IMG Credit: WWE

Royal Rumble 2000
Date: January 23, 2000
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 19,231
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross

Kurt Angle vs. ???

Kurt Angle vs. Tazz

Rating: C+. This was short, but to say it was an effective debut is an understatement. The place ERUPTED when Tazz won which is exactly the point of the opening match. See, this is what you call LISTENING to the audience. WWF knew they had to appeal to the ECW fans and what better way than to have Tazz debut here? Today, Tazz would be in some comedy match and would likely lose, because Heaven forbid that the fans get what they want in one city for one night.

Angle does a stretcher job.

Tazz says Angle is just the first victim.

Dudley Boyz vs. Hardy Boyz

Angle gets a concussion test and complains that being choked out is illegal.

Chyna and Jericho, the co-IC Champions, argue over who gets to wear the belt to the ring. There was a double pin in a title match and they became co-champions as a result, which is a pretty creative idea.

Intercontinental Title: Chris Jericho vs. Chyna vs. Hardcore Holly

They both tried for a cover and a fight breaks out as a result. Chyna escapes a belly to back suplex and hits Jericho low, followed by a Pedigree for two on Holly. Chyna goes up but gets caught in a modified Doomsday Device (cross body instead of a clothesline) for a very close two. That probably should have been the finish. Now Jericho loads up a superplex but gets crotched for his efforts. Holly gets superplexed by Chyna but gets two on her off the bounce. Chyna chairs Holly in the head and puts on the Walls, only to have Jericho break it up and hit the Lionsault for the undisputed title and a BIG pop.

Tag Titles: Acolytes vs. New Age Outlaws

Dogg rhymes about keeping the titles.

WWF World Title: Cactus Jack vs. HHH

Cactus looks like and animal and HHH looks terrified. Jack wins a quick slugout and pounds HHH down into the corner. We head to the floor for a swinging neckbreaker on HHH and a legdrop onto the apron knocks the Game back to the floor. HHH is rammed into various metal objects but comes back with a bell shot to take over. NOW we get to the fun part as the first chair is brought in.

Cactus tries to piledrive HHH through the announce table (same thing he won the 97 match with) but HHH counters with a backdrop. JR: “The champion is bleeding like a horse.” When does a horse bleed? HHH is bleeding from his leg which is a rare sight to see. The place LOUDLY cheers for Foley and we head back inside. The Pedigree is countered into a slingshot into the post and a bulldog on the wire gets two.

HHH has a spot called to him about the steps before the Cactus Clothesline takes them both to the floor. Cactus charges but gets hiptossed into the steps, banging his knee in the process. You know a Flair disciple like HHH knows how to work on a knee. Back inside and HHH clips him down before picking up the barbed wire for another shot to the knee. HHH pulls out some handcuffs in a flashback to last year.

Cactus fights back and hits HHH in the head with the cuffs in a smart move. The cuffs are locked up a few seconds later though and HHH starts pounding away. The steps are brought in but Foley comes out of nowhere with a drop toehold to send HHH face first into the steel. A low blow keeps HHH down and Cactus bites away. HHH gets back up and grabs a chair which he literally BREAKS over the back of Cactus. They head outside again and Cactus takes some shots to the head from the chair.

Royal Rumble

The company took notice of those eruptions too, and the three of them wound up feuding with the Radicalz for the next four months or so, resulting in Too Cool getting the tag titles and Rikishi getting the IC Title. In other words, they were given a stupid gimmick, got it over, and were rewarded. Today, you get to lose the US Title to Jack Swagger and become a jobber to the stars if you get yourselves over. As I typed that, Steve Blackman came in at #7 and was eliminated.

Anyway Faarooq is quickly dumped and Road Dogg is #19. The crowd does his entrance for him but he runs right into a low blow. The fans want Puppies, a term Road Dogg invented. Crash survives an elimination and Al Snow is #20. Roadie throws out the Bulldog and Val Venis is #21. Funaki runs in on his own and is thrown out almost immediately again. Prince Albert (Tensai) is #22 and there goes Edge.

Now we get to the final part of the match as The Rock is #24 to bring everyone to their feet. Boss Man is the first victim, being eliminated by a spit punch. Venis and Test double team him but Rock hangs on in the corner. He beats up Hardcore for a bit as Billy Gunn is #25. He goes right for Rocky but since no one believes Billy Gunn is going to eliminate Rock, the Great One throws out Crash to give himself something to do instead. Dogg has shifted over to another corner now.

Ratings Comparison

Tazz vs. Kurt Angle

Original: A-

Redo: C+

Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz

Original: A

Redo: B+

Chris Jericho vs. Chyna vs. Hardcore Holly

Original: C

Redo: C+

New Age Outlaws vs. Acolytes

Original: N/A

Redo: N/A

HHH vs. Cactus Jack

Original: A+

Redo: A+

Royal Rumble

Original: A-

Redo: A

Overall Rating

Original: A

Redo: A

Still great and still the best Rumble ever.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/19/royal-rumble-count-up-2000-match-of-the-decade-maybe-yeah/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: January 7, 2019
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

It’s the first show of the year and WWE has stacked the card. In this case we have the return of John Cena, the return of Brock Lesnar, the return of Braun Strowman, the return of Hulk Hogan and the return of the Tag Team Title match from Christmas Eve with the Revival challenging Chad Gable and Bobby Roode, this time in a lumberjack match. Oh and getting ready for the Rumble in case you didn’t have enough to pick from. Let’s get to it.

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

In memory of Gene Okerlund.

We open with a big fight in the back between Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley with wrestlers, agents and referees not being able to break it up. They fight into the arena with Rollins finally being dragged to the back to separate the two of them.

Less than five seconds after the fight is over, here’s John Cena to open things up. Cena welcomes us to the show and talks about Rollins and Lashley being all fired up because it’s almost Wrestlemania season. He’s not getting left out this year so he’s going to start stepping up right now. There is one match where any superstar can grab the golden ticket and that is the Royal Rumble. Nothing is handed to you and he’s planning on earning his golden ticket by officially entering the Rumble.

This brings out Drew McIntyre to say he’s been waiting on this for several years. Cena is standing in the middle of the ring and McIntyre doesn’t care what’s going on with him, including who is in his bed. What McIntyre cares about is Cena being the best of all time. See, Drew has a tendency to take out the best of all time, like the Shield and Kurt Angle. McIntyre is a dangerous man and now he’s coming for Cena. That makes Cena shake his head, because he had to leave so that everyone else around here could think of a different promo. He’s heard this before so why is McIntyre any different?

The match seems ready to happen but here are Lio Rush and Bobby Lashley to rant about how Rollins sent nuts. If something isn’t done, they’re getting a LAWYER. Cue Rollins to jump Lashley from behind and the fight is on all over again. Dean Ambrose comes out to go after Rollins so Cena and McIntyre get in on it as well. Finn Balor comes out and hits the big flip dive as we take a break.

Bobby Lashley/Drew McIntyre/Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins/John Cena/Finn Balor

We start fast with Balor working on Lashley’s arm but getting knocked into the corner. Ambrose comes in and gets caught with a basement dropkick, only to drag Balor into the corner for a hard chop from McIntyre. The beatdown continues with Lashley hitting a chinlock but not being able to hit the spinning Dominator. Balor gets up some boots in the corner (it’s always the boots) but Lashley drives him straight back into the corner again.

One more chance gets Balor over to the corner so Cena can clean some house but the Glasgow Kiss cuts him off as we take a break. Back with Cena dropkicking Ambrose, drawing Lashley right back in to break up the tag. Lashley stops to pose and the delay lets Cena hit the AA to put both guys down. Ambrose cuts off the hot tag bid though and we hit the chinlock. They head outside with Ambrose sending him into the steps as we take a second break.

Back again with Balor getting the hot tag to clean house, including a double stomp and shotgun dropkick to Ambrose. The Coup de Grace connects but McIntyre is right there with the Claymore to cut him down. It’s too early to finish things up though as Balor gets over for the tag to Rollins. That means a springboard clothesline to McIntyre and a moonsault to Lashley and Ambrose.

The Falcon Arrow gets two on McIntyre but the Stomp doesn’t connect. The reverse Alabama Slam is broken up by an AA but Lashley spears Cena down. That means a superkick to Lashley and another one to McIntyre. The frog splash (with some crazy height) misses McIntyre though and Ambrose tags himself in. Rollins blocks Dirty Deeds though and hits the Stomp for the pin at 21:15.

Rating: B. Good, hot match to open the show as they try as hard as they can (in vein that is) to fight off the National Championship game. Rollins pinning Ambrose to continue their feud is fine, especially if Rollins vs. Lashley is going to continue. Having Cena in there is a good idea as you might not want to have him in a long singles match when he hasn’t been in the ring much lately. Solid match and a very good start to the show.

Post match HHH is shown in the back talking to Sasha Banks and Bayley. That’s not cool with Seth, who storms to the back. Seth finds HHH and demands a title shot with Ambrose tonight. HHH agrees and makes it falls count anywhere. Egads they’re pumping this show up hard.

We look at some Tweets regarding Mean Gene passing away.

We get a ten bell salute to Okerlund.

Here’s Hulk Hogan, in a Mean Gene O Mania shirt (which he had back in the 80s), to pay tribute to Okerlund. Hogan talks about Gene loving to entertain and we get the big video tribute. Back in the arena, Hogan says Gene isn’t here, but he’s right here, with a point to his heart.

The fans start a THANK YOU MEAN GENE chant and we get one more WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING MEAN GENE with Hogan talking about Gene getting the angels singing Tutti Frutti. He’s making Randy Savage/Ultimate Warrior and Roddy Piper/Mr. Perfect with Andre the Giant as a special referee. Gene better be pumping the weights because he has to choose between Moolah and Mae Young. Whatcha gonna do when Mean Gene O Mania runs wild on you? That was awesome, with the tribute being worth seeing for old school fans.

Tag Team Titles: Revival vs. Bobby Roode/Chad Gable

Roode and Gable are defending in a lumberjack match and a rematch from two weeks ago when Gable and Roode pinned the illegal man to retain. Roode grabs a headlock on Wilder but it’s way too early for the Glorious DDT. The arm cranking begins until Dawson chops Gable down without much effort. Everything breaks down for a bit with Revival being clotheslined to the floor, allowing Roode to backdrop Gable onto both of them. Back in and Dawson gets in a clothesline on Gable to take over as we hit the break.

We come back with Roode getting the hot tag and coming in to clean house. A spinning Rock Bottom plants Wilder and the Blockbuster into the German suplex gets two on Dawson with Wilder mostly missing a save. The blind tag means Gable’s Rolling Chaos Theory to Dawson doesn’t count, allowing Wilder to come off the top with a splash for two more. Dawson and Gable fight over a backslide and manage to flip Wilder to the apron. Gable grabs a small package for the pin at 10:11, even though Dawson’s foot was underneath the bottom rope.

Rating: C. Can we please stop giving the heels sympathy? This is twice now that the faces have won the match and are then told that they haven’t quite gotten it. Not only does it mean we have to see a match that wasn’t great in the first place, but now we have a reason to feel sorry for the bad guys. That’s not how this is supposed to go and once they do win, it’s a reason to cheer for them because they finally got a fair shake. Why is this so complicated?

Here’s THE SAME NXT ARRIVAL VIDEO THAT WE’VE SEEN FOR A MONTH NOW! EC3 and Lacey Evans already debuted on Main Event this week so what’s the point in doing this again?

Here’s Elias for a song. He talks about 2018 being a great year with everything he accomplished. 2019 is going to be even better when he wins the Royal Rumble, but for now he wants to sing about how awful Baron Corbin is. This brings out Corbin to say he’s here to help. That starts by entering the Royal Rumble but for now, he’ll just beat up Elias.

Elias vs. Baron Corbin

They fight to the floor early on and Elias hits a falling crossbody as we take a break. Back with Corbin hammering away until Elias makes the comeback and slugs away in the corner. The fans try to care about egads man, it’s a Baron Corbin match. Elias gets him up in an electric chair but drops him down, setting up a swinging neckbreaker for two instead. The CM Punk chants start and Elias misses a top rope splash, allowing Corbin to send him shoulder first into the post. End of Days is good for the pin at 9:25.

Rating: D-. I don’t remember the last time a wrestler managed to suck the life out of a show like Corbin does. He’s not interesting, he’s not very good, and WWE has ruined the already not very high potential that he had. It’s not working, and now the solution is to keep him on TV. Corbin needs to go away for a very, very long time just to let people stop hating him so much because he’s actively destroying shows he’s on anymore. Elias isn’t that much better, but at least he doesn’t drag others down with him.

Dean Ambrose isn’t happy about the title defense tonight but he never liked six man tags anyway. Tonight he’s keeping the title from Rollins, because everything falls apart if Seth gets it back.

Here’s Braun Strowman for the showdown with Brock Lesnar. Paul Heyman and Lesnar show up on the screen with Heyman talking about how Strowman is looking for a confrontation. The words that Strowman needs to understand are Card Subject To Change, because if Lesnar came out there right now, there would be no Royal Rumble title match.

Strowman stays in the ring, saying he’s waiting for Beastie Boy. Heyman tells Brock not to

worry about it and they stay in the back, with Strowman saying Lesnar must be scared. Lesnar finally comes out, walks near the ring, and starts heading to the back. Strowman says Lesnar needs to get back here….because he’s winning the title at the Royal Rumble.

This was AWFUL as they clearly have no way around the fact that Strowman is the challenger of the month and has no chance of winning. That’s what happens when you do this match twice with Lesnar winning both times, the most recent being without breaking a sweat. Side note: the last time Lesnar defended the title (not counting house shows) in a match that didn’t involve Strowman or Roman Reigns was in July 2017. And they wonder why his matches stopped meaning anything years ago?

Jinder Mahal/Alicia Fox vs. Apollo Crews/Ember Moon

Before the match, Alicia leads us in some breathing exercises and Jinder insults some fans for not getting into it. It’s like they want us to change the channel sometimes. Crews flips over Jinder to start and gets two off a crossbody. The guys head outside and it’s Moon hitting all of her usual, capped off by the Eclipse for the pin on Fox at 1:48. At least it was short.

Here’s Alexa Bliss for the debut of her talk show, A Moment Of Bliss. After demanding and receiving a cup of coffee, we see a video on Ronda Rousey’s rookie year. Rousey is of course the first guest and wants to talk about the future instead of the past. She talks about someone who is more athletic than Charlotte and had a tougher road here than Becky Lynch. Rousey means Sasha Banks, so here’s Nia Jax (Me out loud: “GOOD GRIEF!”) to say that sounds like someone has a girl crush on Sasha.

Nia wants to know when she’s getting her rematch from TLC but here’s Sasha, who says she’s honored by the words. She’d love to face Ronda for the title and teach her how to lose with grace. Nia says the line starts behind her before she’s a 300.5 ounce (not pounds, but ounce) Samoan. Sasha: “B**** what line?” Sasha challenges her to a #1 contenders match right now but Nia has a seat and we take a break.

Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax

The winner gets Rousey, presumably at the Rumble. Nia does indeed get in the ring during the break as Bayley and Tamina are watching at ringside. Sasha kicks her in the face and tries a guillotine but gets thrown into the corner. A kick to the head rocks Nia until she runs Banks over with a knee. Nia drops her face first onto the barricade for a nine count as Bayley and Tamina get in a fight.

Back in and a Batista Bomb gives Nia two as we take a break. We come back with Nia holding her in a torture rack until Sasha slips out and starts in with the knees. The running knees in the corner set up the top rope Meteora for two but Banks can’t hold the Bank Statement. Nia misses the face breaker and it’s a Samoan drop to crush Banks again. There’s a corner splash and Nia loads her up in a fireman’s carry on the middle rope.

Instead of falling back though, Nia jumps down, dropping Sasha onto the corner in a nasty crash. That’s only good for two and Bayley dropkicks Tamina for a bonus. Banks comes back with a dropkick in the corner and tries a hurricanrana off the apron but Banks just falls off to the side in what looked like a botch. Back in and the Bank Statement finishes Nia at 13:23.

Intercontinental Title: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose

Ambrose is defending and it’s Falls Count Anywhere. Seth jumps him from behind to start and we’re off in a hurry. The fight heads outside immediately with Rollins clotheslining him over the barricade. They go backstage with Rollins throwing Dean into a ladder but missing a shovel shot. Ambrose sends him head first into a metal case for two and then gets in a ladder shot for the same.

Back from a break with the fight in the crowd and Rollins diving off a barricade with a crossbody for two. Rollins punches him straight in the nose and they head to ringside with Dean being tossed into the barricade. Ambrose is right back with a drop onto the barricade for two and it’s time to peel back the ring mats. After a kiss on the head, Dean’s Dirty Deeds attempt is countered with a backdrop onto the concrete.

They head inside with a superplex into the buckle bomb into a superkick keeping Dean in big trouble. The Stomp connects but here’s Bobby Lashley to pull Rollins out of the ring. Lashley beats the heck out of him on the floor, including an overhead belly to belly. Back in and the beating continues, including the spinning Dominator and a spear. Dean covers the finished Rollins to retain at 15:22.

Rating: B-. It was a good brawl but they telegraphed the ending by about nine miles. There was no hiding Lashley interfering to cost Rollins the match and that brings up the bigger problem: they set Rollins up as being back last week, have him in a great performance earlier tonight, and then oh dang he lost. Well thanks for letting us get reinvested in him for….oh a week or so. I’m sure Lashley vs. Rollins will be fine and Ambrose can find something else to do, but it didn’t make for a strong main event to end a bad show.

Post match Lashley puts Rollins through a table to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. This show was a perfect example of everything wrong with Raw right now. The wrestling was fine at times and even good at some points, but the people and stories that they keep bringing out are death. Between acts that the fans do not want to see (Jax and Corbin) to talented people who have no story and just float from match to match (Crews, Bayley) to feuds that keep going with whatever illogical booking they have going this week (Revival vs. Gable/Roode), there are so many problems with this show that the good stuff is completely drowned out.

I know they’ve had to deal with holidays and the big football game tonight, but we’re less than three weeks away from the Royal Rumble and three months away from Wrestlemania with almost nothing looking like it’s even gotten started. In theory Rollins wins the Rumble to set up a feud with Lesnar, which will be over Lesnar not being around often enough and Rollins being the man and all that. The problem though is what else do they have besides that and the women’s match?

It’s certainly not too late to fix things up but the show continuing like this is flaming death for a TV show. There’s no reason to care about so much of what people are going to do because they’re still in the same place they were in months ago. Elias, Corbin (outside of his time as GM), Strowman, Lashley, Balor and probably others, are all virtually in the same place they were in a year ago with no significant title reigns for any of them in that whole time frame. Why is that? Well it could be because the Intercontinental Title is the de factor World Title right now because Lesnar has to face Strowman for his quarterly defense and leave.

This whole show needs a completely different style of presenting itself, and it’s not like WWE doesn’t know how to do it. Smackdown, NXT, heck even 205 Live knows how to do this stuff but Raw can’t figure it out. I haven’t been this sick of the show in a very long time and so much of it comes from the fact that they know how to do it properly and just won’t. I don’t know if it’s the lack of a proper World Champion or the writers being hacks or Vince losing his touch or some combination of everything, but it needs to change and it needs to change soon. Terribly dull show, with the two good matches not being able to save it.

Results

John Cena/Finn Balor/Seth Rollins b. Dean Ambrose/Bobby Lashley/Drew McIntyre – Stomp to Ambrose

Chad Gable/Bobby Roode b. Revival – Small package to Dawson

Baron Corbin b. Elias – End of Days

Apollo Crews/Ember Moon b. Jinder Mahal/Alicia Fox – Eclipse to Fox

Sasha Banks b. Nia Jax – Bank Statement

Dean Ambrose b. Seth Rollins – Pin after a spear from Bobby Lashley

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Hidden Gems #7
Date: 1981, 1992

So the Network is going coconuts for the Christmas season with TWELVE (even though they’re starting this on the day after the regular Hidden Gems drop, meaning it should be THIRTEEN) STRAIGHT DAYS of of Hidden Gems, with new stuff being added every day through Christmas. Therefore, I’ll be putting these up in four three day blocks. Some of these are going to be much longer than others but the fun part is going to be seeing what surprises we’re in for. Let’s get to it.

Star Wars 1981
Date: December 25, 1981
Location: Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas
Commentator: Bill Mercer

So this is most of a full show, with a Big Time Wrestling event (very soon to be World Class Championship Wrestling) under the Star Wars banner. Star Wars was a series of big shows that the promotion ran on certain important nights (often holidays) so expect a big night. The entire thing isn’t here but I’ll fill in the gaps where I can. Let’s get to it.

It’s a double ring show, which could make for an interesting night.

Ring announcer Marc Lowrance introduces the show and explains the two rings.

The first two matches aren’t present. First up was El Negro Assassin vs. Richard Blood (not Ricky Steamboat) in a fifteen minute draw and Tiny Tom defeating Little Tokyo in about ten minutes.

Texas Brass Knuckles Title: Jose Lothario vs. Ernie Ladd

Ladd, a monster with some of the greatest promos ever, is defending. The title is more a toughman title than anything else, as hardcore wrestling hadn’t exactly been invented yet. Lothario on the other hand is best known for training Shawn Michaels. Ladd backs up a few times in the first minute before taking Lothario into the corner. That just earns him a shot to the ribs and it’s time to stall some more.

Some right hands finally put Lothario in trouble and it’s off to a bearhug, which is rather awkward given Ladd’s foot or so height advantage. With that broken up, it turns into a boxing match and Lothario being a former boxer means Ladd is in trouble in a hurry. Ladd uses the distraction to load up a foreign object, which goes into Lothario’s neck. A right hand knocks Lothario to the floor but he comes back in with a top rope right hand to the head….for the pin and the title at 6:14.

Rating: D. Well that happened. The punching stuff made sense and both of them looked fine on their own, but it was still a dull match with neither of them having the time to do much. The ending, with a big right hand from the top, made sense for the gimmick of the match but it wasn’t much to see until we got to the finish.

There was another unaired match here with Blue Demon and Al Madril beating Arman Hussein and Carlos Zapata. I believe that’s the last missing match on the card.

UWA Light Heavyweight Title: El Solitario vs. Tim Brooks

Solitario is defending and this is a title from the Universal Wrestling Association in Mexico. Brooks on the other hand, apparently loves to have dog collar matches. That’s quite the random factoid. There’s also no way that he’s a light heavyweight. Solitario spins out of a leglock to start and we have an early standoff. Brooks hits a shoulder but charges into a hiptoss as Solitario sends him into the other ring.

They head back to the original with Brooks sending him into the corner and dropping a knee for two but a sunset flip gives Solitario the same. A dropkick puts Brooks on the apron and a posting sends him to the floor. Solitario hits a dive and Brooks is busted open, which at least came off a good spot. Back in again and another crossbody retains Solitario’s title at 5:21.

Rating: C-. Solitario’s dives looked good and were WAY ahead of their time but Brooks was any heel here, which meant he was a pretty lame challenger. At least they kept it short here and let Solitario be the star, which was the right idea given what was going on in there. Just not much to see here, aside from Solitario being insane for an American audience.

Fritz Von Erich vs. Great Kabuki

Kabuki has top heel manager Gary Hart with him. This is a Texas Death Match, which basically means Last Man Standing. Fritz is rather popular as ringside fills up with fans wanting autographs, which Fritz of course grants. The ring announcer explains that after every fall, there will be a thirty second rest period before a ten count begins. Fritz goes straight for the Claw but Kabuki does the smart thing by grabbing the wrist. The stomach version works a bit better until Kabuki makes a rope for a break. In a Death Match?

Back up and Fritz slugs away but another Claw attempt is blocked. So you’re saying he uses a Claw a lot? Kabuki chops him down in the corner but then Fritz does the same thing. They head into the other ring where another Claw attempt is countered with a kick to the head. This time Kabuki grabs Fritz underneath the arm for a nerve hold as this is getting awful in a hurry.

They fight to the floor and then over a chair with Fritz getting the better of it. Fritz punches him back inside and more bad looking right hands don’t do much damage. The Claw goes on for a three count and it takes him awhile to let go. Two referees have to pull Fritz off and he puts it on again.

That’s considered part of the rest period so Fritz beats up Hart to kill some time. Kabuki beats the count and it’s time to go after the cut on his head. That means more Claw (egads man learn a new move) as Hart takes off a turnbuckle pad. Kabuki is back up as Fritz beats Hart up and sends Fritz face first into the exposed buckle. A lot of choking keeps Fritz down until he punches his way to freedom (and that’s AMERICAN freedom mind you).

Both guys are down long enough that the rest period begins, followed by the ten count and neither can make it to their feet. We don’t have draws in Texas though and the winner is the first person on his feet in the ring. Fritz almost gets up first so Hart pulls him down and pours something on Kabuki’s face to wake him up, which is enough for the win at 18:11. That’s the first Texas Death Match that Fritz has ever lost.

Rating: F. I know he’s a legend in Texas and owns the promotion and all that jazz but this was HORRIBLE with Fritz looking about 90 years old and doing nothing but punching and the Claw. This might have been a nice treat for the fans live and meant something to them, but watching it back is an absolute chore as it’s just sitting there watching Fritz put his hand on Kabuki’s head for long stretches over and over. Terrible stuff here, no matter how big a WCCW fan you might be.

Kevin Von Erich comes in to clear the villains out.

Kevin Von Erich/David Von Erich/Kerry Von Erich vs. Frank Dusek/Bill Irwin/Ten Gu

Ten Gu is better known as Kendo Nagasaki in Stampede Wrestling. This is a six man tag with both rings being used, meaning it’s basically a singles match in both rings and one person able to tag into either ring at either time. That’s kind of clever. Before we can get going though, the Von Erichs are mobbed for autographs again. Mike is with them here with his brothers and that’s always kind of sad to see. Kerry and Irwin start in one ring and the rules are already starting to get confusing as the other four just stand there.

We settle down to David working on Gu’s arm and the camera still only focusing on one ring at a time. Kevin works on a headlock on Dusek before headscissoring Irwin down at the same time. There is WAY too much going on here at once with the tagging and it’s not flowing well at all. We go back to Kerry putting Gu in a sleeper until Dusek makes a save. That means a chinlock for a bit with Dusek fighting up and almost hitting Irwin in the other ring.

They FINALLY go to a wide shot that the match was begging for and we get to see just how slow everyone is keeping things. David gets a sleeper on Gu until Kerry hits a running dive over the ropes to take Gu down. A double ax handle gets two on David but he’s right back with a suplex for the same on Dusek. Kerry snapmares Irwin down and drops a middle rope knee for two of his own. Dusek gets in his own suplex on Kerry but misses a top rope splash and hurts his knee. Irwin misses his own running knee on Kevin, who pops up with the Claw on Gu. A middle rope ax handle hits Gu by mistake and Kevin pins him at 10:58.

Rating: D-. I’m going to blame this one more on the production and the layout as this needed to either stay wide the whole time or drop the tagging stuff to make it a regular brawl. There was too much going on with too many people involved and it caught up with them in a hurry. I couldn’t tell what was going on and there was no story to the whole thing. I’m not sure why the Von Erichs were fighting these three in the first place, and there’s just nothing good to say about it. Oh yeah Fritz wasn’t wrestling so it was slightly less bad than the previous match.

Battle Royal

David Von Erich, Bill Irwin, Kerry Von Erich, Big Daddy Bundy, Al Madrill, Armand Hussein, Blue Demon, Carlos Zapata, El Negro Assassin, Frank Dusek, Jose Lothario, Richard Blood, Ten Gu, Tim Brooks

Double ring battle royal (throw the people from one ring into the other, then out like a regular battle royal, the last two people involved have a two man battle royal for the win) for $10,000. The match is listed as having sixteen people, the records I can find say fourteen, and I see twelve. Thankfully we get a listing and it turns out that I can’t count or see everyone in a ring. It’s a big brawl to start and EGADS Bundy looks weird in jeans and with a full head of hair. The camera continues to focus on half of the ring instead of going wide, which would seem to be the solution to this whole thing.

Bundy keeps beating on everyone as we’re still waiting on the first elimination. David gets launched into the second ring and Brooks follows him as we look at this ring instead of the two next to each other. Madrill and Demon come to the second ring as well, followed by a bunch of others as things go nuts in a hurry. Bundy wins the first ring, followed by Hussein and Demon both being eliminated. Two other guys leave at the same time but they’re not important enough to mention.

