A lot happened at Wrestlemania and some of it deserves extra attention.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/way-down-yonder-wrestlemania/

Monday Night Raw
Date: November 10, 2003
Location: Fleet Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s the go home show for Survivor Series and since the card is mostly set, tonight is going to be all about the hard sell. While there are several options for building to the elimination match, odds are we’re going to have to listen to HHH talk about his match with Goldberg and that’s not a series of statements I’m likely to survive. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Here’s Lita to get things going. She talks about how coming back was a big deal but winning the title back on Sunday will be even bigger. Cue HHH (JR: “IS THIS WHO WE THINK IT IS???” Well who else would be coming out to HHH’s music Jim?) with Evolution to interrupt. Lita asks if she can help them and HHH asks Orton for a dollar. Unless she plans on stripping and dancing for the dollar, she can leave right now.

With Lita gone, HHH shows us a clip of Batista returning and breaking Goldberg’s ankle. HHH makes a lot of threats about Sunday but here’s Steve Austin to interrupt. Austin doesn’t want to hear this but HHH accuses him of trying to have one last Stone Cole moment before he’s fired.

Insults about Sunday’s elimination match are made until Austin asks HHH if he’s planning on wrestling tonight. HHH hadn’t planned on it so Austin tells him to get out. A brawl is teased but Austin says he can do it in six days. For now though, security can come out and escort HHH out of the building. HHH says he’s leaving on his own and threatens to sue if he’s harmed at all. What a waste of ten minutes.

In the back, Team Bischoff laughs at Austin but here’s Team Austin to insult them right back. Matches are imminent.

Intercontinental Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Christian

Van Dam is defending. Rob wastes no time in getting two off a monkey flip (yeah they’re really trying to get that over) as Lawler doesn’t know the difference between the near and far legs on a cover. A thumb to the eye sets up a DDT for two on Van Dam and we hit the chinlock. Back up and Rob catches him with a spinwheel kick in the corner as JR and King debate Christian’s level of creepy. The split legged moonsault gets two but a distracted referee lets Christian get in a low blow. Christian does the bring in the belt so he can use a chair trick but gets kicked down again. The Five Star retains the title.

Rating: D+. You can tell when Van Dam isn’t trying and that was clearly the case here. There’s not much you can get out of him when he just wants to do signature spots and unfortunately that’s been the case for a long time now. Maybe he can bring something out at Survivor Series but at this point I’m not really counting on it.

Shane McMahon is at a restaurant and gets a table for two.

Here’s Coach in a Yankees jersey with something to say. He gets in Lillian’s face and says he’s replacing her for losing her chair (the one Christian picked up) in the last match.

La Resistance vs. Hurricane/Rosey

It’s a brawl on the floor before the bell until the French guys take Rosey down to actually start. The French dance sets up more shots to the leg but a Samoan drop gets Rosey out of trouble. Hurricane comes in to clean house (JR: “The man with green hair.”) as everything breaks down. Rosey gets knocked outside and a swinging neckbreaker of all things ends Hurricane.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here but La Resistance are getting better. There’s still nothing to the characters as they’re just Vince getting out his anger over real world events but at least the in-ring stuff is getting smoother. Imagine that: getting rid of the utterly worthless Grenier and replacing him with another OVW talent works that much better.

Terri is worried about having to wrestle tonight but Lita says it’s going to be fine. Bischoff comes in to tell Terri to go find something less appropriate to wear in the ring. As for Lita, she needs to get ready to “play ball” once Austin is gone. As usual, this doesn’t feel right from Bischoff.

Jericho fires up Team Bischoff. Orton comes in and says he’ll save the day on Sunday. The team isn’t convinced. Long: “That’s one cocky cracker.”

Val Venis sneaks his two women into the locker room and one of them gets to see Lance Storm in the shower. They’re rather impressed.

Shane is ready to order but says he has a guest coming so he’ll wait. JR: “Who’s his guest?” Normally I can tolerate JR but this is stupid even for him.

Lita/Terri vs. Molly Holly/Gail Kim

Coach announces Lita and Terri at a combined weight of 310lbs to annoy JR even more. Terri is in a dress and starts for whatever reason with Gail planting her off a side slam. Lawler freaks out over seeing Terri’s underwear and it’s off to Molly for more beating. JR figures out the obvious about Shane’s guest as Terri makes a comeback and brings in Lita. Not that it matters as Molly sends her into Gail and grabs the ropes for the pin.

Post match Gail rips Terri’s dress mostly off for fan service. The idea here is that this is what the women are going to be used to under Bischoff’s control. Well it’s under Austin’s co-control right now and it’s still happening so what difference does it make?

We look back at Randy Orton cheating to beat Shawn Michaels at Unforgiven.

Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels

Flair isn’t here tonight and the teammates are barred from ringside. Orton takes him into the corner for some uppercuts to start but gets chopped for his efforts. It’s too early for Sweet Chin Music so Shawn punches him down for two instead. Shawn tries to get a bit too fast though and gets sidestepped to the floor for a big crash. Back in and Orton hammers away, with Lawler saying his fist is on Shawn’s chin like melted pizza cheese.

We hit the chinlock for a few moments before the exchange of strikes goes to Shawn. There’s the forearm into the nipup but the ref gets bumped. The backbreaker drops Shawn again and Orton grabs a chair, only to get backdropped through it instead. Now Sweet Chin Music can connect for the pin.

Rating: C-. This was a pretty standard TV match with Shawn not really doing anything too fancy. It also doesn’t help that Shawn pins Orton six days before one of the biggest matches of Orton’s career but you knew he would get his win back as soon as possible. Not bad but too short to mean anything.

Shane eats appetizers and here’s Kane as his guest. They glare a bit until Shane promises that Sunday will be their last fight. Shane talks about how whoever goes into the ambulance is done for good so Kane asks how Linda is doing. He electrocuted Shane’s testicles so Shane could never have kids. Kane: “Did I succeed?” Kane doesn’t know love so Shane must know pain. Shane says Kane is pathetic instead of evil. He knows Kane is scared and everyone, even Kane’s brother, knows it. On Sunday, he’s being put out of his misery. Shane leaves, thankfully paying first. This was, in a word, stupid.

Dudley Boyz vs. Scott Steiner/Mark Henry

Non-title. Steiner hammers on D-Von to start but gets shoulder blocked and legdropped. Bubba and Henry come in with Mark shoving him hard into the corner. The slow beating continues so D-Von comes in, earning both Dudleys a clothesline of their own. Steiner’s pushup elbow gets two but D-Von elbows him down.

The hot tag brings in Bubba as everything breaks down again. Bubba’s running clothesline manages to put Henry down but Steiner chairs Bubba in the back to break up the 3D. Of note: we’ve had five matches tonight and three of them have involved the usage of a chair. At some point you need to come up with something fresh.

Rating: D-. Long, slow, boring and just bad, but what were you expecting from the team of Scott Steiner and Mark Henry? There’s not much you can do when Henry is probably the better option of the two and Bubba and D-Von aren’t that level of miracle workers. Hopefully Steiner and Henry don’t last long on Sunday.

Post match Henry and Steiner destroy the Dudleys.

Austin is annoyed and Bischoff AGAIN points out that Austin has to trust people. They’ve beaten that into our heads for weeks now but one more time can’t possibly hurt anything right?

Clip of Lebron James in the front row last week. This week: some New England Patriots are here.

A backstage worker brings Jericho some water but he yells at her for taking too long. Trish Stratus pops in and doesn’t like what she saw so Jericho apologizes. They actually agree to go on a date. I love how we only get a little bit of this every week and it’s taking its time for a change. You don’t get that often enough.

Michael Cole and Tazz run down Smackdown’s half of the card. JR and King do the same with the red side.

Booker T. is reading WWE Unscripted with John Heidenreich. Apparently John wants to get a copy for Little Johnny for Christmas. Someone knocks on the door but there’s only a note addressed to Booker saying I STILL REMEMBER.

Booker T. vs. Chris Jericho

Booker gets in a hiptoss to start but misses the side kick and crotches himself on the ropes instead. A top rope elbow to the jaw gives Jericho two and we hit the chinlock. Jericho’s sleeper drop gets two and Booker is right back up with a right hand. The Book End doesn’t work but Booker grabs his spinning rollup into a crucifix out of the corner for the quick pin.

Rating: D+. Another victim of the time issue here as Team Austin continues to win the night. That doesn’t bode well for them on Sunday but at least they went with a logical build towards the pay per view. I’m glad they went with this over a week rather than doing it for a month or so on end as you would see today.

Post match Jericho puts him in the Walls as the rest of Team Bischoff comes in for the beatdown. Team Austin makes the save and takes care of Coach for running his mouth a little too much. Standard operating procedure here.

Video on Shane vs. Kane. That dinner scene was suffering enough.

Goldberg vs. Batista

Non-title. Goldberg, with a broken ankle, doesn’t even take the title off before gorilla pressing Batista without much effort. Without much height either but he’s hurt. Batista heads outside and grabs the leg to ram it into the apron. A shot into the post makes things even worse and a spinebuster plants Goldberg. The spear cuts Batista in half but here’s HHH for the quick DQ. Well duh.

HHH gets in the Pedigree but goes for the sledgehammer, allowing Goldberg to spear him down. A hammer shot to Batista sends HHH bailing to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. This was as ho hum of a go home show as you could have gotten and since those are often bad in the first place, the show was made even worse. The Survivor Series match looks good but HHH vs. Goldberg and Shane vs. Kane are both death. Maybe the Smackdown side can help but at this point, Sunday is looking pretty rough indeed. Bad show here, but more uninteresting and uninspired than anything else.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the WWE Grab Bag (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/03/23/new-paperback-kbs-grab-bag/

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

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

It was a very good trip (despite falling and possibly breaking my thumb on the concrete as I left Smackdown) and I had a blast.  Some of the people I got to meet blew my mind and I can’t believe it actually happened.  I’ll be back at full speed tomorrow and catching up on the long list of shows I’ve missed, starting with Takeover.

Thanks for your patience.

KB

And that takes care of that. Tonight was my last night in New Orleans and that means Smackdown is all that’s left. This is the other version of the post Wrestlemania show and that means a lot could be happening in a very short amount of time. I had a few ideas of what to expect and for the most part, absolutely none of them wound up happening. Let’s get to it.

The dark match saw Becky Lynch beat Ruby Riott in a pretty nice match in about six minutes. The Riott Squad interfered and got sent into each other, setting up the Disarm-Her for the tap. Snappy little match here.

The opening with Shane introducing Paige was nice….if you ignore the fact that SHANE DOESN’T HAVE POWER RIGHT NOW. Unless this was addressed on commentary, Shane has no business accepting Daniel Bryan’s resignation or naming Paige as the new General Manager. Now that being said, Paige was a genuine shock and I think I like the idea. It’s cool to have a woman in the job and, in theory at least, as the ONLY authority figure on the show. She got a great reaction and really, that’s all you can ask for in something like this. Oh and she gave us AJ vs. Bryan, because that’s what a good boss does.

The Usos beat the New Day in a very good match with both teams working well together. They’ve always had chemistry so this wasn’t exactly a shock. The win gives the Usos a title shot, presumably at the Greatest Royal Rumble. Smackdown is going to need some fresh teams in the Shakeup though as these two have fought way too often lately. Still though, very good match.

Naomi beat Natalya after getting into a stupid argument with her. There’s not much else to say on this one, as is the case with most Natalya matches.

Shinsuke Nakamura was asked why he attacked AJ Styles. Nakamura blamed it on being overly emotional and then suddenly couldn’t speak English when he was pressed on the answer. This was hilarious and some of the best talking Nakamura has done since coming to WWE.

Then we had the big segment of the night with Charlotte coming out to praise Asuka for a great match and wondering who she would make magic with next. This brought out the Iconics (formerly the Iconic Duo) of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay to a very strong reaction. They made fun of Charlotte’s speech with Royce getting in some hilarious jokes about Charlotte thanking everyone and then the beatdown was on. Charlotte was thrown over the announcers’ table both ways and powerbombed on the floor….so Carmella FINALLY cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase to win the Women’s Title.

This took the better part of forever to get to and I’m just glad the stupid thing is finally gone. I get sick of having it hanging over everything and wasting time, especially when it’s almost deflating having Carmella get it after the big match with Asuka. At least it’s gone now though and that means some peace of mind for a few months.

The main event was really all you could expect it to be. They were starting to cook and Nakamura interfered for the DQ. I don’t think anyone was really expecting AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan to go to an important conclusion on a Smackdown in Bryan’s first singles match so what we got was more than good enough for the time being. Nakamura kneed Bryan in the head and abused Styles’ testicles after the match. Of note, during a commercial, Bryan missed a Swan Dive. I’m rather stunned that he’s allowed to even think about that move anymore.

And again, so much for Rusev. It’s just not happening and that’s very clear at this point. There aren’t many more over on the roster than he is right now and that means we get Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal in ANOTHER match (because the previous ones have worked oh so well) for the US Title. I don’t know what WWE is thinking with this stuff but my goodness it’s annoying to sit through, especially when Rusev has gotten himself over like this.

The post show dark match saw Shinsuke Nakamura defeat Dolph Ziggler. This is the four time I’ve seen those two in a post Smackdown dark match, including last year’s post Wrestlemania Smackdown. Nakamura won in about seven minutes with Kinshasa. If he was supposed to wrestle differently after his heel turn, he didn’t show it here.

Overall, it was a good night and felt like the opposite of last night’s Raw. While Monday was seeing a return every ten minutes, this had the Iconics debuting and Paige being announced as the new GM. That was it for the fresh names appearing and I think I’m ok with that. While Zelina Vega/Andrade Cien Almas and Sanity would have been nice, I can both understand and wait for what might happen in the Superstar Shakeup (though I could also see none of them coming up). All in all, a strong wrestling show and fairly in line with what this Smackdown does every year.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the WWE Grab Bag (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/03/23/new-paperback-kbs-grab-bag/

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

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

You know the drill by now I’m sure. I’ll have live thoughts when I get back to the hotel.

One more indy show, just in case I haven’t had enough of them quite yet. Last year in Orlando I took a shot at the Revolution Pro Wrestling show despite not having known much about the promotion. The lineup looked good though and the show wound up being a lot of fun. It was enough to get me to go again this year and again, it wound up being a good afternoon of wrestling.

Ring announcer and owner Andy Quildan started things off and, just like last year, challenged us to be louder than the London crowd. It’s a simple idea and yet it’s also a great way to start off a show.

1. David Star b. Martin Stone – Rollup with feet on the ropes, 11:40, C.

Stone is also known as Danny Burch in NXT, a line which got him a lot of flack from Starr. It’s taken some time but I’ve started to come around on Starr, who has about fifteen nicknames, which he insists be read every time he comes to the ring. Starr also claimed a conspiracy against him, which he would overcome just because he’s that good at professional wrestling. The match was fine for an opener with a loud exchange of chops, one of which had Stone, the face, asking for a second to recover. Nothing great but it did all it needed to do.

2. Adam Brooks b. Brian Cage – Low blow into a rollup, 11:06, B-.

This was more of a standard formula with the monster Cage (a face here) dealing with Brooks’ rampant cheating. Brooks looked very good here, showing that he knew how to deal with someone like Cage. As usual, Cage is one of the scariest athletes you’ll ever see, flying around like someone a third of his size and still showing off the crazy power game. It’s a fun match with both guys looking good, though I’m assuming Brooks is more of a full timer so it makes sense to give him the win.

3. Rocky Romero/Will Ospreay/Chuckie T. b. Shane Strickland/Flip Gordon/Kota Ibushi – Oscutter to Gordon, 22:17, B+.

This was all about Ibushi vs. Ospreay and there was no hiding the fact, or really an attempt to hide it. They took their time setting up the match and both teams got to showcase their talents. As mentioned though, this was ALL setting up the showdown between Ospreay and Isbushi, which completely delivered. They beat the heck out of each other to leave all six laying in an exchange that has to be seen to be properly appreciated. I’m looking forward to seeing this match again and if Ibushi doesn’t get another chance to challenge Osprey for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title in the near future, I’ll be stunned.

During intermission, I was able to snag this.

4. Minoru Suzuki b. Jeff Cobb – Sleeper, 9:43, C+.

I would have liked this match a lot more if I hadn’t seen Cobb vs. Tomohiro Ishii in an even better match. Much like the Ishii match, this was all about beating the heck out of each other with Cobb managing to suplex Suzuki, only to push his luck by hitting Suzuki in the face a few too many times. Suzuki got all fired up and destroyed Cobb, giving him a heck of a beating. Cobb got in one more suplex but ultimately fell to the sleeper, oddly tapping out instead of passing out.

5. Hiroshi Tanahashi/Juice Robinson b. Aussie Open – High Fly Flow, 16:10, B.

Aussie Open is Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis, a team I’ve never heard of but showed off a lot and looked rather awesome. Robinson was a big star in his own right but this was ALL about Tanahashi, as you might have expected. The fans were begging to see him come in and do all of his signature stuff, which is exactly what he did. As cool as that was, Aussie Open needs some attention as well as they got to showcase some very real talent. I could see them getting a spot in a bigger promotion down the line, especially since Fletcher is only 18. Think about that: you’re 18 years old and you’re in the ring with Tanahashi. That’s not bad.

6. British Heavyweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii b. Zack Sabre Jr.(c) – Brainbuster, 20:07, A.

There’s no other way to put this: these two had an outstanding match and they sucked me completely into everything they were doing. This is all about Ishii’s never say die attitude vs. Sabre’s absolutely incredible technical skills and ability to destroy one arm after another. Sabre got to work on the arm and put on a long series of too complicated to describe holds. Ishii made the ropes over and over again with one great save after another. He finally fought up and got in a suplex, followed by the brainbuster for the pin and the title to end the show.

This was an EXCELLENT main event as the fans were buying into every single thing the two were doing. It told a great story and made you want to see them keep going until Ishii managed to hang on and end Sabre’s year long title reign. It was incredible stuff and another match I can’t wait to see again.

Overall, Rev Pro did exactly what they did last year: deliver a solid show (six matches felt short though) with great action and some nice guest stars that made you feel like you were getting to see something special. I had a blast at this show and everything went very well. Check out the main event if you can find it and go take a look at more Rev Pro, which puts on rather good shows.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the WWE Grab Bag (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/03/23/new-paperback-kbs-grab-bag/

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

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

Odds are you’ve heard of Axxess. It’s the big fan festival put on by WWE every year over Wrestlemania weekend where you can see memorabilia and meet wrestlers etc. However, there’s another version run independently from WWE called WrestleCon, which offers a bunch of wrestling shows but also a huge convention with hundreds of wrestlers and vendors selling autographs, merchandise and photo ops for pretty reasonable prices. You can also just walk up and talk to almost anyone you want (line permitting of course) and have a chat (some longer than others).

The convention runs for three days and I attended Friday and Sunday. These days couldn’t have been more different but both had their positives and negatives. I did pay to meet a variety of wrestlers and bought some stuff so here’s the rundown. Keep in mind that I didn’t write down everyone I met (as the place wasn’t exactly one where you could pull out something and take notes) so there’s a good chance I’ve forgotten some names. These are in no real order.

Well this one is in order, because how do you start with anything else?

Very quick due to the long line but he looked right into your eyes and you could feel the chills. I said it was an honor to meet him and he said he appreciated it. That voice will send vibes through you and it was worth the over two hour wait (you knew this was going to be a long line). I got him to sign my Wrestlemania XXXII ticket for a very nice keepsake.

Tenille Dashwood. She had people coming up to see her over and over for both days and it’s not surprising. Dashwood put on a heck of a performance at the SuperShow and simply put, the camera does not do her justice whatsoever. She’s absolutely gorgeous in person and seemed very sweet when I said hello to her. How WWE managed to screw her up is anyone’s guess.

Al Snow. This might not be the biggest name in the world but it turns out that at one point he lived in my small hometown in Kentucky. He seemed rather surprised that anyone had even heard of it, let alone lived there.

Larry Zbyszko. Just a short hello, but he did his spinning salute.

Virgil. Walked by me as I was in line and I said a quick hello. I know he’s known as a jerk but he’s been nice the two times I’ve met him.

Bret Hart. This was one of the ones I paid for in advance (well duh) and it starts to show the big problem with WrestleCon (which I’ll cover in detail at the end): it feels rushed. I might have sat next to Bret for all of five seconds, gotten a picture taken, shook his hand and said it was an honor to meet him. As is often the case with Bret he didn’t have much to say, but he did look me in the eye as I shook his hand and said thank you.

Before we move on, one more thing about Bret. His line was of course very long and it wrapped around into two rows. I was near the back of the line without about 100 people in front of me and I hear a voice.

Voice: “KB?”

Me: “Yeah?”

Voice: “I’m Steve. You’ve done my podcast a few times. Do you want to come up here with me?”

I was then about fifth in line and done in three minutes instead of an hour. Steve is a very, very good guy with an awesome podcast called the Positive Pro Wrestling podcast. He knows his stuff and is more than worth listening to, especially if you’re sick of hearing people complain about wrestling. Check him out here and follow the show on Twitter @ppwpodcast. I’ve been a guest on there multiple times and it’s some of the most fun I’ve had doing a show. It’s more than worth the time.

Kelly Kelly. I’ve met her before and I’d be glad to meet her over and over. Those eyes are something else and she very clearly knows how to look at a camera.

Taya Valkyrie. Another short one but she’s rather nice.

Jim Duggan. Met him several times before and he’s always fun to talk to, even for a few seconds. He always asks where a fan is from and you get a sense that he actually cares. That doesn’t happen very often and that’s a shame. He also seemed to like my shirt, which was one of the oddest things of the whole weekend.

Christy Hemme. Yep. Looks even better in person and again has that fire in her eyes.

Mick Foley. Again, met him before and again, it felt rushed due to the crowds. He’s my favorite wrestler ever though and when I mentioned that he smiled and said he appreciated it. Always a treat to get to see him.

As a bonus, here he is with Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi, who were at the next table over.

One Man Gang. He was there in something similar to Akeem gear but no hat unfortunately. I asked him if he was a rib on Dusty Rhodes and he emphatically said no, even giving me reasons why he wasn’t. I would have bet money otherwise but he insisted it wasn’t true. Fair enough.

Hiroshi Tanahashi. With five people in line and only charging $20 a person, this was a complete steal. Spoke very clear English and one of the nicest guys there.

Brian Pillman Jr. Very nice guy who I talked to for a few minutes. He said the new book about his dad’s life is very accurate (save for a few minor details) and recommended it. I don’t know much about him but he came off very positively.

Matt Sydal. Got to hold the X-Division Title, which is far lighter than the World Title. This was quick as he had a customer but he was another nice guy.

Bushwhacker Luke. Met him last year but this time was much friendlier. Last year I had mentioned that he licked me as a kid and he looked at me like I was nuts. I mentioned it again this year and he asked when and where it was. Far more pleasant this time around.

Eli Drake. I asked if he could call me a dummy and he said he wasn’t sure. That sounded like I’d have to buy something but he said he heard me asking him and when he looked up, all he could see was a DUMMY! YEAH! He smiled and I told him he had become my favorite part of Impact Wrestling (true) and he seemed very happy. Exceptionally nice guy.

Robert Gibson. Met him on Sunday and talked to him about the cage match with the Andersons. He seemed thrilled to talk about the old days and that’s completely understandable. Ricky Morton was next to him and seemed FAR more popular, which isn’t surprising.

Velvet Sky. Quick hello, looks amazing in person.

Diamond Dallas Page. He’s almost my white whale of meeting people as I’ve tried multiple times and just not been able to get there. Another nice guy and he was giving out cards for a free month of his yoga app. Nothing wrong with free.

Melissa Santos. Tiny and very pretty. Also saw her getting out of her cab as I was coming into the building.

Brutus Beefcake. Got a handshake, but $40 for his book? Is he nuts?

Scott Steiner. The Steiners were one of my favorite teams ever and while Rick was advertised, I didn’t seem there (could have just been away as he had a booth next to Scott). Kind of untalkative but seemed appreciative when I mentioned being a big fan of the team.

Animal. Shook his hand, barely acknowledged that I was there.

Jackie Moore. I was in line for Foley and talking to the handler, which somehow turned into a discussion of I Love Lucy. Moore was next to us and mentioned loving the show.

Tony Atlas. I met him last year and for the second year in a row thought he was ignoring me but he looked up and apologized for not noticing I was there. Nice guy with a big smile.

Harley Race. I don’t think this needs an explanation.

Penta El Zero M. Just a handshake.

Rey Fenix. Another handshake.

Kevin Nash. Just like last year, doesn’t seem interested if you’re not buying.

Sean Waltman. Another quick handshake but he looked straight at people.

Bob Backlund. We must be connected someway as this is my fourth Wrestlemania and sixth time running into Backlund. I actually got to talk to him this time and he was very quiet (as in low volume, to the point where I could barely hear him). I talked about how awesome his transformation in 1994 was and he said he always puts in the most effort possible into everything. Very, very nice guy who seemed like he would talk to you all day.

Rob Van Dam. Quick handshake as there were people coming up to see him but very friendly guy.

Tomohiro Ishii. One person in line and again, just twenty bucks. I would have bet on a long, long line for him. That’s the Rev Pro Wrestling British Heavyweight Title, which I saw him win Friday night in a great match.

Minoru Suzuki. Much nicer than you would think and NO ONE in line any time I went by his table. Same price as the other New Japan guys. He picked the title up and put it straight on my shoulder, which nearly knocked me over. That’s the Rev Pro British Tag Team Title on the table.

Sean Mooney. I needed to hear that voice in person. Not much to say but he was friendly and mentioned his podcast.

D’Lo Brown. Always been a fan and he seemed appreciative of the praise.

Allie. TINY in person to the point where I barely recognized her.

Rosemary. I know she’s the creepy Knockout on Impact, but when she’s acting normal and has her hair pulled back, it really, really, really works.

So Cal Val. Seemed very flattered that people wanted to talk to her and another nice person.

Winter. Easily one of the best looking people there and knew how to stand in a way that made her look even better. Seemed shocked (in a good way) that anyone remembered her in OVW.

Gail Kim. Another case of the camera not doing her justice. Seemed to be having a great time meeting fans and being with old friends.

Larry Hennig. Actually started talking to me about my Superman shirt.

Bob Orton. His arm is fine, though at least this year he seemed to understand why people were asking him about it.

Teddy Long. I didn’t mean to get a picture with him but I asked if he could say holla holla. This time he actually said I’d have to pay him something and $30 for a picture wasn’t happening. His handler dropped it to $20 and I almost couldn’t say no. I mentioned that he could use the money to pay for some tolls on the road, which made him laugh rather hard. He even mentioned it to Ron Simmons in the next booth and got a laugh from him as well. Fun to talk to once you get beyond the pay wall.

Lanny Poffo. Mentioned being from Lexington and he immediately told me about a seminar he’s doing in a town near here. Not pushy about it but I’d have rather talked to him now, not in a few weeks.

Chavo Guerrero. Kind of quiet until you mention Eddie, which really brought him out of his shell. You can tell he’s very proud of his family, as he should be.

James Storm. He came to his booth as I was in line to meet Tanahashi. I mentioned having met him at a TNA show and he apologized that I had to be there. Bully Ray said the same thing the year before. How bad was it to work there?

Colt Cabana. I had seen him wrestle under a mask as Matt Classic the night before so I asked if he knew anything about him. Cabana said he had heard Classic was there, with a big grin on his face. I mentioned Classic being entertaining and Cabana smiled and said he’d pass that along if he ran into Classic.

Now for a non-wrestler, and some of the coolest and most popular items all weekend. You might need to zoom in on this.

Check out his work here.

I bought three of them (Shawn/Razor, Undertaker and Cena). They were two for $20 and VERY popular, as they should be.

And now, for the negatives. The organization, venue and everything else couldn’t have been a bigger mess if they had tried. When I got to the fifth floor of the hotel the event, there was just a sea of people and no one knew where any line started. I was told to go into a small room to get my wristband but when it got to me, they were out of one day bands. How they didn’t have a big box of them there is beyond me, but the lady running things went to get more. Then she didn’t come back, so we were told to go get in a long line. Eventually we got in, half an hour after the thing was supposed to start. It was downhill from there.

The following is all on Friday.

The venue was WAY too small to begin with and on top of that, the layout was a nightmare. Basically you had four rows of boots with a big aisle in between. There were booths on the all around the rows as well. In the upper right hand corner was Ric Flair’s booth and that’s about it for big names on that side. In the middle was Shawn Michaels, on the upper left was Bret Hart, on the lower left was Kenny Omega/Kota Ibushi, Mick Foley, the Young Bucks and Harley Race.

With Shawn’s line wrapping around the building (seriously), at one point I was in line for Omega, Foley, Shawn, Bret and Ibushi at the same time without being able to move. Everyone, from the fans to the workers TO THE WRESTLERS were complaining about what a mess this was. Just put someone on the other side of the room or something, but find a better way to do this.

Omega and Ibushi’s line literally stretched from one side of the building to the other and since they were half an hour late showing up, it never moved. I had even bought a ticket for Omega and was so fed up with the mess of the lines that I just ate the cost. I’m one of the biggest wrestling fans I’ve ever seen and when I’m sitting in the hall way because I’ve had enough of the mess to the point where I’m about to leave two hours into a six hour convention, there’s something very, very wrong.

Sunday was much better, but mainly because the place was a ghost town. You had a few names still trying to get a few more sales and really it was more sad than anything else in some cases. There were wide spaces with no one at a booth and a lot of the wrestlers looked miserable. I get why they have to do it, but it wasn’t a pretty sight at times.

Overall, the idea is great and can be done VERY well (Orlando the year before was excellent) but the venue was too small and the layout for the wrestlers was ridiculous. Get this stuff right so the fans can have a better time, because Friday was a complete disaster. I did have fun and bought some cool stuff, but there were so many rough edges that the negatives outweighed the positives, at least the first day.

Still in New Orleans so still behind on doing the reviews, but still able to do some live reports. This time around we had the big event show with everything going at a hundred miles an hour and a ridiculous amount of returns, debuts and surprises. That can make for a fun show and I had a pretty good time. Let’s get to it.

Since there’s so much to cover, this is chronological instead of in any order of importance or interest.

Also, the sellout line was COMPLETELY bogus as there was a good chunk of empty seats on the hard camera side. I was opposite the hard camera in the upper deck an at least four seats in the row in front of me stayed empty all night. There were also empty floor seats easily seen.

Stephanie McMahon opened the show and egads this was great. I can live with Stephanie being all stuck up when she comes across as in on the joke and that’s what we got here. Rousey coming out and going from smile to death stare was outstanding and I wanted to see her break the other arm. This was EXACTLY what it needed to be and should get rid of Stephanie, at least for the time being.

Ember Moon debuted in a pretty expected move. It’s the right way to go about things with her as there’s nothing left for her in NXT. The Eclipse is still an outstanding finisher and pinning Alexa Bliss, who was Women’s Champion 24 hours earlier, was a promising start. I’m not sure why she and Nia are now friends, but Ember coming up is a good thing.

Now we go down the other road with Braun Strowman and Nicholas vacating the Tag Team Titles. Why? Because Nicholas is in fourth grade of course! That got a great laugh and so did Nicholas promising to come back to give someone THESE HANDS when he’s done with school. However, it seems that the whole point of this is to crown new champions in Saudi Arabia and if we just have to do the title change one night and vacate it the next, so be it. This got on my nerves far more than Nicholas appearing in the first place and comes off like WAY too much work for what they got out of it.

No Way Jose debuted and won a match in about thirty seconds with a conga line before and after the match. I’ve always been a fan of the guy and he’s the perfect house show opener for years to come.

The Bar is getting their shot at the Tag Team Titles in Saudi Arabia and their opponents are being determined with a mini tournament. The Revival made the finals by beating the Good Brothers and that’s all there is to say here. It’s the right call and hopefully the Revival can pick up some steam. I mean, they won’t, but it’s nice for a week.

Seth Rollins came out and got a great reaction to BURN IT DOWN. Finn Balor interrupted and asked for a title shot, which Rollins granted at a future date. It was Miz’s turn as he came out and said he wanted his rematch at Backlash. Rollins said it was on and a handicap match was teased but Jeff Hardy returned to even things up. That’s a VERY good idea as there’s no need to have him do the Broken stuff. You don’t know how long he has left so put him out there and see what he can do in a last singles run. The six man is set for later.

Sasha Banks and Bayley are still arguing and have a match next week. There’s no much to this but I think Bayley turns.

In a great moment, Paige announced her retirement from in-ring competition due to her injuries. You had to know this was coming but it was very fitting that she did it in the same arena and on the same show that she made her main roster debut. I was there for both moments and it was sad to see her go, but this needs to be done. She got a THIS IS YOUR HOUSE chant and left her t-shirt in the ring for one of the better retirement speeches I’ve seen in a good while.

Elias came out for a song, got an insanely positive reaction, insulted the crowd, and was then mauled by a returning Bobby Lashley. This was another expected debut and one that was also very effective, even if his big move was a delayed suplex. Lashley still looks like a million bucks and he’s learned the character stuff in his time away. He could be a big deal for a few years and that’s always a positive.

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens tried to get jobs but Angle says he’s not just giving it out. In the line of the weekend, Angle said he’s heard TNA is hiring. If TNA has ever been mentioned on the main shows, the moment escapes me. Anyway they can wrestle each other tonight and the winner gets a contract.

The Authors of Pain debuted and slaughtered Heath Slater and Rhyno. After the match they walked away from Paul Ellering, which doesn’t surprise me. Unless he’s going to come back with another team (not sure who that could be), he might just not want to be on the road every week. We’ll see if he’s back but it’s not like they really need him.

A solemn Roman Reigns came out and talked about taking a beating last night. In what sounded like he was accusing Lesnar of shooting on him or at least going off script, Reigns said that no one would look at him when he got to the building yesterday and Lesnar shocked everyone by re-signing with WWE. It didn’t make a lot of sense and came out of left field to say something like that and I’m not sure I want to know where it’s going. Anyway, Samoa Joe returned, called Reigns out for losing again, and promised to choke him out at Backlash. Joe was great here, showing off the serious emotion that he does so well.

Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt won the other semifinal match over Titus Worldwide and will face the Revival for the title shot next week. Again, not much to say here as it was exactly what it should have been.

Sami and Owens went to a double countout when neither could get to their feet after a superplex. Therefore, no one gets the contract. Now this one interests me as they’re either going to go barnstorming on both shows until someone hires them or do something else. I’d love to see them even go to NXT for a month or two, just to see what happens.

In a funny moment, the Hardys and Wyatt talked in the Woken style about what they’ve been up to with Bray saying that he feels WONDERFUL since Sister Abigail was vanquished. Aside from there being a reason for his face turn, the highlight was the camera panning over to a confused Balor and Rollins. That’s the kind of comedy that works in wrestling: pointing out that while what is being said makes sense in the wrestling world, to an outsider, these are crazy people talking about crazy things. See also Dr. Shelby with Kane and Daniel Bryan.

The trio of midcard superheroes defeated the Miztourage in a match that was everything you would have expected it to be. Post match it was a parade of finishers to end the show. There was no dark match but Rollins called for the fans to throw their beach balls into the ring and a mini party broke out.

Overall, tonight’s show felt like a post Wrestlemania show, but it also felt like they were rushing to get through it. How much stuff tonight was just a way to set up the Saudi Arabia show and Backlash? I know you have to do some of those things, but this felt like they were trying to move as fast as they could, likely so the fans couldn’t take over the show again.

That being said, this show was PACKED with stuff happening, including returns, debuts and matches being set up all over the place. I did like what we got, but there was so much of it that it’s going to take some time to process. On top of all that, there’s the Superstar Shakeup next week, meaning all of this could be completely meaningless. It’s still a fun night though and while there wasn’t one big moment, there were several important moments, making it feel like a special night.

I think something might happen tonight.  Talk about it here and I’ll be back with some thoughts after the show.

IMG Credit: Impact Wrestling

Impact Wrestling
Date: April 5, 2018
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Sonjay Dutt, Josh Matthews

Things continue to change around here as many names seem to be either debuting or departing. There’s a lot going on at the moment, including the build to the first regular pay per view in about six months. It’s time to really start the build towards Redemption and a lot of that could take place tonight. Let’s get to it.

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

The opening recap looks at Brian Cage beating Bobby Lashley in a big upset with the rematch taking place tonight. Austin Aries vs. Alberto El Patron gets some focus as well.

Opening sequence.

Here’s an annoyed Bobby Lashley to rant about everyone wanting to prove themselves against him. He’s not going to have Cage out here saying he proved something by winning once on a fluke. Come out here and do it again.

Bobby Lashley vs. Brian Cage

Lashley knocks Cage off the apron before a bell and hammers away without taking off his hat and shirt. Cage shrugs it off and gets two off an F5 but Lashley hides behind the referee to avoid the discus lariat. A low blow gets two on Cage and Lashley hammers away in the corner while Dutt mocks Josh for losing his title last week.

Cage grabs a German suplex and a Death Valley Driver for two more, followed by the apron superplex to drop Lashley again. Lashley gets in a superplex of his own for two and the spear is good for the same. Instead it’s the Drill Claw to put Lashley away at 8:06 for Cage’s second straight win over him.

Rating: C+. Nice power match here and another good way to make Cage look like the new monster now that Lashley is on his way out. There’s a good chance that this is Lashley’s last match with the company and that’s probably the best all around. There’s nothing left for him to do around here so go back to WWE and see what you can do there.

The announcers preview the show.

Here’s Allie for a chat. Allie isn’t afraid of Su Yung and ACTUALLY SWEARS as she demands that Yung come out here for a fight.

Allie vs. Su Yung

Non-title. Allie hammers away to start but the superkick is blocked with a kick to the ribs. Back from a very early break with Allie getting stomped down in the corner. Yung brings in the kendo stick but Allie knocks it away. A running dropkick sends Yung into the corner but here’s Braxton Sutter to beg Allie’s forgiveness. Allie doesn’t care and gets two off a Codebreaker but Yung hits her with the kendo stick for the DQ at 7:44.

Rating: D. Not a good match but clearly just there to advance us to the likely title match at Redemption. Yung is a more sinister Rosemary and that’s a good way to play off of Allie. She can be a good first title defense as Allie needs to get away from being Gail Kim’s fangirl for a long time. There’s potential in Allie, but she needs some big wins.

Rosemary wants to face Taya next week and finish this once and for all.

Matt Sydal and Josh Matthews rant about Austin Aries and want to get rid of him once and for all. Sydal is ready for Petey Williams at Redemption but next week, Josh will face Petey himself. Egads.

KM sends Richard Justice to the ring for a match.

Post break, KM comes to the ring and berates Justice for being a fat embarrassment to wrestling. Well yeah. After some more fat jokes, Justice starts crying. KM: “I’m sorry I have to say this to your face. I would have said it behind your back but my car only has a half a tank of gas.” Fallah Bahh comes in with Josh saying fat shaming is bad. The Cult of Lee comes in and beats down Bahh, bringing in Tyrus for the real save. A six man is likely for next week.

Eli Drake is ready to win the other briefcase so tonight he can swim in gold like Scrooge McDuck.

Taiji Ishimori vs. Johnny Impact

They fight over wristlocks to start until Johnny takes over with a headlock and front facelock. A dropkick puts Impact on the floor as the announcers try to dub him Johnny Gorgeous. Ishimori’s middle rope moonsault to the floor puts Johnny down again and they’re both a bit winded.

Back in and Johnny wins a slugout before taking Ishimori down without too much trouble. A standing shooting star gives Johnny two but his sunset bomb is countered into a hurricanrana for two. Not that it matters as Impact is right back with a running knee to the face, followed by Starship Pain for the pin at 7:55.

Rating: C+. Not bad here but the hyping of “FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER” was a bit of a stretch here. They’re both good, but I need something a bit stronger for that to be the match’s selling point. Johnny winning helps set him up for Kongo Kong, because Impact Wrestling is the kind of promotion where you have Alberto El Patron fighting for the World Title and Kongo Kong feuding with Johnny Impact.

Post match here are Jimmy Jacobs and Kong to destroy Impact. Johnny fights back and hits a dive to clear out the villains.

Long video on Aries vs. El Patron. Aries recently returned and won the World Title after fighting to get where he is. Alberto talks about being from Mexico and having to fight for his one shot. He was stripped of the World Title and needs a chance to get it back on his own (this is talked about with shots of the domestic violence headlines shown).

They both know they can’t get in the other’s head and they both need to be ready for the fight of their lives. Aries knows he can’t intimidate Alberto because he’s been on the biggest stage so he’ll just have to beat him. It’s about redemption for both of them. This ran nearly eight minutes and was really good stuff as there’s actually a story there.

Moose would love to win another briefcase.

Classic Clip: Kurt Angle vs. Jay Lethal from No Surrender 2007. That’s still a great job of putting someone over and I’m sure Angle had something to do with the decision.

LAX doesn’t care who leaves with the briefcase.

Moose vs. Eli Drake

Winner gets both briefcases. Moose wastes no time in dropkicking Drake outside and then lawn darting him onto the apron. Drake posts him though and we take a break. Back with Drake hitting a guillotine legdrop and hitting a powerslam. The E-LI-DRAKE elbow gets two and we hit the chinlock.

Drake gets the same off a neckbreaker but misses a charge and gets caught with a buckle bomb. The Game Changer hits the referee (erg) so here’s OVE to take out Moose. Cue Eddie Edwards for the save and Jake Crist takes a powerbomb from Moose. Drake picks up the bat and hits Moose in the face for two, followed by the Gravy Train for the pin at 13:38.

Rating: C. I’m so over OVE. They’re not entertaining, they’re not very good, and their whole thing is hitting someone in the face with a bat, which apparently doesn’t work very well. The match was just a match until the ending, when things got a little stupid. I like Drake winning though as he’s the more interesting of the two (better promo at least) and thankfully they’re leaving him in the main event at least for now.

Overall Rating: C+. Nice show this week with some good wrestling and story advancement as they’re getting ready for what should be a solid pay per view. They also got some stuff ready for next week, which is always a welcome addition to any show. Just deliver on what you’ve set up and things will be fine.

Results

Brian Cage b. Bobby Lashley – Drill Claw

Allie b. Su Yung via DQ when Yung used a kendo stick

Johnny Impact b. Taiji Ishimori – Starship Pain

Eli Drake b. Moose – Gravy Train

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the WWE Grab Bag (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/03/23/new-paperback-kbs-grab-bag/

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

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