IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: March 8, 2004
Location: Arena At Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Attendance: 7,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s the go home show for Wrestlemania and that likely means a slower than average night. In this case we do have the return of the Rock, which almost guarantees at least some energy. There’s a good chance that there won’t be much wrestling as WWE isn’t going to want to risk an injury six days before the biggest show of the year. Let’s get to it.

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

The arena is full of smoke and Gregorian chanting while a dirty casket is in the ring. I’m thinking the return of Mantaur too.

Opening sequence.

Back in the arena, Lawler thinks Kane might have something to do with this and here’s Kane to prove Lawler right. How nice of them to not keep us waiting. His music is replaced by the chanting as he gets in the ring and turns the casket over, revealing the Urn inside. Kane throws the casket out (breaking the lid off in the process), leaving the mat covered in dirt and mud. He wants to know if this is the best Undertaker can do after weeks of teasing his return. An empty casket and an urn full of ashes?

The Urn is thrown out as well because it’s going to take more than empty promises to defeat him. At Wrestlemania, Undertaker’s Streak and his legacy are done, for good this time. Kane is NOT afraid of him….and there’s the gong. Lightning goes off and the ring starts rising off the ground (you don’t see that every day) and panic ensues. The screen says “This Sunday, it all begins again.” The impressive part: even though it hasn’t been full time in a good many years, the run that would begin on Sunday has gone on longer Undertaker’s entire WWE run up to that point.

Rob Van Dam/Booker T./Dudley Boyz vs. Garrison Cade/Mark Jindrak/La Resistance

The Dudleys qualified for Sunday’s title match after beating Lance Storm and Val Venis last night on Heat. Conway hits Bubba in the back to start as the fans already want tables. It’s off to Dupree, who gets taken down by a neckbreaker because Bubba doesn’t like French guys. Rolling Thunder gets two as JR and King list off other big shows to describe Wrestlemania.

Van Dam goes shoulder first into the post and Jindrak comes in for the armbar. A pair of kicks to the head eventually get Rob out of trouble and over to the corner for the hot tag to Booker. That means even more kicks and a Book End to Jindrak with everyone coming in for the save. Dupree gets in a shot to the back of Booker’s head and Jindrak gets the pin with a clothesline. We’re coming up on Wrestlemania, not Survivor Series.

Rating: D. I get what they were going for here but I’m not going to buy Jindrak and Cade as threats to anything, let alone the Tag Team Titles. I know Evolution wasn’t exactly great with the titles but they were better than most of these goofs. This whole match shows how weak the division is as while the teams are at least different, I have no reason to care about most of them. This whole thing could be left off of Wrestlemania and the only people who would care are these eight guys.

The winners argue over who should get credit for the win.

Chris Jericho is on the phone with Trish Stratus and does that weird kind of talking where he repeats everything the other person is saying that you would never do. He’s going to take out some aggression on Christian this Sunday but Christian jumps him from behind. Christian says he left her boyfriend in Trish’s favorite position: flat on his back.

During the break, Christian bailed in a waiting car.

King has a Wrestlemania pizza delivered as part of a sponsorship deal. Unfortunately they never actually say the name of the company that delivered the pizza so it’s kind of missing the point.

Booker and Van Dam are upset about losing, but Van Dam manages to get in his pose.

Tonight: This Is Your Life Mick Foley. Therefore, we get a clip of This Is Your Life Rock. That still holds up, just from the chemistry between these two.

Rock arrives and runs into his biggest nemesis: Hurricane and Rosey. Hurricane brags about beating Rock, but that was just the Scorpion King. Tonight live though, it’s the Rock. It’s all cool though because he Hurricane liked Walking Tall. Rosey on the other hand got lost and wound up seeing Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.

Hurricane isn’t wild on Rock’s goatee because it reminds him of Coach, who is right behind Rock. Coach, whose height always surprises me, thinks Rock is stealing his look but Rock goes into a rant about Coach kissing up to Bischoff. Eventually Coach gets shoved away and Rock gives Hurricane and Rosey a pep talk.

Evolution vs. Hurricane/Rosey

That better be a heck of a pep talk. Flair punches away at Hurricane in the corner and hits a quick belly to back suplex. Orton comes in to kick at the knee and it’s off to Batista for a spinebuster. The Batista Bomb finishes Hurricane before Rosey is ever tagged in.

Evolution beats up Rosey post match. Orton says this is Rock and Foley’s life: two pathetic comebacks that end in embarrassment on Sunday. There is no stopping Evolution.

Video on the issues between Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit, which resulted in HHH standing tall again.

Chris Benoit vs. Matt Hardy

I wonder if Matt, who never irons his clothes and occasionally cheats on his diet, can last as long as Rosey and Hurricane. Matt talks trash and says Benoit winning the title doesn’t matter because he’s V1. That earns him a backbreaker and a snap suplex so Matt tries bailing to the floor. Back in and Matt grabs a Side Effect for two but gets caught in the rolling German suplexes. The Crossface makes Matt tap in a hurry. To recap: Jindrak and Cade are on Wrestlemania but Matt is stuck in this role?

Post match JR gets in the ring to talk to Benoit about how long he’s worked to get here. Benoit is getting in the ring with two of the best ever and he’s coming out on top. Cue Shawn to say he appreciates what Benoit has accomplished more than anyone, but for Shawn, it’s about end a “nearly ten year grudge with HHH”.

Oh come on. HHH debuted in WCW in February 1994, didn’t start hanging out with Shawn until the summer of 1997, and if you REALLY stretch and say their issues started the day HHH took over DX, it’s less than six years. It’s more like a year and a half, which is still way shorter than Benoit’s 18 year path to the title.

Benoit doesn’t want to hear it (good man) because Wrestlemania is about walking out as World Heavyweight Champion. Violence is teased but Shawn eventually wishes him good luck. They shake hands but here’s HHH to interrupt. HHH thinks this whole thing is ridiculous because he shouldn’t have to defend the title against two men in one night. The two of them made a pact to take the title from HHH so they need to get used to disappointment.

HHH always overcomes the odds and manipulates the situation to always be in his advantage. He’s always found a way to have an edge and this Sunday that’s their egos. Shawn’s ego isn’t going to let him leave with the title because he’ll have to be the best, which is all the edge that HHH needs. I know it’s the main event of Wrestlemania but HHH almost didn’t need to be here. The Shawn/Benoit section alone was quite good.

Foley runs into Spike Dudley for a preview of tonight’s This Is Your Life. I have no idea why this needed to be included.

Lita vs. Molly Holly

Molly is extra aggressive to start and chokes on the rope and gets two off a backbreaker. We’re already in the chinlock as JR hypes up Wrestlemania as being over four hours long. I pine for those days. Lita fights up with a sloppy headscissors and the reverse Twist of Fate for a pair of twos. Back up and Molly gets a rollup, grabbing the rope for the fast pin.

Post match Molly goes for Lita’s hair but Victoria runs in for the save as the rapid fire last second pushing continues.

We look back at Austin running over Vince’s limo last week.

We recap Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg. It started at the Royal Rumble when they stared and sneered a lot, followed by Brock causing Goldberg to be eliminated. Goldberg cost Lesnar the Smackdown World Title next month and the Wrestlemania match was made. Steve Austin was added as guest referee to try and keep things interesting, at least partially because Goldberg is only showing up for the big match and not TV. Lesnar must have been taking notes. With Goldberg gone until Wrestlemania, Lesnar F5’d Austin last week and stole his ATV.

Here’s Austin for a chat and a beer. Austin has been speared and taken an F5 so he really doesn’t care what happens. He’ll be playing by the rules on Sunday but if someone wants to get physical, Austin is read to hand out knuckle sandwiches. Before we get there though, he needs to go to Atlantic City for some drinking and gambling but he’s also heading to Smackdown to get his ATV back. A quick recap wraps things up as Austin really didn’t have anything to say here.

We look back at Christian attacking Trish two weeks ago to put her on the shelf.

Chris Jericho vs. Steven Richards

Before the match, we see Christian’s attack earlier tonight, including him leaving after. Jericho has a cut on his head as a nice souvenir. Richards gets knocked down as he gets in with Jericho needing to blow off some steam. He’s a little too hotheaded to start and gets sent into the post twice in a row, followed by a quite logical armbar from Richards. The comeback doesn’t take long and Jericho tries the Walls but here’s Christian to Trish’s music. The distraction lets Richards grab the cheap rollup pin.

Post match Jericho sends Richards into the steps.

Hall of Fame video. It’s still an interesting class but lacking a top name.

Wrestlemania rundown with Michael Cole and Tazz joining us for the Smackdown matches.

Stacy Keibler and Jackie Gayda are in the back to talk about their Playboy match (when you can’t get in the arena on the go home show, it shows where you are on the card). After singing about bringing milkshakes to the yard (hence why this is off the Network), Johnny Blaze comes in but calls himself Johnny Spade (The multiple last names begin. Also of note: Johnny Spade was the name of a longtime Ohio Valley Wrestling mainstay so it’s not exactly an original name.). He’s willing to be their manager and even gives them a card. Johnny leaves and Eric Bischoff comes in, saying Johnny is made for this. And moving on.

Here’s Rock for This Is Your Life. Rock promises to win on Sunday so let’s get Foley out here right now. After a quick introduction, confetti falls and we get the famous video of Foley diving off of a house. The first guest: the woman who owned the house, Mrs. Doris Snyder! Foley: “I remember her!”

It’s a little old lady and Foley remembers eating milk, cookies and pie from her porch. A misunderstanding ensues with Foley saying all the kids, including the girls came up for pie. Foley: “Stray dogs too.” Rock: “STRAY DOGS???” Snyder is no longer opening her porch for pie but she is leaving her back door open for strudel. Rock panics again and tells her to stand in the corner so she’ll stop checking him out. I remember this one live and Rock’s reactions are incredible.

Next up: the Snuka vs. Muraco cage match, with Foley hanging out with the other 184 future wrestlers who were all in the building that night. Therefore, our second guest is Jimmy Snuka himself. Foley is thrilled to see his idol and offers Snuka to come to Wrestlemania. Rock talks about Snuka’s crazed 80s promos (the word he uses) where no one knew what Snuka was saying.

Snuka doesn’t like that, but Snyder grabs Rock’s arm. Rock: “Tell the Rock you are not looking at the Superfly’s a**!” Snuka: “Brother Rock, the Superfly loves pie!” Foley: “This is excellent!” Rock tells them to go get a room at Holiday Inn on her with Foley saying she was quite a gymnast in her day.

With the two of them gone, Rock talks about Foley’s writing career. The third guest: Bob Thompson, the first person to ever review Have A Nice Day. Foley says cut the music because Thompson found the book boring because wrestling, and wrestling fans, were idiots. The fans are all over the guy (as they should be) but Rock says Thompson represents everyone who has ever told Foley no.

The critics have been wrong, just like the people who say they can’t beat Evolution at Wrestlemania. Thompson criticizes Walking Tall and yeah there’s the sock in his mouth. Dude had it coming. Cue Evolution for the brawl (without talking first, as it should be) but Rock breaks up the triple powerbomb. That’s it for the comeback though as the Batista Bomb lays Rock out to end the show. This was long but Rock more than carried it, with his facial expressions over Snyder and Snuka being hysterical. Check this out if you have the time.

Overall Rating: C+. The Raw before Wrestlemania is always a different kind of show and that has to be taken into account. This is a night where the wrestling isn’t the point because it’s all about hyping you up for the big show. They actually did that too, as I came into this not really looking forward to Sunday and came out wanting to watch it again, at least a little bit more than I did earlier.

The big stuff with Rock and Foley was great, the first half of the Shawn/HHH/Benoit segment was good and everything got a little time (save for Goldberg of course, but that match and story has been such a mess that it’s not even a surprise anymore). As a stand alone show it doesn’t work, but for a go home show it did what it was supposed to do.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2003 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/07/23/new-book-kbs-complete-2003-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: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 6, 2018
Location: Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman

With less than two weeks to go before Summerslam, we have the main event set, along with the issues between Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle. It’s hard to say what else we might get set up in the next two shows, but tonight will be focused on Ronda Rousey’s in-ring TV debut. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a video showing the whole Lesnar/Paul Heyman/Angle story from last week.

Opening sequence.

Here are Angle and Baron Corbin with Kurt hyping up Rousey’s match tonight. She’s a former UFC Champion who has no problem fighting on Raw. Corbin warns Angle to watch it but Angle goes on a rant about Brock having no integrity after last week. Heyman still has his job though because he did get Lesnar out to the ring before the show. Cue Roman Reigns to interrupt to say Lesnar attacked because the Big Dog wasn’t here to protect the yard.

Corbin laughs at this but Reigns is worried about a potential Lesnar suspension. That’s not happening and the Summerslam match is still on. Angle wants to see Reigns give Lesnar the beating he deserves, which Corbin thinks is rather unprofessional. Reigns accuses Corbin of running away last week but Corbin says he left after beating up Finn Balor. The guy who actually won the Universal Title. Corbin yells at Angle for just being the guy that makes matches so Angle makes Reigns vs. Corbin right now.

Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin

Corbin hits him in the face before the bell but Reigns gives him a Superman Punch for two. Back from an early break with Corbin sliding under the bottom rope for the clothesline, giving Reigns a look like he just dislodged something from his throat. We hit the chinlock for a bit until Corbin just slams Reigns head first onto the mat. He’s not the most diverse guy in the ring but he can make things look painful.

Another chinlock goes on for a few more moments so Reigns fights up with a clothesline to the floor. The apron dropkick connects but Corbin posts him to send us to a second break in less than nine minutes. Back with Corbin holding a chinlock (dude, enough) and Reigns fighting up with clotheslines (dude, also enough).

The Deep Six gets two but Reigns hits his second (a lot of repeating in this match) Superman Punch for the same. Corbin looks to take a walk, drawing out Finn Balor to cut him off. The third Superman Punch, this one off the steps, drops Corbin and the spear gives Reigns the pin at 18:45.

Rating: D. Back in the 80s, Dusty Rhodes yelled at Big Bubba Rogers for botching a move. His words: “Don’t do s*** you don’t know how to do.” That’s the case with putting Baron Corbin in these long matches. He doesn’t know how to do them and we’ve seen him go nearly forty minutes combined in the last two weeks with about six chinlocks combined. Corbin has two cool moves. Let him do those, then get out in about eight minutes. The matches are boring and Reigns wasn’t helping things here. Also, who is Reigns going 18 minutes with a guy like Corbin less than two weeks before the World Title match at Summerslam?

