Monday Night Raw – June 20, 1994: Rich Men, Old Guys and Fat Tubs of Goo
Monday Night Raw Date: June 20, 1994 Location: Westchester County Civic Center, White Plains, New York Attendance: 3,400
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Randy Savage
It’s the night after King of the Ring and that means Owen Hart is the top heel in the promotion, which he kind of was coming into the pay per view. If nothing else we should have a main event set up for Summerslam now, with Owen challenging his brother Bret, who retained against Diesel. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Special moment here: the debut of the SPANISH announce team, though we don’t see their more famous table.
Diesel vs. Mark Thomas
Non-title. Thomas is absolutely jacked, to the point where I’m surprised they didn’t give him another look. Actually I’m not as this is during the middle of the STEROIDS TRIAL and this is the best jobber they can find. Thomas shrugs off a ram into the buckle as we talk about Jim Neidhart (which may never again be uttered in a discussion of Raw). We look at the commentary team and THERE’S THE TABLE!!! A knock to the floor has Thomas rocked and there’s the side slam back inside. Snake Eyes set up a neck crank, followed by the Jackknife for the pin.
Rating: D. This was just a way to get Diesel back on track, even though he won the match last night. He’s still the Intercontinental Champion and while that’s hardly remembered, it was a major point in his ascension to the top of the company. I still want to know why this jobber never got at least a look. Teach him almost anything and the look will carry the rest.
The King of the Ring Report recaps most of the show. That’s not the way I would push the encore but you can’t question the WWF’s business sense in 1994.
The announcers push the encore and you can see Savage high fiving fans behind him. That’s just cool.
1-2-3 Kid vs. Nikolai Volkoff
The winner gets a shot at Bret on July 11. Volkoff is part of the Million Dollar Team, meaning his (huge) gear says Property of the Million Dollar Man. Nikolai shoves him around a few times to start so Kid grabs a headlock for as much impact as you would expect. A choke takes Kid down and Volkoff stomps away, followed by a butterfly suplex as we flash back to the 70s. The gorilla press backbreaker gets two more but Volkoff pulls him up like a schnook. Kid tweaks his knee coming out of the corner but it’s just a fake, setting up a small package for the pin and the title shot.
Rating: D. The Kid was getting a lot better around this point but there’s only so much you can do against Volkoff and his ancient offense. It also doesn’t help when you’re supposed to believe that Volkoff is going to get a WWF World Title shot in 1994. Not a good match but again, why in the world was Volkoff in this spot?
Kid gets beaten down even more until Virgil of all people (He still had a job in 1994???) makes the save. That goes nowhere so Lex Luger makes the real save.
Next week: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Mabel! Thanks for the warning.
Yokozuna vs. Nick Barbery
Forearms and stomps to the back, chops, choking, big fat leg for the pin. The big story from the announcers: TYPHOON is coming to face Yokozuna. Again, thanks for the warning.
Typhoon vs. Black Phantom
Typhoon is billed from Norfolk, Virginia, which I never remember hearing otherwise. He runs into Yokozuna in the aisle and smacks him upside the head. Typhoon uses the big fat offense as Savage realizes that he’s doing commentary with Monsoon instead of Vince. The Phantom hammers away in the corner and looks quite good doing it, to the point where he probably should get a job. Actually he would as that would be the future Gangrel. A suplex and splash put the Phantom away with no effort.
It’s time for the King’s Court with Lawler wearing sunglasses. He rants about Piper bringing the (male) kid into the match, who Lawler claims was Piper’s daughter. Tonight’s guest is Duke the Dumpster Droese, the wrestling garbageman. Duke can’t get in the ring due to his stench though so Lawler makes Ace Ventura jokes. Droese says he doesn’t want to talk to a piece of garbage like Lawler so he walks out, only to have Lawler beat him with a garbage can.
Heavenly Bodies vs. Jim Powers/Russ Greenberg
Jim Cornette sits in on commentary and I could go with hearing him talk to Savage for years. Powers knees Del Ray down as we hear about the Bodies getting a Tag Team Title shot against the Headshrinkers. Prichard comes in and gets shouldered down as Cornette rants about Vanna White and dinosaurs. The Spanish commentary starts bleeding through, sending Cornette into one of his patented frenzied rants. Del Ray superkicks Russ, setting up an elevated DDT. Cornette says the Bodies are cockroaches and Del Ray mostly misses a moonsault press (cracking his pelvis in the process) for the pin.
Rating: D+. The Bodies are actually a really underrated tag team (I blame the hair) and it’s a shame that they never did much after Smoky Mountain went under. They had good looks and a solid enough gimmick to make it work, plus Cornette running his mouth like only he could. Check out their Smoky Mountain feud if you want to see just how good they could be.
Gorilla apologizes for the trashcan and says you’ll NEVER see that again.
Summerslam ad.
DiBiase has his eye on Luger and suggests he join the Million Dollar Team to end the show.
Overall Rating: D-. Some really bad wrestling this week but sweet tuna melts on toast with papaya on the side Bret vs. the Kid could tear the house down. This was the fallout show from the pay per view so there’s only so much you can get out of it. The bigger problem though is this was such a weak time for the company that outside of a few stories, it’s absolutely not worth watching.
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King of the Ring 1994 (2017 Redo): Oh Art Donovan, You Beautiful Disaster
King of the Ring 1994 Date: June 19, 1994 Location: Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, Maryland Attendance: 12,000 Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Randy Savage, Art Donovan
It’s tournament time and that means it’s not likely to be the most interesting show in the world. On top of that, this is one of the weaker fields they’ve ever had, which makes for a rather dull few hours. Finally, this show is infamous for the commentary, which really was a disaster and a horrible idea. Let’s get to it.
Earlier today, Jeff Jarrett came up to the official bracket board and tried to advance himself. This brought in Bam Bam Bigelow, Owen Hart and IRS to start a big argument.
Opening sequence which explains the tournament (including running down the card) and the rest of the card. They’re REALLY stretching to fill in time here.
National Anthem.
The announcers welcome us to the show with Monsoon referring to Donovan as “Art O’Donnell”. Donovan, a former NFL player in his 70s who has NO IDEA what is going on here, picks Razor Ramon to win the tournament, which seems to be the only wrestler he’s been told about.
Before we get started, here are the brackets:
Razor Ramon
Bam Bam Bigelow
IRS
Mabel
Owen Hart
Tatanka
1-2-3 Kid
Jeff Jarrett
King of the Ring Tournament First Round: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Razor Ramon
Ramon throws the toothpick at Luna Vachon and gets beaten down for his efforts. So Bigelow is just being chivalrous? Bigelow hammers him down and drops a headbutt as Art says he can’t stand to watch it. That’s one of the only things he’s said all match because, in theory, he has no idea what he’s watching here (not his fault).
Razor gets a running start and slides underneath the ropes to crotch Bigelow against the post. The middle rope bulldog gets two and it’s off to a leglock. Art realizes that Bigelow has Luna in his corner and asks about her as Bigelow misses an enziguri. A missed charge sends Razor flying over the top for a crash as the announcers talk about how tough you have to be to win one of these things. For some reason Savage doesn’t bring up the whole winning a one night tournament to win the WWF World Title at Wrestlemania IV, which they would never let him get away with today.
Bigelow kicks him in the face for two and Donovan is impressed. Well Bigelow has certainly made it then. Some headbutts to the back have Ramon in trouble and it’s off to a torture rack of all things. The hold stays on for a good while and Art thinks Razor is dead. Bigelow finally flips him down and gets caught in a belly to back suplex to put both guys down. Art: “What happens now?” Bigelow is too big for the Razor’s Edge so he slams Razor and loads up the moonsault. Razor is right back up though and kind of powerbombs Bigelow off the top into a rollup to advance.
Rating: C-. Pretty slow and plodding here but there’s only so much Razor can do with someone Bigelow’s size. It helps that Bigelow is able to move around far better than most giants and it made for a watchable power match. Putting Razor, probably the most popular guy in the tournament, through to the second round, was pretty much mandatory here.
We go to Todd Pettengill at the big board where IRS gives one of the most awkward interviews ever about beating Mabel and then wanting to face Tatanka in the finals. Mabel says he’ll never have his shoulders pinned to the mat. Mo agrees and is lucky that no one punches him out.
King of the Ring Tournament First Round: IRS vs. Mabel
Art as IRS comes out: “Randy, is this one of the wrestlers?” Then he doesn’t know Mabel’s name, which thankfully is ignored by the other announcers. I get that the guy doesn’t know any better but he’s already getting annoying. IRS tries to jump him from behind and gets sent into the corner over and over for his efforts.
Art wants to leave because of the danger of IRS having to fight someone twice his size and you can tell Gorilla and Randy are already sick of him. A Samoan drop sets up a big elbow as Art wants to know who the guy in the white suit (Mabel’s manager Oscar) is. Mabel misses a charge and gets kneed out to the floor. Back in and IRS hits a good looking jumping clothesline, which Savage says might be the best one in the history of the company. That’s a Michael Cole style line as commentary is just all over the place tonight.
In the HUH spot of the match, IRS tries a slam and gets small packaged for what looked like three, though the referee stops counting at two because I don’t think IRS could kick out. We hit the chinlock with Art thinking Mabel is wealthy because he has gold in his mouth. Mabel fights up and hits a backdrop followed by a bad looking Boss Man Slam. What looks like a middle rope splash is broken up though and IRS grabs a rollup (and a rope, which makes Mabel look like he’s on fire) for the pin.
Rating: D. I’ve actually seen worse as they just let IRS do his basic yet well done stuff while Mabel just looked imposing. The ending was the only real way to have Mabel get pinned and it didn’t even feel forced. We’ll call this a pleasant surprise, despite it still being a pretty weak match.
Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji are ready to have Crush and Yokozuna win the Tag Team Titles.
King of the Ring Tournament First Round: Tatanka vs. Owen Hart
Oh you can imagine how Art is going to handle someone like Tatanka. With Art annoyingly asking how much Owen weighs (WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE???), Tatanka jumps him to start in a rather heelish move. The announcers basically make it clear that Owen is the favorite, more or less guaranteeing an Owen vs. Razor final (not that that’s a bad thing). Tatanka gets two off a suplex and Art asks how much he weighs.
Monsoon just starts talking over Donovan as Owen works on a headlock. Tatanka gets sent over the top but lands on his feet to drag Owen outside for a chop off. Owen posts him and we cut to the back where Razor and IRS are in a fight. That goes nowhere so Owen hits the running crotch attack to the back of the head that needs a better name than the running crotch attack to the back of the head.
A missile dropkick gives Owen two and we hit the chinlock. Monsoon is now flat out ignoring Art’s questions, which is probably the best possible option. Back up and Tatanka hits the war path, including a DDT for a close two. Another near fall off a powerslam annoys Tatanka and Owen sits down on a sunset flip for the pin to advance.
Rating: C. The match was perfectly fine but sweet goodness Art is getting old. There’s just nothing there from him and it takes a lot to really get on Monsoon’s nerves. As mentioned though, Owen winning is the most obvious result in the world for this show and there’s nothing wrong with that, especially when the first match was certainly watchable.
Shawn and Diesel liked hurting Bret and promise another Jackknife tonight. They’re not worried about any family member being in Bret’s corner either.
King of the Ring Tournament First Round: 1-2-3 Kid vs. Jeff Jarrett
Donovan thinks the Kid looks like a boxer. I don’t know many boxers with 1-2-3 on their singlet, or one with a singlet on in general for that matter. Jarrett starts fast and whips Kid hard into the corner and let’s keep hitting that NEW GENERATION catchphrase, which actually officially started tonight. So this is where the blame got started.
They trade clotheslines as Donovan thinks Kid has no chance here. Kid misses a Swanton but Jeff crotches himself (Donovan finds it HILARIOUS), setting up a high crossbody for two. The Bronco Buster misses and Jeff, who Art calls “a cutie” tries the Figure Four but gets small packaged for the pin.
Rating: B-. This is the kind of match where Jarrett excelled: fast paced, doing his basics and letting someone else do the hard work. Jarrett gets a bad reputation for not being the best character (he wasn’t) or not having the best matches (he didn’t), but he was going to give you a perfectly acceptable match, which is more important than a lot of things.
Post match Jeff snaps and piledrives Kid three times in a row.
The final four:
IRS
Razor Ramon
Owen Hart
1-2-3 Kid
New Generation ad, focusing on old vs. new, including Hogan listed as old of course.
Bret is ready for Diesel, no matter how devastating the Jackknife is. He won’t stand for injustice though and has a surprise to deal with Shawn.
WWF World Title: Bret Hart vs. Diesel
Diesel is challenging but his Intercontinental Title isn’t on the line. For the sake of clarity, I’ll only refer to Bret as champ. Diesel’s pyro from the ceiling only goes down a few feet instead of nearly halfway down to the ring as usual. Maybe they just didn’t have the formula down yet. Bret’s surprise is…..Jim Neidhart, who hasn’t been around in a few years. Savage makes the mistake of mentioning that Neidhart played football, prompting Art to NEED to know if Diesel was a football player too.
Diesel elbows him in the face to start and easily wins a slugout. That’s pretty out of character as Bret isn’t going to start slugging away until things are a lot more even. He’s smart enough to avoid a charge though and it’s time for the headbutt to the abdomen. A thumb to the eye cuts Bret off, which Art says isn’t kosher. Diesel misses another charge though and that’s your story for the match: Bret can’t match him for size and power but he’s smart enough to avoid Diesel’s reckless offense.
It’s already time to go after the knee, including the Figure Four. Diesel kicks him away so we hit the spinning toehold as the match flashes back to days when Donovan was just ancient and not….well Art Donovan. Bret wraps the leg around the post (Savage: “Go ahead and do it. I won’t look!”) but Shawn clotheslines him down, sending Neidhart into the chase.
Back in and Diesel grabs a bearhug but Bret bites his way to freedom, only to miss a dive to the floor. Donovan wants to know how these guys get out of bed in the morning (I’d assume they stand up) and Monsoon cuts him off with a level of rudeness you’ll never hear from him again. We hit the backbreaker with Bret being bent over the knee for a bit before hitting the running crotch attack to the back.
Another backbreaker gets another two as Diesel doesn’t exactly have his full offensive skill set yet. I mean, he only had about six or seven moves at his peak so you can imagine how bad things are here. Diesel grabs an over the shoulder backbreaker as Shawn tries to take off a turnbuckle pad. Bret slips out and starts trying a sleeper, only to be shoved into the referee.
NOW the buckle pad comes off but, of course, Diesel eats the steel instead. Bret slugs away (makes sense now, which is often the case with him) and gets two off a clothesline. That means the Five Moves of Doom but Shawn’s distraction breaks up the Sharpshooter. Bret tries to slug away a bit more and walks right into the big boot.
Diesel stands over him and gives the Jackknife sign but Bret rolls into a Boston crab (with the legs crossed but Bret’s legs are spread instead of intertwined). Of course it doesn’t last long as Diesel goes outside, allowing Shawn to hit Bret with the belt. There’s the Jackknife but Neidhart comes in for the DQ.
Rating: B. I actually like that finish as it keeps Diesel looking strong, meaning he wasn’t taking a pin while still Intercontinental Champion. Bret was carrying Diesel here and that’s exactly why they were put together. Diesel was VERY weak in the ring at this point but he could do a few things well, which Bret was more than capable of working with to make a good match. These two always had great chemistry together and that’s all you need a lot of the time.
It was all Diesel needed too, as this was the match that made Vince decide to push him to the moon, including making him champion in about five months. The problem was he didn’t have much beyond looking cool, a good finisher and a strong Royal Rumble performance. DOES ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR TO ANYONE TODAY???
Neidhart leaves for some reason (Dun dun dun?), allowing Diesel and Shawn to lay Bret out.
Lawler insults Donovan a bit and says he’s the true king and that’s the bottom line. He loves the idea of beating Piper so the kids in Toronto (who Piper had promised some of his winnings to) get NOTHING. Now that’s as heelish as you can get: “I want to beat you so poor sick kids are left out in the cold!” And people wonder why Lawler is considered one of the best of all time.
King of the Ring Tournament Semifinals: Razor Ramon vs. IRS
Razor jumps him in the aisle as Monsoon thankfully reminds us that these two fought at the Royal Rumble. IRS gets in a few shots but Razor takes him outside and sends him into the steps to really stagger him. A kick to the knee slows Razor down though and we hit the chinlock. Razor fights up without too much effort (because it was a kick to the knee and a chinlock), only to get caught with the running clothesline. Not that it matters as Razor hits a quick Razor’s Edge for the pin.
Rating: D. I wonder if Razor was injured here. There was barely any offense from Ramon until the very end and he spent a good chunk of a five minute match in a chinlock. Injury or not though, you have to put Ramon against Owen in the final, just for the sake of ANY star power/a threat to Owen in the last match.
Bret is looking for Neidhart.
There’s no update on the 1-2-3 Kid’s status after the attack.
King of the Ring Semifinals: Owen Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid
This one is kind of famous. Kid is fine enough to get in the ring, making the previous backstage segment rather worthless. Owen baseball slides him through the ropes and hits an even harder suicide dive to start things off. A top rope splash is good for two on the Kid but he sends Owen chest first into the corner, setting up a twisting high crossbody for two of his own. Kid gets the same off a crucifix as we’re not even a minute into this yet.
Some spinning kicks drop Owen again but the enziguri gets him out of trouble. Kid gets two more off a northern lights suplex with Owen going to the ropes for the break. Owen bails so it’s a BIG flip dive over the top and Savage announces his retirement from this level of action. Back in and a German suplex gives Owen two, followed by a snap overhead belly to belly for the same. A victory roll gives Kid another near fall but his hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb, setting up the Sharpshooter to send Owen to the finals.
Rating: A-. That’s the best under five (four actually) minute match I’ve ever seen as they beat the heck out of each other and packed in about fifteen minutes of stuff into just over three and a half. Kid saves face because he came in injured so it’s even well booked on top of being entertaining. Check this out and see what these two could do when they were trying to show off.
Roddy Piper cuts a promo about taking his pants off, not remembering what town he’s in, loving Hershey bars, spaghetti with mosquito bites, various movies he’s been in, eating flies, not trusting people with no necks, “King Toady”, Don King, King the Dog and there being no such thing as a king. Piper is known for his crazy interviews and this was one of the weirdest I’ve ever seen from him. That includes the time he took over Alcatraz or the time he rambled about Hulk Hogan and hopped away for no apparent reason.
Tag Team Titles: Yokozuna/Crush vs. Headshrinkers
The Headshrinkers are defending of course. For once, Art asks the right question when he wants to know Yokozuna’s weight. He also brings up a good point: why are there eight people out here (Mr. Fuji/Jim Cornette/Lou Albano/Afa are all out as well) for a two on two match? The staredown (kind of a family reunion save for Crush) leads to a big brawl until the Headshrinkers start fighting each other for no apparent reason.
Yokozuna gets headbutted to the floor and we settle down to Yokozuna vs. Samu to start. A spinning kick to the face and a dropkick stagger Yokozuna and knock him outside again. It’s off to Crush vs. Fatu, who will have none of this faceplant nonsense. A piledriver plants Crush and a middle rope headbutt gets two. Fuji gets in a cheap shot from the floor and Crush grabs a piledriver of his own to really take over. It’s off to Yokozuna for the big fat leg but he misses a charge in the corner.
Samu comes in for a powerslam (I’ll let you guess to whom) and everything breaks down. A double superkick knocks Yokozuna outside for the third time (not a good sign less than eight minutes in) but he’s still able to crotch Samu on top. More managerial interference brings out Lex Luger (oh yeah he’s still around) to stare at Crush, allowing Samu to get in a superkick to retain.
Rating: D+. This was a decent power brawl but it was clearly just there to offer some extra flavor to go with the tournament. The Headshrinkers are one of my favorite teams from this era (or the 90s in general actually) and they were beating the heck out of Yokozuna here. That would be part of the huge downfall for Yokozuna, who went from beating Hogan the previous year to this in twelve months. It’s the problem with being a monster and someone whose gut probably has its own zip code.
Crush beats on Luger until the Headshrinkers make the save.
Owen promises to win and wishes his dad a Happy Father’s Day.
King of the Ring: Razor Ramon vs. Owen Hart
Razor punches him down and stares at him because they’re filling time despite the match not likely having much of it to work with in the first place. They do an awkward slam spot and Owen slaps him in the face to earn himself a catapult into the corner. A slow motion bridge into a backslide gives Razor two and Art changes his pick to Owen. The spinwheel kick drops Razor, who Art cheers for three seconds after changing his pick.
We hit an abdominal stretch to stay on the ribs but Razor hiptosses out and grabs a chokeslam for two. The belly to back superplex looks to set up the Edge but Razor gets backdropped to the floor. Here’s Neidhart to check on Razor and then deck him, setting up Owen’s top rope elbow for the pin and the crown.
Rating: C-. Obvious ending and unnecessary interference aside, this was the only way they could have done. Owen was still hot from beating Bret at Wrestlemania and needed a major win without changing the Intercontinental Title from one heel to another. Giving him the crown was as good of an option as they had and it made him look like a real threat in his big title shot against Bret.
Owen and Neidhart beat Razor down with a Hart Attack and CANADIAN (and American) stomping. Bret doesn’t save for no apparent reason.
We go to Bret in the back and he has no comment. Is there ANY reason why he didn’t come out here? I guess he’s supposed to be shocked but that doesn’t quite endear him to Razor. Not that he needed to do so but it would have made sense given how much he wanted to go after Neidhart.
Donovan asks Monsoon and Savage if they acted like that when they wrestled. Monsoon COMPLETELY ignores him and asks Randy about Neidhart’s sanity.
It’s already coronation time with Neidhart standing at Owen’s side. Owen brags and dubs himself the King of Harts, an awesome nickname.
Long recap of Piper vs. Lawler, which is mostly just them doing the exact insults you would expect from both of them. Like I mentioned, there’s also a children’s hospital shoehorned in here for the sake of some emotion.
Roddy Piper vs. Jerry Lawler
Lawler being a king confuses Donovan even more. Before Piper comes out, Lawler does his usual crowd insults and again promises to keep all the winnings. As is his custom for a big match, Piper is played to the ring by a pipe and drum corps. In the first pay per view main event ever between two wrestles over forty years old, Monsoon has the gorilla testicles to call this a NEW GENERATION match.
Piper even comes out with the imitator from Raw, who was rather insulting to him during the King’s Court. Apparently Piper has forgiven him….and I guess we’re supposed to be impressed. Uh, right. The kid (who is about seventeen at the youngest) does some Piper jokes (to be fair he does a great impression) and we’re FINALLY ready to go. Piper hammers away to start and Monsoon dubs it vintage. In the NEW Generation.
The kilt is thrown over Lawler’s head and Piper bites in the corner as I don’t expect much in the way of wrestling here. A big right hand sends Lawler bailing to the floor and the kid gets in a poke to the eye. Back in and Piper slugs away before telling Lawler to bring it. Piper starts going to the hamstring (psychology you see) and an atomic drop sends Lawler outside again.
Lawler’s hand is sent into the post as there’s nothing resembling wrestling anywhere in this match. The kid gets dragged inside and instead of BEATING LAWLER UP, Piper shoves the kid back to the floor. A bunch of punches set up….even more punches and we hit the sleeper on Piper. Monsoon says that’s a patented hold, even though I don’t think I ever remember seeing Lawler using one.
The piledriver (to NO reaction, just like most of this match) gets two (no reaction again) as Savage is trying everything he can to make this interesting. Piper spits at him and slugs back, followed by a pair of bulldogs. The ref gets bumped (you knew this wasn’t ending clean) and it’s a foreign object to knock Piper out. Lawler gets two with the kid making the save, allowing Piper to grab a belly to back suplex for the pin.
Rating: OG. For Old Generation. This was straight out of the nightmares of Memphis in front of a bored crowd who wanted to go home after a not great night. I get the idea here but this needed to go on about second, as there was no way these dinosaurs were going to be able to produce anything worthwhile. It just wasn’t a story that people were going to care about and there was no way around that. Terrible main event, and perhaps the worst in company history.
Piper celebrates with the kid…..and we go to Shawn telling Diesel that he’ll get the title soon enough to end the show. I guess the main event was so bad that it screwed up the show format. You know, even worse than it already did.
Overall Rating: D+. Art Donovan issues and main event aside, there’s enough good stuff going on here to help carry it over the line. The problem here is the lack of interest from the backstage forces, mainly due to trying to keep Vince out of jail and all that good stuff. There’s enough good wrestling to keep the show from flatlining but you’re much better off watching those individual matches rather than the full two hour and forty five minutes, which crawl by on more than one occasion.
The interesting thing here is how fast the show got through its ten matches though. Outside of Bret vs. Diesel, nothing breaks thirteen minutes with none of the tournament matches even getting nine minutes. To be fair though, it’s not like there was a reason to stretch out a predictable tournament and the World Title match more than makes up for it. Not as bad as remembered, but still not great or even good for the most part.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Histories of Saturday Night’s Main Event and Clash of the Champions, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here:
Countdown to the Crowning Date: June 13, 1994 Location: Erie Civic Center, Eric, Pennsylvania Attendance: 3,500 Commentators: Stan Lane, Ted DiBiase
This is a special that may or may not have been an episode of Monday Night Raw (it’s not listed on the Network). Vince announced it as an episode of the show last week but it’s basically just a big commercial for Sunday’s pay per view with a single match. In other words, expect a lot of “video on this” here. Let’s get to it.
Vince and Randy are in a studio as they hype the tournament and introduce the match.
Tag Team Titles: Quebecers vs. Headshrinkers
The Samoans are defending. Samu doesn’t waste any time and drops an early headbutt to drop Pierre. One heck of a crossbody puts Pierre down so it’s off to Jacques for that attempt at a bulldog, earning himself a superkick. Back from a break with the Quebecers having taken over and Jacques grabbing a reverse chinlock.
For some reason he tries to drop down onto Fatu’s back and earns himself a low blow. I guess he’s not an Arn Anderson fan. It’s back to Pierre to try the Cannonball but Fatu moves away and hits a double dropkick (close enough) for the hot tag to Samu. The double Stroke and the top rope splash are enough to retain the titles.
Rating: D+. I’ve always liked the Headshrinkers so watching them beat up a couple of goofs who happen to have Johnny Polo with them is a fun enough sit. This was just a warmup before the Headshrinkers have their real defense against Crush and Yokozuna in a match I can barely remember.
Savage picks the Headshrinkers to retain.
Crush and Yokozuna disagree.
CALL THE HOTLINE!
Commercial for the New Generation with Savage saying he’s the bridge between the two generations. Until December when he goes to WCW and the bridge is out.
Recap of the Hall of Fame Class of 1994 induction ceremony, including Arnold Skaaland, Bobo Brazil, Buddy Rogers, Chief Jay Strongbow, Freddie Blassie, Gorilla Monsoon and James Dudley.
Here’s the King’s Court from May 30 with Bret Hart as the guest, but only after Lawler makes some jokes at the Hart Family’s expense. Lawler brings up Bret’s title defense against Diesel at King of the Ring so here are Shawn and Diesel to have Lawler’s back. Bret doesn’t back down and says he’s ready for whatever Diesel has. In a voice that clearly isn’t ready for this kind of spot, Diesel promises Bret the VIP treatment: Very Intense Pain. The beatdown is quickly on with a Jackknife leaving Bret laying.
Bret promises to have a family member in his corner at the pay per view.
LONG recap of how all eight entrants qualified for the tournament. This goes on so long that it needs a commercial in the middle. They really could have cut this whole show down to half an hour and been fine.
In the big centerpiece of the show, Savage makes his King of the Ring picks. Here they are, in all their glory, starting with the original bracket:
Mabel
IRS
Razor Ramon
Bam Bam Bigelow
Jeff Jarrett
1-2-3 Kid
Owen Hart
Tatanka
IRS
Bam Bam Bigelow
Jeff Jarrett
Tatanka
Bam Bam Bigelow
Jeff Jarrett
Bam Bam Bigelow
In other words, he got all but one pick wrong.
Video on Lawler vs. Piper.
Here’s the King’s Court from last week. Lawler’s guest is from Scotland and wears a Hot Rod t-shirt but just happens to be about seventeen years old and weighs 130lbs with a brick in each pocket. The guy does a good impression but it gets old in a hurry as you can get the joke after about two seconds. After a few gay jokes, the guy gets on his hands and knees to kiss Lawler’s feet in an attempt to get out of the match. He crawls out of the ring to finally end this.
Piper is dedicating this match to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, which gets a quick plug. Nothing wrong with that.
And now, just to continue wasting time on the show, we go to a separate arena where Jack Tunney brings out all eight participants to say a very few words and then…..just stand there as the show ends.
Overall Rating: D-. Total waste of a show here in something that would have aired on the Network today. It didn’t help that the show wound up being one of the least interesting shows the company ever put on with the tournament really not working. I’m not looking forward to the pay per view and this really didn’t help things along.
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Monday Night Raw Date: June 6, 1994 Location: Struthers Fieldhouse, Youngstown, Ohio Attendance: 1,500 Commentators: Vince McMahon, Randy Savage
We’re coming up on King of the Ring 1994 and…..I need a minute just thinking about something like that. This is a really bad time for the company as Vince is dealing with the steroids trial so don’t expect a lot of good stuff on here. Well, save for the debut of one of the biggest stars of all time. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
King of the Ring Qualifying Match: Tatanka vs. Crush
Lumberjack match in a rematch from last week’s draw. IRS and Razor Ramon getting in a fight before all of the lumberjacks are even at ringside. A bunch of lumberjacks get in the ring and tease a brawl as Crush gets in a few shots on Tatanka to start. Things settle down with Tatanka coming back with chops abut a toss sends him outside for a lumberjack beating.
Back in and we hit the chinlock but Crush misses a kneedrop. That means another far too early comeback before we take a break. Back with Tatanka working on an armbar, only to get pulled down into a weak cross armbreaker. McMahon mentions Crush possibly winning the Tag Team Titles as well as the King of the Ring in the same night if he wins here but shuts up when Tatanka chops him down.
It’s back to the armbreaker as this is already going WAY longer than it needed to. Savage: “My temperature is at about 114!” Vince: “That’s normal for you.” Savage: “Thank you.” Crush stays on the mat with a bodyscissors as the fans and lumberjacks are starting to get restless.
We take a second break (Why?) and come back with Crush getting tied up in the ropes but still managing an atomic drop. Crush grabs a front facelock for a good while before sending Tatanka outside, triggering the lumberjack brawl. Now it’s Crush being send outside for a beating of his own, including Lex Luger coming out to blast Crush with the forearm. Crush is done and Tatanka gets the very lame pin to advance at just shy of TWENTY FIVE MINUTES (counting commercials).
Rating: D-. You’ll often hear about how matches are too short today but this is a good reason why that’s not always the worst issue in the world. Just because you can give a match more time doesn’t mean it’s a good thing, especially if so much of the mat is just one guy putting on a hold for two to three minutes at a time. Holds can be used to advance a match but that’s not what was happening here.
King of the Ring Control Center with the full bracket being revealed:
IRS
Mabel
Razor Ramon
Bam Bam Bigelow
Jeff Jarrett
1-2-3 Kid
Owen Hart
Tatanka
We look back at Diesel attacking Bret Hart in the King’s Court with a little help from Shawn Michaels last week.
Bret thinks that proves Diesel isn’t jam up enough to fight on his own. A member of Bret’s family will be in his corner for the title match.
Roddy Piper sends in a video offering Bret his help. He’s ready to take care of Jerry Lawler too and talks about growing up in a rough neighborhood to prove it.
CALL THE HOTLINE! For some reason this is introduced with insults to the Flintstones movie. Rather odd and rather dumb as I always liked that movie.
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. John Paul
Bigelow misses an early splash but shrugs off an armbar. That means it’s time to make fun of the Flintstones for some reason with Vince calling Luna the Wilma Flintstone of the WWF. Paul gets in a few kicks and a sunset flip for two. Bigelow shrugs it off and hits a spinning splash for the quick pin.
House show ads.
Earlier today, some wrestlers beat some members of the Marines/Navy/Coast Guard in a tug of war to celebrate D-Day.
Here’s the King’s Court with Lawler running his mouth about Piper. His guest is from Scotland and wears a Hot Rod t-shirt but just happens to be about seventeen years old and weighs 130lbs with a brick in each pocket. The guy does a good impression but it gets old in a hurry as you can get the joke after about two seconds. After a few gay jokes, the guy gets on his hands and knees to kiss Lawler’s feet in an attempt to get out of the match. He crawls out of the ring to finally end this.
Razor Ramon vs. Keith Davis
Razor throws him around to start and catches a crossbody in the fall away slam. We hit the abdominal stretch for a good while until an elbow to the jaw makes things even worse. The belly to back superplex sets up the Razor’s Edge to complete the squash.
Rating: D. Total squash with Razor mauling the jobber in the exact fashion you would expect. Now that being said, this would have been a very different match later on as Davis would actually wind up to being a fairly decent worker in his own right. You might have heard of him under his real name: Jeff Hardy.
Paul Bearer is looking for Undertaker.
Ted DiBiase promises to produce the Undertaker on Superstars.
Overall Rating: D. That opener just killed everything and even seeing a seventeen year old Jeff Hardy out there selling as well as someone his age could do couldn’t save it. The show wasn’t any good and it set up a bad pay per view but with Vince trying to stay out of prison, you really can’t expect anything else.
There’s no Raw next week but there was a special called Countdown to the Crowning, because of course there is.
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Impact Wrestling Date: June 29, 2017 Location: Film Studio 7, Mumbai, India Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews
It’s the last night in India and the go home show for Slammiversary. Most of Sunday’s card is set and tonight we get the hard sell for the show, which will include some contract signings. Also advertised is Rockstar Spud vs. Swoggle in a street fight, and I’m a bit worried about that possibly closing the show. Let’s get to it.
We open with a look at what’s coming on Sunday and how important it is. This feels like the pay per view opening instead of the TV opening.
Opening sequence.
Before the show went on the air, we had contract signings for four matches. First up, Sienna called Rosemary dumb for signing up for the match. Sienna said she spits fire while Rosemary spits mist. Rosemary promised to make Sienna sign her death certificate in blood. Next up Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards argued about their wives and how badly they were going to hurt each other.
Third was Ethan Carter III and James Storm nearly coming to blows and then promising to beat each other senseless. Storm got especially fired up and promised to show why he’s been around for fifteen years. The final contract signing saw Lashley sign to face Alberto El Patron. A fight was teased and the table was finally turned over so Bruce Prichard made an eight man tag, albeit with Kongo Kong and Mahabali Shera taking the women’s places.
Video on Sonjay Dutt vs. Low Ki, which would have been better as a way to close out the taping cycle, though I get why they couldn’t with no time to set up the pay per view rematch.
Sonjay Dutt/Matt Sydal vs. Trevor Lee/Low Ki
Dutt armdrags Lee down to start as the fans are WAY into Sonjay here. Sydal comes in with an armdrag but gets caught in the wrong corner. Of course no one is talking about the match because the announcers are talking about their own match instead. The good guys come back with stereo standing moonsaults and we take a break.
Back with Low Ki stomping on Sydal’s chest and the announcers talking about the Knockouts. When that goes nowhere, they start name dropping former announcers. Sydal gets in a few kicks to set up the tag to Dutt. A tornado DDT drops Lee and it’s time for the showdown with Low Ki.
That goes on for all of five seconds before it’s back to Sydal or the top rope knees. A jumping kick to Lee’s head looks to set up the shooting star but Low Ki makes the save. That save doesn’t quite work though as Sydal hits the shooting star for the pin at 13:38. That was quite the unnecessary shooting star as Lee didn’t move for about a minute straight after the kick to the head but you need your flippy bits in there.
Rating: C. Slightly better than the usual X match here and they’ve done a good job of setting up the rematch on Sunday. Having the other two guys who don’t have a match doing the finish was a smart move to keep the other guys safe going into the title match. This did its job and that’s all you can ask for most of the time.
Video on DeAngelo Williams’ training.
Eli Drake/Chris Adonis vs. Mumbai Cats
The Cats are masked men in loud gear. Cat #1 gets knocked into the corner and hammered down with the variety of offense you would expect here. The Eli Drop (White Noise) ends #1 at 2:59. Total squash.
King Mo will be in Lashley’s corner on Sunday. I don’t know why I’m supposed to care either.
Rockstar Spud vs. Swoggle
Mumbai street fight with a short Bollywood actor as referee and they’re already in the comedy spots before I can finish typing this sentence. Swoggle throws nuts and powder at Spud’s face but Spud hits him with a trashcan. A table is set up at ringside and Spud punches him into the corner. Instead of following up though, he grabs a mic and starts talking trash about how everyone hates Swoggle.
The big deal though: he MEANT to pull Swoggle’s pants down. Spud shoves the referee down but gets shoved back, resulting in the referee losing his own pants. Naturally Spud loses his pants too but Swoggle actually manages to pick him up for a Doomsday Device. A Samoan drop through the table gives Swoggle the pin at 6:15.
Rating: D. This is a good example of “not for me”. I’m not big on comedy matches like this one where they beat you over the head with the joke, but at least it didn’t close the show (it was the last thing taped). They didn’t give it much time either and while I didn’t fine it funny, it could have been much worse.
JB and Joseph Park finish their training and Park comes out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around him. Before JB leaves, he hands Park an Abyss figure and tells him to find the inner monster. So wait: we’re getting Abyss at Slammiversary after spending OVER A MONTH dealing with Park? I mean, it’s not exactly a surprise but I’ve been miserable with this feud since the beginning so messing with it in any way was going to get under my skin.
Alberto El Patron is happy that his father will be at Slammiversary.
Sienna/Laurel Van Ness/KM vs. Allie/Rosemary/Braxton Sutter
Allie goes after Laurel to start and it’s quickly off to the men with Sutter hammering away in the corner. A full nelson slam drops Braxton but he gets in a suplex into the corner for a breather. Rosemary and Laurel come back in with Van Ness getting suplexed down for two as everything breaks down. Laurel hits an Unprettier on Sienna but Allie gets in a Death Valley Driver. Rosemary mists Laurel and Allie hits Sienna with a Codebreaker. The Red Wedding (bad one) ends Laurel at 4:00.
Rating: D. No time to go anywhere here though at least Rosemary gets some momentum going into the pay per view. I don’t know why Allie/Braxton vs. KM/Laurel isn’t on the pay per view but we certainly have time for the battling announcers match. It’s not like the women would draw special money, but are the announcers going to either? Putting in the actual wrestlers instead of the “special” attractions might be an idea, though around here that doesn’t have the best luck of going anywhere.
Rosemary pats Allie on the head.
Park finds his inner monster and pulls out Janice.
We run down the pay per view card. There’s still nothing on there that gets me overly interested and that’s not good.
Video on Lashley vs. Alberto. This is a much longer version and shows the build to the match, including their first match where Alberto won the title.
Alberto El Patron/Eddie Edwards/James Storm/Mahabali Shera vs. Lashley/Davey Richards/Ethan Carter III/Kongo Kong
Before the match, the heels jump Shera and lay him out, making this a handicap match to start. Lashley gets caught in the wrong corner early on and Storm gets two off an elbow to the jaw. A side slam drops Eddie Edwards and it’s off to Carter, who gets the skin chopped off his chest a few seconds in.
El Patron comes in and catches Carter in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. That’s about it for the offense though and it’s Kong coming in for the fat man offense. The fast tags continue with Davey kneeing James in the face and quickly bringing Ethan back in. A Sling Blade (way too common of a move anymore) drops Carter for no cover and we take a break.
Back with Eddie in trouble and Davey grabbing a bodyscissors. It’s off to Kong who almost gives up the tag, only to have his partners pull Alberto and company off the apron in a smart move that always works. Eddie hurricanranas Davey and James at the same time and here’s Shera to take the hot tag. Lashley takes an AA and a slam plants Kong for two. Alberto tags himself in and takes out Lashley’s leg before hitting the top rope double stomp for the pin on Kong at 19:03.
Rating: B-. Totally by the book tag match here and that’s all it needed to be. Kong taking the fall was the right move and they even got Shera out there for the big save in a nice move. They’re still keeping Alberto and Lashley apart more often than not but they need to deliver in the main event. I’m sure it’s going to be good but it needs to be a bit more than that after all the build.
Overall Rating: C-. The wrestling wasn’t the best from top to bottom but this show did a perfectly acceptable job of setting up the pay per view. Aside from the Tag Team Title match, everything got a little time and the show looks passable on paper. Again though, nothing really stands out and that battling announcers match has the potential to be an outright disaster.
That’s it for the India tapings and……they exist. Most of the time I forgot they were even in India as the shows didn’t really feel like anything different. The Sonjay Dutt title win was easily the best thing about them as it was an easy story that was done exactly as it was supposed to be. Other than that and the abundance of Shera, nothing on here really felt like anything you wouldn’t see at the Impact Zone. Much like a lot of the other stuff in Impact, they weren’t bad but they’re forgettable, which is often a lot worse.
Results
Sonjay Dutt/Matt Sydal b. Low Ki/Trevor Lee – Shooting star press to Lee
Eli Drake/Chris Adonis b. Mumbai Cats – Eli Drop to Cat #1
Swoggle b. Rockstar Spud – Samoan drop through a table
Allie/Rosemary/Braxton Sutter b. KM/Laurel Van Ness/Sienna – Red Wedding to Van Ness
Alberto El Patron/Eddie Edwards/Mahabali Shera/James Storm b. Ethan Carter III/Davey Richards/Lashley/Kongo Kong – Top rope double stomp to Kong
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Monday Night Raw – January 27, 2003 (2017 Redo): The Steiner Shadow
Monday Night Raw Date: January 27, 2003 Location: Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
Eric Bischoff’s time to fix Raw continues to count down but he has a secret weapon: magazine interviews! Yeah that was his big announcement last week: Steve Austin can tell his side of the story in Raw Magazine. I’m going to assume that it leads to an on-screen return but at least it gives us something to talk about other than HHH vs. Scott Steiner, which is still going for some reason as well. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the end of last week’s show with Scott Steiner getting the first group beatdown at the hands of HHH, Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista. I’m sure a name will be coming soon.
Opening sequence.
Booker T. vs. Jeff Hardy
Jeff has been, shall we say, more aggressive and angry lately but he hasn’t pulled the trigger just yet. Feeling out process to start with Booker missing the side kick but scoring with some big chops. Jeff knees him down though and grabs a chinlock as the announcers talk about Bischoff’s potential firing.
I’ve been watching some old 80s stuff lately and this makes me miss the old commentary so much more. Back then the announcers would talk about the match going on like it was the only thing that mattered at the moment while here, it could be anything else other than the match going on in front of them. Booker gets back up and avoids the Whisper in the Wind. The ax kick misses and Jeff drops the legs between Booker’s legs. Now the Whisper connects but Booker grabs the spinning sunset flip out of the corner for the quick pin.
Rating: C-. Not a bad little match here as Booker/Goldust doesn’t seem to be getting the most focus at this point. As much as I wanted to see them get a better push with the Tag Team Titles, HHH is desperately in need of a challenger who can have a competent match and Booker would fill that role very well. It’s also nice to open the show with a match instead of some segment, which isn’t the best way to get a show going on a good note.
Jeff attacks Booker but gets beaten down. That’s quite the heel turn.
Nathan Jones video.
Here’s Steiner for a chat. He thinks HHH orchestrated that whole thing last week so get out here right now. This brings out the champ, with the long blond hair, sunglasses and suit for a look that says “I don’t know how to be Ric Flair”. HHH brags about how awesome he is and agrees to come to the ring….but here are the reinforcements. The team comes after him but Steiner pulls out a pipe and chases them off. Simple idea, but I’m not sure you want to have your new heel stable being chased off in their second appearance together.
Terri interviews D’Lo Brown before his match with Hurricane. Terri: “Now you’ve never been in the ring with a superhero before have you?” Teddy Long goes on a rant about the lack of black superheroes. The only one he knows of is Black Lightning, suggesting that Long doesn’t know much about superheroes.
Hurricane vs. D’Lo Brown
Going back to the complaints about commentary, the announcers talk about black superheroes, which turns into a discussion about Shaft. Brown starts fast with the leg lariat (Is that a super power?) and follows with an abdominal stretch (I’m assuming rest holds are like his yellow sun?). Hurricane grabs a hurricanrana and something like an Edge-o-Matic for two before sending Brown outside. A flip dive seems to hurt Hurricane’s back though and he can’t get a suplex back inside. The Sky High is enough to put Hurricane away.
Rating: D+. The ending with the bad back was a nice touch but the commentary hurt things a lot. Brown and Hurricane are fine enough for a low level heel act but I don’t know how far they’re going to go with the thing. You can also add Hurricane to the list of people who were given titles last year and seemingly gained nothing as a result.
Chief Morely is watching a tape of the end of last week’s Smackdown where Hulk Hogan returned and punched Vince out. Morely thinks that’s going to get Bischoff an extension on the thirty days, which Bischoff calls stupid, as he should be doing. Eric has an idea.
Chris Jericho, who will be facing Steiner next week in a #1 contenders match, is disturbed by hurting that ring post in front of Stacy Keibler last week. Somehow Stacy has a grade 2 concussion and Jericho needs to go address the situation.
Here’s Jericho, in black and white checker pants, to address said situation after a break. He’s concerned about what’s going to happen: he has to face Scott Steiner! While that’s a big deal, he does apologize to Stacy, only to be cut off by Christian. He doesn’t think much of what happened to Stacy because this is a wrestling ring and it was all her fault. JR is at his most offended here as Jericho says the blame should be on Test. If Test was a real man, he would have taken the shot himself. JR: “WHAT???”
Test deserved it after throwing Jericho out of the Royal Rumble but here’s Shawn Michaels to disagree. After making fun of Jericho’s pants, he says a real man would come down and fight Jericho face to face, which is exactly what he’s going to do. Christian helps with the beatdown but Shawn cleans house without too much effort.
Victoria beats on a trashcan with Trish Stratus’ picture on it to get ready for the street fight.
Women’s Title: Victoria vs. Trish Stratus
Victoria (looking especially good here in pink) is defending in a street fight and jumps Trish from behind with a pool cue. Trish is sent into the steps and Victoria stops to pose in the ring. A Chick Kick drops the champ and a clothesline gets two on the floor (street fights and hardcore matches aren’t the same thing but you can’t expect WWE to keep up with something like rules).
Back in and Victoria misses a charge into the post and gets two trashcan lids cracked around her head. Victoria is right back with a catapult into a trashcan in the corner but a Stratusphere gives Trish two. Steven Richards tries a fire extinguisher but hits Victoria by mistake. Richards comes in for the save so Trish kendo sticks him away. Stratusfaction is broken up and Trish is sent into the barricade…for the pin? What a lame ending.
Rating: C+. That ending really hurt things here as they were beating the heck out of each other and looking more polished as almost any hardcore match you would see from this company. It felt like they were actually trying to hurt each other, which is far more than you can say about these matches most of the time. Just find a new challenger though as the feud is really starting to look stale.
Victoria and Richards beat on Trish some more until Jazz returns to get in her own shots. A DDT and STF have Trish screaming and I’m sure we’ll be having a match at No Way Out as a result.
Tag Team Titles: Dudley Boyz vs. William Regal/Lance Storm
Regal and Storm are defending in a tables match (ladder match according to JR). Bubba and D-Von jump the champs to start and get in some shots with flag poles. Storm gets speared down and send outside in a heap as JR lists off the Dudleys’ record in table matches with the titles on the line since 2000. Well how can you argue with general statistics like that?
The reverse 3D drops Regal and the regular version does the same to Storm but, instead of going for a table, here’s a What’s Up to Regal. It’s table time….but there are no tables present. You can find a small hardware store under there most of the time but we can’t find a single table? Also, ANNNOUNCER’S TABLE anyone?. Morely comes out with a table and says he’s not that stupid. The Dudleys go after him and here are Rico and 3 Minute Warning to lay them out. The beatdown is on and even Spike Dudley’s interference can’t stop D-Von from being powerbombed through the table to retain the titles.
Rating: D. This was a squash until the second half was all about the interference. The problem with the whole evil regime thing is you basically have Val Venis, two Samoans, the most boring Tag Team Champions ever and Rico vs. the Dudleys. Why in the world is that supposed to be interesting? I say supposed to because it certainly isn’t, but WWE is likely going to keep it out there as long as they can.
Video on the recent tour of Asia.
HHH and company come in to see Bischoff about the #1 contenders match but then changes his mind because he’s not worried.
Matt Cappotelli and John Hennigan (looking WEIRD with much shorter hair) are ready for an exhibition. Al Snow comes up to give them a pep talk but EVIL Christopher Nowinski is behind them with an evil smile.
Rob Van Dam is cool with Kane throwing him out of the Rumble. They’re ready to fight HHH and Batista tonight. Rob thinks the chokeslam is cool and then lists off all of his own moves. Kane does Rob’s thumb pose while calling himself the Big Red Machine. These two are a good choice for an upper midcard team, which tends to be the case with Kane more often than not. Not the worst role in the world to have actually.
We recap the Tough Enough 3 finale.
Matt Cappotelli vs. John Hennigan
They both look nervous, not to mention small. Matt headlocks him to the mat to start as Snow watches from ringside. John flips out of a hiptoss and hits a dropkick with a backflip for two. Cue Nowinski to post Snow and stop the match for a speech instead.
Nowinski rants about not winning Tough Enough but here’s Dreamer to chase him off, only to cane the rookies down for not earning the right to be here. I always liked Matt more than John and given that this is being written the day he announced that his brain cancer had returned, this was very bittersweet.
Sean O’Haire tells us not to worry about having a drink or a smoke.
Here’s Eric Bischoff to talk about Austin. We see a clip from Confidential back in June with everyone burying Austin for walking out on the company. There are two sides to every story though and Austin will be telling his side in Raw Magazine. This will includes talking about JR, Debra (recently divorced) and a host of various wrestlers, entirely uncensored. For now though, here’s the Austin Desire video.
Rob Van Dam/Kane vs. HHH/Batista
Kane and Batista start things off with JR already talking about the Austin article. Batista stops a charge with an elbow but eats a jumping clothesline. It’s off to Van Dam for the shoulders in the corner but the backflip lets Batista run him over. HHH comes in and gets kicked in the face as JR and King talk about horses in Oklahoma.
Batista takes Van Dam’s head off with a hard clothesline but Van Dam kicks HHH in the face (again), allowing the hot tag off to Kane. Side slams abound and the top rope clothesline drops Batista. The Five Star doesn’t quite work though, leaving Orton to post Kane. Batista rips the mask off (giving us a pretty clear shot of most of his face), sending Kane up the ramp in shame. The spinebuster and Batista Bomb end Van Dam.
Rating: D. Boring for the most part here with the mask stuff being the only thing of much note. Van Dam and Kane are good options for the jobbers here, though at the end of the day they need to build up SOMEONE other than Steiner for the future. I know Kane and Van Dam aren’t the most interesting people but having them lose in seven minutes isn’t the best way to give us people to fight against the heel faction.
Post match Van Dam gets beaten down until Steiner comes in. That earns him a beatdown from an invading Jericho and then the whole group, with Scott getting some color. HHH and company leave so Jericho slaps on the Walls to end the show.
Overall Rating: C-. They kept this show moving for the most part but the shadow of HHH vs. Steiner and Austin returning for Bischoff’s sake isn’t the best stuff to put on top of the card. Couple that with stuff like D’Lo Brown: Black Superhero and the never ending Tough Enough nonsense and it can make for a tedious show. They managed to make the best of some bad situations though and the show was as watchable as it’s going to get around this time.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Histories of Saturday Night’s Main Event and Clash of the Champions, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here:
Ring of Honor Date: June 28, 2017 Location: Frontier Fieldhouse, Chicago Ridge, Illinois Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana, Alex Shelley
It’s the first show after Best in the World and that means absolutely nothing as we’re starting the taping cycle before the show. I’d put it at probably four weeks of TV before we’re caught up, which should put us close to getting ready for the next pay per view, which I believe is Death Before Dishonor. Let’s get to it.
One quick note: apparently some markets got a different episode so there’s a chance this is a completely different show than you saw.
Opening sequence.
Flip Gordon vs. Jonathan Gresham
An amateur exchange doesn’t go anywhere so Flip does a series of nipups, earning himself a headscissors on the mat. Gordon handstands out of that so Jonathan dropkicks him down. Back up and Flip backflips away and scores with a dropkick, followed by a handspring elbow in the corner.
We take a break and come back with Gordon fighting up but charging into boots in the corner. That’s fine with Flip as he climbs the ropes for something like a superkick to put Gresham outside. Of course that means a running dive, followed by a top rope spinning splash for two. An enziguri and snap German suplex drop Gordon but he kicks Gresham in the head for two more. Flip misses a 450 (you knew that was coming) and it’s off to the Octopus Hold to make Flip tap at 10:53.
Rating: C-. This one is going to depend very heavily on your taste and that’s going to determine if you found this entertaining or ridiculous. Gordon is almost every stereotype about indy wrestling rolled together but the fact that he basically presents himself as that is a bit refreshing. On the other hand, just naming yourself flip and then doing a bunch of flips isn’t the most interesting thing in the world. I wasn’t huge on this but it was far from awful.
Post match Gresham and Shelley praise Gordon’s performance.
We recap Punishment Martinez vs. Jay White.
Video on Josh Woods.
Woods is in the arena and wants to face Jay Briscoe to give himself a real challenge. No matter how tough Jay is, he can be knocked out or tapped out.
Silas Young vs. Bobby Fish
Given that Fish has already debuted for NXT, this isn’t likely going well for the finned one. Bobby takes him down into a knee bar less than five seconds in so Young bails to the floor. That’s fine with Fish who sends Young into the barricade to really take over. Back in and Misery doesn’t work but Bobby’s cross armbreaker doesn’t either. Young comes back by dropping Fish and hitting a slingshot double stomp (ow) to send us to a break.
Back with Young charging into a boot and Colt not knowing what the word “literally” means. Silas knees him in the corner and adds a running boot, earning himself a belly to back suplex. Fish’s sleeper is broken up by a Stunner over the top rope so Bobby spears him through the ropes for a big crash.
Silas throws him over a table and we take a second break. Back again with both of them on the apron and slugging it out between the ropes in the corner. Fish finally pulls him through the ropes and trapping him over one of the buckles, setting up some hard kicks. Not that it matters as Young pulls him into the corner for a crash, setting up a knee to the ribs and Misery for the pin at 16:25.
Rating: C+. This was a bit better than the opener but still felt like nothing more than a way to fill in a show. Young is getting a nice push but, again, Ring of Honor has cut the legs off of him by having him lose the big match at Best in the World. If you’re wanting to push the guy then push the guy, but this start and stop booking isn’t going to help anyone.
Fish shoves him away post match.
Here’s a clip/preview of Adam Cole vs. Marty Scurll in a No DQ match, now available on ROHWrestling.com.
Punishment Martinez vs. Jay White
Why this wasn’t at Best in the World is beyond me, though they did manage to bring in two guys from Mexico with next to no connection to Ring of Honor to put over the Kingdom. Punishment tries to shove him into the corner but misses a big boot, allowing Jay to start in on the leg. A running forearm to the floor has Punishment in even more trouble and a missile dropkick gets two.
That earns White a big spinning kick to the face and something like a curb stomp from the corner. A right hand to the back of the head gives Martinez two and he smiles at White for trying a desperation forearm. White throws more right hands to annoy Martinez and then takes the knee out again. Some rolling German suplexes give Jay two and we take a break.
Back with Jay slipping out of a powerbomb but getting chokeslammed onto the apron. That and a Falcon Arrow give Martinez two because a monster and a CHOKESLAM ONTO THE APRON is only a setup move around here. White is right back with a swinging Rock Bottom for two of his own but walks into a reverse sitout AA. The sitout chokeslam is countered into a rollup to give White the pin at 11:17.
Rating: B-. Stupid chokeslam onto the apron for two aside, this was entertaining stuff as I continue to be a fan of both guys. White survived just long enough to survive until the end was a fine story but Martinez losing again isn’t the best idea in the world. Now it’s fine if he comes back with the win in the big match (because this wasn’t the big match) but I don’t see that happening.
Martinez isn’t done and gives him a Last Ride through a table to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. The in-ring stuff was fine but sweet goodness they weren’t even hiding the fact that this was a filler episode. I can live with the idea of filling in time between a pay per view show and the next big episode but I have a feeling we’re a few weeks away from anything important. At least the wrestling was good though, which you never can guarantee around here.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Histories of Saturday Night’s Main Event and Clash of the Champions, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here:
NXT – June 28, 2017: One of the Hardest Things to do
NXT Date: June 28, 2017 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Percy Watson, Nigel McGuinness
It’s a new taping cycle here and that means a major change in the commentary team. This time around Mauro Ranallo has taken over the lead play by play role which should help for tonight’s main event. Tonight, Asuka defends her Women’s Title against Nikki Cross in a Last Woman Standing match. Let’s get to it.
The opening video looks at the Women’s Title match and how Cross is a different kind of challenger.
Opening sequence.
Nigel welcomes Mauro to the announcers’ team and we preview the title match.
Velveteen Dream vs. Hoho Lun
Lun kicks and strikes away to start, earning himself a boot to the face. Dream easily powers him up for a Jackhammer and the top rope elbow puts Lun away at 1:54.
Asuka was arriving earlier today when Cross jumped her car. Security made the save but Asuka got out for the staredown. Why the car didn’t keep going when Cross was no longer in front of it isn’t clear.
We look back a few weeks at Hideo Itami attacking Oney Lorcan until Kassius Ohno made the save.
The Authors of Pain and Heavy Machinery are in William Regal’s office where he makes a Tag Team Title match in two weeks.
Hideo Itami vs. Oney Lorcan
Lorcan knocks him into the corner at the bell…..and Itami’s nose is bleeding so badly that the match is stopped at 1:19, about 60 seconds of which was Itami being checked.
We recap Roderick Strong vs. Bobby Roode with some clips from Strong’s bio videos from a few weeks back. Strong has a newborn son and wants the NXT Title to complete his family but Roode laughs off the idea of Strong moving up that fast because Strong isn’t on his level. Roode then went a step further by making a bit of a pass at Strong’s wife, officially sending Strong over the edge.
Hideo Itami vs. Oney Lorcan
Itami has his nose taped up and kicks Lorcan in the jaw at the bell. A running knee to the back of the head knocks Lorcan even sillier and we take a break with Oney down on the floor. Back with Lorcan hitting his running European uppercuts and a Blockbuster gets two. The GTS is broken up and Itami snaps the throat across the top. Lorcan goes down holding his knee but the GTS finishes him off anyway at 6:45.
Rating: C. This was an entertaining fight with two of the stiffest workers in the promotion. I’m not sure if this was supposed to make Itami look like a face or a heel though as fighting through an injury is going to get you cheered but that GTS to an injured opponent was rather heelish. I’d assume the match would have gone the same way with or without the bloody nose though I’d assume the heel turn is still happening.
Post match Itami calls Ohno out….but here’s Sanity to go after both of them. Itami is thrown out side (where he lands on Lorcan) as Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain leave Ohno laying. Wolfe says we need to get rid of these false friendship and Eric Young knows how to do so.
Women’s Title: Asuka vs. Nikki Cross
Asuka is defending and this is Last Woman Standing. Nikki gets beaten up against the ropes and out to the floor but Asuka’s baseball slide gets caught in the ring skirt. She hammers on the champ and builds up a pile of chairs as we take a break. Back with Asuka not being able to suplex Nikki onto said pile but getting sent into the steps instead. Nikki goes into the steps again but Asuka sends her into them as well.
It’s trashcan time and that means an ECW chant. Asuka puts the can over Nikki’s head and kicks away, followed by a missile dropkick for good measure. They fight over a chair with Asuka being sent outside, only to have Nikki dive into a knee to the head. Another pile of chairs is stacked up in the ring and Nikki is slammed off the top onto the pile for a seven count.
We take another break and come back with Asuka kicking her in the chest, drawing laughter from Nikki. Cross grabs four straight fisherman’s neckbreakers (because she’s a bit crazy and actually acts like it for a change) but Asuka is up at nine. Nikki grabs the belt but gets it kicked back into her own face.
She’s up at eight and laughing even more before blocking a suplex to the floor. A powerbomb onto the pile of chairs on the floor gets nine on the champ. They stagger up the ramp with Asuka hitting the hip attack off the stage for nine. Nikki picks her up and hits a hanging swinging neckbreaker off the barricade for a sick thud. She’s up at nine again and Nikki is looking crazier than usual. A spinning backfist sends Nikki staggering into the back and it’s table time.
Nikki sets one up near the announcers’ table and grabs a ladder to make things worse. They both climb the ladder and Asuka superplexes her through the announcers’ table for a huge crash and the HOLY S*** chant. Nikki is DONE and Asuka beats the count at nine to retain at 26:00.
Rating: B+. It takes something special to know the ending to a match (if nothing else it’s hard to believe that anyone other than Ember Moon is taking the title) and still get completely sucked into it. These two beat the heck out of each other in one of the longest women’s matches in WWE history and it was all good stuff from start to finish. They kept building up to bigger and bigger spots until the last one finally put the psycho away. I had a blast with this one and it was a heck of a match. Check this out if you get the chance.
Medics come out to check on a smiling Nikki to end the show.
Overall Rating: B. The main event easily carries this as we wrap up the first ever week with women main eventing every WWE show. The rest of the show helped set up some stuff going forward and has me looking forward to the NXT Title match next week and the Tag Team Title match in two weeks. Add in Ember Moon likely getting ready to go after the title again and things are looking up for NXT again, especially when Strong is out of the way and you can have your pick of great challengers to go after Roode’s title.
Results
Velveteen Dream b. Hoho Lun – Top rope elbow
Hideo Itami vs. Oney Lorcan went to a no contest when Itami was injured
Hideo Itami b. Oney Lorcan – GTS
Asuka b. Nikki Cross – Superplex through the announcers’ table
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Histories of Saturday Night’s Main Event and Clash of the Champions, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here:
ROH Best in the World 2017: The Same Good and the Same Bad
Best in the World 2017 Date: June 23, 2017 Location: Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, Massachusetts Attendance: 2,500 Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, BJ Whitmer
I do the TV shows so it would make sense for me to do the pay per views too. This isn’t the biggest show the company does but anytime they get on pay per view it feels like a big deal for them. The main event sees Christopher Daniels defending the ROH World Title against Cody, who is about as big of a favorite while still being a challenger that you can be. Let’s get to it.
The opening video is everyone saying they’re the best (the Young Bucks say SUPERKICK of course) until Cody says he’s the worst nightmare. Now he wants to be the best in the world and end a title reign that started fifteen years too late. The idea is that he’s not under contract and therefore an outsider. That being said, he’s still on almost every show and has been given a World Title shot before this so the lack of a contract hasn’t really hurt him that much.
The announcers preview the card that we already paid for.
Kingdom vs. Ultimo Guerrero/El Terrible
Matt Taven is on a throne, Vinny Marseglia is dressed like Jason Vorhees and the injured TK O’Ryan is a viking. Yeah they’re still not interesting. Ultimo Guerrero and Terrible are from CMLL and this is under lucha rules, meaning going to the floor counts as a tag. Terrible and Marseglia start things off with some good old fashioned stalling because that’s how you want to open a pay per view.
Vinny looks insane as usual but can’t get anywhere with a front facelock. A loud shot to the face drops Marseglia and it’s time for the strikes in the corner. Taven comes in and dropkicks Terrible to the floor, meaning it’s off to Guerrero, who apparently has a history with Matt. It’s not important enough to actually explain or anything so we’ll go to Guerrero dropkicking Taven to the floor.
Vinny saves O’Ryan from Guerrero so Ultimo takes Vinny inside for a headstand into a slinghsot Bronco Buster (cool looking crash). A second version is broken up with a superkick (add Taven to the list of people better it at than the Bucks as this one actually puts Guerrero down) but it’s Terrible taking the Kingdom out with a suicide dive.
Guerrero comes off the top with a dive of his own but the Kingdom pops up for two more dives. Ultimo fights them off back inside though and hits his reverse superplex, only to take a Swanton from Marseglia. The Kingdom loads up the Supernova but Guerrero grabs a rollup out of nowhere for the pin at 11:09.
Rating: C. This was a fast paced enough match and I’m sure the live crowd liked the luchadors but that’s not the most thrilling thing for the live crowd. The Kingdom continues to be one of the least interesting groups in a LONG time because they tried to reform the team without Maria, who was what makes the whole thing work in the first place. Couple that with not great matches and it’s no shock that the team is this worthless.
We recap Frankie Kazarian vs. Adam Page. After Kazarian infiltrated Bullet Club to help Daniels in the World Title, Adam beat him at War of the Worlds. Then Page kept things personal by attacking him with a strap as part of the Daniels vs. Cody feud. Therefore, it’s time for a strap match.
Frankie Kazarian vs. Adam Page
This is the pin/submission version as both guys have their own straps but they aren’t connected. Feeling out process to start until Kazarian trips Page up and grabs a rollup for two. A hard shot to the back sends Page to the floor and a hurricanrana makes things worse. Page will have none of that and starts whipping Kazarian into the barricade a few times. He takes too long peeling back the floor mats though and gets suplexed onto the ramp steps (freaking OW MAN) for a very painful crash.
Back up and Page gets tied to the ropes but comes right back with the front flip clothesline. Page is smart enough to take Kazarian’s strap away so they trade hard forearms/clotheslines with Page getting the better of it. With Kazarian down, Paige pulls out a rope and ties him to the ropes to really turn up the violence. Since he’s just that crazy, Page pulls out a belt with nails and tacks in it.
To avoid a bad case of death, Kazarian gets out and catches Page in a cutter, followed by a Backstabber. An Unprettier gives Kazarian two but he walks into the Rite of Passage for two. The nail belt is whipped over Kazarian’s back but Page stops to spit on him, earning himself a nail belt to the back. Kazarian chokes him over the ropes for the tap out at 11:58.
Rating: C+. The violence was nice here and it actually felt like they were wanting to hurt each other instead of just doing a match with weapons in their hands. The nail belt actually being used was a surprise but you knew it wasn’t going to be the big bloodbath. It was entertaining too but Kazarian winning a big match is kind of odd, especially with Page getting treated as a big deal lately.
Quick recap of Rebellion vs. Search and Destroy. They’re both stables and they don’t like each other so the losing team has to disband.
Search and Destroy vs. Rebellion
That would be the Motor City Machine Guns/Jonathan Gresham/Jay White vs. Caprice Coleman/Shane Taylor/Kenny King/Rhett Titus. It’s a big brawl to start (of course) until it’s Coleman in the ring against the entire four man team. His oh so loyal partners just let this happen until Titus FINALLY kicks Gresham into the Rebellion corner to take over. That lasts all of a few seconds before everything breaks down again with Search and Destroy hitting a series of dives.
Back in and the huge Taylor crushes Gresham with a splash and Coleman makes things worse by rolling some northern lights suplexes. Titus hits Coleman by mistake though and a headscissors allows the hot tag to White to pick the pace up again. Jay hits a bunch of running elbows in the corner and everything breaks down. The Guns come in for the fast paced precision offense but White gets tossed into the corner.
Coleman’s Sky Splitter and Titus’ frog splash combine for two with the Guns making the save. Gresham is fine enough for a botched Lionsault press and a suicide dive, followed by a shooting star headbutt (to the thigh) as part of Skull and Bones. Search and Destroy has had it with the match and grab a quadruple submission with Gresham making Titus tap to the Octopus Hold at 12:27.
Rating: C+. Another perfectly acceptable match here with Search and Destroy, who aren’t the most interesting team in the world, winning like they should have. The Rebellion has been stale since the day they debuted and I don’t know of anyone who thought they should stick around. This is ANOTHER hit to the trios division, which hopefully will lead to its demise sooner rather than later as it sets new standards for worthlessness every day.
Post match Punishment Martinez comes in to lay White out.
We recap Silas Young vs. Jay Lethal. Young doesn’t like Jay getting all the attention and media appearances and endorsement deals so he took out Lethal’s knee. I guess that means knee or back pain has Lethal down for the count. Silas beat him in a recent match too and says he has Lethal’s number.
Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young
Young has Beer City Bruiser with him….and Lethal comes through the crowd to knock Bruiser silly with a chair. The slugout is on as the bell rings in a hurry as Bruiser is taken to the back. Good, as I still can’t stand that big tub of goo. Lethal rains down right hands in the corner but it’s back to the floor for another slugout.
A suplex off the barricade drops Young again but Jay misses a slingshot dropkick back inside. That means a slingshot double stomp (I still don’t get how something like that doesn’t break a rib) and we hit an abdominal stretch. That goes nowhere so Lethal chops away and gets two off a basement dropkick.
Silas catches him on top though and clotheslines him out to the floor to take over for all of five seconds before eating a suicide dive. They’re going back and forth with control here and it’s helping a lot. Lethal hits another suicide dive but the third attempt hits a quickly raised chair.
Back in and neither finisher can hit so Lethal settles for a superkick and the top rope elbow. Young gets in a Saito suplex and a knee to the face, followed by his bouncing moonsault out of the corner. With that not working, Silas grabs his keg but, as you might expect, the referee says not so fast. Instead Silas tries Misery but gets rolled up for the pin at 16:23.
Rating: B. The more I see of Lethal, the more I like him. He’s rapidly becoming Ring of Honor’s ace and that’s a position they haven’t had filled in too long. He also comes off as a good talker and someone who knows what he’s doing in every aspect of wrestling. That’s a rare thing and having him in such a featured role is a good idea. Young has been on a roll as of late too and while I’m not big on him losing here, it’s good to have him in this spot in the first place. Then again, they need to do something with him as he’s an older guy and if he’s not pushed hard in the relatively near future, it’s not likely to happen.
Post match Young clotheslines Lethal down. The Bruiser comes back out and sets up the keg so Young can hit Misery, sending Jay’s ribs into the steel. With Lethal’s ribs on the keg, Bruiser adds some splashes. Bruiser still isn’t done and splashes Lethal through a table on the floor. The announcers hype this up as a way to take away Lethal’s chance at the New Japan United States Title.
We recap the Six Man Tag Team Title match. Dalton Castle’s Boys accidentally caused Jay Briscoe to get misted in the face, which cost him a match. Jay wants revenge while Castle and the Boys want the titles.
Six Man Tag Team Titles: Dalton Castle/The Boys vs. Bully Ray/Briscoe Brothers
Bully and the Briscoes are defending. Before the bell, Bully and Dalton have the exact staredown you would expect them to have. Dalton and Jay get things going but the latter stops to chase after the Boys. Mark finally calms things down and comes in as Castle takes him down with some nice looking amateur style. Mark gets him into a headlock and it’s Red Neck Kung Fu time.
The Boys protect Dalton in the corner (Give them some extra…..I really don’t want to know how he pays them do I?) and he throws one of them at Mark for a good visual. Castle wants Bully, who rushes him into the corner where Dalton hits the least sold chops I’ve ever seen. Bully does the snap jabs but misses the Bionic Elbow, earning himself a Peacock pose. Ian: “BULLY RAY JUST GOT SERVED!” Bully…..starts dancing for some reason and strikes his own Peacock pose, freaking the fans out as you might expect.
Castle has to be fanned up so Bully chops him down with a single shot. It’s time for Boy #1 and Boy #2 to be dragged in and that means it’s off to Jay for some fun. #2 kicks him low and hammers away to as much avail as you would expect before it’s back to Castle who might be able to survive. Dalton’s running knee in the corner sets up a front facelock to keep Jay in trouble. A top rope superplex is countered into a super gordbuster though and it’s off to Mark for the fast paced strikes in the corner.
The Boys get beaten up as well because they’re just boys and not worth much. Everything breaks down and Boy #1 takes What’s Up. Jay takes out the Boys with a suicide dive and just unloads on #2 as you can tell he’s losing focus. Boy #1 runs away from a thrown chair so Bully goes out to calm Jay down, leaving Mark to get cradled for the pin and the titles at 13:03.
Rating: C-. This was a comedy match and unfortunately, that might be an upgrade for these titles. I haven’t cared for these things since they were introduced back in December and they haven’t been worth anything since. Castle and the Boys have lost over and over but now they win one match and happen to be champions. When your resume is weaker than Jinder Mahal’s, you might not be the best choice to hold a title. There was a story here with Jay losing his cool (not that surprising) but that doesn’t make up for the weak booking with the titles in general.
The former champs are livid as Ian wants to know what the celebration is going to be like in the hotel room.
We recap Marty Scurll vs. Kushida in a rematch for the TV Title that Kushida recently took from Scurll. Marty is even angrier than usual and has promised to break a lot of fingers.
TV Title: Marty Scurll vs. Kushida
Kushida is defending. They trade some snazzy wristlock counters to start until Marty does his wings flapping thing. Scurll gets armdragged down and dropkicked in the face but it’s too early for a cross armbreaker. It’s also too early for the chickenwing so Kushida ties him in the ropes for a rolling kick to the head. A pumphandle neckbreaker gives Marty two and it’s time to hit those wings again.
Marty stays on the arm until Kushida sends him head first into the buckle. They’re playing a nice back and forth style battle here and it’s working so far. Another double heel kick staggers Marty and he gets pulled off the ropes into the Hoverboard Lock. The hold doesn’t last long so Marty knees him in the head and gets two off a piledriver. It’s back to the arm (the other arm this time) before a backslide is good for two on Kushida.
The chickenwing is countered into a rollup which is countered into another chickenwing which is countered into the Hoverboard Lock which is countered AGAIN, only to have Kushida kick him in the head to get a breather. Marty flips him off for reasons of general villainy so Kushida stomps him in the face. Somehow that doesn’t know Marty cold so he puts on a wicked looking arm hold with both of Kushida’s arms being bent behind his back at the same time.
The foot gets to the rope though and Marty looks even more annoyed. It’s time to go after the fingers but Kushida is smart enough to grab Marty’s fingers and snap them instead. A super Back to the Future (small package driver) followed by a regular version retains the title at 15:02.
Rating: B+. I had a good time with this but that tends to be the case with all of Kushida’s matches anymore. The had a perfectly natural heel vs. face story going here and that’s something that is going to work every time because it’s what wrestling is built on. It’s easy to see which of these guys is good and which is evil, which makes it easier to cheer for them. Unless you’re a modern wrestling fan who cheers for the villain by default more often than not of course.
We look back at the Women of Honor dark match, which may not have been much but it’s an excuse for me to look at Mandy Leon. This whole division is such a waste of time/a mess though and there’s not much of a way to fix it at this point.
Tag Team Titles: War Machine vs. Young Bucks
War Machine is challenging. Actually hang on a second here because cue the Best Friends to say they beat the Young Bucks back in Philadelphia so they should be added to this match. Sure why not.
Tag Team Titles: War Machine vs. Young Bucks vs. Best Friends
The Bucks are defending and this is under tornado rules. It’s a brawl to start with the Best Friends cleaning house on the Bucks. Naturally we get a hug but War Machine is right there to crush both Berreta and Taylor. Double shotgun knees and a double bronco buster bring the Bucks back in for some kicks and the Rise of the Terminator pose because the Bucks are very glorified spot monkeys.
The Bucks’ dives are caught but the Best Friends are there to hit their own dives. We get the first superkick to slow Berreta down but it’s War Machine coming back in to take over. Nick hits a moonsault to the floor to take out a bunch of people, only to have Chuck dive from the stage to take out even more of them. Naturally Hanson goes to the top to dive onto all five of them but I think you know what’s coming. If you thought selling or something original, you haven’t been paying enough attention.
Of course it’s a superkick and a bunch of flippy dives until all six are down in the ring. Everyone gets back up, there are eight superkicks, and everyone is down again. War Machine is up first and starts cleaning house with a German suplex/clothesline combination to take Berreta out, followed by a pop up powerslam for two. Fallout gets the same with Chuck making the save.
The Bucks are back in with superkicks and a flip dive but the Meltzer Driver is broken up and Chuck hits the Awful Waffle (spinning piledriver) for two on Matt. Rowe gets kneed in the face and both Friends roll him up at the same time for two. Superkicks continue to abound and a double Indytaker, followed by MORE superkicks retain the titles at 12:27.
Rating: B. You know, I watched the NJPW Dominion show and called the Bucks match their best ever. I also pointed out that they used by far the least amount of superkicks I ever saw from them. Here, I stopped counting at around twenty and I lost a lot of interest about halfway through the match. It really does get tiring, as does adding teams with no build for the sake of adding them in. True there was a story, but did we really need them there when you had a perfectly good title match already?
We recap the World Title match. Cody was supposed to win the title at War of the Worlds but got screwed over when a third man was added and cost him the fall. Now it’s his chance to win the title as a free agent. Daniels says the title means the world to him but for Cody it’s just another thing to add to his suitcase while he’s traveling from company to company. That’s a better version of the story they’ve been telling but it would be nice to have it announced more than five minutes before the opening bell.
ROH World Title: Christopher Daniels vs. Cody
Cody is challenging and of course we get Big Match Intros (as we should). The fans, as in the Ring of Honor fans, chant Too Sweet for Bullet Club’s Cody, because paying attention to the story is so beneath them. He’s supposed to be here to ruin the company that they all love so let’s cheer him. You know, the pure wrestling fans that ROH brags about having. Those guys who boo heels because the idea of heels and faces (you know, the pure wrestling that they all claim to love) is just passe at this point. I never got that but I’m often told to shut up and have fun so it probably isn’t worth asking about.
Cody works a headlock to start but a run of the ropes goes to Daniels, who puts his boot on Cody’s back as Cody drops down. Speaking of dropping down, Cody heads to the floor with a bloody lip. Back in and Angel’s Wings don’t work as Cody bails right back to the floor. This time he even goes into the crowd for a longer breather. Back in (again) and Daniels slugs away, sending Cody and his bloody lip outside for the third time.
Daniels finally follows him out with a baseball slide but Cody beats him up against the barricade to take over for a very short while. They head inside again with Daniels going up top, allowing Cody to armdrag him right back down in a good looking sequence. Cody grabs a short armscissors but stops to go outside and yell at former ROH owner Carey Silkin. Back in and Daniels drives him into the corner for a ref bump, allowing Cody to kick him low. BJ: “RIGHT IN THE DING DING!” After how forgettable he’s been tonight, even ripping off Steve Corino is a bit of an improvement for him.
Daniels gets in a small package for no count and here’s Scurll to throw Cody a chair. Of course the referee wakes up as Daniels picks up the chair, meaning it’s an Eddie Guerrero moment as he throws it to Cody and drops down. Cody grabs a cutter on the chair for no cover, but he does get a CODY chant. Kazarian comes out to get rid of Scurll and it’s table time.
The champ is right back with a Flatliner on the apron and an STO for two more. Angel’s Wings through the table is broken up and Cody busts out a Rainmaker (Thankfully not for a near fall BECAUSE IT’S JUST A CLOTHESLINE!). The Beautiful Disaster staggers Daniels but he’s still able to suplex Cody through the table in a big crash.
They both barely beat the count and Daniels grabs the Koji Clutch, sending Cody over to the ropes. Cody spits water (Where did he get that?) in Daniels’ face and gets two off Cross Rhodes. Angel’s Wings are countered again and Cody rolls him into another Cross Rhodes for the pin and the title at 19:18 to a huge face pop.
Rating: B. The crowd took me out of this one but that’s not on the wrestlers. Cody was trying to cheat in every possible way out there and they only cheered for him more. Simply put, if ROH doesn’t go for a BIG face turn for Cody (or perhaps even a double turn), they’re flat out wasting their time. The wrestling part here was fine and I liked the fact that the interference didn’t play a role in the win. Daniels lost the title at the right time as he was never going to be the next huge champion. Just giving him a feel good win and a few months as champion was all he ever needed to be.
Bullet Club comes out to celebrate to end the show as the announcers try to treat this as horrible while the fans can’t cheer Cody hard enough.
Overall Rating: B+. As is usually the case with Ring of Honor, I liked the show well enough but you’re only going to get so far with so little connection to a lot of the characters and stories. If the fans are going to cheer almost every heel, how exactly are they heels and therefore, why should I care about the people I’m supposed to care about? The wrestling is still good enough (flippy issues aside, though you expect that going into this one) and I liked most of the matches so I can easily say the show is good, though you have to really like this kind of wrestling to get behind the show, as is often the case around here.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Histories of Saturday Night’s Main Event and Clash of the Champions, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here: