Hidden Gems #16
Date: 1997, 2001, 1986, 1980, 1995

I’m finally doing something outside of the full shows and that’s quite the relief at the moment. This time around I’m going to be looking at some completely random matches/segments instead of one big show. I’m not sure what is going to be coming here but that’s what a random number generator is for. Let’s get to it.

Undertaker/Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels/HHH
Date: November 15, 1997
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 15,479

This is six days after Montreal so Shawn has about as much heat as you can imagine. It’s also handheld footage so no commentary of course. Austin is Intercontinental Champion so he throws the belt in, as was his custom. They seem to be clipping things a bit too, as Undertaker’s entrance only takes about a minute. Indeed it is as we go from Undertaker dropping the coat to the floor to circling with Michaels. And then the bell rings so I’m even more confused.

Undertaker misses a right hand in the corner so Shawn slugs away, only to get LAUNCHED into the corner (one of my favorite Undertaker spots) so the real beating can begin. The upside down bump in the corner lets Undertaker choke away and he does it again to HHH as well. Austin comes in to work on the arm and hits an atomic drop to make HHH bounce. A poke to the eye gets HHH out of trouble so it’s back to Shawn as the fans get WAY into this all over again.

Austin hits a backdrops and brings Undertaker back in to clean house. They go outside where Undertaker seems to post Shawn but the camera is on the other side of the ring and rather shaky so it’s hard to tell. Back in and Shawn hits the ropes to break up Old School and it’s time to stomp away. HHH gets in a whip to the steps on the floor (as opposed to the steps in the ring) and the choking is on back inside.

The knee drop gives HHH two but Undertaker slugs away at Shawn without much trouble. Shawn knocks him down and there’s the sit up, followed by the double clothesline. The hot tag brings in Austin and it’s time for the big comeback. HHH gets Stunned but Shawn makes the save and kicks Austin low. Austin’s leg is wrapped around the post and we look at the crowd as HHH pulls Austin’s trunks down a bit too far.

We hit the chinlock on Austin and look at the crowd again for no apparent reason. We’re clipped to the hold being broken but Shawn pulls Austin back into the corner. Austin crawls over to the ropes for the tag anyway though and NOW it’s time to clean house. A chokeslam each drops DX and Undertaker Tombstones Shawn for the pin at 12:48 shown.

Rating: B-. It wasn’t a great match or anything but for a big time house show man event, this worked very well. The interesting thing is how Austin looked fine despite being dropped on his head at Summerslam about three months earlier. He looked horrible at Survivor Series but looked normal here, which should tell you everything you need to know about the benefit of hiding weaknesses in a tag match.

Post match Road Dogg (I think) comes in and gets chokeslammed as well. Chyna comes in to get in Austin’s face but backs into Undertaker. The distraction lets Austin hit the Stunner for the big reaction.

Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar
Date: November 29, 2001
Location: Kansas Coliseum, Wichita, Kansas

This is a dark match from a Smackdown taping and while the show took place on November 27, I’m assuming they’re putting the TV air date because….well probably because it wasn’t that well researched. Orton is suddenly from Wichita because wrestling likes to lie about things (as they should in cases like this). It’s always weird seeing Lesnar with the lightning bolts or wings or whatever they were on his trunks instead of the straight black.

Lesnar drives him into the corner to start but Orton kicks him away and hits a dropkick. Orton tries to start in on the arm and is suplexes across the ring for his efforts. A cross armbreaker works a bit better for Orton until Brock powerbombs the heck out of him. Some backbreakers into a powerslam into the corner rock Orton and Brock stomps away in the Tree of Woe.

Brock switches to the shoulders to the back for a change and hits a spinning belly to back suplex for two. We hit the camel clutch, with Brock leaning forward towards Randy’s head for a weird look. Now it’s a regular chinlock but Orton fights up with a swinging neckbreaker. The high crossbody (Orton’s old finisher) gets two and a sunset flip out of the corner gets the same. Back up and Brock powerslams him for the fast pin at 5:53.

Rating: C. I always like seeing matches like this because there are no reputations and the guys just have to go out and make the fans care on their own. It was a fine enough match with Orton trying to take away a limb and getting overwhelmed by the power. Imagine that: OVW students being well trained at in-ring work. These two worked well together, which isn’t surprising given how many times they probably fought in both training and on OVW TV.

Universal Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Title: Jim Duggan vs. Terry Gordy
Date: May 30, 1986
Location: Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Jim Ross, Bill Watts

Ah the magic of a random button. This is a tournament final for the inaugural title and the UWF is the rechristened Mid-South Wrestling. Hold on though as One Man Gang is here to say he would have won this tournament if he had been invited so this match isn’t happening. Gang says he wants a shot at the winner immediately after so Duggan says make your move.

The fight is on with Duggan taking him to the floor to trade postings. Duggan is busted open badly and seems to have a concussion but why would that stop him? The also busted Gang is knocked outside but comes back in, only to miss the splash. A running shoulder (called a spear) sends Gang outside and we take a break.

Jim Ross runs down the rest of the show (as in Power Pro Wrestling) before throwing it to Duggan for a chat. Duggan talks about how he was given five minutes to get ready to face Gordy and how dizzy he was.

