http://411mania.com/wrestling/new-details-on-cesaros-shoulder-injury/
DANG the injuries are piling up. Is there any reason why they haven’t started calling up more people from NXT to give them a shot?
Survivor Series 2015
Date: November 22, 2015
Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
This is a special show for two reasons. First of all, tonight is twenty five years to the day that the Undertaker debuted. It’s rare to see someone last ten years and Undertaker is still having good matches twenty five years later. That’s one of those statistics that isn’t going to be broken and is really remarkable when you think about it. Other than that, we have the finals of the WWE World Title tournament for the title vacated after Seth Rollins’ knee injury. Let’s get to it.
Pre-Show: Team Miz vs. Team Neville
Miz, Bo Dallas, Stardust, Ascension
Neville, Dudley Boyz, Titus O’Neil, Goldust
Survivor Series match and you have to believe they’re doing another one on the show because there are only six other matches. This is Goldust’s return after a long absence due to a shoulder injury. Goldust and Stardust start and a few right hands send Stardust over for a tag to Viktor….who is put out off a Goldust powerslam at 30 seconds. That sounds like an injury elimination.
Off to Konnor vs. Titus with O’Neil chopping away in the corner and slamming Konnor down. What’s Up sends Konnor to the floor and the Dudleyz deposit his partners next to him, setting up Neville’s big dive. Back from a break with Bubba Rock Bottoming Konnor for the elimination at 5:34.
Stardust comes in to take D-Von into the corner as we hear about the Gobbledy Gooker debuting 25 years ago today. Off to Miz who keeps up the beating, only to walk into a spinebuster. Neville comes in to clean house with his variety of kicks and a snap German suplex. A surprise Bodog and the Skull Crushing Finale take Neville out at 8:52, only to have Goldust roll Miz up for the pin at 9:03.
We’re down to Dallas/Stardust vs. Titus/Goldust/Bubba/D-Von. Back from another break with Dallas putting Goldust in a chinlock and Stardust telling the fans that there will NOT be any tables. It’s off to Stardust for a chinlock of his own, followed by another from Dallas. Goldust finally fights up and hits a clothesline, allowing for the hot tag to Titus. Everything breaks down and it’s a quick Clash of the Titus to put Dallas away at 17:13. Stardust tries to walk away but walks into 3D for the final pin at 18:03.
Rating: C-. Totally fine way to kill the pre-show time and give the fans something to watch. Goldust returning is cool and it seems to set up the idea for the show. The wrestling wasn’t anything great but for a match thrown together, it’s hard to really complain about the quality. Good enough here.
We open with Lillian Garcia singing the National Anthem as the middle finger to the ISIS threats.
The opening video focuses on both major stories with Undertaker’s anniversary and match with the Wyatts, followed by a tournament recap. There’s a great line of history being written by the survivors.
WWE World Title Tournament Semifinals: Alberto Del Rio vs. Roman Reigns
Non-title of course and the fans boo Reigns out of the building as soon as his music hits. They slug it out to start with Del Rio scoring with some kicks in the corner. Outside now with Reigns going into the barricade before Del Rio starts in on the arm, which Cesaro worked over Monday. A tilt-a-whirl slam gets a quick two for Roman as he’s hearing the dueling chants.
The bad arm goes into the steps as we see HHH watching in the back. A top rope shot to the head gets two for Alberto and we hit the chinlock. They’re moving here. The bad shoulder is sent into the post but Reigns pops right back up and nails a quick apron boot. The arm is hanging though as Reigns fires off the corner clotheslines. A Superman Punch is countered into the Backstabber for two.
The low superkick (hey he still uses that) is countered into a Samoan drop for the same. Roman tries to go aerial with a superplex but gets caught in the double stomp position (one of the only realistic ways for that to be set up). Of course it misses here though and Reigns nails the Superman Punch. Del Rio takes a long time getting up after landing on his knee but it’s all goldbricking with the spear charging into a superkick for a really close two.
For the first time since he’s been back, Del Rio tries the armbreaker but gets rolled up for another near fall. The armbreaker goes on a few seconds later and the announcers are freaking out. I have no idea why as it’s not the arm Del Rio had been working on. Reigns makes the rope and Alberto goes up for no apparent reason, only to miss some nondescript move, allowing Reigns to spear him down for the pin at 14:22.
Rating: B. Well duh. This was the biggest layup all night long but at least we had a hot match instead of the boring stuff Del Rio has been doing. It’s amazing what happens when he actually tries the logical moves instead of whatever co-operative nonsense he has to do to get the double stomps. Reigns’ arm could come into play later too.
Reigns wishes Ambrose luck and says they’ll fight next. Owens comes in and lists off Reigns being close before but always missing in the end. Tonight Owens is adding his name to the list of people who stop Reigns at the last second. Reigns still picks Dean. I know it’s not likely, but they’ve got me thinking it could be Owens.
WWE World Title Tournament Semifinals: Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens
Non-title again. Dean starts with some headlocks and armdrags (straight out of an old Aiden English song) but Owens crotches him on top. The Cannonball is only good for one but the backsplash gets two. We hit the chinlock (Owens: “CHINLOCK CITY BABY!”) and HHH is shown watching again. Dean suplexes him down and they slowly get up with Owens getting the better of it.
A moonsault (you don’t see him try that one too often) misses Ambrose and the top rope elbow gets two more. They fight over a superplex with Dean running the corner to try it again, only to get caught in the swinging fisherman’s superplex (I love that move) for the nearest fall so far. The rebound lariat staggers Owens but he sends Dean outside for a drop onto the table. Back in and two straight superkicks knock Dean even sillier but he counters the Pop Up Powerbomb and grabs Dirty Deeds for the spot in the finals at 11:20.
Rating: B-. Owens continues to look like a star but that’s the second champion to lose in a row because they didn’t think this thing through that well. Either that or they don’t think anything of the title. Either way, this was the good brawl you would expect from these two with the guys beating each other up for as long as they were allowed, which is the best thing you can ask for. Neither match was great but they were a really good way to spend forty five minutes.
We look back at Undertaker’s debut and the length of his career, mainly comprised of clips of Legends With JBL.
Team Ryback vs. Team New Day
Ryback, Lucha Dragons, Usos
New Day, King Barrett, Sheamus
The hometown boy Xavier Woods has a new haircut (like a pompadour) and Big E. wants us all to cheer for it. New Day rips on the Dragons for being small, the Usos for being injured and Ryback for being bald. Sheamus wants to get jiggy on these posers and you can feel the air go out of the place in a funny bit. Kofi: “I think what he meant to say was NEW DAY ROCKS!”
Woods and Jimmy get things going with the hair being completely off limits. Jimmy of course drags him across the ring by the hair and it’s off to Jey for some chops. Cara comes in to chop Kofi as we hear about the mini Kings back in 1994. Sheamus misses a charge and falls to the floor with his partners joining him. Everyone not named Ryback dives at the same time, leaving Ryback to dive onto all nine of them. Back in and Barrett crotches Jey on top to give Sheamus two.
The Unicorn Stampede means it’s time for some tromboning to start a dance party. Kofi puts on a chinlock but an enziguri allows the tag off to Jimmy. Woods gets thrown into the corner so Barrett comes in and slugs Jimmy in the face. Jimmy superkicks him right back and a swanton from Cara gets rid of Barrett at 7:46. It’s off to Kalisto for the monkey flip splash to Kofi for two before Jimmy comes back in pretty soon after tagging out. That would be too soon as Kofi grabs a backbreaker and Woods adds a top rope knee for the pin at 9:24.
Big E. spears Cara through the ropes but comes up holding his arm, leaving Sheamus to Brogue Kick him for the pin at 10:46. Sheamus and Big E. argue over the blind tag so Sheamus lets him come back in, only to have Ryback run him over. Jey adds a Superfly Splash to get rid of Big E. at 11:38. So we’re down to Jey/Ryback/Kalisto vs. Woods/Kingston/Sheamus. Kofi and Woods walk out with Big E. at 12:30 so it’s 3-1. Sheamus starts pounding on Kalisto until it’s off to Jey for a high cross body.
The Irish Curse gets two and puts Jimmy in trouble but again Sheamus lets him tag. Ryback comes in with the clotheslines and a spinebuster but a tilt-a-whirl slam stops the Meat Hook. The numbers are really getting on Sheamus’ nerves though and it’s a blind tag to bring in Kalisto for a top rope hurricanrana. Sheamus blocks it but Jey tags himself in and superkicks Sheamus, allowing Kalisto to hurricanrana Sheamus into Ryback (who tagged himself in as well) for the Shell Shock at 17:34.
Rating: C. Again this was fine with ten guys barely affiliated having a match for the sake of filling in a spot on the card. New Day walking out was the right call as you don’t want three champions losing in three matches. This was basically a bonus and another good match as we’re waiting on the big stuff.
We recap Paige vs. Charlotte without a single reference to the big issues on Monday. Basically it’s back to being fallout from PCB splitting, which isn’t great but it’s much more in WWE’s wheelhouse.
Divas Title: Paige vs. Charlotte
Charlotte is defending and starts this big rivalry match with a waistlock. Paige takes over with some brawling before taking it outside. The champion is sent ribs first into the announcers’ table, setting up an abdominal stretch back inside. Given that an abdominal stretch hasn’t won a match since about 1972, Charlotte quickly escapes and kicks Paige in the face. There’s the Figure Four (not eight) until Paige makes the rope.
Charlotte takes it outside again and drops Paige face first onto the apron. Back in and we get a figure four neck lock with some rolls to slam Paige into the mat. Charlotte tries to go too fast though and charges into the post. For some reason that means it’s time for Paige to work on the ribs with a bodyscissors.
That doesn’t last either and it’s time to slug it out, followed by Charlotte scoring with the spear. The unnamed Natural Selection sends Paige to the floor but she pops right back up. They get on the barricade for no apparent reason, allowing Charlotte to hit another big spear. Back in and the Figure Eight makes Paige tap at 14:20.
Rating: C-. The story killed this one as I’m really not sure what they were going for. I mean, I get that Paige was trying to get in her head but they don’t just insult Ric instead? It wasn’t bad or anything but some of the psychology was off and took away some of my interest. Watchable but not much more.
Reigns and Ambrose are ready to fight like brothers.
Tyler Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler
This is trying to salvage something from the Rusev/Ziggler/Lana story. Breeze takes him down to start and lays over the top like he should be doing. A headlock puts Tyler down as well and now it’s time for Ziggler to have a rest on top too. They head outside with Breeze hiding behind Summer, allowing him to send Ziggler into the steps. Back in and Ziggler gets caught in a half crab but it’s quickly off to the ropes.
Ziggler makes his comeback with the normal stuff, including a neckbreaker and the big elbow for two. A nice pinfall reversal sequence gives us a bunch of two counts before Dolph just slams him face first into the mat. Breeze bails to avoid the superkick (like any model would do) and kicks him in the knee, setting up the Unprettier to give Tyler the clean pin at 6:45.
Rating: C-. Ziggler jobbing isn’t a story again but at least Breeze won clean in his big match debut (yeah the tournament wasn’t really a big match as everyone knew what was going to happen there). I don’t think Breeze is ever going to be more than a jobber to the stars but at least he had a good debut.
We recap the Wyatts vs. the Brothers of Destruction. Bray targeted Undertaker at the end of Hell in Cell before kidnapping Undertaker and Kane. He stole their souls (whatever that means), setting up this regular tag instead of what could have been a cool elimination tag).
