Dark
Date: December 31, 2019
Hosts: Tony Schiavone, Dasha Gonzalez

It’s the end of the year and we’ll be looking at the Best of 2019, despite not having a year’s worth of material to cover. That being said, there’s more than enough to fill in a show like this and it’s better than putting something like this on an episode of Dynamite that no one will watch. Let’s get to it.

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

The hosts welcome us to the show and tell us what we’ll be seeing.

From Dynamite, October 2.

Cody vs. Sammy Guevara

Brandi is here with Cody and that is a lot of pyro. Feeling out process to start with Sammy’s speed giving Cody some issues. A trip to the floor lets Cody have a breather and it’s back in for an armbar from Sammy. That’s broken up as Cody powerslams him down and slaps on the Figure Four so we can hit the WOOing. Sammy makes the rope so Cody kicks him down again and does some pushups, setting up a springboard cutter/Stunner for two. Sammy is right back with a slingshot cutter for two of his own.

Cody sends him outside as well though and nails a suicide dive….which hits both Brandi and Sammy. Thankfully Brandi isn’t knocked cold and gets in a shoe to Sammy’s head, setting up Cody’s Disaster Kick for two. To mix it up a bit, Cody takes it to the top rope for a reverse superplex for two more. They head up again with Sammy hitting a super Spanish Fly, only to have a shooting star hit raised knees so Cody can small package him for the pin at 11:52.

Rating: C+. They were clearly jazzed to be on a big show and you knew Cody was winning here to set up his World Title shot at the next pay per view. The spots were good here and Sammy was fine for a villain here. They didn’t need to do anything more than get through a fast paced match here and that’s what they did. Nice first match with Cody playing the face role well.

BUY MERCH!

From Dynamite, November 27.

Pac vs. Kenny Omega

Omega starts fast with a snapdragon and sends him to the floor for the big dive. Pac gets in a kick to the ribs but it’s another snapdragon to put him back down. The suplex off the apron doesn’t work as Omega gets knocked to the floor with Pac nailing a moonsault as we take a break.

Back with Omega striking away in the corner and hitting another suplex. Omega goes up though and gets caught in a super Falcon Arrow for two. The Black Arrow is loaded up as JR congratulates Excalibur for getting in the Bowling Shoe Ugly line. Omega rolls away to make Pac crash and there’s the V Trigger to set up the One Winged Angel. That’s reversed as well so Omega rolls him into a crucifix for the pin at 12:04.

Rating: B-. This felt like the structure of a Pac vs. Omega match but it needed another eight to ten minutes to really make it work. What we got was good enough though and Omega won clean to continue his road to redemption. Pac losing again so soon after the loss to Page is a bit questionable, but so is having this many big matches so soon after the show debuted.

WATCH REVOLUTION!

From Dynamite, October 9.

Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: Young Bucks vs. Private Party

Private Party weigh 27 ounces of vodka cranberry and come from a place you need an invitation to. Isaiah Kassidy and Nick Jackson start things off with neither being able to hit a superkick. Nick spits his gum in Kassidy’s face so Kassidy flips out of an atomic drop attempt. Kassidy gets caught in a backbreaker/flipping neckbreaker combination to put the Bucks in control. A dive misses though and Kassidy hits a Lionsault to take him down.

Marc Quen comes in and starts busting out his own dives to a BIG reaction (as he deserves). A 450 gets a VERY close two on Matt but Nick is back in to start the Superkick Party. Nick sunset bombs Kassidy, with the powerbomb onto the ramp for a nasty landing. Back in and a powerbomb/Sliced Bread #2 combination gets two on Marc, setting up the Sharpshooter to work on the back even more.

With Kassidy down, it’s a top rope double stomp/backbreaker combination for two more on Quen. A spear gets two more on Quen as Kassidy gets pulled back off the apron. Quen gets over for the tag a few seconds later though and Kassidy comes in with a missile dropkick. He comes up holding his back but is fine enough to hit a double hurricanrana. Matt rolls the northern lights suplexes to bang up the back quite a bit before suplexing Quen at the same time for two.

The buckle bomb/kick to the head in the corner sets up another Sharpshooter, with Nick adding a facebuster. The tap seems near but Kassidy rapid fire crawls over for the tag. Quen makes a blind tag though and it’s the hurricanrana into the cutter (Gin and Juice) to rock Matt. The perfect shooting star press gets two on Nick and that should have been the finish. The Meltzer Driver is loaded up but Kassidy breaks up the springboard, allowing Quen to roll Matt up for the pin at 13:47.

Rating: B. They had one too many false finishes in the end though I’m happy with Private Party winning. That could have gone either way though, as you can either give Private Party the rub now or give the rub to whoever beats the Bucks in the finals. As long as the Bucks didn’t win though, as there was no need for that to happen. Good match too, with Private Party looking like an incredibly polished team right out of the box.

From Dynamite, October 23.

Here’s Cody for an interview but the Inner Circle starts blowing air horns every time he talks. Cody says that this isn’t like the other wrestling company they used to work for and he can come up there and take Jericho out. Jericho makes fun of him and we get a shot of Cody showing the almost entirely empty hard camera side. After that rather bad angle, here are Dustin and MJF (Jericho: “Now I’m supposed to be scared of someone wearing a scarf? Who wears a scarf?”) to even things up a bit.

Diamond Dallas Page of all people is here to even things up and the Inner Circle bails into a locked room. MJF hands Cody the scarf so Cody can break through the glass and the fight is on as they head into the concourse. JR: “They’re gonna destroy Dip N Dots!” Jericho points at the ticket as security breaks things up and takes Cody away. Jericho was awesome here, as he tends to be.

From Dynamite, October 2.

Women’s Title: Nyla Rose vs. Riho

For the inaugural title and Britt Baker is on commentary. After the Big Match Intros, Riho starts with some dropkicks but gets shouldered down without much impact. Riho knocks her down again and tries a double stomp to the back but Rose just sits up for the block. The STF goes on for a bit until Riho makes the rope to save herself. A running knee sends Rose outside but she’s fine enough to send Riho into the barricade.

The ref takes a chair away so Rose sends her into the barricade again and pulls out a bunch of chairs. She puts Riho on those chairs but the middle rope dive only hits the steel, allowing Riho to hit a double stomp off the apron. Another double stomp sets up a Bank Statement inside and we take a break.

Back with Riho in trouble and making the mistake of trying a backdrop. Some forearms are cut off by a kick to the face but Riho slips out of a powerbomb. A rollup gets a very close two and the fans aren’t pleased by the kickout. Rose’s Death Valley Driver gets two more and she goes up top, only to get caught with even more forearms. A northern lights superplex gives Riho two so she knees Rose in the face for the pin and the title at 13:27.

Rating: C+. Yeah I can’t say I’m surprised. The tiny newcomer beats the seemingly unstoppable monster in your metaphor of the night. The problem with Riho continues to be that her whole character is that she’s small. Rose continues to lose far more often than she should and that was the case here as well. The crowd got into it though and those near falls were quite good at times. Fine match, but it’s going to take some time to get into Riho.

From Dynamite, October 30.

Tag Team Titles: Lucha Bros vs. SCU

For the inaugural titles and they’re just in the ring when we come back from a break. Various teams are watching in the back. It turns into a brawl to start and Pentagon hits the Pentagon Driver for a very early two on Kazarian. The Sling Blade takes Sky down but we settle down to Kazarian slamming Fenix and dropping the spinning legdrop for two, with Kazarian being ready for Pentagon’s save.

Fenix is back up to clean house and Pentagon superkicks Sky on the floor. Sky is sent outside and gets kicked in the face as well, setting up a backbreaker/slingshot legdrop combination to really take him down. Back from a break with Kazarian fighting out of trouble and hitting an Angel’s Wings as an ode to Daniels.

Sky gets the hot tag and everything breaks down (again) with Kazarian somewhat missing a hurricanrana tot he floor. Back in and a pair of tornado DDT drops both Bros for two. SCULater is broken up and Pentagon hits the Pentagon Driver on Kazarian. Fenix’s rolling cutter gets two on Sky, followed by stereo crossbodies to put Fenix and Sky down. Pentagon powerbombs Kazarian through a table at ringside, followed by a splash off of Pentagon’s shoulders for two on Sky. The spike Fear Factor is blocked though and Kazarian cuts Fenix off so Sky can get a small package for the pin at 12:36.

Rating: B. I know it’s a fine rating but that was a rather disappointing result. The wrestling and action was good (though it felt WAY too similar to the six man) but it didn’t have enough time and the ending came out of nowhere. I am a sucker for the fast paced, flying all over the place matches ending with a quick change of gear into a fast pin though and the match was entertaining, but I was expecting a lot more and didn’t get it, mainly due to having everything be so rushed.

And from Dynamite, November 20.

Darby Allin vs. Jon Moxley

Allin has a big, special entrance this time with a video of a Moxley body bag being crowd surfed. Allin is then carried to the stage in said body bag for a creepy visual. Moxley comes in through the crowd so Allin takes him down with a dive. They fight into the crowd, including a Thesz press onto the concrete to Moxley. Allin gets thrown back to ringside and an overhead belly to belly makes things even worse for him.

They head inside for the opening bell and Allin hits a shotgun dropkick in the corner. Allin’s high crossbody bounces off of Moxley though and it’s another shotgun dropkick to put Allin in the corner this time. Moxley even chills on the top rope as we take a break. Back with Moxley letting go of an STF, allowing Moxley to hit a running crossbody to the floor. Moxley’s hand is slammed into the steps but he gets knocked off the top, landing on the ropes in the process.

Moxley knocks him to the floor but stops to pick up the body bag, allowing Allin to hit a running flip dive. Back in and a heck of a clothesline turns Allin inside out and it’s time to put him in the body bag. Allin isn’t having that and hits a Stunner, only to get caught in a swinging Boss Man Slam. The Paradigm Shift is blocked and a missed charge into the corner lets Allin get two. Code Red gives Allin two but the Coffin Drop is countered into a rear naked choke. Allin flips backwards for the near fall and Moxley heads up, bites Allin on the head, and hits a SUPER PARADIGM SHIFT (Allin sold it like death too) for the pin at 11:15.

Rating: B. That ending alone makes this work as Allin got dropped HARD on his head for one of the best looking endings in a long time. Allin has become a star during his time with AEW and that is something they had to do. He is the kind of guy who you can point to and say that AEW is creating stars and the more of those they can do, the better they are going to be. Moxley winning here is good too, as he needs to build up his record quite a bit.

Overall Rating: A-. Yeah that’s exactly what it needed to be and all they could have asked for. AEW is built around its in-ring product and showcasing that for an hour and a half is a good idea. The matches covered a lot of stuff in the show’s history and I had an easy time watching everything here. We can get back to normal next week and there’s nothing wrong with something like this as a one off.

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

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

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

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

Dark
Date: December 24, 2019
Location: American Bank Center, Corpus, Christi, Texas
Commentators: Excalibur, Colt Cabana
Hosts: Tony Schiavone, Dasha Gonzalez

It’s the final Dark of the year and since there is no Dynamite tomorrow, I’m not sure what to expect from this one. That makes things a little more interesting, though there is a good chance that it is going to be a normal show. Your individual taste on that may vary, but having a show on Christmas Eve might not be the brightest idea in the world. Let’s get to it.

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

Tony and Dasha give us the usual welcome, albeit with more Christmas references than you get in most weeks.

Sammy Guevara vs. Brandon Cutler

Sammy is already filming during the entrances so the holiday isn’t messing with his routine. We hit the posing in the corner before Sammy rolls away and dances a bit. A dropkick puts Cutler down and Sammy spins into a pose, followed by the headlock for a bonus. Cutler is right back with a dropkick into the corner and a pose of his own, setting up a suplex to the floor. A big flip dive to the floor drops Guevara, who is right back up with a corkscrew dive.

Cutler is back up as well with a suicide dive and some right hands, only to have Sammy hit a top rope double stomp to the chest onto the apron. Hold on though as Sammy needs to yell at the fans on the mic before getting two. That’s a rather Guevara move to make and it fit him very well. Sammy goes up, points at Cutler, and then drops down for a chinlock instead. Cutler is back with a kick to the head and a Phenomenal Forearm gets two.

Another kick to the head rocks Cutler this time though and a springboard cutter plants him as well. The shooting star press connects but Sammy barely covers, allowing Cutler to roll him up for two in a great false finish. That’s enough for Sammy, who hits something like a reverse GTS for the pin at 7:48.

Rating: C. As much as Cutler is just a warm body in the ring, this was a great showcase for Sammy, who got to showcase himself while also getting a win. He’s such a slimy heel that you want to see get beaten up, which isn’t something you get to see done so well very often. The near fall off the crucifix was a great little moment, but this was the Sammy Guevara show and I had some fun with it.

Tonight, Joey Janela is yelling TIMBER to end Shawn Spears once and for all. He’s the man you won’t forget.

Hybrid 2 vs. Private Party vs. Santana/Ortiz vs. Best Friends

The Hybrid 2 and Santana/Ortiz are backdropped over the corners but they pull the other four outside. Back in and Evans hammers away at Chuck, only to charge into a boot in the corner. Kassidy comes in for the screaming right hands but it’s Santana coming in and allowing a blind tag to Ortiz for a springboard crossbody. Santana hits two Amigos but hands Kassidy off to Ortiz for the delayed third.

Santana and Ortiz aren’t sure what to do but it’s the Best Friends hugging in the ring to break that up. The Friends hit stereo flip dives to take everyone out and it’s Cassidy hitting a dive onto Santana/Ortiz. Back in and Silly String drops Trent but Santana counters another attempt. The referee gets distracted and it’s the loaded sock to Cassidy. The Street Sweeper finishes Kassidy to give Santana the pin at 16:04.

Rating: B-. This was the kind of match where you knew what you were getting and it was still a good time. It worked just fine and they all got to look good for at least a little while. All of the dives and flips were cool and it was a good way to get the crowd going. Now granted if this took place after Dynamite then it missed the purpose but at least the fans got to have some fun.

Here’s Pac, who brings out Michael Nakazawa (with commentary saying that this is taped after Dynamite so no, Pac hasn’t had him captive for six days) to continue the beating. If Kenny Omega doesn’t give him the rubber match, this will continue.

Joey Janela vs. Shawn Spears

Back in and Spears crotches him on top but Janela keeps rolling away as Spears goes up top over and over. The fans chant TEN so Spears does a cartwheel and flips them off. Janela fights back and they head to the floor with Janela using a chair as a launchpad to knock Spears into the crowd. After a quick cameo from a fan dressed as Jesus, Spears comes back with a spinebuster. Tully gets in the ring and we get some shots of Jesus threatening to beat him up. The distraction lets Janela knock Spears down and drop a top rope elbow for the pin at 7:42.

Rating: C-. This was mainly a feel good match that was just a step above comedy, which is fine for what it was supposed to be. Janela vs. Spears has not been a thrilling feud so blowing it off here in a goofy match is the best option they had. There’s nothing wrong with a fun match like this and that’s what they went with here. The fans reacted well to it and that’s as good as you can get.

Post match Janela offers Spears a beer before dropping him with a Stunner. Eh it was filmed on Austin’s birthday so fair enough.

Overall Rating: C+. This is the kind of show I’ve been wanting Dark to be. They didn’t waste time and they didn’t spend forever recapping things that the audience is already going to know. The show was three matches and a quick segment. Keep things tight and moving, because that’s the point of a show like this. I liked what we got here and if they keep going like this, they’ve got a smart use of their time.

Results

Sammy Guevara b. Brandon Cutler – Reverse GTS

Santana/Ortiz b. Hybrid 2, Private Party and Best Friends – Street Sweeper to Kassidy

Joey Janela b. Shawn Spears – Top rope elbow

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

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

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

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

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 1, 2005
Location: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Jonathan Coachman

We’re less than three weeks away from Summerslam and this week has a big title rematch. Last week Chris Jericho helped Carlito defeat John Cena to earn the title match this week, even though it’s pretty clear that we’re coming up on Cena defending against Jericho. Other than that, we have more on the Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan build. Let’s get to it.

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

Here’s Chris Jericho to get things going. He and Eric Bischoff have been working on a BRILLIANT plan to get the WWE Championship off of John Cena. First of all, we saw Cena’s exposure as a fake rapper and then as a fake champion after Carlito beat Cena with a completely fair referee. After a quick clip of Carlito winning thanks to a low blow, Jericho gets serious to promise Cena some pain at Summerslam. Cue a charging Cena and the fight is on, with Bischoff sending security out a few seconds later. With the fight broken up, Bischoff makes Jericho guest referee for Carlito’s title shot. Cena looks crushed, as expected.

Big Show/Shelton Benjamin vs. Snitsky/Chris Masters

Fallout from last week. It’s a brawl before the bell with Show throwing Shelton inside and pulling Snitsky outside. We settle down to Shelton shouldering Masters and bringing in Show for some headbutting. The huge chop lets Show mock Snitsky’s pain but Masters’ attempt at a cheap shot completely fails. Show tosses him over the top for the big crash onto Snitsky and we take a break.

Back with Shelton hammering on Snitsky some more but having to deal with Masters again, allowing Snitsky to block the Stinger Splash. Masters hits some backbreakers for two, followed by the bearhug. A powerslam gives Masters two and it’s back to Snitsky for the chinlock. Shelton finally gets two off a rollup to Masters but a backslide is countered with a heck of a clothesline. Back up and Shelton finally gets in a neckbreaker for a breather, allowing the hot tag to Big Show. House is cleaned with splashes and running shoulders but Snitsky kicks Show in the face. Not that it matters as Show chokeslams him for the pin.

Rating: D. This was VERY long and dull but I’ll take whatever gets Shelton going again. I don’t expect it to last at the moment, but at least he finally got something back. I don’t know what kind of a future Masters and Snitsky have, though it’s not like there is anyone else doing anything at the moment in the tag division (including the champions).

Here’s Eugene, now with Christy Hemme as his literal cheerleader, for the Eugene Invitational. The hometown hero is….Kurt Angle, with Eugene demanding to know where his name is and where he is from. Angle gets so annoyed that he admits he isn’t from Connecticut so there’s no match. Sure Eugene said he was from Cleveland last week but that was pretending and this is real! Angle brings up that this is an Indian casino and asks who could really be from here. And now, for your random cameo of the week.

Eugene vs. Tatanka

Eugene is rather pleased that Tatanka can drive him back into the corner so Tatanka shoulders him down for two. They fight over the arm with a minute gone and Lawler talking about Christy’s pom poms. A chop puts Eugene down and Tatanka tries the warpath to a non-existent reaction. The top rope chop to the head gets two on Eugene with just under a minute left. Eugene hits an Angle Slam and pulls down the non-existent straps. The ankle lock goes on and Angle comes in for the DQ. Tatanka can’t take a loss here? Really?

Post match Eugene and Tatanka clear the ring. That’s a bad tag team at a legends of wrestling event if I’ve ever seen one.

Post break a furious Angle promises to get his medal back next week in Pittsburgh. Next week, he’s making Eugene REALLY special.

We look at Kane losing the stretcher match and kidnapping Lita to blow off some steam.

Carlito and Jericho rant about Cena and nearly come to blows. Bischoff comes in to calm things down, saying Jericho’s job is to make Carlito WWE Champion. Now go come up with a plan. Jericho thinks a fast count is in order.

Vince McMahon arrives.

Here’s Vince in the ring for a major announcement. This is the 636^th episode of Raw, putting the show past all other original shows for total episodes. The classy thing to do would be to thank the fans, but Vince thanks himself instead. He has a history of making good business decisions, like bringing back people or concepts that make him money. That’s what he’s doing again tonight as he brings back a former WWE superstar. This man has been wrecking havoc backstage and now he will be facing Edge at Summerslam: MATT HARDY.

We see Matt walking through the back before hitting the arena for a big reaction. Matt says he should thank Vince but it was the people who brought him back to Raw. Unlike Vince, Matt is willing to thank the fans for getting him back here. Matt recaps the entire love triangle with Edge and Lita, including real names and breaking kayfabe by talking about how the marriage to Kane was just on TV.

The story came out and the fans let Edge and Lita know how they felt. Then he heard 20,000 people chanting WE WANT MATT in Madison Square Garden so now Matt is back to destroy Edge’s life. Matt promises to hurt Edge at Summerslam and he WILL NOT DIE. It’s a big moment, but after Matt popped up a few times, it was hardly some game changer.

Vince is in the back and runs into Kerwin White, but he’s been rich for so long that he’s forgotten what it’s like to be middle class. Vince leaves and Kerwin longs for some polo.

Rob Conway vs. Val Venis

Conway debuts his “Just Look At Me” song and wrestles in sunglasses because he’s now something like Buff Bagwell. From now on, he’s doing things the Con-Way. JR is incredulous over the sunglasses as Conway starts with a headlock. Venis runs him over and the glasses fall off, sending Conway over the edge. Conway is so mad that he gets wristlocked and hammerlocked, though he does get in an elbow to the jaw. An exchange of forearms on the floor doesn’t last long but Conway snaps him throat first across the rope.

The beating against the barricade keeps Val down and it’s time to crank on the neck back inside. Venis spins out into a Blue Thunder Bomb as the announcers make porn jokes about Venis to fill in some time. A reverse Figure Four sends Conway over to the ropes as we get a loud THIS MATCH SUCKS chant. I’d go more with it’s not that interesting but it doesn’t suck. The Money Shot is broken up and a hanging swinging neckbreaker (the Ego Trip) finishes Venis.

Rating: D. Conway feels like someone who belongs in another era, as you could see him being a star in something closer to the territory days. On Raw in 2005 though? This really didn’t click, though part of that is due to the match being Conway vs. Venis. Who is going to look at this and see something they might want to watch? Conway could be fine in the midcard, but don’t expect to see me care about him with a heel character that isn’t exactly groundbreaking.

And now, Shawn Michaels imitates Hulk Hogan on a fake Larry King Show, getting in every old joke that he can think of and talking about how different he is outside of the ring. With about five BROTHER’s per sentence, Shawn takes a call from Battle Creek, Michigan, where he’ll never go again because Hulk only makes the big towns brother. We get a long and good Shawn highlight video, capped off by the superkick to Hogan.

Shawn, in Hogan pose: “…..brother….”. Before the match, “Hulk” has a lot of politicking to do with Vince. We hear about how Shawn failed when Hogan bailed on the company for more money because Shawn would rather work as hard in Battle Creek, Michigan than he would in Madison Square Garden. It won’t matter though because (“You know something Mean Gene!” Larry: “It’s Larry King!” Hulk: “It doesn’t matter brother. I’m selling tickets!”) he’ll prove himself at Summerslam.

Hulk gets a bad cramp but he’s fine enough to superkick Larry and rip off the wig. Hogan has a reality show, but at Summerslam, reality is kicking him in the face, just like Shawn kicks the camera. Shawn is great at this stuff and even though it’s pretty easy to mock Hogan, you can tell Shawn is in this one hard. That being said, you can imagine how Hogan is going to take this because he’s a little serious about himself. Shawn at least feels like he’s saying something though and it’s coming across even with the comedy stuff. That’s more than Hogan has done, as he’s just promised to beat Shawn up. More of Shawn’s stuff please.

It’s Diva Search time and Summer is cut. Yes another good looking blonde is out, leaving the rest to try Queen of the Mountain (the duel with big sticks). Hold on though as here’s Rob Schneider of all people to promote Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo. Schneider: “As you battle, do not be distracted by my boner.” The four do their tournament, Schneider isn’t funny, Schneider gets physical on the big inflatable mat, Elizabeth wins. So much for them not spending as much time on this stuff.

We recap Carlito vs. Cena from last week.

Raw World Title: Carlito vs. John Cena

Bischoff is at ringside, Cena is defending, Carlito’s Intercontinental Title isn’t on the line and Jericho is guest referee. Jericho gets in a distraction to start so Carlito can hammer away at the bell. Cena’s early comeback is cut off by Jericho and a crazy fast count gets two. Jericho helps Carlito send him shoulder first into the post and we take a break. Back with Carlito hitting a running neckbreaker for a fast two and the handicap match continues.

Cena tries a suplex but Jericho breaks it up so Carlito can hit a DDT for two, despite Cena being all over the ropes. A flying shoulder drops Carlito and Cena spears Jericho, only to get taken down from behind again. We hit the chinlock again but Cena powers out, meaning it’s time for another cheap shot from Jericho.

They head outside with Jericho pulling the pad off of the barricade. Even Jericho gets in a ram but Cena comes back with the shots to the face. The usual looks to finish but Jericho won’t count, meaning Cena goes after him again. Jericho breaks up the FU, only to hit Bischoff by mistake. Cena clotheslines Jericho to the floor and hits the FU to get the retaining pin from another referee.

Rating: D+. I’m not sure what to think about this one. They didn’t waste time hiding what they were doing here but there was no chance that they were going to change the title with a Summerslam main event ready for them. The idea is there, but was there NO ONE but the Intercontinental Champion for this spot? Throw Snitsky in there or something but find a better way to protect the title.

Post match Jericho hits Cena low and busts him open with a TV camera. The Walls go on and Bischoff slaps Cena a few times, sending JR over the edge to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. Matt coming back was cool (yet it would have been better had he just gotten into the fight with Edge some other way), Shawn’s deal was funny and that’s it for your positives on this show. A fifteen minute Masters/Snitsky match? The same main event we had last week? ROB SCHNEIDER AND TATANKA??? They had a few ideas here (Conway is at least a genuine attempt to push someone new and I can go for that) but the bad stuff really cripples anything good the show could have had. It’s not a failure, but they need to get rid of the awful stuff in a hurry because it’s killing what good things they have.

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

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

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

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

Ok so I might not be the best source on this one.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/kbs-review-resolving-better-wrestling-fan/

NXT
Date: January 1, 2020
Hosts: Pat McAfee, Sam Roberts, Cathy Kelly

It’s a special edition this week with both the Year End Awards as well as the unveiling of the NXT Matches of the Year. That means things should be interesting and showing some high quality wrestling since a lot of those matches are going to come from Takeover. I can always go for that so let’s get to it.

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

The opening video looks at the year, which saw huge growth in the form of the move to USA and everything else that went down. It really was an awesome year as NXT just never slows down.

Note that the matches presented here will be clipped but I’ll be posting the full reviews for each.

The hosts give us a quick welcome.

3. From Takeover: XXV

Tag Team Titles: Forgotten Sons vs. Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Street Profits vs. Undisputed Era

Ladder match for the vacant titles and there are no seconds. It’s a brawl to start as you had to see coming with the Era taking over early on. Blake gets low bridged to the floor and it’s time for a showdown with Lorcan and Burch. Lorcan chops away but Burch gets knocked down and the Era takes over again. It’s time for the first ladder but Blake suicide dives down to take the Era out. A bunch of people wind up brawling in front of the ring so Dawkins can dive onto all of them.

The Profits climb a ladder at the same time, allowing the Era to come back in for the save. Blake knocks the Era down again with O’Reilly landing back first on the ladder. The Sons put the ladder around their heads to clean house until Burch and Lorcan hit stereo release German suplexes, sending the ladder flying in a spot that could have gone a lot worse. The Profits are back in to take down Lorcan and Burch, with Ford hitting a heck of a frog splash.

O’Reilly is back in with a missile dropkick to break up a climb attempt but he bangs up his back even worse. It’s the Era loading up the ladder with Fish going up, only to have Blake toss powerbomb O’Reilly into the ladder for the huge crash, with Fish thankfully landing on O’Reilly. The big ladder is brought in and Cutler goes up….but stops to stomp onto Fish as Cutler hits a reverse DDT. There was absolutely nothing stopping him from getting the belts there.

Now the Sons go up again but Burch and Dawkins make the save with a Doomsday elbow/Doomsday Blockbuster each. O’Reilly starts going up but here’s Jaxson Ryker to buckle bomb him into a ladder. Ryker shoves Dawkins down and crushes him with a ladder in the corner over and over. Lorcan charges at Ryker and gets backdropped onto the edge of the ladder for a scary spot. Fans to Ryker: “WE DON’T LIKE YOU!”

Everyone gets together to beat down Ryker, who I don’t think got over as well as NXT would have liked him to here. About eight ladder shots to the back crush him for good and it’s back to “regularly scheduled hostilities.” Ryker is getting back up as the Era loads up a ladder so they hit him in the face with it instead. Ford adds a big running flip dive and it’s time for Burch and Lorcan to beat everyone up with the ladders.

They throw the ladder at the Forgotten Sons and go up the big ladder with the Era making the save. The four of them wind up on a pair of ladders but the Sons shove all of them over. The Profits come back in though with Dawkins spearing Cutler down and Ford springboarding onto the ladder to knock Blake off. Ford pulls down the titles at 21:19.

Rating: B. Ryker getting this much attention hurt things a bit as he almost had his own section in the middle of the match. What matters here though is they pulled the trigger on someone new and paid off their chase over the last few months. They were the right choice and they have a bunch of matches waiting on them, which is a great future.

The hosts are rather impressed.

It’s time for our first award with Tag Team of the Year. The nominees are:

Street Profits

Grizzled Young Veterans

Viking Raiders

Mark Andrews/Flash Morgan Webster

Undisputed Era

Winners: Undisputed Era. Kind of an obvious pick there.

The Era comes into the empty arena to accept the awards from William Regal. They aren’t impressed with Regal and want to know why there are only two awards for a four man team. Regal hands them their trophies and leaves the Era to celebrate.

Next up, Male Competitor of the Year:

Adam Cole

Walter

Johnny Gargano

Velveteen Dream

Tyler Bate

Tommaso Ciampa

Winner: Adam Cole. Again, could it be anyone else?

Cole and the Era come to the ring again to torment Regal some more but he leaves faster this time. Cole says they decided to do this at the beginning of the year and he’ll win it for years to come.

Now it’s Female Competitor of the Year:

Shayna Baszler

Io Shirai

Toni Storm

Kay Lee Ray

Bianca Belair

Rhea Ripley

Winner: Shayna Baszler. It was going to be her or Ripley but this is the right call.

Baszler and the Four Horsewomen accept the award with Shayna not being surprised.

The hosts praise Baszler for her win.

Rivalry of the Year: Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole for Rivalry of the Year with no other nominees. You could go with Undisputed Era vs. Everyone Else but this was the best option again.

Gargano is proud to win two years in a row but Cole brings up that he won the whole thing. A challenge is thrown out to keep it going but Cole turns it down. Gargano: “Some things never change.”

2. From Takeover: WarGames.

Team Ripley vs. Team Baszler

Rhea Ripley, Tegan Nox, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai

Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray

Kai is Yim’s replacement in WarGames. The first two will face off for five minutes, followed by Team Baszler sending in a second member for a three minute advantage. After that, Team Ripley gets to tie it up for three minutes. The teams alternate entrances every three minutes until everyone is in, and then it’s first pinfall or submission wins. If you leave the cage, you forfeit the match for your entire team. Rhea and Io get huge reactions while Kai is seen as a big of a disappointment.

Shirai and LeRae get things going and they hit the right hands early on. Candice’s headscissors is rolled through as the fans are entirely behind Io. Shirai gets sent to the other ring but is fine enough to block a dive, setting up a 619 from both directions. A rope walk missile dropkick puts Candice down again and she gets sent head first into the metal board between the rings. LeRae’s face gets raked across the cage but she scores with some right hands as Bianca Belair is in to make it 2-1.

The release Glam Slam into the running shooting star have Candice down again but she scores with a reverse hurricanrana. Belair’s charge hits Shirai in the corner so she makes up for it with a triple powerbomb, with the third being a buckle bomb into the cage (Cage bomb?). Belair grabs a camel clutch so Shirai can run the ropes several times into a dropkick to a huge reaction (it’s not that hard to work a crowd up you know).

Rhea Ripley ties things up and it’s already time to bring in the weapons. Hold on though as Rhea pauses to slam the cage door onto Belair’s head before grabbing even more weapons. The fans want tables but have to settle for EVERYTHING else as Rhea goes under the ring at least six times to get weapon after weapon. A belly to back faceplant onto the trashcan makes it even worse for Belair and it’s time to set up some chairs.

Shirai saves Belair from a double suplex through the chairs to prevent a bad case of death as Kay Lee Ray makes it 3-2. She pulls out her own weapons, including a pile of chairs, before pulling out a table….which she slides back under the ring in a good heel move. Chair shots abound, including a tornado DDT to plant Rhea on one of the chairs. A lot of people head over to the corner above the open chairs so Ray folds them down, setting up the HUGE Tower of Doom to crush everyone save for Belair onto the chairs. That’s fine for Belair, who snaps off the gorgeous 450 onto Ripley.

Everyone is down so it’s Dakota Kai to tie things up….but she turns around and kicks Nox in the face before slamming her into the small cage so hard that the cage is actually rocking back and forth. The cage door is slammed onto Nox’s head (you could hear that one all over the arena) and then the knees over and over. Kai takes the brace off so here’s William Regal for the save. Kai shoves HIM and swears a lot as Regal orders her to the back. She comes back though and pulls on the leg again before shouting at a furious Ripley, who is watching from the cage (yeah the cage, which we haven’t seen in a few minutes now).

With Kai finally taken to the back, Baszler finally gets to come out to complete her team and doesn’t exactly seem in a hurry. Ripley is being held back but she breaks free to slug it out with Baszler, only to have the numbers get the better of her. Kai and Nox are officially out so pins and submissions are open. Candice gets in a shot to knock down Shirai and Ray but she has to save Ripley from being handcuffed to the ropes (something I couldn’t see at all watching live). The stereo two on one fights are on with Belair being sent into a trashcan in the corner.

Ripley blocks Ray’s DDT and suplexes her into the cage, setting up the Cloverleaf to Shirai on the top. Not to be outdone, Baszler grabs the Kirifuda Clutch on LeRae across the ring. LeRae slips out though and Ray makes a save with a kick to the head, followed by LeRae’s moonsault for two on Baszler. Belair gorilla presses LeRae over the top onto Ripley and it’s the Gory Bomb to leave LeRae laying. The moonsault gives Shirai two and there are the hair whips to Ripley.

LeRae is back with the kendo stick shots for the save but Shirai takes her down. Shirai goes all the way to the top but LeRae catches her, followed by the super reverse hurricanrana to Ray for the huge crash. LeRae and Belair stand up, only to have Shirai moonsault onto both of them (Mauro: “MAMA F’ING MIA!”) for an even bigger crash. Ripley loads up a trashcan onto two open chairs but stops to knock a trashcan into Ray’s face. That lets Baszler grab the Kirifuda Clutch but Ripley escapes and cuffs them together. Baszler’s big kick misses and it’s Riptide through the chairs to pin Baszler at 27:26.

Rating: B. This was definitely better on a second watch with the additional camera angles showing me a lot that I didn’t see before (including the handcuffs all together). Ripley continues to look like the star of stars and I don’t see how they can’t put the title on her soon. At the same time though, it’s going to take a long time for me to get my head around two women, including one who started the match, beating four, including two champions, at the same time. That’s a lot, and some of the villains just disappeared for long stretches. It’s not some horrible idea or completely unacceptable, but it’s going to take some time.

The hosts liked the match.

Future Star of the Year:

Kushida

Xia Li

Bronson Reed

Tegan Nox

Dakota Kai

Ilja Dragunov

Isaiah Scott

Taynara

Cameron Grimes

Winner: Dakota Kai. This was pretty much a pickem and Kai is a great choice. The future looks great around here.

Kai has known she was the future for a long time and everyone else is late to the party.

Here are the teams for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic:

NXT

Undisputed Era

Forgotten Sons

Matt Riddle/Pete Dunne

Kushida/???

NXT UK

Grizzled Young Veterans

Gallus

Imperium

Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews

Takeover of the Year: Takeover: WarGames. Yeah that works.

Breakout Star of the Year:

Damian Priest

Piper Niven

Dominik Dijakovic

Angel Garza

Joe Coffey

Keith Lee

Candice LeRae

Matt Riddle

Rhea Ripley

Winner: Keith Lee. It was him or Dijakovic.

Lee gets the award backstage from HHH and sings a bit because we haven’t seen anything yet.

1. From Takeover: New York.

NXT Title: Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano

The title is vacant coming in and it’s 2/3 falls. Cole sends the Undisputed Era to the back so he can do this on his own. The fans are behind Cole and it’s off to the mat about a minute and a half in. Gargano works on a hammerlock but gets reversed into a headlock. Back up and it’s an armdrag into an armbar to to keep Cole in trouble. That’s broken up and Cole bails to the floor where he manages to catch Gargano with a jumping enziguri. A hard knee to the face rocks Gargano and we hit a chinlock.

Gargano fights up again so Cole pulls him right back down into a dragon sleeper. That’s broken up too and it’s a double crossbody for a double knockdown. They bring it up another gear with Gargano nailing a belly to belly, setting up the rolling kick to the head. The slingshot spear gets two and a tornado Downward Spiral is good for the same. Cole is right back with the Backstabber out of the corner for two of his own. They fight over a small package and it’s Cole up first with a jumping enziguri. Another exchange of rollups goes nowhere so Cole hits the Last Shot for the first fall at 13:54.

The second fall begins and it’s a German suplex into another Last Shot for a very close two. Gargano spears him to the floor but walks into the fireman’s carry backbreaker. Back up and Cole can’t get a superbomb so Johnny reverses into a super White Noise (Ciampa move) for two of his own. With that not working, Gargano hits a slingshot DDT onto the apron but breaks the count, allowing Cole to post him twice in a row. Back in and Johnny grabs the flipping armbar (Ciampa move) before switching over to the Gargano Escape for a very fast tap and the tie at 20:52.

We pause for a second as Gargano has a cut on his head but it’s not a bad one. Gargano’s discus lariat sets up a swinging kick to the head but the brainbuster to the knee gives Cole two. The Lawn Dart sends Cole into the middle buckle for two so it’s double enziguris and double superkicks for a double knockdown. Cole is up first with a straitjacket suplex but Gargano is back with a reverse hurricanrana. The low superkick sends Cole outside and Gargano is crushed again. He goes out to get him and it’s a wheelbarrow suplex into the apron to put Gargano down again.

Back in and Gargano’s slingshot spear is blocked with a superkick, setting up Cole’s middle rope Canadian Destroyer for a very close two and the fans are losing it again. Gargano rolls outside and Cole tells him that he fails so Gargano throws him over the announcers’ table. The table is cleared out but Cole hits a Fairy Tale Ending onto (not through) the table instead. Cole wants the countout so Johnny dives back in at nine, right into a low superkick for another near fall.

The next Canadian Destroyer is countered into the Gargano Escape and here’s Roderick Strong for a distraction. Kyle O’Reilly breaks the hold as Cole is tapping and the referee goes down. High/Low from Fish and O’Reilly gets an even closer two so Gargano backdrops Cole onto all three of them. The Era gets beaten up on the floor but it’s two more superkicks into the Last Shot from Cole….for two. Another Last Shot misses and the Gargano Escape makes Cole tap for the title at 38:15.

Rating: A-. Yeah it worked and while it needed to be Ciampa, this was the best ending they could have had given what they had. Gargano FINALLY overcoming the odds to win the title was the feel good ending that the show needed, especially with Gargano defeating the entire Era to win. Some of the near falls were a bit much and there were a few too many superkicks, but they nailed the ending and that’s what mattered most.

Candice comes out to celebrate and they go into the crowd to hug their parents. They walk to the stage….and it’s Tommaso Ciampa….to hug both of them to end the show.

Adam Cole wins Overall Competitor of the Year as the Undisputed Era all has trophies. Cole says they’re the best around with the trophies and the titles. This is just the beginning.

Overall Rating: A. Well what else was it going to be? Three great matches and a bunch of clips of other awesome stuff. It’s not a traditional show but for what it was, this was as good as it was going to get. The show isn’t supposed to be a regular night but rather a look back and it was a look back at an awesome year. If they can come close to doing this again next year, sweet goodness we could be in for some awesome stuff.

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

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

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

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

Royal Rumble 1993
Date: January 24, 1993
Location: ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan

Historical note: this is 13 days after the debut of Monday Night Raw.

Steiner Brothers vs. Beverly Brothers

Scott avoids an elbow drop but Blake breaks up the hot tag again. The crowd is silent when the Beverlies are on offense. Scott comes back with a butterfly powerbomb to put Blake down and Scott actually dives through the ropes and tags at the same time. Rick cleans house and there are Steiner Lines for both Beverlies. Scott pounds on Blake in the corner and counters a Doomsday Device with a victory roll for two. The Frankensteiner to Beau gets the pin.

Rating: D+. Pretty dull match here as the Steiners were clearly going to dominate the entire time. The Beverlies never got above lower midcard status and their biggest feud was against the Bushwhackers. What were you going to expect them to do against the freaking STEINER BROTHERS? Nothing here but a squash.

Intercontinental Title: Marty Jannetty vs. Shawn Michaels

Jannetty controls to start, sending Shawn to the floor twice with a knee lift and a clothesline. Marty punches Shawn down on the floor and poses in the ring. He tries a punch off the top but gets caught in the ribs on the way down. Shawn loads Marty up on his shoulder and in one of the only times I can ever remember it working, rams Marty shoulder first into the post.

Sherri finally does something by slapping Shawn, who gets belly to back suplexed into the ring. Shawn gets launched to the floor again as the pace picks up a bit. A powerslam puts the champ down but Shawn avoids the top rope punch. Marty stops himself before crashing and gets two off a DDT. Shawn misses a superkick and gets caught by one of his own for two. The crowd is getting into this.

Marty slingshots Shawn so he gets to do his big bump onto the post. There goes the referee via an elbow to the face and Sherri comes in. She swings her shoe but hits Marty by mistake of course. Shawn yells at her a lot and then superkicks Marty in the chest for the pin to retain.

In the back, Gene yells at Sherri to calm down. Marty comes to the back for some more brawling.

Heenan and Gorilla argue a bit.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Big Boss Man

We get a clip from WWF Mania (Saturday morning show) of Razor beating up Owen to hype the world title match.

WWF World Title: Razor Ramon vs. Bret Hart

Feeling out process to start with Razor getting the early advantage with some right hands. A knee in the corner misses and Bret has on the Figure Four in less than 90 seconds. Razor gets the rope so Bret drops elbows on the knee instead. The leg gets wrapped around the post before Bret goes after the other leg in the corner for some reason. Ramon comes back with a whip to send Bret ribs first into the post.

Here are Caesar and Cleopatra to hype up Wrestlemania. They read a proclamation about it and this is really stupid.

Royal Rumble

Ric Flair is #1 and Bob Backlund, going through a career resurgence at the time, is #2. Backlund drops Flair with a shoulder and does his little dance. Flair pounds him into the corner but Bob backdrops him down. Papa Shango is #3 and is dumped out by Flair in less than thirty seconds. Backlund it sent to the apron and Flair stomps away. They chop it out until Ted DiBiase, I believe half of the tag champions here, is #4.

Heenan makes fun of Backlund as the double teaming ensues, prompting Gorilla to threaten to knock Bobby out. Backlund is beaten on even more until Brian Knobs is #5. The Nasties are good guys at this point and happen to be feuding with Money Inc. Guess who he starts swinging at. Knobs almost dumps Flair but only gets him to the apron. Things slow down for a bit until Virgil is #6. The faces team up to fight the heels as not a lot is going on at this point.

Ratings Comparison

Steiner Brothers vs. Beverly Brothers

Original: C-

Redo: D+

Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty

Original: C

Redo: C+

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Big Boss Man

Original: D+

Redo: D

Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon

Original: B

Redo: B

Royal Rumble

Original: D+

Redo: D

Overall Rating

Original: D

Redo: D+

Not much change here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/12/royal-rumble-count-up-1993/

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

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

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

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

Royal Rumble 1993
Date: January 24, 1993
Location: ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Gorilla Monsoon

Well, a bit has changed in the last year. For one thing, about two weeks before this, a show called Monday Night Raw debuted. This completely changed the world of wrestling forever. No longer did we have to watch Sunday morning Superstars to get wrestling. We now had it every Monday night in prime time. That really did change the world of wrestling forever. Other than that, Hogan is more or less gone at this point.

He would be back just in time for Mania to steal a title that he had no business being around after guys like Bret and Flair had worked so hard for the past year, but he’s Hulk Hogan and therefore awesome and can get away with stupid moves like that. Savage is on commentary for the most part now but he occasionally wrestles like he’s doing tonight. More on that later though.

Also tonight, we have the relatively rookie wrestler named Razor Ramon getting a world title shot. He was never actually in the Rumble. He always was in some kind of title match or injured. That’s saying a lot. Anyway, not a lot of people remember this show, which could be good or bad. Let’s see how it goes.

Oh and Narcissist debuts tonight.

Alfred Hayes does stupid stuff with fans as I need a revovlver.

Beverly Brothers vs. Steiner Brothers

I guess we can officially say we have a Rumble tradition as this is the fourth year running for a tag match opener. There is ZERO talking during the Beverly entrance. The Steiners get a traditional one though. Rick and Scott were there for little more than a year, but it worked very well I’ve always thought. They’ve been here about a month at this point though so this is their showcase match more or less. Wow that’s a bad draw for them as the Beverlies suck.

Heenan points out that the headgear Rick wears could be a weapon. Technically yes but it’s far better than cauliflower ear. Gorilla and Bobby are at it again, but Gorilla says the Beverlys have been successful. Did I miss something here? Scott gets an armbar and control according to Gorilla, which sounds like something on a game show. Also according to Gorilla, his taxicab driver said he could have sold his ticket for 50x its face value.

So in other words the driver admitted he might illegally scalp it. Yep that’s very smart there buddy. They reiterate that this is the first time where the winner of the Rumble is guaranteed a title shot at Mania, and thereby the tradition is born. Since it’s their first big match, let’s have them get beaten down for the most part. That’s perfectly logical isn’t it? The Steiners are getting beaten up here really badly and it’s just a poorly booked match.

If you’re going to have tag jobbers, then have them look like jobbers. By doing this it looks like Rick and Scott can’t beat a couple of horrible guys. We are LIVE! I always get a kick out of those. They come from nowhere and they don’t tell you anything at all. Also, what kind of an expression is getting a kick out of something? Wouldn’t that hurt instead of being amusing? The Beverlies are bad. Like, really bad.

We finally get to the hot tag but the fans are kind of bored here as it’s just taken too long to get to that. The tag looks awesome as Scott is on the ground and dives for Rick but he goes through the ropes and lands on the apron. That was sweet looking. Rick more or less beats them up by himself until Scott comes back in.

They set him up for a Doomsday Device move but in another SWEET counter, Scott rolls up one of them into a victory roll and the Frankensteiner ends it soon after. The ending two minutes were great but the rest was just bland.

Rating: C-. This is mainly for Rick’s beard and mustache which I think are alive. There’s no way those things aren’t at least creatures of some sort. As for the match, I don’t get why they would have the Beverlies, one of the most boring teams of all time, go in there and beat up Rick and Scott, one of the best of all time, for such a long time. It just made them look weak and while the dominated the end, I didn’t care by then, which defeats the purpose of the match as a whole.

We hit the recap of the Rockers as I’m surprised Okerlund is still with the company at this point. He and Heenan would definitely be gone by the end of the year. Anyway, the Rockers were awesome minus that whole winning anything. We have the Barbershop Incident and Marty was out for a long time.

Shawn started doing this thing where he would fix his hair in front of a mirror in the ring. Marty came from the crowd and Shawn saw his reflection in the mirror which was awesome. After the beatdown swung it at Shawn and hit Sherri who was Shawn’s manager. That led to this match.

Intercontinental Title: Marty Jannetty vs. Shawn Michaels

Sherri is here first as I think they’re trying to go with a Mega Powers Explode angle here. The aisle seems very short here for some reason. The arena is good sized so I don’t know why they would have to do that. Shawn’s belt is blue here for no apparent reason. Shawn is already selling like a mad man. In another unintentional funny moment, Gorilla answers the question of has a woman ever been in love with you by saying are you kidding me?

This is mainly about Sherri because she’s clearly more important than the title involved here. More or less we’ve had all Shawn beating on Marty here as we have this continuing theme of the faces getting beaten up. It’s mainly working on Marty’s left arm which confuses Gorilla for no apparent reason. Watch a string of matches and tell me how many times you see a guy working on the right arm. It simply doesn’t happen.

This is reminding me of the Hardy matches when they feuded as there’s just something odd about seeing these two fight. It’s just not working for me. I don’t get the need for the long pauses in commentary. It’s kind of annoying. Why does Shawn oversell everything? He hits the post shoulder first so both guys have bad wings at this point. In case you missed it the first time, WE ARE LIVE!

We apologize for taking you away from a decent match to let you know that, but we feel a shot of the crowd and a reminder that we’re LIVE is more important. For one of the only times that I can ever remember, the reverse suplex to the floor works for Marty. Sherri smacks Shawn on the floor and only Bobby and Gorilla seem to care. Wow Marty Jannetty can’t do a DDT to save his life.

They’ve picked up the pace a lot here and the crowd is suddenly alive. For reasons of it being required the referee goes down. Marty holds Shawn for a shoe shot from Sherri as my love for alliteration grows. Of course it misses and she’s completely distraught. Amazingly no one seems to care. Ok not really but I wanted to make it seem like it meant something. In a rather dumb ending, Shawn yells at Sherri, Marty gets up, Shawn kicks him and we have a pin. Sherri won’t talk to Gene in the back.

Rating: C. Well, the opening was just off for them but then they turned it up again. The ending was just odd all together though. The problem is these two had a far better match a few months later when Marty actually won the title, which for some reason didn’t happen until May which I’ve never gotten. The chemistry was there to an extent, but at the same time it just wasn’t clicking, which I know sounds weird but I can’t word it any other way.

In the back, Sherri is overreacting at an insane level as Gene even curses. Shawn runs back and looks like he’s going to hit her but Marty runs in for the save. For some reason an orange goes flying. This was just dumb.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Big Boss Man

My, that’s a lot of Bs. Boss Man is just about gone here and is a complete jobber to the stars at this point. Bigelow is freshly returned to the company here and this is I think his first non squash match. There’s zero story here, which just furthers the squash theory. We’re eight seconds in and Boss Man is looking destroyed already. This is all Bigelow here as the announcers aren’t even talking about the match but rather something about Gene and Bobby in Vegas or something.

You can clearly see the fans leaving to get food or whatever in droves. I don’t get why Boss Man was never pushed really hard in the midcard. He’s a jobber here and he’s getting solid pops. They go to the corner and Bigelow gets the traditional 10 punches to the neck. It’s also a fairly morbid match as both men are dead now. Bigelow’s submission here is just holding onto Boss Man from behind. Yep that’s it.

This is just not interesting at all and it’s going on for too long which seems to be a running theme tonight. FINALLY Boss Man does something and he gets a decent back drop on Bigelow. That’s pretty impressive. In another stupid ending, he just clotheslines Boss Man down and hits the headbutt to end it. What’s with that lately?

Rating: D+. It saddens me to see a guy that I always liked like the Boss Man reduced to this. This was a squash and not a very interesting one either. Bigelow completely destroyed him here in the IC Special. I just don’t get why Boss Man was pushed so far down. He wasn’t bad at all and apparently they saw something in him as they kept bringing him back. This was about 10% Boss Man if that, which really is a shame. Bigelow would have a strong initial run and then just fall completely flat.

We see a clip of Razor beating up Owen. Yep that’s not very interesting. Gorilla and Bobby sound odd here. We get a short promo from Razor saying he’ll beat Bret.

WWF Title: Razor Ramon vs. Bret Hart

This was allegedly supposed to have been Warrior instead of Razor. I’ve read that from multiple sources including Bret himself, so I think there might be some truth to it. Warrior had been in the title picture when Bret took it from Flair from out of nowhere. If nothing else it makes sense here for Warrior to have gotten the shot here. I think they went with the right choice in Razor though. Granted Warrior had been thrown out for steroids allegedly so there we go.

Anyway, Razor had been hanging with Flair as a top heel for no apparent reason and then he got a world title shot for no apparent reason. I think he was supposed to be this incredible tough guy but it never really was explained why he was so awesome. Granted he certainly was, but it would have helped a bit.

His character was more or less taken straight from Scarface, but he got incredibly lucky: at the meeting where he pitched the character, Vince and Pat Patterson thought he was improving it and thought he was brilliant. Even still it’s a great character, but DANG what a way to get over good with the boss. Bret, rocking the pink jacket, says that Razor has made it personal.

I guess that’s because of the Owen attack which is kind of a story so I’ll take that over nothing at all. Razor is really young in his WWF time here, having been there about five months at the time. In a very cool shot, we see Bret ready to come through the curtain and getting himself fired up. He stands there for a bit looking like he’s in a coma and at a high point of his music he snaps forward and turns into the Hitman. That was sweetness.

Stu and Helen are of course here as is their custom. Bret winning here is pretty much a given, but a title match is better than nothing at all. Before the bell, just a quick reminder that WE ARE LIVE! This is working pretty well at the start as it’s fairly clear that Razor has a limited but solid offense. He had nearly 10 years experience at this point, but he’s not a great worker yet.

Over the next few years he would just nail the character so well that it could be kind of overlooked. We have a not entirely short early beatdown by Bret which is fine as he’s making Razor look solid. Razor is helping himself as well with some good selling. Naturally we have Bret in trouble soon after this, as Razor works on the ribs. This goes on for awhile and again since the match is pretty good I can’t really comment on it that much.

It’s a very basic style with Bret being in trouble a lot but coming back with some basic offense here and there. Razor keeps him down though and avoids the Sharpshooter at all costs. Bret finally gets off the mat for a bit and we go at it some more. For no reason whatsoever, Ramon uses back to back Greco-Roman knuckle locks, more commonly known as a test of strength. Brain says this could help him work on the ribs. Am I missing something here?

Bret doesn’t get moving quickly that often but when he does it really does work. In a GREAT ending sequence, Bret rolls down the back of the Razor’s Edge and gets a sunset flip for two. Razor kicks out and Bret grabs the legs, locks the Sharpshooter on from the mat and turns Razor over for the tap. OH YES!

Now that is Bret just being awesome out there and using his natural skills to just flat out beat someone he’s in there with. That’s awesome. It’s almost the same ending he used against Perfect in 91 at Summerslam, but dang it’s still cool.

Rating: B. This was a solid enough match for sure, but it could have been just a hair better. I have no clue how, but I know it could have been. Bret was at his best out there, sort of showing Razor where to go without holding his hand. This is what they built the company on for a long while, until somehow Hogan managed to sneak in and take the world title despite not having been doing anything even remotely associated with it for about a year.

Heenan is ready to unveil Narcissus. He’s actually in the arena and not on satellite which surprises me. This was a big deal for the fans of WCW who didn’t know that Luger had jumped. Heenan is liking Luger’s body WAY too much here. It sounds like he wants to jump him or something. Also Luger is posing to some really bad pop/techno music.

I don’t know why Heenan wasn’t associated with him more than he was. I never got that. Bobby gets in a jab at Perfect before Luger talks. He doesn’t help the overtones by mentioning the people getting on their knees before him. It’s an over the top yet effective intro so I’ll give them that.

Caesar and Cleopatra are here for the foreshadowing the idiocy of the World’s Largest Toga Party at Mania. They look so bored out there and they actually try to make this sound serious. It’s just dumb so move on PLEASE.

With no big string of interviews this year, we’re ready for the Rumble.

Royal Rumble

Flair is out first as he wins the award for worst luck in Rumble history. He would get 30 about 14 years later so that’s all fine I guess. He would lose a loser leaves town match the next night on Raw, so guess how he does here. Anyway, we have a battle of the old guys as Bob Backlund is in at 2. He gets zero reaction which is a shame as he really was great. Both guys are wearing red which is interesting looking. HA I beat Heenan to pointing that out!

Wow actually Heenan would last until the end of the year. Sorry for referencing something I said a few pages ago but I just looked that up during a dead spot. Gene would be there until September. I had those dates way off. In at three is Papa Shango which is just about the oddest pick you could have to join these two. Surprisingly he lasts about 20 seconds as Flair sneaks up on him to put him out.

That’s not something I expected but it makes sense. Flair and Backlund are having what should be a pretty historic encounter here, but good night I just couldn’t care less. This would have been epic 10 years earlier, but geez this isn’t interesting at all. DiBiase comes in at 4 as the talent out there is insane. He and IRS are tag champions at this point.

Heenan is sharp here but he’s not up to what he was last year. Granted that’s nearly impossible to pull off. My goodness DiBiase and Flair would be an epic duo. I don’t think the feud would work though. Fifth is Brian Knobbs who was kind of feuding with DiBiase’s team at this time. Wow he just doesn’t fit the mold of the other three in there. DiBiase gets his face rubbed into Knobbs’ arm pit. And people wonder why he left doesn’t associate with wrestling much anymore.

Virgil is in the ring maybe 2 seconds after his buzzer goes off so I’m thinking he jumped early. Naturally he and DiBiase go at it. My goodness he was generic. Backlund is 43 years old by the way. DiBiase puts on Knobbs for a little retribution. At far less than two minutes after Virgil, Lawler comes in at seventh. Flair goes through the ropes to kill some time.

It’s just completely odd to hear Heenan talk about Lawler. We get another funny now line as Bobby says Lawler is Vince’s boss. Again less than two minutes go by and we have Max Moon who may or may not have been Konnan. We’re almost at 1/3 of the way through this and it’s not that interesting at all so far.

Lawler is wearing white/gray which looks like it has flowers on it. It’s really odd looking. Lawler puts out Moon as Genichiro Tenryu of all people is number nine. I can feel the smarks cheering from here. He goes for Flair as I request not to be soaked with semen until after 9pm. Heenan says that Tenryu must be the inspiration for chop suey with all those chops. No that would be Kobashi. Wow I spend too much time on WZ to know that.

Gorilla doesn’t have a running clock this year which I think is a first. Oh he’s told something. Apparently it’s been 20 minutes. Considering I’m watching this online and we’re at 18 minutes on the counter and the match didn’t start until about two minutes, we know that’s a lie. Not to mention he says this before #10 comes out, and with two minute intervals and considering that 1 and 2 are there together, math wise we could only be at about 16 minutes max.

Perfect is in at 10 as Heenan has a bigger heart attack than when Hogan came in last year. Naturally he goes straight at Flair which was a great rivalry that I wish we had gotten more of. For a recap, we currently have Flair, Backlund, DiBiase, Virgil, Lawler, Tenryu and Perfect in there. Perfect really was awesome at this time as this was the height of his face run. He would beat Flair clean the next night (or a week ago depending on how you look at it) in a great match. Bobby is FREAKING here.

You know I wonder what would happen if say Flair won the Rumble and then lost his career the next night. Would there not be a Mania title match? Literally as I finish typing that question, Gorilla says that should that happen there wouldn’t be a title match. It’s like we’re psychos or something! Anyway Skinner is 11th as this is just kind of looking bad so far. Perfect dumps Flair to a HUGE pop. That’s good to hear.

The Hall of Famer Koko B. Ware is in at 12, wearing but not rocking the bright green pants. Who did he sleep with to get a job for so long? I’d love to know. Perfect continues being awesome by putting out Skinner as Heenan challenges Monsoon to a fight. The Rumble is 13 years old now as it’s Samu. Nothing is happening here as we’re really just going through the motions.

Berserker comes in and we now have Backlund, DiBiase, Virgil, Lawler, Tenryu, Perfect, Ware, Samu and Berserker. Good night that’s a lot of jobbers. Perfect drops Lawler to get us down to 8. DiBiase, Ware and Lawler team up to take out Perfect after a long struggle, which disappoints me as he certainly could have gone on a lot longer as a bigger deal.

Virgil is gone too and we’re at 6. The first half ends with Taker who is allegedly the favorite in this match? Sure why not? Taker drops Samu with relative ease as hopefully he’s the guy that drops the jobbers.

Berserker and Backlund are on the floor fighting but are both still in it. Taker throws out Tenryu as I’m guessing that he didn’t get a fair break, he could outwrestle everyone in this match put together, and he had a five star tag match with some other Japanese legend about 4 days prior to this? He also should be going to Mania for some massive crossover show with another company being brought in to make it an international organization.

The fact that no one popped for his entrance, anything he did in the ring or his elimination is irrelevant as well because they just don’t get it and the in ring work is more important than ratings. Just thought I’d spare some morons some keystrokers of idiocy there. Taker vs. DiBiase is an interesting…oh blast it Terry Taylor is in this match. He’s on the Garvin scale of annoying wrestlers. THANK YOU TED DIBIASE! He put out Taylor and Ware in one shot!

Granted he got chokeslammed just after it but I’m happy now. There he goes though so we’re at Backlund, Berserker and Taker at the moment. Since we just had a cool moment, let’s have a stupid one here as Giant Gonzalez debuts. For those of you that don’t know it’s a guy that’s taller than Khali but with about ¼ of his wrestling ability.

The thing is they used the same exact storyline to introduce Khali: Daivari, or in the original case Harvey Whippleman, had managed a guy he had sent after Taker (Kamala and then Hassan/Henry) who Taker had destroyed. The monster appeared, beat up Taker a few times, leading to a major fight that Taker would win. See? It’s the same thing and the main reason why Khali was hated.

We old school guys knew what was coming step by step and it just didn’t work. Gonzalez, who isn’t named here, wears this weird suit that makes him look like a caveman. I can’t believe that at the time, people actually compared him to Andre the freaking Giant. Taker puts out Berserker to make it him alone with Gonzalez. In a standard camera shot, Gonzalez’s hips are above the top rope.

Taker comes up to his shoulders. Damien Demento comes in at I think 17 and Gonzalez throws Taker out, which for some reason counts. Yep that’s about it. Backlund and Demento aren’t in the ring but they’re still in the match so keep that in mind. Taker gets beaten down by Gonzalez which actually was a big deal at the time. This goes on WAY too long as IRS comes out at 18.

About a minute later Tatanka comes in as we realize that the Rumble more or less has started over, which is freaking stupid but whatever. Taker tried to sit up but fails so Paul Bearer has to help him. Sara, Michelle McCool, Paul Bearer, write your own joke. Taker limps after Gonzalez because the Giant worked on his leg. Yep, a monster worked on his leg in his debut. That’s just absurd. No actually it’s stupid.

They try to say Gonzalez was 8 feet tall. It was more like 7’7 but whatever. Jerry Sags is in next at 20 as we get the amazing coincidence again of having a member of the tag champions against a member of the challengers twice in the same Rumble for I think the third straight year. What a coincidence!

Typhoon comes in as Heenan says that they’re getting fresher. Well not really but since this Rumble has completely sucked I can understand his lack of good lines. Fatu is in at 22, more commonly known as Rikishi.

The problem with the reset earlier is beginning to show as we’ve got an army of nothing but jobbers out there that simply aren’t going to win. There’s also the issue of the roster here just flat out sucking. Earthquake is 23rd so we have the Disasters in there together. He goes right at Typhoon as their team was just about to split up. Quake dumps him out with relative ease as I really want this stupid match to end but we’ve got another 7 guys to come out.

Oh for the love of cheese Carlos freaking Colon is in next as Gorilla calls him a youngster. He’s 45 here and older than Backlund. To the majority of you his kids are more famous: Carlito and Primo, although they’re far less talented. He puts out Demento though so he’s already paying dividends. In next we have Tito Santana as we’re getting close to the end here.

VERY allegedly, he was supposed to win this at one point, but since he’s the only person to claim that I have a huge problem believing it. Fatu is out. To recap, we have Tito, IRS, Backlund, Sags, Earthquake, Colon and now Martel as I’m guessing he’ll fight Santana. Of course he does. DANG man they feuded for what, 4 years about a team that was together less than one. That’s even better than the Evolution feud. IRS is out.

Heenan redeems himself a bit by saying Backlund is like a spider monkey. GORILLA MONSOON SAID A BAD WORD! I have never once heard him curse and he did it like it was nothing. Actually there was a tiny little hesitation before he said it which makes me feel better. Yokozuna, who is a relative newcomer at this point, is number 27. He throws out Tatanka with more or less ease and does the same to Carlos. We get Yoko vs. Quake as Owen comes in at 28.

Heenan says he can’t hear Gorilla despite them being on headset together. Yoko actually belly to bellys Quake over the top. That was cool looking. Repo Man is 29th as I’ve made a counting error somewhere in here. Ah there we go it’s fixed now. Everybody gangs up on Yoko but amazingly he fights them all off.

The 30th guy is Savage, so the final list of guys is Backlund, Santana, Sags, Owen, Repo Man, Martel, Savage and Yokozuna. Ok, now in case you’re just an idiot when it comes to old school, you can pretty much guess who this comes down to in the final two. Yoko puts out Santana and then the same to Owen. Repo is gone and we’re down to four. Have to give it to Backlund: this is impressive. He knocks out Martel clean as Heenan is amazed.

Yoko puts him out to a chorus of boos. It amazes me that he was jobbing to Razor at Mania in a glorified squash match. He goes over an hour, setting a new Iron Man record to a great reaction and gets treated like that. If nothing else put him out there with Shawn or Santana and let them tear the house down old school style. So we’re down to Savage against Yoko as Backlund is getting a big ovation.

We get a short one on one match here as Savage gets his ask kicked for a good while. But then, there’s a comeback! Savage has Yoko in real trouble and does something no one else has ever done by knocking him off his feet! Then we get to the ending which I’m not sure if I like or not: Savage has Yoko down and goes up for the elbow. He covers Yoko, who powers out of it, throwing Savage over the top to win the Rumble.

At first I hated this, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. Savage is as intense as anyone has ever been, so for him to get his mind clouded by being on such a role and go to what is his instinctual finish makes sense to me, even though it’s obvious that it’s scripted. I can live with this and it was a creative way to eliminate him and keep him looking strong at the same time. The Japanese flag waving for a Samoan wrestler takes us out.

Rating: D+. This was BAD. The Gonzalez thing divides the match in half and the first half is even more boring than the first. Backlund is the undisputed star of this match though as he went out there for over an hour and put on a great performance that never once was too farfetched to believe. As for the ending, this is something I wanted to address. I’m torn on whether or not this was the right ending to the Rumble.

I know that Vince wanted to push Yoko as the monster heel, but I think he was completely missing the boat here. What I would have done for my summer feud: Savage vs. Bret for the title. Now think about it. Those are two of the best workers of all time. Are you telling me that those two wouldn’t have put on a freaking classic at Mania? This is where my issues with Vince show up. No one, I repeat no one, can convince me that Yoko was a better choice for the huge push than Savage.

If you don’t believe me, watch Bret vs. Yoko from Mania 9. Yoko was just too fat to be in any real trouble and the match sucked as a result. This was Savage’s first real chance to shine with Warrior and Hogan gone. It’s not like he was incredibly old at the time (he turned 41 in November of that year) but he certainly would have worked for a feud over the summer.

He won multiple world titles down the line in WCW so he certainly still had the it factor. The fans were behind him and Bret hadn’t really gotten a big rub at all. Beating Savage clean certainly would have done that for him.

However, Vince continues his love affair with big huge men that can’t do a ton in the ring (by comparison to Savage that is) so he goes with the David vs. Goliath match, stupidly not realizing that the only thing that could make Yoko look credible for a full match was a power guy, which he got in Luger later in the year.

Either way, the Rumble sucked as once you got down to the final ten there was zero doubt who would win. The announcers were bored out of their minds too, which for Monsoon is saying a lot.

Overall Rating: D. Well let’s see. We have two ok matches, an ok one and a really boring main event. Yeah the D is a generous grade I think. The Ramon and Bret match is the only thing worth watching here as other than that the whole show is just flat out boring. Marty and Shawn is ok at its absolute best but it just falls flat on its face for the most part. The Rumble is just atrocious.

Nothing of note happens, Savage and Yoko are the only two that you think have a shot at winning, with Hogan gone there’s no real A-list star in the match, and it just doesn’t work. Gonzalez also kills the thing by eliminating Taker after about five minutes which isn’t good either.

This whole show was just awful other than a few moments, which certainly weren’t enough to validate this as one of the major, and at the time only, shows of the year. Don’t watch anything on here, not even the best match as it’s like saying someone is the best poster in the prison. Just a bad show all around.

 

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

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

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

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

To say 2019 had a lot going on is an understatement.  It was all over the place, both in the ring and for me as well.  The amount of stuff that I’ve been doing for Wrestlingrumors.net went through the roof but it has allowed me to do a lot of things that I had always wanted to do both professionally and financially and that has been a huge game changer.

The part that bothers me though is how much time it has taken away from me being able to do my reviews, especially getting them up as fast as I usually do.  The last few weeks have been especially bad in this area as I was in Chicago for Survivor Series weekend, caught bronchitis while I was there and wound up with pneumonia when I came back.  Then there were the holidays and my in-laws surprised my wife by coming in from England for a few days.  I’m trying to get caught up on everything but it’s been a bit of a challenge as I’ve been spending as much time as I can with them.  Hopefully I’ll be caught up by Monday and then everything should be back to normal going forward.

As always, thank you all so much for everything you do for me.  I absolutely could not do any of this without you as this place gives me a reason to keep going with what I’m doing.  It has opened doors for me that I never would have thought possible before and changed my life in ways I still don’t believe.  2019 was awesome and if it never gets any better than that, I’d be more than fine with it.  Maybe 2020 can be better and I’m certainly down to try for it.  Thank you all for being here with me and I’ll be around as long as you are.

 

Happy New Year everyone.

KB

Fusion #90
Date: December 28, 2019
Hosts: AJ Kirsch, Rich Bocchini

It has been a big year for MLW and that’s what we’re looking at today. This is a Best Of 2019 show and in this case, that means we could be in for some good stuff. A lot has taken place over the course of the year and I could go for a nice retrospective. They have a lot to pick from here so let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

The hosts welcome us to the show.

We open with a highlight package, including Tom Lawlor winning the World Title, Battle Riot II, the Dynasty winning the Tag Team Titles, Alexander Hammerstone becoming the first National Champion, Jacob Fatu winning the World Title, War Chamber, the Opera Cup and SuperFight.

From August 3.

Timothy Thatcher vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.

They slap hands to start and it’s a slow pace to get things going. Davey throws him off of a headscissors on the mat and it’s time for some early grappling. Smith gets a hammerlock and you can see Thatcher playing this out in his head as he tries to find a way out. The hold is reversed into a half crab, with Thatcher’s eyes bugging out. That’s broken up so Thatcher kicks at the leg and grabs it again, this time sending Smith over to the ropes.

More kicks to the leg set up a belly to belly to put Davey back in the middle, setting up a legbar. With the grappling not working so well, Davey headbutts his way to freedom but can’t get a cross armbreaker. Thatcher switches into an ankle lock with a grapevine as the counters continue. Davey slaps the mat (not a tap) and turns it over into a Sharpshooter, sending Thatcher to the ropes for a change. They slug it out (Tony: “Like two rams butting heads on the side of the Rocky Mountains!” How long has he had that one saved up for?) until Thatcher gets two off a small package.

Another pinfall reversal sequence gives us some slick two counts and it’s time for a breather. Back up and Smith rolls some German suplexes, followed by a tiger suplex (Thatcher’s “OH DANG” look when he knows he can’t block it is great) for two. They fight over arm holds with Thatcher not being able to get a cross armbreaker this time. Smith isn’t having this and rolls out into a Crossface for the tap at 14:46.

Rating: B. This was almost all technical mat work, which is all the more impressive given Smith’s size and power. It makes him look like a complete package and all the more dangerous, which he’ll have to be to go after Hammerstone. Thatcher looked incredible as well, making me wonder why he hasn’t gotten a job in a big company yet. He isn’t the most interesting looking but there’s always a role for someone with his style.

We look at Tom Lawlor turning on the Von Erichs and their ensuing feud.

Zero Hour is coming.

BUY MERCH!

Video on Gino Medina.

Video on the Dynasty’s year.

Here are the Top Ten Moments of the Year:

10. Priscilla Kelly Debuts

9. Ross Von Erich Chases Tom Lawlor Through New York

8. Contra Unit Attacks The Lucha Bros

7. Mance Warner Has A Chainsaw

6. Jacob Fatu Dives Off The Cage

5. Tom Lawlor Turns On The Von Erichs

4. Jimmy Havoc vs. Mance Warner

3. War Chamber

2. Jacob Fatu Wins The World Title

1. Salina de la Renta Gets Speared Through The Table

Zero Hour ad, again.

Join Team Filthy!

Video on Contra, which is going to burn the world down.

From Saturday Night SuperFight:

MLW World Title: LA Park vs. Jacob Fatu

No DQ, Park, undefeated, is challenging and Fatu is a monster. Salina de la Renta and Josef Samael are here as seconds. Before the match, Park grabs the mic and rants in Spanish. They circle, shove and slug it out with Park getting the better of it off a pair of clotheslines. A running knee puts Fatu on the floor and there’s a suicide dive, which is like a flying bus at this point.

Back in and Fatu starts firing off the headbutts to take over and some shots to the face put Park in trouble. The mask is torn and it looks like we already have some blood flowing. Park gets whipped into the barricade as the beating continues on the floor. Even Salina is looking worried as they head into the crowd to continue Park’s destruction. Back in and Park gets knocked into the corner but snaps off a powerslam for two and a breather.

Fatu superkicks him down and hits a handspring moonsault for his own two. With nothing else working, Park goes up top and hits something like a Whisper in the Wind. What all else fails, throw your large body at the other guy. They head outside again with Park nailing a chair to the back, followed by literally breaking the bell over Fatu’s head. Park headbutts away, which sounds rather idiotic against a Samoan. After not knocking himself silly, Park whips away with the weightlifting belt.

Fatu, now busted as well, runs the corner for a flying shoulder to send Park outside for a huge running dive to crush Park again. There’s a table set up in for corner as Park is thrown back in, only to avoid the moonsault. Samael throws a fireball at the referee though, which might be taking things a bit too far. That brings Salina in….and Park’s spear misses Samael, sending Salina through the table instead. The Samoan drop sets up the double jump moonsault to retain the title at 20:00.

Overall Rating: B. Now that’s how something like this should go. Like I said, there has been a lot of good stuff going on this year and while I could go for some more full matches, or even clips of some matches. What we got here was fine though and that’s all it needed to be for a week where they barely did anything. MLW is in a great place going into 2020, but now they have to keep that going, which is the real trick.

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

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

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

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

NXT
Date: December 25, 2019
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida/Barclays Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Mauro Ranallo, Tom Phillips, Beth Phoenix
Hosts: Pat McAfee, Cathy Kelly, Sam Roberts

It’s a Christmas night show because that’s something we needed this year. Last week’s show was a huge one with Rhea Ripley finally ending Shayna Baszler’s crazy long Women’s Title reign in a great moment. In addition to that, Johnny Gargano returned and annihilated Finn Balor to set up a huge match probably in the near future. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a recap of last week’s big (and awesome) show.

The hosts welcome us to the show and do some bickering because that’s what WWE does.

From Full Sail.

Roderick Strong is issuing an open challenge for the North American Title.

North American Title: Roderick Strong vs. ???

Strong is defending against….Austin Theory, making his NXT TV debut. They go to the mat with Strong getting an early near fall and smiling a lot. Strong’s headlock doesn’t last long as Theory flips him over and even offers his cheek without much fear. The trash talk goes to Theory so Strong forearms him in the face and stomps away. Theory is back up with a nice dropkick for one and a hard whip puts Strong into the corner.

A standing moonsault connects for two and they head outside, with Strong hitting an Angle Slam into the post to start in on the back. That’s only good for nine so Strong stomps away again with the aggression starting to flow. Strong hits his own great dropkick and sends Theory outside, only to have Austin roll in….for a backbreaker to give Strong two.

Theory snaps off a snap suplex before rolling through the ropes for another dropkick. The fans are split as Theory kicks Strong away and hits a buckle bomb to rock Strong again. A fisherman’s buster onto the knee gets two on the champ but he’s right back with a superplex. Theory counters a backbreaker though and grabs a torture rack into a spinning powerbomb for his own two.

Strong takes him to the top for a backbreaker onto the buckle but Theory is out again. Theory is right back up with something like a fisherman’s buster onto the apron for a VERY close two and the shock is rather nice. They slug it out with Theory hitting a superkick (Mauro: “AUSTIN THEORY JUST JINGLED HIS BELLS!”) so Strong is right back with End of Heartache. The Stronghold finishes Theory at 16:46.

Rating: B. Theory looked like a potential star here and the fact that he is 22 years old puts him near the heights of Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate who should not be that good at that age. Strong was the right choice of an opponent for him too as he has a style that works with everyone, including Theory, and we got a rather awesome match out of the two of them. This was about Theory doing everything he could and Strong focusing on the back because that’s what he does to set up his finisher. Theory will be back.

Theory gets a standing ovation and we get a lot of replays.

The hosts chat a bit with McAfee shouting a lot.

From Brooklyn, after a Smackdown taping.

Isaiah Scott vs. Jack Gallagher

Scott starts working on the arm but Gallagher grabs a leg to get out. Now it’s Gallagher cranking on the arm and fingers (Beth: “Taking those phalanges to a place they’re not supposed to go!”) and then a chinlock to mix it up a bit. Scott is right back on the arm with something like a short armscissors and Gallagher can’t spin out of things. He finally flips away so Scott dropkicks him in the side of the head.

Scott sends him over the top for a face first drop onto the apron. Back in and we hit the chinlock as they’re certainly keeping things slow and mat based early on. Gallagher slams him away though and we take a break. Back with Scott’s arm a bit banged up but he uses the good arm for a heck of a discus lariat. The middle rope elbow to the back has Gallagher in more trouble and it’s time for some kicks to the chest against the ropes.

A rolling Downward Spiral gives Scott two more and a backbreaker gets him away from Gallagher cranking on the arm. Gallagher headbutts the heck out of him for two of his own and they’re both down. It’s back to Scott’s arm but Scott reverses into an arm hold of his own, only to have Gallagher reverse into a cross armbreaker attempt. Scott reverses that into a Pentagon style arm snap, albeit with his foot instead of pulling back. The House Call is good for the pin on Gallagher at 13:48.

Rating: C+. Scott is someone who has more starts and stops to his run in NXT than I can even imagine. He keeps coming and going without being able to really get very far. That becomes an issue, but the talent is there and he can do all kinds of things in the ring. It helps that the fans are with him and Gallagher is the same way, with the ability to have a good match against anyone.

The hosts talk about how important the Barclays Center has been for NXT.

Next week: the NXT Awards.

From Full Sail.

Candice LeRae vs. Taynara Conti

Conti can’t sneak in a kick to the ribs as LeRae knocks it away and hits a neckbreaker across the middle rope. A suicide dive connects and Candice adds a springboard crossbody to the floor for two. The chinlock goes on but Conti fights out in a hurry and hits a running knee as we take a break.

Back with Conti getting two off a tilt-a-whirl Boss Man Slam and then covering again for a bonus. Candice is so annoyed that she ties her hair back and slaps away, setting up a missile dropkick for her own two. The step up backsplash sets up the Lionsault to finish Conti at 7:55.

Rating: C-. LeRae is someone who can wrestle a fine enough match but she doesn’t exactly break through to the other side. I could see her getting a Cinderella run towards the title but I’m not sure if she will ever win the thing. Conti is fine as a midcard dragon to slay, though she needs to win a few matches to get her back to that status.

Arturo Ruas is coming.

Back to Brooklyn.

Dominick Dijakovic vs. Bronson Reed

They do the power lockup to start with Dijakovic getting the better of things off a headlock. Reed reverses into one of his own as he gets his turn to grind Dijakovic down for a change. An exchange of shoulders goes nowhere so Dijakovic tries and fails at a suplex attempt instead. Reed runs him over and sits on Dijakovic’s back as we take a break.

Back with Reed forearming him in the face and snapping off a German suplex. A running hip attack in the corner gives Reed two and there’s a suplex for the same. Dijakovic still can’t suplex him so he kicks and strikes away instead. Now the toss suplex connects for two on Reed and the Cyclone boot gets the same.

Just to show off, Dijakovic busts out a moonsault for another near fall and the fans are getting into these kickouts. The chokeslam is broken up with headbutts to the hand (that’s a new one) and Reed busts out a middle rope Thesz press for two more. Some headbutts to the head look to set up the splash but Dijakovic catches him on the middle rope with a chokebomb for the pin at 12:16.

Rating: C+. I can go for a good hoss fight like this and that’s what they did here. Reed has gotten to show off multiple times now and I’ve been having a good time watching him look so good. At the same time, Dijakovic is a monster and someone who should be pushed towards the main event in a hurry. He’s that good and NXT knows it.

Video on When Worlds Collide.

Video on Bianca Belair.

Bianca Belair vs. Shotzi Blackheart

Shotzi, recently signed, takes her into the corner to start and snapmares Belair down for blowing bubbles. Belair spins out though and drops a seated senton to take over. A sunset flip doesn’t work for Shotzi and Belair blows more bubbles. This one is broken up with a slap to the face and a springboard hurricanrana sends Belair into the ropes. A running reverse Cannonball against the ropes puts Belair on the floor but she counters a dive and drops Shotzi onto the apron.

Back from a break with Belair clotheslining her down and posing a lot on the cover. Shotzi gets caught with a running dropkick and we hit the cravate. That’s broken up and Shotzi hits a running faceplant to get a breather. There’s a kick to Belair’s head and a rolling faceplant gets two. Shotzi gets creative with a running tornado DDT onto the apron and Belair is rocked. Back in and a big boot misses though, allowing Belair to send her into the corner. The KOD finishes Blackheart at 10:15.

Rating: C. This was a way to showcase Shotzi and that worked out well enough. You knew she wasn’t going to beat a bigger star like Belair but at least she hit a bunch of nice stuff. It was designed as a get to know you match and for what it was, that worked out well enough. Shotzi is going to need some more work but she had a good first outing here so at least her first foot came off well.

The hosts discuss Shotzi and the women’s division.

Keith Lee/Lio Rush vs. Tony Nese/Damian Priest

What an odd pair of teams. Nese and Rush start things off but it’s off to Priest for the ridiculous visual on the staredown instead. Rush slaps him in the face for some reason but he gets in a kick to the chest as well. A blocked kick allows the tag to Lee though and now let’s have a staredown.

Priest makes it personal by pulling off Lee’s Santa hat and it’s time for them both to miss a lot of shots to the face in a far more fast paced exchange than should be legal for people their size. Lee hits a crossbody and smiles at Nese for trying to interfere. The chase is on outside with Nese being Pounced over the announcers’ table for a .6 Cole. Back from a break with Priest punching Rush out of the air to take over.

Nese comes in to kick Rush in the face and we hit the bodyscissors. A big kick to the head misses and Rush flips out of a belly to back suplex. The bottom rope springboard Stunner puts them both down though and it’s back to Lee to clean house. Lee’s running clothesline gets two on Priest but the Spirit Bomb doesn’t work. Nese knocks Lee down and gets two off a Lionsault but Rush comes back in for a springboard hurricanrana.

Rush strikes away and kicks Nese in the head but Priest chokeslams him onto the apron. Back in and….Lee, in the Santa hat, rises up next to Priest and throws him to the floor. Lee catches a diving Nese in the air so Priest tries a running flip dive….and Lee catches THAT, holds him up, and powerbombs him onto the apron. You know, because HE CAN DO THAT. The Limit Breaker into the Final Hour off of Lee’s shoulders finishes Nese at 13:25.

Rating: C+. The more I watch Lee, the more I’m convinced that he was built in a lab somewhere. The guy is a complete athletic freak with the power and athleticism being as impressive of a combination as you’re going to see. Throw in another rise into the camera and how can you not be impressed? Much like Dijakovic, he needs to be pushed up the card in a hurry, just because it’s hard to leave him out of the main event if he keeps this up.

Overall Rating: B. This was a show that you may not have needed to see but it was entertaining and flew by with no stories and little more than a bunch of showcase matches. There’s nothing here you really need to see, though Theory and Shotzi both had some valuable performances. We’ll be back to normal soon enough but for a one off special, this worked very well.

Results

Roderick Strong b. Austin Theory – Stronghold

Isaiah Scott b. Jack Gallagher – House Call

Candice LeRae b. Taynara Conti – Lionsault

Dominick Dijakovic b. Bronson Reed – Chokebomb

Bianca Belair b. Shotzi Blackheart – KOD

Keith Lee/Lio Rush b. Tony Nese/Damian Priest – Final Hour to Nese

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

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