Monday Night Raw
Date: June 9, 2003
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s the go home show for Bad Blood and getting that show out of the way is going to hurt quite a bit but at least I’ll never have to think about it again. Most of the show’s card is already set and hopefully that means we get to see some more of Shawn and Flair yelling at each other in awesome fashion. Let’s get to it.

Steve Austin is in his office when HHH comes in. The champ wants to know who the special referee is going to be at Bad Blood but Austin won’t answer. Shouting ensues but it doesn’t get anywhere.

Opening sequence.

Rosey vs. Goldberg

The bell rings but we pause for Chris Jericho to come out and stand on the stage with a chair. They lock up to start with the fans shouting a rather mean word to Jericho. Goldberg hits a bad dropkick but gets caught in a Samoan drop. That’s about it for Rosey’s offense though as Goldberg kicks him down, only to have Jericho run in and miss a chair shot. Rosey breaks up the spear but takes one himself. The Jackhammer is enough to put the Samoan away.

You can vote on who you think will be the guest referee, with options of Austin, Mick Foley, Shane McMahon, Terry Funk or the Rock. Not the most ridiculous set of choices.

Rob Van Dam vs. Rene Dupree

In a bit of a twist, Rob starts by firing off some kicks. A monkey flip sends Rene outside so Rob drops him on the barricade for the spinning kick to the back. Back in and Rene gets in a few shots before sending Rob into the post. We hit an armbar for a bit until more kicks get Rob out of trouble. Rolling Thunder looks to set up the Five Star but Rob only hits mat. Not that it matters as he grabs a rollup to end Rene a few seconds later.

Rating: D. That ending really didn’t do much for anyone but that’s the case with the entire story. Rob beating the challenger isn’t exactly brilliant either but it’s not like this match was going to do much for the title match either way. Can we just get La Resistance beating up some other team? Just throw together some jobbers or something.

Sylvan Grenier comes in for the beatdown and Kane doesn’t make a save.

Bischoff and Austin have a big wheel to pick the events in the Redneck Triathlon. They do the first spin and it’s Pie Eating. Bischoff thinks of strawberry and apple but Austin has a different idea. Various jokes are made and Lawler is thrilled.

We get some memories from people on the life of Freddie Blassie, including his appearance on Raw last month. As you might expect, Stephanie talked about meeting him as a child. I’m sure they were best friends or something.

Rob berates Kane for not being there but Kane doesn’t say anything.

Trish Stratus/Ivory vs. Jazz/Victoria

Ivory jumps Jazz during her catchphrase before it’s off to Trish to fire off some chops. A hard clothesline cuts Trish off and it’s Victoria coming in to pummel away. Trish’s hurricanrana takes Victoria down so Ivory can come back in, only to get beaten up as well. The announcers talk about how all four of them want to be Women’s Champion, which is the closest thing to a story we’re going to have in this match.

Jazz suplexes Ivory three times in a row, which JR calls a trifecta. Lawler uses that to switch back to the Redneck Triathlon, which includes PIE EATING! The spinning side slam gives Victoria two on Ivory and everything breaks down. Jazz goes for Ivory’s leg but gets caught in a hideous small package for the pin.

Rating: D-. How many times in a row can we have the same match with the same five or six women that never leads to anything substantial? They don’t have any story development and the wrestling is getting worse and worse. New blood will help, but if that new blood is just added to the same rotating cast who never goes anywhere, it won’t matter.

Chris Jericho is trying to leave the arena but Christian talks him into staying. It turns out that Jericho is trying to get into Goldberg’s head. As for now though, he’s leaving before he hurts Goldberg.

Video on the UK tour.

Scott Steiner vs. Lance Storm

Test comes out to do commentary and the distraction lets Storm get in a cheap shot. That’s Canadian collusion if I’ve ever seen it. Steiner fights out of a chinlock as Test accuses Stacy of being rather unattractive without makeup. Test runs down to ringside to grab Stacy but gets forearmed in the face. Storm scores with a springboard clothesline but walks into the Downward Spiral for the fast pin.

Post match, Test kicks Steiner in the face and hits him with a chair. He yells at Stacy but then relents and says she doesn’t have to be his girlfriend anymore. Test: “Because this Sunday, I’m going to make you my w****.” He then kisses her and bends her arm back. Well. That was disturbing.

The Cell is lowered.

The fans overwhelmingly think Foley will be guest referee. Well to be fair, who else was it going to be?

Here’s Austin to announce Mick Foley as the referee. This is hardly a surprise and that’s not a bad thing. Austin leaves as Foley gets in the Cell and talks about not being around for awhile. You can take him out of the WWE but you can’t take the WWE out of him. Last week he was watching Raw and heard Austin talking about a man crazy enough to referee this match. Foley’s hair stood up and he was begging for it to be him. Then Austin called him and Foley couldn’t agree fast enough.

Foley goes around the country talking to kids about reading and helping those who need it. The one thing they all ask him about is flying off the Cell, but he doesn’t remember it because he won. He remembers it because he walked out under his own power. This Sunday, someone is going to be counted down 1-2-3, which Foley starts to chant for some reason.

Cue HHH to say this is none of Foley’s business (he’s right, but then again Nash has no business being in the main event). Foley is just a normal guy now (I don’t think normal people get to referee pay per view main events), just like all these people here. HHH brings up retiring Foley inside the Cell, which Foley admits to. What HHH couldn’t do though was keep Foley down because Foley walked out under his own power. Foley does the 1-2-3 thing again and HHH tells him to back out of the match within the next hour.

This was quite a strange segment as Nash was barely mentioned and it felt like HHH was facing Foley at the pay per view. The problem is there’s no reason for the match to exist and Foley is very clearly being thrown in there in the hope that he’ll get a few more people to watch. There’s a connection between HHH and Foley, but have Foley and Nash ever even been on TV together?

It was very clear that Foley didn’t have anything to say here because there’s no story to be told. The Cell is just there to try and make people care about the match and Foley is a bonus to that concept. I love Foley and he’s going to be the most entertaining part of the match but he wasn’t clicking here. That’s not on him though as he had nothing to work with, much like everyone involved in this thing.

Here’s Ric Flair to introduce Randy Orton for his match. Orton comes out to Flair’s music, which doesn’t quite work. It’s better than AJ Styles as Flair II though.

Randy Orton vs. Hurricane

Hang on a second as Shawn Michaels comes out with Hurricane to keep things even. A very early Eye of the Hurricane attempt is blocked and Orton grabs a belly to back suplex. Something like a jumping clothesline (it was supposed to be a neckbreaker but Hurricane didn’t get the arms right) puts Orton down, followed by a crossbody for two.

The Blockbuster misses so Hurricane settles for a Shining Wizard. Flair and Shawn get into it with Shawn getting posted and Flair bleeding somehow. Orton uses the distraction to debut the RKO for the pin. It’s a different form here as he grabs the neck like a Diamond Cutter and then jumps, making for a good impact but not the smoothest path to get there.

Shawn beats Flair and Orton up without too much effort.

Spike Dudley comes up to Foley in the back and asks if Foley needs to be referee. Foley says he’ll think about it but kind of blows Spike off.

HHH yells at Bischoff but we can’t hear what’s being said.

And now, a Spinrooni contest between Booker T. and Christian with Lawler hosting. First though, Booker has King do his best King-a-Rooni, which is exactly what it sounds like. Christian asks who ordered the pizza with extra “peep”arooni and we get some dancing into the Spinarooni with a pose at the end. Booker calls it pathetic and tries his own, triggering the fight you knew was coming. Christian bails but does sneak back out to hit Booker with the title.

D-Von Dudley vs. Rodney Mack

Bubba Ray, Teddy Long and Christopher Nowinski are here too with Teddy on commentary. D-Von scores with some armdrags to start as Teddy talks about Nowinski being oppressed. Mack gets in a spinebuster and cranks on the arm, followed be a nerve hold. Teddy says Jerry’s jokes are whack as the fans want tables. A neckbreaker gives D-Von two but he has to go after Nowinski. The reverse inverted DDT plants Mack but Teddy offers a distraction. Nowinski eats a 3D, only to have Mack grab the Black Out for the submission.

Rating: D. Another week, another bad Mack match. The choke is a decent finisher but he’s not getting anywhere beating up tag wrestlers and we’ve seen him do this stuff for weeks now. Unfortunately his character isn’t exactly geared to go anywhere beyond this, so the first loss is going to wipe him out. At least Teddy is funny though.

Goldberg is ready for Sunday when Jericho chairs him from behind. It as as much effect as most chair shots on Goldberg.

Austin is looking for Foley. Post break, Austin tells Foley to drop this being afraid nonsense.

The Cell is lowered again and here’s HHH for Foley’s answer. Foley comes out and says he’s going to referee the match before returning to his boring, average life. He knows HHH is going to beat him up on Sunday, so let’s get it out of the way now. The fight is on with Foley getting the better of it until he’s sent knees first into the steps.

Foley gets chaired in the head so HHH leaves but Foley counts three again. He grabs a mic and tells HHH to come back so the beating continues, including a Pedigree on the chair. Foley counts again so Orton and Flair come in to help with the beatdown. Cue Nash and Michaels for the save, including a Jackknife to HHH so Foley can count three to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. This show was the last bump on the road to a show that no one is interested in seeing (save for Michaels vs. Flair, which barely got any time tonight). The problem is of course no one is interested in Sunday’s title match. The fact that Nash was a last minute cameo tells you everything you need to know about how much WWE thinks of him in this spot. Nash has no chance of winning and Foley is basically the surrogate face in the whole thing.

Everything else was just kind of there as we get ready for Sunday, which is one of the weakest pay per views in a long time. Flair vs. Shawn sounds good but the rest is a messy combination of boring, uninteresting and bad with most of the matches barely registering. Hopefully things pick up as we start inching towards Summerslam but my goodness that sounds like a long way off.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

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Monday Night Raw
Date: November 6, 2017
Location: Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Booker T.

We’re on the other side of the world this week as Raw takes its annual trip over to England. That means the show has been spoiled in advance, but it also means that we’re nearly guaranteed to see something happen. That could range from a title change to a big surprise and all points in between so let’s get to it.

We open with a message of condolences for the attack in Texas yesterday. Nothing wrong with that, as always.

Long recap of Braun Strowman returning last week and destroying Miz and the Miztourage.

Miz is in the ring for MizTV. He starts fast by saying if Baron Corbin ever talks about his wife or unborn daughter again, he’ll take Corbin’s head off. Then Corbin got on Twitter and said at Survivor Series, Miz will be calling him daddy. Corbin is the bathroom break of Smackdown but Miz is the whole show on Monday nights. At Survivor Series, Miz is going to make him relevant for the first time. As for tonight though, Miz brings out Raw’s captain at Survivor Series: Kurt Angle.

They’re rather salty with each other and Miz makes it worse by showing Angle’s dressing down from Stephanie McMahon last week. Angle says Smackdown has had a good run, but it’s always going to be known as the B show. Miz shows the siege (again) as well as Kane attacking Daniel Bryan last week. Angle apologized to Bryan but Miz brings up the Strowman situation, which has left Axel in a neck brace. Kurt laughs it off and says Strowman is on Team Raw in exchange for a match. Tonight. Against Miz.

Here’s Elias for his guitar on a pole match but first, a little A Capella. The fans want Wonderwall but get a song about how horrible Manchester is.

Jason Jordan vs. Elias

Guitar on a pole and you win by using the guitar rather than by pin. They both go after the guitar and are stopped just as quickly as we take an early break. Back with Jordan rolling some suplexes until Elias slips over and grabs the guitar. Jordan takes it away and the chase is on until Jordan blasts him in the back to win at 7:20.

Rating: D. Uh, yeah. I have no idea why Jordan couldn’t just get a pin here unless this feud is continuing for whatever reason. The feud hasn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire but at least the fans haven’t been completely rejecting Jordan either. They’re bringing him along slowly here and that’s FAR better than they could have done.

The Bar comes in to see Angle because they want a Tag Team Title match tonight. Angle grants the request.

Asuka vs. Stacy Coates

Asuka wastes no time in kicking her down, followed by the hip attack. The Asuka Lock is good for the submission at 1:15. Squash.

Alicia Fox pops up and announces that Asuka is on Team Raw.

Titus O’Neil is ready to take care of Samoa Joe.

Samoa Joe vs. Titus O’Neil

Joe jumps him during the entrance and chokes Titus out on the ramp. No match.

Joe gets in the ring and issues an open challenge….so here’s Finn Balor.

Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe

The announcers start talking about the history between these two until Finn kicks him in the head. It’s too early for the top rope double stomp though as Joe moves away and scores with a kick to the head of his own. The backsplash gets two on Balor and Joe cranks on the neck until Balor fights up with a forearm to the jaw. Balor sends him outside for a shot to the chest and Joe stops for a breather. That just earns him another running forearm and we take a break.

Back with Joe avoiding the shotgun dropkick and getting two off another backsplash. Balor gets caught on top again but he comes down and hits the shotgun dropkick. The Coup de Grace misses again and the Rock Bottom out of the corner gives Joe two. The Koquina Clutch is broken up and Joe is sent outside for a heck of a flip dive over the top. They fight up the aisle and it’s a double countout at 14:39.

Rating: B-. It’s amazing how much better Balor looks when he’s not getting dropped on his head by a 50 year old Kane. This felt like a match I’d like to see more of and it’s not surprising given how awesome these two were in NXT. Hopefully they do some more of this and Balor can get some steam back.

The fight continues until referees break it up. Angle comes out and puts them both on Team Raw, making it Angle, Strowman, Balor and Samoa Joe. Balor isn’t done and dives onto Joe.

Miz and the Miztourage are worried with Axel suggesting they just run now.

Angle puts Jason Jordan on the team as the fifth member.

Bayley and Sasha Banks want in on Team Raw and are ready to prove it tonight.

Bayley/Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox/Nia Jax

The fans bring back the HEY BAYLEY song and she looks rather pleased with the return. Fox bails from Bayley to start and it’s Jax driving her into the corner without too much effort. Banks comes in and has her rollup stomped away. Fox comes in and gets double teamed in the corner with the good ones in control as we take a break.

Back with the fans still singing, even as Nia drops an elbow on Bayley. Some forearms to the head don’t do much to Jax and she hits a running Snake Eyes to drop Bayley again. For some reason Jax decides to bring Fox back in and it’s all of three seconds before the hot tag brings Banks in. Everything breaks down in a hurry and Jax gets sent outside, leaving Fox’s rollup to be reversed into the Bank Statement for the tap at 11:49.

Rating: C-. Not much here but it’s a good way to (likely) round out the rest of Team Raw. Bayley and Banks are kind of obvious on the team as there’s not exactly anyone else to fill out the roster. There’s a story to them not getting on the team yet though and if you can get two stories out of one match, rock on.

Post match Fox puts Banks on the team but not Bayley.

We look at Strowman being garbage trucked at TLC.

The Miz vs. Braun Strowman

Non-title because why would Strowman want something like a belt? Miz bails to the floor to start and has a huddle with the Miztourage. They get inside and the beating is on in a hurry with Strowman throwing him around like the tiny man that he is. The spinning Big Ending plants Miz again and Dallas looks scared on the floor. That is only made worse as Strowman goes outside and hits an incredibly loud right hand to Dallas’ jaw. Miz gets thrown onto the Miztourage but here’s Kane for the showdown and a DQ at 5:05.

Rating: D+. This was much more of an angle than a match and that’s fine. Miz getting destroyed is fine as long as he doesn’t get pinned, which is what would have happened in other times around here. At least Strowman got to look awesome all over again, which is exactly what should be happening to him.

Post match Kane can’t chokeslam Strowman, who hits the running powerslam. Kane pops up and gets clotheslined to the floor, where he lands on his feet. The Miztourage tries to jump Braun and gets beaten up again.

Ambrose and Rollins are ready to fight because that’s what they do. They haven’t forgotten about Team Blue and after Survivor Series, they’ll be Team Black and Blue. Ambrose: “And yellow. And purple.” Rollins: “What kind of bruises…..”? Anyway back to Sheamus and Cesaro, no one wants them to win and the Shield fist is the real bar. They leave and Renee does the Shield fist as well.

Here’s Enzo Amore for a chat. He talks about everyone who wants to follow him around and see what the champ is up to. Recently he saw a kid who asked what was next….and here’s Kalisto to interrupt. Kalisto sits by the barricade though as Kurt Angle comes out to announce a surprise opponent for Enzo.

Pete Dunne vs. Enzo Amore

Non-title. Dunne takes him down with a single shot as Kalisto watches from the floor. Back in and Dunne works on the fingers until Enzo pulls him throat first into the top rope. Enzo grabs something like a camel clutch until Dunne fights up and kicks him in the face. Kalisto distracts Enzo though, setting up the Bitter End to put Enzo away at 3:35.

Rating: D+. I’m more and more impressed by Dunne every time I see him. He’s one of those guys who just seems to get it and, to steal a phrase, you can’t teach that. I can’t imagine this is anything more than a one off appearance and there’s nothing wrong with that for the sake of the live crowd. Nothing to the match, but that’s what you have to expect with Enzo in the ring.

Kalisto raises Dunne’s hand.

Video on Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal.

Lesnar and Paul Heyman will be back next week.

Alexa Bliss didn’t run from Natalya but will run circles around her at Survivor Series. Isn’t it interesting that Natalya never won the title when Alexa was on Smackdown? Bliss is a two time champion on both shows and two and two makes one. That’s one goddess of WWE you see.

Roman Reigns is back next week.

Tag Team Titles: The Bar vs. Seth Rollins/Dean Ambrose

Rollins and Ambrose are defending. Ambrose jumps Cesaro to start and it’s a Hart Attack with Rollins hitting a Sling Blade instead of a clothesline for two on Sheamus. The champs hit dives to the floor and knock them outside again as we take a break. Back with Ambrose in trouble and things getting worse as the Bar hits double superkicks to the ribs.

Cesaro kicks Rollins off the apron to break up a tag attempt but can’t get the top rope superplex on Ambrose. A middle rope clothesline is enough to bring in Rollins so house can be cleaned in a hurry. Rollins hits a suicide dive on Sheamus and a Falcon Arrow gets two on Cesaro. Swiss Death cuts Rollins off but can’t put him away just yet. Everything breaks down and the champs’ double dives are broken up.

Dean is sent back first into the barricade and a top rope clothesline/powerbomb combo gets two on Rollins. Back in and Dirty Deeds takes Sheamus down for the frog splash but Cesaro knocks Dean into the cover for the save. Cue the New Day of all people in the crowd for a distraction though, with Woods congratulating the fans on staying awake. As New Day talks, Angle rallies the troops in the back.

New Day says it’s Under Siege 2 (that’s getting into some dark territory) as the Raw roster surrounds the ring. They go after New Day, leaving Sheamus to Brogue Kick Rollins for the pin and the titles at 18:55. That’s actually a finish lifted from WCW where Harlem Heat took the Tag Team Titles from Sting and Lex Luger while the Outsiders came into the arena.

Rating: B. These four are just incapable of having a bad match and that’s always a good problem to have. I like the booking a lot as Rollins and Ambrose can do other stuff while Sheamus and Cesaro pretty much had this or nothing else. The ending was a nice touch too which protects both teams and advances the story. Well done all around.

Overall Rating: C. For a taped show, this actually wasn’t half bad. They accomplished a lot for Survivor Series and that’s more important than filling the show with good yet not important matches. The title change at the end is a good idea and things should be even bigger next week when Lesnar and Reigns are back. Good enough show here, which is quite the compliment given the circumstances.

Results

Jason Jordan b. Elias – Jordan hit Elias with the guitar

Asuka b. Stacy Coates – Asuka Lock

Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe went to a double countout

Sasha Banks/Bayley b. Alicia Fox/Nia Jax – Bank Statement to Fox

Braun Strowman b. The Miz via DQ when Kane interfered

Pete Dunne b. Enzo Amore – Bitter End

The Bar b. Seth Rollins/Dean Ambrose – Brogue Kick to Rollins

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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Monday Night Raw
Date: June 2, 2003
Location: San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, California
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross

We’re less than two weeks away from Bad Blood and things are looking more and more dismal every single week. Things just aren’t interesting around here and there’s no reason to suggest that’s going to change. The big story continues to be Kevin Nash vs. HHH for the World Title and that’s what we’re stuck with no matter what. Let’s get to it.

Rock, here for the Highlight Reel, arrives and talks about being here for the people, turning himself face again. Since the fans never wanted to boo him in the first place, it’s not the most difficult turn in the world.

Opening sequence.

Trish Stratus/Ivory/Jacqueline vs. Jazz/Victoria/Molly Holly

Molly still has a job? It’s a good thing she does as the dark hair is quite the look for her. It’s a brawl to start with Victoria forearming Trish and choking her up against the rope. The Matrish causes Victoria to clothesline Molly by mistake and Ivory dives onto Molly and Victoria in a big crash.

The double chickenwing faceplant drops Trish again though and we hit a camel clutch/Boston crab combo for a heck of a visual. King: “That was arousing.” Trish grabs a neckbreaker on Jazz and brings Jackie in to no reaction at all. Ivory comes back in with a high crossbody for two on Jazz as everything breaks down. An X-Factor gives Ivory the pin on Jazz.

Rating: D+. They were trying here but they couldn’t get over the complete lack of interest from the crowd. Jackie and Ivory haven’t been interesting in the better part of ever and throwing them into the title hunt isn’t going to do anything. They need someone new in a hurry as Trish, Victoria and Jazz have been done to death at this point.

Goldberg arrives.

JR has a cookbook. It’s title: JR’s Cookbook. You can vote on WWE.com if you think it’s going to be a best seller or a flop.

Stacy Keibler finally dumps Test but they’re contractually obligated to stay together. Does anyone really buy Test saying “contractually obligated” in day to day talking?

Hurricane comes out for a match but Randy Orton jumps him from behind. Cue HHH and Ric Flair as Orton throws Hurricane through the entrance. Flair is honored that he was Shawn’s boyhood hero but Flair has seen hundreds of Shawn’s come and go. Flair takes off the jacket and rants about how Shawn hasn’t spent $30 million, made love to 3,000 women and wrestled 350 matches a year. To be the man you have to beat the man and HHH beat the man. Uh, didn’t HHH beat Shawn to win that title?

Anyway Flair lays down and prostrates himself in front of HHH before saying HHH makes women scream very loudly. After HHH beats Nash down, Flair is going to take care of Shawn (So HHH won’t be main eventing?) and they’re getting in a limousine full of women. Cue Shawn to say he owes a lot to Flair but he’s not the little boy sitting in front of the TV watching Flair every week.

Shawn has wrestled 300 nights a year (Flair said 350) and doesn’t need to brag about women. His wrestling does the talking and he took the torch from Flair. When Ric realized he couldn’t make it here, Shawn took the title and showed the world that he was the standard in wrestling.

There’s so much wrong with that timeline that I’m not even going to bother explaining it so we’ll move on to Shawn being awesome in the ring. Flair freaks out again as Shawn promises to take him to school at Bad Blood. HHH wants to fight right now but here’s Nash to even the odds a bit. Hurricane sneaks in and hits Orton with a chair so the good guys can stand tall. Flair and Shawn’s stuff was outstanding here and the other stuff was nowhere near bad enough to drag it down.

Scott Steiner vs. Steven Richards

Steiner has Stacy with him but Richards doesn’t have Victoria. Test comes out as well and the distraction lets Richards get in a cheap shot from behind. Scott slugs away in the corner and there’s a belly to belly. The Flatliner ends Richards in short order.

Post match Eric Bischoff comes out and makes Test vs. Steiner for Stacy’s managerial services at Bad Blood. So Bischoff’s rulings can override contracts? Why do I have a feeling that’s not going to be used again when Bischoff would benefit from it?

We get some breaking news that Freddie Blassie has passed away.

The bosses are in their office and Austin makes Evolution vs. Michaels/Nash/Hurricane for tonight’s main event. As for Bad Blood, they agree to a Redneck Triathlon.

Goldberg is in the back for an interview but we see Jericho throwing paint on the car. That’s on Goldberg for leaving it out in the open like that. Goldberg runs out, gets in the car (which was already running) and gives chase.

It’s time for the Highlight Reel with Christian guest hosting. Therefore, tonight is the Peep Show and the first guest is the Rock. We get the full entrance and Rock loads up FINALLY but Christian cuts him off and does it himself. Christian says he’s the new people’s champion and on fire. Rock: “YOU ARE ON CRACK!” Rock doesn’t want to hear that and says Christian’s daddy is a ho. Christian: “He’s a pediatrician!”

Christian talks about how awesome he is but Rock wants to talk directly to the people. He actually goes into the crowd, asks some fans who the real People’s Champ is and loads up the catchphrase but Jericho returns to cut him off. Jericho says he isn’t getting speared on Sunday so he asks Rock what it feels like.

Rock calls out some fans for saying he sucks, saying that he gets more pie in a day than they get in a lifetime. Well true probably. The spear hurts, which is all Jericho wanted to know from the pie boy. Christian jumps him from behind but it’s Booker making the save. House is cleaned in a hurry and we get a People’s Elbow from Booker. We’re not done yet though as Rock even busts out a Rockarooni. This was WAY longer than it needed to be, especially with only the Rock vs. Christian stuff being funny.

Post break, Christian and Jericho try to leave but Austin says they’re not going anywhere yet.

Kane vs. Rene Dupree

Kane slugs away in the corner as Lawler recaps recent events between France and the USA with JR running down the French military. Sylvan Grenier distracts Kane and Dupree gets in a kick to the face. That just earns him a side slam but Van Dam kicks Grenier down. Van Dam gets knocked down so Kane goes after Grenier instead, allowing Rene to hit a low blow for the rollup pin. This was pretty bad as Kane looked way off.

Post match here’s a ticked off Austin to tell Van Dam to head to the back. Austin wants to know what’s up with Kane as of late. He’s been watching the last few weeks and Kane is missing everything. Where’s the fire? Does Kane even want this anymore? That’s all it takes to beat him these days?

Austin was waiting on the big chokeslam but now he has to come out here and tick Kane off. He spins Kane around and smacks him in the face before even putting Kane’s hand around his throat. Kane backs away from the chokeslam though, sending Austin into a rant about the old Kane who beat him for the WWF World Title. Austin loads up another chokeslam on himself but Kane lets him go again.

A slap to the face seems to fire Kane up as he grabs Austin by the throat (Austin: “DO IT! DO IT!”) but Kane lets him go for a third time. That’s finally enough for Austin who lays Kane out with a Stunner. This is how one of the CHAMPIONS is treated on the show. I have no idea what they were going for here but unless Kane was in backstage trouble (which would be way out of character for him), this was a really bad idea and a big waste of time.

We get a Matrix style video as Gail Kim is coming. Works for me.

A smiling HHH leaves the referee’s locker room. Post break, HHH tells Evolution that he has a plan that could get him out of the Cell match.

Booker T./Goldust vs. Christian/Chris Jericho

Booker clotheslines Christian to start and gets two off a slam. We take a way too early break and come back with Jericho cranking on Booker’s arms. Christian comes in but let’s talk about Goldust wanting to get breast implants back in the day. Booker flapjacks his way to freedom and it’s off to Goldust to clean house with some right hands and an atomic drop.

Everything breaks down and Christian gets caught in the corner, only to have Jericho save him from Shattered Dreams. A blind tag brings in Booker for a side kick but Christian rolls him up for two despite grabbing the rope. Canadian miscommunication sets up the ax kick though, giving Booker the pin on Christian.

Rating: D+. This was little more than a way to set up Booker vs. Christian at the pay per view and there’s nothing wrong with that. It might not have been a great match or anything but after Austin berating Kane and the way too long Rock segment, I’ll take whatever I can get at this point.

Post match Jericho hits Booker with the Intercontinental Title but Goldberg runs out, only to spear the referee by mistake.

The referees come to see Austin and Bischoff, saying they won’t referee the Cell match because it’s too dangerous. Austin has an idea because he knows someone crazy enough to referee the match. Fans: “FOLEY! FOLEY! FOLEY!”

Evolution vs. Shawn Michaels/The Hurricane/Kevin Nash

Orton and Shawn (in a hat and shirt for some reason) start things off with Shawn headlocking him down and taking off the extra gear. Hurricane comes in and does Shawn’s pose as the arena is rather full of pyro smoke. A clothesline gives Hurricane two but he gets caught by Orton’s still sweet dropkick. HHH, in purple this week, comes in and beats on Hurricane as the announcers praise Nash.

It’s off to Shawn to start on HHH’s arm but Flair sneaks in a chop block to take over. Orton stays on the leg as things slow down. Unfortunately the crowd doesn’t die down, as they’re already eerily silent. The villains take turns on the leg, including Flair’s shinbreaker into the Figure Four. Nash makes the save though and Shawn gets in an enziguri for the real break. It’s off to Orton vs. Nash (which actually doesn’t sound like the worst match in the world) but Kevin gets his hands on HHH a few seconds later. Flair is busted open (From what????) and Nash takes down the strap, only to have Flair save HHH from a Jackknife.

Rating: D. I’m still trying to figure out that ending. Hurricane was obviously just there to take the fall and could have been almost any given midcarder. Losing to the World Champion in a six man tag is hardly career death though and it’s not that big of a deal. What is a big deal though is Nash main eventing the upcoming pay per view, which is somehow losing the non-interest it already had.

To calm the fans down, Nash Jackknifes HHH to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. And that’s ONLY passing because Rock/Christian and Shawn/Flair had some outstanding promos. Other than that, this show was nothing short of a mess as HHH vs. Nash continues to burst into flames as it bounces on the rocks beneath the cliff it flew off of last month. Between that and Austin Stunning Kane for whatever reason, I’m trying to figure out why I kept watching this show back in the day. Another terrible show here as their priorities get more and more out of whack every week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

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

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Monday Night Raw
Date: October 30, 2017
Location: Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Booker T.

It’s time for the fallout show as we’re less than three weeks away from Survivor Series and Raw is reeling from Smackdown’s invasion last week. The interesting part is whether or not Smackdown will be back this week as it’s time to get ready for the real battle. Hopefully it’s as entertaining as last week. Let’s get to it.

We open with a long recap of last week’s invasion.

Opening sequence.

Kurt Angle is in the ring and the Raw roster is on the stage. Last week was taking friendly competition too far and that was a slap in the face of the people who work here every week. He put them in harm’s way and that will never happen again. Cue the returning Stephanie McMahon to talk about how Monday Night Raw will be celebrating twenty five years on January 22. The show is still going strong and that’s where she and Kurt come in. Angle has lead by example and has even earned her respect.

Stephanie pauses for the YOU STILL GOT IT but blames Angle for last week’s siege. It took twenty seconds to ruin Raw’s history and that’s all because of Angle falling for Shane’s lies. Stephanie goes on a rant about how Angle RUINED, yes RUINED, Raw’s legacy last week in one incompetent moment. Therefore, Angle better hope that he still has it because he’s going to be team captain at Survivor Series. If things don’t go the way she wants, he’s out as General Manager.

Post break Stephanie is leaving and Angle is very sorry. Stephanie mentions Mick Foley as another threat to Angle’s job. As Stephanie leaves, another limo comes up, containing the Miz. Angle isn’t happy with him being late so he’s defending the Intercontinental Title tonight. Miz wants to know who but Angle won’t tell him for being late. Of note: Bo Dallas was back.

Angle being all apologetic and scared here does nothing for him, but it certainly makes Stephanie look like the queen of the world. You know, BECAUSE WE HAVEN’T ESTABLISHED THAT ENOUGH IN THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS!

Bayley vs. Alicia Fox

Fox comes out in an airline captain’s outfit (well, the female wrestling version) and says this is your captain speaking (eh kind of clever). She has business to tend to so we have a replacement.

Bayley vs. Nia Jax

Bayley charges right at her to start and basically bounces off of the monster, landing on the floor in a heap. Back with Nia holding a chinlock, followed by a pair of running splashes in the corner. What looked to be a Vader Bomb is broken up and Nia is dumped to the floor. Bayley dives off the apron with some right hands, followed by a kick to the face for two. We hit a guillotine choke but Nia shrugs it off without much effort. A spear and the legdrop end Bayley at 7:24.

Rating: D+. You know all those times that Nia has defeated Bayley before? This is the most recent one. The match was yet another destruction of Bayley, who will be the exact same character next week. That’s one of the biggest reasons characters from NXT don’t work in WWE: there’s no development. Bayley had that crisis of confidence over the summer, came back, changed nothing, and is right back where she was months ago. That’s poor writing and a lack of storytelling, which is why Bayley (along with so many others) isn’t interesting anymore.

Alicia picks Nia to be on the Raw team. Nia goes to leave but Samoa Joe of all people is back. Post break, Joe says he knows some people here missed him but he didn’t miss a single one of them. Therefore, when he’s beating the heck out of someone, he’ll be imagining it’s all of the people.

Samoa Joe vs. Apollo Crews

Joe wastes no time in chopping Crews in the corner and it’s not looking good early on. Crews fights back with a good looking dropkick and some right hands in the corner but Joe isn’t about to be suplexed. A kick in the corner drops Crews and Joe throws his gum at Titus O’Neil. Crews scores with an enziguri but the Toss Powerbomb is countered with a headlock takeover. The Rock Bottom out of the corner plants Crews and it’s the Koquina Clutch for the tap out at 3:39.

Rating: D. Samoa Joe gave Brock Lesnar all he could handle on pay per view but he broke a sweat against Crews on Raw? Joe is one of the best monsters on Raw and for some reason they won’t have him squash a jobber to the stars. This was WAY more competitive than it needed to be and it’s not like this company has much credibility when it comes to making new stars at the moment (but they can push Kane of course).

Post match Joe chokes Titus out as well.

Intercontinental Title: The Miz vs. Matt Hardy

Matt is challenging and wastes no time in trying a small package for two. A backslide gets the same and these early pinfall attempts are working at making Miz sweat a bit. Miz bails to the floor and we take a break. Back with Matt getting crotched on top and a neckbreaker out of the corner getting two. You can tell Miz is working here as his hair is hanging off the side of his head.

Miz puts him on the apron and gets two off a kick to the head. Back in and Miz hits the corner clothesline but the top rope ax handle is blocked. Instead Miz crotches himself in the corner to put both guys down. Matt gets two off a bulldog and drops his middle rope elbow to the back of the neck.

A regular middle rope elbow (that’s a new one) gets two, followed by the Side Effect for the same. Matt scores with a moonsault of all things for two more but Miz is right back with the YES Kicks. A Twist of Fate out of nowhere plants Miz but he rolls to the apron. Back up and Miz snaps him throat first across the ropes, setting up the Skull Crushing Finale to retain at 13:02.

Rating: B. This was much better than I was expecting and a lot of that is because of Matt knowing how to make you buy into his near falls. There’s no reason to really believe that Matt is going to end Miz’s long title reign here but they pulled off a good match. I’m not sure who is taking the title from Miz, but he’s less than two months away from the second most combined days as champion of all time so it’s not happening anytime soon. More than likely at least.

We recap the opening sequence, making sure to show how amazing Stephanie is, just in case you forgot in the last 40 minutes.

Alexa Bliss comes in to see Angle and mocks the idea of Mickie James being a serious contender. Angle isn’t cool with that and makes Bliss vs. James for the title in the main event.

Asuka vs. Stacie Cullen

A spinning backfist drops Cullen and it’s time for some hard knees to the face. Asuka kicks her in the head and the Asuka Lock is good for the submission at 1:42.

Angle grabs a walkie talkie and says the invasion is happening again. It turns out to just be Daniel Bryan and we take a break. Back with Angle yelling at Bryan for wanting to be here to finish the job. Bryan says no but Angle threatens to have the Raw roster destroy him right now. Angle promises to come to Smackdown and even things up.

Recap of Brock Lesnar answering Jinder Mahal’s challenge and Mahal’s response.

Bryan is still in Angle’s office for no apparent reason and sums up what happened in a phone call. The lights go out and we take a break. Back with Bryan in the dark ranting about the door being locked. He says something is wrong and Kane shows up to chokeslam him through a table (off camera of course).

Finn Balor vs. Cesaro

Balor takes him into the corner to start and shouts BAR. That’s still a stupid name so Balor headlocks him down instead. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets Cesaro out of trouble though and he uppercuts Finn into the corner. Balor sends him outside though and the running apron kick to the face drops Cesaro. Sheamus gets in a cheap shot though and we take a break.

Back with Cesaro hitting the pop up uppercut for two, followed by the apron superplex (that never gets old) for the same. We hit the Sharpshooter for a bit with Balor easily powering out. That means a Sling Blade into the corner dropkick, followed by Balor hitting a good looking running flip dive onto both guys. A top rope double stomp to the back gives Balor the pin at 11:28.

Rating: B-. At least Balor got something back after that pretty ridiculous loss to Kane last week. Hopefully he gets a nice run at the pay per view as he still needs to shake off the Bray Wyatt feud. Cesaro losing in a singles match doesn’t mean much as he’s not likely to be getting a singles push anytime soon.

Post match Kane comes out and Tombstones Balor on the stage. HE’S KANE! DOES ANYONE THINK HE NEEDS TO BE BUILT UP TO FACE STROWMAN? And at the expense of Finn Balor? Good grief is there anyone else you want to put Kane over?

Seth Rollins vs. Kane

I WAS KIDDING!!! Cesaro and Sheamus are still at ringside along with Ambrose. Rollins just looks better in the Shield gear. Seth’s early shots have little effect so he scores with some dropkicks through the ropes. The suicide dive is broken up though and Kane runs him over with a clothesline. Rollins hammers away in the corner and kicks at the knee, only to get dropped with an uppercut. You can’t say Kane’s offense is complicated yet it still works well. The side slam gives Kane two and we hit a chinlock.

Back up and an enziguri gets Seth out of trouble and the Blockbuster (still love that move) gets two. A suicide dive is blocked though and Rollins is down in a heap. Back in and Seth’s springboard….I think clothesline is shrugged off as Sheamus and Cesaro are stomping on Ambrose. Another springboard is countered into a chokeslam for the pin on Rolling at 5:42.

Rating: D+. The problem here is obvious: pushing Kane is fine but the idea of having Kane go over Rollins and Balor in back to back weeks for the sake of setting up Kane vs. Strowman is nonsense. Kane is one of the biggest stars ever and is a monster by definition. That’s not something which requires a lot of effort but for some reason we’re sacrificing far more valuable wrestlers for the sake of pushing the guy.

Post match Dean hits Dirty Deeds on Kane but Sheamus and Cesaro come in to help beat him down. Ambrose and Rollins both get Tombstoned, making it THREE former World Champions Kane has decimated in the span of ten minutes. Oh and one thing missing when the Shield was being beaten down: anyone chanting for Reigns to make the save. Isn’t that interesting?

We look at the opening sequence. Again.

Bryan is being stretchered out.

Miz and the Miztourage are ready to celebrate and go into their locker room. They find a bag of trash, which Miz interprets as Braun Strowman coming back. Terror ensues.

Post break Miz runs into Braun and asks him for help with Strowman. Kane says he’s on his own.

Recap of Strowman being destroyed at TLC.

Heath Slater/Rhyno vs. Karl Anderson/Luke Gallows

This is a Trick or Street Fight, meaning the ring is surrounded by Halloween decorations. For costumes, we have Santa and Mrs. Claus vs. Chad 2 Bad/Tex Ferguson (from Southpaw Regional Wrestling) respectively. Slater is sent into a bucket of apples to start so Rhyno makes a save and puts pumpkins on their heads. Heath finds some candy corn kendo sticks but it takes too long to set up a table.

Anderson and Gallows beat Slater down, including shoving pumpkin filling in Slater’s face. Karl crotches himself on a skeleton though just go with it) and there’s a pie to the face. Slater makes the save with the kendo sticks but gets beaten down again. Anderson puts a pumpkin on his own head and Gallows does the same, blinding himself in the process. It takes too long though and Rhyno gets off a table, setting up a spinebuster to put Anderson through said table for the pin at 4:50.

Rating: F. No. Moving on.

Cesaro and Sheamus tell Miz that Strowman couldn’t possibly be back yet. They’re no team though. So is this supposed to be WWE’s version of a horror story? Just because it’s October? It was more effective when Reigns attempted to murder Strowman and it’s not exactly spooky, especially when Strowman is likely back this week or next. On a related note, is Kane getting this kind of a push because he’s a monster and it’s the Halloween season? If so, that’s rather dumb even by WWE’s limited standards.

Elias, with a new guitar, is in the ring for a song. He sings the Ballad of Jason Jordan, complete with shots of Jordan being hit with a guitar last week. Jordan comes out to clean house and breaks Elias’ new guitar.

Miz and the Miztourage go to leave but Angle cuts them off, saying they’re staying or else.

Here are Enzo Amore and Drew Gulak to mock Angle again. Kalisto isn’t getting the title back you see and Gulak is ready to help prove that. Gulak says Kalisto is S-O-F-T, which doesn’t sit well with Enzo.

Kalisto vs. Drew Gulak

Drew jumps him to start but charges into a boot in the corner. Kalisto’s middle rope corkscrew dive and the handspring enziguri sets up the hurricanrana driver. The springboard Salida Del Sol ends Gulak at 59 seconds.

Post match Enzo lays Kalisto out.

Miz is trying to find a way out.

Women’s Title: Alexa Bliss vs. Mickie James

James is challenging and scores early with a running kick to the chest. The hurricanrana out of the corner has Bliss reeling and a dropkick puts her outside. Back from a break with Bliss working on a neck crank before switching to a chinlock (totally different you see). Something like an STO gets two and Bliss stands on Mickie’s hair for good measure.

That’s enough to fire Mickie up but Bliss slams her off the top to take over again. An enziguri off the top lets Mickie score with the Thesz press for two. Some rollups are good for some two counts but Bliss punches her in the face for the pin to retain at 11:25. Seriously it was just a right hand.

Rating: D. Well that happened. This was a lot of chinlocking and not much else, which doesn’t make for a strong main event. I was hoping for something like Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks here but instead I got little more than a bad women’s match. James isn’t the most interesting challenger and losing to a right hand is about as low as you can go.

Miz and the Miztourage go to leave and, after cutting back to Bliss celebrating, get in the car, where of course there is a camera waiting. They pull off and are immediately stopped by a waiting garbage truck. Braun comes out of the garbage as we keep cutting to Miz and company in the vein of a bad horror movie.

Strowman poses (in clean clothes despite BEING IN A GARBAGE TRUCK FOR EIGHT DAYS) and chases them out of the limo. They head into the arena, where Bliss is still posing, where Strowman throws Dallas onto the stage. The Miztourage save Miz from going through the table so Strowman takes them to the ring for FIVE running powerslams. Axel goes through the announcers’ table to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. This is a show where two good matches were powerless to save the show. I’m not even sure where to begin, but we’ll start with Stephanie. Yeah I know it’s her character and we know that’s what she does but come on: the legacy of Raw is destroyed? That’s what we’re taking out of last week’s show?

The same show that had Buzz Aldrin, Florence Henderson and that cowboy whose name I can’t remember as “guest stars”? The same show that had a Rosie O’Donnell vs. Donald Trump minis match? The same show that had Jim Ross’ unconscious head the against the back of Vince’s underwear before Vince, in a cowboy hat, skipped around the ring with his pants around his ankles? NONE OF THAT compares to last week? That’s what we’re supposed to buy as a top story?

Ignoring the Halloween street fight (On the night BEFORE the show THAT ACTUALLY AIRS ON FREAKING HALLOWEEN!), there’s the whole booking the show like a horror movie. Strowman looked like Michael Myers and Kane (who was originally based on Myers) it beating World Champions into the ground. The more I think about it, the more I think they really are pushing monsters like this for the sake of the season of the year, which is as dumb as you can get. Maybe Kane was supposed to be Wyatt, but I can’t imagine Wyatt getting this kind of a push no matter how much more sense it would have made.

On top of that, as of now, we’re not even getting the match that the finishing segment seems to be setting up. Based on what we saw, Strowman should be going after Miz and the Intercontinental Title. What are we getting instead? Strowman vs. Kane and Miz vs. Corbin. After Survivor Series, do you think Strowman is going to go after the title? Of course not, because he’ll want revenge or something like that. That’s fine once in awhile, but when is the last time you remember a feud being after the title? Let them build that thing up once in a while instead of always going for the personal stuff.

The problem here comes down to one simple thing: Kane and Stephanie McMahon came out as the dominant forces on this show. We have two weeks to go before Survivor Series and at the moment, we know one member of the Raw team. In theory people like Kane, Balor and Strowman will be included (it’s not like there are many other options) but none of this has focused on the pay per view.

All we hear about is how it’s Raw vs. Smackdown and champion vs. champion but that’s not enough. The titles aren’t on the line and I need a lot more than bragging rights to draw my interest. There’s nothing going on for this show and, other than Kane and Stephanie (and Strowman, to a lesser degree), there’s no reason to care about most of what’s coming up. Aside from the raid, all we have to go on is some graphics and a one off raid. Things could change, but this show was a disaster that turned me off on the pay per view.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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Monday Night Raw
Date: May 26, 2003
Location: Mobile Civic Center, Mobile, Alabama
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Last week’s big announcement was what might only be the second worst disaster of a HHH pay per view rematch (Kevin Nash should send Scott Steiner a raw meat basket) this year will be held inside the Cell. Other than that, Steve Austin likes to torture Eric Bischoff and Chris Jericho wanted to murder Goldberg for whatever reason. Let’s get to it.

We open with a long recap of last week’s big angle, featuring Ric Flair giving it one last shot against HHH (who of course retained the title). It was a great moment with a good match that had the fans buying into the story. Then HHH just beat him and moved back to fighting Kevin Nash. It almost hurt to type that out.

Opening sequence.

Here’s Shawn Michaels, who JR calls the best of all time, to introduce Ric Flair, who JR also calls the best of all time. For eighteen years, Shawn has wanted to say something to Flair: he’s every reason that Shawn wanted to be a wrestler. Flair is the reason that Shawn had to be great and one day he wanted to be what Flair was on a nightly basis. After last week, Shawn knows that Flair always will be the best in the world. However, there’s a part of Shawn that has to know where he stands so he wants to face Flair one time.

Flair is touched and agrees to the match but here’s HHH to cut him off. A few months ago, HHH set out to make Flair into his old self again and that’s exactly what he did. Last week Flair pushed HHH to the limit but now he’s about to bite the hand that feeds him. Flair says he doesn’t want to be the guy who follows HHH around and puts the belt around his waist. That’s too far for HHH, who erupts on Flair, yelling about how he’s an old man whose window of opportunity is closing fast.

This brings out Eric Bischoff to say the match sounds great but it’s not happening in Mobile, Alabama. Instead, we’ll have Shawn vs. Ric at Bad Blood. As for tonight though, they can team up to face HHH in a handicap match. Hands are shaken and JR incorrectly says this is the first time Ric and Shawn have teamed together. He also mistakenly says that HHH and Flair met for the first time last week, rather than the night when HHH was handed the World Title back in September.

Booker T. vs. Test

Stacy Keibler has given up on the idea of Test and Scott Steiner teaming together. You know, because the tag….eh never mind as they weren’t valuable in the first place so them being done doesn’t make things any worse. Booker reverses a whip and gets two off a clothesline. A hard left handed clothesline drops Booker and we hit a chinlock. An ax kick misses so Booker goes with the spinning kick to the face instead.

There’s the Spinarooni and Booker hits a missile dropkick before backdropping Test out to the floor. A baseball slide hits Stacy though (that’s far too common of a trope) thanks to Test pulling her in the way. Back in and the pumphandle slam gets two but here’s Steiner to check on Stacy. The ax kick ends Test without much effort.

Rating: D. What is there to say about something like this? It was mainly about Stacy instead of the match itself, which is probably the better idea. Booker is in the middle of chasing the title so it’s a good idea to see him win here, though Test isn’t exactly getting anywhere by losing like this, especially in a clean fall.

Steve Austin, with a black eye, thinks Booker is starting to come around when HHH comes in. HHH asks about the eye, which Austin says is the result of singing in the shower and slipping on some soap. The sucking up begins with HHH complimenting everything he can think of about Austin, only to be told that the match is still on. And now, HHH says Austin always wanted to be like him. He’ll win anyway, but who will bring him back to reality?

Val Venis vs. Steven Richards

This is an excuse to have Victoria in Steven’s corner and Trish Stratus on commentary. Venis is starting his own adult film company and offers Victoria a contract. Richards jumps him from behind to start and kicks Venis down into an early chinlock. Back up and Val scores with a clothesline, only to get planted with a DDT. Not that it matters as Val hits a spinebuster and the Money Shot for the pin. Actually a pretty nice match while it lasted.

Quick look at some soldiers in the house on Memorial Day.

Kevin Nash laughs off the idea of HHH’s troubles because he’s taking the title inside the Cell.

Christian doesn’t like this town because it’s named after a gas station. Goldust comes up to stutter something like a challenge but Booker comes up and says he’s winning the title soon enough.

Austin and Bischoff both think they should be credited as presenting Bad Blood. After Austin mentions that any active military personnel can get into the show for free (nothing wrong with that), they agree to compete in some way at the pay per view. More bickering ensues until Austin leaves to hear Lillian Garcia sing America the Beautiful.

Lillian starts singing and of course here is La Resistance. The French guys rip on American patriotism until Austin comes out to Stun them both. Austin talks about how awesome the military is and how they provide him the freedom to drink all the beer he wants. He and Lillian finish the song before beer is consumed. I know Vince LOVES the American stuff but sweet goodness do they really need to beat up a new tag team for the sake of a one off segment?

Flair is warming up but a masked man is watching him.

Christian vs. Goldust

Non-title. Christian hammers away in the corner but gets bulldogged for his efforts. A missed crossbody sends Goldust falling out to the floor though and Christian chokes away on the ropes. We hit the chinlock for a bit until Goldust fights up. An elbow to the jaw gets two on the champ but the Curtain Call is countered into a reverse DDT for the same. More right hands in the corner rock Christian but the referee blocks Shattered Dreams. Not that it matters as Goldust scores with a powerslam for the pin.

Rating: D. I’m sure this was completely necessary and helpful towards building up the Intercontinental Title match on Sunday. Booker T. beat Christian in a battle royal but got screwed out of the title. Now Goldust pins the champ clean, but I doubt he’s being added to the title match. Maybe he’ll get a shot next week, but why did this need to take place after the champ already has a challenger?

Teddy Long and Rodney Mack are in the ring for the FIVE MINUTE WHITE BOY CHALLENGE!

Rodney Mack vs. Bubba Ray Dudley

Bubba chops away in the corner but gets punched in the face for his efforts. We’re already in the chinlock as JR wishes Freddie Blassie a speedy recovery. Mack clotheslines him down but gets caught in a release German suplex for two. A neckbreaker and the Bubba Bomb get the same but Teddy gets on the apron for a distraction. Cue Christopher Nowinski to knock Bubba cold with the protective mask (which he was carrying, though you would think he could have brought something a bit harder) and Mack grabs the choke for the win.

La Resistance is annoyed at being attacked so Bischoff makes Sylvan Grenier vs. Rob Van Dam in a flag match tonight. If Grenier wins, they get a title shot at the pay per view. They really didn’t have a better way to set this up than Austin beating them up?

We recap Austin interrogating Lance Storm until he found out that Chris Jericho was behind attempting to run Goldberg down.

HHH accuses Flair of changing so Flair goes into a Flair style rant, saying he’s still the man.

Rob Van Dam vs. Sylvan Grenier

Flag match, meaning you have to pull your own flag down to win. A technical sequence sends both of them towards the wrong flag so let’s try that again. Rob kicks him to the floor but instead of going for his flag, he hits the spinning leg to the back. Maybe France is smarter than America. Back in and Rob scores with some shoulders to the back in the corner as I keep noticing the MOBILE, ALABAMA sign that a fan holds up. It’s been there all night and I wonder if that’s really the best he could come up with. There’s no joke or anything as it’s just the name of the town he’s in.

Anyway, Grenier’s attempt to get to the flag is broken up but Rene Dupree gets in a cheap shot to drop Rob. Back up and Rob’s top rope flip dive hits the referee by mistake because, in fact, they’re going to do a Dusty Finish in a FLAG match. Rob gets the flag but isn’t seen, allowing Dupree to knock the flag out of his hands. Kane comes in and clean house but takes a flag pole shot to the face. Dupree gets the flag and Grenier wins.

Rating: D-. This match made my head hurt and felt like a half-Vince Russo idea. La Resistance getting the title shot is fine and having them win in a flag match on Memorial Day is fine but they couldn’t have backed their way into the match any worse. If you have to have them win this way, don’t have Austin beat them up. It’s not like they’re an established team but who needs to build them up when they can just be handed the titles to get them over in a hurry?

It’s time for the Highlight Reel, whose set seems to be growing. This show is the hottest thing in wrestling and next week, Jericho will prove it when the Rock is his guest. That doesn’t get much of a reaction so Jericho talks about trying to run Goldberg over because no one wants him here.

Jericho took him under his wing in WCW but it just gave Goldberg a bigger ego. Then Jericho came here and became a big star with Goldberg being forgotten. A challenge is issued for Bad Blood so here’s Goldberg to talk some trash. That just earns him some pepper spray and a spear from Jericho. It’s a bigger deal than Christian but Goldberg really isn’t hitting his stride around here.

Jericho bailed during the break while Terri babbled on like the annoying interviewer she is.

HHH vs. Shawn Michaels/Ric Flair

HHH jumps Shawn from behind to start but a clothesline puts the champ down. A middle rope crossbody allows Shawn to hammer away and you can almost see the Flair heel turn (Is it really a turn?) coming from here. The Pedigree is broken up with a backdrop and Sweet Chin Music connects less than two minutes in. The hot tag brings in Flair and he wastes no time in punching Michaels down. We cut to the back where the masked man chairs Nash and it’s a Pedigree to end Michaels.

Rating: D. Well that happened. HHH gets to look brilliant and the Flair turn, which seemed to be rapidly gaining traction, is nothing more than a HHH ploy to gain momentum as we head towards HHH vs. Kevin Nash. This was an angle instead of a match, which is another non-surprise to go with Flair being in league with HHH all along.

The masked man and Nash come in with the former beating the latter down. The mask comes off and it’s Randy Orton helping with the beatdown to end the show. Uhhh….what was the point of the mask if he’s introduced and revealed in less than an hour?

Overall Rating: D-. There’s a reason 2003 is considered such a dark time for the company. The storytelling here was more lazy than anything else, yet it still felt like a bunch of stories that were rushed. In the main event story, we had a heel turn, a masked man introduced and revealed and a match taking place in one night. Throw in stuff like Christian losing clean and Austin beating up La Resistance and this was another bad show in a way too long series of them.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 23, 2017
Location: Resch Center, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T., Corey Graves

It’s the night after Tables Ladders and Chairs and the big question now is how many wrestlers are still under the weather. At the moment, Bo Dallas, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt are all missing in action and there’s no word on when they’ll be back. It should be interesting to see how things shake out as we head towards Survivor Series. Let’s get to it.

First off, Happy Birthday wife.

We open with a long recap of last night’s main event, with the garbage truck stuff being left out. I’ve heard people say that it was one of the worst matches ever but it’s not even the worst WWE pay per view main event this year.

Here’s Kurt Angle to open the show and you know what chants he’s going to get. Now it’s time to talk about Survivor Series though, with various matches already being set. It’s going to be champion vs. champion with:

Alexa Bliss vs. Natalya

Miz vs. Baron Corbin

Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins vs. Usos

Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal

In addition to these matches, there will be a men’s and a women’s elimination match with participants to be named later. Cue the Miz and the Bar to cut Angle off with Miz saying that Angle has overstepped his boundaries. Last night was too far and tonight, it’s time to pay. Angle goes to leave but everyone surrounds the ring. Cue Seth Rollins/Dean Ambrose for the save and everyone bails. Angle isn’t done though and makes a match right now, including a guest star who stuck around after last night.

Seth Rollins/Dean Ambrose/AJ Styles vs. The Miz/The Bar

Rollins stomps Sheamus down in the corner to start and it’s Dean dropping some elbows for two. Ambrose comes in and gets slammed by Cesaro, only to have Seth hit a running kick to the chest to take over. It’s off to AJ with a ROAR and some forearms have Cesaro in trouble. The villains are sent to the floor for a triple dive and we take a break.

Back with Ambrose in an armbar from Sheamus before it’s off to Cesaro for a chinlock. Dean reverses a suplex into one of his own and the hot tag brings in Seth. A Falcon Arrow takes Cesro down but Miz grabs a heck of a DDT for two on Rollins. Back from a second break with Miz firing off the YES Kicks to Seth’s chest.

The big one is countered into a rollup and Miz bails to the floor where Ambrose knocks him over the barricade. Back in and it’s the hot tag to AJ as everything breaks down. Rollins breaks up a rollup for two and it’s the stereo dives to Miz and Sheamus. The Phenomenal Forearm ends Cesaro at 19:56.

Rating: B. Nice long match here and having AJ around is a good idea. The fans love him and are going to cheer anything he does, which makes him as smart of an attraction as you can have. Of course that’s not going to be enough to put him over the likes of Jinder Mahal but why do that when you can have Jinder keep the title another five and a half months?

Post match Kane comes out and helps destroy the winners. Back from a break with Kane in the ring and another highlight package from last night’s main event. Kane says he’s heard stories about Braun Strowman destroying Roman Reigns and surviving attacks in an ambulance. He liked what he heard but needed to see it for himself. When he saw it in person though, all he saw was trash. That’s why he put Strowman in the back of a garbage truck and liked hearing the gears grinding away. Kane will always be Raw’s resident monster and now he wants competition. That means an open challenge and we have an answer.

Finn Balor vs. Kane

Balor gets chased to the floor to start and comes back in where Kane hammers him down in the corner. A big boot cuts off a comeback attempt but Balor slugs him out to the floor anyway. Back in and the running corner clothesline sets up the side slam for two as this has been mostly Kane. A backbreaker keeps Finn in trouble and it’s another trip to the floor for more punishment. They head back inside where Balor hits a quick Sling Blade, followed by the shotgun dropkick. Balor loads up the Coup de Grace but Kane chokeslams him off the top. Two more chokeslams give Kane the clean pin at 8:50.

Rating: D-. Stupid, dumb, idiotic, short sighted, moronic, FREAKING RIDICULOUS and any other adjectives you care to name here. The idea is to build Kane up for a match with Strowman and there’s nothing wrong with that. What there IS something wrong with is using Balor to help build that up when he’s FINN FREAKING BALOR. You have him go over Styles on Sunday and lose to Kane clean on Monday? This is one of the dumbest decisions I’ve seen in a long time and that’s not a good sign going into one of biggest shows of the year.

Angle is in his office when Shane McMahon comes in for some friendly banter about the battle of the brands at Survivor Series. Things are smoothed over without too many issues though.

Asuka vs. Emma

Rematch from last night. An early cross armbreaker has Emma in trouble (just like last night) and the hip attack sends her out to the floor. Emma sends her shoulder first into the post but has to fight out of the Asuka Lock. Asuka gets in a missile dropkick, followed by some strikes to the head. Another hip attack gets two as the fans are trying to stay into this one. Back up and Emma tries a rollup, only to be reversed into the Asuka Lock for the tap at 5:13.

Rating: D+. Well it was shorter than last night but it’s basically the same match: Emma beats her down for most of the match but gets hip attacked and taps out for the finish. This makes Emma look like an overachiever and Asuka more like a person already melting under the spotlight. What a great way to bring her up people. Not with a squash or anything like that, but rather going move for move (and often worse) with one of the lowest rated women in the division. Nicely done WWE and a great way to mess up what should have been easy.

Here’s Alexa Bliss and she’s not in a good mood. She dispatched the leader of the old folks home last night in the performance of her career but it didn’t get the reaction she deserved. Then Finn Balor and AJ Styles stood in the ring and stared at each other for ten minutes so the fans thought it was awesome. Therefore, she’s going to say a chant and the sheep here are going to repeat it back to her. The chant is YOU DESERVE IT but here’s Mickie James to cut her off instead. A MickieDT onto the title leaves Bliss laying and Mickie says that Bliss does deserve it.

Bayley and Sasha Banks are in Kurt’s office where he says that they should be the captain of the women’s Survivor Series team. Alicia Fox comes in and wants to play Rock Paper Scissors for the captain spot. Angle thinks a triple threat might be better.

Here’s Elias to complain about what happened last night. After an insult to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, it’s time for a live musical performance. Elias starts insulting the crowd but the microphone keeps cutting out. He threatens to go beat up the sound technician but here’s Jason Jordan to cut him off.

Jason Jordan vs. Elias

Rematch from last night and we’re joined in progress with Jordan taking a big elbow drop for two. A double kick to the chest sets up a chinlock to keep Jordan in trouble. The first suplex drops Elias though and Jordan takes him outside for three straight drives into the corner. Not that it matters as Elias comes back with a guitar shot for the DQ at 3:20.

Rating: D+. So that happened and is likely happening again in the near future. Jordan vs. Elias isn’t all that interesting but at least they have something for Jordan to do. He’s not floundering in the role so far and a big win over Elias should help him, though the Angle son thing is still doing nothing for him.

Jordan leaves with a heck of a welt on his arm.

Here are Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar to respond to Jinder Mahal. Paul finds it interesting that someone has an issue finding Lesnar as the undisputed champion of WWE. There is someone who thinks that they can match up to Brock and that makes little sense to Heyman. We live in an age of trash talk but Heyman didn’t talk trash about Goldberg, Samoa Joe or Braun Strowman. Instead he praised all of them because they deserved it. Then there’s the joke of a champion like Jinder Mahal.

When we think of a champion, we think of Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, John Cena and BROCK LESNAR. This isn’t about Lesnar wanting to wave the Raw flag. This is about Smackdown thinking that it wasn’t treated fairly in the Superstar Shakeup. Whichever show has Brock Lesnar is the undisputed top show and at Survivor Series, Jinder is going to Suplex City. The challenge is accepted and Brock looks angry.

Kalisto is invoking his rematch clause tomorrow night on 205 Live. Tonight though is about family. Cedric Alexander, Rich Swann, Mustafa Ali and Gran Metalik come in and we hit the LUCHA dance.

Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox

The winner is the captain at Survivor Series. Everyone goes at it to start with Fox hitting the northern lights suplex for two on Bayley, followed by the same thing to Sasha. A double dropkick puts Fox on the floor and it’s time for the staredown. Fox gets knocked of the apron and a double dropkick does it again.

Back from a break with Fox holding Banks in a chinlock. That goes nowhere so Fox takes her to the top for a superplex, only to get pulled down into the Tower of Doom with Bayley getting the least of it. A big boot gives Fox two on Bayley so Fox shouts that she doesn’t want to play. She heads outside and rings the bell, only to walk into the Bayley to Belly for two. Bayley fights Banks off and walks into a Bayley to Belly from Fox, only to get caught in the Bank Statement. That’s broken up as well so Fox throws them into each other and pins Bayley at 11:18.

Rating: D+. Fox winning is more interesting and it’s not like these two aren’t going to be on the team anyway. It wouldn’t have hurt them to let Banks take the fall for a change though as neither of them are exactly lighting the world on fire at the moment. This division has become such a mess and it’s not showing any signs of improving anytime soon.

Lucha Lucha vs. The Zo Train

Kalisto, Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander, Mustafa Ali, Gran Metalik

Enzo Amore, Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, Noam Dar, Ariya Daivari

One fall to a finish. So it turns out that Enzo can’t talk so Gulak ready his prepared statement, albeit with better grammar. The villains spell out S-A-W-F-T with Enzo nearly coughing the T. Kalisto wants to start with Enzo but has to kick Daivari in the face instead. Metalik comes in and flips away from Nese before doing his rope walk into a dropkick. The lucha guys clear the ring and a quadruple superkick puts Gulak on the floor as we take a break.

Back with Dar working on Swann’s arm until it’s off to Daivari. A double crossbody puts both of them down and everyone else starts brawling on the floor. Daivari gets kicked into the corner and tags Enzo, who gets kicked down by Enzo. The DDG gets two on Kalisto as Swann makes the save. Double dives take down some villains, followed by stereo moonsaults to the floor. Kalisto grabs the Salida Del Sol to end Enzo at 9:05.

Rating: C. The dives were fun but this match really isn’t doing anything to help the fact that most of these people aren’t interesting in the slightest. So many of them feel like they’re just a person who happens to be in the match, which doesn’t exactly make me want to watch most of them. Kalisto vs. Enzo isn’t an exciting match but it’s what we’re stuck with for now. Hopefully it wraps up tomorrow night.

Here’s Angle to announce the Raw men’s team but Shane comes out of the crowd, flanked by almost the entire Smackdown roster. Shane says Raw is under siege and Angle bails to the ramp. The Smackdown roster is told to go get them so they march to the back. First up is Titus Worldwide, who are beaten down in short order. The Raw women run away and it’s time to beat up some jobbers.

They head into the locker room to beat on Jason Jordan and Matt Hardy before heading into another room. More people are beaten up in another room and now it’s the women fighting each other. Rollins and Ambrose come in with chairs but are beaten down without too much effort. Baron Corbin and Rusev capture Angle and make him watch the beating before taking him back into the arena where Shane is waiting. Shane says they’ll finish this at Survivor Series. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would as they made it feel like an invasion for a change and it could go somewhere for a change.

Overall Rating: C. The wrestling and the booking left something to be desired but the storytelling was good. Survivor Series is being built up in a hurry and I want to see where some of the stories go. The Raw vs. Smackdown stuff has potential but they have a few weeks left to maintain that momentum. Having some big names missing didn’t help things but there’s more than enough time to bring them back in. Not a bad show this week, though much more of a stepping stone than anything else.

Results

AJ Styles/Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins b. The Miz/The Bar – Phenomenal Forearm to Cesaro

Kane b. Finn Balor – Chokeslam

Asuka b. Emma – Asuka Lock

Jason Jordan b. Elias via DQ when Elias used a guitar

Alicia Fox b. Bayley and Sasha Banks – Whip into Fox

Lucha Lucha b. The Zo Train – Salida Del Sol to Amore

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

Monday Night Raw
Date: May 19, 2003
Location: BI-LO Center, Greenville, South Carolina
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

We’re past Judgment Day and thank goodness for that. Unfortunately we’re on the way towards Bad Blood, which is the first single branded pay per view. In other words, we’re all in very serious trouble. Unfortunately we seem to be headed towards another Kevin Nash vs. HHH disaster. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Here’s Steve Austin to open the show. He talks about how great the pay per view was (How drunk was he?) but it’s a shame that Eric Bischoff can’t handle his beer and food. We get a clip of Bischoff vomiting last night because that’s funny you see. As for tonight though, Austin is getting ready for Bad Blood, but first up he wants to find out who tried to run Goldberg over last week. His investigation is ongoing and he will find out tonight. Whoever that is will be facing Goldberg right here tonight, which is quite the smart punishment.

Next up though is HHH, who comes out with Ric Flair but Austin CUTS OFF THE WATER SPIT! Austin doesn’t like HHH making him wait and is trying very hard to maintain his composure. Last night HHH took a beating all over the building and that World Title should belong to Kevin Nash. Tonight though, the title will be on the line right here in this ring. HHH thinks Austin is drunk with power and no matter what Austin wants, HHH is still champion. Therefore, he’s not wrestling tonight.

Austin disagrees, but he’s feeling compassionate. HHH is wrestling tonight but he’ll get to pick his opponent, assuming it’s a former World Champion. That leaves him with options of Kane, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho or Kevin Nash. Austin certainly seems to be leaving out a large handful of names there, including himself (If Austin and Bischoff have equal power and he still wants to wrestle, shouldn’t he be able to either cancel whatever Bischoff is using to keep him out of the ring or come up with a way around it?). HHH has an idea though and picks Flair to challenge him for the title tonight. Austin is mad and Flair is confused.

Dudley Boyz vs. 3 Minute Warning

They slug it out to start with Bubba actually dropkicking Jamal out to the floor. First time for everything I guess. The Samoans take over though with Rosey hitting a spinning legdrop for no cover on D-Von. Jamal gets two off a knee drop and Rosey adds something like a superkick. D-Von’s right hands have almost no effect (they are Samoans after all) but Jamal’s Vader Bomb hits knees.

It’s off to Bubba for right hands and a backdrop for two on Rosey as everything breaks down. A double suplex sets up What’s Up with Rico accidentally distracting the referee. Rosey grabs a Samoan drop on Bubba but isn’t legal for the cover. Rico throws in a table and a D-Von to go with it, only to miss the top rope splash. Rosey gets back in and walks right into 3D for the pin.

Rating: D+. Not a very good match with both teams being a bit too similar to really make it work. The Dudleys are a nice addition to the division as it certainly needs the extra (albeit familiar) help. If nothing else the 3D is always worth a look, even if it’s to someone as worthless as Rosey.

Post match Rico yells at the Samoans and walks out on his own.

A very hungover Eric Bischoff is here (after Austin said he wouldn’t be, making Austin an untruth teller) and says he can’t do this redneck stuff. Austin’s solution: drink more. Bischoff does just that and vomits again. This is really, really not my style of humor. The camera follows Austin out and he runs into Kevin Nash. Austin is proud of him for last night and makes him #1 contender of tonight’s title match.

Flair is thrilled with HHH for picking him for tonight and expects a great match. HHH however is expecting him to take a dive so he can have a night off. HHH: “Just lay there and I’ll do the rest.”

Here’s Chris Jericho for the Highlight Reel. There’s a new set this week and we get the debut of the JERITRON 5000 to show a few highlights. Tonight though, Jericho wants to talk to the man who betrayed him last night, the new Intercontinental Champion, Christian. Cue the new champ, now with the short haircut that he would have for the rest of his career. Jericho likes the new look but it doesn’t change the fact that Christian betrayed him last night. That brings one thing to his mind: he would have done the exact same thing. Jericho: “Our Christian is all grown up!”

Christian is the new American Idol, which Jericho loves because he’s not even American. We see the end of the match (via the very expensive Jeritron 5000 of course) and Christian runs Booker T. down (Jericho: “His haircut looks like a pineapple.”). Cue Rob Van Dam to interrupt and call Christian’s catchphrase weak.

Maybe he should just try admitting he sucks and you know what that means from the crowd. Van Dam: “THAT TOTALLY WORKS FOR YOU!” Rob wants an Intercontinental Title shot tonight but that’s a big negative. The beatdown is on until Kane makes a fast save. Austin pops up on screen to say let’s have a Tag Team Title match right now. How exactly is that fair to Van Dam and Kane?

Tag Team Titles: Kane/Rob Van Dam vs Christian/Chris Jericho

Van Dam and Kane are defending and we’re joined in progress after a break. Rob’s stepover kick takes Jericho down for an early two. The split legged moonsault to Jericho’s back gets two and Jericho screams for help. Christian, in street clothes, tries to offer that help and gets sent into the corner by Kane for his efforts. The Canadians are sent outside and Rob follows with a running flip dive to keep the champs in control.

Back in and Kane loads up the top rope clothesline but Rob tags himself in before he can go up. That didn’t seem planned and Kane looks a little annoyed. Jericho’s middle rope missile dropkick puts Rob down and it’s Christian choking with a shirt. We’re off to the chinlock for a bit before the reverse DDT into a backbreaker gets two on Rob. Christian’s powerslam gets the same and it’s back to Jericho to try the Walls.

Van Dam saves himself with a small package and some kicks to take the Canadian down, setting up the hot tag to Kane. The house cleaning is on with Kane throwing Christian into Jericho and getting two off a side slam. There’s the top rope clothesline and Van Dam kicks Jericho down as well. Jericho breaks up the Five Star and a low blow sets up the Five Star for an even nearer fall on Kane. Some chairs are brought in and the bell rings, presumably for a DQ.

Rating: C-. Based on what’s about to happen after the match, there’s a chance that the ending was a bit mistimed as you could have penciled in Booker T. running in from the second the match started. Either way the title change didn’t happen so it’s not like who wins via DQ means anything for the most part. The wrestling was fine and the near fall off the Lionsault was good but it wasn’t anything thrilling.

Booker T. comes in to beat up the Canadians, saving Kane in the process.

Lawler thinks Booker tried to run Goldberg over.

Shawn Michaels tells Flair that he can’t lay down tonight because it would ruin his legacy. Flair seems to think he has a chance and is almost in tears (take a shot) at Shawn believing in him.

Here are Rodney Mack and Teddy Long to issue a FIVE MINUTE WHITE BOY CHALLENGE to any established star because they need some better competition.

Rodney Mack vs. Spike Dudley

Spike charges at him and gets kneed in the ribs for his efforts. We hit a chinlock into some choking on the ropes is followed by a belly to belly for two on Spike. Another chinlock is broken up and Spike sends him outside for a good looking dive. He comes up holding his ribs but is still able to grab a rollup for two. The Dudley Dog is broken up and Mack hits a powerslam as we have less than a minute to go. The Black Out (cobra clutch) goes on for a good while and Spike FINALLY taps with one second left. As low level as this match was, the fans were completely into the ending and wanted Spike to survive.

Rating: D. So Mack needs time to beat Spike Dudley? I’m not sure how this is supposed to be interesting and that loose cobra clutch didn’t do much good either. Teddy is the star of this team with his hilarious rambling on commentary and Mack isn’t getting much out of this. Granted beating higher levels of competition would do him some good.

Austin yells at the hung over Bischoff via a bullhorn and bangs on a trashcan (unfortunately without drumming on a street light). He has some female company for Bischoff and, say it with me, it’s Moolah and Mae Young. Eric’s rant is pretty funny.

Flair has the robe on and looks ready to style and profile.

La Resistance vs. Test/Scott Steiner

It’s a brawl to start with Rene getting suplexed out to the floor. Grenier sends Steiner into the steps though and Stacy Keibler goes to check on him for a good while. Test boots him way out of a double teaming but gets shoved into Steiner, setting up a quick rollup to give Dupree the pin.

Test and Steiner argue over Stacy, who leaves alone in a huff.

Austin has set up an interrogation room to find out about Goldberg’s would be assailant.

A fan poll thinks The Rock was the driver. Christian and HHH are the other top suspects.

Austin interrogates Lance Storm and asks him where he was at on June 25, 1989. Storm: “What does that have to do with anything?” Austin: “It ain’t got nothing to do with anything!” Lance doesn’t have much to say and Austin starts laughing. The light goes on Storm’s face and Storm actually admits that he was the driver. It was an accident though as the accelerator stuck and Canadians drive on the other side of the road. Austin knows better but Storm lets it slip that it was someone else’s idea. Instead of finding out who it was, Austin gives Storm Goldberg tonight.

HHH has his ribs taped up as he reads Freddie Blassie’s book. Flair comes in and says he’s ready to be the man again. He had a thousand matches like HHH had last night and he wrestled every single night. No one is making him lay down in Flair Country and he’s coming for the title tonight, WOO! I’m not big on Flair from this era but he was feeling it on that one.

Lance Storm vs. Bill Goldberg

A powerslam and a pumphandle slam set up the spear and Jackhammer to end Storm in just over a minute. Amazingly enough, this is the best reaction Goldberg has gotten since the night of his debut.

Post match Goldberg chokes Storm until he admits Jericho was the guy who put him up to it. Never trust those Canadians.

Jericho is trying to leave but admits he was the mastermind. Next week though, Goldberg will be the guest on the Highlight Reel.

Raw World Title: HHH vs. Ric Flair

HHH is defending and has heavily taped ribs. He tells Flair to lay down but Flair just slicks backs his hair as we hit the opening bell. They WOO at each other until Flair pokes him in the eye to take over. HHH tries a suplex but the ribs give out, allowing Flair to send him outside in a heap. Ric can hit the suplex on the floor but walks into a spinebuster back inside.

The champ can’t follow up though and Flair actually hits the top rope shot to the head. JR is selling the heck out of the chance Flair could win here and it’s time to go after the leg. The Figure Four goes on for a good while until HHH makes the rope. The referee gets bumped though and HHH grabs the belt, only to get poked in the eye. A belt shot gives Flair a close two and you can feel the fans gasp. The Pedigree is countered with a backdrop so Flair tries one of his own, only to get countered into the Pedigree to retain the title.

Rating: C. They were starting to get going near the end but, alas, HHH needed to go over Flair in Flair Country for the sake of…..I’m guessing his ego or something, even if it took away Flair’s best reaction in at least a year. Throw in the fact that this was designed to help set up HHH vs. Nash II instead of what could have been a great HHH vs. Flair match in an interesting story and this is even sadder.

Post match Nash comes out to chase HHH off but here’s Austin. The rematch at Bad Blood will be Hell in a Cell. Panic ensues to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. There were good things going on tonight but setting up HHH vs. Nash again sucks the life out of wherever positives the rest of the show could have. Austin as the main boss instead of Bischoff helped a lot, though they need something better to build towards. I know we’re setting up HHH vs. Goldberg down the line but could we please get a few better stop gap challengers?

This could have been solved by having Booker win at Wrestlemania, lose it back at Backlash and then do a rubber match at Judgment Day. Then pick ANYONE but Nash to bridge the gap to Goldberg and Raw is already a lot better. But no, instead it’s a bad match to set up a bad gimmick match with Flair being beaten in his hometown (again) along the way.

The midcard stuff was solid with Booker vs. Christian and Goldberg vs. Jericho looking solid enough. La Resistance vs. Kane/Van Dam (which you know is coming) is fine too, though we really need another upper midcard feud to help balance things out. It’s not a terrible show overall, but the holes are pretty glaring.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

I apologize for the delay but the in-laws are in town and I had to pick them up at the airport.  They’ll be around for a few weeks so things might be a big slow.  The shows will be up that night but they won’t likely be on time.  Sorry about that.

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 16, 2017
Location: Moda Center, Portland, Oregon
Commentators: Corey Graves, Michael Cole, Booker T.

It’s the go home show for Tables, Ladders and Chairs but tonight we’re focusing on a cage match with Roman Reigns facing Braun Strowman. In addition to that though we have Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins defending the Tag Team Titles against the Bar. There’s a good chance of a title change with the TLC match this Sunday. Let’s get to it.

As expected, we open with a four minute recap of last week’s Shield reunion.

Here’s Kurt Angle to open things up. Angle hypes up Sunday’s main event but here’s Shield, through the crowd, to the old music and in the riot gear, drawing a VERY strong THIS IS AWESOME chant. Now why couldn’t they do this last week??? Angle lets them have the ring and it’s Rollins saying he can’t believe they’re back. It’s been five years since they debuted and he couldn’t be happier than to be here with his brothers again.

Ambrose, looking more fired up and charismatic than he has in years, says they divide and conquer like no one else. Maybe he got a bit ahead of himself last week when he said they could fight four, five or six guys but he’d do the same thing again all over. He wants to fight right now so here are the Bar, Miz and Strowman. Angle cuts them off though and says if this fight happens, there’s no cage match later. Tensions cool, at least for now.

Elias is with the Club and has a song but the Club wants to warm up their vocal cords. Gallows sounds like a small dog barking before calling us all nerds. Anderson on the other hand clucks like a chicken….and belts out COOL COCKY BAD! Next up is a song about Jason Jordan, meaning it’s time for a six man tag.

Elias/The Club vs. Jason Jordan/Titus O’Neil/Apollo Crews

Titus and Gallows start things off as we hear about Titus trying to recruit Jordan to Titus Worldwide. A big clothesline puts Gallows on the floor and everything breaks down as we take a break. Back with Gallows kicking Crews in the head and handing it off to Elias for some stomping. Crews kicks him in the face and dives over to the hot tag to Jordan so house can be cleaned. A belly to belly gets two and it’s time for the running shoulders all over the place. Crews makes the tag and hits the Toss Powerbomb for the pin on Anderson at 6:48. Not enough shown to rate but this was fine.

Short pay per view rundown.

Video on Asuka.

Emma is sick of hearing about Asuka but here’s Alexa Bliss to say she feels the pain. Bliss shifts the focus to Mickie James, who body shamed her last week. They’re ready for a tag match later tonight.

Video on Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher tormenting Cedric Alexander.

Cedric Alexander vs. Jack Gallagher

Hang on a second though as here’s Rich Swann to even the odds against Kendrick and Gallagher. Jack wastes no time in slugging away and drops Cedric with a headbutt. We hit the chinlock for a bit before a dropkick to the back has Cedric in even more trouble. Another kick to the chest and it’s off to another neck crank. Kendrick offers a distraction, and gets DDT’d by Swann. The distraction lets Cedric hit a Lumbar Check on Gallagher (with an outstanding sell job) for the pin at 3:21.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see until the ending, though you can see the tag match from here. I’m digging Gallagher and Kendrick as a team as of late and they’re good for opponents in a match like this. Unfortunately I’m not sure if they’re going to go anywhere near the title, which makes this a big of a waste of time. The sell of the ending was great though.

It’s time for MizTV with Miz being flanked by the Bar and Curtis Axel but no Bo Dallas. Miz talked about how they’re ready to destroy the Shield right now but they’ll wait until Sunday night. Sheamus says the Shield will be broken into three pieces. They’re ready to destroy Shield and here’s tonight’s guest: their partner on Sunday, Braun Strowman.

Braun says it’s time to destroy the Shield forever and it starts tonight inside the cage. The fans get in a YES/REALLY battle with Miz, who has a bit of a surprise: there’s going to be a fifth member of the team. The fans want Curtis Axel but here’s Kurt Angle to say this isn’t happening.

Kurt has a deal for Miz though: if Strowman wins tonight, the fifth man can join. If Reigns wins though, Strowman is out and it’s 3-3 again. Miz says it’s on but Angle says everyone is banned from ringside in both the cage match (kind of redundant) and the Tag Team Title match.

Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox

Banks made Fox tap in the elimination match last week. Before the match, Fox says she was scratching her nose last week and deserves more respect. Oh and a t-shirt! Sasha wastes no time in trying the Bank Statement but Fox is in the ropes in a hurry. Fox kicks her down and we hit the chinlock in a hurry. There’s a backbreaker into a second chinlock on Banks but Sasha won’t have any more of this. The comeback takes all of a moment and the Bank Statement makes Fox tap at 2:51.

Fox screeches after the loss.

Post break, Fox attacks Banks in the back and sends her into various things. More screeching ensues.

Here’s Enzo Amore for a chat as Graves wants an air sick bag. He misses his title and we see Mustafa Ali costing him the belt last week. Last week, Enzo got ripped off and Kalisto robbed him of the title. This brings out Kalisto for the trash talk but Drew Gulak, Tony Nese, Noam Dar and Ariya Daivari come in for the long form beatdown. Cue Mustafa Ali for the save until the numbers game gets the better of him. This seems a little Survivor Series-ish.

Tag Team Titles: The Bar vs. Seth Rollins/Dean Ambrose

Rollins and Ambrose are defending. Sheamus starts with Ambrose with Dean stomping him down in the corner. The champs clean house in a hurry to start and the stereo dives put Sheamus and Cesaro down with little trouble. Sheamus forearms Dean down back inside and we take a break.

Back with Rollins fighting out of Sheamus’ chinlock but getting caught in the Irish Curse for two. Stereo kicks to the ribs get two on Rollins and he can’t power out of Cesaro’s front facelock. Cesaro isn’t taking the risk though and kicks Dean off the apron. The fans chant for Ambrose but settle for Seth striking away. Cesaro gets backdropped to the floor and a diving tag brings in Ambrose.

Everything breaks down and Cesaro avoids the catapult into the post ala the teeth incident. Double dives take the Bar down and the top rope elbow gets two on Cesaro. Something like a Hart Attack gets two on Dean but the double crucifix is broken up. Instead it’s a pair of superkicks to the ribs, setting up Dirty Deeds to put Cesaro away and retain the titles at 12:10.

Rating: B. These teams work very well together and it’s amazing how much more interested I was in seeing them fight when the Club and no one else was around to waste our time. It also helps to have Miz doing most of the talking, which was one of the major issues in the previous part of the feud. Good match here, though nothing was coming close to the previous version.

Post break Axel gives the Bar a pep talk because he wants in the main event. Strowman comes in and the pep talking continues. Axel NEEDS to be in that match and is ready to go fight Reigns right now. Strowman: “Then go find him.” Axel: “You mean now?”

We look back at Bray Wyatt becoming Sister Abigail last week.

Here’s Finn Balor for a chat. He talks about the Celtic festival of Sowen, which sounds like Halloween cranked up to eleven. Last week Finn say Bray’s tricks but he has his own too. This Sunday, the Demon will slay a monster of his own. Finn’s demon has no fear….and the Demon paint appears on his face. It disappears and Finn says his Demon dreams of nightmares (paint on and off again) and it wants to meet Sister Abigail. Run. Never let WWE get supernatural.

Emma/Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley/Mickie James

Mickie armbars Emma to start and it’s quickly off to Bayley for a double back elbow and a Paisan elbow drop. Bliss comes in and takes a kind of Twist of Fate over the middle rope. Emma breaks it up at two and a bunch of yelling takes us to a break. Back with Emma sending Bayley into the buckle a few times for no effect. Emma going into the buckle has some effect though and Emma is all staggered. A knee drop gets two on Emma but she sends Bayley outside and into the barricade to take over.

Back in and Bliss hits a running slap to the face, followed by a chinlock to slow things down again. Bayley finally sends her throat first into the ropes and it’s a hot tag to bring in Mickie. House is cleaned in a hurry and Mickie’s top rope Thesz press gets two with Emma making the save. That’s fine with Mickie who superkicks Bliss for the pin at 11:21.

Rating: C. Just a quick match to set up something for Sunday. It didn’t have anything special to it of course and Mickie isn’t likely to win the title but it’s a simple enough story that isn’t hurting anything. Mickie is great in this role and helps bridge the gap until we get to another big challenger.

Axel goes after the Shield and we cut to a break.

Miz gives his future team a pep talk but asks where Axel is. Braun tells him the news and Miz looks terrified.

Mickie is ready for revenge on Sunday. Those insults hurt but Mickie is proud of her career. She has a three year old at home and can’t wait to bring the title home to him.

Sasha vs. Alicia is the Kickoff Show match.

PPV card rundown.

Miz goes looking for Axel….and finds him hanging unconscious upside down from a forklift.

The cage is lowered.

Miz isn’t worried about losing his fifth man, because Axel was never in that spot.

Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

Inside a cage and Miz jumps in on commentary. Strowman sends him into the corner to start but it’s way too early for the running powerslam. Reigns slips out and tries to climb, only to get pulled down. Some clotheslines have almost no effect but some big boots have a big more effect. Strowman goes shoulder first into the corner and there are the rapid fire clotheslines. One heck of a spinebuster gets two on Roman and we take a break.

Back with Reigns tasting the cage a few times. Strowman throws him at the cage so Reigns grabs the top for a climb. Now why did he think that would work with Strowman looking at him. Strowman misses a charge and hits the cage though, allowing Reigns to score with some kicks to the face. A Samoan drop gets two with a heck of a kickout so Reigns makes another escape attempt. Cue the Bar to cut Reigns off so Ambrose and Rollins are outside to cut them off. THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT IN BANNING THEM BOTH FROM RINGSIDE???

Braun gets up in time to pull Reigns back inside with a superplex off the cage. Miz: “COVER!!!” Everyone not in the match brawls up to the stage as we cut away from the match entirely. Miz joins them and the fight heads backstage. Again, we’re not even looking at the CAGE MATCH WITH TWO MONSTERS FIGHTING EACH OTHER because we need to see this instead. For all we know there’s a tango contest going on at the moment as Miz closes a metal door, locking the four of them in the parking lot.

Back to the ring with Reigns fighting to his feet after suffering from a bad bowl of soup as served up by Chef Strowman (prove that it didn’t happen). Miz is back on commentary as Reigns goes up top, only to slip down and crotch Strowman. A Superman Punch staggers Strowman and a second puts him down. Strowman throws Reigns in the air but gets Superman Punched again for two.

It’s spear time….and Kane’s lights come on. Strowman splashes Reigns but eats a spear anyway. Kane comes up through the mat though and stares Reigns down, followed by a chokeslam. A second chokeslam sets up the running powerslam, followed by a Tombstone for good measure. Strowman adds another powerslam and Reigns is done at 17:24.

Rating: C-. Let me make sure I have this straight. Angle bans everyone from ringside so we have SIX PEOPLE interfere? And Reigns loses his first match after the reunion (not fairly but it’s a loss)? Here’s the thing: Kane was in Shield’s first match and Reigns retired his brother at Wrestlemania so there’s definitely a connection there. Unfortunately we didn’t hear anything about that and it’s basically just the idea that Miz got Kane to join for no apparent reason. Of course the announcers sold things well here, though there’s a better story to tell.

Miz, on top of a ladder, announces Kane as the fifth member of the team to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Sunday really is a case of a one match card and the more they add to that, the less I’m sure it’s going to work. Putting eight people into one match isn’t often a good idea and it takes away a lot of what you might be able to get elsewhere. Really, what else is there? Sister Abigail vs. the Demon sounds more like a joke than anything else. The women’s match feels standard and I’m not thrilled with two cruiserweight matches. There’s a good chance I could be wrong, but if that main event doesn’t work, they’re in major trouble.

Results

Jason Jordan/Titus O’Neil/Apollo Crews b. Elias/The Club – Toss Powerbomb to Anderson

Cedric Alexander b. Jack Gallagher – Lumbar Check

Sasha Banks b. Alicia Fox – Bank Statement

Seth Rollins/Dean Ambrose b. The Bar – Dirty Deeds to Cesaro

Mickie James/Bayley b. Alexa Bliss/Emma – Superkick to Bliss

Braun Strowman b. Roman Reigns – Running powerslam

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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Monday Night Raw
Date: May 12, 2003
Location: First Union Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s the final Raw before Judgment Day and the big matches are Goldberg vs. Christian inside a cage and Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Nash. Both of these matches are Steve Austin’s ideas, which makes me think that Austin might want to stick to the being retired thing as he’s not the best match maker in the world. Let’s get to it.

Austin’s picture now appears after Bischoff’s in a funny visual.

Christian is inside the cage to start things off, saying that this match doesn’t need to be taking place. No one wants to see the new People’s Champ get battered and bruised. On top of that, he has an important photo shoot tomorrow and shouldn’t come in all banged up. This brings out Austin to say there’s nothing like the feeling of a good old steel cage. Goldberg isn’t even here yet and the match is still on.

Christian saw Austin in the back earlier and was told he was on first. It was actually a different finger and Austin repeats it here. Christian thinks Austin might be jealous of Christian being friends with the Rock because it was Rock who beat Austin at Wrestlemania. We get Austin’s new “I’m trying very hard not to lose my patience” line which isn’t working for him as a new catchphrase.

Instead, he threatens to take Christian out of the Intercontinental Title battle royal but Rob Van Dam interrupts. Rob is going to be in the battle royal but Christian thinks Rob should fight Goldberg instead. That’s not cool with Austin so Christian asks the fans for a CHRISTIAN RULES chant. Austin: “That silence means you suck.” He’s not cool with his material being ripped off and threatens a Stunner as well.

This brings out Kane to enter as well, though Rob threatens to eliminate him to win the title. Austin likes the tension and thinks the way to cure it is another beer bash. Now it’s Bischoff coming out to interrupt because there won’t be a beer bash tonight. Instead he has some challenges for Van Dam and Kane’s Tag Team Titles.

Tag Team Titles: Rob Van Dam/Kane vs. Legion of Doom

As a huge Legion of Doom fan, I remember this one rather fondly. Animal kicks Rob into the corner to start but gets monkey flipped for his efforts. Hawk comes in and gets kicked in the face, only to come back with a hard clothesline. Another kick allows the hot tag to Kane as house is cleaned in a hurry. The top rope clothesline drops Hawk and Rolling Thunder connects as well. Animal makes the save and loads up the Doomsday Device but Rob ducks the clothesline. A chokeslam into the Five Star puts Hawk away.

Victoria and Steven Richards threaten to take away Trish’s looks in their hardcore match tonight.

We get the short version of last week’s way too long brawl between HHH and Kevin Nash.

Chris Jericho and HHH insult Philadelphia sports teams and discuss torn quadriceps. HHH says Jericho skyrocketed to the top of the wrestling world because he tore HHH’s quad. I really don’t know how to respond to that. Anyway HHH wants Jericho to injure Nash tonight.

Goldberg arrives in a long black limo. That’s so out of character for him. Someone tries to run him over but only hits the door.

Teddy Long tries to talk Austin into giving Rodney Mack a spot in the battle royal. You need a man of color in there. Austin agrees and gives Booker T. the spot instead.

Rodney Mack vs. Ken Phoenix/Mike Phoenix

This is a DOUBLE White Boy Challenge. Ken is better known as Kenny Dykstra/Doane (17 years old here) and Mike is his real life brother. Mack throws them around to start and plants Mike with an STO. A cobra clutch knocks Ken out but Mack throws him down before the match is stopped. The second cobra clutch on Mike is good for the quick tap.

Bischoff has no comment on the Goldberg incident but runs into Freddie Blassie of all people. Freddie is here to plug his new book and calls Bischoff a rather rude name. Rico comes in to ask if Bischoff has any ideas to fix 3 Minute Warning. Bischoff has an idea and sends Rico off. He tells Blassie to meet him inside for something he has in mind. Blassie: “What are you going to do? Hang yourself?”

Austin comes up to a livid Goldberg and asks what’s up. He knows what it’s like to be hit by a car and asks if Goldberg saw the driver. Goldberg didn’t but he’ll take it out on Christian.

Blassie comes out but Bischoff cuts off the big introduction and sends Mrs. Blassie to the back. Eric plugs the book and asks Blassie how old he is. Freddie says 23 but Bischoff thinks Blassie has about three more minutes. Bischoff wheels him to the ring where Rico and the Samoans are waiting. This brings out Austin to say one of his new big ideas is to unsuspend the Dudleys.

Dudley Boyz vs. 3 Minute Warning

The bell rings which would suggest a match but there’s no referee so that doesn’t seem to mean anything. 3 Minute Warning is quickly dispatched and Freddie says get the tables. One 3D through a table to Rico later and beer is consumed. That feels like them just bailing out on a story that wasn’t working and I’m perfectly fine with that.

Christian vs. Goldberg

Inside a cage and Christian brings a chair for protection. It turns out to be the same chair that Rock used to beat Goldberg down a few weeks back. Christian throws the chair at him which goes as well as you would expect. The beating is on in a hurry as Goldberg slowly starts taking him apart. Some chair shots get Christian out of trouble but he can’t get over the top just yet.

Christian misses a spear of his own and he bounces off the cage so Goldberg can slowly walk around some more. One heck of a cut has blood flowing down Christian’s head and a powerslam makes things even worse for him. The spear and Jackhammer end Christian without too much effort.

Rating: D+. Christian’s cut looked good and Goldberg was more like himself than usual here but it wasn’t even seven minutes long and there was no reason for this to be a cage match. It’s not a bad match or anything but Goldberg is just nothing in WWE at this point and this didn’t make it any better.

Flair sucks up to Austin and reminds him that HHH runs Raw. Austin isn’t convinced so here’s Hurricane to sing Kevin Nash’s praises. Ric yells but Austin tells him to shut up. Let’s have a match right now, starting in the back.

Ric Flair vs. Hurricane

You know Flair isn’t going to wait to sucker punch Hurricane and the fight is on in a hurry. They slug it out for a few seconds before heading into the arena with Hurricane being knocked over the announcers’ table. The fight heads to the ring and Flair’s pants come down because that’s always funny (allegedly). A backdrop and a high crossbody give Hurricane two and there’s a chokeslam for good measure. Hurricane adds a strut and the Shining Wizard for a close two. Flair gets in the chop block though and a Figure Four puts Hurricane away.

Rating: D+. I could have gone without Flair’s pants going down but the match was pretty much exactly what you would expect. I’m not sure what the point is in having Hurricane, in gear, losing clean to Flair in street clothes but they’ve done dumber things as of late. It’s hard to get annoyed at Flair winning though as it’s hardly an important match.

Post match HHH has to come in and make Flair break the hold, followed by a Pedigree to Hurricane.

Scott Steiner/Test/Goldust vs. La Resistance/Christopher Nowinski

Before the match, the French guys rip on America for being war mongers and claim Nowinski is the exception to the rule. The brawl is on in the aisle until it’s Test hammering on Grenier in the corner. Goldust comes in for an atomic drop and a powerslam before handing it off to Steiner. The pushup elbow wakes the crowd up a bit and it’s back to Test, who gets beaten down in short order. Nowinski grabs the armbar for a few seconds before it’s back to Steiner as everything breaks down. Goldust cleans house and it’s the reverse DDT to end Nowinski.

Rating: D. In a word, this story sucks. Test and Steiner aren’t interesting as a team and La Resistance is as simple of an evil foreigner team as you can find. It doesn’t help that you can pretty much guarantee that the French guys are going to be Tag Team Champions soon enough, just for the sake of pushing the anti-Iraq War stuff a little while longer.

We run down the pay per view card. This looks really bad.

Jericho doesn’t think much of Goldberg but on Sunday, he’ll become Intercontinental Champion again. Tonight though, he’ll take care of Kevin Nash.

Trish Stratus vs. Victoria

Hardcore match in Philadelphia so here’s Tommy Dreamer to cancel out Steven Richards. Trish forearms away to start and goes to the weapons but has to sunset flip her way out of trouble instead. Victoria finds a cookie sheet and they mess up a spot where Trish tries to kick it into her face. That’s fine as they just pop up and do it again, making things look even worse the second time. Victoria is right back with the spinning side slam but Trish Matrixes away from a trashcan lid shot.

The Chick Kick knocks the lid into Victoria’s face but she comes back with a leather strap for whipping and choking. Naturally, JR talks about bondage magazines. Victoria chokes her in the corner but gets taken down by a hurricanrana. The guys get in fight on the floor, leaving Trish to score with a kendo stick shot, followed by Stratusfaction for the pin.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here as usual, but that’s the case with most of the women from this stretch. We’ve seen them all fight so many times, including these two in the same kind of a match about six months ago. They need some fresh blood in the worst way as we’ve just covered everything that could possibly be done. It also doesn’t help that they were missing a lot of their spots, making this more sloppy than memorable.

Kevin Nash vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho tries to jump him to start but gets swatted away by Nash’s cat-like reflexes. A right hand to the head drops Jericho so Chris starts going after the leg (which HHH totally inspired of course). Jericho charges into an elbow and gets kneed out to the floor as I’m still trying to figure out why I’m supposed to care about Nash. A chop block cuts Nash down as you can’t fault Jericho’s logic.

The leg is wrapped around the post but Nash gets in a side slam as this match is killing the crowd in a hurry. As in there was just no reaction to one of his biggest moves (and it’s not like he has many others to pick from). Jericho is right back with the bulldog and a Lionsault for two. There’s the big boot but HHH and Flair come in for the DQ, though the bell doesn’t actually ring.

Rating: D-. Just for that non-reaction to the side slam alone. The fans are absolutely not caring about Nash but that’s never stopped them from going in a certain direction before. Jericho was trying here and the leg stuff was fine but there’s not much you can do whtn the fans don’t care in the slightest.

Shawn Michaels runs down to help and the good guys clean house with Shawn counting pins to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. The Legion of Doom were a nice surprise to start things off and it’s just all downhill from there. I can’t think of a single positive thing about this show and the whole show is just uninteresting and bad. I’m really not sure I can make it that much simpler: it’s not good wrestling and the stories are even worse. Anything interesting would be an upgrade at this point as I just need something to hold onto with these shows. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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Monday Night Raw
Date: February 27, 1995
Location: Macon Coliseum, Macon, Georgia
Attendance: 2,751
Commentators: Jim Cornette, Vince McMahon

Strike up the band because it’s the 100^th episode! This time around we have a “live” appearance by Lawrence Taylor as the road to Wrestlemania continues. Other than that it’s Lex Luger vs. Tatanka in a feud I was hoping would have died by now. I don’t think they have enough history for a retrospective yet but this company astounds me with its ability to praise itself at times. Let’s get to it.

There’s a new opening sequence, which wouldn’t last long but it was nice for a change.

Luger recaps the Tatanka feud, which started at Summerslam and then picked up about six months later. Tatanka recently attacked his mentor Chief Jay Strongbow, who will be in Luger’s corner tonight. Luger has nothing here and you can feel how little he cares.

Tatanka vs. Lex Luger

Ted DiBiase and Chief Jay Strongbow are the seconds. Luger hammers him out to the floor without too much effort and we hit the long form stall button. Back in and Tatanka starts with the chops so Luger shrugs them off as you would expect a good (or mediocre in Luger’s case) hero to do. Some right hands stagger Tatanka but he manages to grab the trunks and send Luger outside in a heap.

Back in and Tatanka chops away some more to take us to a break. We come back with Luger still in trouble and Strongbow slowly clapping him on. Strongbow is a famous name but he just feels WAY out of place here. Tatanka grabs a bearhug and Luger doesn’t even look moderately annoyed. Luger slugs away to break one of the lamest bearhugs I’ve ever seen and the comeback is on. A sleeper, which was apparently taught to him by Strongbow, is easily broken up and Tatanka steals Strongbow’s headdress.

Jay chops him back and Luger hammers away as we take a second break. Back again with Tatanka being clotheslined to the floor and teasing a walk out until Luger drags him to the ring. If he has to deal with this boring feud, so does Tatanka. Luger slams him down and sends Tatanka into the corner over and over. A bunch of stomping sends Tatanka to the floor and this time the walk out works to give Luger the countout win.

Rating: D-. So we wait twenty minutes including two commercials and put up with the Strongbow cameo which meant a grand total of nothing for a walk out finish. In theory this was designed to set up a strap match at Wrestlemania but thankfully the company came to their senses and realized this feud was death for both guys.

Clip of Jerry Lawler being knocked to the floor in a battle royal but landing on one foot. He hopped around the ring to try to get back in….until Bret Hart came down and stomped on his foot to complete the elimination. Cute bit.

Owen Hart vs. Larry Santo

Owen works a hammerlock to start as we hear about his search for a tag partner to challenge the Smoking Gunns. Cornette tries to tell us that Santo is the son of El Santo but Vince doesn’t quite buy it. Owen spinwheel kicks him down as we talk about Taylor vs. Bigelow. A legdrop has Santo in trouble but he actually scores with a few right hands. Those go nowhere of course and it’s the missile dropkick into the Sharpshooter to make Santo quit.

Rating: D. Just a squash here with the announcers ignoring the match to talk about the big story. That’s fine in a match like this that means nothing and at least we heard about Owen’s story to start. Owen moving to the tag division made sense as it gave him a chance to shine without being overshadowed by Bret.

Vince and Cornette talk about the mainstream coverage of Taylor vs. Bigelow. You know Vince loves that stuff.

Taylor joins us to talk about the incident with Bigelow at the Royal Rumble. He thought about fighting back but decided to keep his cool. Also, he’s not cool with the WWF showing the clip over and over on national TV. Preach it brother. Cornette accuses Taylor of being scared but if that were the case, he’d just call the cops and that’s not happening. Bigelow pops in to talk trash and a meeting is set up at the Harley Davidson Cafe in some undisclosed city. This was WAY too long and Taylor came off as incredibly uninteresting and boring. I get the mainstream stuff but my goodness it was annoying to wrestling fans, as it always is.

Doink the Clown vs. Bob Cook

Cook is yet another NWA jobber. Doink kicks him in the back to start and works on the arm as the announcers talk about tomorrow’s press conference. Dink comes in and rolls over Cook and Vince starts talking about adults being overweight. The armbar transitions into a hammerlock before Doink slams him down. The Whoopee Cushion ends Cook without too much trouble.

Rating: D-. The announcers clearly didn’t care about this one and it was just there for the sake of filling in more of the show. This is the kind of match that makes me not want to do a lot of these shows in a row as they’re just not interesting. Raw is two years old at this point and this formula is really wearing thin.

We recap Shawn Michaels’ issues with British Bulldog to set up their match next week.

Kama vs. Ken Raper

Kama takes him down a few times with no issues as Cornette is already more interested in this match than he was in the entire Doink match. A spinning kick to the ribs has Raper in trouble and let’s make fun of Cornette’s weight again. Kama demands better competition and talks more trash before finishing with an STF.

Rating: D. Kama was fine for the time but he would have died as soon as MMA became a bigger thing. The strikes looked good and Kama demanding competition was fine, though it comes at the end of what feels like a very long show. Vince mocking Cornette was the most entertaining thing about the match and that was the same thing we heard in the previous match.

British Bulldog is ready for Shawn next week.

Todd Pettengill tells us how to call in for updates from the press conference, for a nominal fee of course.

Overall Rating: D-. The featured match was long with a lame ending, the interview showed how bad Taylor was in the role and the squashes were bad even by Raw standards. It’s a bad show and more of a reason why this period is almost never talked about. Not a good show in any real way and that’s a sad way to celebrate such a milestone.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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