Bray Wyatt/Luke Harper vs. Undertaker/Kane
Undertaker gets the big entrance for his anniversary, though I’m sure more is coming. Rowan gets chokeslammed before the bell, leaving Harper as the official partner, which hadn’t been announced yet. Kane works on Harper to start before it’s off to Undertaker to really wake the crowd up. Harper has to get out of the Tombstone and it’s off to Bray who eats the jumping clothesline.
That’s it for Bray so Harper takes Old School as the fans tell Undertaker that he still has it. The apron legdrop has Harper in more trouble and Kane goes after Bray, only to have Strowman throw him over the announcers’ table. That’s not a DQ though and the Wyatts take over on Kane. The running cross body takes Kane down but Bray takes too much time mocking Undertaker and gets slammed down for his efforts. It’s already hot tag time (seven minutes in) for Undertaker and house is cleaned again.
Bray and Luke clothesline him to the floor though, only to have Strowman take the double chokeslam through the table. Back in and Sister Abigail out of nowhere gets two on Undertaker and Luke clotheslines Kane. No cover of course as Bray is busy doing the Spider Walk. The Brothers do the stereo sit up and it’s a double chokeslam to the Wyatts. Harper takes the Tombstone for the pin at 10:21.
Rating: D+. At least it wasn’t Bray. This was a post show dark match aired on pay per view and that’s not what they needed to go with here. I get the idea of the big moment for Undertaker but he’s had big moments at the last few pay per views now. Harper getting pinned makes sense and it’s not the worst loss in the world, but Undertaker needs to put Bray over soon.
Nothing special for Undertaker after the match as he and Kane just do their signature pose.
WWE World Title: Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose
Ambrose has already lost his shirt and they go at it right after the big match intros. A clothesline puts Reigns on the floor and Dean follows with the suicide dive. Back in and Dean hammers away until Reigns powerbombs him out of the corner ala Undertaker. Reigns gets two more off a sitout powerbomb but Dean runs him over. The top rope elbow is blocked with a Superman Punch though and both guys are down.
Neither finisher can hit (way too early) but the rebound lariat is countered into a spear for two (shows what I know). There was almost zero hit on that near fall. A second spear hits post and Dirty Deeds gets two on a much hotter cover. Both guys sit up so they slug it out from the mat. Back up and the spear out of nowhere gives Reigns the title at 8:39.
Rating: D. Wait what? Like seriously, what? It’s 10:38 and the main event just ended in less than nine minutes. The fans didn’t react and there’s no reason to care with a win that fast. Reigns getting the belt is a good idea but that’s really the best way they can do it? That really doesn’t work and I’m guessing they’re using the time for an Undertaker celebration but this was a bad, bad move.
Dean hugs his friend and leaves as confetti falls. Cue a smiling and applauding HHH to offer a handshake but Reigns spears him instead. Sheamus comes in for a Brogue Kick and here we go.
WWE World Title: Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus
The Brogue Kick only gets two but a second gives Sheamus the title at 39 seconds. So was Ambrose off checking the Bengals score?
HHH and Sheamus leave together to end the show, but we cut back to the arena as Reigns gets up…..and leaves to add nothing else.
Overall Rating: C-. The wrestling was mostly good but I only started getting excited in the last five minutes because it was a title change. Reigns can rise up again and win the title later, but sweet goodness that match was nothing to see and Reigns is just dying to turn heel. Sheamus is clearly just a placeholder champion and that’s fine, but it was a pretty lackluster ending. The opening two matches are both good though and it was certainly a big ending so I’ll call the show passable but a letdown given what else they could have done.
Results
Roman Reigns b. Alberto Del Rio – Spear
Dean Ambrose b. Kevin Owens – Dirty Deeds
Team Ryback b. Team New Day – Shell Shock to Sheamus
Charlotte b. Paige – Figure Eight
Tyler Breeze b. Dolph Ziggler – Unprettier
Undertaker/Kane b. Bray Wyatt/Luke Harper – Tombstone to Harper
Roman Reigns b. Dean Ambrose – Spear
Sheamus b. Roman Reigns – Brogue Kick
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of Wrestlemania at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0188BJRGU
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
Survivor Series 2014
Date: November 23, 2014
Location: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Attendance: 12,000
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler
Now this is going to be an interesting one as the whole show is built around one match and that one match’s big surprise. Last year they made no secret about the show being entirely built around one single match, which wound up making the way to make the whole thing work. That one match is Team Cena vs. Team Authority for Cena and company’s jobs vs. the Authority having power. The jobs were thrown in at the last minute to really hammer home who was going to win but that’s not always the worst thing. Let’s get to it.
Pre-Show: Fandango vs. Justin Gabriel
This is the NEW AND IMPROVED Fandango, meaning he has Rosa Mendes and now wears a white shirt. We’re ready to go after the dance sequence that kills even more time. They slowly punch each other to start with Gabriel, who has skeleton tights for no apparent reason (JBL: “The leftovers from Giant Gonzalez.”), getting knocked to the floor.
Back in and Justin breaks out of a chinlock and gets two off a springboard kick to the face. For someone who flies around as much as Gabriel, the fans are almost totally silent. A suplex slam (as in a suplex where Fandango never left his feet) takes Gabriel down and the guillotine legdrop is good enough to put Justin away at 3:10.
Rating: D-. You know how Fandango still hasn’t done anything since his “rebirth” here? After this match it really surprises me that he still has a job as this was so horribly boring. Naturally they did the same match again the next night on Raw because maybe they just didn’t get the point across here. Really boring match.
Pre-Show: Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger
The battle of the former Real Americans. On the way to the ring, Cesaro talks about the history of Swiss neutrality before picking Team Authority. He proclaims his allegiance in various languages (which is NOTHING that could ever be capitalized in around the world) until Swagger and Colter come in to pick Team Cena. Swagger gets a quick rollup for two to start, earning himself a gutwrench suplex.
The Patriot Lock has Cesaro in early trouble but he’s still able to throw Swagger down with a German suplex. More suplexes set up a chinlock. Back up and Swagger grabs a German of his own, followed by a chop block to stay on the leg. The Vader Bomb is blocked but Swagger grabs the Patriot Lock. That goes nowhere and more Germans are rolled, only to have Swagger counter into the Patriot Lock again for the submission at 5:23.
Rating: C-. They crammed a lot of suplexes into just five minutes. This also shows you how much better a match can be if you have interesting people in there. Swagger isn’t the best in the world but there’s at least a reason to care about him and more than one note to his character. I’ll take Cesaro being all serious and speaking different languages over HE’S A DANCER IN A WHITE SHIRT any day.
The opening video recaps the main event, which was set up on Vince’s whim. That’s the problem with so much of what the Authority does: whatever happens can be changed by either the two of them or Vince because they’re the ultimate powers. No matter how the story goes, someone with power can come in and change anything at the drop of a hat. Why hasn’t Vince come back and changed something else on a whim? Eh no real reason other than the plot hasn’t called for it. That’s really bad writing.
Here’s Vince to open things up with talking. Vince talks (see, I told you that’s what he was going to do) about how epic this is really going to be and brings out the Authority because we haven’t heard from them in the first five minutes. The sucking up begins immediately but Vince cuts them off to bring out Cena.
Vince recaps the main event as we’re just burning through pay per view time here. Cena asks if the Authority will leave on their own accord if they lose tonight. HHH says that Cena is going to have a bad holiday because four men’s responsibilities will be on his head after tonight. Those four men are going to be forgotten about because they’re the ones with everything to lose. Cena will keep his job because he’s such a big star, but he’ll have that on his head forever.
Stephanie suggests that someone on Team Cena will turn on him because they have to think of themselves. She says the Authority will still have their jobs at headquarters and run things from afar, but Vince says not so fast. They’ll still have desk jobs and be in charge of different departments but they’ll have no authority on screen.
One more thing: if the Authority does lose tonight, only Cena can bring them back. That’s the moment where they gave away the ending and everyone knew the Authority would be back by the end of the year at the latest. Stephanie goes into full STEPHANIE IS SHOUTING mode but Cena says the Authority will lose tonight.
So to recap the recap (which took us to fifteen minutes into the show): the Authority will still have jobs and huge salaries but they just don’t have to deal with the headaches of running the show. On top of that, Cena can bring them back because FOREVER means until Cena says otherwise. This is all stuff that could have been done on Raw but why not waste pay per view time on it. I know their line is “But it’s a free month on the Network!” That’s not an excuse to do something stupid like this as it’s a really bad way to get the show going when this could have been done in five minutes on any given TV show.
Tag Team Titles: Usos vs. Miz/Damien Mizdow vs. Los Matadores vs. Goldust/Stardust
Goldust and Stardust (villains here) are defending and Mizdow is one of the most popular guys on the roster because of how hard he’s been working with the stunt double character. Diego and Stardust start things off as Cole reads Stardust’s latest riddle. A quick rollup gets two on Stardust before it’s off to Miz who is stopped by OLE! Mizdow does his stunt double stuff on the floor as JBL talks about Papa Shango putting a curse on Mizdow years ago. This isn’t a rousing start to the commentary tonight.
Miz won’t tag out, again missing the point of having a stunt double. Jey comes in to chop Diego but Goldust tags himself in and chinlocks the Samoan. The fans continue to want Mizdow but Stardust waves them off and uppercuts Jey instead. This time it’s Miz tagging himself in but Fernando tags Jey and flips off the top and onto Miz.
It’s FINALLY off to Mizdow, only to have Goldust tag himself in ten seconds later to bring the crowd back to silence. Lawler brings up a great point: if Mizdow comes in and Miz is on the apron, shouldn’t Mizdow just stand there? Stardust comes in and stomps Fernando before cranking on both arms to slow things down a bit. Goldust stomps Fernando on the floor (brothers think alike) and we hit the chinlock. Things stay slow as we hear about Grumpy Cat appearing on Raw. I had been trying to forget that guys.
Stardust loads up what looks like a Tombstone but Fernando spins out into a tornado DDT (good one too) and it’s off to Jimmy. Now we pick things up a bit with the Usos cleaning house with Umaga attacks and superkicks (and a shaking camera, which has happened multiple times tonight). Goldust powerslams Jimmy down for two but the double Uso dive takes down a few people.
There’s the Falling Star from Stardust, giving us this brilliant exchange: Cole: “That’s the Falling Star!” “JBL: “I have no idea what that is!” Cole: “It’s the Falling Star!” JBL: “I know!” Torito gets thrown onto the pile and Diego does the same. Back in and a quadruple Tower of Doom takes down Los Matadores and the champs, allowing Mizdow to tag himself in and pin Goldust for the titles at 15:25.
Rating: C. This was a big longer than it needed to be but the payoff was exactly what it needed to be. There was no reason to wait any longer on giving Mizdow something and this opens the door for some new possibilities in the story. The match was fun but they could have cut out a few minutes to make it flow better. It’s fun enough though (annoying commentary aside) and a good way to open the show, after the long talking of course.
Miz takes both titles and Mizdow keeps posing.
Larry the Cable Guy is guest hosting Raw. As usual, WWE is about ten years behind the pop culture times.
Vince will be on the Steve Austin Show. Now that could be entertaining and it kind of was if I remember correctly.
Adam Rose and the Bunny do a toy commercial until Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil come in to set up a match for later. Fans: “NO! NO! NO!” Is it bad that I miss the Bunny and wanted to see more of him?
Team Paige vs. Team Team Fox
Paige, Cameron, Summer Rae, Layla
Alicia Fox, Natalya, Emma, Naomi
Natalya is accompanied by Tyson Kidd, who clearly doesn’t care in a great short run character. Paige and Natalya start things off on the mat and we hit the King’s Court reference which turns into a discussion of Lawler having a foursome. Paige is sent to the floor for a quick spank from Natalya (because of course) before it’s off to Layla vs. Emma, neither of whom are still on the main roster. Lawler: “Emma could trip over cordless phones.” That’s not very hard to do King.
It’s back to Paige for a headbutt and THIS IS MY HOUSE. How can she afford this many houses? Cameron comes in to break up a tag attempt and this could go badly. The fans want Mizdow again and good grief it’s the Daniel Bryan story all over again. You just had him for fifteen minutes when he won a title. Be happy with what you got and shut up already. Emma rolls over and tags Naomi for the big showdown that no one wanted to see. Naomi runs through Cameron and a bad looking wheelbarrow Stunner gets two.
Everything breaks down and Cameron does an awful bulldog, allowing Naomi to roll her up for the elimination at 6:12. Summer kicks Naomi down to take over, only to miss a splash. Fox comes in as the announcers ignore the match to talk about old Survivor Series teams. The heels bail so Fox tries to get a CHICKEN chant started. It’s off to Layla for her bouncy cross body but a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gives Alicia the elimination at 9:29.
Summer comes in and misses a charge, allowing Natalya to dropkick her down. It’s off to Paige who takes over, only to have Summer do Paige’s scream and get decked as a result. Emma comes in for the Dilemma, a forearm to Paige on the apron and the Emma Lock for the submission on Summer at 12:04. So Paige is all alone and starts with Emma, who quickly faceplants her down. Natalya eats a superkick so it’s off to Naomi for the Rear View and the headscissors DDT for the final pin at 14:16.
Rating: D-. Oh sweet goodness the Divas Revolution needed to happen soon. This match felt like it was going on forever with almost none of them looking like they should have been out there this long. Between “CHICKEN! CHICKEN!” and Layla’s face offense under the guise of a heel and Cameron being the disaster that only she can be, this was horrible with Paige and Natalya not being able to hold it together.
Kidd, who didn’t do a thing all match, celebrates more than anyone else in a great touch. That’s the highlight of the last fifteen minutes.
We recap the pre-show, which also included the return of Bad News Barrett. As usual, Cesaro gets left out. The best part: Renee Young with long hair. I had forgotten about that and it says a lot that she’s just as beautiful with her hair hacked off.
The panel talks for a bit.
We recap Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose, which started when Wyatt targeted Ambrose in October for whatever reason Bray picks his next target. There was something about Dean’s dad being in prison but it was never really explained. Ambrose said he didn’t care why Wyatt did it anyway so it didn’t really matter. Tonight is the first match.
Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt
They slug it out to start (shocking) before heading outside (even more shocking) where Dean takes over with some clotheslines. Back in and Bray runs Dean over before knocking a dive out of the air with a right hand. I can never get used to Bray’s blood red tattoos as they always fool me. We hit a seated full nelson on Dean (always nice to see them mix up the rest holds) before he fights up for a double cross body.
They go outside for the third time for a double clothesline and both guys are down again. Back in and Dean takes over before doing Bray’s lean upside down out of the corner in a nice touch. Dean ties him in the ropes and kisses Bray on the head before a dropkick and legdrop get two. Bray counters the Rebound Lariat into a release Rock Bottom for two as this match really hasn’t taken off yet.
The middle rope backsplash misses because it would have killed Dean and the top rope elbow gets two for Ambrose. Back up and Bray EXPLODES with a clothesline and he makes it even worse with another Rock Bottom onto the steps. That’s only good for two so Bray grabs a mic and says they could have ruled the world together. Dean has chosen his path though so Bray grabs a chair and drops to his knees like he did with Cena at Wrestlemania. Dean isn’t Cena though and he hits Bray with the chair for the DQ at 14:00.
Rating: C+. Much like the Cena match at Wrestlemania, this felt a lot more like it was designed to set up something else (which it was) instead of being a big showdown. Bray’s babbling gets to the point where you stop caring what he’s talking about and that doesn’t make for the most interesting matches. No matter how you look at it, the whole thing always feels like you’re waiting on the next big thing, which gets repetitive in a hurry. It’s still a fun brawl though and got going after the first few minutes.
Post match Dean lays Bray out and elbows him through a table. That’s not enough for him as he buries Bray under another table and a pile of chairs. That’s only T and C though so why not pull out a ladder? Dean climbs the ladder but is all like “this is the free month so you have to pay to see me dive off.” Referees won’t let him shove the ladder onto the pile either.
The Authority gives their team a long pep talk, including Stephanie crying at the thought of only having a huge salary and working in an office. This is one of the problems of having such a big main event: there’s so much time to fill which certainly couldn’t have been filled with another Survivor Series match. This talk eats up WAY too much time and is summed up as “we’re betting everything we have tonight so win or else.”
Adam Rose/The Bunny vs. Heath Slater/Titus O’Neil
Slater and the Bunny get things going but Rose tags himself in quickly. Heath gets him on the mat before it’s off to Titus for some forearms to the back. Rose dives over and makes the tag. Lawler: “Maybe we should explain why there’s a bunny in the ring.” Cole: “Well it’s actually a man in a bunny suit.” Good grief just start speaking gibberish to us since they clearly think we’re that stupid. The Bunny pins Slater off a middle rope dropkick.
The Rosebuds leave with the Bunny.
More commercials. Counting the opener, the pep talk and all these commercials, there’s probably been seventeen minutes wasted, or about the same amount of time spent on a quick Survivor Series match.
The injured Roman Reigns has a satellite interview where he talks about wanting to be here punching people. We’ll make it nineteen minutes of filler. Reigns will be back in a month.
Team Cena says they’re ready.
Divas Title: Nikki Bella vs. AJ Lee
AJ is defending and Nikki has Brie as her unwilling assistant. After the big match intros and Brie gets on the apron for a distraction, followed by kissing AJ (and launching a thousand fanfics). The Rack Attack gives us a new champion at 38 seconds in the Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus finish. Allegedly this was the way the match was going the entire time and it wasn’t cut down, making me shake my head even more.
Of course the sisters are back together with an eventual explanation of “we’re sisters.”
Ambrose vs. Wyatt is announced for TLC in the namesake match.
We recap the main event. The Authority is all corrupt so Vince came in and said let’s put their power up against Team Cena. John put together a team of the few people who would fight with him so the Authority made them as miserable as they could. It’s a simple story but they’ve made this feel like a legitimately huge match.
Team Cena vs. Team Authority
John Cena, Big Show, Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan
Seth Rollins, Kane, Rusev, Mark Henry, Luke Harper
Cena’s partners’ jobs vs. the Authority’s authority. Harper is Intercontinental Champion and Rusev is the undefeated US Champion. The eleven entrances eat up even more time but in a good way this time. They’ve done a really good job at making this feel like a big deal and it’s working well here. Henry and Show start but HHH has to get in one last pep talk, allowing Show to knock him out for the elimination at 50 seconds.
It’s Rollins in next but Show chops him down to the floor. Kane comes in but Show drags him into the corner for the tag off to Cena, who pounds on Kane even more. Now we get a showdown that the fans find bigger than it probably is with Rowan vs. Harper. This was during that short period where Rowan was a genius, which has been completely forgotten since. Rollins tags himself back in before anything can happen and is immediately caught in the wrong corner.
Ryback comes in to join in on the fun but Rollins tags out to Harper. That’s fine with Ryback as he grabs a vertical suplex, only to get punched in the face by Kane. The big bald is beaten down as well so we’ll try Rusev. A spinebuster ends the slugout but Shell Shock is broken up. Everything breaks down and it’s a Curb Stomp from Rollins and the jumping superkick from Rusev to eliminate Ryback and tie us up.
Show comes back in but Rusev escapes a quick chokeslam attempt and brings in Harper. A dropkick of all things puts Show down and it’s back to Kane for some stomping. Kane follows Harper’s suit with a (basement) dropkick, followed by the Gator Roll (he’s stopped using that) from Harper. Show throws Harper away too so it’s off to Ziggler, who Harper beat (through some shenanigans) to win the title.
The heels start taking over on Ziggler with Kane’s sidewalk slam getting two. A comeback is stopped by a boot to the face and it’s off to Rusev for some knees to the ribs. Ziggler tries to punch Rollins in the face but gets caught in a downward spiral into the corner. We hit the chinlock for a bit before the running DDT plants Rusev. Everything breaks down again and we hit the parade of finishers (always a favorite).
Rollins is thrown onto a pile but Rusev throws Ziggler onto that pile. It’s time to load up the announcers’ table but Rusev misses Ziggler and splashes through the table instead, leading to a countout at 21:02 to make it 4-3. Cole: “COUNTOUTS ARE A FACTOR! COUNTOUTS ARE A FACTOR! COME ON DOLPH! COME ON DOLPH! ZIGGLER’S IN! ZIGGLER’S IN! RUSEV IS OUT! RUSEV IS OUT!” Get the parrot a cracker and shut him up already.
Back in and the exhausted Ziggler tags Cena for a quick AA to Kane. Rollins makes the save with a Curb Stomp and everyone is down. A double tag brings in Harper and Rowan with Erick cleaning house. Kane’s chokeslam is broken up but the springboard knee from Rollins sets up Harper’s discus lariat to put Rowan out at 24:14. So it’s Show/Cena/Ziggler vs. Rollins/Kane/Harper and we get a big six man staredown….until Show KO’s Cena, turning heel again to fill his quota for the year. Rollins steals the pin to eliminate Cena at 25:11. Now THAT is a shock.
Show stares down at the Authority and then walks out at 26:30, leaving Ziggler down 3-1. Ziggler can barely stand after the long beating he took but it’s now the Shawn formula in 2005. The fans want Orton (who was put out by Rollins a few weeks ago but why have the hometown boy here to make the save when you can have him on a movie set instead? To make it worse, Stephanie chants “OH YEAH! OH YEAH! OH YEAH!” in what was supposed to be cheerleading.
Kane throws Ziggler into the barricade and Rollins drags him over to the corner for some tags to the eliminated partners. Kane’s superplex is broken up though and a quick superkick and Zig Zag make it 2-1 at 29:35. Harper is right in though and kicks Ziggler’s head off to send him outside, followed by a nice suicide shove. A great sounding superkick gets two on Ziggler and the sitout powerbomb amazingly only gets the same. Ziggler somehow grabs a rollup (and jeans) for a fast elimination at 31:35, leaving us one on one.
Dolph can barely stand but he still grabs a DDT for two. Rollins has way more gas though and hammers Ziggler down, only to miss a top rope knee. The Fameasser gets two out of nowhere as HHH and Stephanie are losing their minds on the outside. Noble and Mercury are dispatched and the Zig Zag connects but HHH pulls the referee out at two.
The J’s are dispatched again and Stephanie is knocked off the apron (onto HHH of course because Heaven forbid she not have a soft landing). Another Curb Stomp misses and there’s a second Zig Zag for two with HHH breaking up the pin one more time. HHH beats on Ziggler for a bit and hits a Pedigree…..and there’s a crow.
In one of the biggest surprises of all time, STING makes his WWE debut (with JBL listing off his resume to make sure you know this was planned in advance) and HHH is in shock. Sting decks HHH’s crooked referee and does the big staredown with HHH, setting up the Death Drop (sold really well too). Sting pulls Ziggler on top of Rollins (who hasn’t moved in over six minutes) for the final pin at 44:07.
Rating: A. I liked this even better knowing what was coming. They did a really good job of setting up the story here as both teams were in enough trouble at different points to keep it interesting with the Cena elimination being the biggest of them all. I was genuinely surprised when that happened and it holds up well enough as a moment today. The near falls near the end were great as well, making this a really great match. This should have been a total star making performance for Ziggler but since WWE is in charge, it was pretty much forgotten in about a month.
HHH looks like reality sets in while Stephanie shows her horrible acting skills one more time. For once I’m fine with the focus being on them but good grief that screeching is killing it. On top of that, everyone knew they would be back sooner than later and it didn’t even last a month.
Overall Rating: B-. This is the definition of a one match show and thankfully that one match delivered because the rest of this show was pretty horrible. Everything from the end of Ambrose vs. Wyatt to the start of the main event was a waste of time or boring, as was so often the case in WWE at this point. The main event bails the show out, but that’s the ONLY thing worth watching on here.
Ratings Comparison
Fandango vs. Justin Gabriel
Original: D
2015 Redo: D-
Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger
Original: C-
2015 Redo: C-
Usos vs. Miz/Damien Mizdow vs. Goldust/Stardust vs. Los Matadores
Original: C+
2015 Redo: C
Team Paige vs. Team Fox
Original: D-
2015 Redo: D-
Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt
Original: B-
2015 Redo: C+
Slater Gator vs. Adam Rose/The Bunny
Original: N/A
2015 Redo: N/A
AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella
Original: N/A
2015 Redo: N/A
Team Cena vs. Team Authority
Original: B+
2015 Redo: A
Overall Rating
Original: C
2015 Redo: B-
Here’s the original review if you’re interested:
http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/23/survivor-series-2014-i-believe-it/
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of Wrestlemania at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0188BJRGU
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
For some reason Survivor Series continues to be the show that sees a lot of big stories like this year’s World Title tournament. Either it’s Sting/Rock/Kurt Angle/Shield debuting or a World Title tournament but this show is always getting something huge. Unfortunately the rest of the show is really not clicking but I’ve been surprised before. Let’s get to it.
We’ll get the most obvious match out of the way first: Reigns beats Del Rio and he does it going away. Reigns is the heavy favorite to win the whole thing and they’re not about to have Del Rio be the one to mess that up in the semifinals. I know Vince loves the guy no matter how boring he is (and he is indeed quite boring as I’m sure you’ve learned in recent weeks) but Del Rio just isn’t winning here.
As for the other semifinal, as much as I’d love it to be Owens, people have been saying it’s a Reigns vs. Ambrose final since the beginning of this tournament (which to be fair was less than two weeks ago) and I can’t see any reason to change that pick now. Ambrose wins, likely setting up an Intercontinental Title match down the line (assuming no one does a big turn at the end) because of course you can pin a champion and not worry about it. Owens is awesome, but the better story here is to have Ambrose go forward to fight his brother. An upset (as in the champion winning) is possible but I’ll go with Ambrose.
For the final…….yeah I think Reigns goes heel and wins the whole thing. At the end of the day, the guy is the most natural heel they’ve had in a long time (just imagine that smirk he does as a heel move) and it would be a great moment to see Dean’s reaction. Above all else though, who is Reigns supposed to fight if he wins the title as a face? People he’s already beaten when the title wasn’t on the line? Kane? See what I mean here? Heel Ambrose winning is always a chance but I really can’t imagine it happening. No cash-in either because they haven’t dragged that out long enough yet.
I’ll take Breeze over Ziggler, even though it’s not going to mean much either way. This really isn’t much of a feud as the whole Summer angle has been forgotten by this point. It’s still not a good story but there’s no reason for Ziggler to win here. The guy is a jobber to the stars at this point so just let Breeze get a big win before he becomes a jobber to the stars as well.
Charlotte retains over Paige because it’s her big redemption story. The whole Reid Flair story (In case you didn’t know what Charlotte and Paige were talking about on Monday, which I think is the case for the masses. I still don’t get why they didn’t talk about Ric instead.) is a big mess and it’s so stupid that WWE is basically dumping the whole thing on Charlotte. For some reason I don’t believe that it was Charlotte pushing for the idea the whole way. It was cool to see something serious in there but it really didn’t work the way they wanted it to. Either way, the winner should be keeping the title warm for Sasha anyway.
That leaves us with the most frustrating match on the show in the Brothers of Destruction vs. the Wyatts. Which Wyatts? Well that’s not important enough to mention. In other words, they’re making no secret of the fact that this is ALL about Undertaker and Kane. The whole focal point of the build has been on the Undertaker 25th Anniversary (at least WWE has learned how to count since Wrestlemania XXV) and there’s little doubt that Undertaker goes over here.
My biggest issue with this match is wasted potential. As soon as they started going after Undertaker and Kane, it turned into a question of who joins them against the four Wyatts. They even had the Wyatts in a Survivor Series match a few weeks ago on Smackdown. That had a lot of potential for a big, wild brawl with people just laying into each other and maybe Undertaker being left alone for Bray to get the pin.
Instead though, let’s just have the Brothers reunite one more time with no real explained story (other than the soul stealing and then apparently letting Undertaker and Kane go) and the Wyatts all getting beaten down over in England. It seems like it’s Strowman/Bray for the Wyatts…..and I’m going to pick them. I know I said there’s little doubt that Undertaker goes over, but I think Bray actually pulls it off, likely beating Kane in the process and setting up a showdown at TLC. That’s how I would do it at least, which is why it isn’t likely happening. That’s my big surprise pick this time, even though I know it’s not happening.
There’s also a traditional Survivor Series match with participants to be named. I’ll say it’s the Usos/Lucha Dragons/Ryback beating New Day/Ascension in a match that could be a lot more entertaining with better participants.
Overall I’m very very cautiously optimistic for this one but I won’t be surprised if the show winds up being a disaster. The tournament has the potential to set up a lot of good things going forward (heel Roman vs. Ambrose, then Cena then Brock anyone?) and they could FINALLY pull the trigger on Wyatt (they won’t) to make this something entertaining. Of course there’s always the chance that they’ll do the stupidest things possible (Ambrose heel turn, Reigns wins clean or Sheamus cashes in and wins) but it’s the holiday season so I’ll go with some good old false hope.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of Wrestlemania at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0188BJRGU
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
With both myself and Shocky at the same time. This week, we explain why WWE is being stupid all over again, plus why NXT could be the greatest thing since Sliced Bread #1.
http://mightynorcal.podbean.com/e/wwp-29-survivor-series-preview-with-both-somehow-kb-and-the-shockmastera-special-triple-threat-episode/
Thunder
Date: June 28, 2000
Location: Pershing Arena, Lincoln, Nebraska
Attendance: 3,439
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan
We’re in such a weird place with WCW at the moment as they’re not very good at the moment but it’s SO much better than the Russo and Bischoff era. Russo and Bischoff seem to have destructed inside of the first two and a half months with Russo going home and Bischoff disappearing. This has given me such a good laugh as the fans somehow have more patience than they do for this nonsense. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Monday’s four way title shot. I don’t remember the last time Jeff didn’t defend the title on Nitro.
Smooth and Jarrett are in the back with Smooth thinking Cat has a conspiracy against the champ. Jarrett doesn’t worry about it because he has to deal with Hogan. You know this because the guitar now has a Hogan shirt around it. You can add Jeff Jarrett selling a World Title match on his own to the list of WCW’s really bad ideas.
Here’s Jarrett to brag about being the greatest WCW World Champion ever after beating Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash in the last week. He’s been looking for some of the fattest women he can find to sing at Bash at the Beach because Terry Bollea is done. They’re still going WAY too far for this gag but I’m sure it would play in Memphis and that’s totally like the rest of the country.
Horace comes out to stand up for his uncle but R&B Security (remember them?) breaks it up. The Cat comes out to say that Horace wants to eat Jarrett’s children (the only time Horace will ever be compared to Mike Tyson) so tonight it’s Horace vs. Jarrett for the title. For some reason Horace gets in Cat’s face, sending Cat running off screaming about ratings in a funny bit. So this company’s savior is now Horace. E pluribus gads.
The announcers recap Goldberg vs. Duggan in a discussion almost as long as the match itself.
The Misfits are given their assignments for tonight with Corporal Cajun challenging Lieutenant Loco for the Cruiserweight Title. Cajun says it’s going to be staying in the family no matter what. Loco threatens to kill Cajun for touching the belt or for calling him Chavo. Ok then.
Kanyon tells Gene that he’s going to Kanyon Cut everyone he sees tonight, sending Gene running away in fear.
Cruiserweight Title: Corporal Cajun vs. Lieutenant Loco
Cajun is challenging. They start fast with Cajun grabbing a headlock but Loco flips out and starts a very quick series of rollups, drawing a rare round of applause from the crowd. As always: fans acknowledge entertaining wrestling. The champ gets two off a quick hurricanrana and gets rolled up while he yells at the referee. Cajun comes back with a headscissors and tilt-a-whirl slam for two, followed by a powerslam for the same. Loco backdrops him to the floor but almost completely misses a dive over the top. Back in and a quick tornado DDT retains the title.
Rating: C. This was about what I was expecting from these two as they’re both good enough in the ring to have a good, short match. Chavo was getting better and better every week at this point and the Cruiserweight Title helped validate him a lot. At least it was better than it was on the Artist.
Johnny the Bull is looking for Terry Funk but gets attacked by a janitor…..who is Terry Funk. Never let your guard down Johnny.
Scott Steiner threatens the Cat with a stapler until he gets a match with Mike Awesome tonight.
3 Count vs. Mark Jindrak/Sean O’Haire
Before the match, we hear about the success of their new single and there is NO truth to the rumors that they’re lip synching. Jindrak and O’Haire hit the ring to jump the band from behind (pests) and it’s Helms as the odd man out here. Jindrak gets kicked to the floor and Evan hits a huge dive.
We cut to the back to see Tank Abbott arriving, only to get ticked off that he missed the performance. Back in the arena and Jindrak gets double suplexed, only to have Evan’s Whisper in the Wind hit his partner. The hot tag brings in O’Haire, who throws Shannon over the referee for a huge crash. The Seanton Bomb pins Shannon to make them 2-0.
Rating: C-. These new guys are getting better (you know, after their seven or so minutes combined so far) and it’s cool to see them hitting the ground running. Considering I have to think rather hard about who the Tag Team Champions are right now, it might be time for some fresh teams in the division.
Post match Tank comes out with a green square (which he didn’t have when he arrived), demanding that 3 Count sing. Tank dances on his square at ringside until Kronik comes down to clean house.
Kanyon takes out the guy who brings him a sandwich. This is actually kind of funny, just like everything else Kanyon has been doing lately.
Here’s Big Vito, who challenges the Jung Dragons to a hardcore gauntlet match.
Hardcore Title: Jung Dragons vs. Big Vito
Vito is defending of course. Yang is in first and gets beaten down, only to avoid a quick splash. Some kicks and right hands in the corner have little effect on Vito as he throws Yang down with a suplex and drops the top rope elbow for the elimination. Now it’s Kaz running in for a bunch of kicks and a cross body. His victory roll out of the corner is easily countered into an electric chair though and Vito’s top rope splash gets rid of Kaz.
That leaves Jamie-San who comes in with a dropkick and low baseball slide. A quick Russian legsweep and middle rope legdrop get two on the champ. Jamie is right back up with a top rope splash for the same but Vito kicks him in the face. Some cane shots knock out the other Dragons but Jamie gets in a missile dropkick
Rating: D. Other than the cane shots, there was nothing hardcore about any of this, which completely defeats the point of the title. Jamie was AWESOME here though and is clearly the star of the team. Unfortunately he’ll probably be seen as too small and given roughly 193 other reasons why he can’t get a push. Like he’s not old enough or doesn’t have a sex joke for a name.
Jamie-San, who has suddenly grown quite a bit, celebrates until Jamie-San gets in. The guy who got the pin unmasks to reveal Johnny the Bull, which is probably leading to a Dusty Finish.
Funk is very pleased.
Awesome is told that he has to face Steiner tonight and isn’t pleased.
Daffney jumps Hancock in makeup and covers her with powder. The story makes sense but at some point they’re going to have a match and it’s all downhill from there.
Perfect Event hijacks Woody again, leaving a cameraman to take a surprise Kanyon Cutter.
Perfect Event vs. General Rection/Major Stash
Non-title. Woody has been dragged to the floor and it’s a brawl to start with the Misfits charging to the ring. Rection and Palumbo start things off with Stasiak tripping the General, setting up a nice flying tackle for two. I have a feeling that’s the extent of the good looking offense here. Both champions fire off kicks with Palumbo’s coming straight from the jungle. The PerfectPlex is countered into a suplex for two and it’s back to Palumbo who keeps control.
Now we get to the drama as Stasiak doesn’t want to tag out. You mean this team that was thrown together like three weeks ago isn’t totally solid? We hit the chinlock with a knee in Rection’s back, drawing Stash in for the save sans tag. Palumbo and Stasiak use the distraction to switch so Stasiak can do some chinlocking.
Rection can’t get all the way up as Stasiak pulls him back down. A double clothesline finally allows the hot tag to Stash, who takes Stasiak down with the cobra clutch slam (which he took forever to remember how to do). No Laughing Matter is good for the pin on Shawn because champions are worthless.
Rating: D-. Remember how I said fans recognize the talent in someone like Chavo or Leroux? The same is true here, as they understand that the only one with any form of talent in there is Rection and he’s a few inches under his ceiling here. Palumbo has a good physique and a good superkick but you can’t build a career on that. Horribly dull match.
WCW World Title: Horace Hogan vs. Jeff Jarrett
Jarrett is defending in case you’re really slow. Horace charges in and hits a few clotheslines to put the champion on the floor. They head into the crowd for all of ten seconds before Jeff hits one of the worst chair shots I’ve ever seen to Horace’s leg. Back in and we hit the slow stomping as the fans get downright vicious by saying Jarrett sucks.
Outside again with Horace sending him into a few metal objects, followed by throwing him over the announcers’ table. Some right hands to the head have Jeff in trouble and there goes the referee. A low blow puts Horace down and Jeff loads a chair in the corner, only to have the champ go head first into it for two. The referee gets back up to take the chair away from Horace but Jeff……does what is called the Stroke onto the chair (Horace landed on his back) to retain.
Rating: D-. For the love of all things good and holy stop with the Horace pushes. It’s another not very good wrestler taking the spot from someone who could use a high level spot like this. As usual though, the guy getting pushed because of nepotism can’t live up to his spot and makes for some horrible matches.
Jeff guitars Horace post match.
Vampiro finds a Sting mask in a locker and freaks out. Let’s get this over with.
Here’s Vampiro in the ring to talk about putting Dale Torborg in a coffin, just like he did to Steve Borden. There go the lights and we’ve got two hooded people in the ring. Vampiro unmasks one of them and finds Asya, who spits red liquid in his face. Of course the other one is Torborg, who pounds Vampiro down with a bat. The lights go out again and the two of them disappear, only to have another hooded man above the video screen point a light at Vampiro’s face. Of everything on WCW right now, Vampiro and his WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN stuff might be the most annoying.
Lance Storm talks about making his name wrestling instead of dancing. That’s how you get noticed in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Kidman wants revenge on the Filthy Animals for jumping him a few weeks back. The two of them leave so Kanyon can sneak in and lay out the cameraman. He even leans down and does the diamond sign to the camera.
Kidman/Lance Storm vs. Rey Mysterio/Juventud Guerrera
Kidman and Mysterio go to the floor to start, leaving Juvy to roll Storm up for a quick two. The Juvy Driver is broken up and the half crab goes on until Rey comes in for a quick save. Kidman comes in for a Sky High and it’s quickly off to Rey who spins all around Kidman into a hurricanrana because that’s what heels do. It’s back to Juvy who has to escape another powerbomb by elbowing Kidman in the head.
Juvy can’t powerbomb Kidman but since the good days are gone, Kidman just backdrops out instead. Juvy is up first with a top rope clothesline, only to dive into a dropkick. Storm gets the tag for his first official action in WCW and you can feel the energy again. House is quickly cleaned and everything breaks down with Rey and Juvy having to break up pins. So much for the tagging part.
Kidman sends Juvy outside but Storm misses a dive, leaving Kidman to take What’s Up with a legdrop instead of a headbutt. The Juvy Driver gets two and it’s time for the Juvy Elbow because he’s the Rock for reasons I still don’t understand. Storm breaks it up with a springboard missile dropkick, setting up Kidman’s top rope splash for the pin on Juvy.
Rating: C+. Another good and fast paced match here as Storm has been a breath of fresh air into the midcard. Kidman turning face again was the right idea, though it would have been nice to have him get a big win instead of losing every showdown to Hogan and then dropping down to fight the Animals.
Post match Storm and Kidman fight off the Animals with ease.
Kanyon gets a match with Buff tonight.
Tygress vs. Paisley
These two have been feuding for a few weeks now and this could be quite the train wreck as neither is a wrestler. Tygress jumps her from behind and the Animals are quickly ejected. A choke minus the actual choking has Tygress in control early and a hair toss gets one. Paisley comes back with a horrible hiptoss as the announcers have to ignore a WE WANT PUPPIES chant. Paisley slams her for a pin to end this quick.
Tygress jumps Paisley from behind and celebrates. You just got pinned BY A SLAM. You have no right to celebrate a thing.
Buff Bagwell vs. Positively Kanyon
Kanyon rips up a book on the way to the ring. Doesn’t that hurt his own sales? Some early right hands have Buff in trouble but he backdrops out of a Diamond Cutter attempt. A backdrop sets up some stomps from Buff but Kanyon grabs his really crisp Russian legsweep. That’s enough for Kanyon as he takes out the referee with the Cutter, earning a DQ from a replacement referee.
Post match Bagwell beats him up and hits a DDT onto the book, only to have Kanyon hit him in the head with a brick. Well that’s quite the big jump up in aggression. Booker comes out to save us from hearing another chapter.
Scott Steiner vs. Mike Awesome
Non-title I assume. Steiner pounds him down to start and clotheslines Mike out to the floor. An announcer’s chair to the back of the head staggers Awesome and they fight into the crowd. Back in and Scott keeps in control with the bicep elbow. They head right back to the floor with Awesome hitting him in the ribs with a chair (a regular one this time). The top rope clothesline gets two on Steiner but he comes back with a belly to belly superplex. The Steiner Recliner goes on but here’s Cat to say that’s illegal. Cat superkicks the referee and hits Steiner with the belt. Naturally he has a referee shirt on and Awesome gets the pin.
Rating: D. Steiner did some moves, Awesome did some moves, they did the finish. Cat is starting to be on the show way too much, but at least he’s more entertaining than Russo and is willing to take a beating every now and then. The US Title needs to change hands already. Steiner is a main eventer already so let anybody else have the title so they can go somewhere.
Overall Rating: D+. This show was uneven as it had some ok wrestling and hilarious bits with Kanyon but also featured Horace Hogan getting a World Title shot and another lame main event. All that being said, it continues to be miles better than what we were sitting through just two weeks earlier. Bash at the Beach is next week though and the pay per views have been doing more damage than two months’ worth of good TV could fix.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of Wrestlemania at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0188BJRGU
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
Survivor Series 2013
Date: November 24, 2013
Location: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Attendance: 13,500
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield
While those two matches aren’t the most interesting in the world, there is one match that had people’s interest. Daniel Bryan and CM Punk have both been having issues with the bizarre cult leader Bray Wyatt and his Family. The two will pair up tonight to face the Family (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan), though the real story will pick up when Bray himself gets involved. Let’s get to it.
Pre-Show: Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz
Miz turned on Kofi in a tag match on Raw to set this up. He offers a handshake to start but Kofi is too smart for that. We get a surprisingly fast start with Kofi trying to get a grip on Miz but settling for a rollup for two. They trade about three rollups each for three in a very nice chain wrestling sequence until we reach a stalemate. Miz goes for the Figure Four but has to duck Trouble in Paradise. Kofi sends him to the floor for a nice dive and we take a break. Back with Kofi holding a chinlock before getting two off a cross body.
Kingston pounds away in the corner but Miz sneaks underneath him and scores with a big boot to the face. Kofi fights out and hits a double stomp to the chest followed by some nice dropkicks. The Boom Drop looks to set up Trouble In Paradise but Miz ducks, only to get caught in the SOS for two. Another Figure Four attempt is countered into a small package for two and Kofi’s high cross body gets the same. Two low knees to the face/chest put Miz down but he ducks the third and grabs a rollup for the pin.
Rating: B-. This was one of the better opening matches they’ve had in a long time. The reversal sequences were very fast paced and other than a few moments here and there, the action barely stopped. Kofi losing here doesn’t hurt him at all and Miz gets a win to help boost his heel turn. Everybody wins. Well except Kofi but you get the idea.
The opening video talks about how survival is a must before transitioning to your usual hype video for the World Title matches.
Rey Mysterio/Usos/Goldust/Cody Rhodes vs. Real Americans/Shield
Elimination rules of course and the Real Americans are Jack Swagger and Cesaro. The Usos are twin Samoan high fliers. Ricardo Rodriguez is on Spanish commentary. Colter (a VERY proud American who wants all non-Americans to leave the country) does his usual routine before the match before attempting to twerk because what would a wrestling show be without that?
Cody and Ambrose get things going as this is the anniversary of Shield’s debut. They trade waistlocks to start but Cody takes over with some right hands, only to have Ambrose pound away in the corner. Rhodes comes back with even more punches as Cole tells us that Friday is Lawler, Colter and JBL’s birthday. Ambrose pounds away in the corner but gets in an argument with the referee, allowing Cody to get a quick rollup for the elimination.
Everything breaks down with the Usos cleaning house and hitting dives to take out all of their opponents. We settle down with Goldust vs. Rollins but it’s quickly off to Swagger to drive Goldust into the corner. Jack takes him down and Cesaro comes in with a knee drop for two. Cole messes up his history by saying Andre the Giant was the sole survivor of the first Survivor Series match (that would be the main event of the first Survivor Series and the fourth match ever).
Goldust gets a backslide for two on Cesaro and scores with a powerslam. A jawbreaker puts both guys down but Cesaro is able to tag first. Swagger comes in but misses the Vader Bomb, allowing for the hot tag off to Mysterio. He easily takes Swagger down to set up the 619 and it’s a superkick from Jimmy followed by the Superfly Splash from Jey to eliminate Swagger.
Cesaro immediately comes in with an uppercut to Jey to set up the Cesaro Swing. The fans count along with the swings but it’s only 15 revolutions. He must be tired tonight. Jimmy comes in without a tag and gets a swing of his own 19 revolution swing. Cody gets the tag and scores with a sunset flip out of nowhere for the elimination, leaving us with Rollins/Reigns vs. all five members of the other team.
Reigns comes in to work on Cody’s arm but it’s off to Jey instead. Roman easily tags him into the Shield corner and the two remaining members take over with the alternating tags. Rollins comes in with a top rope fist to Jey’s jaw and we hit the chinlock. Jey fights up and backdrops Rollins over the top rope, allowing for the tag off to Jimmy. A Samoan Drop gets two on Reigns and the running Umaga attack in the corner keeps him in trouble. Jimmy goes up top but has to headbutt Reigns down. He jumps down but the spear is enough for a quick elimination.
Cody comes in with a missile dropkick followed by the moonsault press for two on Rollins. Cross Rhodes connects but Reigns made a blind tag, allowing him to spear Cody in half for the elimination, leaving us at 3-2. Jey comes in and takes Reigns to the floor, sending him into the barricade and post. Back in and Rollins makes a quick tag to set up the Black Out (running one foot curb stomp) to eliminate Jey, leaving us with Reigns/Rollins vs. Goldust/Mysterio.
It’s Rey vs. Rollins with Mysterio getting in a quick dropkick, only to go up top and get caught in the Tree of Woe. Back to Reigns who sends Mysterio out to the floor but Rey makes it back in at 9. Reigns’ spear goes into the post by mistake but Rollins knocks Goldust to the floor to prevent the hot tag. Rey grabs a rollup out of nowhere to get rid of Rollins and make it 2-1.
Rollins stomps on Mysterio a bit before leaving, giving Roman a big advantage. Rey slides through Reigns’ legs and catches him with an enziguri before sending him into the corner with a drop toehold. There’s the hot tag to Goldust who gets two off a spinebuster. He pounds down right hands to Roman in the corner before a powerslam gets two. Reigns comes right back by countering the bulldog into a spear and it’s one on one. Rey tries the 619 but gets speared in half as well, giving Reigns his star making performance with his fourth elimination for the win.
Rating: B-. Total star making performance by Reigns as he was completely unstoppable out there. Save for a meaningless fall over an Uso, Reigns literally got every elimination for his team. They’re clearly setting him up to be something special, though the results since have been very mixed.
Orton interrupts an Authority meeting and wants to make sure they’re all on the same page to start. The Authority talks down to him before telling him to go prove his worth on his own.
Intercontinental Title: Curtis Axel vs. Big E. Langston
Langston, defending here, is a powerlifter and incredibly strong. This is the rematch from when Axel lost the title on Monday before why change the title here? Axel grabs a headlock to start but Langston easily powers out. They trade leapfrogs until Langston runs him over with ease. Axel sends him to the apron and forearms Langston down to the floor for his first advantage.
The fans chant You Can’t Wrestle, presumably at Axel, though the same chant at Langston wouldn’t surprise me. Axel hits a Hennig neck snap and puts on a chinlock only to have Langston power out and suplex Axel down. There’s the Warrior Splash but Axel kicks the knee and gets two off a PerfectPlex. Not that it matters as Big E. grabs Curtis for the Big Ending to retain.
Rating: D+. Well at least it was short. This was one of the least important title matches I can think of in a long time as I don’t even think Axel believed he was taking the title here. Nothing to see here and basically it was an extended squash for Langston. That’s all it should have been too since they couldn’t do the title change here due to reasons.
Post match Langston cuts a promo that would make Mick Foley proud, mentioning Boston three times in about 20 seconds.
AJ gives a semi-maniacal speech to her teammates which they take as her saying she’s better than them. AJ says yeah she’s better because they’re just here because they’re not good enough to be on Total Divas. The promo basically buries the entire division by pointing out how worthless all of them are. Rebellion is imminent even though AJ gets a great line: “Get your own show by stealing this one.”
Team AJ vs. Total Divas
AJ Lee/Tamina Snuka/Summer Rae/Alicia Fox/Rosa Mendes/Kaitlyn/Aksana
Bella Twins/Funkadactyls/JoJo/Eva Marie/Natalya
This is the result of a reality show on the E Network called Total Divas. The show resulted in Divas Champion AJ Lee going on an incredible rant about how she was a wrestler and not a reality star, setting up a feud. The Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi) are Brodus Clay’s former dancers. Eva Marie and JoJo were hired only to be on Total Divas. Aksana is Lithuanian and not very good. Rosa Mendes is even worse, Summer Rae is the dance partner of a wrestler named Fandango and Kaitlyn is the anti-Diva.
The Total Divas come out in a big line to the show’s theme song because they’re SO close on that show. Naomi starts with Alicia and rolls her up for a pin in just over a minute. Rosa avoids a Rear View but gets caught in a double suplex by the Funkadactyls. Mendes comes back with a quick kick to the face to eliminate Cameron, only to be taken out by a Bella Buster from Naomi.
It’s 6-5 now and here’s Summer to dance a bit. Nikki does the Worm and we’re in a dance off. Another Bella Buster gets rid of Summer and it’s time for Eva Marie who is booed out of the building. Kaitlyn only needs the gutbuster to get rid of Eva and it’s off to Naomi again. Another gutbuster takes Naomi out as we aren’t even five minutes into the match. Brie avoids a spear from Kaitlyn and takes her out with a missile dropkick.
Aksana comes in and pins Brie after an AJ cheap shot and a spinebuster. Nikki comes in and puts Aksana in a Torture Rack backbreaker for a pin. I’m not skipping anything between these falls by the way. Tamina headbutts Nikki down a few times but the Bella comes back with an enziguri. Natalya was taken down by something the camera missed so it’s off to JoJo vs. Tamina.
Snuka toys with her but gets rolled up for two, only to kick JoJo in the face. There’s a Samoan drop for no cover because AJ wants and gets the pin. Natalya is driven into the corner by Tamina but the monster misses a charge and gets caught in the Sharpshooter. AJ tries a save but can’t get there in time and Tamina taps. Natalya reverses a quick AJ rollup into the Sharpshooter for the submission, leaving her and Nikki as the dual sole survivors.
Rating: D-. Other than their looks, nothing was good about this. The whole thing was a way to show us that Total Divas are AWESOME while making it clear that most of them are models who look good in little outfits but have no business EVER being in a ring. AJ continues to be exactly right about everything she says but WWE has decided that the reality “stars” are the heroes, no matter what.
Orton tries to get Charles Robinson on his side to no avail.
The expert panel looks to talk a bit but Ryback cuts them off. He says he’s the talent here and issues an open challenge to anyone on the roster. Here’s his answer.
Mark Henry vs. Ryback
Henry is shaved bald now and shoves Ryback around with ease. Ryback is thrown around again but gets taken down by a shot to the knee. Henry shoves Ryback to the floor for a six count but Ryback comes back in with a headbutt. Some JYD all fours headbutts get two for Henry but Ryback takes the knee out again. We hit the chinlock on Mark before he fights up with relative ease. The World’s Strongest Slam is countered and Ryback spinebusters him down. The Meathook is countered with something resembling a cross body and the World’s Strongest Slam gets the pin.
Rating: D. This was as stereotypical of a power match as you could have ever asked for. Henry didn’t look good here and was way too aloof out there rather than being the monster that got him over for good. Ryback is desperately in need of a change after all these losses he’s suffered in the last year.
Now the panel talks a bit.
We recap Cena vs. Del Rio. Nothing special to say here: Cena won the title last month and this is the rematch. Cena opts for no arm brace despite having to take a few months off for elbow surgery.
World Heavyweight Championship: John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio
Cena is defending. After some big match intros we’re ready to go. Cena grabs a waistlock which gets him nowhere so Del Rio puts on a headlock to take him down to the mat. Del Rio fights free and gets two off a snap suplex before going to an armbar. They head outside for a bit with Cena going shoulder first into the steps. Back in and a top rope forearm to Cena’s shoulder gets two and we hit the armbar again. This is a really slow pace so far with Del Rio talking a lot of trash and not following up on most of his offense.
Cena starts a comeback but misses a shoulder block to keep things right where they have been all match. They head outside again with Cena being sent into the steps again, allowing Del Rio to do You Can’t See Me. Back inside and we hit the armbar again as we’re somehow approaching ten minutes into this match. Cena tries a comeback with his finishing sequence but gets caught in the Backstabber for two.
Del Rio goes up top again but gets dropkicked out of the air to put both guys down again. Cena’s finishing sequence is broken up again by a thumb to the eye and Alberto gets two off a DDT. Alberto is sent to the floor and has to dive in to beat the count. Cena does the finishing sequence at triple speed but the AA is countered into a German suplex for two but the corner enziguri misses.
The STF is countered so Cena grabs a tornado DDT for another near fall. Del Rio takes him down again and stands around a lot before putting John in the Tree of Woe. That goes nowhere as Cena avoids a charge to send Del Rio into the post. The top rope Fameasser gets two but the STF is broken by a rope. Del Rio’s low superkick gets two and a neckbreaker from Cena gets the same. Del Rio grabs the armbreaker out of nowhere but Cena counters into a powerbomb to escape. Another armbreaker is countered and the AA retains Cena’s title.
Rating: D+. The lack of drama crippled this one for me. There was zero doubt for me as to who was going to win and the only question was whether it would be the AA or the STF. Del Rio just isn’t a threat to Cena at all and he never has been. Why WWE insists on going with that match time after time is beyond me. Put Alberto against Langston for a while to give Big E. a rub or whatever, but keep him away from Cena.
Santino and R-Truth play with toys. Los Matadores (Primo and Epico as bullfighters), Fandango and John Laurinitis come in for some unfunny comedy. Ok Ace was funny at least.
We recap the Wyatts vs. Punk/Bryan. Not much to this one either. The good guys are heroes and that’s not cool with Bray so he’s sent his monsters to show the world that there are no heroes.
Wyatt Family vs. CM Punk/Daniel Bryan
Before the match Bray talks about Sister Abigail telling him how tough Bryan and Punk would be. They’re the reapers though, so Punk and Bryan should run. Bray’s promos have always been strange. Bryan and Rowan get things going with Daniel firing off kicks to the leg. Rowan easily throws him down but Daniel takes him into the corner for a tag off to Punk which doesn’t get a huge reaction.
Harper comes in and charges into a boot in the corner, only to rip away at Punk’s face and chop him down. Back to Rowan for a bearhug but Punk fights out very quickly. Punk escapes a suplex and Bryan comes in to try a double suplex, only to have Rowan suplex both guys down. Bryan drives Rowan into the corner for some double kicks to the ribs to put Erick down. The crowd doesn’t seem interested in this match.
Back to Harper who is taken into the hero corner as well before a double dropkick puts both guys down. Bryan fires off the kicks and plays Bret to Punk’s Neidhart in a Hart Attack. Rowan tries to come in and the distraction lets Harper kick Punk’s head off for two. Rowan cranks on Punk’s neck for a bit before getting two off a backbreaker. Back to Harper for an uppercut followed by a quickly released Gator Roll. Rowan gets caught talking to the sheep mask which Cole finds strange for some reason.
Harper gets two off a Michinoku Driver before it’s back to Erick for some more neck cranking. Punk gets a boot up in the corner to stagger Rowan and a running DDT puts both guys down. A double tag brings in Bryan to face Harper and Daniel starts up his usual sequence. Luke gets low bridged to the floor and the FLYING GOAT (suicide dive) takes Harper out, possibly injuring the monster’s knee.
A missile dropkick gets two and there are the YES Kicks. The running dropkick in the corner staggers the big man but Harper counters a top rope hurricanrana into a super sitout powerbomb for two. The fans think this is awesome as Bray yells at the Family. Rowan splashes Bryan for two and the second heat segment begins. Harper comes in with some forearms to the back but Punk kicks him in the back of the head to give Bryan a breather.
There’s the hot tag off to Punk who takes Harper down but he dives on Rowan and Bray instead of Luke. Now the Macho Elbow connects on Harper for two and everything breaks down. The running knee takes Rowan down and Punk counters the discus lariat into the GTS for the pin on Harper.
Rating: B. This was the old school tag team formula and it worked perfectly well. Punk and Bryan are good choices for matches like this and there’s nothing wrong with the Wyatts getting pinned. The money in the feud is Bray in the ring with either of them and that’s certainly coming in the future.
Bray teases getting in but stays on the floor.
Cena is talking to the Authority about something when Orton comes in to glare at them. The Viper sounds jealous.
We recap Big Show vs. Randy Orton. Orton is supposed to be the face of the WWE but the Authority isn’t very confident in him. Big Show has weaseled his way into a title match tonight due to the threat of a lawsuit which could take over the entire company because that’s what heroes do. They’ve been brawling for a few weeks and Big Show looks dominant while Orton has no backup tonight. I wonder what’s going to happen.
WWE Championship: Randy Orton vs. Big Show
Orton is defending and is on the floor about a second after the bell rings. He trips getting back inside to show how confused he is tonight and gets chopped LOUDLY by Big Show. More slow offense sets up more chops by Big Show but Orton comes back with a dropkick and some kicks to the head. A knee drop gets two for the champion and we hit a sleeper. Big Show loudly says “two clotheslines” before hitting two clotheslines and calling for the chokeslam, sending Orton running to the floor.
Back in and Big Show slams him down before going to the top rope, only to be crotched on the top rope. The Elevated DDT out of the corner puts Big Show down and Orton poses a lot. Show grabs a chokeslam out of nowhere for two and loads up the KO punch but Orton bails to the floor. The big man follows him to the floor and throws Orton at the ropes, taking out the referee in the process. Randy finds a chair but gets it slapped out of his hands before they go into the crowd.
That goes nowhere so they head back to ringside where Orton tries the Elevated DDT again, only to have Show escape and hit the KO punch. Back inside and the Authority comes out for a distraction, allowing Orton to hit a quick RKO. The annoying crowd chants for Daniel Bryan as Orton hits the Punt to retain.
Rating: D-. What the heck was that? Unfortunately, it was exactly what most people were expecting. Big Show was trying but there’s only so much you can do when Orton spends a third of an eleven minute match running, not counting the interference at the end. Horrid main event but I guess it sets up HHH vs. Big Show.
Post match here’s Cena to hold up the World Heavyweight Championship while Orton holds up the WWE Championship. That’s Wrestlemania it would seem, but it would actually be next month.
Overall Rating: D+. This show had its moments but they totally lost me around the time of the Henry match. The card was about the same as it felt like it was going to be with a few good matches but little to care about in the main event scenes. Orton vs. Big Show was as nothing of a match as it could have been and the interference was just predictable. This show just didn’t feel necessary though it wasn’t the worst effort ever.
Ratings Comparison
The Miz vs. Kofi Kingston
Original:B-
Redo: C
Real Americans/Shield vs. Cody Rhodes/Goldust/Rey Mysterio/Usos
Original:B-
Redo: C
Curtis Axel vs. Big E. Langston
Original:D+
Redo: D+
Total Divas vs. True Divas
Original:D-
Redo: F
Mark Henry vs. Ryback
Original:D
Redo: D
Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena
Original:D+
Redo: B
Wyatt Family vs. CM Punk/Daniel Bryan
Original:B
Redo: B-
Big Show vs. Randy Orton
Original:D-
Redo: D
Overall Rating
Original:D+
Redo: C-
Dang I hated Del Rio back then.
Here’s the original review if you’re interested:
http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2013/11/24/survivor-series-2013-they-had-me-for-a-bit/
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of Wrestlemania at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0188BJRGU
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
Ring of Honor
Date: November 18, 2015
Location: Wings Stadium Annex, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Kevin Kelly
The Glory By Honor tapings continue as we’re gearing up for Final Battle in the next few weeks. Roderick Strong vs. Jay Lethal for the TV Title is on the horizon, along with AJ Styles vs. Lethal for the World Title. The Tag Team Title scene is still hot too with several teams fighting for the belts. Let’s get to it.
We open with Silas Young telling the Boys it’s time to become men, starting by changing his tire. They keep losing the tire and then stop to clean the grease off themselves. Silas tells them to clean their hands with spit (his spit that is) and gets annoyed when they can’t drive a stick shift. These are the kinds of vignettes they should have been doing for weeks now.
Opening sequence.
War Machine vs. Beer City Bruiser/Silas Young
The Boys are carrying Bruiser’s keg with some great difficulty. The fans chant FREE THE BOYS and of course it’s already a hashtag. Hanson and Bruiser start but no one goes anywhere off a collision. They try it again with Hanson getting the better of it and Rowe comes in for running knees in the corner. Everything breaks down and the Boys try as hard as they can to get Bruiser back to his feet.
Young comes in and takes a bunch of gutwrench gutbusters, only to have the Bruiser run Rowe down. Control changes for the first time and Rowe’s comeback is easily stopped and Bruiser, who must weigh at least 300lbs, drops a frog splash for two. Back from a break with Rowe making the hot tag so Hanson can clean house again. The Boys try to grab Hanson’s legs (they certainly are loyal) but get dragged in and put on the top rope.
Silas gets annoyed at someone hitting his Boys so Hanson stacks him on top of the Boys and pounds away with forearms to all three chests. Rowe suplexes Bruiser but Young is back up with a kick to Rowe’s face. Bruiser takes out the Boys with an apron flip dive by mistake and Young is dropped off camera, leaving the Bruiser to take Fallout (4 I’m assuming) for the pin at 9:25.
Rating: C+. I liked this one more than I was expecting to with all four guys beating on each other with big power moves. Bruiser is a big guy and totally out of shape but he can do enough fat man offense to make his matches entertaining. I’m still digging this Boys story as Dalton is going to come back soon enough and get a huge reaction for attempting the save.
Recap of BJ Whitmer vs. Steve Corino, which we haven’t gotten in the months this feud has been going on. They keep it simple with the more recent stuff this time though, which might be be better given how long these two have been after each other. Corino finally snapped and punched Whitmer out, costing him his commentary job.
Here’s Corino for his first comments since snapping. Nigel McGuinness recaps the whole thing again and says he can’t condone what Corino did due to his no tolerance policy. Therefore, Nigel can’t reinstate him as a color commentator. Instead, he can reinstate Corino as a wrestler. Therefore, at Final Battle, it’s Whitmer vs. Corino in a Fight Without Honor (street fight).
Corino felt the rush of being a wrestler all over again in San Antonio and it’s all he’s ever wanted to do. He never would have guessed that he would still be here at 42 years old. The tours of Japan have taken a toll on his body and now it turns out he needs to have neck surgery. That means his in ring career is over but like any pro wrestler, he won’t retire until his last breath.
If this is goodbye though, he wants to thank Ring of Honor for keeping him around when he didn’t have to. Corino thanks a lot of people who have been there for him in ROH, including all of the boys in the back who have busted their backs, necks and heads for the fans. Finally he thanks the fans and says that he will always be an evil man. Really, really good stuff here as Corino sounded like he was speaking from the heart which always makes for a better speech. That might be it for him and if so, this was a great promo to go out on.
The Boys don’t know how to use a urinal. Seriously?
Story Time With Adam Cole is about how he isn’t on the list of World Title contenders. Kyle O’Reilly is though, even after he beat Kyle a few weeks back. Maybe he just needs to whine like Roderick Strong did to get his World TV Title shot. After a clip of Strong being granted his title shot and Cole plugging next week’s title match, he promises to take Kyle out of ROH forever. Again, Cole is one of the best talkers in the company.
Silas leaves the bathroom and hands the Boys a plunger.
Michael Elgin vs. Kevin Lee Davidson
Davidson is a big guy…..who gets pinned off a clothesline in nine seconds? There was an edit in there so either something horrible happened or it was cut for time. You really don’t see that in ROH too often so I’m curious to know what happened there.
Elgin, breathing heavily to really imply that something was cut there, talks about competing in the G1 Climax tournament in Japan. It made him realize that he wanted the ROH World Title back so now he wants to face Jay Lethal sometime soon.
We look back at the Kingdom stealing the World Tag Team Titles at All-Star Extravaganza.
Tag Team Titles: Kingdom vs. Addiction
Heels vs. heels here. Side note: it’s interesting how much catchier some of these songs are than any of the TNA ones. TNA has a few good ones but so many of them are forgettable. I’m already singing Kingdom’s song with them as they come out after hearing it maybe three times.
The Addiction is challenging and have Chris Sabin in their corner. Daniels is in a military uniform which makes him look quite different from his partner Kazarian. The Kingdom still has pink on because these tapings are from October when people still care about breast cancer. As usual, Nigel is far too happy to see Maria, though at least he has great taste.
Taven and Daniels start things off and Kazarian starts cheating early with a knee to the back. Bennett and Kazarian both try to come in but both guys catch each others kicks. They make a truce and both punch each other in the jaw because they’re all villains. A standoff takes us to an early break and we come back to Daniels stomping Taven down in the corner. Kazarian gets driven across the ring though and it’s off to Bennett for the first time. You just can’t buy good help these days.
Daniels comes in again and takes over but makes the mistake of insulting Maria, causing Bennett to get all fired up. That’s fine with Daniels as it turns into a slugout on the floor, leaving Taven and Kazarian to both bring in belts. That’s another standoff so they both do the Eddie Guerrero fall. Kazarian sits up and yells at Maria before collapsing again when the referee comes in. Maria: “OH MY GOD ARE YOU KIDDING???”
They run the ropes but Sabin and Maria both trip them up, earning them a double ejection as we take another break. Back with Bennett cleaning house and saying he saw this on TV before diving on Daniels. Everyone else hits a dive of their own and the fans are way too excited for an all heels match. Back in and Kazarian runs Taven over for two but gets caught in a backpack Stunner/running boot combo for two more.
Daniels is still down as Bennett loads up a spear (Bennett: “On this day, I see clearly!” I like this guy.) which takes out the referee by mistake. Cue Maria again as everything breaks down but Daniels grabs her by the hair. That’s enough for a low blow and superkick (not bad either) from Maria, followed by a Disaster Kick to take Kazarian down. Cue the guy in the red mask to superkick Kazarian again, setting up a spear from Bennett to retain at 17:05.
Rating: B-. Another match where I had a lot more fun than I was expecting to. The heel vs. heel stuff actually worked and I laughed at Bennett singing Edge’s music. Fun match here, though I’m hoping they wrap up this red mask thing pretty soon. It’s been done long enough now and they need to go somewhere with it.
War Machine comes out to stare the champs down to end the show.
Overall Rating: B+. This is pretty easily the best ROH on Destination America show to date, which comes right before they’re leaving the network. The wrestling was all good tonight and we had a solid promo to back it up, plus setting the stage for Final Battle. Everything had a point tonight and I want to see where some of this is going, making the show a success on its own. Really good show this week which flew by as it always does.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the History of Wrestlemania at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0188BJRGU
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
You might have heard about this one before. The show has evolved from a bigger than average house show in Madison Square Garden to a show that takes over a different major city each year as part of a week long event. It has been called the Granddaddy of Them All and the Showcase of the Immortals and lives up to its reputation as the biggest and most important event of the year. In this book I’ll be looking at every edition of the series and breaking down each show segment by segment and match by match. I’ll be including detailed analysis, history and ratings for each match and show overall.
In this book, I’ll be looking at every Wrestlemania to date, starting back with the glorified house show in 1985 and winding up in Santa Clara, California in 2015. Wrestlemania is a show with more prestige and grandeur than any other in wrestling history and now it’s all collected here. These are ALL NEW REVIEWS and the last time I’ll be doing them for a very long time. As usual I’ll be providing play by play, context and analysis of every show.
The books is my longest ever at over 500 pages on a Kindle and only costs $3.99, or the equivalent in other currencies. If you don’t have a Kindle or e-book reader, there are several FREE apps you can use to read it on pretty much any electronic device. You can find those from Amazon here.
From the UK Amazon here.
From the Canadian Amazon here.
Or if you’re in another country with its own Amazon page, just search “KB Wrestlemania” and my book will be the first thing that pop up.
Also you can still get any of my previous books on the WWE Championship, Monday Night Raw from 1997, 1998 and 2001, Monday Nitro from 1995-June 1998, In Your House, Summerslam, Starrcade, ECW Pay Per Views, Royal Rumble, Saturday Night’s Main Event, the WWF and WCW pay per views from 1998 and Clash of the Champions at my author’s page here.
I hope you like it and shoot me any questions you might have.
KB
Smackdown
Date: November 19, 2015
Location: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee
Commentators: Booker T., Jerry Lawler, Rich Brennan
It’s the final show before Survivor Series and the big draw tonight is the four semifinalists in the WWE World Title tournament appearing on MizTV. For some reason I have a feeling this winds up in a tag match, even though the heels should walk out on it immediately to prevent too much damage before this Sunday. Let’s get to it.
In Memory of Nick Bockwinkel. It’s nice of them to put that up at first instead of right before the last half hour like on Friday.
The announcers preview the semifinals and the tag match is indeed happening. It might have been a bit more interesting if they didn’t go with the obvious pairings.
It’s time for MizTV to open things up with the title in the ring. Miz sums up the tournament but Owens interrupts him. Miz isn’t pleased but this is now the Kevin Owens Show. Owens promises to win the title and have two belts (of course he doesn’t say belts because that word might make the fans (dang it I can’t say that either) think this is fake or something) at once.
Del Rio and Colter interrupt to call Miz a hater who wants a gotcha question. Oh yeah you can tell it’s political season because Vince has a character out there to reference whatever is going on in politics at the moment. Miz says this isn’t how that’s going to go but Colter compares this to Blue’s Clues. Owens is not better because he must have ice skated across Lake Michigan one night. Del Rio offers Owens the job of cleaning the pools in MexAmerica but Kevin’s big comeback is saying no one missed Del Rio while he was gone.
Now it’s Ambrose interfering and telling Miz to sit down. Dean gets right to the point by getting in Del Rio’s face and saying take your best shot but here’s Reigns to interrupt Miz as well. Miz tries to calm things down but here’s R-Truth for no logical reason. After asking what’s up, Truth says he’s been the underdog his whole life but he’s always been a survivor.
At Survivor Series he’s going to survive again and become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Miz: “You’re not in the tournament.” Truth: “What did you say?” Miz: “It’s been going on for two weeks and you’re not in it.” Truth: “They told me…..well ain’t that something. University of Tennessee, this one’s on me.” He wishes Reigns and Ambrose and leaves. Miz yells about how this whole thing has been going wrong and wants to really preview the tournament. Roman says Miz is the director and needs to say action. Miz: “ACTION!” Dean knocks him out with one punch and we’re done. This was hilarious.
Post break Miz is still in the ring and says his match should be canceled. Here’s what he gets instead.
The Miz vs. Cesaro
Miz gets in some left hands to start but Cesaro headscissors him into the Crossface for the submission in 48 seconds.
Cesaro goes to leave but gets cut off by Stardust and the Ascension. It’s still not time for this…..whatever it is (I think you need to actually have a match to call it a feud) to go anywhere though as Stardust lets Cesaro pass.
Neville/Dudley Boyz vs. Stardust/Ascension
Viktor and Neville start as the announcers immediately want tables. It’s quickly off to Stardust for some right hands in the corner but Neville does all of his flips until Konnor opens the ropes to send him crashing to the floor. Neville can barely get up so Stardust sends him face first into the announcers’ table. Thankfully we don’t take a break two minutes in and get to stick around for Konnor kicking Neville in the face.
Now we get the break and come back with Viktor putting Neville in a chinlock. Stardust stomps him down as Booker calls this the learning tree. A Tree of Woe doesn’t work on Neville as he’s still able to kick Stardust in the face, allowing the hot tag to Bubba. Viktor takes the Rock Bottom and Stardust gets the Flip Flop and Fly (Bubba: “THIS IS FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM!”). What’s Up keeps Konnor down and it’s table time because the Dudleyz have no regard for law and order. Stardust kicks Bubba down but Neville kicks him in the head. 3D puts Viktor away at 9:24.
Rating: C-. Quick six man here and it’s good to see Neville winning but it’s not a good sign that I could have penciled in Viktor taking the fall to the 3D as soon as the participants were announced. That’s what they did on Monday so it was time for the same result just three days later. WWE is nothing if not predictable and that’s not a good thing most of the time.
Video on the Wyatts vs. the Brothers of Destruction.
Tyler Breeze vs. Zack Ryder
Before the match Breeze rips on Ryder’s fashion sense (“That’s 1980s NEVER!”) before going on about Summer wanting an upgrade over Ziggler (so those two were together?). The world wanted one too and they got perfection. Summer says this Sunday, Ziggler will come up short all over again. Of course this brings out Ziggler to take over Summer and Tyler’s VIP area, freaking Summer out. Ryder can’t get anywhere working on the arm and a quick Unprettier puts him away at 1:15
Ziggler charges in and superkicks Tyler’s head off post match.
Here are the druids in sheep masks followed by the Wyatts. Bray wants it to be known that he is an honest man. The Brothers of Destruction are not whole because a piece of them still lives in Bray. They will fail this Sunday but the question is how. Will they fall at the hands of Erick Rowan? A man tossed aside like a piece of unwanted garbage (isn’t that redundant?).
Maybe it’s Luke Harper, a man with a moral code which allows him to create destruction. Or could it be the black sheep himself? Strowman promises to shatter Kane and Undertaker’s bones and bring the apocalypse. Undertaker appears on screen and says Bray thinks he has all the cards but it’s really a dead man’s hand. Kane burns a sheep mask before Undertaker promises that the Wyatts will rest in peace. I know they won’t, but please let the Wyatts win. Please?
Long clip of Charlotte and Paige’s exchange on Monday.
Brie Bella vs. Charlotte
Non-title. Charlotte goes for the leg to start but gets caught in a headlock takeover. Back up and Charlotte’s figure four neck roll knocks Brie silly, setting up a rollup for two. Brie comes back with her running knee and a dropkick for two of her own. The YES Kicks have Charlotte in trouble but a double clothesline puts them both down. Charlotte makes her comeback with a WOO and a big boot for two more. The spear and Figure Eight take care of Brie at 4:36.
Rating: C-. This was better than I was expecting as they had Brie present a much better threat than she normally does. Charlotte should retain the title on Sunday but they’re better off keeping away from the Reid Flair stuff, which is a big ordeal now, meaning WWE’s “any news is good news” theory gets thrown out again.
Paige says she isn’t responsible for Monday.
Kalisto vs. Big E.
Before the match, New Day wants to know why Kalisto was in the tournament but not any of them. Ryback couldn’t even hold their unicorn horn. Kalisto, Big E.’s opponent tonight, is a luchador in an ugly man in an ugly mask. Kalisto handsprings around to start and scores with a few kicks to the head. The hurricanrana driver is followed by a dive to take out Woods and Kingston but Big E. runs him over. A Warrior Splash puts Kalisto away in 1:19.
New Day stays on Kalisto post match and takes out Sin Cara as well until Ryback makes the save.
Clip from Paige and Miz’s Santa’s Little Helper.
Ziggler vs. Breeze is official for Sunday.
Reigns and Ambrose say they’re on the same page tonight but they’ll fight on Sunday if they have to. Both guys are cool with doing what they have to do and they’ll jump off that bridge together. You can almost see the swerve from here.
Kevin Owens/Alberto Del Rio vs. Roman Reigns/Dean Ambrose
Ambrose and Owens start things off and it’s Reigns quickly coming in to clear the ring as we take an early break. Back with Reigns shoving Alberto out of the corner and making the tag off to Ambrose for a running forearm. Del Rio gets in a kick to the head and sends Ambrose into the steps as we’re now into the tag team formula. Back to Owens for a chinlock and some corner choking.
Owens calls Brennan an idiot and tells Del Rio to come in and go nuts. The running enziguri knocks Dean even sillier and we really mix things up with an Alberto chinlock. A Backstabber gets two but Dean blocks the superkick (Which put John Cena out. I didn’t know if you remembered because Del Rio and Colter don’t feel it’s important enough to mention.) and makes the hot tag to Reigns. A bunch of kicks to the face and the corner clotheslines until Alberto makes a save. Everything breaks down and Ambrose knocks Del Rio over the announcers’ table. Del Rio takes a Superman Punch and it’s a double countout at 11:55.
Rating: C. This was the best option they had and I’m glad they went with this instead of having one of the four get pinned. Let them beat each other down post match but don’t beat someone going into a major match on Sunday. This wasn’t the best match in the world but it’s just a preview for Sunday anyway.
Post match Reigns and Ambrose clean house to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. I liked this more than I thought I would as it felt like a proper go home show for a change. Most of the show is set save for a Survivor Series match and what I would assume is the Lucha Dragons/Ryback vs. the New Day. This wasn’t the strongest show on its own, but it got me more interested in Sunday which was all it needed to do.
Results
Cesaro b. The Miz – Crossface
Neville/Dudley Boyz b. Stardust/Ascension – 3D to Viktor
Tyler Breeze b. Zack Ryder – Unprettier
Charlotte b. Brie Bella – Figure Eight
Big E. b. Kalisto – Warrior Splash
Dean Ambrose/Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio/Kevin Owens went to a double countout
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B015IN12I2
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at: