Summerslam Count-Up – 1988: The Last of the Brilliant Minds
We’re finally at the final of the Big Four WWE shows with Summerslam. Back in 1987, it was clear that pay per view was a big deal for the company, so Survivor Series was added to the schedule. That show was a huge success as well, so why not add a third pay per view on top of it? The new show was Summerslam which made its debut in 1988. The show was coming off the very successful Wrestlemania IV with Randy Savage as the WWF Champion, meaning the company was firing on all cylinders. Over the next 26 days I’ll be counting down the shows leading up to the 2014 edition, including a brand new 2013 review. Let’s get to it.
Summerslam 1988 Date: August 29, 1988
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 20,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Billy Graham
The main event here is Hogan/Savage vs. DiBiase/Andre in a match billed as Mega Powers vs. Mega Bucks. Allegedly the plan was to have Ric Flair jump from the NWA and challenge Savage for the title but Flair backed out, giving us the tag match instead. Other than that we have Honky Tonk Man defending his title against a mystery opponent and the Hart Foundation challenging Demolition for the tag titles. The card wasn’t exactly stacked for this show. Let’s get to it.
The opening video has what would become the Royal Rumble theme song set over shots of the four guys in the main event plus their managers, Virgil and Miss Elizabeth.
Fabulous Rougeaus vs. British Bulldogs
These two teams could not stand each other behind the scenes, eventually reaching the point where the Bulldogs left the company as a result. Davey jumps Jacques to start and rams him into turnbuckle after turnbuckle to put him down. Smith throws Jacques over to Raymond for a tag in a nice display of bravado. Off to Dynamite for a quick headbutt and a slam to keep Raymond in trouble.
Off to an armbar by Dynamite Kid before Davey comes back in for one of his own. Dynamite comes back in with a wicked clothesline to take Raymond’s head off. Chris Benoit idolized Dynamite and you can see so many of Benoit’s moves when you watch Dynamite’s matches. Davey comes in and trades some snappy rollups before it’s back to Dynamite to continue cranking on the arm.
Davey comes in again but Jacques trips him up to shift control to the Canadians. It’s off to some leg work now as Jacques kicks away at Davey’s hamstring. The Rougeaus start tagging in and out with Ray coming in to drop some knees on the hamstring before Jacques comes back in to pull on the leg. Ray comes back in sans tag to pull on the leg before Jacques puts on a spinning toehold. Davey finally gets back up and monkey flips Ray down, allowing for the tag to Dynamite.
The Kid speeds things way up and sends Ray out to the floor, triggering a brawl between Davey and Raymond. Back inside and Davey hits the powerslam but Jacques breaks it up before a one count. Dynamite comes back in for the headbutt but Jacques drills him with a belly to back suplex for two. Off to an abdominal stretch by Jacques followed by a camel clutch from both Rougeaus. Kid fights up and rams Ray into the buckle to escape but it’s right back to the abdominal stretch by Jacques.
Dynamite finally fights up again and headbutts Jacques down to bring in Davey. Jacques immediately grabs the rope to avoid a dropkick but gets caught in a gorilla press onto the top rope. Everything breaks down and Davey picks up Dynamite to launch him into a headbutt on Jacques, but the time limit expires before there can be a cover.
Rating: C+. This was a solid opener as the fans were staying hot throughout the extended rest holds. The parts with both teams brawling and getting to move around made for a much better match, but you can’t do that for twenty minutes when you’re going for the draw. Draws were much more commonplace back in the 80s so this was nothing that odd to see.
We see Ron Bass attacking Brutus Beefcake and busting him open with a spur. The big red X saying CENSORED which doesn’t actually cover the cut on Brutus’ head is hilarious. Brutus won’t be able to challenge Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Title tonight but there’s an unnamed replacement.
Bad News Brown vs. Ken Patera
Patera is a former Olympic weightlifter who has seen far better days. Bad News is a former Olympian as well, having won a bronze medal in Judo. Brown goes right after Patera during Ken’s entrance and drops a quick elbow for no cover. Patera comes back with a clothesline and takes his jacket off to really get things going. A back elbow puts Bad News down but an elbow drop misses. Brown stomps away on the apron as we’re firmly in punch and kick mode here.
Patera blocks a backdrop with a kick to the chest and gets two off a bad backbreaker. Off to a bearhug by Patera but Brown pokes him in the eye to escape. Patera can’t get his full nelson on in either attempt at the hold so he botches a charge into the corner instead, hitting the post shoulder first. The Ghetto Blaster (enziguri) is enough for the pin by Brown.
Rating: F. Patera was terrible by this point, not even being able to run into Brown’s elbow in the corner properly. Even the announcers were suggesting that he retire at this point, which I believe he did soon after. This match was nothing more than punching and kicking which doesn’t make for a very entertaining few minutes. It’s a product of the times on house shows that, which for all intents and purposes is what this show is: a big house show with a big main event.
Ad for a boxing PPV which had some kind of promotional deal with WWF.
The Mega Powers (Hogan/Savage/Liz) are hyped up for the main event and say that Liz is their secret weapon.
Rick Rude vs. Junkyard Dog
Just like in the previous match, the good guy is jumped during his entrance. This time though Rude is backdropped down and headbutted to the floor for a hug from Heenan. Back in and Dog misses a headbutt, allowing Rude to hit Dog with a top rope axhandle. Rude pounds away on the head as Graham shouts that it won’t work. Instead it’s off to a chinlock by Rick as the match slows way down.
Back up and Dog pounds away in the corner but stops to go after Heenan. A Russian legsweep puts Dog down, and Rude goes up top. Instead of immediately diving off though, Rude takes his own tights down to reveal another pair with Cheryl Roberts (as in Jake’s wife) on them. Jake charges in for the DQ as you would expect him to do.
Rating: D. The match sucked but it’s miles ahead of the previous match. If nothing else Dog had some great charisma and kept the crowd in it, as opposed to Patera who put the crowd to sleep seconds after the bell rang. The Dog was just a jobber at this point and would be in WCW by the end of the year.
The Dog is mad post match but nothing comes of it.
Honky Tonk Man, like the dolt that he is, doesn’t want to know the identity of his mystery opponent. He says he wants to be surprised.
Powers of Pain vs. Bolsheviks
The Powers (Barbarian and Warlord) are still faces here and have the Baron (Von Raschke) with them. Just like in the previous two matches the brawl is on as soon as the good guys hit the ring. The Powers double clothesline Boris Zhukov as Volkoff tries to sneak in for a cheap shot. Barbarian easily catches him coming in and sends him flying until we get down to Barbarian vs. Boris to start things off.
Boris puts his head down and…..something happens (it looked like a choke but it’s not really clear) before it’s off to Warlord for a gutwrench suplex on Zhukov. Both Russians double team Warlord but they can’t even get him down to his knees. Nikolai chokes away before Boris puts on a chinlock. The Russians have a double backdrop broken up and it’s off to Barbarian again. Everything breaks down and it’s a double shoulder followed by a swan dive to Boris for the pin.
Rating: D. Another lame match here but the Powers looked decent. The Baron would be gone in a few weeks as the company wasn’t pleased that a dark character was getting cheered, so they turned Demolition and their evil S&M looking gear face instead. Also did the Russians ever actually win a major match?
Ad for Survivor Series.
Here’s the Brother Love Show with a bell ringing to start it for some reason. After a minute or two of talking about love, he introduces his guest: Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Duggan says that he loves the country and that Love is a fake. Love thinks that Dino Bravo knows the meaning of love and loves his country (Canada), but Duggan says that the people of Canada don’t respect Bravo. Duggan says this isn’t Sunday school and he’ll police this company if need be. Love says he doesn’t see a badge on Duggan, but Jim says his 2×4 will do just fine. Duggan gives him a five count to leave and Love is gone at four. This was pointless.
Same boxing ad as earlier.
Intercontinental Title: Honky Tonk Man vs. ???
Honky says to get him someone out here to wrestle and he doesn’t care who it is. After a few seconds, the Ultimate Warrior charges to the ring, pounds Honky with right hands, hits a shoulder block and splashes him for the pin and the title in thirty seconds. The crowd ERUPTS, as this is what they’ve been waiting over a year to see.
So why was this so awesome? This was one of the most perfectly told stories the WWF ever produced and they nailed it every step of the way. Back in 1987, Ricky Steamboat was Intercontinental Champion but wanted to take some time off. The solution was to put the title on the comedic newcomer the Honky Tonk Man, who cheated to win the belt. Honky viewed as a total joke as champion due to his lack of skill and his gimmick of a wrestling Elvis impersonator.
The fans looked at him as someone who would lose the title the first time he defended it against someone far more competent than he was so it wasn’t that big of a deal. This is where Vince had the fans: what if Honky just didn’t lose the title? If there is one thing pure fans hate, it’s seeing a guy who doesn’t deserve a title holding onto it against people they like. Honky did this for the next 18 months by coming up with every way imaginable to cheat, ranging from getting counted out, disqualified, having Jimmy Hart interfere, walking out of matches and all points in between.
Honky continued to hold the title against far better talent, such as Jim Duggan, Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat and Brutus Beefcake, with the idea being “he has to lose eventually.” All of a sudden, Honky was one of the biggest draws around because people would pay their money to see him get beaten up, thinking that the lucky streak couldn’t go on much longer. Well the streak DID keep going, stretching into the longest title reign in the history of the belt which still stands to this day and will likely never be broken.
This is why having Warrior out there was so brilliant. Warrior was the last guy on earth that you would expect to pull off something clever, but he did what everyone else had overlooked: he didn’t bother trying to outsmart Honky, but instead just ran over him and beat him in thirty seconds. This is EXACTLY what the fans had wanted to see for over a year and they got it to perfection. That’s the kind of storytelling that you never get anymore which is a shame.
Regis Philbin is here.
Survivor Series is coming, so here’s a four minute highlight reel from last year’s show. This must be intermission.
Sugar Ray Leonard, one of the boxers in the advertised show, thanks Vince for promoting his fight.
Video on Leonard and his opponent in the fight Donny Lelonde.
Lelonde talks a bit as well.
Leonard says he’ll win.
We see the intro video from the beginning of the show again.
Bobby Heenan comes up to the announcers’ booth and says that DiBiase is counting his money while Andre reads the Wall Street Journal. The Mega Powers are currently cowering in their locker room.
Dino Bravo vs. Don Muraco
These two fought at Wrestlemania earlier in the year as well. This is power vs. power so they shove each other around to start. Some armdrags put Bravo on the floor before heading back in for a hiptoss. Off to an armbar by Muraco but Bravo comes back with an atomic drop to take over. A Russian legsweep puts Bravo down but Muraco has to go after Bravo’s manager Frenchy Martin. The referee gets kicked but nothing comes of it, allowing Bravo to hit his side slam for the pin.
Rating: D-. Somehow that match ran five and a half minutes. Muraco would also be gone soon before the end of the year and it’s not hard to see why. He was nowhere near as bad as Patera earlier but it was clear that his best days were behind him. Bravo would become Earthquake’s lackey soon after this and have the most productive time of his career.
Another Survivor Series ad.
Jesse Ventura says that he’s going to be impartial as the guest referee in the main event despite taking money from DiBiase.
Tag Titles: Hart Foundation vs. Demolition
Demolition is defending and the Harts don’t even get an entrance. The champions have Mr. Fuji and the Harts’ former manager Jimmy Hart with them. Bret and Ax start things off with Ax pounding Hitman down like he’s nothing. Bret avoids an elbow drop and it’s off to Anvil (Jim Neidhart) vs. Smash with Neidhart taking over. Ax hits a knee to Jim’s back from the apron and the champions take over again.
Neidhart gets in a punch to Ax’s face and it’s off to Hart vs. Smash again. Smash will have nothing to do with this selling stuff and whips Bret shoulder first into the post as the champions get their first extended advantage. Bret’s bad arm is caught up in the ropes and both champs pound away on the injured limb. Smash bends Bret’s arm around his own leg Off to Ax for more cranking on the arm. Bret is shockingly not selling it all that well.
Smash sends the arm into the post again and Bret is in big trouble on the outside. Back in and Ax pounds away while Graham is SCREAMING at Anvil to do something. Bret comes back with a clothesline with the injured arm but the referee misses the tag. Smash charges into a knee in the corner and now the referee sees the tag. Anvil comes in and cleans house, even slingshotting over the top onto Smash on the floor. Back in and Bret throws Anvil into Smash in the corner for two before everything breaks down. Neidhart goes after Fuji, allowing Ax to hit Bret in the back with the megaphone to retain.
Rating: B-. This took some time to get going but once Bret got in and started selling, it was all awesome. Demolition would hold the titles for nearly another year in the longest tag title reign in company history. These teams would go at it again in two years in one of the most entertaining tag matches ever. This was good stuff, but they were capable of much better.
Boxing ad.
Honky is going NUTS in the back, ranting about how this isn’t fair.
Big Boss Man vs. Koko B. Ware
Boss Man is brand new here. This wasn’t included on the home video version for reasons that I’ve never figured out. It was probably a time thing though. Koko fires away to start and staggers the very fat Boss Man with a dropkick. Boss Man is one of the best cases of weight loss you’ll ever see as he lost probably 100lbs in a year and a half, making him MUCH smoother in the ring.
Koko charges into a front facelock and Boss Man pounds him down with a forearm to the back. A splash in the corner crushes Ware but Boss Man pulls him up at two. Off to a surfboard hold but Koko rolls forward and kicks Boss Man in the face. A stiff right hand puts Koko down again but Boss Man misses a top rope splash. Boss Man misses another splash in the corner and a missile dropkick gets two for Koko. Ware charges again but gets dropped face first onto the post, followed by the Boss Man Slam for the easy pin.
Rating: D. This went WAY too long for a squash early on in Boss Man’s run with the company. The match wasn’t terrible and Koko looked good with the high flying stuff, but therein lies the problem: there’s no reason to have Koko look so good here. He should have gotten destroyed in about three minutes as opposed to being somewhat competitive in twice as long.
Boss Man hits Koko with the nightstick post match.
Survivor Series ad. Again.
Ultimate Warrior celebrates in the back and talks about it being like a comic book tonight. He’ll be on the next spaceship to Parts Unknown.
Jake Roberts vs. Hercules
Jake goes for the snake but it’s merely a ploy to get in some quick right hands. A knee lift puts Herc down but Jake can’t hook the DDT. Instead it’s a headlock and Hercules can’t even break it with a belly to back suplex. Herc escapes and drops some elbows for no cover. Off to a chinlock on the Snake as Graham says you can use this to talk to your opponent. In non-announcer speak: it’s a nice way to call spots. A lot of spots could be called here as Herc keeps the hold on for well over a minute.
Jake finally fights up and tries a hammerlock but gets elbowed in the face for his efforts. Roberts pulls Herc from the apron to the floor, only to have his neck snapped across the top rope as Hercules comes back in. We hit the chinlock again but Jake immediately jawbreaks his way out of it. The short clothesline looks to set up the DDT but Hercules backdrops out of it. Herc drops an elbow for two but Jake slips out of a slam and knocks Hercules out lukewarm with the DDT for the pin.
Rating: C-. The match was nothing special but it certainly wasn’t bad. The DDT looked great and the fans went nuts for it so you can’t say they didn’t get what they wanted. Hercules was fine for a role like this as he was strong enough to be a threat to anyone but rarely won anything. Decent little match here actually.
We recap the buildup to the main event. Andre seemed to be challenging Savage for a world title shot but DiBiase jumped Randy from behind, allowing Andre to choke Savage down. The Mega Bucks challenged Savage to a tag match which Savage accepted, saying that he would announce his partner later. If you didn’t know who that was from a mile away, you fail as a wrestling fan. Jesse Ventura, long time Hogan hater, is guest referee for no apparent reason. Andre intimidated Jesse and DiBiase paid Jesse off so the fix is in.
Mega Powers vs. Mega Bucks
Jesse sends all three managers (Virgil, Heenan and Liz) to the floor but not to the back. He also makes the teams change corners for no apparent reason. Savage gets to fight Andre to start but it’s quickly off to DiBiase. He wants Hogan and gets both Hulk and an atomic drop into a right hand from Savage. Hogan pounds DiBiase as well and it’s off to Savage for some double elbows. A top rope ax handle gets two for Savage off a slow count from Ventura.
Andre comes in to beat Hogan down but Jesse is with Liz. Now the Giant comes in legally and sits on Hogan’s chest a few times before putting on a nerve hold. With DiBiase coming in sans tag, Andre chokes away with his singlet. Ted comes in legally for a near fall off a clothesline before dropping those trademark fists of his. Off to a chinlock which Gorilla swears is a choke. Hogan finally elbows his way out of the hold but a double clothesline puts both guys down.
The hot tag brings in Savage to pound away on DiBiase with right hands and a backdrop. A top rope ax handle puts DiBiase down again but Ted rams him into the top turnbuckle to change momentum again. DiBiase clotheslines Savage down and it’s off to Giant again. Andre sits on Savage in the corner which is a lot more devastating than it sounds. Back to DiBiase who gets two off a suplex. Ted goes up for a middle rope elbow, but Savage uses all of his flying elbow experience and rolls away.
Hulk comes in again off the real hot tag and cleans house on both Mega Bucks but Savage jumps into Andre’s boot. Hogan puts DiBiase in a sleeper but Andre makes the save with some headbutts. The Mega Powers are down, but Liz gets on the apron and in the most famous part of the match, takes off her skirt to reveal a bikini bottom and some nice legs. The distraction lets the Mega Powers do their big handshake and Hulk Up as one. A top rope ax handle to Andre, a flying elbow and legdrop to DiBiase later and things are pretty much done. Jesse only counts two, so Savage has to shove his hand down for the three.
Rating: B-. Much like the original Wrestlemania main event, there isn’t much to see here but it’s a fun match. It gave the fans exactly what they wanted and the Liz bit was a big surprise as she NEVER did anything sexual up to that point and rarely did after. Hogan and Savage were obviously going to win, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a fun moment and a decent main event.
Hogan lifts Liz (who remember is rather scantily clad here) onto Savage’s shoulder for the post match celebration. Savage gives him a look that says “Dude, NOT COOL!” You could see the seeds being planted even back then.
Overall Rating: D+. This is more of the start of a historical series than a good show itself. The only things people remember are Liz’s legs and a thirty second squash and it’s really not surprising. The rest of the show is a bunch of boring matches with nothing of note to them at all. It’s certainly not a terrible show as there are some good tag matches and some decent singles matches, but nothing on here is must see television and nothing is really significant. For a big house show though, not too bad.
Ratings Comparison
For each of the twenty five reviews, I’ll be posting a comparison of the original reviews to the redos as I always do. Summerslam was one of the first set of reviews I ever did so the original ratings are going to be very interesting.
British Bulldogs vs. Fabulous Rougeaus
Original: B
Redo: C+
Bad News Brown vs. Ken Patera
Original: D+
Redo: F
Rick Rude vs. Junkyard Dog
Original: D
Redo: D
Powers of Pain vs. Bolsheviks
Original: C+
Redo: D
Ultimate Warrior vs. Honky Tonk Man
Original: A+
Redo: N/A
Dino Bravo vs. Don Muraco
Original: B-
Redo: D-
Demolition vs. Hart Foundation
Original: B-
Redo: B-
Big Boss Man vs. Koko B. Ware
Original: D
Redo: D
Jake Roberts vs. Hercules
Original: C-
Redo: C-
Mega Powers vs. Mega Bucks
Original: B
Redo: B-
Overall Rating
Original: D+
Redo: D+
How could I have possibly liked Muraco vs. Bravo? There’s NOTHING there!
We’ll start things off in Stampede with Jake defending the North American Title against Sylvester Ritter in what might be the first ladder match in wrestling history. From July 1, 1979.
North American Heavyweight Title: Jake Roberts vs. Big Daddy Ritter
Jake is defending the promotion’s top title and this is joined in progress because it’s Stampede. In a bonus, there’s money in the bag as well so Jake can actually win something. Roberts puts the ladder (which just leans against a structure and doesn’t fold open, though there is someone helping hold it up) up and tries to climb but Ritter makes a save. They do the same sequence with the roles reversed and we’re about six minutes in according to commentary.
Ritter knocks him down again and hits a headbutt before throwing Jake into the ladder which doesn’t move at all. Jake makes a save and hits Ritter with….I think Ritter’s boot but Ritter grabs his foot to stop a climb. Ritter is sent face first into the steel but easily pulls the champion down the ladder. Big Daddy gets his boot back and lays Jake out, only to climb too slowly and get hit in the back with the boot again. Jake is sent to the apron and gets his feet tied in the ropes, allowing Ritter to climb up and win the title.
Rating: D+. You have to give them a bit of a break here as they may have literally never had anything to go off here. They actually did use the ladder as a weapon a few times so it wasn’t just there in the background. Not a good or memorable match but it’s certainly historic, which is why it’s on a WWE DVD.
We’ll jump ahead a few years to Mid-Atlantic on May 12, 1982.
Next up was Jake’s LONG feud with Ronnie Garvin. Here’s a match between them from December 1983.
TV Title: Ronnie Garvin vs. Jake Roberts
Roberts is defending and this is a special sixty minute time limit. Jake takes him down with an armbar but Garvin nails him with a forearm to the chest. Jake punches his way out of a rollup before hiding in the corner like a true villain should. Garvin cranks on an armbar of his own and we take a break.
Back with Jake making the rope and kicking at the leg to take over. He wraps it around the ropes but Garvin goes right back to the arm. They hit the mat but Garvin takes another shot to the leg to give the champion control. He pulls on Ronnie’s leg before nailing a knee crusher. Back to the leg lock but Garvin starts cranking on Jake’s foot to break the hold. Jake lets go and Ronnie hammers away, sending Roberts out to the apron.
We take a break and come back with Garvin backdropping Jake for two. Back up and Roberts elbows Garvin in the corner and getting two of his own off a belly to back suplex. Some knees to the ribs have Garvin in trouble but he fights back with a series of punches. In a pretty weak ending, Jake slams him down and his manager Paul Ellering holds Garvin’s foot for the pin.
Rating: D+. These teams feuded for the better part of ever and the story was much more interesting than the matches. Garvin was a guy that got over because of being the common man that never stopped fighting and Roberts was awesome at holding the title over his head, even making Garvin mortgage his house for a title shot. Not a great match though.
Here’s a match from Mid-South in I believe 1984. You’ve probably heard of the names.
Jake Roberts/Steve Williams vs. Shawn Michaels/Private Terry Daniels
Williams puts Shawn in a headlock to start before we hit the crisscross. Shawn gets two off an O’Connor Roll before everything we get a four man standoff. Off to Roberts and Daniels with Terry running Jake over with a shoulder. Jake comes right back with a clothesline before Williams comes in to keep up the beating. Terry finally rolls over for the hot tag to Shawn but Williams blocks a monkey flip. The DDT ends Shawn a few seconds later.
