Monday Night Raw
Date: July 22, 2002
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

This is another request from a long time ago and I’m not quite sure why people want to see it. Looking over the card there’s quite a bit of stuff that could be worth looking at so maybe there’s actually a decent show in here. Given that I’ve done so much of the year already though, I can’t imagine this is going to be anything special. Let’s get to it.

Here’s new GM Eric Bischoff to open things up. He insists that he loves all of us and promises the Rock will be here tonight. On top of that, we’re getting the man that is going to make this show #1 in all of entertainment: HHH. Cue the Game (with a LONG entrance) for his first official night as a member of the Raw roster. Bischoff tries to say he’s bringing up Raw but HHH says he’s bringing up his best friend instead. Shawn comes out to a very nice reaction but Bischoff cuts it off to name Shawn as HHH’s new manager.

He makes sure to say that Shawn will always be a few steps behind HHH, but that’s not cool with Shawn. Eric and Michaels have a brief exchange over who has more stroke with Bischoff saying he isn’t Vince. Shawn suggests Bischoff learn who he is, because he doesn’t react well to ultimatums. He’ll always take the highway instead of someone else’s way so he’s out of here. Bischff says Shawn is walking out on the fans but Shawn leaves anyway. HHH goes after him, allowing Eric to announce that the Intercontinental and European Titles will be unified in a ladder match tonight.

HHH catches up with Shawn in the back but Michaels doesn’t like being told what to do. Shawn knows HHH came to Raw because of him but Michaels didn’t choose to work for Bischoff. HHH says being his manager wouldn’t be that bad with Shawn’s back being that bad. Don’t be like Stone Cold and walk out with your ball. Trips has an idea to make this work and Shawn begrudgingly agrees to stay and listen.

Intercontinental Title/European Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy

Van Dam is IC, Jeff is European and this is a ladder match in case you have the attention span of a goldfish. Rob scores with an early dropkick and covers out of instinct. Instead he throws Jeff to the floor and nails him with a ladder. An early climb attempt doesn’t work as Jeff pops back up for a save. Now it’s Jeff loading up the ladder but getting it dropkicked out from under him.

Another dropkick knocks the ladder out of Van Dam’s hands so both guys slide in fresh ladders. They ram the ladders into each other and both guys go down. Rob gets the better of it and puts Jeff on the ladder for a cartwheel moonsault. Hardy pops up for another save with a Russian legsweep off the ladder. That’s not enough for Hardy of course so he puts the ladder on top of Van Dam for a Swanton to keep Rob in trouble.

Both guys go up again but it’s Van Dam with a sunset bomb to take Jeff down. Rolling Thunder onto Jeff onto the ladder keeps Hardy in trouble. Rob goes up but gets nailed in the back with another ladder, only to kick Jeff off his ladder. Van Dam drops a splash off the ladder before climbing back up to win the title in less than seven minutes.

Rating: C. The crashes were good but seven minutes with five minutes to get ready? That’s the best they can give to the last match for the European Title? And that’s really been gone for twelve years now? The match was fun enough but again, give it either a build or some more time. This was pretty ridiculous all things considered.

Here’s Christopher Nowitzki with something to say. He sucks up to Bischoff for giving him the chance to get something off his chest. Ever since he got here, he’s been perplexed as to why people hate a Harvard graduate. Before he can brag any further, here’s Undertaker to interrupt. He isn’t in the best mood after losing the WWE Title last night and it’s Nowitzki getting the beating to let off some frustration. A quick Last Ride and we’re done.

Bischoff tries to get Rhyno, almost back from neck surgery, to join Raw. Rhyno seems interested but doesn’t sign yet. Shawn Stasiak and D’Lo Brown come up and ask for a chance to get on Raw. Bischoff gives them three minutes to entertain him later tonight. I don’t see this going well for them.

Bubba Ray Dudley/Trish Stratus vs. Molly Holly/William Regal

The genders don’t have to match here. Bubba is very banged up coming off a tables match last night. The guys start with Regal taking a big backdrop but Bubba only has one good arm. Regal crawls over and hides with Molly before tagging her in. Molly wants a test of strength so Bubba does the arm switches into a dance, earning him a slap. Bubba spanks Molly to retaliate before it’s off to Stratus for some dropkicks. Regal cheats from the apron so Molly can grab a northern lights suplex for two.

Trish has to fight off the Englishman and scores with a dropkick before making the hot(ish) tag. Everything breaks down and Molly gets crotched on the top, leaving the good ones to What’s Up Regal. Bubba loads up the chest slap on Trish but puts the brakes on to keep it PG. As he goes to get the tables, Regal Germans Trish and puts on the Regal Stretch for the win.

Rating: D. Standard comedy match without much of the comedy here. Bubba stopping himself at Trish’s chest was a cute bit but other than that I have no idea why these teams were fighting. JR mentioned that the girls got to pick their partners but there’s no reason given for anything else.

Bischoff tells someone that they’re on when three minutes are up. He turns around and sees Benoit, who will be in a match later with Booker T. for a shot at the Intercontinental Title.

Here’s the new WWE Champion the Rock with something to say. Actually scratch that as he can barely get any words out over the fans’ cheering. FINALLY he’s ready to talk and says he won’t be riding motorcycles with Undertaker or drinking milk with Kurt Angle. After last night though, he has to thank them for having such a great match. That was last night though, but this is tonight.

Eddie Guerrero of all people interrupts and says he has a problem with La Rocka. He has two little girls at home and they both worship the ground their father walks on. However, he’s found posters of the Rock next to the posters of him. Eddie ripped the Rock poster down because Rock is just a movie star, so Rock calls him a sick psychopathic freak. Rock says Eddie is a movie star as well but doesn’t remember if Eddie was Cheech or Chong.

That’s a sign of jealousy in Eddie’s eyes, because everyone knows he’s a better wrestler than Rock. Eddie brags about his haircut, which Rock describes as Billy Ray Cyrus having sex with a stupid hyena. What does that even mean? Anyway, Eddie wants a match tonight and if he wins, he gets a title shot next week. Rock sings a Latino song and agrees to the match. As Rock is leaving, Brock Lesnar comes out for his match and walks by Rock, his opponent at Summerslam, without even looking at him.

Brock Lesnar vs. Tommy Dreamer

Singapore cane match. Tommy hammers away with the cane to start but Brock just ends him with a belly to belly on the floor. Back in and Brock drives shoulders to the ribs in the corner but Dreamer nails a low blow. The DDT gets two but Lesnar pops up for the F5 and academic win.

Undertaker comes out with some cane shots for revenge on Lesnar for an attack last week.

Big Show cuts on Shawn in the back and brings up a superkick from a few weeks ago. There’s no NWO to save Shawn now and Michaels agrees that he might not be able to fight now. Show laughs and leaves. Ok then.

Bischoff reminds Brown and Stasiak that they have three minutes.

Shawn Stasiak vs. D’Lo Brown

Brown hammers away to start and gets a few early two counts as Bischoff stands on the stage, checking his watch. Stasiak puts on an armbar and Bischoff rips into him for being boring. He cuts off the time and we get to the point: 3 Minute Warning (Jamal, later known as Umaga, and Rosey, later known as Rosey) debuts and mauls both guys.

HHH gives Shawn a bag and tells him to wear whatever is inside. Shawn looks pleased.

Goldust praises Booker’s performance against Big Show last night at Vengeance. It was like David beating Goliath and Booker is like a king. He gives Booker a Don King wig as the comedy continues.

Chris Benoit vs. Booker T.

Winner gets a future IC Title shot. Booker has bad ribs coming in from his match last night. A quick shoulder drops Benoit and a superkick does it even better. Benoit comes right back with a running elbow to the face for two before a hard whip drops Booker in the corner. Back up and another superkick drops the Canadian but he suplexes his way out of a sleeper.

Booker scores with another elbow to the jaw, followed by a missile dropkick for a close two. The ax kick misses and Benoit goes after the ribs. It’s Rolling Germans time with a bridge getting two. Booker’s spinning sunset flip out of the corner gets two more but Benoit sends him face first into an exposed buckle. The Crossface makes Booker tap.

Rating: C+. This is another pairing that it’s really hard to screw up. Booker’s rib injury made the match work well enough as it slowed Booker down to the point where Benoit winning that quickly made sense. This was back when both guys were still young enough to put on good matches and this worked better than most other stuff all night.

Bischoff comes out for commentary on the next match.

Big Show vs. Spike Dudley

I think you know the drill here. The chokeslam ends it in about a minute.

Bischoff tells Show to get a table, but Bubba comes out to save his half brother. That earns him a chokeslam through the table along with Spike for his efforts.

ARE YOU READY? The DX theme comes on and here are HHH and Shawn with the old colors on once again. Shawn talks about the rebels being back and HHH does the Are You Ready bit. They load up the pose and HHH turns on Shawn with a Pedigree. They kept this quick as it only took about four minutes from beginning to end.

HHH is leaving when Smackdown GM Stephanie pulls up. She sends a production guy to tell Bischoff that the competition has arrived.

The Rock vs. Eddie Guerrero

Non-title but Eddie gets a title shot next week if he wins here. Eddie cranks on a headlock but eats a shoulder for his efforts. Some armdrags set up an armbar from the champion and a big clothesline stops Eddie’s spinning escape. Eddie gets in his first real offense with a belly to back suplex before stomping away in the corner. A slugout almost gives Rock some momentum but he eats an elbow to the jaw.

We hit the chinlock from Guerrero before a dropkick gets a near fall. Off to a figure four headscissors to keep things fresh (more wrestlers could use that lesson) but Eddie gets caught cheating. A dropkick stops another comeback bid and we’re back in the chinlock. Back up and Rock scores with some right hands but the Rock Bottom is countered into a rollup for two. That was sweet as Eddie was coming down before he rolled through. The Frog Splash misses and it’s the spinebuster and a People’s Elbow for the pin.

Rating: C+. I know it wasn’t much but I really liked that counter. I didn’t expect it and the move looked cooler as a result. Guerrero wasn’t quite back to his old self yet and it would take awhile for him to get back into a groove. Rock was on his way out but still had it at this point. Nice match.

Post match Brock runs out and grabs the title. We get a staredown until Lesnar throws the belt down at Rock’s feet.

Bischoff goes up to Stephanie’s limo to mock her. She’s here to teach him a lesson and gets out of the limo. Eric mocks her with some Karate Kid poses as Heyman and Lesnar show up. Stephanie backs down….and leaves with Brock and Heyman, making both of them Smackdown exclusives. Bischoff is STUNNED to end the show. Oh wait we’re making fun of Austin now. Bischoff is SHOCKED to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. The main event helped this but it’s still not a great show. So much stuff felt rushed but at the end of the day, both main events of Summerslam are set (mostly) with Shawn vs. HHH looking like a great emotional feud. The show flying by so fast was annoying, but man alive does this sort of show hold up compared to the modern three hour version.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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Smackdown
Date: November 7, 2014
Location: Times Union Center, Albany, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Tom Phillips

As we switch from red to blue this week, the big story has Randy Orton being thrown out of the Authority and laid out with a pair of Curb Stomps. Other than that we have Cena and the Authority trying to firm up their teams for Survivor Series. So far both teams have only a few people but we have a few weeks to get ready. Let’s get to it.

Tag Team Titles: Stardust/Goldust vs. Usos

The Dusts are defending and this is inside a cage with pins, submissions or escape to win. Stardust tries to escape early but Jey makes a save. All four come in and we have an early standoff. We settle down to Goldust getting double teamed in the corner until Jimmy gets two off a standing flip splash. Jimmy sends him into the cage for the same result but his cross body only hits steel.

We take a break and come back with Goldust rubbing Jimmy’s face against the cage. A chinlock doesn’t get Goldust anywhere as Jimmy fights up and climbs the cage, only to be taken down with an electric chair. The second chinlock has Jimmy in more trouble but he fights up and climbs again. Goldust makes another stop but gets nailed by Whisper in the Wind.

Jey comes in off a hot tag to clean house and sends Stardust into the cage, setting up a superkick for two. Everything breaks down and Cross Rhodes gets two on Jey. Stardust goes up but Jey makes a save. All four guys get on turnbuckles, allowing Jimmy to superplex Goldust, setting up a Superfly Splash from Jey. Goldust is done but the legal Stardust grabs a rollup out of nowhere to retain at 12:15.

Rating: B-. That kickout of the Cross Rhodes helped this a good deal but I’m tired of seeing these guys fight so many times. Hopefully this wraps things up and we can get onto some new challengers. That brings us to the big problem though: who else can fight them? Los Matadores? Or are we stuck waiting on another thrown together team?

Network hype time.

We recap the Authority’s issues from Monday, culminating in Orton being knocked out so badly that he thinks he’s an actor.

Kane is in the ring to talk about handling Orton before Survivor Series. Randy should serve as an example of what’s coming to anyone else stands up to the Authority. Dolph Ziggler thinks he can survive Team Cena, but tonight he has to survive against Kane inside that steel cage. Back to Survivor Series, Team Authority has an open spot.

Kane wants to bring out a man that has everything they’re looking for but Cesaro cuts him off. Cesaro says he can survive everything WWE has thrown at him and would love to be on Team Authority. Kane says he wasn’t thinking about Cesaro, but if he can beat the guy Kane was thinking of, he can be on Team Authority.

Cesaro vs. Ryback

This is joined in progress after a break with Cesaro driving him into the corner and putting on a chinlock. A low dropkick to the face gets two on Ryback and a suplex gets the same. Back to the chinlock but Ryback fights up and flips Cesaro down. A big spinebuster puts Cesaro down and there’s the Meat Hook, only to have Cesaro escape Shell Shock.

Ryback is sent shoulder first into the post and a top rope elbow gives Cesaro two more. Cesaro loads up a suplex but Ryback counters into one of his own, only to have Cesaro drive upside down knees to Ryback’s head. Ryback grabs Cesaro’s leg as it comes down though and Shell Shocks him for the pin at 3:53.

Rating: C. Nice power match here with a good ending. I like stuff like that instead of just picking someone up and hitting your finisher as it looks like the guys are thinking instead of just following a script to a match. Ryback is starting to get momentum again and that’s a good thing for the weak face side of the roster.

Kane applauds Ryback but Ryback walks away without acknowledging him.

R-Truth vs. Adam Rose

This is a result of Truth saying the Bunny was the real star of the team. Truth nails a shoulder to start and does a quick Bunny hop. Rose puts his hand up and jumps into Truth’s arms, only to be thrown down. The Bunny jumps up on the apron, allowing Truth to roll up Rose for the pin at 1:24.

Rose lays out the Bunny post match and dances with the Rosebuds. The Bunny looks stunned. Well, as stunned as a Bunny can look.

Here’s the returning Christian for one more…..episode of the Peep Show. He asks the fans who they think is winning at Survivor Series and of course the people are behind Team Cena. Guest Dean Ambrose cuts him off though as he doesn’t like being patience. Christian asks what it’s like to be Dean now, because the last thing Christian remembers is Dean ticking off the entire roster as a member of the Shield.

Dean says he has no friends and is always looking over his shoulder but he wouldn’t have it any other way. As for Bray Wyatt, Dean doesn’t really know why he’s coming after him. Dean doesn’t have a title that Bray wants or anything like that, so maybe Bray is just preying on people like he always does. Bray likes to manipulate people’s minds, but Dean is just crazy enough that it doesn’t work. It’s a thrill to live the way he does, riding the edge of a lightning bolt. He loves living this way…and here’s Wyatt to cut him off.

Bray says Dean has nothing to fear because he has nothing to lose. There was a time when Dean had the security of the Shield around him but that was taken away, leaving Dean like a fish on land, gasping for air. Bray however, is a healer. He healed Harper and Rowan and now he can heal Ambrose. Wyatt can take Dean’s hand and heal all his pain, but not everyone can be saved.

Daniel Bryan once defied him and now Bryan is nowhere to be seen. What does Dean have to lose? His own father turned his back on him. Does he still send Ambrose postcards from prison? Bray invites Dean to prove him wrong, so Dean goes up the ramp as the lights cut off again. Ambrose gets to the stage and there’s no one in sight.

Video on preacher Xavier Woods.

We look at Rusev beating Sheamus on Monday’s post show. Since it’s an “exclusive”, we only see the last three minutes or so. After the match, Lana said they were taking the title back to Russia for Putin.

AJ says Brie slapped her on Monday but it was the evil twin that made her do so. Brie comes in to apologize, but it’s a ruse so Nikki can get in a cheap shot.

Summer Rae vs. Natalya

This is due to Summer spending too much time around Tyson Kidd earlier today. Considering how much Tyson and Natalya hate each other on Total Divas, it’s odd that Natalya would be annoyed at all. Kidd is on commentary and takes credit for weakening Sheamus for Rusev. Summer takes Natalya down with a bodyscissors until Nattie comes back with a slam. Cole suggests Kidd support his wife, so he gets up and tells her to put on the Sharpshooter. The distraction lets Summer grab a rollup for the pin at 1:34.

2K15 hype.

Cena vs. Ryback on Raw in England.

Dolph says he’ll do whatever it takes to get rid of the Authority. Cue HHH, who is surprised Ziggler is here after the beating Rollins gave him on Monday. Orton isn’t here tonight though, so who is going to save him tonight? Maybe he should save himself by joining the Authority.

Cole brings out the founder of an organization called Soldier Socks and a wounded soldier named Dan Rose. The founder talks about the organization as Rose is put into a different wheelchair. We get a news clip about some new technology that allows wounded soldiers to walk again. Back in the arena, Rose talks about losing the use of his legs due to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Using the new equipment, Rose is able to stand up and walk across the stage using two walking sticks. Rose gets a well deserved standing ovation. That’s a very cool moment to see and one of those things that is almost hard to believe.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane

Inside a cage and non-title. Before the match, we get the eyes vignette from Raw. Ziggler looks at the screen and isn’t sure what to make of it. Kane slugs away to start but gets caught in a faceplant for two. Dolph tries to climb out a few times but gets sent into the cage for his efforts. We take a break and come back with Dolph getting kicked in the face for two.

Kane takes off a turnbuckle pad but misses a charge into another corner, setting up Ziggler’s running DDT. Both guys climb to the top rope and both quickly get crotched for their efforts. Ziggler dives into an uppercut but escapes the chokeslam. He tries to escape and gets slammed down, setting up the chokeslam to knock him silly. Kane calls for a tombstone but takes WAY too long, allowing Ziggler to hit the Zig Zag for two.

Dolph takes too long going for the door, setting up a collision to put both guys down again. Back up and Kane misses a charge into the exposed buckle. Dolph climbs his back and over the cage but Kane kicks the door open to break Ziggler’s balance and leave him hanging on the door. Kane goes to escape but Dolph kicks the door onto his head and drops down to win at 11:36.

Rating: B. I liked this far better than I was expecting to as Ziggler got to look like a big deal in a showdown instead of having to have a bunch of run-ins to water the match down. Kane is a good guy for something like this as he looks intimidating and is a good monster to conquer. One thing I don’t get though: why not make this a title match? Kane is more than worthy of a midcard title shot and you can give Ziggler a win in a fairly big match. That could happen far more often than it does but you rarely see it. Good match though with a solid ending.

Overall Rating: B. This was the best Smackdown in probably months with two good matches that felt big and some promos that made the show feel like it mattered. It didn’t feel like it was a boring show that just there to fill in a few hours and then mean nothing. We even got something resembling an explanation from Wyatt for why he interrupted the Cell match. While most of the stuff isn’t going to go anywhere, it’s nice to treat this show like it matters for a change. Fun stuff tonight and the kind of show Smackdown needs to be more often.

Results

Stardust/Goldust b. Usos – Rollup to Jey

Ryback b. Cesaro – Shell Shock

R-Truth b. Adam Rose – Rollup

Summer Rae b. Natalya – Rollup

Dolph Ziggler b. Kane – Ziggler escaped the cage

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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Survivor Series 1998
Date: November 15, 1998
Location: Kiel Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Attendance: 21,779
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

This is what you call a one idea show as the entire show (almost) is dedicated to a tournament to crown a new world champion. Austin got robbed of the title and then wouldn’t count a win as guest referee in a title match, so tonight there’s a big tournament to determine the new champion. Also the Corporation now exists to make sure Austin doesn’t win. There’s also talk of someone joining the Corporation tonight as the Corporate Champion and the new top soldier for Vince. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is of the people in the tournament talking about wanting to be champion.

I’ve always loved the theme song to this show. I did when I was a kid and I have it on my iPod today.

JR and the King talk about a big brawl that happened on Heat. They don’t actually say WHO WAS IN IT, but it was apparently quite a braw.

Here are the tournament brackets:

Undertaker

BYE

Kane

BYE

Rock

HHH

Goldust

Ken Shamrock

Mankind

???

Jeff Jarrett

Al Snow

X-Pac

Steven Regal

Steve Austin

Big Boss Man

This is a tournament where you could have easily cut out the first round and made it an eight man tournament but I guess they needed to fill in the time.

Here’s Vince to open things up. If I remember right Undertaker and Kane recently shattered his ankle so he’s hopping to the ring. Vince does a big intro for Mankind who is Corporate but is more of a comedic putz who Vince manipulates to do whatever he wants. He’s also Hardcore Champion.

WWF World Title Tournament First Round: Mankind vs. ???

Vince gives a LONG speech about the mystery opponent and it’s….Duane Gill. He was a jobber who injured his shoulder and was gone for two years to WCW. The fans thought it would be Shawn Michaels and are ticked off by the reveal. Then again it’s meant to be a joke so it’s not that big of a deal. The pyro scares Gill to death ala Eric Young. Gill is wearing a Pasadena Chargers shirt, which is an elementary school football team he coaches. Mankind is in a tuxedo and wins in 30 seconds with the double arm DDT. It would seem that a conspiracy is afoot.

Earlier tonight on Heat, Jacqueline jumped Sable. This gives us ANGRY Sable which is more funny than interesting or intimidating.

WWF World Title Tournament: Jeff Jarrett vs. Al Snow

This is Debra’s PPV debut. The winner gets Mankind and the first round matches only have ten minute time limits. Snow chases Debra around on the floor but hits a flip dive onto Jarrett off the stairs in a cool spot. We head inside and I think a bell has rung but I’m not sure. Jeff hotshots Al onto the top rope to take over but Snow is looking all psycho. Snow comes back and takes Jeff down before going up.

A guillotine legdrop misses and a dropkick takes Al down for two. Snow comes back with a crucifix for another two and counters a spinebuster into a DDT for two. They collide and here’s Debra with the Head. Snow goes to find it but gets Jeff’s guitar instead. Jeff finds Head but the referee gets the guitar out of the ring. During the distraction, Snow steals Head and KO’s Jarrett with it to advance.

Rating: C+. This is a good idea: take two talented guys and let them have a match. What more do you need to do? The ending was a little screwy but they got there on a smooth wrestling match. When Russo could be held back from making things too crazy, late 98 WWF had more than enough talent to put on fun matches like this. Good stuff.

WWF World Title Tournament: Steve Austin vs. Big Boss Man

They’re flying through this so far. Boss Man goes after Austin in the aisle but you don’t win a fist fight against Austin in 1998. Austin sends him into the steps and we head in for the bell. Vince is watching in the back as Austin hits the Thesz Press and the middle finger elbow for two. Boss Man hits Austin low to come back but it just gets a warning. After a quick chinlock there’s the running crotch attack to Austin’s back and an uppercut for two. Austin makes his comeback and stomps a mudhole in the corner. We head to the floor and Boss Man hits Austin in the ribs with a nightstick for the DQ.

Rating: C-. Nothing of note to see here but this was more about story than the match. Did anyone expect Austin to get eliminated by Boss Man? This is the kind of roll Boss Man was good at: enhancing a story and taking something out of the bigger name before we get to the important stuff with the bigger names later on. There’s nothing wrong with that and it kept him employed for years.

Vince smiles at the ending as Austin gets beaten down by the stick some more. He says the night is young.

WWF World Title Tournament First Round: X-Pac vs. Steven Regal

This is one of those matches that doesn’t need to exist. The winner gets Austin and X-Pac is European Champion coming in. Regal is a REAL MAN’S MAN here. Lawler sings the song as Regal comes to the ring in a funny bit. Either that or the audio messed up there for a bit. Pac kicks him down and suplexes Regal for two. Two of those fast legdrops get another two on Regal but the Bronco Buster misses.

Regal puts on an abdominal stretch on the mat as things slow down a bit. Regal charges into the corner but gets caught in a sunset flip but he rolls out of that too and hits a slingshot to send Pac flying. Off to a surfboard stretch as things slow down again. This is probably the longest match so far and it’s not even four minutes in yet. A gutwrench suplex puts Pac down and it’s off to a headscissors.

Pac rolls that over and gets a freaky looking hold where he was on his back with his legs by Regal’s head but he was cranking on the legs in a Sharpshooter position. That gets him nowhere but it looked good. Regal puts Pac on the top and hits a butterfly superplex for two. Back to another rib/arm hold as the fans are getting a little restless. Back up and they collide in the corner before X-Pac kicks his head off for two. The Bronco Buster hits this time but Pac goes up and gets crotched, falling to the floor. They fight for awhile out there and it’s a double countout to give Austin a bye.

Rating: C-. Much like the other three matches, this didn’t need to exist. The match was ok and one of the longer matches of the night (about eight minutes) but it doesn’t need to happen. This is a match you could easily take out and give to a longer match later on. I mean, did ANYONE see these two as threats to the title? Of course not.

Vince isn’t happy with that and insists on overtime. It’s sudden death too, making it just like every other wrestling match on the show tonight. That goes nowhere though as X-Pac walks to the back.

WWF World Title Tournament First Round: Goldust vs. Ken Shamrock

Shamrock is IC Champion coming in. Ken starts with a leg lariat and pounds away at Goldie. Goldust misses a lariat but a second attempt connects to shift the momentum. Shamrock clotheslines him out of the corner for two as this is starting very slowly so far. Off to a reverse chinlock followed by a Russian legsweep for two. A regular chinlock follows that up but Goldust makes a comeback. That lasts about four seconds as Shamrock avoids a charge in the corner. A powerbomb from Goldie is countered and the referee blocks his Shattered Dreams attempt. It’s rana, belly to belly and ankle lock for the tap out win for Ken.

Rating: D-. This was a long and uninteresting squash. Goldust was at a weird point here as he didn’t really do anything and wasn’t weird or creepy anymore. He was just kind of there as a guy who used to be good but in this match he could have been Barry Horowitz and been as much of a threat to Shamrock. Terribly dull stuff here.

Austin has refused medical attention but Cole thinks he’ll be here later in the tournament.

WWF World Title Tournament First Round: The Rock vs. HHH

Oh wait HHH is hurt so we’ve got a replacement.

WWF World Title Tournament First Round: The Rock vs. Big Boss Man

Roc literally immediately rolls Boss Man up and wins in three seconds, setting a new WWF record.

Here are the updated brackets for the quarterfinals:

Undertaker

Kane

Rock

Ken Shamrock

Mankind

Al Snow

Steve Austin

BYE

WWF World Title Tournament Quarterfinals: Undertaker vs. Kane

Taker has Bearer here and is heel but he’s against the other heel faction headed by Vince. Naturally they were working together all along but that wouldn’t be revealed for about seven months. Kane pounds on Taker in the corner and not a lot of selling is going on. Kane kicks Taker down and clotheslines him out to the floor. The masked one stays on the offense on the floor but gets dropped face first onto the barricade.

Back in and Taker slugs away but there still isn’t much selling going on. Kane powerslams Taker down but Taker sits up to avoid an elbow. Kane sits up as well and we get more punching. Taker gets a boot up in the corner and starts working on Kane’s leg. The leg work goes on for awhile because neither guy is capable of doing anything with any kind of speed whatsoever. They get back up and it’s MORE punching. This is slow even for a Taker match to give you an indication of what I’m sitting through.

Taker gets caught in the corner with a clothesline and the top rope clothesline follows it up for two. They slug it out some more and good grief SELL SOMETHING ALREADY! Taker tries a chokeslam but gets countered into one by Kane. Bearer distracts Kane on the apron though and Taker pops up with a tombstone to eliminate Kane.

Rating: F+. This was horrible as it was clear Taker wasn’t interested in trying and Kane was only able to do so much in the first place. The match sucked as a result and things would only get worse as time went on. We would soon get into crucifixions, burials (as in dirt over bodies in graves) and demonic possessions. WRESTLING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

WWF World Title Tournament Quarterfinals: Mankind vs. Al Snow

Mankind is still in his tuxedo. Snow jumps him to start and hits a clothesline for no cover. Mankind heads to the floor for a chair but Snow gets in a few shots to block it. A big chair shot misses Mankind against the post and Snow gets dropped on the chair to give the masked guy control. Back in and Snow grabs Head but Mankind suplexes him down to take it out of Snow’s hands. Here’s Socko (which had been stolen by Snow and wrapped around Head’s…uh…self? Mankind clotheslines Snow down but gets caught in a sitout spinebuster for two. The double arm DDT puts Snow down and the Claw finishes Snow.

Rating: D+. Another pretty worthless match but Mankind and Snow always seemed to have fun together out there. At the end of the day though, it’s Al Snow vs. Mankind in a world title tournament match so it wasn’t exactly a secret as to who was going to win. Then again that’s the problem with almost every wrestling tournament you have. Not much to see here but it could have been worse.

WWF World Title Tournament Quarterfinals: Ken Shamrock vs. The Rock

Winner gets Undertaker. Shamrock gets in a quick kick to the face but Rock clotheslines him down to take over. Ken hooks a quick suplex for two and hits a clothesline in the corner. Rock hits another clothesline to take over. Out to the floor and Rock spits water in Shamrock’s face, prompting Ken to send him into the steps. Back in and Shamrock stomps away before hitting a leg lariat to take Rock down.

A Russian legsweep gets two for Shamrock and a running knee lift sets up a chinlock. Rock comes back with right hands but here comes Boss Man. Back to the chinlock as the fans get on the Boss Man. Rock makes a quick comeback attempt but gets caught in the ankle lock. While that would make Rock tap out in a few seconds back in the day, he’s a good guy now so he fights to a rope.

Double clotheslines put both guys down and Rock starts taking over. Boss Man tries to interfere but it allows Rock to hit Shamrock low. There’s the People’s Elbow but it only gets two. The Rock Bottom is countered but Boss Man throws in the nightstick to Shamrock. Rock intercepts it though and KO’s Ken to make the final four.

Rating: C-. Another not that great match here but it was better than most of what we’ve had so far. Shamrock is another guy like Boss Man who is a great soldier but was never going to get much higher than he was here. He certainly had a better chance at it than Boss Man, but that’s not saying all that much.

The final four are now set:

Undertaker

The Rock

Mankind

Steve Austin

Bearer says Undertaker will win.

Women’s Title: Sable vs. Jacqueline

Jackie is defending. Shane McMahon is referee after being demoted by Vince. Jackie kicks Sable down and, wait for it, runs her mouth. Sable comes back with a TKO but Mero pulls her out at two. Sable kicks Mero low and powerbombs him on the floor. Jackie decks Sable and runs her mouth some more. Did I mention I REALLY don’t like Jackie? Sable counters a tornado DDT and powerbombs Jackie for the pin and the title.

Rating: D-. It came, it went, it wasn’t any good at all. People actually cared Sable, but the title became a prop very quickly. There’s just nothing else to say here.

WWF World Title Tournament Semifinals: Mankind vs. Steve Austin

Austin is banged up from the nightstick attack earlier but he goes right at Mankind to start. He rips Mankind’s shoe off and whacks him in the head with it as Vince is wheeled out. The distraction lets Mankind take over and hit a running knee in the corner. There’s the Thesz Press but Mankind escapes the Stunner. Mankind runs out of the ring and towards the entrance but the Stooges bring him back.

Foley sends Austin into the steps and then into the crowd as we’re firmly in brawl mode here. Back to ringside and Austin goes face first into the steps. Off to a reverse chinlock in the ring on Austin but Stone Cold makes a comeback. They clothesline each other down and Vince is getting worried. Austin rams into him and stomps a mudhole but Mankind goes out and gets a chair. That gets kicked into his face but Mankind hits the double arm onto the chair for two.

A piledriver on the chair is broken up because it would have destroyed Austin’s neck which was already in pieces. The Stunner hits but Vince jumps out of his wheelchair and beats up the referee. Mankind loses his tuxedo pants and puts on the Claw but there’s the Stunner. Shane comes in to count the pin but stops at two and flips Austin off, opening up a BIG plot hole which was probably explained by Russo logic. Remember that it was SHANE that rehired Austin, but apparently he was working with his dad the whole time. So why rehire him? Anyway Brisco hits Austin with a chair and Mankind takes the pin to go to the finals.

Rating: C+. Definitely the best match of the night so far. It was insanely overbooked but it was certainly the best match. Imagine that: take two of the best ever and give them some time and you get the best match of the night. This also opens up the door for a surprise ending, as Austin was the favorite going into the tournament. Basically they’ve done the DiBiase master plan from Mania IV but it actually worked here.

Vince and company immediately get in the limo and leave with Austin in pursuit. Austin hijacks a car and we’ve got a chase scene.

WWF World Title Tournament Semifinals: The Rock vs. Undertaker

Rock pounds away in the corner to start but Taker gets in a clothesline to the back of the head to take Rock down. We head to the floor and after being sent into the barricade, Taker knocks Rock’s head off with another clothesline. Back inside and an elbow puts Rock down before Taker chokes on the mat. An uppercut puts Rock in the ropes and Taker pounds away.

Taker charges at Rock but gets backdropped to the floor and hit in the face with a water bottle. They head into the crowd for a few seconds and Taker gets the advantage back again. They slug it out with Taker getting the advantage again before walking into a Samoan Drop. Here comes the Boss Man again as Taker sits up. Rock comes back and loads up the Elbow but Boss Man trips him up. Taker hits Boss Man for reasons of EVIL, but here’s Kane to chokeslam Rock, sending him to the finals by DQ.

Rating: D. If there have ever been two big names with worse chemistry than Rock and Undertaker, I’d like to know who they are. These two just could not have a good match together if their lives depended on it back in the Attitude Era. It never clicked no matter how many times they main evented PPVs. This didn’t work either but at least it wasn’t that long of a match.

Taker and Kane brawl everywhere.

Mankind is ready to climb his last Rock.

Tag Titles: New Age Outlaws vs. Headbangers vs. D’Lo Brown/Mark Henry

The Outlaws are defending of course. This was set up on Raw with both challenging teams doing something that I can’t remember to earn the shot. Billy and Brown start things off but Mosh comes in off a blind tag to try to steal a pin on Billy. Mosh hits a running body attack in the corner on Gunn before diving at Brown as well. This is pretty messy so far. The Outlaws pound on the former Nation guys in opposite corners before the Headbangers double team Roadie.

Brown and Mosh trade pin attempts on Dogg. This is the old triple threat tag match rules where there are three people at a time in there which I’ve always preferred. Off to Henry for a bearhug on Roadie until Mosh makes the save. Off to Brown, Thrasher and Dogg as this continues to be ugly stuff. Gunn gets in a LOUD argument with the referee as Brown ranas Thrasher off the top.

Roadie pounds on Brown and Thrasher but Henry takes his head off with a clothesline. Brown’s running powerbomb to Thrasher is countered into a sunset flip for two. A Henry legdrop gets the same on Dogg, followed by the Headbangers double teaming Roadie for the same. Brown offers a pact with Mosh but gets kicked in the balls for his efforts. JR can almost be heard moaning at how bad this match is. Roadie finally escapes the beating for the hot tag to Billy. The fans LOVED the Outlaws so at least they’re reacting here.

Brown hits the Sky High on Billy but since everyone is out of position, it takes forever to start the count. Jesse Ventura would have a field day with this. To further the stupidity here, Billy hits a Fameasser on Mosh but Henry makes the save with a splash, also hitting Mosh. Mark just stays on top of Mosh for a cover, but after two finisher it only gets two. That Mosh man, he’s TOUGH. Billy finally piledrives Mosh to retain the titles.

Rating: F. This was terrible and there’s no other way to put it. They were all over the place and no one was even reading the same book out there. The referee had to count very slowly so the saves could be made and there was no flow to this at all. Just awful and JR’s commentary makes it even funnier, but in a kind of sad way.

We recap Austin getting cheated out of the finals.

WWF World Title: The Rock vs. Mankind

Vince and Shane are back and are talking with Boss Man backstage. Feeling out process to start as Lawler makes fun of Halloween Havoc going off the air earlier a few weeks prior to this. Rock gets two off a clothesline and they head to the floor quickly. Rock gets rammed into the steps and Mankind takes over. Back inside for a chinlock as the McMahons come out. JR is very annoyed at various things and he vents a bit as they come to the ring. A suplex gets Rock out of the hold and Mankind is sent outside.

Rock suplexes Mankind on the floor but he has to go after the McMahons a bit. Into the crowd we go with Rock in control. He backdrops Mankind back to ringside and we head into the ring for a Rock chinlock. Mankind fights back up and hits a Cactus Clothesline to take it back to the floor. A chair takes Rock down again and Mankind gets the steps, only to have them knocked down onto him. Rock pounds on the steps on Mankind with the chair before cracking Mankind over the head with the chair.

That gets two back in the ring but Mankind kicks Rock low to take over again. Rock is sent back to the floor for the elbow off the apron. Mankind starts taking the announce table apart as JR loses it even more. Mankind is heel for the most part coming in but he’s a sympathetic heel. A legdrop on the table mostly misses Rock but it gets two back inside. Off to the chinlock again and Rock’s comeback is cut short by a backdrop to the floor again.

Back in again and Rock hits a DDT to put both guys down. Mankind sends him to the floor AGAIN but a middle rope elbow to the floor sends the masked one through the announce table. The crash looked great if nothing else. We head back inside and the People’s Elbow gets two. A double arm DDT puts Rock down and here’s Socko. Rock hangs on in the Claw forever and comes out of it with a Rock Bottom but it only gets a delayed two. Rock puts on the Sharpshooter and Vince says ring the bell just like last year, giving Rock the title, because Rock is Corporate. He’s also the new champion.

Rating: C-. This definitely wasn’t their best performance with the constant going to the floor getting old fast. Mankind would have his day but it would take awhile to get there. This was all about the shock which shouldn’t be a shock when you think about it. All night it was assumed that Mankind was the Corporate guy, but let’s look at this.

Rock’s first match was against a corporate guy and he just happens to get the easiest pin ever. Then a corporate guy throws in a nightstick so Rock can beat another corporate guy. Then Rock wins by DQ, and now this. That’s establishing a story and giving clues instead of an illogical swerve. It’s easy to tell which is better as this is shocking, but also MAKES SENSE. This is what Russo was capable of, but we almost never got to see it.

Rock hugs the McMahons and JR erupts. Vince says the people have themselves to blame and the explanation is coming tomorrow on Raw. Mankind isn’t sure what to do. Vince brags about screwing Austin over and Shane brags a bit in general. Rock says it’s time for the fans to pucker up to him. Mankind wants to know why he lost because he never gave up. Rock hits him with the belt and here’s Austin to clean house. This set up Rock vs. Austin for the title the next night in a HUGE match which I believe set a then ratings record.

Overall Rating: D+. This show was ALL about the stories and not much about the wrestling. The matches were mostly bad with a few ok ones, but those aren’t the point. This was about Vince and Shane doing their things and getting their Corporate Champion. All of that was accomplished and this set the stage until Wrestlemania. This show doesn’t really hold up that well on its own, but in context this would have been gold.

Ratings Comparison

Mankind vs. Duane Gill

Original: N/A

Redo: N/A

Al Snow vs. Jeff Jarrett

Original: B+

Redo: C+

Steve Austin vs. Big Boss Man

Original: D

Redo: C-

X-Pac vs. Steven Regal

Original: B

Redo: C-

Ken Shamrock vs. Goldust

Original: D+

Redo: D-

The Rock vs. Big Boss Man

Original: A (For Are you kidding me)

Redo: N/A

Undertaker vs. Kane

Original: C-

Redo: F+

Mankind vs. Al Snow

Original: D

Redo: D+

The Rock vs. Ken Shamrock

Original: C-

Redo: C-

Sable vs. Jacqueline

Original: D

Redo: D-

Mankind vs. Steve Austin

Original: C+

Redo: C+

The Rock vs. Undertaker

Original: B-

Redo: D

New Age Outlaws vs. D’Lo Brown/Mark Henry vs. The Headbangers

Original: F

Redo: F

Mankind vs. The Rock

Original: B-

Redo: C-

Overall Rating:

Original: C+

Redo: D+

Man what was I thinking with some of those ratings? I had no idea what I was doing back then and it shows.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/11/07/history-of-survivor-series-count-up-1998-deadly-game-the-tournament-not-hhh/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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

Today we’re going to look at one of the best technical wrestlers you’ll find: Nick Dinsmore.

Dinsmore got his start in 1996 in OVW where he would spend the majority of his career. However we’ll pick him up as a jobber on Nitro, September 21, 1998.

Nick Dinsmore vs. Wrath

Dinsmore is more famous as Eugene. Wrath throws him into the corner to start and sidesteps a dropkick. Meltdown ends this squash quick.

From the next week on the same show.

Lenny Lane/Nick Dinsmore vs. Scott Steiner

Steiner talks some trash about his brother before the match. Lane is quickly sent to the floor and Dinsmore gets tossed around with ease. Steiner’s dinner changes places and Lane is put in the Tree of Woe. Dinsmore is tossed into the steps and Bagwell gets in some cheap shots of his own. Scott suplexes Nick onto Lenny and a double Steiner Recliner is good for the win.

As hard as it is to find, I have to put in something from OVW. Here’s Dinsmore on OVW TV on May 1, 1999.

Nick Dinsmore vs. Pawn of Destruction

Dinsmore is OVW Champion and The Pawn of Destruction is a masked man Iron Man Rob Conway jumps on commentary and says he wants a title match right now. Conway is Dinsmore’s longtime partner but they’re now feuding with Dinsmore barely hanging onto the title. As a fighting champions, Dinsmore says bring it on.

OVW Title: Nick Dinsmore vs. Rob Conway

Conway is wrestling in sunglasses because he’s a jerk. Apparently Nick doesn’t like them as he rams Rob into the buckle to knock them off. A belly to belly puts Conway down but Rob comes back with knees to the ribs. He crotches Dinsmore on top and nails him in the head with a right hand. Some elbows to the jaw put Conway down but he ducks his head and takes an X-Factor. A pair of dropkicks drop Rob again and a top rope clothesline looks to set up Dinsmore’s German suplex, only to have Damaja (Danny Basham) come in for a distraction, allowing Conway to grab a rollup for the pin and the title.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have time to go anywhere and it’s clear that neither guy was ready to do more than a few minutes. Dinsmore did well enough with his high flying but I didn’t get the chance to see enough from Conway. The title change doesn’t mean much as Dinsmore got the title back nine days later.

Here’s Dinsmore with more experience and a better opponent at OVW Christmas Chaos 2001.

OVW Title: Chris Benoit vs. Nick Dinsmore

Dinsmore is more or less the best wrestler of all time in OVW. He more or less was a Benoit clone so this should be interesting. Benoit had lost the IC Title ten days before this so he was pretty big as you would expect. He yells at the crowd about how awesome he is and still gets a face pop. Benoit is freaking jacked. Cornette talks about how great Dinsmore’s German suplex is.

It’s weird to see Dinsmore looking in great shape as opposed to being kind of chubby as Eugene. We start with a technical match of course as that’s both guys’ bread and butter. They hit a Test of Strength and Benoit gets him down onto the mat but Dinsmore bridges out. In an incredibly impressive spot, Benoit jumps into the air and drops down onto said bridge but can’t break it. He does it again and STILL Dinsmore stays up. That was awesome looking.

Pinfall reversal sequence gets two for both guys. Benoit outmaneuvers Dinsmore with relative ease because he’s Chris Benoit. Chris works the arm and hooks a surfboard. Dinsmore fights back a bit but it doesn’t last long as Benoit works on the knee a bit. He drapes Nick over the top rope and might have hurt his ribs.

Dinsmore hasn’t been in control for the whole match so far as Benoit is dominating. Nick gets a small package for two and Benoit is like OH NO YOU DIDN’T and chops the heck out of him. Off to a chinlock as this has been going almost ten minutes now. OVW was part of the NWA at this point. I didn’t realize that and it kind of surprises me as they’re also part of the WWF system.

Another rollup gets two so Benoit takes his head off again. Benoit pounds on him some more but Dinsmore goes for a backslide. Benoit blocks so Dinsmore rolls through into a sunset flip. As he has every time though, once Dinsmore gets a rollup he gets his head taken off by Benoit. Nick gets a Dragon Screw Leg Whip out of nowhere which gets him nowhere also.

Dinsmore gets a fifth or sixth rollup and for the fifth or sixth time he gets his head taken off. Benoit goes up but Nick runs up the ropes and chops the tar out of him. Superplex puts Benoit down but Dinsmore is half dead too. They slug it out and here comes Dinsmore. Superkick (is there anyone in OVW that doesn’t use that move?) sets up a missile dropkick which sets up the German Suplex but Rico Constantino runs in for the DQ as he goes after Dinsmore.

Rating: B. Good match here but nothing classic. This was more or less Benoit beating the heck out of Nick for about 15 minutes and then Dinsmore finally getting some offense in. The ending works as you can’t have Benoit win the title but you don’t want to have him lose to Dinsmore clean either. Constantino would take the title from Dinsmore in about a month. Best match of the night so far.

Dinsmore would be in a dark match before Raw on May 14, 2001.

Leviathan vs. Nick Dinsmore

That would be Batista. He easily powers Dinsmore into the corner to start and shrugs off some forearms. A powerslam plants Dinsmore and there’s the spinebuster for good measure. Some kicks to the back of Dinsmore’s head have him in trouble and we hit the chinlock. Back up and Leviathan misses a Brogue Kick, setting up a missile dropkick from Dinsmore. Leviathan shrugs it off and nails a clothesline, setting up a ProtoBomb for the pin.

Rating: D+. Not much to see here but it was clear that Leviathan was going to be a big deal with some more ring time. There’s only so much you can do with a guy that strong when you’re a technical guy like Dinsmore but at least he was trying. The fans really didn’t seem to care here though.

We’ll jump ahead to Heat on July 20, 2003.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Nick Dinsmore

Dinsmore, now with a beard, kicks Dreamer into the corner but gets slammed down. Nick bails to the floor and pulls Dreamer down to wrap the arm around the post. Back in and Dinsmore stays on the arm like a smart wrestler would but dives into a raised boot like an idiot. Tommy makes a quick comeback with some backdrops and a neckbreaker followed by a Sky High for two. A quick Death Valley Driver is enough to pin Dinsmore.

Dinsmore would become Eric Bischoff’s mentally challenged nephew Eugene in 2004. Eugene mentioned that HHH was his favorite wrestler so HHH decided to use him as a lackey. He set Eugene up in a tag match with Evolution member Ric Flair at Vengeance 2004.

Raw Tag Titles: La Resistance vs. Eugene/Ric Flair

Take a guess as to who the champions are here. On a random note, Lillian in Go-Go Boots is AWESOME. Flair’s music cuts off the French national anthem to a huge cheer. The look on Flair’s face when he looks at Eugene is hilarious. Eugene and Conway start us off and the Kentucky guy struts. These two were a team in OVW called the Lords of the Ring who won like 10 tag titles there. He starts using a bunch of Flair moves resulting in the required freak out from Flair.

Flair hasn’t even been in yet. Flair finally comes in and Grenier is in trouble. He’s one of those guys that never actually did anything but had a job because he fit into a tag team. Flair for the most part probably used more basic stuff than anyone ever while making it work. I mean really, how many complex moves can you think of Flair using? He does really basic stuff but he does it so efficiently that he makes himself look great while at the same time making others look great. That’s a very rare quality.

The figure four goes on but Conway makes the save. Flair is RIDICULOUSLY popular here. For some reason this is getting some time. It says a lot when a guy like Flair, a member of the top heel stable, is getting cheered this much. There’s a massive row of signs that spell out WOO in the crowd. There are a lot more o’s in there though which I’d guess you figured out.

Why is it that you never see guys use the front facelock in singles matches but you see it all the time in tags? Without a tag, Flair gets hit by Au Revoir (the champions’ finisher) but Eugene Eugenes Up and beats the heck out of them. And then he knocks the referee down for the CHEAP DQ. Eugene hits a Stunner and Rock Bottom on them after the match.

Rating: C. I don’t think anyone was really expecting much here or a title change and that’s about what they got. This was by no means bad but it’s nothing great at all. Flair and Eugene were part of a far more important angle that would culminate with HHH beating up a slow man on PPV. Still though, not awful at all but nothing special either.

Eugene then cost HHH a title match, setting up a showdown at Summerslam 2004.

HHH vs. Eugene

They slug it out to start and HHH stomps him into the corner. Eugene comes back with an elbow to the face and a backdrop, sending HHH rolling to the floor. An ax handle off the apron puts HHH down and the booing begins. As in people are booing Eugene. This sounds like a good time for a sidebar.

For those of you that weren’t around in 2004, Eugene was easily the most over guy on the roster for a few weeks. I mean his music would play and the crowd would just explode, no matter what city they were in. Even I was a big fan of the guy. He was such a fun and innocent character that it was almost impossible to not like him. It was so goofy to see him doing Stunners and Rock Bottoms and stuff Junk Yard Dog did back in the day because it was like watching a five year old wrestle. Then one night he was shown in a gym beating William Regal in a chain wrestling contest, making him even more popular.

In other words, the Eugene character was a full on success. This is where WWE screwed everything up. Instead of just letting Eugene be what he was and make occasional appearances to pop the crowd (or open house show matches beating some annoying heel), they pushed it too far. The minute they put him in a story about the world title with main event level guys, it was all over.

At the end of the day, that’s just not what the people wanted Eugene to be. They wanted it to be fun and silly so they could have a good time with it, but WWE tried to make it serious, completely killing the joke. As soon as you tell fans that Eugene’s character has a problem, you’re no longer laughing at a guy who does goofy things but rather you’re laughing at a slow guy, which no one wants to do.

This lead to the fans not wanting to watch Eugene anymore, because he really was just a guy doing a bunch of random wrestling moves and had no business being at this level (Note that Nick Dinsmore, the guy that portrayed Eugene is a very talented wrestler. His character was what didn’t belong here, not Dinsmore himself. BIG difference). When you try to force the fans to like something in a way they don’t want to, it’s going to blow up in a hurry. The lesson to be learned: don’t make the audience go somewhere they don’t want to go, because at the end of the day they make the decisions, not the company.

So anyway HHH hides behind Lillian to get the advantage and rams Eugene into the barricade before heading back inside for some stomping. He loads up the announce table but Eugene suplexes him back in to block. Eugene pounds away back inside but HHH sends him to the floor. Back in and HHH hits some backbreakers after suckering Eugene in after faking an injury. Eugene comes back so HHH begs off again, only to be pulled into a Rock Bottom and a People’s Elbow, with the latter being pulled into a spinebuster from HHH.

They head outside again with HHH sending him into the steps, busting Eugene’s shoulder open. Back inside and HHH continues toying with him before hooking a sleeper. Eugene shakes his finger at two arm drops before powering up and pounding away. He Hulks Up, catches the boot and does the Austin version of the finger in the face before hitting a Stunner. Back to the floor (again?) and here’s Flair.

Eugene hits the big boot and legdrop for two but has to deck Flair. A Pedigree is countered into a catapult and Eugene hits one of his own but it’s Flair making the save. Flair trips Eugene and gets ejected, drawing out Regal to knock Flair out cold. The distraction lets HHH hit the Pedigree for the pin on Eugene.

Rating: D-. Let’s recap: it took fourteen minutes and help from Flair for HHH to beat a slow guy. On the other hand, we had to sit through fourteen minutes of HHH vs. a slow guy and HHH had to sell most of the offense. AT SUMMERSLAM! This was the death of the Eugene character, even though he would win the tag titles with Regal soon after this. Somehow he went on THREE MORE YEARS, which is remarkable after how stupid this match was.

Here’s a rematch on Raw, August 30, 2004.

HHH vs. Eugene

No DQ. Eugene comes out in a poorly buttoned San Francisco Giants jersey to suck up to the crowd. You would think he would get how serious this was after HHH beat him up at Summerslam. HHH jumps him again here but Eugene comes back with headlocks and something resembling an AA. Back up and Eugene gets two off a backslide before heading right back to the headlock. HHH comes back with a stiff right hand and a low blow to take over.

Eugene is thrown over the top rope, injuring his arm in the process. HHH of course pounds away on the injured slow guy because he can be a good heel when he tries. No sarcasm in that if you’re looking for any. Back in and Eugene walks into a spinebuster followed by the knee drop so HHH can strut around a bit more. Eugene gets rammed into the buckles but it’s Hulk Up time. He slugs HHH down and hits a top rope ax handle for two followed by an old school thumb to the eye.

A Rock Bottom looks to set up a Stunner but HHH grabs a sleeper. HHH: “ROCK A BYE BABY EUGENE!” Eugene is almost out but HHH lets go before the third arm drop. It didn’t work for Adrian Adonis back in 87 but at least HHH follows up with a Pedigree. HHH lets him up again and pulls out the hammer, only to have Orton (in wrestling gear after wearing a suit earlier for no apparent reason) to take the hammer away. A shot to the ribs and an RKO put HHH down and Orton puts Eugene on top for what is supposed to be some huge moment.

Rating: D+. Well that happened. Anyone who has watched wrestling for more than five minutes in their lives knew that Orton was going to cost HHH the match, but it’s not like this really means anything. It doesn’t help when Eugene didn’t move for the last five minutes of the show after a sleeper and a Pedigree.

Eugene would plumet down the card after this before winning the Tag Team Titles with William Regal. Here they are defending at New Year’s Revolution 2005.

Raw Tag Titles: Eugene/William Regal vs. Christian/Tyson Tomko

Regal and Eugene are past their peak of intrigue but at least it’s about to end. However it’s because Eugene destroys his knee in this and is out for about 6 months because of it. For once the Spanish announce team serves a perfect function. I have no idea what I mean by that either. Christian is completely lacking credibility at this point but he’ll be heading to TNA later in the year.

Eugene is wearing a Hogan shirt for no apparent reason. It’s a comedy match in case you didn’t get it. This is where the Eugene character needed to go away. Good night Christian deserves better than this. And Eugene hits the floor and slaps hands with the fans for no apparent reason. He follows this up to dive under the ring. I already hate this match. We get an airplane spin as I would love to hear Gorilla and Jesse argue over Eugene.

The intellectually challenged one Hulks Up and tags Regal in. Well at least he’s willing to let someone else in for the glory part. Oh man Christian gets a shot in on the nose and Regal is bleeding badly. Christian pulls Eugene off the apron and Regal gets there for a tag but there’s no partner. Can I get some Wah Wah Wah music? This is running way too long at this point.

Eugene gets a big old pop for the hot tag. He cleans house but lands badly on his knee, ripping it to pieces and putting him on the shelf for six months. He’s more or less dead weight now and I don’t think the others know it yet. To his credit though he hobbles up and gets a bad rollup on Tomko whose shoulder was up but to be fair he did what he could. He gets taken out on a stretcher.

Rating: B-. It was a formula tag match but the ending changes the whole thing. It’s fairly clear that the champions retained here, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say B-. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t great either. Eugene gets bonus points for finishing the match though so there we are.

Eugene would come back after several months off and appear at Taboo Tuesday 2005.

Rob Conway/Tyson Tomko vs. Eugene/Jimmy Snuka

Conway was a cocky guy with a legend hating gimmick which was dumb since Orton had just gotten done doing that. So is the mentally slow guy supposed to carry this team? Snuka looks out of shape here, nearly three and a half years before he was at Mania last year. Eugene and Tomko start us off and we’re already into the comedy portion as Eugene does the one hand up one hand down routine for the Test of Strength.

Conway wears his sunglasses during the match. Ok then. Eugene and Conway were more or less the most dominant tag team in the history of OVW, winning like 9 tag titles. Jimmy is going to be on the outside for the most part here due to a high level of old. There’s the hot tag to him anyway and Snuka just looks confused. Then again he looked that way in his prime.

The faces play ping pong with Conway using headbutts. Eugene hits a Rock Bottom and the splash ends it after about 15 seconds of setting up. Tomko gets back from writing his novel or whatever he spent the last few minutes doing and Kamala and Duggan make the save. At least they kept it short.

Rating: D. This was a bad match but what did you expect? We knew Snuka would win with the splash but seriously, was Tomko the best they had available as a partner? He had nothing to do with this feud or angle or anything like that. This was a glorified handicap match that just wasn’t interesting at all. Like I said though, at least it was short.

Time for another goofy Raw match on August 21, 2006.

Eugene/Jim Duggan/Highlanders vs. Spirit Squad

This would be the Squad minus Mitch. Eugene and I think Johnny start things off. Mitch is the one on the floor. Got it. Johnny kicks Eugene in the ribs in a battle of OVW legends. There’s an airplane spin from Eugene and here’s Robbie. The Spirit Squad are using a Freebird Rule on steroids to be five man tag team champions. Off to Kenny, the leader of the team who gets two off a clothesline.

Mikey in now with some crossface shots. Mitch and Nick (Dolph Ziggler) cheer Mikey on, meaning they’re playing the gimmick perfectly. Robbie fights off everyone in the corner for a few seconds but there are too many cheerleaders. The fans want Hacksaw. Here’s Nicky and he represents Exhibit A as to never say never about someone. Back to Kenny, the star of the team and the guy that hasn’t been seen in years.

This match is probably getting more time than it needs, especially when we’re waiting on Hacksaw to get the hot tag and destroy everything in sight. Kenny misses his nearly perfect guillotine legdrop and there’s the tag to Rory, meaning the fans don’t care all that much. He hits what we would call the Irish Curse and everything breaks down. Duggan gets a big reaction. The Highlanders get Nick alone and hit the Scot Drop (double team reverse slingshot suplex) for the pin.

Rating: D+. The time hurt it here and Duggan not being in officially killed the crowd. The Highlanders were funny for a little while (and by that I mean for their vignettes) and then they became any other tag team. They never won the titles and then Robbie showed up at Impact in the crowd and got a huge fine or something like that.

Off to SNME XXXIV for more comedy.

Kane/Doink/Eugene vs. Viscera/Kevin Thorn/Umaga

They deserve the ratings they get for this nonsense. The clown and the vampire start us off. Please just make this quick, that’s all I ask. They actually gave this 11 minutes. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??? Eugene gets the tar beaten out of him until Kane gets the big tag. Umaga destroys him and then Kane destroys the very fat man for the win. Somehow that was 11 minutes that I’ll never get back. Just get us out of here please.

Rating: F-. This was on in 2007. Let that sink in for a minute.

Eugene would leave WWE but came back for a shot at a contract on Raw, August 10, 2009.

Calgary Kid vs. Eugene

This is a contract on a pole match and Calgary Kid is a masked man who is clearly the fired Miz under a mask. The Kid tries to surprise Eugene but eats a Rock Bottom for his efforts. There’s a People’s Elbow but Kid breaks up a contract attempt. He shoves Eugene down and wins with ease before unmasking.

It was off to the indys at this point as Eugene became U-Gene, which somehow hasn’t gotten him sued yet. Here he is at JCW Bloodymania VI.

U-Gene vs. Zach Gowen

Eugene takes the only leg out but Gowen can fight well on the mat and escapes. Eugene keeps asking for a test of strength but Gowen will have none of that. Back to the mat but Gowen kicks him to the floor. Eugene is slow remember so this is a battle of the handicaps. Back in and Gowen gets down in a crouch which freaks Eugene out. Gowen is very quick on the mat so Eugene gets on top of him. A dropkick puts Eugene on the floor and he’s getting very frustrated. He seems to be the heel here.

Back in and Gowen is slammed into the mat for two and it’s off to a chinlock. Eugene uses the classic invisible foreign object to pound away. The commentators debate what country the object is from and continue to get on my nerves. Eugene puts on a half crab, which may be a full crab in Gowen’s case, followed by a giant swing. Eugene loads up what looks like a Samoan Drop off the middle rope but Gowen escapes into a powerbomb for no cover.

A Blockbuster gets two for Gowen but Eugene comes back with an airplane spin. Given that it’s an airplane spin, we get the required ref bump as Gowen is being spun around. Gowen takes Eugene down and this a moonsault but there’s no ref. As Zach wakes the referee up, Eugene blasts Gowen with the foreign object for the pin.

Rating: C. Not bad here as it’s amazing what you do when you get seasons pros in the ring. Eugene was always talented and he could make the gimmick work well as he tweaked it enough to make it different at different times. When you take Gowen out of the main event scene of WWE PPVs, he’s a lot less annoying. Decent match here which is probably going to be the high point.

We’ll wrap it up in India at the first episode of Ring Ka King TV.

Ring Ka King Heavyweight Title Tournament: Dr. Nicholas Dinsmore vs. Mahabali Veera

We’re about 25 minutes into the show not counting commercials and here’s the first match. And no I’m not holding that against them as it’s the debut episode. Dinsmore is basically the heel by default here. He cheats a top wristlock by pulling the hair to bring him down. Dinsmore sends him to the floor but Veera gets a sunset flip for two. Veera has a good look to him and moves well for a bigger (as in taller) guy. The referee is in a green shirt. Off to a chinlock by Dinsmore but Veera hits a spinebuster (called the Veera Bomb) for the pin at 2:59. Short but fine.

Nick Dinsmore is the undisputed king of OVW with ten OVW Titles (second most is four) and a record eleven OVW Tag Team Titles. He didn’t do badly on the main roster but the Eugene gimmick just killed him. There’s only so far you can go with that character and Dinsmore hit it about two years before it was retired. He’s a very talented guy but the character crippled him. Still though, check out his OVW stuff if you can find it and would like to see a completely different side of him.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Monday Night Raw
Date: November 3, 2014
Location: First Niagara Center, Buffalo, New York
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

Survivor Series is still a few weeks away but we have a main event set and a story to get us there. I’m not sure on having the match set up and then building the story behind it, but the idea worked in 1992 for Flair vs. Savage. Anyway, now we need to find out who else is going to join Cena before Orton comes in for the save. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Orton laying out Rollins last week and the setup for Cena vs. the Authority at Survivor Series with the big brawl to end the show.

In the arena we have the Authority and…..the Boss himself, Vince McMahon. Vince praises the Authority and acknowledges the fans’ displeasure of them. The fans know what a great experience the WWE Network is (unless you’re in the UK of course) and if you don’t, you can find out in November for free. This includes the Survivor Series being free, meaning you can see Team Cena vs. the Authority for absolutely free.

However, let’s raise the stakes a bit. There’s something great about having power you’ve earned, such as when Vince defeated the US government, Ted Turner, and the match with God (where Vince was God’s partner but whatever). Therefore, let’s put the Authority’s power on the line in the match. The fans love that idea and we get an awkward ending where Vince’s music comes on before he seems ready to leave. Vince was just a spokesman here and didn’t mention the mess in the UK at all.

As they leave, here’s Dean Ambrose for his match. He shakes Vince’s hand and that’s it for the Authority right now.

After a break, Vince says he loved being back out there and hopes the Authority liked his surprise. He knows he can count on HHH and Stephanie but doesn’t like HHH’s tie. Vince leaves for the night and that’s it.

Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro

Before the match we get a recap of how Ambrose lost in the Cell. They hit the mat to start with Dean working on the arm before hammering away in the corner. A headlock takes Cesaro right back to the mat but he shoves Ambrose out to the floor to get a breather. Dean hammers away and nails an ax handle off the apron. Back in Cesaro powerbombs Dean out of the corner but Dean just charges at him with right hands to put Cesaro outside again. Cesaro is busted open BAD but the lights go out and we take a break.

Back with Wyatt sitting on the stage and watching Cesaro DDTing Dean off the top. The doctors have closed up the gash on Cesaro’s head so he doesn’t bleed on Dean while holding a chinlock. Dean fights up and nails a running forearm in the corner followed by a bulldog for two.

A big boot sets up the Rebound Clothesline to give Ambrose another two count. Dean loads up a tornado DDT but gets countered into Swiss Death to give Cesaro his own two. That doesn’t last long though as Dean knocks him to the floor for a suicide dive. Back in and Ambrose gets crotched on the top for two, only to grab Dirty Deeds for the pin at 13:23.

Rating: B-. These two have chemistry and thankfully they didn’t just do another street fight to make the one on Friday pointless. Dean getting a clean pin is a good thing for him, even though Cesaro’s stock continues to plummet. Ambrose vs. Wyatt should be good when it happens as both guys are capable of putting on a great match when they need to.

Dean stares at Wyatt on the stage but the lights go out again. They come back up and show an empty rocking chair.

The Authority is in the back, talking about how make the best Survivor Series team. HHH suggests Orton but Stephanie isn’t convinced. Neither was HHH, but now Vince has forced them into a position they don’t want.

Jimmy Uso vs. Miz

Miz grabs a headlock to start as Jey stares at Mizdow’s imitations. Back up and Jimmy nails a superkick to the ribs and gets two off a clothesline. We hit the armbar as Jey starts copying his brother. Cole: “THIS IS HILARIOUS!” A Samoan drop puts Miz down again but he avoids the running Umaga attack. Back in and Miz avoids a low clothesline before kicking Jimmy’s head off. We hit the chinlock for a bit before Miz gets sent to the floor, setting up a huge dive. Mizdow tries to interfere and eats a superkick from Jey, drawing a huge boo from the crowd. The distraction lets Miz hit the Finale on Jimmy for the pin at 4:40.

Rating: D+. This was a fairly slow paced match but it was so much better than seeing the same tag matches over and over again. It’s also nice to see them having different teams than just the champions and whomever they’re feuding with at the time fighting. Just keep things from being the same over and over again and it’s far easier to sit through.

We recap Mark Henry turning on Big Show last week.

Sheamus is defending the US Title on Raw Backstage Pass against Rusev tonight.

Sheamus vs. Tyson Kidd

Non-title and Kidd has his big headphones on again. Feeling out process to start with Kidd kicking away at the leg but getting dropped with a European uppercut. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker (not the Irish Curse Cole) puts Kidd down again as we see Rusev and Lana watching from the back. Kidd sends him throat first into the middle rope as Natalya looks very nervous on the floor. A hard kick to the head staggers Sheamus as Cole makes a Sarah Palin reference. Leave it to WWE to be on the cutting edge of the news.

We hit a chinlock on Sheamus until he fights back with a running knee and Alabama Slam. There’s the Cloverleaf but Tyson crawls over to the ropes. A springboard missile dropkick puts Sheamus on the floor as Kidd is doing far better than you would expect here. Sheamus pulls him off the apron for the rolling fireman’s carry but Tyson throws Natalya at Sheamus to beat the count back in at 5:17.

Rating: C-. I liked this way more than I was expecting to as Kidd got to show off a bit instead of looking like a cruiserweight jobber in way over his head. Sheamus losing by countout is far better than having him get rolled up or something because he got caught by a cheating coward. Little things like that make the show so much easier to sit through.

Sheamus kicks Kidd’s head off post match.

Here’s Dolph Ziggler for his match but instead he gets the entire Authority. We see Vince’s announcement again and Stephanie says the Authority is excited. See they’re winners, unlike John Cena and everyone else. They’ll put together the greatest Survivor Series team in history, led by Seth Rollins and Kane. HHH whispers in her ear and Stephanie announces Orton as the third member.

The Game talks about how people think the Authority is punishing people who side with Cena, but that’s not the case at all. If Ziggler sides with Cena and wins, who is going to get the credit? If they lose, who is going to get all the blame? Ziggler seems ready to rise up to the top but there’s always someone in his way. He works harder than anyone else in the back but Ziggler doesn’t get the credit for it. Instead, Cena is called the hardest working man in the company while no one remembers Dolph. Stephanie asks Ziggler where Cena is tonight if he cares about Ziggler so much.

Maybe this will all work out for Ziggler though. Maybe Dolph gets all the titles, the girls and the fame. Maybe….that’s an awful lot of maybes. Or maybe, Ziggler can call up Cena and tell him the answer is no. Dolph can have anything he wants for one phone call. If Ziggler asks, the Authority will give.

Ziggler thinks about it and confirms that he can have ANYTHING he wants. HHH: “Anything.” Ziggler wants HHH and the Authority out of power for good. That’s too bad because the Authority wanted to give Dolph whatever he wanted. Now, when the twelve year olds are complaining about the Authority on Twitter, they can blame Ziggler. Sometimes in life you can end up empty handed, like right now because Ziggler is defending his Intercontinental Title.

Intercontinental Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins

Rollins is challenging. They hit the mat to start with Rollins grabbing a headlock as the fans tell him that he sold out. The announcers plug the Network as Ziggler hiptosses Rollins out to the floor. Seth comes back with right hands in the corner and a clothesline gets two. Dolph backdrops him down but gets caught in a suplex. A dropkick staggers Rollins but he comes back with a Downward Spiral into the buckle for two. We hit the chinlock on the champion but he fights up and sends both guys outside.

Back from a break with Ziggler in another chinlock. He fights up but both guys try cross bodies to give us a breather. Some clotheslines drop Rollins and the neckbreaker puts him down again. The Fameasser is countered into a rollup for two but a catapult sends Rollins into the corner. Dolph hammers away in the corner, only to have Seth nail the Buckle Bomb for two.

Seth misses the top rope knee to the head and the Fameasser connects for another near fall. The running DDT and superkick are blocked and Rollins gets two off an enziguri. Ziggler avoids the Curb Stomp but has to deal with the Stooges. Seth sends him shoulder first into the post and now the Curb Stomp connects….but Orton comes in with an RKO to Rollins for the DQ at 15:30.

Rating: B-. The DQ ending makes sense here as Orton’s face turn (or at least tweener turn) continues to grow. Rollins vs. Orton is going to be a great match and the build is getting better and better with the one upping. They made sure to protect Ziggler for a change here as he was fighting three guys at once and didn’t actually get pinned. Again, the little things are all you need to make this stuff work.

Orton comes in to see the Authority and is told he and Rollins will be co-captains at Survivor Series. Randy thinks he should go fight on Team Cena instead but HHH gets in his face. HHH wants Orton to face Rollins tonight to get this out of his system because everything is on the line at Survivor Series. They slowly shake hands and Orton says deal.

We get a vignette of eyes with a voice saying he sees you. It sounded like Rowan but it wasn’t clear.

We see Show and Henry fighting on MizTV from Smackdown.

Titus O’Neil is in the ring and says you spell winning T-I-T-U-S-. He’s open to offers for Survivor Series but gets cut off by some music.

Ryback vs. Titus O’Neil

The fans get behind Ryback to start but O’Neil actually takes him down with a clothesline. Some kicks to the back have Ryback in more trouble but he spinebusts Titus with ease. The Authority is watching in the back as the Meathook and Shell Shock are enough for the pin at 2:26.

Big Show is in the back and says he’d love to be on Team Cena at Survivor Series because Cena could count on him. Speaking of people you can count on, Show thought he could count on Mark Henry. But then Henry turned on him in a big way and beat Big Show up. They have forty years between them in WWE (not quite) and Big Show misses his friend. However, there’s a part of him that just wants to knock Henry out.

Some Buffalo Bills are here.

Big Show vs. Mark Henry

Henry gets tossed into the corner to start but Show charges into an elbow. The fans chant for Sexual Chocolate as Show superkicks Henry down. An elbow gets two and they head outside where Henry sends him into the post. Show nails something like a spear to put both guys down on the floor.

Back in and Show drops some elbows before putting on that modified Haas of Pain. Henry makes the ropes so Show stands on his chest. The Authority is watching from the back again as Big Show goes up top. Mark slams him down and RUNS over for a two count. The World’s Strongest Slam gets the same with a very weak reaction. They head outside with Henry sending him into the steps before nailing him with the steps for a DQ at 6:28.

Rating: D+. This was your standard slow paced match between two big guys and nowhere near as good of a match as either guy had with Rusev. The fact that it seems to set up another match between them doesn’t help matters as they can only throw each other around so many times before the interest wears down.

Henry Slams him on the steps post match.

Stephanie wants Henry on the team so HHH sends Kane to find out. We get some of Stephanie’s classic acting as she says they only need one more. HHH says let the guys get it out of their system tonight so they can focus.

Network hype.

AJ is on commentary as Brie is in the back for a chat with Renee. She’s on day 8 of her sentence and knows it’s tough when Nikki comes in to cut it off. Brie isn’t allowed to do anything without Nikki’s permission so get out of here. Renee says that’s a wrap when Erick Rowan pops up next to her and starts playing with her hair. He takes off the mask and says pretty. Renee leaves because she’s smarter than Michael Cole.

Nikki Bella vs. Emma

The CM Punk chants begin as Cole explains the servant story. An early slam gets two for Nikki and she cranks on Emma’s arms. Back up and Emma avoids a charge in the corner before putting on the Dilemma. The Emma Sandwich is broken up by a dropkick, followed by the Rack Attack for the pin at 2:24.

Post match Nikki tells Brie to go slap AJ. Brie follows orders and Nikki runs off from the champ.

Xavier Woods is now an over the top preacher who talks about it being a new day.

Rusev vs. Zack Ryder

Ryder has sent Cena a tweet saying that he’d be on Team Cena. It’s almost sad at this point. Rusev quickly takes him into the corner and hammers away. Ryder scores with some dropkicks but charges into a foot and gets Accoladed at 1:18.

Post match Lana says their new orders from Putin are to bring him the United States Title. Rusev says Sheamus is no different from any other and he’ll beg for mercy like everyone else. This brings out Sheamus who says he values the title more than anything and that Rusev is in for the fight of his life tonight.

After a break, Stephanie comes up to the Russians in the back and offers Lana a spot on the team. They’ll have to talk to Putin first and then get back to her. As you would expect, this took far longer than it should have.

Fernando vs. Stardust

Miz and Mizdow are on commentary. Stardust takes him down to start and hammers away as Miz talks about teaching Mizdow to act. Fernando fights out of an armbar but gets sent out to the floor. Stardust throws him back in but knocks JBL’s hat off the table for some reason. Goldust, Torito and the actors get in a brawl, allowing Fernando to hit the Backstabber on Stardust for the pin at 2:32.

We recap all the Authority stuff tonight.

Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins

The Authority is at ringside. Orton knocks him into the corner to start and sends Seth outside. Back in and they slug it out with Orton sending him outside again for a clothesline to the back of the head. We take a break and come back with Orton having some issues getting back inside. Rollins misses a dive though and we head back inside for a chinlock. That goes nowhere either as Rollins fights out and kicks Orton in the chest a few times.

A knee drop gets two for Seth but they head outside with Orton sending him onto the announcers’ table. Seth drives him head first onto the table as well and heads back inside. Orton crotches him on top though and scores with a superplex for two. They head back outside again so Rollins can hit a suicide dive. HHH looks worried as Seth goes back inside for a springboard knee to the head. An enziguri looks to set up the Curb Stomp but Orton counters with a powerslam for two. The Elevated DDT looks to set up the RKO but Rollins counters into a backslide for the surprise pin at 14:40.

Rating: B. Good match here with a surprise finish. If Orton is indeed taking time off to film a movie, there’s nothing wrong with him putting Rollins over on the way out. At the end of the day, Orton has been bulletproof for years so a loss like this isn’t going to mean anything, especially if he comes back to a huge face pop.

Most of the Authority gets in the ring and Orton is livid. Randy shakes the Stooges’ and Kane’s hands, leaving only Rollins in front of him. Orton isn’t sure this time as Rollins extends his hand and says he’s sorry. They shake hands and Orton lays him out with an RKO. What a sore loser.

The rest of the Authority gets taken out but HHH comes in to break up the Punt. He tries to calm Orton down but Randy lays him out as well. The Stooges come back in and triple team Orton but he fights all of them off and goes after Rollins outside. The Authority gets on Orton, allowing Seth to Curb Stomp him onto the table. Orton is slightly busted open. HHH says finish this and walks off with Stephanie, leaving Rollins to Curb Stomp Orton onto the steps to end the show.

Here’s a rare bonus match from the post show.

US Title: Sheamus vs. Rusev

Sheamus is defending of course and we get Big Match Intros. Rusev takes him up against the ropes to start before they trade some big clubbing shots. Sheamus knocks the Russian out to the apron for the forearms but Rusev breaks it up at about four. They head outside with Sheamus diving into a powerslam off the apron. Back in for a side choke from Rusev followed by a spinwheel kick for no cover.

We hit a front facelock on the champion but he quickly fights up for a powerslam to get a breather. Sheamus wins a slugout with some running ax handles but gets backdropped to the apron, only to grab Rusev for the ten forearms. The slingshot shoulder gets two but Sheamus takes too long going up, allowing Rusev to slam him down. A fall away slam gets two more for Rusev and frustration is starting to set in.

The Accolade goes on but Sheamus gets an arm free to fight it. He gets to his knees and headbutts his way to freedom, setting up White Noise for two. Sheamus staggers to his feet but misses the Brogue Kick, allowing Rusev to hit two straight running superkicks. The Accolade makes Sheamus black out to give Rusev the title at 12:02.

Rating: C+. This was a nice power match as you have Sheamus make Rusev look good in the process. Sheamus is another guy that can easily bounce back from a loss like this so there’s no damage done. It’s not like Sheamus was doing anything with the title anyway so let Rusev use it as a prop to keep up the RUSSIA IS AWESOME story. It makes perfect sense and there’s nothing wrong with this. The match wasn’t bad either.

Overall Rating: C+. I liked this show far better than most of the recent ones as you had pieces set up for the main event at the PPV and a reason to stick around for the post show match. It’s nothing great, but after all of the disasters we’ve sat through recently, this was a nice breath of air. Cena not being there likely had something to do with that as he’s been stuck doing the same stuff for so long lately that it’s nice to have someone else get a chance every now and then.

Results

Dean Ambrose b. Cesaro – Dirty Deeds

Miz b. Jimmy Uso – Skull Crushing Finale

Tyson Kidd b. Sheamus via countout

Seth Rollins b. Dolph Ziggler via DQ when Randy Orton interfered

Ryback b. Titus O’Neil – Shell Shock

Big Show b. Mark Henry via DQ when Henry hit him with the steps

Nikki Bella b. Emma – Rack Attack

Rusev b. Zack Ryder – Accolade

Fernando b. Stardust – Backstabber

Seth Rollins b. Randy Orton – Backslide

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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By this point we’ve had another episode of Raw since this one (the review is coming soon I promise) and I actually don’t remember most of what happened since then. I know we’re past the Cell now and the main story is looking like Wyatt vs. Ambrose plus whatever Cena has to do for the next few months before Lesnar finally comes back for the showdown that most people aren’t all that interested in seeing. Let’s get to it.

After the required video packages from the PPV, the Authority comes out to brag about winning last night. HHH praised Rollins for winning and said Orton gave a great effort in a loss. He said this a few times, drawing out an angry Orton. Randy mentioned being back in anger management after all the recent events and now he has to listen to HHH praise a guy that Curb Stomped him last week. HHH brought up the loss one more time, causing Orton to RKO Rollins and bail.

Big Show and Mark Henry had the Tag Team Titles won but Henry didn’t like Show making a blind tag and turned heel with a World’s Strongest Slam to give Stardust the pin. This is going to set up another battle of the strong fat guys, which we haven’t seen in awhile. Granted that might be for a reason but it’s what we’re getting again. The match was nothing to see but at least the feud makes sense.

Roman Reigns did another satellite interview where he said he wants to come back and get his hands on Rollins. This is basically just a way to keep Reigns fresh in our minds.

Paige turned on Alicia Fox and cost her a match against AJ. This would be the second straight match with the same story being told. That’s the kind of thing you should be mixing up instead of doing them back to back. Make the fans feel like they’re getting something different instead of the same idea over and over.

Cena came out for the big talking segment of the show. Short version: Cena wants Lesnar, Stephanie came out and wants him to join the team, HHH came out and wants him to join the team, HUSTLE, LOYALTY AND RESPECT, Team Cena vs. Authority at Survivor Series, Cena won’t be able to find partners. This took fifteen minutes.

The Usos used Twin Magic to beat Miz/Mizdow. That’s a fresh idea because they haven’t used it in years, thereby keeping it from getting boring. As usual Mizdow was the huge crowd favorite.

Cena shook hands with Ziggler. I have no problem with this.

Hulk Hogan still hates cancer.

Bo Dallas issued an open challenged which was answered by Ryback for the squash. Ryback as a face is a good thing given how lame the midcard is right now.

Cesaro vs. Ambrose never happened as Dean attacked him before the bell. Wyatt popped up and said he and Ambrose are a lot alike. Threats were issued and the match is imminent.

Brie Bella reluctantly helped her sister beat Naomi. This was more of the servant story which isn’t making me care about Brie and doesn’t seem to be enough to make her quit, especially when it’s only for a month and not like, forever.

Ziggler beat Kane in a non-title match. This is what Kane should be used for rather than beating Ziggler clean with the chokeslam because that would be stupid. Cena saved Ziggler from a post match beatdown.

The main event saw Cena beat Rollins via DQ in a long match. Kane of course ran in for the DQ because that’s almost his entire job these days. For some reason the entire locker room ran out for a brawl to end the show with Cena standing tall.

This show was all about setting up Survivor Series and giving it a big feel for a change. Over the last few years the elimination match has felt tacked on more often than not which makes the show feel like any other in a year. Ryback returning is a good thing for the midcard and he might even make it onto Team Cena (sidebar: can we bring back the unique names? Just putting “Team” in front of a name is so lame) for a big push. I like where they’re going with the story but the story rosters are going to make the big difference. It’s a nice show but nothing that blew me away.

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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Today it’s the most famous loser in WWE history: Steve Lombardi.

Lombardi started off under his real name in 1983 and we’ll pick things up on February 11, 1984.

Steve Lombardi vs. Iron Sheik

Sheik bows to Blassie before we get going. A few kicks to the ribs and the camel clutch end this quick. The match ran about 30 seconds.

Off to a pretty famous show with the Brawl To End It All.

Battle Royal

Sika, Luis Rivera, Butcher Vachon, Antonio Inoki, Tony Garea, Jay Strongbow, Afa, Steve Lombardi, Dick Murdoch, Bob Orton, Adrian Adonis, Rene Goulet, Ron Shaw, Charlie Fulton, Terry Daniels, Iron Sheik, Tito Santana, Paul Orndorff, Sgt. Slaughter, Samu

This is of the 20 man persuasion and is the last match before we go on MTV. In other words, everyone that was on the card tonight other than Hogan and Valentine and Backlund plus three other guys that I don’t feel like figuring out. Slaughter goes right after Sheik and of course it’s too nuts to really call. Lombardi is out. Orndorff’s tights say O. P. Isn’t that backwards?

Orndorff is gone as Gene isn’t on commentary here. Strongbow is out and looks very old. Slaughter and Daniels are partners so they’re working together. Orton hits the floor twice but never over the top. Ok scratch that as he and Sheik are gone. Scratch that scratching as Orton is still in. Vachon is out.

This is of course very slow paced with not much going on at all. Adonis is gone and he’s ticked off about it. And of course he won’t leave. He’s still a biker dude at this point. Murdoch is gone and won’t leave either. Ok so he’s not out. This is confusing. Fulton is out. Not a lot is happening at all here. The Samoans are dominating for the most part.

Ok so Adonis is still in too? What the heck is going on? He goes out AGAIN but through the second rope this time. Shaw was eliminated and is back in anyway. Santana keeps Goulet from putting Slaughter out. Adonis, Slaughter and Murdoch all go out in about 4 seconds. There are about 10 left. Afa goes out and that gives us ten.

Tito is out and so is Sika. Rivera goes out and I can’t really tell who is left. Daniels gets us down to six when he goes out. Samu goes out I think and it’s Inoki, Goulet, Orton, Shaw and Garea. If you can’t get the winner from that list you have no business reading this list. Enziguri puts out Orton in some of the funniest selling I can ever remember. Garea is put out, leaving only Inoki as a face in there. Heel miscommunication puts Shaw out and Inoki wins easily.

Rating: D. Boring match here but the crowd was hot for it. This was just to give the fans something to get excited about as we went to the MTV show. Battle royals are usually solid for getting a crowd going and this was no exception. Boring match but the crowd liked it so I guess it did its job.

Off to the Superstars era, starting on January 24, 1987.

Steve Lombardi vs. Koko B. Ware

LET THE JOBBERS EXPLODE! Lombardi would become the Brooklyn Brawler soon enough. He beats up Roma who is still there after getting beaten down. That’s probably his biggest accomplishment of the decade. Fink does another voiceover and advertises Special Delivery Jones.

Dang that card must have sucked. Lombardi hits a decent spinning neckbreaker. Not bad at all. Koko has a muscle shirt on which looks very odd on him. The darker skinned jobber takes over and looks completely stupid. Lombardi is tough apparently. Koko hits the missile dropkick after WAY too long of an amount of time on offense to get the win.

Rating: C-. Longer match here but not terrible I guess. It’s fine for what it was is a good way to put this. The fans seemed to boo the ending though which is rather odd to say the least. Boring stuff but not terrible at all. At the ending of the day though, Brawler probably should be in the Hall of Fame over Ware and that says a lot.

And again on February 7 of the same year.

Outback Jack vs. Steve Lombardi

Seriously, how did I never make this guy OCW Champion (a lot of you won’t get that reference)? Don’t you always love how over the top wrestlers and characters like Jim and Jack have such great wrestling training? Isn’t that amusing? Lombardi gets some offense in here and controls for a few seconds. Jack is really bad. He wins with a bulldog that would be called a clothesline to the back of the head later named the Boomerang. Now if he used a clothesline to the front, he could be world champion for 9 months.

Rating: F+. It went long enough and wasn’t a total squash. That being said, it was just boring. Yeah Piper’s Pit is next and it’s kind of the biggest angle ever so that’s all you get here.

Some happier times on February 11, 1989 with Lombardi now known as the Brooklyn Brawler.

Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler

Best of? Seriously? Oh these commentators could make my head hurt. I think we’re in Philadelphia here but I’m not positive. This was a feud coming off of Mania and Rooster rebelling against Heenan, so Bobby sent Brawler after him. Yeah there’s a reason why he never went anywhere. Brawler is a force to be reckoned with apparently. That’s just comical. He’s not a great wrestler though. Hayes is annoying as all goodness a lot of the time.

Again, this is on the Best of the WWF…why? Hayes’ latest great insight is that Brawler is a brawler. Oh that makes my head hurt. We get a close up of the Brawler and Hayes says he’s not a very good looking man. This is closing in on ten minutes and it’s just bare bones stuff. I think someone hit a hip toss for the biggest move of the match. Rooster gets a sunset flip for the pin and next to no reaction.

Rating: D. For the Brawler, this would indeed be considered better times. Oh man this was boring. Just WAY too long for a match with the Brooklyn Brawler in there. Also I can’t stand Terry Taylor so that has something to do with it also. I know you can have a decent match with really basic moves, but this wasn’t it.

Another jump forward to MSG on December 29, 1991.

Chris Walker vs. Brooklyn Brawler

Walker is some muscle head that I’m sure Vince, ahem, enjoyed a few times in order to get a job. He’s awful as Brawler carries him to a bad match. I shudder to think what it would have been like without him. Walker looks a bit like Kerry Von Erich if he was more muscular. The guy can jump though. This is his debut apparently.

Brawler takes over for a bit and gets in his jobber offense. Gorilla wants Hulk to win the Rumble. Well of course he does. Did Gorilla EVER cheer against Hogan? Even against other faces? Walker looks good and that’s all he has going for him it seems. Small package gets two. Top rope cross body ends Brawler.

Rating: N/A. Just a squash and nothing too impressive. Walker was about as uninteresting as you could imagine. He’s not horrible that is, but he’s a body and a decent jumping ability and that’s about it. Nothing special here at all, much like the rest of Walker’s career despite his great look.

Off to Wrestling Challenge on March 27, 1993.

Mr. Perfect vs. Brooklyn Brawler

Perfect yells at Heenan on the way in which is kind of funny. He has Luger at Mania. Heenan is complaining about the toga aspect of Mania already. This is from the WWE Classics channel so the far more interesting part is the crawl on the bottom of the screen giving all kinds of old school title changes. In a pop up interview, Luger says he’s looking forward to one week from now. Brawler gets in some basic offense but the Perfectplex ends this in two minutes or so.

Time for a new gimmick on Wrestling Challenge on September 25, 1994 as the Brawler becomes a walking baseball. Just go with it.

Abe Knuckleball Schwarts vs. George Anderson

The character was introduced as a reference to the Major League Baseball strike because “this exists” is the definition of comedy at this point in WWF. Anderson hiptosses him down but gets planted with a neckbreaker for two. Schwarts throws him to the floor as we get a baseball themed inset interview which is as bad as you would think. Even Monsoon says it’s bad. Back in and Abe gets a quick pin off a superplex.

Another jump to March 24, 1997 on Raw.

Flash Funk vs. Brooklyn Brawler

Funk takes him into the corner and hammers away, only to get kicked in the face. A hurricanrana gets two on the Brawler and Funk hits a reverse t-bone suplex. Funk’s standing moonsault hits knees but he comes back with a dropkick and throws the Brawler outside. Back in and the Brawler runs into a superkick, setting up the 450 to give Flash the pin. Nothing match.

We’ll jump ahead to February 28, 2000 on Raw for a bigger challenge.

The Rock vs. Brooklyn Brawler

Brawler gets in some shots in the corner but it’s the Rock Bottom to end it in about 40 seconds.

From Smackdown on July 6, 2000.

HHH vs. Brooklyn Brawler/Kaientai

Elimination tag. The trio wisely gangs up on HHH and stomps him down into the corner. Funaki hooks a headscissors and the Brawler gets two off a swinging neckbreaker. HHH slugs Kaientai down but gets clotheslined out to the floor. Taka’s Asai moonsault hits Funaki but Brawler is right there to chop away. He walks into a facebuster for two though as Taka makes the save. Kaientai gets back in and a pair of Pedigrees get rid of them both in about 30 seconds. It’s down to the Brawler vs. HHH but HHH makes the mistake of throwing the referee down. Cue Chris Jericho to lay out HHH with a Lionsault to give Brawler the huge upset.

Rating: D. What exactly are you expecting here? It’s there for the surprise ending and to enhance Jericho vs. HHH. Still though, the Brooklyn Brawler pinning HHH at the height of his powers is something worth a chuckle at least. If you want to see this done better, watch Taka vs. HHH from earlier in the year. Taka loses but he made it far more interesting than it had any right to be.

Another jump to Vengeance 2003.

Bar Room Brawl

Shannon Moore, Doink the Clown, Faarooq, Bradshaw, Brother Love, Nunzio, Matt Hardy, Chris Kanyon, Danny Basham, Doug Basham, The Easter Bunny, Sean O’Haire, John Hennigan, Orlando Jordan, Funaki, Los Conquistadores, The Brooklyn Brawler, Johnny Stamboli, Chuck Palumbo, Matt Cappotelli, and Spanky.

There’s a bar set up in the arena and we’re just going to fight in there. Los Conquistadores are Rob Conway and Johnny Jeter in case you’re wondering. Aaron Stevens is the Easter Bunny. He was on Smackdown for a cup of coffee as Idol Stevens in like 05 or 06. McCool managed him. John Hennigan is more commonly known as John Morrison, and this Doink is played by Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore.

In essence, this is a big OVW party as a ton of these guys were in OVW at the time. Most of the jobbers don’t get intros. Spanky is up on the bar dancing. Bradshaw says the rules are that the last man drinking wins as we’re testing the toughness and their livers. Ok that’s creative. Brother Love wants to pray before we start. Naturally it’s just a massive fight with no rhyme or reason to it. The Easter Bunny is drinking bears and getting punched. This is wrong.

O’Haire beats the APA up with pool cues. This is idiotic. Brother Love beats up Shannon Moore. I’d think that sums up why no one buys him. The Easter Bunny goes through a window. A bunny watching this would be traumatized for life. Hardy can’t break a table which is kind of funny.

There’s nothing of any kind of logic going on here at all. Funaki passes out from beer. Bradshaw beats up Brother Love and I guess that gives him the win. He’s the last man standing even though Farroorq is standing next to him.

Rating: N/A. This was a waste of about 5 minutes. Moving on.

And again to ECW on SyFy on August 1, 2006.

Brooklyn Brawler vs. Kurt Angle

Ankle lock. Do you really need another detail?

From Raw on July 12, 2010. Sadly enough I was there for this.

Santino Bunch vs. Regal Bunch

Her video is literally nothing but clips from the Brady Bunch. No one under the age of 15 gets this at all as she’s just some old woman. It’s weird seeing a Boyle County (big old corn fed Kentucky high school football team) shirt on WWE TV. Florence is the announcer here and says she’s feeling groovy. It’s Regal, Ryder (with regular tights now), Primo and Doink (I’d bet on Nick Dinsmore, aka Eugene) vs. Santino, Khali, Kozlov and Goldust. That’s actually a fairly accomplished face team.

Henderson gets a MUCH better reaction here than she did in the video earlier. Wow apparently it was Steve Lombardi as Doink, more commonly known as the Brooklyn Brawler. The captains start us off as Santino has been less annoying lately. Florence puts on Regal’s robe and Santino goes Cobra on us. I wonder if he’s Cobra Commander.

It’s a big mess already and here’s Doink. The crowd only cared about him for the sake of comedy. Khali comes in and falls victim to a squirt gun. A big chop ends this in like a minute. Khali’s music really is good. Henderson is a sport here and at least seems like she wants to be there which is a very good thing if nothing else. She kisses Khali afterwards which is disturbing.

Rating: N/A. Although anything with these 8 guys can’t be incredibly good. Thankfully it seems that the guest host concept is ending. Shame it’s only 7 months too late but whatever.

Raw, July 2, 2012.

Heath Slater vs. Doink The Clown

This is basically a squash with Slater hitting his spinning sleeper mat slam (didn’t that have a name?) for the pin at 1:20.

We’ll wrap it up with a pay per view match at TLC 2012.

3MB vs. Alberto Del Rio/The Miz/Brooklyn Brawler

You know what? Why not? He’s in a Brooklyn Nets jersey as apparently he’s abandoned the Yankees (Bronx, not Brooklyn) shirt. Ignore those RYDER chants of course. Del Rio and Slater start things off with Alberto in control. Off to Brawler who beats up Mahal a bit before getting punched down by Heath. Brawler avoids a middle rope knee drop as we hear about 3MB having their tattoos messed up. Not hot tag brings in Miz who gets two on Jinder off a DDT. Del Rio drives Drew into the remnants of the announce table. The Finale takes down Mahal and the Brawler gets the win off a Boston Crab at 3:37.

Rating: D. It should have been Ryder. Seriously, what else do you want me to say here?

Again, what else do you want me to say here? It’s the freaking Brooklyn Brawler. The guy has a career record of like 3-3948584 but he’s still going to get a nostalgia pop when he comes out. He never was a big deal but he was around for the better part of twenty years. That’s not bad for a loser, though I have to wonder, in kayfabe terms, why in the world did he keep a job?

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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

This one should be self explanatory.

 

http://www.wrestlingrumors.net/kbs-review-shell-cell/30495/

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 13, 2014
Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler

We had cancer week last week, so this time it’s REALITY WEEK! Tonight there are two reality stars appearing on the show with Nene Leakes of the Real Housewives of Atlanta and Todd Chrisley of Chrisley Knows Best. Why I’m supposed to care about either of these people is beyond me, but you and I both know they can’t top HODA’S CRAZY DANCE! Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the Authority making Ambrose vs. Cena for the right to face Rollins inside the Cell.

Here’s Ambrose to get things going. Dean says there’s nothing he’d like more than being locked inside the Cell with Seth Rollins. To be locked inside there with all that metal and steel so he can hurt Seth Rollins so bad that he wishes he never met Ambrose. But first there’s a certain fifteen time WWE Champion to deal with and here’s Cena to respond.

Cena says Ambrose needs to relax because the match is made and it’s in two weeks in Dallas. The people want to see it though because they know both guys have a chance to get their hands on Rollins. Cena offers a little advice: shut up until the pay per view and use the two weeks to get ready for the biggest match of his career when Cena breaks him.

Dean says thanks bit brother but he was born ready. Ambrose wants to drop Cena right now but John tells him to drop it because Ambrose is in way over his head. Dean drops the mic and cracks his knuckles but here’s the Authority. Short version: the match is on the Network in two weeks, it costs $9.99, they’re in a tag match against the Usos and the Dusts. The Authority even make a bet on if they’ll fight each other or not.

Goldust/Stardust vs. Usos vs. Dean Ambrose/John Cena

Dean and Jimmy get things going with Ambrose cranking on the arm. Off to Cena to stay on the armbar as the fans aren’t pleased with John. Jimmy slips over and tags in his brother who eats a clothesline for two. Cena and Ambrose keep working well together and don’t seem to have many issues with each other.

Jey slips out of the AA and grabs a top wristlock, only to get dropkicked back down. The slow arm work continues as the fans want Stardust. Ambrose finally gets in off the tag and hammers on Jimmy with right hands and the ReBound Clothesline to send him outside. Stardust gets in a shot of his own and we take a break.

Back with Stardust raking Jimmy’s back and tagging off to his corner for a double stomp in the corner. Stardust quickly comes back in and cranks on Jimmy’s arms. Jimmy finally sends the Dusts into each other but Goldust pulls Jey off the apron just in time. Ambrose goes after Goldust but Jey is able to tag in Cena.

John cleans house but Stardust flips out of the AA. Goldust comes in with a powerslam but Goldust eats a superkick. The double dive takes out the Dusts and Cena dives on all four of them. Ambrose won’t be left out and dives on all five for an even bigger crash. He throws Cena and Goldust inside where the makeshift team hits stereo finishers for the pin at 14:50.

Rating: C+. As usual with long tag matches like this, the match got way better after the break but the first part wasn’t any good. It was a bunch of boring arm work until we got to the second half where things sped up. Cena and Ambrose diving were nice visuals as it’s not something they bust out all that often. Good match but the first half is hard to sit through.

Post match the Authority comes out so HHH can pay off the bet ($1) to Stephanie. HHH thinks Ambrose and Cena really want to get at each other, so why not just do the contract match tonight? Cena and Ambrose stare each other down and the match is official.

We look at Big Show knocking Rusev out last month.

AJ Lee/Layla vs. Paige/Alicia Fox

AJ says she doesn’t like any of the Divas but she dislikes Layla the least. They can get along for one night at least. Alicia nails AJ with a quick tilt-a-whirl backbreaker before it’s off to Paige for some skipping. AJ chases her around but it’s quickly off to Alicia to miss a boot in the corner. Layla walks out on a tag attempt so AJ hits a quick Shining Wizard to pin Alicia at 1:51.

Layla gets beaten up for good measure.

We see Big Show ripping down the Russian flag.

Orton comes in to see the Authority and says he wants the loser of Ambrose and Cena. The bosses approve.

Rowan is free video.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton

Non-title and Cesaro is on commentary. Ziggler knocks him out to the floor to start and sends Orton face first into the steps. Back in and Orton gets two off a slam but walks into a dropkick. Orton knocks him back to the apron but gets pulled outside and sent into the barricade. They head back in again but Orton takes too long to gloat and gets dropkicked off the apron. Rollins comes out to the ramp with the briefcase for some reason and we take a break.

Back with Ziggler in a headlock and actually not fighting out immediately. A catapult sends Ziggler into the buckle for two and Orton puts him on the top rope for some headbutts. Dolph fights out of a superplex attempt but gets crotched before he can follow up. Now the superplex connects for two but Orton can barely follow up. Dolph makes his comeback with right hands and a running neckbreaker followed by an elbow drop for two.

Randy blocks a superkick and gets another two count off the snap powerslam. Ziggler counters the RKO (which was set up to a face pop), can’t hit the Fameasser and counters another RKO into the superkick for two. The Zig Zag is countered so Dolph tries the Fameasser, only to get countered into a powerbomb position. Orton throws him into the air and pulls him down into the RKO for the pin at 19:25. Rollins never was a factor.

Rating: B. That ending was awesome as Orton keeps coming up with creative ways to hit the RKO. It really seems like they’re setting up a face turn for him as he spent half the match playing to the crowd and may have been trying to outshine Rollins. It’s good stuff and I’ve always found Orton more interesting as a face than a heel. On the other hand, that’s Ziggler’s second clean loss in four days.

Post match Rollins gives Ziggler a Curb Stomp, likely setting up Ziggler’s third straight loss on Smackdown.

Seth Rollins vs. Jack Swagger

Rollins flips over Swagger’s shoulder to start and we’re already at a standoff. He misses a clothesline though and bails to the floor as we’ve barely had any contact yet. Swagger goes after Seth and gets his neck snapped across the top rope to finally get things going. Seth starts working on the arm and cranks on it a bit until Jack fights up with a clothesline. They head outside for another clothesline to Rollins but he gets in a shot of his own. Orton comes out to watch as Seth goes inside for a suicide dive to drop Swagger.

Back from a break with Rollins hitting a great looking enziguri for two and dropping some knees to the ribs. A kick to the back has Swagger in trouble but Rollins stops to yell at Orton. Seth cranks on the arm again but gets caught in a wheelbarrow suplex out of the corner for two. Swagger gets two more off the Vader Bomb before catching Rollins in the powerslam for another two count.

Jack takes out the knee and puts on the Patriot Lock, only to get rolled into the corner. Another Patriot Lock attempt is countered and the low superkick puts Jack down. The Curb Stomp is countered into another Patriot Lock but Seth makes the ropes. Seth is sent into the post but he counters a suplex into a rollup with a handful of tights for the pin at 15:05.

Rating: C+. Not a great match here but there’s only so much they can do with this concept. Rollins looked good and that’s all he was supposed to do so the match worked well enough. Swagger is the same guy he was before, which gets annoying at times but at least he has a fresh battery to absorb so many of his losses.

Orton RKOs Swagger post match and gets in Rollins face. They talk trash but no violence comes.

Ambrose says don’t expect him to be a nice guy tonight because that’s not his style. He’s bringing it to Cena and going off to get Rollins.

Big Show talks about how he’s going to fight for America tonight and how the weight of America is on his shoulders. That’s fine, because he has the biggest shoulders around.

Rusev vs. Big Show

Before the match Lana rips on America for celebrating Columbus Day and gets cheap heat off the Atlanta Braves. Rusev promises to crush Big Show and we’re ready to go. Show kicks him in the face to start and the USA chants begin. They head outside with Rusev being whipped into the barricade as it’s one sided so far. Some chops send Rusev back to the floor and Show steps on his head.

More chops (complete with the Braves’ Tomhawk Chop) start a USA chant until Rusev busts out a dropkick to stop Big Show cold. He nailed him right in the jaw too. Rusev stomps on the back and clotheslines Big Show out to the floor as we take a break. Back with Big Show slowly fighting out of a side choke but missing a middle rope elbow. Rusev puts on another choke but gets dropped by a slam. The KO Punch misses and Rusev kicks him in the ribs. The Accolade goes on and here’s Mark Henry. Mark gets knocked off the apron to break the hold but Rusev puts it right back on, drawing in Henry for the DQ at 14:09.

Rating: D+. This was slightly better than I was expecting and a minor miracle given how long it went. Big Show getting upset over this is going to be dull and it’s going to lead to Show vs. Henry yet again. Rusev hopefully gets to move on to someone other than a super heavyweight for awhile because there’s only so much more he can do against them.

Show seems to forgive Henry for what he did as the Russian flag comes down. Henry and Show surround the Russians so Rusev comes out swinging against Henry, only to get dropped by the KO Punch.

Sheamus hasn’t been feeling good since last week. The solution: two Brogue Kicks.

Ad for Chrisley Knows Best. The family is in the front row tonight and say how awesome it is to be here. They hype the new season and that’s about it. Simple and inoffensive plug for a show and nowhere near as bad as I was expecting.

Sheamus vs. The Miz

Non-title. Miz’s entrance now has the lights go out for a much better effect. Miz runs to start but decks Sheamus as they get back inside. Sheamus easily fights back and throws Miz onto Mizdow, who mimics everything Miz does, even throwing punches (albeit with the wrong arm). Miz cranks on a chinlock as the fans want Mizdow.

The pale one makes a comeback and hammers away in the corner but misses a knee in the corner. Miz kicks the knee out an dhits the short DDT for two. Sheamus knocks him out to the floor and Mizdow runs over and falls down and hold his knee right along with Miz. Both guys go under the ring and Sheamus pulls out the wrong one, giving Miz a countout win at 5:16.

Rating: D+. Mizdown is going to be another big face turn sa the fans are getting into him for how hard he’s working on this stunt double thing. Best of all, it’s something new that he’s done to revitalize his career after falling through the floor over the last year. I’m assuming Miz gets his title shot at the PPV.

The Total Divas go up to see the Real Housewife of Atlanta when the evil Total Divas show up. Cameron and the reality chick have a Diva off and that’s about it. I’m sure we’ll see more.

Nikki Bella/Cameron/Summer Rae vs. Brie Bella/Natalya/Naomi

Rosa is in the latter team’s corner and Nene Leakes comes out to join her. Natalya shoves Cameron into the corner to start as Cole recaps Total Divas from last night. The heels take over on Natalya with Nikki cranking on a front facelock. Summer misses a legdrop and Brie comes in off the ice cold tag. Everything breaks down and Brie flips out of the Rack and gets the pin off the Bella 3:41.

Rating: D. Figure this one out for yourselves. Next.

Cena gives his usual fired up promo talking about how the showdown with Ambrose is going to be violent and against the Authority’s wishes.

New Wyatt video with the Family disappearing and Bray talking about how she told him he’d never be alone. He’s going to leave a path of smoke and destruction throughout the world. He says it’s coming and smoke fills the barn as he sits in his rocking chair.

The Authority comes out to watch.

John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose

Contract on a pole and the Authority, Rollins, Orton and Kane are all at ringside. Ambrose stomps away in the corner to start but Cena easily stops his climb. Four straight suplexes drop Ambrose but he blocks Cena’s bulldog. Dean has a chance at the contract but goes outside to slug it out with Cena. He suplexes Cena on the stage but messes up his own back, allowing Cena to get down to the ring for an electric chair save.

Both finishers are countered and Cena puts on the STF. Ambrose finally figures out to bite the hand to escape and dropkicks Cena to the floor. He still doesn’t climb and launches a suicide dive instead but goes over to nail Kane for some reason. The Authority is about to fight Ambrose but Cena nails Dean and throws him into the Authority. Orton comes in and goes after Cena (no DQ remember) as everyone gets inside. Ambrose sends Rollins outside and Kane eats an AA, allowing Dan to grab the contract for the win at 6:27.

Rating: C-. This was a mess but they had to protect both guys. It’s not a terrible match or anything but it wasn’t meant to be anything more than a way to set up the two Cell matches. And yes, one of those matches is going to be Cena vs. Orton XXXIV or so. Seriously I don’t think that’s much of an exaggeration.

The two matches stare each other down to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was the opposite of last week with a HEAVY focus on wrestling and very little stupid stuff. Yeah there’s the Divas stuff with the reality chick but that was about five minutes combined. I was dreading the reality stuff all night and the show actually won me over with some long matches and good seeds being planted for future stories. Really solid show this week and a huge relief after last week’s disaster.

Results

John Cena/Dean Ambrose b. Usos and Goldust/Stardust – AA to Goldust

AJ Lee/Layla b. Alicia Fox/Paige – Shining Wizard to Fox

Randy Orton b. Dolph Ziggler – RKO

Seth Rollins b. Jack Swagger – Rollup with a handful of tights

Rusev b. Big Show via DQ when Mark Henry interfered

Miz b. Sheamus via DQ when Mark Henry interfered

Brie Bella/Naomi/Natalya b. Nikki Bella/Cameron/Summer Rae – Bella Buster to Nikki Bella

Dean Ambrose b. John Cena – Ambrose pulled down the contract

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

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Monday Night Raw
Date: October 6, 2014
Location: Barclays Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re in the big city tonight and there are some potential big names in the house. I mean I’m talking KATHY LEE GIFFORD to tell us that breast cancer is bad here people. That’s WWE’s big deal at the moment: “Look at us! We’re doing charity work!” If you didn’t know that going in, don’t worry because WWE is going to tell you once every five minutes. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Dean Ambrose giving away a bunch of shirts and sliming Seth Rollins with the Money in the Bank briefcase.

Here’s Rollins to take over the show to start. He rants about how what Ambrose did last week wasn’t funny and demands to show the real clip from last week: Ambrose being curb stomped onto the briefcase. Rollins wants Ambrose to fight right now but he gets the new Stooges instead, telling him he needs to leave. Seth knows he’s a marked man and that’s just what he wants. Instead Cena charges out and chases Rollins into the crowd.

Seth stands there shouting at Cena and of course Ambrose is right behind him. Dean chases him into the ring and Cena gets in a few shots of his own, only to have Ambrose dive on both of them, allowing Rollins to escape. HHH and Stephanie come out and say this isn’t going to happen tonight. They ask the fans if they want to see Ambrose and Cena get their hands on Rollins. The fans of course agree so it’s Ambrose/Cena vs. Rollins/Kane/Orton tonight.

We recap Big Show’s apology on Smackdown for ripping down the Russian flag. Show has been undergoing sensitivity training and will be forced to listen to the Russians’ response tonight.

Cesaro/Goldust/Stardust vs. Usos/Dolph Ziggler

Before the match we get an inset promo from the Usos, imitating the Dusts’ weird stuff. Their tag line: bros before weirdos. Before the bell, the Dusts send Jey’s shoulder into the steps, giving us roughly the 4958^th shoulder injury of the year. Stardust hammers away on Jey and the bad shoulder to start before it’s off to Goldust and then Cesaro to stay on the injury. The fans want Ziggler as Cole reads off a cryptic message from Goldust. Off to Jimmy who chops Cesaro down in the corner and hits the Running Umaga Attack. Everything breaks down and Cesaro throws Dolph into the steps as we take a break.

Back with Stardust holding Jey in an abdominal stretch before it’s off to Cesaro for Ziggler’s elbow. Jey finally escapes and makes the hot tag to Ziggler to fire up the fans. Dolph speeds things up and spins around Cesaro to grab a sleeper. Cesaro is in trouble but escapes, only to get caught by a Fameasser. Everything breaks down again and the Usos dive onto the Dusts. Back inside Cesaro nails Ziggler with an uppercut for two as Jimmy makes the save. Stardust comes in off a blind tag and gets two off a reverse DDT. A triple superkick knockd Stardust silly and the Superfly Splash from Jimmy gets the pin at 12:15.

Rating: C+. Good match here but I’m sick of seeing these combinations fight. It’s a solid choice for an opener and the triple superkick looked good. We’re getting the two title matches at Hell in a Cell, but could we have another way to build them up, or some different opponents for a change?

John Cena was on the Today Show earlier today to talk about breast cancer. Two of the hosts will be here next.

Here are Hoda and Kathy Lee (the fourth hour hosts of the Today Show) with as Rosebuds. The girls come out in Ric Flair style robes and get in the ring to sit in chairs and drink Kathy Lee champagne. They suck up to the fans a bit and Hoda does her “crazy dance”. They break bottles over each other and this is just dying. The girls fall onto the Rosebuds off the apron….very slowly. If there was ANY point to this, it went right over my head.

Luke Harper video. I believe it’s the same one from last week.

Mark Henry vs. Bo Dallas

Henry lost to Dallas twice last week and has suffered an emotional breakdown after what happened with Rusev. Mark destroys him to start as you would expect and sends him into the announcers’ table. He tosses Bo into the barricade and loads up the table, only to have Dallas escape the World’s Strongest Slam and beat the count back in for the win at 1:50.

We recap the opening segment.

Here’s Ambrose to talk about not being thrilled with having Cena as his partner again tonight. We see a clip of Cena leaving him on Smackdown and Dean says he told Cena to not give him a reason to hate him. Ambrose wants Cena out here right now to talk about this and that’s exactly what he gets.

Cena takes a few mild jabs at the Brooklyn crowd’s response before talking about Ambrose diving on him earlier in the night. He says Ambrose understands his actions and leaves, but Dean says they don’t care about each other. If there’s one thing about each other, it’s that they don’t care what others think of them.

Maybe they can get along for one night, but Dean has no problem dropping Cena right now and fighting the Authority by himself. Cena gets back in and says Ambrose tried that already and got his head driven into cinder blocks. He likes that Ambrose does what he wants, but there are consequences for that. Cena says he can drop Ambrose right here and warns Dean not to give him a reason to not like him. Ambrose responds by saying he’s hungry and is going to Coney Island to grab a hot dog before leaving.

During the break, Ambrose left and got on a subway.

HHH comes up to Cena in the back. “Man, kids these days.” He basically laughs at Cena but John says he’s ready to go and will take out the Authority tonight. HHH likes his moxie and says Rollins will have to start the match tonight.

Brie Bella vs. Summer Rae

Brie is fighting with one arm tied behind her back like Nikki had to because this feud is still going. Summer kicks her a lot to start but a Layla distraction goes bad, allowing Brie to hit a running knee to the chest for the pin at 1:55.

Miz and Mizdow give Kane a fruit basket to apologize for their harsh words last week. Mizdow mouths every word Miz says a few seconds later. Kane doesn’t buy it and makes Miz vs. Sheamus for tonight. Mizdow takes the basket back.

Jack Swagger vs. Tyson Kidd

Kidd is taken into the corner to start but flips out to escape. He heads outside and hides behind Natalya so he can kick Swagger in the face but Natalya isn’t pleased. Back in and a neckbreaker gets two on Jack before we hit the chinlock. Swagger shoves him down and hits a quick Vader Bomb before slapping on the Patriot Lock. Kidd rolls away and kicks him from the apron before telling Nattie to get out of his way. He goes up top but Swagger runs the corner and pulls Tyson down into the Patriot Lock for the submission at 3:09.

Rating: C-. This was around to set up Kidd and Nattie’s issues on Total Divas because that’s what Raw exists to do half the time anymore. At least Swagger got a clean win, despite it being in a near squash. Natalya was there more as a plot device than anything else and that’s all she needed to be here.

Edge and Christian’s Smackdown 15^th Anniversary Special That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness airs on the Network after the show. The Canadians are in the studio to say the name and the Network price and that’s about it.

Roman Reigns is live via satellite and says he’ll be back sooner rather than later. This lasted about thirty seconds.

We recap Rollins costing Cena the title at Night of Champions.

El Torito vs. Mini Gator

Gator gets down on all fours and crawls after Torito, who mounts Horny (who else did you think it was?) and wraps him up with the cape. Fans: “THIS IS STUPID!” Heath gets in to try and help but gets Gator Rolled. Torito gores Titus off the apron and hits a top rope moonsault for the pin at 2:18.

We see Big Show apologizing again.

Ziggler is defending the Intercontinental Title tomorrow night on Main Event against Bo Dallas. Raw is for Hoda’s CRAZY DANCE though.

Here are Lana and Rusev for their usual bragging about Rusev and Putin. Rusev calls Big Show down but the big man is banned from wrestling tonight. Instead…..IT’S THE ROCK! Well that woke the fans up. Fans: “Holy ****!” Rock tells the Russians to know their role and shut their mouths.

This morning he woke up and went to the gym, but he doesn’t have his shorts up to his nipples like Rusev. Then he got on a jet and went to Queens, took a cab to Miami, went to Lana’s favorite place: the meat packing district, swam across the river to Staten Island and took the train to the Bronx so he could pay respect to the Captain Derek Jeter. That left him with one more borough to go to, so he crossed a certain bridge, went down Atlantic Avenue and came up to the Barclays Center and climbed into this ring in front of the millions and millions so he can say FINALLY the Rock has come back to Brooklyn.

Lana asks who Rock thinks he is and tells him to shut up. Rock: “And you need to stop dressing like a Soviet street walker.” Rusev warns Rock to leave or face getting crushed. Rock makes fun of his breath and tells Lana she’s beautiful in person, but she looks like someone shoved a Smirnoff bottle up her Putin.

As for Rusev, it doesn’t matter what he thinks. There’s a reason no one has been able to beat Rusev: he’s bigger, stronger and faster than most people in the back. However, the fans boo the Russians because they’re jerks to everyone else. Rusev takes off his medal and the fight is on with Rock easily dispatching Rusev.

Cole tries to talk about what’s going on tonight as Rock walks around ringside celebrating. He even goes into the crowd to hug some girls who can’t seem to stand up. Thankfully they keep the camera on him instead of going to recaps.

AJ Lee/Emma vs. Paige/Alicia Fox

I haven’t heard the fans go from a roar for one half of a tag team to dead silence like they did with AJ and Emma in years. AJ shoves Alicia around to start befor eit’s off to Emma for her marching. Fox sends her through the ropes but Emma hangs on and flips forward to kick Fox in the face. A dancing cradle gets two and AJ looks very confused. The Tarantula has Fox in trouble and the Emma Sandwich crushes her. Emma dances even more and AJ has had enough and walks out. The distraction lets Paige superkick Emma and nail the Rampaige for the pin at 2:48.

Video on Erick Rowan being set free just like Harper. Bray says they shall feel the smoke of his burning. We see what looks to be a pregnant woman’s stomach with the words “It’s coming” written on it.

Happy Birthday Bruno Sammartino.

Miz vs. Sheamus

Non-title. Miz takes him into the corner to start and snaps Sheamus’ throat over the top rope as the fans chant for Mizdow. Sheamus gets in a right hand to the ribs to stop Miz coming off the top but charges into a boot in the corner. He shakes off a Skull Crushing Finale attempt though and we take a break.

Back with Miz holding a chinlock before hammering away in the corner again. Miz puts on a kind of abdominal stretch on the mat as the fans think Mizdow is better. Sheamus fights out of the hold and loads up the Brogue Kick but Mizdow pulls Miz to safety. The Brogue Kick knocks Mizdow off the apron but Miz grabs a rollup for the pin at 10:12.

Rating: C-. Miz was more aggressive here and I like that he’s getting to do stuff, but did we need to pin ANOTHER champion, especially when he isn’t doing anything in the first place? Miz would probably be a better choice for the title right now but I’d like them to have a better way to get there.

Recap of Hogan’s speech last week. He hates breast cancer too you know.

Lawler introduces Joan Lunden (from the Today Show. Not that WWE says that), who is going through breast cancer. The fans are silent but at least applaud when she says she’s not giving up. There are a bunch of cancer survivors at ringside and each one gets an individual introduction. Cena comes out to hug her and that’s that.

One of the Real Housewives of Atlanta is going to be on Raw next week.

Edge and Christian still don’t have much to say.

John Cena vs. Randy Orton/Seth Rollins/Kane

Cena conducts the fans singing JOHN CENA SUCKS. I kind of like that he embraces it so much. Rollins has to start and the bell rings after 11pm because we needed to talk about cancer. Seth tags out to Kane less than thirty seconds in. Cena goes after Kane but keeps lunging at Rollins. The Authority beats him down and Rollins finally comes in, only to get punched in the face a few times. A Blockbuster puts Cena down for two but he lifts Seth up for the AA. Kane kicks Cena in the face to break it up and that’s the quick DQ at 4:33.

Rating: D. Yeah whatever. I’m so glad we had this match cut short for middle aged women dancing and a journalist from something not important enough to mention. That’s what Raw is all about anymore unfortunately, along with Authority vs. Cena/Ambrose ending in a DQ finish.

Post match Ambrose comes out carrying a Coney Island food cart. He pulls back his jacket to reveal ketchup and mustard holsters to spray on Kane and Orton. Cena AA’s Orton but he and Kane clothesline each other down. Ambrose beats Rollins up with various food iteams and tongs his crotch. Kane gets back up but takes an AA of his own. Cena and Ambrose are left in the ring and here are HHH and Stephanie with something to make the rumored matches for HIAC. It’s Cena vs. Ambrose with the winner facing Rollins in the Cell later that night. Ambrose DDTs Cena to the loudest non-Rock pop of the night to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This show was running with an anchor. There was a lot of good stuff here with the Rock’s appearance and the three way feud being gold, but dear goodness they tried their best to bring it down. Between HODA’S CRAZY DANCE to talking about cancer to the stupid bull vs. gator stuff, it’s like they were making an active attempt to get the fans ticked off. There’s so much good in WWE right now and so many bright spots on the horizon that I want to love it but the bad stuff is just SO bad that it’s crippling a lot of the good.

Results

Usos/Dolph Ziggler b. Stardust/Goldust/Cesaro – Superfly Splash to Stardust

Bo Dallas b. Mark Henry via countout

Jack Swagger b. Tyson Kidd – Patriot Lock

El Torito b. Mini Gator – Moonsault

Paige/Alicia Fox b. AJ Lee/Emma – Rampaige to Emma

Miz b. Sheamus – Rollup

John Cena b. Randy Orton/Kane/Seth Rollins via DQ when Kane and Rollins attacked Cena

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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