Main Event – April 8, 2014: How The Mighty Have Fallen
Main Event Date: April 8, 2014
Location: CajunDome, Lafayette, Louisiana
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton
This is a show I’ve wanted to do since I heard the main event announced at the Raw after Wrestlemania. The company was on fire at this point and they were smart enough to put a huge match on the Network to get people to watch. The main event of….well of Main Event is Shield vs. Wyatt Family III. Not bad for the C show. Let’s get to it.
We open with a long recap from Raw where Shield turned face to save Bryan from the Authority. Everyone in the building knew that was coming and they went nuts for it anyway.
Opening sequence.
Shield vs. Wyatt Family
Now this is how you open a show. The fireflies aren’t a thing for Wyatt yet and it really does take something away from the entrance. Ambrose and Rowan get things going and Dean slaps the mask off his face. Rowan shoves him down but gets caught by a jumping back elbow to the jaw. Rollins comes in to help with a double suplex for two before hammering away on the big man. He even grabs Erick’s beard to take him into the corner. Why has no one ever thought of that before?
Rollins tries a crucifix but swings around and drags Erick down into a Koji Clutch. The other Wyatts come in for a save and we have a staredown. Back from a break with Bray hitting a gutbuster on Seth for two. Rowan comes in again and steps on Seth’s head before getting two off a belly to back suplex. Off to Harper who pulls Seth out of the corner, only to have him backflip to his feet and send Luke face first into the middle buckle.
The hot tag brings in Reigns to start cleaning house. It’s quickly off to Ambrose for a reverse 3D but Harper is up at two. A big boot takes Dean’s head off for two more and the Wyatts take over again. Dean tries biting Rowan’s finger but gets caught in a side slam for his efforts. Harper comes in and drives Ambrose back into the corner so the Family can keep hammering away.
Dean is sent to the ropes and tries to skin the cat but Rowan kicks him to the floor and we take another break. One of the commercials is for the Warrior DVD which still makes me shake my head given the news that would break about three hours later. Back with Harper Gator Rollins Ambrose but getting caught in a jawbreaker. Harper pops back up though and slams Dean down to stop a hot tag attempt.
Wyatt comes in to stay on the bad back before it’s off to Rowan for a bearhug. Dean fights out and grabs a sleeper, only to have Harper make a save. Some stiff uppercuts put Ambrose on the ropes but he finally comes back with the Rebound Clothesline. Bray stops another hot tag attempt but charges into a pair of boots in the corner. Dean goes up top, only to have Wyatt load up a superplex. That’s countered as well though and Dean tries a top rope ax handle but gets caught in a release Rock Bottom.
Rollins and Reigns come in for the save and everything breaks down again. Harper throws Reigns over the announcers’ table as Dean counters Sister Abigail into a rollup for a very close two. Ambrose scores with a DDT and makes the hot tag to Rollins. He dropkicks both minions to the floor and hits huge flip dives to knock them both down.
Back in and Seth is backdropped to the apron where he kicks Bray in the face and hits a standing Sliced Bread #2 for a near fall on Rowan. Ambrose breaks up a Harper powerbomb attempt but Bray knocks him outside. The Superman Punch drops Bray and Rollins kicks both monsters in the head. The Apron Kick drills Harper and Rollins hits the springboard knee to Rowan’s head, setting up the Dirty Deeds for the pin on Erick at 19:33.
Rating: A-. Great six man tag here as they went for the hot wrestling match instead of the war to give it a nice change of pace from the Elimination Chamber classic. These teams could have fought for years and it would have stayed awesome with the matches being this good. It’s awesome to see the Shield get a win, especially when they were coming off the huge turn the night before.
Ambrose faints after the match in a Flair Flip. Renee Young comes in for an interview and Rollins says no one can stop the team when they’re united. Ambrose starts coughing and says the others have to do the promo. Young asks about them saving Bryan and Ambrose says the Authority found out what happens when you test the Shield.
The Authority called them anonymous but Rollins insists they’re anything but that. Reigns hits on Renee a bit and asks the crowd if he has a name. He was the guy that speared HHH on Raw and he’s standing right here. Rollins talks about being prepared for war and calls the Authority the greatest injustice in WWE. They’ll fire the final shot and win this war. Believe that. DANG these guys were awesome.
Adam Rose is coming. He was always destined for comedy relief and there’s nothing wrong with that.
We see some of the mainstream coverage of the Streak ending.
Video on the history of Wrestlemania set to Celebrate by Kid Rock. This turns into a montage of WWE clips with maybe half of them being from Wrestlemania.
Thank You video for the fans. That’s still awesome.
Jack Swagger vs. Dolph Ziggler
Zeb rants about Cesaro turning on them last night, thus confirming his thoughts about immigrants. Ziggler nails a great dropkick to start but Jack takes him down and hits a quick Vader Bomb for two. Dolph comes back with a running cross body and some right hands in the corner, only to have Swagger chop block him down. Another Vader Bomb attempt hits boots but Jack grabs the Patriot Lock. That goes nowhere and Ziggler gets two off the Fameasser. The running DDT gets the same but Ziggler tries to get a bit too fast and is thrown into the Patriot Lock for the submission at 4:07.
Rating: C-. This was fast paced while it lasted but it didn’t have the time to go anywhere. I was expecting this to go on until the end of the show but I kind of like them having a third match instead. Swagger works a lot better as a face, even though he’s doing a lot of the same stuff.
Clip of Rusev debuting (again) last night.
Sin Cara vs. Alexander Rusev
Kick, slam, Accolade, 47 seconds. He would lose the Alexander in a few months.
Overall Rating: B+. Man it’s amazing how far WWE has fallen in the five months since Wrestlemania season. This was a hot show with a great opening match and some awesome videos that made me miss being at Wrestlemania. The six man is awesome and worth seeing, though it’s not quite as good as the Elimination Chamber match. Shield really could have gone on for a long time, but I can see why the were split. Imagine what happens when one of them needs help in a few years and you hear that music hit. Really good show.
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Thunder Date: April 22, 1999
Location: Orlando Arena, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 9,429
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko
Welcome to the bottom of the cliff for WCW. On Nitro earlier this week we saw DDP turn heel for no apparent reason, Nash turn face after being one forever but then save Goldberg for no apparent reason and then Flair committed to a mental hospital for reasons of WCW being stupid. Hopefully a taped Thunder picks things up a bit. Let’s get to it.
The announcers run down the card, which actually doesn’t sound too bad. A six man between Benoit/Malenko/Kidman vs. Mysterio/Raven/Saturn sounds very appealing.
Hardcore Hak vs. Hugh Morrus
Morrus takes the kendo stick away and nails Hak to start as Larry is already ripping on the hardcore stuff. Now it’s trashcan lid time followed by a mop to Hak’s head. Hak comes back with a trashcan shot as Chastity starts handing in even more weapons. They head outside where Morrus reverses a whip into the barricade and nails Hak with another stick. Back in and Hak sends him face first into a chair because he doesn’t know how to do many regular wrestling moves. He draps Morrus over the top rope and drops a leg over his back before bringing in a table.
That’s not enough so he brings in a ladder but Morrus grabs a powerslam. No Laughing Matter connects for no cover. Hart comes in to set up two tables but Chastity sprays him with a fire extinguisher. The guys actually in the match climb the ladder with Morrus being shoved through the tables. Hak’s White Russian legsweep through the pieces of the table is enough for the pin.
Rating: N/A. That’s going to be my standard grade for this stuff going forward for the simple reason of this isn’t wrestling. Hak got over because of his entrance in ECW and that’s about the extent of his usefulness. This was a disaster and I believe Morrus was injured and out for a few weeks as a result of this. It doesn’t even have the stupid charm that ECW has half the time.
Video on Nash vs. Page.
We look at the Black and White attacking Konnan on Nitro.
Konnan vs. Scotty Riggs
Konnan hammers away at Riggs, sending him looking for his mirror. The bulldog and low dropkick have Riggs in even more trouble and Konnan fires off more punches in the corner. Back in and Scotty fires off punches of his own followed by an actually awesome dropkick. We hit the chinlock for a bit before Riggs elbows Konnan down to stop his comeback bid. After a Rick Rude hip swivel, Riggs suplexes him down but misses a top rope ax handle. Konnan kicks him in the ribs, hits the X Factor and hooks the Tequila Sunrise for the win.
Rating: D. Riggs’ continued employment astounds me but I’m assuming that dropkick has something to do with it. Konnan was his usual self here, even though he’s fallen through the floor ever since getting thrown out of the NWO. He’s just there anymore and doesn’t do anything but get on my nerves with his odd language.
Video on Flair vs. Piper.
Video on the awesome fourway from Monday.
Vampiro vs. Al Greene
They trade armbars to start until Vampiro grabs a full nelson. That goes nowhere either so Greene shoves him off and nails a shoulder. Greene takes him down but Vampiro rides him on the mat to send Al out to the floor. Vampiro hits a plancha and takes him back inside for some chops. This is already going nowhere. A suplex puts Vampiro down but he comes back up with a superkick and a high cross body. Instead of covering off that, Vampiro grabs a rollup for the pin.
Rating: D+. The high spots helped a bit but this was only a step or two above the previous match. Vampiro really doesn’t hold up but at least he’s somewhat better as a face. On the other hand, it’s hard to hate someone named Big Al. Seriously, try it sometime. Anyway this was about what you would expect from this kind of match.
Hotline shill.
TV Title: Booker T. vs. Bobby Duncum Jr.
Booker is defending. Tenay offers condolences to Rick Rude’s family as Rick passed away two days earlier. They trade some headlocks and Booker gets taken into the corner for some kicks to the ribs. Booker fights back with some kicks and a clothesline to send Bobby out to the floor. Duncum pulls him to the floor though and ties Booker’s feet with his bullrope. Because he’s a cowboy you see, because WCW loves cowboys.
We take a break and come back with Bobby holding a chinlock. A big boot and belly to belly get two on Booker and we’re in the chinlock all over again. They head outside with Bobby having a pair of chairs taken away from him. Serves the cheater right. Back in and a top rope clothesline gets two for Duncum and we’re back to the chinlock. A clothesline puts Booker down for two more and it’s time for the bullrope again. Booker ducks a big swing and hits the ax kick and missile dropkick to retain.
Rating: C-. Duncum had a good look but being a cowboy is only going to take him so far. It gets dull watching a guy just carrying a rope and wearing a hat as the entirety of his gimmick. Booker is still doing well but he’s back in the same rut he’s been in for years with just having random matches that don’t lead anywhere.
Video on Bagwell calling out Steiner.
Buff Bagwell vs. Fit Finlay
After starting a USA chant, Buff takes him down with a quick armdrag to send Finlay out to the floor. Back in and Finlay nails him in the face with a European uppercut and slams Buff face first onto the apron. He tries to bring in a chair ala Duncum and has it taken away just like Bobby. Back in and Finlay pulls on Buff’s nose (seriously) but Buff fights up with a jawbreaker. They trade slams and Buff nails a headbutt but walks into a knee to the ribs. Another European uppercut staggers Buff and the rolling fireman’s carry gets two. Buff stops a charging Finlay in the corner with a boot and nails the Blockbuster for the pin.
Rating: D+. They’re firmly in the “here’s wrestling” mode tonight with no real emotion or energy to anything. Buff’s face run continues to work well enough, but he’s only a little bit ahead of Scotty Riggs as far as in ring abilities. Finlay was his usual good self but he didn’t have much to work with here.
This Week in WCW Motorsports.
We look at Flair being committed on Monday.
Disco Inferno vs. Rick Steiner
After a commercial for some reason, Rick quickly kicks Disco out to the floor before choking him down in the corner. More punching and choking ensues as this is all Steiner so far. Some kicks send Disco running out to the floor out of fear for this boring match. Back in and Disco nails the swinging neckbreaker and a middle rope elbow. He goes up again but dives into a belly to belly suplex. A regular suplex sets up the Steiner Bulldog followed by a kind of STF to make Disco tap.
Rating: D-. Total squash here and the rise of Rick Steiner begins. This is another one of those things in 1999 that really makes me shake my head as Rick would get worse and worse in the ring and get higher and higher on the card as a result. Disco got in almost nothing here and might as well have been from In The Corner To My Left.
We look at Page embracing the dark side to end Nitro.
Goldberg vs. Ernest Miller
Miller offers him the five count but kicks Goldberg at two. Some kicks have Goldberg staggered but he just punches Miller in the face. Sonny Onoo tries to interfere but Goldberg gorilla presses him at Miller and immediately spears both of them down in a cool looking spot. Jackhammer ends this quick.
Kidman/Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr./Raven/Saturn
Main event time and Kidman doesn’t look thrilled with his partners. The three teams are scheduled for a triangle match at Slamboree which sounds awesome. Robinson is guest referee of course. Mysterio and Malenko get things going with Rey hammering away in the corner. An armdrag takes Malenko down and we get a standoff. Off to Raven vs. Kidman with the bird enthusiast driving shoulders in the corner.
Raven crotches him on the top rope and Saturn nails a missile dropkick to put Kidman on the floor. A plancha nails Kidman on the floor as Mysterio protests. The argument allows Kidman to tag in Malenko for a dropkick to Saturn’s knee. Dean chokes away and Kidman is hesitant to come in under such circumstances. Saturn’s powerbomb attempt is countered but Raven breaks up a Shooting Star attempt.
That’s fine with Saturn as he belly to belly superplexes the crotched Kidman across the ring. Off to Raven for an atomic drop but Kidman sends him into the corner and tags out to Dean. Raven and Saturn take over on Malenko just as easily before tagging in Mysterio for a dropkick. Malenko suplexes Rey down and we take a break.
Back with everyone in the same spot due to the wonders of taped shows. Saturn has a red headdress for no apparent reason. Benoit goes after Rey’s knee, drawing in Saturn for an attempted save. That’s exactly what the Horsemen want as they switch behind the referee’s back to keep control. Dean gets two off a suplex and brings in Kidman who tries to help Rey up.
Benoit will have none of this compassion stuff and tags himself so he can throw Kidman to the floor. A superplex drops Rey again as the Horsemen keep control. Dean throws Mysterio outside and everything breaks down. That goes nowhere as Malenko takes Rey back inside and bends Mysterio’s back over his knee.
Rey finally takes Malenko down with the sitout bulldog and makes the tag to Saturn. Everything breaks down again with Rey tagging himself back in after a few seconds. Kidman clotheslines Malenko “by mistake” but Anderson crotches Rey on the top. The spinebuster plants Rey and Kidman protests, but Dean dropkicks Kidman onto Mysterio for a fast count pin.
Rating: B-. Take six guys and give them about fifteen minutes to be awesome. It wasn’t a classic but it blew away everything else on this show. This likely sets up some tension between the Tag Team Champions as we head into Slamboree. That match is going to rock given the talent in the ring. Good main event here.
Overall Rating: D+. The main event brings this up a good bit as everything else was basic, boring stuff that didn’t need to exist. At the end of the day though, I’ll take dull, generic wrestling over stuff that insults my intelligence, making this show a bit more tolerable than the worst of Nitro. It’s also a step up over some of the worst Thunders they’ve had over the last few months.
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Today is a man that is as intense as he claims to be: Gunner.
Gunner got his start in the early 2000s as Phil Shatter. Here’s a match from just before he started for TNA on February 27, 2009.
Big Daddy Z vs. Phil Shatter
Z is a very large man that takes Shatter into the corner for some shoulders to the ribs. The fat man poses and chokes on the ropes a bit as he looks like he can barely breathe. A pair of big running clotheslines drop Phil for two. Shatter comes back with some right hands but gets dropped by a splash in the corner. Z misses a “charge” and gets dropped by a series of clotheslines for two. Some guys try to come in to attack Shatter and the match is thrown out after he fights them off for a bit.
Rating: D-. I feel sorry for Shatter here as he needs something a lot better to work with than this big fat tub of goo. The guy was reaching Big Sal E. Graziano levels of fat and there’s no real way to work with something like that. The match was your typical big man vs. normal guy match when the big man can’t do jack.
Gunner would head to TNA soon after this as part of Immortal’s security force. Here he is in a singles effort on Impact, March 17, 2011.
TVTitle: RobTerryvs. Gunnervs. Murphy
Gunner has the tattoos. Got it. The tag team jumps Terry but then splits up soon. Hogan’s wife and Brooke (looks JUST like Linda) are here. We split the screen for a bit to show that the cops are here for Angle. People keep trying to steal wins which gets them nowhere. Murphy and Terry slug it out with Terry winning. Gunner pops up to spear him and then hits a modified F5 to win the title at 1:47. The match didn’t even make it to two minutes. Wow indeed. Bischoff comes out to applaud.
Here’s a six man on August 25, 2011 as part of Immortal’s war with Fourtune.
Rating: C. Meh just another six man hardcore match. It’s not bad or anything but it wasn’t great. Right in the middle works pretty well I think. It’s good to see someone move up in the ranks in the form of Ray but I’d like to see someone with an actual chance of going to BFG get the points instead. At the moment it’s looking like Beer Money, Ray and Crimson. For some reason, that doesn’t blow my skirt up.
Gunner would compete in the 2011 Bound For Glory Series and do quite well. Here’s his chance to make the final four on Impact, September 1, 2011.
Bound For Glory Series: Gunner vs. Rob Van Dam
For all intents and purposes, the winner is the fourth man. Everyone else is mathematically eliminated and I’m not going to bother listing off the points tonight. It almost has to be Rob going but that would make too much sense so I’m not sure. Joe comes out almost immediately and Morgan jumps up to stop him. Joe kicks him in the balls but security sends him out.
After that we’re back to the match at hand and there’s not much going on. Gunner gets a slingshot suplex but Rob almost rolls out of it. Rob fires off some kicks and hits the Rolling Thunder. Here’s Jerry Lynn but Rob sends him to the back which is probably smart. Rob actually shows some intelligence and doesn’t try to go for the Five Star after being on the floor for a bit.
They trade rollups and Rob falls off the top trying to hit the one footed kick. Rob goes up again but Lynn comes back and shoves him off the top, allowing Gunner to hit a running knee for the pin at 4:57. Lynn’s smile is pretty awesome. This also puts Gunner into the four way at No Surrender as the fourth man.
Rating: C. The match was so-so but the point of this is it sets up a few stories and potential matches. I’m hoping they save RVD vs. Lynn for Philadelphia because it’ll guarantee a huge response no matter what the match looks like. I’m not sure I get why Gunner is going to be in the four way but it’s better than some other choices. At least they seem to have a plan here, which is a big upgrade for them.
And one more time the next week.
James Storm vs. Robert Roode vs. Gunner vs. Bully Ray
One fall to a finish here. It’s tornado rules too. Here’s Joe almost immediately and here’s Morgan just as fast to stop him. Morgan vs. Joe on Sunday also. Ray and Storm stand tall for a bit until Ray runs Storm over. Beer Money cleans house and teases going at it until Ray breaks that up. Gunner goes for a cover and Ray isn’t happy with it. A big clothesline gets two on Roode.
Storm comes back in with a top rope cross body and beats up Gunner a bit. Roode hammers on Gunner and hits the spinebuster for two. Beer Money teases it again but instead they suplex Gunner and SHOUT THEIR NAMES. Ray runs them both over and takes them both out with power stuff. Gunner hits a running knee to Ray’s head for the pin at 5:00. That was nice as he was left in the background and then stole the pin.
Rating: C. This was ok but it was nothing great. I wish this had been the way the BFG Final went at the PPV because it would make more sense but I guess they need to flesh out the card more and have some overly complicated rules. Not bad here and Gunner winning was a nice surprise also. Nothing great but not bad.
Here’s the payoff at No Surrender 2011.
Bound For Glory Series: Gunner vs. Robert Roode
If this ends in anything but a submission, Ray wins. Therefore, there’s zero reason why he shouldn’t come out and clock one of these guys to have the match end in about three seconds. Roode takes it to the mat quickly and Gunner breaks it off to get to a stalemate. The fans are all behind Roode. They do some nice technical stuff to get to the mat as they fight over a hammerlock.
Roode tries the Fujiwara Armbar but Gunner hits the floor. Bobby gets to the arm and wraps it around the post. Gunner misses a charge and hits the post shoulder first again. Back inside and Roode works over the shoulder even more. You can’t fault him for lacking psychology. Gunner grabs a DDT to break things up and go after the neck of Roode. Roode escapes a full nelson but Gunner takes him down again and chokes a lot.
Gunner gets a neckbreaker and hooks a neck crank. Off to a headscissors which doesn’t last long. Roode escapes a neckbreaker and tries for the armbar but Gunner escapes and takes Roode down with a short clothesline. Now Gunner gets the full nelson but he can’t hook it fully because of the arm. Roode rams him into the corner about five times and the hold is broken.
Gunner misses a right hand and there’s the Fujiwara Armbar but Gunner escapes. Gunner charges into the spinebuster and both guys are down. There’s an elbow by Gunner but he gets caught in the armbar again. After nearly tapping he grabs the rope. The crowd isn’t into this at all for the most part but it’s not bad. Gunner gets his running knee finisher out of nowhere but Roode is on his knees quickly. He tries an F5 but gets caught in the armbar again and is dragged back to the middle for a Crippler Crossface for the tap at 12:07.
Rating: C. See, the problem here is that neither guy is really known for submissions so we weren’t sure when to expect the match to end so we didn’t know what was coming. Not a terrible match but oddly enough Storm vs. Ray with Ray stalling forever was probably a more interesting match. This was way too technical and it didn’t work for the most part. Not bad or anything, but pretty bland.
Here’s a pretty big PPV match at Genesis 2012.
Gunner vs. Rob Van Dam
Rematch from Impact after the weak ending. They actually go to the mat to start as Gunner is getting frustrated. Rollup gets two for RVD. Crucifix gets one and it’s a standoff. Gunner takes over with strikes and we head to the floor. Van Dam gets in a kick to take over and sends Gunner back in, but has to chase Flair off. He gets crotched on top but throws Gunner down on the way back in.
Top rope cross body gets two. Top rope kick sets up Rolling Thunder for two. Gunner rolls to the floor so RVD dives, only to have Flair pull Gunner out of the way. With Flair distracting the referee, Gunner DDTs him on the floor to basically kill him. He’s out cold and that’s enough for the pin at 6:52. Man that match went by fast.
Rating: D+. Not a bad match but too short to mean anything. I’ve heard Van Dam’s contract is up in March so maybe this is a way to write him off TV for a few months in case he doesn’t re-sign? If so it’s a good thing for him to be jobbing on his way out. Still though, match wasn’t much and Gunner is still just kind of there.
And another at Against All Odds 2012.
Gunner vs. Garrett Bischoff
Garrett comes out to Hulk’s music. Garrett controls to start with his usual stuff. He’s in the workout pants still. Gunner takes over for a few moments until Garrett hooks a backslide and front facelock. At this point he has less of a moveset than Andy from Tough Enough. Gunner pulls him into the middle buckle and takes over again.
The beating goes on for several minutes and there’s nothing to say. It’s a guy with experience and some ring skills beating on a guy who knows a total of about 5 moves. This is getting ten minutes on PPV in the second to last match on the card, making it longer than the tag team title match. Gunner works over the neck for the most part.
Eric gets in Garrett’s face so Hogan decks him. Gunner hits probably his fourth neckbreaker but on the next attempt Garrett grabs the rope. Hogan picks up the towel but Garrett says no. And then Gunner DDTs him for the pin at 11:57. Yes, it actually got that much time. Why does this surprise me?
Rating: F. There is no justification for this match to get this much time on a PPV. None. I can’t stand this story because it’s not about Garrett or Gunner. It’s about Hogan, just like it always is. Hogan isn’t putting anyone over, because that would make him look weak and Impact Wrestling is all about him and Bischoff. I know I sound like some whiny fan boy here but this has been old since it started and it’s just going to keep going. How many people can’t get time on a PPV so that Eric’s son can be out there and bore everyone to death?
Gunner would disappear for a bit before returning to be James Storm’s partner at Slammiversary 2013.
Tag Titles: James Storm/Gunner vs. Hernandez/Chavo Guerrero vs. Bad Influence vs. Bobby Roode/Austin Aries
Chavo and Hernandez are defending, this is under elimination rules and Storm has a badly hurt leg. Chavo and Daniels get things going with Daniels getting caught between right hands from both champions. Off to SuperMex to face Aries, with the latter jumping into a fall away slam. Back to Chavo who immediately pulls the now legal Roode into a headlock. Off to Storm vs. Roode and James can actually move. He throws a few right hands to take Roode down and it’s off to Gunner.
Bobby tags in Gunner as everything breaks down. Hernandez puts Roode on his shoulder for the backbreaker but Chavo suplexes Aries onto Hernandez’s other shoulder for a double backbreaker. That’s SCARY power. Storm and Gunner whip Roode and Aries into each other before Bad Influence comes in to stomp both guys down. Hernandez gets a running start to jump over the top rope and clothesline both guys down for two on Daniels. Kaz breaks up the delayed suplex on Daniels with a kick to Hernandez’s back before coming in legally.
After some more kicks to the legs of Hernandez it’s off to Roode for a stomping in the corner. Aries comes in with the slingshot hilo for two before putting on a front facelock. The fans chant for Aries but Hernandez suplexes both Aries and Roode down at the same time. Kaz gets the tag but Chavo comes in as well to clean house. There are Three Amigos to Kaz but Daniels sneaks in for Angel’s Wings on Chavo. Hernandez runs over Aries and Border Tosses Kaz, allowing the frog splash from Chavo to connect. Daniels breaks it up with a title belt for a DQ elimination at 10:52.
Aries immediately rolls up Chavo for the elimination at 11:10, leaving us with Aries/Roode and Storm/Gunner. Aries and Roode double team Gunner in the corner but he comes back with some running clotheslines. There’s the tag to Storm who pounds away on Roode and DDTs Aries down. Back to Gunner who catapults Aries into a Storm DDT for two. There’s the Gun Rack (Torture Rack) to Roode but Aries kicks Gunner in the ribs to break it up. The spinebuster from Roode sets up the 450 from Aries but it’s only good for two. Roode throws in a title belt but it’s the Last Call and Gun Rack to Aries for the submission and the titles at 16:28.
Rating: B. Another good match as this show is on a roll so far. I’m glad Storm is healthy enough to do the limited stuff he could do out there and Gunner looked solid as well. Hopefully we never have to see the other three teams fight again as the feud has been done to death already as the tag titles just need fresh blood now.
The new champions would team together in a six man on Impact, June 6, 2013.
Austin Aries/Bobby Roode/Kenny King vs. Chris Sabin/Gunner/James Storm
Sabin starts with an armdrag to take King down before sending him into the champions’ corner. Everything breaks down in a hurry with Roode and company bailing to the floor. Sabin dives on all three of them at once to fire up the crowd. Back in and Roode suplexes Sabin down before getting two off a knee drop. Off to Storm for a Beer Money reunion with James cleaning house until Roode clotheslines him down to take over. Aries comes in with a slingshot splash for two.
King hits a slingshot legdrop for two of his own before it’s back to Roode for some double teaming. Storm sends Aries into Roode to get himself a breather and the hot tag off to the hometown boy Gunner. Everything breaks down and Roode hits the spinebuster on Gunner to take him down. Aries loads up the suicide dive but gets kicked in the head by Sabin. All Hail Sabin (the name for that piledriver kind of move Sabin has been using) pins King at 6:39.
Rating: C. This was your usual formula tag match but without enough time to really get anything going. Having all three new champions against their challengers is fine as you can combine both stories into a single match. This worked fine for what it was but hopefully they can do something new with the divisions instead of just doing the same stuff over and over again.
Here’s a chance for Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez to get a title shot on Impact, September 19, 2013.
Hernandez vs. Gunner
Hernandez runs Gunner over to start and drapes him ribs first over the top rope. The over the shoulder backbreaker gets two on Gunner and Hernandez hits the run down the running dive from the ramp to the ring for two. Gunner counters a suplex into a slingshot suplex to put Hernandez down again. A slam puts SuperMex down and Sheamus’ Irish Curse (Rock Bottom backbreaker) is good for the pin for Gunner at 4:17.
Rating: D+. This wasn’t awful actually but I have zero interest in seeing Chavo and Hernandez on the same planet, let alone on the same team, ever again. They’re just not interesting at all and they never have been. Nothing much to see here, but it would imply another team gets the shot at BFG, thank goodness.
After the team lost the titles and split, Gunner would win the Feast or Fired briefcase for a World Title shot, which he cashed in on Impact, February 20, 2014.
TNA World Title: Magnus vs. Gunner
This is no countout and No DQ. After the Big Match Intros, Magnus bails to the floor before any contact is made. Back in and Gunner works on a wristlock but gets reversed into a headlock. The hold stays on for about two and a half minutes before Gunner comes back with a back elbow and a clothesline. Magnus comes right back with a knee to the back to send Gunner outside. The champ calls for help from the back but gets the Wolves and Storm instead as we take a break.
Back with Magnus putting on a camel clutch as Tenay tells us this is No DQ and No countout, which I don’t remember being announced at first. Gunner fights up so Magnus changes to a sleeper, only to get caught in a belly to back suplex. It’s Magnus up first and the top rope elbow gets two. Magnus goes to the floor and gets the title belt but Gunner lifts him into a fireman’s carry. The champ escapes and both guys try cross bodies to give us another stalemate.
Ethan and the Bro Mans come in but the Wolves and Storm immediately come in to counter and they fight to the back. Gunner powerbombs Magnus down and hits a top rope headbutt to the ribs. Spud runs out and puts Magnus’ foot on the ropes and Gunner is TICKED. He goes after the Rockstar but gets blasted in the head with the title for a close two. Storm comes back out as Gunner starts Hulking Up. A Rock Bottom lays out Magnus and Gunner goes up again, only to have Storm superkick him out of the air, giving Magnus the pin at 16:38.
Rating: C+. This was a good match but the constant interference needs to calm down for a bit. I do like Storm turning as it means we don’t have to deal with him being the guy who used to be world champion a few years ago for two weeks. The match was going for an epic showdown but that doesn’t really work when we’ve been told about Gunner’s backstory over the span of two hours instead of say two months. Still though, good stuff and an actual match instead of the insanity with Sting and AJ’s shots at Magnus.
Here’s the first of many grudge matches between the two at Lockdown 2014.
James Storm vs. Gunner
New music and long tights for James tonight. They start fighting on the ramp and Storm gets in a good shot early. Gunner rams him into the cage and suplexes him on the floor before going to get some chairs. He throws three of them into the cage but Storm sends him into the steps to slow Gunner down. Storm sends him into the cage and slams the cage door on Gunner’s head. He demands a count and we get the opening bell followed by a four count.
Storm wedges a chair into the corner and takes Gunner down with a jumping DDT for five. Gunner tries to get up but gets choked down by a tag rope and dropped throat first across the top rope. James ties the rope around Gunner’s throat and ties it to the rope but Gunner rips it away, only to be taken down by a low blow. Gunner no sells some ramming into the buckle and rams his own head into the same buckle for good measure.
Some running knees including one to Storm’s head have Storm in trouble and Gunner pulls the top of the steps into the ring. A hard shot to James’ head gets eight but he comes back with a quick Closing Time (Codebreaker) before ramming Gunner into the chair in the corner. James blasts him in the back with the chair but Gunner is getting that look in his eyes. He fights up and scores with a spear and an F5 as the fans think this is awesome. Storm tries to grab the chair but Gunner stands on it to thwart the Cowboy’s plans.
Gunner slams him down again and goes up, only to have Storm throw the chair at Gunner’s head on the way down for seven. Another hard shot to the back gets five and Storm sets up some chairs in the ring. He loads up the Eye of the Storm but Gunner gets to the ropes in the corner. Both guys climb to the middle rope and ram each other into the cage until Gunner superplexes him through the chairs for the win at 12:02.
Rating: B. Good but not great last man standing match here as they beat a lot of tar out of each other. Gunner getting a win over a former world champion on pay per view isn’t going to hurt anything but I just don’t see a top level guy in him. The ending spot and chair pelting spot looked good and the match was a lot of fun, which is what matters here.
And another on Impact, March 27, 2014.
Gunner vs. James Storm
This is an Unlocked match, which is another name for a street fight. The fight is on in the aisle again and Gunner quickly sets up a table. Storm gets in a right hand before the table is completely set so he finishes Gunner’s job. Gunner is whipped knees first into the steps as Tenay tells us we’ll see Ethan and Willow’s confrontation before the show ends. A running knee to Gunner’s head knocks him from the apron to the floor. They haven’t been in the ring yet.
Storm suplexes Gunner onto the ramp but gets sent into the steps for his efforts. Gunner nails him in the ribs with a chair and they finally get inside. The Cowboy comes back with a middle rope DDT of all things for no cover as we take a break. Back with Storm loading up a chair in the corner but getting reversed by Gunner. They slug it out with trashcan lids before Storm gets speared down for two.
Storm counters a sunset flip into a catapult, sending Gunner face first into the chair. A Backstabber sets up a VERY long top rope elbow to give Storm a near fall. Storm pulls out a beer bottle but the distraction lets Gunner spear him through the ropes and through the table on the floor ala Edge and Mick Foley. That only gets two so Gunner sets up two chairs (one of which is broken) in the middle of the ring.
A superplex through the chairs (Storm barely hit them) is enough for two in a nice throwback to the ending at Lockdown. Storm comes back with a Closing Time and a pair of Last Calls for two. James gets the beer bottle but Gunner finds his own to lay out Storm. An F5 is enough to pin the Cowboy at 15:03.
Rating: B+. This was one heck of a fight with both guys beating the tar out of each other. There’s something awesome about two men just hammering each other until one of them can’t get up. I don’t like the story here though as the match was tacked on to the feud after the previous match should have ended things. Still though, awesome stuff.
And the final one from Sacrifice 2014.
James Storm vs. Gunner
I quit match. They slug it out to start with Storm getting the better of it and knocking Gunner out to the floor. Storm whips him into the barricade hard enough to knock it over on top of Gunner. They fight over the steps with Gunner taking over with a hard clothesline. Gunner throws him back inside and finds a trashcan filled with toys. Storm kicks the ropes low into Gunner as they come back inside before an Elevated Stunner (think Orton) but Gunner won’t quit.
A pair of chair shots still won’t make Gunner quit and a cookie sheet still doesn’t do the trick. Storm chokes away in the corner until Guner FINALLY comes back with a running knee to the face to take over. It’s time for the first weapon from Gunner as he grabs a trashcan lid and blasts Storm in the head over and over. Storm finally gets one of his own for a duel but Gunner keeps control.
Gunner nails a swan dive but this time it’s Storm that won’t quit. Instead Gunner tries a charge but goes hard into the post to change control again. Storm sends him into the post one more time and plants Gunner with an Elevated DDT on the floor. Naturally Gunner isn’t ready to quit yet and Storm is getting frustrated.
Storm finds the beer bottle and blasts Gunner in the head to cut him open but of course Gunner won’t quit. Off to a Boston crab of all things but Gunner is quickly in the ropes. Some belt shots to the back have Gunner in trouble and there’s the Last Call to put him down again. He still won’t quit though so Storm just rips at the cut to draw more blood. Gunner rams his own head into the buckle and screams NEVER before hitting three straight F5s.
With nothing else to do, Gunner sets up the two chairs in the ring and bridges the barricade across it. A HUGE superplex puts Storm through the steel and both guys are almost done. Gunner picks up a piece of the beer bottle and drives it into Storm’s head to make him quit at 19:04.
Rating: B-. Now NEVER LET THEM FIGHT AGAIN. Yeah the match wasn’t bad but I just don’t need to see this match ever again. We get it: Gunner can beat James Storm. Now let us find out what he can do against someone else. Gunner getting the spot instead of Young makes more sense, but I guess Young’s goofiness is just better for business. Or something.
Gunner is a guy that may not be the most interesting or detailed guy in history but he’s incredibly intense and has a great look. I met him at a house show once and the guy is as polite and professional as you could ask for. He’ll also shake your hand off with one of the firmest grips you’ll ever find. He’s grown on me which is surprising given that I didn’t care about him one bit when he started.
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Smackdown – September 12, 2014: Time For A Tag Match Playa
Smackdown Date: September 12, 2014
Location: Mohegan Sun Arena, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Tom Phillips
We’re coming off a good Raw for the first time in far too long and the main story is Reigns getting taken out to end the show. It looks like we’re heading for Reigns vs. Rollins and Jericho vs. Orton, though they would likely be better off with just having a tag match instead. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the end of Raw and Reigns taking a Curb Stomp onto a chair.
Usos/Big Show/Mark Henry vs. Wyatt Family/Goldust/Stardust
This is just Harper and Rowan and not a handicap match if that isn’t clear. Jimmy chops on Goldust in the corner to start before doing the same to Stardust. Jey comes in to choke on the ropes a bit and start in on the arm. Back to Jimmy to face Harper with Luke missing a clothesline and getting dropkicked down. Mark gets the tag for a splash in the corner but Luke clotheslines him down for two. Bray comes down to ringside but Big Show stands in his way as we take a break.
Back with Jimmy superkicking Harper and nailing him with an enziguri. Bray is nowhere in sight. Luke backdrops him to the apron and Jimmy slips off, injuring his own knee. Stardust likes what he sees and sends Jimmy into the announcers’ table before handing it off to Goldust. A clothesline to the back of the head gets two and it’s back to Harper with a dropkick for two. Rowan comes in for a knee drop to give us a complete set of heels not going after the injured limb.
Not that it matters though as Jimmy is able to Samoan drop Rowan on the bad knee. Goldust comes in and gets superkicked, allowing for the hot tag to Big Show for some house cleaning. Stardust takes the worst of it but the Dusts are actually able to suplex Big Show down. The Wyatts take Henry to the floor, allowing Jimmy to dive onto everyone. The Disaster Kick staggers Show but he comes back with the KO Punch and a Superfly Splash from Jey pins Stardust at 11:04.
Rating: C-. What was the point in having Jimmy hurt his knee if they were just going to forget about it thirty seconds later? At least have someone kick the leg a few times after it. That being said, I’d definitely prefer not to have two members of a team both having leg injuries as the injured limb is being overused as it is. The match wasn’t bad but just kind of there.
We recap Heyman and Cena from Raw.
Kane praises Reigns and Rollins for their actions on Raw. Rollins says he knew he could get inside Reigns’ head and promises to take him out tonight. It’s Reigns/Jericho vs. Orton/Rollins later.
Bo Dallas vs. Justin Gabriel
Colter and Swagger are at ringside. After the bell, Dallas says most of the fans are destined to be failures for their entire lives, but they could be just like him if they just Bolieve! Dallas calls himself America’s Sweetheart and asks everyone to put their hand over their heart, but Zeb interrupts. He says if Dallas is America’s Sweetheart, then he’s “Arianna freaking Grande. And I don’t even know who that is!”
After a minute and a half of talking, Gabriel starts firing off kicks and rolls Dallas up for two. A hard whip sends Gabriel into the buckle and we hit the chinlock. Gabriel comes back with a springboard cross body and an STO but the moonsault misses, setting up the Bodog for the pin at 4:10.
Rating: D+. It’s almost not fair to rate this as they only fought for about two minutes after all the talking. The match was every Bo Dallas match you’ve seen yet but that’s fine in this case as he finally has something to do. I’m glad he didn’t get the “Vince is bored with you” treatment that so many others have suffered through as Dallas has potential to be a good pest.
Dallas runs from Swagger post match.
Paige vs. Summer Rae
Non-title. AJ is on commentary of course. Summer stomps away in the corner to start and puts on a full nelson leg lock. Paige fights out with a headbutt and some clotheslines followed by a series of knees to the ribs. A Black Widow makes Summer tap at 1:46.
AJ comes in and lays out Summer with the Paige Turner before skipping away. Paige freaks out again.
It’s time for some good old fashioned arm wrestling between Rusev and Mark Henry. Before the match, Lana offers Henry a chance to get out of the match by forfeiting. She brings up Henry leaving the Olympics with an injury but Henry will have none of it. He never thought he would have the chance to represent his country again and there’s the USA chant. Henry easily wins in a few seconds. Rusev wants a rematch left handed and Lana throws powder in Henry’s face so Rusev can beat him down.
Jericho talks about losing the cage match on his own terms. He can live with that, but he can’t live with Orton attacking him to make a statement. Jericho calls himself the Snake Shredder and the Copperhead Crusher and promises to take care of Orton. We get a hiss to cap things off.
Miz/Damien Mizdow vs. Dolph Ziggler/R-Truth
Ziggler says Truth (R-Ziggler) is his stunt double tonight and we get Truth in Dolph attire, complete with the hip swivel on the stage. JBL and Cole are nice enough to play up the joke. Mizdow vs. Ziggler to start but it’s quickly off to Truth for Dolph’s big elbow and two. Off to a front facelock from Ziggler before the good guys try to do a twin switch in a funny bit. A pair of hiptosses and clotheslines put Miz and Mizdow on the floor as we take a break.
Back with Ziggler crawling over to tag in Truth who is still wrestling like Dolph. Mizdow takes a right hand for his boss, allowing Miz to kick Truth in the face. The Reality Check gets two for Miz but Truth escapes the same thing from Mizdow. Back to Miz who walks into a DDT, allowing for the hot tag to Dolph. Everything breaks down and the good guys use each others’ signature moves, capped off by Truth hitting a Zig Zag on Mizdow to give Dolph the pin at 11:04.
Rating: C+. The wrestling wasn’t great but this was at least a funny idea and the announcers played up the joke really well. Dolph did say that this was one night only, which is for the best as it would get old fast. For a one off joke though, it advances the story and keeps us from having Miz vs. Ziggler one on one again.
We look at the Bellas and Springer segment from Raw.
Nikki talks about how she’s been the victim for years when AJ comes in and says Nikki got into the title match by being Stephanie’s lap dog. Paige comes in and says she’ll beat AJ one last time so they can be best friends. Nikki thinks this could be easy.
Chris Jericho/Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins/Randy Orton
The brawl quickly heads to the floor and Reigns wants to get his hands on Orton. Reigns gets sent face first into the announcers’ table though and we take a break. Back with Orton hitting a running clothesline in the corner and putting on the chinlock. Roman fights up and slams Orton down to make the tag off to Jericho.
Chris cleans house and sends Rollins into the buckle before putting on the Walls. He has to let go to take care of Orton but comes right back with a bulldog. Orton breaks up the Lionsault though and the Authority takes over again. Randy hammers away and gets two off the powerslam. Rollins comes back in and gets backdropped to the floor, only to circle around and break up the tag to Reigns.
Jericho fights up and dropkicks Randy, allowing the hot tag to Roman. The big man cleans house and sends Rollins to the floor before tagging in Jericho for a high cross body on Orton. The former Shield members head into the crowd as Orton loads up the Elevated DDT, only to have Jericho counter into a rollup for the pin at 12:09.
Rating: C-. This was short, energetic and set up the matches at Night of Champions. It’s fine to have Jericho win here as losing to a former World Champion on a quick rollup is hardly going to crush Orton. Reigns and Rollins weren’t really a factor in this but their story is already set up.
Overall Rating: C. Tonight was a by the book episode of Smackdown: advance everything but the main event, have some tag matches and recap stuff from Raw. It’s just a supplement to Raw but I’ll take that over a lot of boring episodes that we so often get. There’s nothing to see here but it could have been far worse.
Results
Usos/Big Show/Mark Henry b. Wyatt Family/Goldust/Stardust – Superfly Splash to Stardust
Bo Dallas b. Justin Gabriel – Bodog
Paige b. Summer Rae – Black Widow
Dolph Ziggler/R-Truth b. Damien Mizdow/Miz – Ziggler pinned Mizdow after a Zig Zag from R-Truth
Chris Jericho/Randy Orton b. Seth Rollins/Randy Orton – Rollup to Orton
Reviewing the Review – Monday Night Raw: September 8, 2014
This was a special episode billed as the season premiere. For those of you new to wrestling, that would be WWE code for “AHHH!!! MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL IS BACK AND OUR SHOW SUCKS!!!” WWE had a few weapons to fight the NFL, including Jericho vs. Wyatt in a cage, Orton vs. Reigns II and Jerry Springer, because Vince continues to be out of touch with reality. Let’s get to it.
We opened with a very good cage match between Wyatt and Jericho with Jericho hitting a huge dive off the top of the cage (and possibly breaking his toe in the process) for the big spot. He also tweaked his knee in the process though, allowing Bray to pound on it enough to escape. This was a better match than I was expecting and seems to completely write off the feud. Bray got to look evil and won almost entirely clean, save for the Family blocking Jericho from climbing down at one point. Bray needs to move up a notch with his next feud and a midcard title might be just the ticket.
Orton asked for and received permission to do something evil tonight. This would wind up being attacking Jericho in the trainer’s room, likely setting up a placeholder match for both guys at Night of Champions.
Time for the WWE’s favorite comic idea: fake pictures of a wrestler. This is their jab at the massive celebrity photo leak ordeal from a few weeks ago, because nothing makes me want to cheer someone more than mocking crime. The idea was Ziggler had photos of Miz, including Miz in a facial mask and getting his chest shaved. After Miz and Sandow came out for a brawl, Ziggler showed us the last one: Sandow spray tanning a less than clothed Miz. The segment probably made Vince laugh but I just don’t get it. They’re not offensively bad or anything but the joke doesn’t get more than the occasional chuckle from me.
Paige and AJ Lee beat Natalya/Rosa Mendes in the first Total Divas commercial of the week. The idea here is neither team could get along, but at the end of the day Rosa just isn’t very good and it caught up with her team. Apparently Natalya has taken Rosa under her wing, even though this story should have taken place about four months ago under the Total Divas timeline and we’re just now hearing about it. AJ and Paige both kissed the title belt post match.
Next up was the big segment of the week with Cena talking about how awesome he was before Heyman interrupted and tried to turn John to the dark side, saying it was the only way Cena could beat Lesnar. Paul explained that if Cena finally told the fans to shut up when they were booing him and saying CENA SUCKS that he would be able to take Lesnar out and get his title back. Cena teased it for a bit before going off on Heyman, talking about how he would never give up on what he believed in. He capped it off by telling Heyman to have Lesnar come here next week for a fight, or Cena will beat on Heyman instead.
This was a fifteen or twenty minute back for forth segment between two guys that are born to talk on a mic. The whole thing worked perfectly and Cena finally going toe to toe with Lesnar again next week is going to rock. They’ve done a good job of making me want to see Cena try his luck against Lesnar again, but the interesting part is going to be Cena dealing with better than his best not being good enough to stop Lesnar. They were getting close to this with Bray at Wrestlemania but it didn’t really go anywhere. This has potential though as Cena tries to define his legacy before he finally rides off.
Cesaro cost Sheamus a match against Rollins. There isn’t much to see here and the match wasn’t all that good. Cesaro beat Sheamus up post match to cap things off. It’s nothing new but this is one of the better builds they’ve had to a midcard title match in a long time. Unfortunately they’ve run this match so many times before that I don’t have much of an interest in this showdown. It’s the danger of running the same matches over and over again on TV.
Lana and Rusev did their thing. Nothing to see here, save for Lana of course.
Now we got to one of my favorite parts of the show: an NXT showcase match with Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn beating Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd. The interesting thing here was the commentary, as the announcers spent the entire five minute match hyping up the Takeover special and treating this like the only thing that mattered in the world. I know they can’t do that all the time but it was very nice for a change. Neville blew the crowd up with the Red Arrow for the pin on Breeze.
The stupid segment of the night was the Jerry Springer summit with the Bellas. This was basically a way to show clips from Total Divas and have the Bellas’ parents and brother talk about how horrible this fight was. The girls fought and Springer got taken down in the brawl. Here’s the good part though: this was the ONLY Bellas segment of the night and it made all the difference in the world. If they have to do this stupid story then so be it, but don’t make me sit through five segments a week. I can live with something like this where they’re out there like ten minutes total.
The Dusts beat Los Matadores in a nothing match but the Usos took them out post match.
Adam Rose beat Titus O’Neil. The story here was the Bunny, who superkicked Slater and hit a Superfly Splash after the match. I could go for an unmasking story.
Orton and Reigns had a good twenty minute match until Kane and Rollins came in for the DQ. There isn’t much to say about the match as a lot of it was the same as Summerslam, meaning it was good stuff. I like the booking though as there’s no need to have Orton lose clean twice in a row and Reigns already has the big win over Randy so there’s no need to do it again.
Post match Rollins and Kane had the cage lowered (with Rollins nearly getting stabbed by one of the poles in a genuinely scary moment) and Reigns, after fighting back for a bit, taking the Curb Stomp on a chair to end the show. This is the kind of adversity Reigns needs to face on his rise. It’s ok to have him get beaten down as long as he comes back and wins the big match in the end.
Raw this week was WAY easier to sit through as they kept the Bellas stuff contained to a single segment. That’s been the biggest complaint in the last few weeks and the show was much better once that was solved. The show wasn’t the best in the world, but after things have been this boring for so long, I’ll gladly take an ok show.
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The story going around at the moment is that Warner Brothers is looking to buy the WWE video library. However, almost every wrestling site is interpreting this as they want the distribution rights, which is an entirely different idea. That would be a big boost to WWE as Warner Brothers is a far bigger name in distribution than the company WWE uses (Cinedigm) isn’t huge from what I can tell. The headline about wanting to buy the whole library is misleading and would cause a lot of major changes in WWE. I can’t picture that happening though and my guess is it’s just the distribution rights, which would be very interesting as well.
NXT Takeover: Fatal Four-Way: It’s The Best Thing Going Today
Takeover: Fatal Four-Way Date: September 11, 2014
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Renee Young, Byron Saxton, Tom Phillips
For once I’m actually looking forward to a WWE special. This is the third two hour live event that NXT has run and the first two were knocked out of the park. The main event tonight is a four way with NXT Champion Adrian Neville defending against Tyson Kidd, Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze in what should be a classic. Let’s get to it.
The regular WWE video plays but an NXT video hacks in. You might even say it takes over.
Opening sequence with only shots of people appearing tonight.
Tag Team Titles: Sin Cara/Kalisto vs. Ascension
Sin Cara and Kalisto won a tournament to get this show. They also now have their own music which starts with someone shouting LUCHA LUCHA LUCHA! Ascension has held the titles for nearly a year and have barely ever broken a sweat in a defense. Viktor knocks Sin Cara up against the ropes but gets caught by a standing Lionsault for two. That’s fine with Viktor though as he sends Cara out to the floor so Konnor can drive him back first into the apron.
Back to Viktor for a hard slam for two as the champions are already dominating. We hit a double chickenwing before Cara escapes a powerbomb. Konnor knocks Kalisto off the apron though and Cara can’t make the tag. An enziguri stops Konnor but he puts on a front facelock and just drives Cara back into the corner. That’s fine with Cara as he flips over and makes the tag to Kalisto.
Everything speeds up with a spinning slingshot plancha. A semi-botched sunset bomb gets two on Viktor as Cara dives on Konnor. Both champions go outside and catch Kalisto in mid air. Sin dives on both of them for a huge crash and the fans are WAY into this. Back inside they load up the Fall of Man but Cara trips up Konnor. Kalisto rolls out of the way and hits Salida Del Sol (standing sitout Sliced Bread #2) on Viktor for the pin and the titles at 7:48.
Rating: B-. Power vs. speed is something that is going to work no matter how many times you try it. They had to get the belts off of Ascension at some point and putting them on Lucha was as good of a way as they could have done it. This frees up Ascension to go after the Usos, which makes sense given that they already debuted on Main Event this week.
The new champions dub themselves the Lucha Dragons.
We get a quick pause in memory of 9/11.
Video on Adrian Neville about how tough a year it’s been for him but he hasn’t lost a single match. Everyone will remember that he’s the man that gravity forgot. He’s beaten all of his challengers and now he has to beat them at once.
CJ Parker vs. Baron Corbin
This is an added match. The much bigger Corbin shoves the Eco Warrior Parker into the corner….and then plants him with a very powerful one armed Downward Spiral for the pin at 32 seconds. He made it look even better by rocking Parker forward and then snapping him back. That’s a good way to start a push.
Video on Tyson Kidd where he lists off some of his facts, mainly talking about each man in the main event tonight. He will walk out as champion. Fact.
Enzo Amore vs. Sylvester LeFort
Enzo has new music which he might sing himself. This is Jersey Shore vs. France in a hair vs. hair match. Amore even has “hair cream” to get rid of Sylvester’s hair. Before the match, Enzo suggests a few hairstyles for LeFort, including a combover and a mushroom, complete with the fans shouting HOW YOU DOIN after every suggestion. According to Cass, after the match, Sylvester’s hair will be S-A-W-F-T.
Enzo grabs a headlock to start and ruffles LeFort’s hair to really mess with him. A shoulder puts Sylvester on the apron but he snaps Enzo across the top rope to take over. We hit the chinlock on Enzo followed by a hard kick between the shoulders. Amore fights back with some stiff punches but a Marcus Louis distraction lets Sylvester nail a clothesline for two. Cass takes out Louis, allowing Amore to grab a rollup (and tights) for the pin at 5:46.
Rating: D+. The wrestling was bad but what are you expecting from someone like Enzo? He’s a comedy character and has never had a match go more than a few minutes. This was a way to give the fans a good laugh and there’s nothing wrong with that. Cass and Amore are just a loveable team and they beat up the snobs. What more can you ask for?
Sylvester is being taken to the chair but Marcus makes a save. Amore and Cass get up though and LeFort runs off, leaving Marcus to take the cream on the head.
Tyler Breeze says the new champion will be gorgeous. Every outfit he wears goes with gold.
Here’s General Manager William Regal with something to say. He talks about how great it is in NXT right now and introduces the biggest international signing in NXT history. We get a video on Kenta, with various WWE wrestlers talking about how awesome he is. Kenta comes to the ring to a VERY strong reaction and he gives a brief welcome in English before going into Japanese. He says this is a dream come true and he’s starting over with a new name: Hideo Itami, a tribute to one of his heroes. His goal is to be NXT Champion….and here are the Ascension to interrupt.
Itami is thrown to the floor and Konnor demands a rematch for the titles. Hideo gets back in the ring and takes off his jacket. A kick and forearm put Ascension down and a double dropkick does it again. Itami gets a chair and stands….well not that tall actually but it’s a good debut.
Bull Dempsey vs. Mojo Rawley
Not much to this one as they were in the tag team tournament and lost, causing Dempsey to destroy Rawley. Dempsey hammers him into the corner to start as the fans want Kevin Steen. Mojo spears him down and hammers away but Dempsey runs him over with a splash. A top rope headbutt ends Mojo at 1:07. If Rawley wasn’t finished before, he certainly is now.
Dempsey adds another headbutt for good measure.
Enzo and Cass want to see someone bald. They see Marcus with a towel over his head and carry him into the arena for the big reveal. Enzo rips off the towel, revealing little bits of hair on Marcus’ head and no eyebrows. Nice touch. Enzo says he is B-A-W-L-D.
We recap Bayley vs. Charlotte. It’s another simple story with Charlotte being the girl that feels she’s here by birth and Bayley being the biggest fangirl in the history of wrestling who just loves to be here.
Women’s Title: Charlotte vs. Bayley
Bayley now has streamers on her arms. Charlotte offers a handshake to start but Bayley drives her into the corner for some shoulders to the ribs. A quick cross body gets two for Bayley but Charlotte counters a backslide with a neckbreaker. We hit the figure four headlock on Bayley and Charlotte even flips forward a few times and slam Bayley onto the mat. They trade a few rollups with Bayley countering a Figure Four attempt for two. Charlotte dropkicks her back down and nails a hard knee to the ribs.
Bayley comes back with a hard series of forearms, only to miss a charge into the corner and get slammed down onto the mat for two. Charlotte goes up top but gets caught in a top rope hurricanrana to put both girls down. The delayed cover only gets two but the Belly to Bayley is countered into a rollup. Charlotte nails her in the face, knocking Bayley head first into the bottom buckle. A moonsault doesn’t quite hit as Charlotte landed on her legs instead of on Bayley and only gets two. Natural Selection (the new name for Bow Down to the Queen) is enough to retain the title at 11:55.
Rating: C+. This was a far cry from Charlotte vs. Natalya but they had to have a heel win somewhere in there. I’ll give them this though: they had me wanting to see Bayley suplex Charlotte through the floor and take the title. The story was perfect here though and that’s as good as they could have hoped for. The match wasn’t bad at all either and that hurricanrana looked great.
Post match Sasha Banks comes out to beat on Bayley but Charlotte makes the save. Bayley is confused.
Sami Zayn talks about having to be ready for his opponents. He and Neville are friends, but he wants to beat Adrian to become champion.
Hideo Itami makes his in ring debut next week.
NXT Title: Tyson Kidd vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Adrian Neville
Neville is defending and this is one fall to a finish. After the big match intros, they have about half an hour for this if necessary. Kidd’s trunks now say FACT. The fans start their dueling chants and aren’t sure who they like best so far. After a minute of circling each other we’re ready to go with all four heading to the floor. That goes nowhere but they do tease Neville vs. Zayn to a BIG response. They head back to the floor with Neville kicking Kidd and Sami chopping Breeze.
Sami and Kidd go back inside with Zayn grabbing the Koji Clutch until Tyler makes a save. Now they head to the stage where Adrian’s knee is taken out and a double suplex plants him on the stage. Sami picks off Kidd but gets a double suplex of his own on the ramp. Back to the ring now with Sami getting double teamed by the villains. The fans tell Kidd that Nattie is better as Adrian gets knocked off the apron.
Sami gets stomped in the corner and Tyler covers after a suplex, triggering the brawl with Kidd. Tyson sends him to the floor and gets two off a neckbreaker to Zayn. Off to a chinlock on Sami but he quickly jawbreaks his way to freedom. Kidd puts him in the Tree of Woe though as Adrian is knocked to the floor again, followed by a kick to the face from Tyson.
Zayn tries to get back up but Kidd just pounds him down in the corner and puts on the chinlock again. Neville finally gets back in but Tyson sends him to the floor for about the fourth time. Adrian pops back in though and backdrops Kidd down. Breeze returns from the dead, only to get clotheslined down by Sami. Zayn loads up a dive to the heels but Adrian hits a HUGE top rope Asai moonsault to put them both down.
That leaves Neville vs. Zayn and the fans get even more into this all of a sudden. A big kick to the champion’s head gets two as Kidd is back in for the save. Kidd throws Neville into Sami to knock the champion to the floor and the Moss Covered Three Handled Family Credenza gets two on Sami. Tyson can’t get the Sharpshooter on Sami and the springboard elbow hits knees. Sami loads up the Helluva Kick but Tyler nails the Beauty Shot to knock him down. Neville tries to come in off the top but gets dropkicked out of the air for a VERY close two. Tyler gets two on Kidd as well and frustration is setting in.
Adrian goes up top but Breeze and Kidd load up a double superplex. That’s not enough for Sami as he makes it a HUGE Tower of Doom. Kidd somehow gets up at two and Breeze falls out to the floor. Sami punches Tyson into the corner and gets all fired up but charges into a boot from Neville. A Shooting Star from Adrian crushes Sami but Breeze comes in to steal a two count and make the fans gasp.
Tyler misses a Beauty Shot to Sami and gets caught in the Sharpshooter. Tyson drags him back to the center of the ring and Tyler loads up his hand to tap but Adrian grabs his hand to hold it up in a great move. Sami makes the save and the fans are very thankful. Sami and Adrian finally get to slug it out until Neville gets backdropped to the floor.
An exploder suplex puts Kidd in the corner and Zayn dives through the ropes to take out Adrian. In an even better move Sami dives from the floor, over the bottom rope and into a tornado DDT on Tyler on the floor. The Helluva Kick looks to finish Kidd but Adrian pulls the referee out of the way. A superkick drops Sami and the Red Arrow to Kidd retains the title at 23:58.
Rating: A-. If Sami had won the title there it’s even higher. I’m not wild on Adrian seemingly turning heel but in theory this sets up Neville vs. Zayn in the big showdown for the title. Thankfully Sami didn’t get pinned here and the huge spots worked really well, especially that Tower of Doom and the diving tornado DDT. This was more than worth the wait and now it looks like Sami is getting his chance very soon. Notice that they didn’t really let Sami and Adrian fight other than a brief exchange, even though the fans were begging for it. That’s a sign for the future.
Sami looks at Adrian with frustration on his face to end the show.
Overall Rating: B+. This wasn’t quite as good as Arrival and Takeover but these things are still as good as anything else you’re going to see in wrestling today. NXT has mastered this idea of setting something up and then executing it rather than meandering forever until they figure out what they want to do and expecting us to keep watching. I love this promotion and it holds up incredibly well week after week. Zayn vs. Neville is going to rock and the future looks bright with some major debuts on the horizon.
Results
Sin Cara/Kalisto b. Ascension – Salida Del Sol to Viktor
Baron Corbin b. CJ Parker – Downward Spiral
Enzo Amore b. Sylvester LeFort – Rollup
Bull Dempsey b. Mojo Rawley – Top rope headbutt
Charlotte b. Bayley – Natural Selection
Adrian Neville b. Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd – Red Arrow to Kidd
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of ECW Pay Per Views at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Impact Wrestling – September 10, 2014: Holding Out For A Hero
Impact Wrestling Date: September 10, 2014
Location: Manhattan Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz
We’re getting close to the end of this set of tapings with two more regular episodes and the No Surrender special next week, because we need a PPV style special three and a half weeks before Bound For Glory. As for tonight we’ve got the second match in the tag team series and maybe we’ll even get something for BFG. Counting tonight there are only five shows left before the biggest show of the year so you would think they would have something ready by now. Let’s get to it.
We open with the New York Color Guard playing the Star Spangled Banner. This was originally going to be the September 11th episode but it’s still a cool thing to see.
Chris Melendez vs. DJZ
Melendez walks around the rings high fiving fans before DJZ comes to the ring. In case you’re not familiar with Melendez, he has an artificial left leg. DJZ takes over to start with a quick kick to the ribs and a faceplant for good measure. Melendez comes back with a clothesline and neckbreaker to send DJZ out to the floor. DJZ comes back by snapping Chris’ throat across the top rope but Melendez nails him with more clotheslines and a side slam. A Samoan drop ends DJZ at 2:52. Melendez looked fine though it’s clear he’s still a rookie.
After a break here’s Bobby Roode with something to say. Roode loves the feeling of standing in this ring right now. However he needs to thank his best friend Eric Young. Eric always brought the best out in Bobby Roode and will always be a World Champion in Roode’s eyes. Roode talks about getting his title shot next week at No Surrender but here’s the Trio to interrupt.
MVP talks about the movies but says Lashley is reality. There is no happily ever after and Roode doesn’t get the girl or the World Title. Roode says you can see the fear and doubt in MVP’s eyes. Lashley has no fear or doubt in his eyes though because Lashley knows he can beat Roode. Bobby goes into the usual TNA talk about heart and desire to be the best and says there isn’t a thing MVP can do to stop him. The beatdown is on until until Joe and Young make the save. A six man is made and Joe wants to do it right now.
Kenny King/Lashley/MVP vs. Samoa Joe/Eric Young/Bobby Roode
The fight is on as we come back from a break with Joe diving through the ropes to take everyone out. Back in and Joe runs King over before hammering away in the corner. King nails him with an enziguri and a neck snap across the top rope. Kenny goes up but misses a dive with a big crash onto the mat via Joe just stepping to the side. Off to Young vs. MVP with Eric getting two off a belly to belly.
King clotheslines Young from the apron and it’s off to Lashley for the dominance. Something like a fisherman’s suplex gets two on Eric and it’s off to King for a chinlock. For some reason we get tweets from Taz on the bottom of the screen during the hold. Lashley leapfrogs Young and puts on a cross armbreaker.
Eric powerbombs him to escape and makes the tag off to Roode to clean house. The Blockbuster gets two on MVP but Joe gets speared down by Lashley. Eric’s missile dropkick knocks Lashley to the floor for a big dive. Back in and MVP misses the Drive By and gets caught in the Roode Bomb for the pin at 9:13.
Rating: C+. The action was good here though I still have no reason to be interested in Roode vs. Lashley, especially when it’s next week. I’m assuming we’re going to have a screwy finish to set up a rematch at Bound For Glory where Roode gets the title, but it’s very hard to say given how this company goes most of the time.
BroMans/Velvet Sky vs. Menagerie
The BroMans now have the Beautiful People with them. The Freak is on the floor for this one. Steeve chases Robbie around to start and it’s quickly off to Jesse. Knux comes in with a cartwheel and a big slam before it’s back to Steeve. Robbie gets in a right hand on the floor as DJZ is running around like a crazy man.
Velvet comes in for some slaps before it’s back to Jesse who immediately tags Robbie. Rebel comes in to face Velvet but the BroMans break up a sunset flip attempt. Knux runs both of them over with a cross body, leaving Steeve against Velvet. Sky gets kissed and Steeve dives onto all three BroMans. Rebel slams her down but gets distracted by Angelina, allowing Velvet to roll her up with a handful of trunks for the pin at 4:40.
Rating: D. I’m in the minority but I actually like the Menagerie. Steeve continues to be worthless but at least Knux is good and Rebel is gorgeous. The BroMans hooking up with the Beautiful People is a decent enough idea and will probably lead to some decent jokes down the line. The wrestling wasn’t great but the expectations for this weren’t exactly high coming in.
Kurt Angle has an opponent for EC3 tonight and doesn’t think Carter will like it.
Team 3D wants the Tag Team Titles.
Angle is in the ring and likes the direction TNA is going in now. However there’s one malcontent that Angle wants to deal with right now. He asks EC3 to come out here right now so here’s Carter to complain about Team 3D putting Dixie through the table. Ethan, in pink pants, blames everyone for what happened and mentions injuring Angle several months back. Angle promises to take care of Ethan in due time but as for tonight, Ethan gets a street fight RIGHT NOW.
Rhino vs. Ethan Carter III
It’s a brawl to start with Rhino throwing Carter out to the floor and into the barricade. The weapons are thrown in and Rhino is sent into the barricade as well. Back in and Rhino nails him with a kendo stick but a low blow stops a chair shot. Carter whips him with a belt and wedges a trashcan in the corner. We get a Hogan hand to the ear for no apparent reason before Ethan nails him in the back with a chair. A quick belly to belly drops Carter but the Gore hits the trashcan. The 1%er onto the chair pins Rhino at 5:25.
Rating: C-. The New York crowds have been awesome but I can’t wait to get to another city so we don’t have to have a hardcore match almost every week. We get it: this was ECW’s building. Let it die already. I can’t really see much more for Rhino in TNA after this but he wasn’t exactly a long term guy anyway.
Chris Melendez talks about performing in front of his hometown crowd and turning DJZ’s confidence into a victory.
The Knockouts are in the ring for the announcement of the covergirl for the 2015 Knockouts calender. Angelina thinks it’s her but Velvet wins. Angelina is shocked but Havok comes out to destroy everyone. She holds up the title belt and the Beautiful People look terrified.
Bound For Glory is still coming to Tokyo. Nothing has changed in the week since they told you that.
James Storm and Sanada are at their house in the woods where Manik is tied up. Storm rips Manik’s mask off and tells the cameras to leave.
Clips of Lashley’s win in Bellator MMA.
Gail looks for Havok.
James Storm/Great Sanada vs. Austin Aries/Tajiri
Sanada and Tajiri get things going in a technical sequence. Off to Aries for a top rope ax handle followed by some chops in the corner. There’s the Last Chancery but Storm makes a quick save. Aries hits the suicide dive to take both of them down but Storm offers some cheating to take over. A knee and legdrop get two on Aries but he escapes the Eye of the Storm and nails the discus foreman. Off to Tajiri for the handspring elbow and a superkick to Sanada. Tajiri tries the Mist but gets caught in the Tarantula for his efforts. Storm spits beer in Tajiri’s face though, allowing Sanada to superkick Tajiri for the pin at 7:03.
Rating: C. I’ve always liked Tajiri and I’m digging this Storm alliance. He’s a great talker and someone that is capable of being a top star in the company if TNA would quit cutting off his legs. In theory this leads to Muta getting involved at Bound For Glory, though I’m not sure who he would be teaming with.
The Hardys have beaten Team 3D in a tables match before so Team 3D better be ready.
Kim finds Havok and gets beaten up as a result. They’re still fighting after we get back from a break with Gail spearing Havok on the ramp. Havok beats up security for trying to break it up.
We run down the No Surrender card for next week, including Roode vs. Lashley, Joe defending against Homicide and a Knockouts battle royal.
Tag Team Title Series: Team 3D vs. Wolves vs. Hardys
The Wolves are defending but only 3D can win the titles here. This is a tables match where only one person has to go through a table for the win. Everyone quickly heads outside and the fans already want tables. Bully and Matt hammer away on each other inside with Matt getting caught in What’s Up. Team 3D wants tables and draws the loudest pop of the night so far. The Wolves try to baseball slide the table into their faces but get blasted with it instead. The Hardys’ baseball slide connects though and we take a break.
Back with D-Von moving the table to save the match, earning him a dropkick from Eddie. Ray tries a Doomsday Device to Edwards but Jeff and Davey make the save. Davey fights off both members of Team 3D but walks into a hard double shoulder. The Hardys set up a table in the corner but Jeff misses a dropkick to drive himself through the table instead. Team 3D loads up another table on the ramp and try a suplex on Matt until the Wolves hit stereo suicide dives for the save.
Jeff bridges a table upside down between the steps and the apron and sets up the legs to make it even more dangerous. Edwards takes him down with a big dive though and it’s Matt vs. Davey in the ring now. Team 3D breaks it up and slides in the table that Jeff set up outside. The Wolves take them out though and break the corner off the table in the process. Jeff dives over the top to take out Bully and Matt gives Eddie an elevated Twist of Fate out of the corner. Eddie is laid on a table and Jeff nails a Swanton through for the win at 15:16.
Rating: B-. It’s a really good main event though not as good as the regular match they had a few weeks back. The series is the best thing TNA has going right now and while it’s not going to last long term, it’s enjoyable while it’s lasting and that’s all it needs to do. Goods tuff here and I’m sure the finals at Bound For Glory will rock.
The Hardys climb a ladder and make the obvious choice for next week.
Overall Rating: C+. TNA’s roll continues as this was another solid episode. The main event stole the show of course and you can pencil in the final match for Bound For Glory. The midcard stuff is starting to shape up for the show as you can see most of the card fro here. On the other hand, the main event scene is kind of a mess and I have almost no idea where they’re going.
In theory Roode loses next week by shenanigans and there’s a rematch in Tokyo, but that’s about as lame of an idea as they could go with. Of course there’s always the multiman option if they really want to make the show feel lame. TNA really needs a hero to stand up for them that isn’t named Angle or Hardy. Right now Roode or Joe (and that’s a bigger stretch than Joe in a medium t-shirt) are their best options and that doesn’t exactly get my hopes up. Good stuff this week but they need to firm up more plans for Bound For Glory.
Results
Chris Melendez b. DJZ – Samoan drop
Eric Young/Bobby Roode/Samoa Joe b. Lashley/MVP/Kenny King – Roode Bomb to MVP
BroMans/Velvet Sky b. Menagerie – Rollup to Rebel
Ethan Carter III b. Rhino – 1%er onto a chair
James Storm/Great Sanada b. Tajiri/Austin Aries – Superkick to Tajiri
Hardys b. Team 3D and the Wolves – Swanton Bomb to Edwards
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of ECW Pay Per Views at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Today is someone that had one heck of a clothesline: Bull Buchanan.
Buchanan got started in 1995 in SMW as the Punisher. He went about as far as you could go in that promotion before heading to the USWA as Recon of the Truth Commission. The team would be called up to the WWF in mid 1997. We’ll pick things up at the 1997 Survivor Series.
Truth Commission vs. Disciples of Apocalypse
Jackyl, Interrogator, Sniper, Recon
Crush, 8-Ball, Skull, Chainz
The Truth Commission is based on a real South African thing, where there were a lot of crimes were committed during Apartheid and the government said “tell the truth that you committed/witnessed these crimes and say you’re sorry.” Amazingly enough it calmed a lot of people down and made the situation a lot better. That being said, I have NO idea why it’s used as a wrestling gimmick. In short, they’re a military themed group. That sums them up as simply as I can.
Jackyl is the leader and is more famous as Cyrus in ECW. Interrogator is Kurrgan and the real star of the team. Sniper is a French Canadian wrestler who means nothing at all and Recon is Bull Buchanan. Crush is Crush, 8-Ball and Skull are big twins and Chainz is Brian Lee from ECW. This really doesn’t scream interesting to me but this is during the Gang Warz period which didn’t ever do anything for me.
Interrogator and Chainz start things off after a brawl with Chainz hammering away but having no visible effect. A sidewalk slam eliminates Chainz in about a minute. Off to Recon vs. 8-Ball with Recon hitting a World’s Strongest Slam for no cover. Jackyl comes in for what might be the only match he ever wrestled in WWF. Apparently that’s almost true as he only had some Shotgun Saturday Night matches other than this. He’s much better as a manager anyway.
Jackyl drops a top rope knee which is immediately no sold. He chops away a bit but walks into a sidewalk slam for the pin to make it 3-3. Sniper jumps 8-Ball and hits some elbows for two as Jackyl is on commentary now. Off to Crush, the leader of the team, who stomps away on Sniper a bit. Recon comes back in to face Skull and they collide, sending Skull to the floor. 8-Ball comes in illegally and clotheslines Recon down for the pin.
Sniper comes in to beat on Skull but gets caught in a double spinebuster from the twins for two. Interrogator hits 8-Ball from the apron and Sniper hits a bulldog for the elimination, making it 2-2. If this match sounds like a total mess that is hard to follow, it’s because that’s being nice about what’s going on.
Off to Crush for a figure four headscissors on Recon. Skull (I’m picking the names arbitrarily. It makes absolutely no difference at all and JR has no idea which is which anyway) DDTs Sniper but walks into a sidewalk slam from Interrogator for the pin. It’s Crush vs. Sniper and Interrogator and Crush immediately powerslams Sniper down for the pin. Interrogator is in the ring before the pin hits and ANOTHER FREAKING SIDEWALK SLAM gives Interrogator the final pin and the victory.
Rating: F. In ten minutes, we had seven eliminations, FOUR of which were by the SAME FREAKING MOVE. This was another match where just like the first, there was no one out there that could carry things to make the match work in any way. It makes Interrogator looks good, but it barely accomplished that because of how bad the match was.
This one has to be better. From Raw on January 5, 1998.
Sniper/Recon vs. Skull/8-Ball
This is an interesting pair of teams. Sniper/Recon (Recon is more famous as Bull Buchanan) are part of the Truth Commission led by Jackyl who was going to be a huge part of a major angle but was more or less thrown out of the company after being a jerk in general. He wound up in ECW as Cyrus.
Skull/8-Ball are the Disciples of Apocalypse, a biker team that was part of a biker faction. This was a very faction heavy time as there was also the Nation and Los Boricuas, the Latino gang. There you have four factions with 16 guys combined. That covers a lot of ground. The DOA here are more famous as the Harris Brothers, Creative Control, and the Blu Brothers in the mid 90s. Why they kept getting hired is beyond me.
Jackyl gets on commentary here. He goes on one of his rants as Recon beats up Skull. Swinging neckbreaker puts Recon down. Ok Recon is bald. Got it. Hot tags on both ends as the crowd doesn’t seem to care. Here comes Kurrgan, the monster of the Truth Commission, as Skull hits a DDT on Sniper to get the win.
Rating: D-. Wow this was uneventful. These factions feuded for what felt like ever and nothing ever came of it. They all kind of just went away with nothing to show for it, much like a lot of other stuff during the Attitude Era. Nothing to see here other than more weak build for the Rumble where the winner was never once in doubt.
Well….it was better. We’ll try again on Raw, February 9, 1998.
Steve Blackman vs. Recon
Recon is more famous as Bull Buchanan. A few seconds into the match the Jackyl’s music plays and a pulpit comes down from the ceiling with him behind it as he talks about how evil wrestling and this company is. A leg drop from Recon gets two as it’s hard to tell what’s going on in the match as we keep looking at Jackyl. It would be a lot more impressive if he didn’t look at his script every 2 seconds. Sniper, the partner of Recaon, beats on Blackman a bit on the floor and sends him into the steps just because he can.
Sunset flip gets two for Blackman. HORRIBLE Russian leg sweep gets no cover as no one has gone after Jackyl to yell at him. Ross finally says we have a match going on by the way. Granted the match kind of sucks but who cares? Top rope elbow by Blackman misses but Recon misses a rotating splash and a chest stretch ends this clean. This whole match was one long promo by Jackyl. No rating due to me missing most of the match due to the camera being on Jackyl.
Due to what should be obvious reasons, Buchanan was sent to OVW for a lot of training. He would return nearly two years later under the name of Bull Buchahan as Big Boss Man’s partner. They would open Wrestlemania XVI.
Godfather/D’Lo Brown vs. Big Boss Man/Bull Buchanan
Ice-T raps Godfather and Brown to the ring. Apparently it’s pimp or die, which I think might be taking it a bit too far. Buchanan and Brown get things going to prevent us from having a future RTC matchup. D’Lo tries a quick O’Connor Roll but only gets two. Boss Man tries to come in but gets run over by Godfather. Off to Godfather for a clothesline and the spinning legdrop but an elbow misses.
Godfather gets beaten on for a bit but comes back with a hook kick for two. Back to Brown who is almost immediately caught by Buchanan for even more pain. D’Lo pounds on Buchanan in the corner as this is going nowhere so far. Of all people, Bull gets things moving a bit better by climbing the corner for a spinning clothesline. Bull puts him in 619 position and both heels slide under the ropes for a double uppercut.
A clothesline gets two more for Bull and everything breaks down for a few seconds. That goes nowhere so we go back to Buchanan pounding on Brown in the corner. Now we keep the excitement going with a bearhug. Boss Man comes in for some double teaming and does his best to get the fans to care at all.
Brown’s cross body is caught in a backbreaker for two from both guys but as Buchanan goes up, Godfather crotches him down. Brown comes back with a nice top rope rana to put Buchanan down on the mat, allowing for the hot tag to Godfather. House is cleaned and there’s the Ho Train to Boss Man. Bull breaks up the Low Down though, allowing the Boss Man Slam to set up a guillotine legdrop on D’Lo for the pin.
Rating: D+. Who in the world thought this was the right idea for an opening match? They were WAY off base with each other here and the match suffered a lot as a result. This didn’t work on almost any level and on top of all that, the popular team loses. The whole point of an opening is to fire up a crowd, so having one of the most over acts in the company lose was a dumb way to start things off. Just a bad match all around.
He’s on an upswing! Let’s keep going with Raw on April 10, 2000.
The Rock vs. ???
It’s pin/submission/escape here. The opponent(s) are Boss Man and Buchanan, as introduced by HHH and company. Rock fires away on both guys to start before the numbers catch up with him. Both guys beat him down and go for the escape but Rock pulls them both down in a nice display of athleticism. Rock goes to escape but Shane climbs the cage for the save, allowing Buchanan to crotch Rock for the real stop.
A legdrop gets two for Buchanan and Rock is still in trouble. Gee, who would have bet on him getting beaten down this much to start? The ax kick from Bull puts Rock down again for two from both big guys and they’re getting frustrated three minutes into the match. There’s a double suplex to Rock and things slow down a lot. A lot of choking ensues and Rock is sent into the cage.
Buchanan tries the one cool move he can do, a spinning clothesline off the top, but it hits Boss Man by mistake. Rock makes his comeback and hits a Samoan Drop on Bull for two before walking into a sidewalk slam from Boss Man for two. Rock knocks Boss Man down and sees Buchanan trying to leave. He hits Bull in the back and catches a jumping Bull in a Rock Bottom for the pin out of nowhere.
Rating: C. Did anyone not know the ending from the opening bell here? The fans were into it but it doesn’t do much this many years later. At the end of the day there was no way Rock wasn’t winning here off a Rock Bottom out of nowhere. It sets up HHH vs. Rock though at one of the best shows ever so I can’t complain much about that.
From a few months later on Raw, June 5, 2000.
Hardy Boys vs. Bull Buchanan/Big Bossman
Bull starts with Matt and a big boot puts Matt down. Off to Boss Man as Lita is watching in the back, having not yet hooked up with the brothers yet. Back to Bull for a backbreaker but he misses a leg drop. Off to Jeff who speeds things up as everything breaks down. Jeff hits a quick Swanton on Bull for the win. This was nothing.
Buchanan would join Right to Censor, including this match at Summerslam 2000.
Right to Censor vs. Too Cool/Rikishi
Too Cool and Rikishi are WAY over at this point and even won the tag titles over the summer. The RTC is Richards/Goodfather/Bull Buchanan at this point. Some of Goodfather’s former women come out with Rikishi, one of which would become known as Victoria. It’s a big brawl to start until we get Scotty pounding on Buchanan. Hotty backflips over Buchanan and pulls him down before getting two off a high cross body. Off to Sexay for a double suplex before Goodfather comes in and falls to the floor. He shoves Victoria down before punching Sexay in the face to take over.
Buchanan gets in some shots of his own and it’s off to Richards for his cheap shots. A powerbomb gets two and JR sounds stunned. Steven gets crotched on top and superplexed down allowing for the hot tag to Rikishi. The fat man cleans house and Victoria throws Richards back in the ring. The RTC is sent into the corner with Too Cool being launched into all of them at once, but Bull gets in a quick ax kick to take the Samoan down. Scotty loads up the Worm but Steven kicks his head off for the pin.
Rating: C. Basic six man tag here to get the crowd going. A fast paced act like Too Cool and Rikishi is always a great choice to start up a show as the crowd gets fired up for the entrance and hopefully stays hot for the rest of the show. The RTC was a fine choice for a heel stable as they took away what the fans wanted to see and the people were glad to see them get beaten up.
Buchanan and Goodfather would get a Tag Team Title shot on Raw, November 6, 2000.
Tag Team Titles: Right to Censor vs. Hardy Boys
The Hardys are defending of course. Lita spears Ivory and hammers away before the match starts, earning a double ejection. The champions double team Buchanan to start and get two off a double suplex. Matt is sent throat first into the middle rope and choked by Goodfather as the challengers take over. A belly to back suplex gets two for Goodfather and he drops Matt with a boot to the chest.
Matt breaks up a superplex and nails a top rope legdrop, allowing the hot tag to Jeff. Everything breaks down and the referee gets knocked to the floor. Goodfather is sent to the floor for a top rope clothesline from Matt. Jeff hits the Swanton on Buchanan but there’s no referee. Edge and Christian hit the ring for a distraction, allowing Steven Richards nail Jeff with a title belt to give Goodfather the pin and the titles.
Rating: D+. This was more about Edge and Christian vs. the Hardys than the new champions but at least they finally did something with the RTC. The team was never going to be anything major so giving them the midcard titles is about as good as they were going to get. Not much to see here.
After losing the titles, the RTC would face the APA on Christmas night, 2000.
Right to Censor vs. APA
It’s Buchanan/Godfather this time. Buchanan gives a very southern promo, talking about how evil the Dudleys are. Bradshaw starts with Godfather and the beating begins. Farrooq and Buchanan come in and the bald one takes a spinebuster. Bradshaw comes in and runs people over, including a top rope shoulder. Ivory interferes and Jackie runs her over. They get in the ring because Jackie has to get on my nerves at least once a year. Val Venis uses the distraction to run in and DDT Bradshaw. A Buchanan legdrop ends this. The match was nothing.
Commissioner William Regal would use the RTC as minions to attack Chris Jericho. From Raw, March 12, 2001.
Chris Jericho vs. Right To Censor
All four of them here, as in Richards, Venis, Buchanan and Goodfather. Oh and Ivory is chilling there also. At the very least they have to tag so this won’t be a total slaughter. Buchanan starts as this is luckily non-title. No idea why Regal didn’t want the title on the line but I doubt it matters for the most part. Middle rope dropkick sets up the bulldog and the Lionsault but Goodfather makes the save.
Off to Venis now as the problem becomes clear: none of the RTC are that good. Regal would keep sending these matches against Jericho for awhile including a handicap tables match with the Dudleys. The RTC finally triple teams him to take over for Venis. Venis gets a Russian leg sweep and it’s off to Goodfather. Jericho fights them off but walks into a Steven Kick which gets them nowhere as the heels have some miscommunications and start brawling as Jericho gets the Walls on Val and then Buchanan and then Goodfather, only for Val to get a powerbomb move for the pin.
Rating: C. For a 4-1 match this wasn’t all that bad. The idea of stacking the deck against Jericho was a good idea which resulted in Jericho beating Regal at the PPV for the IC Title before losing it to him at Backlash I think. Not bad here but really nothing they could go anywhere with as he wasn’t going to beat four guys.
After the team disbanded, Buchanan was sent back to OVW. He would return in late 2002, including this match on Velocity, August 10, 2002.
Mike Awesome vs. Bull Buchanan
Bull now has short red trunks and a blond mohawk. Awesome quickly clotheslines him out to the floor and nails a big dive to take over. Back in and a top rope clothesline gets two on Bull but he comes back with a neckbreaker for two of his own. Buchanan nails him with the running corner clothesline and we hit the chinlock. They head back to the floor with Awesome getting sent into the steps. It doesn’t seem to have much of an effect though as he comes back in with a slingshot shoulder. The Awesome Splash misses and Buchanan ends him with a guillotine legdrop.
Rating: D+. Awesome is always fun to watch and the match was a decent enough power brawl for four minutes. Buchanan does look a lot better here, but at the end of the day this is just a match on Velocity and not Raw or Smackdown. Awesome being treated like this still doesn’t make sense to me as he could have been a fairly big deal if treated as something other than a big jobber.
Buchanan would head off to Japan after this for a long run in AJPW. Here he is on July 18, 2004. This is one heck of a lineup.
Animal/Robert Gibson/Gran Hamada vs. Jamal/Buchanan/Taka Michinoku
Jamal and Hamada are about to start but Jamal tags out to Taka to make it fair. That sends Hamada over to tag in Animal…..who tags Hamada right back in before there’s any contact made. Hamada picks the ankle to start and easily takes Taka down to the mat. Back up and Hamada tries a Fujiwara Armbar but Taka is quickly in the ropes. A tilt-a-whirl slam gets two on Taka and it’s off to Gibson vs. Buchanan.
Robert’s full nelson has no effect so he tries it a few more times until Buchanan climbs the ropes. Gibson is the first smart guy ever as he just lets Buchanan fall to the mat instead of letting himself get rolled up. Buchanan hammers away in the corner before going Old School into a neckbreaker. Gibson avoids a legdrop and rolls over to tag Animal. Buchanan tags Jamal and it’s time for the big power showdown.
They lock up with both guys being shoved into the corners. With that going nowhere, Jamal runs Animal over with a clothesline and tags Taka, who dives into a powerslam for two. Back to Gibson who drops some knees before bringing Hamada in. The heels (I think?) take over on Hamada in the corner with Buchanan pounding away with right hands and a slam. Back to Jamal for some elbow drops before Hamada is put in the corner for a running dropkick, splash and Umaga Attack for two more.
Buchanan hits the top rope clothesline and Jamal adds the top rope splash but Animal makes the save. Taka superkicks him for the same but Hamada scores with a tornado DDT. It’s off to Buchanan vs. Gibson as everything breaks down. Buchanan loads up a powerbomb on Hamada but gets hurricanranaed down. An ax kick is enough to put Hamada down for three.
Rating: C. This was a nice mix of tag wrestlers in a big six man and the match wasn’t too bad. Buchanan looks much better as a power guy just there to beat people up rather than trying to fit him into a character or stable. Granted that’s something that works a lot better in a place like Japan where it’s more about the action than the characters and promos.
We’ll wrap things up with a tag match from Pro Wrestling Noah from November 14, 2008.
Keith Walker/Buchanan vs. Akira Taue/Takeshi Morishima
It’s a brawl to start and all four guys head out to the floor. The Americans have the early advantage with both guys choking away and Buchanan using a table as a bonus. Taue comes back with a chair to Buchanan’s ribs and a DDT onto a platform. Walker has a bit more luck with Morishima by sending him into the barricade and nailing him in the ribs with a chair. Keith and Takeshi get back inside with Takeshi backdropping out of a powerbomb attempt and sitting on Walker’s chest.
Taue comes in for a double big boot followed by a series of running boots to the face in the corner. Walker finally comes back with a clothesline and makes the tag to Buchanan to clean house. A knee drop gets two on Taue and a claw slam gets the same. Morishima comes back in with a missile dropkick but Buchanan kicks him in the face. Back to Walker for two off a spear and a chokebomb to the hugh Morishima but Taue makes the save. Keith charges into the post though and Taue chokeslams Takeshi onto Walker for two. A Saito Suplex is enough to pin Walker.
Rating: C-. This was fine save for the barrage of boots to the face. It’s like the chops and forearms in ROH: do something else already. The match was another big power brawl and there’s nothing wrong with that. Walker was even more of a muscle guy that Buchanan but somehow with less variety to his style.
Buchanan is a guy that is fine as a monster in a stable or tag team but he was never going to be a star on his own. He had some good agility though and that’s more something that always impressive in guys his size. The RTC run wasn’t bad at all but Buchanan was a guy that did stuff which was topped by other guys his size.
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