Rating: D. Total squash here with some big names in there for a change. Shawn would of course get a lot better in the future but the match here wasn’t much to see. Daniels would become a very low level name in the WWF a few years later and I think you know the rest of the guys.
Jake would head to the WWF in 1986 and have one of his first major matches at Wrestlemania II.
Jake Roberts vs. George Wells
Wells is a former football player who never did another thing of note in wrestling other than be in this match. Jake is brand new at this point and is promptly run over and backdropped down in the first ten seconds. A flying shoulder takes Jake down and there’s a headbutt for good measure. Wells hits a decent flying headscissors followed by a slam for no cover. A knee lift has Jake draped in the ropes and a powerslam gets two. Roberts comes back with a poke to the eyes and a knee lift followed by the DDT for the fast pin. This was pretty much domination until the last ten seconds.
Roberts’ first big feud in the WWF was against Ricky Steamboat. The two would meet in a Snakepit match at the Big Event.
Jake Roberts vs. Ricky Steamboat
This is a Snakepit Match meaning anything goes. Roberts had DDTed Steamboat on the floor at a SNME and nearly killed him to ignite this feud which was the second biggest of the summer. Dragon had busted out a Komodo Dragon to counter Damien but neither are here tonight due to customs issues. The two commentators that talk say that the Canadian flag has an oak leaf on it.
Dragon dominates until we hit the floor where Jake takes over after a low blow. Steamboat gets a few chair shots in and that just was weird to type. Dragon just beats the tar out of him for awhile but gets reversed and goes over the top to the floor. Valiant thinks Roberts is a champion for some reason. Roberts is one of those guys that was supposed to be a heel but more or less became a face through just pure fan support.
Dragon starts bleeding after going into the post but fights out of the DDT. Jake is dominating now and getting face pops for it. And then he sits on Dragon’s chest and holds his arm up and you know the rest. They would have another match in a few weeks on SNME with the animals that I reviewed last night to close out the feud.
Rating: B. This was a very intense match. Street fights and the like simply didn’t happen in this era so this was insane at the time. Both guys were great workers so this worked out very well. Steamboat was about to have his throat messed up by Savage and you know the aftermath of that.
Jake would turn face after this and take part in a pretty well known match at Wrestlemania III.
Honky Tonk Man vs. Jake Roberts
This is one of the matches that is there to give us a breather between the masterpiece and the main event. Jake pounds away to start and hits a knee lift to send Honky out to the floor. Honky still can’t get his ring suit off so Jake rips it off for him. Jake follows him to the floor and slams Honky down before heading back inside. Back in and Jake charges into a knee to the face to shift momentum.
Honky drops a pair of knees to Jake’s back but misses a punch and walks into the short clothesline. The grease in Honky’s hair allows him to escape the DDT and we head outside again. Jake is sent into the post and the barricade so Honky can dance a bit. Back in and a middle rope punch puts Jake in even more trouble. There’s a knee drop to the Snake and a pair of elbows for no cover.
The Shake Rattle and Roll (swinging neckbreaker) is countered by Jake and there’s an atomic drop for the eternally funny selling by Honky. Jake punches him to the apron and Honky gets caught in between the ropes, meaning he bounces back up every time Jake punches him. The DDT is countered again and after a Jimmy interference, Honky grabs a rollup and the top rope for the upset pin.
Rating: C. You could see the Honky Tonk Man character coming on here as Jake was way better but got cheated at the end. Honky would ride that one idea for the next year and a half, drawing WAY more money and heat than he had any right to earn. Jake would feud with various heels for the next few months while being one of the many challengers to chase Honky. He finally got with Rick Rude for an awesome string of matches.
Here’s a match from Saturday Night’s Main Event XIV.
Jake Roberts vs. Sika
Sika is a former Wild Samoan who apparently likes sandwiches. Ok then. Something tells me this is going to be short. Jake was one of the hottest things in wrestling at this time so this should be nothing short of a squash. Sika looks a good bit like Umaga. It’s actually Sika in control here.
That’s the beauty of the DDT. It can change things so fast and get Jake the win. That’s very rare indeed. I hate the nerve hold. I truly do. After Fuji interferes, Jake wins with a rollup actually instead of the DDT. Most interesting. Fuji takes the DDT to get the crowd very happy. Vince calls Fuji a fat walrus. That’s hilarious.
Rating: D. Not much here as it was too short to be anything of note but too long to be unrateable. Jake was clearly going to go over here and I like him not winning with the DDT as it makes you think he’s even more dangerous. Sika was a good choice for a monster who could get beaten down by someone like Roberts.
Roberts would next feud with Rick Rude after Rude tried to kiss Jake’s wife Cheryl as part of a gimmick he was doing at the time. From Wrestlefest 1988.
Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude
This is more fallout over the Cheryl Roberts kiss that didn’t happen thing which was a big time angle back in the day and was incredibly well received. Naturally the fans pop very well for this so they got that part right for sure. Jake comes running out and beats up Rude to start us off very fast. Why do we keep getting shots of Rude’s tights going down? Is there a strange fetish thing going on there?
Something tells me this is going to be long. They had a 15 minute draw at Mania so they’ll likely do something similar this time around. We hit the chinlock and something tells me we’re going to be here for a good while. I’m glad I was wrong there. Rude kicks him in the balls and no one seems to care. We hit the chinlock again to kill more time. This is going to last awhile.
How can someone live for that long with an arm around their neck like that? I just ask because Jake has been in this for about three minutes so far and is still alive. The announcers try as hard as they can to make this interesting and just can’t do it. The hold is broken and Jake gets knocked to the floor just to continue this torture. Rude gets crotched on the top rope and Jake makes his comeback.
The camera work in this match is making my head hurt. They’re doing FAR too many closeups. Jake goes for the DDT but Rude shoves the referee down so that he lands on him, cushioning the blow. I keep forgetting how tall Jake is. The referee is back up and Rude is leaving. Jake follows and say it with me: DOUBLE COUNT OUT. I watched 17 minutes for that finish. I hate my life. The snake gets on Rude post match and wraps around his throat in a cool visual.
Rating: D. This was just BORING. They fought that long and nothing of note happened. It was just bland filler that never went anywhere at all. These two had a white hot feud and yet nothing ever came of it. Also Rude pulling the referee down isn’t a DQ? This was just bad and really brings the show down.
Jake would have the second biggest match at Wrestlemania V as part of his long feud with Wrestlemania V.
Andre the Giant vs. Jake Roberts
Big John Studd is referee and comes out to what would become Jim Duggan’s music. This was supposed to set up Andre vs. Studd but Studd left before it went anywhere. Sometime before the match, Andre and Heenan get the turnbuckle pad off and Jake goes face first into the steel. Ventura and Gorilla talk about David vs. Goliath (Jesse: “He used a foreign object.”) as Jake reaches for the snake bag. That goes nowhere so Studd crushes him in the corner.
Andre looks so different than he did two years ago. In Detroit he looked like a killing machine but here he looks like a lumbering oaf. Giant steps on Jake a few times but Roberts comes back with some strikes. He knocks Andre into the ropes and chokes away, only to see Andre get his arm loose and choke Jake right back.
In a moment that I’ve never seen explained, Andre fires some shoulders into Jake in the corner, only to stagger backwards. I’m guessing Jake was supposed to knee him (the announcers suggested he did) but Jake’s legs never moved. Either way, Roberts pounds away a bit before being knocked to the floor. Studd and Andre get in a shoving match as Ted DiBiase runs out to steal the snake. Andre chokes Studd until Jake chases DiBiase down and gets the snake back. He slides Damien in and the giant runs from the smaller referee giant, giving Jake the DQ win.
Rating: D. ANOTHER match that didn’t go anywhere here as it was hard to buy Jake as being a threat to Andre while at the same time it was hard to be intimidated by the Giant due to how old and banged up he was. Nothing match here which was supposed to set up Andre vs. Studd, but instead Studd retired so Andre got a tag title reign instead.
Let’s combine a few feuds with this match from June 2, 1989.
Jim Duggan/Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude/Andre the Giant
It’s in 89 so this isn’t going to be pretty from Andre’s perspective. This is from a Wrestling Challenge taping which would be equal to Superstars today. Andre chokes on Duggan to start which was the majority of his offense at this point. Rude looks odd in blue. A middle rope punch misses and here’s Jake. Andre is tied in the ropes and Rude is used as a battering ram/spear.
The heels take over once Andre is freed. I have a feeling this isn’t going to be an incredibly innovative match. Rude works on a chinlock which Jake seemingly was always in. Rude goes up and is crotched, providing us with by far the funniest moment on this tape. He and Honky had the funniest sells of that spot as anyone ever. Andre comes in and does the crush in the corner spot.
Jake escapes one of them and it’s the hot tag to Duggan, who is in black boots for some reason. Could this be a heel foreshadowing? Nah, only an idiot would do that. I mean what could you do anyway, make him a Canadian sympathizer or something? What a stupid idea. Anyway Duggan gets taken down by Rude and Andre won’t tag back in for some reason. Rude, who enjoys having his head attached, doesn’t argue.
There’s the hip swivel which Hayes doesn’t approve of. Duggan fights back and they collide, putting both guys down. Rude goes to the wrong corner and Jake knocks him back down. Andre chops Duggan down to make sure everything is fair. There’s the hot tag to Jake anyway as Duggan more or less no sells Andre’s chop. Roberts sets for the DDT but Andre breaks it up. Everything breaks down and Duggan whacks Rude in the ribs with the board so Jake can get the pin.
Rating: C-. Not terrible but pretty meh overall. I still like the idea of having two feuds in a single match like this and it usually works pretty well. Not a great match or anything but for a house show, this was fine. A DDT would have pulled things up a little bit because it was the most popular move on the planet at the time.
We’ll jump ahead a bit and skip a feud with Ted DiBiase to get to a match at Summerslam 1990 over which was over a snake vs. rats.
Jake Roberts vs. Bad News Brown
Big Bossman is guest referee for no apparent reason. Brown jumps Jake before Bossman is in the ring but has to bail out of a DDT attempt. Back in and Bad News tosses Jake down and gets two off a legdrop. Jake tries the DDT a second time but Brown bails to the floor again. Roberts follows him out and gets hit in the ribs with a chair which isn’t a DQ for some reason. Back in and Bad News pounds away as Piper asks if Vince has ever smelled Brown. Jake avoids a middle rope elbow and hits the short clothesline but Brown backdrops out of the DDT. Another chair shot to Jake is good for the lame DQ.
Rating: D+. This didn’t have time to go anywhere and I’m still not sure why Boss Man was in here at all. Jake and Brown didn’t do anything else after this and Brown didn’t go after Boss Man after the feud, so I guess he was there as an enforcer for reasons not important enough to explain. The match was just ok.
Jake would then get blinded by Rick Martel, leading to a blindfold match at Wrestlemania VII.
Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel
In short, they’re both in hoods and neither guy can see. So the match starts and both guys point across the ring while trying to find where the other is. Martel gets down on the mat and crawls around, only to give us some stupid comedy spots with both guys tripping over the other. Rick tries a backdrop but Jake runs off to the side, showing that he can clearly see if you’re thinking about this.
They miss each other in the corner a few times until Martel finally grabs him for a slam, only to miss an elbow drop. Martel gets the referee in the corner, only to realize he’s grabbing a shirt. Jake uses the crowd for help by pointing and listening to the crowd cheer as he points at Martel. This continues on for awhile until Martel nearly grabs the snake bag.
The announcers continue a running joke where they can’t hear each other which isn’t funny. Jake gets knocked to the floor so Martel follows. He grabs a chair and pokes around with it but only hits the post. Back in and Martel takes Jake down and hooks the Boston Crab, only to have it broken quickly. Roberts grabs the DDT a second later for the pin.
Rating: F. This wasn’t wrestling. It was a stupid idea with both guys wandering around and making no contact for about seven and a half minutes before both guys hit their finishers. Thankfully this feud was done after this as I don’t think the fans could stand any more of it. Oh and on top of that, Martel didn’t cheat once by looking under the mask. Nice heel work there.
Then Roberts would turn all evil and going after Randy Savage. This led to Savage coming out of retirement and a showdown between the two of them at This Tuesday In Texas. I’ll throw in the awesome post match stuff as well.
Jake Roberts vs. Randy Savage
Savage jumps Jake in the aisle and we’re off. The crowd isn’t cheering so much as roaring. I mean they’re hardcore here. The thing is it’s kind of hard to take Savage seriously here as he’s got a feather on his hat that’s at the very least a foot and a half tall. That’s just freaking huge. Ok good it’s gone now. As for why this feud is happening, Savage had gotten married but Jake wasn’t invited to the bachelor party because he was a heel. Well if nothing else that’s creative.
That led to Savage coming out of retirement to fight him, but one day on I think Superstars, Jake beat down Savage and put his (devenomized) cobra onto Savage’s arm, but it held on too long and the bite was worse than expected. Jake also shoved Liz, which made him the biggest heel in forever. They were supposed to be opposing captains in the Survivor Series main event but due to the cobra attack, Savage was deemed too hurt to fight so we got this instead.
Jake goes kind of low to break the momentum. Savage’s arm is screwed up because of the snake bite injury too. In a nice little touch, Jake rips the bandage off of the arm and there’s blood under the tape. His arm was fine, but they thought about it here enough to make it look like he’s injured worse than he really is. Since the arm is so hurt Roberts is beating the heck out of Savage. Just as I say that, Savage gets a quick shot in and within 30 seconds he gets Jake down and hits the elbow for the win in a match that felt like it had 3 minutes cut out.
Rating: C+. The match is a fast paced mess but the angle is just completely awesome. The problem was there was never the big match that these guys so desperately needed where Savage could destroy Jake with like 5 elbows or something because Flair came in and changed everything around.
Now we get to the important part though. Savage gets the bell but the referee stops him, allowing Jake to get a quick DDT. Savage is down but Jake is still hurt too so Savage actually beats him to his feet. A second DDT puts Savage out cold though and Jake is up now. After faking leaving, Jake comes back and goes under the ring to pull out a little bag. This doesn’t sound like much but it’s an absolutely INSANE reaction for every tiny movement.
Liz comes running down and is FREAKING on Roberts. Jake is feeding on her fears here and it’s amazing stuff. Savage kind of gets up and he takes an unprecedented third DDT. No one had ever taken more than one before this so that was completely insane. He puts the cobra handler glove on and Liz just completely loses it. Jake slips the glove off and says that Liz better beg if she wants to save him.
They stand up and Jake secures his place in the 7th circle of BY PUNCHING LIZ. Jack Tunney comes out to glare at Jake and suspend him for having a snake with him until he points out there was no snake in the bag, which confuses Tunney to no end, which is impressive for him as asking his name confuses him more than likely.
In the back, Jake says that when he hit Liz, it was the best feeling he’s ever had and he would pay to be able to do that again. He ends it by saying that Savage can come back again, but to bring his wife again because Jake can make her into something even he would want. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but this was one of the best heel promos I’ve ever seen in my life.
This led to a match with the now face Undertaker at Wrestlemania VIII.
Jake Roberts vs. Undertaker
A right hand to the face has no effect on Taker so Jake pounds away so more. Heenan is already freaking out about how Taker can’t be hurt as is his custom. Jake knocks him to the floor but Undertaker lands on his feet. Roberts is pulled to the floor as well and rammed into the post to give the dead man control. Heenan cracks jokes and says he thinks he has two brilliant minds. Gorilla: “I’m in big trouble.”
As Heenan talks about Bearer earning the Urn, Taker chokes away in the corner and pounds on Jake for a bit. An elbow drop keeps Jake down and there’s the jumping clothesline for good measure. Out of NOWHERE, Jake hits the DDT to put Taker down but he sits up a few seconds later and grabs Jake by the throat. A second DDT puts Taker down again but Jake goes after Bearer instead. There’s the sit up and Undertaker follows Jake outside, hitting a tombstone on the FLOOR to end Jake and make Undertaker 2-0.
Rating: C-. The problem with these early Wrestlemania matches for Undertaker is that they didn’t have a ton of story or drama to them. Jake was in his last match for the company here before he went to WCW for a cup of coffee, so he didn’t seem to be giving it his all out there. The kicking out of the DDTs was impressive as was the Tombstone, but that’s about it.
Jake would head to WCW soon after this and have one major match at Halloween Havoc 1992.
Sting vs. Jake Roberts
Coal Miner’s Glove match, which means there’s a loaded glove on a pole. Jake uses some VERY generic rock music which would later be used by Big Bubba and had previously been used by Austin. This is non-sanctioned and Sting is just MAD over. The story here is Roberts jumped him and laid Sting out so this is revenge. Sting controls early as Roberts stalls. Sting misses a dropkick and Jake goes after the back.
They go to the floor and Jake’s arm goes into the post. Sting goes for the glove (which is about 12 feet above the ring) but Jake makes the save and hits a suplex. Jake sends him to the floor but his attempt at getting the glove results in him being crotched. Sting works on the injured arm for a bit and they head outside again. Jake hits him in the back with a chair and chokes with tape back in the ring.
This match really isn’t working either as they’re basically having a regular match, albeit very rushed. That doesn’t make me think this is a blood feud or all about revenge or anything close to it really. Jake misses a running knee lift but the Stinger Splash misses too. Jake uses the bad arm for the DDT but Sting comes as close to no selling as you can while still selling. Sting does a cool move where he swings around the pole to knock Jack down. Cactus runs out with Jake’s cobra as Sting gets the glove. Sting knocks the snake onto Jake’s face where it “bites” him, allowing Sting to get the win.
Rating: F. As I said, the glove meant nothing here as it had to be the dumbest possible gimmick they could have gone with. Jake would basically be gone after this and wouldn’t be seen in mainstream American wrestling again until 1996. This was absolutely awful though and the ending was so stupid that I can’t really believe I saw it. Keep this in mind when you’re at work: someone was paid to think of this idea. To give you an idea of how REAL that bite is, Jake pulls the snake away, looks at it, and puts it right back to where it was “biting” him. That’s like something out of a parody of a bad horror movie. Jake is “poisoned”.
Jake would head to Smoky Mountain Wrestling soon after this and win the Heavyweight Title. Here’s a match from May 21, 1994.
SMW Heavyweight Title: Jake Roberts vs. Dirty White Boy
This is the main event from Volunteer Slam. Joined in progress again as Roberts goes after the eye. Jake toys with him now as he lays on the mat and kind of stares at White Boy. They go to the floor and White Boy rams the arm into the post a few times. We’re told this is 15 minutes in. They go back in but Roberts tosses him out again. That doesn’t work as White Boy grabs the arm.
Roberts pulls the referee into a shot and Mark Curtis is down. Jake takes the tape off his wrist and ties him to the ropes. Jake’s bag is brought in and I think a fan runs in so Jake clotheslines him. Dirty White Girl tries to make the save but Jake shoves her down and eventually DDTs her. The match has been stopped pretty much. He goes to put the snake on her but the locker room makes the save. Not enough to rate but the match looked like a typical match from a territory with no ending. Think Memphis.
Jake would head back to the WWF in 1996 and make it to the finals of the 1996 King of the Ring.
King of the Ring Finals: Steve Austin vs. Jake Roberts
The IWC explodes as Pillman and Austin pass each other in the aisle and pause for a second. Good night they were a great team in the time they had. Austin apparently went to the emergency room to fix his tongue. I think that’s legit actually. Jake’s music is just made of awesome. Austin jumps him to the shock of no one. This is all Austin as Roberts is barely even able to move let alone fight.
Here’s his token comeback as it’s fairly obvious that Austin is winning here. Vince says Austin is being a coward for attacking the injured ribs. Owen says Austin is smart to do so, which at least makes sense. Monsoon is out here now and Vince is more or less saying Austin doesn’t deserve to win. It’s not his fault that Vader beat up Roberts.
With Monsoon checking on Roberts it lets him breathe a bit and he beats on Austin for a bit but Austin counters with corner shoulder blocks of all things. Geez Austin was a different kind of wrestler back then. Austin hits the academic stunner to get the win and the crown.
Rating: N/A. It was 4 and a half minutes which includes Monsoon coming down.
His main feud in this run was against Jerry Lawler, including this match at Summerslam 1996.
Jerry Lawler vs. Jake Roberts
Before the match we have the debut of a new Olympian who will be getting in the ring soon: Mark Henry. Lawler brings his own bag with him along with something in his pocket. He’s also wearing a Baltimore Ravens jersey (the beloved Cleveland Browns had recently moved to Baltimore and become the Ravens) because Lawler knows how to rile up a crowd like few others ever could. Henry thinks it’s hilarious despite being a face.
Lawler pulls out two bottles of Jim Beam to be Roberts’ partners tonight and says Roberts’ wife only looks good after a six pack. Henry is so stupid that if he won a gold medal he’d have it bronzed. Once Roberts uses his bar stool as a walker to get out here, Lawler is going to knock him sideways so everyone can recognize him. It’s very impressive how easily Lawler can have a crowd eating out of the palm of his hand like this.
Roberts finally comes out so Lawler pulls a huge bottle of booze from the bag. Jake pulls the snake out of his own bag to scare Lawler to the floor and the bell finally rings. Lawler looks for a microphone but Jake sends him face first into the steps and hammers away back inside. Back to the floor with Lawler being sent into various hard objects until he steals a drink from a fan to blind Jake. Henry: “So what is the fan going to drink?” Lawler gets one of the bottles from ringside but has to block a DDT attempt. Another DDT is countered and Jerry hits him in the throat with the bottle for the pin.
Rating: D. This was much more of an angle than a match with Lawler giving a great lesson in how to fire up a crowd. Roberts wouldn’t be around much longer before heading to ECW and the indies. This would lead to Henry’s first mini feud against Lawler which started got his career going in slow motion.
We’ll wrap it up with a match from 2002 at the World Wrestling Legends reunion show.
Kamala vs. Jake Roberts
Oh dear. This needs to be very careful. I’m having flashbacks to Heroes of Wrestling. Jake’s eyes are squinting, he’s hunched over, he’s in an undershirt, he’s almost bald and his shirt is all stained. Thank goodness he’s fine. Kamala has a Kim Chee knockoff named Friday here. Jake crosses his heart to the referee that he won’t do anything wrong. Probably more like he solemnly swears he is up to no good.
Jim: Friday wishes it was Thursday. Somehow that makes sense. Nothing of note at all as they’ve barely made contact. Jim makes various jokes to crack up the other two guys. The fans are all behind Jake here of course. Those racists. They finally make contact with Jake landing some punches. We hear about Kamala’s musical career which kind of kills the whole mystique of him but that kind of happened when he became a trained wrestler I think.
Kamala takes over with his awesome offense of chops and choking. We get a Missing Link and Jack Brisco comparison which for those of you that don’t know, is like comparing Shawn Michaels to Santino. Long nerve hold here that gets us as far as any other nerve hold would get us. This one is special though as Kamala is grabbing Jake under the arm. Did I mention these matches aren’t very good at all?
He hits the splash which goes nowhere of course. Did he ever beat a non jobber with that EVER? Friday steals the snake bag and Kamala tries to splash it, which would have worked had his stomach and not his thighs been the part that would have hit it. DDT to Friday and there’s the snake. Thankfully the reptile and not the anatomical one this time. Apparently Jake wins by DQ.
Rating: D. Yeah this was of course bad but the fans were way into it so there’s that going for it. Jake was at least coherent here and while fat and out of shape we got a DDT at least which the fans popped hard for. Jake is old but he still has his old characteristics working for him here. Decent match all things considered. Kamala is exactly the same.
Jake Roberts has long been recognized as a master of psychology. This covers a lot of different things. First of all, it was stuff like the slithering into the ring and the mind games he would play when talking. Having a snake around all the time is just freaky and messes with people’s minds. He was clearly a thinking wrestler rather than just someone who came in and had his match. That’s far more interesting than a lot of guys and it made him a lot more fun to watch. Oh and the DDT is pretty awesome.
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Reviewing the Review: Battleground 2014
We’re a few days past Battleground now and there has been a few differing opinions on the show. Some people have said it was horrible while others say it was only kind of bad. The show was nothing more than a bridge to Summerslam but my level of interest was actually high. Let’s get to it.
The pre-show matches saw Adam Rose, with Layla and Summer, beating Fandango and Cameron beating Naomi. There’s nothing to say about either of these except that Cameron was horrible in the ring. I mean like REALLY horrible.
The pay per view opened with an awesome Tag Team Title 2/3 falls match with the Usos defending against the Wyatt Family. The first two falls were there so the match could be 2/3 falls. They weren’t bad but they could have been on any given Raw or Smackdown. The story of the match was that the Usos were barely bale to hang in there against the monsters and could only beat them with a quick rollup.
Then the third fall happened and everything went nuts with some INSANE near falls. Stuff like this is what makes tag team wrestling so fun as the drama is incredible and leaves you wondering when it’s going to end. The double splash from the Usos was a great big finisher and there was no way Harper was kicking out after it. The feud needs to be over now as they’re probably not going to be able to top this, but who do the Usos fight now? Ryback/Axel? I’d love to see them against the Ascension but WWE doesn’t seem to want to call them up.
I’ll cover all of the Rollins and Ambrose segments at once. Rollins was in the back when Ambrose attacked him. HHH ejected Ambrose from the building and said the match wasn’t happening. Later, Rollins came out and had himself declared the winner by forefit, but Ambrose attacked Seth again because wrestling security sucks. HHH came out again and had Ambrose handcuffed, allowing Rollins to jump him again. Finally, Rollins was trying to leave but Ambrose popped out of the trunk of his car and attacked Rollins one more time but Seth got away in said car.
Obviously there was no match and the more I think about it the less I like it. It felt like a cheap way to get people to watch the show and probably pop some Network buys. That’s a common wrestling practice but it doesn’t mean it’s something that I want to see happen all the time. The match will be fine when it happens, but you could have easily done a quick double DQ or countout and still had the match without a conclusive ending. This felt like a cop out and that’s not a good thing.
AJ Lee retained the Divas Title against Paige with a Shining Wizard. This was an odd match as they were trying to do something special but it came off sloppy. I can understand this not working better than I can most other matches as the girls don’t have anyone at this level to practice on. Paige has spent weeks fighting Paige and Cameron so doing anything complicated is out the window. Here she tried to do something a few steps higher and clearly needed more practice. AJ was far from perfect though.
Orton talked to Kane and tried to form an alliance but got nowhere.
Rusev and Swagger had a watchable match that ended in a Rusev countout win. The story of course was Lana’s promo before the match, saying you can’t blame Vladimir Putin for “current world events”, referencing the Malaysian plane crash. This caused a bunch of bad mainstream publicity for WWE, whose response was “we’ve been doing this story for weeks.” That really doesn’t make it any better, but it puts WWE in a strange place.
Rusev and Lana are going to get real heat because Putin is a real life crazy and possibly evil man who may be responsible or at least linked to the death of nearly three hundred innocent people. Whether the characters are directly referencing it or not, people in the media are going to complain. Why? Because media has a tendency to run off at the mouth and not understand the vast majority of what they’re talking about and complain before they know what’s going on. WWE had to know this was coming and really has no right to complain about the negative attention. Yeah a lot of the complaints are stupid, but they were coming no matter what Lana said.
Goldust and Stardust continue to talk about the Cosmic Key. This is starting to intrigue me.
Chris Jericho beat Bray Wyatt in a disjointed match. The chemistry really didn’t work and neither guy seemed to be on the same page. I still haven’t heard a logical reason for Jericho to win. The next night on Raw would see Jericho laid out by Bray, but Wyatt already lost a clean match. Yeah I’m sure Bray will win the blowoff match, but why didn’t he win both matches? I see absolutely no reason for Jericho to win at all. He has nothing to lose and there’s no need for Bray to lose to a guy in his third or so match back. The Summerslam win will help, but it’s taking a few weeks to get there.
Miz won the Intercontinental Title in a battle royal. The match was nothing special, much like most battle royals. I was hoping for Bo Dallas, but Miz’s Hollywood character is growing on me. The biggest surprise here was Slater dumping Cesaro which seems to have gone nowhere. It seems like Miz vs. Sheamus to unify the titles might be coming, even though that would be the stupidest thing they could do. One interesting note here: Del Rio went under the ropes before being knocked to the floor.
The main event was exactly what you would expect as the match started slow, got hot at the end saw Cena pin Kane to retain the title. Reigns looked like he was destroying everyone, though he’s not ready to be the top guy. That’s where WWE is in a good place, as they can build him up for several months. In theory he gets the title at Wrestlemania, but at least he’s got eight months to get there.
Overall the show was a disappointment as the buildup was far better than I was expecting but the execution really failed. Only the opening and closing matches were any good with the rest of the show being worthless. This is a show that could have been eliminated and used on a longer build to Summerslam, much like Fully Loaded 1998. It wasn’t the worst show ever, but it was pretty easily the worst show of the year. That’s saying a lot given that this really wasn’t horrible.
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Monday Night Raw – July 21, 2014: Send In The Beast
Monday Night Raw
Date: July 21, 2014
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler
We’re past Battleground and officially heading towards Summerslam. The show is in less than four weeks and the main event, while pretty obvious, has the potential to be awesome. Tonight we’re likely finding out what HHH’s Plan C is and who will be challenging Cena at Summerslam. Other than that Flo Rida is performing tonight for reasons that aren’t exactly clear. Let’s get to it.
Here’s HHH to open things up. He talks about how no one wants to look him in the eye because they think he’ll blow a gasket over the Authority losing last night. HHH goes off, saying he hasn’t been this mad in a long time but he has options. He says he’s going to Tweet about how upset he is. He’s so mad he might even send an Instagram or a VINE. If he doesn’t get what he wants, hes’ going to riot. And if THAT doesn’t work, he and his friend Mark are going to stop watching. Or another option is to fire everyone backstage.
HHH calms down and says he could lay back because he has options. He even guarantees that Cena won’t leave Summerslam as WWE Champion. The only question is who gets to take it from him. This brings out Randy Orton who wants a one on one match with Cena. HHH says Orton is the frontrunner, but the entire roster is going to get a chance to impress him. Randy blames Kane and here’s the monster himself. Kane says he can beat Cena if he doesn’t have to babysit Randy Orton.
Cue Roman Reigns who says no one wants to see Cena vs. Kane, and for sure no one wants to see Cena vs. Orton AGAIN. It sounds to him like everyone wants to see Roman Reigns vs. John Cena. Reigns gets in and lays out Kane with a Superman Punch but Orton bails to the floor. HHH makes Kane/Orton vs. Roman Reigns right now.
Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton/Kane
Randy starts for his team and gets popped in the jaw with a right hand. Kane comes in and walks into a Samoan drop so it’s back to Randy. Reigns finally gets slowed down with a knee to the ribs and the heels start making fast tags. Roman quickly fights out of a nerve hold and raises a boot to stop a charging Kane. The monster gets sent to the floor and we take a break.
Back with Reigns fighting out of a chinlock but getting stomped down to the mat. Kane comes in again with an elbow to the jaw for two and it’s back to Orton for another chinlock. Reigns fights up again with another Samoan drop before knocking Kane into the ropes for the running boot. Kane clotheslines Reigns down but Orton won’t tag in. Orton gets grabbed by the throat but Reigns uses the distraction to hit the Superman Punch and the spear for the pin on Kane at 12:18.
Rating: C-. This wasn’t the worst match in the world but a handicap match where the ending is pretty obvious doesn’t help much. Reigns getting the win is a good thing for his career, though I’m thinking he needs to swap his finishers or just use the Superman Punch. The spear is good for a middle of the match move but it doesn’t work as well as a finisher.
Orton teases getting in the ring but backs down from Reigns.
Stephanie gives Alicia Fox/Eva Marie/Cameron/Rosa Mendes a pep talk before their four on one handicap match against Nikki Bella.
Alicia Fox/Cameron/Rosa Mendes/Eva Marie vs. Nikki Bella
Brie is in the front row so here’s Stephanie to say everything that is happening to Nikki because Brie is a quitter. Brie calls Stephanie a very mean name and holds up her ticket. They yell at each other some more and Stephanie slaps Brie again before Brie gets dragged out. The bell rings and Nikki is of course destroyed. Alicia calls off the dogs before pinning Nikki in 32 seconds.
Stephanie says Nikki is going to quit soon.
Damien Sandow vs. Bo Dallas
This week Sandow is in a Miami Heat jersey with the word Miami crossed off and Cleveland written below it. Damien starts fast but Bo fights back wit a backdrop and clothesline to send Sandow outside. Back in and Bo hammers away with right hands. Bo is wrestling more like a face this week. Sandow knees him in the ribs and nails a suplex before putting on a chinlock. The Wind-Up Elbow misses and a Bodog keeps Bo undefeated at 2:30.
Back from a break with the Highlight Reel but Bray and the Family have laid out Jericho in the locker room. Bray shows us a clip of the attack and him telling Jericho that sooner or later, they all fall down. In the arena, Bray says Jericho isn’t here but Bray Wyatt is. The fans may think that Chris Jericho is a better man than he is, but a loss in a battle means nothing to him.
The war is all that counts and he was the man that created war. It hasn’t been long since the Wyatts brought heroes to their knees. You cannot measure him like a normal man because society does not make him and he lives a hundred years a day. Abigail told him to never chase vengeance or he would have to dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself.
Jericho is in the back and bleeding from the ear.
The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler
Non-title. Miz runs to the floor to start and Ziggler finally chases after him, only to fail at sending Miz into the steps. Back in and Miz stomps away but Ziggler takes him down and drops nine straight elbows. Miz trips Dolph up and puts on a chinlock before Miz catapults him over the top. Ziggler skins the cat and pulls Miz to the apron with him, only to be sent into the post as we take a break.
Back with Ziggler grabbing his arms but still not being able to nail a right hand to the face. Miz stomps on him even more and we hit the chinlock. Ziggler fights up and sends him into the buckle, followed by clotheslines and a neckbreaker. The Fameasser is countered into a rollup for two and a Side Effect gets the same for Miz.
Ziggler kicks him in the jaw and grabs a running DDT for two more. Miz’s short DDT gets two and it’s time to go after the leg. The Figure Four goes on but Ziggler finally dives for the ropes. Back up and a Fameasser gets another near fall on Miz but Ziggler can’t hit the Fameasser. Miz loads up the Skull Crushing Finale, only to get rolled through into the Zig Zag for the pin at 13:35.
Rating: C+. Now didn’t we all see this coming? I mean, I know the joke is that the Intercontinental Title is a death sentence, and now it’s looking more and more truthful every time the champion fights. Ziggler will lose the title match and then people will see Miz about the same as they do now. In other words, everyone loses.
HHH is telling Seth Rollins that there’s no reason for him to face John Cena at Summerslam because he’s got a title shot whenever he wants it. Rollins says there’s no way this can happen because Dean Ambrose keeps interfering. Cesaro comes in and says he’s no longer a Heyman Guy. Instead he’d rather be HHH’s guy. Rollins says HHH already has a guy, but Cesaro says he’d be a great choice to face Cena at Summerslam. HHH says it would be very impressive if Cesaro could beat Dean Ambrose tonight.
Emma/Natalya vs. AJ Lee/Paige
Emma trips AJ down to start and they trade rollups for two each. Paige comes in and walks into the Emma Lock before it’s off to Natalya for two off a rollup. Natalya puts on the Sharpshooter but Paige crawls over for the tag to AJ. A Shining Wizard and the Black Widow make Natalya tap at 2:25.
Post match Paige turns full heel and destroys AJ, including throwing her over the announcers’ table. Paige skips away.
Fandango vs. Zack Ryder
Ryder comes out with Summer Rae and Layla this time. Ryder hammers away to start but Fandango nails him with a dropkick. Fandango takes him down but gets caught in a faceplant. Ryder’s middle rope dropkick misses but Fandango doesn’t follow up. Ryder comes back with a Rough Ryder for the pin at 1:47. Layla shoved Fandango’s foot off the rope to give Ryder the win.
We recap Brie and Stephanie from earlier.
Flo Rida thinks he might get the title shot against John Cena. Heath Slater comes up and wants revenge from Flo Rida attacking him at Wrestlemania XXVIII. Slater shoves him and is shoved down to the ground.
Flo Rida performs. Stephanie was in the ring to introduce him and is arrested after the performance for attacking Brie earlier. Brie pops up and yells at her before being dragged off again. Stephanie is taken to the back and HHH tries to calm her down as Stephanie is put in the police car. HHH: “Is this a hybrid?” He promises to have her out of jail in five minutes.
Back from a break and HHH is about to leave but a guy (maybe Joey Mercury) says HHH has to decide on Cena’s opponent. HHH says family is more important but realizes that it’s going to take awhile to process Stephanie. He keeps the car on standby.
Ryback/Curtis Axel vs. Kofi Kingston/Big E.
Ryback and Big E. get things going with Ryback hammering away against the ropes. Big E. runs him over but walks into a spinebuster and gets double teamed in the corner. A side slam gets two for Ryback and he throws Big E. down with a belly to belly. The Meat Hook is countered by a clothesline from Big E. and he makes the hot tag to Kofi. Kingston speeds things up and gets two off the SOS as everything breaks down. Ryback rolls through a high cross body and pins Kofi at 3:25.
Rating: C-. This was mostly Big E. vs. Ryback foa few minutes before the ending came out of nowhere. Big E.’s collapse continues and it’s really kind of sad to see. Kingston only got to jump a few times and it wasn’t much to see. At least they’re building up another team to fight the Usos.
Big E. and Kofi are upset post match but Xavier Woods, now in glasses and a white suit, comes in and says they’re not getting anywhere by shaking hands and kissing babies. Instead of asking, now they’re going to be taking. Kofi and Big E. seem to agree. That was a very heelish promo from Woods.
We look back at the Wyatts attacking Jericho earlier.
Rusev vs. Great Khali
Rusev is still selling the ankle lock from last night. The big chop stuns Rusev and a big boot stops his charge. More chops in the corner have Rusev breathing deep but he nails Khali in the throat. The big chop puts Rusev down but he pops up and kicks Khali in the shoulder. A running superkick to the face sets up the Accolade for the submission at 2:27.
Clip of Sheamus on Royal Pains this week.
Stardust and Goldust talk about the Cosmic Key some more. It’s calling them.
We recap Brie and Stephanie again. Renee Young reports that Stephanie is going to be arraigned tonight and may be charged with resisting arrest.
Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro
Ambrose hammers away to start and takes Cesaro to the floor to keep up the beating. Back in and Cesaro kicks him in the face before sending Ambrose shoulder first into the post. HHH is on the phone in the back while Orton and Rollins watch on. Cesaro cranks on the arm and the match slows down a lot. Back up and Cesaro nails him with a right hand, only to be sent to the floor. Ambrose tries a dive but lands on an uppercut as we take a break.
Back with Cesaro still on the arm before getting two off a German suplex. Cesaro’s superplex is countered and Ambrose nails a missile dropkick followed by a cross body. Ambrose suplex is countered but he sends Cesaro into the corner to escape a cross face chicken wing.
Cesaro heads outside but gets wiped out with a suicide dive. Back in and the rebound clothesline gets two on Cesaro but he comes back with a clothesline of his own. Dean gets a boot up in the corner but goes up and gets crotched into the Tree of Woe. Cesaro charges into the post twice in a row and Ambrose throws him in a third time. With the insanity setting in, Dean grabs a chair and blasts Cesaro in the arm for the DQ at 12:32.
Rating: C. The match was fun and the ending was the right call. Cesaro seems ready for a push and the split from Heyman is the right way to go about it, but a loss would hurt him right out of the gate. Ambrose going crazy and wanting to hurt Cesaro rather than pin him fits the character well. Everyone comes out in a good place here.
Renee asks HHH if he should be with his wife right now and gets glared at.
HHH is in the ring and brings out Orton as the challenger, but Reigns intercepts Orton on the way to the ring and brawls with him into the crowd. This brings out Paul Heyman who says HHH needs to consider Plan C. Cue Lesnar and HHH isn’t sure what to do. Brock stares him down and HHH shakes his hand. The boss leaves and Heyman gets to do his greasy promo about how Lesnar conquered the Streak. Now it’s time for Lesnar to conquer John Cena and take the WWE Championship at Summerslam.
Heyman says it doesn’t matter if you chant LET’S GO CENA or CENA SUCKS because Brock Lesnar is going to destroy Cena one way or another. We get a clip from Wrestlemania where the Streak was conquered and Paul talks about how that same beating is awaiting John Cena. Lesnar is going to punch, hurt, injure and F5 John Cena before taking the WWE Championship from him. He pledges loyalty to Brock Lesnar and promises Brock will take the title from Cena at Summerslam.
Overall Rating: C. This show tried to start up some new stuff, but at the same time it had a lot of moments that felt really slow. It’s the first stop on the road to Summerslam so there’s a lot to go in the coming weeks, but this was only a decent start. To be fair though, the ending was as obvious as it could possibly have been so it’s hard to complain much about it not being awesome.
Results
Roman Reigns b. Kane/Randy Orton – Spear to Reigns
Alicia Fox/Cameron/Rosa Mendes/Eva Marie b. Nikki Bella – Fox pinned Nikki after all four attacked her
Bo Dallas b. Damien Sandow – Bodog
Dolph Ziggler b. The Miz – Zig Zag
AJ Lee/Paige b. Natalya/Emma – Black Widow to Natalya
Zack Ryder b. Fandango – Rough Ryder
Curtis Axel/Ryback b. Big E./Kofi Kingston – Ryback rolled through a high cross body
Rusev b. Great Khali – Accolade
Cesaro b. Dean Ambrose via DQ when Ambrose used a chair
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Wrestler of the Day – July 1: One Man Gang
Time for an African from Chicago: the One Man Gang.
Gang started in 1977 but we’ll pick things up in the UWF on September 17, 1986.
UWF Title: One Man Gang vs. Terry Gordy
Gordy is defending and this is heel vs. heel. They screw the feeling out process to start with Gordy charging at Gang but only bouncing off of him. Terry kicks him out to the floor and follows him out to keep hammering away. Back in and a clothesline gets two on the Gang as the fans are getting behind the champion. General Skandor Akbar trips Gordy to take over and the champion is busted.
Gordy gets stomped down in the corner and the blood is flowing. After nothing of note on the floor, they head back inside with Gang raking the eyes to stop a comeback attempt. Gordy fights back and goes after Gang on the floor again as both guys are bleeding now. Gang blocks a piledriver attempt and the referee gets bumped. A whip into the corner breaks the turnbuckle and a brawl causes the match to be thrown out.
Rating: D. This was long and mostly dull with a lot of standing around and slow, pounding forearms. The Gang never was much to watch but he could do this decently enough. That being said, a hero to fight him instead of another villain didn’t make this work for the most part. Dull match.
The Gang would be in the WWF less than a year later and have this match on Prime Time, August 17, 1987.
One Man Gang vs. Junkyard Dog
The Gang jumps him to start but Dog comes back with big right hands. I think Jake Roberts and Don Muraco are on commentary for some reason. Dog puts on a hammerlock followed by the falling headbutt and another hammerlock. Back up and Gang pounds away in the corner, only to be taken down by another wristlock. We hit an armbar before Gang fights up again and punches Dog a few times. The fans get behind JYD and he fights back, only to go after Slick. Dog and Gang fight over a cane and shove the referee down for a double DQ.
Rating: D+. It got a little better at the end but the first part of this was very dull stuff. Even the announcers were pointing out that the Dog was putting on weight and getting slower, which isn’t something you want to see against a guy like the Gang.
Gang would be part of the Wrestlemania IV tournament.
WWF World Title Tournament First Round: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. One Man Gang
Gang pounds away in the corner to start and Bigelow is in trouble. This is one of those big guys that pound away on each other with basic stuff but it looks better because they’re huge matches. Bigelow comes back with a forearm and a low splash for two. Bam Bam pounds away and hits a headbutt and then about four more to take over. He hits the ropes and Slick pulls the rope down though and Gang pounds on him on the apron enough to cause a countout. Too short to rate but this was lame. I think Bigelow had a bad knee here too.
And his second match after getting a bye into the semi-finals.
WWF World Title Tournament Semifinals: One Man Gang vs. Randy Savage
Savage and Liz are in black for this one. Randy tries to lock up with him to start which isn’t his best play here. Gang shoves him into the corner and pounds him down then does it again for a few more minutes. A pair of splashes miss and an elbow sends Gang into the ropes and out to the floor. Savage tries a slam but gets choked down instead. Liz gets on the apron for no apparent reason as Slick throws in the cane, but Gang gets caught swinging it for the DQ.
Rating: D. Nothing to see here and Savage on defense can’t save most of a match. This is the second win over a Slick client of the night and he would spend the summer feuding with more of them. Gang was a decent big man but at the end of the day he was just another monster for a hero to vanquish. Not that there’s anything wrong with that as people can make a great living like that, especially in the 80s.
Somehow the Gang got a WWF Title shot at the first SNME after Wrestlemania.
WWF Title: One Man Gang vs. Randy Savage
Any bets here? I love Slick. Vince says Savage will be sky high for the match. That’s just funny. The interview would suggest Vince is right. Interesting little note that is a sign of the times: all six guys have gotten entrances tonight, but these are the first with music. Savage chases Slick to the back and we’re ready to go. This is exactly what you would expect given who is in there.
Gang is rather sloppy and that’s as nice as I can make it. In a painful looking move, Savage grabs Gang by the beard and jumps over the ropes to clothesline Gang. Freaking OW man. Slick is back now and he gets Gang the advantage which he already had. This is pure formula stuff but a white hot crowd is helping things a lot.
Savage hits the always sweet top rope double axehandle. I love that move and he did it better than anyone else. A second rope splash more or less seals this as Gang misses it. WOW that was worded badly. A cane shot from Slick misses and hits Gang and there’s your elbow. Guess what happens next.
Rating: C-. Simple yet it did its job to perfection. This was to get Savage an easy title defense on TV and it did just that. Short at around 6 minutes so this was perfect. Savage was over as all goodness if nothing else so the crowd was very into this.
Then he became an African named Akeem in a bizarre moment. This led to a big push and a team with the Big Boss Man known as the Twin Towers. They would lead a Survivor Series team against the Mega Powers’ team at Survivor Series 1988.
Team Mega Powers vs. Team Twin Towers
Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Koko B. Ware, Hillbilly Jim, Hercules
Big Bossman, Akeem, Ted DiBiase, Red Rooster, Haku
Savage is world champion and this is based on a tag team feud which would be blown off in a huge live match on February 3. Hogan comes out to his own theme music after his partners all used Savage’s. This is actually a plot point as the Mega Powers would explode because Savage thought Hogan was taking his spotlight. It’s a Wrestlemania rematch with Savage vs. DiBiase to start things off.
They knock each other down with DiBaise taking over in the corner. The champ comes back with right hands and a clothesline. Off to Hercules who is feuding with DiBiase as Ted had called Hercules a slave, prompting a face turn. Instead Herc gets the Red Rooster who doesn’t do well at all, which is the idea. Heenan said he could take anyone, even Rooster, to the top. Off to Koko who gets in a shot to Ware and it’s off to Akeem (One Man Gang).
Haku comes in with a chop but misses a legdrop and it’s back to Herc. I’m not sure why when you have Hogan and Savage on the apron but whatever. Now it’s off to Hogan and the place erupts. He takes Haku down and drops some elbows before bringing Hillbilly in for a quick main event opportunity. Akeem comes in and runs Jim over before bringing Rooster in. Even Gorilla found that stupid. Jim doesn’t do much to Rooster so here’s Koko instead.
Rooster rams Koko’s head into the buckle, but see, Koko is black so it doesn’t hurt. A missile dropkick gets two on Red and it’s off to Hogan. The big boot sets up Savage’s elbow and it’s 5-4. Hogan’s team has a massive in ring celebration while Bossman’s team hits the floor. Heenan rips into Rooster as we get Savage vs. Haku. Haku chokes on the ropes but Hogan makes a blind tag and, brace yourselves, actually loses a slugout!
Haku hits a nice dropkick but gets slammed down and it’s off to Herc. A suplex puts Hercules down and it’s off to Akeem. A splash misses and it’s off to Hillbilly who fires away with all he’s got. Jim’s big boot doesn’t take Akeem down and a clothesline floors Jim. The 747 (big splash) gets the pin and we’re tied up. Koko comes in and dropkicks Akeem in the back before wisely bringing in Hogan to do the heavy lifting.
Back to the world champ with a double ax to the head but they can’t knock Akeem down. Hercules pounds away a bit as does Koko with a dropkick only sending Akeem into the corner. Akeem shrugs it off and hits Koko once to take over. Off to Boss Man who hits his namesake slam to make it 4-3. It’s Hogan in now and this is the match everyone has been wanting to see.
Hogan pounds him into the corner and everyone left on Hogan’s team (Hogan, Savage, Hercules vs. Bossman, Akeem, DiBiase, Haku) gets in a shot. Hogan easily slams the then bigger Boss Man but he charges into a spinebuster. That looked really good too. Back to Akeem and the big men hit a double elbow to take Hulk down. Off to Haku who gets in some shots to the neck before tagging in Boss Man. I wonder why they’ve gone so long since having DiBiase in there.
Naturally as I say that he comes in and clotheslines Hogan down. A falling punch gets two but Hogan Hulks Up. Off to Hercules for some revenge and some hard clotheslines and punches. Virgil trips him up though and a school boy eliminates Hercules. It’s now 4-2 but Savage charges in and rolls up DiBiase to pin him within about ten seconds.
Haku comes in again but misses a headbutt, allowing Hogan to get the tag. Something like a superkick takes Hulk down and it’s back to Boss Man for some headbutts tot he back. Akeem comes in for his usual shots before it’s back to Haku again, who suplexes Hulk for two. It’s nerve hold time followed by the Boss Man Slam for no cover. Instead Boss Man goes up and misses a splash.
The hot tag brings in Savage who cleans house. Slick trips Randy up and things slow down again. Boss Man puts on a bearhug as Slick goes after Liz, grabbing her by the arm. Hulk makes the save and DRILLS Slick with a right hand. The Towers go to handcuff Hogan to the rope but Boss Man gets counted out in the process. Boss Man beats on Hogan with the nightstick and then goes to beat on Savage. Akeem helps with that, drawing a DQ for himself and getting us down to Hogan and Savage vs. Haku.
Hogan is still cuffed to the rope though so it’s basically a one on one match. Haku beats on Savage as the camera is on the Towers leaving. Slick has the keys and is taunting Hogan with them. Savage holds the rope and avoids a kick but there’s no Hogan to tag. Haku accidentally superkicks Slick and Liz raids his pocket to get the key. Hogan is freed and Haku hits a top rope splash for two. Hot tag to Hogan and since it’s 1988, you can fill in the ending for yourself.
Rating: C+. While not great, this was better than the previous match to be sure. This would be part of the Mega Powers Exploding, as Savage would be jealous of Hogan for getting the glory and not being there for him earlier in the match. It’s no classic or anything, but 80s Hogan is always fun.
The big tag match was at Main Event II on February 3, 1988.
Twin Towers vs. Mega Powers
This is an hour long show and the match is over twenty minutes long so if you didn’t get the idea, this is the only reason to watch this show. After the Towers get to the ring, we get a video about Hogan and Savage. This isn’t your typical video however. This is set to a WAY too upbeat song called You’re A Friend Of Mine by Clarence Clemens Jackson Browne. Look it up and picture a highlight package of Hogan and Savage. It looks like the intro to a REALLY bad sitcom. I can’t make this stuff up people.
Hogan and Savage say there is no issue with these three. The underlying theme here is that Hogan allegedly loves Liz but Hogan insists it’s just like a brother and sister. In short, this became about Hogan which Savage didn’t like which has to be at least half legitimate. Everyone talks a lot here and hey now let’s have a match.
Boss Man starts and Savage and Hogan both want to start for their team. Boss Man wants Hogan so Savage can’t get his way again. Hogan looks especially orange tonight. The heels are cleared out by Super Hogan alone and the fans are WAY into it. The little things in this match like Savage wearing Hogan’s colors with the words Mega Powers written on them but Hogan wearing his usual gear is very well done.
Akeem comes in and here’s Savage to meet him. Oh wait never mind Hogan needs to come back in. He even comes off the second rope to work on the arm a bit. Boss Man hits a Piledriver and Hogan does his fish out of water dance on the mat. I’m not sure if it looks more like that or a steak being grilled. One or the other. Jesse points out that Hogan is hogging the ring time and he’s absolutely right at this point.
Slick gets involved so Savage drills him in the face. Spinebuster which is unnamed at this point gets two. Savage finally comes in this has been ALL Mega Powers. Top rope cross body puts Akeem down but Slick gets a shot in to take down the Macho Man and momentum shifts. Savage is still world champion here if I didn’t mention that and you’re not familiar with this era.
And now we get to the meat of this show. Akeem throws Savage to the floor and he wipes Elizabeth out, landing right on top of her (lucky). She’s GONE and Hogan goes to try to help her which ticks Savage off for some reason. “Oh no the woman I love is getting helped after I was incapacitated! SCREW THIS!” Hogan carries Liz to the back in as dramatic a fashion as possible. He leaves with her as they check her out.
We get the other fun part of this as Hogan’s acting is at its peak here. Keep in mind we stay on Hogan and Liz for like 3 minutes with ZERO talk of what’s going on in the ring. Back from a break we get a bumper of the match and now back to General Wrestling Hospital. Hogan keeps saying thank God and making weird noises. I don’t have the video up as I’m typing here and the sounds are just disturbing. Leaving out the word God it’s God Elizabeth God Elizabeth and random moaning and groaning and breathing sounds.
FINALLY he realizes he’s left his partner for like ten minutes against two monsters so he comes back for the save and the glory. Oh but instead of like, I don’t know, GETTING IN THE RING and beating the heck out of one of the guys and helping Savage, he gets on the apron and grabs the tag rope. Savage continues to do all of the work and beats up Boss Man but won’t tag Hogan.
Savage slaps Hogan nice and hard and leaves him. Serves the bald nitwit right too. Macho stands on the floor and then leaves with his belt. For once Hogan has absolutely no one to blame but himself here. More on that later though. Air Africa (Akeem’s splash) hits Hogan, he Hulks Up, Boss Man apparently asks Slick if he knows where he can find a good turkey on rye as he pays NO attention to what’s going on and Hogan gets the pin.
Rating: C. Total angle here with a match as the backdrop but this was a big deal to put it mildly. This would be like Orton turning on Cena when they had been best friends for like a year. The match is just ok but that’s all it needed to be. Hogan’s hammy acting aside, this was perfectly fine for what it was.
The team would drop down the card a good bit and have an early match at Wrestlemania V.
Rockers vs. Twin Towers
That would be Big Boss Man/Akeem. Shawn makes his Wrestlemania debut by starting against Big Boss Man and the little guy takes over quickly. He also decks Akeem in the corner and gets to face the bigger man (Akeem, the former One Man Gang). The Rockers start flying in and out of the ring as they work over Akeem’s arm. The arm cranking continues but Akeem makes a blind tag. Marty gets tossed into Boss Man’s arms and crushed by both big men. This is back when Boss Man weighed about 400lbs so it’s a big more painful than it sounds.
The Towers take their turns with fat man offense as Marty is in big trouble in a hurry. Akeem avalanches him in the corner and it’s back to Boss Man. We get heel miscommunication though and Boss Man is knocked to the floor by his own partner. Off to Shawn who pounds away in the corner before both Rockers hit a series of whips into the corner. A double middle rope shoulder finally takes Akeem down for two and it’s back to Shawn on his own.
Akeem KILLS HIM with a clothesline (Jesse: “I think he irritated Akeem!”) but Boss Man misses a top rope splash. The Rockers hit some double dropkicks (one of which sees Shawn completely missing Bossman) but a top rope rana is countered into a wicked powerbomb by Boss Man. Akeem crushes Shawn with a splash for the pin.
Rating: C. Considering how hungover the Rockers were in this match (as confirmed by Shawn), this came off pretty well. The Rockers sold the power offense like few others could, which made for some awesome visuals. They would get a lot better over the coming years but this wasn’t their best performance.
The team would still be around at the end of the summer and wrestle in a six man tag at Summerslam 1989.
Twin Towers/Andre the Giant vs. Demolition/Jim Duggan
Duggan is King of the WWF and has his face painted like Demolition but is rocking an American flag pattern of course. Akeem starts with the King with Duggan absorbing the trash talk and pounding away on the big man before it’s off to Ax for some pounding on the arm. Smash comes in and Demolition pounds Akeem down before bringing Duggan back in to crank on the arm as well.
Akeem finally gets in a shot to Ax’s ribs and it’s off to Boss Man who is immediately pounded down by the fresh Smash. Boss Man rakes the eyes to slow Smash down but Smash rakes the eyes right back in a good bit. Ax comes in again and cranks on the arm but gets sent into the wrong corner so Andre can come in and pound away with big right hands.
Akeem comes back in but misses a slow motion splash, allowing for the hot tag back to Smash who slams Akeem down in an impressive power display. Everything breaks down and Akeem hits a bottom rope splash on Smash, but Duggan hits Akeem in the back with the 2×4 to give Smash the pin.
Rating: C. It wasn’t much of a match but for above seven and a half minutes with these six guys, this was as good as you were going to get. Duggan was about as big as he was going to get in the WWF at this point as the fans were WAY into his Hogan-Lite character. Demolition was fresh off losing the tag titles but but they were still the most popular tag team in the company. Good, fun little match here which was much better than I was expecting.
One more WWF match, from Superstars on April 28, 1990.
Intercontinental Title Tournament First Round: Akeem vs. Tito Santana
Santana gets caught in the corner but comes back with some fast right hands. The big man heads outside and is holding his eye, earning Tito a warning. Back in and Title cranks on the arm to make Akeem shout a lot. Akeem fights up but misses a splash in the corner, only to be dropped by some dropkicks. The Figure Four is easily broken but Akeem gets caught by the flying forearm to send him outside for the countout.
He was soon off to WCW where he had a match at Great American Bash 1991.
El Gigante vs. One Man Gang
Gang is in a freaky monster look here with insane hair for no apparent reason. His manager Kevin Sullivan talks forever on the way to the ring about a death wagon. Gigante has four midgets with him for no apparent reason. Sullivan and Gang cut Gigante’s hair prior to this. The small guys get on Gang’s nerves until Sullivan hits one and we’re ready to go. Gang runs to the ramp but is quickly thrown back in.
Gang rams into Gigante and that goes nowhere. Gigante hiptosses him and hits the worst shoulders in the corner you’ll ever see. Gang avoids a corner charge and hits a middle rope clothesline to put Gigante on the ropes. Gang finds a wrench from somewhere and beats on Gigante with it which goes nowhere either. He rams the wrench into Gigante over and over but the giant won’t go down.
FINALLY some knee shots put him down and Gang works on that a bit. A splash gets two and Gigante throws Gang to the apron on the kickout. Gang gets slammed off the top, suplexed, rammed into Sullivan, has powder kicked into his face and gets clotheslined in the back of his head for the pin.
Rating: F. You know, I used to love El Gigante as a kid, but he makes Great Khali look like Daniel Bryan. I know that sounds like it’s way over the top, but I kid you not he was that bad. This was a terrible match as Gigante can’t sell anything, he has a bad arsenal, and even he couldn’t get the fans to wake up. Remembering that he was probably the second biggest face in the company at this point, that says a lot.
He would disappear for several years after this and hit the indies. Gang would come back to WCW in 1995 and somehow get a US Title run. Here’s one of his matches as champion, from January 22, 1996 on Nitro.
One Man Gang vs. Hulk Hogan
Gang is US Champion here for no apparent reason and this isn’t a title match for the reason I’d assume of Hogan is above the US Title. Also note that this is going on after two title changes including the world title match. Tell me: what possible reason is there to not have this go first or second? Hogan against a generic monster is a bigger draw than a world title match between Savage and Flair? I don’t think so dude.
Gang jumps him early to start and the fat is on! Hogan fights back and we almost get a big boot 40 seconds in. Out to the floor and Gang goes into the steps. Almost all Hogan here. Hogan with a thumb to the eye and some biting of the head. Clothesline takes Gang down but Hogan puts his head down and here comes the champ. Gang hits a clothesline and his finishing move: a big splash. Hogan pops up before the cover, there are the punches, big boot, slam, leg drop and the squash of the US Champion is complete at 3:03. Have I mentioned I hate Hogan in this time period?
Rating: S. For SCREW YOU HOGAN. I get the idea of Hogan winning. I get the idea of Hogan beating a guy he has history with. I get the idea of Hogan being on TV. BUT WHY IN THE WORLD DID IT NEED TO BE THE FREAKING US CHAMPION??? You couldn’t put freaking Zodiac in there? Was Brutus Beefcake too important to allow him to lose in a squash? In three minutes, Hogan got hit with two forearms, a clothesline and the finishing splash and won anyway, totally clean against the US Champion.
Of course the reign didn’t last long so here he is trying to get it back at SuperBrawl VI.
US Title: Konnan vs. One Man Gang
So like I mentioned in the Starrcade review, Gang won the title and Konnan took it from him. Here’s your rematch. Konnan actually cared at this point and it was very apparent. He’s moving all over the place at this point and doing all kinds of weird and big spots that are working really well. To be fair though, I could give Gang a run for his money I think.
Konnan runs around and beats up Gang for about two minutes, as in the first two minutes of the match, but Gang gets one shot in and Dusty proclaims that Konnan has barely been on offense. That’s just amusing. A side slam is called a side salto. Apparently Gang has been called one of the best men in the business for years. What kind of undiscovered years are those Tony? Konnan is selling well too here which is helping a lot also.
Let’s show the WCW NASCAR driver for like 30 seconds. Not like we can have anything of note going on in the ring at the moment. There was a WCW Motorsports? Since when? Gang hits his splash and pulls him up. That should more or less seal this one. Gang goes to the middle rope (called the very top by Tony) and misses to ZERO, I mean ZERO reaction. Konnan goes up and hits a front flip onto Gang for the pin. Wow this was bad.
Rating: D-. Again, One Man Gang as a title contender? What in the heck were they thinking??? This was again just bad and the crowd was deader than Konnan’s career. I have no idea who thought it was a good idea to make him a featured guy, even for a little while, but it didn’t work. Terrible match.
After a meaningless (and hard to find) run in ECW, the Gang would take part in He….He…..it’s Heroes of Wrestling.
One Man Gang vs. Abdullah the Butcher
Oh this isn’t going to be easy. Gang has issues getting into the ring. We have an interview with him where he shouts the whole time. I would have preferred Akeem but whatever. Abdullah’s manager is named Honest John Cheatum. We’re a minute in and Abdullah is bleeding.
That man should have a blood bank named after him. I think this is a hardcore match but I’m not sure as it’s never actually told, but we’re told this should be a treat for hardcore fans. We have chairs and chains used so I’d assume it is one. Butcher is bleeding badly to the shock of no one at all.
It can’t be a good idea to have One Man Gang run the match. This just isn’t going to go well but somehow Gang has won a more prestigious title: he actually held the US Title for a few months in 1995. Abdullah’s manager gets on commentary for no apparent reason. I guess he just wandered over there and got bored with the match. He’s from Paducah, Kentucky of all places and talks like a southern preacher. And believe me, as I’ve heard a lot of southern preachers.
He likes saying where he’s from. Apparently Butcher is here to destroy the idols. This is just odd indeed. And he’s gone now. So Butcher is the favorite here, and therefore the man that’s being cheered, but he’s not the idol? Either that or he’s going to destroy himself. Gang is bleeding too due to the fork shots.
The elbow hits, although you wouldn’t know it because the cameras were elsewhere. Have we seen a single finisher tonight??? We get a double countout. Really? Really? These guys were afraid to lay down here? REALLY??? The brawl goes on forever as they fix/clean the ring.
Rating: F-. It was a hardcore brawl, but just not a very good one. They went with the smart thing here of the brawling but it just wasn’t that good, although this was the best they could do. It was a freak show match, but still, this is hardly a kid friendly show like they seem to be marketing it as.
And one more for the road. From I-Generation Superstars of Wrestling in 2001.
Australasian Title: One Man Gang vs. Tatanka
Yes seriously. Tatanka is defending and is the face, but wouldn’t you think he would be a heel for being so proud of being from another country? The Gang thanks the fans for their support but wants the women to wash their underwear before they throw them to him. Gang looks so old it’s unreal. He pounds away in the corner to start and gets two off a clothesline. Tatanka comes back with kicks and chops as this is somehow less interesting than the girls.
Gang is sent to the floor and complains about how bad he smells. He takes a walk up the aisle and after nearly a minute the fans fill the ring with trash. Back in and they trade wristlocks with Gang pounding down into the shoulder. Tatanka comes back with shots to Gang’s shoulder as well and a chop to the head for two. A nearly botched cross body gets two more for Tatanka but Gang hits one of his own for two. Tatanka works the leg for a bit as this is already going longer than it should.
Gang kicks him to the floor but gets caught in a sunset flip for two. The big man slowly drops knees as I go read Gone with the Wind to fill in the time. Off to a nerve hold until Gang drives some shoulders into Tatanka’s ribs. Gang misses a running charge in the corner but Tatanka charges into a boot in the corner. A big fat legdrop makes me wish I was watching a Yokozuna match but Tatanka avoids a second one. I’m assuming he does as the camera was on fans in NWO shirts.
Tatanka makes his comeback and a chop to the head gets two. He rams Gang’s head into the buckle but the referee is crushed off a whip. Gang is slammed off the top and chopped in the head but there’s no referee. The fat man loads up some brass knuckles and knocks out the Indian for the pin and the title after nearly TWENTY MINUTES.
Rating: F+. I’ll give Gang credit here: he was trying. He was playing to the crowd and actually moving a bit out there which is more than you can say for most of the wrestlers tonight. The match was WAY too long though and on a show already this bad there’s no reason for it to go this long. Did they only have twelve people for the show or something?
So….yeah the Gang wasn’t all that good. He had his spot as a big monster that could look intimidating, but that was old fashioned by the late 80s. When you have Randy Savage flying all over the place and being completely insane, a big fat guy isn’t much of a villain anymore. Gang had his time, but it came and went.
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Battleground 2014: Like A Bad Sandwich With Awesome Bread
Battleground 2014
Date: July 20, 2014
Location: Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa Bay, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler
This show isn’t much more than a bridge to Summerslam but it’s a very nicely decorated bridge. The main event is Cena defending his title against Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Kane in a fourway. Other than we’re getting the first showdown between Ambrose and Reigns, Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho and an Intercontinental Title battle royal. Let’s get to it.
Pre-Show: Fandango vs. Adam Rose
I would have bet on this being instead of Fandango. The match is sponsored by Mountain Dew Kickstarter. Layla and Summer are with Adam Rose, who is celebrating his birthday tonight. Fandango jumps him to start and grabs a quick belly to back suplex for two. The party dances around the ring but Fandango stops to yell at them, only to get slapped by Summer and Layla. Adam brings him back inside for a spinebuster and the Party Foul for the pin at 1:25.
Pre-Show: Cameron vs. Naomi
Naomi tries to fight at the bell but Cameron hides in the corner. A kick sends Naomi to the floor and Cameron drives her back first into the barricade. Back in and Cameron puts Naomi in a bow and arrow hold with her feet in Naomi’s back. Naomi gets out but misses a dropkick. Cameron doesn’t follow up and gets hammered with right hands. She tries to leave but Naomi rams her into the barricade before ripping at Cameron’s hair. Cameron elbows her in the face and grabs a rollup with a handful of trunks for the pin at 3:13.
