Claymore is cut off with a jumping superkick. The 630 misses so here’s Randy Orton for the RKO on Ricochet for the DQ at 17:01.
Rating: B-. It’s another good match but this was a long match to set up the DQ finish to get us towards a ten man tag that will come and go at Crown Jewel. They both have the kind of star power that the show needs and once they get done working to make Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan happy before they go away again, maybe we can see the talent better utilized. In other words, Crown Jewel needs to be over already.
The OC didn’t think much of Humberto Carrilo’s debut match last week and if he wants to face the real champion, he can fight AJ Styles later.
War Raiders vs. Chicago Cubs
Non-title and that would be Rizzo and Bryant, two guys in Cubs jerseys. Rizzo bails to start (Lawler: “They’ve already gone to the bullpen.”) and the beatdown is on in a hurry. The jersey is ripped off during the beatdown and the fans are rather pleased. The powerbomb/World’s Strongest Slam plants the Cubs at the same time and it’s the Viking Experience for the pin at 2:01.
Sin Cara is ready for his rematch with Andrade and brings in a luchadora named Carolina to counter Zelina Vega.
Andrade vs. Sin Cara
Cara dives over Carolina to get in the ring. An early headscissors puts Andrade on the floor but he gets shoved off the top. Zelina even gets in the Tranquilo pose on the floor for a great bonus. An other the shoulder backbreaker sets up a seated abdominal stretch. Andrade’s running knee hits buckle though and he crashes to the floor, setting up the big dive from Cara. Back in and something like a spinning Canadian Destroyer hits Andrade but the women get in a fight on the floor, with Vega being sent into the barricade. Andrade uses the distraction to grab a rollup with his feet on the ropes for the pin at 3:13.
Rating: C-. It wasn’t bad while it lasted, though I’m not sure we needed a rematch in the first place and debuting a new manage for Cara as he loses is a weird situation. They were smart to keep it short here though as Andrade beat him last week and, at the end of the day, it’s Sin Cara. Just putting him on a different brand doesn’t change his rather limited history of success. Kind of confusing booking here, but they got the right ending so it’s fine.
IIconics vs. Charlotte/Natalya
Charlotte chops away at Peyton to start and it’s a double suplex to give Natalya two. Billie comes back in for an armbar on Natalya and it’s back to Peyton for a half nelson with her legs in the ropes. A spinning kick to the face gives Peyton two more and the bulldog onto Billie’s knee gets the same. Billie goes after Charlotte though and Natalya gets in the Sharpshooter for the tap at 4:45 with Charlotte spearing Peyton down.
Rating: D+. Just seeing Natalya in there took away any energy this thing had. She is a talented in-ring worker but the vacuum of charisma is too much to overcome. On the other hand you have the IIconics, who are as annoying of a pair of heels as you can have, in a good way. Nothing to the match, but I’ll take this over Natalya vs. Lacey Evans or Becky again.
Seth Rollins is ready to get fired up for Crown Jewel by facing Erick Rowan in a falls count anywhere match tonight. Rollins is going to have to beat the Fiend because no one will be able to stop the match.
Seth Rollins vs. Erick Rowan
Non-title and falls count anywhere. Rollins charges at him to start and gets tossed into the corner for his efforts. A low bridge puts Rowan on the floor, where he is fine enough to send Rollins into the barricade a few times. The big boot gives Rowan two on the floor and they fight into the crowd.
They fight into the concourse with Rollins hitting him with a metal post. That’s fine with Rowan, who Rock Bottoms him through a merchandise table for two as we take a break. Back with Rollins hitting a suicide dive and sending Rowan into the steps. Rowan sends him into the steps as well and hits a splash off the apron for two. The powerbomb into the post gets two more and they head up to the stage.
Rowan clears the announcers’ table but gets caught with the Stomp onto said table for the delayed two. Rollins finds a chair and they fight into the back with Rowan sends him into a pile of pipes. A ladder to the ribs takes Rowan down and the Stomp onto the ladder sets up….the Halftime Heat finish as Rollins has a fork lift lowered onto Rowan for the cover and the pin at 15:05.
Rating: C+. Well at least we didn’t get the fork lift camera angle. They did a lot of good things here but at the same time, I’m not sure how smart it is to have Rollins need this much effort to beat someone three days before a title match that he should lose. I mean, he’ll win but he shouldn’t given the circumstances. Rowan’s push seems to be close to ending, though he got in a lot here.
Aleister Black wants another fight and promises to give them an intimate relationship with fear.
We look at Brock Lesnar attacking Rey Mysterio and Cain Velasquez on Smackdown.
Crown Jewel rundown.
AJ Styles vs. Humberto Carrillo
Non-title. Carrillo starts with the flipping and hammers away in the corner, setting up a springboard headbutt for one. A Disaster Kick gets two and they head outside with AJ driving him into the barricade. The tornado DDT on to the floor knocks Carrillo silly and we take a break.
Back with Carrillo fighting out of a chinlock and hitting another springboard kick to the face. The Aztec Press gets two on AJ but he’s right back with the reverse DDT for two of his own. Carrillo drops him again though and a huge moonsault gets another two. It’s back to the air but this time AJ shoulders Carrillo in the knee on the way down. The Calf Crusher makes Carrillo tap at 9:24.
Rating: B-. Thus we continue the theory of wins meaning nothing as they try to bring up these new talents but rarely let them win anything. Carrillo and Sin Cara are now 0-4 on Raw, and hopefully that means they’re just going to be jobbers to the stars. Of course that begs the question of why Carrillo was their best option to bring up, but I’m not one to question WWE’s genius.
Post match AJ disrespects Carrillo and gets hit in the face, only to have AJ kick him in the leg. The Styles Clash plants Carrillo. The beatdown seems to be on from the OC but the Street Profits make the save. The OC bails, suggesting that Kevin Owens, the big main event surprise from last week, won’t be on the show.
We recap Bobby Lashley and Lana’s affair to destroy Rusev and Lana’s marriage.
It’s time for the King’s Court with Lana and Rusev, the latter of whom is still wearing his wedding ring for the sake of some hope. Lana says she is tired of being harassed by the fans but the truth is that their marriage was all about Rusev wanting sex. Rusev: “Well can you blame me?”
Apparently Rusev is a sex addict who just wanted to impregnate her. That isn’t happening because she won’t be able to get modeling work if she’s pregnant. Oh and Rusev cheated on her, which Lashley told her about. Rusev denies the whole thing so here’s Lashley, with Lana running off. The fight is on with Lashley going into the steps and they head back inside.
Lashley’s spear is cut off with a superkick and Samoan drop, allowing Rusev to take off the wedding ring. He asks Lana if this is what she wants and stuffs the ring in Lashley’s mouth. Lana finds a kendo stick and hits Rusev for no effect so he yells at her, allowing Lashley to hit him low. Kissing ensues to end the show. They’re getting better with Rusev fighting back and he doesn’t look as bad if Lana believed that he was cheating on her, but this feels like a bad daytime talk show closing out the last ten minutes of Raw.
Overall Rating: C+. It’s one of their better shows in a long time, but you could feel the firm ceiling above everything. It feels like they’re running with an anchor right now and it’s shaped like Saudi Arabia. The fans and company both seem to understand that nothing of note is (likely) happening there and we’re not getting suckered in again.
At the same time, we are coming up on the start of the rapid fire Survivor Series build so that’s another stretch where nothing gets to be set up properly. The show was entertaining enough and the wrestling was good, but there are a lot of things limiting the enjoyment and they’re doing a lot of damage.
Results
Becky Lynch b. Kairi Sane – Disarm-Her
Buddy Murphy b. R-Truth – Knee to the face
Ricochet b. Drew McIntyre via DQ when Randy Orton interfered
War Raiders b. Chicago Cubs – Viking Experience to Bryant
Natalya/Charlotte b. IIconics – Sharpshooter to Kay
Seth Rollins b. Erick Rowan – Pin under a fork lift
AJ Styles b. Humberto Carrillo – Calf Crusher
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:
IMG Credit: WWE
Ring of Honor
Date: October 23, 2019
Commentators: Caprice Coleman, Ian Riccaboni
Hosts: Ian Riccaboni, Quinn McKay
We’re still in the post Death Before Dishonor era with matches from the official Fallout event. I’m not sure what to expect this week and that has been the case since the show changed formats. They could be worth watching if the matches are good but if they aren’t up to par, these can be terrible hours of TV. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
We open with a video on Flip Gordon attacking Tracy Williams over and over during the summer.
We recap Shane Taylor not being happy with Ring of Honor and having his contract bought out. He is still TV Champion though and wants to use it as leverage in negotiations. After being locked out of the negotiating room (literally), Shane held a quick press conference saying he wants new competition. Management came up and said they would figure something out.
House show ads.
We look at Dalton Castle bragging about his mimosa but Joe Hendry isn’t impressed. Hendry debuted a new song about how he was the leader of their team and various peacock jokes. Then he beat up the new Boys just because.
Joe Hendry vs. Dom Kubrick
Hendry signs some autographs around ringside, which isn’t something you see too often. Kubrick gets taken down with ease to start but the threat of an ankle lock sends him bailing to the ropes. Back up and Hendry gets two off a jumping knee to the face but he heads outside for a breather.
Kubrick tries a dive, only to hit mat as Hendry steps to the side for another autographed (ripped up by a rather rude fan). Back in and Kubrick grabs a spinning butterfly suplex for two, followed by a guillotine choke on the mat. That doesn’t last long so it’s a double underhook facebuster into a clothesline. The fall away slam sets up the Hendry (ankle) lock to make Kubrick tap at 5:32.
Rating: D+. Hendry is one of those cases where he has a certain talent but his in-ring work just can’t back it up. He would be a good choice for a tag team because the music stuff is rather awesome but he can’t do anything in the ring to make it work. The Dalton Castle idea has something, though as usual around here, they’re taking so much time to get anywhere that it doesn’t matter.
Jenny Rose wants the Women of Honor Title from Angelina Love. The word HONOR or some variation is thrown around a lot.
Video on Kenny King vs. Rhett Titus. After Titus lost again, King came in and asked where the fire was. Titus said at least he didn’t get knocked out by a cameraman (which happened when King ran into a camera recently). They’re still trying with Titus and it’s just not there.
Jeff Cobb is excited to get his World Title shot in the UK.
Matt Taven, with the Kingdom, talked about wanting to come here because the innovators are here. Then he won everything there is to win and now….he’s staying. I’m sure this has nothing to do with the lack of interest elsewhere. This was treated as a face promo, which I hope doesn’t stick. Well in theory as it’s not like he could be a less interesting heel.
Mandy Leon and Angelina Love brag about Love winning the title.
The Kingdom has been attacked.
Tracy Williams vs. Flip Gordon
No DQ and Gordon jumps him on the stage with a black kendo stick. A chair gets kicked into Flip’s face though and Williams suplexes him on the floor. They get inside with Williams hitting a suplex and corner clothesline. A 619 into a slingshot hilo puts Gordon outside again for an elbow to the back of the neck. Gordon posts him though and hits a springboard tornado DDT off of the barricade to take us to a break.
Back with Gordon hitting a swinging neckbreaker onto a chair for two. Gordon stomps on the arm so Williams chairs him in the ribs. The chair gets thrown at Gordon’s head but he’s fine enough to crotch Williams on top. A springboard kick to the head connects but Williams is right back with a top rope DDT onto the open chair. Since wrestling is ridiculous these days, THAT GETS TWO.
Can we pause for a second on that one? The DDT used to be one of the most devastating moves in wrestling. When Jake Roberts hit one, you were done, totally and completely. He DDTed Ricky Steamboat on the concrete and Steamboat sold it like death. Now we’re to the point where someone can be on the middle rope and jump down to send their opponent’s head onto an open chair with the same move and it’s just a regular move. And they wonder why the reactions are getting smaller and smaller when they do more and more.
So anyway, Williams goes to a Crossface but Gordon rolls outside (because he’s awake after a jumping DDT onto a chair). Williams unloads with the kendo stick and it turns into a stick duel. Gordon goes low and hits something like the Eye of the Hurricane onto the ramp. Back from a break with the table being set up in the ring but Williams sends Gordon outside to block a superplex attempt. Williams pulls him back in and hits a super piledriver through the table for the pin at 16:42.
Rating: B-. As much as that DDT spot got on my nerves, this felt like a big time match between two people who wanted to hurt each other. That’s a big plus and something that is hard to pull off. The feud between the two teams has been the best thing about Ring of Honor for months and it was nice to see another good match between them. Just learn better DDT appreciation.
Rush is ready for Jeff Cobb.
Overall Rating: C-. Good main event aside, you can feel the death around this place. There’s just nothing that would make me want to keep watching and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon. Lifeblood vs. Villain Enterprises is an interesting feud but it has been going for months now. I can’t imagine Final Battle is going to make things any better and this whole thing has been feeling weaker and weaker by the show. It’s a sad situation, but ROH has done almost nothing to make itself better and this is the result.
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: