NXT
Date: January 23, 2013
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: William Regal, Tony Dawson

On the 29^th anniversary of the birth of modern wrestling, we’re back in Florida for more NXT. After last week’s transitional show we should be ready for something new tonight. Odds are Langston is going to get his next challenger tonight which should be interesting as he has no one else to fight at the moment. Let’s get to it.

Shawn Michaels is in the ring to open the show. Fans: “HBK! HBK! HBK!” Shawn: “Aw come on.” The fans quiet down. Shawn: “No don’t stop!” Anyway, Shawn is here and he’s got two belts which are apparently the new NXT Tag Team Championships. Shawn says that there’s a tournament starting tonight and the winners will be the stars of the future. He says that as a former tag team champion he knows what kind of a springboard these belts can be. Nice little cameo here that didn’t take up much time at all and made things feel special.

Opening video.

NXT Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: Wyatt Family vs. Yoshi Tatsu/Percy Watson

It’s Harper/Rowan here. Watson and Rowan start things off with Watson jumping WAY over Rowan’s head in a leap frog and taking him down with a leg lariat. Off to Tatsu as Regal gives us an idea of the mentality behind being in a tag team. Rowan chops Tatsu into the corner and it’s off to Harper to pound away in the corner.

Luke puts on a chinlock and circles around the ring at the same time to keep Yoshi disoriented. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. A jawbreaker finally gets Tatsu out of trouble but it’s off to Rowan to slam him down for two. Rowan cranks on the neck for a bit and here’s Harper again, but he lets Yoshi crawl over and bring in Watson. Everything breaks down and Harper takes Watson’s head off with a clothesline for the pin at 4:55.

Rating: C. This was just a squash but the Wyatt Family has a great presence to them. There’s something disturbing to them where they’re just a bit off and that’s a great characteristic to have. At this point Wyatt doesn’t even need to be in the ring which is good as I think he’s still recovering from his injury. The Family is doing fine just being creepy right now but them getting some gold would be nice.

Dusty is with Derrick Bateman and Alex Riley and offers them a tournament match against Kruger and Ohno. Corey Graves comes up to complain about not getting an NXT Title rematch and not being in the tournament. Riley gets in his face and Bateman hums a circus tune. The tag team leaves and Dusty makes it Graves vs. his former partner Jake Carter tonight. Graves says tell Carter that Carter is in his path to the title.

Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox

Alicia makes fun of Sasha for being tiny and having the nickname of Small Package. Fox sends her into the ropes but walks into a headscissors to take her down. Sasha sends her to the apron but gets popped in the face for two. A bridging northern lights suplex (called a fisherman’s suplex in a rare mistake by Regal) gets two for Fox and we hit the chinlock. Sasha comes back with a monkey flip and an armdrag out of the corner, only to be caught in a wheelbarrow front slam for no cover. Fox picks her up for a slam but it’s the Ricky Steamboat/Randy Savage small package pin for Banks at 3:23.

Rating: C-. This was too short to mean much but at least Banks looks good and got to show off a bit here. The Divas are nowhere near as irritating here as they are on the main shows as they’re actually treated somewhat seriously on NXT. Decent stuff here and Banks got to look good despite being a tiny little thing.

Video on Paige who is here to be a champion.

Some new blonde interviewer asks Aksana about her match next week with Paige. Aksana accuses Paige of stealing her look and says 2013 is her year.

Conor O’Brien says he’s the true Ascension and he will rise.

Corey Graves vs. Jake Carter

Graves seems to get a face pop on his way to the ring. Carter grabs a headlock to start but gets shoved into the corner. That goes nowhere for Graves as Jake pounds away in the corner and the middle of the ring. Corey comes back with a suplex and into an arm trap chinlock which Regal says can be called a Gator Hold. Carter fight up and hits a clothesline for two but gets sent into the corner and chop blocked down. The 13^th Step leg lock ends Carter at 3:09.

Rating: C-. Another just ok match here as Graves gets to run over Carter and remind us that he exists after the title match from a few weeks ago. Graves got a good reaction and definitely has a unique look which will be nothing but good for him. Carter on the other hand looked pretty generic out there and didn’t appear to get any of his dad’s good qualities.

Post match Graves says that he’s been screwed out of a rematch for the title and kept out of the title tournament because he’s an “outcast”. As the savior of misbehavior (terrible name) he’s declaring anarchy on NXT. Oh and if Riley sees him, stay down.

NXT Tag Team Title Tournament: 3MB vs. Oliver Grey/Adrian Neville

It’s Slater and McIntyre here. We start with Drew vs. Neville with Drew taking him down to the mat with ease. Off to a chinlock by McIntyre which is eventually countered by a headscissors but Drew is able to tag in Slater. Heath immediately lets Neville backflip out of a hold and bring in Grey for the first time. Off to an armbar on Slater followed by a dropkick to send Slater to the outside.

The Brits cause some heel miscommunication before Neville dives on McIntyre on the floor. We take a break and come back with Drew getting two on Grey. A clothesline gets two on Grey and it’s back to Slater for a superkick for two of his own. Slater hooks a chinlock as we hear about Grey being a lumberjack. Oliver quickly escapes and brings in Adrian who starts flipping around as fast as he can. After kicking Slater in the face, the now legal McIntyre gets caught with that corkscrew shooting star for the pin by Neville at 6:26 shown of 9:56.

Rating: C+. This was a basic formula match but Neville got to show off a lot more than he had did last week. That big shooting star is a great finisher and looks awesome but we haven’t seen yet if he can pull off the other stuff that it takes to fill out a match. Decent little tag match here as Grey and Neville look good as a fast little team.

Big E. Langston vs. Axl Keegan

Non-title here. I love the look of glee on Langston’s face during his entrance and the kind of dance he does with the powder on his hands. We hear about Langston’s association with Ziggler but the fans don’t seem to mind at all. Langston literally runs him over and wins with the Big Ending at 56 seconds.

Langston loads up the second Big Ending when Conor O’Brien pops up on screen. He says that in two weeks there will be an awakening. Langston should be there so O’Brien can show him what he thinks of the five count. After an evil laugh from Conor, Big E. hits the Big Ending anyway. A third Big Ending and another five count end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This wasn’t their strongest show but they set a lot of stuff up tonight. We’ve got some new titles in play and the start of what could be a decent tournament to earn them. Also O’Brien is back and Langston has his first challenger for the title. Sometimes you have to have a slower show to set up something down the line and that’s what happened here. Not bad at all but nothing to see in the matches department.

Results

Wyatt Family b. Yoshi Tatsu/Percy Watson – Clothesline to Watson

Sasha Banks b. Alicia Fox – Small Package

Corey Graves b. Jake Carter – 13^th Step

Oliver Grey/Adrian Neville b. 3MB – Corkscrew Shooting Star Press to McIntyre

Big E. Langston b. Axl Keegan – Big Ending

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Souled Out 1998
Date: January 24, 1998
Location: Hara Arena, Dayton, Ohio
Attendance: 5,486
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Dusty Rhodes

 

More back to back reviews so I can have a full series done, in this case Souled Out as I’ll be doing this and 2000 back to back to get these off my list. Anyway this show never was much as far as importance goes and the card makes that pretty clear. There’s a double main event of a grudge match with Luger vs. Savage (which I’ll get to later about why you could tell this company was in trouble) and Hart vs. Flair in Bret’s first big WCW match. Let’s get to it.

 

This is on a Saturday if that means anything to you.

 

We open with a video about Nash vs. Giant which is actually happening tonight as Nash had bailed on the match at Starrcade. Both had to put up 1.5 million dollars bond to guarantee various things that don’t matter. The video is about Bischoff collecting souls or something. Whatever.

 

The announcers run down the card while the fans chant for the Weasel. We’re going to get an announcement about the world title that is vacant because WCW was incredibly stupid and managed to screw up the unscrewupable.

 

Juventud Guerrera/Super Calo/Lizmark Jr/Chavo Guerrero vs. La Parka/Silver King/Psicosis/El Dandy

 

I’m not sure who the favorites are here but I’d never be one to doubt El Dandy. This is under Lucha Libre rules which means if you hit the floor that’s as good as a tag. Calo vs. Psicosis to start us off. Calo gets an armdrag to send Psicosis to the floor but he comes back in. No substitution which is kind of odd but whatever. Psicosis chops away and drops an elbow on the back to take over.

 

Powerslam by Calo and a tilt-a-whirl slam and it’s off to Silver King vs. Lizmark. This is one of those matches where it’s nearly impossible to keep up with what’s going on and that more or less isn’t the point at all. Silver King gets a tornado DDT but it’s off to Chavo vs. El Dandy. Big monkey flip to Dandy and they’re out rather quickly.

 

Off to La Parka vs. Juvy now. They’re moving in very quickly out there. They fight on the apron with La Parka falling on his face in a funny spot. Back in the ring and Guerrera gets a kick to the face and a SWEET top rope rana puts Parka on the floor. Off to Lizmark who gets a moonsault to take Juvy down. Off to Psicosis who gets rolled up. Dandy is in and gets La Magistrol for two.

 

Calo comes in to face Silver King but the whole thing breaks down. Tenay says he more or less has no idea what’s going on. Juvy botches the heck out of a rana on Silver King but Juvy escapes and mostly hits a 450 for two. Parka gets a powerbomb on Guerrera for two. Falcon Arrow to Chavo sets up the guillotine legdrop by Psicosis. Some people are thrown to the floor so it’s Silver King vs. Super Calo.

 

LET THE DIVING BEGIN as everyone goes after everyone and there is no point at all to try to call this. The only ones left in the ring are Chavo and Psicosis with Chavo in control. Psicosis misses a charge and Chavo hits the tornado DDT (his finisher) to end this. La Parka kills them all with chairs because he feels like it. He beats up his own partners too and does his chair dance to a big reaction.

 

Rating: B. WOW. This is one of the most insanely fast matches you’ll ever see and for an opener, THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT. Was it technically sound or really even sound at all? Not in the slightest, but that’s not the point here. The idea here was to just go insane and have everyone look awesome and that’s what they did. Fun mach.

 

Raven vs. Chris Benoit

 

Raven is listed at 239lbs. That’s much lighter than I would expect. The Flock is with him and the they actually come out from the entrance. There’s no Saturn here as he would start his rebellion. The Flock is barred from ringside apparently. Raven complains about things and doesn’t seem to care. This is Raven’s Rules, as in No DQ.

 

Raven gets a baseball slide to Benoit as he comes in and we head to the floor early. Back in the ring and Benoit grabs a quick backslide for two. This is far more of a brawl than a match but Benoit can easily pull that off so it works well. Back to the floor and Raven grabs a chair. Bulldog onto the unfolded chair gets two as Benoit gets a foot on the ropes. Benoit pulls a Raven with a drop toehold onto the chair for two in a sick looking spot.

 

Benoit chops away and down he goes. Suplex onto the chair gets two. Benoit gets the shirt off of Raven and returns the favor of the baseball slide, sending Raven into the railing. A whip into the steps follows as Raven tries to run away. They go up the aisle and Raven is suplexed to keep Benoit’s advantage. Back in the ring and Benoit puts the chair on Raven’s face. The Swan Dive CRACKS into the chair and both guys are out. FREAKING OW MAN! That looked incredible but DANG it must have hurt.

 

Somehow that only gets two. The crowd is insane here by the way. See what a great opener can get you? Northern Lights is countered by the DDT which is kind of known as Raven’s finisher but not officially. Fans are totally behind Benoit here. Another DDT is countered into the Crossface and Raven….smiles while in it. That boy is not right. He passes out in the hold and we’re done.

 

Rating: B+. This was a war. These are two of the hottest openers I can remember in a very long time. Total beating from both guys here as we got incredibly physical. That swan dive is something else. Raven could have been totally awesome but instead we got more NWO. Anyway, great war here and Benoit looks like a killer.

 

Kidman of the Flock comes out for the beatdown but Malenko comes out for the save for no apparent reason. The whole Flock comes out but Raven is done. Benoit and Malenko look at each other…and that’s about it.

 

Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio

 

Rey is champion here and Jericho is a heel. We keep hearing about how big of a heart he has. Shouldn’t he see a cardiologist already? Rey has a legit bad knee here (shocking I know) and is going away after this match (not announced of course) so I think you know the ending here. Jericho tries to be a bully and gets slapped instead. Jericho runs him over with a shoulder. When do you see Jericho with a size and power advantage?

 

Rey gets a nice headscissors to send Jericho to the floor. He uses what would evolve into the 619 but his knee goes out in mid move. Rey locks on a chinlock which is countered for a bit but that counter is countered into a victory roll by Rey for two. Rey wants a rana to the floor but with Jericho on the apron he catches Rey and drops him throat first on the top rope while jumping to the floor. Cool counter.

 

Jericho gets a butterfly backbreaker and sets up the steps before heading back into the ring. Rey fights back and gets what was kind of a jumping Killswitch to take Jericho down. Baseball slide to Jericho’s leg takes Jericho to the floor. Running tope con hilo into a seated senton puts Jericho down again but the knee is gone.

 

Rey manages to get a flapjack to Jericho to send him into the steps. West Coast Pop is broken up and the knee is wrenched all over again. Jericho goes up and Rey tries the rana which is countered into the Walls (Liontamer at the time but you get the idea). Finish was out of NOWHERE which makes me think the knee was completely destroyed. Rey would be gone until July so that knee was really messed up.

 

Rating: B-. A lot of that is for the knee. Rey was legitimately trying out there but there comes a point where the injury is too much to deal with. They did everything they could out there but with the knee falling apart mid match there’s only so much you can do. Rey’s knees would never really work again for the most part.

 

Jericho gloats post match and beats up Mysterio with the knee brace. Cody Rhodes is smiling somewhere. He slams an anvil case into the knee which goes into the steps.

 

JJ Dillon and Gene are in the ring. Dillon has the vacant world title and it’s time for an announcement about it. Ok so in case you don’t know what happened, Sting had been the Crow that didn’t talk forever and Hogan had been champion more or less for 16 months. Sting finally got his shot at Hogan at Starrcade in what should have been a massacre of Hogan with Sting dominating him to win the title.

 

However since this is WCW, they screwed it up. Hogan more or less beat Sting up and the fans simply did not accept this. The whole thing was rejected and the audience steadily began to head over to WWF. The problem was simple: WCW had built this up for over a year and the fans wanted to see something.

 

I’ve heard the excuse of Sting was high or something when they got there, but if he can at least perform at all, Hogan should not have had a chance. Hogan danced around out there and Sting looked like a fool. I still stand by my statement that this was the bullet that took WCW down. Read the Starrcade 97 review for the full details.

 

So anyway, the title was held up at the first Thunder and there’s a rematch. Unfortunately it’s not tonight as that would be giving too much credit to the fans I guess, so if you REALLY want to see Hogan vs. Sting, BUY SUPERBRAWL!!!! Oh wait I’m getting ahead of myself. Dillon brings out Roddy Piper who was interim commissioner and was consulted on this. He hasn’t been seen since the terrible main event of Halloween Havoc.

 

Ah apparently he made Hogan vs. Piper in the first place. He talks about everyone involved including Scott Hall who won World War 3 and is the official #1 contender. Piper calls out Sting, Hall and Hogan. Sting comes first and then the others do as well but along with Bischoff. Naturally they take forever.

 

Hall is #1 contender to the world champion but we have no world champion. Piper says that Hogan has a claim to the title but he doesn’t get it. The rematch is made for Superbrawl and Hall would eventually get the title match at Uncensored (albeit in the second to last match as Hogan vs. Savage was the main event). In other words, it took five months for him to win his shot and then actually get it. Hall walks away and is like “whatever”. Sting chases Hogan and Bischoff off. This took over ten minutes somehow.

 

TV Title: Rick Martel vs. Booker T

 

Booker has the title here. No one is really sure why Martel came back as he was old and not the Model or anything but just a guy in a leather jacket that you’ve likely heard of. They feel each other out to start us off with both guys getting two. I’m still trying to figure out why Martel is getting a push like this. He’s certainly not bad and could wrestle a perfectly watchable match at this point (he destroyed his knee at the next PPV and had to retire) but it’s still a really weird pick.

 

Booker works on the arm for a bit. Suplex and a side kick get two and we’re back to the arm. Pretty much all Booker so far as he gets a hook kick for two. Martel makes Booker miss but gets caught in an armdrag and it’s the armbar again. Leap frog by Martel is countered by what might be a headbutt to the balls. Martel might have been faking it and suckers Booker in to hammer away, almost doing a mid-match heel turn.

 

Off to the chinlock now by Martel who is all evil now. Booker hammers away but a spinebuster takes him down for two. More back work by Martel, this time in the form of an abdominal stretch. Booker tries a comeback but misses a dropkick. Quebec (Boston) Crab goes on and Booker is in trouble. Oh never mind as he grabs a rope. This is a pretty generic although decent match. Axe kick out of nowhere gets no cover as Booker goes up. The Harlem Hangover ends this. It’s a front flip legdrop if you’re unfamiliar.

 

Rating: C+. Not bad but just kind of generic like I said. Martel was ok but he wasn’t interesting in the slightest. He never could get anywhere with the comeback due to his knee injury but this was as good as it was going to get I think. Could have been on Nitro though, which is rarely a good sign.

 

Post match Martel hands Booker the belt. After Booker leaves Saturn pops up to beat up Martel. Booker would face Martel at the next PPV and then face Saturn immediately thereafter.

 

Scott Hall vs. Larry Zbyszko

 

This is the culmination of some weird AWA angle that no one cared about but it resulted in Larry having a few matches. Hall has the soon dead Louie Spicolli with him. Dusty wonders who is coming out with Larry, and to the shock of no one, it’s Dusty himself. Bobby thinks the fans at home are standing over this pick. Uh, why? Also who thought purple and gold/yellow were good signature colors for a wrestling company?

 

The announcers touch on the AWA stuff a bit but never say any specifics. Larry controls early with amateur/mat stuff. Heenan talks about Ted DiBiase for no apparent reason. The other announcers point out that he has the wrong person and Heenan ADMITS HE’S WRONG!!! They’re taking their sweet time out here with nothing going on at all really. Larry gets an abdominal stretch which is countered by a hiptoss for the biggest spot of the match so far.

 

The hold goes right back on and it’s the same counter. Larry goes for the neck so Hall gets to the ropes. Big old right hand to Larry puts Larry down and Spicolli adds in a shot. Cue Dusty to something resembling a good reaction going after Spicolli. This is rather boring so far and the fans seem to realize that. The fans chant for Larry and he starts the comeback. Hall goes for the legs as this is really boring. Also, this is the #1 contender remember.

 

LOUD Larry sucks chant starts up with Tony more or less saying the fans have no idea what they’re talking about. A Hall sucks chant starts up so Tony is all happy. The dueling chants begin as Hall gets the fall away slam. Oh and Hall/Nash are the tag champions here. A backdrop gets Larry out of the Outsider Edge and here’s the comeback again.

 

Larry, the old man, pounds Hall down and shoves the referee which lets Hall come back. Somehow that isn’t a DQ but since when does WCW keep their DQ rules the same for more than one show in a row? Larry accidentally kicks the referee and Hall takes Zbyszko down. Larry plays possum on Hall and gets his guillotine choke on him. Spicolli comes in and punches Larry but THAT isn’t enough for the DQ.

 

Dusty comes in to a big reaction to hammer away and do something that I think is supposed to be dancing. He drills Louie with a bunch of elbows to the cranium…and joins the NWO by hitting Larry and taking off his shirt to reveal the black and white. Does this really surprise anyone? The big beatdown leads to the DQ and Tony and Bobby are disgusted.

 

Rating: D. This was whatever really. No one, and I mean no one, cared about Dusty turning here. He wouldn’t be around that long at all as he would head over to ECW and then come back in like a year and a half. Spicolli was supposed to fight Zbyszko at Superbrawl but he wouldn’t be alive in 30 days. Weak match here and a waste of Hall who was being pushed at this point.

 

We recap the segment and Tony hates it. The fans still think Larry sucks, proving that the whole thing failed.

 

Scott Norton/Buff Bagwell/Konnan vs. Ray Traylor/Steiner Brothers

 

Traylor is the Big Boss Man. Tony walks off set for a bit so Tenay comes out to give us Tenay and Heenan on commentary. Ok dude, EVERYONE has joined the NWO and this is supposed to be a big deal. The Steiner team has DiBiase with them and the NWO has Vincent which is kind of cool. Scott Steiner is teasing a heel turn as he has been doing for about the last six months. He would finally turn the next month.

 

Tony comes back and whines about Dusty. Yep this is going to go on forever isn’t it? Scott Steiner (blast it I have to specify in this match don’t I) wants to start but his partners won’t let him because they know he won’t tag out. Buff and Rick officially start. We talk about Dusty a lot and completely ignore the match at hand, which makes sense as there’s nothing to this match anyway.

 

Buff destroys him to start until a powerslam or something like one gets Rick out of trouble. Off to Traylor who hammers away. Two minutes in and Tony stops posting in his Livejournal about how much he hates Dusty now. Basically this is a handicap match since Rick and Traylor won’t tag Scott in due to him being a whiny twerp as I said. I know I’m repeating a lot of stuff but there’s nothing to say here otherwise.

 

Rick rips away at Buff’s face and Norton finally comes in. It’s weird that the team wrestling with two guys had made more tags than the team with three. Traylor hammers away on Norton and beats on Buff too. The numbers catch up with them and Heenan has a Freudian slip by talking about Dusty again. For the love of tar shut up about him! Konnan vs. Traylor at the moment in this boring match.

 

Tony announces again that he’s going to stop thinking about it. Naturally it takes him 15 seconds to stop talking about how he’s going to stop talking about it. Traylor and Norton collide and everyone is down. Scott Steiner hasn’t been in yet at all. Konnan gets a DDT to take down Rick as Tony tries to say Dusty is the reason the crowd is dead. Well at least he’s funny about it.

 

Rick gets beaten up on the floor as the VERY ANGRY Scott Steiner won’t even get off the apron to help. He’s kind of being a jerk when you think about it. The problem is that we keep seeing the same combinations of five guys that aren’t interesting in the slightest. Scott Steiner gets over next to Traylor on the same side which isn’t something you see often. They argue about it because they feel like annoying me.

 

Chinlock by Buff to Rick and Scott Steiner continues to be annoying as he wants a tag. Konnan beats on Rick for awhile as we need this to end or at least do something already. The fans are bored out of their minds and the announcers keep blaming it on Dusty instead of a terribly bad 6 man tag. For a nice change of pace, Norton beats on Rick for awhile now. This beating segment has been going on for like 4 minutes now.

 

Rolling dropkick by Konnan but Rick FINALLY breaks off some offense and everyone is down. Scott Steiner and Traylor tag in at the same time so no one is sure what’s going on. The future Big Poppa Pump shoves the referee and gets tagged in….somehow. Steiner Screwdriver (look that insane move up) to Konnan ends this.

 

Rating: D-. WAY too long here with Rick being in there forever. This was boring beyond belief and the crowd died from it. The announcers didn’t care at all and they talked about the Dusty turn the entire turn. Steiner would FINALLY turn next month and then do nothing of note for about six months due to Goldberg getting the focus as he should have.

 

Scott Steiner and Bagwell have some weird moment post match for even more foreshadowing.

 

Giant vs. Kevin Nash

 

This is the match that was supposed to happen for months but Nash didn’t show up at Starrcade because he didn’t want to lose to Giant. Remember that. After all the months of waiting, they lock up. Riveting stuff so far. Hogan and Bischoff are here with Nash because Hogan put up the 1.5 million dollars required to get Nash here. The deal was Nash had to ensure he’d be here (think about that for a minute) and Giant had to put it up to ensure he wouldn’t touch Nash. Riveting stuff.

 

Giant beats on him for awhile and Nash bails. Bobby literally whispers things into Tony’s ear and Tony gets annoyed at him for it. Giant chokes away in the corner with the foot and it’s more or less all future Big Show. Nash busts out a freaking leap frog of all things and puts Giant on the floor. NASH JUMPS OVER THE TOP ONTO GIANT AND GETS CAUGHT IN THE AIR!!! Think about that for a few seconds. Once your minds are done getting blown and you towel off, I’ll be here waiting.

 

Giant throws Nash in and Bischoff distracts the referee, allowing Hogan to DRILL Giant in the back with a chair. Giant makes it back in at about 9.8 and here comes Nash. We need a name for the spot where a guy is in position for a 619 and a guy gets a running start to jump on his back/neck. Giant shrugs the offense off and takes Nash down with a clothesline.

 

Both guys try big boots at the same time and they’re both down. Nash hammers away with his usual big power spots but walks into an atomic drop and some headbutts to take him down. Big boot puts Nash down as does a slam. Bischoff pops up and gets a chokeslam as a late Christmas present. Nash gets coffee from….somewhere and throws it in Giant’s eyes. Nash then tries the Jackknife and drops Giant ON HIS HEAD, looking like he killed him dead to end it. The crowd is completely silent after that for a second as that was terrifying. Giant would be out about a month because of it.

 

Rating: D. Well some of the spots were cool but giant vs. giant matches get kind of dull after awhile. The powerbomb at the end is absolutely terrifying though. Naturally they show the replay twice. One other thing to note here: Nash won the match. In other words, he avoided jobbing by not showing up and got to win a month later. And people said they didn’t have stroke backstage.

 

Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair

 

Basically just an “I’m better than you” match. Somehow this is Bret’s in ring debut for WCW. How in the world did they wait this long, AND WHY IN THE WORLD WAS THIS NOT AT STARRCADE??? Oh that’s right: we needed a boring six man on that show! Bret grabs a headlock and eventually takes him to the mat with it. This has a ton of time for it and Heenan wastes some of it by talking about Flair’s sex life.

 

Flair is only 48 here and is still rather good in the ring. My goodness did he go downhill during the Evolution years. Bret grabs a figure four for a bit but a rope is grabbed quickly. Suplex gets two and we’re back to that headlock. Bret slaps Flair down and the blonde haired one takes a break on the floor. Back in and Bret throws Flair around a bit and it’s back to the headlock.

 

A quick thumb to the eye and down goes the Canadian. Hart grabs a sleeper out of nowhere but gets reversed into a belly to back almost immediately. Flair gets a low blow in and of course Heenan defends it. Heenan and Flair are hilarious. Tony: “You know you’re an idiot.” Off to a chinlock by Naitch which doesn’t last long. Flair chokes away and is clearly the heel in this match.

 

Chops vs. punches is won by the puncher and I think you know who that is. Swinging neckbreaker by Bret gives us a little breather. Bret gets a bulldog for two. Well he used to be a cowboy so he has to have a bulldog every now and then I guess. Bret goes after the knee as is his custom. The figure four around the post doesn’t work as we hear about Jim Neidhart for no apparent reason.

 

Back in and Flair unleashes the knee crusher. You have to admit they know their formula if nothing else. Another knee crusher and Bret is in trouble. Bret gets an enziguri out of nowhere to put Flair down. Good back and forth stuff here. Bret tries another figure four but gets caught in a rollup for two. And there’s the chop block and Bret is right back down again.

 

There’s the REAL Figure Four (by the REAL World’s Champion for you old school fans out there) and Bret grabs the referee. The crowd doesn’t seem to care here which is kind of weird. Flair slaps Bret in the face because that’s always worked so well for him over the years.

 

Bret reverses which stays on for all of a second. Flair goes up and it’s apparent that Flair suffers from extreme memory loss as he continues to try thing after thing and it never works at all. There’s the Russian leg sweep by the Canadian to the Flairian (like he’s actually human) but Flair pops up and chops away in the corner.

 

Hart takes the straps down and is all like BRING IT ON! Bret hammers away in the corner and Flair is in trouble. Atomic drop out of the corner by Ric is in trouble. Here are the five moves of doom and amazingly enough, they actually work and Flair gives up to the Sharpshooter. I don’t remember those ever working but you have to have it work once I guess.

 

Rating: B+. Good stuff here but it felt like they never got it into that highest gear. Definitely the match of the night that actually meant something and a third great match tonight. Bret’s WCW run would pretty steadily go downhill from here though other than a few matches here and there, which is impressive since they managed to screw up BRET HART.

 

Randy Savage vs. Lex Luger

 

Yep, this is the main event. Why would you have a classic for the main event when you can have THIS? Well there are two arguments there. The first is that Luger and Savage were the “draws”. Considering you had Bret Hart and Ric Flair in the previous match, I find that really odd. The other answer is that Hogan gets involved in this match and he has to be in the last match of the night.

 

I have no idea why these two are fighting but it’s WCW so that is perfectly normal. Tony talks about how Flair erases the memory of Dusty Rhodes. Hey Tony, maybe you would forget about if faster IF YOU SHUT UP ABOUT IT! Savage walks around to start and Liz pops Luger in the back to let Savage take over to start. Savage controls early and gets a belly to back suplex for two. We talk about Dick the Bruiser for some reason and Savage gets a back elbow for two.

 

Liz chokes away with Savage’s bandana as she’s pretty awesome when she’s evil. All Savage so far. Luger tries to get going again but Liz grabs his foot and the problems continue. Savage gets a double axe to Luger who is on the floor. They head into the crowd and Luger finally gets something going.

 

Back to the ring now and Luger hammers away with clotheslines. Forearm (which somehow isn’t made of lead anymore) hits Savage and here comes Scott Hall with Hogan behind him. Hall has a chair but Hogan gets involved. Hall is knocked off the apron and in the distraction Luger gets the Rack for the submission. Somehow this was the main event. My mind is blown.

 

Rating: D. This was terrible and everyone knew it. This going on last was idiotic and shows another sign of how this company was in real trouble. All night long it was WCW vs. the NWO which was a feud that went on for a year and a half at this point and would eventually split into a 3 way feud as the Wolfpack debuted. Either way, bad main event that shouldn’t have been a main event.

 

The NWO comes out for the beatdown, Sting runs out for the save, Rack for Nash, Scorpion for Hogan, WCW IS AWESOME (despite the fans liking the NWO more), show over.

 

Overall Rating: B+. This was a very good show with two great matches and some other very good stuff sprinkled in. See, notice two things here also. 1. Hogan didn’t wrestle. 2. Clean finishes other than in the Zbyszko match. 3. Great PPV. Now notice what came later. 1. More Hogan/NWO. 2. More screwy finishes. 3. Worse PPVs.

 

This was a high buyrate for a PPV in this time frame and yet Hogan didn’t wrestle. DO YOU GET THE POINT WCW??? Of course they didn’t because it went right back to Hogan as he would be champion again in April. WCW could have been saved and it was all there in front of them but they never got it and they died. Still though, great stuff here but don’t watch the “main event.”

That’s the big news of the day.  Apparently the Raw and Smackdown brand names will be phased out of the live events but they’ll still be running two tours.  This is how it was back in the 80s and that means….That I like this idea.  Back in the day you didn’t know who was going to be on a show other than the top matches, so having a nice mix of people underneath the main events is a good idea.  It gives you an incentive to go because even if you don’t like just Raw or just Smackdown, you might see someone from another show that you like.  That’s a smart move.

ECW on Sci-Fi
Date: November 7, 2006
Location: The Mark of the Quad Cities, Moline, Illinois
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

Yep I’m still doing these. It’s been nearly three months but I’m still doing these. In case you’ve forgotten, we’re getting close to December to Dismember and the Extreme Elimination Chamber which is pretty much the worst PPV ever. Tonight we’ve got some qualifying matches which I don’t think we’ve had up to this point. Then again there’s a good chance I’ve just forgotten them. Let’s get to it.

After a recap of last week’s main event (Big Show/Test vs. Holly/RVD) we’re ready to go.

Extreme Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: CM Punk vs. Mike Knox

Before we get going, Kelly gets caught smiling at Punk so Knox sends her to the back. A fast rollup gets two for Punk as does a leg lariat as Knox is in trouble early. Punk hooks the Vice in the ropes ala the Tarantula and the springboard clothesline puts Knox on the floor. All Punk so far. Mike finally hits a knee to the ribs to take over and gets two off a bicycle (Brogue) kick. What is with big guys that use that move?

Punk gets a forearm up in the corner but a springboard rana is caught in a powerbomb for another close two. Knox, the big oaf that he is, misses a charge in the corner so Punk can fire off some kicks. The corner knee looks to set up the corner bulldog but of course it fails completely as Knox counters into a backbreaker. Knox loads up a superplex but Punk shoves him down and hits a high cross body for another close two. Since we’re still in 2006, a bunch of kicks set up the Rock Bottom and the Anaconda Vice gets the tap out for Punk.

Rating: B-. You could tell Punk was good because he got Mike Knox to look solid in nearly every match they had. Punk going to the Chamber was obvious as he was the hottest thing they had on ECW at this point and he was destined to be a star. Good stuff here and one of Knox’s better matches ever.

Sylvester Terkay and Elijah Burke are here and promise to bring Elijah Burke Productions to ECW. Great.

Here are Heyman and his security guards with something to say. Heyman has the gorilla head from last week and we get a clip of him costing RVD the main event last week. Tonight it’s Big Show/Heyman vs. RVD/Holly where either someone will get their face kicked in or someone will be extremely embarrassed. Also there’s an open contract for anyone from Raw or Smackdown that wants the last spot in the Chamber and they’ll be able to sign it next week. Heyman says he has to leave to go do some cardio which sends Tazz into hysterics.

Daivari vs. Little Guido

Daivari tries to jump Guido early but gets punched in the face for his efforts. Guido hits some really basic stuff before walking into a hot shot to stop him cold. Daivari stomps on him a bit but walks into an elbow to the face for two. This clearly isn’t going to last long. That would be correct as Daivari sends Guido hard into the corner and hits an arm trap DDT for a quick pin. Nothing to see here.

Khali hits the Plunge on Guido post match.

Video on The Marine.

Extreme Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Test vs. Tommy Dreamer

They start fast with Dreamer hitting a Cactus Clothesline to put both guys on the floor. Since we’re in a Dreamer match though he’s in trouble early with Test ramming him back first into the post. Back in and Test loads up the pumphandle slam, only to have Dreamer slip down his back and hit a neckbreaker for two. A sitout spinebuster gets two more for Dreamer and he chokes away on the ropes. That’s not a nice guy there Tommy. Test kicks him low as he deserves, setting up the big boot and the Test Drive to advance to the Chamber.

Rating: D+. Eh it’s Test vs. Tommy Dreamer. Was there ever a doubt as to who was going to win here? At the end of the day there was nothing surprising either way here as Test gets a push he doesn’t deserve and Dreamer is a jobber who can’t pull off his ultimate goal. This was watchable but pinning Dreamer is hardly an accomplishment.

Rob Van Dam/Hardcore Holly vs. Paul Heyman/Big Show

I smell either a screwjob or a comedy match or even worse: both. Show and Van Dam start with the big man talking trash until Van Dam kicked him in the legs to shut him up. Rob immediately goes after Heyman but gets crushed by a splash and chopped in the corner. Show pounds him down and breaks up a few tag attempts to Holly. The fans are clamoring for a hot tag here which sounds like the screwjob to me.

We head to the floor and Holly backs down from the security. So much for being HARDCORE I guess. We head back in for a clothesline from Show who isn’t interested in trying to get a pin. In a disturbing image, Heyman does jumping jacks on the apron, much to Taz’s disgust. Show holds Rob’s arms so Paul can slap him in the face.

Another Van Dam comeback is stopped by Show but he misses a charge and gets kicked in the face. The chokeslam is countered via a DDT and there’s the hot tag, immediately followed by the turn from Holly. Yep I was right. Holly beats the tar out of him and hits an Alabama Slam on a chair as the match is thrown out.

Rating: C-. The crowd reaction on the heel turn was surprisingly solid but the match before it was generic stuff. Heyman never actually got into the match which doesn’t really surprise me. At least it wasn’t unfunny comedy and they went with the only interesting combo they had. Holly turning was probably a good idea as he’s a natural jerk in the first place.

The heels celebrate to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. For an ECW on Sci-Fi, this was about as good as you’re going to get. The Chamber is coming, but man alive is it going to SUCK. Holly turning is the big story here and it’s the right move to turn him as I don’t think people were really buying him as a face. On top of that we’ve got the incoming star next week to enter the Chamber match. Good show this year.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

As is usual with me, I started off planning to have about 10 matches on this list and it got out of hand.  These are in NO order other than the top five which will be separated.  This is a mixture of favorites and best which is how my lists tend to go.  Let’s get to it.

1. Sting vs. Vader – Starrcade 1992

If I’m ever in the mood to have fun watching a wrestling match, this is the one I throw on. It’s the rematch from Great American Bash where Vader ripped out the heart of the WCW fans, crushed it in his hand and sprinkled it on a slice of Sting pizza. The rematch is Sting’s revenge and is one of the best fights you will ever see. If you want to see David vs. Goliath and some AMAZING displays of strength from

Sting, go watch this.

1. Sting’s Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance – WrestleWar 1992

It’s violent, it’s bloody, it’s everything WarGames is supposed to be. This was the BIG blowoff to the amazing Dangerous Alliance feud and there’s almost nothing wrong with it. If you want a GREAT fight with a ton of blood along with Sting, Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat in the same match, check this one out.

3. Sting vs. Cactus Jack – Beach Blast 1992

First of all, check this show out as it’s excellent. Just make sure that you watch it out of order and put this one last. Anyway, you have two of my top three favorite wrestlers ever in a WAR. This was the culmination of about a year of Cactus torturing Sting and finally Sting gets to fight back. It’s falls count anywhere and according to Foley himself, one of his best matches ever. I love this one.

4. Vader vs. Cactus Jack – Halloween Havoc 1993

Again, take two guys with some hatred for each other and let them beat each other up. This was another great match which I don’t think was for the title. It also led to WCW screwing up what could have been a huge push for Foley, but instead Hogan came in and WCW decided people wanted to see Paul Orndorff and Brutus Beefcake instead of guys like Cactus Jack.

5. Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan – Great American Bash 1996

Dang I’m in a violent mood tonight. If you’ve never seen this, go watch it. You will hardly ever see a more BRUTAL fight. These two hated each other in real life so you know they enjoyed a chance to beat the tar out of each other for a bit. They did this same match (at one point almost literally spot for spot) for the next year or so but this is by far the best. This is one of Benoit’s best matches ever and definitely his best fight.

As of this point, the rest are in no particular order.

6. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage – Spring Stampede 1997

This is the match that made DDP and there’s a great story to it as well. Savage is the grizzled veteran that refuses to take DDP seriously and Page is the guy that won’t give up no matter what he faces. This also showed off how cool the sets were in WCW as the set was a big wild west theme with wagons and bales of hay. You NEVER get that anymore outside of Wrestlemania.

7. Steiner Brothers vs. Lex Luger/Sting – SuperBrawl I

Take four faces, give them no story and let them have a great match. It’s the only thing on this show worth anything at all and it still holds up to this day. The Steiners were untouchable at this point so having two superstars against them was the only conceivable way they could lose. This is also one of the times where Scott got to show off what he could do in the main event.

7. Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude – Beach Blast 1992

Also from the great Beach Blast 92, this is fallout from WrestleWar 1992 with Steamboat wanting to get his hands on Rude and his US Title, but for some reason it wasn’t on the line here. This was a thirty minute iron man match and it has a story going throughout the entire thing. WCW was on fire in 1992 and this was a great match in that year.

9. Brian Pillman vs. Jushin Thunder Liger – SuperBrawl II

Speaking of WCW in 1992, this is the opening match from the first PPV of the year. Later in the big era for WCW they used this same formula: take two small guys and let them go insane for about ten minutes. The crowd had no idea what they were seeing here but they ate it up. It’s easily one of the best opening matches ever if not the best of all time and probably Pillman’s best match ever.

9. Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat – Bash at the Beach 1994

    Seriously, do you not expect these two to be awesome together? Austin was rapidly getting awesome and the best way to do that was through having Steamboat tear the house down with him. Steamboat would get injured before they could really end the feud, but the first match in it was awesome. I’m running out of things to say about these matches.

10. Ric Flair vs. Vader – Starrcade 1993

    So Sid kind of went nuts and stabbed Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors, earning himself a firing right before the biggest show of the year. When all else fails in WCW, get Ric Flair to main event Starrcade. The idea was that Vader was invincible and Flair couldn’t wrestle his usual cerebral style to beat him. Flair’s career was on the line to add some drama and the end result (in North Carolina of course) was a great match with Flair getting another world title.

11. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero – Halloween Havoc 1997

    Of all the great matches in 1997, this might have been the best in ring match of them all. You take two great wrestlers and let them go at it for almost fifteen minutes in a title vs. mask match. This is all about wowing the crowd and it’s probably both guys’ best match ever. Think about their careers and let that sink in for a bit.

12. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat – Chi-Town Rumble

    All three matches are great but I always liked the first one best. It’s a faster pace match than the other two and they keep things fast enough to never get boring. Also it helps that this is where Steamboat finally gets his world title after being the best in the world to never be champion. The rematches were great too but I’ve always liked this one better than the other two.

13. Ric Flair vs. Sting – Clash of the Champions #1

    Why WWE.com put the unification match on the list and not this one is likely due to the NWA thing but screw that jazz. If the WWE can say that the World Heavyweight Championship is related to the WCW World Title then I can say this counts. This is the definition of putting someone over with Flair making Sting a huge star in one night. The match runs 45 minutes but feels like about half of that. This is the first of many matches they have and it might actually be the best.

14. Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard – Starrcade 1985

    So we have a redneck who wears jeans and the wrestler’s wrestler in a blood feud in an I Quit match. Now this is the story of Bret vs. Shawn but they copied it from this match in the first place. This was another huge feud where the only way to end it was to lock two guys in a box and the first man to quit loses. The ending is legendary with Magnum taking a piece of a wooden chair and driving it into Blanchard’s eye to finally quit, only to hate himself for what he did to win the title.

15. Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson – Fall Brawl 1995

    They were partners for years but they FINALLY had a match here, in North Carolina of course. This was all part of the rebirth of the Horsemen but it took a few months to get there. They knew each other so well that at the end of the day, you knew they were going to have a great match against each other. The fans had no idea who to cheer for which made it even better. To the surprise of a lot of people, Anderson won in I think their only match ever.

16. Brian Pillman vs. Johnny B. Badd – Fall Brawl 1995

    I don’t think anyone remembers this match but it opens the same show as the previous match. Both guys were on an absolute roll at this point and they were fighting for a title shot. This match runs half an hour and it never once gets boring with the ending being perfect as well. You won’t see this on many lists but it’s an awesome fast paced match that works very well.

17. Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit – Nitro

    For the Bret Hart fans, this is a must. It’s the Owen Hart Tribute match in the building where he died and it’s by far and away Bret’s best match ever in WCW. It’s also the only match where he was clearly trying for the whole match and there was no stupid story holding him back. This was about two guys putting on a wrestling display and it works to this day. Great match.

18. Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham (pick one)

    Seriously, pick one. These two had so many great matches that you can’t just pick a single one. Windham could have been HUGE if he had kept trying but by 1991 or so he was done. His matches with Flair though were amazing and produced some of the best TV matches you’ll ever see. Barry would eventually join the Horsemen in a spot he was perfect for.

19. Flair vs. Funk – Great American Bash 1989

    The idea here is simple: Funk had injured Flair’s neck and this was about revenge. The problem is that even though Funk was old and mostly retired, you couldn’t quite write him off as a contender to Flair’s title. This is considered the best show WCW ever put on and while I think the show is overrated, the main event is excellent. I’m in the minority that likes it better than the I Quit match but it’s really that good.

20. Sting vs. Rick Rude – Clash of the Champions #17

    We have one of the best heels ever against one of the best faces ever. This is all backstory from earlier in the show as Sting was injured by I believe Luger earlier in the night and was at the hospital. He was told that if he missed the match he would lose the title and the race was on to get back. Rude was sure he was going to be champion but Sting walked through the curtain at the last minute and the place EXPLODED. This is all atmosphere but it was great atmosphere.

21. Dustin Rhodes/Ricky Steamboat vs. The Enforcers – Clash of the Champions #17

    From the same show as the previous match, this is all about the entrance but then the match is awesome on top of it. The Enforcers (Anderson and Zbyszko) had broken Dustin’s partner Barry Windham’s hand at Halloween Havoc so Dustin had a new mystery partner. A guy in a dragon costume came out before revealing himself to be Ricky Steamboat, making his return to the company. Anderson FREAKING and shouting “HE’S JUST A MAN” at Larry to try to convince himself not to panic is great stuff. Oh and the match is great too.

22. Southern Boys vs. Midnight Express – Great American Bash 1990

    Jim Cornette has called this one of the greatest Midnight Express match ever which should sum things up for you. This was another one of those “take two teams, let them go nuts” matches from right before the Express left WCW to form SMW. The Pistols weren’t a great team but when they clicked they could have an excellent match and that’s what they did here.

24. Four Horsemen vs. Sting’s Team – WrestleWar 1991

    WarGames is that one match that you can almost never screw up and this is the second great one. It’s also the only one the Horsemen managed to win I think, which makes their nickname of the Masters of WarGames kind of odd. Anyway, this is a GREAT brawl with everyone beating on everyone and a horrible looking ending with Pillman nearly dying (literally) to end the match. Again, it’s Sting (noticing a theme here) against Flair and it works perfectly.

25. Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair – WrestleWar 1990

    Here’s another great one from these two with Luger substituting for his injured best friend Sting who had been injured at the Horsemen’s hands (not really). The idea is that while it was pretty clear Sting would get to dethrone Flair, Luger gets to beat the tar out of him first. The ending is a mini screwjob but for once it makes perfect sense and is the absolute right finish that hurts no one. This is a great beating and another solid Luger vs. Flair match.

26. Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair – Starrcade 1988

If you ever want to see the Flair Formula worked to perfection, this is the match for you. It’s about 35 minutes long with three separate stages: Flair getting killed, Luger getting beaten up and the finish. These two had one of the hottest feuds of the 80s and this is probably the best match they had in the whole series. Luger should have won the title here and he was branded as a choker because he never got there.

Oh boy you know I look forward to these.  I’ll give my thoughts on most of them but I’ll be omitting the MMA stuff because, unlike Meltzer’s site, I actually talk about wrestling and only wrestling.  Second and third place listed in order in parentheses.  Let’s get to it.

Wrestler of the Year – Hiroshi Tanahashi (CM Punk, Kazuchika Okada)

CM Punk was WWE Champion for the entire year.  I think that sums up the case against Tanahashi pretty well.

 

Most Outstanding Wrestler – Hiroshi Tanahashi (Kazuchika Okada, CM Punk)

I’m still not sure what the difference between this and wrestler of the year is.

 

Best Box Office Draw – The Rock (John Cena, Brock Lesnar)

I had a feeling he’d beat out Edge for Bending the Rules.  Lesnar at 3 though is kind of a headscratcher.  I guess it’s because of not enough appearances.

 

Feud of the Year – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuchika Okada (Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen, John Cena vs. The Rock)

Hey look: more Japanese guys.  Punk vs. everyone?  Bryan vs. the crowd?  Punk vs. Jericho?  Rock vs. Cena?  Maybe?  No wait they’re American.  Never mind.

 

Tag Team of the Year – Bad Influence (Kane and Daniel Bryan, Young Bucks)

This was a toss up between them and HELL NO.  I would have gone with the WWE guys but I can live with this.

 

Most Improved – Katsuchika Okada (Michael Elgin, Rush)

This would be Samoa Joe’s friend who was in TNA for like five minutes.  Eh I guess this is fine.  No one jumped out for me in this category.  Oh wait: BULLY FREAKING RAY ANYONE???

 

Best on Interviews – CM Punk (Chael Sonnen, Rock)

No problem there, but I could see HELL NO getting this.  They were hysterical.

 

Most Charismatic – The Rock (Hiroshi Tanahashi, John Cena)

Fine again here.

 

Best Technical Wrestler – Daniel Bryan (Prince Devitt, Davey Richards)

That’s 8 years in a row.  Just name the thing after him already.  Oh and unless Davey Richards has COMPLETELY changed his style, that’s absolutely absurd.  Brodus Clay is more technical than Richards.

 

Best Brawler – Kevin Steen (Togi Makabe, Bully Ray)

Not many people brawl anymore so this is no surprise.

 

Best High Flier – Kota Ibushi (Ricochet, Pac)

No surprise there either as he’s won three out of four years in a row and was injured the year he didn’t win.

 

Most Overrated – Ryback (The Miz, Garrett Bischoff)

You mean the guy who caused HIAC to get its highest amount of buys in two years?  Yeah there’s no value there.  Who actually rates Garrett Bischoff as anything?

 

Most Underrated – Tyson Kidd (Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan)

Eh he’s good but the day people buy a ticket to see Tyson Kidd is the day I learn to do the Charleston.  The runners up here blow my mind.  Dolph Ziggler is apparently the second coming and Bryan has been a champion forever, yet he’s UNDERrated?

 

Promotion of the Year – New Japan (UFC, WWE)

Well it certainly wasn’t anything in America.  I’ll let this one go.

 

Best Weekly Television Show – Impact Wrestling (Ring of Honor, NXT)

VIVA LOS ACES AND 8’S!  First time it’s ever won this.  If they’re counting the end of the fifth season of NXT in there, I can certainly understand this.

 

Match of the Year – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki (John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar, Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin)

Having not seen this, I’m going to go on a limb and say HHH vs. Undertaker inside the Cell at Wrestlemania was about ten times better.

 

Rookie of the Year – Dinastia (Mr. Touchdown, Eita Kobayashi)

Anyone from Mexico that can help me out here?  This depends on your definition of rookie so I can live with this one going another way.

 

Best Non-Wrestler – Paul Heyman (Ricardo Rodriguez, Vickie Guerrero)

He could sit in the back reading the newspaper and earn an award from an internet wrestling writer.  He was fine but as usual, I don’t get the massive appeal of him.  Ricardo continues to crack me up though.

 

Best Television Announcer – Jim Ross, Nigel McGuinness, William Regal)

He’s on TV enough to qualify for this?

 

Worst Television Announcer – Michael Cole (Taz, Booker T)

Oh come on.  King had a heart attack and nearly died on Raw.  That has to make him worse.

 

Best Major Show – King of Pro Wrestling – New Japan (Extreme Rules, Wrestlemania)

Is anyone surprised at this point?

 

Worst Major Wrestling Show – No Surrender

Final Resolution was worse but whatever.  Actually I’m getting two reports for who won this so after the UFC (IT ISN’T A FREAKING MMA AWARD) show, the worst WRESTLING show might have been Extreme Reunion

 

Best Wrestling Manuever – Rainmaker: Kazuchika Okada (Neutralizer, NO Lock)

It’s an arm thing apparently.  Sure why not.

 

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic – WWE broadcasting a dead Jerry Lawler being revived after a heart attack, and then having CM Punk and Paul Heyman mock the heart attack in front of Lawler (Extreme Rising using a photo of Sabu passing out from an overdose to promote, some UFC thing)

Someone answer this for me: does Meltzer EVER complain about the show being PG?  If he does, he’s a hypocrite for this one.

 

Worst Television Show – Raw (Impact, Ultimate Fighter)

Eh yeah probably.  Also, Impact WINS best and comes second in worst?  These are some fickle voters.

 

Worst Match of the Year – John Cena vs. John Laurinitis (Santino Marella vs. Ricardo Rodriguez, some UFC fight)

No.  Aksana vs. Kaitlyn was literally a four minute headlock.  No way this was worse.

 

Worst Feud of the Year – John Cena vs. Kane (TNA vs. Aces and 8’s, John Cena vs. John Laurinitis)

It was bad yeah but I don’t think it was even around long enough to qualify as bad.  Seriously, Aces and 8’s?  Clair Lynch?  They’re better than Cena vs. Kane?  I don’t think so.

 

Worst Promotion of the Year – TNA (ROH, WWE)

Their only US TV show is the best show but they’re the worst company?  How do these awards work anyway?

 

Best Booker – Jado and Gedo (UFC guy, Mike Quackenbush)

New Japan, duh.

 

Best Gimmick – Joseph Park (Damien Sandow, Daniel Bryan)

If this didn’t win, the awards are a joke.

 

Worst Gimmick – Aces and 8’s (Tensai, Natalya)

You knew they were winning SOMETHING.  But hey, the show they’re ALWAYS ON is still the best show right?

 

Best Wrestling Book – Shooters by Jonathan Snowden (Heroes and Icons by Oliver/Johnson/Mooneyham, From Prison to Promise by Booker T)

Never heard of it but sure why not.

 

Best Wrestling DVD – CM Punk: Best in the World (Last of McGuinness, some UFC thing)

If you didn’t see this coming, go watch PBS as it’s more your speed.

 

So yeah, Japan rules the internet wrestling world again, and no I don’t want to watch puro.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/23/wwe-video-game-license-to-be-acquired-by-take-two

 

This is out of my range of knowledge as the last system I owned was a PS2 and the only video games I play anymore are from before a lot of you were probably born.  I have no idea if Take Two is good or if THQ was bad, but apparently they’ve gone out of business so they couldn’t be that good.

 

Thoughts on this?

20. Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, April 26, 1999)
19. Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero (Uncensored 1997)
18. Big Van Vader vs. Cactus Jack (Halloween Havoc 1993)
17. 3 Count vs. Jung Dragons (New Blood Rising 2000)
16. Diamond Dallas Page vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage (Spring Stampede 1997)
15. Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne vs. Nasty Boys (Spring Stampede 1994)
14. Rey Mysterio vs. Dean Malenko (Great American Bash 1996)
13. Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan (Bash at the Beach 1994)
12. Steiner Brothers vs. Sting & Lex Luger (SuperBrawl 1991)
11. Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude (Beach Blast 1992)
10. Brian Pillman vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger (SuperBrawl II)
9. “Stunning” Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat (Bash at the Beach 1994)
8. Sting’s Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance (WrestleWar 1992)
7. Ric Flair vs. Big Van Vader (Starrcade 1993)
6. Rey Mysterio vs. Ultimo Dragon (World War 3 1996)
5. Ric Flair vs. Sting (Clash of Champions XXVII).
4. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero (Halloween Havoc 1997)
3. Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Halloween Havoc 1998)
2. Ric Flair vs. Sting (Great American Bash 1990)
1. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (Clash of the Champions VI in 1989)

 

Great American Bash 1990???  As I said in my review of it: “The match isn’t great and it’s certainly not their best.”

 

This is wrong on SO many levels.  Some of these matches weren’t even the best matches on their own shows.  Also, this is leaving out a ton of great stuff from the 80’s for absolutely no apparent reason.  They were still in the NWA for the 1990 Bash so it can’t be that.

This is a big news story lately with even ESPN.com mentioning.  As for what I think, Yes it was a bad promo, but Cena has been cutting great ones for years now.  He missed on this one and it went on way too far and he could have cut about three minutes out of it and gotten the point (Sunday is a big day and he’s going to war.  Why is that so hard for people to get?) across just the same.  What wrestling fans’ short attention spans seem to forget is that Cena is one of the best talkers ever.  He messed this one up and that’s it.  Everyone is entitled to a misstep every once in awhile.  Even Rock had some really stupid catchphrases (“Why don’t you go and have a nice cool glass of SHUT UP JUICE?” or “How are your lips?”) every now and then.  It’s not the end of the world and it’s certainly not the end of Cena.  It was a bad promo and at the moment nothing more than that.

Monday Night Raw
Date: January 23, 1995
Location: Manatee Civic Center, Palmetto, Florida
Attendance: 2,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels

It’s the night after the Rumble and the main story is that Bam Bam Bigelow shoves Lawrence Taylor and nearly got in a fight with him. That would be the main event of Wrestlemania, showing how big a mess things were. Shawn Michaels won the Rumble last night as well, setting up his world title shot against Diesel. This is still just an hour and would be for over two more years. Let’s get to it.

We open with Vince apologizing for Bigelow shoving Taylor down yesterday. Apparently Bam Bam has been suspended without pay.

Dig that old school Raw opening! I haven’t seen that in a long time.

Shawn is brought out to do commentary, which is kind of strange for the Rumble winner. He does his expected bragging.

Tag Titles: Smoking Gunns vs. 1-2-3 Kid/Bob Holly

The Kid and Holly are defending here, having won the belts last night in a tournament final. Vince: “This should be a tremendous matchup!” Shawn: “I’ll let you know if it’s tremendous. No one knows more about tremendous matches than me.” Only Shawn could say that line and get away with it. Billy and Bob start things off and it’s a feeling out process between both faces. Billy with a mullet just doesn’t work at all. Then again most stuff Billy did didn’t work.

Off to Bart but Bob bails away, interestingly enough from his future partner. The Kid comes in and fires away some kicks but can’t hit Bart with any of them. Bart misses a dropkick and it’s off to Bob again. We get some token arm work from the champ before both guys miss elbow drops, leading to a standoff. Billy comes in with a bulldog from behind for two as the champions take over. A double gorilla press on Holly looks to set up another double team move but Bob crotches Billy to escape.

The champions hit a double superplex for two as things pick up out of nowhere. We take a break and come back with Billy running into a knee to the ribs to put him back down. A kick to the face puts Billy down again and it’s back to the Kid. A spinwheel kick gets two on Billy as does a double dropkick from the champions. Back to Holly who loses a slugout before it’s back to the Kid.

In a teachable moment, the Kid hits what we would call the Fameasser on Billy. Apparently the teaching works as Billy hits a Fameasser of his own about thirty seconds later to take the Kid down. Hot tag brings in Bart who gets two off a backdrop of all things. The Gunns hit the Sidewinder (side slam from Bart/legdrop from Billy) for two as Holly makes the save. The Kid gets to play Ricky Morton which is the best possible role for him.

We take another break and come back with Kid in a chinlock. Back to Billy for a legdrop (he REALLY likes that move) for no cover. The Gunns hit a dropkick/suplex combo for two as Shawn is in full criticism mode. Holly finally does something and kicks Bart in the back to let the Kid make the tag. Bob hits that dropkick of his for two but goes up and jumps into a boot like an idiot. The Gunns hit an over the shoulder powerbomb/top rope elbow combination on Holly to take the titles from the Cinderella team.

Rating: B-. This was a LONG match for its day. They probably had about twenty minutes out there and got a pretty good match out of it. I fail to see the point in taking the Gunns out of the tournament if they were just going to get the belts here. Still though, this was a nice treat given how much time it got. Neither team was heel here but they both had evil flashes in there.

The former champions ask for a rematch which I believe happened next week.

Shawn promises to find a new bodyguard. That would wind up being Sid.

IRS vs. Buck Quartermain

IRS and the Million Dollar Corporation stole Undertaker’s urn last night, setting of an eight month or so long feud. You might remember Buck from the old school TNA days. Roddy Piper is on the phone for this for no apparent reason and praises the New Generation. The match is nothing of note and IRS wins with a flying clothesline in about two and a half minutes. The whole match was about Roddy.

Here’s the King’s Court (Lawler’s interview show) with Jeff Jarrett and the Roadie. Jarrett brags about winning the IC Title last night and wants a shot at Diesel. Vince FREAKS about Jarrett wanting a shot at the world title. Well to be fair, why would a midcard champion ever get near the world title? Right Vince?

British Bulldog vs. Black Phantom

The Phantom is portrayed by David Heath, more famous as Gangrel. Davey talks trash to Shawn before the match and gets jumped by the Phantom. A jumping DDT gets two on Smith but he comes back with the delayed vertical suplex for no cover. Vince goes into a bizarre rant about how Shawn didn’t deserve to win the Rumble because only one foot hit. What Shawn did was perfectly legal, so why doesn’t he deserve the win? Smith hooks a chinlock for a bit before Phantom makes a comeback and misses a middle rope splash. The powerslam gets the easy pin for Smith.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here but the commentary exchange was pretty fun stuff. Smith was a solid upper midcard guy around this time but would get stuck in a tag team with Luger soon after this that would bring him right back down. Nothing of note to the match here but that’s par for the course in squashes.

Bam Bam Bigelow is supposed to apologize but there’s no audio. Post break and Bigelow still can’t hear us. Oh wait yes we can. It’s almost like this company has no idea what it’s doing. Wait we DON’T have Bigelow. Egads man this is pathetic.

A quick preview of next week’s show ends the show.

Overall Rating: C+. For a 1995 Raw, this was pretty entertaining stuff. A twenty minute match that wasn’t half bad is an incredibly rare thing today so back then it would have been a once a year thing. Other than that we didn’t have much, but for a one hour show that’s pretty good stuff. 1995 just wasn’t interesting for the most part though, and that’s what this falls under the category of: decent but not interesting.

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