Rating: D-. This was awful. Do you know why it was awful? Because Cameron has no business being in a wrestling ring. Naomi is talented but isn’t a miracle worker and couldn’t do anything with Cameron here. I don’t know what WWE was expecting from this match but it couldn’t have been much higher than this.
The opening video talks about war and focuses on the fourway and Rollins vs. Ambrose. Nothing special.
Tag Team Titles: Usos vs. Wyatt Family
Usos are defending and this is 2/3 falls. Jey pops Rowan in the jaw to start but Erick just looks annoyed. Off to Harper who chokes Jey on the ropes but gets dropkicked out to the floor. Rowan gets knocked off as well and the challengers have to regroup. Back in and Luke sends Jey throat first into the bottom rope. Rowan cranks on Jey’s neck before it’s back to Luke for a chinlock. Jey finally rolls free and tags in Jimmy who gets kicked in the face for the first fall at 4:47.
Rowan puts Jimmy in the double fist vice as Jey is finally back up on the apron. Jimmy fights up but fails at a slam attempt to keep the challengers in control. Back to Harper who rubs his forearms over Jimmy’s face but Jimmy backflips out of a belly to back suplex. Jey comes in off the hot tag and rolls Harper up for the pin at 8:07 title.
Erick throws Jey with a fall away slam for two and Luke catapults him into the ropes. Jey dives over a charging Rowan to send him into the post, setting up a hot tag to Jimmy. Both Wyatts get taken down by big dives to the floor before Jimmy walks the barricade to take Luke down again. Back inside and a high cross body gets two on Harper. The running Umaga attack in the corner gets two and Jimmy is getting frustrated.
A superkick is blocked and Harper hits a running big boot. Jimmy is sent outside for a suicide dive from Harper. Jey sends Rowan into the barricade and Erick is grabbing at his arm. Harper’s suicide dive is blocked by a superkick and Jey grabs a rollup for two. Back up and Harper plants Jey with a sitout powerbomb for a VERY close two and the fans are into it. Rowan goes up top but misses a splash. Harper goes up but gets crotched, allowing Jimmy to get the tag and hit the Superfly Splash for two on Rowan.
The Usos get crotched on the top and Rowan is up top to superplex both of them down for two on Jimmy. Everything breaks down again and Luke nails Jimmy with a superkick. Jimmy hits one of his own but Harper nails the discus lariat, only to have Jey break up the pin. Double superkicks drop both Wyatts and a double Superfly Splash pins Luke at 18:50.
Rating: A. Well that was worth the $10. This has to set up the Ascension coming up to challenge the Usos because there’s no one left for them to beat. The first fall could be reason to give them another match but it seems a bit too long at this point. I’m surprised by the ending but it was an excellent match with those near falls getting better and better every time.
We recap Ambrose vs. Rollins. Seth claimed that he founded the Shield and broke up the team by turning on Ambrose and Reigns while joining forces with the Authority. Rollins then won Money in the Bank but Ambrose has promised to never let Seth cash in the briefcase. The Authority has helped Rollins beat Ambrose down multiple times now and this is the first chance for a one on one match.
Rollins talks about how he’s not worried about this match and is ready to show Ambrose that he’s the best. Then, with Ambrose out of the picture, Rollins is going to be watching the fourway. Ambrose jumps Rollins and lays him out so HHH throws Ambrose out of the building. Apparently the match isn’t happening tonight, or at least not right now.
Divas Title: Paige vs. AJ Lee
Paige debuted the night after Wrestlemania and took the title from AJ in a huge upset. A few months later, AJ returned and took the title from Paige in an impromptu title defense. Paige has since been saying she and AJ are now frenemies. A loud CM Punk chant starts up and so do the Network plugs. Paige gets two off an early rollup and drives some knees into AJ’s chest for two.
We hit the chinlock on the champion as the fans aren’t sure who they like more. Back up and Paige tries to spear AJ to the floor but they stop at the ropes and it goes into very slow motion. They head back inside for a not great looking sunset bomb for two from Paige. For some reason Paige looks like she’s about to cry and shouts COME ON AJ. Back up and AJ stops a charge in the corner but gets caught in mid air. Paige tries to spin her around but gets caught in the Black Widow. She powers out again though and hits the Paige Turner for two. The PTO is countered into a rollup for two but AJ nails a Shining Wizard for the pin at 7:14.
Rating: C. Not great here but it’s so far and away better than the stuff from Alicia Fox and the Bellas that it’s hard to not be pleased. They’re making Paige look like a flash in the pan at this point but there will be more matches in this feud. It wasn’t bad save for some awkward looking spots and that’s acceptable for girls that don’t get to try this kind of stuff that often.
Summerslam ad.
Randy Orton goes into the depths of the building to make amends with Kane for the RKO on Monday. Kane isn’t pleased but Orton says their enemies are Cena and Reigns. The monster says those two aren’t leaving as champion because the winner is right here.
The panel (Booker T., Christian and Alex Riley) talk about the show so far and pick winners for the World Title match.
We look back at Colter and Lana’s detente from Raw.
Rusev vs. Jack Swagger
Lana does her usual schtick before the match, talking about how American propaganda has led to what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Colter comes out to talk as well but gets slapped, triggering a brawl between Rusev and Swagger. The bell rings and Swagger goes for the Patriot Lock but Rusev bails outside. Rusev hammers away but gets knocked back to the floor. Another Patriot Lock doesn’t work and Rusev throws Swagger over in a fall away slam.
Off to a nerve hold for a bit before Rusev fires off kicks to the thighs and chest. Swagger stomps on Rusev’s bare feet and hits a Vader Bomb for two. Swagger is sent to the apron and does a very bad job of sticking his head back in so Rusev can kick him in the chest. The superkick is caught in the Patriot Lock but Rusev finally dives forward to the ropes. They head outside with Swagger chop blocking Rusev and putting the hold on again. Rusev crawls up the steps and rolls Swagger face first into the post before beating the count at 10:00.
Rating: C. This was fine and lets the feud continue when the real life tensions have calmed down a little bit. They did a good job of making Swagger look good and the more wins Rusev gets over big names, the better off he’s going to be. It was nothing great but it extends the feud and that’s all it needed to do.
Rusev puts the unconscious Swagger in the Accolade.
Goldust and Stardust talk about the cosmic key. Stardust thinks they should watch the stars tonight.
Here’s Seth Rollins for his match, even though HHH has officially tweeted that Ambrose will not be in the arena again tonight. He says Dean behaven irresponsibly earlier tonight and insists that he is named the winner by forefit. Rollins goes up the aisle but Ambrose attacks him because wrestling security sucks.
Dean sends him onto the Spanish announce table but security pulls him off. Ambrose breaks through again as Rollins shouts at him. HHH comes out as they’re fighting again and tells security to get Ambrose out of here. Security literally picks Ambrose up to carry him out but Rollins dives on Dean. HHH finally gets Rollins calm and holds up his arm.
We recap Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt. Jericho came back again but got beaten down by the Wyatts. Jericho wisely ran away instead of fighting all three of them but tonight it’s one on one.
Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt
Jericho takes him into the corner to start but gets knocked back by a single right hand. A clothesline puts Jericho down again and a kick to the chest gets one. Jericho fights out of a neck crank and dropkicks Bray to the apron for the springboard dropkick to the floor. The Family helps Bray up so Jericho dives onto all three of them.
The referee ejects the Family and Bray isn’t happy. He lets some of his anger go by knocking Jericho off the apron and onto a cameraman. Back in and Jericho is sent to the ropes but he hangs on and nails a top rope ax handle. Bray pops back up and they botch a belly to back suplex into a gutbuster spot. The second attempt works better and Jericho is in trouble again. Bray’s backsplash hits knees and both guys are down.
Bray puts Jericho on the middle rope and brings him down with a kind of jawbreaker for two. Jericho comes right back with the bulldog but the Lionsault hits knees. Bray spider walks to the corner before slamming Chris down for two. Jericho whips him into the corner and Bray hits his head on the bottom buckle. They head to the apron and Bray tries a DDT but Jericho lands on the middle rope instead of the edge of the ring. The Walls are countered but Jericho hits the Codebreaker for the clean pin at 15:00.
Rating: D+. Ummm…WHAT? Why in the world did this happen? Bray is supposed to be this new young guy and he’s jobbing clean to Chris Jericho? The match was awkward throughout and it felt like they were on different pages. Maybe Jericho isn’t back to his level, but the ending is beyond questionable.
Rollins leaves and says he doesn’t need security. He goes into the parking lot but Ambrose pops out of the trunk of a car and beats Rollins up again. Seth finally gets away in the car.
Intercontinental Title: Battle Royal
Big E., Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro, R-Truth, Ryback, Curtis Axel, Damien Sandow, Titus O’Neal, Heath Slater, Diego, Sin Cara, Xavier Woods, Great Khali, Kofi Kingston, Bo Dallas, Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, The Miz
No Rob Van Dam for some reason. Bad News Barrett comes out and says the new champion will be like an old couple retiring here in Florida. Initially it will be great, but it’s delaying the inevitable. Everyone goes after Khali to start but he shoves them off and cleans house before throwing out Woods and Ryder. A Brogue Kick stuns Khali and everyone puts him out. Dallas eliminates Sin Cara and Ryback does the same to Truth.
Axel is tossed as they’re going through this match quickly. Damien Sandow (a beach bum here) gets thrown out by Diego to no reaction but Ryback throws out the Matador a second later. Ryback slams Dallas down and all of a sudden only Ryback and Sheamus are standing. A quick slugout ends with a Brogue Kick for the elimination. Miz can’t throw Sheamus out and gets a Zig Zag for trying. He slides out to the floor under the ropes and everyone goes back to brawling.
Titus throws Sheamus around like he’s nothing but Bo eliminates him for a big celebration. Kofi and Cesaro go at it with Kofi missing Trouble in Paradise and getting backdropped over. He hangs on like he’s trying a sunset bomb but pulls himself back in. Cesaro grabs Kofi’s dreadlocks but gets dropkicked down. Both guys are still in. Del Rio and Ziggler go at it with Alberto putting on the armbreaker over the ropes. Del Rio tries the low superkick on the apron and gets his neck snapped across the top rope for an elimination.
We’re down to Kofi, Dallas, Slater, Cesaro, Big E., Sheamus, Ziggler and Miz. Cesaro suplexes Big E. out and throws Kofi out but Big E. catches him on his shoulders. Cesaro suplexes Kofi off Big E.’s shoulders and back into the ring (why?) before poking him in the eye and suplexing him to the floor. Slater dumps Cesaro in a huge upset but gets thrown to the apron by Sheamus. A Brogue Kick puts him out and a slingshot shoulder knocks Bo silly. The ten forearms to the chest have Dallas in trouble and Ziggler dropkicks him out.
We’re down to Sheamus vs. Ziggler and Miz is somewhere on the floor. They slug it out and no one can hit a big move. Sheamus loads up a powerbomb and they botch a counter with a very awkward landing. Thankfully they seem to be fine and Sheamus catapults Dolph over the top but he hangs on. Dolph pulls Sheamus out but he hangs on as well. Sheamus loads up the slingshot shoulder but gets superkicked out, allowing Miz to come in and throw out Ziggler to win at 14:20.
Rating: D+. Erg. Why go with something interesting when you can go with someone who has held the title multiple times before? I’m glad they didn’t unify the titles but I would have loved to see someone like Dallas get this for the promos alone. At the end of the day though, this is a death knell for Miz’s push, as is the custom in WWE.
We recap the main event. Cena refused to side with the Authority so HHH put him in this match with Orton, Kane and Reigns, who HHH hated a month ago but now is ok with being in a title shot. He explained it in an interview on WWE.com but it still doesn’t hold up.
WWE World Title: John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns vs. Kane
Cena is defending and has both belts again here. It’s a brawl to start and Orton is in blue instead of black. Randy sends Orton into the steps but Reigns fights off both Authority members. A double suplex drops Reigns and gives Orton two as Kane seems to play defense against Cena. The champion comes back in and Orton takes him down for two more as Kane guards against Reigns.
Kane breaks up an AA attempt on Orton as the early going continues. Reigns and Kane fight on the floor so Cena can start up his finishing sequence on Orton. The AA is blocked so Cena throws Orton to the floor before turning around to see Reigns. Kane and Orton break it up before anything happens and Kane gets two on Reigns to annoy Randy. They start to shove each other and a YES chant starts up.
Orton says it’s supposed to be Kane watching his back but Kane uppercuts him. Kane loads up a superplex but Cena and Reigns come in to make it a Tower of Doom. Now we get Cena vs. Reigns but Kane sits up to stop it again. They stop Kane to the floor but Orton sneaks in with a backbreaker to Roman. A double Elevated DDT puts down both heroes but Kane breaks up a pin.
Cena and Reigns send Kane to the floor before Cena grabs an STF. Reigns adds a half crab at the same time but Kane makes the save. An AA sends Kane back to the floor and Orton is put in the STF again. Reigns pulls Orton to the ropes and throws him over the announce table, FINALLY giving us the showdown. They slug it out and Reigns tries a clothesline but Cena goes the wrong way so it’s kind of an old Vader body attack. The STF is countered and Reigns hits a Samoan drop. The Superman Punch misses and Cena hits the ProtoBomb.
Reigns pops up and hits the Superman Punch followed by the spear but Kane makes the save (with Cena’s head up and watching Kane come in the entire way). Kane gets hammered down and Reigns hits the jumping kick to all three guys. Orton gets speared through the barricade and the fans think this is awesome. Back in and Reigns spears Kane down but Cena makes the save.
Cena throws Roman to the floor and hits the AA for two as Reigns makes the save. Reigns and Cena slug it out again and an AA gets two with Kane breaking it up. Both heroes get chokeslammed but Reigns kicks out at two. The tombstone is countered and another spear connects until Orton makes the save. The RKO puts Reigns down but Cena comes in with an AA to Orton before pinning Kane to keep the title at 18:15.
Rating: B. Good match but the ending never being in doubt hurt things a bit. Some of the near falls did have me thinking we might get a surprise but at the end of the day this was the best option they had. Cena keeps the title and now we’re heading to his showdown with Lesnar where Brock gets his win back next month.
Overall Rating: C. This was underwhelming due to some of the booking. Miz winning is acceptable but not very exciting. On the other hand, I see absolutely no reason for Bray to lose to Jericho. At this point, Jericho should be there to put people over, not pin guys in featured matches at Wrestlemania three months ago. Other than that there was some good stuff here and it was miles better than last year, but it felt a lot more like a filler show than it should have. Granted it was a filler show so my expectations hit a hard ceiling during the build up. The opener and main event were both good so the show was worth the $10, but the middle pretty much sucked. Summerslam has potential as the big blowoff show though.
Results
Adam Rose b. Fandango – Party Foul
Cameron b. Naomi – Rollup
Usos b. Wyatt Family – Double Superfly Splash to Harper
AJ Lee b. Paige – Shining Wizard
Rusev b. Jack Swagger via countout
Chris Jericho b. Bray Wyatt – Codebreaker
The Miz won a battle royal last eliminating Dolph Ziggler
John Cena b. Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Kane – Cena pinned Kane after a spear from Reigns
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TNA One Night Only: Global Impact Japan: The Bound For Glory Preview
Global Impact Japan
Date: July 4, 2014
Location: Ry?goku Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 5,800
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz
This is another One Night Only show with the roster heading to Japan for a show co-promoted by the Wrestle-1 promotion. Naturally, what better day to hold it on thant he Fourth of July? This show has three title matches, all of which have been spoiled on Impact in the four months since this was taped. I hope you like this, as this is very similar to what Bound For Glory is going to be this year. Let’s get to it.
The opening video shows a lot of the traveling as a voiceover talks about how awesome this is for TNA. Magnus is the main star featured in the video as he was the World Champion when this took place.
Bad Influence vs. Junior Stars
The Junior Stars are Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka. Kanemoto wrestled at Starrcade 1995 and invented the Koji Clutch. Tanaka was in TNA for the 2006 World X-Cup. I’m assuming the Junior part is for their weight class and not for their ages. Daniels and Tanaka get things going with Christopher being taken into the corner, where he shouts CLEAN BREAK about fifteen times in a loud voice. Daniels does the same to Tanaka, who shouts the same thing and is granted his request. They hit the mat for a bit before Tanaka dropkicks Daniels’ knee.
Off to Kanemoto vs. Kazarian with Koji taking over, using something like Joe’s Facewash. Taz says Koji invented that move which really wouldn’t surprise me given Joe’s work in Japan. Kaz comes back with a dropkick and is hiptossed onto Koji by Daniels for two. Back to Daniels as Taz makes jokes about photographers. They’re firmly in the “let’s make jokes instead of calling the match” mode tonight.
Bad Influence starts some fast tagging to keep Kanemoto in trouble but he avoids a charge from Daniels to get a breather. A suplex puts Daniels down but there’s no tag to Tanaka. Instead Koji misses a moonsault and a double big boot puts both guys down. A double tag brings in Daniels to face Tanaka with Minoru taking over with shots to the face. Everything breaks down and Tanaka dives off the middle rope to take Daniels down to the floor.
A half butterfly suplex gets two on Christopher and Koji gets two off a 450. Kazarian pulls the referee out to really get the fans’ attention. A powerbomb/neckbreaker combination gets two on Tanaka but he pops up and puts Kaz in an ankle lock. Kanemoto puts Daniels in a cross armbreaker at the same time but Kaz crawls over to save his partner. Why Tanaka lets go of his hold when Tanaka’s is broken isn’t clear. Bad Influence goes High/Low for the pin out of nowhere on Kanemoto.
Rating: C+. The match was fine for an opener as Daniels and Kazarian can wrestle without having to do all their comedy stuff. That fits in better for a more serious show like this, and the match was entertaining as a result. It wasn’t anything spectacular but not every match has to be.
A humble Magnus talks about how important of a show this is for both himself and TNA. He and Joe won the GHC Tag Team Titles here about a year ago so he has history in this building. Tonight he’s defending against Kai and promises that it’s going to be a war.
Bad Influence says they’re the best team in the world. This is much more over the top in true Bad Influence style. Tanaka chases them off.
Gail Kim vs. Madison Rayne
Madison is Knockouts Champion at this point but I believe this is non-title. Rayne gets a quick rollup for two and does the mat humping for two. Tenay and Taz try to talk about some Japanese culture and wrestling history but it’s about as pitiful as you would expect. Gail gets two off a clothesline and hits the running cross body to the ribs in the corner. Madison comes back with a rolling cradle but Gail tries to cheat. The champion isn’t happy and charges into the buckle to stun herself.
Gail puts on the figure four around the post as Taz continues asking about the numbered photographers at ringside. Back up and Madison’s leg is fine as Gail rolls her up for two. A suplex gets the same for Rayne but she gets caught in something like a Death Valley Driver for two. Eat Defeat gets Gail the pin a few seconds later.
Rating: D+. This is the exact same match these two have had about a dozen times and in this case Gail won. I really don’t know what else you want me to say about this one, as their matches have been done so many times and there’s almost nothing more to see them do in the ring.
We hear from some wrestlers who are happy to be in Japan. This looks like deleted scenes from the opening video.
Abyss vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
Takayama is described as the Japanese Abyss. Granted that’s Tenay’s opinion of him so I’d expect the second coming of Petey Williams. It’s a brawl to start of course with the blond haired Takayama being knocked out to the floor early on. Takayama slugs away but gets sent into the barricade for his efforts. Back in and they punch each other some more with Takayama nailing a pair of running knees to the chest. Abyss blocks a German suplex and they head outside again.
Four minutes into the match, Tenay casually mentions that Takayama has won the All Japan Triple Crown Title, the GHC Championship and the IWGP Championship. I don’t follow Japanese wrestling and even I know that’s a bigger deal than something you mention four minutes into a match. Abyss takes him to the ramp and pours out the thumbtacks but Takayama fights out of a chokeslam. He tries another German but gets slammed down onto the tacks. Abyss misses a splash and lands in the tacks as well before they brawl to a no contest.
Rating: C-. Take two big guys and let them fight for about seven minutes. This was a mindless but fun brawl and that’s what you would expect out of guys like these two. The tacks were a nice big spot at the end and the shorter you keep an Abyss match, the better things are going to be.
Gail Kim says she’s the best Knockout in the world and screws up the continuity of being Madison’s friend.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Bobby Roode
Funaki is a technical guy with a very successful MMA background. Feeling out process for the first minute and a half with Roode shouting about how great he is. Bobby takes him down with a headlock but Funaki grabs a much faster headlock of his own to take control. Back up and they stare each other down before Roode tries a forearm.
A stiff kick to the chest puts him down on the floor where he asks Funaki to bring the fight. Funaki obliges and is whipped hard into the barricade for his efforts. Bobby sends him shoulder first into the post before wrapping it around the ropes. A knee drop gets two on Funaki and it’s off to a cross armbreaker. Funaki fights up and fires off kicks in the corner followed by a hard one to the face.
They chop it out until Roode takes him down with a DDT on the arm. There’s the crossface (more like a crossforehead) but Funaki rolls backwards into a rollup for two. Back up and Funaki tries an ankle lock, only to get pulled back down into the crossface. That goes nowhere so Roode grabs a spinebuster for two. The Roode Bomb is countered into the ankle lock and Bobby taps out.
Rating: B. This was a nice technical match with Roode having good psychology by going after the arm for the entire match before trying the crossface. I would have liked some leg work before the ankle lock but it wasn’t completely out of nowhere. Roode looked good here and the match was fun to watch.
Joe is thrilled to get to face Great Muta tonight. He calls wrestling an international language and says TNA is ready to show what they can do to a new audience.
Keiji Mutoh/Rob Terry/Taiyo Kea vs. Masayuki Kono/Rene Dupree/Samoa Joe
Joe’s team gets the jobber treatment and Mutoh might retire if he loses. Joe and Kea get things going with Joe hammering away in the corner, only to have Kea no sell most of the shots. A big boot has little effect on Joe and an elbow to Kea’s jaw has the same result. Off to Terry vs. Dupree for a posedown before Renee dropkicks Terry’s knee out. Kono comes in to try a double suplex but Terry suplexes both of them at the same time.
Mutoh gets the tag for the power drive elbow before putting Kono in an STF. Back to Kea for chops followed by Terry for some cranking on the arm. Mutoh puts on a sleeper but Dupree gets in a cheap shot. Joe glares at his partner for the cheap shot and does the same thing to Kono, even going so far as to save Mutoh. Apparently he’s fine with backsplashing Mutoh for two and putting on the Koquina Clutch but everything breaks down.
