IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: June 27, 2005
Location: Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, California
Attendance: 15,449
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Jonathan Coachman

It’s the night after Vengeance and that means it’s time to reset things for the long road to Summerslam. Batista and John Cena retained their World Titles and we should be in for a new set of challengers. Other than that, it’s going to be a big Diva Search night because we’re just that lucky. Let’s get to it.

Here are Sunday’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Here’s Kurt Angle to get things going. Angle talks about the series with Shawn Michaels being tied and how much the fans here would love to see round three tonight. Well that isn’t going to happen because Angle wants to face Batista. Instead here’s Ric Flair to cut him off, saying that he is a mark (his word) for Angle. Kurt has gotten so great so fast that it’s unbelievable, but Angle saying he’s the man is a step too far.

Flair still sees HHH as the man, but Angle sees three losses to Batista and three strikes you’re out. Last night, Batista and HHH proved that they are great. Kurt: “You’re looking at great.” Flair goes into a crazed rant about how if Angle tries to shoot on him, he’ll poke an eye, bite a finger or grab a rather sensitive area and pull. Angle sets up a match for the two of them instead. A WOO off ensues with Flair leaving.

We get an exclusive clip from last night with Bischoff making Chris Jericho/Christian/Tyson Tomko vs. Cena/two mystery partners.

Edge and Snitsky come out for a tag match against Kane/one of the two Draft picks tonight but Kane attacks Edge before the partner comes out. They fight into the crowd so Bischoff says we’ll be having a singles match instead.

Big Show vs. Snitsky

Show stomps away in the corner to start and then sends him into the other corner for a bonus. A suplex sets up more corner stomping and the chokeslam finishes Snitsky in a hurry. Just a squash to remind you that Big Show is a monster.

Maria is interviewing John Cena but can’t remember her questions. She leaves to go think of them and Cena is a little flabbergasted. Cena talks about overcoming the odds last night and has one of his two partners for the night in the form of….Shawn Michaels. The other partner is on the way. Maria comes back in and remembers her question: did Cena find a partner? Shawn: “You’re doing spectacular.”

Edge and Lita try to leave but Kane is in the dressing room to choke Lita. A lot of threats are made with Kane promising that this is just the beginning. Shouldn’t Edge realize that Lita has taken a long time to pick up a bag?

Masterlock Challenge, $14,000, Tajiri jumps Masters but loses anyway, mist to Masters.

It’s time for Carlito’s Cabana. Carlito is making changes around here, including replacing the Highlight Reel as the new big show. However, he can’t do all good things because his guest tonight is the final Draft pick: Rob Van Dam, who is still injured. Carlito calls him a lemon but Van Dam yells about Carlito being beaten down in the ring by the ECW locker room.

Van Dam liked giving a piece of his mind back at One Night Stand so he’s going to keep doing it here. He is one of the most influential names in wrestling and Carlito needs to get ready for Raw to be taken to the extreme. His knee is getting better, so Carlito kicks him in the leg crushes it against a table. We get some apple spitting for a bonus.

Kurt Angle vs. Ric Flair

Angle headlocks him down to start but it’s an early standoff. Flair is back up with some strutting and WOOing before sending Angle over the top. That means a chop against the barricade, followed by some fish hooking of all things back inside. Angle takes him down so Flair goes for the eye to drive him back into the corner.

They head back outside with Angle going head first into the steps but coming right back with an overhead belly to belly. Back from a break with Angle working on the arm and knocking him back to the floor. Flair goes more carnal and bites the thumb a few times so Angle punches him in the face. An elbow to the face puts Angle down and Flair goes up because he’s not all that bright.

Angle knocks him to the floor and grabs the ankle lock back inside, only to have Flair grab his crotch. That’s enough for the break and a chop block puts Angle down. The Figure Four has Angle in trouble until the roll to the ropes gets him out of trouble. The leg is fine enough for a German suplex but Flair kicks him low again. Angle isn’t having any more of this and picks the ankle for the ankle lock with the grapevine being enough to make Flair tap.

Rating: B. This was rather entertaining with Flair doing everything he could to stop Angle and eventually sending Angle into his top level stuff to finish him off. Flair cheating like crazy to hang with him was impressive and the way he should be doing things at this point. Above all else though, it was nice to see Flair getting to show how great he is without having everything be about HHH for once.

Smackdown Rebound.

Here are Coach and Christy Hemme to introduce the Diva Search finalists. The eight women (Ashley, Leyla, Summer, Krystal, Elizabeth, Simona, Cameron, Alexis) and Christy talks about how awesome it is to be a Diva. Coach is ready to explain tonight’s competition but here’s Viscera to interrupt. He talks about how they all have work to do and gyrates his hips.

The challenge tonight: thirty seconds to tell us about yourselves in your underwear. It’s exactly what it sounds like, though Leyla isn’t wearing anything under her dress so she can’t really participate. Alexis on the other hand, carrying a purse, sounds rather angry and pours a beer over herself. The fans boo this whole thing rather soundly. Dancing with Viscera ensues but here’s Sgt. Slaughter to say that next week, on the 4^th of July, there is going to be a bikini boot camp, including an obstacle course. This went on FAR too long and is setting a lower bar than last year.

Batista talks about how the Cell took something from him that he may never get back. It was worth it though.

Christian, Jericho and Tomko aren’t sure who the partner could be. Marty Jannetty is in jail and Kevin Nash would tear a hamstring reaching for the phone, but they are close to Hollywood and….nah.

Christian/Tyson Tomko/Chris Jericho vs. John Cena/Shawn Michaels/Hulk Hogan

Yeah that works. Shawn handles Hogan’s entrance and Cena drops to his knees in shock. I’d say Hogan has earned that level of respect. Joined in progress with Jericho charging into a boot in the corner and getting his head knocked off with a clothesline. It’s off to Shawn for the chops and the forearm into the nip up. A cheap shot from the apron slows him down though and we’re into the full on house show formula with the villains taking over, including the rotating stomps.

Jericho grabs the chinlock before kneeing Shawn in the ribs as the fans want Hogan. The Lionsault misses though and there’s your hot tag so Hogan can clean house. Jericho’s shot from behind puts Hogan down so Cena takes Jericho to the floor. It’s Hulk Up time with Shawn superkicking Christian, leaving Tomko to take the most famous two move sequence of all time (or second only to the kick to the gut/Stunner) for the pin.

Rating: D+. That is what Hogan is made for at this point in his career: get a big reaction for his entrance, stand on the apron and play cheerleader, get the hot tag and do his signature stuff. Cena’s reaction when Hogan was revealed was great and they had a perfectly watchable house show style main event. Now that might be out of place on Raw, but it’s Hogan and he can get away with anything for me.

A lot of posing closes the show.

Overall Rating: D. What was that? This was a one match and one surprise show with nothing else going on. There was barely any fallout from Vengeance and nothing remotely mentioned for Summerslam (fair enough), with the two Draft picks being as midcard as you can get. Then there’s the Diva Search, which was as lame as you can get. Terrible waste of time here, though Flair vs. Angle is good and I can always go for a Hogan cameo.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

IMG Credit: AEW

Dark
Date: November 26, 2019
Location: Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Indianapolis, Indiana
Commentators: Shawn Spears, Excalibur
Host: Tony Schiavone

It’s a big week this time around with the AAA Mega Champion Kenny Omega defending against Jack Evans. Jack was a big deal down in AAA so it makes sense to give him a shot here. You never can tell what you might get around here and in this case, that is a better case than most. Let’s get to it.

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

Tony, without Dasha this week, welcomes us to the show and runs down the card.

Trent vs. Pentagon Jr.

Orange Cassidy is here with Trent. Pentagon starts with some CERO MIEDOS but gets chopped for his efforts. You don’t chop with Pentagon so he slugs away, only to get caught in a bridging northern lights suplex for two. They head to the apron with Trent knocking him down and hitting a sliding knee to the floor. The slingshot dive misses though and Pentagon hits a quick superkick to set up some more chops.

Back in and they slug it out until Trent clotheslines the heck out of him. The big flip dive takes Pentagon down and it’s a running knee for two back inside. Pentagon is right back with the Sling Blade but can’t get the Fear Factor. Trent is right back with a tornado DDT but he gets knocked off the top, setting up the double stomp for two.

A Backstabber into a springboard Canadian Destroyer (egads) gives Pentagon two more, only to have Trent blast him with a running knee. Pentagon is right back on the apron and hits the Package Piledriver to knock Trent silly. Back in and Pentagon snaps the arm but the Fear Factor is countered into the belly to back kneeling piledriver for the clean pin at 12:00.

Rating: C+. The ending rather surprised me as I wouldn’t have bet on Trent getting a fall over someone like Pentagon Jr. If nothing else, Trent hasn’t won much in AEW so far and it was quite out of nowhere to see him beat a former World Champion. What we got here was fine and rather action packed, but Trent winning was a real shock. We’ll figure out if that is good or bad later.

Video on Shanna, a Portuguese wrestler by way of Portugal. She has always wanted to wrestle and tried to get here, including several tryouts from WWE. Impact told her that she was too fat for television and she was considering leaving the business. Then AEW came around and here she is to this day. She is fighting for everything she has.

Big Swole liked Shanna’s story but everyone has own. Tonight, she is going to show everyone what a Swole attitude is all about.

Big Swole vs. Shanna

Feeling out process to start with neither being able to get anywhere off an attempt at arm control. Swole grabs the wristlock and takes her down for a second but Shanna is right back up. Some armdrags take Swole down and it’s time to start each other down again. Shanna hits a running flip neckbreaker but Swole is right back with a big boot for two. Swole chokes away in the corner and we’re off to the neck crank.

A running clothesline gives Swole two more but Shanna fights out of a choke on the ropes. They slug it out from their knees until Shanna gets the better of it off a running charge to tie her up. Swole’s tornado DDT is countered as she gets tied up in the ropes, meaning it’s a top rope double stomp to the back for a change. A Deep Six gives Swole two more but Shanna is right back with the dragon suplex for the fast pin at 11:12.

Rating: C-. Swole continues to not do anything for me and it is getting to be a problem. She is here every week and it isn’t like they have anything worse to use in her place. Shanna is someone who could be turned into something that matters sooner rather than later and that vignette helped her a good bit. Not a great match but it was fine enough.

We look at SCU tricking Chris Jericho into giving Scorpio Sky a World Title match.

We see the end of last week’s battle royal.

We get a By The Numbers video, including:

88 days since Kenny Omega lost at All Out

0 losses for Chris Jericho until he was pinned in the six man

8 stitches Cody needed after his most recent match

Come to our shows!

Leva Bates vs. Awesome Kong

Before the match, Peter Avalon insults the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but Kong’s entrance cuts him off. Brandi is out with Kong and Bates tries to show the monster some reading after the bell. The Implant Buster finishes Bates at 1:05.

Post match Kong cuts some more hair due to reasons.

AAA Mega Title: Kenny Omega vs. Jack Evans

Omega is defending. Evans plays to the crowd a bit before get get to some quality circling. Omega can’t get far off an armdrag so instead he does the Omega BANG pop. That gets him a right hand to the face and get some some of the fast paced flips. Evans shrugs off the running Fameasser by blocking most of it before dropkicking a springboarding Omega out of the air.

A hard whip into the corner has Omega in control again, setting up a backbreaker for two. Omega goes for a Gory Stretch to stay on the ribs, with Evans being bent hard over the shoulder. With that broken up, Omega hits a heck of a right hand, only to have his powerbomb reversed into a faceplant.

Omega shrugs that off and hits an over the shoulder kneeling backbreaker for two. Evans manages to kick him to the floor though and that means the big springboard moonsault. A slingshot 450 gets two back inside and a standing corkscrew moonsault is good for the same near fall.

Omega kicks him straight into the corner though and there’s the snap dragon suplex to put Evans down. A second sends him to the apron and it’s a running knee to send Evans to the floor. Back in and the V Trigger is cut off with a dropkick but Omega cuts off a charge. Omega gets two off a Tiger Driver 98 and it’s the One Winged Angel to retain Omega’s title at 15:49.

Rating: C+. Omega never felt close to being in trouble here but I think that was the point. It is going to take someone special to take the title from him and Evans isn’t that kind of a wrestler. The stuff with Omega wearing down the back worked fine and they did well enough, though it could have been trimmed down a bit.

Quick wrap up from Tony.

Overall Rating: C+. The show still needs to be a bit shorter (an hour and fifteen minutes for three regular matches and a squash is FAR too long) but it was nice to have something that felt big for a change. Even if Omega wasn’t in any danger of losing and Trent winning is kind of shocking, you could have done them in shorter matches. Shanna got a nice rub out of this week though and Omega gets back on the winning track. Just don’t have it go so long.

Results

Trent b. Pentagon Jr. – Belly to back kneeling piledriver

Shanna b. Big Swole – Dragon suplex

Awesome Kong b. Leva Bates – Implant Buster

Kenny Omega b. Jack Evans – One Winged Angel

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

IMG Credit: National Wrestling Alliance

Powerrr
Date: November 26, 2019
Location: GPB Studios, Atlanta, Georgia
Host: Joe Galli

So it’s time to get back to the thing of things after the big Jim Cornette issue last week. It’s going to be interesting to see where things going as a result, as I wouldn’t expect Cornette can be edited out of the whole things. They also have three shows left before Into The Fire and it would be nice to get something set up for the show. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with another recap of KAMILLE CAN’T TALK. Why is this supposed to be some interesting story? It has been the biggest thing on the show since it debuted and has gotten more time than anything else.

Opening sequence, now without the closeup of Cornette in the back.

Joe Galli is in the back on his own and welcomes us to a very special show. Tonight we will find out who Nick Aldis will be defending against at Into The Fire. No matter who it is, the match will be a 2/3 falls match.

We go to Championship Wrestling From Hollywood for an interview with Eli Drake. A lot of people have called him like Steve Austin or Ric Flair but it’s Nick Aldis who wants to be like him. Yes Eli Drake left the NWA and now Aldis is trying to be just like him. Aldis doesn’t see any opponents but look at this guy right in front of you, dummy, YEAH!

Then there is Ken Anderson comparing himself to Drake and wouldn’t that be a dream match. Drake takes his shirt off and says he sees championship material in himself. They’ve been to the same places before and they’ve been fired from the same places before but neither can stop him from being E-Li-Drake. Posing ensues and Drake looks like a king around here.

We look at the Rock N Roll Express getting in a brawl with the Wild Cards. Their title shot comes next week.

Here are the Rock N Roll Express’ and the Wild Cards’ promos from last week.

Video on Thunder Rosa getting ready for her first mixed martial arts fight. It’s so strange to have her go from the creepy character to a real person doing real life stuff. Rosa, in her skull paint, and talks about how important her fight is and how nervous she is. Then we see her getting her hair done as she talks about working with kids.

Highspots.com ad.

We look at Colt Cabana winning the National Title. Cabana will defend against whoever comes out of something involving Aron Stevens and the Question Mark.

Aron Stevens and Question Mark are ready for Mark vs. Zane Dawson in an empty arena match. If Dawson wins, Mark has to unmask but if Mark wins, the Dawsons have to recite Shakespeare.

Zane Dawson vs. Question Mark

Mark strikes away to start but gets punched in the mask. Some choking on the ropes ensues but it’s a missile dropkick into the Mongrobian Spike to finish Dawson at 1:14.

Post match the Dawsons recite Shakespeare and Stevens is sick.

Trevor Murdoch vs. Question Mark is set for Into The Fire.

We look back at Melina’s debut.

We get a sitdown interview with Melina, who has loved wrestling her entire life because it involves people overcoming their goals and achieving their dreams, which is what she has done in her own career. Melina takes credit for flexibility and focusing on her entrance and finds it interesting that people copied her after mocking everything she did. Yes she takes care of her appearance, but that’s because she looks like a champion. The NWA Women’s Title deserves more than Allysin Kay.

There is going to be another series called Circle Squared where wrestlers can compete for a contract.

More of Thunder Rosa’s pre-fight training. She warmed up in the cage and then lost via decision.

Ashley Vox/Allysin Kay will face some combination of Melina/Thunder Rosa/Marti Belle at Into The Fire.

Eli Drake vs. Ken Anderson is set for Into The Fire.

Nick Aldis is defending the World Title against James Storm in a 2/3 falls match.

Overall Rating: C+. That might be one of the strangest situations I can remember. First of all, I don’t think this had anything to do with Cornette. They only taped eight shows and seven have already aired without much time left before the pay per view. How much can they squeeze out of something like that? It also was the kind of show that they needed to run with matches being announced for Into The Fire and stories going somewhere. This was a necessary move and they got it done as needed. I can get that people might not care for this one, but it was exactly what they needed to do.

Results

Question Mark b. Zane Dawson – Mongrobian Spike

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

It was the last night and that might be for the best.

There were several areas tarped off tonight, including most of the upper deck on the hard camera side and most of the top of the end zone seats. There were certainly a lot of people there, but it was closer to Smackdown that Survivor Series for empty/covered seats.

No Way Jose and Eric Young had a rather nice match on Main Event which got the fans interested. Well done for bringing that one to life, which is as difficult as it gets.

The Rollins heel turn had to happen as there was nothing he could do to get people to cheer him. It’s WWE listening to the audience for once and going with what makes sense, which is quite the relief all things considered.

Rusev got a nice reaction because he was finally fighting back.

The AOP….not so much, but it was a fine squash.

I was rather surprised at Matt Hardy showing up. It was nice to see him again and he can put people over rather well. Aleister Black is a great example of “how did they manage to mess him up so far?”

I was almost dreading the Humberto Carrillo match as the guy is talented but a barren wasteland of charisma. The four way was fine and it was a very nice surprise to have the title match take place immediately thereafter. Mysterio got a huge reaction on the win and the fans were way into the match, giving it the reaction of the night.

Charlotte vs. Asuka was good, and the chase through the crowd got people’s attention again.

The AOP ending was hated by the live crowd, though fans chanting WHAT’S THE POINT made my head hurt. Are these people just new at wrestling or something?

After the show ended, Drew McIntyre came out and Claymored Owens in the aisle. He challenged the Fiend in a cage and….yeah I think you know what happened.

Overall, a fun night and a better Raw than I have seen in a bit, save for the NXT Invasion show. It was the end to a rather entertaining weekend in Chicago and I would absolutely do this again, especially given the layout and how close I was to the arena every night. It’s certainly better than driving around New Orleans and getting lost in all those turns.

I’m flying back home early tomorrow so I should be back to my normal schedule tomorrow night. I’ve started Takeover so with some luck, that should be up Tuesday. I’ll catch up on Survivor Series and Raw by the end of the week.

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: November 22, 2019
Location: Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the go home show for both Survivor Series and Takeover: WarGames. Normally the second show wouldn’t matter around here but the NXT roster is going to be around to make things a little more interesting. That could play out in several ways and I’m curious to see how it goes. Let’s get to it.

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

I was in the arena live for this show, sitting in the upper deck and looking straight at the Titantron. That being said, I couldn’t see a lot of the screen due to lighting equipment so there are parts of this that I didn’t see/hear live.

The Smackdown locker room is in the back in front of what looks like the door to the loading dock. King Corbin, Roman Reigns and others get up and say they know NXT and Monday Night Raw are here tonight. They literally open the door for them and say come on in. Sasha Banks gets up as well and, in that completely natural manner of speaking in WWE, says the women’s division is ready so let’s just do this right now.

Opening sequence.

Here are the Smackdown women to get things going, meaning we have to get the Snoop Dogg version of Sasha’s theme again. I get why they’re going with it but the other one is just much better to get a crowd going. Sasha says this is their ring and no one is going to jump them from behind. They jumped NXT last week so Team Raw can get out here for a fight right now.

Cue Team Raw so a single referee comes out to try and keep the peace. Charlotte thanks them for opening the door but Raw would have kicked it down anyway. If Sasha is interested, they can fight one on one for old times’ sake. Cue Team NXT through the crowd, with the lineup being revealed as Captain Rhea Ripley, Mia Yim, Tegan Nox, Candice LeRae and Toni Storm, who has barely ever been in regular NXT.

Rhea wants to make it captain vs. captain vs. captain so NXT gets in the ring as well. As you might have guessed, the big brawl is on and we take a fast break. Back with things having settled down (after the brawl went all the way through the break and started again after being stopped once) and the bell ringing.

Charlotte vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Sasha Banks

Sasha slugs away at both giants but walks into a double big boot for her efforts. That means it’s time to talk some trash until Rhea rolls out of a waistlock. A superkick rocks Charlotte but she’s right back with a big boot of her own. The shoulders in the corner keep Ripley in trouble but the last one misses, allowing Banks to come in and hammer away at Ripley. That doesn’t last long either as she sends Banks outside, only to have Charlotte get back up and start the fight on the floor. With everyone else getting involved, Charlotte busts out the huge moonsault and takes out Banks and Ripley as we take a break.

Back with Charlotte on the floor and Ripley dropping Banks face first onto the top turnbuckle. Banks is right back with the Meteora but Charlotte runs in with Natural Selection to Banks for her own near fall. Natural Selection hits Ripley as well, sending her straight to the ropes before the cover. That leaves Banks to get caught in the Figure Eight but Ripley comes in and crucifixes the bridging Charlotte for the pin at 9:41.

Rating: C+. The commercial took something out of this as the chaotic nature was great and made it feel like these women wanted to destroy each other. I really liked the ending too with Ripley showing intelligence and catching Charlotte when she wasn’t paying attention. All three were fighting hard here and it was a very entertaining performance from everyone involved, including the people on the floor.

Post match Charlotte and Banks keep up the fight with everyone else getting involved as NXT watches from the stage.

King Corbin tells Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler that they are going to bail when NXT interrupts their six man tag tonight while Roman Reigns, Ali and Shorty G. get beaten up. Then the three of them can beat up Roman and company again! Sami Zayn comes in and seems to want to fight, while holding a bag. If they’re interested, come see him in the ring RIGHT NOW.

Bayley isn’t worried about Sunday and invites Shayna Baszler to come after her face to face tonight.

Here are Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura for a chat. Sami knows that Corbin isn’t coming out here because Corbin is scared of him. People have called Sami annoying, but he would go with something more like….stud. The only person studlier than him is Nakamura, which is why Sami has gotten him a present. That would be a new Intercontinental Title, which is rounder with a black strap and a round center plate. It’s going to take some time for me to get used to that but it’s not bad.

Sami takes the old title, saying this is the only way to get it off of Nakamura. They’re ready for Sunday against AJ Styles and….whoever the North whatever champion is from NXT. Nakamura: “I’m drawing a blank.” Cue the Undisputed Era with Sami instantly getting behind Nakamura, as you would expect him to do.

The two of them leave with Adam Cole introducing the team and promising to win on Saturday and Sunday. That is undisputed, but here is New Day to dispute something. Kofi accuses the Undisputed Era of running off last week without a proper goodbye. They’re all here right now, so how about an eight man tag with these guys joining in?

Undisputed Era vs. New Day/Heavy Machinery

Strong takes Big E. into the corner to start but that doesn’t last long due to some straight power. Suplexes abound to send Fish and Strong down, with the former winding up on the apron for Big E.’s splash. A suplex drops O’Reilly on the floor and it’s Kofi slugging it out with Cole inside. Strong sneaks in on off a blind tag for a half nelson backbreaker though and it’s Kofi in trouble with Fish getting two off a double suplex.

Something like a Gory Stretch has Kofi in more trouble but he slips out and grabs a rollup for two. That’s not enough for a tag though as Strong is right back with a front facelock to keep Kofi down. Kofi fights out and goes up but Strong dropkicks him to the floor, where he lands on Tucker. Otis goes over to check on things but Big E. isn’t happy with that, with a near brawl taking us to a break.

Back with Kofi hitting a dropkick on Fish and diving over for the hot tag to Otis. House is cleaned (Graves: “Like the Kool-Aid Man with a bad attitude.”) and O’Reilly’s kicks are shrugged off by the power of….jiggling? Some corner splashes look to set up the Caterpillar but a save is made.

Tucker and Strong come in with a splash crushing Strong in the corner. A side slam gets two and Tucker’s moonsault is good for the same as everything breaks down. Big E. throws Fish to the floor (Cole: “Now it’s New Day’s turn to have some fun!”) but the Era cuts Kofi off. Fun haters. The very spinning slam plants O’Reilly and there’s the Caterpillar but Strong is back in with the jumping knee to finish Tucker at 15:04.

Rating: C+. Nice one here as it was more of a fun match than anything else. Putting two teams together to face the Four Horsemen style team worked very well and the Era gets to show that they can hang with and defeat main roster talent. I don’t think anyone seriously questioned that, but it’s nice to see it take place.

Post match Strong and Nakamura have a staredown on the stage. Cue AJ Styles to jump both of them but Sami makes the save before the Era gets up to the stage as well.

Survivor Series rundown.

Post break Styles and the Good Brothers are still yelling about how much they don’t like Chicago. Styles says he could clean house with anyone from this city. Cue the CM Punk chants, with AJ saying he would do it to him too. He’ll win at Survivor Series.

Here’s Daniel Bryan to summon (Summon?) Bray Wyatt. Bryan shows us a clip from last week with Bryan challenging Bray for Survivor Series and getting a big (and kind of maniacal) YES from Bray. Back in the arena, Bryan says he isn’t here to say YES or play with puppets because he wants Bray out here right now.

They can talk about the past or just fight right now….and there go the lights. They come back up with no one in the ring but here’s Miz instead. Daniel: “If there is one thing worse than Bray coming out here, it you.” Miz rants about how Bryan is being insane and how he has always tried to slap some sense into him. Instead he just slaps Bryan and I think you know where this is going.

The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan

Joined in progress with Miz hitting some YES Kicks but getting thrown outside for the running knee from the apron. Back in and Miz kicks him in the face for a pair of twos and the headlock goes on. Bryan starts with the strikes but gets caught with the corner clothesline. Bryan’s own running clothesline slows Miz down and he headbutts Miz off the top. The missile dropkick into the nip up sets up the real YES Kicks (Graves: “Night night Miz.”) and it’s time for the corner dropkick but we’ve got a Fiend as the match is thrown out at we’ll say 5:40.

Rating: C-. These two are always worth a look but there is only so much that you can get out of a match that only had about five minutes before Wyatt interfered. That being said, was there any reason to not have Bryan get the win here before the Fiend showed up? Bryan isn’t exactly on a roll here so let him get a quick pin and then do the Fiend stuff. It’s not like Miz has anything going on at the moment.

Here’s Shayna Baszler for a chat. She wastes no time in calling out Bayley so the jacket comes off, but it’s Bayley running in from behind with a chop block. The fight is on and they head to the floor with Baszler getting in the Kirifuda Clutch. Bayley drives her into various things to escape….and that’s it. No Becky appearance and no extra fighting. That’s quite the odd ending.

Quick look at last week’s tag match which set up this week’s six man.

Roman Reigns/Ali/Shorty G. vs. King Corbin vs. Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler

Ali gets the huge hometown welcome, Corbin is brought out on the throne, and THANK GOODNESS Gable has lost the basketball jersey. It’s a small improvement but I’ll take everything I can get here. Reigns slugs away at Roode to start and the fight is outside in a hurry. Ziggler and Corbin get in a few cheap shots to take over on Reigns, who fights back inside without too much effort.

Gable comes in for some kicks and throws but Roode and Corbin slam him off the apron and onto the announcers’ table. We take a break and come back with Ziggler DDTing Reigns for two but walking into a Superman punch. The hot tag brings in Ali to throw some right hands and the rolling X Factor plants Corbin. The dive sends Ziggler into the announcers’ table and there’s the springboard tornado DDT to drop Corbin again. Roode’s spinebuster on the floor plants Gable but Reigns is right back with the Superman punch off the steps. Back in and it’s the Deep Six to finish Ali at 8:53.

Rating: C. This wasn’t a long match in the first place and a lot of it took place during the break. What we got was good enough though, even if they need to let the fans have something to cheer for without putting the heat on Corbin every single week. It’s good to do that a lot of the time, but it’s ok to not snatch everything away from the fans.

Post match Corbin grabs his scepter and goes after Ali but Reigns makes the save. Cue Raw through the crowd with Rollins getting in the ring for the big staredown. The fight is on, with the CM Punk chants being drowned out in a hurry. Braun Strowman leads the Smackdown charge to start the huge brawl…..and it’s Road Dogg/Shawn Michaels/HHH driving a tank into the back with NXT coming inside to make it an even bigger fight.

This is one of the wildest brawls I’ve ever seen and it’s Keith Lee staring Strowman down inside as the show ends with the fighting continuing. This ended WAY earlier than it should have, as Ali hit a huge super Spanish Fly onto the pile to knock everyone down, which at least gave Ali something back after getting pinned, which was completely necessary.

After the show was over, everyone headed to the back and D-Generation X offered to put Corbin on the team. HHH said “for the millions watching at home….even though we’re off the air because this will be on like in about five minutes” and a huge beatdown of Corbin ended the night as DX celebrated.

Overall Rating: B-. This is a case where you need to look at the bigger picture rather than the individual things. The point of this show was making me want to see Survivor Series and that worked out quite well. The wrestling was forgettable at best most of the time but every major story was addressed and the huge brawl at the end was excellent. I want to see where things go on Sunday and that is entirely the point of something like this. Get better wrestling and this is great, but as it is we’ll call it job done well enough.

Results

Rhea Ripley b. Charlotte and Sasha Banks – Crucifix to Charlotte

Undisputed Era b. Heavy Machinery/New Day – Jumping knee to Tucker

Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz went to a no contest when the Fiend interfered

King Corbin/Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler b. Roman Reigns/Shorty G./Ali – Deep Six to Ali

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

It only took me 31 years.

Freshly back from the show (I could really get used to this concept of walking from the arena to the hotel and needing 25 minutes from the time I get out of my seat to the time I’m back and sitting down at the hotel) and it was certainly a different one. There were no major sections tarped off though there were some small pockets of empty seats. It was definitely 95%+ full though and one of the biggest non-Wrestlemania crowds I’ve seen in years.

I won’t go through everything match by match as I’ll save that for the review, but a few highlights:

NXT was over like free beer in a frat house all night long with no one getting anything less than a strong reception.

The women’s Survivor Series match felt a little disjointed at times but Rhea was a STAR, as she has been since she debuted. Fans were a little confused by Shirai and LeRae going out and some were expecting Asuka to come back for a surprise. Either way, Rhea won and it changed the complexion a bit, with NXT now looking like they had a chance.

Cole retaining…..I’m going to need to think about that one for a long time. Cole beating Dunne on normal circumstances is one thing but it’s going to take some mental gymnastics to get my head around a banged up and spent Cole beating Dunne clean. I’m not saying I can’t get there, but it’s going to take some time.

Bryan vs. Bray should have been short like it was and it was booked as well as could have been expected. This worked very well with Bryan fighting as hard as he could and even bringing back the YES chant, but not being enough to overcome that kind of evil. I’m not sure who beats Bray but it’s going to be fun watching people try.

I’ve loved the Survivor Series for years and have always wanted to see one of the matches live. That’s what I got in the men’s match, which felt like an old school Survivor Series match. Corbin stealing pins was a great idea, especially with the one on Ricochet as the fans wanted to kill him. Lee looked incredible out there and got over huge, meaning he should be getting close to the main event scene soon. Heck of a match and exactly what I wanted, but SCREW OFF with getting rid of Walter that fast. If that’s what you bring him in for, what was even the point?

The place came unglued when Rey and Dominick hit the double 619, but you knew it wasn’t happening right after that kickout. Still though, great emotional moment and all it needed to be.

Then there was the main event and…..dang it wrestling fans can be annoying. There were chants of THIS IS AWFUL, CM PUNK, BORING and various similar things. I would bet money that these are the same fans who have been begging WWE to do something new and call Shayna up. She gets a chance in the main event and what does she get? Treated like she’s some lame wrestler on Raw in a bad match.

The match wasn’t great, but good grief people. What else was supposed to close the show? Bray and Brock crushing dreams? Reigns standing tall again, this time over NXT? You had almost everything you wanted and then this is how you treat the main event? WHERE NXT STOOD TALL AGAIN??? They’ll never be happy, and thankfully a lot of fans booed the chants down.

Overall, a rather good night and the match I wanted to see. Reviews for Smackdown/Takeover will hopefully be up Monday with Survivor Series and Raw hopefully the next day or two.

Thank you again for letting me be able to do all this and your patience with the lack of reviews (the WiFi here is pretty horrible).

KB

IMG Credit: WWE

It’s taken us a long time to get here after a great start to the NXT Invasion and then things slowing down a lot due to the UK trip. Things have picked back up though and I’m excited to see the show. As usual, it’s all about Brand Supremacy, though there are several Survivor Series matches thrown in for a bonus. I’m going to be in the arena for the show so it’s an even bigger night than usual. Let’s get to it.

Viking Raiders (Raw) vs. New Day (SmackDown) vs. Undisputed Era (NXT)

It’s the first battle of the three Tag Team Champions here and we’ll start off with an interesting one. You have three pretty distinct styles here with a bunch of talented people, so if everything can mesh together well, we could be in for a heck of a match. This is the kind of match that should be all action and that is the kind of thing that these people could excel at, so I’m rather pleased with the idea.

I’ll go with the Undisputed Era winning here, as there is a chance that NXT is only going to win one match. This would seem to be a good place for them to pick up a win, as New Day can take a fall without blinking an eye. The Raiders should not be involved in the fall (save for AOP running in to take them out), as this isn’t some nothing show like Crown Jewel where most of the results don’t matter. Undisputed Era wins, just to get them on the board.

WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Rey Mysterio

This is a match that very well could headline the show but that could be the case with several matches so we’ll put it here. The match is No Holds Barred to give Mysterio a fighting chance and I can more than go with that. They have done a nice job of making Mysterio look like a threat and his anger at Lesnar over Dominick should be good for a few hope spots.

That being said, Lesnar retains here as I just can’t picture Mysterio, as great as he is, going over Lesnar. There would be a great feel good moment there, but WWE is saving Lesnar’s loss for the big WrestleMania moment (because that’s just what Lesnar does). Mysterio goes down on his sword here and it’s a heck of a try, but just not enough.

NXT Title: Adam Cole (c) vs. Pete Dunne

This was added last night at Takeover: WarGames when Dunne won a triple threat over Killian Dain and Damian Priest. Dunne is one of those guys who is going to get a huge reaction no matter what he does so it makes a lot of sense to put him in there. That being said, Cole is going to get the hardcore fan reaction of the night so the crowd could certainly be interesting here.

I’ll take Dunne to win the title though, as there is not much of a way to validate Cole retaining after a ladder match and WarGames in the previous five days. Dunne is too successful and too dominant of an opponent to lose to someone that banged up and outside of the Undisputed Era (or someone else) costing Dunne the title, I really can’t picture a way for Dunne to not leave as champion.

AJ Styles (Monday Night Raw) vs. Roderick Strong (NXT) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown)

Midcard title showcase here and a match that should be awesome but doesn’t really have a ton of build. Styles has ranted about NXT and various other people more than his opponents here, which gives me a bit of a lack of interest in the match itself. That being said, if Nakamura is trying in the slightest (which is no guarantee), we should be in for a rather entertaining match.

I’m going with Nakamura here, as the wins need to be balanced over the rosters and NXT isn’t going to be winning two matches. SmackDown can pick up a win here and get on the board without really damaging anything. Strong is already banged up after last night so a loss here isn’t going to hurt him all that much. Styles is a possibility as well, but I think the Monday Night Raw wins come elsewhere.

Universal Title: Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Daniel Bryan

How nice is it to not have that say Wyatt vs. Seth Rollins? Anyway this was set up a few weeks ago when Wyatt attacked Bryan out of nowhere, leaving Bryan to consider restarting the YES Movement to fight the Fiend. That hasn’t happened yet though, and Wyatt took Bryan out again on this week’s SmackDown. That doesn’t bode well for Bryan here, and I think you know where this is going.

Much like in the other World Title match, this is going to be Bryan fighting as hard as he can and coming close but ultimately losing to the champ. Wyatt seems like he could be holding the title for a very, very long time to come and Bryan is the first victim. Bryan has often brought out the best in Wyatt so we should be in for a good match, but it ends with the Mandible Claw and Bryan coming up short.

Monday Night Raw Men vs. SmackDown Men vs. NXT Men

This is one where I barely know what to say because we don’t know the five men from NXT. It really could be any combination of the team and that makes for an interesting match. If nothing else, I’m not sure if Kevin Owens is still on the Monday Night Raw side as he returned to NXT last night. They usually shuffle these things up a lot though and that could be the case again here.

I’ll take the Monday Night Raw men to win here, as the lineup is stacked enough that I can’t really imagine them losing. Of course that seems to be the case almost every year in these things and the great lineup has a tendency to lose a lot. It’s hard to say who we’ll be getting from NXT, but I’ll say Owens, Finn Balor, Matt Riddle, Dominick Dijakovic and Keith Lee, with Rusev taking Owen’s place on Monday Night Raw.

Becky Lynch (Monday Night Raw) vs. Bayley (SmackDown) vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT)

Here’s where the numbers get interesting as you could go with any of the three under normal circumstances. Baszler has come out of this thing looking like the biggest star NXT’s women have had since Asuka and there is a slight chance that she could even break Asuka’s record because she has been that great. That being said, I have to go with the winner who is going to set up the desired ending, and that makes things a little different than they would usually go.

That’s why I’m going with Bayley here to give SmackDown a lead, despite being the least impressive of the three (which isn’t meant to be a knock on Bayley but she is up against some stacked competition). Bayley winning is hardly the biggest shock as she is getting a hard push, but having her go over both of these two would be a stretch. That’s why it’s what we’ll be seeing here, because a lot of logic goes out the window on these shows.

Monday Night Raw Women vs. SmackDown Women vs. NXT Women

This is your big deciding match of the show as you have to have someone win the whole thing (assuming WWE doesn’t do something stupid like saying that both Monday Night Raw and SmackDown are better than NXT). You might not be able to follow logic here and that could shake things up a lot. At the end of the day, it depends on who you think is going to win the whole thing, meaning the logic and common sense for something like this goes flying out the window. Someone has to win though and unfortunately I think I know where that is going.

I’ll take the SmackDown women here to give them the win for the night, even though their lineup is arguably the weakest of the three. NXT’s women are mostly decimated after last night’s WarGames so you should be able to write them off. That leaves Monday Night Raw with Charlotte around, but for the sake of one show actually winning the night, I’ll go with SmackDown here in the upset of the show, giving us a final score of SmackDown 3, Monday Night Raw 2 and NXT 1.

Overall Thoughts

The build for this has been hot and cold, but the hot parts have been outstanding and have made me want to see what happens here. NXT has looked like stars in the whole thing and hopefully don’t get treated as cannon fodder on the big stage. Couple that with anyone other that Monday Night Raw winning (three years in a row coming into the show) and we could be in for a heck of a night. Now let’s see how WWE screws this up again.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

The view from the upper deck.

I was sitting in the upper deck looking straight at the entrance. This is a bit annoying as I could barely see the far ring and the equipment was blocking the screen. That’s likely going to make the TV version a heck of a lot easier to watch.

The arena was mostly full with only a few tarped off rows rather than sections on the hard camera side. It was a very hot crowd, as you would expect.

I liked most of the women’s match (the heel turn was great and you could hear the THUD when Kai sent her into the cage around the arena) but it’s going to take a lot for me to buy Ripley and LeRae beating four women, including two champions, on their own.

The triple threat match was great and some of the false finishes were very good. This wasn’t supposed to be reinventing the wheel as you had two big guys who could move and a fighter in Dunne going at it for a prize. They did their thing and it was awesome.

I wasn’t feeling Balor vs. Riddle as much, but Riddle was CRAZY over, as was Balor. They have their work cut out for them getting Balor booed and Gargano is going to be in trouble when he gets back as far as keeping the crowd on his side.

The men’s WarGames was better and MY GOODNESS I haven’t felt so nervous on a spot since I saw Shane dive off the Cell live. That spot at the end was insane and one of the scariest things I can remember in wrestling. Owens being the big surprise was great as you knew he was going to get the superstar pop in NXT. Very good and violent match, which again is going to look better with the televised version.

Overall it was another great WarGames, but not on the top level. This one was really hurt by everything else going on and now we have about three months before….Portland? On a Sunday? I mean…..sure why not.

IMG Credit: WWE

Vengeance 2005
Date: June 26, 2005
Location: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance: 9,850
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Jonathan Coachman

I’m actually looking forward to this one as the card is stacked. We have HHH vs. Batista inside the Cell, John Cena facing Christian and Chris Jericho in a triple threat in his first defense as Raw World Champion and Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels II. The rest of the show might not be great but those three matches should be more than enough. Let’s get to it.

The opening video focuses on the two World Title matches with the Cell getting more attention. Normally I would mock HHH for getting the attention but it’s the right call here.

Intercontinental Title: Shelton Benjamin vs. Carlito

Carlito is defending in a rematch from Monday when he won the title in the first place. Shelton takes him down in a hurry and the near fall has Carlito panicking. Lawler is right there with some actual analysis, saying that Shelton going for the pin so fast suggests he’s worried about Carlito escaping with the title. A shoulder gives Benjamin two and a knee to the ribs is good for the same.

Carlito gets in his own knockdown so Shelton nips up and knocks him outside without much trouble. The announcers are on it tonight, talking about how Shelton is looking a little shaky after the big fall on Monday. It isn’t that hard to tie stories together but it’s almost a rarity in WWE. Shelton won’t let Carlito walk away and gets two off a snap suplex. The attempted Stinger Splash misses so Shelton lands on top (egads man) and hits a top rope clothesline for two instead.

Carlito kicks him in the head to take over and some slams work on the back, which commentary had said was banged up from the crash. WHERE HAS THIS COMMENTARY BEEN ALL THESE YEARS??? Some stomping gets two but Shelton is right back up with a jumping elbow to the face.

A Samoan drop gives Shelton a delayed two and a backbreaker gets the same. The springboard bulldog gets another near fall so Shelton hammers in the corner, allowing Carlito to get a buckle pad off. The dragon whip hits Carlito’s shoulder but the Stinger Splash goes head first into the buckle to give Carlito the pin (with a handful of trunks) for the retaining pin.

Rating: C+. That’s one of the more enjoyable Carlito matches I can remember seeing as it included a nice story with the injured Shelton and Carlito going after the bad head. Shelton gets cheated out of the win (twice when you count the trunks) so now he can move up the ladder, but that might be weird in the current Raw environment.

Evolution arrives, with HHH in a gray suit and red shirt. That isn’t the best look for him but if anyone complains, he might talk to them and that’s the last thing we need.

We recap Victoria vs. Christy Hemme. Victoria wasn’t happy with Christy getting the star treatment and beat her up, including breaking a glass vase over her head. Christy has heart though and that’s all you need.

Christy Hemme vs. Victoria

Christy survives the early beatdown and sends Victoria’s head into the mat and buckle. A hot shot gets Victoria out of trouble as we hear about Christy wrestling with a concussion here. There’s your line that would never be allowed today, along with the second injury angle coming into a match.

A lot of choking ensues, plus a chinlock which is completely different. Lawler compares their attractiveness as the Widow’s Peak is countered into a rollup to give Christy two. Victoria misses the moonsault though and Christy gets all fired up, much to the fans’ annoyance. A DDT gets two but Victoria sits down on a sunset flip and grabs the ropes for the pin.

Rating: D. I feel bad for saying it was bad because Christy looks like she is really trying but it isn’t working. That’s absolutely not her fault though because there is no reason for her to wrestle on a major show this soon. Victoria did her best here but they were in a horrible situation that shouldn’t have been on pay per view.

John Cena talks about being the new kid, including making fun of Todd Grisham for having a rather embarrassing accident in high school. Cena is the new kid, Christian is the weird kid on the bus and Jericho wore leopard print spandex with a stuffed crotch to the promo. It doesn’t matter who you are though because this title is about being the best, not selling records. Cena is the kid most likely to kick somebody’s a** so the champ is here. The fire was strong here.

We recap Kane vs. Edge. Kane and Lita had one of the weirdest relationships in wrestling history but she left him for Edge, as Kane was turned into a stand-in for Matt Hardy. Kane broke up their wedding in the first stage of revenge with tonight being phase two. In other words, it’s all about vengeance.

Kane vs. Edge

Edge tries to jump him at the bell land gets hammered down in the corner for his efforts. A bunch of right hands are rained down and an uppercut makes it even worse. Kane clotheslines him to the floor but it’s time to go after Lita, which doesn’t seem to be the best idea. Edge’s save completely fails and Kane hammers away even more as the announcers do not have nice things to say about Lita.

The fans want Matt as Kane knocks Edge outside again but Lita grabs Edge’s foot so he can get in a posting. There’s a spear and baseball slide as the pace has slowed down a good bit. Back in and Edge slugs away but Kane does it a bit better, only to get caught with the Edge-O-Matic. Kane sits up, gets dropkicked back down and sits up again to start the comeback.

An uppercut knocks Edge out of the air but here’s Snitsky for the failed save attempt. Lita tries to bring in a chair before going with the romantic route, earning herself some choking. There’s no chokeslam, as Kane would rather tie the chair around her neck. Snitsky makes the real save with a big boot to give Edge two but he briefcases Snitsky by mistake. The chokeslam finishes Edge.

Rating: D+. It was pretty slow paced for the most part and then the ending was rather messy. The idea of Kane vs. Snitsky again gives me hives but this seemed to be more of a one off interference than anything else. The Lita/Edge vs. Kane stuff feels like it is coming to an end as well, as the story has been good but Kane just won the big match, so stretching it out further may not be the best idea.

We recap Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels II. Kurt beat him in a masterpiece at Wrestlemania so Shawn wants a rematch. Game on.

Shawn doesn’t know if they can match the Wrestlemania efforts, but he guarantees vengeance.

Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle

Angle crushes the arm to send Shawn outside for a breather so Angle goes right back to the leg, again sending Shawn to the rope. Shawn rolls out of the ankle lock and hits a clothesline to put Angle on the floor for a change. Instead of waiting, Shawn follows him out and gets suplexed onto the announcers’ table for the big crash. Back in and Angle stomps away in the corner as Shawn is bleeding from the eye.

A buckle bomb really rocks Shawn for two and the chinlock goes on. Angle clotheslines him down to break up the comeback attempt and an overhead belly to belly gets two. The second chinlock lasts a bit longer as Angle grinds him down. It turns into the long form version until Shawn suplexes his way out of trouble. Shawn wins a slugout and hits the forearm to start the real comeback.

The top rope elbow connects but Sweet Chin Music is broken up without much trouble. A tornado DDT gives Shawn three straight twos but it’s time to German suplex Shawn into the Angle Slam for the big near fall. Angle rolls him into the ankle lock and the counter takes out the referee. Shawn gets backdropped to the floor and the leg gets banged up all over again.

The ankle lock goes on in the middle of the ring and Shawn starts scrambling. He finally rolls Angle into the post and scores with Sweet Chin Music for a rather delayed near fall. Coach: “I’ve never seen anybody kick out of Sweet Chin Music!” Shawn’s leg is gone so he can’t follow up, allowing Angle to go up top. That’s never a good idea against Shawn, who superkicks him out of the air for the pin.

Rating: A-. You can’t live up to their first match and to be fair, they didn’t really try to. This was a great match in its own right, but were you expecting anything else from Shawn vs. Angle in a 26 minute match? These two are always going to have something like this because they’re incredibly talented. Outstanding match, even if it wasn’t their Wrestlemania masterpiece.

Coach tries to get Batista to say he’s scared of the Cell but Batista isn’t having any of that and looks ready to eat Coach’s head. HHH comes in to say he’ll win because no one beats him in the Cell. The fight is on with referees breaking it up in a hurry.

Here’s Lilian Garcia and there’s a big couch in the ring. She brings out Viscera, in the smoking jacket of course. Lilian talks about how she has grown to see how amazing he is and even sings a song for him. With that out of the way, Lilian proposes to him and he promises to take it into consideration.

Cue the Godfather though and he’s brought some women. He can’t let that happen, because these girls have been wanting to get a piece of him. Viscera looks at the women, shouts ALL ABOARD and leaves with Godfather and company. Lilian cries a lot as Viscera dances with the women. I’ve liked the whole deal, including a solid payoff like this.

We recap Christian and Chris Jericho challenging John Cena for the WWE Championship. Christian had been calling Cena out for weeks and the match was made, but then Jericho got involved by attacking Cena, turning it into a triple threat. Cena has been fired up at a different level lately and this is the kind of match that can help put him over the top on Raw.

WWE Championship: John Cena vs. Christian vs. Chris Jericho

Cena is defending and Christian has Tomko with him. Jericho slaps Cena in the face and gets tackled to start but it’s a Canadian double teaming to put Cena down in the corner. A hard whip into the corner puts Cena down so Jericho can turn on Christian as he had been wanting to do. Tomko gets in a hard clothesline on Jericho though, leaving Cena to beat up Christian. More Tomko cheating earns him an early ejection and it’s an FU to put Christian on the floor.

Jericho is right back in with a top rope elbow to the jaw for two on Cena and there’s the running bulldog. They head outside with Cena getting beaten up in a different way, with Jericho loading up the announcers’ table for a change. A DDT onto the floor drops Jericho but Christian is back up to take his place.

The chinlock has Cena in trouble in the ring and it’s Jericho cutting off the comeback without much trouble. Christian small packages Jericho for two but Cena is back in for the powerbomb portion of a Tower of Doom. Cena gets two each, followed by some hard clotheslines each. A drop toehold sends Christian’s head into Jericho’s and there’s the double Shuffle.

Jericho gets knocked to the floor but Christian rakes the eyes to escape the FU. The Unprettier gets two so Christian goes for the title, allowing Tomko to run in for a clothesline to Cena. Jericho puts Christian on the floor and gets the Walls on Cena, with Christian making the save. Cena picks Christian up for the FU, swings his feet into Jericho, and plants Christian to retain.

Rating: B. This took some time to get going but all three were hustling at the end and made it into a solid match. Cena is clearly the guy getting the rocket push and WWE would be crazy to not go that way. He’s popular, he’s getting better in the ring and he has the fire in his eyes. That’s what you look for and Cena has every bit of it. Christian and Jericho were great at helping him along here too, which is why Cena was in there with them. Rather good match, especially in the second half.

Cena celebrates in the crowd.

The Cell is lowered.

We recap HHH vs. Batista in the Cell. Batista beat him twice at back to back pay per views, but that’s not good enough for HHH, so we get the rematch in HIS match. They’ve made it very clear that HHH has all of the advantages here, which is a good story to tell between the two of them.

World Heavyweight Championship: HHH vs. Batista

In the Cell with Batista defending. Batista goes with the power to start, including the clothesline and a side slam. They head outside with HHH blocking a ram into the Cell but not being able to do it twice in a row. HHH is fine enough to send him into the post and then knocks him off the apron into the Cell. They’re getting into the violent stuff early on here and that’s nice for a change.

It’s toolbox time and HHH busts out a chain. Some whips to the back have Batista screaming in pain but it’s time for the real fun with HHH Hanging him over the top. As you might expect, Batista gets the chain off his throat and comes right back with some whipping of his own. HHH gets sent into the Cell to bust him open, meaning it’s time to grab a barbed wire chair. A few shots have Batista in trouble but he hits a clothesline and takes the chair away, cutting HHH’s head up with it for some retaliation.

The shoulders to the ribs in the corner but Batista misses a charge to give the incredibly bloody HHH a breather. Batista gets in a backdrop and a powerslam onto the barbed wire chair gets two. The Batista Bomb is countered into a DDT onto the chair and this time it’s Batista getting busted open. HHH rakes the cut across the Cell, because that is what you do in this situation.

It’s sledgehammer time (JR: “Not the d*** sledgehammer!” King: “Yes, the d*** sledgehammer JR.”) with a shot to Batista’s head getting two. A low blow gets Batista out of trouble for a bit and he grabs the sledgehammer but gets hit in the face with the chain. HHH goes up but dives into a sledgehammer shot, making him spit blood into the air for an outstanding visual. The whip over the corner has HHH in more trouble with a running steps shot making it worse.

The steps are loaded up in the corner with Batista ramming him head first into them over and over. A big whip into the steps makes it even worse but the Batista Bomb is countered into the Pedigree for the big near fall. Another Pedigree onto the steps is countered into a spinebuster onto them instead (THUD). Batista loads up the Batista Bomb with HHH grabbing the hammer, only to be dropped for the pin before the shot to the head can connect.

Rating: A-. This was indeed great as they set everything up exactly as they should have. They made a great spectacle out of Batista being the better man between the two with HHH losing in his match. That’s the story they have told for weeks now and it’s exactly what we got. It’s a heck of a fight with all kinds of blood and gore, making it feel like the Cell is supposed to. I had a good time with it and this makes Batista into the star he should be. Now STOP GIVING HHH WORLD TITLE MATCHES FOR A LONG TIME.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

Smackdown
Date: June 23, 2005
Location: Convention Center, Tuscon, Arizona
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz

It’s time for another big showdown as we get the latest chapter in Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio. That’s certainly good enough for me as those two have been the best things about this show, if not this company, for a few months now. We also get the latest Draft pick tonight as Raw continues to take away a lot of the young, talented stars while sending Smackdown some good names but maybe not with the same amount of future potential. Let’s get to it.

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

We get a quick video on Eddie vs. Rey.

Opening sequence.

Here’s Randy Orton to open things up. Orton talks about having a reputation as the Legend Killer and that is something he has earned. Names such as Mick Foley, Harley Race, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair and Chris Benoit have all taken a knee to him, but that brings him to Undertaker. Back at Wrestlemania, Undertaker took advantage of his shoulder injury and Orton has been waiting ever since. Last week he got his revenge with an RKO to Undertaker, who is NOT here tonight.

Orton goes to leave but the lights go out and we see a clip of Undertaker beating Orton at Wrestlemania. The screen shows a Wrestlemania XXI graphic as we see Undertaker Tombstoning Orton. Cole: “This is from Wrestlemania XXI when Undertaker Tombstoned Randy Orton!”

The ring is starting to fill with smoke and there go the lights. The gong strikes and there’s Undertaker to send Orton bailing. Orton: “MY TERMS THIS TIME!” Didn’t he challenge Undertaker for Wrestlemania? Undertaker says death waits for no one and a lightning bolt nearly hits Orton. It was a good match at Wrestlemania so I’m down for a rematch.

Joey Mercury vs. Heidenreich

Fallout from last week’s MNM beatdown on Heidenreich. An early Nitro distraction doesn’t work as Heidenreich hammers Mercury into the corner and hits a backdrop. Nitro’s second bit of cheating works a bit better but earns him a big boot to the floor. Mercury and Heidenreich ram heads and a neckbreaker gives Mercury two. We hit the chinlock for as long as you would expect a chinlock to last here as Heidenreich busts out an armdrag of all things for the break. A clothesline puts Mercury on the floor but Melina gets in a slap, drawing out Michelle McCool to jump Melina after last week. The distraction lets Nitro hit a superkick to give Mercury the pin.

Rating: D+. Did Russo get to guest book a match here? We had three people interfering, multiple distractions and probably a mixed tag being set up in less than four minutes. And it was for a HEIDENREICH match! MNM continues to be a great act, but I’m scared to see who they are going to bring in for Heidenreich’s partner.

Rey really liked hurting Eddie last week and tonight he is going to make it even worse. He’s doing it for redemption.

Melina is furious while MNM is all like “yeah but we won”. They insist that no one is better than Melina, including that B list Diva Michelle. The challenge is on for next week.

JBL comes up to Theodore Long to ask about a rumored Smackdown Championship. If anyone deserves that, it is JBL because he beat Undertaker last week. Long has an announcement for later tonight and JBL is going to be pleased. As for now though, Long needs to keep talking to the Draft pick. JBL: “Just tell me his initials!”

Cruiserweight Title: Chavo Guerrero vs. Paul London

London is defending and the lockup goes to the corner to start. Chavo sends him down and strikes the pose so London gives him some applause. London flips out of a backdrop though and snaps off a hurricanrana to put Chavo in trouble again. A backdrop puts Chavo on the floor….and it’s Juventud Guerrero, Psychosis and Super Crazy carrying a Mexican flag on a lawnmower. Psychosis sends Chavo into the steps for the DQ. There wasn’t much to the match in the first place and then a lot of it was spent looking at the entrance so there wasn’t enough to rate. But hey, at least London and the title are treated as nothing again.

Post match the beatdown is on and we hear about how awesome Mexico is. They even have a Mexican limo! They’re tired of working for us so from now on, you’re working for us. They are taking over America, WWE and the Cruiserweight division because they are the MEXICOOLS.

JBL is in the ring and talking about how it is morning again in America. Since his fluke loss at Wrestlemania, Smackdown has been without a real champion. That changes tonight though because he is Mr. Smackdown. It doesn’t matter what you believe or who you love because you can all bow at the feet of the wrestling god. Cue Booker T. instead, but JBL says he doesn’t have to bow.

Instead he can just shake JBL’s hand in congratulations but that isn’t happening either. Booker doesn’t think anyone should be named champion because they should fight for the honor. They should fight for the title tonight but here’s Chris Benoit to interrupt. He doesn’t want to hear from JBL either and we should have a triple threat for the title instead. JBL doesn’t like the sound of that but here’s Big Show to interrupt as well.

Show says JBL’s options are to make it a four way or get beaten up by all three of them. Cue Long with a covered up title to say JBL will be named Smackdown Champion….if he wins a five way challenge match. It will be the four here (JBL starts counting on his fingers) plus the Undertaker for the Smackdown Title.

Hang on though as here are Muhammad Hassan and Daivari (who were drafted together, though Matt Morgan apparently didn’t go to Raw with Carlito) to say Hassan should be champion. He had the longest undefeated streak in WWE history (uh…….) and didn’t even get a special welcome to the show.

Hassan brags about being awesome and points out that Benoit never beat him. Booker is a five time loser and Hassan could beat Big Show any night of the week. JBL is just like any other American: a big quitter. Hassan wants what he deserves so Long makes next week a six way. The beatdown is on with Hassan being thrown outside. Long isn’t done though and makes a match.

Muhammad Hassan vs. Big Show

Joined in progress with Show tossing him around with ease and standing on his chest for a bonus. Hassan gets sent to the apron so Show slams him right back inside. Cue Matt Morgan to do commentary because we need to hear this joke a few more times. There’s a delayed suplex and a headbutt as Morgan isn’t happy with Cole praising Show so much. Some running shoulders put Hassan down but Morgan comes in. That earns him a chokeslam but Hassan gets in a chair shot. A middle rope ax handle drives the chair into Show’s throat to give Hassan the pin.

Rating: D. This was a way to get Hassan a win while also setting up Show vs. Morgan down the line, at least in theory. The problem is that Hassan is less than a week away from losing to John Cena in about two minutes. How much of an impact can he make when he was squashed earlier in the week? And before he even has that much high level success in the first place?

We look at Mysterio beating Eddie at Wrestlemania. After that, Chavo started causing problems between Eddie and Rey, mainly by driving Eddie into insanity. Eddie even cost Rey a chance to become World Champion, with the team eventually splitting as Eddie went completely over the edge. It has gotten to the point where Eddie has even brought up Rey’s family, more or less threatening to leave them without a husband or father.

A serious Eddie doesn’t think Rey knows what he is capable of. The maniacal look in his eye is great.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio

This feels big. Eddie bails to the floor to start before coming back in for a headscissors into a standoff. Eddie’s headscissors is countered again and you can see some early frustration. A top wristlock drives Eddie into the corner so he cranks on both arms at the same time. Rey gets out and hits a monkey flip to the floor, setting up the big dive as we take a break. Back with Rey hitting a dropkick and dropping a running leg for two.

The abdominal stretch goes on and there is a HUGE bruise on Eddie’s ribs. Well at least Rey was smart to go with the ribs hold. A seated abdominal stretch stays on the ribs but Eddie gets fired up and fights up. Rey gets tossed outside and Eddie sends him face first into the announcers’ table over and over. We come back from another break with Eddie holding a Gory Stretch.

A powerbomb gives Eddie a series of twos and it’s off to the camel clutch. Eddie sends him hard into the corner and glares at the fans for their 619 chants. Some choking sets up a full nelson but Rey gets out and snaps off a headscissors. Eddie clotheslines him down for two and the fans are right back behind Rey on the kickout.

Another camel clutch keeps Rey down and a backbreaker cuts off the comeback. The sitout bulldog gets Rey out of trouble and it’s a big boot into the springboard crossbody for two. Rey heads up top but gets crotched right back down, only to roll away from the frog splash. Eddie’s powerbomb is countered into the 619 and Rey Drops The Dime for the pin, guaranteeing Eddie is going to go even further over the edge.

Rating: A-. This was another great match between these two and there was no question that this would be good. They started out very smoothly with both guys looking like they were in for a wrestling match, but then the anger and jealousy drove Eddie insane and turned it into Rey trying to survive against the obsessed Eddie.

The story has turned it into something huge and the point that Eddie had reached before is going to be even worse than before. I’m curious to see how much worse it can get, but at the same time, it may have reached its peak with this, which was a big time match that more than delivered.

Eddie gives a pretty evil smile as Rey leaves.

A quick ad for the six way (elimination) match for the title ends the show.

Overall Rating: C+. It was a one match show and almost everything else (save for the Orton promo) was bad, but that was a heck of a match that got about half an hour counting entrances. Things are resetting with the Draft going on and I’m almost worried about how that title match is going to go next week. The Draft wrapping up should let things settle a bit, but once Rey vs. Eddie is done, I’m not sure what they are going to be able to do next. At least we had the rocking main event though and that’s more than most shows get to do.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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