Here’s a thought. Brock Lesnar’s original run Was he given too much too soon? Think about it. By the end of his rookie year he won every major honour in WWE, debuted on Wrestlemania X8 fallout, and was gone after Wrestlemania XX. Subsequent returns have been hit or miss depending on perspective.

You mean there might be something else wrong with Lesnar?

Pretty much, yeah. The thing about Lesnar was that his major characteristics were athleticism and power. That can take you a long way, but Lesnar didn’t have the charisma to back it up. Sure he had Heyman for a little while, but that was gone only three months after he lost the title. The Wrestlemania spot, which should have been his crowning glory, didn’t work either so there wasn’t much left.

The problem with Lesnar was he didn’t really have a character. He’s an athletic freak and a once in a lifetime talent, but that’s not what really matters. Compare him to the other guy with an amazing rookie year in Kurt Angle. Kurt was an athletic freak in his own right but could talk with the best of them, which gave him a lot of staying power. He could work face or heel and make it effective, because the talking could compliment his wrestling skills perfectly well.

That’s where Lesnar fell short. Once you see him do these cool moves, it stops having the same impact. It’s just something you saw him do recently and it’s not as impressive the second time around. Compare that to someone like Ricochet. Sure he has spots, but you know he’s saving the big ones (the double moonsault and the 630) for the moments that matter most. You want to see them do those big moves and they’re built up instead of just seeing them every time.

The same thing is true with the modern Lesnar. His character is a little better because he’s gone Mega Beast, but the very impressive suplexes have lost their impact from him doing the same things over and over again. If you do those suplexes and F5’s again and again, they can be as cool as possible but they’re going to get dull after awhile. Hence the mantra of DO SOMETHING ELSE that you so often hear during Lesnar matches.

So yeah, Lesnar was too much too soon, because he didn’t have the charisma or character depth to handle it. That was always going to happen, because the talking/character stuff is more important than anything you can do in the ring.

IMG Credit: WWE

Mixed Match Challenge
Date: December 11, 2018
Location: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Renee Young, Vic Joseph, Michael Cole

We’re finally at the finals as the winners of tonight’s two matches are heading to TLC this Sunday. Unfortunately you can pretty clearly see who is winning based on what is already booked for the pay per view so there isn’t much mystery, but at least we’re finally done with this thing. Let’s get to it.

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

Raw Division Finals: Bayley/Apollo Crews vs. Jinder Mahal/Alicia Fox

Crews is the replacement for the ill Finn Balor, because we can’t go a week on this show without a replacement. Mahal headlocks Crews to start until Crews comes out of it with a backslide for two. It’s off to the women with Bayley rolling her up a few times for two each, sending Fox outside for some quality shouting. Back in and Fox’s suplex is countered into a small package for two more and it’s already back to the men. Well to be fair it’s not like Bayley was pinning her. Crews jumps over Mahal in the corner and flips forward a bit until Mahal knees him in the face.

More knees keep Crews down and we hit the required chinlock. Apollo comes up with the jumping enziguri and it’s back to the women to pick up the pace again. Everything breaks down and Bayley hits the Stunner over the middle rope for two with the Singh Brothers making the save. Fox and the Brothers take Bayley to Bellies but Mahal superkicks Crews. After the melee, Bayley goes outside to get Fox but walks into a big boot to give Fox the unlikely pin at 9:35.

Rating: D+. Well you knew that was coming and there was no way around it. As soon as Bayley and Balor made the Raw finals, there was no way Mahal and Fox were losing. It’s the usual WWE idea: have a team that only they want to go on to win something win it, just because….whatever they see in Mahal. Anyway at least it’s not exactly in an important match.

Mahal and Fox take credit for the win in their own unique ways. Asuka comes in and laughs at them a lot.

Smackdown Division: R-Truth/Carmella vs. The Miz/Asuka

Miz and Asuka argue over who should start until Asuka finally gets the nod. Now why couldn’t Carmella or Truth start and make the decision for them? Miz demands to be tagged in so Asuka chops him for the tag. Truth shoulders him down and hops around in a circle, followed by the hip thrusting. With Miz on the floor, DANCE BREAK! Asuka even joins in on a second edition and since Miz is annoyed, Truth hammers away in the corner. That’s finally enough for Miz, who kicks Truth down and slaps on a chinlock.

The announcers are so bored that they talk about Mike Chioda refereeing. Miz’s short DDT gets two and a heck of a clothesline takes Truth down again. Truth gets in a shot of his own though and the hot tag brings in Carmella. That means a lot of screaming as Asuka loads up a German suplex.

Some knees to the chest have Carmella in trouble but Truth comes in with a Lie Detector to Miz. Carmella loads up the superkick on Miz but he pulls Asuka in the way like a true jerk. The Little Jimmy gets two on Miz, who pops up and throws the good ones to the floor. Asuka isn’t happy though and FINALLY snaps on the cheating Miz, kicking him in the head and walking away. An Unprettier gives Truth the pin at 11:38.

Rating: D+. Yeah this was obvious last week and there wasn’t much doubt a few weeks back either. As soon as Asuka was announced for the TLC match, there was no way she was making it to the finals. I’m not a fan of the things but points to Truth and Carmella for getting some crazy mileage out of the dance breaks. It’s gotten them a pay per view match, which is about 10,000x more than it should have done.

Overall Rating: D. And thank goodness it’s over. The Mixed Match Challenge is something that can work, but PLEASE take it back to the format from the first season. This was a nightmare with a bunch of matches that didn’t go anywhere because they had nothing to fight over and the two teams who only got into the playoffs on the last week making the finals. Just have things go the way that actually worked and things can be better, unlike this season.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

A bunch of words say it all.

Daniel Bryan is actually pretty good as a heel. I enjoyed his first major heel run in WWE when he cashed in on big show, but he’s actually impressing me thus far with his skills. Is there any way he can get someone else to his WM30 level as a face? I guess the only option is Styles. Daniel Bryan’s build build was well in progress by this time.

I can answer this in….well in several words actually.

No. No no, no no no, no no.

Here’s the problem: Bryan’s face run was one of a kind. It was lightning in a bottle with the fans wanting to cheer for Bryan. Not someone like Bryan, but Bryan himself. I mean, if it was just someone like Bryan, why wouldn’t they do the same thing again? Look at how many times WWE has tried to recreate Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon. It’s a great story, but it’s only really worked that one time because A, it was the right people at the right time and B, everything that comes after it looks like they’re trying to recreate the same idea.

As for now though, Bryan is still trying to find his footing as a heel. I’ve liked a lot of what he’s doing and he’s going to be great at it (again, because he’s done it before) but building him up to that level by Wrestlemania isn’t going to happen. That Wrestlemania was a years long process (you could easily argue that it was started all the way back at Wrestlemania XXVIII, if not earlier) and had the right people with the right stories and the right precision with the right people involved. And a great story which I still think was a complete work from the start (yes, I think the 2014 Royal Rumble was WWE’s plan all along).

Overall though, Bryan’s title reign can be a great story that can have an awesome finish as someone finally shuts him up to take the title and become a big star in the process. However, it’s not going to be the kind of story that takes over the company, at least somewhat because Bryan is on Smackdown and that’s just not how something like this works in WWE. It’s going to be an awesome angle, but not the kind of game changer that Bryan’s road to New Orleans was. That was once in a lifetime and you can’t recreate it, no matter how much WWE may want to.

These came out a few weeks back and I finally got around to checking them out. I think I’m glad I waited.

Chronicle: Dean Ambrose

This one is the more interesting one as it’s much more kayfabe based. The idea here is basically a big explanation of why Ambrose turned on Seth Rollins back in October, which wasn’t really something that has been explained in full on WWE TV. They look back over the course of Ambrose’s rehab and up to the point he turns on Rollins, which he explains on the way to and in the time after.

The difference here though is you can see the issues building up towards Ambrose’s turn and what finally makes him snap. At the same time though, you get a good look at the mind of Ambrose and how he really is just off a few steps. Ambrose is one of the more closed characters in wrestling and it’s nice to see behind the curtain just a little bit. This one is interesting if you want to see a good backstory and someone building up until they’re ready to snap. They do it really well here and it’s an interesting character study into a rather unknown person. It helped fill in some gaps in the story, which I’ll always appreciate.

AJ Styles: 365

Now this is more WWE’s regular speed with a documentary covering a year in Styles’ WWE career, mainly looking at his long Smackdown World Title reign. The idea is to look at everything AJ has done over the course of the year and seeing some of the places he’s been. This includes trips around the world, big matches and various little details, like tearing his hamstring around the time of Money in the Bank, that weren’t mentioned before.

What’s interesting here is how much they focus on the other places AJ has been, with a long section on TNA and a trip back to the Impact Zone for the first time since AJ left the company (with Jeremy Borash accompanying him). The ending even hints at possibly leaving WWE, as AJ has been wrestling for a very long time now and doesn’t have much left to accomplish. He’s currently in contract negotiations (not mentioned here of course) so there’s a little more real life included. This is more a traditional documentary and since that might be what WWE does best, it’s certainly worth seeing, as are all these things.

Both are good, even if you get a very different perspective from the two of them.

IMG Credit: WWE

205 Live
Date: December 5, 2018
Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson

Last week saw Cedric Alexander pin Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy in a tag match, which should set him up as the next challenger to the title. With a pay per view coming up, the timing couldn’t be much better. As for tonight, we have the Lucha House Party vs. Mike Kanellis and TJP in a Texas Tornado match. Let’s get to it.

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

Drake Maverick previews the show, which works very well every week.

Opening sequence.

Drew Gulak vs. Brian Kendrick

Jack Gallagher and Akira Tozawa are at ringside. The empty seats are AWFUL this week with far more red seats than people visible, meaning we start with the lower camera angles. Nice idea, but it just shows how bad the problem is around the arena. Gulak takes him to the mat to start but can’t get him anywhere. More grappling gives us a stalemate so Gulak nails him with a clothesline to take over.

A modified half crab (with Gulak pulling back on the foot instead of wrapping his arm around) starts in on Kendrick’s knee and Gulak takes him down by the leg for good measure. Kendrick tries a full nelson of all things, followed by a tiger suplex of all things for two. That just earns him a powerbomb into a regular half crab as Gulak’s logical moveset continues. It’s off to a headlock as Gulak moves towards the neck for a change.

With that not being as weakened, Kendrick fights up so it’s another leg hold to cut him down again. A front facelock keeps Kendrick in trouble but he flips out into the Captain’s Hook. That means a crawl over to the ropes for the break so Kendrick goes with a dragon suplex for two instead. A quick trip to the floor goes nowhere but Gallagher sends Tozawa into the post for a distraction. The rollup gives Gulak two and Sliced Bread #2 gives Kendrick the same as Gallagher comes in for the DQ at 8:49.

Rating: C. Technically fine but I still have no reason to care about what these people do. The feud has been going on for weeks now and it seems like they’re in about the same places they were before. That’s the case with the opening match around here most of the time, but it doesn’t make things any more interesting.

Gallagher and Gulak destroy Tozawa and Kendrick post match.

We look back at last week’s tag team main event.

Maverick sits down with Buddy Murphy, who isn’t worried about facing Cedric Alexander in a rubber match. Murphy cuts him off and says he’s glad to face Alexander one more time. Besides, Mustafa Ali is the tougher opponent. That sounds manipulative to me.

Ariya Daivari vs. Clay Roberts

Daivari is in street clothes and is all aggressive to start with stomps in the corner. A kick to the head has Roberts in more trouble as Hideo Itami is watching from the back. The hard standing clothesline gets two and a hammerlock lariat is good for the same, with Daivari pulling him up both times. Three more clotheslines knock Roberts silly and the referee stops it at 1:48 before Daivari can do it again. Good idea, but it’s still Ariya Daivari hitting a bunch of clotheslines. Maybe it gets better, but they’re facing an uphill climb.

Itami seems pleased.

Mustafa Ali is down after losing but he’s getting back up, which is the harder part. He’s rooting for Cedric, but he’s coming for the title no matter who has it.

Alexander isn’t letting Murphy get into his head and wants his title back.

Noam Dar wants Buddy Murphy too and the title doesn’t even need to be on the line.

Lucha House Party vs. TJP/Mike Kanellis

Tornado tag with Kalisto and Lince Dorado for the Party, without Gran Metalik around. Maria is around though and that’s a good thing. During his entrance, Kalisto puts a hat on a young girl’s head and she looks LIVID in a funny bit. TJP gets sent outside to start and Kalisto’s splash off Dorado’s shoulders (after a little balancing) connects with Mike. Both villains are put on the floor so Dorado can hit a dive off the post to take them both out. Kalisto pulls a noisemaker out of a Christmas sack before grabbing a tornado DDT for two on TJP.

Mike gets in a spinebuster on Dorado on the floor but Kalisto kicks him in the face. That’s a little too much offense though and Maria grabs the pinata and threatens to destroy it. The distraught Kalisto gets taken down and Mike gets in a good shot. TJP kicks the pinata away and hits his half of a double clothesline on Dorado. Now it’s time to pull out a spare mask and hammer away a bit more, followed by an elbow drop for two. Yeah he covered off an elbow drop and was surprised as the kickout. I don’t get it either.

Kalisto gets a bit too close to getting back in so Mike knocks him into the barricade. Dorado is back with a double Golden Rewind, followed by Kalisto with a springboard high crossbody to TJP. The hurricanrana driver is countered into an STF and it’s time to go for Kalisto’s mask. As TJP goes for the eye, we see a replay of Mike hitting a Russian legsweep off the apron on Dorado. You don’t see WWE cameras missing things like that very often. With the mask not working, it’s time for the kneebar on Kalisto, who eventually makes the ropes. TJP gets caught up top and Kalisto’s knee is fine enough to superkick an invading Mike.

A top rope hurricanrana sends TJP into Mike and Dorado is back in to help things out. Another superkick to Mike sets up the Super Crazy triple moonsaults for another near fall. The masked guys yell at each other a lot and it’s time to bring in the Christmas bag, which is full of mini pinatas. Dorado has to fight out of a bunch of suplexes onto the pinatas and it’s time to fight over who gets tossed from the corner onto them.

A double superplex finally puts TJP onto them but Mike makes a very fast save. TJP powerbombs Kalisto for two more and now he wants the BIG pinata. Maria and Kalisto get in a fight over the thing until he throws it at her, knocking him off the apron and onto Mike. The springboard Salida Del Sol into the shooting star press finishes TJP at 14:17.

Rating: C+. At first I wasn’t really feeling this one as it was all kinds of carnage and insanity….and then I realized that was the point. It’s called a Texas Tornado match for a reason and the match was fun as a result. This was an entertaining match with all four guys getting involved, plus Maria as a bonus. I could go for fewer pinatas next time, but at least what we got was entertaining with the right ending.

We get a preview of next week’s matches.

Tony Nese is ready to finish Cedric for good next week.

Overall Rating: C. The main event helped but this was a show that didn’t exactly showcase some of the more entertaining wrestlers on the roster. It helps that we’ll be getting Ali, Murphy and Alexander in the next few weeks though and that’s a great sign for the show going forward. This wasn’t a bad show or anything, but it didn’t have quite the pop that it needed.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Main Event
Date: December 6, 2018
Location: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson

This could be an interesting one as this week’s Raw and Smackdown were as polar opposites as you could ask for. Raw was a slog to get through while Smackdown was a heck of a show with everything you could want in two hours. Now the question is how much of Raw’s awful can they cram in here. Let’s get to it.

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

In Memory of Dynamite Kid.

Opening sequence.

Curt Hawkins vs. Tyler Breeze

Feeling out process to start and this match is so important that the announcers start talking about Mixed Match Challenge and where they would take their vacations if they won. Hawkins knocks him into the corner and offers a handshake but Breeze is too smart for that. Some right hands don’t go very well for Breeze as he gets caught in the Tree of Woe for a running dropkick. Breeze is right back with some right hands and stomping of his own in the corner, though the fans aren’t too thrilled with him.

After a quickly broken reverse chinlock, Breeze ties him in a Tree of Woe of his own but misses a dropkick. So….is Hawkins face here? The fans are treating him like one and he seems to be wrestling like one, and since faces and heels are switched week to week around here, it wouldn’t shock me at all. Hawkins makes a comeback with right hands and a Michinoku Driver for two. A running lariat gets the same but Breeze hides in the ropes, allowing Breeze to score with a superkick. The Unprettier extends Hawkins’ losing streak at 5:57.

Rating: D. Well I’m confused. I mean, I get the idea of the rapid fire changes, but that doesn’t make it a good idea. Hawkins has been a heel for the better part of ever (he has a cane so he has to be evil) and while Breeze reluctantly teamed with Ascension last week, I don’t get how this is supposed to just be ok. That being said, Hawkins has a much better chance of winning a match as a face as you can only have the plucky good guy lose so many times.

From Raw.

A bunch of security guards in gas masks come out to escort Ambrose, in a gas mask of his own, to the ring. Ambrose, still in the mask, says you can’t be too careful in a horrible city like Houston so he has some guards to protect him from that madman Seth Rollins. The mask comes off and Dean talks about how Rollins wanted something from him, just like all the people. Like all those people who would always stick their phones in his face to try and add some excitement to their lives.

Seth tried to control him and that’s the worst feeling in the world. Those people are sitting in the crowd right now but none of them have the courage to slap them in the mouth right now. Ambrose is proud to sit in this ring as the moral compass and at TLC, he could take the Intercontinental Title but he’d rather just teach Rollins a lesson. At TLC, Rollins will lose control of himself, his emotions and the Intercontinental Title. Don’t worry though, because he’ll be right there to save the title.

Cue Rollins from behind (at least he wasn’t a guard in disguise) to get in a few shots and then beat up the guards. Ambrose uses the distraction to get out but Rollins chases him down for the brawl. They come back to ringside though and Dean gets in a shot to the face with a gas mask. Ambrose even hits Dirty Deeds on the floor, followed by another inside. This was good but that’s the problem: it’s just good. This feud started off red hot and hasn’t lived up to the hype since then. The match will be very good as these two almost always are, but it’s not what it could have been.

From Smackdown.

It’s time for MizTV but hang on because we need R-Truth and Carmella for a dance break. Miz’s guest tonight is Daniel Bryan, who has been on the show several times but never as WWE Champion. Miz says that Bryan’s comments last week were proof that Miz was right all along. Bryan says he came to the realization that he doesn’t care about the people and he’s allowed his dreams to take control. He doesn’t have a lot of intellectual peers to discuss this with (Miz included) but he can consult great minds of history in his books. Men like Alexander Hamilton for instance.

Bryan calls the fans fickle for chanting YES because they’re sheep who regurgitate things from twenty years ago for reasons they don’t know. Anyway, Bryan talks about the abilities of the old Bryan being mixed with the mentality of the new Bryan. Miz thinks that sounds like EXACTLY WHAT HE TOLD BRYAN FOR YEARS. Bryan talks about doing one bad thing to one man while all these people do horrible things to harm the planet every single day. They drink from their plastic water bottles and eat their processed meat that releases methane into the air and causes permanent changes to the climate.

All he did was kick one man in the groin and he’s the bad guy? Bryan tells us to count the sins and Miz is confused. Miz: “Did you think I brought you out here to talk about Alexander Hamilton, methane gas and water bottles?” He’s not cool with Bryan not admitting that he was right and wants a simple answer: was he right nor not? Bryan finally says yes….and then no….and then yes and no again over and over.

It really doesn’t matter either way, because the old Daniel Bryan and the YES Movement are dead. Bryan throws down the YES plates from the side of the title and holds up the title while calling the fans fickle again. This brings out AJ Styles so Bryan throws Miz into him and runs off but can’t get away fast enough. Bryan tries to use Miz as a shield again and this time it works, as a Skull Crushing Finale drops AJ. This was more gold from Bryan, who is playing a great heel. That’s very impressive given how big he was as a good guy.

And from later in the night on Smackdown.

AJ Styles vs. The Miz

Miz grabs a headlock to start as Bryan talks about how the fans wanted him to come back but weren’t willing to put in the work with him on the way. Saxton reads some comments from hurt fans and Bryan calls them idiots. AJ gets two off a slingshot splash (Bryan: “I could do that.”) as Bryan wishes that his daughter kicks thousands of men in the groin, including Saxton.

The reverse chinlock goes on to put AJ in some trouble so Bryan calmly goes off about ruining the environment. Saxton continues to come off as the lamest commentator ever, again asking about Bryan’s new attitude and getting laughed off. AJ gets dropped to the floor and we take a break.

Back with both guys down and Saxton again trying to question Bryan, who cuts him down with ease. AJ hits a running clothesline in the corner and gets two off the fireman’s carry backbreaker. The Skull Crushing Finale is countered so Miz gets two off a DDT instead. AJ sends him outside for the slingshot forearm but Bryan gets up for a distraction, allowing Miz to send AJ into the steps. That and the Finale are good for two back inside and that should be about it for Miz. Bryan grabs AJ’s leg so Miz charges, only to get caught in the Calf Crusher to make him tap at 13:02.

Rating: C+. This was much more about Bryan, though as awesome as he was, he made me want to strangle Saxton all the more. He’s just so annoying and comes off like a child in an adult’s world. Anyway the match was fine and helped advance AJ vs. Bryan, which is exactly the point of what they were doing here.

Post match Bryan goes after AJ’s leg with a chop block and wraps it around the post. Bryan puts on a heel hook until referees break it up so he settles for a kick to the head. The multiple stomps to AJ’s head have Bryan doing a victory lap, only to come back for even more stomping. Bryan insists on being announced as the NEW Daniel Bryan and then rants about the fans being fickle. One more chop block ends the show.

TLC rundown.

Mojo Rawley/Ascension vs. Zack Ryder/B-Team

Mojo and Axel start things off and that means some dancing from Curtis. We get a very early stalemate into a big brawl as it’s off to a break. Back with Ryder diving over for the hot tag to Axel for the house cleaning. Ryder hits a pop up Rough Ryder on Viktor and a sunset flip gives Axel the pin at 5:57. There must have been a lot cut out of there.

From Smackdown.

Ladders surround the ring and it’s Paige at a table to host the contract signing. Paige mentioned making history so Becky says it must be Tuesday because that’s what she does every time she gets in the ring. She doesn’t care what happens at TLC because she plans to win and doesn’t care what happens to these two dopes. Charlotte doesn’t like Becky implying that she was handed a title shot because she beat up Ronda Rousey on her own. Then it took Nia Jax one time to knock Becky onto the shelf so Charlotte won’t have any trouble.

Asuka cuts off the argument and says Becky has never beaten her so she’ll beat Becky at TLC. They all yell at each other (as WWE women tend to do when they’re in large groups) but Becky says neither of them can beat her and signs. That’s it for Becky, which Charlotte says is appropriate because Becky is all talk these days. Charlotte promises to win too and signs as well. Asuka wants a fight right now but cue Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville to cut them off. They promise to beat up Asuka and Charlotte the first chance they get so Paige makes the match for later. Why not just do it now?

And from Smackdown to close things out.

Ronda Rousey/Ember Moon vs. Nia Jax/Tamina

Rousey walks hard to the ring but gets jumped 2-1 until Moon comes in. A middle rope Codebreaker rocks Nia and Rousey hits a running forearm off the apron to take her down again. Back from a break (with no bell beforehand) with Ember in trouble and Rousey bouncing back and forth on the apron. Ember gets over and makes the tag a few seconds later….and Rousey tags back out after a few kicks to Tamina. Nia loads up the big right hand, which she uses on Ember’s ribs after a quick tease.

Ember hurricanranas her way to freedom but Nia breaks up the hot tag, only to get knocked off the apron by Tamina. That means the hot tag can bring Rousey in for the clotheslines and knees to Tamina, who is knocked into the corner. Rousey demands the tag to Nia so she comes in and tags right back out. Rousey flips Nia back in and then beats Tamina up with the rapid punches in the corner. A jumping knee to the face gets two on Tamina but the Eclipse rocks her again. The armbar makes Tamina tap at 5:57.

Rating: D+. This was exactly what it needed to be with Nia being the loudmouth who won’t actually fight but at the same time, I’m not sure how much WWE can make me buy her as a threat to Rousey at TLC. She’s really living on that one right hand to Becky from a few weeks ago and that’s not exactly a lot of material. At least the ending was the right call here and Moon didn’t get treated like an afterthought again.

Overall Rating: C. Well, they did balance things out a bit. Aside from the weird Hawkins turn which likely won’t go anywhere, you had a nice selection from Raw and Smackdown to make the show feel far less one sided. Unfortunately the good stuff from Smackdown was weighed down by the Raw counterparts. That being said, the lack of Baron Corbin helped so much. I didn’t realize just how bad he was on Raw but my goodness what a difference it makes when he’s gone.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Mixed Match Challenge
Date: December 4, 2018
Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Renee Young, Vic Joseph

We have two shows left around here and that’s best for everyone involved. Tonight we have the Smackdown semifinals with the one loser team against the three good teams, meaning we might be in for another lame show but maybe one of the matches can be pretty good. That was the case last week and hopefully the blue people can do it just as well. Let’s get to it.

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

AJ Styles is carried out.

Smackdown Division Semifinals: R-Truth/Carmella vs. Charlotte/Jeff Hardy

The men start things off and, after some headlocks, a quick dance off breaks out. This is completely different than the dance break that is coming in the next few moments of course. The women come in and Carmella’s kick to the ribs is blocked, meaning it’s time for the hard chops. Carmella dances away and thankfully gets taken down by the leg. Everything breaks down and Charlotte/Hardy are sent outside, meaning DANCE BREAK.

It’s a short form one and as they’re annoyed at the lack of dancing, Hardy and Charlotte come back in to jump them both. Charlotte’s Figure Four neck rolls look to set up the moonsault but Carmella pulls her off the top. It’s back to the men with a double tag, even though that’s twice as much as necessary. The women fight to the floor, leaving Jeff to set up the Swanton. Carmella dives back in to protect Truth until Charlotte pulls her outside. That’s enough for Jeff to miss the Swanton and Truth gets the rollup pin at 6:41.

Rating: D. This was a nothing match with the big story being WHEN WILL THEY DANCE. I get why they put Carmella and Truth through here as Charlotte is already booked for TLC and Hardy will likely have a match with Joe so there’s no reason to pretend that they’re going to win in next week’s finals. Truth and Carmella are popular enough at the moment, but…..wait…..dang it. We’ll come back to this in a minute.

Alicia Fox and Jinder Mahal promise to win next week.

Finn Balor and Bayley promise to win next week.

R-Truth and Carmella are proud of their win and Truth wants to go to Memphis, Egypt on their vacation.

Smackdown Division Semifinals: Jimmy Uso/Naomi vs. The Miz/Asuka

The women start things off and a hip thrust knocks Asuka away for a bit. Naomi’s kick to the head is countered into a quickly broken ankle lock so it’s off to Miz vs. Jimmy. Some armdrags have Miz in trouble but he’s right back with a running dropkick in the corner. Jimmy doesn’t seem to mind and dances a bit before hitting an uppercut. The Samoan drop has Miz in trouble and the running hip attack makes things even worse.

Miz crotches him on top though and we hit the chinlock. The short DDT gives Miz two and it’s off to a front facelock but Miz yells at Asuka for costing them the last match. Well that’s rather mean. Jimmy shoves him away and makes the hot tag to Naomi so the pace can pick up. A springboard kick to the face gives Naomi two and the guys fight to the floor. Naomi hits the Rear view for two but gets pulled into the Asuka Lock for the tap at 8:52.

Rating: C-. This was one of the better matches of the season, but it also gives away the ending of next week’s Smackdown match, which was what I was dreading earlier. We’re going to get Truth and Carmella knocking off Miz and Asuka because Asuka is busy in what should be the main event of TLC. But hey, at least we get a pay per view dance break now.

Overall Rating: D+. I can’t wait for next week’s final because even at half an hour a week, this show has become a complete chore. I’m not completely sure how the ending goes at TLC, but given who is likely to be in the match I can’t imagine it’s going to be interesting in the first place. The idea of having the finals at TLC in the first place was good, but potentially having the lamest teams involved is defeating the purpose. Another bad show this week, but at least it’s almost done.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

That’s one of the ones you knew was coming but it still makes you sad.  Kid was one of the most influential wrestlers ever, with Chris Benoit basically being a tribute wrestler for a lot of his career.  He was WAY ahead of his time, wrestling the style that would become the norm for a lot of the lighter wrestlers today back in the 1980s.  Kid really was a big deal and you should check out some of the stuff he did before the British Bulldogs years when his body had completely broken down as he was awesome before then.  Oddly enough, he turned 60 years old the day he passed away.

I was reading a rather scathing review of Raw and got to thinking.

So this week’s Monday Night Raw was a disaster. I don’t think that’s exactly a secret, but there were several bad parts to the whole thing. In addition to the horrible Drake Maverick segment, there’s one thing that stands out as a problem, but not for the same reason you might be thinking. That would be Baron Corbin.

This week, Corbin was all over the show. He was in the opening segment, he did a bunch of stuff throughout the show, and then he was in the main event. That’s a lot of screen time for someone who isn’t exactly thrilling. He’s just the latest middle management villain, and that’s not a good role for him. Corbin is about 6’6 with a good look and a power offense. Why is his biggest weapon the threat of a phone call to Stephanie McMahon? A middle management lackey isn’t the place for someone like Corbin. That’s the kind of role someone like Curt Hawkins or Aiden English or someone not exactly intimidating.

Now, for the bigger thing though, and this is where a lot of people forget the problem: Corbin is still pretty new at this. Corbin made his debut back in October 2012. That’s about six years ago, and now he’s arguably the top heel on Raw. Keep in mind that’s not six yeas into his WWE career. That’s six years after he started training, a lot of which was spent down in NXT. To go from the very small atmosphere of NXT to the biggest wrestling TV show in the world is more than a jump. It’s a flying leap and Corbin hasn’t established himself as that kind of a star yet.

In other words, Corbin (and SO many others from NXT) need more time before they start getting this kind of a push. That’s not a knock on the talent in the slightest. These people (including Corbin) go from basically wrestling school and some very low level indies to NXT and then the main roster in the span of about three years (Corbin’s main roster debut was in April of 2016, less than four years after he debuted).

Six years into his career, Steve Austin was just debuting as the Ringmaster. Six years into his career, Shawn Michaels was part of the Rockers. Six years into his career, the Undertaker was Mean Mark Callous. Do any of these people sound like they were ready to be the focal point of the show and headlining a pay per view just yet? Of course not, because that takes a VERY special kind of wrestler and there aren’t many who are ready for that spot.

Corbin, and a lot of other people, have the physical skills to be in these spots. However, there’s a big, big difference between knowing what to do and knowing how to do it. Corbin has very little seasoning and experience at or even near this level. He’s learning on the job and that can make for a rough patch. It doesn’t help that he’s completely miscast in his role and is doing the best he can with some horrible booking choices.

In short: WWE is trying to build a house on a foundation where the cement isn’t dry yet and it’s collapsing (Note that I completely lifted that line from Tazz, who had an incredible rant about this week’s Raw which got me thinking about this. Check that out here.).

IMG Credit: WWE

Main Event
Date: November 29, 2018
Location: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness

I’m not going to bother wasting your time with blind hope this time. Raw was terrible this week and Smackdown was a little bit better. Hopefully they flood this show with Smackdown highlights because otherwise they’ll manage to make it even worse than it was on Monday. Ok maybe not that bad but still terrible. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Titus O’Neil vs. Mojo Rawley

They fight over a lockup to start with neither being able to get very far. A shoulder drops Rawley and Titus hits some chops in the corner to keep him in trouble. Rawley is right back with shoulders of his own and it’s off to the chinlock. Some chops set up some posing which sets up another chinlock, because two of them are needed in a short match. Titus fights up and hits some clotheslines, followed by a big boot for two. The Clash of the Titus puts Rawley away at 4:11.

Rating: D. Dude you’re jobbing to Titus O’Neil. What exactly does that say for your future career prospects? I still like Rawley but it’s clear that WWE doesn’t think too much of him. The heel turn looked to be a good sign for him but at this point, what exactly is there left for him to do? Lost to Jinder Mahal?

From Raw.

We open with Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley, Lio Rush and Drew McIntyre in the ring. They talk about how great their Thanksgiving was, though they didn’t indulge themselves like these common people. They’re all thankful for everything they do, including what they did to Braun Strowman last week.

We see last week’s attack that put Strowman on the shelf and then go to Birmingham, Alabama where Strowman says he’ll be on the shelf for a while. His surgeon has never seen an injury like this before nor worked on an arm this size. He’ll be back though and what happened last week will look like a paper cut compared to what he’s doing to the three of them.

From Raw again.

Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin

Balor goes straight at him but gets hit in the jaw. Just to get the self parody going. Corbin has a chinlock on less than thirty seconds in. Corbin gets sent outside for a kick to the chest and we take a break. Back with Corbin holding another chinlock and sending Balor into the corner. That means ANOTHER chinlock, followed by a clothesline, followed by the fourth chinlock in less than ten minutes. This isn’t the kind of thing you want in a featured match.

Deep Six looks to set up the End of Days but Balor is right back with the shotgun dropkick. The Coup de Grace misses though and Corbin grabs a mic, making it a 2-1 handicap match with Drew McIntyre joining him. Balor flip dives onto McIntyre and dropkicks Corbin into the timekeeper’s area but McIntyre jumps him from behind. The Claymore is good for the pin on Balor at 13:25.

Rating: D-. Corbin is just so bad in the ring and this was more of the same heel abuse of power stuff that we’ve seen for the better part of forever. Balor was just cannon fodder here and the match was bad because they let Corbin run things instead of doing anything exciting. Terrible main event.

Post match Lashley comes out for the triple beatdown to end the show. At least McIntyre seems to be away from Ziggler now and that’s some of the only good news on this show.

From Smackdown.

Here’s AJ Styles for his first comments since losing the title. The 14 days since he lost the title have felt like a lot more than the 371 days he held it. He hates losing, but it was the way he lost. After a clip of the loss, AJ talks about the aftermath being what bothered him. We see a clip of Bryan’s speech about being a new man last week and AJ talks about how Bryan has been nowhere to be seen over the last week. Bryan better come out of his little chamber and show up at TLC. Make sure to bring the title though, because it belongs to AJ. Good fire from Styles here and the match should be great.

Tyler Breeze/Ascension vs. Zack Ryder/B-Team

Now a clever story here would be to say that Breeze doesn’t like what the Ascension is doing but is working with his former friends. That’s not what they’re doing here, but it would make more sense than having him do a random match as a heel. Viktor and Dallas start things off with Bo’s headlock going nowhere but everything breaks down in a hurry. The good guys clean house and Konor has to save Viktor from the Broski Boot. The distraction lets Viktor hit the jumping knee to the face and we take a break.

Back with Viktor throwing Breeze into Ryder in the corner. Konor comes back in for some elbows and a chinlock, followed by dropping Breeze on top for two. Viktor adds his own stomping and a chinlock, because of course he does. I don’t remember the last time there were this many chinlocks in a company but it’s getting really old. The Woo Awakening gets Ryder out of trouble and it’s off to Axel to clean house. The Axhole gets two and it’s off to Breeze, who gets caught in a neckbreaker from a blindly tagged in Dallas for the pin at 10:10.

Rating: D+. Perfectly watchable six man as I question the logic of having Breeze take the pin when he’s teaming with THE ASCENSION, as in the team that exists solely to take falls and put people over. This is a fine role for the B-Team as well as they’re entertaining and a fun act, especially as a warm up act like they were here.

From Raw.

Here are Nia Jax and Tamina for a chat. Nia says she has a lot to be thankful for this year, mainly being breaking Becky Lynch’s face. That brings her to Ronda Rousey, so we see Jax beating Rousey up at Money in the Bank. Then it was Charlotte beating her up at Survivor Series, leaving Ronda to talk about how hard a champion has to fight. Nia is now on top of the mountain but here’s Rousey to interrupt.

Rousey yells at her about how Nia is from a warrior culture who likes to hit people in the face. She could fight the champ right now, but Jax just got done washing Becky’s crusted blood off her hand. The double teaming seems imminent but Natalya runs in….and gets jumped by the Riott Squad. Rousey makes the save.

And from Raw again.

Intercontinental Title: Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler

Open challenge and I actually collapsed a bit when I heard the record scratch. Ziggler says he’s going to get back to being the best in the world by becoming champion again. They hit the mat to start and Ziggler can’t quite keep up. Instead Rollins sends him outside and we take a break.

Back with Rollins in trouble and Ziggler ripping at his face. The chinlock goes on, Ziggler chokes on the ropes, and the chinlock goes on again. Ziggler puts on a third chinlock before throwing him outside for a second break. Back again with Rollins making a comeback and hitting the Sling Blade. An enziguri rocks Ziggler and Rollins heads up, only to get crotched back down. He shoves Ziggler down but misses the frog splash, setting up the Fameasser to give Ziggler two.

Ziggler’s jumping DDT is blocked so he settles for two off a small package instead. The sleeper goes on but Rollins drops him back and hits the low superkick for two. Rollins misses the Stomp and walks into the Zig Zag for another near fall. After looking at some fans being excited, Ziggler heads up top but Rollins catches him with the superplex into the Falcon Arrow to retain at 22:45.

Rating: B. It was a good match and I’ll give them some big points for the non-finisher ending, but egads I never need to see these two fight again. The match took a long time to get going but things picked up a lot after the break. I was starting to get into it at the end and that’s the best thing I can say about something on this show. As usual, Rollins is one of the more entertaining people, even if he was out there with Ziggler.

Overall Rating: D+. You know, it’s kind of amazing how much better Raw seemed without the stupid Drake Maverick thing. That absolutely killed the show and is one of the dumbest things they’ve done in a long time. Now that being said, the rest of Raw was mostly garbage but they got the best part in here with the Rollins vs. Ziggler match. It’s not worth watching of course, but this could have been a lot worse.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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