Royal Rumble 1989
Date: January 15, 1989
Location: The Summit, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 19,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura

This is the first PPV version of the show and things have changed a lot. Tonight, everyone is in the match and they’re focusing more on the idea of every man being for himself. The match wouldn’t be worth anything for a few more years but things should be a little bit stronger tonight as they have a better idea what they’re doing. Let’s get to it.

We start off with a listing of presumably everyone in the Rumble tonight. If not then it’s at least most of them.

Dino Bravo/Fabulous Rougeaus vs. Jim Duggan/Hart Foundation

2/3 falls here. Anvil vs. Bravo gets things going and they collide a few times with no one going anywhere. Both guys miss elbows and it’s off to Duggan for a BIG reaction. Ray Rougeau comes in and is immediately slammed down and hit by a knee drop. Hart comes in to a small but audible reaction and gets two each off a small package and a sunset flip. Jacques comes in and things break down a bit with all three heels being caught in one corner where Anvil drives shoulders into them, crushing Ray against the corner under two other guys.

Ray FINALLY gets something in by low bridging Bret to send him to the floor. At the end of the day, when you need someone to sell something you call on Bret. Dino’s side suplex puts Bret down and The Rougeau Bomb gets the first fall. Bret and Ray start things off in the second fall with Hart in big trouble. Jacques comes in and sends Bret into the corner for the traditional chest first bump in the corner which gives Dino two.

Bravo puts on a bear hug for a bit before it’s back to Jacques. A sunset flip gives Bret a quick breather but he’s immediately put in a camel clutch. Anvil makes the save but as he’s being put back in the corner, Ray comes in and puts the same hold back on. That’s good stuff there. The heels take turns working over Bret until Jacques puts on a Boston Crab. Gorilla wants Duggan or Neidhart to come in and break the hold up, because you’ve got five seconds. I love the hypocrisy you would get from him at times.

Bret breaks the hold and tags in Anvil but the referee didn’t see it. That’s such a basic spot but you don’t see it much anymore. Ray puts on an abdominal stretch before it’s off to Jacques for the exact same hold. Bret FINALLY hits an atomic drop to break up the momentum and there’s the white hot tag to Duggan. Anvil hits a slingshot shoulder on Ray and a Duggan elbow drop ties the match up at a fall apiece.

Duggan pounds on Ray to start before going to the wrong corner to try to beat up both guys. Bravo hammers away a bit but rams Duggan’s head into the buckle for no effect at all. Duggan gets punched over into the corner and there’s the tag to Hart. Everything breaks down and Duggan hits Bravo with the board to give Hart the pin.

Rating: C. This was fine but Duggan’s reactions are amazing. The guy was probably the third most over guy in the company at this point, which is covering a lot of ground given how over some of the guys were in 1989. This was fine for an opener but the ending was never quite in doubt, which is ok.

We get a clip of some people pulling their numbers earlier. DiBiase isn’t thrilled at all and immediately goes to find Slick to work out a deal of some kind. These segments need to come back, if nothing else to try to make us believe the numbers are random. The Bushwhackers are happy with their numbers but they trade anyway. Honky is mad about his number. Bad News says his is good news. Demolition seems annoyed. Jake….you can’t tell emotion from him anyway. The Rockers don’t seem to hate theirs.

It’s time for the Super Posedown, which is exactly that: Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude posing against each other to further their feud. Warrior is IC Champion here and man alive if this happened on a PPV today the fans would likely riot. Well not riot but boo heavily at least. Heenan actually sucks up to the fans because it’s decided by fan vote. Again, the ending here isn’t exactly in doubt. This goes on WAY too long, as it’s just posing and people booing/cheering depending on who is posing. Rude finally attacks Warrior with a bar and bails. Warrior chases after him and that’s it. This somehow took nearly fifteen minutes.

Womens’ Title: Judy Martin vs. Rockin Robin

Robin is defending and is Jake Roberts’ real life half sister. Sherri is in the ring and wants the title shot at the winner of this. Martin misses a charge and Sherri sits in on commentary. They pound on each other and it’s clear that they’re not incredibly skilled in the ring. Martin slams her down and blocks a sunset flip with a punch to the head. Robin puts on a Boston Crab as this is going nowhere.

Martin blocks an O’Connor Roll as Sherri complains about not getting a rematch yet. Gorilla talks about the process you have to go through to get a rematch, which is a nice sounding idea when you think about all the automatic title rematches you get today. Imagine that: EARNING a title match. Something resembling a DDT gets two on Martin but Robin misses an elbow drop. Martin misses one also but a backslide gets two for Judy. Robin kicks her in the face for two and gets the same off a small package. Sherri: “Come on somebody win.” Robin goes to the middle rope, fakes Martin out, and cross bodies her to retain.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here but the ending wasn’t bad. The Women’s Title would be retired about 13 months later and wouldn’t be restored until about 1993. At the end of the day, no one cares about womens wrestling other than for how small their outfits are. Robin and Martin aren’t exactly eye candy either, so this didn’t do much for anyone. At least it was short though.

Slick says the Twin Towers (Boss Man and Akeem) are probably winners of the Rumble but denies knowing anything about shenanigans with DiBiase. Sean Mooney has footage (the original Vickie Guerrer) of Slick and DiBiase together and suddenly Slick realizes he misunderstood Mooney the first time. He has no comment though.

Rude runs his mouth a bit about beating Warrior. This must be intermission.

Yep, it’s intermission as we get promos from a few managers, saying their guys are going to win. Nothing to see here but we hear from Fuji (representing the Powers of Pain), Liz (Mega Powers) and Jimmy Hart (Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine). Like I said, nothing to see here.

Jesse is sitting on the throne that will go to either Haku or Race. He thinks he might just run for King because the chair is comfortable.

King Haku vs. Harley Race

Race was King but got hurt and the crown went to Haku. This is his chance to get it back in a one time only return to the ring. Harley shoves over Haku’s throne to start and the brawl is on. You know Race is going to be the brawler in this. Back in and Race pounds away before suplexing Haku down for two. Heenan manages both guys here but Race is kind of the face by default.

They head to the floor again with Race being sent into the post and chopped a few times. Haku sends him back to the floor after a few seconds in the ring as we stall for a few moments. More chops have Race in trouble as Jesse talks about Hogan injuring Race, which is only kind of true. Race no sells a headbutt and gets two off a piledriver. They collide again and Race falls to the floor as Heenan plays both sides, saying he’s for both guys when the other is out of earshot.

Back in and Race punches some more before getting two off a suplex. Haku gets sent to the floor again as it’s pretty clear there’s not much to this match. Race tries to piledrive Haku on the floor but gets backdropped as is the usual. A second attempt at a piledriver works but not incredibly well. Back in and a clothesline puts Haku down for two but Haku comes back and misses a top rope headbutt. Race misses a headbutt of his own and charges into the superkick from Haku (looked GREAT) for the pin to keep the crown in Tonga or wherever he’s from.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t terrible and the ending kick looked awesome, but other than that there wasn’t much to see here. Race was clearly old and banged up and he didn’t have a lot to work with in the form of Haku. The crown was mostly a minor title that was only somewhat official. Nothing to see here, but no one cares about anything but the Rumble tonight anyway.

Time for more Rumble promos, with Beefcake, Greg Valentine (both of whom say they just need their fists), the Powers of Pain (Fuji does the talking for them), Big John Studd (freshly back in the company), Mr. Perfect (pretty new at this point) and Savage (insane of course).

DiBiase is much happier about his number now.

Heenan says the Family (Brainbusters and Andre) is ready and Andre says he’ll thrown them out if he has to. Arn whispers to Tully when Andre isn’t looking because Arn Anderson is more awesome than you.

Hogan gives his usual promo with the focus on Boss Man and Akeem this time.

Royal Rumble

The entrants are every two minutes, allegedly. #1 is Ax and #2 is Smash, beginning a tradition of having partners fight at the beginning of these matches. They immediately pound on each other and amazingly enough, they actually sell the offense. It’s a bunch of clotheslines and punches, but the key to Demolition has always been how HARD they hit each other, which is what you get a lot of here. In at #3 is Andre, which gives us one heck of a handicap match.

Demolition immediately hits a double clothesline on Andre and start demolishing him to a BIG pop. Andre is way past being past his prime here but this is still cool to see. Here’s Mr. Perfect at #4 and he strolls down the aisle, which is pretty wise for him. Andre starts fighting Demolition off and for some reason this turns into a tag match. Andre easily throws out Smash, resulting in a 2-1 attack on Andre.

The Giant fights them off and Perfect sells a headbutt as only Mr. Perfect can. Here’s Ronnie Garvin at #5 and they get Andre tied up in the ropes. The Giant breaks free and beats up Ax while Garvin and Hennig fight a bit. Andre shifts over to beat up Perfect, giving us some more awesome overselling. Greg Valentine is in at #6 to make it 4-1 against Andre. AGAIN Andre is all like BRING IT ON and knocks them away, eliminating Garvin in the process.

Andre chokes Valentine in the corner while Ax and Perfect continue their rather uninteresting fight. Andre starts choking Ax and the look on his face is eerie. Jake Roberts is #7 and Andre immediately pounds him down. Nothing of note happens for two minutes so here’s Ron Bass at #8 as Jake gets eliminated by Andre. Shawn Michaels is in at #9, giving us Ax, Perfect, Andre, Bass, Valentine and Michaels. As I type that, Perfect knocks out Ax.

Perfect throws Shawn over the top rope but some skinning the cat brings him back in. Shawn dropkicks Perfect to the apron as we get into a sell-off. #10 is Butch who gets a big pop of his own. As Butch gets in, here’s Jake Roberts again with the snake to scare Andre out of the match. The fans look at something, presumably Jake and Andre in the aisle, as things settle down a lot. It’s Honky Tonk Man at #11 as things are in that annoying slow period of most Rumbles.

Tito Santana is in at #12 to finally balance the heel/face ratio out a bit. There’s almost nothing going on here other than the energy burst you get from the new guys coming in. Bass hits a good backdrop on Michaels as Santana barely survives an attack from Valentine. Bad News Brown is #13 and Butch and Santana (there’s a pairing for you) dump Honky. Butch gets beaten up and Shawn goes up top to jump on Bad News and Bass. Marty Jannetty is #14 and the Rockers double dropkick Bass out.

Tito kills Valentine with the forearm and world champion Randy Savage is #15. NOW the place wakes up as he hammers away on Bad News. Perfect and Savage go at it in a match that would have the purists drooling. Speaking of making purists drool, Arn Anderson is #16. Savage dumps Valentine as Shawn fights Arn. Savage….saves Anderson and eliminates Shawn? Now there’s one I didn’t expect. To recap, we’ve got Marty, Anderson, Butch, Brown, Savage, Santana and Perfect in there at the moment. That’s quite the lineup for the most part.

Tully Blanchard makes the lineup even stronger at #17. Just to be clear, that’s two tag teams getting back to back numbers. Gee, what are the odds? The Brainbusters double team Marty as we’re just waiting for Hogan at this point. And here he is at #18. There goes Perfect, giving him the new Iron Man record at just under 28:00. Off camera, Savage and the Busters put Santana out as Hulk beats up Brown. Hogan fights off all three heels as Savage beats on Butch. Nice partner, especially after Hogan saved Savage when he got to the ring.

Here’s Luke at #19 as things slow down again. Butch gets thrown out after a remarkable 18 minutes. Hogan hot shots Blanchard but has to beat up Luke instead of eliminating Tully. After a brief lull, here’s Koko B. Ware at #20. After more of that epic Hulk vs. Luke showdown, Arn goes up top and is immediately slammed down by Hogan. Dude, you’re best friends with RIC FLAIR. Why would you think that’s smart? Hogan dumps Koko and Luke but gets double teamed by the Busters.

Warlord is #20 and Hogan clotheslines both Busters out at the same time. Warlord poses on the apron, gets in, and is clotheslined out in 2 seconds flat, setting a record that would last 20 years. Hogan also dumps Bad News, but it takes out Savage in the process which adds even more fuel to the Mega Powers Exploding in less than a month. Liz comes in to play peacemaker and the Powers shake hands.

Now we get the big showdown of the match as Big Boss Man is #21 and gets to face Hogan one on one. This is when Boss Man weighed like 400lbs and was just freaking fat. Hulk slams Boss Man down and pounds away in the corner but falls victim to a splash. A piledriver puts Hulk down and Boss Man stands tall. Gorilla says Hogan has been out there for half an hour (it’s been about 8 or 9 minutes) and Jesse is hilarious in freaking out.

To give us the third team back to back in this Rumble, #22 is Akeem. Hogan rams them together and slams Akeem but the numbers catch up with Hogan. After a brief comeback, a double splash crushes Hogan and he’s easily tossed. Hogan, ever the jerk, pulls Boss Man out and beats on him, which is apparently an elimination. Beefcake is #23, which means we just missed what could have been a good house show tag match.

Hogan and Boss Man brawl to the back as we get to the pretty dull third act of the Rumble. Red Rooster is #24 and helps double team Akeem a bit. They try to dump Akeem but Barbarian comes in at #25 and breaks it up. Gorilla: “That was kind of stupid.” Taylor and Akeem pair off, as do Barbarian and Beefcake and the heels take over. Akeem crushes the Rooster (Terry Taylor in case you’re some young kid) and here’s Big John Studd at #27.

Nothing of note happens there so here’s Hercules at #28. Again nothing happens so Rick Martel is #29. He goes right for Akeem but Studd shoves him away because Akeem is his big piece of chicken tonight. DiBiase is of course #30, giving us DiBiase, Akeem, Hercules, Beefcake, Studd, Barbarian, Rooster and Martel. Jesse and Gorilla have a debate about what a manager is as DiBiase throws out the Rooster to get us down to seven.

DiBiase and Barbarian team up to put out Hercules and Beefcake, leaving us with five. This last part isn’t quite death for the match but it’s certainly a bad sickness. Martel puts out the Barbarian to give us a final four. Akeem misses a splash on Martel in the corner and Rick fires off some dropkicks to no avail.

A cross body is caught and Akeem dumps Martel to get us down to Studd, Akeem and DiBiase. Akeem pounds on Studd as DiBiase gives instructions. Studd pulls Ted in front of a splash and dumps Akeem to get us down to two. DiBiase offers money but Studd shakes a finger at him. Studd actually fires off some suplexes to the shock of Monsoon. The elimination is academic and Studd wins.

Rating: C-. The last third REALLY hurts this. It’s not that it’s bad but after Hogan leaves you could almost hear a pin fall. Ha I made a wrestling joke. Also, John Studd? Really? They’ve got all those guys in there and they pick Studd to win? After Wrestlemania the guy was pretty much gone and I don’t think there was ever a clear reason for Studd winning given, other than they thought he was going to be a big deal. It’s just an odd pick and one that hindsight doesn’t look kindly on. Anyway not a terrible match but the booking hurts it.

Savage reassures himself that he’s still great. You can hear the paranoia and see the heel turn coming if you look hard enough.

Jesse and Gorilla wrap things up.

Overall Rating: D+. I can’t say this was a bad show because nothing on here is truly terrible, but it’s certainly not good either. This is very characteristic of the late 80s as other than Hogan and Savage, the stories were very limited at best. They were trying though and that’s something you can’t fake. Not a terrible show, but it’s nothing more than a moment \for the most part.

Ratings Comparison

Jim Duggan/Hart Foundation vs. Dino Bravo/Fabulous Rougeaus

Original: C+

Redo: C

Rockin’ Robin vs. Judy Martin

Original: C-

Redo: D

King Haku vs. Harley Race

Original: C

Redo: D+

Royal Rumble

Original: C+

Redo: C-

Overall Rating

Original: C-

Redo: D+

About the same again. That’s interesting compared to what happened with the Survivor Series Redos.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/08/royal-rumble-count-up-1989/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Royal Rumble 1988
Date: January 24, 1988
Location: Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 18,000
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura

This is the first of the Rumbles and it aired on live TV instead of on Pay Per View. The battle royal tonight is twenty men instead of thirty and we also have three other matches on the card on top of that. We also get a bench press demonstration from Dino Bravo (just go with it) and the contract signing for Hogan vs. Andre II at the first live Main Event which would happen in twelve days. In a KB related story, I would happen in about ten days. Let’s get to it.

Vince does the intro over what I thought was Rude’s music. Oh it was Rude’s music. No wonder they sounded alike.

Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat

This should work well with a career face vs. a career heel. That’s another thing you never get anymore: matches for the sake of having a match. You know what? It could work today too. For the sake of simplicity, Rick will only be used for Rude and Ricky will only be used for Steamboat. Rude pounds away to start but Steamboat fires off chops in retaliation. Rude throws him over the top because he’s still new at this WWF thing. Steamboat skins the cat back in and throws Rude to the floor.

Steamboat does Rude’s pose and Rude complains of a pull of the tights. Back in and Rude wants a test of strength and Dragon, ever the slow one, accepts. Down goes Ricky but he finally hits a knee to the hand to break the grip, followed by a wicked spin out to take Rude to the mat. Steamboat cranks on the arm and does so for a good while. The crowd is pretty much quiet here, so we can hear the individual shouts from fans which give Vince and Jesse something to talk about.

Rude escapes but Steamboat chops him right back down and armdrags him down as only Ricky can do. An elbow puts Ricky down for a bit and Rick pounds away some more. Steamboat comes back with chops and another armdrag into an armbar. More slugging out occurs with chops vs. punches dominating the action. In something you don’t often see, Steamboat seems to botch a spot, resulting in him backing into a knee from Rude and falling (intentionally) to the floor.

Rick sends Steamboat back first into the apron and slams him down as Steamboat is in trouble. There’s a camel clutch by Rude as he finally has a body part to work on. Steamboat taps but that wouldn’t mean anything else for about six years. The referee checks the arm and they make a BIG error as Ricky lets his arm fall three times before stopping it on the fourth drop. Jesse FREAKS as only he can but the match just keeps going. Gotta love that live TV thing right?

Anyway Steamboat stands up and drops Rude on his back to put both guys down. It’s Steamboat up first but a splash hits knees. Back to the chinlock but Ricky makes the ropes and sends Rude into the buckle ten times. A chop to the face gets two and we hit the mat for some technical stuff and a pinfall reversal sequence. By that I mean about five pin attempts each and the crowd is waking up now. Ricky suplexes Rude down but Rude pulls the referee in the way of the cross body. Rude puts on the over the shoulder backbreaker (his move before the Rude Awakening) but it’s a DQ win for Steamboat.

Rating: C. The main issue here was the length. This runs about eighteen minutes and a lame ending didn’t help things either. At least you had two talented guys in there to make the match work a bit better. Still though, cut about five minutes off of this one and it’s WAY better all of a sudden. Steamboat would be gone in just a few months.

It’s time for the bench press lift record attempt. Dino Bravo is doing the lifting (in wrestling gear) and Jesse is spotting. Frenchy Martin, Dino’s manager, is here too. Dino presses 415 to start but first demands complete and utter silence. The 415lbs are easily lifted ten times. We’re going for over 700 by the end so this may take awhile. Next up is 505, which I believe is what Yokozuna weighed when he debuted. That one only goes up eight times as we’re at six minutes spent on this so far.

This time it’s going to be 555. Great this is going to take even more time now. Dino stops to yell at the fans a bit first and now we’re going to the lifting. This one gets about seven reps as this continues to take time. Now it’s 595. They keep talking about a world record, even though there’s no official there to confirm this is happening or anything like that. Wait let’s yell at the fans some more before he lifts it three times. We’re at ten minutes now.

Jesse yells at McMahon a bit and Bravo takes forever to do 655. Gene doing the used car salesman selling of this segment helps a bit due to how over the top and ridiculous it is. Now they go for 715, but the record would be unofficial because the bar will have to be weighed later. We stop to yell at the fans of course first though and storms off. As Bravo goes to finish, Ventura reaches down and pulls the bar up. Yep, that’s the actual payoff of over fifteen minutes of this nonsense.

Women’s Tag Titles: Jumping Bomb Angels vs. Glamour Girls

These are real titles (held by the Glamour Girls at this point) which have perhaps the most confusing history ever, as the belts were literally bought and sold between two wrestling companies. Anyway, they’re here now and the Angels (Tateno and Yamazaki) beat the Glamour Girls (Judy Martin and Lelani Kai) in the finals of the Survivor Series match which basically set this up. This is also 2/3 falls.

I’m not entirely sure which is which on both teams but Vince doesn’t even know the names of the Angels at all until someone tells him later on. The Angels immediately charge at the Girls and hit stereo dropkicks to take over. For those of you unfamiliar with the Angels, basically imagine the Hardys before they became poster children for what drugs can do to you but with long hair and wearing one piece female swimsuits.

We start with Kai vs. Yamazaki (the one in pink. Got it) and a knee to the back from Martin gives the Girls control. Yamazaki Matrixes out of a cover and rolls Kai up for two. Off to Tateno for a kind of suplex out of a piledriver position for one. Jesse asks Vince the names of the Bomb Angels and Vince has NO idea. He suggests calling them pink and red. Yamazaki tries a cross body but it literally bounces off the shall we say rotund Martin.

Off to Kai again so Yamazaki knees her down before bring Tateno back in. Both Angels fire off forearms to take Kai down and there’s an Octopus Hold (a freaky kind of abdominal stretch from Japan) from Tateno. The Angels put on stereo figure fours before it gets down to just Tateno on Kai. There’s a legdrop between the legs ala Jeff Hardy but instead Tateno spreads her own legs to spread Kai’s into the splits as well.

Yamazaki hooks something like a Sharpshooter while being off to the side of Kai. That’s incredibly painful looking and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it otherwise. The Angels get in a tug of war over Kai with Martin losing the war. Martin makes a tag but it doesn’t count because her feet weren’t on the apron. There’s a rule you never see enforced. Not that it matters as there’s the regular tag anyway. Martin comes in and beats on Tateno a bit before hitting a falling backwards facedrop out of a powerbomb position for the first fall. Big Show called that the Alley Oop if it wasn’t clear.

Martin pounds on Tateno after the break but Tateno bridges out in the Matrix move from the mat. Martin misses a splash and there’s Yamazaki again. A middle rope clothesline puts Martin down for two as Vince knows the Angels’ names now. The Angels cause some heel miscommunication but Martin loads up the same move that won her the first fall. In a classic example of PSYCHOLOGY, Tateno rolls through it into a sunset flip for the second fall this time. See? She LEARNED over the course of the match. That shows thinking, which is psychology! It’s not that hard! She slipped a bit on the flip but I’ll forgive it this time.

The third fall begins with a double clothesline from the Angels for two on Kai but Lelani pounds away on her in retaliation. Off to Martin who blocks a fisherman’s suplex and escapes a backslide out of the corner. A slingshot sends Yamazaki into the wrong corner and double teaming gets two on her.

Off to Tateno who is thrown around even more than Yamazaki was. Tateno comes back with a pair of release atomic drops minus the knees and it’s off to Yamazaki for a top rope knee for two. A double underhook suplex gets two on Kai but a senton backsplash misses for Tateno. With Kai trying to get in, the Angels hit stereo missile dropkicks on Martin for the pin and the titles.

Rating: B. For the late 80s and women’s wrestling, this was off the charts. The Angels are every bit as good as any male cruiserweight not named Mysterio you’ll ever see and when they’re against people like the Girls, their skills are shown off even better. This was beyond state of the art for this time period and is still amazing today. Check these chicks out and you won’t be disappointed.

We recap Hogan vs. Andre at Wrestlemania by getting the opening minute or so which saw Hogan trying the slam and Andre getting a “controversial” two count. Andre wants a rematch and has been sold to DiBiase, who wants to buy the world title. Andre showed how evil he was by attacking Hogan on SNME and easily choking him down, setting up the rematch in about two weeks and a match which drew an INSANE 15 rating on LIVE national TV on NBC. Today Vince would lose his mind at a 5 on cable, so this was unthinkable back then.

Oh and now we get the contract signing between Andre and Hogan on tonight’s show for the match on February 5 in Indianapolis. DiBiase is here too as Jesse points out how stupid the fans are for cheering for a song called Real American here in Canada. Even Jack Tunney is here. For those of you unfamiliar, picture Johnny Ace if he wasn’t dripping with charisma.

Gene actually calls Andre Mr. Roussimoff here, which you NEVER hear on WWF TV. Andre won’t sit down and then he won’t sign. Hogan signs but Andre wants to read the whole thing first. One thing to note: Gene has probably said the date of the match about ten times. It’s so simple yet so effective. Andre signs and beats up Hogan for fun to end this after a LONG time.

Jesse and Vince talk about the Rumble and say that if you go over the top, it doesn’t matter where your feet touch because you’re out. I’m assuming that means you have to hit the floor but it’s not exactly clear.

Royal Rumble

Okerlund explains the rules and the intervals are every two minutes here. If you don’t know the Rumble rules, you have no business reading this. It’s a battle royal, people come in every two minutes, there are 20 people in it (this year only) last man standing wins. #1 is Bret Hart and #2 is Tito Santana, and wouldn’t you know it their tag teams are feuding right now. I mean what are the odds?

They slug it out to start with no one having any kind of advantage. Bret finally takes him down and heads towards the rope as Butch Reed comes in at #3. This is a different kind of Rumble as heels don’t fight heels and faces don’t fight faces yet. They just kind of work together as you would expect them to. Tito is almost thrown out by Reed but he escapes and beats on both heels for a bit.

It’s Neidhart in at #4 as not a ton is happening so far in this match. This leaves Santana more or less down 3-1 and everyone pounds away on him. The clock is pretty lenient so far as there’s no way they’re going two minutes between each of these entrants. We get some slow triple teaming and after a choke on the ropes, here’s Jake Roberts in at #5 to quickly toss out Reed. We’ve got Roberts/Santana vs. the Hart Foundation which is quite the tag match when you think about it.

The Harts get beaten down and then thrown into each other but Neidhart breaks up the DDT. Bret piledrives Santana down and Harley Race is in at #6. The crowd is staying way into this which is a good sign for the future. Things kind of slow down a bit as the faces and heels beat on each other for a little while. Here’s Jim Brunzell at #7 to make it a six man tag for all intents and purposes.

Roberts goes EVIL by pulling on Neidhart’s beard. Only Reed has been eliminated so far. The good guys are in control at the moment with Race almost being thrown out. Here’s Sam Houston, Jake’s real life half brother, coming in at #8 to beat on everyone in sight. Well every heel at least. The Harts finally get together and throw out Santana to get us down to six people in the ring.

After about 90 seconds, here’s Danny Davis at #9. To be fair he’s barely a jobber so it’s not like this is going to give the heels any significant advantage. Oh wait he’s fighting Sam Houston so yeah, the heels are in control. Race gets caught in the ropes and Jake keeps knocking him back and forth in a funny bit. Davis tries to kick Jake and gets his leg caught, followed by a suplex from Roberts.

Danny escapes a DDT as we get Boris Zhukov at #10, maybe 80 seconds after Davis came in. Things continue to go slow as we’re trying to build up to a regular battle royal. Race goes after Boris in the first instance of heel vs. heel in this match. Race and Hart double team Brunzell for a bit as this continues to be slow. Don Muraco comes out as #11 but Nikolai Volkoff follows him out, apparently thinking he’s #11. Now there’s a story you don’t see that often but which could work.

Brunzell puts out Zhukov and apparently Nikolai is going to be #12 in a few moments. After way too long of nothing happening, Nikolai is officially #12. Brunzell is put to the apron but gets back in just as Race is eliminated by Muraco. We’ve got eight in there at the moment, which would be Hart, Neidhart, Roberts, Brunzell, Houston, Davis, Muraco and Volkoff. Race won’t leave ringside so as Duggan comes out at #13, he beats Race up on the way. This would lead to one of those so ridiculous it’s hilarious moments at the Slammys.

Duggan goes right after Neidhart because HE wants to be the Jim in this match. The place is way into him too so the crowd reaction is good. After maybe a minute here’s Ron Bass at #14. Volkoff dumps Brunzell as Jake and Neidhart collide. The clock gets even shorter as B. Brian Blair is #15. There are way too many people in the ring now. Everyone fights everyone as Hillbilly Jim is #16, and the fourth person in this match named Jim. He also dumps out Jim Neidhart to empty the ring a tiny bit.

Dino Bravo is #17 as Bass dumps Houston. Back to slow motion mode with everyone pounding on people near the ropes without really doing much. Ultimate Warrior (doesn’t mean anything yet) is #18 and Bret is FINALLY put out by Don Muraco. I timed this next one, and the One Man Gang comes out at #19, 53 seconds after Warrior. They’re not even trying here. Gang immediately pounds on Roberts so Warrior jumps on the big man’s back. This is WAY before he would have been able to slam him anyway.

Gang dumps Blair and Roberts in about ten seconds, which is the best thing that could happen in this match. The Junkyard Dog is #20, giving us a final group of Davis, Volkoff, Muraco, Bass, Hillbilly Jim, Dino Bravo, Ultimate Warrior, Gang, Duggan and Dog. Hillbilly and Gang hammer on each other as Duggan puts Volkoff out. Gang tosses Hillbilly as Bravo and Davis double team Duggan. This ends badly for Davis as Duggan dumps him to a BIG pop.

Bravo and Gang dump the Warrior as we’re down to six pretty quickly. Bass jumps the Dog and tosses him to get us down to five. Muraco dumps Bass and we have a final four of Muraco, Gang, Duggan and Bravo. Gang splashes Duggan in the corner, leaving Muraco to have to fight off both guys. He even takes Frenchy Martin down with a dropkick, only to have Gang clothesline him out to get us down to three.

Jim gets double teamed for awhile and Bravo drops an elbow on him. The same clothesline sequence the heels tried earlier backfires and Bravo gets clotheslined out. Duggan pounds on Gang in a Mid-South reunion but a single shot from Gang takes him down. Gang beats on him next to the ropes, so Duggan low bridges him to win the first Royal Rumble.

Rating: C+. This is one of those matches where the words “well, they tried” come to mind. That’s the best way to put this match: they didn’t really know what they were doing yet, but they tried. The lack of star power hurt this one as only Duggan and maybe Dog were big names here. It wouldn’t be until next year when the star power came into this and it became a main event thing. Still though, it’s certainly not a bad match and they would get better as time went on.

We recap (see? It even happened back then) the contract signing from earlier tonight.

Hogan is in the arena (in jeans, which is a weird image for some reason) and says that he wants Andre. Standard hype interview for a big match but it’s Hogan in the late 80s so you know it’s awesome.

Islanders vs. Young Stallions

Another 2/3 falls match here just to fill in the final part of the show. The Islanders have recently kidnapped Matilda and are recently back off suspension for returning the dog. Tama and Powers (It’s Haku/Tama vs. Jim Powers/Paul Roma) start things off and no one can get a real advantage in the early going. The Stallions beat on Tama a bit, with shots to the head for some reason, before it’s Haku in off the tag.

A cross body gets two for Roma and the Stallions work on the arm for awhile. Off to Tama who gets in like one shot before we cut to a camera angle from over the announcers shoulders. That’s a new one. Powers gets caught by a double headbutt and Haku hammers away on him some more. This continues to go nowhere so I think out of boredom it’s off to Roma vs. Tama.

Roma dropkicks Tama down but Haku low bridges Roma, sending him to the floor and injuring the knee. That’s good enough for a countout for the first fall and the Stallions take Roma to the dressing room to get his knee looked at. In other words, we need a reason to show the contract signing again and let Andre talk a bit. Just like Hogan, Andre doesn’t have much to say but it hypes up the Main Event.

Back to the match after the promo, the recap and a pair of breaks and it’s basically Powers in a handicap match now. You can see big gaps of seats where fans have left. For this one, I can’t say I blame them. Powers dropkicks him down and we hear about Giant-A-Mania from Jesse. Off to Tama who pounds away even more and kicks out of a small package at two. Tama’s jumping back elbow takes Powers down and it’s a little Samoan trash talk for good measure. Haku’s dropkick gets two and there’s a gutwrench suplex for two more.

It’s off to an abdominal stretch but Powers finally hiptosses out of it to get a breather. Haku misses a splash and things slow down again, but there’s no one for Powers to tag because of Roma’s knee injury. Roma finally tags himself in and Haku casually kicks the leg out to take over. Jesse wishes that was Vince’s knee because that’s the kind of guy he is. Tama puts on a half crab and the referee stops it.

Rating: D. This match is a victim of its spot on the card. The problem here is that everything else is done and this was the textbook definition of filler. It’s hard to care about something like this when there’s no story and no interest in this match, and on top of that it wasn’t even anything decent. This is one of those matches though where you can’t blame a lot of the problems on the wrestlers.

Jesse and Vince chat a bit about what we saw to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. There’s one major thing to keep in mind about this show: it was on free TV. On PPV, this would have been bad, but to be fair they had no idea what they were going for here so anything good, which a lot of stuff on here was, was a surprise. This was a decent entry into the show, but they did WAY better next year when they had an idea what they were doing. Good first effort though.

As I did with the last series of reviews, I’ll be comparing the new ratings to the original ones and posting a link to the original review.

Ratings Comparison

Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude

Original: C+

Redo: C

Jumping Bomb Angels vs. Glamour Girls

Original: B-

Redo: B

Royal Rumble

Original: C-

Redo: C+

Islanders vs. Young Stallions

Original: C-

Redo: D

Overall Rating

Original: C+

Redo: C+

This show hasn’t changed much other than a few tweaks here and there.

Here’s the original review:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/08/royal-rumble-count-up-1988/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

So we wrap up the AEW year with this one, which is more or less the end of the Continental Classic, the World Title match, and a bunch of other stuff that happens to be taking place on the show. The tournament has taken over the company (as it always does) and while it has gone well (as it always does), it has made quite a bit around here feel a lot less important. For now though, we should be in for some solid action so let’s get to it.

Zero Hour: Zack Gibson vs. Eddie Kingston

This was added on this week’s Ring Of Honor as the Grizzled Young Veterans attacked Kingston. I’m not sure how much of a build this match really needs, but at least it’s something that gets Kingston in the ring. The fans are going to respond to him rather well and it helps him get back into the groove of things, which he has been needing since his return from injury.

There’s no reason to believe that Kingston is going to lose here so I’ll take the obvious with Kingston getting the win. He’s fighting half of a low level tag team in a match that shouldn’t go much longer than about five minutes. In this case, AEW might even stick to the time frame, as Kingston has mainly been wrestling shorter matches. He’ll get another win here, as he should.

Zero Hour: Sisters Of Sin vs. Hyan/Maya World

Here we have another match where it doesn’t feel like there is much to doubt as the Zero Hour continues to feel like a glorified episode of Rampage. I’m still not sure why we need to have the Sisters get a featured match here, but maybe they’re next in line to come after the Women’s Tag Team Titles. If nothing else, they’re already an established team so there are far worse ideas out there.

Of course I’ll take the Sisters to win, as while the division needs some fresh blood, there is no reason to think that the Sisters should lose here. They’re a fairly featured team and it would make sense for them to get a win here, especially if they might be coming for the titles soon. Hyan and Worlds continue to get time in the ring and I’ve heard worse ideas, even if there is a chance that it’s just to spite Miranda Alize and Nixon Newell.

Death Riders vs. Conglomeration/Roderick Strong/Toni Storm

So this is a thing and yes it is indeed called the Mixed Nuts Mayhem match, because if there’s one thing that you need for a Death Riders match, it’s a funny moniker. It’s likely going to be a wild brawl with some interesting bits, though I’m still completely good with not seeing Daniel Garcia and/or Wheeler Yuta for a long time. Throw in Claudio Castagnoli going from a dark horse to win the Continental Classic to this and it’s a bit of a downgrade.

I’ll take the heroes to win here, just for the sake of not having Storm lose again. Mark Briscoe could use a win of his own and the fans will always respond to Orange Cassidy, so it makes a bit of sense to get them on the card. Hopefully the match winds up being more goofy fun than anything else, as that’s probably the best way to feature most of them. Either that or Yuta and/or Garcia being beaten up rather badly.

Darby Allin vs. Gabe Kidd

This is kind of a weird story, as Allin was gone for most of the tournament but he’s able to be back to face Kidd in this match. I’m not sure how much I need to see Allin get beaten up again, but it’s pretty much his standard operating procedure. That’s probably what we’re going to be seeing in this one, though it’s a bit weird as Kidd just showed up again after being gone for months and is facing Allin again.

I’m not sure where to go here, though I’ll take Allin, as he could use a win after quite a long stretch of nothing good. Granted it also depends on if Kidd is sticking around, as he could use a nice victory of his own. Given what we know at the moment though, I’ll take Allin to get the come from behind win, as it’s easy to get behind him fighting a bully and that’s what we’re getting here.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Babes Of Wrath(c) vs. Athena/Mercedes Mone

This one has me intrigued, as the Babes are the new team and the inaugural champions, though it’s almost hard to imagine Mone or Athena losing again. Mone is already on a losing streak but there isn’t much value in beating her without a title on the line. At the same time you have Athena, who hasn’t done much in Ring Of Honor as of late but doesn’t have the best history in AEW.

I’ll go with the champions to retain here, as it would be something of a stretch to have them lose the titles so soon after they started. Hopefully it winds up being a good match, as the Babes have gone from newly formed to a rather nice team in short order. They need some time to establish themselves a bit better before dropping the titles though and that can be done when they win here.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Tag Team Titles: FTR(c) vs. Bang Bang Gang

It’s a street fight and a rematch from a few weeks ago when FTR beat the Gang to retain the titles. That doesn’t make for the best reason to do the match again, but it isn’t like FTR has anything else to do at the moment. With so many people involved in the tournament, there are some tag teams who are more than a bit busy. Hopefully that changes shortly after the tournament, but this is what we have for now.

Much like when they fought a few weeks ago, I see no reason to believe that FTR is going to lose to the leftovers of the Bang Bang Gang so we’ll go with FTR retaining. I like the Gang for the most part, but they’re only going to get so far with one of the Gunns and Juice Robinson going for the titles. FTR wins here, in what should at least be an entertaining match.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Women’s Title: Kris Statlander(c) vs. Jamie Hayter

The title is on the line here, but it only feels so important. The Women’s Title hasn’t felt overly important in a good while, which is at least partially due to how much else is going on in the women’s division. Statlander is still going well, but she needs to do something that makes her stand out a bit more. I’m just not sure that’s what we’re going to be seeing here.

While I’m not sure it’s going to work out, I’ll take Statlander to retain here. As much as she doesn’t seem to be doing much at the moment, Hayter is hardly doing that much better. Either of them could be fine as champion, but they’re going to need to step up it up. The tag division, plus whatever Toni Storm is doing, both feel more important and that needs to change. For now though, I’ll take Statlander in a coin flip.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Continental Classic Semifinals: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada

I’m not even going to begin to try to make sense of the title situation here, if nothing else due to how ridiculous it’s been. This has been built up as a big time match for a good while now and that should make things all the more interesting. It’s nice to have a match that feels like it’s taking place more due to people having issues rather than a schedule saying they’re fighting. Or at least it’s close enough.

I’ll take….geez I guess Okada here, as all of the hype about him being the GREATEST TOURNAMENT WRESTLER OF ALL TIME all but guarantees him a spot in the finals. At the same time, it’s hard to fathom the IWGP World Champion being allowed to lose, especially around a week before Wrestle Kingdom. I’ll go with Okada winning here, though it doesn’t feel like anything close to a lock.

Continental Classic Semifinals: Jon Moxley vs. Kyle Fletcher

This is the kind of thing that could go either way, but it feels more like a way to get Moxley back on track. He’s been having all kinds of issues as of late and it would be nice to see him at least get to the finals. At the same time, Fletcher is in a place where it wouldn’t be insane to see him beat Moxley. That’s quite the accomplishment, and it’s nice to have a match which could go either way.

I think I’ll go with Moxley winning here, as his attempts to get back on track feel like a better story at the moment. At the same time, it’s a bit hard to fathom an all Don Callis Family final, as it would feel fairly cold outside of Okada vs. Takeshita. Moxley wins here and sets up a pretty big final, though we’ll get to that later, as it should probably headline the show.

AEW World Title: Samoa Joe(c) vs. Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

I’m not sure what it means that I keep forgetting Joe is the World Champion but that has happened multiple times in a fairly short reign. Joe is already a two time World Champion and he still feels like something of a forgotten part of the match. Maybe it’s due to being part of the Trios Champions or facing a two man team of heroes or maybe it’s MJF feeling like such a big deal, but it might be time to get the title off of Joe.

At the end of the day, it’s almost hard to fathom anyone but MJF leaving as champion here. He returned a few weeks ago and immediately stood out and it would make sense to put the title back on him (assuming he’s sticking around full time). MJF hasn’t been champion in a good while now and he’s already feeling like one of the top names in AEW. Give him the title back and see what he can do with it.

Continental Classic Finals: Jon Moxley vs. Kazuchika Okada

Again, I’m not even going to try to figure out how the title situation works (and for the love of all things good and holy, please don’t explain it to me), but it seems that Okada leaves with a title one way or another. That gives him quite the out in possibly losing here and it’s not like him losing the Continental Title is going to hurt in any meaningful way. He’s been champion pretty much forever so it’s time to get it off of him.

As you can probably guess, I’m going with Moxley winning here, as it splits up some titles and hopefully clarifies things a bit. If nothing else, I could go for getting rid of the whole Unified Title or whatever happens here, as there are FAR too many titles in AEW already. Moxley needs the win anyway and it could be a big step in what feels like the start of a face turn for him anyway, because that’s what the world is waiting to see.

Overall Thoughts

It’s pretty clear that the Continental Classic has been carrying the show for the last month or so, if nothing else due to the amount of talent involved. At the same time, it hasn’t exactly done much good for everything else in the company. The top of the card feels big enough, but they’re going to need someone to step up to bolster the undercard. Thankfully that’s where AEW tends to thrive so I’m cautiously optimistic about this one.

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

Ring Of Honor
Date: December 26, 2025
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman

It’s a special Boxing Day edition, logically called Boxing Day Brawl. That should mean a big special show, with the Pure Rules Title on the line as Lee Moriarty defends against Komander. Other than that, it’s hard to say what we might be getting around here, as tends to be the custom. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

James Drake vs. Eddie Kingston

Zack Gibson is here with Drake and insults New York City, which brings Kingston out with a chair to smash both of them. Drake gets up and jumps Kingston to officially start things off, with commentary saying we have to make sure it’s a fair beginning. After one of them got smacked with a chair.

Kingston chops his way out of the corner but a neckbreaker is cut off. A kick to the head misses for Drake though and Kingston pulls him into the Stretch Muffler. Gibson offers a distraction though and Drake is back with a middle rope dropkick. Kingston is back with another neckbreaker but Drake’s running dropkick in the corner gets two. Drake goes up but dives into an exploder suplex, setting up the DDT to give Kingston the pin at 5:33.

Rating: C. The match wasn’t exactly in doubt, but it served as a way to give the fans something to cheer over because the loudmouthed heel. That’s a smart path to take on the opening match on a show like this as it’s worked forever in wrestling. If nothing else, Kingston needs the reps to get back to his old self after being out for so long.

Post match Gibson jumps Kingston and Drake adds a low blow. Drake’s top rope dropkick leaves Kingston laying and the villains talk a lot of trash.

Santa Claus is in the ring before the next match but the Premiere Athletes interrupt. Claus isn’t a fan of the team (who apparently helped with his weight loss) so Stori Denali gives him a chokeslam.

Premiere Athletes vs. VSK/Jon Cruz/Ashley Vox

Nese poses at VSK to start but VSK jumps over him and poses as well. Cruz comes in and gets taken into the corner to keep up the beating before it’s off to Vox. The chokeslam is broken up and Nese hits a dive over the top, leaving Denali to chokeslam Vox for the pin at 3:29.

Rating: C-. Well that was in fact a Premiere Athletes squash and that’s pretty much what they do a good chunk of the time. I’m not sure what makes this one any different than how they do it most of the time but here we are. Denali continues to be impressive, albeit in rather short sports. I’m just not sure what the three of them can do anytime soon.

Komander, wearing a backpack, is ready to face Lee Moriarty for the Pure Title.

Video on Athena/Mercedes Mone challenging the Babes Of Wrath for the AEW Women’s Tag Team Titles.

Mina Shirakawa vs. Rebecca Scott

Commentary says Shirakawa is trying to get back in Women’s TV Title contention. Why wouldn’t she want to go after Athena? She’s already lost to Athena as well so why go after the midcard title? Shirakawa gets to dance to start before dropping her with a Sling Blade. A top rope Sling Blade connects as commentary says Shirakawa took the Interim Women’s TV Title to new heights. As in the title she held for three months and successfully defended one time??? I love Riccaboni but he says some questionable things at times. The figure four makes Scott tap at 2:01.

Jay Lethal wants to team with Bandido to get rid of the Swirl. Sure.

Swirl vs. Alec Price/Jordan Oliver

Christian cuts Price off to start and sends Oliver outside. That doesn’t last long as Oliver is back in for a Fameasser but the Swirl knocks both of them to the floor. The flip dive connects for Johnson so the Swirl gets to pose a bit. Back in and Christian chinlocks Oliver, who manages to fight up for something of a hip attack. Price comes in to clean house, including a springboard clothesline to drop Johnson. A rebound clothesline does the same to Price and something like a springboard Steiner Bulldog (close enough) gets two. Price is sent outside though and it’s the Lethal Brainbuster to finish Oliver at 6:37.

Rating: B-. Oliver and Price are a good enough team to warrant another look and despite being presented as boring or uninteresting, Swirl is more than fine in the ring. If nothing else, it was nice to have something a bit more competitive on the show, even if there was no reason to believe Oliver and Price were going to win. Bring them back though, as the tag div…ok there pretty much isn’t a tag division but it would be nice to have them around again.

IMG Credit: Ring Of Honor Wrestling

Zack Gibson vs. Bryce Donovan

Donovan is fresh out of the WWE ID Program and gets taken down to start. Back up and Donovan gets in a running clothesline, only to get kicked out to the floor. They get back inside and Gibson kicks him down, setting up a neck crank. Donovan fights up and hits a running clothesline into a swinging Boss Man Slam for two. A charge in the corner misses though and it’s a middle rope Codebreaker to drop Donovan. Gibson clotheslines him for the pin at 5:15.

Rating: C. During the match, Gibson vs. Eddie Kingston was announced for the Worlds End Zero Hour. That made this match the warmup for tomorrow, which probably wasn’t needed after Gibson laid Kingston out earlier tonight. Donovan showed about the same talent that was on display in the ID Program, meaning bringing him back won’t make much of a difference one way or another.

Dalton Castle and the Outrunners are jumped by MxM TV, who want a Fight Without Honor next week.

IMG Credit: Ring Of Honor Wrestling

Boom & Doom vs. Frat House

Big Justice, Aaron Solo and the rest of the Frat House are here too. Karter ducks Marshall to start and poses, meaning it’s Marshall being taken into the corner for some shots to the head. That’s broken up and AJ comes in for a quick powerslam to Garrison. Back up and Garrison chokes on the rope, with Marshall trying to come in, allowing Karter to get in a cheap shot.

A belly to belly suplex gets AJ out of trouble and the tag brings in Marshall to clean house. Marshall hits a big running flip dive to the floor but a cheap shot earns him a group stomping on the floor. Back in and Garrison’s armbar keeps Marshall in trouble, allowing Karter to kick him down. Garrison misses a splash in the corner but AJ is knocked off the apron.

A flapjack/big boot combination gets two on Marshall, who is sent outside. Big Justice and Solo won’t let him get smashed by a chair but they all do get ejected. Back in and Marshall Downward Spirals Garrison, allowing the tag off to AJ. The Powerboom is broken up and everything breaks down, with Garrison breaking it up. A Powerboom/Blockbuster combination finally finishes Karter at 12:01.

Rating: C+. Well that was rather long, which isn’t the most positive way to describe a Frat House match. AJ isn’t likely to lose any match he’s in and his novelty has already worn off. He’s perfectly fine, but that doesn’t make for the most thrilling time in the ring. The match was acceptable enough, but it wasn’t exactly anything different than what you would expect from AJ and company.

Lee Moriarty is ready to beat Komander again, as he tends to do with everyone.

Lio Rush vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Shibata won’t shake hands to start but will take over with a knuckle lock. That’s broken up and they run the ropes until Rush gets two off a rollup. Shibata takes him outside for a suplex on the floor, followed by a ram into the barricade. They head back inside, with Shibata getting kicked right back to the floor for a suicide dive. Shibata is fine enough to grab a suplex but the springboard Stunner brings him right back down for two. The Final Hour is broken up though and it’s a low blow to set up Shibata’s cross armbreaker for the tap at 6:11.

Rating: C+. Rush was bringing his usual energy here and it made for a fairly nice match while it lasted. That being said, Shibata as a heel isn’t exactly interesting, especially when he’s currently doing something as part of a team in AEW. I have no idea why he’s in Ring Of Honor, though he’s now 21-0 and nowhere near a title match, though that’s a bit too logical around here.

Pure Title: Lee Moriarty vs. Komander

Moriarty is defending and bounces out of an early hammerlock attempt. Komander gets out of a cross armbreaker and a Border City Stretch, the latter of which is from the first rope break. Moriarty’s wristlock is broken up and Komander backflips out of the corner for a staredown. That earns him a spinning faceplant and Moriarty is looking rather confident.

A waistlock keeps Komander down and it’s off to a seated abdominal stretch, complete with a stomach claw. That’s broken up and Komander goes to the ropes (not for a break) so Moriarty pulls on a regular abdominal stretch. Komander breaks out of it again and tries a springboardy armdrag, which is reversed into an STF. That means the second rope break before Komander dropkicks the leg out. A running DDT gives Komander two and he walks the ropes into a crossbody.

The Fang gives Moriarty two more as Komander uses another rope break. The Border City Stretch is countered into a rollup for two and a standing Spanish Fly gives Komander the same. Moriarty is sent outside for a heck of a springboard moonsault but bangs up his own ribs in the process. Back in and poisonrana gives Komander two, followed by a cross armbreaker to make Moriarty use his first rope break. Cielito Lindo hits raised foot though and a Gory Special in the ropes makes Komander give up at 14:37.

Rating: B-. It was the usual fine Moriarty match and that’s about all. While Komander did feel like someone who could take the title and the match was built up, it feels like Moriarty is going to finally drop the thing on a much bigger stage. At least it felt like a main event and was treated like one though and that helps a lot.

Overall Rating: C. Apparently this qualifies as some kind of a special episode around here, with one match that felt big and I guess Boom & Doom as the second biggest match on the card. Other than that, it was just the usual cast of characters doing the same stuff they do so often around here. That’s why Ring Of Honor is such an afterthought so much of the time, and if this special is any indication, it’s going to remain that way for a long time.

Results
Eddie Kingston b. James Drake – DDT
Premiere Athletes b. VSK/Jon Cruz/Ashley Vox – Chokeslam to Vox
Mina Shirakawa b. Rebecca Scott – Figure four
Swirl b. Alec Price/Jordan Oliver – Lethal Brainbuster to Oliver
Zack Gibson b. Bryce Donovan – Clothesline
Boom & Doom b. Frat House – Powerboom/Blockbuster combination to Karter
Katsuyori Shibata b. Lio Rush – Cross armbreaker
Lee Moriarty b. Komander – Gory Special in the ropes

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

Smackdown
Date: December 26, 2025
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the second taped Smackdown in a row as we wrap up Christmas week. That means it’s time to get ready for the new year, which is going to feature more Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre. Other than that, it’s almost time to start getting ready for the Royal Rumble so let’s get to it.

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

We open with a recap of Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes, with Rhodes possibly getting on the bad side of GM Nick Aldis.

Rhodes arrives and runs into Aldis, who says McIntyre isn’t here yet. Aldis says McIntyre has signed the contract so once he publicly apologizes and pays a fine, Rhodes can’t lay a finger on him. Rhodes understands and says to tell him when McIntyre shows up. Aldis agrees but runs into Miz, who wants nothing to do with….that guy with the name. Aldis accuses him of being a grumpy Grinch and points out that Joe Hendry is in the ring.

We go to the ring where Hendry has dancing elves, Otis and Akira Tozawa and a bunny. The song is about the size of Miz’s testicles and mentions how he can’t beat Carmelo Hayes, gets thrown out of the locker room a lot, and can’t do well in Hollywood. Miz comes out to complain and gets serenaded again. Cue Aldis to make a Miracle On 34th Street Fight right now.

Joe Hendry vs. The Miz

Street fight with a bunch of Christmas weapons at ringside. Hendry shoulders him down to start and grabs a delayed suplex for quite the positive reception. It’s time to head outside where Hendry finds a guitar but Hendry finds a ukulele. With that not working, Miz pulled out some rather tiny….ornaments. A hiptoss sends Miz into a Christmas tree and it’s time for a table (with a bow). Miz gets rather frustrated and stomps on a bow, followed by some elbows onto a present as we take a break.

We come back with Hendry hitting a fall away slam to Miz, followed by another to a tree. They go outside, with Akira Tozawa grabbing a cookie (Graves: “PUT THAT COOKIE DOWN!”) but getting dropped. Otis steals the Singapore candy cane and Hendry hits Miz low, allowing all the good guys (and the Easter Bunny) to get inside. Finishers abound, Otis has a cookie, the Bunny is R-Truth (complete with a hopping Five Knuckle Shuffle), a guitar to Miz sets up the Standing Ovation through a table to give Hendry the pin at 11:31.

Rating: C+. This falls under the definition of goofy fun as they had the annual themed fight. It’s an easy way to get Hendry into the mix as beating Miz is almost the introductory badge these days. The match was silly and featured R-Truth getting the wrong holiday, so it could only be so bad.

Fraxiom and Carmelo Hayes are in the back, with Ilja Dragunov walking to talk to Hayes alone. He talks about their chemistry last week but Dragunov says the Open Challenge is closed because Hayes has a title shot tonight.

Drew McIntyre arrives and won’t say the stipulation he’s picking for his match against Cody Rhodes. For now, he seems off to take a nap.

Video on Damian Priest vs. Aleister Black, with Black swearing to end this.

Jade Cargill isn’t happy with Michin attacking her with a kendo stick. Cargill doesn’t need weapons because she is a weapon.

B-Fab doesn’t want Michin to get hurt by standing up for her. Michin thinks Cargill is worried and they can use that to their advantage next week.

Lash Legend vs. Charlotte

Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss are here too. They fight over wrist control to start and neither can get very far. Legend powers her into the corner to start and hits a clothesline, followed by a heck of an uppercut. Charlotte gets in a kick to the head and tries a running hurricanrana, which is reversed into a powerbomb as we take a break.

We come back with Legend holding Charlotte up and bouncing Charlotte’s head in between the top and middle ropes. Charlotte fights up and tries the Buckshot Lariat, only to get pump kicked down for two (after pausing due to a bit of mistiming). Another powerbomb looks to set up the Lash Extension but Charlotte reverses into a DDT. Charlotte’s moonsault gets two but Jax gets up for a distraction, earning a choke from Bliss. Back up and Charlotte’s sunset flip finishes Legend at 10:52.

Rating: B-. This match told a good story with Legend being a younger, possibly more athletic, but also less experienced Charlotte. It made for an interesting match as you don’t often see someone who can match Charlotte for athleticism and power but Legend is quite the athletic marvel in her own right. It could be interesting to see how far Legend goes, because she certainly has some pieces in place.

Trick Williams (former NXT/TNA World Champion) is in Nick Aldis’ office and asks if Smackdown is going to match an offer from Raw. Before Aldis can answer, Cody Rhodes comes in to ask if Drew McIntyre has paid the fine and apologized yet. That’s a negative to both, but Williams says he doesn’t like Rhodes interrupting him because he is the hottest free agent around.

Solo Sikoa, with the MFTs, isn’t wild on Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks. Howdy hides behind a bunch of people wearing masks while Sikoa has created a family. The fireflies are fading away and the lantern is burning low. We even get a little He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands.

IMG Credit: WWE

US Title: Ilja Dragunov vs. Carmelo Hayes

Hayes is challenging and chops him into the corner to start. That earns him some rolling German suplexes, as Dragunov is known to do. Back up and a running boot to the face sends Hayes outside and we take a break. We come back with an exchange of chops until Hayes hits a springboard clothesline. The spinning faceplant gives Hayes two and he kicks Dragunov down again.

Dragunov gets back up and goes up, only to get kicked out of the air. The Constantine Special drops Hayes and the top rope backsplash gets two. We take another break and come back again with Dragunov putting him up top but getting shoved down.

Nothing But Net is kicked out of the air to leave both of them down. Dragunov superplexes him down and hits the H Bomb for a VERY near fall, leaving Dragunov shaken up. Another superplex is loaded up but Hayes reverses into a cutter (that was so quick I wasn’t even sure what he did at first) for two of his own. They fight to the apron where Dragunov hits a Death Valley Driver but dives into the First 48. Nothing But Net gives Hayes the pin and the title at 20:44.

Rating: B. This wound up being rather good and they pulled the trigger on Hayes, which is more than a smart enough move. Hayes has been around for awhile now and hasn’t done much on his own (or with Miz either) so it’s a huge step forward. I could go for seeing him as someone getting some more focus and at least he won a title on the top level. It helps that the match was rather awesome as well.

Post match Dragunov presents Hayes with the title for the big show of respect.

Alexa Bliss and Charlotte are ready for the Women’s Tag Team Titles but Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky come in to say they’re going to win the titles. Nia Jax and Lash Legend come in to argue, with Nick Aldis getting in between them. The Kabuki Warriors come in to say it’s an eight woman tag match next week.

Carmelo Hayes thanks Ilja Dragunov for everything, including remind Hayes that he is Him. Johnny Gargano jumps Hayes from behind and says that title is his.

Chelsea Green/Alba Fyre vs. Kiana James/Giulia

Green and James shove each other to start and can’t get very far. Fyre comes in so it’s off to Giulia, who wants to face Green. Giulia settles for swinging at Giulia, allowing the tag off to Green, who gets knocked into the corner. Giulia’s missile dropkick hits Green and she sends Fyre outside. The northern lights bomb finishes Green at 3:16.

Rating: C. This was as by the book as you could get and it worked out well for Giulia. The idea is that Giulia can crush Green if they’re going straight up and that’s what happened here. Green is much better when she cheats and gets to connive a lot, which should be happening when they have the inevitable title match.

Kit Wilson is in Nick Aldis’ office and says he wants to showcase his new version. Cody Rhodes comes in to ask referee Dan Angler if McIntyre has apologized yet. He hasn’t, but McIntyre comes out to the ring for a chat, with Aldis and Angler going to join him.

Video on Oba Femi, who seems to be coming to the main roster.

Here’s what’s coming next week, with the show returning to three hours.

IMG Credit: WWE

Drew McIntyre is in the ring with Nick Aldis and Dan Angler, and hands Aldis the check for the fine, which seems to be enough. That brings McIntyre to Angler and he apologizes for the Claymore. Angler accepts, but McIntyre apologizes for Angler clearly wanting to be a wrestler but not being being good enough. McIntyre apologizes to Angler’s wife for not having a husband like him and to Angler’s children for having a corporate stooge for a father.

Cue Cody Rhodes to interrupt, with McIntyre saying he knows Rhodes wants to hurt him. McIntyre tries to goad him into a fight, even bringing up Rhodes’ wife and kids. With that not working, McIntyre says the title match will be outside of the United States and it’s 3 Stages Of Hell (Rhodes agrees). McIntyre says the title match is in two weeks in Berlin and when he takes Rhodes to Hell, say hi to Dusty. Rhodes is ready to fight but gets Claymored to end the show. You could all but count down until he mentioned Dusty and that’s not a bad idea. This feels like the big blowoff and it needs to be.

Overall Rating: C+. The focus here was mainly on setting up Rhodes vs. McIntyre and they did a nice job of building up the match. That’s a big start towards setting up the huge January show before they can get started on the way towards the Royal Rumble. Now just find some other stories to build up as well, as the show could use it.

Results
Joe Hendry b. The Miz – Standing Ovation through a table
Charlotte b. Lash Legend – Sunset flip
Carmelo Hayes b. Ilja Dragunov – Nothing But Net
Giulia/Kiana James b. Alba Fyre/Chelsea Green – Northern lights bomb to Green

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: December 25, 2025
Location: El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas
Commentators: Tom Hannifan, Matthew Rehwoldt
Host: Tom Hannifan

It’s Christmas night and that means it’s time to look at the best parts of the year. In this case we’re seeing the annual end of the year awards. That’s the kind of thing that means we should be looking back at some rather strong moments from a pretty good year for the company. Let’s get to it.

Note that I’ll be posting the full versions of the matches rather than the clipped versions shown on the broadcast.

Opening sequence.

Hannifan welcomes us to the show.

Gia Claus introduces the show’s main event, which will be ten person Christmas surprise tag match. There are two captains who will open packages to determine their teammates.

The Hardys are the Tag Team Of The Year in what should not be a surprise at all.

From Slammiversary.

Tag Team Titles: Hardys vs. Rascalz vs. First Class vs. Nemeths

The Nemeths are defending in a ladder match so they throw ladders in to start fast. The Hardys take one of them away and start to clean house, with every non-Hardy team being dropped. For some reason the Hardys go up at the same time, with Francis shoving it over for a crash onto the top rope.

Francis World’s Strongest Slams Reed onto the ladder but Navarro gets on Francis’ shoulders, allowing Wentz to hit something of a Doomsday dropkick. Francis gets crushed with a ladder and Reed hits his diving cutter to the floor. Wentz dives through a bridged ladder at ringside and Francis is pulled off the ladder so the Hardys can double team him down.

The Nemeths break it up and climb at the same time, with the Rascalz making the save this time. The big ladder is sat up and Francis climbs up for a moonsault down into a big crash. First Class goes up and are promptly shoved over for a crash onto the bridged ladders outside.

Jeff hits a Swanton onto the Rascalz on more bridged ladders but these don’t break (though the Rascalz might), so Jeff goes up and does it again. With nothing else working, Jeff grabs a remote control and a rope ladder drops down (because of course). The Nemeths go up and crash down, with the Hardys giving them stereo Twists of Fate with chairs around their necks. Jeff climbs up to get the titles at 16:46.

Rating: B-. They had some unique spots here, but there was a grand total of no reason for this to be a ladder match. It felt like they were doing one for the sake of giving the Hardys another moment, which has been done to death. We’re not that far removed from the Hardys’ most recent title win either, so it isn’t like this is some big impactful win.

The Hardys are very happy with their win.

Joe Hendry wins the Crossover Moment Of The Year for appearing at Wrestlemania. Yeah that was kind of awesome.

Mara Sade picks her four partners but we don’t see who they are.

The Elegance Brand are the Knockouts Tag Team Of The Year and Ash By Elegance is the Knockout Of The Year.

We take a quick look at Ash By Elegance winning the Knockouts Title.

From Sacrifice.

Knockouts Tag Team Titles: Ash By Elegance/Heather By Elegance/Personal Concierge vs. Spitfire

Spitfire is defending in a handicap match and they get the Personal Concierge if they win. The Concierge introduces By Elegance and then disrobes, which has commentary, uh, unhappy. Luna takes Ash down into an armbar to start but Heather comes in to crank on the arm for a change. The Concierge goes to the…bottom rope for an ax handle before handing it back to Heather, who is quickly put down. Threat comes in for a basement crossbody, followed by a suplex/clothesline combination for two.

Ash offers a distraction though and Heather takes over inside. The Concierge adds some stomps, then stops to dance, meaning Ash has to come in for a save. A catapult into a Codebreaker gets two and we hit the chinlock on Threat. As usual, that’s broken up and the tag brings in Luna to clean house. By Elegance is sent outside for a big dive, leaving Heather to get caught with a helicopter bomb, with the Concierge having to make the save. The Pressure Drop hits the Concierge but Threat gets caught in an assisted top rope double stomp for the titles at 9:12.

Rating: C+. By Elegance had to win the titles at some point if they wanted to have any kind of a future. At the end of the day, Ash has been here for a bit but hadn’t won anything of note coming in. You can present has as a star all you want, but it doesn’t matter without getting some kind of a prize. That is what she pulled off here and it was fairly long overdue. The feud needs to end already, but it’s not like there are many other teams to come after the belts.

Leon Slater is X-Division Star Of The Year and has the Finisher Of The Year. Even Hannifan says this shouldn’t be a surprise.

Slater is very excited and appreciated.

From Slammiversary.

X-Division Title: Leon Slater vs. Moose

Moose, with his old school theme, is defending. Slater slugs away to start but gets choke bombed out of the corner for two. They go outside with Slater’s hurricanrana being blocked but he’s able to send Moose into the steps. Back in and Slater can’t hit a torture rack bomb, instead being sent hard into the buckle.

The release Rock Bottom drops Slater again and they go to the apron. Another chokebomb is countered into a hurricanrana and a powerbomb is countered into another hurricanrana. Slater takes him out with a bit flip dive but the pop up powerbomb drops Slater inside. Slater’s clothesline doesn’t so much so Moose blasts him with a discus lariat. Back up and Slater gets in a hard clothesline of his own but Moose crotches him on top.

The spear gives Moose two but he misses another into the corner. Slater manages the torture rack slam into a spear of his own, followed by the Swanton 450 for two. A springboard is speared out of the air to send Slater outside, where he hits a Code Red. Back in and a Swanton into another Swanton 450 gives Slater the pin and the title at 15:27.

Rating: B. Good action with a good story and that’s all you can ask for most of the time. The idea here was Slater getting to win the big one and that has been set up for the last few months. Slater gets the big win on the major stage and that is the best possible outcome. Moose had held onto the title, but Slater sound up being different, which is the way it should have gone.

Post match Slater celebrates with his family before Moose puts the title on him in a rare show of respect. With Moose gone, AJ Styles comes out to an absolute hero’s welcome (with Slater running around in circles). Styles asks if TNA missed him and talks about his history here. He says Slater earned it and says people like Slater make Styles love this business. Styles lists off some great X-Division wrestlers and says the division is in good hands before announcing Slater as the new champion. That’s as awesome of a rub as you’ll get.

Ryan Nemeth (still with the Thanksgiving turkey suit) picks his team but also doesn’t say his name. There are two boxes left unopened.

Mustafa Ali is happy to have won Match Of The Year with….someone!

From Rebellion.

Mustafa Ali vs. Mike Santana

Falls count anywhere and a drummer and dancers play Ali to the ring. Ali has the Great Hands with him while Santana has some boxers. Santana starts fast and backdrops him out to the floor for a big crash. The steps are loaded up and Ali’s dive is sent into them to give Santana two on the floor. Ali tries to leave so Santana dives off the stage to take him out. A moonsault off the barricade takes Ali down for two more but cue the Secret Service and the Great Hands to go after Santana.

That lets Ali climb to a balcony for a dive and they head back to ringside where Ali hits a superkick. Santana cuts him off with a Death Valley Driver through two open chairs but Ali chairs him off the top. Ali goes up top and goes Coast To Coast on the apron (ouch) for two. Back in and Santana sends him face first into the buckle but here are the Great Hands to go after Santana again. They put Santana on a table for a 450 to give Ali two. Back in and the Great Hands try to handcuff Santana, who gives them a double rolling cutter.

Instead Santana handcuffs them to the ropes and grabs a barbed wire baseball bat. Ali knocks it away but gets caught with a Spanish Fly. Tasha Steelz whips out a table…but Santana powerbombs her through it instead. Well that evens the odds a bit. Another table is brought in and Santana superplexes Ali through it for two. Ali grabs the bat and smashes Santana in the face but the bleeding Santana gets up for Spin The Block and the pin at 19:23.

Rating: B. This was the kind of overcome all odds win that Santana needed and he looked like a hero in the end. That’s what he has been needing in the last few months and it would not surprise me to see Santana getting into the World Title picture. They had the violence going here and Santana outsmarted and flat out beat four people at once. That’s quite the impressive move and Santana looked good here.

Santana thanks the fans for his first TNA award.

Santana is also Wrestler Of The Year. Well who else was it going to be? He dedicates the award to his daughter and asks if we’re ready for 2026.

Chris Bey is the Inspirational Wrestler Of The Year. Him walking out to the stage was an emotional moment so that’s a pretty safe call.

The System is the Faction Of The Year.

Team Sade vs. Team Nemeth

Ryan Nemeth, Mance Warner, Rosemary, Jake Something, Jessie McKay
Mara Sade, Dezmond Xavier, BDE, Eric Young, Cassie Lee

Everyone brings a present with them. Xavier and Warner start things off with a spinning headscissors dropping Warner but leaving Xavier dizzy. It’s off to Lee vs. McKay, so posing ensues. They drop down and try a double pin, which doesn’t work either. BDE comes in but Something pulls him out of the air.

It’s off to Sade to work on the arm but Rosemary comes in to put her in the Upside down. A Sling Blade gives Sade two so it’s off to Young, who gets taken down with a double superkick. BDE Canadian Destroys Something but Warner chokeslams BDE through a present. Everything breaks down and BDE hits a bit dive onto the pile (though he looked like he almost left it short). Back in and Sade superkicks Rosemary for the pin at 6:33.

Rating: C+. This was the definition of harmless fun and it worked out perfectly well. It’s basically a Christmas version of the Thanksgiving match and Sade beating Nemeth is a funny story at the moment. They threw in a feature match for the holiday show with no significant stakes and that’s fine for this kind of week.

McKay joins in the celebration.

Hannifan thanks the fans for watching to wrap up the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show is basically taking a pass for the holiday and that’s fine. It’s more or less a Best Of show with one extra match at the end. That’s all it should have been as everything resets for the show on AMC in three weeks anyway. There is nothing wrong with doing a show like this and the feature match was easy fun so it was a fine use of two hours.

Results
Team Sade b. Team Nemeth – Superkick to Rosemary

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

Collision
Date: December 25, 2025
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Tony Schiavone

It’s the last night of the Continental Classic, or at least the league stage, and that means we should be in for something interesting. There is a six way tie in the Gold League so something is going to have to give as we move on to Saturday. We also have an extended show this week, because AEW loves content. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

The opening video looks at the Continental Classic, as you probably expected.

Continental Classic Gold League: Kyle Fletcher (6 points) vs. Jack Perry (6 points)

They circle each other a bit to start with Fletcher avoiding a dropkick but not being able to get anywhere with a grab of the (previously injured) leg. Instead Fletcher stomps on the leg and grabs a half crab. That’s broken up and Perry avoids a charge in the corner to send Fletcher outside. Fletcher cuts off a hurricanrana and powerbombs him onto the apron before slamming Perry into the corner.

With Perry down, Fletcher starts taking off Perry’s boot. Referee: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Fletcher: “I’M TAKING HIS BOOT OFF!” A big stomp onto the apron onto the step has Perry in more trouble as we take a break. We come back with Perry hitting a dropkick but hurting his ankle again. Perry knocks him outside and hits a sitout bulldog on the floor. Fletcher is able to hit a brainbuster on the floor, followed by a Michinoku Driver for two. Perry fights out of trouble on top and hits a super sunset bomb.

The running knee is countered into another half crab, but Perry reverses that into the Snare Trap, leaving Fletcher panicking. One finger on the rope gets Fletcher out of trouble and he knocks Perry back again. The sitout powerbomb is countered into a Code Red, setting up a piledriver for two. Perry knocks him off the top but gets caught with a running boot to the face. The brainbuster finishes Perry at 19:20.

Rating: B+. Heck of a match here with Perry trying to fight from underneath with the leg injury. It made Fletcher look like that much more of a killer as he was going after the damaged Perry, who managed to make it more than interesting. I liked this more than I was expecting as Fletcher likely moves on to the next round.

Gold League Standings

Kyle Fletcher – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kazuchika Okada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Kevin Knight – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Pac – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (0 matches remaining)

Kyle O’Reilly tries to tell Roderick Strong to lean on the Conglomeration and to never give up. Strong seems encouraged.

Continental Classic Blue League: Konosuke Takeshita (10 points) vs. Mascara Dorada (6 points)

Dorada works on the arm to start before grabbing a rollup for two. Takeshita stomps him down in the corner and knees him in the face but Dorada is back with a springboard wristdrag. The big dive to the floor only hits barricade though and we’re back with Dorada grabbing a rather spinning headscissors.

Another springboard is countered into a Blue Thunder Bomb to give Takeshita two. Dorada’s charge is cut off with a clothesline but he’s able to grab a super hurricanrana. They trade rollups for two each before Dorada’s running shooting star press gets two more. Takeshita is back with a running knee and the Raging Fire finishes Dorada off at 11:39.

Rating: B-. It was hard to imagine Dorada being a major threat to Takeshita here, which is kind of a shame as Dorada has been showcasing himself rather well in recent months. He’s someone who could be quite the star if he’s given a chance, but Takeshita is going to be a favorite to win the whole tournament. Let him look strong going into the semifinals this weekend.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 13 points (0 matches remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (1 match remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 0 points (1 match remaining)

Continental Classic Blue League: Claudio Castagnoli (7 points) vs. Roderick Strong (0 points)

Castagnoli hits a running uppercut for an early two and Strong rolls him up for the same. Another uppercut sends Strong outside and Castagnoli dumps him over the barricade. Back in and Strong grabs an Angle Slam, followed by some jumping knees for the VERY quick pin at 3:22.

Rating: B-. Well ok. During this match I was thinking that I really didn’t need to see a long match between two people who have no realistic chance to win the tournament and they didn’t give me one. Well done on throwing in a curve ball there, as you do not see short matches like this in the tournament at all.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 13 points (0 matches remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 3 points (0 matches remaining)

Post match the Death Riders run in to beat down Strong but Mark Briscoe runs in for the save. Toni Storm comes in to go after Marina Shafir and gets a kiss on the hand from Briscoe, leaving Storm with the vapors.

The Bang Bang Gang wants a rematch from FTR, with Stokley Hathaway accepting for Worlds End.

Worlds End rundown.

Video on Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter.

Continental Classic Gold League: Kevin Knight (6 points) vs. Pac (6 points)

Pac takes him up against the ropes to start so Knight grabs a wristlock. A running shoulder puts Knight down but he sends Pac outside for a breather. Back in and they chop it out until Knight sends him outside again. Knight hurricanranas him on the floor, setting up a springboard clothesline. A sliding forearm gives Knight two and we take a break.

We come back with Fletcher charging into an overhead belly to belly suplex to send him crashing over the top for a scary landing. An overhead belly to belly superplex gives Pac two but Knight is back up with a missile dropkick. Pac German suplexes him on the floor though and, after flipping off the crowd, wants the countout.

Knight beats the count back inside and jumps to the top for a top rope superplex. They forearm it out and Knight dropkicks him down, setting up the Coast To Coast. Knight’s UFO Splash hits raised knees though and Pac rolls him up. The Black Arrow hits raised knees and Knight rolls him up a few times, only to get pulled into the Brutalizer…as time expires for the draw at 20:00.

Rating: B. They have something with Knight who is athletic, has some size, and has momentum right now. That is worth a look, and hopefully it happens rather than seeing more with Mike Bailey. Pac getting aggressive (ok more aggressive) as time ran out was great, but Knight survived in a cool moment,. Nice job here.

Gold League Standings

Kyle Fletcher – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kevin Knight – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Pac – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Kazuchika Okada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (0 matches remaining)

Here is Gabe Kidd, who talks about hearing Darby Allin’s body bouncing down the steps. He said Allin isn’t indestructible and now Allin is in the ICU. Cue Allin (of course) with a baseball bat to chase Kidd off. The match is set for Worlds End.

Video on Mercedes Mone/Athena challenging the Babes Of Wrath for the Women’s Tag Team Titles.

Babes Of Wrath vs. Maya World/Hyan

Non-title. Hyan gets elbowed and side slammed for two to start. Nightingale drops Cameron onto Hyan for two more and everything breaks down. The running flip dive off the apron drops Hyan and World as we take a break. We come back with Nightingale suplexing both of them down and giving World a backbreaker. Everything breaks down and Soul Food into a swinging neckbreaker finishes Hyan at 7:01.

Rating: C. This was just a long squash and odds are that was the case due to the extended run time this week. Thankfully the Babes didn’t have any trouble here, which is a good way to go before they have their big title defense on Saturday. The team is still relatively new and they need some more reps so this wasn’t a bad idea.

Post match the Babes talk about being in New York, including going to Eddie Kingston’s mother’s house. They met Santa Claus and talked about wanting peace, except for in Chicago, because they’re going to hurt Mercedes Mone and Athena.

Continental Classic Blue League: Orange Cassidy (6 points) vs. Jon Moxley (6 points)

They fight over a piledriver/Beach Break to start before crashing out to the floor. Moxley wins a slugout but gets hammered in the corner back inside. Cassidy gets knocked outside and his elbow is banged into the barricade. Moxley is right on him with a whip into the steps but a Stundog Millionaire gives Cassidy a breather back inside. A top rope DDT drops Moxley back inside and we take a break.

We come back with Cassidy actually winning an exchange of forearms, setting up the Orange Punch. Moxley is sent outside for a suicide dive and they go onto the barricade, where Cassidy DDTs him through a table. They barely beat the count and Cassidy nails an Orange Punch. Moxley grabs the Gotch style piledriver for two but he comes up favoring his leg. Cassidy grabs a half crab but Moxley is quickly out, only to get caught with a running DDT. The Beach Break gets two and Cassidy goes for the leg, which is reversed into a small package to give Moxley the pin at 17:06.

Rating: B. These two do have chemistry together and it feels like something of an accomplishment for Moxley to beat Cassidy in a bigger match. At the same time, it’s interesting to see Cassidy just kind of floating around lately. He hasn’t had much to do in recent months and I’m not sure what changes that.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 13 points (0 matches remaining)
Jon Moxley – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 3 points (0 matches remaining)

Video on the World Title match at Worlds End.

Continental Classic Gold League: Kazuchika Okada (6 points) vs. Mike Bailey (6 points)

They take turns backing each other up against the ropes and Okada has to avoid a tornado kick. Bailey sends him to the floor and hits a triangle moonsault, only to charge into a flapjack back inside. Instead a missile dropkick connects for Bailey, who walks into the neckbreaker onto the knee. Okada’s top rope elbow connects and he flips off the fans and they strike it out until we take a break.

We come back with Bailey winning a strike off (doesn’t seem too bright for Okada) but getting sunset flipped for two. The moonsault knees miss for Bailey but he avoids a charge and hits a springboard corkscrew moonsault to the floor. They go to the ramp where Bailey hits the moonsault knees to the chest and a kick to the face gets two back inside.

The Ultimate Weapon connects but Okada rolls outside before the cover. Back in and Okada hits a Rainmaker but another is cut off with a superkick. The Ultimate Weapon gets two so Bailey loads up the Flamingo Driver. That’s reversed as well but Okada misses the Rainmaker, only to grab the rollup for the pin at 16:08.

Rating: B. They had another good match here with Bailey feeling like a long shot at best to win the thing. Okada gets to move on to the next stage, because he is THE BEST TOURNAMENT WRESTLER EVER and since that is apparently a thing, he can survive to fight another day. It wraps up a pretty awesome group stage of the tournament and it worked well with a good match.

Gold League Standings

Kyle Fletcher – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kazuchika Okada – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kevin Knight – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Pac – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (0 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (0 matches remaining)

Konosuke Takeshita comes out to stare Okada (his opponent at Worlds End) to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. This was a rather good show with a bunch of solid wrestling and a bit of drama as there were a few options for who might advance. This show was almost all about the Continental Classic, which makes sense as it has dominated the last month or so. They were focusing on the wrestling here and that is one of the best things AEW can do, though I’m almost scared of what comes next for them.

Results
Kyle Fletcher b. Jack Perry – Brainbuster
Konosuke Takeshita b. Mascara Dorada – Raging Fire
Roderick Strong b. Claudio Castagnoli – Jumping knee
Kevin Knight vs. Pac went to a time limit draw
Babes Of Wrath b. Hyan/Maya World – Swinging neckbreaker to Hyan
Jon Moxley b. Orange Cassidy – Small package
Kazuchika Okada b. Mike Bailey – Rollup

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

Dynamite
Date: December 24, 2025
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Bryan Danielson

It’s Christmas Eve and naturally that means it’s time to do more in the Continental Classic. The next two nights will determine the final four at Worlds End this weekend and that that should make for an interesting double header. Other than that, we need to build towards the rest of the pay per view, which will likely take place this week. Let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Continental Classic Blue League: Orange Cassidy (6 points) vs. Konosuke Takeshita (7 points)

Cassidy rolls him up to start and he spins out of a Blue Thunder Bomb attempt. A crucifix gets a very close two and they go outside, with Takeshita sending him into the barricade. Cassidy comes back with a slingshot DDT into a tornado DDT for two of his own. The lazy kicks have their usual effect, followed by a hands in the pockets middle rope hurricanrana. Takeshita is right back up with a Blue Thunder Bomb and we take a break.

We come back with Cassidy reversing a super Raging Fire into a Stundog Millionaire. Takeshita rolls outside but gets caught with a diving DDT for two back inside. A wheelbarrow suplex drops Cassidy, who comes right back with an Orange Punch. They head to the apron where Cassidy grabs a Beach Break, followed by another Orange Punch into the crowd. Takeshita dives back in and reverses a small package into the Raging Fire for the pin at 15:26.

Rating: B. This was the serious Cassidy (for the most part) and he did well before being taken out in the end. That’s how it should have gone as Takeshita turning on the jets to beat someone like Cassidy makes sense. Takeshita is all but guaranteed (if not entirely guaranteed) a spot in the final four and now we get to see where that goes.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 10 points (1 match remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (1 match remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 3 points (2 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 0 points (2 matches remaining)

Gabe Kidd wants revenge on Darby Allin, who he has already sent down the steps and lit on fire.

The Bang Bang Gang wants a Chicago street fight with FTR.

Continental Classic Blue League: Roderick Strong (0 points) vs. Mascara Dorada (3 points)

They both go technical to start and fight over wrist control, with Strong bailing over to the ropes. Strong can’t get a cross armbreaker, instead being pulled into a surfboard. They head outside, with Strong dropping him onto the apron as we take a break. We come back with Dorada armdragging him on the floor, followed by a Swanton for two back inside. Strong’s Sick Kick gives him two of his own but Dorada kicks him down. The shooting star press gives Dorada the pin at 9:23.

Rating: B-. They didn’t have as much time as some of the tournament matches have received but it was still a good enough match. Dorada wins to keep himself alive while Strong can only play spoiler. It’s a bit more interesting when you see some of the people eliminated and things tightening up somewhat, which is the point we’ve finally reached.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 10 points (1 match remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (1 match remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Roderick Strong – 0 points (1 matches remaining)

AEW won a bunch of Sports Illustrated awards.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Here are Jamie Hayter and Kris Statlander for a face to face stat. Statlander tells her to let it go with her sob story about having everything taken away from her. Don’t pity her for what she was, but fear her for what she’s become. They’re both ready to win.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Dustin Waller

A running knee, a slap, a lifting DDT and the Salt Of The Earth finish for MJF at 1:12.

Post match MJF gets the mic and the fans greet him with a HAPPY HANUKKAH chant. Cue Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland in the crowd to stare at him though, with Page saying the no physicality thing was left in England. Page tells MJF to cut another 90s style promo insulting them, but Page comes to the ring, where he and Swerve take out the Opps Dojo members.

Samoa Joe pops up on the screen to say he’s coming for all of them one by one and promises to retain the title at Worlds End. Page and Swerve lay MJF out and choke him with a chain, leaving Swerve to say MJF is more of a Diddy than he’ll ever be. Swerve talks about a bunch of the people MJF has used, such as Wardlow, the Pinnacle and Adam Cole. The reality is Swerve always works to make himself better while MJF just uses them. We hit the catchphrase to wrap it up.

The Babes Of Wrath are ready for their upcoming matches and praise each other quite a bit.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite Diamond: Bandido vs. Ricochet

For the vacant ring (and a World Title shot in January) and neither title is on the line. Feeling out process to start with neither being able to get anywhere so it’s another standoff. Bandido connects with a headscissors into a dropkick but Ricochet manages a toss out to the apron.

Ricochet tries the Macarena but gets slapped in the back of the head, followed by the one armed gorilla press. Bandido throws him outside and we take a break. We come back with Ricochet rolling some suplexes, including one on the apron. Bandido rolls through that for a suplex of his own on the floor and they both get back inside. The referee almost gets crushed in the corner and Ricochet uses the distraction to hit Vertigo for two.

The Spirit Gun is blocked but Ricochet flips out of the 21 Plex. A Styles Clash is loaded up but instead Bandido jumps down into a sitout powerbomb (that was cool) for two more. The X Knee looks to set up the 21 Plex again but cue Kaun to make the save. Ricochet kicks him low and tries the Spirit Gun, which is reversed into a cradle for the pin at 12:27.

Rating: B. I’m a bit surprised Ricochet lost here, though either champion losing a singles match doesn’t feel like a good idea. If nothing else, this should set Bandido up for a National Title shot, which would go nicely with his ring. I still don’t know why this has to remain a thing, but it was nice to see it wrapped up this fast.

Post match Ricochet and the Gates Of Agony go after Bandido, with Brody King running in for the save.

Darby Allin isn’t worried about Gabe Kidd, who shows up and throws him down the steps.

Marina Shafir vs. Mina Shirakawa

Shirakawa fires off the kicks in the corner to start and snaps the leg over the middle rope. A missile dropkick gives Shirakawa two but Shafir counters a kick to the head with a powerbomb. We take a break and come back with Shirakawa hitting a top rope clothesline for two. The Figure Four goes on but Shafir fights out and grabs Mother’s Milk for the rather quick win at 7:20.

Rating: C+. This didn’t have a ton of time with the commercial in the middle taking up so much of the match. At the same time, Shirakawa basically squashed her until Shafir got in a few shots to win with the choke. Maybe this sets up Storm to come after Shafir, but for now it’s rather surprising that Shafir would win while looking fairly week for the most part.

Post match the choke goes on again but Toni Storm runs in for the save…and gets laid out just as fast.

The Young Bucks reveal that they are officially not cleared to return to the ring for the rest of the year. Kenny Omega has something to do while they’re out.

Jon Moxley wants to fight more in the Continental Classic.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Continental Classic Gold League: Pac (6 points) vs. Jack Perry (3 points)

Pac works on the arm to start and they go to the mat, with Perry grabbing a hammerlock. A running hurricanrana sends Pac outside and Perry takes him down with a suicide dive. Back in and a top rope standing elbow gives Perry two and they head back outside. Pac hits a quick suplex of his own, with Perry banging up his ankle and we take a break.

We come back with Pac getting two off a missile dropkick before they slug it out. Perry belly to back suplexes him down but the leg is giving him trouble. A DDT gives Perry two but he charges into a suplex into the corner. Pac belly to belly superplexes him for two so Perry comes back with a poisonrana. One heck of a rebound lariat drops Pac again but Pac pulls him into the Brutalizer. That’s broken up so Pac goes with another hard clothesline into the Brutalizer…which is reversed into a cradle to give Perry the upset pin at 14:26.

Rating: B. Another good one here, with Perry getting a big win and making the Gold League VERY interesting. That’s one of the best things that can happen with this kind of a tournament and I’m curious to see where it goes. Hopefully they have some kind of a clever way out of things, though it’s getting into some uncharted territory. At least Perry is getting something out of the tournament rather than just being a doormat.

Gold League Standings

Kazuchika Okada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Kyle Fletcher – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Kevin Knight – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Pac – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (1 match remaining)

Post match Luchasaurus brings out mile and cookies for Perry. And of course a Santa hat.

Overall Rating: B. The tournament stuff was working well here, though the rest of the show was only so good. The Dynamite Diamond stopped being interesting years ago and hopefully it isn’t anything more than something that we hear about from time to time. I’m almost scared of what is going to happen to a lot of these people when the tournament is over. Hopefully that includes some of these matches being followed up on, which should also be the case with Bandido pinning Ricochet. Either way, good enough show here, even on a fairly busy day.

Results
Konosuke Takeshita b. Orange Cassidy – Raging Fire
Mascara Dorada b. Roderick Strong – Shooting star press
Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Dustin Waller – Salt Of The Earth
Bandido b. Ricochet – 21 Plex
Marina Shafir b. Mina Shirakawa – Mother’s Milk
Jack Perry b. Pac – Rollup

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

WWE Vault Grab Bag II
Commentators: Dean Hill, Kenny Bolin, Lenny Leonard, Bryce Remsburg, Chris Cruise, Mike Tenay, Jim Cornette

So this is one of my favorite things to do, as the WWE Vault releases a bunch of matches on a regular basis. In this case, there are enough that I can do a few collections, as I’m basically making my own playlists. There is no running theme for these matches and they’re just whatever I happen to pick. Let’s get to it.

From August 22, 2008, a dark match before Smackdown/ECW.

Takeshi Morishima vs. Jamie Noble

Tony Atlas is here to introduce Morishima, who is a power guy and former Ring Of Honor World Champion. Morishima runs him over to start and knocks Noble into the corner. Noble tries to fight back with a few shots to the head, including an enziguri to stagger Morishima. That just earns Noble a Boss Man Slam into a neck crank, followed by a big leg for two. Morishima picks him up at two and adds a big Saito suplex for the pin at 3:03 (with the announcer naming him “Orishimo”).

Rating: C. This wasn’t quite a squash for Morishima but it was close enough, as he looked dominant. You don’t get to see someone with his size and athleticism very often and it makes sense that WWE would be interested. Morishima looked good out there and it would be nice to see more of him in WWE, if nothing else due to him using the old Orient Express theme. Because of course.

From August 18, 2008, a dark match before Raw (I have no idea why they went out of order).

Takeshi Morishima vs. Charlie Haas

Haas yells at the fans to start and gets sent face first into the buckle for his efforts. The big leg connects but Haas manages to snap his arm over the top rope. That doesn’t seem to matter as it’s a Boss Man Slam to drop Haas, followed by a missile dropkick for the pin at 2:36.

From July 29, 1995, a dark match at a Superstars taping.

Bret Hart vs. Hakushi

In a cage. Hakushi jumps him to start fast and strikes away, only to get knocked back down. Hart goes for the climb out but gets pulled back down rather quickly. That lets Hakushi go up but Hart pulls him down and climbs as well. Hakushi cuts that off just as fast and strikes away on the top. They get back down and Hart whips him into the corner, followed by a bulldog.

It’s too early for Hart to get through the door though and Hakushi starts in on his leg. A ram into the cage lets Hakushi make a rather slow climb, which Hart cuts off with a DDT. Hart still can’t get out and Hakushi goes for the leg again, only to get pulled back inside as well. That lets Hart climb up a lot faster than before but Hakushi grabs him by the hair for a rather painful looking stop.

A backbreaker drops Hakushi but the middle rope elbow misses (you don’t see that very often). Hakushi’s top rope headbutt misses just as well so Hart turns him inside out with a clothesline. They take turns pulling the other down again and there’s a hard whip to send Hart chest first into the buckle. He’s right back up though and it’s a superplex off the cage for the big crash, leaving them both down. With Hakushi barely able to move, Hart manages to escape for the win at 12:31.

Rating: B-. For a dark match, this turned into something pretty good and the superplex was a nice surprise. They started slowly but eventually it picked up with more intensity and hard hitting. These two always had good chemistry together and it was on display again, which is cool for a less than readily available match.

From OVW TV, June 23, 2007.

CM Punk/Cody Runnels vs. Shawn Spears/Jay Bradley

Runnels (Rhodes of course) is distracted by Spears to start and gets hiptossed by Bradley. That’s broken up and Runnels goes after Spears again, only to kick Bradley in the face. A fall away slam sends Runnels flying into the corner for the tag to Punk, meaning trash can be talked. Punk strikes away to knock him into the corner and Spears realizes the tag means he’s in trouble.

Runnels gets the tag as well and Spears runs straight to the floor (apparently they kind of hate each other). Spears crawls back inside and hands it off to Bradley, who sends Punk into the corner. Now Spears is willing to come in and gets knocked down, allowing Runnels to come in and chase Spears to the floor. Punk cuts that off but Bradley comes in to jump Runnels from behind.

We take a break and come back with Bradley hammering on Runnels, which is enough for Spears to come in and stomp away. Runnels fights up so it’s immediately back to Bradley for a chinlock. Spears comes back in and goes after Punk, drawing him in so Runnels can be double teamed in a perfectly logical cheating sequence. The drop down shot to the face allows the tag off to Punk, who is in to clean house.

The running knees in the corner set up a bulldog/clothesline combination, followed by the springboard clothesline for two on Bradley. Cue Michael W. Kruel to pull the referee out, allowing Spears to get in a cheap shot on Punk. Runnels is back in with a strap to Spears’ back (before their strap match in a few days) so here are Spears’ goons to be dispatched. Runnels straps Spears to the back, leaving Punk to Anaconda Vice Bradley for the tap at 11:26 (earning Punk a shot at Bradley’s OVW Title in the process).

Rating: B-. Perfectly nice match here, with the all star team overcoming the odds to get some revenge and a title shot at the same time. That’s a case where simple storytelling works out well and I liked what we got here. Punk was red hot in OVW but he was already up on the main roster at this point, so he was pretty much just visiting here. The results worked out though as he and Rhodes always work well together.

From Evolve 17.

Sami Zayn gives us a quick introduction, as he got to pick the match. This just happens to involve someone he has been compared to a lot over the years.

El Generico vs. Samuray del Sol

Sol is better known as Kalisto. They fight over arm control to start and go to the mat, meaning it’s time to exchange flip ups. Generico grabs a headlock into a chinlock before working on the arm. A wristdrag takes Sol down but he flips out of a hurricanrana and Generico isn’t sure what to do. Generico’s running shoulder drops So and he springboards over Sol into some more armdrags.

Some chops in the corner seem to wake Sol up as he walks on his hands into a headscissors. A slingshot 450 gives Sol two and he bends Generico over his back for quite the painful visual. That’s broken up and Generico hits a clothesline but Sol is back with another headscissors. A rather springboardy wristdrag sends Generico outside and there’s the step up corkscrew dive to drop him again.

Back in and Generico exploders him into the corner, where the Helluva Kick is cut off. What would become known as the Salida del Sol gives Sol two but Generico is back with the Blue Thunder Bomb for two more. Generico’s Michinoku Driver gets two more so Sol steps onto his back for a Code Red. The Rising Sun (poisonrana) gives Sol two but a super version is countered with a facebuster onto the turnbuckle. The Helluva Kick into the turnbuckle brainbuster gives Generico the pin at 14:08.

Rating: B+. I can see why Zayn picked this, as Generico and Sol were both working rather hard out there and put on a heck of a match. That’s the point of something like this as it was not only the show’s main event but also a rubber match. It made things feel that much bigger and they lived up to the hype. Pretty awesome match here and a sign of what they would be able to do on the big stage.

From AAA When Worlds Collide.

Fuerza Guerrera/Madonna’s Boyfriend/Psicosis vs. Rey Mysterio/Heavy Metal/Latin Lover

Mysterio is only 19 here and this is described as his Breakout Match. Guerrera and company (the rudos here) clear the ring to start before we can even get the introductions. Guerrera and Metal start things off with an exchange of armdrags before Psicosis comes in to clothesline Mysterio. The top rope hurricanrana sends Psicosis bailing up the aisle and it’s Boyfriend (Louie Spicolli, who towers over Mysterio) comes in and picks Mysterio up.

That doesn’t last long and it’s off to Lover for an exchange of running shoulders. A superkick drops Boyfriend and it’s back to Psicosis for a clothesline to Metal. They grab stereo faceplants for a double down and Mysterio comes in, only to get hit in the face by Guerrera. Mysterio sends Guerrera outside for a dive, leaving Lover to send Psicosis into the corner.

Back in and Guerrera hits Lover low, only for Metal to come in with a low blow of his own. That doesn’t work for Boyfriend, who gorilla presses Mysterio over the barricade for a crash into the crowd. The villains get to double team Lover but Mysterio comes back in to give Psicosis a faceplant. Guerrera gets powerbombed out of the corner but Lover misses a top rope splash. Everything breaks down and we get a parade of dropkicks to the floor but Metal misses a Swanton to Guerrera. A seated armbar makes Metal tap at 13:40.

Rating: B. It’s much more in the lucha libre style, which wasn’t a thing in America at this point. That was the entire point of this show and it absolutely worked, as they were displaying something that had fans rather impressed. I can definitely see why Mysterio’s performance was so well received, as he looked like a star in the making, which is absolutely what he would be in just a few more years.

From May 13, 2003, a dark match before Smackdown/Velocity.

CM Punk introduces this one, talking about how he had wrestled a dark match the previous night and been unofficially banned from WWE for being unsafe. He showed up anyway and was asked if he wanted to face the Road Warriors. Apparently that was quite the affirmative.

CM Punk/Doug Delicious vs. Legion Of Doom

We’re joined in progress with Hawk throwing Delicious around and handing it off to Punk, who jumps Animal for some reason. This goes as well as expected, with Animal hitting a hard clothesline and a powerslam. Hawk misses a running charge into the post though, allowing Punk to get two off a snap suplex. We’re clipped (in a dark match) to Hawk hitting a double clothesline as everything breaks down. The Doomsday Device finishes Delicious at 2:44 shown (possibly out of 4:14 total). Actually not a squash and LOD looked decent enough.

From OVW TV, January 19, 2002.

Prototype vs. Randy Orton

As you probably know, the Prototype (with Kenny Bolin) is an early (and evil) John Cena. Orton sends him into the corner to start and gets two off a crossbody. A powerslam gives Orton two more as Cornette gives the hard sell for the Last Dance later this month. Prototype sends him hard into the corner for two and a sidewalk slam gets two more.

A pair of snap suplexes give Prototype two but Orton catches him on top. The ensuing superplex gives Orton two so Bolin gets on the apron. Some powder only hits the referee though so here is Rico Constantino to jump Orton as well. Bobby Eaton of all people comes in to go after Constantino and then jumps Prototype for the DQ at 6:32.

Rating: C. The match was pretty much just there, but it’s more of an historical curiosity than anything else. Cena and Orton have one of the most legendary rivalries in WWE history and seeing them both at such a young age is rather odd to see. They would get a lot better, but this was hardly a bad match, especially for developmental television.

From Dragon Gate USA Open The Ultimate Gate 2013 (the Wrestlemania XXIX weekend show).

Johnny Gargano introduces this one and it’s a bit different.

Open The Freedom Gate Title: Johnny Gargano vs. Shingo

Gargano is defending. They stare each other down to start as the fans want Shingo (better known as Shingo Takagi) to do bad things to Gargano. A battle of arm control takes them to the mat with Shingo working on the leg to limited avail. Gargano goes to the arm so Shingo gets to the ropes, allowing him to start another arm control battle. Gargano’s chops don’t work but Shingo’s certainly does, allowing Shingo to grab a headlock. A suplex puts Gargano down and it’s a backsplash for two, setting up a neck crank.

Back up and they slug it out, with Gargano not being able to get the Gargano Escape. Shingo sends him into the corner but gets caught with a quick hurricanrana. Gargano grabs a double arm crank and leans back onto the arm for a rather painful visual. A neckbreaker gives Gargano two and he actually wins a strike exchange by elbowing Shingo down in the corner. It’s back to working on the arm to keep Shingo in trouble, with a cradle even getting two.

The Gargano Escape is broken up with pure power and a clothesline sends Gargano outside. Shingo strikes away against the barricade and boots Gargano into the crowd, which is never a good idea. A superkick gets Gargano out of trouble and he runs back inside for quite the suicide dive. It works so well that Gargano does it again, only to charge into a Death Valley Driver on the floor (which probably won’t have the effect that it should).

Naturally Gargano beats the count back in, where a neckbreaker and sliding lariat give Shingo two. A slingshot DDT plants Shingo for two more and the fans are a lot more split. One heck of a clothesline puts Gargano down again and another pop up Death Valley Driver gives us a double breather. More clotheslines don’t even put Gargano down so he pulls on the Gargano Escape.

That’s broken up again and they go up top, where Shingo’s superbomb is countered into a super hurricanrana for two. The lawn dart gives Gargano another near fall and he can’t believe the kickout. They slug it out from their knees and then their feet until Shingo hits a Saito suplex and a hard clothesline for another double down. Shingo is up first with a super Death Valley Driver for two but Made In Japan is countered into the Hurts Donut (spinning full nelson faceplant).

The Gargano Escape sends Shingo over to the rope as we get a PLEASE DON’T STOP chant. Shouldn’t it be PLEASE DON’T GET PINNED OR SUBMIT TO CAUSE THE MATCH TO END? Made In Japan gives Shingo two more and the hue running clothesline gets an even nearer fall. Another Death Valley Driver gets another two and the referee gets bumped. That means it’s a low blow to drop Shingo and Gargano whips out a rope to choke him into the Gargano Escape to retain at 33:27.

Rating: B+. It’s an excellent back and forth match, but dang I was having some trouble buying that Gargano was surviving all of this. That’s been an issue of his for longer than I can remember and it was certainly true again here. Shingo definitely had the skill to back up his reputation and he felt like a big get for a show of this magnitude.

From February 7, 1993 at a WCW house show. This isn’t a complete match but it’s certainly some awesome sounding footage.

Dustin Rhodes/Ricky Steamboat/Shane Douglas vs. Steve Austin/Brian Pillman/Barry Windham

This is an elimination match and we’re joined in progress with Austin working on Steamboat. A suplex gives Austin one and he drops Steamboat with a clothesline to cut off a comeback attempt. Austin hits a side slam as I don’t see any partners anywhere around. Some slams stay on the back and Austin grabs a bearhug, which isn’t something you see him do very often.

With that broken up, Austin makes the mistake of spitting on Steamboat, which triggers the comeback you’re probably expecting. A top rope superplex sends Austin crashing down hard for a rather delayed two but he reverses a Tombstone into one of his own for two more. Austin goes up (this can’t end well) and Steamboat rolls through a high crossbody for the pin at 4:37 shown. Not enough shown to rate as the whole match is about 25 minutes, but these two always worked well together.

Post match Pillman runs in for the beatdown, with Windham making the save. The big brawl goes outside, with Douglas coming back in to drop Pillman onto the barricade. More wrestlers (including 2 Cold Scorpio in a Ribera shirt) can’t break it up either and the brawl continues. Johnny B. Badd and I think William (Lord Steven at the time) Regal are in there but can’t get very far either. Things finally settle down but Pillman chop blocks Douglas in the aisle and the pain is real to end things. Good match, very hot post match brawl.

From December 15, 1996, a dark match after In Your House: It’s Time.

Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind

We’re a few months after their famous match at Mind Games and Paul Bearer is here with Mankind. Michaels jumps Mankind to start on the floor and then takes him inside to hammer away. The discus lariat puts Michaels down and some right hands drop him in the corner. Michaels is sent into the steps and choked on the ropes as Mankind gets in the creepy “COME ON SEXY BOY!”.

The Mandible Claw is blocked and Michaels manages a belly to back suplex. The flying forearm lets Michaels nip up…and go right into the Mandible Claw. Well that didn’t work. They crash out to the floor, where a nasty ram into the steps is enough to get Michaels free. Mankind’s hand is sent into the steps and the top rope elbow connects inside. Bearer’s distraction lets Mankind get the urn but Michaels superkicks him down for the win at 6:56.

Rating: C+. It’s a dark match so you’re only going to get so much out of it, but it could have been far worse. These two could have a good match in their sleep and while this wasn’t quite that, it was hardly some great match that tore the house down. It doesn’t help that they had such a classic the previous time so the expectations were probably high, even though it wound up being the Cliffnotes version.

From May 5, 1993, a dark match at a Wrestling Challenge taping.

Harlem Knights vs. Tony DeVito/Mike Bell

The Knights are better known as Men On A Mission and this is their tryout match. They’re already doing the wave as Bobby (Mo) backs DeVito into the corner to start. That means more waving and an armdrag before it’s off to Nelson (Mabel), who trades hammerlocks with DeVito. Thankfully Nelson finally wakes up and realizes HE’S A GIANT AND SHOULDN’T BE DOING HAMMERLOCKS and grabs a chokebomb.

Bobby comes back in for a double elbow and we’re clipped ahead about six seconds (I’m guessing something a fan said/did) to Bell kicking Nelson low to escape another hammerlock. Nelson no sells some forearms and hits a World’s Strongest Slam, setting up the double splash for the pin at 4:49.

Rating: D. How in the world did this get them hired? Bobby barely did anything other than the waving deal and Nelson was trading hammerlocks with and selling punches from someone half his size. I could see how the team could be fun, but they completely missed the point…and then got signed anyway. Of course they did.

Overall Rating: B-. This is exactly the kind of thing I love doing with the WWE Vault, as you never know what kind of awesome stuff you might find. I just picked a bunch of matches here and watched them mostly straight through in a kind of do it yourself playlist. It’s by no means a regular playlist or anything close, but there is some stuff in there that is worth a look. I’ll definitely be doing this again, as just seeing what they had next was more than worth the time.

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

NXT
Date: December 23, 2025
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Booker T.

We’re taped for one of the last shows of the year but things are picking up around here. There are a few big matches coming up, as New Year’s Evil is just a few weeks away. Hopefully we get a solid build up this week, as we have a good bit of build left to go before the show. Let’s get to it.

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Lola Vice vs. Izzi Dame

Shawn Spears is here with Dame. Vice (described by Booker as a “spicy meatball”) strikes her up against the ropes to start and pulls Dame into a triangle choke. That’s enough to send Dame outside for a running seated senton off the apron. Back in and Dame grabs a slam but Vice jumps on her back for a choke. Dame sends him flying with a suplex and we take a break. We come back with Vice striking away and hitting the running hip attack in the corner. Spears trips Vice…and none of that matters as here is Tatum Paxley with a chainsaw. The distraction (chainsaw variety) lets Vice hit a spinning backfist for the pin at 9:57.

Rating: C+. Vice was basically squashing her here and it was a bit of a surprise, but the only thing that matters here is the chainsaw at the end. Paxley is making it clear that she’s not done with Dame and is going to go to the extreme to get revenge. That’s an interesting way for Paxley and it should lead to a big blowoff match sooner than later.

Post match Kelani Jordan runs in and beats Vice down.

Thea Hail thanks Jordynne Grace for having her back last week.

Ethan Page comes up to mock Myles Borne for not making the right changes to fix his career. Borne needs to think about his future, because if he can survive here, Monday and Friday are easy. Watch his title defense next week.

Here is Thea Hail for a chat. She looks like she’s about to cry as she talks about how she never knew it would feel this good. The people here have watched her grow up and now she is here. She talks about the lessons that Andre Chase taught her and everything she has lost and now she is the youngest Women’s North American Champion in history. Now she finally feels like a grown a** woman…and here is Blake Monroe to interrupt. Monroe calls last week a mistake that she has to deal with, though Hail doesn’t want to hear it. If Monroe wants a rematch, it’s on for New Year’s Evil.

Video on Eli Knight and Tavion Heights.

Sol Ruca is ready to get back on the waves and win the Women’s US Title tonight. Zaria promises to have her back.

Speed Title #1 Contender Tournament First Round: Eli Knight vs. Tavion Heights

Knight knocks him to the floor to start and hits a big frog splash back inside. Heights powers his way up but it’s a dropkick to put him back down. A split legged moonsault gets two but a regular moonsault misses. Height belly to bellys him for the pin at 2:01.

Blake Monroe runs into Jackson Drake, who introduces her to Swipe Right. They have presents for her because she should still be Women’s North American Champion. Ricky Smokes suggests Monroe might lose so she sends them off. Leave the gifts.

Leon Slater and Oba Femi have a sitdown interview in the back. Femi talks about being the ruler of NXT but he wants it known that he’s the ruler of WWE. In two weeks, Slater is going to feel the shift that is taking place. Slater talks about how wrestling has turned him into a different person because it filled a void in his life. He’s not going to trash talk because his actions speak for him, and we’ll see who speaks louder. We get a tense yet respectful handshake.

Ava is in the ring with security to bring out Je’Von Evans and Ricky Saints for a chat. Evans isn’t happy with him but Saints says Evans doesn’t have the emotional control to lead a brand. Evans accuses Saints of not being the man he thinks he is, though Saints says that Evans can’t string two sentences together. That makes Evans laugh, because he can do well enough for John Cena to put him on his last show and for him to be on Raw and Smackdown. Meanwhile, there’s Saints who…isn’t mentioned. Violence is teased but it doesn’t happen thanks to security not being terrible for a change.

Fatal Influence comes up to Kendal Grey and Wren Sinclair for some general insults. The result is Jacy Jayne vs. Sinclair next week.

Skylar Ray/Shiloh Hill vs. Arianna Grace/Stacks

Christmas Chaos, meaning themed street fight. Stacks and Grace share a kiss underneath some mistletoe to start and the fight starts outside. They get inside for an atomic drop to Stacks, who almost falls on Grace. Hill throws Ray onto the two of them outside and it’s time to fight over the Singapore candy cane. Said fight continues even when the women are on the men’s shoulders until Grace and Stacks get tied in the Tree Of Woe. Cane shots bring them back down and we take a break.

We come back with Stacks whipping out a bowling ball, which he hands to Grace, who swings it back….and hits him low. Then drops it on his foot, drawing a YOU DESERVE IT chant. Ray hits a missile dropkick and it’s time to throw cookies to the fans. A table is loaded up and Hill covers it with pine cones of all things. Ray’s frog splash finishes Grace at 11:37.

Rating: C+. This is the definition of harmless fun, as an annoying team loses to some newcomers in a themed holiday fight. It was all in good fun and they gave the new stars a chance at the same time. It’s not like Grace and Stacks are going to fall through the floor as a result so this was a nice use of time.

Darkstate meets Joe Hendry, but violence doesn’t ensue. Instead, Hendry is willing to give a concert next week. Ava agrees.

OTM is looking forward to a better 2026 but the Vanity Project interrupts, now offering their gifts to Kelly Kincaid. OTM doesn’t approve and a match seems likely.

Speed Title #1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Andre Chase vs. Lexis King

Chase, wearing a face shield after a nasal injury, fires off some running forearms to start, followed by a neckbreaker to send King outside. Back in and King superkicks him for two and a running forearm gets the same. The Russian legsweep into a Black Widow has King in trouble but he gets out and hits Chase in his bad nose. The Coronation finishes for King at 2:47.

Kelani Jordan yells at the locker room again.

Tavion Heights and Myles Borne agree that something has to change but Hank & Tank come in to give them a pep talk.

IMG Credit: WWE

Women’s US Title: Sol Ruca vs. Chelsea Green

Ruca, with Zaria, is challenging and Alba Fyre/Ethan Page are here with Green. An early drop toehold takes Green down to start and Ruca grabs a front facelock. A spinning belly to back faceplant sets up the surfboard, followed by a faceplant. Fyre tries to help Green and the distraction lets Green get in a cheap shot. Ruca knocks her outside anyway and hits a good looking moonsault for the big knockdown.

We take a break and come back with Green holding a full nelson with her legs until Ruca stacks her up for two. Ruca is back up with a German suplex, setting up a running knee for two. Green’s Rough Ryder gets two and another German suplex sends Ruca flying. She’s right back up with the cartwheel DDT but Page puts Green’s foot on the rope. Cue Moose to brawl to the back with Page, leaving Fyre to break up the Sol Snatcher. The Un-Pretty-Her retains the title at 10:33.

Rating: C. I wasn’t digging this one as much as I expected to, as they seemed to be having too many things going on at once. You had multiple people interfering and while green should need help to win a match like this, there was too much going on. I’m also not wild on Ruca taking another loss, though at least it was to a main roster star.

Post match Zaria hits a double spear, setting up a double Sol Snatcher to leave the villains laying.

We run down next week’s show to end the night.

Overall Rating: C. Much like this week’s Raw, this wasn’t their best effort, as it felt more like a show that was just there to set things up for the bigger shows. That’s not a bad thing either, as we’re in the middle of the holiday season and there are probably going to be people doing other things. Setting it up to start off the new year in a big way makes sense, but it doesn’t make for the most thrilling show. This wasn’t bad, but it’s definitely a skippable week.

Results
Lola Vice b. Izzi Dame – Spinning backfist
Tavion Heights b. Eli Knight – Spinning belly to belly
Skylar Ray/Shiloh Hill b. Arianna Grace/Stacks – Frog splash to Grace
Lexis King b. Andre Chase – Coronation
Chelsea Green b. Sol Ruca – Un-Pretty-Her

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