We’re clipped to a taped up Duggan slugging away at Gordy and hitting the three point shoulder. A second attempt is sent outside though and Michael Hayes posts Duggan again. Duggan talks about how Gordy finished him off after that but we don’t actually see it. Well that was rather lame as the Gordy vs. Duggan stuff was less than two minutes long.

US Title: Ric Flair vs. Greg Valentine
Date: July 17, 1980
Location: Norfolk Scope, Norfolk, Virginia

Flair is defending and this is from Mid-Atlantic. This is raw footage so no commentary and again, not the complete match. Valentine bails to the floor to start (shocking I know) so Flair grabs the mic and tells him to have some guts and get in here. Valentine gets in and begs off as this is HEAVILY clipped, with about five seconds between jumps (though you can still tell the general idea). Flair takes him down and works the arm in a variety of ways, including an armbar (with WOO).

Valentine gets up and hammers (hey now) away but Flair gets in what might have been a low blow. The slugout goes to Flair but a knee to the ribs cuts him off in a hurry. Valentine hammers away in the corner and Flair is busted open (of course). Some elbows to the back of the head get some near falls, with Valentine covering vertical instead of horizontally for a weird look. Flair fights up and hits a right hand but falls down due to exhaustion.

Valentine misses a charge into the corner and the comeback is on with Valentine going head first into the corner over and over. A bunch of right hands let Flair hit the WOO and there’s the suplex into the….elbow. Dang it’s weird seeing something other than the big knee that he used forever. Flair wraps the leg around the post and puts on the Figure Four but Valentine makes the rope.

They go outside where Valentine can win the brawl before taking it back inside. A shinbreaker cuts Valentine off again but the Figure Four is broken up. Valentine forearms away on the apron and tries a belly to back suplex but Flair spins onto him for the pin to retain. This was more a collection of clips than a match so no rating, though it looked like a heck of a match.

Post match, Valentine is livid. He would win the title before the end of the month.

And one more to wrap it up.

Women’s Title: Alundra Blayze vs. Lioness Asuka
Date: November 21, 1995
Location: Wicomico Youth & Civic Center, Salisbury, Maryland

Blayze is defending at this is a dark match from a Superstars/Raw taping. Asuka’s (no not that Asuka) entrance isn’t shown but the camera feed is the same as you would see on any regular TV show. Asuka kicks her down to start and hits a shot to the ribs, followed by a suplex for two (Blayze’s bridging escape is always cool). Some kicks put Blayze down into a reverse chinlock but she’s out in a hurry. Blayze kicks her to the floor but she misses a dive off the top.

Back in and Asuka grabs a Sharpshooter (without looking at the camera because she doesn’t know how to work). That makes Blayze scream a lot so it’s off to some choking on the ropes. Blayze fights up with a hair takedown and some legdrops for two, with Asuka rolling outside. This time Blayze follows her out and kicks away but the powerbomb is countered. Asuka goes up so Blayze hits what would become the Stratusphere (with her hands on the mat instead of the rope). Back to back missile dropkicks get two and the German suplex retains the title at 7:37.

Rating: C. This was so many miles ahead of anything most of the American women were doing in the 90s and it’s kind of refreshing to see. It wasn’t a great match or anything but it was an actual match instead of Lawler shouting about various things over and over. You could tell Blayze wasn’t quite into this though and this would be her last match before she trashed the title the next month.

Blayze looks so miserable and gets out of there with almost no emotion on her face at all. If you didn’t know better, you would still know something was very wrong at this point.

Overall Rating: C. Not a bad set but there is only so much you can get out of these random assortments. I like these one off matches but with no theme or anything, it can be kind of hard to pick up on anything. The Flair vs. Valentine match (or at least what you could see of it) was the best, though I can’t exactly imagine that is very surprising. Pretty average in ring stuff here, but the surprises you can find in here are at least worth a look.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

And…..yeah I can’t say I’m surprised.

It’s that time of year again. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards have been released and that means it is time to hear about how bad WWE is, how great AEW is and how no one really knows any other promotions aside from those two and New Japan. As usual, some of these are going to be good, some of these are going to be in the middle, and some of these are going to either make you laugh or need an aspirin. Let’s get to it.

As usual, I’ll be skipping the MMA awards because they’re still not wrestling.

Wrestler Of The Year – Jon Moxley

I can get this, but the garbage brawls in the main events were starting to grate on me. It was almost always going to be him or Drew McIntyre though and that’s fine. Roman Reigns was great, but he was gone for about half of the year so it’s kind of hard to go with an amazing four months over a very good twelve months.

Most Outstanding Wrestler – Kenny Omega

Are you really surprised by this in any way, shape or form? It’s pretty clear that Meltzer thinks Omega is the greatest thing ever so him winning this is hardly a shock whatsoever.

Tag Team Of The Year – Young Bucks

They don’t hold the Tag Team Titles for most of the year but they’ve won the award five times before so…..yeah of course they win here, despite maybe not being in the top three teams in AEW.

Best Interviews – Eddie Kingston

Yep.

Promotion Of The Year – All Elite Wrestling

Some of you may be noticing a pattern emerging here and while this is far from some ridiculous pick, I think you might be starting to see how these awards are going to go. If you’re talking just WWE vs. AEW then yeah I can see it, but I’d take NXT overall if that’s an option (and fair enough if it wasn’t).