Things settle down and Mutoh mostly misses a dropkick to Joe and the tag brings in Kea. A Russian legsweep gets two on Joe but he comes back with a powerslam. Off to Kono who gets caught in something resmbling a running DDT. Terry gets the tag and gets the crowd to clap a lot before hitting a slow motion Jackhammer. Kea rolls away and tags in Dupree who is quickly backdropped down.
Muta comes in and takes out everyone with dragon screw legwhips before putting Renee in a Figure Four. Kono makes a save so Muta hits Dupree with a Shining Wizard but everything breaks down. Members of the Desperadoes stable comes in to attack Mutoh but Joe won’t help them. He takes a chair from Dupree and headbutts him before walking out, allowing Mutoh to hit the Shining Wizard for the pin on Dupree.
Rating: D+. Well you knew Mutoh wasn’t jobbing here. This match was a big mess though with Joe wanting to do the right thing or whatever it was while all of the people interfered (and Tenay just expected us to know who they were because EVERYONE follows a year old Japanese promotion). This felt like “let’s all love Mutoh” and while he deserves respect, I don’t care for matches that turn into stuff like this. It wasn’t terrible or anything and the story made good sense, but it was messy.
The Wolves talk about how honored they are to perform in this building. They respect Team 246 but don’t think too much of the BroMans.
Tag Team Titles: BroMans vs. Wolves vs. Team 246
One fall to a finish, The Wolves are defending and Team 246 is Kaz Hayashi/Shuji Kondo. These are the TNA Tag Team Titles if that’s not clear. Three people in the ring at once so it’s Robbie, Kaz and Davey getting things going. Kaz and Davey slug it out before they both stare at Robbie, triggering a very Broish scream. Robbie Hulks Up and a single chop from Kaz sends him to the floor. Davey and Kaz get to shout at each other a lot and counter moves until Kaz kicks him down.
Eddie comes in but gets caught by a DDT from Kondo. The BroMans pull everyone to the floor until they head back inside with the Wolves. The champions low bridge the BroMans to the floor before diving onto Team 246. Robbie totally misses a dive so the Wolves hit more stereo dives to take everyone out. Back in and Davey kicks Jesse in the side of the head before an enziguri and missile dropkick put Hayashi down for two.
The BroMans shove the Wolves off the top rope and double team Hayashi. Things settle down with the Wolves staying out of the ring as Kaz gets beaten up even more. Davey finally comes back in but gets gorilla pressed by Jesse and nailed with a middle rope elbow from Robbie. Hayashi shoves the BroMans into each other but Davey kicks Kondo off the apron. Kondo comes in anyway as everything breaks down.
A spinebuster gets two on Edwards and Kondo sends the BroMans together again. Davey comes back with a handspring into a kick to Kondo’s face. Robbie DDTs Kaz down but gets laid out by the Wolves. Kondo powerslams Edwards and some double teaming from 246 gets two. Kaz gets the same off a superkick but Davey makes the save.
Richards kicks both of 246 before slugging it out with Hayashi again. A hugh kick to Kaz’s head sets up a German suplex for two for Davey and the powerbomb/Backstabber combo gets two more. The BroMans send the champions to the floor but Kondo breaks up the Bro Down. Richards kicks Kondo down but gets sent to the floor, setting up the Bro Down to Hayashi for the pin and the titles.
Rating: C+. This was fine though I still don’t see the appeal of Kaz Hayashi. He didn’t do anything for me in WCW and now he’s not doing anything for me when he has longer hair. The Wolves looked decent but I get really tired of the Japanese style of getting hit in the face a lot and just screaming in response.
Sanada training video.
The BroMans celebrate.
X-Division Title: Austin Aries vs. Sanada
Sanada is challenging. They shake hands to start before trading armbars. Now they trade headlocks until Sanada hooks a quickly broken abdominal stretch. Sanada rolls him up for two and it’s another standoff. Austin takes him to the mat and rides him a bit before grabbing a few rollups for two each. Aries flips out of a wristlock before dropkicking Sanada in the head for the first real advantage. Sanada is sent to the floor but blocks a suicide dive with a forearm.
Back in and Sanada hammers away in the corner for two but Aries sends him to the floor to break up a springboard attempt. The champion hits a top rope ax handle to the floor before hitting a running elbow off the ramp for two back inside. After working on the neck for a bit, Aries hooks a leg lock to change course. A knee crusher gets two for Aries before they chop it out with Sanada taking over. Aries comes back with a discus forearm to put Sanada on the floor and now the suicide dive connects.
A missile dropkick sends Sanada across the ring but he stays on his feet. Sanada stops a charge with a boot to the face but Austin grabs a crucifix, only to be flipped up into a TKO in a sweet counter. Aries pops back up with a knee crusher into a belly to back suplex, followed by the corner dropkick.
The brainbuster is countered so Aries hits three more running dropkicks, only to have Sanada counter the brainbuster into a suplex. Sanada wins a slugout but Aries grabs him for the brainbuster and two. There’s the Last Chancery but Sanada crawls over to the rope. Aries misses the 450 and a German/dragon/tiger suplex combo gets two for Sanada. A pair of moonsaults give Sanada the title.
Rating: B-. This was the usual good match between these two and it should have been the longest match of the show. Sanada is at least getting to be in TNA longer than the cup of coffee that a lot of foreign wrestlers get in American companies. He’ll get a big match at Bound For Glory and it’s going to be interesting to see where he goes after that.
A stunned Aries rolls up the promoter before raising Sanada’s hand.
Magnus says Kai is good but not good enough.
Here’s a match from Lockdown 2014.
Bad Influence/Chris Sabin vs. Great Muta/Sanada/Yasu
Daniels and Kazarian come out in Great Muta garb circa 1989. Sanada took the X Title from Austin Aries a week ago in Japan. Sabin and Sanada get things going and fight over hiptosses before Sanada grabs an abdominal stretch. It’s quickly off to Muta to drop some fast elbows on Sabin followed by a crossface hold. Daniels makes the save but we get the Green Mist from Muta.
Back to Yasuyuki who gets taken into the wrong corner with Daniels dropping him with a belly to back suplex, setting up a slingshot legdrop from Kaz for two. Daniels suplexes Kaz onto Yatzu, setting up a springboard moonsault for two from Christopher. Back to Kaz who misses a top rope legdrop, allowing the hot tag off to Sanada.
He cleans house until Bad Influence hits a quick High/Low for two. Daniels takes Sanada down for a second but a hot tag brings in Muta to really clean house with dragon screw leg whips all around. The Mist puts Daniels down and there’s the Shining Wizard, setting up a moonsault from Sanada for the pin on Daniels at 9:22.
Rating: C. Not a bad match and a good choice for an opener, but it’s also a good example of what’s wrong with the all cages gimmick. The cage added absolutely nothing here and there’s no reason for the cage to be there at all. The fans reacted well to the Japanese guys so it certainly wasn’t a terrible idea.
Austin Aries says he makes guys like Sanada raise their game.
TNA World Title: Magnus vs. Kai
Magnus is defending and Kai won a tournament to get this shot. Feeling out process to start as a lot of TNA guys have come out to watch the match. No one goes anywhere when they fight over a top wristlock so Magnus takes him down with a headlock. Back up and Kai nails three straight dropkicks but Magnus stops him with a forearm. They head up the ramp and fight over a suplex on the stage until the champion takes him over.
Back in and Taz keeps complaining about the referee not being up to his standards. We hit another chinlock followed by a camel clutch to Kai. Taz notices that Kai’s tights say Dress Camp and goes on a rant about summer camp. Kai fights up and sends Magnus to the floor, followed by a suicide dive to take over. Magnus fights out of a powerbomb and kicks away, only to get dropped by a clothesline.
They slug it out with Kai nailing a falcon’s arrow for two. Kai goes up but gets superplexed down, though Magnus can’t follow up. Back up and a springboard enziguri drops Magnus and a running boot to the face gets two. A powerbomb gets two more on the champion but he catches Kai in a Michinoku Driver for a near fall of his own. The top rope elbow gets the same and another Michinoku Driver followed by a second elbow retains Magnus’ title.
Rating: C. It was a pretty good main event style match, but the problem I have with this is the problem I have with almost all shows like this: who is Kai and why should I care about him? Yeah I know he won a tournament, but I have no connection to Kai, have never seen one of his matches or heard him talk. All I know about him I learned in the last fifteen minutes of hearing Tenay and Taz and watching this one match. Wrestling is about connecting with performers, be it through promos or through their matches. With nothing to go off, there’s no reason for me to care about Kai.
A two minute highlight package closes us out.
Overall Rating: C+. This was very different than the rest of the One Night Only shows as there was a completely unique feeling to the show. Now that being said, as I mentioned, I don’t care for most of these shows as I don’t care for Japanese wrestling all that much. The show wasn’t bad but it’s nothing I got excited about watching. I saw some good action but I have no connection to most of them. I don’t care to watch any more Wrestle-1, even though some of it was good stuff. Bound For Glory is going to be a HUGE gamble, but they could make it work under the right circumstances.
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Battleground 2014 Preview
We’ve arrived at what was the worst show of 2013, but this year’s version looks to be far more interesting than last year’s mess. The card has actually been built up rather than just being thrown together as a filler show, meaning we continue to benefit from the Network. This has the potential to be a solid show and that’s always a good thing. Let’s get to it.
The pre-show is Cameron vs. Naomi and unfortunately I think Cameron wins because WWE thinks she’s a star because she’s on a reality show they produce. Hopefully Naomi wins because she has some talent.
Cena retains the title in the obvious match of the night. There’s never been anything that makes me think he doesn’t win and there’s nothing wrong with that. This is a token title defense and a way to get us to the big showdown with Lesnar at Summerslam. That brings us to the two major questions about this: does Rollins cash in and does Lesnar appear on Sunday? No.
Time for my pick that makes no sense and it’s likely to happen: Dallas wins the Intercontinental Title. This is more something I want to happen that has any possibility to happen. Battle royals are really hard to predict though so it’s pretty much random guessing. Either Dallas, Cesaro or Diego. You don’t want to sleep on him.
Bray over Jericho. There’s no reason for Jericho to win and I really don’t think there’s a logical argument for it.
The Wyatts take the Tag Team Titles. Again, there’s really no reason for them not to and the Usos have had a nice title reign already.
I’ll take Paige to get the Divas Title back from AJ to complete her heel turn and set up a submission match at Summerslam.
Ambrose vs. Rollins is likely going to a non-finish to set up another match at Summerslam, perhaps for the briefcase. This is going to be the best match of the night and there’s no reason for it not to tear the house down.
That brings us to the match where I have no idea what to expect. I know I’ve said for weeks that Rusev is going to snap Swagger in half and sprinkle over him his Russian pizza, but then real life intervened. In case you haven’t heard, a Malaysian Airlines flight was blown out of the sky, killing nearly 300 people a few days ago. There’s a chance that that the Russian military had something to do with it, and that’s REALLY not something you want to mess with. I can’t imagine Rusev getting pinned or submitting, but maybe losing by countout or DQ. There’s also a chance they have a non-finish to set up a rematch when real life has calmed down.
Overall, Battleground actually looks pretty awesome. The main event should be a fun fifteen minutes and Rollins vs. Ambrose should be a war. The battle royal actually has me intrigued and that’s not something I would have imagined coming in. It’s just a bridge heading up to Summerslam, but it’s a nicely constructed bridge that should be an entertaining show. I know this is short, but most of the matches range from obvious to really obvious. That doesn’t leave me much to talk about.
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Thunder – February 25, 1999: The Dark Ages Continue
Thunder
Date: February 25, 1999
Location: E Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Attendance: 9,159 Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan
Things are looking up a bit after Monday’s show, though the NWO was up to their old tricks again with a not very funny parody instead of the big Flair interview that was promoted all night long. This is another taped show which usually means nothing good for the fans. Monday focused more on the wrestling for the most part though so maybe this show has a chance. Let’s get to it.
Tony, clearly from a studio and not in the arena, welcomes us to the show and sends us to a video on Page vs. Steiner.
Hak vs. Damien
Hak (what a funny yet mostly accurate jab at ECW) comes to the ring wrapped in barbed wire. Before the match, Hak says that all of his matches will be Hakfests, meaning no rules. Who or what gives him this authority isn’t clear. Damien hammers away to start but he cuts himself on the barbed wire. A dropkick drives Hak into the wire but he takes it off a few seconds later. They head outside with Damien nailing a baseball slide followed by a dive against the barricade.
Back in and Hak drapes Damien over the top rope for something resembling a top rope legdrop to the back. Tony says the FCC is coming after the NWO for hijacking the satellite feed on Monday, because WCW thinks fans want to hear about FCC fines and regulations instead of wrestling matches to get revenge. Not that the fans have any reason to care about this war any longer after SuperBrawl but WCW never was one to think things through like that.
Hak does the same legdrop over the back to the barricade (RVD’s spot minus the spin) before taking it inside for the Tommy Dreamer Tree of Woe dropkick into the chair. Damien comes back with some Singapore cane shots but gets caught in the White Russian legsweep (legsweep with the cane across Damien’s throat) for the pin.
Rating: D. Oh this is going to be a long year. I wasn’t much of an ECW fan at this point and I didn’t care for the hardcore stuff. It was one thing when Raven did it as Raven was about a thousand times better in the ring than Sandman could ever hope to be. The fact that they’ve put Sandman in black dress pants and a black shirt with no music doesn’t help his case.
Stills of Flair vs. Hogan. We still haven’t seen the announcers and I doubt we will.
Psychosis vs. Hector Garza
They start slow until Psychosis drops him with a shoulder. Garza elbows him in the face and moonsaults over Psychosis, only to get clotheslined down. Hector is sent to the floor and taken down with a baseball slide followed by a dropkick. Back in and Psychosis dives off the top and into a powerslam but Hector misses a charge in the corner. A missile dropkick gets two for Psychosis but Hector comes back with what looked like a clothesline to the side of the head.
Psychosis avoids a running dropkick in the corner, setting up a top rope spinwheel kick (not a flying body attack Tony) for two more. Garza gets crotched on the top rope and dropped by another spinwheel kick. Back up and Hector loads up a powerbomb but just drops Psychosis face first onto the mat. Garza goes up but gets crotched again, giving Psychosis a top rope hurricarnana and the guillotine legdrop is enough to pin Hector.
Rating: C-. Not much to see here as Garza wasn’t the most interesting luchador when he wasn’t doing his big dives. Psychosis is a guy that never got much attention in WCW as he was overshadowed by guys like Mysterio/Guerrera/Kidman. That’s a shame too as he was a very talented guy in his own right.
Stills of Windham and Hennig winning the Tag Team Titles.
Ernest Miller vs. ???
Miller still doesn’t like Glacier’s music. He insults some fans and issues another open challenge.
Ernest Miller vs. Stevie Ray
There’s a break before the match. Tony: “Fans we’ll brb!” Much like hearing people say the word hashtag out loud today, this really should be left on a computer. Ray easily shoves him down and hammers away with right hands. A low blow (ignored by the referee) gives Miller a breather and he knocks Stevie down with kicks to the head. Stevie comes back with a slam but the referee is bumped when he tries another slam. Sonny Onoo gets in and gets laid out as well. Vince comes out and intentionally hits Stevie with a slapjack, giving Miller the pin.
Rating: D. This was another angle instead of a match but it’s good to keep these Black and White things short. Having this as a heel vs. heel match made the fans even more uninterested though. Miller with the Glacier music isn’t interesting but hopefully it doesn’t last all that long.
We look at the Horsemen attacking Windham and Hennig on Nitro.
We see Booker’s promo and match from Monday with a clean win over Bret.
Villano V/El Dandy vs. Raven/Kanyon
Raven’s sister is here with them. Before the match, he talks about the jobbers claiming to be hardcore and Hak stealing the Raven’s Rules idea. What about Raven? He’ll stomp Hak and Bigelow like narcs at a biker rally. As for this match, remember that Raven and Kanyon injured Villano IV’s brother.
Dandy gets double teamed in the corner to start but the makeshift team nails Kanyon with a double dropkick. Off to Raven vs. Villano as Tenay talks about Villano V hopefully returning later this year? Heenan: “How do you know which one you were talking to? It might have been VII!” Tony: “HE’S RIGHT!” Raven runs into a boot in the corner as everything breaks down. Villano hot shots Kanyon but Raven nails him with a chair. The drop toehold sends Villano face first into the chair, followed by the Even Flow for the pin. For some reason the referee has to count it twice.
Rating: D. Nothing to the match but it was nice to see Raven back. Unfortunately it sounds like he’s going to have a feud with the hardcore guys now as the “let’s be like ECW” run continues. It’s a shame too as exploring Raven’s mental issues could be a very interesting path for his character.
Raven puts Dandy through a table post match.
This Week In WCW Motorsports! Monster trucks!
Stills of Goldberg vs. Bigelow.
Blitzkreig vs. Juventud Guerrera
Feeling out process to start with Juvy sending him to the floor. That goes nowhere so Blitzkreig comes back in and gets chopped. Now it’s Juvy being sent to the floor for a big flip dive but Juvy takes him back inside for a chinlock. A Stunner over the top rope sets up a springboard from Juvy but Blitzkreig rolls away and Juvy lands on his feet. Blitzkreig dropkicks him out to the floor but brings Guerrera back in for more chops.
Juvy crotches Blitzkreig on the top, setting up a springboard hurricanrana for two. We take a break and come back with Juvy taking Blitzkreig’s head off with a clothesline. Back to the chinlock for a bit before Juvy puts Blitzkrieg on the top for another dropkick, sending Blitzkreig out to the floor.
Juvy throws him back in for a springboard guillotine legdrop but hurts himself in the process. The delayed cover only gets two and a release German suplex gets the same for Guerrera. Blitzkrieg comes back with a spinning victory roll for two and a backbreaker for two more. A Lionsault hits knees but the 450 misses. Instead it’s the Juvy Driver for the pin.
Rating: C. This wasn’t a bad match but Blitzkrieg still isn’t doing it for me. Maybe it’s all the stuff I’ve heard about him over the years but he’s not on the same level as guys like Mysterio or Guerrero. He’s not bad or anything, but I don’t care to see most of his matches and he’s looked out of his league for the most part.
Stills of Rey losing his mask.
Konnan music video.
Here’s the full Mysterio vs. Nash match from Monday. Granted it’s only like three minutes long.
Bret Hart vs. Disco Inferno
Before the match, Disco wants to sing the Canadian national anthem. Tony: “Oh, because of his opponent.” The song is about drinking beer and playing hockey because Canadians have nothing better to do. Not bad. Disco immediately bails to the floor then does it again. Bret turns his back but it’s a trap, allowing him to hammer away on Inferno. They’re quickly back on the floor with Disco in big trouble. The beating heads back inside and Bret rakes Disco’s eyes across the top rope and we take a break.
Back with Bret getting two off a DDT before sending Disco out to the floor. Bret hammers away before taking it back inside for a Russian legsweep. Disco comes back with some choking and a clothesline before stomping Bret down in the corner. Tony hypes up Ric Flair making a huge announcement on Monday. Maybe we’ll even see it this time. Bret starts going after the leg and puts on a Figure Four. Disco hangs on for a good while and finally makes it to the ropes. That’s fine with Bret as it’s the backbreaker, elbow and Sharpshooter for the win.
Rating: D+. How often do you see Bret hit his finishing sequence and get the submission with no resistance? This was just a long Bret squash and it’s nice to see him in back to back featured matches. The loss on Monday was a good thing all around and now he gets to win something else to get some of his (limited) heat back. Nothing wrong with that and Disco losing to Bret Hart isn’t going to hurt his push.
Overall Rating: D. This show tried but it was stuck with low level talent and a lot of replays from SuperBrawl and Nitro. However, they were at least putting in some effort instead of just throwing guys out there to fill in two hours. Unfortunately the matches weren’t very good and you could tell this was taped in advance due to never seeing the announcers. It’s a bad time for WCW and things aren’t looking up.
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Wrestler of the Day – June 30: Christopher Daniels
Back to TNA for one of its biggest names: Christopher Daniels.
Daniels got started in 1993 and we’ll pick things up in May 1994 in Windy City Wrestling out of Chicago, though this match is in Hammond, Indiana.
Light Heavyweight Title: Christopher Daniels vs. Danny Dominion
Daniels is defending. This is from Daniels’ TNA DVD so he’s on commentary to provide a lot of backstory and details. I’ve read a lot about Windy City Wrestling (also known as Windy City Pro Wrestling) but I’ve never actually seen a match from the promotion. Ace Steele, trainer of CM Punk, is in Dominion’s corner, along with the rest of the International Males faction as I think we have a lumberjack match here. The Males jump Daniels (with long black hair) to start but Christopher comes back with a hurricanrana and right hands to the head.
Dominion is thrown to the floor but some of Daniels’ guys throws him back in. A dropkick puts Dominion down to the floor but right in front of the Males. Daniels talks about wrestling for this promotion in 2005 (when this DVD was recorded) and facing, of course, AJ Styles. Back in and Dominion ties him in the Tree of Woe and stomps away before being sent to the floor. Daniels hits a HUGE cross body off the top to take everyone down.
Back in and Dominion scores with a clothesline followed by a butterfly suplex for two. A dropkick puts Christopher on the floor but International Male Kevin Quinn brings him back in for a middle rope spinebuster (I always thought that would be a good move, though setting it up would be a problem) for two more.
Daniels fights back with a slam off the top rope (as in Daniels was on the top and slammed Dominion down) to put both guys down. A double clothesline puts both guys down again but it’s Daniels up first with a running neckbreaker. Daniels nails a not great looking springboard spinwheel kick for two more and the yet to be named BME gets the pin.
Rating: C-. I’d watch this promotion. Daniels said he was about thirty matches into his career at this point and that’s rather impressive if accurate. He wasn’t great or anything but he looked good and had a decent match out there. Dominion is still kicking around I believe so there was something to this place.
Here’s some WWF from Shotgun Saturday Night on September 26, 1998.
Suicide Kid/Christopher Daniels vs. Too Much
Too Much is of course Too Cool. Daniels, in a singlet here, gets hiptossed down by Brian Christopher to start and it’s quickly off to the Suicide Kid. Everything breaks down and Too Much stops to dance, earning Taylor a double dropkick to knock him into Brian, sending both of them out to the floor. Suicide Kid and Daniels hit stereo dives off the top to the floor.
Daniels misses a dive though and Too Much takes over. Taylor hits a running dropkick to a seated Daniels, followed by a reverse suplex for two. Daniels comes back with a dropkick and the tag off to the Kid as everything breaks down again. Kid is stuck alone in the ring and a Trash Compactor gets Too Much the pin.
Rating: C-. Daniels and the Kid looked really good here and at least Daniels was on a developmental deal around this point. I don’t know why they let him go as he would have been a great choice for the light heavyweight division. Too Much would get a lot better once they turned face and started being goofy.
Daniels spent some time in Ultimate Pro Wrestling in California in 2000. This was a training ground for a lot of guys, including this guy who was becoming a huge deal elsewhere. This is the result of an open challenge.
Christopher Daniels vs. Kurt Angle
Angle jumps him from behind and hammers away before Daniels takes him to the mat with a leg bar. Daniels hammers away but Kurt comes back with a belly to belly suplex. A half crab puts Angle down again but he gets to the ropes. Angle nails a nice vertical suplex and a clothesline but his leg is still banged up. Daniels counters a German suplex into a downward spiral followed by the BME for two. Somehow he’s already spent and Angle grabs a DDT. A German suplex puts Daniels down for two more but he escapes the Angle Slam. Not that it matters as Angle hits it like five seconds later for the pin.
Rating: C+. The match was good albeit short. Angle would be WWF Champion ten days later so it was pretty clear that Daniels wasn’t getting a win here. There’s always something interesting about seeing a match in a promotion that barely ever gets any screen time and this one had a lot of big stars to show off.
Back to the WWF for a match against someone you might have heard of. From Metal on May 26, 2001.
Light Heavyweight Title: Jerry Lynn vs. Christopher Daniels
I think you know who is defending. Daniels takes over with an early slam and a top rope legdrop gets two. Jerry comes back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker followed by an inverted Gory Guerrero Special. A sitout powerbomb gets two on Daniels but he counters a TKO into an electric chair for two. Daniels hammers away and plants Lynn with a tilt-a-whirl sideslam. The BME sets up a bow and arrow hold but Christopher quickly lets go. Lynn comes right back with with a tornado DDT to retain the title.
Rating: C. Not a bad match here and it’s nice to see Daniels finally getting a chance to show off instead of being your regular jobber guy. Lynn would never mean all that much in the WWF despite having a long reign with the Light Heavyweight Title. The match wasn’t that long but it was good while it lasted.
We’re finally at TNA, where Daniels would have one of his first matches on July 17, 2002.
Flying Elvises vs. Christopher Daniels/Elix Skipper
It’s a brawl to start and a member of each team is sent to the floor. The two in the ring both head to the floor very quickly with Skipper hitting a big flip dive to the floor. Siaki and Skipper get us going to start and scratch the Siaki half as it’s off to Estrada. Skipper is in trouble so Siaki drops to the floor and jumps in on commentary. He brags a bit before taking his shirt off and taking a tag.
It’s been all Elvises so far and an old A-Train over the shoulder backbreaker gets two. Back to Estrada as Siaki gets on commentary again. Estrada puts Skipper in a Razor’s Edge position and sits out into a kind of powerbomb for two. Skipper gets in a dropkick and it’s off to Daniels. Daniels and Skipper are the good guys here but they’re not really thrilling the crowd so far.
Things speed up and Daniels fires off clotheslines and dropkicks all around before Estrada suplexes him down to shift the momentum again. With Daniels on all fours, Skipper runs in, springboards off him, onto Estrada’s shoulders and then onto Siaki for a rana. A Blue Thunder Bomb gets two for Daniels on Estrada as this has picked up VERY quickly. Estrada comes back with a middle rope legdrop for two and it’s back to Siaki.
An enziguri puts Jorge (Estrada) down and it’s a double tag to bring in Skipper and Siaki. A belly to belly puts Estrada down and a floatover double underhook suplex gets two. Estrada comes back with an X Factor for two as this is slowing down a bit again. Daniels comes back in for the BME for two on Estrada and a missile dropkick from Skipper gets two on Siaki. The Play of the Day puts Estrada down but Siaki comes in and hits a rolling suplex into a neckbreaker for the pin on Skipper.
Rating: C. The match was entertaining enough for a spot fest, but it ran a bit longer than it needed to. On top of that, at the end of the day your X Division heels are called the Flying Elvises. They’re in the white Elvis suits but other than that, there’s nothing Elvis related about them. The name is too distracting for it to be such a small part of the gimmick and it’s making them more of a joke than a threat.
We’ll jump ahead to June 25, 2003, with Daniels part of the XXX group and feuding with America’s Most Wanted. They would have a great cage match, their first of two.
Tag Titles: Triple X vs. America’s Most Wanted
From June 25, 2003 and inside a cage. This isn’t the famous cage match these teams had but I’ve seen this one before and it’s awesome as well. The champions XXX are comprised of Elix Skipper and Christopher Daniels while the challengers are James Storm/Chris Harris. This is the fifth match but XXX has won via outside interference every single time. This is also TNA’s first ever cage match.
It’s a brawl to start but the referee makes them tag to get on my nerves. Harris bulldogs Daniels down before AMW picks up Skipper and launches him into Daniels. This is pin or submission only, meaning escape doesn’t count. Daniels and Harris are the official starters and the fans chant for the Fallen Angel. Skipper gets in a cheap shot from the apron before throwing him face first into the cage for two. Harris is already busted open.
The champions take turns stomping on Harris’ forehead until Daniels gets two off a springboard moonsault press by Skipper. Harris gets a lucky shot off a running clothesline but Daniels kicks his head off for two. Back to Skipper who sends Harris into the cage again but Harris comes off the ropes with another clothesline. There’s the hot tag to Storm who cleans house, sending Skipper chest first into the cage with a reverse suplex. A powerslam gets two on Daniels but he kicks Storm’s knee out to slow him down.
We get a Kill the Cowboy chant, which is hopefully a remnant from the early days of the company rather than the fans not liking Storm’s current work. The champions hit a suplex/cross body combo on the bloody Storm but Skipper’s ribs are injured from being sent into the cage. Back up and the two of them rams heads, setting up a double tag to Harris and Daniels. Harris takes over with the raw power by ramming Daniels head first into the cage over and over. Skipper’s ribs get reacquainted with the steel as well as Daniels is busted open too.
Harris loads up the Catatonic (spinning Rock Bottom) but Daniels counters into the Angel’s Wings (lifting sitout Pedigree) for a very close two. Everything breaks down and Daniels blocks a reverse tornado DDT by taking Storm onto the top rope for an STO to the mat. Skipper belly to bellys Harris down before sending him into the cage again. Elix goes up top for no apparent reason but gets powerbombed down in a HUGE crash to give Harris a near fall.
Daniels hits Last Rites (Cross Rhodes) on Storm for an even closer two as Harris makes yet another save. Harris and Daniels go up top but Daniels backs away across the rope, allowing Harris to hit a diving spear for an even closer near fall. Skipper takes Harris down with the Play of the Day before going for a very big climb. Elix dives off the top with a high cross body but reinjures his ribs in the process. STORYTELLING BABY!
A delayed cover gets two so Skipper goes up again, only to be knocked down a bit and then out to the floor. Storm superkicks Daniels down and the Death Sentence (spinebuster/legdrop) mostly misses Daniels for two. Skipper tries to climb back in but gets knocked back to the floor. Harris goes up to the very top of the cage for a HUGE Death Sentence to crush Daniels for the pin and the titles.
Rating: A. There’s your price of admission right there. This was all about taking two teams and having them beat the tar out of each other for twenty minutes. On top of that we have the story of Skipper’s ribs in a good piece of psychology, a rarity in matches like these. The amazing thing is these four would top this effort in another cage match at Turning Point the following year. Great match.
Daniels was still part of XXX and would be part of the match with the original highlight reel moment for TNA. From Turning Point 2004.
America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X
This is one of the things that TNA did that was indeed different: sometimes something other than the heavyweight title feud ended the show, which is definitely a good idea here. The six man was just ok but this was a great match. This is in a cage remember. AMW brings in handcuffs. That’s a signature thing for them and they’ll come into play later so remember that.
They have to tag here but I’ll give that ten minutes tops. Daniels and Storm start us off. Is there a significance to the tape that Daniels puts on his left shoulder that I’ve never gotten? I’ve always wondered that. Off to Daniels who kicks Storm in the back to take control. It breaks down quickly and AMW double teams Daniels. Off to Harris as Daniels is already busted open.
Skipper (XXX is Daniels/Elix Skipper if you weren’t sure on that one) gets his team the advantage and gives it back over to Daniels. He’s GUSHING already. Harris takes Skipper down and it’s back to Storm. Powerslam puts Daniels down. They load up the Death Sentence on Skipper but Daniels makes the save. Skipper pulls a towel back and handcuffs Harris to the post. West: “Oh what a dirty trick!” Yes, handcuffing your mortal enemy to a cage and making him defenseless is the same sort of thing you would hear on The Brady Bunch Don. Well called.
XXX double teams Storm and Daniels taunts Harris with the key. They drive the key into the head of Storm and hit a double team powerbomb/elbow combination for two. We get some heel miscommunication and Storm spears Daniels. There’s the key and Harris in free. That’s a nice twist on the hot tag because it’s basically the same thing. Harris cleans house and Storm is back up too.
I think everyone but Harris is bleeding. Triple X gets rammed into the cage multiple times but Skipper grabs a belly to belly to Harris. A suplex/cross body combo gets two. Hart Attack gets two on Skipper. Daniels hits a quick Downward Spiral to Storm and Harris goes into the steel. Harris is busted too. Death Sentence (AMW’s finisher) gets two on Harris who kicks out.
Skipper goes to the top of the cage (I don’t think you can win by escape) to Harris POWERBOMBS HIM OFF THE CAGE for two. FOR TWO. Angel’s Wings gets two for Daniels. Daniels goes up but Harris follows him. Now it’s time for the highlight reel moment to end all highlight reel moments in TNA. Skipper is sitting on another corner than Harris and TIGHTROPE WALKS THE EDGE OF THE CAGE AND HURRICANRANAS HARRIS TO THE MAT!!! WOW!
Daniels IMMEDIATELY drops an elbow off the top of the cage BUT IT GETS TWO. Daniels goes back up as we watch replays for a four man Tower of Doom. Daniels overrotates and lands on his face. Harris powerbombed Skipper who electric chaired Storm who suplexed Daniels. Everyone is pretty much dead but Skipper and Harris counter each others’ finishers. Everyone knocks everyone else down and Harris handcuffs Daniels to the cage in a nice play off what happened to him earlier. Last Call to Skipper and AMW pins him with XXX’s PowerPlex to split up XXX.
Rating: A+. What else did you expect me to give this? This match holds up incredibly well with the few moments from the cage walk to the Tower of Doom being as breathtaking as you’ll ever see. Absolutely awesome match and if you’re a fan of bloodbath cage matches that leave your jaw hanging open, find this right now because it’s excellent.
Here’s the first of many AJ vs. Daniels matches we’ll be getting to, and it might be the best. From Bound For Glory 2005.
X-Division Title: AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels
AJ is defending and it has a thirty minute time limit under Iron Man rules. Daniels jumps AJ before the bell and we’re off quickly. He controls for the opening minute and they trade chops, won by AJ. A backbreaker puts Daniels down and onto the floor but Daniels blocks AJ’s dive. Daniels hits some palm strikes but Styles dropkicks him down. Back to the floor and Daniels is knocked into the crowd. AJ dives over the barricade and both guys are down.
They head back inside and AJ controls with a headlock. Five minutes in and the fans say both guys are awesome. The headlock stays on for a few minutes but you have to burn some time in a match like this. Daniels rolls out of it and hooks an armbar. AJ fights out of it and sends Daniels into a few corners. A hard kick puts Daniels down as it’s been almost all AJ so far.
Bridging Indian Deathlock goes on and Daniels is in big trouble, so he bited AJ’s hands to escape. Ten minutes in now. Daniels heads to the apron but AJ clotheslines him back into the ring. Springboard forearm is countered into a high collar suplex to put both guys down. Daniels takes over and twists AJ’s neck around a bit. That can’t feel good. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two and it’s off to a neck crank by Daniels.
AJ grabs a cradle out of nowhere for two and then another one for another two. Koji Clutch out of nowhere has AJ in trouble. AJ tries to power out of it but goes right back down. Another power out attempt works and AJ makes the rope. Slingshot moonsault gets two on the champion. We’re halfway through and it’s 0-0. AJ escapes a backbreaker and hits his moonsault into a reverse DDT.
Hammerlock belly to back suplex gets two as does a pumphandle gutbuster. That’s a new one. AJ tries a moonsault but gets caught in a Death Valley Driver for a very close two. Daniels puts him on the middle rope and flips him forward into a mat slam for two. AJ counters a neckbreaker into one of his own for a slightly delayed two. AJ tries the moonsault DDT again but gets caught in a spinning powerbomb for two. BME STILL doesn’t get a fall as it only gets a two count.
Ten minutes to go and AJ puts on a torture rack and then spins it out into a slam for two. AJ dives into the corner but Daniels moves and knocks Styles to the outside where he lands on the steps. A BIG suicide dive destroys AJ but Daniels can’t follow up due to exhaustion. As they come back in, AJ hits the Pele to knock Daniels back to the floor at 8 minutes to go. Another BIG flip dive takes Daniels out and both guys are down.
Seven minutes to go and both guys are down on the floor. As they get back in, Daniels blocks a suplex back inside and hits a belly to back suplex from the apron to the floor. That was pretty awesome, much like this match. Six minutes left and it’s still zero to zero. They’re both back in with five minutes to go. Scratch that as Daniels kicks AJ out of the ring before he was all the way in.
With about 4:25 to go they slug it out in the middle of the ring with AJ taking a slight advantage. Four minutes left. AJ has a big bruise on his leg. Small package gets two for the champion. Pele misses and Daniels rolls him up for two. AJ does the same and gets the same. Daniels hits a German suplex but AJ pops up and hits a discus lariat before collapsing. Under three minutes to go now.
AJ falls on top for two and we have two minutes left. Daniels channels his inner Piper and pokes AJ in the eye. That gets him nowhere because AJ gets to the apron and hits a springboard cross body for two despite a handful of tights. 90 seconds left and they trade forearms. The fans are split here. One minute to go and Daniels blocks a suplex. AJ kicks him in the head again but it only gets two. Daniels kicks him in the head but the Angel’s Wings are countered into a suplex for two. AJ hits the Clash with two seconds left for the only fall and the win. WOW that was a hot ending.
Rating: A. The only way to make this better would have been to say AJ loses the title in a tie. Still though, GREAT match here and pretty easily the best match I’ve ever seen these two have. That’s some pretty awesome timing too with AJ getting the pin literally with two seconds left. I know I complain about AJ and Daniels a lot, but back then it was great, with this being the best I’ve ever seen from them.
I’ve covered the Unbreakable three way far too often so here’s a rematch from Destination X 2006 in an Ultimate X match.
X-Division Title: AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels
They make it clear that the undefeated streak isn’t on the line here. AJ and Daniels go for corners immediately but Joe is like “dudes we’re on PPV you know it’s not ending that fast.” Joe beats up AJ a bit so Daniels takes a chance at the belt. The challengers go high/low on Joe and go at it themselves. AJ sets for a dropkick but Daniels grabs the rope. AJ is like screw it and just does a standing backflip and then hits the dropkick. AWESOME.
AJ and Daniels go up but of course crash down after kicking each other a bit. Daniels goes to the floor so AJ pops Joe with some forearms including the springboard one, bringing a smile to my face. AJ gets sent to the floor and Joe wants to get a highlight reel moment, busting out a corkscrew plancha over the top to the floor to CRUSH both guys. Joe tries to go across but slips off with a little help from Daniels.
Back in the ring now with Daniels in control. Enziguri and a running knee take Joe to the floor so it’s down to the non-Samoans. AJ climbs with Daniels following so AJ gets a twisting sunset sitout powerbomb to take Daniels down. Joe goes off on both guys, possibly having been offered a box of doughnuts. Out to the floor and Joe puts Daniels in a chair to set up the Ole Kick but AJ dives in for the save instead of going for the belt.
We start the Joe’s Gonna Kill You (I prefer IDR) chants as he sets up the Musclebuster. Daniels and Joe slug it out in the middle with Tenay saying Joe is feeding off of this. Joe feeding on something. Film at eleven! Clutch in the corner doesn’t work for Joe as both guys combine to hit a double Musclebuster on Joe in a cool spot. Pele takes down Daniels which is a move I appreciate more every time I see it. The timing and placement on that has to be perfect.
AJ goes up as the fans are chanting for everyone not named Joe. Styles gets to the belt but Joe pops him in the back with a chair to save the title. In a pretty weak ending, Daniels hits Joe with the chair and casually climbs up to get the belt and end it. Just like that. No big drama spot or anything as Daniels just grabs the belt. He would lose the title in about a month back to Joe on Impact, making this virtually pointless. Joe freaks out as Daniels and AJ shake hands.
Rating: B. Good but certainly not great here. Watching these three together is never a bad thing though as they have incredible chemistry and it’s nice to see Daniels actually win something in this feud rather than having Joe and AJ dominate 100% of the time. The problem is that this was compared to the Unbreakable match which isn’t going to work ever, so take it for what it’s worth.
After years of fighting each other, Daniels and Styles formed a team and went after the Tag Team Titles at Slammiversary 2006.
Tag Titles: Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles vs. America’s Most Wanted
AMW has the titles of course. Gail is looking great in all white tonight. Storm hides something behind the steps before the match starts. Styles and Storm start us off, which is a potential PPV main event today. Storm takes him down with a shoulder block so Styles starts jumping around to take over. There’s the dropdown dropkick and Storm is in trouble. The challengers start tagging in and out quickly as they work over Storm’s arm.
It’s off to Harris vs. Daniels for a battle of arm control. Daniels gets him down and steps on the head of Harris just to be evil, although in a friendly way of course. Storm comes in and we get some homosexually suggestive positions as a result. AMW gets sent to the floor and Styles hits a huge flip dive over the top to take them both down. Daniels brings Storm back in for a slingshot elbow drop for a delayed two.
Back to Styles and the perfect double teaming begins. Styles slides through Harris’ legs to ram his face into the apron. Styles goes back in to face the legal Storm but everything breaks down on the floor. Gail gets involved out there and AMW takes over again. AJ tries to use the barricade as a launch pad but Storm takes the legs out and sends AJ’s chest into the steel.
Back in and it’s Storm vs. Styles before a quick tag brings Harris back in. With Harris doing nothing he brings Storm back in for some kicks to the head for two. Back to the Wildcat who chokes away. I’m starting to get why Storm was the successful one after the team broke up. AJ gets spun around and almost makes a tag out of it, only to get caught in a spinning mat slam by Storm.
Styles counters the reverse tornado DDT and hits the Pele to put both guys down. There’s the double tag and Daniels speeds things up. The slingshot moonsault gets two on Harris as Storm messes up his save. A Blue Thunder Bomb puts Harris down but Gail makes the save. Sirelda, a Chyna wannabe, makes her debut and lays out Gail.
Back to the match, AMW tries a double team move off the top but AJ makes the save, allowing Daniels to hook a victory roll for two. Storm throws in a chair for Harris to blast Daniels to two. Hot tag brings in AJ with the springboard forearm followed by a pumphandle gutbuster. Spinal Tap misses and Harris blasts AJ in the face with the brass knuckles.
Daniels makes the save and AJ hits a slingshot splash for two. Back to Daniels but Angel’s Wings is broken up. The Last Call is blocked by a low blow and Angel’s Wings hits the second time but Harris elbows the referee. Storm brings in the beer bottle but it hits Harris in the head. A frog splash from AJ followed by the BME gives the Dream Team the titles.
Rating: B-. Another good match here and it would start a pretty solid reign for the new champions. AMW would slowly slip into a funk and be broken up by the end of the year. AJ and Daniels were a solid team though and they had some awesome matches against LAX, which was the whole idea of putting them together in the first place.
The big feud of the year for TNA was AJ/Daniels vs. LAX. Here’s the blowoff match at No Surrender 2006.
Tag Titles: LAX vs. Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles
LAX are champions. After some big match intros (with JB messing up LAX’s combined weight) we’re ready to go. The ring is cleared out very quickly and now it’s Homicide vs. AJ. The murder enthusiast goes up but Daniels makes a quick save. AJ can’t get there either as the fans know this isn’t ending that quickly. Homicide hits a suicide on the dead guy (angels are dead people right?) out to the floor as this is kind of a mess to start.
AJ is like screw it and hits a HUGE spinning moonsault over the top to take out Hernandez. That looked great. Hernandez wants to dive but Daniels makes the stop. Koji Clutch is broken up by Homicide. Hernandez tries what Monty Brown called the Alpha Bomb but it results in double teaming by the champions. There’s a modified Border Toss and AJ is half dead.
Hernandez brings in a ladder, showing some intelligence. In a nice move, AJ sends Homicide under the ladder on an Irish whip and then shoves it onto him. That looked good too. The ladder is gone now. In another cool move, Hernandez and Daniels are on top and Hernandez grabs him by the throat and hits more or less a choke overhead belly to belly to send Daniels flying.
AJ gets up and breaks up Supermex trying to go across with the forearm. Homicide pops Styles with a chair and goes across but he has a bad shoulder. Styles goes after him but Homicide gets a cutter off the X and both are down. Daniels goes up and Tenay sounds orgasmic. Hernandez goes again and again is caught. AJ speeds things up and a Pele takes Supermex down and there’s the moonsault DDT to Homicide.
The challengers try some double teaming but Supermex is too strong. Konnan sets a table on the floor but AJ escapes the Border Toss through it. More double teaming slows the big dude down including the BME and Spiral Tap. AJ manages to get the Clash off the apron to Homicide through the table in an awesome spot. Konnan clocks him with a slapjack off camera. Konnan comes in but Daniels goes on top of the structure in the insanity and dives onto the X, pulling down the titles to win. Scary SCARY finish as if he misses that he’s more or less dead.
Rating: A. I know TNA tends to overhype some of its stuff but this was indeed awesome. It was totally insane and doesn’t stop at all from bell to bell. The ending is awesome and there are enough jaw dropping moments in this to make everything work. This is well worth checking out, if nothing else for the spectacle of the ending. I see why this was match of the year for sure.
We’ll finally make it to ROH with Daniels in a four way at Final Battle 2006.
El Generico vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Davey Richards vs. Christopher Daniels
To say the fans don’t like Rave is an understatement. It’s nice to hear some good solid insults unlike a WWE show. A DIE JIMMY DIE chant starts up. Ok then. Richards is a big deal now and allegedly is the future of the company. He comes out to Runnin With The Devil so I can’t complain. This is a four corner survival match which I’m guessing means elimination rules? Daniels is a tag champion here.
The fans like fallen angels apparently. Maybe this is the Daniels I always hear about being awesome. There’s a fairly hot chick with him named Allison Danger so I can’t complain. His entrance takes a LONG time. She’s a girl scout and the fans want cookies. That’s creative at least. We’re nearly fifteen minutes in and we just now hear the announcers. Richards and Generico start.
This is two outside and two inside. We stall for a LONG time to start, namely due to Generico continuously shouting OLE! We’ll be getting a year in review kind of thing also which is a major plus for me. We hear about Rave having a heel hook that got Nigel McGuinness (Desmond Wolfe) to tap out.
Richards is confused by Generico. Hey I’m thinking like Richards! Daniels’ partner is Matt Sydal, more commonly known as Evan Bourne. Danger is the sister of Steve Corino. Dang. Scratch the elimination part as it’s first pinfall wins. That kind of makes no sense but whatever. Rave vs. Daniels now. Daniels wins. Like, wins a lot. Not the match, just the fight. Wow I worded that one badly didn’t I?
I never liked Rave in TNA and I think I’m seeing why again here. Danger gets the fans to cheer. That’s what a manager is supposed to do partially so she’s doing her job. Richards is fun to watch if nothing else. A German on Generico gets two. Best Moonsault Ever is broken up.
They’re doing a good job of keeping it at about three people in there which is nice instead of the usual two pairings these devolve into. Rave is being smart and just letting these three fight. I’m not entirely sure why the crowd is this into it though. It’s not that great. Generico hits his brainbuster on the turnbuckle on Richards, but Rave made a tag when they were in the corner. He slips in and gets his heel hook for the submission. Pay no attention to the total lack of tagging for the five minutes before this. He gets on the mic and whines about respect but Nigel McGuinness comes out and slaps him.
Rating: B-. This was ok but it wasn’t anything great. It just came off as being all over the place and lost its structure about 10 minutes in. It’s not bad or anything, but it’s just not that good. Having the heel win the opener is a bit of a head scratcher too but that’s fine I suppose. Just nothing to make me that into the show.
We’ll jump ahead to 2008, where TNA had an interesting idea called the World X Cup. One of the last matches was a four corner, three man team elimination tag at Victory Road 2008.
Team Mexico vs. Team Japan vs. Team TNA vs. Team International
Team Mexico – Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero/Averno
Team Japan – Milano Collection A.T./Masato Yoshima/Puma
Team International – Alex Kozlov/Doug Williams/Tyson Dux
Team TNA – Curry Man/Alex Shelley/Chris Sabin
This is a 12 man four corners elimination match. Coming into this the standings are Team Mexico and Team TNA with three points and the other two with two points. This is for three points. I’ll do what I can to tell the people apart but don’t expect much. Apparently it’s EVERY MEMBER has to be eliminated. I miss Curry Man. Daniels can shake his hips when he has to which is odd to type if nothing else. The Guns are starting to come into their own here and it’s working to an extent. Pretty soon they would be jobbing to big teams rather than just bad ones. Curry and Yoshino start us off.
And here are the Guns to beat the heck out of him. West points out how it’s smart to stay on the apron because it’s easier to stay in the match by being out of it, which actually makes sense. All of Team Mexico beats up Williams as this is a total mess at this point due to so many people being in it.
Dux goes for a victory roll but Bucanero drops into it kind of like a piledriver (think Owen vs. Bret at Mania X but more like a spike than a rollup if that makes sense) to get us down to eleven which is still too many. Team Japan beats the tar out of Bucanero in some painful looking stuff.
We crank the speed up a lot here and Puma is gone. There are two referees here thank goodness. What kind of a name is Milano Collection AT? It sounds like a cookie company or something. Cradle Shock takes him out anyway. That leaves just Yoshima for Team Japan.
West points that out and Tenay of course repeats it like 8 seconds later. Shelley hits a SWEET baseball slide on him while he’s in the Tree of Woe. He catches Shelley in an Octopus hold which is one of the most painful holds ever but of course just lets it go since it’s not that important I guess.
Shelley is just beating the tar out of Yoshino. Averno and Yoshino have a very nice high speed sequence as Yoshino is just trying to hang on. Averno gets pinned off a rollup though so we have one down for International and Mexico, two down for Japan, and TNA is intact. Chaos Theory on Sabin is broken up at two.
Team Mexico hit a pair of springboard cross bodies which looked great. Williams’ face is great when he gets nailed with a high spot. Guerrero hits a middle rope powerbomb on Curry Man to get us down to seven people left. That’s bearable at least. A crazy double team gets rid of Williams. I know I’m saying a lot really fast here but there’s no transition between a lot of these pins.
It’s the Motor City Machine Guns vs. Yoshino vs. Kozlov vs. Guerrero and Bucanero. Guerrero hits a gordbuster off the top for two on Kozlov. Kozlov gets a SWEET Russian Leg Sweep into a Cobra Stretch a la Delirious for the tap from Guerrero. This is FAST. Sabin hits a GREAT hurricanrana into a double super kick on Bucanero to get rid of Team Mexico. That clears things up a lot.
Since it’s a multiman match, it’s…actually not a Tower of Doom even though they were in position for one. All four are in the ring for a long time as they’re not even trying to have a coherent match at this point and I can’t really blame them. Sabin does the same run after the other guy thing that DiBiase does but hooks a Diamond Cutter instead of a clothesline. This is rather good stuff.
Kozlov goes heel and pulls the referee in front of him before rolling Sabin up and using the ropes to get rid of him. We’re down to Yoshino, Shelley and Kozlov here. Kozlov hits a great enziguri to counter a dive that missed for two on Yoshino. Sick looking move. Kozlov taps to Yoshino and we’re down to one on one. Shelley kicks his head off and Sliced Bread gets two only. I would have bet on that being the end. A PAINFUL looking Tiger Suplex gets two. Shelley just goes OFF and hits something like a reverse Emerald Flowsion for the pin.
Rating: B. This was a hard one to grade as it’s very different from anything most people will be used to. It’s definitely a great match as far as athleticism and showing off, but at the same time nearly half an hour is a bit much. This was definitely good though and a GREAT way to get the crowd fired up.
Back in 2008, TNA thought it was a good idea to have a wrestler named Suicide because he was a character in their video game. Daniels portrayed the masked character (never revealed on screen save for some inside jokes years later) and was entered into the X-Division Title at Destination X 2009.
X-Division Title: Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley vs. Jay Lethal vs. Consequences Creed vs. Suicide
Shelley is champion and obviously this is Ultimate X. No signature Guns’ music yet but we do get the awesome Suicide song and entrance. Everyone jumps the masked dude to start us off to more or less get us down to a tag match. These teams were feuding at the time so it makes sense. The Guns control early and Shelley goes up with Sabin running interference, only to be taken down by Suicide.
Tajiri elbow by Lethal as the fans chant Fallen Angle for Daniels who must be playing Suicide tonight. Sabin takes down Creed and goes after the title, only to be stopped by Creed. I guess he didn’t keep him down long enough. The crowd is surprisingly kind of quiet for this. Shelley moves out of the way of a Lethal dive. Suicide sets for a dive but gets kicked in the head by Shelley instead.
Suicide picks up Creed and puts him in a fireman’s carry so he can flip forward into the other four people in a cool spot. Lethal has to make the save and it’s back to the tag match. Sabin makes a diving save to stop Creed as the fans are getting into it now. Shelley misses a top rope splash to Creed and it’s Suicide trying again.
We get an INSANE looking Tower of Doom with Lethal on the bottom and Suicide on top. Being smart, Suicide hooks the cable so the other three fall while he hangs on. Lethal goes up after him and manages to powerbomb Suicide down so that all five guys are down now. Everything goes insane and everyone hits big spots, including a tornado DDT by Sabin to Lethal.
Shelley goes up but gets caught by Lethal. Lethal gets caught in a double powerbomb/Sliced Bread Tower of Doom move from the Guns which was cool. Suicide is caught in the truss as Creed gets a TKO on Shelly off the middle rope. Everyone not named Shelley is down so every one of them not named Suicide climbs a rope. As they kick at each other while hanging, Suicide climbs on top of the X and JUMPS TO THE MIDDLE, knocking everyone else down and grabbing the belt to win it. Awesome ending!
Rating: B. What else can you ask for from a match like this? Just have five young guys go out there and tear the house down with high spots and you have everything you need for the most part. The ending is still awesome and this is by far and away the best match on the show so far which I don’t think surprises anyone really.
AJ vs. Daniels. Again. This time for AJ’s World Title at Final Resolution 2009.
TNA World Title: Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles
Anyone that has read my reviews knows I don’t like Daniels at all for the most part. This is AJ before they turned him into the Flair tribute character, therefore making him awesome. The challenger is called Daniels here but I need more names to swap in and out so there you go. They stare each other down for awhile and then lock up with no one really having control to start.
Daniels grabs the arm when AJ is talking to the referee and takes over. AJ tries a nip up to escape but Daniels drops down onto him in a nice counter. Daniels stays on the arm for a good while but tries a dropkick which AJ holds the ropes for. We speed things up now and AJ pops off an awesome dropkick to take over.
We head to the floor with AJ doing his flips and dives to take down Daniels. Back in and a hilo sets up a discus clothesline for no cover as it’s all AJ at the moment. Off to the chinlock and the fans chant for Angle. Or is it Angel? Daniels goes with those palm strikes and a monkey flip to send AJ flying. Clothesline sends AJ to the floor but his foot gets caught on the rope and he lands on his head.
On the floor and Daniels puts AJ in a chair. He picks up another chair and tries to swing it. The referee stops him but when he’s not looking Daniels hits a release Rock Bottom onto the chair AJ was sitting in. Taz asks a good question: “Does the referee think the chair just exploded?” Back in the ring a side slam gets two as Daniels keeps up the assault on the back of AJ.
A headscissors out of nowhere puts Daniels down but it’s only for a second. Daniels sits AJ up on the ropes facing the crowd. He picks AJ up for something like a belly to back suplex but rotates him a bit to drop AJ back first on the turnbuckle in a sick bump for two. Moonsault “hits” and Daniels locks on a crossface minus the arm trap. Doesn’t go on long but it looked good. I don’t get why AJ couldn’t just put his arms down to break the pressure but what do I know?
Lionsault minus the running start misses and AJ hits a suplex to put both guys down for a bit. AJ goes to the apron so Daniels tries a rana to the floor. AJ just drops him down in a powerbomb which sounded awesome. He hammers on Daniels and we go back into the ring. AJ hits an FU into a backbreaker and the backflip into the reverse DDT for two.
Daniels is able to get something like a backdrop onto the top rope to crotch AJ. From there Daniels steps onto the middle rope and suplexes AJ back in with a unique move. With AJ sitting on the top rope Daniels hits a HUGE palm strike to the head. A Frankensteiner and a Shining Wizard gets two. The fans say someone got served in this youth language that I’m not familiar with. Pesky young whippersnappers. BIG knot on Daniels’ head here.
They fight over a suplex but AJ settles for a big old brainbuster instead. There’s the springboard forearm that I always love for a long two. Styles Clash is blocked so it’s a Pele instead. Another attempt is blocked by a palm strike. Another release Rock Bottom by Daniels sets up the Best Moonsault Ever for a long two.
Daniels hammers away as I think that knot on his head could take over a small country at this point. AJ sends him chest first into the corner and rolls through into the Styles Clash for two. Daniels gets up and puts AJ on the second turnbuckle on the inside (I had to channel Gorilla once or twice) but goes for a rana and is caught in the Clash from the middle rope to end it.
Rating: B+. Good match but it’s definitely a step or two behind the previous one. Daniels was never a real threat here as eventually he has to win something to be classified as a real threat. This was when AJ had a lot of meaningless matches as champion, but they were good enough that you could overlook that. Either way, this was good but not as good as the match before it, which hurts it a bit.
Back to ROH for a match at Final Battle 2010.
Christopher Daniels vs. Homicide
Daniels is TV Champion but this is non-title. That annoying pest Julius Smokes is with Homicide here. Egads I don’t know who is more overrated and annoying here. The fans are kind of split here so they’re no help. The dueling chants begin and they’re rather loud. They trade headlocks and call some spots. Arm drags get no one anywhere either.
Daniels gets two off a snapmare of all things and we hit the chinlock in about 90 seconds. Now we’re talking about Waffle House for some reason. Apparently Bennett is the Prodigy and wants a title. They hit the floor and Daniels takes over with a moonsault. Back in that gets two. Backslide gets two for Daniels. I can barely hear the commentators. Three Amigos by Homicide gets an Eddie chant. They also get two.
Homicide sends him to the floor and it’s a tope con hilo from Homicide. Back in and a t-bone suplex with a bridge gets two for Homicide. Top rope splash eats knees though and Daniels looks at his hand. Spinarooni maybe? Homicide gets a suplex and a jumping knee to the back of the head from the middle rope for two. Homicide gets a submission on the neck but Daniels counters into a Crossface for a few seconds.
Cop Killer is reversed into a release Rock Bottom (screw that Uranage nonsense) but the Best Moonsault Ever misses. Homicide can’t get a tornado DDT so Daniels hits an enziguri and calls for Angels’ Wings. The ref is bumped though and Homicide throws his shirt at Daniels and a Diamond Cutter ends it. I don’t see the point of the ref bump at all but at least the finish was clean.
Rating: C. Just a match really but not as bad as I expected it to be. Daniels keeping the striking to a minimum is always a good thing and it certainly was here. Homicide is someone I’ve never gotten the appeal of either so this really was a bad match for me. Could have been worse though.
Destination X is of course the showcase for the X Division. What better way to main event the show in 2011 than Daniels vs. Styles #84?
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels
Apparently the winner is best X-Division Wrestler EVER, despite AJ’s resume blowing Daniels’ away. Christy does big match intros again. Apparently these two named their kids after each other. That’s borderline creepy. The latest chant: “Wrestling. YAY! Hulk Hogan. Boo!” Give me a break. Lots of basic back and forth stuff to start with them knowing each other really well being the idea.
AJ works the arm a bit and they speed it up quickly. Both guys work the arm and it comes down to another stalemate after about 5 minutes. They shake hands and AJ puts another armbar on. The fans are split again. They speed things up and Daniels hits the floor. They have a TON of time here so this is going to be a very slow build. Daniels keeps trying to speed things up but AJ keeps going with the armbar.
They slowly start cranking things up as Daniels takes over. He works AJ over for a good while but AJ sends him to the floor, adding in a plancha that looked almost like Delirious’ Shadows Over Hell. Back inside now and AJ hammers away again. AJ works on the arm AGAIN but at least is using a Fujiwara Armbar here. Helps a lot when they mix things up. Out to the apron and AJ counters into a suplex on the apron.
Daniels takes over on the floor. Back in he chops away at the back and gets a neckbreaker for two. Pinfall reversal sequence ends in AJ being caught in a Crossface. Death Valley Driver gets two and Daniels is getting frustrated. They chop it out and AJ hits an enziguri to put both guys down. AJ slips off the top and crashes down, letting Daniels get two. Daniels goes up but gets caught in a Torture Rack which AJ spins out into a powerbomb for two.
Bad Downward Spiral by Daniels sets up the Koji Clutch to AJ. They’re getting tired here. AJ makes the rope as this probably needs to end soon. Daniels uses his variety of strikes but still can’t pin him. The tape finally comes off Daniels’ arms which is good as it had been dangling for awhile. AJ snap mares him off the top for two. He can’t get Angel’s Wings or the Clash (AJ can’t that is) so Daniels hits an STO and release Rock Bottom but the BME eats boot.
Styles Clash out of nowhere gets two as this is nearly half an hour long now. Angel’s Wings gets two and Daniels is ticked. They fight to the corner but Daniels can’t hit the Angel’s Wings from up there. AJ busts out the Spiral Tap but it doesn’t look as good as it usually does. That’s enough for the pin though at nearly half an hour.
Rating: B. Another good match here but I don’t think it got as epic as they were hoping. It was one of the longest matches I can ever remember in TNA but at the same time they got sloppy later on in it. It was good, but I still think the title match should have closed the show. I’ve never been a big fan of these matches but they’re usually pretty good. Good choice to end the show, but it’s not like it means anything more than bragging rights. Also this went too long and the fans were losing interest late in it.
Back in 2012, Christopher Daniels had a long, confusing feud with AJ Styles. Kurt Angle hooked up with Styles and won the Tag Team Titles. Here they are defending against Daniels and Kazarian.
Tag Titles: Kurt Angle/AJ Styles vs. Kazarian/Christopher Daniels
Daniels and Kaz are challenging but Kaz doesn’t like Daniels all that much right now. He and AJ start and AJ takes him down followed by a kick to the back. Off to Angle and Kaz tags out, almost by slapping the taste out of Daniels’ mouth. Kurt charges into a boot and Daniels hits his slingshot elbow. Off to Kaz who covers off that elbow for some reason. Daniels yells at Kaz and tags himself back in but runs from AJ. The challengers argue on the floor as we take a break.
Back with Daniels in control of AJ and hitting his running STO for two. Angle comes in and cleans house. He fires off Rolling Germans on Kaz and does the same to Daniels. Kaz grabs a TKO for two on Kurt but gets caught in the ankle lock. That gets broken up quickly and everything breaks down. AJ clotheslines Kaz down but gets caught in a Blue Thunder Bomb. Angle gets sent into the referee by Daniels so Chris grabs a chair. Kaz pulls it away and lets AJ hit the Pele. Kaz tells AJ to finish this, but then hits AJ in the back with a chair, giving Daniels the pin and the titles at 11:34.
Rating: B-. So Kaz is evil for the sake of being evil. I guess that works, but would this count as two turns in the same show? Eh it’s fine as it’s better with AJ and Kurt not being champions again as the titles weren’t really fitting on them. This was nowhere near as good as the Slammiversary match but it was fine for a TV main event.
What’s better than all those times that AJ and Daniels have squared off? The FINAL time that they would face each other. From Final Resolution 2012.
Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles
This is billed as the last time so there MUST be a winner. Feeling out process and they fight over arm control to the mat. The feeling out continues for like four minutes as there’s NOTHING interesting going on here. AJ clotheslines him down to finally pick up the pace a bit and there’s the perfect dropkick. The bridging Indian Deathlock from AJ keeps Daniels in trouble as this is going nowhere so far.
Styles hits a snap suplex on the apron so Daniels comes back with a Rock Bottom onto the opposite apron. Daniels sends him into the steps a few times, including a powerslam/suplex hybrid down onto the steel. More back work follows as I try desperately to stay awake. Not that the match is bad but this show has been so freaking boring so far that it’s draining me. Daniels hits a moonsault and hooks a crossface minus the arm trap to torture AJ a bit more.
Off to a half nelson which isn’t really staying on the back so the match loses points for bad psychology. AJ fights up and they collide with AJ’s eye being busted open hardway. Daniels hits a release Rock Bottom but the BME misses, allowing AJ to hit the springboard forearm. AJ loads up the Clash but Daniels naturally escapes. A headscissors puts Christopher down but he comes bak with a sitout spinebuster for two.
A flipping slam out of the corner gets two for Daniels and he’s getting ticked off. AJ comes back with the moonsault into the reverse DDT for two and both guys are down. They head to the corner for a Daniels superplex for no cover so AJ hits the Pele to put both guys down again. Angel’s Wings is countered into a jackknife cover, but AJ backflips out of the cover into the Styles Clash for two. AJ loads up the Clash off the middle rope but Daniels counters into a rana. Now Daniels hits the Clash for the pin at 21:07.
Rating: B. Yeah it was good but so what? Daniels hasn’t won jack here, as AJ has beaten him how many times over the years? That’s the problem with this story: just winning the last match doesn’t always mean you win the war/feud. Daniels winning is the right idea from a storytelling standpoint, but this means nothing, as is the case with everything here. Oh and nice to see all the back work meaning absolutely nothing at all.
Daniels would get on a roll and get a World Title shot on Impact, January 24, 2013.
TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Christopher Daniels
Daniels is challenging here and literally dances to the ring. Tazz predicts that Hardy is going to have trouble in the year 2013. Feeling out process to start with Hardy taking over, only to miss a charge in the corner and fall to the floor. Kaz comes in to celebrate and we take a break. Back with Daniels hitting a clothesline and choking away on Hardy for a bit. A modified neckbreaker hits for two on Hardy and it’s off to the chinlock.
Hardy comes back with a clothesline and speeds things way up before getting two off the mule kick. A middle rope splash gets two but Hardy jumps into a Death Valley Driver for two. Daniels busts out the Koji Clutch which we haven’t seen in years and that no one seems to know the name of. Christopher loads up something like a superplex but gets caught in the front suplex from the top for two. The Twist is countered into the Angel’s Wings for two but the BME and Swanton both miss, the latter of which gives Hardy two. Hardy counters Angel’s Wings into a rana and it’s double Twist and Swanton to retain at 14:10.
Rating: B. Good match here with both guys looking great. Daniels is SO much more fun to watch when he’s not against AJ all the time and his latest run has been all kinds of entertaining. The promos are way better than the matches, which is saying a lot as the match here was solid stuff. Hardy winning was pretty clear but that’s not always a bad thing. Good main event here.
We’ll wrap it up with a twelve person tag from Genesis 2014.
Samoa Joe/James Storm/Gunner/ODB/Eric Young/Joseph Park vs. Lei’D Tapa/Zema Ion/Bro Mans/Bad Influence
Joe pounds away on Zema Ion to start as everyone else fights on the floor. We get the always cool sidestep from Joe to avoid a middle rope cross body. ODB and Tapa get into the ring for a few moments until Storm and Daniels come in instead. There have been no tags and only now are a handful of people getting on the apron. Gunner throws Kaz to the floor and now there’s no one in the ring.
Eric and Robbie get into the ring as Joe is now on his third corner of the match. Young and Park double elbow Jesse but Robbie breaks up Eric’s top rope elbow. Zema sends Eric to the floor but turns around to see ODB grabbing her chest. A fall away slam sends Ion flying but Tapa runs ODB down, knocking her to the floor. Daniels comes in to work over Young and gets two off a leg lariat.
Young comes back with a belly to belly suplex and it’s off to Joe for some fat man power. The backsplash gets two on Daniels with Kaz making the save. Joe dives through the ropes to take out the Bro Mans as a lot of things break down. Kaz breaks up an attempted Park dive but busts Park’s lip open in the process. For the first time ever, Park goes after his partners by taking down Gunner and Storm, leaving Joe to put Daniels in the Clutch for the tap out at 7:32.
Rating: D+. This was straight out of the Russo playbook: throw everyone out there at once and hope the fans are so impressed by the insanity that they don’t care about the lack of a story. TNA is walking a very thin line right now with this latest heel stable, even if it’s a looser version than usual. Hopefully it doesn’t turn out like the rest, but that’s probably the case.
Christopher Daniels is a great example of a guy that is good in the ring, even great at times, but isn’t going to be the top guy in the company. That puts him in the same category as Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson, meaning he’s not doing too badly for himself. He’s definitely a guy worth having around for his chemistry with Kazarian alone, but he can go in the ring as well. That’s a guy worth having around.
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