Post match Balor dropkicks Corbin into the corner and hits the Coup de Grace.

We recap Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre jumping Seth Rollins again last week.

Rollins comes in to see Angle and gets a tag match set up for tonight with a partner to be named. They wouldn’t bring Dean Ambrose back tonight would they?

Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley

Fallout from last week’s brawl in the locker room. Roode slugs away and dropkicks Rawley off the apron as we take a break. Back with Rawley holding a waistlock (better than another chinlock) and dropping a knee to the ribs for two. The waistlock goes on again (Mojo: “How you feel right now? A little bit glorious?”) until Roode fights back with more right hands. Roode’s neckbreaker drops Rawley and the Blockbuster does it again. Rawley tries a fireman’s carry but Roode slips out and hits the Glorious DDT for the pin at 8:08.

Rating: D+. You build Mojo up for a few weeks and have Roode pin him clean? Other than the song, what is there to like about Roode? The match was more boring stuff as neither guy showed any energy and, just like the first match, a lot of it was spent in a hold on the mat. The ribs didn’t even go anywhere this time. I like Rawley so I’m annoyed to see him lose, but having it be to Roode is even worse.

Elias is in the back and seems to be in the middle of filming another documentary. The first one was decent enough so why not.

Here’s Elias to play some guitar. He brags about the album’s success, which is pretty impressive to only have four songs. The documentary came out last week but it was wrong, which is why he’s filming his own version. Elias wants the camera crew to circle around him but the audience isn’t right. Maybe their faces could be blurred or cropped out with another crowd? I don’t think Elias knows what cropping means. Elias isn’t happy, just like he wasn’t last week when bobby Lashley interrupted him.

Cue Lashley to say that he liked the original documentary but Elias wasn’t a fan. That thing made him seem egotistical! Lashley is here to steal the spotlight, just like when he came back in April. Lashley’s comeback has been a joke, but he doesn’t want to hear anything else from Elias. The filming crew leaves and Elias throws a clipboard at him so the beatdown can be on. Lashley gets in a spinebuster and has the cameraman film while he gives Elias the delayed suplex. At least do a delayed Jackhammer.

Cole makes it clear that Ambrose will NOT be Rollins’ partner. Thanks for taking care of the option people might be interested in seeing.

Tyler Breeze offers to be Rollins’ partner, saying he’s kind of gorgeous if you’re into that whole Crossfit Jesus look. Breeze offers the Shield fist when Reigns comes in to say he has Seth’s back. In case 18 minutes of Reigns wasn’t enough for you.

Titus O’Neil vs. Rezar

Rezar knocks Titus down as we hear about his MMA career. Titus’ right hands give him a breather and a big boot rocks Rezar. Akam offers a distraction though and Rezar gets in a big boot of his own. A spinebuster finishes Titus at 3:12.

Rating: D. At the beginning of this match, the announcers talked about Titus being almost a hometown boy here after college and his charity’s big Back to School Bash event, which was a really cool event. Better make sure to do this match, which could have been swapped with last week’s match IMMEDIATELY because this great feud, which started with the Authors squashing Titus Worldwide in two minutes, needs to be advanced. Little things like that almost bother me as much as the big dumb things they do.

Braun Strowman vs. Jinder Mahal

Clip of Rollins and Reigns doing the Shield pose with a fan over the weekend.

Corbin gives Angle a phone call from Stephanie McMahon, who has an order for him. Angle isn’t pleased.

We get a sitdown interview with Reigns to talk about his match with Lesnar. We go through their whole history, including the great Wrestlemania XXXI match, the pretty bad Wrestlemania XXXIV match, the stupid Greatest Royal Rumble match and then last week’s Lesnar segment, which really had nothing to do with Reigns. He’s sick of Lesnar using WWE and disrespecting the fans, so Lesnar is learning a lesson at Summerslam.

This was a long recap of their story, and did little more than tell us that it’s been going on for a very long time. Your stat of the night: Lesnar has held the title 487 days. He’s had five televised title defenses and three of them have been against Reigns. Two of them have also involved Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman. In total, four different people have gotten title shots in 487 days.

Corbin tells Reigns that he can’t be Rollins’ partner due to Stephanie’s orders. If he tries to wrestle, he’ll lose his Summerslam title shot. Handicap match time, but only after Reigns punches Corbin in the ribs.

Balor vs. Corbin is set for Summerslam.

Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre/Dolph Ziggler

Rollins slaps McIntyre in the face and gets a chase going, setting up a low superkick to really put him down. Ziggler distracts Rollins on top though and McIntyre tries to catch a high crossbody. I say try because McIntyre kind of drops him on the knee but Rollins seems to be ok.

The armbar goes on for a good while until Ziggler comes in for the first time. It’s not a good time though as he misses a charge in the corner, allowing Rollins a much needed breather. McIntyre posts himself and it’s a Sling Blade to Ziggler. The suicide dive sends Ziggler into the barricade and there’s the buckle bomb back inside. Rollins avoids the Fameasser but McIntyre runs him over again. The superkick puts Rollins away at 7:07.

Rating: C-. I can’t count how many times I’ve said this in recent years, but I’m already burned out watching these two fight. Starting with Ziggler’s title win on June 18, that’s the sixth time he and Rollins have been against each other in some form. You have this big of a roster and there’s no other way to do this feud? Have them fight some jobbers to the stars and then cut promos. Is that really thinking outside the box anymore?

Replays show that Ziggler wasn’t legal. Ok then.

Video on Alicia Fox, trying to make her seem important before her match with Rousey. Did you know she’s been on Total Divas???

B-Team vs. Revival

Non-title. B-Team now has a very new theme, sounding like a high school cheer. I liked their old theme but this fits them much better. Wilder and Axel start with the former being taken into the wrong corner. Dallas comes in and gets the same treatment, with Revival clubberin away. It’s off to Dawson for a chinlock….and there go the lights. They come back up and it’s Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt on the apron instead. The two of them come in and it’s a no contest at 3:10.

Rating: D. Well at least Revival didn’t lose. We can have the triple threat match at Summerslam because Heaven forbid we don’t have one of those crammed in. This division isn’t in great shape right now and Matt/Bray aren’t really adding anything to it other than a face team. But hey, at least another comedy team gets the titles.

We get a sitdown interview with Paul Heyman, who doesn’t know where he stands with Brock Lesnar. Brock has disconnected his phone number and won’t respond to intermediaries. Heyman looks like he’s about to burst into tears as he says Lesnar is just going to get annoyed at this interview. He considers Lesnar a friend and this isn’t how he pictured it ending.

They had talked about riding off into the sunset together with the Universal and UFC Heavyweight Championships on his shoulders. Heyman starts crying but says just do it. When asked about any potential new clients, Heyman says it would be inconceivable just a week ago, but doesn’t say year or no. He still picks Lesnar, because he’s never been so angry. Reigns doesn’t stand a chance. This was the best thing on the show tonight, mainly because it was actually different.

We look back at Strowman turning over the stage.

Summerslam recap.

Riott Squad vs. Bayley/Sasha Banks

Sasha starts with Morgan and sends her face first into the middle buckle. Bayley comes in for the sliding clothesline and an armbar on Logan. The middle rope crossbody gets two but Bayley goes hard into the corner to put her in trouble. Back from a break with Logan holding a chinlock (of course) to keep Bayley down. Bayley powers up and sends her into the corner before avoiding a charge from Morgan.

The hot tag brings in Banks to clean house, including a knee to Logan’s face. The super hurricanrana from Bayley sets up the top rope Meteora for two on Logan with Morgan making the save. Bayley loads up a dive from the apron but a hooded woman pulls Morgan out of the way. The hood comes off to reveal Ruby Riott, whose distraction lets Logan roll Banks up for the pin at 10:39.

Rating: D+. I’m glad to have Ruby back but I’m so over the Bayley/Sasha program. Are we supposed to be setting up a handicap match for Summerslam? We went from the I love you to this in the span of three weeks? I can understand why they would back off of that, but a little closure, even a line explaining why it’s barely been mentioned since then, would have been nice. Or at least any kind of story to be seen here.

Video on Ronda Rousey’s WWE career so far, including her success and being in the title match when Alexa Bliss cashed in Money in the Bank, setting up their match at Summerslam.

Next week: B-Team vs. Revival vs. Matt Hardy/Bray Wyatt for the Tag Team Titles.

Ronda Rousey vs. Alicia Fox

Natalya and Alexa Bliss are the seconds. Before the match, Bliss is asked about Rousey and mocks the interviewer for not being able to come up with something better. Fox shows a clip of herself beating up Rousey last week and talks about how great Rousey is at everything else. Was she the captain of the Raw Survivor Series team? Bliss cuts her off and thanks Fox for everything she’s done. Rousey can deal with what’s left of Rousey in Brooklyn and here’s Rousey to cut her off.

We get the Big Match Intros and Fox chills in the corner at the bell. Rousey isn’t impressed by the trash talk and shoves her to the floor. Back in and Fox bails right back to the floor again. A Bliss distraction doesn’t work very well as Natalya cuts her off, only to be posted. Fox tries a charge at the distracted Rousey but the referee stops her for some reason.

Fox pounds away in the corner….and there’s the death stare. The rights and lefts have Fox rocked and the judo throws have Fox rocked. Fox bails for the third time but Rousey follows her for a whip into the barricade. Back in and Fox gets suplexed with ease, followed by the armbar (with a lot of shouting to Bliss) for the tap at 3:47.

Rating: C+. The stuff where Rousey was smashing Fox was fun but this would have been better served as bell, armbar, bell. To be fair though, it’s kind of hard to complain when Rousey beating the heck out of people is some of the most entertaining stuff WWE can do. Maybe not as fun as WWE trying to turn Fox into something worthy of the spot but still fun nonetheless.

Post match Rousey gets interviewed by Bliss tries a sneak attack. Rousey flips her over and gives Bliss a look saying “are you kidding me?” Bliss bails and Rousey promises to win the title.

Overall Rating: D. This was the rough show that only WWE can pull off. The Heyman promo and the Rousey destruction were fun but other than that, it felt like WWE dragging us along on the way to Summerslam whether we like it or not. It’s the same problem that has been around for so long: it’s really hard to make myself are about the same matches on pay per view that I’ve seen on TV so many times already. The Reigns vs. Lesnar stuff has been a rough sit and I have a feeling it’s not going to be the end of Reigns being screwed out of the title. I didn’t like this show and it was getting harder and harder to watch all night long.

Results

Roman Reigns b. Baron Corbin – Spear

Bobby Roode b. Mojo Rawley – Glorious DDT

Rezar b. Titus Worldwide – Spinebuster

Jinder Mahal b. Braun Strowman via DQ when Strowman used the briefcase

Dolph Ziggler/Drew McIntyre b. Seth Rollins – Superkick

B-Team vs. Revival went to a no contest when Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy interfered

Riott Squad b. Bayley/Sasha Banks – Rollup to Banks

Ronda Rousey b. Alicia Fox – Armbar

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2003 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/07/23/new-book-kbs-complete-2003-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: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: March 1, 2004
Location: Gwinnett Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 9,500
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Last week saw three matches added to Wrestlemania, which makes sense given how soon the show is actually taking place. There are still a few things to hammer out though and that can be done in the next two weeks. Maybe they can find a better way to do things than by just having Vince stand in the ring and make matches. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a recap of Vince making Undertaker vs. Kane, Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar and the Playboy tag match last week. That’s certainly a way to set up a show in a hurry.

Opening sequence, which is cut off by Austin’s entrance to deal with La Resistance, who are protesting in the ring. You don’t see that very often and it’s a cool way to open the show. One Stunner drops Rob Conway and Sylvan Grenier runs away. Austin wants to deal with Lesnar and still isn’t happy with Goldberg spearing him a few weeks back. He’s going to call the match right down the middle but he’s ready to beat either one of them up at a moment’s notice.

Before he can get to the closing catchphrase, here’s Vince McMahon for a flashback showdown. Vince thinks Austin is a lousy referee and is going to get beaten up by both guys at Wrestlemania. Wouldn’t that make Vince very happy? Vince makes fun of Austin’s ATV so Austin runs down its specifics and thinks Vince has a 15-20 yard head start.

The chase is on and Vince bails to the parking lot where his limo is waiting. Austin drives over that (with a convenient camera inside the card) and Vince gets away. This was a big long ad for Goldberg vs. Lesnar without having Goldberg or Lesnar because things are getting a little screwy behind the scenes. When all else fails, go with Austin vs. Vince again because warming it up again six years later can’t hurt.

Victoria/Lita vs. Jazz/Molly Holly

Molly and Jazz get in an argument before the bell so Jazz walks out on the match. Victoria rolls Molly up for the pin in about thirty seconds. Jazz leaving didn’t change a thing.

Post match Molly beats the heck out of Victoria and pulls out some of her hair.

We look at the issues between Chris Benoit and Shawn Michaels over the last few weeks.

Michaels doesn’t think he and Benoit can get along.

John Hennigan comes in to see Eric Bischoff and dubs himself Johnny Blaze. Some sucking up works as Bischoff makes him his apprentice. Austin comes in and stares Bischoff down as Bischoff says he had nothing to do with Lesnar last week. Now it’s Molly coming in demanding a rematch at Wrestlemania. Since she has Victoria’s hair in her hand, Austin makes it title vs. hair.

Molly panics at the idea of being bald. Austin: “You got a problem with bald headed people?” Hennigan tries to offer a handshake and gets a hard stare before Austin leaves. Apparently Molly and Victoria were told they couldn’t have a regular match but jumped at the chance for a hair match as it was the only way they were getting on the card. That’s some dedication to your craft.

Rosey/Hurricane vs. Mark Jindrak/Garrison Cade

The winners are in the four way for the title at Wrestlemania. Hurricane spins out of a wristlock to start and stops Cade with the superhero pose. It’s already off to Rosey for a kick to the chest and some superheroic arm cranking. The young guys try to pound Hurricane down to no avail so it’s a backbreaker for some more success.

A slam gives Cade two, showing off those developmental skills. Cade puts on a reverse chinlock but the power of a finger bite gets Hurricane out. It’s back to Rosey for the big Samoan drop but Jindrak hits a LOUD left hand to knock him off the top. A rollup with tights gives Cade the pin and the title shot.

Rating: D-. That’s one of the least necessary Wrestlemania appearances I can think of. You can almost guarantee a three way for the titles but the world was waiting for the thing to become a four way. Cade and Jindrak are a nothing team that barely ever even gets on the roster but they’re getting a Wrestlemania title shot? Why? Just to expand a match? That’s not exactly the best idea in the world.

Benoit only trusts himself, including in the tag match tonight.

Clip of Mick Foley’s great interview from last week where he got upset and promised to be here for revenge tonight.

Here’s Rico in the ring to introduce Stacy Keibler and Jackie Gayda to showcase their evening gowns. Rico: “These ladies are so hot they even make Rico melt.” I have no idea why I’m supposed to be more interested in seeing them in long gowns than the usual very revealing outfits they were but WWE has some weird notions. Rico talks about how gorgeous they are over and over again until Kane finally comes out (seemed like a missed cue).

In a surprising display of chivalry, Rico charges at him and then gets back up to save the women again. He gets chokeslammed for it but at least he tried. Kane promises to persecute Undertaker at Biblical proportions at Wrestlemania. I’m not sure what that means but Kane knows how to make it scary. The gong goes off and the blue lights come on, followed by an Undertaker symbol bursting into flames. JR thinks Kane might be afraid. Thanks for clarifying that the guy who looks terrified is actually scared.

Shawn and Benoit are in the back and nearly come to blows before their match. Benoit acts kindly by allowing Shawn to go first, though it might be due to Shawn’s music playing.

Shawn Michaels/Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton/Batista

Benoit gets to start with Batista and drop toeholds him into the buckle. With Batista staggered, Benoit just launches himself for a forearm to the face and a knockdown. Shawn comes in and crotches Batista against the post (with Batista’s face freezing in a funny visual. He’s fine enough to try a Batista Bomb but Shawn punches his way to freedom. A whip into the corner works a bit better and it’s off to Orton for some stomping in the corner

Evolution starts taking turns on Shawn with a wide range of kicks and punches to the face. The HBK chants begin and like a good face, Shawn slugs away to little avail. Batista’s chokebomb is countered into a DDT (nice one) and it’s off to Benoit. A dragon screw legwhip takes Batista down and it’s time to roll some German suplexes. The Crossface goes on but Orton knocks Shawn into the hold for the break.

That’s enough for Benoit, who shoves Shawn but gets punched in the jaw. All four are down and we take a break. Back with Orton holding Benoit in a bow and arrow before switching to a bodyscissors with a pull of the face. JR: “Orton with those powerful legs. Who does he think he is? Joe Stecher?” Orton sticks with the legs by dropping one for two and we hit the reverse chinlock. Batista comes in for a half crab but Benoit fights up and scores with an enziguri.

Shawn doesn’t stick his hand out for a tag though, meaning Benoit has to suplex Orton and get about a foot away to bring Michaels in. Shawn cleans house and drops the elbow on Orton but Batista breaks up Sweet Chin Music. Everything breaks down and Benoit hits a German suplex on Orton, only to have Shawn accidentally crotch him on top. Shawn covers Orton but Benoit comes off with the Swan Dive anyway. The real fight is on and Orton rolls Shawn up for the pin.

Rating: B. This was much more storytelling than action, though the action was good. It’s also a weird way to do things as Benoit and Michaels look weak before the biggest match of the year. I guess you want to tease that HHH could win because of their issues, but HHH has looked strong long enough. Let Benoit and Shawn catch up to him a bit (Benoit needs it far more than Shawn) and don’t have them lose less than two weeks before Wrestlemania.

Post match Shawn and Benoit go at it until HHH runs in and Evolution beats the two of them down. The FOLEY chants go nowhere as HHH Pedigrees both guys.

Post break Foley arrives and Evolution isn’t happy, though they think it’s time to give Foley his weekly beating.

It’s time for the Highlight Reel, even though Chris Jericho is injured. Instead here’s Christian and we’ll be having the Peep Show. Last week Christian was a little rough with Trish and had her screaming in pain, but after that he had her in his hotel room and she was screaming in pleasure. Both things were a little rough but sometimes it’s the only way to go.

See, Christian did all of this in the name of tough love, and there is going to be more tough love at Wrestlemania when he faces Jericho one on one. This brings out Jericho to no music and Christian is scared, despite Jericho’s noticeable limp. Jericho charges in and the fight is on with Christian getting away off a kick to the knee.

We look back at the ATV deal.

Wrestlemania rundown. Another team will be announced for the Raw Tag Team Titles on Heat because IT MUST BE A FOUR WAY!

A tow truck steals Austin’s ATV. So he just left it sitting there?

HHH leaves because Evolution can handle Foley by themselves. Orton has something in mind.

Booker T./Rob Van Dam vs. Matt Hardy/Test

Non-title, meaning Test and Matt, who paid cash for his home and has more money than you, can’t win the titles. During the entrances, JR, asks why someone isn’t calling the cops about the ATV. Fair point, which isn’t likely to ever be addressed. As things get started, JR says that Jindrak and Lance Cade have already qualified, making me wonder again why they ever bothered with Garrison.

Van Dam dives onto Matt to start but gets taken outside for a whip into the steps. Back in and Test mocks Van Dam’s finger pointing and gets rolled up for two as JR suggests Lawler would get mad if he wore a crown. Rob kicks Matt down and the lukewarm tag brings in Booker. Everything breaks down and the Book End gets two on Test. Booker kicks Test down but stops for a Spinarooni, because Booker never learns. Matt gets in a cheap shot but Test kicks him down by mistake. The ax kick sets up the Five Star for the pin.

Rating: D. Just a quick tag match here as Booker and Van Dam continue to gain momentum, even though it’s not like they’re on top of a tough division in the first place. That being said, it’s not like either of them have anything better to do anyway so this is as good as anything else they could be doing. The match was nothing, but did you expect anything else?

Here’s Foley for the big show closing chat. He promised to be here tonight but here’s Evolution to cut him off. JR: “It’s time to pay Satan.” Well that’s a jump up in intensity. Orton doesn’t get why Foley is here because the weekly beatdowns are starting to hurt Orton’s hand. Foley can have the one on one match at Wrestlemania if he wants one but Foley knows that it’s too good to be true.

There is never going to be a one on one match because Evolution (Foley: “You watch your step Flair. I’ll knock you out!”) is always going to be around. Foley has something else in mind: a 3-2 handicap match (POP for that) with a special partner. Orton knows where this is going and tells Foley to go find a payphone and call Mr. Big Shot. Go tell Mr. Walking Tall that neither of them is watching after Wrestlemania.

Foley leaves to go make the call but has a better idea. How about Orton tells him to his face? Foley never said he was coming back to Raw alone, so cue the Rock at a full sprint. Orton looks terrified (well duh) and the Rock N Sock Connection cleans house with the Claw, Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow to Orton. Rock, with a goatee, says Evolution’s days of beating on Foley are over because Evolution is invited to a one of a kind beating at Wrestlemania. Catchphrases are hit to end the show on a hot note.

Overall Rating: C-. The Wrestlemania build is starting to suffer as there is so much stuff going on that they’re trying to cover everything at once and it’s starting to collapse. The triple threat is getting the attention it deserves but other than that, it feels like they’re throwing in a bunch of people onto the show instead of trying to build the stories up into something interesting. That pay per view card video felt really heavy and that’s not what you want going into one of the biggest shows of all time.

This week’s show wasn’t bad but there’s very little that I really want to see. Goldberg vs. Lesnar is in a weird place (mainly due to contract issues) where neither can show up and the best story is over on Smackdown. That leaves you with HHH standing tall for the moment and Austin vs. McMahon again, at least for the time being. It leaves the build feeling somewhere between weak and messy, and that’s not a good place to be.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2003 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/07/23/new-book-kbs-complete-2003-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: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 30, 2018
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman

You can tell it’s a big night around here as Brock Lesnar is actually gracing us with his presence for the first time in three months. Now a lot of people would find that to be a really bad idea but it’s been the case for a long time in WWE. Just to make it work even better, he’ll be confronting Roman Reigns. Let’s get to it.

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

In memory of Nikolai Volkoff and Brian Christopher.

We open with a recap of Reigns beating Bobby Lashley last week to become #1 contender.

Lesnar is here. The fact that that is newsworthy tells you a lot about WWE today.

Here’s Reigns in the arena to a mixed reaction. He thanks the fans in Miami for always having a special energy that you don’t get everywhere else. Reigns thanks Lashley for last week because that was a heck of a fight and he respects Lashley for it. He doesn’t respect Lesnar though because Lesnar doesn’t have time to show up here like he does in the UFC. Lesnar is coming to Summerslam and Reigns is going to hit him in the mouth.

This brings out Paul Heyman, to talk about the definition of insanity being trying the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result. If that’s true, Reigns should be in a padded room somewhere. This week’s spoiler: Heyman is going to put Reigns down and then become a two sport champion.

Reigns: “Just shut up Paul.” He wants Lesnar out here right now but Heyman says Lesnar will be out here if and when he feels like it. Lesnar will be at Summerslam but Reigns cuts him off, saying if Lesnar shows up he’ll be sent back to the UFC as Reigns’ b****. Cole says the show is in three weeks, annoying me as usual. It’s twenty days, not three weeks.

Brock is in the back reading Backwoodsman Magazine when Heyman comes in. He doesn’t watch the show so he didn’t hear what Reigns said. Heyman recorded Reigns’ statements but Lesnar throws the phone against the wall and continues reading. I hope Heyman bills him for that.

Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin

Yes this is still going. Corbin powers him into the corner to start and shoulders Balor down as it’s one sided to start. A middle rope dropkick gets Balor out of trouble as we’re firmly in power vs. speed here. Corbin clotheslines the heck out of him though and we take a break. Back with Corbin grabbing a chinlock and shaking the heck out of Balor.

That’s broken up but Corbin does his slide underneath the ropes for the clothesline back inside. The slow beating continues (makes sense as Corbin doesn’t see Balor as a threat) and it’s off to a chinlock. One heck of a right hand drops Balor again and a weak CORBIN SUCKS chant starts up. Balor sweeps the leg and hits a double stomp, followed by an enziguri to put Corbin on the floor. The big flip dive drops him again and we take a second break.

Back again with Balor holding a chinlock, just in case you didn’t get the point the first time. The chokeslam is countered into a rollup and the Sling Blade rocks Corbin. Balor’s shotgun dropkick gets caught in a chokebreaker and Corbin hammers away, showing his first anger and aggression over eighteen minutes in. A very spinny Deep Six gets two and Balor rolls to the floor where he hits the shotgun dropkick against the ropes. Back in and the Coup de Grace misses, setting up the End of Days to give Corbin the pin at 20:14(!).

Rating: C-. This match was a great example of a lot of the problems in WWE. This was a rematch from Extreme Rules where Corbin got overconfident and lost. Therefore, Corbin, whose entire issue in this feud has been that he doesn’t think anything of Balor, should have been taking this more seriously and being extra aggressive. That happened for about thirty seconds of the match with Corbin acting like everything was normal. They acted as if the Extreme Rules match, as in the PAY PER VIEW match (which went 8:20, or less than half the length of this), didn’t change anything. If it doesn’t matter, why should I watch?

Kurt Angle yells at Heyman about Lesnar not appearing in front of the live crowd. If Angle wants to fix things, he can go do it himself. That’s not cool with Angle, who threatens to fire Heyman if Lesnar doesn’t go to the ring at some point.

Long video on the Evolution announcement last week. My goodness please don’t let them do this for three months.

Alexa Bliss comes up to Alicia Fox in the back and wants her to take tonight’s match against Natalya seriously. Ronda Rousey’s suspension is done and she’s going to be in Natalya’s corner tonight. Fox needs to worry about Natalya and Natalya alone but Fox has this. Tonight, she’s going to make Natalya’s cat say meow.

Alicia Fox vs. Natalya

Bliss and Rousey are the seconds. Natalya goes aggressive to start and tries an early Sharpshooter but Fox gets to the floor and pulls Natalya into the ring skirt. After beating the heck out of a tied up Natalya, Fox grabs the chinlock inside. That goes as long as you might expect but an abdominal stretch lasts a lot longer. Fox even one ups it by jumping up and wrapping her legs around Natalya’s waist (that’s a new one). The bridging northern lights suplex gets two and Fox goes after Rousey, allowing Bliss to get in a cheap shot. Fox’s running big boot is good for the pin at 5:05.

Rating: D+. There’s something likable about Fox and it’s good to have her back. If nothing else another person on the roster lets you keep some matches fresh instead of burning through the same ones over and over again. The match was more storyline than wrestling but Fox looked better than she did in most of her pre-injury matches.

Post match Rousey goes after Fox and hits the spinning Samoan drop. The numbers get the better of her for a bit but the villains get chased off.

Heyman is trying to get Lesnar (now reading American Frontiersman) to go to the arena but the offer of a hero’s welcome doesn’t do much for Brock. Lesnar says Heyman is getting under his skin so go get him a steak (medium well), baked potato and steamed broccoli. Make that medium rare and you have a heck of a meal.

Rousey is furious and wants a match before Summerslam or she’ll get suspended again. Angle gives her Fox next week.

Here’s Elias for a song. After a little guitar, Elias puts over his album and says he could have gone even higher on the charts but he was interrupted by Bobby Lashley. The fans start to cheer but Elias doesn’t want to hear from people who worship musicians like Pitbull and actors like the Rock. That brings on a ROCKY chant and Elias isn’t happy.

Elias has a song about how much he can’t stand the Rock but here’s Lashley to interrupt. That’s fine with Elias, because Lashley must want to sing with him. Elias starts playing Rockin’ Robin and Lashley joins in. Shockingly enough he can’t sing and Elias beats him down. A belly to belly sends Elias flying in short order.

Kevin Owens approves of what Corbin did and says Corbin is his son’s new favorite wrestler. Owens is concerned about the Lesnar situation because Brock is insulting Stephanie McMahon’s authority. If Brock goes out there, Strowman could cash in the briefcase before Owens has a chance to win it in the match Stephanie made. Corbin says that’s not his problem and Braun can cash in anytime.

We look back at Braun Strowman destroying Jinder Mahal last week.

Braun Strowman vs. Jinder Mahal

Jinder’s shanti is cut off by a GET THESE HANDS chant and a shove into the corner. Cue Kevin Owens to grab the briefcase and the chase is on with Strowman getting the case back and chasing Owens up the ramp for the countout at 1:36.

Strowman comes back and chases Mahal off.

Corbin brings Angle the phone so he can talk to Stephanie. She has an idea, even though Angle thinks the fans will be disappointed. Stephanie doesn’t care because we need to protect the main event of Summerslam.

A bunch of midcarders are in the locker room when Mojo Rawley comes in. He calls all of them out for not believing in his, just like everyone else he’s run down. Bobby Roode comes in with a slow clap so Mojo asks if he’s about to be catchphrased into submission. The fight is on with agents and referees coming in to break it up while the wrestlers want more brawling.

Apollo Crews vs. Akam

Before the match, the Authors promise to destroy everyone. Akam powers him down and puts n a very early cobra clutch. Crews fight up with a series of kicks to the head and the standing moonsault for two. The toss powerbomb doesn’t work but Akam misses a charge into the corner and gets rolled up for the pin at 2:57.

Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre

Dolph Ziggler is in Drew’s corner. The announcers are pushing the nickname Scottish Terminator for McIntyre. An early suplex muscles Rollins up and McIntyre sends him outside. A catapult sends Rollins throat first into the metal ring structure and we take a break. Back with Rollins hitting back to back to back suicide dives to send McIntyre into the barricade. I know McIntyre is called the Terminator but Rollins seems to have a throat of steel.

McIntyre is fine enough to get two off a spinebuster but a powerbomb is countered into a hurricanrana. Rollins superkicks him and McIntyre wants another, so Seth grants the request. It’s not enough to keep McIntyre down for the frog splash and super White Noise gives McIntyre two. If you’re going to use a move like that, it should be a pin. Rollins gets out of the Alabama Slam and hits the Stomp, drawing in Ziggler for the DQ at 9:22.

Rating: B-. Well they got the ending right, and that’s what matters here. McIntyre is getting better and better and the fact that they’re protecting him means a lot. As usual though, these matches just make you wonder why it’s not McIntyre as champion with Ziggler as his lackey. That being said, the throat into the steel and the super White Noise should have been much bigger deals than they were, but here they’re just spots in a ten minute match on Raw.

We recap Brock won’t come out and play.

Angle comes in to tell Reigns that since Lesnar will be in the arena tonight, Reigns needs to leave the building on Stephanie’s orders. Reigns asks when this is going to end because Angle isn’t a yes man. Corbin brings in security to escort Reigns from the building so Reigns pops him in the jaw.

Here’s the B Team for a chat. Charly Caruso asks about their change over the summer and the success it has brought them. Dallas: “Well Charles, the B in B Team stands for dream!” They’ve gotten the support from the B Teamers (dang it I like that) but the Deleters of Worlds don’t think much of them.

Here they are behind the champs with Matt Hardy saying this success is a cosmic anomaly. Bray talks about how dreams are fleeting but nightmares are real. They will never stop haunting the B Team but here’s the Revival to interrupt. Dawson says they’re the top of the division and a brawl breaks out with the Revival being cleared out in short order.

Matt Hardy/Bray Wyatt vs. Revival

Joined in progress with the B Team on commentary and Bray doing the spider walk to Wilder. Matt comes in and gets pulled into a Boston crab with Dawson dropping a bunch of legs. The champs talk about not sleeping since winning the titles, what the B stands for, and not being scared of the Revival. Revival takes turns on the commentary as Dallas expresses his disdain for fists and flips.

A Side Effect gets Matt out of trouble and it’s off to Bray vs. Wilder again. Bray’s body block takes him down and we get what sounds like a CM PUNK chant. Dawson dropkicks Bray and everything breaks down with Matt and Dawson fighting to the floor. Now it’s a RUSEV DAY chant as Wilder slips out of Sister Abigail. The Shatter Machine ends Bray at 5:54.

Rating: D+. It’s great to see the Revival win, even though I fully expect it to be a triple threat at Summerslam because we just had to have the rematch last week with Matt and Bray losing again. The thing is we’ve established that winning and losing mean nothing around here so it’s not that big of a shock.

Rollins talks about tired of getting jumped 2-1 when he’s jumped 2-1.

Riott Squad vs. Bayley/Sasha Banks

Sasha and Bayley now have matching jackets and want to be called the Boss and Hug Connection. No. Logan starts with an armbar on Bayley, who easily spins her down for a break. Banks comes in for the running Meteora and we hit the armbar. The announcers manage to stop talking about Reigns and Lesnar to talk about Evolution as Bayley hits a running knee in the corner.

Banks adds a Meteora on the apron and we take a break. Back with Banks in a chinlock until Morgan comes in for a chinlock of her own. What a versatile team. Banks gets up and throws her down for the hot tag to Bayley. A running knee to Morgan’s head has her in trouble and there’s the running elbow in the corner. Bayley hurricanranas Morgan down for a top rope Meteora (third of the match) from Banks. Bayley comes in off a blind tag and a Backstabber into the Bayley to Belly finishes Morgan at 8:48.

Rating: C-. I’m sick of Meteoras and I’m not sure what they’re doing with this Bayley/Banks story. It seems that they’re already dropping the Banks loves Bayley thing, or at least they’re not mentioning it at the moment. In a way that’s a relief but in another way it’s annoying because that was actually interesting after months of the same “they’re friends/they hate each other” stuff. I hope we get somewhere by Summerslam, because as much as I like both of them, I don’t know how much longer I can take this story running on a treadmill.

Heyman begs Lesnar to go out there so they can go be at a private steakhouse in 25 minutes. Lesnar’s pay has been confirmed so he doesn’t seem interested. Heyman finally explains the situation and asks him to do it as a friend. Lesnar grabs him by the jacket and says they’re not friends but just business associates. Therefore, Heyman needs to go out there and do his job.

Here are Angle and Corbin to address Heyman and Lesnar. Heyman does come out with no energy, knowing what’s about to happen. The fans greet him with the Goodbye Song and Heyman says Lesnar isn’t coming out here tonight. That sends Angle over the edge into a rant about what a champion does, like doing charity work, reaching out to the community, and DEFENDING THE TITLE. Angle: “BROCK LESNAR MUST BE THE WORST UNIVERSAL CHAMPION OF ALL TIME!” Fans: “YES!!!”

Heyman actually agrees and says he tried to rehabilitate Lesnar because he’s one of the few people Lesnar tolerates. Kurt doesn’t buy it but Heyman says take this out on Lesnar because Brock doesn’t respect anyone. However, Heyman thinks the world of Angle and would like to have a better working relationship with him. Angle fires him anyway, sending Heyman diving to Angle’s leg.

Cue Lesnar to give Heyman the greatest relief of his life. Lesnar finally gets in and hands the belt to Heyman before grabbing a mic. That’s rarely a good idea. He asks if Angle and Corbin have a problem with him….and there’s an F5 to Angle before a word is said. Corbin immediately leaves and Heyman slaps Brock on the back. Brock grabs him by the face and makes Heyman look at Angle. The fans want Strowman (or maybe Roman) but get Brock leaving to end the show. So yeah, that’s it and no, this isn’t going to get the result that the company wants, especially in New York.

Overall Rating: D+. They tried, but this didn’t get where it needed to go. The Lesnar story dominated the night and really, it might have been better if he just didn’t show up until Summerslam. I understand the idea of Lesnar hating the fans and the company but that’s not exactly fresh information. Lesnar’s character hasn’t been the problem. As usual the problem is Reigns, and tonight didn’t do anything to make me want to see him conquer Lesnar. Until that changes, Summerslam is another version of what hasn’t worked before.

Other than that, Evolution continues to loom over the women’s division, Ziggler continues to make you wonder why he’s in the spot he’s occupying, Strowman continues to have nothing to do because we’re waiting on Roman and Money in the Bank has to exists and Balor loses to Corbin because….well you have to validate Corbin’s role somehow. It just seems like everything is on Reigns vs. Lesnar, which didn’t work the first time and isn’t likely to work here. With that dominating the show, there’s not much the rest of the people involved can do, especially when the stories aren’t great in the first place.

Results

Baron Corbin b. Finn Balor – End of Days

Alicia Fox b. Natalya – Big boot

Jinder Mahal b. Braun Strowman via countout

Apollo Crews b. Akam – Rollup

Seth Rollins b. Drew McIntyre via DQ when Dolph Ziggler interfered

Revival b. Matt Hardy/Bray Wyatt – Shatter Machine to Wyatt

Bayley/Sasha Banks b. Riott Squad – Bayley to Belly to Morgan

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2003 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/07/23/new-book-kbs-complete-2003-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: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 23, 2018
Location: US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman

It’s a big night around here and you know that because the official preview for the show is a big picture of Stephanie McMahon. She has some kind of a major announcement tonight and since she’s Stephanie, that’s put above the #1 contenders match and tonight’s title match. That’s the level of priorities around here so let’s get to it.

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

The roster (including Nikki Cross) is on the stage and Vince McMahon is in the ring to introduce HHH and Stephanie McMahon for the big announcement. HHH thanks all of the wrestlers across all brands, including NXT. There has never been a stronger bond than the one we have right now and that includes the women’s division.

HHH asks them to come forward so the women’s division (including the Smackdown women’s division) steps to the front. HHH talks about everything the women have done in recent years, including all those main events. Stephanie recaps the Give Divas A Chance and announces the first ever all women’s pay per view, called Evolution.

Cole gives us some more details: the Raw, Smackdown and NXT Women’s Titles will be defended, plus the finals of the Mae Young Classic will take place and the event is October 28 in the Nassau Coliseum.

It’s a cool announcement, but this is WWE’s version of history. Yeah it sucked when WWE was giving the women thirty second matches, but who ok’d those matches? That would be the people in the ring making the big announcement and treating it like the most amazing thing in the world. Throw in there being no real reason for Stephanie to be in there other than she was suddenly part of the whole thing and this wasn’t quite as perfect as WWE would like you to believe it is. Oh and can we get a Sara Amato shout out? I’m certain she’s earned one.

The B Team is thrilled with everything they’ve done in the last few weeks and wouldn’t want this to be with anyone else. They’re ready to defend their titles….which they forget in the locker room.

Elias is in the ring for his song but gets cut off by the first match.

Tag Team Titles: Matt Hardy/Bray Wyatt vs. B Team

The B Team is defending. Bray and Dallas start things off for the family reunion and Wyatt runs him over with little effort. The champs throw Wyatt down but he spiders up to send them outside. Back from a break with Bray fighting out of a chinlock as the Revival watches on. Again. Do something with that already. The hard clothesline sets up the hot tag to Hardy for some clotheslines of his own. The Side Effect gets two and the Twist of Fate gets the same with Axel making the save. Dallas shoves Wyatt into Matt, knocking him into a crucifix to give Axel the retaining pin at 8:17. Axel is rather confused.

Rating: D+. I’m hoping this ends the feud as there’s nothing left for them to do outside of an Ultimate Deletion, which isn’t out of the question for Summerslam. Assuming the B Team retains there though, can we move the Usos to Raw already? They’re stuck doing nothing most of the time and the idea of the Usos vs. Revival sounds great.

Post match Matt says that was wonderful and then beats the B Team down with Wyatt joining in. So yes, it is continuing.

Finn Balor and Chad Gable are in the back, casually talking about Evolution when a production worker comes up, carrying Balor’s gear. Apparently it’s being put in a new dressing room. That would be a doll house, as ordered by Baron Corbin. Baron pops up to make a bunch of jokes about Balor being short. IT’S STILL NOT FREAKING FUNNY!

We recap the Bayley and Sasha Banks story from last week.

Bayley and Sasha say they’re ready to be on the same team (write your own jokes) and they’re very excited about the pay per view. Bayley was glad to hear what Sasha said last week and that’s about it. I’m going to assume more is coming from this later.

There will be legends and past superstars on Evolution. Makes sense given the name, but I’m not sure how necessary they are. There could be some very interesting dream matches in there though.

Sasha Banks/Bayley vs. Samantha Simon/Karen Lundy

Banks knees Simon in the corner to start and cranks on the arm before Bayley comes in for a toss into the corner. A kick to the face sets up the Bank Statement to make Lundy tap at 1:22.

Here’s Elias again but this time it’s Braun Strowman interrupting. After congratulating the women on getting her own pay per view, it’s time to talk about Bobby Lashley vs. Roman Reigns in the #1 contendership match later tonight. It doesn’t matter who wins because he’ll be cashing in soon. Cue Kevin Owens to talk about Strowman ruining his kids’ dreams because Strowman has shown that Owens is breakable. Now it’s time for Owens to take everything away from him so Strowman says come try it.

This brings out Baron Corbin to say Stephanie has empowered him to handle this. Strowman needs help controlling his temper so here’s Jinder Mahal. We get some breathing exercises but Strowman says this isn’t working. He has Sunil Singh hold up a microphone because it’s time for Strowman’s breathing exercise. Everyone needs to close their eyes and chant with him: GET THESE HANDS! The beatdown doesn’t take long.

We recap the opening announcement.

A bunch of women have tweeted about Evolution.

We look back at Ronda Rousey coming back last week to attack Mickie James and Alexa Bliss. This earned her a Women’s Title match at Summerslam.

Mickie James vs. Natalya

Natalya elbows her down to start but Alexa Bliss offers a distraction so Mickie can take over. A front facelock and chinlock keep Natalya down but she fights up with an electric chair. Another Bliss distraction draws Natalya to the floor though and Mickie hits a superkick for the pin at 3:46.

Rating: D. That front facelock didn’t do them many favors and the match was really just there for the sake of talking about the women’s pay per view a little more. I know it won’t be hyped up this hard for the next three months but they’re already doing that WWE thing where they mention it so much that you start to get a little sick of it early on. At least the match was short though.

Video on WWE winning the Sports Humanitarian Award.

Reigns is going to win tonight and doesn’t care if he’s crammed down our throats because nothing is changing. He’s taking Lesnar’s title at Summerslam.

Elias tries again but this time it’s the Authors of Pain interrupting. They want competition other than Titus Worldwide. Cue Titus Worldwide to say the Authors have a lot to learn about WWE. Rezar: “To do what? How to trip and fall all over ourselves?” Apollo talks about how great Titus has been to him and wants the Authors to show Titus some respect. If they had Titus’ qualities, they would be champions as well as championship quality people. Akam thinks Titus should retire so the fight is on and the Authors are cleared out.

Angle and Stephanie talk about the pay per view some more when Corbin and Owens come in. Stephanie is proud of Owens and asks how he’s doing. Owens is ok and says he wants to face Strowman for the briefcase at Summerslam. Angle says no but Stephanie makes the match. I’m all for the idea of the briefcase being defended.

Tyler Breeze vs. Mojo Rawley

Mojo wastes no time in running Breeze over as we go to an inset interview with Bobby Roode. He’s not happy with what Mojo has said on social media and wants Rawley to stop hiding behind a keyboard. Breeze’s comeback gets him driven into the corner and the sitout Alabama Slam gives Rawley the pin at 2:18.

Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre say their plan is clearly working because Ziggler is Intercontinental Champion and McIntyre doesn’t lose. Tonight he’ll take out Finn Balor.

Elias. Balor this time.

Finn Balor vs. Drew McIntyre

Balor slugs away at the much bigger McIntyre and a dropkick puts him on the floor. The big flip dive puts McIntyre down again and we take a break. Back with Drew putting on an armbar with a chinlock. Balor fights up and scores with a DDT but it’s too early for the Coup de Grace. Instead he DDTs McIntyre down, drawing in Ziggler for the DQ at 7:11.

Rating: D+. Did we really need the break in there? Anyway this was just a way to set up the tag match next, which gets rather annoying when they’ve been hyping up this match all night long. I could go for Balor being moved into something like this as at least it’s not just a bunch of short jokes.

The beatdown is on until Seth Rollins makes the save. Angle comes out and the tag match is on.

Finn Balor/Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre/Dolph Ziggler

The good guys clean house and we take an early break. Back with Ziggler still in trouble until a dropkick is enough to bring in McIntyre. It’s Balor’s turn to take a beating with Drew slowly pounding him down without much effort. A missed charge allows the hot tag to Rollins though and the pace picks right back up.

The Blockbuster gets two on McIntyre Balor hits the Sling Blade on Ziggler and McIntyre’s reverse Alabama Slam is good for the same on Balor. Rollins grabs a hurricanrana on McIntyre to send him outside, leaving Ziggler all alone. That means the Stomp for the pin, because this feud is continuing by way of the champ getting pinned at 12:05.

Rating: C+. Not that was better, with some great last second saves. This sets up Rollins vs. Ziggler again, likely at Summerslam, which only has so much interest from me. I’m hoping it’s not in a ladder match but rather a way to let Rollins showcase everything he can do. If we’re stuck with Reigns in the main event scene, this is as things are going to be for Rollins.

Lashley promises to win tonight because Reigns will fail again.

Opening sequence recap.

Liv Morgan vs. Ember Moon

Morgan gets aggressive to start, including kneeing Moon down as the announcers talk about the women’s roster. Moon fights up with a jawbreaker and kicks away, including all of the screaming. A faceplant stuns Morgan again and the Eclipse is good for the pin at 3:48.

Rating: D. Moon keeps winning these matches but are they ever actually going anywhere? I know Rousey is getting the Summerslam title match and that makes sense, but beating the same women over and over again isn’t going to do her much good. At least the Eclipse hasn’t lost its effectiveness.

Rollins gets the Intercontinental Title shot against Ziggler at Summerslam.

Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley

The winner gets Lesnar for the title at Summerslam. Reigns starts fast with the clothesline for an early two and they fight to the floor. The apron dropkick is countered into an overhead belly to belly suplex to put Reigns down and send us to a break. Back with Lashley nailing a spinebuster and grabbing a surfboard.

Reigns gets up and it’s a double clothesline for the double knockdown. They slug it out with Reigns getting the better of it and lifting Lashley to the apron, only to charge into a hard clothesline. Back in and Lashley counters the Superman Punch into a full nelson, followed by a headlock on the mat. Reigns fights up again and sends him shoulder first into the corner, meaning we get the multiple clotheslines.

Lashley is right back with a spinebuster but the spear is countered with….I’m not sure as it looked like it was supposed to be a leap frog but Reigns kneed/thighed him in the face instead. The Superman Punch gets two and Lashley rolls outside for a breather. Reigns slowly follows but can’t get the belly to belly. Instead Lashley throws him back inside for the spear and a rather near fall in a call back to Extreme Rules. Another Superman Punch rocks Lashley and the spear sends Reigns to Summerslam at 18:04.

Rating: B. I mean, is it really even surprising at this point? They’ve gone around the horn so far now that Reigns winning so often has gone from surprising to not surprising to surprising again and now back to not surprising. Who cares if this match makes Reigns 1-1 vs. Lashley? It gives Reigns another chance to fight Lesnar in the most non-epic epic feud that they’ve ever put together.

Lashley and Reigns shake hands and Lashley can barely stand in the aisle. A lot of posing ends the show.

Overall Rating: C. You can tell WWE is paying attention again as we have the bosses back with an announcement that is talked about more than the main event of Wrestlemania despite the show being more than three months away. Also, there has to be some kind of irony in the pay per view being called Evolution and the main event of tonight’s show giving us more of the same exact same match that fans have been sick of seeing for months now. It was a pretty entertaining show if you can get by all the Stephanie/Evolution talk, but now it’s on to Summerslam and Lesnar vs. Reigns. You know, because of course it is.

Results

B Team b. Matt Hardy/Bray Wyatt – Crucifix to Hardy

Sasha Banks/Bayley b. Samantha Simon/Karen Lundy – Bank Statement to Lundy

Mickie James b. Natalya – Superkick

Mojo Rawley b. Tyler Breeze – Sitout Alabama Slam

Finn Balor b. Drew McIntyre via DQ when Dolph Ziggler interfered

Finn Balor/Seth Rollins b. Drew McIntyre/Dolph Ziggler – Stomp to Ziggler

Ember Moon b. Liv Morgan – Eclipse

Roman Reigns b. Bobby Lashley – Spear

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2003 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/07/23/new-book-kbs-complete-2003-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: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: February 16, 2004
Location: Centennial Gardens Arena, Bakersfield, California
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

We’re less than a month away from Wrestlemania and it’s time to crank things up a bit. The World Title match is at least partially set but the question now is what happens between Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit after Michaels stole Benoit’s title shot last week in something I still don’t think is legal. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a long recap of the contract signing last week where Michaels stole Benoit’s spot. They’re fighting tonight.

Opening sequence.

Here’s HHH for a chat. He talks about what Shawn did last week and apparently the lawyers can’t come to a conclusion. This all goes back to Wrestlemania X where Yokozuna defended the title twice in one night against two different opponents. That’s not going to happen this year because Eric Bischoff needs to get out here and make a decision. Cue a power walking Bischoff to say it’s true that HHH shouldn’t be wrestling twice in one night.

Bischoff has an idea though: what if he cancels tonight’s Benoit vs. Michaels match and makes HHH vs. either of them for the title instead? The winner goes on to face the odd man out at Wrestlemania. The fans seem pleased and HHH asks if that’s what they want to see. Well HHH doesn’t care so that’s not happening. We don’t actually find out what’s happening as here’s Benoit for the brawl. The Crossface goes on but Benoit is smart enough to bail when Evolution comes out.

Post break Evolution has plans for tonight.

Tag Team Titles: Rob Van Dam/Booker T. vs. Ric Flair/Batista

Flair and Batista are defending and have Randy Orton in their corner. Booker and Flair get things going and botch a hiptoss so Booker settles for a slam. Rob comes in and, of course, kicks a lot. There’s a spinwheel kick to Batista and a middle rope Cannonball gets two. Batista gets sent to the floor and Flair gets kicked down, only to have Orton shove Batista out of the way of a dive as we take a break.

Back with Van Dam fighting out of a chinlock but walking into a powerslam. Van Dam kicks Flair down (again) and the hot tag brings in Booker for a suplex on Batista. Everything breaks down and Booker gets to kick Flair this time, meaning we can pause for a Spinarooni. The delay lets Orton come in and take out Booker’s knee so Flair grabs the Figure Four. Cue Mick Foley to fight Orton into the crowd, leaving Van Dam to Five Star Flair, giving Booker the pin and the titles.

Rating: C. The match was a little messy but they had to do something to get the titles off of Evolution. They were dominating for so long now and the Tag Team Titles are the easiest ones to get off of them. Booker and Van Dam are fine as new champions and the win enhances Orton vs. Foley to make things even better. Good decision, though not a great match.

We look at Goldberg helping Eddie Guerrero win the Smackdown World Title last night at No Way Out.

Austin and Bischoff watch the footage and Austin recaps it for those who can’t pay attention. They have more important things to deal with though as Austin wants Bischoff to figure out the Benoit/Michaels/HHH situation tonight. Austin leaves and Orton comes in to say he’s going to call out Foley tonight. A fight is guaranteed.

Christian and Jericho, still with a banged up knee, are in the back before Jericho’s match with Kane. Jericho is ready to fight but he has something bigger in mind for later. He’s going to give Trish a rose as a late Valentine’s Day present and tell her how he really feels. The feelings he has run deeper than he thought and he needs to do something about them. Christian doesn’t think it’s the best idea because Trish might have her eye on someone else. Jericho looks nervous but is going to go through with it anyway.

Chris Jericho vs. Kane

Kane punches the injured Jericho down to start and breaks up an early Walls attempt. Jericho’s knee pad is ripped off and the bad knee gets slammed into the mat. The knee gets wrapped around the post to make it even worse and Jericho can’t stand. Jericho tries to backflip out of a belly to back suplex but the knee gives out again and the referee stops the match.

Post match Kane throws him over the top for a crash onto the knee. Jericho gets posted again and Kane calls out whoever has been playing the supernatural games with him. It’s not the Undertaker, who is thoroughly and extremely dead. After a bit of a hesitation, Kane sets off the pyro. He goes to leave and the Undertaker lights come on again. The dead will rise in 27 days but for now, rain falls on Kane. That’s not a bad visual with all of the light blocking out everything else.

Here’s Orton, in street clothes, to call out Foley. See, Foley just doesn’t get it. Orton is this good already and he’s 23 years old. Foley is blinded by his ego and doesn’t understand that his time is over. He might have been the Hardcore Legend in 2000 but right now he’s just Orton’s b****.

That brings Foley out to win a quick brawl but Evolution comes in, allowing Orton to hit him low. Orton punches Foley so much that he hurts his hand before ending it with the RKO. They’re about to leave but hang on because that’s not enough of a beating. The thing keeps going for a few more minutes and stops having much of an impact after a while. A Batista Bomb finally ends it.

Benoit comes up to Shawn and says he’s ready to show him the same lack of respect that Shawn showed him last week.

Jackie Gayda and Stacy Keibler are still complaining about not being in Playboy but Bischoff doesn’t seem to care. He tells them to go call Hugh Hefner so they leave, being replaced by Austin, with a copy of the Monday Night Raw DVD in his hand. We get a plug for the DVD and Bischoff says he can beat Vince up, just like he said he could back in 1998. Vince pops in and says that next week he has a major Wrestlemania announcement, but he’s going to make it in his wrestling gear. After the announcement, he’ll see if Bischoff really can beat Vince up. Well, better late that never never, maybe?

Trish Stratus/Victoria vs. Molly Holly/Jazz

Jazz yells a lot to start but gets rolled up out of the corner for an early two. Molly tries her luck and gets two off a snap suplex. Trish gets taken down for a quick chinlock but Molly misses a charge, allowing the hot tag off to Victoria. As you might guess, Lawler talks about her outfit more than anything else as Victoria shoulders Molly down for two. The Widow’s Peak is good for the clean pin.

Rating: D+. This was all about Victoria completely dominating Molly and getting the clean pin over the champ, which is perfectly fine. Overused, but still fine. I’m sure they’ll have their title match at Wrestlemania, which works as well as anything else the division (and I use that term loosely) has going on at the moment.

Post match Steven Richards celebrates like crazy, drawing in Test to beat him down. Test even loads up a powerbomb on Trish but Christian runs in for the save. Trish isn’t sure what to think of this.

Wrestlemania Recall: the Gimmick Battle Royal. That was much better done than a lot of the legends segments we get today.

Trish thanks Christian for helping her before she goes to see Jericho at the hospital. Christian is going too and they’ll ride together. He gives her Jericho’s rose as a Valentine’s Day present, with no mention of Jericho of course. And since no one watches these shows, this is likely going to be a big plot point that Jericho doesn’t notice.

Recap of Shawn stealing the contract last week.

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit

Shawn taps his foot during the staredown so Benoit takes him down and starts the fight in a hurry. The whip into the corner turns Shawn upside down but it’s too early for the Crossface. A loud chop off doesn’t go anywhere so Benoit grabs a neckbreaker to take over for the first time. The announcers discuss the heights of Presidents as Shawn stays on the neck. Some right hands get Benoit out of trouble so Shawn hits the flying forearm into the nipup.

The fans are NOT pleased with that but the top rope elbow misses makes things a bit better. A backdrop to the floor has Shawn in trouble and sends us to a break. Back with Benoit driving some knees into the ribs and getting two off a backbreaker. We hit the abdominal stretch for a bit until Shawn reverses into a sleeper to bring Benoit back down. Benoit suplexes his way to freedom and it’s time to chop it out some more.

With Benoit getting the better of it, a hard collision gives us another double knockdown. A very quick small package gives Benoit two but he gets shoved off the top, setting up the top rope elbow. The superkick is countered into a failed Crossface attempt so Benoit settles for the Sharpshooter. Shawn FINALLY makes the rope and the crowd isn’t happy with the break. Benoit rolls some German suplexes and looks ready for the Swan Dive but here’s HHH for a distraction, setting up Sweet Chin Music to give Shawn the pin.

Rating: B+. Yeah this worked, although having Benoit take a fall to enforce this very forced World Title situation isn’t the best idea in the world. Benoit should be on a roll and it seems like a step backwards so Shawn can slip into the spot instead. I still really don’t like Shawn being in here, but that’s been the case for his feud with HHH for a very long time now.

Post match HHH gives Shawn a Pedigree. Cue Austin to say that Bischoff has made a decision. At Wrestlemania, it’s a triple threat match with HHH defending against Benoit and Michaels.

Overall Rating: C+. The main event helped a lot here (as can be the case pretty often) and the rest of the Wrestlemania build is going well enough, though not great. The World Title scene is really feeling forced and while the wrestling is good, I can’t help but ignore the storyline not working. The Wrestlemania card is being firmed up though and if they can find the right formula on the way there, we could be in for something special.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the NXT The Full Sail Years Volume III (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/05/25/new-book-nxt-the-full-sail-years-from-dallas-to-new-orleans/

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

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IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 16, 2018
Location: Keybank Center, Buffalo, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman

Now it’s time for a big show with the possibility of Brock Lesnar showing up. With the UFC return looming and Lesnar still as the Universal Champion, there’s a very good chance we’ll find out what he’s going to do next tonight. I could go for having him lose the title on TV but I don’t think WWE would actually do it, even if it would fix a lot of their problems. Let’s get to it.

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

In Memory of Masa Saito. I still want to know why Matt Cappotelli was ignored.

General Manager Kurt Angle is in the ring to start and gets straight to the point about Brock. Angle says he hasn’t heard from Lesnar or his representatives so he is stripping Lesnar of the title….and here’s Paul Heyman to interrupt. Kurt: “Everybody knows who you are Paul.” Heyman does his reigning, defending bit before saying Lesnar isn’t here tonight. Angle again is ready to strip him but Heyman cuts him off a second time. A very loud STRIP THE TITLE chant starts up as Heyman is sounding nervous.

Heyman thinks Angle and the fans have it all wrong when they think Lesnar only cares about being UFC Champion again. Angle: “Then why doesn’t he show up???” What Lesnar wants to do is challenge for the UFC Title with the Universal Title around his waist so he can represent WWE. Angle appreciates the goal but Lesnar is going to defend the title at Summerslam or he’s no longer champion. Heyman panics but agrees to the title match.

He’s not done though as he calls Angle a highly intelligent General Manager. All that is left now is to determine the #1 contender so here’s Bobby Lashley. When he came back to WWE, he had two goals: beat Roman Reigns and beat Lesnar. He accomplished one of those last night and now it’s time to accomplish the other. Hang on though as here’s Drew McIntyre (without Dolph Ziggler) to interrupt. He didn’t come back to make up roster numbers or stand in Ziggler’s corner.

Phase one was keeping the Intercontinental Title around Ziggler’s waist but now it’s time for phase two. Next up is Seth Rollins to a big reaction to say he’s right here to be Lesnar’s opponent. Now it’s Elias with the guitar to a weaker reaction but the catchphrase gets a roar. Elias likes the sound of being Universal Champion and since his album comes out next Monday, he should be facing Lesnar at Summerslam.

We’re not done yet though as it’s Finn Balor coming out to say he was the first Universal Champion and deserves another shot. Then it’s the one you’ve been waiting for as Reigns is here to the incredible heat you would expect. Reigns doesn’t have any excuses and just wants to fight someone tonight. Angle makes two triple threat matches for tonight with the winners facing off next week for the Summerslam shot. First up it’s Elias vs. Rollins vs. Lashley. The other will be Reigns vs. McIntyre vs. Balor and that’s right now.

Post break Baron Corbin complains to Angle about not having Stephanie’s permission to make those matches and not putting Corbin in one of them. Angle says Corbin lost last night and leaves.

Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Finn Balor

McIntyre chops both of them to start but Balor knocks them both to the floor for a big flip dive. Back in and McIntyre takes over again, including a big boot to the corner on Reigns. Balor gets knocked to the floor and McIntyre hammers on Reigns as he’s been by far the most dominant so far.

We come back from a break with McIntyre still in control but Reigns makes the fired up (well the Raw version of Reigns being fired up) comeback. The apron dropkick hits McIntyre but Balor stomps him down. McIntyre follows it with a big flip dive over the top so Balor double stomps him as well. Back in and the Coup de Grace is loaded up but McIntyre chairs Balor off the top. Reigns gets sent into the post and we take another break.

Back again with Reigns’ Superman Punch being countered into a spinebuster for two. Balor is back in with the chair to McIntyre though and then unloads on Reigns with the chair. Instead of covering him though, Balor goes outside to dropkick McIntyre, who gets speared through the barricade. Back in, Reigns Superman Punches Balor for two but Balor dropkicks him into the corner.

The Coup de Grace gets two with McIntyre making a last second save. Reigns and McIntyre mistime a sequence where the Claymore was supposed to be Superman Punched, instead making it McIntyre stopping to get punched. The spear ends Balor to give Reigns the pin at 22:01.

Rating: B. I’m trying really hard to believe that Reigns won’t be getting the title shot and while I’m still not convinced that he will be, you never can put it past WWE. I do like the idea of McIntyre moving up to the main event scene, even if this is just a one off time. At least he didn’t take the pin and it’s not like anyone buys Balor as a top star anymore. Reigns winning was pretty obvious though and while it’s annoying, you have to know it’s coming.

Bayley is in Angle’s office but Sasha Banks won’t come in. She thinks the friendship counseling failed but Angle disagrees. Say it with me: THEY’RE TEAMING UP TONIGHT IN A TAG MATCH! If they can’t get along, one of them is being traded to Smackdown. So yes, trades can officially happen in WWE. Remember that when someone is floundering and desperately needs to be moved to another show. Maybe a loser leaves Raw match at Summerslam?

Here’s Dolph Ziggler with something to say. He did everything he said he would do last night because he is IRON MAN and still the Intercontinental Champion. Last night the Intercontinental Title main evented a pay per view for the first time in seventeen years and it wasn’t because of Rollins. Ziggler respects what Rollins did for the title but last night, he beat Rollins five times.

Cue Bobby Roode (egads I had forgotten he existed) to say he didn’t hear Ziggler thanking McIntyre for getting him through last night’s match. Ziggler laughs it off because Roode wasn’t even on the show and Roode agrees that the sidelines suck. That’s why Roode is here with a challenge for a title match right now. Ziggler says get a referee out here right now.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Bobby Roode

Non-title by Ziggler’s orders. Roode headlocks him down and Ziggler reverses into one of his own. A trip to the floor goes nowhere so Ziggler scores with a dropkick for two. Ziggler’s swinging neckbreaker gets the same and it’s off to a break. Back with Ziggler holding a chinlock until Roode throws him off without much effort.

The Blockbuster looks to set up the Glorious DDT but Ziggler reverses into a rollup for two. More rollups get more twos until the Zig Zag gets a close two. The superkick is countered into a catapult into the corner and Ziggler is rocked again. Roode tweaks his knee coming off the middle rope so Ziggler “hits” a superkick (it wasn’t even close) for the pin at 13:36.

Rating: C+. Roode is such a weird case as he screams heel and has good matches but can never come close to getting anywhere as a face. There’s just nothing there for him and aside from a forgettable US Title run, I can’t really picture him getting anywhere else without switching to the other side where he belongs.

Lashley says he’ll win.

Roode is in the back when Mojo Rawley comes up with a slow clap.

Mojo Rawley vs. Tyler Breeze

Breeze dropkicks him to the floor to start but gets run over with a football block to take him down. Back in and the chinlock keeps Breeze in trouble until he fights up and sends Mojo outside. Mojo jumps from the floor to the apron and then over the top, setting up another tackle. The running corner right hand set sup an Alabama Slam for the pin at 3:09.

Rating: D+. I know he’s not the most popular guy in the world but I still like Rawley and they seem to at least be giving him a little something. Rawley vs. Roode isn’t much to see and while I would imagine Roode losing, Rawley has the bigger upside, if nothing else just due to age and more charisma.

Bayley/Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox/Dana Brooke

Bayley sends Fox into the corner to start as Cole gets a text from Goldust of all people who wants to be Banks and Bayley’s therapist. Dana misses a handspring elbow and everything breaks down with Fox jumping Bayley on the floor. A very fired up Banks goes over for the save and beats the heck out of Fox and Brooke until it’s a double countout at 2:33.

Post break Sasha is trying to storm off and yells at Bayley about how she can’t handle anyone else being mean to her. She knows Bayley is a good person and has always cared about her. Banks says she loves her and leaves. I’m not sure if they’re going where it seems that they are, but that would be a heck of a big step if they do.

Braun Strowman doesn’t care about the triple threats because he can cash in his briefcase anytime.

Ascension vs. B-Team

Non-title. Joined in progress with Konnor being sent shoulder first into the corner but kicking Axel away for the tag to Viktor. Everything breaks down and Konnor gets sent to the floor, leaving Viktor to take the belly to back suplex neckbreaker combination for the pin at 2:18.

Post match Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt pop up to say their rematch is next week.

Video on Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss from last night.

Here are Bliss and Mickie James to brag about beating Jax again last night. Bliss says it wasn’t hard to outsmart Jax last night and she has now beaten everyone in that locker room. Ronda Rousey doesn’t count because she’s suspended and therefore not in the locker room. Cue Rousey through the crowd to cut them off before they can leave though, meaning it’s the spinning Samoan drop to James.

Bliss pulls her away from the armbar just in time but Rousey isn’t done and jumps onto the two of them and the referees. That means an armbar for Bliss but Angle comes out to calm things down. Angle tells her to go home and sit out her suspension so here’s Corbin to say make a decision. Kurt extends the suspension by a week but Corbin freaks, saying he’ll call Stephanie RIGHT NOW. Well he will once he finds his phone. Angle has the phone and says Rousey can have the match with Bliss at Summerslam for the Women’s Title, provided she doesn’t attack Bliss again before then.

We recap the opening segment and the first triple threat.

Rollins is ready for tonight, next week and Summerslam.

Authors of Pain vs. Titus Worldwide

The Authors waste no time in sending Titus into the post to the floor. Back in and an atomic drop/big boot combination drops Crews, followed by a double gutbuster. The Last Chapter ends Crews at 2:07.

No Way Jose and the Conga Lina meet the Riott Squad and nothing happens.

Ember Moon vs. Sarah Logan

Logan takes her down to start as Cole talks about Logan thinking she’s a viking. A running forearm knocks Moon to the floor and Morgan gets in a cheap shot from the floor. Moon gets two off a small package before getting pulled down into a chinlock. Ember fights up after a long while and kicks Logan in the head for two of his own. The Eclipse is loaded up but Morgan offers a distraction so Logan can pull Moon down into a crash for the pin at 3:57.

Rating: D+. Well that was surprising. Logan being pushed as the new star of the team while Riott is out makes more sense than having the inexperienced Morgan. The match was short and the ending wasn’t clean, but my goodness tell me they’re not already hitting the brakes on Moon. She came in hot and it’s only been three and a half months. Pull the trigger on someone already.

Seth Rollins vs. Elias vs. Bobby Lashley

Elias jumps Rollins on the floor before the bell but Rollins says start it up anyway. Rollins sends him outside so Lashley headlocks Rollins down. That goes nowhere so Elias gets knocked off the apron again, leaving Lashley to send Rollins to the floor. The springboard is kicked out of the air, only to have Elias come back in with a jumping knee. Another knee gets two on Rollins and we take a break.

Back with Elias getting beaten up by both guys until Lashley snaps off a belly to belly. Rollins and Elias are sent to the floor with Lashley following, only to be sent into the post to slow him down for the first time. Elias gets two off a top rope elbow and Rollins follows with the frog splash.

Lashley rolls outside, leaving Elias to counter the superplex attempt. There’s no followup though as Lashley takes Rollins’ place on top, only to get buckle bombed by Rollins. Now the superplex into the falcon Arrow can get two on Elias so there’s the delayed vertical suplex on Rollins. The spear hits post so Rollins rolls him up for two. The Stomp is loaded up but Elias pulls Rollins to the floor. That delay allows Lashley to spear him down for the pin at 17:36.

Rating: C+. Much like in the first match, they got the ending right and Lashley vs. Reigns should be good again. I mean, assuming they don’t go with the triple threat, which wouldn’t be a surprise in the slightest. Rollins has been on enough of a roll that he deserves a chance, but I could see him facing Ziggler in a ladder match for the Intercontinental Title.

Overall Rating: C+. Now that’s a bit more like it. It’s remarkable to see how much easier this show is to watch when there’s an actual point and something to build towards. Just having the goal of getting the title shot against Lesnar felt like a breath of air and it made the show so much better. They got a lot of stuff in there too with short matches, which is a good way to get things going when you’re starting fresh. Nothing may have been great on here, but just having a goal made it that much better though and it actually felt refreshing. Just keep things going until you get to Summerslam, which is the hard part.

Results

Roman Reigns b. Finn Balor and Drew McIntyre – Spear to Balor

Dolph Ziggler b. Bobby Roode – Superkick

Mojo Rawley b. Tyler Breeze – Alabama Slam

Bayley/Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox/Dana Brooke went to a double countout

B-Team b. Ascension – Belly to back suplex/neckbreaker combo to Viktor

Authors of Pain b. Titus Worldwide – Last Chapter to Crews

Sarah Logan b. Ember Moon – Small package

Bobby Lashley b. Elias and Seth Rollins – Spear to Elias

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the NXT The Full Sail Years Volume III (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/05/25/new-book-nxt-the-full-sail-years-from-dallas-to-new-orleans/

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

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: February 9, 2004
Location: Rose Garden Arena, Portland, Oregon
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Wrestlemania is just over a month away and tonight we get one of the required moments on the road to the big night: the contract signing, this time with HHH and Chris Benoit making their title match official. Shawn Michaels is still lurking around though and there’s almost no way that’s going to end well. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Here’s Goldberg for a match but there’s no opponent as Vince McMahon interrupts instead. Vince talks about how weird it is to see these two together and he’s got a point. This is some weird pairing that you almost never see together. Vince cancels Goldberg’s match so here’s Steve Austin to interrupt. Austin wants to know why Vince is here (well so far it’s to cancel a match) because he’s already ticking Austin off. It turns out that Vince is here because of Austin giving Goldberg a ticket to No Way Out because Vince knows what Goldberg is capable of.

It’s time to listen to the voice of consequence so here’s Paul Heyman to join us. Heyman doesn’t want Goldberg showing up but there’s nothing he can do to stop it. However, he can order Goldberg not to/threaten him with Brock Lesnar taking care of things. Goldberg takes the mic and say Lesnar is next before spearing Heyman. Another spear is loaded up for Vince but hits Austin by mistake, giving the fans their OOOOOO moment.

Post break Goldberg tells Austin that it was a mistake but wants to know if he should expect a Stunner. Austin isn’t sure but if he does Stun Goldberg, it won’t be a mistake. Goldberg can live with that.

Vince yells at Eric Bischoff and suspends Goldberg as punishment.

Trish Stratus/Chris Jericho vs. Matt Hardy/Molly Holly

That’s quite an odd pairing for Matt, who loves getting things for free and has status on five airlines. The men start with a friendly exchange of hammerlocks so the announcers immediately start talking about Goldberg. Can you at least wait a few minutes? An early Walls attempt sends Matt bailing to the ropes so Molly comes in and gets spanked for her efforts.

Trish gets armbarred down but pops back up for a headscissors out of the corner. The hot tag brings in Jericho to clean house but his plancha to the floor misses, aggravating the knee injury Jericho suffered last week. Cue Christian to post Hardy though, leaving Trish to roll Molly up for a fast pin.

Rating: C-. Not bad while it lasted but what does it say that they might have been in trouble if they had just gone a few more minutes? Four people who seem pretty talented shouldn’t be worried that a match is going to fall apart after going five minutes. Unfortunately that’s the way Raw matches tend to go as they tend to go overboard after a certain amount of time.

Post break Trish leaves the trainer’s room and runs into Christian. He doesn’t think there’s any reason the three of them can’t be friends. Trish agrees and Christian goes to check on Jericho, not before saying she looks really good tonight.

Mark Jindrak and Garrison Cade are enjoying Torrie and Sable’s Playboy and wonder if they ever….and here are Stacy Keibler and Jackie Gayda to interrupt. They’re annoyed about not being in the magazine and are going to prove something. Or a PG-13 version of such.

Coach cuts off Mick Foley from coming in. Foley is here to embarrass Randy Orton or maybe cost him his Intercontinental Title. Coach steps aside, unfortunately.

Ric Flair vs. Chris Benoit

In a good move, JR announces that Mark Henry will be out for four months thanks to the Crossface last week. Now why can’t today’s wrestling attribute more injuries to wrestling? Nah, we’re better off telling the truth and getting nothing out of it. Benoit wastes no time with a German suplex so Flair bails outside, setting up a chop battle. That actually goes badly for Flair, who bails into the floor for a change to even less success. More chops rock Flair again but he gets an elbow up to stop a charge….and flops for a good visual.

It’s already time to go up and already time to get superplex back down from the top as Flair is bumping early and often. The Swan Dive misses though and Benoit is down as well. Back from a break with another chop off until Benoit sends him face first into the buckle. It’s time to roll some German suplexes until Flair gets in a low blow to save his neck. That means the Figure Four goes on but Benoit is in the ropes just a few seconds later. Flair stays on the knee but gets pulled straight into the Crossface for the tap.

Rating: C+. Not bad at all here and that’s not exactly shocking. Benoit getting another clean win is exactly the right call and should do him a lot of good going forward. Beating the man that HHH idolizes and emulates so often is a great visual and while there is still a lot of time before Wrestlemania, they’re setting things up well.

Post match HHH says the contract signing is right now.

Back from a break and Bischoff is in the ring with a table and Benoit as HHH comes out for the signing. HHH wastes no time in signing but has something to say before Benoit can do the same. He sees the nerves in Benoit’s eyes because Benoit is standing at the edge and thinking of jumping off. What happens if Benoit jumps? Does he survive or is it all over? We’re coming up on Wrestlemania XX with all the lights on bright.

Benoit will be wrestling in the main event for the chance to become the man in the industry. That means all the pressure will be on him to defend the title all over the world. From American to Europe to Japan and all points in between. If Benoit can do it, then everything becomes worth it. Then the fans will chant BENOIT and he has arrived. That’s a nice dream, but reality is going to sit in.

Benoit is going to be sitting in the back after Wrestlemania and look at the big empty space in his bag. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity but is it worth it to risk losing it all? This is reality and that reality is HHH. Benoit goes to sign but here’s Shawn Michaels to interrupt. HHH leaves as Shawn says he doesn’t want to rain on Benoit’s parade but he can’t let this go.

Shawn’s issues with HHH far eclipses anything that Benoit is doing and he has to finish it. Shawn has to end this on the grandest stage of them all and that’s what he’s going to do. Benoit finally gets to talk and says he respects Shawn, but Wrestlemania is his night. As he’s talking, Shawn superkicks him and signs the contract. I really don’t think that’s how contracts work but that’s always been a gray area in wrestling.

Shawn came off as a huge jerk here, saying that his issues were all that mattered, despite having already had two shots at the title, which he blew both times. Throw in that Shawn has already beaten HHH at Summerslam and beaten him for the title at Survivor Series, this is the whiniest Shawn has ever been, which is covering A LOT of ground over the years. I know how great the match is eventually going to be, but I’ve never liked this story as Shawn didn’t need to be there and felt like he was as wedged into an angle as anyone could have been. The promo was great, but Shawn’s stuff was really forced and annoying.

Kane vs. Hurricane

Hurricane strikes his pose and runs out to the floor. Back in and a side slam followed by a chokeslam gives Kane the pin in short order.

Post match Kane can’t get the pyro to go off twice in a row. The third time works but Undertaker’s video comes on, followed by a video saying “the dead will rise in 34 days” (Wrestlemania of course).

Bischoff catches up with a ticked off Benoit, who wants to know what’s up with that. Apparently Shawn signing the contract is legally binding but he’ll have his lawyers on it. Next week: Benoit vs. Michaels.

Randy Orton isn’t happy with Foley being here and accuses him of being behind a conspiracy. A conspiracy to do what isn’t clear, but a conspiracy nonetheless.

We recap the opening sequence.

Goldberg tries to leave and doesn’t care to talk to Coach. He still has his No Way Out ticket and Lesnar is still next.

Video on the recent Japanese tour. This is edited off of the Network, likely due to a music issue.

Here’s Foley for a chat. He’s not here to interrupt tonight’s Intercontinental Title match but rather for an explanation of why he walked out in December. This turns into a discussion of Reverend Jimmy Swaggart, who was a major pastor but was then caught with a bunch of women. Or Rush Limbaugh, who ranted about drug abuse and was then caught abusing drugs. So what does this have to do with Orton?

Well at one point he was a member of the Marine Corps (complete with picture) but this isn’t a great story about a hero. It’s the story of a man who went AWOL for 82 days and was dismissed from the military (MAJOR heat for that one). Maybe Orton was projecting some of his guilt onto Foley when he was talking about Foley being a coward.

Foley throws down the challenge for Wrestlemania and maybe we can call it the battle of the cowards. Orton pops up on screen and says come to the back for a fight, Foley does just that, earning a beating from Evolution, capped off by a Batista Bomb through a table, due to sheer stupidity. Seriously Sting would have seen that coming. Orton slaps him around a bit for good measure.

Intercontinental Title: Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Booker T.

Orton is defending. All three head outside in a hurry with Rob throwing Orton back in for a kick to the face. Booker doesn’t seem interested in running in for the save, instead watching from the apron until two. Van Dam kicks Booker down instead and we’re already in the two in/one out formula. Booker kicks Van Dam down to switch things up a bit but gets pulled outside by Orton.

Back in and Van Dam flips Booker as I’m still waiting on all three to be in the same place at the same time again. The announcers bicker over whether what Foley said about Orton was true, with Lawler accusing JR of being prejudiced. JR: “Well it ain’t easy.” Another kick to the face sets up Van Dam’s cartwheel moonsault for two but Orton is back in with a DDT on Booker. That sends Booker outside so Van Dam kicks Orton down for a change. A forearm to Van Dam’s back gets two but he kicks Orton in the face again, because that’s almost all of Van Dam’s offense these days.

Booker comes back in to play Bret to Van Dam’s Neidhart (with a kick instead of a clothesline) on a Hart Attack. Van Dam hits a bottom rope Five Star for two on Booker and Rolling Thunder gets the same, this time with Orton making a save. We’ll switch off to Orton vs. Booker now with the RKO being broken up.

A belly to back suplex/high crossbody combo with Van Dam flying back in crushes Orton again and all three are down. Rob gets dumped to the floor and there’s the ax kick to Orton but the very delayed cover allows Van Dam to flip back in for the save. The Five Star hits Booker but Orton steals the pin to retain.

Rating: D-. I really, really didn’t like this one as it was a full match of Van Dam kicking them in the face and one of them heading to the floor so the others can have a short singles match. The ending was slightly better as Orton stealing a pin to retain the title fits him perfectly. It was a lifeless match though and a positive ending isn’t enough to fix the bigger problems.

Evolution comes out to celebrate so here’s Foley limping to the ring, earning another beating. Van Dam and Booker get taken out as well to end the show. HHH comes out to watch as the show ends.

Overall Rating: C. Awful main event aside, they did a good job of setting up the biggest pieces for Wrestlemania. The show is rather early this year (March 14) so it’s not like they have much time to really set everything up. Therefore it’s a great idea to have a lot of that out of the way early, and that’s what Raw has done here. There are still a lot of problems (contracts don’t work that way being a big one) but you can see a good card emerging in there. Just make the build work a little more smoothly and no more bad triple threats.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the NXT The Full Sail Years Volume III (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/05/25/new-book-nxt-the-full-sail-years-from-dallas-to-new-orleans/

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

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 9, 2018
Location: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jonathan Coachman

It’s the go home show for the mostly non-extreme Extreme Rules. Instead we’re currently focused on Kevin Owens being locked in a portable toilet and being covered in blue liquid, because that’s what the end of last week’s show spent ten minutes setting up. I wonder what thrills we have on tap this week. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a recap of Bobby Lashley’s original WWE career, leading into his return and feud with Roman Reigns.

Lashley and Reigns are in the back, arguing about Reigns going to the ring. Lashley wants Reigns to call him out as a DANIEL BRYAN chant drowns out some of whatever they’re saying. Lashley steps to the side and tells Reigns to carry on.

Here’s Reigns in the ring for a chat and he wastes no time in calling Lashley out. Before anything can happen though, here’s Kurt Angle, flanked by Baron Corbin, to interrupt. Angle wants them to save it for Sunday but the brawl is on anyway. A bunch of midcarders can’t break it up and the fight breaks out over and over again. Reigns is finally taken to the floor as Finn Balor gets in a shot on Corbin for a nice bit of continuity.

The fight keeps breaking out with even more people coming out and failing to separate them. Lashley keeps punching and throws Reigns inside but is finally pushed to the back. Reigns isn’t done though and hits the BIG dive over the top to take out about twenty people at the same time. Reigns’ music plays but he comes back AGAIN and dives at Lashley. Really, really solid segment here but it’s going to be annoying when this headlines again over the World Title. Also, they need to bring this intensity to the match instead of the boring match Reigns and Samoa Joe had at Backlash.

Nia Jax/Natalya vs. Mickie James/Alexa Bliss

Natalya wastes no time in trying a Sharpshooter on James but gets kicked away, allowing the tag to Bliss. The same Sharpshooter attempt sends Bliss bailing to the floor so Natalya baseball slides both villains down. Back from an early break with Natalya being sent into the corner so Bliss can hit her running slap. We hit the chinlock so IT’S TIME FOR AN INSET PROMO FOR SUNDAY! Sweet, I was worried that we wouldn’t get these stupid things again. Back to full screen with Natalya getting over for the hot tag to Nia, who starts wrecking Mickie. The splash in the corner sets up the big leg to give Nia the pin at 8:09.

Rating: D. Well what we saw was decent, but the inset promo felt like a second commercial. That and Nia just running over everyone has been done, especially since it’s a near guarantee that she loses on Sunday, allowing Bliss to go to Summerslam and hang with Ronda Rousey for a long match. Just not enough content here to make it work.

Immediately after the pin, Bliss hits Jax in the back with a kendo stick. The stick is quickly taken away and broken as Bliss runs away in a hurry.

Post break, Nia promises to use the extreme rules to get back at Bliss for everything she’s done to her in the last few months because anything goes.

We recap Braun Strowman tormenting Kevin Owens last week.

Owens comes in to Angle’s office and complains about Angle allowing all of this to happen. He threatens Angle with various legal issues over last week but has a doctor’s note banning him from competing tonight. Therefore, he’ll be hanging out in Angle’s office to hide from Strowman. And he even brought his own chair. I’m still not sure why Owens is supposed to be the heel in this whole thing.

No Way Jose vs. Mojo Rawley

The long awaited rematch. Mojo shrugs off some early forearms and runs Jose over with a shoulder. We hit the chinlock and thankfully don’t go to an inset ad for Sunday. A running splash in the corner sets up another chinlock as this is already dragging. Jose fights up with some right hands but gets caught with a wicked Alabama Slam for the pin at 4:14.

Rating: D+. Mojo continues to grow on me but they need to do something with him already. This “feud” has been going on for a few weeks now and we’re not exactly anywhere further than we were before. Let Rawley see what he can do in a slightly bigger feud and maybe this can go somewhere.

Earlier today, Bayley and Sasha Banks had more therapy in the same office with a different therapist. Bayley blames Banks for everything and that’s it for now.

Jinder Mahal tells Seth Rollins to search for inner peace. Rollins seems to get it and breathing ensues but Rollins sneaks out.

Here’s Rollins for a chat. He loves the nicknames he’s built up over the years but right now the most important is FORMER Intercontinental Champion. This Sunday is all about becoming the Iron Man and the Intercontinental Champion again, but Dolph Ziggler is going to bring the Scottish Wookie Drew McIntyre with him. Rollins is SETH FREAKING ROLLINS though and cue Ziggler and McIntyre for a rebuttal. Ziggler says he’ll bring his skills, the psycho McIntyre and the title, where he’ll walk out as still champion.

Sure, Rollins is great but he’s not Ziggler. Maybe Dolph can win 100-0 on Sunday to really hammer the point home. He botches a line about Rollins having no dignity left and then talks about his victories as a college wrestler. Rollins thinks Drew helped him win there too but then asks why McIntyre sticks with Ziggler. Maybe Ziggler has pictures of McIntyre getting friendly with sheep in Scotland? That’s enough for a challenge from McIntyre so Rollins accepts, saying he’s a baaaaad man.

The B Team impersonates Matt Hardy/Bray Wyatt. Again.

Here’s the B Team for a match and another impersonation, this time with Bo Dallas wondering what he can eat alongside the world on Sunday. Matt and Bray pop up on screen to say the time for fun and games is over. Laughter and fear are contagious so let’s do this right now.

Bo Dallas vs. Matt Hardy

An angry Matt starts hammering away in the corner to start as the Revival is watching in the back. That would be a rather nice development indeed. A suplex on the floor keeps Axel in trouble and we take a break. Back with Matt holding a cravate and an inset promo for Asuka vs. Carmella on Sunday. Matt takes him to the floor for a Side Effect onto the steps and some posing back inside. A neckbreaker across the ropes is broken up by a Curtis Axel distraction though and Dallas gets the pin at 8:39.

Rating: D. You know all those times that we’ve seen this before? Well this is the most recent version. I really hope we get to the Revival getting the titles out of this as neither of these teams are exactly interesting. At least we might get something entertaining from the Revival. Sure the impressions were funny at first, but repeating them for a month isn’t entertaining.

Post match Matt and Bray clean house.

We look back at the opening segment.

Lashley wants Reigns to fight on Sunday because Reigns isn’t walking out. Believe that.

Tyler Breeze offers the Riott Squad some fashion advice but they rip up the Breezango shirts.

Bliss can’t wait to hurt Nia again, this time in front of Ronda Rousey.

Ember Moon vs. Liv Morgan

Ember shouts a lot and runs Liv over a lot, knocking her outside as we take an early break. Back with Morgan keeping Moon in trouble with a cross arm choke and doing some screaming of her own with the blue tongue on full display. Cole asked Morgan why she had the blue tongue. Morgan: “I like blue.” Back up and Liv busts out a Matrix move to avoid a clothesline but gets sent face first into the middle buckle off a headscissors from the mat. Moon hits a springboard right in the corner and grabs a quick Jackknife rollup for the pin at 7:52.

Rating: D+. Another short match with the commercial cutting out the majority of whatever value we might have gotten from it. Neither of these two have anything going on at the moment so it’s not like this is going to lead anywhere. The Squad isn’t much without Ruby around to give them a voice, but Morgan has gotten better in the ring.

Finn Balor isn’t worried about tonight’s tag match but here’s partner Bobby Roode to say the two of them are similar. They’ll be partners tonight and it will be GLORIOUS. Balor doesn’t like Corbin and he’ll take it out on him in the ring.

Owens complains about Angle’s office when McIntyre and Ziggler come in. Angle cuts them off and says if McIntyre loses tonight, he’s banned from ringside on Sunday.

Here’s Elias to say he hasn’t performed in two weeks but it’s been for a reason. He’s been in the studio recording his debut album, which is happening because WWE stands for WALK WITH ELIAS. As you might expect, the song mocks Boston and the Boston accent, with Elias saying Tom Brady told him to just pretend to like the Boston fans like he’s done for so many years. Cue Corbin, to say he’d like to sing a bit as well, which means we get a version of Itsy Bitsy Spider mocking Balor’s size. In other words, it’s the warmed over Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass feud all over again.

Finn Balor/Bobby Roode vs. Baron Corbin/Elias

Joined in progress with Roode taking Elias down into a headlock but making the mistake of going after Corbin on the apron. The distraction lets Elias knee Roode in the face and it’s Roode in early trouble. We hit the chinlock and this time it’s an ad for Reigns vs. Lashley. Back to full screen with Roode fighting up for the hot tag to Balor, who gets distracted by Corbin so Elias can send him into the corner as we take a break.

Back with Elias grabbing another chinlock because we haven’t seen one of those in five minutes. Balor fights up and Sling Blades Corbin, allowing the hot tag off to Roode. House is cleaned for a bit until Roode dives into a chokebreaker with Balor breaking up the count. The Blockbuster gives Roode two as Elias makes a save of his own but the Coup de Grace is broken up. Instead it’s the End of Days to put Roode away at 13:07.

Rating: C-. That’s a match that happened as Corbin continues to get a push while having one of the lamest feuds you can have in wrestling. Roode continues to be stuck in the same role he’s been in for months now and while a heel turn would help, it depends on what he goes after that. Not a terrible match, but it could be more about the match getting some time.

Owens is having a sandwich when Strowman comes in. Angle is tired of Owens running so on Sunday, it’s a cage match. Strowman sprays Owens with air freshener.

Sasha and Bayley are still in counseling and they’ll have to report to Angle next week. Dang it this could have been good.

Reigns says Lashley’s physical gifts don’t matter in a fight. When your gifts are in wrestling and fighting, yeah they kind of do. After Sunday, Lashley can be the guy somewhere else.

Extreme rules rundown. Still needs a lot more gimmicky stuff to live up to the name.

Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre

If Rollins wins, Drew is banned from ringside on Sunday. McIntyre powers him into the corner with ease to start, allowing McIntyre to do his kneeling pose. A dropkick has almost no effect and McIntyre runs him over with a shoulder. It’s off to an armbar with McIntyre in full control so far. A chinlock keeps Rollins in trouble and McIntyre chops him back down to set up another armbar.

McIntyre drives him back first into the apron and we take a break. Back with Rollins flying off an overhead belly to belly and some stomps to the arm setting up yet another armbar. Rollins fights up and finally gets a breather by sending McIntyre face first into the middle buckle. McIntyre heads to the floor for back to back suicide dives, followed by the middle rope Blockbuster for a near fall of his own.

A charge in the corner goes badly for Rollins though as McIntyre grabs a reverse Alabama Slam, sending Rollins face first into the mat on a nasty looking landing. A sitout powerbomb gets two more but McIntyre gets caught up top, allowing Rollins to kick him into the Tree of Woe. That’s fine with Drew, who sits up and superplexes Rollins right back down.

The Claymore is blocked with a superkick into the Falcon Arrow to rock McIntyre. It doesn’t rock him enough though as McIntyre scores with a headbutt, which seems to fire McIntyre up all over again. Rollins is fine enough to hit a Buckle Bomb and low superkick, followed by a curb stomp to an invading Ziggler. The distraction is enough for McIntyre to hit the Claymore for the pin at 21:06.

Rating: B. Now that’s more like it as this show was needing a long, good match to really boost things up. Thankfully they seem to have started planting the seeds for McIntyre to split from Ziggler but that needs to happen around Summerslam or so because Ziggler is already getting way too much focus by comparison. At least McIntyre won here though, as a loss would have been a rather bad idea.

Overall Rating: C-. The Reigns vs. Lashley stuff was rather good though I’m not wild on the idea of having them close the show over another World Title match. Of course that’s the most likely scenario because you have to keep Reigns strong so he can continue doing nothing but that’s a different story for later. The rest of the show wasn’t exactly inspiring stuff, especially with the idea of Rollins vs. Ziggler in another thirty minute match. The cage match is a nice addition but I’m really not feeling anything extreme about Sunday. I’m sure that expecting a lot of extreme things on a show called EXTREME RULES is just a mistake though.

Results

Nia Jax/Natalya b. Alexa Bliss/Mickie James – Legdrop to James

Mojo Rawley b. No Way Jose – Alabama Slam

Bo Dallas b. Matt Hardy – Hanging swinging neckbreaker

Ember Moon b. Liv Morgan – Jackknife rollup

Baron Corbin/Elias b. Bobby Roode/Finn Balor – End of Days to Roode

Drew McIntyre b. Seth Rollins – Claymore

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the NXT The Full Sail Years Volume III (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/05/25/new-book-nxt-the-full-sail-years-from-dallas-to-new-orleans/

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

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IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: April 29, 1996
Location: Civic Auditorium, Sioux City, Iowa
Attendance: 4,000
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

We’re passed In Your House and thankfully on a new taping cycle. Unthankfully though we’re now lacking Diesel and Razor Ramon, who will soon be off to the greener (as in dollars) pastures of WCW. That means WWF Champion Shawn Michaels needs a new challenger and I’m not sure how well that’s going to work. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a clip from after last night’s show with British Bulldog accusing Shawn of trying to sleep with his wife. Bulldog went to the ring but was held back by security. So that’s your title feud.

Bart Gunn vs. Mankind

Bart elbows his way out of the corner to start but can’t get anywhere. Instead Mankind rips at his face and pulls out some hair for fun. His own hair of course, because pulling Bart’s out would be uncivilized. Bart goes after the arm and Mankind is bleeding from the cheek. The threat of the Mandible Claw sends Bart bailing to the floor as this is already going longer than it really needs to.

A camera angle shows a VERY large area of empty seats as Mankind misses an elbow back inside. To be fair, the regular angle is showing a nearly empty row of seats so it’s not that much better anyway. Mankind shrugs off a wristlock and stomps away as there is blood on the back of Bart’s jeans. Back from a break with Bart being sent to the floor, right in front of someone who looks like a cross between George Lucas and Santa Claus.

The only thing Vince can talk about here is Billy Gunn returning from his injury in a little over a week. Uh, yeah. Mankind beats on him in the corner and drops the leg on the apron as Lawler notices Mankind’s lack of ear. Bart comes back with some left hands and a missile dropkick as this just keeps going. A top rope elbow gets two and Bart punches on the mat, only to get pulled into the Mandible Claw to give Mankind the win.

Rating: D. What is there to say here? Bart Gunn should never get ten minutes on a television show of any kind and this was hardly entertaining. Mankind should be beating people up in less than half of that time and Bart is far from a big enough star to warrant this much time. Terribly uninteresting match and a really bad choice for an opener.

Post match JR asks Bart what that was like and was he really paralyzed by the hold. Bart says it was like nothing he’s ever felt but Mankind jumps him to put the hold on again.

Scott Taylor vs. Steve Austin

Well this would be very different just a few years from now. Savio Vega is on commentary and has a strap with him. As Austin comes to the ring, Vega issues a challenge for a Caribbean strap match at In Your House. Austin stomps away in the corner as Vega explains the idea of the match. We get a giant swing of all things to keep Taylor in trouble as Lawler makes the most standard Puerto Rico joke you can imagine. Austin chokes on the ropes and drops an elbow before putting on what was supposed to be an STF but was just a chinlock while their legs were touching. The Million Dollar Dream ends a bad squash.

Post match DiBiase and Austin turn down the challenge so Vega whips Austin with the strap.

Here are Bulldog and his wife Diana with Jim Cornette to address the Shawn issue. Shawn and Jose Lothario come out to do this in person as Jose continues to feel very unnecessary and out of place here. Before Bulldog can even say anything, Shawn talks about adapting to Bret Hart’s style to win the title and then he did it again with Diesel to keep the title. So yeah, Shawn thinks he’s great though to be fair, the Diesel match was excellent.

Cornette is tired of hearing about how great Shawn is and goes straight to Shawn trying to sleep with Diana. We see a clip from last night of Diana getting a message during the show, telling her that Cornette needed her in the back. It turns out that Shawn sent it with an indecent proposal. Cornette goes into a rant as only he can, asking how Shawn could dare to do something like this to a virtuous woman like Diana. He wants Shawn to look into the eyes of the woman he tried to deflower because Shawn is a FORNICATOR.

Diana knows Shawn wants him (that gets a groan from the crowd) but Shawn says with all due respect, don’t flatter yourself. That earns Shawn a slap so he says he knows who wears the pants in this family. The brawl is on and we take a quick break. Cornette’s ranting was great and it was a good angle, but Bulldog wasn’t the kind of top level challenger that you needed around this time.

New Rockers vs. Godwinns

For a future Tag Team Title shot. With nothing happening early on, we go to Sunny who doesn’t care who gets the shot at the titles. Marty drives Phineas into the corner to start and a grand total of nothing happens. A drop toehold takes Phineas to the mat and it’s off to a front facelock as the announcers talk about the Shawn situation. There’s a right hand to knock Henry off the apron as the Rockers are wrestling like faces here. Phineas gets all riled up and clears the Rockers out so they can stay in the aisle for a long time.

Back in the ring, Henry sends Phineas into the corner, presumably out of boredom. Cue Sunny to show off the belts as we take a break. Back with Phineas looking at Sunny, who happens to be the only person getting any attention from the crowd either. With Henry in trouble, Cassady knocks a distracted Phineas off the apron without much trouble. Marty dives into a boot and it’s off to Phineas to clean some house. Everything breaks down and Phineas and Marty fight to the floor. That means a Sunny distraction is enough to cause a double countout.

Rating: D. My goodness I forgot how horrible the tag division was at this point. The New Rockers were just lame (as Al Snow put it, if you want to ruin a team from the start, just put NEW in front of their name) and the Godwinns felt like they should have been around in the 1980s instead of just three months before the NWO. That’s a big part of why things didn’t work and Sunny isn’t enough to save the division.

JR goes into the boiler room to find Mankind. After a look back at the attack on Bart Gunn, Mankind offers to demonstrate the hold on JR. Mankind talks about learning every pressure point in the human body through various experiments as a child. The most sensitive of all of these are under the tongue, making it the most vulnerable point on the body. Mankind isn’t afraid of Undertaker and promises to destroy Undertaker if he doesn’t show guts.

Isaac Yankem vs. Ultimate Warrior

This is Warrior’s first ever Raw match. Lawler, with his headset still on, is managing Isaac at the same time. We hit the stall button to start as Vince talks about Warrior University (don’t ask). Warrior starts fast by sending Yankem into the corner for some running clotheslines before we take an early break. Back with Warrior hitting more running clotheslines and dropping the splash for the pin. Not enough shown to rate but it was a total squash.

Lawler wants to go fight Warrior but doesn’t have enough slack in his headset cable. Instead he and Vince preview next week to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. Cornette’s ranting during that segment helps this a lot but egads you could feel the lack of Razor and Diesel showing already. It was too early for Vader to be going after Shawn so Bullet was about as good as they could have gotten. The rest of the show is the usually miserable 1996 fare and shows you why you don’t hear much about this era. Oh and Mankind’s talking was great, but that kind of goes without saying.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the NXT The Full Sail Years Volume III (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/05/25/new-book-nxt-the-full-sail-years-from-dallas-to-new-orleans/

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

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