Best Weekly TV Series – AEW Dynamite

It’s a toss up between this and NXT, though Ring of Honor’s Pure Tournament stuff was quite good. Again though: with a six month hiatus, how much praise can you really give them? Same with NXT UK, though the hour being chopped off is a helpful tool.

Match Of The Year – Kenny Omega/Hangman Page vs. Young Bucks

That’s what I had too.

MVP Awards

USA – Kenny Omega

Japan – Tetsuya Naito

Mexico – Rey Fenix

Europe – Walter

Non-Heavyweight – Hiromu Takahashi

Women’s Wrestling – Bayley

These continue to be the most pointless awards of the year, but given that Fenix wrestled in Mexico FIVE TIMES in 2020 (and not at all from March 7 – December 12), I think there might be some better candidates.

Box Office Draw Of The Year – Conor McGregor

The guy fought once for 40 seconds in January. This is a totally realistic comparison to wrestlers appearing for free on television 52 weeks a year.

Feud Of The Year – Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston

I had it on my list of options but went with Bayley vs. Sasha Banks instead. Part of the problem is they only had two matches, one of which was thrown onto TV because of Lance Archer being held off the show. The promos were great, but I could go with a bit more than something that lasted about five weeks, started out of necessity more than a plan, and had some pretty obvious results.

By the way: that is now eight awards (not counting ones including MMA or the regional MVPs) and AEW has swept the year. WWE’s lone win: their international developmental champion who didn’t appear for six months and wrestles elsewhere.

Most Improved – Britt Baker

I could see this one, but I’m really not sure I can go with it. Bobby Lashley had a banner year and seemed primed to FINALLY move into the main event. Roman Reigns is the best heel in years (again: time issue). Bayley found every groove you could want as a heel. But then there’s Main Event Jey Uso, who may I remind you is JEY USO IN THE MAIN EVENT. Baker was very good and I don’t see it as some horrible choice, but Uso blows this away for me, just due to the surprise factor alone.

Most Charismatic – Maxwell Jacob Friedman

If you go with the stuff before the Inner Circle, it’s hard to argue. Sidenote: Orange Cassidy got second place. Isn’t his thing that he doesn’t have charisma or energy or anything close to it 90% of the time?

Best Technical Wrestler – Zach Sabre Jr.

That guy is so good with this stuff that he scares me, mainly because I don’t know how he is doing what I’m watching. I’d say that qualifies (and it has for seven years in a row now).

Best Brawler – Jon Moxley

His brawls aren’t even that great. I’m not sure who I would give this to, but I don’t think it’s Moxley. Lance Archer maybe? His are a bit more entertaining a good chunk of the time.

Best Flying Wrestler – Rey Fenix

I mean, he misses a lot of stuff but there are times where I can’t believe what I’m seeing from him so yeah I’m good with this too.

Most Overrated – Bray Wyatt

One day I’m going to need to get a definition of overrated, because it seems to be a lot closer to overpushed than anything else. And hey: WWE won something! Sure it’s a negative award but the streak is broken!

Most Underrated – Ricochet

Again: who thinks Ricochet is underrated? People are begging for him to be more regularly pushed. That’s not what underrated means, at least anywhere else. By the way: this is now 24 years in a row (and 27/28) that a WWE wrestler has won this award.

Rookie Of The Year – Pat McAfee

I would have been actually mad if this had been ANYONE else.

Best Non-Wrestler – Taz

I had Pat McAfee as he barely wrestled, but Taz is a fine choice as he has revitalized his career.

Best Television Announcer – Excalibur

Not until he learns how to properly say “combination”. Excalibur isn’t the best commentator on either show he appears on, nor is he anywhere close to the best in the business today. That goes to the criminally underrated Ian Riccaboni, who makes wrestling sound like a sport, makes Nickelodeon and TGIF references and seems like the nicest guy in the world. This is the most wrong of all the choices, but I guess commentary stopped being about telling stories etc. and becoming more about knowing who invented an armbar in Japan thirty years ago while wearing a mask and insulting JR for suggesting that Mid-South was good.

Worst Television Announcer – Michael Cole

Is that who is under Excalibur’s mask?

Best Major Wrestling Show – Revolution

I didn’t even have to look it up. I’m going to assume that Takeovers don’t count as major shows because I need to keep my blood pressure low and move on.

Worst Major Wrestling Show – Super Showdown

It’s the only show where I felt guilty for watching it so I think that qualifies.

Best Wrestling Maneuver – One Winged Angel

You knew this was coming as that’s 4/5 years in a row. I can’t wait for someone to kick out of that thing so we can stop acting like it’s the legdrop or Stunner.

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic – WWE Releases Wrestlers While Making Record Profits

And no. Back in April, WWE released a few dozen wrestlers. Some of the names included:

Eric Young

EC3

Mike/Maria Kanellis

Aiden English

Heath Slater

Curt Hawkins

Sarah Logan

Primo/Epico

No Way Jose

Curtis Axel

There were other names and yeah some of them (Rusev/Good Brothers) felt pretty ridiculous. But look at that list of 12 names and tell me who had any serious value in WWE. Not who COULD have had value, but which of them was more than house show filler at the time of/within let’s say six months of their release.

Yeah it sounds harsh that they were released, but WWE isn’t a charity and as William Regal once said, no one owes you a living. The same is true of the agents who were furloughed: there aren’t as many shows taking place, so what are they supposed to get paid to do? I get the knee jerk reaction to this (and I had one as well because it was so shocking), but WWE has done this kind of spring cleaning for YEARS (not as much recently, but it’s hardly some unheard of idea) and it wasn’t a big deal. Low level wrestlers got released. That’s not disgusting.

You know what is? Matt Hardy flying off of a lift, slamming his head onto the concrete and being cleared about three minutes later so he could climb the set to do a stunt to end a match with Sammy Guevara at All Out. What WWE did was business (not nice business, but business). What AEW did with Hardy was disgusting.

Worst Television Show – Raw

At least it didn’t have Tommy Dreamer as a featured star, a still going feud over a wad of money, a portal to another dimension so the wrestlers could have a reality show, Eric Young as World Champion and a whodunit over a manager getting shot at a wedding by someone who was changed into another personality by cologne. Oh or another promotion coming in to constantly point out how pathetic the show is. I can’t imagine how badly that show would be seen. The more I read these things, the more convince I am that I’m the only person who watches ROH and Impact.

Worst Match Of The Year – Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman (Swamp Fight)

I went with that too, though if you want to go with an actual match, that time where Matt Hardy’s head bounced off of some concrete and he continued the match in a few minutes because AEW’s concussion protocol can be done faster than defrosting a frozen General Tso’s chicken might qualify.

Worst Feud Of The Year – Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt

That’s kind of hard to argue.

Worst Promotion Of The Year – WWE

AEW’S OWNER IS COMING TO IMPACT WRESTLING EVERY WEEK TO TELL THEM HOW MUCH THEY SUCK AND IMPACT’S OWNERS ARE COMPLETELY OK WITH THIS!!! As usual, fans think that Raw is all WWE does and as usual, those people are wrong.

Also, the Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic Award was related to WWE’s business practices. Those practices are making them millions upon millions upon millions of dollars a year, not counting the latest (yes latest) BILLION dollar deal that they announced early in 2021. Yeah they have one bad TV show, but they probably make more in a month than most promotions do in a year. Now what’s worse: a bad TV show from a company making no money or a bad TV show from a company making more money than we could ever hope to spend in a lifetime?

Best Booker – Tony Khan (AEW)

You knew (wait for it)

Best Promoter – Tony Khan (AEW)

It was coming (there you go)

Best Gimmick – Orange Cassidy

When your gimmick is being lazy, I’m not sure how much praise it is worth. At least he’s back down in the midcard where he belongs.

Worst Gimmick – The Fiend

It won Best Gimmick in the year of a DQ inside the Cell and wins Worst Gimmick here. What a fickle bunch. I’d probably go with Dexter Lumis, but I get that he has an audience.

Best Pro Wrestling Book – Killing The Business (The Young Bucks)

I have a wrestling bookshelf across the room from me, plus a pile next to me at the moment. Between those we have:

The Eighth Wonder Of The World (Bertrand Herbert/Pat Laparde)

Under The Black Hat (Jim Ross)

Rowdy (Ariel/Colton Tombs)

Master Of The Ring (Tim Hornbaker, which I don’t own but want to pick up)

Take any 320 pages out of those (it can be from any book in any order) and I have a feeling it’s going to be better written/more interesting than the Bucks’ story.

Documentary Of The Year – Owen Hart (Dark Side Of The Ring)

That wasn’t even the best episode of the season, but I can go with it for the emotional impact.

Final tally (ignoring awards for things other than wrestling/regional MVPs and one off wins from outside the big two):

AEW – 19

WWE – 10 (8 negative, with Underrated being kind of a negative as well)

I have no issue buying that AEW was better than Raw, Smackdown and NXT, but come on with some of these. Raw for Worst TV Show? Cole as Worst Announcer? Excalibur as Best Announcer? WWE as Worst Promotion (again: IMPACT IS HAPPY WITH AEW COMING OVER AND INSULTING THEM!)? The Bucks get book of the year?

I’ve said many times before that there is no such thing as being unbiased in reviewing (it’s literally impossible). That’s all well and good, but there is a difference between being somewhat biased and just picking what you like and going against what you don’t like. These awards have felt like they are more the anti-WWE awards for years and if that’s what the people voting think then rock on, but good grief with some of these.

WWE wasn’t great in 2020, but it’s not like AEW was that much better. These would have you believe that 2000 WCW was laughing at WWE and it just wasn’t that bad. I’m not upset about any of them (save for the Promotional Tactic deal, which was just dumb) but I’m also not surprised by some of the most ridiculous ones.

We’re (finally) wrap it up with a pretty important one because this is what people remember most. It might not be a whole match or a promo, but it’s just something that felt important, which you don’t get very often. The good ones are remembered for a long time to come though and that’s what we’re going with today, making it a nice way to end these things. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Note that I’m intentionally leaving off the Brodie Lee Tribute Show. As great as it was, there’s something that doesn’t feel right about calling anything associated with it a positive (if that makes sense).

Roman Reigns Is A Paul Heyman Guy

You can argue this being both the angle, surprise and moment of the year because that’s not the kind of thing you expect to see coming. Reigns has been the mega clean face for so long now and now he’s with Heyman? It’s in the “What are you doing with him Andre?” vein and that is some pretty special praise. Then he wound up being the best heel in recent years, but it all started with this moment.