Dusek is out and we’re down to eight left in the second ring as I try to figure out the other two eliminations. Madrill and Assassin go out, followed by Kerry and Ten Gu, leaving us with Lothario, Irwin, Blood and Zapata, meaning the other two unmentioned eliminations were David Von Erich and Tim Brooks. Now why couldn’t those names just be mentioned? Anyway Blood and Zapata go out and Lothario follows, leaving us with the heel vs. heel battle of Bundy vs. Irwin.

Bundy gets lured into the other ring and the fight is on, with both referees staying in the ring with them. Some forearms have Irwin in trouble until he avoids an elbow drop from Bundy. Wait is Bundy a face here? What kind of idiot would make Bundy a face? Commentary seems to confirm this as Irwin pokes him in the eye. I mean, it makes more sense for this match but makes far less sense otherwise. Irwin gets him to the apron but gets pulled out to give Bundy the win at 12:12.

Rating: D. The same production issues hurt this one as you couldn’t see a lot of what was going on when the action was still going on in both rings. Other than that, it was a bad battle royal with everyone running around and a bunch of people going from one quick fight to another. It’s not the worst, but it wasn’t very good. Bundy winning makes sense, especially since he’s a good guy around here, because reasons.

And now from another part of the country on the same night. The following few matches are from the 1981 AWA Christmas night show in St. Paul, Minnesota. The whole video is just over half an hour long so I can’t call it the full show, but you never know what you’re going to get on these things.

AWA House Show
Date: December 25, 1981
Location: St. Paul Civic Center, St. Paul, Minnesota
Commentator: Rodger Kent

This isn’t my favorite time and/or promotion in the world but they could do big shows fairly well. As mentioned this isn’t the full show but hopefully we get the best of the what they had to offer that night. The big match is a non-title match, which is non-title for no adequately explained reason. Why would you want to waste a major match on something like Christmas? Let’s get to it.

Rene Goulet vs. Kenny Jay

Goulet was an agent with the WWF forever but wasn’t much in the ring. Joined in progress with Jay (never heard of him) working on a wristlock as the unnamed announcer talks about Japanese photographers in attendance. Goulet takes him down into a chinlock as the announcer talks about Goulet’s airfare in 1981 costing over $58,000.

A headscissors keeps Jay down until he reverses into a leglock to send Goulet bailing to the ropes. The hold goes right back on with Jay taking him down to keep Goulet in trouble. Goulet finally makes it over to the rope as we’re told there are five minutes left. Back up and some elbows get Goulet out of trouble before a middle rope knee finishes Jay at 6:14 shown (announced as 11:14).

Rating: D. What we saw wasn’t exactly thrilling stuff as it was a lot of leg work and not much else. Goulet never was the most interesting guy in the world and Jay seemed like just a guy for the most part. In other words, for once I’m rather glad about this being clipped instead of having to sit through the full thing.

Curt Hennig vs. Evan Johnson

This is very early in Hennig’s career and we’re joined in progress again with Hennig taking him down with a headscissors. The announcer talks about Johnson being an Olympic wrestler and only missing the 1980 games due to the boycott. Johnson fights up into a wristlock and Hennig can’t slam his way to freedom. The arm work continues as we’re told that Scrap Iron Gadaski is the referee. That name might not mean much to you, but he was Ric Flair’s first ever opponent. Hennig comes back with an armdrag of his own and then grabs a leglock to change things up a bit.

Johnson reverses into something like a crucifix but can’t get the other shoulder down. The fans aren’t pleased so Hennig gets up as we’re told there are three minutes left. Things get a lot more physical in a hurry as they fight up against the ropes without actually hitting each other. Johnson snaps off a belly to belly for two and they trade rollups as we’re down to a minute to go. Hennig hits an ax handle for two and Johnson grabs a backslide for two (with a great shocked look from Hennig) of his own as the fifteen minute time limit expires at 10:12 shown.

Rating: C-. This was a lot better than the previous match as they were trying to get a fall until the end with both guys working rather hard. They didn’t flip the switch until later in the match and that’s acceptable as the stuff after they started trying was a lot better. Hennig wasn’t quite his great self yet but you can see the potential there.

Jerry Blackwell/Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie vs. High Flyers

The High Flyers’ (Jim Brunzell/Greg Gagne) Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line. Joined in progress again with Greg taking the huge Blackwell down by the arm. Brunzell comes in without a tag to knock Adnan off the apron and gets in a shot at Blackwell as a bonus. Now he comes in off a tag and cranks on the arm before it’s off to Adnan. That means more arm cranking, including Brunzell coming off the middle rope with a knee. The fans are all over Blackwell as Brunzell stays on the arm.

To mix things up a bit, Gagne comes back in to work on the arm some more. Blackwell finally gets the tag for a headbutt, only to miss a splash. Some corner splashes work a bit better so Brunzell goes after the Sheik, allowing Blackwell to throw Gagne over the top. Blackwell is dumb enough to keep going after Brunzell to break up the count and Gagne gets back inside. Sheik comes in without a tag so Brunzell does the same, allowing Gagne to be pulled back into the corner.

We get the always classic tag that the referee misses and the fans are right back into things off the near explosion. The bearhug goes on instead with Gagne not exactly looking like he’s in pain, but rather being confused that he’s here. He finally slips out and crawls over for the tag to Brunzell for the house cleaning dropkicks. It’s already back to Gagne for a top rope knee to Sheik’s knee. Brunzell (or The Brunzy apparently) comes back in for a Figure Four but Blackwell crushes him with a splash. With Gagne being thrown out, Sheik gets the pin on Brunzell at 12:18.

Rating: D+. The AWA isn’t my favorite promotion and this wasn’t the most thrilling thing in the world. It’s not clear why this was a non-title match as it was a pretty clean pin for Blackwell and the Sheik, but that might imply that something changes around here and we wouldn’t want that. The match was formula based stuff and that works well enough, though the very long arm work part didn’t get them very far.

And now for something very different, we go to Tampa, Florida for a Christmas message from Randy Savage to a bunch of students. New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner set this up and talks about how it’s giving something back to the community. After a quick statement from Steinbrenner about how important it is to take care of at risk children and how Christmas is the most important time of the year.

We go inside the auditorium where Savage is played to the stage by a live orchestra. Savage talks about how a lot of people care about the kids here and how it’s no secret that things can be better. His big message is to believe in yourself and you can accomplish any goal you want. Be all that you can be and your best friend is yourself because you’ll never give up on yourself.

You want to be a leader and not a follower who makes bad decisions. Say no to drugs and stay in school. An education is incredible and something you should take advantage of. There will be challenges in life and things can go badly, but keep getting up and never quit. The person who gets back up again is the person that Savage respects because they’re the kind of person who is going to battle and win at all costs.

It’s nice to be important but it’s important to be nice. Savage even takes off his glasses to wrap things up, saying Merry Christmas and saying he’ll shake hands with everyone here. Savage packed in every cliché you could ask for here but for the sake of something like this, it’s perfectly fine. It also helps when you have Savage’s charisma and can make anything sound good.

Overall Rating: D. This is quite the mixture and it’s really not very good. To be fair though these were designed to be a bunch of one off watches rather than marathoning them like I’ve been doing, which isn’t helping things. The wrestling wasn’t all that great, though a lot of that is more due to the time frame not being one of my favorites. Savage’s message was rather nice and it’s always cool to see wrestlers doing something for a charity. We’ve got a long way to go though and that’s….going to be interesting, at least I hope.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Main Event
Date: January 3, 2019
Location: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Vic Joseph, Percy Watson

We’re back in the arena this week after a pair of Best Of shows. That means more of your favorite lower card talents plus a bunch of highlights from some shows that a lot of people didn’t actually watch due to the holidays. Things should be at least somewhat interesting though as we see what the new year might hold. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Titus O’Neil vs. Curt Hawkins

Hawkins’ early waistlock attempt is shoved away without much effort, as expected. Titus throws him into the corner for some chops but Hawkins snaps his throat across the top to get a breather. A Russian legsweep sets up a chinlock with a knee in Titus’ back but the comeback doesn’t take long. An exchange of right hands goes to Titus and the Clash of the Titus is good for the pin on Hawkins at 4:52.

Rating: D. Just another match between these two as Hawkins is somehow still working in this role. It should have completely lost its impact about a year ago but it’s still amusing watching him be so desperate to get a win. They’ve got something if they ever do it, though I’m not sure how they ever get there.

From Raw.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Drew McIntyre

In a cage with pinfall, submission or escape to win. Ziggler has thankfully lost the record scratch at the start of his song. An early escape attempt doesn’t work for Ziggler and Drew chops the heck out of him. That and a delayed vertical suplex are enough to put Dolph down for some writhing on the mat.

Dolph’s early comeback is cut off by the Glasgow Kiss but he catches Drew on top. That means a series of rams into the cage but Drew kicks the knee out for a crotching. Back from a break with Drew demanding that Ziggler fight and being set into the cage for his efforts. The superkick gives Ziggler two but Drew pulls him back inside. A double headbutt puts them both down again but Drew is up first, only to have Ziggler slam the cage door on his head.

The Fameasser gets two and we take a break. Back again with McIntyre superplexing him off the top of the cage and then sending Ziggler face first into the cage. The Claymore takes Dolph’s head off but Drew would rather sit and look instead of cover. Another Claymore finishes Ziggler at 19:29.

Rating: C+. It’s a good win for McIntyre but it’s way past time for this feud to be over. McIntyre is better than Ziggler and they need to move him on to something else already. They’ve been at this for months now and McIntyre has gotten everything he can from Ziggler. That doesn’t mean it’s stopping, but it means that it should.

Post match Drew isn’t done as he puts a chair in front of Ziggler’s head and Claymores it into Ziggler’s head, driving it into the cage. Drew says that he’s going to win the Royal Rumble and leaves, but comes back as Ziggler was sitting up in the chair. That means another Claymore to leave Ziggler laying. Ok are we done with these two now? I mean we should have been three months ago but are we done now?

From Smackdown.

Here’s John Cena, bad hair and all, for a chat. Cena thanks the fans for the energy and talks about the year in review. He bought a ticket to Wrestlemania and probably shouldn’t have had those beers before the match. His personal life was all over national television, he wrote a best selling children’s book that he’s very proud of and lived in China for six months. With all that though, he still thinks this hair is a good idea. On top of that though, he can still float like a butterfly and sting like a bumblebee, which is still certified fresh.

The question now is why is he here. Well he knows that someone is going to come out here right now and say Cena should leave WWE faster than Nikki Bella left him. That brings out Becky Lynch to some applause from Cena. Becky asks how it feels to expect a man to come out here but to get The Man instead. Things have gotten a bit more complicated since Cena left, because now Becky wants to take his place instead of Charlotte’s. He’s been THE star of WWE and now she wants to be on those posters and filling his shoes. If Cena has a problem with that, Nikki won’t be the only woman to drop him this year.

This brings out Andrade Cien Almas and Zelina Vega, with the latter saying a fresh start was promised not too long ago. What she sees though is an old face in Cena and a still broken face in Becky. Vega introduces the two of them and promises that this will be the year of tranquilo. Cena: “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is John Cena and you may know me from being John Cena.” The challenge is thrown out and the mixed tag starts after the break.

John Cena/Becky Lynch vs. Zelina Vega/Andrade Cien Almas

The women start with a chop sending Vega bailing for a tag to Almas. That means Cena comes in as well and Andrade is rather pleased. The early tranquilo pose doesn’t have Cena very impressed and Almas’ headlock doesn’t make things much better. The fans want Becky but have to settle for more headlocking instead. Almas kicks him down but gets his suplex reversed. A running clothesline takes Cena down though and we take a break.

Back with Vega holding Cena on the ropes and Almas still in control. Cena fights up and avoids a charge, allowing the hot tag to Becky as the fans stay interested. Some kicks have Vega in trouble and the Bexploder makes things even worse. A top rope dropkick with almost no elevation (Becky might have slipped) gets two but Almas breaks up the Disarm-Her. Cena takes care of him with the usual, including the Lightning Fist. Becky shoves Cena out of the ring though and grabs the Disarm-Her for the win at 10:11.

Rating: C-. That ending was a great example of something that Becky would do and fitting her character. She didn’t ask permission from Cena to do what she wanted and just took the spot herself. That fits her very well and was the right call. It’s not going to mean anything, but it fit for the moment.

Post match Cena offers a handshake but Becky does You Can’t See Me instead.

Revival vs. Tyler Breeze/Zack Ryder

Breeze armbars Dawson to start and gets uppercutted for his efforts. That would qualify as the fists part of the offense. Wilder comes in and gets caught in a hurricanrana and there’s a dropkick to Dawson. Ryder helps out on a double backdrop and a slingshot dropkick through the ropes rocks Dawson again. A clothesline on the floor cuts Breeze down though and it’s time for the beatdown inside. Dawson slams him down and an assisted gordbuster gets two.

Ryder gets pulled off the apron for a distraction and the Hart Attack is good for another two. We hit the required chinlock (at least it’s a cobra clutch to mix things up a bit this time) before Breeze fights up with an enziguri. The hot tag brings in Ryder for the usual, including knees to Dawson and a flapjack to Wilder. A double Broski boot sets up the double neckbreaker before it’s back to Breeze. Ryder gets sent to the floor and the Shatter Machine finishes Breeze at 7:42.

Rating: C. That was a snappy little match with all four working hard. The Revival deserves so much better than what they’re getting and I hope they get the titles that have so eluded them for so long. There’s not much of a reason to not put the belts on them at least once, just for them being a different kind of team if nothing else.

From Smackdown.

Rey Mysterio vs Mustafa Ali vs. Samoa Joe vs. Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles

One fall to a finish and the winner gets Bryan at the Rumble. Everyone is in the ring at once so Ali goes right at Joe, who throws him down without much effort. AJ hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Rey before hammering away at Orton in the corner. Everyone but Orton heads outside with the aggressive AJ sending Ali face first into the post. Ali is fine enough to hit the rolling X Factor for two on Orton as Joe makes the save.

Rey dives in to take Joe down but AJ sends him hard into the corner. Mysterio is fine enough to hurricanrana AJ out to the floor, only to walk right into a powerslam. Joe suplexes Ali but charges into AJ’s elbow in the corner, setting up the moonsault into the reverse DDT for two. Back from a break with AJ taking over again but not being able to launch the Phenomenal Forearm. Joe drops him through the announcers’ table, only to have Ali take him down.

Rey does the same to Orton and we get an Ali vs Mysterio showdown. Ali flips out of a headscissors and catches Rey on top with a super Spanish Fly. That’s good for a delayed two with Joe making a save this time and firing off knees to Ali. The Satellite DDT plans Joe but the 054 misses. Joe grabs the Koquina Clutch with Rey making a save off a 619. Another 619 hits Ali and there’s the RKO to make it worse, with Rey coming off the top with a legdrop for the save. A hurricanrana on the floor takes care of Joe and AJ hits the springboard 450 to pin Orton for the title shot at 13:09.

Rating: B-. Not too bad here with the right call. You don’t want to have AJ get that big moment last year and then lose his first match back. I don’t think they’ll put the title back on him but there’s a good chance he’ll get screwed out of the title, which is a fine enough way to set up a Rumble match. Ali got some nice offense in here as well and that’s a good sign for his future.

Overall Rating: C. They covered the good stuff from the big shows and the tag match wasn’t half bad. This was the Main Event that works so well as a recap as they didn’t miss any of the major stuff (the lack of Baron Corbin was rather refreshing) and it was an easy forty minute watch. Now if only Raw and Smackdown went this well every week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Royal Rumble 1999
Date: January 24, 1999
Location: Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, California
Attendance: 14,816
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole

Road Dogg vs. Big Boss Man

Intercontinental Title: Ken Shamrock vs. Billy Gunn

Shane McMahon tries to fire up his dad for tonight.

European Title: X-Pac vs. Gangrel

Sable is defending and this is a strap match. Luna bails to the floor to start but gets pulled face first into the post. Back in and Sable chokes away as Shane calls Luna hot. Sable can only get two buckles though until Luna pulls her down. That earns Sable a whipping and some kicks in the corner, only to have Luna hit a quick backbreaker.

The Corporation debates over who gets to eliminate Austin and win the $100,000 bounty Vince has put on his head tonight.

WWF World Title: The Rock vs. Mankind

Royal Rumble

As we wait, allow me to point out that save for the first two, the first eighteen entrants have all been eliminated, making nearly two thirds of the match completely worthless. Billy Gunn comes in at #20, wearing one boot. Heaven forbid we get anything going through as Shamrock takes him down with a kick to the bad ankle. Gunn throws him into the corner for a break but Ken goes after the ankle again.

Ratings Comparison

Big Boss Man vs. Road Dogg

Original: C-

2013 Redo: C-

2016 Redo: D

Ken Shamrock vs. Billy Gunn

Original: D+

2013 Redo: C+

2016 Redo: D+

X-Pac vs. Gangrel

Original: B-

2013 Redo: C+

2016 Redo: C-

Sable vs. Luna Vachon

Original: F

2013 Redo: D

2016 Redo: F+

The Rock vs. Mankind

Original: B

2013 Redo: B

2016 Redo: B-

Royal Rumble

Original: F

2013 Redo: F

2016 Redo: F

Overall Rating

Original: D-

2013 Redo: D

2016 Redo: F+

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/18/royal-rumble-count-up-1999-please-make-it-stop/

And the original redo:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2013/01/12/royal-rumble-count-up-2013-redo-1999-disturbing-to-watch-for-multiple-reasons/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

So this has kind of blown up the wrestling world in recent days.

For those of you who have missed it, Mae Young Classic competitor Priscilla Kelly pulled a bloody tampon out of her trunks at a show over the weekend and shoved it in her opponent’s face. You can imagine how this went over with some wrestlers and how it went over with others at the same time. I think you can also imagine my reaction to it.

I’ll be nicer this time and say this isn’t exactly my kind of wrestling entertainment. It was at a 21+ show, but that doesn’t mean that as someone over 21 that I want to see it happen. This is little more than a shock value moment, just like the crazy death match stuff with explosions and all the barbed wire and whatever else they come up with that day. If you need something like that to get over, maybe you need to work on your skills or character more, because no other talented wrestler need to go that far to get a reaction.

This isn’t some terrible, horrible thing. It’s just stupid and someone throwing something out there to get a reaction out of people instead of putting in the effort to earn one. There are people who will defend it by calling it performance art or creativity and all that jazz and that’s fine. I’d question why those people rarely make it on the highest levels of wrestling but that’s just me.

Oh and Road Dogg being the one to defend this from WWE made the whole thing that much funnier. Was a true standard bearer like Billy Gunn or X-Pac not available?

I kind of have to say something longer about this right?

What exactly am I supposed to say? We know five wrestlers and the name of a show at the moment. I have no idea if this is going to work or not and other than a lot of speculation about big names who might show up, we don’t know much of anything about the promotion. They’ve certainly made a splash to start, but there’s a fine line between something being talked about and the people coming to all of the shows.

It’s way too early to say where AEW is going, but I like what I’ve seen so far. It might wind up being a big indy or something like that and there’s nothing wrong with occupying that spot. If it turns into a bidding war and talent makes more money, that’s an awesome situation. I’m just trying to not get overly excited yet though, as the second show is likely to be a success. That’s not where the issue is going to be. The issue is going to be in the fifteenth or so show. How many people are going to come to that?

And better yet: how many of their lower level talents can WWE pick off? They might not be able to get Cody and the Bucks, but what about a few marginal people? If WWE starts picking them off, in the words of Road Dogg when the rest of the promotion walked out and DX was all that’s left, “Are we supposed to wrestle ourselves every week?”.

I’m firmly in a wait and see mode, because there isn’t much to see at the moment.

IMG Credit: Impact Wrestling

Homecoming
Date: January 6, 2019
Location: The Asylum, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Don Callis

It’s back to pay per view tonight with a show in the old stomping grounds. This isn’t a One Night Stand kind of deal or anything like that as it’s a pretty standard pay per view card with only the venue being old school. The main event will see World Champion Johnny Impact defend against Brian Cage where shenanigans could be a factor. Let’s get to it.

The opening video, narrated by Johnny Impact, looks back at the old days in the Asylum and talks about how good it can feel to go home. This aired at the end of Impact and was released on the YouTube page.

X-Division Title: Ethan Page vs. Jake Crist vs. Trey Miguel vs. Rich Swann

The title is vacant coming in and this is Ultimate X, meaning there’s an X made of rope above the ring with the title hanging in the middle. First one to crawl over and pull down the title is champion. It’s a brawl to start with Ethan heading up for the title in a hurry but falling down onto Miguel instead. Page isn’t done and shoves Miguel off the top and onto the other two.

That earns him quite the reaction but it’s way too early for the climb. Back in and Crist scores with some kicks until Miguel takes him down with a neckbreaker. The fans are VERY appreciative here and we get an IMPACT WRESTLING chant. Page gets caught in the corner and it’s Miguel and Swann kicking him in the ace before climbing up. Instead of going up on his own, Crist fails at an attempt at a double cutter. He gets smart the second time though and crotches them both before hitting the cutter on the second attempt.

With the three of them down, Page goes for a climb but makes a rather dumb decision by dropping down into an elbow on Crist. Miguel goes up until Page pulls him down into a backbreaker. Crist legdrops Page and then hits a running DDT onto the floor on Page. Swann follows them out with the big flip dive and the fans are rather pleased. Swann and Miguel climb the structure with the former being pulled down and Miguel moonsaulting onto Crist and Page.

Everyone staggers back inside and it’s a double powerbomb/Meteora combination to destroy Page again. Swann gets taken outside for a Tombstone on the ramp from Crist, who dumps him up onto the stage to keep him even further from the ring. That gets Crist close to the title so Page spears him off the top for the huge crash.

Swann is right back up with a hurricanrana to bring Miguel off the top. Miguel hits a hurricanrana of his own but Swann lands on his feet and sprints up to grab the title for the win at 13:55. The title seemed to fall down so that might not have been the planned finish. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

Rating: B. This was the insanity that it needed to be with one big spot after another. Swann winning is the right call too as he’s the top star of the division at the moment and someone who could be the big deal that it’s needed for a long time. The other three all looked awesome too here, if you can ignore some rather dumb actions here and there.

The announcers run down the card for a good while as the structure is taken down.

Brian Cage talks about how Impact is getting the serious version tonight. He’s sacrificed everything to get here and there’s one outcome: Cage walking out as World Champion.

We recap Allie/Su Yung vs. Kiera Hogan/Jordynne Grace. Allie sacrificed her soul to save Rosemary but kind of got ripped off, resulting in her being turned into Dark Allie, which she doesn’t seem to mind. Kiera is still determined to save her friend and Grace just showed up earlier this week to even things out.

Jordynne Grace/Kiera Hogan vs. Su Yung/Allie

Grace snapmares Allie down to start and hits a low crossbody for an early two. It’s already off to Yung, who gets dropkicked down upon entry. A running hip attack in the corner gets two and it’s back to Allie, who bails to the floor instead of fighting Kiera. The confusion is enough for Yung to get in a cheap shot on Hogan by sending her into the buckle. The double beatdown is on and a hangman’s neckbreaker out of the Tree of Woe makes it worse for Hogan.

Yung climbs the buckles for a headscissors and Allie gets two off a Backstabber. Kiera comes back with some forearms to Yung and an awkward looking collision puts both of them down. It’s enough for the hot tag to Grace and house is cleaned in a hurry. Everything breaks down and the evil ones get taken down by a dive. Back in and Allie rakes Grace’s eyes so Hogan can tag herself in.

A fisherman’s suplex gets two and it’s back to Grace for a powerbomb to Yung and a World’s Strongest Slam to Allie at the same time (though she BARELY held them up). That’s only good for two on Allie, who mists Grace in the really evil act. The Codebreaker hits Hogan but Allie wants Su’s bloody glove. The Mandible Claw finishes Hogan at 8:58.

Rating: D+. This was exactly what I was expecting and that’s the right call. Allie and Yung have some staying power as heels, at least until Rosemary is back to save Allie’s soul. The match wasn’t the point here and Allie pinning Hogan makes sense. Now just get Rosemary back and see where things go.

Post match Yung beats on Hogan even more and here are the bridesmaids with the coffin. Rosemary pops out though and punches some bridesmaids before growling at Yung. Rosemary crawls inside and stares at Allie, who is rather panicked. She reaches to touch Allie’s head and Allie bails in a hurry.

We recap Eddie Edwards vs. Moose. They were friends until Moose got hurt and claimed Eddie didn’t care. Moose turned on him and sent Eddie over the edge, putting him in a mental hospital. Raven of all people (I don’t get it either) got Eddie out of the hospital and it’s time for a Falls Count Anywhere match.

Eddie Edwards vs. Moose

Falls Count Anywhere. Eddie jumps him during the entrances, as he should because he’s not the kind of guy who would wait for a bell here. Moose catches the suicide dive though and Eddie gets TOSSED into the steps. Back to back powerbombs on the floor and apron give Moose two and it’s time to load up the steps, plus a piece of barricade between the ring and the regular barricade.

Another powerbomb is countered and Eddie takes it back to the floor, this time heading into the crowd. The fans want them to come OVER HERE, though I’d settle for a camera staying on them. What looked like a beer can to Moose’s head makes him walk even more but Moose whips him into some steps to the upper deck. Eddie of course hits a dive off the balcony but would rather chop Moose than cover him.

Back to ringside with Eddie getting knocked off the apron, sending him face first into the barricade. A bunch of chairs are thrown in and Moose posts Eddie to keep him down. Eddie is busted open (as he should be) and Moose bites at the cut (as he shouldn’t be). For some reason Moose goes up, allowing Eddie to pelt a chair at his head. The chairs are piled up and a top rope superplex drops both guys onto them for the huge crash.

Rating: B-. This was pretty close to the violent fight that it should have been and hopefully it wraps up the feud once and for all. There’s no reason to keep things going and Eddie winning is a pretty definitive finish. Alisha accepting Eddie’s violence and helping with the beatdown was a nice touch, especially since there was no Raven to get involved here.

Sami Callihan promises to destroy Willie Mack tonight. Mack is in over his head and has made the mistake of looking for a fight with the wrong man. It’s still not clear why Sami isn’t attacking Willie’s buddy Rich Swann but Mack wants to fight anyway.

Willie Mack vs. Sami Callihan

Dave Crist is here with Callihan. Mack starts fast and snaps off a hurricanrana before hitting a running flip dive onto Crist and Callihan for the early control. Back in and Swann hits a running seated Blockbuster but a Crist distraction lets Sami ram him face first into the apron. There’s the running kick to the side of Mack’s head and it’s time for the OVE SUCKS chants. Back in and Sami hits the spit chop in the corner before we hit the chinlock. Mack jawbreaks his way to freedom but Sami rakes the eyes.

That goes nowhere for some reason but another Crist distraction lets Sami roll him up for two. A Samoan drop into a standing moonsault gives Mack two of his own, setting up a running hip attack in the corner. When did that become the most popular move in wrestling? The Sky High gives Mack two more but Callihan scores with a powerbomb into the V Trigger for two.

The Stunner out of nowhere gives Mack two more as Sami has to get his foot on the ropes. Mack goes up and thanks to a third Crist distraction, it’s a super Death Valley Driver for one. A hard lariat gives Sami another one as Mack is getting all fired up. Another lariat turns Mack inside out and the Cactus Piledriver gives Sami the pin at 10:13.

Rating: C+. Mack has developed a habit of stealing the show and he came close here. Sami winning makes the most sense here as Mack isn’t ready to beat someone like him, but Mack is rapidly becoming one of the most entertaining guys in the division. If they keep treating him well, he’s going to be just fine for a long time.

Eli Drake stands in front of a cage where Abyss was born nearly twenty years ago. He’s ready to get rid of hardcore and laughs off the idea that he’s afraid. Tonight is Monster’s Ball and he has monster balls, so hardcore ends tonight.

We recap Eli Drake vs. Abyss. Drake claimed that the company was an unsafe working environment and decided to destroy hardcore wrestling. He went after Joseph Park to get rid of Abyss, which earned him an offer for Monster’s Ball at Homecoming. This of course turned into an ECW reunion with Tommy Dreamer and Raven laying Drake out on the go home show.

Abyss vs. Eli Drake

Monster’s Ball, meaning hardcore. Abyss throws in a bunch of weapons before the bell so Drake gets in a staple gun shot to take over. For some reason he tries a sunset flip and gets stapled in the chest. Abyss loads up two tables at ringside but Drake knocks him into the crowd. The breather lets Drake kick him low and drive an anvil case into Abyss’ head to really take over.

Back inside and some garbage can shots to the head rock Abyss all over again. A running metal sign shot is countered into an overhead belly to belly though and Drake goes FLYING through the tables. That looked awesome, even if it was telegraphed (not a bad thing in this case). It’s time for thumbtacks but Drake elbows his way out of the chokeslam. Drake picks up some tacks but hits the referee in the face by mistake. The Black Hole Slam gets two as the referee isn’t quite blinded.

Rating: C. Standard weapons match here, though that overhead belly to belly through the tables was great. Drake winning doesn’t save the whole story but it saves my head from exploding. He’s WAY too talented to be stuck in a feud like this and him losing to the mostly retired guy would have been one of the worst ideas they could have had. That and a lack of ECW legends helped this a lot.

Killer Kross finds tonight’s main event interesting. A series of events have led us here but after tonight, Option C will be replaced by Option X. Tick tock.

We recap LAX vs. the Lucha Bros. LAX have held the Tag Team Titles for a long time and now want the huge match. Konnan doesn’t think they’re ready though and has walked out, meaning LAX is on their own. This could be the match of the night by a mile if it goes as people are expecting.

Tag Team Titles: LAX vs. Lucha Bros

LAX is defending and there’s no Konnan in sight. Fenix and Santana start things off in a feeling out process. A very fast armdrag sends Santana into the ropes for a kick to the back from Pentagon and it’s a double superkick on Santana with Fenix hitting a crazy hard suicide dive on Ortiz. Santana gets back up and sends Fenix outside for a kick to Pentagon’s head, followed by the backsplash from Ortiz.

Pentagon goes outside as well and Santana hits a top rope Asai moonsault to take him right back down. Back in and a Lionsault/legdrop combination gets two on Pentagon as they’ve certainly started fast. Fenix saves his brother from a double suplex and the champs are sat outside on the ramp. Pentagon throws a charging Fenix onto both of them before hitting his own no hands flip dive onto the pile.

Back in and a Codebreaker/top rope double stomp combination gets two on Ortiz. Santana comes back in and hits a reverse powerbomb into a top rope splash but Pentagon runs in for the crazy save with a step up Canadian Destroyer (GEEZ) to put everyone down. Ortiz and Pentagon slap it out and it’s a series of running kicks to put all four down again.

The Bros get back up first with the spike Fear Factor to Santana, though Ortiz is a bit late with the save and Santana has to kick out on his own. The Street Sweeper hits Pentagon with Fenix diving in with a dropkick for the save. A rolling cutter into a Codebreaker into a superkick finishes Fenix out of nowhere to retain the titles at 10:48.

Rating: B+. It’s the most entertaining thing on the card so far but this didn’t hit the heights they should have reached. It needed another five to ten minutes as I was expecting this to be nearly twice as long. What we got was good, but it wasn’t built up, making the match feel like it was designed to be a classic instead of just being a classic. Very good, but it could have been a lot more.

Post match Konnan comes out to say he was wrong about LAX, but right about this being a great match.

Gail Kim doesn’t like Tessa Blanchard but she’ll call it down the line.

We recap Taya Valkyrie vs. Tessa Blanchard. Tessa has had to escape with the title multiple times now and has cheated more than once. Therefore, Gail Kim is back as guest referee, and because we haven’t seen her in a long time and that just won’t do.

Knockouts Title: Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie

Tessa is defending Gail Kim is guest referee. An early toss doesn’t get Tessa very far as she charges into a boot in the corner and there’s a double stomp to keep the champ in trouble. A knee to the face sends Tessa outside but she whips Taya into the barricade. Tessa adds a dropkick to drive her into the barricade and we hit the seated armbar back inside. Taya’s neck is bent around the ropes and Gail has to yell at Tessa to break it up. A heck of a clothesline out of the corner puts Tessa in trouble and a straitjacket suplex gives Taya two.

The double knees in the corner get two more and Taya reverses the Buzzsaw DDT into a northern lights suplex. They’re showcasing Taya being equally strong here, which isn’t something Tessa is used to. Taya misses a moonsault and there’s a spear (because every wrestler needs a spear). Tessa can’t believe the kickout and accidentally runs Gail over. The Buzzsaw DDT connects for no cover because Gail is suffering from retired wrestler syndrome.

Tessa grabs the title for the tug of war with Gail, who accidentally hits Taya in the head with the belt. That’s good for two so Tessa shoves Gail in no the brightest move. Gail shoves her into a rollup for two and they seem to botch the setup for a Codebreaker out of the corner. Therefore they do it again with the Codebreaker connecting the second time around. Gail counts two so Tessa drives her into the corner. That’s enough for Gail, who hits Eat Defeat to set up the Road To Valhalla to make Taya champion at 10:36.

Rating: C-. They botched some spots pretty badly and Gail was WAY too much of the focus here. There’s a good chance that it’s going to set up Tessa vs. Gail, which would be treated as a bigger match that whatever Taya is doing. The wrestling could have been better too and the match got bogged down by everything they had going on here. At least there were a few good moments, but way too much focus on Gail, as usual.

The announcers talk about the move to the Pursuit Channel. As a bonus, it’s also going to be on their Twitch channel, which is WAY overdue.

Johnny Impact says tonight isn’t about friendship because it’s about the World Title. He’s a fighting champion instead of a paper champion. There have been a bunch of people he’s thought deserved a shot and he’s given them those shots. Tonight, he’s doing it again with Cage.

We recap the World Title match. Impact finally won the World Title at Bound For Glory and Cage cashed in Option C by trading in his X-Division Title for a shot at the World Title here. Cage has gotten more serious and is almost unstoppable to put Impact in trouble.

Impact Wrestling World Title: Brian Cage vs. Johnny Impact

Cage is defending and has Terminator gear on for an even more intimidating (though slightly goofy) look. Feeling out process to start with Impact moving around as much as he can to avoid the pain but Cage counters a slingshot into an overhead suplex to take control. Some corner clotheslines connect until Impact avoids a charge, setting up a springboard spear for two. Impact’s armbreaker is broken up without much effort and a pair of monkey flips put him in even more trouble.

The chinlock doesn’t last long so Impact goes up, only to get caught with a Cheeky Nandos kick. An electric chair gives Cage two and it’s back to the chinlock. Impact fights up again and sends him outside for the big flip dive off the top, with his knee going right into Cage’s face/chest. Cage is fine enough to hit a superkick into a release German suplex. Impact scores with the Moonlight Drive and they’re both down for a breather. Starship Pain is countered into an F5 for two and we get some NEW CHAMP chants.

A buckle bomb looks to set up Weapon X but Impact reverses into rollup for two. The discus lariat gives Cage a very close near fall so Impact hits a quick Flying Chuck. Starship Pain works this time but Cage is up at two again. The super Spanish Fly doesn’t even get one and it’s a powerbomb into a buckle bomb into a helicopter bomb for two, breaking Cage’s momentum on the near fall.

Weapon X connects for two with Johnny having to get his foot on the rope. Cage gets knocked to the floor and goes after the Survivor contestants (Impact was on the show), meaning the referee has to check on them so Cage’s Drill Claw only gets two. Cage’s apron superplex is countered into something like a DDT for a very close count that is called three to retain the title at 19:12.

Rating: B. They were rocking with some of those near falls and then we had to get the Survivor goofs involved to set up the botched ending really brought things down though and there wasn’t much they could do to recover from things. Cage losing like that didn’t help things very much either either, though they had built up enough good will before then that it didn’t sink things. Good match, though the big problems hold it back a lot.

A furious Cage throws the title at Impact and storms off. Taya comes out to celebrate with an annoyed Johnny but here’s Killer Kross to jump Impact. Kross powerbombs Taya off the stage into the crowd to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was a rather good show for the most part with almost everything working at least in some way. Some of the matches weren’t as solid as others and the Knockouts Title left a lot to be desired. There were a few matches and moments that could have been better, but what we got was more than good enough. The problem for this company has always been consistency though, and I’m not exactly thrilled by what we might be getting going forward. It’s a rather good show overall, but it needed a few more steps to be great.

Results

Rich Swann b. Jake Crist, Ethan Page and Trey Miguel – Swann pulled down the title

Su Yung/Allie b. Kiera Hogan/Jordynne Grace – Mandible Claw to Hogan

Eddie Edwards b. Moose – DDT

Sami Callihan b. Willie Mack – Cactus Piledriver

Eli Drake b. Abyss – Paddle to the head

LAX b. Lucha Bros – Superkick to Fenix

Taya Valkyrie b. Tessa Blanchard – Road To Valhalla

Johnny Impact b. Brian Cage – DDT off the ropes

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

IMG Credit: WWE

205 Live
Date: January 2, 2019
Location: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson

The title is the focus this week as Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy needs some challengers at the Royal Rumble. He actually needs three of them as Drake Maverick has put him in a fatal four way. That means we’ll be seeing two of three qualifying matches tonight, with the third taking place next week to find the three challengers. Let’s get to it.

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

In Memory of Gene Okerlund.

Drake Maverick hypes up tonight’s qualifying matches and promises a big surprise at some point.

Opening sequence.

Kalisto vs. Lio Rush

The winner goes to the four way. The fans aren’t happy with Rush to start and it’s already time to run the ropes rather quickly. Kalisto’s handstand into a double backflip sends Rush bailing to the floor as Buddy Murphy and Tony Nese watch in the back. Rush comes back in for a slap to the mask and you can see Kalisto getting more serious. The chase is on with Rush swinging around the post so Kalisto uses them as a launch pad to get around the ring faster. A handspring kick to the head knocks Kalisto off the apron and that means a suicide dive as we actually get to the contact.

Back in and Rush snaps off a suplex before a knee to the back gets two. The reverse chinlock goes on for a good while until the cocky Rush sends him outside, setting up a quick rest on the top rope. A running elbow to the face cuts Kalisto down again and Rush snaps off the rapid fire strikes. Kalisto finally stops him with a raised boot in the corner, setting up a springboard flip dive to the floor.

Back in and Rush hits a spinning kick to the face and a second one….doesn’t get anything as Rush heads up top instead. That allows Kalisto a kick to the face of his own and a middle rope fall away slam backflipped into a World’s Strongest Slam (cool) gets two. They take their time getting up and the Salida Del Sol is countered into a spinning Unprettier for two more. Back up and the springboard spinning crossbody barely hits Rush, who kicks Kalisto in the face again.

A TKO onto the top rope sends Kalisto outside for a nine count and Rush’s frustration sets in. Rush loads up the Final Hour but Metalik and Dorado load up the noisemakers for a distraction. For some reason Rush is dumb enough to go after them and the Salida Del Sol sends Kalisto to the Royal Rumble at 14:19.

Rating: C+. The ending was a bit of a stretch but Kalisto winning is always a good idea. He comes off as one of the biggest stars around here and he’s going to make any match better. I wasn’t wild on Rush losing the way he did but he’s got enough going on over on Raw to make up for it. Nice match with a not great ending.

Nigel being annoyed at Kalisto winning is rather amusing.

We look back at last week’s street fight with Akira Tozawa and Brian Kendrick defeating Jack Gallagher and Drew Gulak.

Gulak doesn’t consider himself an underdog against Tozawa tonight because he’s a realist. Tonight isn’t about weapons because it’s a wrestling match.

Drake Maverick promises new faces coming around here in the near year. That may or may not be interesting.

Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak

The winner goes to the Rumble and there are no seconds here. Feeling out process to start with Gulak taking him down in a headlock. Tozawa grabs one of his own but misses a big kick to the face. That seems to make Gulak a bit more serious so he goes after Tozawa’s ear and asks HOW DARE YOU. The quick right hand to the face drops Gulak and we get a Tozawa scream. They head outside with Gulak kicking him into the barricade and slamming the weakened back onto the floor.

We hit the double arm crank with a knee in Tozawa’s back before Gulak switches to a regular chinlock. That doesn’t go far so Tozawa is back up with a spinning kick to the head for two. Gulak gets draped over the middle rope for a Fameasser but Tozawa’s back is banged up again. The delay lets Gulak powerbomb him into the corner and hit a heck of a lariat for two more. Tozawa wins a slugout though and it’s a Black Widow on Gulak, who reverses into a Brock Lock of all things.

The rope breaks the hold and Tozawa is fine enough for a backdrop diver. Tozawa’s knee gives out on top though and he gets pulled down into the Gulock. The hold lasts for more than a few seconds, meaning of course Tozawa can roll over to the ropes for the break. Gulak bails outside and there’s the big suicide dive that you knew was coming. It’s too early for the top rope backsplash though as Gulak is fine enough to crotch him on top. Gulak can’t superplex him from the middle rope and the top rope version is broken up with a headbutt. Now the top rope backsplash can send Tozawa to the Rumble at 17:13.

Rating: B. I liked this more than I was hoping as the old guard of the division continues to roar back. Tozawa is the kind of guy you can move up to the next level anytime you need to and that’s what they did here. Gulak’s fall continues as he never recovered from losing the Cruiserweight Title shots last year. Still though, good match as you almost always get from Gulak.

Brian Kendrick comes in to celebrate as Buddy Murphy and Tony Nese aren’t exactly impressed.

Cedric Alexander isn’t scared of Hideo Itami in next week’s final qualifying match.

Hideo Itami and Ariya Daivari demand RESPECT next week.

Overall Rating: B. This was a wrestling show and that’s where 205 Live tends to shine. They did things well here and made two of the necessary big steps towards the pay per view title match. If they have another great match next week to set up the entire thing, the four way is going to be a blast. I’m also interested in seeing where those new names are going to go. That could be a variety of people either from NXT or elsewhere, and that can shake things up around here, which is often a good idea. Anyway, strong match here.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

IMG Credit: WWE

Royal Rumble 1998
Date: January 18, 1998
Location: San Jose Arena, San Jose, California
Attendance: 18,542
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Mike Tyson is in a skybox.

Vader vs. The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust

Back in and Luna trips Vader up, finally allowing Goldie to get in a clothesline. Another clothesline puts him down and Goldust works on the leg a bit. Goldie drops a middle rope elbow to the ribs and we head back to the floor. Vader is sent into the steps so Luna can choke him a bit before we head back in. Goldust pounds away again but stops to kiss Vader. I may not be a pro wrestler, but I know better than to kiss a guy called the Rocky Mountain Monster.

Vader kills him with a clothesline and suplexes Goldust down before getting two off a splash. Vader loads up the Vader Bomb but a low blow stops him cold. Another clothesline puts Goldie down again and Vader sits on his chest. He loads up the Bomb again and despite Luna jumping in his back, Vader drops it anyway and crushes Goldust for the pin.

Austin gets here and tells Cole to park his truck. Southern Justice (the heel Godwinns) follow him, presumably to jump him.

Max Mini/Mosaic/Nova vs. Battalion/El Torito/Tarantula

The Nation goes to attack Austin but only find an Austin foam finger.

We recap Shamrock vs. Rock. Shamrock has charged through the Nation to get this shot at the unofficial leader of the team. Mark Henry joined the Nation to save Rock from Shamrock less than a week ago.

The Nation argues over which of them will win the Rumble. Rock says the fans of course want to know what he thinks of Clinton and Paula Jones, so he tells the President not to lie down with dogs or you might get fleas. This joke would be done way better over the next few weeks.

Intercontinental Title: The Rock vs. Ken Shamrock

Rock is defending of course. Feeling out process to start with Rocky trying to get a cheap shot in the corner. Both guys shove the other into the corner and Shamrock blocks a shot to the face before hitting one of his own. They run the ropes a bit until Shamrock kicks him in the chest and knocks the champion out to the floor. Back in and Rock pounds away a bit before hitting a corner clothesline. Ken comes back with some clotheslines of his own but the standing clothesline is countered into a hot shot for two.

Post match the referee finds the knuckles and reverses the decision. The referee is beaten up very badly for his efforts.

A Coliseum Video Exclusive from “moments later” show a clean and dry Shamrock in jeans attacking the Rock.

Los Boricuas attack someone that they think is Austin but find one of the Disciples of Apocalypse. Brawling ensues.

We recap the LOD vs. the Outlaws, which is old school vs. new with the Outlaws defending the titles. The Outlaws put a big old beating on the LOD and tonight is their return.

Tag Titles: New Age Outlaws vs. Legion of Doom

The Outlaws destroy Animal until Hawk snaps the handcuffs to make the save.

Some fan wins the Austin truck.

We recap the build up to the Rumble. Basically, everyone knows Austin is going to win and EVERYONE else in the Rumble is trying to stop him but not one has been able to slow him down at all. The only difference here: the fans were eating this stuff up with a spoon.

Royal Rumble

Mosh and Funk pair off as do the other two guys. Funk (the announcers are calling him that too) tries a moonsault but it winds up being more of a headbutt than a splash. Phineas Godwinn is #6 and helps Rock beat up Mosh. Not much happens for a bit until 8-Ball of the DOA is #7. Jack misses a charge and Funk backdrops him out to empty the ring out a bit. Apparently someone who might have been Ken Shamrock has attacked Austin.

The Nation members are thrown together and Rock gets hit by Sweet Shin Music and the double arm DDT. Austin hits Dude low and Faarooq throws Love out. Rock puts out Faarooq to give us Austin vs. Rock. They slug it out and Rock is thrown to the apron. Austin is fine with Stunning him and throwing him out to go on to Wrestlemania where he would claim his destiny.

Tyson celebrates “Cole Stone” Steve Austin winning the Rumble.

WWF World Title: Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

The forearm from Shawn sets up the nipup which sets up the top rope elbow. He must be either high as a kite on painkillers or on a huge adrenaline rush to be able to have a match like this at this point. The superkick knocks Taker out cold but Shawn is Shawn and stops for a crotch chop. Taker grabs him by the balls and we head back inside for the beating Shawn deserves. Another Flair Flip sets up the big boot, but Taker misses a clothesline and lands in the casket.

Post match Kane nails the casket shut and hacks at it with an ax. He pours gasoline inside and LIGHTS IT ON FIRE to end the show. Taker of course would disappear from the casket once it was opened up.

Ratings Comparison

Vader vs. The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust

Original: B-

Redo: D

Max Mini/Mosaic/Nova vs. Battalion/El Torito/Tarantula

Original: B-

Redo: C

The Rock vs. Ken Shamrock

Original: C+

Redo: D+

Legion of Doom vs. New Age Outlaws

Original: D+

Redo: D

Royal Rumble

Original: D+

Redo: D

Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker

Original: B

Redo: B

Overall Rating

Original: C-

Redo: D

….what in the world was I on back then?

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/18/royal-rumble-count-up-1998-austin-isnt-a-lock-to-win-please-believe-us/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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