Brodie Lee Squashes Cody

This is one of the my favorite styles of booking in all of wrestling as AEW completely shifted gears. They almost never do a squash and to do it against one of the biggest stars the company has took a lot of people by surprise. It felt like Lee was FINALLY being given a push that didn’t involve a Vince McMahon parody and I could totally go for that. Then the rematch was awesome too and this set a lot of the stage for that greatness.

Sasha Banks Beats Bayley

There is something great about setting up a match that far in advance and then finally going somewhere with it. Banks vs. Bayley had been built up for years in NXT and WWE and we were actually getting to the big blowoff once and for all. While a lot of this is because it came at the end of a great story, a lot of it is because they had a heck of a fight that was worthy of the Cell. It felt like Banks accomplished something and that isn’t a feeling you get very often.

Le Dinner Debonair

Your tastes may vary on this one but it takes a lot to make my jaw drop in wrestling. The stuff with the two of them messing with the waitress was good enough but then they started singing and had wrestling lyrics to a song and dance routine. It isn’t going to please a lot of people (and believe me I get that), but WOW this was a spectacle and you don’t get those very often (at least not in a positive way).

Edge Returns

If you have followed me for a bit, you know that one of my favorite things is to be wrong about saying never. After nearly nine years out of the ring, it would have been very easy to believe that Edge would never wrestle again (I’m not sure if anyone other than him believed he would.) so hearing Alter Bridge in the Royal Rumble was the kind of moment that made my head snap around. I’d say that warrants a mention.

I’m going with the personal favorite here and I can’t help but smile.

Drew McIntyre Wins The WWE Title

I’ve been a big McIntyre fan from the time he was in Impact to the time I had a rather nice chat with him at WrestleCon and then saw him debut in NXT the next night. It is pretty rare for me to actively cheer for someone to win but as soon as he eliminated Brock Lesnar from the Royal Rumble, I knew what I wanted to see closing Wrestlemania. It’s a shame that he didn’t get to do it in front of 70,000 people, but what a moment it was and I got to smile at wrestling at a time when a lot of us needed to. That’s the Moment of the Year.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

We had to get to this one but it’s kind of one of the most difficult to pick. One of the best things about modern wrestling is they have managed to find a baseline that makes it really hard to have a bad show. AEW and NXT are virtually incapable of it, leaving WWE and whatever Impact has done. Note that this will not included special TV episode because as special as they are, they’re still just TV. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Note: Bear with me on a lot of these, as there just weren’t that many bad shows this year.

Summerslam

The biggest problem here was the fact that it didn’t feel like an important show. There were some nice matches included, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about most of them and that’s a bad thing. Roman Reigns returning at the end kept it from being too bad, but I can barely remember most of this card and that’s not a good sign for what is (allegedly) the second biggest show of the year five months later.

Wrestlemania XXXVI Night Two

As cool as it was to see Drew McIntyre finally win the World Title, it was another one of those matches that comes and goes in about five minutes. That kills so much of the buzz that comes with it, to the point where if this was any other ending, it would have ruined the show. Other than that moment, Charlotte vs. Rhea Ripley, and the good Edge vs. Randy Orton match (yes I still like it), this wasn’t much of a night and certainly didn’t feel like a Wrestlemania. Of course it gets a big pass like everything else this year, but it wasn’t exactly a fun show.

Payback

This show had the major problem of coming a week after Summerslam, giving it the feeling of being the show that had everything not good enough to make it onto the previous pay per view. Roman Reigns won the Universal Title and Keith Lee beat Randy Orton completely clean, but I can’t tell you another thing that happened on this show. They were behind the eight ball coming in and then didn’t exactly deliver, but I’d put this one much more on the scheduling than the wrestling. That may not be fair, but it’s the reality of what happened.

Like it was going to be anything else.

Super Showdown

The Saudi Arabian shows (Remember them?) don’t have a good reputation and you leave them feeling a bit dirty. This time around though it made a lot of people mad, as Goldberg beat the Fiend in a match that was probably only booked to satisfy the people financing the event. It was one of those incredibly frustrating moments and came after a pretty bad (but not the worst) show, which is enough to give it this one pretty easily.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

It’s nice to have a few positive ones included here and having some people move up the ladder is nice to see. There are some people who had a great year in 2020 and showed more of what they can do. These people were hired to these companies for a reason and it’s great to see what they can do when they are given something better to do and a chance. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Bobby Lashley

How in the world do you screw up someone like Lashley? It should be the easiest booking ever but for some reason it took WWE YEARS to figure it out. Believe it or not, the idea was just to have him be the big, unstoppable monster who runs over everyone and destroys them like there is nothing that can stop them. That’s what Impact Wrestling showed Lashley can do and for some reason it took WWE this long to make it work.

Apollo Crews

Who knew that the solution to Crews was to let him win something? I know he might not be a top star or anything like that, but he is certainly someone who should be a star of some sort with all of the natural tools that he has. Crews had a nice US Title reign and I could go with seeing more of him in some big spots. Just let him actually win a few matches and he gets better because he has all of the tools in the first place. Again: how can it be this complicated?

Bianca Belair

I mentioned this in the Rookie/Newcomer section but this was an amazing year for Belair, who went from being a rather irritating heel that I didn’t want to watch to being one of the better women on the roster. She fits in perfectly well on Raw and I would be surprised if she isn’t Women’s Champion at some point in the year. Something has clicked in her and I’m seeing why people spoke so highly of her for so long.

Bayley

As I have asked about her several times in the last year, who knew she had this in her? Bayley was one of the best characters ever in NXT, came up to the main roster and did well(ish) there and then changed absolutely everything to become the longest reigning Smackdown Women’s Champion ever. This was a huge shock for me and while I know Bayley isn’t everyone’s taste, she is such an awesome heel and I’m amazed by how great she is as so many things.

Roman Reigns

What else is there to say? Reigns coming back was one heck of an eye roll inducing moment and then he shocked us all by becoming the best heel in years. It says a lot when Paul Heyman is there as little more than a background character because Reigns is just that awesome at what he does. Reigns is going to be the top star for a LONG time on Smackdown as he’s even raising the viewership, but my goodness how frustrating is it to know what he could have done all these years?

That leaves one person and say it with me.

Jey Uso

Let me say that again.

Jey Uso

What in the world man? I mean……it’s JEY USO main eventing pay per views in singles matches and having some of the best matches in the company all year. I know a lot of it had to do with Reigns but Uso came out of nowhere and stole a lot of shows with the most improbably singles run in a very long time. This isn’t just the most improved but there’s a case for it being the most shocking, so this was one of the easier layups all year.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

This is one that always requires a bit of an explanation and that’s perfectly understandable. When I say rookie/newcomer, I mean someone who made their debut on a show rather than someone who has only just started wrestling. You’re only going to see so many actual rookies on major shows so this makes things a little more interesting with some different variables included. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Timothy Thatcher

His gimmick is that he’s an old school wrestler and believer it or not, he got it over. This is one of those things that will always have a place on any roster because it is something that you can have on any wrestling show. Thatcher has a good look and does all of the holds well, with the Thatch As Thatch Can being a great way to show how completely ruthless he really could be with all of his students and underlings. He’s a bit older, but he fit in really well and should be around for a long time.

Bianca Belair

Belair debuted on Raw just after Wrestlemania and, after a rather lengthy period of nothing, she became one of the more entertaining women on the roster. The natural athleticism is as easy of a drawing card as there is and she has completely won me over in recent months. Who would have thought she would be much better as a face despite having what should be the most natural heel gimmick around?

Ben Carter

You knew he would make the list because he came from absolutely nowhere and turned into one of the more sought after wrestlers around. Carter was a steal for WWE from AEW, though I can’t imagine AEW knew what they had on their hands when he was on Dark. He went from a guy in bad shorts to a total gem and wound up being one of the more compelling newcomers in wrestling this year. I’m looking forward to seeing where he goes from here in NXT UK and beyond, which isn’t something you see very often out of a total newcomer.

Eddie Kingston

Kingston is an interesting case as he has been around for the better part of ever but has only had a cup of coffee in a big promotion. That makes this year all the more frustrating because he turned into one of the best promos in wrestling for most of the summer, tearing into Jon Moxley every chance he could. Kingston was the highlight of AEW most weeks for me and I have yet to get tired of listening to him talk. He comes off like he believes every word he’s saying and that makes him worth every second.

But come on. Like this could be ANYONE else.

Pat McAfee

I’m sorry but what? Who in the world just drops into wrestling and becomes the absolute best heel in the business the second they start talking? I vaguely knew of McAfee when he showed up and wasn’t expecting anything from another ex-football player but WOW was I wrong. McAfee was incredible and put almost every other seasoned veteran to shame on the mic. He then went on to have two pretty great in-ring performances and made me want to see more. Not bad at all for a non-wrestler and completely amazing for a pure rookie.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

This is one of the bigger ones as the angles are the things that carry the audience’s interest. There were some good ones throughout the year and it might be nice to look back at them after so many things went badly this year. Wrestling had a hard time making things work and yet there were more than a few good options to pick from. Hopefully my memory is working this time so let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Who Is Returning To Impact Wrestling?

I’m not sure what else to call this or even if it counts as an angle, but I had a great time watching this over the summer. Someone who had been released from WWE was going to be returning to the company at Slammiversary and it became a huge Whoisit story. That’s one of the best angles that can be done and the big reveals at the end were….well just ok at best, but at least the build up was great.

Golden Role Models Explode

It’s a story that was built up for a very long time and then they finally paid the whole thing off. I’m not sure if it was worth all of the time and effort put in, but everything they set up felt like it was building to a moment and then we actually got there. These two have a very detailed history together and then they kept building on it even more, with the two of them owning all of the women’s titles. It felt like a big deal when they got to the ending and the match in the Cell, with Bayley finally losing the title, was rather good. This was long form storytelling and you don’t get that very often in WWE.

The Rise And Fall Of Hangman Page

Now this one is interesting as I could see it seems like we have only seen part of the story so far. Page started the year hot by winning the Tag Team Titles with Kenny Omega but seemed to like booze more than anything else, including his partner. He continues to seem to be trying to find himself but has no way of knowing where to look. The idea of Page ultimately discovering his inner….whatever it is and dethroning Omega to win the World Title is incredibly intriguing, but for now, I’ll settle for him becoming a lost soul and slowly starting to work his way back to the real world, because the details in this have been very good so far.

Randy Orton vs. The Legends

I’m a sucker for Orton. Even though he has done something similar more than once before, it is something he does rather well and it was nice to see various other legends other than Ric Flair (though of course we had Flair in there too because we have to) involved for a change. The sequence of legends in the ambulance match worked too and Orton even wound up winning the World Title to have the story mean something in the end. Not bad for something that has been done probably half a dozen times before.

Those were all good, but there wasn’t much doubt on this one.

Roman Reigns Is The Head Of The Table

Reigns came back at Summerslam and seemed to have an edge to him but it didn’t exactly feel like some big game changer. Then one night the camera panned out to show Paul Heyman next to him and it was clear that we were in for something new. With the big change taking place, it became very obvious that Reigns wasn’t just a heel but rather THE heel, as he was the monster that everyone had been wanting to see him as for years. This went rolling for a few months and showed no signs of slowing down at the end of the year. Throw in Reigns getting great matches out of Jey Uso and this was the head of the list with no question about it.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

These are the ones you remember. There are so many angles and stories that take place over the course of the year that it is natural to have something stand out as worse than others. WWE tends to have a corner on the market for these things but there are always a few others that sneak through. That may be the case again this year, but you never can tell. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no particular order until the winner at the end.

Raw Underground

I’m not sure how terrible this was, but it was so random and came and went so suddenly that I think it warrants an inclusion. Above all else, it was barely used and didn’t really advance anything, so I’d call it more lame than bad. That being said, I’m rarely a fan of something along the lines of “this is the REAL fighting” on a wrestling show and while it was far from the Brawl For All, it wasn’t exactly great.

Retribution

It bothers me to have to put this one on here but it was such a pathetic story for so long that it’s hard not to. I like most of the people involved and I was really glad to see Ali get something to do, but egads how worthless did this team seem for so long? They’re getting better now, albeit at such a low level that it’s hard to make myself care. T-Bar had some amazing moments in NXT and Ali is one of the easiest people to cheer for in WWE today. Why is this the best they can do for them?

Viking Profits

Now I know this one was popular with some fans and that’s fine enough. I did like pieces of it but the whole thing went on for SO long without actually having a match that it felt more like a badly scripted reality series (The Raiders can play basketball but get confused by various common modern references?) than anything else. The cinematic deal with the ninjas and various Marvel/Star Wars references was entertaining, but (and yes this is the old school traditionalist in me), when you advertise a match after weeks/months of buildup, I’d kind of like to see it happen rather than another wacky skit.

Goldberg Returns, Wins Universal Title

So this one was the most infuriating at the time, especially when it was designed to set up the Battle Of The Spears at Wrestlemania, but Goldberg was in the ring less than ten minutes. We’re long past the point where WWE is going to care about how annoyed fans get at Goldberg, so you just kind of learn to live with it. Annoying yes, but at least Goldberg was gone at Wrestlemania, never to be seen…..never mind.

Then there is this, which is worse for one reason.

Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt

As I saw pointed out on SCF, this went on for THREE MONTHS with three pay per view matches, including Money in the Bank and whatever the Swamp Fight was. WWE seemed to think that Strowman was interesting enough to carry half of this feud and oh sweet goodness no. This clinched the worst as soon as you realized that they were going to a third pay per view no matter what. Strowman isn’t very good in the first place (at least not in situations like this) and then he feuded with Wyatt for three pay per views because he was an enforcer for the Wyatt Family (one of three). This just kept going and that’s enough to be the worst.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs

Tag team wrestling has had a much better 2020 than you likely would have bet on and a lot of that is due to AEW, who treat tag team wrestling as a much more important deal than WWE has in probably decades. WWE has actually done a few nice things as well though and we could be in for some rather good choices this time around. I’m sure there’s another team from somewhere else in there too. Let’s get to it.

As usual, in no order until the winner at the end.

Team McAfee

I’ll get the easiest one out of the way first as Team McAfee was great (or at least McAfee was) with the talking alone being outstanding. It helps that they won some titles and then moved on to the pretty awesome WarGames match. They weren’t around very long, but they made the most out of the time that they have. I could go for Ridge Holland being involved as well, but what we got worked out rather well.

New Day

You almost have to include these guys, even though the trio was split. Even still, the two man version did rather well as the team (in both forms) combined to win multiple Tag Team Titles. That is the kind of thing that at least earns them a spot on the list and it would be hard to imagine New Day not being here. Yes the team is different than it was before, but at least they still had a very good stretch before being split. Kofi and Woods will be fine too, because the team still is that good.

Kenny Omega/Hangman Page

I’m made my thoughts on a lot of AEW’s issues rather clear over the years but these guys figured out how to be an awesome team despite having almost no history together before winning the Tag Team Titles. They went on to have some outstanding matches and a heck of a run with the titles before having a great mini feud as well. Odds are we’ll be seeing that again later, but for now, it was just a great tag run.

Young Bucks

If you’re going to mention Page and Omega, you have to throw these guys in too. As is always the case, the Bucks are going to have all of their flips and dives, but when you can get past those (which are rather good) and have them do a more traditional match, they’re as good as anyone going today. Their matches with FTR and Page/Omega were incredible and I can always go for more of that kind of thing. The flips are their signature deal, but they have all kinds of talent elsewhere and that is worthy of a spot.

The North

This is a team that started off as almost nothing and turned into one of the best things going in wrestling. They held the Tag Team Titles for over a year and it felt like an actually epic moment when they finally lost the things. I know Impact doesn’t get the same kind of viewership and the team is split up, but these guys were an absolute hidden gem and the best thing about the company for a long time.

Golden Role Models

It’s true that the team probably dragged on a bit too long and might have been repetitive at times, but you can’t argue with them having two titles each and absolutely owning both women’s divisions for a long stretch. It’s a story that would only work for the two of them and then they had the big blowoff feud to end Bayley’s record setting reign. That’s a story you don’t get to see very often and it took the right people to tell it, which is what you had here.

Street Profits

They aren’t aimed at me, I don’t know what yum yum juice is and I have no earthly idea what the heck they’re talking about half the time but sweet goodness these guys are fun to watch. It’s like a cruiserweight version of the Hart Foundation with the power and speed (a lot of speed in this case) and they became one of the few truly established teams by hold some form of the Tag Team Titles for most of the year. Ford is the breakout star waiting to happen but Dawkins has more than held up his end and has a heck of a future of his own. I love these guys and thankfully they seem set for a long time to come.

That leaves one and you know what time it is.

Hurt Business

What started off feeling like a new Nation of Domination has turned into its own thing and what a thing it has been. These guys have all you could ask for with some titles, an awesome look (a team in suits will always look great) and one heck of a mouthpiece manager with MVP in a career renaissance. These guys could be around for a long time and have been one of the few highlights of a mostly dreadful year for Raw. They’re pretty easily the best for me and hopefully they’re around long enough to be in the running next year.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs

We were lucky in 2020 as there were some awesome matches to pick from throughout the year. That is one thing that has grown incredibly well in recent years, as the in-ring work has gotten more and more polished. There were choices from multiple promotions and some of them were absolutely great. I had fun making these picks and there are a lot to go through. Let’s get to it.

As usual, no order until the winner at the end.

Stadium Stampede (Double Or Nothing)

Opinions on cinematic matches are going to be all over the place most of the time and that was the case with Stadium Stampede. I had a blast with this as you could see a lot of creativity throughout the whole thing with some great ideas. If nothing else, Hangman Page riding a freaking horse into the stadium to chase Sammy Guevara off was outstanding and the bar fight worked well too. It’s not for everyone, but this was a blast all night long and you could see the effort they put in.

Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso (Clash Of The Champions)

This one makes it for a few reasons, with the biggest one being just how out of nowhere it was. Think about it for a second: it was JEY USO in a pay per view main event and it was awesome. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this and then they went out and had a classic. It wasn’t the kind of a match that was supposed to have a ton of drama and the ending wasn’t in doubt, but they had an outstanding match and the things they pulled off deserve praise.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi (Wrestle Kingdom Night One)

Oh like these two weren’t going to make a list like this. These two put on a Wrestle Kingdom worthy major match and it felt every bit as big as you would expect. New Japan’s wrestlers can do this kind of match better than anyone in the world and even though I wasn’t exactly clear on the story (as tends to be the case), I got sucked into the match, as tends to be the case. Outstanding stuff and, as usual, worth seeing.

Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi (Wrestle Kingdom Night One)

It’s from the same night and might have been the better of the two matches. This was all about high flying and doing one crazy spot after another until the other person couldn’t get back up. Ospreay might be the best in the world at doing just that and they tore the dome down with this one. These two are some of the better and more consistent performers on New Japan’s already great roster and this was no exception.

Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens (Tables Ladders And Chairs)

Much like the Uso match, there was no drama in the finish but they had me coming really close to believing that they might pull the trigger. Owens just kept getting up and the whole thing was perfect given the story that had been told coming in. It was an awesome showcase for both of them with Owens continuing to earn his reputation as one of the best in WWE. It takes a lot to make me want to cheer someone to keep going but they pulled it off here. That’s pretty impressive.

FTR vs. Young Bucks (Full Gear)

This was the dream match that a lot of people had wanted to see for good reason. The question was whether or not FTR could make their old school style work with the Bucks certainly non-old school style and indeed they did, with some rather nice bonuses thrown in. Above all else, there was a stretch of classic double team moves thrown in which was incredibly charming. This was two great teams doing everything you could want to see them do and telling a great story throughout. I know the Bucks don’t have the best reputation, but they are outstanding when they are given the right circumstances.

Undertaker vs. AJ Styles (Wrestlemania XXXVI Night One)

Of all the matches I saw all year, this is the one that I enjoyed more than any other. These guys beat the heck out of each and it was one of the best things WWE has done in a long time. This felt like a fight between two people who wanted to hurt each other and that’s exactly what they did, with all kinds of bonuses thrown in. I left this thinking I could not have asked for more and the fact that it wound up being historic made it even better.

Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov (NXT UK TV – October 29)

This is the definition of the big fight feel as the two of them beat the living daylights out of each other. The match felt like a struggle between two people who were fighting over a prize and that is about as good of a thing as you are going to see. No one brings it in a big match these days like Walter and Dragunov had been built up as a real threat and they lived up to the entire thing.

You could pick a few different matches for this but this one stuck out more than any other.

Kenny Omega/Hangman Page vs. Young Bucks

I wasn’t sure what was coming during the buildup to this one and they blew away the expectations. There were so many ways to go and the question was which way they chose. One of the best feelings in all of wrestling is not knowing what was going to take place going into a huge match and that was the case here. Then there was the match itself, which was two great teams having one amazing sequence after another, including a bunch of near falls and saves. I loved this match and it stuck with me more than anything, which is the best thing you can have.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs